In fact, he had not, as his spokesman acknowledged hours later.
Putin has said he has taken "personal control" of the investigation, and his spokesman announced hours after the killing that the assassination had been "100% provocation" designed to make Russia look bad.
Austrian security forces also stopped trains with several hundred migrants on board near the border with Hungary, a police spokesman said, hours after authorities in Budapest let them leave despite many not having EU visas.
A call left for Mr. Lawless' spokesman after business hours Monday was not returned.
His announcement contradicted a claim by his official spokesman a few hours earlier that he was negotiating the terms of his departure, with France, the former colonial power, acting as an intermediary.
By Andy Borowitz July 25 , 2016PHILADELPHIA (The Borowitz Report) — In an unorthodox departure from tradition, the Democratic National Convention will kick off its prime-time schedule on Monday night with what a D.N.C. spokesman called "three hours straight of booing".
PHILADELPHIA (The Borowitz Report) — In an unorthodox departure from tradition, the Democratic National Convention will kick off its prime-time schedule on Monday night with what a D.N.C. spokesman called "three hours straight of booing".
The rally, organized all three years by Khallid Abdul Muhammad, the former Nation of Islam spokesman, started two hours late, at 2 p.m., and was marred by rain and troubles with the sound system.
When Dezenhall's firm was working for the folksy Motel 6 chain in 1995, the company got a call from Geraldo Rivera's old tabloid show: Give us a spokesman within 48 hours for a piece we're broadcasting about a couple who were peeped on by motel workers while having sex.
"I am sickened by what I heard today," Ryan said through a spokesman, about five hours after The Washington Post published a 2005 recording of Trump boasting of groping women and trying to have sex with a married woman.
