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A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 18 February 2023

Military finishes recovering Chinese balloon debris

By TARA COPP and LOLITA the first known peacetime
C. BALDOR shootdowns of unauthor-
Associated Press ized objects in U.S. air-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The space.
U.S. has finished efforts to The officials also said the
recover the remnants of search for the small air-
the large balloon that was borne object that was shot
shot down off the coast of down over Lake Huron has
South Carolina, and analy- stopped, and nothing has
sis of the debris so far rein- been recovered. U.S. of-
forces conclusions that it ficials spoke on condition
was a Chinese spy balloon, of anonymity to discuss
U.S. officials said Friday. military operations. The U.S.
Officials said the U.S. be- and Canada have also
lieves that Navy, Coast failed to recover any debris
Guard and FBI personnel so far from the other two
collected all of the balloon objects which were shot
debris off the ocean floor, down over the Yukon and
which included key equip- northern Alaska.
ment from the payload While the military is confi-
that could reveal what in- dent the balloon shot down
formation it was able to off South Carolina was a
monitor and collect. White surveillance airship oper-
House national security In this image released by the U.S. Navy, sailors assigned to Assault Craft Unit 4 prepare material ated by China, the Biden
spokesman John Kirby said recovered off the coast of Myrtle Beach, S.C., in the Atlantic Ocean from the shooting down of a administration has admit-
Chinese high-altitude balloon, for transport to the FBI, at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in
a significant amount of de- Virginia Beach, Va., on Feb. 10, 2023. ted that the three smaller
bris was recovered and it Associated Press objects were likely civil-
included “electronics and ian-owned balloons that
optics” from the payload. said in a statement that itime restrictions off South borne objects the large were targeted during the
He declined to say what, the recovery operations Carolina have been lifted. Chinese balloon on Feb. heightened response, after
if anything, the U.S. has ended Thursday and the fi- The announcement 4 and three much smaller U.S. homeland defense ra-
learned from the wreckage nal pieces are on their way capped three dramatic objects about a week lat- dars were recalibrated to
so far. to the FBI lab in Virginia for weeks that saw U.S. fighter er over Canada, Alaska detect slower moving air-
U.S. Northern Command analysis. It said air and mar- jets shoot down four air- and Lake Huron. They are borne items.q

Trump lawyers try to ban ‘Access Hollywood’ tape from trial

By LARRY NEUMEISTER ba and Michael Madaio cial” and said it might un- Trump has vehemently de- In the tape, he said that
Associated Press filed papers in Manhattan justly be used to suggest to nied it, sometimes angrily, sometimes when he sees
NEW YORK (AP) — Attor- federal court late Thursday jurors that Trump had a pro- in public statements. beautiful women: “I just
neys for Donald Trump seeking to block references pensity for sexual assault In an October deposition for start kissing them. It’s like
want to ban from his up- to the 2005 taped encoun- and therefore must have the upcoming trial, Trump a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t
coming civil rape trial the ter and the tape itself from raped Carroll. They also was dismissive of Carroll’s even wait.” And he added
“Access Hollywood” tape an April trial stemming from asked to prevent testimony claims, saying: “Physically that, “When you’re a star,
in which the former presi- the claims of longtime ad- from two women who have she’s not my type,” though they let you do it. You can
dent boasts graphically vice columnist E. Jean Car- accused Trump of sexual he misidentified her as an do anything,” including
about how celebrities can roll. misconduct and to ban ref- ex-wife of his when he was grabbing women between
molest women. They called the tape “irrel- erences to his campaign shown a photograph. their legs.
Trump attorneys Alina Hab- evant and highly prejudi- speeches. Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Afterward, he issued a rare
Carroll, 79, sued Trump in Kaplan, confronted him apology, saying the com-
November after New York with claims that two dozen ments were “locker room
state temporarily changed other women have made banter” caught on a hot
laws to allow adult rape against him, asking if any of mic.
victims to sue their abus- them are true. In her lawsuit, Carroll said
ers, even if the attacks oc- “I would say. I mean, I don’t she had a chance encoun-
curred decades ago. A see any. ter with Trump that escalat-
trial is set for April 24, and I mean, you haven’t shown ed into playful banter as he
Trump and Carroll are both me anything,” Trump re- asked her to help him pick
expected to testify. sponded, according to the out lingerie for a friend. She
Carroll, a former columnist transcript. said they teased each oth-
for Elle magazine, said in His answers might increase er to try on a piece of linge-
her 2019 book “What Do the relevance of lewd rie and went into the dress-
We Need Men For?” that comments he made on the ing room, where Trump
Trump raped her in late “Access Hollywood” tape, became violent and raped
1995 or early 1996 in the which was revealed just her.
In this March 4, 2020, file photo, E. Jean Carroll talks to reporters dressing room of Bergdorf weeks before he won the Her lawyer declined to
outside a courthouse in New York. Goodman, a luxury Man- November 2016 presiden- comment Friday.q
Associated Press hattan department store. tial election.