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HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE
Trump to turn in taped exchanges with former FBI director Comey President is given two weeks to provide recordings to the panel By Karoun Demirjian WA S H INGT ON P O ST
The House Intelligence Committee is demanding that President Donald Trump turn over within two weeks any tapes he made of his conversations with former FBI director James Comey, and that Comey supply the panel with memos he kept of those interactions as well. The letters come just a day after Comey testified before the Senate Intelli-
gence Committee about a series of discussions he had with Trump. Comey told the senators that the president suggested to him that he drop a Trump probe against former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Those conversations made Comey uncomfortable enough that he wrote memos describing
Comey
them. A few days after Comey was fired, Trump warned via Twitter that “Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the
press!” Comey testified Thursday that the tweet alarmed him so much that he
decided to pass his memos to a close friend with instructions to give them to the press - a decision Comey made in the hope that it would force the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor in the Russia probe. On Thursday night, following Comey’s testimony, the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote to that friend, Columbia Law School professor Daniel Richman, asking him to give the committee Trump continues on A10
ZAPATA COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT
WHITE HOUSE
AMBULANCE INVOLVED IN THREE-VEHICLE COLLISION
United States commits to NATO Trump claims devotion to Article 5 By Matthew Lee ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Cuate Santos / Laredo Morning Times
A Zapata County Fire Department ambulance was part of a 3-vehicle collision at the intersection of Bustamante Street and Bartlett Avenue on Friday.
Pregnant woman was being transported to Laredo Medical Center when crash occurred By César G. Rodriguez TH E ZAPATA T IME S
A Zapata County Fire Department ambulance transporting a pregnant woman crashed with two other vehicles just a couple of blocks away from the Laredo Medical Center, authorities said. Laredo police are investigating the crash. Laredo Fire Department crews responded to the threevehicle collision at about 9:30 a.m. Friday at the intersection of Bustamante Street and North Bartlett Avenue. Authorities said the Zapata ambulance had its lights and sirens on when it collided with a Nissan Rogue and a pickup truck. No non-life threatening injuries were reported, according to LFD. The ambulance had two occupants and the woman. U.S. Border Patrol had rescued her after she fell in a creek and needed to Ambulance continues on A10
Cuate Santos / Laredo Morning Times
A Zapata County Fire Department ambulance was part of a 3-vehicle collision at the intersection of Bustamante Street and Bartlett Avenue on Friday.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says the United States is committed to the mutual defense of NATO members, casting aside concerns that his failure to mention the commitment last month weakened the alliance. Trump said Friday that he was “committing the United States to Article 5.” That article in the NATO treaty says an attack on one member is an attack on all members and binds the allies to come to that country’s defense. European countries and others expressed concern last month when Trump did not mention the clause in a speech at NATO headquarters in Brussels. In that speech, Trump demanded that allies live up to a pledge to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense by 2024. He did not specifically mention Article 5, which has only been invoked once, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “I’m committing the United States to Article 5,” Trump told reporters at a news conference Friday with visiting Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. “Certainly we are there to protect, and that’s one of the reasons that I want people to make sure we have a very, very strong force by paying the kind of money necessary to have that force. But yes, absolutely, I’d be committed to Article 5.” The White House later reaffirmed the commitment in a statement announcing that Trump will visit Poland next month as part of his second foreign trip. It said that in addition to showing America’s support of Poland, the trip will also emphasize the president’s commitment to strengthening NATO’s “collective defense.” Trump’s omission in Brussels raised concerns on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. White House aides said the NATO continues on A10