Thursday morning news

White House lawyer leaving » President Trump announced Wednesday that top White House lawyer Don McGahn will step down after Senate confirmation vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

TRUMP: Don McGahn’s a really good guy; been with me for a long time. Privately before this he represented me. He’s been here now, it’s been almost two years—and a lot of affection for Don. 

McGahn played a major role in the president’s nomination of conservative judges, including the selections of Kavanaugh and Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Don McGahn has provided hours of testimony in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. President Trump pushed back earlier this month against reports that McGahn may have provided information that could prove damaging to the president.

Trump tweets China hacked Clinton email server » President Trump on Wednesday said China hacked the email server Hillary Clinton used as Secretary of State. WORLD Radio’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: The president tweeted that—quoting here—“Hillary Clinton’s Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China. Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps, their credibility will be forever gone!”

President Trump was likely referring to a recent media report. The Daily Caller reported this week that a Chinese-owned company operating in the Washington D.C. area embedded code in Clinton’s private server and generated copies of almost all her emails. The report cited two unnamed sources.

But the FBI pushed back on Wednesday. Responding to the report and the president’s call for action, the bureau said it “has not found any evidence the servers were compromised.”

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Kristen Flavin.  

Texas officer found guilty of murder in shooting of black teen » Dallas County jurors this week convicted a former Texas police officer of murder in the death of an unarmed black teenager in April of last year.

Roy Oliver, who is white, and his partner were responding to a report of underage drinking at a house party in suburban Dallas when Oliver fired into a car of teenagers, killing 15-year-old Jordan Edwards.

Oliver said he was protecting his partner, but his partner told jurors he did not fear for his life. Police initially said the vehicle carrying Edwards and his friends backed up toward officers “in an aggressive manner” but bodycam video showed the vehicle was moving away from from the officers. Oliver faces between five and 99 years in prison, according to an Edwards family attorney.

Since 2005, only six nonfederal police officers have been convicted of murder in similar cases, and four of those convictions were overturned.

Education secretary to propose new campus sexual misconduct rules » The Department of Education is reportedly set to overhaul its policies on sexual misconduct on school campuses.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is set to unveil new rules aimed at strengthening the rights of those accused of misconduct.

The Times reported that the revised rules will narrow the definition of sexual harassment and will hold schools accountable only for formal complaints filed through proper authorities

and for conduct said to have occurred on their campuses. They would also establish a higher legal standard to determine whether schools improperly addressed complaints

The changes will also reportedly place less of a burden on schools

Northern Ireland sets new record: 590 days with no government » Northern Ireland has set a regrettable world record: the longest peacetime period without a government. Wednesday marked 590 days since the Catholic-Protestant power-sharing administration fell apart. A rift over a botched green-energy project caused the fracture.

The rift soon widened to broader cultural and political issues separating Northern Ireland’s British unionists and Irish nationalists. And so far attempts to restore the government have stalled. Protesters this week demanded action.

AUDIO: I voted for a government to do work in Northern Ireland, and they’re sitting on their backsides and not working. 

Belgium previously held the record, going 589 days without a government between 2010 and 2011.

I’m Kent Covington. Up next: Leigh Jones reports on recovery efforts one year after Hurricane Harvey. And Anna Johansen visits a speech and debate camp. This is The World and Everything in It.

(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) White House counsel Don McGahn, follows Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh to his meeting with Sen. Kamala Harris D-Calif., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018. 

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