Senate Panel Adviser, Facing Harassment Allegations, Steps Aside

A communications adviser helping lead the Senate Judiciary Committee's response to allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has stepped down over allegations of his own sexual misconduct.

A spokesman for the committee said Saturday that Garrett Ventry, 29, had resigned as an aide to committee Chairman Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican.

Ventry was "one of several temporary staff brought on to assist in the committee's consideration of the Supreme Court nomination," the spokesman said. "While he strongly denies allegations of wrongdoing, he decided to resign to avoid causing any distraction from the work of the committee."

NBC reported that Ventry also resigned Saturday from the public relations company where he was employed, having taken a temporary leave of absence to work with the Judiciary Committee. The report quoted a company spokesman for CC Public Relations confirming Ventry's resignation.

NBC also reported that Ventry was fired from a previous position in the office of North Carolina House Majority Leader John Bell because a female employee of the North Carolina General Assembly accused him of sexual harassment. Bell confirmed to NBC that Ventry worked in his office but he did not confirm the reason for his departure.

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US Agency Proposes Curb on Immigrants Seeking Public Assistance

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Saturday announced a proposal that would seek to ensure that those looking to enter and remain in the United States "will not be reliant on public benefits," such as aid programs for nutrition, prescription drugs or housing.

In an online statement, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the department would be seeking public comment on the proposed rule in an effort to be transparent.

"This proposed rule will implement a law passed by Congress intended to promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect finite resources by ensuring that they are not likely to become burdens on American taxpayers," she said.

The DHS statement said an individual's "inadmissibility based on the public charge" is to be determined by an evaluation of the applicant's likelihood of becoming a public charge at any time in the future. The term "public charge," it said, refers to a person who receives certain public benefits above "certain defined threshold amounts" or for longer than certain periods of time.

The statement said DHS would consider "current and past receipt of designated public benefits above certain thresholds" as a "heavily weighed negative factor."

The statement defined the public benefits described as federal, state, local or tribal assistance for income maintenance, food stamps, certain types of health care, institutionalization for long-term care at the government's expense, and public housing, among others.

The proposal will be officially published in the Federal Register "in the coming weeks," the statement said, at which time the public will have 60 days during which to offer comment online or by mail.

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Report: Ex-White House Aide Revises Flynn Conversation Account

WASHINGTON — 

An ex-White House official has revised a previous statement by telling investigators that former national security adviser Michael Flynn may have referred to sanctions when they discussed his calls with a former Russian envoy, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.

K.T. McFarland's statement revised an earlier assertion to FBI agents that sanctions on Russia did not come up when she spoke to Flynn in December 2016 about his calls with Sergey Kislyak when he was the Russian ambassador to the United States, the newspaper said, quoting unidentified people familiar with the matter.

Flynn has pleaded guilty of lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia and is cooperating in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. He will be sentenced Dec. 18.

Mueller is looking at whether Flynn's conversations with Kislyak involved what U.S. intelligence agencies say was a Russian influence operation to throw the 2016 presidential vote to then-Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Trump denounces the probe as a "witch hunt" and Russia denies that it meddled in the election.

One question Mueller is investigating is whether Flynn or other Trump aides discussed lifting U.S. sanctions on Russia in exchange for financial considerations.

What Trump knew

McFarland's account does not clarify what the president knew about Flynn's interactions with Kislyak, the Post quoted its sources as saying.

The newspaper said McFarland did not return requests for comment. Her lawyer, Robert Giuffra, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Flynn, a former Army general who headed the Defense Intelligence Agency, was a Trump campaign aide and briefly served as his national security adviser. He was fired in February 2017 for misleading the administration about his contacts with Kislyak.

Speaking to FBI agents in the summer of 2017, McFarland, who briefly worked as Flynn's deputy, denied that sanctions arose in her discussions with Flynn about his calls with Kislyak, the Post said.

However, court papers filed in connection with Flynn's guilty plea indicated that an unidentified Trump transition team member participated in strategizing on Flynn's calls. People familiar with the issue identified the official as McFarland, the newspaper said.

After the papers were filed, investigators again questioned McFarland and she revised her original denial that sanctions arose in her discussions with Flynn, it said.

"She walked back her previous denial that sanctions were discussed, saying a general statement Flynn had made to her that things were going to be OK could have been a reference to sanctions," the Post reported.

She and Giuffra convinced FBI agents that she did not intentionally mislead them, the newspaper said.

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Kavanaugh Accuser Agrees to Testify

WASHINGTON — 

A woman who has accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault has agreed to testify before a Senate panel, her lawyers said Saturday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee had delayed a vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation after California professor Christine Blasey Ford's allegations emerged last week, and her lawyers and committee staff were negotiating the conditions of her testimony.

"Dr. Ford accepts the committee's request to provide her firsthand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct next week," Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, Ford's attorneys, said in a statement.

Fox News reported that Ford's lawyers had requested a Thursday hearing. CNN said the precise terms and timing of the appearance were still being discussed.

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PayPal Dumps Alex Jones, Infowars

PayPal, the digital payments company, says it has cut business ties with far-right media personality Alex Jones and his Infowars website.

A PayPal spokesman said Friday, "We undertook an extensive review of the Infowars sites, and found instances that promoted hate or discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions, which run counter to our core value of inclusion."

Infowars said the move is a ploy aimed at sabotaging Jones' online influence just weeks ahead of the midterm elections.

In recent months, several other companies, including Apple, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have either dumped or limited their connection with Jones.

Jones is one of the country's most controversial media figures, known for saying the President George W. Bush White House was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He also called the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting a fake. Some of the parents of the murdered children are suing Jones.

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Senator Gives Kavanaugh Accuser More Time to Decide About Testimony

US Agency Endorses Plan to Block New Mining Near Yellowstone