Puerto Rico’s next governor nominated
The ousted governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, chose his successor Wednesday, nominating Pedro Pierluisi, who formerly represented the island in Congress, to serve as secretary of state. The move positions Mr. Pierluisi to take over as governor when Mr. Rossello’s resignation becomes effective this week.
Mr. Rossello said he would call a special session of the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, the day before he is scheduled to step down, to confirm the appointment. He said he considered several choices and ultimately picked Mr. Pierluisi for his experience as resident commissioner in Washington, D. C., and as secretary of justice under Mr. Rossello’s father, former Gov. Pedro Rossello.
The younger Mr. Rossello said Mr. Pierluisi intends to serve through the end of the term but would not seek the office again in 2020.
If he is confirmed by the territory’s House and Senate, Mr. Pierluisi’s nomination would settle the complicated succession question that has thrown the island into uncertainty in the days since Mr. Rossello’s unprecedented resignation.
But Mr. Pierluisi’s confirmation seems far from certain, as a tense power struggle continues inside the ruling New Progressive Party, which supports Puerto Rican statehood. The powerful Senate president, Thomas Rivera Schatz, a contender for the secretary of state job himself, let it be known before the nomination was even official — by calling a wellknown local radio host — that Mr. Pierluisi would not have enough votes to win confirmation in the Senate.
Ben Carson in Baltimore
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson traveled to Baltimore to defend President Donald Trump’s harsh depiction of the city, saying “there are problems in Baltimore, and you can’t sweep them under the rug.”
Mr. Carson, a pediatric neurosurgeon who has a long history at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, said the city has to be “willing to address” the problems it faces.
“It’s sort of like a patient who has cancer: You can dress them up and put a nice suit on and try to ignore it, but that cancer is going to have a devastating effect,” he said standing outside Hollins House, a federally funded housing complex for senior citizens located in the congressional district of U. S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, DMd. “You have to be willing to address that issue if you are ever going to solve it.”
Mr. Trump has triggered a firestorm since Saturday by repeatedly attacking Mr. Cummings and his majorityblack legislative district, which he described on Twitter as a “rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.”
He called Mr. Cummings “a racist and a bully,” and tweeted that Baltimore, Maryland’s largest city, was a “very dangerous & filthy place.”
Epstein trial date: 2020
A subdued Jeffrey Epstein listened passively in court Wednesday as a judge said he won’t face trial on sex trafficking charges before June 2020, and more likely a few months afterward.
There was no mention at the Manhattan federal court appearance, nor any visible sign, of injuries after the 66year- old financier was found on the floor of his cell last week with neck bruises.
Assistant U. S. Attorney Alison Moe urged a June trial date for the man accused of arranging to sexually assault girls as young as age 14, saying there is “a public interest in bringing this case to trial as swiftly as possible.”
But Epstein’s lawyer, Martin Weinberg, said the case is far from “ordinary,” adding the defense team won’t be ready before Labor Day 2020.