[Associated Press] Airlines say British air travel ‘grinding to a halt’

Airlines say British air travel ‘grinding to a halt’

Budget carrier asks for police and army reservists to help with screening

Updated: 2:13 a.m. ET Aug. 13, 2006

 

LONDON - Airlines warned the British government Saturday that the country’s air travel is “grinding to a halt” because of tough new anti-terror security requirements. One airline asked for police and army reservists to help with screening.

British Airways and Ryanair canceled scores of flights from Britain to Europe and the United States and blamed airport operator BAA for not investing enough in security systems and baggage screening in the aftermath of new terrorism threats.

BAA, which owns Heathrow and Stansted airports, ordered the cancellations because its systems for screening passengers and checked-in baggage for security threats could not cope with the extra required scrutiny of passengers and their luggage in the wake of Thursday’s thwarted threat to bomb up to 10 U.S.-bound aircraft.

Budget carrier Ryanair appealed to the British government to use police and army reservists to speed up searches at overloaded airport security checkpoints.

“If the British government is serious about defeating terrorism and not allowing the terrorists to disrupt normal, everyday British life, then it must provide the additional security staffing — either police or army reserve personnel — immediately to prevent London’s main airports from grinding to a halt over the coming days,” said Michael O’Leary, chief executive officer of Ryanair.

One-third of Heathrow flights canceled
Heathrow Airport, the major hub for British Airways, canceled one-third of flights due out Saturday afternoon and night, blaming strict new security regulations. Passengers were delayed so long that many missed their flights.

Saturday night, the airport said it planned to cancel a third of its flights on Sunday, too, because of the current delays.

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[Scotland on Sunday] Terror alert: Blair to force through 90-day detention

If you follow the link to this articles source and go to the bottom of the page you can read comments made by the public. Some make interesting and good points. To read them click here or the link in the header of this article...

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1178302006

 

Clive

 

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The uncompromising response to the growing threat came as it emerged that the ban on hand luggage on British aircraft is set to continue indefinitely, and could be bolstered by stringent new security screening at all the nation's airports. Picture: PA

Terror alert: Blair to force through 90-day detention

BRIAN BRADY AND EDDIE BARNES ( bdbrady@scotlandonsunday.com)

Sun 13 Aug 2006

Source: Scotland on Sunday

TONY Blair is planning to push through 90-day detention without charge for terror suspects following the alleged plot to murder thousands of airline passengers by blowing their jets out of the sky.

Senior ministers believe public concern about terrorism is now at such a level that they will be able to reintroduce the controversial detention powers, which were rejected in favour of a 28-day limit following the 7/7 attacks.

A senior government source confirmed that Blair, Chancellor Gordon Brown and Home Secretary John Reid all believed that the UK's apparently narrow escape from a major disaster proved the case for a clamp-down on "the enemy within".

The source said: "It is one of the few things that Brown, Blair and Reid can agree on."

The 90-day proposal - rejected following a humiliating rebellion by Labour MPs last November - is expected to form the centrepiece of further anti-terror powers to be included in the Queen's Speech this autumn.

The uncompromising response to the growing threat came as it emerged that the ban on hand luggage on British aircraft is set to continue indefinitely, and could be bolstered by stringent new security screening at all the nation's airports.

Britain remained on its highest state of terror alert last night as detectives continued to question more than 20 suspects over the alleged plot to bring down airliners by using liquid explosives.

As UK detectives interrogated suspects seized in Thursday's dawn raids, officials in Pakistan arrested British-born Rashid Rauf, saying his detention and that of others in the country had "triggered" the raids in London, Birmingham and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

But suggestions that the government was ready to return to the fray over 90-day detention have been greeted with horror by opponents, who claim the original drive to extend police powers was a draconian attack on human rights.

David Winnick, the veteran Labour MP who put forward the 28-day "compromise" limit agreed by Parliament last year, said the move would be "totally unjustified", but added that he fully expected ministers to use the latest terror scare to push for a longer period.

He told Scotland on Sunday: "Under no circumstances should they be allowed to raise the limit. My view remains that if the police have got evidence they should charge.

"Going back only a few years ago, police had just two or three days to release or charge suspects and that figure has repeatedly been increased by Parliament with little opposition.

"The danger is that by increasing it steadily, you get up to 90 days and then people will start saying 90 days isn't enough."

A spokeswoman for human-rights watchdog Liberty warned that the government should not try to "legislate its way to safety".

She added: "The doubling of the detention limit - from 14 days to 28 - only took effect last month. We should be observing how satisfactory that is before rushing off and demanding a higher limit."

Former home secretary Charles Clarke argued that the 90-day proposal, put forward by the police, was required to help them carry out the enormous and meticulous counter-terror investigations demanded by the modern threats.

But the plan was rejected by 49 Labour MPs, who helped deliver Blair's first Commons defeat as leader.

Clarke hinted earlier this year that he had not given up hope that the 90-day limit would feature in future government proposals when he confirmed plans to produce another Terrorism Bill next year or in 2008.

The momentum gathered last month, when a report from the MPs' Home Affairs Committee concluded that the number and scope of investigations, and the requirement to move in to make arrests at an earlier stage meant the 28-day limit would have to be extended at some stage.

Brown has publicly stated his support for extending police powers to detain without charge, although he insists that there must be "safeguards" in place to ensure suspects are not unfairly imprisoned.

Government aides last night claimed that the scale of the alleged bomb plot reinforces their repeated warnings about the threat facing the country. Communities and Local Government Secretary Ruth Kelly will attempt to improve co-operation with British Muslims through a renewed "roadshow" tomorrow.

But more senior colleagues in the Cabinet are considering a less conciliatory response to the threat.

"We are concentrating on the threat which is in front of us right now," a Home Office source said last night.

"But there is a consensus about what we require to tackle this threat. The government has never hidden its views on detention."

Ministers are understood to be considering new bomb-detecting screening systems for British airports in the wake of last week's scare.

The current machines are unable to pick up the cocktail of liquid chemicals which the alleged terrorists were planning to smuggle onto flights.

New so-called 'puffer machines', which shoot jets of air at passengers and gather particles of skin and clothes to check for evidence of explosive material, are likely to be considered.

Similar machines have been installed in several American airports and are being tested to see if they successfully identify chemicals used to make bombs.

Alternatively, airports could install X-ray machines which can pick up organic materials used in many explosives.

Ministers met on Friday to discuss introducing new technology into airports to counter the growing threat.

One insider said: "They are going away to think up a system that the airlines can deliver, that is safe and people will tolerate.

"They are looking at new technology that might be delivered without taking up too much of passengers' time."

 

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[NBC News] Source: U.S., U.K. at odds over timing of arrests

In contrast to previous reports, the official suggested an attack was not imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some did not even have passports.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source: U.S., U.K. at odds over timing of arrests

British wanted to continue surveillance on terror suspects, official says

By Aram Roston, Lisa Myers, and the NBC News Investigative Unit

Source: NBC News

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14320452/

Updated: 4:58 p.m. ET Aug. 12, 2006

LONDON - NBC News has learned that U.S. and British authorities had a significant disagreement over when to move in on the suspects in the alleged plot to bring down trans-Atlantic airliners bound for the United States.

A senior British official knowledgeable about the case said British police were planning to continue to run surveillance for at least another week to try to obtain more evidence, while American officials pressured them to arrest the suspects sooner. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.

In contrast to previous reports, the official suggested an attack was not imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some did not even have passports.

The source did say, however, that police believe one U.K.-based suspect was ready to conduct a "dry run." British authorities had wanted to let him go forward with part of the plan, but the Americans balked.

At the White House, a top aide to President Bush denied the account.

"There was unprecedented cooperation and coordination between the U.S., the U.K. and Pakistani officials throughout the case," said Frances Townsend, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, "and we worked together to protect our citizens from harm while ensuring that we gathered as much info as possible to bring the plotters to justice. There was no disagreement between U.S. and U.K. officials."

Another U.S. official, however, acknowledges there was disagreement over timing. Analysts say that in recent years, American security officials have become edgier than the British in such cases because of missed opportunities leading up to 9/11.

Aside from the timing issue, there was excellent cooperation between the British and the Americans, officials told NBC.

The British official said the Americans also argued over the timing of the arrest of suspected ringleader Rashid Rauf in Pakistan, warning that if he was not taken into custody immediately, the U.S. would "render" him or pressure the Pakistani government to arrest him.

British security was concerned that Rauf be taken into custody "in circumstances where there was due process," according to the official, so that he could be tried in British courts. Ultimately, this official says, Rauf was arrested over the objections of the British.

The official shed light on other aspects of the case, saying that while the investigation into the bombing plot began "months ago," some suspects were known to the security services even before the London subway bombings last year.

He acknowledged that authorities had conducted electronic and e-mail surveillance as well as physical surveillance of the suspects.

Monitoring of Rauf, in particular, apparently played a critical role, revealing that the plotters had tested the explosive liquid mixture they planned to use at a location outside Britain. NBC News has previously reported that the explosive mixture was tested in Pakistan. The source said the suspects in Britain had obtained at least some of the materials for the explosive but had not yet actually prepared or mixed it.

© 2006 MSNBC Interactive

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[Reuters] Bomb plot suspects named

Bomb plot suspects named
Fri Aug 11, 2006 02:58 PM ET

Source: London Reuters

By Katherine Baldwin

LONDON (Reuters) - Officials named 19 people on Friday suspected of an Islamist plot to blow up trans-atlantic airliners and ordered their assets frozen, a day after police said they had foiled "murder on an unimaginable scale".

U.S. officials said suspected suicide bombers were just days from simultaneous attacks on up to 10 aircraft flying from Britain to the United States, raising the spectre of strikes to rival the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

The arrest of two dozen suspects prompted strict security measures that brought chaos to the country's airports at the height of the holiday season, with hundreds of flights cancelled. Measures were still in place on Friday, causing long queues.

"I think we are both going to kiss the ground when we touch it in Los Angeles," said Mandy Macdonald, a U.S. resident waiting to catch a plane from London's Heathrow airport.

Police said the plan was to blow up planes with chemical bombs smuggled on board disguised as drinks. The U.S. Homeland Security Department said the 24 people arrested in raids between Wednesday night and Thursday were British Muslims.

The Bank of England, acting on instructions from the government, published the names and addresses of 19 suspects, saying it would be illegal to release their funds.

Those arrested are aged from 17 to 35 and live in east London, the town of High Wycombe, and Birmingham.

Pakistan said it had played an important role in thwarting the suspected plot. A senior government official said it had arrested two Britons of Pakistani descent last week, calling them "key catches", along with five others.

AL QAEDA

The suspected plot came to light 13 months after four British Islamist suicide bombers killed 52 people and injured about 700 on London's transport network. At least two of the militants had visited Pakistan months before the attack.

U.S. Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend said the plot had "all the hallmarks" of links to al Qaeda. "We just need a little more time to put together those links," she told CBS News. British police have played down direct involvement by the global militant group.

Last month al Qaeda, several of whose leaders are thought to be hiding on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, urged Muslims to fight those backing Israel's strikes on Lebanon and warned of attacks unless U.S. and British forces left Iraq and Afghanistan.

Home Secretary John Reid said police were confident all the main figures had been caught, but that the country's security threat level would be kept at its highest level, "critical", for the time being.

U.S. TV network ABC quoted unidentified U.S. officials on Thursday as saying five suspects were still on the loose. But a police spokeswoman said on Friday they had arrested everybody they wanted to arrest.

"Clearly there might be other people out there who are part of it. We might turn things up that suggest there are other people out there," she said.

FLIGHTS RESUME

British airport operator BAA said on Friday a ban on short-haul flights to Heathrow had been lifted, while British Airways said it expected about 70 percent of its short-haul flights to operate on Friday.

In Britain, all hand luggage was banned on flights. On both sides of the Atlantic, authorities banned liquids and gels from bags being carried on to aircraft, and travellers with babies were forced to taste their baby food before boarding.

"It's probably safer to fly now than it was sort of two days ago so that makes it a little bit better, definitely," said passenger Toni Robinson, waiting to fly from Heathrow airport.

Some of the country's 1.7 million Muslims said they felt under siege and doubted whether there was a plot, given past blunders by anti-terrorism police due to faulty intelligence.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was another case of a high-profile operation whipping the general public into this frenzy with very scant evidence," said Anjem Choudary, a former leader of the radical Al Muhajiroun group which praised the September 11 attacks.

(Additional reporting by Julia Glover, Peter Graff, Peter Griffiths, Michael Holden and Michael Smith in London, Zeeshan Haider in Islamabad)

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[Yahoo News] Italy arrests 40 in security crackdown

Italy arrests 40 in security crackdown

By FRANCES D'EMILIO Associated Press Writer

Fri Aug 11, 4:14 PM ET

Source: Yahoo News

Police raided Internet cafes, money-transfer offices and long-distance phone call centers catering to Muslims and arrested 40 people in a crackdown linked to Britain's announcement it had thwarted an alleged terror plot, authorities said Friday.

The arrests in Rome, Milan, Venice, Florence, Naples and other cities on Thursday and Friday were "part of an extraordinary operation that followed the British anti-terrorist operation," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

More than 4,100 people were stopped for identification checks, the ministry said.

Twenty-eight people were arrested for violating rules on residence permits and 12 were arrested for property crimes, the statement said, without giving details. The raids resulted in 114 expulsion orders.

A year ago, a similar security sweep in Italy at money transfer centers, Muslim butcher shops and similar places resulted in 141 arrests. Those raids came a few weeks after the London subway attacks.

On Friday, police also searched 15 homes occupied mostly by Pakistanis in several Italian cities as part of a Belgian police probe into suspected financing of terrorism, the ministry said.

That operation captured documents and led to three expulsion orders of foreigners who had irregular residence papers.

Italian authorities said Belgian police are investigating a group of Pakistanis suspected of financing Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a Pakistan-based terrorist group believed to have ties to al-Qaida.

The latest raids targeting Muslims in Italy triggered the ire of a spokeswoman for the Islamic Anti-Defamation League in Italy.

"More than 4,000 people were stopped and humiliated to allow police to arrest 12 chicken thieves and 28 clandestine" migrants, the Italian news agency Apcom quoted spokeswoman Dacia Valent as saying.

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[The Guardian] Arrest of 'normal' neighbours shocks residents

Arrest of 'normal' neighbours shocks residents

Suspects seized at addresses in south and Midlands

Hugh Muir, Jeevan Vasagar, David Pallister and Duncan Campbell
Friday August 11, 2006
Source: The Guardian


Police officers at a semi-detached house at Micklefield Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Photograph: Barry Batchelor/PA
 

High Wycombe

As the police investigation into the terror plot unfolded yesterday, the main focus of attention was on two brothers who lived in a semi-detached ex-council house in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Their home in Walton Drive was raided by police in the early hours. Officers simultaneously sealed off surrounding roads and evacuated local residents.

As word of their arrest spread, residents spoke of how the pair, both in their early 20s, seemed to shun local mosques and become insular after frequenting a local Islamic bookshop.

Phil Redfern, 26, a local builder and former acquaintance, said: "They used to come out and play football, but as they got older they got very secluded. There's a lot of Islamic bookstores popping up all over the place. Its different, the preaching down there."

Neighbours said the pair regularly visited an Islamic bookshop on nearby Totteridge Drive, a blue-shuttered shop next to a grocer.

Zaffar Iqbal, a worker in the bookshop, said he knew the men's father, but did not know the brothers. He said the parent had emigrated from the Kashmiri region of Pakistan and initially worked in a clothing factory in the town. He dismissed any suggestion that the brothers may have been radicalised at his shop. "This is not a munitions supplier, this is a bookshop," he said.

Another neighbour, Ashiq Rasul, also defended the brothers. "They are good mates of mine, practising Muslims. Teachings in the mosque have taught them to not to speak back to their elders and commit any violent acts on innocent people. [One] has a baby girl and loves his wife to bits. He cares for his child. These guys would never do any terrorism."

Half a mile away, other residents were seeking to come to terms with the arrest of another local man. They told how Don Stewart-Whyte became a changed figure a year ago when he converted to Islam. He lived quietly in Hepplewhite Close with his widowed mother. But former acquaintances said he had become less inclined to acknowledge his former friends and neighbours.

"He grew a long beard and had shaved his head," one said. "The people he was hanging around with were different. Now he's with people who are religious. He doesn't speak to anyone around here since his conversion. We don't know what he does nowadays."

Another neighbour said Mr Stewart-Whyte had become "very enthusiastic" about his new faith. "He just said 'salaam' one day and I was so surprised," said the neighbour, an Asian woman who declined to be named. "He said, 'I'm a Muslim.'"

A total of five addresses were raided in High Wycombe, and an area of forest land at King's Wood in the town was sealed off and searched by police. One neighbour of another unnamed suspect in Micklefield Road said the householder had caused some resentment by housing asylum seekers in his property until four months ago. Peter Whitelock, 77, who coordinates Neighbourhood Watch in the area, said: "There were people coming to the house at night-time, around midnight, almost every night."

London

There was similar confusion after police raids on four houses in north-east London, spread over more than six hours. The raids began on Wednesday evening in Forest Road, Walthamstow, with police ramming open doors. No 386, a shabby, sandy-coloured two-storey terrace house, was empty. It had been sold about a month ago. But a local resident, John Weir, said that after the sale he had seen two men of north African appearance visiting the premises.

Another raid followed in nearby Folkestone Road at the home of Marylin Savant and her husband Ibrahim. On the electoral register are their sons Oliver and Adam, although neither of them lives there. Oliver, 25, was arrested elsewhere soon afterwards, but one family member said the experience had been terrifying for them all.

"Oliver is a just an ordinary family man who is expecting a new baby," said a relative. "He is a Muslim, he goes to the mosque but he is not the member of any organisation."

The relative said none of them had any idea why the arrest might have taken place and that Oliver's parents were blameless. "They are just two normal people. She is a bookkeeper and her computer was taken away. They are very upset and traumatised." Mrs Savant is believed to be of English origin while her husband was born in Iran.

A neighbour said Oliver, a former shopworker, had started growing a beard and wearing long white robes after converting to Islam in his teens. Another neighbour, Paul Kleinman, 66, a retired fireman, said he had known Oliver all his life. He said: "He was a very polite young man. I've known him since the day he was born. His dad invited me in for a drink. Oliver started putting on Muslim robes and growing his beard long a few years back."

A friend of Oliver's from Henry Maynard primary school said he had been a good footballer and was well known and liked in the area. The friend, who asked not to be named, said: "He loved football, he used to play at a club just around the corner and everyone liked him; he was a really nice guy."

Two more arrests occurred soon afterwards in Stoke Newington. Two Bangladeshi men were arrested in their upstairs flat. "He had lived there for many years and was a very nice chap," a neighbour said of one of them.

"He was attacked by some youths and hit on the head with an iron bar a couple of years ago and he went into a coma. I think he's still recovering."

Further east, in Stratford, another man was arrested in the street by officers who had been keeping him under close surveillance. His arrest is believed to be linked to a flat in Carnarvon Road, Stratford, which was being searched by anti-terrorist officers last night.

Birmingham

Though anti-terrorist squad officers have been keen to keep the identities of those arrested secret, the lack of information only served to heighten speculation in several cities.

In the Alum Rock area of Birmingham, two men were arrested in Belcher Road as detectives raided the offices of ACS Management Group. A 30-year-old builder who did not wish to be named said: "I heard some commotion so looked out of my back window and saw at least 20 police officers chasing a group of men over gardens of the houses to the rear of the shop."

Neighbours reported seeing a lorry twice a week delivering unmarked packages. "There are a number of smartly dressed Asian and Somalian men who seemed to come and go at the property," one said.

"I know everybody round here and the people who used to come in and out of there were from all over the place, they often had London accents."

He said the owners of the shop had erected a metal gate to restrict access to the garages at the rear and the business had changed names three times in the past year despite being staffed by the same people.

"The two Asian men who lived there had been there for years but kept themselves to themselves," he said.

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[Reuters] Court rules NY police can search bags at subways

Court rules NY police can search bags at subways

By Christine Kearney

Fri Aug 11, 2006 4:09pm ET

Source: Reuters News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Random bag searches by New York police at subway stations are constitutional and an effective means of combating terrorism, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.

"In light of the thwarted plots to bomb New York City's subway system, its continued desirability as a target, and the recent bombings of transportation systems in Madrid, Moscow, and London, the risk to public safety is substantial and real," the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals said in its ruling.

The court disagreed with the New York Civil Liberties Union, which last year sued the city claiming that the random bag searches police have conducted since July 2005 bombings on the London underground rail system were unconstitutional and would not deter an attack on America's largest subway system.

The NYCLU had argued the searches were ineffective as police had too few checkpoints and invaded privacy rights. But the court said the testimony of three counterterrorism experts showed the value of the searches.

"The expert testimony established that terrorists seek predictable and vulnerable targets, and the program generates uncertainty that frustrates that goal, which in turn, deters and attack," the court said.

Among the experts who testified were Richard Clarke, a former White House counterterrorism chief, who said he believed most U.S. transit systems were "under protected."

The judges noted the importance of the experts' belief that the unpredictability of the searches "deters both a single-bomb attack and an attack consisting of multiple, synchronized bombings, such as those in London and Madrid."

While the court agreed the searches compromised riders' privacy, "the kind of search at issue here minimally intrudes upon that interest" because the random searches were limited to bags that could contain explosives and last only seconds.   Continued...

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[Yahoo News] Bush seeks political gains from foiled plot

Bush seeks political gains from foiled plot

by Olivier Knox

Thu Aug 10, 2:53 PM ET

Source: Yahoo News

CRAWFORD, United States (AFP) - US President George W. Bush seized on a foiled London airline bomb plot to hammer unnamed critics he accused of having all but forgotten the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Weighed down by the unpopular war in Iraq, Bush and his aides have tried to shift the national political debate from that conflict to the broader and more popular global war on terrorism ahead of November 7 congressional elections.

The London conspiracy is "a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation," the president said on a day trip to Wisconsin.

"It is a mistake to believe there is no threat to the United States of America," he said. "We've taken a lot of measures to protect the American people. But obviously we still aren't completely safe."

His remarks came a day after the White House orchestrated an exceptionally aggressive campaign to tar opposition Democrats as weak on terrorism, knowing what Democrats didn't: News of the plot could soon break.

Vice President Dick Cheney and White House spokesman Tony Snow had argued that Democrats wanted to raise what Snow called "a white flag in the war on terror," citing as evidence the defeat of a three-term Democratic senator who backed the Iraq war in his effort to win renomination.

But Bush aides on Thursday fought the notion that they had exploited their knowledge of the coming British raid to hit Democrats, saying the trigger had been the defeat of Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut by an anti-war political novice.

"The comments were purely and simply a reaction" to Democratic voters who "removed a pro-defense Senator and sent the message that the party would not tolerate candidates with such views," said Snow.

The public relations offensive "was not done in anticipation. It was not said with the knowledge that this was coming," the spokesman said.

Snow said Bush first learned in detail about the plot on Friday, and received two detailed briefings on it on Saturday and Sunday, as well as had two conversations about it with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

But a senior White House official said that the British government had not launched its raid until well after Cheney held a highly unusual conference call with reporters to attack the Democrats as weak against terrorism.

An aide to Lieberman, who would have been one of the first Democrats to hear of the plot because he is the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said the lawmaker first heard of it late Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Cheney had suggested that Democrats believe "that somehow we can retreat behind our oceans and not be actively engaged in this conflict and be safe here at home, which clearly we know we won't, we can't, be," he said.

While some Democrats have opposed some steps in the war on terrorism, and more and more are calling for a withdrawal from Iraq, no major figures in the party have called for a wholesale retreat in the broader conflict.

But Bush's Republicans hoped the raid would yield political gains.

"I'd rather be talking about this than all of the other things that Congress hasn't done well," one Republican congressional aide told AFP on condition of anonymity because of possible reprisals.

"Weeks before September 11th, this is going to play big," said another White House official, who also spoke on condition of not being named, adding that some Democratic candidates won't "look as appealing" under the circumstances.

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