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Republican senator says Jay Clayton DNI hearing still on despite Trump’s push for cancellation

June 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Tom Cotton, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Wednesday’s confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton to be the next director of national intelligence will continue as planned despite President Donald Trump announcing it would be canceled.

“Jay Clayton is a pending nominee before the Intelligence Committee. We will proceed with his hearing as scheduled unless the president directs him not to appear or withdraws his nomination,” Cotton wrote on X.

The committee’s website still lists Clayton’s hearing as scheduled for 2:00 p.m.

Trump, in an early morning social media post, said the confirmation process for Clayton would not continue until his pick to replace Clayton as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, is confirmed.

“Regarding the approval of our Great Patriot, Jay Clayton, we are cancelling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney,” Trump wrote. “In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence.”

Trump selected Pulte to be acting director of national intelligence after Tulsi Gabbard announced her resignation last month. Pulte is best known in the Trump administration for launching probes into several of the president’s perceived political enemies over allegations of mortgage fraud and possible misuse of authority. Targets of the investigations include Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell. They’ve all denied wrongdoing.

Pulte’s appointment sparked pushback from Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, and stalled efforts to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — which allows the federal government to collect communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant. Amid the backlash over Pulte, Trump announced last week he was nominating Clayton to permanently lead ODNI.

Trump on Wednesday also said that he wanted both his SAVE America Act bill and an extension to FISA, which lapsed over the weekend, to now pass together.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the chamber’s top Democrat, slammed Trump’s latest moves.

“Trump is twisting himself up in knots and jumping through hoops to make it impossible to reauthorize FISA right now, and he is embarrassing his Republican colleagues in the process,” Schumer said. “Trump can blame Democrats all he wants, but no one is going to believe him.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, when asked Wednesday about the Senate’s path forward on FISA and Clayton’s nomination, said they’re taking a day-by-day approach.

“All I know is that Chairman Cotton is planning to proceed — because you all know with the hearing — and and then from there on, we’ll have to take it a day at a time until we get more clarity on kind of what the White House position is on this,” Thune said.

Chicago founding member Walter Parazaider dies at 81

June 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Walter Parazaider, founding member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band Chicago, died Wednesday at the age of 81.

His death was confirmed by his daughter Felicia Parazaider on Facebook, who wrote, “My father, my hero, is gone. He went peacefully about 20 minutes ago. There’s no more pain. No more struggle.”

Parazaider was part of the original lineup of Chicago, which was formed in its namesake city in 1967. Other original members included Peter Cetera, Terry Kath, Robert Lamm, Lee Loughnane, James Pankow and Danny Seraphine. He, Loughnane and Pankow made up the band’s brass/woodwind section, while Parazaider played a variety of instruments, including saxophone, flute and clarinet.

Chicago — best known for such hits as “Saturday In The Park,” “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day,” “If You Leave Me Now,” “25 or 6 to 4,” “You’re The Inspiration” and more — sold over 40 million units in the U.S. and had five consecutive #1 albums on the Billboard 200 between 1972 and 1975.

They were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.

Parazaider retired from Chicago in 2017 and announced in 2021 he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

“This was the worst six years. The hardest season of my life,” Felicia wrote in her post on Facebook. “And I’m so grateful that my dad is not suffering anymore.”

Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann addressed by victims’ families at sentencing: ‘Disgusting coward’

June 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann addressed by victims’ families at sentencing: ‘Disgusting coward’

Anguished relatives of the Gilgo Beach, New York, serial killing victims aimed decades of anger at their loved ones’ killer, Rex Heuermann, as they read victim impact statements at his sentencing on Wednesday.

“I can’t even put into words the eviscerating hatred I have for you,” said Jasmine Robinson, cousin of victim Jessica Taylor, who would have turned 43 on Wednesday. “You fill me with so much repugnance.”

Another cousin, Violet Swager, remembered Taylor as “fierce, kind, compassionate, beautiful and intelligent.”

She said to Heuermann, “You chose small women because you’re nothing more than a weak, disgusting coward.”

In April, Heuermann, 62, pleaded guilty to killing seven women: Taylor, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Valerie Mack and Sandra Costilla. He also admitted to killing an eighth woman, Karen Vergata, though he was not formally charged in her death.

Brainard-Barnes’ sister Missy Cann broke down in tears as she read a statement prior to the imposition of the sentence.

“You are a coward who preyed on vulnerable, innocent women,” Cann said.

Mack’s parents, Ed and JoAnn Mack, said Heuermann robbed their daughter of the chance to achieve her dreams.

“I would like to say to Mr. Heuermann, what you have done to our family is beyond what words can express,” JoAnn Mack said. “Even though justice is done, it cannot replace what you have taken from us.”

At the April hearing, Heuermann agreed to serve three consecutive life sentences followed by four consecutive sentences of 25 years-to-life, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said the New York City architect targeted sex workers, strangled them and dumped their bodies near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach over the course of 17 years.

Heuermann “walked among us, play acting as a normal, suburban dad, when in reality, all along, he was obsessively targeting innocent women for death,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in April.

The Gilgo Beach cases went unsolved for years, until Heuermann’s arrest in 2023.

Since then, Heuermann has been in custody at the Riverhead Correctional Facility. While in jail, Heuermann has been reading books about murder and serial killers, and he’s communicated with Keith Hunter Jesperson, a 1990s serial killer known as the Happy Face Killer, Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon told ABC News.

Defense attorney Michael Brown said in April that the decision to plead guilty belonged solely to Heuermann. Brown said Heuermann would likely have more to say at sentencing.

Part of Heuermann’s plea agreement also requires him to be interviewed by the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit.