AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EST
Aide who testified against Trump escorted out of White House
WASHINGTON (AP) — The decorated soldier and national security aide who played a central role in the Democrats' impeachment case against President Donald Trump was escorted out of the White House complex on Friday, according to his lawyer, who said he was asked to leave in retaliation for “telling the truth.”
“The truth has cost Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman his job, his career, and his privacy,” David Pressman, an attorney for Vindman, said in a statement.
“He did what any member of our military is charged with doing every day: he followed orders, he obeyed his oath, and he served his country, even when doing so was fraught with danger and personal peril,” Pressman said. “And for that, the most powerful man in the world — buoyed by the silent, the pliable, and the complicit — has decided to exact revenge.”
The White House did not respond to Pressman's accusation.
“We do not comment on personnel matters,” said John Ullyot, spokesman for the National Security Council, the foreign policy arm of the White House where Vindman was an expert on Ukraine.
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Doctor's death unleashes mourning, fury at Chinese officials
BEIJING (AP) — The death of a young doctor who was reprimanded for warning about China’s new virus triggered an outpouring Friday of praise for him and fury that communist authorities put politics above public safety.
In death, Dr. Li Wenliang became the face of simmering anger at the ruling Communist Party's controls over information and complaints that officials lie about or hide disease outbreaks, chemical spills, dangerous consumer products or financial frauds.
The 34-year-old ophthalmologist died overnight at Wuhan Central Hospital, where he worked and likely contracted the virus while treating patients in the early days of the outbreak.
“A hero who released information about Wuhan’s epidemic in the early stage, Dr. Li Wenliang is immortal,” the China Center for Disease Control’s chief scientist, Zeng Guang, wrote on the Sina Weibo microblog service.
Police in December had reprimanded eight doctors including Li for warning friends on social media about the emerging threat. China's supreme court later criticized the police, but the ruling party also has tightened its grip on information about the outbreak.
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Targeting Sanders, Buttigieg in big New Hampshire debate
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Fueled by a growing sense of urgency, the Democrats' leading presidential contenders planned to embrace more aggressive tactics in Friday night's debate as the 2020 primary season roared into a critical new phase.
Seven Democrats were facing off in New Hampshire, just four days before the state's first-in-the-nation primary election, for what could be the final debate-stage meeting for multiple candidates. The field has been shaken and reshaped by chaotic Iowa caucuses earlier this week that raised deeper questions about several candidates' political survival.
Acknowledging the stakes, Joe Biden's campaign was predicting a “forceful, fiery” performance.
Two candidates, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Midwestern Mayor Pete Buttigieg, entered the night as the top targets, having emerged from Iowa essentially tied for the lead. Those trailing after the first contest — including Biden, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar — had an urgent need to demonstrate strength.
Billionaire activist Tom Steyer and New York entrepreneur Andrew Yang, meanwhile, were fighting to prove they belong in the conversation.
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Trump's acquittal confronts Dems with election year choices
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s impeachment ended with a reminder of why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi resisted the idea for so long — an acquittal everyone saw coming, followed by a bombastic presidential victory lap and a bump in his poll numbers just as the 2020 campaign officially began.
Now Democrats have to decide how to navigate the legislative and political landscape that they've helped reshape.
Pelosi's nationally televised ripping of her copy of Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday night underscored the acrid atmosphere that will make partisan cooperation on any issue difficult. Major legislative compromises were always going to be hard this election year, but the impeachment fight only deepened partisan bitterness and made progress less likely.
“Because we have to," No. 2 House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said when asked how Congress and Trump could cooperate on health care and other issues. He added, “I'd be foolish to be optimistic because we have not done that so far."
Democrats must also decide how vigorously to continue investigations, including into impeachment's focus: Trump's effort to pressure Ukraine's leaders to bolster his reelection by seeking dirt on rival Joe Biden. The GOP-controlled Senate acquitted Trump on Wednesday of both articles of impeachment, with Utah Sen. Mitt Romney the sole lawmaker defying party lines.
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Cyborgs, trolls and bots: A guide to online misinformation
NEW YORK (AP) — Cyborgs, trolls and bots can fill the internet with lies and half-truths. Understanding them is key to learning how misinformation spreads online.
As the 2016 election showed, social media is increasingly used to amplify false claims and divide Americans over hot-button issues including race and immigration. Researchers who study misinformation predict it will get worse leading up to this year's presidential vote. Here's a guide to understanding the problem:
MISINFORMATION VS. DISINFORMATION
Political misinformation has been around since before the printing press, but the internet has allowed falsehoods, conspiracy theories and exaggerations to spread faster and farther than ever.
Misinformation is defined as any false information, regardless of intent, including honest mistakes or misunderstandings of the facts. Disinformation, on the other hand, typically refers to misinformation created and spread intentionally as a way to confuse or mislead.
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Investigators: No sign of engine failure for Bryant copter
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wreckage from the helicopter that crashed and killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others did not show any sign of engine failure, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.
A witness told the NTSB the hillside where the crash occurred was shrouded in mist when he heard the helicopter approaching. It sounded normal and he then saw the blue-and-white aircraft emerge from the fog moving forward and down. Within 2 seconds it slammed into the hillside just below him.
The Jan. 26 crash in Calabasas, just outside Los Angeles, occurred as the group was flying to a girls basketball tournament at Bryant's Mamba Sports Academy. He coached his 13-year-old daughter Gianna's team, which was scheduled to play. She and two teammates were among the nine people killed.
The deaths shook Los Angeles and the sporting world. A public memorial for Bryant and the other victims is scheduled for Feb. 24 at the Staples Center. The arena is where Bryant starred for the Los Angeles Lakers for most of his two-decade career and the date 2/24 corresponds with the No. 24 jersey he wore and the No. 2 worn by Gianna.
The NTSB issued an investigative update that included factual details. Findings about a cause for the crash isn't expected for a year or more.
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Winfrey says King not doing well after social media backlash
NEW YORK (AP) — Oprah Winfrey says her friend Gayle King is facing death threats following a social media backlash caused by an interview with retired WNBA star Lisa Leslie that concerned the late Kobe Bryant.
On an appearance on “Hoda & Jenna & Friends” on Friday, Winfrey said King “is not doing well'' and has to travel with security because of threats. ”She feels very much attacked."
CBS released an excerpt to promote King's interview with Leslie. The clip, distributed online and on CBS News' social media accounts, focused on a portion of the interview where Leslie addressed a Colorado sexual assault case that had been brought against Bryant and dismissed. In the clip, King asks Leslie whether the 2003 case made Bryant's legacy complicated for her. Leslie said that it did not.
Critics lashed out at King on social media for bringing up the old allegations. Actor, rap artist and television executive 50 Cent told The Associated Press he thought it was unfair because Bryant wasn't around to defend himself. Snoop Dogg posted a profane Twitter video that concluded with him urging King to back off “before we come get you.” The Twitter account belonging to imprisoned comedian Bill Cosby also was critical.
King said in a video response via Twitter on Thursday that the clip was shared out of context and expressed anger at her network. “I am mortified, I am embarrassed and I'm very angry," King said. CBS later released a statement saying the clip “did not reflect the nature and tone” of the complete interview.
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Doctor’s death highlights dangers on front lines of outbreak
LONDON (AP) — The death of a doctor who issued an early warning about the new virus in China represents a grim reminder that the first health care workers to recognize new outbreaks are sometimes among their earliest victims.
Dr. Li Wenliang's death underlined the dangers health workers have faced in similar epidemics, including SARS and Ebola.
On Dec. 3, Li wrote on his social media account that he saw a test sample suggesting the presence of a coronavirus similar to SARS. In early January, the 34-year-old eye doctor was visited by police who forced him to sign a statement admitting to having spread falsehoods.
Within days, he developed a cough and fever, began having trouble breathing and was hospitalized. His death was confirmed Friday, prompting a deluge of messages of mourning and outrage at how he was treated.
The death was an all-too-familiar occurrence, said Dr. Michael Ryan, head of the World Health Organization’s health emergencies program.
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Mexico won't really raffle off huge presidential jet
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexicans will no longer have to worry about where to park a Boeing Dreamliner when the government raffles off the luxurious presidential jet: the air force will keep it.
In fact, nobody will win the actual $130 million Boeing 787 plane in the lottery-style raffle to be held in coming months.
Among the many desperate attempts to get rid of the expensive plane, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had toyed with the idea of actually awarding the plane to the winner, along with a year's paid maintenance and parking.
But López Obrador had worried that would cause problems for the winner, both because of the greed it could unleash among friends, relatives and acquaintances, and because the idea had been lampooned on social media, with people posting pictures of shacks or taco stands with a jetliner parked outside.
So the president announced Friday that the raffle will actually be symbolic, awarding total prize money of $100 million, which lottery tickets state is "equivalent to the value of the presidential jet." One hundred winners will divide equal shares of the $100 million pot.
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Roger Kahn, elegant 'Boys of Summer' author, dies at 92
MAMARONECK, N.Y. (AP) — Roger Kahn, the writer who wove memoir and baseball and touched millions of readers through his romantic account of the Brooklyn Dodgers in "The Boys of Summer," has died. He was 92.
He died Thursday at a nursing facility in Mamaroneck, a Westchester County suburb, son Gordon Kahn said.
“Roger Kahn loved the game and earned a place in the pantheon of baseball literature long ago. He will be missed, but his words will live on," Major League Baseball said in a statement.
The author of 20 books and hundreds of articles, Kahn was best known for the 1972 best-seller that looked at his relationship with his father through their shared love of the Dodgers, an object of nostalgia for the many fans who mourned the team’s move to Los Angeles after the 1957 season.
"At a point in life when one is through with boyhood, but has not yet discovered how to be a man, it was my fortune to travel with the most marvelously appealing of teams," Kahn wrote.