Prosecutor: Refuge occupiers practiced hand-to-hand combat
Prosecutor: Refuge occupiers practiced hand-to-hand combat
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The armed occupiers who seized a remote bird sanctuary in Oregon’s high desert early this year were divided into squads and drilled in hand-to-hand combat, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday as the trial began for seven people accused in the standoff.
During his opening statement, Geoffrey Barrow dismissed claims by group leader Ammon Bundy and others that the takeover was a legitimate protest of federal land management. Bundy and his brother Ryan, who’s also on trial, are part of a Nevada ranching family embroiled in a long-running dispute over land use.
“Everyone in this great nation has a right to his or her beliefs. We are not prosecuting the defendants because we don’t like what they think or said,” Barrow told jurors. “We are prosecuting them because of what they did.”
The occupation drew national attention to the decades-old fight between the federal government and Western states over land policy. After the land was seized, the government left the group alone for weeks until the last few holdouts abandoned the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge after 41 days.
The seven on trial are charged with conspiring to impede Interior Department employees from doing their jobs through intimidation or threats. Five also are charged with possession of a firearm in a federal facility.
Syrian cease-fire holds as Aleppo awaits relief
BEIRUT (AP) — A cease-fire brokered by the U.S. and Russia brought calm across much of Syria on Tuesday as residents of the northern city of Aleppo awaited an expected aid shipment.
Insurgent groups have expressed misgivings about the cease-fire, which would allow for strikes against a powerful al-Qaida-linked group that fights alongside the rebels. That group, formerly known as the Nusra Front, has condemned the truce, saying the deal is aimed at keeping President Bashar Assad in power.
There have been scattered violations of the cease-fire since it went into effect.
The Russian military said U.S.-backed rebels have repeatedly violated the cease-fire, with six people killed and 10 wounded in Aleppo since the truce began. It said two Syrian soldiers were killed and another wounded in a separate attack in Aleppo.
Syrian state media reported nearly two dozen violations by insurgents, mostly mortar attacks and sniper shots. It said insurgents attacked power lines in the southern Quneitra region, causing a province-wide blackout.
Political risk for all in Trump-Clinton ‘deplorables’ debate
WASHINGTON (AP) — A war of words over Donald Trump’s “deplorables” is intensifying as Republicans and Democrats fight for political points over Hillary Clinton’s claim that many of the New York billionaire’s supporters are racist, sexist and homophobic.
Trump and his allies across the country insisted Tuesday that the Democratic presidential nominee’s comments reflect an out-of-touch elitist who looks down on working-class voters, akin to 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s assertion that 47 percent of Americans would never vote for him because they were dependent on the government. Democrats — and even some Republicans — however, warned that this debate could backfire on Trump, drawing new attention to white supremacists and hate groups attracted by his “America first” message.
Indeed, former KKK leader David Duke offered fresh praise for the way that Trump and running mate Mike Pence are handling the controversy. But not all Republicans were pleased.
“Let’s remember that, weird as it may seem, a lot of voters are only just now tuning in, so they may not be aware of the fact that David Duke, various KKK organizations, the alt-right en masse, Vladimir Putin and other foreign authoritarian enemies of America — people who really are deplorable — are supporting Trump,” said Liz Mair, a Washington-based Republican operative and a vocal Trump critic.
Speaking to donors in New York City on Friday, Clinton had said that half of Trump’s supporters were in “a basket of deplorables,” a crowd she described as racist, sexist, homophobic or xenophobic. Clinton later said she regretted applying that description to “half” of Trump’s backers, but stuck by her assertion that the GOP nominee has given a platform to “hateful views and voices.”
Witnesses refuse to testify in hearing on Clinton’s email
WASHINGTON (AP) — Three witnesses ordered to testify Tuesday before a House committee investigating Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server asserted their constitutional rights against self-incrimination and did not appear or refused to answer questions.
Bryan Pagliano, the former State Department computer specialist tasked with setting up Clinton’s server, did not attend the Republican-led hearing. His attorneys said in a letter to the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee that Pagliano will continue to assert his constitutional right not to testify.
Pagliano spoke previously to the FBI under immunity, telling the bureau there were no successful security breaches of the server. But he said he was aware of many failed login attempts that he described as “brute force attacks.”
Pagliano also refused to answer questions last year before a House panel investigating the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya.
“He has never made any statement or taken any action that would constitute a waiver of his constitutional rights and there is no reason for anyone to believe he might suddenly depart from that position,” Pagliano’s lawyers wrote in the Sept. 13 letter to Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the Oversight committee chairman.
Israel’s Peres hospitalized after stroke
JERUSALEM (AP) — Former Israeli President Shimon Peres suffered a “major stroke” on Tuesday and experienced heavy bleeding in the brain, a hospital official said, as doctors raced to stabilize the 93-year-old Nobel laureate.
Dr. Itzik Kreiss, director of the Sheba Medical Center, told reporters outside the hospital near Tel Aviv that Peres experienced “lots of bleeding” as a result of the stroke. He said he had undergone a battery of tests, and that doctors planned to hold another assessment in a few hours.
Standing alongside Kreiss, Peres’ son Chemi said the situation was “not simple,” but that the family was trying to stay positive.
“My father is very special. I am keeping optimistic. Hoping for the best. But these hours are not easy,” he said.
He thanked the Israeli public for offering its support and prayers.