Trump nominates Esper to be defense chief, succeeding Mattis
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Monday asked the Senate to confirm Mark Esper as the successor to former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, whose resignation last December opened an unprecedented period of senior-level instability at the Pentagon. The moment the nomination was received by the Senate on Monday, Esper was required to leave his role as acting defense secretary – a job he has held since June – until he is confirmed as the permanent secretary. He reverted to his previous position of Army secretary.
WASHINGTON – Kamala Harris raised money from a group of attorneys on the same day she blasted their firm’s work on the Jeffrey Epstein case. An invitation obtained by the Associated Press shows Harris’ husband headlined a Chicago fundraiser last Tuesday that was hosted by six Kirkland and Ellis partners. The California senator was among several White House hopefuls to blast the handling of the Florida sexual abuse case a decade ago. Harris’ campaign said none of the partners worked on the case.
BATON ROUGE, La. – A Louisiana coroner has ruled the death of a woman who founded Baton Rouge’s African American history museum a homicide by suffocation. East Baton Rouge Coroner Beau Clark released preliminary autopsy results Monday that show Sadie Roberts-joseph, 75, was suffocated to death before her body was found in the trunk of a car Friday. The Baton Rouge Police Department posted that “Ms. Sadie was a tireless advocate of peace” and added that investigators were working to identify a suspect.
BEIRUT – A local official in Syria’s Raqqa said workers have unearthed 313 bodies from a mass grave discovered last month near the northern city. Yasser al-khamees, who leads a team of first responders, said among the bodies found are those belonging to civilians, including women and children, as well as people believed to have been shot by IS militants. The mass grave was discovered in mid-june on the southern edges of Raqqa. The city was the de facto capital of the Islamic State group’s so-called Islamic caliphate.