By MICHAEL R. BLOOD and SOPHIE AUSTIN Associated Press
Does California's race for governor finally have a leader? The contest to succeed outgoing Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is considered wide open. But a string of recent attacks on Rep. Eric Swalwell suggest his rivals might be getting antsy about him gaining ground in advance of a June primary. To listen to his competitors, he has a no-show job in Congress and he might not live in California. Swalwell has disputed those claims while picking up key endorsements from U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff and powerful labor groups. Mail-in voting begins in early May. A large Democratic field has raised the possibility of a surprise outcome.
On Feb. 13, 1945, Allied forces in World War II began a three-day bombing raid on Dresden, Germany, killing as many as 25,000 people and triggering a firestorm that swept through the city center.
On Feb. 5, 2020, the Senate voted to acquit President Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial. Most senators expressed unease with Trump's pressure campaign on Ukraine that prompted the impeachment, but just one Republican, Mitt Romney of Utah, broke party ranks and voted to convict. In 2021, the Senate acquitted Trump in a second trial for allegedly inciting the violent Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol.
On Jan. 23, 1870, approximately 200 Piegan Blackfoot tribe members, mostly women, children and older adults, were killed by U.S. Army troops under the command of Major Eugene Mortimer Baker in Montana, in what became known as the Baker Massacre.
A federal lawsuit filed by U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell accuses the Trump administration's top housing regulator of abusing his position to misuse private mortgage records belonging to Swalwell and other Democratic critics of the Republican president. Swalwell sued Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte on Tuesday — less than two weeks after Pulte formally referred the California Democrat to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution on mortgage fraud charges. Swalwell is seeking a court order for Pulte and his agency to withdraw the criminal referral. Pulte didn't immediately respond to a text message and telephone call seeking comment on the lawsuit.
By STEPHEN GROVES and LISA MASCARO Associated Press
The widow of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi is calling for the release of the transcript of a 2019 phone call President Donald Trump had with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. She is joining Democratic lawmakers who are raising questions about what, if anything, Trump may have received in exchange for his embrace of the crown prince. Hanan Elatr Khashoggi appeared on Capitol Hill on the heels of Trump's dismissal of U.S. intelligence findings that Prince Mohammed most likely had some culpability in the October 2018 slaying.
By ZEKE MILLER and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press
Some Democrats are declining to attend President Donald Trump's address to Congress. Rep. Gerry Connolly is from Virginia, a state hit hard by the Republican president's federal employee firings. Connolly says he's never missed a speech but the challenges demand "more than sitting in a chamber" Tuesday night listening as if Trump is not "unleashing chaos and cruelty" on people's lives. Many Democratic lawmakers plan to wear blue and yellow ties and scarves to show support for Ukraine. Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas wore a blue and yellow tie Tuesday and accused Trump and Vice President JD Vance of "bullying" Ukraine's leader. The White House says Trump's theme is "renewal of the American dream."
On Feb. 13, 1945, Allied forces in World War II began a three-day bombing raid on Dresden, Germany, killing as many as 25,000 people and triggering a firestorm that swept through the city center.
