Syrian refugee pleads not guilty to church bomb plot charges
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Syrian refugee accused of plotting to bomb a Christian church in Pittsburgh to inspire Islamic State of Iraq followers has pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges.
Mustafa Mousab Alowemer entered his plea Wednesday during his arraignment in federal court. His lawyers have dismissed the alleged plotting as “puffery and bragging.”
Alowemer is charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and two counts of distributing information about an explosive, destructive device, or weapon of mass destruction.
Authorities claim he had detailed plans to bomb the Legacy International Worship Center, a small Christian church.
Authorities say Alowemer was born in Syria and came to the United States in 2016. He was arrested last month while meeting with undercover FBI agents.

Trump calls drenching of NYPD officers ‘unacceptable’
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump says he is upset about videos showing New York police officers getting drenched with buckets of water.
Trump said in a pair of tweets Thursday that “what took place in NYC with water being tossed on NYPD officers was a total disgrace.”
He called on Mayor Bill de Blasio to “act immediately,” though he didn’t say what action he believed the mayor should take.
De Blasio publicly condemned the dousings this week. Police have so far arrested three people.
One video showed two officers smiling and ignoring people dumping buckets of water on them on the street during a heat wave.
Another video showed officers getting drenched by buckets of thrown water while making an arrest.
De Blasio is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Jerry Sandusky isn’t getting a fresh chance to argue in state court he should get a new trial, seven years after the former Penn State assistant football coach was convicted of molesting 10 boys. The state Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down the 75-year-old’s request to review a Superior Court decision earlier this year that rejected most of his arguments. His lawyer says he’s very disappointed and Sandusky may seek help from federal courts.

Mueller hearing reaches just under 13 million viewers
NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly 13 million people watched former special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony before two House committees on the three biggest broadcast and cable news networks.
The Nielsen company says Mueller’s audience on Wednesday was smaller than it was for well-publicized hearings involving three other Trump-era figures: former FBI director James Comey, Trump attorney Michael Cohen and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The midsummer timing may have held down viewership for the Mueller hearings. It also wasn’t very dramatic TV, with Mueller often giving one-word replies or not answering questions from lawmakers.
Fox News Channel, with 3.03 million viewers, topped all the networks.

Trump encourages Republicans to back bipartisan budget bill
By ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Buoyed by the strongest endorsement yet by President Donald Trump, the House on Thursday took up a bipartisan budget and debt deal that would head off another government shutdown, permit the Treasury to borrow freely to pay the government’s bills, and lock in place recent budget gains for both the Pentagon and domestic agencies.
The hard-won agreement between the administration and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lifts the limit on the government’s $22 trillion debt for two years and sets a $1.37 trillion cap for the agency accounts funded by Congress each year. It amounts to a cease-fire to allow lawmakers to navigate through a series of tricky fiscal deadlines without politically exhausting battles.
The legislation would take care of the two biggest items on Washington’s must-do agenda: increasing the debt limit for two years to avert a first-ever default on U.S. payments and acting to set overall spending limits to prevent $125 billion in automatic spending cuts from hitting the Pentagon and domestic agencies with 10 percent cuts starting in January.
“The alternatives are very, very bad,” said Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee.
Democrats rallied behind the legislation, which protects domestic programs some of them have fought to protect for decades through extended stretches of GOP control of Congress. House GOP conservatives, many of whom won election promising to tackle entrenched federal deficits, generally recoiled from it.
Trump tweeted that “House Republicans should support the TWO YEAR BUDGET AGREEMENT which greatly helps our Military and our Vets.” He added in a note of encouragement, “I am totally with you!”
But it contains no new steps to curb spending elsewhere in the budget, rankling conservatives and lawmakers alarmed by the return of $1 trillion-plus budget deficits.
“Republicans who go along with this budget deal will lose all credibility on spending. This is budget deal is ludicrous,” said Jason Pye of the FreedomWorks conservative advocacy group. “The GOP has been misleading the American public on spending for years now. Yeah, they talk a great game on the campaign trail. But when it’s crunch time, they fold.”
Trump’s active support for the measure could stem the tide of GOP defections. At the same time, Democrats were confident of a big vote on their side.
“We’re in good shape,” said Pelosi, D-Calif. “We want it to be bipartisan.”
GOP conservatives, who comprise Trump’s strongest base of support in Washington, weren’t critical of Trump for agreeing to the deal, even after Pelosi forced GOP negotiators to drop ambitious cuts to try to defray the bill’s impact on the debt.
“You just have to understand that you lost in the negotiations and express your opinion, vote your conscience and go on,” said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C. “It’s different when you’re in the minority.”
Pelosi was the main architect of the measure, along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin . It amounts to a victory for Washington pragmatists seeking to avoid political and economic turmoil over the possibility of a government shutdown or first federal default.
The must-do legislation represents a rare moment of detente in Trump’s Washington. Both sides see it as being in their interest to avert the alternative: A chaotic fall congressional session that could have pinballed from crisis to crisis.
Fights over Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall, other immigration-related issues and spending priorities will be rejoined on follow-on spending bills this fall. The House has passed most of its bills, using far higher levels for domestic spending. Senate measures will follow this fall, with levels reflecting the accord.
Washington’s arcane budget rules give each side a way to paint the deal favorably. Generally speaking, it would lock in place big increases won by both sides in a 2018 pact.
By one measure, the price tag for the legislation posts at $324 billion. But more than two-thirds of that is to simply maintain current spending levels rather than fall prey to the automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration. Another measure is $103 billion, spread over two years to Pentagon and domestic accounts, to permit modest budget hikes of 3 or 4 percentage points above current levels.
Pelosi won a little more money for domestic programs than defense, but it would be eaten up by large new costs for the census and new private sector health programs for veterans.

Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden and Senator Cory Booker traded accusations over their criminal justice records on Wednesday, with Booker calling the former U.S. vice president an “architect of mass incarceration” and Biden slamming Newark’s “stop and frisk” policing when Booker was mayor. Booker, who has been lagging in the polls, criticized Biden’s new criminal justice plan and referenced his role as a U.S. senator in writing the 1994 crime bill, which critics say led to high incarceration rates that unfairly hit minorities. Biden responded that when Booker was mayor of New Jersey biggest city, its police department had a “stop and frisk” program that mostly targeted African-American men as officers stopped individuals to search them for weapons or illegal items.

Military says 16 Marines arrested in human smuggling probe
By JULIE WATSON Associated Press
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A human smuggling investigation by the military led to the arrest of 16 Marines Thursday while carrying out a battalion formation at California’s Camp Pendleton, a base about an hour’s drive from the U.S.-Mexico border.
None of the Marines were involved in helping to enforce border security, the Marine Corps said in a news release. Officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
The arrests come only weeks after two Marines were arrested near the border by a Border Patrol agent. The two Marines were accused of smuggling three Mexicans into the United States.
The Marine Corps said information gained from those arrests led to Thursday’s arrests.
Officials say the Marines are charged with various crimes ranging from human smuggling to drug-related offenses.
Another eight are being questioned about their alleged involvement in drug offenses as part of a separate investigation.
Camp Pendleton, the Marine Corps’ largest base on the West Coast, is about 55 miles (90 kilometers) from the U.S.-Mexico border.
Marines this year were brought in to help support the Department of Homeland Security in reinforcing the border by installing razor wire on top of existing barriers. Military troops are barred from making arrests of immigrants.

President Donald Trump, reacting to U.S. congressional testimony by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, said on Wednesday the Republican Party had a good day and reiterated his attacks on the Russia probe as a hoax and witch hunt. Speaking to reporters as he departed the White House on a trip to West Virginia, Trump said Mueller, who told lawmakers his probe did not exonerate the president, did not perform well in testimony before two House of Representatives panels and would hurt the Democrats during the 2020 election campaign. Trump called it a “devastating day” for Democrats, saying: “I think they hurt themselves very badly for 2020.”

Jet-setter: Buttigieg leads 2020 Dems in private flights
By BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pete Buttigieg has spent roughly $300,000 on private jet travel this year, more than any other Democrat running for the White House, according to an analysis of campaign finance data.
The expenditures have enabled the South Bend, Indiana, mayor to keep up an aggressive schedule, shuttling from his campaign headquarters in his hometown to fundraisers and political events across the country. But his reliance on charter flights contrasts sharply with his image as a Rust Belt mayor who embodies frugality and Midwestern modesty.
That could prove to be a liability in a contest in which relatability to everyday people is often key.
“It’s a trade-off. The downside is that taking a private airplane can look very elitist,” said Dan Schnur, a University of Southern California political science professor and former press secretary for John McCain’s 2000 Republican presidential campaign. “On the other hand, it allows you to cover a lot more ground and talk to a much larger number of voters.”
Buttigieg’s campaign says the distance between its South Bend headquarters and major airports sometimes makes private jet travel necessary.
“We are careful with how we spend our money, and we fly commercial as often as possible,” Buttigieg spokesman Chris Meagher said Wednesday. “We only fly noncommercial when the schedule dictates.”
The spending could come up during the Democratic debates next week when Buttigieg shares a stage with Beto O’Rourke , who already took an apparent poke at him over the matter.
“No private planes for this campaign,” the former Texas congressman said in a video posted to social media on Monday that was filmed while O’Rourke was aboard a commercial plane waiting for takeoff. “We’re putting your $5, $10, $15 to use and making sure we make the most out of every penny that’s committed to this campaign.”
Few political observers predicted Buttigieg would be a leading contender when he entered the 2020 race this year. But he used breakout town hall performances, viral moments and his biography as a millennial, a gay military veteran and a former Rhodes scholar to catapult into the vanguard of Democratic candidates.
He led the field of Democratic candidates in fundraising during the second quarter, raking in $24.8 million .
Yet the charter flight expenses were only part of a number of large expenditures on travel and accommodation by Buttigieg in recent months.
His campaign spent about $110,000 at a Hilton hotel in downtown Miami during the first round of Democratic debates last month . Buttigieg’s campaign says the expenditures covered a large block of conference rooms and rooms for campaign staff, though records show it’s drastically more than any other top contender paid for lodging that week.
He also spent about $20,000 at other Hilton hotels, $14,000 on car and limousine services and $4,100 at the Avalon in Beverly Hills, which bills itself as a hotel that “sets the tone for hip repose.”
So far, the rate at which he is spending money is far less than most of the other candidates in the sprawling field. His campaign’s “burn rate” was about 35% of what it raised during the second quarter, records show.
When it comes to charter flight expenses, Buttigieg is followed by former Vice President Joe Biden, who spent $256,000, according to records. Biden’s campaign declined to discuss his use of charter flights in detail but said carbon offsets purchased to reduce environmental damage from combusted jet fuel contributed to the high cost.
The other top contenders spent far less.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has spent about $60,000 on private planes but regularly flies coach and often takes selfies with supporters in airports. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders spent about $18,000. And California Sen. Kamala Harris spent $17,000 on charters, records show.
“It’s never been that big of an issue for candidates in the past, except in those cases where the planes are funded by special interests,” said Schnur, the former McCain press secretary, who no longer identifies as a Republican. “But in this environment, where big-dollar fundraising is a highly sensitive issue, it could become fodder for another campaign.”
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Follow Slodysko on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianSlodysko

Booker takes on Biden in bid to break through crowded field
By ELANA SCHOR Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — In nearly six months as a Democratic presidential candidate, Cory Booker has billed himself as many things: He’s both an optimist leading with “radical love” and a fighter against political machines. He’s both a supporter of “Medicare for All” and an advocate for more incremental health care policies that preserve the private insurance industry.
As the New Jersey senator prepares for a pivotal turn in the spotlight at next week’s debate, he’s trying on a new role: Joe Biden’s chief antagonist.
Ahead of an expected showdown in Detroit, Booker is blasting the former vice president as “an architect of mass incarceration.” Speaking to the National Urban League on Thursday, he assailed rivals whom he portrayed as latecomers to the fight against “structural inequality and institutional racism” — implying, without mentioning Biden’s name, that his opponent had embraced criminal justice reform to further his presidential candidacy.
One of two black major candidates in the Democratic contest, Booker is homing in on racial justice as he struggles to emerge from the bottom tier of most national polls. He has yet to meet the donor qualifications to participate in this fall’s Democratic debate, when tougher rules are expected to winnow the crowded field. Democrats say Booker’s new approach to Biden could provide a moment to lift his campaign — or sack it with more baggage.
“There’s a path that still exists for Booker, but he needs a galvanizing moment that not only boosts his hopes but also eliminates one of the opponents in front of him,” said Democratic strategist Joel Payne, a veteran of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. “It’s possible, but it’s a tough path ahead.”
Booker’s aides see him as on track to qualify for the September debate regardless of what may take place in Detroit. His campaign remains focused on an early state strategy that takes him to Iowa on Friday for the seventh time since entering the race.
“Cory’s performance serves as a validation for the folks who have committed their early support to his campaign” in the Hawkeye State, said Mike Frosolone, Booker’s Iowa state director.
Booker’s organization is particularly strong in Iowa, where he counts nearly 50 staff members and has won a long list of potent local endorsements. Still, the campaign spent more money than it raised during the second quarter of the year, and Booker’s efforts are likely to mean little until he can get what Des Moines lawyer Grant Woodard called “his moment in the sun.”
“Something has to happen for him in the national narrative, I think, and he can really start to flex his muscle here,” said Woodard, a former Democratic operative in the state.
Booker faces several hurdles at this critical juncture. Biden’s camp has responded quickly to his potshots, suggesting the former vice president is more prepared to be hit next week than he was during the first presidential debate when he stammered in answering Kamala Harris.
And, unlike the first debate, he’ll have to share the stage with Harris, whose campaign gained ground after she took aim at Biden’s recent comments about working with segregationists and his past opposition to school busing. Her broadside was so successful in part because Harris is not known for sharing personal stories.
Booker, in contrast, has built a brand on a personal, uplifting approach to politics. Trying to replicate Harris could make him seem insincere.
Yvette Simpson, chief executive of the progressive group Democracy for America, urged Booker to “speak from a place that’s real to him,” warning that he has verged on “a stage where it’s more platitudes and less authentic.” On issues beyond criminal justice, she added, the debates could exert pressure on Booker to be more than “the guy in the middle” who neither directly courts the left nor actively alienates it.
Indeed, Booker has at times edged away from a full-bore liberal approach in his campaign’s first months. He has proposed an ambitious, progressive immigration agenda, decrying President Donald Trump as “worse than a racist,” but clarified last week that he would not use the term “concentration camps” to describe immigration detention facilities, as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has.
Booker also hasn’t fully endorsed a push by activists on the left to eliminate the Senate filibuster to help a future Democratic president accomplish his or her agenda. And on health care, Booker has joined Harris in supporting Medicare for All legislation but edged away from it on the campaign trail as Biden runs as a sharp critic of single-payer health insurance.
No matter how he’s drawn into a clash with Biden on the debate stage, Booker appears firmly on track for one. And he’s taking a more pugnacious tone with Trump as well, telling NBC talk show host Seth Meyers this week that he sometimes has to resist the temptation to punch the “elderly, out-of-shape” president.
Penny Rosfjord, a member of the Iowa Democratic Party’s state central committee, said that combativeness among candidates “can get dangerous” but suggested that Booker has more room to get sharper given the love-first tone that he started his campaign on.
“I personally think it’s the right tone, but he will at times have to get a bit more . aggressive with people,” Rosfjord said. “He might have to throw some verbal punches here and there.”