March 14 AND 15, 2018


News and Views


THE ELECTION RESULTS FROM LAST NIGHT

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/14/us/politics/pennsylvania-congressional-race-conor-lamb-trump.html
Strong Performance by Democrat Conor Lamb in Pennsylvania Shakes Trump and G.O.P.
By PETER BAKER and MICHAEL D. SHEAR MARCH 14, 2018

Photograph -- Conor Lamb, the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District, claimed victory at a rally in Canonsburg, Pa., early Wednesday. Credit Drew Angerer/Getty Images

LOS ANGELES — President Trump woke up here in the land of earthquakes on Wednesday morning, but he was 2,500 miles away from the tremor that was really shaking his party.

While the president hobnobbed on Tuesday night with wealthy donors in the exclusive enclave of Beverly Park, the voters in the suburbs south of Pittsburgh were in revolt, giving the Democratic candidate a narrow victory in a special election in Pennsylvania that was taking on outsize proportions.

Just as they did outside Birmingham and Montgomery, Ala., in December, and Richmond, Va., and Washington in November, energized and angry suburban voters were swamping the Trump stalwarts in the more rural parts of those regions, sending a clear message to Republicans around the country.

While Republican turnout in a district that Mr. Trump won in 2016 by 20 percentage points was healthy, Democrats showed again that they could tap unions and other traditionally friendly groups to get their voters out in droves. The N.A.A.C.P. helped win Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s former Alabama Senate seat for Doug Jones in December. Organized labor, once seen as fractured and feckless in the Trump era, gave the Democrat Conor Lamb his edge in Pennsylvania.

Rick Saccone, the Republican candidate who wrapped himself in Mr. Trump’s cloak and drew the president to his district last weekend in a bid to rescue a faltering campaign, trailed Mr. Lamb, a former Marine seeking to show his party can compete even in red territory. Mr. Lamb held an apparently insurmountable lead of 641 votes on Wednesday, with about only 500 absentee, provisional and military ballots remaining to be counted, according to county election officials.


U.S. & POLITICS By CHRIS CIRILLO, AINARA TIEFENTHÄLER and ROBIN LINDSAY 1:13
Defeat in Pennsylvania Is Ominous for the G.O.P.
Video
Conor Lamb Tops G.O.P. Rival in Pennsylvania
Conor Lamb, a Democrat, narrowly won a House special election in a Pennsylvania district that President Trump won by 20 percentage points in 2016. By CHRIS CIRILLO, AINARA TIEFENTHÄLER and ROBIN LINDSAY on Publish Date March 14, 2018. Photo by Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters. Watch in Times Video »

The victory may yet be contested, but whether Mr. Lamb holds on to officially win the House seat matters less than the fact that he was so competitive in the first place. The rebuke of Mr. Trump came from a part of western Pennsylvania that overwhelmingly supported him in 2016 and that typically would not seem likely to turn to a Democrat. The district was seen as so strongly Republican that the Democrats did not even field a candidate in recent years.

And while Mr. Saccone carried the most Trump-supporting counties along the West Virginia border, Mr. Lamb made just enough inroads in those rural areas to give the voters in suburban Allegheny County the chance to deliver the Democrat the slimmest of leads.

Rarely shy about weighing in on other news of the day, Mr. Trump made no mention of the race on Twitter on Wednesday morning. Instead, he left it to an aide to find the silver lining. Raj Shah, a White House spokesman, told reporters on Air Force One en route to St. Louis that Mr. Trump actually helped the Republican candidate and asserted that the Democrat’s showing was really a validation of the popularity of the president’s policies.

“The president’s engagement in the race turned what was a deficit for the Republican candidate to what is essentially a tie,” Mr. Shah said. “Also, the Democrat in the race really embraced the president’s policies and his vision, whereas he didn’t really embrace Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader.”

The stinging message could hardly have been more pointed for a Republican president mired in low approval ratings, burdened by investigations and facing the growing likelihood that Democrats may seize power in Congress later this year.

Photo

Rick Saccone, the Republican congressional candidate, spoke to supporters in Elizabeth Township, Pa., on Tuesday night as results came in that showed him behind in a race that was too close to call. Credit Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
Mr. Lamb, 33, defied political geography and appeared on the verge of capturing the state’s 18th District despite a torrent of Republican money and Mr. Trump’s personal intervention. At a rally Saturday, Mr. Trump mocked Mr. Lamb as “Lamb the Sham,” promised that Mr. Saccone would “vote for us all the time,” and rambled about his own achievements as he sought to transfer his own political success to the Republican candidate.

In the end, none of it seemed to be enough. Democratic enthusiasm appeared to overwhelm a part of the state that has long been a Republican stronghold. For the president, the vote is an ominous echo of Democratic victories in Virginia and Alabama, where his political efforts were shrugged off or counterproductive.

The tally was also a blunt rejection of the president’s political calculation that tax cuts and steel tariffs would persuade voters in a region once dominated by the steel industry to embrace the Trump agenda on behalf of Mr. Saccone. “Steel is back,” he repeatedly said at the rally, apparently to little effect.

A Republican victory in Pennsylvania might have helped deflect attention from the continuing collapse of the president’s inner circle, which Tuesday included Mr. Trump’s abrupt firing of Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and the forced resignation of John McEntee, one of Mr. Trump’s closest personal aides, who is under investigation for financial crimes and was marched out of the White House.

Instead, Mr. Saccone’s lackluster performance was a grim bookend for a day in which the president’s trip to the Mexico-California border to view wall prototypes was completely overshadowed by the churning turnovers in his national security team.

Pennsylvania Special Election Results: Lamb Wins 18th Congressional District
See full results and maps of the Pennsylvania special election.

Mr. Trump and Republican Party leaders had desperately sought to head off an outcome that was once thought of as politically impossible. Conservative groups spent more than $10 million in the hopes of defeating Mr. Lamb, who received similar help from Democratic politicians like former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

A barrage of Republican advertisements condemned Mr. Lamb as a “Rubber Stamp for Nancy Pelosi,” the Democratic leader in the House. One flier sent to voters showed Mr. Lamb firing an assault weapon, an attempt to weaken the Democrat’s support among liberal voters. A deceptive video purported to show Mr. Lamb in a fight with labor unions.

But in recent weeks, polls in Pennsylvania consistently showed Mr. Saccone’s popularity slipping, and Mr. Lamb gaining traction. Visits by Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials did little to buck up the party’s candidate.

By the time Mr. Trump arrived in Moon Township, Pa., for the rally, the race had tightened significantly, and many White House and Republican Party officials were already worried that he was lending his support to a lost cause.

As it turned out, they may have been right. During the rally, Mr. Trump called Mr. Saccone “an extraordinary person” and dismissed Mr. Lamb as someone who should not be trusted by voters in western Pennsylvania.

“The people of Pittsburgh cannot be conned by this guy Lamb, because he’s not going to vote for us,” Mr. Trump said. He also added a half-dozen presidential tweets over the past week.

On Tuesday night, as he huddled in the home of Edward Glazer, an owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and his wife, Shari, he had nothing to say on the matter.

Peter Baker reported from Los Angeles, and Michael Shear from Washington.

Follow Peter Baker and Michael Shear on Twitter: @peterbakernyt @shearm.



“REPUBLICANS HOPED THE PRESIDENT'S APPEARANCE WOULD HELP TURN OUT THE VOTE, AND AVOID AN EMBARRASSMENT IN A DISTRICT MR. TRUMP WON BY 20 POINTS IN 2016.” THIS IS ONE OF THOSE TIGHT RACES – IT’S LAMB BY A NECK AND SACCONE PULLING UP FROM THE REAR.

FACE IT, GUYS, DONALD TRUMP HAS BEEN ON THE NEWS DAILY SINCE HE GOT INTO OFFICE, AND USUALLY WITH SOMETHING NEGATIVE ASSOCIATED. THAT HAS A WAY OF DEGRADING THE POSITIVE VIEWPOINT OF THE AVERAGE PERSON, NO MATTER HOW MUCH RACE-BAITING TRUMP DOES. HE HAS SHOWN HIMSELF TO BE GROSSLY UNFAIR IN HIS COMPETITION WITH THE DEMS; AGGRESSIVELY TEARING DOWN A SOCIAL SAFETY NET THAT LOTS OF PEOPLE IN PENNSYLVANIA DEPEND ON; AND OFTEN GIVES THE IMPRESSION THAT HE IS EITHER MENTALLY DISTURBED OR JUST NOT AS INTELLIGENT AS HE KEEPS SAYING HE IS. NOT GOOD MOVES.

SO, HIS COMING TO STUMP FOR THIS REPUBLICAN, WHO IS NOT UNKNOWN AND PROBABLY HAS NEGATIVES OF HIS OWN, IS ALSO NOT A GOOD MOVE. I, BEING A HARDCORE DEMOCRAT / PROGRESSIVE / SOCIAL LIBERAL, OPENLY SAY “GO, LAMB!”

AND LOOK AT LAMB – 33 YEAR OLD MARINE VETERAN AND FORMER PROSECUTOR. HE ISN’T WILDLY LIBERAL – A “MINI-REPUBLICAN” HE IS QUOTED AS SAYING, WHICH MEANS THAT THE DISENCHANTED REPUBLICANS WILL VERY LIKELY CROSS OVER, AND THE UNDECIDEDS ARE JUST THAT. THEY MAY GO FOR THE MORE ATTRACTIVE CANDIDATE. TAKE A LOOK AT CONNOR LAMB – LEAN, BUT FILLED OUT NICELY AND A WARMLY OPEN FACE. SOUNDS GOOD TO ME, UNLESS HE HAS HIDDEN RACIST TENDENCIES.

BESIDES, THEY MENTION HERE “THE TRUMP EFFECT,” BUT THEY NEED TO LOOK AT “THE SANDERS EFFECT” AS WELL. PEOPLE LIVING ON SOCIAL SECURITY AND YOUNG SEMI-EMPLOYED PEOPLE WILL LIKELY GO LEFT; AND I, FOR ONE, WILL NOT FORGET THAT TRUMP HAS ALREADY TALKED ABOUT REDUCING THE SAFETY NET -- AFTER PROMISING THAT HE WOULDN’T DO THAT -- WHEN THERE ARE MORE AND MORE PEOPLE BEING BORN AND RETIRING AND NEEDING MEDICAL CARE, SO THE NEED GOES ON.

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/pennsylvania-special-election-2018-03-13-results-winner-polls-live-updates/
KATHRYN WATSON CBS NEWS March 13, 2018, 6:25 PM
Race too close to call heading into Wednesday in Pennsylvania special election
Last Updated Mar 14, 2018 1:36 AM EDT

pa-results-1228.png
The battle between Republican Rick Saccone and Democrat Connor Lamb for Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district turned from Tuesday into Wednesday with no official winner. The race is too close to call, with just a few hundred votes separating the two.

If he doesn't win, Saccone plans to submit petitions on March 20 to run in the 14th congressional district, a political consultant for the campaign tells CBS News' Nicole Sganga.

The holdup is thousands of absentee ballots that have yet to be counted. The results are anticipated to roll in Wednesday.

The closeness of the race prompted a visit from President Trump on Saturday. Republicans hoped the president's appearance would help turn out the vote, and avoid an embarrassment in a district Mr. Trump won by 20 points in 2016.

Saccone sent supporters home for the night, while Lamb essentially declared victory.

"It took a little longer than we thought, but we did it!" he said.

"You did it!" he added.

"I see so many great friends out here," Lamb continued. "You know four months ago right after we won the Democratic nomination, before we ever even had a chance to open an office, the grassroots leaders that are in this room tonight came to us and they said, print us something, print anything so we can get out there and start canvassing - they said get going they said or we're going without you - well, we went together and I can't thank you enough."

Saccone's lackluster fundraising -- Lamb's campaign has out-raised him by nearly 5-1 in the first seven weeks of 2018 -- concerned his party. Lamb, a 33-year-old Marine Corps veteran and former prosecutor, has raised most of his cash from his own campaign, while Saccone has had to look to outside groups.

Follow our live election results updates below:
Saccone to attempt a run in another district if he doesn't win

Saccone will submit petitions on March 20th to run in the 14th congressional district, should he lose his bid in the 18th district, CBS News' Nicole Sganga reports.

Saccone will be in legal meetings all Wednesday -- he is not expected to concede.

Results won't come until later Wednesday
Results from the bitterly close special election won't come until later Wednesday.

By 1 a.m., Democrats had all but declared victory, with hundreds of absentee votes outstanding. Saccone would have to win a significant margin of the remaining votes to declare victory.

Westmoreland County counts more votes
Westmoreland County reported more votes, including absentees, putting the margin between Lamb and Saccone down to 579 votes, according to CBS News election director Anthony Salvanto.

Lamb: "We did it!"
Lamb took the stage shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday at his campaign headquarters.

"It took a little longer than we thought, but we did it!" he said.

"You did it!" he added.

Lamb thanked those who had been with his campaign from the beginning. The Democrat emphasized that finding "common ground" was key.

All precincts reporting, but race still too close to call
Elections director Anthony Salvanto says that CBS News continues to characterize this race as too close to call. We're waiting on more absentees to be counted after midnight -- and even then, we doubt it will be clear who has won.

By roughly midnight, 100 percent of precincts had reported, with Lamb still in the lead. Lamb had 49.83 percent of the vote, to Saccone's 49.57 percent.

NRCC says race is too close to call, but confident in Saccone
Just before midnight, the National Republican Congressional Committee said the race is too close to call, but that they have confidence Saccone will win the seat. The NRCC stopped short of declaring victory, like the DCCC did.

"This race is too close to call and we're ready to ensure that every legal vote is counted. Once they are, we're confident Rick Saccone will be the newest Republican member of Congress," NRCC Communications Director Matt Gorman said in a statement.

Race heading into Wednesday with no winner
As observers wait for votes to be counted, there is no winner yet heading into Wednesday.

Saccone campaign exploring "all legal options"
The Saccone campaign is exploring "all legal options," a consultant for the campaign tells CBS News' Nicole Sganga.

There is no automatic recount law for a race like this under Pennsylvania law, and there can be no recount for an unofficial vote tally. It's unclear what paths his campaign might pursue.

DCCC claims victory for Lamb
The chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee declared an early victory for Lamb Tuesday night in a statement.

But that could be slightly premature.

Saccone thanks supporters
Saccone thanked supporters Tuesday night, saying they would all be working into Wednesday.

More than 3,000 absentee votes yet to be counted
More than 3,000 absentee votes in three counties have yet to be counted, according to data from Edison Media and CBS News. And it's likely they won't be counted until Wednesday.

The estimated number of outstanding votes thus far are:

Greene County -- 203

Washington -- 1,190

Westmoreland -- 1808

That's a total of 3,201 outstanding absentee ballots.

Lamb gets boost with Allegheny County absentee votes
Lamb took roughly 700 votes from absentee ballots counted in Allegheny County, giving him an 847-vote edge. That was a huge boost from his merely 95-vote lead moments earlier.

But we're still waiting on absentee votes in two other counties -- and those may not be counted until Wednesday.

Race could be determined by absentee ballots
This race is definitely coming down to the wire -- and it could be determined by absentee ballots.

Many absentee ballots have yet to be counted, and it's possible many of those -- hundreds and hundreds of them -- may not be counted before the night is over.

Many of the small areas with votes yet to trickle in lean heavily Republican -- the race still looks quite even.

CBS News' election director Anthony Salvanto said that aside from absentee votes, Saccone needs 56 percent of what CBS estimates to be the outstanding precinct vote. That's about what he's been getting in recent reports, so it may not change the race.

In other words, absentee ballots could very well decide this election.

Down to a 300-vote difference
The race is down to a 300-point difference, with Lamb still having the slight edge over Saccone. That's with nearly 98 percent of precincts reporting.

With 98 percent reporting, it's a very close race
With nearly 98 percent of precincts reporting, only hundreds of votes separate Lamb and Saccone.

At 10:35 p.m., Lamb had 48.83 percent or 107,155 votes, and Saccone had 49.56 percent, or 106,570 votes.

Race only about 500 votes apart
The race is only about 500 votes apart now, as of 10:28 p.m., according to CBS News elections director Anthony Salvanto.

No automatic recount in a race like this

There is no provision in Pennsylvania state law for an automatic recount in a congressional race like this.

Automatic recounts only take place in statewide elections, when the results are within half of one percent.

Waiting for the final precincts to roll in

The results are still incredibly close, as the public waits for the final precincts to report their results.

As of 10:22 p.m., Lamb had 49.91 percent of the vote, while Saccone had 49.48 percent of the vote. That's with 574 of the 593 precincts reporting.

Lamb holds slight edge as race is all but tied

With 96.29 percent of precincts reporting, Lamb has 49.99 percent of the vote, to Saccone's 49.39 percent of the vote.

Race effectively tied, with most precincts in

With 95 percent of precincts reporting, the race is effectively tied.

Lamb has 49.87 percent of the vote, and Saccone has 49.52 percent of the vote.

Lamb drops below 50 percent

Lamb has dropped below 50 percent, just before 10 p.m. Lamb has 49.87 percent of the vote, compared to Saccone's 49.52 percent.

CBS News' elections director Anthony Salvanto says this:

87% in now in PA18 and the D lead is under one point -- race very close...what's outstanding looks a little more Rep in past vote, but we'll see what happens tonight

— Anthony Salvanto (@SalvantoCBS) March 14, 2018
Race very close

At 9:49 p.m., with 72 percent of precincts reporting, it's an extremely close race. More GOP strongholds are expected to roll in soon.

Lamb has 50.96 percent of the vote, compared to Saccone's 48.42 percent of the vote.

In short, it's a very close race, according to CBS News' elections director Anthony Salvanto.

Lamb holds onto lead

At 9:42 p.m., Lamb is holding onto his lead.

With 72 percent of precincts reporting, it's 51.47 percent for Lamb, 47.92 percent for Saccone, to be very specific.

Mood is festive at Lamb HQ

The mood is festive at Lamb's headquarters, reports CBS News' Rebecca Kaplan.

At 9:30 p.m., the ballroom is packed with people smiling, taking pictures, drinking and cheering every time the TV feed shows Lamb performing well. At one point, an image of Mr. Trump was shown on the screen and the crowd booed loudly.

In short, Lamb supporters feel optimistic.

Atmosphere a bit strained at Saccone HQ
CBS News' Nicole Sganga reports the atmosphere at Saccone HQ is a bit strained, although people present were encouraged by the tightening of the race.

Race tightens; Saccone pulls closer to Lamb
The results in the race are tightening at 9:22 p.m., as Republican areas fill in and Saccone edges closer to Lamb.

It remains a close race, says says CBS News elections director Anthony Salvanto.

As of 9:29 p.m., with nearly 62 percent of precincts reporting, it's Lamb 52 percent to Saccone 47 percent.

Too early to project a winner

As of 9:12 p.m. - it's early - Lamb is out to an early lead, but most of the votes that have come in are from more Democratic areas. It remains too early to project a winner.

National Republicans not optimistic

A GOP operative in the race tells CBS News' Nancy Cordes that "our numbers don't look good" - specifically, overnight party data showed Lamb leading Saccone by 3 to 7 points. They're not throwing in the towel entirely, but they're very pessimistic.

Like other party operatives, this source is pinning the blame squarely on Saccone - not the party or the president. "He's not a bad guy, he's a good guy who worked hard...but he didn't know how to run a race like this and was out of his league."

Saccone has been a state lawmaker since 2010, while Lamb hasn't run for office before.

Saccone, this operative notes, didn't appear to be entirely comfortable at campaign events -- including his appearances with President Trump -- and "was hoping to win by going door to door, and you can't do that anymore." He also "didn't successfully lay out his background," even as Lamb "defined himself as a mini-republican or a moderate." This operative believes many PA-18 voters were unaware, for example, of Saccone's foreign policy background and the fact that he has authored nine books.

What about Mr. Trump's waning popularity, even in red districts like this one? "It's hard to extrapolate Trump stuff when it isn't necessarily about that on the ground...a lot of this is about polices." Operative said they'll have a better sense of the Trump effect once they see the final numbers.

-- CBS News' Nancy Cordes

District Trump easily won leaning towards Lamb
Washington County, which Mr. Trump won by more than 20 points, is breaking for Lamb so far.

As results pour in, Lamb continues to perform well
With 10 percent of precincts reporting, Lamb is clearly pulling ahead. But it's still early.

So far, Lamb has received 59 percent of the vote, to Saccone's 41 percent.

Early precincts voting more Democratic than past elections
Lamb is pulling ahead of Saccone, as the still-early votes roll in.

With just 1.69 percent of precincts reporting, Lamb leads Saccone 59 percent to 41 percent, roughly.

More significantly, the early precincts are all showing swings in Lamb's direction over previous elections.

First results in
The first results have come in after half an hour in Pennsylvania's 18th District.

With four precincts reporting out of 593, Saccone is barely edging out Lamb.

In the first precinct to report, Lamb was up 52 percent to 47 percent -- Mr. Trump won that district against Hillary Clinton, 56 percent to 41 percent, according to elections expert J. Miles Coleman.

Polls closed — too soon to call
It's 8 p.m., and polls are now closed across the district in southwest Pennsylvania.

But it's too soon to make any estimates. Results should start rolling in over the next 20-30 minutes.

Polls closing soon
Polls are closing soon in Pennsylvania's 18th District, although it's unlikely results will appear immediately.

But don't expect this night to go quickly. It's a tossup, with lots of rural precincts. There are 593 precincts in total. This will likely be a very late night for those watching.

Voters running out of time to head to polls
Voters have until 8 p.m. to head to the polls in Pennsylvania's 18th District.

CBS News interviews Conor Lamb
CBS News had an extensive interview with Lamb on Tuesday.

Lamb said he's learned a lot throughout this experience.

"I've learned how open minded and reasonable people truly are," "Lamb said. "Everyone gave me a fair shake. Didn't have a single conversation where someone refused to talk to me based on 2016 or any other election. Been a really cool experience for me."

If he wins, Lamb would run in a different district in November than he was elected into this month. But that isn't an issue for him at the moment.

"I think we need to wait and see exactly how the map shakes out," Lamb said. "But I'm not concerned about it right now. I told the people of this district - the 18th district that I would run for them and I would represent them so for the rest of the year they will be my focus."

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Kathryn Watson
Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital.



COURAGEOUS, PATIENT, PERSISTENT, AND VERY BRIGHT. HE ALSO GAVE EVERY DISABLED PERSON IN THE WORLD A BOOST OF HOPE. MAY HE REST IN PEACE.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stephen-hawking-cambridge-professor-theoretical-physicist-dead-at-76-2018-03-14/
CBS/AP March 14, 2018, 8:11 AM
Stephen Hawking, Cambridge professor and theoretical physicist, dead at 76

Stephen Hawking, the world-famous physicist who deepened our understanding of the universe while proving that any disability could be overcome, has died, a spokesman for his family confirmed Wednesday. He was 76. His three children Lucy, Robert and Tim, said in a statement, "We will miss him forever."

"We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today," his children said in a statement. "He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years. His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humor inspired people across the world. He once said, 'It would not be much of a universe if it wasn't home to the people you love.'"

Hawking was born in Oxford, England in 1942. He was a 21-year-old Ph.D student when he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease -- and told he had just a year or two to live.

Although he would be confined to a wheelchair and largely unable to speak except through a voice synthesizer, he lived a lot longer than that.


His 1988 book, "A Brief History of Time," explaining the mysteries of the universe in layman's language, became an international bestseller and made him an unlikely world-wide celebrity. The book sold more than 10 million copies.

As one of Isaac Newton's successors as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, Hawking was involved in the search for the great goal of physics -- a "unified theory."

Such a theory would resolve the contradictions between Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which describes the laws of gravity that govern the motion of large objects like planets, and the Theory of Quantum Mechanics, which deals with the world of subatomic particles.

For Hawking, the search was almost a religious quest -- he said finding a "theory of everything" would allow mankind to "know the mind of God."

"A complete, consistent unified theory is only the first step: our goal is a complete understanding of the events around us, and of our own existence," he wrote in "A Brief History of Time." When he turned 60, he spoke to Ed Bradley on "60 Minutes."

"For me it is quite an achievement," he told Bradley. "I never thought I could get so far."

Hawking was one of former President Obama's first recipients of the Medal of Freedom, awarded because he had overcome disability to push the boundaries of science.

"Professor Stephen Hawking is a brilliant man and a mediocre student," Mr. Obama said.

He may have been confined to a wheelchair, but his mind knew no limits. Always fascinated by space, he took a zero-gravity flight in 2007 -- the first time in 40 years he could move without the chair. He was a personality who transcended science and popular culture.

"I fit the stereotype of a disable genius in that I'm clearly disabled but I'm not a genius like Einstein was," Hawking told Bradley

In later years, though, he suggested a unified theory might not exist.

He followed up "A Brief History of Time" in 2001 with the more accessible sequel "The Universe in a Nutshell," updating readers on concepts like super gravity, naked singularities and the possibility of an 11-dimensional universe.

Hawking said belief in a God who intervenes in the universe "to make sure the good guys win or get rewarded in the next life" was wishful thinking.

"But one can't help asking the question: Why does the universe exist?" he said in 1991. "I don't know an operational way to give the question or the answer, if there is one, a meaning. But it bothers me."

The combination of his best-selling book and his almost total disability -- for a while he could use a few fingers, later he could only tighten the muscles on his face -- made him one of science's most recognizable figures.


But he was also a popular genius and a media star. He had a role on "Star Trek." And he knew he had made it when his cartoon avatar had a cameo on The Simpsons.

He called the episode "very funny and now almost as many people know me through 'The Simpsons' as through my science."

In 1959, Hawking entered Oxford University and then went on to graduate work at Cambridge.

Signs of illness appeared in his first year of graduate school, and he was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease after the New York Yankee star who died of it. The disease usually kills within three to five years.

How has Stephen Hawking lived so long with ALS?
According to John Boslough, author of "Stephen Hawking's Universe," Hawking became deeply depressed. But as it became apparent that he was not going to die soon, his spirits recovered and he bore down on his work. Brian Dickie, director of research at the Motor Neurone Disease Association, said only 5 percent of those diagnosed with ALS survive for 10 years or longer. Hawking, he added, "really is at the extreme end of the scale when it comes to survival."

Hawking married Jane Wilde in 1965 and they had three children, Robert, Lucy and Timothy.

Jane cared for Hawking for 20 years, until a grant from the United States paid for the 24-hour care he required.

He was inducted into the Royal Society in 1974 and received the Albert Einstein Award in 1978. In 1989, Queen Elizabeth II made him a Companion of Honor, one of the highest distinctions she can bestow.

He whizzed about Cambridge at surprising speed -- usually with nurses or teaching assistants in his wake -- traveled and lectured widely, and appeared to enjoy his fame. He retired from his chair as Lucasian Professor in 2009 and took up a research position with the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario.

Hawking divorced Jane in 1991, an acrimonious split that strained his relationship with their children. Writing in her autobiographical "Music to Move the Stars," she said the strain of caring for Hawking for nearly three decades had left her feeling like "a brittle, empty shell." Hawking married his one-time nurse Elaine Mason four years later, but the relationship was dogged by rumors of abuse.

Police investigated in 2004 after newspapers reported that he'd been beaten, suffering injuries including a broken wrist, gashes to the face and a cut lip, and was left stranded in his garden on the hottest day of the year.

Hawking called the charges "completely false." Police found no evidence of any abuse. Hawking and Mason separated in 2006.

Lucy Hawking said her father had an exasperating "inability to accept that there is anything he cannot do."

"I accept that there are some things I can't do," he told The Associated Press in 1997. "But they are mostly things I don't particularly want to do anyway."

Then, grinning widely, he added, "I seem to manage to do anything that I really want."

He'll be remembered not just as one of the more remarkable personalities of the scientific world -- but as an inspiration figure. An authority on the past -- and the future.

"I believe that the long-term future of the human race must be in space," Hawking said. "Human race should not have all eggs in one basket, or in one planet."

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.


FOX GOT TOO FOXY FOR ITS’ OWN GOOD, PERHAPS? FAKE, FAKE, FAKE!

http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/19/media/fox-news-court-dismiss-lawsuit-seth-rich/index.html?iid=EL
by Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy
September 19, 2017: 12:51 PM ET

Fox News asked a federal court on Monday to dismiss a lawsuit brought against the network over a now-retracted story on the death of former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich.

In August, Rod Wheeler, a Fox News contributor and former DC homicide detective, sued 21st Century Fox, the Fox News Channel, Fox News reporter Malia Zimmerman, and Ed Butowsky, a wealthy businessman who had hired Wheeler to investigate the death of Rich.

Wheeler alleged that Fox News had worked with the White House to concoct a May story about Rich's murder aimed at discrediting the US intelligence determination that Russia hacked the DNC and obtained a trove of emailed released by Wikileaks. As part of this effort, Wheeler alleged Fox News fabricated a pair of quotes it attributed to him.

Related: Fox News concocted Seth Rich stroy [sic] with oversight from White House

In its motion asking the US District Court in the Southern District of New York to dismiss the case, Fox News pointed to other on-the-record statements Wheeler made which "mirror" the quotes it attributed to him in its online story.

Moreover, the network said Zimmerman, who reported the story, sent Wheeler drafts that contained the quotes in question. Douglas Wigdor, an attorney representing Wheeler, told CNN there is no evidence his client approved the quotes. Fox News, however, implied in its motion that Wheeler offered tacit approval.

"Wheeler alleges that he did not read the drafts containing those quotes, but he admits that after receiving those drafts he provided Zimmerman with 'additional quotes to add to her story,'" the Fox News motion said.

Related: Exclusive: The chaos behind the scenes of Fox News' now-retracted Seth Rich story

Additionally, Fox News argued that Wheeler brought his complaints to the "wrong forum" by filing a lawsuit in court. The network said Wheeler's contract as a contributor stipulated "any claims 'arising out of or related to' his agreement" be "brought before a mutually selected arbiter/mediator." The arbitration agreement would have kept details of the case private as it required proceedings "be held in strict confidence."

"Fox's effort to compel this legal proceeding into a confidential arbitration process is an attempt at keeping people in the dark on what now is a matter of serious public concern," Wigdor said in a statement on Tuesday.

He added, "We are confident that our client will ultimately be vindicated in a public court of law that will expose how Fox and the individually named defendants created fake news in an attempt at diverting attention away from the Russian hacking scandal."

Separately, Butowsky, the wealthy businessman who was also sued, said in his own motion filed Monday that Wheeler's complaint was "overloaded with sensationalistic allegations" and "alarmingly vague as to what precisely is allegedly false or defamatory about the statements at issue."

A CNN investigative report published in August found that Wheeler's own actions likely played a central role in the publication of the Fox News story now at the center of controversy. In the day leading up to the article's publication, Wheeler went rogue, sending Fox News' editorial process into chaos. As a result, the article was rushed to the site without undergoing the kind of editorial scrutiny it should have received.

CNNMoney (New York)
First published September 19, 2017: 12:51 PM ET



https://www.npr.org/2017/08/01/540783715/lawsuit-alleges-fox-news-and-trump-supporter-created-fake-news-story
Fox News concocted Seth Rich stroy [sic] with oversight from White House
August 1, 2017 7:23 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
DAVID FOLKENFLIK

Photograph -- Mary Rich, the mother of slain Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, speaks at a press conference on Aug. 1, 2016. A lawsuit alleges Fox News and a wealthy Trump supporter intended to deflect public attention from growing concern about the administration's ties to the Russian government by concocting a story about Seth Rich's death.
Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post/Getty Images

The Fox News Channel and a wealthy supporter of President Trump worked in concert under the watchful eye of the White House to concoct a story about the death of a young Democratic National Committee aide, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The explosive claim is part of a lawsuit filed against Fox News by Rod Wheeler, a longtime paid commentator for the news network. The suit was obtained exclusively by NPR.

Wheeler alleges Fox News and the Trump supporter intended to deflect public attention from growing concern about the administration's ties to the Russian government. His suit charges that a Fox News reporter created quotations out of thin air and attributed them to him to propel her story.

Fox's president of news, Jay Wallace, told NPR on Monday that there was no "concrete evidence" that Wheeler was misquoted by the reporter, Malia Zimmerman. The news executive did not address a question about the story's allegedly partisan origins. Fox News declined to allow Zimmerman to comment for this story.

The story, which first aired in May, was retracted by Fox News a week later. Fox News has, to date, taken no action in response to what it said was a failure to adhere to the network's standards.

Fox News Retracts DNC Staffer Conspiracy Story, But Hannity Keeps It Alive
MEDIA

The lawsuit focuses particular attention on the role of the Trump supporter, Ed Butowsky, in weaving the story. He is a wealthy Dallas investor and unpaid Fox commentator on financial matters who has emerged as a reliable Republican surrogate in recent years. Butowsky offered to pay for Wheeler to investigate the death of the DNC aide, Seth Rich, on behalf of his grieving parents in Omaha, Neb.

On April 20, a month before the story ran, Butowsky and Wheeler — the investor and the investigator — met at the White House with then-press secretary Sean Spicer to brief him on what they were uncovering.

The first page of the lawsuit quotes a voicemail and text from Butowsky boasting that Trump himself had reviewed drafts of the Fox News story just before it went to air and was published.

Spicer now tells NPR that he took the meeting as a favor to Butowsky. Spicer says he was unaware of any contact involving the president. And Butowsky tells NPR that he was kidding about Trump's involvement.

"Rod Wheeler unfortunately was used as a pawn by Ed Butowsky, Fox News and the Trump administration to try and steer away the attention that was being given about the Russian hacking of the DNC emails," says Douglas Wigdor, Wheeler's lawyer.

The back story

On May 16, the Fox News Channel broke what it called a "bombshell" story about an unsolved homicide: the July 2016 shooting of 27-year-old Democratic Party staffer Seth Rich.

Unfounded conspiracy theories involving Rich abounded in the months after his death, in part because WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cryptically suggested that Rich's death may have been related to the leaks of tens of thousands of emails from Democratic Party officials and their allies at the peak of the presidential campaign.

Fox News' story, which took flight online and ran in segments across major shows, breathed fresh life into the rumors. Fox reported that the leaks came from inside the party and not from hackers linked to Russia — despite the conclusions of the nation's most senior intelligence officials. The network suggested that Democrats might have been connected to Rich's death and that a cover-up had thwarted the official investigation.

The network cited an unnamed FBI official. And the report relied heavily on Wheeler, a former police detective, hired months earlier on behalf of the Riches by Butowsky.

These developments took place during growing public concern over a federal investigation into the Trump camp's possible collusion with the Russian government during the campaign. The allegations have since touched the president's son and son-in-law, his former campaign manager, his attorney general and his first national security adviser, who resigned as a result.

The question of Rich's death took on greater urgency for Butowsky after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in early May. Comey had been overseeing the Russia investigation. The story ran just a week later.

Fox News host Sean Hannity speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2016. Rod Wheeler, a longtime paid commentator for Fox News, appeared on Hannity's show to discuss Seth Rich's death. A week after the appearance, Fox retracted the story, saying the reporting process failed to live up to its standards.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Fox's report went sideways shortly after it was posted online and aired on Fox & Friends. It was denounced by the Rich family, D.C. police, Democratic Party officials and even, privately, by some journalists within the network. Within hours, Wheeler told other news outlets that Fox News had put words in his mouth.

Despite those concerns, Wheeler appeared on the shows of Fox Business host Lou Dobbs and Fox News star Sean Hannity, who devoted significant time to the story that night and in subsequent days. In speaking with Wheeler, Hannity said: "If this is true and Seth Rich gave WikiLeaks the DNC e-mails ... this blows the whole Russia collusion narrative completely out of the water."

A week later, on May 23, Fox retracted the story, saying the reporting process failed to live up to its standards. Hannity said he would take a break from talking about Rich's death out of respect for the family. And there it has largely stood — until now.

The fake news story

In the lawsuit, the private investigator sets out a different version of events. Wheeler, a paid Fox News contributor since 2005, alleges the story was orchestrated behind the scenes and from the outset by Butowsky, who hired him on behalf of the Rich family.

The following account reflects the verbatim quotes provided from the texts, emails, voicemails and recorded conversations cited in Wheeler's lawsuit, except as otherwise noted.

According to the lawsuit, Trump press secretary Sean Spicer meets at the White House with Wheeler and Butowsky to review the Rich story a month before Fox News ran the piece.

On May 14, about 36 hours before Fox News' story appears, Butowsky leaves a voicemail for Wheeler, saying, "We have the full, uh, attention of the White House on this. And tomorrow, let's close this deal, whatever we've got to do."

Butowsky also texts Wheeler: "Not to add any more pressure but the president just read the article. He wants the article out immediately. It's now all up to you."

Spicer confirms meeting with the two but denies claims about the president.

"Ed's been a longtime supporter of the president and asked to meet to catch up," Spicer tells NPR on Monday night.

"I didn't know who Rod Wheeler was. Once we got into my office, [Butowsky] said, 'I'm sure you recognize Rod Wheeler from Fox News.' "

Spicer says Butowsky laid out what had been found about the case. "It had nothing to do with advancing the president's domestic agenda — and there was no agenda," Spicer says. "They were just informing me of the [Fox] story."

Spicer says he is not aware of any contact, direct or not, between Butowsky and Trump. And Butowsky now tells NPR he has never shared drafts of the story with Trump or his aides — that he was joking with a friend.

Instead, Butowsky repeatedly claims that the meeting was set up to address Wheeler's pleas for help landing a job for the Trump administration. Wheeler's attorney, Wigdor, says there is no evidence to support that claim.

In the suit, Wheeler alleges that Butowsky was using the White House references to pressure him.

Wheeler did play his own role in furthering the story. But he contends that he regretted it the same day it aired. His suit alleges Fox News defamed him by manufacturing two false quotations attributed to him and ruining his reputation by blaming him as the deceptive story fell apart. Wheeler, an African-American, is also suing the network for racial discrimination, saying he failed to advance as prominently as white counterparts. Fox News had no comment on that allegation.

Who is Ed Butowsky?

Butowsky is a silver-haired brash investor who became known for helping newly rich athletes figure out how to manage their money — and avoid getting fleeced. A native New Yorker and son of a former top enforcement officer for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Butowsky attended the University of Texas in the early 1980s. He set up his own company, Chapwood Capital Investment Management in Addison, Texas, outside Dallas, after a long stint at Morgan Stanley.

Federal records compiled by the election finance database OpenSecrets.org show Butowsky has given money to the campaigns of nine politicians: seven Republicans and two Democrats, including $1,000 to Barack Obama's campaign in January 2008.

The lawsuit alleges that Ed Butowsky, a wealthy Trump supporter from Texas, played a significant role in weaving a false story about Rich's death.
LM Otero/AP
In recent years, Butowsky has become outspoken about his political beliefs, becoming a familiar face on Fox News and its sister channel, the Fox Business Network. Butowsky has also appeared on Breitbart News' radio programs featuring then-Breitbart Chairman Steve Bannon, who became Trump's campaign chief and is now the president's senior political strategist.

Butowsky emerged as a vocal backer of Trump's candidacy. He attended Trump's inauguration, posting pictures from the day on social media. In the Seth Rich case, Butowsky presented himself as a good Samaritan who came across a sliver of information about Seth Rich's death and shared it with the Riches.

"I thought, 'You know what? I'm going to help these people out,' " Butowsky said on the radio show of David Webb, a conservative Fox News contributor. "Somehow, these people need to know what happened to their little boy." He gave a similar account in an interview Monday with NPR.

Wheeler's lawsuit alleges that Butowsky's generosity is clearly politically motivated.

On Feb. 23, more than six months after Rich's death, Butowsky introduces himself to Wheeler with a flattering text, citing mutual friends from Fox News. "Behind the scenes, I do a lot of work, (unpaid) helping to uncover certain stories," Butowsky writes, as recounted in the suit.

"[M]y biggest work was revealing most of what we know today about Benghazi," the deadly attack in Libya that sparked a congressional investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Later that day, Butowsky speaks to Wheeler for about 20 minutes by phone, saying his primary aim is to help the Rich family.

The man behind the lawsuit: Rod Wheeler

Wheeler, a 57-year-old former Washington, D.C., homicide detective, was part of the Metropolitan Police Department from 1990 to 1995, when he was dismissed, according to the agency. His New York City-based attorney, Wigdor, says Wheeler was fired for insubordination after his urine tested positive for trace amounts of marijuana.

At the time he meets with Butowsky, Wheeler has been a paid contributor to Fox News for more than 11 years and has been actively but unsuccessfully seeking greater exposure on the network, according to the suit.

Five days later, the two men meet in person at a lunch in Washington. Butowsky introduces an unexpected third guest: Malia Zimmerman, a Fox News investigative reporter based in Los Angeles known for enterprise reporting from a conservative standpoint.

MEDIA

DNC Staffer's Murder Illustrates How Conspiracy Theorists Spread Fake News
According to the account in the suit, Butowsky cautions Wheeler before they set out to meet the Riches: "[M]ake sure to play down Fox News. Don't mention you know Malia."

And Butowsky lays out a different mission than aiding the Rich family. Butowsky says he became convinced that the FBI had a report concluding that Seth Rich's laptop showed he had had contacts with WikiLeaks after speaking to the legendary reporter Seymour Hersh, who was also investigating Rich's death. According to the transcripts in the lawsuit, Butowsky says Hersh had an FBI source who confirmed the report.

In an interview this week, Hersh sounds unconvinced.

"I hear gossip," Hersh tells NPR on Monday. "[Butowsky] took two and two and made 45 out of it."

Rich's parents initially welcome Wheeler's help and Butowsky's largesse. On March 14, Butowsky pays Wheeler $5,000, through a limited partnership company called Googie LP. (NPR found that Butowsky is listed in Texas public records as its general partner.)

Wheeler does not make great headway. The FBI informs Butowsky, Wheeler and Zimmerman that the agency is not assisting the Washington, D.C., police on the investigation — undercutting claims about an FBI report.

A Metro D.C. police detective tells Wheeler that Rich's death was likely a robbery gone awry and that the FBI is not involved.

Preparing to publish

On May 9, Trump fires Comey.

On May 10, Butowsky and Zimmerman call Wheeler to say they have an FBI source confirming emails were sent from Seth Rich to WikiLeaks, though they do not share the source's identity, according to the investigator's suit. Wheeler will later say this is the only federal law enforcement source that Fox News — or he — has related to this story.

Wheeler says he doesn't know whether that source emerged from Butowsky's conversation with Seymour Hersh or whether it was a fabrication.

The next day, Zimmerman sends Wheeler a draft of her story, which is to run initially on the network's website. It includes no quotes from Wheeler.

The night before the story ran and the day of the story itself, Butowsky coached Wheeler on what to say on the air."

On the evening of May 14, Butowsky leaves a voicemail for Wheeler raising the stakes by invoking the White House and saying, "Let's close this deal."

A bit later that night, at 9:10 p.m., Butowsky texts Wheeler, according to Wheeler's suit: "Not to add any more pressure but the president just read the article. He wants the article out immediately. It's now all up to you. But don't feel the pressure."

As the night before the story is aired progresses, Butowsky is awake, online and anticipating what is to unfold in a few short hours.

Butowsky sends an email to Fox News producers and hosts coaching them on how to frame the Rich story, according to the lawsuit. Recipients included Fox & Friends hosts, Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade.

"I'm actually the one who's been putting this together but as you know, I keep my name out of things because I have no credibility," Butowsky writes, as reflected in the Wheeler suit. "One of the big conclusions we need to draw from this is that the Russians did not hack our computer systems and ste[a]l emails and there was no collusion" between "Trump and the Russians."

The night before the story ran and the day of the story itself, Butowsky coaches Wheeler on what to say on the air: "[T]he narrative in the interviews you might use is that you and [Fox News reporter Malia Zimmerman's] work prove that the Russians didn't hack into the DNC and steal the emails and impact our elections." In another text, he writes: "If you can, try to highlight this puts the Russian hacking story to rest."

Fox goes with the story

The story breaks earlier than expected.

On the evening of May 15, Fox News' sister local station in Washington, Fox 5 DC, runs a story online at once promoting and pre-empting the network's apparent scoop. "The police department nor the FBI have been forthcoming," Wheeler tells the station. "They haven't been cooperating at all. I believe that the answer to solving his death lies on that computer, which I believe is either at the police department or either at the FBI. I have been told both."

On Fox & Friends, the hosts call the story a 'bombshell.' "

Asked whether his sources have told him about information linking Rich to the WikiLeaks email dump, Wheeler says, "Absolutely. Yeah. That's confirmed."

The next morning, the story goes national.

Fox News reports that evidence from Rich's laptop showed he had been in contact with WikiLeaks just days before the site posted those emails. Fox also reports that powerful forces were trying to quash the official investigation into his death.

On Fox & Friends, the hosts call the story a "bombshell."

Zimmerman's online story cites an unnamed "federal investigator who reviewed an FBI report" for its findings. It also cites Wheeler, incorporating two key quotations from Wheeler that do not appear on video. In each, the private investigator seemingly takes ownership of the accusations.

The first: "My investigation up to this point shows there was some degree of email exchange between Seth Rich and WikiLeaks."

The second: "My investigation shows someone within the D.C. government, Democratic National Committee or Clinton team is blocking the murder investigation from going forward. That is unfortunate. Seth Rich's murder is unsolved as a result of that."

The Riches torch Wheeler, saying they have seen no proof for his contentions.

Wheeler alleges both quotations were fabricated and untrue.

According to the lawsuit, Zimmerman promises to have those lines removed — but they stay in the story. Zimmerman then tells him that her bosses at Fox News had instructed her to leave those quotes in.

That same day, the suit recounts, Zimmerman writes a letter to Seth Rich's father, Joel, distancing Fox News from responsibility for what the network reported: "Much of our information came from a private investigator, Rod Wheeler, who we understand was working on behalf of you."

Wheeler challenges Zimmerman over the letter in a three-way phone conversation that also included Butowsky.

The Fox News reporter defends herself: "That's the email that Fox asked me to send him. They wrote it for me."

Wheeler replies: "That's not accurate, though, because much, much of the information did not come from me."

"Not about the emails. Not the part about, I mean, the connection to WikiLeaks," Zimmerman acknowledges. "But the rest of the quotes in the story did."

Butowsky weighs in: "One day you're going to win an award for having said those things you didn't say." Later, according to the recordings transcribed in the suit, Butowsky acknowledges Wheeler hadn't made any claims of personal knowledge about emails between Rich and WikiLeaks. "I know that's not true," Butowsky says. "If I'm under oath, I would say I never heard him say that."

Both try to keep Wheeler on board, however.

Zimmerman issues instructions for Wheeler's appearance on Sean Hannity's show later that evening. "Reread the story we sent you last night [that contained the invented quotes] and stick to the script," she texts Wheeler.

Unproved Claims Re-Emerge Around DNC Staffer's Death: Here's What You Should Know
POLITICS
Unproved Claims Re-Emerge Around DNC Staffer's Death: Here's What You Should Know

Despite his misgivings, Wheeler plays along. On Hannity's show, Wheeler says he doesn't personally know about Rich's emails or computers but says that a "very credible" federal investigator says "he laid eyes on the case file." Wheeler offers energetic speculation though not much more: "When you look at that with the totality of everything else that I found in this case it's very consistent for a person with my experience to begin to think well perhaps there were some e-mail communications between Seth and WikiLeaks."

The aftermath

On May 23, Fox News posts an unsigned statement retracting Zimmerman's online story.

The network does not apologize or explain what went wrong. "The article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting," the statement reads. "Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed."

In early June, Wheeler meets with Dianne Brandi, general counsel for the network, and Jay Wallace, the network's president for news. He makes his case that fabricated quotes had knowingly been attributed to him. Neither ever publicly speak of the matter afterward, until now. "Since meeting with Rod Wheeler, we have also met with Malia Zimmerman to try to determine whether Rod was misquoted," Wallace says in a statement to NPR. "As of now, we don't have concrete evidence that he was."

A Fox News executive knowledgeable about the controversy, who would only speak if granted anonymity, tells NPR, "The story was published to the website without review by or permission from senior management." The executive notes that Wallace had placed the broadcast and digital newsgathering teams under the same leadership for the first time after a series of management changes following the forced departure of the network's founder, the late Roger Ailes, and many of his top deputies.

In late June, Wheeler warns Fox News and Butowsky that he may file suit. Three days later, Butowsky tweets: "Fox News story was pulled b/c Rod Wheeler said [he] didn't say a quote ... How much did DNC pay him?" And then Butowsky tweets: "This shows Rod Wheeler has a major battle with the truth."

The two men, thrust together on a common effort for months, have been torn apart by its aftermath. In the interview with NPR, Butowsky insists that he was acting out of a civic-minded spirit for the Riches and not with any partisan or political drive. Zimmerman remains on staff at Fox News, actively reporting on unrelated stories.

A spokeswoman for the FBI tells NPR this week that the agency has played no part in the investigation of the unsolved homicide. And a spokeswoman for Washington's Metropolitan Police Department says, "MPD stands behind its original assertion that Seth Rich was the victim of a botched armed robbery."



http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/14/media/seth-rich-lawsuit-fox-news/index.html
Family of slain Democratic staffer Seth Rich sues Fox News
by Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy
March 14, 2018: 9:05 AM ET

The family of slain Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Fox News, one of the network's reporters, and a wealthy Texas businessman over their roles in the publication of a baseless conspiracy theory about Rich's 2016 death.
The lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks compensation for "mental anguish and emotional distress, emotional pain and suffering, and any other physical and mental injuries."

"No parent should ever have to live through what we have been forced to endure," Joel and Mary Rich said in statement Tuesday night. "The pain and anguish that comes from seeing your murdered son's life and legacy treated as a mere political football is beyond comprehension."

The lawsuit said that Malia Zimmerman, the Fox News reporter named in the lawsuit, worked with Ed Butowsky, the wealthy businessman, to develop a "sham" story about Rich's death that Fox News published online in May 2017 and referenced on-air multiple times.

ABC News first reported on the Rich family's lawsuit.

Related: The chaos behind the scenes of Fox News' now-retracted Seth Rich story

Zimmerman's story said Rod Wheeler, a private investigator and Fox News contributor hired by Butowsky to look into Rich's death, had learned that Wikileaks had been in contact with Rich prior to his death. The story suggested without real evidence that Rich had leaked a trove of DNC emails to Wikileaks and further suggested that his death, which police suspect was a botched robbery, was retribution for the supposed leak.

Within hours, however, the Fox News story fell apart when Wheeler, who is now suing Fox News over the story, told CNN he had no evidence to suggest Rich had contacted Wikileaks before his death.

But Fox News left the story up on its website for days and guests continued to mention the conspiracy theory on its air. The network ultimately retracted the story seven days after it was published.

The Rich family lawsuit said the actions taken by the defendants "were so outrageous in character and so extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency and are atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community."

Since Fox News published its baseless story, the Rich family has been open about the pain it has inflicted upon them. Aaron Rich, the brother of Seth Rich, sent a letter to Hannity days after Fox News published its story, telling him that continuing to cover the story would "cause us additional pain, suffering and sorrow." Joel Rich later told NPR that the publication of Fox News' story was "almost as bad for us as when we first learned of Seth's death."

To that end, Leonard A. Gail, the attorney representing the Rich family, said in a statement that "Joel and Mary Rich have brought this case" to hold the defendants "accountable for their reprehensible actions."

"Whether motivated by party politics, ratings, corporate profit, or personal gain, we hope to help prevent this kind of malicious and reckless behavior in the future so that others can be spared the hell the Riches have had to endure," he said.

Related: Fox News asks court to dismiss lawsuit filed over Seth Rich story

Neither a Fox News spokesperson nor Zimmerman immediately responded to a request for comment. The network said at the time it retracted its story that it would carry out an investigation and "provide updates as warranted." But so far, Fox News has announced no disciplinary action or updates related to the publication of its story.

Butowsky told CNN Tuesday night that he did not "understand this lawsuit at all."

"This whole thing has caused unbelievable damage to my life and my family," he said. "And the idea that somebody has capitalized is ridiculous. It just doesn't make any sense to me."

CNNMoney (New York)
First published March 14, 2018: 12:38 AM ET


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rex-tillerson-fired-secretary-of-state-today-2018-03-13/
CBS NEWS March 13, 2018, 6:36 PM
Trump's firing of Rex Tillerson as secretary of state came after months of clashes

WASHINGTON -- President Trump was not at all pleased with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson -- so he fired him. Mr. Trump announced Tuesday he has chosen CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him and picked Pompeo's deputy, Gina Haspel, to succeed him.

Rex Tillerson's ouster: How it unfolded
It's by far the biggest Trump administration shakeup yet. A shaken Tillerson relinquished control of the State Department.

"I received a call today from the president of the United States a little after noontime from Air Force One," Tillerson said.

He had been warned in an early Saturday morning phone call from White House chief of staff John Kelly that his job was in jeopardy.

Tillerson -- who had been traveling in Africa -- cut short his trip.

Photo gallery -- rex tillerson FIRED
Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson makes a statement on his departure from the State Department on Tue., March 13, 2018, at the State Department in Washington, D.C. President Trump has nominated CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace Tillerson to be the next secretary of state. GETTY
Hours after landing in Washington, Tillerson learned Tuesday he'd been fired and would be replaced by Pompeo.

Mr. Trump, who often says he likes different points of view, said he fired America's top diplomat because they disagreed on foreign policy.

"I actually got along well with Rex, but really it was a different mindset, it was a different thinking," Mr. Trump said.

The president said they clashed over the Iran nuclear deal. He wants to tear up the international agreement while Tillerson cautioned that breaking America's commitment could make it harder to reach a deal with North Korea.

On Sunday's "Face the Nation," Pompeo skirted questions about whether Tillerson would lead those talks.

"This is a level of discussion, the president is going to drive this effort, this negotiation, but it will take a team to build out the picture," Pompeo said.


The president also had rejected Tillerson's advice to stick with U.S. commitments to the Paris climate change accord and an Asia-Pacific free trade deal. He also overruled Tillerson and instead took Jared Kushner's advice to relocate the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem this year.

Tillerson told "60 Minutes" last month that he had no plans to resign and dismissed reports -- but did not deny -- that he called Mr. Trump a "moron" in a private meeting.

"I'm not going to dignify the question," Tillerson said when pressed on the issue. "We've got so many bigger issues that we could be talking about."

It was Tillerson's experience as the globetrotting CEO of energy giant Exxon Mobil that originally convinced Mr. Trump to appoint him. Now he plans to retire back to his ranch in Texas.

"I'll now return to private life as a private citizen, as a proud American, proud of the opportunity I've had to serve my country," he said.

It's not clear when Pompeo will begin in his new role. One of his first major decisions will be whether to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal in May.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


http://kstp.com/news/attorney-3-men-arrested-on-gun-charges-suspected-in-bombing-of-bloomington-mosque/4824416/
3 Illinois Men Charged in Bombing of Bloomington Mosque
March 13, 2018 10:15 PM

Video -- 3 Illinois Men Charged in Bombing of Bloomington Mosque

Authorities say they have arrested three men from rural central Illinois on arson charges who they believe are behind the bombing of a Bloomington mosque in August 2017 and an attempted bombing of an Illinois abortion clinic in November 2017.

A Tuesday statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Springfield announced the arrests of Michael B. Hari, 47; Joe Morris, 22; Michael McWhorter, 29. All are from Clarence, a rural community 35 miles north of Champaign-Urbana.

According to a criminal complaint stemming from an unrelated weapons charge against Hari, a confidential source told law enforcement officers that Hari, McWhorter and Morris were involved in the blast at the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center.

The confidential source told authorities that Morris said he made the pipe bomb that McWhorter threw into the mosque. Morris also told the source that Hari said he would pay Morris and McWhorter $18,000 for their involvement.

A search of records from Enterprise Rent-A-Car also showed Hari rented a vehicle on July 27 and returned in on Aug. 26, a day after the bombing, according to the complaint.

Acting U.S. Attorney Gregory Brooker spoke about the arrests briefly during a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

"That bombing that took place last summer was a tragedy for all Minnesotans," Brooker said. "And from the beginning, it has been a top priority for federal and local law enforcement and remains so today."

FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Bone said his office will continue to investigate the motive behind the bombing.

Bone added that, "Law enforcement does not believe there is any further threat to the community related to the incident."

RELATED: FBI Investigates Blast Caused by IED at Bloomington Islamic Center

During Tuesday's press conference, Bloomington Police Chief Jeff Potts said he was pleased with the community support that was seen after the incident.

"Because of the nature of this case, we've seen an overwhelming amount of support from our community for the Dar Al-Farooq community center and the Muslim community in Bloomington," he said. "We think that was outstanding."

He added, "We hope this is a significant portion of the healing process."

The explosion occurred in the early morning hours of Aug. 5 shortly before morning prayers, and caused extensive damage to the imam's office.

RELATED: Community Shows Support for Islamic Center after Explosion

No one was injured.

The FBI obtained photos in its investigation of bomb-making materials found in Michael Hari's parents' home.
The FBI obtained photos in its investigation of bomb-making materials found in Michael Hari's parents' home.
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Mohamed Omar, the center's executive director, said a projectile had come through an office window and set off sprinklers in a ball of fire. He said a van or pickup truck had been seen driving by prior to the explosion.

In October, Omar met with FBI agents who showed him a photo of a person of interest and said the investigation was progressing.

Shortly after the attack, the FBI offered a $30,000 reward for information on the bombing. Muslim advocacy groups and Twin Cities' mosques were also offering a $24,000 reward.

RELATED: 1 Month Since Mosque Attack, Community Raises Nearly 130K

Online fundraising sites had raised nearly $130,000 for the mosque in the months after the bombing.

But in the immediate aftermath, the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported the group had received a significant increase in hate messages posted to its Facebook page, including one that offered a "10k reward for the next mosque gone." Another read, "It didn't kill any of them, what kind of crappy bomb is that."

RELATED: CAIR Reports Spike in Hate Messages after Bloomington Mosque Bombing

At the time, a CAIR survey showed that between April and June of 2017 the organization saw a 91 percent increase in discrimination calls to its office compared to the same time period the year before. In August, the Southern Poverty Law Center said the group had collected 1,372 reports of bias incidents since the 2016 election.

The Dar Al-Farooq mosque primarily serves Somalis in the Minneapolis area. Minnesota is home to the largest Somali community outside of east Africa, with an estimated 57,000 people, according to the most recent census estimates.

Credits
Ben Rodgers & Beth McDonough

Updated: March 13, 2018 10:15 PM
Created: March 13, 2018 04:33 PM

Copyright 2018 - KSTP-TV, LLC A Hubbard Broadcasting Company


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/after-ultimatum-deadline-passes-uk-leader-readies-response/2018/03/14/b5190e2a-2765-11e8-a227-fd2b009466bc_story.html
Europe
UK expels 23 Russian diplomats over spy poisoning
By Jill Lawless and Danica Kirka | AP March 14 at 9:19 AM

Photograph -- Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session, in parliament in London, Wednesday, March 14, 2018. The Kremlin says Russia rejects the deadline that Britain gave it to explain any involvement in the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy. (Frank Augstein/Associated Press)

LONDON — Britain announced Wednesday it will expel 23 Russian diplomats — the biggest such expulsion since the Cold War — and break off high-level contacts with the Kremlin over the nerve-agent attack on a former spy and his daughter in an English town.

Prime Minister Theresa May told lawmakers that the 23 diplomats, who have been identified as undeclared intelligence officers, have a week to leave.

She announced a range of economic and diplomatic measures, including the suspension of high-level bilateral contacts with Russia. An invitation for Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to visit Britain has been canceled, and May said British ministers and royals will not attend the soccer World Cup in Russia this summer.

May also said Britain would clamp down on murky Russian money and strengthen its powers to impose sanctions on abusers of human rights.

“We will freeze Russian state assets wherever we have the evidence that they may be used to threaten the life or property of U.K. nationals or residents,” May said, without giving details.

May announced the measures after Moscow ignored a midnight deadline to explain how a nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union was used against Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The father and daughter remain in critical condition in a hospital in Salisbury, southwestern England.

May accused Moscow of reacting with “disdain” to Britain’s request for an explanation and said Russia’s actions were “an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom.”

“It is an affront to the prohibition on the use of chemical weapons,” May said. “And it is an affront to the rules-based system on which we and our international partners depend.”

Russia’s ambassador in London, Alexander Yakovenko, said Britain’s actions were “absolutely unacceptable” and “a provocation.”

Moscow has refused to comply with Britain’s demands unless the government provided samples of the poison collected by investigators.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that Russia “rejects the language of ultimatums.”

Peskov said Britain has so far only offered “baseless accusations which are not backed up by any evidence.” He said Russia would cooperate with the investigation but does not see Britain’s willingness to reciprocate.

“We hope reason will prevail and other countries will think hard how serious the evidence against Russia is,” he said.

Russia has claimed that the nerve agent could have come from another former Soviet country, pointing to Moscow’s foe, Ukraine.

Lawmaker Vladimir Gutenev, a member of the state commission for chemical disarmament, said Russia had scrapped its stockpile of Novichok, the nerve agent used against the Skripals.

“It is hard to say what may be happening in neighboring countries,” he was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

Britain has sought support from allies in the European Union and NATO, including the United States. May’s office says President Donald Trump told the prime minister the U.S. was “with the U.K. all the way.”

On Wednesday it also called for an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the investigation.

European Council President Donald Tusk said Wednesday that the attack was “most likely” inspired by Moscow and announced he would put the issue on the agenda at an EU leaders’ summit next week.

___

Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed to this story.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


ONE MORE PHONY BUSINESS? I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN OF THE CYNICAL VIEW THAT IT ISN’T JUST “HARD WORK AND INGENUITY” THAT MAKES SOME COMPANIES ARISE FROM THE PLANNING MEETING AND MAKE A FORTUNE, OR IS A LITTLE DISHONESTY VERY, VERY FREQUENTLY INVOLVED, AS WELL? PERSONALLY, I HAVE NEVER TRUSTED THE HUGELY WEALTHY IN GENERAL. IN THIS CASE, THE SEC HAS CHARGED THE OWNER OF THERANOS OF “MASSIVE FRAUD.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2018/03/14/theranos-founder-elizabeth-holmes-charged-massive-fraud/424670002/?csp=chromepush

SAN FRANCISCO — Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was charged with "massive fraud" by the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday, a downbeat coda to a once high-flying Silicon Valley start-up that promised to revolutionize the blood analysis process.

The SEC complaint charged that Theranos raised more than $700 million from late 2013 to 2015 while "deceiving investors by making it appear as if Theranos had successfully developed a commercially-ready portable blood analyzer" that could perform a full range of laboratory tests from a small sample of blood.

“But in reality, we allege that after years of development, Theranos was able to process just a small number of blood tests upon its proprietary analyzer, and instead conducted the vast majority of its patients’ tests on modified commercial analyzers that were manufactured by others,” Steven Peikin, the SEC’s co-director of enforcement, told reporters.

Holmes, 34, who once graced the cover of countless magazines and was worth billions on paper, has already settled the charges against her.

She will pay a $500,000 penalty, be barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for 10 years, and return 18.9 million shares she amassed during the alleged fraud.

Holmes also cedes her voting control of the company she founded in 2003 at the age of 19 after dropping out of Stanford University in order to pursue her start-up.

Theranos and Holmes neither admitted nor denied the allegations in the SEC's complaint and the settlements are subject to court approval.


CEO Elizabeth Holmes holds a "nanotainer" of blood at Theranos headquarters in Palo Alto, CA on Monday, June 30, 2014. Theranos has twice run afoul of federal lab regulators, and has voluntarily halted the use of the nanotainers pending FDA approval. (Photo: Martin E. Klimek, USA TODAY)

Also charged was former Theranos president Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani. Among a variety of charges, the SEC complaint said Holmes and Balwani lied about the technology being used by the Department of Defense in battlefield situations.

Gen. James N. Mattis, who then led the U.S. Central Command, personally pushed Holmes' tech to be used although military regulators flagged issues with Theranos before the notion took wing. Mattis later joined Theranos' board, but resigned from that position when he become U.S. defense secretary in 2016.

Theranos board a Who's Who
Mattis was one of many famous names wooed by Holmes. The Theranos board often seemed like a Who's Who of historical figures, including former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, former senators Sam Nunn and Bill Frist and former secretary of defense William Perry.

But regardless of such boardroom firepower, the company — which Holmes pitched as a salvation to those fearful of needles like herself — never delivered on its grand vision.

The fact that a tech company managed to rake in close to a billion dollars to fund a project that seemed revolutionary but also problematic speaks to the often unchallenged nature of some Silicon Valley ventures.

Part of that comes down to the stardust often sprinkled on tech founders, as the media ate up the story of Holmes and her disruptive idea. But part stems from the fact that, in many instances, tech entrepreneurs do deliver on the implausible.

Consider Elon Musk as a case in point. He's gone from helping start a payment company (PayPal) to launching rockets to Mars and building the nation's first all-electric car company, both against considerable odds.

More: Embattled Theranos founder announces layoffs, strategic shift
More: Theranos founder banned from running lab for two years
More: Theranos lab poses 'immediate jeopardy' to patients, say regulators

But what stood out in the case of Theranos was how the company and its founder rose to great heights while keeping its vital details cloaked in secrecy.

Dressed all in black like her idol, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Holmes typically spoke in broad terms and of grand visions rather that blood analysis specifics.

"We are patient and we're building this company for the very long term," she told USA TODAY in a 2014 interview after bringing Theranos out of stealth mode. "We're looking to reshape the system."

But while Holmes sat for many interviews, she never shared her the secret sauce: how Theranos was managing to do complex blood analysis with a mere drop of blood sourced from a finger prick and stored in its patented Nanotainers. Typically blood tests require vials of blood extracted with needles.

A California startup offering easy and inexpensive blood tests to help people check themselves for STIs, celiac disease or high cholesterol levels has again run afoul of federal lab regulators. USA TODAY

Despite the lack of technological transparency, investors and partners signed on, pushing Theranos' value to $9 billion. Holmes was worth roughly half of that. Forbes, Fortune and Inc. all put her on their covers. Inc.'s headline: "The Next Steve Jobs."

Theranos promptly announced impressive deals such as a partnership with Walgreens, which committed to eventually putting Theranos Wellness Centers in all of its national locations after first piloting a program in Arizona.

But a comprehensive investigation of Theranos launched in 2015 by The Wall Street Journal steadily chipped away at the company's reputation as regulators started to circle, notably the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Among the findings that came out were the fact that in some cases, Theranos had to send the blood it had collected from patients out to traditional labs in order to conduct the required analysis of the samples.

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes told Pepperdine University
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes told Pepperdine University graduates that their lives should be focused on doing good for others. (Photo: Pepperdine University)

In one case in 2015, examiners from Medicare inspected the company's lab, in Newark, Calif., and found deficiencies around Theranos' test for the clotting ability of blood, which is critical when determining the correct dose of blood thinners. Prescribing too much can result in internal bleeding, while too little can lead to a stroke.

Holmes said she would have the offending lab rebuilt. But Holmes' problems only grew. Lawsuits flew and regulators pressed on. Holmes stuck by her story, but gradually refocused her efforts on perfecting the device that she claimed was capable of doing complex bloodwork from just a drop of blood.

Last spring, Theranos agreed to pay Arizona consumers $4.65 million under a consumer-fraud settlement brought by more than 175,000 consumers who purchased Theranos tests at Arizona retail locations since 2013.

The Arizona agreement came a day after Theranos announced a settlement with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, resolving federal regulators' efforts to revoke that company's laboratory certificate.

Under both the Arizona and federal settlements, Theranos agreed to a two-year ban from the blood-testing business, and paid a $30,000 civil penalty as part of the federal settlement.

Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of Theranos, which
Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of Theranos, which just announced it would expand its blood testing services to central Pennsylvania. (Photo: Martin E. Klimek, Special for USA TODAY)

SEC official Peikin said the agency's ruling sounds a cautionary note for investors who consider putting their money into start-ups that are long on promises and short on specifics.

“Investors should ask questions,” he said. “Private companies and particular early stage private companies carry additional risks, they’re not subject to the same kinds of oversight and disclosures that public companies are and investors in these companies need to be wary.”

A few fundamental Theranos questions remain: Did Holmes simply promise too much too soon? Did she underestimate her team's ability to develop a revolutionary new blood analysis system that only required a drop of the liquid?

Or was there never any such intention and Theranos was an elaborate fraud from the beginning?

Back in 2014, Holmes spoke convincingly about how her company was going to succeed by dint of hard scientific work alone.

"We had to redevelop that analytical system to handle small volumes," she said proudly. "We had to build the infrastructure around it all through software and automation to minimize the involvement of humans, where manual error could be great. It's software, hardware and chemistry.

Holmes paused. "There's no shortcut," she said.

Words that perhaps Holmes herself ultimately didn't heed.

Contributing: Kevin McCoy in New York.

Follow USA TODAY tech writer Marco della Cava on Twitter


SEN. BERNIE SANDERS POKES DEFENSE SECRETARY JAMES MATTIS IN THE CHEST, THOUGH RATHER GENTLY, ON DEFENSE SPENDING, AND IMPLIES THAT IT MAY NOT ALWAYS BE A GUARANTEED FLOW FROM THE GREAT BEYOND TO THE DOD. I DO, OF COURSE, WANT US TO BE SUFFICIENTLY WELL-PREPARED FOR ANY DEFENSE NEEDS, IF WE ARE ATTACKED, AS WE HAVE BEEN BY RUSSIA SO RECENTLY. ONE OF THE BEST WAY TO DO THAT IS TO CONDUCT OUR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN A WAY THAT WILL NOT END IN OUR STARTING ANY WARS. WHAT I DON’T WANT TO SEE IS ANOTHER NUCLEAR ARMS RACE, OR ANY OTHER COLD WAR THINKING PATTERN.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/14/sanders-letter-to-mattis-on-defense-contractor-ceo-salaries.html
Sen. Bernie Sanders urges Defense Secretary James Mattis to crack down on 'exorbitant' salaries of defense contractor CEOs
Sen. Bernie Sanders tells Defense Secretary James Mattis to address "the excessive compensation of defense contractors."
The CEOs of the top five U.S. defense contractors earned a combined $96 million last year.
The Department of Defense is currently undergoing its first-ever audit, which is slated to be completed in September.
Amanda Macias | @amanda_m_macias
Published March 14, 2018 3 Hours Ago Updated 2 Hours Ago

Photograph -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during news conference at the U.S. Capitol on March 9, 2017 in Washington, DC.
Getty Images

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., sent a letter to Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Wednesday, asking him to address issues including "exorbitant" salaries for defense contractor executives.

Sanders asked Mattis to address the following three issues:

– What Sanders considers the excessive compensation of defense contractors.

– What the senator considers widespread misconduct and fraud in the defense contracting industry.

– Massive cost overruns in the Pentagon's acquisition budget.

"Corporate interests should never take precedence over the interests of taxpayers or our national security. But paying exorbitant salaries to defense contractor CEOs makes that outcome more likely, and that is simply unacceptable," Sanders wrote.

The CEOs of the top five U.S. defense contractors earned a combined $96 million in compensation last year.

The Defense Department declined to comment on the letter. "Any conversations between the Secretary and other officials are private matters, and we do not discuss the nature or content," a Pentagon spokesman told CNBC.

The letter comes one week after Sanders grilled Pentagon comptroller David Norquist over the multimillion-dollar salaries defense company CEOs earn.

In the letter, Sanders requested "a list of recommendations on reducing excessive defense contractor compensation, and what steps, if any, DoD is taking to address this issue."

Finally, Sanders called on Mattis to hold defense companies accountable for the approximately $484 billion in cost overruns and operational delays.

"Many DoD programs fall short of cost, schedule and performance expectations, meaning DoD pays more than anticipated, can buy less than expected, and, in some cases, delivers less capability to the warfighter," Sanders wrote, citing the Government Accountability Office.

Sanders laid out his concerns about defense contractors' executive pay in a Senate Budget Committee hearing on the Defense Department's business operations.

Marillyn Hewson, the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lockheed Martin.
Carl Court | AFP | Getty Images

"I think the elephant in the room here is the relationship of the DoD to defense contractors. I think that's the area that needs the most research," Sanders said at the time.

"Does it make sense that we pay the Secretary of Defense $200,000 or less and we give a contractor, who gets 92 percent of his revenue from the taxpayers of this country, $18 million in taxpayer money," Sanders asked Norquist, the Pentagon comptroller, during the hearing.

While Norquist said he could not comment on how defense contractors pay their employees he said that taxpayers "should be paying for the service that we receive."

"I would hope that nobody here believes that just because this is the Department of Defense, we will defend an enormous amount of bureaucratic waste," Sanders said at the hearing.

Last year, the CEOs of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon — two of the top four U.S. defense contractors — were each paid more than $20 million in total compensation. More than 90 percent of those companies' revenue came from defense spending.

Read Sanders' full letter to Mattis below:

[FULL LETTER IS ON WEBSITE.]

Amanda Macias
National security reporter


PRESIDENT TRUMP REALLY HAS A KNACK FOR SAYING THE MOST INSULTING THINGS. SANDERS HAS A KNACK FOR HITTING BACK EFFECTIVELY, USUALLY WITHOUT RAISING HIS VOICE, AND EXCEPT FOR ONE OR TWO “DAMNS” NO PROFANITY. MAXINE WATERS HOLDS HER OWN ALSO. READ ALL THESE COMMENTS FOR FUN. I DO WANT WATERS AND SANDERS IN THE LEGISLATURE BECAUSE THEY’RE BOTH SHARP AND SHARP-TONGUED AS NEEDED. SHE AND TRUMP HAVE A LONG HISTORY, SO THIS CRACK ABOUT “JUST LOOK AT HER,” THAT SOUNDS RACIST TO ME, BECAUSE YOU CAN’T “LOOK AT SOMEONE” TO TELL THE IQ, UNLESS YOU ARE REACTING TO THE FACT THAT SHE IS A WOMAN OF COLOR. JUST ANOTHER IGNORANT AND INNATELY HARMFUL COMMENT.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/377857-bernie-sanders-defends-smart-and-compassionate-maxine-waters-after-trump
Bernie Sanders defends ‘smart and compassionate’ Maxine Waters after Trump attack
BY JULIA MANCHESTER - 03/11/18 03:23 PM EDT

Photograph – Bernie Sanders speaking -- © Getty Images

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) defended Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) after President Trump called her a "low IQ individual."

"Pathetic that President Trump attacked smart and compassionate @RepMaxineWaters -- both traits alien to him," Sanders said in a tweet on Sunday.

Trump hit Waters, who is one of his fiercest Democratic critics, at a campaign rally for GOP congressional hopeful Rick Saccone in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

"And Maxine Waters, a very low IQ individual. Did you ever see her?" the president said.

" 'We will impeach him. We will impeach the president. But he hasn't done anything wrong. It doesn't matter, we will impeach him.' She's a low IQ individual. She can't help it. She really is. 'We will impeach him.' But we have Maxine Waters and plenty of others," he continued.

Waters shot back at Trump during an MSNBC interview on Sunday.

"This is not only typical of him, this is what this con man does. He diverts attention from himself by attacking others, but this business about Stormy [Daniels] is not going to go away," Waters said, referring to Trump's alleged affair with the adult-film star.

"He can call us all the names that he wants to call us, but you know our special counsel, [Robert] Mueller, is connecting the dots, and last night in a speech I said that if for some reason Mueller does not get him, Stormy will," she said.

TAGS BERNIE SANDERS MAXINE WATERS DONALD TRUMP


MAXINE WATERS ON THE SUBJECT OF DONALD TRUMP. FOR A LOW IQ INDIVIDUAL SHE HAS AN EXCELLENT USE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, I THINK. AND ABOUT HER IQ, HE USES, APPARENTLY AS EVIDENCE OF THAT, “LOOK AT HER.” I DID LOOK CLOSELY AT HER. SHE’S QUITE A NICE-LOOKING WOMAN, AND DRESSES LIKE A LADY – NOT LIKE STORMY DANIELS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxine_Waters#Donald_Trump

“.... Donald Trump

Waters has called Trump "a bully, an egotistical maniac, a liar and someone who did not need to be President”[38] and "the most deplorable person I've ever met in my life".[61] In a 2017 appearance on MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes, Waters said President Donald Trump's advisors who have ties to Russia or have oil and gas interests there are "a bunch of scumbags".[62]

Waters began to call for the impeachment of Trump shortly after he took office. In February 2017, Waters said that Trump was "leading himself" to possible impeachment because of his conflicts of interests and that he was creating "chaos and division".[63] In September 2017, while giving an euology at Dick Gregory's funeral, she said that she was "cleaning out the White House" and that "when I get through with Donald Trump, he's going to wish he had been impeached." [64] In October 2017, she said the U.S. Congress had enough evidence against Trump to 'be moving on impeachment', in reference to Russian collusion allegations during the 2016 Presidential election, and that Trump "has openly obstructed justice in front of our face."[65]

Waters texted an allegation on Twitter regarding the Trump White House, "Trump has made it clear—it is now the White Supremacists' House",[66] linking President Trump to the violence that erupted at a white nationalist protest rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017. Following President Trump's 2018 State of the Union address Waters released a video response wherein she addressed what most of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus see as the racist viewpoint and actions of Trump saying, "He claims that he's bringing people together but make no mistake, he is a dangerous, unprincipled, divisive, and shameful racist."[67] Trump later retaliated against her impeachment views, calling her a "low IQ individual".[68]


“WILL HE SUPPORT BRITAIN UNEQUIVOCALLY ON THE NERVE AGENT ATTACK? BACK #NATO SANCTIONS? FINALLY CRITICIZE PUTIN? ACT LIKE A LEADER OF THE WEST?” THAT, INDEED, IS THE QUESTION. CAN HE BUCK THE STRANGLEHOLD THAT PUTIN SEEMS TO HAVE ON HIM? THIS IS GETTING DOWNRIGHT EMBARRASSING, AND I WILL SAY IT AGAIN, FRIGHTENING.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/14/us/politics/trump-russia-poisoning-britain.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-1&action=click&contentCollection=Politics®ion=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article
Trump, Pressured to Criticize Russia for Poisoning, Leaves Comment to Aides
By PETER BAKER MARCH 14, 2018

Photograph -- President Trump boarding Air Force One in Los Angeles on Wednesday to travel to St. Louis, where he will tour a Boeing plant. He has not personally addressed a Russian poisoning attack on British soil since London assigned blame to Moscow. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

ST. LOUIS — Britain’s tough response in holding Russia responsible for a poisoning attack on its soil increased the pressure on President Trump to join with a NATO ally in taking action, even as he has been reluctant to retaliate for Moscow’s intervention in the 2016 election in the United States.

Mr. Trump, who was visiting Missouri on Wednesday, has not personally addressed the attack since London assigned blame to Russia and left it instead to aides to express public solidarity with Prime Minister Theresa May after she expelled 23 Russian diplomats, canceled high-level contacts and vowed to impose more sanctions.

“This latest action by Russia fits into a pattern of behavior in which Russia disregards the international rules-based order, undermines the sovereignty and security of countries worldwide, and attempts to subvert and discredit Western democratic institutions and processes,” the White House said in a written statement. “The United States is working together with our allies and partners to ensure that this kind of abhorrent attack does not happen again.”

But for whatever reason, Mr. Trump avoided saying so personally in public, much as he has generally avoided condemning Russia for its election meddling. He has allowed top advisers to denounce Moscow for its interference in American democracy, but when it comes to his own Twitter posts or comments, he has largely stuck to equivocal language, seemingly reluctant to accept the consensus conclusion of his intelligence agencies and intent on voicing no outrage or criticism of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, for whom he has expressed admiration.

Instead, through early evening, Mr. Trump used his Twitter feed to focus on issues like trade, infrastructure, school safety and his complaints that Senate Democrats are obstructing confirmation of his nominees. His only public comments during the day came at a Boeing plant where he talked about tax cuts.

Critics of both parties pressed the president to speak out personally and possibly take action to back up Mrs. May.

“Where Prime Minister May has taken bold and decisive initial action to combat Russian aggression, our own president has waffled and demurred,” said Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. “Prime Minister May’s decision to expel the Russian diplomats is the level of response that many Americans have been craving from our own administration.”

Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, said the United States should consult with NATO allies about “a collective response,” including the possibility of expelling Russian diplomats from Washington and other alliance capitals or freezing more Russian assets. “We ought to make it inescapably clear to Russia that its shadow war will be met with a coordinated response,” he said.

Evelyn Farkas, a former Pentagon official who oversaw Russia policy under President Barack Obama, said Mr. Trump should offer a range of assistance to Britain to help investigate the episode, prevent further such attacks on British sovereignty and impose punishment. She added that the United States could cite the suspicious death of Mikhail Y. Lesin, a former Russian minister, in a Washington hotel in 2015, in taking joint action. Investigators concluded that he died from a drunken fall but many remain skeptical.

“Frankly, I believe we should have and could still do this in response to Russia’s election interference in the United States and several other NATO countries,” she said. “We certainly should craft additional sanctions together with the U.K. and the E.U. to address the assassinations.”

Until Tuesday night, the White House had avoided pointing the finger at Russia for the attack, in which a former Russian spy was poisoned with a nerve agent near his home in southern England.

At her briefing on Monday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, condemned the attack without publicly agreeing with Britain’s assessment that Russia was behind it. The administration’s only tough comment on Russian involvement until Tuesday came from Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, but he has since been fired.

Mr. Trump and Ms. May then talked by phone on Tuesday night, and the White House issued a statement expressing his solidarity with her. The British readout of the call attributed stronger language to Mr. Trump than his own White House statement did, reporting that during their conversation, “President Trump said the U.S. was with the U.K. all the way.”

By Wednesday morning, lower-level American officials joined in backing Britain as it retaliated against Russia.

“Russia is responsible for the attack on two people in the United Kingdom using a military-grade nerve agent,” Nikki R. Haley, the ambassador to the United Nations, said at an emergency Security Council session, calling the poisoning “an atrocious crime.”

That did not satisfy those who said the president should show personal leadership. “Judgment day for Donald Trump,” R. Nicholas Burns, a former ambassador to NATO and an under secretary of state under President George W. Bush, wrote on Twitter. “Will he support Britain unequivocally on the nerve agent attack? Back #NATO sanctions? Finally criticize Putin? Act like a leader of the West?”

Mr. Trump has at times grudgingly accepted that Russia meddled in the 2016 election but usually sounds more determined to rebut any suspicions that his campaign colluded with Moscow or that whatever meddling took place helped him win. He has opted against imposing sanctions beyond those already imposed by Mr. Obama despite a new law passed overwhelmingly authorizing further penalties.

Asked about the meddling last week, after Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, indicted 13 Russians for spreading disinformation and propaganda in a concerted effort to influence the election, Mr. Trump focused on whether it changed the result, and avoided strong words about Moscow.

“Well, the Russians had no impact on our votes whatsoever,” he said during a news conference with Sweden’s prime minister. “But certainly there was meddling and probably there was meddling from other countries and maybe other individuals. And I think you have to be really watching very closely. You don’t want your system of votes to be compromised in any way. And we won’t allow that to happen.”

Raj Shah, a White House spokesman, said on Wednesday that the president took the election meddling seriously and had ordered his administration to take steps to prevent it from happening again.

When asked if the president would eventually opt for retaliation in addition to prevention, Mr. Shah implied that Mr. Trump already had, but in secret. “There are steps that I’m talking about that we can talk about,” he said. “Then there are steps that we can’t talk about publicly but that our adversaries know that we are engaged in.”


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/15/trump-sanctions-russia-following-poisoning-british-spy/427464002/?csp=chromepush
U.S. sanctions Russia for 2016 election interference and other cyber activity
Gregory Korte, USA TODAY Published 10:01 a.m. ET March 15, 2018 | Updated 10:29 a.m. ET March 15, 2018

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday sanctioned a number of Russian entities for a wide range of behavior that U.S. officials say has sought to disrupt Western governments — including the attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

Among the five individuals sanctioned by the Treasury Department Thursday is the Internet Research Agency, which was indicted by a grand jury last month as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible Trump campaign collusion with Russian efforts.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the new round of sanctions shows that the Trump administration is "confronting and countering malign Russian cyber activity, including their attempted interference in U.S. elections, destructive cyber-attacks, and intrusions targeting critical infrastructure."

Also cited in the sanctions: the February NotPetya cyber-attack,* which affected hospitals and disrupted shipping and has been attributed to the Russian military.

The sanctions freeze any assets of the Russian agents held in U.S. dollars, and block U.S. citizens from engaging in business with them.

It's the first round of sanctions announced by the United States since Congress passed a Russia sanctions bill last year — a bill President Trump signed only reluctantly.

Officials said the sanctions had been in the works for weeks, but the timing comes just as the United States condemned Russia for its use of nerve agent to poison a double agent in the United Kingdom, signing on to a joint statement as a sign of solidarity with European allies.

That statement closes a gap that had emerged between the United States and the United Kingdom in recent days, as the White House appeared to stop short of blaming Russia for the attack.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned in the southern English town of Salisbury earlier this month. The attack had all the fingerprints of a Russian spy operation, especially in its use of a military-grade nerve agent developed by Russia and banned by an international treaty on chemical weapons.

More: Ex-double agent poisoned. Now, Russia and U.K. are battling. Here's how we got here

"We share the UK assessment that there is no plausible alternative explanation, and note that Russia´s failure to address the legitimate request by the UK government further underlines its responsibility," the four allied countries said in the joint statement. "We call on Russia to address all questions related to the attack in Salisbury."

Earlier this week, the White House pointedly declined to finger Russia for the attack. On Wednesday, White House press secretary Raj Shah took a step further, saying it appeared that "Russia did commit this act based on all the evidence that Britain has available."

On Wednesday, the U.K. expelled 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation for the attack.


NOTPETYA* -- OH, DEAR. I’VE RECENTLY SEEN A MENACING AND LARGE SKULL AND CROSSBONES, BUT THAT WAS ON A VENTING, COMMENTARY SITE CALLED “SKULLDUGGERY” -- ASCII ART OF A SKULL AND CROSSBONES IS DISPLAYED AS PART OF THE PAYLOAD ON THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF PETYA.[1] NOTHING NOTICEABLE HAS HAPPENED TO MY COMPUTER SINCE THEN. PETYA’S SUPPOSED TO BE RANSOMWARE.

NotPetya cyber-attack,*

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petya_(malware)
Petya (malware)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Petya
2017 Petya cyberattack screenshot.jpg

ASCII art of a skull and crossbones is displayed as part of the payload on the original version of Petya.[1]

Aliases -- GoldenEye, NotPetya
Classification Trojan horse
Type -- Ransomware
Subtype -- Cryptovirus
Operating system(s) affected – Windows

Petya is a family of encrypting ransomware that was first discovered in 2016. The malware targets Microsoft Windows-based systems, infecting the master boot record to execute a payload that encrypts a hard drive's file system table and prevents Windows from booting. It subsequently demands that the user make a payment in Bitcoin in order to regain access to the system.

Variants of Petya were first seen in March 2016, which propagated via infected e-mail attachments. In June 2017, a new variant of Petya was used for a global cyberattack, primarily targeting Ukraine. The new variant propagates via the EternalBlue exploit, which is generally believed to have been developed by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), and was used earlier in the year by the WannaCry ransomware. Kaspersky Lab referred to this new version as NotPetya to disambiguate it from the 2016 variants, due to these differences in operation. In addition, although it purports to be ransomware, this variant was modified so that it is unable to actually revert its own changes.



https://www.cbsnews.com/news/putin-campaigns-in-crimea-bridge-snubbing-the-west-ahead-of-russian-presidential-election/
By ELIZABETH PALMER CBS NEWS March 14, 2018, 6:40 PM
Putin campaigns in Crimea, snubbing the West ahead of Russian presidential election

SEVASTOPOL, Crimea -- Russian President Vladimir Putin was busy campaigning for re-election in Crimea, the province he took illegally from Ukraine. With a warm-up act and a crowd acting as the base, Putin is pumping up potential Russia voters -- the name of the game this election season.

There's no question President Putin is going to win Sunday's election, but precisely because there's no real contest, plenty of Russians are apathetic, so the Kremlin is working hard to make sure they're not embarrassed by a low turnout.

The man trying to beat Putin
Putin's message on Wednesday was filled with nationalism: Crimea has returned home, he said. To Russia.

He's talking about when Russian troops in 2014 -- wearing uniforms with no insignia, the so-called Little Green Men -- seized Crimea from Ukraine. At the time, Putin denied he'd sent in the military. Then when it was all over, he bragged about it.

The U.S. and most countries called the seizure illegal and slapped on sanctions.

But Wednesday, on his whirlwind tour, Putin visited the bridge Russia is building to link Crimea to the Russian mainland. It's a megaproject that's wildly popular with Russians who support the land grab.

It's also a message to the West: Putin doesn't ever back down -- something else he knows Russian voters love about him.

As he said before he left the stage, "I would like to hug you all."

Putin made no mention of the growing rift with Britain over the poisoing of the Russian exile Sergei Skripal, but the very fact that he held a rally in disputed territory makes a bold statement about Russia's attitude to international law.

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