Evening Standard

London's Evening Standard newspaper reports on the tornado in Oklahoma.

Pope Francis and Britain’s queen sent messages of condolence to those affected by the deadly Oklahoma tornado Tuesday, as news of the devastation spread around the world.

"I am close to the families of all who died in the Oklahoma tornado, especially those who lost young children,” the pontiff posted on his Twitter feed. “Join me in praying for them."

The U.S. Embassy in London thanked British well-wishers for their expressions of support.

In a statement issued by Buckingham Palace officials, Queen Elizabeth said: "I was deeply saddened to hear of the loss of life and devastation caused by yesterday’s tornado in Oklahoma."

"Prince Philip joins me in offering our heartfelt condolences to the victims and their families at this difficult time. Our deepest sympathies go out to all those whose lives have been affected, as well as the American people," she added.

Canada's foreign minister John Baird said he was "shocked and saddened" at the devastation.

"Canada stands with those affected, ready to assist," he added.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the government and people of the country were “deeply saddened and shocked at the humanitarian tragedy unleashed on the Oklahoma State by a devastating tornado.”

“Our sympathies and prayers go out to the families of victims of this horrific incident that led to precious loss of life and property,” the statement said. “We are particularly grieved over the loss of innocent children and their teachers who were buried under the rubble.”

“May God Almighty give courage and strength to the bereaved families to bear this irreparable loss. The people of Pakistan stand hand in hand with the people of Oklahoma at this difficult time,” it added.

Full coverage of the Oklahoma tornadoes from NBC News

This story was originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 9:01 AM EDT

The Obama administration, four short months into its second term, finds itself beset by three political storms.

Republicans in Congress, some Democrats and the press are pelting the White House with questions about the raid on an American post in Libya, the conduct of the Internal Revenue Service and the seizure of phone records from The Associated Press.

Taken together, the three have consumed the week in Washington. Here’s a quick guide.

BENGHAZI

The basics: Four Americans, including the ambassador to Libya, were killed in a raid on a diplomatic post in the city of Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department ultimately determined that the raid was a series of terrorist attacks.

Republicans have made an array of accusations, including that the administration failed to send the military to help, waited too long to consistently describe the raid as a terror attack, and extensively edited talking points for media appearances.

The White House response: President Barack Obama, exasperated, dismissed the Republican furor over the talking points earlier this week as a politically motivated “sideshow.”

The administration has also said that sending the military was logistically impossible and would have left other American interests undefended. Obama said within hours of the raid that “acts of terror” would not be tolerated. On Thursday, he pledged increased security for diplomatic posts.

Accused of changing its public stance on the raid because of political reasons — the presidential election was less than two weeks away — the administration released 100 pages of emails and other documents Wednesday shedding light on how the talking points were changed.

The stakes: The political stakes are increasingly focused on Hillary Clinton’s potential run for the presidency in 2016. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. and himself a possible candidate, accused Clinton of “dereliction of duty” at a speech in Iowa over the weekend.

American Crossroads, Karl Rove’s political action committee, released an ad draping Clinton in dark shadows and grainy black-and-white photos and accusing her of a cover-up. The ad ends with an invitation to donate to American Crossroads.

What’s next: More questions from Republicans, despite the administration’s insistence that there is little if anything left to explain.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who has accused the administration of lying and believing itself to be above the law, wants to interview former Ambassador Thomas Pickering, one of the leaders of the review board.

THE IRS

The basics: Employees of the Internal Revenue Service singled out Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations for special scrutiny in reviewing applications for tax exemption.

Republicans want to know whether anyone in the administration knew about it — to date there is no evidence that they did — and have suggested the government was punishing political enemies.

The White House stance: Obama on Wednesday ousted the acting head of the IRS, Steven Miller, and said: “Americans have a right to be angry about it, and I’m angry about it.”

The president acted after a Treasury Department investigation faulted the IRS for using “inappropriate criteria” in picking which organizations to scrutinize. The report also said that “ineffective management” allowed the criteria to stay in place.

Asked Thursday whether he supported the appointment of a special prosecutor, Obama said he believed working with Congress to investigate would be sufficient.

The stakes: Republicans and Democrats alike have expressed. Republicans appear to be coalescing around an insistence that it shows a pattern of intimidation by the administration.

“The unifying themes of this town are an arrogance and view of the machinery of government to be a tool of partisanship,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas and a Tea Party favorite, said Thursday.

Besides demanding hearings, they are likely to use that argument in the 2014 midterm elections. In addition, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said that the IRS ordeal could hurt the push for immigration reform in Congress.

“We’ve already faced tremendous suspicion about the federal government’s ability or willingness to enforce the law,” Rubio said.

What’s next: Attorney General Eric Holder has pledged a nationwide investigation. Federal prosecutors are looking at potential violations of law, including civil rights statutes and a federal law that restricts political activities by federal employees.

There are at least three congressional hearings scheduled, beginning with the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday.

AP PHONE RECORDS

The basics: The Justice Department secretly seized two months of records from more than 20 telephone lines used by reporters and editors for The Associated Press last year.

The seizure was apparently connected to a federal investigation into who leaked classified information about a foiled terror plot in Yemen that the AP reported on in May 2012. The AP has angrily objected and demanded further explanation.

The White House stance: The deputy attorney general who is overseeing the investigation insisted in a letter to the AP that the seizure was limited in scope and that the content of calls was not monitored.

Holder, who has recused himself from the investigation, said Tuesday that the leak “put the American people at risk” and was among the most serious he has seen in 37 years as a prosecutor.

The stakes: Media organizations have said that the seizure will intimidate whistle-blowers. As in the IRS furor, Republicans are seeking to portray an administration bent on overreaching. Democrats have joined the criticism, too.

Sen. Jon Tester of Montana said Wednesday that the Justice Department’s steps were “a blatant violation of privacy, and directly interfere with the constitutionally protected rights of the press to do its job free from government intrusion or direction.”

What’s next: Under fire, the Obama administration is pushing to revive legislation that would enhance protections for journalists when they refuse to name confidential sources.

A White House official called Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to ask him to reintroduce the legislation, known as a media shield law. Schumer said that the bill at least would have ensured a fairer process in the AP leak.

But Obama stressed Thursday that he makes no apology for being concerned about leaks that jeopardize American missions.

This story was originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 1:35 PM EDT

President Obama won't leave the top job at the Internal Revenue Service vacant for long.

NBC News has confirmed from a senior administration official that the president plans to appoint a new acting IRS commissioner this week.  

Obama said Wednesday that he was "angry" at IRS officials who inappropriately targeted conservative groups for scrutiny when he announced that his administration had sought and accepted Steven Miller's resignation as interim commissioner of the IRS.

"I've reviewed the Treasury Department watchdog's report, and the misconduct that it uncovered was inexcusable," Obama said in a statement at the White House.

"It's inexcusable, and Americans are right to be angry about it, and I'm angry about it."

The president said that he expected the IRS to act with even higher levels of integrity than other government agencies and that, to that end, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had sought and accepted Miller's resignation — something many Republicans had demanded.

Obama's remarks came amid news that two IRS employees who had engaged in activities targeting conservative groups had faced disciplinary action for their conduct.

The inspector general's release Monday found that incompetence and ineffective management at the tax-collecting agency led to employees' applying extra scrutiny to conservative and Tea Party advocacy groups. The report also found there was no evidence of outside pressure on officials to target conservative groups.

Related:

IRS challenges public's confidence in government

Trying to stop the bleeding

Tea Party lawmakers use IRS fiasco to ding health care reform

Tens of thousands of spectators swarmed Ohio State University on Sunday afternoon to see President Barack Obama deliver his first commencement address of 2013 — exactly one year to the day after he kicked off his re-election campaign with a rally on the same campus.

Between 60,000 to 70,000 parents and friends snaked through long security lines and piled into Ohio Stadium to secure seats at the ceremony, at which some 10,000 Buckeyes — including 130 veterans — were expected to receive diplomas.

In his address, Obama called on graduates who grew up in years blotted by economic tumult, terrorism and war to commit to citizenship and public service.

"You have been tested and tempered by events that your parents and I never imagined we’d see when we sat where you sit,” Obama said. “And yet, despite all this – or more likely because of it – yours has become a generation possessed with that most American of ideas: that people who love their country can change it for the better."

Obama said responses to recent national tragedies — including the Boston marathon bombings, the Texas fertilizer explosion, and the Newtown school, Aurora theater and Oak Creek temple shootings — offer examples of “courage and compassion, a sense of civic duty, and a recognition that we are not a collection of strangers.”

"That’s what citizenship is," Obama said.

And in his own gesture of bipartisanship, Obama quoted a line from President George W. Bush’s address to OSU seniors in 2002, saying, "American needs more than taxpayers, spectators, and occasional voters. America needs full-time citizens."

Obama urged the large crowd to "reject" cynicism about government in an age of legislative gridlock and political divisiveness.

"We have never been a people who place all our faith in government so solve our problems, nor do we want it to. But we don’t think the government is to the source of all our problems, either,” Obama said. “As citizens, we understand that America is not about what can be done for us.”

Obama challenged graduates to tackle key issues — such education reform, infrastructure investment, climate change, LGBT rights, and gun violence — with "dogged determination."

“I dare you to do better. I dare you to be better,” Obama said.

At the conclusion of his remarks, Obama was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. As he accepted the prize, Obama donned an OSU baseball cap to loud cheers from the audience.

Security measures were heightened around the 1,764-acre campus, which is roughly 2.5 miles north of downtown Columbus, Ohio. Spectators passed through metal detectors as they filed into the arena Sunday morning while Secret Service agents and Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers scanned the crowd, according to The Associated Press.

President Obama’s address at Ohio State University is the first of three he plans to deliver this graduation season. Obama is slated to speak at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., on May 19 and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., on May 24.

Obama — who has visited the Ohio State University campus five times in the last 16 months—  is the third sitting president to deliver a commencement address at Ohio State University, after President Gerald Ford in August 1974 and President George W. Bush in June 2002. 

Ohio was key to the President’s re-election strategy: Obama made frequent campaign stops in the Buckeye State during the 2012 general election, including a high-profile rally at Columbus’ Nationwide Arena featuring Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z. Obama’s victory in Ohio last November helped him clinch the electoral college and secure a second-term.

Jason Reed / Reuters

U.S. President Barack Obama waves alongside Ohio State University President Gordon Gee (R) during the school's spring commencement ceremony in Columbus, Ohio, May 5, 2013. Obama will receive an honorary doctorate degree from the university.

Eric Gay / AP

Honor guards stand in front of caskets prior to a memorial service for first responders who died in last week's fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, on Thursday, in Waco, Texas.

President Obama, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and firefighters from across the country were among those who paid tribute at a packed memorial service to the victims of a Texas fertilizer plant blast that killed 14 people on April 17, many of whom were first responders. 

The deadly plant explosion decimated part of the small Texas city of West, with a population of only about 2,800. More than 200 people were injured in the blast; 12 who died were volunteer firefighters.

"These are volunteers: Ordinary individuals blessed with extraordinary courage," Gov. Perry said at Thursday's service. "They knew full well that another explosion was a possibility."

Caskets draped in large American flags were lined up in the front of the memorial, which was being held at Baylor University in Waco, located about 20 miles from West. The memorial was comprised of speeches from officials, as well as videos of victims' families and friends, who shared memories of their loved ones.

Obama told the crowd that West was an exemplary place.

"We need people who so love their neighbors as themselves that they’re willing to lay down their lives down for them," he said. "America needs towns like West." 

In the videotaped eulogies, relatives shared how those who died were passionate about protecting the people of West.

"Words cannot express how much I'm going to miss my husband. He was my everything," said Kelly Pustejovsky, wife of Joey Pustejovsky, a member of the West volunteer fire department who was killed, in a video broadcast during the service.

Six of Pustejovsky's other relatives spoke in the video too, including his grandmother, who laughed through her tears about her grandson's love of fried chicken, and said she knew he was in heaven now.

Obama said, "I cannot match the power of the voices you just heard on that video, And no words adequately describe the courage that was displayed on that deadly night ...What I can do is offer the love and support and prayers of the nation."

He also noted that last week was filled with overwhelmingly horrific news events, between the Boston bombings and the deadly blast in Texas.

"While the eyes of the world may have been fixed far away, our hearts were also here," he said.

The service was hosted by the National Firefighters Foundation. Chief Ronald Siarnicki, executive director of the foundation, told mourners, "This disaster happened last week, but we know the ground is still shaking, and will be for a long time."

"It could not break this community," Siarnicki said. "Remember this: Come tomorrow or the next day or anywhere from here on out, you are not alone, because the fire service will be here for you."

Obama flew to the somber event after attending the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library in Dallas on Thursday morning. 

Texas Sen. John Cornyn and first lady Michelle Obama also attended Thursday's memorial service.

The large crowd inside Baylor was dotted with people wearing T-shirts that read, "God bless West."

Before the memorial, 1,000 firefighters from across the U.S. held a half-mile-long procession in Waco to honor the fallen firefighters.

Investigators have located a 93-foot-wide and 10-foot-wide deep crater where the central Texas explosion happened, but still don't know what caused the blast.

A 15th person who was injured in the blast — a 96-year-old man — succumbed to his injuries the following day, according to NBCDFW.com. 

Meanwhile, on Monday, the first individual lawsuit was filed as a result of the explosion. A single mom who lived next door to the West Fertilizer plant is seeking up to a million dollars after she and her 14-year-old son "lost all their worldly possessions," the suit says.

Drinking water in West is still not potable more than a week after the chemical fertilizer blast. Residents have boiled their water since the explosion, which shook the ground so much, it registered as a 2.4-magnitude earthquake.

Related content:

• Texas single mother files lawsuit in plant explosion
• Officials still don't know what caused Texas fertilizer explosion

   

The man alleged to have sent a letter to President Obama that tested positive for the poison ricin has been charged with threatening President Obama. The Justice Department announced the charges against Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, on Thursday.

Curtis, who has worked as an Elvis impersonator, was arrested on Wednesday as a suspect in the mailing of the suspicious letters to the president and U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi.

Wicker told reporters Thursday that he had once hired Curtis to perform as the hip-swiveling King of rock and roll at a party.

AP

This undated photo obtained from Facebook shows Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, according to neighbors.

“I have indeed met him,” Wicker said. “He was very entertaining.”

“He was more stable then,” Wicker added.

An FBI bulletin obtained by NBC News on Wednesday indicated that both letters contained identical closing statements.

The letters, which were postmarked April 8, 2013, out of Memphis, Tenn., ended with the phrase, “to see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.” The letters were also signed the same: “I am KC and I approve this message.”

Curtis was arrested at his Corinth, Miss., home at 5:15 p.m. local time on Wednesday after a sweeping investigation involving federal, state, and local law enforcement. He could face a maximum of 15 years in prison and $500,000 in fines if convicted on the charges, according to the Justice Department. He is expected to appear in Oxford, Miss., district court later Thursday.

In a statement released by Curtis' brother, Jack, his family said they were "distraught to learn of the claims being made."

But, they added, "we are, however, far too familiar with Kevin's lengthy history of mental illness.  For years, our family has struggled to obtain medical assistance for Kevin, who has been diagnosed as bipolar."

They said they they were able to get Kevin to take medication three years ago, but he recently stopped.

"Sadly, we have been informed there is no legal way for us to force him to follow his doctors' instructions," the statement read. "When Kevin is taking his medication as prescribed, he is a loving, compassionate person."

The suspicious letter addressed to President Obama was flagged at an off-site White House mail-processing facility.

Sheriff Jim Johnson of Lee County, Miss., said that a third letter received by a Mississippi judge on April 10 included “wording that was of interest” as well as some “suspicious content.” The typewritten letter with no return address was postmarked from Memphis.

Two federal officials said late on Wednesday that initial laboratory tests on the material in the letters had shown some levels of ricin, but that the results were inconclusive.

On Thursday the FBI said that further laboratory testing confirmed the presence of ricin in the letters. Further forensic exams were being conducted.

In a statement released Wednesday, Wicker thanked authorities for their efforts.

“Gayle and I want to thank the men and women of the FBI and U.S. Capital Police for their professionalism and decisive action in keeping our family and staff safe from harm,” the statement said.

A dangerous substance made from castor beans, ricin can kill in 36 hours, and does not have an antidote. An FBI official told NBC News that the agency did not initially believe the letters bore any connection to the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday, which killed three people and injured more than 176.

Please check back for more on this breaking news story.

NBC News’ Kristen Welker and Erin McClam contributed to this report.

Related:

• Feds arrest suspect in ricin-positive letters sent to Obama, senator
• Deadly ricin: poisonous but clumsy weapon
• Letter sent to US senator tests positive for deadly poison

Three days after bombs shattered its most joyous day, Boston came together Thursday to seek comfort, honor the victims and, in the words of one minister, heal a city and a violence-weary world.

“I have no doubt you will run again. You will run again,” President Barack Obama told an interfaith prayer service, addressing runners who were maimed in the attack on the Boston Marathon. “Your resolve is the greatest rebuke to whoever committed this heinous act.”

To those who thought they could shake American resolve, Obama declared: “It should be pretty clear by now that they picked the wrong city to do it. Not here in Boston. Not here in Boston.”

First lady Michelle Obama, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and other dignitaries also attended the service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, less than a mile from the marathon finish line.

“We are one Boston,” Mayor Thomas Menino told about 2,000 people gathered there. “No adversity. No challenge. Nothing can tear down the resilience in the heart of the city and its people.”

Rev. Liz Walker of Roxbury Presbyterian Church opened the service with the message of healing. Other speakers sought to reassure a heartbroken city that it would find strength in its grief.

“God has not forsaken Boston,” said the Rev. Roberto Miranda of Congregation León de Judá. “God has not forsaken our nation. He merely weaves a beautiful, bright tapestry of goodness that includes a few dark strands.”

Obama offered prayers for the families of the dead and praised Boston as an open-hearted city, one of the world’s greatest. He also cited personal ties: The president attended law school at Harvard, across the Charles River in Cambridge, and was catapulted to political prominence by a speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

“Every one of us has been touched by this attack on your beloved city,” Obama said. “Every one of us stands with you. Because after all, it’s our beloved city, too.”

People began lining up as early as 6:30 a.m. to get into the service, in a line stretching 10 blocks, The Boston Globe reported. About half the seats were reserved for police, other first responders and families of victims. Runners, nurses and other well-wishers also turned out.

Related: Well-wishers ‘trying to be strong’ for marathon victims

The service took place while investigators looked for two men they want to question in the blasts, which killed three people and injured 176 on Monday.

Earlier Thursday, Obama met with the family of Krystle Campbell, one of the three people killed in the attack. After the service, Obama went across the street to a high school gym and thanked volunteers, and later to Massachusetts General Hospital to visit patients.

Pete Souza / The White House

President Barack Obama talks with staff at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass., April 18, 2013. The President visited the hospital to meet with patients who were wounded in the bombings in Boston, following an interfaith prayer service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

As the city struggled back to life, the Boston Bruins played the first professional sports event since the bombings. During the national anthem, a crowd of more than 17,000 joined in singing, and was cheering and belting out the song by the last lines.

The explosions took place on the most celebrated day on the Boston calendar — Patriots Day, a city holiday commemorating the battles of Lexington and Concord in the American Revolution.

The cathedral was dedicated in 1875. It is led by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, who was considered a candidate for pope earlier this year. At the service, he offered love and support from Pope Francis, and he invoked the runners and race volunteers who rushed to help victims of the blasts.

“The generous and courageous response of so many assures me that there resides in people’s hearts a goodness that is incredibly selfless,” the cardinal said. “Summoned by great events, we can be remarkably committed to the well-being of others, even total strangers.”

Related:

• Bombing victims try to track down heroes who saved them
• Who is the FBI’s agent in charge of Boston marathon case?
• Anatomy of a bombing: Photos show device components
• Full coverage of Boston Marathon bombings from NBC News

This story was originally published on Thu Apr 18, 2013 10:16 AM EDT

A mother who lost her 6-year-old son in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School made an emotional plea for national gun-control legislation in an address from the White House.

Francine Wheeler made her appeal in lieu of the president’s weekly address. Her appearance is the only time President Obama has handed the address to anyone other than Vice President Joe Biden since the two first took office. Wheeler was joined by her husband David.

“I have hear people say that the tidal wave of anguish our country felt on 12/14 has receded, but not for us,” Wheeler said. “To us it feels as if it happened just yesterday, and in the four months since we lost our loved ones, thousands of other Americans have died at the end of a gun.”

The address, taped Friday, comes as several Sandy Hook families have mounted an aggressive effort to get a gun-control bill passed by Congress. Wheeler and her husband wrote the remarks after they were approached, the White House said.

“We have to convince the Senate to come together and pass common sense gun responsibility reforms that will make our communities safer and prevent more tragedies like the one we never thought would happen to us,” Wheeler said.

Jessica Hill / AP file

Francine Wheeler, mother of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim Benjamin Wheeler, cries as she listens to Vice President Joe Biden speak during a gun violence conference in Danbury, Conn., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013.

Family members of the Newtown victims were present on Capitol Hill Thursday when Senators voted 68-31 to move forward with the process of debating a gun bill that several Republican lawmakers had threatened to filibuster. Several Republican senators have said that the presence of Newtown families helped contribute to the unexpectedly overwhelming vote to move forward with the bill.

Among the more than a dozen relatives in the gallery was Jillian Soto, whose sister was killed at Sandy Hook.

“The tears that we had weren’t tears of joy, but tears of remembering this is happening,” Soto told NBC News shortly after the vote. “We’re here because of what happened to us.”

During her remarks, Wheeler and her husband wore green pins to commemorate the 20 schoolchildren, including their son, and six adults who died in the December shooting. The Wheelers’ older son Nate, a 4th grader at Sandy Hook, survived the shooting.

“Sometimes I close my eyes and all I can remember is that awful day waiting at the Sandy Hook volunteer firehouse for the boy who would never come home – the same firehouse that was home to Ben’s Tiger Scout Den 6,” said Wheeler, choking back tears. “But other times I feel Ben’s presence filling me with courage for what I have to do for him and all the others taken from us so violently and too soon.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

• Newtown passion moves Senate vote on guns
• Newtown Victim's mom to give Obama's weekly address
• Newtown families lobby for gun control

Jason Reed / Reuters file

President Obama is seen through the screen of a teleprompter as he meets members of the audience following remarks in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Jan. 25, 2012.

A Virginia man was sentenced to seven years in prison for swiping President Obama's teleprompter and a truckload full of other White House press gear.

Eric Brown pleaded guilty to theft of government property in January. The 49-year-old Richmond man had a history of drug use according to court papers, and was a suspect in about a dozen other truck thefts.  

“If I had to sum up Mr. Brown’s character, it would be that he’s a thief,” U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney said at the Thursday sentencing, according to The Associated Press.

Brown picked up the White House communications staff van from a hotel parking lot in October 2011.

The man did not immediately realize whose van he had stolen until he began unloading the vehicle, prosecutor Laura Taylor said. Brown somehow missed the presidential seals on the exterior of the truck, but realized the mess his sticky fingers had gotten him into when he discovered the teleprompter, sound system, and other press office equipment, she said.

“The theft of government property is a serious offense,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Roderick Young said. “It’s all the more serious when the property belongs to the White House Communications Agency.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

M. Spencer Green / AP, file

Jeri Wright was charged with two counts of money laundering, two counts of making false statements to federal officers, and seven counts of giving false testimony to a grand jury.

CHICAGO -- The daughter of President Barack Obama's controversial former pastor was indicted on Wednesday on charges of money laundering and lying to federal authorities, a Justice Department spokeswoman said.

Jeri L. Wright, 47, the daughter of Jeremiah Wright, was accused of participating in a fraud scheme led by a former suburban police chief and the chief's husband that involved a $1.25 million state grant, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of Illinois in Springfield.

Wright, of the Chicago suburb of Hazel Crest, was charged with two counts of money laundering, two counts of making false statements to federal officers, and seven counts of giving false testimony to a grand jury.

The state grant was for a not-for-profit work and education program called We Are Our Brother's Keeper, owned by Regina Evans, former police chief of Country Club Hills, and her husband, Ronald W. Evans Jr.

According to the indictment, Wright, a close friend of the couple, received three checks in 2009 worth about $28,000 that were supposed to be for work related to the grant. About $20,000 of that was allegedly deposited back into accounts controlled by the Evanses.

Jeremiah Wright was the Chicago pastor whose inflammatory church sermons, which often condemned U.S. attitudes on race, poverty, the Iraq War and other issues, became a focus during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Obama quieted the controversy with a speech putting the quotes in the context of race relations.

The money laundering count Jeri Wright faces carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison, while the other charges carry penalties of up to five years in prison.

Jeri Wright could not be reached for comment. Prosecutor's office spokeswoman Sharon Paul did not know if she had yet retained a lawyer.

Police have taken a man into custody who was in possession of a BB gun while watching President Barack Obama's motorcade depart the University of Hartford on Monday.

According to police, the man was standing near the intersection of Charter Avenue and Cottage Grove Road in Bloomfield, Conn., while Obama's motorcade passed.

Officers said they noticed the man acting suspiciously and pacing back and forth before he pulled out what appeared to be rifle.

The man was aggressively taken into custody, and it was learned that what had appeared to be a rifle was actually a BB gun.

More news from NBCConnecticut.com

The man has been charged. The exact charges and the suspect's name were not immediately available.

The man will be in court on Tuesday.