"Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today," said Ben Franklin. If sloganeering was left to Congress, the motto might read, "Never do today what you can leave till tomorrow." That is emblematic of the recent scramble on Capitol Hill to renew the key terrorism prevention program known as FISA Section 702. Congress faced a deadline to re-up the program before 11:59:59 p.m. ET on April 20. Lawmakers fretted that it was risky to let the program expire. They worried that the U.S. may be vulnerable to a terrorist attack because of the war with Iran. President Donald Trump insisted that Republicans "UNIFY, and vote together" to pass an 18-month extension of FISA without any add-ons. The president argued that the FISA program was among "the reasons we have had such tremendous SUCCESS on the battlefield." So the House GOP brass planned to pass the 18-month FISA reauthorization last Wednesday. But it’s about the math. An eclectic alliance ...
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani described his relationship with President Donald Trump as "honest and direct" despite the president's recent criticism against him. "I would say that it’s honest, it’s direct, and it’s productive," Mamdani said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I'll keep the cadence of that between the two of us. Much of that is based on the premise of privacy, but I will say is that those conversations, no matter how they happen, they returned back to one thing, one of the few things that we have in common, which is our love for New York City and how to deliver for the same city." When asked if he could "trust" Trump, Mamdani remarked that it's part of conversations that "have to continue," though he credited the president for his efforts to help release a Columbia University student , Elmina "Ellie" Aghayeva, who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). MAMDANI GRIL...