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US, France and Germany join Britain in saying Russia likely responsible for chemical attack against former spy

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LONDON — The United States and two major European allies on Thursday formally backed Britain’s claims that Russia was likely responsible for a chemical toxin attack against a former spy living in England, calling it the “first offensive use of a nerve agent” in Europe since World War II.

The joint statement from the leaders of France, Germany, the United States and Britain signaled another step in mounting international pressure on Russia over apparent ties to the assault.

The statement said the four nations shared the view of British investigators of Russian ties to last week’s attack against a former double agent and his daughter.

There was no “plausible alternative explanation,” the statement added, noting that Russia’s “failure to address the legitimate request by the U.K. government further underlines its responsibility.”

“It is an assault on U.K. sovereignty and any such use by a state party is a clear violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and a breach of international law,” said the statement, released by the office of the British prime minister.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, right, Wiltshire Police’s Chief Constable Kier Pritchard, center, and MP for Salisbury and South Wiltshire John Glen visit the scene visited by Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia before they were found on a nearby bench on March 15, 2018 in Salisbury, England. (Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

“It threatens the security of us all,” it added, without spelling out any possible further reprisals by the United Kingdom and its allies.

The next move in the deepening standoff could come from Moscow.

Russia promised Thursday to respond “very soon” to Britain’s decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Britain made the move in response to the use of an alleged Russian nerve agent against a former Russian spy last week in the quiet town of Salisbury in southern England.

“The answer will come very soon, I assure you,” Lavrov said. “You know that we as polite people will first communicate this response to our British colleagues.”

On Thursday afternoon, British Prime Minister Theresa May made her first appearance in Salisbury since the attack, speaking there with officials and local residents.

“We do hold Russia culpable for this brazen, brazen act and despicable act that’s taken place on the streets of what is such a remarkable city,” she told the BBC.

Russia has been relatively slow to react to May’s announcement Wednesday that Britain would take action against Russia after Moscow ignored an ultimatum to explain how an alleged Russian nerve agent came to be used on British soil.

Moscow responded to the ultimatum with scorn and sarcasm, ultimately blowing off May’s demands. Meanwhile, officials and pundits in Moscow have issued a steady stream of denials and counterclaims, a tactic that has continued through Thursday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that President Vladi­mir Putin met with members of his national security council Thursday for a “detailed discussion” on the situation with Britain. “Extreme concern was expressed in connection with the destructive and provocative position taken by the British side,” he said.

Lavrov reiterated earlier comments that the allegations were “boorish and unfounded.” The actions taken by the British “go beyond the limits of elementary rules of decency,” he said, while asserting that Russia has attempted to handle the situation in a civilized manner.

[Britain has few good options to hit back against Russia]

When asked how Britain might respond to any retaliation, British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson said that Russia “should go away; it should shut up.”

He was taking questions after a speech announcing a $67 million investment in a new chemical weapons defense center.

In Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned what he said was a “reckless pattern of Russian behavior over many years.” He added the alleged chemical weapons attack to the Kremlin’s ongoing nuclear buildup, military action in Georgia and Ukraine, and the targeting of Western political systems for influence operations.

“We do not want a new Cold War, and we do not want to be dragged into an arms race. An arms race has no winners. It is expensive. It is risky. It is in nobody’s interest,” Stoltenberg said. He said that any response to the chemical attack ought to be “proportionate, measured and defensive.”

Russia has also asked for access to the poison and its victims, 66-year-old Sergei Skripal and his daughter, 33-year-old Yulia Skripal.

They are both reported to be in comas after being found slumped on a park bench in the quiet town of Salisbury, near Stonehenge, on March 4. Skripal, a former Russian double agent, was jailed in Russia in 2006 for selling state secrets to British intelligence for 10 years, but he was released in 2010 as part of a high-profile spy swap.

Despite Russia’s constant and rigorous denials, the United States and France have fallen in behind Britain in support its conclusion that Russia was involved the use of the nerve agent on the Skripals.

“France agrees with the U.K. that there is no other plausible explanation,” President Emmanuel Macron’s office said in a statement following a phone call between Macron and the May.

Macron said France would take measures of its own in coming days against Russia.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called on Britain’s allies to stand united against the nerve-agent attack.

Writing in The Washington Post, he said that “all responsible nations share an obligation to take a principled stance against this behavior,” which he characterized as part of a larger pattern of “reckless behavior” by Putin. The nerve agent, Novichok, was selected for a reason, he said.

“In its blatant Russian-ness, the nerve agent sends a signal to all who may be thinking of dissent in the intensifying repression of Putin’s Russia,” Johnson said. “The message is clear: We will find you, we will catch you, we will kill you — and though we will deny it with lip-curling scorn, the world will know beyond doubt that Russia did it.”

Analysts said that Britain was bracing for a tit-for-tat response from Russia.

“They are not going to take this lying down, and we should expect that. If you’re not prepared to take a few blows, you shouldn’t make any punches. The question is, where does it stop?” said James Nixey, head of the Russia and Eurasia Program at Chatham House, a London-based think tank.

Bodner reported from Moscow. James McAuley in Paris contributed to this report.

Read more:

Britain’s expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats marks a return to Cold War ejections

Britain to expel 23 Russian diplomats after poisoning of ex-spy

Russia demands access to British probe of nerve agent attacks

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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The Daily 202: Pennsylvania special election shows GOP still hasn’t found a winning midterms message

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Want more news and analysis about the 2018 midterms? Sign up for James Hohmann’s newsletter here.

With Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve.

THE BIG IDEA: National Republicans threw the kitchen sink to hold a House seat in Pennsylvania that President Trump won by 20 points. But while the special election remains too close to call, Democrat Conor Lamb clings to a narrow lead and declared victory early this morning.

The media will focus today on what an embarrassment it is for Trump to lose in the heart of his geographic base of support. He went to Pittsburgh twice in the closing weeks to boost Republican Rick Saccone, including on Saturday, and tweeted his support again on Tuesday. The White House also deployed Don Jr., Ivanka, Kellyanne Conway, Mike Pence and even Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to help.

The bigger reason that the savviest GOP operatives in town are freaking out right now, though, is that the results underscore the degree to which the party has been unable to hone in on a message that can reliably win races in this environment.

Republican groups carpet bombed Lamb with commercials linking him to Nancy Pelosi, but Lamb largely defused these hits by running a response ad saying that he wouldn’t support her for leader.

Trump administration officials told reporters that they thought the tariffs could tip the race their way. Eighteen thousand members of the United Steelworkers union live in the district. But both candidates embraced the new levies, and the unions backed the Democrat because Saccone supports right-to-work legislation. So the issue was a wash.

Republicans tried to run on the tax cuts, which they’ve promised for months will be the centerpiece of their 2018 messaging. Commercials highlighted Lamb’s opposition to reform and relief for the middle class. When these spots didn’t move the needle, GOP groups stopped talking about them. Politico’s Kevin Robillard pulled the data to show what was on the airwaves: “For the weeks of Feb. 4 and Feb. 11, roughly two-thirds of the broadcast television ads from Saccone’s campaign, the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC and the National Republican Congressional Committee mentioned taxes … For the week of Feb. 18, that dropped to 36 percent, and to 14 percent the week after. … Since the beginning of March, tax ads have been essentially nonexistent.”

These groups then hammered Lamb, a Marine Corps veteran and former prosecutor, as pro-sanctuary cities. Then they accused him of letting dangerous drug dealers get off the hook for their crimes with lenient sentences. (The dark turn the ads took in the final weeks foreshadows a particularly nasty fall campaign. If you live in a battleground and have young children, you might want to keep them away from the tube.)

Something similar happened in last year’s Virginia governor’s race. Republican Ed Gillespie initially made a proposal for tax cuts the centerpiece of his campaign. When that failed to excite conservatives, he embraced divisive wedge issues. Gillespie defended Confederate monuments, attacked his opponent on sanctuary cities and called him weak on the MS-13 street gang. Democrat Ralph Northam won anyway.

Money was essentially no object in Pennsylvania. National Republicans spent at least $10.7 million to help Saccone, more than five times as much as their Democratic rivals. They will not be able to do that in every close race this fall.

What’s wild about that spending is this race was almost entirely for bragging rights. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has struck down the Republican-drawn map as unconstitutional and ordered redistricting. The district won’t look anything like it currently does come November.

But with 100 percent of precincts reporting, Lamb has 49.8 percent of the vote to Saccone’s 49.6 percent. There are thousands of absentee and provisional ballots outstanding, and a recount is possible if the candidates are separated by 0.5 percentage points or less. Saccone, with the support of the NRCC, said around midnight that “it’s not over yet.” Around 1 a.m., Lamb declared victory at his watch party.

It’s always dangerous to overinterpret the results of any single special election. Remember, Republican Karen Handel prevailed in a much-ballyhooed special election last year in the Atlanta suburbs – in which both sides spent even more. But if Democrats can win in a district where they didn’t even bother to field a candidate the past two election cycles, they can triumph anywhere.

Moreover, there are not many — if any — real opportunities for Republican incumbents to score meaningful legislative achievements between now and November.

The GOP’s struggles are remarkable because the economy is so strong. A solid jobs report came out last Friday, and the stock market is still up big since Trump took office, even after the recent correction.

But it’s not puzzling what’s going on: Trump’s approval rating is hovering below 40 percent, and he sucks up all the oxygen. He did it again yesterday, when he fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson over Twitter.

Saccone wanted Trump’s help because it was such a red district. In many competitive House races, the incumbent Republican won’t. The Air Force veteran promised to be Trump’s “wingman” in the House. “I was Trump before Trump was Trump,” Saccone said over and over again.

Lamb ran a cautious campaign, but he offered a clear contrast to the constant chaos that has defined the past 14 months. “People are so tired of the shouting on TV and in our politics,” Lamb said during his speech early this morning, encapsulating the tack he took.

Driven by Trump, last night’s returns offered another illustration of the problem Republicans have in the suburbs. The 18th District, as it’s presently drawn, stretches from the more well-to-do suburbs outside Pittsburgh into coal country, reaching Pennsylvania’s borders with Ohio and West Virginia. Everywhere moved toward Democrats, but many raw votes came from Allegheny County, which includes the closer-in suburbs. This reflects a motivated liberal base, as well as moderate women who are grossed out by Trump, his crudeness and alleged philandering.

Note the light blue districts in this map below. These are precincts that flipped from Trump to Lamb, and they’re concentrated outside the city: 

From the House editor of the Cook Political Report:

If this district’s composition had been just a little more suburban, Lamb probably would have won a decisive victory. There are 23 Republican-held districts that also voted for Hillary Clinton. Most are in the suburbs.

In the suburb of Mount Lebanon, dental hygienist Janet Dellana said after voting on Tuesday that she was outraged by Trump’s wobbly reaction to the deadly school shooting in Florida. She disagrees with his push for arming teachers instead of limiting access to semiautomatic weapons. “He flip-flops on everything, but in the end, he caters to the extreme right,” the 64-year-old told Dave Weigel. “I am a registered Republican, but as this party continues to cater to the extreme right, they push me left.”

“We should be able to elect a box of hammers in this district. If we’re losing here, you can bet there is a Democratic wave coming,” said veteran Republican consultant Mike Murphy, a Trump critic, in an interview with Robert Costa.

Republicans and White House aides are scapegoating Saccone, saying he ran a bad campaign. Indeed, the four-term state representative was uninspiring. He was a terrible fundraiser — forcing the national party to bail him out — and he ran a lackluster, disorganized campaign that never effectively introduced him to voters. But, but, but: He’s not a lightning rod like Roy Moore, the Republican who blew a special Senate election in Alabama in December. In every way, Saccone is a generic, standard issue Republican.

GOP operatives also say Lamb has a superb resume, ran a stellar campaign and didn’t face a primary to force him to the left the way that many Democrats will later this year.

“The reality is that plenty of mediocre, uninspiring candidates get elected to the House from typically-safe districts,” writes National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar. “The difference this year isn’t the caliber of candidates. It’s that Trump is driving the Republican party rank-and-file off the proverbial political cliff. At this point, there have been enough off-year elections, polling data and candidate recruiting successes to render a clear verdict: Democrats are solid favorites to retake the House this year.”

Eight months is an eternity in politics, especially in this tumultuous era when each day feels like a week. The underlying dynamics could certainly change. Trump could negotiate a grand bargain with the North Koreans, for example. On the other hand, special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation could reach even deeper into the Oval Office. There will be an October Surprise. Who it benefits we won’t know until November.

Rick Saccone supporters watch election results at his party in McKeesport, Pa. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

— Republican thought leaders sounded the alarm.

From the GOP’s focus group guru: 

A veteran GOP operative in Richmond, who was a senior adviser to Gillespie’s gubernatorial campaign in Virginia last year:

A former RNC communications director and House GOP leadership aide:

A former Florida Republican congressman who lost in 2016:

A former Illinois Republican congressman who lost in 2012: 

The conservative editor of Commentary and New York Post columnist:

The political editor of the conservative site TownHall.com got attacked by some of his followers after he said on Fox News that the results are problematic for Republicans:

From the former Breitbart writer who now edits the conservative DailyWire.com:

— Here are a few other interesting nuggets from analysts.

The editor of Vox:

 “This outcome is tantamount to a Democrat winning (or tying) a statewide race in Louisiana or Kansas or Montana, which also voted for Trump by 20 points,” tweeted FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver. One of his colleagues added:

A political scientist at the University of Chicago who closely tracks House races:

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:

— Celebrated physicist Stephen Hawking died at 76. Joel Achenbach and Boyce Rensberger write: “Unable to move a muscle, speechless but for a computer-synthesized voice, Dr. Hawking had suffered since the age of 21 from a degenerative motor neuron disease similar to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Initially given two years to live, a diagnosis that threw him into a profound depression, he found the strength to complete his doctorate and rise to the position of Lucasian professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge, the same post held by Isaac Newton 300 years earlier. … His scientific achievements included breakthroughs in understanding the extreme conditions of black holes, objects so dense that not even light can escape their gravity.” “My goal is simple,” Hawking once said. “It is complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”

Adult film star Stormy Daniels arrives at the 2008 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. (Chris Pizzello/AP)

— A Florida radio host said Stormy Daniels discussed her alleged affair with Trump on his show in 2007, the earliest known instance of the adult-film star publicly discussing the relationship. CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski reports: “Bubba the Love Sponge Clem … played portions of the interview on his radio show Friday and Monday, in which Daniels was asked to write down the names of famous men she had slept with. Clem says the first name on that list was Donald Trump. Although neither Daniels nor the host says Trump’s name in the 2007 audio, she can be heard describing key details that match the description of her alleged affair with Trump. Clem said on his nationally syndicated radio program that Daniels was talking about Trump, and later verified the same information to CNN. CNN independently corroborated the story with another person who was in Clem’s studio that day … ”

GET SMART FAST:​​

  1. The family of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich is suing Fox News. Rich’s parents allege the network “aided and abetted the intentional infliction of emotional distress” by fueling conspiracy theories that their son was tied to WikiLeaks’s DNC email dump before his 2016 murder. (ABC News)
  2. Former attorney general Eric Holder is traveling to Wisconsin to campaign in a state Supreme Court race. The April 3 election will likely become the next nationalized race after last night’s Pennsylvania matchup. (Politico)
  3. Democratic senators facing tough reelection races distanced themselves from Hillary Clinton’s claim that she “won the places that are optimistic, diverse, dynamic, moving forward.” “Those are kind of fighting words for me, because I’m partial to Missouri voters,” Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said. “I may not have agreed with their choice, but I certainly respect them. And I don’t think that’s the way you should talk about any voter especially ones in my state.” (Michael Scherer)
  4. Federal authorities say a former aide to Rep. Bob Brady (D-Pa.) was targeted in a murder-for-hire plot. Prominent Arkansas lobbyist Milton Russel “Rusty” Cranford was allegedly trying to keep Brady aide Donald “D.A.” Jones from cooperating in a corruption probe. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

  5. A California teacher trained in gun use accidentally discharged his firearm in class. The weapon was pointed at the ceiling during a class devoted to public safety. A male student sustained non-life-threatening injuries from the incident. (Fred Barbash)

  6. The third package in the Austin bombings was addressed to a different home nearby. That package severely injured a 75-year-old Hispanic woman who had no apparent connection to the first two victims, who both had ties to the city’s African American community. Austin’s police chief said his team was not ruling out the possibility the attacks were racially motivated. (Eva Ruth Moravec, Eli Rosenberg, Mark Berman and Matt Zapotosky)
  7. A powerful nor’easter knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses. Some communities received up to two feet of snow. (AP)

  8. Five women accused celebrated architect Richard Meier of sexual misconduct. Two of the women described being sent to Meier’s New York apartment, where he exposed himself to them. (New York Times)

  9. A 10-month-old puppy suffocated after being place in the overhead compartment during a United flight. Passengers on the plane claim a flight attendant insisted the dog be placed in the compartment, telling a woman and her two children they would not be allowed to travel if they refused to stow their pet. (Martine Powers)
  10. Charles Manson’s grandson won possession of the cult leader’s remains. Manson’s body stayed on ice under a fake name in a California coroner’s office for four months as multiple parties claimed their right to bury him. (Kyle Swenson)

REXIT:

— “Fired via Twitter: How Trump soured on Tillerson as his lead diplomat.” Ashley Parker, Philip Rucker, John Hudson and Carol D. Leonnig have the ticktock behind Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s final moments in a job that never seemed to suit him (in Trump’s eyes anyway): ” … Tillerson was asleep in his Nairobi hotel room early Saturday morning fighting a stomach bug when White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly called to wake him around 2 a.m. to relay a terse message from President Trump: The boss was not happy. The president was so eager to fire Tillerson that he wanted to do so in a tweet on Friday, but Kelly persuaded Trump to wait until his secretary of state was back in the United States from Africa, two people familiar with the conversation said … 

But Kelly had also warned Tillerson to possibly expect a pejorative tweet from Trump over the weekend, a State Department official said. Tillerson failed to fully understand that the chief of staff was gently signaling to him that he was about to be fired. And so, just over four hours after Tillerson’s government plane touched down at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday morning, the secretary of state learned of his dismissal from a tweet …

“More than three hours after his tweet, Trump finally called Tillerson from Air Force One. The call was brief and cordial, according to people with knowledge of it, and Trump decided to make it to try to defuse more tensions. Trump reiterated that Tillerson would be happier outside the department, and the secretary of state was diplomatic, a senior White House official said.”

— Trump and Tillerson never got along, a fact exacerbated by the former ExxonMobil chief publicly contradicting his boss on key policy issues (never mind that he never directly denied calling the president a “moron“). More from Ashley, Phil, John and Carol: “Trump and Tillerson have disagreed over strategy in key areas of foreign policy, such as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, how to handle China and the Middle East, the Paris climate accord, the approach to North Korea, and the overall tone of U.S. diplomacy. The president was disdainful of his secretary of state for being “too establishment” in his thinking and for disagreeing with him in meetings.”

— Kiss of death: “Tillerson was ousted Tuesday just as he seemed to be hitting his diplomatic stride. In recent weeks, he grew even more outspoken in criticizing Russia, more confident that his patient pressure on North Korea was bearing fruit and more comfortable that he would outlast his many critics in the West Wing. In the end, no one was more surprised that Tillerson was fired than Tillerson himself,” write Anne Gearan and Carol Morello.

“Clearly shaken, his voice thin, Tillerson appeared at a State Department lectern shortly after 2 p.m. to read a statement thanking colleagues and tying up some administrative details. He thanked the American people ‘for your devotion to a free and open society; to acts of kindness toward one another; to honesty and the quiet hard work that you do every day.’ He did not thank President Trump individually, or even mention him beyond saying that Trump had called him two hours before.”

— A State Department spokesman who contradicted the White House’s version of events was swiftly fired. Ashley, Phil, John and Carol note: “Steve Goldstein, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, said that Tillerson was ‘unaware of the reason’ for his firing and had not spoken directly with Trump. … [Goldstein’s dismissal] came just before he was scheduled to brief reporters about the shake-up at Foggy Bottom … ”

— The Wall Street Journal recounts another smaller but still telling illustration of how Trump humiliates people who work for him: “In a private room in China’s Great Hall of the People in November, [Tillerson] sat with [Trump] and other U.S. officials as their hosts delivered plates of wilted Caesar salad. Mr. Trump, in the midst of a five-country tour of Asia, grew concerned the untouched greens would offend the Chinese, according to people familiar with the matter. So he ordered Mr. Tillerson to start. ‘Rex,’ he said, ‘eat the salad.’ Mr. Tillerson laughed off the remark, but the moment illustrated the at-times awkward relationship between [the two men].” (Michael C. Bender and Felicia Schwartz)

CIA Director Mike Pompeo. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

— Sucking up pays dividends: CIA Director Mike Pompeo is Trump’s choice to replace Tillerson. “Pompeo, assuming that the Senate confirms him in time, will face a confluence of foreign policy decisions and potential national security crises this spring that would challenge even the most experienced diplomats,” write Karen DeYoung and John Hudson. “Pompeo is likely to be more amenable to Trump’s way of doing business. As a congressman from Kansas and a tea party leader, he sharply opposed the Iran nuclear deal, tweeting just before his CIA nomination his determination to ‘roll back’ the agreement.”

–“The danger is that Pompeo, so much in sync with Trump, will remove the dampers that have sometimes checked the president’s disruptive instincts,” warns Post columnist David Ignatius. “Tillerson offered solid, traditional foreign policy counsel[.] He operated in tandem with [Defense Secretary Jim Mattis]; this axis of caution has now been broken, perhaps leaving Mattis in a more vulnerable position … The center-weight is now likely to shift to Trump and Pompeo … [and] for better or worse, the White House and Foggy Bottom will be going in the same direction.”  

— State Department rank-and-file employees rejoiced over Tillerson’s departure. The Daily Beast’s Asawin Suebsaeng, Noah Shachtman and Spencer Ackerman report. “State Department staffers … described the secretary of state’s downfall as a liberation — even as they grimly recognized that recent history, literal and metaphorical, suggests that what follows liberation is chaos and occupation. … State Department officials were horrified by what they perceived as his disdain for them. His reforms left many experienced diplomats internally marginalized — with little to do but vent to reporters about Tillerson presiding over a decline of American diplomacy that many felt was the entire point of his tenure.”

— How it’s playing:

THE FIRST FEMALE CIA DIRECTOR?

— Trump tapped Gina Haspel to be the next CIA director, selecting a woman who spent multiple tours overseas and is respected within the CIA. But she also has deep ties to the agency’s use of brutal interrogation measures. Greg Miller and Shane Harris report: “Haspel’s selection faced immediate opposition from some lawmakers and human rights groups because of her prominent role in one of the agency’s darkest chapters. Haspel was in charge of one of the CIA’s ‘black site’ prisons where detainees were subjected to waterboarding and other harrowing interrogation measures widely condemned as torture. When those methods were exposed and their legality came under scrutiny, Haspel was among a group of CIA officials involved in the decision to destroy videotapes of interrogation sessions that left some detainees on the brink of physical collapse. Jameel Jaffer, formerly deputy legal director of the ACLU, said Tuesday on his Twitter feed that Haspel is ‘quite literally a war criminal.’

“[But] current and former U.S. intelligence officials who have worked with Haspel praised her as an effective leader who could be expected to stand up to the pressures that Trump has often placed on spy agencies — including his denunciations of the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Officials … said CIA employees would greet her appointment with some relief, because an intelligence veteran would be back in charge.”

— “The confirmation of [Trump’s] picks for secretary of state and CIA director is likely to be hampered but not stymied by a mostly partisan backlash to their past statements and [actions],” Karoun Demirjian, Seung Min Kim and Mike DeBonis report from Capitol Hill. “Leaders of both parties predicted it could take a while to confirm [Pompeo and Haspel], leaving the State Department officially rudderless at a time when the administration faces pressing [national security] challenges … ‘It’ll obviously take some time and effort,’ said [Sen. John Cornyn] (R-Tex.). ‘I’m confident we’ll get them confirmed, but … it just adds two other high-profile nominations to our workload.’

Senate Democrats excoriated Trump: “Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Trump ‘a commander in chaos,’ and some of Tillerson’s harshest Democratic critics rushed to defend him. … The widespread criticism from Democrats ensures that GOP leaders will have difficulty confirming Pompeo and Haspel expeditiously. But the backlash is not expected to upset their eventual chances of confirmation — [Sen. Chuck Schumer] (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that at this point he has no plans to ask Democrats to oppose their nominations.”

ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN AND WOMEN:

— Trump is also souring on VA Secretary and Obama-era holdover David Shulkin, and has told advisers he could replace him “within days” as part of a broader Cabinet shake-up. Lisa Rein and Josh Dawsey report: “The president is considering Energy Secretary Rick Perry, an Air Force veteran, to replace Shulkin … Trump invited Perry to the White House for lunch on Monday, but did not formally offer him the job. A physician and former hospital executive who won unanimous confirmation by the Senate last year … Shulkin … has taken a moderate approach to expanding a program called Choice, which gives veterans the option to see private doctors outside the system. But conservatives at the agency and in the White House, backed by the billionaire Koch brothers, have pushed for more private care — and say Shulkin has hindered that goal.”

— John McEntee joined Trump’s reelection campaign less than 24 hours after being fired from the White House over security clearance issues. David Nakamura and Josh report: “The White House did not say why McEntee was let go, but a senior U.S. official said he lost his security clearance and could no longer perform his role. Trump wanted to keep him around so a spot was made for him at the campaign, this person said. Also Tuesday, the Trump campaign announced that Katrina Pierson, who served as the campaign’s 2016 national spokeswoman, will rejoin the effort as a senior adviser. … Trump has had a record rate of turnover in his senior staff. Before McEntee’s departure, 43 percent of the president’s executive staff had left in the first 13½ months …”

— McEntee is under investigation by the Secret Service due to problems over online gambling and mishandling his taxes, report the Wall Street Journal’s Michael C. Bender and Rebecca Ballhaus.

— What’s going on? In recent weeks, Trump’s decisions appear to be guided by his gut rather than the advice of more cautious White House advisers, who previously convinced him to walk back some of his more impulsive inclinations. David Nakamura and Damian Paletta report: “Trump’s moves have shaken and alarmed a West Wing staff who fear the president has felt less restrained about acting on his whims amid the recent departures of several longtime aides … depleting the ranks of those the president feels he can trust. [White House allies] suggested that Trump has been liberated to manage his administration as he did his private business, making decisions that feel good in the moment because he believes in his ability to win — regardless of whether they are backed by rigorous analysis or supported by top advisers. This, they said, is the real Trump — freewheeling by nature, decisive in the moment, unafraid to chart his own course.”

People familiar with Trump say he becomes more erratic when under pressure: “When he’s under pressure is when he tends to do this impulsive stuff,” said Jack O’Donnell, former president of the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. “That’s what I saw in the business. When he began to have pressure with debts, when the [Taj Mahal casino] … was underperforming, is when he began acting very erratically.”

— Newly released emails revealed Candy Carson, who is married to HUD Secretary Ben Carson, consulted on the redecoration of her husband’s government office. The secretary’s wife weighed in on the purchase of a replacement conference table and set of chairs costing $31,561. (Juliet Eilperin and Jack Gillum)

— The president of the Heritage Foundation said former Trump adviser Omarosa Manigault “blocked” her from serving in the administration. “The way it was described to me is she approached the whole thing like it was ‘The Apprentice,‘” Kay Coles James added. “So she looked around Washington and said, ‘OK, who do I need to get rid of first?’” (Politico)

THERE’S A BEAR IN THE WOODS:

— Remarkable: Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee appeared to back away from their finding that Russia was not trying to assist Trump by meddling in the 2016 election. Karoun Demirjian reports: “Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Tex.) told reporters Tuesday that ‘it’s clear [Russian officials] were trying to hurt Hillary [Clinton]’ by interfering in the 2016 election and that ‘everybody gets to make up their own mind whether they were trying to hurt Hillary, help Trump, it’s kind of glass half full, glass half empty.’ That equivalence stands in sharp contrast to the conclusions of a 150-page GOP-drafted report Conaway announced to the news media on Monday that concludes that the intelligence community ‘didn’t meet the standards’ of proof necessary to determine that Russia meddled in the 2016 election with the aim of helping Trump.”

— Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said panel Democrats will try to continue their investigation regardless of the GOP shutting it down, releasing a list of 30 witnesses that Democrats still want to call. CNN’s Manu Raju and Jeremy Herb report: “Schiff said that Republicans ‘prematurely shut down the Russia investigation’ … [calling the GOP report] ‘another Nunes memo in long form,’ and said the Democrats were drafting their own long-form report that will be released with witness transcripts attached. The 21-page status report document … also argues the committee failed to investigate matters like Trump’s finances and failed to answer questions like whether the Trump campaign had advance knowledge of Russia’s email hacking. The Democrats say there are 20 entities they should request documents from and 15 subpoenas that should be issued.”

— A federal judge in Virginia said Paul Manafort could face more than 300 years in prison for charges stemming from Robert Mueller’s investigation. CNN’s Katelyn Polantz reports: “’Given the nature of the charges against the defendant and the apparent weight of the evidence against him, defendant faces the very real possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison,’ federal judge T.S. Ellis III of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia wrote Tuesday. Ellis last week placed Manafort under home incarceration while wearing a GPS monitor and set a $10 million unsecured bail. … Ellis said Manafort has the financial resources and international connections to help himself flee before his trial and stay at large, ‘as well as every incentive to do so.’” His trial in Virginia is scheduled to begin Sept. 17.

Russian President Vladimir Putin walks through St.George’s Hall to take part in an inauguration ceremony in Moscow. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP )

MORE RUSSIAN AGGRESSION ACROSS THE POND:

— Britain’s counterterrorism unit is investigating the death of Russian exile Nikolai Glushkov, who was found dead on Monday in his London home. Glushkov was an associate of the late Putin critic, Boris Berezovsky, and was granted political asylum in the United Kingdom in 2004. The Guardian’s Luke Harding reports: “[Metropolitan police] said the counter-terrorism command unit was leading the investigation into the death ‘as a precaution because of associations that the man is believed to have had.’”

— Russia vowed to retaliate if the U.K. imposes sanctions in response to the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal. Authorities also demanded access to the sample of a nerve agent British officials have identified as Russian. Matthew Bodner reports: “Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said Russia does not intend to comply with British [Theresa May’s demand] for an official explanation of how a nerve agent identified as Novichok … allegedly came to be used in the poisoning attack in southern England[.] Lavrov insisted that Russian experts should be able to examine the British evidence but again denied Russian involvement in last week’s attack.”

— Skripal’s attempted assassination represents a “whole new level of defiance” from Russia, Post columnist Anne Applebaum writes. “But why are they doing this? Just like the attack on the journalist Anna Politkovskaya … the hit may have been meant as a warning to other potential double agents: You don’t have to murder every journalist, or every spy, to frighten the rest. … More ominously, it may have been designed to expose Britain’s new isolation: Now that it is leaving the European Union, the United Kingdom no longer has a set of allies it can rely upon to help craft a response.”

THE REST OF TRUMP’S AGENDA:

— Trump made his first visit to California, viewing border wall prototypes and insulting the state’s governor. John Wagner reports: “The visit, which drew protesters on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, came at a time of escalating acrimony between Trump and Democratic leaders of the nation’s most populous state, who have sought through legislation and lawsuits to counter Trump on immigration and other policies. Even against that backdrop, Trump’s swipe at Gov. Jerry Brown (D) was remarkable coming from a sitting president. As Trump toured the site of eight prototypes of the border wall, he told onlookers that Brown ‘does a very poor job of running California.’ ‘They have the highest taxes in the United States,’ Trump said. ‘The place is totally out of control. You have sanctuary cities where you have criminals living in the sanctuary cities.’”

— A federal appeals court largely upheld Texas immigration enforcement law targeting “sanctuary” cities. The Texas Tribune’s Julián Aguilar reports: “As passed, Senate Bill 4 allows local law enforcement officers to question the immigration status of people they detain or arrest and punishes local government department heads and elected officials who don’t cooperate with federal immigration ‘detainers’ — requests by agents to turn over immigrants subject to possible deportation — in the form of jail time and penalties that exceed $25,000.”

— An immigration bill from conservative Republicans could become more generous to “dreamers” in the hopes of attracting moderates’ support. From Mike DeBonis: “The bill sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and others would grant legal status to those who have been protected under [DACA]. But as written, Goodlatte’s bill would grant that status for only three years at a time, forcing recipients to deal with a constant cycle of renewals and a potential lifetime of uncertainty regarding their future in the United States.”

— Trump wants tougher tariff proposals to punish the Chinese, David J. Lynch reports. “The order came after Trump last week rejected as inadequate a proposal from U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer to levy import taxes on $30 billion in Chinese imports, the people said. The president’s message to his trade chief was ‘make it bigger,’ said one lobbyist familiar with the discussion. ‘The president told him it wasn’t enough,’ said a second executive.”

— Trump has left the Federal Election Commission shorthanded, despite his promises to “drain the swamp.” Michelle Ye Hee Lee reports: “So far, Trump has nominated just one new commissioner to fill the two open spots on the panel. He has the opportunity to name an entirely new slate. The remaining four commissioners are serving on expired terms, two of which ended as long as a decade ago. If one more leaves without being replaced, the FEC will lack a quorum and be effectively paralyzed.” If Trump does choose a new slate of commissioners, they could play a pivotal role in determining whether his team violated campaign finance rules by paying Stormy Daniels.

— Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke acknowledged offshore drilling may not happen along the Pacific coast. Darryl Fears reports: “[Zinke said] California, Oregon and Washington have ‘no known resources of any weight’ for energy companies to extract. Discussing the Atlantic coast while testifying before the Senate Energy Committee, the secretary similarly described Maine as a state with little recoverable oil and gas. Zinke stopped short of saying that the three Pacific states would be exempted from the president’s plan to offer leases on 95 percent of the outer continental shelf.”

— Several Democratic senators called on the Trump administration to uphold the ban on importing elephant hunting trophies. In a letter to Ryan Zinke, the senators highlighted past comments from Trump supporting the ban. “We must conclude that either [the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] is willfully ignoring the direction of the President, or the President is ignoring the necessary policy, regulatory, or legal considerations, and misleading the American people as to the position of his Administration on the trophy hunting of endangered species,” the senators wrote. (I wrote last week about Trump’s reversal on the trophy ban — and how it emphasizes the need to watch what he does, not what he says.)

— The House rejected “Right to Try” legislation to allow terminally ill patients easier access to experimental treatments. Laurie McGinley reports: “The vote came after a spirited debate in which GOP lawmakers portrayed the measure, which was strongly backed by [Trump] and Vice President Pence, as a last chance at survival for desperately ill patients. Democrats said the bill would weaken critical FDA protections without addressing the fundamental obstacles to experimental drugs.”

FLORIDA FALLOUT:

— Broward County prosecutors will seek the death sentence for alleged Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz. Mark Berman reports: “In a notice filed Tuesday in circuit court, Michael J. Satz, the Broward state attorney, said the state intended to seek the death penalty for Cruz and would prove that the crime ‘was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.’ Satz’s filing included multiple aggravating factors he said warranted a death sentence, including that Cruz knowingly created a risk of death to many people and that the killings were ‘a homicide … committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner.’”

— Students at thousands of schools nationwide are expected to walk out of class today to mark one month since the Parkland shooting. Joe Heim and Susan Svrluga write: “The nationally organized walkouts, most of which will last 17 minutes in symbolic tribute to the Florida victims, are unprecedented in recent American history. … In the Washington region, high school students from local districts are planning to stand in silence for 17 minutes in front of the White House and later march to the Capitol, where they hope to meet with lawmakers.”

— Permit requests have been approved for the pro-gun control “March For Our Lives” later this month. From Justin Wm. Moyer: “[The rally] will be held March 24 along Pennsylvania Avenue beginning at noon, although organizers expect participants will start to gather hours earlier. More than 700 ‘sibling marches’ are also being planned around the world that day, according to the event’s website.” As many as 500,000 people are expected to attend.

— YouTube announced it would link to Wikipedia articles under conspiracy theory videos to better inform viewers. BuzzFeed News’s Blake Montgomery, Ryan Mac and Charlie Warzel report: “The feature will roll out in the coming months. The Wikipedia links will not appear solely on conspiracy-related videos, but will instead show up on topics and events that have inspired significant debate.”

— About 7,000 pairs of shoes were displayed on the Capitol lawn representing children killed by gun violence since Sandy Hook. Marissa J. Lang reports: “Avaaz, a global activist network that organizes campaigns involving social issues, solicited donations from around the country to fill the lawn with children’s shoes and send a message to Congress about the toll that gun violence takes. … Tom Mauser, whose son, Daniel, was killed in the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, was among several who put the shoes of slain family members on display.”

SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ:

Tillerson’s firing dominated the Twitter conversation for much of the day. From Obama’s former White House ethics czar:

From Hillary Clinton’s running mate:

From the executive editor of Bloomberg View:

From Trump’s hometown paper:

No love lost here:

An Obama-era Justice Department spokesman made a recommendation for Mike Pompeo’s confirmation hearing:

This old Pompeo tweet attracted scrutiny:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) signaled Pompeo’s replacement at the CIA may have trouble getting confirmed:

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) called on Trump to fire his VA secretary:

The Onion satirized the rotating door of Trump’s senior staff:

Trump’s visit to the Marines in California got political, per a Bloomberg News reporter:

California’s governor confronted the president:

Here’s what the White House served yesterday, per an NPR reporter:

House Republicans’ campaign arm played up Democratic infighting: 

Stormy Daniels’s attorney clarified a detail of her nondisclosure agreement:

And NASA paid homage to Stephen Hawking:

GOOD READS FROM ELSEWHERE:

— Politico, “Schumer struggles to quell Warren-led rebellion,” by Burgess Everett, Elana Schor and Zachary Warmbrodt: “For Schumer, the banking bill and its rollback of some of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law’s regulations has been quite the tightrope to walk. The minority leader has to balance the needs of moderate caucus members who are desperate for a bipartisan accomplishment heading into brutal reelection races, and the priorities of liberals like Warren who believe they are fighting for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. Plus, the New Yorker is already viewed with suspicion by liberals for his own ties to Wall Street.”

— New York Times, “Why Is U.S. Health Care So Expensive? Some of the Reasons You’ve Heard Turn Out to Be Myths,” by Margot Sanger-Katz: “Compared with peer nations, the United States sends people to the hospital less often, it has a smaller share of specialist physicians, and it gives people about the same number of hospitalizations and doctors’ visits, according to a new study. … If you’ve been listening to many of the common narratives that seek to explain the high costs of America’s health system and the nation’s relatively low life expectancy, those results might surprise you.”

HOT ON THE LEFT:

“Only Half Of Trump Voters Say Affair With Porn Actress Would Be Immoral,” from HuffPost: “Conservatives have long given Trump a pass on his less-than-stellar record on so-called ‘moral’ values … [and] only about half of the people who voted for [Trump] say it would be immoral if he had an affair with pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels. The other half say it is not immoral, or they are not sure, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov survey … Three-quarters of Trump voters also contend that, even if Daniels’ allegations are true, they are not relevant to Trump’s presidency. In fact, they claim to be barely concerned about a president’s private life at all: Seventy percent say an elected official who has committed an ‘immoral act’ in his or her personal life can still behave ethically and fulfill duties in the public and professional sphere.”

 

HOT ON THE RIGHT

“‘Vice President Pence is right’: Joy Behar publicly apologizes for mocking Christianity,” from Marwa Eltagouri: “Joy Behar, a co-host of ABC’s ‘The View,’ apologized Tuesday for mocking Vice President Pence’s Christian faith last month and suggesting his religious views made him mentally ill. ‘I think Vice President Pence is right. I was raised to respect everyone’s religious faith, and I fell short of that,’ Behar said. … Her apology came after weeks of protests by viewers who were outraged by Behar’s remarks. … By Tuesday, Pence had already forgiven Behar. He told Fox News Host Sean Hannity Monday that his faith had taught him ‘grace.’ ‘I give Joy Behar a lot of credit. She picked up the phone. She called me. She was very sincere. And she apologized,’ he said. ‘One of the things my faith teaches me is grace. Forgive as you have been forgiven.’”

 

DAYBOOK:

Trump will travel from California to St. Louis today, where he will take a tour of the Boeing Company and attend a fundraiser. He gets back to D.C. later tonight.

Pence will participate in deputy OMB Director Russ Vought’s swearing-in ceremony.

 

NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.:

— Cold and windy conditions are sticking around Washington. The Capital Weather Gang forecasts: “Spring continues missing in action today, with temperatures well below normal and a chilly wind. We’re partly cloudy as morning readings rise into and through the 30s, with afternoon highs only in the low-to-mid 40s. Winds come from the west-northwest around 15-25 mph, with gusts around 30-40 mph. Can’t rule out a few flurries.”

— The Wizards lost to the Timberwolves 116-111. (Candace Buckner)

— Footage was released that a Maryland state senator cited as proof of a lobbyist groping her in an Annapolis pub. Ovetta Wiggins reports: “The video shows lobbyist Gil Genn approaching Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-Montgomery) near a crowded bar at Castlebay Irish Pub, putting his hand on Kagan’s back and moving it around. The physical contact is brief, and it is hard to tell exactly when Genn — who previously denied touching Kagan at all — removes his hand. At a hastily called news conference, Kagan held up her laptop to play the 86-second video, saying it showed how Genn put his hand on her back and slid ‘it down my body.’ … Genn, meanwhile, demanded an apology from Kagan, saying in a statement that the video shows ‘beyond dispute that I did not grab or grope her.’”

— D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) signed a law approving publicly financed elections. The law will first affect elections in 2020 and will steer millions of dollars toward local campaigns. (Peter Jamison)

— Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) called a special session for the state’s legislature to continue budget negotiations, which stalled over the Medicaid expansion debate. (Laura Vozzella)

VIDEOS OF THE DAY:

Late night hosts laughed at Rex Tillerson’s abrupt firing:

A bipartisan pair of senators called for an end to U.S. military action in Yemen:

The Post fact-checked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s numbers on Palestinian authorities paying “terrorists and their families”:

Austin residents expressed fear after the recent bombings:

And nearly four years after a U.S. marshal killed a gang member lunging for a witness testifying in court, a federal judge released the video of the deadly exchange:

Three ‘powerful’ package explosions in Austin that killed 2 are connected, police say

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AUSTIN, Texas — Police said Monday that they believe three packages that exploded at homes and killed two people here are connected, raising fears that a bomber is on the loose in a city hosting tens of thousands of people for a world-renowned music and technology festival.

Authorities said it was too early to say what motivated the attacks and did not rule out the possibility of a hate crime. The two people killed in the explosions — a teenage boy and a 39-year-old man — were black, and a 75-year-old Hispanic woman was seriously injured.

The first explosion occurred March 2, when a package on the front porch of a northeast Austin home exploded and killed the man. At the time, police said his death was “suspicious” but believed it was an isolated incident with no continuing threat to the community.

That changed Monday morning, when a pair of packages detonated at homes several miles apart over a matter of hours. Investigators were still responding to the first — which killed a 17-year-old boy and seriously injured an adult woman — when the second blast detonated at a house farther south, seriously injuring the Hispanic woman. Police confirmed soon after that those cases were connected to each other and to the March 2 death.

Police and the FBI said they were working to solve the mystery and urged residents to be cautious in approaching packages left at their doorsteps unexpectedly. Officials said the packages that exploded did not come through the mail or a standard delivery service.

Austin Police Chief Brian Manley described the explosives as arriving in “box-type deliveries” but did not elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation. He said police did not know whether the victims who were killed or injured were the specific targets of the packages.

Austin is in the midst of hosting South by Southwest, a festival for which it has become famous, though authorities said that they did not believe the explosions were tied to that event.

The two victims killed in the explosions are relatives of prominent members of Austin’s African American community. The first, 39-year-old Anthony Stephan House, was the stepson of Freddie Dixon, a former pastor at a historic black church in Austin.

“This is a real mystery, and how all of this mystery comes together, I have no idea,” said Dixon.

He said he did not know of anyone who had a grudge against his stepson, who worked in construction, was married and had an 8-year-old daughter. But Dixon said he himself is good friends with Norman Mason, the grandfather of the teenager who was killed Monday. The teen has not been formally identified.

Mason is a dentist in East Austin who has for decades mentored African American student-athletes at the University of Texas at Austin. His wife, LaVonne Mason, is co-founder of the Austin Area Urban League.

LaVonne Mason confirmed her grandson was the 17-year-old victim who was killed in the explosion Monday morning. She declined to say anything further, citing an ongoing investigation.

“The investigation is going to take two to three days,” Mason said. “We are not at liberty to talk or discuss anything.”

Dixon said he wondered whether if the families’ connection might have motivated the crimes.

“Are you trying to say something to prominent African American families?” Dixon asked. “I don’t know who they’ve been targeting, but for sure, they went and got one of my best friends’ grandson. Somebody knew the connection.”

But Dixon noted that he did not know the woman injured in the third blast, whom relatives identified as Esperanza Herrera. They said her mother, Maria Moreno, suffered minor injuries.

Manley said that just as in the other bombings, the woman who was injured came outside her home, found a package and picked it up. That’s when it detonated.

“It’s not time to panic, but it’s time to be vigilant,” Manley said.

Later on Monday evening, according to the Austin American-Statesman, police temporarily shut down an area near the city’s downtown convention center because a guitar case in a trash can was deemed a suspicious package. The newspaper also said police received 63 suspicious-package calls through Monday afternoon, compared with two last Monday, as residents were being more cautious.

In the neighborhoods where bombs went off, residents were taking heed.

Lois Williams, 85, said the blast early Monday morning woke her up in her home about a block away.

“I just heard this – BOOM. It sounded like they were slamming the trash can lids,” Williams said.

Speaking with a reporter hours later in her driveway, Williams said she was not afraid because she doesn’t typically get packages but added that “I’m going to be looking.” A postal worker delivering Williams’ mail hugged her, saying, “Be careful.”

Rianne Philips, who lives next door to House, said her husband was the first to find House after the fatal blast.

She said that she was alarmed to hear about the latest bombings but also relieved that the police were now more focused on House’s death.

“They’re not going to let this slide,” Philips said. “It’s really sad, but this means there’s a lot of attention on this now.”

Isaiah Guerrero, 15, said he was spending the first morning of his spring break making music on his computer when he heard the third explosion go off just before noon Monday.

“It sounded like two cars hit each other, you know? Like, rammed each other,” Guerrero said.

The house shook, and so did his body, the teenager said. Guerrero then climbed up a tree and on top of his house. Within minutes, police and fire officials swarmed the scene, closing off streets. Guerrero, who lives behind the house where the bomb went off, said he couldn’t see the damage to the front of the house.

He echoed law enforcement officials in warning the public to pay attention to things like packages, “especially if you didn’t order something,” he said. Guerrero added: “I expected my spring break to be peaceful, not harmful.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Monday it was dispatching members of its National Response Team (NRT) to help respond to the explosions. According to the agency, this group activates for “significant fire and explosion incidents,” considered those that are either large in scale or particularly complicated due to the size or scope.

In the past, that has included responding to the West, Tex., plant fire in 2013; a string of church fires in Texas; and the bombings in Oklahoma City and at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. The NRT works with other investigators to reconstruct scenes and determine what caused the fires or explosions; in cases involving bombings, the team also searches for evidence to be used in any prosecution that may follow.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said his office is offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible for the “atrocious attacks.”

“I want to assure all Texans, and especially those in Austin, that local, state and federal law enforcement officials are working diligently to find those responsible for these heinous crimes,” Abbott said in a statement.

Manley said local and federal law enforcement agencies would ensure “every stop would be pulled out” to solve the cases.

“We are not going to tolerate this in Austin,” he said.

Berman, Wang, Zapotosky and Keith McMillan reported from Washington. Shane Harris in Austin contributed to this report, which has been updated.

Britain demands answer from Putin by midnight over nerve attack on former spy

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LONDON (Reuters) – Britain gave President Vladimir Putin until midnight on Tuesday to explain how a nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union was used to strike down a former Russian double agent who passed secrets to British intelligence.

Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, have been in hospital in a critical condition since March 4 when they were found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping centre in the southern English cathedral city of Salisbury.

Prime Minister Theresa May said it was“highly likely” that Russia was to blame after Britain identified the substance as part of the highly-lethal Novichok group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military during the 1970s and 1980s.

“Mr Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia,” May said.

“Either this was a direct act by the Russian state against our country,” May said.“Or the Russian government lost control of this potentially catastrophically damaging nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others.”

Russia, which holds a presidential election on March 18, has denied any role in the poisoning and says Britain is whipping up anti-Russian hysteria.

Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko, summoned to the Foreign Office, was given until the end of Tuesday to explain what happened or face what May said were“much more extensive” measures against the $1.5 trillion Russian economy.

If no satisfactory Russian response is received by midnight London time then May will outline Britain’s response in parliament. She is due to hold a meeting of top security officials on Wednesday.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the poisoning represented the first use of nerve agents on the continent of Europe since World War Two. The British response, he said, would be“commensurate but robust”.

Russia has requested access to the nerve agent used against Skripal but Britain has denied it access, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Interfax reported that Russia had summoned the British ambassador.

JOINT WESTERN RESPONSE

Britain could call on allies for a coordinated Western response, freeze the assets of Russian business leaders and officials, expel diplomats, launch targetted cyber attacks and cut back participation in events such as the soccer World Cup.

European allies including French President Emmanuel Macron expressed solidarity with Britain though President Donald Trump has not yet publicly commented on the attack.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States had full confidence in the assessment that Russia was responsible. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the United States stood by Britain but stopped short of blaming Russia.

The European Union pledged to stand by Britain, which is due to leave the bloc in just over a year’s time, though the bloc has struggled to maintain a common front on Russian sanctions.

A conservative ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Norbert Roettgen, said that if Russia fails to cooperate then there should be a joint Western response.

British lawmakers say Russia’s oligarchs, the super-wealthy who amassed fortunes under Boris Yeltsin and Putin, should be denied entry to the luxury lifestyles offered by London and the West.

The British capital has been dubbed“Londongrad” due to the large quantities of Russian money that have poured in since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The EU has travel restrictions and asset freezes against 150 people and 38 companies. EU nationals and companies are also banned from buying or selling new bonds or equity in some state-owned Russian banks and major Russian energy companies.

NERVE AGENT

May said Russia had shown a pattern of aggression including the annexation of Crimea and the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, who died in 2006 after drinking green tea laced with radioactive polonium-210.

A British public inquiry found the killing of Litvinenko had probably been approved by Putin and carried out by two Russians, one of them a former KGB bodyguard who later became a member of the Russian parliament.

Related Coverage

  • Allegations of Russian involvement in 14 UK deaths to be investigated
  • British ambassador meeting Russian deputy foreign minister
  • France calls spy attack in Britain ‘unacceptable’, avoids reference to Russia

Both denied responsibility, as did Moscow.

Putin, a former KGB spy who took over as Kremlin chief from Yeltsin on the last day of 1999, has denied allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and says the West has repeatedly tried to undermine Russian interests.

Skripal betrayed dozens of Russian agents to British intelligence before his arrest in Moscow in 2004. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2006, and in 2010 was given refuge in Britain after being exchanged for Russian spies.

Since emerging from the John le Carre world of high espionage and betrayal, he has lived modestly in Salisbury and kept out of the spotlight until he was found unconscious on Sunday.

A British policeman who was one of the first to attend to the stricken spy was also affected by the nerve agent. He is now conscious in a serious but stable condition, police said.

Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald and Robin Emmott in Brussels, Andreas Rinke in Berlin and Katya Golubkova in Moscow; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Richard Balmforth

Plane Crashes in Kathmandu, With Many of Its 67 Passengers Feared Killed

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Airline officials were trying to determine what caused the crash.

“Further details of the crash are still awaited,” said Kamrul Islam, general manager of marketing support for the airline.

Images on social media showed heavy black smoke rising from the airport.

Airport officials said that several people were still trapped in the wreckage 90 minutes after crash. Twenty-five burned bodies were visible at the site, and a photojournalist said that 10 survivors had been taken to the hospital. He said the plane came to rest about 150 feet from the runway.

After the crash, the airport was shut down, and officials said several planes were circling in the sky above Kathmandu waiting for clearance to land. Some were short on fuel as they waited.

The airline’s posted schedule said Flight 211, a Bombardier Dash 8 from Dhaka, was scheduled to land at 2:15 p.m., around the actual time of the crash. The plane, a twin-engine turboprop, can carry as many as 78 passengers.

US-Bangla Airlines began operations in 2014, and its route between Dhaka and Kathmandu was its first international one, said CAPA-Center for Aviation. The airline is a subsidiary of the US-Bangla Group, a joint American-Bangladeshi company.

Jeffrey Gettleman reported from Kathmandu, and Austin Ramzy from Hong Kong. Bhadra Sharma contributed reporting from Kathmandu.


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White House vows to help arm teachers and backs off raising age for buying guns

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The White House on Sunday vowed to help provide “rigorous firearms training” to some schoolteachers and formally endorsed a bill to tighten the federal background checks system, but it backed off President Trump’s earlier call to raise the minimum age to purchase some guns to 21 years old from 18 years old.

Responding directly to last month’s gun massacre at a Florida high school, the administration rolled out several policy proposals that focus largely on mental health and school safety initiatives. The idea of arming some teachers has been controversial and has drawn sharp opposition from the National Education Association, the country’s largest teachers lobby, among other groups. Many of the student survivors have urged Washington to toughen restrictions on gun purchases, but such measures are fiercely opposed by the National Rifle Association, and the Trump plan does not include substantial changes to gun laws.

Rather, the president is establishing a Federal Commission on School Safety, to be chaired by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, that will explore possible solutions, such as the age requirement for purchases, officials said.

DeVos characterized the administration’s efforts as “a pragmatic plan to dramatically increase school safety.”

“We are committed to working quickly because there’s no time to waste,” she said on a conference call with reporters on Sunday evening. Invoking past mass school shootings, she continued, “No student, no family, no teacher and no school should have to live the horror of Parkland or Sandy Hook or Columbine again.”

President Trump watches as Julia Cordover, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High student body president, speaks during a listening session on gun violence at the White House on Feb. 21. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

The administration’s proposals come after 17 people were shot and killed last month at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., a massacre that spurred officials in Washington to reevaluate gun laws.

Democratic lawmakers and gun-control advocates accused Trump of succumbing to pressure from the NRA and other special-
interest groups.

“The White House has taken tiny baby steps designed not to upset the NRA, when the gun violence epidemic in this country demands that giant steps be taken,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “Democrats in the Senate will push to go further including passing universal background checks, actual federal legislation on protection orders, and a debate on banning assault weapons.”

Kris Brown, co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said in a statement that “President Trump has offered only drips of water in response to a five-alarm fire.”

Trump has said he was personally moved by the shooting — and by the persistent and impassioned calls for action from some of the teenage survivors as well as parents of the victims — and elevated the issue of school safety in his administration. He has called for raising the minimum age for purchasing an AR-15 or similar-style rifles from 18 to 21 years old.

“Now, this is not a popular thing to say, in terms of the NRA. But I’m saying it anyway,” Trump said in a Feb. 28 meeting with lawmakers. “You can buy a handgun — you can’t buy one; you have to wait until you’re 21. But you can buy the kind of weapon used in the school shooting at 18. I think it’s something you have to think about.”

But the White House plan released Sunday does not address the minimum age for gun purchases. Pressed by reporters about the apparent backtracking, a senior administration official said the age issue was “a state-based discussion right now” and would be explored by DeVos’s commission.

At a political rally Saturday night in Pennsylvania, Trump mocked the idea of commissions to solve the nation’s drug epidemic. “Do you think the drug dealers who kill thousands of people during their lifetime, do you think they care who’s on a blue-ribbon committee?” Trump said. “The only way to solve the drug problem is through toughness.”

Administration officials demurred Sunday night when asked why Trump found commissions an inadequate response to the drug epidemic but an appropriate way to respond to gun massacres.

“There are not going to be one-size-fits-all approaches and solutions, and I think that that is a very cogent argument for having a commission,” said a senior administration official, who would answer questions from reporters only on the condition of anonymity.

The centerpiece of the administration’s plan is Trump’s vow to “harden our schools against attack.” Since almost immediately after the Parkland shooting, the president has advocated arming some teachers as a solution to stopping future massacres.

“A gun-free zone to a maniac — because they’re all cowards — a gun-free zone is, let’s go in and let’s attack, because bullets aren’t coming back at us,” Trump said during a Feb. 22 listening session at the White House with teachers, students and parents.

The administration will start working with states to provide “rigorous firearms training” to teachers and other school personnel who volunteer to be armed, said Andrew Bremberg, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. The White House has not proposed offering states new funding for this training.

Lily Eskelsen García, president of the NEA, the teachers lobby, said last month that “bringing more guns into our schools does nothing to protect our students and educators from gun violence. Our students need more books, art and music programs, nurses and school counselors; they do not need more guns in their classrooms.”

The NRA supports the idea of allowing armed teachers in schools. Bremberg said the administration is backing two pieces of legislation: A bipartisan bill by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) that is designed to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System; and the STOP School Violence Act, which would authorize state-based grants to implement violence prevention training for teachers and students.

The administration also is urging all states to pass risk-protection orders, as Florida recently did, allowing law enforcement officers to remove firearms from individuals who are considered a threat to themselves or others and to prevent them from purchasing new guns, Bremberg said.

Lastly, the administration wants to better integrate mental health, primary care and family services programs, and the president has ordered a full audit and review of the FBI tip line, he said. The FBI has said it ignored a warning that 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz might attack a school just weeks before he allegedly carried out the rampage in Parkland.

“The president is determined to get to the root of the various societal issues that lead to violence in our country,” Bremberg said. “No stone will be unturned.”

At the Justice Department, meanwhile, Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Saturday took an incremental step toward banning “bump stocks,” devices that can make semiautomatic weapons fire like fully automatic firearms.

Sessions submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a proposed regulation on bump stocks. The proposal still requires that office’s approval, and once that is complete, it must be published and public comments considered before it becomes reality.

While some gun-control advocates welcomed the move, others argued that it would be better for Congress to pass legislation banning the devices. Federal officials had in years past concluded that they could not legally regulate bump stocks, and the new move to do so is likely to be met with lawsuits from manufacturers of the devices. The NRA does not oppose regulating bump stocks under existing law, but it does object to new legislation.

In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott (R) defied the NRA on Friday by signing into law a new set of gun regulations that imposes a three-day waiting period for most purchases of long guns, raises the minimum age for buying those weapons to 21 and bans the possession of bump stocks.

“I am going to do what I think are common-sense solutions,” Scott said after the signing. “I think this is the beginning. There is now going to be a real conversation about how we make our schools safe.”

The new Florida restrictions have drawn opposition from some Republicans nationally. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he does not support raising the age to purchase long guns, such as AR-15-style rifles, which have been used in many of the recent mass shootings.

“We send our sons and daughters over to Afghanistan, in Iraq,” at age 18, Johnson said. “They defend our freedoms. I think if they do that, they ought to be able to buy a hunting rifle.”

Trump has vacillated in his public pronouncements about guns. He and GOP leaders in Congress have been afraid to cross the NRA ahead of the November midterm elections because the gun lobby has long been a powerful force mobilizing conservative activists in elections.

At his Feb. 28 meeting with lawmakers, Trump sounded open to new restrictions on gun purchases. “Take the guns first, go through due process second,” he said, winning the approval of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and other Democrats who have long sought to toughen gun laws and ban semiautomatic assault rifles.

But NRA leaders then met privately with Trump, and the president had an apparent change of heart and backed off more-restrictive proposals. Last week, Trump met in the Oval Office with Kyle Kashuv, a Stoneman Douglas student who has become one of his school’s few pro-gun-rights activists with his frequent appearances on Fox News Channel.

Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.