PORN STAR SUES TRUMP FOR DEFAMATION
The porn actress alleging a sexual encounter with President Donald Trump is escalating her legal fight, suing the president for defamation.
Stormy Daniels filed the complaint in federal court in New York on Monday. At issue is a tweet Trump made in which he dismissed a composite sketch that Daniels says depicted a man who threatened her in 2011 to stay quiet about her alleged relationship with Trump.
In the tweet earlier in April, Trump said: “A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!”
The filing says the tweet was “false and defamatory,” arguing that Trump was speaking about Daniels and that he “knew that his false, disparaging statement would be read by people around the world, as well as widely reported.” It also says Daniels has been “exposed to death threats and other threats of physical violence.”
Supreme Court to hear appeal of Missouri death row inmate.
The Supreme Court agreed Monday to review the case of a Missouri death row inmate who says his rare medical condition could cause him to choke on his own blood during an execution.
The justices said they would hear the appeal of inmate Russell Bucklew. The court blocked Bucklew’s execution in March after he argued that a tumor in his throat is likely to rupture and bleed during the administration of the drugs that would be used to kill him.
Bucklew argues that subjecting him to lethal injection would violate the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
White House not addressing reports on Jackson's future.
The White House says Dr. Ronny Jackson remains assigned to the White House — but it’s not addressing reports the Navy rear admiral won’t be returning to the job of President Donald Trump’s personal physician.
Jackson abandoned his nomination to be secretary of Veterans Affairs last week.
White House spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement that Jackson is still assigned to the White House, adding that there were “no personnel announcements at this time.”
Report: Mueller receives list of questions for Trump.
WASHINGTON»
Special counsel Robert Mueller has given a list of almost four dozen questions to lawyers for President Donald Trump as part of his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether Trump obstructed justice, according to a report published in The New York Times.
The Times obtained a list of the questions, which range from Trump’s motivations for firing FBI Director James Comey a year ago to contacts Trump’s campaign had with Russians. Although Mueller’s team has indicated to Trump’s lawyers that he’s not considered a target, investigators remain interested in whether the president’s actions constitute obstruction of justice.
Pirate attack off Suriname leaves 16 missing and feared dead.
PARAMARIBO, SURINAME
Sixteen fishermen are missing and feared dead after pirates raided their boats off the coast of Suriname and forced them to jump overboard, authorities in the South American country said Monday.
The fishermen were part of a group of 20 in four boats who were attacked off the Atlantic coast of Suriname, said Cmdr. Jerry Slijngard of the Surinamese Coast Guard.
Four men managed to swim to shore and three of them remain hospitalized. They told police and the Coast Guard that the assailants, suspected of coming from neighboring Guyana because of their accents, beat them with machetes and forced them to jump into the sea. They said some of the victims had batteries tied to their legs to weigh them down.
— Denver Post wire services