By STEPHEN GROVES

WASHINGTON (AP) — Videos of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton answering questions about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were released Monday by a House committee investigating the late financier.

Related Articles

Supreme Court could loosen law barring marijuana users from owning guns

Redness on Trump’s neck is caused by common skin cream, White House says

Judge nixes latest policy requiring 7 days’ notice for Congress members to visit ICE facilities

Federal court rejects Trump administration attempt to slow tariff refund process

Melania Trump presides at UN Security Council meeting on children in conflict as US attacks Iran

The recordings of the depositions, which spanned hours over two days last week, were expected to show how both Clintons distanced themselves from Epstein. Bill Clinton told the committee that he had ended his relationship with Epstein years before the financier entered a guilty plea in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.

Hillary Clinton said she never even recalled meeting Epstein.

Still, they faced hours of questioning under oath from lawmakers who are searching for accountability for anyone who was aware or ignored Epstein’s abuse of underage girls.

A former St. Paul gas station employee was sentenced to three years in prison Monday for shooting and wounding two men during a fight outside the business in 2024.

Antonio Allen Ellis (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Antonio Allen Ellis, 23, of West St. Paul, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in January in connection with the shooting at the Arco Station on Larpenteur Avenue off Interstate 35E about 7 a.m. Dec. 29, 2024. A second count was dismissed at sentencing.

Ramsey County District Judge DeAnne Hilgers denied a request to give Ellis probation, saying several factors of the case did not warrant departing from state sentencing guidelines.

Ellis did not have to go outside with the men, who “instigated something” and were unarmed, Hilgers said. “That was a decision point,” she said. “That may have been the decision point of the night.”

Ellis was on felony probation that prohibited him from possessing a firearm, Hilgers noted.

“And the fact that 14 rounds were fired and you were the only one who had a firearm, does not make this less serious,” she said. “Perhaps more serious.”

The victims retreated

Officers who responded to the shooting found a 34-year-old man by the gas pumps who had been shot in the lower back. A 33-year-old man, who was shot in the knee, was in a sport-utility vehicle nearby at Wheelock Parkway and Mississippi Street.

Police were told the shooter was Ellis.

Ellis’ co-worker said the man shot in the knee entered the store “and was under the influence of something,” according to the criminal complaint against Ellis. “He made statements indicating that everything in the store was ‘free’ for him.”

The co-worker said Ellis has a “short fuse” and started arguing with the man, the complaint continued. Surveillance video from the store showed Ellis taking items from the man and returning them to shelves. The man got very close to Ellis, who pushed him away.

The man told Ellis they should go outside and settle the matter, according to the co-worker. Surveillance video outside the store showed the man was in Ellis’ face, and Ellis began to pull a handgun out of his pocket as the man pulled his arm back to swing a fist toward him. They started to fight.

The other man, who was later shot in the back, jumped out of the white SUV and entered “the fray,” the complaint said. Ellis fell to the ground, the man who exited the SUV appeared to throw a punch at Ellis, and Ellis displayed his gun.

Both men retreated, and Ellis fired toward them and continued firing as they retreated, the complaint said.

Ellis ran away. Officers located 14 casings in front of the store. Police didn’t find a firearm on either of the wounded men.

Ellis later turned himself in to St. Paul police and did not speak with investigators. He did not have a permit to carry a firearm.

Others ‘could have been shot’

Ellis’ attorney, Ira Whitlock, in arguing for probation, said one of the men shot had threatened Ellis’ co-worker. Ellis, once outside the store, was “beaten, kicked and stomped and punched,” but managed to grab his gun while on the ground, according to Whitlock.

“This was a man who got attacked and defended himself, but lost that right to self-defense because he escalated it to a point of bringing a dangerous weapon to the fight,” Whitlock said.

Related Articles

Minneapolis man gets 40-year prison sentence for trafficking, sexually assaulting teen and woman at Mahtomedi apartment

Ex-Oakdale officer sentenced for omitting information in 2022 police report

30 more indicted in anti-ICE protest at St. Paul church

MN legislators hear bill that would allow lawsuits against federal agents

Letters: What constitutes ‘public outcry’ in St. Paul?

Nevertheless, he said, Ellis was at work and “not going out on the street trying to be a gangster.”

The prosecution asked for a 39-month prison sentence, with Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Cory Tennison noting how Ellis was on probation at the time and that the shooting was at a business in a residential neighborhood.

“Multiple people just going about their business at 7 a.m. could have been shot as well,” Tennison said.

Hilgers said she recognized how the victims “were not innocent in this matter” and also that Ellis had supporters in the courtroom gallery, including his fiancee and their young child.

“But given the circumstances, I cannot find a departure here,” the judge said.

Charli Raymond’s dominance of girls wrestling continued Saturday in St. Paul, as the Simley junior nabbed her fifth individual state title, along with the Spartans’ team titles she has contributed to along the way.

In the 118-pound title match, Raymond delivered a tech fall victory over Roseville senior Anica Barze, who had a phenomenal campaign that ended with only the lone defeat to Raymond.

“I knew going into the match that it was going to be a tough match,” Raymond said. “But as long as I stayed in my position, got to my ties, it wasn’t going to be close.”

That’s not overconfidence, it’s the reality for Raymond, who delivered an undefeated season and remains a step ahead of her in-state competition. That feat grows more impressive with each passing season.

Raymond won the first ever girls state championship five years ago. The sport has only grown since then, with paths to championships proving more treacherous than ever before.

Apple Valley’s Cassy Gonzales wrestles Luverne’s Cece Rock during the 155-pound match of the Class 3A individual championship match of the State Wrestling Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. Gonzales won the match to take the state title. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

Cassandra Gonzales of Apple Valley won her fourth state title Saturday. The previous three came with relative ease.

But Gonzales had to fend off Luverne’s Cece Rock via sudden victory to win this year’s 155-pound title match. Rock knocked off Centennial’s Nora Akpan – a defending state champion in her own right – to hand Akpan her lone loss of the season in what proved to be a bracket of death.

Such things didn’t exist years ago, when only four wrestlers reached state in each weight class and many of them only had a few matches to their name. Now girls are logging 30 matches a season, constantly honing their skills and gaining strength – a prerequisite to merely keep pace with their contemporaries.

Stillwater’s Audrey Rogotzke, right, wrestles Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie’s Elora Wagner 148-pound match during the girls individual championship match of the State Wrestling Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. Rogotzke won her match to take the state title. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

Stillwater’s Audrey Rogotzke won her third state title Saturday to wrap up her high school career. It came in a 6-4 decision in the 148-pound division. Easy runs to titles are becoming a rarity in the sport.

Never was that more evident than in the 142-pound title match, where Eagan junior Taniah Borney upset St. Michael Albertville freshman Emma Antoni with a first-period pin. It was only the second loss of the season for Antoni, who cruised to a state title as an eighth-grader in 2025.

Borney, who entered the week ranked ninth in her weight division, was pinned twice in last year’s state tournament, and she suffered an ankle injury earlier this season in a match against Antoni that kept her off the mats for a month. She had a goal of winning state … next season.

Eagan’s Taniah Borney wrestles St. Michael-Albertville’s Emma Antoni during the 142-pound match of the girls individual championship match of the State Wrestling Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. Borney won the match to take the states title. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

But when Antoni went for a first period takedown with her legs, she was caught off balance, and Borney threw her down to the mat and stuck her for the pin.

“It felt like a lucky moment in my opinion,” Borney said. “I used my own technique to catch a move that could’ve ended badly for me.”

Instead, it ended in glory.

“I was stunned. I don’t know, it was like a lot.  It didn’t feel real, and it’s still hard to believe right now. It’s a lot of emotions,” she said after the match. “When it happened, I was looking at everyone and it was a very emotional moment for me, but I’ve wanted it. I wanted it so bad, and that’s what gave me the drive to do it.”

Borney joked in a post-match streaming interview with Neighborhood Sports Network that she originally joined the sport “kind of as a joke” with her friends. But she quickly became good at it, fell in love with it.

Stories such as hers continue to pop up in the state as the pool of girls wrestling talent consistently grows wider and deeper. Which leaves only one path for those currently atop the sport to stay there.

“As the sport has grown, it’s definitely been like, ‘OK, I’ve got to work harder, I’ve got to keep it going. I can’t back off now,’ ” said Raymond, who will pursue title No. 6 next winter. “It’s still really fun.”

Related Articles

State wrestling: Hastings’ Trey Beissel left it all on the mat

High School Swimming: Every 2026 Minnesota boys state meet champion

High School Wrestling: Every 2026 Minnesota state tournament individual champion

State swim and dive: Mounds View’s Danny Bai wins stunning 50 free title

State swim and dive: St. Thomas Academy dominates en route to Class A repeat

By SEUNG MIN KIM

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Monday attributed a large red spot on President Donald Trump’s neck to a skin cream he is using, without elaborating on what condition it is treating.

The redness drew widespread attention Monday, when news photographers captured close-up images of the president’s neck during a Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

“President Trump is using a very common cream on the right side of his neck, which is a preventative skin treatment, prescribed by the White House Doctor,” Sean Barbabella, the president’s doctor, said in a statement. “The President is using this treatment for one week, and the redness is expected to last for a few weeks.”

The White House did not immediately respond to follow-up questions, such as what the cream is, when Trump began the treatment and what condition it is supposed to prevent. Zoomed-in photos from at least as far back as an “angel families” event at the White House on Feb. 23, a day before his State of the Union address, show visible redness on the president’s neck.

The president’s medical report from his April 2025 physical noted that he was taking mometasone cream “as needed” for an unspecified skin condition.

Trump, 79, became the oldest president to have taken the oath of office when he was sworn in last January. In particular because of his advanced age, Trump’s health is closely scrutinized.

Barbabella said in December that Trump had MRI imaging on his heart and abdomen in October as part of preventive screening for men his age, with the results being “perfectly normal.” That October physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center found that Trump is in overall “exceptional health,” according to Barbabella.

Related Articles

Melania Trump will preside at UN Security Council meeting on children in conflict as US attacks Iran

A Supreme Court case over whether marijuana users can own guns is creating unusual alliances

Trump expects his Fed pick and AI to deliver a replay of the ’90s boom. Economists have doubts

Where things stand after the US and Israeli strikes on Iran

Trump awards the Medal of Honor to 3 US Army service members in a White House ceremony