AP News in Brief 11-18-17

As sex scandals topple the powerful: Why not Trump?

WASHINGTON — “You can do anything,” Donald Trump once boasted, speaking of groping and kissing unsuspecting women.

Maybe he could, but not everyone can.

The candidate who openly bragged about grabbing women’s private parts — but denied he really did so — was elected president months before the cascading sexual harassment allegations that have been toppling the careers of powerful men in Hollywood, business, the media and politics. He won even though more than a dozen women accused him of sexual misconduct, and roughly half of all voters said they were bothered by his treatment of women, according to exit polls.

Now, as one prominent figure after another takes a dive, the question remains: Why not Trump?

“A lot of people who voted for him recognized that he was what he was, but wanted a change and so they were willing to go along,” theorizes Jessica Leeds, one of the first women to step forward and accuse Trump of groping her, decades ago on an airplane.

Derided by critics, trickle-down economics gets another try

WASHINGTON — Does money roll downhill?

In their drive to cut taxes, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are betting it does.

Behind their legislation is a theory long popular among conservatives: Slash taxes for corporations and rich people, who will then hire, invest and profit — and cause money to trickle into the pockets of ordinary Americans. The White House says the plan’s corporate tax cut alone would eventually raise average household incomes by $4,000 a year.

The tax plan’s “trickle-down” approach was popularized in the 1980s during the Reagan administration, though it dates back at least to a 1932 wisecrack by Will Rogers. And history shows it has a spotty record of delivering on its promises.

The Republicans’ latest version of the approach edged closer to the finish line Thursday when the House passed its form of the bill; the Senate is working on its own. Republicans hope to send final legislation to Trump by Christmas, though it’s unclear whether they can succeed by then.

Trump delays new policy on importing elephant parts

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday he’s delaying a new policy allowing the body parts of African elephants shot for sport to be imported until he can review “all conservation facts.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday that it will allow the importation of body parts from African elements shot for sport. The agency said encouraging wealthy big-game hunters to kill the threatened species would help raise money for conservation programs.

Animal rights advocates and environmental groups criticized the decision. On Friday, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee urged the administration to reverse the policy, calling it the “wrong move at the wrong time.”

California Rep. Ed Royce questioned the action because of concerns not only about African wildlife but U.S. national security, citing the political upheaval in Zimbabwe, where the longtime president was placed under house arrest this week by the military.

“The administration should withdraw this decision until Zimbabwe stabilizes,” the committee chairman said in a statement. “Elephants and other big game in Africa are blood currency for terrorist organizations, and they are being killed at an alarming rate. Stopping poaching isn’t just about saving the world’s most majestic animals for the future — it’s about our national security.”

From wire sources

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Allegations against Alabama’s Roy Moore dividing GOP women

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Standing on the white marble steps of Alabama’s Capitol, Kayla Moore surrounded herself with two dozen other women Friday to defend husband Roy Moore against accusations of sexual misconduct that are dividing Republicans, and women in particular.

“He will not step down. He will not stop fighting for the people of Alabama,” Kayla Moore said at a “Women for Moore” rally. Acting as her husband’s lead defender, she lashed out at the news media and thanked people who were sticking behind her husband. “To the people of Alabama, thank you for being smarter than they think you are,” Moore said.

Not everyone is sticking with Roy Moore, however, and certainly not all women.

“I was going to vote for him. I was going to be one of his voters. I just don’t know that I can vote for him anymore,” said Laura Payne, a Trump delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention.

Since last week, Moore has been engulfed by accusations of sexual misconduct toward women in their teens when he was a deputy district attorney in his 30s. Several of his accusers have allowed their identities to be made public.

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Moscow meeting in June 2017 under scrutiny in Trump probe

WASHINGTON (AP) — Earlier this year, a Russian-American lobbyist and another businessman discussed over coffee in Moscow an extraordinary meeting they had attended 12 months earlier: a gathering at Trump Tower with President Donald Trump’s son, his son-in-law and his then-campaign chairman.

The Moscow meeting in June, which has not been previously disclosed, is now under scrutiny by investigators who want to know why the two men met in the first place and whether there was some effort to get their stories straight about the Trump Tower meeting just weeks before it would become public, The Associated Press has learned.

Congressional investigators have questioned both men — lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin and Ike Kaveladze, a business associate of a Moscow-based developer and former Trump business partner — and obtained their text message communications, people familiar with the investigation told the AP.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team also has been investigating the 2016 Trump Tower meeting, which occurred weeks after Trump had clinched the Republican presidential nomination and which his son attended with the expectation of receiving damaging information about Democrat Hillary Clinton. A grand jury has already heard testimony about the meeting, which in addition to Donald Trump Jr., also included Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and his then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

The focus of the congressional investigators was confirmed by three people familiar with their probe, including two who demanded anonymity to discuss the sensitive inquiry.

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Franken apologizes to woman who says he kissed, groped her

WASHINGTON (AP) — Minnesota Sen. Al Franken personally apologized to the woman who has accused him of forcibly kissing her and groping her during a 2006 USO tour, saying he remembers their encounter differently but is “ashamed that my actions ruined that experience for you.”

In a guest appearance Friday on ABC’s “The View,” Leeann Tweeden read a letter she received from the Democratic lawmaker in which he also discussed a photo showing him posing in a joking manner, smiling at the camera with his hands above her chest as she naps wearing a flak vest aboard a military plane.

Franken missed votes in the Senate Thursday afternoon and has not made any public appearances since the allegations came out.

Both had been performing for military personnel in Afghanistan two years before the one-time “Saturday Night Live” comedian was elected to the Senate. Tweeden, a former Fox TV sports correspondent who now is a Los Angeles radio anchor, has said Franken had persisted in rehearsing a kiss and “aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth.”

Franken told Tweeden in the letter he wanted to “apologize to you personally,” adding: “I don’t know what was in my head when I took that picture. But that doesn’t matter. There’s no excuse. I understand why you can feel violated by that photo. … I have tremendous respect for your work for the USO. And I am ashamed that my actions ruined that experience for you. I am so sorry.’”

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Hawaii psychiatric patient says he’s surprised escape worked

FRENCH CAMP, Calif. (AP) — A man who acknowledges killing a woman nearly 40 years ago said Friday that he is surprised he was able to walk out of a Hawaii psychiatric hospital and make it to California before being captured.

Randall Saito spoke to The Associated Press in a jail near Stockton, California, before briefly appearing in court and telling a judge he doesn’t want to go back to Hawaii.

“I was surprised that it actually worked,” the 59-year-old said in the jail interview. “I was expecting almost every leg of the way, I was expecting them to be right around the corner just going to nab me.”

Saito left Hawaii State Hospital in suburban Honolulu on Sunday, got a taxi to the airport and took a charter plane to Maui. From there, he caught another flight to San Jose.

He refused to say if anyone helped him escape, where he got the money to travel or how he acquired what he called “a pretty good” fake ID. He insisted that he only escaped to show that he should be free.

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Some residents unaccounted for after huge senior center fire

Authorities struggled on Friday to account for the whereabouts of all the residents of a Pennsylvania senior living community after a massive blaze tore through their complex during the middle of the night, injuring nearly 30 and leading to a chaotic evacuation.

West Chester Mayor Jordan Norley said Friday afternoon that a few of the more than 130 residents of the Barclay Friends Senior Living Community, located west of Philadelphia, were unaccounted for following the huge fire.

“We’re hoping for the best obviously here,” said Norley, who put the number taken to area hospitals at 29.

Officials said fewer than 20 remained hospitalized and all were in good condition.

County emergency officials said there was the possibility someone could have died in the fire, which erupted late Thursday night. But a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which was on the scene, told an afternoon news conference that no relatives had reported any family members missing.

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Truex fastest among championship contenders at Homestead

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest of the four NASCAR Cup Series championship contenders in qualifying and will start second Sunday in the season finale.

Truex, the regular-season champion, turned a lap of 173.952 mph in the No. 78 Toyota at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Friday night. Denny Hamlin stole the pole from Truex on the last lap of qualifying. Hamlin went 173.980 mph to take the spot and give Toyota a 1-2 front row.

“That was a bit dramatic,” Truex said, adding that he was a few thousands seconds away from a perfect day.

Kyle Busch, Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, will start third and Brad Keselowski fifth. Kevin Harvick qualified ninth.

“We outran the other three guys, which is good, but I don’t think it’s a big deal because we’re all pretty tight together,” Truex said. “One spot from where we wanted to be.”