cincinnati
Man pleads guilty in plot to attack Capitol
A man accused of plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol in support of the Islamic State group during President Barack Obama’s 2015 State of the Union address pleaded guilty Monday to three federal charges.
Federal prosecutors dropped a fourth count and said they would seek a maximum of 30 years in prison at the Oct. 31 sentencing hearing for Christopher Lee Cornell, 22. U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith cautioned Cornell that she could reject the plea agreement depending on the findings of a presentencing report.
FBI agents arrested Cornell in the parking lot of a gun shop in suburban Cincinnati, saying he had just bought two M-15 semi-automatic rifles and 600 rounds of ammunition. They have said he planned to attack the Capitol with pipe bombs, then shoot people as they fled.
Last year, Cornell told WXIX-TV that he wanted to shoot Obama in the head.
washington
FBI worker pleads guilty to being agent for China
A longtime FBI employee with top-secret clearances pleaded guilty to acting as an agent of China and providing officials in that country with sensitive information, prosecutors announced Monday.
Kun Shan Chun was secretly arrested in March and held on charges of lying repeatedly about his contacts in China, who lavished him with prostitutes, cash and expensive hotel rooms, according to the criminal complaint.
Chun, 46, who was born in China and is also known as Joey, faces up to 10 years in prison.
His lawyer, Jonathan Marvinny, said in an email: “Today Joey Chun accepted responsibility for some mistakes in judgment that he deeply regrets. The truth is that Mr. Chun loves the United States and never intended to cause it any harm. He hopes to put this matter behind him and move forward with his life.”
las vegas
Miss Teen USA says sorry for racist tweets
Racist language in old tweets from the freshly crowned Miss Teen USA is just the latest controversy for the Miss Universe Organization, which suffered a round of turmoil last year over then-owner Donald Trump’s inflammatory comments against Mexicans.
The new flap came over the weekend, shortly after Texan Karlie Hay, 18, was crowned Miss Teen USA in Las Vegas on Saturday. Social media users quickly unearthed an account with Hay’s name that featured the N-word in tweets from 2013 and 2014, and the organization was forced into damage-control mode.
“The language Karlie Hay used is unacceptable at any age and in no way reflects the values of The Miss Universe Organization,” pageant officials said in a statement, adding that Hay was “in a different place in her life” when she posted the tweets. “Karlie learned many lessons through those personal struggles that reshaped her life and values. We as an organization are committed to supporting her continued growth.”
Miss Universe officials pointed to an apology Hay posted on Twitter and Instagram, in which she admitted using language that she wasn’t proud of and “is not representative of who I am as a person.”
