W. House gives FBI free rein in Kavanaugh investigation
WASHINGTON — The White House has given the FBI clearance to interview anyone it wants to by Friday in its investigation of sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The new guidance, described to The Associated Press by a person familiar with it, was issued to the FBI over the weekend in response to Democratic and news media pushback that the scope of the probe was too narrow.
It comes as the FBI presses ahead with its investigation, questioning in recent days at least three people about accusations of misconduct against Kavanaugh dating to when he was in high school and college. Among the witnesses interviewed were men who California college professor Christine Blasey Ford says were present at a party of teenagers in the early 1980s at which she says was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh.
President Donald Trump, addressing concerns about the probe’s expansiveness at a news conference Monday, said he wants the FBI to do a “comprehensive” investigation and “it wouldn’t bother me at all” if agents pursued accusations made by three women who have come forward. But he also said Senate Republicans are determining the parameters of the investigation and “ultimately, they’re making the judgment.”
Trump hails NAFTA revamp, Trudeau calls it ‘win-win-win’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump hailed his revamped North American trade agreement with Canada and Mexico as a breakthrough for U.S. workers on Monday, vowing to sign it by late November. But it still faces a lengthy path to congressional approval after serving for two decades as a political football for American manufacturing woes.
Embracing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which the Canadians joined just before a Sunday midnight deadline, Trump branded it the “USMCA,” a moniker he said would replace the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
But he noted that the agreement would need to be ratified by Congress, a step that could be affected by the outcome of the fall elections as Democrats seek to regain majorities in the House and Senate. When a reporter suggested he seemed confident of approval after his announcement, he said he was “not at all confident.”
“Anything you submit to Congress is trouble, no matter what,” Trump said, predicting that Democrats would say, “Trump likes it so we’re not going to approve it.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his country is in a more stable place now that it has completed the negotiations. He says: “We got the right deal. We got a win-win-win for all three countries.”
Desperation everywhere, aid slow to reach Indonesia victims
PALU, Indonesia — Desperation is visible everywhere in areas heavily damaged by an earthquake and tsunami, four days after the disaster devastated parts of Indonesia’s central Sulawesi island.
Signs propped along roads read “We Need Food” and “We Need Support,” while traffic was snarled by people waiting for fuel.
The confirmed death toll of 844 is expected to rise as authorities reach areas that were cut off by the disaster. The magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck at dusk Friday and generated a tsunami said to have been as high as 20 feet in places.
Search-and-rescue teams combed destroyed homes and buildings for any trapped survivors, but they needed more heavy equipment to clear the rubble.
Nearly 50,000 people have been displaced from their homes in Palu alone, and hospitals were overwhelmed.
By wire sources
