Trump Kept More Than 700 Pages of Classified Documents, Letter From National Archives Says – The New York Times
Trump Kept More Than 700 Pages of Classified Documents, Letter From National Archives Says – The New York Times

The letter also deepened understanding of the back-and-forth between the archives and Mr. Trump’s lawyers over how to handle retrieving the papers.

It described how archives officials had “ongoing communications” with Mr. Trump’s representatives last year about presidential records that were missing from their files. Those communications, Ms. Wall wrote, resulted in the archives retrieving 15 boxes of materials in January, some of them containing highly classified information marked top secret and others that were related to Special Access Programs.

But even after the archives retrieved the records, the letter said, Mr. Trump’s lawyers, in consultation with the White House Counsel’s Office, asked for time to determine whether — and how many of — the documents were protected by executive privilege, leading to negotiations that delayed the F.B.I., the Justice Department and the intelligence community from assessing the materials.

Those negotiations continued through April, even as Ms. Wall alerted Mr. Trump’s lawyers about the “urgency” of the agencies’ request to see the documents, which touched on “important national security interests,” the letter said. Ms. Wall ultimately rejected Mr. Trump’s claims of executive privilege after consulting with a top Justice Department official — a decision that Mr. Biden deferred to. As Ms. Wall wrote to Mr. Corcoran, before alerting him in May that the archives would soon hand the documents to the F.B.I., “The question in this case is not a close one.”

“The executive branch here is seeking access to records belonging to, and in the custody of, the federal government itself,” Ms. Wall wrote, “not only in order to investigate whether those records were handled in an unlawful manner but also, as the national security division explained, to ‘conduct an assessment of the potential damage resulting from the apparent manner in which these materials were stored and transported.”

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/23/us/politics/trump-classified-documents-fbi-letter.html

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Jury convicts two men of conspiring to kidnap Michigan governor – CNN
Jury convicts two men of conspiring to kidnap Michigan governor – CNN

A federal jury on Tuesday found two men guilty of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.

Adam Fox and Barry Croft face a maximum sentence of life in prison for the kidnapping conspiracy conviction. They were also convicted of one count of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.

Their first trial ended in a mistrial.

Prosecutors allege that Fox was the ringleader of a plot to kidnap the Democratic governor from her summer home and Croft was a part of the plan and practiced detonating explosives in preparation.

“There are a lot of things that are complicated today. There’s one thing that’s pretty simple still – kidnapping is wrong. You can’t just strap on an AR-15 and body armor and go snatch the governor. You can’t snatch anybody, and you certainly can’t make bombs that are meant to maim and kill people. And this case is about a plot to abduct Gov. Whitmer. But that wasn’t these defendants ultimate goal,” Prosecutor Nils Kessler said during closing arguments Monday morning.

“They wanted to set off a second American Civil War and the second American Revolution,” Kessler said.

Defense attorneys maintained an entrapment defense, arguing that the FBI coerced the defendants to drive the plot forward through a collection of undercover agents and confidential informants.

Fox’s attorney told jurors during closing arguments that he was lured into the scheme by the government’s key witness, a confidential informant called “Big Dan.”

“Adam Fox was not ever predisposed to the crime of kidnapping Gov. Whitmer. He talked a big game but talk is just talk. Adam Fox took no affirmative steps to achieve the ends as Special Agent Chambers and Big Dan pushed so hard to achieve,” Fox’s attorney Christopher Gibbons said.

An attorney for Croft told the jury Monday that FBI agents lied on the stand about Croft’s participation in an effort to nab him for any crime they could because of his years-long record of extreme anti-government internet chatter.

“Now as we sat here the last couple of weeks together in the trial, the government has shown us time and time again that they don’t care that Barry Croft didn’t actually make an agreement to kidnap the governor. They think it’s enough that some of the things that Barry says scares them,” Croft’s attorney Joshua Blanchard said in court. “They’d like to lock him up in a cage, not because he committed this crime, but because they’re afraid of the things that have come out of his mouth.”

Neither defendant testified in their own defense.

A federal judge declared a mistrial over a hung jury in the first trial for Fox and Croft earlier this year. Two other men acquitted in the first trial, Brandon Caserta and Daniel Harris, ultimately did not testify in the defense case despite being subpoenaed by the defense.

Two other co-defendants that pleaded guilty before the first trial, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, testified in both trials.

Croft was also convicted Tuesday on an additional weapons possession charge.

David Porter, assistant special agent in charge with the FBI Detroit Field Office, said the verdict is a “clear example” that anti-government views do not justify violence.

“Here in America, if you disagree with your government, you have options. You can criticize your government, you can protest, you can vote your elected officials out of office,” Porter told reporters outside the courthouse. “However, what you cannot do is plan or commit acts of violence. Violence is never the answer.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/23/politics/michigan-whitmer-verdict/index.html

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Russian ‘Strikes Against Ukraine’s Civilian Infrastructure’ Imminent—U.S. – Newsweek
Russian ‘Strikes Against Ukraine’s Civilian Infrastructure’ Imminent—U.S. – Newsweek

Russia looks likely to step up its air strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure imminently, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv has warned.

“The Department of State has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days. Russian strikes in Ukraine pose a continued threat to civilians and civilian infrastructure,” the embassy said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens to depart Ukraine now using privately available ground transportation options if it is safe to do so,” it added.

Ukraine has previously said Russia plans a “massive” attack on Wednesday, August 24, when Ukraine celebrates its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Volunteers clear the rubble of a house destroyed in the shelling in the city of Chernihiv on August 20, 2022, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s withdrawal from Chernihiv in April, after a month-long assault, left behind a devastated city that will need massive foreign aid, and many years of work, to restore.
Sergei Chuzakov/Getty

Tensions have flared after Russia blamed Ukraine for the murder of the daughter of Alexander Dugin, a right-wing ideologue believed to be one of Putin’s closest political strategists and allies. Ukraine has denied the claims and has blamed it on in-fighting between groups in Russia.

In the event of an explosion, the U.S. Embassy advised people in homes to go to the lowest level of the building with the fewest exterior walls, windows and openings, and close any doors and sit near an interior wall, away from windows and openings.

It also urged people to stay away from debris and monitor major news outlets for official guidance.

“The security situation throughout Ukraine is highly volatile and conditions may deteriorate without warning. U.S. citizens should remain vigilant and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness,” the statement added.

The Countries Pulling Their Weight in Ukraine Aid
Statista

This chart, provided by Statista, shows governments committing the most bilateral aid to Ukraine as a percentage share of their own GDP.

Newsweek has contacted the embassy and Pentagon for more comment.

The war in Ukraine has been raging for almost six months since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Russia had invaded its neighbor on February 24. The Russian army initially tried to take the capital Kyiv but was met with fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces. Since then, Russia has taken some strategically important cities in the south, as well as large sections of the Donbas in the east, where the fighting continues.

Supplied with Western weapons, Ukraine has been able to slow down Russian progress and form some counter-offensives in regions, including the occupied city Kherson.

Ukrainian forces used HIMARS rocket systems to halt Russia repairs of the Antonovsky Bridge, a key Russian supply route from Kherson to the Crimean Peninsula. The M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) is a U.S.-made high-tech precision missile with a range of around 40 miles.

Russian news agency TASS reported that at least 15 people were injured during the shelling, which took place during the day. The bridge has come under fire at least eight times since July 19 as Ukraine fights to retake the strategically important south-eastern region.

The U.S. last week warned Russia’s ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov against Moscow stepping up its operations and called on Russia to stop military operations near Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told The Telegraph Monday.

Antonov visited the State Department in Washington, D.C. on August 18 for the talks with the U.S.

Source Article from https://www.newsweek.com/russian-strikes-against-ukraines-civilian-infrastructure-imminent-us-1735907

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No charges against Atlanta officers in fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks – The Atlanta Journal Constitution
No charges against Atlanta officers in fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks – The Atlanta Journal Constitution

In a statement released during the prosecution team’s news conference, the Atlanta Police Department said both Rolfe and Brosnan were still employed by the agency and are both on administrative duty.

“We have faith in the criminal justice system, and we respect the special prosecutor’s decision in this case,” APD said. “Both officers will undergo Georgia POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training Council) recertification and training.”

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens released a statement saying his “heart continues to ache for the family of Rayshard Brooks. He was a father whose absence will forever be felt by our community.”

Dickens’ statement supported the special prosecutor’s decision to drop the charges and highlighted the city’s efforts to enact police reform.

“Over the last two years, our country has been engaged in important discussions about policing in America. We must maintain our commitment to the work of creating safe communities through collaboration between police and the people they serve,” Dickens said.

Through his attorney, Brosnan released a statement calling Skandalakis’ announcement “the right decision.”

“Officer Brosnan’s arrest was never supported by any evidence,” the statement said, noting that Brosnan suffered a concussion during the incident. “Despite his own injuries, he called for and personally rendered aid to Mr. Brooks after the shooting. At no point did he assault or abuse Mr. Brooks.”

Atlanta City Councilman Antonio Lewis issued a statement saying he disagreed with the decision. Lewis represents the district where the shooting took place.

“Seeing the charges dismissed truly pains me. Rayshard Brooks was asleep at the wheel in a drive-thru line. That’s all,” Lewis said. “I understand the need for accountability, but he didn’t have to lose his life. This shooting happened in my district and the community still feels the hurt and the devastation from it. We must continue to work toward keeping our neighborhoods safe, but we also must hold police accountable.”

Skandalakis took time to emphasize the context around Brooks’ shooting, pointing out that the case against the officers was different than both the George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery cases.

“This case of Devin Brosnan and Garrett Rolfe is not like the George Floyd case,” Skandalakis said. “This is not a case in which an officer was kneeling on a prone suspect for nine minutes. It’s nothing like that. Nor is it like the Ahmaud Arbery case, where armed citizens were chasing a person down through a neighborhood. This case, its facts, are different. Its facts are distinct. But you can’t ignore the fact that all of this was happening about the same time.”

Danny Porter, the former longtime district attorney for Gwinnett County, also appeared at the news conference after reviewing the case at Skandalakis’ request.

“I have a rule: video never lies, but sometimes it doesn’t tell the truth,” Porter said. “Initially with the video, it looked one way. But it became very clear … that a different incident happened than has been released both by former prosecutors and by other sources.”

Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com

Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com

Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com

Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com

The day after Brooks’ shooting was a tumultuous one in Atlanta. The city’s top cop at the time, police Chief Erika Shields, announced she was stepping down. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Rolfe had been fired.

Five days after Brooks’ high-profile shooting, former Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced criminal charges against both officers. Rolfe was charged with 11 counts, including felony murder. Brosnan was charged with aggravated assault and violating his oath of office.

Then, more details were released about what happened.

Brooks, who had been asleep at the wheel in the drive-thru line, resisted when the officers tried to arrest him on a DUI charge, according to investigators. As Brooks struggled with the officers, they fell to the ground and Brosnan hit his head hard enough to cause a concussion.

Brooks then took Brosnan’s Taser and was seen aiming it at Rolfe while running, firing once and missing. At that point, Rolfe fired three bullets at Brooks, hitting him twice in the back.

According to Skandalakis, the facts of the case were supported by his office’s investigation and analysis of the incident. He pointed out that, because of the city’s curfew at the time, the Wendy’s dining room was closed so customers could only order from the drive-thru window. Prior to the employees calling 911, Brooks had been asleep in his car for about 40 minutes, Skandalakis said.

The restaurant manager went to Brooks’ car and knocked on the window, Skandalakis said. According to the investigation, Brooks rolled down his window and stared blankly at the manager when they asked him to move his car. He then rolled up his window and fell back asleep, leading to the 911 call.

“Police didn’t come into this encounter ‘hot,’” Porter said, supporting a point Skandalakis made earlier in the news conference when he described the encounter as “mostly cordial.”

During the officers’ conversation with Brooks, they suspected he was driving under the influence. Brooks consented to a portable field alcohol test and it returned a result of .108, well above the legal limit of .08 blood alcohol content. When the officers attempted to take Brooks into custody, the encounter lost its cordial tone.

“I don’t think there’s any other way to describe it, but Brooks proceeds to beat the crap out of the two officers,” Porter said in his analysis of the video.

At that point, Porter says officers had probable cause to arrest Brooks for DUI, escape and resisting arrest.

Porter said they broke down the videos frame by frame and determined when officers first made physical contact with Brooks. He said as Brosnan tried to put Brooks in handcuffs, Brooks lunged forward. In the struggle, Brooks gained control of Brosnan’s Taser.

Brooks attempted to use the Taser against Brosnan first, Porter explained. When Brooks tried to run away, he turned and aimed the Taser at Rolfe and attempted to fire it multiple times. Rolfe then fired the fatal shots, Porter said.

Porter said it’s his finding that Rolfe and Brosnan acted in accordance with Georgia law and policies of the Atlanta police department. He said he believes the use of deadly force was objectively reasonable.

At the time of the shooting, Brooks was on probation until 2026. The father of three daughters and one stepson had already served one year behind bars for a 2014 incident in which he yanked his wife against her will into another room. Brooks pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and child cruelty because his stepson witnessed the fight.

His killing came after weeks of intense demonstrations in Atlanta and across the country over Floyd’s murder. The police shooting, captured on video, kicked off another wave of protests across the city that at times turned destructive.

Skandalakis said his team was in close contact with Brooks’ widow, Tomika Miller, throughout the investigation. He said they planned to meet with Miller after the news conference, but she canceled the meeting earlier in the day.

“We understand that Ms. Miller is in all likelihood upset with the result, but the result is the right one based on law and facts,” Skandalakis said. “And I know that more than Ms. Miller will be upset with the decision in this case. But as prosecutors, we are guided by the law and by the facts, and that is what we did.”

As the special prosecutor answered questions at the end of the news conference, Skandalakis addressed the political climate around Brooks’ shooting.

“Black lives do matter,” he said. “I’ve spent my entire career representing black victims of crime. I understand that the encounters between police and the African-American community at times are very volatile. But I would ask them to look at the facts of this case, and this isn’t one of those cases… This is a case in which the officers were willing to give Mr. Brooks every benefit of the doubt, and unfortunately, by his actions, this is what happened.”

“Let’s just say if this was two black officers chasing a white suspect and the same facts happened, I would have the same findings,” Skandalakis continued. “The facts are the facts. I don’t change the facts based upon the color of a person’s skin, and I won’t change the facts based upon the color of a person’s skin. I do not think this shooting was racially motivated.”

Dickens’ statement detailed the city’s process of enacting police reform.

“In Atlanta, we hold ourselves to the highest standards. Through engagement with community advocates, the Atlanta City Council, the Atlanta Police Department and others, we have listened and moved forward proactively with significant reforms. The Department has reviewed its standard operating procedures and enhanced training on how to deescalate confrontations. We are continually investing in training to ensure our officers make up the most qualified and proficient force in the country,” Dickens said.

“As Mayor, I remain committed to building the bonds of trust between our residents and the public safety personnel who serve us.”

Rolfe was reinstated by the city’s Civil Service Board in May 2021.

Rolfe and Brosnan filed a federal lawsuit in June saying they were attacked by Brooks and had the right to use force to prevent him from “imminent use of unlawful force against them.”

— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.

Source Article from https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/breaking-no-charges-for-apd-officers-in-fatal-shooting-of-rayshard-brooks/KDDYTQKCCNF6HMH2ZRVHFKJEK4/

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After Six Months of War in Ukraine, Momentum Tilts Against Russia – The Wall Street Journal
After Six Months of War in Ukraine, Momentum Tilts Against Russia – The Wall Street Journal

Six months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, signs are accumulating that the balance on the military and economic battlefields is slowly tilting the way of Kyiv and its Western backers.

In the biggest war between European countries since World War II, the death and destruction have no end in sight. Ukraine is still struggling against Russia’s advantage in raw firepower, but the country’s defenders are increasingly hitting Russian logistics and bases, including in Crimea, as they receive more Western weapons.

Source Article from https://www.wsj.com/articles/after-six-months-of-war-in-ukraine-momentum-tilts-against-russia-11661247003

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Biden near decision on $10,000 student loan cancellation – USA TODAY
Biden near decision on $10,000 student loan cancellation – USA TODAY

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/08/23/biden-near-decision-10-000-student-loan-cancellation/7868363001/

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Dallas flooding: Disaster declared following rain event; at least 1 person killed – Fox News
Dallas flooding: Disaster declared following rain event; at least 1 person killed – Fox News
Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for August 23

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com.

Officials declared a disaster occurred in Dallas, Texas, on Monday after widespread and devastating flooding from heavy rain that killed at least one person. 

Judge Clay Jenkins, the chief elected official of Dallas County, tweeted that a 60-year-old woman died – the first fatality – when her vehicle was swept away by flood waters. 

“Based on preliminary damage assessments, I am declaring a state of disaster in Dallas County and requesting state and federal assistance for affected individuals,” Jenkins wrote, adding that even less than an inch of water on roadways can cause the loss of control of a vehicle. 

According to the Dallas Fire Department, rescuers saved 21 people and 10 dogs from fast-moving waters caused by overnight storms on Sunday and Monday.

FOX WEATHER REPORTERS SAVES WOMAN IN DALLAS FLASH FLOODING AS HEAVY RAINFALL SUBMERGED CARS

The department said on Monday that it had responded to 195 “High Water Incidents” across the northern Texas city. 

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson tweeted late Monday that southeastern Dallas had “really caught the brunt of the storm,” sharing pictures of public works trucks stalled in flood waters on Botham Jean Boulevard.

He said that 50 traffic signals were either on flash or without power. 

  • A swamped car sits in flood waters covering a closed highway in Dallas, Monday, Aug. 22, 2022.  (AP Photo/LM Otero)

  • Semi-truck driver Steven Virgil walks into flood waters covering a closed highway to check the depth before trying to drive his truck through in Dallas, Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

  • A car sits in flood waters covering a closed highway in Dallas, Monday, Aug. 22, 2022.  (AP Photo/LM Otero)

  • A Dallas, Texas park impacted by flooding (Credit: Dallas Park and Recreation Department/Twitter)

Interstates, roadways and parks were inundated with water and the inclement weather put Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport near the top of the FlightAware list of delays and cancellations.

The National Weather Service recorded 9.19 inches of rain in the 24 hours ending at 2 p.m. local time on Monday at the hub.

MASS EVACUATION UNDERWAY IN ARIZONA TOWN AS RIVER OVERFLOWS, REACHES ‘MAJOR FLOOD STAGE’

The Dallas Water Utilities (DWU) Department reported that rainfall caused sanitary sewer overflows at several locations throughout the city. 

  • The view of Texas flooding out a car window (Credit: Dallas Police Department/Twitter)

  • A bus and other vehicles drive through Dallas flood waters (Credit: Dallas Police Department/Twitter)

  • Wet weather led to flooding in Dallas, Texas (Credit: Dallas Police Department/Twitter)

  • A car stuck in Dallas, Texas flood waters (Credit: Dallas Police Department/Twitter)

  • Flood waters at an intersection in Dallas, Texas (Credit: Dallas Police Department/Twitter)

The DWU said that although there is no danger to the water supply, the public should avoid contact with waste material, soil or water in any of the affected areas. 

“Persons using private drinking water supply wells located within a half-mile of the spill sites or within the potentially impacted areas should use only water that has been distilled or boiled at a rolling boil for at least one minute for all personal uses including drinking, cooking, bathing and tooth brushing,” it said. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed the state’s Division of Emergency Management to increase the readiness level of the Texas State Emergency Operations Center.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“The State of Texas remains proactive in our emergency response efforts, and we continue to monitor rainfall and flooding conditions across the state,” he said. “I want to thank emergency response personnel and first responders for working around the clock to protect lives and property amid these storms. As we work together to protect our communities, I urge Texans to heed the guidance of their local officials and avoid dangerous roadways that could be affected by heavy rain and flash flooding in the days ahead.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/dallas-flooding-disaster-declared-following-rain-least-one-person-killed

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First Thing: Trump sues US government over FBI search of Mar-a-Lago – The Guardian US
First Thing: Trump sues US government over FBI search of Mar-a-Lago – The Guardian US

Good morning.

Donald Trump has filed suit against the US government over the FBI’s search of his Mar-a-Lago home in an effort to prevent agency officials from inspecting certain materials seized without third-party oversight.

Sources told the Guardian that the suit argued “that the court should appoint a special master – usually a retired lawyer or judge – because the FBI potentially seized privileged materials in its search and the Department of Justice should not itself decide what it can use in its investigation”.

The suit, filed in a Florida district court, also “requires the government to provide a more detailed receipt for property; and … requires the government to return any item seized that was not within the scope of the search warrant”.

The 8 August search was undertaken to look for official records and material from Trump’s presidency that the National Archives and DoJ believe was improperly taken from the White House when the former president left office.

  • Trump claims mistreatment by Biden administration. The suit filed called the search of the Florida home “a shockingly aggressive move”, adding: “Law enforcement is a shield that protects Americans. It cannot be used as a weapon for political purposes.”

Fauci to step down to ‘pursue next chapter’ of career

Anthony Fauci, 81, stopped short of saying precisely what his plans are. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

The top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci plans to step down from his post in December to “pursue the next chapter” of his career, after leading the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid) since 1984.

Fauci, 81, stopped short of revealing precisely what his plans were. He pledged to pursue a new professional phase while he still had “energy and passion” for his field. “I want to use what I have learned as Niaid director to continue to advance science and public health and to inspire and mentor the next generation of scientific leaders as they help prepare the world to face future infectious disease threats,” he said.

Joe Biden praised Fauci as “a steady hand with wisdom and insight honed over decades at the forefront of some of our most dangerous and challenging public health crises”.

  • U-turn. Earlier this year, Fauci bluntly said he would quit if Donald Trump managed to take the Oval Office back from Biden in the 2024 election. He previously indicated he would stay through Biden’s first term and leave by January 2025.

CIA unable to corroborate Israel’s ‘terror’ label for Palestinian rights groups

Smoke billows as a bomb is dropped on the Jala Tower during an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on 15 May. Photograph: Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images

A classified CIA report shows the agency was unable to find any evidence to support Israel’s decision to label six prominent Palestinian NGOs as “terrorist organizations”.

Last October, Israel claimed that the organizations were front groups for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a leftist political party that has a paramilitary branch.

Earlier this year, Israel passed intelligence about the designation to the US, but a CIA intelligence assessment of the material did not find any evidence to support the claim, according to two sources familiar with the study. The CIA report “doesn’t say that the groups are guilty of anything”, one source said.

  • Terror designations ‘unfounded’. Numerous states, including allies of Israel, have rejected the terror designation as unfounded. The United States has not publicly criticized or questioned it, but nor has it placed the groups under a US terror designation.

In other news …

Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, faces a popularity crisis over his party’s links to the Unification church. Photograph: Eugene Hoshiko/AP

  • Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has urged senior members of his party to sever ties with a controversial religious group after his approval ratings nosedived. The church has been in the spotlight since the fatal shooting of Abe Shinzo because police say the suspect targeted the former prime minister over his links to the church, which he blamed for bankrupting his family.

  • Chinese authorities have punished 27 people over the publication of a maths textbook that went viral because of its “tragically ugly” illustrations. A months-long investigation by a ministry of education working group found the books were “not beautiful”, and some illustrations were “quite ugly” and did not “properly reflect the sunny image of China’s children”.

  • Hundreds of Taiwanese are among unknown numbers of victims being held captive and forced to work in telecom scam networks by human trafficking operations in south-east Asia, authorities have said. Police forces in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Macau and Vietnam have launched big operations to rescue their citizens and shut down the trafficking syndicates.

  • Flash floods hitting the American south-west in recent days have closed parts of national parks, including in Moab and Zion, shut down highways in Colorado, submerged cars in Texas and trapped tourists in a New Mexico cave. A young woman is missing after being swept away while hiking in Zion on Friday.

Stat of the day: regular physical activity may lessen Covid risks

Experts know that regular exercise has a protective effect against the severity of respiratory infections. Photograph: Leo Patrizi/Getty Images

Regular exercise lowers the risk of developing Covid-19 or falling seriously ill with the disease, with about 20 minutes a day providing the greatest benefit, a global analysis of data suggests. The analysis of the available evidence published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine says a weekly total of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity appears to afford the best protection.

The link between regular physical activity and Covid-19 severity is poorly understood, but probably involves metabolic and environmental factors, say the researchers. Overall, those who included regular physical activity in their weekly routine had an 11% lower risk of infection with Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid. They also had a 36% lower risk of hospital admission, a 44% lower risk of severe Covid-19 illness and a 43% lower risk of death from Covid-19 than their physically inactive peers.

Don’t miss this: James Webb telescope shows incredible view of Jupiter

A Nasa image shows a false color composite of Jupiter obtained by the James Webb space telescope. Photograph: Nasa/Zuma Press/Rex/Shutterstock

The world’s newest and biggest space telescope is showing the solar system’s biggest planet, Jupiter, as never before, auroras and all. The James Webb space telescope took the photos in July, capturing unprecedented views of Jupiter’s northern and southern lights, and swirling polar haze.

Scientists hope to behold the dawn of the universe with Webb, peering all the way back to when the first stars and galaxies were forming 13.7bn years ago. The infrared images were artificially colored in blue, white, green, yellow and orange to make the features stand out.

Climate check: Lula vows to take on Amazon crime if returned to power in Brazil elections

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he would address the Amazon devastation if elected in October. Photograph: André Penner/AP

Brazil’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the leading candidate to become the country’s next leader, has vowed to crack down on the illegal miners and loggers laying waste to the Amazon after the “barbaric” murders of the Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and the British journalist Dom Phillips.

“We will put a complete end to any kind of illegal mining. This can’t be simply through a law – it must be almost a profession of faith,” Lula said, undertaking to make the global climate crisis “an absolute priority” if elected.

Last Thing: I knew I didn’t have a drinking problem – but I had a problem with drinking

‘I was taking a big bag of clinking bottles out to the recycling bin every week. Something occasional had slowly turned into a nightly habit again, and I couldn’t pinpoint when.’ Photograph: Andrew Fosker/Rex/Shutterstock

On holiday in Spain at age 16, writes Emma Gannon, the author and host of the creative careers podcast Ctrl Alt Delete, “I got so sick on sangria that, let’s just say, I never drank anything ‘with bits in’ ever again. Then, university happened, and those three years went by in a white wine blur. Cheap ‘trebles’, bright blue shots, the Snakebite concoction of lager, cider and blackcurrant.

“Constant low-hum headaches and empty wine bottles rattling about under the bed. Entering the world of work, it was ‘after-work drinks!!!’, where you got to find out all the juicy stuff about your colleagues and your boss. I drank my way through all of those nights too without ever stopping to ask: is there an option not to do this?”

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Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/23/first-thing-trump-sues-us-government-over-fbi-search-of-mar-a-lago

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Trump’s legal team asks for ‘special master’ to go through Mar-a-Lago evidence and determine if some should be returned – CNN
Trump’s legal team asks for ‘special master’ to go through Mar-a-Lago evidence and determine if some should be returned – CNN

By Katelyn Polantz, Kaitlan Collins and Tierney Sneed, CNN

Updated 10:25 PM ET, Mon August 22, 2022

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/22/politics/donald-trump-special-master-request/index.html

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Archives warned of national security damage from Trump’s classified Mar-a-Lago docs, letter shows – POLITICO
Archives warned of national security damage from Trump’s classified Mar-a-Lago docs, letter shows – POLITICO

Wall’s letter describes earlier correspondence in which Trump’s team objected to disclosing the contents of the 15 boxes to the FBI.

“As you are no doubt aware, NARA had ongoing communications with the former President’s representatives throughout 2021 about what appeared to be missing Presidential records, which resulted in the transfer of 15 boxes of records to NARA in January 2022,” Wall wrote. “In its initial review of materials within those boxes, NARA identified items marked as classified national security information, up to the level of Top Secret and including Sensitive Compartmented Information and Special Access Program materials.”

NARA aides did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter, and Corcoran could not immediately be reached.

The correspondence shows that even though NARA retrieved the 15 boxes in January, Justice Department and FBI investigators didn’t see their contents until May, after extended negotiations with Trump’s representatives. The letter also shows that in the interim, DOJ asked President Joe Biden to authorize NARA to provide the records to investigators despite an effort by Trump to claim executive privilege over the records. Wall indicated she had rejected Trump’s claim because of the significance of the documents to national security.

“NARA informed the Department of Justice about that discovery, which prompted the Department to ask the President to request that NARA provide the FBI with access to the boxes at issue so that the FBI and others in the Intelligence Community could examine them,” Wall wrote.

Biden, according to Wall, then delegated the privilege decision to her, in consultation with the Justice Department.

Wall noted that typical restrictions on access to presidential records carve out an exception for incumbent administrations. And she described an April 29 letter from DOJ’s National Security Division describing their pursuit of these documents: “There are important national security interests in the FBI and others in the Intelligence Community getting access to these materials.”

“Access to the materials is not only necessary for purposes of our ongoing criminal investigation, but the Executive Branch must also conduct an assessment of the potential damage resulting from the apparent manner in which these materials were stored and transported and take any necessary remedial steps,” according to the DOJ letter. “Accordingly, we are seeking immediate access to these materials so as to facilitate the necessary assessments that need to be conducted within the Executive Branch.”

Wall indicated that Archives had notified Trump on April 12 of the FBI’s “urgency” to review the documents but delayed transmitting them at the behest of Trump’s team.

“It has now been four weeks since we first informed you of our intent to provide the FBI access to the boxes so that it and others in the Intelligence Community can conduct their reviews,” Wall wrote. “ Notwithstanding the urgency conveyed by the Department of Justice and the reasonable extension afforded to the former President, your April 29 letter asks for additional time for you to review the materials in the boxes ‘in order to ascertain whether any specific document is subject to privilege,’ and then to consult with the former President “so that he may personally make any decision to assert a claim of constitutionally based privilege.’”

Wall said she consulted with the assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel and had decided not honor that request.

“The question in this case is not a close one,” she wrote.

“The Executive Branch here is seeking access to records belonging to, and in the custody of, the Federal Government itself, not only in order to investigate whether those records were handled in an unlawful manner but also, as the National Security Division explained, to ‘conduct an assessment of the potential damage resulting from the apparent manner in which these materials were stored and transported and take any necessary remedial steps.’”

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/23/national-archives-letter-trump-security-00053250

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U.S. Warns of Potential Attacks by Russia on Civilian Targets – The New York Times
U.S. Warns of Potential Attacks by Russia on Civilian Targets – The New York Times

American intelligence agencies believe Russia is likely to step up its efforts to attack civilian infrastructure and government buildings in Ukraine with the war about to begin its seventh month and Ukraine about to celebrate its Independence Day holiday, the State Department and other U.S. officials said Monday.

The U.S. government declassified an intelligence warning on Monday to ensure that the officials’ concerns about the threat reached a broad audience. Following that declassification, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv issued a security alert and once more urged American citizens to leave Ukraine.

“The Department of State has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days,” the alert said. “Russian strikes in Ukraine pose a continued threat to civilians and civilian infrastructure.”

The warning comes as both Ukrainian and American officials have been concerned about a new Russian offensive, potentially timed to Ukraine’s Independence Day on Wednesday and as a response to a string of attacks against Russian military targets in Crimea, the peninsula in the Black Sea that Russia illegally annexed in 2014. The declassified intelligence warning was reported earlier by Reuters.

Across Ukraine, security is being tightened. Officers are fanning out on the streets. Big celebrations have been banned.

People have been urged to pay special attention to air-raid sirens, which many seem to have become inured to. In Kyiv, the capital, the sirens usually produce no rush to bomb shelters. The Ukrainian authorities warn that Russia still possesses an enormous stockpile of cruise missiles, which, in the past six months, have brought sudden death to Ukrainians in many places.

Throughout the war, Russia has struck civilian infrastructure, including rail lines, shopping malls, auditoriums and apartment buildings. Some of those attacks have been part of broad artillery barrages, while others have been targeted strikes that missed their intended marks.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has also been warning his citizens to be extra cautious at this time.

“We should be aware that this week Russia may try to do something particularly nasty, something particularly cruel,” Mr. Zelensky said in his nightly address on Saturday.

And there is another worry: that Russia may use the milestone to start show trials. Videos have emerged of iron cages being built on the stage of the philharmonic theater in Mariupol, a battered city that the Russians occupy. The fear is that, on Wednesday, as Ukraine celebrates its decades of self-rule, the Russians will take Ukrainian prisoners of war into the theater and put them on trial as terrorists.

“Our enemy is insidious,” said a statement from the Ukrainian National Police. “It can deliver painful blows precisely on the days of the most important national holiday — the Independence Day of Ukraine.”

Mick Mulroy, a former C.I.A. officer and Pentagon official, said he expected Russia to aim for targets in Kyiv, potentially using the killing of Daria Dugina in a car-bombing outside Moscow on Saturday to justify the strikes. Ms. Dugina, 29, was the daughter of Aleksandr Dugin, a political theorist who has provided the intellectual framework for President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The mood in Kyiv on Monday appeared somber. The city has rebounded since Russian forces withdrew from its outskirts a little more than a month into the war. The streets are full of people now, mingling with friends, going to work, taking a stroll in the summer sunshine. But with war still raging in the country’s south and the east, the sense of normalcy is fragile. Many residents seemed happy with the idea of getting through Wednesday quietly.

Pavlo Shetemet, center, a Ukrainian government employee at a beach in Kyiv on Monday.Credit…Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times

Pavlo Shetemet, a government clerk, said he planned to work from home on Independence Day and might even head to the beach, as he did on Monday, which was bright and warm. He chatted with friends and watched children splashing around an emerald-green lagoon off the Dnipro River, not far from the center of town.

“A lot of people are talking about possible attacks,” said Mr. Shetemet. “Me, personally? I don’t think the Russians will do that on Independence Day. It’s too obvious. It’s too stupid.”

He stared out at the lagoon’s gentle waves. “It will be OK, I think,” he said. “But it won’t be normal.”

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/08/22/world/ukraine-russia-war-news

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Biden weighing $10K in student-loan forgiveness for those making under $125K: CNN – Business Insider
Biden weighing $10K in student-loan forgiveness for those making under $125K: CNN – Business Insider
  • Biden is leaning toward up to $10,000 in student-loan forgiveness for those making under $125,000 a year, per CNN.
  • This announcement could come as early as Wednesday.
  • Borrowers are also waiting for news of an extension of the payment pause, set to expire after August 31. 

The final days of waiting for student-loan forgiveness might have finally arrived.

On Monday, CNN reported that President Joe Biden is leaning toward canceling up to $10,000 in student debt for borrowers making under $125,000 a year, according to sources familiar with the White House plans. Per CNN, this announcement could come as early as Wednesday, and a source familiar with the matter confirmed that timeline to Insider. 

This comes right before the student-loan payment pause is set to expire. In April, Biden extended the pause for his fourth time, through August 31, and the president — along with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona — have confirmed a decision on another extension of the payment pause, along with broad debt cancellation, will be announced before the August 31 deadline. 

“We know August 31 is a date many people are waiting to hear something from,” Cardona said on Sunday. “We’ve been talking daily about this and I can tell you the American people will hear within the next week or so what the Department of Education will be doing around that.” 

Neither the White House nor the department have publicly confirmed details of student-loan forgiveness, or the potential for another extension of the payment pause, but calls have been ramping up from Democratic lawmakers and advocates to take borrowers out of limbo and deliver them financial certainty. At the end of July, for example, 107 Democratic lawmakers called for Biden to extend the payment pause, and on Monday, NAACP Director of Youth and College Wisdom Cole wrote in a statement that if “student debt repayments can be paused over and over and over again, there’s no reason why the President cannot cancel a minimum of $50,000.”

In April, Biden ruled out canceling as much as $50,000 in student debt, and his advisors have expressed concerns about the impact any relief might have on inflation. Jared Bernstein, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, previously told The New York Times that canceling student debt and resuming payments at the same time was under consideration because “the net inflationary effect should be neutral.” 

Still, there’s speculation the payment pause will be extended given that the Education Department recently directed student-loan companies to halt messaging surrounding the payment restart. And while Politico recently obtained documents detailing the department’s preparedness to implement relief once announced, advocates have expressed concerns about targeting the relief based on income.

For example, if borrowers have to apply for relief or certify their incomes, the paperwork burden could shut those who need the loan forgiveness most out. “You’re not making the policy more progressive because of how hard it’s going to be for folks to demonstrate that they have a low enough income to benefit,” Mike Pierce, executive director of nonprofit Student Borrower Protection Center, previously told Insider. 

To be sure, the White House can change its decision at any moment prior to the announcement, and the most certain thing at this point is the expectation of student-loan news before the end of August.

Source Article from https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-weighing-student-loan-forgiveness-100000-income-threshold-this-week-2022-8

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Pentagon again denies Bowser request for National Guard help for migrants – The Washington Post
Pentagon again denies Bowser request for National Guard help for migrants – The Washington Post

In her letter, Bulliner Holly said the Pentagon was also denying the request to use one of those facilities, but only cited problems at the Armory in its reasoning. That facility, Bulliner Holly said, has no air conditioning and would have to undergo a host of repairs to deal with other problems before it could be suitable for overnight stays — an expensive and timely undertaking, the letter said.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/22/bowser-migrant-national-guard-denial/

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Fauci, face of U.S. COVID response, to step down from government posts – Reuters
Fauci, face of U.S. COVID response, to step down from government posts – Reuters

Aug 22 (Reuters) – Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease official who became the face of America’s COVID-19 pandemic response under Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, announced on Monday he is stepping down in December after 54 years of public service.

Fauci, whose efforts to fight the pandemic were applauded by many public health experts even as he was vilified by Trump and many Republicans, will leave his posts as chief medical adviser to Biden and director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Fauci, 81, has headed NIAID since 1984.

The veteran immunologist has served as an adviser to seven U.S. presidents beginning with Republican Ronald Reagan, focusing on newly emerging and re-emerging infectious disease dangers including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Zika, monkeypox and COVID-19.

Fauci endured criticism from Trump and various conservatives and even death threats against him and his family from people who objected to safeguards such as vaccination, social distancing and masking that he advocated to try to limit the lethality of the COVID-19 pandemic. After defeating Trump in the 2020 election, Biden made Fauci his chief medical adviser.

“I definitely feel it was worth staying as long as I have. It is unfortunate, but it is a fact of life that we are living in a very, very divisive society right now,” Fauci told Reuters on Monday.

Fauci said he never considered resigning due to the threats against him.

“I don’t like the idea that I have to have armed federal agents with me. That’s not a happy feeling. It’s reality. And you’ve got to deal with reality,” Fauci said.

Republican lawmakers including fierce critic Rand Paul, with whom Fauci tangled during Senate hearings, vowed on Monday to investigate him if they gain control of either the House of Representatives or Senate in November’s congressional elections.

“As he leaves his position in the U.S. Government, I know the American people and the entire world will continue to benefit from Dr. Fauci’s expertise in whatever he does next,” Biden said in a statement. “The United States of America is stronger, more resilient and healthier because of him.”

Fauci signaled his impending departure last month, telling Reuters he would retire by the end of Biden’s first term, which runs to January 2025, and possibly earlier. read more

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Top U.S. infectious disease official Dr. Anthony Fauci and U.S. President Joe Biden deliver an update on the Omicron variant at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 29, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

The United States leads the world in recorded COVID-19 deaths with more than one million. In the first months of the pandemic in 2020, Fauci helped lead scientific efforts to develop and test COVID-19 vaccines in record time and took part in regular televised White House briefings alongside Trump.

Fauci became a popular and trusted figure among many Americans as the United States faced lockdowns and rising numbers of COVID-19 deaths, even inspiring the sale of cookies and bobblehead dolls featuring his likeness.

However, Fauci drew the ire of Trump and many Republicans for cautioning against reopening the U.S. economy too quickly and risking increased infections and for opposing the use of unproven treatments such as the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.

‘A DISASTER’

Democrats accused Trump of presiding over a disjointed response to the pandemic and of disregarding advice from public health experts including Fauci. Trump in October 2020, weeks before his re-election loss, called Fauci “a disaster” and complained that Americans were tired of hearing about the pandemic. Trump even made fun of Fauci’s off-target ceremonial first pitch at a Washington Nationals baseball game.

Fauci sometimes publicly contradicted Trump’s statements about the pandemic. Fauci said on Monday that while he respects the office of the presidency, he felt he had to speak out “when things were said that were outright untrue and quite misleading.”

“I didn’t take any great pleasure in that,” Fauci said.

Paul frequently attacked Fauci during Senate hearings on the pandemic. read more

Fauci has accused Paul of spreading misinformation. Paul on his website has accused Fauci of “lying about everything from masks to the contagiousness of the virus.” Fauci during one hearing noted that Paul placed fundraising appeals on his website next to a call to have him fired.

Fauci said staying on until December allows for a search for a new director of NIAID, an institute with an annual budget exceeding $6 billion, and the appointment of an acting chief. Fauci also said he wanted to remain to help address an expected autumn upswing in COVID-19 infections.

Fauci made clear that while he will be leaving government service, he will not be retiring. He said in the future he hopes to use his expertise to help inspire a new generation of doctors to pursue careers in public health, medicine and science.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fauci-step-down-president-bidens-chief-medical-adviser-2022-08-22/

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Dentist killed in attempted robbery in Oakland’s Little Saigon – KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco
Dentist killed in attempted robbery in Oakland’s Little Saigon – KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco

Woman shot to death in Oakland’s Little Saigon during attempted robbery

A woman was shot and killed Sunday near Laney College in Oakland during an attempted robbery. A community leader identified the victim as Chinatown dentist Dr. Lili Xu, 60. Xu also had a dental office in Castro Valley.

OAKLAND, Calif. – A woman was shot and killed after parking in Oakland’s Little Saigon in what police described as an attempted robbery.

Dr. Lili Xu, 60, a dentist in Oakland’s Chinatown, was attacked at about 2 p.m. Sunday near the corner of 5th Avenue and East 11th Street.

Surveillance video shows Xuand her boyfriend pull up in their Mercedes to park on the side of the street.

Within seconds, a white Lexus pulls up alongside them. Then screams and three gunshots can be heard.

Surveillance video of deadly shooting, robbery of woman in Little Saigon

Warning: Some viewers might find the following video disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised. Surveillance video show the of deadly shooting and robbery of a woman in Oakland’s Little Saigon on Sunday.

Xu died at a hospital. 

“For some unknown reason the individual fired multiple rounds, striking the victim,” said Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong.

“This crime was senseless, unfortunate, and the Little Saigon neighborhood has been impacted by violence the last several weeks,” the chief said, referring to another deadly shooting of an Uber food-delivery driver, burglaries and a shooting that left a woman injured as she was hit by stray bullets while sleeping.

At a rally outside Oakland City Hall, Stewart Chen, president of the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council said, “I’m so sick and tired of hearing Asian Americans being targeted.”

Referring to the city council, Chen said, “I ask the council, I ask the chief, when is it ever going to stop? And there are solutions. I know there are solutions.”

Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said, “One of the ways to address this kind of crime is to have a presence of police in the neighborhood. If the police are there engaging.”

Council president Nikki Fortunato Bas, who represents Little Saigon said, “We know that this has not been happening for just a few months or years it’s been happening for decades. And we know this targeting of our community has to stop.”

Oakland police on Monday pleaded for witnesses to come forward with any information.

Additionally, investigators asked the occupants of a white four-door Tesla that was in the area at the time of the shooting to speak with officers. The vehicle was a Tesla Model Y with a distinctive roof rack and bike rack

Source Article from https://www.ktvu.com/news/dentist-killed-in-attempted-robbery-in-oaklands-little-saigon

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Trump’s legal team asks for ‘special master’ to go through Mar-a-Lago evidence and determine if some should be returned – CNN
Trump’s legal team asks for ‘special master’ to go through Mar-a-Lago evidence and determine if some should be returned – CNN

Former President Donald Trump’s legal team has asked a federal judge to appoint a “special master” to ensure the Justice Department returns any of his private documents seized during the search of Mar-a-Lago two weeks ago.

Trump is asking for a special master – a third-party attorney – to oversee the review of evidence gathered from the beach club in the criminal probe, and for the judge to pause federal investigators’ work related to the evidence until the review is done, according to a new court filing.

Mar-a-Lago — and its owner — have long caused concerns for US intelligence

The new lawsuit marks the first legal filing by Trump’s team after FBI agents carried out their search on August 8 and underscores how his legal team has struggled to coalesce around a singular strategy. It has been assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2020.

In the suit, Trump argues his constitutional rights were violated and that there may have been privileged materials seized.

Though the legal maneuver could slow down the Justice Department’s ongoing criminal investigation, Trump’s request to the federal court in South Florida could face an uphill legal battle after his team missed multiple opportunities to challenge the search.

“The Aug. 8 search warrant at Mar-a-Lago was authorized by a federal court upon the required finding of probable cause. The Department is aware of this evening’s motion. The United States will file its response in court,” Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said in response to the new filing.

The ex-President’s lawyers declined to take a position in court in the immediate aftermath of the search warrant execution. They also did not weigh in on whether the search warrant affidavit should be made public before or during a court hearing last week in West Palm Beach, Florida, even though one of his attorneys was present.

Trump, in the new filing, also asks for a more detailed receipt of what was removed from Mar-a-Lago. That request, if granted, would add to the two receipts the FBI already provided to Trump’s team describing 33 items seized, and which his attorney signed off on at the end of the search.

The Justice Department removed 11 sets of classified documents from Trump’s home, according to documents unsealed by a judge last week. The inventory shows that some of the materials recovered were marked as “top secret/SCI,” which is one of the highest levels of classification.

CNN Exclusive: ‘Ludicrous.’ ‘Ridiculous.’ ‘A complete fiction.’: Former Trump officials say his claim of ‘standing order’ to declassify is nonsense

The department has already signaled that it is using an internal filter team to review the seized items, to separate material that could be subject to privilege claims. For instance, investigators mentioned the work of a filter team when they returned to Trump private documents that wouldn’t be part of the investigation, such as two expired passports and his diplomatic passport.

The Justice Department, in court documents, said it believed the evidence it collected at Mar-a-Lago will support its criminal investigation into the mishandling of federal records, including national defense material, after Trump’s team took boxes of records to Florida when he left office. The investigation is also looking at potential obstruction of justice in the investigation.

The Justice Department has said it has concerns that further information becoming public or known by Trump’s team could prompt witness or document tampering. And, according to CNN and New York Times reports, a lawyer for Trump told investigators in writing that no classified records were left at Mar-a-Lago after June. The FBI said in an inventory list at the end of its search that there were additional classified documents retrieved.

A federal magistrate judge in the Southern District of Florida examined the DOJ’s reasons for the search earlier this month and approved it. The judge is now weighing whether to make more details about the investigation public.

The three attorneys who signed the motion are Lindsey Halligan, Jim Trusty and Evan Corcoran. The filing included a line about politics not affecting the administration of justice.

Trump’s team gives his version of the Mar-a-Lago search

In the filing, Trump’s attorneys put forward the former President’s narrative for how the search went down, the events leading up to it and the fallout from it.

The lawsuit also recounted a message for Attorney General Merrick Garland that Trump’s lawyers gave to a top Justice Department official over the phone on August 11, a few days after the search.

“President Trump wants the Attorney General to know that he has been hearing from People all over the country about the raid,” Trump’s message said, according to the lawsuit. “If there was one word to describe their mood, it is ‘angry.’ The heat is building up. The pressure is building up. Whatever I can do to take the heat down, to bring the pressure down, just let us know.”

The filing states that at 9:10 a.m. ET on the day of the search, that same top Justice Department official – Jay Bratt, the head of the counterintelligence section in the Department of Justice’s national security division – telephoned Trump’s lawyers to tell them a search warrant was being executed at Mar-a-Lago.

“Heated discussion ensued as to why the Government did not make a voluntary request to further explore the premises, given the expansive assistance that President Trump had provided to that point,” the lawsuit said.

In Trump’s telling, the search took nine hours and involved two dozen FBI agents.

The lawsuit recounted a request from Bratt that Mar-a-Lago’s surveillance cameras be turned off – a request that the filing said was declined. Bratt also asked for the names of the Trump attorneys who may have been arriving at the search. The new lawsuit claims that Bratt rebuffed a request from Trump’s team that they be provided the affidavit.

“Among other actions taken after being notified of this unprecedented event, counsel for President Trump contacted three attorneys in the general area who agreed to go to Mar-a-Lago,” the lawsuit said. “Once they arrived, they requested the ability to enter the mansion in order to observe what the FBl agents were doing, which the Government declined to permit.”

June meeting between Trump and feds detailed

Trump’s legal team also describes, for the first time, their version of what happened in the criminal records investigation prior to the search – giving much agency to Trump himself.

At a June 3 meeting in which investigators visited Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s team states “President Trump greeted them in the dining room,” then left the agents with the parting words, “Whatever you need, just let us know.”

The investigators then inspected a storage room, which Trump authorized his lawyer to do, the filing says.

Five days later, when the Justice Department wrote a letter asking for the storage room to be secured, “President Trump directed his staff to place a second lock on the door to the storage room, and one was added,” his team writes.

Trump’s lawyers also say the former President directed the acceptance of a Justice Department subpoena in late June that sought footage from Mar-a-Lago surveillance cameras. This is the first time those investigative steps have been described in public in court.

The New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, reported Monday that investigators have sought additional surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago even after the search.

Trump’s disclosures could come into play as a federal magistrate judge considers transparency in the case. A lawyer for media organizations seeking access to the search warrant’s affidavit argued last week that the Justice Department’s version of events that Trump’s team has described publicly should be unsealed.

The Justice Department has said it is investigating attempts to obstruct justice as part of the probe, and CNN and other outlets have reported a lawyer for Trump represented no more classified material existed at Mar-a-Lago, before the FBI search found several sets of documents marked as classified.

In addition to asking for a special master to be appointed, Trump and his lawyers used their lawsuit as a vehicle to re-air some of his years-old grievances about the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The suit blasted “biased FBI agents” and criticized key Russia probe figures – including Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Christopher Steele and Bruce Ohr, who all played a role in the early FBI investigation into the web of connections between Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Kremlin.

Trump brought this up in the suit as part of his argument that the Justice Department and FBI are biased against him and that the Mar-a-Lago search was meant to derail his political career.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Marshall Cohen contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/22/politics/donald-trump-special-master-request/index.html

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Gov. Newsom rejects safe injection site bill, citing ‘unintended consequences’ – KCRA Sacramento
Gov. Newsom rejects safe injection site bill, citing ‘unintended consequences’ – KCRA Sacramento
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday vetoed a bill that would have allowed some cities in California to set up supervised drug consumption sites.

The bill, SB57, would have allowed San Francisco, Oakland, and the city and the county of Los Angeles to approve entities to operate the supervised consumption sites, also known as overdose prevention programs, until 2028.

“The unlimited number of safe injection sites that this bill would authorize – facilities which could exist well into the later part of this decade — could induce a world of unintended consequences,” the governor wrote in his veto message. “It is possible that these sites would help improve the safety and health of our urban areas, but if done without a strong plan, they could work against this purpose. These unintended consequences in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland cannot be taken lightly. Worsening drug consumption challenges in these areas is not a risk we can take.”

In his veto message, the governor also said he would instruct the state’s Secretary of Health and Human Services to gather city and county officials to discuss minimum standards and best practices for safe and sustainable overdose prevention programs.

The author of the bill, state Sen. Scott Wiener, has said California is in the midst of an unprecedented overdose crisis, which has been made worse by the coronavirus pandemic. Since 2011, drug overdose has been the leading cause of accidental death among adults in California. Wiener also noted a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found overdose rates nationally doubled in May 2020, compared to 2019.

In a statement, Wiener wrote, “Today, California lost a huge opportunity to address one of our most deadly problems: The dramatic escalation in drug overdose deaths. By rejecting a proven and extensively studied strategy to save lives and get people into treatment, this veto sends a powerful negative message that California is not committed to harm reduction.”

Opponents of the bill, including law enforcement groups, applauded the governor’s decision.

“This is clearly a challenging issue affecting our entire state,” said President of the California State Sheriffs Association and Butte County Sheriff, Kory Honea. “We will continue our efforts to protect our communities but permitting ‘lawful’ drug use is not the answer,” added Honea

“I look forward to working with the Governor and my legislative colleagues to find solutions to tackle the root cause of this issue and get individuals suffering from opioid addiction the compassionate treatment they need,” said Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R- Yucaipa).

The sites would have been required to provide a hygienic space supervised by trained staff, sterile consumption supplies, used equipment collection, and secure hypodermic needle and syringe disposal services. Staff would have been required to monitor participants for potential overdose and provide treatment as necessary to prevent fatal overdose, plus access or referrals to substance use disorder, and mental health treatment services.

There are 165 overdose prevention programs in 10 different countries. New York was the first to authorize the sites in the United States in 2021. Wiener’s office noted Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Philadelphia are moving forward with plans to establish the sites.

Source Article from https://www.kcra.com/article/gov-newsom-rejects-safe-injection-site-bill-citing-unintended-consequences/40961489

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3 Arkansas officers suspended after video captures beating – The Associated Press – en Español
3 Arkansas officers suspended after video captures beating – The Associated Press – en Español

MULBERRY, Ark. (AP) — Federal authorities said Monday they have started a civil rights investigation following the suspension of three Arkansas law enforcement officers after a video posted on social media showed two of them beating a man while a third officer held him on the ground.

The officers were responding to a report of a man making threats outside a convenience store Sunday in the small town of Mulberry, about 140 miles (220 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock, near the border with Oklahoma, authorities said.

Arkansas State Police said the agency would investigate the use of force. State police identified the suspect as Randal Worcester, 27, of Goose Creek, South Carolina.

However, the attorney for the two deputies says Worcester attacked one of the deputies, giving him a concussion.

The video shows one officer punching the suspect with a clenched fist, while another can be seen hitting the man with his knee. The third officer holds him against the pavement.

In video recorded from a car nearby, someone yells at officers to stop hitting the man in the head. Two of the officers appear to look up and say something back to the person who yelled. The officers’ comments could not be heard clearly on the video.

“The fight was escalating with those officers, and you hear that woman on that video yelling and whoever that is, I think she could have saved his life,” said Carrie Jernigan, an attorney representing Worcester.

He was taken to a hospital, then released and booked into the Crawford County jail in Van Buren on multiple charges, including second-degree battery, resisting arrest and making terroristic threats, state police said.

Worcester was released Monday on $15,000 bond. When asked how he was feeling, he said “all right.” An attorney who escorted him from jail declined to comment on his behalf. Worcester was pushing a bicycle as he left the jail.

Worcester’s father declined to comment when contacted Monday by The Associated Press. He referred a reporter to a law firm representing the family. That firm said it was still trying to gather information and did not immediately have a comment on the video.

Two Crawford County sheriff’s deputies and one Mulberry police officer were suspended, city and county authorities said.

Worcester is white, according to jail booking information, and the three officers involved also appear to be white.

A Justice Department spokesperson said Monday that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Arkansas, the FBI’s Little Rock Field Office and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division opened a civil rights investigation into the incident.

“The FBI and the Arkansas State Police will collect all available evidence and will ensure that the investigation is conducted in a fair, thorough, and impartial manner,” the Justice Department said in a statement. “The federal investigation is separate and independent from the ongoing state investigation.”

Crawford County Sheriff Jimmy Damante said before Worcester was arrested, an officer asked if he had any weapons on him, and he handed one over to the officer. Damante didn’t specify what type of weapon.

“They were about to take him into custody because of part of their investigation on the scene — that’s when he became violent,” Damante said.

The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office identified the three officers as Crawford County deputies Zack King and Levi White and Mulberry police officer Thell Riddle.

“I hold all my employees accountable for their actions and will take appropriate measures in this matter,” Damante said.

In a statement released Sunday evening, Mulberry Police Chief Shannon Gregory said the community and the department take the matter “very seriously.”

Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, told a news conference about the Justice Department’s plans to investigate. He described the beating as “reprehensible conduct” and said the officers’ actions were “not consistent” with the teachings of the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy.

Arkansas State Police Col. Bill Bryant said his agency’s investigation would “take some time.”

“Once we get the facts and evidence, we’ll prepare a case file and a summary and turn it over to the prosecutor,” Bryant said.

However, Russell Wood, a Russellville attorney for the two deputies, said in a statement Monday that White was answering a report of a terroristic threat when he encountered Worcester, who he said matched the complainant’s description of her assailant. At first, Worcester gave White a false identity.

As White was checking that identity, Worcester “became irate and viciously attacked Deputy White by grabbing him by the legs, lifting him up and body-slamming him, headfirst, on the concrete parking lot,” Wood said. After White hit his head on the concrete, stunning him, Worcester climbed onto him and “began striking him on the back of the head and face,” the attorney said.

After Worcester rained blows on his head, White said he saw the suspect turn his wrath on King and Riddle, Wood said. White then “re-engaged and used all force necessary to get the violent suspect under control and detained.”

White suffered a concussion and continues to experience concussion symptoms, Wood said. The attorney called for the release of the full Mulberry police dash-cam video of the incident but has not yet received a response.

Jernigan said she had filed an excessive force complaint against one of the suspended officers on behalf of another client of hers about a month ago.

“To date, I had not heard anything back. But the description of what happened to my client in July versus that video seemed almost identical,” Jernigan said. “And so we’re just of the position it didn’t have to even take place yesterday.”

Cellphone video of often-violent police interactions has put a spotlight on officer conduct in recent years, particularly since the 2020 killing of George Floyd while he was being arrested by police in Minneapolis.

The resulting nationwide protests called attention to officer brutality that often targets Black Americans.

The front door at the building that serves as the Mulberry police headquarters and city hall was locked Monday. A sign on the door directed anyone with questions about “the police investigation” to contact Arkansas State Police.

It was unclear whether the officers were wearing body cameras.

Amid public pressure for transparency and the proliferation of videos exposing police misconduct, there has been some pushback against recording officers. In July, the governor of Arizona signed a bill that makes it illegal to knowingly record officers from 8 feet (2.5 meters) or closer without permission.

Mulberry is a town of 1,600 people on the southern edge of the Ozarks in western Arkansas, right off Interstate 40, which runs from California to North Carolina.

At Kountry Xpress, the convenience store and filling station where the beating happened, truck drivers stop frequently to fill up on fuel. Customers also buy meals, which include American and Indian cuisine.

Shasta Morse, a cashier at Kountry Xpress, said she was working when Worcester was arrested but she didn’t know about it until a customer told her later.

“It’s a little unnerving,” she said.

___

This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of Randal Worcester. Authorities initially gave an incorrect spelling. The story has also corrected the location of where Worcester was taken. He was held at the Crawford County jail.

___

Associated Press writers Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas, Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, and Terry Wallace in Dallas contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://apnews.com/article/arrests-social-media-arkansas-little-rock-69b17aad4cb5348320a4ccd0cfc75ea6

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Washington DC Mayor Bowser’s second request for National Guard help with migrant ‘crisis’ denied by Pentagon – Fox News
Washington DC Mayor Bowser’s second request for National Guard help with migrant ‘crisis’ denied by Pentagon – Fox News
Video

More migrant buses arrive in NYC, DC from Texas

Retired acting ICE director Ron Vitiello weighs in on “Fox News Live” as migrants are bused from Texas to U.S. sanctuary cities.

For the second time, the Pentagon denied a request on Monday by Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser to activate the National Guard to assist with thousands of migrants who have been arriving in the nation’s capital in recent months.

Bowser first asked for National Guard help last month, but it was rejected by the Pentagon on Aug. 4. She then sent another letter on Aug. 11, requesting that 150 National Guard troops be deployed to “help prevent a prolonged humanitarian crisis in our nation’s capital resulting from the daily arrival of migrants.”

Defense Department executive secretary Kelly Bulliner Holly wrote in a letter to Bowser on Monday that the D.C. National Guard is not trained to assist migrants and activation would lead to “diminished readiness” for the troops.

“The DCNG has no specific experience in or training for this kind of mission or unique skills for providing facility management, feeding, sanitation or ground support,” Holly wrote in the letter, which was reviewed by Fox News.

“Approval of this request would also result in a substantial readiness impact to the DCNG,” Holly continued. “Devoting the personnel or the facility for such an extended mission would force the cancellation or disruption of military training.”

  • A bus carrying migrants arrives in Washington, D.C., from Texas on July 29, 2022. (Fox News Channel)

  • Migrants from Venezuela, who boarded a bus in Del Rio, Texas, disembark within view of the U.S. Capitol on Aug. 2, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

  • One of the first migrant buses from Texas arrives in Washington, D.C., near the U.S. Capitol on April 16, 2022. (Caitlin McFall/Fox News Digital)

About 7,000 migrants have been bused from Texas to Washington, D.C., since April and another 900 have arrived in New York City, according to Gov. Greg Abbott’s office.

“Before we began busing migrants to New York, it was just Texas and Arizona that bore the brunt of all the chaos and problems that come with it,” Abbott said Friday. “Now, the rest of America can understand exactly what is going on.”

WHITE HOUSE PUSHED ICE TO INCREASE DEPORTATIONS AMID MIGRANTS CRISIS: REPORT

Bowser called the busing of migrants on Monday a “politically motivated stunt.”

“We struggle with a broken immigration system in our country, and we know that cities alone cannot fix it,” Bowser tweeted. “We will continue working with federal partners and local NGOs on the best way to set up systems that allow us to manage an ongoing humanitarian crisis.”

Texas launched Operation Lone Star to deal with the influx of migrants across the southern border in March 2021.

Since then, Texas law enforcement officials have apprehended nearly 300,000 migrants and seized 326 million lethal doses of fentanyl, Abbott said.

A migrant family sits after being processed in Roma, Texas, on May 5, 2022.
(Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

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The Pentagon also cited the work of several non-government organizations and civilian groups in assisting with the arrival of migrants.

Bowser’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Liz Friden is a Pentagon producer based in Washington, D.C.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/washington-dc-mayor-bowsers-second-request-national-guard-migrant-crisis-denied-pentagon

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Five friends killed by wrong-way driver in Florida identified, include NYU-bound artist – New York Post
Five friends killed by wrong-way driver in Florida identified, include NYU-bound artist – New York Post

Friends and relatives of five close pals who were killed in a horrific wrong-way car crash in Florida over the weekend — including an NYU-bound artist — are mourning their loss and demanding justice.

According to police, Maiky Simeon, 30, was speeding against traffic on the Palmetto Expressway around 4:30 a.m. Saturday when he smashed directly into a Honda sedan carrying the five victims.

Daniella Marcano
Instagram/@dxniieellaa
Valeria Pena
Instagram/@vvaleriapena._
Giancarlo Arias
Instagram/@giancaae
Valeria Caceres
Instagram/@vallcaceresss
Briana Pacalagua
Go Fund Me

The victims, aged 18-25, were identified as: Valeria Cáceres, Daniela Marcano, Valeria Peña, Giancarlo Arias and Briana Pacalagua, who was the driver.

Arias, the Miami Herald reported, was heading to college at New York University and the group was celebrating his receipt of a scholarship.

“Gian, I never got to tell you how proud I was of you… You were such a talented role model and a beautiful soul,” a former teacher wrote on his Instagram page, the paper reported. “In my 21 years of teaching, this is the first time I’ve ever felt such a loss.”

Pacalagua’s younger sister, Kiara Pacalagua, set up a GoFundMe page in her sibling’s honor that has raised more than $11,000 as of Monday.

The scene the crash on the Palmetto Expressway.

“There’s no easy way to express how I feel,” she wrote. “My big sister just passed and there are no words to describe how our family can cope with this loss.”

Friend Lesly Mejas wrote a tribute to the five victims online, according to the Herald.

“Today 5 lives are no longer part of this earthly plane, 5 lives full of dreams, goals, and purposes today will no longer be part of us,” she wrote. “It hurts a lot to know that such young and talented people will not be able to achieve what they had one day dreamed but it hurts me more to know that family, friends, and all their loved ones will have to go through immense pain.”

Maiky Simeon was allegedly speeding against traffic when he smashed directly into a Honda sedan carrying the five victims.
Florida Highway Patrol

Simeon was extracted from his vehicle after the crash and remains hospitalized.

According to reports, Simeon lost his license in 2014 for driving 109 miles per hour in a 70 mph zone but eventually got his driving privileges back.

Cops are still investigating the circumstances of Saturday’s wreck.

Source Article from https://nypost.com/2022/08/22/five-friends-killed-by-wrong-way-driver-in-florida-identified-include-nyu-bound-artist/

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‘Smooth’ start to Monday commute during MBTA’s Orange Line shutdown, Boston mayor says – WCVB Boston
‘Smooth’ start to Monday commute during MBTA’s Orange Line shutdown, Boston mayor says – WCVB Boston
BOSTON —

The second big test of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s 30-day shutdown of the Orange Line is expected Tuesday, and officials expect a gradual increase in passenger traffic in the coming days and weeks.

“Just because things have gone relatively smoothly today does not mean you should jump back in your car,” said MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak. “Please continue to avoid these diversion routes. Also want to continue to emphasize the Commuter Rail as an alternative travel option for all for Orange Line riders.”

Poftak said that despite Monday going smoothly, he did not want the message to be that it’s OK to drive to work Tuesday.

State highway administrator Jonathan Gulliver said Monday traffic was unusually light. Boston mayor Michelle Wu said the real test will come when students return to school.

While some people reported longer than normal trips to work on Monday, the first weekday commute during the Boston transit system’s Orange Line shutdown appeared to go fairly smoothly.

The 11 miles of the Orange Line, from the Oak Grove to Forest Hills stations is scheduled to remain closed until 5 a.m. on Sept. 19.

Planned projects include track repairs to eliminate slowdowns, upgrading signals, replacing infrastructure and repairs or upgrades at various stations as part of what the MBTA calls major revitalization and safety work on the Orange Line.

The T is providing shuttle buses between stations, and the city has set aside designated bus-only travel lanes on some streets. Commuter rail lines are also running with increased frequency.

Poftak helped direct riders to Orange Line alternatives early Monday and passed out Charlie Card at Forest Hills Station.

“I anticipate we’ll face some challenges and probably learn something about where there’s going to be traffic issues and holdups, and we’ll get better as we go,” Poftak said.

A fleet of 200 buses is being used to shuttle Orange Line riders to their destinations during the next month.

Wu boarded a shuttle at Forest Hills Station in Jamaica Plain to start her commute to Government Center.

“It went pretty smoothly. It was a little bit longer than a usual commute, but no real bottlenecks or traffic along the way — buses and trains coming very shortly at each stop we were getting on and off at,” said Wu. “Overall, very hopeful. It seems like that much of the planning and all of the details we discussed have been implemented and so far, so good.”

On Monday, Gov. Charlie Baker took to the commuter rail to test that side of the alternatives and said he had an on-time commute.

“Took the @MBTA_CR Haverhill Line this morning. Glad to report it was an on-time commute. Thank you to all of the @MBTA riders today for their patience as the T embarks on the 30-day Orange Line rebuild,” Baker tweeted. “I want to also thank all of the @MBTA employees for their work to make everyone’s commutes as smooth as possible. The team and I have been in close contact with the T over the weekend and today to monitor the diversion and construction progress.”

Baker did not announce prior to Monday morning that he would ride the MBTA Commuter Rail train and no photos or videos of the governor riding the train were posted to social media.

Officials said they can squeeze work that would have normally taken five years into the monthlong work period.

The Orange Line provides about 101,000 trips each day, so the impact of the closure on commuters is expected to be major.

The start of unprecedented closure ushered in a complicated dance of diversions and alternatives that Boston officials have called a “transportation emergency.”

Some streets were closed or effectively cut in half to create dedicated lanes for the shuttle buses. Curbside loading areas were also designated for the buses.

State Street between Congress and Washington streets, Dartmouth Street between St. James and Boylston streets and one side of Washington Street between Arborway and Williams Street will be closed to traffic to make a path for the buses.

Officials have said that making a path for the buses will have a ripple effect throughout the region, according to projections made by engineers who model traffic for MassDOT. Motorists have been warned to expect heavy traffic increases, especially on roadways along the shuttle bus routes.

Commuter Rail train frequency has been increased to accommodate anticipated changes to travel patterns. Riders can also use the Commuter Rail in Zones 1, 1A and 2 for free by showing a CharlieCard or CharlieTicket.

As an alternative, Boston is offering a free 30-day pass to ride BlueBikes during the shutdown.

Starting Monday, parts of the MBTA Green Line will also be closed for 28 days. The Green Line shutdown from the Union Square to Government Center stations will allow the MBTA to perform the final-phase construction work necessary to open the Medford Branch, which is now anticipated to open in late November.

Shuttle buses will also be offered to replace Green Line service.

The city of Boston and the MBTA announced the following number for a new MBTA Call Center: 617-222-3200.

Officials said the “impetus” for the Orange Line shutdown was a safety review by the Federal Transit Administration. The FTA has been digging into the MBTA’s record since May after a man was dragged to death on the Red Line in April. A final report from the federal agency is expected to be released within the next few weeks.

Source Article from https://www.wcvb.com/article/30-day-shutdown-of-mbtas-orange-line-monday-morning-commute-august-22/40952840

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