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Lamenting Iran’s escalation, we should be glad the USS Boxer-led Amphibious Ready Group downed an Iranian drone on Thursday. That drone came within one kilometer of the Boxer before being destroyed. This U.S. action should not be seen as retaliation for Iran’s downing of a U.S. drone in June, but rather as an act of self-defense. It is justified for two reasons. First, because Iran uses armed drones as a…

CLOSE President Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid money to women to be quiet about alleged affairs with Trump during his 2016 campaign. USA TODAY WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors’ decision to end an investigation into hush money payments to women claiming affairs with Donald Trump relied at least in part on long-standing Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday. The…

A New York federal judge on Thursday ordered Jeffrey Epstein held without bail, siding with prosecutors who argued the wealthy financier and accused sex trafficker posed a flight risk. U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman said prosecutors showed “clear and convincing evidence” that Epstein was a flight risk. “The government application for continued remand is hereby granted,” Berman said just minutes after the pretrial proceeding began. The defense had proposed…

The nearly 1000 pages of search warrants documents related to former Trump lawyer and convicted felon Michael Cohen were unsealed and released to the public almost fully unredacted today, following a federal court order. The FBI had executed warrants and searched Cohen’s home, hotel room, office, deposit box, cellphones, and electronic communications in April 2018. A number of media outlets battled in court for months for the warrants, the warrant…

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The House passed a bill Thursday to hike the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour in a win for liberal activists who have long pushed to give low-wage workers a raise. The Democratic-held chamber passed the plan in a 231-199 vote. Six Democrats opposed it, while three Republicans supported it. The measure would gradually hike the U.S. pay floor to $15 by 2025, then index further hikes to median…

Iran says its military seized a foreign oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. In this 2018 photo, a boat from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s naval force is seen in the Persian Gulf, near the strait. Jon Gambrell/AP hide caption toggle caption Jon Gambrell/AP Iran says its military seized a foreign oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. In this 2018 photo, a boat from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s naval…

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Sen. David Perdue said President Donald Trump seemed receptive of a budget deal taking shape between Democratic leaders and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo congress Trump has balked at previous bipartisan agreements, and hard-line conservatives are sure to pressure the president. By BURGESS EVERETT, JOHN BRESNAHAN and GABBY ORR 07/18/2019 05:03 AM EDT Congress and the White House are moving toward an ambitious budget deal, but…

Media captionKyoto Animation offices on fire At least 26 people are dead and dozens injured after a man set fire to an animation studio alight in the Japanese city of Kyoto, officials say. Police said the 41-year-old suspect broke into the Kyoto Animation studio on Thursday morning and sprayed petrol before igniting it. The suspect has been detained and was taken to hospital with injuries. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe…

Sometime in the past few months, four members of Congress came to be referred to in mainstream media outlets as “the Squad.” The story of how that happened says a lot about politics in America today. Back in November, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, then a representative-elect from New York, posted a photo of herself with three progressive women of color who, like her, were soon to be members of Congress — Ilhan…

Demonstrators and police face off during a protest against Ricardo Rosselló, the Governor of Puerto Rico, on Wednesday in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Joe Raedle/Getty Images Demonstrators and police face off during a protest against Ricardo Rosselló, the Governor of Puerto Rico, on Wednesday in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Joe Raedle/Getty Images Some of Puerto Rico’s biggest stars rallied a crowd…

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Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer says the app is “deeply troubling” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has called for an investigation into FaceApp, which alters users’ photos to make them look older or younger. In a letter posted on Twitter, Mr Schumer called it “deeply troubling” that personal data of US citizens could go to a “hostile foreign power”. Privacy concerns have been raised…

Bad Bunny, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ricky Martin are calling for the resignation of Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló. But why? On Saturday, 889 pages of private chats between Rosselló and members of his staff were leaked after two of the governor’s former officials were arrested by the FBI on corruption charges. The documents revealed that Rosselló had engaged in vulgar, sexist and homophobic conversations. In the chats Rosselló joked about…

The US House has voted to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt for not complying with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request for information on why they added a US citizenship question to the 2020 census. The final vote was 230-198, with only former Republican Rep. Justin Amash joining Democrats (four Democrats also voted no). The vote is part of an ongoing effort…

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: We now have a virtual road map to the opioid epidemic, a road map that shows 76 billion opioid pills were distributed across the country between the years 2006 and 2012. That’s enough to supply every person in the United States with 36 pills each year. MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: So what this road map is is a database of information the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has…

CLOSE The vote forced Democrats to take on impeachment and go on the record on whether they support taking it up in the House. AP WASHINGTON – The House voted to kill a measure seeking to impeach President Donald Trump – the first vote on such a measure since Democrats took the majority and since the release of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. …

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, no fan of a Trump impeachment inquiry, said she is unsure how Democratic lawmakers will vote on articles of impeachment against President Trump that are set for a vote. But the California Democrat is eager to dispatch with the resolution “expeditiously,” she told reporters Wednesday. “I don’t know what we’ll do but we’ll deal with it on the floor,” Pelosi said. Pelosi does not back the…

WASHINGTON—The House voted Wednesday to block an effort to impeach President Trump, but the tally made clear that many Democrats are eager to pursue removing him from office despite party leaders’ calls for caution. In the first test of the divisive issue since Democrats took control of the chamber, lawmakers voted 332 to 95 to kill the resolution, with all votes against the measure coming from Democrats. House…