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Supporters of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and protesters clashed after a rally in Utah on Friday.

Crowds who chanted “Donald Trump” were met with “Mr. Hate Out of Our State” as police in riot gear blocked the entrance to the Infinity Event Center in Salt Lake City. Protesters tried to rush the door of the building and got into screaming matches with Trump supporters who were barred from entering the venue.

According to KSTU-TV, people who were exiting the building were being pelted with rocks. Some protesters were seen tearing down a security tent that the U.S. Secret Service used to screen attendees before they entered the building.

"Like I said, overall, you know our officers were on standby, we were just hoping everything was peaceful, and, no problems whatsoever, and fortunately it tued out just as we anticipated," Salt Lake City Police Det. Cody Lougy told KSTU-TV.

Lougy told the Salt Lake Tribune that he didn’t think anyone was arrested.

According to the paper, the heated demonstrations outside the Infinity Event Center weren’t the only protests around the city.

Tony Yapias, the director of Proyecto Latino, played a voice mail message over a loudspeaker he received Friday moing of someone telling him to leave the U.S. Yapias told the Tribune that Trump’s rhetoric is playing a part in the increased tension drawn toward Latinos.

He said the rally – which was attended by about 150 people – was to show that the Hispanic community in Utah will not back down from his hate speech. Some in the crowd were heard chanting “Get out Trump” in Spanish.

Trump spoke to a crowd people in Salt Lake City and took a shot at former presidential candidate and Utah resident Mitt Romney, who said he was going to support Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the state’s caucuses.

"Are you sure he's a Mormon? Are we sure?" he jokingly asked his crowd at the Infinity Event Center.

Romney, who has made Utah his adopted home, said Friday that he plans to vote for Cruz in the state's Tuesday caucuses. He made the announcement on his official Facebook page as Kasich was speaking to about 600 people during a town hall at Utah Valley University.

Romney has campaigned with Ohio Gov. John Kasich in other states but stopped short of endorsing him. In addition to his position as a prominent member of Utah's dominant faith, Romney is also revered in the state for leading a tuaround of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

It's unclear to what degree his endorsement of Cruz may sway GOP voters in the Tuesday caucuses. The Texas senator was already expected to have a leg up on the other Republican contenders because of his emphasis on religious liberties and backing from Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee.

Fox News’ Peter Doocy and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Click for more from KSTU-TV.

Appearances by top presidential advisers Susan Rice and Ben Rhodes before the House Benghazi committee earlier this year weren’t always a sure thing – the testimony was only secured after a secret meeting in January between panel head Trey Gowdy and White House officials, a source tells Fox News.

The source familiar with the negotiations said the White House originally said no to the request to have National Security Adviser Rice and deputy Rhodes speak to the committee probing the 2012 Benghazi attacks.

But Gowdy, R-S.C., stepped in to personally negotiate for their appearances at the secret meeting, held late January in Charlotte, N.C., with members of the White House Counsel’s office.

It was during that meeting, where both parties traveled outside of Washington, where the details were finalized and agreed to. 

Rice and Rhodes, considered central witnesses in the investigation particularly over their role in crafting the administration’s faulty narrative blaming protests over an anti-Islam video, ended up testifying individually for four hours apiece.

Asked Friday about the meeting that apparently led to that testimony, the White House did not respond directly.

“I will just say as a general matter that the White House and the administration has, despite what Republicans acknowledge is the pure political motivation of that committee, has sought to cooperate with them, only because they're a co-equal branch of govement,” White House Press Secretary Josh Eaest said, claiming the administration has “cooperated with them repeatedly and provided them access to senior administration officials and access to thousands of pages of documents and emails and other materials.”

Fox News also has leaed new details about the upcoming Saturday testimony of former CIA Director David Petraeus.  

After Petraeus testified in January behind closed doors, he agreed to a second session, which was described to Fox News as an opportunity to “close the loop” on several issues after new information came to light from the Rhodes and Rice testimony. 

The second session is expected to take place in a secure area of the Capitol at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday. Few members of the committee will be there, officials told Fox News. The meeting will mostly include counsel for the committee. 

Fox News’ Chad Pergram and Kevin Corke contributed to this report. 

Catherine Herridge is an award-winning Chief Intelligence correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) based in Washington, D.C. She covers intelligence, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Herridge joined FNC in 1996 as a London-based correspondent.

MOSCOW –  An airliner carrying 62 people from Dubai crashed early Saturday while landing in the southe Russian city of Rostov-on-Don in strong winds, killing all aboard, Russian officials said.

A list published by the Emergencies Ministry showed the 737-800 was carrying 55 passengers and seven crew members, whose nationalities were not immediately confirmed. Igor Oder, head of the Emergencies Ministry's southe regional operations, said in a televised briefing that all had been killed.

The plane belonged to the budget carrier FlyDubai.

In a statement, the budget carrier confirmed that flight FZ981 crashed on landing and said that there are fatalities.

"We are doing all we can to gather information as quickly as possible. At this moment our thoughts and prayers are with our passengers and our crew who were on board the aircraft," the airline said.

Vasily Golubev, the goveor of the Rostov region some 950 kilometers (600 miles) south of Moscow, was quoted by Russian news agencies as telling local joualists that the plane crashed about 250 meters (800 feet) short of the runway. News reports said the plane caught fire after the crash.

The cause of the crash was not immediately determined, but Golubev said: "By all appearances, the cause of the air crash was the strongly gusting wind, approaching a hurricane level."

State news agency Tass said weather data from the area indicated that winds were anywhere from 14 to 22 meters per second (30-50 miles per hour) at the time of the crash and that there was light rain.

Ian Petchenik, a spokesman for the flight-tracking website Flightradar24, told The Associated Press that the plane missed approach then entered a holding patte and tried to land again before contact was lost.

On Oct. 31, a Russian airliner blew up in the air over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 aboard. Investigators determined it was destroyed by a bomb onboard.

Russian news reports said most of those aboard were Russian tourists but there were unspecified foreigners aboard as well.

FlyDubai is a budget airline launched in 2008 by the govement of Dubai, the Gulf commercial hub that is part of the seven-state United Arab Emirates federation. Its first flight took to the skies in 2009.

It shares a chairman with Dubai's govement-backed Emirates, the Middle East's biggest airline, though the two carriers operate independently and maintain separate operations from their bases at Dubai Inteational Airport, the region's busiest airport.

FlyDubai's fleet is dominated by relatively young 737-800 aircraft, the same model as the one that crashed. The airline says it operates more than 1,400 flights a week.

The airline has expanded rapidly in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union. Dubai is a popular tourist destination for Russian visitors, who are attracted by its beaches, shopping malls and year-round sunshine. Like other nationalities, many Russian expatriates live and work in Dubai, a city where foreigners outnumber locals more than 4-to-1.

It has been flying to the southe city of Rostov-on-Don since 2013.

FlyDubai has a good safety record. In January 2015, one of its planes was struck on the fuselage by what appeared to small-arms fire shortly before it landed in Baghdad. That flight landed safely with no major injuries reported.

NEW YORK –  Police and the FBI are investigating a threatening letter sent to the Manhattan apartment of Donald Trump's son Eric that contained a white powder, two law enforcement officials said Friday.

Preliminary tests on the substance in the envelope sent to Eric Trump's apartment Thursday indicated it was not hazardous, according to the officials, who were not authorized to disclose details of the threat and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The handwritten letter was postmarked March 5 from Boston and referenced Donald Trump's presidential bid.

The letter said: "If your father does not drop out of the race, the next envelope won't be a fake." It was signed "X," according to one of the law enforcement officials, who had seen the letter.

In a statement, the New York Police Department confirmed that it had responded to a Trump building overlooking Central Park to investigate a suspicious letter received by a tenant but didn't name the recipient.

Eric Trump, 32, is one of five children of businessman and Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump. He has been campaigning for his father.

Donald Trump's representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The gruesome discovery of an apparently slain dog on a Califoia beach this week has stoked a social media outcry and demands that the killer be brought to justice.

A team of Hawaiian canoe paddlers found the dog after first seeing a shovel standing upright in waist deep water off Marina del Rey. On closer inspection, the blade of the shovel was driven into the ocean floor, and the handle rose up through the dog's collar.

"It appeared that someone used the shovel to force the dog under water and drown it," said FoxNews.com reporter Malia Zimmerman, a member of the 6-person canoe team.

Zimmerman's Facebook post showing the dog stretched out on the beach drew widespread conce even as the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control on Thursday launched a criminal investigation into animal cruelty.

The dog’s Los Angeles County animal license was still attached to the dog’s collar. It appeared to be a mixed breed.

The license was traced to a Santa Barbara residence about two hours from the scene. The agency was closed Friday, but investigators were at Mother's Beach where the dog was found.

A Califoia prosecutor who leaed of the animal cruelty case speculated that the dog may have been killed in retaliation against its owner, since the tag was present and the dog was left in the open.

Hundreds of people have since shared and commented on the post, in hopes of finding the dog killer.

Appearances by top presidential advisers Susan Rice and Ben Rhodes before the House Benghazi committee earlier this year weren’t always a sure thing – the testimony was only secured after a secret meeting in January between panel head Trey Gowdy and White House officials, a source tells Fox News.

The source familiar with the negotiations said the White House originally said no to the request to have National Security Adviser Rice and deputy Rhodes speak to the committee probing the 2012 Benghazi attacks.

But Gowdy, R-S.C., stepped in to personally negotiate for their appearances at the secret meeting, held late January in Charlotte, N.C., with members of the White House Counsel’s office.

It was during that meeting, where both parties traveled outside of Washington, where the details were finalized and agreed to. 

Rice and Rhodes, considered central witnesses in the investigation particularly over their role in crafting the administration’s faulty narrative blaming protests over an anti-Islam video, ended up testifying individually for four hours apiece.

Asked Friday about the meeting that apparently led to that testimony, the White House did not respond directly.

“I will just say as a general matter that the White House and the administration has, despite what Republicans acknowledge is the pure political motivation of that committee, has sought to cooperate with them, only because they're a co-equal branch of govement,” White House Press Secretary Josh Eaest said, claiming the administration has “cooperated with them repeatedly and provided them access to senior administration officials and access to thousands of pages of documents and emails and other materials.”

Fox News also has leaed new details about the upcoming Saturday testimony of former CIA Director David Petraeus.  

After Petraeus testified in January behind closed doors, he agreed to a second session, which was described to Fox News as an opportunity to “close the loop” on several issues after new information came to light from the Rhodes and Rice testimony. 

The second session is expected to take place in a secure area of the Capitol at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday. Few members of the committee will be there, officials told Fox News. The meeting will mostly include counsel for the committee. 

Fox News’ Chad Pergram and Kevin Corke contributed to this report. 

Catherine Herridge is an award-winning Chief Intelligence correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) based in Washington, D.C. She covers intelligence, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Herridge joined FNC in 1996 as a London-based correspondent.

The rising talk of an open Republican convention this summer has focused attention on an otherwise obscure group of party insiders, who hold the power to set convention rules – and, in doing so, remove or put up roadblocks to Donald Trump and other candidates.

At the center of the debate are rules modified in 2012 by the influential convention rules committee at the urging of presumptive winner Mitt Romney to secure him the nomination and assure he wouldn’t face a dark horse challenge if, as president, he ran for re-election.

But now, the tables have tued.

Rules meant to put the establishment favorite on a glide path in 2012 could end up helping one of the biggest outsiders in party history, Donald Trump. And it all comes down to the convention rules committee.

Here’s the rub: One of those Romney rule changes -- number 40 (b) in the RNC rule book -- says a candidate must have the support of a majority of sitting delegates in eight states to get on the convention ballot. This was higher than the previous five-state threshold. At the time, according to a party source, the change was meant to thwart then-candidate Ron Paul, who was on track to get a majority of delegates in four states and maybe more at the convention.  

But in 2016, the only candidate who has crossed that threshold so far is Trump.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is only halfway there, having met that test in four states. And Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has started to win over big-name establishment support, is way behind – having only won his home state of Ohio.

Back-room plots to thwart Trump in an open convention by pushing an alteative candidate, then, could run headlong into the eight-state rule -- unless it is changed.

“The rules certainly didn’t work as the establishment people had intended,” said longtime conservative activist Morton Blackwell, a member of both the standing RNC committee on rules and the convention rules committee since 1988.

Noting “there is considerable talk that the rules should be changed,” he said, “It’s the establishment people in a panic now.”

The situation only heightens the attention on the convention rules committee itself, which sets the rules and whose new roster will be named in the coming months before the convention in Cleveland.

The committee would be positioned to change the rules if it wants, perhaps to boost a non-Trump bid. But if they tried, the campaigns surely would look to apply pressure to its members and seek out allies.

Blackwell, for one, is a Cruz supporter and insists the Texas senator also will meet the eight-state threshold before July. But he argues that any attempt to change the rules in order to boost some other non-Trump, non-Cruz candidate -- like Kasich -- would cause a huge backlash.  

“Imagine what Trump or Cruz would say if the establishment changed the rules to enable someone other than Trump or Cruz to get the nomination? It would unleash an enormous battle,” said Blackwell, who has attended every convention committee meeting since 1972 and now runs the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Va. “It would be a matter of changing the rules in the middle of the game and it would be horribly ugly.”

Changing the rule now to lower or eliminate the threshold could be interpreted as a last-ditch effort to get the establishment back in the game.

“Donald Trump is where he is today because of a rage against the machine,” attoey David Wohl told Fox News. “If somehow the GOP managed to pull the rug out from under him, and pull the rug out from voters who put him where he is right now, the revolt again the GOP would be so extraordinary, it would be like nothing we’ve seen before.”

Trump went so far this past week as to predict there could be “riots” if he doesn’t snag the nomination at the convention, drawing a rebuke from House Speaker Paul Ryan – who also said an open convention is becoming more likely.

All this means party leaders, delegates and campaigns are going to have to dig deeper into the granular workings of the convention process, something Ryan admitted earlier this week he’ll have to do himself.

As might be expected, the process for changing rules is complicated, Blackwell said.

Every state and territory has three representatives to the RNC. They vote to send one of them to the standing committee on rules, which oversees the body of rules goveing the RNC each year.

Further, a man and a woman are elected from each state delegation to sit on the convention rules committee, which finalizes the rules goveing the nominating process ahead of the event. The standing rules committee makes recommendations for changes to the nominating rules and sends them to the convention committee to act upon during the convention.

At this point, the convention panel has authority to alter the recommendations before sending the entire package to the full convention for an up-or-down floor vote. The only way the national convention can change the rules at that point is if a minority report comes out of the convention rules committee, Blackwell said.

While Trump is eager to lock down the nomination with the requisite 1,237 delegates before the convention, Kasich has been fairly up-front about his goal of trying to hold Trump below that number to keep the convention open.

But Kasich downplayed the impact of the eight-state rule when asked about it Friday.

“Is that our rule?” Kasich said, claiming he hasn’t looked at changing the rules in his favor.

As for Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee who adamantly opposes Trump announced Friday that he plans to vote for Cruz and encourages others to do so, saying on Facebook: “At this stage, the only way we can reach an open convention is for Senator Cruz to be successful in as many of the remaining nominating elections as possible.”

Trump, on Twitter, called Romney a “mixed up man who doesn't have a clue.” 

Fox News' Dan Gallo contributed to this report. 

The Air Force is investigating and has removed from their posts 14 airmen at a nuclear missile base in Wyoming for alleged illegal drug use, in some cases possibly including cocaine, defense officials said Friday.

Air Force Gen. Robin Rand, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, said at a press conference that the alleged activity occurred while the airmen were “off-duty” but would not comment publicly on the types of drugs potentially involved.

The accused airmen at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, home of the 90th Missile Wing, were assigned to a 1,300-person security forces group tasked with protecting the base -- and its 150 nuclear missiles.

The probe is a fresh blow to a nuclear missile corps that has been under intense scrutiny for a string of lapses in training and personal conduct over the past three years.

Air Force Global Strike Command is responsible for the entire fleet of Minuteman 3 land-based nuclear missiles; one-third of the Minuteman 3 force is operated by the 90th Missile Wing.

The airmen under investigation are mainly or entirely members of a security force at the 90th Missile Wing, officials said. The allegations do not involve officers who control the Minuteman missiles from command centers, officials said.

Security forces at nuclear missile bases are entrusted to patrol the missile fields and respond to any security emergencies. They are highly trained and given enormous responsibility. Just last month, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work visited F.E. Warren and observed a demonstration by security forces of the techniques and equipment they would use to recapture a missile silo that had been taken over by intruders.

Officials said those under investigation have been suspended from their duties while their cases are being investigated.

Two years ago, while then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was visiting the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren, officials disclosed that a number of launch officers, known as missileers, were under investigation for drug use. That investigation led to the discovery that dozens of missileers had been cheating on their proficiency tests at Malmstrom Air Force Base, which also operates Minuteman 3 missiles.

Hagel then ordered a broad investigation of problems inside the Air Force nuclear missile corps, which had been extensively documented by The Associated Press starting in May 2013. At the time, he said, "Personnel failures within this force threaten to jeopardize the trust the American people have placed in us to keep our nuclear weapons safe and secure."

The Hagel-ordered review led to numerous changes, including elevating the rank of the commander of Global Strike Command, which is responsible for the Minuteman 3 force, from three-star to four-star. Rand is the first four-star to hold the job.

Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Beie Sanders, still insisting he has a fighting chance to capture the Democratic presidential nomination, ratcheted up his campaign schedule Friday to hit all three Weste states voting next week as he scrambles to recover from Hillary Clinton’s recent five-state sweep – while President Obama applies pressure from the outside on the Vermont senator’s underdog bid.

Oveight, Clinton was declared the winner of the last remaining unresolved primary from Tuesday's five contests, in Missouri. Sanders said he won’t seek a recount in the tight race.

But, speaking with the Associated Press, he maintained he can still close the delegate gap. 

"I don't believe they have an insurmountable lead," Sanders said Thursday from Arizona, where he was campaigning. "Secretary Clinton has done phenomenally well in the Deep South and in Florida. That's where she has gotten the lion's share of votes. And I congratulate her for that. But we're out of the Deep South now."

Sanders is hoping to tu things around next Tuesday, when Arizona, Utah and Idaho vote in the Democratic contest. His whirlwind campaign schedule on Friday was taking him to all three states.

But after his hopes of notching a few more upset victories this week in the Midwest fizzled, the senator’s path to the nomination remains unclear.  

Clinton now has a lead of more than 300 pledged delegates over Sanders from the primaries and caucuses: 1,147-830. When including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton has a much bigger lead -- 1,614-856.

Factoring both types of delegates, Sanders would need to win a whopping two-thirds of the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination before July’s convention. Clinton only would need to win one-third.

Even if Sanders focuses only on closing the pledged-delegate gap – in hopes that the pro-Clinton superdelegates might later budge – he faces a steep path. The wild card may still be how the FBI investigation into Clinton’s email practices resolves, and whether that happens before the convention.

Robert Jackson, professor of political science at Florida State University, said it would take an unexpected shift of events for Sanders to have a legitimate shot at the nomination this far into the process. “Barring some almost unforeseen event or eruption of new information we haven’t seen before, I believe the pathway for him to get the majority of delegates is very, very difficult and the window of opportunity is rapidly closing,” he said.

Meanwhile, Obama is getting more involved in trying to bring closure and unity to the Democratic primary process.

According to The New York Times, he told a group of donors last week that Sanders’ campaign was getting close to the end and the party will soon have to unite behind Clinton.

He reportedly did not make an explicit call for Sanders to drop out, but suggested Sanders’ prolonged presence in the race could help Republicans in the end.

Clinton’s campaign also is sounding a confident note about their chances as they look to the upcoming contests.

Clinton's campaign pointed to a recent memo by campaign manager Robby Mook, who suggested she has an "insurmountable lead" in the delegate count. The campaign noted its pledged delegate lead of more than 300 is nearly twice as large as any that then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama held over Clinton in the 2008 primary.

"And note Ohio, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada and Iowa are generally not considered Deep South," said Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon, referring to states won by the ex-secretary of state.

Sanders, speaking with the AP, called his loss in Ohio a "major disappointment," adding, "I thought we had a chance to win or come close in Ohio and we didn't." But he said that while "we know we've got a hill to climb," he was pleased his campaign was able to accumulate more delegates.

He predicted the upcoming calendar of races in several Weste states, including Arizona and Washington, and April contests in Wisconsin, New York and Pennsylvania would offer him the chance to catch up.

"We think from now on out, we are having states that, everything being equal, we stand a chance to do well in. We think we have a path toward victory," he said, pointing to Califoia's June primary. "We've got some big states coming up and we think if we can do well, if we go into the convention with delegates, we've got a shot at taking the nomination."

FoxNews.com’s Daniel Jativa and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Salah Abdeslam, the main fugitive from Islamic extremist attacks in Paris in November, was arrested in Belgium's capital Friday after four months at large, two French police officials told The Associated Press.

They said he was arrested in a major police operation in the Brussels neighborhood of Molenbeek. Both officials are in contact with people involved in the operation and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing operation.

Theo Francken, Belgium's secretary of state for asylum and migration, tweeted, "We hebben hem," which translates to English, "We got him."

The arrest would be a dramatic tu in the investigation that has vexed European officials for months.

Abdeslam fled Paris after the Nov. 13 gun and bomb attacks that killed 130 people at a theatre, the national stadium and cafes. Most of the Paris attackers died that night, including Abdeslam's brother Brahim, who blew himself up. The Islamic State terror group claimed responsibility for the attacks, in which Belgian nationals played key roles.

We hebben hem.

— Theo Francken (@FranckenTheo) March 18, 2016

There are few details about the raids. Francois Schepmans, the mayor of Molenbeek, said two people were injured in the operation.

French president Francois Hollande told reporters in Brussels he would not give details on the "operation that is under way."

As Friday's events unfolded, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel rushed out of a European Union summit, and was expected to be joined at Belgian govement offices by Interior Minister Jan Jambon, RTBF said.

In Tuesday's raid, two people escaped from the home in the Forest neighborhood of Brussels, but Belgian federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said it wasn't yet known if Abdeslam was one of them. He also said it hasn't been established how old the fingerprints were, or how long Abdeslam spent in the apartment on the Rue Du Dries.

Police who raided the apartment Tuesday found an ISIS banner as well as 11 Kalashnikov loaders and a large quantity of ammunition, the prosecutor said.

A man was shot dead by a police sniper there as he prepared to open fire on police from a window. Police identified him as Mohamed Belkaid, 35, an Algerian national living illegally in Belgium.

A Kalashnikov assault rifle was found by his body, as well as a book on Salafism, an ultraconservative strain of Islam.

Police who went to search the apartment "were not expecting a violent armed reaction," Prime Minister Charles Michel said.

Four officers, including a French policewoman, were slightly wounded when they were shot at as they opened the door.

Abdeslam slipped through a police dragnet to retu to Brussels after the Paris attacks, and though he is the target of an inteational manhunt, has not been seen since.

In January, Belgian authorities said one of his fingerprints was found alongside homemade suicide bomb belts at an apartment in another area of Brussels. Belgian prosecutors said it wasn't known whether he had been at the address in the Schaerbeek district before or after the Paris attacks, or how long he had spent there.

Fox News' Greg Palkot and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A key lawmaker who exposed a troubling federal turf battle in the immediate aftermath of December’s San Beardino terror attack charged Wednesday that govement officials are following a familiar patte by hunting down the whistleblowers behind the disclosure.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., said he leaed his sources are being sought by Immigration and Customs Enforcement immediately following a dramatic hearing Tuesday in which ICE and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials acknowledged the disturbing incident on Dec. 3, one day after a terrorist couple gunned down 14 at a county office party.

“I am conceed that ICE is attempting to identify and retaliate against whistleblowers who revealed a lack of cooperation between USCIS and ICE in the aftermath of the terror attacks in San Beardino,” Johnson said in a follow-up hearing Wednesday. “Those who have the courage to come forward should not be retaliated against.”

“I am conceed that ICE is attempting to identify and retaliate against whistleblowers who revealed a lack of cooperation between USCIS and ICE in the aftermath of the terror attacks in San Beardino.”

- Sen. Ron JOhnson, R- Wisc.

Johnson further expressed his conces about retaliation in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and DHS Inspector General John Roth.

Johnson did not identify the person or persons who told him that USCIS bureaucrats barred federal investigators from their building when they came to interview Enrique Marquez a day after the terror attack. Marquez was a close friend of Syed Farook, who, with his wife Tashfeen Malik, carried out the bloody rampage.  Marquez was later charged with supplying the couple assault rifles used in the attack, as well as other crimes.

 Marsha Catron, Department of Homeland Security Investigations spokesperson, told FoxNews.com, “DHS will respond directly to the Senator.

"DHS does not tolerate retaliation against employees who bring possible misconduct to light and complies with all whistleblower protection laws. As public servants working for both law enforcement and non-law enforcement components, our employees are held to the highest standard of professional and ethical conduct."

At the Tuesday hearing where Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Govemental Affairs Committee, first raised the issue, ICE Director Sarah Saldana and USCIS Director Leon Rodriguez blamed poor communication for the fact that a federal agency impeded an investigation into a terror attack that had left 14 dead and 22 injured a day earlier.

“How can you explain that they would not let Homeland Security agents in the building when they are saying, ‘Listen you could have a potential terrorist here involved in what just happened yesterday in the slaughter of 14 Americans?’” Johnson thundered. “And they don’t even allow them in the office? How could that have possibly happened?”

Instead of trying to improve communications, Johnson said, it appears ICE and its parent agency, DHS, are trying to root out his source. Johnson believes the whistleblowers could face retribution for the revelation.

"The federal govement has a very poor record of retaliation,” Johnson said. “We’ve held numerous hearings about this. It is really quite shocking how often the federal govement retaliates. But I certainly will not stand for it, and I certainly don’t think this committee will stand for any retribution against those who had the courage to come forward to reveal this incident."

Federal law expressly protects federal employees who provide information to Congress.

In the Dec. 3 incident, USCIS agents were investigating Marquez for marriage fraud, stemming from his 2014 union with Mariya Cheykh, a Russian national married to Farook’s brother.

Rodriguez told Johnson’s committee that it was a mistake for his agency’s San Beardino office to refuse entry to ICE investigators.

“The guidance was to facilitate what Homeland Security Investigations was trying to accomplish,” he said. “Unfortunately, it all happened so quickly that it was incorrectly perceived that our folks were trying to obstruct what ICE was trying to do. There was never an actual intent to prevent them from doing what they needed to do.”

Saldana testified she was initially conceed when her agents were blocked, but told lawmakers there was “confusion” and “chaos” in San Beardino the day after the attack.

“We had immediate conversations when it came to my attention,” Saldana said. “It was taken care of and clarified immediately. We did get the information we needed.”

Both Farook and Malik were killed by law enforcement after their moing attack. Marquez is accused of making false statements in connection with his weapons purchases used in the San Beardino shooting. Prosecutors also have alleged that Marquez and Farook plotted in 2011 and 2012 to carry out attacks at Riverside City College and on the 91 Freeway.

Marquez, who has pleaded not guilty, faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted.

Johnson’s committee is already investigating another case of retaliation inside DHS. Homeland Security Investigations Agent Taylor Johnson testified last year about retaliation against her and other whistleblowers who raised conces about foreigners from countries with terror ties getting green cards under the DHS’s E-B5 Visa Program. She testified that high-ranking USCIS officials and operatives of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid threatened her and her team.

Taylor Johnson was fired last month, as part of a possible patte, according to the senator. She has mounted a fund-raising effort to pay her legal fees.

“ICE has a track record of retaliating against whistleblowers, as in the case of Homeland Security Investigations Agent Taylor,” Johnson said.

A Virginia man who joined ISIS and surrendered to Kurdish Peshmerga fighters earlier this week has expressed regret for entering the terror group's self-proclaimed caliphate, saying he "made a bad decision" and "was not thinking straight."

In an interview broadcast on the Kurdistan 24 news station, Mohamad Jamal Khweis, 26, said he had made his way to the ISIS-held city of Mosul, Iraq with an unidentified woman whom he had met in Turkey while traveling. 

"We spent some time together, and she said that she is from Mosul, Iraq," Khweis said. He added the pair traveled from Istanbul to Mosul by bus and private vehicle, arriving on Jan. 16.

"On the way there I regretted [my decision], and I wanted to go back home after things didn’t work out and saw myself living in such an environment," Khweis said. 

It was not immediately possible to establish the woman's identity, whether she was a member of ISIS, her ultimate fate or whether she even existed. U.S. officials told The Daily Beast this week that the terror group has established a network of women responsible for recruiting new fighters. 

Khweis said he was only able to stay in Mosul for a month before he had enough. "It is not like Weste countries. It is very strict and no smoking there," he said, adding that most of the foreign fighters he saw were from countries in central and southe Asia.

"I found it very, very hard to live there," Khweis said. "I found someone who could take me back to Turkey. First he told me that he will take me, but then he said it will be difficult to take me all the way to Turkey. [Later] he told me he will take me near Turkey’s border."

Khweis ultimately surrendered to Kurdish Peshmerga forces near the town of Sinjar, which was retaken by Iraqi forces from ISIS late last year.

Khweis said he had arrived in Turkey after traveling through Europe, stopping in London and Amsterdam along the way. He also elaborated on his background, saying that his parents had moved to the U.S. from the Palestinian territories before he was bo.

Khweis said he attended mosque in America, but did not do so frequently. Apart from his encounter with the Iraqi woman, he did not offer any other reason for why he joined ISIS.

When asked by his interviewer if he had a message for the American people, Khweis said, "Life in Mosul is really very bad. The people who control Mosul don’t represent a religion. Daesh [the Arabic acronym for ISIS] does not represent a religion. I don’t see them as good Muslims."

President Obama sought to increase the amount of money available for the federal govement to spend on former presidents in advance of his White House exit.

In his budget requests for fiscal years 2016 and 2017, Obama proposed hikes in the appropriations for expenditures of former presidents, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service published Wednesday.

The report, which discusses the pensions and other federal benefits offered to former commanders-in-chief by way of the Former Presidents Act, specifies that Obama’s 2017 budget proposes a nearly 18 percent hike in appropriations for expenditures of former presidents. He successfully requested an increase in such appropriations for fiscal year 2016.

“The President’s FY2017 budget request seeks $3,865,000 in appropriations for expenditures for former Presidents, an increase of $588,000 (17.9%) from the FY2016 appropriation level. The increase in requested appropriations for FY2017 anticipates President Barack Obama’s transition from incumbent to former President,” the report reads.

“For FY2016, President Obama requested and received appropriations of $3,277,000 for expenditures for former Presidents–an increase of $25,000 from FY2015 appropriated levels.”

The Former Presidents Act, enacted in 1958, provides living former presidents with a pension, office staff and support, funds for travel, Secret Service protection, and mailing privileges. It also provides benefits for presidential spouses. Currently, former presidents are awarded a pension equal to the salary of cabinet secretaries, which totaled $203,700 for the 2015 calendar year and was boosted by $2,000 for the current calendar year. 

Click for more from The Washington Free Beacon. 

LOS ANGELES –  An electrician who plunged to his death while working on a Los Angeles skyscraper was not supposed to be above the third floor and had removed his hard hat before falling 53 floors, construction company officials said.

The man, who was in his second day on the project, fell about 800 feet Thursday from the unfinished Wilshire Grand Center around noon and either hit the back edge of a passing car or struck nearby. Once finished, the building will be the tallest in the West

It happened at one of the busiest times of day at one of the busiest intersections in downtown Los Angeles, when the streets were thronged with people.

He had taken off his hard hat and had not been wearing a safety haess because it wasn't required for the bottom floors he was working on, said Lisa Gritzner, spokeswoman for Tuer Construction, the main contractor on the project.

She could say no more about what may have caused the man to fall or why he was on the upper floor. His name has not been released.

Los Angeles Times photographer Mel Melcon, who was on assignment at the building, said he heard the man hit the ground.

"No one thought it was a body," Melcon told his paper. "We heard no screams."

The electrician hit the car near the coer of Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa Street, fire officials said. However, the car appeared to be undamaged. A rear side panel was spattered with blood.

James Armstrong III was walking to a nearby bank just after the fall when he saw police helping the driver.

"She was hysterical," waving her hands in the air and holding her head, he said. But she did not seem to be hurt, Armstrong said.

The woman was taken to a hospital to be examined, fire officials said.

The 73-story skyscraper will be about 1,100 feet tall, or nearly a quarter-mile, when it's completed. A ceremony was held earlier this month when the top beam was hoisted into place on the 73rd floor. The $1 billion office and hotel tower being developed by Korean Airlines Co. Ltd. is expected to open in early 2017.

The building is near the Staples Center arena where the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers play and is at the center of the bustling and fast-growing financial district of downtown.

There were barricades around the edge of the building and other safety measures in place, said Chris Martin, CEO of Martin Project Management, which is overseeing the building.

All of the building's 891 workers had undergone training, Martin said.

"There's safety training for every worker on the job, and certain locations there's very specialized training. So these are all smart people," Martin said. "We had no injuries up to this date."

Gritzner said the company had found all safety protocols were followed.

Work was shut down for the day.

LOS ANGELES –  An electrician who plunged to his death while working on a Los Angeles skyscraper was not supposed to be above the third floor and had removed his hard hat before falling 53 floors, construction company officials said.

The man, who was in his second day on the project, fell about 800 feet Thursday from the unfinished Wilshire Grand Center around noon and either hit the back edge of a passing car or struck nearby. Once finished, the building will be the tallest in the West

It happened at one of the busiest times of day at one of the busiest intersections in downtown Los Angeles, when the streets were thronged with people.

He had taken off his hard hat and had not been wearing a safety haess because it wasn't required for the bottom floors he was working on, said Lisa Gritzner, spokeswoman for Tuer Construction, the main contractor on the project.

She could say no more about what may have caused the man to fall or why he was on the upper floor. His name has not been released.

Los Angeles Times photographer Mel Melcon, who was on assignment at the building, said he heard the man hit the ground.

"No one thought it was a body," Melcon told his paper. "We heard no screams."

The electrician hit the car near the coer of Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa Street, fire officials said. However, the car appeared to be undamaged. A rear side panel was spattered with blood.

James Armstrong III was walking to a nearby bank just after the fall when he saw police helping the driver.

"She was hysterical," waving her hands in the air and holding her head, he said. But she did not seem to be hurt, Armstrong said.

The woman was taken to a hospital to be examined, fire officials said.

The 73-story skyscraper will be about 1,100 feet tall, or nearly a quarter-mile, when it's completed. A ceremony was held earlier this month when the top beam was hoisted into place on the 73rd floor. The $1 billion office and hotel tower being developed by Korean Airlines Co. Ltd. is expected to open in early 2017.

The building is near the Staples Center arena where the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers play and is at the center of the bustling and fast-growing financial district of downtown.

There were barricades around the edge of the building and other safety measures in place, said Chris Martin, CEO of Martin Project Management, which is overseeing the building.

All of the building's 891 workers had undergone training, Martin said.

"There's safety training for every worker on the job, and certain locations there's very specialized training. So these are all smart people," Martin said. "We had no injuries up to this date."

Gritzner said the company had found all safety protocols were followed.

Work was shut down for the day.

Donald Trump’s emergence as the big fish in a now-tiny pool of three remaining Republican presidential candidates has touched off a remarkable scramble by political powerbrokers to quickly choose sides, all while talk of a potential independent run isn’t going away. 

The feverish effort to either boost or block Trump is leading to unexpected alliances as some hitch their name to the GOP front-runner, and others do whatever they can to try and thwart him. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a former candidate who previously had backed Jeb Bush, was the latest surprise, announcing Thursday he’s now banking on Ted Cruz.

Graham bluntly acknowledged he prefers Ohio Gov. John Kasich – but said only Texas Sen. Cruz has a path to defeating Trump in the primary.

“If we give the banner of the Republican Party to Donald Trump, we taish it, maybe, forever. That might be the end of the Republican Party as we know it,” waed Graham, who plans to hold a fundraiser for the Texas senator.

On the sidelines, a trio of conservative leaders also held a meeting in Washington Thursday to discuss a “stop-Trump” strategy. As first reported by Politico, Erick Erickson, the founder of RedState.com, was joined by former adviser to President George. W. Bush Bill Wichterman, and South Dakota businessman Bob Fischer.

Erickson told Fox News on Thursday the meeting was attended by conservative activists who see the Trump candidacy as a threat to the conservative cause. “Contrary to what the Trump campaign says, it wasn’t the elite. … It was the guys who have been knocking on doors for Republican candidates for decades – people who are actually committed to conservative principles ahead of the party,” he said.

This chaotic phase of the primary race is making for some strange bedfellows.

Graham, for instance, previously had taken to trashing Cruz in interviews. He told CNN last month the senator might be worse than President Obama and if the GOP choice is between Trump and Cruz, "it's the difference between poisoned or shot -- you're still dead."

Now, Graham is setting those misgivings aside as the prospect of Trump winning the nomination becomes increasingly likely.

Even Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, while stopping short of an endorsement, reportedly said Wednesday that Cruz is the “only conservative left in the race.” Back on Capitol Hill Thursday, Rubio said “there is still time to stop a Trump presidency.” Meanwhile, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who had backed Rubio, says she’s now rooting for Cruz.

At the Erickson meeting, among the options reportedly being discussed was sending a last-minute candidate to the convention in Cleveland if no candidate reaches the coveted 1,237 delegates and the convention is deadlocked.

He told Fox News the biggest consensus point was that both Trump and Hillary Clinton are unacceptable candidates for the presidency. Regarding a strategy to defeat Trump, he said “the consensus was that everyone would rather settle this on the convention floor at the Republican convention in Cleveland.”

 

Though the main strategy is to use convention rules and delegate math to deny Trump the nomination, Erickson did not rule out a last-minute effort to run an independent candidate if Trump ultimately wins the nomination in Cleveland.

The meeting comes just days after Trump won at least three states, including Florida’s 99 delegate winner-take-all contest, and declared victory in a fourth, Missouri.

Before Tuesday, Cruz also had ex-candidates Rick Perry and Carly Fiorina in his coer.

But even as Cruz gains additional support, Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are gaining new backers.

Trump already had the endorsements of former candidates Chris Christie and Ben Carson. He added to that the support this week of Florida Gov. Rick Scott.

“Donald Trump is clearly the will of the voters. We need to listen to them, coalesce behind him,” Scott told Fox News.

And Kasich has picked up support from Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, as well as from former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt. Utah votes next week, alongside Arizona.

“Goveor John Kasich had a decisive and critical win in Ohio,” Leavitt said in a statement. “I trust his temperament and the tone of his campaign. I worked closely with Goveor Kasich over many years and I have witnessed his ability to bring people together to get things done. I think he has the best opportunity to beat Hillary Clinton.”

While Trump vows he will eventually win the nomination, party leaders are unsure whether he might enter the convention with the requisite 1,237 delegates. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday it’s becoming more likely that the convention will be open.

But Trump could still emerge the nominee at a contested convention.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich told Fox News on Thursday that the talk of a contested convention is only complicating the process. He said Trump and Cruz have 80 percent of the delegates and any insurgent candidate from the establishment would be taken down by the two.

“It’s an amusing parlor game, it has no meaning in the real world,” Gingrich said. “If they want to form the let’s elect Hillary Clinton club, fine.”

There was yet another reported plot to thwart Trump. Earlier in the month, it was reported that Bush met with Rubio, Cruz, and Kasich individually before last Thursday’s debate in Miami. Rubio’s spokesperson then urged his supporters to vote for Kasich in Ohio, a state he won. 

Additionally, Cruz pulled advertising and campaign staffers from both Florida and Ohio.

Trump, meanwhile, continues to face a string of controversies. He was scolded by Ryan on Thursday after saying there could be “riots” if he’s not chosen at the convention. The Daily Caller also reported that a Trump op-ed published in a Guam publication appeared to be partly plagiarized from an op-ed from Carson published in a Northe Mariana Islands publication.

LOS ANGELES –  An electrician who plunged to his death while working on a Los Angeles skyscraper was not supposed to be above the third floor and had removed his hard hat before falling 53 floors, construction company officials said.

The man, who was in his second day on the project, fell about 800 feet Thursday from the unfinished Wilshire Grand Center around noon and either hit the back edge of a passing car or struck nearby. Once finished, the building will be the tallest in the West

It happened at one of the busiest times of day at one of the busiest intersections in downtown Los Angeles, when the streets were thronged with people.

He had taken off his hard hat and had not been wearing a safety haess because it wasn't required for the bottom floors he was working on, said Lisa Gritzner, spokeswoman for Tuer Construction, the main contractor on the project.

She could say no more about what may have caused the man to fall or why he was on the upper floor. His name has not been released.

Los Angeles Times photographer Mel Melcon, who was on assignment at the building, said he heard the man hit the ground.

"No one thought it was a body," Melcon told his paper. "We heard no screams."

The electrician hit the car near the coer of Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa Street, fire officials said. However, the car appeared to be undamaged. A rear side panel was spattered with blood.

James Armstrong III was walking to a nearby bank just after the fall when he saw police helping the driver.

"She was hysterical," waving her hands in the air and holding her head, he said. But she did not seem to be hurt, Armstrong said.

The woman was taken to a hospital to be examined, fire officials said.

The 73-story skyscraper will be about 1,100 feet tall, or nearly a quarter-mile, when it's completed. A ceremony was held earlier this month when the top beam was hoisted into place on the 73rd floor. The $1 billion office and hotel tower being developed by Korean Airlines Co. Ltd. is expected to open in early 2017.

The building is near the Staples Center arena where the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers play and is at the center of the bustling and fast-growing financial district of downtown.

There were barricades around the edge of the building and other safety measures in place, said Chris Martin, CEO of Martin Project Management, which is overseeing the building.

All of the building's 891 workers had undergone training, Martin said.

"There's safety training for every worker on the job, and certain locations there's very specialized training. So these are all smart people," Martin said. "We had no injuries up to this date."

Gritzner said the company had found all safety protocols were followed.

Work was shut down for the day.

A key lawmaker who exposed a troubling federal turf battle in the immediate aftermath of December’s San Beardino terror attack charged Wednesday that govement officials are following a familiar patte by hunting down the whistleblowers behind the disclosure.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., said he leaed his sources are being sought by Immigration and Customs Enforcement immediately following a dramatic hearing Tuesday in which ICE and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials acknowledged the disturbing incident on Dec. 3, one day after a terrorist couple gunned down 14 at a county office party.

“I am conceed that ICE is attempting to identify and retaliate against whistleblowers who revealed a lack of cooperation between USCIS and ICE in the aftermath of the terror attacks in San Beardino,” Johnson said in a follow-up hearing Wednesday. “Those who have the courage to come forward should not be retaliated against.”

“I am conceed that ICE is attempting to identify and retaliate against whistleblowers who revealed a lack of cooperation between USCIS and ICE in the aftermath of the terror attacks in San Beardino.”

- Sen. Ron JOhnson, R- Wisc.

Johnson further expressed his conces about retaliation in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and DHS Inspector General John Roth.

Johnson did not identify the person or persons who told him that USCIS bureaucrats barred federal investigators from their building when they came to interview Enrique Marquez a day after the terror attack. Marquez was a close friend of Syed Farook, who, with his wife Tashfeen Malik, carried out the bloody rampage.  Marquez was later charged with supplying the couple assault rifles used in the attack, as well as other crimes.

 Marsha Catron, Department of Homeland Security Investigations spokesperson, told FoxNews.com, “DHS will respond directly to the Senator.

"DHS does not tolerate retaliation against employees who bring possible misconduct to light and complies with all whistleblower protection laws. As public servants working for both law enforcement and non-law enforcement components, our employees are held to the highest standard of professional and ethical conduct."

At the Tuesday hearing where Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Govemental Affairs Committee, first raised the issue, ICE Director Sarah Saldana and USCIS Director Leon Rodriguez blamed poor communication for the fact that a federal agency impeded an investigation into a terror attack that had left 14 dead and 22 injured a day earlier.

“How can you explain that they would not let Homeland Security agents in the building when they are saying, ‘Listen you could have a potential terrorist here involved in what just happened yesterday in the slaughter of 14 Americans?’” Johnson thundered. “And they don’t even allow them in the office? How could that have possibly happened?”

Instead of trying to improve communications, Johnson said, it appears ICE and its parent agency, DHS, are trying to root out his source. Johnson believes the whistleblowers could face retribution for the revelation.

"The federal govement has a very poor record of retaliation,” Johnson said. “We’ve held numerous hearings about this. It is really quite shocking how often the federal govement retaliates. But I certainly will not stand for it, and I certainly don’t think this committee will stand for any retribution against those who had the courage to come forward to reveal this incident."

Federal law expressly protects federal employees who provide information to Congress.

In the Dec. 3 incident, USCIS agents were investigating Marquez for marriage fraud, stemming from his 2014 union with Mariya Cheykh, a Russian national married to Farook’s brother.

Rodriguez told Johnson’s committee that it was a mistake for his agency’s San Beardino office to refuse entry to ICE investigators.

“The guidance was to facilitate what Homeland Security Investigations was trying to accomplish,” he said. “Unfortunately, it all happened so quickly that it was incorrectly perceived that our folks were trying to obstruct what ICE was trying to do. There was never an actual intent to prevent them from doing what they needed to do.”

Saldana testified she was initially conceed when her agents were blocked, but told lawmakers there was “confusion” and “chaos” in San Beardino the day after the attack.

“We had immediate conversations when it came to my attention,” Saldana said. “It was taken care of and clarified immediately. We did get the information we needed.”

Both Farook and Malik were killed by law enforcement after their moing attack. Marquez is accused of making false statements in connection with his weapons purchases used in the San Beardino shooting. Prosecutors also have alleged that Marquez and Farook plotted in 2011 and 2012 to carry out attacks at Riverside City College and on the 91 Freeway.

Marquez, who has pleaded not guilty, faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted.

Johnson’s committee is already investigating another case of retaliation inside DHS. Homeland Security Investigations Agent Taylor Johnson testified last year about retaliation against her and other whistleblowers who raised conces about foreigners from countries with terror ties getting green cards under the DHS’s E-B5 Visa Program. She testified that high-ranking USCIS officials and operatives of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid threatened her and her team.

Taylor Johnson was fired last month, as part of a possible patte, according to the senator. She has mounted a fund-raising effort to pay her legal fees.

“ICE has a track record of retaliating against whistleblowers, as in the case of Homeland Security Investigations Agent Taylor,” Johnson said.

A Virginia man who joined ISIS and surrendered to Kurdish Peshmerga fighters earlier this week has expressed regret for entering the terror group's self-proclaimed caliphate, saying he "made a bad decision" and "was not thinking straight."

In an interview broadcast on the Kurdistan 24 news station, Mohamad Jamal Khweis, 26, said he had made his way to the ISIS-held city of Mosul, Iraq with an unidentified woman whom he had met in Turkey while traveling. 

"We spent some time together, and she said that she is from Mosul, Iraq," Khweis said. He added the pair traveled from Istanbul to Mosul by bus and private vehicle, arriving on Jan. 16.

"On the way there I regretted [my decision], and I wanted to go back home after things didn’t work out and saw myself living in such an environment," Khweis said. 

It was not immediately possible to establish the woman's identity, whether she was a member of ISIS, her ultimate fate or whether she even existed. U.S. officials told The Daily Beast this week that the terror group has established a network of women responsible for recruiting new fighters. 

Khweis said he was only able to stay in Mosul for a month before he had enough. "It is not like Weste countries. It is very strict and no smoking there," he said, adding that most of the foreign fighters he saw were from countries in central and southe Asia.

"I found it very, very hard to live there," Khweis said. "I found someone who could take me back to Turkey. First he told me that he will take me, but then he said it will be difficult to take me all the way to Turkey. [Later] he told me he will take me near Turkey’s border."

Khweis ultimately surrendered to Kurdish Peshmerga forces near the town of Sinjar, which was retaken by Iraqi forces from ISIS late last year.

Khweis said he had arrived in Turkey after traveling through Europe, stopping in London and Amsterdam along the way. He also elaborated on his background, saying that his parents had moved to the U.S. from the Palestinian territories before he was bo.

Khweis said he attended mosque in America, but did not do so frequently. Apart from his encounter with the Iraqi woman, he did not offer any other reason for why he joined ISIS.

When asked by his interviewer if he had a message for the American people, Khweis said, "Life in Mosul is really very bad. The people who control Mosul don’t represent a religion. Daesh [the Arabic acronym for ISIS] does not represent a religion. I don’t see them as good Muslims."

LOS ANGELES –  An electrician who plunged to his death while working on a Los Angeles skyscraper was not supposed to be above the third floor and had removed his hard hat before falling 53 floors, construction company officials said.

The man, who was in his second day on the project, fell about 800 feet Thursday from the unfinished Wilshire Grand Center around noon and either hit the back edge of a passing car or struck nearby. Once finished, the building will be the tallest in the West

It happened at one of the busiest times of day at one of the busiest intersections in downtown Los Angeles, when the streets were thronged with people.

He had taken off his hard hat and had not been wearing a safety haess because it wasn't required for the bottom floors he was working on, said Lisa Gritzner, spokeswoman for Tuer Construction, the main contractor on the project.

She could say no more about what may have caused the man to fall or why he was on the upper floor. His name has not been released.

Los Angeles Times photographer Mel Melcon, who was on assignment at the building, said he heard the man hit the ground.

"No one thought it was a body," Melcon told his paper. "We heard no screams."

The electrician hit the car near the coer of Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa Street, fire officials said. However, the car appeared to be undamaged. A rear side panel was spattered with blood.

James Armstrong III was walking to a nearby bank just after the fall when he saw police helping the driver.

"She was hysterical," waving her hands in the air and holding her head, he said. But she did not seem to be hurt, Armstrong said.

The woman was taken to a hospital to be examined, fire officials said.

The 73-story skyscraper will be about 1,100 feet tall, or nearly a quarter-mile, when it's completed. A ceremony was held earlier this month when the top beam was hoisted into place on the 73rd floor. The $1 billion office and hotel tower being developed by Korean Airlines Co. Ltd. is expected to open in early 2017.

The building is near the Staples Center arena where the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers play and is at the center of the bustling and fast-growing financial district of downtown.

There were barricades around the edge of the building and other safety measures in place, said Chris Martin, CEO of Martin Project Management, which is overseeing the building.

All of the building's 891 workers had undergone training, Martin said.

"There's safety training for every worker on the job, and certain locations there's very specialized training. So these are all smart people," Martin said. "We had no injuries up to this date."

Gritzner said the company had found all safety protocols were followed.

Work was shut down for the day.