Youngstown

President Trump abruptly yanks sanctions on North Korea because he 'likes' dictator Kim Jong Un

President Donald Trump overruled his own Treasury Department and withdrew new sanctions aimed at North Korea because he "likes" dictator Kim Jong Un.

FEMA Released Personal Info of 2.3 Million Hurricane and Wildfire Survivors, Watchdog Says

Potentially exposing the victims to identity fraud and theft

Druze on Golan Heights reject Trump backing for Israeli sovereignty

The fertile hillsides of the Israeli-occupied Golan are scattered with villages inhabited by 22,000 Druze, an Arab minority who practice an offshoot of Islam. Many still have relatives on the Syrian side of the fortified boundary. In Majdal Shams, older residents remember being part of Syria before Israel captured most of the heights in the 1967 Middle East war, occupying and later annexing it in 1981.

The Latest: Ethiopian airline defends pilots' training

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Latest on the Ethiopian plane crash (all times local):

Wild videos show cruise ship chaos as rough seas prompt an evacuation

Incredible videos shared on Twitter are showing the wild rough seas that have led to the evacuation of 1,300 people from a cruise ship off the coast of Norway. The ship, Viking Cruise's "Viking Sky," sent a distress signal Saturday afternoon local time, reporting "engine problems in bad weather," according to CNN. And videos from both inside the cruise ship and from the shore show how bad the seas are. The BBC reports that at least one of the ship's engines was successfully restarted, enabling the Viking Sky to move a bit further from the rocky shore. Not surprisingly, the BBC also notes, "The area is known as the Hustadvika and is reportedly one of the most dangerous stretches of Norway's coast."SEE ALSO: El Niño has arrived. What does that mean for weather in 2019?Multiple ships and helicopters are taking part in the evacuation; the Joint Rescue Centre for Southern Norway shared video of the rescue to YouTube.To complicate matters, a cargo ship with nine people on board hit the same rough waters as the Viking Sky and some of the rescue helicopters had to be diverted for assistance.> Cargo ship w / 9 persons onbord went down close to VikingSky . Rescue helicopter sent to save crew. pic.twitter.com/Ebu0TIhlIE> > -- Tore (@potifar66) March 23, 2019A member of the rescue crew told Reuters that eight people had suffered minor injuries and that the rescue attempt will take a while, continuing into the night and maybe even into Sunday. Photos of passengers waiting for their turn at evacuation also hit social media. > Passenger on board VikingSky Crew is doing a good job. Evacuation is slow. Seas rough. One muster station had a door blow in, injure pax and flood. Moved to midship pic.twitter.com/ndvEaJew8L> > -- David Hernandez (@oxman78) March 23, 2019Mashable reached out to Viking Cruises for a statement and updates on the ongoing rescue and received the following message in response:The statement also added that anyone with questions or concerns about specific guests aboard the Viking Sky can find more information right here. WATCH: Pedal across the ocean surface with this breezy board

Economic gloom hits world stock markets

New York (AFP) - Worries about economic growth prospects hit global stock markets on Friday, causing sharp price drops on both sides of the Atlantic.

Bringing the Sting: The U.S. Navy Is Getting New F/A-18E/F Super Hornets

The Super Hornets would be the first new-build examples of the Block III variant of the F/A-18E/F. The Block III flies farther and carries more weapons than an older F/A-18E/F can do and also is stealthier than earlier Super Hornet models are.

IRS Loosens Tax Penalty for Millions

The IRS said today that because of changes and confusion caused by the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, it will penalize fewer taxpayers who didn't withhold enough federal taxes in 2018. Before the rul...

Subpoenas, sentencings and Stone: What will become of the special counsel’s unfinished business?

The Mueller probe’s formal end leaves questions about several ongoing legal proceedings, including the prosecution of Roger Stone, a former adviser to President Donald Trump.

Department of Defense says 2 US service members were killed during an operation in Afghanistan

The fatalities bring the number of U.S. soldiers killed so far this year in Afghanistan to four; Lucas Tomlinson reports from the Pentagon.

Missouri River flooding forces evacuation of 7,500 from waterfront city

Record floodwaters that submerged vast stretches of Nebraska and Iowa farmland along America's longest river reached a new crest on Friday at the waterfront city of St. Joseph, Missouri, forcing chaotic evacuations of thousands from low-lying areas. With emergency sirens blaring as the Missouri River rose to the top of the three-story-high levee wall in St. Joseph, about 55 miles (88 km) north of Kansas City, Missouri, sheriff's deputies rushed door-to-door urging residents to flee to higher ground.

UN chief visits mosque, stresses sanctity of religious sites

NEW YORK (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres went to the first mosque built in New York City on Friday to show solidarity with the Muslim community, urging people everywhere "to reaffirm the sanctity of all places of worship and the safety of all worshippers."

The fight is not over, but Daesh no longer has land to call their own

On Saturday we marked a turning point in our fight against the Daesh fanatics with the liberation of the last vestiges of land held under their brutal rule. At one point these barbaric extremists controlled territory roughly the size of the United Kingdom and had advanced to within a few miles of the gates of Baghdad. But in the last few days they have been rooted out of their last enclave along the Euphrates and their so-called caliphate destroyed. I pay tribute to all our Armed Forces and allies who have helped fight Daesh. They have hunted down this nihilistic death-cult night and day. Our RAF Tornados, Typhoons, and Reaper have struck almost 2,000 times – eliminating terrorists, overwhelming their headquarters and cutting off their supplies. It is fitting that Tornado is ending its illustrious career with this achievement. There is the work of others which should not go unrecognised. The crews who tirelessly flew our Reaper drones. Last month I announced they will now receive the Operation Shader medal, without clasp. This is the first time our Reaper crews have received such recognition. Our troops on the ground have – as part of the Coalition – also helped train some 90,000 Iraqis in everything from bridge-building to defusing bombs. We also pay tribute to the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Peshmerga and the Iraqi security forces who sustained heavy casualties to liberate 7.7 million people from Daesh’s tyranny. Those British nationals who turned their back on our country to fight for Daesh made a fatal mistake. They should expect to bear the full force of the law for their actions in the country where they have committed crimes. So today we mark a major milestone but we also count the cost. Mercifully, there have been very few deaths of British and allied personnel and hostages. But we feel each one of those very keenly. Our sympathies go to their families and friends for their loss. They did not die in vain. Their bravery is to be commended for ensuring the UK’s national security by tackling this threat. No-one will ever forget the damage and destruction wrought by Daesh’s barbarism. Their frenzy of violence has left behind a trail of destruction: innocents sold into slavery, thousands dead, millions displaced and some of the world’s greatest cultural treasures sacked. It was imperative that we acted. But we cannot say this fight is over. The terrorists are as much an evil ideology as a geographical entity. We’ve always known that cutting off one head of the snake could lead to others springing up elsewhere. We’re painfully aware of the threat these extremists still pose whether to Iraq, the wider region or to our own shores. That’s why the next phase of our campaign is well underway. The UK is helping the Iraqis rebuild their homeland so they can remain free from Daesh. It is continuing to provide vital humanitarian aid in Syria where we have already committed more than £2.7 billion. And it is continuing to champion a political settlement which, ultimately, will be the only way to achieve lasting peace in the region But, above all, it means continuing to do everything in our power, alongside the Global Coalition against Daesh, to check the spread of insurgency and draw the sting from its poisonous ideology. As I said to RUSI recently, a Global Britain must to be ready to intervene, using all the hard power at our disposal to defend the international rules-based system. And we are well placed to do that. Our Armed Forces will remain deployed in the region, to provide continuing assistance to the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Iraqi security forces against any attempt by Daesh to re-establish an active presence.  We have world-class F35 stealth fighters, we have an aircraft carrier that is the most powerful surface vessel ever to leave our shores and new sophisticated equipment coming into play. Not only will we fight this evil ideology on land but in the cyber sphere where the UK heads the Global Coalition Communications Cell, working to reduce the impact of Daesh’s ability to use propaganda to recruit, inspire and incite supporters.  None of this will be easy. Daesh is the evil of our generation and we must be prepared to stay the course. In the past five years, our Armed Forces, alongside our allies have turned the tide. Daesh no longer has land to call their own. But we will not rest until the danger they pose to our people is ended once and for all.

School shooting survivor stricken by 'survivor's guilt' takes own life

A teenager who survived the Parkland school shooting in Florida has killed herself while struggling with survivors' guilt, local media reported Friday. Sydney Aiello, 19, was a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas last February 14 when a former student opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon, killing 14 students and three staff members. Among the dead were two of Aiello's best friends, Meadow Pollack and Joaquin Oliver.

Kamala Harris Calls for U.S. Spending Hike to Boost Teacher Pay

The California senator will tell the Texas Southern University College Democrats in Houston that she’d seek to fully close the pay gap for public school teachers in her first term as president, according to a campaign aide who wasn’t authorized to discuss the plan publicly. Harris’s campaign cited a study by the progressive-leaning Economic Policy Institute that found that elementary, middle, and secondary public school teachers earn 11.1 percent less than similar college graduates, even after accounting for benefits, according to 2017 data. The candidate’s call comes amid a flurry of policy ideas from a large Democratic presidential field aimed at mitigating rising inequality and expanding the safety net.

More Misconceptions about College

Now that we’ve all had a good airing of grievances about elite colleges and their attendant injustices, let’s get some perspective.While the numbers of high-school graduates heading off to college have increased in recent years, the percentages graduating with a four-year degree have not increased much. Many students, especially those who are the first in their families to attend college, drop out before receiving a degree. (They cannot drop out of student-loan payments, though.)Data from the Lumina Foundation show that among Americans aged 25–64, 52.4 percent have no more than a high-school diploma (though 15.4 percent of them attended college for a while). An additional 5.2 percent received a certificate of some kind, and 9.2 percent obtained an associate’s degree. What most people think of when you say “college” is a four-year institution. Only 21.1 percent received bachelor’s degrees, and another 12.2 percent also earned graduate degrees. Adding the last two categories brings the fraction of Americans with college or graduate degrees to just over one-third.While most of the conversation in the past week has focused on highly selective colleges such as Yale and Penn, it’s important to remember that only a small number of America’s colleges are selective. As FiveThirtyEight has reported, more than 75 percent of undergrads attend colleges that accept at least half of all applicants. The number who attend selective colleges -- i.e., schools that accept 25 percent or fewer — is just 4 percent. And the number who attend schools in the very top tier, colleges that reject 90 percent or more, can be counted on your fingers and toes. You can probably guess most of them. (Though not all. On this U.S. News list, Pomona College came in at No. 11, and the Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute came in first.) Less than 1 percent of college students attend these elite schools.Most students attend commuter schools, which tend to be community colleges. Even among those at four-year institutions, almost 25 percent attend part-time. Half of college students are also working, not getting plastered at frat parties.There’s a healthy debate in policy circles about whether our current cultural preoccupation with college for all is a good thing. Some people who are funneled toward college might be a better fit for vocational training, apprenticeships, or other life paths; and while there is no doubt about the association between college completion and higher income, there is uncertainty about the causal relationship.Rather than gnash our collective teeth about whether Jason or Jessica can get into MIT, we might want to focus on all students, those who are headed for college and those who are not. Every student in elementary and high school should be learning about the “success sequence.” The phrase was introduced by Isabel Sawhill and Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution and has lately been reinforced with a study by W. Bradford Wilcox and Wendy Wang of the Institute for Family Studies.What they’ve found is that students have it within their power to virtually guarantee a middle- or upper-class income if they follow three steps. Those three basics are 1) finish high school, 2) get a full-time job, and 3) get married before having children. Young people who follow all three steps have only a 3 percent likelihood of living in poverty when they reach young adulthood. Eighty-six percent of Millennials who put marriage first had incomes in the middle or upper third, compared with 53 percent who had children before marriage. The success sequence works for those born into poverty, too. Seventy-one percent of Millennials who grew up in the bottom third of the income distribution were in the middle or upper third by young adulthood if they followed the three steps. Among African Americans, 76 percent who followed the success sequence achieved the middle class or above, and among Hispanics, the percentage was 81 percent.With all of the emphasis on a tiny sliver of the top 1 percent of students, most young people can get the impression that they are doomed to a lesser life. In fact, avoiding a few pitfalls like dropping out of high school, having a baby out of wedlock, and failing to find employment is a ticket to success.There’s a bias among writer types to pay attention to Princeton and Columbia. But that’s not really where the action is in helping most Americans.© 2019 Creators.com

Fox and Friends co-host criticises Trump for attacks on John McCain: ‘It makes absolutely no sense’

Co-host Brian Kilmeade went after Mr Trump on Thursday for the jabs, saying that the president diverted attention away from his accomplishments in order to unearth his feud with a dead man. “The problem is he swapped his own message by going after George Conway and in that speech inexplicably segueing to go after John McCain,” Mr Kilmeade said Thursday morning, reviewing a speech Mr Trump made in Ohio where he attacked the late senator and the husband of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway.

'Time will tell' results of Mueller report, D.C. says

Residents and visitors in Washington, D.C. on Friday said they expected transparency after Special Counsel Robert Mueller turned over his Russia probe report to the Justice Department after a nearly two-year investigation. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

'A gift sent from the heavens': Nebraska pals find fridge full of beer during flood cleanup

Kyle Simpson and Gayland Stouffer had spent the day cleaning up from flooding in Nebraska when a fridge appeared in the distance. It was full of beer.

Brazilian ex-president remains silent under questioning

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Former Brazilian President Michel Temer remained silent when questioned by investigators Friday, a day after he was arrested as part of the country's sprawling Car Wash corruption probe.

New Zealand Banned All Assault Weapons. Could That Work in America?

Here's the surprising answer

Africa cyclone death toll surges past 600, 'worst yet to come'

The death toll from a powerful cyclone that pummelled swathes of southern African countries, flooding thousands of square kilometres, on Saturday surged past 600 as diseases stalked tens of thousands of survivors. At least 417 people have died in Mozambique, according to government, bringing to 676 the total deaths when combined with those from neighbouring Zimbabwe. Cyclone Idai smashed into the coast of central Mozambique on Friday last week, unleashing hurricane-force winds and rains that flooded the hinterland and drenched eastern Zimbabwe leaving a trail of destruction.

Indonesia's Garuda says to cancel 49-jet Boeing 737 deal after crashes

Indonesia's national carrier Garuda has told Boeing it will cancel a multi-billion-dollar order for 49 Boeing 737 Max 8 jets after the model was involved in two fatal crashes. The move could spark more cancellations from other major carriers, an aviation analyst said, as Boeing and US federal regulators get set to face their first public grilling by Congress since the deadly incidents. "We have sent a letter to Boeing requesting that the order be cancelled," Garuda spokesman Ikhsan Rosan said.

World united in condemnation of Trump over call to recognise Israel’s claim to Golan Heights

Germany and France have led a global backlash against Donald Trump after he said it was time to recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights. Iran, Turkey and Russia joined European powers in sharply criticising the US president, while Syria vowed to recover the area using “all available means”. Mr Trump took many – including the Israeli government – by surprise on Thursday when he tweeted his backing for Israel’s claim over the territory, marking a dramatic shift in policy over the status of an area captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

Ram Rebel TRX Pickup Spied, Likely to Get the Supercharged Hellcat V-8

Looks like the Ford F-150 Raptor isn't going to have the sandbox to itself anymore.

Autonomy founder Lynch set for $5 billion Hewlett-Packard court showdown

HP is seeking damages of around $5 billion from Lynch and his former colleague Sushovan Hussain, alleging that they inflated the value of Autonomy before selling the big data firm, whose software searches and organises unstructured information, such as telephone conversations. Autonomy was supposed to be the centrepiece of a plan to transform HP from a PC and printer maker into a software-focused enterprise services firm, a shift successfully undertaken by IBM in the previous two decades.

Twin bombing at Afghan ceremony kills 4, including official

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A twin bombing at a public ceremony in southern Afghanistan on Saturday killed at least four people, including a provincial official, and wounded more than 30, officials said.

How gun laws in a dozen countries compare to New Zealand's new ban on semi-automatic weapons

The approach to gun laws in each of the 12 countries varies widely depending on whether owning a gun is considered a right or a privilege.

Correction: Southern Flood Threat story

In a story March 21 about the U.S. flooding outlook, The Associated Press misspelled the last name of a weather forecaster. He is Kevin Low, not Lao.

Some remains of Guatemala volcano victims unidentified: official

Guatemalan investigators have been unable to identify about 110 pieces of remains from victims of a volcanic eruption that killed 202 people and left 229 missing last June, a forensic official said Saturday. After months of testing, which included sending some samples abroad, about 110 remains cannot be identified, said the head of the National Forensic Sciences Office, Fanuel Garcia. "We have all of them and we are holding on to them, awaiting a time to carry out a collective burial," he said of the unidentified remains.

Save up to 30% off bed and bath must-haves during The Home Depot’s Spring Savings

It's been a loong winter with way too much time spent binge-watching in bed. All the more reason to strip those stale sheets, replace your threadbare towels, and hit up The Home Depot's online-only Spring Savings.  Think high-quality basics: super-soft sheets, bath mats, and towels that aren't adorned with weird bleach stains. In other words: bedding and bath essentials that make you feel like a grown-up. Below, find a look to match your style and then shop The Home Depot's Spring Savings. Image: The Home Depot Save up to 30% on bed and bath essentials at The Home Depot through April 3rd See Details Grown up neutralsImage: The Home DepotA neutral color palette opens up even the smallest studio in a big way. You can play with pops of color, experiment with textures, or layer crisp whites with neutrals for a sophisticated Instagram backdrop. To get this dressed-to-impress look, start with a crisp white duvet and pair with some sweet flax sheets. Breezy bohoImage: The Home DepotThis laid-back look is a breeze to create. For bedding, opt for cool blues in a breathable fabric like this linen duvet set. Add some throw pillows in sunset tones that remind you of the Pacific Ocean, then bring cabana vibes to your bathroom with aqua towels, a bathmat, and shower curtain. And of course, the more houseplants the better! Pattern playerImage: the home depotWhether you're a graphic designer or an Insta-artist, adding bold patterns to your space screams creative genius. Go bold with a chevron duvet set, then add some contrasting geometric sheets. Next, hang some funky towels in your bathroom. The trick is to mix hues and shapes that seem like they shouldn't work together -- but somehow do. It's all part of your mystery. Image: The Home Depot Save up to 30% on bed and bath at The Home Depot through April 3rd See Details

White House Announces End to Islamic State-Controlled Territory in Syria

Controlling territory gave the group room to launch attacks around the world

American Airlines pilots will test 737 MAX software fix in Boeing simulator

American Airlines pilots will test Boeing Co's 737 MAX software fix on simulators this weekend, the pilots' union told Reuters on Thursday, a key step in restoring confidence in the jet after two fatal crashes. Boeing has been working on a software upgrade for an anti-stall system and pilot displays on its fastest-selling jetliner in the wake of the deadly Lion Air crash in Indonesia in October.

Toxicologist denies manipulating studies in Monsanto damages proceedings

A toxicologist from Roundup weedkiller manufacturer Monsanto denied Friday that she had influenced scientific studies to hide the dangers of the product, in the damages phase of a trial in California. One of the lawyers for the plaintiff -- a 70-year-old retiree with cancer -- asked Dr Donna Farmer to explain internal documents from Monsanto made public in 2017. Among other documents, a February 2015 email sent to Farmer by another senior Monsanto scientist refers to the technique of writing scientific articles and then paying recognized scientists -- presented as independent -- to sign them.

1969 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 428 Cobra Jet

With 355-horsepower from a 428 cubic-inch, 7.0-liter V8, a four-on-the-floor manual transmission, and this brilliant red paint with gold side stripes, this 1969 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is a must-have car for any die-hard American muscle collector. The 1969 Ford Mustang was the third and final evolution of the original pony car.

Markets Right Now: Stocks, yields drop on growth worries

NEW YORK (AP) — The latest on developments in financial markets (all times local):

China factory blast death toll jumps to 64, man rescued after 40 hours

The death toll in a chemical plant explosion in China rose to 64 Saturday but rescuers found a survivor among more than two dozen still missing in the debris of one of the country's worst industrial accidents in recent years. Thursday's explosion in the eastern city of Yancheng injured hundreds and flattened an industrial park. The local fire brigade pulled a man in his 40s from the rubble of the destroyed chemical plant around dawn on Saturday, according to a statement on the city government's official Weibo account.

`I am Not a Monster`: Indiana Teacher Accused of Injuring Student Defends Herself

A teacher at Tindley Summit Academy says she spent days in jail despite the fact that she`s innocent, and now prosecutors are declining to press charges.

After Mueller’s Exoneration of Trump, Full Disclosure

The news that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has closed his investigation without recommending criminal charges against President Trump is a relief. It is not a surprise.Nor is it a surprise that the news has Trump antagonists clamoring for full disclosure of the special counsel’s final report. Mind you, when skeptics of the Trump-Russia investigation asked what the criminal predicate for it was, and on what basis the Obama administration had decided to monitor the opposition party’s presidential campaign, we were admonished about the wages of disclosure -- the compromise of precious defense secrets, of deep-cover intelligence sources and methods. Why, to ask for such information was to be an insurrectionist seeking to destroy the FBI, the Justice Department, and the rule of law itself. Now, though, it’s only the uncharged president of the United States at issue, so disclose away!Well, if we’re going to have disclosure, fine. But let’s have full disclosure: Mueller’s report in addition to the FISA applications; the memoranda pertinent to the opening and continuation of the investigation; the testimony in secret hearings; the scope memorandum Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein issued on August 2, 2017, after failing to cite a crime when he appointed Mueller -- let’s have all of it.As far as the special counsel’s report goes, because of the way the regulations work (at least when the Justice Department deigns to follow them), we now have Mueller’s bottom line, but not his reasoning and the underlying facts. It is the opposite of the Trump opposition’s preferred Roger Stone and George Papadopoulos scenario, where Mueller’s team spins pages and pages of “Gee, sure seems like a lot of almost-collusion here” before you flip to the end and find that there’s no case -- just a campaign hanger-on who lied to an investigator long after the imaginary espionage conspiracy occurred. At the moment, we just have Mueller’s conclusion: There is no basis to indict the president for a crime -- not collusion, not obstruction, not false statements. The collusion-peddlers, who took great umbrage at the suggestion that “VERIFIED” FISA surveillance-warrant applications should be disclosed, now demand Mueller’s full report so they can get to the familiar work of obscuring the bottom line and spinning the spin.As we’ve noted before, unlike Mueller, who needs a crime to indict, Congress does not need a crime to impeach. The media-Democrat alliance does not need a crime to inflate Mueller’s not-quite-so stories into treason. To keep this carnival rolling on for another year and a half, they just need fodder for the narrative -- which is so predictably morphing from the collusion narrative to the impeachment narrative to the campaign narrative.Since before Robert Mueller was appointed, I have been contending that there was no legal basis for the appointment of a special counsel because there was no evidence that the president had committed a crime. For nearly a year and a half, I’ve maintained that Mueller had nothing close to an actionable “collusion” case, that he had no prosecutable obstruction case, and that this exercise was an impeachment investigation geared more toward rendering Trump unelectable in 2020 than toward actually removing him from office.This was not to dismiss Russia’s provocations (which Democrats spent most of the Obama years ignoring, and -- when it comes to hacking -- which Obama himself spent the 2016 campaign mostly ignoring). It was always essential that the FBI use its counterintelligence authorities for their proper purpose -- to monitor and undermine foreign powers. It still is.But investigations targeting Americans for violating the law have to be premised on crime. Even FISA, which allows a court to authorize spying on an American citizen suspected of being an agent of a foreign power, requires the Justice Department and the FBI to show probable cause that the American is knowingly engaged in clandestine activity on behalf of the foreign power -- and that this clandestine activity is a probable violation of American criminal law. (See FISA, section 1801(b)(2) of Title 50, U.S. Code -- the definition of “agent of a foreign power” that applies to American citizens.)That is why, as we have repeatedly pointed out, “collusion” is a weasel word. “Collusion” is just association -- concerted activity that could be benign, sinister, or somewhere in between. It is not a crime to have relationships, even troubling ones, with Russians. Fortunately for the Clinton campaign, it is not a crime to attempt to gather opposition research from foreign sources -- even former British spies who purport to have Kremlin-connected sources. When Americans are involved, the only collusion that federal criminal and counterintelligence law trouble themselves over involves conspiracy (or its close cousin, aiding and abetting). There must be knowing complicity in a crime. If you don’t have a good-faith basis to believe a crime has been committed, you don’t have an investigation.Again, we were pointing that out before Mueller was appointed. In order to justify a special-counsel appointment, the regulations require two things: (1) the attorney general (or the deputy AG when, as here, the AG is recused) must be able to articulate the factual basis for a criminal investigation or prosecution; (2) that investigation or prosecution must create a conflict of interest so profound that the Justice Department cannot ethically conduct the investigation -- a lawyer must be brought in from outside the government. It is the alleged crime that determines what is to be investigated and whether there is a conflict.Here, the issue was solely the president. The Justice Department and FBI did not need a special counsel to conduct a counterintelligence investigation of Russia, or a criminal investigation of, say, Michael Flynn or Paul Manafort. Indeed, such investigations were underway before Mueller’s appointment. A special counsel would have been needed only for the president, on the rationale that the president cannot credibly be investigated by his own Justice Department. That is fine: The president is not above the law, and if there is evidence that he committed a crime, he should be investigated. But there has to be evidence that he committed a crime.There wasn’t. Even in his shocking public announcement that the FBI was investigating the Trump campaign for possible “coordination” in Russia’s election interference, former FBI director James Comey never actually accused the president of a crime. While privately assuring Trump that he was not a suspect, Comey publicly stated that the FBI was conducting a counterintelligence probe. You can believe, as I do, that this was a pretext for a criminal investigation that lacked a crime; but for present purposes, that’s irrelevant. The point is: There was no crime.In May 2017, in the wake of Trump’s firing of Comey (which acting FBI director Andrew McCabe wrongly concluded could be the basis for an obstruction investigation), Rosenstein appointed Mueller. But, again, no crime was cited (Rosenstein obviously knew better than McCabe). Perforce, there was no need for a special counsel. In the Justice Department, the FBI -- not a prosecutor -- conducts counterintelligence investigations. And there was palpably no conflict of interest requiring an outside lawyer. How could there be? There was no factual basis for a crime, and you can’t know whether there is a conflict unless you know what the suspected crime is. Plus, Mueller recruited his staff from the Justice Department’s top echelon, and later transferred cases he brought to Justice Department components; these actions would have been inappropriate if the Justice Department had actually been conflicted.There was no need for a special counsel. And there was no case -- again, obviously. Mueller never charged any Trump associate with any kind of espionage conspiracy. As we’ve pointed out repeatedly, when prosecutors have a conspiracy case, they induce the cooperating accomplice witnesses to plead guilty to the conspiracy and implicate the other conspirators at the time of the plea. Mueller, instead, pled his putative accomplices to process crimes of lying to investigators, and to massive fraud crimes that had nothing to do with Trump or Russia. No competent prosecutor builds a case that way -- and Mueller is an exceptionally competent prosecutor.Moreover, wholly apart from Mueller’s evidence-based decision not to accuse Trump associates of complicity in Russia’s election interference, there are also Mueller’s two indictments of Russian operatives -- the hacking and troll-farm cases. These charges not only fail to suggest a conspiratorial link to the Trump campaign; they positively indicate that the Russian operatives neither needed nor wanted American partners. They wanted deniability. Their operations predated Trump’s entry into the campaign, and some of them were anti-Trump in nature.Did Putin want Trump to win the election? Who knows? But there is no reason to think Putin (unlike any other informed observer) believed Trump would win the election. What Russia was aiming for is what Russia is always aiming for: to sow discord in American society and make it more difficult for the American government to pursue American interests. In any event, Mueller’s Russia indictments, like his charges against Trump associates, appeared to preclude the possibility of a Trump-Kremlin conspiracy. If Mueller had suddenly found Trump guilty of “collusion,” his prior prosecutions would have been incomprehensible.And, to reiterate another oft-made point, a federal prosecutor cannot properly charge an obstruction case against the president based on lawful exercises of the chief executive’s constitutional prerogatives. To be sure, a president may be cited for obstruction based on acts that the Constitution does not endorse and that corruptly tamper with evidence or witnesses. But because prosecutorial power is executive in nature, a president -- like a prosecutor -- is permitted by the Constitution to take actions that negatively affect an investigation. A president is permitted to weigh in on the merits of an investigation; he may fire the investigators (including the FBI director); he may issue pardons.Clearly, these powers can be abused, and if they are, Congress may impeach the president. But it is not the place of a prosecutor, an inferior federal officer, to second-guess the chief executive’s exercise of executive discretion just because the inferior officer suspects improper motivation. The president should suffer politically for inappropriately insinuating himself in law-enforcement activities; but it is not a crime for him to do so.Finally, unlike criminal investigations, which are conducted to vindicate the rule of law in judicial proceedings and which should be insulated from politics, counterintelligence investigations are done strictly for the president -- to assist him in carrying out his national-security duties. If a president were to shut down a counterintelligence investigation -- which Trump has never done in connection with Russia, even after the FBI director publicly portrayed Trump’s campaign as a suspected collaborator -- that could not be an obstruction crime, even if it were a reckless decision. It is the politically accountable president, not the administrative state, who determines the nation’s intelligence needs.In sum, we have endured a two-year ordeal in which the president of the United States was forced to govern under a cloud of suspicion -- suspicion of being a traitor, of scheming with a foreign adversary to steal an election. This happened because the Obama administration -- which opened the probe of the Trump campaign, and which opted to use foreign counterintelligence spying powers rather than give Trump a defensive briefing about suspected Russian infiltration of his campaign -- methodically forced its suspicions about Trump into the public domain.It is not just that FISA warrants were sought on the basis of the Steele dossier, an uncorroborated Clinton-campaign opposition-research screed that the Obama Justice Department and FBI well knew was being peddled to the media at the same time. There was a patently premeditated stream of intelligence leaks depicting a corrupt Trump-Russia arrangement.After Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election, Obama, after doing virtually nothing about Russian aggression for most of eight years, suddenly made a show of issuing sanctions, seizing Russian assets, and expelling Russian operatives. He then rushed the completion of an intelligence assessment that would ordinarily have taken months to complete, so that it would be issued on his watch; and presto: The public was told not only that Russia interfered in the campaign, but that Russia did so because Putin was trying to get Trump elected. (Of course, the public was not told that Obama had known what Russia was doing during the campaign, but concluded it was too trivial to warrant a response; and the public was not reminded that, just days before the election -- when Russia’s perfidy was well known to the Obama administration -- both Obama and Hillary Clinton chastised Trump for daring to suggest that an American presidential election could be rigged.)The intelligence assessment provided Obama’s intelligence agencies with a pretext to brief President-elect Trump on the Steele dossier. That, in turn, gave the media -- previously skittish about the dossier’s sensational, unverified allegations -- exactly the news hook they needed to publish it. Weeks later, as the FBI continued relying on the unverified Steele dossier in FISA-warrant applications, the FBI director, in public testimony, not only disclosed the existence of a classified counterintelligence investigation but gratuitously added that Trump’s campaign was a subject of the probe and that an assessment would be made of whether any crimes were committed -- signaling to the world that Trump was a suspect in what would be, if proved, one of the most heinous crimes in American history. Then, finally, more leaks to the media triggered the appointment of a special counsel in the absence of actual evidence that the president had committed a crime.You want disclosure? Me too. But let’s see all of it. Not just Mueller’s report. Let’s see everything: all of the memoranda relevant to the opening of the investigation, all of the testimony at closed hearings, all of the FISA-warrant applications, all of Rosenstein’s scope memo. (A year ago, I surmised that scope memo is redacted because it relies on the Steele dossier -- as did the FISA-warrant application Rosenstein had approved just a few weeks earlier; anyone want to bet me on that?)If a victorious Democratic nominee had been subjected to such an investigation, there would never have been a special counsel, but we would already have chapter and verse on every investigative action. If we’re going to have accountability, let’s have complete accountability.

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