WASHINGTON AND THE NATION are on edge after two staffers with the Israeli Embassy were fatally shot in an apparent politically motivated, antisemitic attack at an event outside the Capital Jewish Museum.
The staffers, Sarah Milgrim, 26, and Yaron Lischinsky, 30, were a couple and known figures in the Israeli-American political community in Washington.
The couple planned to visit Jerusalem next week, where Lischinsky was going to propose to Milgrim.
“The young man purchased a ring this week,” Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leitertold reporters.
Police arrested Elias Rodriguez, a 30-year old Chicago native.
Rodriguez allegedly approached a group of four people attending the American Jewish Committee’s annual Young Diplomats Reception shortly after 9 p.m., before opening fire at close range, killing Milgrim and Lischinsky.
He then walked into the museum, where he waved a red keffiyeh. As he was arrested he shouted, “free, free Palestine.”
President Trumpspoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has faced global pressure to end the war in Gaza and address the humanitarian crisis there.
“My heart grieves for the families of the young beloveds, whose lives were cut short in a moment by an abhorrent antisemitic murderer,”Netanyahu said.
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) said the “horrific incident” would “frighten a lot of people.”
“We will not tolerate this violence or hate in our city,” she said. “We will not tolerate any acts of terrorism.”
SECURITY RAMPS UP
Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was on the scene shortly after the shooting, said U.S. Marshals are on heightened alert as they secure the Israeli embassy in Washington.
The Capital Jewish Museum said they’re working to re-open in the coming days “with all necessary security in place, so we can return to telling the story of Jewish Washington for thousands of visitors from around the world.”
In Chicago, New York, Miami and other cities, law enforcement ramped up security at synagogues, Jewish schools and other cultural institutions.
TRAGEDY COLLIDES WITH POLITICS
The tragedy was inseparable from political conversations happening in Washington around the war in Gaza and the Trump administration’s efforts to punish universities that allowed for widespread pro-Palestinian protests.
Democratic lawmakers that are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause released statements denouncing violence.
“I am appalled by the deadly shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum last night,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) posted on X. “Holding the victims, their families, and loved ones in my thoughts and prayers. Violence should have no place in our country.”
The White House leaned into its argument that elite universities had allowed rampant antisemitism to run unchecked.
“We have seen a rise in antisemitic protests of pro Hamas protests of terrorist sympathizers, we saw them on our college campuses, and we’ve seen the Democrat Party turn a blind eye and in some cases actually embrace such antisemitic illegal behavior,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
The Trump administration told Harvard University on Thursday it will no longer be allowed to enroll international students, significantly escalating Trump’s war on the university.
💡Perspectives:
•The Guardian: Palestinians need deeds, not words.
Trump officials blamed poor diet, environmental toxins, unhealthy habits and pharmaceuticals for contributing to a rise in chronic illnesses in a new report that lays the groundwork for a “Make America Healthy Again” overhaul of government policy.
The Supreme Courtdeadlocked 4-4 on whether to approve the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school, leaving intact a lower ruling that voided the Oklahoma school’s contract.
House Republicans narrowly passed President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” with a 215-214 vote in the early hours of the morning after a grueling all-night session.
It’s another big win for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who is proving to be a shrewd tactician in balancing the unruly House GOP’s fractured caucus.
“After a long week and a long night and countless hours of work over the past year, a lot of prayer and a lot of teamwork, my friends it quite literally is again morning in America,” Johnson said.
“It’s truly [a] nation-shaping piece of legislation,” he added.
In the end, Johnson and Trump were able to win over moderate holdouts from blue states seeking tax relief and fiscal conservatives worried about the debt. Not all of their demands are included in the bill, but Trump may sign some executive orders soon to address their lingering concerns.
Democrats seethed and promised to campaign on the bill’s Medicaid cuts.
“This GOP tax scam will force nearly $14 million people to lose their health coverage and cause millions more to pay higher co-pays, premiums and deductibles,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.)
Two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Warren Davidson (Ohio), voted against the bill. Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) voted “present.”
Massie torched the bill in remarks on the House floor, likening it to “putting coal in the boiler [of the Titanic] and setting a course for the iceberg.”
“This bill dramatically increases deficits in the near term, but promises our government will be fiscally responsible five years from now,” he said. “Where have we heard that before? How do you bind a future Congress to these promises? This bill is a debt bomb ticking.”
Those warnings are reflected in the bond markets after Moody’s downgraded U.S. debt.
“U.S. bonds have sold off in response to the House passage of the bill, which is likely to add trillions to a U.S. national deficit that has hovered around 120 percent of gross domestic product since the pandemic.”
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on Fox Business Network:
“Everybody I’ve talked to in the financial markets, they’re staring at the bill, and they thought it was going to be much more in terms of fiscal restraint, and they’re not necessarily seeing it.”
Now the bill goes to the Senate, where Republicans are already talking about changing it and dicing it up.
Some Republicans have said they’re against the Medicaid cuts in the House bill. Others are concerned about the levels of spending.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says he’s a hard no because the bill raises the debt limit by $4 trillion over the next two years.
“I’ve told them if they’ll take the debt ceiling off of it, I’ll consider voting for it,” he said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) says he wants to have passed the bill by July 4.
The U.S. reaches the debt limit in the middle of July.
💡Perspectives:
•New York: Why voter turnout remained incredibly high in 2024.
President Trump will dine Thursday with more than 200 wealthy crypto investors that poured hundreds of millions of dollars into a $TRUMP cryptocurrency, the latest ethics-bending endeavor by the president in his second term.
About 220 attendants will join the president at Trump National Golf Club after combining to spend nearly $400 million in a contest that rewarded top investors with a seat at the table. The average buyer spent $1.8 million on $TRUMP coins, according to NBC’s analysis.
The money from the investors does not go directly to Trump, but his businesses hold major stakes in the coin and his family stands to profit enormously on its rise.
Democrats called out the conflicts of interest and are vowing to investigate.
“President Trump’s financial entanglements to the $TRUMP coin, as well as the attempted use of the White House to host competitions to prop up the value of $TRUMP, represents an unprecedented, pay-to-play scheme to provide access to the Presidency to the highest bidder,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in a statement earlier this month.
“Chillingly, $TRUMP allows, and even invites, anyone in the world, including foreign governments and unscrupulous individuals, to directly enrich the President, while hiding potential payoffs in the pseudonymity of the blockchain.”
“Trump Memes are intended to function as an expression of support for, and engagement with, the ideals and beliefs embodied by the symbol ‘$TRUMP’ and the associated artwork, and are not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type. GetTrumpMemes.com is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign or any political office or governmental agency.”
The White House has not released the name of the attendees.
“The president is attending it in his personal time,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “It is not a White House dinner. It’s not taking place here at the White House.”
Politico has a rundown on some of the winners, including: “A crypto billionaire who was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission. A former online poker player-turned-crypto entrepreneur. A software engineer who converts most of his paychecks into bitcoin. And a cybersecurity expert who conceals his face in public.”
