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Elite US university Harvard risked billions of dollars in federal funding Monday as it rejected a list of sweeping demands that the Trump administration said are intended to crack down on campus antisemitism.The call for changes to its governance, hiring practices and admissions procedures expands on a list Harvard received on April 3, which ordered officials to shut diversity offices and cooperate with immigration authorities for screenings of international students.Harvard president Alan Garber vowed in a letter to students and faculty to defy the government, insisting that the school would not “negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights.”Campuses across the country were rocked last year by student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, with some resulting in violent clashes involving police and pro-Israel counter-protesters.Trump and other Republicans have accused the activists of supporting Hamas, a US-designated terrorist group whose deadly attack on October 7, 2023 against Israel sparked the conflict.”Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating anti-Semitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the ‘intellectual conditions’ at Harvard,” Garber wrote.The Department of Education announced in March that it had opened an investigation into 60 colleges and universities for alleged “anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination.”Garber’s letter came after the administration placed $9 billion in federal funding to Harvard and its affiliates under review, making its first demands.On Friday, the government sent Harvard a much more detailed list, which the university made public, demanding an “audit” of the views of students and faculty. – ‘Raging anti-Semitism’ -Garber said the school was “open to new information and different perspectives” but would not agree to demands that “go beyond the lawful authority of this or any administration.””No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Garber said.Top Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who was lauded by Trump last year for aggressive questioning of universities over anti-Semitism, called for Harvard to be defunded, calling it “the epitome of the moral and academic rot in higher education.”The New York firebrand Stefanik, seen as one of the most vocal supporters in Congress of Israel and US Jewish causes, accused the university of tolerating “raging anti-Semitism.”Harvard’s response to the White House’s demands was in sharp contrast to the approach taken by Columbia University, the epicenter of last year’s pro-Palestinian protests.The Trump administration cut $400 million in grants to the private New York school, accusing it of failing to protect Jewish students from harassment as protesters rallied against Israel’s Gaza offensive.The school responded by agreeing to reform student disciplinary procedures and hiring 36 officers to expand its security team.As well as the funding cut, immigration officers have targeted a leader of the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia, Mahmoud Khalil, arresting him and pushing for his deportation.

US tariff exemptions for electronics prompted market rallies Monday from Asia to Wall Street, but uncertainty dominated in a global trade war that Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned can have “no winner.”Wall Street was buoyant, with the Dow Jones index rising one percent shortly after the opening and the S&P 500 up 1.45 percent. This followed boosts on Asian and European markets.Investors are relieved at the apparent easing of pressure in President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging but often chaotic attempt to reorder the world economy by using tariffs to force manufacturers to relocate to the United States.Tit-for-tat exchanges have seen US levies imposed on China this year rise to 145 percent, and Beijing setting a retaliatory 125 percent barrier on US imports.The electronics tariff reprieve, US officials said late Friday, means exemptions from the latest duties against China for a range of high-end tech goods such as smartphones, semiconductors and computers.But Trump suggested Sunday that the exemption would be only temporary and that he still planned to put barriers up on imported semiconductors and much else.”NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook’ for the unfair Trade Balances,” Trump blasted on his Truth Social platform. “We are taking a look at Semiconductors and THE WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN.”On Monday, in remarks at the White House, Trump once again pivoted to suggesting possible compromise, saying he was “looking at something to help some of the car companies” hit by his 25 percent tariff on all auto imports.”I don’t want to hurt anybody,” he said.The Chinese commerce ministry said Friday’s move was only “a small step” and all tariffs should be cancelled.China’s Xi warned Monday — as he kicked off a Southeast Asia tour with a visit to Vietnam — that protectionism “will lead nowhere” and a trade war would “produce no winner.”- Short-lived relief? -Trump initially unveiled huge tariffs on countries around the world on April 2.He then made an about-face a week later when he said only China would face the heaviest duties, while other countries got a global 10 percent tariff for a 90-day period.The trade war is raising fears of an economic downturn as the dollar tumbles and investors dump US government bonds, normally considered a safe haven investment.And the latest wrangling over high-tech products — an area where China is a powerhouse — illustrates the uncertainty plaguing investors.Washington’s new exemptions will benefit US tech companies such as Nvidia and Dell as well as Apple, which makes iPhones and other premium products in China.But the relief could be short-lived, with some of the exempted consumer electronics targeted for upcoming sector-specific tariffs on goods deemed key to US national defense networks.On Air Force One Sunday, Trump said tariffs on semiconductors — which power any major technology from e-vehicles and iPhones to missile systems — “will be in place in the not distant future.”The US president said he would announce tariffs rates for semiconductors “over the next week,” and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said they would likely be in place “in a month or two.”- Negotiations  -The White House says Trump remains optimistic about securing a trade deal with China, although administration officials have made it clear they expect Beijing to reach out first.EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said “the EU remains constructive and ready for a fair deal,” after meeting with Lutnick and US trade envoy Jamieson Greer in Washington.Sefcovic said this deal could include reciprocity through a “zero-for-zero” tariff offer on industrial goods, but added in a social media post that “achieving this will require a significant joint effort on both sides.”The Trump administration also says that dozens of countries have already opened trade negotiations to secure deals before the 90-day pause ends.Japanese Economic Revitalization Minister Ryosei Akazawa will visit Washington for negotiations this week, with his country’s automakers hit by Trump’s 25 percent tariff on the auto sector.He warned that Japanese company profits are already “being cut day by day.”burs-sms/dw

US President Donald Trump resumed his attempts Monday to blame Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for Russia’s invasion, falsely accusing him of responsibility for “millions” of deaths.Trump — who had a blazing public row in the Oval Office with Zelensky six weeks ago — said the Ukranian shared the blame with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion, and then-US president Joe Biden.The Republican told reporters that there were “millions of people dead because of three people.” “Let’s say Putin number one, but let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, number two, and Zelensky,” Trump said during a meeting with the visiting president of El Salvador.Trump then doubled down on his attack on Zelensky.”He’s always looking to purchase missiles,” he said dismissively of the Ukrainian leader’s attempts to maintain his country’s defense against the Russian invasion.”When you start a war, you got to know that you can win the war,” Trump said.  “You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size, and then hope that people give you some missiles.”Relations between Trump and Zelensky have been tense ever since the US president stunned the world by opening talks with Russia in February.In the run-up to their televised row on February 28 Trump repeatedly echoed Moscow’s talking points — blaming Ukraine for the war and calling Zelensky a “dictator without elections.”Zelensky has since tried to patch things up, including sending a delegation to Washington last week to discuss a mineral deal Trump has called for, that would give the US preferential access to Ukrainian natural resources.But the US leader has stepped up his rhetoric in the last few days.Trump however insisted a deal to end the Ukraine war was possible, despite Ukrainian accusations that Moscow is stalling.”I want to stop the killing, and I think we’re doing well in that regard. I think you’ll have some very good proposals very soon,” Trump said.Trump’s comments came despite a deadly Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday that killed at least 35 people, one of the deadliest attacks of the war.The US president said on Sunday that the attack was a “mistake” but did not elaborate. Russia insisted Monday that its missiles hit a meeting of Ukrainian army commanders.Zelensky urged US counterpart Donald Trump in a CBS interview broadcast Sunday to visit his country to better understand the devastation wrought by Russia’s invasion.

An immigration judge ruled Friday that a pro-Palestinian student protester, a US permanent resident detained by the Trump administration, can be deported, his lawyer said.Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans, based in the state of Louisiana, said the federal government had met its burden to prove it had grounds to deport Mahmoud Khalil, according to a statement by his attorney.”Today, we saw our worst fears play out: Mahmoud was subject to a charade of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing, and a weaponization of immigration law to suppress dissent. This is not over, and our fight continues,” Khalil’s attorney Marc van der Hout said in the statement.Khalil is not yet scheduled for deportation, and the judge gave his attorneys until April 23 to seek a waiver, the statement added.The Columbia University student, a prominent face of the protest movement that erupted in response to Israel’s war in Gaza, is married to a US citizen.He was arrested and taken to Louisiana, sparking protests. Several other foreign student protesters have been similarly targeted.Comans had ordered the government to spell out its case against Khalil, who the government is seeking to deport on the grounds that his protest activities are a threat to national security.In a letter to the court, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted that Khalil’s activism could hurt Washington’s foreign policy.But he declined to argue formally that the Algeria-born Palestinian student was Hamas-aligned, as officials have told journalists.- ‘Campaign of terror’ -The undated letter instead referred to Khalil’s “participation and roles” in allegedly “anti-Semitic protests and disruptive activities which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”It made no reference to any alleged crime.”I would like to quote what you said last time, that there’s nothing that’s more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness. Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present,” Khalil told the court according to his legal team.Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted to X following the ruling that “when you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists… and harass Jews… you should not be in this country.”The judge in a separate New Jersey case, brought by Khalil’s lawyers to contest his detention, held a hearing immediately after the Louisiana proceeding.Khalil’s lawyers will seek to challenge the Louisiana ruling once it has been issued in its entirety, the court heard.Dozens of high-profile lawyers have joined the case on Khalil’s side, framing the proceeding as a test case for freedom of speech and the limits of Trump’s power.Khalil’s arrest has triggered outrage from Trump opponents, free speech advocates and some on the political right, who say the case will have a chilling effect on freedom of expression.”The Trump administration’s actions against universities, their researchers and their students have no recent precedent in US history,” said Columbia University law professor David Pozen at a teach-in event Friday.”American democracy is in crisis.”Ramya Krishnan, a senior staff attorney at Columbia’s Knight First Amendment Institute, said “the administration has unleashed, to put it bluntly, a campaign of terror on immigrants in this country. And it seems that no one is safe.”Immigration officers have similarly detained and sought to deport a Tufts University student from Turkey, Rumeysa Ozturk, and Columbia student Yunseo Chung who is a US permanent resident originally from South Korea. Their deportations have been blocked for now by courts.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele assured Donald Trump on Monday that he would not return a man mistakenly deported from the United States, as the pair bonded over Trump’s scheme to send migrants to a notorious prison in the Central American country.Trump gave a warm welcome in the Oval Office to 43-year-old Bukele, the self-proclaimed “world’s coolest dictator” who is now the US president’s key ally in his controversial push to deport illegal migrants.But the pair faced questions over the case of a father who was mistakenly deported to the Salvadoran mega-prison — and whose return a US court has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate.”Of course, I’m not going to do it,” Bukele told reporters when asked if he would send the man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, back to the United States. “The question is preposterous…. I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”Trump and Bukele, who wore a dark T-shirt under a suit, spent much of the meeting complimenting each other on their migration and crime policies.Known for his stylish dress sense and social media savvy, Bukele is broadly popular at home for clamping down on once rampant drug gangs that terrorized El Salvador.But the Salvadoran leader is accused of overseeing mass human rights violations, epitomized by a huge, brutal prison known as CECOT.Trump’s immigration policies focused on what he says is the threat of a gang-led crime wave in the United States, are meanwhile among his most popular, receiving much higher ratings than on the economy.”You are helping us out, and we appreciate it,” 78-year-old Trump told Bukele.Trump also reiterated that he was even considering deporting some US citizens who commit violent crimes to El Salvador, saying “I’m all for it” and asking Attorney General Pam Bondi to look into the idea.- ‘Administrative error’ -Trump and Bukele also share a taste for conservative, strongman-style politics. They spent several minutes criticizing the media and then talking about the issue of transgender athletes in women’s sports.Shortly after Trump’s inauguration for a second term, Bukele made the extraordinary offer to take in prisoners from the United States, in exchange for a fee of $6 million.Trump took the Salvadoran leader up on his proposal, sending more than 250 migrants there — a majority of them under a rarely used wartime law dating to 1798, which stripped the deportees of due process.Slickly produced footage of their arrival — including chained and tattooed men having their heads shaved and being frog-marched by masked guards — was widely promoted by both the Salvadoran and US governments.The Trump administration contends that the migrants are members of criminal gangs designated by the United States as terrorist organizations, including El Salvador’s MS-13 and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.However, relatives of several of the men contend they have no connection to organized crime and in some cases had been swept up simply because they had tattoos unrelated to any gang activity.The expulsion to El Salvador of Abrego Garcia has set off a major legal crisis, after the Trump administration admitted he had been deported in an “administrative error.”A federal judge ordered the government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States, but Trump officials contend he is now solely in Salvadoran custody, leaving the man in legal limbo.Despite the partnership, El Salvador was among the dozens of US trade partners that the Trump administration slapped with 10 percent tariffs earlier this month.The United States is the main destination for Salvadoran exports. Of the nearly $6.5 billion in goods exported from El Salvador in 2024, $2.1 billion went to the United States, including clothing, sugar and coffee, according to the central bank.But Trump and Bukele also share a fondness for cryptocurrency, with El Salvador becoming the world’s first country to establish bitcoin as legal tender in 2021.

Nvidia on Monday announced plans to build top-end artificial intelligence supercomputer chips entirely in the United States for the first time.Supercomputer plants are being built in Texas in partnerships with Foxconn and Wistron, with manufacturing expected to ramp up over the course of the next 12 to 15 months, according to the Silicon Valley-based company.TSMC plants in Arizona have already started production of Nvidia’s most advanced graphics processing unit (GPU), called Blackwell, Nvidia added.”The engines of the world’s AI infrastructure are being built in the United States for the first time,” Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang said in the blog post.”Adding American manufacturing helps us better meet the incredible and growing demand for AI chips and supercomputers, strengthens our supply chain and boosts our resiliency.”Nvidia plans to produce as much as half a trillion dollars worth of AI infrastructure in the United States by the end of this decade through partnerships with TSMC, Foxconn, Wistron, Amkor and SPIL.”Onshoring these industries is good for the American worker, good for the American economy, and good for American national security,” the White House said in a statement.The US government has clamped down on the export of sophisticated AI chips to China due to national security concerns, and keeping production close to home could allow for tighter control of designs and products.Now, chips are poised to get caught up in a trade war between the US and China.On Air Force One Sunday, Trump said tariffs on semiconductors — which power any major technology from e-vehicles and iPhones to missile systems — “will be in place in the not distant future.””We want to make our chips and semiconductors and other things in our country,” Trump reiterated.The US president said he would announce tariffs rates for semiconductors “over the next week” and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said they would likely be in place “in a month or two.”

President Donald Trump on Monday hosted El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, the self-described “world’s coolest dictator” who is now the US leader’s key ally in a controversial push to deport illegal migrants to a notorious Salvadoran prison.The meeting comes as the White House faces pressure over the case of a father who was mistakenly deported to the jail in the Central American country — whose return a US court has ordered the Trump adminstration to facilitate.As Trump welcomed Bukele outside the West Wing, the US president didn’t answer when asked if he would request the return of the man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia.Bukele, known for his stylish dress sense and social media savvy, is broadly popular at home for clamping down on once rampant drug gangs that terrorized El Salvador.But the 43-year-old Salvadoran leader is accused of overseeing mass human rights violations, epitomized by a huge, brutal prison known as CECOT.Shortly after Trump’s inauguration for a second term, Bukele made the extraordinary offer to take in prisoners from the United States.Trump took the Salvadoran leader up on his proposal, sending more than 250 migrants there after invoking a rarely used wartime law dating to 1798, which stripped the deportees of due process.Slickly produced footage of their arrival — including chained and tattooed men having their heads shaved and being frog-marched by masked guards — was widely promoted by both the Salvadoran and US governments.The Trump administration contends that the migrants are members of criminal gangs designated by the United States as terrorist organizations, including El Salvador’s MS-13 and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.However, relatives of several of the men contend they have no connection to organized crime and in some cases had been swept up simply because they had tattoos unrelated to any gang activity.- ‘Administrative error’ -The expulsion to El Salvador of Abrego Garcia has set off a major legal crisis, after the Trump administration admitted he had been deported in an “administrative error.”A federal judge ordered the government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States, but Trump officials contend he is now solely in Salvadoran custody, leaving the man in legal limbo.Trump’s deputy chief of staff and migration hardliner Stephen Miller brushed off the court order on Monday, telling reporters: “We’re going to continue to send foreign terrorist aliens to El Salvador as well as to many other countries.”Trump wrote on social media on Saturday that “our nations are working closely together to eradicate terrorist organizations and build a future of Prosperity.”US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that 10 further “criminals” had arrived in El Salvador.Aside from political benefits for both leaders, Bukele says El Salvador has so far been paid $6 million for taking deportees.Despite the partnership, El Salvador was among the dozens of US trade partners that the Trump administration slapped with 10 percent tariffs.The United States is the main destination for Salvadoran exports. Of the nearly $6.5 billion in goods exported from El Salvador in 2024, $2.1 billion went to the United States, including clothing, sugar and coffee, according to the central bank.But Trump and Bukele also share a taste for strongman-style politics.Since coming to power in 2019, Bukele has subdued his once gang-plagued nation of about six million people, sending his approval ratings soaring.Trump’s immigration policies focused on what he says is the threat of a gang-led crime wave in the United States, are meanwhile among his most popular, receiving much higher ratings than on the economy.Bukele sarcastically responded “Oopsie… too late” when the first flights of deportees from the United States arrived in March despite a federal judge ordering a halt.

US tariffs exemptions for electronics prompted market rallies Monday from Asia to Wall Street but failed to settle nerves over a global trade war that Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned would have “no winner.”Wall Street was buoyant, with the Dow Jones index rising one percent shortly after the opening and the S&P 500 up 1.45 percent. This followed boosts on Asian and European markets.Investors are relieved at the apparent easing of pressure in President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging but often chaotic attempt to reorder the world economy by using tariffs to force manufacturers to relocate to the United States.Tit-for-tat exchanges have seen US levies imposed on China this year rise to 145 percent, and Beijing setting a retaliatory 125 percent barrier on US imports.But even the electronics tariff reprieve — that US officials late Friday said would mean exemptions from the latest 125 percent duties against China for a range of high-end tech goods such as smartphones, semiconductors and computers — brought new uncertainty.Trump suggested Sunday that the exemption would be only temporary and said he still planned to put barriers up on imported semiconductors and much else.”NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook’ for the unfair Trade Balances,” Trump blasted on his Truth Social platform. “We are taking a look at Semiconductors and THE WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN.”The Chinese commerce ministry said Friday’s move was only “a small step” and all tariffs should be cancelled.China’s Xi warned Monday — as he kicked off a Southeast Asia tour with a visit to Vietnam — that protectionism “will lead nowhere” and a trade war would “produce no winner.”- Short-lived relief? -Trump initially unveiled huge tariffs on countries around the world on April 2.He then made an about-face a week later when he said only China would face the heaviest duties, while other countries got a global 10 percent tariff for a 90-day period.The trade war is raising fears of an economic downturn as the dollar tumbles and investors dump US government bonds, normally considered a safe haven investment.And the latest wrangling over high-tech products — an area where China is a powerhouse — illustrates the uncertainty plaguing investors.Washington’s new exemptions will benefit US tech companies such as Nvidia and Dell as well as Apple, which makes iPhones and other premium products in China.But the relief could be short-lived, with some of the exempted consumer electronics targeted for upcoming sector-specific tariffs on goods deemed key to US national defense networks.On Air Force One Sunday, Trump said tariffs on semiconductors — which power any major technology from e-vehicles and iPhones to missile systems — “will be in place in the not distant future.””Like we did with steel, like we did with automobiles, like we did with aluminum… we’ll be doing that with semiconductors, with chips and numerous other things,” he said. “We want to make our chips and semiconductors and other things in our country,” Trump reiterated, adding that he would do the same with “drugs and pharmaceuticals.”The US president said he would announce tariffs rates for semiconductors “over the next week” and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said they would likely be in place “in a month or two.”- Negotiations  -The White House says Trump remains optimistic about securing a trade deal with China, although administration officials have made it clear they expect Beijing to reach out first.US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that “we don’t have any plans” for talks between Trump and Xi.The Trump administration also says that dozens of countries have already opened trade negotiations to secure deals before the 90-day pause ends.”We’re working around the clock, day and night, sharing paper, receiving offers and giving feedback to these countries,” Greer told CBS.Japanese Economic Revitalization Minister Ryosei Akazawa will visit Washington for negotiations this week, with his country’s automakers hit by Trump’s 25 percent tariff on the auto sector.He warned that Japanese company profits are already “being cut day by day.””I will do my best, bearing in mind what’s best for our national interests and what is most effective,” Akazawa said in parliament.burs-sms/wd

Pop star Katy Perry completed a brief foray into space Monday, roaring to the edge of the cosmos with an all-women crew on one of billionaire Jeff Bezos’s rockets.The “Firework” and “California Gurls” singer was lofted more than 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface in a vessel from Blue Origin, the space company owned by the Amazon founder.Five other women — including Bezos’s fiancee Lauren Sanchez — were on the flight, which took off from western Texas shortly after 8:30 am (1330 GMT) before safely landing again some 10 minutes later.The flight brought the passengers beyond the Karman line — the internationally recognized boundary of space.One of the other passengers, TV presenter Gayle King, said Perry sang “What a wonderful world” in space.”It’s a 10 out of 10. That’s my review. Definitely go for it,” the singer said after she was safely back on Earth.Their fully automated craft rose vertically before the crew capsule detached mid-flight, later falling back to the ground slowed by parachutes and a retro rocket.The jubilant women then emerged, with Perry kissing the ground after exiting the capsule.”I think this experience has shown me you never know how much love is inside of you, like how much love you have to give and how loved you are until the day you launch,” she said. Monday’s mission was the first all-woman space crew since Valentina Tereshkova’s historic solo flight in 1963.It is also the 11th sub-orbital crewed operation by Blue Origin, which has offered space tourism experiences for several years.The company does not publicly communicate the price of trips made possible by its New Shepard rocket.They were expected to have a brief period when the women could unbuckle from their seats and float in zero gravity.- ‘Inspiration’ -Perry, launched onto the international stage with her 2008 hit “I Kissed a Girl,” was also travelling alongside Sanchez, King, film producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA scientist Aisha Bowe and Amanda Nguyen, founder of a campaign group against sexual violence.They follow 52 previous Blue Origin passengers, including longtime “Star Trek” leading man William Shatner.King’s close friend — talk show legend Oprah Winfrey — was among those watching the launch in Texas.”It’s oddly quiet when you get up there… you look down at the planet and think, ‘That’s where we came from?’ And to me it’s such a reminder about how we need to do better and be better,” King said.Perry recently told Elle magazine that she was taking part “for my daughter Daisy,” whom she shares with actor Orlando Bloom, “to inspire her to never have limits on her dreams.” Such high-profile guests are intended to keep public interest in Blue Origin’s work, as it battles multiple rival firms in the space tourism field.Bezos’ top challenger in passenger flights is Virgin Galactic, which offers a similar sub-orbital experience.But Blue Origin aims in the future to bring space tourists into orbit, competing directly with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.In January, Blue Origin’s much more powerful New Glenn rocket successfully completed its first unmanned orbital mission.

US prosecutors charged a man on Monday with the attempted murder of Democratic heavyweight and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro after a weekend arson attack at his residence, court filings showed. Cody Balmer, 38, was charged with attempted criminal homicide along with seven other offenses — including terrorism affecting the government and prowling at nighttime.He told police he harbored “hatred towards Shapiro,” according to the criminal docket.Asked what he would have done had he encountered Shapiro in the residence, Balmer told investigators he would “have beaten him with his hammer.”Shapiro, widely viewed as a potential 2028 presidential contender, was inside with his family when the fire broke out in a different part of the Georgian-style mansion in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Sunday, state police said earlier.”While the fire was successfully extinguished, it caused a significant amount of damage to a portion of the residence,” the force said in a statement. No casualties were reported.Shapiro said that he and his sleeping family were woken up by a police trooper who “banged on our door” at around 2:00 am local time (0600 GMT) and that they were evacuated from the building.”Thank God no one was injured and the fire was extinguished,” he said. Speaking to reporters outside the residence, a broken window blackened by the fire visible behind him, Shapiro made a forceful appeal for an end to political violence.”This kind of violence is becoming far too common in our society, and I don’t give a damn if it’s coming from one particular side or the other… it is not OK, and it has to stop,” he said.Police said in charging documents released Monday that Balmer was captured on surveillance cameras climbing a perimeter fence, breaking a window and throwing a gasoline-filled Heineken beer bottle, before breaking another window, entering the residence and igniting another bottle.He then fled the property.- ‘Disgusting violence’ -Shapiro, who is Jewish, held a ceremony with family and friends earlier in the night to mark the first night of the Passover holiday.Shapiro has said he would not be intimidated in observing his faith.An ex-lover of Balmer called police and reported that the alleged arsonist wanted to hand himself in, the criminal complaint alleges.Balmer then subsequently walked up to state police headquarters and told an officer he was responsible for the blaze.Top Republican officials reacted to the attack Sunday, with US Attorney General Pam Bondi saying on X she was “deeply relieved that Governor Shapiro and his family are safe.”Vice President JD Vance called the attack “really disgusting violence” and said he hopes “whoever did it is brought swiftly to justice.”President Donald Trump, when asked about the attack Sunday night while returning to Washington aboard Air Force One, said he had just heard about it.The 51-year-old Shapiro was in the race to be Democrat Kamala Harris’s running mate in her ultimately unsuccessful US presidential bid — a position that instead went to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.Shapiro, an assertive political centrist, was elected governor of Pennsylvania in 2022 when he faced off against a far-right candidate backed by Trump.