10 things you need to know today: November 5, 2016

(Image credit: Michael Bocchieri/Getty Images)

Jump to category:

1. Melania Trump modeled in U.S. without a work visa
2. Christie allies found guilty on all charges in Bridgegate trial
3. Trump campaign served restraining order over alleged voter intimidation
4. U.S. intelligence investigating possible al Qaeda threat for Monday
5. Giuliani changes FBI story as Dems demand investigation
6. Google quietly invests in Snapchat
7. Tens of thousands of protesters demand resignation from South Korean president
8. Beyoncé joins Clinton at Get-Out-the-Vote concert in Cleveland
9. Body found at property where missing woman was chained 'like a dog'
10. Dave Chappelle to host Saturday Night Live on Nov. 12

last updated 5 November 2016

1. Melania Trump modeled in U.S. without a work visa

Donald Trump's wife Melania earned $20,056 modeling in America before she obtained a work visa, documents from her earliest years in the United States indicate. Then known as Melania Knauss, Trump first came to the States from her native Slovenia on Aug. 27, 1996, under a visa that permitted her to look for work but not to accept any paid position. She acquired an H-1B work visa on Oct. 18, 1996, but in the month and a half between those dates, she worked 10 paid modeling gigs for employers including Fitness Magazine and Bergdorf Goodman. An immigration lawyer who has worked with Trump said the documents informing the Associated Press report "have not been verified [and] do not reflect our records including corresponding passport stamp." Donald Trump's candidacy was significantly predicated on his opposition to violation of immigration laws, and he has cited his wife as an example of immigration done right.

A jury Friday found two former allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) guilty on all counts in the Bridgegate trial. Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, each faced seven charges, including conspiracy and fraud, for their involvement in the 2013 lane closures on the George Washington Bridge. After a seven-week trial, the jury determined both were guilty of helping to "orchestrate massive traffic tie-ups" after the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, where the bridge access lanes are located, declined to endorse Christie in his re-election race that year. Christie maintained in a statement Friday he had "no knowledge" of and "no role in" the lane closures.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

An Ohio judge issued a restraining order against Donald Trump's campaign on Friday in response to the Ohio Democratic Party's lawsuit alleging Trump supporters planned to "watch" and intimidate minority voters in certain regions of the state. The order prevents individuals from intimidating and harassing voters, and anyone found to violate the order could face contempt of court. Trump would benefit from a drop-off in turnout of African-American voters, who overwhelmingly support Hillary Clinton. Intimidation lawsuits brought by the Democratic Party are also pending in Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Arizona.

U.S. intelligence is investigating a possible terror threat from al Qaeda for the day before the election, CBS News reported Friday, citing government sources. The information available so far indicates that al Qaeda, the terrorist group responsible for the 9/11 attacks, may be planning a strike in New York, Texas, or Virginia for Monday, Nov. 7. Federal law enforcement agents emphasized to CBS that this report is by no means confirmed and Monday may well pass without incident.

Rudy Giuliani claimed Friday morning he knew about the FBI's recent announcement about Hillary Clinton's private email server before it became public, stating in an interview on Fox he had no role in releasing the information but "darn right [he] heard about it" in advance. After two senior House Democrats and Clinton's campaign press secretary used his remarks to demand an investigation of the FBI, the Donald Trump campaign surrogate backtracked Friday afternoon. "I've spoken to no current FBI agents — gosh, in the last eight months, nine months, 10 months — certainly not about this," Giuliani told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, adding, "I have no idea about who's leaking information."

Alphabet, the parent company of internet giant Google, quietly invested in popular mobile app Snapchat Friday via CapitalG, one of Alphabet's two venture capital arms. Though Google did confirm the investment, neither CapitalG nor Snapchat would offer further comment. CapitalG also backs other digital ventures like Airbnb, SurveyMonkey, and Glassdoor, and Alphabet's other venture capital project, GV, has invested in Uber and Nest. Snapchat's parent company, Snap, is valued at $18 billion and is expected to announce an IPO in coming months.

Embattled South Korean President Park Geun-hye faced at least 40,000 angry protesters demanding her resignation in Seoul on Saturday. Park is accused of giving an old friend, Choi Soon-sil, undue influence in state affairs. Choi is the daughter of a cult leader and is charged with wielding a Rasputin-like influence over Park's government and South Korean society more generally, with some rumors even suggesting she controls the careers of K-pop stars. Choi has been arrested, and Park has apologized but has not offered to step down.

Beyoncé, her husband, Jay-Z, and Chance the Rapper headlined a Get-Out-the-Vote concert for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland Friday night. Performing in a Clinton-esque pantsuit, Beyoncé declared she is "with her" because we "have to think about the future of our daughters, our sons, and vote for someone who cares for them as much as we do." The singer performed "Freedom" from her latest album, Lemonade, and highlighted Clinton's long refusal to be a stereotypical politician's wife.

A body was found Friday on the secluded South Carolina property of a man accused of kidnapping and torturing a woman and murdering her boyfriend. The missing woman, who has not been named, was found by police Thursday "chained up like a dog" in a storage container on land belonging to Todd Kohlhepp, a 45-year-old registered sex offender with a history of violent and criminal behavior. The next day, authorities reportedly found one body on Kohlhepp's property in the process of investigating whether he may be a serial killer. Further details have yet to be released. The woman and her boyfriend disappeared at the end of August.

Comedian Dave Chappelle will make his debut as a Saturday Night Live host on Nov. 12, the show's first episode after the presidential election. Chappelle had his own sketch comedy series Chappelle's Show in the early 2000s, until he suddenly left it in 2005 and took a step back from the limelight. He has since resumed his stand-up comedy routines and made an appearance in Spike Lee's film Chi-Raq. The episode will also feature musical guest A Tribe Called Quest; the hip-hop group will release their first album in 18 years on Nov. 11.

Explore More

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.