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Maryland Gov. Hogan can't say whether 'stand down' order given in Baltimore

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan could not say Thursday whether Baltimore police were ordered by the mayor to stand down earlier this week as rioters wreaked havoc on the city.
Hogan, a Republican, was asked about the claims amid lingering questions over whether local law enforcement could have done more to contain the violence on Monday. Initially, Hogan appeared to deny the "stand down" claims, in effect defending the city's mayor.
"There was no stand down order at all," Hogan told reporters at first.
He explained that local law enforcement were simply "overwhelmed" when the violence started. He noted the state has since brought in resources, including the National Guard, and helped restore order.
However, ‎the governor’s office later said the governor was referring to current policing policy, and that he does not know if there was a stand down order given Monday.
Earlier, a senior law enforcement source involved in the enforcement efforts told Fox News that there was in fact a direct order from Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to her police chief Monday night, effectively tying the hands of officers as they were pelted with rocks and bottles.
Asked directly if the mayor was the one who gave that order, the source said: "You are God damn right it was."
A senior law enforcement official also told Fox News that the mayor told police commanders, "let them loot, it's only property."
The claims followed criticism of the mayor for, over the weekend, saying they were giving space to those who "wished to destroy."
But the mayor has defended her actions amid the unrest, and likewise denied there was any order to hold back.
"You have to understand, it is not holding back. It is responding appropriately," she told Fox News on Tuesday, saying there was no stand-down directive.
Earlier in the week, there appeared to be some tension between the mayor and Hogan, who suggested Rawlings-Blake waited too long to seek a state of emergency.
But on Thursday, he stressed that he has praised the mayor and said he doesn't want to talk about what happened Monday.
"What we are talking about now is trying to keep the neighborhood safe now," Hogan said.
Meanwhile, Baltimore police said Thursday their investigation into the events leading to the death of Freddie Gray, the black man whose death in police custody sparked the protests and later rioting, has been turned over to state officials.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts did not give details of the report or take questions, but did say some 30 detectives worked on the probe and that the police wagon Gray was being transferred in April 12 made a previously undisclosed stop. He shed little other light on the sequence of events leading up to the injuries that later proved fatal to Gray a week later.

FEC head under fire for women’s forum ‘stacked’ with Dems

The chairwoman of the supposedly nonpartisan Federal Election Commission is under fire for planning a forum next month on women in politics "stacked" with Democrat-leaning speakers and apparent Hillary Clinton supporters.
One conservative lawyer already is calling for an inspector general investigation; another group is urging Chairwoman Ann Ravel to call off the event.
To Ravel's detractors, the forum is yet another example of the allegedly partisan turn being taken by the FEC under her leadership.
"There are so many things wrong with this," Cleta Mitchell, a prominent conservative lawyer in Washington, D.C., told FoxNews.com.
The FEC is supposed to act as an independent regulatory arm to enforce campaign finance law. So it raised eyebrows when Ravel put out a notice on the May 12 forum at FEC headquarters in Washington, D.C. The event is described as an "open discussion" with scholars and others on why women are "significantly under-represented in politics."
Mitchell said this alone goes beyond what the FEC should be doing. She questioned how it would reflect on the agency's impartiality going forward -- in, for instance, a case involving a male and female candidate.
But the roster of invited participants raised more questions.
They include:

• Rebecca Traister, a New Republic editor, who once described herself in The New York Times as a "devoted Hillary Clinton supporter." 
• Victoria Budson, founding executive director of the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She has contributed to the campaigns of both Clinton and Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren -- they were relatively modest contributions, including $250 for Clinton's 2008 White House campaign and $500 for Warren's 2012 Senate campaign. 
• Darren Rosenblum, a Pace University professor, who has taken shots at Republicans on his Twitter account. This includes an April 14 tweet in which he said of likely GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina: "The Republican field must have agreed to put Fiorina in the cabinet if she'd be an attack dog against Hillary" 

Ravel's office defended the planned forum in an email to FoxNews.com.
"We selected participants for the FEC's Women in Politics Forum because of their expertise and experience in this field with no regard to political affiliation, if any," her office said.
Ravel pointed out that "two distinguished Republican women, Christine Matthews and Rep. Mimi Walters, have agreed to be panelists at the event, as have international experts on women in politics."
Indeed, Walters is a Republican California congresswoman. And Matthews is a Republican campaign consultant.
But they appear to be outnumbered. The Daily Caller reported on the affiliations of other invited participants, including Marni Allen, once part of a group that backed former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich for Massachusetts governor.
Mitchell said she thinks the forum is an effort to boost Clinton's presidential candidacy.
She told FoxNews.com she wants to see an inspector general investigation, and is considering filing a formal complaint.
"It is a misuse of taxpayer money," she said.
Independent Women's Voice, a nonprofit tied to the conservative Independent Women's Forum, put out a statement saying the FEC event is "stacked" mostly with "women with one ideological view."
The group said the forum "seems outside the scope of the FEC's mandate" to begin with, and should either be overhauled or called off.

US Navy to accompany US-flagged ships in Persian Gulf after Iran seizes vessel

U.S. Navy ships will begin to accompany U.S. flagged commercial ships as they travel the Strait of Hormuz, a defense official confirmed to Fox News, on the heels of Iran seizing a cargo ship.
The Obama administration is closely monitoring Iran's takeover of the ship, as it involved a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel. The Marshall Islands and the U.S. have a longstanding security agreement, and officials said Thursday the two nations are in contact.
But, in a clear response to that incident, a defense official said the U.S. Navy will now accompany all U.S.-flagged ships going through the area. The move is the latest development in a high-stakes chess match in the region, with the Iran nuclear talks continuing to play out in the background.
The Navy makes a distinction between accompanying ships and escorting them. Officials told the AP the Navy won't technically escort these ships but will let them know in advance that they will monitor the situation as they transit the narrow Strait from the Persian Gulf toward the Arabian Sea.
The Navy already has dispatched a guided-missile destroyer, the USS Farragut, to the region. Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said Wednesday the destroyer is "keeping an eye on things," and in close enough proximity to the seized ship that they "will be able to respond if a response is required."
When pressed on what kind of incident aboard the ship would elicit a U.S. Navy response, he was vague, saying: "These [U.S. military] assets give commanders options." He said he didn't know "what the possibilities are," and the U.S. government is "in discussions with the Marshall Islands on the way ahead."

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• Why did Iran seize cargo ship?

Earlier this week Iranian naval vessels reportedly fired warning shots near the Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship and detained it and its crew. Iranian officials say the Maersk shipping line owes it money.
Maersk Line, the Danish shipper that chartered the cargo vessel, acknowledged in a written statement that the reason for stopping the ship could be related to a 2005 cargo case.
Maersk Line spokesman Michael Storgaard said the company learned Thursday that an Iranian appeals court had ruled Maersk must pay $3.6 million for a 10-container cargo delivered a decade ago on behalf of an Iranian company in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. However, the cargo never was collected, according to Storgaard, adding it eventually was disposed of by local authorities.
"As we do not have the details of the ruling, we are not able to comment hereon, nor at this point speculate on our options," Maersk Line said of the latest ruling.
"Our paramount concern remains the safety of the crew and the safe release of the vessel. We will continue to do everything we can to resolve this matter with the relevant Iranian authorities."
Storgaard told The Associated Press that the ship and crew aren't theirs. MV Maersk Tigris, operated by Rickmers Ship Management in Singapore, was boarded on Tuesday.
Cors Radings, a spokesman for Rickmers, told Fox News that as of Thursday, there has been no change in the status of the ship and her crew, and that the company has not spoken with the crew in the past 24 hours.
The Marshall Islands -- officially known as the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and a former U.S. trust -- enjoy "associate state" status with the United States, meaning the U.S. agrees to defend the islands, and provide economic subsidies and access to federally funded social services. The U.S. initially gained military control of the Marshall Islands from Japan in 1944.
According to the State Department, "The security compact between the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands gives the U.S. authority and responsibility for security and defense matters that relate to the Marshall Islands, including matters related to vessels flying the Marshallese flag."

Many questions still remain in death of Freddie Gray

Many questions surrounding the death of Freddie Gray still remain as authorities refuse to provide more than a few sketchy details about its investigation into the Baltimore man’s death as many people in the city were finding it hard to be patient Thursday when police revealed next to nothing about the case they turned over to the Maryland attorney’s office.
The public still does not know much more than it did on Day One, nearly two weeks after Gray’s death. The central question – what caused his deadly spinal cord injury – still remains.
"The transparency is just not there," the Rev. Cortly "C.D." Witherspoon said after Police Commissioner Anthony Batts refused to answer any questions Thursday.
Batts said his department’s report was delivered a day ahead of time to the State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, and that any questions about it should go to her.
Mosby decline to speak publicly Thursday as she issued a statement asking for "for the public to remain patient and peaceful and to trust the process of the justice system."
With rumors flying about how Gray's spine was "80 percent severed," as his family's lawyer Billy Murphy put it, police did release a new piece of information Thursday, but it served mostly to raise more questions about how truthful the six suspended officers have been with investigators.
Deputy Commissioner Kevin Davis said investigators discovered a security camera recording showing that the police van carrying Gray had made a previously undisclosed, second stop, after the 25-year-old black man was put in leg irons and before the van driver made a third stop and called for help to check on his condition. The van then made a fourth stop, to pick up another passenger, before Gray arrived at the police station with the spinal-cord injury that left him unresponsive.
However, a new report from ABC affiliate WJLA said that Gray died after slamming his head inside a police van, breaking his neck. The station reported that the medical examiner’s report was consistent with the bolt inside the back of the police van.
Last week, Batts said the additional passenger who was picked up along the way had told investigators the driver did not speed, make sudden stops or "drive erratically" during the trip, and that Gray was "was still moving around, that he was kicking and making noises" up until the van arrived at the police station.
Other than the chronology of events, police have not discussed any evidence, details or statements from the six suspended officers.
"I understand there are questions people want to have answered, but unfortunately, we can't release any more about it," Capt. J. Eric Kowalczyk said.
The forensic pathologists who studied Gray's body for clues also aren't making official statements.
Bruce Goldfarb, a spokesman for the Maryland State Medical Examiner's Office, told the AP on Thursday that the office has completed Gray's autopsy, but the forensic investigation is still in process and no conclusions have been sent to police or prosecutors. When the report is complete, Goldfarb said, a copy will be sent to the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office.
"The autopsy has been done, it only takes about two and a half hours," Goldfarb said. "The autopsy is only one part of the forensic investigation. The whole point is to determine cause and manner of death, and there are lab tests and lots of other things that have to be done."
Legal experts and the Gray family lawyers say secrecy is appropriate at this point in the probe, when it's still possible that some witnesses haven't been questioned, or even found.
"By releasing too many details, you run the risk that witnesses' testimony will change to mirror the details you have released," said David S. Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in Miami. He said investigators must verify or corroborate much of the information they receive, and meanwhile the public could be misled that the probe is leading to a particular outcome.
Investigators are facing the challenge of determining whether an officer acted “reasonably” in the death of a civilian. Investigators cannot simply force officers to give statements because that would mean their testimony is coerced and would not hold up in court, Weinstein said.
If they are compelled to give a statement as a condition of their employment, you cannot then use those statements against them in a criminal proceeding," he said. "This is where the decision to grant immunity comes into play."
The Gray family's lawyers sought to dispel the idea that the police report would be made public at this point.
"This family wants justice, and they want justice that comes at the right time and not too soon," attorney Hassan Murphy said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, protesters over Gray’s death continue to spread across the nation. Aside from gatherings in Baltimore, demonstrations spread into Philadelphia and New York Thursday.
Philly.com reports that Philadelphia police made three or four arrests after hundreds of protesters marched through the city to show support for Gray.
More demonstrations are planned through the weekend.

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Pentagon says US 'able to respond' if needed after Iran seizes cargo ship

WASHINGTON –  The Pentagon said Wednesday that the U.S. would "be able to respond" if necessary to help a Marshall Islands-flagged ship that was diverted, and boarded, a day earlier by Iran -- though it remains unclear how far the U.S. Navy might be willing to go if the tense situation escalates.
Obama administration officials have given conflicting signals over what obligation the U.S. has to protect the vessel, as the Marshall Islands and U.S. have a longstanding security agreement.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said a U.S. guided-missile destroyer, the USS Farragut, is in the area and "keeping an eye on things," and in close enough proximity to the ship that they "will be able to respond if a response is required."
When pressed on what kind of incident aboard the ship would elicit a U.S. Navy response, he was vague, saying: "These [U.S. military] assets give commanders options." He said he didn't know "what the possibilities are," and the U.S. government is "in discussions with the Marshall Islands on the way ahead."
White House and State Department officials also said the U.S. continues to monitor the situation.
The open-ended answers underscore the difficult and complicated position the U.S. is in, just a week after the U.S. and Iran averted a potential stand-off in the region over an alleged arms shipment to Yemen.
Though the Marshall Islands gained independence from the United States in 1986, the U.S. continues to have “full authority and responsibility for security and defense of the Marshall Islands,” according to the State Department’s website.
On Tuesday, the Maersk Tigris was preparing to enter the Strait of Hormuz when the Iranian Revolutionary Guard fired across the Marshall Islands-flagged ship’s bow and boarded it. On Wednesday, it was en route to Bandar Abbas, the main port for Iran's navy, under escort by Iranian patrol boats, according to Maersk Line, the company that had chartered it.
Fox News is told the crew is mostly being confined to their cabins. The parent company of the Maersk Tigris said Wednesday the crew is safe but offered few details about the incident that took place 24 hours earlier.
There had been conflicting signals out of Washington over whether the U.S. has a responsibility to protect the ship.
"I am not aware of any specific agreement or treaty that calls for us to protect Marshallese vessels," a defense official told Fox News on Wednesday.
But a day earlier, State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said otherwise. “The security compact between the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands gives the U.S. authority and responsibility for security and defense matters that relate to the Marshall Islands, including matters related to vessels flying the Marshallese flag,” he said at a briefing.
On Wednesday, Warren deferred to the State Department, saying they were correct. He clarified the U.S. compact with the Marshall Islands covers its flagged vessels. He said the U.S. has "discretion" to take action under maritime law, though it would require a presidential order.
Aside from the USS Farragut, he said three Navy patrol boats are in the southern end of the Persian Gulf.
The Marshall Islands – officially known as the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and a former U.S. trust – enjoy “associate state” status with the United States, meaning the U.S. agrees to defend the islands, and provide economic subsidies and access to federally funded social services. The U.S. initially gained military control of the Marshall Islands from Japan in 1944.
The islands have scant natural resources, and in recent years have focused on expanding their service economy – including delving into the shipping industry.
The Marshall Islands signed a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. in 1983 and gained independence in 1986. Between 1999 and 2003, the two countries negotiated an amended compact that entered into force in 2004. Section 311 of the compact cites “the obligation to defend the Marshall Islands and the Federal States of Micronesia and their peoples from attack or threats thereof as the United States and its citizens are defended.”
Rathke said Tuesday that in addition to America’s interest in maintaining open, safe shipping lanes, the U.S. also has “a particular relationship with the Republic of the Marshall Islands.”
He added that it was unclear what legal obligations the United States had to provide defensive help to a Marshall Islands-flagged ship and said talk about using military force was “premature.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif claimed Wednesday that the ship has a history of legal issues, including failing to pay for damages, but he did not elaborate. The ship was asked to come to port, and when it refused, Iran's navy took action, he said.
Zarif, speaking at an event at New York University, also said “freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf is a must and must be defended.”
Zarif maintained that international politics had nothing to do with Iran’s seizure of the cargo ships and deflected criticism that the incident heightens concerns that Tehran cannot be depended on as a trustworthy country, especially as a nuclear deal is still in the works.  
Iran's semi-official Fars news agency Wednesday quoted the maritime deputy director of Iran's Ports and Sailing Organization, Hadi Haghshenas, as saying the ship was seized over “some unpaid debt.”
Cor Radings, a spokesman for the ship's operator, Rickmers Ship Management in Singapore, said the company had no known issues itself with Iran and that it would be up to Maersk to comment on the Iranian claim.
Maersk Line spokesman Michael Storgaard earlier said his company had not been "able at this point to establish or confirm the reason behind the seizure" and said later he had no new information when asked about the Iranian allegations.
There has been a history of escalations and provocations in the region.
The takeover of the Tigris was the second incident of Iranian "harassment" of free shipping within the Strait of Hormuz in four days, Warren said.
On April 24, four Iranian Revolutionary Guard gunboats "harassed" the American-flagged cargo ship Maersk Kensington as it transited the Strait into the Persian Gulf.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders: 'I am running for president'

MONTPELIER, Vt. –  Promising to fight what he deems "obscene levels" of income disparity and a campaign finance system that is a "real disgrace," independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Wednesday he will run for president as a Democrat.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Sanders confirmed his plans to formally join the race Thursday.
The self-described "democratic socialist" enters the race as a robust liberal alternative to Hillary Rodham Clinton, and he pledged to do more than simply raise progressive issues or nudge the former secretary of state to the left in a campaign in which she is heavily favored.
"People should not underestimate me," Sanders said. "I've run outside of the two-party system, defeating Democrats and Republicans, taking on big-money candidates and, you know, I think the message that has resonated in Vermont is a message that can resonate all over this country."
As he has for months in prospective campaign stops in the early voting states, and throughout his political career, the former mayor of Burlington, Vermont, on Wednesday assailed an economic system that he said has devolved over the past 40 years and eradicated the nation's middle class.

"What we have seen is that while the average person is working longer hours for lower wages, we have seen a huge increase in income and wealth inequality, which is now reaching obscene levels," Sanders told the AP.
"This is a rigged economy, which works for the rich and the powerful, and is not working for ordinary Americans. ... You know, this country just does not belong to a handful of billionaires."
The son of an immigrant from Poland who sold paint for a living in Brooklyn, Sanders has for decades championed working-class Americans. He lost several statewide races in the 1970s before he was elected mayor of Burlington in 1981, and went on to represent Vermont in the U.S. House for 16 years before his election to the Senate in 2006.
An independent in the Senate, he caucuses with Democrats in Washington and he is likely to attract some interest from voters who have unsuccessfully sought to draft Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to join the race.
But Sanders rejected the idea his appeal is limited to voters on the left, boldly predicting Wednesday that his message would appeal to both fellow independents and Republicans.
Sanders said he would release "very specific proposals" to raise taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations, as well as offer tuition-free education at all public colleges and universities. He touched on his past opposition to free-trade agreements, his support for heavier regulations of the Wall Street and the nation's banking industry, and his vote against the Keystone XL oil pipeline as a preview of his campaign.
"So to me, the question is whose views come closer to representing the vast majority of working people in this country," Sanders said. "And you know what? I think my views do."
The 73-year-old Sanders starts his campaign as an undisputed underdog against Clinton.
Sanders said he has known the former first lady, senator from New York and secretary of state for more than two decades. "I respect her and like her," he said.
He noted he has "never run a negative ad in my life," but still drew a distinction with Clinton in the interview, promising to talk "very strongly about the need not to get involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East."
"I voted against the war in Iraq," he said. "Secretary Clinton voted for it when she was in the Senate."
Clinton is hosting a series of fundraisers this week, starting what could be an effort that raises more than $1 billion. Sanders said he will make money and politics a central theme of his campaign, including a call for a constitutional amendment to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision, which he blames for unleashing a torrent of money from wealthy donors into politics.
"What you're looking at here is a real disgrace," he said. "It is an undermining of American democracy.
"But can we raise the hundreds of millions of dollars that we need, primarily through small campaign contributions to run a strong campaign? And I have concluded that I think there is a real chance that we can do that."
Sanders is the first major challenger to enter the race against Clinton, who earlier this month became the first Democrat to formally declare her intention to run for president. He is likely to be joined in the coming months by former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and ex-Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee.