Trump lawyer who vouched for documents meets with FBI
A lawyer for former president Donald Trump who signed a letter stating that a “diligent search” for classified records had been conducted and that all such documents had been given back to the government has spoken with the FBI. That’s according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The person says Christina Bobb told federal investigators during Friday’s interview that she had not drafted the letter but that another Trump lawyer who she said actually prepared it had asked her to sign it in her role as a designated custodian for Trump’s records. NBC News first reported the interview.
California expands largest US illegal pot eradication effort
California’s four-year-old legal marijuana market is in disarray. So the state’s top prosecutor says he will try a new broader approach to disrupting the illegal pot farms that undercut the legal economy while sowing widespread environmental damage. The state will expand its nearly four-decade-old multi-agency seasonal eradication program. It’s the nation’s largest and this year scooped up nearly a million marijuana plants. California will turn it into a year-round effort aimed at investigating who is behind the illegal grows. Attorney General Rob Bonta said Tuesday that the new program will attempt to prosecute underlying labor crimes, environmental crimes and the underground economy centered around the illicit cultivations.
Prosecutors drop charges against Adnan Syed in ‘Serial’ case
Prosecutors have dropped charges against Adnan Syed in the 1999 killing of Hae Min Lee after additional DNA testing excluded him as a suspect in a case chronicled by the hit podcast “Serial.” Marilyn Mosby, the state’s attorney for the city of Baltimore, said Tuesday that her office will continue to pursue justice for Lee, but that it has closed its case against Syed, who spent 23 years in prison for the killing. She says the decision was made after additional DNA testing excluded Syed as a suspect in the strangulation of Lee, whom Syed had dated. Syed’s case captured the attention of millions in 2014 when the first season of “Serial” focused on it.
Ex-Texas cop charged over shooting teen eating hamburger
A now-former San Antonio police officer has been charged in last week’s shooting of a teen eating a hamburger in his car in a McDonald’s parking lot. A police statement said James Brennand was charged Tuesday with two counts of aggravated assault by a peace officer in the Oct. 2 shooting of 17-year-old Erik Cantu. A family attorney says Cantu remains hospitalized in critical condition. The lawyer, Brian Powers, says the teen is hospitalized on life support to help him breathe, a condition starkly contrasting with a description given by police after Friday’s shooting. Brennand was swiftly fired.
UN, G7 decry Russian attack on Ukraine as possible war crime
Russian forces have carpeted Ukraine with a fresh barrage of missiles and munition-carrying drones. The bombardment came a day after strikes across the country killed at least 19 people and knocked out power across the country. The U.N. human rights office says the “particularly shocking” attacks could amount to war crimes. The leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers also condemned the attacks and said they would “stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes.” Their pledge defied Russian warnings that Western assistance would prolong the war and the pain of Ukraine’s people. Russia launched the attacks in retaliation for a weekend explosion that damaged a bridge linking Russia to the Crimean Peninsula.
Pressure grows on the West to speed air defense systems to Ukraine
NATO’s top official on Tuesday called on allies to step up arms supplies to the Ukrainians, especially sophisticated air defense systems, a day after Russia rained rocket fire on 19 cities across Ukraine. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Ukraine would be better able to deter them if its existing weaponry was expanded. Stoltenberg’s comments came as Western leaders held a virtual emergency meeting of the Group of 7 leading industrialized nations. They pledged “undeterred and steadfast” financial and military support for Ukraine. The White House also said it would expedite delivery of an advanced air defense system.
Coronation of King Charles III set for May 6
King Charles III and his wife, Camilla, the queen consort, will be crowned May 6 at Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace announced Tuesday, the first coronation in Britain in seven decades and one that will be pared back considerably from the extravagant ceremony held for Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. Charles is expected to shorten the length of the service, reduce the guest list and dispense with some of the more antiquated rituals, a person with knowledge of palace planning said. Those changes reflect the cost-of-living squeeze that is afflicting Britain, as well as the king’s longer-term push for a more streamlined royal family structure.
By wire sources