NEWS BRIEFING
White House decides against releasing partial visitor records
Even though President Donald Trump led chants of “drain the swamp” during the campaign and promised to protect government business from special interests, the decision makes it harder for the public to know who is influencing the president and his advisers.
Keeping the visitor logs hidden from public view will protect the privacy of visitors and is meant to address security risks that may be posed if people are identified publicly as close to Trump, White House communications director Mike Dubke said Friday.
The public and the media will be able to file requests for the logs under the Freedom of Information Act, Dubke said. Such requests often require legal action that can delay the release of records for several years.
“Given the grave national security risks and privacy concerns of the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, the White House Office will disclose Secret Service logs as outlined under the Freedom of Information Act, a position the Obama White House successfully defended in federal court,” Dubke said in a statement.
The U.S. Secret Service conducts background checks and keeps a list of all visitors to the 18-acre White House grounds.
Watchdog groups also want to know more about who Trump is meeting with during trips to his resort in Palm Beach, Fla.
Arkansas Supreme Court halts execution of 1 of 7 prisoners
A medical supplier, meanwhile, said one of the three drugs the state plans to use to put the prisoners to death wasn’t sold to be used for lethal injections.
Justices issued an emergency stay for Bruce Ward, who was scheduled to be put to death Monday for the 1989 death of a woman found strangled in the men’s room of the Little Rock convenience store where she worked.
The decision leaves six men facing execution, though U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker is considering the inmates’ arguments that such a compressed schedule could lead to undue suffering.
2 Secret Service officers face firing after intrusion, aide says
Two Secret Service officers who were on duty the night a man jumped the White House fence and spent 17 minutes roaming the grounds have been told the agency intends to fire them.
That’s according to a congressional aide who was not authorized to discuss details of a briefing on the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The agency said in a statement that a review of the March 10 incident is ongoing but that it does not comment on personnel actions.
The intruder managed to spend 17 minutes on White House grounds while President Donald Trump was inside.
The chairman of the House Oversight Committee said the intruder was able to look through a White House window and “rattle the door handle” before being nabbed.
Navy investigating California SEAL working as porn actor
The Naval Special Warfare Command wants to know whether Chief Special Warfare Officer Joseph Schmidt III properly obtained permission from his commanders for outside work and whether they condoned his acting career, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Schmidt, 42, has spent 23 years in the military and holds numerous medals, including a citation of valor for combat overseas. He has appeared in recruiting campaigns, even serving as the face of the SEAL program on its website, the newspaper said.
He has appeared under the name Jay Voom in at least 29 sex films over seven years. Many feature his wife, porn star Jewels Jade.
Divisions in Syria apparent amid population swap
President Bashar Assad’s government has used siege warfare tactics to subdue restive towns throughout the conflict, cutting rebel supply lines and civilian access to food until the rebels agree to surrender.
Opposition officials have accused the government of using the blockades to force demographic change along sectarian lines.
The departures Friday marked the first stage in an evacuation that will see some 30,000 Syrians switch between rebel- and government-held areas as part of a complex deal brokered by Qatar and Iran.
The United Nations is not supervising the evacuations.
Nigeria marks 3 years since abduction of Chibok girls
Activists rallied in the capital, Abuja, and commercial hub Lagos and urged President Muhammadu Buhari’s government to do more to free the nearly 200 Chibok girls who remain captive.
“It is still a nightmare to me. It is still fresh as if it happened last night,” said Rebecca Samuel, whose daughter Sarah remains missing. She wept and pleaded for a solution.
The failure of Nigeria’s former government to free the girls sparked a Bring Back Our Girls movement and was a factor in Buhari’s 2015 election win over former President Goodluck Jonathan.