Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) discussed the return of Princeton University graduate student Xiyue Wang today after Wang's imprisonment at the hands of the Iranian government. Smith was on the set of Fox News Channel in New York with anchor Ed Henry to discuss Wang's release. Smith, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, worked with Wang's wife, Hua Qu, pressed the State Department to keep working to bring Wang home. Smith had appealed directly to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ... Read more

Dec 07, 2019 5:28 PM EST A Princeton University graduate student held in an Iranian prison for more than three years was released after a prisoner swap Saturday. Xiyue Wang is a Chinese-born naturalized American citizen and doctoral student of history at Princeton. He was arrested and convicted of espionage in 2016 while doing research in Iran for his Ph.D. Rep. Chris Smith says Wang had all the proper clearances to travel and he was detained in Tehran unjustly. The swap took place in Surich, Sw... Read more

By Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com WASHINGTON — The release of Princeton University doctoral student Xiyue Wang after more than three years of captivity in Iran was the product of months of negotiations facilitated by the Swiss government, a senior administration official said Saturday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he hoped the release would lead to other U.S captives being freed from Iran. Wang was released Saturday in exchange for Iranian scientist M... Read more

By Chris Smith - Published by The APP 9:48 a.m. ET Nov. 28, 2019 Family and friends gathered Tuesday evening in Robbinsville, NJ to mourn the death of Samantha Josephson who was killed when she got into the wrong car, thinking it was her Uber ride. Peter Ackerman, Asbury Park Press In March, University of South Carolina senior Samantha “Sami” Josephson of Robbinsville, N.J., left a late-night outing with her friends alone because she had to work in the morning. The extraordinarily talented stud... Read more

By Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Legislation to support Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters has been signed into law by President Donald Trump. Trump acted Wednesday evening as he traveled to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, for the Thanksgiving holiday. The bill had passed Congress with just one dissenting vote. “Beating, torturing and jailing of democracy activists is wrong and this historic legislation lets China know that respecting fundamental human rights ... Read more

By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press NOVEMBER 27, 2019 — 8:15PM President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed two bills aimed at supporting human rights and pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. Trump signed the bills, which were approved by near unanimous consent in the House and Senate, even as he expressed some concerns about complicating the effort to work out a trade deal with China's President Xi Jinping. "I signed these bills out of respect for President Xi, China, and the people of Hong Kong,... Read more

By Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Congress took steps Wednesday to support the ongoing protests in Hong Kong against Chinese rule as the U.S. House cleared legislation to penalize a crack down on the demonstrators. The legislation passed, 417-1, and now goes to President Donald Trump. Rep. Tom Massie, R-Ky., cast the only no vote. “Congress is making it clear that beating, torturing and jailing democracy activists is wrong. We stand in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong,”... Read more

Posted: Nov 16, 2019 10:46 PM EST Updated: Nov 16, 2019 11:26 PM EST Rep. Chris Smith held a press conference Saturday regarding the investigation into the death of a New Jersey football player. Braeden Bradforth, of Neptune, died last August after a football practice at Garden City Community College in Kansas. Bradforth's mother hopes that the incident will help save others students. "This fight was for Braeden at first but now it's for the rest of the kids," said Joanne Atkins-Ingram. His aut... Read more

Stephen Edelson, Asbury Park Press Published 2:13 p.m. ET Nov. 15, 2019 | Updated 7:53 a.m. ET Nov. 16, 2019 It's not an easy read as the tragic events of Aug. 1, 2018 are laid out in painstaking detail by an independent investigation into the heatstroke death of former Neptune High School star Braeden Bradforth at Garden City (Kansas) Community College. Like the events that played out during the brutal conditioning test the 315-pound Bradforth was trying to complete on a hot evening. How one pl... Read more

By NJ101.5 Reporter Sergio Bichao| An independent investigation has pinned the death last year of a 19-year-old Jersey Shore athlete on a "striking lack of leadership" at a Kansas college. Braeden Bradforth, a Neptune High School graduate, died Aug. 1, 2018, from heat stroke after attending a high-intensity workout at Garden City Community College. A probe commissioned by the college's Board of Trustees in May concluded last month that Bradforth's death could have been prevented if the school ha... Read more