Tuesday morning news: June 19, 2018

Horowitz, Wray testify on Capitol Hill » Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz stuck to his guns on Monday, telling Senate lawmakers that political bias did not affect the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email and Russia investigations. 

HOROWITZ: We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that improper considerations, including political bias, directly affected those specific decisions, in part because the decisions were made by the larger mid-year team or the prosecutors. 

The inspector general’s comments came after its report last week identified five FBI officials whose emails and texts reflected a pro-Clinton bias. Horowitz said those messages did not affect decisions made during the investigations. 

Horowitz also told lawmakers his office is investigating fired FBI Director James Comey’s leaking of personal memos. Those memos detail conversations he had with President Trump and reportedly contain classified information. 

Japan earthquake kills 3, injures 200 » 

A deadly earthquake struck Japan early Monday— 

AUDIO: Japanese broadcaster sound 

A Japanese broadcaster describes the destruction, overlooking water gushing down streets from broken pipes. Authorities report at least three people died. Collapsed buildings injured some 200 more. 

The 6.1 magnitude quake centered near the city of Osaka— 240 miles southwest of Tokyo. 

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he’s given three instructions to relief agencies: 

ABE: To quickly understand the scope of damage, to do our best to send aid to those who are affected, for the government to provide accurate information to the public. 

Some 170,000 Osaka residents were temporarily without electricity, but crews restored most of the power grid within 24 hours.

The government is warning residents to prepare for aftershocks in the next few days.

DHS DACA report, immigration bill latest » As Congress debates bills to solve the DACA problem this week, the Department of Homeland Security has announced that nearly 60,000 DACA recipients have arrest records. 

Francis Cissna oversees the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. He announced thousands of young immigrants were allowed to enter the DACA program because their arrests did not result in convictions. 

CISSNA: The rules for DACA are that you are excluded from DACA if you have a felony conviction, three misdemeanor convictions, three or more misdemeanor convictions, or a conviction for a significant misdemeanor. So you could be arrested a whole lot of times and still get DACA. 

Nearly 690,000 people brought into the country illegally as children are currently safe from deportation under DACA. 

Cissna says DHS released the data to inform lawmakers working on immigration bills this week. He’s urging them to continue a policy that allows DHS to deport individuals viewed as a threat.

Trump calls for “Space Force” » President Trump on Monday called for the establishment of a new branch of the military, in outer space. 

Speaking to the National Space Council at the White House, Trump said national security depends not just on an American presence in space but American dominance. And he’s ordered the Defense Department to get started.

TRUMP: To immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces. That’s a big statement. 

Trump said the U.S. Space Force would be co-equal with the Air Force.

But Florida’s Democratic Senator Bill Nelson is criticizing the idea, saying it would “rip the Air Force apart” and that generals he’s talked to don’t want it. 

MLB attendance down 6.6 percent » AUDIO: Home run sound

Despite setting a record for home runs last year, Major League Baseball is in a slump.

The sports reporting firm Stats says this year’s average attendance of just over 27,000 is down 6.6 percent from last year. 

The weather has been a factor in the significant drop in fans showing up for games. April and May were unseasonably cold and rainy. 

But rain checks can’t explain all the numbers. The Blue Jays play under a retractable roof and attendance in Toronto is down nearly 30 percent. 

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says competitive races and better weather should help the leagues make up lost ground in the second half of the season.

I’m Jim Henry. Straight ahead: Onize Ohikere on the 4-month anniversary of Boko Haram’s second mass kidnapping. Plus, Cal Thomas on the legacy of Charles Krauthammer. This is The World and Everything in It.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz testifies during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee to examine Horowitz’s report of the FBI’s Clinton email probe, on Capitol Hill, Monday, June 18, 2018 in Washington.

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