News from the note…

A round up of the day’s news that might be of interest to you.

This is an OPEN THREAD,  folks. Chat about any of the stories listed, share links to stories that caught your eye today, and generally have a good time discussing whatever you want.

Manafort jury had lone holdout on deadlocked charges

A lone holdout caused a federal court jury to deadlock on 10 felony charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, a court document released Thursday shows.

Although Manafort was found guilty on eight counts of bank and tax fraud, a mistrial was declared on the remaining charges when the jury handed down its verdict on Tuesday. The verdict form filled out by the jury foreman shows a tally of 11 guilty to one not guilty on the 10 counts on which the jurors could not reach agreement on charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Prosecutors must decide by Wednesday whether to retry Manafort on the 10 deadlocked counts.

Politico

Read the verdict sheet from the Manafort jury

The verdict sheet from the Paul Manafort trial shows that the jury split 11-to-1 on 10 of the 18 counts. Manafort was convicted on eight counts; Judge T.S. Ellis declared a mistrial on the counts where the jury could not reach consensus.

CNN

Rudy Giuliani: Impeaching Trump would mean ‘people’s revolt’

In an interview with Sky News Rudy Giuliani claimed there was “no reason” for an impeachment and called Mr Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen “a liar”.

“You could only impeach [Trump] for political reasons and the American people would revolt against that,” he said.

Cohen admitted on Tuesday to paying hush money to a porn actress and a model at the request of a “candidate” – revealed by his lawyer to be Donald Trump – in order to influence the 2016 US election campaign.

Sky News

US implements $16B in tariffs on Chinese goods

The U.S. on Thursday started collecting steep tariffs on $16 billion worth of Chinese goods, further escalating the trade battle between the world’s two largest economies.

The 25 percent tariff is hitting a broad range of products from chemicals to semiconductors, and the $16 billion completes President Trump‘s promise to impose $50 billion in duties on Chinese products.

U.S. and Chinese trade officials — China’s Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen and David Malpass, Treasury undersecretary for international affairs — are in Washington this week trying to broker a deal on trade. 
On Monday, Trump told Reuters in a interview that he did not “anticipate much” from the U.S.-China talks.

The Hill

Coal miner: Trump’s ‘false promises’ will ‘only line the pockets’ of executives

A fifth-generation coal miner from Virginia has spoken out against President Donald Trump’s rhetoric surrounding the coal mining industry, saying the President is making “false promises that are only going to line the pockets of coal executives.”

In a New York Times op-ed video published Tuesday, Nick Mullins, a ninth-generation Appalachian from Virginia, said that if Trump wants to help the Appalachian mining communities that support him, “lowering emission standards is not the way to do it.”

At this year’s State of the Union address, Trump talked about ending “the war on beautiful, clean coal.” Mullins says “coal cannot be clean,” and that miners know firsthand.
“We have to realize that the environmental impacts of the industry aren’t a partisan issue,” he said. “They’re a matter of life or death.”

CNN

Hunter steps down from House committee assignments

Indicted Rep. Duncan Hunter told Speaker Paul Ryan Thursday that he will step down from his committee assignments after initially declining to do so, according to a letter obtained by POLITICO.

Ryan (R-Wis.) called on the California Republican, who has been indicted with his wife for allegedly using more than $250,000 in campaign funds to enrich their family, to relinquish his committee posts, including his spot on the House Armed Services Committee. A defiant Hunter, who on Thursday pleaded not guilty to all charges and is also accusing the Justice Department of conducting a “witch hunt” against President Donald Trump supporters like himself, initially refused.

Ryan’s office was readying a plan to strip him of those positions anyway by calling up a House panel that decides committee posts and holding a vote to remove him forcefully. 

Politico

Google deletes dozens of YouTube, other accounts linked to Iran

Google deleted 58 Iran-linked accounts from YouTube and other Google sites, the tech company announced Thursday, in the latest sign that foreign agents are continuing to exploit U.S. tech companies in information warfare.

Google said today it identified and deleted 39 YouTube channels, six Blogger accounts and 13 Google+ accounts that were sharing English-language political content in the U.S. while masking ties to Iran’s sole radio and TV broadcaster. That organization, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, is widely viewed as state-run.

The reveal came in a blog post by Google’s senior vice president of global affairs, Kent Walker, who said the company has already briefed U.S. lawmakers and law enforcement on the matter. The news follows similar announcements earlier this week from Facebook and Twitter.
Google also announced that it detected and removed 42 YouTube accounts associated with Russian troll farm Internet Research Agency.

Politico

If Trump shot Michael Cohen in broad daylight, here’s what Republicans would say

The New York Times:
Breaking news: in an eerie echo of Donald Trump’s infamous campaign trail remark – “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters” – many witnesses report, and CCTV footage obtained by the Times confirms, that early this morning the president drew a handgun on his former lawyer Michael Cohen and shot him dead on a street in midtown Manhattan.

House speaker Paul Ryan:
“If these reports are true – I emphasize IF – then yes, I’m very concerned. I don’t think the president should be killing people in broad daylight in front of Tiffany’s. But I’m not a legal expert, I could be wrong.”

The Guardian