The Bulletin

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AN AMERICAN PRINT MEDIA PUBLICATION

Michelle Obama Rips Trump in New Book

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018

South El Monte Resident, L.A. Sheriff’s Deputy, Two Others Arrested in Pot Heist

By Deb Reichmann By Staff Reports

WASHINGTON (AP)—Former first lady Michelle Obama blasts President Donald Trump in her new book, writing how she reacted in shock the night she learned he would replace her husband in the Oval Office and tried to “block it all out.”

LOS ANGELES—A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy and two others were scheduled to make their first court appearances this afternoon on federal drug distribution charges for allegedly making off with more than $1 million in marijuana and cash during an armed robbery at a downtown Los Angeles warehouse.

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he also denounces Trump’s “birther” campaign questioning her husband’s citizenship, calling it bigoted and dangerous, “deliberately meant to stir up the wingnuts and kooks.” In her memoir “Becoming,” set to come out Tuesday, Obama writes openly about everything from growing up in Chicago to confronting racism in public life to her amazement at becoming the country’s first Black first lady. She also reflects on early struggles in her marriage to Barack Obama as he began his political career and was often away. She writes that they met with a counselor “a handful of times,” and she came to realize that she was more “in charge” of her happiness than she had realized. “This was my pivot point,” Obama explains. “My moment of self-arrest.” Obama writes that she assumed Trump was “grandstanding” when he announced his presidential run in 2015. She expresses disbelief over how so many women would choose a “misogynist” over Hillary Clinton, “an exceptionally qualified female candidate.” She remembers how her body “buzzed with fury” after seeing the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, in which Trump brags about sexually assaulting women. She also accuses Trump of using body language to “stalk” Clinton during an election debate. She writes of Trump following Clinton around the stage, standing nearby and “trying to diminish her presence.” Trump’s message, according to Obama, in words which appear in the book in darkened print: “I can hurt you and get away with it.” The Associated Press purchased an early copy of “Becoming,” one of the most anticipated political books in recent memory. Obama is admired worldwide and has offered few extensive comments on her White House years. And memoirs by former first ladies, including Clinton and Laura Bush, are usually best-sellers. Obama launches her promotional tour Tuesday not at a bookstore, but at Chicago’s United Center, where tens of thousands of people have purchased tickets—from just under $30 to thousands of dollars—to attend the event moderated by Oprah Winfrey. Other stops on a tour scaled to rock star dimensions are planned at large arenas from New York City’s Barclays Center to the Los Angeles Forum, with guests including Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Jessica Parker. While some fans have criticized the price as too high, 10 percent of tickets at each event are being donated to local charities, schools and n MICHELLE, see page 2

[Former patrol deputy] Antrim falsely told the LAPD officers that he was a sheriff’s narcotics deputy conducting a search, court documents allege. Photo Credit: U.S. Attorney’s Office L.A. County Sheriff’s Dep. Marc Antrim speaks on phone in image captured on LAPD officer bodycam, while responding to suspicious activity at a legal marijuana distribution warehouse in Los Angeles.

New Governor: Divided Nation Needs Common Ground By Don Thompson and Jonathan J. Cooper

SACRAMENTO (AP)—California’s outgoing governor, Democrat Jerry Brown, said the deeply divided nation needs to find comity and common ground, even as his state’s aggressive confrontation of President Donald Trump looks to accelerate under his successor.

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rown is preparing to nians disapprove of Trump and campaign stop in Sacramento last hand off power to Gavin more than half said they were week, Newsom rejected a suggesNewsom, a Democrat driven to the polls by their oppo- tion that he and Brown have difwho ran on his promise sition to the president. ferent approaches to confronting to stand up to Trump and proHe noted with approval that Trump, noting both used harsh mote California’s liberal values. U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San language to criticize the presi“I see the central challenge of Francisco, the party’s leader in dent. America is pulling itself together the House who is looking to be Brown, 80, leaves office on and minimizing the deepening speaker, said she’d be cautious Jan. 7. He said he intends to use divergence of our people,” Brown and move slowly on investigat- his remaining weeks to push for told reporters in a rare a negotiated agreement availability in the Capitol among water users long at “California’s dream will office he’ll vacate in two war over the Sacramentomonths. San Joaquin river delta always be too big to fail California must stand east of San Francisco. up for human rights and At the request of and too powerful to bully.” the environment, he said, Brown and Newsom, Governor-elect, Gavin Newsom a state water board de“but we have to do it in a way that finds greater layed a vote scheduled for commonality, we have Wednesday on a plan to to maximize the sense of being ing and potentially impeaching increase the amount of water alAmericans.” Trump. lowed to flow through the Lower “I’ve seen other countries that Accepting victory following San Joaquin River and its tribuare pulling apart,” Brown said. Tuesday’s election, Newsom took taries to protect habitat for fish in “Democracy’s in trouble every- a confrontational tone toward the delta. The move would result where.” Trump and presented California in less water for farmers. Brown has relished the role of as the model for an approach to “A short extension will allow foil to Trump on some issues but politics that’s diametrically op- these negotiations to progress also frustrated his party’s liberal posed to the president’s views. He and could result in a faster, less wing that’s eager to much more extolled the state’s diversity—it is contentious and more durable aggressively confront Trump and home to millions of immigrants, outcome,” Newsom and Brown enact an array of left-wing priori- and Latinos make up the largest wrote in a letter dated Tuesday. ties like universal health care. ethnic group—and its power- Voluntary agreements are better He said he doesn’t care for house economy. than a government mandate that framing California’s role as the “At our best, we always stand will inevitably lead to lawsuits, “resistance” to Trump. Rather, up. We step in and we fight for they wrote. he said, the state follows its own what’s right,” Newsom said. The Water Resources Control path and fights those who get in “There’s a reason why Califor- Board delayed the decision until the way. nia’s dream is America’s lead- Dec. 11. Brown was responding to ing brand. Because California’s Brown also reiterated his supdata from AP VoteCast, a wide- dream will always be too big to port for building two massive ranging survey of the electorate, fail and too powerful to bully.” tunnels underneath the delta to which found that 7 in 10 CaliforSpeaking to reporters at a n Newsome, see page 2

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ederal agents arrested Marc Antrim, 41, a patrol deputy at the sheriff’s station in Temple City, along with Eric “Rooster” Rodriguez, 32, and Kevin McBride, 43, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors allege Antrim used his law enforcement expertise and access to sheriff’s gear to stage the heist that netted 600 pounds of marijuana and $100,000 in cash while falsely portraying himself and his accomplices as lawmen executing a search warrant. According to two criminal complaints, surveillance footage shows Antrim, McBride and an unnamed co-conspirator approaching the warehouse during the early morning hours of Oct. 29, driving an unmarked LASDregistered vehicle assigned to the Temple Station. Prosecutors allege that Antrim and the two men—dressed as deputies in green LASD garb, and carrying holstered handguns— gained access to the warehouse by purporting to be lawmen executing a search. Antrim allegedly showed a security guard a piece of paper inside a folder, which investigators believe was a document purporting to be a search warrant for the warehouse. At the start of the two-hour robbery, Antrim, McBride and the third man allegedly detained three warehouse employees, including two security guards, in the back seat of the LASD Ford Explorer. Soon after the guards and the employee were detained, a fourth man arrived at the warehouse in a large rental truck, and all four men began loading what appeared to be marijuana into the truck, federal prosecutors allege. When Los Angeles police officers responded to a call at the warehouse during the robbery, Antrim’s three co-conspirators fled the warehouse through a back door and two of them discarded their LASD jackets, prosecutors allege. Antrim then falsely told the LAPD officers that he was a sheriff’s narcotics deputy conducting a search, court documents allege. To facilitate the sham, Antrim allegedly handed his phone to one of the LAPD officers so that the officer could speak to someone claiming to be Antrim’s sergeant. According to court documents, the individual on the phone was not a sergeant, and Antrim did not have a legitimate search warrant for the warehouse. After police left the warehouse about 20 minutes later, McBride and another coconspirator allegedly returned and continued the robbery with Antrim. Rodriguez allegedly showed up at the warehouse in his pickup truck, and all four men loaded more marijuana and two safes into the rental truck. After the robbery, the rental truck was driven to McBride’s house in Glendora, according to prosecutors. During searches conducted Thursday, federal investigators recovered a total of about $300,000 to $400,000 from Antrim’s home in South El Monte and McBride’s residence, according to court documents. Federal agents also seized about two pounds of marijuana packaged for commercial sale from McBride’s home, as well as firearms from both men, prosecutors allege. Several days later, an attorney representing the marijuana distribution warehouse contacted the sheriff’s department, triggering the investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. They are each charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, a charge carrying a possible federal prison sentence of up to 40 years.


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