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With Comey, Brennan, Soros, Trump steps up his retribution campaign

September 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump, who took office in January with a pledge to seek retribution against his political foes, made clearer than ever his eagerness to use the weight of the Justice Department against his perceived enemies this week.

Asked by reporters Friday who was next on his list a day after the DOJ brought a two-count indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, Trump said, “It’s not a list — but I think there will be others.”

Comey, who Trump fired from his post in 2017, had been a target of Trump since he oversaw the FBI’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“JUSTICE IN AMERICA! One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to is James Comey,” Trump wrote on social media following Thursday’s indictment. “He has been so bad for our Country, for so long, and is now at the beginning of being held responsible for his crimes against our Nation.”

The former FBI chief has been charged with making a false statement to Congress and obstruction of an investigative proceeding before Congress, related to his 2020 congressional testimony regarding the FBI’s Russia probe.

Comey, who said in a statement that he was innocent of the charges, said in an Instagram video, “My family and I have known for years that there are costs for standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn’t imagine ourselves living any other way. We will not live on our knees and you shouldn’t either.”

The charges were brought by the newly appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, former White House aide Lindsey Halligan, who took over the role after Trump ousted U.S. attorney Erik Siebert after sources say Siebert expressed doubts internally about bringing a case against Comey.

“What they did was so terrible and so corrupt,” Trump told Fox News Digital on Thursday, referring to those involved in the Russia probe. “Comey placed a cloud over the entire nation.”

Trump, in the same interview, hinted at potentially charging former CIA Director John Brennan in relation to the Russia probe.

“We’ll have to see what happens. It is up to the Justice Department, but I can tell you, it is a group of people that was very disappointing,” Trump said. “This makes Watergate look like peanuts.”

Comey’s indictment came just days after top federal prosecutors at U.S. attorney’s offices around the country received a directive to prepare to launch investigations into the Open Society Foundations, a group funded by the billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, on potential charges ranging from support of terrorism to racketeering, sources told ABC News.

“This DOJ, along with our hard-working and dedicated U.S. Attorneys, will always prioritize public safety and investigate organizations that conspire to commit acts of violence or other federal violations of law,” a DOJ spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for the Open Society Foundations called the accusations “politically motivated attacks.”

FBI Director Kash Patel disputed accusations that the DOJ’s probes were motivated by politics.

“Career FBI agents, intel analysts, and staff led the investigation into Comey and others,” he posted online Friday. “They called the balls and strikes and will continue to do so. The wildly false accusations attacking this FBI for the politicization of law enforcement comes from the same bankrupt media that sold the world on Russia Gate — it’s hypocrisy on steroids.”

Democrats like Sen. Peter Welch weren’t buying it.

“President Trump and his Justice Department’s indictment of James Comey is a new low for our democracy. The reason for the indictment is clear: Comey is Trump’s political adversary,” Welch wrote on X.

Asked by reporters about the indictment on Friday, Trump said, “They weaponized the Justice Department like nobody in history. What they’ve done is terrible. And so I hope — frankly, I hope there are others, because you can’t let this happen to a country.”

“It’s about justice, not revenge,” Trump said. “It’s about justice.”

ABC News’ Rachel Scott contributed to this report.

Howie Rubin, prominent investment banker, charged with sex trafficking

September 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A retired investment banker was arrested Friday at his Connecticut home on federal charges he trafficked women for sex acts in luxury hotels and at a Manhattan apartment converted into a sex dungeon with BDSM equipment, according to a federal indictment.

Howie Rubin, 70, and his former personal assistant, Jennifer Powers, 45, are charged with sex trafficking and transportation for the purposes of prostitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Rubin is due in Brooklyn federal court later Friday. Powers, who was accused of facilitating the alleged sex trafficking operation, was arrested in Texas.

It was not immediately clear whether either had retained counsel.

Rubin, a former top manager at Soros Fund Management and Bear Stearns, has been under investigation for years after multiple women claimed in 2017 he subjected them to beatings and rape. Rubin has long denied the accusations but the women won a multimillion dollar civil judgment against him for violating the Trafficking Victim Protection Act.

“For many years, Howard Rubin and Jennifer Powers allegedly spent at least one million dollars to finance the commercial sexual torture of multiple women via a national trafficking network,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher Raia said in a statement. “The defendants allegedly exploited Rubin’s status to ensnare their prospective victims and forced them to endure unthinkable physical trauma before silencing any outcries with threats of legal recourse.”

According to the criminal charges, from at least 2009 through 2019, Rubin recruited dozens of women to engage in commercial sex acts with him involving bondage, discipline, dominance, submission and sadomasochism.

“During many such encounters, Rubin engaged in conduct beyond the scope of the women’s consent,” the indictment said.

The indictment includes ten women, identified as Jane Does #1 through #10, who allege Rubin “brutalized” them, causing them to fear for their safety and resulting in significant pain or injuries, which at times required women to seek medical attention.

Some of the women were former Playboy models targeted through social media or modeling pages, according to the indictment.

At first, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said the commercial sex acts primarily occurred at luxury hotels in Manhattan. However, in 2011, Rubin leased a luxury penthouse apartment near Central Park.

According to the indictment, Rubin and Powers transformed one of the bedrooms in the penthouse into a sex “dungeon” that was painted red and soundproofed; had a lock on the door; was furnished with BDSM equipment to which women could be strapped and restrained; and contained devices to shock or electrocute them, among other items.

“Rubin and Powers, together with others, materially misrepresented to women the extent, manner and/or degree to which Rubin would engage in physical and sexual violence,” the indictment said. “Rubin provided a ‘safe word’ the women could say to convey that they wanted the violent sexual conduct to cease, but then disregarded the safe word when women used it and continued the violent conduct without the women’s consent.”

The indictment continued, “In other instances, regardless of whether Rubin had provided a safe word, the women were unable to object to Rubin’s conduct because they were bound and/or gagged during the sexual encounter. In still other instances, women became unconscious during the sexual encounters, such that they were unable to consent.”

Prosecutors said Rubin paid different women for commercial sex multiple times a week, sometimes on consecutive days and Powers would manage the fallout due to his alleged violence.

“If Rubin was satisfied with the way that the women had endured a sexual encounter, the women received $5,000 per encounter; if he was dissatisfied, he paid them several thousand dollars less,” the indictment said.

NJ gubernatorial race jolted after Sherrill’s unredacted military records released

September 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — New Jersey’s closely-watched gubernatorial race was jolted Thursday after the National Archives blamed a technician’s mistake for the release of Congresswoman and New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill’s unredacted military records.

Sherrill and some Democratic allies are calling for an investigation, saying the release was no mistake but an extension of President Donald Trump’s effort to weaponize the federal government against his political opponents.

Responding to a routine records request, the National Archives released Sherrill’s unredacted military records that show she had an unblemished career in the Navy, including a 1991 medal for saving the life of a fellow classmate. But the records contained unredacted information such as Sherrill’s Social Security number.

“Well, it’s really scary in these times, of course, to have all that private information in the public… But I think what this shows too, is that my opponent and the Trump administration will stop at nothing. They will completely weaponize the federal government to achieve what they want,” Sherrill said Friday on MSNBC.

Asked if she suspects anything “nefarious,” she said, “I more than suspect.”

ABC News has reached out to the White House about Sherrill’s claims she’s being targeted by the administration.

ABC News has not obtained or viewed the records.

CBS News, which first reported on the records release, said that it had been investigating if Sherrill was involved in a scandal in 1994 where more than 130 Midshipmen were implicated in a cheating scandal. Sherrill was not involved but, because she did not report her classmates, she was not permitted to walk at graduation.

Sherrill said this was a 30-year-old widely reported incident that does not reflect on her military service. Her campaign has not provided other documentation about the incident, but other records have shown that her graduation date and commission date were identical, indicating the Navy did not have an issue with her graduating.

Her Republican opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, said her admission raises concerns.

“Today’s admission by Congresswoman Sherrill that she was implicated in, and punished for, her involvement in the largest cheating and honor code scandal in the history of the United States Navy is both stunning and deeply disturbing,” Ciatterelli’s campaign said in a statement on Thursday.

“For eight years, Mikie Sherrill has built her entire political brand around her time at the Naval Academy and in the Navy, all the while concealing her involvement in the scandal and her punishment. The people of New Jersey deserve complete and total transparency,” Ciatterelli’s campaign said.

CBS News reported that the request came from Ciattarelli ally Nicholas De Gregorio, who was tasked with doing so by political operative Chris Russell.

Russell, on Thursday, pointed to the National Archives’ apology and said the request error came in response to documents not related to the cheating scandal.

“FACT: The National Archives provided documents in response to a legitimate and perfectly legal FOIA request. Documents, btw, that had NOTHING to do with the cheating scandal,” Russell wrote on X on Thursday.

“The National Archives then apologized to the requestor and took full responsibility for their error. Now… it’s time for Rep. Sherrill to come clean and authorize release of all of her records.”

The National Archives, on its end, admitted in a letter, shared by the Sherrill campaign, it “should have provided only information that is releasable to the public under the FOIA. Unfortunately, however, in responding to the request, we released the comprehensive record, including personal information such as your social security number and date of birth … We have already reached out to the requester, Nicholas De Gregorio, and asked that he not further disseminate the information that was released to him in error.”

ABC News has reached out to the National Archives for comment on the record release.

The Sherrill campaign said it is considering legal action, and that counsel for Sherrill has already sent letters to the National Archives, Ciattarelli campaign, Russell, and De Gregorio.

“We are calling on Jack Ciattarelli and the Trump administration to immediately stop illegally distributing Mikie Sherrill’s military files, with protected personal information like her Social Security Number, and we will explore appropriate legal action,” campaign spokesperson Sean Higgins said in a statement on Thursday.

“To have a guy I’m running against who will stop at nothing to illegally obtain records, it’s beyond the pale,” Sherrill said at an event on Thursday.

The records request, according to CBS News, was done through a routine and legal procedure and recognized the request would redact personal information.

Ciatterelli, in a statement Friday, called for his Sherrill to share more documents from her time in the Naval Academy.

“The real issue at hand is exactly why Congresswoman Sherrill was barred from walking at her graduation? What specific honor concept violations was she punished for… The only way to determine any of these answers is through her authorizing full and immediate release of all academic, disciplinary, and investigatory records related to her time at the Academy and the scandal itself,” he wrote.

House Democratic leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on Thursday called for a criminal investigation.

“Mikie Sherrill is a patriot and a hero who has served this country, graduated from the naval academy, helicopter pilot, tours of duty in dangerous places overseas and the Middle East, came home, served as a federal prosecutor, is a supermom and a great public servant and a member of Congress,” Jeffries said. “It is outrageous that Donald Trump and his administration and political hacks connected to them continue to violate the law and they will be held accountable.”

Shane Tamura, gunman in shooting at NFL headquarters, had CTE: Medical examiner

September 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Shane Tamura, who drove cross-country from Las Vegas and opened fire at the New York headquarters of the NFL, killing four, had CTE, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Friday, confirming what was in the shooter’s own writings.

Police found a three-page note in Tamura’s pocket claiming he had a traumatic brain injury and blaming the NFL for “concealing the dangers to players’ brains to maximize profits.”

Elsewhere, Tamura wrote, “Study my brain please. I’m sorry.”

Tamura died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“Following a thorough assessment and extensive analysis by our neuropathology experts, OCME has found unambiguous diagnostic evidence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE, in the brain tissue of the decedent. The findings correspond with the classification of low-stage CTE, according to current consensus criteria,” the medical examiner’s office said. “CTE may be found in the brains of decedents with a history of repeated exposure to head trauma. The science around this condition continues to evolve, and the physical and mental manifestations of CTE remain under study.”

The medical examiner’s office previously said Tamura died by suicide of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The pathologists do not say whether CTE played a role.

Four people were killed in the shooting: a security guard for the building; an executive at Blackstone who was a wife and mom; a police officer who was a dad of two; and a young employee at Rudin Management.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

‘Constitutional crisis’: Democrats hit Trump administration, DOJ over James Comey indictment

September 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Word of former FBI Director James Comey’s federal indictment sent anger and shockwaves around Congress, with several prominent Democrats sounding off on what they called a politically motivated attack by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department.

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy called Comey’s indictment — which was on charges of making a false statement and obstruction related to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020 — a “constitutional crisis.”

“We aren’t on a slippery slope to a constitutional crisis. We are IN the crisis. Time for leaders – political leaders, business leaders, civic leaders – to pick a side: democracy or autocracy?” he wrote on X Thursday night.

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin pointed to the recent resignation of U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert and appointment of Lindsey Halligan as setting the stage for Comey’s indictment. Siebert, Trump’s previous nominee for the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, resigned from the office after sources said he refused to bring charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James over unfounded allegations of mortgage fraud. Trump later claimed he “fired” Siebert and quickly installed Halligan into the position.

“As if by magic, within mere days of being appointed, Ms. Halligan delivered for the president by filing the exact baseless charges against Mr. Comey that her predecessor had rejected,” Raskin said in a statement.

“I have no doubt that a jury of his peers will acquit and vindicate Mr. Comey after being afforded the opportunity to hear all the relevant evidence,” he added.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries released a statement Thursday night calling the indictment a “disgraceful attack on the rule of law.”

“The malicious prosecution against James Comey has no apparent basis in law or fact, and lawyers of good conscience in the department know it,” he said.

Republicans were more subdued in their initial reaction to the indictment.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, appeared to seek more details and let the legal process play out.

“At the time of Comey’s alleged false statements and obstruction, my colleagues and I had active investigations. If the facts and the evidence support the finding that Comey lied to Congress and obstructed our work, he ought to be held accountable,” he said in a statement.

A few Republicans, however, praised the Justice Department.

“As I said last month, it’s time to expose the lies and corruption from people like James Comey,” Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt said in a post on X.

Republican Sen. John Coryn noted that while the “legal system provides for the presumption of innocence, Comey’s accountability for FBI abuses during the first Trump term are long overdue.”

“These charges are serious offenses, especially if committed by the head of our nation’s top law enforcement agency, and there must be consequences for any crimes,” he said in a statement.

Justice Clarence Thomas says legal precedents are not ‘the gospel’

September 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Justice Clarence Thomas said the Supreme Court should take a more critical approach to settled precedent, saying decided cases are not “the gospel” and suggesting some may have been based on “something somebody dreamt up and others went along with.”

Thomas made the comments during a rare public appearance Thursday evening at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C., just over a week before the high court starts a new term that includes challenges to several major, longstanding decisions.

The Court is poised to revisit Humphrey’s Executor v U.S. — a 90-year precedent that limits a president’s ability to remove members of some independent federal agencies without cause. The justices will also consider whether to overturn Thornburg v Gingles, a landmark 1986 decision governing the use of race in redistricting under the Voting Rights Act.

For the first time, the Court is also considering a petition for writ of certiorari asking them to explicitly revisit and overturn the 2015 decision in Obergefell v Hodges, which extended marriage rights to same-sex couples.

“At some point we need to think about what we’re doing with stare decisis,” Thomas said Thursday, referring to the legal principle of abiding by previous decisions. “And it’s not some sort of talismanic deal where you can just say ‘stare decisis’ and not think, turn off the brain, right?”

The Court’s senior conservative suggested that some members of the Court over the years have blindly followed prior judgments, comparing them to passengers on a train.

“We never go to the front see who’s driving the train, where is it going. And you could go up there in the engine room, find it’s an orangutan driving the train, but you want to follow that just because it’s a train,” Thomas said.

“I don’t think that I have the gospel,” he said, “that any of these cases that have been decided are the gospel, and I do give perspective to the precedent. But it should — the precedent should be respectful of our legal tradition, and our country, and our laws, and be based on something, not just something somebody dreamt up and others went along with.”

Thomas has long been an outspoken advocate for revisiting some of the Court’s significant landmark opinions. In a 2022 concurring opinion in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health — which overturned Roe v Wade — Thomas urged his colleagues to “reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell” — cases involving rights to contraception, same-sex intimacy, and marriage.

Trump applauds James Comey indictment: ‘It’s about justice, not revenge’

September 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump stood by his Justice Department and slammed James Comey Friday, just hours after the former FBI director was indicted on charges of making a false statement and obstruction related to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020.

“It’s about justice. He lied, he lied a lot,” Trump told reporters outside the White House Friday morning.

Asked if the indictment was about justice or revenge, Trump said “It’s about justice, not revenge. It’s about justice. Also, it’s also about the fact that you can’t let this go on.”

Comey said in a video statement Thursday night that he did nothing illegal and he was looking forward to a trial.

The president claimed that there could be “others” who face similar legal action, but didn’t mention any names.

“But, there’ll be others. Look, that’s my opinion. They weaponized the Justice Department like nobody in history. What they’ve done is terrible. And so, I would — I hope – frankly, I hope there are others, because you can’t let this happen to a country,” Trump said.

Comey’s indictment came just days after Trump issued a public demand for his Justice Department to act “now” to bring prosecutions against Comey and other political foes.

Trump told reporters that Democrats “weaponized the Justice Department like nobody in history,” claiming they went after him unjustly.

In a social media post earlier Friday morning, the president called Comey “one of the worst human beings this country has ever been exposed to,” as he celebrated his indictment.

In another post, Trump proclaimed “JUSTICE IN AMERICA” and decried him as a “DIRTY COP” in another.

Trump, who was indicted twice during President Joe Biden’s term, and members of his administration have decried the “weaponization” of the DOJ and vowed to end what they viewed as politically motivated prosecutions. The charges against Trump, related to election interference and mishandling of classified documents, were subsequently dropped because of DOJ policy barring prosecuting a sitting president.

“No one is above the law,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi posted to social media following the indictment. “Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people. We will follow the facts in this case.”

Comey’s lawyer fully denied the charges in a statement obtained by ABC News.

“Jim Comey denies the charges filed today in their entirety. We look forward to vindicating him in the courtroom,” said Patrick J. Fitzgerald as counsel for Comey.

Comey has been outspoken about Trump’s efforts to politicize the justice system.

That argument is now likely to be central to Comey’s defense in his criminal case, which could prove to be a highly consequential test for both the Justice Department and the federal judiciary.

Comey has been summoned to appear for arraignment on Oct. 9.

Assata Shakur, wanted Black Liberation Army member, dies at 78 in Cuba

September 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Assata Shakur, a Black Liberation Army member who was convicted in the 1973 murder of a New Jersey state trooper, has died in Cuba, where she fled, according to Cuban officials. She was 78.

Her conviction for the murder of Trooper Werner Foerster, and subsequent escape garnered her a permanent spot on the New Jersey State Police’s Most Wanted List. The state long sought to extradite Shakur, who was born Joanne Chesimard, from Cuba, without success.

Cuban officials said she died in Havana of health complications and old age.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Developing storm may hit Carolinas as a hurricane next week: Latest forecast

September 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A new tropical system may hit the Carolinas as a hurricane next week, bringing significant flooding with it.

The system — which will be named Imelda — could strengthen to a tropical storm on Saturday and may become a hurricane on Sunday or Monday.

The system will move through the Bahamas this weekend and then turn north. While the track remains uncertain, impacts to the Southeast coast are expected.

By Monday afternoon and Tuesday, the storm’s center is forecast to be near the South Carolina coast. The heaviest rain and strongest winds would be in play from South Carolina to Virginia, with storm surge and coastal flooding also possible

The system will also interact with a stationary front along the coast, which could stall the storm and allow for several days of rainfall.

Flooding is the greatest risk and damaging winds and storm surge are also possible, depending on how strong the storm is as it approaches the coast.

If Imelda forms, it could become a Category 1 or 2 hurricane, but a major hurricane — Category 3 or higher — is not expected at this time.

Charleston officials are bracing for a potential impact, announcing Thursday that stormwater pumps have been deployed, high-water vehicles are being readied and the city is working on a sandbag plan.

“We have also ordered that all the lakes be lowered,” Mayor William Cogswell said at an emergency city council meeting.

“Even though this has not formed yet, we are treating it as if we’re expecting some kind of impact,” Charleston Chief Fire Marshal Michael Julazadeh added. “We don’t want to downplay the scenario — we want everybody to begin to prepare.”

Meanwhile, Hurricane Humberto is churning in the Atlantic as a Category 1 storm and may strengthen to a major hurricane this weekend.

Humberto is expected to move west of Bermuda on Tuesday and Wednesday and stay hundreds of miles away from the U.S., eventually turning northwest and going out to sea without making landfall.

Netanyahu speech at United Nations begins with walkout from many delegates

September 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — After being repeatedly condemned as a war criminal by other world leaders during the United Nations General Assembly’s current meeting in New York, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now having his turn speaking on the world stage on Friday.

Many delegates walked out as Netanyahu approached the podium.

“We’re not done yet,” Netanyahu said. “The final elements, the final remnants of Hamas, are holed up in Gaza city. They vow to repeat the atrocities of Oct. 7 again and again and again, no matter how diminished their forces. That is why Israel must finish the job, that is why we want to do so as fast as possible.”

Hours before his speech, Netanyahu’s office announced his address to the U.N. General Assembly would be broadcast live on loudspeakers aimed at Gaza from the Israeli side of the border.

“As part of the informational effort, the Prime Minister’s Office has instructed civilian agencies, in cooperation with the IDF, to place loudspeakers on trucks on the Israeli side of the Gaza border only, with the aim of broadcasting Prime Minister Netanyahu’s historic speech today at the UN General Assembly in the Gaza Strip,” a statement said.

Before departing Tel Aviv on Thursday, he vowed to take a strong stance against the countries that had formally announced their support for an independent Palestinian state during the annual global summit.

“I will condemn those leaders who, instead of denouncing the murderers, rapists, and child burners, want to give them a state in the heart of the land of Israel,” he said. “This will not happen.”

“This is an important visit for the State of Israel, especially at this point in time, when over the UN podium one hears too many false voices,” Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, said in a post on X.

“The prime minister’s speech at the General Assembly will strengthen our position and clarify to the world: Israel is fighting on all fronts, and its security — is not open to debate,” Danon added.

In addition to a frosty reception from heads of state opposed to Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, Netanyahu is expected to face protests while in New York.

Family members of some of the hostages held in Gaza have announced plans to demonstrate outside of the U.N. headquarters during the prime minister’s speech, calling on Netanyahu and other leaders to prioritize the release of the hostages.

An isolated Israel

Even before Netanyahu arrived in New York, Israel’s isolation at the United Nations was evident.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani labeled Israel as a “rogue government” during his speech to the assembly on Tuesday, calling the Israeli airstrike on Hamas leadership in Doha earlier this month a “treacherous attack.”

“They visit our country and plot to attack it. They negotiate with delegations and plot to assassinate the members of the negotiation teams. It is difficult to cooperate with such a mentality that does not respect the most minimum standards of cooperation,” he said. “It is impossible.”

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres decried the war in Gaza during his remarks opening the General Debate.

“The scale of death and destruction are beyond any other conflict in my years as secretary-general,” he asserted.

“Nothing can justify the horrific Hamas terror attacks of October 7 and the taking of hostages, both of which I have repeatedly condemned. And nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” Guterres added.

He also called on Israel to fully comply with provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice, which require Israel to take steps to prevent genocide in Gaza.

The Israeli government has long held that the United Nations is biased against Israel and has denied violating international law.

However, rulings from another global tribunal — the International Criminal Court (ICC) — may have altered Netanyahu’s travel plans.

The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister, and flight data from his journey to New York showed his plane took an indirect route to New York, avoiding the airspace of countries that could enforce the warrant.

Israel’s government has not commented on why the longer route was selected.

Both Israel and the United States are not party to the Rome Statute, which is the treaty that established the ICC and have not consented to its jurisdiction. The Trump administration has also taken several steps to penalize the ICC for issuing warrants for the arrests of Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials.

Netanyahu returns to Washington

While in the U.S., Netanyahu is also slated to meet with President Donald Trump in Washington — marking the fourth time the two have met face-to-face since Trump’s return to the White House.

This private meeting may prove much more consequential for Israel and the broader Middle East than Netanyahu’s speech on the global stage.

U.S. and Israeli officials say the leaders are expected to discuss what retaliatory actions Israel may take in response to the growing push to recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N.

The two also held a phone call on Thursday, according to the White House.

Although Trump and Netanyahu are close allies, the meeting comes at a time when both have diverging agendas. The prime minister has been contemplating annexing additional territory in the West Bank– something the president has vowed he won’t permit.

“I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Nope, I will not allow it,” Trump said on Thursday. “It’s not going to happen.”

The president also expressed renewed hope for an agreement to resolve the conflict and free the hostages from Gaza, predicting it could happen “soon.”

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