OH OK
Sessions Pushes Death Penalty for ‘Certain Drug-Related Crimes’
REUTERS/JOHN SOMMERS II
Attorney General Jeff Sessions released a memo to U.S. Attorneys on Wednesday, saying he “strongly” encourages the use of the death penalty for “certain drug-related crimes.” Sessions wrote that actions to hold drug manufacturers and distributors accountable “should also include the pursuit of capital punishment in appropriate cases.” He also called for prosecutors to consider “every lawful tool at their disposal” to combat the opioid epidemic. This comes after President Donald Trump called for the U.S. to “get tough on the drug dealers” in a recent New Hampshire speech. “That toughness includes the death penalty,” he said.
1. EERIE
Austin Bomber Left Behind a ‘Confession’ Recording
LOREN ELLIOTT/REUTERS
The suspected Austin bomber left behind a 25-minute “confession” recording on his phone, police said. Brian Manley, the acting chief of the Austin Police Department, said the suspected bomber, Mark Anthony Conditt, described in detail how he built the bombs. “It is the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about the challenges in his life,” Manley said. Police said Conditt blew himself up on Wednesday morning, 19 days after he allegedly began sending bombs in packages across the city. Two people have been killed and four others were injured in the five bombings.
2. UH OH
Report: Mueller Witness Used Trump Fundraiser to Push Saudi, UAE Interests in White House
A Lebanese-American businessman and United Arab Emirates adviser cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller used one of President Trump’s top fundraisers to push the interests of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the White House, The New York Times reports. Previously undisclosed documents cited in the report are said to detail a year-long effort by the adviser, George Nader, to use Republican National Committee deputy finance chairman Elliott Broidy to do the bidding of the Saudi and UAE governments inside the White House. The firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was among the top priorities Nader pushed in the White House, as was the president taking a harder line on Iran and Qatar. Nader is said to have offered Broidy more than $1 billion in contracts for his security company, Circinus, at one point in their correspondence. He also reportedly offered Broidy millions of dollars worth of business deals with the UAE. Nader praised Broidy for his ability to “handle” Trump and told Broidy he’d informed the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE of the “Pivotal Indispensable Magical Role you are playing to help them,” according to the report.
3. DOWNFALL
French Ex-President Sarkozy Charged Over Alleged Libyan Election Cash
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has reportedly been charged with corruption and illegal campaign financing over allegationshis 2007 election campaign received $60 million in illicit funds from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The 63-year-old former French leader, who was questioned by investigators for more than 15 hours before the charges were leveled against him, has also been charged with concealing the Libyan money, according to Agence France-Presse. He was allowed to return home but will be kept under court supervision. Investigators had been looking into allegations against Sarkozy by former members of Gaddafi’s regime since 2013, and Wednesday’s charges are thought to have come after Libyan sources provided new evidence of alleged illicit cash flows. Sarkozy, who has denied the charges, is already due to stand trial over unrelated charges concerning the financing of his 2012 re-election campaign.
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4. PREDATORY PRACTICES?
New York City Investigating Kushner Cos. Properties Over Falsified Paperwork Claims
Authorities in New York have reportedly opened investigations into more than a dozen properties owned by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner’s family real estate company after reports of falsified paperwork. New York City’s Department of Buildings is probing possible “illegal activity” involving construction work permits at 13 Kushner Cos. buildings, according to the Associated Press. The investigations come after a review by the AP uncovered more than 80 applications by the company claiming to have no rent-regulated tenants, when it actually had hundreds of such tenants. The filings, submitted between 2013 and 2016, were seen as a way for the company to force out low-income tenants to bring in higher-paying residents and boost profits. Kushner Cos. has denied submitting knowingly false information and decried the accusations as “politically motivated attacks.”
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6. BABY STEPS
Massive Spending Bill Would Improve Gun Background Checks
Congress’ massive new spending bill, known as the omnibus, includes modest gun-control measures aimed at improving background checks. The legislation includes “Fix NICS,” a bill that provides incentives for states to submit information to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Another measure in the legislation would allow the Centers for Disease Control to “conduct research on the causes of gun violence,” which was previously banned. The provisions come a month after the deadly shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people. Lawmakers are expected to vote on the legislation this week.
7. HMM
McCabe Oversaw Criminal Probe of Sessions Nearly a Year Before Firing: Report
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe reportedly “oversaw a federal criminal investigation” into whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions lacked candor in his testimony to Congress about his contacts with Russian operatives, according to ABC News. The probe was launched nearly a year before McCabe was fired. One source claimed that Sessions was “not aware of the investigation when he decided to fire McCabe last Friday.” Sessions’ lawyer declined to confirm that to the network. Several Democratic and Republican lawmakers were made aware of the Sessions probe last year in a closed-door briefing with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and McCabe. Sources told ABC News that McCabe authorized the inquiry into Sessions after Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and then-Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) wrote a letter to the Bureau in March 2017 “urging agents to investigate ‘all contacts’ Sessions may have had with Russians, and ‘whether any laws were broken in the course of those contacts or in any subsequent discussion of whether they occurred.’”
8. IT’S A WRAP
Rick Saccone Finally Concedes Pennsylvania Race To Conor Lamb
Republican Rick Saccone has conceded in his race against Democrat Conor Lamb for a special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District. It took him a week to formally do so, but Lamb tweeted that he had a conversation with Saccone on Wednesday evening. “Just got off the phone with my opponent, @RickSaccone4PA, who congratulated me & graciously conceded last Tuesday’s election,” Lamb wrote. “I congratulate Mr. Saccone for a close, hard-fought race & wish him the best. Ready to be sworn in & get to work for the people of #PA18.”
Both candidates are now running in newly drawn districts in advance of a May primary in Pennsylvania.
—Gideon Resnick
9. MONEY MOVES
Fed Hikes Interest Rate to Highest Level Since 2008
The Federal Reserve hiked its key interest rate to the highest level since 2008 on Wednesday, according to The Washington Post. The Fed lifted the rate from 1.5 percent to 1.75 percent—and expects to raise rates three more times this year. It's the Fed's first major move under its new Chairman Jerome H. Powell, and reflects the strengthening economy and thriving stock market. Fed officials say the economy is on track to expand “2.7 percent this year and 2.4 percent in 2019,” a more optimistic forecast than the growth numbers projected after the Republican tax cuts. Rates haven’t risen four times in one year since 2006, the Post reports.
10. FADING STAR
Chicago Trump Tower’s Michelin-Starred Restaurant to Close
Sixteen, the two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Chicago’s Trump Tower, is closing after 10 years and has seen “sales drop as low as 40 percent during weekdays in recent months,” according to Eater Chicago. The restaurant, which opened in 2008, is set to close on April 28 to make way for a new eatery with “lower check totals...to better appeal to the masses.” Current chef Nick Dostal will remain onboard, with a menu that still features French, Italian, and Asian cuisine—but that also includes “more affordable wines” and “a burger.” According to the food site, the changes “have been in the works for a while,” and it appears the Trump name has impacted business. This comes after sushi spot Koi, the restaurant in the now-defunct Trump Soho, also closed in June due to waning business.
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