The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • A11

THE MORNING CALL TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017 NEWST1 In tweets, president puts blame on Obama Russia envoy stepping out of D.C. spotlight BRENDAN SMIALOWSKIGETTY-AFP Sergey Kislyak, right, reportedly had been destined for a United Nations post. But he says it's time to go home. President Trump has frequently disparaged the Russia probe as a "witch hunt" promoted by Democrats. Claims ex-president 'colluded' with Russia on meddling By Ken Thomas Associated Press WASHINGTON President Donald Trump unleashed a series of tweets Monday in which he tried to place the blame for Russian meddling in U.S.

politics on former President Barack Obama and deflect charges of obstruction and collusion onto his predecessor. Trump wrote that Obama did "NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling" because he expected Hillary Clinton to win. Trump added that Obama "didn't he colluded or obstructed." Trump, who has a long history of deflecting criticism from himself to others, seemed to be trying to redefine what it means to collude or obstruct as he pushed back against an investigation into whether Trump's own team colluded with Russian officials during the campaign and transition. Trump appeared to be referencing a Washington Post report about the Obama administration's handling of Russia's attempts to influence voters in which some officials questioned whether the president had done enough to stop Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Obama ordered a review of Russia's actions and imposed new sanctions after the election.

Meanwhile, Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, revealed through his attorney that he has turned to a prominent defense lawyer, Abbe Lowell, to represent him in Russia-related investigations. Kushner's attorney, Jamie Gorelick, said in a statement that Kushner By Tracy Wilkinson Washington Bureau WASHINGTON Remarkably fresh despite the tropical heat, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak was doing what he does best hobnobbing in a room full of diplomats and dignitaries. Only the setting was unusual for the most famous or infamous foreign envoy assigned to Washington in decades. He was in Cancun, Mexico, last week on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of American States, a regional body. What in the world was Kislyak doing there? "I am representing Russia," Kislyak, 66, told The Washington Bureau.

But he won't be doing that much longer, at least not in the United States. The veteran Russian diplomat at the center of much of the FBI investigation into Moscow's alleged meddling in the U.S. election and its aftermath is stepping down after nearly a decade as ambassador. It's not clear if he is retiring. The Kremlin says it's a routine rotation.

Kislyak had been widely reported destined for a senior post at the United Nations. Instead, he said, he thinks he will just go back to Russia "It's been 17 years," Kislyak said, referring to his current stint and an earlier eight-year assignment to the Russian mission at the U.N. and the Russian Embassy in Washington at a more junior level. "My wife wants to go home." Including a posting in Brussels, his career as a diplomat spanned the turbulence of the late Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the rise of President Vladimir Putin and tension with the But perhaps the ambassador's most jarring meeting was in the Oval Office. On May 10, a day after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, who was heading the Russia investigation, Trump welcomed Kisylak and his boss, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in for a chat.

The White House barred U.S. media from the meeting. But Lavrov brought a TASS photographer, who was quick to post photos. Leaked accounts later indicated that Trump revealed classified intelligence to the pair. Kislyak has found himself under an increasingly uncomfortable spotlight.

Despite all the controversy, Kislyak is frequently described as affable, even jovial. Meanwhile, the official Russian Sputnik News Service has reported that Kislyak's successor in Washington would likely be Anatoly Antonov, a 30-year veteran of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Kislyak remains a diplomat to the end. Asked if he felt he was being treated shabbily in Washington, he replied with a smile, "But what do you mean?" tracy.wilkinsonlatimes.com NEWS BRIEFING Tribune Newspapers and news services Support for gay nuptials surges, even among groups once wary EVAN VUCCIAP who has studied political rhetoric, said Trump appeared to be co-opting terms like collusion and obstruction as part of a larger strategy to "invalidate" some of the arguments made against him. "You take words and you do everything you can to make them meaningless.

You take any land of precision out of public discourse so it can't be used against you," Fields said. Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit who has written about public corruption, said Trump appeared to be taking the term "obstruction," which means impeding an investigation, and applying it to a decision by his predecessor not to pursue an investigation as vigorously as possible. "Inaction is not an obstruction, but of course it has some potency as a political attack," Henning said. Asked about the comments, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters there were "some serious questions" about what the Obama administration "did or did not do in terms of acting" after evidence of Russian meddling surfaced during the campaign. Feds looking into Bernie Sanders' wife over land deal MONTPELIER, Vt.

-A spokesman for the wife of Sen. Bernie Sanders says she has hired a lawyer as federal investigators examine a real estate deal involving a Vermont college she once ran. The news website first reported federal investigators are taking a closer look at $10 million in financing Jane O'Meara Sanders assembled for the now-defunct Burlington College and whether she made fraudulent claims and promises. Last week, Bernie Sanders called the investigation "nonsense" in an interview with WCAX-TV and suggested it was politically motivated. The complaint against Jane Sanders was filed in 2016 by Brady Toensing, who was the Vermont campaign chairman for Donald Trump during his run for president as a Republican.

Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio's trial on misdemeanor contempt of court charges opened Monday over his defiance of the courts in traffic patrols that targeted immigrants, marking the most aggressive effort to hold the former lawman of metro Phoenix accountable for tactics that critics say racially profiled Latinos. A Swedish man kidnapped by Islamic militants in northern Mali nearly six years ago has been released from captivity, the Swedish government confirmed Monday. Johan Gustafsson, 42, had been on a motorcycle tour through Africa when he was abducted. He was flown to Stockholm on Monday. Obama administration.

Then came the U.S. presidential election last year. Kislyak's meetings with several of President Donald Trump's top campaign aides or surrogates have come under intense scrutiny as a special counsel investigates whether anyone improperly cooperated with Russian efforts to interfere with the U.S. election. The president's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was forced to resign in February for misleading the White House about his conversations with Kislyak.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from supervising the Russia probe after it was disclosed he had failed to disclose his meetings with Kislyak last year. Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, met with Kislyak in December at Trump Tower. The Russian ambassador then arranged for him to meet a Putin ally who heads a Russian state-owned bank subject to U.S. sanctions. The FBI reportedly is reviewing those meetings.

Kislyak's defenders said his contacts with Trump's team were part of die routine duties of any diplomat. same-sex marriage, the highest level in 20 years of Pew polling on the issue. Among baby boomers, support is now at 56 percent up from 46 percent a year ago. Support among blacks has risen from 39 percent to 51 percent in two years. Among Republicans and GOP-leaning independents, 48 percent oppose same-sex marriage and 47 percent support it In 2013, 61 percent were opposed.

Donald Trump on climate change and immigration Most mayors also signed a deal to do their part to uphold the Paris climate accords, even after the U.S. pulled out of the agreement. They also strongly rejected plans to increase immigration enforcement and vowed to persuade federal lawmakers to retain a $3 billion program to fund projects across the country that Trump wants to eliminate. lets police ask people about immigration status during routine stops. Garcia asked whether an officer could ask all passengers in a car about their immigration status and if local police could make their own immigration sweeps.

Opponents of the law, including the cities of Houston and Dallas, argued that the law's vagueness is one of their biggest concerns. sought independent advice on whether to stay with her law firm, WilmerHale, after the appointment of former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel in the Russia investigation. As president, Trump has frequently disparaged the Russia probe as a "witch hunt" promoted by Democrats. Monday's tweets appeared aimed at de-legitimizing some of the allegations frequently hurled at him by his political opponents. He tweeted that after months of reviewing Russia "under a magnifying glass, they have zero 'tapes' of people colluding.

There is no collusion no obstruction. I should be given apology!" During his presidential campaign, Trump frequently sought to muddy some of the criticism raised by his opponents. When rival Clinton argued he was unfit to hold office, Trump pointed to Sen. Bernie Sanders' primary campaign assertions that Clinton lacked judgment. When Trump faced scrutiny over his vulgar comments in a 2005 video, he sought to revive allegations of sexual impropriety against former President Bill Clinton.

Wayne Fields, a Washington University professor KADIMAP the first day of id al-Fitr, port, the U.S. placed China on its "watch list" of countries that aren't meeting minimum standards and could be downgraded to the lowest classification. It wasn't immediately clear what changes are leading the Trump administration to downgrade China to the lowest tier. Countries placed in Tier 3 can be penalized with sanctions, including the withholding of non-humanitarian aid. However, the president retains the authority to waive the sanctions in U.S.

national interest or if the penalties could adversely affect vulnerable populations. medical parole was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 after being convicted of inciting state subversion for writing and disseminating Charter '08, a manifesto calling for an end to single-party rule. The following year, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which infuriated Beijing. NEW YORK In the two years since same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide, support for it has surged even among groups that recently were broadly opposed, according to a new national survey. The Pew Research Center survey found that for the first time, a majority of blacks and baby boomers support allowing gays and lesbians to wed.

Overall, 62 percent of Americans now support In the swing of things: Children play in Baghdad on Monday, which marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan. Officials: U.S. to say China one of worst on human trafficking U.S. mayors back plan for cities to use only renewable energy MIAMI BEACH, Fla -A bipartisan group of mayors from across the country unanimously backed an ambitious commitment for U.S. cities to run entirely on renewable sources such as wind and solar in two decades.

As the U.S. Conference of Mayors wrapped up in Miami Beach on Monday, leaders from more than 250 cities voted on symbolic resolutions pushing back against President WASHINGTON The Trump administration is poised to declare China among the world's worst offenders on human trafficking, U.S. officials said Monday, putting the world's most populous country in the same category as North Korea, Zimbabwe and Syria. China's downgrade is to be announced Tuesday at the State Department when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson unveils the annual Trafficking in Persons Report to Congress, said the officials, who weren't authorized to comment publicly ahead of the announcement and demanded anonymity. The determination marks the first major, public rebuke of China's human rights record by the Trump administration, which has generally avoided direct, public criticism of Beijing while seeking its cooperation in combating North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

The report is likely to draw strong protest from China's government China will be listed under "Tier 3," the lowest category, which applies to countries failing to meet minimum standards to prevent human trafficking or making significant improvement efforts. In last year's annual re yang, lawyer Mo Shaoping said. Liu was diagnosed on May 23 and prison authorities then gave him a medical parole, though it was not clear exactly when he was transferred to the hospital, Mo said. Liu, a literary critic and China's most prominent democracy campaigner, Federal judge considers fate of Texas 'sanctuary cities' law China's Nobel Peace laureate given SAN ANTONIO A federal judge on Monday heard arguments before he decides whether a new Texas "sanctuary cities" crackdown backed by the Trump administration can take effect. U.S.

District Judge Orlando Garcia appeared interested in how the law signed by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and scheduled to take effect in September would be enforced. The measure BEIJING Imprisoned Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate and dissident Liu Xiaobo has been transferred to a hospital after being diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer, his former lawyer said Monday. Liu, 61, is receiving treatment at a hospital in the northeastern city of Shen.