The nation in brief

Visitors tour the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday in Washington.
(AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
Visitors tour the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday in Washington. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

Publisher delays Bolton's book release

NEW YORK -- The publisher of John Bolton's memoir has pushed back the release date from March 17 to mid-May.

Simon & Schuster cited the ongoing government security review of the former national security adviser's book, The Room Where It Happened.

The new date is May 12, the publisher said in a news release.

"The new date reflects the fact that the government review of the work is ongoing," Simon & Schuster said.

The Associated Press reported last November that Bolton had reached a $2 million deal with Simon & Schuster. The book focuses on Bolton's contentious time in the Trump administration, and it's expected to contain allegations that President Donald Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden, according to previous news reports. The issue was at the center of the impeachment proceedings against the president. In February, the Senate acquitted Trump.

Trump has denied the allegations.

Bolton was widely criticized for not sharing details from his book during the impeachment hearings. He stated his willingness to testify during Trump's trial, but Senate Republicans rejected calls to hear from any additional witnesses.

2 men guilty of photographing base

KEY WEST, Fla. -- Two Chinese men pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally taking photographs at a Florida Navy base.

Court records show Jielun Zhang and Yuhao Wang, both 24, pleaded guilty in federal court in Key West to a single count of illegally photographing a U.S. defense installation.

They could get up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. Sentencing is set for May 11.

An FBI affidavit says Wang and Zhang drove up to a Naval Air Station Key West annex entrance on Jan. 4 and were told by a security officer that they could not enter the property without military identification. But the two drove onto the base anyway, and they started taking pictures before they were stopped and arrested, the FBI says.

Since 2018, four Chinese citizens have been caught taking pictures of portions of Key West military bases.

One of them, Lyuyou Liao, 27, pleaded guilty in February to taking photos of the Navy's Truman Annex in downtown Key West on Dec. 26. He faces fines and up to a year in prison when he's sentenced in May.

Mexican in spy case pleads innocent

MIAMI -- A Mexican scientist pleaded innocent Tuesday to U.S. charges that he spied for Russia in Miami.

The plea was entered during a brief hearing by Ronald Gainor, attorney for 35-year-old Hector Cabrera Fuentes. Cabrera stood nearby in chains and a tan jail outfit but did not speak.

Cabrera was indicted on a charge of acting as a Russian agent without registering as required with the U.S. attorney general. He is not charged with espionage, but the count he faces carries a potential prison sentence of 10 years.

Cabrera, a microbiologist, had been working as an associate professor at the medical school jointly run by Duke University and the National University of Singapore, and he was working in Singapore. He said at a previous hearing that his contract there has been terminated.

According to an FBI affidavit, a Russian government official tasked Cabrera with tracking down a vehicle owned by a U.S. government informant in the Miami area and taking a photo of its license plate.

The FBI says Cabrera and his wife went to a condominium complex on Valentine's Day to take the photo and were recorded by surveillance video. They attracted the notice of security by driving directly behind another car through a gate, authorities said.

Cabrera is being held without bail. No trial date has been set.

File details robbery of casino winners

Two men were robbed of more than $40,000 worth of winnings in December and one was shot after masked assailants followed them home from the MGM National Harbor casino and attacked them in Virginia, according to new details in a search warrant.

Prince William County police had previously disclosed the Dec. 19 incident but not the size of the losses or many details of how the robbery unfolded. The victims won $39,000 and $3,000, respectively, while playing blackjack at the Oxon Hill, Md., casino, according to the search warrant.

Surveillance video in the casino showed people following the victims through the casino and to a parking garage after they cashed out their winnings, detectives wrote.

The two were followed until one of the victims dropped the other off at his home in Woodbridge, Va. There, the driver was forcefully removed from the vehicle by two men with handguns. The driver was hit on the head about 20 times and shot in the left arm before the masked men took the $39,000 in cash from him, police said.

A third masked man put a gun to the other victim's back and forced him to lie on the ground, before taking the $3,000 in winnings from him. The robbers then fled in a gray SUV.

Prince William County police have identified suspects in the case, but they have not been charged.

A Section on 03/04/2020

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