Asif William Rahman is charged with willful transmission of national defense information, according to a court documents.
The documents are vague about what exactly he allegedly shared, but sources have confirmed that the charges are related to the leak reported widely last month — although it’s not immediately clear whether Rahman is believed to be the primary source of the leak.
On Tuesday, Rahman was arrested in Cambodia and brought to Guam, according to the charging documents.
In October, documents purporting to be Israel’s retaliation plans were leaked on the internet, possibly exposing plans for the American ally – a deep breach of national security.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters in October that they are taking the situation “very seriously.”
The New York Times was first to report on Rahman’s arrest.
(WASHINGTON) — In a speech touting his foreign policy legacy, President Joe Biden on Monday said the U.S. was “pressing hard” to close a deal that would see some of the hostages held by Hamas freed in exchange for a period of peace in Gaza.
“On the war between Israel and Hamas, we’re on the brink of a proposal that I laid out in detail months ago finally coming to fruition,” Biden said during an address at the State Department, adding that he had learned during his long career in public service “to never, never, never, ever give up.”
“The Palestinian people deserve peace and the right to determine their own futures. Israel deserves peace and real security. And the hostages and their families deserve to be reunited,” the president continued. “And so, we’re working urgently to close this deal.”
In advance of the president’s speech, confidence that the ongoing high-level talks could finally yield a long-awaited ceasefire agreement bloomed across Washington as the White House signaled a deal could be cemented before the Biden leaves office within a week.
“We are close to a deal, and it can get done this week,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during a press briefing at the White House. “I’m not making a promise or a prediction, but it is there for the taking and we are going to work to make it happen.”
Other members of the administration were even more cautiously optimistic, predicting that the next 24 hours would likely be “make or break” for the negotiations.
The current proposal on the table calls for an initial ceasefire period lasting at least six weeks in exchange for the release of around 30 living or dead hostages held in Gaza, according to officials familiar with the talks, who add that Israel is also expected to release more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
The officials say many of the specifics, including the exact number of hostages that would be turned over, are still being worked out, but that Hamas has indicated it is willing to hand over at least two of the seven American citizens the group is holding — Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, and Keith Siegel, 65.
Sullivan said that coordination served to present “a united message” that it is “in the American national security interest, regardless of party, regardless of outgoing or incoming administration to get this deal done as fast as possible.”
The Trump team’s involvement is also necessary from a practical standpoint since the U.S. would act as a guarantor of any deal that comes to fruition and the Biden administration won’t be in power long enough for it to play out.
President-elect Donald Trump has warned Hamas repeatedly that “all hell will break out in the Middle East” if the hostages aren’t released by his taking office on Jan. 20.
Ahead of his speech at the State Department, Biden said he had worked the phones — speaking with the leader of Qatar, a critical intermediary with direct lines to Hamas, on Monday and talking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, according to the White House.
Biden said he would also soon speak to Egypt’s President Sisi, another key broker overseeing the negotiations.
Ukraine, Iran
The president also focused part of his remarks on Russia’s war in Ukraine, touting the administration’s efforts to bolster Ukraine and global alliances in the process — noting that 23 NATO countries are now spending 2% of the GDP on defense, up from nine when he took office.
“Today, I can report to the American people our adversaries are weaker than where we came into this job four years ago. Just consider Russia. When Putin invaded Ukraine, he tried to conquer Kyiv in a matter of days. But the truth is, since that war began, I’m the only one who stood in the center of Kyiv, not him. Putin never has. Think about it,” he said.
“We help Ukrainians stop Putin. And now, nearly three years later, Putin has failed to achieve any of his strategic objectives,” Biden said.
“Today, Ukraine is still free, independent country with the potential — potential for a bright future. And we laid the foundation for the next administration so they can protect the bright future of the Ukrainian people,” he later added
Biden touted the U.S. work help diminish Iran during his time in office as well, though noted he could not claim all the credit.
“Now, I cannot claim credit for every factor that led to Iran and Russia growing weaker in the past four years. They did plenty of damage all by themselves, but Israel did plenty of damage to Iran and its proxies. But there’s no question our actions contributed significantly,” Biden said.
Afghanistan
The president also addressed a low point of his administration, defending his decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan in 2021, an operation that killed 13 service members.
“In my view, it was time to end the war and bring our troops home and we did. I commend the courage of all those who served in Afghanistan. We grieve all 2,461 Americans made the ultimate sacrifice in the longest war in American history, and I grieve for those brave service members whose lives were lost during the withdrawal,” Biden said. “We also thank those inside and outside of government, have done so much to help thousands of Afghan families resettle in the United States.”
The president looked ahead in his speech as well, urging the incoming Trump administration to continue working on two major challenges for the future: artificial intelligence and the clean energy transition.
“I know, and some incoming administration — some in the incoming administration are skeptical about the need for clean energy. They don’t even believe climate change is real. I think they come from a different century. They’re wrong. They are dead wrong. It’s the single greatest existential central threat to humanity,” Biden said in his strongest criticism of the incoming Trump team of the remarks.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — As controversy continues to cloud some of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, his team has an ominous warning for Republicans who don’t fall in line behind his nominees.
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl reports that one senior Trump adviser said the message to lawmakers is, “If you are on the wrong side of the vote, you’re buying yourself a primary.”
“That is all,” the adviser told Karl. “And there’s a guy named Elon Musk who is going to finance it.”
“The president gets to decide his Cabinet. No one else,” the adviser added.
The threat came as Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth (tapped for attorney general and defense secretary, respectively) made the rounds on Capitol Hill this week to shore up support. They were escorted by Vice President-elect JD Vance, the junior senator from Ohio.
Gaetz announced Thursday afternoon he was withdrawing his name from consideration, stating his confirmation bid was “unfairly becoming a distraction.”
Gaetz faces allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, which he’s long denied, that was the subject of a federal investigation and a House Ethics Committee probe. Hegseth has been accused of sexual assaulting a woman in 2017, an encounter Hegseth told police was consensual.
Trump stood firm with the selections, which also raised eyebrows for their relative lack of experience to lead the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense. Trump said it was ultimately Gaetz’s choice to withdraw.
Some of the president-elect’s other picks have similarly faced scrutiny over their qualifications, including Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of Health and Human Services.
Trump previously made a demand for Republican leadership to back so-called “recess appointments” to skirt the traditional confirmation process. That route would require lawmakers to adjourn and for senators to give up the “advice and consent” role they play in nominations, as laid out in the Constitution.
But his demand is being met with some resistance from some Senate Republicans.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a senior Republican and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said recess appointments for Cabinet posts should be “absolutely off the table.”
“And quite honestly, any serious candidate for Cabinet-level position, I would really have to wonder if they would want it or be willing to accept it under a recess,” Tillis said. “These positions are too important. They carry too much weight internationally to take a short cut.”
Several senators have said they want the full “process” and vetting of candidates to play out.
Sen. Josh Hawley said on Wednesday his intention to vote for all nominees.
“The Constitution gives us a role in personnel called advice and consent. My view is that’s exactly what will unfold here when these nominees are actually sent forward, and we’ll treat them like we’ve treated all others with the proper vetting,” said longtime Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who recently stepped down from the role.
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Elon Musk, a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, came out against Speaker Mike Johnson going forward with a stopgap government funding bill on Wednesday, saying, “This bill should not pass.”
Johnson was asked about the Tesla CEO’s post during an interview on “Fox & Friends.” He appeared to not worry about Musk’s post influencing the ability of the funding bill to get through both chambers ahead of a partial government shutdown deadline at the end of the day Friday.
“I was communicating with Elon last night. Elon and Vivek [Ramaswamy] and I are on a text chain together and I was explaining to them the background of this. Vivek and I talked last night about midnight, and he said ‘look I get it.’ He said, ‘We understand you’re in an impossible position,'” Johnson said.
Johnson said Musk and Ramaswamy, the two DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) leaders, are aware of the tough spot the speaker is in with a slim majority and Democratic control of the Senate and White House. DOGE is an outside-of-government (or private) operation.
“We gotta get this done because here’s the key. By doing this, we are clearing the decks, and we are setting up for Trump to come in roaring back with the American first agenda. That’s what we are going to run with gusto beginning January 3 when we start the new Congress,” he said.
Johnson urged for Congress to pass this funding bill “so we don’t have a shutdown.”
“We get to March where we can put our fingerprints on the spending. That is where the big changes start,” Johnson said.
The push comes as Republicans and Democrats scramble to pass a bill before government funding expires Friday night.
Johnson, whose speakership has been characterized by beating back criticism from his far-right flank, had originally promised a clean bill that would solely extend current levels of government funding to prevent a shutdown. However, natural disasters and headwinds for farmers, necessitated additional federal spending.
In the end, the bill included $100 billion for recovery efforts from Hurricanes Helene and Milton and another $10 billion for economic assistance for farmers.
Johnson at a press conference said his hands were tied after “acts of God” necessitated additional money.
“It was intended to be, and it was, until recent days, a very simple, very clean [continuing resolution], stopgap funding measure to get us into next year when we have unified government,” he said. “We had these massive hurricanes in the late fall, Helene and Milton, and other disasters. We have to make sure that the Americans that were devastated by these hurricanes get the relief they need.”
Still, Republican spending hawks cried foul, accusing Johnson of stocking the bill with new spending without any way to pay for it and keeping the bill’s creation behind closed doors.
“We’re just fundamentally unserious about spending. And as long as you got a blank check, you can’t shrink the government. If you can’t shrink the government, you can’t live free,” Texas Rep. Chip Roy said.
Musk, too, mocked the size of the bill.
“Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?” he posted on X, along with a picture of the bill stacked on a desk.
