Suit over ex-Trump aide's book dropped
The Justice Department has abandoned its lawsuit against John Bolton, former President Donald Trump's onetime national security adviser, over his book that officials argued disclosed classified information, according to court documents and Bolton's representatives. Prosecutors also have dropped a grand jury investigation over the book's publication, Bolton's lawyer said Wednesday.
The Trump administration sued last year to block the release of Bolton's book, "The Room Where It Happened," and to recover copies of the book that had already been distributed. The book, released in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, offered a behind-the-scenes and unflattering account of Trump's foreign policy dealings. It described how Trump asked China's President Xi Jinping to help the American's reelection prospects and how Trump had pressured his Ukraine counterpart for politically charged investigations.
Justice Department lawyers who sued over the book had insisted that the manuscript contained classified information that could damage national security and that Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, had failed to complete a prepublication review process designed to prevent the disclosure of government secrets.
Spacesuit issues halt work at station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Spacesuit problems prevented astronauts from completing the installation Wednesday of powerful, new solar panels outside the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough encountered a pair of spacesuit issues midway through the seven-hour spacewalk, forcing him to temporarily retreat back into the airlock to reset his equipment. The interruption put Kimbrough and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet an hour behind, then they had trouble trying to unfold the solar panel's booms before time finally ran out.
The two are supposed to venture back out Sunday. But it's unclear whether that will be delayed, or whether the astronauts will wrap up work on the first solar panel or get started on a second one.
NASA wants to reenergize the aging space station as demand to visit grows.
Report IDs lapses in Marshals Service
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Marshals Service lacks the capability of adequately detecting threats against federal judges across the nation and uses outdated security equipment to protect judges' homes, the Justice Department's inspector general said Wednesday.
The report on the agency's judicial security program comes nearly a year after a gunman killed the 20-year-old son of a federal judge and wounded her husband at their New Jersey home after posing as a delivery driver.
The inspector general's report highlights serious security gaps in the Marshals Service's efforts to ensure the safety of more than 2,700 sitting judges, as the number of threats against judges continues to rise. The agency, which has been thrust into the spotlight in the past year after prolonged civil unrest in Portland and several high-profile fatal shootings by task force officers, is also charged with protecting the deputy attorney general and maintaining security at federal courthouses.
Among the report's key findings is that the Marshals Service "does not have adequate proactive threat detection capabilities" to detect threats made against federal judges, including those posted on social media and in online forums. It also found that the agency's home intrusion detection system is outdated, and most other residential home security systems provide similar equipment and additional capabilities.
Filing: Slaying suspect blamed intruder
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- A 20-year-old college student charged with killing his parents and younger sister in their family home in Iowa told police that a masked intruder was to blame for the shooting deaths, according to a criminal complaint released Wednesday.
Alex Jackson called 911 Tuesday morning to report that he and his dad had been shot by a male intruder at their Cedar Rapids home, the complaint says.
Officers who responded found 61-year-old Jan Jackson, 68-year-old Melissa Jackson and 19-year-old Sabrina Jackson dead from gunshot wounds in different rooms of the home. They found Alex Jackson suffering from a gunshot wound in his foot, and recovered a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle that is believed to have been the firearm used in the shootings.
Alex Jackson told police that he woke up to the sound of gunfire and was shot during a struggle with a masked man over the rifle, which he claimed he and his father had left on the fireplace after cleaning it the previous night, the complaint says.
Investigators found no sign of forced entry or burglary at the home, according to the complaint signed by Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden. Alex Jackson denied shooting his family members but admitted that his father had recently told him he needed to find a job or move out of the home, the complaint says.