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

Pence aide out of running to be Trump’s next chief of staff

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump evaluated new candidates to serve as his next chief of staff Sunday after plans for an orderly succession for departing John Kelly fell through.

The new hire was to be key to a West Wing reshuffling to shift focus toward the 2020 re-election campaign and the challenge of governing with Democrats in control of the House.

But even senior White House officials were caught off guard Sunday when Trump and Nick Ayers, whose hiring was believed to be a done deal, couldn’t come to terms. No obvious successor was in sight and there was some fretting that Trump may not be able to fill the job by the time Kelly was set to leave around year’s end.

Ayers, the chief of staff to Vice-President Mike Pence, was seen as the favourite for the job when Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would step down. But a White House official said Sunday that Trump and Ayers could not reach agreement on Ayers’ length of service and that he would instead assist the president from outside the administration.

Ayers confirmed the decision in a tweet, thanking Trump and Pence for giving him the opportunity to work in the White House. “I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause,” he said.

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Top House Dems raise prospect of impeachment, jail for Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top House Democrats on Sunday raised the prospect of impeachment or almost-certain prison time for President Donald Trump if it’s proved that he directed illegal hush-money payments to women, adding to the legal pressure on the president over the Russia investigation and other scandals.

“There’s a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the Justice Department may indict him, that he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, the incoming chairman of the House intelligence committee. “The bigger pardon question may come down the road as the next president has to determine whether to pardon Donald Trump.”

Rep. Jerry Nadler, the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, described the details in prosecutors’ filings Friday in the case of Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, as evidence that Trump was “at the centre of a massive fraud.”

“They would be impeachable offences,” Nadler said.

In the filings, prosecutors in New York for the first time link Trump to a federal crime of illegal payments to buy the silence of two women during the 2016 campaign. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office also laid out previously undisclosed contacts between Trump associates and Russian intermediaries and suggested the Kremlin aimed early on to influence Trump and his Republican campaign by playing to both his political and personal business interests.

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Analysis: Russia probe threatens Trump, those in his orbit

WASHINGTON (AP) — The more that special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors reveal, the darker grow the legal clouds over President Donald Trump.

Trump’s own Justice Department has now implicated him in a crime, accusing him of directing illegal hush-money payments to women during his 2016 presidential campaign. Mueller keeps finding new instances of Trump associates lying about their contacts with Russia during an election the Kremlin worked to sway in the Republican’s favour.

The president hasn’t been charged with any crimes. He may never be. Whether a president can be prosecuted while in office remains a matter of legal dispute.

But Trump also hasn’t been cleared of wrongdoing. Each new legal filing underscores that the president is a central figure in investigations that already have brought down several people who worked closely with him and remain a threat to others in Trump’s orbit.

Even if the president is never charged with illegal activity, the months of investigations and legal wrangling have cast a pall over his administration and exposed the culture of lying that has surrounded Trump, both in and out of office.

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Winter storm causes icy roads across swath of South

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A massive storm brought snow, sleet, and freezing rain across a wide swath of the South on Sunday — causing dangerously icy roads, immobilizing snowfalls and power losses to hundreds of thousands of people.

Accidents on snow-covered interstates caused major delays, hundreds of flights were cancelled and drivers in North Carolina and Virginia got stuck in snow or lost control on icy patches. Meanwhile, kids and the young at heart took advantage of the early winter snow with snowball fights, sledding and snowmen.

Police in North Carolina and Virginia said they’d responded to hundreds of snow-related traffic accidents as of Sunday afternoon, as cars, trucks and tractor-trailers all struggled with the snow and ice.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper strongly urged residents to stay off the roads Sunday, asking drivers not to put lives of first responders needlessly at risk. Cooper said emergency crews, including the National Guard, worked overnight to clear traffic accidents on major roadways.

“Stay put if you can,” Cooper said. “Wrap a few presents, decorate the tree, watch some football.”

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China summons US envoy to protest detention of Huawei exec

BEIJING (AP) — China summoned the U.S. ambassador to Beijing on Sunday to protest Canada’s detention of a senior executive of Chinese electronics giant Huawei at Washington’s behest and demand the U.S. cancel an order for her arrest.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng “lodged solemn representations and strong protests” with Ambassador Terry Branstad against the detention of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou. Meng, who is reportedly suspected of trying to evade U.S. trade curbs on Iran, was detained on Dec. 1 while changing planes in Vancouver, Canada.

The Xinhua report quoted Le as calling Meng’s detention “extremely egregious” and demanded the U.S. vacate an order for her arrest. It quoted Le as calling for the U.S. to “immediately correct its wrong actions” and said it would take further steps based on Washington’s response.

The move followed the summoning of Canadian Ambassador John McCallum on Saturday over Meng’s detention and a similar warning of “grave consequences” if she is not released.

The Canadian province of British Columbia said in a statement Sunday it cancelled a trade mission to China because of Meng’s detention. The announcement came amid fears China could detain Canadians in retaliation.

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Macron to break silence, address French nation amid protests

PARIS (AP) — Pressure mounted on French President Emmanuel Macron to announce concrete measures to calm protests marked by violence when he addresses the nation Monday evening, and breaks a long silence widely seen as aggravating a crisis that has shaken the government and the whole country.

The president will consult in the morning with an array of national and local officials as he tries to get a handle on the ballooning and radicalizing protest movement triggered by anger at his policies, and a growing sense that they favour the rich.

Macron will speak from the presidential Elysee Palace at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT), an Elysee official said. The official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.

Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said earlier on LCI TV station he was “sure (Macron) will know how to find the path to the hearts of the French, speak to their hearts.” But, he added, a “magic wand” won’t solve all the problems of the protesters, known as “yellow vests” for the fluorescent safety vests they often wear.

Last week, Macron withdrew a fuel tax hike — the issue that kicked off protests in mid-November — in an effort to appease the protesters, but the move was seen as too little too late.

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Amazon touted as big win for NY, but math is more complex

NEW YORK (AP) — New York officials tout their deal to land a new Amazon headquarters as can’t-miss math. The city and state put up $2.8 billion in tax breaks and grants. In return, they get an economic engine expected to generate $27 billion in new tax money over a quarter-century.

“This is a big moneymaker for us. Costs us nothing,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said when the agreement was announced.

Experts say the economic equation isn’t that simple.

The state’s predicted 9-to-1 return on its investment was based on a widely used economic model that compares the costs of tax incentives with expected tax gains, but it didn’t factor in the substantial costs of accommodating Amazon’s growth in the city, economic development researchers said after reviewing the documents.

The city and state will have to spend money to educate the children of Amazon workers, improve public transportation to get them to work, collect their garbage, adjust police and fire coverage, and provide all sorts of other services for a growing number of people.

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‘I killed my best friend’: Opioids’ fatal grip on mayor, pal

MOUNT CARBON, Pa. (AP) — Janel Firestone found her son — the 24-year-old, just resigned mayor of the tiny Pennsylvania town of Mount Carbon — in what she assumed was a deep sleep. She tried to wake him for his overnight shift at the local supermarket, but he couldn’t be roused, even after she sprinkled him with water from a wet washcloth.

She wasn’t concerned. Brandon Wentz had always been a heavy, heavy sleeper.

Recent days had been hard for him. The family had just moved to a nearby town, requiring him to give up his office, and he had agonized over his resignation letter. He felt like he was letting his constituents down.

It was a small thing, that letter, but Wentz’s inability to write it reflected his recent struggles.

“You could just see the stress and sadness in him,” recalled his mother.

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African-American North Carolina voting rights activist dies

LOUISBURG, N.C. (AP) — Rosanell Eaton, an African-American voting rights activist who successfully helped challenge voting restrictions supported by North Carolina Republicans, has died. She was 97.

Eaton’s daughter, Armenta Eaton, says her mother died Saturday at home in Louisburg, North Carolina.

Rosanell Eaton was a poll worker or precinct judge for decades who had registered to vote as a young woman in rural Franklin County despite Jim Crow restrictions.

When white men told her she had to recite the preamble to the U.S. Constitution before she could register to vote, she did it from memory, her daughter said.

Eaton grew up on a farm and went to segregated schools. Her advocacy for voting rights came in the face of racist attacks, as her house was shot at and crosses were lit on fire in her yard, her daughter said.

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Prescott’s 3rd TD to Cooper lifts Cowboys over Eagles in OT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Amari Cooper’s impact on Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott has been dramatic.

The new No. 1 receiver for the Cowboys shook up the NFC East race, too.

Prescott threw his third touchdown pass to Cooper on the first possession of overtime, and the Cowboys took a big step toward the division title with a 29-23 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

On third down, Rasul Douglas tipped the pass into the air by getting inside the slant route, and Cooper grabbed it and had a clear path to the end zone from the Philadelphia 7 for the 15-yard score. The Cowboys used almost all of the 10-minute overtime, scoring with 1:55 remaining.

“I knew I had the slant route there, but I knew he would sit on it,” Cooper said. “I tried to sell the fade. It didn’t really work, but I just stayed with the ball and there you have it.”