Barr defends his handling of Mueller’s Russia report
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr on Thursday defended his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation, saying the confidential document contains sensitive grand jury material that prevented it from being immediately released to the public.
The statement came as Barr confronts concerns that his four-page letter summarizing Mueller’s conclusions unduly sanitized the full report in President Donald Trump’s favor, including on the key question of whether the president obstructed justice. House Democrats on Wednesday approved subpoenas for Mueller’s entire report and any exhibits and other underlying evidence that the Justice Department might withhold.
The disparity in length between Barr’s letter and Mueller’s full report, which totals nearly 400 pages, raises the likelihood of additional significant information that was put forward by the special counsel’s office but not immediately shared by the attorney general.
Trump backs off border shutdown but threatens auto tariffs
WASHINGTON — Abandoning his threat to immediately seal the southern border, President Donald Trump warned instead on Thursday that he’d slap tariffs on cars coming to the U.S. from Mexico unless the Mexicans do more to stop the flow of migrants and drugs to the U.S.
In his latest backtrack in recent days, Trump told reporters he would try the “less drastic measure” before resorting to his standing border-closure threat.
“Mexico understands that we’re going to close the border or I’m going to tariff the cars. I’ll do one or the other. And probably start off with the tariffs,” Trump said. He added later: “I don’t think we’ll ever have to close the border because the penalty of tariffs on cars coming into the United States from Mexico, at 25 percent, will be massive.”
It was the latest, seemingly sudden attempt at new leverage by a president struggling to solve what his administration has called a border “crisis.” And it was a dramatic departure for Trump, who last week tweeted that he would close the border or large swaths of it this week unless Mexico immediately halted “ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States” — a seemingly impossible task.
Trump said at the time that he was “not kidding around,” and his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said in a television interview Sunday that it would take “something dramatic” for Trump not to close down the crossings.
Jurors hear final arguments in opioid bribe scheme case
BOSTON — In a scheme to get doctors to write prescriptions in exchange for cash, a wealthy drug company founder put patients at risk to guarantee his business’ success, a federal prosecutor told jurors Thursday in his closing arguments in the closely-watched trial.
Meanwhile, an attorney for Insys Therapeutics Founder John Kapoor sought to poke holes in the government’s case, calling its two star witnesses liars with conflicting stories and accusing prosecutors of targeting Kapoor just so they can tout a high-profile conviction.
“The story cannot be true and they don’t care because they have had their eye on this man, and these people for years,” Attorney Beth Wilkinson said. “They want to show that they can take the guy at the top … and they don’t care if the other guys make up their story,” she said.
From wire sources
Kapoor and four other former executives of the Chandler, Arizona-based company are charged with conspiring to pay doctors millions of dollars in the form of fees for sham speaking events about the drug — a highly addictive fentanyl spray meant for patients with severe cancer pain.
Prosecutors said Insys staffers also misled insurers about patients’ medical conditions and posed as doctors’ office employees in order to get payment approved for the costly opioid.
Mormons ease opposition to same-sex couples and their kids
SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Thursday repealed rules that banned baptisms for children of gay parents and that labeled same-sex couples as sinners eligible for expulsion — marking a reversal of policies condemned as jarring detours from a push by the faith to be more compassionate about LGBTQ issues.
LGBTQ church members and groups that support them expressed relief about what they called an important step forward for the faith. However, they also said they were angry about the harm the 2015 policies had caused and the lack of an apology by church leaders.
In a statement posted online, church leaders described the changes as “very positive policies” that should help “affected families.” The faith’s highest leadership group, known as the First Presidency, made the decision after “fervent, united prayer to understand the will of the Lord on these matters,” the statement said.
The faith widely known as the Mormon church said it is not changing its doctrinal opposition to gay marriage and still considers same-sex relationships to be a “serious transgression.”
“We want to reduce the hate and contention so common today,” the statement said.