In Alabama, Sanders makes appeal to Deep South black voters

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders made an appeal Monday to black voters in the Deep South, stopping at a historically African American church and calling health care a "human right" that he equated to the civil rights movement.

Speaking before a racially diverse crowd at Mt. Zion Church AME Church in Alabama's capital, Sanders renewed his calls for extending health care coverage to all Americans and reducing student debt.

"Just as civil rights is a human right, health care is a human right," Sanders said to loud applause. The crowd for his midday speech was about half white despite the church's deep ties to the civil rights movement.

Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks with Catherine Flowers of EJI at the Lowdnes County Interpretive Center in Hayneville, Ala., on Monday, May 20, 2019. (Jake CrandallMontgomery Advertiser via AP)

Wrapping up a four-state Southern swing that included stops in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, the Vermont senator is working to strengthen his support among black voters who comprise most of the Democratic primary electorate in many Southern states.

Earlier in the day, Sanders toured nearby civil rights sites and visited an impoverished area of the state where residents struggle with adequate wastewater sanitation. On Sunday, he held a rally in a park in downtown Birmingham.

Sanders said full-time workers should not "live in poverty" in the wealthiest nation in the world and noted that Alabama is one of the states with no minimum wage above the federal minimum. He said the minimum wage should be raised to $15.

Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks at the Mt. Zion AME Church in Montgomery, Ala., on Monday, May 20, 2019. (Jake CrandallMontgomery Advertiser via AP)

Sanders also touted his recently unveiled K-12 education plan, saying education should become a national priority.

"As a people, as Americans, we have got to say loudly and proudly that education is a major priority in this country," Sanders said.

In Montgomery, Sanders was greeted by a large and enthusiastic crowd that chanted "Bernie!" with several people interrupting his speech to shout, "We love you!"

Sanders has previously talked up his days as a civil rights activist while a student at the University of Chicago. He has also visited Selma, Alabama, participating in ceremonies marking the anniversary of Bloody Sunday at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the site of one of the most galvanizing moments in support of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Jeanise Murry, a 49-year-old African American nurse who heard Sanders speak Monday, said she likes some of the things he mentioned but is still deciding which candidate to support in 2020.

"It won't be (President Donald) Trump," Murry said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.

While U.S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “no smoking gun” that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death — which came soon before the Russian president's reelection — or directly ordered it, according to the official.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

Soon after Navalny’s death, U.S. President Joe Biden said Putin was ultimately responsible but did not accuse the Russian president of directly ordering it.

At the time, Biden said the U.S. did not know exactly what had happened to Navalny but that “there is no doubt” that his death “was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”

Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician and Putin’s most persistent foe, died Feb. 16 in a remote penal colony above the Arctic Circle while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he rejected as politically motivated.

He had been behind bars since January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.

Russian officials have said only that Navalny died of natural causes and have vehemently denied involvement both in the poisoning and in his death.

In March, a month after Navalny’s death, Putin won a landslide reelection for a fifth term, an outcome that was never in doubt.

The Wall Street Journal first reported about the U.S. intelligence determination.

FILE - Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny gestures while speaking during his interview to the Associated Press in Moscow, Russia on Dec. 18, 2017. U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn't order the death of Navalny, the imprisoned opposition leader, in February of 2024. An official says the U.S. intelligence community has found "no smoking gun" that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death or directly ordered it. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)