AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EST

Not guilty: Senate acquits Trump of impeachment charges

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump won impeachment acquittal Wednesday in the U.S. Senate, bringing to a close only the third presidential trial in American history with votes that split the country, tested civic norms and fed the tumultuous 2020 race for the White House.

With Chief Justice John Roberts presiding, senators sworn to do “impartial justice” stood and stated their votes for the roll call — “guilty” or “not guilty” — in a swift tally almost exclusively along party lines. Trump, the chief justice then declared, shall “be, and is hereby, acquitted of the charges.”

The outcome followed months of remarkable impeachment proceedings, from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House to Mitch McConnell’s Senate, reflecting the nation’s unrelenting partisan divide three years into the Trump presidency.

What started as Trump’s request for Ukraine to “do us a favour” spun into a far-reaching, 28,000-page report compiled by House investigators accusing an American president of engaging in shadow diplomacy that threatened U.S. foreign relations for personal, political gain as he pressured the ally to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden ahead of the next election.

No president has ever been removed by the Senate.

___

Trump barrels into 2020 campaign, emboldened after acquittal

WASHINGTON (AP) — With the final gavel banging down Wednesday on impeachment, President Donald Trump barrelled ahead in his reelection fight with a united Republican Party behind him, and emboldened by reassuring poll numbers and chaos in the Democratic race to replace him.

Republican senators voted largely in lockstep to acquit Trump, relying on a multitude of rationales for keeping him in office: He’s guilty, but his conduct wasn’t impeachable; his July telephone conversation with Ukraine’s president was a “perfect call”; there’s an election in 10 months and it’s up to voters to determine his fate.

For Trump, there was one overriding message to draw from his acquittal: Even at a time of maximum political peril, it’s his Republican Party.

One day after Trump avoided talk of impeachment in his State of the Union address and argued that he had delivered on his 2016 campaign promises, the president already was moving to use impeachment as a 2020 rallying cry.

Trump tweeted after the vote that he would mark his acquittal with a statement at noon Thursday to “discuss our Country’s VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax!” And the president’s supporters were being invited to join him in an East Room victory lap.

___

Impeachment done, Pelosi unburdens herself about Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was gone, the House lights were dimming, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi looked up to her friends and family in the gallery overhead. She held up the speech she had shredded behind Trump’s back, on live television. She put her hand to her heart, dipped her head and gave a little bow.

The moment showcased Pelosi’s sharper, less-restrained approach to the nation’s 45th president at the bitter end of the impeachment saga she led. Now, she’s leading House Democrats out of impeachment’s shadow, through regular legislative business and toward Election Day in November. And though there’s no sign Pelosi herself is exiting the political stage, there’s abundant evidence that she’s unburdening herself of any lingering restraint when it comes to Trump.

And that’s saying something, considering her unapologetic style when it comes to him. She smirked and clapped, eye-to-eye with him at last year’s State of the Union. In private, she questioned the president’s manhood. And she stalked out of a White House meeting with him in October, bluntly suggesting the president is controlled by his counterpart in Russia.

But her speech-shredding on Tuesday night appeared to mark a pointier, post-impeachment phase, one Trump’s reelection campaign quickly sought to monetize.

“Wow. Nancy ripped my speech. She truly hates America,” said a text Wednesday as part of an effort to raise $2 million in 24 hours.

___

Kirk Douglas, longtime influential movie star, dies at 103

Kirk Douglas, the intense, muscular actor with the dimpled chin who starred in “Spartacus,” “Lust for Life” and dozens of other films, helped fatally weaken the blacklist against suspected Communists and reigned for decades as a Hollywood maverick and patriarch, died Wednesday, his family said. He was 103.

“To the world, he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to,” his son Michael said in a statement on his Instagram account.

Kirk Douglas’ death was first reported by People magazine.

His granite-like strength and underlying vulnerability made the son of illiterate Russian immigrants one of the top stars of the 20th century. He appeared in more than 80 films, in roles ranging from Doc Holliday in “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” to Vincent van Gogh in “Lust for Life.”

He worked with some of Hollywood’s greatest directors, from Vincente Minnelli and Billy Wilder to Stanley Kubrick and Elia Kazan. His career began at the peak of the studios’ power, more than 70 years ago, and ended in a more diverse, decentralized era that he helped bring about.

___

Buttigieg clings to narrow lead as Iowa results trickle in

NEW YORK (AP) — Pete Buttigieg clung to a slight lead over Bernie Sanders in a new batch of vote totals released by the Iowa Democratic Party on Wednesday, two days after the state hosted its first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses.

But the race remained too early to call with 92% of precincts reporting.

Much of the political world has already shifted its attention to next-up New Hampshire, which holds the first primary election in the Democrats’ 2020 nomination fight on Tuesday.

Iowa officials attributed their delay to technical problems. The chaos surrounding the reporting breakdown has undermined the impact of Iowa’s election, which typically rewards winners with a surge of momentum heading into subsequent primary contests.

The two early leaders — Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and Vermont Sen. Sanders — are separated by 40 years in age and conflicting ideology.

___

Japan quarantines cruise ship as toll of new virus grows

TOKYO (AP) — Large white sheets covering them head-to-knee, people infected with a new virus were led by gloved and masked officials Wednesday off a Japanese cruise ship, while the rest of the 3,700 people on board faced a two-week quarantine in their cabins. In Hong Kong, more than 3,600 people on another cruise ship were to be screened after it was banned by Taiwan amid growing worry about the spread of an outbreak.

The ships are caught up in a global health emergency that seems to worsen by the day. The little-understood coronavirus has killed nearly 500 people, mostly in mainland China, but it has also spread panic and anger around the world as the cases grow.

As thousands of hospital workers in Hong Kong went on strike to demand the border with mainland China be closed completely, the city announced that all people entering from the mainland, including Hong Kong residents, must be quarantined for 14 days. Tokyo Olympics organizers, meanwhile, said they are increasingly worried about the disruption the virus is causing ahead of the games, which open in less than six months.

The director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, asked for $675 million to help countries address the expected spread of the virus. He acknowledged that the sum is a lot, but told a news briefing that “it’s much less than the bill we will face if we do not invest in preparedness now.”

Tedros said in the last 24 hours, the U.N. health agency has seen the biggest jump in cases since the start of the epidemic.

___

Madoff seeks prison release, citing terminal kidney failure

NEW YORK (AP) — Epic Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff asked a federal judge Wednesday to grant him a “compassionate release” from his 150-year prison sentence, saying he has terminal kidney failure and less than 18 months to live.

Madoff’s attorney filed court papers saying the 81-year-old has end-stage kidney disease and other “chronic, serious medical conditions,” including hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

“There’s no cure for my type of disease,” Madoff told The Washington Post in a phone interview, expressing remorse for orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history.

After spending more than a decade behind bars, Madoff said his dying wish is to salvage his relationships with his grandchildren.

“I’ve served 11 years already,” he said, “and, quite frankly, I’ve suffered through it.”

___

Weinstein accuser says he trapped her during hotel assault

NEW YORK (AP) — As Harvey Weinstein stripped off his clothes, pulled down her dress and groped her breast in a hotel bathroom in 2013, Lauren Marie Young says he also offered a chilling excuse for his lewd behaviour: “This is what all actresses do to make it.”

Young’s account of her encounter with then-one of Hollywood’s most powerful movie makers came on Wednesday after she was called to the witness stand at Weinstein’s New York City rape trial in a final push by prosecutors to show there was a pattern to how he preyed on women.

Weinstein persisted by masturbating, despite her telling him, “‘No, no, no’ the whole time,” Young told jurors as the the last of six women to testify at the trial about alleged series of sexual assaults by the defendant.

The criminal charges are based on two allegations: that he raped a woman in March 2013 and forced oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006.

Additional women, including Young, have been allowed to testify as prosecutors attempt to show there was a practiced method to Weinstein’s attacks, including inviting women to his hotel room to discuss business, then disrobing and demanding sexual favours.

___

Oscar Predictions: Can ‘Parasite’ upset ‘1917’?

NEW YORK (AP) — Ahead of Sunday’s 92nd Academy Awards, Associated Press Film Writer Jake Coyle shares his predictions for a ceremony with a lot of locks but the potential for a few surprises.

BEST PICTURE

The Nominees: “Ford v Ferrari,” “The Irishman,” “Jojo Rabbit,” “Joker,” “Little Women,” “Marriage Story,” “1917,” “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” “Parasite”

Will Win: “Parasite”

Should Win: “Parasite”

___

Top heavy: Handful of elite programs hoard most top recruits

McKinnley Jackson, a huge and talented defensive tackle from Mississippi, was one of the few five-star recruits whose college choice was a mystery coming into signing day.

“I’ll keep this short, simple and sweet,” Jackson said during a news conference Wednesday at George County High School in Lucedale, Mississippi. “For the next three to four years, I’ll be attending Texas A&M.”

The five-star prospect picked the Aggies over Alabama and LSU, allowing one more school to break into a small group that landed the majority of the top available players. Signing day is typically about the rich getting richer, and this year the best classes were especially top heavy.

According to 247 Sports’ composite rankings, there were 31 five-star prospects in this year’s class. Six schools signed 22 of those players. Clemson led the way with five as part of the highest-rated class coach Dabo Swinney has ever signed. Alabama and Georgia each landed four five-star players. National champion LSU, Ohio State and Oregon each had three.

For the second time in three seasons, 247 Sports crowned Georgia the recruiting champion, with Alabama and Clemson close behind.