The top U.S. general responsible for leading the war against ISIS has launched an extraordinary attack on the commander in chief. Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, told CNN in an interview Friday that President Donald Trump was wrong to pull troops out of Syria. “It would not have been my military advice at that particular time,” he said. Votel also said the president was premature in declaring victory over ISIS: “When I say ‘We have defeated them,’ I want to ensure that means they do not have the capability to plot or direct attacks against the U.S. or our allies.” The top military leader also suggested there would be dangerous repercussions to Trump’s decision; he said the Syrian Democratic Forces were not capable of defeating ISIS without U.S. support. Trump’s Syria withdrawal led to the resignation of James Mattis as defense secretary and the senior State Department official in charge of the fight against ISIS, but it is extremely rare for a serving U.S. general to directly criticize a sitting president.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Associated Press, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he held out hope that he could stay in power after sending his envoy to New York on two separate occasions for highly confidential talks. He said he also invited Elliott Abrams, President Trump’s Washington-based special envoy for Venezuela, to come to Caracas to visit “privately, publicly or secretly.” Maduro said in the interview: “If he wants to meet, just tell me when, where and how and I’ll be there.” An unnamed representative for the U.S. government confirmed the two meetings to the AP, each of which lasted several hours, but implied that they were to discuss Maduro’s “exit plan” and not to reinforce his hold on the country.

A member of Portland’s city council has warned of a “broken policing system” in the city after a newspaper published text messages purporting to show collusion between a police officer and the far-right group Patriot Prayer. “I am not shocked, and I am not surprised at today’s reporting of Lt. Jeff Niiya’s collaboration with Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson over text to provide aid and support for their hate marches,” Councilwoman Jo Ann Hardesty said in a statement. The newspaper Willamette Week obtained text messages through a public-records request between Niiya, the commander for the police rapid-response team, and Gibson, who has spearheaded right-wing protests that have rocked the city. The texts purportedly show Niiya had a friendly rapport with Gibson. In one text reported by the newspaper, Niiya allegedly tells Gibson there’s no need to arrest his assistant, Tusitala Toese, even if he has a warrant, unless Toese commits a new crime. “Just make sure he doesn’t do anything which may draw our attention,” Niiya allegedly texted Gibson on Dec. 9, 2017, Willamette Week reported.

Michael Calvey, a U.S. citizen and founder of the prominent Baring Vostok Equity Funds Group, was detained in Moscow along with five others late Thursday night on fraud allegations. The equity fund group, which Calvey founded in 1994, claims $3.7 billion in capital on its website. The U.S. banker has a long investment track record in the Russian technology sector and is a major shareholder in the web search giant Yandex, the Associated Press reports. Moscow’s Basmanny court said Calvey and two Baring Vostok managers are under investigation for fraud relating to Russian bank Vostochny Bank, in which Baring Vostok is a major shareholder. Russia’s Interfax news agency reported the court will rule Friday whether to keep Calvey, a director of the Atlantic Council, and his associates in custody. The others arrested were reportedly the group’s investment manager Ivan Zyuzin, partners Philippe Delpal, Vahan Abgaryan, and Alexey Kordichev, and Maxim Vladimirov, chairman of Russia’s PJSC Norvik Bank.

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The Vatican’s ambassador to France, Father Luigi Ventura, an Italian, is under investigation for sexually molesting a young male diocese employee on Jan. 17, the Associated Press reports. The alleged assault took place at Paris’s City Hall during a “ceremony of wishes” event. Le Monde reported Friday that Ventura may face charges of sexual aggression. Ventura has been the Vatican’s top representative in France since 2009. In 2017, Luigi recommended to the Vatican that Father Hervé Gaschignard, 57, from Saint-Nazaire, resign from his clerical post due to credible allegations of clerical sex abuse, according to the website Bishop Accountability, which keeps tabs on errant clerics. These are the first known allegations against Ventura. A Parisian court will decide whether the high-level prelate will be charged in connection to the allegations.

A new book by former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe claims former Attorney General Jeff Sessions was a racist who blamed immigrants for nearly every societal problem, according to a review in The Washington Post. McCabe reportedly claims in The Threat that Sessions once said the FBI was better off when “you all only hired Irishmen.” “They were drunks, but they could be trusted. Not like all those new people with nose rings and tattoos—who knows what they’re doing?” Sessions was quoted as saying in the book. The startling portrait also claims that Sessions did not read intelligence reports, mixed up classified material with what he had seen in newspaper stories, and “believed that Islam—inherently—advocated extremism,” according to the Post.

A mudslide in Sausalito, California, swept 76-year-old Susan Gordon's home off its foundation and sent it careening downhill with her still inside, CNN reports. “It just happened too fast. I did not know what was going on,” Gordon told the news outlet. “I was on the second floor. I heard something. I started looking for my phone...I tried to dig my way out any way I could. Within two minutes, one of my neighbors, I don't know who it was, came by and he called 911.” Gordon said she was asleep early Thursday when the mudslide pushed her duplex on Sausalito Boulevard about a block downhill before it slammed into another home. Firefighters arrived on the scene, and six of them worked to extricate her, she said. “They had to be careful with branches and wood and utility lines. These six guys kept me calm and kept digging me out,” she said. Gordon was transported to a hospital and later released. No one else was injured. “I lost everything in that slide. Everything. I lost Peaches,” she said, referring to her 2-year-old cat. District Fire Chief Chris Tubbs said Gordon was “extremely fortunate” to survive.

China has closed the base camp on its side of Mount Everest after the site was inundated by human waste and abandoned trekking equipment, the BBC News. Only trekkers with hard-to-get permits granted by Beijing will be able to trek past a monastery that’s at an elevation of around 17,000 feet. China’s government says it will only issue 300 such permits a year. Those who attempt to reach the base camp without a permit will be turned back. Most climbers ascend Everest from the Nepal side, but a growing number have started to make the treacherous climb from Chinese national territory in recent years, in part because the base camp is also accessible by car, making it easier to bring supplies up the mountain. The Chinese Mountaineering Association put the figure of visitors at 40,000 in 2015, when records were last made public. Nepal says about 45,000 climbers stopped at its base camp in 2016-17. Last spring, Chinese waste-management crews brought more than eight tons of waste, mostly human feces, down the mountain.

Model and musician Karen Elson has added her voice to the chorus of women who say they were mistreated by singer-songwriter Ryan Adams. In an Instagram post on Thursday, Elson said: “I also had a traumatizing experience with Ryan Adams. While I’m not quite brave enough yet to speak about my specifics. I’m encouraged that many women have bonded and helped each other heal.” A New York Times expose this week detailed the stories of seven women, including ex-wife Mandy Moore, who accused him of manipulative behavior—including mentoring young female musicians while simultaneously pursuing them for sex. The FBI is reportedly looking into a report that Adams had sexually explicit communications with an underage girl. Adams has denied the allegations.