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Michael Cohen pressed on his crimes and lies as defense attacks key Trump hush money trial witness

NEW YORK (AP) - Donald Trump's lawyers accused the star prosecution witness in his hush money trial of lying to jurors, portraying Trump fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen on Thursday as a serial fabulist who is bent on seeing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee behind bars.

As Trump looked on, defense attorney Todd Blanche pressed Cohen for hours with questions that focused as much on his misdeeds as on the case's specific allegations and tried to sow doubt in jurors´ minds about Cohen´s crucial testimony implicating the former president.

Blanche's voice rose as he interrogated Cohen with phone records and text messages over Cohen's claim that he spoke by phone to Trump about the hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels that is at the heart of the case, days before wiring her lawyer $130,000.

Blanche said that was a lie, confronting Cohen with texts indicating that what was on his mind, at least initially, during the phone call were harassing calls he was getting from an apparent 14-year-old prankster. Cohen said he believed he also spoke to Trump about the Daniels deal.

"We are not asking for your belief. This jury does not want to hear what you think happened," Blanche said, his voice growing even louder, prompting an objection from the prosecutor.

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White House blocks release of Biden audio as Republicans move ahead with Garland contempt charge

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House on Thursday blocked the release of audio from President Joe Biden´s interview with a special counsel about his handling of classified documents, arguing that Republicans in Congress only wanted the recordings "to chop them up" and use them for political purposes.

Hours later, the House Judiciary Committee voted to advance an effort to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for not turning over the records. A second vote was scheduled for later Thursday with the House oversight committee. But the timing of any action by the full House, and the willingness of the U.S. attorney´s office to act on the referral, remained uncertain.

"The department has a legal obligation to turn over the requested materials pursuant to the subpoena," Rep. Jim Jordan, the GOP chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said during the hearing. "Attorney General Garland´s willful refusal to comply with our subpoena constitutes contempt of Congress."

The rapid sequence of events Thursday further inflamed tensions between House Republicans and the Justice Department, setting the stage for another round of bitter fighting between the two branches of government that seemed nearly certain to spill over into court.

If House Republicans´ efforts against Garland are successful, he will become the third attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress. The White House slammed Republicans in a letter earlier Thursday, dismissing their efforts to obtain the audio as purely political.

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Texas governor pardons ex-Army sergeant convicted of killing Black Lives Matter protester

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a full pardon Thursday for a former U.S. Army sergeant convicted of murder for fatally shooting an armed demonstrator in 2020 during nationwide protests against police violence and racial injustice.

Abbott announced the pardon shortly after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles announced a unanimous recommendation that Daniel Perry be pardoned and have his firearms rights restored.

Perry had been in state prison on a 25-year sentence since his 2023 conviction in the killing of Garrett Foster, and was released shortly after the pardon, a prison spokeswoman said.

Perry, who is white, was working as a ride-share driver when his car approached a demonstration in Austin. Prosecutors said he could have driven away from the confrontation with Foster, a white Air Force veteran who witnesses said never raised his gun.

A jury convicted Perry of murder, but Abbott called it a case of self-defense.

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Aid for Gaza will soon flow from pier project just finished by US military, Pentagon says

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon said Thursday that humanitarian aid will soon begin flowing onto the Gaza shore through the new pier that was anchored to the beach and will begin reaching those in need almost immediately.

Sabrina Singh, Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters that the U.S. believes there will be no backups in the distribution of the aid, which is being coordinated by the United Nations.

The U.N., however, said fuel imports have all but stopped and this will make it extremely difficult to deliver the aid to Gaza´s people, all 2.3 million of whom are in acute need of food and other supplies after seven months of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas.

"We desperately need fuel," U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said. "It doesn´t matter how the aid comes, whether it´s by sea or whether by land, without fuel, aid won´t get to the people."

Singh said the issue of fuel deliveries comes up in all conversations with the Israelis.

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House votes to require delivery of bombs to Israel in GOP-led rebuke of Biden policies

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House delivered a rebuke to President Joe Biden Thursday for pausing a shipment of bombs to Israel, passing legislation that seeks to force the weapons transfer as Republicans worked to highlight Democratic divisions over the Israel-Hamas war.

Seeking to discourage Israel from its offensive on the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah, the Biden administration this month put on hold a weapons shipment of 3,500 bombs - some as large as 2,000 pounds - that are capable of killing hundreds in populated areas. Republicans were outraged, accusing Biden of abandoning the closest U.S. ally in the Middle East.

Debate over the bill, rushed to the House floor by GOP leadership this week, showed Washington's deeply fractured outlook on the Israel-Hamas war. The White House and Democratic leadership scrambled to rally support from a House caucus that ranges from moderates frustrated that the president would allow any daylight between the U.S. and Israel to progressives outraged that he is still sending any weapons at all.

The bill passed comfortably 224-187 as 16 Democrats joined with most Republicans to vote in favor. Three Republicans voted against it.

On the right, Republicans said the president had no business chiding Israel for how it uses the U.S.-manufactured weapons that are instrumental in its war against Hamas. They have not been satisfied with the Biden administration moving forward this week on a new $1 billion sale to Israel of tank ammunition, tactical vehicles and mortar rounds.

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Lawyer for family of slain US Air Force airman says video and calls show deputy went to wrong home

STONECREST, Ga. (AP) - A lawyer for the family of Roger Fortson said Thursday that police radio traffic and the body camera footage of the Florida sheriff´s deputy who killed the Black U.S. Air Force airman reinforce their assertion that the deputy was directed to the wrong apartment while responding to a domestic disturbance call that day.

In police radio traffic that lawyer Ben Crump played at a news conference surrounded by Fortson's family, a dispatcher said all they knew about the disturbance was "fourth-party information."

"Uh, don´t have any further other than a male and female," the dispatcher told officers. "It´s all fourth-party information from the front desk at the leasing office."

Crump also highlighted two portions of the bodycam video in which the deputy asked the woman leading him around the complex, "Which door?" The woman responded, "Um... I´m not sure." Seconds later, the woman told the officer that she heard a disturbance two weeks ago, but "I wasn´t sure where it came from."

Fortson, 23, was shot May 3 by an Okaloosa County sheriff´s deputy in the doorway of his apartment. Sheriff´s officials say the deputy acted in self-defense while responding to a call of a disturbance in progress at the apartment complex.

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Slovak authorities charge 'lone wolf' with assassination attempt on the prime minister

BANSKA BYSTRICA, Slovakia (AP) - Slovak authorities charged a man Thursday with attempting to assassinate Prime Minister Robert Fico, saying he acted alone in a politically motivated attack that left the longtime leader in serious but stable condition.

Fico´s pro-Russia views have contributed to deep divisions in the small European country that borders Ukraine, and the shooting attack Wednesday shocked the nation and reverberated across the continent weeks ahead of elections for the European Parliament.

While President-elect Peter Pelligrini and President Zuzana Caputova urged people to dial back the sharp rhetoric that has characterized the country's political debate, some Fico allies took aim at Slovakia´s media for contributing to the polarization.

Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok asked journalists to "reflect" on how they had covered Fico's policies. He referred to the suspect - who was charged with premeditated murder - as a "lone wolf" who did not belong to any political groups, though he said the attack itself was politically motivated.

"I can confirm that this person is not a member of any right-wing or left-wing radicalized party," Estok said.

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Supreme Court sides with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, spurning a conservative attack

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a conservative-led attack that could have undermined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The justices ruled 7-2 that the way the CFPB is funded does not violate the Constitution, reversing a lower court and drawing praises from consumers. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion, splitting with his frequent allies, Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, who dissented.

The CFPB was created after the 2008 financial crisis to regulate mortgages, car loans and other consumer finance. The case was brought by payday lenders who object to a bureau rule that limits their ability to withdraw funds directly from borrowers' bank accounts. It's among several major challenges to federal regulatory agencies on the docket this term for a court that has for more than a decade been open to limits on their operations.

The CFPB, the brainchild of Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, has long been opposed by Republicans and their financial backers. The bureau says it has returned $19 billion to consumers since its creation.

Outside the Supreme Court following the decision, Warren said, "The Supreme Court followed the law, and the CFPB is here to stay."

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Justice Department formally moves to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug in historic shift

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department on Thursday formally moved to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a historic shift in generations of U.S. drug policy.

A proposed rule sent to the federal register recognizes the medical uses of cannabis and acknowledges it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation´s most dangerous drugs. The plan approved by Attorney General Merrick Garland would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use.

The Drug Enforcement Administration will next take public comment on the proposal in a potentially lengthy process. If approved, the rule would move marijuana away from its current classification as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD. Pot would instead be a Schedule III substance, alongside ketamine and some anabolic steroids.

The move comes after a recommendation from the federal Health and Human Services Department, which launched a review of the drug´s status at the urging of President Joe Biden in 2022.

Biden also has moved to pardon thousands of people convicted federally of simple possession of marijuana and has called on governors and local leaders to take similar steps to erase convictions.

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US prisoners are being assigned dangerous jobs. But what happens if they are hurt or killed?

PHOENIX (AP) - Blas Sanchez was nearing the end of a 20-year stretch in an Arizona prison when he was leased out to work at Hickman´s Family Farms, which sells eggs that have ended up in the supply chains of huge companies like McDonald´s, Target and Albertsons. While assigned to a machine that churns chicken droppings into compost, his right leg got pulled into a chute with a large spiraling augur.

"I could hear `crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch,´" Sanchez said. "I couldn´t feel anything, but I could hear the crunch."

He recalled frantically clawing through mounds of manure to tie a tourniquet around his bleeding limb. He then waited for what felt like hours while rescuers struggled to free him so he could be airlifted to a hospital. His leg was amputated below the knee.

Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of prisoners are put to work every year, some of whom are seriously injured or killed after being given dangerous jobs with little or no training, The Associated Press found. They include prisoners fighting wildfires, operating heavy machinery or working on industrial-sized farms and meat-processing plants tied to the supply chains of leading brands. These men and women are part of a labor system that - often by design - largely denies them basic rights and protections guaranteed to other American workers.

The findings are part of a broader two-year AP investigation that linked some of the world´s largest and best cocaine dealer in US-known companies - from Cargill and Walmart to Burger King - to prisoners who can be paid pennies an hour or nothing at all.