Nightly Brief

Top CNS stories for today including a newly released transcript from the Paul Manafort case shows that prosecutors have accused the former Trump campaign manager of working with alleged Russian spy Konstantin Kilimnik during the 2016 presidential race and well after his own indictment; Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker told lawmakers he has not discussed Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation with President Donald Trump or with any senior officials at the White House; The European Union called for new elections in Venezuela but stopped short of recognizing the opposition leader as the interim president, and more.

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National

1.) A newly released transcript from the Paul Manafort case shows that prosecutors have accused the former Trump campaign manager of working with alleged Russian spy Konstantin Kilimnik during the 2016 presidential race and well after his own indictment.

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker listens to a question from Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., as he appears before the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, Friday, Feb. 8, 2019, in Washington. Democrats are eager to press him on his interactions with President Donald Trump and his oversight of the special counsel's Russia investigation. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

2.) During hours of contentious testimony Friday, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker told lawmakers he has not discussed Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation with President Donald Trump or with any senior officials at the White House.

FILE - In this Sept. 22, 2016, file photo, employees of the Fulton County Election Preparation Center in Atlanta test electronic voting machines. Voting integrity advocates had argued Georgia's electronic voting machines are unreliable and vulnerable to hacking, but a federal judge says forcing the state to change its system to paper ballots before the midterm elections is too risky. (AP Photo/Alex Sanz, File)

3.) Cautious about the government’s efforts to safeguard the 2020 presidential race, election-security experts worry that the job is too formidable to finish in the time that remains.

Highway 1 and the Pacific Ocean. (Chris Marshall/CNS)

4.) In his latest dispatch, Courthouse News’ western bureau chief goes for a hike at a fishing camp in Northern California.

Regional

Heidi Lilley poses on June 2, 2016, near the spot where she was arrested by the Laconia, N.H., police. New Hampshire's highest court has upheld the conviction of Lilley and two other women who went topless at Weirs Beach. In a 3-2 ruling Friday, the court found Laconia's ordinance does not discriminate on the basis of gender or violate the women's right to free speech. (Geoff Forester/The Concord Monitor via AP)

5.) Slamming a razor-thin vote that upheld a New Hampshire beach town’s ban on topless women, the dissenting justices accused the majority Friday of upending the safeguards of equal protection.

FILE - In this Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018, file photo, people cast their ballots ahead of the Nov. 6, general election at Jim Miller Park, in Marietta, Ga. Long lines, broken voting machines and poll worker confusion are all common at polling places across the country on Election Day. With more people voting early, some of these issues are already popping up in this year’s midterm election. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

6.) The 11th Circuit ruled that Georgia election officials must face a lawsuit from voters who say the integrity of elections is compromised by hack-prone electronic voting machines.

7.) A class of horse buyers claims several Kentucky veterinarians altered x-rays and then destroyed the medical records to conceal the true condition of horses sold at auction at the world-renowned Keeneland Racecourse.

International

8.) The European Union this week called for new elections in Venezuela but stopped short of recognizing the opposition leader as the interim president, as the escalating crisis in the country becomes a source of political division in Europe.

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