Happening Today: Stormy Daniels, Facebook, Shopping Mall Fire, Smoking

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Stormy Daniels Says She Was Threatened Over Trump Story

Adult film star Stormy Daniels says she was threatened to keep silent about an alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump in 2006, telling her story in a highly anticipated interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" broadcast. Daniels said she was threatened by an unidentified man in Las Vegas to keep quiet about her alleged relationship with Trump, an incident that she said happened while she was with her young daughter. She said in the interview that she had one encounter of consensual sex with the future president. "He knows I'm telling the truth," said Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford. She does not allege that she was coerced in her encounter with Trump, saying, "This is not a 'Me too.' I was not a victim." The adult film actress provided little new evidence of her alleged 2006 affair with Trump but said she faced intimidation tactics aimed at ensuring her silence in 2011. Daniels said that in the incident, in a parking lot, the man told her: "Leave Trump alone. Forget the story." She said he then looked at her daughter and said, "That's a beautiful little girl. It'd be a shame if something happened to her mom."

Facebook Questioned About Pulling Android Call, Text Data

On the same day Facebook bought ads in U.S. and British newspapers to apologize for the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the social media site faced new questions about collecting phone numbers and text messages from Android devices. The website Ars Technica reported users who checked data gathered by Facebook on them found that it had years of contact names, telephone numbers, call lengths and text messages. Facebook said the information is uploaded to secure servers and comes only from Android users who opt-in to allow it. Spokeswomen say the data is not sold or shared with users' friends or outside apps. They say the data is used "to improve people's experience across Facebook" by helping to connect with others. The company also says in a website posting that it does not collect the content of text messages or calls. A spokeswoman says Facebook uses the information to rank contacts in Messenger so they are easier to find, and to suggest people to call. The data collection can be turned off in a user's settings, and all previously collected call and text history shared on the app will be deleted, Facebook said.

2 Lawyers Not Joining Trump Legal Team After All

President Trump will not be adding two new lawyers to the legal team defending him in the special counsel's Russia investigation, one of the president's attorneys said. Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said in a statement that Washington lawyers Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing have conflicts that won't allow them to represent the president regarding special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. The announcement came just hours after Trump used Twitter to push back against reports that he's having difficulty adding to his legal team, saying he was "very happy" with his current attorneys. Neither the president nor Sekulow specified the conflict regarding diGenova and Toensing, who are married to each other and law partners, but their firm has represented other clients in the special counsel's investigation, including former Trump campaign adviser Sam Clovis.

Russian Shopping Mall Fire Kills 64; No Alarms Reported

With the fire alarms silent and staff reportedly nowhere to be seen, a fire at a shopping mall packed with children and their parents on the first weekend of the school recess killed 64 people in eastern Russia. The fire at the Winter Cherry mall in Kemerovo, a city in Siberia, about 3,000 kilometers east of Moscow, was extinguished after burning through the night. Firefighters were still recovering bodies as parts of the buildings were still smoldering. Some of the dead were found inside a cinema. Sixty-four deaths were confirmed after the firefighters finished combing through the four floors of the mall, Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov told a televised briefing. Six of the bodies have not yet been recovered. Puchkov would not immediately say how many of the victims were children. Ten people have been hospitalized. Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova, who visited the Keremovo hospital where the victims were receiving treatment, said on Russian state television that the patient in the gravest condition is an 11-year-old boy who jumped out of a window from the fourth floor. The boy's parents and younger brother died in the fire, Skvortsova said. The Investigative Committee said it has detained four people for questioning, including one of the mall's tenants, but would not immediately give the cause of the fire, which started on the top floor.

New Bill Would Ban Smoking While Walking on NYC Sidewalks

New York City smokers may have something else to grumble about in addition to $13 packs of cigarettes. A bill introduced in the City Council would ban smoking while walking on the city’s sidewalks. City Council Member Peter Koo, a Democrat serving Flushing introduced the legislation at a City Council meeting. In a press release, Koo said he’s seen “too many mothers with strollers, and parents holding hands with their children, walking behind smokers who are blowing clouds of smoke behind them.” The law would prohibit smoking while walking on sidewalks, as well as adjoining parks, squares and public places, including pedestrian pathways, park strips, medians, malls and parking lots. The bill, if passed, would take effect 120 days after being signed into law.