NATION/WORLD
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
East Oregonian
Page 9A
Trump congratulates Putin on election win
President promptly
gets backtalk from
Republicans
WASHINGTON — Pres-
ident Donald Trump called
Russian President Vladimir
Putin on Tuesday to congrat-
ulate him on his re-election,
drawing bruising criticism
from members of his own
party, including a leading
senator who scorned the
election as a “sham.” Trump
also said he and Putin might
meet “in the not too distant
future” to discuss the arms
race and other matters.
What they didn’t discuss
on Tuesday was noteworthy
as well: Trump did not raise
Russia’s meddling in the U.S.
elections or its suspected
involvement in the recent
poisoning of a former spy in
England.
“An American president
does not lead the free world
by congratulating dictators
on winning sham elections,”
said Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz., who chairs the
Senate Armed Services
Committee and has pressed
the Trump administration
to respond aggressively to
Russia’s interference in the
U.S. presidential election.
Sen. Jeff Flake of
Arizona, a frequent Trump
critic, called the president’s
call “odd.” Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell
said Trump “can call whom-
ever he chooses” but noted
that calling Putin “wouldn’t
have been high on my list.”
At the State Department,
spokeswoman
Heather
Nauert said it was “no
surprise” that Putin was
re-elected, commenting that
some people were paid to
turn out to vote and opposi-
tion leaders were intimidated
or jailed. She also cited a
preliminary report by the
Organization for Security
Senators push for better security
for 2018 mid-term election season
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
Government efforts to protect
state and local elections from
Russian cyberattacks in 2016
didn’t go far enough, leaders
of the Senate intelligence
committee said Tuesday as
the panel released recom-
mendations to safeguard
against foreign meddling
in the 2018 primary season
that’s already underway.
Federal warnings last
time did not provide enough
information or in some cases
go to the right people in state
and local governments, the
committee’s leaders said,
though they reiterated that
there was no evidence votes
were changed. Russian
agents targeted election
systems in 21 states ahead of
the 2016 general election, the
Homeland Security Depart-
ment has said, and top U.S.
intelligence officials have
said they’ve seen indications
Russian agents are preparing
a new round of election inter-
ference this year.
The committee’s recom-
mendations include urging
states to make sure voting
machines have paper audit
trails and aren’t capable
of being connected to the
internet. Senators also are
pushing for better commu-
nication among the various
U.S. intelligence agencies
and federal, state and local
governments about cyber
threats and vulnerabilities in
computer systems.
The
committee’s
recommendations preview
an election security report
expected to be released in
full in the coming weeks. It
is the first of four reports the
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard
Burr, R-N.C., center, joined from left by, Sen. Susan Col-
lins, R-Maine, Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., previews some of the
panel’s recommendations for improving the nation’s
election infrastructure ahead of the midterm elections.
panel plans to write in its
wide-ranging investigation
into Russian meddling in the
2016 election.
Committee
Chairman
Richard
Burr,
R-N.C.,
and Virginia Sen. Mark
Warner, the top Democrat
on the panel, released the
recommendations
ahead
of a Wednesday hearing
examining attempted hacks
on state election systems
in 2016 and the federal and
state response.
The proposals, in large
part, echo those made by
cybersecurity experts and
address concerns raised by
state and local officials. Even
with Republican and Demo-
cratic support, it’s unclear if
the recommendations will
translate into legislation.
Burr said his panel doesn’t
have jurisdiction over the
issues, so another committee
would have to write any bills
in Congress.
“While our investigation
is still ongoing, one conclu-
sion is clear: The Russians
were relentless in attempting
to meddle in the 2016 elec-
tions, and they will continue
their efforts to undermine
public confidence in Western
democracies and in the
legitimacy of our elections,”
said Republican Sen. Susan
Collins of Maine.
Burr said the committee’s
investigation revealed that
the Russian cyber effort
exposed “some of the key
gaps” in the security of the
nation’s election infrastruc-
ture. He said the committee
wants to maintain state
control of elections, but the
federal government should
be doing more to help.
“Clearly we’ve got to get
some standards in place that
assure every state that at
the end of the day they can
certify their vote totals,” he
said.
and Cooperation in Europe
that said Russia’s election
took place in an overly
controlled environment that
lacked an even playing field
for all contenders.
Her comments were
notably tougher on Russia
than those coming from the
White House.
White House press secre-
tary Sarah Huckabee Sanders
defended Trump’s call, and
noted that President Barack
Obama made a similar call
at the time of Putin’s last
electoral victory.
“We don’t get to dictate
how other countries operate,”
Sanders said.
The action and reaction
fit a Trump White House
pattern of declining to chide
authoritarian regimes for
undemocratic practices.
Trump himself has long
been reluctant to publicly
criticize Putin. He said
that during their hoped-for
meeting the two men would
likely discuss Ukraine, Syria
and North Korea, among
other things.
“I suspect that we’ll prob-
ably be meeting in the not
too distant future to discuss
the arms race, to discuss the
arms race, which is getting
out of control, but we will
never allow anybody to have
BRIEFLY
Teen shoots girl in Maryland
school, killed in confrontation
GREAT MILLS, Md. — A teenager armed
with a handgun shot and critically wounded a
girl inside a Maryland school on Tuesday and
the shooter was killed when a school resource
officer confronted him moments after the
gunfire erupted. A third student was in good
condition after he was shot.
The shooting at Great Mills High
School, a month after 17 people were killed
at a Florida high school, intensified calls
for Congress to act on gun violence at
schools. This weekend, students across the
country plan an anti-gun violence march on
the nation’s capital.
In Maryland, it wasn’t immediately
clear whether the shooter took his own
life or was killed by the officer’s bullet,
St. Mary’s County Sheriff Tim Cameron
said, though the officer was credited with
preventing any more loss of life.
Authorities didn’t release a motive, but
said they believe the girl and the shooter —
17-year-old Austin Rollins — previously
had a relationship. It wasn’t clear how the
14-year-old boy was wounded.
The officer, who doubles as a SWAT
team member, was unharmed.
Police did not identify the victims, but
the family of 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey, a
sophomore at Great Mills, confirmed that
she had been shot.
World’s last male northern
white rhino, Sudan, dies
NAIROBI, Kenya — The death of
the world’s last male northern white
rhino, Sudan, doesn’t end efforts to save
a subspecies of one of the world’s most
recognizable animals. The focus now turns
to his stored semen and that of four other
dead rhinos, as well as the perfection of in
vitro fertilization techniques and the critical
need to keep the remaining two females
alive.
Whatever happens, conservationists
hope the lessons learned in the endeavor
can be applied to other critically endangered
species.
The 45-year-old Sudan, who won
widespread affection last year with his
listing as “The Most Eligible Bachelor in
the World” on the Tinder dating app in
a fundraising effort, was euthanized on
Monday after “age-related complications,”
researchers said Tuesday.
In his death, the world saw the shadow of
extinction approach before their eyes. “Utter
tragedy today,” British Foreign Secretary
Boris Johnson tweeted. “We can’t just sit
back and watch more species disappear.”
Border wall, tunnel tussle
hold up spending bill
WASHINGTON — President Donald
Trump will reap a huge budget increase
for the military while Democrats cement
wins on infrastructure and other domestic
programs that they failed to get under
President Barack Obama if lawmakers can
agree on a $1.3 trillion government-wide
spending bill before a deadline later this
week. Battles over budget priorities in the
huge bill were essentially settled Tuesday,
but a scaled-back plan for Trump’s border
wall and a fight over a tunnel under
the Hudson River still held up a final
agreement.
GoodHealth LIVE
WITH CHRISTOPHER J. KEELER, D.O.,
BOARD CERTIFIED GENERAL SURGEON
Authorities encounter new threats
amid new leads in Texas bombings
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Investigators nearby when she heard helicopters and raced
pursuing a suspected serial bomber in the toward the store.
Texas capital faced new threats along with
“I was raised on these bombings. I know
the promise of valuable new leads as their the feeling of how it feels and how it hurts,”
attention
shifted
she said, adding
Tuesday to a FedEx
that she used to tell
shipping center near
people “in America,
San Antonio where
there will never be
a package exploded
these things.”
and the discovery of
Even before the
another, unexploded
report of the Good-
bomb near Austin’s
will scare, it had been
airport.
a busy day. A bomb
inside a package
Even as they
exploded
around
pored
through
1 a.m. Tuesday as
surveillance
video
it passed along a
footage and collected
AP Photo/Eric Gay
conveyer belt at
evidence hoping to
get closer to tracking An employee wrapped in a blanket talks a FedEx shipping
down whoever is to a police officer after she was evacuat- center in Schertz,
behind the blasts ed at a FedEx distribution center where northeast of San
package exploded, Tuesday in Schertz,
Antonio and about 60
that have killed two a
Texas.
miles southwest of
people and seriously
Austin. One worker
wounded four others,
a Tuesday night scare caused them to swiftly reported ringing in her ears and was treated
respond to a Goodwill store in the southern at the scene.
Local and federal authorities confirmed
part of Austin. It turned out to be an unrelated
explosion: Someone dropped off a device the package center blast was related to four
sometimes used in military training and it other ones since March 2.
Later in the morning, police sent a bomb
went off and injured a worker.
Police said they don’t believe it was the squad to a FedEx facility outside the Austin
work of a copycat and that such military airport to check on a suspicious package that
items are sometimes mistakenly donated to was reported. Federal agencies and police
Goodwill instead of being properly disposed later said that package had indeed contained
of.
an explosive that was successfully inter-
“We put all the donations we get in a big cepted and that it, too, was tied to the other
cardboard box. (The worker) pulled some- bombings.
thing out in a bag, completely normal, and
Authorities also closed off an Austin-area
the device went off,” Gary Davis, president FedEx store where they believe the bomb
and CEO of Goodwill Texas, said as he stood that exploded was shipped to the distri-
outside a police barrier huddling with other bution center. They roped off a large area
employees.
around the shopping center in the enclave of
“In this town, if an incendiary device goes Sunset Valley and were collecting evidence,
off, everybody just scatters and panics. We’re including surveillance camera footage.
all on edge.”
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, a Republican
The blast reminded Shahla Mohnandshaw, from Austin who is chairman of the House
who grew up in Afghanistan before moving Homeland Security Committee, said that
to the U.S. in 2012, of home. Mohnandshaw, investigators have obtained surveillance
whose husband works at the Goodwill, was videos that “could possibly” show a suspect,
doing laundry at her apartment complex but are still poring through video.
anything even close to what
we have,” Trump said.
Russia has received
global condemnation after
Britain blamed Moscow for
the recent nerve agent attack
that sickened Sergei Skripal
and his daughter. Russia has
denied the accusation.
Trump’s call came at a
period of heightened tensions
between the two nations after
the White House imposed
sanctions on Russia for its
interference in the 2016 U.S.
election and other “malicious
cyberattacks.”
Sanders
insisted that the administra-
tion has scolded Putin at the
appropriate times.
General
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& You
Join Dr. Christopher
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Wednesday, April 65
6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Good Shepherd Health Care System
Conference Center 1 and 6
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A Healthy dessert with light refreshments will be provided
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