USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump shifted gears Friday on election interference, saying “of course” he would go to the FBI or the attorney general if a foreign power offered him dirt about an opponent.

Trump’s new stance was a walk back — to a degree — after he set off a Washington firestorm earlier in the week by asserting he would not necessarily contact law enforcement if offered damaging material from an overseas source.

But in his latest comments, the president still said he would look at the proffered information to see whether it was “incorrect.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday blamed Iran for attacks on oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, but he also held out hope that implicit U.S. threats to use force will yield talks with the Islamic Republic as the Pentagon considers beefing up defenses in the Persian Gulf area.

A day after explosions blew holes in two oil tankers just outside Iran’s territorial waters, rattling international oil markets, the administration seemed caught between pressure to punish Iran and reassure Washington’s Gulf Arab allies without drawing the U.S. closer to war.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Long before she became the spokeswoman for the Trump administration, Sarah Sanders was a well-known figure in Arkansas who appeared in campaign ads for her dad and learned about the state’s rough-and-tumble politics by working on his campaign and others.

Now, speculation that Sanders may run for governor in her home state shakes up a race that’s three years away but was already expected to be a crowded and expensive fight among Republicans.

WASHINGTON (AP) —  The Justice Department issued a legal opinion Friday finding that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was right to withhold President Donald Trump’s tax returns from a House committee that subpoenaed them.

The House Ways and Means Committee subpoenaed six years of Trump’s tax returns in May, but the Treasury Department refused to provide the documents. At the time, Mnuchin said the request lacked a “legitimate legislative purpose.”

NEW YORK (AP) — NBC set the lineup for its two-night debate of 2020 presidential contenders later this month, with a top-heavy second session that will pit former Vice President Joe Biden onstage against 2016 Democratic runner-up, Bernie Sanders, the youthful Mayor Pete Buttigieg and California Sen. Kamala Harris.

The first night, June 26 in Miami, is headlined by Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of New Jersey, along with former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is trying to take an ax to federal advisory committees, ordering that their numbers be slashed.

Trump signed an executive order Friday that directs every federal agency to evaluate the need for all of its advisory committees created under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. And it gives agency heads until September to terminate at least one-third of current committees created by agency heads.

Federal advisory committees are typically made up of private citizens who offer advice and assistance to the executive branch.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A holiday that is spreading across the U.S. and beyond, Juneteenth is considered the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States.

It was originally celebrated on June 19, the day that Union soldiers in 1865 told enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, that the Civil War had ended and they were free.

Celebrations include parades, concerts, and readings of the Emancipation Proclamation. This year, Juneteenth will also feature the first congressional hearing in more than a decade on reparations for slavery.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks ended a choppy week of trading with modest losses Friday as investors look forward to getting more clues about the direction of interest rates.

Technology shares drove the declines, and energy stocks also fell a day after leading the market. Some late-day gains in banks and insurers helped temper the market’s losses.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A helicopter pilot who heads a military command in Guam will be the first female leader of the U.S. Naval War College, the Navy announced Friday, days after removing the college president who came under investigation over questionable behavior.

Rear Adm. Shoshana Chatfield will be the new president, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer said in a statement released after the school’s graduation ceremony, calling her a “historic choice.”

PHOENIX (AP) — A $10 million legal claim was filed against the city of Phoenix that says police officers committed civil rights violations by pointing guns and profanely yelling commands at the father and pregnant mother of two young daughters because one of the children, unbeknownst to the parents, had shoplifted a doll at a store.