World News: The Pentagon's now prepping to build a wall

Thursday, January 10

President Donald Trump speaks as he tours the U.S. border with Mexico at the Rio Grande on the southern border, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019, in McAllen, Texas, as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, listens at right.

The Defense Department is looking at options for 'border barrier construction'

A USA TODAY exclusive. Plus: Jeff Bezos, R. Kelly and the rest of Thursday's top news.

An exclusive from us: The Pentagon's readying ways to build barriers on the southern border just in case President Donald Trump declares a national emergency there. Meanwhile, Trump visited the border Thursday in McAllen, Texas, where residents are asking: What emergency?

But first, pop your popcorn: Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and longtime confidant, will testify before lawmakers in February on dealings with Trump that led to the three years in prison Cohen is preparing to serve.

While Trump tours the border, workers suffer the shutdown

Trump met border officials in Texas and touted his vision for a wall, which he claimed would stop "cold" illicit drugs from entering the United States. (Probably not, as most drugs caught at the border come through legal entry points , data show.) "They say it's immoral," Trump said of Democrats' opposition to a wall. "What's immoral is all the killing that's taking place." (Immigrants are actually less likely overall to commit crimes, studies largely show.)

Meanwhile, hundreds rallied outside the White House to protest the partial government shutdown that is centered on the wall and has left 800,000 federal workers unpaid. "I live paycheck to paycheck," said Leisyka Lee, a single mom in Arcata, California, who works for the Bureau of Land Management.

•	About that whole Mexico-paying-for-the-wall thing: " I never meant they're going to write out a check," Trump claimed Thursday. Except he did: A 2016 memo from Trump's campaign calls for a "one-time payment of $5-10 billion" for the wall.

Bezos did not have a prenup, report says

Jeff Bezos' divorce may get complicated: The Amazon CEO and his wife, MacKenzie Bezos, did not have a prenuptial agreement, TMZ reported Thursday , and the two plan to file for divorce in Washington. That state's law considers all the couple accrues during their marriage as community property. That doesn't necessarily mean a 50-50 split, but the court tries to divide assets — such as the Bezos' reported six homes — fair and equitably. She could become the richest woman in the world.

Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie Bezos approached the National Cathedral in Washington for a memorial service for John McCain on Sept. 1, 2018.

Jasper Colt, USAT

Real quick:

•	Jillian Michaels on the keto diet: "Bad plan, for a million reasons."
•	An NFL team hired a losing coach. Why? White privilege, a sportscaster says.
•	Blue flecks in a medieval skull could rewrite women's history.
•	250 people got sick on a Carnival cruise ship, forcing it to turn back.
•	A school officer in Ohio was removed after giving the principal a parking ticket.

Actual GOP congressman: Why is 'white supremacist' offensive?

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) isn't bothered that Republicans and Democrats condemn him for his history of racist rhetoric and ties to extremist groups. On the contrary, he said in an interview that he's fine with being called a "white supremacist." "White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?" King told the New York Times. he later walked back the comments on Twitter, saying "I reject those labels." King narrowly won re-election in 2018, but will face a Republican challenger in 2020.

Lady Gaga regrets her R. Kelly track

Lady Gaga says "a dark time in my life" led her to record with R. Kelly, the singer accused of being a sexual predator in last week's Lifetime docu-series, "Surviving R. Kelly." The singer appeared in Gaga's 2013 "Do What U Want." The lyrics: "You can't have my heart, and you won't use my mind, but do what you want with my body." Gaga, herself a sexual assault victim, tweeted Wednesday night: "I think it's clear how explicitly twisted my thinking was at the time." Elsewhere in #MeToo, a judge on Thursday dismissed part of Ashley Judd's sexual harassment suit against former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Lady Gaga attends the 2019 National Board Of Review Gala on Jan. 8, in New York City.

ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images

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