DELEITURAS

Jussie Smollett’s attorneys said reports claiming the “Empire” actor planned his own attack on Jan. 29 “further victimized” him and were lies, according to a Saturday night statement.

Smollett reported two men beat him up, tied a rope around his neck, said racial and homophobic slurs, threw an unidentified chemical substance on him and yelled, “This is MAGA [Make America Great Again] country,” at him on Jan 29.

“As a victim of a hate crime who has cooperated with the police investigation, Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with,” attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor P. Henderson said according to NewNowNext. “He has now been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying.”

The statement comes following reports that two Chicago Police Department (CPD) sources believed Smollett paid the suspects to help him plan his own attack, according to CNN. The sources said records showed the two brothers purchased the rope found on Smollett’s neck at a Chicago hardware store.

The Nigerian brothers were released Friday after getting arrested for suspicion of assault and battery.

“We can confirm that the information received from the individuals questioned by police earlier in the Empire case has in fact shifted the trajectory of the investigation,” CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement to The Daily Caller News Foundation. “We’ve reached out to the Empire cast member’s attorney to request a follow-up interview.”

Guglielmi said earlier that media reports claiming the attack was a hoax were “unconfirmed” and the “supposed CPD sources are uninformed and inaccurate” on Twitter Thursday.

One of the “purported suspects” was Smollett’s personal trainer who prepared him for a music video, according to the attorneys’ statement.

One of the suspects worked on “Empire.”

Pugh and Henderson did not immediately respond to TheDCNF’s request for comment.

Congress passed bipartisan legislation that aims to streamline the regulatory process for commercial nuclear plants, bringing relief to an industry that has witnessed decline and uncertainty.

The Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act was approved in the House of Representatives by wide margins Friday, clearing the chamber by 361 to 10. The Senate had already approved the bill on Thursday by a voice vote.

Introduced by Wyoming GOP Sen. John Barrasso and co-sponsored by a number of Republicans and Democrats alike, the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act calls for a number of reforms that would unburden the industry. The legislation streamlines how the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulates facilities by improving licensing procedures and giving licensees more transparency on how the agency spends its money. Additionally, it encourages investment in nuclear research and supports the development of new technology in labs around the country.

The end goal of the bill is to make the development and commercialization of nuclear technology more affordable.

The trade association representing U.S. nuclear plants hailed the vote.

“The Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA) is a significant, positive step toward reform of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission fee collection process,” Maria Korsnick, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, said in a statement Friday. “This legislation establishes a more equitable and transparent funding structure which will benefit all operating reactors and future licensees. The bill also reaffirms Congress’s support for nuclear innovation by working to establish an efficient and stable regulatory structure that is prepared to license the advanced reactors of the future.”

In passing the bill, Congress joins a growing number of state governments that are also working to save their nuclear fleet.

Regulators in Connecticut have tentatively agreed to consider the Millstone Nuclear Power Station — the only nuclear plant in Connecticut and the largest in New England — to be “at risk,” allowing it the ability to participate in the state’s support program for carbon-free energy. This action follows New Jersey, where regulators have worked on a Zero Emission Credit program that will support uneconomic nuclear plants in the state. Illinois and New York have already established Zero Emission Credit programs in their states.

The federal and state action comes as numerous nuclear plants have closed down in recent years, and more are at-risk of early retirement. Pitted against cheap natural gas and subsidy-backed renewables, many nuclear facilities have been rendered uneconomical.

However, both Republicans and Democrats are recognizing the vital role nuclear plays in the country’s power market, providing reliable energy with zero carbon emissions. The decline of the nuclear industry has caught the attention of environmentalists who are concerned about climate change and more conservative officials who worry nuclear plant closures places the grid’s reliability at risk.

The family of a white man who was wrongfully accused of gunning down a 7-year-old black girl has continued to receive death threats even after he was officially determined not to have any involvement in the crime.

Robert Cantrell was accused of killing Jazmine Barnes in a racially-motivated drive-by shooting in northeast Houston. Barnes was sitting in the backseat of her mother’s car on Dec. 30 when another vehicle pulled up alongside and began spraying bullets.

The crime received national attention after Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez and activist Shaun King began to promote a narrative that a white man murdered Barnes, which they continued to push even after they received a tip that a 20-year-old black man named Eric Black Jr. and another individual had shot Barnes.

King widely circulated a sketch of the alleged perpetrator along with Cantrell’s mugshot. Cantrell, who had been arrested on unrelated felony charges resembled the composite. In a now-deleted tweet, King asked his more than one million followers for information on Cantrell.

“What more can you tell me about Robert Cantrell? He was arrested in Houston hours after Jazmine was murdered on another violent crime spree,” King tweeted. “We’ve had 20 people call or email us and say he is a racist, violent asshole and always has been. Just tell me everything you know.”

Despite the arrest of two black men for their involvement in the crime, Cantrell and his family continue to receive threats. Hailey Cantrell, Robert’s niece told ABC7 that they are still being posted on Facebook.

“I hear, ‘Someone is going to rape, torture and murder the women and children in your family,” Hailey read.

“I just want everyone to back off,” Hailey said. “The truth is out. It had nothing to do with us, nothing to do with my uncle at all.”

On the first day of negotiations over a border security compromise, Democrats gave their opening bid: A plan that contains zero funding for a physical barrier.

A select group of 17 Republicans and Democrats from both the House and Senate met Wednesday for the first day of border negotiations. Formed after the federal government experienced the longest partial shutdown in U.S. history, the group is tasked with reaching a deal by Feb. 15 or else face the prospect of another shutdown. However, it could prove nearly impossible for lawmakers to find a plan that can both pass Congress and earn President Donald Trump’s signature.

“If the committee of Republicans and Democrats now meeting on Border Security is not discussing or contemplating a Wall or Physical Barrier, they are Wasting their time!” the president tweeted Wednesday morning before the meeting.

Democratic members on the negotiating team demonstrated how difficult the process will likely be by offering a solution that contains zero funding for a border wall — a demand that Trump has continuously made clear is a deal-breaker.

“We’ve seen that walls can and will be tunneled under, cut through or scaled,” California Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar stated, according to The Washington Post. “We cannot focus on archaic solutions in order to address this very modern problem. Technology works for securing the border.”

Included in the Democrats’ initial offer was funding for 1,000 additional customs officers, upgrades for ports of entry, new technology that can scan for drugs or other contraband in vehicles, and other measures.

Despite strong support from National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd and other U.S. immigration officials, Democrats — not eager to give in to Trump’s long-sought request — have been averse to funding a wall on the southern border.

“Our Border Patrol tells us they need physical barriers to help them do their job — not from coast to coast, but strategically placed where traffic is highest,” stated Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, a member of the negotiating committee. “It’s unfortunate the issue has become politicized,” the senator added. “That has not always been the case.”

However, Democrats may simply be playing their cards close to the vest as they gear for what will likely be two weeks of tough negotiating. New York Democratic Nita Lowey, the House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman and member of the group, refused to say whether wall funding was nonnegotiable.

“We’re open to everyone’s facts and figures,” Lowey said at a news conference.

During the record-setting shutdown that lasted 35 days, Trump demanded $5.7 billion for border wall funding. While Republicans are hesitant to enter another shutdown, the president has suggested that he is willing if he does not receive a bill that includes funding for a border wall.

A federal court ruled Monday against Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring’s attempt to hide information from a Washington, D.C., think tank seeking information about the state’s role in an attorney general-led climate crusade.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute sued Herring in 2018 for attempting to evade a Freedom of Information Act case seeking reasons why the Democratic attorney general denied requests for information confirming the state’s authority to hire privately funded lawyers.

CEI’s Chris Horner argued state law only allows assistant attorneys general to be paid through taxpayer expense.

Herring applied for a program in September 2017 that was designed to hire privately funded lawyers to work on environmental litigation through a group founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Herring’s office claimed it reviewed Virginia’s laws and found no problems with the arrangement.

Horner argued that Virginia’s code not only does not authorize such a deal but prohibits taxpayer dollars from going to private attorneys. Horner’s CEI sought the records underlying this assertion. The office of the attorney general (OAG) insists it has none.

Bloomberg Philanthropies launched a $6 million campaign to embed experienced attorneys in state’s attorney’s offices across the country to push back against Trump administration efforts to roll back environmental regulations. Bloomberg, a billionaire politician turned environmentalist, is considering running for president in 2020 as a Democrat.

“Today the Court rightly ruled that Attorney General Herring and his staff must not be permitted to avoid legitimate scrutiny under Virginia’s FOIA law by simply asserting ‘Trust us,’” Horner said in a press statement Monday night. “Unfortunately, as we informed the Court, this OAG has a history of providing false ‘No Records’ responses when records do in fact exist.”

Herring has not responded to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment about what the court’s ruling means for his office. One of the legal fellows New York City hired was heavily involved in New York’s lawsuit targeting ExxonMobil’s climate record

A special assistant in the New York AG’s office signed a lawsuit in October alleging Exxon misled investors about the risks Exxon’s oil products pose to the environment. The assistant is one of several lawyers associated with Bloomberg Philanthropies the state hired through the NYU State Environmental Energy Impact Center.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for his country’s reunification with Taiwan Wednesday, saying China would pursue peaceful means for now but would not rule out the use of force, The New York Times reported.

Taiwan, which refers to itself as the Republic of China, is the remnant of Western-backed forces that opposed the communist revolution in China. Since losing its civil war, Taiwan has occupied a dubious place internationally, with mainland China encouraging other countries not to recognize it. Xi insisted that any future talks must revolve around Taiwan, a democracy, coming under communist authority, refusing to take violence off the table should Taiwan insist on its independence, according to NYT.

“Different systems are not an obstacle to unification, and even less are they an excuse for separatism. The private property, religious beliefs and legitimate rights and interests of Taiwanese compatriots will be fully assured,” Xi said in a statement. “We make no promise to abandon the use of force, and retain the option of taking all necessary measures.”

The U.S. adopted the One China policy in 1979, officially recognizing the communist People’s Republic of China as the legitimate authority of both Taiwan and mainland China. The U.S. nevertheless maintains its shipments of advanced weapons technology to the island.

Wednesday’s statement comes amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and China. While U.S. President Donald Trump and Xi had appeared to come to a trade agreement in late 2018, the U.S. then called for the arrest an extradition of a Chinese tech executive, infuriating the Chinese government.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said she would welcome talks so long as her government was allowed to represent itself and pursue self-rule. Xi, however, sees reunification under communist rule as inevitable.

“The country is growing strong, the nation is rejuvenating and unification between the two sides of the strait is the great trend of history,” Xi said.

A potentially deadly superbug infected U.S. patients from multiple states after they had surgery in Mexico, underscoring a worrying trend in the rapidly growing medical tourism sector.

Twelve patients, who are from states including Arkansas, Oregon and West Virginia, contracted the multidrug-resistant bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa after being treated at clinics in Tijuana, Mexico, according to U.S. health officials cited by The Washington Post. The patients crossed the border looking for cheaper medical care. Instead, they came back with infections that have led to through-the-roof medical bills for many of them.

An Arkansas woman named Tamika Capone is still fighting her infection months after surgery and has rung up at least $30,000 in medical bills, reported WaPo. And a Utah woman named Mindy Blohm said she had to sell her house to afford $50,000 in hospital bills after contracting a different strain of Pseudomonas.

The link between the women? Both Capone and Blohm traveled to Grand View Hospital in Tijuana for weight-loss surgery in October. Both returned to the U.S. with symptoms doctors traced back to the dangerous bacteria, which can’t be spread through the air but still necessitates precaution. The World Health Organization prioritized the bug as one of three “most critical” bacteria that needs more treatment options in a 2017 letter.

These patients’ medical emergencies come as “medical tourism” becomes more popular among Americans, many of whom face rising insurance costs.

“In 2007, it is estimated that 750,000 Americans traveled to other countries for health care. In 2017, more than 1.4 million Americans sought health care in a variety of countries around the world,” researchers wrote in The American Journal of Medicine in January.

Capone, a mother who has struggled with her weight ever since an immobilizing car wreck in 2011, sought bariatric surgery in Mexico because she could cut costs by thousands of dollars. When her husband’s health insurance plan didn’t cover $17,500 for the surgery, she decided to travel to Tijuana for surgery at a fraction of the cost.

Now she has an infection that is resistant to nearly all antibiotics. Capone tried colistin, a drug that can cause kidney and nerve damage, but could not take it for more than two days before it made parts of her face go numb and swell, reported WaPo. Only 86 cases of that strain of Pseudomonas had been documented in the U.S. before 2017, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials told WaPo.

Eight of the patients who contracted pseudomonas had surgery at Grand View, where Capone went under the knife, according to WaPo. One of the cases dates back to a 2015 surgery, although most of the surgeries occurred between August and December, reported the Sacramento Bee. The CDC warned travelers against seeking treatment at Grand View on Jan. 9, and portions of the hospital were shut down temporarily in December, according to WaPo.

Grand View officials did not return WaPo’s requests for comment. A medical tourism agency they work with, Weight Loss Agents, didn’t give an official statement, but a woman who answered the business’s phone called the reports “a competitor’s smear campaign,” reported WaPo.

Concerns over Pseudomonas and “medical tourism” come as many U.S. lawmakers seek solutions to high health care costs by thinking outside the border. Utah’s Public Employee Health Program started giving its members cash incentives to encourage them to travel to Tijuana for drugs to treat ailments like osteoporosis, prostate cancer and multiple sclerosis in fall 2018.

And new Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley revealed his initial plan to cut drug prices, including by importing cheaper drugs from Canada, Jan. 9. The idea’s not a new one. As far back as 2004, Grassley and other senators introduced legislation to let consumers import cheaper drugs from Canada, according to his office. It never became law.

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• Lindsey Graham pledged Saturday to continue an investigation into the FBI’s alleged abuse of the federal surveillance court
• Graham is poised to take over as Senate Judiciary Committee, where he will have oversight of the FBI, Justice Department and federal court system
• Republicans have accused the FBI of mishandling the infamous Steele dossier to obtain warrants to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Saturday that if he he takes over as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, as is expected, he will “get to the bottom” of whether the FBI misled the federal surveillance court to obtain spy warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

“In my view the process used to obtain a FISA warrant – and its multiple renewals – against Carter Page should disturb every American,” Graham tweeted.

“I intend to get to the bottom of what happened if I am Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.”

Graham, who is the favorite to replace Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley as chairman of the all-powerful Judiciary panel, was responding to a statement that former FBI Director James Comey issued Friday after leaving a closed-door deposition before two House committees investigating possible FISA abuse.

“I have total confidence that the FISA process was followed and that the entire case was handled in a thoughtful, responsible way by DOJ and the FBI,” Comey said after his interview. “I think the notion that FISA was abused here is nonsense.”

Republicans have accused the FBI and Justice Department of misleading FISA Court judges by relying heavily on the Steele dossier in applications for four warrants to spy on Page. They assert that the dossier was unverified when the FBI cited it extensively in its warrant applications and that the bureau failed to fully disclose that the dossier was the product of an opposition research project funded by the DNC and Clinton campaign.

The dossier, authored by former British spy Christopher Steele, accuses the Trump campaign of conspiring with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 election. Page is featured prominently in the 35-page document but vehemently denies its allegations.

“I look forward to having an in-depth discussion with former FBI Director Comey about his assertion that challenges against the FISA warrant process – based on the Steele dossier – are ‘nonsense,’” Graham said Saturday in response to Comey’s statement.

House Republicans, led by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes and several members of the Judiciary and Oversight Committees, have led the push to investigate the FBI and Justice Department over their handling of the dossier and the FISA applications.

GOP senators have mostly laid low, with the exception of Graham and Grassley. The pair submitted a criminal referral to the Justice Department on Jan. 5 calling for an investigation into whether Steele lied to the FBI about his contacts with the media.

Steele, a former MI6 officer, met with numerous reporters in September and October 2016 to discuss his investigation into Trump. Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that hired Steele, helped arrange the briefings.

Steele at one point told the FBI that he had not had contact with reporters. The bureau cut ties with Steele on Nov. 1, 2016 after he served as a source for a Mother Jones article published the day before. It is still unclear when Steele told the FBI that he had not had contact with reporters.

On Thursday, Nunes, a California Republican, called for the declassification of an email chain which he claims shows FBI and Justice Department officials raising questions about the dossier before the FBI submitted its first FISA application against Page. The email thread, on which Comey was included, also showed that government officials were aware of Steele’s contacts with the press.

Nunes claimed on Fox News that the email thread shows that the FBI and DOJ knew of “really bad and nefarious” activity on the part of Steele and his associates.

A federal judge ruled Friday that New York’s 44-year-old nunchuck ban violated the Second Amendment and therefore was unconstitutional.

James Maloney, a State University of New York Maritime College professor, spearheaded the efforts after he was charged for nunchuck possession in his home in 2000, The Associated Press reported Monday. He filed an initial complaint in 2003.

Nunchucks are two rods linked at one end by a chain or rope.

Maloney was fixated on getting rid of the part of the law where nunchucks could not be possessed at home, though Judge Pamela Chen said she could not just take out a section of the current law. Chen ruled the ban and the law when it came to manufacturing, transporting and disposing of nunchucks was unconstitutional, according to the AP.

“How could a state simply ban any and all possession of a weapon that had a long and proud history as a martial-arts weapon, with recreational, therapeutic and self-defense utility,” Maloney said, the AP reported.

The Second Amendment guarantees an individual’s right to self-defense

The nunchuck ban was placed in 1974 out of fear kids would hurt others by watching “Kung Fu” movies, the AP reported. The martial arts weapon was first made famous by martial artists and actor Bruce Lee.

Chen is a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Second Amendment laws in the state tend to lean progressive. New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to expand waiting periods when buying guns from three to 10 days, The Buffalo News reported Monday. He also wants to ban bump stocks.

Maloney did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg missed oral arguments Monday as she recuperates from cancer surgery.

It’s not clear when the 85-year-old justice will return to work, though the Supreme Court’s public information office said she will continue to participate in official business from her home in Washington.

Monday is the first time that Ginsburg has missed arguments since she joined the high court in 1993.

Doctors at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York removed two cancerous nodules from Ginsburg’s lungs on Dec. 21. She was discharged on Dec. 26.

The growths were detected when Ginsburg was hospitalized for a rib fracture in November 2018. On that occasion, the justice fell in her chambers at the Supreme Court and was admitted to a Washington-area hospital after experiencing discomfort in her chest.

In a public appearance just days before December’s procedure, Ginsburg said that her health was “fine”.

The Supreme Court returned from its holiday break Monday and will hear cases through Jan. 16.

This is breaking news. This post will be updated.