WASHINGTON (AP) — A former White House special counsel considers special prosecutor Robert Mueller “an American hero.”

Attorney Ty Cobb says he does not share President Donald Trump’s opinion that Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the election is “a witch hunt” during an ABC News’ podcast “The Investigation” aired Tuesday

Cobb, a Georgetown University law school alumnus and native of Great Bend, Kansas,  says Mueller is a “very justice-oriented person.”

Cobb does not believe Mueller’s report will harm the president politically. Cobb says there’s no link to Trump or the campaign in an indictment against Russian hackers and says there’s “no reference to collusion” in a sentencing memo for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Cobb joined the Trump’s White House legal team in July 2017 and left after ten months.

He says Trump should brace himself for upcoming congressional investigations.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is investigating the Kansas City, Kansas, police chief’s use of a county-owned lake house.

The investigation centers on whether Chief Terry Ziegler “double dipped” when he took paid time off work while also charging the county government for work he did on the lake house.

The Unified Government allowed Ziegler to pay little rent on the house on Wyandotte Lake Park if he made repairs on the property. Officials put the lease in writing after a citizen inquired about it.

pic.twitter.com/LQrM93CUYo

— Terry Zeigler (@KCKPDChief) March 4, 2019

Ziegler sent an email to police department employees on Monday confirming the investigation. He will continue working during the investigation.

In December, Mayor David Alvey said he thought the arrangement with Zeigler was in the county’s best interests.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A member of the Missouri Senate’s Conservative Caucus is breaking from Republican Gov. Mike Parson and pitching a new plan to pay for road and bridge repairs.

At issue is Parson’s proposal to borrow $350 million to pay to fix 250 bridges across the state , which received a mixed response from fellow Republicans and some Democrats.

Opponents have criticized the estimated $100-million in interest the state would have to pay over 15 years and complained that not enough bridges in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas are on the project list.

So Sen. Bill Eigel, a St. Louis-area Republican and member of the newly founded Conservative Caucus, is instead proposing legislation that would ask Missouri voters to amend the state Constitution to block dedicated road funds from being spent on the Highway Patrol and administrative costs.

He also filed a similar bill that wouldn’t require voter approval.

Eigel said shifting Highway Patrol and administrative costs would free up as much as $300 million each year to put toward infrastructure, but it would also mean the state would instead have to shoulder those expenses with undesignated general revenue.

That pot of money also funds K-12 public education, health care and other state services.

Eigel said the shift in funding sources would “require the Legislature to take an even harder look at where our other general revenue priorities are.”

“I’ve always said the problem with transportation is not a problem with revenue; it’s a problem with prioritization,” Eigel said. “We’re not willing to make the sacrifices in a record-setting, $30-billion budget so that we can address something that all our constituents say is important, which is our roads and bridges.”

A spokesman for the governor’s office said Parson is still focused on his funding plan, and Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, who is sponsoring legislation to enact Parson’s plan, said Eigel’s legislation is “dead on arrival.”

Schatz said while dedicated road funding includes gas-tax revenue from out-of-state drivers, using general revenue would put the financial burden only on Missouri taxpayers.

“I don’t think you can get a consensus majority to accept this proposal,” Schatz said.

Eigel’s proposal would also earmark half of leftover funds at the end of the year for road and bridge projects.

What’s left on the state’s bottom line varies from year to year, but the state had about $166 million leftover at the end of last fiscal year. Under Eigel’s legislation, that would have meant close to $83 million budgeted for infrastructure.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell was found not guilty Monday on nearly all charges of taking campaign funds for his personal use.

A federal jury acquitted O’Donnell on 21 counts of wire fraud, but deadlocked on two counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering related to his state and county campaigns. Prosecutors alleged he took $10,500 of campaign funds to put into his personal checking account or give to friends.

U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said in a news release that his office will evaluate the results of the trial to determine whether to take the case to trial again on the counts in which the jury did not reach a verdict.

“As always, our office takes very seriously the determinations made by a jury of our citizens, and we will consider the jury’s decision here carefully in deciding next steps for our office,” McAllister said.

O’Donnell and his family cried as the verdicts were read in the courtroom.

“I’m obviously very relieved. It feels good to be vindicated,” O’Donnell told reporters as he walked away from the courthouse.

One of his defense attorneys, Mark Schoenhofer, called the acquittals a win even though the jurors got stuck on a few counts.

“But overall, we consider this a victory,” Schoenhofer said. “We’re very happy with the jury and how hard they worked on this case.”

O’Donnell took the stand in his own defense to argue the payments were legitimate campaign expenses . In at times combative testimony, he criticized U.S. Justice Department and federal agents for not reaching out to him before the indictment so he could explain the payments.

He contended the many of those checks were retainers or bonuses given to staffers who worked on his campaign and helped him with his official government duties.

Prosecutors highlighted the testimony of people he had paid who said they either did no work for the campaign or were not actually working at events such as ball games as O’Donnell had claimed.

Several people, including then-Gov. Sam Brownback and other state officials, received notification letters in 2017 from the Justice Department telling them that the federal government intercepted phone calls between them and O’Donnell’s phone number. O’Donnell, a conservative known in part for championing tougher rules for welfare recipients, was a political ally of Brownback who won his legislative seat in a 2012 purge of Senate moderates.

“The Democrats were foaming at the mouth to get me,” O’Donnell told jurors. “I was very stressed knowing I was the most targeted senator in the state.”

The Wichita Republican was elected to the Kansas State Senate in 2012 for a term that ended in January 2017. He did not run for re-election and instead ran for and won a term on the Sedgwick County Commission that began in 2017 and is set to expire in 2020.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell was found not guilty Monday on nearly all charges of taking campaign funds for his personal use.

A federal jury acquitted O’Donnell on 21 counts of wire fraud, but deadlocked on two counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering related to his state and county campaigns. Prosecutors alleged he took $10,500 of campaign funds to put into his personal checking account or give to friends.

O’Donnell took the stand in his own defense to argue the payments were legitimate campaign expenses . In at times combative testimony, he criticized U.S. Justice Department and federal agents for not reaching out to him before the indictment so he could explain the payments.

He contended the many of those checks were retainers or bonuses given to staffers who worked on his campaign and helped him with his official government duties.

Prosecutors highlighted the testimony of people he had paid who said they either did no work for the campaign or were not actually working at events such as ball games as O’Donnell had claimed.

Several people, including then-Gov. Sam Brownback and other state officials, received notification letters in 2017 from the Justice Department telling them that the federal government intercepted phone calls between them and O’Donnell’s phone number. O’Donnell, a conservative known in part for championing tougher rules for welfare recipients, was a political ally of Brownback who won his legislative seat in a 2012 purge of Senate moderates.

“The Democrats were foaming at the mouth to get me,” O’Donnell told jurors. “I was very stressed knowing I was the most targeted senator in the state.”

The Wichita Republican was elected to the Kansas State Senate in 2012 for a term that ended in January 2017. He did not run for re-election and instead ran for and won a term on the Sedgwick County Commission that began in 2017 and is set to expire in 2020.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Sedgwick County jury will be back in court to continue deliberations in the fraud case of County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell.

O’Donnell faces 23 counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering related to his state and county campaigns.

The case went to the jury late Friday.

Prosecutors allege O’Donnell used $10,500 in campaign funds for personal expenses and gave some money to friends.

O’Donnell testified last week that the payments were legitimate campaign expenses.

The Wichita Republican served in the Kansas Senate from 2012 to January 2017. He term on the Sedgwick County Commission began in 2017.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former central Missouri tax collector has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for embezzling about $300,000 in taxpayer funds.

Former Callaway County Collector Pamela Oestreich was sentenced Monday in federal court in Jefferson City. She pleaded guilty in September to one count of stealing. She must pay back the money.

U.S. Attorney Tim Garrison says Oestreich, of Fulton, took taxpayer money for her personal use on more than 100 occasions starting in 2015.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A Missouri  man was charged in federal court Monday with the arson at the Columbia Health Center (operated by Planned Parenthood Great Plains) on Feb. 10, 2019.

According to the United State’s Attorney, Wesley Brian Kaster, 42, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Jefferson City, Mo., with one count of maliciously damaging a building, owned by an organization the receives federal financial assistance, by means of fire or an explosive. Kaster, who was arrested on Saturday, March 2, 2019, remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing on Thursday, March 7, 2019.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, surveillance video from Planned Parenthood and from neighboring businesses recorded Kaster in the early morning hours of Feb. 10, 2019. He parked his Toyota Sienna minivan (missing the right front passenger-side hubcap) nearby at about 2:30 a.m. and carried a seemingly heavy white bucket to the north exterior door of the Planned Parenthood building. Kaster broke the front door, the affidavit says, placed the bucket inside the building, and threw a Molotov cocktail-type device  inside the building. Kaster remained standing on the sidewalk outside the door, watching the inside of the building. Kaster then allegedly entered the building through the broken door. No explosion or fire was visible at this time.

At approximately 2:52 a.m., the affidavit says, two unidentified pedestrians approached and Kaster fled east across Providence Road. Kaster walked to where his vehicle was parked and drove away. At this time, there was no discernable smoke or active fire at the Planned Parenthood building.

Kaster returned at about 4 a.m., according to the affidavit. Surveillance video recorded Kaster walking to the Planned Parenthood door with what the affidavit describes as “an undiscernible item in his left hand.” At 4:03 a.m., smoke is visible billowing from the broken glass door of the Planned Parenthood building. Kaster fled north along the west side of Providence Road, and west along 4th Avenue, out of view.

The Columbia Fire Department received the fire alarm at the Planned Parenthood building at approximately 4:05 a.m. Firefighters observed that the north exterior door of the building, which was constructed of glass inside a frame, had been shattered and an accelerant fueled the fire that was set inside. The fire was fully extinguished by a fire sprinkler system before firefighters arrived, and only moderate fire damage was observed to the room and its contents. Among the evidence collected at the scene by investigators were two five-gallon buckets that had contained gasoline, one inside of the other, found lying on the floor just inside the broken doorway. Investigators also recovered the remains of a Molotov cocktail.

Investigators identified 55 Toyota Sienna minivans registered by Columbia residents, one of which was registered by Kaster. Investigators also received records from Lowe’s for a list of all recent purchases of five-gallon buckets from area stores in 2019, which included a purchase by Kaster. Surveillance videos related to that purchase, according to the affidavit, clearly captured Kaster’s face and physical features.

Investigators contacted Kaster’s employer, a light manufacturing business in Jefferson City, where he works as a floor supervisor in the welding shop. According to the affidavit, Kaster had acquired a pair of Ansell HyFlex gloves, which are cut and abrasion resistant, which were the same make, model, color and size gloves recovered from the Planned Parenthood building.

Investigators searched social media accounts connected to Kaster. On Oct. 25, 2015, a picture was posted to the Facebook page of Kaster’s wife depicting a handgun and the words, “Guns Don’t Kill People, Planned Parenthood Kills People.”

Multiple federal search warrants were executed on Saturday, March 2, 2019. Investigators searched Kaster’s minivan a few minutes after he left his workplace that morning and took Kaster to obtain hair specimens. Investigators searched Kaster’s residence, the affidavit says, where numerous items of evidence were collected that definitively tied Kaster to the crime scene at Planned Parenthood. Based on these facts, Kaster was arrested at 11:07 a.m.

The following statement is from Governor Laura Kelly:

In the seven weeks since the inauguration, my administration has been hard at work.

I presented a plan that balanced the budget, prioritized schools, paved the way for Medicaid expansion, invested in children and families, enhanced public safety, and left the largest ending balance in two decades.

My budget was structured to stabilize our fragile state finances and pay down the record amount of debt racked up during the last eight years. Not only that, my bipartisan Cabinet hit the ground running with the long, hard task of rebuilding our state agencies.

Together, we’ve increased transparency by sharing, honestly, the severity of the problems we uncovered at the Department of Corrections, Department for Children and Families, and Department of Revenue. We’ve shed light on the number of no-bid contracts hidden throughout state government.

Contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, that didn’t go through the proper channels, and may not be in the best interests of Kansans.

My team at the Department of Administration is currently in the process of developing new, stricter standards of ethics and accountability in the procurement process. We look forward to announcing that plan once it is finalized in the coming weeks. And we are just getting started. We understand the urgency of our work. Our work touches the lives of Kansans every day and we take that very seriously.

Unfortunately, I’m disappointed that the Legislature has yet to act with the same level of urgency, especially given the breadth of our challenges and the deadlines we face.

As a former legislator, I have deep respect for the legislative process. It is not unusual for many of the biggest issues of the session to be resolved later in the session. This is not a race. But the deadlines are real. And they are right around the corner. It’s frustrating that little progress has been made on the most critical issue of the session: school funding.

After seven weeks, I worry that some legislative leaders have allowed serious deliberations and the development of policy alternatives give way to partisan games and unnecessary name calling.

In 2011, the first year of the previous administration, the Legislature debated and acted on 99 more pieces of legislation by this point in the session than they have this year. At this moment, halfway into the session, just one piece of legislation has reached my desk.

I’ve met with leadership. I’ve met with lawmakers of both parties. And my door continues to be open. I’m eager to find bipartisan consensus when lawmakers return for the second half of the session. I’m looking forward to seeing their plans so we can begin negotiations.

On election night in November, I was hopeful that lawmakers could put our differences aside and work together on behalf of Kansas families. Today, I choose to remain hopeful. I am ready to find middle ground.

I was elected to rebuild our state following years of mismanagement and failed policy. I offered a plan to do just that. I hope lawmakers will join me in earnest when they return.

In the meantime, my team will continue to do our work – cleaning up messes and charting a more responsible path forward. We will continue to put the best interest of families first. We will prioritize schools, health care, roads, and job growth.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The United States has officially shuttered its consulate in Jerusalem, downgrading the status of its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians by folding it into the U.S. Embassy to Israel.

For decades, the consulate functioned as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians. Now, that outreach will be handled by a Palestinian affairs unit, under the command of the embassy.

The symbolic shift hands authority over U.S. diplomatic channels with the West Bank and Gaza to ambassador David Friedman, a longtime supporter and fundraiser for the West Bank settler movement and fierce critic of the Palestinian leadership.

The announcement from the State Department came early Monday in Jerusalem, the merger effective that day.

“This decision was driven by our global efforts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our diplomatic engagements and operations,” State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement. “It does not signal a change of U.S. policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip.”

In a farewell video addressed to the consulate’s Palestinian partners, Consul General Karen Sasahara, who is leaving her post as the unofficial U.S. ambassador to the Palestinians and will not be replaced, maintains that new Palestinian unit at the embassy will carry forward the mission of the consulate, “in support of the strengthening of American-Palestinian ties, to boost economic opportunities for the Palestinians and facilitate cultural and educational exchanges.”

When first announced by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in October, the move infuriated Palestinians, fueling their suspicions that the U.S. was recognizing Israeli control over east Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories that Palestinians seek for a future state.

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat called the move “the final nail in the coffin” for the U.S. role in peacemaking.

The downgrade is just the latest in a string of divisive decisions by the Trump administration that have backed Israel and alienated the Palestinians, who say they have lost faith in the U.S. administration’s role as a neutral arbiter in peace process.

Last year the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocated its embassy there, upending U.S. policy toward one of the most explosive issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians in turn cut off most ties with the administration.

The administration also has slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, including assistance to hospitals and peace-building programs. It has cut funding to the U.N. agency that provides aid to Palestinians classified as refugees. Last fall, it shut down the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington.

The Trump administration has cited the reluctance of Palestinian leaders to enter peace negotiations with Israel as the reason for such punitive measures, although the U.S. has yet to present its much-anticipated but still mysterious “Deal of the Century” to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, announced last month that the U.S. would unveil the deal after Israeli elections in April. The Palestinian Authority has preemptively rejected the plan, accusing the U.S. of bias toward Israel.

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