Nation and World briefs for May 8

Trump signals cooperative approach with Mueller is fading

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signaled a more confrontational legal strategy against the special counsel’s Russia probe on Monday, ripping into what he dismissed as an investigation into a “made up, phony crime.”

His series of tweets were fresh evidence that the cooperative approach with special counsel Robert Mueller that had been advocated by the president’s legal team for months has gone by the wayside. It also revealed the president’s anxiety about how the investigation could sway voters as they decide whether to keep congressional Republicans in power or force him to face an aggressive Democratic majority.

Trump’s new lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has used a string of media appearances over the past week to cast the probe as a “totally garbage investigation.” And Giuliani has called into question whether Trump would be treated fairly by Mueller’s prosecutors if he were to agree to an interview.

No decision has been made on whether to permit the president to sit for an interview, but a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly on it told The Associated Press that the legal team hopes to resolve that question by May 17, the one-year anniversary of Mueller’s appointment. Giuliani earlier told The Wall Street Journal that the team hopes to decide by that date.

Mueller’s team is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible coordination with Trump associates as well as whether the president obstructed justice. So far, the special counsel’s office has charged 19 people — including four Trump campaign advisers — and three Russian companies.

Putin vows to boost Russian economy as he begins 4th term

MOSCOW — Vladimir Putin on Monday launched his fourth term as president with an ambitious call to vault Russia into the top five global economies by developing its technological products and agricultural exports.

Putin, who has sought to restore Russia’s military and diplomatic prominence on the world stage, focused almost entirely on domestic issues in his speech after taking the oath of office in a vast, vaulted Kremlin hall glittering with gold leaf.

Improving the economy following a recession partly linked to international sanctions will be a primary goal of his next six-year term, Putin said.

“Russia should be modern and dynamic, it should be ready to accept the call of the times,” he said in his inauguration speech to thousands of guests standing in three halls of the Grand Kremlin Palace.

Putin later issued an extensive decree calling for “acceleration of the technological development of the Russian Federation” and “creation of a high-performance export-oriented sector in the basic sectors of the economy, primarily in manufacturing and the agro-industrial sector.”

The 65-year-old former KGB agent, who has led Russia for all of the 21st century either as president or prime minister, has been criticized for inadequate efforts to diversify the economy from its dependence on oil and gas exports or develop the manufacturing sector.

Russia’s economy was hit hard by low world oil prices and sanctions connected to Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and military involvement in the separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine, with the ruble losing half its value between 2014 and 2016.

The country recorded an anemic improvement in 2017, with gross domestic product rising 1.5 percent and the ruble recovering some of its value. But the currency dropped about 8 percent again last month after new U.S. sanctions.

4 women accuse New York attorney general of physical abuse

NEW YORK — New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office has taken on a high-profile role in the fight against sexual misconduct, was physically violent with four women he was romantically involved with, according to their accounts which were published on Monday in The New Yorker .

Two women spoke on the record, saying Schneiderman repeatedly hit them during the course of their relationships with him in recent years, and never with their consent. Neither woman filed any police complaints, but both said they sought out medical attention and confided in people close to them about the abuse.

A third woman who also was involved with him told her story to the other two women, but said she was too frightened to come forward. A fourth woman said Schneiderman slapped her when she rebuffed him, but also asked to remain unidentified. The New Yorker said it vetted the third woman’s allegations, and saw a photo of what the fourth woman said was her injury.

The two women who spoke on the record, Michelle Manning Barish and Tanya Selvaratnam, both said the physical abuse escalated over time, including choking and hitting, and that Schneiderman also was a heavy drinker. The Associated Press is identifying the women because they agreed to tell their stories publicly.

Manning Barish said she was involved with Schneiderman from mid-2013 through the end of 2014; Selvaratnam said she was involved with him from the summer of 2016 until fall 2017.

Sessions: Zero-tolerance policy may split families at border

SAN DIEGO — A “zero-tolerance” policy toward people who enter the United States illegally may cause families to be separated while parents are prosecuted, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it would refer all arrests for illegal entry to federal prosecutors, throwing its weight behind Sessions’ policy announced last month to vastly expand criminal prosecutions of people with few or no previous offenses. A conviction for illegal entry carries a maximum penalty of six months in custody for first-time crossers, though they usually do far less time, and two years for repeat offenses.

“If you cross the border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It’s that simple,” Sessions told reporters on a mesa overlooking the Pacific Ocean, where a border barrier separating San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico juts out into the ocean.

Nearly one of every four Border Patrol arrests on the Mexican border from October through April was someone who came in a family, meaning any large increase in prosecutions is likely to cause parents to be separated from their children while they face charges and do time in jail.

Children who are separated from their parents would be put under supervision of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, Sessions said. The department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement releases children traveling alone to family and places them in shelters.

Iran-Contra figure Oliver North named president of the NRA

ATLANTA — Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North, the Marine at the center of the Iran-Contra affair three decades ago, was named president Monday of the National Rifle Association, giving it star power as it faces a powerful backlash over the massacres in Florida and Las Vegas.

North’s appointment was ripped by gun-control advocates who called the move symptomatic of an NRA tone-deaf given his role in the arms-trafficking scandal that engulfed the White House in the Reagan administration. Conservatives and gun-rights supporters hailed him as a patriot who will vigorously battle efforts to restrict access to firearms.

North, 74, will be the biggest celebrity to lead the 5-million-member gun lobby since Hollywood leading man Charlton Heston, who famously declared in 2000 that his guns would have to be taken “from my cold, dead hands.”

“Oliver North is a legendary warrior for American freedom, a gifted communicator and skilled leader,” NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre said.

Momentum for gun control has been building since the mass shooting in Las Vegas last fall that killed 58 people and the Feb. 14 rampage at a Parkland, Florida, high school that left 17 dead.

Zimmerman charged with stalking Trayvon film investigator

SANFORD, Fla. — Authorities say George Zimmerman threatened a private investigator working for a documentary filmmaker.

Court records show Zimmerman was issued a summons for a May 30 arraignment on a charge of misdemeanor stalking.

A sheriff’s report says the investigator contacted Zimmerman in September on behalf of Michael Gasparro, who is making a documentary on Trayvon Martin. The series is being produced by rapper Jay-Z.

Court records show the private investigator received 55 phone calls, 67 text messages, 36 voicemails and 27 emails from Zimmerman in December.

The records don’t list an attorney for Zimmerman.