If you listen to one side of the media, you might think Georgia is in crisis.
On Tuesday Gov. Brian Kemp signed the LIFE Act, which prohibits aborting a baby after a doctor can detect its heartbeat, which is around six weeks into pregnancy.
Opponents protest that the act is a scary infringement upon women’s rights, and six weeks is before most women know they’re pregnant. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., joined a flurry of national voices condemning the legislation, noting that “‘6 weeks pregnant’ = 2 weeks late on your period.” She’s right, but that doesn’t make hers a good argument against the much-decried HB 481.
Unlike other “heartbeat bills” (such as those considered in Ohio and Iowa), the LIFE Act doesn’t just limit abortion. It changes the definition of a person under the law.
The bill says that “unborn children shall be worthy of recognition as natural persons under the laws of this State.” It establishes that a fetus is a human being for all intents and purposes, including counting state populations and filing income tax forms.
If it the fetus inside the womb is a person, it doesn’t matter whether the woman already knows she’s carrying it. In fact, Roe v. Wade even confirms this point.
“If this suggestion of personhood is established, [Jane Roe’s] case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment,” the Supreme Court case reads.
Georgia state Rep. Ed Setzler, an author of the LIFE Act, said changing the definition of a person under the act is consistent with science, and doing so makes the abortion ban consistent with U.S. law.
“Science tells us that a child with a beating heart and a functioning circulatory system is a living, distinct human being that’s worthy of the full, legal protection of any other person,” Setzler said. “Law tells us that, consistent with the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, if the state establishes the personhood of the unborn child, the arguments of the abortion on-demand way of thinking collapse.”
Critics on the Left will continue to say that abortion legislation like HB 481 is turning America into “The Handmaid’s Tale.” But it doesn’t require some theocratic mindset to say a baby with a beating heart deserves constitutional protections, just as the mother deserves her own constitutional rights.
“Georgia has finally established the personhood of the unborn child,” Setzler said, “and as such [the child] will get full, equal protections under our law.”
Georgia’s new “heartbeat” law doesn’t fly in the face of Roe v. Wade. It accepts the case’s own logic and simply defines a human being how it should’ve been defined all along.
The STEM School Highlands Ranch outside Denver contracted with a security guard, a former Marine who has not been identified. He had stayed out of the public eye since Tuesday, when two suspects opened fire at the charter school.
On Thursday, the Associated Press confirmed reports he had fired his weapon, citing a law enforcement official with knowledge of the case. The official did not address whether anyone was hit when the gun fired.
“The actions of the people inside the building are still part of the open investigation,” a spokesperson for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said Friday.
Contracted security guards, who may be armed or unarmed, differ from school resource officers, who are sworn police officers with tactical training who spend time developing relationships with schools.
Even experts in the field of school security are split on what kind of personnel leads to a “safer” school.
School resource officers are “carefully selected and specifically trained,” said Mo Canady, the executive director of the trade association for those officers. The group trains thousands of police officers in how to develop relationships with youth.
“We want the gun to be in the right hands,” Canady added.
Most schools don’t have a school resource officer
In reality, most public schools don’t have a school resource officer. Only about 40% employ one, said Jeff Allison, a special advisor for the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators.
Other options for schools include hiring a retired law enforcement officer, creating an in-house school police department, contracting with off-duty police and paying them overtime to work during school hours, or asking school parents who are sworn officers to lend a hand.
Ken Trump, a longtime school security expert, believes the best option is to have a trained, professional law enforcement officer in a school.
“Police officers are trained to factor in that there’s a much greater civilian population around them in a public setting where armed conflict might occur,” said Trump, who is not related to the president.
Both police and armed guards would have the authority to fire their guns in school during a life-threatening situation. But whether they should, Trump said, depends on the situation.
“Armed officers, whether they are security or police, are required to follow use-of-force (guidance), where the force used by the officer is in proportion to the force being used by the assailant,” Trump said.
“Obviously, in the context of an active shooter in a school, deadly force may be necessary when the assailants are causing death or serious bodily injury.”
But Trump also acknowledged that even the best training cannot predict how people will respond in a life-threatening situation.
The armed security guard at the school was employed by Boss High Level Protection, which was started by a SWAT team leader who responded to the 1999 Columbine High School shooting.
“He doesn’t even realize how many lives he saved by stopping a school shooting,” Whitus said Wednesday.
An attorney for the guard, Robert Burk, said his client acted in the best interests of protecting the children at the school and helped resolve the situation without further bloodshed.
Contracted private security firms work just fine for many schools, especially because they are cheaper and schools have more flexibility around scheduling their hours, said Sheldon Greenberg, a professor of public safety leadership at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education.
“People tend to think of contracted security as an ill-prepared rent-a-cop,” he said. “Even if they are contracted security officers … they can be pretty well-oriented. They may or may not be armed. There’s a whole spectrum of examples.”
And, he said, there’s a big misconception that any security person will stop a shooter.
“In the best circumstances a police officer shoots accurately 27% of the time,” said Greenberg, who is a former police officer. “Are you going to shoot that person with kids running around? It’s not as simple as you think.”
Trevor Hughes contributed reporting from Highlands Ranch, Colorado. The Associated Press also contributed to this report.
Education coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation does not provide editorial input.
“Investors seemingly continue to try to cling to hope that policymakers on both sides opt to deescalate,” Deutsche Bank’s research strategist Jim Reid said in a note Friday.
Reid noted that President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that a “deal is still possible,” and that he had received a “beautiful letter” from Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Global stock markets have seen heavy selling this week as the tension between Washington and Beijing escalated. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen more than 650 points this week, while the S&P 500 has lost about 2.5%. Global equities have seen outflows of $20.5 billion in the past week, according to new research by Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Friday.
Already priced in?
The recovery could also be due to markets already pricing in the tariff hike. The announcement on the increase initially came from Trump on Sunday, giving investors plenty of time to position assets in their portfolios. In addition to that, a number of analysts have also pointed out that the increase in tariffs from 10% to 25% will only really take effect in a few weeks and hence markets are anticipating a deal will come before that.
Goldman Sachs told clients in a note that there is still some wiggle room in the negotiations, which are still set to continue on Friday.
“We note that details in the notice implementing the tariff hike indicate that exports that have already left Chinese ports before May 10 will not be subject to the increase,” said Goldman economist Jan Hatzius.
“This creates an unofficial window, potentially lasting a couple of weeks, in which negotiations can continue and generates a ‘soft’ deadline to reach a deal … This also leaves an opportunity for the two sides to reach an agreement in the next couple of weeks, though challenges remain,” he added.
‘Amicable conclusion’
Russ Mould, an investment director at London-based stockbroker AJ Bell, said the market moves could be down to investors now having real facts with the formal tariff hike, which would dispel any speculation earlier in the week.
He also explained that a China retaliation will hurt U.S. businesses and consumers and have a negative impact on the economy. He added that the finger of blame would then point to Trump for being “too aggressive,” noting that he cannot afford to let this happen ahead of elections next year.
“Investors could be betting that China’s retaliation could force Trump to back down and come to an amicable conclusion,” Mould said in his note.
Trump knocked Comey in a tweet as “a disgrace to the FBI” while predicting that he “will go down as the worst Director in its long and once proud history.”
“He brought the FBI down, almost all Republicans & Democrats thought he should be FIRED, but the FBI will regain greatness because of the great men & women who work there!” he added.
James Comey is a disgrace to the FBI & will go down as the worst Director in its long and once proud history. He brought the FBI down, almost all Republicans & Democrats thought he should be FIRED, but the FBI will regain greatness because of the great men & women who work there!
Sorry, Mr. President, special counsel Robert Mueller’s report destroyed the Logan Act’s continuing legal viability. It cannot be used to prosecute John Kerry.
The context here is President Trump’s suggestion on Thursday that former Secretary of State John Kerry be charged with violating the Logan Act. The act restricts private individuals from conducting foreign policy “without the authority” of the U.S. government. But Trump is upset over Kerry’s discussions with Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif in relation to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Kerry supports that nuclear deal, but Trump strongly opposes it and has imposed significant sanctions on Iran in pursuit of a new deal.
But as I say, Kerry can’t be prosecuted under the Logan Act. Because Mueller’s report showed prima facie evidence of breaches of the Logan Act by former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and potentially also Jared Kushner and Trump himself. As I’ve noted, Flynn’s conduct during the 2016 presidential transition period evidences “successful, unauthorized effort to affect a foreign government’s foreign policy.”
Flynn was not authorized by the Obama administration to carry on that activity, and it was fundamentally counter to President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. So if Flynn wasn’t charged for his actions, Kerry cannot be charged over his.
In short, the Logan Act is dead. That is rightly so: the act is almost certainly unconstitutional in its infringement of the individual right to free speech.
A handful of red states are placing bets on abortion bans in the hopes of having the Supreme Court reconsider Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion nationwide for up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy.
States are quickly passing laws banning abortion when a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat, at about six weeks into a pregnancy and before many women know they’re pregnant. Such “heartbeat bills” have passed this year in Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Ohio, and in previous years in Iowa and North Dakota.
Because the laws violate Roe‘s 24-week standard, they’ve been quickly struck down or put on hold everywhere they have been challenged, and abortion remains legal across the U.S. Still, advocates who push them hope they may eventually offer the opportunity to reverse Roe given that the Supreme Court’s makeup has changed with President Trump’s appointments of Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch. If that were to happen, the decision over the legalization of abortion would fall to the states.
“Certainly the intent of these laws is to ask the court to revisit whether there is any constitutional right for abortion whatsoever,” said Jennifer Dalven, director the Reproductive Freedom Project at the ACLU, which has brought challenges against the bans. “Whether the Supreme Court decides to take up one of these, we’ll wait and see.”
Having a six-week ban appealed to the Supreme Court would take years, and is unlikely. Still, it would be possible if lower court decisions are appealed or if circuit judges were to rule differently from one another. This would be unexpected: No federal court has upheld bans on abortion that are earlier in a pregnancy, and judges are likely to strike down six-week bans because lower court judges are compelled to apply Supreme Court precedence in their rulings.
“I think that scenario is the longest of longshots,” Clarke Forsythe, senior counsel at Americans United for Life, said of lower courts upholding a six-week ban on abortion.
But other anti-abortion advocates and lawmakers who back the six-week bans believe that it’s time for the Supreme Court to reexamine its 1973 ruling that abortion is allowed nationwide up until the point at which a baby would be able to be born early and still survive outside the womb, which is generally understood to be at about 24 weeks into a pregnancy. Opponents of this standard think that the question of viability has changed thanks to medical technology that helps premature babies survive and that allows pregnant women to see fetal development.
“The clear vitality of life that is developing is becoming more and more apparent to our eyes and our ears, and that for many people is what is inspiring these bills,” said Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, an attorney for the Catholic Association.
But Forsythe thinks it’s unlikely the bans would reach the Supreme Court, noting that the justices had already declined to hear cases on other abortion bans in recent years, causing them to be struck down. The judge who is hearing the Mississippi ban on May 21 already struck down a 15-week ban in the state, signaling he’s likely to rule similarly on an even more restrictive ban. Still, the Supreme Court has a different makeup than it used to.
“It may be that anti-choice politicians hope they get a different result this time,” said Hillary Schneller, staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “But the Supreme Court has always come out the same way on this very core issue as to whether a person has the right to make this very core decision.”
How abortion cases are challenged, whether in federal or state court, will also factor into the significance of a ruling. The Supreme Court could narrowly uphold state laws without touching on Roe, or it could rule in a way that opens the door to states chipping away at abortion rights.
Both sides know the Supreme Court doesn’t have to hear an abortion ban to overturn Roe. Other bills that limit abortion access can have a similar effect. For the Supreme Court, there are a multitude of potential outcomes in between outright upholding or fully overturning Roe that would allow for more restrictions on abortion.
Schneller called such a strategy “death by a thousand cuts to eliminate abortion in a more stealth way” and a “more subtle but very dangerous way of eliminating access to abortion without actually having to overturn Roe.”
The Supreme Court is already considering abortion challenges, including over a law in Indiana that would ban abortion on the basis of race, sex, or disability status.
In another case, the Center for Reproductive Rights has asked the Supreme Court to strike down a Louisiana law that obligates doctors have admitting privileges to local hospitals, which is a similar law to one the high court ruled unconstitutional in Texas almost three years ago. If allowed to proceed, the law would reduce the number of doctors who provide abortions in the state to just one.
“The right to abortion on paper doesn’t mean anything in practice unless you’re able to have a clinic in your state where you’re able to access abortion without an undue burden,” Schneller said.
Many national advocacy groups who seek to end abortion favor the more gradual approach, including the Susan B. Anthony List, which is influential with the Trump administration. Americans United For Life backs abortion laws that ban the procedure at 20 weeks as well as laws that require all women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion.
“Any of those could be the vehicle for re-examining Roe, although the court is not going to do so in the short term,” Forsythe said.
Girard Saenz, 57, was arrested on suspicion of violating California’s law regarding assault weapons and .50-caliber Browning machine guns. The law prohibits the manufacture, distribution, transportation, importation and sale of such firearms, except in specific circumstances. He was released from jail Thursday morning after posting $50,000 bond, according to jail records.
In the lead-up to the February summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, North Korean officials reportedly requested “famous basketball players” be sent to North Korea to help mend relations between the two countries.
The appeal was made in writing, ABC News reports, and at one point North Korea urged that the request be included in the joint statement on denuclearization. The bid was made as part of the cultural exchange, which also included a request for the two countries to exchange orchestras.
Kim is a huge fan of American basketball. Former NBA star Dennis Rodman has met with Kim in North Korea on a number of occasions, including for his birthday.
Despite much buildup over the summit, no agreement on denuclearization came out the meeting between the two leaders. Trump walked out of the summit after Kim demanded all sanctions be lifted in exchange for only partial denuclearization.
Since the meeting, Kim has escalated tensions in the region. Last week, a number of short-range projectiles were fired into the sea of North Korea’s eastern coast, and on Thursday, the U.S. announced that it had seized North Korea’s second-largest cargo vessel.
The Washington Examiner reached out for the State Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an updated state budget that calls for $27 million to go toward combating gun violence, triple the amount he originally suggested in January.
Newsom’s new budget would allocate the $27 million to the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Program, which allocates grants to cities and community-based groups that focus on eliminating violence. Last year, Newsom designated $9 million for the program and proposed the same amount when he first unveiled his budget.
Newsom’s revised budget attracted support from a California chapter of a gun reform group, Moms Demand Action. The groups claimed the grant program uses a “localized approach” to target gun violence in rough California neighborhoods.
“Gov. Newsom demonstrated today that he knows just how important community-based violence intervention programs are to saving lives in our communities,” Krystal Lopilato, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action in California, said in a statement. “This increased funding … will mean increased safety in the communities hardest hit by gun violence.”
Lawyers for the second suspect in the Colorado school shooting, Maya McKinney, who is listed in court records as a female, asked the court to use the pronoun “he.”
The 16-year-old McKinney is transgender and was transitioning from female to male at the time of Tuesday’s shooting at the STEM School Highlands Ranch in Highlands Ranch, Colo., that left one student dead and eight others wounded. McKinney reportedly identifies as a male and goes by the name Alec.
He appeared in court Wednesday, shackled at the wrists and ankles. Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler said that he still has not decided whether to charge McKinney as an adult. In Colorado, 16 is the youngest age that prosecutors can file adult charges.
McKinney is being held for murder and attempted murder, along with 18-year-old Devon Erickson. The two were arrested after students fought back on attempts to shoot up the school. The student who died, Kendrick Castillo, is being hailed as a hero after he was killed attempting to lunge at the gunman.
Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy says former FBI Director James Comey didn’t think the American people were smart enough to pick a president in 2016 so he put his thumb on the scale.
Former FBI Director James Comey defended President Barack Obama‘s handling of Russian interference during the 2016 election, placing more blame on Republican lawmakers for not wanting to disclose Russia’s involvement to the public sooner.
During a televised town hall, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper asked Comey about President Trump‘s repeated criticism of his predecessor for not taking more action against Russia on his watch.
“What should have been done more? Could more have been done? You were at the FBI at that point,” Cooper said.
“That’s a hard question. President Obama faced a very difficult choice. The No. 1 goal for the Russians is to damage our democracy and undermine faith in our electoral process,” Comey responded. “If he makes an announcement that the Russians are coming for the election, has he just accomplished their goal for them and has he given Donald Trump an excuse to say, ‘Obama fixed the election’? So I get why he struggled with it.”
Comey credited Obama for doing a “sensible thing” by trying to get top lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to go public about Russia’s meddling.
“He tried getting the bipartisan leaders of Congress to jointly tell the American people this is going on,” Comey continued. “And, in my view, to their everlasting shame, the Republicans refused.”
The former FBI director also mentioned that he offered to write an op-ed during the election to inform the country about Russia, but was shut down by the Obama administration.
“I get why President Obama hesitated and I agreed with his concern about not accomplishing Russia’s goal for them,” Comey told Cooper.
In a wide-ranging town hall about the Russia investigation, Comey was asked about the reported undercover investigator who was sent to meet former Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos. He dismissed the notion that it was “spying” and called it “reasonable” and a “totally normal step” based on the investigation.
U.S. equity futures were little changed Thursday as traders awaited a midnight deadline for tariffs to increase.
Stock futures opened slightly lower, with S&P futures contracts down 0.1%. Dow and Nasdaq futures both fell 0.12%.
China’s Vice Premier Liu He is meeting with top U.S. trade officials Thursday evening in Washington, just hours before the new tariffs are set to go into effect. President Donald Trump set a 12:01 ET deadline to slap higher tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. Trump later suggested that the White House could reverse that decision, based on progress in negotiations.
Hours before the meeting Thursday, the president said tariffs are an “excellent” alternative to a trade deal with China.
Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer of Bleakley Advisory Group, said the market reaction will be extreme in either direction, depending on the outcome of Thursday night’s dinner.
“[Friday] is very binary. If you get a deal we’re going to rally — if you don’t, we’re going to take a really nice hit to the downside,” Boockvar said.
Boockvar is predicting an extension of talks and a delay by the White House.
“I understand what they’re trying to do by putting China’s feet to the fire. But I have to believe that they’ll extend the talks and they’ll delay the tariffs,” Boockvar said. “The president will talk tough, and we’ll get a relief rally tomorrow.”
Stocks extended this week’s extreme sell-off on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen more than 650 points this week, while the S&P 500 has lost about 2.5% following the president’s Sunday tweet threatening tariff hikes.
On Monday, stocks shook off the president’s weekend tweet as a mere negotiation tactic. But tougher rhetoric by top U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer weighed on major indexes. The White House set a Friday deadline to strike a deal before existing tariffs increase from 10% to 25%.
Markets again seesawed after the president said it was possible to get a trade deal with China this week. The Dow fell nearly 450 points at its intraday low on Thursday before cutting losses and ending the day just 138 points down.
Dave Lafferty, chief market strategist at Natixis Investment Managers, said any positive market reaction is still likely to be underwhelming.
“This is the new normal for U.S.-China trade relations — it’s almost become trade policy by tariff threat,” Lafferty said. “What concerns me the most is, even if we do get a trade deal — which I think we will — the market’s positive reaction will be fleeting.”
Still, traders are in a wait-and-see mode.
“The markets are ruled by the news headlines, and at this time, no one can guess which way the president or China is going to go,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank. Rupkey said investors are “underestimating” U.S. economic damage if tariffs increase permanently.
“Markets have discounted a lot of bad news, but they haven’t discounted a recession as a result of the trade war escalation with China,” he said.
The Cboe Volatility Index, a measure of the 30-day implied volatility of the S&P 500 that’s commonly known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” hit its highest level since Jan. 4 on Thursday.
Goldman Sachs assured its clients that even if the tariff hike is implemented at the deadline, there’s room for some sort of deal.
“We note that details in the notice implementing the tariff hike indicate that exports that have already left Chinese ports before May 10 will not be subject to the increase,” Goldman economist Jan Hatzius said. “This creates an unofficial window, potentially lasting a couple of weeks, in which negotiations can continue and generates a ‘soft’ deadline to reach a deal.”
Others are less hopeful. In a note to clients, Cowen Managing Director and Washington strategist Chris Krueger highlighted Trump’s rally Wednesday night in Florida, his tweets over the week, and a comment Thursday that there was an “alternative” to a deal. Krueger said it’s “hard to not be more pessimistic on the U.S.-China narrative, i.e. The Return of Tariff Man.”
“Many are still optimistic tariffs can be avoided one minute past midnight (we are not),” Krueger said.
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert, Yun Li and Michael Bloom contributed reporting.
The committee’s chairman, Representative Adam B. Schiff, issued a subpoena on Thursday for Mr. Barr to hand over the full Mueller report and evidence, as well as all counterintelligence and foreign intelligence generated by the special counsel’s investigations. He gave the Justice Department until May 15 to comply. If Mr. Barr ignores that deadline, the Intelligence Committee would probably hold its own contempt proceedings and send another recommendation to the House floor.
At his news conference on Thursday, Mr. Trump took shots at both Mr. Schiff and Mr. Nadler.
He said Mr. Schiff was “conning this whole country” when he got in front of a microphone. Of Mr. Nadler, he said he used to “beat him all the time” — a reference to their decades-old clash over a railroad yard that Mr. Trump, then a real estate developer, bought in Mr. Nadler’s district on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. (In fact, while Mr. Trump was able to build on the property, Mr. Nadler was able to block the development that he initially envisioned.)
“I come to Washington and now I have to beat him again,” the president added.
Democrats say they are energized by the clash with the president. And they have other possible contempt citations in the wings, including for Donald F. McGahn II, the former White House counsel who is under subpoena by the Judiciary Committee, and witnesses in unrelated Oversight and Reform Committee investigations.
“In terms of timing, when we’re ready, we’ll come to the floor,” Ms. Pelosi said. “There might be some other contempt of Congress issues that we want to deal with at the same time.”
Kerri Kupec, a spokeswoman for Mr. Barr, declined to comment on Mr. Trump’s decision on Mr. Mueller’s testimony.
It came shortly before hundreds of current and former Justice Department officials gathered in the department’s great hall for a farewell ceremony for Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who supervised the Trump-Russia investigation after Jeff Sessions, Mr. Trump’s first attorney general, recused from overseeing that inquiry.
The ceremony, which included speeches by Mr. Barr and Mr. Sessions, largely avoided directly addressing why Mr. Rosenstein had such a turbulent tenure as deputy attorney general.
Still, Mr. Sessions noted to laughter that while he knew going into the Trump administration that the attorney general was often caught in the crossfire of the intersection of law and politics, the level of controversy during their time together running the Justice Department had exceeded his expectations: Things, he said, were “a bit not normal.”
The U.S. said Thursday that it has seized a North Korean cargo ship that was used to violate international sanctions, a first-of-its kind enforcement action that comes amid a tense moment in relations between the two countries. The “Wise Honest,” North Korea’s second largest cargo ship, was detained in April 2018 as it traveled toward Indonesia and is in the process of being moved to American Samoa, Justice Department officials said.
Officials made the announcement hours after the North Korea fired two suspected short-range missiles toward the sea, a second weapons launch in five days and a possible signal that stalled talks over its nuclear weapons program are in trouble. The public disclosure that the vessel is now in U.S. custody may further inflame tensions, though U.S. officials said the timing of their complaint was not a response to the missile launch.
Payments for maintenance and operation of the vessel were channeled, unwittingly, through three U.S. banks in violation of American law, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman of the Southern District of New York said in a conference call with reporters. The case for confiscating the ship was filed in a civil forfeiture complaint in New York, CBS News’ Pamela Falk reported.
“This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service,” said Assistant Attorney General John Demers, the Justice Department’s top national security official.
The 581-foot Wise Honest was used to transport North Korean coal to China, Russia and other countries, generating badly needed revenue to a country that is under U.N. sanctions because of its nuclear weapons program. It also delivered heavy machinery to North Korea. The coal trade itself is also believed to fund the isolated country’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
The vessel was owned by a subsidiary of a North Korean shipping company that is controlled by the country’s military and is on a Treasury Department sanctions list.
This undated photo released by the U.S. Justice Dept, Thursday, May 9, 2019, shows the North Korean cargo ship Wise Honest.
AP
North Korea sought to disguise the ship’s operations by listing various other countries for its nationality and the origin of its cargo, according to the complaint. The ship, in what U.S. officials say was a clear act of concealment, also turned off an automatic signal system intended to alert other ships of its course and location.
Indonesian authorities intercepted and seized the Wise Honest in the East China Sea a month after it was photographed at the port of Nampo, North Korea, where it took on a load of coal. The captain of the ship was charged in Indonesia with violating that country’s maritime laws and convicted, the complaint says. It was not immediately clear what happened to the crew.
The U.S. has prosecuted people and businesses for violating sanctions but has never before seized a North Korean ship. The country will have an opportunity to contest the seizure in court. If the U.S. prevails, it will be able to sell the vessel.
“When nations who have stated an intent to do harm to the United States evade international sanctions, Americans become less safe,” said Geoffrey Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York.
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have held two summits focused on the North’s nuclear program but have made no discernible progress toward a deal that would eliminate its weapons.
A vigil held Wednesday evening to recognize the victims and heroes of the shooting earlier this week at a Colorado high school turned into a political protest after some students in attendance expressed frustration with the tone and focus of the speeches.
According to local news reports, a group of students walked out of the event, organized by a local chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, after hearing speeches from members of the community, including activists and elected officials like Senator Michael Bennet, a Democratic presidential candidate, and Rep. Jason Crow, who represents the district where Tuesday’s shooting took place.
Both Bennet and Crow were invited by the Brady Campaign to speak at the event, which took place at a nearby high school, and also attended another vigil Wednesday night at a nearby church.
Speakers at the event, which honored Kendrick Castillo, the 18-year-old who was killed protecting his fellow classmates at the STEM School in Highlands Ranch, also talked about the need to take action in the wake of another tragic school shooting and reform the nation’s gun laws.
“I know our kids already have enough to do, they have a job to do when they come to school, you have a job to do when you come to school,” Bennet, the former Superintendent of the Denver Public Schools, said before praising Castillo’s bravery. “Their job is not to fix America’s broken gun laws. Their job is not, as Kendrick so selflessly did yesterday, to give up their own life to save their classmates lives. Or the teachers’ lives. That’s not their job.”
Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
Sen. Michael Bennet speaks during a candlelight vigil at Highlands Ranch High School on May 8, 2019 in Highlands Ranch, Colo.
“You sent me to Washington to speak the truth. So here it is – we are failing. We are failing when this happens over and over and over and over again and nothing happens,” Crow, a gun owner and former Army Ranger elected to Congress last year, said. “You already have my thoughts and prayers, but you deserve and should demand more. Because to only send thoughts and prayers when you’re a member of Congress or when you’re in a position to take action and to affect change, it is empty, it is hollow, and you and your children deserve more.”
“It was a very emotional night, which I completely understand, these are students that had just gone through a horrific tragedy…And it became apparent halfway through the event that they weren’t being given an opportunity to speak,” Crow said.
“So they stood up, as they should have, and demanded an opportunity to speak, and I supported that. I stayed late until every student was heard and had their opportunity to tell us how they felt about this issue and just express that emotion. So it was really important that we keep the focus on the students,” he added.
David Zalubowski/AP
Young people console each other during a community vigil to honor the victims and survivors of a fatal shooting at the STEM School Highlands Ranch, late Wednesday, May 8, 2019, in Highlands Ranch, Colo.
The tenor of the vigil seemed to shift after some in the audience began to express frustration that the event was not solely focused on remembering the heroes and victims of the shooting.
“This can be an incredibly divisible or painful or awful time, or it can be a time when we come together,” another speaker at the event told the packed gymnasium.
After a number of speeches, one student in the audience shouted “Let STEM kids speak!” and video from the event from ABC News affiliate KMGH showed students chanting “Mental Health,” as they left the event and gathered in the parking lot outside the gym.
Students later re-entered the event and vented their frustration at the media and politicians.
“What happened at STEM is awful, but it’s not a statistic. We can’t be used for a reason for gun control. We are people, not a statement,” one student said after the event.
The Brady Campaign issued an apology Thursday afternoon, saying that all efforts should be focused on providing support to the students, faculty, and families affected by the tragic shooting.
“We are here to lift up the voices of victims and survivors…We are deeply sorry any part of this vigil did not provide the support, caring and sense of community we sought to foster and facilitate and which we know is so crucial to communities who suffer the trauma of gun violence,” the statement said.
In the days after the shooting, Castillo, who was killed three days before graduation, has been remembered for his kindness and bravery.
John Castillo, Kendrick Castillo’s father, called his son’s death “devastating, as you can imagine.”
“When I see the people that he saved, it made me happy,” John Castillo said. “I knew my son wouldn’t have it any other way. But as any parent would tell you, ‘It’s a heck of a trade-off.'”
It’s just three weeks since House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler subpoenaed the report without redactions, and all its underlying evidence, from special counsel Robert Mueller relating to his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Despite this, Nadler, D-N.Y., and fellow panel Democrats voted 24-16 Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to comply in the blink of an eye with their demand. Never mind that it would have been illegal for Barr to do so. It will be for the full House to decide whether to support the contempt vote, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said she’ll follow the committee’s lead.
Democrats took turns grandstanding at the hearing, and simply ignored the fact that it would be against the law for Barr to disseminate some redacted material in Mueller’s report. Nor did they acknowledge the mammoth amount of work that would be required to organize and hand over Mueller’s mountains of evidence.
It’s, of course, not surprising that no Democrat objected to Nadler’s precipitous actions for, in 2019, congressional oversight consisting of forming up on one side of the committee room and barking at the other side.
Congress invokes official contempt charges rarely, indeed only three times in the past 35 years. It is meant to be a last resort. But in 2012, the last time it was used, Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt for refusing to provide Congress with subpoenaed material, and Holder was a Democrat. So this is payback. But it should be noted that Holder had by then defied Congress for 203 days before House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., first formally threatened him with contempt charges. Even then, Issa gave Holder an additional 48 days before his committee actually held a vote. And Issa was demanding answers about a Justice Department scandal that had actually resulted in the murder of at least one government official.
In shockingly sharp contrast, Nadler went from subpoena to contempt vote in 19 days, without evincing any desire to negotiate with the Justice Department over what could properly be shared by the committee. Nadler isn’t approaching this as one in which he should work out an agreement between two co-equal branches of government, which would be perfectly possible in this case if both sides were willing to be reasonable. Instead, he’s running a show trial to gin up enthusiasm among angry Democratic donors, both small and large.
What’s more, and worse, is that Nadler’s show trial is in pursuit of an end that is manifestly wrong. Barr’s efforts to protect privileged grand jury materials are not only justifiable but specifically mandated by law. Nadler has not a leg to stand on. Every single House Democrat on that committee knows and understands this. Yet not one objected to the circus in which they played the role of sundry clowns.
Contrast this again with Republican treatment of Holder. Unlike Barr, who is legally required to protect grand jury material, Holder was merely asserting an amorphous and constitutionally dubious privilege over internal Justice Department deliberations.
Nadler should explain why he is in such a rush. His timetable has nothing to do with justice or good government, and everything to do with the 2020 election calendar. Mueller couldn’t find any evidence of collusion by Trump’s campaign or any other American with Russia and its malefactors. So the clock is ticking for Democrats to use the fruits of Mueller’s investigation, which he so helpfully gave them, in defiance of precedent, to raise money and talking points for use in the Democrats’ pursuit of power.
Congress has a duty to sift through Mueller’s evidence. It has a duty to exercise oversight and provide checks on executive power, in the interest of justice and the good of the country. Nadler’s show trial has nothing to do with any of that.
Democrats don’t want to lose the energy from the far-left wing of the party but seek to emphasize a center-left agenda that will appeal to a broad cross-section of voters, says Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume.
Progressives may be getting most of the media attention, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., seems committed to keeping this small yet vocal group within the House Democratic caucus in check.
In a recent New York Times interview, Pelosi indicated she believes that Democrats’ road to success in 2020 will be paved down the middle, and not the far-left lane of political ideology.
Pelosi is a pragmatist, while still holding her firm onto her principles. She is clear in her criticism of President Trump and his administration.
Yet Pelosi stops short of giving in to the calls for impeachment. She knows impeachment is both a futile exercise and bad politics for many Democrats in competitive areas across the country.
The speaker has declined to support both the Green New Deal and “Medicare-for-all.” But she has presented more realistic policy alternatives that also aim to improve the environment and health care.
Yet Pelosi stops short of giving in to the calls for impeachment. She knows impeachment is both a futile exercise and bad politics for many Democrats in competitive areas across the country.
Pelosi’s leadership role was challenged twice by fellow Democrats who voiced concerns that the veteran lawmaker was too old, too out of touch and too much part of the coastal elite to lead House Democrats now.
At one point, I was part of that chorus of Democrats who raised concerns about Pelosi and advocated for a new generation to take over the reins.
But Pelosi has shown by her actions as speaker the second time around that she is one of the few Democrats skilled and savvy enough to take on President Trump. She understands that in order to hold onto the majority, House Democrats cannot be saddled by controversial votes that could alienate the electorate back home.
Pelosi’s approach is the right one to win both the House of Representatives and the White House. Democrats cannot win without bringing Trump supporters back into the fold.
It’s hard to convince a Trump voter to have an open mind if all that Democrats stand for is attacking or impeaching Trump. Independent voters are also key to any campaign’s success. Embracing far-left policies could also alienate this key voter block.
It is hard to tell if enough House members and candidates, or Democratic presidential hopefuls, will heed the sage advice Pelosi is giving. If they don’t, it could spell doom in 2020.
In her New York Times interview, Pelosi did not just say that Democrats need to “own the center-left” and the “mainstream” to win. She also said Democrats need to follow this formula to win big in the next election because she fears that President Trump will not accept the outcome if Democrats do not win decisively.
This is a striking statement, mostly because there are indications it is true. President Trump has a pattern of indicating that he is skeptical about election outcomes, especially if they are close.
In 2016, Trump remarkably said he would accept the results of the presidential election if he won. Over the last several years, Trump has made a variety of statements undermining the integrity of the electoral process and planting seeds about possible voter fraud in the minds of the American people.
For example, Trump tweeted about ballots supposedly being foraged in Florida after the gubernatorial and Senate races were too close to call. Even before Election Day, the president was tweeting about the possibility of illegal voting occurring in the midterms.
So it’s no wonder that Pelosi was concerned that Trump would have challenged a Democratic House majority if it were achieved by a slim margin.
I am both saddened and angered that our political system is so dysfunctional that the outcome of duly administered elections – the backbone of our representative democracy – can be so easily undermined or dismissed that winning an election is not enough.
We’re now told you have to win big to prove you deserve to be there. I wonder what George W. Bush and Al Gore would think.
The U.S. has seized a North Korean freighter that was caught shipping coal in violation of U.N. sanctions, the Justice Department revealed Thursday.
The 17,000-ton cargo ship, called the Wise Honest, was stopped in Indonesia last year after it was found to be carrying coal. The ship’s captain was charged with violating Indonesian law, and last July, the U.S. filed an action to seize the ship, according to court papers.
Federal prosecutors said the seizure marks the first time the U.S. has taken possession of a North Korean ship for violating international sanctions.
“This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service,” said John Demers, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
The North Korean ship, “Wise Honest.”Department of Justice
The Wise Honest, North Korea’s second-largest ship for carrying bulk cargo, was on its way to American Samoa, U.S. officials said.
On Thursday, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to give the U.S. ownership of the vessel through a civil forfeiture action — the same thing prosecutors do when they seek to take ownership of planes or boats used by drug smugglers. The Justice Department says the U.S. is entitled to take this action because payments to maintain and equip the vessel were made through American banks.
“Our office uncovered North Korea’s scheme to export tons of high-grade coal to foreign buyers by concealing the origin of their ship, the Wise Honest,” said Geoffrey Berman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. “This scheme not only allowed North Korea to evade sanctions, but the Wise Honest was also used to import heavy machinery to North Korea, helping expand North Korea’s capabilities and continuing the cycle of sanctions evasion.”
The announcement of the seizure came just hours after North Korea launched suspected short-range missiles — the second such weapons test in a week. But Berman said the effort to take control of the Wise Honest had been in the works for some time and was not spurred by North Korea’s overnight actions.
The Justice Department said the Korea Songi Shipping Company used the Wise Honest from at least November 2016 through April 2018 — and broke American law by paying U.S. dollars to “unwitting” banks for several improvements, equipment purchases and service expenditures for the vessel.
The March 2018 cargo shipment yielded payments totaling more than $750,000, the Justice Department said.
Berman declined comment when asked if the heavy machinery shipped back to North Korea was used in the country’s weapons program.
The seizure follows a report in March by a U.N. panel of experts that found North Korea is successfully evading United Nations sanctions through elaborate smuggling and deceptive tactics, allowing the regime to import oil and ship coal to China and other countries.
The sanctions are designed to deprive Pyongyang of cash for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and force the regime to abandon its arsenal. The Trump administration has led international efforts to tighten sanctions against North Korea, vowing to impose “maximum pressure” to persuade North Korea agree to relinquish its weapons in return for an end to sanctions.
“These violations render the latest United Nations sanctions ineffective by flouting the caps on the import of petroleum products and coal oil” by North Korea imposed by the U.N. Security Council in 2017, according to the U.N. report. “These transfers have increased in scope, scale and sophistication,” it said.
Despite U.S. warnings to keep up the economic pressure on North Korea, the regime has not suffered a spike in fuel prices in recent months, a sign that analysts say shows the country is able to secure enough fuel to keep its economy afloat.
North Korea has adapted to sanctions over the years and now employs increasingly sophisticated methods, the U.N. panel found in its March report. Pyongyang used to alter sections of shipping documents but now creates entirely fake registration and other papers that enable it to smuggle illicit cargo through ports around the world.
The regime also steals the identities of other ships and spoofs the location of vessels on the global electronic tracking system for ships, according to the U.N. panel.
Tom Winter
Tom Winter is a producer and reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit based in New York, covering crime, courts, terrorism, and financial fraud on the East Coast.
Pete Williams
Pete Williams is an NBC News correspondent who covers the Justice Department and the Supreme Court, based in Washington.
Dan De Luce is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit.
China’s top trade negotiator, Liu He, will meet with President Donald Trump‘s trade team on Thursday without the title “special envoy” for President Xi Jinping, a role he has held in previous talks, suggesting the vice premier may have diminished authority to make concessions that could be key to striking a deal.
A source on the Chinese side told CNBC’s Eunice Yoon that Liu’s demotion suggests that he may not have much leeway to make compromises on his own.
That could leave negotiations to happen at a higher level. On Thursday afternoon, Trump said that Xi had written him a “beautiful letter” that he had “just received,” and said he will probably speak to Xi by phone.
The news of Liu’s title change comes as Washington and Beijing wrestle over the contours of a trade deal that has faced a number of setbacks in recent days.
Trump over the weekend set a Friday deadline to more than double the rate for existing tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, a turnaround after weeks in which the administration signaled that negotiations were moving forward.
Stocks continued to tumble Thursday after Trump said at a rally the night before that China “broke the deal” and reiterated his tariff threats. Meanwhile, China has signaled it is unlikely to back down in the face of American pressure.
Part of the China’s calculus has involved the suspicion that Trump’s public pressuring of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to lower the central bank’s benchmark interest rate is motivated by the president’s belief that the U.S. economy is weaker than he has claimed, The Wall Street Journal reported.
China backtracked on nearly every commitment that it had made in previous negotiations in a diplomatic cable sent Friday, according to Reuters.
In response, on Sunday, Trump issued his threat to raise tariffs on the country in a post on Twitter.
“The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate,” Trump wrote. “No!”
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