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Top CIA cybersecurity official speaks out on election interference, TikTok and passwords


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NBC News’ Courtney Kube interviews Juliane Gallina, the CIA’s Deputy Director for Digital Innovation, on her biggest cybersecurity concerns.March 29, 2024

  • Mystery over fish die-off in Florida

    01:34

  • Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. dies at age 87

    01:42

  • Biden fundraiser with three presidents raises $26 million

    01:52

  • First anniversary of reporter Evan Gershkovich’s detention in Russia

    01:32

  • Now Playing

    Top CIA cybersecurity official speaks out on election interference, TikTok and passwords

    01:46

  • UP NEXT

    Haiti gang leader says he is open to talks with the government

    01:40



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Faculty and students protest Florida law that they say could keep top Chinese talent out of their grad schools



A Florida law is prompting backlash from professors, students and advocates across university campuses in the state who say the measure could keep Chinese grad students out of their schools. 

The measure, State Bill 846, restricts the state’s public universities from hiring graduate students for positions such as researchers and lab assistants, from “countries of concern,” including China, the largest contributor of international students in the state. 

While the measure went into effect last July, schools typically issue offer letters in the spring, prompting the recent protests. 

While Gov. Ron DeSantis’ has said that the legislation is part of an attempt to counter China’s “malign influence” in the state, critics say it’ll do more harm than good. From taking legal action to participating in rallies this week, students, faculty and others are calling for the measure to be reversed, arguing that the law could pose a threat to the state’s academics and impede scientific advancements and freedoms. 

“It’s discriminatory,” Chenglong Li, a professor at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, told NBC News. “Individuals, they cannot decide where they are born. They’re only thinking of their educational opportunities. 

“I think this kind of approach actually harms national security. A lot of people are actually STEM talents. They actively come here to do research and contribute to this country,” he added.

The state Education Department declined to comment. And representatives for DeSantis did not respond to  a request for comment. But the governor announced the bill last May as part of his efforts to “combat corporate espionage and higher education subterfuge carried out by the CCP and its agents.” In addition to this education measure, he also signed a controversial law that, in part, banned some Chinese citizens from owning homes or land in the state. The land law, also implemented last July, was blocked by a U.S. appeals court in February. 

Zichen Wang, a research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, a nongovernmental think tank in Beijing, called the university-related measure “unconstitutional,” comparing it to the Chinese Exclusion Act, which instituted a 10-year moratorium on Chinese labor immigration to the United States.

“It harms Florida as it stigmatizes individuals from China who would otherwise make significant contributions to the Sunshine State,” he said in an email. 

Under SB 846, state universities and colleges are prohibited from accepting grants or partnering with those “domiciled,” in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela or Syria. The term “domicile,” criticized by many as being vague and confusing, is defined as a “physical presence in a foreign country of concern with an intent to return thereto.”  The law does not apply to student enrollment, so those who are self-funded would not be impacted. 

Exceptions to these restrictions, however, can be made with the approval from the state university Board of Governors, a 17-member organization that oversees the management of Florida’s public university institutions. And individuals in these cases need to be deemed “valuable” to students and the school, and declared not a threat “to the safety or security of the United States or its residents.” 

Two students, Zhipeng Yin and Zhen Guo, and a professor, Zhengfei Guan, filed a lawsuit  Monday, arguing that the measure codifies discrimination against those of Asian descent. The students, both of whom are from China and attend Florida International University, had been working as graduate assistants in labs for their supervising professors when they were terminated from their jobs because of the measure, according to the lawsuit. And the professor, an agricultural economist who teaches at the University of Florida, had been trying to hire a postdoctoral candidate from China. But because of a four-month delay related to SB 846, the candidate decided to go elsewhere. 

“Gov. DeSantis has argued that this law is necessary to protect Florida from the Chinese Communist Party and its activities,” said a press release on the lawsuit, backed in part by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. “But this misguided rationale unfairly equates Chinese students with the actions of their government, and there is no evidence of national security harm resulting from international students from China studying in Florida.”

Neither the University of Florida nor Florida International University responded to requests for comment. The state university Board of Governors declined to comment, saying it’s pending litigation. 

Other scholars and students attended a rally at the University of Florida hosted by more than two dozen organizations, including ACLU Florida, and led by the nonprofit Asian American Scholar Forum, to protest against the measure. Many said they hoped the law would be reversed eventually but are demanding transparency from the board of governors on their approval process in the meantime. 

Li, who was among those at the rally, said that many faculty members began dealing with the fallout from the law in December when assessing applications. His own department has been dealing with some of the similar struggles with hiring two Chinese applicants, as those named in the lawsuit. And the acceptance letters to the two students have yet to be sent out. He added that In his department, Chinese applicants, as well as those from Iran, make up roughly one-third of all applicants. 

“If this law persists, you can imagine, year after year, graduate talents from China or some ‘countries of concern’ will dry out,” Li said. 

Ming Fang, an associate teaching professor at FIU’s English department, who also attended the rally, said that similar frustrations plagued her university. 

“There appears to be some confusion among the faculty members about the specific procedure and criteria to follow,” she said. “For instance, the regulation excludes hiring individuals ‘domiciled’ in countries of concern but how do we define and interpret domicile? … How about applicants who are currently living in another country but originated from the countries of concern?”

Fang said that already, the faculty has been generally advised against considering candidates from those countries of concern because of the murkiness in the approval process. Additionally, Fang said that faculty members want to be mindful of applicants’ timelines.  

“It’s not just for fear of the legislation,” she said. “We don’t know how long the process will take and it’s not doing applicants a benefit. What if they have other choices that might be better for them?”

Ultimately, the legislation puts the faculty in a difficult position, placing the burden of national security in their hands, Li said. 

“These people who come here to study — it’s their personal choice. There’s nothing political here,” Li said.  “National security issues should be dealt with professionally by federal agencies.” 



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Top UN court orders Israel to allow food and medical aid into Gaza


The UN’s top court has unanimously ordered Israel to enable the unhindered flow of aid into Gaza in order to avert a famine.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Israel must act “without delay” to allow the “provision… of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance”.

This follows warnings that famine could hit Gaza within weeks.

Israel has called allegations it is blocking aid “wholly unfounded”.

It has also denied allegations of genocide lodged at the ICJ by South Africa and has blamed the UN for problems with the distribution of aid.

The latest ruling by the court in The Hague comes after South Africa asked it to bolster an order issued to Israel in January to take all measures to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza.

Although orders issued by the ICJ are legally binding, the court lacks the power to enforce them.

Last week, a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Global Initiative, which is run by the World Food Programme and others, warned that a “catastrophic” situation was developing.

It said that all of the 2.2 million people in Gaza were “facing high levels of acute food insecurity” and that famine was projected to hit the north of the territory before the end of May.

In its ruling, the ICJ said Gaza was “no longer facing only a risk of famine” but “famine is setting in” and that, according to UN observers, 31 people, including 27 children, had already died of malnutrition and dehydration.

It also noted comments by Volker Türk, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights, who said last week that the “situation of hunger, starvation and famine” was “a result of Israel’s extensive restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid and commercial goods, displacement of most of the population, as well as the destruction of crucial civilian infrastructure”.

The court said Israel must “take all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full co-operation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale… of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance”.

The aid most needed included food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, and clothing as well as hygiene products and medical supplies, it said.

The ruling also said Israel must ensure “its military does not commit acts which constitute a violation of any of the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza” under the Genocide Convention.

Recent months have seen long queues of aid trucks repeatedly forming as they wait to enter Gaza from Egypt, and accusations levelled at Israel that it is subjecting the deliveries to complex and arbitrary checks.

In a filing last week, Israel asked the ICJ not to issue the latest order, saying South Africa’s allegations were “wholly unfounded in fact and law” and “morally repugnant”.

It has also dismissed the broader case being brought against it under the Genocide Convention as “baseless”.

Israel has further said that Hamas takes much of the aid that enters Gaza and accused the UN of failing to distribute what is left to the civilian population.

The current conflict began after the 7 October attack, which saw Hamas-led gunmen storm across the border into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 others hostage.

Of those taken, about 130 remain unaccounted for, at least 34 of whom are presumed dead.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 32,552 people. Earlier this month, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that, of those killed, more than 25,000 were women and children.



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UN top court orders Israel to open more land crossings for aid into Gaza


THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The top United Nations court on Thursday ordered Israel to take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including opening more land crossings to allow food, water, fuel and other supplies into the war-ravaged enclave.

The International Court of Justice issued two new so-called provisional measures in a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of acts of genocide in its military campaign launched after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas. Israel denies it is committing genocide. It says its military campaign is self defense and aimed at Hamas, not the Palestinian people.

Thursday’s order came after South Africa sought more provisional measures, including a cease-fire, citing starvation in Gaza. Israel urged the court not to issue new orders.

In its legally binding order, the court told Israel to take measures “without delay” to ensure “the unhindered provision” of basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies.

It also ordered Israel to immediately ensure that its military does not take action that could that could harm Palestinians’ rights under the Genocide Convention, including by preventing the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

The court told Israel to report back in a month on its implementation of the orders.

Israel declared war in response to a bloody cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 others were taken hostage. Israel responded with a campaign of airstrikes and a ground offensive that have left over 32,000 Palestinians dead, according to local health authorities. The fighting also displaced over 80% of Gaza’s population and caused widespread damage.

The U.N. and international aid agencies say virtually the entire Gaza population is struggling to get enough food, with hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of famine, especially in hard-hit northern Gaza.

South Africa welcomed Thursday’s decision, calling it “significant.”

“The fact that Palestinian deaths are not solely caused by bombardment and ground attacks, but also by disease and starvation, indicates a need to protect the group’s right to exist,” the South African president said in a statement.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry thanked South Africa, calling the case “a vital step in the global effort to hold Israel accountable for perpetrating genocide.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment.

In a written response earlier this month to South Africa’s request for more measures, Israel said the claims by South Africa were “wholly unfounded,” “morally repugnant” and “an abuse both of the Genocide Convention and of the Court itself.”

After initially sealing Gaza’s borders in the early days of the war, Israel began to permit entry of humanitarian supplies. It says it places no restrictions on the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza and accuses the United Nations of failing to properly organize the deliveries.

The U.N. and international aid groups say deliveries have been impeded by Israeli military restrictions, ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of public order.

Israel has been working with international partners on a plan to soon begin deliveries of aid by sea.

Israel has repeatedly feuded with the United Nations, particularly UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees and main provider of aid in Gaza. Israel accuses the agency of tolerating and even cooperating with Hamas — a charge UNRWA denies.

The court said in its order that “Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine … but that famine is setting in.” It cited a report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs that said at least 31 people, including 27 children, have already died of malnutrition and dehydration.

The world court said earlier orders imposed on Israel after landmark hearings in South Africa’s case “do not fully address the consequences arising from the changes in the situation” in Gaza.

On Tuesday, the army said it inspected 258 aid trucks, but only 116 were distributed within Gaza by the U.N.

COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs, has also run pilot programs to inspect the humanitarian aid at Israel’s main checkpoints in the south and then use land crossings in central Gaza to try to bring aid to the devastated northern part of the Strip. The agency had no immediate comment on the ICJ ruling.

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Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war



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Powerball jackpot increases to $935 million after no one wins the top prize



DES MOINES, Iowa — The Powerball jackpot increased to an estimated $935 million after no one matched the six numbers drawn Wednesday night.

The numbers selected were: 37, 46, 57, 60, 66 and the Powerball 8.

The drawing came a day after a player in New Jersey won a $1.13 billion Mega Millions prize after 30 straight drawings without a winner.

The Powerball jackpot has been growing for months, since the last winner on New Year’s Day. There now have been 37 consecutive drawings without anyone hitting the top prize.

The game’s odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to create big jackpots that will grab attention and increase sales.

The $935 million prize for the next drawing Saturday night is for a sole winner who is paid over 30 years through an annuity. Winners usually opt for a cash payout, which for the next drawing would be an estimated $449.7 million.

Powerball is played in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.



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Top Republican hints at an off-ramp from impeaching Biden



WASHINGTON — House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, one of the leaders of the Republican impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, is increasingly suggesting a potential off-ramp from pursuing articles of impeachment.

As GOP leaders struggle to convince their members that Biden should be impeached, Comer, R-Ky., is telling supporters it may be futile because Democrats would thwart the effort anyway.

Some Republicans say they haven’t seen enough evidence to impeach the president. But in a fundraising email earlier this week, Comer blamed “deranged Democrats” in the Senate signaling they’ll dismiss the House impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as evidence that they would also reject an impeachment of Biden.

In the same email, Comer presented a potential new outcome for his inquiry that he has also floated to reporters: Rather than push for a Senate trial, House Republicans could send criminal referrals to the Justice Department so that a future Donald Trump administration can prosecute if Republicans win back the White House in November.

“It’s clear that Democrats will choose their party over their country and the truth at every turn. They should be ashamed of themselves. That’s why I am preparing criminal referrals as the culmination of my investigation,” Comer wrote in the email. “When President Trump returns to the White House, it’s critical the new leadership at the DOJ have everything they need to prosecute the Biden Crime Family and deliver swift justice.”

Criminal referrals are non-binding recommendations from Congress to the Justice Department, which has the discretion to decide whether to act.

With the ultra-slim GOP majority in the House — which will drop to a one-vote margin for defections after Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., resigns on April 19 — party leaders face an uphill climb in corralling the votes to impeach Biden, particularly among Republican lawmakers in swing districts that Biden carried in 2020. They don’t expect to win any Democratic votes.

A GOP spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee said that “impeachment is 100% still on the table. The Committees will continue to investigate President Biden’s abuse of public office and will outline findings in a final report with recommendations.”

But the Senate requires a two-thirds majority to convict and remove an official from office. Senate Democrats, who hold a 51-49 edge, can vote to dismiss an impeachment inquiry with a simple majority. That may happen with the House-passed impeachment of Mayorkas, with some Democrats, including centrist Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., indicating they will vote to dismiss. Republicans considered Mayorkas as an easier target for impeachment than Biden as they argue he has been delinquent on immigration enforcement.

In an interview Monday on Fox News Radio, Comer was pressed on why news outlets have reported that his committee has turned up no concrete evidence of wrongdoing by Biden in its probe and whether Garland is seeking to protect Biden.

Comer suggested it is part of a plot by the “deep state,” a term former President Donald Trump uses to claim there’s a conspiracy among career government officials against him and his movement. (Though it’s ill-defined, the term is popular on the right and Trump is running in 2024 on a message that it must be “destroyed.”)

“Well, Garland’s working with the deep state, who’s working with the liberal mainstream media, to try to indoctrinate into people’s minds that there’s no evidence,” Comer said.

The Republican investigation has shown that Hunter Biden frequently communicated with his father, even in front of his business partners, though there has been a lack of evidence that they ever discussed business. Several witnesses in the inquiry, including Hunter Biden himself and other former business associates Rob Walker and Eric Schwerin, have testified unequivocally that President Biden was never involved in their business activities. And an FBI informant whose testimony was at the center of the GOP probe was recently arrested and charged with lying to the bureau about the Bidens.

Republicans hosted a public hearing last week featuring testimony from two of Hunter Biden’s former business associates, Tony Bobulinski and Jason Galanis, as well as Ukrainian-American businessman Lev Parnas. Hunter Biden was invited to the hearing but declined citing his court schedule and the fact that the committee did not also call Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to testify about overseas business dealings.

Bobulinski and Galanis both testified that they had interactions, whether in-person meetings or being present on speakerphone calls with Biden years ago that were initiated by Hunter Biden. But when pressed to describe the contents of those interactions, neither witness provided specific evidence that the then-vice president or private citizen was involved in his son’s business dealings.

Comer closed that hearing by promising to call President Biden himself to testify in the inquiry, though the committee has not yet formally issued an invitation. Days earlier, White House counsel Edward Siskel wrote a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., calling for an end to the investigation.

“It is obviously time to move on, Mr. Speaker. This impeachment is over. There is too much important work to be done for the American people to continue wasting time on this charade,” the letter said.



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Ukraine’s president replaces a top security official


KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has replaced one of the country’s top security officials in a reshuffle that comes as the war has dragged into a third year.

Zelenskyy dismissed Oleksii Danilov, who served as secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, thanking him for his service in a video address late Tuesday. He said without providing details that Danilov will be “reassigned to another area.”

Zelenskyy replaced Danilov with Oleksandr Lytvynenko, the former head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service. Zelenskyy didn’t announce the reasons behind the reshuffle.

The National Security Council is a policy coordination body that includes top officials and chaired by Zelenskyy.

Danilov’s dismissal comes as exhausted Ukrainian troops struggling with a shortage of personnel and ammunition are facing a growing Russian pressure along the front line that stretches over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).

The reshuffle follows February’s decision by Zelenskyy to fire the country’s chief military officer, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, replacing him Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi. Tensions between Zaluzhnyi and the president grew after Ukraine’s much-touted 2023 counteroffensive failed to reach its goals.

Earlier this month, Zaluzhnyi was named Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.

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Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine



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Indonesia’s top court begins hearing election appeals of 2 losing candidates alleging fraud


JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s top court began hearing appeals Wednesday against the presidential election results lodged by two losing candidates who allege widespread irregularities and fraud at the polls, demanding a revote.

The Feb. 14 presidential election results were announced March 20. The winner, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, received more than 96 million votes, or 58.6%, according to the General Election Commission, known as KPU.

Former Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan, who received nearly 41 million votes, or 24.9%, filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court on March 21, a day after the official results announcement. Another candidate, former Central Java Gov. Ganjar Pranowo, who was backed by the governing Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, received the smallest share of votes at 27 million, or 16.5%. His legal team filed a complaint to the court on March 23.

Baswedan’s lawsuit claimed that irregularities occurred before, during and after the election that resulted in Subianto’s victory, and his legal team will reveal its evidence and arguments in the court hearings.

Subianto chose as his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the son of the popular outgoing president Joko Widodo. The Constitutional Court had made an exception to the minimum age requirement of 40 for candidates. Baswedan and Pranowo both criticized 37-year-old Raka’s participation in the election.

Anwar Usman, who was the court’s chief justice when the exception was made, is Widodo’s brother-in-law. An ethics panel later forced Usman to resign for failing to recuse himself and for making last-minute changes to the candidacy requirements, but allowed him to remain on the court as long as he does not participate in election-related cases.

The election complaints were heard separately Wednesday by the court, where Baswedan had the first turn in the morning and Pranowo was slated in the afternoon.

“We witness with deep concern a series of irregularities that have tarnished the integrity of our democracy,” Baswedan told the court. He specifically pointed to the court’s decision allowing Raka to run despite the previously established criteria.

He said there are also disturbing practices where regional officials are pressured or given rewards to influence the direction of political choices, as well as misuse of the state’s social assistance, which is actually intended for people’s welfare, “is instead used as a transactional tool to win one of the candidates.”

“If we do not make corrections, the practices that occurred yesterday will be considered normal and become habits, then become culture and ultimately become national character,” Baswedan said before the eight-judge panel. “The Indonesian people are waiting with full attention, and we entrust all this to the Constitutional Court who is brave and independent to uphold justice.”

The verdict, expected on April 22, cannot be appealed. It will be decided by eight justices instead of the full nine-member court because Usman is required to recuse himself.

In the past two elections, the Constitutional Court has rejected Subianto’s bids to overturn Widodo’s victories and dismissed his claims of widespread fraud as groundless. Subianto refused to accept the results of the 2019 presidential election, which pitted him against Widodo, leading to violence that left seven dead in Jakarta.

Widodo has reached his term limit and could not run again this year. He has faced criticism for throwing his support behind Subianto, who has links to alleged human rights abuses. Indonesian presidents are expected to remain neutral in elections to replace them.

Hefty social aid from the government was disbursed in the middle of the campaign — far more than the amounts spent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Widodo distributed funds in person in a number of provinces, in a move that drew particular scrutiny.



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Biden aims to make North Carolina a top battleground — but Trump isn’t worried yet



FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Everywhere he turns, President Joe Biden and his campaign are playing defense across the 2024 electoral map.

That is except for one state: North Carolina.

In the Tar Heel State, where Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are set to visit Tuesday, favorable demographics, a string of major Republican nominees painted as extreme and a rapidly changing electorate that only narrowly backed former President Donald Trump in 2020 has Democrats feeling optimistic about their chances to flip the crucial battleground.

But with Biden’s popularity lower since his last run, Republicans here aren’t fretting yet. Polling shows Trump with an edge ranging from a few points to almost double digits, with even bigger leads on major issues.

“North Carolina is going to be this election’s Arizona, or past elections’ Florida,” former GOP Gov. Pat McCrory said of his state’s role in 2024 as the potential tipping point.

Republicans have a long history of success at the presidential level in North Carolina over the past 40 years, losing only once when Barack Obama carried the state in 2008. But Biden’s loss there in 2020 was the closest a Democrat has come since then, with Trump winning by just slightly more than 1 percentage point. Meanwhile, the state’s rapid growth has seen its largest Democratic-leaning counties become bigger and more blue.

That’s encouraged Democrats to be much more proactive in North Carolina this time around, particularly as it’s the only front-line swing state Biden did not carry in 2020. Already, his campaign has staffed up top positions and included the state in its $25 million battleground state ad buy. Biden’s visit Tuesday will mark his second visit to the state this year; in the 2020 general election cycle, he didn’t visit North Carolina until September.

“Anyone that you talk to from 2020 would tell you that the Biden campaign was just not here early,” said Anderson Clayton, chair of the state Democratic Party. “What we’ve really tried to do is go ahead and put boots on the ground and have an energy build up here.”

Winning North Carolina and its 16 electoral votes could be essential for Biden given his vulnerability in other states he carried four years ago. Rep. Wiley Nickel, D-N.C., who won one of the most hotly contested House races last cycle but is not seeking re-election this fall after redistricting, made the case for a North Carolina focus to Biden aboard Air Force One last year.

“The nationwide math just isn’t there without North Carolina,” he said. “You had John McCain’s ghost and John Lewis’ ghost propelling Biden to win in Georgia and Arizona, and you don’t have as much going on in those states this time, so you’ve got to look to one more and without one more state it gets really difficult … North Carolina by every account is the best opportunity there.”

Biden and Harris have billed their visit — which is technically a White House and not a campaign event — as a chance to tout in-state job growth, investments in local infrastructure and a law signed last year by Gov. Roy Cooper that expanded Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act. But leaders in the state see it as an opening salvo of what is sure to be a brutal and expensive campaign season.

“In 2020, we probably weren’t that high on the target list,” said Cooper, who is appearing alongside Biden and Harris on Tuesday, adding that unlike the 2020 campaign, which fell in the middle of the Covid pandemic, Biden and Democrats will get to engage in much more substantive door-to-door and in-person voter engagement. “You’re going to see organization that we haven’t seen before.”

Surveys so far show Trump ahead. A Marist College poll taken after this month’s Super Tuesday primaries, which had a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points, found Biden trailing the former president by 3 points — with the same survey showing Democratic state Attorney General Josh Stein leading Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson by 2 points in the battle for governor.

The same poll showed Trump with 12- and 9-point edges on immigration and the economy, including a 22- and 17-point edge respectively with independents. Biden held a 5-point advantage with voters on abortion and a 1-point edge on preserving democracy, which was a top concern for North Carolina voters.

Other preprimary surveys, including from Fox News and Bloomberg/Morning Consult, showed Trump leading by 5 to 9 points.

Couple those results with Trump having already pulled off back-to-back victories here, and his team is feeling good about their chance to make it three in a row. Trump has also elevated several veterans of North Carolina races: Senior adviser Chris LaCivita previously worked on McCrory’s campaign, and new Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley formerly led the North Carolina state party. New RNC co-chair Lara Trump also hails from the state.

“In 2016 and 2020, Democrats lit money on fire in North Carolina only to lose to President Trump,” Anna Kelly, an RNC spokesperson, said in a statement. “With President Trump’s record of success in the state and two North Carolinians at the helm of the RNC, 2024 will be no different — Tar Heel State families have felt the strain of Biden’s failures and are ready to deliver for President Trump yet again.”

‘The greatest liability’

Both Democrats and Republicans in North Carolina acknowledge that there are some true wild cards this time around. While Democrats lost a Senate race here after the Supreme Court rescinded Roe v. Wade, this year will mark the first elections for president and governor since the state’s GOP supermajority in the state Legislature overturned Cooper’s veto and enacted a 12-week abortion ban last year.

What’s more, Robinson, the GOP gubernatorial candidate, has said that he wants to further restrict abortion to six weeks. (His campaign says he supports exceptions that include rape, incest and the life of the mother.)

Robinson himself will be a focal point of the campaign. Formerly a prolific poster to his personal Facebook page, Robinson has been in the spotlight for years over comments that include linking homosexuality to pedophilia, calling homosexuality and transgenderism “filth,” and saying that the Black Panther franchise was “created by an agnostic Jew and put to film by [a] satanic marxist” before using a Yiddish slur for Black people. That is in addition to other comments and posts critics have condemned as sexist, Islamophobic and antisemitic.

Robinson in October insisted he is not antisemitic and distanced himself from his old social media posts, describing them as “poorly worded” in remarks for the state Legislature, adding: “There is no antisemitism standing here in front of you.” Facing a backlash over his anti-LGBTQ remarks in 2021, Robinson said he would “fight for” the rights of LGBTQ community.

Democrats are hopeful that they can take Trump down in the state by closely tying him together with Robinson, whom the former president called “Martin Luther King on steroids,” in endorsing him at a North Carolina rally this month.

One Trump ally predicted Robinson’s history of remarks could turn off some evangelicals who are staunch supporters of Israel, and that he will face far more in negative spending than McCrory did as an incumbent in 2016.

“The open question is how Trump deals with statements that Robinson makes and whether [Democrats] can tie the two together,” this person said. “So if I’m Biden, I’m going to try to do that.”

“I do think it’s an uphill climb for Biden on Trump right now. I’d bet on Trump,” this person added. “But it’s entirely in Trump’s hands about how he deals with Robinson.”

L.T. McCrimmon, a senior adviser to Biden’s campaign, said in a statement that North Carolina Republicans “continue to alienate the voters who will decide this election with their extreme rhetoric and backwards policies,” targeting Trump for “doubling down on his toxic agenda by hand-picking a slate of extreme candidates” and calling the state “ground zero for the extreme and losing MAGA agenda.”

Democrats have also taken aim at other down-ballot, statewide candidates, including Dan Bishop, the GOP nominee for attorney general and current member of the House Freedom Caucus, and Michele Morrow, a conservative activist and GOP nominee for state superintendent of public instruction who previously expressed support for violence against Democratic leaders. 

But none have garnered the attention Robinson has.

“The greatest liability for Donald Trump, on his whole national race for president that is greater than any legal liability he’s currently facing, is Mark Robinson on the gubernatorial ticket,” Paul Shumaker, a longtime Republican operative in the state, said. “And the reason being is the Democrats will move to link Trump and Robinson together and put them in lockstep.”

Mike Lonergan, communications director for Robinson’s campaign, said in a statement that Robinson “is very bold and outspoken about his Christian faith” and is “not a career politician that’s been groomed for higher office for decades — he’s a former factory worker.”

“As Lt. Governor Robinson has often said, we don’t live in a theocracy, we live in a constitutional republic,” he said. “If and when he should become governor, he will take the oath and duties of his office with the utmost respect, working to make North Carolina better for people of all backgrounds and walks of life; by growing our economy, reforming our schools and creating a culture of life that does more to support mothers and families.”

Jonathan Felts, a longtime North Carolina operative who is leading a pro-Robinson super PAC, said Robinson’s opponents are greatly overestimating how unknown the candidate is, while greatly underestimating his appeal.

“They think this is a phenomenon unique just to blue collar, working-class grassroots,” Felts said of Robinson’s meteoric rise through North Carolina GOP circles. “And that’s not the case. It doesn’t matter if you’re a country club Republican, big commercial developer, one of the largest car dealers in the country … they’re all in on Mark Robinson.”

And with Robinson generating headlines throughout North Carolina for years, voters aren’t just being introduced to him.

“They’ve all heard about the controversies,” he said, “And they’re still sticking with him.”

No matter which way the gubernatorial race goes, it will be historic. Robinson, should he win, would be North Carolina’s first Black governor. Stein, his opponent, would be its first Jewish chief executive. Another interesting wrinkle to the race is North Carolina’s long history of ticket-splitting, specifically sending Republicans to the White House or Senate while voting for Democrats for governor. And initial polling suggests that could happen again this time, just as it did in 2016 and 2020 when Trump and Cooper won on the same ballot.

Winning those crossover voters could be critical for both Trump and Biden, while another group of voters — those who cast ballots for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in this month’s Republican presidential primary — could prove key to both coalitions as well.

So far, the candidates aren’t putting much distance between themselves and the top of the ticket. Robinson has already campaigned with Trump, while Stein is set to appear at Biden’s Tuesday event.

“I think he’s the one who can deliver a better future for the people of North Carolina in this country,” Stein said of Biden. “But the voters will choose us on our own merits.”



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Cancer patients face anxious wait as Israel’s top court decides whether to send them back to Gaza


JERUSALEM — Reem Abu Obeida and Manal Abu Shaban are both 48-year-old grandmothers from the Gaza Strip, both suffer from breast cancer and both are awaiting an Israeli Supreme Court decision that they say could be a death sentence.

“They would be sending us to the area of hell,” Abu Obeida told NBC News on Thursday. “Our fate will be death.”

The women are among a group of Palestinians from Gaza who have been getting treatment in the cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, but now potentially face deportation back to Gaza, where the health care system has all but collapsed and basic medicines are scarce almost six months after Israel launched its military campaign in the enclave.  

Their fate — along with that of the rest of the group of around 20 women and children, patients and their companions — is now in the hands of Israel’s Supreme Court, which issued a temporary injunction Thursday to prevent them being sent back to Gaza. It will make a final decision next month.

Israel’s government, which is arguing that the patients have completed their treatment and have no further need to stay, has asked the court for 30 days to consider its options.

Cancer patients Manal Abu Shaban and Reem Abu Obedia started their treatment in Israel before the war.
Cancer patients Manal Abu Shaban and Reem Abu Obedia started their treatment in Israel before the war.Shira Pinson / NBC News

Abu Obeida and Abu Shaban, along with the other patients, say they need ongoing monitoring and follow-up care that is impossible to get in war-torn Gaza.

Among the patients are several children, according to a court filing from Physicians for Human Rights Israel, an Israeli nongovernmental organization, fighting to stop the deportation. 

“These are kids and grandparents. Sending them to the inferno, to a place where there is no safety is basically pure evil. Just a heartless action,” said Guy Shalev, the NGO’s executive director. 

He said that a 9-year-old girl who was brought out of Gaza to donate bone marrow to her sick brother was facing deportation along with her grandmother. Her brother and their mother had permission to stay because he was still receiving treatment, he added. 

The girl’s father was killed in the fighting, meaning she would have to return to Gaza without either parent, Shalev said, adding that the Israeli health care professionals treating her, even those reluctant to speak out against the war, had been “very strict in kind of saying we’re not going to let these people leave the hospital.” 

“The taxi was already on the way to pick them up,” he added.

The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority involved in the case, did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News. 

But in a statement to Israeli media, a COGAT spokesman said: “Gaza residents and their companions who have received medical treatment in Israeli hospitals, and are no longer required to continue medical treatment, are being returned to the Gaza Strip. In cases where further medical treatment is required, COGAT coordinates with the hospitals the continuation of their stay in order to ensure their health.” 

They added that the transition of people back to Gaza would be done in coordination with international aid organizations, including the Red Cross, and Israeli military forces on the ground.

In a guest house for outpatients being treated at Augusta Victoria, an imposing hospital on the Mount of Olives in east Jerusalem that primarily provides care for Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, Abu Obeida and Abu Shaban said they left Gaza in September and they had not seen their families since war broke out following the Hamas Oct. 7 attacks on Israel that left over 1,200 dead.

The room in the guest house where Manal Abu Shaban and Reem Abu Obedia are staying after their cancer treatment.
The room in the guest house where Manal Abu Shaban and Reem Abu Obedia are staying after their cancer treatment.Shira Pinson / NBC News

Since then they’ve watched from an agonizing distance as Israel’s military offensive has leveled much of Gaza and killed almost 33,000 people, according to health officials in the enclave. Many more bodies are thought to be under the rubble of destroyed buildings. 

“We are living in a tragedy. The body is here, but the soul and the heart is there,” said Abu Obeida, who comes from the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. The mom of 11 said her home had been destroyed by an Israeli strike and although her family had survived, three of her daughters had been dug out of the rubble.

Both said they were torn between a desperate desire to reunite with their families and fears for their own health and of burdening their loved ones.

“There is no treatment there at all. Our children live in a tent without food, water or medicine. There are no necessities,” Abu Obeida said, adding that her immune system was still weak after the cancer treatment.

Abu Shaban said she was initially joyful at the thought of being able to return to her home in northern Gaza, where her husband and five children remain. But later she said she learned that Israeli authorities intended to send her to either Khan Younis or Rafah, in southern Gaza, where she has no family.

“I wanted to return to my home and my children,” she said, adding that “tears fell because I was not returning to my home.” 

Israel’s government has blocked Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza, where it says the fight against Hamas is ongoing, almost six months into the war.

Most painful, Abu Shaban said, was missing the birth of a new granddaughter named Rahma, which means “mercy” in Arabic. “She is 3 months old, and I haven’t seen her yet. They send me her pictures, but I want to hold her, hug her and see her,” she added.

It was impossible to describe the “feeling of a mother who left her children,” she said.



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