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

With Trump present in court, judges express skepticism of claims that he’s immune from prosecution

WASHINGTON (AP) — With Donald Trump listening intently in the courtroom, federal appeals court judges in Washington expressed deep skepticism Tuesday that the former president was immune from prosecution on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The panel of three judges, two of whom were appointed by President Joe Biden, also questioned whether they had jurisdiction to consider the appeal at this point in the case, raising the prospect that Trump’s appeal could be dispensed with on more procedural grounds.

During lengthy arguments, the judges repeatedly pressed Trump’s lawyer to defend claims that Trump was shielded from criminal charges for acts that he says fell within his official duties as president. That argument was rejected last month by the lower-court judge overseeing the case against Trump, and the appeals judges suggested through their questions that they, too, were dubious that the Founding Fathers envisioned absolute immunity for presidents after they leave office.

“I think it’s paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal law,” said Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, an appointee of former President George H.W. Bush.

The outcome could carry enormous ramifications both for the landmark criminal case against Trump and for the broader, and legally untested, question of whether an ex-president can be prosecuted for actions taken in the White House. It will also likely set the stage for further appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court, which last month declined a request to weigh in but could still get involved later.

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Armed men storm an Ecuador TV studio during a live broadcast as attacks in the country escalate

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — Masked men broke onto the set of a public television channel in Ecuador waving guns and explosives during a live broadcast Tuesday, and the president issued a decree declaring that the violence-plagued country had entered an “internal armed conflict.”

The men armed with pistols and what looked like sticks of dynamite entered the set of the TC Television network in the port city of Guayaquil during a news program that was airing live in thousands of homes across the nation and shouted that they had bombs. Noises similar to gunshots could be heard.

No one was killed in the attack, and authorities later said that all the masked intruders had been arrested, 13 in all, and would be charged with terrorism.

Authorities have not said who was behind the television station occupation, or a series of other attacks that have shaken the South American country recently, but they follow the apparent escapes from prison of two leaders of Ecuador’s most powerful drug gangs.

Alina Manrique, the head of news for TC Television, said she was in the control room at TC Television, across from the studio, when the masked men burst into the building. One of them pointed a gun at her head and told her to get on the floor, Manrique said.

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Sprawling storms wallop US with tornado reports, damage and heavy snow, closing roads and schools

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A sprawling storm hit the U.S. South, with tornado warnings and high winds that blew roofs off homes, flipped over campers and tossed about furniture in Florida on Tuesday, while another storm buried cities across the Midwest in more than a half a foot of snow, stranding people on highways as it headed to the Northeast.

The weather has already affected campaigning for Iowa’s Jan. 15 precinct caucuses, where the snow is expected to be followed by frigid temperatures that could drift below zero degrees (minus 18 Celsius). It forced former President Donald Trump’s campaign to cancel multiple appearances by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders and her father, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who had been scheduled to court Iowa voters on Trump’s behalf Monday.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Tuesday’s briefing that winter storms continue to be a threat across the country.

“We are closely monitoring the weather, and we encourage all Americans to do the same,” she said.

At least three deaths were attributed to the storm pummeling the South, where 55 mph (88 kph) winds and hail moved through the Florida Panhandle and into parts of Alabama and Georgia by sunrise Tuesday, along with several reports of radar-confirmed tornadoes, the National Weather Service said. A wind gust of 106 mph (171 kph) was recorded before dawn near the coast in Walton County, Florida.

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Investigation into why a panel blew off a Boeing Max 9 jet focuses on missing bolts

The extended grounding of some Boeing 737 Max jetliners is adding to pressure on Boeing and the subcontractor that made the fuselage and installed a panel that blew out leaving a gaping hole in an Alaska Airlines plane last week.

Investigators know the sequence of events that led to the blowout Friday night, but they don’t know the cause. A key question is whether bolts used to help secure the panel, called a door plug, were installed. A National Transportation Safety Board investigator says the bolts have not been recovered and the agency won’t know if they were even in place until the door plug is examined in a laboratory.

Adding to Boeing’s problems, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines — the two U.S. carriers that fly the Max 9 — reported finding loose bolts and other hardware in other panels, suggesting quality issues with the door plugs are not limited to one plane.

The plugs are installed in Max 9 fuselages by subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems, which was spun off by Boeing in 2005. Spirit has a history of manufacturing problems, many uncovered in a U.S. House probe of two fatal crashes involving Boeing 737 Max 8 planes.

“The focus needs to turn to Spirit,” said former congressman Peter DeFazio, who chaired the investigating committee. “Boeing has been happy with the crappy stuff from Spirit because it’s cheap.”

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DeSantis says nominating Trump would make 2024 a referendum on the ex-president rather than Biden

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Nominating Donald Trump would make the 2024 election about his legal troubles rather than the nation’s ills under President Joe Biden, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday, hours after Trump appeared in court to argue he’s immune from prosecution.

DeSantis appealed directly to undecided Iowa Republicans, particularly those who like Trump but are seeking an alternative, less than a week before they cast the first votes of the 2024 election season, portraying a Biden-Trump rematch as a risky bet for Republicans.

“It raises the issue for Republicans: ‘What do we want the 2024 election to be about?’” DeSantis said in a Fox News town hall in Des Moines. “If Donald Trump is the nominee, the election is going to be about legal issues, criminal trials, Jan. 6. It’ll be a referendum on him.”

DeSantis has for months been trying to peel away Trump supporters, presenting himself as an able alternative for Republicans who still like the former president. And as the clock ticks down to the first votes, he’s leaning in further, warning them that Trump is a dangerous choice if the GOP wants to win.

DeSantis said he can deliver for the base where Trump has fallen short, pointing to his own record leading Florida, where he signed a restrictive abortion law and resisted pressure to close schools and businesses as COVID-19 raged in 2020. He went after Trump’s signature issue, the southern border, arguing the former president failed to end illegal immigration and didn’t fully build a border wall.

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Trump plans to deliver a closing argument at his civil fraud trial, AP sources say

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump aims to deliver his own closing argument Thursday in his New York civil business fraud trial in addition to his legal team’s summations, according to two people familiar with the highly unusual plan.

Trump is a defendant in the case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. She claims his net worth was inflated by billions of dollars on financial statements that helped him secure business loans and insurance.

An attorney for Trump informed Judge Arthur Engoron earlier this week that the former president wished to speak during the closing arguments, and the judge approved the plan, according to one of the two people who spoke to The Associated Press. Both persons who confirmed the plan did so on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to disclose the information to reporters.

The Trump campaign and a spokesperson for James declined to comment.

The former president and current Republican front-runner denies any wrongdoing, and he has condemned the case during a peppery day of testimony, on social media and in verbal comments in the courthouse hallway. In recent days on his Truth Social platform, he called the case a “hoax,” dismissed the months-long proceedings as as a “pathetic excuse for a trial” and criticized the judge and attorney general, both Democrats.

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More delays for NASA’s astronaut moonshots, with crew landing off until 2026

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronauts will have to wait until next year before flying to the moon and at least two years before landing on it, under the latest round of delays announced by NASA on Tuesday.

The space agency had planned to send four astronauts around the moon late this year, but pushed the flight to September 2025. The first human moon landing in more than 50 years also got bumped, from 2025 to September 2026. NASA cited safety concerns with its own spacecraft, as well as development issues with the moonsuits and landers coming from private industry.

“Safety is our top priority,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The delays will “give Artemis teams more time to work through the challenges.”

The news came barely an hour after a Pittsburgh company abandoned its own attempt to land its spacecraft on the moon because of a mission-ending fuel leak.

Launched Monday as part of NASA’s commercial lunar program, Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine lander was supposed to serve as a scout for the astronauts. A Houston company will give it a shot with its own lander next month.

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Austin kept prostate cancer, surgery complications a secret from everyone, even Biden

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has prostate cancer, and his recent secretive hospitalization was for surgery and later to treat a urinary tract infection related to that operation, his doctors said Tuesday.

The cancer revelation answers the main question about Austin’s hospitalization, which has now lasted eight days. But it may only add to questions of accountability, since President Joe Biden only learned about the cancer diagnosis on Tuesday, even though it was made about a month ago.

“Nobody at the White House knew that Secretary Austin had prostate cancer until this morning,” said John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman. “And the president was informed immediately after.”

The 70-year-old Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Dec. 22 and underwent surgery to treat the cancer. He developed the infection a week later. Biden and other senior administration officials were not told for days about his hospitalization or his cancer.

According to the doctors, the cancer was detected when Austin had a regular screening in early December. They said he “underwent a minimally invasive surgical procedure” and went home the next day. But on Jan. 1 he reported nausea and severe abdominal, hip and leg pain due to the infection.

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Blinken urges Israel to engage with region on postwar plans that include path to Palestinian state

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday called on Israel to work with moderate Palestinians and neighboring countries on plans for postwar Gaza, saying they were willing to help rebuild and govern the territory but only if there is a “pathway to a Palestinian state.”

The U.S. and Israel are united in the war against Hamas but sharply divided over Gaza’s future, with Washington and its Arab allies hoping to revive the long-moribund peace process, an idea that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition partners sharply oppose.

The war in Gaza is still raging, with no end in sight, and fueling a humanitarian catastrophe in the tiny coastal enclave. The fighting has also stoked escalating violence between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants that has raised fears of a wider conflict.

Speaking at a news conference after meeting with top Israeli leaders, Blinken said Israel “must stop taking steps that undercut the Palestinians’ ability to govern themselves effectively.”

Israel, he added “must be a partner of the Palestinian leaders who are willing to lead their people” and live “side by side in peace with Israel.” Settler violence, settlement expansion, home demolitions and evictions “all make it harder, not easier, for Israel to achieve lasting peace and security.”

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CES 2024 updates: The most interesting news and gadgets from tech’s big show

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Welcome to opening day of CES 2024. This multi-day trade event put on by the Consumer Technology Association is expected to bring in some 130,000 attendees and more than 4,000 exhibitors to Las Vegas. Swaths of the latest advances and gadgets across personal tech, transportation, health care, sustainability and more — with burgeoning uses of artificial intelligence almost everywhere you look — will be on display.

The Associated Press will be keeping a running report of everything we find interesting from the floor of CES, from the latest announcements to most quirky smart gadgets.

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Robert Downey Jr. fought off villains as “Iron Man” on the big screen for more than a decade. Now, in his latest off-screen role as a board member and strategist at AI security startup Aura, Downey wants to fight off digital scammers, he said at CES 2024.

Aura is an online app that uses artificial intelligence to monitor and track accounts and help prevent digital crimes, like scams, hacks and identity theft. The company revealed Tuesday at a panel that it will launch a new AI feature this year that it says will help parents identify depression, anxiety and other issues in their children’s lives by tracking their cellphone usage habits.