FBI seeks interview with CIA whistleblower

The FBI recently sought to question the CIA whistleblower who filed a complaint over President Trump's July 25 Ukraine call — a move that came after a vigorous internal debate within the bureau over how to respond to some of the issues raised by the complaint's allegations and whether they needed to be more thoroughly investigated, according to sources familiar with the matter. An FBI agent in the Washington field office in October reached out to one of the lawyers representing the whistleblower and asked to question the CIA analyst who triggered the congressional inquiry into the president's conduct, one of the sources said. It is unclear what the intended scope of the interview would be or whether the whistleblower's lawyers will agree to it.

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  FBI sought to interview whistleblower over complaint about Trump: source

  Reuters
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  FBI has sought to speak with the whistleblower whose complaint sparked impeachment inquiry

  USA TODAY

Sondland pressed on why Trump has blocked witnesses: 'I wish I could answer'

During his testimony Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee, Gordon Sondland was pressed on why so many members of the Trump administration, including the president himself, were refusing to testify in the impeachment inquiry. I wish I could answer,” responded Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union. His remark came at the end of an exchange with Rep. Denny Heck, D-Wash.

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  Democratic debate winners and losers appeal to communities of color

  USA TODAY
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  Democratic debate: Candidates unite over need to impeach Trump - 'We have to establish the principle no one is above the law'

  The Independent

Russia 'ruined' Ukrainian naval vessels before handing them back, says Ukrainian navy

Three Ukrainian navy boats seized by Russia a year ago were vandalised before being handed back to Ukraine, the country's navy said. The fast gunboats Nikopol and Berdyansk and the tugboat Tany Kapu were welcomed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and onlookers waving national flags arrived in Ochakiv, a Ukrainian naval port on the Black Sea on Wednesday evening. But Ukraine's navy said the vessels had been stripped bare and left so badly damaged that they had to be towed home by tug.

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  Ukraine says Russia returned ships in bad condition

  Reuters
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  Three navy ships held by Russia return to Ukraine port

  AFP

Pot stocks soar as U.S. House committee clears bill on federal weed legalization

Shares of marijuana companies rose on Thursday after a U.S. congressional committee passed a legislation to decriminalize cannabis, taking it a step closer to being approved by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. The bill, which was passed 24 to 10 in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, sent shares of Canopy Growth , Aurora Cannabis , Aphria Inc and Tilray Inc up between 8% and 15%. "We think federal legalization would be a big positive for investor sentiment surrounding cannabis equities, which have been battered by oversupply and a steep price decline for the underlying commodity since becoming legal in Canada," said Garrett Nelso...

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  Proposed bill would decriminalize marijuana at federal level

  CBS News Videos
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  In Congressional First, Committee Approves Bill To End Marijuana Ban

  HuffPost

GLAAD Commends Chick-fil-A for Dropping Donations to Christian Groups But Demands Franchise Change ‘Anti-LGBTQ’ Brand

On Monday, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation commended Chick-fil-A for its decision to halt donations to several Christian charities but demanded the fast-food chain do more to change its “anti-LGBTQ” brand. GLAAD said it “greet[s] today's announcement with cautious optimism” but warned that the Georgia-based company still has work to do to fix its tarnished image with the LGBTQ community. “In addition to refraining from financially supporting anti-LGBTQ organizations, Chick-fil-A still lacks policies to ensure safe workplaces for LGBTQ employees and should unequivocally speak out against the anti-LGBTQ reputation that their brand represents,” GLAAD director of campaigns Drew Anderson said in a statement to CNN.

Teen accused of using remote-controlled car to smuggle meth

A 16-year-old U.S. citizen was arrested Sunday after he attempted to use a remote-controlled car to smuggle methamphetamine across the U.S.-Mexico border. Agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stationed in San Diego saw a person with duffel bags walking along the secondary border wall. Other agents responded to the scene and found the suspect hiding in thick brush near the border.A 16-year-old U.S. citizen was arrested after attempting to use a remote-controlled car to smuggle methamphetamine across the U.S.-Mexico border.

• Boy suspected of using remote control car to smuggle drugs

  Associated Press
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  Teen used remote-controlled car to smuggle meth across US border, officials say

  USA TODAY

Climate activist’s remarks downplaying Holocaust spark anger

A prominent British climate change activist sparked anger Wednesday after appearing to downplay the Holocaust in an interview with a German newspaper. Roger Hallam, who co-founded the activist group Extinction Rebellion, told the German newspaper Die Zeit that the Nazis' murder of 6 million Jews was merely one of many genocides. In extracts from the interview released by Die Zeit on Wednesday, Hallam was quoted describing the Holocaust as “just another (expletive) in human history.

Delisting Chinese Firms From U.S. Is a ‘Terrible Idea,’ Hank Paulson Says

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said calls to oust Chinese companies from American stock indexes was contrary to the foundations of capitalism, as he warned against the dangers of decoupling the world's two largest economies. Paulson, who's now chairman of the Paulson Institute, told Bloomberg's New Economy Forum in Beijing that moves to reduce ties between the U.S. and China would weaken American leadership and New York's leading role in finance. “When the next crisis comes -- and a crisis will come, because financial crises are inevitable -- we will regret it if we lack mechanisms for the world's first and second-largest economies to coordinate,” Paulson told the forum on Thursday, according to a prepared version of his remarks.

This Could Be the Royal Navy’s Next Destroyer

The Royal Navy may already have identified a possible replacement for its Type 45 destroyers. A version of the new Type 26 frigate, which should enter service with the U.K. fleet in the mid-2020s, ultimately could replace the air-defense-optimized Type 45s beginning in the 2030s. The prospect of developing an air-defense variant of the Type 26 offers some hope to the United Kingdom's beleaguered naval shipbuilders that they might be able to build a large number of ships of different classes without a long break in production.

Dem lawmaker says it's his 'mission' to have Trump removed from office

WASHINGTON — Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, heard about President Trump's latest angry tweet about him on Tuesday morning, as he was headed to a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee. “Like Al Green, she [Nancy Pelosi] wants to change our voting system,” Trump wrote in a tweet that accused Democrats of seeking to impeach him because they believe he will be reelected in 2020. “We absolutely don't want to change the voting system,” Green said of the president's claim.

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  Sondland's impeachment testimony proves Trump foreign policy is run by corrupt clowns

  USA TODAY Opinion
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  Rep. Rashida Tlaib calls Trump impeachment public hearings 'very liberating'

  Yahoo News Video

US-China trade war could spark real war: Kissinger

Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger warned Thursday that an armed conflict could break out between the United States and China if they fail to resolve their trade war. The sober remarks from Kissinger, who was instrumental in normalising diplomatic relations between Washington and Beijing, came at a conference in Beijing on the future of the two economic giants. "If conflict is permitted to run unconstrained, the outcome could be even worse than it was in Europe," he said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum.

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  US STOCKS-Futures dip after mixed signals on U.S.-China trade

  Reuters
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  Global shares drop on renewed US-China trade worries

  Associated Press

'Don't let them in': Arrests made as hundreds protest Ann Coulter speech at UC Berkeley

A speech by conservative commentator Ann Coulter at University of California, Berkeley drew hundreds of protesters Wednesday night. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, police in riot gear guarded the building's entrances and barricades were erected in anticipation of the protests. Coulter was invited to speak by the Berkeley College Republicans for a speech about immigration called “Adios, America,” the Chronicle reported.

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  7 arrested during protest over Ann Coulter visit in Berkeley

  KGO – San Francisco
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  'Go Away': Hundreds Of Protesters Disrupt Ann Coulter Event At UC Berkeley

  HuffPost

20 of the Most Beautiful Bridges in the World

Designed by world-renowned architects such as Zaha Hadid and Santiago Calatrava, these bridges are travel destinations in their own right Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

Seller of bullets to Las Vegas gunman pleads guilty to ammo licensing offense

An ammunition dealer who acknowledged selling hundreds of incendiary tracer rounds to the gunman who killed nearly 60 people at a Las Vegas music festival two years ago pleaded guilty on Tuesday to manufacturing bullets without a license. Douglas Haig, 57, of Mesa, Arizona, became the first and only person arrested and charged in connection with the Oct. 1, 2017, massacre, which ended when the gunman, Stephen Paddock, killed himself. Haig told reporters following his arrest last year that none of the surplus military ammunition he sold to Paddock in September 2017 was ever fired during the killing spree, which ranks as the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

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  Obdulia Sanchez pleads not guilty to 6 felony charges in court

  KFSN – Fresno
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  Suspect in cold case killings pleads not guilty

  USA TODAY

A mother who claims Hunter Biden fathered her child went public with a DNA test because he stopped paying child support, lawyers say

The mother of Hunter Biden's previously unknown child outed him as the father because he stopped paying to support the child, her lawyers say. Attorneys for Lunden Alexis Roberts submitted a court filing on Wednesday declaring "with scientific certainty" that Biden was the father of the child, born in August 2018. Attorneys say the decision was made over Biden's "refusal to continue to support his child." They are seeking $11,058 in fees, and filed a petition for paternity and child support.

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  The life of Hunter Biden: How Joe Biden's middle child landed in Trump's impeachment inquiry and a paternity scandal of his own

  Business Insider
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  'Very Private' Woman in Hunter Biden Paternity Suit 'Never Wavered' and 'Never Doubted the Results': Attorney

  People

American Airlines admits a midair accident that knocked out 2 flight crew was not caused by spilled soap

American Airlines admitted Tuesday the powerful fumes that knocked two flight attendants unconscious and forced a flight to make an emergency landing were not caused by spilled soap, as the airline had previously claimed.

Former Trump adviser blasts 'false narrative' of Ukraine election interference

A former top national security adviser to President Trump told Republicans in the House impeachment inquiry Thursday morning to stop advancing a “fictional narrative” that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections rather than Russia. Based on questions and statements I have heard, some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country — and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did.

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  House Intelligence Committee readies for fifth day of public impeachment hearings

  FOX News Videos
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  2 top national security aides testify in Trump impeachment hearing

  WPVI – Philadelphia

Why Did Russia Launch 8 Submarines All at Once?

The eight submarines, including six nuclear-powered ships, sailed from their bases in northern Russia into the cold waters of the Barents and Norwegian Seas. At the same time, an additional two boats -- the nuclear-powered Sierra-class attack submarines Pskov and Nizhny Novgorod -- sailed into roughly the same waters for tests and training. The 10 vessels represent around 20 percent of the Russian submarine force.

Photos capture Trump’s notes following Sondland testimony

Photos captured President Trump's notes as he made his first public appearance following impeachment testimony from Ambassador Gordon Sondland. Appearing on the White House lawn as he prepared for a visit to Texas, Trump had jotted down notes in marker on an Air Force One pad.

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  How well does Trump know $1 million donors like Gordon Sondland? Some now work for him

  USA TODAY
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  Adam Schiff calls Gordon Sondland's impeachment testimony 'deeply significant and troubling'

  FOX News Videos

US aircraft carrier transits Strait of Hormuz

The US aircraft carrier strike group Abraham Lincoln sailed through the key Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday to show Washington's "commitment" to freedom of navigation, the Pentagon said, amid tensions with Tehran. The group's move through the strategic waterway separating Iran and the United Arab Emirates towards the Gulf was scheduled, and unfolded without incident, the US Navy said in a statement. It was the first time a US aircraft carrier group went through the strait since Iran downed a US drone in June in the same area.

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  The U.S. Navy Loves Its Aircraft Carriers, But Are They Becoming Obsolete?

  The National Interest
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  Could Flying Aircraft Carriers And Submarines Become Reality?

  The National Interest

Woman wounded in Las Vegas mass shooting dies after two years of treatment

A woman who spent two years in a nursing facility recovering from spinal injuries she suffered in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history has died. Kimberly Gervais could become the 59th fatality in the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, depending upon the coroner's verdict. Police officers raided Paddock's high rise room in the Mandalay Bay Hotel on the Vegas strip minutes after the gunfire stopped, where they found he had killed himself.

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  Las Vegas Massacre Victim Dies from Her Injuries 2 Years After Being Shot During Attack

  People
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  Woman Dies 2 Years After Las Vegas Massacre, Bringing Shooting's Death Toll to 59: Family

  KTLA - Los Angeles

Utah woman fights charge after kids see her topless at home

A Utah woman is fighting criminal charges after her stepchildren saw her topless in her own home. Prosecutors counter that nudity is commonly understood to include women's breasts in American society and that courts have upheld laws based on morality. “It was in the privacy of my own home,” she said after a court hearing Tuesday where a judge reserved decision on Buchanan's guilt or innocence.