SESSIONS DENIES LYING ON RUSSIA

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday displayed a hazy memory of the Trump campaign’s discussions about and dealings with Russians in the 2016 election, denying he ever lied to Congress about those contacts but blaming the chaos of the race for fogging his recollections.

During more than five hours of testimony to Congress, Sessions sought to explain away apparent contradictions in his earlier accounts by citing the exhausting nature of Donald Trump’s upstart but surging bid for the White House. He also denied under repeated questioning from Democrats that he had been influenced by Trump.

But after saying under oath months ago that he was unaware of any relationship between the campaign and Russia, Sessions acknowledged for the first time that the arrest of a low-level campaign adviser reminded him after all of a meeting at which the aide, George Papadopoulos, proposed setting up a get-together between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Videos lead defense opening in Bundy standoff trial.

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LAS federal jury got a first look Tuesday at videos of confrontations involving armed federal agents and Bundy family members that rancher Cliven Bundy’s lawyer said provided a catalyst for an April 2014 gunpoint standoff.

One clip that attorney Bret Whipple said spread widely on the internet showed Bundy’s sister, Margaret Huston, thrown to the ground by a federal agent after she approached the driver’s side of a vehicle involved in a U.S. Bureau of Land Management cattle roundup near the Bundy ranch.

Whipple derided an interpretation that Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre offered to the jury — that the 57-year-old Huston had to be pulled away from the front of the truck and knocked down for her own safety.

Myhre cast the 71-yearold Cliven Bundy as the leader of a conspiracy with sons Ryan and Ammon Bundy and co-defendant Ryan Payne to enlist militia members to force the federal agents “at the end of a gun” to abandon efforts to collect his cattle from public rangeland.

Military now in capital after army chief’s threat.

ZIMBABWE» At HARARE, least three explosions were heard in Zimbabwe’s capital early Wednesday and military vehicles were seen in the streets after the army commander threatened to “step in” to calm political tensions over 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe’s possible successor. The ruling party accused the commander of “treasonable conduct.”

The U.S. Embassy closed to the public and encouraged citizens to shelter in place, citing “the ongoing political uncertainty through the night.” The British embassy issued a similar warning.

Coast Guard unloads 10 tons of cocaine.

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The Coast Guard on Tuesday unloaded nearly 10 tons of cocaine and 23 kilos of heroin at Port Everglades.

The drugs were seized during 14 drug smuggling busts in international waters off the coasts of Mexico and Central America, authorities said.

The estimated wholesale value of the dope was $300 million, officials said.