U.S. intelligence intercepted Saudi Arabian officials discussing a plan ordered by the crown prince to lure journalist Jamal Khashoggi from the United States back to Saudi Arabia, where he would be detained, U.S. officials told The Washington Post on Wednesday.
Khashoggi went missing last week after he went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to pick up a document he needed to get married. Turkish officials are adamant that Khashoggi, a columnist for the Post, was killed inside the consulate by a Saudi hit squad. Saudi Arabia has denied any wrongdoing and says he left the consulate on his own.
Khashoggi, who lived in Virginia as a U.S. resident applying for citizenship, was critical of his homeland, but friends say he did not oppose all of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's policies. Friends told the Post that several senior Saudi officials close to the crown prince contacted Khashoggi and told him they wanted him to take a job in the government. He was skeptical, and did not believe they'd offer him the protection they were promising.
Also on Wednesday, a bipartisan group of senators urged President Trump to impose sanctions on anyone found to be connected with Khashoggi's disappearance. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is close to the crown prince. Catherine Garcia
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton are generally aligned when it comes to U.S. foreign policy, but that doesn't mean they get along.
Four sources familiar with their relationship told CNN that their stark personality differences and professional styles have caused a rift between the two, which has also been exacerbated by President Trump's "erratic behavior and lack of foreign policy experience." Pompeo, the State Department, and the National Security Council have all dismissed the claims.
But CNN's sources said that Pompeo is not a fan of Bolton's "calculating methods." Bolton often circumvents Pompeo to interact directly with the president, the CIA, and Congress. For example, during a debate over North Korea, Bolton reportedly left Pompeo off messages he sent to the CIA, which included a list of questions he wanted answered, a source within the intelligence community said. Pompeo, who has led negotiations with North Korea, was reportedly not pleased with being left in the dark. Bolton also reportedly has his deputy, Allison Hooker, call up the CIA ahead of meetings with Trump, allowing him to gather intel and keep that information to himself.
Pompeo is not alone when it comes to disapproving of Bolton's workplace behavior. One of CNN's sources, who describes themselves as Bolton's friend, said the national security adviser is "overreaching" and not running the NSC properly. "There is a real feeling outside of the national security council, across the board, that John has his own agenda and is undercutting the president's policies," another source close to the White House said.
Trump, too, reportedly has some issues with Bolton, though that has less to do with the way Bolton operates and more with how he's perceived. The president apparently gets annoyed by Bolton's public profile, especially when he's giving a speech or tweeting because it takes attention away from him. Read more at CNN. Tim O'Donnell
Much like the Democratic presidential primaries, NASA is collecting a long list of names for 2020.
"Travelers" can have their names sent to Mars during NASA's 2020 space launch. The names will be stenciled in tiny letters on chips attached to a rover that will track any signs of life on Mars, the agency said. Researchers are calling the rover a "robotic scientist" that will collect samples and analyze climate on the red planet.
"As we get ready to launch this historic Mars mission, we want everyone to share in this journey of exploration," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "It's an exciting time for NASA, as we embark on this voyage to answer profound questions about our neighboring planet, and even the origins of life itself."
Although no humans will be onboard, space-lovers can earn "frequent flyer" miles for the trip and any other mission they choose to submit a name for. Participants will also receive a souvenir boarding pass for participating in NASA's launch.
The rover is slated to reach Mars in February 2021. Participants can still add their names to NASA's list here. Tatyana Bellamy-Walker
Democrats just scored their second subpoena victory of the week.
On Monday, a U.S. District Court judge denied President Trump's request to block the House Oversight Committee's subpoena of his financial records from his accounting firm. And on Wednesday, another judge did basically the same thing, ruling against Trump's suit to block a House subpoena of his financial record from Deutsche Bank and Capitol One.
Last month, the House Financial Services and Intelligence committees subpoenaed the banks for several years of Trump's financial records. Trump, his businesses, and his family immediately sued the banks to stop them from complying. But on Wedenesday, Judge Edgardo Ramos of the Southern District of New York said the subpoenas were broad, but decided they were "clearly pertinent" to Congress' goals, CNN reports. Ramos added that he expects the banks to comply with the subpoenas shortly.
Deutsche Bank has spent years loaning to Trump and his businesses, and said it "would comply with whatever the court ultimately decided," The New York Times notes. Like they did after Tuesday's ruling, though, Trump's lawyers will likely appeal the Wednesday decision. Kathryn Krawczyk
Washington has become the first state to legalize human composting as an alternative to burial or cremation after Gov. Jay Inslee signed the bill into law on Tuesday.
The law also legalizes alkaline hydrolysis, "a process that breaks down bodies using lye and heat," HuffPost explained. Alkaline hydrolysis is legal in some other states, including California, Idaho, and Maine. Both processes will be legal in Washington starting on May 1, 2020.
These alternative methods have been touted by advocates as being more eco-friendly than traditional burial or cremation. As much as "a metric ton of CO2" could be saved by choosing the process of human composting instead of traditional methods, says Seattle company Recompose.
After the human composting process is complete — which would take about a month — the deceased's loved ones can take the remains home "to grow a tree or a garden," Recompose's website states.
It's possible that Recompose will be the first of many Washington companies to offer this service, though it's unclear exactly how many Washingtonians will decide to avail themselves of this new opportunity.
Read more at HuffPost. Shivani Ishwar
The European parliamentary elections will begin on Thursday, carrying on through Sunday. All 28 European Union member states will elect a certain number of Members of Parliament to the bench. EU elections are normally, as The Washington Post describes, "tepid" affairs, but this year they've come to the forefront across the continent. Here are four lingering questions to consider before the polls open.
Will the skeptics prevail? — Several EU-skeptic party leaders, like Italy's Matteo Salvini, France's Marine Le Pen, and Hungary's Viktor Orban, have forged a united front in an attempt to gain control of the parliament. But where they once called for Brexit-like referendums in their respective countries, most of the EU-skeptic leaders now believe the answer is to reform the system of government to favor individual nations. The skeptics are expected to gain a fair number of seats, but it's unclear if they'll procure enough to make a difference going forward.
What about Brexit? — Brexit is a disaster, that much is clear. But because the U.K. Parliament can't come to terms on a deal, British citizens will participate in this round of elections. The election itself doesn't have much to do with domestic politics in the U.K., but many see the vote as emblematic of where the country now stands on leaving the EU. As The Guardian's Gaby Hinsliff writes, "This may be the closest we ever get to a second referendum." Currently, Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, which as its name suggests, wants the U.K. to leave, is currently leading the polls.
Will people actually show up? - In 2014, the last election cycle, voter turnout slumped to 42.4 percent. The truth is, in the past, Europeans have cared little about their Parliamentary elections. But with the rise of populist parties (and the possible consequences of their victories), and the Brexit-induced fragility of the EU on people's minds, it's likely turnout will surge. Tim O'Donnell