Trump holding back some JFK files, others are out
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump blocked the release of hundreds of records on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, bending to CIA and FBI appeals, while the National Archives came out Thursday night with a hefty cache of others.
“I have no choice,” Trump said in a memo, citing “potentially irreversible harm” to national security if he were to allow all records out now. He was placing those files under a six-month review while letting 2,800 others come out, racing a deadline to honor a law mandating their release.
Later in the evening, the Archives posted online the documents approved for release.
Officials say Trump will impress upon federal agencies that “only in the rarest cases” should JFK files stay secret after the six-month review.
Despite having months to prepare for disclosures that have been set on the calendar for 25 years, Trump’s decision came down to a last-minute debate with intelligence agencies — a tussle the president then prolonged by calling for still more review.
Experts blame Syria for chemical weapons attack in April
UNITED NATIONS — Experts from the U.N. and the chemical weapons watchdog are blaming Syria’s government for a sarin nerve gas attack that killed over 90 people last April.
Their report, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, says leaders of the expert body are “confident that the Syrian Arab Republic is responsible for the release of sarin at Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017.”
The report supports the initial findings by the United States, France and Britain that a Syrian military plane dropped a bomb with sarin on the town.
Syria and Russia, its close ally, have denied any attack and have strongly criticized the Joint Investigative Mechanism, known as the JIM, which was established by the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to determine responsibility for chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
The attack in Khan Sheikhoun sparked outrage around the world as photos and video of the aftermath, including quivering children dying on camera, were widely broadcast.
Trump declares US opioid emergency but pledges no new money
WASHINGTON — In ringing and personal terms, President Donald Trump on Thursday pledged that “we will overcome addiction in America,” declaring opioid abuse a national public health emergency and announcing new steps to combat what he described as the worst drug crisis in U.S. history.
Trump’s declaration, which will be effective for 90 days and can be renewed, will allow the government to redirect resources in various ways and to expand access to medical services in rural areas. But it won’t bring new dollars to fight a scourge that kills nearly 100 people a day.
From wire sources
“As Americans we cannot allow this to continue,” Trump said in a speech at the White House, where he bemoaned an epidemic he said had spared no segment of society, affecting rural areas and cities, rich and poor and both the elderly and newborns.
“It is time to liberate our communities from this scourge of drug addiction,” he said. “We can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic.”
Deaths have surged from opioids, which include some prescribed painkillers, heroin and synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, often sold on the nation’s streets.
Trump signs $36.5 billion emergency aid bill for disasters
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed a $36.5 billion emergency aid measure on Thursday to refill disaster accounts, provide a cash infusion to Puerto Rico and bail out the federal flood insurance program.
The president signed the bill after the Senate sent him the measure earlier this week to help Florida, Texas and Puerto Rico after a devastating string of hurricanes. The funding will also bolster Western states dealing with massive wildfires.
To date, Congress has approved more than $50 billion in disaster aid this fall but more money will be needed. The states and Puerto Rico continue to assess the damage from an onslaught of damaging storms.
The measure provides $18.7 billion to replenish the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s accounts, and $16 billion to allow the flood insurance program to keep paying claims.
Led by the Florida and Texas delegations, Congress will be pressed for additional funding to help homeowners without flood insurance rebuild and to cover damage to water and navigation projects, crops, public buildings and infrastructure.
APNewsBreak: Georgia election server wiped after suit filed
A computer server crucial to a lawsuit against Georgia election officials was quietly wiped clean by its custodians just after the suit was filed, The Associated Press has learned.
The server’s data was destroyed July 7 by technicians at the Center for Elections Systems at Kennesaw State University, which runs the state’s election system. The data wipe was revealed in an email sent last week from an assistant state attorney general to plaintiffs in the case that was later obtained by the AP. More emails obtained in a public records request confirmed the wipe.
The lawsuit, filed July 3 by a diverse group of election reform advocates, aims to force Georgia to retire its antiquated and heavily criticized election technology. The server in question, which served as a statewide staging location for key election-related data, made national headlines in June after a security expert disclosed a gaping security hole that wasn’t fixed six months after he reported it to election authorities.
