Senate intel leaders pledge Russia probe cooperation ADVERTISING Senate intel leaders pledge Russia probe cooperation WASHINGTON (AP) — Pledging cooperation, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee said Wednesday they would steer clear of politics in their
Senate intel leaders pledge Russia probe cooperation
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pledging cooperation, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee said Wednesday they would steer clear of politics in their panel’s probe of Russian interference in last year’s election. They made a point of putting themselves at arm’s length from the House investigation marked by partisanship and disputes.
Richard Burr of North Carolina, the GOP chairman of the Senate committee, told reporters on Capitol Hill he would not even answer questions about the House probe. “We’re not asking the House to play any role in our investigation. We don’t plan to play any role in their investigation,” Burr said ahead of his panel’s open hearing Thursday.
Standing alongside his committee’ ranking Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, Burr said: “Mark and I work hand in hand on this. … We’re partners to see that this is completed and that we have a product at the end of the day that we can, in bipartisanship, support.”
So far, the committee has requested 20 individuals to be interviewed. Five have been scheduled, and the remaining 15 are likely to be scheduled within the next 10 days. Additional witnesses could be interviewed.
Burr declined to identify any of them, except for Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The White House has said that Kushner, a senior adviser to Trump, has volunteered to answer questions about arranging meetings with the Russian ambassador and other officials.
It’s not EU, it’s me: UK files for EU divorce after 44 years
LONDON (AP) — Britain filed for divorce from the European Union on Wednesday, with fond words and promises of friendship that could not disguise the historic nature of the schism — or the years of argument and hard-nosed bargaining ahead as the U.K. leaves the embrace of the bloc for an uncertain future as “global Britain.”
Prime Minister Theresa May triggered the two-year divorce process in a six-page letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk, vowing that Britain will maintain a “deep and special partnership” with its neighbors in the bloc. In response, Tusk told Britain: “We already miss you.”
May’s invocation of Article 50 of the EU’s key treaty sets the clock ticking on two years of negotiations until Britain becomes the first major nation to leave the union — as Big Ben bongs midnight on March 29, 2019.
The U.K.’s departure could not come at a worse time for the EU, which has grown from six founding members six decades ago to a vast, largely borderless span of 28 nations and half a billion people. Nationalist and populist parties are on the march across the continent in revolt against the bloc’s mission of “ever-closer union.” And in Washington, President Donald Trump has derided the EU, NATO and other pillars of Western order built up since World War II.
“This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back,” May told lawmakers in the House of Commons, moments after her letter was hand-delivered to Tusk in Brussels by Britain’s ambassador to the EU, Tim Barrow.
2 former Christie aides get prison for bridge revenge plot
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Two former aides to Gov. Chris Christie were sentenced to prison Wednesday for creating a colossal traffic jam at the George Washington Bridge for political revenge, a scandal that sank Christie’s White House campaign and was attributed by the judge to a venomous climate inside state government.
Bill Baroni, Christie’s appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was sentenced to two years in prison, and Bridget Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, was sentenced to 18 months at separate hearings in the 2013 lane-closing case. Both must also serve 500 hours of community service.
U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton said it was clear there was never a legitimate traffic study, as they claimed during the trial, and said the defendants sought to mislead the jury with their testimony.
During Kelly’s portion of the hearing, Wigenton also blamed the culture in Trenton, the state capital. Trial testimony described angry tirades by the governor and detailed his subordinates using the Port Authority as a source of political favors for politicians whose endorsements they sought.
Christie was not charged with any wrongdoing in the federal case. State prosecutors have declined to pursue a citizen’s criminal complaint lodged against him, but questions remain over how much he knew about the plot.
Zinke: Border wall ‘complex,’ faces geographic challenges
WASHINGTON (AP) — Geographic and physical challenges — including the Rio Grande and threatened wildlife — will make it difficult to build the “big, beautiful wall” that President Donald Trump has promised on the U.S.-Mexico border, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Wednesday.
Building a wall “is complex in some areas,” including Big Bend National Park and along the river, which twists through nearly half of the 2,000-mile border, Zinke said.
Hundreds of species live within 30 miles of the border, including threatened jaguars and Mexican gray wolves. The Trump administration is poised to relax protections for the jaguars, which live in northern Mexico and parts of the southwestern United States, to make it easier to build the wall.
Throughout the campaign, Trump energized his crowds with his insistence that a wall will be constructed along the border and that Mexico will pay for it. Zinke’s comments, and the administration’s budget proposal seeking billions in U.S. taxpayer dollars to finance the project, offer a reality check and a possible sign the president is moving away from his initial plan.
The complications Zinke highlighted were the same faced by Trump’s predecessors, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as they sought to build or complete hundreds of miles of fencing along the border.
Ivanka Trump to become official White House employee
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ivanka Trump is officially joining her father’s administration as an unpaid employee, after her plans to serve in a more informal capacity were questioned by ethics experts.
The first daughter announced Wednesday that she will serve as an unpaid employee in the White House, saying she had “heard the concerns some have with my advising the President in my personal capacity.” She added that she has been “working in good faith with the White House Counsel and my personal counsel to address the unprecedented nature of my role.”
The news about Ivanka Trump was first reported by The New York Times. A White House official said her title will be Assistant to the President.
In a statement, the White House said it was “pleased that Ivanka Trump has chosen to take this step in her unprecedented role as First Daughter and in support of the President. “
Trump previously announced she was getting a West Wing office and a security clearance, but would not officially join the administration. That decision had drawn criticism from ethics experts.
Census suggests counting LGBT, then “corrects,” deletes
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Census Bureau said Wednesday that it mistakenly proposed counting LGBTQ Americans and has since “corrected” the proposal to remove the gender and sexuality category. Gay rights groups quickly declared that it was another sign that President Donald Trump was reneging on a campaign promise to protect them.
The statement came a day after the agency sent Congress its proposals for the subjects to ask Americans about categorizing themselves in the 2020 Census and an annual survey.
The proposal “inadvertently listed sexual orientation and gender identity as a proposed topic in the appendix,” the agency said in a statement. “This topic is not being proposed to Congress for the 2020 Census or American Community Survey. The report has been corrected.”
Copies of the appendix reviewed by The Associated Press show the bureau proposing a subject called “sexual orientation and gender identity.” The subject did not appear in a subsequent copy. Subjects are more general than questions, which will be submitted to Congress next year.
Gay rights groups said that suggests the subject was to be included at one point in the long process, and was later rejected. The Census Bureau would not comment on that question early Wednesday.
