Trump commutes term of celeb-championed drug offender
WASHINGTON — Flexing his clemency powers once again, President Donald Trump on Wednesday commuted the life sentence of a woman whose cause was championed by reality TV star Kim Kardashian West.
“BEST NEWS EVER!!!!” was the exuberant Twitter response from Kardashian West, who visited the White House last week to press the case.
Alice Marie Johnson, 63, had spent more than two decades behind bars, serving life without parole for drug offenses. She was released hours after the White House announcement.
Ryan contradicts Trump’s claim that the FBI planted a ‘spy’
WASHINGTON — In a break with President Donald Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday that he agrees there is no evidence that the FBI planted a “spy” in Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign in an effort to hurt his chances at the polls.
He also issued a careful warning about Trump’s recent assertion that he has the authority to pardon himself.
“I don’t know the technical answer to that question, but I think obviously the answer is he shouldn’t and no one is above the law,” Ryan told reporters on Wednesday.
The comments come after Trump insisted in a series of angry tweets last month that the agency planted a spy “to help Crooked Hillary win,” referring to his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
There is a growing sense that Republicans are uncomfortable with those statements. Ryan, R-Wisc., is one of three congressional Republicans who have now contradicted Trump on the spying matter, including House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C.
Mystery ailment leads US to evacuate workers from China
WASHINGTON — The United States has evacuated several more government workers out of the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou after medical testing revealed they might have been affected by unexplained health incidents that have already hurt U.S. personnel in Cuba, the State Department said Wednesday.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said “a number of individuals” have been brought to the U.S. They are in addition to a U.S. worker in Guangzhou who was evacuated earlier, as the Trump administration had already disclosed.
The new evacuations come after the U.S. sent a medical team to Guangzhou to screen American government workers. The team arrived earlier this week, and Nauert said the medical screenings were ongoing. She said they are being offered to “any personnel who have noted concerning symptoms or wanted baseline screening.”
A U.S. official said the evacuated Americans are being brought for testing to the University of Pennsylvania. That’s where doctors have been treating and studying patients evacuated from the U.S. Embassy in Havana.
The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the situation publicly and requested anonymity.
Giuliani: Trump forced North Korea’s Kim to beg for meeting
JERUSALEM — Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday boasted that Donald Trump’s tough line had forced the North Korean leader to beg to re-schedule a high-profile summit after the president abruptly called off the meeting.
After the cancellation, “Kim Jong Un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in,” Giuliani told a business conference in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
In an interview later with The Associated Press, Giuliani rejected suggestions that such comments might sour the atmosphere ahead of next week’s summit, saying that the North Korean leader must understand that the United States is in a position of strength.
“It is pointing out that the president is the stronger figure,” Giuliani told the AP. “And you’re not going to have useful negotiations unless he accepts that.”
Giuliani said Trump had no choice but to call off the meeting after the North Koreans insulted Vice President Mike Pence, National Security Adviser John Bolton and threatened “nuclear annihilation” of the U.S.
At Guatemala volcano, weather and danger hinder search
SAN MIGUEL LOS LOTES, Guatemala — Troublesome rain and more volcanic activity are hindering search and rescue efforts around Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire, but when teams have been able to work in the hardest hit areas the death toll has continued to rise.
Efforts were cut short again Wednesday when a downpour forced teams to retreat for fear of mudslides. Boiling water flowing down the volcano’s slopes from dangerously hot volcanic gas and ash also posed a threat. A day earlier, flows of super-heated volcanic material forced crews to pull back.
But between stoppages, search teams working with shovels and heavy equipment found more bodies from Sunday’s big eruption. Remains were loaded into body bags and carried out on stretchers.
Guatemala’s National Institute of Forensic Sciences raised the death toll to 99 late in afternoon, an increase of 24 bodies for the day. Only 28 of the total had been identified. At least 197 people were listed as missing.
“Nobody is going to be able to get them out or say how many are buried here,” Efrain Suarez said, standing amid the smoking holes dotting what used to be the village of San Miguel Los Lotes on the flanks of the mountain.
Honolulu leaders approve first ride-hailing price cap in US
HONOLULU — Honolulu leaders approved a measure Wednesday to limit prices that ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft can charge during peak demand, a cap that the companies say would be the first restriction of its kind in the United States.
The measure would prevent “surge pricing” if increased rates are higher than the maximum fare set by the city. Honolulu attorneys will review the measure before it goes to Mayor Kirk Caldwell, who would have 10 days to sign it into law, allow it to become law without his signature or veto it.
Uber sent emails to customers across the island of Oahu, which is where the rule would apply, urging them to oppose the rules that would impose “outdated taxi-style requirements on rideshare.”
Oahu taxi drivers have been at odds with those who drive for mobile apps that connect riders with nearby drivers. Taxi companies complain that companies such as Uber and Lyft create an unfair playing field because they face fewer restrictions.
Uber has been told the city hasn’t received any consumer complaints about surge pricing, said Tabatha Chow, the company’s senior operations manager for Hawaii. Honolulu has the highest taxi prices in the nation and Uber is 40 percent cheaper, she told council members Wednesday.
