Border crossing closed after vehicle explosion on bridge connecting New York and Canada

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — A border crossing between the U.S. and Canada has been closed after a vehicle exploded at a checkpoint on a bridge near Niagara Falls.

The FBI’s field office in Buffalo said in a statement that it was investigating the explosion on the Rainbow Bridge, which connects the two countries across the Niagara River.

Photos and video taken by news organizations and posted on social media showed a security booth that had been singed by flames.

Further information wasn’t immediately available.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said she had been briefed on the incident and was “closely monitoring the situation.”

The Rainbow Bridge is one of four border crossings connecting Ontario to western New York.

The others are Lewiston, Whirlpool and Peace Bridge. The Niagara Falls Bridge Commission reports all four crossings are closed.

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Donor allegedly offered $20M to recruit a Tlaib primary challenger

A Michigan businessman called Democratic Senate candidate Hill Harper to offer $20 million in campaign contributions if he agreed to drop out and instead mount a primary challenge to Rep. Rashida Tlaib, according to a source with direct knowledge of the call.

The source added that Harper declined the alleged Oct. 16 offer from donor Linden Nelson — which would have split the campaign money between $10 million in bundled contributions directly to Harper’s campaign and $10 million in independent expenditures. Harper declined to comment on the record about the alleged call from Nelson, a Michigan entrepreneur and past donor to candidates in both parties, but he recounted the call in the same terms as the source in a post on X after this story's publication.

But the episode illustrates the intensity of the blowback toward Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, in response to her outspoken criticism of the Israeli government since its war with Hamas began. More than 20 Democrats joined Republicans in voting to censure Tlaib earlier this month after she invoked a pro-Palestinian slogan that's widely seen as calling for the eradication of Israel, and pro-Israel Democrats are still searching for a candidate to primary her.

POLITICO reached Nelson briefly to seek comment on the alleged call to Harper, but he ended the call after a few seconds and did not respond to subsequent calls, texts and emails seeking comment.

Three of Tlaib's fellow progressive critics of Israeli government policy, Reps. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), are facing their own Democratic challengers who are touting their more pro-Israel rhetoric and voting records. Harper, an actor and business owner, has also positioned himself as a progressive in the primary to succeed retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) — but he's struggled to gain traction as Senate rival Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) leads in polling and fundraising.

Harper also might not have proven the most ideal recruit to challenge Tlaib with a more pro-Israeli government approach. Harper called for a “humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza, largely echoing the ceasefire support from a few dozen congressional Democratic progressives; he did so on Nov. 10, well after the alleged call from Nelson.

“The answers to ensure long-term peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians are neither simple nor pain-free, but one truth stands firm: violence against defenseless children, trapped and frightened, is abhorrent, regardless of who is behind it,” Harper wrote in a statement calling for the ceasefire earlier this month.

In addition, Harper’s Detroit residence is located in Rep. Shri Thanedar’s (D-Mich.) district, not in Tlaib’s. She has represented her district, which includes Dearborn and its large Arab American population, since 2019. Despite facing multiple past Democratic challengers, she's handily won her primary elections since then.

A Tlaib spokesperson declined to comment on the alleged Nelson-Harper call.

Tlaib has called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, a position that's slowly amassing more Democratic support as casualties increase from the Israel-Hamas war.

As the Democratic Party confronts deep divisions over Israel that were exacerbated by the U.S. ally's military response to Hamas, progressive incumbents are seeking help from party leaders to quell pro-Israel Democrats' interest in primary challenges to lawmakers deemed insufficiently supportive of the war. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has already heeded that call by endorsing Omar's reelection.

Nelson has also previously donated to a group seeking to unseat Tlaib and has a history of involvement with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has railed against her. He has donated to other Michigan Democratic candidates over the years, including Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) this cycle and Andy Levin in previous cycles, according to FEC records, as well as former Rep. Mike Bishop (R-Mich.).

It’s not clear if the alleged donation offer would have violated any campaign finance laws, had Harper accepted it. Saurav Ghosh, the director for federal reform at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, said that any potential coordination between a candidate and a donor floating that amount of financing would be illegal.

“It would be illegal for a wealthy donor and a person planning to run for office to essentially coordinate and line up $20 million in financing to support that person’s candidacy; this would raise serious corruption concerns about the candidate being wholly within that one donor's pocket,“ said Ghosh.

A promise to make a future donation boosting the candidate could count as a contribution under campaign finance laws and could thus qualify as an excessive contribution, Ghosh added, as the promised money would still end up directly benefiting the candidate even if it were routed through an outside group like a super PAC.

Nelson did not respond to a subsequent request for comment on the potential illegality of the alleged offer.

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British state 'surprisingly bad' at responding to Covid-19, inquiry hears

Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty blames sluggish government machine for U.K.'s pandemic failings.

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Feds fine crypto giant $4.4B, alleging it aided Hamas financing, violated sanctions

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is being booted out of the U.S. after federal prosecutors alleged the company aided terrorist networks like Hamas, violated sanctions and facilitated human and narcotics trafficking.

Binance, a global trading platform that accounts for about half of all crypto activity, has agreed to pay $4.4 billion to settle charges brought by the Department of Justice, Treasury and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao — who played a prominent role in the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange last year — pleaded guilty to money laundering charges, stepped down as CEO from the company and agreed to pay a $50 million fine. Zhao will also pay a $150 million penalty to the CFTC, while Samuel Lim, the company’s former chief compliance officer, has agreed to a $1.5 million penalty to the agency, according to the authorities.

“Binance turned a blind eye to its legal obligations in the pursuit of profit. Its willful failures allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers through its platform,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. In prepared remarks, Yellen said groups like Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and ISIS had all used Binance to conduct transactions.

Most of the transactions alleged to have violated U.S. sanctions programs involved Iran, according to a senior Treasury official.

The more than $1 trillion crypto market has long been dogged by accusations of fraud. But the Binance settlement — the penalties assessed by the authorities are the largest in history — marks the latest sign that the industry has entered a new age of law and order in the U.S.

“The result of these agreements will be an end to company behavior that has posed risks to the U.S. financial system, U.S. citizens, and our country’s national security for too long,” Yellen said. “And let me be clear: We are also sending a message to the virtual currency industry more broadly, today and for the future.”

Under the terms of the settlement, Binance will also enter into a monitorship and undertake new compliance efforts, including “to ensure Binance’s complete exit from the United States,” the Treasury Department said. The monitor — a first for the crypto market — will give Treasury access to Binance’s books and records for five years. The senior Treasury official compared it to the oversight structure imposed on banks following the global financial crisis.

Treasury officials declined to comment on what the settlement means for Binance.US — a separate, smaller crypto exchange owned by Zhao that is registered with FinCEN as a money services business.

In a blog post published shortly after the announcement, Binance said the settlement will enable it to “emerge as a stronger company as we lay the foundation for the next 50 years.” And while Zhao will no longer have a leadership role, he remains the company's majority shareholder and “a resource available for consultation on historical areas of our business.”

Zhao admitted that he “made mistakes” and “must take responsibility” in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. He also said Richard Teng, the exchange’s former global head of regional markets, is taking over as CEO.

“Binance is no longer a baby. It is time for me to let it walk and run,” Zhao wrote. “I know Binance will continue to grow and excel with the deep bench it has.”

The U.S. accelerated efforts to rein in the crypto market over the last year following the downfall of Bankman-Fried’s FTX, the one-time chief rival of Binance and Zhao whose collapse shook Washington and Wall Street. Prosecutors have since gone after a number of major crypto executives on fraud charges, while regulators like the Gary Gensler-led Securities and Exchange Commission have nabbed several leading crypto companies including Gemini, Coinbase and, most recently, Kraken for allegedly skirting market rules.

The CFTC and SEC alleged earlier this year that Binance was, among other things, tapping into the American market without the authority to do so. The SEC’s case was not part of the settlements unveiled Tuesday.

“Binance’s activities undermined the foundation of safe and sound financial markets by intentionally avoiding basic, fundamental obligations that apply to exchanges, all the while collecting approximately $1.35 billion in trading fees from U.S. customers,” CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam said. “Binance and its leaders sought to dupe and indoctrinate their employees and customers, building a cult-like following premised on circumventing their own compliance controls to maximize corporate profits above all else.”

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Adams' standing plummets in NYC in latest Marist poll amid federal probe

ALBANY, New York, — New Yorkers have soured on the state's two top Democratic leaders, a Marist College poll on Tuesday found.

Among New York City voters, 37 percent approved of the job Eric Adams has done as mayor while 54 percent disapproved. That's a long way from a Marist survey in March 2022, just a few months into his term, when he polled favorably 61 percent to 24 percent.

On Adams’ interactions with Turkey that are part of a federal campaign-finance investigation, more than seven in ten New York City residents thought he did something wrong during his 2021 campaign.

With Adams, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, 33 percent of New York City voters said they thought he “has done something illegal”; 39 percent said he “has done something unethical, but not illegal"; while 18 percent said he “has done nothing wrong.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul also struggled in the poll. Only 43 percent of registered voters approved of the job she is doing as governor, while 44 percent disapproved.

"There’s no good news for New York’s major officials," Lee Miringoff, the poll's director, said in a statement. "Governor Hochul’s standing has deteriorated in the state; Mayor Adams faces a more negative constituency."

For Adams, he was most popular with Black voters and older voters who were surveyed.

As for Hochul, only 39 percent of respondents said she is “changing the way things work in Albany for the better,” while 56 percent said she is not. She scored favorably on that question by a margin of 46 percent to 39 when Marist last asked it in October 2021, two months into her tenure.

A total of 59 percent of respondents said “the overall quality of life” in New York has “gotten worse” over the past year, while 11 percent said it has “gotten better.”

The Siena College Research Institute had been the only major independent pollster to release numbers on New York’s state government in 2023. The new Marist numbers help confirm months of conclusions by Siena that Hochul is in the polling doldrums — one Siena survey released on Monday found she was viewed favorably by 40 percent of registered voters and unfavorably by 43 percent.

Siena had a similar finding on Adams last month in a statewide poll: His job approval rating was 30 percent positive and 46 percent negative as he expects to run for a second term in 2025.

Marist also asked voters’ thoughts on Hochul’s political ideology.

Among Democrats, 19 percent said she was “too liberal,” 18 percent said “too conservative,” and 60 percent said “about right.” A total of 69 percent of Republicans and 55 percent of unaffiliated voters said she is “too liberal.”

The poll found that 48 percent of registered voters said Sen. Chuck Schumer is doing an “excellent” or “good” job in office, while 51 percent said his performance is “fair” or “poor.” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand landed at 40 percent to 55 percent on that question as she plans to run for reelection next year.

Only 44 percent of New Yorkers approved of President Joe Biden’s job performance, while 53 percent disapproved.

Pollsters surveyed 1,556 registered voters from Nov. 13-15. The statewide numbers have a margin of error of 3.2 points, while the New York City numbers have a margin of error of 5.3 points.

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Feds probe $10B deal for Subway sandwich chain

Amid its high-profile assaults on Amazon and Microsoft, the FTC isn't too busy to worry about people’s lunch.

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating if the $10 billion purchase of Subway creates a sandwich shop monopoly with Jimmy John's and Arby's. The latter two, in addition to McAlister’s Deli and Schlotzky’s, are owned by private equity firm Roark Capital, which inked a deal to buy Subway in August. The government is focused in part on whether the addition of Subway gives Roark too much control of a lucrative segment of the fast food industry, the people said.

Roark paid around $10 billion for Subway, according to a third person with knowledge of the deal.

The Atlanta-based Roark focuses on consumer chains with franchise models, and which also include Dunkin’, Buffalo Wild Wings and Baskin-Robbins.

The investigation is emblematic of the agency’s increased focus under FTC Chair Lina Khan on both deal-making by private equity firms and prices of consumer staples. The FTC in September sued a group of anesthesia practices in Texas and its private equity owner for a series of acquisitions that it says illegally consolidated the market. The agency is also investigating the pending merger of grocery store chains Kroger and Albertsons, and a decision on whether to challenge the deal is expected in the coming months.

Spokespeople for the FTC and Roark declined to comment. A spokesperson for Subway did not respond to a request for comment.

The FTC’s investigation began earlier this month, according to one of the people. Most mergers valued over $111.4 million must undergo a mandatory 30-day review period by either the FTC or Justice Department. Any investigation beyond that time period is discretionary. The companies unsuccessfully sought to stave off a prolonged probe through a procedural move that extended the initial period by another 30 days, according to the third person.

The investigation is in the early stages, and any resolution is likely months away. Merger reviews by antitrust regulators can often take a year or more. The FTC can either sue to block the merger, reach an agreement with the companies that alleviates its concerns, or take no action at all.

In any merger review, regulators must first determine the market where they believe competition is harmed. The companies are arguing the FTC should widen its focus beyond sandwiches, saying consumers are choosing between a wider array of options when deciding what to eat, and that Roark owns only a small fraction of the total U.S. fast food market, according to two of the people.

According to August 2023 rankings from QSR Magazine, which tracks the quick-service restaurant industry, Subway is the largest U.S. sandwich chain based on 2022 sales, with Arby’s, Jimmy John’s and McAlister’s Deli also in the top seven.

Subway’s franchise agreement notes the chain considers McAlister’s Deli and Schlotzky’s as key competitors, in addition to Jimmy John’s, according to the New York Post. It does not mention restaurants selling burgers and burritos, according to the Post, suggesting that Subway may not view those offerings as its primary competition.

The resource-constrained FTC is investigating many high-profile mergers and will ultimately have to make tough choices on which cases to pursue.

In addition to the Kroger-Albertsons tie-up, the FTC is also considering whether to challenge Amazon’s $1.8 billion takeover of robot vacuum maker iRobot and investigating Pfizer’s $43 billion purchase of cancer drugmaker Seagen. It also recently opened a probe of luxury brand owners Tapestry and Capri, and is expected to investigate a pair of megadeals by oil and gas giants Exxon and Chevron.

And while the FTC has succeeded in blocking deals by companies including Lockheed Martin and Nvidia, it has yet to win a merger challenge in court during Khan’s tenure, upping the pressure to bring home a litigation win. High-profile losses include an attempt to block Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard (which is on appeal), and Meta’s purchase of a virtual reality game developer.

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Why are politicians acting like influencers?

Donald Trump was the Twitter president.

Joe Biden is slinging Dark Brandon merch.

And now, candidates in the 2024 GOP field are adopting many of the same marketing tactics that voters are more used to seeing from social media influencers such as Jake Paul, Tinx and Dave Portnoy.

Is this because American politics has hit a new bottom? Or is the pivot toward influencer marketing on the campaign trail a clever solution?

This election cycle candidates are struggling to fundraise and to penetrate the increasingly fragmented media ecosystem. Watch this video to see what POLITICO’s Alex Keeney finds as he explores whether emulating influencers is delivering results.

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