National News at a Glance

Category 4 Hurricane Leaves Swath Of Devastation on Florida Panhandle

Hurricane Michael, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the continental United States, slammed into the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday, unleashing a trail of destruction across 200 miles that splintered houses, peeled off roofs and stirred up a terrifying surge of seawater that submerged entire neighborhoods and sent boats careening down city streets. Michael was initially forecast to arrive as a tropical storm but instead amped up to furious intensity, making landfall just after midday near the small seaside community of Mexico Beach, 100 miles southwest of Tallahassee, with winds topping 155 mph. There was one confirmed death in Greensboro, Florida.

Former Top FBI Lawyer Says Rosenstein Was Serious About Taping Trump

The FBI’s top lawyer told congressional officials in private testimony last week that he had taken seriously a suggestion by the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, to secretly tape conversations with President Donald Trump, but viewed it as too risky and unlikely to deliver meaningful information. FBI officials dismissed the idea within days, according to James Baker, then the bureau’s general counsel, but his testimony shows that FBI leaders played out its potential ramifications before rejecting it. Baker’s account contradicts Rosenstein’s denial last month that he suggested recording Trump and discussed recruiting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

After Hints of a Presidential Run, Bloomberg Switches to Democrat

Michael Bloomberg, the Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent, says he is returning to his roots: He has re-registered as a Democrat — an initial but essential step toward a possible run for president in 2020 as a Democrat. Bloomberg made the announcement in simultaneous social media postings on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, which showed the left-handed 76-year-old filling out his registration paperwork. Bloomberg had abandoned the Democratic Party to launch his political career in 2001 and win the mayoralty in New York City as a Republican. But he noted Wednesday that he had been a Democrat “for most of my life.”

Californian Who Unwittingly Aided Russian Election Interference Gets 6 Months in Prison

A California man was sentenced to six months in prison Wednesday for selling bank account information that helped Russia wage a social media campaign aimed at influencing and disrupting the 2016 presidential race. The man, Richard Pinedo, 28, was the third defendant to be sentenced in the investigation into Russia’s election interference and whether any Donald Trump associates conspired. Pinedo, who was also ordered to serve six months of home detention after his time in prison, was an unknowing participant in Russia’s scheme to use social media platforms to exploit political divisions among U.S. voters and swing the election in favor of Trump.

New U.S. Weapons Systems Are a Hackers’ Bonanza, Investigators Find

Authorized hackers were quickly able to seize control of weapons systems being acquired by the U.S. military in a test of the Pentagon’s cybervulnerabilities, according to a new and blistering government review. The report by the Government Accountability Office concluded that the weapons could be neutralized within hours and that, in many cases, the military was oblivious to the hacking. A public version of the study deleted all names and descriptions of the failed systems among $1.6 trillion in weapons that the Pentagon is acquiring from defense contractors so that it could be published without tipping off U.S. adversaries.

Trump Signs Laws Aimed at Drug Costs and Battles Democrats on Medicare

President Donald Trump signed bipartisan legislation Wednesday that would free pharmacists to tell consumers when they could actually save money by paying the full cash price for prescription drugs rather than using health insurance with large copayments, deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs. The legislation on gag clauses has been praised by lawmakers in both parties, but the signing was nearly eclipsed Wednesday by a separate health care furor: Trump asserted in an essay in USA Today that Democrats supporting “Medicare for All” would wreck the program for older Americans, infuriating Democrats who said he was lying to millions of Americans.