AP News in Brief at 9:04 p.m. EDT
Trump, Biden trade barbs amid dueling Iowa campaign visits
MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa (AP) - President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden spent Tuesday trading insults - sometimes almost simultaneously- as they stumped across Iowa in split-screen moments that could preview a ferocious fight ahead if the two face off for the presidency next year.
Biden's name recognition and a sense among Democrats that he could beat Trump has helped him climb to the top of his party's crowded presidential field. But Trump said Biden only gained in the polls because he went on the offensive against the president himself, and he linked the former vice president to 2016 foe Hillary Clinton.
"People don't respect him," Trump said after touring a renewable energy facility in Council Bluffs. "Even the people that he's running against, they're saying: 'Where is he? What happened?'"
With a dose of exaggeration, the president added: "He makes his stance in Iowa once every two weeks and then he mentions my name 74 times in one speech. I don't know. That reminds me of Crooked Hillary. She did the same thing."
At almost the same moment in Mount Pleasant, Biden noted the attention he has been getting from Trump. Biden's appearances from earlier in the day were playing on TV screens when Air Force One landed in Iowa.
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Jon Stewart lashes out at Congress over 9/11 victims fund
WASHINGTON (AP) - Comedian Jon Stewart scolded Congress Tuesday for failing to ensure that a victims' compensation fund set up after the 9/11 attacks never runs out of money.
Stewart, a longtime advocate for 9/11 responders, angrily called out lawmakers for failing to attend a hearing on a bill to ensure the fund can pay benefits for the next 70 years. Pointing to rows of empty seats at a House Judiciary Committee hearing room, Stewart said "sick and dying" first responders and their families came to Washington for the hearing, only to face a nearly deserted dais.
The sparse attendance by lawmakers was "an embarrassment to the country and a stain on this institution," Stewart said, adding that the "disrespect" shown to first responders now suffering from respiratory ailments and other illnesses "is utterly unacceptable."
Lawmakers from both parties said they support the bill and were monitoring the hearing amid other congressional business.
Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., predicted the bill will pass with overwhelming support and said lawmakers meant no disrespect as they moved in and out of the subcommittee hearing, a common occurrence on Capitol Hill.
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Ex-slugger David Ortiz had counted on fans to protect him
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - Beloved in his hometown, David Ortíz traveled the dangerous streets of Santo Domingo with little or no security, trusting in his fans to protect him.
Big Papi's guard was down even at hotspots like the Dial Bar and Lounge, where the Dominican business and entertainment elite can cross paths with shadier figures in a country where fortunes are often made in drug smuggling and money laundering.
As the former Red Sox slugger lies in intensive care in Boston, recovering from the bullet fired into his back at the Dial on Sunday night, police are investigating what aspect of the national hero's life made him the target of what appeared to be an assassination attempt.
Ortíz was so relaxed at the open-air hotspot Sunday that he had his back to the sidewalk as a gunman - a passenger on a motorcycle - got off the bike just before 9 p.m., approached the 43-year-old retired athlete and fired a single shot at close range before escaping.
Enraged fans captured the 25-year-old motorcyclist and beat him bloody before handing him over to police, but the gunman was still at large Tuesday.
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Medicaid vote emerges as key in Virginia's GOP primaries
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A top Virginia Republican who upset much of his party by supporting Medicaid expansion defeated a conservative challenger Tuesday in a state legislative primary that could serve as a political barometer for the coming presidential year. But a lesser-known GOP delegate who also backed expansion lost to a more conservative challenger in a key swing district, which could make it harder for Republicans to keep their majority in the House come November.
And in an improbable political comeback, a former Virginia lawmaker who used to spend his days at the state Capitol and his nights in jail after being accused of having sex with his teenage secretary defeated an incumbent senator in a Democratic primary.
Normally sleepy affairs, the primaries for the 140 seats in the state Legislature were more dramatic this year as moderates in both parties took fire from their more extreme flanks. Virginia is the only state where the Legislature has a reasonable chance of flipping party control. Republicans currently have narrow majorities in both the House and Senate.
The state's 2017 elections were an early warning signal that a blue wave of opposition to President Donald Trump would wash over the 2018 U.S. midterms, and now political analysts are looking for clues about 2020.
On the GOP side, lingering resentment over last year's vote to expand Medicaid in Virginia fueled divisive contests.
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Pelosi says Dems 'not even close' to starting impeachment
WASHINGTON (AP) - Brushing back calls for impeachment, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday "it's not even close" to having enough support in the House, while Democrats pushed forward on other fronts to investigate President Donald Trump.
The House voted 229-191 to approve a resolution that will allow Democrats to accelerate their legal battles with the Trump administration over access to information from the Russia investigation.
At the same time, they're convening hearings this week on special counsel Robert Mueller's report in an effort to boost public interest in the findings of the Trump-Russia probe while digging into a legal strategy aimed at forcing Attorney General William Barr, former White House counsel Don McGahn and others into compliance with congressional oversight.
"We need answers to the questions left unanswered by the Mueller report," Pelosi said on the House floor ahead of voting.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy countered that the Democratic maneuvers are all "just a desperate attempt to relitigate the Mueller investigation." He called it "an impeachment effort in everything but name."
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Jury can't decide on charges against Arizona border activist
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - A U.S. jury could not reach a verdict Tuesday against a border activist charged with conspiracy to transport and harbor migrants in a trial that humanitarian aid groups said would have wide implications on their work.
Defense attorneys argued that Scott Daniel Warren, a 36-year-old college geography instructor, was simply being kind by providing two migrants with water, food and lodging when he was arrested in early 2018. He faced up to 20 years in prison.
But prosecutors maintained the men were not in distress and Warren conspired to transport and harbor them at a property used for providing aid to migrants in an Arizona town near the U.S.-Mexico border.
The case played out as humanitarian groups say they are coming under increasing scrutiny under President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policies.
Outside the courthouse, Warren thanked his supporters and criticized the government's efforts to crack down on the number of immigrants coming to the U.S.
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US submits extradition request for WikiLeaks founder Assange
WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States government has formally submitted an extradition request to the United Kingdom for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange , a Justice Department official said Tuesday.
Assange faces an 18-count indictment that accuses him of soliciting and publishing classified information and of conspiring with former Army private Chelsea Manning to crack a Defense Department computer password. That indictment, which includes Espionage Act charges, was issued by the Justice Department last month and is pending in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
The extradition request had been expected ever since U.S. authorities first announced a criminal case against Assange. Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi said it was submitted to the United Kingdom.
The 47-year-old Assange was evicted on April 11 from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had been holed up since 2012 after Ecuador granted him political asylum. He was arrested by British police and is currently serving a 50-week sentence for jumping bail. Sweden also seeks him for questioning about an alleged rape, which Assange has denied.
Assange was initially charged with a single computer crime violation on allegations that he worked with Manning to crack a government password. Some legal experts have said the additional Espionage Act charges might slow or complicate the extradition process to the extent the United Kingdom views them as political offenses and therefore exempt from extradition.
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Alex Morgan has 5 goals as US routs Thailand 13-0
REIMS, France (AP) - Thailand was never a real threat to the U.S. national team. Even so, the three-time Women's World Cup champions had no desire to go easy on a lesser opponent in their opening game.
Goals matter in the group stage.
And statements matter in soccer's biggest tournament.
"Obviously we have the utmost respect for everyone we play, but it's the World Cup," said captain Megan Rapinoe.
Alex Morgan tied the tournament record with five goals and the United States opened with a historic 13-0 rout of Thailand on Tuesday night. Samantha Mewis and Rose Lavelle each added a pair of goals for the United States, which broke the record for goals and margin of victory in a World Cup game.
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Southern Baptists meet; endorse steps against sex abuse
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AP) - Confronting an unprecedented sex-abuse crisis, delegates at the Southern Baptist Convention's national meeting voted Tuesday to make it easier to expel churches that mishandle abuse cases.
The Rev. J.D. Greear, president of the nation's largest Protestant denomination, said the SBC faced a "defining moment" that would shape the church for generations to come.
"This is not a distraction from the mission," Greear said of the fight against sex abuse. "Protecting God's children is the mission of the church."
The SBC's meeting comes as U.S. Catholic bishops convene in Baltimore to address a widening sex-abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. The Southern Baptist Convention says it had 14.8 million members in 2018, down about 192,000 from the previous year. The Catholic Church is the largest denomination in the U.S., with 76.3 million members as of last year - down from 81.2 million in 2005.
Sex abuse already was a high-profile issue at the SBC's 2018 national meeting in Dallas, after which Greear formed an advisory group to draft recommendations on how to confront the problem. Greear was unanimously re-elected to a second term on Tuesday.
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Mistrial declared on remaining counts against ex-NFL player
VISTA, Calif. (AP) - A California judge declared a mistrial Tuesday on the remaining charges against former NFL player Kellen Winslow Jr. after a jury convicted him of raping a 58-year-old homeless woman but could not break a deadlock over two counts of rape involving a 54-year-old hitchhiker and an unconscious teen.
Prosecutors did not immediately say whether they would retry the eight undecided charges but agreed to return to court Friday to discuss that option and possibly set a new trial date.
Winslow, who played for Cleveland, Tampa Bay, New England and the New York Jets, currently faces up to nine years in prison and must register as a sex offender.
The jury on Monday found him guilty of an attack last year on the homeless woman in his picturesque beach community of Encinitas, north of San Diego. Jurors also convicted him of two misdemeanors - indecent exposure and a lewd act in public - involving two other women.
The 35-year-old former tight end - at one point one of the highest paid in the NFL - could face up to life in prison if he is retried and convicted of raping all three women.
