Mar 18, 2019

Dems demand FBI probe into ex-spa owner selling Chinese access to Trump

Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Chuck Schumer, Jerry Nadler and Dianne Feinstein. Photo: Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images

Top Democrats in both the Senate and House have asked the FBI to launch criminal and counterintelligence investigations into "credible allegations of potential human trafficking, as well as unlawful foreign lobbying, campaign finance and other activities" by Li "Cindy" Yang, the founder of a chain of Florida massage parlors, NBC News reports.

The big picture: Yang, a Trump donor who was photographed with the president at a Super Bowl party last month, runs an investment firm believed to have been selling White House access to clients in China. She is a member of the "Florida Association for China Unification" — part of a global network of pro-government groups backed by the Chinese Communist Party. In their letter, the Democrats note that "China has frequently used non-traditional intelligence collectors and businesspersons to compromise targets."

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Orion Rummler

Mass shooting in Milwaukee: What we know

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in 2012. Photo: John Gress/Corbis via Getty Images

Six people died in a shooting at the Molson Coors Brewing Company in Milwaukee on Wednesday, including the gunman, Mayor Tom Barrett told reporters at a Wednesday evening press conference with local police.

Details: All of the victims worked at the brewery complex, as did the shooter who died of "an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound," police confirmed in a statement late Wednesday.

Go deeperUpdated 3 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Axios

Coronavirus updates: South Korea case count tops 2,000

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens.

33 people in California have tested positive for the coronavirus, and health officials are monitoring 8,400 people who have recently returned from "points of concern," Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday.

The big picture: COVID-19 has killed more than 2,850 people and infected over 83,000 others in some 50 countries and territories. The novel coronavirus is now affecting every continent but Antarctica, and the WHO said Wednesday the number of new cases reported outside China has exceeded those inside the country for the first time.

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Dave Lawler

Syria's darkest chapter

Family room without a family, in Idlib. Photo: Muhammed Said/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The worst humanitarian crisis of Syria’s brutal civil war is colliding today with what could be the war’s most dangerous geopolitical showdown, after at least 29 Turkish troops were killed in an airstrike.

The big picture: The fighting is taking place in Idlib in northwest Syria, where a ferocious Syrian and Russian offensive has displaced 1 million civilians and infuriated Turkey, which borders the region.

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