Senior House Republicans are moving swiftly to build a case against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as they strongly weigh launching rare impeachment proceedings against a Cabinet secretary, a plan that could generate sharp backlash from GOP moderates.

Key committee chairmen are already preparing to hold hearings on the problems at the southern border, which Republicans say could serve as a prelude to an impeachment inquiry against Mayorkas. Three House committees — Oversight, Homeland Security and Judiciary — will soon hold hearings about the influx of migrants and security concerns at the border.

The House Judiciary Committee, which would have jurisdiction over an impeachment resolution, is prepared to move ahead with formal proceedings if there appears to be a consensus within the GOP conference, according to a GOP source directly familiar with the matter. The first impeachment resolution introduced by House Republicans already has picked up support, including from a member of the GOP leadership team.

A GOP source said the first Judiciary Committee hearing on the border could come later this month or early February.

One top chairman is already sounding supportive of the move, a sign of how the idea of impeaching President Joe Biden’s Cabinet secretary has moved from the fringes to the mainstream of the conference.

“If anybody is a prime candidate for impeachment in this town, it’s Mayorkas,” Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told CNN.

It’s exceedingly rare for a Cabinet secretary to be impeached, something that has only happened once in US history — when William Belknap, the secretary of war, was impeached by the House before being acquitted by the Senate in 1876. Yet it’s a very real possibility now after Kevin McCarthy — as he was pushing for the votes to win the speakership — called on Mayorkas to resign or face potential impeachment proceedings.

With no signs that Mayorkas is stepping aside, House Republicans are signaling they’re prepared to move ahead, even as a bevy of members are uneasy about the approach.

Indeed, McCarthy has to balance his base’s demands for aggressive action with the concerns from more moderate members — many of whom hold seats in swing districts central to his narrow majority. And some in safer seats aren’t yet sold on whether the GOP should pursue that route.

“Clearly, the management of the Southern border has been incompetent,” Rep. Dusty Johnson, a Republican of South Dakota, told CNN. “That is not the threshold in the Constitution for impeachment — it’s high crimes and misdemeanors. … I would want to think about the legal standard the Constitution has set out — and whether or not that’s been met.”

If he loses more than four GOP votes on an impeachment resolution, the effort would fail in the House and could mark a huge embarrassment for the GOP leadership. Already, he has potentially lost one vote — Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas who signaled he is opposed to the effort right now — and several other members who are far from convinced that charging Mayorkas with committing a high crime and misdemeanor is warranted, even if they believe he’s done a lackluster job in helping secure the southern border.

“Has he been totally dishonest to people? Yes. Has he failed in his job miserably? Yes,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican, said of Mayorkas. “Are those grounds for impeachment? I don’t know.”

Indeed, Republicans from swing districts are urging their colleagues to not rush into impeachment, which would be dead-on-arrival in the Senate and could turn the American people off if the party is perceived as overreaching.

“The border is a disaster and a total failure by the Biden administration. We should first to try to force change through our power of the purse,” Rep. Don Bacon, who represents a Biden-won district in Nebraska, told CNN. “Maybe after more oversight we’ll see where middle America is at, but I don’t think independent, swing voters are interested in impeachments.”

Asked Tuesday about his pre-election warning that Mayorkas could be impeached by the House over the GOP concerns about the borders, McCarthy railed on the problems at the border.

“Should that person stay in their job? Well, I raised the issue they shouldn’t. The thing that we can do is we can investigate, and then that investigation could lead to an impeachment inquiry,” McCarthy told CNN, adding it could “rise to that occasion” of an impeachment if Mayorkas is found to be “derelict” in his duties.

Articles drafted up

During the first working week of their new majority, Rep. Pat Fallon, a Texas Republican, introduced articles of impeachment for Mayorkas over problems at the southern border, and Rep. Andy Biggs, a hard-right Arizona Republican, vowed to re-introduce a similar resolution in the coming weeks, which could serve as a template for eventual impeachment proceedings.

Fallon’s resolution says Mayorkas has “undermined the operational control of our southern border and encouraged illegal immigration,” also contending he lied to Congress that the border was secure.

Democrats say Republicans are threatening to impeach Mayorkas for pure political reasons, and say policy disputes hardly rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Mayorkas has already testified in front of Congress numerous times since he assumed his post, and his agency says he is fully prepared to continue complying with oversight in the GOP-led House. So far, there have been no formal requests for hearings or testimony, with congressional committees still working to get off the ground, though Republicans last year sent numerous letters and preservation requests telegraphing their plans for the majority.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Mayorkas made clear he has no plans to resign and called on Congress to come together to fix the nation’s immigration system.

“Secretary Mayorkas is proud to advance the noble mission of this Department, support its extraordinary workforce, and serve the American people. The Department will continue our work to enforce our laws and secure our border, while building a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system,” the spokeswoman said in a statement. “Members of Congress can do better than point the finger at someone else; they should come to the table and work on solutions for our broken system and outdated laws, which they have not updated in over 40 years.”

Yet there are signs that the push is gaining steam in the House GOP.

Fallon’s resolution has attracted the support of several Republicans who previously held off on calling for impeachment, including Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican and member of the Homeland Security Committee, and Oklahoma Rep. Stephanie Bice, a new member of the GOP leadership team — signaling the idea is hardly isolated to the fringe wing of the party.

Fallon, too, had not previously backed impeaching Mayorkas until this Congress. Fallon said that he introduced impeachment articles to help get “the ball rolling,” but still believes it’s key to show the American public why they believe Mayorkas deserves to be removed from his post.

“It is important, it is an emergency, you need to break the glass, you really do need to take it up, and then we’re going to have an additional investigation,” Fallon told CNN. “While that’s why I filed the articles, you can always just sit on them and not do anything with them. That starts the ball rolling, we’re going to give Mayorkas the opportunity to defend himself and his department.”

Meanwhile, key committee chairs are vowing to hold hearings on the crisis at the southern border and prepping plans to haul in officials for interviews. GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who leads the powerful House Judiciary Committee where impeachment articles would originate, suggested the issue would be one of the first hearings when his panel gets up and running.

GOP leaders are cognizant of the fact they can only afford to lose four Republicans on any given vote, and want to build a thorough case for impeachment that can bring the entire party along. But pressure is already building on McCarthy, who has emboldened members of his right flank in his bid to claim the speaker’s gavel — and even given them a powerful tool to call for his ouster if he doesn’t listen to their demands.

Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican and one of the key negotiators in the standoff over McCarthy’s speakership and who was the first to call for Mayorkas’ impeachment, told CNN: “I’ve been very public about my belief that he has violated his oath, that he has undermined our ability to defend our country.”

Hard-right leading the charge

The primary committees that would be involved in building a case against Mayorkas are both chaired by members of the hardline House Freedom Caucus: Jordan and Tennessee Rep. Mark Green, the newly elected leader of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Part of Green’s pitch to become chairman has centered on how he will hold the Biden administration accountable over the southern border. Green told CNN he has a “five-phase plan” to delve into the issue.

“And if it turns out that (impeachment) is necessary, we’ll hand that over to Judiciary,” Green said. “We’ll have a fact-finding role.”

There’s also been talk of holding field hearings at the southern border, while Republicans plan to keep making visits there, as they did in the last Congress.

Jordan told reporters that the border problems will likely be one of his first hearings as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. But a source close to Jordan, who has become a close McCarthy ally, cautioned that they will not move ahead with impeachment unless the party is fully on board

And it’s clear that House Republicans are not yet in agreement on the issue.

Freshman Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents a Biden-won district in New York, told CNN shortly before being sworn in: “I think the top priority is to deal with inflation and the cost of living. … I don’t want to see what we saw during the Trump administration, where Democrats just went after the President and the administration incessantly.”

But there are some Republicans in Biden districts already lining up behind impeachment articles for Mayorkas, suggesting the politics could be moving in the GOP’s direction.

Freshman Rep. Nick Langworthy, another New York Republican, is among the 26 co-sponsors who have signed on to Fallon’s impeachment articles so far.

And another freshman New York Republican from a swing district, Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, has also expressed support for impeaching Mayorkas.

D’Esposito contended that many Customs and Border Protection agents are tired of the leadership from the top.

“They are the ones that will tell you flat out that Secretary Mayorkas is not living (up) to his oath and he is failing to secure our homeland,” he added.

And South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, also a Republican who hails from a swing district, said Mayorkas needs to go.

“When you raise your hand and take an oath to protect our country’s border, and you intentionally and willfully neglect to do that job, you should lose it,” said Mace, who pointed to the influx of drugs across the southern border. “Either way, Secretary Mayorkas has to go.”

House Republicans who have long been itching to impeach Mayorkas have been trying to keep the pressure on their leadership, holding a news conference last month and urging McCarthy to more explicitly spell out where he stands on the issue before they voted him speaker.

But even if an impeachment resolution is approved in the House, winning a two-thirds majority in the Senate to convict Mayorkas has virtually no chance of succeeding. Some Senate Republicans, such as Senate GOP Whip John Thune of South Dakota, were noncommittal about backing such a move. And Democrats are roundly dismissing the idea.

“A wonderfully constructive action,” Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said sarcastically when asked about the impeachment talk.

Coons quickly added: “I think that’d be an enormous waste of time.”

The Republican campaign staffer who has accused Matt Schlapp, a high-profile conservative activist, of sexual assault is now suing Schlapp and his wife, Mercedes, for more than $9 million.

The sexual battery civil lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Virginia Circuit Court in Alexandria, also accuses both Schlapps of defamation and of conspiracy to impugn the accuser.

The complaint recounts accusations made by a Republican strategist, a male in his late 30s, who alleged that Matt Schlapp fondled him without his consent as he drove Schlapp back to his hotel in Georgia last October. The staffer was working for the Georgia GOP and Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign and had been assigned to drive Schlapp to campaign events in the Atlanta area.

The plaintiff, who is listed as John Doe in the lawsuit, alleges that in the wake of his coming forward there were “dishonest efforts” by the Schlapps and “others associated with and acting in concert with them, to discredit Mr. Doe.”

The lawsuit says as a result of the Schlapps’ alleged conspiracy, “Mr. Doe suffered damages, including and without limitation embarrassment, humiliation, stress, and reputational harm.”

An attorney for the Schlapps denied the allegations in a Tuesday statement, saying the complaint was “false.” The attorney, Charles Spies, said that the “Schlapp family is suffering unbearable pain and stress due to the false allegation from an anonymous individual.”

“No family should ever go through this and the Schlapps and their legal team are assessing counter-lawsuit options,” Spies said in the statement.

The lawsuit says that the accuser is withholding his name to “preserve the privacy of a victim of a sexual battery” and because the Schlapps are “well known, and in some quarters revered, amongst a portion of the population that has demonstrated a proclivity for threatening violence against those with whom they disagree.”

The lawsuit was first reported by The New York Times.

The Schlapps are both highly visible in Republican spheres and boosters of former President Donald Trump. Matt Schlapp, an alum of George W. Bush’s White House, runs the American Conservative Union, which stages the Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC. Mercedes Schlapp was a communications director in the Trump White House.

The staffer says he agreed to meet Matt Schlapp for drinks in October because he was “eager to make a connection” due to Schlapp’s prominence within the Republican Party. The men met up for drinks at two Atlanta bars, and while at the second bar, the lawsuit says Schlapp “sat unusually close to Mr. Doe, such that his leg repeatedly contacted and was in almost constant contact with Mr. Doe’s leg,” making him uncomfortable, according to the lawsuit.

As the staffer drove Schlapp to his hotel, he alleges Schlapp “began aggressively fondling Mr. Doe’s genital area in a sustained fashion,” the lawsuit says, causing the staffer to freeze with “fear and panic from what was happening.”

Screenshots of text messages — previously reported by CNN — between the accuser and Schlapp the morning after the alleged incident are included in the complaint, including a text in which the accuser told Schlapp he “was uncomfortable with what happened” the previous night.

Schlapp repeatedly tried calling the staffer, according to the lawsuit, and eventually texted “if you could see it in your heart to call me at the end of the day. I would appreciate it. If not I wish you luck on the campaign and hope you keep up the good work.”

The complaint reveals that in the wake of the sexual assault accusations first becoming public earlier this month, Mercedes Schlapp allegedly sent a message to a neighborhood group “chat or text” claiming the accuser was a “troubled individual” who had been fired from multiple jobs, including for “lying and lying on his resume.”

The lawsuit also states the plaintiff has never been fired from a job for lying or lying on his resume and alleges that Mercedes Schlapp’s statement is defamatory, and along with comments from their attorney has engaged in “a campaign to impugn Mr. Doe’s character.”

Tim Hyland, an attorney for the accuser, said in a statement that, “Because Mr. Schlapp has refused to own up to his misbehavior, this suit aims to make Mr. Schlapp, and those who lie for him, accountable for their actions.”

The staffer tells CNN he is keeping his legal options, including the possibility of seeking criminal charges, open.

French nun Sister André, the world’s oldest known person, died on Tuesday at the age of 118 in the southern city of Toulon.

The city’s mayor, Hubert Falco, announced the news of her death on Twitter, writing that “it is with immense sadness and emotion that I learnt tonight of the passing of the world’s oldest person #SisterAndré.”

The nun’s spokesman, David Tavella, said she died on Tuesday at 2 a.m. local time and lived near Toulon. “There is great sadness, but she wanted it to happen, it was her desire to join her beloved brother. For her, it is freedom,” Tavella said.

Born as Lucile Randon on Feb. 11, 1904, Sister André dedicated most of her life to religious service, according to a statement released by Guinness World Records in April 2022.

Before becoming a Catholic nun, she looked after children during World War II and then spent 28 years caring for orphans and elderly people at a hospital.

She was also the oldest nun to ever live, according to Guinness.

When she turned 118 in 2022, the nun received a handwritten birthday note from French President Emmanuel Macron — the 18th French president of her lifetime. There have also been 10 different Popes presiding over the Catholic Church since she was born.

The title of the oldest person ever recorded also belongs to a French woman. Born Feb. 21, 1875, Jeanne Louise Calment’s life spanned 122 years and 164 days, according to the Guinness statement.

The Tesla Model S that braked sharply and triggered an eight-car crash in San Francisco in November had the automaker’s controversial driver-assist software engaged at the time, according to data the federal government released Tuesday.

The Tesla Model S slowed to 7 mph on the highway at the time of the crash, according to the data. Publicly released video also showed the car moving into the far-left lane and braking abruptly.

The Tesla’s driver told authorities that the vehicle’s “full self-driving” software braked unexpectedly and triggered the pileup on Thanksgiving day. CNN Business was first to report last month the driver’s claim that “full self-driving” was active.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration then announced that it was sending a special crash investigation team to examine the incident. The agency typically conducts special investigations into about 100 crashes a year.

The pileup took place hours after Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that its “full self-driving” driver-assist system was available to anyone in North America who requested it and had paid for the option. Tesla had previously restricted access to drivers with high scores on its safety rating system.

“Full self-driving” is designed to keep up with traffic, steer in the lane and abide by traffic signals, but despite Tesla’s name for it, it requires an attentive human driver prepared to take full control of the car at any moment. It’s delighted some Tesla drivers but also alarmed others with its flaws. Drivers are warned on an in-car screen by Tesla when they install “full self-driving” that it “may do the wrong thing at the worst time.”

Tesla generally does not engage with the professional news media and did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

“We are proud of Autopilot’s performance and its impact on reducing traffic collisions. The benefit and promise of Autopilot is clear from the Vehicle Safety Report data that we have been sharing for 4 years,” Tesla said this month in an update to its vehicle safety data.

Traffic safety experts have long questioned the merits of Tesla’s findings, which show fewer crashes when the driver-assist technologies are active, because among other things they’re generally used on highways where crashes are already rarer.

Tesla’s driver-assist technologies, Autopilot and “full self-driving” are already being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration following reports of unexpected braking that occurs “without warning, at random, and often repeatedly in a single drive,” the agency has said in a statement.

The agency has received hundreds of complaints from Tesla users. Some have described near crashes and concerns for their safety.

Bryan Reimer, an autonomous vehicle researcher with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s AgeLab, told CNN Business the revelation that driver-assist technology was engaged raises questions about when NHTSA will act on its investigation, and what the future holds for Tesla’s driver-assist features.

“How many more crashes will there be before NHTSA releases findings?” Reimer said.

Reimer said it remains to be seen if there’s a recall of any Tesla driver-assist features, and what it means for the automaker’s future. Musk has said before the company would be “worth basically zero” if it doesn’t provide “full self-driving.”

An arrest warrant charging Brian Walshe with murder was issued Tuesday in the death of his wife Ana Walshe, a Massachusetts mother of three who had been missing since the new year, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey announced.

Walshe, 47, pleaded not guilty last week to misleading investigators about his actions around the time his wife went missing. He is being held at the Norfolk County House of Corrections and will be transported to Quincy District Court to be arraigned on the murder charge on Wednesday, Morrissey said.

“Additional details in the investigation and the evidence in support of those charges are likely to be presented at arraignment but will not be disclosed at this time,” the prosecutor said.

An attorney for Brian Walshe declined to comment.

The arrest warrant comes more than two weeks after Ana Walshe was reported missing by her workplace, spurring investigators to launch a massive search for her whereabouts.

Police have found possible grim evidence: blood and a bloody knife in the basement of the family’s Cohasset home, according to prosecutors; Brian Walshe’s internet records showing searches for how to dismember and dispose of a body, according to law enforcement sources; and a hacksaw and apparent bloodstains at a trash collection site, law enforcement sources said.

According to police, he told investigators he last saw his wife early January 1 when she left their Cohasset home in a rideshare or taxi to head to the airport and catch a flight to Washington, DC for her real estate job. He said he ran errands for his mother in nearby Swampscott later that day and went for ice cream with one of his children the day after.

However, prosecutors said there was no evidence that Ana Walshe hailed a ride or made it to the airport, and in a criminal affidavit, police said there was no evidence he ran errands for his mother on New Year’s Day. Prosecutors did discover surveillance video showing Brian Walshe at a Home Depot buying $450 of cleaning supplies, including mops, a bucket and tarps, in cash on January 2.

The affidavit describes Brian Walshe’s statements to police as a “clear attempt to mislead and delay investigators.” Prosecutor Lynn Beland said in court last week his statements “allowed him time to either clean up evidence (or) dispose of evidence.”

Her workplace, Tishman Speyer, reported her missing on January 4 after she failed to show up for work. According to Brian Walshe’s defense attorney Tracy Miner, he called her workplace to ask if they knew of her whereabouts prior to the workplace’s call to police. Miner also said her client “has been incredibly cooperative.”

The murder warrant follows a string of tumultuous legal issues for Brian Walshe.

In 2021, he pleaded guilty to three federal fraud charges related to a 2018 scheme to sell fake Andy Warhol artworks online. He has been on house arrest and monitoring since then as part of his pre-sentence conditions.

Also in 2018, his father Dr. Thomas Walshe died, leading to a protracted legal battle over his estate. In court documents, those close to the family accused Brian Walshe of financial misconduct, described him as an angry and violent person and said he had been diagnosed as a sociopath.

“He had a severe falling out with his son,” Andrew Walshe, the executor of the estate, said of Dr. Walshe’s relationship with Brian. “Brian had ran off with a significant amount of his money; he had had almost zero contact with Brian R. Walshe over the last ten plus years.”

The report was filed by Ana Walshe — then Ana Knipp — when she resided in DC. The case was later closed because the victim refused to cooperate with the prosecution, the spokesperson said.

The couple’s three children, all between the ages of 2 and 6, are in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, a spokesperson said.

A police sniper peeked out of a helicopter as it performed a low flyby just a few meters above the Ministries Promenade in Brasilia. He was one of hundreds of officers deployed to secure the enormous grass patch — which sits in front of the Brazilian Senate and Congress and is surrounded by most of the country’s ministries — where protestors were expected to gather last week.

Authorities took no chances ahead of the planned demonstration last Wednesday by supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro — in stark contrast to the now-infamous January 8 insurrection, when Brasilia’s security forces were outnumbered and even maybe unwilling to defend several government buildings against the ire of pro-Bolsonaro rioters.

“Today, the same security officers showed that the capital is safe,” Ricardo Capelli, the caretaker head of security for Brasilia told CNN, as he oversaw the large security operation on the ground.

On January 8, hundreds of protesters broke into Brazil’s Congress building, Supreme Court, and presidential palace, breaking windows, damaging priceless artwork and spraying profanity on walls in scenes reminiscent of the January 6th insurrection in the United States.

Security forces have since come under scrutiny not only for failing to stop protesters from advancing on the buildings, but, in some cases, for failing to react. Some pictures and video posted on social media paint the picture of a seemingly passive approach by law enforcement to the increasingly violent protestor presence on Sunday — and top Brazilian government officials have accused the military police and federal police of turning a blind eye.

“There were a lot of colluding agents. There were a lot of people from the Military Police colluding. A lot of people from the Armed Forces here were colluding,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Lula told journalists in Brasilia last week.

“I am convinced that the door of the Planalto Palace was opened for these people to enter because there is no broken door. It means someone facilitated their entry here,” he said.

Federal District Security Chief Ricardo Capelli meanwhile says he believes that, even if some individual officers may have been negligent or cooperated with protesters, security forces as a whole were set up to fail by their then-commanders on January 8.

“What happened on the 8th, and [Wednesday’s] operation clearly demonstrates that, was the absence of leadership,” he say, referring to the fact that Anderson Torres, his predecessor, was travelling when the riots occurred.

“[Torres] changed the core of the leadership, travelled and left the office without command, allowing the unacceptable actions of the 8th to take place,” Capelli argued.

Torres, who denies any wrongdoing, was arrested over the weekend and faces a number of allegations related to the insurrection, including attempted coup and terrorist acts.

On Tuesday, dozens of military personnel were also dismissed from their positions at the Alvorada Palace, the official residency of the Brazilian President. No reason has been given publicly for their firing, but both Lula and first lady Rosangela da Silva have been publicly critical of the military police’s conduct during the insurrection, accusing some of those tasked with guarding not just the Palace but the other attacked buildings of colluding with rioters.

The military police and armed forces have declined CNN’s request for comment and more than a week later have not publicly addressed the security operation on the day of the riots.

Former policeman and law enforcement researcher Cassio Thyone says it’s difficult to say exactly what went wrong, but, from what he saw, some officers may have conducted themselves inappropriately.

“I don’t believe it was incompetence, maybe some negligence. It wasn’t all of them but some police officers ended up thinking there was no risk of an invasion,” Thyone said.

After more than 20 years with the Brasilia Civil police, Thyone is now a lecturer and researcher on public security, heading the law enforcement research NGO Brazilian Public Security Forum.

He believes that political pressure could also have influenced the behavior of some officers.

“We have to understand that as part of the process of the last four years we’ve had a big ideology influence inside our policy, an ideology from the right,” he explained. “I believe that, in some way, it has influenced some of the decisions they’ve made.”

A study carried out by his Brazilian Public Security Forum in 2022, found that police officers were generally “more conservative” group than the average of the Brazilian population. “We’ve seen results that between 50% and 60% of the police force were Bolsonaro sympathizers,” Thyone said.

A previous study by his Brazilian Public Forum in 2021 found that 38% of police officers interacted in pro-Bolsonaro digital environments, and 21% were involved in more radical groups where the possibility of overturning the election was publicly discussed.

Still, support for Bolsonaro does not mean support for political violence.

Thyone’s research shows that law enforcement officers still reject any kind of institutional rupture, he says. “The fact they sympathise with Bolsonaro doesn’t mean they are against democracy,” Thyone explains. “Because for police officers there’s a mission, they’ll have to comply [with the constitution] regardless of their personal convictions.”

“Police officers have every right to make their political choice, that doesn’t interest me, for me that’s not important,” he says.

“What is important is the respect for the constitution, it’s that them, in exercising their public duty comply with and respect the constitution.”

Getty Images announced a lawsuit against Stability AI, the company behind popular AI art tool Stable Diffusion, alleging the tech company committed copyright infringement.

The stock image giant accused Stability AI of copying and processing millions of its images without obtaining the proper licensing, according to a press release issued Tuesday. London-based Stability AI announced it had raised $101 million in funding for open-source AI tech in October and released version 2.1 of its Stable Diffusion tool in December.

“Getty Images believes artificial intelligence has the potential to stimulate creative endeavors. Accordingly, Getty Images provided licenses to leading technology innovators for purposes related to training artificial intelligence systems in a manner that respects personal and intellectual property rights,” Getty wrote in the statement. “Stability AI did not seek any such license from Getty Images and instead, we believe, chose to ignore viable licensing options and long standing legal protections in pursuit of their stand-alone commercial interests.”

Getty declined to comment further on the suit to CNN, but said that it requested a response from the AI firm before taking action. Stability AI did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

AI art and traditional media suppliers have struggled to coexist in recent months as computer-generated images grow more available and advanced, using human-created images and art as data training.

Once available only to a select group of tech insiders, text-to-image AI systems are becoming increasingly popular and powerful. These systems include Stable Diffusion and DALL-E, from OpenAI.

Shutterstock, a Getty Images competitor and fellow stock image platform, announced plans in October to expand its partnership with OpenAI, the company behind DALL-E and viral AI chat bot ChatGPT, and enhance AI-generated content while launching a fund to compensate artists for their contributions.

These tools, which typically offer some free credits before charging, can create all kinds of images with just a few words, including those that are clearly evocative of the works of many, many artists, if not seemingly created by them. Users can invoke those artists with words such as “in the style of” or “by” along with a specific name. Current uses for these tools can range from personal amusement and hobbies to more commercial cases.

In just months, millions of people have flocked to text-to-image AI systems which are already being used to create experimental films, magazine covers and images to illustrate news stories. An image generated with an AI system called Midjourney recently won an art competition at the Colorado State Fair, creating an uproar among artists, who are concerned that their art can be stolen by these systems without due credit.

“I don’t want to participate at all in the machine that’s going to cheapen what I do,” Daniel Danger, an illustrator and print maker who learned a number of his works were used to train Stable Diffusion, told CNN in October.

Stability AI founder and CEO Emad Mostaque told CNN Business in October via email that art is a tiny fraction of the LAION training data behind Stable Diffusion. “Art makes up much less than 0.1% of the dataset and is only created when deliberately called by the user,” he said.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg has been detained by German police at a protest over the expansion of a coal mine in the west German village of Lützerath, CNN affiliate N-TV reports.

Thunberg joined thousands of other activists and protesters taking part in weekend demonstrations against the razing of the German village that would make way for an expansion of the Garzweiler lignite coal mine, which is owned by European energy giant RWE.

Once the eviction is complete, RWE plans to build a 1.5-kilometer perimeter fence around the village, sealing off the village’s buildings, streets and sewers before they are demolished.

The expansion of the coal mine is significant for climate activists. They argue that continuing to burn coal for energy will increase planet-warming emissions and violate the Paris Climate Agreement’s ambition to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Lignite is the most polluting type of coal, which itself is the most polluting fossil fuel.

Thunberg tweeted on Friday that she was in Lützerath to protest the expansion, and asked others to join.

Clashes between the activists and police have been ongoing this month, and photos from the protests have shown police wearing riot gear to remove the demonstrators. Some of the protesters have been in Lützerath for more than two years, CNN has previously reported, occupying the homes abandoned by former residents after they were evicted to make way for the mine.

More than 1,000 police officers have been involved in the eviction operation. Most of the village’s buildings have now been cleared and replaced with excavating machines.

There’s an old saying in journalism that “Three is a trend,” which seemingly serves as the underlying rationale for “The Price of Glee,” a three-part docuseries from Investigation Discovery (a.k.a. ID). Recounting triumphs but mostly tragedies associated with the hit Fox show, the project feels as if it’s on significantly surer footing charting the former and basically just icky when delving into the latter.

The tone is set right off the bat, as on-screen chyrons note that the musical series became an instant sensation when it premiered in 2009, making stars of its young and talented cast. “By 2020, all of them would be famous,” the script continues. “And three would be dead.”

The different circumstances surrounding each of those situations, however, makes the effort to connect them particularly tenuous. While there’s talk along the way and toward the end about a “Glee” “curse,” alluded to by some of the crew as well as journalists, cooler heads note that bad things sometimes happen without rhyme or reason to them.

Related: Has the ‘Glee curse’ struck again? Matthew Morrison’s reported firing sparks talk

“The Price of Glee” holds together for a time, recounting how the show burst onto the scene with its fresh-faced performers as well as the demands associated with that sudden fame. To compound those issues, the studio behind the show was eager to cash in on its popularity, leading to a concert tour that offered little opportunity for rest from the daily grind.

In that sense, “Glee” is emblematic of any number of Hollywood success stories and the precipitous falls that sometimes follow them, as well as the feuds and wounded feelings that often accompany that.

The initial focus is on the clearest example of a “price” associated with the show — namely, Cory Monteith, who had struggled with substance abuse before “Glee” and saw those challenges resurface as he wrestled with the attention and money that came his way, culminating in his fatal drug overdose in 2013.

The second part also recycles allegations of haughty on-set behavior by Lea Michele, and tensions between her and Naya Rivera. None of the principal cast participated in the documentary, which relies upon old clips as well as interviews with members of the crew, assorted journalists, the obligatory psychotherapist, and friends of some key players, adding to the tabloid sensibility.

The third chapter deals rather hastily with the suicide of Mark Salling, after his arrest for possession of child pornography, in 2018; and more extensively with the tragic 2020 accident that killed Rivera, who drowned in California’s Lake Piru, where she was spending the day with her son.

That last hour includes an interview with her father, George Rivera, who speaks about compartmentalizing his feelings in order to cope and speak publicly about what happened. As part of that, the producers take him back to the location where his daughter died, which feels as uncomfortable as it is unnecessary.

Ultimately, though, “The Price of Glee” feels trapped by its title, laboring to fill in what are at best dotted lines. That might be the price of garnering attention, but in terms of the project’s credibility, it’s a high one to pay.

“The Price of Glee” premieres January 16 at 9 p.m. ET on ID  and Discovery+. Like CNN, Discovery is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.

The-CNN-Wire & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

A former Republican New Mexico House of Representatives candidate — who, police say, claimed election fraud after his defeat — was arrested by an Albuquerque SWAT team Monday in connection with a string of recent shootings that damaged homes of local Democratic elected leaders, city police said.

Solomon Peña, who lost his 2022 run for state House District 14, is accused of paying and conspiring with four men to shoot at the homes of two state legislators and two county commissioners, Albuquerque police said.

“It is believed he is the mastermind” behind the shootings that happened in December and early January, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said in a news conference.

CNN has reached out to Peña’s campaign website for comment and has been unable to identify his attorney.

Before the shootings, Peña in November — after losing the election — had approached one of the legislators and some county commissioners at their homes with paperwork that he said indicated fraud was involved in the elections, police said.

The investigation confirmed “these shootings were indeed politically motivated,” Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said Monday.

“At the end of the day, this was about a right-wing radical, an election denier who was arrested today and someone who did the worst imaginable thing you can do when you have a political disagreement, which is turn that to violence,” said Keller, a Democrat. “We know we don’t always agree with our elected officials, but that should never, ever lead to violence.”

The stewing of doubt about election veracity, principally among Republicans and usually without proof, has exploded nationwide since then-President Donald Trump lost his reelection bid and began propagating falsehoods the 2020 presidential election was stolen. The claims have stoked anger — and unapologetic threats of violence — against public officials down to the local level.

Peña will face charges related to four shootings: a December 4 incident at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa; a December 8 shooting at the home of incoming state House Speaker Javier Martinez; a December 11 shooting at the home of then-Bernalillo Commissioner Debbie O’Malley; and a January 3 shooting at the home of state Sen. Linda Lopez, police said in a news release.

In the latest shooting, police found evidence “Peña himself went on this shooting and actually pulled the trigger on at least one of the firearms that was used,” Albuquerque police Deputy Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock said. But an AR handgun he tried to use malfunctioned, and more than a dozen rounds were fired by another shooter from a separate handgun, the police statement said.

The department is still investigating whether those suspected of carrying out the shootings were “even aware of who these targets were or if they were just conducting shootings,” Hartsock added.

“Nobody was injured in the shootings, which resulted in damage to four homes,” an Albuquerque police news release said.

5 people tied to conspiracy, police say

During the fall campaign, Peña’s opponent, Democratic state Rep. Miguel Garcia, sued to have Peña removed from the ballot, arguing Peña’s status as an ex-felon should prevent him from being able to run for public office in the state, CNN affiliate KOAT reported. Peña served nearly seven years in prison after a 2008 conviction for stealing a large volume of goods in a “smash and grab scheme,” the KOAT report said.

“You can’t hide from your own history,” Peña told the outlet in September. “I had nothing more than a desire to improve my lot in life.”

A district court judge ruled Peña was allowed to run in the election, according to KOAT. He lost his race to Garcia, 26% to 74%.

“After the election in November, Solomon Peña reached out and contracted someone for an amount of cash money to commit at least two of these shootings. The addresses of the shootings were communicated over phone,” Hartsock said Monday, citing the investigation. “Within hours, in one case, the shooting took place at the lawmaker’s home.”

Firearm evidence, surveillance video, cell phone and electronic records and witnesses in and around the conspiracy aided the investigation and helped officials connect five people to this conspiracy, Hartsock said.

Detectives served search warrants Monday at Peña’s apartment and the home of two men allegedly paid by Peña, police said in the statement, adding Peña did not speak with detectives.

Officers arrested Peña on suspicion of “helping orchestrate and participate in these four shootings, either at his request or he conducted them personally, himself,” Hartsock added.

Police last week announced they had a suspect in custody and had obtained a firearm connected to one of the shootings at homes of elected officials. A car driven at one of the shooting scenes was registered to Peña, the department said.

“Detectives no longer believe the shootings are connected to reports of shots fired near a campaign office of the Attorney General, nor the law office of a state senator,” the news release states.

‘Processing this attack (is) incredibly heavy’

“I am very relieved — and so is my family. I’m very appreciative of the work the police did,” O’Malley told CNN on Monday evening. O’Malley and her husband had been sleeping on December 11 when more than a dozen shots were fired at her home in Albuquerque, she said.

Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa discovered the gunshots at her home after returning from Christmas shopping, she said.

“It was terrifying. My house had four shots through the front door and windows, where just hours before my grandbaby and I were playing in the living room,” Barboa said in a statement. “Processing this attack continues to be incredibly heavy, especially knowing that other women and people of color elected officials, with children and grandbabies, were targeted.”

State House Speaker Javier Martinez, whose home also was shot at, is grateful a suspect is in custody, he told CNN in a statement. “We have seen far too much political violence lately and all of these events are powerful reminders that stirring up fear, heightening tensions, and stoking hatred can have devastating consequences,” he said.

The-CNN-Wire & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.