Mulvaney Sends Trump Defense on Ukraine Aid Into Disarray

• Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, said that the Trump administration withheld nearly $400 million in military aid to pressure Ukraine.
• His comments, which he tried to take back later in the day, undercut President Trump’s repeated denials of a quid pro quo.

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0:43‘That’s Why We Held Up the Money’ Mulvaney Says of Ukraine Aid

The acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, told reporters that military aid was held back in part to prod Ukraine to investigate Democrats, undercutting President Trump’s denial of a quid pro quo. Leigh Vogel for The New York Times

Read  Mulvaney’s conflicting statements.

9h ago

Ambassador to E.U. Testifies That Trump Delegated Ukraine Policy to Giuliani

Gordon Sondland told investigators that he disagreed as President Trump involved Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer, in diplomacy with Kiev.

9h ago

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Analysis: Trump Cease-Fire Deal Cements Turkey’s Gains in Syria

The agreement may stop the killing in the Kurdish enclave in northern Syria. But the cost to American influence is expected to be high.

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Vice President Mike Pence, right, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke in Ankara, Turkey, and announced a cease-fire between Turkey and Kurdish fighters in Syria. Huseyin Aldemir/Reuters

E.U.’s Message to Britain: Just Leave Already

The Europeans got the better of Thursday’s draft deal, most analysts agree, and remain eager to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

Elijah Cummings, Powerful Democrat Who Investigated Trump, Dies at 68

Representative Elijah Cummings, of Maryland, was one of the most prominent Democrats in Congress and fought tirelessly for his hometown of Baltimore.

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Mr. Cummings, a son of sharecroppers, was serving his 13th term representing Maryland. Justin T. Gellerson for The New York Times

New York City Votes to Close Rikers. Now Comes the Hard Part.

The City Council approved a sweeping $8 billion plan to close the troubled jail complex and replace it with four smaller jails by 2026.

IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

The Debrief

‘Get over it’: Mulvaney puts Trump at the center of controversies about emoluments and Ukraine

In saying that President Trump personally intervened to award a summit to his own company, and that the president used military aid as leverage to push a Ukrainian investigation into Democrats, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney embraced a Trumpian tactic: saying the previously unsaid — and potentially illegal — part out loud.

• By Toluse Olorunnipa

After saying Trump held back aid to pressure Ukraine, Mulvaney tries to walk back comments

Former Trump attorney says Giuliani kept book of Ukraine contacts

Trump awards G-7 summit to his Miami-area golf resort

The decision to host the gathering of world leaders at the Trump National Doral Miami is without precedent in modern American history — the president used his public office to direct a massive contract to himself.

• By Toluse Olorunnipa, David A. Fahrenthold and Jonathan O'Connell

• Here’s how other countries decide where to host the G-7
• Miami faces rising seas and stifling heat. But climate change won’t be on the G-7 agenda at Doral resort

Islamic State sees a chance to re-emerge as Turkey batters Kurds

Despite a temporary cease-fire, Turkey’s incursion into Syria has been a propaganda windfall for the extremist group, which has stepped up attacks on prisons and the Kurdish militia, analysts said.

• By Joby Warrick and Souad Mekhennet

Trump on Turks and Kurds: ‘Like two kids in a lot, you’ve got to let them fight’

Rikers Would Close in Historic Plan to Remake N.Y. Jail System

The City Council is expected to approve an $8 billion plan on Thursday to close the complex by 2026 and build four new jails that could become a national model.

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NY TIMES

Our jails, our hopes, our fears: A radically safer New York City still worries about crime’s comeback

HARRY SIEGEL, DAILY NEWS