HELSINKI (AP) — Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has stepped down as the leader of the Baltic country to become the foreign policy chief of the European Union later this year.
Kallas, Estonia’s first female prime minister, handed in her formal resignation to President Alar Karis during a brief meeting at the Presidential Palace in the capital, Tallinn, on Monday.
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HELSINKI (AP) — Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has stepped down as the leader of the Baltic country to become the foreign policy chief of the European Union later this year.
Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas smiles during her arrival at the NATO summit in Washington, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas speaking to members of the media at the NATO summit in Washington, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas speaks during her arrival at the NATO summit in Washington, Thursday, July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas prepares to speak during her arrival at the NATO summit in Washington, Thursday, July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas speaks during her arrival at the NATO summit in Washington, Thursday, July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Estonia under Kallas, 47, has been one of Europe’s most vocal backers of Ukraine following the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. She replaces Josep Borrell of Spain, who has served as the EU foreign policy chief since 2019.
Summing up Kallas’ 3 1/2 years at the helm of the nation of 1.3 million, Karis said in a statement that “it has been a time full of crises, the milestones (such as) the coronavirus, the economic recession and the war in Europe, when Russia destroyed our previous security picture with its aggression in Ukraine”.
The prime minister’s move automatically triggered the resignation of Kallas’ three-party coalition Cabinet, made up of her center-right Reform Party, the Social Democratic Party and the liberal Estonia 200 party. It will continue as a caretaker government until the new Cabinet is sworn in, most likely in early August.
In the last meeting of the outgoing Cabinet on Monday, Kallas underscored her government’s efforts to boost the security of Estonia, a NATO member that neighbors Russia.
“We have invested more in national defense than ever before and increased the annual defense budget to 1.4 billion euros (about $1.5 billion), which is 3% of GDP,” Kallas said, adding that in the past two years, the state defense budget has increased by nearly 70%. “These decisions help to ensure that Estonia is firmly protected and a safe place to live.”
The Reform Party announced on June 29 that it chose party veteran and Climate Minister Kristen Michal as the prime minister candidate to replace Kallas who represented Estonia at a NATO summit in Washington last week. Under Kallas' leadership, Reform scored an overwhelming victory in the 2023 general election and holds a mandate to the prime minister post.
The Cabinet's composition is likely to remain the same but Michal, who is set to succeed Kallas also as the Reform Party's chair, is currently holding talks with both the Social Democrats and the Estonia 200 to revise the current 4-year government program the three parties had originally agreed last year.
Michal’s nomination for Estonia's top job will have to be approved by Karis and the 101-seat parliament, or Riigikogu, where the coalition holds a comfortable majority. He has been serving as the minister for climate affairs since April last year. The 49-year-old former economics and justice minister has been active in the Reform Party, Estonia’s key political establishment, since the late 1990s.
Michal is known for a long and acclaimed political career focused on Estonia’s internal affairs but lacks international experience — almost the complete opposite of Kallas who has excelled in international arenas but was clearly out of her comfort zone when it came to domestic politics, leading to a major dip in her popularity among Estonians over the past year.
Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas smiles during her arrival at the NATO summit in Washington, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas smiles during her arrival at the NATO summit in Washington, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas speaking to members of the media at the NATO summit in Washington, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas speaks during her arrival at the NATO summit in Washington, Thursday, July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas prepares to speak during her arrival at the NATO summit in Washington, Thursday, July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas speaks during her arrival at the NATO summit in Washington, Thursday, July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Florida law enforcement officials will launch their own criminal investigation into the apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump that will run parallel to the federal probe, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday.
The governor said Florida prosecutors will pursue the most serious charges available under state law, including attempted murder, in the state-level investigation into Ryan Wesley Routh, who was charged Monday with federal firearms offenses.
“We have a very strong interest in holding this suspect accountable,” DeSantis told reporters.
It’s not uncommon for state and federal law enforcement agencies to run simultaneous investigations into crimes, as states may be able to bring charges that are unavailable at the federal level — and vice versa.
Routh is charged at the federal level so far only with gun crimes, but additional charges are possible as Justice Department prosecutors seek an indictment from a grand jury. Prosecutors will often quickly bring the first charges they can and then add more serious charges later as the investigation unfolds.
“We will spare no resource in this investigation,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said Tuesday during an event at the Justice Department.
Markenzy Lapointe, the top federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Florida, declined to comment on the state probe.
DeSantis said it will be handled by Florida's office of statewide prosecution, overseen by Attorney General Ashley Moody.
The FBI has interviewed the suspect's family members, friends and colleagues and is working to collect evidence. Authorities have requested search warrants seeking access to a video recording device, cellphones, a vehicle and electronics at Routh’s previous addresses.
No motive has been disclosed, and Routh invoked his right to an attorney when questioned, officials said.
Routh, 58, was arrested Sunday after authorities spotted a gun poking out of shrubbery on the golf course where Trump was playing. Routh camped outside the golf course with food and a rifle for nearly 12 hours, lying in wait for the former president before a Secret Service agent thwarted the potential attack and opened fire.
Routh did not fire any shots, never had Trump in his line of sight and sped away, leaving behind a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope and a plastic bag containing food, officials said. He was arrested in a neighboring county.
Routh’s attorney declined to comment after he appeared briefly in federal court Monday, when a judge ordered that he remain locked up after prosecutors argued that he was a flight risk. Routh has been moved from the Palm Beach County jail to the federal lockup in Miami. A federal magistrate set additional hearings for later this month.
In the federal case, Routh is charged with illegally possessing his gun in spite of multiple felony convictions, including two charges of possessing stolen goods in 2002 in North Carolina. The other charge alleges that the weapon’s serial number was obliterated and unreadable to the naked eye, in violation of federal law.
Coming just weeks after a July 13 shooting at a Pennsylvania campaign rally where Trump was grazed by a gunman’s bullet, the latest assassination attempt accelerated concerns that violence continues to infect American presidential politics.
Federal investigators are examining Routh’s large online footprint, which suggests a man of evolving political viewpoints, including recently an apparent disdain for Trump, as well as intense outrage at global events concerning China and especially Ukraine.
“You are free to assassinate Trump,” Routh wrote of Iran in an apparently self-published 2023 book titled “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” which described the former president as a “fool” and “buffoon” for both the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and the “tremendous blunder” of leaving the Iran nuclear deal.
Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale also contributed to this report.
Law enforcement officials work at the scene at the Trump International Golf Club in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Law enforcement officials work at the scene of the Trump International Golf Club in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Law enforcement officials work at the scene of the Trump International Golf Club in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks and answers questions at a news conference Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks and answers questions at a news conference Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks and answers questions at a news conference Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks and answers questions at a news conference Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Police drive in to the Mar-a-Lago estate of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump, one day after an apparent assassination attempt, in Palm Beach, Fla., Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
