Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax issued a forceful pre-dawn denial on Monday to an allegation of sexual assault that surfaced after 15 years, in the latest political bombshell to rock Richmond where Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam is battling resignation calls over a racist photo from his medical school yearbook.

Fairfax, who would be next in line for governor should Northam bow to pressure and resign, called the allegation “defamatory” and “false.”

NORTHAM HAS UNSCHEDULED STAFF MEETING AMID CALLS FOR RESIGNATION: REPORT

“Lt. Governor Fairfax has an outstanding and well-earned reputation for treating people with dignity and respect,” the statement from his office read. “He has never assaulted anyone—ever—in any way, shape, or form.”

The allegation was first posted by Big League Politics, the same political blog that published the now-infamous yearbook photo showing someone in blackface and someone in a KKK costume, from Northam’s 1984 yearbook page. Despite initially apologizing for appearing in the photo, he now denies either of the individuals is him.

The blog, in the post that prompted Fairfax’s denial, claimed that a fellow at Stanford University said a man sexually assaulted her at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Mass.

“Imagine you were sexually assaulted during the DNC Convention in Boston in 2004 by a campaign staffer. You spend the next 13 years trying to forget it ever happened. Until one day you find out he’s the Democratic candidate for statewide office in a state some 3000 miles away, and he wins that election in November 2017,” a post from the reported accuser said, according to the blog. “Then, by strange, horrible luck, it seems increasingly likely that he’ll get a VERY BIG promotion.”

She did not name Fairfax, but the report implied she was referring to the lieutenant governor, who then responded to it.

VIRGINIA GOV. NORTHAM SAYS HE WILL NOT RESIGN DESPITE LOSING SUPPORT FROM BOTH DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS

But in his denial, Fairfax explained that the accuser “first approached the Washington Post” over a year ago, prior to his inauguration in 2018.

“The Post carefully investigated the claim for several months,” Fairfax’s office said in a statement. “After being presented with facts consistent with the Lt. Governor’s denial of the allegation, the absence of any evidence corroborating the allegation, and significant red flags and inconsistencies within the allegation, the Post made the considered decision not to publish the story.”

Fairfax’s office added: “Tellingly, not one other reputable media outlet has seen fit to air this false claim. Only now, at a time of intense media attention surrounding Virginia politics, has this false claim been raised again.”

“The Lt. Governor will take appropriate legal action against those attempting to spread this defamatory and false allegation,” the statement read.

The denial comes amid a political firestorm in Virginia, as a photo of the governor emerged showing a man in blackface and another in Ku Klux Klan garb in his 1984 medical school yearbook.

Northam, on Saturday, denied being in the photo, despite admitting to being in the picture a day earlier, and instead acknowledged darkening his face for another occasion that same year, when he dressed as singer Michel Jackson as part of a talent contest.

He explained that he initially admitted to being in the photo, but “in the hours since I made my statement, I reflected with family and classmates from that time and it affirmed my conclusion that I am not the person in that photograph.”

Northam called the image “offensive” and “racist,” but said he had nothing to do with the preparation of the yearbook and did not purchase it.

Northam asserted repeatedly over the weekend that he would not resign from his post, despite a wave of criticism from 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls, Democratic lawmakers and Republicans demanding he leave office.

If Northam did agree to resign from his post, Fairfax would assume the governorship. Over the weekend, Fairfax condemned the racist photo and said he “cannot condone the actions from his past.”

TRUMP SLAMS RALPH NORTHAM YEARBOOK CONTROVERSY AS BEING ‘UNFORGIVEABLE‘ 

The photo resurfaced after Northam sparked outrage last week with comments about a controversial abortion bill that one sponsor had said could allow women to terminate a pregnancy up until the moment before birth.

Northam, a former pediatric neurologist, was asked about those comments and said that third-trimester abortions are done with “the consent of obviously the mother, with consent of the physician, multiple physicians by the way, and it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities or there may be a fetus that is not viable.”

“So in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen, the infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother,” Northam said last week.

Conservative commentators and Republican lawmakers took the remarks to mean that Northam was discussing the possibility of letting a newborn die—or even “infanticide.”

Northam defended his comments, saying they were limited to actions physicians may take in the case of “tragic or difficult circumstances” such as a non-viable pregnancy or “severe fetal abnormalities.” He later tweeted that he had “devoted his life to caring for children and any insinuation otherwise is shameful and disgusting.”

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On Sunday night, Northam had an unscheduled meeting with key staff members, and The Washington Post reported that resignation is an active consideration. The paper reported that there is another meeting set for Monday.

Northam reportedly spent much of Sunday inside his home meeting with close advisers who—to at least some degree—have differing opinions on how to proceed. Some want the governor to fight through and work to rebuild his image. Pam Northam, the state’s first lady, wants her husband to continue to fight, the paper reported, citing two sources.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw, Eddie DeMarche and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/virginia-lt-gov-fairfax-denies-sexual-assault-allegation-amid-political-storm

The president’s schedule places him in the Oval Office at the start of each workday, but Axios reported that Trump often spends mornings at the residence reading newspapers, watching TV and calling aides, lawmakers, friends, advisers and other officials. 

Source Article from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-sarah-sanders-executive-time_us_5c580bfde4b00187b552815d

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(CNN)With a looming February 15 deadline to fund parts of the US government, few are optimistic the President and Congress will be able to reach agreement in time to prevent another partial shutdown, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.

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    Members of the U.S. military install multiple tiers of concertina wire along the banks of the Rio Grande near the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge at the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas in November.

    Eric Gay/AP


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    Eric Gay/AP

    Members of the U.S. military install multiple tiers of concertina wire along the banks of the Rio Grande near the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge at the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas in November.

    Eric Gay/AP

    Another 3,750 troops will be sent to the southern border to help install wire barriers and to monitor crossings, officials said. The new deployment will bring the total number of active-duty troops there to around 6,000.

    In a tweet on Sunday, President Trump said that “STRONG border security” is necessary in the face of “Caravans marching through Mexico and toward our Country.”

    The announcement of new troops on Sunday comes just days before Trump is expected to discuss border security measures during Tuesday’s State of the Union Address.

    Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Thursday that the troops would be deployed to the border over the next month, NPR’s Tom Bowman reported. They’ll join the 2,300 active-duty troops already there, bringing the total to about the same number as were deployed in the fall. Another 2,100 National Guard troops are also stationed there.

    “At the Pentagon, people I talk with say, listen: this is a waste of money,” Bowman said. Stringing razor wire is a job better suited to the National Guard, they tell Bowman; “you don’t use active-duty troops for this.” Military troops deployed at the border “are not allowed to apprehend migrants the way border agents do,” NBC News reported.

    Last week around 2,400 migrants left a city shelter in Mexico City, on their way to the U.S.-Mexican border, Reuters reported.

    When Pentagon officials testified before the House Armed Services Committee last week, they didn’t mention the upcoming troop deployment. Congressman Adam Smith, who chairs the committee, released a statement criticizing what he called a lack of transparency.

    “I am deeply troubled that the witnesses did not disclose the upcoming increase in guard, reserve, and active duty personnel, even though we asked them multiple times during a two-and-a-half-hour hearing what would happen next on the border,” Smith wrote, echoing concerns in a letter he wrote to Shanahan. That omission raises questions about whether the troop increase “is so unjustified that they cannot defend an increase in public,” he wrote.

    Trump suggested Friday that he would announce action on a border wall during the State of the Union address, which is taking place Tuesday. “I don’t want to say it, but you’ll hear the State of the Union, and then you’ll see what happens right after the State of the Union,” he told reporters.

    Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/02/04/691222383/pentagon-deploying-3-750-troops-to-southern-border

    President Donald Trump said in a CBS News interview that aired Sunday that he isn’t sure if he wants special counsel Robert Mueller’s report to be made public.

    The president was asked by “Face the Nation” anchor Margaret Brennan if he would have a problem with the report being released publicly.

    “That’s totally up to to the attorney general,” Trump said. “I don’t know. It depends. I have no idea what it’s going to say.”

    “So far this thing’s been a total witch hunt,” Trump continued. “And it doesn’t implicate me in any way. There was no collusion. There was no obstruction. There was no nothing. Doesn’t implicate me in any way, but I think it’s a disgrace.”

    Trump’s nominee for attorney general, William Barr, said at his confirmation hearing last month that while special counsel regulations require Mueller to submit a report to the Justice Department, what the public eventually sees might simply be a report from the attorney general on Mueller’s conclusions.

    The acting attorney general, Matt Whitaker, said last week that he thinks Mueller is close to wrapping up his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. If the attorney general opts not to make the report public, Congress could try to subpoena it or compel administration officials to testify about its findings.

    Mueller has secured convictions or guilty pleas from a number of top Trump campaign officials, such as former campaign manager Paul Manafort and ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn. Manafort was convicted of several counts of tax and bank fraud, and Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI and has cooperated with investigators.

    Last month, Mueller arrested longtime Trump associate Roger Stone on charges of obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements to Congress. Mueller has also charged Russian nationals with crimes stemming from his probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

    Trump told “Face the Nation” that “many” of the Russians charged by Mueller “were bloggers from Moscow or they were people that had nothing to do with me, had nothing to do with what they’re talking about or there were people that got caught telling a fib or telling a lie.”

    Pointing to Stone, Trump said he “didn’t work on the campaign” except at its onset. The president said he hasn’t thought about pardoning Stone.

    “It looks like he’s defending himself very well,” Trump said. “But you have to get rid of the Russia witch hunt, because it is indeed.”

    “Remember this. Remember this,” Trump added. “There’s been no president that has been tougher on Russia than Donald Trump.”

    Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-he-doesn-t-know-if-he-wants-mueller-n966366

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    Five people died and two others were injured after a small plane apparently came apart, raining debris across a Southern California neighborhood and igniting a house fire before landing in a backyard, authorities said Sunday.

    The male pilot, who was the only person in the twin-engine plane, and four people in the Yorba Linda house that caught fire died Sunday, Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Cory Martino said at a news conference Sunday night. He says the deceased occupants of the home were two males and two females. No other identifying information such as names or ages was immediately released.

    The Cessna 414A took off from the Fullerton Municipal Airport about a dozen miles west of the blaze, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said.

    A two-story house burst into flames after being struck by the main cabin and one engine of the plane, sending panicked neighbors into the streets. The second engine dislodged and fell onto the street, creating a large hole in the asphalt, according to Eliott Simpson, an aviation accident investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.

    “It was a boom. It sounded like something exploded. It shook our house,” said John Wolbart, who lives a block away.

    He said he ran to the burning house and saw a woman come out with singed hair.

    The wounded were taken to a hospital with burn injuries, said Pokey Sanchez, an assistant chief with the Orange County Fire Authority. A firefighter was also treated for a minor injury.

    Clint Langford, who lives about a half-mile away, said he was in his living room when he heard a low rumbling.

    “It’s the eerie, low rumbling sound that keeps getting lower and louder. It was scary,” he said. “And then all of a sudden boom. It shook the house.”

    He looked out his front door and could see plane parts falling out the sky in the distance.

    Pat Rogers, who lives about a mile from the crash site, told the Orange County Register he saw the plane on fire and coming apart.

    Video posted on Twitter showed panicked residents running to the house as it became engulfed in flames and dark smoke. One man doused a burning wing that landed on the street with a garden hose.

    Aerial footage taken from news helicopters show plane parts, including side panels and a propeller, scattered on rooftops and driveways near the burned house. The main body of the twin-engine plane was found in the backyard of another home not far from the burned house. The fire spread to a SUV that was parked in the driveway.

    Debris was scattered over four blocks, Simpson said.

    Rain from a winter storm helped firefighters extinguish the house fire. They planned to search the burned house in case there were additional victims, Sanchez said.

    The National Transportation and Safety Board will investigate the cause of the crash.

    Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/04/5-die-2-are-hospitalized-when-plane-parts-hit-california-house.html

    Gov. Ralph Northam, D-Va., met with key staff members for an unscheduled staff meeting on Sunday before the Super Bowl and is apparently considering his next move after a photo emerged showing a man in blackface and another in Ku Klux Klan garb in his 1984 medical school yearbook page, a report said.

    Northam resisted calls to resign a day earlier– insisting that he did not appear in the yearbook photo, which contradicted his earlier remarks when he apologized for the picture. The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, reported that resignation is an active consideration, and called the meeting emotional. The paper reported that there is another meeting set for Monday.

    Northam reportedly spent much of the day inside his home meeting with close advisers who—to at least some degree—have differing opinions on how to proceed. Some want the governor to fight through and work to rebuild his image. Pam Northam, the state’s first lady, wants her husband to continue to fight, the paper reported, citing two sources.

    Northam’s office did not immediately respond to an email from Fox News early Monday.

    DAN GAINOR: GROUNDHOG DAY DISASTER AS THE MEDIA KEEP MESSING UP NORTHAM STORIES

    Some high-profile Democrats would prefer he rebuilds his image after leaving office. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday tweeted out that he needs to step aside.

    The Virginian-Pilot released the photo on Friday from Northam’s 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook. The Post reported that the images first appeared on Big League Politics, a conservative website.

    Earlier in the week, Northam made headlines over comments about abortion that he said were taken out of context. He was on a radio program where he described a hypothetical situation where an infant who is severely deformed or unable to survive after birth could be left to die.

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    “So in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen, the infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother,” the former pediatric neurologist said while on WTOP to discuss the Repeal Act.

    That prompted accusations from prominent Republicans that he supports infanticide. Northam tweeted later: “I have devoted my life to caring for children and any insinuation otherwise is shameful and disgusting.”

    Northam, in regards to the photo outrage, said he plans on continuing to lead.

    “If we get to the point where we feel that we’re not effective, that we’re not efficient, not only for our caucuses, but the Commonwealth of Virginia, then we will revisit this and make decisions,” he said on Saturday.

    Fox News Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report

    Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/northam-has-unscheduled-staff-meeting-amid-calls-for-resignation-report

    Meantime, several factions in the Iraqi Parliament plan to push a measure that would strictly limit the United States’ military activities in the country, including where American soldiers can circulate and how long they can stay.

    The issue brings together Shiite parties who do not like Americans, most notably the one led by the radical cleric Moktada al-Sadr. That group now has the largest bloc of votes, with Shiite parties that have strong links to Iran and that are associated with armed groups known collectively as the Hashid.

    While the measure is still in the planning stages, the parliamentary party representing Mr. al-Sadr announced about a week ago that it would put the issue on Parliament’s legislative agenda for March, and the party’s lawmakers have begun discussing the idea with other parliamentary blocs.

    Joining with the Sadr faction is the Fateh coalition, whose members include political representatives of the mostly Shiite Muslim armed groups that sprang up when the Islamic State invaded northern Iraq in 2014. Some of these armed factions have close ties to Iran and initially were partially funded and supplied by Iran. Today, however, all the Iraqi armed groups are legal and paid by the Iraqi government, and say they have merged their command structure.

    Mr. Trump’s comments in the CBS interview echoed his administration’s previous claims that Iran is cheating on the spirit of the 2015 nuclear agreement from which the United States has withdrawn, an assertion contradicted in an American intelligence assessment last week that concluded that Iran is not, for now, taking steps necessary to make a bomb.

    In an apparent reference to Al Asad Air Base in western Iraq, which Mr. Trump visited during a whirlwind trip to the country in late December, the president said in the CBS interview that the United States has “an unbelievable and expensive military base built in Iraq” that is “perfectly situated for looking at all over different parts of the troubled Middle East.”

    In fact, American forces operate from several Iraqi bases across the country, with most of the roughly 5,200 troops based at Al Asad or in Erbil in northern Iraq.

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/03/us/politics/trump-iraq-troops-syria-iran.html

    The schedules appear to identify 77 hours of official meetings during that stretch, and 38 hours of events. On some days, Axios noted, Trump has spent almost the entire working day in executive time, including the day after the Nov. 7 midterm elections with 7 hours. 

    Source Article from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-60-percent-executive-time_us_5c579f90e4b0871047549db3

    LOS ANGELES — Five people were killed when a small airplane crashed into a single-family home near Anaheim, California, on Sunday, authorities said.

    Orange County sheriff’s Lt. Cory Martino said Sunday night that the plane, a small Cessna, crashed into the home in Yorna Linda at about 1:45 p.m. shortly after takeoff. Martino serves as police chief in the city of Yorba Linda, about 10 miles northeast of Anaheim, under a contract with the county.

    The pilot and four people in the home — described only as two males and two females — were killed, he said. Two other people inside were treated for what he described as “moderate” injuries.

    No identities were made public Sunday night pending notification of relatives.

    Elliot Simpson, an aviation accident investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, took off from nearby Fullerton at about 1:35 p.m. The plane climbed to about 7,800 feet and then “began a rapid descent,” he said.

    Simpson said there was no report that the pilot made any distress calls before the crash.

    Firefighters at the scene of a small plane crash that crashed in a residential area of Yorba Linda, California, on Sunday.Orange County Fire Authority

    Images from the scene showed aircraft wreckage scattered across the ground and a home engulfed in flames. Simpson said debris was scattered over a four-block area.

    Colette Craig of Anaheim was driving toward Corona on the 91 Freeway when she saw the plane — which she said was about three miles away — “burst into flames.”

    Another witness, Brittany Drake, said she initially thought the “giant ball of fire” might be Super Bowl-related.

    “But it was way too big,” said Drake, who was on the freeway en route to a family Super Bowl party.

    The crash took only a few seconds, she said, but it was clear that something was very wrong with the plane.

    “It went straight down,” she said. “It wasn’t continually trying to fly. It was very obvious the plane was gone.”

    Residents in the suburban neighborhood where the aircraft fell to the ground described hearing a high-pitched whine — a sound that a neighbor, Lee Davis, thought belonged to a Ferrari or a Lamborghini screeching and crashing into his home.

    “I thought it would actually be wrapped around my wall, because when I was getting up, I saw stuff landing in the pool,” he said. “But then when I came outside the door, my neighbor said, ‘Watch out — there’s still stuff coming from the sky.'”

    Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/two-dead-two-injured-after-plane-crashes-home-california-n966421

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    Bogota, Colombia (CNN)Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has warned US President Donald Trump that he risks staining “his hands with blood” should he pursue military action in the crisis-hit South American nation.

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{if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(true);var $endSlate = jQuery(document.getElementById(containerId)).parent().find(‘.js-video__end-slate’).eq(0);if ($endSlate.length > 0) {$endSlate.removeClass(‘video__end-slate–active’).addClass(‘video__end-slate–inactive’);}}}},onContentBegin: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (mobilePinnedView) {mobilePinnedView.enable();}/* Dismissing the pinnedPlayer if another video players plays a video. */CNN.VideoPlayer.dismissMobilePinnedPlayer(containerId);CNN.VideoPlayer.mutePlayer(containerId);if (CNN.companion && typeof CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout === ‘function’) {CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout(‘removeEpicAds’);}CNN.VideoPlayer.hideSpinner(containerId);clearTimeout(moveToNextTimeout);CNN.VideoSourceUtils.clearSource(containerId);jQuery(document).triggerVideoContentStarted();},onContentComplete: 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      Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/04/americas/venezuela-maduro-trump-intl/index.html

      Authorities have captured Cedric Joseph Marks about nine hours after he escaped from a prisoner transport van earlier Sun., Feb. 3, 2019.

      KHOU-TV


      A former MMA fighter facing three pending murder charges spent hours on the loose in Texas on Sunday after escaping from a prisoner transport van that stopped at a McDonald’s. Authorities captured Cedric Joseph Marks following a nine-hour manhunt that stretched through the afternoon.

      Lt. Scott Spencer of the Montgomery County, Texas, Sheriff’s Department, tweeted the news Sunday night.

      Marks, 44, was being transported from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Bell County in Texas, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. He was wanted for questioning in connection with a burglary with intent to commit another felony. He also faces warrants for murders, though authorities didn’t identify all of the victims. The Houston Chronicle reported one victim is Marks’ former girlfriend, who met him on Tinder and had a restraining order against him.

      Police said Marks was with nine other prisoners and two guards in a van run by Texas Prisoner Transport Services, a private company. He had escaped in the morning while the van was at a McDonald’s in Conroe, about 40 miles north of Houston, and was last seen wearing an orange jumpsuit and restraints.

      Authorities are investigating how he managed to get free. They had warned the public he should be considered “extremely dangerous.”

      Marks was once a professional fighter with the MMA who went by the nickname “Spiderman.” His most recent fight was in September 2018, according to the MMA site Tapology. He also worked as a trainer at a gym in Killeen, Texas, several years ago.

      Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cedric-marks-mma-fighter-facing-murder-charges-escapes-prisoner-van-in-texas-captured-today/

      A person referred to as “Commadre Maria” regularly sent Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera pictures of girls as young as 13, court documents say, and the notorious drug lord and his associates paid $5,000 for each teen and raped them at one of his ranches.

      Guzmán, known worldwide as “El Chapo,” is accused of raping young girls on multiple occasions and calling the youngest among them his “vitamins” because, he said, they gave him “life.”

      The allegations were recounted in documents unsealed Friday, just two days before jurors in Guzmán’s drug-trafficking trial in New York are set to begin deliberations. Guzmán’s attorney, A. Eduardo Balarezo, called them “extremely salacious.”

      “Joaquín denies the allegations, which lack any corroboration and were deemed too prejudicial and unreliable to be admitted at trial,” Balarezo said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that the material was publicly released just prior to the jury beginning deliberations.”

      For two months, federal prosecutors portrayed Guzmán as a ruthless leader of the Sinaloa cartel. Testimonies, replete with tales of bloody assassinations, corrupt public officials and tunnels used for escapes and drug-smuggling operations, have offered an unprecedented glimpse into a secretive and sprawling empire that officials said funneled drugs into the United States for more than two decades.

      But stories alleging brazen sex lives and beliefs about the “Illuminati” and witch doctors were left out of the testimonies. Prosecutors did not believe they were relevant to proving Guzmán’s drug-trafficking activities, according to court records.

      The documents were made public following letters from media organizations, including the New York Times, which had complained of the trial’s secrecy. Prosecutors also said there is no longer a need to keep the documents sealed because the identities of cooperating witnesses mentioned in the records have been publicly revealed.

      The allegations came from a person identified in court records as “Cooperating Witness No. 1” and in media reports as Alex Cifuentes, a former right-hand man who had testified that Guzmán bragged about paying former Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto a $100 million bribe.

      Cifuentes told officials that he lived with Guzmán from 2007 to 2008 and that they raped underage girls during that time. Cifuentes said he helped Guzmán drug the girls by placing a powdery substance in their drinks and that he had intercourse with teens as young as 15, according to court records.

      Mexico’s penal code says that sexual acts with minors younger than 15 are considered sexual abuse.

      The documents also included references to Cifuentes’s eccentric beliefs. Cellphone communications intercepted by law enforcement agencies showed that Cifuentes has interests in the Illuminati, Freemasonry and UFOs and had communicated with an associate about an impending 2012 apocalypse. Court records say Cifuentes also believed in astrology and had obtained snake oils from a witch doctor.

      Prosecutors did not introduce that information at trial because doing so would elicit testimony about the witness’s sexual activities and unorthodox beliefs, none of which, they said, are relevant to the crimes Guzmán was accused of. A defense cross examination of one of the government’s cooperating witnesses “would be unfairly prejudicial and would unnecessarily harass” Cifuentes, according to court records.

      Buried in the documents is another rape allegation that was also not presented at trial. One paragraph says Guzmán raped one of the government’s witnesses, began a romantic relationship with her and drew her into the drug enterprise. The only woman among the prosecutors’ cooperating witnesses is Lucero Guadalupe Sánchez López, one of Guzmán’s mistresses, the New York Times reported.

      Sánchez had testified earlier that she escaped with Guzmán through a tunnel on Feb. 17, 2014, when a team of Mexican marines showed up at his front door, the Times reported.

      Guzmán was captured five days later in the Mexican town of Mazatlan, only to escape in 2015 through a tunnel from his cell’s shower to an abandoned home a mile away. He was recaptured in 2016, and Mexican authorities decided to send him to the United States to face trial.

      He first fled a Mexican prison in 2001, when he engineered an escape in a laundry cart with the help of prison officials he had bribed, court records say.

      While behind bars, Guzmán managed to keep running his drug empire. Prison officials he had bribed allowed him to communicate freely with family members using his own cellphone, court records say. One prison official, now a government witness, was given a house in Guadalajara, Mexico, court records say.

      Guzmán’s defense team has portrayed him as a scapegoat whose “mythological” status as a drug kingpin was a creation of the Mexican and U.S. governments. In closing arguments Thursday, defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman compared cooperating witnesses to “gutter human beings” and said they are lying to save themselves.

      Guzmán is charged with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, drug trafficking and firearm counts. He faces life in prison if convicted. Jurors will begin deliberations Monday.

      Edith Honan, Mark Berman, Katie Zezima and Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.

      Read more:

      Witness testifies that El Chapo paid a $100 million bribe to ex-Mexican president Peña Nieto

      As Trump pushes for a wall, authorities keep finding drug tunnels under the U.S.-Mexico border

      An overdose victim had more fentanyl in her than officials had ever seen. She was 18 months old.

      Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/02/03/el-chapo-raped-girls-young-called-them-his-vitamins-witness-says/

      Sen. Ted Cruz condemned the media coverage of the controversies swirling around Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.

      In a pair of tweets late Saturday, the Texas Republican claimed the media was asking the wrong questions about a racist photo that appeared in Northam’s medical school yearbook.

      “Media fixation w/ blackface (‘was he dressed as Michael Jackson?’) obscures the more damning point: anybody who voluntarily chooses to celebrate the evil & bigoted KKK is unfit for public office. Media should be asking: did you select that picture to represent what you believe?” he tweeted.

      “And why does media relentlessly shill for Dems? They won’t cover Northam’s defense of infanticide, but they’ll ask if he can moonwalk…” he said in another.

      Northam has so far resisted calls from within his own party to resign after the emergence of a photo in his 1984 medical school yearbook showing a man in blackface and a man wearing Ku Klux Klan robes. In a press conference Saturday, he backtracked on his apology the day before and said he didn’t think he was in the photo.

      Northam also said he did not pick it to be included on his page. He additionally acknowledged he did wear blackface that same year to dress up as singer Michael Jackson for a talent show.

      Many of the questions during that press conference touched on the photo, whether Northam would resign, his involvement in putting together the yearbook, and whether his wearing shoe polish to darken his complexion for his Michael Jackson costume was any different that posing in blackface or in KKK garb. Northam was even asked if he could still “moonwalk” after he said he had learned the dance for the competition.

      Very little attention was given to the other controversy Northam faced earlier in the week — his comments about a bill that would loosen restrictions on abortions.

      Northam defended himself Wednesday against a barrage of criticism, particularly in conservative circles, for saying outrage over a bill to roll back restrictions on third-trimester abortions in his state had “really blown out of proportion.” That bill never made it out of a subcommittee.

      Cruz also condemned Northam for those comments.

      “Heartbreaking: VA gov’s pro-abortion dogma is so extreme that he advocates taking the life of babies AFTER they are born. Watch the video. Every human life is precious—a gift from God—and the modern Democratic party’s embrace of late-term (or post-birth) abortion is truly tragic,” Cruz tweeted.

      Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/ted-cruz-rips-media-for-fixation-with-blackface-and-willingness-to-shill-for-democrats

      CLEVELAND — Maroon 5, Travis Scott and Big Boi are set to take the stage for Super Bowl LIII’s Halftime Show, joining the ranks of Beyonce, Madonna, Prince and the King of Pop Michael Jackson to name a few.

      There have been many talented artists to perform during the Super Bowl Halftime Show, it gets easy to forget just who all has been given the honor.

      Here is a complete list of Super Bowl halftime performers:

      2018: Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids, University of Minnesota Marching Band

      2017: Lady Gaga

      2016: Coldplay, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson, Gustavo Dudamel, University of California Marching Band, Youth Orchestra L.A.

      2015: Katy Perry, Lenny Kravitz, Missy Elliot, Arizona State University Sun Devil Marching Band

      2014: Bruno Mars, Red Hot Chili Peppers

      2013: Beyonce, Destiny’s Child

      2012: Madonna, Nicki Minaj, LMFAO, Cirque De Soleil, M.I.A., Cee Lo Green, Andy Lewis, Indiana area high school drumlines, choirs, and dancers

      2011: The Black Eyed Peas, Usher, Slash, Dallas/Ft. Worth- area high school drill teams and dancers

      2010: The Who

      2009: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

      2008: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

      2007: Prince, Florida A&M University Marching 100 Band

      2006: The Rolling Stones

      2005: Paul McCartney

      2004: Jessica Simpson, Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, P. Diddy, Nelly, Kid Rock, Texas area high school marching bands

      2003: Shania Twain, No Doubt, Sting

      2002: U2

      2001: Aerosmith, NSYNC, Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige, Nelly

      2000: Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, Toni Braxton, Edward James Olmos, 80-person choir

      1999: Gloria Estefan, Stevie Wonder, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Savion Glover

      1998: Boyz II Men, Smokey Robinson, Martha Reeves, The Temptations, Queen Latifah, Grambling State University Marching Band

      1997: The Blues Brothers, ZZ Top, James Brown, Catherine Crier

      1996: Diana Ross

      1995: Patti Labelle, Indiana Jones & Marion Ravenwood, Teddy Pendergrass, Tony Bennett, Arturo Sandoval, Miami Sound Machine

      1994: Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt, The Judds

      1993: Michael Jackson

      1992: Gloria Estefan, Brian Boitano and Dorthy Hamill, 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team, University of Minnesota Marching Band

      1991: New Kids on the Block, Warren Moon, Disney characters

      1990: Pete Fountain, Doug Kershaw, Irma Thomas, Nicholls, Louisiana college marching bands

      1989: Elvis Presto, South Florida-area dancers and performers

      1988: Chubby Checker, The Rockettes, piano players and California college marching bands

      1987: George Burns, Mickey Rooney, California college and high school marching bands

      1986: Up with People

      1985: Tops in Blues

      1984: University of Florida and Florida State University Marching Bands

      1983: Los Angeles Super Drill Team

      1982: Up with People

      1981: Southern University Marching Band, Helen O’Connell

      1980: Up with People, Grambling State University Marching Band

      1979: Ken Hamilton, various Caribbean bands

      1978: Tyler Apache Belles Drill Team, and Apache Band Pete Fountain & Al Hirt

      1977: Los Angeles Unified All-City Band & Audience card stunt

      1976: Up with People

      1975: Mercer Ellington & Grambling State University Marching Band

      1974: University of Texas Longhorn Band and Judy Mallett

      1973: University of Michigan Marching Band & Woody Herman & Andy Williams

      1972: Ella Fitzgerald, Carol Channing, Al Hirt, USAFA Cadet Chorale, & U.S. Marine Corps Drill Team

      1971: Southeast Missouri State Marching Band

      1970: Marguerite Piazza, Doc Severinsen, Al Hirt, Lionel Hampton Southern University Marching Band

      1969: Florida A&M University and Miami area High School Bands

      1968: Grambling State University Marching Band

      1967: The Three Stooges, University of Arizona Symphonic Marching Band & Grambling State University Marching Band, Al Hirt, Anaheim High School Drill Team and Flag Girls

      Source Article from https://www.news5cleveland.com/every-super-bowl-halftime-show-performance-in-the-games-history

      Both of Virginia’s U.S. senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, joined the dean of Virginia’s congressional delegation, Rep. Bobby Scott, in saying they no longer believe Northam can serve effectively. James Ryan, president of the University of Virginia, said in a statement that it would be “exceedingly difficult” for Northam to continue serving.

      Source Article from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/virginia-governor-ralph-northam-ignores-calls-to-resign-over-blackface-photo_us_5c575cb8e4b00187b55201c9

      In a wide-ranging interview set to air shortly before the kick-off of Super Bowl LIII, President Donald Trump remained non-committal on a variety of pressing issues, unable or unwilling to say exactly where he stands.

      Would he shut down the government again?

      “Well, we’re going to have to see what happens.”

      Would he pursue military intervention in Venezuela?

      “It’s an option.”

      Would he make special counsel Robert Mueller’s report public?

      “That’s up to the attorney general.”

      It’s become somewhat of a tradition over the last 15 years for the president to sit down for an interview with news networks before the biggest annual sporting event in the United States. But this is only the second time that Trump has agreed to take questions. Last year he bucked tradition by refusing to be interviewed by NBC, retribution for what he saw as unfair coverage from the network. The year before that, Trump sat down with former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.

      Though the president will occasionally sit down for wide-ranging interviews with print outlets like the New York Times (as he did Thursday), his interview Sunday with CBS host Margaret Brennan marks one of the rare instances in which Trump took questions from any television network other than Fox. Brennan was able to cover a remarkable amount of ground in the interview, with questions on everything from ISIS to his views on allowing his youngest son to play football. Here are four of the most interesting highlights:

      Trump wants to keep US troops in Iraq to keep an eye on Iran

      The president said he plans to keep US troops in Iraq in order to keep an eye on neighboring Iran, “because Iran is a real problem.”

      “I want to be able to watch Iran. All I want to do is be able to watch,” Trump told Brennan.

      Trump did not specify how many troops he planned to keep in the region. Trump surprised his own top administration officials and key allies abroad last year by announcing plans to withdraw all US troops from Syria, and he told Brennan he’s determined to get out of the “endless wars” both there and in Afghanistan. He’s thus far seemed more committed to Iraq, visiting troops deployed there in December, but in the same interview moments later, Trump called the invasion in Iraq “one of the greatest mistakes” the US has ever made.

      Trump says he doesn’t “have to agree” with his intelligence chiefs

      In their testimony before Congress this week, top US intelligence officials showed the extent to which Trump’s statements on foreign policy have been based outside of reality. On everything from the nuclear threat-level posed by North Korea to the staying power of ISIS, Trump’s own intelligence chiefs described a world that was often in outright contradiction with the one the president has painted. Even still, Trump says he doesn’t have to listen to them.

      ”I have intel people, but that doesn’t mean I have to agree,” he told Brennan. “President [George W.] Bush had intel people that said Saddam Hussein in Iraq had nuclear weapons, had all sorts of weapons of mass destruction. Guess what? Those intel people didn’t know what the hell they were doing, and they got us tied up in a war that we should have never been in.”

      Trump’s right that he doesn’t have to listen to advisers — as Vox’s Alex Ward notes, the president “has every right to make foreign policy decisions as he sees fit.”

      In fact, Trump has made a habit out of bucking the advice of his own senior staff and insulting the intelligence community as a whole whenever they disagree with him. And when that doesn’t work — when intel from his top spies is televised and written down in the official record as it was this week — Trump will find a way to claim their words were misquoted or taken out of context by the media.

      He wants credit for black, Hispanic and Asian employment levels; says “something very special” is happening in the US in terms of race

      In one of the more bizarre turns of the interview, Trump is asked about the state of race relations in the US. Citing a recent CBS poll that found that 63 percent of Americans say they disapprove of how the president is handling race-related issues in the US, Brennan asks Trump to reflect on his own job performance in addressing race. Trump says he deserves recognition for high employment stats for blacks, Latinos, and Asians.

      “Our employment numbers are phenomenal, the best in over 50 years. So I think I’ve been given a lot of credit for that,” Trump said. (Trump has made these claims before, and each time economists have noted that the president is taking credit on job growth that he doesn’t deserve. The White House has been called out repeatedly for cherry-picking its data.)

      And despite his infamous reputation of stoking racial anxieties, making overtly racist comments and pushing a discriminatory agenda, Trump had this to say: “And in terms of race, a lot of people are saying well this is something very special what’s happening.”

      Trump says he’d have a ‘hard time’ allowing his son to play football

      Once upon a time, Trump complained that violence in football just wasn’t what it used to be. On the campaign trail, Trump bemoaned that football had gone “soft” for banning helmet-to-helmet tackles and mocked debilitating concussions from the game as “a little ding on the head.”

      Now, however, he thinks he would have a “hard time” allowing his 12-year-old son, Barron, to play the sport, given the body of research showing the lasting physical harm and damage caused by concussions from the game.

      ”I just don’t like the reports that I see coming out having to do with football — I mean, it’s a dangerous sport and I think it’s really tough,” he said. “I thought the equipment would get better, and it has. The helmets have gotten far better but it hasn’t solved the problem.”

      You can watch the interview in its entirety here.

      Source Article from https://www.vox.com/2019/2/3/18209506/donald-trump-super-bowl-sunday-interview

      President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump: Northam’s yearbook photo depicting men in blackface, KKK robes ‘unforgivable’ NYT: White House says Trump’s tan is the result of ‘good genes’ ‘Roger Stone did nothing wrong’: Stone greeted with chants, applause at Women for Trump 2020 campaign kickoff MORE said in a new interview that “a lot of people in the NFL” have called him to thank him for passing criminal justice reform.

      Trump told host Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that he has done what past presidents “tried” to do in criminal justice reform.

      “Everybody wanted to do it,” he said. “And I got it done and … a lot of people in the NFL have been calling and thanking me for it.”

      The Hill has reached out to the NFL for comment.

      Trump, who has repeatedly railed against NFL players who kneel during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality, said that he “took care of” the issues players have been protesting with the passage of his bipartisan criminal justice bill late last year.

      “A lot of [the protest] is having to do with reform, from what I understand,” he said. “Whether it’s criminal justice or whatever, it may be and they have different versions and everybody seemed to have a different version of it. But a lot of it had to do with that, and I took care of that.”

      In boasting about the criminal justice bill, Trump also sidestepped questions from Brennan about his handling of race issues. He also echoed his past statements about low African-American unemployment, saying: “Best numbers they’ve had — literally the best numbers they’ve had in history. And I think they like me a lot and I like them a lot.”

      Trump also pointed to a recent rise in the NFL’s ratings, tying it to the kneeling protests losing steam in the league, and again said players should not kneel during the anthem.

      “I think that people have to, at all times, respect our flag and at all times respect … our national anthem and our country,” he told Brennan. “And I think there are plenty of places and times you can protest and you can do a lot. But you can’t do that. That’s my opinion.”

      He also said he has moved past his differences with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, which came to a head over the protests, after ensuring that a provision benefiting the NFL was included in his new trade deal with Canada.

      The comments come ahead of Sunday evening’s Super Bowl game between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams. Trump is known to be a fan and friend of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, as well as Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.

      He also said in the interview that he would let his son, Barron Trump, play football “if he wanted to,” but said that he would not “steer him that way” saying the sport is “dangerous.”

      “I hate to say it because I love to watch football,” Trump said. “I think the NFL is a great product, but I really think that as far as my son— well I’ve heard NFL players saying they wouldn’t let their sons play football. So. It’s not totally unique, but I— I would have a hard time with it.”

      Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/428228-trump-a-lot-of-people-in-the-nfl-have-been-calling-and-thanking-me

      In the same Brooklyn courthouse where jurors have heard testimony about Mexican politicians protecting Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s drug empire, a former Mexican state attorney general pleaded guilty last month to taking bribes from narcotraffickers.

      The juxtaposition underscored a recurring theme of Guzman’s New York trial: how pervasive official corruption in Mexico complicates American authorities’ efforts to investigate and apprehend those involved in the drug trade.

      Jurors are expected to begin deliberating Monday after 11 weeks of testimony that included a parade of Guzman’s former associates who told of massive bribes paid to high-level officials.

      One testified that the Sinaloa cartel paid $10 million, twice, to a top commander in the Mexican Federal Police. Another said Mexico’s former federal security chief got a $6 million payoff while a general got $100,000. Witnesses testified about Guzman getting a police escort after a prison escape and politicians who asked for help shipping 100 tons of cocaine in an oil tanker. In the most sensational claim, one of Guzman’s former aides said he’d heard him boast about having paid former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto $100 million.

      “The corruption has been rampant, and it’s systemic,” said Arturo Fontes, a former FBI agent who spent years investigating Guzman’s drug syndicate. “We always knew there was a risk of information getting to the wrong people.”

      The accused Mexican leaders have all denied the bribery allegations as the fabrications of criminals. And the corruption allegations have been mostly a sideshow in the trial of Guzman, who is charged with leading a cartel that smuggled tons of cocaine to the U.S. His lawyers have said he was not the real boss and that its true head is still at large in Mexico, protected by a web of bribes.

      But colorful testimony about graft provided a window into the challenges U.S. law enforcement agents face when working with Mexican partners — and the great lengths they went to in the Guzman case to ensure it wasn’t compromised.

      Underscoring the risks of sharing information with Mexican law enforcement, several months ago, a former Mexican intelligence-unit commander was sentenced to three years in a U.S. federal prison for leaking American investigative secrets to cartel bosses. Last month, Edgar Veytia, the former attorney general of the Mexican coastal state of Nayarit who is known as “Diablo,” admitted to using his badge to help drug-trafficking organizations smuggling narcotics into the U.S., according to the Justice Department.

      Mike Vigil, who was a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent for many years, said not even Mexico’s military or federal police will work with authorities at the state and municipal level due to their “cancerous” propensity for being on the take.

      Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/el-chapo-trial-highlights-how-mexico-graft-impedes-drug-war-n966346

      When Catana Yehudah, whose brother Jason Smith is serving a gun possession sentence at the jail, led a chant through a megaphone — “No heat, that’s torture” — the inmates banged louder.

      Ms. Yehudah, 50, called for quiet. “Stop banging for one second!” she yelled. The barrage subsided.

      “If there is no heat,” she shouted, “bang on the windows!”

      The inmates, nearly invisible behind the windows, pounded louder and louder, the fusillade filling the wide empty street.

      Around 6:30 p.m., electricity was restored. But problems with the heating system, which are unrelated to the electrical failure, remain, and while parts of the jail have heat, many cells do not.

      Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/03/nyregion/brooklyn-federal-jail-banging.html

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      Caracas, Venezuela (CNN)Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has refused to accept an ultimatum from European countries calling for free elections.

        Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/03/americas/venezuela-unrest/index.html