USA

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — John Delaney, the longest-running Democratic candidate in the 2020 presidential race, is ending his campaign after pouring millions of his own money into an effort that failed to resonate with voters.

The announcement, made Friday morning, further winnowed down a primary field that had once stood at more than two dozen.

“At this moment in time, this is not the purpose God has for me,” Delaney said, in an interview with CNN. “We’ve clearly shaped the debate in a very positive way.”

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — A former CIA contractor who helped design a harsh interrogation program following the the Sept. 11 attacks sought Friday to minimize the severity of techniques used on the men facing war crimes charges for their alleged roles in the plot.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will use next week’s State of the Union to promote what he calls the “Great American comeback,” according to a senior administration official.

The speech comes at a moment when Trump is hoping to put his Senate impeachment trial behind him. White House officials say Trump wants to use the nationally-televised address to highlight his administration’s efforts to bolster the economy, tighten immigration rules and lower prescription drug costs just as his reelection effort accelerate.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced Friday that it was restricting immigrants from six additional countries that officials said failed to meet minimum security standards, as part of an election-year push to further clamp down immigration.

Officials said immigrants from Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Eritrea, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania will face new restrictions in obtaining certain visas to come to the United States. But it is not a total travel ban, unlike President Donald Trump’s earlier effort that generated outrage around the world for targeting Muslims.

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Law enforcement agents opened fire on an SUV driver who smashed through two security checkpoints at Mar-a-Lago on Friday in what authorities described as the actions of “an obviously impaired” driver but not an intentional attack on President Donald Trump’s resort.

NEW YORK (AP) — Citing a recent Associated Press investigation, the foreman of the jury that sent a Minnesota teen away for life in the 2002 death of an 11-year-old girl said Friday he regrets voting to convict.

“I do feel badly,” jury foreman Joe McLean told the AP. “I feel, for lack of a better word, that we were misled.”

“Maybe we should have taken more time,” he added. “Maybe we should have said we couldn’t decide.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate narrowly rejected Democratic demands to summon witnesses for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial late Friday, all but ensuring Trump’s acquittal in just the third trial to threaten a president’s removal in U.S. history. But senators pushed off final voting on his fate to next Wednesday.

The delay in timing showed the weight of a historic vote bearing down on senators, despite prodding by the president eager to have it all behind him in an election year and ahead of his State of the Union speech Tuesday night.

WASHINGTON (AP) — There is no question, Sen. Lamar Alexander said, that President Donald Trump actions were “inappropriate” when he asked Ukraine’s leader to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden.

But not bad enough, he said, to warrant Trump’s removal from office, or even to hear from witnesses or other evidence.

NEW YORK, Jan 31 (APP): With US President Donald Trump hailing his “deal of the century” as a historic opportunity to achieve peace between Palestine and Israel, Democratic members of Congress denounced the plan that has been rejected by Palestinians.

Trump revealed the details of the plan on Tuesday in a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

31 Jan 2019; MEMO: The Pentagon announced yesterday that 64 US troops have now sustained injuries as a result of the 8 January Iranian missile retaliatory attack on two military bases in Iraq, revising once again how many servicemen were hurt, despite US President Donald Trump initially denying any personnel were harmed and later