Trump boosts federal grants to faith groups
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump in a Rose Garden ceremony Thursday announced an executive order he said would expand government grants to and partnerships with faith-based groups.
A top faith adviser to Mr. Trump said the aim was a culture change producing less conversations about churchstate barriers “without all of these arbitrary concerns as to what is appropriate.”
Mr. Trump has expanded the access to the White House of conservative Christians, evangelicals in particular, but also Catholics who feel alarmed by the growing legal tension between gay rights and conservative religious rights.
Cardenas denies charge
WASHINGTON — Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-Calif., confirmed that he is the unidentified elected official in a lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles alleging sexual molestation of a teenage girl, but he vehemently denied the allegations.
“My client is sickened and distraught by these horrific allegations, which are 100 percent, categorically untrue,” Patricia Glaser, an attorney for Mr. Cardenas, said.
Mr. Cardenas said the woman who filed the suit is the daughter of a “disgruntled former employee.”
Mr. Cardenas, one of the highest-ranking Latino members of Congress, leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ Bold PAC, working to elect Latinos nationwide.
NBC corrects story
NEW YORK — NBC News has corrected a story that said federal investigators had placed a wiretap of the phone lines of Mr. Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, saying the feds were monitoring only what calls were being made but weren’t listening in.
The change was made more than four hours after the original story moved online Thursday, when it caused immediate chatter on cable news networks.
NBC had attributed its original story to two anonymous sources with knowledge of the legal proceedings against Mr. Cohen. NBC explained that the phones were monitored by a pen register, which records the phone numbers on both ends of the conversation.
EPA official leaving
WASHINGTON — A third top EPA official is leaving the agency amid intensifying scrutiny of Administrator Scott Pruitt’s travel, spending and condo rental.
Associate Administrator Liz Bowman, the top public affairs official at the Environmental Protection Agency, is set to handle communications for Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.
Ms. Bowman’s departure follows two others this week: Albert “Kell” Kelly, the top EPA adviser on Superfund cleanups, and former Secret Service agent Pasquale “Nino” Perrotta, who led Mr. Pruitt’s security detail. Longtime Pruitt ally Samantha Dravis announced her resignation last month.
Bank execs convicted
WILMINGTON, Del. — Four former executives for the only financial institution to be criminally charged in connection with the federal bank bailout program were convicted on fraud and conspiracy charges.
Jurors found the former Wilmington Trust executives guilty after a sixweek trial.
Prosecutors alleged that in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the defendants misled regulators and investors about Wilmington Trust’s massive amount of past-due commercial real estate loans before the bank was hastily sold in 2011.
The century-old bank imploded despite receiving $330 million from the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program.