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Will, wile and wisdom: New book details Bayh’s Senate tenure

A longtime aide to late Indiana Sen. Birch Bayh has published a biography documenting the liberal lion’s leadership in some of the most momentous social changes in the nation’s recent history. The book debuted just as Hoosiers paid their final respects to Bayh at a Statehouse memorial service May 1.

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Rosenstein: Russia probe justified, closing it wasn’t an option

Fresh out of his job as deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein said Monday that the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian election interference was “justified,” that he would have never allowed anyone to interfere with it and that closing it had not been an option. Rosenstein also took aim at former FBI Director James Comey, characterizing him as a “partisan pundit” busy selling books and earning speaking fees.

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Republican senator takes partisan fire over Trump Jr. subpoena

Republicans lashed out Thursday at fellow GOP Sen. Richard Burr for his committee’s subpoena of President Donald Trump’s son, a move that suggested the Russia investigation is not “case closed,” as some in the party insist. Trump said he was “very surprised” at the move.

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Nadler: ‘Constitutional crisis’ over Mueller report dispute

The House Judiciary chairman said Wednesday the Trump administration’s refusal to provide special counsel Robert Mueller’s full Russia report to Congress presents a “constitutional crisis,” leaving the panel no choice but to move forward with a contempt vote against Attorney General William Barr.

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Refusal to hand over Trump’s tax returns sets up legal fight

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has made it official: The administration won’t be turning President Donald Trump’s tax returns over to the Democratic-controlled House. The move, which was expected, is sure to set in motion a legal battle over Trump’s tax returns.

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Lugar funeral to be held May 15 at Indianapolis church

The funeral for former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar will be held at 1 p.m. May 15 at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Indianapolis. The six-term senator, who served as a lay elder at the north side Indianapolis church, died April 28 at age 87.

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ABA sees ‘troubling gaps’ in civics knowledge in 2019 survey results

Members of the American public strongly support the First Amendment, but a recent American Bar Association civics literacy survey revealed that some confusion remains about what it actually protects. The results, which go hand-in-hand with the 2019 Law Day theme of “Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society,” revealed what the ABA called “troubling gaps” in the public’s basic knowledge of American civics.

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Trump, GOP states ask appeals court to kill ‘Obamacare’

Taking a harder line on health care, the Trump administration on Wednesday joined a coalition of Republican-led states, including Indiana, in asking a federal appeals court to entirely overturn former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law — a decision that could leave millions uninsured.

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Barr skips House hearing; Pelosi accuses him of lying

Attorney General William Barr skipped a House hearing Thursday on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia report, escalating an already acrimonious battle between Democrats and President Donald Trump’s Justice Department. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Barr had already lied to Congress in other testimony and called that a “crime.”

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Rod Rosenstein submits letter of resignation to Trump

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein submitted his resignation Monday after a two-year run defined by his appointment of a special counsel to investigate connections between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia. His last day will be May 11, ending a tumultuous relationship with Trump and a tenure that involved some of the most consequential, even chaotic, moments of the president’s administration.

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Ex-Sen. Lugar honored at Indianapolis ceremony

Dozens of Indianapolis political and civic leaders joined a tribute for former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar outside the building where he served as the city’s mayor before winning the first of his six Senate terms. Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett called Lugar an “American statesman” during Monday’s ceremony a day after he died at age 87.

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Richard Lugar, who helped in securing Soviet arsenal, dies

Richard Lugar worked to alert Americans about the threat of terrorism years before “weapons of mass destruction” became a common phrase following the Sept. 11 attacks. The soft-spoken and thoughtful former Rhodes Scholar was a leading Republican voice on foreign policy matters during his 36 years in the U.S. Senate, but whose reputation of working with Democrats ultimately cost him the office in 2012. He died Sunday at age 87 at a hospital in Virginia.

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Trump forms battle plan for post-Mueller probes: Just say no

As House Democrats ramp up their post-Mueller investigations into President Donald Trump, his strategy for responding is simple: Resist on every legal front. The administration is straining to hold off congressional investigators, including their efforts to obtain the president’s tax returns, his business’ financial records and testimony from former senior aides.

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Trump’s threat to go to court over impeachment defies ruling

President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday he’ll go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court “if the partisan Dems” ever try to impeach him. But Trump’s strategy could run into a roadblock: the high court itself, which said in 1993 that the framers of the U.S. Constitution didn’t intend for the courts to have the power to review impeachment proceedings.

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