Friday morning news, February 7, 2020

Trump celebrates acquittal, blasts Democrats at White House, Prayer Breakfast » President Trump spoke out Thursday about his impeachment and his acquittal on those House charges. 

TRUMP: This is really not a news conference. It’s not a speech. It’s not anything. It’s just we’re sort of—it’s a celebration because we have something that just worked out. 

In remarks at the White House, the president thanked his attorneys and the lawmakers who supported him. He also chastised Democratic leaders who led the effort to remove him from office, calling them “vicious and mean.”

And with that, he picked up where he left off hours earlier at the National Prayer Breakfast. 

TRUMP: As everybody knows, my family, our great country, and your president have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people. 

He said Democrats did everything they could to destroy him, and hurt the country in the process. He delivered those remarks as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sat just a few feet away. 

And he seemed to single out Pelosi when he said he doesn’t like people—quote, “who say ‘I pray for you’ when they know that that’s not so.”

Pelosi later responded, telling reporters…

PELOSI: He can say whatever he wants. He can say whatever he wants, but I do pray for him, and I do so sincerely. 

The speaker criticized Trump’s comments at the prayer breakfast, saying it wasn’t the time or the place for political jabs. 

DNC chair calls for “recanvass” of Iowa results » Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez on Thursday called for a “recanvass” of the results from Iowa’s caucuses. He said officials have to take steps to “assure public confidence” after three days of technical issues and delays.

He wrote on Twitter, “Enough is enough.”

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are nearly tied for the lead. Both candidates have declared victory. Sanders declared on Thursday…

SANDERS: Our campaign is winning the popular initial vote by some 6,000 votes.

But official totals give Buttigieg the slightest of advantages—26.2 percent to 26.1 for Sanders. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren is holding at about 18 percent with Joe Biden at 16 percent. 

Chinese doctor reprimanded for early coronavirus warning dies from the virus » A Chinese doctor who got in trouble with China’s communist government for sounding an early warning about the coronavirus has died from that very virus. 

The Wuhan Central Hospital announced Thursday that ophthalmologist Li Wenliang was “unfortunately infected during the fight against the pneumonia epidemic of the new coronavirus infection.”

Li was reprimanded by local police for “spreading rumors” about the illness in late December. 

Meantime, American evacuees from the infection zone in China are waiting out their 14-day quarantine at multiple military bases, including joint base Lackland in San Antonio. The CDC’s Dr. Jennifer Mcquiston told reporters… 

MCQUISTON: While these evacuees are here, every precaution is going to be taken to quarantine them and isolate them from the base community and the San Antonio community. And we’re doing this to prevent transmission. 

Hundreds of Americans have arrived from Wuhan and surrounding areas over the past two days. 

The outbreak has now sickened 28,000 people globally and killed more than 560 people.  

NASA’s astronaut returns after marathon mission in space » NASA astronaut Christina Koch spent nearly 11 months in orbit on the longest spaceflight by a woman. But she’s home now, along with two of her International Space Station crew mates.

NASA live-streamed the landing of their Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan on Thursday.

AUDIO: Well after 321 days in space, and 139 million miles for Christina Koch, and 201 days in space, 85 million miles for Luca Parmitano and Alexander Skvortsov, the Expedition 61 crew is officially home. 

Koch’s marathon mission on her first flight into space gives researchers the chance to observe the effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman. The study is important since NASA plans to return to the moon and prepare for human exploration of Mars.

Venezuelan government rounds up six American execs after Guaidó White House meeting » Venezuelan police rounded up six American oil executives, placing them under house arrest just hours after President Trump met opposition leader Juan Guaidó at the White House. WORLD Radio’s Kristen Flavin has that story. 

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Family members of the detainees say intelligence police took them from their homes Wednesday night. The six men work at Houston-based Citgo. Their current whereabouts are unknown. 

The move comes two months after the men were granted house arrest after two years behind bars on what U.S. officials call trumped-up charges.

Disputed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro condemned Trump’s embrace of Guaidó this week. And socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello vowed to retaliate for the meeting.

Guaidó was an honored guest at President Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night. 

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Kristen Flavin.

DOJ to probe Mississippi prisons after string of inmate deaths » The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the Mississippi prison system after a string of inmate deaths.

Federal prosecutors are looking into conditions at several state prisons after 15 inmates died at those facilities since late December. The probe will examine whether state corrections officials are protecting prisoners from physical harm. It will also look into whether prisons have adequate health care and suicide prevention services.

The Justice Department said its civil rights division will mainly focus on conditions at four prisons—including the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, where most of the deaths occurred.

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci) President Donald Trump holds up a newspaper tat reads “Trump acquitted” during during an event celebrating his impeachment acquittal, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, in Washington. 

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