Trump pick for national intelligence director is withdrawing
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s pick for national intelligence director, Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe, withdrew from consideration Friday after just five days as he faced growing questions about his experience and qualifications.
The move underscored the uncertainty over his confirmation prospects. Democrats openly dismissed the Republican congressman as an unqualified partisan and Republicans offered only lukewarm and tentative expressions of support.
The announcement leaves the intelligence community without a permanent, Senate-confirmed leader at a time when the U.S. government is grappling with North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, the prospect of war with Iran and the anticipated efforts of Russia or other foreign governments to interference in the American political system.
In a tweet Friday, Trump said Ratcliffe had decided to stay in Congress so as to avoid “months of slander and libel.”
Trump didn’t cite specific media reports, though multiple stories in the last week have questioned Ratcliffe’s qualifications and suggested that he had misrepresented his experience as a federal prosecutor in Texas.
Rapper A$AP Rocky heading back to US as verdict looms
STOCKHOLM — Rapper A$AP Rocky and two other American suspects were temporarily freed from a Swedish jail and planning to head back to the U.S. on Friday as judges mull a verdict in the assault case against them.
The Stockholm District Court released the 30-year-old rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, as well as David Rispers Jr. and Bladimir Corniel until Aug. 14 —when a verdict is expected in the case. They are accused of beating 19-year-old Mustafa Jafari on June 30 outside a fast-food restaurant in central Stockholm.
The three suspects were seen hugging each other at the court after they learned they would be released as some of the public gathered inside the courthouse loudly cheered.
Mayers’ mother, Renee Black, who was present throughout the court proceedings, was with her son when he was released. A private plane was waiting at the Stockholm Arlanda Airport to transport the suspects and Black back to the U.S. Friday evening, according to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
Mayers shared an emotional post on Instagram after he was released, thanking his fans for their support during this “very difficult and humbling experience.”
NYPD judge recommends firing officer in Eric Garner death
NEW YORK — In a reckoning five years in the making, an administrative judge on Friday recommended firing a New York City police officer over the 2014 chokehold death of an unarmed black man whose dying cries of “I can’t breathe” fueled a national debate over policing, race and the use of force.
The city’s police commissioner will make a final decision this month on whether to fire Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who is white, for his role in Eric Garner’s death. Pantaleo was suspended shortly after the judge’s decision became public, about two weeks after federal prosecutors closed the book on criminal charges.
Mayor Bill de Blasio hailed the judge’s report as “a step toward justice and accountability,” while Pantaleo’s lawyer and a union leader said it penalized an officer for properly doing his job. The lawyer said he will appeal to state court if Pantaleo is fired.
Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, said the report brought her “some relief” but was overdue and fell short of true accountability.
“It’s past time for Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD to end their obstruction, stop spreading misleading talking points and finally take action for my son,” she said in a statement.
Puerto Rico governor resigns as promised, names successor
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said Friday that he was resigning as promised and swearing in veteran politician Pedro Pierluisi as his replacement, a move certain to throw the U.S. territory into a period of political chaos that will be fought out in court.
In an emailed announcement from his office, Rosselló said Pierluisi did not need confirmation from both houses of the territory’s legislature because he was named secretary of state, the next in line to be governor, in a recess appointment this week.
The statement said Pierluisi will be sworn in to complete Rosselló’s term, but it did not say exactly when. Rosselló had promised to resign at 5 p.m., a few minutes before the statement was sent.
Rosselló’s resignation came in response to weeks of popular protest over mismanagement and a series of leaked chats in which he and advisers denigrated a range of Puerto Ricans.
The down-to-the-wire maneuvering risked political chaos and a constitutional crisis and sowed bitterness and pessimism among Puerto Ricans about the fate of their island, which has been battered by years of bankruptcy and Hurricane Maria in 2017, one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history.
Families say Purdue Pharma must be ‘held accountable’
BOSTON — They came bearing oversized images of the sons and daughters they lost to drug overdoses and signs demanding justice from the pharmaceutical company they hold most responsible.
The parents and their supporters rallied outside a Boston courthouse Friday as a judge heard arguments in Massachusetts’ lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, over its role in the national opioid epidemic.
“Unless you’ve lost a child, you don’t know what that pain is like,” said Kathleen Scarpone, a New Hampshire resident whose 25-year-old son died of an overdose in 2015, just a few years after serving as a Marine in Afghanistan. “You wake up every day and your heart breaks a little. I don’t want anyone to ever feel that.”
Scarpone was among more than 100 people gathered in front of Suffolk County Superior Court through the daylong hearing. The group laid poster boards filled with photos of hundreds of Massachusetts overdose victims on the courthouse steps.
Some held signs saying, “Sack the Sacklers,” referring to the wealthy family that owns Purdue Pharma and whose name is emblazoned across major institutions such as the Smithsonian, Guggenheim and Harvard from years of philanthropy.
States sue Trump administration over fuel economy penalties
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A coalition of states sued the Trump administration Friday for the second time to block a planned reduction in the penalties automakers pay when they fail to meet fuel economy standards.
Twelve states and the District of Columbia sued the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for replacing an Obama-era regulation that imposed a penalty of $14 for every tenth of a mile-per-gallon that an automaker falls below the standards.
The lawsuit came a week after four major automakers announced a deal with California to toughen standards for gas mileage and greenhouse gas emissions. The agreement involving Ford, BMW, Honda and Volkswagen bypasses the Trump administration’s push to relax mileage standards nationwide.
The new federal rule would keep the penalty at $5.50, where it has been since the mid-1970s.
The legal challenge led by the attorneys general in California and New York argues that the new rule would keep the penalty far below the inflation-adjusted rate required by a 2015 law.