The indictment against Donald Trump’s former campaign chief, Paul Manafort, and a longtime business associate alleged the two carried out an elaborate scheme that involved the use of a little-known outfit to mask years of lobbying on behalf of Ukraine’s former president, his pro-Russia political party, and the Ukrainian government.  Manafort and his former business partner, Rick Gates, are charged in a 12-count indictment including conspiracy, money laundering, and making false statements. The two could faces decades in prison if convicted, and both have pleaded not guilty to all charges. The allegations do not include collusion with Russia during the presidential campaign. The indictment was approved by a federal grand jury on Friday and unsealed after Manafort and his right-hand man and former Trump campaign adviser, Gates, turned themselves in to the FBI. It represents the first charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking into allegations of …

The White House went on the defensive Monday, distancing President Donald Trump from charges filed against two former campaign aides by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in connection with the probe into Russia’s attempt to influence last year’s presidential election. The pair, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and longtime business associate Rick Gates, were named in a 12-count indictment Monday charging money laundering, tax evasion and other violations. They pleaded not guilty Monday in a federal court in Washington. At Monday’s White House briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders emphasized that the indictment made no mention of Trump or of any collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia. “Today’s announcement has nothing to do with the president, has nothing to do with the president’s campaign or campaign activity,” Sanders said. “We’ve been saying from day one there’s no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, and nothing in the indictment today changes that at …

Rick Gates has long been a key aide to Washington lobbyist Paul Manafort and on Monday also found himself indicted, with both accused of a money laundering scheme linked to their lobbying for one-time Ukraine leader Viktor Yanukovych before a 2014 uprising toppled Yanukovych and sent him fleeing to exile in Russia. The 45-year-old Gates met Manafort more than two decades ago when he interned for Manafort’s lobbying firm. Years later, one of their clients was Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who had close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, along with others in Putin’s orbit, including Yanukovych. When Manafort joined the Republican presidential campaign of real estate mogul Donald Trump in 2016, so did Gates, working as Manafort’s deputy when Manafort served as Trump’s campaign chairman from June to August of last year. One picture showed Gates standing alongside Trump as the presidential nominee prepared to address the party’s national …

U.S. President is expected to nominate Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell as the next chairman of the central bank, senior administration officials said Monday. Powell is a Republican centrist who appears inclined to continue the Fed’s strategy of gradual interest rate hikes. But officials say Trump hasn’t made up his mind and could change it. Powell would represent a middle-ground pick for Trump, who is also considering current Democratic Fed Chair Janet Yellen as well as Stanford University economist John Taylor and former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh. Powell could, however, relax some of the stricter financial rules that were enacted after the 2008 financial crisis. Trump has complained that those rules have been too restrictive. The decision over the Fed’s next leader is overshadowing this week’s meeting of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting. Trump said Friday he has “someone very specific in mind” for the Fed. “It will be a …

U.S. special operations forces captured a militant in Libya accused of playing an instrumental role in the Benghazi attacks, officials said Monday, in a high-stakes operation designed to bring the perpetrators to justice five years after the deadly violence.   President Donald Trump identified the militant as Mustafa al-Imam and said his capture signified that the four Americans who died “will never be forgotten.” Justice Department officials were escorting al-Imam by military plane to the United States, where he’s expected to be tried in federal court.   “Our memory is deep and our reach is long, and we will not rest in our efforts to find and bring the perpetrators of the heinous attacks in Benghazi to justice,” Trump said.   The U.S. commando raid marked the first publicly known operation since Trump took office to target those accused of involvement in Benghazi, which mushroomed into a multiyear political fracas …

When real estate mogul Donald Trump was running for the U.S. presidency, a young foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos, attempted to arrange a meeting between Russian government officials and the Trump campaign. Trump, in an interview at the time, described Papadopoulos as “an energy and oil consultant, excellent guy.” The would-be Trump-Russia meeting never occurred. But on Monday, however, special counsel Robert Mueller disclosed that Papadopoulos pleaded guilty earlier this month to lying to agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the timing and importance of his contacts with “an overseas professor.” He understood this person to have “substantial connections” to Russian officials that had “dirt” on Trump’s election challenger, Democrat Hillary Clinton, and to communications with “a certain female Russian national” believed to be a niece of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Papadopoulos, according to his guilty plea to a criminal information, told FBI agents in a January 27 …

A federal judge in Washington on Monday blocked President Donald Trump from banning transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, handing a victory to transgender service members who accused the president of violating their constitutional rights. Trump announced in July that he would ban transgender people from the military in a move that would reverse Democratic former President Barack Obama’s policy of accepting them and halt years of efforts to eliminate barriers to military service based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The transgender service members sued in August to try to block the ban, which had not yet gone into effect, and U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly granted them an injunction halting enforcement of it until their case is resolved. The service members asserted that Trump’s policy violated their rights to due process and equal protection under the law under the U.S. Constitution. Kollar-Kotelly said the plaintiffs were …

What happened Monday? Political consultant Paul Manafort and his business partner Rick Gates were indicted on charges including conspiracy against the United States, money laundering, tax fraud and failure to register as lobbyists for the former government of Ukraine. The two men, who worked on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, held offshore bank accounts through which more than $75 million flowed, according to the indictment. They are the first charges Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller has made public in his five-month probe into Russian meddling in the U.S. election. Separately, the Justice Department announced that Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to making false statements to FBI agents about his contacts with Russia-linked individuals who claimed to possess damaging information on Trump’s election opponent, Hillary Clinton. There is no indication that Papadopoulos, an international energy lawyer with very little foreign policy experience, ever received such …

Washington braced Monday for the potential unsealing of the first criminal charges linked to Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as President Donald Trump reiterated his stance that the underlying investigations are a “witch hunt.” A federal grand jury on Friday approved charges in the probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to several major news outlets that reported the indictment could be made public as soon as Monday. There was no public indication of who is facing charges or what crimes are being alleged. Legal experts say the first charges could be against a peripheral figure in the case, with prosecutors using a common strategy to first build their case against lower level officials before focusing on more prominent people. In addition to Mueller’s investigation, there are separate congressional probes into Russian meddling and possible links between Trump’s campaign and Russia. The U.S. intelligence community concluded …

Senior defense officials from the United States, South Korea and Japan met to discuss North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats. The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, hosted his counterparts – General Kyeong-doo Jeong of South Korea and Japanese Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano – at the U.S. Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii Sunday. “Together they called upon North Korea to refrain from irresponsible provocations that aggravate regional tensions, and to walk away from its destructive and reckless path of development,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Public Affairs Office said in a statement. The three leaders also discussed multilateral and trilateral initiatives to promote long-term peace and stability in northeast Asia and to improve interoperability and readiness on a number of issues including mutual security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and cyber warfare. Monday South Korea’s foreign ministry announced that its representative to the six-party …

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Sunday he would deal with U.S. President Donald Trump “in the most righteous way” when they meet next month to discuss regional security and Manila’s war on drugs. Trump will travel to Asia on Nov. 3-14 amid rising tensions over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. He will be in Manila on the last leg of his trip, which includes visits to Japan, South Korea, China, and Vietnam, to attend the ASEAN leaders’ summit. Trump will meet with Duterte but will skip the larger meeting in Manila with heads of states and governments from China, South Korea, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand. “It would be terrorism, cooperation between the two countries, the fight against drugs. I expect to be dealing with him around these topics,” Duterte said in a media briefing before leaving for Japan to meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “I would …

In a mountainous camp for displaced Congolese, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley wrapped her arm around an inconsolable woman who recounted being raped twice. “It only makes me more passionate, it makes me more determined,” Haley told a small group of reporters traveling with her during her first trip to Africa. “I’ll carry the voices of the women that I met and things that they said.” Dispatched by President Donald Trump to Ethiopia, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo, Haley’s trip was one of the first tangible signs of interest in Africa by the nine-month old administration. Her challenge: how to show the United States is actively engaged in Africa, where humanitarian and political crises are often overshadowed by more urgent conflicts elsewhere and at the same time honor Trump’s avowed “America First” policy which puts U.S. economic and national interests ahead of international commitments. As …

President Donald Trump’s plan for overhauling the U.S. tax system faced growing opposition from interest groups on Sunday, as Republicans prepare to unveil sweeping legislation that could eliminate some of the most popular tax breaks to help pay for lower taxes. Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives will not reveal their bill until Wednesday. But the National Association of Home Builders, a powerful housing industry trade group, is already vowing to defeat it over a change for home mortgage deductions, while Republican leaders try to head off opposition to possible changes to individual retirement savings and state and local tax payments. Trump and Republicans have vowed to enact tax reform this year for the first time since 1986. But the plan to deliver up to $6 trillion in tax cuts for businesses and individuals faces challenges even from rank-and-file House Republicans. House and Senate Republicans are on a …

Washington is abuzz over news reports a grand jury has approved the first charges stemming from the special counsel’s probe of Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. election. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, the exact charges and who stands accused of wrongdoing could be revealed at any moment. …

The recent drought in the Western region of the United States, and the hurricanes and floods along the Gulf Coast are extreme weather events on just one continent.   “There is no doubt that part of this is climate change,” said Bill Patzert, oceanographer and research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “Winters are warmer. Snow packs come later. They leave earlier. Droughts have tended to be more intense especially here in California.” Scientists say while climate change cannot be blamed for every weather event, it is definitely a factor. Greater odds “It changes the odds. So the odds of heat waves are greater. The odds of stronger hurricanes are greater. The odds of more intense droughts and floods are greater,” said Richard Somerville, distinguished professor emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.   The human impact of more extreme weather is also …

Puerto Rico’s electric power company says it is canceling the $300 million contract with a Montana energy company hired to restore power to the storm-ravaged island. Earlier on Sunday Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello had called for the contract to be pulled. PREPA chief Ricardo Ramos calls the controversy surrounding the contract with Whitefish Energy “an enormous distraction … negatively impacting the work we’re already doing.” Ramos said Whitefish will complete work on fixing two transmission lines, get paid off, then go home. Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico last month. Between 70 and 80 percent of the island still does not have power. Ramos said finding someone to take over from Whitefish will delay complete restoration for about two months. One option is for state utility workers from New York and Florida to go to Puerto Rico as part of a mutual agreement for power companies to come to the …

Washington is bracing for the first criminal charges linked to Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, even as President Donald Trump continued to claim Sunday the investigations are a “Witch Hunt for evil politics.” A federal grand jury on Friday approved charges in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to several major news outlets, and the allegations could be disclosed Monday, with a suspect taken into custody. It was not immediately known who is being targeted or the nature of the charges. They are under seal, by order of a federal judge. But the allegations would mark a significant milestone in Trump’s nine-month White House tenure. He has often disparaged the investigations, Mueller’s and three congressional probes, into links between his campaign and Russia, arguing they are attempts by Democrats to explain his stunning upset of his challenger, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. …

As President Donald Trump prepares for a 10-day trip to Asia, his first to the region since taking office, one of the region’s leaders brought to Washington last week insights that potentially represent sentiments held not just by his government.   Lee Hsien Loong — eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding prime minister, and a successor to the position his father held for decades — told audiences in the U.S. capital that the emerging geostrategic landscape of the Asia Pacific depends not only on internal dynamics, but also on U.S. intention and action.   At a White House ceremony, Lee told Trump that Singapore, “like many other countries,” watches U.S.-China relations “very closely.”   Trump leaves for the region Nov. 3. ​Presence and preparedness Lee, Singapore’s prime minister since 2004, alluded to the geopolitical competition between the U.S. and China while speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations, …

Taiwan’s president began a weeklong journey Saturday, and China is not happy about it.   Tsai Ing-wen’s trip has her visiting three Pacific Island allies — Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands and the Marshall Islands — via Honolulu and the U.S. territory of Guam.   China claims sovereignty over democratic, self-ruled Taiwan and believes Tsai is seeking formal independence from China.   Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Washington should not allow Tsai to stop in the U.S. to” avoid sending any erroneous messages to the Taiwan independence force…”   Tsai has said she wants to maintain peace with China, but will defend Taiwan’s democracy and security.   The U.S. State Department said last week that Tsai’s transitions through U.S. locations would be “private and unofficial.”   China has claimed sovereignty over the island since 1949, when Mao Zedong’s Communist forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists …

The Education Department is considering only partially forgiving federal loans for students defrauded by for-profit colleges, The Associated Press has learned, abandoning the Obama administration’s policy of fully erasing that debt. Under President Barack Obama, tens of thousands of students deceived by now-defunct for-profit schools had more than $550 million in such loans canceled completely. But President Donald Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, is working on a plan that could grant such students only partial relief, according to department officials who were not authorized to publicly comment on the issue and spoke on condition of anonymity. The department may look at the average earnings of students in similar programs and schools to determine how much debt to wipe away. Hints of new approach If DeVos goes ahead, the change could leave many students scrambling after expecting full loan forgiveness, based on the previous administration’s track record. It was not immediately …