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The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Monday, November 19, 2018 3A
Searchers in California
fires step up efforts
ahead of forecast rain
BY SUDHIN THANAWALA
AND TERENCE CHEA
Associated Press
CHICO, Calif. — Searchers combing
a Northern California town leveled by a
deadly wildfire stepped up their efforts Sun
day ahead of rains forecast later this week
in the fire zone where 76 bodies have been
recovered so far.
While the rain would help tamp down
the blaze, it could also turn the area into a
muddy mess and hinder efforts to find the
remains of more victims in the town of
Paradise.
Authorities said late Saturday that 1,300
names remain on a list of people who are
unaccounted for more than a week after
the fire began in Butte County. Authorities
stressed that the long roster does not mean
they believe all those on the list are missing.
Sheriff Kory Honea pleaded with evacu
ees to review the list of those reported as
unreachable by family and friends and to
call the department if those people are safe.
Deputies have located hundreds of peo
ple to date, but the overall number keeps
growing because they are adding more
names, including those from the chaotic
early hours of the disaster, Honea said.
“Anytime you add a new element —
rain, wind, all those kinds of things — you
start disturbing things, spreading things
around,” Honea said Saturday. “As much as
I wish that we could get through all of this
before the rains come, I don’t know if that’s
possible.”
Honea said it was within the “realm of
possibility” that officials would never know
the exact death toll from the blaze.
Hundreds of search and recovery per
sonnel from around the state are working
to find remains, going to homes when they
receive tips that someone might have died
there.
But they are also doing a more compre
hensive, “door-to-door” and “car-to-car”
search of areas, said Joe Moses, a com
mander with the Monterey County Sheriff’s
Office, who is helping oversee the search
and rescue effort.
The search area is huge, Moses said, with
many structures that need to be checked.
The fire also burned many places to the
ground, creating a landscape unique to
many search-and- rescue personnel, he said.
“Here we’re looking for very small parts
and pieces, and so we have to be very dili
gent and systematic in how we do your
searches,” he said Friday.
The remains of five more people were
found Saturday, including four in Paradise
and one in nearby Concow, bringing the
number of dead to 76.
Among them was Lolene Rios, 56, whose
son Jed tearfully told KXTV in Sacramento
that his mother had an “endless amount of
love” for him.
President Donald Trump toured the area
Saturday, joined by California’s outgoing
and incoming governors, both Democrats
who have traded sharp barbs with the
Republican administration.
The president also visited Southern Cali
fornia, where firefighters were making
progress on a wildfire that tore through
communities west of Los Angeles from
Thousand Oaks to Malibu, killing three
people.
“We’ve never seen anything like this in
California, we’ve never seen anything like
this yet. It’s like total devastation,” Trump
said as he stood amid the ruins of Paradise
and pledged the full support of the federal
government.
Soon after the fire began, Trump blamed
state officials for poor forest management
and threatened to cut off federal funding.
“He’s got our back,” outgoing Gov. Jerry
Brown said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the
Nation.”
“There have been some back and forth
between California leaders and the presi
dent,” Brown said. “But in the face of trag
edy, people tend to rise above some of their
lesser propensities. So I think we’re on a
good path.”
He also suggested California’s severe
wildfires will make believers of even the
most ardent climate change skeptics “in less
than five years,” and that those living near
forests might need to build underground
shelters to protect them from fires.
Rain was forecast for midweek in the
Paradise area. The National Weather Ser
vice said the area could get 20 mph sus
tained winds and 40 mph gusts, which could
make it hard for crews to keep making prog
ress against the blaze.
Northern California’s Camp Fire has
destroyed nearly 10,000 homes and torched
233 square miles (603 square kilometers). It
was 55 percent contained.
Honea expressed hope that Trump’s visit
would help with recovery, saying the tour
by the Republican president and Califor
nia’s Democratic leaders “signals a spirit
of cooperation here that ultimately benefit
this community and get us on a path toward
recovery.”
Nelson concedes to Scott
as Florida recount ends
BY GARY FINE0UT
Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.
— Democratic Sen. Bill
Nelson, a Florida political
icon whose career highlight
may have been a trip on the
space shuttle, conceded his
bitterly close re-election
bid to Republican Rick
Scott on Sunday, ceding a
razor-thin race to the outgo
ing governor after a tense
and sometimes turbulent
recount.
Nelson gave up his quest
to further his longevity in
power after days of acri
mony and tense recounting
leading to a midday Sunday
deadline for Florida’s coun
ties to turn in their official
results. Florida will not offi
cially certify the final totals
until Tuesday, but the totals
showed Nelson trailing
Scott by slightly more than
10,000 votes.
“It has been a rewarding
journey as well as a very
humbling experience,”
said Nelson in a statement.
“I was not victorious in
this race but I still wish to
strongly re-affirm the cause
for which we fought: A pub
lic office is a public trust.”
The stunning close of
nearly two weeks of high
political drama in the presi
dential swing state likely
spelled the end of the politi
cal career of the 76-year-old
Nelson. First elected to Con
gress nearly 40 years ago,
Nelson had been a Demo
cratic survivor in an era
WILFREDO LEE I Associated Press
A Republican observer looks at a ballot during a hand
recount at the Broward County Supervisor of Elections
office in Lauderhill, Fla., Friday, Nov. 16. Florida Republican
Gov. Rick Scott is leading incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson in
the states contentious Senate race.
when Republicans swept to
power in Florida. He went
on to his first election in the
U.S. Senate in 2000 and was
making his fourth attempt
at re-election.
For Scott, who was
urged by President Donald
Trump to challenge Nelson,
it was his third narrow vic
tory after jumping into poli
tics eight years ago.
“Now the campaign truly
is behind us, and that’s
where we need to leave it,”
Scott said in a statement.
“We must do what Ameri
cans have always done:
come together for the good
of our state and our coun
try. My focus will not be on
looking backward, but on
doing exactly what I ran on:
making Washington work. ”
Trump congratulated
Scott on his victory on
Twitter: “From day one
Rick Scott never wavered.
He was a great Governor
and will be even a greater
Senator in representing the
People of Florida. Congrat
ulations to Rick on having
waged such a courageous
and successful campaign!”
After it became clear
that the race between Nel
son and Scott would head to
a legally required recount,
Nelson and Democrats
filed several lawsuits that
challenged everything
from Scott’s authority over
the state’s election division
to deadlines for mail-in
ballots.
EMRAH GURELI Associated Press
A man holds a poster, Friday, Nov. 16, showing images of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed
bin Salman and of journalist writer Jamal Khashoggi, describing the prince as “assassin” and
Khashoggi as “martyr” during funeral prayers in absentia for Khashoggi who was killed last
month in the Saudi Arabia consulate, in Istanbul.
Thimp on Khashoggi
death tape: ‘No reason
lor me to listen to it’
BY DEB RIECHMANN AND
JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Presi
dent Donald Trump said
there is no reason for him to
listen to a recording of the
“very violent, very vicious”
killing of Saudi journalist
Jamal Khashoggi, which has
put him in a diplomatic bind:
how to admonish Riyadh
for the slaying yet maintain
strong ties with a close ally.
Trump, in an interview
that aired Sunday, made
clear that the audio record
ing, supplied by the Turkish
government, would not affect
his response to the Oct. 2 kill
ing of Khashoggi, a columnist
for The Washington Post who
had been critical of the Saudi
royal family.
“It’s a suffering tape, it’s a
terrible tape. I’ve been fully
briefed on it, there’s no rea
son for me to hear it, ” Trump
said in the interview with
“Fox News Sunday.” ”1 know
everything that went on in
the tape without having to
hear it.”
On Saturday, Trump said
his administration will “be
having a very full report over
the next two days, probably
Monday or Tuesday.” He
said the report will include
“who did it.” It was unclear
if the report would be made
public.
American intelligence
agencies have concluded that
the crown prince ordered the
killing in the Saudi Consulate
in Turkey, according to a
U.S. official familiar with the
assessment. The official was
not authorized to discuss the
matter publicly and spoke
on condition of anonym
ity. Others familiar with the
case caution that while it’s
likely the crown prince was
involved in the death, there
continue to be questions
about what role he played.
Trump noted to “Fox
News Sunday” that the
crown prince has repeatedly
denied being involved in the
killing inside the Saudi Con
sulate in Istanbul.
“Will anybody really
know?” Trump asked. “At
the same time, we do have an
ally, and I want to stick with
an ally that in many ways has
been very good.”
A Republican member
of the Senate intelligence
committee said that so far,
there is no “smoking gun”
linking the crown prince to
the killing. Sen. Roy Blunt of
Missouri, who has received
a confidential intelligence
briefing on the matter, told
ABC that “it’s hard to imag
ine” that the crown prince
didn’t know about the killing,
but he said, “I don’t know that
we absolutely know that yet. ”
He said that Congress will
await the Trump administra
tion’s report in the next two
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days and that the U.S. will
need to be clear about the
ramifications of sanctions,
given Saudi Arabia’s strate
gic role in the Middle East.
For his part, Sen. Lindsey
Graham, a Trump ally, said
the crown prince has been a
“wrecking ball” in the rela
tionship between the U.S. and
Saudi Arabia.
“I hate to say that because
I had a lot of hope for him
being the reformer that
Saudi Arabia needs, but that
ship has sailed as far as Lind
sey Graham’s concerned,”
the South Carolina Repub
lican told NBC’s “Meet the
Press.”
“I have no intention of
working with him ever
again,” said Graham, who is
in line to be the next chair
man of the Senate Judiciary
Committee.
Intelligence officials have
been providing information
to Trump for weeks about
the death, and he was briefed
again by phone Saturday by
CIA Director Gina Haspel
and Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo as he flew to Cali
fornia. White House press
secretary Sarah Huckabee
Sanders provided no details
of his call but said the presi
dent has confidence in the
CIA.
“The United States gov
ernment is determined
to hold all those respon
sible for the killing of Jamal
Khashoggi accountable,” the
State Department said in a
statement. “Recent reports
indicating that the U.S. gov
ernment has made a final
conclusion are inaccurate.
There remain numerous
unanswered questions with
respect to the murder of Mr.
Khashoggi.”
The statement added:
“The U.S. government has
taken decisive measures
against the individuals
responsible, including visa
and sanctions actions. We
will continue to explore addi
tional measures to hold those
accountable who planned,
led and were connected to
the murder. And, we will do
that while maintaining the
important strategic relation
ship between the United
States and Saudi Arabia.”
Before his call on Air
Force One, Trump told
reporters that when it came
to the crown prince, “as of
this moment we were told
that he did not play a role.
We’re going to have to find
out what they have to say.”
That echoed remarks by
national security adviser
John Bolton, who said earlier
this week that people who
have listened to an audio
recording of the killing do not
think it implicates the crown
prince.
Trump has called the kill
ing a botched operation that
was carried out very poorly
and has said “the cover-
up was one of the worst
cover-ups in the history of
cover-ups.”
But he has resisted calls
to cut off arms sales to the
kingdom and has been reluc
tant to antagonize the Saudi
rulers. Trump considers the
Saudis vital allies in his Mid
east agenda.
But members of Congress
are pushing Trump for a
tougher response to the kill
ing. The administration this
past week penalized 17 Saudi
officials for their alleged role
in the killing, but American
lawmakers have called on
the administration to curtail
arms sales to Saudi Arabia or
take other harsher punitive
measures.
Turkish and Saudi authori
ties say Khashoggi, a Saudi
who lived in the United
States, was killed inside the
consulate by a team from the
kingdom after he went there
to get marriage documents.
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