WASHINGTON — Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers attacked his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, as a “con man” over his use of the title “doctor,” arguing that El-Sayed has never held a medical license.

Rogers said El-Sayed’s description of himself as a doctor could lead voters to believe he has practiced medicine, even though his only reported clinical experience came during an internship.

“Well, he’s not really a doctor. He says he’s a physician,” Rogers said. “[As a] matter of fact, if somebody came into his office and he tried to treat that patient, he’d go to jail.”

“Listen to this guy and what he’s trying to sell here today,” the Republican candidate continued. “You’re going to find out that this guy is not what he says he is. He is actually selling the best con I think I’ve ever seen.”

El-Sayed has repeatedly noted that he earned a medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The former public health official also studied at the University of Michigan Medical School.

According to Politico, the only documented hands-on patient-care experience in his background was a four-week internship at a Manhattan hospital.

Even so, El-Sayed introduced himself as a doctor during the debate while making his case to voters.

“Look, I’m a doctor and I’m a dad,” El-Sayed said. “And as a dad, I know how much it costs me to fill up my gas tank. It is insane.”

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The Michigan Democrat has frequently cited his medical background while discussing health care policy. His previous positions include professor of epidemiology at Columbia, executive director of the Detroit Health Department and director of the Wayne County Department of Health, Human & Veterans Services.

Questions about El-Sayed’s use of the title doctor first surfaced during the Democratic primary. His LinkedIn profile currently identifies him as a “physician” and an “epidemiologist,” although it remains unclear why he believes he can use the physician designation without a medical license.

On one of his podcast episodes, El-Sayed told listeners, “I’ve been a doctor my whole career.” Earlier this year, he also told a group of nurses that he had “been in enough codes to watch who really does the work.”

El-Sayed has repeatedly dismissed accusations that he is overstating his medical credentials.

“Look, I have a medical degree from Columbia University,” El-Sayed said during the debate. “He can take it up with them. But it’s not really about me. It’s about whether or not you can see your doctor. It’s about whether or not you trust your next US senator to stand up to Trump and Trumpism.”

A key element of El-Sayed’s campaign is his support for a “Medicare for All” single-payer health care system. He has repeatedly pointed to his medical degree in making the case for the proposal. Rogers called the plan costly and said it would strip Michiganders of their private insurance, a claim El-Sayed rejected.

Thursday’s event was the first debate between Rogers and El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate race. The exchange quickly turned hostile, as both candidates packed their responses to the moderator’s questions with personal attacks.

The Senate contest has consistently been viewed as competitive. The latest RealClearPolitics polling average gives El-Sayed a 3.2-percentage-point advantage over Rogers.

A 22-year-old man was arrested in Vermont on Thursday after his mother was discovered fatally shot inside the kitchen of the family’s home in Reading, Massachusetts, police said.

Ryan Hanafin became the focus of a regional search after his father, 48-year-old Matthew Hanafin, called police at about 12:38 a.m. He told investigators that he had returned to the Center Avenue residence and found his 49-year-old wife, Andria Hanafin, dead in the kitchen, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.

Vermont State Police said Hanafin was believed to have connections in Warren, Vermont. Officers searching the area located him roughly two hours later along Vermont Route 100, south of Sugarbush Access Road, authorities said.

State troopers and local law enforcement took him into custody without incident at approximately 2:30 p.m. Eastern time.

Details about his court appearance were not immediately available. Hanafin is expected to appear in Vermont before potentially being extradited to Massachusetts, where he could face criminal charges. Investigators have referred to him as a “person of interest,” not a suspect.

The district attorney said the couple’s 13-year-old child was inside the home when Andria Hanafin was killed. The family also has a daughter.

According to the DA, police had received “no significant history” of calls involving the Hanafin residence.

The younger son had been out with friends until around 9 p.m. He told investigators that he went straight to his bedroom after returning home and did not see his mother, Ryan said.

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Matthew Hanafin told police that he had last spoken with his older son on Wednesday morning, according to the district attorney.

Authorities believed Ryan Hanafin was driving a black 2010 Dodge Charger bearing Massachusetts license plate 2PSY15. He was described as 5 feet, 10 inches tall. In the image released by police, he has shoulder-length straight blond hair, a mustache and glasses.

Reading Police Chief David J. Clark emphasized that although Hanafin remains a person of interest, he should be considered “potentially armed and dangerous.” Police asked anyone who spotted him or the vehicle to immediately call 911.

“By all means, please do not approach him,” Clark said. “Please contact 911, the local police department, whatever, if you see the vehicle or come across him. We are urging people to stay safe and not put themselves in danger.”

Senator Jon Ossoff accused Representative Mike Collins of staffing his congressional office with “half of the Third Reich” during a tense Georgia Senate debate Thursday night.

The Democratic senator repeatedly redirected questions about artificial-intelligence data centers, the war in Iran, immigration and Flock surveillance cameras toward allegations involving his Republican opponent’s connections to extremist figures.

“And that’s the problem, Mike. It’s not just that you’ve hired half of the Third Reich to staff your congressional office and you have promoted neo-Nazi content online,” Ossoff said.

He established that combative tone in his opening remarks, accusing Collins of bringing disrepute to Georgia through his “personal bigotry and his widely documented ties to white nationalists.”

Collins faced another setback earlier Thursday when the Senate GOP’s leading super PAC moved nearly $2 million in planned advertising from Georgia to neighboring South Carolina, where another Senate contest is underway, according to AdImpact Politics.

Collins responded by portraying Ossoff as an affluent liberal disconnected from the concerns of ordinary Americans.

“He’s a trust fund kid who’s never had a job in his life,” Collins said.

The debate’s discussion of AI data centers also gave Ossoff an opening to return to the issue of extremism.

Ossoff criticized Collins for supporting President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, arguing that the legislation had imposed financial harm on Georgians before pivoting back to the allegations surrounding extremist content.

Ossoff’s accusations followed a moderator’s questions about two men: former Collins staffer Preston Parra and Collins’ son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II.

Parra, who previously worked as a Collins intern and contractor, operates an X account that has featured Nazi imagery, racial slurs and references to “White Power,” as well as nearly nude selfies.

A Collins campaign spokesman condemned the posts as “vile” and “completely unhinged,” saying Parra has no current connection to the congressman’s office or campaign.

Scheer, a fitness and masculinity influencer with about 1.5 million followers, has also faced accusations that he shared antisemitic conspiracy theories, white-nationalist material and propaganda linked to Nazi ideology.

He also liked a comment quoting “Erika,” a German marching song associated with the Nazi era.

Scheer is registered to vote at a property owned by Collins and has appeared in photographs connected to the campaign.

Collins has said Scheer plays no role in his campaign and that he does not share his son-in-law’s views.

Asked by the moderator what family dinners looked like at his home, Collins rejected the premise and accused Ossoff of spreading inflammatory claims about his family. He did not denounce Scheer by name.

‘That’s my family. And the craziness Jon Ossoff is spewing,’ Collins said. 

He said family members had received death threats and pointed to the arrest this week of a New York man accused of threatening him and Scheer.

‘I’ve condemned racism, anti-Semitism, hate. I don’t care where the source is,’ Collins said. ‘It’s wrong. We have no place in this world for that.’

Ossoff kept pressing. ‘Imagine running for the US Senate while neo-Nazi propaganda is disseminated to an audience of millions from your home,’ he said.

He also invoked the late civil rights leader John Lewis, a towering figure in Georgia politics.

‘If John Lewis was marching from Selma to Montgomery, Mike Collins would be grabbing a billy club,’ Ossoff said. 

Collins sought to paint Ossoff as an out-of-touch liberal, repeatedly raising his links to Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and far-left streamer Hasan Piker.

The pair also clashed over a House Ethics Committee investigation Collins faces over allegations involving his former chief of staff, Brandon Phillips.

The probe centers on payments to Phillips’ girlfriend, Caroline Craze, who was hired as an intern and allegedly received more than $10,000. Witnesses told investigators they never saw her working in the office. 

Collins dismissed the accusations as a ‘nothing-burger,’ denied wrongdoing and challenged the House Ethics Committee to release its findings.

Ossoff has maintained a lead in public polling throughout the race, with surveys consistently putting the Democratic incumbent ahead of Collins.

The prediction market Kalshi currently gives Ossoff a 96 percent chance of winning the election.

If Ossoff can once again deliver a win for Georgia, his increasingly high-profile rallies and viral attacks on Trump have further raised his national profile, fueling speculation about whether the senator could emerge as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender. 

But Ossoff has repeatedly squashed the rumors, saying he has ‘zero interest’ in running for president in 2028 and calling the speculation ‘fantasy football.’

The 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot his first-grade teacher in the chest and later unleashed a profanity-filled, camera-captured tirade at another educator was never criminally charged in connection with the attack.

Instead, the child, identified by authorities only as J.T., was placed in inpatient psychiatric care for 227 days after shooting teacher Abby Zwerner in front of 16 classmates on Jan. 6, 2023, court records show.

Police body-camera video released this week captures the moments after the shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, a city roughly 70 miles southwest of Richmond. The footage shows the boy cursing at officers and making threats shortly after opening fire in his classroom.

“Both y’all want a f–king piece of me, b—h?!” J.T. shouts at police in the video. Richneck reading specialist Amy Kovac can be seen holding him in a bear hug while repeatedly urging him to “stop.”

“F–k you, b—h,” the boy replies, according to the footage. Officers also locate a 9 mm Taurus handgun on the ground nearby.

“I stole that from my mom,” J.T. tells police, indicating the weapon he had taken from his mother’s purse earlier that morning.

During her conversation with officers, Kovac also refers to previous concerns involving the child’s behavior and school routine.

“He has been on a modified schedule. His mother is to pick him up at 2:30. This is his first week without his mother coming to school with him,” she says in the video.

J.T.’s mother, Deja Nicole Taylor, later served nearly two years in prison after pleading guilty to felony child neglect in Virginia and federal firearms charges. The federal case was partly tied to her falsely reporting marijuana use on the background-check form she completed when purchasing the handgun used in the shooting.

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Court proceedings in the case also revealed troubling details about J.T.’s life before the school shooting.

When he was 5, prosecutors said, J.T. twice took his mother’s keys without permission and drove her car alone. One of those incidents ended in a crash.

The boy’s parents also had their own histories with law enforcement.

Prosecutors alleged that one month before J.T. carried the gun into school, Taylor, now 29, fired it during an argument with the child’s father, Malik Ellison. No one was injured.

Police records obtained by WAVY News show that Taylor later sought a protective order and filed multiple reports against Ellison. She and at least one other woman accused him of physical abuse.

Taylor was released from prison in February. J.T., meanwhile, remains in the care of his great-grandfather, who has argued that child-welfare authorities failed to protect the boy well before the shooting.

“He was a victim before that date,” Calvin Taylor told the outlet in January 2024.

“Contrary to popular belief, I know they said that my granddaughter neglected him and placed him in precarious situations, but there were instances where she tried to get help. I drove her to certain places. My other daughters drove her to places to acquire help, even the safety plan that they put in place after the car incident. There was no follow-up,” he said.

At the time of that interview, Calvin Taylor said J.T. was earning strong grades at his new school and beginning to accept responsibility for the shooting, which left Zwerner with wounds to her hand and chest.

“I’m grateful that I have an opportunity to spend time with him daily and that I have an opportunity to watch him grow up as a young man without a lot of baggage. I’m also grateful that he understands that it was an egregious mistake and that he’s not going to be defined by that mistake,” he said.