National News at a Glance

Recruiting Immigrants, but Fearing Their Foreign Ties

The Army’s abrupt discharges of immigrant recruits may not be over after all. Faced with legal challenges from some of the recruits, who said they had been expelled unfairly on specious security grounds, the Army suspended the discharges and said it would re-examine its policy. But an internal Army email message obtained by The New York Times suggests the Army may be looking for different grounds for expelling the recruits that would sidestep the litigation. The recruits had signed up for a program known as Military Accessions Vital to National Interests, which offered legal immigrants with vital skills a fast track to citizenship.

Judge in Cosby Case Rejects Defense Motion to Step Down

The Pennsylvania judge scheduled to sentence Bill Cosby next week declined to step away from the case, saying a defense motion stating he had feuded with a key witness and should recuse himself came too late and was “wholly without merit.” Judge Steven O’Neill presided over the trial that ended with Cosby’s being found guilty of sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. He faces up to 30 years in prison. Cosby’s lawyer, Joseph Green, argued that O’Neill had failed to disclose a bitter quarrel he had had with the witness, Bruce Castor, while both men were seeking the Republican nomination for county district attorney 20 years ago.

As Storms Loom, Some Immigrant Families Wonder: Is It Safe to Seek Help?

For families who live with the constant fear of deportation, the storm that has devastated large swaths of the Southeast presented an extra set of challenges. Hurricane Florence forced them to think about whether seeking government resources like shelter, food or other aid would help them get through the storm or put them at greater risk. The dilemma was not helped by conflicting messages from authorities. A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency would not conduct enforcement operations in areas affected by the storm. But Jeff Byard of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said in a news conference the same day, “I’m not going to use the terminology ‘guarantee,'” when reporters asked if immigrants without legal status would be safe in shelters.

Trump Has Put the U.S. and China on the Cusp of a New Cold War

President Donald Trump is confident the United States is winning its trade war with China. But on both sides of the Pacific, a bleaker recognition is taking hold: The world’s two largest economies are in the opening stages of a new economic Cold War, one that could persist well after Trump is out of office. Trump intensified his trade fight this week, imposing tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods and threatening to tax nearly all imports from China if it dared retaliate. His position has bewildered, frustrated and provoked Beijing, which has responded with its own levies on U.S. goods.

Trump Attacks Sessions and FBI, Citing Conspiracy Theories

President Donald Trump excoriated his attorney general, the FBI, the special counsel and members of the intelligence community — citing conspiracy theories by conservatives even as he declared that he is “not a conspiratorial person." Trump used an Oval Office interview with The Hill newspaper to unleash some of his most deeply felt grievances against his critics, saying one of the “crowning achievements” of his presidency will be exposing what he calls corruption among the people investigating his administration. "We have tremendous support, by the way, to expose something that is truly a cancer in our country,” the president said without citing evidence.

Human Rights Group to Bail Out 500 Women and Teenagers From Rikers

More than 500 women and teenagers will be bailed out from Rikers Island in New York as part of a national campaign to dismantle a bail system that activists say discriminates against minorities and the poor. The effort is being spearheaded by the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights group, which is committing at least $5 million for bail. While there have been other mass bailouts around the country, organizers said they believe this effort at Rikers has the potential to be one of the largest ever.

Kavanaugh’s Supporters and His Accuser Are at an Impasse Over Her Testimony

The confrontation between Judge Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser devolved into a polarizing stalemate Wednesday as Democrats and Republicans advanced competing narratives to convince voters that the other side had been unfair in the Supreme Court confirmation battle. Christine Blasey Ford, the professor who alleged Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers, said a Senate hearing set for Monday to hear her allegation would not be fair, and Democrats insisted an FBI investigation take place first. Senate Republicans rejected any FBI inquiry and said that Monday would be her chance to be heard. Republicans later set a meeting for next Wednesday for a possible vote.