“Think of all the ice-cream photo ops we’ll never get to see.”

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WASHINGTON — Perhaps the key policy distinction between Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination is the issue of free college tuition. And when Vice President Biden ended the speculation he might enter the race with a hard no in the White House Rose Garden Wednesday, he appeared to throw his support behind the Sanders side of the argument.

Sanders wants to raise billions from a tax on Wall Street and use it to make public colleges and universities tuition-free for anyone who can get in. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has rejected that idea as untenable, favoring instead what she calls "debt-free college" — expanded work-study programs and federal grants that would allow students who can't afford public college to get more free money to help and more opportunities to earn the rest.

In his Rose Garden speech, Biden backed the Sanders side of the argument.

"We need to commit. We are fighting for 14 years — we need to commit to 16 years of free public education for all of our children," Biden said. "We all know that 12 years of public education is not enough. As a nation, let's make the same commitment to a college education today that we made to a high school education 100 years ago."

Sanders noted the endorsement.

"I look forward to continuing to work with him to address the major crises we face," he said in a statement sent to reporters by his campaign after Biden announced his decision. "He understands the need to rebuild the middle class; and to address income and wealth inequality, a corrupt campaign finance system, climate change, racial justice, immigration reform, and the need for publicly-funded higher education.”

Clinton has framed fully-funded public college and university tuition as wasteful because it would provide free college to wealthy families who can already afford it. She's proposed expanding programs that let qualifying students work off their college costs and get debt-free financial assistance upfront.

"I'm a little different from those who say free college for everybody. I am not in favor of making college free for Donald Trump's kids," she told a woman in New Hampshire earlier this month. "I am in favor of making college free for your grandson by having no-debt tuition."

The Sanders plan has drawn criticism from some progressives, who say that students who pay no tuition will still have to find the funding for room and board and other college expenses. When former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley announced his debt-free college plan, a spokesperson for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee told Al Jazeera Sanders' plan was "less progressive than O’Malley’s because the senator’s plan focuses solely on tuition and not other expenses that can add to students’ debt burden."

Sanders' plan calls for expanding existing financial aid and work-study programs to help defray the nontuition costs of low-income students. Clinton's plan aims to make child care on campus very inexpensive and use programs like Americorps to provide grant money to pay for costs beyond tuition.

The PCCC welcomed Biden's comments, saying he embraced an issue progressives increasingly think will be key to boosting young voter turnout next fall.

"Debt-free is an end. Free tuition is a means," Adam Green, PCCC co-founder, told BuzzFeed News in an email. "Sanders and Clinton have competing plans. All take place within the debt-free umbrella."

Willis Glassgow / AP

Seven inmates in a South Carolina prison were punished with a combined total of nearly 20 years of solitary confinement — for making a rap music video and posting it on WorldStar.

The investigation into the rap video and the punishment were revealed in public records obtained by Dave Maass, an investigative researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Last year, the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) launched an investigation after the group of inmates released a rap video that made its way to WorldStarHipHop:

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Records show five of the inmates received 180 days in "disciplinary detention," while two others received punishments of 270 and 360 days, for "creating or assisting with a social media site."

But additional punishments for "security threat group" (gang-related) materials, and possessing a contraband cell phone added up to a combined 7150 days, or 19.75 years, in solitary confinement for the inmates.

The inmates also lost years-worth of canteen, phone, and visitation privileges, as well as good time accrued.

The disciplinary records note that "video from www.worldstarhiphop.com was used as evidence."

"When the video went viral the first time, viewers caught a fleeting glimpse of the creative energy that exists behind bars," Maass told BuzzFeed News. "Now that we know how dearly each inmate paid for their participation, the video takes on all new significance. People in this country are still sacrificing their freedom and well-being for expression."

The South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) came under fire earlier this year after the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital rights group, obtained public records showing that corrections officials punished inmates with dozens of years in solitary confinement for using Facebook and other social media.

• For example, Tyheem Henry received 13,680 days, or more than 37 years, in disciplinary detention in October 2013 — as well as more than 74 years' worth of telephone, visitation, and canteen privileges — for 38 posts on Facebook.

Space constraints often lead to those punishments being suspended or lessened, though. According the EFF, the average was time served in solitary for the inmates it reviewed was 512 days.

In February, the SCDC announced it was changing its policy for solitary confinement, making 60 days the maximum punishment in solitary confinement for an infraction. It also stopped making each post on social media an individual infraction.

However, Stephanie Givens, a spokesperson for the SCDC, said the inmates' punishments were reviewed and found to be appropriate.

"Their placement is not just tied to that rap video," Stephanie Givens, a spokesperson for the SCDC, told BuzzFeed News. "It’s the fact that they are gang members and a continued threat to safety."

The seven inmates are serving time for a variety of serious crimes, such as armed robbery, burglary, and voluntary manslaughter.

David Fathi, the director of the ACLU's National Prison Project, said the punishment of the seven inmates raised First Amendment questions.

"It's hard to believe that South Carolina prison officials don’t have better things to do than troll the internet looking for prison videos," Fathi told BuzzFeed News.

While Fathi said that it's clear that inmates can be punished for contraband materials, and that prison officials can limit inmate's speech for security purposes, the inmates' punishments are "disturbing to the extant that prisoners are being punished for pure speech that’s posted on the Internet."

"They’re finding them guilty of a separate violations of creating or assisting with social networking site," he continued. "That seems like a First Amendment violation on its face."

The ACLU and many other human rights groups also oppose the use of extended solitary confinement as punishment.

"The more we learn about solitary confinement, the more we know how profoundly damaging it is to physical and mental health," Fathi said, noting that a United Nations expert on torture has called for solitary confinement over 15 days to be completely abolished. "We know there are measurable changes in the brain after seven days in isolation. A year or six months is grossly excessive."

However, Bryan Stirling the director of the SCDC, said that allowing prisoners to have access to social media can be a grave security threat.

“We have to look no further than our own S.C. corrections officer, Captain Johnson, who was shot six times in his home due to an attempted contract killing via a contraband cellphone,” Stirling said earlier this year. “We take the use of contraband cellphones and social media by inmates very seriously, and the punishments for using them are severe. We are no different from any other corrections department across the country dealing with this issue.”

The SCDC estimated earlier this year that roughly 1,400 state prisoners remain in solitary confinement for disciplinary infractions, down from 1,700 last year. That's about 6.5 percent of its inmate population.

Read the documents:

Planned Parenthood significantly increased its federal lobbying presence, as Republicans in Congress pushed to defund the group in recent months, according to new lobbying disclosures.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Federation of America — the 501c4 and 501c3 arms of the organization, respectively — both dramatically increased their spending on lobbying the federal government between July and September.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund spent about $310,000 more than it did in the previous quarter of the year and Planned Parenthood Federation of America spent about $105,000 more.

The increase in spending follows the release of undercover videos by a pro-life group, accusing Planned Parenthood of selling aborted fetuses’ organs and tissues. Planned Parenthood and Democrats have maintained that the doctored videos are part of a partisan attack by Republicans.

In an interview with BuzzFeed News earlier this month, Dawn Laguens, executive vice president and chief experience officer of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the group's lobbying efforts were helping them fight back Republicans' “right-wing ideological crusade."

“This shows everyone why having a lobbying and political strategy is critically important," she said. "Things would be far worse if we didn’t."

LINK: The Stage Is Set For The Planned Parenthood Political Debate To Keep Going Into 2016

The Republican presidential hopeful made the remark at a forum for members of the Hispanic community in Nevada.

Jeb Bush spoke Wednesday at a community forum about the U.S. relationship with Latin America, equal pay for women, and how hot Supergirl star Melissa Benoist is.

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The Republican presidential hopeful spoke at an event at the College of Southern Nevada presented by the Libre Initiative. The forum aimed to offer members of the Hispanic community a chance to ask Bush about issues they were interested in.

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Cantor says Donald Trump and members of the Tea Party are not conservatives, but “radical populists.”

BBC

Former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor slammed the Tea Party and his party's current presidential frontrunner in a lengthy and, at times, combative interview with the BBC this week.

"I would not say Donald Trump is reflective of the Republican Party, he's not a conservative. A lot of the Tea Party issues out there and the agenda that they are pursuing, they're more populist radicals than they are conservatives," Cantor said on BBC show Hardtalk.

"Real conservatives are conservatives who believe in progress through incremental progress and a temperament that is befitting of a conservative. Not a revolutionary, and that's really the foundation upon which the U.S. was built and the Constitution that we have, but I do think as we get closer you'll see a lot more seriousness on the part of the voters."

Cantor, who in 2014 was unseated in his Virginia district by a grassroots conservative candidate in a shocking upset, seemed to still be in denial of his loss of conservative support and instead blamed scheming Democrats for his defeat.

"You never sort of enjoy an experience like that," Cantor said of his defeat. "But I do think there are a lot of teaching moments, but I would also say, see, there's a lot misconceptions about what but happened then to me and what's happening now within the Republican conference on Capitol Hill."

Cantor said the open primary system in Virginia allowed Democrats to strategically vote in his primary to unseat him. The New York Times and Washington Post have said the idea that so-called crossover votes doomed Cantor is a myth.

"I actually won a majority of Republicans it was just 23,000 Democrats crossed over and voted in primary because they didn't have a primary that day in the Democratic Party," said Cantor.

"There was never an instance where there was a crossover sabotage vote like that, now the political malfeasance on the part of my political team and I, was we were playing to a primary electorate that was Republican -- which we won -- it was the Democratic primary voters," Cantor said again when pressed on his defeat. "There's a lot of misperceptions."

"Again, that's fodder for press," said Cantor, sounding slightly disheartened when read lines from a column by former Republicans strategist Ron Christie saying he lost touch with his district. "Well again, if you know Virginia, and you look at what had happened, again, there's a misperception."

Cantor then pivoted to the "very small but very vocal minority" in the "so-called Tea Party."

"Somewhere along the way the expectations got to a point where it was just unreasonable," Cantor said of Tea Party demands of what Republicans could achieve with the majority in the House of Representatives.

Pushed on his defeat, Cantor again claimed he won among Republicans but lost because of Democratic sabotage.

"I won the Republicans, see this is misnomer and misperception on my particular race. I won Republican majorities," he said. "I did not and could not overcome the influx of as many Democrats that came into my primary race."

Cantor compared his loss to the current situation on Capitol Hill, saying the majority of Republicans would want to keep John Boehner (forced out by hardline conservatives) as speaker or have Kevin McCarthy replace him.

"The problem is, there are 30 to 40 members that have now decided they can block a speaker from being elected on the floor of the House -- cause you got to get 218 and Republicans margin is only 27 or 28," he said, adding there was "no question" Republicans look dysfunctional because of the "vocal minority" causing disruption.

Cantor said "things happen" when asked how it felt that he'd be in line to speaker if not for his defeat. "I've landed in a great place," he said of his current job at investment bank Moelis and Company, where he makes a reported salary of $400,000 with incentives into the millions.

Asked of Donald Trump's appeal, Cantor said it all came back to the Tea Party again.

"Here's where I think a lot of the anger and fury is coming from, go back to what I said before," Cantor said of Republicans expecting to change the law with just a majority in the House. "The radicals are out there demanding a shutdown or a default on the federal debt and so if Republicans seen and portrayed to not have delivered on what they said would have -- which is again an untrue statement," adding people like Trump, Carly Fiorina or Ben Carson could claim to be outsiders and appeal to voters by saying they had nothing to do with it.

Cantor said Trump would fade closer to the actual primary dates.

"We're going through the early silly season still, you've still got four months until we get to Iowa," he said, saying Trump's temperament wasn't "befitting" of someone who wants to be president.

"What it says is there's a small vocal minority," Cantor said when asked of why Trump was leading.

Cantor then boosted former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who he has endorsed, saying Bush had the ground game and the endorsements in the early states to win and would win once "silly season" was over.

Take a listen to the interview:

“But for Democrats, they put you in that little box where they sort of pat you on the head and ‘okay you’re the Hispanic guy. You’re the African-American guy. You’re running as the women.’”

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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz says Democrats "pigeon hole" minority candidates based on their race and gender.

In an interview with New Hampshire conservative video blogger Da Tech Guy, Cruz said Democrats "pat" candidates on the head and tell them they can only run on their identity as an African-American, a Hispanic, or a woman.

"It's interesting if you look in 2012 at the national conventions of Republicans and Democrats," Cruz said. "At the Republican convention there were four speakers who were Hispanics who had been elected statewide either as senators and governors: Myself, Marco Rubio, Susana Martinez, and Brian Sandoval. The Democratic convention had zero. They did not have a single statewide elected Hispanic and there's a reason for that. Democrats tend to view people -- they pigeon hole you.

"So if you run, you know, they've got for some example some Hispanics who get elected mayor or get elected in a congressional district that is gerrymandered to elect a Hispanic Democrat," continued Cruz. "But for Democrats, they put you in that little box where they sort of pat you on the head and 'okay you're the Hispanic guy. You're the African-American guy. You're running as the women.'"

The Democratic National Convention, as Cruz stated, did not feature any statewide Hispanic speakers in 2012. The convention, however, was chaired by then-Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Then-mayor Julian Castro of San Antonio delivered the keynote address.

Cruz said one of the reasons he was a Republican was because, "we treated people as individuals," saying he was running as "the strongest conservative with a proven record."

"We don't treat people as checking a box, we respect every individual," Cruz added, saying he was proud of his background and the story of his father fleeing Castro's Cuba.

Cruz told a recent story to illustrate his point, saying recently a "liberal reporter said, 'well gosh you Republicans are all the party of old rich white guys.'"

"And all I could do was laugh," Cruz said to laughs from the crowd. "I said, 'now wait a second, have you actually looked at the Democratic Party lately.' Like, look at that debate, that debate, it's like That 70's Show."

Cruz singled out talk about Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry running for president. He added he saw a "Dukakis 2016 bumper sticker" online.

"These are old tired ideas, being put forward from candidates from the past. You look at the Republican field it is young, it is dynamic," Cruz said noting the field had two Cubans, a son of Indian immigrants, one of the first female CEOs, and world-renowned African-American surgeon.

"And all the Democrats can do is try to scaremonger, try to turn against each other. Try to divide us on racial lines, and ethnic lines, and socio-economic lines. Enough with this petty partisan bickering," he added. "We're Americans, we believe in shared set of values. What we're doing isn't working and if we get back to free market principles and constitutional liberties that built America, we will reignite the promise of this great nation."

“For many of us it’s been incredibly frustrating to watch this investigation be turned into political football.”

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee took a shot at Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy for saying that the House Select Committee on Benghazi hurt former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's poll numbers.

"For many of us it's been incredibly frustrating to watch this investigation be turned into political football. Whether it's by the left, claiming it's just a partisan attack to harm Hillary Clinton's poll numbers or by the right like Rep. Kevin McCarthy's unforced error that handed that talking point to the Democrats on a silver platter," Huckabee stated on the Huckabee Exclusive podcast on Wednesday evening.

Clinton is testifying today before the House Select Committee on Benghazi.

McCarthy made the comments amid a media blitz during his campaign to be House Speaker. McCarthy abandoned for speaker his bid days later.

"Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable," McCarthy said to Sean Hannity. "But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping."

The former Arkansas governor then took aim at Clinton, saying "she may cackle over Benghazi or rail, 'at this point what difference does it,'" but said finding out the truth of what happened was important.

Take a listen:

“The truth is that President George W. Bush inherited all sorts of things from the Clinton administration, including intelligence agencies and others who weren’t doing a very good job that were not sharing information across agencies. Including a government that under President Clinton had not taken seriously al-Qaeda and the threat that they posed.”

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Florida Sen. Marco Rubio says his opponent Donald Trump is wrong to suggest President George W. Bush bears responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, arguing that the majority of the failures that led to the deadly attacks should be attributed to President Bill Clinton's administration instead.

"It's just not true, it's wrong. What he said is just not true," Rubio told NewsMaxTV The Hard Line with Ed Berliner on Wednesday about Trump.

"The truth is that President George W. Bush inherited all sorts of things from the Clinton administration, including intelligence agencies and others who weren't doing a very good job that were not sharing information across agencies. Including a government that under President Clinton had not taken seriously al-Qaeda and the threat that they posed," Rubio continued, citing the attack on the U.S.S. Cole, the first World Trade Center bombing, and other terrorist attacks.

For the past week, Trump has discussed the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, specifically noting Bush was president during the attacks and had responsibility for them. Trump went as far saying the Bush administration was warned by the CIA director the attack was coming and did nothing.

Rubio noted Bush had been in office for less than a year when the attacks happened.

"As a result, President Bush was only in office nine months when this happened, but that plot to conduct 9/11 and the steps that it took to bring it about — those began well before he was even sworn into office," Rubio said. "It happened under the watch of President Clinton, in fact, the 9/11 Commission says that. If you look, all of their recommendations, many of them were about reversing mistakes that were made during the Clinton presidency."

"He doesn't have a fundamental understanding of what caused 9/11," Rubio said of Trump.

“It’s hard to run from there.”

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Dr. Ben Carson says he doesn't believe former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee because she could soon be in prison.

Carson made the comments on Wednesday, discussing why he thought Vice President Joe Biden would be the Democratic nominee (the interview took place before Biden announced he would not run). Carson told Fox News radio host John Gibson , "Hillary can well be in jail, and it's hard to run from there."

Carson said Benghazi or her use of a private email server would sink her candidacy, whether she goes to jail or not.

"Or the computer server, uh problems," said Carson. "I think she may not be actually in jail, but I think the controversy swirling around that will have an extremely damaging effect."

Carson added that both Clinton and Biden represented the big government policies of Obama.

"I would welcome the opportunity to run against either one of them, because they both represent the same thing, which is a continuation of the Obama policies, big government knows best, and I think it would be an extremely clear cut choice for the voters," Carson said.

"Do you want a nation that is of, for and by the people, with a government that is to pursue life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Or do you want a nation where the government knows what's best," he added. "I don't think you'll ever need a clear choice in this."

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“Im not thrilled, I’m not thrilled.”

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Donald Trump said Thursday he's not thrilled with the idea of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan being Speaker of the House and expressed shock that Republicans haven't found a more conservative candidate.

"Im not thrilled, I'm not thrilled," Trump said of Ryan on the John Fredericks Show. "Not easily, I mean it's not that you are given a choice. Don't forget that you have people in Washington, Republicans that are going to be making a choice, and it looks like he is going to be the one. You saw what happens this morning and it looks like he is going to be the one. And if you have to live with it, you have to live with it, John. We can't go crazy. We can't say oh gee, I refuse to show up, or I refuse to do something."

Trump said Ryan was soft on immigration, the key issue of Trump's campaign.

"Now he's very, very weak on illegal immigration, I don't like that, you know he's an amnesty person, and you know I'm not thrilled with that," said Trump. "Because you get amnesty and you do something wrong, you get amnesty, that's not what we are all about. And other things that you mentioned. And at the same time, a very conservative group in Washington, that you like and that I like and you know it looks like they are backing him. You want to sort of have a group of people that are unified and they do need somebody.

"I'm a little surprised that somebody more conservative and tough, because they need some toughness, and smartness, and I'm a little surprised that somebody more conservative and tougher on the issues has not been chosen," said Trump. "I'm a little surprised, actually."

Trump's views on Ryan have shifted between support and criticism in recent years.

Trump told Fox And Friends in 2011, "Well, I think Boehner is doing a good job, but he's trying to get the best number he can and it looks like he's got the votes, but the really big one is going to be what Paul Ryan, who I think is also a terrific guy, just absolutely terrific, what he's trying to do, that's the long-term picture."

On Twitter earlier this week, Trump praised Ryan, saying, "Paul Ryan is far from my first choice, but a very nice guy. The Republicans should go for tough and (very) smart this time - no games!"

Still, Trump has been critical of the Wisconsin congressman in past, saying his budget would doom Republican electoral prospects.

Alex Brandon / AP

Bernie Sanders continues to grow his Latino outreach staff, adding Cesar Vargas, a high-profile DREAMer activist who has fought for undocumented youth to be able to serve in the military and advocated for Obama's executive actions on immigration last year.

Vargas, who will initially focus on Nevada, joins the growing Hispanic outreach team led by Arturo Carmona, who recently left advocacy organization Presente to serve in the role as well as the southwest political director.

Vargas, 31, will work to mobilize young voters, particularly in the Southwest, where Nevada is the third state on the Democratic nominating calendar.

"I joined the campaign because the senator believes not only that we should meet DREAMers but that DREAMers should be part of the conversation to champion policies for the Latino community," Vargas said in a statement to BuzzFeed News.

A source with knowledge said Sanders's campaign said they are excited about the hire because of Vargas place at the heart of the DREAMer movement, which will help build a bridge to young Hispanics.

Vargas, who has tried to become the first undocumented lawyer to practice in New York, joins Javier Gonzalez, who was named the Nevada state field director. Gonzalez previously worked in labor for the SEIU, on organizing efforts like the million people "negra marchas" — marches for immigration efforts — in 2006.

Reached for comment, Carmona said Gonzalez hire will help Sanders in Nevada.

"It's a huge deal. Javier Gonzalez comes from a line of organizing that has amassed a number of political victories organizing Latinos, immigrants, janitors and undocumented immigrants," he said of his work in California where they worked together.

Vargas, who was with Arizona's Dream Action Coalition, is the second DREAMer activist hired by a Democratic presidential campaign, joining Lorella Praeli, formerly of United We Dream (UWD), who became Hillary Clinton's Latino outreach director earlier this year.

While the Sanders campaign has garnered massive, organic enthusiasm from progressives, Clinton's operation in Nevada features experienced operatives who have been in place since April and were part of Obama's successful 2012 efforts in the state.

Cristina Jimenez, the managing director of UWD, said the hires speak to the power of the immigration movement, and considers it a positive that these campaigns have people within them who have been undocumented, but she said organizations like hers have to look out for the community.

"What I said to Lorella and would say to the others is: I’ll see you on the battlefield," she said. "You have a boss now and you're going to be working for their interest."

The Texas death chamber in May 19, 2000.

Pat Sullivan / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Two states — Arizona and Texas — attempted to illegally import sodium thiopental from India this July for use in executions, but the Food and Drug Administration stopped the shipments in the U.S. before they could leave the airports.

That makes three states this year, along with Nebraska, that have attempted to import the drug illegally in order to help it carry out executions.

Records obtained by BuzzFeed News show shipments of sodium thiopental made their way to airports in Phoenix and Houston in late July, with their intended recipients being the Arizona Department of Corrections and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, respectively.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Jason Clark told BuzzFeed News on Thursday evening that, yes, it is seeking to import sodium thiopental after having obtained a license from the DEA to import drugs. Asked from whom Texas had ordered the drugs, he responded, "That information is confidential under state law."

Arizona corrections officials did not immediately respond on Thursday evening to BuzzFeed News's requests for comment.

The Arizona Republic first reported the news of Arizona's attempt on Thursday, using records they obtained from an open records lawsuit. Although redacted, the documents they obtained mirror unredacted documents of a sale between Nebraska and Harris Pharma, a sale attempted, unsuccessfully, to be delivered in August and on which BuzzFeed News has reported extensively.

FDA records of imports of sodium thiopental show two shipments of sodium thiopental were submitted on July 27.

An employee with the company handling the shipping, Alpha Brokers Corp., confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the shipments were for the Arizona Department of Corrections and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The company was identified in FDA records as having transported the shipments. The employee who spoke with BuzzFeed News added that the shipments are still being detained by the FDA.

Nebraska has been open about its attempts to import the drug, but the two other states use secrecy laws to hide where they get their drugs.

BuzzFeed News spent months investigating Harris Pharma and its owner, Chris Harris — a man without a pharmaceutical background. Although he calls his company a manufacturer and distributor, the facility he recently registered with the FDA is actually a small rented office space. The facility that he lists on Drug Enforcement Administration forms is actually an old apartment building that he has not lived in for years.

Harris attempted to ship Nebraska 1,000 vials of the drug in August, but it never left India due to the drugs not being FDA-approved. The Arizona Republic reported that the Arizona Corrections Department contracted to purchase 1,000 vials of the drug as well.

The FDA has consistently maintained that importing sodium thiopental would be illegal. Nebraska and, it is now known, Arizona and Texas have attempted to move forward regardless.

Sodium thiopental is an anesthetic that is no longer used in the U.S., although it remains in use in the developing world. Its sole FDA-approved manufacturer stopped making the drug to keep it out of the hands of death penalty states.

“It’s a drug deal gone bad," Dale Baich, the assistant federal public defender who is one of the attorneys representing Arizona death row inmates in a lawsuit challenging the state's lethal injection procedures, told BuzzFeed News. "The question that remains is did Arizona get ripped off?"

Maurie Levin, a lawyer represent Texas death row inmates in ongoing litigation, noted to BuzzFeed News how the development raised more questions about the state's secrecy laws surrounding the death penalty.

In that ongoing litigation, Texas officials recently claimed that they lacked the ability to provide the "master formulation record," or recipe, used to compound the pentobarbital that state has used in its recent execution. The inmates' lawyers on Oct. 20 questioned Texas officials' secrecy about that record, writing, "Defendants’ refusal to provide information to this Court for in camera review reflects a view that they are not accountable to the courts – nor, effectively, the people of Texas – in the manner in which they carry out executions."

Additionally, looking at information gleaned from Virginia's use of pentobarbital provided by Texas in an execution Oct. 1, the lawyers continued in the Oct. 20 filing, "Clearly, there exists information that was not and has not been provided to Plaintiffs or this Court – information that directly contradicts information already provided that is pivotal to issues central to this litigation."

Now, there is more information — that the state was attempting to import sodium thiopental — that adds a new element to that claim, not the least of which is because the use of sodium thiopental would require Texas to use a different execution protocol than the one it uses in conjunction with its executions utilizing pentobarbital.

LINK: This Is The Man In India Who Is Selling States Illegally Imported Execution Drugs

Andrew Harnik / AP

Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan informed his colleagues in a letter Thursday evening that, after much deliberation, he will run for Speaker of the House.

"I never thought I’d be speaker. But I pledged to you that if I could be a unifying figure, then I would serve—I would go all in. After talking with so many of you, and hearing your words of encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as a one, united team. And I am ready and eager to be our speaker," Ryan wrote in the letter.

In a closed-door meeting with the Republican conference on Tuesday, Ryan said he would only run for speaker if he had the support of all the separate factions within the party. On Wednesday evening, a "supermajority" of the conservative House Freedom Caucus said they would back Ryan's bid.

Current Speaker of the House John Boehner has set speaker elections for Oct. 28.

Here's Ryan's full letter:

Dear Colleague:

Over the past few days, I’ve been thinking a lot about our country, and it’s clear to me that we’re in a very serious moment. Working families continue to fall behind, and they are losing faith in the American Idea: the belief that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead. At the same time, a weaker America has led to a more dangerous world. Our friends and rivals alike wonder whether we will pull ourselves out of this stupor.

Instead of rising to the occasion, Washington is falling short—including the House of Representatives. We are not solving the country’s problems; we are only adding to them.

But now, we have an opportunity to turn the page, to start with a clean slate, and to rebuild what has been lost. We can make the House a more open and inclusive body—one where every member can contribute to the legislative process. We can rally House Republicans around a bold agenda that will tackle the country’s problems head on. And we can show the country what a commonsense conservative agenda looks like.

That’s why I’m actually excited for this moment. I’ve spoken with many of you over the past few days, and I can sense the hunger in our conference to get to work. I know many of you want to show the country how to fix our tax code, how to rebuild our military, how to strengthen the safety net, and how to lift people out of poverty. I know you’re willing to work hard and get it done, and I think this moment is ripe for real reform.

That’s because, whatever our differences, we’re all conservatives. We were elected to defend the constitution. We share the same principles. We all believe America is the land of opportunity—the place where you should be able to go as far as your talents and hard work will take you. We all believe in empowering every person to realize his or her potential. And we have the know-how to apply these principles to the problems of today.

I never thought I’d be speaker. But I pledged to you that if I could be a unifying figure, then I would serve—I would go all in. After talking with so many of you, and hearing your words of encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as a one, united team. And I am ready and eager to be our speaker.

This is just the beginning of our work. There is a long road ahead. So let’s get started.

Sincerely,

Paul Ryan

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WASHINGTON — Hours before many of them threw their support behind Rep. Paul Ryan's bid for speaker, House conservatives pushed him on one of their own proposals: to defend them from attacks by big-money establishment groups.

During a private meeting, the House Freedom Caucus — which announced Wednesday evening it would support Ryan by a super majority, giving him enough votes to be speaker — discussed a proposal that calls for the next speaker to step in when well-funded groups from the centrist or right-wing of the party spend money attacking sitting members of Congress.

Members of group said they had discussed the proposal — along with other issues — with all candidates for speaker, but Ryan in particular, because of his emphasis on party unity. In theory, the proposal would protect not just the Freedom Caucus but all members.

No specifics were finalized, but those who attended the meeting said Ryan, who made his bid for speaker official Thursday, was receptive.

"If [Michigan Rep.] Justin Amash gets attacked by the (U.S. Chamber of Commerce), then leadership would step in to make sure that didn't happen anymore," said South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney, a member of the Freedom Caucus, in an interview with BuzzFeed News, explaining the proposal.

"It would be the party, the leadership, the establishment — whatever you want to call it," he said. "And if a centrist member gets attacked from some right-wing group, then they would step in to help that person in order to try and lower the temperature a little bit. It would go both ways."

Mulvaney said there was internal debate among the group if helping establishment members should be part of the proposal. "We had a very candid conversation internally amongst ourselves that if we asked for that, we have to be prepared. But what's good for the goose is good for the gander. And the group was pretty solidly in support of that."

He said he did not know what form it would take in practice. "Different folks have different thoughts on the (National Republican Congressional Committee). Maybe if you attack members, you don't get access to the speaker anymore?"

The discussion with Ryan follows reports this summer that U.S. Chamber of Commerce is considering targeting conservative members. Other groups like the American Action Network have already spent some money this year to attack Freedom Caucus members, including Mulvaney. On the conservative side, groups like Club for Growth have been targeting members on issues such as the Export-Import Bank.

Republican primaries have become increasingly expensive in recent years as outside groups from the right-wing and establishment wings of the party become more politically active. GOP outside groups spent about $21 million attacking other Republicans in primaries in the 2014 election cycle, according to the Sunlight Foundation.

It's unclear how Republican leadership would be able to stop outside groups from hitting whoever they want in ads, but if they agree on a way, it could decrease the amount Republicans spend just on primaries.

"We expect our leadership to defend our members, not attack our members," said Louisiana Rep. John Fleming. "We want us to be unified. We want us to work together as a team yet we have leadership that is actively or passively consenting to money being spent against our members and in some cases blocking the money that's being contributed to our members. We made that known to Ryan."

A spokesman for Ryan declined to comment on the private discussion.

“I’d prefer not to talk about security issues but I have recognized — and people have been telling me for many many months — that I’m in great danger because I challenge the secular progressive movement to the very core.”

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Dr. Ben Carson says he's in "great danger" and in need of protection from the Secret Service because what he called "the secular progressive movement" is afraid of him.

Conflicting headlines — such as one from Fox News — said Carson was already close to having Secret Service protection activated. Meanwhile, a Washington Post story threw cold water on the report citing an official saying the Department of Homeland Security was still debating the matter.

"I'd prefer not to talk about security issues but I have recognized — and people have been telling me for many many months — that I'm in great danger, because I challenge the secular progressive movement to the very core," Carson told WABC radio's Rita Cosby Show on Thursday. "You know, they see me as an existential threat but I also believe in the good lord and we take reasonable precautions."

Carson said threats against were indeed serious, which was why the Secret Service was considering protecting him.

"I believe the threats are serious," he said. "They wouldn't even be considering this if the threats were not serious."

Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, arrives for Clinton's hearing on Thursday morning.

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WASHINGTON — After 11 hours, three rounds of testimony, and some 300 questions for Hillary Clinton, the chairman of the Republican-led House Select Committee had no answer when asked to name a piece of new information gleaned from Thursday's hearing on the handling of the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, flanked by the six other Republican committee members who questioned Clinton, told reporters that he'd have to review her testimony.

"In terms of her testimony, I don't know that she testified that much differently today than she has the previous times she's testified," Gowdy said during a four-minute press conference in the lobby of the Longworth House Office Building.

"So I'd have to go back and look at the transcript."

Asked if the marathon hearing had been a waste, Gowdy said again, "Well, I've got to go back and look at the other transcripts to see whether or not she said anything different or not." The chairman noted that his has been the only Benghazi investigation with access to Clinton's records. "You have to talk to the secretary of state, and you have to talk to her after you gain access to her documents."

For Gowdy, the "better question," he said, is "how the previous committees were able to write their reports without access to what we had access to."

In recent weeks, Clinton and her campaign advisers have cast the committee as a targeted, politically motivated "hit-job," citing in particular, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's remarks that the committee had damaged Clinton's poll numbers. Gowdy, meanwhile, looked to Thursday's hearing as a opportunity to defend and prove legitimate the 17-month investigation into the 2012 terrorist attack that killed four men, including Ambassador Christopher J. Stevens.

The committee probed Clinton for more than 8 hours on topics ranging from her Libya policy as secretary of state, to her relationship with outside adviser Sidney Blumenthal and her communications with Stevens.

The hearing did not produce much in the way of outbursts from Clinton: As committee members confronted their witness, and one another, with pointed, often aggressive lines of questioning, Clinton maintained a calm and even tone throughout. But the testimony did reveal some new insight surrounding Clinton's response to Benghazi and her dealings with Blumenthal, a former reporter who advised the Clinton's in the White House and has remained a close friend.

Among them: In a call with the Egyptian prime minister after the Benghazi attack, Clinton described the violence as planned and not related to the anti-Islam video. (During the hearing, Clinton also testified that one of the attackers, now apprehended, has cited the video.) The committee also presented a previously unseen email, sent from Clinton to her daughter Chelsea on the night of the attack, describing the terrorists as an “al Qaeda-like group.”

Clinton also talked at length about the extent of her communication with Stevens: The ambassador, she said, did not have her personal email; he communicated instead with her top policy aide, Jake Sullivan. But Stevens, a friend she hand-picked for a special diplomatic assignment in Libya, she said, never made requests for additional security with Sullivan or others on Clinton's staff.

Clinton also spoke in more detail about her relationship with Blumenthal. She told committee members that she would not characterize him as an "adviser" on matters pertaining to Libya. Clinton said she did not know who provided Blumenthal with the intelligence Blumenthal frequently sent in emails and memos. Clinton sometimes forwarded that information to staffers at the State Department.

Throughout the hearing, the Democratic members on the committee attempted to frame the endeavor as a political exercise, producing nothing of value that could help strengthen security protocols or prevent future attacks. After a final two-and-a-half-hour round of questions, the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings, questioned the point of the hearing in an exasperated closing statement.

"I don't know what we want from you!" he said to Clinton. "We are better than that!"

Earlier in the hearing, Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff flatly told his colleagues, "The reality is that after 17 months, we have nothing new to tell the families."

Asked if the committee had lost credibility after Thursday's showing, Gowdy said, "I thought these were credible folks before we started today."

"That's up to y'all to report that," he said. "I thought it was a constructive interaction."

Late Thursday, Gowdy said the Benghazi committee members would continue as planned in interviewing witnesses before drafting a final report. "As I said this morning, she's one important witness out of what's now 50 important witnesses, and there are a couple left to go," Gowdy said of Clinton. "So, in terms of conclusion, I don't draw conclusions until the end, and there are more witnesses to talk to.

"From my standpoint, we keep going on."

Jeff Swensen / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — Black Lives Matter and immigration groups have increasingly called for Hillary Clinton to stop taking campaign donations from private-prison lobbyists, a demand highlighted by a recent protest of a Clinton speech from a DREAMer activist in October.

On Thursday, a spokeswoman for Clinton said she will no longer accept donations from PACs and lobbyists working on behalf of private prisons.

The spokeswoman said in a statement that Clinton believes that this aspect of the criminal justice system is the responsibility of the federal government, and that there is no need for "private industry incentives that may contribute — or have the appearance of contributing — to over-incarceration" in the United States.

"That is why the campaign will not accept contributions from federally registered lobbyists or PACs for private prison companies, and will donate any previous direct contributions to charity," the statement read. "This is only one of many ways that she believes we need to rebalance our criminal justice and immigration systems."

The Clinton campaign's decision was first reported by Fusion.

"It's a definite victory," Rashad Robinson, executive director of ColorofChange.org told BuzzFeed News. He said his organization began to reach out to the Clinton campaign about two months ago sharing background and data. "The conversations were open and substantive, and our goal was always was to get to get the campaign to see from our perspective, that although they had taken a policy position about ending privatized prison, that money from lobbyists matter. And they heard us."

Robinson said that the collective voices aided in getting Clinton to give the donations back. Clinton campaign officials declined to say which charities the funds would go to.

It became increasingly clear in recent weeks that immigration groups had zeroed in on the issue as well. When Clinton went on Telemundo in early October and said she would break from the Obama administration on its high deportation levels, United We Dream (UWD) said they welcomed the move but called on her to ditch her "prison-industry donors."

Later that week, as Clinton presented an award to Chef Jose Andres at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute gala, Juan Carlos Ramos from UWD held up a sign that said "Hillary for immigrants in prisons" and tried to interrupt her speech.

“Because of pressure from immigrant youth and organizations working towards racial justice, Hillary Clinton has blocked campaign contributions from PAC’s and lobbyists from the private prisons corporations that profit off the mass incarceration of the black and brown community,” said UWD managing director, Cristina Jimenez.

"As we've gotten into this conversation, we have been inspired by many of the activists that have raised their voices in this conversation," Robinson said.

"We know that the campaign heard them, too," he said, referring to United We DREAM, Black Lives Matter, and GetEQUAL. "I know from leading the discussions that my team had with the campaign, the fact that young black and brown people were being vocal about this in this moment about criminal justice were very important."

The call that Clinton no longer accept funding from private prison interests was part of a weeklong action that began that week, calling for cisgender black people in the Black Lives Matter movement, and more broadly across the nation, to stand up against the violence against transgender women of color. The actions that took place across the country that week were in part a demand for cisgender black people to show up in solidarity with black trans people.

“Bankrolled by private prison companies and lobbyists like Corrections Corporation of America and the GEO Group, Hillary Clinton is part of the system of violence that criminalizes and kills black trans people," Angela Peoples, co-director of grassroots LGBTQ network GetEQUAL said in a statement last August. "How can we take her policy suggestions to curb mass incarceration and detention seriously while she’s accepting this money?"

Peoples, who protested Clinton in Cleveland this summer with GetEQUAL's Rian Brown, said that the decision to stop accepting donations shows the power in the tactic of direct action, and displays what can happen when the candidates address the activists' shared intersectional analysis about specific issues — like mass incarceration.

"What we're seeing is a maturing of the electorate, particularly the emerging majority," she told BuzzFeed News. "It's not just about seeing how our issues are aligned, but folks are connecting these issues in a way that politicians haven't talked about in a long time. It's definitely a victory, but it's not just about Hillary Clinton doing the right thing."

The retired neurosurgeon also said it was possible that Trump could be his pick for vice president.

Paul J. Richards / AFP / Getty Images

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, noting his new lead over Donald Trump in polls in Iowa, said on Thursday that some of Trump's comments may have offended some voters.

Carson leads Trump in Iowa 28% to 20% in a new Quinnipiac University poll and has 20 point lead over Trump with women.

"First of all let me say, I love women, they've been so important to my life," Carson said on WABC's Rita Cosby Show when asked about the disparity between him and Trump with women. Carson pointed to his mother's influence on his life and those who worked with him during his time as a neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins.

"This is a great poll, but's it's only one poll," Carson added. "So I'm not gonna get too excited until I see that this really a trend in lots of different places."

"There'll be ups and downs," Carson said of the polls. A Des Moines Register poll similarly found Carson ahead of Trump 28% to 19%.

Carson was asked why he thought he was leading Trump with women, answering, "I suspect because, you know, when I talk about issues and I talk about things, I really don't distinguish and I think everybody knows that I'm gonna be totally fair in everything that I do."

When pressed specifically if Trump's remarks were alienating women, Carson responded that the interviewer would have to ask women, but conceded, "Certainly, there have been things that people might take offense at."

On the Dana Loesch Show, also on Thursday, the former neurosurgeon said perhaps Trump could be his vice president.

"I don't know, I mean, certainly that's a possibility but it's a whole another year before we get, and lots of things can happen during that time," said Carson.

"I like Donald Trump, I think he's a smart guy," added Carson but said his vice president would have to think the same way as him.

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri — The biggest example so far in this election of the increasingly meaningless nature of Federal Election Commission regulations may well be Ben Carson’s book tour.

The Republican doctor, who is leading in Iowa, announced last week that he was putting his campaign on hold to promote his new book. But on four different book tour stops in Oklahoma and Missouri, it was evident that, while perhaps not technically running afoul of campaign finance laws, Carson’s book tour is essentially a slightly different iteration of his campaign.

Inside his book tour stops, Carson answers campaign-related questions from reporters. Outside, one of the main super PACs supporting his campaign signs people up to volunteer and hands out stickers and pamphlets. A large bus, the same kind that candidates use on the trail, sits outside Carson’s events, bearing a huge photo of Carson as well as the book title, A More Perfect Union.

The tour — like the campaign — is at least in part a showcase for Carson’s celebrity status, with a side of politics thrown in.

While Carson has been accused of possibly already having broken campaign finance law while promoting his book — the problem being that the campaign, and not the publisher, should be paying for what are essentially campaign events — the super PAC can operate freely outside his events without there being a problem because it is technically independent from the campaign.

“It’s a different cycle this time,” said Tina Goff, the midwest director for the 2016 Committee, one of the main pro-Carson super PACs. “It seems like the super PACs are stepping up and doing more of the grassroots.”

At two stops in Oklahoma this week, a bus for the 2016 Committee sat in the parking lots with a table outside displaying volunteer sign-up sheets, bumper stickers, and other paraphernalia. At two stops in Missouri later, the bus wasn’t there — one 2016 Committee staffer explained that the bus would remain in Oklahoma and wouldn’t continue to Iowa because the Carson campaign has offices there and they didn’t want to be mistaken for the campaign — but 2016 Committee staff and volunteers were handing out materials anyway out of the back of a car.

Goff said the PAC heard about the tour along with everyone else when it was publicly announced, but acknowledged she had spoken with the company handling logistics for the tour to tell them that that they were going to be out in the parking lots of Carson’s events.

The events follow a similar pattern.

Several staffers from the publisher have joined Carson on the tour, in shirts emblazoned with the name of his new book. They run Carson’s events with ruthless efficiency, herding attendees through the line at a fast clip. Attendees are told to keep their copies of the book open to the title page and are not allowed to linger around to speak with Carson. Even so, when 2,000 people show up it takes a while to get through them all, and sometimes he doesn’t. When that happens, the people who didn’t get their books signed are given a decorative plate with Carson’s signature.

After signing books for a while, Carson pauses to talk to the reporters gathered. Despite these not being campaign events, Carson has no qualms about discussing campaign matters. Over the course of two days, Carson answered questions about Donald Trump, Iowa polling, Benghazi, Joe Biden, and other topics that are relevant to his campaign, and not the book.

Asked about this blending of campaign and book tour in a press availability in Joplin, Missouri, Carson said, “I’m here to sign books and I’m being courteous and answering your questions.”

The day before, he had insisted there was nothing odd about taking a break from his increasingly successful presidential campaign to sign books.

“When I wrote this book I committed to doing [the tour], and I never break my commitments,” Carson said.

In fact, it’s not readily apparent how much interest Carson really has in his presidential campaign per se in the first place — despite his enormous success in the polls.

Asked in Tulsa, Oklahoma, about how he was preparing for next week’s Republican primary debate in Colorado while on his book tour this week, Carson responded, “Being myself. And listening.”

“I listen to people everywhere I go, and that prepares you,” he continued. “I’m not a politician, so I’m not going to have a bunch of canned answers and prepared statements and stuff like that. I will answer the questions as they come truthfully.”

So he’s not doing formal debate prep, like other candidates?

“We’re not going to be doing that,” Carson said. “But you know, I do listen to people, I do have people and I do have advisors, but I’m me, and I think everybody has come to understand that, and they’re not going to change me into something else.”

What Carson is is a bona fide celebrity, and he’s been that, particularly in red state America, since well before he ever announced a run for president. He has an intense, committed fandom; many of the people turning up at his book signings brought several of his books and waited in line for hours for the brief opportunity for a signature and photo. Many of them speak of him in fervent tones and are intimately familiar with his writings.

“I’ve read all of his books and I started praying for him to have a future in politics way back then,” said Karen Henderson, 72, who attended his event at a Christian bookstore in Edmond, Oklahoma, where the crowd size was estimated at 1200. “If we followed him, we could do this and get back on track the way it was intended to be by our forefathers.”

Juanita Pappe Sutterfield, also 72, who came to his event in Tulsa, said she admired how he was “honest, humble, soft-spoken but strong, very strong, and Christian,” and how he “walks his talk.” She said she buys copies of Carson’s books and lends them out to her friends, and that she’s read three of his books and ordered the children’s version of his memoir Gifted Hands for her grandchildren.

Though he raised eyebrows when he announced he would be leaving the campaign trail to sell books, the logic is clear. His celebrity, which stems from his books, catalyzes his political support; that political support only further boosts his celebrity, which in turn sells more books.

If there’s anything cynical going on here, Carson isn’t showing it. Asked in Springfield about the reception he’s garnered on his book tour, Carson, indicating the crowd that bookstore staff had estimated at around 2,000 people, said of his book events, “They’re all like this.”

“It’s quite overwhelming,” he said.

Spokespeople for the Carson campaign and the book publisher did not immediately return a request for comment.