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Edward Lozansky, a former nuclear physicist who emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1976, is known in Russia policy circles as a mysterious, conservative figure. With analysts warning of a new Cold War, and as the Department of Justice and Congress investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, Lozansky’s efforts to promote Russia in Washington have drawn scrutiny from analysts and even allegations that he is spreading propaganda for the Kremlin.
Hiral Tipirneni, an emergency room physician, is running to fill Arizona’s 8th District seat that Representative Trent Franks left vacant in December after news broke that he had approached two staff members about becoming surrogates for him and his wife. The race on Tuesday is the latest special election to garner national attention, as political analysts and the public look for indicators of how the November midterm elections might go. Despite warnings by some conservatives about a potential “blue wave” of support for Democrats, Republicans have won the majority of the special races since the 2016 general election, and the Republican National Committee is out-fundraising its Democratic counterpart.
For years, in interviews, social media posts and opinion articles, Dennis Kucinich, a former congressman from Ohio, has argued that the U.S. needs to ease up on Russia. Now with Congress and the special counsel investigating Russia’s election interference, Kucinich’s comments are drawing attention as he attempts a political comeback to fill the seat that Ohio Governor John Kasich must vacate at the end of his third term. Some political analysts believe those remarks could be a play to appeal to the state’s moderate Democrats, who may decide the election.
WHO IS GEORGE NADER? MUELLER INVESTIGATING WHETHER MAGAZINE EDITOR HELPED UAE BUY WHITE HOUSE INFLUENCE
Before he became the latest subject of intrigue relating to Mueller’s probe, George Nader ran a magazine on Middle East policy and positioned himself as a go-between in Middle East peace negotiations. Interviews with more than two dozen friends and associates of Nader illustrate a mysterious man who by some accounts has for decades quietly aided people in power, or by other accounts is a huckster always looking for a new way in. “He wanted to be a player,” Judith Kipper, director of the Middle East Program at the Institute of World Affairs, told Newsweek. Nader faded from the public eye in the early 2000s, only resurfacing in the recent reports.
JOHN KELLY EXPECTS WHITE HOUSE TO APPROVE RELEASE OF DEMOCRATIC MEMO: SOURCE
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly expects the Trump administration to grant the release of a memo written by Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee that will likely stand in contrast to one recently issued by panel Republicans, according to a source who spoke with Kelly.
EXCLUSIVE: NEW LAS VEGAS SHOOTING PERSON OF INTEREST DOUGLAS HAIG SAYS HE NEVER KNEW ‘WACKO’ STEPHEN PADDOCK
An Arizona man who on Tuesday was identified as a “person of interest” in last year’s mass shooting in Las Vegas once said he had nothing to do with the crime and doesn’t know why authorities would connect him to it. Newsweek spoke with the man, Douglas Haig, on Tuesday and last October.
TRUMP EFFECT: ELECTED ON PRESIDENT’S COATTAILS, ONE OFFBEAT OFFICIAL NOW FACES A COUNTY DESPERATE TO GET HER OUT
Karen Spranger was known for showing up to public meetings wearing an outfit that looked like it was made of aluminum foil, to protest “smart” utility meters. She claimed that in a past life, she was an aide to Egyptian queens. And when authorities went to inspect her apparent residence, they could barely get inside because of all the trash that had piled up. It’s unclear where Spranger actually lived, or if she had a home at all. Then in 2016, she ran as the Republican candidate for clerk and register of deeds in Macomb County, Michigan, a swing area that in previous elections had gone to Al Gore, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. A Democratic clerk had held the seat for 24 years, and when that person stepped aside, it seemed another Democrat would succeed her. But when Donald Trump won in the county, Spranger did too—by just 0.2 percentage points.
TRUMP SHOULD PARDON MICHAEL FLYNN, WHO TOOK 'THE BIGGEST FALL,' FAMILY SAYS
President Donald Trump should pardon his former national security adviser and campaign aide Michael Flynn, who “has taken the biggest fall,” Flynn’s brother said Tuesday. In a since deleted tweet, Joseph Flynn said Trump must get the former Army general off the hook for his December 1 guilty plea stemming from his contacts with the former Russian ambassador. The plea deal is a part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign.
TRUMP’S SMALL BUSINESS CHIEF GAVE SPEECH AT HIS HOTEL, BUT AIDES TRIED TO KEEP LOCATION QUIET
About a month after media outlets stirred controversy by reporting that Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch would be speaking at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., the head of the Small Business Administration (SBA), Linda McMahon, spoke to an industry group there. Though the group did not keep secret the location of its event, McMahon’s aides tried to keep it quiet, newly obtained documents show.
TRUMP WILL SKIP FBI DIRECTOR CEREMONY AMID BUREAU’S RUSSIA INVESTIGATION
President Donald Trump will not attend a ceremony for FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday, the Department of Justice tells Newsweek. In skipping the event, Trump will avoid possible run-ins with former FBI Director James Comey and Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump’s absence will be a departure from the previous administration, when former President Barack Obama attended and spoke at the installation ceremony for Comey.
IVANKA TRUMP USED A PERSONAL EMAIL ACCOUNT FOR GOVERNMENT WORK: EXCLUSIVE
Ivanka Trump, the first daughter and adviser to the president, used a personal email address to communicate with a government official after her father took office, according to documents that the nonprofit American Oversight obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and shared exclusively with Newsweek.
THIS PRIEST LED TRUMP’S INAUGURATION SERVICE. HE’S BEEN OPPOSING THE PRESIDENT SINCE
The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. is the sixth largest cathedral in the world and the second biggest in the United States. It has always had ties to the U.S. presidency. In 1791, President George Washington suggested there be a national house of worship. More than a century later, in 1893, Congress granted the charter for one. Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan had state funerals at the cathedral and President Woodrow Wilson is interred there. The cathedral has also hosted prayer services to coincide with the inaugurations of five presidents: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Barack Obama and Trump. But the cathedral maintains its distance from the federal government and does not receive federal funding, because of laws separating church and state. That distance has grown as Hollerith has become a voice in Washington speaking out against Trump, even as the president surrounds himself with religious leaders who claim the White House has them on “speed dial,” and after white religious Christians overwhelmingly supported Trump as the presidential nominee.
NO PRESIDENT HAS PARDONED HIMSELF, BUT GOVERNORS AND A DRUNK MAYOR HAVE
President Donald Trump has questioned his advisers about his authority to pardon himself, The Washington Post reported July 21, citing an unnamed source. No president has ever done so (Richard Nixon came close), but a handful of governors have. Those gubernatorial cases could provide a precedent if Trump chooses to pardon himself.