AP source: Yates to testify on warning White House on Flynn
AP source: Yates to testify on warning White House on Flynn
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former acting attorney general Sally Yates is expected to testify to Congress next week that she warned the White House that President Donald Trump’s national security adviser’s contacts with the Russian ambassador could leave him compromised.
That’s according to a person who’s been briefed on that Jan. 26 conversation about Michael Flynn and who is knowledgeable about Yates’s plans for her testimony Monday.
The person says Yates will testify she alerted White House counsel Don McGahn about discrepancies between the administration’s statements on Flynn’s contact with the ambassador and what really transpired. The White House fired Flynn weeks later after concluding that he had misled them about his conversation.
Yates is to appear before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee. It will be her first public account of her White House conversation.
More unrest in Venezuela as president seeks new constitution
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — People blocked streets in Caracas with broken concrete, twisted metal and flaming piles of trash Tuesday to protest the socialist president’s bid to rewrite the constitution amid a rapidly escalating political crisis.
President Nicolas Maduro signed a decree Monday to begin the process of rewriting the charter. Opposition leaders called the planned constitutional assembly a ploy to put off regional elections scheduled for this year and a presidential election that was to be held in 2018.
Polling suggests the socialists would lose both those elections badly at a time of widespread anger over triple-digit inflation and shortages of food and other goods.
On Tuesday, the opposition-majority congress officially rejected Maduro’s move to call a constitutional congress, saying the idea should first be put to a vote of Venezuelans. It was a symbolic gesture because the legislative body has no power to block a constitutional assembly.
The president was vague about how members of the assembly would be chosen. He hinted some would selected by voters, but many observers expect the selection process to favor the socialists.
Speaking hours after yet another big anti-government march ended in rock throwing and tear gas Monday, Maduro said a new constitution is needed to restore peace.
Lawmakers to airlines: Improve service or Congress steps in
WASHINGTON (AP) — The chief executive of United Airlines apologized Tuesday on Capitol Hill for an incident in which a passenger was dragged off a flight, calling it “a mistake of epic proportions” as frustrated lawmakers warned airline executives to improve customer service or face congressional intervention.
House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., said carriers should use the notoriety of the violent event — and a separate incident in which a mother with a stroller was bullied by a flight attendant — to make long-needed improvements. If the airlines don’t make changes, Congress is likely to step in, Shuster and other lawmakers said.
“Seize this opportunity,” Shuster told United CEO Oscar Munoz and other airline executives at a hearing.
Otherwise, “we’re going to act and you’re not going to like it,” he said, predicting a “one-size-fits-all” solution that may serve some airlines but not others.
Shuster provided no specifics on what steps Congress would take to fix airline service. But several members of Congress have introduced legislation to ban the bumping of passengers if flights are overbooked.
Plagiarism or a ‘wink’? Le Pen lifts conservative’s speech
PARIS (AP) — Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen lifted verbatim parts of a speech by a former rival in what her critics called plagiarism and she said was a deliberate “wink” to him to woo his conservative voters in France’s presidential runoff Sunday.
The stolen words and casual reaction by Le Pen and her team marked the latest shocking development in a French presidential campaign like no other. Perhaps more surprisingly, there was little sign it would seriously damage Le Pen.
Polls consider her centrist rival Emmanuel Macron the front-runner in the vote, seen as a test of global populism and decisive moment for the European Union.
Le Pen borrowed from a speech delivered last month by Francois Fillon, the former Republicans party candidate, about France’s important role in Europe and the world.
The subject is at the heart of Le Pen’s campaign. She promises to restore French glory, pull France out of the EU and return to the franc currency. She has denounced the effects of globalization on the French economy and culture.
White ex-officer pleads guilty in black man’s slaying
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A white former police officer whose killing of an unarmed black man running from a traffic stop was captured on cellphone video pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal civil rights charges that could send him to prison for decades.
The plea from Michael Slager, 35, came five months after a jury deadlocked on state murder charges against him in the 2015 shooting of Walter Scott. South Carolina prosecutors had planned to retry Slager, but as part of Tuesday’s plea bargain, they agreed to drop the murder case.
Slager admitted violating Scott’s civil rights by shooting him without justification. He could get up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine at sentencing, though prosecutors agreed to ask for more than 20 years behind bars. No sentencing date was set.
A bystander’s grainy video of the shooting, viewed millions of times online, showed the 50-year-old motorist breaking away after struggling with Slager over the officer’s Taser. Slager then began firing at Scott’s back from 17 feet away. Five of eight bullets hit him.
The former North Charleston officer spoke little in court except to quietly answer the judge’s questions. Several of Scott’s relatives sat in the front row in the gallery as the prosecutor read a bare-bones description of the shooting. One of them closed his eyes tightly, while another hung his head.
Clinton blames misogyny, FBI, Russia, herself for 2016 loss
NEW YORK (AP) — Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that she’s taking responsibility for her 2016 election loss but believes misogyny, Russian interference and questionable decisions by the FBI also influenced the outcome.
The former Democratic presidential nominee offered extensive comments about the election during the Women for Women International’s annual luncheon in New York. Clinton said she’s been going through the “painful” process of reliving the 2016 contest while writing a book.
“It wasn’t a perfect campaign. There is no such thing,” Clinton said in a question-and-answer-session with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “But I was on the way to winning until a combination of (FBI Director) Jim Comey’s letter on Oct. 28 and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me but got scared off.”
She reminded the enthusiastic audience packed with women that she ultimately earned 3 million more votes than President Donald Trump.
“If the election were on Oct. 27, I would be your president,” Clinton said.
Apple growing cash stash spurs talk of huge acquisition
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — As Apple’s stash of cash grows, so does the possibility that the world’s most valuable company will use some of the money for a huge acquisition that would expand its empire beyond iPhones and other gadgets.
The company currently holds more than a quarter-trillion dollars it could use to go shopping. So far, the guessing game has primarily focused on possible targets such as Netflix and Tesla Motors. Either deal could make sense, given Apple’s long-running interest in providing a TV service to consumers and its more recent work on self-driving cars .
But in recent months the takeover talk has swirled around whether Apple might do something even more dramatic by making a bid for Walt Disney Co.
THE MOUSE AND THE APPLE
Such a combination would create the world’s first company worth $1 trillion. Beyond that, an Apple-Disney marriage would unite some of the world’s most successful brands in technology and entertainment — a list that includes the iPhone, iPad, Mac computer, Mickey Mouse, Disneyland, ESPN, Lucasfilm, Pixar and Marvel.