(THIS ARTICLE IS COURTESY OF THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
Donald Trump Jr.’s wife Vanessa files for divorce
Like father, like son.
Donald Trump Jr.’s wife has filed for divorce.
Vanessa Trump and Donald Trump Jr. attend The Breast Cancer Research Foundation 2015 Pink Carpet Party at The Waldorf-Astoria in this 2015 file photo.
(BENNETT RAGLIN/GETTY IMAGES)
Vanessa Trump married Trump Jr. in 2005. They have five children.
The reasons for the divorce filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court were not clear. The divorce was listed as “uncontested,” indicating the split was amicable. Trump Jr. has been traveling extensively while running his father’s business with his brother, Eric.
A woman and two children were killed before a police officer was injured during a six-hour standoff with a gunman who barricaded himself inside an apartment on Christmas Day.A woman with a gunshot wound was found dead at 3:45 p.m. outside the apartment in Phoenix, Ariz., in what appears to be a domestic violence incident, according to Sgt. Jonathan Howard.
The man then barricaded himself inside the apartment with an infant and an 11-year-old while authorities negotiated with him in hopes of rescuing the two children, the Arizona Republic reported.
When police realized the baby was dead, they deployed an explosive and tried to make entry, prompting the gunman to open fire, the Republic reported.
Police are on the scene on Christmas night, December 25, 2017, after a man shot and killed a woman and two children in the afternoon at the Highland Apartments, 1601 E. Highland St. in Phoenix, Arizona.
(12 NEWS/KPNX)
A police officer was injured by shrapnel in the resulting shootout and transported to the hospital in stable condition, Howard said.
The gunman, who did not appear to be injured, was taken into custody around 10 p.m. local time, according to police.
He was visiting Phoenix for Christmas and had a relationship with the woman, although police did not clarify their status, the Republic reported.
A police officer who was injured in the resulting shootout was transported to the hospital in stable condition, Howard said. The gunman, who was not injured, was taken into custody.
(ABC 15 NEWS)
Both children were found dead inside the apartment. It remains unclear when they were fatally shot, although Howard said it was possible all three killings occurred Monday afternoon.
Kristen Alexander, who was escorted back to her apartment in the Highland Apartment complex after spending more than five hours outside in a parking lot, told the Republic, “I’m terrified of who our neighbors are.”
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White House senior adviser Jared Kushner suggested backchannel communications between the Trump transition and Russia, Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak reportedly said.
(EVAN VUCCI/AP)
Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner wanted to create a backchannel communications link between the President’s transition and the Kremlin, according to alleged discussions reported Friday.Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak told other officials in Moscow that Kushner had suggested the backchannel after a meeting at Trump Tower that also included future National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, according to the Washington Post.
Friday night’s report, based off of information from U.S. officials, came the same day that the Post reported that the Senate Intelligence Committee probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election had requested documents from the Trump campaign.
A letter from the committee, one of the four main inquiries into the election interference and possible Trump campaign collusion, asked for all documents going back to 2015, the Post reported.
The investigations into the meddling and potential collusion have accelerated in recent weeks after the firing of FBI Director James Comey, who confirmed the FBI investigation in March and reportedly resisted pressure from Trump to end it’s look at Flynn.
Flynn and former Trump campaign chair Manafort are believed to be targets of the investigation, though multiple outlets reported Thursday that Kushner was considered a person of interest.
Team Trump had previously confirmed the meeting between Kushner, Flynn and Kislyak, but has said it was not out of the ordinary.
The Post report Friday was based off of conversations Kislyak had with other Russian officials, and the Americans involved did not comment.
Sergey Kislyak reportedly told superiors about the potential of a backchannel after a December meeting.
(CLIFF OWEN/AP)
It is not unusual for incoming presidential administrations to meet with foreign leaders, though before the December meeting the Kremlin had been accused of orchestrating a campaign to influence the November election.
A joint intelligence community report released in January said that the effort was aimed at helping Trump.
Kushner had originally failed to report his meeting with Vladimir Putin’s man in America on his application for a security clearance, but his lawyer said that the documents were submitted prematurely and his client would inform authorities in an interview.
A potential backchannel between the Trump team and the U.S.’s former Cold War foe had previously been raised by a report in April, when the Post reported that controversial Blackwater founder Erik Prince, also Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s brother, had acted as a go-between in January.
Prince reportedly acted as an envoy for Trump in a secretive meeting with unidentified emissary from Putin in the Seychelles, remote islands in the Indian Ocean, though Prince and the White House denied that he was sent by the incoming adminitration.
The Post reported Friday that the Kushner-Kislyak conversation in December talked about a Trump representative meeting a “Russian contact.”
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Late-night funnyman David Letterman was hardly a barrel of laughs off the air.A new biography of the now-retired talk show host portrays Letterman as more self-loathing than self-critical — and an often miserable man who inflicted his pain on his staff.
“He was never truly comfortable unless he was seething with unhappiness at something,” one longtime writer told author Jason Zinoman in “Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night.”
In fact, few of the acerbic Letterman’s close colleagues sang his praises to Zinoman.
Letterman’s demeanor soured after July 1995, when his CBS front-running program dipped to second place behind “The Tonight Show” with former friend-turned-enemy Jay Leno.
Letterman infamously sucked on a strand of Jennifer Aniston’s hair.
(CBS)
Viewers flipped to NBC when Leno landed an interview with actor Hugh Grant, fresh off his arrest for soliciting a hooker improbably named Divine Brown.
Many never returned, curdling Letterman’s on-air persona.
He became more openly caustic as his comedy took a sadistic turn. One night, after his “Late Show” was whipped in the ratings by both “The Tonight Show” and “Nightline,” his rage visibly surfaced.
A comedy bit called for a life-size Letterman doll to sit in the guest’s chair. Seemingly on the spur of the moment, Letterman punched the doll — to much audience laughter.
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The laughs continued as he landed a few more blows. And then the 580-seat theater went silent when Letterman fell into a frenzy of punching and slapping his plastic alter ego.
Obviously, something was wrong with Dave.
“People don’t understand why you’re behaving the way you’re behaving,” said Rob Burnett, a trusted colleague and the head of Letterman’s Worldwide Pants production company, in a candid chat with his boss.
Letterman’s anger wasn’t all directed inward, and he became upset with pretty much everyone on the show.
A retired Letterman sporting a fierce beard.
(SPLASH NEWS/SPLASH NEWS)
Burnett returned as executive producer, but things became strained. His unique ability to manage his boss’ dark moods ended with a “falling-out,” according to Burnett.
Their relationship eroded to the point where they were barely speaking. According to a veteran producer, “everything changed after that.”
A veteran staffer who served under Letterman through both his late-night shows observed that getting close to the boss was perilous: “There comes a moment when he turns on you.”
The tale of Tim Long, one of several head writers hired during the show’s run, was typical. Unable to deal with the host’s constant rejections and dark moods, Long took to chewing Coke cans — and swallowing pieces of tin.
Competitor Jay Leno leapt to fame after viewers flipped to watch his interview with actor Hugh Grant, fresh off a prostitution sting. Letterman lost a chunk of viewers to Leno and his more affable personality.
(GETTY IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES)
Even the famously mellow Paul Shaffer lashed out at Letterman one night when Todd Rundgren sat in with the band.
Letterman kept pushing and needling, trying to get Rundgren to do more than the one number done in rehearsal.
“The cat flies in to do us a favor and you just want what you want,” Shaffer yelled at his boss.
It embarrassed Shaffer so much the moment was cut from the show before airing, even though Letterman said he was fine with it.
Letterman chatted with racing icon Mario Andretti before the start of the 2007 Indy 500.
(MICHAEL HICKEY/WIREIMAGE)
The irony: Letterman was miserable even when his ratings put the show at No. 1 in late-night viewers. In 1993, he walked away from NBC after the network chose Leno to succeed Johnny Carson, taking the 11:30 p.m. slot on rival CBS for his “Late Show With David Letterman.”
CBS offered Letterman a then-record deal with a $16 million annual salary. The payoff was immediate as Letterman seized the ratings lead against the once-invincible “Tonight.”
Yet Letterman remained miserable. “He always complained from the very beginning,” recalled one producer.
Letterman appeared alongside girlfriend Merrill Markoe during a 1982 photo shoot.
(GEORGE ROSE/GETTY IMAGES)
“It got worse when he went to CBS,” recalled Shaffer. “Any flaw, minor flaw, he exaggerated. He was most uncomfortable at No. 1.”
Comic Rich Hall, a writer for Letterman’s NBC show, was floored by the host’s new, abrasive nature when he appeared as a guest. Hall followed actress Andie MacDowell, who had just flopped in her segment. Before the cameras came on, Letterman leaned over and snarled, “How’d you like to be married to that c—?”
What the author calls Letterman’s “ferocious fear of failure” was there from the first.
In those days, the acid-tongued Letterman would hang out, trading barbs with the writers. His targets learned not to return in kind, as the hurt would show on Letterman’s face.
Letterman shakes hands with late-night predecessor Johnny Carson.
(STEVE FRIEDMAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
“He was very sensitive,” says Barbara Gaines, a producer who remained with Letterman until his 2015 retirement.
By the end of the ’80s, Letterman was the king of hip and cool. He now smoked cigars and assumed “a statelier air.” Notably, he no longer made a show of despising celebrities, as he had for a decade.
When Barbara Walters booked him as a guest interview on one of her specials, he walked around the office openly expressing his admiration for her.
“What happened, Dave?” asked head writer Steven O’Donnell.
Letterman at a 1982 NBC reception honoring the announcement of his show.
(AP)
“They are like my peers now,” the host told him.
It was during that era that Letterman started abruptly turning on longtime, trusted colleagues. Barry Sand, a producer and ally since the morning show, suddenly could do nothing right.
After a guest canceled at the last minute, Sand scrambled and was able to book Mel Gibson — then at the height of his fame. Letterman turned on the producer and snarled, “Who the hell wants Mel Gibson? I don’t want Mel Gibson.”
By the time he was an eminence grise on CBS, he became “crudely sexual” in his interviews. The camera would slowly pan over the legs of Aniston or Gwen Stefani as he delivered lascivious comments.
Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night
“He seemed like a pervy old man at times,” says one of his head writers, Eric Stangel.
Even before the 2009 scandal when an affair with an assistant exposed Letterman to an extortion try, the host interacted infrequently with most of the show staff.
The only trusted colleagues were those who had worked with Letterman for decades — at least, those left standing.
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