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After public grilling, Trump ex-lawyer Cohen to testify on Russia in private

President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen returned to Capitol Hill on Thursday to speak behind closed doors with a congressional panel investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election, capping a week of testimony in which he leveled new allegations of wrongdoing at his former boss.

Cohen did not respond to questions as he arrived for his third and final session in Congress this week. His private testimony before the House Intelligence Committee was expected to last all day. The panel has been probing Russian election meddling and any collusion with the Trump campaign.

In dramatic public testimony on Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee, the one-time “fixer” for Trump accused the president of breaking the law while in office and said for the first time that Trump knew in advance about a WikiLeaks dump of stolen emails that hurt his 2016 election rival Hillary Clinton.

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AT&T defeats U.S. in merger fight to buy Time Warner

A U.S. appeals court approved wireless carrier AT&T Inc’s deal to buy media company Time Warner on Tuesday, a defeat for the Trump administration which had argued the $85.4 billion merger would mean higher prices for consumers.

AT&T’s second major court victory against the Justice Department sets the stage for the No. 2 wireless carrier to integrate its WarnerMedia business as well as its new Xandr advertising unit.

The deal had been a target of criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump, who opposed it because he saw it helping Time Warner’s CNN unit, which he has accused of broadcasting “fake news.”

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Singer R. Kelly charged with sexual abuse, local media say, citing court records

Prosecutors in Chicago charged Grammy-winning singer R. Kelly on Friday with multiple counts of sexual abuse, local media reported.

Citing court records, the Chicago Sun-Times said Kelly was charged in Cook County, Illinois, with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse. An attorney for the singer did not immediately return a call or email seeking comment.

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Philadelphia sues seven big banks, alleges municipal bond collusion

The city of Philadelphia has filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing seven major banks of conspiring to inflate interest rates for a type of bond used by cities, towns and other public entities, costing them potentially billions of dollars.

In a complaint filed on Wednesday night, Philadelphia accused Bank of America Corp, Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Royal Bank of Canada and Wells Fargo & Co of secretly manipulating rates for tax-exempt bonds known as VRDOs, or variable-rate demand obligations.

The city, which said it issued more than $1.6 billion of the bonds, said the banks colluded to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in fees they did not earn, reducing critical funding for public services and violating federal antitrust laws.

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