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Teen's mom on cop's acquittal: 'Hope that man never sleeps'

The family of an unarmed black teenager fatally shot by a white police officer is expressing anger and sadness over a jury's decision to acquit, and Pittsburgh braced for protests a day after the verdict.

Former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld was charged with homicide for shooting Antwon Rose II in the back as the 17-year-old ran away from a high-stakes traffic stop last June. But Rosfeld walked out of the courtroom a free man Friday after jurors rejected the prosecution's argument that he acted as Rose's "judge, jury and executioner," in the words of an assistant district attorney.

"I hope that man never sleeps at night," Rose's mother, Michelle Kenney, said of Rosfeld, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I hope he gets as much sleep as I do, which is none."

The verdict leaves Rose's family to pursue the federal civil rights lawsuit they filed last August against Rosfeld and East Pittsburgh, a small municipality about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from downtown Pittsburgh.

Rose's death — one of many high-profile killings of black men and teens by white police officers in recent years — spurred angry protests in the Pittsburgh area last year, including a late-night march that shut down a major highway.

The reaction was measured after Friday night's verdict, with a small group of chanting protesters briefly blocking intersections and entering hotels. Pittsburgh police tweeted the "peaceful demonstration" had resulted in rolling, temporary road closures.

Rose was riding in an unlicensed taxi that had been involved in a drive-by shooting minutes earlier when Rosfeld pulled the car over and shot the 17-year-old in the back, arm and side of the face as he ran away. The former officer told jurors he thought Rose or another suspect had a gun pointed at him, insisting he fired his weapon to protect himself and the community. Neither teen was holding one when Rosfeld opened fire, though two guns were later found in the car.

Rose "posed no threat whatsoever to Rosfeld or others," said the family's lawyer, Fred Rabner. "Make no mistake, there is nothing reasonable or appropriate about the manner Officer Rosfeld took Antwon's life."

The panel of seven men and five women — including three black jurors — saw video of the fatal confrontation, which showed Rose falling to the ground after being hit. The acquittal came after fewer than four hours of deliberations on the fourth day of the trial.

Defense lawyer Patrick Thomassey told reporters that Rosfeld is "a good man. He said to me many times, 'Patrick, this has nothing to do with the kid's color. I was doing what I was trained to do.'"

Thomassey said he hoped the city remained calm, and "everybody takes a deep breath and gets on with their lives."

Michelle Kenney, Rose's mother, said she was upset but unsurprised by the verdict, given other cases in which police officers have either avoided charges or won acquittals in similar shootings.

"It isn't what I hoped for, but it's what I expected," she said, adding she feels her son ended up dead because he was black.

At trial, the prosecution and the defense sparred over whether Rosfeld — who'd worked for the East Pittsburgh Police Department for only a few weeks and was officially sworn in just hours before the fatal shooting — was justified in using lethal force.

Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Fodi declared in his closing argument that Rosfeld had acted as "judge, jury and executioner," and the video evidence showed "there was no threat" to the officer.

"We don't shoot first and ask questions later," the prosecutor added.

But a defense expert testified Rosfeld was within his rights to use deadly force to stop suspects he thought had been involved in a shooting. Prosecutors did not call their own use-of-force expert.

"The prosecution's handling of this case, particularly the decision not to call a police expert, raises many questions," said Reggie Shuford, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.

Rose had been riding in the front seat of the cab when another occupant, Zaijuan Hester, in the back, rolled down a window and shot at two men on the street, hitting one in the abdomen. A few minutes later, Rosfeld spotted their car, which had its rear windshield shot out, and pulled it over. Rosfeld ordered the driver to the ground, but Rose and another passenger jumped out and began running away. Rosfeld fired three times in quick succession.

The defense said the shooting was justified because Rosfeld believed he was in danger and couldn't wait for other officers to get there.

"He's a sitting duck," Thomassey told jurors in his closing argument, asking them to consider "the standard of what a reasonable police officer would do under the circumstances."

Hester, 18, pleaded guilty last week to aggravated assault and firearms violations. Hester told a judge that he, not Rose, did the shooting.

Prosecutors had charged Rosfeld with an open count of homicide, meaning the jury had the option of convicting him of murder or manslaughter. The prosecution said Rosfeld gave inconsistent statements about the shooting, including whether he thought Rose was armed.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Rubinkam in northeastern Pennsylvania contributed to this story.

Source: Fox News National

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Southwest to keep Boeing 737 MAX off schedules through May instead of April 20: company memo

FILE PHOTO: A number of grounded Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft are shown parked at Victorville Airport in Victorville, California
FILE PHOTO: A number of grounded Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft are shown parked at Victorville Airport in Victorville, California, U.S., March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

March 30, 2019

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Southwest Airlines Co said on Friday it was pulling its Boeing Co 737 MAX jets from flight schedules through May, extending its earlier timeline from April 20, according to a company memorandum seen by Reuters.

“This will impact the lines in May, but, now that the decision has been made, we can construct our schedule without those flights well in advance in hopes to minimize the daily disruptions,” the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association and the company said in the joint memorandum.

Boeing’s top-selling 737 MAX jetliner has been grounded in the wake of two deadly crashes involving that model in five months, one in Indonesia last October and another on March 10 in Ethiopia.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; editing by Grant McCool)

Source: OANN

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Midwest floods hammer U.S. ethanol industry, push some gasoline prices toward five-year high

FILE PHOTO: A motel, restaurant and travel stop are shown surrounded by flood waters in this aerial photo in Percival, Iowa
FILE PHOTO: A motel, restaurant and travel stop are shown surrounded by flood waters in this aerial photo in Percival, Iowa, U.S., March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Tom Polansek/File Photo

April 8, 2019

By Jarrett Renshaw and Stephanie Kelly

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The March floods that punished the U.S. Midwest have roiled the ethanol industry, hammering prices and trapping barrels in the country’s interior while the U.S. coasts suffer from shortages of the biofuel.

The historic March floods have dealt a series of blows to large swaths of an ethanol industry that was already struggling with high inventories and sluggish domestic demand growth. And the ethanol shortages are one factor pushing gasoline prices in Los Angeles and Southern California to the highest in the nation and they could top $4 a gallon for the first time since 2014, according to tracking firm GasBuddy.

Benchmark price for ethanol used in most supply contracts initially jumped on news of the floods but has been hobbled by rising waters around the Chicago hub that have halted barges and sales. That stands in contrast to prices on the coasts, which rose dramatically – drawing in heavy imports from Brazil, the main U.S. ethanol competitor.

The floods inflicted billions of dollars in damage to crops and homes in the U.S. Midwest, and knocked out roughly 13 percent of ethanol capacity.

U.S. ethanol is made from corn and required by the government to be blended into the nation’s fuel supply to reduce emissions.

While some ethanol plants were flooded, the primary effect of the rising waters was to shut rail lines that serve as the main arteries for corn and ethanol deliveries.

Ethanol prices on the coasts spiked due to shortages, but Midwest producers have been unable to take advantage because of washed-out rail lines, market sources told Reuters.

“Unfortunately for anyone who was impacted by logistics issues it was a double whammy. You couldn’t capture the rally,” said one trader.

At Chicago’s Argo terminal, the nation’s main ethanol pricing hub, the cash price for ethanol fell for an eighth straight session last week to $1.29 a gallon, the longest downward skid since April of last year, according to Oil Price Information Service, which does daily assessments.

Initially, fears of widespread plant outages boosted that benchmark, but plants proved more resilient than expected, continuing to produce despite logistical challenges.

U.S. ethanol inventories were at 24 million barrels for the week ended March 29, just off a record hit a week earlier, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data.

Chicago’s price acts as the benchmark for millions of barrels bought and sold via longer-term supply contracts each day. While that price faltered, ethanol prices at the coast have surged, helping plants owned by Pacific Ethanol Inc and White Energy in California and Texas to take advantage of higher prices.

Ethanol delivered into Los Angeles typically trades at 20 cents a gallon higher than Chicago, but that premium rose to as high as 50 cents a gallon, traders said. The price in New York Harbor was at roughly double normal levels, traders said.

The tight ethanol supplies, along with refinery outages, boosted retail gasoline prices and led to some gas station shutdowns in the West as blenders there lacked the ethanol needed to blend with gasoline to make fuel that meets government regulations.

Gas prices in Arizona averaged $2.88 per gallon on Sunday, 17 percent higher than last month, according to the American Automobile Association. Prices were even steeper in California at $3.78 a gallon, well above the national average of $2.74 a gallon.

“Ultimately, Los Angeles could get close to seeing that average at $4 a gallon,” Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at tracking firm GasBuddy, said, adding that much of that increase will come because of refinery outages in the state.

At least one county in California has already surpassed $4 a gallon. The highest recorded average price for the state was $4.67 a gallon, in October 2012, according to AAA.

The high coastal prices attracted barrels from the biggest U.S. competitor: Brazil. Overall ethanol imports to the United States totaled 558,279 barrels in March, the most seasonally since 2013, according to Refinitiv Eikon ship tracking data. Most of the imports during the month came from Brazil, according to the tracking data.

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Stephanie Kelly; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: OANN

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German economy will grow 0.7 percent this year if Brexit is disorderly: BDI

Construction workers are silhouetted while standing on scaffolding at the construction site of the new headquarters of the ECB during a guided media tour in Frankfurt
Construction workers are silhouetted while standing on scaffolding at the construction site of the new headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) during a guided media tour in Frankfurt, October 31, 2013. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File photo

April 1, 2019

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s economy would grow by 0.7 percent this year if Britain leaves the European Union in a disorderly manner, the Federation of German Industry (BDI) said on Monday, a gloomier view for Europe’s biggest economy than in the case of a ‘soft’ Brexit.

“The British economy faces a severe recession,” BDI president Dieter Kempf said in a statement. “A disorderly Brexit will shave at least half a percentage point off German growth this year.”

The BDI has until now forecast that the German economy would grow by 1.2 percent this year.

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Douglas Busvine)

Source: OANN

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Democrats Won’t Say If They’ll Return Donations From Accused Sexual Harasser

Amber Athey | White House Correspondent

  • Jess Ravich, a senior employee at major investment firm TCW Group, resigned from his position on TCW’s board after his “unprofessional communications” with a subordinate were uncovered. 
  • Ravich has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats, including $10,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $50,000 to the Democratic National Committee. 
  • Democrats who received money from Ravich did not respond when asked if they would consider returning the money or donating it to women’s groups. 

Democrats declined to say Thursday if they would return contributions from a wealthy donor who recently resigned from the board of an asset management firm amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Jess Ravich, a former board member of Los Angeles-based TCW Group, has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic campaigns and committees over the years.

A January 2018 lawsuit against Ravich and TCW alleges that Ravich repeatedly coerced his employee, Sara Tirschwell, into sex in exchange for support of her investment fund. Tirschwell says that when she complained about the behavior, TCW fired her in retaliation.

“[Ravich] repeatedly coerced [Tirschwell] into sex, implicitly threatening that if she rejected his advances, TCW would deprive her of resources and investor access that were essential to her successfully building out the Distressed Fund,” the suit claims.

Ravich resigned from his position on TCW’s board in October 2018 after the company learned of “unprofessional communications” he had with Tirschwell, but he remains a senior-level employee.

Since 1998, Ravich has contributed to the following Democratic campaigns and committees:

  • Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR): $6300 (1998-2015)
  • Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA): $1000 (2012)
  • Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee: $10,000 (2008)
  • Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE): $2000 (2006)
  • Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: $25,000 (2000)
  • Democratic National Committee: $50,000 (2000)

The Daily Caller reached out to the offices for Sens. Wyden, Casey, and Carper, as well as the DSCC, DCCC, and DNC to inquire if they would return the donations from Ravich. None of them responded.

In October 2018, around the same time Ravich stepped down from the TCW board, Sen. Wyden spoke of the “enormous pain” inflicted on sexual assault and harassment survivors by the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

“I believe Dr. Ford when she says she was assaulted in that room in 1982,” Wyden said of the uncorroborated allegation of sexual assault against Kavanaugh. “I believe Dr. Ford when she says her attackers locked the door, a hand was pressed over her mouth, and she feared she might die. I believe her when she says she remembers them laughing.” (RELATED: Senate Judiciary Finds ‘No Evidence’ To Support Blasey Ford Allegation)

Sen. Casey similarly said, “I believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.”

Democrats slammed Republicans in the aftermath of Kavanaugh’s confirmation, citing Ford’s allegation of sexual assault.

The DCCC bragged about the money they were able to raise off of the accusations against Kavanaugh, but members of the party have refused to answer questions about the money they’ve received from Ravich — even as TCW admits Ravich had “unprofessional communications” with his accuser and removed him from its board.

Ravich has also thrown a significant amount of cash to the Clinton Foundation; he is listed on the organization’s website as a donor in the $50,001 to $100,000 contribution range. Last March, the Clinton Foundation told the Caller that they would not return the donations and refused to say if the nonprofit condemned Ravich’s alleged misconduct. (EXCLUSIVE: Clinton Foundation Won’t Return Donations From Accused Sexual Harasser)

“Donations, these included, have been spent helping people by fighting childhood obesity and HIV/AIDS, combating climate change and empowering girls and women,” the Clinton Foundation said at the time.

 Follow Amber on Twitter

Source: The Daily Caller

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George Conway calls Trump a cancer that needs to be removed in blistering op-ed

George Conway, the husband of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway and a fierce critic of President Trump, penned an op-ed in The Washington Post that calls Trump a "cancer on the presidency" and urged Congress to take action to remove him from office.

After 22 months, a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia interference report was made available to the public. The report showed no evidence that Trump’s team “coordinated or conspired” with Russia, but many Democrats pointed out that Mueller identified 10 times where there was potential obstruction, and essentially left the next steps up to Congress.

Mueller wrote that Trump’s efforts to obstruct “were often carried out through one-on-one meetings in which the President sought to use his official power outside of usual channels.”

READ THE FULL REPORT 

He continued, “The President's efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests."

Trump's team late Thursday appeared to take a wait-and-see approach on how the public absorbed the findings. Rudy Giuliani, Trump's lawyer, seemed to be in no particular hurry to release a 45-page rebuttal when asked about it on CNN.  The White House claimed total victory and vindication for the president

Conway, who has clashed publicly with the president before and questioned his mental fitness, barely touches collusion in his piece but highlighted the obstruction argument.

"Mueller couldn’t say, with any “confidence,” that the president of the United States is not a criminal. He said, stunningly, that “if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state.” Mueller did not so state," Conway wrote.

He pointed out that even if Trump did not reach the threshold of criminality, he could still be impeached based on earlier precedent. He called on Congress to act to “excise” the cancer in the White House “without delay.”

There is no love lost between Trump and Conway. Trump has called Conway a “stone cold LOSER & husband from hell.”

MUELLER REPORT THE 'BEGINNING OF THE BEGINNING': AXIOS EDTIOR

“George Conway, often referred to as Mr. Kellyanne Conway by those who know him, is VERY jealous of his wife’s success & angry that I, with her help, didn’t give him the job he so desperately wanted. I barely know him but just take a look, a stone cold LOSER & husband from hell!” Trump tweeted in March.

Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor, wrote in the New York Post that Trump could have simply shut down the investigation and assert executive privilege to “deny the special counsel access to key White House witnesses,” but he didn’t.

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“Most important, the special counsel found that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and that the president’s frustration wasn’t over fear of guilt — the typical motivation for obstruction — but that the investigation was undermining his ability to govern the country,” McCarthy wrote.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Malaysia won't drop case against Vietnamese in Kim killing

Prosecutors say Malaysia's attorney general has ordered the murder case to proceed against a Vietnamese woman accused in the killing of the North Korean leader's half brother.

Prosecutors in court Thursday gave no explanation why they refused to drop the murder charge against Doan Thi Huong. She is the only suspect in custody after the stunning decision to drop the case Monday against Indonesian Siti Aisyah.

Huong's lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik told the court they were disappointed with the attorney general's decision and said prosecutors were being unfair to Huong.

Teh said, "It does not speak well of our criminal justice system."

He also sought a deferment of the trial, saying Huong has been unwell since Aisyah's release and is not in a position to testify.

Source: Fox News World

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An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard
FILE PHOTO: An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard, Britain December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

April 26, 2019

LONDON, April 26 – British factories stockpiled raw materials and goods ahead of Brexit at the fastest pace since records began in the 1950s, and they were increasingly downbeat about their prospects, a survey showed on Friday.

The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) quarterly survey of the manufacturing industry showed expectations for export orders in the next three months fell to their lowest level since mid-2009, when Britain was reeling from the global financial crisis.

The record pace of stockpiling recorded by the CBI was mirrored by the closely-watched IHS Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index published earlier this month.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)

Source: OANN

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Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo

April 26, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Fewer than half of Malaysians approve of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an opinion poll showed on Friday, as concerns over rising costs and racial matters plague his administration nearly a year after taking office.

The survey, conducted in March by independent pollster Merdeka Center, showed that only 46 percent of voters surveyed were satisfied with Mahathir, a sharp drop from the 71 percent approval rating he received in August 2018.

Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan coalition won a stunning election victory in May 2018, ending the previous government’s more than 60-year rule.

But his administration has since been criticized for failing to deliver on promised reforms and protecting the rights of majority ethnic Malay Muslims.

Of 1,204 survey respondents, 46 percent felt that the “country was headed in the wrong direction”, up from 24 percent in August 2018, the Merdeka Center said in a statement. Just 39 percent said they approved of the ruling government.

High living costs remained the top most concern among Malaysians, with just 40 percent satisfied with the government’s management of the economy, the survey showed.

It also showed mixed responses to Pakatan Harapan’s proposed reforms.

Some 69 percent opposed plans to abolish the death penalty, while respondents were sharply divided over proposals to lower the minimum voting age to 18, or to implement a sugar tax.

“In our opinion, the results appear to indicate a public that favors the status quo, and thus requires a robust and coordinated advocacy efforts in order to garner their acceptance of new measures,” Merdeka Center said.

The survey also found 23 percent of Malaysians were concerned over ethnic and religious matters.

Some groups representing Malays have expressed fear that affirmative-action policies favoring them in business, education and housing could be taken away and criticized the appointments of non-Muslims to key government posts.

Last November, the government reversed its pledge to ratify a UN convention against racial discrimination, after a backlash from Malay groups.

Earlier this month, Pakatan Harapan suffered its third successive loss in local elections since taking power, which has been seen as a further sign of waning public support.

Despite the decline, most Malaysians – 67 percent – agreed that Mahathir’s government should be given more time to fulfill its election promises, Merdeka Center said.

This included a majority of Malay voters who were largely more critical of the new administration, it added.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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The German share price index DAX graph at the stock exchange in Frankfurt
The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Staff

April 26, 2019

By Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh

(Reuters) – European shares slipped on Friday after losses in heavyweight banks and Glencore outweighed gains in healthcare and auto stocks, while investors remained on the sidelines ahead of U.S. economic data for the first quarter.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.1 percent by 0935 GMT, eyeing a modest loss at the end of a holiday-shortened week. Banks-heavy Italian and Spanish indices were laggards.

The banking index fell for a fourth day, at the end of a heavy earnings week for lenders.

Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland tumbled after posting lower first quarter profit, hurt by intensifying competition and Brexit uncertainty, while its investment bank also registered poor returns.

Weakness in investment banking also dented Deutsche Bank’s quarterly trading revenue and sent its shares lower a day after the German bank abandoned merger talks with smaller rival Commerzbank.

“The current interest rate environment makes it challenging for banks to make proper earnings because of their intermediary function,” said Teeuwe Mevissen, senior market economist eurozone, at Rabobank.

Since the start of April, all country indexes were on pace to rise between 1.8 percent and 3.4 percent, their fourth month of gains, while Germany was strongly outperforming with 6 percent growth.

“For now the current sentiment is very cautious as markets wait for the first estimates of the U.S. GDP growth which could see a surprise,” Mevissen said.

U.S. economic data for the first-quarter is due at 1230 GMT. Growth worries outside the United States resurfaced this week after South Korea’s economy unexpectedly contracted at the start of the year and weak German business sentiment data for April also disappointed.

Among the biggest drags on the benchmark index in Europe were the basic resources sector and the oil and gas sector, weighed down by Britain’s Glencore and France’s Total, respectively.

Glencore dropped after reports that U.S authorities were investigating whether the company and its subsidiaries violated certain provisions of the commodity exchange act.

Energy major Total said its net profit for the first three months of the year fell compared with a year ago due to volatile oil prices and debt costs.

Chip stocks in the region including Siltronic, Ams and STMicroelectronics lost more than 1 percent after Intel Corp reduced its full-year revenue forecast, adding to concerns that an industry-wide slowdown could persist until the end of 2019.

Meanwhile, healthcare, which is also seen as a defensive sector, was a bright spot. It was helped by French drugmaker Sanofi after it returned to growth with higher profits and revenues for the first-quarter.

Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES led media stocks higher after it maintained its full-year outlook on the back of the company’s Networks division.

Automakers in the region rose 0.4 percent, led by Valeo’s 6 percent jump as the French parts maker said its performance would improve in the second half of the year.

Continental AG advanced after it backed its outlook for the year despite reporting a fall in first-quarter earnings.

Renault rose more than 3 percent as it clung to full-year targets and pursues merger talks with its Japanese partner Nissan.

(Reporting by Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Gareth Jones and Elaine Hardcastle)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his audience as he hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

April 26, 2019

By Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan

(Reuters) – The “i word” – impeachment – is swirling around the U.S. Congress since the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted Russia report, which painted a picture of lies, threats and confusion in Donald Trump’s White House.

Some Democrats say trying to remove Trump from office would be a waste of time because his fellow Republicans still have majority control of the Senate. Other Democrats argue they have a moral obligation at least to try to impeach, even though Mueller did not charge Trump with conspiring with Russia in the 2016 U.S. election or with obstruction of justice.

Whether or not the Democrats decide to go down this risky path, here is how the impeachment process works.

WHAT ARE GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT?

The U.S. Constitution says the president can be removed from office by Congress for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Exactly what that means is unclear.

Before he became president in 1974, replacing Republican Richard Nixon who resigned over the Watergate scandal, Gerald Ford said: “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.”

Frank Bowman, a University of Missouri law professor and author of a forthcoming book on the history of impeachment, said Congress could look beyond criminal laws in defining “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Historically, it can encompass corruption and other abuses, including trying to obstruct judicial proceedings.

HOW DOES IMPEACHMENT PLAY OUT?

The term impeachment is often interpreted as simply removing a president from office, but that is not strictly accurate.

Impeachment technically refers to the 435-member House of Representatives approving formal charges against a president.

The House effectively acts as accuser – voting on whether to bring specific charges. An impeachment resolution, known as “articles of impeachment,” is like an indictment in a criminal case. A simple majority vote is needed in the House to impeach.

The Senate then conducts a trial. House members act as the prosecutors, with senators as the jurors. The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides over the trial. A two-thirds majority vote is required in the 100-member Senate to convict and remove a president from office.

No president has ever been removed from office as a direct result of an impeachment and conviction by Congress.

Nixon quit in 1974 rather than face impeachment. Presidents Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 were impeached by the House, but both stayed in office after the Senate acquitted them.

Obstruction of justice was one charge against Clinton, who faced allegations of lying under oath about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Obstruction was also included in the articles of impeachment against Nixon.

CAN THE SUPREME COURT OVERTURN?

No.

Trump said on Twitter on Wednesday that he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if Democrats tried to impeach him. But America’s founders explicitly rejected making a Senate conviction appealable to the federal judiciary, Bowman said.

“They quite plainly decided this is a political process and it is ultimately a political judgment,” Bowman said.

“So when Trump suggests there is any judicial remedy for impeachment, he is just wrong.”

PROOF OF WRONGDOING?

In a typical criminal court case, jurors are told to convict only if there is “proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” a fairly stringent standard.

Impeachment proceedings are different. The House and Senate “can decide on whatever burden of proof they want,” Bowman said. “There is no agreement on what the burden should be.”

PARTY BREAKDOWN IN CONGRESS?

Right now, there are 235 Democrats, 197 Republicans and three vacancies in the House. As a result, the Democratic majority could vote to impeach Trump without any Republican votes.

In 1998, when Republicans had a House majority, the chamber voted largely along party lines to impeach Clinton, a Democrat.

The Senate now has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who usually vote with Democrats. Conviction and removal of a president would requires 67 votes. So that means for Trump to be impeached, at least 20 Republicans and all the Democrats and independents would have to vote against him.

WHO BECOMES PRESIDENT IF TRUMP IS REMOVED?

A Senate conviction removing Trump from office would elevate Vice President Mike Pence to the presidency to fill out Trump’s term, which ends on Jan. 20, 2021.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft attends a conference at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes
FILE PHOTO: New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft attends a conference at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes, France, June 23, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s lawyers on Friday are set to ask a Florida judge to toss out hidden-camera videos that prosecutors say show the 77-year-old billionaire receiving sexual favors for money inside a Florida massage parlor.

The owner of the reigning Super Bowl champions plans wants the video to not be used as evidence against him as he contests two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution at the Orchids of Asia Spa in Jupiter, Florida, along with some two dozen other men.

His legal team is fresh off a win on Tuesday, when they successfully persuaded Palm Beach County Judge Leonard Hanser to block prosecutors from releasing the hidden-camera footage to media outlets, which had requested copies under the state’s robust open records law.

Kraft, who has owned the franchise since 1994, pleaded not guilty, but has issued a public apology for his actions.

His attorneys have argued in court papers that the surreptitious videotaping of customers, including Kraft, inside a massage parlor was governmental overreach and the result of an illegally obtained search warrant.

The warrant, Kraft’s lawyers claim, was secured under false pretenses because police officers cited human trafficking as a potential crime in their application. Prosecutors have since acknowledged that the investigation yielded no evidence of trafficking.

Palm Beach County prosecutors in a court filing on Wednesday said Kraft’s motion should be rejected because he could not have had any expectation of privacy while visiting a commercial establishment to engage in criminal activity.

That prompted an indignant response from Kraft’s attorneys, who said the prosecution’s position on privacy was “unhinged.”

“It should go without saying that Mr. Kraft and everyone else in the United States have a reasonable expectation that the government will not secretly spy on them while they undress behind closed doors,” they wrote.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax, editing by G Crosse)

Source: OANN

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