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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JULY 13, 2019
WORLD IN BRIEF
“Access Hollywood” scandal in the closing
weeks of the election campaign. But Ryan was
the main focus of his Twitter rage.
“Paul Ryan, the failed V.P. candidate & for-
mer Speaker of the House, whose record of
achievement was atrocious (except during my
fi rst two years as President), ultimately became
a long running lame duck failure, leaving his
Party in the lurch both as a fundraiser & leader,”
Trump began his tweetstorm.
Associated Press
Secretary Acosta resigning
amid Epstein deal scrutiny
WASHINGTON — Labor Secretary Alex-
ander Acosta said Friday he is resigning follow-
ing renewed scrutiny of his handling of a 2008
secret plea deal with wealthy fi nancier Jeffrey
Epstein, who is accused of sexually abusing
dozens of underage girls.
President Donald Trump, with Acosta at
his side, made the announcement as he left the
White House for a trip to Wisconsin and Ohio.
The president said “I hate to see this happen”
and he did not ask Acosta to leave the Cabinet.
But conservatives, who are unhappy with steps
Acosta has taken at the department, had been
pushing for his ouster.
Trump, who publicly faults the news media
nearly every day, said Acosta put the blame
there, too, for his departure.
The president tweeted from aboard Air
Force One that Acosta “informed me this morn-
ing that he felt the constant drumbeat of press
about a prosecution which took place under his
watch more than 12 years ago was bad for the
administration, which he so strongly believes
in, and he graciously tendered his resignation.”
Acosta was the U.S. attorney in Miami
when he oversaw a 2008 nonprosecution
agreement that allowed Epstein to avoid federal
charges but plead guilty to state charges and
serve 13 months in jail. Similar charges fi led
against Epstein by federal prosecutors in New
York this week had put Acosta’s handling of the
2008 agreement with the now-jailed fi nancier
back in the spotlight.
Over the years, Epstein has counted Trump
and former President Bill Clinton among his
powerful friends, and Trump was quoted in
2002 as saying the fi nancier was “a lot of fun
to be with,” a “terrifi c guy” of whom “it is even
said that he likes beautiful women as much as I
do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Trump now says he and Epstein had a fall-
ing-out and he is “not a fan.”
Acosta said his resignation would be effec-
tive in seven days. He said he didn’t think it was
right for his handling of Epstein’s case to dis-
tract from the president’s agenda and his work
as secretary of labor.
“My point here today is we have an amaz-
ing economy, and the focus needs to be on the
economy,” Acosta said.
New Orleans’ levees face a
hard test as storm bears down
Even as Hurricane Katrina devastated New
Orleans, the Mississippi River’s levees held up
when those in other parts of the city did not.
But as Tropical Storm Barry threatened New
Pentagon in longest-ever
stretch of leadership limbo
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, right, accompanied by President Donald Trump, speaks to the
media on the South Lawn of the White House on Friday.
Orleans with torrential rains that will test the
city’s fl ood defenses this weekend, the height
of the city’s river levees was the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers’ greatest concern, spokes-
man Ricky Boyett said.
The danger to New Orleans — bound by the
Mississippi River on its south side, Lake Pon-
tchartrain on its north side and tributaries lead-
ing into the nearby Gulf of Mexico on the east
— is threefold: storm surges from the sea, rain
from the sky and water from the rising river if
the levees fail.
While the Army Corps wasn’t expecting
the swollen river to spill over into the city, the
threat from Barry was real with a storm that
was forecast to dump 10 to 20 inches of rain
on New Orleans through Sunday, with isolated
areas getting 25 inches.
The river was expected to crest at about 19
feet on Saturday in New Orleans, where the
levees protecting it from the water range from
about 20 to 25 feet in height, said Jeff Gra-
schel, a hydrologist with the National Weather
Service.
R. Kelly arrested again in
Chicago on federal sex charges
CHICAGO — Singer R. Kelly, already fac-
ing sexual abuse charges brought by Illinois
prosecutors, was arrested in Chicago Thurs-
day on a federal grand jury indictment listing
13 counts including sex crimes and obstruction
of justice.
U.S. Attorney’s Offi ce spokesman Joseph
Fitzpatrick said the R&B singer was taken into
custody and was being held by federal author-
ities. According to the Federal Bureau of Pris-
ons website, Kelly is being held at the Metro-
politan Correctional Center, Chicago.
He was arrested after the indictment was
handed down earlier Thursday in federal court
for the Northern District of Illinois.
“The counts include child porn, enticement
of a minor and obstruction of justice,” Fitzpat-
rick said, adding that further details would be
released Friday.
The arrest was the second time this year that
Kelly has been taken into custody in Chicago on
sex charges. The 52-year-old Grammy winner,
whose real name is Robert Kelly, was arrested
in February on 10 counts in Illinois involving
four women, three of whom were minors when
the alleged abuse occurred. He pleaded not
guilty to those charges and was released on bail.
Trump unloads on Ryan,
calls him ‘a lame duck failure’
WASHINGTON — President Donald
Trump unloaded via Twitter on former GOP
House Speaker Paul Ryan, calling him a “lame
duck failure.”
Ryan is very critical of Trump in the book
“American Carnage” by Tim Alberta of Polit-
ico, in excerpts running in various publi-
cations. Alberta wrote the former speaker
could not stand the idea of another two years
with the president and saw retirement as the
“escape hatch,” according to The Washington
Post. Ryan is quoted saying: “I’m telling you,
he didn’t know anything about government. I
wanted to scold him all the time.”
Trump tweeted late Thursday: “He had the
Majority & blew it away with his poor lead-
ership and bad timing. Never knew how to go
after the Dems like they go after us. Couldn’t
get him out of Congress fast enough!”
Trump may have been angered by various
revelations in the book, including accounts
recalling widespread negative GOP reactions
to his off-color videotaped comments in the
WASHINGTON — When he resigned as
defense secretary last December, Jim Mat-
tis thought it might take two months to install
a successor. That seemed terribly long at the
time.
Seven months later, the U.S. still has no con-
fi rmed defense chief even with the nation fac-
ing potential armed confl ict with Iran. That’s
the longest such stretch in Pentagon history.
There is also no confi rmed deputy defense
secretary, and other signifi cant senior civilian
and military Pentagon positions are in limbo,
more than at any recent time.
The causes are varied, but this leadership
vacuum has nonetheless begun to make mem-
bers of Congress and others uneasy, creating a
sense that something is amiss in a critical arm of
the government at a time of global uncertainty.
William Cohen, a former Republican sen-
ator who served as defense secretary during
President Bill Clinton’s second term, says
U.S. allies — “and even our foes” — expect
more stability than this within the U.S. defense
establishment.
Passengers violently ejected
from seats on turbulent fl ight
HONOLULU — Dozens of people were
violently slammed off the ceiling of a jetliner
that encountered unexpected and intense turbu-
lence over the Pacifi c Ocean Thursday.
An Air Canada fl ight to Australia made an
emergency landing in Honolulu after 37 peo-
ple were injured, nine seriously, during the sud-
den loss of altitude that sent people fl ying into
the luggage compartments and aisles of the
airplane.
The fl ight from Vancouver to Sydney
encountered “un-forecasted and sudden turbu-
lence,” about two hours past Hawaii when the
plane diverted to Honolulu, Air Canada spokes-
woman Angela Mah said in a statement.
“The plane just dropped,” passenger Steph-
anie Beam told The Associated Press. “When
we hit turbulence, I woke up and looked over
to make sure my kids were buckled. The next
thing I knew there’s just literally bodies on the
ceiling of the plane.”
The Clatsop County Fair
July 29 - Aug 3
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ARTIST + MAKER POP-UPS
SMOKED BONES BBQ
KIDS’ ACTIVITIES
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Adults $5 | 12 & Under $3 | Parking $2
TUES: FREE Hog Roast • 4pm
FRI: Midland Concert, gates open 6pm
SAT: Demolition Derby •11am
FRIDAY JULY 19TH 2-8PM
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92937 Walluski Loop
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