10 things you need to know today: August 8, 2018

1. GOP declares victory but Ohio special election too close to call

Republicans declared victory in Tuesday's Ohio special election in a traditionally conservative district, although the race officially remained too close to call with 100 percent of the precincts reporting. Republican Troy Balderson held a 50.2 percent to 49.3 percent lead over Democrat Danny O'Connor in the election to replace incumbent Pat Tiberi, who resigned to take a private sector job. O'Connor declined to immediately concede, calling the race "a tie ballgame." Balderson was ahead by 1,754 votes but there are still 3,435 provisional ballots and 5,045 absentee ballots to be counted. Whatever the result, Democrats benefited from a broader surge of support expected to help them in the November midterms. President Trump won the suburban Columbus district by 11 percent in 2016, and it has not elected a Democrat since the 1980s.

The Columbus Dispatch The Guardian

2. Gates describes disguising Manafort income as loans

Paul Manafort's longtime deputy, Rick Gates, told jurors Tuesday in a second day of testimony at Manafort's tax and bank fraud trial that he disguised millions of dollars in foreign income as loans for years in an effort to reduce Manafort's tax bill. Gates was Manafort's close aid on overseas consulting clients, including a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine, and later when Manafort served as President Trump's campaign chairman. Gates also testified that Manafort recommended that Trump nominate Stephen Calk, a banker who allegedly loaned him money under false pretenses, as secretary of the Army. Manafort and Gates were the first people indicted in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling and possible collusion by Trump associates, although the charges against Manafort are not linked to Moscow's alleged interference.

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The Associated Press

3. Bolton says North Korea hasn't taken steps to denuclearize

National Security Adviser John Bolton acknowledged Tuesday that North Korea had "not taken the steps we feel are necessary to denuclearize" despite the promises North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made during his summit two months ago with President Trump. Bolton said in an interview on Fox News that the U.S. had "lived up to the Singapore declaration" and would continue applying pressure to make sure Pyongyang did the same. "The idea that we're going to relax the sanctions just on North Korea's say-so, I think, is something that just isn't under consideration," Bolton said. "We're going to continue to apply maximum pressure to North Korea until they denuclearize, just as we are to Iran." Trump has repeatedly praised Kim since the summit, most recently for the return of remains believed to belong to dozens of U.S. service members missing since the Korean War.

The Washington Post

4. Trump-endorsed Kobach locked in tight GOP primary, Democratic women surge

Controversial immigration and voter ID hardliner Kris Kobach, who got a late endorsement from President Trump, and Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer sent their supporters home Tuesday night as their Republican primary race for governor remained too close to call. The contest was one of the most closely watched in primaries across five states — Kansas, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, and Washington. In other races, Democratic women continued to surge, with Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Laura Kelly of Kansas joining the list of at least eight Democratic women running for governor in November. Former Michigan state Rep. Rashida Tlaib effectively became Congress' first Muslim woman representative, winning the Democratic primary in a district with no GOP candidate. Also, Missouri voters rejected a right-to-work measure that would have banned mandatory union fees in workplace contracts.

The Washington Post The Associated Press

5. Firefighters gain ground against California's biggest wildfire ever

Firefighters made some progress in Northern California against the Mendocino Complex fire, which became the largest wildfire in the state's history Monday night after days of explosive growth. The fire, actually a combination of two blazes, had burned more than 290,000 acres as of Tuesday. The previous record was set just last December by the Thomas fire, which burned 281,000 acres. Four of California's five largest wildfires on record occurred since 2012. Firefighters across the state are battling 18 wildfires that have blackened nearly 600,000 acres in all, fueled by prolonged drought and extreme heat. "It's surreal. It's exhausting," California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Steve Kaufman said.

Los Angeles Times

6. Report: Michael Cohen under tax-fraud investigation

President Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, is under federal investigation for possible tax fraud and misrepresenting his finances, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the investigation. Investigators are looking into whether Cohen underreported his income from his taxi-medallion business on his federal income tax returns, one of the sources told the Journal. Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed Cohen's former accountant, Jeffrey Getzel, who also worked for Cohen's taxi-medallion manager, Evgeny "Gene" Freidman. Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, declined to comment "out of respect" for the investigation. Cohen has denied wrongdoing, and has not been charge with anything.

The Wall Street Journal CNN

7. Syria accuses Israel of assassinating rocket scientist

Syria on Tuesday accused Israel of assassinating a top Syrian rocket scientist, Aziz Asbar, with an explosive device that targeted his car over the weekend. Asbar was a research director at Syria's Scientific Studies and Research Center, which intelligence agencies have long linked to Syria's chemical weapons program. The Al-Watan Daily newspaper said Asbar was killed over his "important" work on Syria's defense systems. "Yet again the Israeli enemy has assassinated one of the greatest Syrian minds," Al-Watan said in a commentary Tuesday. An Israeli government spokesman declined to comment on Syria's allegation. Israel warplanes are believed to have attacked the Syrian research center twice in the last year.

The Washington Post

8. Tesla shares jump as Musk considers taking company private

Tesla shares soared on Tuesday after the electric-car maker's CEO and founder, Elon Musk, tweeted that he was considering taking the company private. "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured," Musk said. Tesla's shares jumped to as high as $371.15 before settling at $367 before trading was halted, marking a 7 percent gain for the day. Musk has been under intense pressure to deliver on a promise to ramp up production of the company's first mass-market car, the Model 3, and make the money-losing company profitable. Going private would let Musk, who owns 20 percent of the company, avoid the intense scrutiny of public markets. "Musk does not want to run a public company," said Gene Munster of Loup Ventures, noting that Tesla's big ambitions make it "difficult to accommodate investors' quarterly expectations."

Reuters

9. Searchers find remains of boy at raided New Mexico compound

During a raid of a New Mexico compound last week as part of a hunt for a missing boy from Georgia, investigators discovered the remains of a boy, authorities said Tuesday. Tests were being conducted to identify the remains, which were found during a search of the property in the community of Amalia near the Colorado border, Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said. The missing boy's father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, was among five adults arrested and charged with child abuse after deputies found 11 emaciated children on the property, living in filth. Wahhaj's son, Abdul-ghani, cannot walk due to severe medical issues and was not among the children found at the compound. "We discovered the remains yesterday on Abdul's fourth birthday," Hogrefe said, fighting back tears.

NBC News New York Daily News

10. ACLU sues Trump administration for removing immigrants' asylum protections

The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Attorney General Jeff Sessions for removing asylum protections for victims of domestic and gang violence. "This is a naked attempt by the Trump administration to eviscerate our country's asylum protections," Jennifer Chang Newell, managing attorney with the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, said in a statement. The Justice Department defended the policy change, saying late Tuesday that U.S. "immigration laws provide for asylum to be granted to individuals who have been persecuted, or who have a well-founded fear of persecution, on account of their membership in a 'particular social group,' but most victims of personal crimes do not fit this definition — no matter how vile and reprehensible the crime perpetrated against them."

Politico