The U.S. at a glance ... NEWS^7
Alabama
Payback: President Trump dealt a crush-
ing blow this week to former Attorney
General Jeff Sessions, endorsing his
opponent in Alabama’s Republican Senate
primary. Sessions hopes to reclaim his old
Senate seat in a March 31 runoff against
former Auburn University football coach
Tommy Tuberville. Either would be a
heavy favorite against Democratic Sen.
Doug Jones. Tuberville claims Sessions
“deserted” Trump by recusing himself in
the Russia probe. Although Trump fired
Sessions in 2018 and calls his appoint-
ment the biggest regret of his presidency,
Sessions never spoke out against Trump.
Yet Trump waded into the primary fight
to give Tuberville “my Complete and
Total Endorsement.” Democrats, mean-
while, were elated this week after Gov.
Steve Bullock agreed to run in Montana’s
Senate Democratic primary; party lead-
ers, including Barack Obama, had urged
Bullock to run, seeing him as the only
Democrat who could take the seat from
Republican Sen. Steve Daines.Washington, D.C.
Unredacted: The Justice Department
can’t block Congress from review-
ing grand-jury evidence tied to Robert
Mueller’s Russia investigation, the D.C.
Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week.
The 2-1 decision gives House Democrats
access to Mueller’s 448-page report in
full—including nearly 1,000 blacked-out
portions, some of which covered entire
pages—plus underlying interviews and
memos. Judge Judith Rogers, a George
W. Bush appointee, said Congress should
see all materials because Mueller did
not make a final decision on whether
to bring charges against the president.
Although the Senate acquitted Trump at
his February impeachment trial, House
Democrats said the full report is still
needed to determine whether Trump
obstructed justice, including by lying to
Mueller in written testimony. Rogers
said courts shouldn’t “micromanage” the
House’s information requests.Detroit
Spying on the libs: Erik Prince, a security
contractor close to the Trump adminis-
tration, has helped recruit former British
and American
spies to gather
information
for the pro-
Trump group
Project Veritas,
The New
York Times
reported this
week. The spies
infiltrated the Michigan office of the
American Federation of Teachers in
2017, the campaign of House candidate
Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) in 2018, and
other organizations deemed hostile to the
president. One of the spies he recruited,
an ex-MI6 officer, directed an operative
to copy files and record conversations
that could be made public to damage the
union. The same operative posed
as a volunteer seeking to work for
Spanberger but was outed and
fired. AFT Michigan has sued
Project Veritas for trespassing
and illegal eavesdropping.
Prince, ex-head of Blackwater
Worldwide and the brother
of Education Secretary Betsy
DeVos, is under federal investi-
gation in a separate case involv-
ing Russian election interference.New York City
Gone for life: Harvey
Weinstein was sentenced
to 23 years in
prison this week
for raping one
woman and
sexually assault-
ing another,
meaning the disgraced movie producer
who sparked the #MeToo movement will
likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
Weinstein’s attorneys requested a five-
year sentence, but Judge James Burke
gave Weinstein 20 years for forcing
oral sex on Miriam Haley in 2006 and
three years for the third-degree rape of
Jessica Mann in 2013. The sentences will
run concurrently. All six women who
testified to being sexually assaulted by
Weinstein sat together in the courtroom,
some sobbing upon hearing the sentence.
Weinstein, 67, says he suffered a con-
cussion while awaiting his sentence at
the Rikers Island jail, and told
Burke he’s experienced “hell
on earth.” Although Weinstein
said he feels “great remorse,”
he also attacked #MeToo, say-
ing he’s “totally confused” about
what happened to his life.Kansas City, Mo.
Ballot barrier: Mayor Quinton Lucas said
poll workers
refused to give
him a ballot
for Missouri’s
Democratic
primary this
week because
he “wasn’t in
the system.”
Lucas, who had
posted a video encouraging people to
vote moments before his ordeal, said his
experience highlighted the obstacles fac-
ing voters, especially African-Americans.
A Democrat who took office last year,
Lucas used a utility bill to confirm his
identity, but a poll worker insisted that
Lucas didn’t appear on voter rolls. Lucas
said he has voted at the same Baptist
church polling place for the past 11 years.
“If a mayor can get turned away, think
about everyone else,” he said on Twitter.
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft,
a Republican, said that Lucas could have
filed a provisional ballot but “didn’t
want to be helped. He wanted to go on
Twitter.” Lucas voted later that day.Washington, D.C.
Not acting anymore: President
Trump announced last week
that he’s replacing Acting
White House Chief of
Staff Mick Mulvaney
with Rep. Mark
Meadows (R-N.C.),
one of Trump’s
staunchest allies in
Congress. Mulvaney,
who served 14 months
but maintained the “acting” qualifier,
was gradually sidelined after becoming
entangled in the Ukraine scandal. Asked
about the use of political quid pro quos
at an October press conference, he was
widely criticized for essentially admitting
the transgression and replying, “Get over
it.” A former South Carolina congress-
man, Mulvaney had called Trump “a
terrible human being” during the 2016
election but came to be a loyal aide who
employed the hands-off “Let Trump
be Trump” approach. Meadows was a
leader in Trump’s impeachment defense,
and Trump reportedly planned months
ago to install him as chief of staff once
the trial ended. Meadows will not have
the “acting” title. Mulvaney will serve as
AP special envoy to Northern Ireland.
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Erik Prince, private spyWeinstein: ConvictedLucas: Turned awayMulvaney