SANTA PAULA, Calif. (AP) – Officials say two people have been killed after a homebuilt airplane crashed into a shed outside the Southern California city of Santa Paula.
Ventura County fire Capt. Stan Ziegler says the two-seat aircraft went down Saturday afternoon. It was a clear and sunny day.
He says the two people were pronounced dead when firefighters got to the scene less than a mile from Santa Paula Airport.
Santa Paula is roughly 65 miles (105 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the plane was a homebuilt Vans RV-6A that caught fire after it went down.
Gregor says the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders blamed each other for the deaths of at least 16 Palestinians who were part of a mass protest along the Gaza border, with each side lobbing threats of escalating the violence.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel was “fully responsible” for killing his countrymen on Friday, and a video appearing to show an unarmed teenager being gunned down by Israeli sniper fire circulated on Palestinian media.
The Israeli army argued that Gazan militants were using civilian protesters as cover as they fired at soldiers and tried to lay explosives near the border fence. The protest, which peaked at 30,000 participants on Friday and will run for the next six weeks, is “an organized terrorist operation,” the Israeli army said in a tweet on Saturday.
“What we saw yesterday were attempts to launch rockets, attempts to carry out live attacks, Molotov cocktails, attempts to set fire to the security fence, and a lot of terrorist activity,” the Israel Defense Force said in separate tweets. “Nothing was carried out uncontrolled; everything was accurate and measured, and we know where every bullet landed. We are only interested in terrorists who are trying to disrupt Israeli life; we only act against them.”
The army said at least 10 of the dead were known militants, giving their names, organizations and positions. Hamas said five of them were members of its military wing. The army warned it would increase its response if the violence continues.
Increased Force
Abbas said Palestinians needed international protection from Israel, and U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an independent inquiry into Friday’s deaths. Overnight Saturday, the U.S. blocked a U.N. Security Council resolution blasting the Israeli response in Gaza and calling for an investigation.
The protests come amid growing tensions over President Donald Trump’s December recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, as well as a yet-to-be-released U.S. peace plan that Abbas has already pledged to reject. Abbas severed all official Palestinian contact with the White House in December after Trump announced plans to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
Hamas planned the protests against the Palestinian displacement resulting from Israel’s founding in 1948 to culminate with the date of U.S. embassy move. The demonstrations began Friday with tent camps set up a half-mile from Gaza’s 25-mile (40-kilometer) frontier with Israel. The climax is to come in mid-May with a mass march to the border, which Israel fears will become an attempt to breach its territory.
Protest Escalates
Hamas leaders presented the initiative as a peaceful effort, though they conceded that it could get out of hand. The army said riots broke out at five locations along the border. Palestinian eyewitnesses said that in one spot, about 90 people cut through the security fence and confronted soldiers, with many being shot in the legs. Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said 16 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,400 injured Friday, while another three Palestinians were hurt in continued skirmishes Saturday.
Violence against Israel has surged in recent weeks. Palestinians, who want the eastern part of Jerusalem as their own capital, have been storming the Gaza fence and planting bombs targeting Israeli soldiers, drawing retaliatory fire and air strikes. At least five Israelis have been killed in stabbing and car-ramming attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank in recent weeks.
‘Hostile March’
Jason Greenblatt, who is helping spearhead the U.S. peace effort, accused Hamas of instigating a “hostile march” to spark a confrontation.
“Hamas should focus instead on desperately needed improvements to the lives of Palestinians in Gaza instead of inciting violence against Israel that only increases hardship and undermines chances for peace,” Greenblatt tweeted.
Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, appearing at the tent camps Friday, presented the march as a rebuke to the U.S. peace effort and said it marks the beginning of the Palestinian return to all of what is now Israel.
“The Great March of Return is a message to Trump that his deal and all those who support it, that there is no concession on Jerusalem, no alternative to Palestine, and no solution but to return,” Haniyeh said. The Palestinians “will not agree to keep the ‘Right of Return’ only as a slogan.”
Israel views the demand for a mass return of Palestinians as a bid to eradicate Israel as a Jewish state.
The Gaza protests correspond with red-letter dates on the Palestinian calendar. Friday was “Land Day,” marking the 1976 killing of six Arab citizens by Israeli security forces during demonstrations against land expropriations. It’s also the beginning of the week-long Jewish Passover holiday.
The main march to the fence on May 15 will commemorate the Palestinian “Nakba,” or the catastrophe of their displacement at Israel’s founding. It takes place a day after the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem is slated to open, on the 70th anniversary of Israel’s independence. Ramadan, the Muslim holy fasting month that often sees a surge in Palestinian attacks, also begins May 15.
Media captionMalala YousafzaI: “My focus is only working for the good”
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai has returned to her hometown in Pakistan for the first time since she was shot there by Taliban militants, security officials say.
Ms Yousafzai, 20, was shot in the head by a gunman for campaigning for female education in 2012.
Her family’s home region of Swat was once a militant stronghold, and she was attacked on a school bus there at 15.
It had been unclear if she would visit the area because of security concerns.
On Thursday, it was announced that Ms Yousafzai had returned from the UK to Pakistan for the first time since she was attacked.
Ms Yousafzai delivered an emotional speech at the prime minister’s office in Islamabad:
“Always it has been my dream that I should go to Pakistan and there, in peace and without any fear, I can move on streets, I can meet people, I can talk to people.
“And I think that it’s my old home again… so it is actually happening, and I am grateful to all of you.”
Her trip to Pakistan is expected to last four days. Officials from her Malala Fund group are travelling with her, local media report.
Why was she attacked?
At the age of 11, Ms Yousafzai began writing an anonymous diary for BBC Urdu about her life under Taliban rule. A documentary film was made about her in 2009.
She soon became a vocal advocate of female education amid militant suppression in Pakistan, and was deliberately attacked on a school bus in October 2012 by Islamist militants. Malala’s story brought international attention.
The Pakistani Taliban said at the time that they had shot her because she was “pro-West” and “promoting Western culture in Pashtun areas”.
Image copyright University Hospitals Birmingham
Image caption
After initial surgery in Pakistan for her injuries in 2012, she was transferred to the UK for her recovery
The teenager sustained life-threatening injuries in the attack, and had to have part of her skull removed to relieve swelling on her brain.
After receiving emergency treatment at a military hospital in Pakistan, she was transported to the UK for further treatment and to recover in Birmingham, where her family continue to live.
What has she done since?
Since her recovery, Ms Yousafzai has continued to speak up for children’s education and rights around the world.
She set up the Malala Fund with her father Ziauddin, with the goal of “working for a world where every girl can learn and lead without fear”.
In 2014 she became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She and Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi were jointly awarded it for their efforts for children’s rights.
She has continued campaigning while pursuing her studies, and is now reading Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University.
Lake, who did not fire his gun but helped wrestle Sterling to the ground, was suspended for three days. Lake’s attorney, Kyle Kershaw, said his client wants to return to his patrol job in Baton Rouge after his brief suspension.
Scott Pruitt’s unusual housing arrangement during much of last year — when he paid a lobbyist a modest sum each night for staying in a Capitol Hill condo she co-owned — has generated a new round of scrutiny about the financial decisions of the Environmental Protection Agency administrator.
Pruitt paid $50 for each night that he physically stayed in the condo, which sits a stone’s throw from the Capitol and is co-owned by health-care lobbyist Vicki Hart. According to people familiar with the arrangement, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly, Pruitt initially approached her husband, lawyer J. Steven Hart, about staying there during his confirmation process in 2017 and then extended the terms of the arrangement through last July.
The discounted housing arrangement, coupled with the fact that Pruitt’s regular travel to his home in Tulsa last year was covered by taxpayers, sparked immediate criticism and caused some discomfort among White House officials.
Collectively, according to EPA officials, Pruitt paid $6,100 to stay in the condo for roughly six months. Details initially were reported by ABC News and Bloomberg. The former also reported that Pruitt’s daughter had stayed in the condo, which The Washington Post independently confirmed.
Hart is chairman and chief executive of the law firm Williams Jensen and lobbies on energy, transportation, trade, tax and entertainment industry issues. Oklahoma public records show he and his wife donated $1,750 to Pruitt during his campaign for state attorney general. The records also show that the lawyer paid for a Pruitt fundraiser — a value of $1,616.43 — in fall 2014.
Hart said in an interview Friday that he “had no lobbying contact with EPA in 2017 or 2018” and that his firm was correcting a federal lobbying report that identified him as working for an entity with an interest in EPA regulation.
In an emailed statement, he described the rental as “a market-based, short-term lease for a condo owned partially by my wife. … I am an Oklahoman. Pruitt is a casual friend, but I have had no contact with him for many months except for a brief pass-by at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2018.”
Vicki Hart said in a separate statement Friday afternoon that she was not aware that Pruitt’s daughter might have been living in one of the condo’s rooms. “The rental agreement was with Scott Pruitt. If other people were using the bedroom or the living quarters, I was never told, and I never gave him permission to do that,” she said, adding that if true, Pruitt would owe additional rent.
Though the condo lacked some of the amenities of traditional rentals, such as a full kitchen or phone line, $50 per night is an exceedingly good deal for a prime location near the Capitol. According to the website Inside Airbnb, which compiles data from rentals on the lodging site, the average price of a private room in a D.C. home is $113 per night. In the Capitol Hill neighborhood where Pruitt was, the average is $142 per night.
EPA officials have argued that the rental did not constitute a gift or represent a conflict of interest. On Friday evening, the agency released a brief memo from its principal deputy general counsel — dated March 30 — that said its ethics office had reviewed Pruitt’s lease. He paid a “reasonable market value” for the condo space, given that the $50-a-night rate would have amounted to $1,500 a month had he occupied it full time, the attorney wrote.
In addition, the memo states that the lease “authorized use by the Administrator and his immediate family, specifically including his spouse and children.” Ultimately, “the lease was consistent with federal ethics regulations.”
At one point during his stay, agents in Pruitt’s security detail broke an exterior door at the condo after he had gone home sick and was not responding to calls, according to individuals familiar with the March 2017 incident. The EPA ultimately reimbursed the condo association $2,460 for the cost of the wood and glass door.
Pruitt repeatedly commuted home to Tulsa at taxpayer expense during this period. Between March and May 2017, an analysis of federal records by the Environmental Integrity Project showed he traveled for a total of 48 out of 92 days, and 43 of those travel days were spent in Oklahoma or heading to or from his home state.
J. Steven Hart is a personal friend and former colleague of Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, a former Williams Jensen attorney who was a top Pruitt deputy before succeeding him. The firm represents Oklahoma Gas Electric and received $400,000 for its work last year, according to EIP. The company is lobbying to scale back Barack Obama-era EPA rules limiting greenhouse-gas emissions from existing power plants.
Hart said he did not work on the Oklahoma Gas Electric account, and while his firm had two meetings with Pruitt since he joined Trump’s Cabinet, “I was not aware of them,” he said.
The lawyer represents multiple firms and organizations, including the Houston-based Cheniere Energy Inc. and the American Automotive Policy Council. Cheniere also is one of the few exporters of liquefied natural gas in the United States. Last December, Pruitt spent part of a visit to Morocco promoting U.S. natural gas exports.
Environmentalist activists are urging EPA’s inspector general to investigate his early living arrangement in Washington.
“Scott Pruitt sees no ethical problem getting favors from or doing favors for the industry interests who have helped bankroll his political career and are now lobbying him to roll back public-health safeguards,” Environmental Defense Fund Vice President Jeremy Symons said in a statement Friday. “We call on the EPA’s inspector general, who is already investigating Mr. Pruitt in three other cases, to immediately launch an investigation into gifts from lobbyists to Administrator Scott Pruitt in the form of deeply discounted living quarters.”
Since last summer, Pruitt’s housing costs have escalated dramatically.
After leaving the Capitol Hill condo co-owned by Vicki Hart in July, Pruitt moved to a one-bedroom apartment in an upscale complex in the U Street neighborhood, according to an official with knowledge of the move. One-bedroom units in the building run about $3,000 to $3,500 monthly.
Several months later, he moved again, signing another lease in a new luxury apartment complex back on Capitol Hill. One-bedroom apartments in the building, which is owned by a large development company, start at about $3,100 per month and go to nearly $4,500.
All the while, Pruitt has maintained his primary residence in Tulsa. The 5,518-square-foot mansion is valued at $1,180,000, according to property records.
Oklahoma public records and Pruitt’s federal financial disclosures show that he and his wife purchased the house in early 2012, securing an $850,000 mortgage. At his current interest rate, Pruitt would be paying nearly $5,500 monthly on his mortgage and property taxes.
The details about Pruitt’s unusual living arrangements are the latest in a series of disclosures about his spending habits. The Post has documented Pruitt’s extensive first-class travels on foreign and domestic trips during his first year in the administration. The EPA has attributed the elevated costs to security precautions undertaken because of the number of threats Pruitt has received — especially compared to his immediate predecessors — since joining the Cabinet in February 2017.
But records show that the administrator’s dozens of first-class flights and upscale hotel stays have meant big bills for taxpayers. For instance, a two-week stretch of travel in June by Pruitt and his aides cost more than $120,000, according to records obtained by The Post and EIP under the Freedom of Information Act. Another batch of expenditures recently released to a House oversight committee detailed at least an additional $68,000 in premium travel costs for Pruitt since August. Those figures do not include expenses for the personal security detail and aides who typically accompany him.
In addition, The Post has detailed how Pruitt’s office spent $43,000 on a private, soundproof phone booth for the administrator’s office last year — $25,000 on the custom-made booth and another $18,000 on prepping the space for it, including pouring a two-foot-thick concrete slab.
President Trump has been bothered by the bad headlines Pruitt’s ethical controversies have generated, but so far he is standing by the environmental chief, White House officials said.
Trump holds Pruitt in higher regard than other Cabinet secretaries who have come under fire, such as just-ousted Veterans Affairs secretary David Shulkin. That has helped Pruitt weather the storms so far, the officials said.
One adviser familiar with the president’s thinking said Trump admires Pruitt because he considers him an ideological warrior fighting to advance the president’s agenda and is loath to dismiss him and interrupt his work on such issues as deregulation.
Philip Rucker and Julie Tate contributed to this report.
Two Assange supporters — the English rock musician Brian Eno and the Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis — speculated that Ecuador was reacting to tweets in which Mr. Assange criticized the Spanish government’s detention of Catalan separatists and the recent arrest, in Germany, of the separatist leader Carles Puigdemont. They called efforts to isolate Mr. Assange “appalling.”
This was not the first time Ecuador had cut off Mr. Assange: It did so in October 2016, saying it feared being sucked into efforts to interfere in the American election.
Mr. Assange went to the embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning about rape allegations. Sweden dropped that inquiry last May, saying that too much time had passed.
But Mr. Assange still faces a British charge for skipping bail and, more pressingly, fears being arrested and deported to the United States. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fueled such fears last year when he said that arresting Mr. Assange was “a priority.”
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Mr. Assange, a 46-year-old native of Australia, has long been an irritant for the British authorities. A junior foreign minister, Alan Duncan, told members of Parliament this week, “It’s about time that this miserable little worm walked out of the embassy and gave himself up to British justice.”
Now, the patience of his Ecuadorean hosts appears to be wearing thin as well.
Ecuador’s foreign minister, María Fernanda Espinosa, said Wednesday that officials would meet in London next week with Mr. Assange’s lawyers to explore additional measures that Ecuador might take in connection what she called Mr. Assange’s “noncompliance” with his agreement not to meddle in foreign affairs.
“We are evaluating the measures with our lawyers,” she said. “We will explore what are the alternatives that allow us the framework of international law and our own legislation and Ecuadorean Constitution.”
She added, “The most important thing is that Ecuador maintains a dialogue with the United Kingdom to find a definitive and lasting solution to this situation that the current government has inherited.”
Her remarks alluded to the distaste that Ecuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, has expressed toward Mr. Assange. Although it was Mr. Moreno’s government that gave Mr. Assange citizenship, the president appeared to have done so reluctantly, and mainly out of respect for his predecessor and ally, Rafael Correa.
Image caption
Distraught relatives gathered outside the police station
Rioting and a fire at a police station in the the Venezuelan city of Valencia, in Carabobo State, have left 68 people dead, government officials say.
Chief State Prosecutor Tarek Saab said an investigation into what had happened would begin immediately.
The blaze reportedly started after prisoners set fire to mattresses in an attempt to break out on Wednesday.
Police used tear gas to disperse relatives who surrounded the station after news of the fire broke.
State official Jesus Santander confirmed a police officer had been shot in the aftermath of the blaze, which has been brought under control.
He said the state of Carabobo was in mourning after the incident.
A tragedy never far away?
By Will Grant, BBC News Latin America Correspondent
Even by Venezuela’s prison standards, where conditions are among the worst in the world, this was a huge fire with devastating consequences.
Families, desperate for news, gathered outside the facility in Valencia, only to be repelled by police who fired tear gas on the crowd.
Inside, scores of inmates had been killed, many from smoke inhalation.
At this stage, the official version suggests the fire was started deliberately, as a riot took hold.
The government of President Nicolas Maduro has said a full investigation will begin immediately. However, for the loved ones outside, it is a time of grief and anguish.
Image copyright Reuters
Very few clear explanations from the authorities have been given and figures as to the number of dead continue to rise.
There have been several serious fires and riots in Venezuelan jails over the past decade. However, human rights NGOs say, given the severe overcrowding and inhumane conditions in the South American nation’s prison system, a tragedy of this magnitude was never far away.
Some women and children who were visiting inmates are thought to be among the dead.
Venezuela country profile
Venezuela’s prisons are notoriously overcrowded, with violence and deadly riots are common.
Image copyright Reuters
Image caption
Relatives and local people surrounded police cars at the scene, desperate for information
The country has struggled to accommodate its prisoners amidst an ongoing economic crisis, leading to convicts being held at temporary facilities such as the one in Valencia.
Carlos Nieto, head of the association Una Ventana a la Libertad (A Window on Freedom), says some police facilities are overfilled at five times their capacity.
Last month inmates at a different prison in Carabobo took a number of prisoners and guards hostage in another riot.
WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) – The internal watchdog at the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday he is launching a review into allegations by Republican lawmakers that the FBI made serious missteps when it sought a warrant to monitor a former adviser to President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign.
Michael Horowitz, the department’s inspector general, said in a statement his review will examine whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department followed proper procedures when they applied for a warrant with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to secretly conduct surveillance on Carter Page and his ties to Russia.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions told reporters last month he planned to ask Horowitz to investigate the alleged surveillance abuses.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz
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The allegations were outlined in a memo commissioned by U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes and declassified for public release by Trump, over the objections of Justice Department officials and Democrats on the panel.
The Republican memo claims that the FBI used in part a dossier compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to justify the warrant, and failed to disclose to the court that Steele was employed by a firm funded by Democrats to do opposition research on Trump’s business dealings.
The FBI staunchly opposed the public release of the memo at the time, saying there were “material omissions of fact.”
Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have since released their own memo, accusing Republicans of deliberately omitting facts in an effort to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia.
The Democrats concluded that the Justice Department did not engage in misconduct when applying for the warrant.
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Democrat Jerrold Nadler said it is a “shame” that Horowitz must devote resources to probe a “conspiracy theory.”
Trump lambasted Sessions in late February for referring the Republican memo to Horowitz for investigation. The president wrote in a tweet: “Why is A.G. Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate massive FISA abuse? Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey, etc.”
Trump’s tweet mischaracterized the role inspector generals play in investigating alleged misconduct inside federal agencies, and it prompted Sessions to issue a sharp rebuttal defending his decision.
Jeff Sessions through the years:
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions pauses at a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, U.S., March 2, 2017.
(REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)
Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama arrives at Trump Tower for meetings with President-elect Donald Trump works from home November 15, 2016. Making the vital choices for President-elect Donald Trump’s White House cabinet has sparked intense infighting, CNN reported Monday, with one source calling it a ‘knife fight.’ The jobs to be filled include national security positions and West Wing posts, the television news network said, as Trump gathered with transition team members in New York.
(TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)
President-elect Donald Trump greets Senator Jeff Sessions, Trump’s picks for attorney general, during a thank you rally in Ladd-Peebles Stadium on December 17, 2016 in Mobile, Alabama. President-elect Trump has been visiting several states that he won, to thank people for their support during the U.S. election.
(Photo by Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images)
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., right, and Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., nominee for attorney general, talk near the Ohio Clock after a meeting in the Capitol, November 30, 2016.
(Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Attorney General-designate, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., speaks during a ‘USA Thank You Tour 2016’ event at the LaddPeebles Stadium in Mobile, AL on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016.
(Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Senator Jeff Sessions, attorney general pick for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, right, listens as Senator Charles ‘Chuck’ Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, speaks during a meeting in Washington, D.C., U.S, on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016. Sessions, the 69-year-old, four-term Alabama Republican is a hard-liner on free trade and immigration, arguing that prospective immigrants don’t have constitutional protections.
(Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
US President-elect Donald Trump (C) talks with Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (2nd L) and US Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions (L) as he arrives in Mobile, Alabama, for a ‘Thank You Tour 2016’ rally on December 17, 2016.
(JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
Mike Pence, 2016 Republican vice presidential nominee, left, and Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, gesture during a campaign event for Donald Trump, 2016 Republican presidential nominee, not pictured, in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016. Trump returned to form in Phoenix Wednesday night with a nativist immigration plan definitively ruling out legal status for undocumented immigrants, as well as proposing to build a wall on the southern border of the United States and forcing Mexico to cover the cost.
(Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
MADISON, AL – FEBRUARY 28: United States Senator Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, beomes the first Senator to endorse Donald Trump for President of the United States at Madison City Stadium on February 28, 2016 in Madison, Alabama.
(Photo by Taylor Hill/WireImage)
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)(L) speaks during a Senate Budget Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, February 3, 2015 in Washington, DC. The committee is hearing testimony Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan on President Obamas FY2016 budget request. Also pitcured are (L-R), Chairman Michael Enzi (R-WY), Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sen. Rob Poertman (R-OH).
(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) (2nd L) speaks as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) (L), and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) (R) listen during a news conference September 9, 2014 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The legislators discussed on immigration reform during the news conference.
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
House Budget Chairman, Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-AL., and members of the House Budget Committee during the House Budget Committee’s news conference on the ‘Introduction of the FY2013 Budget – Pathway to Prosperity.’
(Photo By Douglas Graham/Roll Call)
Sens. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., left, and Mike Lee, R-Utah, leave the Capitol en route to a news conference to oppose the immigration reform bill in the Senate.
(Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli performs during the National Prayer Breakfast as First Lady Michelle Obama (L), US President Barack Obama (2nd L) and Senator Jeff Sessions (3rd L), R-AL, watch on February 7, 2013 at a hotel in Washington, DC.
(MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-AL., talks with Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA., as they make their way to the Senate policy luncheons through the Senate subway in the U.S. Capitol on September 17, 2013.
(Photo By Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call)
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., is interviewed by the press during the weekly Senate policy luncheons. The Senate vote will this afternoon on Obama’s small-business tax relief legislation.
(Photo by Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call)
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., speaks at the ‘Iran Democratic Transition Conference,’ hosted by the Institute of World Politics in Capitol Visitor Center. The conference explored the prospects of political change in Iran.
(Photo By Tom Williams/Roll Call)
US President Barack Obama (C) signs the Fair Sentencing Act in the Oval Office of the White House, on August 3, 2010 in Washington, DC. The law will aim to correct the disparities between crack and powder cocaine sentencing. Also in the picture (L to R); Attorney General Eric Holder, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Democratic Representative Bobby Scott of Virginia, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and Democratic Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas. Previously, people in possession of powder cocaine could carry up to one hundred times more grams than crack offenders and receive the same sentence.
(Photo by Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images)
U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan (L) shakes hands with Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) (R), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, while Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) looks on, after she arrived for the first day of her confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill June 28, 2010 in Washington, DC. Kagan is U.S. President Barack Obama’s second Supreme Court nominee since taking office.
(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
The new co chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Senator Jeff Sessions (D-AL) works in his office on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning May 02, 2009. Sen. Sessions speaks to Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) before visiting with US Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
(The Washington Post via Getty Images)
US President Barack Obama (3rd-R) and Vice President Joe Biden (3rd-L) meet with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (2nd-R) ,D-NV, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (2nd-L),R-KY, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (R) ,D-VT, and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (L),R-AL, about the upcoming Supreme Court nomination on May 13, 2009 at the White House in Washington, DC.
(TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) (R) listens as ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) (L) questions Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor during the second day of her confirmation hearings July 14, 2009 in Washington, DC. Sotomayor faces a full day of questioning from Senators on the committee today. Sotomayor, an appeals court judge and U.S. President Barack Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee, will become the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court if confirmed.
(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
US President George W. Bush (L) listens as Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions (R) speaks during a Republican fundraiser for Sessions at the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center in Mobile, Alabama, 21 June 2007.
(SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
US President George W. Bush (2R) waves as he stands with First Lady Laura Bush (R), Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions (2L) and his wife Mary (L) after a Republican fundraiser for Sessions at the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center in Mobile, Alabama, 21 June 2007.
(SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
Baghdad, IRAQ: US Senators Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska, (L) and Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, speak to the media after meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad, 28 April 2007. Maliki told a delegation of visiting US lawmakers today that foreign powers should not try to influence the Iraqi political process. He also resisted calls for his Shiite-led government to rehabilitate former members of ousted Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime. Maliki met a group of US congressmen shortly after their chamber voted for a law calling for a timetable for American troop withdrawal from Iraq.
(KHALID MOHAMMED/AFP/Getty Images)
U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions, R-AL, (C) speaks with the media as (L-R) U.S. Senator George Allen (R-VA), U.S. Representative David Dreier (R-CA) and U.S. Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) listen at the White House after participating in a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush on March 16, 2006 in Washington, DC. Senators from various states, including U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA), participated in a line item veto legislation meeting.
(Photo by Dennis Brack-Pool/Getty Images)
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., during a news conference after the Senate took a step Wednesday toward the ‘security first’ approach to immigration control promoted in the House, paving the way for action on legislation that would require construction of 700 miles of double-layered fencing along segments of the U.S. border with Mexico. Despite Democratic charges that Republicans were moving the bill (HR 6061) to score political points seven weeks before Election Day, the Senate voted 94-0 to limit debate on a motion to proceed to formal consideration of the measure. The bill (HR 6061), which would also authorize a ‘virtual fence’ of sensors, cameras, unmanned aerial vehicles and other surveillance technology along the entire southwest border, was passed by the House last week. Three more targeted border security and internal immigration enforcement measures are set for House action, possibly as early as Thursday. Frist supported an earlier Senate comprehensive bill that would offer a path to citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants. Sessions did not; he considers that aspect of the bill amnesty.
(Photo by Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)
U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) (L), speaks with U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) during a Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Alberto R. Gonzales January 6, 2005 in Washington, DC. U.S. President George W. Bush has nominated Gonzales to be the U.S. Attorney General.
(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., in his office in the Russell Senate Office Building.
(Photo by Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Senator-elect Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., talk in the Ohio Clock Corridor during the election meeting for Senate Republican leadership.
(Photo by Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)
Sen. Jeff Sessions at a hearing to examine ‘President Clinton’s Eleventh Hour Pardons.’
(Photo By Tom Williams/Roll Call/Getty Images)
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Horowitz was sworn into his post in 2012 during the Obama administration, and previously served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission under Republican President George W. Bush.
A still non-public report by Horowitz accusing former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe of lack of candor was used recently as the basis for Sessions to fire McCabe on March 16, less than two days before he was set to retire.
Despite Trump’s prior concerns with letting Horowitz investigate the alleged surveillance abuses outlined by Republicans, the president cheered the decision to terminate McCabe, calling it on Twitter a “great day for Democracy.” (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; editing by James Dalgleish and David Gregorio)
The grandmother of an unarmed black man killed by Sacramento police is calling for changes in the way police confront suspects. Sequita Thompson said Monday police didn’t need to shoot and kill 22-year-old Stephon Clark in a darkened backyard. (March 26) AP
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Protesters disrupted a meeting Tuesday of the Sacramento City Council held to accommodate residents wanting to discuss the shooting death of an unarmed black man by police.
Stephon Clark, 22, was fatally shot by police March 18 in his grandmother’s backyard. Officers said they initially thought he had a gun. He was holding a cellphone.
At Tuesday’s packed council meeting, Clark’s brother Stevante Clark jumped on the dais and demanded to speak, saying he didn’t think the council would make meaningful changes as a result of his brother’s death.
The council adjourned for roughly 15 minutes as a result of the disruption.
Protesters outside of City Hall forced their way into the atrium as metal detectors fell down.
Protesters later moved to Golden 1 Center, blocking the entrances to the arena. The Sacramento Kings were scheduled to play the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night.
The Kings released a statement saying the game would be delayed and the arena entrances were “temporarily closed.”
“Stand-by for further instructions as we coordinate safe entry to the building. We apologize for the inconvenience,” the statement said.
The game started a few minutes after the scheduled time,but the 17,600-seat arena was sparsely populated.
Earlier Tuesday, the California attorney general’s office said it is joining an investigation into the fatal shooting to provide independent oversight.
Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn announced the partnership Tuesday alongside Attorney General Xavier Becerra. He said he hopes it will build “faith and confidence” in the investigation.
Stephon Clark’s family said they are skeptical that there will be a proper investigation – even with the state attorney general involved. Clark’s uncle, Curtis Gordon, says the family will wait to see what results. He says it’s all talk at this point.
President Emmanuel Macron of France lashed out at the approach on Tuesday, saying he was frustrated by the seemingly coercive negotiation tactics coming from Washington.
“We talk about everything, in principle, with a friendly country that respects the rules of the W.T.O.,” Mr. Macron said. “We talk about nothing, in principle, when it is with a gun to our head.”
The implications in the United States will depend on how well Mr. Trump and his allies are able to sell the deal’s direct benefits to voters in midterm elections in the fall. They did not succeed in doing so in a recent special election in Pennsylvania, where a Democrat won in a district that should have been especially receptive to Mr. Trump’s argument about trade and tariffs.
Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist, said the president’s political team “must get on the ground and make sure working people understand the direct economic benefits that come from these measures — get it from being academic to simple.”
The deal with South Korea, he said, “is a big victory resulting from the president’s smart tariff policies.”
The agreement is also a victory for a president whose most ardent campaign supporters were animated in part by a promise that Mr. Trump would fight for them against an international free-trade establishment that they believe had robbed them of jobs and depressed their wages.
As a candidate, Mr. Trump had repeatedly threatened to withdraw from trade deals he said were unfair to the United States and its workers — or even rip them up. Even as recently as last September, associates of the president made it clear that he was willing to withdraw from trade negotiations with South Korea if he thought the result would be unfair.
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Mr. Trump has also made clear his disdain for the multicountry trade agreements that the United States has long championed. One of his first moves as president was to pull out of what was then the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement that President Barack Obama had helped solidify.
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On Tuesday, supporters of Mr. Trump’s protectionist approach to trade cheered the new pact as a victory for American workers and the dawn of a new era in globalization.
“The agreement with South Korea to better level the playing field on steel and autos is an encouraging sign that the administration’s trade strategy is achieving results,” said Scott N. Paul, the president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing. “We believe the deal’s steel provision will be as effective as a tariff in achieving the goals of strengthening our domestic industry and ensuring it can supply America’s security needs.”
Through the agreement, South Korea — the third-biggest exporter of steel to the United States in 2016 — is permanently exempt from the White House’s global tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum imports. In return, South Korea agreed to adhere to a quota of 2.68 million tons of steel exports to the United States a year, which it said was roughly equivalent to 70 percent of its annual average sent to the United States from 2015 to 2017.
The deal also doubles the number of vehicles the United States can export to South Korea without meeting local safety requirements to 50,000 per manufacturer. However, trade experts said that American companies had not come close to meeting their existing quota last year, and that American carmakers had not done enough to tailor their products for South Korean consumers, who prefer smaller vehicles. The revised agreement does ease environmental regulations that American carmakers face when selling vehicles in South Korea and makes American standards for auto parts compliant with South Korean regulations.
Importantly for the Trump administration, the agreement extends tariffs on imported South Korean trucks by 20 years to 2041. Those tariffs were set to phase out in 2021, which officials said would have harmed American truck makers.
The deal will also establish a side agreement between the United States and South Korea that is intended to deter “competitive devaluation” of both countries’ currencies — which can artificially lower the cost of imports bought by consumers — and to create more transparency on issues of monetary policy. Administration officials suggested that this new type of arrangement was likely to be replicated in other trade deals, though they acknowledged that it was not enforceable.
Senior White House officials trumpeted the addition of the currency provision to the negotiations, which would seek to prevent South Korea from reducing the value of its currency to make its goods cheaper abroad and export more to the United States. In a report published in October, the Treasury Department declined to label South Korea a currency manipulator, but placed it on a “monitoring list” for its currency practices and large trade surplus with the United States.
However, the effect of the currency agreement may be mostly symbolic, since it was signed in a side deal to the pact to avoid a lengthy legislative approval process. Unlike other provisions of the official agreement, the currency provision is not enforceable through panels that typically settle disputes, or through officially sanctioned retaliation, the usual method for policing trade deals.
The Obama administration had fought for a similar currency provision to be included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
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On automobiles, the biggest source of trade tensions between the countries, the negotiation delivered modest victories that were likely to be welcomed by American carmakers who have long sought to sell more cars in South Korea. It also smoothed customs and regulatory procedures that American businesses say have made it harder to sell goods in the country.
