Trump claims memo 'totally vindicates' him in Russia probe
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday claimed complete vindication from a congressional memo that alleges the FBI abused its surveillance powers during the investigation into his campaign's possible Russia ties. But the memo also includes revelations that might complicate efforts by Trump and his allies to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry.
The four-page document released Friday contends that the FBI, when it applied for a surveillance warrant on a onetime Trump campaign associate, relied excessively on an ex-British spy whose opposition research was funded by Democrats. At the same time, the memo confirms that the investigation into potential Trump links to Russia actually began several months earlier, and was "triggered" by information involving a different campaign aide.
Christopher Steele, the former spy who compiled the allegations, acknowledged having strong anti-Trump sentiments. But he also was a "longtime FBI source" with a credible track record, according to the memo from the House Intelligence Committee chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and his staff.
The warrant authorizing the FBI to monitor the communications of former campaign adviser Carter Page was not a one-time request, but was approved by a judge on four occasions, the memo says, and even signed off on by the second-ranking official at the Justice Department, Rod Rosenstein, whom Trump appointed as deputy attorney general.
Trump, however, tweeted from Florida, where he was spending the weekend, that the memo puts him in the clear.
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Police: Extreme-right gunman shoots 6 Africans in Italy
MILAN (AP) — An Italian gunman with extreme right-wing sympathies shot and wounded six African immigrants Saturday in a two-hour drive-by shooting spree, authorities said, terrorizing a small Italian city where a Nigerian man had been arrested days earlier in a teenager's gruesome killing.
Police photos showed the shooting suspect with a neo-Nazi tattoo prominently on his forehead as he sat in custody and an Italian flag tied around his neck as he was arrested in the central Italian city of Macerata,. Authorities identified him as Luca Traini, a 28-year-old Italian with no previous record.
Traini had run for town council on the anti-migrant Northern League's list in a local election last year in Corridonia, the party confirmed, but its mayoral candidate lost the race. The news agency ANSA quoted friends of his as saying that Traini had previously been affiliated with Italian extremist parties like the neo-fascist Forza Nuova and CasaPound.
The shooting spree came days after the slaying of 18-year-old Pamela Mastropietro and amid a heated electoral campaign in Italy where anti-foreigner sentiment has become a key theme. Italy has struggled with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants in the last few years coming across the Mediterranean Sea in smugglers' boats.
After the attack, Premier Paolo Gentiloni warned in Rome that "the state will be particularly severe against whoever thinks of feeding the spiral of violence."
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AP FACT CHECK: Trump's week of faulty claims
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump struck a variety of false notes in his big speech to Congress this past week and followed up with a curious coda — a plain-as-your-face exaggeration about the TV audience that tuned in for it.
A look at some of Trump's recent statements, from his State of the Union address and beyond:
TRUMP: "Thank you for all of the nice compliments and reviews on the State of the Union speech. 45.6 million people watched, the highest number in history." — tweet Wednesday.
THE FACTS: Not the highest in history. Trump's TV viewership as measured by Nielsen (45.6 million, as he said) trailed that for first State of the Union speeches by Barack Obama (48 million), George W. Bush (51.7 million) and Bill Clinton (46.8 million).
Trump also got more TV viewers in his first speech to Congress a year ago (47.7 million) than in his first State of the Union address Tuesday night.
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In drug crisis hotbed, hoping for action on Trump's words
CINCINNATI (AP) — President Donald Trump heads to Ohio on Monday to make Cincinnati-area stops focusing on the new tax overhaul — though some in a state with one of the nation's highest overdose rates would rather hear more about his plans for the drug crisis.
In Newtown, outside Cincinnati, Police Chief Tom Synan said he found Trump's comments on opioids in his State of the Union address to be "much of the same. There are very convincing words and there's yet to be very convincing actions."
Synan, a law enforcement representative on the Cincinnati-based Hamilton County Heroin Coalition, wrote a column recently for The Cincinnati Enquirer calling for more urgency in the national response.
Trump's declaration of a public health emergency in October, he wrote, hasn't been backed by more federal funding.
"We need that help to allow us to get to the next level," Synan said in an interview. "There are so many more things that could be done, so many more people we could help."
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Warren Buffett on hand as Navy commissions newest warship
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The U.S. Navy on Saturday commissioned its newest warship, the USS Omaha, a futuristic, $440 million vessel named for the Nebraska hometown of billionaire Warren Buffett, who was on hand for the ceremony.
The Omaha, a 218-foot-long littoral combat ship, was commissioned at its new home port in San Diego.
Buffett's daughter, Susie Buffett, who was designated as the ship's sponsor, gave the traditional order for officers and crew: "Man our ship and bring her to life."
"Aye, aye, ma'am," they replied and ran to the ship as a band struck up "Anchors Aweigh."
The aluminum-clad Omaha is designed for missions close to shore. It has high-tech computer capabilities and can be reconfigured for various missions, including anti-submarine warfare and anti-mine operations.
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Trump seized on what memo could mean even before reading it
WASHINGTON (AP) — Even before he'd read the memo, President Donald Trump seized on what it could mean.
The president first learned of the House Intelligence Committee document last month from some Republican allies in Congress and he watched it take hold in the conservative media, including on some of his favorite Fox News programs, according to seven White House officials and outside advisers.
The classified memo sent to the Oval Office by the committee's majority Republicans asserted that the FBI and Justice Department abused their surveillance powers to monitor the communications of a onetime Trump campaign associate. Trump told confidants in recent days that he believed the memo would validate his concerns that the "deep state" — an alleged shadowy network of powerful entrenched federal and military interests — had conspired to undermine the legitimacy of his presidency, according to one outside adviser.
That adviser and the others weren't authorized to publicly discuss private conversation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trump's decision to authorize the memo's public disclosure was extraordinary, yet part of a recent pattern. Like few of his predecessors, Trump has delivered repeated broadsides against intelligence and law enforcement agencies, working in tandem with some conservatives to lay the groundwork to either dismiss or discredit special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the Russia investigation.
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Uma Thurman levels accusations against Weinstein, Tarantino
NEW YORK (AP) — Actress Uma Thurman, in long-awaited remarks, accused disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of forcing himself on her sexually years ago in a London hotel room. Weinstein, through his attorney, acknowledged making an "awkward pass" but strongly denied any physical assault and suggested the possibility of legal action over her comments.
In a separate allegation in the same New York Times article on Saturday, Thurman also said "Kill Bill" director Quentin Tarantino during filming coerced her into driving a car that she believed to be faulty, resulting in injuries including a permanently damaged neck, a concussion and damage to her knees. A representative for Tarantino did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Thurman's allegations against Weinstein, who has been accused of rape, assault or other sexual misconduct by scores of women, had been widely anticipated since she hinted late last year that she had a story to tell but wanted to wait until she was less angry. Her story came in an interview with Times columnist Maureen Dowd.
"I used the word 'anger,' but I was more worried about crying, to tell you the truth," Thurman was quoted as saying. "I was not a groundbreaker on a story I knew to be true. So what you really saw was a person buying time."
Thurman said that an early encounter with Weinstein in a Paris hotel room in the 1990s ended with him suddenly appearing in a bathrobe and leading her to a steam room but that she did not feel threatened. She said that the first "attack" — the word appears in quotes — happened later in London.
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Ryan tweets about a $1.50 paycheck boost, then deletes it
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Paul Ryan has highlighted on Twitter a school secretary benefiting from the Republican tax overhaul, then deleted the tweet after online criticism that he is cheering an increase of $1.50 a week.
The Associated Press reported on Thursday that changes in tax withholding were sparking bigger paychecks, citing as one example Julia Ketchum of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, whose check went up $1.50 a week.
Ryan on Saturday posted a Tweet noting the secretary's increase and linking to the AP story. He has posted several other examples of worker pay increases and bonuses since the overhaul, some as much as $1,000.
Ryan's spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Poland's top politician: Holocaust bill is 'misunderstood'
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The powerful leader of Poland's ruling party said Saturday that the president should approve a divisive bill that criminalizes certain statements about the Holocaust.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski told Poland's state radio that the bill — which has ignited a bitter dispute with Israel — is being misunderstood.
It penalizes anyone who blames Poles as a nation for the World War II crimes committed by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland. Some six million Polish citizens, half of them Jews, were killed under the Nazi occupation, in death camps, ghettos, prisons and other circumstances.
Although the bill exempts artistic and research work, Israel and the United States say the proposed law would infringe on free speech about the Holocaust.
Kaczynski said the bill "is being interpreted totally wrong." He said it penalizes accusing Poles as a nation but not "someone who says that somewhere, in some village, some place, a Jewish family or one Jewish person was murdered."
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Brady wins MVP, Rams get 3 awards, Allen comeback player
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — For the third time, Tom Brady is the NFL's Most Valuable Player.
Now he goes for his sixth Super Bowl title, and perhaps with it a fifth MVP trophy for the NFL championship.
Brady added The Associated Press 2017 NFL MVP award Saturday night at NFL Honors to his wins in 2007 and 2010. The New England Patriots quarterback was joined as an honoree by three Los Angeles Rams: Coach of the Year Sean McVay, Offensive Player of the Year running back Todd Gurley and Defensive Player of the Year tackle Aaron Donald.
Other winners in voting by a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the league were Los Angeles Chargers receiver Keenan Allen as Comeback Player; New Orleans running back Alvin Kamara and cornerback Marshon Lattimore as top offensive and defensive rookies, respectively; and former Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, now head coach of the New York Giants, as Assistant Coach of the Year.
Brady is the second the player in the four major professional sports to win MVP at age 40; Barry Bonds won baseball's award in 2004.
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