Attorney General Pam Bondi has been subpoenaed to answer questions from Congress about the Justice Department's sex trafficking investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and the agency's handling of millions of files related to the disgraced financier. Bondi was ordered Tuesday to appear for a deposition on April 14 by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform after a vote earlier this month that was supported by five Republicans. The Justice Department's failure to fend off the subpoena from the Republican-led committee underscores widespread discontent among President Donald Trump's own base over Bondi's management of the review and release of a trove of documents from the criminal investigation into Epstein.
By CHARLOTTE KRAMON, ALEX VEIGA and MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press
In a rare bipartisan effort for a deeply divided Congress, the Senate has passed a broad bill to make U.S. housing more accessible and affordable. The bill passed on Thursday would reduce regulations, regulate corporate investors and expand how housing dollars can be used to build affordable homes and rentals. It now heads back to the House, which passed a separate version earlier this year. It is unclear whether President Donald Trump would sign it after declaring last weekend that he won't sign any new measures unless Congress passes legislation that would require voters to show proof of citizenship.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says there's no imminent threat to the state from Iran. ABC News says the FBI warned California that Iran had aspired to send drones to the West Coast in retaliation for war. The FBI later released text of the alert, which noted that the information was based on "unverified information." The White House now says, "No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists." Newsom says California and various agencies plan for worst-case scenarios. Police in Los Angeles and San Francisco say they are monitoring world events for any risks.
Worries about the war with Iran sent oil prices back to $100 per barrel and stocks sinking worldwide. The S&P 500 fell 1.5% Thursday and returned to big swings following a couple days of relative calm. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.6%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.8%. The center of action was again the oil market, where the price of a barrel of Brent crude got as high as $101.59. Treasury yields climbed in the bond market on worries about higher inflation and fewer cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve.
From former presidents to an NBA Hall of Famer to prominent church pastors, stories of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.'s influence on politics, corporate boardrooms and picket lines loomed large at a celebration honoring the late civil rights leader. Thousands of people gathered Friday at a church on Chicago's South Side to pay a final public tribute to Jackson. Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden were in attendance. The ceremony honors Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate. It follows memorial services that drew large crowds in Chicago and South Carolina, where Jackson was born.
On March 4, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated for a second term. With the end of the Civil War in sight, and just six weeks before his assassination, Lincoln declared:
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the fight as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
