The Russia House: Russian-American lobbyist, Rinat Akhmetshin, who served in a counterintelligence unit of the old Soviet army, has confirmed that he was present in the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr. in which a Russian lawyer claimed to be offering damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

Akhmetshin, who lives and is well known in Washington, has worked with the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, fighting an American law that sanctions Russians for human rights abuses.

Akhmetshin told the Associated Press that Veselnitskaya brought documents that detailed what she believed was the flow of illicit money to the Democratic National Committee. “This could be a good issue to expose how the DNC is accepting bad money,” Akhmetshin recalled her saying to Junior and others in the room in Trump Tower.

When Veselnitskaya was unable to produce more solid proof, the meeting came to a quick end, Akhmetshin said.

Also known to be present at the meeting were Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort, publicist Rob Goldstone, and an interpreter.

Akhmetshin told the AP, “I never thought this would be such a big deal to be honest.”

Robert Leonard, the Iowa radio news director who has been speaking up lately, emailed the following to CNN’s Reliable Sources about Trump’s supporters and the Russia story:
“I just thought you might want to know conservative friends here in Iowa are very angry — at the media. They think the Trump/Russia deal is a coup attempt by the media, and don’t think there is anything to the Russia/ Trump, Jr. emails. They don’t understand why the media is trying to oust our duly elected president. They think there is a double standard — why isn’t anyone investigating the Clinton campaign/Russia connections? They are standing firm behind Trump…”

Some conservative thinkers are beginning to turn. Columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote, “I leave it to the lawyers to adjudicate the legalities of unconsummated collusion.” He said, “But you don’t need a lawyer to see that the Trump defense — collusion as a desperate Democratic fiction designed to explain away a lost election — is now officially dead.”

Murder x 4: A second suspect has been charged in the presumed murder of four young men who went missing in rural Pennsylvania eight days ago.

Sean M. Kratz, 20, is charged with one count each of criminal homicide and conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, as well as other charges, including abuse of a corpse. The initial suspect, Cosmo DiNardo, also 20, has been charged with four counts of homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide and abuse of a corpse.

All four bodies of the missing young men have been identified. Authorities say all were shot, one of them was run over with a backhoe, and the suspects tried to burn them in a “pig roaster” before burying them 12 ½ feet deep.

Permawar: The head of Islamic State in Afghanistan, Abu Sayed, was killed in a strike on the group’s headquarters in Kunar province on Tuesday, the Pentagon announced.

Other members of the Islamic State group were also killed in the strike, according to a spokeswoman.

Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters, “It is obviously a victory on our side in terms of setting them back, it is the right direction.”

Grandma Can Visit: A federal judge in Hawaii ruled that the Trump travel and immigration ban targeted at 6 Muslim countries cannot prevent grandparents and other close relatives come to visit legal US residents and citizens. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

The Court has already agreed to hear arguments on the constitutionality of the travel ban, but allowed it to be partially enforced until they reach a decision.

Florida Living: A sinkhole in Land O’ Lakes, Florida, north of Tampa, has eaten two houses as well as a boat, and is threatening a third home. Nine houses in the neighborhood have been evacuated because of the 250-foot wide hole. Parts of Florida are naturally prone to sinkholes. Florida also has a lot of mosquitoes, alligators, and a growing population of annoying Rhesus monkeys.

Bridezilla: The Alfred Angelo chain of 60 wedding dress stores filed for bankruptcy Wednesday and closed its doors, leaving thousands of women in doubt whether they will get their dresses in time for the wedding. It would be advisable for the entire executive staff to flee to South America.

Cxn: Medicaid not Medicare.

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