10 things you need to know today: January 25, 2019

1. Senate fails to pass bills to reopen government

The Senate on Thursday failed to pass dueling bills proposing to end the partial federal government shutdown, which began five weeks ago. One bill, introduced by Republicans, included $5.7 billion President Trump wants for his border wall. The other, introduced by Democrats, sought to fund the government through Feb. 8 to allow time for negotiations on border security, without money for Trump's wall. The bills needed 60 votes to advance. The GOP bill got 50 votes; the bill favored by Democrats got 52 votes. After the votes, lawmakers began negotiating behind the scenes. CNN reported that the White House is preparing a draft national emergency proclamation for Trump to consider as a way to let him build his border wall with $7 billion the White House believes it can claim from Pentagon, Homeland Security, and Treasury funds.

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2. Roger Stone arrested under Mueller investigation

Roger Stone, a former adviser to President Trump, was arrested in Florida on Friday after being indicted by a federal grand jury under Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference and possible collusion by Trump campaign associates. Stone reportedly faces seven charges of obstruction, giving false statements, and witness tampering. He came under scrutiny over his alleged connections to WikiLeaks and hacked Democratic emails the website released during the 2016 presidential campaign. Stone, 66, has long denied collaborating with WikiLeaks. Trump tweeted support for Stone in December. The White House could not immediately be reached for comment about Stone's indictment.

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3. Senate panel subpoenas Michael Cohen to testify about Trump

The Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed President Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen to testify before the panel about Trump, Cohen attorney Lanny Davis confirmed Thursday. Cohen had been scheduled to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Feb. 7, but on Wednesday said he was postponing the appearance due to alleged threats against his family by Trump and Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Several congressional committees want to question Cohen. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said he would subpoena Cohen "if necessary." Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about how long Trump and his advisers pursued a proposal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen begins serving a three-year prison term in March.

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4. Trump administration to start sending asylum seekers to wait in Mexico

The Trump administration will start returning asylum seekers to the Mexican border city of Tijuana on Friday, a Mexican government spokesman told Reuters on Thursday. As part of President Trump's migration crackdown, the administration announced in December it would start sending non-Mexican migrants who cross the border to wait in Mexico while their asylum requests are processed. The policy is seen as part of an effort to stem an influx of migrants from Central America seeking refuge from gang and domestic violence. A Department of Homeland Security official said the policy would not apply to unaccompanied minors and other vulnerable people.

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5. Florida secretary of state resigns after blackface pictures surface

Florida Secretary of State Michael Ertel (R) resigned Thursday after a newspaper, the Tallahassee Democrat, obtained photos of him dressed up as a "Hurricane Katrina victim" in blackface at a Halloween party 14 years ago. The newspaper shared the images with the office of the state's new governor, Ron DeSantis (R), and he accepted Ertel's resignation hours later. "It's unfortunate. He's done a lot of good work," DeSantis said, adding that he agreed to Ertel's departure because "I don't want to get mired in side controversies." Ertel, 49, was Seminole County supervisor of elections when the photo was taken in 2005, two months after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Ertel declined to comment. "There's nothing I can say," he said.

Tallahassee Democrat

6. Venezuela's Maduro orders diplomats to leave U.S.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday recalled the South American nation's diplomats from the U.S. and closed its embassy after the Trump administration recognized opposition politician Juan Guaido as the rightful interim president. President Trump also called Maduro a "dictator." Maduro, who started a second term despite widespread allegations that he won re-election by fraud, said if U.S. officials "have any sense" they will not defy his order for American diplomats to leave the U.S. embassy in Caracas. The leaders of Venezuela's military pledged Maduro their support on Thursday.

The Associated Press

7. Commerce secretary says unpaid federal workers should get loans, not food assistance

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross faced intense criticism from Democrats on Thursday after he said he did not understand why unpaid federal workers were using services like food banks during the five-week partial government shutdown, suggesting they should just get short-term loans to keep up with their bills. "The 30 days of pay that people will be out — there's no real reason why they shouldn't be able to get a loan against it, and we've seen a number of ads from the financial institutions doing that," said Ross, who, like President Trump, is a billionaire. Democratic lawmakers said the comment demonstrated that Trump administration leaders did not understand the toll the shutdown was taking on civil servants. "Is this a 'let them eat cake' kind of attitude," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, "or call your father for money?"

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8. Brazil's first openly gay congressman quits after threats

Brazil's first openly gay congressman, Jean Wyllys, said Thursday that he would not serve the new term he just won because of death threats. Wyllys' Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) said a substitute lawmaker who also is gay, Rio councilman David Miranda, would replace him. Miranda is the husband of Pulitzer Prize-winning U.S. journalist Glenn Greenwald. Wyllys told reporters that the climate of violence had intensified in Brazil since the election of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has made derogatory comments about gays and other minority groups. Wyllys added that he was tired of living with bodyguards, which he has done since the execution-style murder last year of another member of his party, popular Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco. Wyllys said he plans to live abroad.

Reuters

9. European court orders Italy to pay Amanda Knox $20,800

Europe's top human rights court on Thursday ordered Italy to pay $20,800 in compensation to Amanda Knox, ruling that her rights were violated in the hours after her 2007 arrest over the killing of her British housemate, Meredith Kercher, in Perugia, Italy. The European Court of Human Rights said Italian authorities failed to provide Knox, who was 20 years old and not fluent in Italian, with a lawyer and an appropriate interpreter in the early hours of her detention. The court found no evidence supporting her claim of mistreatment in police custody. Knox was freed in 2011 after nearly four years in detention, then retried and convicted in absentia before she and her former boyfriend were cleared of any connection to the murder in 2015.

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10. Report: Security staff denied Kushner top secret clearance, but were overruled

Two career White House security specialists rejected Jared Kushner's application for a top secret security clearance, but a supervisor dismissed their recommendations and approved the clearance, anyway, two people with knowledge of the matter told NBC News. Their decision came after Kushner's FBI background check raised red flags, and there were concerns about his foreign entanglements. The supervisor, Carl Kline, became director of the personnel security office in the Executive Office of the President in May 2017. He also overruled at least 30 other rejections of incoming Trump officials, NBC News reports. Prior to Kline's arrival, only one rejected application was approved in three years.

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