It’s Thursday, March 14, 2019. Let’s start here.
1. Trump grounds Boeing
Joining a growing chorus of concerned nations, President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued an emergency order grounding all Boeing 737 Max 8 and 9 jets in the U.S.
Two crashes of Boeing’s newest jet in the span of five months — in Ethiopia on Sunday and in Indonesia in October — have killed almost 350 people.
Satellite tracking data and evidence from the debris field convinced the Federal Aviation Administration, which initially resisted a ban, to ground U.S. fleets, the agency said Wednesday.
Two black boxes recovered from the crash site in Ethiopia were sent to France for examination, which should confirm “whether or not something’s wrong with this aircraft,” ABC News Senior Transportation Correspondent David Kerley says on “Start Here.”
2. Pardon, the interruption
Literally minutes after Paul Manafort was sentenced by a federal judge to an additional three-and-a-half years in prison, new charges were announced in New York against Trump’s former campaign chairman.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday unsealed a 16-count indictment of Manafort, who was charged with crimes including residential mortgage fraud and conspiracy. Manafort, now facing more than seven years behind bars, hasn’t yet entered a plea related to these newest charges.
The Manhattan case is considered “pardon insurance” because Trump couldn’t pardon Manafort, if convicted, for state crimes. ABC News’ Aaron Katersky joins the podcast to share the very latest.
3. Legal ease
In the wake of a $25 million college admissions scandal involving dozens of parents, Rainesford Stauffer, a freelance writer, wrote a New York Times op-ed highlighting the ways wealthy families still game the system.
Whether it’s making large donations to schools or hiring personal tutors or essay editors or college coaching firms, rich kids still have a huge, and totally legal, edge, Stauffer says on “Start Here.”
“It adds up to a lot of factors working against your average student, who might be talented, who might be smart, but doesn’t have any of the legs up for competition that their well-off peers do,” Stauffer says.
4. Piece in the Middle East
ISIS reportedly controls less than 1 square mile of territory in Syria as U.S.-backed troops close in on the terror group’s final stronghold.
ABC News Foreign Correspondent James Longman is on the ground near Baghouz and tells “Start Here” coalition forces aren’t sure what they’ll find as they push into the ravaged town.
“Baghouz has a whole network of tunnels,” Longman says, “and no one really has any idea how many Jihadis are down there or what else is down there.”
Elsewhere:
‘If you don’t pretty much indicate quickly that you’re happy to shove your head up their ass, you’re immediately a threat’: “Kushner, Inc.,” a new book by Vicky Ward, details how Jared and Invanka interact with other human beings.
‘The most successful first two years in history’: Donald Trump agrees with Nancy Pelosi when it comes to not impeaching Donald Trump.
‘We’re cooperating’: Facebook is being investigated by federal prosecutors in New York.
‘It is possible that Davis escaped the area by trespassing on a freight train’: Authorities are trying to re-recapture a man whose re-re-escape includes stealing a police car in which he was handcuffed in the backseat.
From our friends at FiveThirtyEight:
The Jets’ deal for Le’Veon Bell makes sense. We’re surprised, too.: The Jets seem to have needed Bell more than Bell needed the Jets. They were simply awful last year running the ball.
Doff your cap:
Through the eyes of local police, bomb squads, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, “Nightline” reveals never-before-seen details of how authorities finally cornered the bomber who terrorized Austin, Texas, for nearly three weeks.
“In the history of this country,” said Fred Milanowski, the ATF special agent in charge of the investigation, “we haven’t had a serial bomber that planted this many devices in a 19-day period.”
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