Judge rejects bid by Donald Trump to throw out classified documents case on constitutional grounds

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday rejected one bid by Donald Trump to throw out out his classified documents criminal case, and appeared skeptical during hours of arguments of a separate effort to scuttle the prosecution ahead of trial.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon issued a two-page order saying that though the Trump team had raised “various arguments warranting serious consideration,” a dismissal of charges was not merited. The case involves boxes of records, some highly classified, that Trump took to his Mar-a-Lago estate when he left the White House.

Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by the former president, had made clear during more than three-and-a-half hours of arguments that she was reluctant to dismiss one of the four criminal cases against the 2024 presumptive Republican presidential nominee. She said at one point that a dismissal of the indictment would be “difficult to see” and that it would be “quite an extraordinary” step to strike down an Espionage Act statute that underpins the bulk of the felony counts against Trump but that his lawyers contend is unconstitutionally vague.

The ruling from Cannon is a modest win for special counsel Jack Smith's team, which in addition to the classified documents case is pursuing a separate prosecution of Trump on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

But it left unanswered questions over when the case might proceed to trial and only covered one of the two motions argued in court on Thursday. A separate motion about whether Trump was permitted under the Presidential Records Act to retain the documents after he left the White House remains pending, but the judge also seemed disinclined to throw out the case on those grounds.

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James Crumbley, who bought gun used by son to kill 4 students, guilty of manslaughter in Michigan

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The father of a Michigan school shooter was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter Thursday, a second conviction against the teen’s parents who were accused of failing to secure a gun at home and doing nothing to address acute signs of his mental turmoil.

The jury verdict means James Crumbley has joined Jennifer Crumbley as a cause of the killing of four students at Oxford High School in 2021, even without pulling the trigger.

They had separate trials as the first U.S. parents to be charged in a mass school shooting committed by their child. Jennifer Crumbley, 45, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in February.

The verdicts — one each for the four victims — were read around 7:15 p.m. at the end of a full day of deliberations in Oakland County court.

James Crumbley, 47, who heard the outcome through headphones because of a hearing problem, slowly shook his head from side to side as the jury foreman said “guilty.” A sheriff’s deputy removed a dress tie from his neck, shackled him at the waist and returned him to jail.

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Trump-backed Senate candidate faces GOP worries that he could be linked to adult website profile

WASHINGTON (AP) — For Republicans eager to regain the Senate majority this year, Ohio offers a prime opportunity to pick up a critical seat.

But ahead of Tuesday's primary election, there's mounting anxiety inside the GOP that Bernie Moreno may emerge with the nomination. After vaulting into the top tier of contenders with a coveted endorsement from Donald Trump, Moreno — who has shifted from a public supporter of LGBTQ rights to a hardline opponent — is confronting questions about the existence of a 2008 profile seeking "Men for 1-on-1 sex” on a casual sexual encounters website called Adult Friend Finder.

“Hi, looking for young guys to have fun with while traveling,” reads a caption on a photo-less profile under the username “nardo19672,” according to an Associated Press review of records made public through a massive and well-publicized data breach of the website. Records also show the profile was last accessed about six hours after it was created.

The AP review confirmed that someone with access to Moreno’s email account created the profile, though the AP could not definitively confirm whether it was created by Moreno himself. Questions about the profile have circulated in GOP circles for the past month. On Thursday evening, two days after the AP first asked Moreno’s campaign about the account, the candidate’s lawyer said a former intern created the account as a prank. The lawyer provided a statement from the intern, Dan Ricci, who said he created the account as “part of a juvenile prank.”

“I am thoroughly embarrassed by an aborted prank I pulled on my friend, and former boss, Bernie Moreno, nearly two decades ago,” Ricci said. The AP couldn't independently confirm Ricci's statement and he didn't immediately respond to messages left for him on multiple phone numbers listed to him. He donated $6,599 to Moreno’s campaign last year, according to campaign finance records.

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Damaging tornadoes move through Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky

MADISON, Ind. (AP) — Suspected tornado raked parts of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky on Thursday, damaging dozens of homes and leaving people without electricity, authorities said.

Forecasters are aware of damage in the Lakeview, Ohio, area and across the region and plan to survey the area Friday to confirm the tornado, said Scott Hickman, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio.

A spokesperson for Logan County’s Emergency Management Agency confirmed the tornado. She said there were no confirmed reports of fatalities or injuries. Lakeview is in Logan County.

“We had a tornado strike here in Logan County. There is damage, it is still being assessed. We do have people on the ground, doing that work,” the spokesperson said, hanging up before spelling out her name to a reporter.

Earlier, storms damaged homes and trailers in the Ohio River communities of Hanover and Lamb in Indiana.

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Prosecutors say they're open to delaying Donald Trump's March 25 hush-money trial for a month

NEW YORK (AP) — New York prosecutors said Thursday they are open to delaying the start of Donald Trump's hush-money criminal trial by a month “in an abundance of caution” to give the former president's lawyers time to review evidence they only recently obtained from a previous federal investigation into the matter.

The Manhattan district attorney's office said in a court filing that it does not oppose adjourning the trial for 30 days but would fight the defense's push for a longer delay. Judge Juan Manuel Merchan did not immediately rule.

Jury selection is scheduled for March 25. The hush-money case is one of four criminal indictments against Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Trump's legal team said it has received tens of thousands of pages of evidence from the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan in the last two weeks, including records about former Trump lawyer-turned-prosecution witness Michael Cohen that are “exculpatory and favorable to the defense.” Prosecutors said most of the newly turned over material is “largely irrelevant to the subject matter of this case,” though some records are pertinent.

Trump's lawyers want a 90-day delay, but they've also asked Merchan to dismiss the case entirely, alleging the last-minute disclosures amounted to prosecutorial misconduct and violated rules governing the sharing of evidence. That process, called discovery, is routine in criminal cases and is intended to help ensure a fair trial.

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Russians head to polls in a vote set to extend Putin's rule. His foes are in jail, in exile or dead

Voters headed to the polls in Russia on Friday for a three-day presidential election that is all but certain to extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule by six more years after he stifled dissent.

The election takes place against the backdrop of a ruthless crackdown that has crippled independent media and prominent rights groups and given Putin full control of the political system.

It also comes as Moscow’s war in Ukraine enters its third year. Russia has the advantage on the battlefield, where it is making small, if slow, gains. Ukraine, meanwhile, has made Moscow look vulnerable behind the front line: Long-range drone attacks have struck deep inside Russia, while high-tech drones have put its Black Sea fleet on the defensive.

Voters will cast their ballots Friday through Sunday at polling stations across the vast country’s 11 time zones, as well as in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine. The first polling stations opened in Russia's easternmost regions, Chukotka and Kamchatka, at 8 a.m. local time.

The election holds little suspense since Putin, 71, is running for his fifth term virtually unchallenged. His political opponents are either in jail or in exile abroad, and the fiercest of them, Alexei Navalny, died in a remote Arctic penal colony recently. The three other candidates on the ballot are low-profile politicians from token opposition parties that toe the Kremlin’s line.

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A plan to find new leadership for Haiti is moving forward, Caribbean officials say

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A plan to create a transitional presidential council is moving forward after a majority of Haitian parties and coalitions submitted the names of those charged with finding new leaders for the country, Caribbean officials said Thursday.

The names were provided to a regional trade bloc known as Caricom that is helping lead the transition.

“It is all up now to the Haitians as they are the ones who want a Haitian-led solution,” Surinamese Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin told The Associated Press. “It is for them to pick up the ball and run with it, being responsible for their own destiny.”

He spoke a day after Haitian politicians and influential figures bickered publicly about the plan and what names to submit, seemingly putting creation of the council at risk.

Caribbean leaders had announced plans to create the council after meeting in Jamaica Monday behind closed doors with officials including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Shortly after the meeting, Prime Minister Ariel Henry pledged to resign once the council is created.

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Middle East conflicts revive clash between the president and Congress over war powers

WASHINGTON (AP) — A major deadline under the half-century-old War Powers Resolution came this week for President Joe Biden to obtain Congress' approval to keep waging his military campaign against Yemen's Houthis, in line with its sole authority under the U.S. Constitution to declare war and otherwise authorize military force.

Came, and went, in public silence — even from Senate Democrats frustrated by the Biden administration's blowing past some of the checkpoints that would give Congress more of a say in the United States' deepening military engagement in the Middle East conflicts.

The Biden administration contends that nothing in the War Powers Resolution, or other deadlines, directives and laws, requires it to change its military support for Israel's five-month-old war in Gaza, or two months of U.S. military strikes on the Houthis, or to submit to greater congressional oversight or control.

That's left some frustrated Senate Democrats calibrating how far to go in confronting a president of their own party over his military authority.

Democrats are wary of undercutting Biden as he faces a difficult reelection campaign. Their ability to act is limited by their control of only one chamber, the Senate, where some Democrats — and many Republicans — back Biden’s military actions in the Middle East.

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Top Democrat Schumer calls for new elections in Israel, saying Netanyahu is an obstacle to peace

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday called on Israel to hold new elections, saying he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “lost his way” and is an obstacle to peace in the region amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Schumer, the first Jewish majority leader in the Senate and the highest-ranking Jewish official in the U.S., strongly criticized Netanyahu in a 40-minute speech Thursday morning on the Senate floor. Schumer said the prime minister has put himself in a coalition of far-right extremists and “as a result, he has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.”

“Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah,” Schumer said.

The high-level warning comes as an increasing number of Democrats have pushed back against Israel and as President Joe Biden has stepped up public pressure on Netanyahu's government, arguing that he needs to pay more attention to the civilian death toll in Gaza amid the Israeli bombardment. The U.S. this month began airdrops of badly needed humanitarian aid and announced it will establish a temporary pier to get more assistance into Gaza via sea.

Schumer has so far positioned himself as a strong ally of the Israeli government, visiting the country just days after the brutal Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and giving a lengthy speech on the Senate floor in December decrying ”brazen and widespread antisemitism the likes of which we haven’t seen in generations in this country, if ever."

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Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says he's putting together investor group to buy TikTok

Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that he will put together an investor group to buy TikTok after the House passed a bill that would ban the popular video app in the U.S. if its China-based owner does not sell its stake.

During an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box," Mnuchin, who served under President Donald Trump, said he had spoken “to a bunch of people” about creating an investor group that would purchase the popular social media company. He offered no details about who may be in the group or about TikTok’s possible valuation.

“This should be owned by U.S. businesses," Mnuchin said. “There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a U.S. company own something like this in China.”

TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.

The House bill, passed by a vote of 352-65, now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are unclear. Lawmakers in the Senate have indicated that the measure will undergo a thorough review. If it passes in the Senate, President Joe Biden has said he will sign it.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024