Giuliani targeted in criminal probe of 2020 election
ATLANTA (AP) — Rudy Giuliani is a target of the criminal investigation into possible illegal attempts by then-President Donald Trump and others to interfere in the 2020 general election in Georgia, prosecutors informed attorneys for the former New York mayor on Monday.
The revelation that Giuliani, an outspoken Trump defender, could face criminal charges from the investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis edges the probe closer to the former president. Willis has said she is considering calling Trump himself to testify before the special grand jury, and the former president has hired a criminal defense attorney in Atlanta.
Law enforcement scrutiny of Trump has escalated dramatically. Last week, the FBI searched his Florida home as part of its investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to Mar-a-Lago. He is also facing a civil investigation in New York over allegations that his company, the Trump Organization, misled banks and tax authorities about the value of his assets. And the Justice Department is investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters as well as efforts by him and his allies to overturn the election he falsely claimed was stolen.
Giuliani, who spread false claims of election fraud in Atlanta's Fulton County as he led election-challenging efforts in Georgia, is to testify Wednesday before a special grand jury that was impaneled at Willis' request. Giuliani's lawyer declined to say whether he would answer questions or decline.
Special prosecutor Nathan Wade alerted Giuliani’s team in Atlanta that he was an investigation target, Giuliani attorney Robert Costello said Monday. News of the disclosure was first reported by The New York Times.
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Ukrainian military says it repelled more than dozen attacks
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian military said Monday that it had repelled more than a dozen Russian attacks in the country’s east and north, including attempts to advance on key cities in the eastern industrial heartland known as the Donbas.
In its regular Facebook update, the military's general staff said Russian troops had attempted to push towards Kramatorsk, one of two major cities in the eastern Donetsk province that remain under Ukrainian control, but “they failed completely and chaotically retreated to their previous positions.”
In the same post, the military said Russian forces had staged an unsuccessful assault on Bakhmut, a strategic town in the Donetsk region whose capture would pave the way for Russia to take Kramatorsk and the de facto Ukrainian administrative capital, Sloviansk.
The Donetsk region is one of two provinces that make up the Donbas, where the fighting has largely been focused in recent months, since Kremlin forces retreated from around the capital, Kyiv.
Russian officials announced the full capture of the Luhansk region, the second of the two, early last month, though its Ukrainian governor has repeatedly claimed that Kyiv’s forces are holding out in a small area near the regional boundary.
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Iran denies involvement but justifies Salman Rushdie attack
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian official Monday denied Tehran was involved in the stabbing of author Salman Rushdie, though he sought to justify the attack in the Islamic Republic's first public comments on the bloodshed.
The remarks by Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, came three days after Rushdie was wounded in New York state. The writer has been taken off a ventilator and is “on the road to recovery,” according to his agent.
Rushdie, 75, has faced death threats for more than 30 years over his novel “The Satanic Verses," whose depiction of the Prophet Muhammad was seen by some Muslims as blasphemous.
In 1989, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or Islamic edict, demanding the author's death, and while Iran has not focused on Rushdie in recent years, the decree still stands.
Also, a semiofficial Iranian foundation had posted a bounty of over $3 million for the killing of the author. It has not commented on the attack.
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Clergy, social workers fear fallout from Okla. abortion laws
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Strict anti-abortion laws that took effect in Oklahoma this year led to the quick shuttering of every abortion facility in the state, but left questions for those who work directly with women who may seek their advice or help getting an abortion out of state.
Beyond the profound repercussions the abortion laws are having on medical care, especially reproductive medicine, clergy members, social workers and even librarians have raised concerns about being exposed to criminal or civil liability for just discussing the topic.
Those fears are well-founded, says Joseph Thai, a professor at the University of Oklahoma who teaches about constitutional law and the Supreme Court. He described Oklahoma's new anti-abortion laws, which include both criminal and civil penalties, as the strictest in the nation so far and sweeping in both substance and scope.
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade and remove women's constitutional right to abortion immediately triggered a 1910 Oklahoma law that makes it a felony, punishable by two to five years in prison, for every person who “advises" or provides any other means for a woman to procure an abortion. That law allows abortion only to save the mother's life.
“That all-encompassing language can make anyone and everyone who helps a woman get an abortion or provides information about access to abortion — including a spouse, another family member, a friend, a classmate or co-worker, a librarian, or even an Uber driver — a felon," Thai said. “Likewise, employers who have pledged to pay for their employees' abortions as part of their reproductive health coverage and their insurance companies face criminal liability."
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Feds oppose unsealing affidavit for Mar-a-Lago warrant
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Monday rebuffed efforts to make public the affidavit supporting the search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s estate in Florida, saying the investigation “implicates highly classified material” and the document contains sensitive information about witnesses.
The government’s opposition came in response to court filings by several news organizations, including The Associated Press, seeking to unseal the underlying affidavit the Justice Department submitted when it asked for the warrant to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month.
The court filing — from Juan Antonio Gonzalez, the U.S. attorney in Miami, and Jay Bratt, a top Justice Department national security official — argues that making the affidavit public would “cause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation.”
The document, the prosecutors say, details “highly sensitive information about witnesses,” including people who have been interviewed by the government, and contains confidential grand jury information.
The government told a federal magistrate judge that prosecutors believe some additional records, including the cover sheet for the warrant and the government’s request to seal the documents, should now be made public.
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EXPLAINER: Why US lawmakers' Taiwan trips keep riling China
WASHINGTON (AP) — Taiwan is high on the summer travel list for U.S. members of Congress on their August recess this year, as U.S. lawmakers make a point of asserting American support for the self-governed island despite objections from China. The payoff photos from this week's five-member congressional visit, like that of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi less than two weeks earlier, are meant as a pointed message to China: newly arrived lawmakers disembarking on the tarmac of Taipei's international airport, greeted by beaming Taiwanese officials glad for the American support.
Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, on Monday was wrapping up the second U.S. congressional delegation there this month. Pelosi had been the most senior U.S. official in a quarter-century to visit Taiwan, underscoring the longstanding U.S. policy of solidarity with the island's democratically elected leaders.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory. It views any visit by U.S. officials as a recognition of the island's sovereignty.
So far, China's response to Markey's delegation has been more restrained than that of two weeks ago, when Beijing launched days of intensive military maneuvers around Taiwan and froze some ties with the U.S. government over Pelosi's visit.
A look at some key questions about U.S. lawmakers' Taiwan trips, and why they matter.
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Trump Org. CFO expected to plead guilty in NY tax case
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s longtime finance chief is expected to plead guilty as soon as Thursday in a tax evasion case that is the only criminal prosecution to arise from a long-running investigation into the former president’s company, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg was scheduled to be tried in October on allegations he took more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation from the company, including rent, car payments and school tuition.
Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office and Weisselberg's lawyers met Monday with the judge overseeing the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, according to court records. The judge then scheduled a hearing in the matter for 9 a.m. Thursday but did not specify the reason.
The people who spoke to the AP did so on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case. They said the purpose of Thursday’s hearing was for Weisselberg to enter a guilty plea, but cautioned that plea deals sometimes fall apart before they are finalized in court.
Weisselberg’s lawyer, Nicholas Gravante Jr., told The New York Times on Monday that Weisselberg has been engaged in plea negotiations to resolve the case, but did not specify terms of a potential plea deal. Reached by the AP, Gravante declined to comment.
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R. Kelly jury selection focuses on 2019 documentary
CHICAGO (AP) — Jury selection in R. Kelly's federal trial on charges that he rigged his 2008 state child pornography trial began Monday with the judge and attorneys quickly focusing on whether would-be jurors watched a 2019 documentary about sex abuse allegations against the R&B singer.
After denying a request from Kelly's attorney to automatically exclude anyone from the jury who watched the six-part documentary series, “Surviving R. Kelly,” U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber quizzed potential jurors about how much they watched, what they could recall about it and whether they could be impartial if they were selected.
Jurors were asked whether they watched the documentary in a questionnaire they had already filled out. In one instance, a woman who had left her answer blank acknowledged that she had watched several episodes. She was not immediately excused from serving, however.
In all, the judge dismissed at least half of the some 60 would-be jurors he questioned Monday. Among those dismissed was an elementary school teacher who said he’d have difficulty being impartial given the subject matter of the trial, a man who said many of his closest friends were Chicago cops and a woman who said she once took martial arts classes with Kelly’s kids.
Among those kept in the pool of possible jurors was a man with a post-graduate degree in classical music and several people who said they watched part of the documentary on Kelly but who assured the judge they could give the singer a fair trial.
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No. 1 Alabama tops preseason AP Top 25; Ohio St, 'Dawgs next
With two of the best players in the country leading the way — and a championship game loss as motivation — Alabama is No. 1 in The Associated Press preseason college football poll for the second straight season and ninth time overall.
Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young, national defensive player of year Will Anderson Jr. and the Crimson Tide received 54 of 63 first-place votes and 1,566 points in the Top 25 presented by Regions Bank released on Monday.
Ohio State is No. 2 with six first-place votes (1,506 points) from the media panel and defending national champion Georgia is third with three first-place votes (1,455 points). Clemson is No. 4. Notre Dame rounds out the top five, setting up a tantalizing opener at Ohio State on Sept. 3.
The Tide's preseason No. 1 ranking is the seventh in 15 years under coach Nick Saban. Since the preseason rankings started in 1950, only Oklahoma with 10 has been No. 1 in the initial poll more often than Alabama.
The Crimson Tide started last season No. 1 and finished ranked No. 2 after losing the national championship game to the Southeastern Conference rival Bulldogs.
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New this week: 'House of the Dragon,' Lakers doc and Lovato
Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.
MOVIES
— In the almost 25 years since Princess Diana died, there has never been any shortage of content examining the enormous impact and intrigue of her short life. But a new documentary from director Ed Perkins, “The Princess,” which debuted earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival and is available on HBO (and HBO Max), turns the lens back on us. The film doesn’t have any talking heads or voiceover, but instead uses only archival footage to tell a different kind of story. It is a meditative, transportive experience that is surprisingly effective.
— Two of this summer’s most delightful theatrical releases “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” and “Mr. Malcolm’s List” are quietly now available to rent on demand and watch from home. The former is a grounded fantasy adorned with mid-century designer lore, featuring Lesley Manville as a post-WWII British housekeeper and widow. She dreams of owning a Christian Dior gown and must travel to Paris to get one (and her middle-age Sabrina moment). “Mr. Malcolm’s List,” meanwhile, is an ode to Jane Austen — a Regency-era romance full of gossip, intrigue and high society hijinks starring Freida Pinto, Zawe Ashton and Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù as the titular Mr. Malcolm.
— On the other streamers, Lili Reinhart, of “Riverdale” fame, leads a Netflix pic “Look Both Ways” about a college senior whose life splits into parallel realities on graduation night. In one, she gets pregnant and has to move home to Texas. In another, she heads to Los Angeles to start her career. Co-starring “Top Gun: Maverick’s” Danny Ramierz, “Look Both Ways” hits Netflix on Wednesday. And for those looking for a scare, Paramount+ is debuting “Orphan: First Kill” on Friday. The film is a prequel to Jaume Collet-Serra’s 2009 horror “Orphan” and follows Esther as she escapes from an Estonian psychiatric facility and makes her way to America.
The Associated Press
