Nation & World Glance
Trump and Sessions spar as Trump rages
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions punched back hard at President Donald Trump’s latest sneering criticism Thursday as their long-running rift exploded into a public smackdown. Trump, concerned by the legal downfall of two former advisers, accused Sessions of failing to take control of the Justice Department, leading Sessions to declare that he and his department “will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.”
Trump’s anger with Sessions boiled over in an interview with Fox News in which the president also expressed frustration with the plea agreement his onetime legal “fixer” Michael Cohen cut with prosecutors, including implicating Trump in a crime that Cohen admitted. Trump said it might be better if “flipping” — cooperating with prosecutors in exchange for more favorable treatment— were illegal because people cooperating with the government “just make up lies” to get favorable treatment.
In the wide-ranging interview, Trump also defended himself against talk of impeachment — “the market would crash ... everybody would be very poor” — tried to distance himself from Cohen — “I would see him sometimes” — and said anew that he hadn’t known in advance about Cohen’s hush money payments to silence women alleging sexual relationships with the celebrity businessman.
Trump’s latest shots against law enforcement came as he appeared increasingly vulnerable to long-running investigations after this week’s onetwo punch of Cohen’s plea deal and the conviction of Trump’s former campaign chair Paul Manafort.
Trump has spent more than a year publicly and privately venting over Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the federal Russia-collusion investigation because he’d worked on Trump’s campaign. Trump, who blames that decision for the eventual appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, told “Fox and Friends” host Ainsley Earhardt that Sessions “never took control of the Justice Department and it’s a sort of an incredible thing.”
AP: National Enquirer hid damaging Trump stories in a safe
WASHINGTON — The National Enquirer kept a safe containing documents on hush money payments and other damaging stories it killed as part of its cozy relationship with Donald Trump leading up to the 2016 presidential election, people familiar with the arrangement told The Associated Press.
The detail came as several media outlets reported on Thursday that federal prosecutors had granted immunity to National Enquirer chief David Pecker, potentially laying bare his efforts to protect his longtime friend Trump.
Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty this week to campaign finance violations alleging he, Trump and the tabloid were involved in buying the silence of a porn actress and a Playboy model who alleged affairs with Trump.
Five people familiar with the National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc., who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because they signed non-disclosure agreements, said the safe was a great source of power for Pecker, the company’s CEO.
The Trump records were stored alongside similar documents pertaining to other celebrities’ catchand-kill deals, in which exclusive rights to people’s stories were bought with no intention of publishing to keep them out of the news. By keeping celebrities’ embarrassing secrets, the company was able to ingratiate itself with them and ask for favors in return.
John Lennon’s killer denied parole for 10th time
ALBANY, N.Y. — John Lennon’s killer has been denied parole for a 10th time and will remain behind bars for at least two more years.
Mark David Chapman appeared before New York’s parole board on Wednesday. In a denial decision obtained by The Associated Press Thursday, the board said it had determined Chapman’s release “would be incompatible with the welfare and safety of society and would so deprecate the serious nature of the crime as to undermine respect for the law.”
Chapman, 63, shot and killed the former Beatle outside Lennon’s Manhattan apartment on Dec. 8, 1980. He is serving 20-years-to-life in the Wende Correctional Facility in western New York.
The board said releasing Chapman would not only “tend to mitigate the seriousness of your crime,” but also would endanger public safety because someone might try to harm him out of anger or revenge or to gain similar notoriety.
Australia ruling party chooses Treasurer Morrison as next PM
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia government lawmakers on Friday elected Treasurer Scott Morrison as the next prime minister in a ballot that continues an era of extraordinary political instability.
Morrison defeated the key challenger Peter Dutton, a former Cabinet minister, by a vote 45-40.
Dutton’s supporters had forced incumbent Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to hold the leadership ballot. Turnbull did not contest the ballot and has said he will quit politics.
Yemen rebels: Coalition strikes kill dozens, UAE denies it
SANAA, Yemen — Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed nearly 30 people in Yemen on Thursday, in- cluding four women and 22 children, Shiite rebel media reported. But the state media of United Arab Emirates, a key coalition member, disputed the claim and said the rebels launched the attack, killing one child and injuring dozens.
Mohammed AbdulSalam, spokesman for the Houthi rebels, said on Twitter the coalition attack took place in the ad-Durayhimi district, 12.5 miles from the port city Hodeida in the country’s west.
Other Houthi officials provided lower initial figures saying at least nine were killed. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
The UAE’s official news agency WAM, however, reported that the Houthis launched a ballistic missile in the area killing one child and injuring dozens.
Neither side’s claims could be independently verified.
Leaker of classified report on Russian hacking gets 5 years
AUGUSTA, Ga. — A former government contractor has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for mailing a classified U.S. report to a news organization.
Prosecutors are calling that the longest sentence ever handed down for a federal crime involving leaks to the media.
Twenty-six-year-old Reality Winner pleaded guilty in June to a single count of transmitting national security information. On Thursday she was sentenced in federal court.
The former Air Force translator had worked as a contractor at a National Security Agency’s office in Augusta, when she printed a classified report and left the building with it. Winner told the FBI she mailed it to an online news outlet.
Winner told the judge Thursday she took responsibility for her actions, what she called “an undeniable mistake.”