Paul Manafort: Trump’s ex-campaign chief sentenced to 47 months

Paul Manafort, the former chairman of Donald Trump’s campaign, has been jailed for nearly four years for bank and tax fraud uncovered during the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference.

Wearing a green prison jumpsuit, Manafort sat still in a wheelchair and betrayed little emotion as the US district judge TS Ellis of the eastern district of Virginia pronounced the sentence, which will be partially offset by nine months already served.

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Congress reportedly closer to deal to avert new shutdown – live

Hopes raised for potential deal, reports suggest, to avert another government shutdown when bill expires on 15 February

The NAACP is urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject judicial nominees who refused to say that Brown vs. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court case that ended segregation in schools, was rightly decided.

A number of Trump judicial nominees considered by Senate Judiciary Committee today refused to say Brown v. Board of Education was correctly decided. For us, that is disqualifying. We urge the Senate to vote NO.

Georgia Rep. Rob Woodall will not seek re-election, per the Atlanta Journal Constitution. It’s a seat likely to be targeted by Democrats.

Breaking: #GA07 Rep. Rob Woodall (R), who won by just 419 votes last fall, to retire. Doesn't change @CookPolitical's Toss Up rating, but does vault #GA07 to the very top of Dems' list of pickup opportunities. https://t.co/XS4PeDhFrA

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Virginia: woman who accused lieutenant governor of sexual assault speaks out – live

After attorney general admits wearing blackface in 1980s, lieutenant governor accused of attack in 2004

It was a quiet ending to an eventful day. Thanks for sticking with us, everyone.

Paul Erickson, the boyfriend of Maria Butina, the Russian national who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to influence US politics during the 2016 presidential election, was indicted by a federal grand jury in South Dakota on charges of wire fraud and money laundering, the Daily Beast is reporting.

The case against Erickson, a conservative US political activist and National Rifle Association insider, does not appear to be linked to the foreign agent case against Butina, who tried to infiltrate the NRA and relay intelligence on American politicians to a Russian government official.

Erickson was arrested on Feb. 6 and entered a plea of not guilty, according to the court filings.

The indictment alleges that Erickson ran a criminal scheme from 1996 to 2018 using a chain of assisted living homes called Compass Care. Erickson also allegedly defrauded investors through a company called Investing with Dignity that claimed to be “in the business of developing a wheelchair that allowed people to go to the bathroom without being lifted out of the wheelchair.” The indictment says he also ran a fraudulent scheme that claimed to be building homes in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota.

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State of the Union one day away as next government shutdown looms – live

We are 11 days away from another potential government shutdown and three days into the political crisis in Virginia

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is hitting the fundraising circuit for the Ohio Republican Party.

New: @CLewandowski_ will be raising money for the Ohio Republican Party in Youngstown, Cleveland, and Sandusky, Ohio, later this month.

Axios obtained President Donald Trump’s private schedules on Sunday which show that a majority of his day is left in unstructured “executive time.”

The unprecedented leak shows Trump’s unique governing style. In contrast to past presidents who had tightly regimented schedules, Trump has much of the day open for freewheeling phone conversations, private meetings and, of course, time watching cable news.

What a disgraceful breach of trust to leak schedules. What these don’t show are the hundreds of calls and meetings @realDonaldTrump takes everyday. This POTUS is working harder for the American people than anyone in recent history. https://t.co/n1HrxmCsiB

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Ralph Northam will ‘put Virginia first’ and resign as governor, Democrat says

  • Former governor Terry McAuliffe: ‘Ralph is a good, moral man’
  • Press conference and Michael Jackson story add to controversy

Ralph Northam will “put Virginia first” and resign as governor, a predecessor and friend of the embattled Democrat said on Sunday, two days after the release of a racist photo from a college yearbook pitched the state into chaos.

Related: Policies that harm black bodies deserve the same outrage as blackface | Shanita Hubbard

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Virginia governor refuses to resign over racist yearbook photo

Ralph Northam reportedly questioning whether he appears in image, despite earlier admission

The Virginia governor Ralph Northam has refused to resign, despite widespread calls for him to step down in response to the publication of a decades-old picture the Democrat admitted showed him dressed as either a member of the Ku Klux Klan or in blackface.

Northam said he would not resign on Saturday morning, according to the Virginia Democratic party. According to reports, Northam was questioning whether he was actually in the photo which, on Friday night, he said showed his younger self.

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Virginia governor apologizes for racist costumes in yearbook photo but does not resign

Image published by conservative website shows person in blackface standing next to person dressed as KKK member

The Democratic governor of Virginia apologized for his appearance in a “racist and offensive” costume in his medical school yearbook, but he defied bipartisan calls to step down Friday evening and intends to serve out his term.

“I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now,” said Governor Ralph Northam in a statement.

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Snowstorm takes out power in US mid-Atlantic after five deaths in midwest

A winter storm that contributed to at least five deaths in the US midwest pummeled the mid-Atlantic region for a second day on Sunday, bringing with it an icy mix that knocked out power, cancelled flights and contributed to hundreds of car accidents.

Virginia state police said the driver of a military surplus vehicle was killed late on Saturday after he lost control on Interstate 81 due to slick road conditions.

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Five dead on midwest roads as huge snowstorm heads for Washington DC

  • Parts of Missouri see more than a foot of snow
  • Capital and Maryland face heavy falls on Sunday

A massive winter snowstorm making its way across the midwest and into the US mid-Atlantic region dumped more than a foot of snow in parts of Missouri and contributed to at least five deaths, authorities said on Saturday.

The storm moved into Kansas and Nebraska from the Rockies on Friday, then east into Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana, covering roads and making driving dangerous.

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Key Democratic senator says Saudi response on Khashoggi ‘strains any credibility’

Sen. Mark Warner said Tuesday that denial of knowledge from the Saudi regime about the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi after he visited the Turkish Saudi Consulate "strains" the nation's credibility. "This was not some dark alley, this was inside the Saudi Consulate," Warner, a Virginia Democrat who is the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead."

Virginia Democrats vying for the US House outraise Republicans…

All four Democratic candidates vying for competitive U.S. House seats in Virginia outraised their Republican counterparts in the latest fundraising period and had more cash on hand going into the final weeks of the mid-term elections. The Virginia numbers are in keeping with national trends as Democrats try to capitalize on President Trump's unpopularity in suburban districts to take control of the House of Representatives.

Kaine, Stewart clash over sexual misconduct in final debate

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia and GOP challenger Corey Stewart traded accusations of hypocrisy and bad faith Tuesday in a campaign debate heavily focused on sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and some members of Congress. In their third and final debate ahead of November's Election Day, both candidates tried to draw sharp contrasts with one another.

Plans for new Rivermont station progress but obstacles remain

Plans for the Rivermont Fire Department's new building are progressing through the bureaucratic process, but obstacles remain before construction can begin. The Warren County Planning Commission recently set an Oct. 10 public hearing regarding a conditional use permit for the facility, which is necessary to use the agriculturally zoned land for a fire department.

Ex-Trump adviser Papadopoulos says he’d testify in Senate Source: AP

George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign adviser who triggered the Russia investigation, is willing to testify before the Senate intelligence committee, said his lawyer, Thomas Breen. Papadopoulos was sentenced to 14 days in prison last Friday for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian intermediaries.

Papadopoulos says he’d testify in Senate Source: AP

George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign adviser who triggered the Russia investigation, is willing to testify before the Senate intelligence committee, Thomas Breen, his lawyer, said Wednesday. Now that the criminal case is resolved, Breen said, "we'll make him available upon a proper request."

In simulation, Category 4 hurricane devastated East Coast

Just months ago, disaster planners simulated a Category 4 hurricane strike alarmingly similar to the real-word scenario now unfolding on a dangerously vulnerable stretch of the East Coast. A fictional "Hurricane Cora" barreled into southeast Virginia and up the Chesapeake Bay to strike Washington, D.C., in the narrative created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Argonne National Laboratory.

Shotgun-toting senator shoots anti-Obamacare lawsuit in new ad for re-election bid

Invoking the same colorful imagery he used in his 2010 re-election bid, West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin released a new ad Monday literally taking aim with a shotgun at the most recent lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act, which would dismantle protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions. "I haven't changed," Manchin asserts in the ad.