Case opened: Democrats begin public airing of Mueller report
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says it’s “case closed.” But Democrats are just getting started with Robert Mueller.
House Democrats have scheduled a series of hearings this coming week on the special counsel’s report as they intensify their focus on the Russia probe and pick up the pace on an investigative “path” — in the words of Speaker Nancy Pelosi — that some of them hope leads to impeachment of the president.
In doing so, they are trying to draw the public’s attention on the allegations that Trump sought to obstruct a federal investigation and they want to highlight his campaign’s contacts with Russia in the 2016 election.
And they will lay the groundwork for an appearance from Mueller himself, despite his stated desire to avoid the spotlight.
The hearings will focus on the two main topics of Mueller’s report, obstruction of justice and Russian election interference.
Trump still hangs tariff threat over Mexico despite deal
STERLING, Va. — President Donald Trump on Sunday dangled the prospect of renewing his tariff threat against Mexico if the U.S. ally doesn’t cooperate on border issues, while some of his Democratic challengers for the White House said the last-minute deal to avert trade penalties was overblown.
In a series of tweets, Trump defended the agreement heading off the 5% tax on all Mexican goods that he had threatened to impose Monday, but he warned Mexico that, “if for some unknown reason” cooperation fails, “we can always go back to our previous, very profitable, position of Tariffs.”
Still, he said he didn’t believe that would be necessary.
The tweets came amid questions about just how much of the deal — announced with great fanfare Friday — was really new. It included a commitment from Mexico, for instance, to deploy its new National Guard to its southern border with Guatemala. Mexico, however, had already intended to do that before Trump’s latest threat and had made that clear to U.S. officials. Mexican officials have described their commitment as an accelerated deployment.
The U.S. also hailed Mexico’s agreement to embrace the expansion of a program implemented earlier this year under which some asylum-seekers are returned to Mexico as they wait out their cases. But U.S. officials had already been working to expand the program, which has led to the return of about 10,000 people to Mexico, without Mexico’s public embrace.
Crane collapses during storm in Dallas, killing 1 woman
DALLAS — A construction crane buffeted by high winds during a storm collapsed on a Dallas apartment building Sunday, killing one woman in the building and injuring at least six more people, two of them critically, a fire official said.
Crews searching the Elan City Lights building found the body of a woman inside after the crane toppled and ripped a large gash into the side of the five-story structure, Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans said during a press briefing.
Evans said it is too early to say whether there may be more people hurt, killed or missing.
“The building itself has suffered multiple collapses in different areas of the building to include residential spaces and the parking garage,” Evans said.
Of those injured, two were listed in critical condition, three had suffered serious injuries and one suffered minor injuries and was later discharged from a hospital, Evans said.
Elaine May, ‘Hadestown’ early winners at the Tony Awards
NEW YORK — The legendary Elaine May has won her first Tony Award playing the Alzheimer’s-afflicted grandmother in Kenneth Lonergan’s comic drama “The Waverly Gallery.”
The 87-year-old May first made audiences roar with laughter in her 1960 Broadway debut, “An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May.” On Sunday she won for best lead actress.
From wire sources
The arty and original “Hadestown,” which takes place in the underworld of Greek mythology, began its night at the Tony Awards with four wins before the telecast even started. Ten of the technical awards were handed out before host James Corden kicked off the ceremony on CBS.
The first acting award went to Celia Keenan-Bolger, who won for best featured actress in a play for her role as Scout in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” She noted that her parents read her the book when she was a child in Detroit and had burning crosses put on their lawn because they helped African Americans.
Bertie Carvel won best featured actor in a play for “Ink.” He said he wished he could be with his mother, hospitalized in London. “I love you, mum,” he said.
___
Democratic candidates take veiled swipes at Biden in Iowa
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Joe Biden was not in the banquet hall for the Iowa Democratic Party’s blockbuster fundraiser on Sunday where 19 of his party’s presidential candidates spoke. But he was present in the veiled criticism from several of his rivals.
In five-minute chunks of speaking time, the candidates got the chance to make their case before 1,400 of the most influential Democrats in the leadoff caucus state. Some chose to nudge the national front-runner, and leader in a new Iowa poll, without naming him.
Chief among them was Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who said the “same old politics will not” defeat President Donald Trump.
In his speech, Sanders noted a “well-intentioned” candidate who thinks “the best way forward is a middle-ground strategy that antagonizes no one, that stands up to nobody and that changes nothing.” He called it a “failed political strategy” that could lead to the re-election of Trump.
California Rep. Eric Swalwell and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker took a swipe at Biden on abortion, describing it as a health care right to be protected.
Brush fire sets off evacuation at California amusement park
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — A fast-moving brush fire erupted near a huge amusement and water park in Southern California on Sunday, sending hundreds of visitors to the exit to escape clouds of smoke and ash before fire officials asked them to stay put while they worked to contain the blaze.
Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor announced the evacuation shortly after noon, citing concern for the safety of park visitors and employees. About a half-hour later, the park said on its Twitter account that fire officials asked guests to shelter in place due to nearby road closures.
Park visitors were asked to move to the back of the 260-acre property, away from firefighting activity near the entrance, said Rachel Gallat, who was visiting a friend who works at the park.
“I was getting iced coffee and when I walked outside, ash was raining down on me,” Gallat said. “There was a big cloud of smoke. I saw people around me panicking; they didn’t know where they were supposed to go.”
A Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatcher told the Los Angeles Times the park voluntarily evacuated visitors.
___
Jimmy Carter, after hip surgery, back teaching Sunday school
ATLANTA — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter talked about his recent health setback and his conversation with President Donald Trump, as he returned to teaching Sunday school in Georgia for the first time since breaking his hip.
Carter told people gathered at the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains that he and his wife, Rosalynn, have nursing care at home and are doing fine. He thanked those present for their prayers and good wishes.
The 94-year-old Carter broke his hip last month at his home when he fell while leaving to go turkey hunting. He subsequently had hip replacement surgery.
The former first lady also was hospitalized around the same time for what Carter said was initially thought to be a stroke, but turned out to be less serious.
A devout Christian, Carter regularly teaches Sunday school in Plains, drawing hundreds of visitors for each session. But he had to cancel plans to teach after hip surgery.
___
Sex abuse crisis the focus as US Catholic bishops convene
As the Roman Catholic church’s sex abuse scandal grows ever wider in scope in the U.S., bishops convene for a national meeting in Baltimore on Tuesday under heavy pressure to acknowledge their oversight failures and give a larger role to lay Catholics and secular authorities in confronting the crisis.
The pressure comes not only from longtime critics of the church’s response to clergy sex abuse, but also from insiders who now voice doubts that the bishops are capable of handling the crisis on their own. Among them is Francesco Cesareo, chairman of a national sex-abuse review board set up by the bishops.
“My biggest concern is that it’s going to end up being bishops overseeing bishops,” Cesareo told Catholic News Service, the news agency of the U.S. bishops’ conference. “If that’s the case, it’s going to be very difficult for the laity to feel any sense of confidence that anything has truly changed.”
Sex-abuse scandals have beset the Catholic church worldwide for decades, but events of the past year have created unprecedented challenges for the U.S. bishops. Many dioceses have become targets of state investigations since a Pennsylvania grand jury report in August detailed hundreds of cases of alleged abuse. In February, former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was expelled from the priesthood for sexually abusing minors and seminarians, and investigators are seeking to determine if some Catholic VIPs covered up his transgressions. Another investigative team recently concluded that Michael Bransfield , a former bishop in West Virginia, engaged in sexual harassment and financial misconduct over many years.
Even the president of the bishop’s conference, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Galveston-Houston archdiocese, has been entangled in controversies. On June 4, The Associated Press reported on a Houston woman’s allegations that DiNardo mishandled her case alleging sexual and financial misconduct by his deputy.
