Mueller grand jury gets longer term
WASHINGTON -- The chief federal judge in Washington has extended the term of the grand jury used by special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
That's according to a court spokesman who wasn't authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. The extension by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell is the latest sign that the Mueller probe will continue for at least the next several months.
The grand jury was impaneled in July 2017 for a standard 18-month term that was set to expire this week before Howell's extension. Federal criminal procedure rules allow such extensions when a judge determines it is in the public interest. The extension can only last up to six months.
Separately, prosecutors with Mueller's office and the U.S. attorney's office in Washington indicated in a court filing Thursday that there's an ongoing grand jury investigation related to a Russian social media troll farm accused of interfering in the 2016 presidential election.
The lawyers told a judge they want to reply under seal to an ongoing court dispute with a Russian company because their response concerns a "matter occurring before the grand jury."
Mueller's office last February indicted three Russian individuals and three Russian companies accused in a social media effort to sway American public opinion ahead of the election.
Airstrike targetswanted militant
WASHINGTON -- An American airstrike earlier this week targeted an al-Qaida operative accused of involvement in the attack nearly two decades ago on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors and wounded 39 others, a U.S. military spokesman said Friday.
The man targeted, Jamal al-Badawi, is wanted in the United States for his role in the Cole attack on Oct. 12, 2000. He was indicted by a U.S. grand jury in 2003 and charged with 50 counts of various terrorism offenses, including murder of U.S. nationals and murder of U.S. military personnel.
"U.S. forces are still assessing the results of the strike following a deliberate process to confirm his death," the spokesman for U.S. Central Command, Navy Capt. William Urban, said.
Urban said the airstrike was conducted Tuesday in Marib, which is east of Sanaa, the Yemeni capital.
The Cole, a guide-missile destroyer, was attacked by suicide bombers in an explosives-laden boat while refueling at the Yemeni port of Aden.
Kansas senator will retire in '20
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, Kansas' longest-serving member of Congress, announced Friday that he won't run again in 2020, setting up a scramble to replace him in a GOP-leaning state where Democrats are energized by key victories in last year's midterm elections.
The four-term senator, now 82, was likely to have faced grueling primary and general election contests next year, just as he did in 2014 when his longevity on Capitol Hill became a political liability for him.
Democrats haven't won a Senate seat in Kansas since 1932. However, Democrat Laura Kelly won the governor's race in November, and the state's previously all-GOP congressional delegation gained a Democrat when Sharice Davids was elected in a Kansas City-area district.
Roberts said after announcing his decision that he did not feel pushed out.
"No, no, just the opposite," Roberts said. "As I talked to people who helped me, they said, 'Oh, you could give it another shot' -- and I could -- but I think it's just time."
Roberts is the second veteran GOP senator to announce plans not to seek re-election in 2020, after Tennessee's Lamar Alexander.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 01/05/2019