U.S. notes refusals, returns Cohen to jail
NEW YORK -- Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer, was returned to federal prison Thursday after he balked at certain conditions of the home confinement he was granted because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The federal Bureau of Prisons said that Cohen had "refused the conditions of his home confinement and as a result, has been returned to a [federal] facility."
Lanny Davis, a Cohen legal adviser, said Cohen had refused to sign off on conditions requiring he avoid speaking with the media as well as not publishing a tell-all book he began working on in federal prison. Davis said the book had been nearly ready to publish.
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Cohen later agreed to accept the requirements, Davis said, but was taken into custody nevertheless.
A Justice Department official pushed back on Davis' characterization, saying that Cohen had refused to accept the terms of home confinement, specifically that he submit to wearing an ankle monitor. The official could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Cohen's return to prison is days after the New York Post published photos of him and his wife enjoying an outdoor meal with friends at a restaurant near his Manhattan home.
Cohen, 53, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion, campaign-finance fraud and lying to Congress, had been released May 21 on furlough as part of efforts to slow the spread of the virus in federal prisons. He had been scheduled to remain in prison until November 2021 but was permitted to serve the remainder of this three-year term at home.
Virus-hit ship back at port in San Diego
SAN DIEGO -- The USS Theodore Roosevelt returned home to San Diego on Thursday led by a new captain after the previous commanding officer was fired over the handling of a coronavirus outbreak on board.
There were no emotional embraces on the Navy pier typical of such homecomings when sailors return after months at sea. Instead, the crew wearing face coverings disembarked one by one and walked to waiting vehicles as a coronavirus preventive.
The aircraft carrier departed in January with 4,800 crew members. In late March, it pulled into port at Guam during a rapidly escalating outbreak. It remained there for 10 weeks as the ship was sanitized and sailors were taken off to be quarantined, treated or tested. Over time, more than 1,150 crew members tested positive for the coronavirus and one sailor died.
Former Capt. Brett Crozier urged his commanders to take faster action to stem the spread of the virus but was removed from his command when his letter was leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The ship returned to sea June 4.
Detentions at border rise 40% in June
The number of migrants detained along the Mexico border jumped 40% in June, despite emergency orders to swiftly "expel" those who cross illegally, according to enforcement statistics released Thursday by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.
U.S. border authorities made 32,512 arrests and detentions along the Mexico border in June, up from 23,142 in May and nearly double the number recorded in April after the Trump administration cited the coronavirus pandemic to suspend normal immigration proceedings to quickly process most migrants and return them to Mexico in a matter of hours.
The June enforcement numbers remain far below the levels tallied during last year's migration crisis, but they appear to be a sign that the deterrent effects of the pandemic-related crackdown are beginning to wear off. Most of those taken into custody last month were single adults, not families and children, in contrast to last year's surge.
Border Patrol figures show the vast majority of those detained in June -- 89% -- were promptly "expelled" from the country using the emergency pandemic authorities imposed in late March. Those authorities were put in place to keep detention cells along the border empty to avoid spreading infection.
Toll at 1 in Minnesota tornado rampage
DALTON, Minn. -- Powerful tornadoes that ripped across farmland in western Minnesota, killing one person and injuring two others, could have exacted a higher death toll if the twisters had struck a more populous area, authorities said Thursday.
Severe storms that swept through parts of the Midwest on Wednesday produced at least two tornadoes that damaged farms near Dalton, about 153 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
According to initial estimates, up to seven homes and outbuildings were damaged, including shops and garages, Otter Tail County Sheriff Barry Fitzgibbons said Thursday.
The two tornadoes are believed to be at least in the EF3 category, with winds of 136-165 mph, the weather service said. The twisters left a 6- to 9-mile trail of damage, with the first striking at 5:08 p.m. south of Dalton, after a tornado warning, followed by a second tornado three minutes later.