ALEK SKARLATOS

While Democrats currently control four out of the five U.S. House seats in Oregon, the party hopes to secure the state's newly created sixth one as well.

WASHINGTON — (AP) — Alek Skarlatos, a Republican nominee for Congress in Oregon, was cleared this week of violating campaign finance law, months after a Democratic-aligned group filed a complaint alleging he improperly funded his campaign with money from a nonprofit he also controlled. “Democrats have created a false controversy to smear Alek Skarlatos," campaign manager Ross Purgason said in a statement. But in this case, the FEC found that Skarlatos' nonprofit wasn't very active and failed to raise much money, taking in about $1,800. The FEC did not receive a full explanation of how the nonprofit spent the money Skarlatos lent it, including the remaining $28,000 that was not refunded to his campaign. The Skarlatos campaign said about $14,000 was spent on fundraising, but an additional $14,000 was not accounted for in the filing released by the agency.

Election 2022 Oregon Rematch FILE - In this May 15, 2018 file photo, Alek Skarlatos, right, speaks at the Douglas County Republican Party headquarters in Roseburg, Ore. Oregon congressional candidate and hero soldier Skarlatos formed a nonprofit to advocate for veterans after he lost his 2020 race. The group, which Skarlatos seeded with $93,000 in leftover campaign funds, has done little since then to advance that cause. Federal candidates and officeholders are allowed to donate campaign funds to nonprofit groups. Skarlatos' campaign account gave $93,000 in February to his 15:17 Fund. During the 2020 campaign, Skarlatos paid himself more than $43,000 in mileage reimbursements, rent and expenses vaguely listed as “contractor campaign staff,” records show.

Oregon congressional candidate and hero soldier Alek Skarlatos formed a nonprofit to advocate for veterans after he lost his 2020 race.

Alek Skarlatos, a hero soldier-turned-Republican congressional candidate, started a nonprofit shortly after his 2020 defeat in western Oregon, pledging to advocate for veterans “left high and dry” by the country "they put their lives on the line for." The group, which Skarlatos seeded with $93,000 in leftover campaign funds, has done little since then to advance that cause. What it has nurtured, though, are Skarlatos' political ambitions, providing $65,000, records show, to his 2022 bid for a rematch with longtime Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio in a district stretching from the college town of Corvallis to the Oregon shore.

Republicans and Democrats have something in common when it comes to recruiting candidates they hope will deliver majorities in Congress after the 2022 election, and that's their pursuit of military veterans.

Passengers who wrestled and disarmed an Islamic State gunman aboard a high-speed Amsterdam to Paris train are recounting how their split-second decisions helped prevent what could have become a mass slaughter. The attack suspect, Ayoub El Khazzani, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if he is convicted of attempted terrorist murder. With the attacker under control, the train rerouted to Arras, in northern France, where El Khazzani was arrested. Authorities say El Khazzani boarded the train in Brussels armed with the Kalashnikov, nine clips with 30 rounds each, an automatic pistol and a cutter. Once aboard the train, El Khazzani lingered in a restroom between cars, where two other passengers confronted him, and then emerged bare-chested with his weapons.

The heavily-armed and bare-chested El Khazzani wounded a French-American who managed to briefly yank a Kalashnikov from his hands before the three vacationing Americans took him down. Their probe showed that Abaaoud and El Khazzani traveled together from Syria to Belgium and holed up with Chatra in a Brussels apartment. The alleged train attack plot went awry when passengers moved in on El Khazzani. Once aboard the train, El Khazzani lingered in a restroom between cars and emerged bare-chested with the Kalashnikov. He jumped in after a French banker, who has asked to remain anonymous, wrestled unsuccessfully with El Khazzani.

This summer, the worst wildfires on record burned in Oregon, with climate change and overgrown forests worsening fire conditions. A possible factor in Skarlatos' favor: Thousands of students at the University of Oregon and Oregon State University, who would normally vote in those towns, are learning remotely amid the coronavirus pandemic. His name recognition went only so far, said Christopher McKnight Nichols, associate professor of history at Oregon State University. Of his campaign war chest, over 60% comes from out of state, DeFazio said during their debate. Several GOP state lawmakers display the group's regalia in their Capitol offices.