U.S. averts U.N. diplomatic crisis over Israel

UNITED NATIONS — The Biden administration has averted a potential diplomatic crisis over Israeli settlements at the United Nations that had threatened to overshadow Western efforts for the world body to spotlight Russia’s war with Ukraine during the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion this week.

Multiple diplomats familiar with the situation said Sunday that the U.S. had successfully managed to forestall a contentious U.N. Security Council resolution pushed by the Palestinians and their supporters that would have condemned Israel for settlement expansion and demanded a halt to future activity.

To avoid a vote and a likely U.S. veto of the draft resolution, which would be legally binding, the diplomats said the administration managed to convince both Israel and the Palestinians to agree in principle to a six-month freeze in any unilateral action they might take.

On the Israeli side, that would mean a commitment to not expanding settlements until at least August, according to the diplomats.

On the Palestinian side, the diplomats said it would mean a commitment until August not to pursue action against Israel at the U.N. and other international bodies such as the World Court, the International Criminal Court and the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Instead of a resolution, the diplomats said the Security Council will adopt a weaker presidential statement along the lines of the resolution, probably on Monday. Presidential statements, which require support from all 15 council nations, become part of the council’s record but are not legally binding.

The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the highly sensitive negotiations.

A veto of the settlements resolution would have been a political headache for President Joe Biden as he approaches the 2024 presidential election.

Biden is struggling to balance his opposition to Israeli settlements and his support for a two-state resolution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict with moves to improve ties with the Palestinians that have wide backing among his progressive supporters.

A veto would alienate U.N. member countries supportive of the Palestinians, like the United Arab Emirates, which was sponsoring the resolution in the Security Council, as the West seeks support for Ukraine in the war with Russia.

The U.S. will be looking to the United Arab Emirates and other countries sympathetic to the Palestinians to vote in favor of a resolution in the 193-member General Assembly on Thursday condemning Russia for invading Ukraine and calling for a cessation of hostilities and the immediate withdrawal of all Russian forces.

The deal was arrived at on Sunday after days of frantic talks by senior Biden administration officials with Palestinian, Israeli and UAE leaders. Diplomats said the intensive effort including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Sullivan’s deputy Brett McGurk, the top diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, and special envoy for Palestinian affairs Hady Amr.

The Palestinian push for a resolution came as Israel’s new right-wing government has reaffirmed its commitment to construct new settlements in the West Bank and expand its authority on land the Palestinians seek for a future state.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. The United Nations and most of the international community consider Israeli settlements illegal and an obstacle to ending the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

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Los Angeles bishop’s death being investigated as a homicide

LOS ANGELES — A Roman Catholic bishop in Southern California was shot and killed Saturday just blocks from a church, a slaying of a longtime priest hailed as a “peacemaker” that’s stunned the Los Angeles religious community, authorities said.

Detectives are investigating the death of Bishop David O’Connell as a homicide, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Authorities have not said whether the bishop was targeted in the shooting or if his religion was a factor in the killing. The sheriff’s department would not say how or specifically where his body was discovered. The shooter — or shooters — remain at-large.

O’Connell, 69, had been a priest for 45 years and was a native of Ireland, according to Angelus News, the archdiocese’s news outlet. Pope Francis had named him one of several auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles — the largest in the country — in 2015.

O’Connell worked in South Los Angeles for years and focused on gang intervention, Angelus News reported. He later sought to broker peace between residents and law enforcement following the violent 1992 uprising after a jury acquitted four white LA police officers in the beating of Rodney King, a Black man. Nearly two decades later, he brought the San Gabriel Valley community together to rebuild a mission there after an arson attack.

O’Connell was found in Hacienda Heights around 1 p.m. Saturday with a gunshot wound. Sheriff’s deputies were called to the area — just blocks from the St. John Vianney Catholic Church, which is part of O’Connell’s archdiocese — on a report of a medical emergency.

Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene, the sheriff’s department said. The archdiocese said O’Connell lived in Hacienda Heights, but it was not immediately clear whether he was found at his home or elsewhere.

About a dozen people prayed the rosary next to police tape late Saturday after news of O’Connell’s death broke.

“He didn’t hold back his words. He was well spoken,” Jonny Flores told the Los Angeles Times from outside the crime scene. “He would take the time. He was very humble. He was never too busy.”

The sheriff’s department on Saturday initially only said homicide detectives had responded to “a shooting death investigation” with a male adult victim. Authorities did not identify the victim as O’Connell until Sunday morning.

The LA County sheriff offered the agency’s condolences, saying detectives are “committed to arresting those responsible for this horrible crime.”

“He was a peacemaker and had a passion serving those in need while improving our community,” Sheriff Robert Luna said on Twitter.

Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez initially only said O’Connell, who served in the city for decades, “passed away unexpectedly” without mentioning the violence. The archdiocese on Sunday referred media inquiries to the sheriff’s department.

“It is a shock and I have no words to express my sadness,” Gomez said in his original statement Saturday, calling him “a good friend.”

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John Kirby denies U.S. sabotaged Nord Stream pipelines

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby repeatedly denied the United States was involved in explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines, speaking Sunday on "Fox News Sunday."

"It’s a completely false story. There is no truth to it, Shannon," Kirby told host Shannon Bream, when asked about an article by journalist Seymour Hersh alleging U.S. involvement. "Not a shred of it. It is not true. The United States, and no proxies of the United States had anything to do with that, nothing."

U.S. and European officials suggested at the time that Russia may have been responsible for explosions in September that caused leaks. Nord Stream I and its finished-but-still-unused companion, Nord Stream II, are a set of natural gas pipes that connect Russia with Germany under the Baltic Sea.

Hersh wrote on Substack earlier this month, based on a single anonymous source, that the U.S. was involved in the sabotage of the pipelines.

Asked by Bream whether the administration would have an obligation to inform Congress of such an operation, Kirby said: "Obviously, we keep Congress informed appropriately of things both classified and unclassified. But I can tell you now, regardless of the notification process, there was no U.S. involvement in this."

Hersh is a Pulitzer-winning journalist best known for his expose of the 1968 My Lai Massacre committed by U.S. troops in Vietnam and the Pentagon’s efforts to cover it up. In 2004, he chronicled the military’s torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. But he has also drawn criticism for some of his reporting in recent years, including his challenges to the official U.S. account of the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine a year ago this week, has relied on its income from energy exports to fund the war. President Joe Biden sanctioned the Russian company behind the pipelines last year.

David Cohen contributed to this report.

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North Korea confirms ICBM test, warns of more powerful steps

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Sunday its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test was meant to further bolster its “fatal” nuclear attack capacity against its rivals, as it threatened additional powerful steps in response to the upcoming military training between the United States and South Korea.

The United States responded by flying long-range supersonic bombers later Sunday for a joint exercise with South Korean warplanes in a demonstration of strength against North Korea.

Saturday’s ICBM test, the North’s first missile test since Jan. 1, signals its leader Kim Jong Un is using his rivals’ drills as a chance to expand his country’s nuclear arsenal to get the upper hand in future dealings with the United States. An expert says North Korea may seek to hold regular operational exercises involving its ICBMs.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said its launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM was organized “suddenly” without prior notice at Kim’s direct order.

KCNA said the launch was designed to verify the weapon’s reliability and the combat readiness of the country’s nuclear force. It said the missile was fired at a high angle and reached a maximum altitude of about 5,770 kilometers (3,585 miles), flying a distance of about 990 kilometers (615 miles) for 67 minutes before accurately hitting a pre-set area in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

The steep-angle launch was apparently to avoid neighboring countries. The flight details reported by North Korea, which roughly matched the launch information previously assessed by its neighbors, show the weapon is theoretically capable of reaching the mainland U.S. if fired at a standard trajectory.

The Hwasong-15 launch demonstrated the North’s “powerful physical nuclear deterrent” and its efforts to “turn its capacity of fatal nuclear counterattack on the hostile forces” into an extremely strong one that cannot be countered, KCNA said.

Whether North Korea has a functioning nuclear-tipped ICBM is still a source of outside debate, as some experts say the North hasn’t mastered a way to protect warheads from the severe conditions of atmospheric reentry. The North says it has acquired such a technology.

The Hwasong-15 is one of North Korea’s three existing ICBMs, all of which use liquid propellants that require pre-launch injections and cannot remain fueled for extended periods. The North is pushing to build a solid-fueled ICBM, which would be more mobile and harder to detect before its launch.

“Kim Jong Un has likely determined that the technical reliability of the country’s liquid propellant ICBM force has been sufficiently tested and evaluated to now allow for regular operational exercises of this kind,” said Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at Korea Aerospace University in South Korea, said that North Korea appeared to have launched an upgraded version of the Hwasong-15 ICBM. Chang said the information provided by North Korea showed the missile will likely have a longer potential range than the standard Hwasong-15.

Later Sunday, the U.S. sent B-1B bombers streaking over the Korean Peninsula to train with South Korean and U.S. fighter jets, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. It said Sunday’s training reaffirmed Washington’s “iron-clad” security commitment to South Korea.

North Korea is sensitive to the deployment of U.S. B-1B bombers, which are capable of carrying a huge payload of conventional weapons.

The North’s launch came a day after it vowed an “unprecedentedly” strong response over a series of military drills that Seoul and Washington plan in coming weeks.

In a statement Sunday, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of Kim Jong Un, accused South Korea and the U.S. of “openly showing their dangerous greed and attempt to gain the military upper hand and predominant position in the Korean Peninsula.”

“I warn that we will watch every movement of the enemy and take corresponding and very powerful and overwhelming counteraction against its every move hostile to us,” she said.

North Korea has steadfastly slammed regular South Korea-U.S. military drills as an invasion rehearsal though the allies say their exercises are defensive in nature.

“By now, we know that any action taken by the U.S. and South Korea — however justified from the vantage point of defense and deterrence against (North Korea’s) reckless behavior — will be construed and protested as an act of hostility by North Korea,” said Soo Kim, a security analyst at the California-based RAND Corporation. “There will always be fodder for (Kim Jong Un’s) weapons provocations.”

“With nuclear weapons in tow and having mastered the art of coercion and bullying, Kim does not need ‘self-defense.’ But pitting the U.S. and South Korea as the aggressors allows Kim to justify his weapons development,” Soo Kim said.

U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the U.S. will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and South Korea and Japan. South Korea’s presidential National Security Council said it will seek to strengthen its “overwhelming response capacity” against potential North Korean aggression based on the military alliance with the United States.

The South Korean and U.S. militaries plan to hold a table-top exercise this week to hone a joint response to a potential use of nuclear weapons by North Korea. The allies are also to conduct another joint computer simulated exercise and field training in March.

The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan, meeting on the sidelines of a security conference in Germany on Saturday, agreed to boost a trilateral cooperation involving the United States and exchanged in-depth views on the issue of Japan’s colonial-era mobilization of forced Korean laborers — a key sticking point in efforts to improve their ties, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry.

South Korea and Japan are both key U.S. allies but often spat over issues stemming from Tokyo’s 1910-45 colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula. But North Korea’s recent missile testing spree is pushing the two countries to explore how to reinforce their security cooperation.

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Iran’s former crown prince: ‘This generation is not waiting anymore’

Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah of Iran, has often been seen as a solo actor determined to bring about the end of the Islamist forces that took over his native country more than 40 years ago. But recently, as a wave of protests inside Iran threatened the regime there, Pahlavi has united with other top Iranian opposition figures with the same goal. The group is working on a charter for a future democratic Iran. On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Pahlavi offered a glimpse of what it will include and called on the West to do more to help Iranians desperate for freedom.

This interview was a collaboration between POLITICO and the German newspaper WELT. It has been edited for length and clarity.

The Munich Security Conference didn’t invite an official Iranian delegation this year. Instead, you and opposition activist Masih Alinejad are here. What is your goal in Munich?

We are very happy that after 43 years, this is the first time that the world is really engaging with the people who represent an alternative to this regime. The paradigm has changed — and the way we see governments taking action — including Germany. For the oppressed, this is incredibly empowering. We want to explain that everything is tied to this regime: whether it’s the nuclear threat, terrorism, Iranian-made drones attacking Ukraine or more and more refugees coming to an already saturated Europe. Not to mention that Iran could be the exporter of gas for your energy needs, so you wouldn’t have to worry every winter what Putin is going to do next. But that depends on us winning this fight.

Europe, and especially the U.S., are already putting sanctions on Iran. Should they continue the strategy of maximum pressure or what else could they do to support the opposition?

The next level would be to target the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to go after specific individuals and their assets abroad. However, you should also start building a policy of maximum support. For instance, one of the most vital elements for Iranians is access to internet to bypass the censorship of the regime. That kind of technological assistance must be sent in. Another idea is creating a strike fund to compensate Iranian workers who go on strike, because this is the quickest way to paralyze the system.

How would you send the money to Iran in times of U.S. sanctions against financial transfer?

Frozen assets of the regime can be used, which is the Iranian people’s money. That money can be repurposed. We’re not asking for Germans to put money in the Iranian people’s pocket. It’s just a matter of making the decision to use the assets which are already there. I’m sure there should be some options of making exceptions to the sanctions to bring the money to the people, not to the dictator.

Are you disappointed that Europe didn’t list the Revolutionary Guards as a terror organization yet?

Well, our Spanish friend [Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief] is not helping too much, is he? There must be a legal way to do that. Whatever it takes, but that’s our expectation. The IRGC is a legalized mafia. It not only has the control of the economy, but it is also a paramilitary instrument, the backbone of the regime’s leader, [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei. The Islamic Republic deploys troops, tanks, and artillery, not to fight a foreign invader, but to kill its own people. The EU cannot say that they stand for freedom and human rights and at the same time does not sanction the biggest instrument of repression.

How crucial is the listing for the success of a revolution?

It is necessary in order for defections to occur. We would like to reduce the level of human losses by showing the military that they can be part of the future, especially those who haven’t committed heinous crimes. The more they see that they are also targeted, it will give them more incentive to switch sides.

How likely is it that they will do so?

The top echelon of the IRGC is like the top of the Politburo during the Soviet Union. They are benefiting from their financial control and corruption. But that doesn’t trickle down to the lower ranks. The average guy is working two jobs to make ends meet. In the hearts the military is prepared to come towards the people. But to do so they need to have a clear sense of the alternative and understand the crucial role that they could play during the transition to maintain law and order. We need them for that. But for this, they must see that the world is supportive of that change.

Do you see cracks within the Islamic regime?

The cohesion of the regime is Khamenei himself. He has been desperately trying to promote his son as his successor, which is very difficult to achieve once he’s gone. There are already many splinters within what we call the tent of the leader. There’s a rift and it affects the IRGC as well. Meanwhile, there’s a large number of what we refer to as the gray layer — people who are undecided. Former reformists are now coming to the scene saying we have to move beyond reform.

You and other prominent figures of the opposition in exile lately presented the idea of a common charter for transition. Is it written yet?

It’s been 95 percent finalized. We are very close to announcing it. But first we want to make sure that it passes the approval of the people back in Iran. The charter is addressing the minimal conditions that the biggest width of the secular democratic forces can agree upon. The instrument that will make the final decision should be the Constituent Assembly. There might be some differences of opinion, which we leave for a new parliament to decide. Important now is: What do we do when the regime collapses? We have groups that are focusing, for instance, on the economy, judicial issues, and transitional justice.

Can you tell us the first sentence of the charter?

I don’t have a sentence for you, but a concept of what I’ve learned having traveled to so many different countries. There are three fundamentals — demands that any human being on this planet, regardless of nationality or culture, will have. The first one is freedom and a true sense of liberty. The second is participation. And the third, which, I think is even more important than the first two, is dignity. These principles are embedded in the Declaration of Human Rights, which is the reference text that hopefully Iran’s future constitution will be based on.

How many people in Iran are you approaching for signature?

It’s a very broad approach. The messaging is mostly through social media. We have constant Zoom calls or Google Meets with people inside, activists, political prisoners. It’s a direct dialogue. Then it gets dispersed among their own networks in universities, among teachers. The student movement is very important.

Why did it take more than 40 years for the opposition to work together?

I wish it happened 40 years ago. That was the first time I mentioned in an article that we must have a referendum and a constituent assembly to decide the future. But sometimes it takes time, and there is the factor of religion. Today, clerics have lost complete respect, mosques are empty and that’s because of those who have used religion as a pretext to commit crimes. A lot of people that are devoted Muslims in Iran don’t want that. They had to learn it the hard way.

And why was there no unified opposition in exile earlier?

It’s not that we didn’t want to come together. The dynamics of political change in Iran today are far more geared to the demand of the street as opposed to some groups who were lined up based on ideological preferences. The opposition had to reinvent itself — in the sense that what we do or say today must be relevant to the people on the street.

One of the groups not represented in the unified opposition is one that calls itself the biggest Iranian opposition group in exile — the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. What role, if any, do they play? Do you and other opposition figures talk with them as well?

To me, the biggest problem is that they have their own internal limitations of having an open dialogue with any other democratic forces. It’s a little bit of a cult mentality that prohibits its members from free dialogue. As such, participating in an open process is almost impossible for them, because the minute they commit to that, they will collapse internally. Political inclusion is based on accepting democratic rules. If these principles that will be in the charter are something they are willing to sign up for, why not? But that’s up to them. To this day, they have never wanted to actually accept that.

Your family was part of the monarchy. How can people trust that you will be part of a democratic process?

First, because they know that I’m my own man and that no son or daughter could be held accountable for whatever their parents did. I was 17 years old when I left my country. And all I’ve been saying since is “Hey, I’m not running for any office here.” I’m simply trying to see a transition where people get to decide. This is a much more valuable role that I can play without being entangled in the patterns of state or governance.

We also need a cultural change, and democratic culture is not impregnated in the nation. I can contribute more to that direction because I lived 40 years of my life in free countries, in America, in France, visiting countries like Germany. Helping with the educational process is much more my interest than to be sitting at the table with a bunch of ministers and deciding policies of the day, or even being stuck in the palace as a symbolic leader, muzzled and not free to speak my mind. I’m not fighting for your freedom to be the first victim of it myself.

Several hundred thousand people signed an online petition to give you the power of attorney. What do you make of that?

A lot of people understand how crucial my role can be in a transition. But that has nothing to do with whether we have a republic or a monarchy in the future. People automatically assume that I’m the candidate for the monarchy. Not necessarily. If my choice is between a secular republic elected by the people versus an institution that is still based on hereditary transition, I cannot reconcile that with democratic norms.

The negotiations for a new nuclear deal are stalled but Iran is enriching uranium as we speak. Is there any advice you’re giving foreign leaders on how to deal with this?

Our argument is: The best way for you to eliminate the danger once and for all is to eliminate the regime. Because how trustworthy was the regime before, even after signing some agreement? During the Obama administration, we saw the released funds going to the various brigades in Lebanon or Syria instead of serving the country’s interests. Time is running out. And we have an opportunity now with the Iranian people themselves to put an end to the problem once and for all.

In Israel, there was lately a very large military exercise together with the U.S. People are talking about the so-called military option to end Iran’s nuclear program …

… which is a nightmare. Particularly at a point when the people of that nation say, “Hey, we are in the streets, help us get rid of the regime.“ How did we put an end to apartheid? At some point, we came to the defense of those who wanted an end to it. How did we put an end to [Gen. Wojciech] Jaruzelski in Poland? By helping Lech Walesa and company in their Solidarity movement.

Why shouldn’t Iran be part of the same rationale? We are already putting our lives on the line and losing people every day. Work with us. You have the best army in place: the people. The minute this regime goes, we’ll be working hard to achieve stability. We need to work with the Israelis, with the Arab neighbors. We need to work with the Europeans on energy matters and security matters.

Can you imagine going back to Iran?

I see myself in a trailer traveling the four corners of the country, camping out just to interact with people. That’s how you can feel what people really want and then show them ways to be more impactful in decision-making. I think the secret to established democracies is that their citizens are proactive. It’s very hard to insert a mentality of proactiveness in a very traditional Middle Eastern culture which always sits back and says, “somebody do something for me.” But this generation is not waiting anymore.

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Blinken meets China’s top diplomat, warns against airspace violations

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China’s top diplomat on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, and warned him that the U.S. will not tolerate violations of its airspace after a Chinese spy balloon flew over North America.

It wasn’t clear until the final hours whether the meeting between Blinken and Wang Yi would happen, and whether it will result in any easing of tensions on either side.

At the conference, Wang publicly slammed the U.S. response to the balloon — which Beijing insists was a weather monitoring device — as a “weak” and “near-hysterical” reaction; he also accused the U.S. of warmongering.

According to a State Department readout of the meeting, Blinken “directly spoke to the unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law” by the Chinese balloon “underscoring that this irresponsible act must never again occur.”

Blinken also warned Beijing about “implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia or assistance with systemic sanctions evasion,” as Moscow wages war against Ukraine.

U.S. and Chinese officials had spent the last few days trying to broker a meeting between Blinken and Wang, according to three people familiar with those efforts. Beijing’s condition that the U.S. formally request the meeting had slowed progress in the talks, said a Washington, D.C.-based diplomat with knowledge of the discussions.

“It’s a two-way discussion to land a meeting,” the diplomat said, adding that the Biden administration wouldn’t “bend the knee” to get the meeting.

Another Washington, D.C.-based diplomat with knowledge of the talks said Blinken had requested a meeting but “had no response from China” as he boarded his flight for Munich on Thursday.

Bloomberg first reported on Monday thatBlinken was considering meeting with Wang at the conference, which opened Friday and continues through Sunday.

There were signs that Blinken was operating under the assumption that a Munich meeting with Wang was highly likely.

“Some of the officials who would need to be there for such a meeting left with Blinken to Munich in anticipation of a potential meeting,” said a third Washington, D.C.-based diplomat familiar with the trip’s participants. All three diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to give public statements about the negotiations.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to a request for comment. Wang’s official title is director of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Foreign Affairs Office, which makes him a key foreign policy figure — though technically not China’s foreign minister.

The meeting was the first face-to-face attempt by the Biden administration to address the Chinese spy balloon the U.S. shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4.

But it carries political risk for President Joe Biden, who is trying to balance his administration’s desire to maintain “open lines of communication” with Beijing amid a widening bipartisan uproar about what both a House and a Senate resolution have declared was a “brazen violation” of U.S. sovereignty.

Already tense relations have been souring since the Pentagon confirmed the balloon’s presence over the northwestern U.S. this month.

Blinken postponed an originally planned Feb. 5-6 trip to Beijing in response to the incursion. Biden said on Thursday that he’d make “no apologies” for the balloon’s destruction and that he’d be speaking to Chinese leader Xi Jinping to “get to the bottom” of the incident.

Alexander Ward contributed to this report.

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Ahead of potential presidential bid, DeSantis heads to New York for law enforcement event

NEW YORK — Florida governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis plans to travel to New York City for a law enforcement event Monday, according to a copy of an invitation obtained by POLITICO.

DeSantis, who is expected to declare his candidacy in the spring, is listed as a “special guest for a discussion on protecting Law and Order in New York,” according to the email. The event will take place early Monday morning, coinciding with the federal Presidents Day holiday.

Doors will open at 7:30 a.m. at the Privé catering hall on the South Shore of Staten Island — one of the few Republican bastions in the otherwise Democratic stronghold of New York City. Staten Island is the only one of the city’s five boroughs to support former President Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020. It is a suburban enclave in a city of mass transit, congestion and skyscrapers, and is home to many police officers and firefighters who tend to back GOP candidates.

Among those expected to attend the event are state Assembly Member and head of the local GOP, Michael Tannnousis; City Council Republican members Joe Borelli and David Carr; and Assembly Member Michael Reilly, according to someone with knowledge of the event who would only speak on the condition of anonymity. Law enforcement union leaders are also likely to be on hand, the person said.

The invitation indicates DeSantis will hold additional events in the city, but doesn’t specify details. National candidates from both major parties often travel to New York to hold fundraisers, given the city’s preponderance of well-heeled political donors.

Despite New York being a Democratic bastion, Republicans did surprisingly well in the state during the 2022 election cycle.

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