President Trump on Tuesday lashed out at Christopher Wray after the FBI director agreed with the conclusion of the Justice Department inspector general report that the bureau’s Russia probe was justified and not politically biased.

Depends if it actually happened.

A former Mexican government official responsible for public security has been charged with accepting millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa drug cartel once run by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to help it operate with "impunity" in Mexico, U.S. prosecutors said on Tuesday. Genaro Garcia Luna, 51, who now lives in Florida, faces charges of drug trafficking conspiracy and making false statements, and could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted, the Department of Justice said. Garcia Luna was arrested in Dallas on Monday and is expected to face the charges in the same Brooklyn, New York, court where a jury convicted Guzman in February on drug trafficking charges.

Thick reindeer fur boots and a fur hat covering most of his face shielded Niila Inga from freezing winds as he raced his snowmobile up to a mountain top overlooking his reindeer in the Swedish arctic. Climate change is altering weather patterns here and affecting the herd’s food supply. “If we don’t find better areas for them where they can graze and find food, then the reindeers will starve to death,” he said.

As our planet and its oceans warm, the polar ice sheets are melting at accelerated rates. Greenland's average yearly ice loss is 262 billion tons.

(Bloomberg) -- McKinsey & Co said Monday it would release Pete Buttigieg from a nondisclosure agreement preventing him from naming the clients he worked for as a consultant at the firm from 2007 to 2010.In a statement, a spokesman for McKinsey, who refused to be identified, said the company would allow Buttigieg to release the names because of the “unique circumstances presented by a presidential campaign.”“After receiving permission from the relevant clients, we have informed Mayor Buttigieg that he may disclose the identity of the clients he served while at McKinsey from 2007 to 2010,” the spokesman said. “Any description of his work for those clients still must not disclose confidential, proprietary or classified information obtained during the course of that work, or violate any security clearance.”Buttigieg asked the firm on Friday to release him from the nondisclosure agreements he signed when he joined McKinsey. He had come under attack from his Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren for not disclosing the names of his clients.Buttigieg spokeswoman Lis Smith tweeted that the campaign would soon release the names.He has said that he worked for several nonprofits and on projects in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also has released his tax returns for the years he was at McKinsey.Buttigieg also Monday said that he would open his fundraisers to the press and release more names of so-called bundlers, a response to Warren’s demand that he be more transparent about the source of his campaign contributions.Buttigieg has held several high-dollar fundraisers with Wall Street and Silicon Valley donors without allowing any reporters in or releasing names of guests and hosts. “Bundlers” collect campaign contributions from multiple donors and deliver it to the candidate.Warren, whose attacks on Buttigieg have increased as he’s taken the lead in the first nominating state of Iowa, has criticized him for a lack of transparency. She doesn’t hold fundraisers and relies mostly on grassroots contributions. Joe Biden allows reporters into his fundraisers but has yet to release the names of his bundlers“From the start, Pete has said it is important for every candidate to be open and honest, and his actions have reflected that commitment,” Mike Schmuhl, Buttigieg’s campaign manager, said in a statement.Fundraisers will be open to the press beginning Tuesday and the names of bundlers will be released this week, Schmuhl said.Buttigieg and Warren have sparred over transparency and their past corporate ties.On Thursday, Warren unleashed an unusually pointed attack on Buttigieg’s campaign-finance practices at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Boston.“The mayor should be releasing who’s on his finance committee, who are the bundlers who are raising big money for him, who he’s given a title to and made promises to,” Warren said. “And he should open up the doors so that the press can follow the promises that he’s making in these big-dollar fundraisers.”Buttigieg released a list of 32 campaign bundlers in the first quarter. The names included hedge-fund manager Orin Kramer, who raised more than $500,000 for Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, and Steve Elmendorf, a lobbyist who represents Goldman Sachs Group and Facebook Inc.Buttigieg raised $24.9 million in the second quarter, tops among Democratic contenders. Overall, Buttigieg’s campaign has raked in $51.5 million, placing him third, behind Warren and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.In April, Buttigieg’s campaign announced it would no longer accept money from registered lobbyists or allow them to raise money for him. It also said it would not accept money from corporate PACs. His campaign refunded $30,250 it had received from lobbyists up to that point, including $2,800 given by Elmendorf.On Sunday, Warren disclosed that she had made $1.9 million as a bankruptcy lawyer after several requests from Buttigieg that she release her tax returns.Warren had previously released the names of the clients and cases she took on during her tenure as a professor at Harvard and other law schools, as well as 11 years of tax returns, dating back to 2008. The documents released Sunday cover her compensation between 1985 and 2009, but don’t include tax returns.(Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)(Updates with Buttigieg campaign statement in fifth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Bill Allison.To contact the reporter on this story: Emma Kinery in Washington at ekinery@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max BerleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Despite being one poll away from qualifying for the December debate, the Hawaii Congresswoman stated she wouldn't attend the debate.

Timothy Ginter, who said he had ‘no knowledge’ of Project Blitz, was listed as co-chair of state branch of group behind the campaignAn Ohio legislator who said he had “no knowledge” of a rightwing Christian bill mill called Project Blitz is, in fact, the co-chair of the state branch of an organization behind the campaign.The Ohio state representative Timothy Ginter sponsored a bill called the Student Religious Liberties Act. Opponents argued the bill would provide students with a religious exemption to facts, and would frighten teachers and school administrators into including religion in school functions.The Guardian revealed the bill was nearly identical to one promoted by Project Blitz, a state legislative project guided by three Christian right organizations, including the Congressional Prayer Caucus (CPC), WallBuilders and the ProFamily Legislators Conference. Project Blitz aims to promote and help pass conservative legislation across the US to fulfil its rightwing Christian agenda.When initially approached, Ginter told the Guardian in an email from a legislative aide that he had “no knowledge of ‘Project Blitz’ and has not been working with WallBuilders or the Congressional Prayer Caucus”.However, a screenshot shows Ginter was listed as the co-chair of the Ohio Prayer Caucus, the state chapter of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, as recently as January 2019. Ginter’s former chief of staff, Chris Albanese, is currently listed as the state director of the state chapter of CPC, Ohio Prayer Caucus.“I would call it an outright lie,” said Frederick Clarkson, a senior research analyst with Political Research Associates, and an expert on the Christian right. “The Prayer Caucus in the states are the action arm of Project Blitz – it is Project Blitz,” he said. “When he told you, ‘I’ve never heard of Project Blitz,’ that was a lie,” said Clarkson.The Guardian repeatedly called and emailed both Ginter and the the Republican Ohio house speaker, Larry Householder. Neither responded to these phone or email requests.In a statement at the time, Ginter argued the bill was necessary because, “well-funded groups” were intimidating school officials with “the thread of litigation”. His bill, he argued, would clarify their responsibilities.Ginter also argued the Student Religious Liberties Bill was not a Christian bill, because it does not explicitly mention Christianity. However, the Ohio Prayer Caucus he co-chaired explicitly lays out that it support legislators “who are standing for faith, morality and Judeo-Christian principles”.The Congressional Prayer Caucus also circulated an Ohio Prayer Proclamation. Among its signers are Ginter; the former representative Bill Hayes, who originally sponsored the bill; and the former House speaker Cliff Rosenberger. Rosenberger resigned in 2018 after a search warrant and subpoena revealed the FBI was investigating Rosenberger for corruption involving three payday lending representatives, according to the Dayton Daily News.Prominent defenders of religious liberties, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Anti-Defamation League, oppose the legislation. Republicans in the Ohio House passed the legislation with a party-line vote in November. It has not yet been taken up by the Ohio senate.

Before catching the eye of German law enforcement, former Ukrainian parliamentarian Oleksandr Onyshchenko drew attention from the conservative TV channel One America News. Last week, German authorities arrested the multi-millionaire because of a warrant from Ukrainian anti-corruption prosecutors. Before his arrest, though, the Trump-friendly media outlet tried to help him get a visa to travel to the U.S. The effort, which has not been previously reported, was part of a push by OAN to unearth information on Burisma Holdings, the energy company that retained Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President and current Trump rival Joe Biden. Onyshchenko has claimed to have dirt on the firm. Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, meanwhile, has boosted the channel’s Burisma work. “I can confirm that One America News Network did attempt to secure a number of visas for former Ukrainian officials to travel to the United States, including Olekesandr Onyshchenko,” network president Charles Herring told The Daily Beast in an email. “One America News Network made the request prior to Mr. Onyschchenko being detained. One America News investigative efforts have cost in excess of $100,000 to date.”Herring added that the outlet is also “currently seeking visas” for several other former Ukrainian officials, but is no longer doing so for Onyshchenko. Herring declined to say which other ex-officials his outlet is trying to secure visas for. Efforts by media outlets to secure legal travel authorizations for their sources are in an ethical gray area, according to one expert. Especially when the source in question is accused of embezzlement. Onyshchenko’s lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.Ukrainian anti-corruption prosecutors allege Onyshchenko ran a scheme to steal millions from Kyiv’s state-owned natural gas company. The news of OAN’s effort to help him get a visa comes on the heels of Rudy Giuliani’s trip to Kyiv, where Trump’s personal lawyer worked with a correspondent and crew member of OAN. On the trip, Giuliani and OAN’s Chanel Rion met with Viktor Shokin and Yuri Lutsenko, two former Ukrainian prosecutors who have alleged misconduct by the Bidens. Their claims—that Obama administration officials pressured the Ukrainain government to ignore wrongdoing by Burisma in a bid to protect the Bidens—are at the heart of Giuliani’s search for dirt. Giuliani has said he is working with OAN on this project, and the network’s segments back that up. OAN’s coverage of the impeachment scandal has raised eyebrows. The channel sent a camera crew to the apartment building where they believe the whistleblower who kicked off the Ukraine scandal lives, and to the home of the suspected whistleblower’s parents. And Rion’s documentary series on the Bidens and Burisma has taken an odd tone. In a promotional segment for one program, she said the sources would “testify under oath” for the show. Giuliani figures prominently throughout the programing. And on Tuesday evening, Rion tweeted effusive praise of Giuliani’s communications director, Christianne Allen. “An incredibly talented patriot and a breath of fresh air here in the swamp. @Christianne_L_A — here’s to the adventures ahead,” Rion wrote, along with a picture of herself and Allen.Onyshchenko told conservative media site CD Media that he applied for a U.S. visa earlier this year. It wasn’t his first overture to American officials; in 2016, Onyshchenko met with Justice Department officials to discuss corruption in Ukraine. People familiar with the events told The Daily Beast that Onyshchenko’s outreach appeared to be part of an effort to secure a U.S. visa. In recent years, OAN has tried to outpace Fox News, Fox Business, and Sinclair as the most committed Trump ally in television. Beyond traveling with Giuliani on his latest European jaunt in hopes of scoring dirt on Trump’s political enemies, the network has run countless hours of explicitly pro-MAGA programming and has even taken the step of naming the alleged whistleblower whose complaint triggered the impeachment inquiry—a step that Fox brass have repeatedly instructed their own staff not to take.And Trump has noticed. The president has tweeted praise of OAN’s coverage while chastising Fox News for being insufficiently supportive of him. He also privately recommends the network to total strangers at Mar-a-Lago. Rudy Giuliani’s Ukraine ‘Investigation’ Stars Some of Kyiv’s Most Dubious CharactersThe network’s efforts on Onyshchenko’s behalf raise ethical questions, according to journalism professor Dan Kennedy of Northeastern University. “This sounds like it’s in kind of a gray area,” he told The Daily Beast.“If they’re just helping them come over to the U.S. for a short period of time to be interviewed and participate in a story, maybe that doesn’t bother me that much. But if this is some sort of long-term arrangement where the Ukrainians would be able to stay in the U.S. a long time, this is something they’ve been wanting to do, and OAN is making it happen for them, that would probably be going too far.”“I’m not really comfortable with any of this,” he added, “but as long as it’s for some short-term purpose—namely, for participating in a story—I’m not going to get all outraged about it, either.”Giuliani’s Ukraine project is central to Democrats’ impeachment inquiry targeting Trump. In a July phone call, Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to help Giuliani with the effort. Meanwhile, the administration held up military aid and refused to schedule a White House visit for Zelensky. Giuliani communicated to Ukrainian officials that Zelensky needed to announce investigations Burisma and of alleged Ukrainian interference in the U.S. 2016 election if he wanted to visit the White House, according to European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland. Zelensky didn’t announce the probes, and the White House has yet to set a date for his visit. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

President Donald Trump's decision to grant Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov an Oval Office meeting is yet another example of his abdication of his responsibilities, several Democratic politicians have told The Independent.Mr Lavrov arrived at the White House at about 2.15pm on Tuesday afternoon, entering the West Wing after telling reporters he was there to "say good afternoon to the president". The pair met behind closed doors and Mr Lavrov left after about an hour.