This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareWhite House officials were first informed in early 2019 of intelligence reports that Russia was offering bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. and coalition military personnel in Afghanistan, but the information was deemed sketchy and in need of additional confirmation, according to people familiar with the matter.Several discussions were held with members of the National Security Council staff on the reports, which had been flagged as potentially significant and came at a time of growing tensions between...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareWhite House officials were first informed in early 2019 of intelligence reports that Russia was offering bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. and coalition military personnel in Afghanistan, but the information was deemed sketchy and in need of additional confirmation, according to people familiar with the matter.Several discussions were held with members of the National Security Council staff on the reports, which had been flagged as potentially significant and came at a time of growing tensions between...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareBritish authorities earlier this month told their American counterparts that they had suspended sending over all evidence in criminal cases because the United States still uses the death penalty — a move some American law enforcement officials feared might signal a fraying relationship over several politically charged matters, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.The United Kingdom’s Central Authority delivered the message on June 4 as part of communications over a visa fraud case in which the United...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareBritish authorities earlier this month told their American counterparts that they had suspended sending over all evidence in criminal cases because the United States still uses the death penalty — a move some American law enforcement officials feared might signal a fraying relationship over several politically charged matters, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.The United Kingdom’s Central Authority delivered the message on June 4 as part of communications over a visa fraud case in which the United...WW…

A senior Department of Homeland Security official told a Senate committee earlier this month that the department had not collected, exploited or analyzed information from the electronic devices or accounts of protesters in Portland, Ore.But an internal DHS document obtained by The Washington Post shows the department did have access to protesters' electronic messages and that their conversations were written up in an "intelligence report" that was disseminated to federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, as well as state and local governments.In a letter sent Friday, Democratic...…A senior Department of Homeland Security official told a Senate committee earlier this month that the department had not collected, exploited or analyzed information from the electronic devices or accounts of protesters in Portland, Ore.But an internal DHS document obtained by The Washington Post shows the department did have access to protesters' electronic messages and that their conversations were written up in an "intelligence report" that was disseminated to federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, as well as state and local governments.In a letter sent Friday, Democratic...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareAn Army officer who played a high-profile role in President Trump’s impeachment proceedings is retiring from the military over alleged “bullying” and “retaliation” by the president, his attorney said Wednesday.Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who served as a national security aide at the White House until earlier this year and was up for promotion to colonel, will leave the military instead, his attorney, David Pressman, said in a statement.“Through a campaign of bullying, intimidation, and retaliation, the president of the...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareAn Army officer who played a high-profile role in President Trump’s impeachment proceedings is retiring from the military over alleged “bullying” and “retaliation” by the president, his attorney said Wednesday.Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who served as a national security aide at the White House until earlier this year and was up for promotion to colonel, will leave the military instead, his attorney, David Pressman, said in a statement.“Through a campaign of bullying, intimidation, and retaliation, the president of the...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareA tell-all book by President Trump’s niece describes a family riven by a series of traumas, exacerbated by a daunting patriarch who “destroyed” Donald Trump by short-circuiting his “ability to develop and experience the entire spectrum of human emotion,” according to a copy of the forthcoming memoir obtained by The Washington Post.President Trump’s view of the world was shaped by his desire during childhood to avoid his father’s disapproval, according to the niece, Mary L. Trump, whose book is by turns a family history...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareA tell-all book by President Trump’s niece describes a family riven by a series of traumas, exacerbated by a daunting patriarch who “destroyed” Donald Trump by short-circuiting his “ability to develop and experience the entire spectrum of human emotion,” according to a copy of the forthcoming memoir obtained by The Washington Post.President Trump’s view of the world was shaped by his desire during childhood to avoid his father’s disapproval, according to the niece, Mary L. Trump, whose book is by turns a family history...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThree Republican senators on Wednesday made public a declassified list of U.S. officials, including former vice president Joe Biden, who made requests that would ultimately “unmask” Trump adviser Michael Flynn in intelligence documents in late 2016 and early 2017 — a common government practice but one that some conservatives have seized on to imply wrongdoing.The list includes the names of more than three dozen former Obama administration officials. Among them are Biden, former White House chief of staff Denis McDonough,...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThree Republican senators on Wednesday made public a declassified list of U.S. officials, including former vice president Joe Biden, who made requests that would ultimately “unmask” Trump adviser Michael Flynn in intelligence documents in late 2016 and early 2017 — a common government practice but one that some conservatives have seized on to imply wrongdoing.The list includes the names of more than three dozen former Obama administration officials. Among them are Biden, former White House chief of staff Denis McDonough,...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareFor nearly a decade, a team of scientists from Wuhan, China, crisscrossed southern Asia in a high-stakes search for bats and the strange diseases they harbor. They crawled through caves, catching the razor-toothed mammals with nets and scooping up liters of their excrement. They trapped insects and mice living near bat roosts and collected blood from villagers who hunt bats for food or folk medicine.They returned to their state-of-the-art laboratory in central China with tubes and vials containing known killers —...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareFor nearly a decade, a team of scientists from Wuhan, China, crisscrossed southern Asia in a high-stakes search for bats and the strange diseases they harbor. They crawled through caves, catching the razor-toothed mammals with nets and scooping up liters of their excrement. They trapped insects and mice living near bat roosts and collected blood from villagers who hunt bats for food or folk medicine.They returned to their state-of-the-art laboratory in central China with tubes and vials containing known killers —...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareHospitals across the country have deferred or canceled non-urgent surgeries to free up bed space and equipment for covid-19 patients. But that triage maneuver cut off a main source of income, causing huge losses that have forced some hospitals to let go of health-care workers as they struggle to treat infected patients.Last week, Bon Secours Mercy Health, which runs 51 hospitals in seven states, announced it would furlough 700 workers. On Wednesday, Ballad Health, which operates 21 hospitals across Tennessee and southwest...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareHospitals across the country have deferred or canceled non-urgent surgeries to free up bed space and equipment for covid-19 patients. But that triage maneuver cut off a main source of income, causing huge losses that have forced some hospitals to let go of health-care workers as they struggle to treat infected patients.Last week, Bon Secours Mercy Health, which runs 51 hospitals in seven states, announced it would furlough 700 workers. On Wednesday, Ballad Health, which operates 21 hospitals across Tennessee and southwest...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareIn the chaos of New York City, where coronavirus deaths are mounting so quickly that freezer trucks have been set up as makeshift morgues, several hospitals have taken the unprecedented step of allowing doctors not to resuscitate people with covid-19 to avoid exposing health-care workers to the highly contagious virus.The shift is part of a flurry of changes besieged hospitals are making almost daily, including canceling all but the most urgent surgeries, forgoing the use of isolation rooms, and requiring infected health...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareIn the chaos of New York City, where coronavirus deaths are mounting so quickly that freezer trucks have been set up as makeshift morgues, several hospitals have taken the unprecedented step of allowing doctors not to resuscitate people with covid-19 to avoid exposing health-care workers to the highly contagious virus.The shift is part of a flurry of changes besieged hospitals are making almost daily, including canceling all but the most urgent surgeries, forgoing the use of isolation rooms, and requiring infected health...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe White House is not planning an immediate response to intelligence reports of Russian bounties given to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan because President Trump does not believe the reports are true or “actionable,” according to two senior administration officials.Trump is not convinced he should do anything about the bounty issue, which he decried in a Wednesday morning tweet as “just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party.”...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe White House is not planning an immediate response to intelligence reports of Russian bounties given to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan because President Trump does not believe the reports are true or “actionable,” according to two senior administration officials.Trump is not convinced he should do anything about the bounty issue, which he decried in a Wednesday morning tweet as “just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party.”...WW…