WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Army’s head of aviation has changed jobs to become chief of the branch’s enterprise marketing office, a move that comes before the National Transportation Safety Board holds hearings next week on January’s midair collision between an Army helicopter and a commercial jet that killed 67 people.

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Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman became chief of the Army Enterprise Marketing Office this month to focus on advertising and boosting recruitment, according to his new bio on an Army website. An Army spokesperson said the plan to move Braman was in place last fall and had nothing to do with the tragedy.

The NTSB will hold three days of hearings, starting next Wednesday, on the crash near Reagan Washington National Airport.

Braman was among those who faced criticism from some in Congress following the collision over the Potomac River, which was the nation’s deadliest plane crash since November 2001.

Braman acknowledged during a hearing in March that military helicopters were still flying over the nation’s capital with a key system broadcasting their locations turned off during most missions because it deemed them sensitive.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called it “shocking and deeply unacceptable” after earlier complaining that the general wasn’t answering his questions.

Braman repeatedly evaded Cruz’s questions during the hearing about whether he would provide a copy of a memo laying out the policy for when Army helicopters fly with their locators turned off. Braman said he wasn’t sure he could provide the memo because it was part of the investigation, but the head of the NTSB assured him that would be okay.

Former NTSB and FAA crash investigator Jeff Guzzetti, who has followed the crash investigation and watched the hearing, welcomed the news that Braman is no longer leading the Army’s aviation unit.

“Personally I think that’s a good thing. That guy was just not playing ball in my view,” Guzzetti said. “He was too protective and defensive and evasive and secretive. And that’s not what you need in this type of situation.”

Cruz, the Republican chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said in April that troubling missteps since the crash “underscore the precarious situation in the nation’s airspace.”

Expressing frustration with the Army’s refusal to turn over a memo detailing its flight rules, Cruz said during the hearing that any deaths resulting from another collision near Reagan Airport “will be on the Army’s hands.” He threatened the Army with a subpoena if it did not give the committee a copy of its memo.

The fact that system wasn’t activated in the Black Hawk that collided with the passenger jet is a key concern investigators have highlighted. With the location system turned off, the tower had to rely on radar for updates on the helicopter’s position that only came once every four seconds instead of every second before the crash.

“It begs the question, what doesn’t the Army want Congress or the American people to know about why it was flying partially blind to the other aircraft and to the air traffic controllers near DCA?” Cruz said, using the airport code for Reagan. “This is not acceptable.”

By MARY CLARE JALONICK

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate narrowly voted on Tuesday to begin considering the nomination of former Trump lawyer Emil Bove for a lifetime appointment as a federal appeals court judge, with at least one Republican opposed and Democrats vowing to try to slow his confirmation.

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Bove, a former criminal defense lawyer for President Donald Trump, is now a top official at the Justice Department. His nomination for the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has come under intense scrutiny from Democrats after a fired department lawyer said he suggested the Trump administration may need to ignore judicial commands — a claim Bove denies.

He was at the forefront of the department’s dismissed corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. He has also accused FBI officials of “insubordination” for refusing to hand over the names of agents who investigated the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and ordered the firings of a group of prosecutors involved in those Jan. 6 criminal cases.

The 50-48 vote came after Democrats forced an additional procedural vote on his nomination, an effort to protest the nomination and delay the process. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called Bove “the extreme of the extreme of the extreme” and “Trump’s worst judicial nominee to date.”

“Mr. Bove’s entire career has been built on one thing: fealty to Donald Trump,” Schumer said.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 21: Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears in court with attorney Emil Bove (L) during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 21, 2024 in New York City. Former U.S. President Donald Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Dave Sanders-Pool/Getty Images)

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican to vote against moving to consider the nomination, signaling that Republicans will have the votes to confirm Bove by the end of the week. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted to move forward but has not said whether she will support Bove’s confirmation.

The tension and delays over Bove’s nomination come as Republicans have tried to move Trump’s nominees as quickly as possible and as Trump has pushed Senate Majority Leader John Thune to skip the traditional August recess to stay in session and confirm more judges and executive branch officials. Thune said he is considering doing that if Democrats continue to force delays, and Democrats have shown little signs of letting up.

At his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Bove took criticism of his tenure head-on, telling lawmakers he understands some of his decisions “have generated controversy.” But Bove said he has been inaccurately portrayed as Trump’s “henchman” and “enforcer” at the department.

“I am someone who tries to stand up for what I believe is right,” Bove said.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the panel, said Bove has used his position “to weaponize the Department of Justice against the president’s enemies.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, defended Bove against the whistleblower’s claims and said he deserves fair treatment. He said Democrats withheld the complaint from the fired lawyer and that his staff had investigated the claims.

“Mr. Bove has a strong legal background and has served his country honorably,” Grassley said at a Senate Judiciary meeting last week, where Democrats walked out in protest.

The whistleblower complaint came from a former Justice Department lawyer who was fired in April after conceding in court that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who had been living in Maryland, was mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison.

That lawyer, Erez Reuveni, described efforts by top Justice Department officials in the weeks before his firing to stonewall and mislead judges to carry out deportations championed by the White House.

Reuveni described a Justice Department meeting in March concerning Trump’s plans to invoke the Alien Enemies Act over what the president claimed was an invasion by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Reuveni said Bove raised the possibility that a court might block the deportations before they could happen. Reuveni claims Bove used a profanity in saying the department would need to consider telling the courts what to do and “ignore any such order,” Reuveni’s lawyers said in the filing.

Bove said he has “no recollection of saying anything of that kind.”

A former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, Bove was on Trump’s legal team during his New York hush money trial and defended Trump in the two federal criminal cases brought by the Justice Department. If confirmed by the Senate, he’ll serve on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The Ramsey County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved $18.4 million in funding for a long list of affordable housing projects, including more than 400 units of new construction.

The funding will support 29 projects that create, preserve, acquire or rehabilitate affordable housing. The funding includes $11.9 million from Local Affordable Housing Aid, $5.7 million from the Housing and Redevelopment Authority levy and $739,000 in State Affordable Housing Aid.

The projects touch more than 1,400 housing units, the county said, including 200 deeply affordable units for residents earning no more than 30% of the area’s median income.

“I am really excited about these projects,” Chair Rafael Ortega said. “By investing in affordable housing, we not only help families who need homes, but we help build our economy and strengthen our neighborhoods from the ground up.”

The funding round is part of a larger housing development strategy through the county’s Economic Competitiveness and Inclusion Plan. Solicitations for the 2025 Housing Development Solicitation were due at the end of May. Additional project awards will be announced later this year.

“As someone who grew up in a family that struggled with housing instability, I know firsthand that housing, especially deeply affordable housing, is about more than buildings,” said Commissioner and HRA Chair Mai Chong Xiong in a statement. “It’s about ensuring all families have a strong, stable foundation to grow and succeed. Ramsey County’s investments demonstrate our commitment to equity, community and expanding opportunity for everyone.”

The funded projects include the following new construction:

• Hamm’s Brewery East End Apartments: 110 multifamily units in Dayton’s Bluff

• Larpenteur Ave Senior: 110 age-restricted units in Falcon Heights

• The Aragon: 53 multifamily units in Eastview-Conway-Battle Creek-Highwood Hills

• University 40 Apartments: 39 units in Hamline-Midway

• VEER: 36 single-occupancy units in Fort Road and West Seventh

• F2F@Arcade: 24 multifamily units in Payne-Phalen

• Serenity Townhomes: 19 three-to-four-bed units in Dayton’s Bluff

• Rice Line Crossing: 17 one-to-three-bed units in the North End

• 1036 Marshall Townhomes: six units in Summit-University

• Roseville Land Trust: three single-family homes in Roseville

• Duluth Street: two twin-home units in Maplewood

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By MIKE CATALINI

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday said the New Jersey federal prosecutor, who just hours earlier was named as the replacement for interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, has been removed.

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Desiree Leigh Grace was named by Chief Judge Renee Marie Bumb as Habba’s successor under a statute that permits district court judges to name a prosecutor if the president’s nominee has not been confirmed by the Senate after 120 days. Tuesday was the 120th day since President Donald Trump had named Habba, his former defense attorney and one-time White House counselor, to the acting role. Bondi said the Justice Department won’t tolerate “rogue judges.”

White House spokesman Harrison Fields said in a statement that Trump has full confidence in Habba and that the administration would work to get her confirmed by the U.S. Senate, despite opposition from Democratic home state senators.

The back-and-forth over the state’s top federal prosecutor unfolded as Habba has quickly established a high-profile, pursuing a rare prosecution against a sitting member of Congress.

Habba, 41, was effectively removed earlier Tuesday by a brief order from Bumb, naming Grace as Habba’s successor and citing the law that permitted the district court to act.

Her tenure has included the high-profile prosecution of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, which was eventually dropped and the ongoing assault case against Rep. LaMonica McIver. Both cases against Democrats stemmed from a visit to a privately operated immigration detention center in the state’s largest city.

Messages seeking comment were left with Habba’s office and the Justice Department.

Grace’s LinkedIn page shows she’s served as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey for the last nearly nine years. Under the law governing vacancies, the district court may appoint a U.S. attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled.

Senatorial courtesy

Trump, a Republican, nominated Habba for the position pending Senate confirmation, but the state’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim signaled their opposition to her appointment. Under a longstanding Senate practice known as senatorial courtesy, a nominee’s appointment can stall out without backing from home state senators, a phenomenon facing a handful of other Trump picks for U.S. attorney.

Booker and Kim had questioned whether Habba met the standard to serve as the state’s top federal prosecutor and accused her of bringing politically motivated prosecutions.

Tenure as top prosecutor

Among Habba’s highest-profile prosecutions stemmed from a May visit by three Democratic members of Congress and Baraka to the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in Newark. Baraka was arrested on a trespass charge stemming from his attempt to join a congressional visit of the facility. Baraka denied any wrongdoing, and Habba eventually dropped that charge.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Andre Espinosa rebuked Habba’s office after moving to dismiss the charges, writing that the move amounted to a “worrisome misstep” and calling the arrest hasty. Baraka is suing Habba in her official capacity over what he says was a “malicious prosecution.”

Habba later brought assault charges against McIver, a freshman representative from the city who first was elected in a special election last year, over physical contact she made with law enforcement officials as Baraka was being arrested.

The indictment of McIver was the latest development in a legal-political drama that has seen the Trump administration take Democratic officials from New Jersey’s largest city to court amid the president’s ongoing immigration crackdown and Democrats’ efforts to respond. The prosecution is a rare federal criminal case against a sitting member of Congress for allegations other than fraud or corruption.

A nearly two-minute video clip released by the Department of Homeland Security shows McIver at the facility inside a chain-link fence just before Baraka’s arrest on the other side of the barrier, where other people were protesting. McIver and uniformed officials go through the gate, and she joins others shouting that they should circle the mayor.

The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers. Her left elbow and then her right elbow push into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive green uniform emblazoned with the word “Police.”

Besides the prosecution of McIver, Habba had announced she launched an investigation into New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, and attorney general, Matt Platkin, over the state’s directive barring local law enforcement from cooperating with federal agents conducting immigration enforcement.

In social media posts, Habba highlighted her office’s prosecution of drug traffickers, including against 30 members of a fentanyl and crack cocaine ring in Newark.

Habba’s background

A partner in a small New Jersey law firm near Trump’s Bedminster golf course, Habba served as a senior adviser for Trump’s political action committee, defended him in court in several civil lawsuits and acted as a spokesperson last year as he volleyed between courtrooms and the campaign trail.

U.S. attorneys often have experience as prosecutors, including at the state or local level. Many, including the acting U.S. attorneys in Brooklyn and Manhattan, have worked in the offices they now lead.

Habba said she wanted to pursue the president’s agenda of “putting America first.”

Habba was one of Trump’s most visible defense attorneys, appearing on cable TV news as his “legal spokesperson.” She represented Trump in 2024 in the defamation case involving E. Jean Carroll.

But Habba has had limited federal court experience, practicing mainly in state-level courts. During the Carroll trial, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan chided Habba for botching procedure, misstating the law, asking about off-limits topics and objecting after he ruled.