NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors in New York have issued a subpoena seeking documents from Donald Trump’s inaugural committee.

A spokeswoman says the committee intends to cooperate with the inquiry. She said the committee received the subpoena late Monday and was reviewing it.

It was not immediately clear which documents have been requested.

The Wall Street Journal reported last year that federal prosecutors are investigating whether inaugural committee donors made contributions in exchange for political favors. The newspaper said the inquiry also was focused on whether the inauguration misspent money it raised to stage inaugural events.

The New York Times reported recently that federal prosecutors are examining whether anyone from Qatar, Saudi Arabia or other Middle Eastern countries made illegal payments to the committee and a pro-Trump super political action committee.

U.S. prepares to start building portion of Texas border wall

HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. government is preparing to begin construction of more border walls and fencing in South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, likely on federally owned land set aside as wildlife refuge property.

Heavy construction equipment was expected to arrive starting Monday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. A photo posted by the nonprofit National Butterfly Center shows an excavator parked next to its property.

Congress last March approved more than $600 million for 33 miles of new barriers in the Rio Grande Valley. While President Donald Trump and top Democrats remain in a standoff over Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion in border wall funding, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has pushed ahead with building what’s already funded.

That construction was often described as fencing, and the government funding bill that included construction was supported by some Democrats in the House and Senate. CBP refers to what it plans to build as a “border wall system.”

According to designs it released in September, CBP intends to build 25 miles of concrete walls to the height of the existing flood-control levee in Hidalgo County next to the Rio Grande, the river that forms the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. On top of the concrete walls, CBP will install 18-foot steel posts and clear a 150-foot enforcement zone in front.

Fate of Mexican drug lord
El Chapo now rests with US jury

NEW YORK (AP) — After nearly three months of testimony about a vast drug-smuggling conspiracy steeped in violence, a jury began deliberations on Monday at the U.S. trial of the infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

The day ended without jurors reaching a verdict for Guzman, who faces life in prison if convicted. They were to resume deliberations Tuesday morning.

The jury has heard months of testimony about Guzman’s rise to power as the head of the Sinaloa cartel. Prosecutors say he is responsible for smuggling at least 200 tons of cocaine into the U.S. and for a wave of killings in turf wars with other cartels.

Guzman, 61, is notorious for escaping from prison twice in Mexico. In closing arguments, prosecutor Andrea Goldbarg said he was plotting yet another breakout when was he was sent in 2017 to the U.S., where he has been in solitary confinement ever since.