Mayor from Ohio. (Getty image file photo.)
Each morning in the Ohio Capital Journal’s free newsletter, The Eye-Opener, we round up the news and commentary from across Ohio, the country and the world that catches our eye. We call this feature Catching Our Eye and have published it here.
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Catching our eyes
• Trump’s claims about the Ohio election are factually incorrect. Karen Kasler of the Statehouse News Bureau reports: “Trump claims China tampered with Ohio voter rolls; LaRose’s office says “no violation occurred.”.’”
President Trump, in a speech on Thursday evening, claimed that China tampered with voter rolls in 18 states in the 2020 election he lost, but he provided no evidence. Ohio — which Trump won three times, including in 2020 — is on that list, though officials have long said the state has the gold standard for election systems.
A document released by the White House shows that Ohio is one of 18 states where Trump says there is voter data that was bought, stolen or hacked by China…
Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who turned over Ohio voter data to the feds at Trump’s request in February, addressed the seriousness of the situation in a statement from his office.
LaRose’s press secretary, Ben Kindel, said in a statement: “Based on information we have received from our federal partners, China was able to access publicly available election data approximately 10 years ago. This is the same transparent information that anyone in the world can access through an internet connection.”
• Ohio towns. Ohio Newsroom’s Anna Huntsman reports: “Ohio town leaders warn there will be cuts to police, fire and roads if property taxes are repealed“
Baum said Pike Township — like all of Ohio’s 1,300 municipalities — derives most of its operating funds from property taxes. The city’s emergency services and volunteer fire departments are funded entirely by property taxes, through voter-approved contributions, he said.
The call to eliminate property taxes has raised concerns among Baum and other municipal leaders.
• Exonerate ICE for any misconduct. The New York Times reports: “Federal agents were told the FBI would no longer investigate confrontations with ICE“
In recent days, federal agents across the country have been told that the FBI will no longer investigate confrontations with immigration agents – cases that sometimes provide evidence that can be used to prosecute Department of Homeland Security agents involved in violent encounters, according to people briefed on the decision.
If implemented, such a change would significantly reduce law enforcement’s control over immigration agents as the Trump administration faces growing criticism of killings at the hands of federal officers. Over the past two weeks, two fatal shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Texas and Maine have renewed attention on government tactics.
FBI managers across the country received a written notice Thursday informing them of the change, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal communications. That same day, some ICE agents across the country were notified by their FBI counterparts.
The instructions given to them indicated that the office would stop investigating reports of assaults on Department of Homeland Security agents, they claimed. While such investigations are intended to determine whether officers were actually attacked, they can be a key means of gathering evidence about the agents themselves.
• Iran was. The Washington Post reports: “The United States is teetering on the brink of all-out war with Iran after more soldiers have died“
The United States and Iran moved closer to all-out war over the weekend as they intensified their exchange of attacks on civilian and military structures, and at least three and possibly four American soldiers have been killed since fighting resumed a week ago.
The Kuwaiti military said Monday morning it was responding to drone strikes from Iran, after President Donald Trump said Sunday evening that U.S. Central Command had launched another wave of attacks on Iran in retaliation for the deaths of two service members during Friday’s attack on a military base in Jordan.
