Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, deemed the White House "weak" after President Trump on Friday apparently took Russian President Vladimir Putin's word that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election — a contradiction of U.S. intelligence agencies' overwhelming consensus to the contrary. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reported the conversation after Trump and Putin's first-ever meeting during the G-20 summit in Germany, though a senior Trump administration official has since denied Trump accepted Putin's assurances.

McFaul argued that while there can be "disagreements with Russia about policies," there cannot be "disagreements about basic facts," like that Russia meddled in the U.S. election:

McFaul also scoffed at Putin and Trump's apparent focus on how to "move forward," as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson put it, given it was the leaders' first-ever face-to-face meeting. After Putin annexed Crimea, "propped up" Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and meddled in the U.S. elections, "of course, he wants to 'move on,'" McFaul wrote. Becca Stanek

Less than a week after a gunman murdered at least 50 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern effectively banned the sale of AR-15s and all similar assault rifles Thursday afternoon. "Six days after this attack, we are announcing a ban on all military-style semi-automatics (MSSA) and assault rifles in New Zealand,” Ardern said in a news conference. “Related parts used to convert these guns into MSSAs are also being banned, along with all high-capacity magazines.”

These changes will require legislation, and Ardern said she expects the bans to be enshrined in law by April 11, with a buy-back program put in place afterward. In the meantime, the government has immediately reclassified "virtually all" of the weapons she mentioned so they now require a special permit from the police to purchase. "I can assure people, that there is no point in applying for such a permit," Ardern added.

"I strongly believe that the vast majority of legitimate gun owners in New Zealand will understand that these moves are in the national interest, and will take these changes in their stride," Ardern said. She got immediate backing from the trade group Federated Farmers, which said "this will not be popular among some of our members, but after a week of intense debate and careful consideration by our elected representatives and staff, we believe this is the only practicable solution."

Australia banned semi-automatic weapons in 1996 after a mass shooting in Port Arthur, in which a gunman with an AR-15 murdered 35 people. Peter Weber

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter made a most triumphant announcement on Wednesday, revealing that they will start filming a third Bill & Ted movie, Bill & Ted Face the Music, this summer.

Reeves and Winter will reprise their roles as Ted Logan and Bill S. Preston, Esq., respectively. Entertainment Weekly reports that the movie will follow the best friends as they encounter a "visitor from the future [who] warns them that only their song can save life as we know it and bring harmony to the universe." After Reeves and Winter shared the big news, Orion Pictures announced the release date: Aug. 21, 2020.

Bill & Ted Face the Music is set to be directed by Dean Parisot, with Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, writers who worked on the earlier films, penning the screenplay. Catherine Garcia

Those who have been keeping up with Jared Kushner, his family real estate development business, and their $1.8 billion purchase of a Manhattan building don't have the full story, Kushner's father, Charles, writes in a Washington Post op-ed published Wednesday night.

Kushner took over management of Kushner Companies after his father went to prison for tax evasion and witness tampering, becoming CEO in 2008. In 2007, Kushner Companies purchased 666 Fifth Ave. in New York City for a record $1.8 billion, thinking that "the parts of the 1.5-million-square-foot building were worth more than the whole, and splitting it into retail and office components would create value of more than $2.5 billion," Charles Kushner said.

The global financial crisis hit the next year, and "projected office rents for 666 Fifth Ave. were cut in half," Kushner said. Still, they managed to structure the debt so they could sell off half the retail component, and last year completed a $1.3 billion, 99-year land lease to Brookfield Asset Management. Charles Kushner denied reports that the company was ever on the brink of collapse, and that he sought foreign money to pay off a $1.2 billion mortgage.

Charles Kushner praised his son, who left the company in 2017 to join the Trump administration as a senior adviser. He has divested from more than 80 partnerships "at a substantial financial sacrifice," Kushner said, and his "service to the country has brought unprecedented scrutiny of the Kushner Companies" and because of that, "we have passed up many business opportunities that we normally would have pursued." Read the entire op-ed at The Washington Post. Catherine Garcia

Hope Hicks, a former Trump Organization employee and White House communications director, will give the House Judiciary Committee documents as part of its inquiry into potential obstruction of justice, CNN reports.

Earlier this month, Hicks received a letter from House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), requesting documents on the firing of former FBI Director James Comey; false statements former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn made to the FBI; hush-money payments made to women who said they had affairs with President Trump; and the drafting of a statement regarding a meeting Donald Trump Jr. had with Russians at Trump Tower in 2016.

Hicks, a longtime Trump confidante, has been asked to turn over "any personal or work diary, journal, or other book containing notes, a record, or a description of daily events" having to do with Trump, his campaign, the Trump Organization, and the executive office of the president. In 2018, Hicks testified privately before the House Intelligence Committee, and while she agreed to answer questions about the Trump campaign and transition, she would not discuss her time in the White House. Catherine Garcia

Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler on Wednesday said it's not climate change, but unsafe water, drought, and plastic trash in the oceans that are "the largest and most immediate environmental and public health issues affecting the world right now."

He made his remarks in Washington on World Water Day, saying he is frustrated because "water issues often take a backseat" to larger discussions about global warming. "Most of the threats from climate change are 50 to 75 years out," Wheeler said. "What we need to do is make sure that the people who are dying today from lack of having drinking water in Third World countries, that problem is addressed." During an interview with ABC News last month, Wheeler said climate change is not a "crisis."

Speaking with CBS News on Wednesday, Wheeler said the United States has "the safest drinking water in the world," and "92 percent of the water everyday meets all the EPA requirements for safe drinking water." Regarding the lead-contaminated water in cities like Flint, Michigan, Newark, New Jersey, and Baltimore, Wheeler said the EPA is "working to update a number of regulations, one of which is our lead and copper rule, which takes a look at the pipes. ... We're looking at what we can do to require regular testing for schools and daycares, so that would be part of that regulation when it comes out later this year." Catherine Garcia

A Connecticut woman says Harvard University has been making money off of images of her slave ancestors, and she wants that to end.

Tamara Lanier filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Massachusetts, claiming that Harvard exploited the images of her great-great-great-grandfather Renty and his daughter, Delia, who were slaves in South Carolina. In the suit, Lanier says a Harvard scientist, Louis Agassiz, went to the South in 1850 to "prove" black people are inferior and to "justify their subjugation, exploitation, and segregation." The photos were taken after he ordered Renty and Delia to take off their clothes.

Harvard has profited from the images, with Renty's picture used during the 2017 conference "Universities and Slavery: Bound in History" and placed on the cover of a $40 book about photography and anthropology, NBC News reports. The suit says Renty and Delia's images, "like their bodies before, remain subject to control and appropriation by the powerful, and their familial identities are denied to them." Lanier is asking for Harvard to give her the images, as well as unspecified damages. Catherine Garcia