3 News Stories You Should Read Today – 3/16/2018
Spoiler alert: He can, but it’s complicated.
Trump’s lawyers are urging him not to sit down with Mueller, and so far it appears Trump is taking their advice. But if Mueller decides to press the issue, he’ll likely have to subpoena a sitting president, which is extremely rare in US history. (The last time was in 1998 when President Bill Clinton was subpoenaed as part of the Lewinsky investigation. Before that, Richard Nixon was subpoenaed in 1974 to force him to hand over tape recordings and other materials related to the Watergate scandal).
The likelihood that Trump will be forced to testify might have increased after a New York Times report revealed on Thursday that Mueller has subpoenaed the Trump Organization to turn over documents related to Russia. That same report also said that Trump’s lawyers are already in negotiations with Mueller’s office about how to handle any potential interview.
Charlottesville: Beaten black man to stand trial on Friday
Activists want charges dropped against DeAndre Harris and two others assaulted at white nationalist rally of August 12.
Activists in Charlottesville are calling on authorities to drop the charges against DeAndre Harris, an African American beaten by at least six white nationalist demonstrators at the August 12 Unite the Right rally.
A video of Harris’s beating went viral in the days following the white nationalist rally, prompting an outcry. Harris was initially charged with a felony, but it was later reduced to a misdemeanor
Donald Blakney has been charged with a felony count of malicious wounding for allegedly hitting Eric Mattson, a member of the Hiway Men, a group with members across the US who were at Charlottesville to protect both the “Constitution” and the Confederate monuments.
Blakney faces a grand jury on April 16 that will decide whether or not to indict him.
Russian Hackers Attacking U.S. Power Grid and Aviation, FBI Warns
Russian hackers are conducting a broad assault on the U.S. electric grid, water processing plants, air transportation facilities and other targets in rolling attacks on some of the country’s most sensitive infrastructure, U.S. government officials said Thursday.
The announcement was the first official confirmation that Russian hackers have taken aim at facilities on which hundreds of millions of Americans depend for basic services. Bloomberg News reported in July that Russian hackers had breached more than a dozen power plants in seven states, an aggressive campaign that has since expanded to dozens of states, according to a person familiar with the investigation.
