Saturday, March 31, 2018
Court: Trump Administration Can’t Block Immigrant Teens From Abortion
A federal court in Washington told the Trump administration Friday that the government can’t interfere with the ability of pregnant immigrant teens being held in federal custody to obtain abortions.
A judge issued an order Friday evening barring the government from “interfering with or obstructing” pregnant minors’ access to abortion counseling or abortions, among other things, while a lawsuit proceeds. The order covers pregnant minors being held in federal custody after entering the country illegally.
Lawyers for the Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for sheltering children who illegally enter the country unaccompanied by a parent, have said the department has a policy of “refusing to facilitate” abortions. And the director of the office that oversees the shelters has said he believes teens in his agency’s care have no constitutional right to abortion.
ACLU lawsuit
The American Civil Liberties Union brought a lawsuit on behalf of the minors, which the judge overseeing the case also Friday allowed to go forward as a class action lawsuit.
“We have been able to secure justice for these young pregnant women in government custody who will no longer be subject to the government’s policy of coercion and obstruction while the case continues,” said ACLU attorney Brigitte Amiri after the judge’s order became public.
The government can appeal the judge’s order. A Department of Justice spokesman didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Friday evening.
The ACLU and Trump administration have been sparring for months over the government’s policy.
Texas case
In a high profile case last year, the ACLU represented a teen who entered the U.S. illegally in September and learned while in federal custody in Texas that she was pregnant. She obtained a state court order permitting her to have an abortion, but federal officials refused to transport her or temporarily release her so that others could take her to get the procedure. The teen was ultimately able to get an abortion in October as a result of the lawsuit, but the Trump administration has accused the ACLU of misleading the government during the case, a charge the ACLU has denied.
The ACLU has since represented several other teens who have sought abortions while in custody, but the organization doesn’t know of any others actively seeking abortions, Amiri said Friday night. The judge’s order now covers any teens currently in custody or who come in to custody while the lawsuit goes forward.
Policy isn't law
In a deposition taken in December as part of the litigation, Scott Lloyd, the director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, which oversees shelters for unaccompanied immigrant minors, said that pregnant teens in his agency’s care have no right to abortion under the Constitution. Lloyd, who has written about his own opposition to abortion, said he had not approved any abortions since becoming director in March 2017. That included refusing the abortion request of a teen who had been impregnated as a result of rape.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said in ruling Friday that Lloyd and his office are “certainly entitled to maintain an interest in fetal life, and even to prefer that pregnant” minors in their custody “choose one course over the other,” but the government can’t create or implement a policy that strips minors “of their right to make their own reproductive choices.”
Read More Court: Trump Administration Can’t Block Immigrant Teens From Abortion : https://ift.tt/2H0rn8fFriday, March 30, 2018
Trump EPA Expected to Roll Back Auto Gas Mileage Standards
The Trump administration is expected to announce that it will roll back automobile gas mileage and pollution standards that were a pillar in the Obama administration's plans to combat climate change.
It’s not clear whether the announcement will include a specific number, but current regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency require the fleet of new vehicles to get 36 miles per gallon in real-world driving by 2025. That’s about 10 mpg over the existing standard.
Environmental groups, who predict increased greenhouse gas emissions and more gasoline consumption if the standards are relaxed, say the announcement could come Tuesday at a Virginia car dealership. EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said in an email Friday that the standards are still being reviewed.
Legal showdown
Any change is likely to set up a lengthy legal showdown with California, which currently has the power to set its own pollution and gas mileage standards and doesn’t want them to change. About a dozen other states follow California’s rules, and together they account for more than one-third of the vehicles sold in the US. Currently the federal and California standards are the same.
Automakers have lobbied to revisit the requirements, saying they’ll have trouble reaching them because people are buying bigger vehicles due to low gas prices. They say the standards will cost the industry billions of dollars and raise vehicle prices due to the cost of developing technology needed to raise mileage.
When the standards were first proposed, the government predicted that two-thirds of new vehicles sold would be cars, with the rest trucks and SUVs, said Gloria Bergquist, spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. Now the reverse is true, she said.
Still, environmental groups say the standards save money at the pump, and the technology is available for the industry to comply.
Health risk
They also say burning more gasoline will put people’s health at risk.
“The American public overwhelmingly supports strong vehicle standards because they cut the cost of driving, reduce air pollution, and combat climate change,” said Luke Tonachel, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Clean Vehicles and Fuels Project.
The EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are involved in setting the standards, which would cover the years 2022 through 2025.
Some conservative groups are pressing EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to revoke a waiver that allows California to set its own rules. They say California shouldn’t be allowed to set policy for the rest of the nation. Pruitt has publicly questioned the veracity of evidence complied by climate scientists, including those in his own agency, that global warming is overwhelmingly caused by man-made carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels.
If the waiver is revoked, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra says the state will resist. “What we’re doing to protect California’s environment isn’t just good for our communities — it’s good for the country,” he said in a statement. “We’re not looking to pick a fight with the Trump administration, but when they threaten our values, we’re ready.”
Huge dilemma
Getting rid of the waiver or having two gas mileage and pollution requirements presents a huge dilemma for automakers: while they would like to avoid fines for failing to meet the standards, they also want the expense of building two versions of cars and trucks, one for the California-led states and another for the rest of the country.
Mark Reuss, a General Motors’ product development chief, said in a recent interview that he would rather have a single nationwide standard, even if it stays the same. He called two standards “just waste,” because they would require different vehicle equipment and costly additional engineering. “I want one good one,” he said. “I could focus all my engineers on one.”
Automakers agreed to the standards in 2012, but lobbied for and received a midterm review in 2018 to account for changes in market conditions. In the waning days of the Obama presidency, the EPA did the review and proclaimed that the standards have enough flexibility and the technology is available to meet them.
Changes would be years away
Janet McCabe, who was acting assistant EPA administrator under Obama when the review was done, said Friday it will take a couple years for the EPA to propose new rules, gather public comment and finalize any changes. Any rollback would likely bring legal challenges, forcing Pruitt's EPA to defend the science behind the changes.
“This would all take a long time,” said McCabe, now a senior fellow at the Environmental Law and Policy Center.
In the meantime, automakers have to proceed with plans for new cars and trucks under the current gas mileage requirements because it takes years to develop vehicles
Read More Trump EPA Expected to Roll Back Auto Gas Mileage Standards : https://ift.tt/2E82a8MState Dept: US Visa Applicants to be Asked for Social Media History
The U.S. government plans to collect social media history from nearly everyone who seeks entry into the United States, State Department proposals showed on Friday as part of President Donald Trump's policy of "extreme vetting."
Most immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants - about 14.7 million people - will be asked to list on a federal application form all of the social media identities that they have used in the past five years - information that will be used
to vet and identify them, according to the proposals.
The State Department will publish the proposals in a notice in the Federal Register on Friday seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget. The public has 60 days to comment on the requests.
The proposals support President Donald Trump's campaign pledge in 2016 to crack down on illegal immigration for security reasons and his call for "extreme vetting" of foreigners entering the United States.
The department said it intends not to routinely ask most diplomatic and official visa applicants for the social media information.
If approved, applicants also will be required to submit five years of previously used telephone numbers, email addresses and their international travel history. They will be asked if they have been deported or removed from any country and whether family members have been involved in terrorist activities, the
department said.
Courts have struck down the first two versions of Trump's travel ban and the current one is narrower in scope than its predecessors. The Supreme Court will consider its legality this spring and a decision is expected in June.
Kremlin Criticizes Decision to Take RT TV off Air in Washington
The Kremlin said on Friday it was studying a move by cable and digital TV providers in the United States to take Russia's RT TV channel off the air in Washington, saying the move looked like it was illegal and discriminatory.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters lawyers were closely studying the grounds for the decision, but said that at first glance it looked illegal and discriminatory.
Read More Kremlin Criticizes Decision to Take RT TV off Air in Washington : https://ift.tt/2IddP8PEPA's Pruitt Lived in Washington Condo Connected to Energy Lobbyist
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency lived in a Capitol Hill condominium linked to a prominent Washington lobbyist whose firm represents a roster of fossil fuel companies.
ABC News first reported Thursday that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt had been living in a building on a leafy street about a block from the U.S. Capitol. Records show three units inside the building are listed as belonging to a corporation co-owned by the wife of J. Steven Hart, the chairman and CEO of the powerhouse lobbying firm Williams and Jensen PLLC. It was not immediately clear how much Pruitt was paying for the home.
The firm's clients include Exxon Mobil Corp. and the major liquefied natural gas exporter Cheniere Energy Inc.
A Republican who previously served as the state attorney general of Oklahoma, Pruitt has long been a champion of the oil and gas industry. In the year he has served as the Trump administration's top environmental official, Pruitt has moved to scrap, gut or replace numerous environmental regulations opposed by the industry while boosting the continued burning of fossil fuels, which is the primary cause of climate change.
In December, Pruitt and members of his staff spent about $40,000 in taxpayer funds to fly to Morocco to help encourage the North African kingdom to import liquefied natural gas from the United States. Cheniere, the lobbying client of Hart's firm, is currently the only exporter of liquefied natural gas from the continental United States.
In a statement to The Associated Press, Hart said Pruitt is a casual friend from Oklahoma who moved into the building in early 2017. Hart said he had no contact with Pruitt for many months, other than a brief exchange at the National Prayer Breakfast in February.
“Pruitt signed a market based, short-term lease for a condo owned partially by my wife,” Hart said, according to a statement released by his firm. “Pruitt paid all rent owed as agreed to in the lease. My wife does not, and has not ever lobbied the EPA on any matters.”
Hart's wife, Vicki Hart, is also a lobbyist, focusing on health care issues.
Steven Hart's firm did not respond to questions about how much Pruitt paid. Market-rate rents in the area typically run more than $3,000 for two bedrooms.
EPA's press office also did not respond to messages seeking comment about Pruitt's Washington living arrangements. Messages seeking comment from the White House also received no response.
Pruitt has been under increasing scrutiny for this frequent taxpayer-funded travel, which has included first-class airline tickets. Though federal regulations typically require federal officials to fly in coach, the EPA chief has said he needed to sit in premium seats due to security concerns.
Pruitt's EPA travel has also often included weekend-long layovers at his home in Tulsa. The EPA chief is widely mentioned in Oklahoma as a possible successor to Sen. James Inhofe, the state's octogenarian GOP senator who is expected to retire at the end of his current term.
Among the clients at Hart's lobbying firm is OGE Energy Corp., an electricity company serving Oklahoma and Arkansas. According to federal disclosure reports, the company paid Williams and Jensen $400,000 in 2017 to lobby on issues that included EPA regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
Copies of Pruitt's daily calendar obtained by the AP through a public records request show that Pruitt held a March 2017 meeting in his EPA office with OGE Chairman and CEO Sean Trauschke and company vice president Paul Renfrow. The meeting was arranged at the request of George Baker, a registered lobbyist from Hart's firm, who also attended.
In October, EPA announced it would rewrite the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era regulation that sought to limit planet-warming carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants like those operated by OGE. EPA has also moved to scrap regulations cutting power plant emissions of such toxic substances as mercury, as well as tighter standards on dumps containing coal ash.
Records show Pruitt has had a long relationship with OGE. Campaign finance reports from Oklahoma show more than three dozen OGE executives donated to Pruitt's 2014 re-election campaign for state attorney general, even though he was running without a Democratic opponent. OGE chairman Peter Delaney contributed $3,500, while Trauschke kicked in $2,500 and Renfrow contributed $1,000.
Environmental groups on Thursday pointed to news of Pruitt's living arrangements as further evidence he caters to polluters, and they renewed their calls for him to resign.
“Scott Pruitt, who is supposed to protect our families from pollution, literally lived in a fossil fuel lobbyist's house,” said Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra Club. “The administrator of the EPA should stand up to corporate polluters, not live in their homes while pushing their agenda at every turn.”
Read More EPA's Pruitt Lived in Washington Condo Connected to Energy Lobbyist : https://ift.tt/2J6tYhFState Department Proposes US Visa Applicants to Be Asked for Social Media History
The U.S. government plans to collect social media history from nearly everyone who seeks entry into the United States, State Department proposals showed Friday as part of President Donald Trump's policy of "extreme vetting."
Most immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants — about 14.7 million people — will be asked to list on a federal application form all of the social media identities that they have used in the past five years — information that will be used to vet and identify them, according to the proposals.
The State Department will publish the proposals in a notice in the Federal Register on Friday seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget. The public has 60 days to comment on the requests.
The proposals support Trump's campaign pledge in 2016 to crack down on illegal immigration for security reasons and his call for "extreme vetting" of foreigners entering the United States.
The department said it intends not to routinely ask most diplomatic and official visa applicants for the social media information.
If approved, applicants also will be required to submit five years of previously used telephone numbers and email addresses, and their international travel history. They will be asked if they have been deported or removed from any country and whether family members have been involved in terrorist activities, the department said.
Courts have struck down the first two versions of Trump's travel ban and the current one is narrower in scope than its predecessors. The Supreme Court will consider its legality this spring and a decision is expected in June.
Read More State Department Proposes US Visa Applicants to Be Asked for Social Media History : https://ift.tt/2GJOvudThursday, March 29, 2018
Pentagon Remains Silent on Transgender Policy
Nearly a week after President Donald Trump issued an order banning some transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, the Pentagon is refusing to provide clarity, citing ongoing legal challenges.
Last Friday, the White House released a memo from Trump to Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, stating the administration concurred with a policy for transgender service members privately recommended by Mattis in late February.
The memo said Mattis and Nielsen "have concluded that the accession or retention of individuals with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria — those who may require substantial medical treatment, including through medical drugs or surgery — presents considerable risk to military effectiveness and lethality."
"Gender dysphoria" (formerly known as gender identity disorder) is defined by strong, persistent feelings of identification with the opposite gender and discomfort with one's own assigned sex that results in significant distress or impairment.
The memo also granted the secretaries the authority to implement policies as they saw fit.
But since then, the Department of Defense has been silent, refusing to answer questions from reporters seeking clarity on a new policy that could affect nearly 9,000 transgender service members.
The pattern continued Thursday when Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters, "We will continue to comply with four court orders assessing transgender applicants for military service and retaining current transgender service members."
White said she is prevented from discussing any aspect of the new policy because of ongoing litigation challenging Trump's order to ban transgender forces.
The Pentagon said there are 8,980 service members who identify as transgender, but only 937 active-duty service members were diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
Read More Pentagon Remains Silent on Transgender Policy : https://ift.tt/2J6r10wRussia Orders Expulsion of US Diplomats in Tit-for-Tat Response
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Moscow will expel 60 U.S. diplomats after Washington announced it was ordering the expulsion of dozens of Russian diplomats over the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain.
Lavrov said Thursday Russia will also close the U.S. consulate in the city of St. Petersburg.
The U.S., along with more than 20 other nations, ordered the expulsion of Russian diplomats after Moscow was blamed for the nerve agent attack on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter earlier this month in the British town of Salisbury.
Russia denies it was responsible for the nerve agent attack and has alleged the it was carried out by British intelligence services in order to make Russia look bad. Britain dismisses that allegation.
In a phone call this week with U.S. President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May praised the "very strong response" by the United States in the wake of the poisoning.
The White House said "both leaders agreed on the importance of dismantling Russia’s spy networks in the United Kingdom and the United States to curtail Russian clandestine activities and prevent future chemical weapons attacks on either country’s soil."
Meanwhile, Skripal's daughter Yulia is "improving rapidly" after a nerve agent attack earlier this month and is no longer in critical condition, Christine Blanshard, Salisbury District hospital medical director, said.
Sergei Skripal remains in critical condition, Blanshard added.
British police gave an update on the investigation Wednesday, saying that after forensic examinations detectives believe the Skripals first made contact with the toxin at the front door of their home. They cautioned that those living in the neighborhood will see continued searches taking place but that the risk to the public remains low.
So far, police say they have looked through 5,000 hours of security camera footage, examined more than 1,350 other exhibits and interviewed hundreds of witnesses.
National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin and White House correspondent Steve Herman contributed to this article.
Read More Russia Orders Expulsion of US Diplomats in Tit-for-Tat Response : https://ift.tt/2pQEVuHTrump’s New National Security Adviser Heads to Pentagon for Mattis Meeting
U.S. President Donald Trump’s incoming National Security Adviser is headed to the Pentagon to meet with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
The Pentagon says former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton is set to talk with Mattis later on Thursday.
It is not clear if this will be the first meeting between the two – both had been scheduled to be at the White House Wednesday for separate events.
On Tuesday, Mattis told Pentagon reporters he had never met Bolton but that he did not anticipate any difficulties in forging a working relationship.
“No reservations, no concerns at all,” Mattis said. “It's going to be a partnership. We're going to go forward.”
There have been questions about whether Mattis and Bolton would be able to work together effectively given Bolton’s reputation as a hawk on defense issues, while Mattis has repeatedly stressed a need to lead with diplomacy.
“I hope that there's some different worldviews,” Mattis told reporters earlier this week. “That's the normal thing you want, unless you want groupthink.”
Thursday’s meeting comes as reports emerge that the U.S. defense secretary could visit China in the next several months.
“Defense departments in both countries are currently coordinating on this," Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang said Thursday, when asked about the possibility.
Pentagon officials would not comment on the reports.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Read More Trump’s New National Security Adviser Heads to Pentagon for Mattis Meeting : https://ift.tt/2GUjtxgFired VA Secretary Says Privatization Advocates Doomed Him
Former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is blaming his sudden ouster from the Trump administration on "political forces'' that he says are bent on privatizing the agency and putting "companies with profits" over the care of veterans.
Shulkin, the lone Obama administration holdover serving in President Donald Trump's Cabinet, blasted a "toxic" and "subversive" environment in Washington that made it impossible for him to lead. In a tweet late Wednesday, President Donald Trump fired Shulkin, who faced a mounting internal rebellion at VA and a bruising ethics scandal.
"There are many political appointees in the VA that believe that we are moving in the wrong direction or weren't moving fast enough towards privatizing the VA," he wrote in an op-ed published Thursday in The New York Times.
Referring to his opponents in both the White House and VA, Shulkin added: "They saw me as an obstacle to privatization who had to be removed. That is because I am convinced that privatization is a political issue aimed at rewarding select people and companies with profits, even if it undermines care for veterans."
The issue of privatizing VA has been a political hot button since the 2016 campaign, when Trump pledged to aggressively expand veterans' access to private doctors outside the government-run VA system at taxpayers' expense in the wake of a 2014 scandal at the Phoenix VA medical center in which some veterans died while waiting months for medical appointments.
Major veterans groups and Democrats stand opposed to an aggressive expansion, seeing the effort as a potential threat to the viability of VA medical centers.
The firing comes after the VA's internal watchdog last month concluded that Shulkin had improperly accepted Wimbledon tennis tickets and that his then chief of staff had doctored emails to justify his wife traveling to Europe with him at taxpayers' expense.
But in the op-ed, Shulkin, a physician, claimed he had been "falsely accused" and blamed the "politically based attacks on me and my family's character."
Trump nominated White House doctor Ronny Jackson to replace Shulkin.
A White House official said Shulkin was informed of his dismissal by chief of staff John Kelly Wednesday afternoon before the president announced the move on Twitter. Shulkin's name was scrubbed from the Department of Veterans Affairs website soon after. Shulkin packed up his office and in response to a reporter's query late Wednesday dejectedly emailed: "Let's talk tomorrow — I just need tonight to myself.''
By Thursday morning, he was making rounds with news media, pledging to continue speaking out "against those who seek to harm the VA by prioritizing their personal agendas."
Read More Fired VA Secretary Says Privatization Advocates Doomed Him : https://ift.tt/2J3rWi4Cesar Chavez Day in California - Reflecting on Immigration
Cesar Chavez Day, March 31, is a state holiday in California, commemorating the Hispanic civil rights leader who worked on behalf of migrant farm workers, many of them immigrants. As Mike O'Sullivan reports, Chavez remains an inspiration for many, but his legacy, for others, is complicated.
Census Citizenship Question Ignites Controversy
Eleven U.S. states are now challenging the Trump administration's decision to add a question about citizenship status to the upcoming 2020 U.S. Census. In an announcement Monday, the U.S. Commerce Department said the change would ensure a more accurate accounting of the U.S. population. But opponents say the move will have the opposite effect by intimidating undocumented immigrants. VOA's Congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.
'March for Our Lives' Galvanizes Gun Control Debate in U.S.
The recent 'March for Our Lives' demonstrations in Washington and across the country have sparked discussion from all sides of the gun control debate in the United States. This week, VOA's Plugged In with Greta Van Susteren explores the various voices of the latest student-led protests and what's next in terms of solutions to the gun violence issue in America. VOA's Elizabeth Cherneff has more.
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
VA Nominee Jackson Served as Physician to 3 Presidents
Dr. Ronny Jackson, picked by President Donald Trump to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, has served as White House physician to three presidents.
Jackson went into active naval service in 1995 after getting his medical degree from University of Texas Medical Branch. He went on to become the honor graduate of the Navy’s Undersea Medical Officer Program in Groton, Conn., before obtaining more credentials in emergency medicine.
He served as an emergency doctor specializing in resuscitating troops while deployed to Iraq in 2005 with the Surgical Shock Trauma Platoon in Taqaddum, Iraq.
While Jackson was still in Iraq, the President George W. Bush administration selected him to be a White House physician under Air Force Brigadier General Richard Tubb. In 2013, then President Barack Obama appointed him to the top role, and he remained there when Trump took office.
He gained a degree of fame unusual for White House physicians in 2017 when he took questions from the White House press corps on national television, discussing at length the president’s physical exam.
Trump, the oldest first-term president in American history, was plagued at the time by questions about his physical health, weight and mental stability. But Jackson gave the president top rating.
“The president’s overall health is excellent,” Jackson declared at the time. “His cardiac performance during his physical exam was very good. He continues to enjoy the significant long-term cardiac and overall health benefits that come from a lifetime of abstinence from tobacco and alcohol. ... All clinical data indicates that the president is currently very healthy.”
As the White House doctor, Jackson is responsible for attending not only to the president but also to the first family, the vice president, White House staff and people visiting the White House, including heads of state and civilian guests.
Jackson was recently nominated for a promotion in rank, though it is unclear whether he will remain an active-duty officer if he is confirmed by the Senate.
Running the VA, the second-largest federal government department, would be a considerable shift from Jackson’s current role.
Read More VA Nominee Jackson Served as Physician to 3 Presidents : https://ift.tt/2pQxaoHReport: Trump Attorney Discussed Pardons With Flynn, Manafort Lawyers
An attorney for President Donald Trump raised the idea of Trump pardoning two of his former top advisers last year as Special Counsel Robert Mueller was building a case against them as part of his Russia probe, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
John Dowd, who was Trump's lead lawyer in the special counsel investigation until he resigned last week, broached the issue in discussions with attorneys for former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign manager Paul Manafort, the Times reported, citing three people with knowledge of the talks.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said at a press briefing that White House counsel "Ty Cobb is the person that would be most directly involved in this and he's got a statement on the record saying that there's no discussion and there's no consideration of those at this time at the White House."
Dowd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the newspaper, the discussions about potential pardons raise questions about whether Dowd was using the issue to influence Flynn and Manafort's decisions about whether to plead guilty and cooperate with Mueller's investigation into possible Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.
The paper said in its report, however, that it was unclear whether Dowd discussed the idea of the pardons with Trump before approaching the lawyers for Flynn and Manafort.
Flynn later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia and is cooperating with Mueller's probe.
Robert Kelner, Flynn's lawyer, and Reginald Brown, Manafort attorney at the time, did not respond to requests for comment.
Manafort is facing charges in two separate indictments charging him with a variety of offenses, including conspiring to launder money, tax evasion and failing to register as a foreign agent of Ukraine's former pro-Russian government. He has denied wrongdoing and is preparing for trial.
The discussions between Dowd and lawyers for Manafort and Flynn indicated Trump's legal team was concerned about what the two former aides would reveal if they cut a deal with Mueller in exchange for leniency, according to the newspaper.
Dowd denied to the Times that he discussed pardons with lawyers for the president's former advisers.
Read More Report: Trump Attorney Discussed Pardons With Flynn, Manafort Lawyers : https://ift.tt/2GGIf66All Female Senators Want Debate on Anti-Harassment Bill
All 22 female senators are bringing public pressure on Senate leaders to debate legislation making it easier for people working in Congress to pursue claims of sexual harassment or discrimination.
The senators have written the leaders that "inaction is unacceptable." They say the Senate can't let "perpetrators of these crimes" hide behind procedures enacted in 1995.
The House has approved legislation speeding the slow-moving process for harassment complaints. It would also require more public disclosure of settlements and force lawmakers found liable to personally pay any penalties they're required to make, rather than using taxpayer money.
David Popp is spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He says he doesn't know when bipartisan legislation on the issue will be ready. He says McConnell supports forcing lawmakers to personally pay such penalties.
Read More All Female Senators Want Debate on Anti-Harassment Bill : https://ift.tt/2IYmoW6Retired Supreme Court Justice Stevens: Repeal the 2nd Amendment
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is calling for the Second Amendment to be repealed, citing the protests in response to the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, as an impetus for the change.
In an op-ed in Tuesday's New York Times, the 97-year-old Stevens writes that a constitutional amendment "to get rid of" the Second Amendment "would do more to weaken the NRA's ability to stymie legislative debate and block constructive gun control legislation than any other available option."
Stevens was on the losing end of a 2008 ruling in which the high court held that the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to own a gun for self-defense. He says that ruling has provided the National Rifle Association the "with a propaganda weapon of immense power.''
Stevens retired from the court in 2010, after more than 35 years.
President Donald Trump responded Wednesday on Twitter, saying, "THE SECOND AMENDMENT WILL NEVER BE REPEALED!"
"As much as Democrats would like to see this happen, and despite the words yesterday of former Supreme Court Justice Stevens, NO WAY. We need more Republicans in 2018 and must ALWAYS hold the Supreme Court," Trump said.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the Trump administration is focused on removing guns from dangerous individuals, "not blocking all Americans on their constitutional rights."
Repealing the amendment would be extremely difficult. An amendment to the Constitution can only be proposed either by Congress with a two thirds vote in both houses or by a constitutional convention called for by two thirds of the state legislatures. The amendment then has to be approved by three quarters of the states.
Read More Retired Supreme Court Justice Stevens: Repeal the 2nd Amendment : https://ift.tt/2pLo2T6Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Retired Supreme Court Justice Stevens: Repeal the Second Amendment
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is calling for the Second Amendment to be repealed, citing the protests in response to the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, as an impetus for the change.
In an op-ed in Tuesday's New York Times, Stevens, 97, writes that a constitutional amendment "to get rid of" the Second Amendment "would do more to weaken the NRA's ability to stymie legislative debate and block constructive gun control legislation than any other available option."
Stevens was on the losing end of a 2008 ruling in which the high court held that the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to own a gun for self-defense. He said that ruling had provided the National Rifle Association "with a propaganda weapon of immense power.''
Stevens, who retired from the court in 2010 after serving more than 35 years, received pushback over the op-ed.
The White House supports the Second Amendment and is focused on removing guns from dangerous individuals, "not blocking all Americans on their constitutional rights," said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, spokeswoman for President Donald Trump.
Repealing the amendment would be extremely difficult. An amendment to the Constitution — a proposal to repeal an amendment would itself be a new amendment — can be proposed only by Congress, with a two-thirds vote in each house, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures. If it were to clear either of those hurdles, the proposed amendment would have to be ratified by three-quarters of the 50 states, or 38, to become law.
Read More Retired Supreme Court Justice Stevens: Repeal the Second Amendment : https://ift.tt/2pJhepcTrump's Approval Ratings Are on the Upswing
With a robust U.S. economy, polls show that President Donald Trump's approval ratings are on the upswing, even as a majority of Americans still disapprove of his 14-month White House tenure.
A pair of polls this week — by CNN and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research — both say that 42 percent of Americans approve of his performance as president, the highest figures the news organizations have recorded in months. CNN says 54 percent of voters disapprove of Trump's handling of the presidency, while AP says 58 percent feel that way.
Real Clear Politics' national average of several polls shows a similar result, a 53-42 negative rating for Trump.
Trump's approval ratings, through the first months of his four-year term, have been the lowest among modern U.S. presidents recorded during seven decades of polling. But CNN noted that Trump's current standing is only marginally lower than that recorded for President Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s and President Barack Obama in 2010 in the earliest stages of their two-term presidencies.
Trump's White House tenure has been buffeted by a marked turnover of key officials, with Trump firing both Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster in recent days, and allegations of extramarital affairs in 2006 — relationships the U.S. leader has denied took place a decade before the 2016 election.
Both CNN and AP said that Trump's brightening approval numbers are linked to the performance of the U.S. economy, the world's largest, where voters give him a favorable assessment compared to his handling of other public issues.
The U.S. unemployment rate has held steady at 4.1 percent, wages for many workers are growing, and the Republican-approved tax cut legislation championed by Trump has added more money to workers' paychecks.
Read More Trump's Approval Ratings Are on the Upswing : https://ift.tt/2GuofDMUS to Add Citizenship Question to 2020 Census
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has announced the next count of every resident in the country will include a question about citizenship status.
The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the survey every 10 years, with the next set to come in 2020. The deadline for finalizing the questions is Saturday.
Ross said in a memo late Monday that he chose to add the citizenship question after a request from the Department of Justice, which said the move was necessary to get data to better enforce a law that protects minority voting rights.
The decision brought criticism from those who say the citizenship question will cause people to not participate in the census because of concerns about how the government could use the information, resulting in an undercount of the population.
The census figures determine the number of seats each state is allocated in the U.S. House of Representatives as well as how the federal government distributes hundreds of billions of dollars in funding for various programs.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the state would file a lawsuit challenging what he called an "illegal" move.
"Innocuous at first blush, its effect would be truly insidious," he wrote in a joint op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle with the California Secretary of State Alex Padilla.
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who now serves as chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said his organization will also challenge the decision in court, calling it "motivated purely by politics."
"This question will lower the response rate and undermine the accuracy of the count, leading to devastating, decade-long impacts on voting rights and the distribution of billions of dollars in federal funding," Holder said. "By asking this question, states will not have accurate representation and individuals in impacted communities will lose out on state and federal funding for health care, education, and infrastructure."
He also said that in his experience leading the Department of Justice, asking the citizenship question on the census "is not critical to enforcing the Voting Rights Act."
The census has included a citizenship question in the past. Ross said in his memo the last time it was included was in 1950, but that other surveys by the Census Bureau do currently ask the question.
Ross noted the concerns about lower response rates, including from the Census Bureau itself, but said his department's own review "found that limited empirical evidence exists about whether adding a citizenship question would decrease response rates materially."
The Census Bureau plans to allow people to respond to the survey on a paper form, through the internet or by telephone. When people do not respond, teams attempt to follow-up with those households.
Ross said the higher cost of having to do more follow-ups in the case of a lower response rate was a factor he considered, but that "the need for accurate citizenship data" outweighs concerns about the potential for fewer responses.
Read More US to Add Citizenship Question to 2020 Census : https://ift.tt/2ITegpQWhite House Denies Porn Star's Claim of Trump Affair
The Trump White House was on the defensive Monday, the day after adult film star Stormy Daniels spoke about her alleged affair with President Donald Trump back in 2006. Daniels detailed her involvement with Trump in an interview with the CBS program, “60 Minutes.” VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington.
Monday, March 26, 2018
A Look at the Legal Issues Surrounding Payment to Porn Star
In her widely watched "60 Minutes" interview, porn star Stormy Daniels explained why she accepted a $130,000 payment she says was intended to keep her silent about her sexual encounter with Donald Trump in 2006.
Trump has denied the affair, through his representatives. But his lawyer, Michael Cohen, has said he paid Daniels $130,000 out of his own pocket days before the 2016 election. That has prompted questions about whether it was effectively a campaign contribution. Cohen denies the payment was related to the campaign.
Some questions and answers about the payment:
WAS THE $130K ILLEGAL?
The transaction itself does not seem to be illegal, but the failure to report it either as a campaign contribution or on government ethics forms might be.
WHO OBJECTS?
Two complaints have been filed by watchdog groups. Common Cause says in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission that the payment may violate federal campaign finance law in several respects. It said it should have been reported as an in-kind campaign contribution and was far above the $5,400 Cohen could give Trump's campaign. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington also has asked the Justice Department and the Office of Government Ethics to investigate whether the payment to Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, may have violated federal law because Trump did not list it on his financial disclosure forms.
Cohen has said neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Daniels and he was not reimbursed for the payment. However, Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti told "60 Minutes" he has documents showing Cohen using his Trump Organization email address in setting up the payment and that the nondisclosure agreement was sent by FedEx to Cohen at his Trump Organization office in Trump Tower.
ISN'T THIS JUST A TECHNICALITY?
The groups that filed these complaints say their beef isn't just about technical violations of obscure election and ethics laws. They say the complaints may open the door to more serious allegations that could force Cohen, and potentially Trump, to testify under oath. Common Cause vice president Paul S. Ryan said Cohen should be asked under oath about Trump's involvement in the payment. "Michael Cohen knows whether Donald Trump is directly involved in all of this," Ryan said.
WHAT'S THE PENALTY FOR ILLEGAL CONTRIBUTIONS?
There can be both civil and criminal penalties if investigators determine that the campaign or Cohen intended to keep the payment secret. This is not an easy standard to prove in court. Prosecutors failed to get a conviction against former presidential candidate and Sen. John Edwards on charges that he received illegal contributions and falsified documents to pay for the silence of his pregnant mistress as he campaigned for president in 2008. Ryan said a case against Trump could be stronger because the payment to Daniels was made days before the election when she was likely to go public with her story.
ANY CONNECTION TO THE RUSSIA PROBE?
Russia's election meddling and the alleged Daniels affair do not appear to be linked. But special counsel Robert Mueller has broad investigative authority, and Cohen has been linked to other aspects of the investigation, including efforts in 2015 to pursue a Trump Tower real estate development in Moscow. If Mueller believed he could leverage Cohen's testimony about Russian matters, he could have reason to look into the payment to Daniels.
WHAT OTHER LAWSUITS ARE INVOLVED?
Daniels has filed a lawsuit to free herself from the non-disclosure agreement she signed when she accepted the money. Cohen also is pursuing claims through arbitration against Daniels for violating the non-disclosure agreement. Cohen says Daniels could owe $20 million for violating the agreement. It's possible that if Cohen does not drop the effort, Daniels' lawyer could try to question Trump about the arrangement.
DOES A SITTING PRESIDENT HAVE TO TESTIFY?
Probably. The Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that President Bill Clinton was not protected from a civil sexual harassment lawsuit filed in federal court by former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones. The high court has never definitively said whether a president must answer questions in a criminal proceeding, including the kind of grand jury that Mueller has empaneled. But it has suggested he would have to comply. Trump also is facing a defamation lawsuit in a New York court that was filed by Summer Zervos, a former contestant on "The Apprentice." A judge ruled the lawsuit can move forward while the president is in office.
Read More A Look at the Legal Issues Surrounding Payment to Porn Star : https://ift.tt/2unxRLFDeparting US Election Official Hired for New Cyber Role in Trump Administration
The former head of a federal agency helping U.S. states protect election systems from hackers has been hired for a similar role within the Trump administration after being passed up for reappointment by Republican Speaker Paul Ryan and the White House.
Matthew Masterson, a member of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission who until recently served as its chairman, has accepted a senior adviser position within the Department of Homeland Security’s cyber wing to continue working on election security and related issues, the department said in a statement on Monday.
The hiring means Masterson, widely viewed as a key election security official, will continue to work with states and federal agencies on the issue heading into November’s midterm contests, which some intelligence specialists fear may be targeted by Russia or others.
Masterson praised
In a statement, Chris Krebs, a senior cybersecurity official at DHS, praised Masterson as “instrumental in bridging gaps between federal, state, and local governments” to improve election cybersecurity.
“Matt is one of the most equipped to advise on this non-partisan issue and will be an asset to the organization,” Krebs added.
Masterson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Popular figure to many
Reuters reported last month that Masterson was being replaced by Ryan and the White House for a second four-year term as one of the election agency’s four commissioners despite being a popular figure among state election officials, many of whom praised his expertise and leadership on cyber security issues.
Masterson, a former election official in Ohio, had been picked for a commissioner post by former Republican House Speaker John Boehner and formally nominated by former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, in 2014.
News of his pending departure led some state election officials, security experts and Democrats to accuse Republicans of not taking the issue of election cybersecurity seriously enough, despite repeated warnings from senior U.S. intelligence officials that Russia and others are likely to interfere in this year’s November midterm contests.
Intense scrutiny
There is intense scrutiny of the security of U.S. election systems after a 2016 presidential race in which Russia interfered, according to American intelligence agencies, to try to help Donald Trump win with presidency. Trump in the past has been publicly skeptical about Russian election meddling, which DHS has said included initial probing of at least 21 states' networks.
Trump last week signed a federal spending bill that includes nearly $400 million in funding to help states safeguard voting systems from cyber attacks.
Read More Departing US Election Official Hired for New Cyber Role in Trump Administration : https://ift.tt/2GtV43yChina Urges WTO Members: Put US Tariff 'Beast Back in the Cage'
China called on World Trade Organization members on Monday to unite to prevent the United States "wrecking" the WTO, and it urged them to oppose U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs targeting China's alleged theft of intellectual property.
Trump's trade policy, labeled "medieval" by former WTO head Pascal Lamy, has inflamed international opinion this year.
While a U.S. veto on new WTO judges jams up legal disputes in Geneva, Trump has slapped tariffs on solar panels, cited national security to restrict steel and aluminum imports, and demanded that China slash $100 billion from its U.S. trade surplus.
China's WTO ambassador Zhang Xiangchen said the latest U.S. move, linked to alleged theft of U.S. innovation, was fundamentally incompatible with the WTO.
"In the open sea, if the boat capsizes, no one is safe from drowning. We shouldn't stay put watching someone wrecking the boat. The WTO is under siege and all of us should lock arms to defend it," he told a WTO meeting.
Washington needed WTO authorization for the intellectual property tariffs, he said.
"WTO members should jointly ... lock this beast back into the cage of the WTO rules," Zhang said.
A U.S. diplomat at the meeting said Chinese technology transfer policies cost U.S. businesses billions of dollars annually, and noted that the United States had filed a WTO complaint accusing China of allowing patent theft and discriminating against foreign technology holders.
China is alone in facing that allegation, but it is not alone in its opposition to Trump's worldwide tariffs on steel and aluminum, and on Monday it became the first country to launch a WTO claim of compensation for lost metals exports.
Steel bar
The U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports have drawn widespread criticism and sparked fears that metals markets elsewhere will be oversupplied after the United States slams its door.
The EU served notice on Monday that it could also introduce protective steel tariffs to stop the supply surge, although its study of the situation could take nine months.
It and four other U.S. allies have temporary exemptions from the tariffs. South Korea became the first to get an indefinite waiver after agreeing to cut steel exports by 30 percent of the past three years' average.
That worries steelmakers in Japan, which is not exempt.
"We are concerned that the new tariffs are being used by the U.S. as a card for wider trade negotiation deals," said Japan Iron and Steel Federation Chairman Kosei Shindo.
The steel tariffs are based on a claim to "national security," a justification that the United States says provides immunity to a legal challenge at the World Trade Organization.
The United States has already submitted an opinion in a WTO dispute between Russia and Ukraine, saying that national security is "self-judging" — a stance that puts it on the side of Russia and at odds with Ukraine and the EU.
Others insist a national security claim must rest on hard evidence. China said many countries saw no such threat for the United States, where domestic steel production covered military needs 32 times over, or more if one counted exemptions given "temporarily and likely permanently" to U.S. allies.
Russian steelmaker Severstal filed a New York lawsuit last Thursday, arguing that the tariffs were unlawful and that the exemptions revealed the "specious" national security claim.
"The president's public statements on these exemptions lay bare that not only was the Steel Proclamation a political move, but the true rationale was simply that of seeking leverage in other trade negotiations," Severstal's lawsuit says.
A spokeswoman said Severstal strongly believed the tariffs violated international regulations and U.S. law, and the national security claim was unfounded.
Read More China Urges WTO Members: Put US Tariff 'Beast Back in the Cage' : https://ift.tt/2DX3OKgWitness in Mueller Probe Aided United Arab Emirates Agenda in Congress
A top fundraiser for President Donald Trump received millions of dollars from a political adviser to the United Arab Emirates last April, just weeks before he began handing out a series of large political donations to U.S. lawmakers considering legislation targeting Qatar, the UAE’s chief rival in the Persian Gulf, an Associated Press investigation has found.
George Nader, an adviser to the UAE who is now a witness in the U.S. special counsel investigation into foreign meddling in American politics, wired $2.5 million to the Trump fundraiser, Elliott Broidy, through a company in Canada, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. They said Nader paid the money to Broidy to bankroll an effort to persuade the U.S. to take a hard line against Qatar, a long-time American ally but now a bitter adversary of the UAE.
A month after he received the money, Broidy sponsored a conference on Qatar’s alleged ties to Islamic extremism. During the event, Republican Congressman Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced he was introducing legislation that would brand Qatar as a terrorist-supporting state.
In July 2017, two months after Royce introduced the bill, Broidy gave the California congressman $5,400 in campaign gifts — the maximum allowed by law. The donations were part of just under $600,000 that Broidy has given to GOP members of Congress and Republican political committees since he began the push for the legislation fingering Qatar, according to an AP analysis of campaign finance disclosure records.
Broidy said in a statement to AP that he has been outspoken for years about militant groups, including Hamas.
“I’ve both raised money for, and contributed my own money to, efforts by think tanks to bring the facts into the open, since Qatar is spreading millions of dollars around Washington to whitewash its image as a terror-sponsoring state,” he said. “I’ve also spoken to like-minded members of Congress, like Royce, about how to make sure Qatar’s lobbying money does not blind lawmakers to the facts about its record in supporting terrorist groups.”
While Washington is awash with political donations from all manner of interest groups and individuals, there are strict restrictions on foreign donations for political activity. Agents of foreign governments are also required to register before lobbying so that there is a public record of foreign influence.
Cory Fritz, a spokesman for Royce, said that his boss had long criticized the “destabilizing role of extremist elements in Qatar.” He pointed to comments to that effect going back to 2014. “Any attempts to influence these longstanding views would have been unsuccessful,” he said.
In October, Broidy also raised the issue of Qatar at the White House in meetings with Trump and senior aides.
The details of Broidy’s advocacy on U.S. legislation have not been previously reported. The AP found no evidence that Broidy used Nader’s funds for the campaign donations or broke any laws. At the time of the advocacy work, his company, Circinus, did not have business with the UAE, but was awarded a more than $200 million contract in January.
The sanctions bill was approved by Royce’s committee in late 2017. It remains alive in the House of Representatives, awaiting a review by the House Financial Services Committee.
Meetings probed
The backstory of the legislative push is emerging amid continuing concerns about efforts by foreign governments or their proxies to influence American politics. While reports about possible Russian links to Trump’s campaign and his presidential administration have been making headlines since 2016, questions are now arising about efforts during the Trump era to influence U.S. policy in the Middle East.
The U.S. has long been friendly with Saudi Arabia and the UAE as well as Qatar, which is home to a massive American air base that the U.S. has used in its fight against the Islamic State. But as political rifts in the Gulf have widened, the Saudis and Emiratis have sought to undercut American ties with Qatar.
Qatar and UAE have also exchanged allegations of politically motivated hacks. Scores of Broidy’s emails and documents have leaked to news organizations, drawing attention to his relationship with Nader. Broidy has alleged that the hack was done by Qatari agents and has reported the breach to the FBI.
“It’s no surprise that Qatar would see me as an obstacle and come after me in the way it has,” he said in a statement.
A spokesman for the Qatari embassy, Jassim Mansour Jabr Al Thani, denied the charges, calling them “diversionary tactics.” Representatives of the UAE did not respond to requests for comment.
The timeline of the influx of cash wired by Nader, an adviser to Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the de facto leader of the UAE, may provide grist for U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller’s legal team as it probes the activities of Trump and his associates during the 2016 campaign and beyond. However, it is not clear that Mueller has expanded his investigation in that direction.
Mueller’s investigators are looking into two meetings close to Trump’s inauguration attended by Nader and bin Zayed. The pair joined a meeting at New York’s Trump Tower in December 2016 that included presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon, who was Trump’s chief strategist at the time. A month later, Nader and bin Zayed were a world away on the Seychelles island chain in the Indian Ocean, meeting with Erik Prince, the founder of the security company Blackwater, and the Kremlin-connected head of a large Russian sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev.
Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman, agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s team after investigators stopped him at Dulles International Airport, according to a person familiar with his case.
That person and others who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity said they could not be identified because of the sensitivity of the issues surrounding the Mueller investigation.
A lawyer for Nader declined to comment for this story.
Policy push
Broidy and Nader first met at Trump’s presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
Both men have checkered legal histories. Nader was convicted in a Czech Republic court in 2003 of multiple counts of sexually abusing minors. Broidy, a businessmen and prolific Republican fundraiser, was sidelined for a few years after he pleaded guilty to bribery in a case stemming from an investment scheme involving New York state’s employee pension fund.
Broidy later re-emerged as a player in GOP politics. During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, he raised money for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, Sen. Marco Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz. After Cruz bowed out of the race, Broidy signed on to help Trump during the 2016 election and beyond, co-hosting fundraisers across the country.
The meeting between Broidy and Nader at the dawn of Trump’s presidency soon led the two to work together in an effort to shift U.S. policies on the Middle East.
On April 2, 2017, Nader asked Broidy to invoice his Dubai-based company for $2.5 million, according to someone familiar with the transaction who spoke on condition of anonymity.
On the same day, Broidy attached an invoice for that amount from Xiemen Investments Limited, a Canadian company directed by a friend. The money was forwarded to his own account in Los Angeles from the Canadian account, the person said. It was marked for consulting, marketing and advisory services, but was actually intended to fund Broidy’s Washington advocacy regarding Qatar, two people familiar with the transaction said. The financial transaction and the White House meetings were first reported by The New York Times.
It was on May 23, 2017, when Royce, a 13-term Congressman, appeared at a conference on Qatar’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and announced that he was introducing the sanctions bill that would name Qatar a state sponsor of terrorism.
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a think tank that hosted the conference, said Broidy had approached it about organizing the event. Broidy bankrolled that conference and contributed to the financing of a second conference hosted on a similar theme in October by another think tank, the Hudson Institute.
Both organizations said Broidy said that no money from foreign governments was involved. FDD says it does not accept money from foreign governments and Hudson only accepts money from Democratic countries allied with the U.S.
“As is our funding policy, we asked if his funding was connected to any foreign governments or if he had business contracts in the Gulf. He assured us that he did not,” FDD said in a statement.
Broidy donated millions of his own money to efforts to fight Qatar, in addition to the $2.5 million from Nader, according to someone close to him, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss Broidy’s private finances.
Broidy’s behind-the-scenes efforts unfolded as animosity was growing between the UAE and Qatar. These tensions came to a head when the UAE and Saudi Arabia launched an embargo with travel and trade restrictions against Qatar less than two weeks after Royce introduced the sanctions legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Weeks later, Trump himself waded into the fracas, accusing Qatar of funding extremism in tweets on June 6.
Royce and a staff member met with Broidy at Washington’s Capitol Hill Club to discuss the bill, according to someone who was at the meeting. An associate, who Broidy paid for some of the work, also had frequent contact with congressional staff.
Strong language
Broidy’s effort to cultivate allies in Congress extended beyond Royce.
Broidy has personally given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republicans over the past decade or more. But he gave nothing during the 2012 and 2014 election cycles and just $13,500 during the 2016 cycle. Things changed after Trump’s election as Broidy ramped up his advocacy on Middle East policy. Broidy has given nearly $600,000 to GOP candidates and causes since the beginning of last year when he began his advocacy push— more than in the previous 14 years combined.
Campaign finance records going back two decades show Broidy had not given any money to Royce — until he gave the lawmaker a pair of $2,700 donations on July 31, 2017.
By then, the sanctions bill was on a fast track.
The original draft considered by the Foreign Affairs Committee contained language singling out Qatar as a supporter of Hamas, a Palestinian organization that has been designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department.
“Hamas has received significant financial and military support from Qatar,” the draft bill states.
Soon Qatar was lobbying hard to have that language excised. Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, declared in a statement to the committee that Qatar does not fund Hamas.
According to two people familiar with the committee deliberations, both Republican and Democratic staff members reached a consensus that because of the tensions in the Gulf, the language would look like the lawmakers were taking sides. They agreed to take it out of the bill.
Qatari officials and lobbyists thought the matter had been settled, according to one lobbyist and a committee staffer. But just before the bill was to be put up for debate ahead of the committee’s vote, Royce ordered the language on Qatar not only reinstated, but strengthened, they say. The bill was approved by the committee in November with the stronger language on Qatar intact.
A Royce aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, denied that Royce had ever considered removing the Qatar language.
In January, Royce announced that he would not seek re-election, saying that he wanted to focus on his committee in the last year of his chairmanship rather than a political campaign.
In the same month, Broidy’s company signed the hefty contract with the UAE government for gathering intelligence, according to someone familiar with the work.
Read More Witness in Mueller Probe Aided United Arab Emirates Agenda in Congress : https://ift.tt/2GcXW1IWashington Digests Trump's National Security Team Makeover
Washington is watching President Donald Trump’s makeover of his national security team to include more outspoken hardliners when it comes to America’s posture on the world stage. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, days after nominating CIA director Mike Pompeo to become his new secretary of state, Trump tapped John Bolton, a former Bush administration diplomat known for unflinchingly bellicose rhetoric, to serve as national security adviser.
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Porn Star Says She Was Threatened to Stay Silent on Trump Affair
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had an affair with Donald Trump before he was elected president, told the CBS news show 60 Minutes that she was threatened when she tried to tell her story and accepted hush money through a Trump attorney because she was scared for her family.
Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said in the highly anticipated interview Sunday that she was on her way to a fitness class with her infant daughter when she was approached by a stranger.
"A guy walked up on me and said to me, Leave Trump alone. Forget the story,' " Daniels told journalist Anderson Cooper. "And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, 'That's a beautiful little girl. It'd be a shame if something happened to her mom.' And then he was gone."
The incident, in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011, occurred shortly after she first tried to sell her story to a tabloid magazine. She said the incident made her fearful for years and that she thought she was doing the right thing when she accepted $130,000 from Trump attorney Michael Cohen to stay quiet.
After The Wall Street Journal reported on the payment, Daniels told Cooper that she lied when she signed a statement denying the affair. When asked why, Daniels said she was bullied into it. "They made it sound like I had no choice," she said. While there was not any threat of physical violence at the time, she said, she was worried about other repercussions. "The exact sentence used was, ‘They can make your life hell in many different ways.'"
She said she didn't know who could make her life hell, but that she believed "it to be Michael Cohen."
Cohen has denied threatening Daniels, and refused a request to appear on 60 Minutes.
Daniels' appearance represents back-to-back trouble for Trump after an interview broadcast last week on CNN with former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who described a 10-month long affair with Trump starting in 2006.
McDougal has sued to break free of a confidentiality agreement that was struck in the months before the 2016 election, for which she was paid $150,000.
Daniels sued the president on March 6, stating Trump never signed an agreement for her to keep quiet about their relationship.
Both women say their relationships with Trump began in 2006 and ended in 2007 and that they were paid for their silence in the months before the 2016 presidential election.
Representatives of Trump have dismissed the allegations of McDougal and Daniels, saying that the affairs never happened and that Trump had no knowledge of any payments.
Ahead of the interview, the president and first lady have opted to be in different states. Trump returned to Washington from Palm Beach on Sunday, while Melania will remain in Florida on a pre-scheduled spring break, her communicators director said.
Read More Porn Star Says She Was Threatened to Stay Silent on Trump Affair : https://ift.tt/2G4vKljTrump Is Staffing - or - Casting From Fox
President Donald Trump's favorite TV network is increasingly serving as a West Wing casting call, as the president reshapes his administration with camera-ready personalities.
Trump's new national security adviser, John Bolton, is a former U.N. ambassador, a White House veteran - and perhaps most importantly a Fox News channel talking head. Bolton's appointment, rushed out late Thursday, follows Trump's recent attempt to recruit Fox guest Joseph diGenova for his legal team.
Bolton went on Fox to discuss his selection and said it had happened so quickly that "I think I'm still a Fox News contributor."
Another recent TV-land addition to the Trump White House is veteran CNBC contributor Larry Kudlow as top economic adviser. Other Fox faces on Trump's team: rising State Department star Heather Nauert, a former Fox News anchor; communications adviser Mercedes Schlapp and Treasury Department spokesman Tony Sayegh. The latter two are both former Fox commentators.
"He's looking for people who are ready to be part of that television White House," said Kendall Phillips, a communication and rhetorical studies professor at Syracuse University. "This is the Fox television presidency all the way up and down."
DiGenova, who has accused FBI officials of trying to "frame" Trump for nonexistent crimes, will not be joining the legal team because of "conflicts," said Trump counsel Jay Sekulow on Sunday. Sekulow, however, said diGenova and his wife, attorney Victoria Toensing, also a frequent commentator on Fox, would not be prevented from helping Trump "in other legal matters."
Trump's affinity for Fox News is by now well-documented. He has bestowed more interviews on the network than any other news outlet and is an avid viewer. People close to the president say he thinks Fox provides the best coverage of his untraditional presidency. It also provides him a window into conservative thinking, with commentary from Republican lawmakers and right-wing thinkers - many of who are speaking directly to the audience in the Oval Office.
On-air personalities Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham are favorites of the president, who also speaks to them privately. This past week Trump promoted Hannity on Twitter, saying: "@seanhannity on @foxandfriends now! Great! 8:18 A.M."
The president's early-morning tweets often appear to be reaction to Fox programming. On Friday, for example, Trump tweeted he was "considering" a veto of a massive spending bill needed to keep the government open not long after it was assailed on "Fox and Friends" as a "swamp budget."
The critic in question was contributor Pete Hegseth, a favorite of the president who has been rumored to be a possible replacement for embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin.
Fox News came in for criticism this past week from CNN chief Jeff Zucker, who on Thursday attacked the rival network by saying it has become a propaganda machine that is "doing an incredible disservice to the country."
Zucker spoke at the Financial Times Future of News conference two days after a former Fox military analyst quit, claiming he was ashamed at the way the network's opinion hosts were backing Trump. Zucker said that analyst, Ralph Peters, voiced what a lot of people have been thinking about Fox in the post-Roger Ailes era.
Still, in Trump's Washington, lawmakers and influence-seekers know that the best way to get in Trump's ear is often to get on Fox. Legislators routinely seek to get airtime when they are trying to push legislation or policy ideas, said congressional aides who sought anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private thinking.
"A year ago, everyone was trying to figure out how to get into the building; now everyone is trying to figure out how to get on TV," said Republican consultant Alex Conant.
This past week, for example, conservative lawmakers unhappy with the spending bill moving through Congress took to Fox. "This may be the worst bill I have seen in my time in Congress," said Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Wednesday.
And when the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, prompted a national conversation on gun laws, Fox contributor Geraldo Rivera used his platform to urge the president to support raising the age requirement to buy assault-type weapons.
"You've gotta let me give my pitch," he said on "Fox and Friends" several weeks ago, noting that he would see Trump that night. "Here in Florida and most states a kid cannot buy a beer ... and yet he could buy an AR-15 legally."
The hosts quickly pushed back. "Tell him to let the teachers carry concealed," said one.
While the coverage varies by show, "Fox and Friends" tends to be Trump-friendly, with the chipper morning show spotlighting his achievements and bashing the "mainstream media." On Friday, they featured a teen from the Florida high school where the shooting occurred who opposes gun control efforts, as well as a young conservative activist who interviewed Trump at a White House event the day before.
Also appearing Friday was White House counselor Kellyanne Conway - herself a constant presence on cable news - who pushed back at the idea Trump was focused on hiring TV personalities.
"The irony is not lost on me that you have a lot of quote 'TV stars' calling Larry Kudlow and John Bolton 'TV stars,'" Conway said.
Read More Trump Is Staffing - or - Casting From Fox : https://ift.tt/2I5tUNBSaturday, March 24, 2018
Survivor Marks 6 Minutes of Strength, Silence at Rally
Chin high and tears streaming, Florida school shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez stood silent in front of thousands gathered for the “March for Our Lives” rally in Washington.
She continued to stand silently as a few crowd members shouted out support. She remained silent as tentative chants broke out. Her silence continued as those attending also fell quiet, many weeping.
The gripping moment stretched for 6 minutes and 20 seconds, the amount of time Gonzalez said it took a shooter to kill 17 people and wound 15 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last month.
6 minutes and 20 seconds
“Everyone who has been touched by the cold grip of gun violence understands,” Gonzalez told the hushed crowd, describing the long hours spent waiting for authorities to identify their slain classmates, the horror of discovering many of them had breathed their last breaths before many students even knew a “code red” alert — designed to warn staffers and students of a potential threat — had been called.
“Six minutes and 20 seconds with an AR-15 and my friend Carmen [Schentrup] would never complain to me about piano practice,” she said, her voice strong but her throat momentarily catching. “Aaron Feis would never call Kyra ‘Miss Sunshine.’ Alex Schachter would never walk into school with his brother Ryan.”
Gonzalez went on, listing name after name of those killed at the school Feb. 14.
Silence spreads
And then she stopped, her breath heaving but remaining composed, looking straight ahead and silent.
Seemingly unsure what to do, the crowed waited. Some appeared to catch her intent right away, watching with hands covering mouths, foreheads wrinkled and tears falling. Chants of “never again” broke out for a time, and later someone came out from the wings of the stage to put a hand on her shoulder and whisper in her ear.
The silence by now had spread to the thousands thronging Pennsylvania Avenue. Protesters, parents, television news crews waited to see what Gonzalez would do next.
The beeping of a digital alarm broke the silence.
“Since the time that I came out here, it has been six minutes and 20 seconds. The shooter has ceased shooting and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape and walk free for an hour before arrest,” she said, voice clear. “Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job.”
'Get out there and vote'
Gonzalez is one of several teens from the school to become gun control activists in the wake of the shooting. Their efforts have galvanized youth nationwide, with hundreds of thousands attending similar rallies across the country.
As the three-hour rally wrapped up, Gonzalez assigned some homework for the demonstrators:
“One final plug,” she said. “Get out there and vote.”
Read More Survivor Marks 6 Minutes of Strength, Silence at Rally : https://ift.tt/2pHNNDcFriday, March 23, 2018
AG Sessions Floats Proposal to Tighten Regulation on Bump Stocks
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced that the Department of Justice is publishing for comment a proposal to change federal regulations to classify devices with bump stocks as machine guns.
Bump stocks, devices that enable a semiautomatic weapon to function as a fully automatic one, have been the object of controversy since a mass shooting in Las Vegas last year where 58 people died and hundreds more were injured.
In a news release late Friday, Sessions said, “President [Donald] Trump has had no higher priority than the safety of each and every American.”
Sessions said that focus on safety was the reason behind Friday’s move, the publishing of a proposed rule change.
U.S. citizens will have 90 days to comment on the proposal, which “would define ‘machinegun’ to include bump stock-type devices under federal law — effectively banning them,” the statement said.
Public comments do not necessarily have an impact on whether the proposal is implemented; federal officials will still have the final say on how and whether the classification of bump stock devices is changed.
Read More AG Sessions Floats Proposal to Tighten Regulation on Bump Stocks : https://ift.tt/2IORq2MActivity by Violent Latino Gang MS 13 Rising across US
When making a case for reinforcing the U.S. southern border, President Donald Trump sometimes points to MS-13, the violent Latino gang whose members include some undocumented immigrants as well as homegrown Americans. Some 40 states report rising activity by the gang – especially in poor Hispanic immigrant communities. Cristina Caicedo Smit reports.
Father of Shooting Victim Turns Tragedy into Call For Action
The tragic shooting in Parkland Florida last month left a gaping hole in the lives of 17 families. But the tragedy has become a call to action for the father of one of the victims. Manuel Oliver wants young people to speak out against gun violence, and he's joining thousands of marchers in Washington this weekend to implore others to do the same. VOA's Jose Pernalete has more in this report. Cristina Caicedo Smit narrates.
Not All US Students Support Tighter Gun Laws
On Saturday, students from around the United States will hold rallies in support of tightening gun laws to prevent mass shootings like the recent rampage in a Florida high school. But not all students support such measures. Deborah Bloom reports from Forsyth, Georgia.
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Trump Replacing National Security Adviser McMaster With John Bolton
The White House shake-up continues as President Donald Trump announced he is replacing National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster with former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton.
"I am very thankful for the services of General H.R. McMaster, who has done an outstanding job and will always remain my friend," Trump tweeted late Thursday.
Bolton is currently an analyst with Fox News. He has a reputation as a tough-talking conservative who was backed military action against Iran and North Korea and has taken a hard line against Russia.
Read More Trump Replacing National Security Adviser McMaster With John Bolton : http://ift.tt/2pup460Tillerson Bids Farewell to State Department Staff
In Thursday's farewell remarks to State Department staff, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked American diplomats and civil servants to be respectful to each other and to carry on the priorities of U.S. national security.
"I'd like to ask each of you undertake to ensure one act of kindness each day towards another person. This can be a very mean-spirited town," said Tillerson to laughs and applause from department employees. "But you don't have to choose to participate in that."
Tillerson did not mention President Donald Trump, who fired him unceremoniously last Tuesday just hours after the top diplomat returned to Washington from a five-nation tour of Africa.
Tillerson maintains the title of secretary of state until his commission terminates at midnight March 31.
"Treat each other with respect, regardless of the job title," he told the department staff. "Never lose sight of your most valuable asset: your personal integrity."
Employees gathered in the lobby of the building Thursday to hear Tillerson's farewell remarks.
Standing behind him were Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Shannon, spokeswoman Heather Nauert and Ambassador-at-large for Counterterrorism Nathan Sales.
"I appreciate the secretary's highlighting the diplomatic work that State Department employees do every day, and the importance of accountability and respect in the workplace," one employee told VOA.
Another said, "I was encouraged by the secretary's references to the diligence and devotion career employees have to the State Department's mission, and to being guided by our values and integrity."
Tillerson said he had compiled material and provided "updates of how tactics may need to adjust to current circumstances" for his nominated successor, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, in order to ensure a smooth transition.
Though "all the policies and the strategy should never change, we must constantly review how the tactics are delivering on the objectives," Tillerson said. "The country faces many challenges — in some instances, perplexing foreign affairs relationships, in another instance, serious national security threats."
Brief stays
Tillerson's departure barely 14 months into the Trump administration puts him on a short list of high-level government officials whose tenures have been incredibly brief.
Tom Price resigned as secretary of health and human services last September after allegedly chartering expensive planes at government expense.
"The firing of Tillerson continues a pattern of instability for department heads in Trump's administration," Eric Ostermeier, a fellow with the University of Minnesota's Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, told VOA on Thursday.
"Tillerson left office quicker than nearly every other president's first pick for secretary of state in history," Ostermeier said. "For historical perspective, the average tenure of a U.S. president serving alongside his first secretary of state is three years, four months, eight days."
Read More Tillerson Bids Farewell to State Department Staff : http://ift.tt/2DMUSr7Vermont Now Only US State to Never Send a Woman to Congress
Vermont is now the only state in the nation to have never sent a woman to Congress.
On Wednesday, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant appointed Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith, a fellow Republican, to serve out the remainder of retiring GOP Sen. Thad Cochran's term.
Former Vermont Gov. Madeleine Kunin, a Democrat, says "it's a little embarrassing to be beaten out by Mississippi."
One reason may be that Vermont has only one House of Representatives seat alongside its two Senate seats.
On the state level, women's participation in the Vermont Legislature is higher than the national average.
Kunin says there are multiple female candidates looking to run for higher office.
The 80-year-old Cochran is resigning from the Senate because of poor health.
Read More Vermont Now Only US State to Never Send a Woman to Congress : http://ift.tt/2uaB698Attorney Representing Trump in Russia Probe Resigns
The main lawyer representing President Donald Trump in the Special Counsel's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election is reported to be resigning.
The New York Times and The Washington Post newspapers said John Dowd, one of the president's personal attorneys, is stepping down Thursday, citing people familiar with the decision who declined to give their names.
Dowd's departure comes days after the president added Joseph diGenova, a former U.S. attorney known for pushing a more aggressive legal strategy, to his team.
Read More Attorney Representing Trump in Russia Probe Resigns : http://ift.tt/2GRerRYFeatured Post
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