10 things you need to know today: October 17, 2018

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1. Trump defends Saudi leaders as inquiry into journalist's fate continues
2. Canada becomes second nation to legalize recreational marijuana
3. Florida authorities raise Hurricane Michael death toll
4. Trump boasts about legal win over Stormy Daniels, calls her 'horseface'
5. Trump says Cherokee Nation comments expose Elizabeth Warren as 'fraud'
6. Texas Democrat Beto O'Rourke, GOP Sen. Ted Cruz spar in debate
7. Trump threatens to end Honduras aid over migrant caravan
8. Mary Bono resigns as head of USA Gymnastics
9. 7 killed, 80 injured in Morocco train derailment
10. Nevada brothel owner turned Assembly candidate Dennis Hof dies

published 17 October 2018

1. Trump defends Saudi leaders as inquiry into journalist's fate continues

President Trump tweeted Tuesday that Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, "totally denied any knowledge" of what happened to journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials have said that Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of Saudi leaders, was killed inside the consulate and dismembered. Several of the 15 suspects named by Turkey reportedly have direct links to the crown prince. Trump spoke by phone with the crown prince and tweeted that the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia "told me that he has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter. Answers will be forthcoming shortly."

Canada at midnight became the second country, after Uruguay, to allow the legal sale, possession, and use of recreational marijuana. Provinces and territories will set the parameters of where pot can be purchased and consumed in their boundaries. While adults will be able to purchase dried weed and cannabis oil from licensed producers and retailers, it will be illegal to possess more than 30 grams in public, grow more than four plants in a household, and buy from an unlicensed dealer. Marijuana possession became a crime in Canada in 1923, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has argued that laws criminalizing marijuana haven't done anything to curb use.

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Hurricane Michael killed at least 16 people in Florida, twice the previous count, state emergency authorities said Tuesday after crews managed to search more of the most devastated areas. Ten deaths have been reported in Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia, so the total death toll has risen to 26. Many of the victims in Florida were in Bay County, which includes the decimated town of Mexico Beach, which has a population of about 1,000. The storm crashed into the area last week with top sustained winds of 155 miles per hour and a deadly storm surge. Nearby Tyndall Air Force Base and the towns of Panama City and Lynn Haven also were badly damaged. Mexico Beach Mayor Al Cathey said two deaths had been confirmed in his town, and only one person remains missing there.

President Trump on Tuesday threatened to "go after" porn star Stormy Daniels, referring to her as "Horseface," a day after a federal judge dismissed her defamation lawsuit against him. Daniels, who says she had an affair with Trump in 2006, claimed that a man threatened her in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011 after she agreed to discuss the alleged affair in an interview. She sued after Trump called her claim a "total con job." On Tuesday, Trump gloated that the judge ordered Daniels to pay his legal fees, tweeting: "Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer." Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, responded by calling Trump a "disgusting misogynist." Daniels alluded to her alleged intimate knowledge of Trump, tweeting, "Game on, Tiny."

President Trump on Tuesday called Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) a "fraud" whose claims of Native American ancestry were "a scam and a lie," citing Warren's Monday announcement that a DNA test had found "strong evidence" of a Cherokee ancestor between six and 10 generations ago. Warren took the DNA test to challenge Trump's assertion that she was lying; in July Trump said he'd give $1 million to her "favorite charity" if she proved her heritage. Trump said he wanted to "test her personally," and continued to cast doubt on her "bogus DNA test" on Twitter. He referred to her as "Pocahontas" and cited a Cherokee Nation statement that said Warren's DNA test was "useless" tweeting that "even they don't want her. Phony!"

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and his Democratic challenger, Rep. Beto O'Rourke (Texas), faced off in San Antonio on Tuesday night for their second and likely final debate. The rivals in the high-profile Senate race clashed on border policy, abortion rights, trade, and who would make a more effective advocate for Texas, but in one memorable exchange, O'Rourke said that Cruz was continually misrepresenting his positions on policies. "Sen. Cruz is not going to be honest with you," O'Rourke said. "He's dishonest. It's why the president called him Lyin' Ted, and it's why the nickname stuck." Cruz argued that O'Rourke is too liberal for Texas.

President Trump on Tuesday threatened to end aid to Honduras unless officials in the Central American nation stop a caravan of about 2,000 asylum seekers and economic migrants trying to reach the U.S. Trump tweeted that the U.S. had told Honduran leaders that unless the caravan is turned around "no more money or aid will be given to Honduras, effective immediately!" It was unclear what Trump expected Honduras to do, because the group crossed the border into Guatemala on Monday. Guatemalan authorities arrested former Honduran congressman Bartolo Fuentes, a spokesman for the caravan. The U.S. in 2017 sent Honduras more than $180 million appropriated by Congress for programs to improve security and combat poverty and drug trafficking, according to the Washington Office on Latin America think tank.

Mary Bono abruptly resigned Tuesday as interim president and chief executive of USA Gymnastics after facing a barrage of criticism. Two-time Olympian Aly Raisman and others slammed Bono, who took over less than a week ago, because of the former congresswoman's work with a law firm linked to the cover-up of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal. Another former Olympic star, Simone Biles, criticized Bono for posting a photo to social media in which she blacked out a Nike logo on her golf shoes in response to Nike's inclusion of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in an ad campaign. Bono said she merely exercised her free-speech rights in her tweet, just as Kaepernick did by kneeling during the national anthem to support civil rights.

A train derailed in Morocco on Tuesday, killing at least seven people and injuring nearly 80 more. The train was a shuttle linking the Moroccan capital, Rabat, with the town of Kenitra farther north on the Atlantic Coast. It derailed about halfway through its route, leaving tangled wreckage littered with passengers' belongings and glass from shattered windows. Local residents near the city of Sale were the first to rush to the scene to help injured and trapped survivors escape. "We heard a gigantic explosion. The earth shook and the sound was unbearable," Mourad El Kbiri, who owns a cafe the scene, told The Associated Press. "I rushed to see what happened. It was horrific."

Famed brothel owner and Nevada Assembly candidate Dennis Hof died at his Love Ranch in Arizona, Nye County police confirmed Tuesday. Hof was the star of the HBO documentary series Cathouse, and branded himself as the "Trump of Pahrump" ahead of his Republican primary win for Nevada's state assembly in June. Less than 24 hours before his death, Hof celebrated his 72nd birthday with porn star Ron Jeremy, former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and tax opponent Grover Norquist. Hof's death looks "normal" right now, Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehlry said, but there will be an autopsy to determine the cause. Hof will remain on the ballot this fall, but polling places must post that he has died.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.