In Brief: Nation & World: 1-11-17

Sessions says he’d defy Trump as attorney general if needed

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions fervently rejected “damnably false” accusations of past racist comments Tuesday as he challenged Democratic concerns about the civil rights commitment he would bring as Donald Trump’s attorney general. He vowed at his confirmation hearing to stay independent from the White House and stand up to Trump when necessary.

Sessions laid out a sharply conservative vision for the Justice Department he would oversee, pledging to crack down on illegal immigration, gun violence and the “scourge of radical Islamic terrorism” and to keep open the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

But he also distanced himself from some of Trump’s public pronouncements.

He said waterboarding, a now-banned harsh interrogation technique that Trump has at times expressed support for, was “absolutely improper and illegal.”

Though he said he would prosecute immigrants who repeatedly enter the country illegally and criticized as constitutionally “questionable” an executive action by President Barack Obama that shielded certain immigrants from deportation, he said he did “not support the idea that Muslims, as a religious group, should be denied admission to the United States.”

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Trump pushes GOP leaders for fast action on health care

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump pushed Congress on Tuesday to act swiftly to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law and follow up with a replacement. Speaker Paul Ryan, after talking with Trump, announced that the House would aim to take both steps “concurrently.”

The push for speed and coordination came as growing numbers of Republicans expressed concerns about GOP leadership’s plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement in hand, potentially leaving the 20 million people who gained coverage under the law in limbo.

“We have to get to business. Obamacare has been a catastrophic event,” Trump said in an interview with The New York Times.

“Long to me would be weeks,” he added of the gap between repealing and replacing the law. “It won’t be repeal and then two years later go in with another plan.”

Yet that’s exactly the scenario that had been envisioned by GOP leaders who’ve described a transition period of months or years between repealing the enormously complex law and replacing it with something else.

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Things to know about Trump’s Cabinet confirmation hearings

Under the U.S. Constitution, the Senate has sole authority to confirm a president’s nominee to serve in the Cabinet. And while President-elect Donald Trump can’t officially nominate anyone until he becomes president on Jan. 20, the Senate is getting an early start this week on his choices for several top jobs in his administration.

The action began Tuesday with Trump’s pick for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, a longtime senator from Alabama, and retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, named by Trump to head the Department of Homeland Security.

By holding hearings before Inauguration Day, the Senate can move quickly once Trump takes the oath of office and formally submits his Cabinet nominees for approval.

Republicans have a narrow majority in the Senate, meaning the hearings are unlikely to make or break nominations. Most, if not all, will go through.

But the hearings offer senators an opportunity to explore the backgrounds of Trump’s team and plans for the agencies they will soon lead. For Democrats, the hearings offer a high-profile stage to challenge Trump’s proposals.

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Lawsuits over Trump business threaten to tie up presidency

WASHINGTON (AP) — As a businessman, Donald Trump has kept the courts busy. That’s hardly likely to change when he enters the Oval Office, creating an unusual and potentially serious problem for a sitting president.

Only a handful of presidents have undergone legal depositions during their terms, and even fewer have become embroiled in private lawsuits. Trump is poised to join that small club.

Just last week, the president-elect sat for a deposition in a lawsuit involving his Washington hotel , and he is still tied up in legal disputes that are to proceed after Inauguration Day. Trump is also under investigation by the New York attorney general over whether he used his charity for personal benefit.

Those are only some of the pending matters.

While Trump has said he will turn over management of his company to his adult sons, he has left open the possibility he will keep not only an ownership interest but the legal liability that accompanies it. He is expected to give more details about stepping away at a news conference on Wednesday.

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Weakened by drought, trees are falling in rainy California

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Drenching winter rains combined with the punishing effects of six years of drought are causing trees to topple across California, in some cases with deadly results. At least two people have been killed in the past month.

Seemingly sturdy oaks, palm trees in Southern California and giant sequoias farther north have been collapsing. Experts say that in some instances, the dry spell had weakened or killed the roots or trunks, and the soggy soil and wind caused the trees to tip over.

One woman who struck and killed by a tree while walking on a Northern California golf course Saturday. A woman posing for photographs as part of a wedding party was killed and five others were injured by a falling eucalyptus tree in Southern California last month.

Another wet, blustery storm headed for California on Tuesday night threatened to knock down many more trees throughout the Sierra Nevada.

“Pay attention to your surroundings and watch those trees,” said Battalion Chief Scott McLean of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “It is a hazard you need to be aware of.”

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In final speech, Obama must reconcile his hopes with Trump’s

WASHINGTON (AP) — Now an elder statesman, President Barack Obama was returning Tuesday to the city where he launched his unlikely political career for one final speech: a parting plea to Americans not to lose faith in their future, no matter what they think about their next president.

Obama’s final speech as president, before thousands who will gather at Chicago’s McCormick Place, is his last chance to try to define what his presidency meant for America. It’s a fitting bookend to what he started eight years ago. It was in Chicago in 2008 that the nation’s first black president declared victory, and where over the years he tried to cultivate his brand of optimism in American politics.

“We’ve run our leg in a long relay of progress, knowing that our work will always be unfinished,” Obama wrote Tuesday in a Facebook post previewing his speech. “And we’ve reaffirmed the belief that we can make a difference with our own hands, in our own time.”

The president departed Washington in the late afternoon joined by an array of long-serving White House advisers and people from his past, including sister Auma Obama from Kenya. First lady Michelle Obama, daughter Malia and family friends came along for what the White House said was Obama’s 445th mission aboard Air Force One.

Obama has said he’s leaving his eight years in office with two basic lessons: that Americans are fundamentally good, and that change can happen. “The system will respond to ordinary people coming together to try to move the country in a better direction,” he said ahead of the speech.

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Dylann Roof sentenced to death for killing 9 church members

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — An unrepentant Dylann Roof was sentenced to death Tuesday for fatally shooting nine black church members during a Bible study session, becoming the first person ordered executed for a federal hate crime.

A jury deliberated for about three hours before returning with the decision, capping a trial in which the 22-year-old avowed white supremacist did not fight for his life or show any remorse. He served as his own attorney during sentencing and never asked for forgiveness or mercy or explained the massacre.

Hours earlier, Roof threw away one last chance to plead for his life, telling jurors: “I still feel like I had to do it.”

Every juror looked directly at Roof as he spoke for about five minutes. A few nodded as he reminded them that they said during jury selection they could fairly weigh the factors of his case. Only one of them, he noted, had to disagree to spare his life.

“I have the right to ask you to give me a life sentence, but I’m not sure what good it would do anyway,” he said.

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Dangerous blizzard, flooding as new storm hits California

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The latest in an onslaught of winter storms comes with blizzard warnings for the Sierra Nevada and a new round of flooding for Northern California river towns where thousands of people remained under evacuation advisory Tuesday.

Forecasters warned of up to 10 feet of snow in the highest mountains, with up to 7 feet of snow around the resorts of Lake Tahoe, high risk of avalanches, and wind gusts to 60 mph. The Sierra ridge had gusts of more than 100 mph.

A blizzard warning is in effect for parts of the Sierra, a rarity and the first issued in the past nine years, said Scott McGuire, a forecaster for the National Weather Service based in Reno, Nevada.

“This is definitely a dangerous, life-threatening situation going on up there,” he said Tuesday. “People should not attempt to travel at all.”

Many ski resorts shut down Tuesday because of the dangerous storm. A number of main roads in the Sierra were closed, including Interstate 80, or required chains.

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Democrat criticizes Obama for slow response to Russian hacks

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate intelligence committee’s top Democrat criticized the Obama administration on Tuesday for its slow response to allegations of Russian hacking during the presidential campaign as the panel heard from the director of the FBI, whom several Democrats criticized for announcing a new probe of Hillary Clinton’s emails 11 days before the election.

Sen. Mark Warner’s comments reflected the ongoing discontent among Democrats with how President Barack Obama handled evidence of the Kremlin’s tampering with the U.S. democratic process. The Virginia Democrat said the administration deserved at least some criticism for the pace of its response and made clear he thought it should have acted sooner and stronger.

FBI Director James Comey and James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, were speaking to the committee about the conclusions of a report presented last week by U.S. intelligence agencies to Obama, President-elect Donald Trump and senior members of Congress. An unclassified version also was made public, outlining the agencies’ claims of Russian actions designed to undermine the election and help Trump by hurting Clinton.

While Democrats say they accept the vote, many lawmakers feel that if Obama and his intelligence agencies were more forthright in the run-up to the election about putting up red flags and warning signs, the result may have been different.

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the intelligence committee’s chairman, said he had no reason to doubt the findings of last week’s report. But he said “our democracy is not at risk,” adding that Americans can have faith in the democratic process. And he said his committee’s staff would assess the sourcing behind the intelligence agencies’ conclusions.

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Homeland Security pick cites securing border as top priority

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security says closing the border to the “illegal movement of people and things” will be his top priority if confirmed.

Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly outlined his priorities in a detailed questionnaire to senators. The questionnaire was released Tuesday ahead of Kelly’s confirmation hearing later in the day.

Kelly embraced Trump’s call for a strong border wall with Mexico. He said that achieving his top priority of shutting down illegal movements “starts with physical obstacles like a border wall and supporting surveillance technologies.” He said it will also require constant patrols from federal and local law enforcement.

The confirmation of Kelly, a retired Marine general, is almost assured, but members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will likely use the hearing to debate the tough immigration and border security policies that were centerpieces of Trump’s presidential campaign.

Kelly is one of several retired generals tapped for top positions by Trump. That has raised some concerns about undue military influence in his administration, weakening the American tradition of civilian control of government.