Newsletter: Today: All the President’s Lawyers
Another Trump lawyer is out; a new one is in; and a third — Rudy Giuliani — dropped a bomb while on Sean Hannity’s show.
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All the President’s Lawyers
Remember when President Trump tweeted he was happy with his lawyers seven weeks ago? Since then, he’s replaced two-thirds of them. Stepping down is Ty Cobb, who advocated for cooperating with special counsel Robert S. Mueller’s prosecutors. Coming in will be Emmet Flood, who helped represent President Clinton at his 1999 Senate impeachment trial. The shake-up could be a sign that Trump would refuse to submit to an interview with Mueller’s team or fight a grand jury subpoena, a possible prelude to a constitutional battle. And then there’s Rudy Giuliani, another new Trump legal hire, who said Wednesday night that Trump repaid attorney Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels. Trump has previously denied being aware of the payment and claimed he didn’t know where Cohen got the money. Giuliani’s statement raises more questions about possible campaign finance violations.
More Politics
-- Texas and six other states are suing the Trump administration over its failure to terminate the DACA program for young immigrants known as Dreamers.
-- To help communities fight California’s “sanctuary” law, a state Republican leader and a critic of illegal immigration have been found to be quietly offering assistance.
-- “There’s been this perception that black people are monolithic when it comes to gun ownership, and that’s just not true,” says Colion Noir, an NRATV host who spoke with us ahead of the National Rifle Assn. convention in Dallas.
Life Inside the Caravan
When Irma Rivera, a Honduran widow with two small children, heard about a caravan traveling to the U.S. border, she had no idea the trip would get the worldwide attention that Trump’s tweets bring. As they migrants made their way north, the rumors began: A terrible fate might await them at the border. “Like World War III,” Rivera said. The reality of reaching Tijuana and seeking asylum in the U.S. has been much more mundane — and surreal.
Who Will Be L.A.’s Next Top Cop?
In a nationwide search, 31 people applied to be L.A.’s next police chief. Now the field has narrowed to a handful of contenders with deep ties to the Los Angeles Police Department. A source says the Police Commission, the civilian panel that oversees the LAPD, began conducting closed-door interviews this week. Take a closer look at five leading candidates.
WeHo Shakes Things Up
What are you doing to prepare for the Big One? West Hollywood is one of several cities, including L.A. and Santa Monica, trying to get ready by identifying and strengthening buildings most vulnerable in an earthquake. It’s now identified 821 buildings that should be reviewed for risk of damage or collapse, including some landmark hotels on the Sunset Strip – though officials emphasize that properties on the list are not necessarily unsafe. See the map here.
You Can Take the ‘Boy’ Out of the Scouts, but ...
For 108 years, the Boy Scouts of America’s signature program for older youth has been known as the Boy Scouts. Next year, it will become the gender-neutral Scouts BSA, to reflect the entry of girls to the ranks. Some see the name change as simply a way to better compete with the Girl Scouts, while others think it’s another sign of the decline of civilization. Either way, the Boy Scouts of America organization will still keep participants separated by gender.
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MUST-WATCH VIDEO
-- The Las Vegas Police Department released the first body-camera video of officers breaching and entering the hotel room that a gunman used as his perch to kill 58 people.
-- Actor Cody Fern discusses a pivotal question in the TV series “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.”
CALIFORNIA
-- Documents show the defense attorney for Golden State Killer suspect Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. is trying to stop investigators from obtaining more DNA samples and photographing DeAngelo’s body.
-- The Airbnb effect: The L.A. City Council is supporting proposed rules that would let Angelenos host night-to-night rentals only in their primary residence.
-- New L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner is pledging to learn and take action. “To state the obvious, I’m an unconventional choice,” he said.
-- Tainted romaine lettuce has been blamed for one death in California in the worst national E. coli outbreak in more than a decade.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
-- “I think acting is very freeing,” says Oscar-winning actress Rachel Weisz, who stars in and produced the film “Disobedience.”
-- HBO is reportedly developing a documentary series based on Michelle McNamara’s book “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” about the Golden State Killer.
-- Speaking of documentaries, the story of the L.A. disco club Jewel’s Catch One and its pioneering owner has found its way to Netflix.
-- Here’s how women are reshaping Buenos Aires into one of Latin America’s most intriguing and inspired music scenes.
CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD
Ingmar Bergman won three Oscars and was nominated for nine more, but after he died in 2007, his work received a critical reassessment that was less than kind. (Playing chess with Death — sublime or ridiculous?) For the 100th anniversary of the Swedish director’s birth, “the reappraisals are being reappraised,” as film critic Kenneth Turan writes, and L.A. is home to a huge retrospective.
NATION-WORLD
-- As many as nine people are believed dead after a Puerto Rico Air National Guard plane crashed on a busy highway just a few miles from a Georgia airport.
-- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is being condemned in Israel and the West after saying Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves.
-- Pope Francis begged for forgiveness from three Chilean men alleging priestly sexual abuse, saying, “I was part of the problem” in his response to the allegations, according to those in attendance.
-- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces an alliance of opposition parties looking to remove him from office in June’s elections.
BUSINESS
-- Despite burning through more than $1 billion in cash in the first quarter, Tesla is still thinking (or at least talking) big.
-- As of Tuesday, all new cars, buses and trucks under 10,000 pounds manufactured or made to sell in the U.S. are required to have rearview video systems as standard equipment.
SPORTS
-- Seven years after suing the NCAA for defamation, former USC assistant football coach Todd McNair will finally take the witness stand today.
-- Another Dodger injury, this time to starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu. At least they got the victory.
OPINION
-- Mueller has legitimate questions to pose to the president. It’s time for Trump to stop trash-talking and answer them.
-- This lawyer’s innocent client spent 25 years on death row. How long will it take to realize our system is broken?
WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING
-- Eighteen House Republicans have formally nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. (The Guardian)
-- Photo essay: American photographer Lewis Hine’s pictures of France in the final year of World War I, 100 years ago. (The Atlantic)
-- This Indonesian man built a chicken-shaped church, which has attracted a flock of tourists. (Atlas Obscura)
ONLY IN L.A.
Over hill, over dale, a crew of retirees, professionals and students is hitting the dusty Gabrielino Trail above La Cañada on a mission. The U.S. Forest Service hasn’t been able to address the ravages of time and nature, because much of its money goes to wildfire fighting and prevention. So a team of mountain bikers — yes, the bane of many a hiker’s existence — has stepped in, hoping to repair the trail and their reputation.
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