Attorney General William Barr confirmed Wednesday during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Trump campaign was briefed in 2016 that the Russians would try to infiltrate it, contrary to previous remarks made by the president.
“I have been told during the break that a lesser kind of briefing, a security briefing that generally discusses general threats, apparently was given to the campaign in August [2016],” Barr told lawmakers after returning from a brief recess.

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who was wounded in the Shabbos shooting at Chabad of Poway  in California, accepted the White House’s invitation to Washington, D.C., for the National Day of Prayer.
Oscar Stewart, the combat veteran who confronted the shooter and forced him to flee, and Jonathan Morales, the off-duty border patrol agent who engaged the shooter as he fled from Stewart, will accompany Yisroel to D.C., where the three will take part in a ceremony.
Stewart could not provide any details about the ceremony, but said that it was an important opportunity to exhort people of faith to stand strong and unified in the face of evil, whether it manifests as anti-Semitism, or as attacks on churches, mosques, or any other places of worship.

Venezuela uprising turns violent, opposition leader calls for liberation.
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Iran criticized a US plan to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in Doha on Wednesday.
“The US is not in position to (..) start naming others as terror organizations and we reject by any attempt by the US in this regard,” he told reporters on a sideline of a conference. “The US is supporting the biggest terrorist in the region, that is Israel.”
President Donald Trump is working to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, the White House said on Tuesday, which would lead to sanctions against Egypt’s oldest Islamist movement.
Reuters and Algemeiner Staff
 
{Matzav.com}

Former FBI director James Comey lambasted Trump in a op-ed today for The New York Times that he billed as an attempt to explain Attorney General William Barr’s capitulation to the Oval Office. “How could Mr. Barr, a bright and accomplished lawyer, start channeling the president in using words like ‘no collusion’ and F.B.I. ‘spying’?” Comey began in the op-ed, which was published while Barr testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “And how could Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, after the release of Mr. Mueller’s report that detailed Mr. Trump’s determined efforts to obstruct justice, give a speech quoting the president on the importance of the rule of law?”

The prime minister of Kazakhstan, Askar Mamin, told a delegation of Jewish leaders from around the world about his plans to visit Israel by official invitation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and expressed hopes for expanding bilateral trade between the two countries, according to a statement by the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC).
EAJC met with Mamin and Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Monday.

When a Palestinian vehicle pulled up at the Azaim Crossing point between Jerusalem and the West Bank on April 9, the day of Israel’s national elections, the two Military Police officers guarding the site had a feeling something was wrong.
Sgt. Michael Sivan and Sgt. Roman Ambar approached the vehicle and saw that the male driver was behaving in a suspicious manner—he was hesitant, fearful and acted with insecurity—they said. They diverted the driver to a lane where more in-depth security checks occur.
When they opened the trunk of the car, they discovered two M-16 automatic assault rifles, a Galilee assault rifle and hundreds of ammunition rounds. The policemen cocked their weapons and arrested the man, passing him on to the Shin Bet for questioning.

A delegation of dozens of South Koreans visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps in Poland say they are there to ask for forgiveness for centuries of Christian anti-Semitism.
“We write this letter to say sorry and ask you to forgive us,” their open letter said. “We visited Yad Vashem and Auschwitz, all these sufferings experienced for 1,700 years in the Christian world are our fault. …We are truly sorry for what Christians have done to you.”

Kendel Felix, the man charged in the murder five years ago of Williamsburg businessman Reb Menachem Stark z”l, appeared this afternoon before Judge Danny Chun, acting justice of the Kings County Supreme Court, and was sentenced to 15 years to life behind bars.
Kendel’s shortened sentence was attributed to his having cooperated with prosecutor Howard Jackson in the trial of his co-defendant, his cousin, Erskin Felix, who won’t be sentenced until June and could face up to 25 years in prison.
Kendel, who has already been in jail for five years and will thus be released in ten years, could have received a max of 25 years to life, but got the reduced number because of what Jackson called “oustanding” cooperation. Kendel was 26 years old at the time of the murder.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hosted a ceremony on Tuesday commemorating the 40th anniversary of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.
Pompeo commended the two nations for the diplomatic milestone, and that the “negotiations leading up to the treaty ushered in a new level of dialogue and cooperation, and laid the groundwork for a safer and more stable region,” according to a readout from the U.S. State Department about Tuesday’s occasion, which was closed to the press.
Also in attendance were Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer and Egyptian Ambassador to the United States Yasser Reda.