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A senior White House official on Thursday acknowledged that President Donald Trump held up $391 million in military aid to Ukraine in part to pressure the Ukrainians to look into an allegation about the 2016 U.S presidential election that has been debunked as a conspiracy theory.

Trump and administration officials had denied for weeks that it had demanded a “quid pro quo” – a Latin phrase meaning a favor for a favor – for delivering the U.S. aid, a key part of a controversy that has triggered an impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives against the Republican president.

Continue reading “White House acknowledges strings attached in Trump withholding Ukraine aid”

The U.S. Supreme Court’s new term opens on Monday with the conservative majority in a position to take a more aggressive rightward turn on divisive issues including abortion, gay rights and gun control while also refereeing legal brawls involving President Donald Trump.

The court has moved to the right since Trump took office, with a 5-4 conservative majority that includes two justices he appointed: Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 and Neil Gorsuch in 2017.

“We will likely see the court move further and faster in a rightward direction,” said Irv Gornstein, executive director of Georgetown University Law Center’s Supreme Court Institute.

Continue reading “U.S. Supreme Court to tackle gay rights, guns, abortion and Trump”

Facebook can be ordered to police and remove illegal content worldwide, Europe’s top court said on Thursday, in a landmark ruling that rights activists say raises concerns some countries could use it to silence critics.

The judgment means social platforms can be forced to seek out hateful content deemed illegal by a national court in the 28-country bloc rather than wait for requests to remove posts as it currently does under EU rules.

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Rudy Giuliani’s wide-ranging work for U.S. President Donald Trump could make it tougher for him to claim Ukraine-related documents demanded by Congress as part of its impeachment inquiry are confidential and protected under lawyer-client privilege, experts said.

The Democratic-led House Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena to Giuliani on Monday, setting an Oct. 15 deadline for him to turn over documents related to his efforts to work with Ukrainians to investigate Trump’s potential 2020 Democratic election rival Joe Biden.

Continue reading “Giuliani’s unusual role key to exposing internal Trump documents”

Juul Labs Inc on Tuesday hired the head of regulatory affairs at its part-owner Altria Group Inc to take on a similar role at the e-cigarette maker, amid a regulatory backlash against the growth of teen vaping in the United States.

Joe Murillo is the first big hire by Juul’s new chief executive officer, K.C. Crosthwaite, who himself moved over from Altria last week.

Continue reading “Juul hires Altria executive to handle regulation amid vaping crisis”