Weinstein, 69, and his legal team have spent months fighting Los Angeles County prosecutors’ attempts to bring the disgraced Hollywood titan to Southern California. But on Tuesday, Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case ruled L.A. County authorities could claim custody of Weinstein, setting the stage for a second trial focused on the mogul’s alleged pattern of sexually abusing actresses and models he held sway over in Hollywood.

Case knocked down a motion to block the mogul’s extradition that was based largely around claims that Weinstein needed to stay in New York to receive proper treatment for failing eyesight and an argument that L.A. prosecutors had filed erroneous paperwork seeking to claim custody of him. Although the paperwork issue led to a delay in the proceedings during a previous extradition hearing, it ultimately fell flat Tuesday.

Weinstein dropped his head into his hands as the judge issued his ruling.

Erie County prosecutors said they had been in contact with L.A. County authorities, and it is unlikely they will seek to transport Weinstein to California until mid-July.

In March 2020, Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in New York state prison after a Manhattan jury found him guilty of rape and committing a criminal sexual act. But the day before jury selection began in Weinstein’s New York trial, former L.A. County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey filed multiple counts of sexual assault against the Miramax movie studio co-founder, accusing him of assaulting three women in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles between 2004 and 2013. Last October, prosecutors added six more charges involving two additional alleged victims.

Harvey Weinstein faces six more sexual assault charges in L.A.

Harvey Weinstein faces six additional sexual assault charges in L.A. involving two more accusers.

Weinstein’s defense team has repeatedly cited the mogul’s poor health as a reason to delay his extradition.

Attorney Norman Effman has said Weinstein is being held in a medical wing at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, N.Y., and has repeatedly asked for prosecutors to allow Weinstein to appear remotely for court proceedings in Los Angeles, citing two surgeries scheduled in New York and a number of serious medical issues. Previously, Weinstein’s defense attorneys have said he is nearly blind.

“We are disappointed by the judge’s ruling, but we are appealing his decision and have filed a habeas corpus petition in the Los Angeles Superior Court to prevent the Los Angeles County district attorney from transporting Harvey to Los Angeles until he can receive the medical care he desperately needs in New York,” said Mark Werksman, who is serving as Weinstein’s criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles.

Werksman said Weinstein needed injections and cataract surgery to prevent the permanent loss of his eyesight. Weinstein’s legal team in New York first disclosed the mogul might be going blind during his 2020 sentencing. In the habeas motion, Werksman said Weinstein’s surgeries could take up to nine months to complete.

It is not clear when a trial would take place in Los Angeles. The county’s courts effectively stopped all criminal trials during the COVID-19 pandemic, and have only recently begun to hold trials again, including the high-profile murder prosecution of real estate scion Robert Durst.

Werksman has argued that, under California laws governing extraditions, Weinstein must be brought to trial within 120 days of being brought to the state. In the habeas motion, Werksman alleged prosecutors were forcing Weinstein to choose between his health and his constitutional right to a speedy trial by forcing his extradition now.

Greg Risling, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, acknowledged Weinstein “is entitled to a trial within 120 days from his arrival in Los Angeles,” but did not offer a timeline for court appearances or elaborated on prosecutors’ plans to have Weinstein brought to California.

In April, it was revealed that an L.A. County grand jury indicted Weinstein on four counts of forcible rape, four counts of forcible oral copulation, two counts of sexual battery and one count of sexual penetration by force. The indictment allows prosecutors to avoid the need to hold a preliminary hearing in L.A., and was meant to preempt potential speedy-trial issues in Weinstein’s case, law enforcement officials previously told The Times. All five women accusing Weinstein of assault testified at the hearings, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss secret grand jury proceedings. Transcripts of the hearings remain under seal.

Weinstein has denied all wrongdoing and is appealing his conviction in New York. The allegations against Weinstein in Los Angeles echo those he was convicted of in Manhattan.

Fallen Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for committing a criminal sex act against a production assistant and for raping an aspiring actress.

Lauren Young, the only accuser whose identity has been made public in the Los Angeles case, has alleged Weinstein lured her into his room after a meeting at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills in 2013, where the mogul allegedly grabbed her breast and masturbated before she fled. Young testified against Weinstein as a “prior bad acts” witness in Manhattan. In the New York trial, prosecutors called such witnesses to testify about uncharged alleged acts to show a pattern of behavior.

A second accuser in the Los Angeles case is an Italian model who previously told The Times that Weinstein attacked her inside Mr. C Hotel in Beverly Hills in 2013. The woman, whose identity has not been made public, reported the assault to the Los Angeles Police Department in 2017, sparking an investigation that led to the filing of charges early last year.

The Times normally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault unless they have chosen to come forward publicly or been identified in court. The names of the three other accusers have yet to be made public. In total, more than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual abuse in the U.S. and Europe.

James Queally | Contributed

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Officials from California, New York and other states urged the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday to allow California to set its own automobile tailpipe pollution standards, which would reverse a Trump administration policy and could help usher in stricter emissions standards for new passenger vehicles nationwide.

The Biden administration has said it will withdrew Trump-era restrictions on state tailpipe emission rules and has moved to grant California permission to set more stringent pollution standards for cars and SUVs. That would give California greater leverage in discussions with automakers as states and federal officials seek a climate-friendly agreement on emissions standards.

At least 13 states and the District of Columbia have signed on to California’s vehicle standards, which were established decades ago under a special waiver that the Trump administration revoked in 2019. Collectively they represent 36 percent of the U.S. auto market.

Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board, said at a public hearing Wednesday that the Trump administration’s withdrawal of California’s long-standing waiver was “ill-advised and illegal.”

Addressing EPA officials at an online hearing, Randolph said, “Time has continued to prove the importance and good sense of our program” to restrict vehicle emissions. “We know the air quality in California is cleaner today than in decades. Californians can see mountains in the Los Angeles area, no longer shrouded by smog. And the air quality continues to improve because of our program.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the state’s vehicle-emissions standards “critical to the fight against climate change” and crucial to improve air quality, protect public health and drive technological innovation.

“Despite decades of effort and significant improvements, the unfortunate reality is that too many Californians still breathe dirty air and suffer from the resulting health consequences,” Bonta said. According to the American Lung Association, seven of the 10 cities with worst ozone pollution are in California, along with six of the 10 most polluted cities measured by year-round particle pollution.

“Bad air quality means more premature deaths or respiratory ailments and more asthma cases,” Bonta said. “And as the dire realities of the climate crisis grow increasingly apparent, we’re seeing the number of bad-air days in California go up, not down. From record heat waves to wildfire seasons that are increasingly long and severe, the existential threat of our time is less and less difficult to imagine.”

President Joe Biden has made slowing climate change a top priority, and his nearly $2 trillion infrastructure proposal includes 500,000 new charging stations for electric cars and trucks. Fully electric vehicles represent just 2% of new vehicle sales in the U.S., but analysts expect that to rise rapidly in coming years. Major automakers, including General Motors and Ford, are pledging billions to develop electric cars and trucks, and GM has gone so far as to announce a goal of ending gasoline-fueled passenger vehicles entirely by 2035.

The EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have proposed withdrawing Trump-era rules meant to stop states from setting their own requirements for greenhouse gases, zero emissions vehicles and fuel economy.

The changes, if approved after the agencies take public comments, would allow California and other states to set their own rules for vehicle emissions. Biden has said he will seek one national standard, as was the case under President Barack Obama.

Carmakers, autoworkers and environmental groups are eager for the federal government and California to reach a deal that creates a single nationwide standard for tailpipe emissions. EPA Administrator Michael Regan has said he expects to propose a tailpipe emissions rule in July.

“I am a firm believer in California’s long-standing statutory authority to lead,” Regan said in April. “The federal government can indeed learn from states, and that’s what we plan to continue to do.”

Gavin McCabe, a special assistant New York attorney general, said the 2019 rollback of California’s emissions standards was “among the worst and most cynical actions by the Trump EPA.”

“Arbitrarily weakening federal standards … was bad enough,” he said, “but it was truly unconscionable for EPA to attempt to block states from doing what the law plainly allows them to do to protect their residents.” New York has followed California standards for more than 30 years.

Other states that follow California include Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Several other states are moving to adopt the California standard.

Trump’s move to revoke the state waivers split the industry, with most automakers behind him while Ford, Honda, BMW, Volkswagen and Volvo decided to go with California standards. After Biden was inaugurated, automakers began withdrawing support for Trump’s decision.

Trump also rolled back Obama-era fuel efficiency and emissions standards, and it’s likely the Biden administration will reverse those as well, replacing them with more stringent requirements.

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Former President Donald Trump argued in a court filing late Monday that he cannot be sued by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) for his alleged role in inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building because he was conducting official presidential business, in a continuation of past claims that the presidency rendered him “immune” from legal liability —which legal experts have partially rejected when it comes to criminal charges.

KEY FACTS

• Swalwell is suing Trump and allies including Donald Trump Jr. and Rudy Giuliani over the Jan. 6 riot, alleging they violated the Ku Klux Klan Act through their claims of election fraud and attempts to block Congress from certifying the election results, particularly at a rally Trump spoke at that took place immediately before the Capitol was attacked.

• In a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, lawyers representing the ex-president and his son argued that Trump has “absolute immunity” against legal action over conduct while he was president.

• Legal experts broadly agree that presidents can be criminally charged after leaving office, including for something committed while they were president, though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Nixon vs. Fitzgerald that ex-presidents are immune from being sued in civil cases for damages—such as Swalwell’s suit—that arise from their official acts as president.

• Based on that precedent, Trump’s attorneys allege that the then-president’s efforts to overturn the election results were part of his presidential duties, claiming immunity would only not apply if Trump were conducting “purely personal and purely unofficial actions.”

• “It is well recognized that rousing and controversial speeches are a key function of the presidency,” Trump’s lawyers argued in defense of his Jan. 6 rally speech—in which he pushed false election fraud claims and argued for lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence to block the election results—claiming the then-president was “advocating for … congressional action.”

• The motion also argues that Trump’s false claims about the election were protected speech under the First Amendment, an argument that some legal experts have cast doubts on and suggested could potentially rise to the level of unprotected incitement of violence.

CRUCIAL QUOTE

“While holding that office, former President Trump was free to advocate for the appointment and certification of electors, just as he was entitled to advocate for the passage or defeat of a constitutional amendment, or the reconsideration of a congressional act over his veto even though the President does not directly participate in those congressional acts,” Trump’s lawyers argue.

KEY BACKGROUND

Trump repeatedly claimed he had immunity in responding to the lawsuits brought against him while he was president and he was never charged with a crime while in office. The Supreme Court did put a dent in Trump’s immunity theory in a 2020 ruling on a grand jury subpoena for his tax returns, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing, “No citizen, not even the President, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding.” Since departing the White House, Trump has become more open to legal jeopardy, and faces multiple investigations from prosecutors including the Fulton County District Attorney in Georgia, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and New York Attorney General Letitia James. In addition to Swalwell’s suit, 11 other House lawmakers have also brought a separate lawsuit against Trump and Giuliani for their alleged role in the Jan. 6 attack.

Alison Durkee | Contributed

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday the nation’s most populous state would stop requiring people to wear masks in almost all circumstances on June 15, describing a world he said will look “a lot like the world we entered into before the pandemic.”

“We’re not wearing face coverings. We’re not restricted in any way, shape or form from doing the old things that we used to do, save for huge, large-scale indoor convention events like that, where we use our common sense,” Newsom said in an interview with Fox 11’s Elex Michaelson.

California has required people to wear masks in public places since June 18. The guidance requires people to wear a mask when gathering indoors with people who are not vaccinated. Fully vaccinated people can meet indoors without wearing a mask. They can also not wear a mask outdoors, except when attending large gatherings such as sporting events, festivals and concerts.

The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board is considering changing its workplace mask rules later this month. The proposed rules would not require employees to wear masks indoors if all workers are fully vaccinated and no one has coronavirus symptoms, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Last month, Newsom announced he would lift most of the state’s coronavirus restrictions on June 15 if the state’s coronavirus case numbers continued to improve. But at the time, Newsom and state public health officials said the state would not lift the mask mandate after June 15.

Tuesday, Newsom appeared to change his mind about that, telling Fox 11 that the state would only require masks “only for those massively large settings where people from around the world, not just around the country, are conversing.”

“We’ll make guidance recommendations, but no mandates and … no restrictions on businesses large and small,” Newsom said.

Representatives from the California Department of Public Health did not return phone and email messages asking for more details on Newsom’s comments.

About half of the states require people to wear masks in public. In early March, Texas became the largest state to get rid of its mask mandate, a move Newsom called “absolutely reckless.”

At the time, Newsom told reporters “we’re never going to subscribe to the point of view of some other states.”

But that was more than two months ago. Since then, the rate of people testing positive for the coronavirus in California is just 1.1%, a fact Newsom cited in his interview with Fox 11, noting it is “the lowest in the nation.” More than 14.6 million people are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, and another 5.1 million are partially vaccinated.

Another change since March: Organizers seeking to remove Newsom from office gathered enough verified signatures to make it likely Newsom will face a recall election later this year. That recall effort was fueled mostly by anger over Newsom’s handling of the pandemic.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers said Wednesday that they are seeking $200 million over the next three years to fight hate crimes against Asian Americans that have increased since the coronavirus entered the U.S. after originating in China.

More than half of the money would go for grants to nonprofit and community groups that provide legal services, health care, mental health, victim compensation or counseling. Also eligible would be groups providing escorts for older residents who fear attacks and organizations that provide education on systemic racism.

Funding of $10 million would be provided for a statewide hate crimes hotline to collect reports in victims’ own languages and to direct them to police or legal, health or mental health services.

Another $20 million would help cultural enclaves including traditional Chinatowns, Japantowns, Koreatowns, and Little Manilas.

The proposal comes from the California Asian & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, which has 10 members in the 120-member state Legislature. The caucus includes Phil Ting, a Democrat from San Francisco who heads the Assembly Budget Committee, and members said they’ve had early support from other budgeting and Democratic leaders who control the Legislature.

“We want to address not only, of course, the recent events of hate directed toward our community, but also to recognize longstanding issues in terms of access for our community to public services, government services,” said the caucus chairman, Democratic Sen. Richard Pan of Sacramento.

The caucus is seeking the money as Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers stake out their positions this week on spending what the governor said will be a $76 billion budget surplus. Lawmakers have until June 15 to approve a budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The caucus’ plan includes funding to help children of Asian and Pacific Islander descent in schools, including combating school bullying; for the organization Stop AAPI Hate, which the lawmakers said is the first to collect data on hate crimes in victims’ own languages; and to create a California Interpreters Corps of state workers who can help residents in their own languages.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s use of emergency powers to make far-reaching policies during the pandemic was upheld Wednesday by state appellate judges who rejected a lower court finding that the Democrat had done too much unilaterally.

Three judges from the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento ruled unanimously that the prior judge “erred in interpreting the Emergency Services Act to prohibit the Governor from issuing quasi-legislative orders in an emergency.

“We conclude the issuance of such orders did not constitute an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power,” Presiding Justice Vance Raye wrote in ruling on a lawsuit brought by Republican state legislators.

The court already had stayed the earlier ruling by Sutter County Superior Court Judge Sarah Heckman that Newsom unconstitutionally usurped the Legislature’s power.

Heckman more broadly issued an injunction — which also had been temporarily halted by the appeals court — barring Newsom from issuing any orders under the California Emergency Services Act that amended state laws or legislative policy.

Newsom did so dozens of times during the pandemic in what amounted to one-man rule, Assemblymen James Gallagher and Kevin Kiley said.

The appeals court said the lower court rulings raised “matters of great public concern regarding the Governor’s orders in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic emergency” but agreed with the governor’s contention that he acted within the broad emergency authority granted him under state law in times of crisis.

The appeals court relied on a section of the law that says the governor shall “have complete authority over all agencies of the state government and the right to exercise within the area designated all police power vested in the state by the Constitution and laws of the State of California.”

Kiley and Gallagher said they would appeal to the state Supreme Court.

The appeals court reached “a startling conclusion: that a State of Emergency gives a California Governor ‘the power to legislate.’ The California Supreme Court has repeatedly held this is forbidden by our State Constitution,” the two lawmakers said in a statement.

“The issue now squarely presented for the high court is whether the separation of powers still exists in California,” they said, expressing confidence that the justices “will uphold this bedrock principle of constitutional government.”

Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment.

Newson issued the nation’s first statewide lockdown order in March 2020 and followed up with a torrent of executive orders, acting unilaterally on everything from halting evictions to allowing marriages to be conducted by video or teleconference.

He also suspended school deadlines, gave consumers and businesses more time to pay taxes, changed the rules for public meetings, suspended medical privacy rules, and allowed grocery stores to hand out free single-use bags, among many other changes.

The lawsuit itself centered on just one executive order requiring election officials to open hundreds of locations statewide where voters could cast ballots, despite the potential health risk.

The Legislature subsequently approved the same requirement, which Newsom said showed he was working with lawmakers. The assemblymen said it showed the governor could often have used the usual legislative process.

The appeals court said that portion of the claim was moot because the governor’s order was superseded by the legislation which was directed at an election that has already occurred.

Heckman’s ruling was the second time a judge in Sutter County reached the same conclusion, but the first ruling was also quickly halted.

Both countered other state and federal court decisions backing the governor’s emergency powers, but the U.S. Supreme Court more recently has ruled that California unconstitutionally restricted indoor worship services, both in churches and in homes.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Caitlyn Jenner’s candidacy for California governor is about to go from virtual to reality.

The Republican who calls herself a “compassionate disrupter” sits down for her first in-person campaign event, a one-on-one interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.

The 71-year-old Jenner — who won the men’s Olympic decathlon in 1976 and decades later became a reality TV star and transgender woman — announced her candidacy about two weeks ago in a written statement on Twitter. Since then, her campaign has been slow to unfold, and the taped interview with Hannity will mark some of the first words voters will hear from Jenner since her campaign launch.

She has been active on Twitter and has posted a video and other materials on her website. She told TMZ on Saturday that she opposes transgender girls competing in girls’ sports at school, calling it “a question of fairness.” The comment angered many in the transgender community.

Thus far, Jenner, a Republican, has provided only a rough sketch of how she would manage the nation’s most populous state.

She’s choosing an exclusive location for her kick-off event. Malibu, where she lives, is known as a playground for the wealthy, with sprawling mansions perched above the Pacific. It has about 12,000 mostly white residents, and the median value of homes is over $2 million, according to government statistics.

Her cautious steps into the campaign highlight the risks for a political newcomer who could be tripped up by a vast array of complex subjects, from immigration to tax policy to vaccine distribution.

The written statements and video released so far, which include shots of her Olympic competition and gold medal, appear intended to introduce Jenner’s story to voters who might be only glancingly familiar with her.

With the Olympics more than four decades behind her, she’s probably best known these days for reality TV shows, “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” and the spin-off, “I Am Cait.”

Hannity’s show is likely to prove a welcoming stage for a critic of California’s Democratic-led government. It was a favored venue for former President Donald Trump.

“For a candidate like Caitlyn Jenner to win, it has to be like a layered cake. The bottom layer has to be Trump supporters,” said Bill Whalen, a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution who was a speechwriter for former GOP Republican Gov. Pete Wilson.

“Where do you go to get Trump supporters? Simple. Sean Hannity,” Whalen said.

Jenner made headlines in recent years with her ties to Trump, who lost to Joe Biden in the state by over 5 million votes.

Jenner supported Trump in 2016 but later criticized his administration’s reversal of a directive on transgender access to public school bathrooms. She also split with Trump after he said transgender people would not be allowed to serve in the U.S. military.

Jenner’s first TV appearance comes as candidates in California’s expected recall election that could remove Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom later this year are becoming more visible. On Tuesday, Republican businessman John Cox appeared with a Kodiak bear named Tag to relaunch his campaign in Sacramento. Cox lost to Newsom in a 2018 landslide.

Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and ex-Congressman Doug Ose, both Republicans, also are running.

Despite her notoriety. Jenner is a longshot to win her first try at elective office. Her threat to other Republicans — as well as Newsom — is her ability to capture the media spotlight, Whalen said.

“She is the shiny article in this recall right now,” he said. “She can make news any time she wants.”

The challenge she faces is getting past what Whalen called the “giggle factor” that comes with being a reality TV figure looking to run the largest state government in the country and the fifth-largest economy in the world.

“Will there be policy behind the polish?” he asked. “She’s going to need to produce serious ideas.”

Jenner took a small first step to answering those questions Tuesday, saying on her website that she would establish a working group to review state regulations, including those that could block the development of affordable housing, and promising to veto any tax increases.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is facing calls to recognize the Armenian genocide of more than a century ago, something he pledged to do as a candidate but that could further complicate an already tense relationship with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

A bipartisan group of more than 100 House members on Wednesday signed a letter to Biden calling on him to become the first U.S. president to formally recognize the World War I-era systematic killing and deportation of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from modern-day Turkey.

The letter, led by Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California, was sent days before Saturday’s annual Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day commemoration. Turkey’s foreign minister has warned the Biden administration that recognition would “harm” U.S.-Tukey ties.

“The shameful silence of the United States Government on the historic fact of the Armenian Genocide has gone on for too long, and it must end,” the lawmakers wrote. “We urge you to follow through on your commitments, and speak the truth.”

Biden as a candidate marked the remembrance day last year by pledging that if elected he would recognize the Armenian genocide of 1915 to 1923, saying “silence is complicity.” He did not offer a timeline for delivering on the promise.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday said the president would have more to say Saturday on this remembrance day.

Should Biden follow through, he’ll almost certainly face pushback from Turkey, which has successfully pressed previous presidents to sidestep the issue.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu earlier this week insisted Turkey wasn’t concerned by any decision that Biden might make, but also suggested that such a move would be met with a harsh reaction.

“If the United States wants our relations to get worse, it’s up to them,” he said in an interview with Turkey’s HaberTurk news channel.

The relationship between Biden and Erdogan is off to a chilly start. More than three months into his presidency, Biden has yet to speak with him.

Ties between Ankara and Washington — which once considered each other strategic partners — have steadily deteriorated in recent years over differences on Syria, Turkey’s cooperation with Russia and more recently on Turkish naval interventions in the eastern Mediterranean, which U.S. officials have described as destabilizing.

Biden during the campaign last year drew ire from Turkish officials after an interview with The New York Times in which he spoke about supporting Turkey’s opposition against “autocrat” Erdogan. Still, Turkey was hopeful of resetting the relationship. Erdogan enjoyed a warm relationship with former President Donald Trump, who didn’t give him any lectures about Turkey’s human rights record.

“In the past, the arm twisting from Turkey was, ’Well we’re such a good friend that you should remain solid with us on this,’” said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, whose members have started a campaign to encourage Biden to recognize the genocide. “But they’re proving to be not such a good friend.”

Hamparian said he’s hopeful that Biden will follow through. He noted that the sting of former President Barack Obama not following through on his 2008 campaign pledge to recognize the Armenian genocide still lingers for many in the Armenian diaspora.

Samantha Power, who served as Obama’s United Nations ambassador and has been nominated by Biden to serve as USAID administrator, and deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes both publicly expressed disappointment that Obama didn’t act on the matter. Obama was concerned about straining the relationship with Turkey, a NATO member whose cooperation was needed on military and diplomatic efforts in Afghanistan, Iran and Syria.

Power said in a 2018 interview with Pod Save the World that the administration was “played a little bit” by Erdogan and others invested in delaying a genocide declaration.

Biden has sought to send the message that the U.S. will be a greater force on calling out human rights abuses and promoting democratic norms under his watch. That’s a departure from Trump, who found rapport with autocrats, including North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Erdogan and others.

Still, early in his presidency, Biden has faced criticism for failing to take action directly against Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman, even after the publication of U.S. intelligence findings that the crown prince had approved an operation to kill or capture U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He’s also been criticized for not following his condemnations of China’s oppression of Uyghurs and other minorities in western China with tougher action.

Gonul Tol, director of the Turkish program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said Erdogan’s leverage has diminished and with Turkey’s economy suffering the Turkish leader’s reaction could be muted.

“Biden has been vocal about human rights abuses in countries across the world, including in Turkey, but it hasn’t gone very far beyond his rhetoric,” Tol said. “This is a chance for him to stand up on human rights with lower stakes.”

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And it comes as the first—term governor is facing a recall effort fueled in part by widespread anger over his handling of the coronavirus, particularly its impact on businesses. “The backbone of our economy is small business. We recognize the stress, the strain that so many small business have been under,” Newsom said at a bill-signing ceremony at Solomon’s Deli in Sacramento.

“And we recognize as well our responsibility to do more and to do better to help support these small businesses through this very difficult and trying time.” The Newsom administration still bans indoor dining in most of the state while limiting how many people can enter retail stores at the same time. Newsom has said Tuesday the state will ease those restrictions in five counties, with more to come in the coming weeks as the number of new infections have fallen in recent weeks along with coronavirus-related hospitalizations. Newsom used his emergency powers in November to set aside $500 million for small business grants. In the first round of funding, the program received more than 334,000 applications totaling more than $4.4 billion in requests.

The law Newsom signed on Thursday puts another $2 billion into that program. Businesses with annual revenues between $1,000 and $2.5 million are eligible for the money, with a priority given to businesses owned by women and minorities and businesses in areas with high unemployment rates. The Legislature will likely approve more aid for businesses next week. Lawmakers had planned to pass a bill on Monday that would have let businesses deduct up to $150,000 in expenses covered by federal loans from their state taxes — a $2 billion benefit over six years.

But they decided to amend the bill to let businesses deduct more than $150,000 from their taxes, raising the price tag for the state to about $2.3 billion, Newsom said. Once that law is passed, it will bring the total state stimulus package to just under $10 billion. “That’s big even for California standards,” Newsom said. The package includes $3.7 billion to pay at least $600 in one-time payments to about 5.7 million people. Most of these people will get the money by claiming the California earned income tax credit on their tax returns. In general, those are people who make $30,000 per year or less.

The money will also go to people who earn under $75,000 per year and use an individual taxpayer identification number to file their income taxes. These are people who don’t have Social Security numbers, including immigrants who were ineligible for the federal stimulus payments Congress approved last year.

ADAM BEAM • AP News

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