Trump visiting the border wall prototypes

President Donald Trump on Tuesday will fly out to visit prototypes for his long-promised border wall, an opportunity to see in person what options his administration has tested for future construction -- if Congress approves any money to proceed. Customs and Border Protection picked eight proposals for construction along the San Diego border, which were finished in October and have been tested in a real-world border environment for evaluation since. The eight prototypes fall into two categories -- four are designed to be 30-foot concrete walls, and four are made of other materials. After construction was completed, the prototypes were tested on several fronts, including on withstanding breaches, climbing, digging, their ability to slow down and stop border traffic, and whether they are safe for Border Patrol agents. For example, officials in the past have said border barriers ideally allow agents to see what's happening on the other side, so adversaries can't hide in the shadow of a wall. Although President Trump is there to see the various proposals , the Department of Homeland Security officials wouldn't specify what role the President would have in choosing among the prototypes.

In Other News A court has decided that Charles Manson's body, after months of being preserved, will go to Jason Freeman -- who says he is Manson's grandson. Almost four months after Manson died at a hospital in Bakersfield, California, the courts chose among three competing claims -- by Freeman, Michael Brunner, who says he's the cult leader's son, and Michael Channels, a Manson friend and memorabilia collector who says he has the only valid will. The Kern County Coroner's office has kept Manson's body at an undisclosed location since his death on November 19 at age 83. Freeman says he plans to cremate his grandfather's remains and hold a small family ceremony. Three package bombs have exploded in Austin, Texas over 10 days. The bombings have killed a teenager and a 39-year-old man and critically hurt an elderly woman. And police believe the three explosions are connected. All three packages were found outside the victims' houses, but none had been delivered by the US Postal Service, UPS or FedEx. Divorced moms in Saudi Arabia can now keep custody of their kids without filing lawsuits. Previously a woman was required to petition courts, sometimes for years, to get custody of children after a divorce. This is pretty big deal because it means Saudi Arabia is breaking ranks with other countries in the region that heavily favor male guardianship. The move is part of a series of sweeping social and economic reforms in the kingdom known as Vision 2030. Initiated over the past two years, the reforms have been spearheaded by Saudi Arabia's 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee's said there was no collusion and even contradicted the intelligence community's assessment that the Russians meddled in the presidential election to help Trump. A 150-page draft report is coming out today. While the report is clearly a partisan, political document -- committee Democrats were not briefed before its release -- it is all but certain to be used by Trump to discredit intelligence assessments and to proclaim his innocence.