FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A watchdog group is appealing after the New York Supreme Court declined to launch an ethics investigation into Gov. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., after Sherrill falsely accused her political opponent of mass killing and launched a campaign to oppose immigration enforcement. “The New York Attorney Grievance Committee declined to investigate Mikie Sherrill, stating reasons that cut against the most basic of legal principles governing license discipline cases,” James Fitzpatrick, director of the Center to Advance Security in America, told The Daily Signal. He noted that the grievance committee “has not given the same treatment to Republicans.” The committee investigated former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 2021 for alleged false statements after the 2020 presidential election. A New York appeals court disbarred Giuliani in 2024. “This is seemingly a double standard at issue here: in order to move forward with a complaint against Mikie Sherrill the committee is requiring a conviction, but in the case of Mayor Giuliani, this convenient prerequisite was nowhere to be found,” Fitzpatrick added. The Attorney Grievance Committee of the New York Supreme Court investigates potential breaches in the Rules of Professional Conduct. CASA filed an ethics complaint against Sherrill in March, and the committee responded with a letter on April 14 declining to investigate. CASA filed an appeal Thursday. “We don’t make public comment on anything,” a spokesperson for the grievance committee told The Daily Signal. The Daily Signal reached out to Sherrill’s office for comment and will update the story with any response. The Ethics Complaint Against Sherrill CASA’s March complaint cites the Rules of Professional Conduct, which state that a lawyer may face discipline for “illegal conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer,” or for “conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.” The complaint notes that Sherrill accused her political opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, of mass homicide during the 2025 gubernatorial campaign. “I’m so glad that you went on to kill tens of thousands of people in New Jersey, including children,” she said. “The people you got addicted and died deserve better than you.” Ciattarelli ran a business that involved an app for pharmaceuticals, but PolitiFact examined Sherrill’s claim, finding that “there is no evidence that Ciattarelli ‘killed’ anyone.” The complaint claims Sherrill’s accusation constituted “defamation per se, with malice.” The letter also cites 8 U.S.C. § 1324, which makes it a crime to conceal, harbor, or shield illegal aliens from detection. Sherrill went on “The Daily Show” in January, outlining her plan to launch an online portal for Garden State residents to report Immigration and Customs Enforcement to New Jersey authorities. “If you see an ICE agent in the street, get your phone out,” she told the host and her audience. She announced that the state government would create a “portal” to allow people to “upload all their cellphone videos” to “alert people” to ICE’s presence. “Sherrill has taken the first step toward concealing illegal aliens in New Jersey by calling for people to video any ICE activity and to alert the New Jersey government via web portal,” the complaint states. “This violates the explicit language of the federal criminal statute referenced above,” the complaint states. “It is ‘deceit[ful]’ to use the power of government to prevent the federal government from being able to perform their operations. Additionally, it is unbecoming of a lawyer to use her power under the law to undermine federal law.” The Committee’s Response The grievance committee concluded that “no investigation or action is warranted.” “Specifically, this committee is not the appropriate forum to determine, in the first instance, if Governor Sherrill has committed federal crimes or is liable for defamation,” Jorge Dopico, the committee’s chief attorney, wrote. “If a court, agency, or other adjudicative body has found that actions of Governor Sherrill constituted a crime or other misconduct, you may forward their decision to our office,” the attorney added. Attorney Griefance Committee Mikie Sherrill RejectionDownload The Appeal on Sherrill Curtis Schube, CASA’s director of research and policy, sent a formal appeal request Thursday. Schube said the denial letter gave reasons “inconsistent with the law governing the discipline of professional licenses.” “License discipline proceedings are not criminal in nature,” he wrote. “They apply preponderance of the evidence standards, not beyond a reasonable doubt.” “By logical extension, the disciplinary process cannot be reliant upon a civil judgment being rendered at a higher standard elsewhere,” he added. Schube cited Zaidi v. United Bank Ltd., a New York Superior Court ruling from 2002, stating that “there is no requirement of a criminal conviction to sustain a charge in an attorney disciplinary proceeding.” “Additionally, our complaint against Sherrill also relied upon Rule 8.4(c), which permits you to discipline an attorney for ‘conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation,'” Schube’s appeal noted. The CASA researcher contrasted this with the disciplinary investigation into Giuliani. “You disciplined Giuliani for ‘false and misleading statements’ related to ‘illegal aliens’ voting in Arizona,” Schube wrote. “The parallels are strong between those allegations and the ones levied here, in that, in both instances political figures are accused of making false or misleading statements that constitute dishonesty, deceit, or misrepresentation. To treat one differently than the other certainly seems suspect.” Mikie Sherrill AppealDownload

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL — Citing concerns that access to financial services incentivizes illegal immigration and could aid terrorism, Rep. Keith Self, R‑Texas, introduced legislation Thursday that would bar illegal aliens from the U.S. banking system by requiring banks to collect customers’ citizenship or immigration status. “Access to America’s financial system is reserved for those who respect our laws—not for illegal aliens who break them,” Self told the Daily Signal. “Those who enter illegally should not be rewarded with taxpayer‑backed banking services. This legislation draws a hard line: If you are here illegally, you will not have access to our financial system.” The bill would prohibit covered financial institutions from opening or maintaining accounts for individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States. It would require customers to present documentation demonstrating U.S. citizenship or lawful presence, such as a U.S. passport, a REAL ID‑compliant driver’s license, a permanent resident card, or other qualifying federal documentation. Individuals with authorized temporary stays would be required to certify their lawful presence under a structured compliance process. Existing accounts would also be subject to review, restriction, and eventual closure if updated documentation is not provided after an individual’s lawful status expires. The legislation establishes penalties for individuals who knowingly open or maintain active accounts while not lawfully present and includes safe‑harbor protections for financial institutions that make good‑faith efforts to comply. A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Tom Cotton, R‑Ark. “Access to the American banking system is a privilege that should be reserved only for those who respect our laws and sovereignty,” Cotton said in a press release shared with the Daily Signal. “My bill will prevent illegal aliens from using our financial institutions to help them stay in our country.” Trump Administration Action In April, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said an executive order directing banks to collect customers’ immigration data is currently “in process.” Bessent said such a requirement would not be “unreasonable.” “Why don’t we have information on who’s in our banking system?” he said. “I have a place in the U.K.; they want to know who lives in every apartment. And how do we know that it’s not part of a foreign terrorist organization?” While a White House official did not rule out the executive order, the official told the Daily Signal that its contents have not been finalized. At the time of the initial reporting, a White House official told Time magazine that the administration “continues to explore ways to protect our banking system from unacceptable credit risks and to ensure that banking services remain available and affordable for all Americans.”

A controversial Virginia prosecutor apologized to the mother of a daughter slain by an illegal immigrant but still defended his county’s sanctuary policy during a contentious House hearing Thursday. “I am deeply sorry for your loss, I say that not only as a prosecutor but as a parent of a daughter,” Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said to Cheryl Minter, mother of Stephanie Minter, during a hearing of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement. “I’m sorry for what you are having to endure and I promise that my office is doing everything we can to prosecute the man responsible,” Descano added. Fairfax County law enforcement refused to honor an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer for Abdul Jalloh, who was released and allegedly killed Stephanie Minter at a local bus stop in February. Jalloh, 32, is an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer on Jalloh in 2020. “We do not have the budget or personnel to enforce federal civil immigration law, and it is simply not our job,” Descano said. “…Our policy of not diverting our resources to federal immigration enforcement also makes our communities safer.” Similarly, during the hearing, Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid told the House panel, “My agency is not staffed for, budgeted for, or mandated to perform the duties of the federal government.” However, Cheryl Minter called for Congress to take action, asserting the justice system failed her daughter. “I should not have to carry this pain because of a preventable failure,” she said. “Stephanie deserved to come home that day. She deserved to watch her child grow. She deserved more time. I am asking you, please do not let her story be ignored. Do not let another family stand where I am standing. Make changes. Take responsibility, protect your community.” The House Judiciary Committee advanced a bill in March to withhold federal funding from sanctuary jurisdictions. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, noted the killing of Minter wasn’t just a failure of law enforcement, but the result of an actual policy. “Here’s the craziest part of all. Mr. Descano told us he was gonna do it,” Jordan said, and noted the office’s official policy was to “take immigration consequences into account when making charging and plea decisions.” Descano later contested that Jordan was misrepresenting his position. The chairman of the subcommittee, Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., compared the sanctuary policies of 11 states to the Confederacy and the philosophy of former Vice President John C. Calhoun, who argued that states should nullify federal laws. “The doctrine of nullification, first proposed by John C. Calhoun, holds that local or state governments may simply ignore federal laws that they disagree with,” McClintock said. “This doctrine, fatal to a federal republic, was thought to have died with the Confederacy. These nullification or sanctuary jurisdictions are now extended to 11 states, coincidentally, the same number as the old Confederacy.”

Israel announced it will pursue a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times following the publication of an opinion piece by columnist Nicholas Kristof that alleged Israeli forces trained dogs to rape Palestinian women. “Today I instructed my legal advisers to consider the harshest legal action against The New York Times and Nicholas Kristof,” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on X. “They defamed the soldiers of Israel and perpetuated a blood libel about rape, trying to create a false symmetry between the genocidal terrorists of Hamas and Israel’s valiant soldiers. Under my leadership, Israel will not be silent.” “We will fight these lies in the court of public opinion and in the court of law, truth will prevail,” the head of state continued. Critics have said Hamas has engaged in a propaganda war intended to “provoke outrage, shift public opinion, and pressure Israel through foreign governments and media.” Danger of Defamation in Media Reporting Kristof, The New York Times, and the Israeli Foreign Ministry did not respond to The Daily Signal’s requests for comment. The dispute comes amid heightened tensions following Israel’s military campaign against Hamas and Hezbollah after Hamas terrorists killed, raped, and or tortured over 1,000 Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023. The American Jewish Committee has reported a 400% increase in antisemitic incidents in the United States since the attacks. While The New York Times has not directly responded to Israel’s legal threat, the newspaper defended Kristof’s column on X after Israeli officials described the essay as “blood libel.” In a statement, the outlet said the op-ed “draws together on-the-record accounts and cites several analyses documenting the practice of sexual violence and abuse conducted by various parts of Israel’s security forces and settlers.” The paper added that the “deeply reported piece of opinion journalism” begins with Kristof’s assertion that “whatever our views of the Middle East conflict, we should be able to unite in condemning rape.” “The accounts of the 14 men and women he interviewed were corroborated with other witnesses, whenever possible, and with people the victims confided in—including family members and lawyers,” the statement said. “Details were extensively fact-checked, with accounts further cross-referenced with news reporting, independent research from human-rights groups, surveys, and in one case, with U.N. testimony.” The United Nations has acknowledged that Hamas committed acts of sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attack and released a report describing bodies with “genital injuries” found near the Nova Music Festival, which was overrun by Hamas terrorists. The U.N. has not formally condemned Hamas for those acts. American politicians and commentators have sharply criticized the op-ed. “Claiming Israel trains dogs to rape Palestinians is modern-day blood libel—propaganda pushed as more horrific details emerge about Hamas’ systematic torture on Oct. 7,” former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley wrote on X. “Distracting from these atrocities and smearing Israel while victims still fight for acknowledgment is sickening.” Political commentator David Collier, who has more than 270,000 followers on X, accused major news outlets of amplifying Hamas propaganda. “Since Oct. 7, Western media sources like @nytimes have become Hamas propaganda agents—dressing up Hamas lies as ‘investigative pieces’—and helping to fuel hatred of Israel and violent antisemitism around the world,” Collier wrote. “Seems like Israel has had enough.” Who Is Nicholas Kristof? Nicholas Kristof is a longtime New York Times columnist and self-described liberal or progressive commentator known for his focus on human rights, poverty, and social justice. A frequent CNN contributor, Kristof has won two Pulitzer Prizes for commentary. In 2022, Kristof attempted to run for governor of Oregon as a Democrat but was disqualified by the state Supreme Court, which ruled he did not meet the state’s three-year residency requirement. Following the ruling, Kristof said he planned to remain politically engaged, writing that he would “keep fighting” on issues, including homelessness and mental health. “I want to be clear that I’m not going anywhere,” Kristof said.

Tensions have flared between Capitol Hill Republicans and the intelligence community after the Central Intelligence Agency harshly criticized a committee for subpoenaing an agent and denied reports of a cover-up of declassified material. On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, chaired by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., heard the testimony of subpoenaed CIA whistleblower James Erdman III, who alleged the federal government suppressed inquiries into the origin of COVID-19. CIA spokeswoman Liz Lyons spoke out against the hearing on X beforehand, accusing the committee of acting “in bad faith by subpoenaing an Agency officer for testimony today without notifying CIA, despite having already obtained closed-door testimony from the individual previously.” She added, “The witness testifying today is not appearing as a whistleblower in pursuit of the truth, but instead in response to the subpoena issued by Chairman Paul. This proceeding amounts to nothing more than dishonest political theater masquerading as a congressional hearing. As the CIA has already assessed, COVID-19 most likely originated from a lab leak, and efforts to undermine that conclusion are disingenuous.” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who is generally an ally of the administration, slammed the CIA for Lyons’ statement in the hearing.  “I am calling on CIA director [John] Ratcliffe and this person to apologize to Chairman Paul and this committee,” Johnson said. “This is not political theater. I have years and years and years of built-up frustration of agencies like the CIA, Department of Justice, the FBI, [and] HHS, snubbing our oversight, giving us the big middle finger,” he added. .@CIADirector, ICYMI. Looking forward to an apology from the CIA. https://t.co/iFGwk6VOA6 pic.twitter.com/iSBc9FZ6nC— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) May 13, 2026 Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, also reacted negatively, calling on X for Ratcliffe to “denounce and rescind” the statement against the hearing. He later called for the CIA to “watch how it speaks to Congress” and called for Ratcliffe to provide testimony. In a separate congressional clash with the agency on Wednesday, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla. who leads the House Oversight Committee’s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, claimed on NewsNation that she had been told the CIA had seized documents related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the CIA’s MKUltra experiments from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. BREAKING: @RepLuna tells @KatiePavlich that the CIA just marched into DNI Gabbard's office and seized boxes of JFK and MK Ultra files. Why? All the details tonight at 10pm ET on @NewsNation. pic.twitter.com/B0IpZvA23o— Katie Pavlich Tonight (@KatiePavlichNN) May 13, 2026 Luna said the CIA was holding on to the documents and this would be in contravention of President Donald Trump’s executive order declassifying them. Fox News’ Jesse Watters later amplified Luna’s statement, saying the CIA had “raided” Gabbard’s office. But ODNI spokeswoman Olivia Coleman denied Watters’ characterization. “This is false—the CIA did not raid the DNI’s office,” wrote Coleman.  This did not allay the criticisms of Capitol Hill Republicans. “It’s immaterial whether those documents were in her personal office,” replied Lee. “If those documents were taken away from her custody by CIA as she was preparing to declassify them, that’s a problem.” Related PostsSPY WARS: Former CIA Covert Operations Officer Explains How Intelligence Is Influencing the Iran WarFormer CIA covert operations officer Mike Baker gives an inside look at how the CIA, Mossad, and other intelligence agencies are influencing the Iran war, and where the contest between America and China is heading, in this preview from the latest “Signal Sitdown” podcast with Bradley Devlin. Bradley Devlin: One of the big reporting pieces that we’ve seen kinda come out over…House Oversight Committee Asks Ethics Committee to Probe Ilhan OmarFIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—After investigating Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and her husband over alleged financial concerns, the House Oversight Committee is now asking the House Ethics panel to step in. A letter sent by the House Oversight Committee to Timothy Mynett, Omar’s husband, in February, and shared with The Daily Signal, expresses…Congress to Probe CAIRWhile it remains unclear whether the Council on American‑Islamic Relations will testify, a House Judiciary subcommittee is set to hold a hearing Tuesday examining how CAIR and similar organizations are promoting Sharia law and other efforts lawmakers say are “incompatible with Western civilization” in the United States. “Sharia law has no place in the United…