Hope she talks? Don't.
Mitch McConnell has thoughts on slavery and Dems think Hope Hicks isn’t saying enough. It’s Ashley, here with the headlines everyone’s talking about today.
But first, let's play basebrawl: A massive fight between adults at a youth baseball game over the weekend in Colorado resulted in wild footage of the dustup.
Hope's lips are sealed
Democratic members of Congress accused former Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks of pushing back on their inquiries during closed testimony Wednesday. Hicks had been subpoenaed because of her ties to several key episodes described in Robert Mueller’s report as attempts to thwart the Russia investigation. But at every turn, lawyers for the administration claimed Hicks is immune from answering anything related to her time in the White House, Democrats said, and some said the hearing pushed them further down the path toward impeachment proceedings.
Obama made up for 'the sin of slavery,' McConnell says
On the eve of a House hearing on reparations for slavery, Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell uttered perhaps his most controversial comments all week: Reparations "for something that happened 150 years ago, for whom none of us currently living are responsible," were not a good idea, the Senate majority leader said. Besides, he suggested, the election of "an African-American president" in Barack Obama could be considered a form of compensation. Backlash came swiftly: Kevin Cosby, president of the historically black Simmons College in Louisville, called the comment "the most ignorant, historically inaccurate statement ever uttered by a ranking senator."
The criticism of McConnell came as the senator was taking heat for comments he made Monday about the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund.
Meet the college admissions scandal's mastermind
His name is Rick Singer. He built an empire by bribing college coaches and test proctors to falsify info in America's massive college admissions scandal. Singer studied the college admissions process for two decades – and then saw how it could be exploited. Through dozens of interviews over three months and hundreds of pages of court documents and public records, USA TODAY has assembled a comprehensive portrait of the charismatic counselor turned ringleader of the nation’s worst admissions scandal.
And fourteen more students denied by universities tied to the scandal are suing Rick Singer and the schools.
What people are talking about
Prince William and Duchess Kate's police escort was in a crash that injured an elderly woman.
NXIVM leader Keith Raniere, who led a secret master-slave group, was convicted of seven felonies in a sex cult case.
These are the 22 new highest-quality vehicles of the year, according to J.D. Power.
Walking your dog during the summer? If the pavement is too hot for your hand, it's too hot for your dogs' feet, too.
Bella Thorne slammed Whoopi Goldberg's "awful" views on her nude photo scandal.
An ex-MLB star spent Father's Day weekend dumpster-diving for his $80K dentures.
Who will speak for the trees? The cypress said to have inspired Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax" has died.
A starving polar bear in the city
A starving polar bear traveled hundreds of miles to the Russian city of Norilsk, the first polar bear spotted in the area in more than 40 years. The bear, according to Reuters, looked too weak to be taken back by traditional means. Polar bears are highly susceptible to global warming as the loss of sea ice shrinks their available hunting grounds, according to experts and studies. This forces bears to travel south – leading to more human exposure. In February, 50 polar bears caused an "emergency situation" in the small Russian town, attacking people and entering homes.
Real quick
TSA officers were injured in an attack at a Phoenix airport.
Trump’s UN ambassador pick publicly broke with the White House over climate change.
"Game of Thrones" star Lena Headey says Cersei's "traumatic" miscarriage scene was cut.
Her rapist fought for custody of her daughter. States can't keep survivors tied to rapists, she says.
A United Nations expert cited "credible evidence" against the Saudi crown prince in Jamal Khashoggi's murder.
Five men wrongfully convicted. Trump's not apologizing.
President Donald Trump isn’t apologizing to five men who were wrongly convicted of an assault on a female jogger in Central Park in 1989 – even 30 years after spending $85K on ads calling for their execution. Trump was asked by a reporter Tuesday whether he'd apologize to the accused black and Latino men for taking out the newspaper ads. At first, Trump was defensive, asking, "Why would you bring that question up now?” (Read: A new Netflix series has reignited controversy about the case.) "You have people on both sides of that. They admitted their guilt,” Trump added. All five teenagers – collectively known as the Central Park Five – were exonerated in 2002 after Matias Reyes confessed to raping the woman, which was backed up by DNA evidence.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hope she talks? Don't.
