The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST):
10:20 p.m.
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is defending the syndicated talk show host Monica Crowley, named as a communications specialist for the incoming administration, against plagiarism accusations.
CNN reports that Crowley plagiarized large sections of her 2012 book, „What The (Bleep) Just Happened. “
In its report, CNN says it found more than 50 examples of plagiarism from numerous sources, including copying with no changes or minimal changes from news articles, other columnists and think tanks.
The publisher, HarperCollins‘ Broadside Books, had no comment on the CNN report.
Crowley has been named Trump’s director of communications for the White House’s National Security Council.
In response to the CNN report, a Trump transition spokesperson commended Crowley for her „exceptional insight and thoughtful work on how to turn this country around“ and said that is „exactly why she will be serving in the administration. “
The Trump transition team says any attempt to discredit Crowley „is nothing more than a politically motivated attack that seeks to distract from the real issues facing this country. “
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President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is defending Monica Crowley, a syndicated talk show host named as a communications specialist for the incoming administration, against claims by CNN that she plagiarized large sections of a 2012 book.
Monica’s exceptional insight and thoughtful work on how to turn this country around is exactly why she will be serving in the Administration,“ according to a statement from a transition spokesperson quoted by CNN. „HarperCollins-one of the largest and most respected publishers in the world-published her book which has become a national best-seller. Any attempt to discredit Monica is nothing more than a politically motivated attack that seeks to distract from the real issues facing this country. “
Crowley has been named Trump’s senior director of strategic communications for the National Security Council.
A CNN review of Crowley’s June 2012 book, „What The (Bleep) Just Happened,“ said it found more than 50 examples of plagiarism from numerous sources, including copying with no changes or minimal changes from news articles, other columnists and think tanks. The book, which is a New York Times bestseller, was published by HarperCollins‘ Broadside Books.
9:50 p.m.
Jared Kushner, President-elect Donald Trump’s son-in-law and one of his closest advisers, is taking steps to distance himself from his sprawling New York real estate business
It is the clearest sign yet he is planning to take a position in his father-in-law’s administration.
Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, must navigate a web of entanglements before he takes any post in Washington.
He must overcome federal anti-nepotism laws that bar officials from appointing relatives to government positions as well as eliminate potential conflicts of interest with his family’s multi-billion dollar real estate empire.
Kushner, who often has the last word with the president-elect before a decision is made, has explored stepping away from his business post and has consulted with officials about resolving potential conflicts, according to his lawyer.
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1:50 p.m.
Former Sen. Dan Coats — who’s in line to be national intelligence director — has swung back and forth between government service and lobbying in the type of Washington career that President-elect Donald Trump has mocked.
The Indiana Republican has made four spins through the capital’s revolving door and become wealthy.
Since the early 1980s, Coats either has served in government or earned money as a lobbyist and board director. His most recently available Senate financial disclosure, from 2014, shows he had a net worth of more than $12 million.
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11:45 a.m.
President-elect Donald Trump is renewing his call for warmer relations with Russia.
That’s what he says in a tweet Saturday — a day after intelligence leaders said in a report that Russia meddled in the U. S. election on Trump’s behalf.
Trump says on Twitter that both countries should working together to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues.
Trump has long argued that improving relations with Russia would be a good thing.
He says the U. S. has enough problems around the world and that „Only ’stupid‘ people, or fools“ would think improved relations were bad.
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9:30 a.m.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul says President-elect Donald Trump „fully supports“ repealing President Barack Obama’s health law only when there’s a viable alternative to replace it.
Republican leaders in the GOP-controlled Congress are moving toward a vote on repeal legislation in coming weeks. But they anticipate a transition period of months or years to a replacement.
Some Republicans are expressing reservations about scrapping the law without a near-term replacement.
Paul — a Kentucky lawmaker who sought his party’s 2016 presidential nomination — says in a tweet late Friday that he spoke with Trump, and that the president-elect „fully supports my plan to replace Obamacare the same day we repeal it. The time to act is now. “
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7:20 a.m.
President-elect Donald Trump says he’ll nominate former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats as national intelligence director.
Trump says in a statement that Coats — a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee before retiring from Congress last year — will lead the new administration’s „ceaseless vigilance against those who seek to do us harm. “
The post requires Senate confirmation. The office was created after the Sept. 11 attacks to improve coordination among U. S. spy and law enforcement agencies.
Trump’s announcement comes one day after release of a declassified government report on Russian efforts to influence the presidential election. The report predicts Russia isn’t done intruding in U. S. politics and policymaking.
Trump wants to improve relations with Russia and repeatedly has denounced intelligence agencies‘ assessment that the Kremlin interfered in the election.

Similarity rank: 0.1

Sentiment rank: 0

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TAMPA — It was late April, and Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney still was searching his brain for a team theme for the 2016 season.
Little did he know the very words he was looking for were waiting for him at Wrigley Field.
In the manager’s office.
In this all-things-Cubs world, it somehow only makes sense that Joe Maddon would have a hand in Clemson’s effort to win a national championship.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney in Cubs manager Joe Maddon’s Wrigley Field office in April. (Photo courtesy of Kathleen Swinney)
One of the reasons the Tigers were able to reach Monday’s title game — against Alabama, for the second year in a row — is they “embraced the target” from the first day of training camp. Also, and this was a real key, they “tried not to suck.”
Gee, where have we heard those phrases before?
Swinney spent only about half an hour an hour in the Cubs’ sparkling new clubhouse, yet he managed to rob Maddon blind.
“I got a chance to kind of see the culture in there,” he recalled here Saturday, “and I was like, ‘Man, this is really cool. These guys are loose. They know they’ve got a good team.’ ”
The 47-year-old Swinney is no seamhead. He was in Chicago with assistant coaches Brent Venables and Marion Hobby for the NFL Draft, and one of them got the idea to check out Wrigley and the surging Cubs, who were off to a 15-5 start. So Swinney called his agent, Mike Brown, and asked if he knew anyone who could hook them up with tickets.
“He goes, ‘Well, I know Joe Maddon.’ And I go, ‘Who’s Joe Maddon?’ He went, ‘He’s the manager.’ I go, ‘That’s a pretty good guy to know.’ ”
Swinney and his party were invited into the clubhouse during a rain delay of a game against the Brewers that eventually was postponed. As first impressions go, this one was pretty big.
“I walk in there,” Swinney said, “and they’ve got a drum set, they’ve got a disco ball hanging. I’m like, ‘What the heck is this?’ And they’re like, ‘This is the celebration room. Joe likes to celebrate.’ And I thought, I like this guy.”
Jon Lester, an avid football fan whose wife attended Clemson, instantly recognized him. John Lackey and others welcomed him warmly and talked college football.
Maddon — a football nut — was eager to meet him, too. When Swinney walked into the manager’s office, he found a white-haired man in thick-framed glasses and a ridiculous pink “Try Not to Suck” T-shirt smiling back at him.
“We talked for a minute and he’s like, ‘Hey, man, I watched you guys last year,’ and we kind of had an instant connection,” Swinney said. “It was really neat. I told him, because I had met his players and been around them, ‘You guys have a great culture. I’m telling you, you’ve got a winning culture here. You’ve got just a good feel in this building. You can smell it.”
Nearly nine months later, Swinney and Maddon remain friendly. Texts were exchanged during the Cubs’ run to the World Series crown, and Swinney has heard from sports’ sloganizer-in-chief as Clemson has neared its first national title since 1981.
“They knew they had the best team, and I think they embraced that,” Swinney said. “Don’t run from that. It resonated with me.”
On the first day of camp, the fiery Swinney gathered his players and treated them to something along the lines of a Maddon-meets-Knute Rockne performance. He told them not to suck. He told them the target on their collective backs was a good thing.
“Let’s focus on being the best we can be,” he said. “Let’s be committed to that, and let’s embrace that. Let’s run right to it.”
It might just be crazy enough to work.
Email: sgreenberg@suntimes.com

Similarity rank: 1.1

Sentiment rank: 2.8

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From start-to-finish, the Hoosiers were energized, hungry and focused, ultimately making them dominant.
Jalen Coleman-Lands and Malcolm Hill scored 21 points each for Illinois, and Maverick Morgan had 18.
“As I told the guys in the locker room, we’ll have to make some changes — I didn’t like our start,” Illinois coach John Groce said. “I loved our response to cut it to . 13 (points). I thought the last four minutes of the first half were huge. … At the end of the day, I think the difference was certainly the start of the game.”
“We’re really buying-in to the scouting report. The coaches do a great job of giving us what we need, then it’s up to us to execute,” Blackmon Jr. said. “We’re happy about our effort and how we came out from the beginning (of the game). That’s one thing we have to keep working on. We just have to maintain and build on this game.”
BIG PICTURE: The Hoosiers will hit the road for four — Maryland, Penn State, Michigan, Northwestern — of their remaining six conference games in the month of January.
UP NEXT:
Illinois: Hosts Michigan on Wednesday.

Similarity rank: 1.1

Sentiment rank: 4.8

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George Hill scored 19 points in his return from a concussion and the Rudy Gobert tipped in a rebound with 27.5 seconds to play to lift the Utah Jazz to a 94-92 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Derrick Favors scored seven of his 15 points in the fourth and Gobert finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks as the Jazz rallied from 11 points down to start the final quarter. They still trailed by nine with three minutes to play, but closed on an 11-0 run.
Zach LaVine had 24 points, nine rebounds and four assists and Karl-Anthony Towns had 18 points and 15 rebounds for the Timberwolves. They have lost four straight games.
The Wolves went the final 4:41 without a field goal.
With Utah down 93-83 with 3:05 to play, Favors scored seven straight points for the Jazz, including a corner 3-pointer to cut it to 92-90 with 1:29 to play.
Andrew Wiggins missed a jumper on the other end and went 0 for 4 in the final 12 minutes and Hill made a pair at the line to tie the game with 52 seconds to play. After Gorgui Dieng missed a jumper, Gobert tipped in a miss, then forced a wild hook shot from Towns that caromed off the rim.
The Wolves had one more chance, but LaVine missed a jumper at the buzzer.
The Wolves dropped to 5-15 in „crunch time“ games — defined by the scoring margin being five points or less in the final five minutes.
TIP-INS
Jazz: It was the first game all season the Jazz had all 15 players healthy. … Trey Lyles scored 13 points off the bench. … Gordon Hayward had 16 points on 4-for-13 shooting.
Timberwolves: PG John Lucas III was waived on the deadline for his contract to become fully guaranteed for the season. Coach Tom Thibodeau said the team likes the added flexibility of an open roster spot as it looks at trades and available free agents. … F Shabazz Muhammad returned after missing the game on Friday night with an illness. He had five points in 18 minutes.
HILL’S BACK
The Jazz point guard is crucial to everything they do, but had played just 36 minutes total over the previous 18 games due to injuries. Coach Quin Snyder said they would have to keep his shifts a little shorter than usual while he gets his conditioning back, but he played 33 minutes after a three-game absence, hitting 5 of 12 shots to go with seven assists.
BIG MAN BATTLE
Gobert had his way with Towns early, blocking four of his shots right at the rim and forcing the reigning rookie of the year into a 1-for-6 first quarter. But Towns kept attacking, trying to initiate contact and force the officials‘ whistle. Gobert picked up his fourth foul midway through the third quarter, and the Wolves went to work.
Towns threw down a ferocious, one-handed putback dunk in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough.
UP NEXT
Jazz: Utah wraps up a five-game road trip at Memphis on Sunday.
Timberwolves: Minnesota has the second of a four-game homestand when it hosts Dallas on Monday.

Similarity rank: 1.1

Sentiment rank: 2.4

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