Trump says ‘hard to imagine’ Kavanaugh guilty of allegation
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday bluntly questioned the allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a fellow high school student over 30 years ago, and Republicans warned the accuser the window was closing to tell her story before a confirmation vote.
Trump’s skepticism, the most explicit challenge top Republicans have so far mounted to Christine Blasey Ford’s credibility, came as GOP Senate leaders tried to firm up support for Kavanaugh. A potentially climactic Judiciary Committee showdown is scheduled for next Monday with both Ford and Kavanaugh invited, but her attendance is uncertain, casting doubt on whether the hearing will be held at all.
Ford has said she wants the FBI to investigate her allegation before she will testify. Democrats support that, but Trump and Senate Republicans have been emphatic that it won’t happen.
Leaving the White House to survey flood damage in North Carolina from Hurricane Florence, Trump conceded that “we’ll have to make a decision” if Ford’s account proves convincing. Despite that glimmer of hesitancy, which few other Republicans have shown publicly, the president stood firmly behind the 53-year-old Kavanaugh, who would fill the second high court vacancy of Trump’s term.
“I can only say this: He is such an outstanding man. Very hard for me to imagine that anything happened,” Trump said.
Frustration builds as Carolina residents wait to go home
WILMINGTON, N.C. — Exhaustion and frustration are building in the Carolinas as thousands of people wait to go home days after Hurricane Florence unleashed epic floods blamed for at least 37 deaths, including those of two women who drowned when a sheriff’s van taking them to a mental health facility was swept off a road.
With the remnants of Florence finally out to sea and skies bright over rivers still swelling with muddy water, President Donald Trump visited the disaster zone, riding through soggy neighborhoods and helping pass out warm meals at a church in the hard-hit coastal town of New Bern.
“How’s the house?” Trump told one person. “You take care of yourself.”
There wasn’t any presidential fanfare 120 miles away in Fayetteville. There, Roberta and Joseph Keithley had been sleeping on cots set up in a school classroom since Friday. They still didn’t know if their home was ruined.
“It’s getting a little frustrating, but you have to deal with it and roll with the punches,” said Roberta Keithley, 73. “It’s just another hurdle to get over in life.”
Woman who helped kidnap Elizabeth Smart released from prison
DRAPER, Utah — A woman who helped kidnap Elizabeth Smart and stood by as the Utah girl was sexually assaulted was released from prison Wednesday amid concerns that she remains a threat 15 years after the chilling crime.
Wanda Barzee, 72, quietly left the state prison in the Salt Lake City suburb of Draper, avoiding a throng of reporters gathered outside.
Court documents say she will stay in unspecified emergency housing chosen by her probation officer until another home is approved.
Barzee’s release followed a surprise announcement last week that Utah authorities had miscalculated her sentence and she would be freed about six years earlier than expected.
Under the terms of her release, Barzee must undergo mental health treatment and not contact Smart and her family.
Man opens fire at his Wisconsin office, 3 seriously hurt
MIDDLETON, Wis. — A heavily armed man opened fire on his co-workers at a Wisconsin software company Wednesday, seriously wounding three people before being fatally shot by police as employees ran from the building or hid inside, according to investigators.
Middleton Police Chief Chuck Foulke said officers shot the man within eight minutes of receiving calls about an active shooter at WTS Paradigm. Foulke said the man was armed with a semi-automatic pistol and extra ammunition, and fired at officers before he was shot.
Foulke said three people were seriously injured during the attack, while a fourth person was grazed by a bullet.
“I think a lot less people were injured or killed because police officers went in and neutralized the shooter,” Foulke said.
The police chief said the motivation behind the attack was unclear and investigators didn’t yet know whether the gunman targeted his victims. He didn’t release the suspect’s name but said he was an employee of WTS Paradigm and lived in nearby Madison.
From wire sources
Rains set off landslide, burying several in mid-Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — A landslide set off by heavy rains buried homes under part of a mountainside in the central Philippines on Thursday, and several people are feared buried, including two who sent text messages seeking help. Officials said four people were killed and seven injured.
The collapse buried about 30 small houses in two villages after daybreak in Naga city in Cebu province. Roderick Gonzales, the police chief of Naga city, told The Associated Press by telephone that rescuers were at the scene and more were coming. It’s not known how many people lived in the houses or how many were able to escape.
Naga City Councilor Carmelino Cruz Jr. said four people had died and seven who were injured had been rescued in two spots of the landslide-hit area.
“We’re running out of time. The ground in the area is still vibrating. We’re striking a balance between intensifying our rescue efforts and ensuring the safety of our rescuers,” Cruz said by phone.
Some victims still managed to send text messages after the landslide, Gonzales told the AP by phone as he helped oversee search and rescue work. He said three of the dead were elderly women and a child.
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Lawmaker: US Senate, staff targeted by state-backed hackers
Foreign government hackers continue to target the personal email accounts of U.S. senators and their aides — and the Senate’s security office has refused to defend them, a lawmaker says.
Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said in a Wednesday letter to Senate leaders that his office discovered that “at least one major technology company” has warned an unspecified number of senators and aides that their personal email accounts were “targeted by foreign government hackers.” Similar methods were employed by Russian military agents who leaked the contents of private email inboxes to influence the 2016 elections.
Wyden did not specify the timing of the notifications, but a Senate staffer said they occurred “in the last few weeks or months.” The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
But the senator said the Office of the Sergeant at Arms , which oversees Senate security, informed legislators and staffers that it has no authority to help secure personal, rather than official, accounts.
“This must change,” Wyden wrote in the letter. “The November election grows ever closer, Russia continues its attacks on our democracy, and the Senate simply does not have the luxury of further delays.” A spokeswoman for the security office said it would have no comment.
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Florence shows how storm coverage is politicized
NEW YORK — Donald Trump Jr.’s attack tweet this week showing CNN’s Anderson Cooper waist-deep in flood waters has driven home the point that politics — not just weather — was an important subtext of the media’s coverage of Hurricane Florence.
“Stop lying to make @realDonaldTrump look bad,” the president’s son admonished Cooper, triggering a harsh response from the CNN journalist, who was part of his network’s team covering Florence’s landfall in North Carolina.
“I didn’t see him down in North Carolina in the last few days helping out, lending a hand, but I’m sure he was busy doing something important besides just tweeting lies,” Cooper said on his show Monday.
Ever since President George W. Bush’s administration was crippled by its response to Hurricane Katrina, politicians and news organizations have been acutely aware of the stakes raised by big storms. Some Republicans never forgave former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for being photographed with President Barack Obama after Sandy struck just before the 2012 election.
“A storm and responding to it the right way can make or break a political career,” said Gary Lackmann, a professor of atmospheric science at North Carolina State University.