Monday morning news: April 1, 2019

White House pushes to halt aid to Central American counters amid border crisis » President Trump is taking the first steps to cut direct aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The State Department says it will work with Congress to suspend payments to those nations.

The White House says they’re not doing enough to stop their citizens from trekking north to the U.S. border.

Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told ABC’s This Week that Mexico is also part of the problem.

MULVANEY: We need Mexico to continue to solidify its border. We need the northern triangle countries to do more about not allowing their people into Mexico. They can help us. We need them to do that. If not, it makes very little sense for us to continue to send them aid. 

The president has threatened to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border this week if Mexico doesn’t do more to stop migrants from reaching the border.

Border officials say they don’t have the resources to keep up with a recent surge in migration and that the border at a “breaking point.”

On Friday, President Obama’s former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said without question the U.S. has a border crisis.

JOHNSON: According to the commissioner of CBP there were 4,000 apprehensions in one day alone this week, and we’re on pace for 100,000 apprehensions on our southern border this month. This is by far a greater number than anything I saw on my watch. 

Johnson said, however, he does not believe closing the border is realistic.

Democrats say Mueller report delay is unacceptable » Democrats say Attorney General William Barr’s plan to release special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe report by the middle of this month is not good enough.

The Justice Department says that by law some of the information in the report cannot be released publicly. It also says making sure to not publish anything illegally is a painstaking process.

But Senator Dick Durbin told NBC’s Meet the Press …

DURBIN: Apparently William Barr believes that he can take his time and redact the three or four-hundred page report from Bob Mueller. I think it’s long overdue for him to apply to court to get a waiver when it comes to grand jury information, and then produce this report in its entirety. 

And House Democrats are sticking to the their deadline. They’ve demanded to see the report no later than tomorrow.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say they want to see the full report, even if it’s in a secured setting.

British lawmakers to vote again on Brexit plans » British lawmakers will vote once again today on alternatives to Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan.

Last Wednesday, members of parliament did not give majority support to any of the eight proposals on the table. This time, the House of Commons speaker may narrow the list to just three or four options.

The most likely option to win a majority appears to be a plan to enter a customs union with the EU. Sky News analyst Rob Powell explains…

POWELL: That would mean closer alignment, closer relationship with the European Union — could get Labour MPs on side, but it would cross one of Mrs. May’s red lines as it would mean we wouldn’t be able to make independent trade deals, and it really could cause havoc in her party and lead to resignations. 

Lawmakers have rejected the prime minister’s plan three times, but May is reportedly thinking about pushing for a fourth vote this week.

Two FL men free after four decades of wrongful imprisonment » Two Florida men are free today after spending the last four decades locked up in prison for a crime they did not commit.

A jury found Clifford Williams Jr. and his nephew Hubert Myers guilty in a fatal 1976 shooting and sentenced them to life in prison. Williams was 34 at the time, Myers just 18.

But Florida’s new Conviction Integrity Review unit re-examined the case and found witnesses who saw the men at a party when the shooting took place.

Myers told WFOX tv that the reality of being a free man still hasn’t quite set in.

MYERS: Once I get my family, knowing I can look back and don’t have no officers around me telling me what to do, how to do it, and that reality hit here, I think I’ll be alright. 

The state attorney created the conviction review unit in 2017.

NCAA Final Four set » There are now four teams left standing in college basketball’s NCAA Tournament. Michigan State edged out top-seeded Duke by a single point on Sunday, winning 68 to 67. They’ll move on to battle the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who eliminated top-seeded Gonzaga on Saturday reaching the Final Four for the first time.  

And hours after the Spartans advanced, Auburn also made history by beating the Kentucky Wildcats.

AUDIO: For the first time ever, Auburn is going to the Final Four!

Audio courtesy of CBS. The Tigers move on to face the Virginia Cavaliers, the only No. 1 seed to make the Final Four.

Dumbo soars at weekend box office » At the weekend box office, Disney’s Dumbo soared to No. 1.

CLIP: Welcome baby Dumbo. We’re all family here, no matter how small. 

The live action remake of the animated classic took in about $45 million in its opening weekend.

The R-rated thriller Us raked in another $34 million.

Captain Marvel finished third with another $20 million in ticket sales, but globally it just crossed the $1 billion mark.

You can find WORLD’s reviews of current films — along with ratings and content information — at WNG.org/movies.

(AP Photo/ Kirsty Wigglesworth) Brexit supporters stand behind the statue of Nelson Mandela in Parliament Square during a rally after the final leg of the “March to Leave” in London, Friday, March 29, 2019.

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