Trump lashes out at ‘bad,’ ‘conflicted’ Russia investigators
WASHINGTON — Stopping short of a complete turnabout, President Donald Trump is expected Friday to announce a revised Cuba policy aimed at stopping the flow of U.S. cash to the country’s military and security services while maintaining diplomatic relations and allowing U.S. airlines and cruise ships to continue service to the island.
In a speech Friday at a Miami theater associated with Cuban exiles, Trump will cast the policy moves as fulfillment of a promise he made during last year’s presidential campaign to reverse then-President Barack Obama’s diplomatic re-engagement with the island after decades of estrangement.
Senior White House officials who briefed reporters Thursday on the coming announcement said Obama’s overtures had enriched Cuba’s military while repression increased on the island.
Deadlocked jury in Cosby trial wraps up for the night
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Four days after getting the case, deadlocked jurors in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial struggled to end their impasse Thursday on charges he drugged and molested a woman in 2004, the prospect of a mistrial growing larger even as the judge directed them to keep talking.
Still undecided, they wrapped up after 9 p.m. and will resume their work this morning.
The jurors had deliberated about 30 hours before telling Judge Steven O’Neill they couldn’t reach a unanimous decision on any of the counts against the 79-yearold comedian. The judge told them to try again for a verdict.
The sequestered panel of seven men and five women complied, pondering the charges for nine more hours before asking to go back to their hotel.
Escaped Georgia inmates caught in Tennessee after manhunt
SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. — Two escaped inmates sought in the killings of two guards on a Georgia prison bus were captured Thursday in Tennessee after holding an elderly couple captive and leading police on a chase by car and foot, authorities said.
Donnie Rowe and Ricky Dubose were captured in Christiana, Tenn., Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles said.
Police in Shelbyville, Tenn., responded to a call about a home invasion, where Rowe and Dubose held an elderly couple captive and then fled in the couple’s vehicle, Miles said. Officers responded and chased the pair. The inmates got into a wreck, left the vehicle and then led police on a foot chase before both men were taken into custody in the community of Christiana, she said.
Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Dozier said in a news release that he was relieved the two inmates were captured and no longer a threat to the public.
“They will be brought to justice swiftly for their heinous crime against our officers,” he said, also expressing gratitude to all of the law enforcement officers who provided support and assistance in the search for the two men.
Suspect identified in China kindergarten explosion; 8 killed
BEIJING — Police have identified a suspect in an explosion at the front gate of a kindergarten in eastern China that killed eight and struck as relatives gathered to pick up their children at the end of the day, local authorities said Friday.
Police were investigating the explosion as a criminal act and said they had “targeted” a suspect, according to a statement issued by authorities in the city of Xuzhou and the official Xinhua News Agency. It was unclear if the suspect was apprehended and no potential motive was provided. A witness cited by state media said a gas cylinder at a roadside food stall had caused the blast.
Two people died at the scene and six died after being taken to a hospital following the explosion at 4:50 p.m. Thursday at the Chuangxin Kindergarten in Fengxian. Initial reports said 59 were injured, but Xinhua and other media reported Friday that 65 were injured including eight who remained in critical condition.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump lashed out Thursday at the investigators driving the Russia investigation as “very bad and conflicted people,” responding angrily to reports that the special counsel is looking into whether Trump obstructed justice.
In a series of statements on Twitter, Trump called special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign a “WITCH HUNT” based on the “phony” premise of possible collusion between Russia and a cadre of Trump campaign associates.
The president complained the probe is unfair and wondered why his defeated Democratic opponent wasn’t getting the same scrutiny.
“Why is that Hillary Clintons family and Dems dealings with Russia are not looked at, but my non-dealings are?” he asked.
“They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice,” Trump wrote in his first tweet. “You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history — led by some very bad and conflicted people! #MAGA.”
The Twitter attacks came as Vice President Mike Pence hired a personal lawyer to represent him in the intensifying investigation. Pence’s office confirmed he had retained Richard Cullen, a former Virginia attorney general and U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, to assist “in responding to inquiries” from Mueller.
Mueller investigation’s appeared to be reaching a broadening circle of current and former officials. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the investigators were looking into possible obstruction of justice. The newspaper noted Mueller had requested interviews with CIA Director Dan Coats, National Security Agency chief Michael Rogers and Richard Ledgett, the former NSA deputy director. Recent news reports have suggested Trump sought all three officials’ help in pressuring FBI Director James Comey to drop his investigation into former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.
Comey testified last week that he also felt pressured to drop the Flynn probe. Comey said he believes Trump ultimately fired him “because of the Russia investigation.”
Coats met behind closed doors for more than three hours Thursday with the Senate intelligence committee, which is conducting a separate investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump’s Twitter response followed days of intensifying criticism of Mueller from some conservatives, who have charged the former FBI director and his team with political bias and have claimed his relationship to Comey and an earlier meeting with Trump amount to conflicts of interest.
A close Trump associate said this week the president was considering firing Mueller, although the White House later denied it.