WASHINGTON – The United States last month expelled two Russian officials in response to an attack on an American diplomat by a Russian policeman in Moscow, the State Department said Friday, in a development that was sure to further strain already tense bilateral relations.

The officials were expelled June 17, department spokesman John Kirby told reporters. He didn’t immediately provide additional information.

Kirby said the American was attacked June 6 by a Russian guard outside the U.S. Embassy compound. Kirby said the attack was “unprovoked and it endangered the safety of our employee.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry claims the American was a CIA agent who refused to provide his identification documents and hit the guard in the face.

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email setup has been formally closed without any criminal charges, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Wednesday.

The decision had been expected and was largely a formality given FBI Director James Comey’s recommendation a day earlier against any prosecution. Even before Comey’s public statement, Lynch had said she intended to accept the recommendations of the FBI director and of her career prosecutors.

Even so, it officially closes out an FBI investigation that had dogged Clinton for the last year and proved a major distraction on the campaign trail.

Associated Press