February 15th, 2017 contiued. It's been 460 days since the Nov 8, 2016, election of some rich asshole, no. 45, and 388 days the Jan 20th inauguration.
POLITICS
Senate Votes Down Multiple Bills To Help Dreamers After Veto Threat On Bipartisan Proposal
President some rich asshole’s administration rejected multiple bipartisan proposals.
WASHINGTON ― The Senate was supposed to spend the week discovering what it could pass to help undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.
They got the results on Thursday: For now, at least, it’s nothing.
Multiple proposals fell short of the 60-vote threshold needed to pass the Senate during a series of votes on Thursday afternoon.
President some rich asshole’s desired legislation received the fewest votes of all immigration measures considered by the Senate, going down by a margin of 39-60. Another Republican measure on so-called “sanctuary cities” failed by a vote of 54-45. And both bipartisan proposals failed by similar margins, one of them after a veto threat and an hours-long attack from the White House and Department of Homeland Security on both the amendment and its backers.
Now lawmakers will have to go back to the drawing board to find a way to help undocumented young people often called Dreamers, 700,000 of whom risk losing deportation relief because the rich asshole ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. And they will have to do it with the knowledge that the rich asshole isn’t willing to compromise to get Democratic support ― something that could doom the entire effort.
Or maybe it already has. Before the vote on the rich asshole’s proposal, its lead backer told Democrats that if they want to help Dreamers, “this is it.”
“This is your last chance to vote for a path to citizenship for all of the people that we have been talking about giving justice to and being compassionate about and bringing out of the dark,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said on the Senate floor.
It’s unclear what’s next. Senate Republican leaders previously indicated they wanted DACA-related measures done this week. The “deadline” set by the rich asshole when he rescinded the bill was March 5, at which point DACA recipients will begin to lose their protections in greater numbers.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Wednesday that he wants to resolve the issue sometime in March, and that Congress has slightly more time due to court rulings that temporarily opened the program for renewal applications. The House GOP leadership is counting votes on a bill led by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) that offers only temporary status to DACA recipients, along with other elements of the rich asshole’s framework and many interior immigration enforcement measures beyond what the president asked for. the rich asshole supports that plan as well, but it’s unlikely to have the 218 votes needed for passage.
The Senate might be able to add DACA-related plans to the omnibus spending bill, possibly a stopgap measure without a path to citizenship, Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters after the vote. But he downplayed the idea of devoting considerable floor time to the issue in the near future.
The way the Senate debate shook out this week ― or didn’t ― isn’t a hopeful sign for the future. the rich asshole backed a proposal that his allies repeatedly framed as a “generous” compromise and essentially told Democrats it was that or nothing.
Republican leaders seemed perfectly willing to go along, repeatedly saying that Congress needs to pass something the president supports. There’s logic to the statement, but it glosses over another element of making law: They need to find legislation that Congress can pass, too. the rich asshole and White House officials balked at any bipartisan proposals lawmakers presented.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blasted Democrats after the vote for not supporting the rich asshole’s framework, and even accused them of not reaching across the aisle ― even though they’d made up a large proportion of the votes for bipartisan measures.
“Once again, when the hour came to actually make law instead of just making political points, our friends across the aisle were either unable or unwilling to get something done,” McConnell said on the Senate floor after the votes. “After all the talk, all the talk, they hardly came to the table at all.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on the rich asshole to accept that his plan had failed and allow lawmakers to find a compromise.
“This vote is proof that President the rich asshole’s plan will never become law,” he said in a statement after the votes. “If he would stop torpedoing bipartisan efforts, a good bill would pass.”
The White House and administration took pains to attack the bipartisan proposal from Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Angus King (I-Maine) with members of the so-called “Common Sense Coalition.” Within hours of its release Wednesday evening, the Department of Homeland Security put out a statement blasting the proposal as “the end of immigration enforcement in America.” Later, the White House issued a veto threat. And then officials convened a call with reporters to bash it some more, speculating that some of its sponsors might have signed on without actually reading it.
The amendment ultimately fell short with a 54-45 vote ― earning more support than the president’s plan.
White House and DHS officials said bipartisan measures did not wholly live up to the rich asshole’s framework. The president said he would approve a bill to grant a path to citizenship to up to 1.8 million Dreamers, both DACA recipients and people eligible for the program. But only if he gets a slew of other measures, too: border funding; changes to asylum law; the ability to indefinitely detain and deport immigrants, including children; ending the diversity visa lottery; and dramatically reducing family-based immigration pathways.
The White House and Republicans allies say this is a “generous” concession because the rich asshole, who has spent months saying he wants to help Dreamers, is supporting a bill to do so, and for a broader population than just DACA recipients.
Democrats have said they’re not willing to make certain compromises, although many have reluctantly said they would approve funding for a border wall and would make certain legal immigration changes. Immigrant rights activists, including many Dreamers themselves, have urged lawmakers to oppose legislation that would help undocumented young people while harming other immigrants.
That leaves Dreamers waiting and uncertain what their future will hold. If Congress does nothing, DACA recipients will continue to lose status each day, even though they are able to apply for renewal for now under temporary court orders. And when they do, they will lose their work permits and be at risk of deportation, because the the rich asshole administration has argued it should detain anyone eligible for removal even if they’re not considered a priority.
“Their falling out of status would not trigger them into being an enforcement priority,” a White House official who declined to speak on the record told reporters on Thursday. “Of course, all of the laws of the United States are always enforced by DHS with individuals whom they encounter.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story gave an incorrect tally for the vote on a measure concerning sanctuary cities. The measure failed 54-45, not 54-60. A previous version of this story also misstated the party affiliation of South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, who is a Republican.
QUEER VOICES
Oh Look, Another One Of the rich asshole’s Court Picks Is Really Anti-Gay
Gordon Giampietro said in 2015 that marriage equality is “an assault on nature” and “against God’s plan.”
WASHINGTON ― Yet another one of President some rich asshole’s picks for a lifetime federal court seat has a record of being vehemently anti-gay.
Gordon Giampietro, the rich asshole’s nominee to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, called marriage equality “an assault on nature” and “against God’s plan” in newly surfaced recordings of radio interviews he gave in recent years.
BuzzFeed was first to dig up the recordings earlier Wednesday.
In a July 24, 2015 interview on “The Lydia LoCoco Show,” a radio show about faith, marriage and family, Giampietro railed against the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark civil rights case that guaranteed same-sex couples the right to marry.
“That’s an assault on nature,” he said during a conversation on same-sex marriage and contraception. “And anytime you assault nature, there’s going to be a backlash. That’s what we’re seeing today. … Whenever you go against God’s plan, bad things are going to happen.”
Giampietro, who is currently assistant general counsel of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, also called it “irrefutable” that children are better off being raised by a heterosexual couple. (This is not true. Gay parents may be the best of all.)
In July 2014, Giampietro did another interview with LoCoco on her previous show, “Nazareth Project.” This time, he said same-sex marriage was really about sex and not love.
“This new definition of marriage actually focuses marriage on the sex act,” Giampietro said. “Because if it were simply that we wanted to honor the love of two people, we would allow sons to marry their mothers, brothers to marry their sisters, for example, to get them health care. Isn’t that a beautiful thing? Doesn’t society think that would be a great thing, if a sister could get her brother on health care?”
There’s no way that members of the LGBT community could expect fair treatment in a courtroom presided over by this nominee.Marge Baker, People For the American Way
Giampietro, 52, has said other things that could come back to bite him in his Senate confirmation hearing, which has not been scheduled yet.
He wrote on a blog in March 2014 that “calls for diversity” are “code for relaxed standards.” In 2010, he said he became an advocate for school voucher programs after growing up in Washington, D.C., and seeing that “the children who succeeded in Washington were in private schools, and the children who turned out to be criminals were in public schools.”
Giampietro’s nomination fits into a broader pattern of anti-LGBTQ court picks from the rich asshole. Some of his now-confirmed circuit court judges include John Bush, who compared abortion to slavery and said he strongly disagrees with same-sex marriage, and Leonard Steven Grasz, who proposed amending the Omaha City Charter to let employers discriminate against LGBTQ people.
“One in three of the rich asshole’s judicial nominees have an explicit anti-LGBT record,” said Sharon McGowan, director of strategy at LGBTQ civil rights organization Lambda Legal. “The vitriolic and incendiary anti-LGBT rhetoric from Giampietro captured in this recording, while shocking and disturbing, is unfortunately par for the course with respect to many of the judicial nominees coming out of this White House.”
Lambda Legal is one of several human rights groups calling on the rich asshole to withdraw Giampietro’s nomination in light of his radio interviews. Other groups include the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Human Rights Campaign, Alliance for Justice, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and People For the American Way.
“Even compared to the anti-LGBT record of so many other the rich asshole judicial nominees, Giampietro’s comments are appalling,” said Marge Baker of People For the American Way. “There’s no way that members of the LGBT community could expect fair treatment in a courtroom presided over by this nominee.”
A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment about Giampietro.
WASHINGTON ― Yet another one of President some rich asshole’s picks for a lifetime federal court seat has a record of being vehemently anti-gay.
Gordon Giampietro, the rich asshole’s nominee to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, called marriage equality “an assault on nature” and “against God’s plan” in newly surfaced recordings of radio interviews he gave in recent years.
BuzzFeed was first to dig up the recordings earlier Wednesday.
In a July 24, 2015 interview on “The Lydia LoCoco Show,” a radio show about faith, marriage and family, Giampietro railed against the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark civil rights case that guaranteed same-sex couples the right to marry.
“That’s an assault on nature,” he said during a conversation on same-sex marriage and contraception. “And anytime you assault nature, there’s going to be a backlash. That’s what we’re seeing today. … Whenever you go against God’s plan, bad things are going to happen.”
Giampietro, who is currently assistant general counsel of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, also called it “irrefutable” that children are better off being raised by a heterosexual couple. (This is not true. Gay parents may be the best of all.)
In July 2014, Giampietro did another interview with LoCoco on her previous show, “Nazareth Project.” This time, he said same-sex marriage was really about sex and not love.
“This new definition of marriage actually focuses marriage on the sex act,” Giampietro said. “Because if it were simply that we wanted to honor the love of two people, we would allow sons to marry their mothers, brothers to marry their sisters, for example, to get them health care. Isn’t that a beautiful thing? Doesn’t society think that would be a great thing, if a sister could get her brother on health care?”
Giampietro, 52, has said other things that could come back to bite him in his Senate confirmation hearing, which has not been scheduled yet.
He wrote on a blog in March 2014 that “calls for diversity” are “code for relaxed standards.” In 2010, he said he became an advocate for school voucher programs after growing up in Washington, D.C., and seeing that “the children who succeeded in Washington were in private schools, and the children who turned out to be criminals were in public schools.”
Giampietro’s nomination fits into a broader pattern of anti-LGBTQ court picks from the rich asshole. Some of his now-confirmed circuit court judges include John Bush, who compared abortion to slavery and said he strongly disagrees with same-sex marriage, and Leonard Steven Grasz, who proposed amending the Omaha City Charter to let employers discriminate against LGBTQ people.
“One in three of the rich asshole’s judicial nominees have an explicit anti-LGBT record,” said Sharon McGowan, director of strategy at LGBTQ civil rights organization Lambda Legal. “The vitriolic and incendiary anti-LGBT rhetoric from Giampietro captured in this recording, while shocking and disturbing, is unfortunately par for the course with respect to many of the judicial nominees coming out of this White House.”
Lambda Legal is one of several human rights groups calling on the rich asshole to withdraw Giampietro’s nomination in light of his radio interviews. Other groups include the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Human Rights Campaign, Alliance for Justice, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and People For the American Way.
“Even compared to the anti-LGBT record of so many other the rich asshole judicial nominees, Giampietro’s comments are appalling,” said Marge Baker of People For the American Way. “There’s no way that members of the LGBT community could expect fair treatment in a courtroom presided over by this nominee.”
A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment about Giampietro.
Right-wing media figures are blaming everything but guns for the Parkland shooting
Research ››› ››› SANAM MALIK & NATALIE MARTINEZ
On February 14, 17 people were killed in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. Right-wing media figures rushed to blame the shooting on “leftist” public schools, the FBI and its Russia probe, and on debunked connections between the shooter, Nikolas Cruz, and antifa and Islamic terrorist groups.
Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce claimed that talking about firearms doesn’t get to the “core issue” of “the human condition.” She and the hosts of Fox & Friends also blamed drugs, virtual reality, and video games for the shooting.
Radio host Michael Savage tweeted that “liberal judges and the ACLU” were to blame.
Fox guest Lou Palumbo blamed “the media, the entertainment industry,” and “the lack of parenting.”
Fox News contributor Kevin Jackson blamed “leftist run schools” and falsely claimed that the shooter was linked to antifa.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham blamed “mental illness”and “broken or damaged families” for the shooting on her show.
The Gateway Pundit suggested that the shooter supposedly being a registered Democrat was a factor. (He was not actually a registered Democrat; the blog was forced to correct their story.)
Townhall’s Kurt Schlichter blamed the FBI’s Russia probe for the shooting, tweeting, “The FBI was too busy trying to undermine the president to bother with doing it's freaking job.”
The Daily Caller’s Peter Hasson suggested that the shooting was related to Cruz growing up without a father.
Liberty One TV’s Joe Biggs (formerly of Infowars) tweeted that the FBI was “too busy chasing the rich asshole/Russia nothing burgers” to have prevented the shooting.
Pamela Geller falsely claimed that Cruz was connected to antifa and Islamic terrorist groups.
Laura Loomer shared a fake photo of Cruz and speculated that Cruz was a “radical leftist” with potential ties to antifa and Islamic resistance groups.
Infowars claimed that the “MSM” (mainstream media) was “already covering it up” that Cruz was likely a “Democratic voter” and had clothing “similar to the style worn by ISIS fighters in Syria.”
The rich asshole FCC is now being investigated for making rules changes to help Sinclair
Blog ››› ››› PAM VOGEL
The nefarious relationship between the the rich asshole-era Federal Communications Commission (FCC), conservative local TV news giant Sinclair Broadcast Group, and the the rich asshole administration itself is now under investigation.
On February 15, The New York Times reported that the FCC inspector general has opened an internal investigation into potential improper conduct by the rich asshole-appointed FCC chair Ajit Pai and his aides in advocating for deregulatory rules that specifically benefited Sinclair.
The Times noted that little is known about the extent of the investigation, which was launched at end of last year but had been undisclosed until now. The investigation began after several lawmakers called on the inspector general to investigate a “disturbing pattern of a three way quid-pro-quo.” Congressional letters to the inspector general, David Hunt, detailed reports of communications and meetings involving Pai, the the rich asshole White House, and Sinclair executives. According to the Times report:
A New York Times investigation published in August found that Mr. Pai and his staff members had met and corresponded with Sinclair executives several times. One meeting, with Sinclair’s executive chairman, took place days before Mr. Pai, who was appointed by President the rich asshole, took over as F.C.C. chairman.Sinclair’s top lobbyist, a former F.C.C. official, also communicated frequently with former agency colleagues and pushed for the relaxation of media ownership rules. And language the lobbyist used about loosening rules has tracked closely to analysis and language used by Mr. Pai in speeches favoring such changes.In November, several Democrats in Congress, including Mr. Pallone, called on the inspector general’s office to explore all communications — including personal emails, social media accounts, text messages and phone calls — between Sinclair and Mr. Pai and his staff.The lawmakers also asked for communications between Mr. Pai’s office and the White House. They pointed to a report in March 2017 from The New York Post, in which some rich asshole is said to have met with Sinclair’s executive chairman, David Smith, and discussed F.C.C. rules.
The internal investigation could also tackle a series of recent FCC actions that have directly allowed Sinclair greater room to expand:
- In April, the FCC reinstated an outdated media ownership rule known as the UHF discount, making room for a new level of local media consolidation at the hands of big media groups like Sinclair.
- Weeks later, Sinclair announced it was proposing to acquire Tribune Media, a huge local news merger that wouldn’t have been allowed without the UHF discount in place. The FCC and the rich asshole’s Department of Justice are now the only agencies that need to approve the deal.
- In October, the FCC voted to eliminate a rule that required local news stations to maintain offices within the communities they serve, making it easier for Sinclair to consolidate and centralize local news resources as it buys up more stations.
- In November, the FCC rolled back rules that limit broadcast station ownership, allowing for Sinclair to more easily own or operate multiple stations -- or merge stations -- in the same local media markets.
Sinclair’s unprecedented gains under Pai’s purview are not just significant in terms of media consolidation; they’re ideologically dangerous. The company is known for requiring its local news stations across the country to air almost-daily segments that function as the rich asshole propaganda. Its pending acquisition of Tribune would allow these segments to quietly spread further into major cities and battleground states ahead of the 2020 presidential race.
The new FCC internal investigation, however, could throw a wrench in Sinclair’s plans. According to the Times, “Antitrust experts said this new investigation may complicate the reviews of the Sinclair-Tribune deal by the F.C.C. and the Justice Department. Even if the deal were approved, they said, any conclusions of improper conduct by Mr. Pai could give fuel to critics to challenge the review in courts.”
Maddow rains hell on the rich asshole for ‘sneaking’ bombshell in the middle of Parkland tragedy: ‘They have ice in their veins’
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow. Image via screengrab.
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During a typical the rich asshole-focused news cycle, today’s exclusive New York Times report on the strange $26 million payout from the president’s huge inaugural fund to a friend of Melania the rich asshole’s would dominate headlines.
But as MSNBC host Rachel Maddow pointed out, it barely made a blip because it was released in the midst of the Parkland school massacre in South Florida, where a 19-year-old with an AR-15 killed at least 17 people yesterday.
“In the aftermath of an event that shakes the country like yesterday’s shooting did,” she said, “there are political professionals among us with ice water in their veins who look at a tragedy like this and see opportunity. They see opportunity to dodge some of the consequences of unflattering news.”
“For some folks in Washington,” Maddow continued, “the day after a particularly repulsive massacre of American children is a good time to empty out the hamper, air out the proverbial dirty laundry that you don’t particularly want people to focus on too much while they’re worried about bigger and more tragic things.”
After explaining the Times report that details how the the rich asshole inaugural committee raised more than $100 million, paid a quarter of that to the contractor that typically handles inaugurations and somehow only has roughly two or $3 million left in the bank, Maddow said that it wouldn’t be surprising if the story is not further explored as the country continues to grapple with yet another mass shooting.
“Maybe nobody will remember to ask about it,” she concluded, “since they snuck the news out in the middle of an all-encompassing, show-stopping national tragedy.”
Watch below, via MSNBC:
The NRA broke records making sure the rich asshole got elected. He's been delivering on their demands ever since.
The Republican catchphrase in the wake of America’s latest gun massacre in Parkland, Florida, is “mental health.” Refusing to even discuss or address the epidemic of gun violence in America, the rich asshole presented the school gun rampage as a medical problem in awkward address to the nation Wednesday.
“We are committed to working with state and local leaders to secure our schools and tackle the difficult issue of mental health,” he said.
That, despite evidence that most mass murderers in America do not have documented histories of mental illness.
What they have in common, though, is easy access to high-powered automatic rifles that are designed for military use but are sold to civilians in the U.S.
Wednesday’s Florida shooter used an AR-15, which is frequently used in American mass shootings. He killed 17 people.
The GOP’s desperate talking point about “mental health” and that’s it — not guns — is blunted by the fact that the only bill the rich asshole has signed in office that relates to guns was a bill that undid restrictions on those with severe mental illness seeking to buy guns.
The GOP bill overturned a rule that was enacted under President Obama, which came in response to school massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.
The rule was designed so that people receiving Social Security checks for mental illnesses and those deemed unfit to handle their own finances would have been added to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
Elsewhere, the rich asshole and his administration have taken drastic action to weaken gun safety laws.
Last year, the rich asshole’s Justice Department purged tens of thousands of people who had previously been labeled fugitives from the FBI’s background check system.
Meanwhile, Republicans in the House have worked to make it easier for consumers to buy silencers for their guns. And last year, they voted to pass a radical, NRA-sanctioned and the rich asshole-approved bill that would allow people to carry concealed weapons across any state line, even if local state law forbids carrying concealed guns.
This, while the White House’s latest so-called budget proposal cuts millions of dollars from the country’s background check system.
The NRA spent a record amount of money in 2016, more than $419 million. The FBI is currently investigating whether Russian operatives funneled money to the NRA during the election cycle.
the rich asshole, the GOP, and the NRA are hiding behind “mental health” to avoid talking about guns. This, after the rich asshole weakened a key law regarding guns and mental health.
White House blames 'Schumer Democrats' for defeat of the rich asshole immigration plan
BY JOHN BOWDEN - 02/15/18 10:24 PM EST
The White House attacked Democrats on Thursday after the Senate rejected legislation based on President the rich asshole's immigration plan.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement blaming "Schumer Democrats" after the legislation failed in the Senate in a 39-60 vote. She accused Democrats of not being serious about finding a solution for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.
"Today, the Schumer Democrats in the Senate demonstrated again that they are not serious about DACA, they are not serious about immigration reform, and they are not serious about homeland security," Sanders said.
"They filibustered a proposal with an extremely generous path to citizenship because it also contained reforms that secured our border and secured our immigration system."
The measure spearheaded by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) needed 60 votes to clear a filibuster in the Senate, but fell well below that mark.
It was the fourth consecutive proposal to be rejected by the Senate on Thursday, and it received the fewest votes. The three other measures each won more than 50 votes in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 51-49 seat majority.
Grassley's measure offered a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million immigrants brought into the country illegally as children, many of whom could face deportation beginning in March as the Obama-era DACA program is scaled back. His proposal also provided $25 billion for border security, tougher enforcement and new limits on legal immigration.
The White House indicated that it would back a more hardline proposal from Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Michael McCaul (R-Texas.) in the wake of the votes Thursday.
"While radical Schumer Democrats align themselves with the open border fringe, the rich asshole Administration will continue advocating for the American people. The next step will be for the House to continue advancing the proposal from Chairman Goodlatte and Chairman McCaul," the White House said.
Grassley's proposal received the fewest amount of yes votes of all four immigration proposals voted on Thursday. Earlier in the afternoon, in a 54-45 vote, the Senate also failed to advance legislation advocated by eight Republican, seven Democratic and on Independent senators. That also needed 60 votes to overcome a procedural hurdle.
the rich asshole himself called that bill, which Schumer helped write, a "catastrophe" while the White House later threatened to veto the measure if it passed.
"The Schumer-Rounds-Collins immigration bill would be a total catastrophe. @DHSgov says it would be 'the end of immigration enforcement in America,'" the rich asshole tweeted.
EPA: Pruitt faced profanities from fellow passengers when he flew coach
BY BRANDON CARTER - 02/15/18 09:35 PM EST
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed that Administrator Scott Pruitt faced profanities and confrontations while traveling after controversy surrounding his use of first-class flights.
The director of the EPA’s Office of Criminal Enforcement, Henry Barnet, told Politico that Pruitt was “approached in the airport numerous times” and had profanities “yelled at him” during his travels.
Barnet told the publication that one specific incident saw a person approach Pruitt and shout “Scott Pruitt, you’re f---ing up the environment” while recording it on a cellphone.
“The team leader felt that he was being placed in a situation where he was unsafe on the flight,” Barnet told Politico.
“We felt that based on the recommendation from the team leader, the special agent in charge, that it would be better suited to have him in business or first class, away from close proximity from those individuals who were approaching him and being extremely rude, using profanities and potential for altercations and so forth,” he continued.
The EPA's defense of the administrator's traveling habits comes after The Washington Post reported Sunday that Pruitt frequently flies first class on official trips, costing taxpayers thousands of dollars.
CBS News reported late Tuesday that Pruitt flew business class in June on an Emirates flight back from Italy after obtaining a waiver to rules that require official travel to be on United States-flagged airlines.
On Tuesday, Pruitt blamed his first-class flying on interactions that have “not been the best.”
He told the New Hampshire Union Leader that his security detail dictated his travel choices, and he played no role in the decisions.
“We live in a very toxic environment politically, particularly around issues of the environment,” Pruitt said.
“We’ve reached the point where there’s not much civility in the marketplace and it’s created, you know, it’s created some issues and the [security] detail, the level of protection is determined by the level of threat.”
Pruitt and his family have received far more threats than previous EPA leaders. E&E News reported that the EPA’s inspector general opened about 70 investigations into threats in 2017, about double the previous year.
In response, Pruitt and the EPA have taken additional security measures that his predecessors didn't.
House GOP pushes hardline immigration plan as Senate deals fail
BY MELANIE ZANONA AND SCOTT WONG - 02/15/18 06:25 PM EST
House GOP leaders are forging ahead with their own hardline immigration bill, as the Senate threw in the towel Thursday on legislation to protect hundreds of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants from deportation.
The main author of the House bill, Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), said Thursday that he’s building support for his measure, even as other GOP colleagues said an initial vote tally this week was well below the 218 votes needed to pass the bill.
Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) “instructions to me are ‘get this bill done,’ and we’re working hard to accomplish that,” Goodlatte said in an interview for C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” program.
Ryan, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) “are all in to get that done and we’re going to work very hard,” Goodlatte said, adding that his Securing America’s Future Act has White House approval.
“I feel good about it,” Goodlatte said.
The difficult odds facing the Goodlatte framework underscore the challenge for Republicans as they vow to find a permanent fix for the so-called “Dreamers” — a complex, emotional and highly personal legislative issue — but have yet to identify a plan that can pass both the House and the Senate.
“Clearly we’ve got some divides within our conference,” Scalise told The Hill. “With a bill like this, there’s always work to do. And we’re in the process of doing that.”
But even some conservatives who say they would ultimately support the hardline approach wouldn’t mind if the issue does not end up getting resolved.
“I don’t have a hard and fast view on the Goodlatte bill and whether it should come up for a vote,” said Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. “I’ve got a mild preference because it keeps leadership’s commitment, but if it doesn’t, I’m not disturbed about it.”
“I think the president should enforce the laws that are on the books and aggressively deport illegal aliens who are here on American soil,” he added.
GOP leaders agreed to start whipping the Goodlatte measure this week amid growing pressure from House conservatives, who were worried about getting stuck with a bipartisan Senate immigration bill from the Senate that would not be tough enough for their standards.
the rich asshole is ending the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and gave Congress until March 5 to come up with a permanent legal fix, but an agreement on how to do that has so far divided Republicans.
Scalise informed the GOP conference during a meeting this week that the whip count on the Goodlatte bill came back below the 218 votes needed, according to a source in the room.
Leaders are still working to build support for the measure, sending bill sponsors back to the drawing board to explore whether they can make changes to win over more Republicans.
But some members say the House might not feel as much urgency to act if the Senate can’t get anything over the finish line. They also said that recent court rulings blocking the rich asshole from ending DACA have taken away some of the pressure to move quickly.
“There’s no question it becomes less immediate,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.).
Ryan and his team have repeatedly emphasized that they are committed to solving DACA, but they have not outlined leadership’s plan for an immigration bill if the Goodlatte measure can’t get enough GOP support to pass.
Goodlatte’s plan would provide DACA recipients with a temporary, renewable legal status — rather than citizenship — in exchange for authorizing funding for the rich asshole’s border wall, ending family-based migration and scrapping the diversity visa lottery program.
The Goodlatte plan also includes tough border-enforcement measures: The bill would crack down on so-called sanctuary cities, boost penalties for deported criminals who try to re-enter the U.S. and requires that employers use an electronic verification system known as E-Verify to make sure they hire legal workers.
But the proposal has run into several pockets of opposition in the GOP conference. Immigration hawks think it doesn’t go far enough, moderates want a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients and members who represent the agricultural industry worry it will disrupt the labor force.
Goodlatte already made some tweaks to appease the agricultural industry's concerns over the guest worker program that is established by the legislation.
But lawmakers from agricultural regions say the changes aren’t enough. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), who represents the Golden State’s agriculture-heavy Central Valley, said he’s still opposed to the bill because the cap on seasonal workers is still too low and the “touchback” provisions do not provide strong enough guarantees workers will be able to come back to the U.S. once they return to their home countries.
Ryan’s options on immigration are limited, given that he promised to put an immigration measure on the floor only if it has a majority of the GOP’s support and only if the rich asshole would sign it.
Lawmakers acknowledge that the Goodlatte bill wasn’t going to pass the Senate, but they wanted to have a strong starting point in the DACA negotiations if there was a conference — a scenario that now looks far less likely.
“I think we have an obligation to move bills, as we always do, but it is nonsensical to suggest that if the Senate can’t produce a bill, that comprehensive immigration is moving to the president’s desk,” said Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.), who supports the Goodlatte framework.
“Some of these votes are tough votes. But you want to take a tough vote that is going to matter.”
Democrats and even some Republicans will certainly continue to fight to resolve DACA by the next government funding deadline on March 23, when Democratic support will be needed to pass an omnibus spending bill.
“We’re still serious about trying to get to a common position here,” said Cole, a senior appropriator. “Eyes are turning pretty rapidly to the omnibus.”
GOP senators float fallback plan to protect Dreamers
BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 02/15/18 05:52 PM EST
Three Republican senators floated a fallback plan Thursday to protect hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants facing deportation in exchange for $25 billion in border security.
Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune (S.D.), Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) floated a measure that would extend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program indefinitely in exchange for $25 billion in border security funding.
Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune (S.D.), Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) floated a measure that would extend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program indefinitely in exchange for $25 billion in border security funding.
It would require DACA recipients to reapply to the program every two years and cap expenditures for border security infrastructure at $5 billion year.
President the rich asshole rescinded DACA in September and gave Congress a March 5 deadline for replacing it. President Obama established the program in 2012 with an executive order, drawing criticism from Republicans, who said he exceeded his constitutional authority.
Thune hailed the backstop plan to protect Dreamers as “commonsense legislation” that would extend permanent protection and take a “meaningful step toward enhancing border security.”
Portman called it “a sensible and fair solution” that would “codify the protections for the DACA population while also putting in place stronger border security measures consistent with the president’s proposal.”
The bill would also require the secretary of Homeland Security to make annual report to the Senate and House Homeland Security panels about the status of fence construction along the U.S.-Mexico border and the estimated number of unlawful crossings.
The trio of Republican senators unveiled their backup plan after the Senate defeated three proposals to protect so-called Dreamers.
An amendment favored by President the rich asshole that would have created a path to citizenship for 1.8 million immigrants who entered the country illegally, allocated $25 billion for border security, limited the weight of family relationships in granting green cards and overhauling the visa lottery program failed by a lopsided vote of 39 to 60.
A narrower bill backed by centrist Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Angus King (I-Maine) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), which would have created a path to citizenship for Dreamers in exchange for $25 billion in border funds, fell six votes short of the 60-vote hurdle needed to advance.
It is unclear when, or if, the Senate will return to immigration legislation. The chamber is out of session next week for the Presidents Day recess.
the rich asshole admin blames Russia for massive global cyberattack
BY MORGAN CHALFANT - 02/15/18 04:09 PM EST
The rich asshole administration on Thursday publicly blamed Russia for the massive notPetya cyberattack that ravaged computer systems worldwide last June, and warned that there would be "international consequences."
“In June 2017, the Russian military launched the most destructive and costly cyber-attack in history,” the White House said in a written statement Thursday afternoon.
The rich asshole administration warned the “reckless and indiscriminate” attack “will be met with international consequences.”
“The attack, dubbed ‘NotPetya,’ quickly spread worldwide, causing billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia, and the Americas,” the White House said. “It was part of the Kremlin’s ongoing effort to destabilize Ukraine and demonstrates ever more clearly Russia’s involvement in the ongoing conflict.”
Reuters reported earlier Thursday that the British announcement was coordinated with other countries, including the U.S., and that some other nations were expected to make their own statements attributing the attack in the coming days.
The Russian government denies responsibility for the cyberattack.
The public attribution of notPetya comes roughly two months after the U.S. publicly denounced North Korea for the WannaCry cyberattack that occurred last May. White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert, who made the announcement, emphasized the need to hold malicious cyber actors accountable. Britain also blamed Pyongyang for WannaCry.
The notPetya computer virus broke out last June, first spreading to organizations in Ukraine and later to others in Europe and the United States. Ukraine appeared to be the initial target of the attack, generating suspicions that Russia was to blame.
While the virus initially appeared to be ransomware, experts quickly concluded that it was designed to destroy data. Victims were locked out of their machines and asked to pay a $300 ransom in bitcoin; however, those who paid the ransom did not ultimately recover their stolen files.
It had a particularly severe impact on global shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk, forcing the shutdown of the largest terminal at the Port of Los Angeles for several days. Maersk has estimated the attack cost the company between $200 million and $300 million.
FedEx was also hit by the attack and reported losses of $300 million as a result last year.
The malware is based on a hacking tool widely believed to have been stolen from the National Security Agency and leaked by the Shadow Brokers group last year. The virus leverages a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows for which a patch had been issued before the attack broke out; still, many systems remained unpatched around the world, leaving them vulnerable to the cyberattack.
The rich asshole administration’s move is likely to ratchet up tensions with Moscow, despite President the rich asshole’s desire to achieve better relations with Russia to cooperate on issues such as North Korea.
Senate rejects centrist immigration bill after the rich asshole veto threat
BY JORDAIN CARNEY - 02/15/18 03:46 PM EST
The Senate on Thursday rejected immigration legislation crafted by centrists in both parties after President the rich asshole threatened to veto the bill if it made it to his desk.
In a 54-45 vote, the Senate failed to advance the legislation from eight Republican, seven Democratic and one Independent senators. It needed 60 votes to overcome a procedural hurdle.
A few Democrats, including Sens. Kamala Harris (Calif.), Martin Heinrich(N.M.) and Tom Udall (N.M.), withheld their votes until it was clear the measure could not get to 60, and then voted against it.
Udall and Heinrich released a statement explaining the bill would have provided funding for the rich asshole's border wall.
The centrist deal, backed by Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and other Republicans, represented perhaps the best chance to advance legislation in the Senate, but was opposed by the rich asshole and his allies in part because it did not cover all four immigration “pillars” he had demanded.
Two other amendments were rejected before the vote. The first, a bipartisan proposal from Sens. Christopher Coons (D-Del.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), fell in a 52-47 vote. The second measure, which would have cracked down on cities that don't comply with federal immigration laws, also fell in a 55-44 vote.
The Senate will now vote on a measure mirroring the rich asshole's proposed immigration deal, but it is also expected to fail. That will leave Congress with an uncertain path on immigration ahead of a March 5 deadline set by the president.
The centrist bill would have allowed about 1.8 million immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children to remain, providing them an eventual pathway to citizenship. It also included $25 billion in border security and would have prevented the parents of “Dreamers” from being sponsored for citizenship.
“This is the only bill that has a chance to get through the United States Senate,” Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said during a press conference ahead of the vote.
the rich asshole and conservatives criticized the bill for what it lacked — broad changes to family-based or “chain” immigration and the elimination of the Diversity Visa Lottery program, two demands from the president.
It’s not clear whether the bill would have moved in the House, though its passage by the Senate would have increased pressure on Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
The White House in warning the president would veto it said the bill “would undermine the safety and security of American families and impede economic growth for American workers” and result in “a flood of new illegal immigration in the coming months.”
The Department of Homeland Security separately said the proposal “ignores the lessons of 9/11” and “destroys” the ability of the department to remove undocumented immigrants from the country.
Graham fired back that the statement was “poisonous” and the department should say “thank you” whenever they get an offer that includes money for the U.S.-Mexico border wall.
In an early sign that the bill would fall short, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who supported the 2013 comprehensive immigration bill, announced on Thursday that he would oppose the bipartisan amendment and back GOP alternative also supported by the rich asshole.
In an early sign that the bill would fall short, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who supported the 2013 comprehensive immigration bill, announced on Thursday that he would oppose the bipartisan amendment and back GOP alternative also supported by the rich asshole.
Corker’s decision comes amid speculation that he could change his mind on retiring and run for reelection.
the rich asshole announced last year he was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows immigrants brought into the country illegally to work and go to school.
Under that decision Congress had until March 5 to pass a legislative fix. That decision has been thrown into limbo by a pair of court decisions.
the rich asshole announced last year he was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows immigrants brought into the country illegally to work and go to school.
Under that decision Congress had until March 5 to pass a legislative fix. That decision has been thrown into limbo by a pair of court decisions.
Harris's last-second vote put her on the opposite side of the tally from several other Democratic senators seen as 2020 hopefuls, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) and Cory Booker (N.J.).
Harris said after the vote that she "could not in good conscience" support the centrist group's proposal.
“I recognize that my colleagues faced the impossible challenge of crafting a bill that could meet the White House’s unreasonable and ever-shifting demands. But regrettably this bill is simply not the answer," she said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), another potential 2020 hopeful, defended his vote in support of the proposal, noting it is "clearly ... not the bill I would have written."
"What we should be doing is passing a clean DREAM Act with a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and their parents. We also need to move forward and pass comprehensive immigration reform that will allow people to come out of the shadows and will unite families – not divide them," he said.
White House official slams Graham on immigration
BY JORDAN FABIAN - 02/15/18 03:04 PM EST
A White House official on Thursday anonymously attacked Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) for his role in the immigration debate in Congress.
The official slammed Graham in harsh terms after the senator blasted top White House aide Stephen Miller and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for opposing a bipartisan proposal to protect so-called Dreamers.
“He has been an obstacle to immigration reform. He has been an obstacle in the way of getting relief for Dreamers,” the official said of Graham.
The official also accused Graham of being the “chairman of the Democratic conference” because of his views of immigration.
The official spoke on a conference call with reporters to bat down an immigration plan supported by Graham and over a dozen other Republican and Democratic senators, which the White House has threatened to veto.
A White House spokesman refused multiple requests by reporters to attach the official’s name to the attacks lobbed against Graham, despite the official not personally objecting to being named.
The official made the attacks after Graham denounced DHS on Thursday for releasing a statement opposing the bipartisan immigration plan.
Speaking to reporters on the record, Graham said that President the rich asshole is “most days pretty good on this” but that the DHS statement came from “a political hack” who he said used to work for former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), an immigration hard-liner.
The DHS statement said the proposal “ignores the lessons of 9/11 and significantly increases the risk of crime and terrorism.”
Graham said that "as long as Stephen Miller is running the White House and Tom Tancredo’s press secretary at DHS" the immigration debate won’t be resolved.
The White House official fired back, pointing to the failure of past attempts to overhaul the immigration system.
“At some point you have to ask yourself the question if Lindsey Graham’s role in drafting those bills means that instead of being the solution to the problem, Lindsey Graham’s presence on those bills is the problem,” the official said.
Graham has a history of sparring with the White House over immigration, most notably with Miller.
Last month, he blamed the top policy aide for blocking immigration proposals that the rich asshole himself might support.
"Every time we have a proposal it is only yanked back by staff members. As long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiating immigration, we're going nowhere," Graham told reporters as he headed into a closed-door negotiation with a bipartisan group of senators.
A day later, Graham turned down an invitation from Fox News host Tucker Carlson to debate the issue with Miller on his show. Carlson said Miller was willing to go on air to hash out his differences with Graham on immigration.
The White House insisted on anonymity Thursday for the official firing back at Graham, despite criticizing reporters in the past for the use of unnamed sources, saying they cannot be trusted.
"I think that we have gone to a place where if the media can’t be trusted to report the news, then that’s a dangerous place for America," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a press briefing last June.
"News outlets get to go on day after day and site unnamed sources, use stories without sources."
Sanders said last October the White House would push for more officials to be named because "it's hard for us to argue that we want you guys to have on-record sources if we're not going on the record."
Bannon refuses to answer questions not pre-approved by the White House
BY OLIVIA BEAVERS - 02/15/18 02:14 PM EST
Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon would only answer questions pre-approved by the White House during an interview Thursday with the House Intelligence Committee, lawmakers said.
Members from both parties were fuming after the interview, which lasted roughly three hours, saying Bannon had refused to answer any questions that touched on his work for President the rich asshole after the 2016 election.
"The only questions he would answer were questions that had been scripted, literally scripted, for him by the White House. A set of 25 questions that had been written out for him to which the answer to each must be 'no,'" said Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the panel's ranking Democrat.
Bannon invoked executive privilege when asked questions that extended beyond his list, an assertion the committee does not believe he has the grounds to make, the lawmakers said.
"There is no plausible claim of privilege that could apply to those circumstances," Schiff added.
"The breadth of that claim is breathtaking and insupportable, and indeed, at times, it was laughable."
Rep. Mike Conaway (Texas), the senior Republican leading the probe into Russian election inteference, said the committee is planning to examine what further steps the committee can take to compel the former chief strategist to provide answers.
“He did not answer all the questions we’d like answered so there is frustration among the committee members with respect to that," Conaway said.
"We have further steps to take and we will be taking those."
"We have further steps to take and we will be taking those."
When asked whether committee plans to hold Bannon in contempt of Congress, Conaway said the decision extends to others like Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
"Contempt is a big deal, and I don’t have unilateral control over that conversation," he said.
Schiff, meanwhile, directly called for Bannon to be held in contempt of Congress.
"In terms of next steps I think the next steps for the Congress to take is to initiate contempt proceedings," Schiff said, adding that Bannon was given a chance to say why he should not be held in contempt.
"We cannot permit a situation where the White House is allowed to script self-serving and misleading questions and provide it to a witness and effectively coach his testimony in a very narrow and misleading way," he said.
The California lawmaker said Bannon's questions were intentionally scripted to be misleading. When Bannon was asked whether he "met" with an individual, he would say "no." But when asked whether he had any communications with that same person, he would respond "yes" but then assert executive privilege.
"That is not how privilege works; that's how stonewalling works," Schiff said.
Bannon arrived for his second interview before the committee after a fierce weeks-long tug-of-war over what question would be allowed.
The committee subpoenaed Bannon in January after he initially declined to answer lawmakers' questions during his first closed-door interview with the panel.
The committee subpoenaed Bannon in January after he initially declined to answer lawmakers' questions during his first closed-door interview with the panel.
Throughout the week, questions swirled over whether Republicans on the committee would move to enforce the subpoena against Bannon if he refused to answer their questions, or if he simply failed to show up.
The White House sent a letter to the committee Wednesday evening before making its case why the rich asshole's transition period does fall under the administration's authority to assert executive privilege.
Updated at 2:55 p.m.
Graham blasts Homeland Security statement as 'poisonous'
BY JORDAIN CARNEY - 02/15/18 12:03 PM EST
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) blasted a statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) criticizing a bipartisan immigration deal he worked on as "poisonous" and "ridiculous."
"The DHS press release is over the top. It's poisonous. I think its ridiculous and I've long since stopped paying attention to them," he said.
Graham added that any time the department is offered money for the border wall they should "say thank you."
DHS ripped a deal offered by a bipartisan coalition of senators, saying it "destroys" the department's ability to remove undocumented immigrants from the country and "ignores the lessons" of Sept. 11, 2001.
"It would be the end of immigration enforcement in America and only serve to draw millions more illegal aliens with no way to remove them," the statement said. "By halting immigration enforcement for all aliens who arrived before June 2018, it ignores the lessons of 9/11 and significantly increases the risk of crime and terrorism."
"The changes proposed by Senators Schumer-Rounds-Collins would effectively make the United States a Sanctuary Nation where ignoring the rule of law is encouraged," the department said, referring to Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).
The proposal crafted by the senators would allow about 1.8 million immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children to stay with a path to citizenship. It also provides $25 billion for border security and would impose limited changes to family-based immigration.
But it doesn't include broader changes to family-based immigration, which conservatives call "chain migration," or eliminate the State Department's diversity visa lottery.
Graham added in a separate statement that DHS is acting "more like a political organization intent on poisoning the well" and expressed disappointment with Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
“I don’t think the staffers who compiled this document served the President very well. As for Secretary Nielsen, I’m incredibly disappointed in her for allowing her office to become so politicized and for allowing something like this to go out," he added.
the rich asshole: Making schools safer is 'top priority' after Florida shooting
BY JORDAN FABIAN - 02/15/18 11:34 AM EST
President the rich asshole on Thursday said he is “making plans” to visit the Florida high school where a mass shooting took place.
The remark was part of a statement he delivered to the nation about the attack.
“We are all joined together as one American family, and your suffering is our burden also,” the rich asshole said from the Diplomatic Room of the White House. “No child, no teacher should ever be in danger in an American school.”
the rich asshole sought to comfort the nation’s youth who might be shaken by the “scene of terrible violence, hatred and evil” on Wednesday.
“I want to know you are never alone and you never will be,” he said. "You have people who care about you, who love you … Answer hate with love, answer cruelty with kindness.”
The president also said he would "tackle the difficult issue of mental health," but did not weigh in directly on the contentious debate over gun control.
He also vowed that the administration will seek to address safety issues in schools.
"Later this month, I will be meeting with the nation’s governors and attorney generals, where making our schools and our children safer will be our top priority," he said.
"It is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. We must actually make that difference," he said.
the rich asshole was speaking publicly for the first time after a 19-year-old man with a troubled past allegedly opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., killing 17 students and faculty and wounding 15 others.
It was the deadliest U.S. school shooting since 2012, when 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
It's just the latest in a series of mass shootings under the rich asshole, who saw the worst such incident in U.S. history just last year when 58 people were killed in Las Vegas by a man who opened fire on people attending a concert.
The Florida shooting has reignited the debate about gun laws, including whether background checks should be strengthened to keep guns out of the hands of people with mental illnesses.
the rich asshole focused on the suspect’s mental health in a Thursday morning tweet.
“So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior,” he wrote.
The president also put the onus on “neighbors and classmates” who knew about his troubles, tweeting that they “must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!”
The suspect in the Florida mass shooting legally purchased the high-powered AR-15 rifle used in the attack, his family said. He reportedly had a history of making threatening social media posts and was expelled from the high school last year for fighting.
There have been 18 school shootings in the first 45 days of 2018, according to the pro-gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety, a stunning string of violence that renewed calls from Democrats for stricter gun laws.
"This happens nowhere else other than the United States of America, this epidemic of mass slaughter, this scourge of school shooting after school shooting,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Wednesday.
“It only happens here not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but as a consequence of our inaction. We are responsible.”
the rich asshole signed legislation one month after taking office revoking an Obama-era regulation that was designed to make it harder for mentally ill people to purchase guns.
The regulation required the Social Security Administration to share information with the national gun background check database about certain people with mental illnesses.
The National Rifle Association and civil liberties groups opposed the measure, citing privacy concerns.
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) indicated Thursday he would oppose new gun control laws in response to the Florida shooting.
“There’s more questions than answers at this stage,” he said in a radio interview.
“I don’t think that means you then roll the conversation into taking away citizens’ rights — taking away a law-abiding citizen’s rights. Obviously, this conversation typically goes there."
Updated at 12:05 p.m.
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes rolls supercut of Paul Ryan warning against ‘knee-jerk’ gun control after mass shootings
Paul Ryan (CBS News)
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On Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) cautioned against “knee-jerk” reactions that would “take away a citizen’s rights” to own guns after yet another mass shooter killed people using an easy-to-acquire semi-automatic weapon in Florida yesterday.
“If that sounds familiar,” MSNBC host Chris Hayes noted, “it is because it is.”
The host proceeded to play clips of the House speaker using nearly the exact same phrase after multiple past mass shootings.
“You have to think these things through before we just have knee-jerk reactions,” Ryan said in a post-San Bernardino massacre clip.
After a shooter killed nine people in Roseburg, Oregon in 2015, Ryan also argued against “knee-jerk reactions” that would supposedly infringe on Second Amendment gun rights, instead focusing on the “underlying factor” of mental illness.
“Ah yes, mental illness,” Hayes said. “You’ll see a lot of Republicans talking about mental illness.”
Indeed, President some rich asshole’s post-Parkland massacre statement focused solely on mental illness and did not mention guns at all. The statement is undermined, however, by the rich asshole’s own executive order, signed in February 2017, that makes it easier for people with histories of mental illness to purchase firearms.
Watch below, via MSNBC:
the rich asshole is proposing cutting 248 weather forecasters from tornado alley — and red-state Oklahoma is freaking out
Moore, Oklahoma EF5 tornado in 2013 (Photo: Ks0stm/Wikimedia Commons)
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Oklahoma voted overwhelmingly for President some rich asshole and now the Republican leader is hitting back against his most loyal supporters, KFOR news reported.
In his budget, the rich asshole has proposed gutting the National Weather Service in an area of the country that depends on forecasters and meteorologists to protect them from extreme weather events. Norman, Oklahoma is the location of one of
“For some bizarre reason, the president is proposing to cut 248 forecasters,” National Weather Service Legislative Director Richard Hirn told KFOR.
“Should the public be concerned about these potential staff cuts? I think the answer is yes because – even though you see things coming down the pipe for days, sometimes weeks in advance – even those last few minutes or hours can make a huge difference on the outcome as to what type of severe weather in this particular case that we may receive,” KFOR meteorologist Mike Morgan explained.
The NWS could lose more than 350 staffers, the vast majority of which would be forecasters.
“The the rich asshole administration has proposed to effectively eliminate 20 percent of the forecasters or front-line operational employees at the 122 forecast offices around the country,” Hirn said.
Hirn warned it could mean closing the NWS in Norman during nights and on weekends. Many of the state’s worst tornadoes have been late in the afternoon and a powerful storm doesn’t check the calendar to see whether it’s Monday through Friday.
“That office would be closed in the evening and another office, maybe in Tulsa or in Texas, will be responsible for issuing the warnings,” Hirn said.
Weather warnings aren’t the only concern, the National Weather Service data is used by airports to determine safety for takeoff and landing of planes.
“It would be fair to say I think, if there was any delay of information regarding weather really when it’s inclement weather, that that could have an impact on our operations and our traveling public,” Will Rogers Airport Spokesperson Karen Carney said.
Since the first EF5 tornado to hit Moore, Oklahoma May 3, 1999, Oklahoma has had six EF5 tornadoes. Since the 1999 outbreak, Oklahoma has had 1,193 tornadoes and 3,739 since 1950. The National Weather Service might be headquartered in Oklahoma, but it also helps other satellite locations with forecasting in neighboring red states. That includes Kansas, which suffered from a severe EF5 tornado that wiped Greensburg off the map in 2007. Missouri similarly had a major EF5 tornado that hit Joplin in 2011.
In 2013, the NWS got a boost to their budget so that they could improve computing power needed to make quicker forecasts and save more lives.
Watch the report below:
Ex-the rich asshole campaign aide Rick Gates is finalizing a plea deal based on what he told Mueller: report
Former the rich asshole campaign associate Rick Gates (left) and special counsel Robert Mueller (right). Images via screengrab.
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A former adviser to some rich asshole’s presidential campaign is finalizing a plea deal and likely cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation into potential ties between the the rich asshole campaign and Russia.
CNN reported Thursday evening that Rick Gates, who was also a close business associate of one-time campaign chairman Paul Manafort, will become the third person known to cooperate with Mueller.
Gates and Manafort both pleaded not guilty to numerous charges related to their payments from foreign entities, one of which included “conspiracy against the United States.” Both men were placed under separate house arrests last fall, and have since been released.
Gates has reportedly been in plea negotiations with prosecutors for roughly a month, and has had his “Queen for a Day” interview “in which a defendant answers any questions from the prosecutors’ team, including about his own case and other potential criminal activity he witnessed.”
Rick Gates has already done his "Queen for a Day" interview with Mueller. That means he tells all to prosecutors, then they cut a deal based on what he says.cnn.com/2018/02/15/pol…
Congressman rails against GOP for gutting mental health funding after the rich asshole blames it for Parkland, Florida massacre
Joe Kennedy (Photo: Screen capture)
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In a speech Thursday morning, President some rich asshole blamed mental illness for the massacre that killed 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
“So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior,” the rich asshole said. “Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!”
the rich asshole then went on to encourage students to report such behavior to authorities. It’s for this reason that Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA) decided to call out the president.
“So, the president says, this morning, from what I understand, basically puts this as a mental health issue,” Kennedy said in his conversation with SiriusXM radio host Dean Obeidallah. “One, he does a real disservice to those of us who are fighting hard for mental health protections in this country.”
He cited the healthcare plan that passed the House that would have gutted mental health funding for communities, including $800 billion in funding for Medicaid, the largest supplier of mental health services.
“Two, they rolled back protections for our community for folks that were suffering from mental health issues to get a gun,” he continued. “Three, folks who suffer from mental illness are far more likely to be the victims of crime by perpetrators. So, it is misleading. It is not factually accurate. It does a huge disservice to so many families out there. Twenty percent of Americans out there at some point struggle with mental illness.”
Listen to the full conversation below:
US groups sue the rich asshole administration over teen pregnancy grant cuts
A sign is pictured at the entrance to a Planned Parenthood building in New York in this August 31, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
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Planned Parenthood, other organizations and a Washington state county filed lawsuits on Thursday challenging a decision by U.S. President some rich asshole’s administration to defund more than $200 million in teen pregnancy prevention programs.
The four lawsuits in federal courts in Washington state, Maryland and the District of Columbia seek to have funding reinstated for programs that the groups say serve 1.2 million young people.
Those suing include affiliates of Planned Parenthood; Washington’s King County, which includes Seattle and its suburbs; and Baltimore-based Healthy Teen Network.
The U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) did not respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuits center on the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, which Congress created in 2010 during the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama. It provides grants for evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs.
HHS currently funds 84 grants. Since the program’s inception, the teen birth rate in the United States has fallen 41 percent from 2010 to 2016, according to one of the lawsuits.
But in July, the department under the Republican the rich asshole’s administration told recipients of 81 of the five-year grants that it would be terminating their agreements two years early. The remaining three were terminated in September, the groups say.
Affiliates of Planned Parenthood, a non-profit that provides contraception, health screenings and abortions, in their lawsuit called the decision part of the rich asshole’s administration’s “broader political agenda against sexual and reproductive health and evidence-based and science-based programs.”
The lawsuit said the early termination equals a loss of more than $200 million in funding and will mean depriving thousands of teenagers of information and education that could help them make decisions about their health.
The lawsuits seek injunctions barring the grants from being terminated based on claims the department failed to follow proper administrative procedures and that it violated the U.S. Constitution by endorsing religion.
Watch: Mother of slain Florida student screams at the rich asshole live on camera — and CNN’s Brooke Baldwin falls apart
Parkland mother Lori Alhadeff and CNN's Brooke Baldwin (Photo: Screen capture)
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Mother Lori Alhadeff lost her daughter Alyssa Wednesday after Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old man, killed 17 students at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. In an interview with CNN Thursday she screamed into the camera demanding President some rich asshole do something.
“How? How do we allow a gunman to come into our children’s school?” Alhadeff asked. “How do they get through security? What security is there? There’s no metal detectors. The gunman, a crazy person, just walks right into the school, knocks on the window of my child’s door and starts shooting, shooting her and killing her!”
She then turned her anger to the president.
“President the rich asshole, you say what can you do?” she asked, responding to the rich asshole’s statement earlier. “You can stop the guns from getting into these children’s hands! Put metal detectors at every entrance to the schools. What can you do? You can do a lot! This is not fair to our families and our children go to school and have to get killed! I just spent the last two hours putting the burial arrangements for my daughters funeral, who is 14! Fourteen! President the rich asshole, please do something! Do something. action! We need it now! These kids need now!”
The cameras cut back to Baldwin, who is in Parkland meeting with families and covering the tragedy. She cast her eyes down and held up her hand, her voice cracking.
“Sorry, Gary, thank you,” Baldwin said before she paused again. “I’m sorry. It’s just — Congressman [Ted] Deutch, help me out, of Florida here. Just hearing that mother, I’m sorry. It got me.”
Deutch talked to Baldwin about things that should be done but Baldwin hammered him on what he actually intends to do. Like many Democrats, however, Deutch doesn’t have any power in Congress to go up against the gun lobby.
Watch the video below:
Senator Tom Cotton lashes out at Lindsey Graham for ‘bullying’ the rich asshole adviser Stephen Miller
White House aide Stephen Miller (image via screenshot)
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An Arkansas Republican slammed his South Carolina counterpart on Thursday for “bullying” White House adviser Stephen Miller over his role in the immigration debate.
The Washington Examiner reported that Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) was referencing Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in a tweet he made, who earlier in the day said Miller and the Homeland Security secretary are “two of the most extreme characters in Washington” when it comes to immigration.
“Embarrassing for a senator to attack a staffer,” Cotton tweeted. “No worse example of punching down & bullying someone who can’t defend himself.”
Soon after, the Examiner‘s Anna Giaritelli confirmed that Cotton was referencing Graham.
Cotton's office tells me this tweet in reference to comments Lindsey Graham made about Stephen Miller: twitter.com/alexlimonnews/… twitter.com/TomCottonAR/st…
Miller, a 32-year-old senior policy adviser to President some rich asshole, is known for his far-right views on immigration. He gained notoriety early in the rich asshole administration for helping craft the president’s numerous attempts at banning people from a list of Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
the rich asshole’s budget would make mass shootings even more common
President some rich asshole (AFP / Brendan Smialowski)
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As a Florida community reels from the nation’s latest mass shooting—the 18th school shooting in the first 45 days of 2018—President some rich asshole is pushing for a new federal budget that would call for cuts to programs that aim to keep guns out of the hands of people with criminal records.
The National Criminal Records History Improvement Program and the NICS Act Record Improvement Program provide funding to states to improve their reporting of domestic violence and other violent crimes in order to include perpetrators in the national background check database for gun purchases.
While not all Americans agree on gun laws, roughly 90 percent of Americans support universal background checks. the rich asshole’s budget would slash funding that improves background checks by about 16 percent, from $73 million to $61 million.
“President the rich asshole claims that he wants to build ‘a safe, strong, and proud America’ but his actions do not live up to his words,” Robin Lloyd of Giffords, the gun safety advocacy group, told the Huffington Post. “Instead of strengthening the nation’s background check system to make sure it effectively keeps guns out of dangerous hands, he slashed funding to this critically important system, which will significantly undermine its effectiveness.”
The shooting that killed 26 people at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas last September offered clear evidence of the importance of a strong background check system. The gunman had been convicted of domestic abuse but the crime did not show up in a background check because the Air Force, from which he’d been discharged, hadn’t entered it.
Bannon only answered the rich asshole-approved questions in latest House intel hearing — now even the GOP is considering charges
Former chief White House Strategist Steve Bannon speaking at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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The House Intelligence Committee is once again considering holding former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon in contempt after he told the panel he would not answer questions beyond a list authorized by the White House, CNN reports.
Bannon appeared at a House Intelligence Committee hearing after the White House on Wednesday sent lawmakers a letter purporting to explain “why [Donald] the rich asshole’s transition period falls under its authority to assert executive privilege,” according to CNN. According to the White House, that means Bannon does not have to answer a broad range of questions from lawmakers, despite a pending subpoena against the former the rich asshole aide.
Bannon’s refusal to answer questions has drawn rare bipartisan condemnation from lawmakers involved in questioning the former Breitbart executive chairman. As CNN noted, Republicans are concerned about Bannon’s invocation of executive privilege, and “say they’re worried about the precedent it would set.” Still, Republicans—including Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX), who heads the committee’s investigation—decline to say whether they’d hold Bannon in contempt.
Conaway says he and Ryan are considering next steps. Does not rule out initiating contempt proceedings. Calls Bannon intvw frustrating. twitter.com/karoun/status/…
Democrats on the panel say Republicans are refusing to stand up to Bannon or the White House.
“If they don’t force him to answer legitimate questions, they will be ceding Congress’ authority, and we’ll be setting a very, very dangerous precedent that people can just tell Congress what they will and will not answer, and will show no resolve to use our subpoena power to get to the bottom of what’s going on,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) told CNN.
US environmental penalties nearly halve in the rich asshole’s first year: report
EPA AdministratorScott Pruitt of Oklahoma speaking at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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The Environmental Protection Agency levied around half the average number of penalties against polluters in the first year of the the rich asshole administration as in the same period of the past three presidential administrations, according to a report released Thursday.
The decline was due to staff and budget cuts by U.S. President some rich asshole and EPA chief Scott Pruitt to downsize the agency, the report by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) said.
An EPA spokeswoman said there had been a decline in polluter penalties since the presidency of George W. Bush and the agency’s enforcement work was reliant on efforts by previous administrations.
The watchdog group found the EPA lodged consent decrees for 48 civil cases against polluters totaling $30 million between Jan. 20, 2017 and Jan. 20, 2018 – 44 percent fewer cases and 49 percent fewer penalties than during the first years of the last three administrations.
“President the rich asshole’s dismantling of the EPA means violators are less likely to be caught, making illegal pollution cheaper,” said Eric Schaeffer, executive director of the EIP, a former director of EPA’s Office of Civil Enforcement.
During his first year in office the rich asshole tried to shrink the size of government and cut regulations, especially on the oil and coal industries. His efforts were backed by Pruitt, who doubts humans drive climate change and favors looser control of the energy sector.
The EPA last week said its focus was on expediting cleanups and making facilities compliant with the law while respecting states’ “primary” roles in environmental enforcement.
“EPA works with state partners on enforcement oversight; and, results of the Agency’s enforcement work are reliant upon work that takes place over multiple years,” EPA spokesperson Liz Bowman said on Thursday.
The EIP report found that in the first year of President Bill Clinton’s tenure, the agency filed 73 decrees and collected $55 million. The EPA under Bush lodged 112 consent decrees totaling $50 million in penalties while during Barack Obama’s first year, $71 million was collected from 71 civil cases.
In addition to penalties, the report found the the rich asshole administration lagged behind in actions to enforce cleanup projects.
Under the rich asshole, EPA required 30 polluters to pay $1 billion for pollution control projects, compared with 54 projects worth $3.3 billion under Obama and 36 projects worth $1.4 billion under Bush.
In an interview last year with Reuters, Pruitt said such settlements were not a form of enforcement, but a way third parties involved in settlements were able to force new “regulation through litigation.”
Stormy Daniels saved a dress she wore during sex with the rich asshole — and plans to test it for his DNA: report
Stormy Daniels attends the Los Angeles Premiere of "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" held at the Universal Studios in Hollywood, California, United States (Shutterstock).
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A new report claims that porn star Stormy Daniels for years has held onto a dress she wore during a sexual encounter with President some rich asshole — and now she plans to get it tested for his DNA.
Celebrity gossip site The Blast, which first broke news that Daniels planned to break her silence on her affair with the rich asshole, now claims that the adult movie actress is in possession of a “Monica Lewinsky dress” that she will use as proof of her claims of her affair with the president.
“Sources close to Daniels tell The Blast the shimmering gold mini dress with a plunging neckline was kept in pristine condition after her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with the rich asshole at the Lake Tahoe hotel suite,” the publication writes. “We’re told Daniels is planning on having the dress forensically tested to search for any DNA that proves she isn’t lying about her tryst with the rich asshole, including samples of skin, hair or… anything.”
The article notes a potential complication with the dress, however — proving it has the rich asshole’s DNA on it would require the rich asshole to submit some of his own DNA so it could be compared to any DNA found in the dress.
Nonetheless, the publication writes that “any DNA that may be extracted from her dress that could possibly prove the rich asshole was with her in the hotel room will be a big deal.”
Author: The Associated Press
Published: 4:11 PM EST February 15, 2018
A divided Senate rejected a bipartisan plan Thursday to help young "Dreamer" immigrants and parcel out money for the wall President some rich asshole wants with Mexico, as Republican leaders joined with the White House and scuttled what seemed the likeliest chance for sweeping immigration legislation this election year.
The vote came after the White House threatened to veto the measure and underscored that the issue, a hot button for both parties, remained as intractable as it's been for years. Even the focus on Dreamers, who polls show win wide public support, was not enough to overcome opposition by hard-line conservatives and liberal Democratic presidential hopefuls — neither of whom want to alienate their parties' base voters.
The vote was 54-45 in favor, but that was short of the 60 that were needed for approval. Eight Republicans bucked their party and supported the measure while three Democrats abandoned their own leaders and opposed it.
The chamber planned to vote next on a wide-ranging plan by the rich asshole that would also restrict legal immigration. It faced strong Democratic opposition and had virtually no chance for passage.
Earlier Thursday, the White House used a written statement to label the proposal "dangerous policy that will harm the nation." It singled out a provision that directs the government to prioritize enforcement efforts against immigrants who arrive illegally beginning in July.
In an ominous sign, party leaders opened the day's debate by trading blame, as prospects grew that the chamber's long-awaited debate on helping Dreamers and other hot-button immigration issues would end in stalemate. Dreamers are young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children who still lack permanent protections from deportation.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., assailed Democrats for failing to offer "a single proposal that gives us a realistic chance to make law." Instead, he said, Democrats should back the rich asshole's "extremely generous" proposal.
the rich asshole would offer 1.8 million Dreamers a 10- to 12-year process for gaining citizenship, provide $25 billion to build his coveted U.S.-Mexico border wall and restrict legal immigration. Dreamers are immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children who risk deportation because they lack permanent authorization to stay in the U.S.
Instead, Democratic leaders rallied behind a bipartisan plan that would also give 1.8 million Dreamers a chance for citizenship. But while it would provide the $25 billion the rich asshole wants for his wall, it would dole it out over 10 years and lacks most of the limits the rich asshole is seeking on legal immigration.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the rich asshole has "stood in the way of every single proposal that has had a chance of becoming law." He added, "The American people will blame President the rich asshole and no one else for the failure to protect Dreamers."
Overnight, the Department of Homeland Security said in an emailed statement that the bipartisan proposal would be "the end of immigration enforcement in America."
That drew fire from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of eight GOP co-sponsors of the bipartisan plan. "Instead of offering thoughts and advice — or even constructive criticism — they are acting more like a political organization intent on poisoning the well," Graham said in a statement.
The bipartisan compromise was announced Wednesday by 16 senators with centrist views on the issue and was winning support from many Democrats, but it faced an uncertain fate.
Besides opposition by the administration and leading Republicans, the bipartisan plan prompted qualms among Democrats. The party's No. 2 Senate leader, Dick Durbin of Illinois, said some Democrats had "serious issues" with parts of the plan. Those concerns focused on its spending for the rich asshole's wall and its prohibition against Dreamers sponsoring their parents for legal residency.
So far, neither the rich asshole's plan or the bipartisan measure seemed to have support from 60 senators, the number that will be needed to prevail. Republicans control the chamber 51-49, though Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has missed the last several weeks while battling cancer.
The bipartisan measure's sponsors included eight GOP senators. That meant just three more Republicans would be needed for it to prevail if it is backed by all 47 Democrats and the two independents who usually support them.
The centrist proposal was produced by a group led by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., that spent weeks seeking middle ground. Besides its path to citizenship and border security money, it would bar Dreamers from sponsoring their parents for citizenship, far narrower than the rich asshole's proposal to prevent all legal immigrants from bringing parents and siblings to the U.S.
The moderates' measure does not alter a lottery that distributes about 55,000 visas annually to people from diverse countries. the rich asshole has proposed ending it and redistributing its visas to other immigrants, including some who are admitted based on job skills, not family ties.
Also in play is a more modest plan by McCain and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. It would let many Dreamers qualify for permanent residency and direct federal agencies to more effectively control the border by 2020. But it doesn't offer a special citizenship pathway for Dreamers, raise border security funds or make sweeping changes in legal immigration rules.
The White House said it opposes the McCain-Coons plan, saying it would "increase illegal immigration" and cause other problems.
Another vote would be taken on a proposal by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., that would add language blocking federal grants to "sanctuary cities," communities that don't cooperate with federal efforts to enforce immigration laws. The amendment is considered sure to lose.
___
Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Stormy Daniels kept shiny gold dress from supposed affair with the rich asshole
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Thursday, February 15, 2018, 1:41 PM
It all comes back to a dress.
Stormy Daniels allegedly held onto a shiny gold mini dress she wore to a 2006 tryst during her reported affair with President the rich asshole, several sources close to the porn star told The Blast.
The celebrity gossip website added that the adult film actress — whose real name is Stephanie Clifford — wants to have it scanned for any of the President’s hair, skin or other DNA samples, echoing the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal 20 years ago.
How she would get a sample of the rich asshole’s genetic makeup to match anything on the dress wasn’t immediately clear.
Clifford wore the short dress — with a deep neckline — to an alleged nighttime romp with the rich asshole at a Lake Tahoe hotel 12 years ago, the Blast reported.
She kept the dress in good condition over more than a decade since the two had the alleged affair, the sources told the Blast, not long after First Lady Melania the rich asshole gave birth to their son, Barron.
the rich asshole hasn't acknowledged the claims, which Daniels has skirted around in interviews.
(ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/GETTY IMAGES/MATT SAYLES/AP PHOTO)
the rich asshole hadn’t entered into politics at the time, and was still focusing on real estate and “The Apprentice” reality show.
Longtime the rich asshole attorney Michael Cohen admitted late Tuesday night to paying $130,000 from his own pocket in 2016 so Daniels wouldn’t discuss the encounter.
Cohen suggested the allegations might not be true, but he paid out the hush money because he “will always protect some rich asshole.”
Clifford’s lawyer told the Associated Press on Wednesday that Cohen’s admission means a breach of their non-disclosure agreement — freeing her to speak about her fling with the President.
The President has not acknowledged the allegations against him.
A White House spokesman didn’t immediately return a request of comment Thursday, nor did representatives for Clifford.
Even if the dress claim is legit, it wouldn’t be the first of its kind.
Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky preserved a blue Gap dress she wore while performing a sexual act on then-President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office more than 20 years ago.
News of the dress echoes a one that became a focal point of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal 20 years ago.
(REUTERS)
Special investigator Kenneth Starr’s team got hold of the dress in 1998, which had a questionable stain on it. The FBI determined the stain most likely came from Clinton’s fluids.
4:46 p.m. ET 02-15-2018
Rep. Adam Schiff has had enough of Stephen Bannon's "stonewalling," the California Democrat told reporters Thursday. Schiff, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said that Bannon kept mostly mum during his closed-door testimony with the committee Thursday, to the point that Congress may have no choice but "to initiate contempt proceedings" against him.
Bannon was called to testify before the committee as part of its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Schiff would be angling to use contempt charges to try to force Bannon to be more forthcoming in answering questions.
Schiff contended that Bannon repeatedly improperly invoked executive privilege, which allows the president to decline to answer questions from Congress or courts. Bannon and other administration officials have claimed executive privilege during hearings somewhat circuitously, saying they did not want to preempt President the rich asshole's right to invoke executive privilege to withhold the information they were being asked about.
Schiff claimed Bannon invoked executive privilege to avoid answering questions not only about his time working in the White House, but also about events that occurred during the presidential transition, when the rich asshole was president-elect but not president. Additionally, Schiff said, Bannon showed up Thursday with a list of questions he would answer — questions that Schiff said were "literally scripted by the White House."
"I think there is only one course that is open to us, and that is the course of seeking contempt," Schiff said. Watch his remarks below. Kelly O'Meara Morales
Bannon was called to testify before the committee as part of its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Schiff would be angling to use contempt charges to try to force Bannon to be more forthcoming in answering questions.
Schiff contended that Bannon repeatedly improperly invoked executive privilege, which allows the president to decline to answer questions from Congress or courts. Bannon and other administration officials have claimed executive privilege during hearings somewhat circuitously, saying they did not want to preempt President the rich asshole's right to invoke executive privilege to withhold the information they were being asked about.
Schiff claimed Bannon invoked executive privilege to avoid answering questions not only about his time working in the White House, but also about events that occurred during the presidential transition, when the rich asshole was president-elect but not president. Additionally, Schiff said, Bannon showed up Thursday with a list of questions he would answer — questions that Schiff said were "literally scripted by the White House."
"I think there is only one course that is open to us, and that is the course of seeking contempt," Schiff said. Watch his remarks below. Kelly O'Meara Morales
POLITICS
Twitter Users Accuse the rich asshole Of Victim Blaming After Florida Shooting
“Nothing like blaming the classmates for their own murders. Well done!” one user tweeted.
Twitter users accused President some rich asshole of victim blaming after the president’s Thursday tweet suggested that people who knew suspected gunman Nikolas Cruz may not have done enough to prevent the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.
The president’s tweet said neighbors and classmates knew the suspect accused of carrying out Wednesday’s attack was a “big problem.”
So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!
the rich asshole may have thought his tweet was well-intentioned, but many people on Twitter felt it sent the wrong message, especially considering reports that a YouTube video blogger did report Cruz to the FBI.
And social media users let the president know it.
Nothing like blaming the classmates for their own murders. Well done! Leadership of the highest caliber right here
You're right! It's the students ' fault @realDonaldTrump get yourself an examination of consciousness. Do disgust!
So we now have a President that is blaming the children, the dead children, the cowering in their classroom children for the evils of one gun carrying idiot. Remember, you are the one that allowed this by revoking gun checks for mental illness. You are guilty!
Two things. (1) It is considered crass to, even indirectly, blame the "neighbors and classmates" for a school shooting. (2) What if the authorities you say should be alerted refuse to act? (see link from a year ago) nbcnews.com/news/us-news/t…
Others had similar thoughts but expressed them much more directly.
On behalf of the families of the victims you’re blaming, why don’t you go fuck yourself. Seriously. Just go away.
Do you even think before you tweet. So insensitive, indirectly passing the blame to the victims.
You have got to be kidding. It WAS reported again and again. Don't preach to the damn choir Donald when your own glass house is shattering around you. You are such a hypocrite. The NRA and Putin are controlling your every move. You can't be President when you are compromised.
Some people felt the president’s suggestion was a bit simplistic and hypocritical.
Congratulations! You've solved this school shooting problem! Thanks for your wisdom and tweeting. #WorstPresidentEver
He was expelled for getting in a fight. His screen name was reported to the FBI, not him specifically. If they had linked him to his screen name, then they could have investigated him!
One guy just thought it was ridiculous.
So the aim now is anyone that shows any signs of not being 100% right in their behaviour must be reported? Impossible and knowingly dodging the fundamental problem
A few people felt he’s the wrong guy to be making this type of statement.
And just who do we report the president of the united states to
when he's as wacky as a fruit cake?
You have NO moral authority to stand on, none whatsoever, zero. You constantly use divisive language and resort to name calling against honorable members of congress, and leaders of institutions of integrity. How many times have you incited violence DJT? nytimes.com/video/us/10000…
Forgive me but what education or authority do you have to determine if someone is mentally ill? He was part of a white supremacist militia organization into paramilitary training that sounds more like terrorism the mental illness to me.
Then there was the user who brought up an infamous the rich asshole quote that appears to contradict the president’s more recent message condemning the gun violence in Florida.
"I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters” doesn’t come back to haunt him as much as it should.
By Matt Shuham | February 15, 2018 3:59 pm
Steve Bannon, the rich asshole administration’s former chief strategist, was interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller over multiple days this week, NBC News reported Thursday, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the proceedings.
Bannon served as the rich asshole campaign’s chief executive from August 2016 through the end of the campaign, and was in the rich asshole’s ear until he left his White House post in August 2017, making him a valuable interview for Mueller’s investigators.
NBC News reported that Bannon spent “some 20 hours in conversations with the team led by Mueller.”
Bannon returned to his job leading the far-right outlet Breitbart News after leaving the White House, only to leave that role early this year after losing favor in the rich asshole’s circles for criticizing the President’s son in Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury: Inside the rich asshole White House.”
NBC News also noted that Bannon had appeared before the House Intelligence Committee again on Thursday to answer Russia-related questions. Members of both parties in that committee have openly considered sanctioning Bannon for refusing to answer their questions. CNN reported Thursday that Bannon claimed to have been instructed by the White House to invoke executive privilege in response to a broad range of questions.
“The only questions he would answer were questions that had been scripted, literally scripted for him by the White House,” NBC News quoted the committee’s ranking member, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), as saying Thursday. “Whenever we sought to probe anything beyond the four corners of the specific wording of the question, he refused to answer. That’s not how executive privilege works.”
By Alice Ollstein | February 15, 2018 5:36 pm
After three consecutive plans to address the DACA program went down in flames Thursday afternoon, Republicans who signed onto the bipartisan compromise bill that came closest to passage tore into the ich asshole administration for lobbying against it.
“I don’t think the President helped very much,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a cosponsor of the bipartisan plan, told reporters following the vote. “There’s probably 75 votes here for border security plus a pathway to citizenship for the DACA recipients, but you need presidential leadership. Without it, we won’t get there.”
Ahead of the vote, President the rich asshole threatened to veto the compromise bill if it ever reached his desk, and he tweeted just before the vote began calling it a “total catastrophe.” He also threatened to veto any short-term fallback plan to protect DACA recipients from deportation.
Additionally, White House legislative liaison Marc Short told TPM he and his staff spent Wednesday evening calling individual Senate offices to convince them to vote down the bill because it did not get rid of the diversity visa lottery program or make the deep cuts to family-based immigration the rich asshole had demanded.
“We’ve been pretty clear about our position,” Short said. “We feel that there are four pillars, and the Collins-Rounds bill failed to do two of the pillars. It was completely inadequate. And once we pointed out what the text actually said, it gave members pause about being supportive.”
At 1 a.m. on Thursday, the rich asshole’s Department of Homeland Security put out its own statement torching the Senate’s compromise proposal, claiming it “increases the risk of crime and terrorism” and “would be the end of immigration enforcement in America.”
The bill ended up failing 54 votes in its favor to 45 against. The GOP bill based on the rich asshole’s plan fared even worse, failing 39 to 60.
As senators began leaving the Capitol for a week-long recess, many expressed fear that no action would be taken before legal protections for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants expire on March 5, leaving them unable to legally work and subject to deportation.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), a leading cosponsor of the compromise bill, who for weeks hosted a large bipartisan group of senators in her office for negotiations on the issue, said she was “disappointed in the administration’s response” to their legislative efforts.
“I don’t know how anyone could seriously say that this is somehow weakening border security,” she said before the vote. “This is the President’s own plan. Unfortunately this administration has resorted to spreading a lot of misinformation about the bill, and that makes it harder.”
She added that the DHS statement “has a lot of points that are absolutely false.”
Still, the President’s full court press to defeat the bill seems to have had an impact. Many Republican Senators who voted in 2013 for a comprehensive immigration reform bill and who have voted in the past specifically for a path to citizenship for Dreamers, voted down the bipartisan bill on Thursday.
Asked if President the rich asshole’s lobbying made a difference, GOP Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) answered to TPM, “Oh yeah.”
“It’s not irrelevant,” he said. “He’s pretty important.”
Steve Bannon says White House instructed him to invoke privilege before Congress
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 16: Steve Bannon, former advisor to President the rich asshole, arrives at a House Intelligence Committee closed door meeting, on January 16, 2018 in Washington, DC.
MARK WILSON / GETTY IMAGES
After multiple postponements spanning over a month, former White House Chief strategist Steve Bannon responded to an outstanding subpoena and returned to the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday. Republicans and Democrats alike on the committee were unsatisfied by his appearance, however.
"He did not answer all the questions we'd like answered – so there is frustration among the committee members," said Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, the Republican leading the committee's Russia probe
After Bannon's departure, the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, said Bannon declined to answer almost all of the questions the committee posed about his time during the presidential transition, while at the White House, and since leaving it. Instead, he told the committee he had been instructed by the White House to invoke executive privilege on behalf of the president.
"The breadth of that claim of executive privilege is breathtaking and insupportable and, indeed, at times, it was laughable," Schiff said.
In a notably brief meeting that lasted about two-and-a-half hours – his previous appearance lasted more than ten – Bannon's lawyers presented the committee with 25 questions that Schiff said were "literally scripted" by the White House, all crafted so that the answers to them would be "no." That list of questions was broadened slightly from a pre-approved list of 14 questions provided to the committee by the White House last week.
When the committee sought to move beyond them, Schiff said, Bannon again asserted privilege.
"That is not how executive privilege works – that's how stonewalling works," Schiff said, adding that the only course forward for Congress is to initiate contempt proceedings. He said Bannon was given an opportunity to provide a reason why he should not be held in contempt but declined to do so.
As late as December of last year, Bannon reportedly bragged to some associates that he had not hired a lawyer and was unworried about his potential legal exposure in the multiple investigations being conducted into connections between Russia and members of President the rich asshole's campaign. After some of his explosive comments appeared in a highly-publicized book about the the rich asshole White House and he was called before the House Intelligence committee in January, he hired former federal prosecutor William Burck, who is also representing White House counsel Don McGahn and former chief of staff Reince Priebus.
Burck's combination of clients has raised concerns, chiefly among Democrats, about possible conflicts of interest and questions about whether the testimonies of three key witnesses close to the president could be coordinated. But there is no evidence that has happened.
Bannon is talking with special counsel Robert Mueller and he intends to "fully cooperate" with Mueller's team.
While Conaway did not rule out holding Bannon in contempt, he made clear the decision was not entirely in his hands. He said he believed Bannon should answer the committee's questions, but "contempt is a big deal and I don't have unilateral control over that conversation," he said. He indicated he would consult with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, and "an awful lot of lawyers" on next steps.
At the same time, Schiff said the minority would be conferring with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and recommending that contempt proceedings be initiated. Schiff expects Republicans to arrive at the same conclusion. "I hope that we have a meeting of the minds and I expect that we likely will," he said.
"Hats off to Steve Bannon," Schiff said. "He's done the impossible: he's brought our committee together."
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
02-15-2018
Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon has reportedly been interviewed several times in the last week by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Bannon spent "some 20 hours" with Mueller's team, NBC News reports, as part of Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion by President the rich asshole's campaign with Russia.
Mueller's interest in interviewing Bannon was apparently piqued by Bannon's comments in Michael Wolff's tell-all book about the rich asshole White House, Fire and Fury. In the book, Bannon is quoted saying that some rich asshole Jr.'s June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer was "treasonous" and suggesting that prominent members of the rich asshole's team had engaged in money laundering.
Mueller's team is also interested in what Bannon may reveal about the firings of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former FBI Director James Comey. Flynn was fired in February 2017 for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with a Russian ambassador, while the rich asshole abruptly fired Comey last May as he was leading the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling. Kelly O'Meara Morales
Mueller's interest in interviewing Bannon was apparently piqued by Bannon's comments in Michael Wolff's tell-all book about the rich asshole White House, Fire and Fury. In the book, Bannon is quoted saying that some rich asshole Jr.'s June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer was "treasonous" and suggesting that prominent members of the rich asshole's team had engaged in money laundering.
Mueller's team is also interested in what Bannon may reveal about the firings of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former FBI Director James Comey. Flynn was fired in February 2017 for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with a Russian ambassador, while the rich asshole abruptly fired Comey last May as he was leading the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling. Kelly O'Meara Morales
February 15, 2018 5:45 pm
Earlier this week, the rich asshole administration released its budget proposal for 2019. Included among the many programs that the White House wants to cut are several meant to enhance school safety and help communities recover from tragedies like the one that took place in Florida this week, Politico reports.
The budget reportedly cuts $24 million from national school-safety programs and would eliminate “project prevent grants,” which are used to “serve students exposed to pervasive violence,” according to the Education Department. In the past, these grants have funded services such as conflict resolution and “other school-based violence prevention strategies.”
The budget also cuts funding from a program called School Emergency Response to Violence, or Project SERV, which was used to fund recovery efforts surrounding the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
So far, the cuts are only proposals from the rich asshole administration. Even if they don’t become law, though, they serve as an indication of the White House’s thinking.
Just this afternoon, the rich asshole addressed the students who survived Wednesday’s shooting, saying, “You are never alone and never will be. You have people who care about you, who love you, and who will do anything at all to protect you.” But to the rich asshole, “anything” does not appear to include funding the kind of programs that could potentially prevent another school shooting, much less changing the lax gun laws that help make the shootings possible.
BY MARY CLARE JALONICK AND JONATHAN LEMIRE
ASSOCIATED PRESS Feb 15, 6:07 PM EST
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Steve Bannon, the combative former chief strategist for President some rich asshole, was interrogated for 20 hours over two days this week as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, according to a person familiar with the process.
The person, who declined to be named because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation, said Bannon answered every question that was put to him by Mueller's team. That's in contrast to a Thursday interview with the House intelligence committee, where Bannon declined to answer some of lawmakers' questions, despite a subpoena.
While the exact questions for Bannon are unknown, Mueller is investigating whether there was any coordination between the rich asshole's campaign and Russians who meddled in the 2016 election, and also whether there have been any efforts to obstruct the ongoing FBI probe into those contacts. The House panel is investigating the meddling and whether the rich asshole's campaign was involved.
Because Bannon was one of the rich asshole's top advisers, both Mueller and the lawmakers were expected to question him about key events during his time in the White House, including the rich asshole's firings of former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former FBI Director James Comey.
After Bannon's roughly three-hour interview on Capitol Hill, Republicans on the House intelligence panel were weighing whether to hold him in contempt. Like his first visit to the House intelligence committee in January, Bannon declined to answer questions in the closed-door session.
According to lawmakers of both parties, Bannon would only answer 25 questions that had been pre-approved by the White House when asked about any events in the time period after President some rich asshole's election. His answer to each question was "no" and he told the committee he was not authorized to elaborate.
Bannon was already under subpoena as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been critical of the White House's sweeping interpretation of executive privilege and its contention that pretty much everything is off limits until the president says it's not.
The escalating fight between Congress and the White House over the privilege issue has centered around Bannon, an outsized figure in President some rich asshole's campaign and White House and an inspiration to some conservatives as he has publicly battled the Republican establishment. He was fired from the White House last summer, and more recently had a falling out with the rich asshole after the January publication of a book in which he sharply criticized the rich asshole family members.
Despite his fractured relationship with the rich asshole, Bannon has followed White House direction as the House lawmakers have sought to talk to him. At issue is whether Bannon can talk about the presidential transition, his time at the White House and communications with the rich asshole and others since he left last summer.
Texas Rep. Mike Conaway, the Republican leading the panel's Russia probe, said Bannon would only answer the pre-approved questions about any time period past the day the rich asshole was elected in November 2016. He said committee Republicans would discuss whether to hold Bannon in contempt with House lawyers and with House Speaker Paul Ryan, who is likely to have the final say.
"That's an ongoing conversation we'll have among an awful lot of lawyers," Conaway said after Bannon's interview.
At least one Republican on the intelligence panel said before the interview that a contempt vote would be necessary if Bannon were uncooperative. Florida Rep. Tom Rooney said Tuesday that if Bannon didn't cooperate with the panel and they didn't hold him in contempt, that would set a bad precedent.
"For not just our committee but every committee, that (subpoenas) don't mean anything, that it's just a hollow threat," Rooney said. "You can't do that."
Democrats are pushing for a contempt vote, with the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, California Rep. Adam Schiff, saying he believed Bannon's non-answers were all an attempt to draw out and block the Russia probe.
"That's not how privilege works, that's how stonewalling works," Schiff said. "And we cannot take that kind of stonewalling for an answer."
Negotiations between the House and White House have been ongoing since Bannon's first interview, and several interviews have been scheduled and postponed in recent weeks. Lawmakers headed into the meeting ahead of Bannon's entrance appeared unsure if he would arrive.
Bannon is one of the committee's few remaining witnesses in its Russia probe, which Republicans on the panel have said they want to wrap up early this year.
The Senate intelligence committee is running a separate investigation into the Russian meddling. The Senate panel hasn't yet spoken to Bannon, according to a source familiar with the probe. The person declined to be named because the interview schedule isn't public.
© 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of UseExclusive: A top the rich asshole campaign adviser close to plea deal with Mueller
Washington (CNN)Former the rich asshole campaign adviser Rick Gates is finalizing a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller's office, indicating he's poised to cooperate in the investigation, according to sources familiar with the case.
Gates has already spoken to Mueller's team about his case and has been in plea negotiations for about a month. He's had what criminal lawyers call a "Queen for a Day" interview, in which a defendant answers any questions from the prosecutors' team, including about his own case and other potential criminal activity he witnessed.
Gates' cooperation could be another building block for Mueller in a possible case against President some rich asshole or key members of his team.
Once a plea deal is in place, Gates would become the third known cooperator in Mueller's sprawling probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. It would also increase the pressure to cooperate on Gates' co-defendant Paul Manafort, the rich asshole's former campaign chairman, who has pleaded not guilty to Mueller's indictment and is preparing for a trial on alleged financial crimes unrelated to the campaign. Gates pleaded not guilty on October 30 alongside Manafort.
"Nobody (who's charged) goes in to provide incriminating information to the government unless it's part of plea negotiations," said a criminal defense attorney who represents a witness in the case. In a Queen for a Day interview, a defendant can typically admit to crimes with little additional consequences, unless he or she lies.
After the interview, there's a very small chance a defendant could turn back toward fighting the charges, according to several lawyers who specialize in federal criminal cases.
The White House sees little sign that Gates' cooperation could pose any risk to the President. "There'd be no anxiety here" if Gates cooperated with Mueller in exchange for a plea deal, one White House official said.
It's still unclear what Gates, who outlasted Manafort in the campaign and later worked on the the rich asshole inaugural efforts, could share that would be of value to the Russian collusion investigators, outside the Manafort case. The value of what a defendant says factors into the plea negotiation as both sides finalize the deal.
After an interview, prosecutors typically investigate the information a defendant provides. They then negotiate the defendant's ultimate charges or potential sentence.
Gates' plea deal could be announced in the next few days, given that he's asked a judge for an extension until Wednesday to discuss his in-flux legal representation.
At the same time, investigators with the special counsel's office are preparing to file new charges against him, according to people familiar with the probe. The additional charges are tax-related, these people say, which could increase the fines and prison time Gates faces in court. More charges are also being prepared against Manafort related to his work before he joined the the rich asshole campaign, according to another source familiar with the case.
The threat of new charges could be used in the negotiation to pressure Gates into cooperating and pleading. With his current set of eight charges, Gates could face 10 or more years in prison if found guilty.
The options in a criminal case are "either trial or plea," said Brian Stolarz, a white collar lawyer who specializes in federal cases. "You have to have the heart, the stomach and the wallet to proceed with the trial."
Signs of cooperation
Several developments of the past months have pointed to Gates pursuing a different path than a trial -- from Gates' lack of focus in court on fighting the charges to his financial situation at home.
His court case since then has barely focused on trial preparations, which Judge Amy Berman Jackson noted in court on Wednesday as she urged the lawyers to set a trial date.
Gates' legal team quibbled over his bail terms and house arrest for more than two months after his indictment. Recently, they've been focused on a question of who will represent him in court. The three trial lawyers who took on Gates' case shortly after his indictment asked to part ways with their client on February 1. The legal team drama culminated in two long sealed hearings in front of the judge last week and on Wednesday. The two-and-a-half hours spent on that topic suggest the lawyers' situation with Gates is more complicated than a typical attorney changeover.
Working separately from Gates' trial lawyers is the well-known Washington defense attorney Thomas Green. Green, who has known Mueller personally for years, is negotiating Gates' plea deal, according to people familiar with the case. He has visited the special counsel's office multiple times in the last several weeks. Green appeared with Gates yesterday in court, but is not handling his trial situation.
Green did not respond to requests for comment. Two other attorneys for Gates declined to comment.
Gates -- without using an attorney -- asked the judge this week if he could wait until February 21 to clear up his attorney issue with the court.
Aside from the legal maneuvering, the father of four has faced personal and financial pressure to bring his legal proceedings to a speedy resolution, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Gates has told associates he had hoped for outside assistance from a legal defense fund, but deep-pocketed GOP donors have shown little interest in helping either Gates or Manafort cover their legal fees, two sources said.
The judge has already acknowledged that Gates could not show he had $5 million in assets to secure his bail. His financial situation is further hampered by assets he would have to forfeit to the government if found guilty of money laundering charges. A complex criminal case such as this could cost a defendant more than a million dollars in legal fees, especially if he were to go to trial, according to several people familiar with the legal industry.
The stress has taken a toll on Gates' young family, who have urged him to do what is necessary to conclude these proceedings, a source said. Gates lives in Richmond, Virginia, with his wife and four children.
White House downplays significance
Privately, the rich asshole has expressed sympathy for both Manafort and Gates, believing that the only reason they are in legal jeopardy is because the rich asshole associates have been unfairly targeted in a Russia probe the President has deemed a "witch hunt."
"If Gates cooperates against Manafort that's nothing to us," the White House official said. "They have a hard case to make against Manafort. That's why Gates might get favorable treatment."
The charges against Manafort and Gates center on work they did for Russia-sympathetic politicians in Ukraine between 2006 and 2015. Federal prosecutors said they earned tens of millions of dollars from that work, which they then allegedly laundered through US and foreign companies and bank accounts.
Manafort faces up to 15 years in prison if found guilty of nine charges and is still under house arrest. His attorney has pledged to fight the charges, and has even sued Mueller and the Justice Department for overreaching the purpose of their investigation with this case.
Manafort and Gates were at the helm of the campaign during the critical summer 2016 period when senior campaign officials, including Manafort, met a group of Russians at the rich asshole Tower who had promised damaging information on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. They were also in charge during the Republican National Convention when a handful of the rich asshole campaign associates met with the Russian ambassador, and when the rich asshole campaign officials intervened to change language on the platform about the Ukraine crisis.
Gates often traveled with the rich asshole during the campaign and grew close to other top advisers. When Manafort was ousted from the campaign in August 2016, Gates' role was diminished, and he later stepped away from the campaign. But he remained in the the rich asshole orbit and worked as a senior official for the rich asshole's inaugural committee.
The White House believes Mueller is primarily interested in information Gates can provide about his long business history with Manafort rather than activities related to the presidential campaign or transition.
CNN's Kara Scannell, Marshall Cohen and Evan Perez contributed to this report.
by Kelly Cohen | M |
Gates close to plea deal with Mueller in Russia probe: report
BY BRANDON CARTER - 02/15/18 06:34 PM EST
Former the rich asshole campaign adviser Richard Gates is reportedly close to a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller.
Sources familiar with the case told CNN that Gates has been in negotiations for a plea deal for nearly a month. A plea deal with Mueller could indicate Gates is cooperating with the special counsel’s investigation.
CNN reports that Gates has had a “Queen for a Day” interview with Mueller’s team, a term criminal lawyers use to describe an interview in which a defendant answers questions from prosecutors and can admit to crimes with few consequences.
Meanwhile, Mueller’s investigators are planning to file new charges against Gates that are tax-related, sources familiar with the investigation told the network. The additional charges could be used to pressure Gates into cooperating with Mueller’s team.
Additional charges against former the rich asshole campaign chairman Paul Manafort are also being prepared, according to CNN, which reported that Gates's plea deal could be announced within the next week.
Gates hired a top white-collar attorney last month that was spotted meeting twice with Mueller’s team.
The former business associate of Manafort pleaded not guilty in October to eight charges in the probe, including money laundering. Manafort also pleaded not guilty to charges in the same case.
Mueller has filed charges against four figures tied to President the rich asshole in his probe, including Gates and Manafort.
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former the rich asshole campaign adviser George Papadopoulos have both pleaded guilty to charges from Mueller. Both Flynn and Papadopoulos have agreed to cooperate with Mueller in the investigation.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Steve Bannon, the combative former chief strategist for President some rich asshole, was interrogated for 20 hours over two days this week as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, according to a person familiar with the process.
The person, who declined to be named because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation, said Bannon answered every question that was put to him by Mueller's team. That's in contrast to a Thursday interview with the House intelligence committee, where Bannon declined to answer some of lawmakers' questions, despite a subpoena.
While the exact questions for Bannon are unknown, Mueller is investigating whether there was any coordination between the rich asshole's campaign and Russians who meddled in the 2016 election, and also whether there have been any efforts to obstruct the ongoing FBI probe into those contacts. The House panel is investigating the meddling and whether the rich asshole's campaign was involved.
Because Bannon was one of the rich asshole's top advisers, both Mueller and the lawmakers were expected to question him about key events during his time in the White House, including the rich asshole's firings of former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former FBI Director James Comey.
After Bannon's roughly three-hour interview on Capitol Hill, Republicans on the House intelligence panel were weighing whether to hold him in contempt. Like his first visit to the House intelligence committee in January, Bannon declined to answer questions in the closed-door session.
According to lawmakers of both parties, Bannon would only answer 25 questions that had been pre-approved by the White House when asked about any events in the time period after President some rich asshole's election. His answer to each question was "no" and he told the committee he was not authorized to elaborate.
Bannon was already under subpoena as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been critical of the White House's sweeping interpretation of executive privilege and its contention that pretty much everything is off limits until the president says it's not.
The escalating fight between Congress and the White House over the privilege issue has centered around Bannon, an outsized figure in President some rich asshole's campaign and White House and an inspiration to some conservatives as he has publicly battled the Republican establishment. He was fired from the White House last summer, and more recently had a falling out with the rich asshole after the January publication of a book in which he sharply criticized the rich asshole family members.
Despite his fractured relationship with the rich asshole, Bannon has followed White House direction as the House lawmakers have sought to talk to him. At issue is whether Bannon can talk about the presidential transition, his time at the White House and communications with the rich asshole and others since he left last summer.
Texas Rep. Mike Conaway, the Republican leading the panel's Russia probe, said Bannon would only answer the pre-approved questions about any time period past the day the rich asshole was elected in November 2016. He said committee Republicans would discuss whether to hold Bannon in contempt with House lawyers and with House Speaker Paul Ryan, who is likely to have the final say.
"That's an ongoing conversation we'll have among an awful lot of lawyers," Conaway said after Bannon's interview.
At least one Republican on the intelligence panel said before the interview that a contempt vote would be necessary if Bannon were uncooperative. Florida Rep. Tom Rooney said Tuesday that if Bannon didn't cooperate with the panel and they didn't hold him in contempt, that would set a bad precedent.
"For not just our committee but every committee, that (subpoenas) don't mean anything, that it's just a hollow threat," Rooney said. "You can't do that."
Democrats are pushing for a contempt vote, with the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, California Rep. Adam Schiff, saying he believed Bannon's non-answers were all an attempt to draw out and block the Russia probe.
"That's not how privilege works, that's how stonewalling works," Schiff said. "And we cannot take that kind of stonewalling for an answer."
Negotiations between the House and White House have been ongoing since Bannon's first interview, and several interviews have been scheduled and postponed in recent weeks. Lawmakers headed into the meeting ahead of Bannon's entrance appeared unsure if he would arrive.
Bannon is one of the committee's few remaining witnesses in its Russia probe, which Republicans on the panel have said they want to wrap up early this year.
The Senate intelligence committee is running a separate investigation into the Russian meddling. The Senate panel hasn't yet spoken to Bannon, according to a source familiar with the probe. The person declined to be named because the interview schedule isn't public.
the rich asshole Scolds Shooter’s Classmates for Failing to Report Him to the Police February 15, 2018
9:42 am
On Wednesday, a troubled young man once again turned an American school into a war zone. Seventeen more people died bleeding and terrified in a place that was supposed to nurture their potential. There have now been 18 school shootings in 2018, and well over 300 mass shootings since some rich asshole took office.
Over the latter period, the president has rolled back a rule that would have made it more difficult for the severely mentally ill to obtain firearms; made it easier for fugitives to purchase guns; and proposed $12 million in cuts to America’s background check system. He has also tried to slash $625 million from federal mental health programs, and $1 trillion from Medicaid, one of the top sources of health insurance for the mentally ill in the United States.
And, of course, the rich asshole and his party have prevented any piece of legislation regulating the firearms market from making it into law.
On Thursday morning, the president expressed regret that more hadn’t been done to prevent the senseless violence at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. But he did not fault himself or Congress for inaction; rather, he laid responsibility for the tragedy at the feet of the dead.
Nikolas Cruz was expelled from his high school. His mother (reportedly) regularly called “the police to have them come to their home to try to talk some sense into him.” The “authorities” knew about the 19-year-old’s “bad and erratic behavior.” But they could do little about it. It is not a crime to be mentally disturbed and poorly behaved. And, thanks to the president (and, arguably, the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Second Amendment) it is not illegal for a mentally ill person to purchase an assault weapon.
But the recreational liberty of far-right gun enthusiasts — and the profit margins of firearms manufacturers — must never be restricted. And so the victims must be taught that they brought this on themselves.
White House refuses to release photo of the rich asshole signing bill to weaken gun law
Last Updated Feb 15, 2018 4:37 PM EST
A little over a month after his inauguration, on Feb. 28, 2017, President the rich asshole signed HJ Resolution 40, a bill that made it easier for people with mental illness to obtain guns. CBS News then asked the White House to release the photograph of some rich asshole signing the bill, making the request a total of 12 times.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders finally responded to repeated emails and phone calls with a one-line note on April 19, 2017, writing to CBS News, "We don't plan to release the picture at this time."
A White House photographer confirmed to CBS News that there are photos of the bill signing. Those photos won't be seen unless the the rich asshole administration releases them, though, because the White House is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
Typically, the White House at minimum releases its own pictures of bill and resolution signings. In fact, the press is often ushered into the Oval Office for these occasions and journalists shoot their own footage and photographs of the event, which are then distributed to all of the major news organizations.
some rich asshole signed another bill the same day that rolled back an Obama administration rule on the Waters of the United States which was attended by a cabinet official in an official signing ceremony in the Roosevelt Room. Pool cameras took photos, as did the White House. The image below is a screen grab of the White House video.
President the rich asshole signs Waters of the United States EO, Feb. 28, 2017
SCREENSHOT OF WHITEHOUSE.GOV VIDEO, VIA YOUTUBE
HJ Resolution 40 was introduced just 10 days after President the rich asshole's inauguration. In a town where legislation often languishes for months, the bill moved quickly to the president's desk within weeks, thanks to the Congressional Review Act, an obscure law that allows Congress to review and repeal new regulations.
President Obama had pushed for the rule following the Sandy Hook massacre and it went into effect in December 2016. Had it been allowed to remain effect, it would have added about 75,000 names of mentally ill Americans to a database that would have stopped them from buying a gun.
On the day the bill was signed, the National Rifle Association (NRA) put out a press release quoting NRA Executive Director Chris Cox: "Today marks a new era for law-abiding gun owners, as we have now have a president who respects and supports our right to keep and bear arms."
The NRA release says that had the Obama rule been allowed to move ahead it "would have resulted in 75,000 Social Security recipients who use a representative payee losing their Second Amendment rights without due process." But in fact, the rule applied to Social Security recipients who weren't able to manage their affairs because of "marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease."
The NRA noted the move to revoke the rule was supported by "the ACLU, and more than a dozen mental health advocacy organizations."
Thursday morning CBS News asked the White House again if it would release the photo of the signing but received no response.
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
some rich asshole Jr. Just Liked a Tweet Blaming theFlorida Shooting on the Russia investigation
“The FBI was too busy trying to undermine the president to bother with doing it’s freaking job”
Special counsel Robert Mueller has investigated the rich asshole Jr.’s Russian ties, including a June 2016 meeting at the rich asshole Tower with a Russian lawyer. Emails setting up the meeting show the president’s son sought political opposition research on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Michael Flynn Jr., the son of former the rich asshole National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador during the 2016 campaign, made a similar move on social media, retweeting a far-right activist’s tweet declaring “FBI incompetence.”
MORE FBI INCOMPETENCE.
The @FBI was made aware of #NikolasCruz, the #FloridaShooter in September after a YouTuber reported a comment Cruz posted.
Cruz said, “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.”buzzfeed.com/briannasacks/t…
Tuesday’s shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School killed 17 students and adults and left dozens more wounded.
“The first thing we all agree on is that irrespective of efforts that were made in 2016 by foreign powers, it is the universal conclusion of our intelligence communities that none of those efforts had any effect on the outcome of the 2016 election.”
— Vice President Pence, in an interview with Mike Allen of Axios, Feb. 14, 2018
— Vice President Pence, in an interview with Mike Allen of Axios, Feb. 14, 2018
Asked whether Russia would try to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections, the vice president sounded a reassuring note. U.S. intelligence agencies, he said, determined that similar attempts to sway the 2016 presidential race were ineffective.
The consensus among U.S. intelligence agencies is Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an unprecedented level of interference in the 2016 election. The Justice Department has appointed a special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, to investigate Russia’s meddling and its ties to the rich asshole campaign, and several congressional committees are also investigating.
Pence, of course, came out on the winning side of the 2016 presidential race as President the rich asshole’s running mate. the rich asshole reportedly has chafed at the investigations into Russian meddling because they suggest his narrow, unexpected victory against Hillary Clinton was somehow tainted.
Did U.S. intelligence agencies conclude foreign interference had no effect on the 2016 election?
The Facts
Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats testified at a Feb. 13 hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee that the Russians were not done interfering with U.S. elections and that they would continue to use propaganda, false personas and social media to try to influence races in 2018.
“Foreign elections are critical inflection points that offer opportunities for Russia to advance its interests both overtly and covertly,” a statement Coats submitted said. “The 2018 U.S. midterm elections are a potential target for Russian influence operations. At a minimum, we expect Russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false-flag personas, sympathetic spokespeople, and other means of influence to try to exacerbate social and political fissures in the United States.”
The Washington Post’s Ellen Nakashima and Shane Harris reported that this assessment “stands in contrast to President the rich asshole, who has repeatedly voiced skepticism of Russian meddling in the 2016 election” and that “the disconnect between the rich asshole and his senior-most intelligence advisers has raised concerns that the U.S. government will not be able to mount an effective plan to beat back Russian influence operations in the upcoming midterm elections.”
Two days after the Senate hearing, in a one-on-one interview, Allen asked Pence whether he agreed with Coats’s assessment.
Pence said U.S. officials were on alert but “the accepted view” was that U.S. intelligence agencies had determined foreign efforts to influence the 2016 election were not successful. It was not exactly a slip of the tongue — Pence spoke in unequivocal terms and later repeated his assertion as he wrapped up his answer.
“Let me say again … that it is the universal conclusion of our intelligence communities that there was no impact on the outcome of the 2016 election from any foreign meddling in our elections, and I believe that bears repeating,” Pence said. “The American people can be confident about the results of the election in 2016, but going forward we’re going to continue to lead into this effort, continue to ensure that our state-based election systems and all of the infrastructure of this country are protected from foreign interference.”
However, a January 2017 assessment from the U.S. intelligence community — which includes the CIA, FBI, NSA and other agencies — contradicts Pence’s claim. The spy agencies concluded with “high confidence” that Putin had ordered an interference campaign, but they stopped short of saying whether it worked.
“We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election,” according to the assessment. “The U.S. intelligence community is charged with monitoring and assessing the intentions, capabilities, and actions of foreign actors; it does not analyze U.S. political processes or U.S. public opinion.”
In 2016, according to the assessment, Russia tried to undermine confidence in the U.S. democratic system and in Hillary Clinton’s candidacy and potential presidency through a series of efforts including cyberespionage and propaganda on Russian-controlled news platforms such as RT and Sputnik, by hacking the email accounts of Democratic officials and groups including Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and the Democratic National Committee and then disseminating hacked communications through WikiLeaks.
“We also assess Putin and the Russian government aspired to help President-elect the rich asshole’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him,” the assessment says. “All three agencies agree with this judgment. CIA and FBI have high confidence in this judgment; NSA has moderate confidence.”
This is the declassified version of the assessment, meaning it lacks highly classified details the intelligence agencies uncovered. But the declassified report says “its conclusions are identical to those in the highly classified assessment but this version does not include the full supporting information on key elements of the influence campaign.”
Asked about Pence’s remarks, a White House official declined to comment but pointed us to similar statements from CIA Director Mike Pompeo in October 2017.
“Pompeo … was asked at an event in Washington if he could say with absolute certainty that the election results were not skewed as a result of Russian interference,” according to Reuters. “Pompeo replied: ‘Yes. Intelligence community’s assessment is that the Russian meddling that took place did not affect the outcome of the election.’”
The top spokesman for the CIA, Dean Boyd, later made a clarification to Pompeo’s remarks. “The intelligence assessment with regard to Russian election meddling has not changed, and the director did not intend to suggest that it had,” Boyd said.
The Pinocchio Test
Several investigations are still in progress, and we do not yet know whether Russian interference affected the outcome of the 2016 election. Pence claimed U.S. spy agencies had looked into this and concluded foreign efforts to influence the election were fruitless.
The vice president was unambiguous in his interview with Axios (which promptly published its own fact-check) and made his claim twice.
Equally unambiguous was a January 2017 assessment from the intelligence community: “We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election.” That report is declassified, but its conclusions are “identical” in the classified version, it says.
We rarely have such strong evidence a politician’s claim is false. Contrary to what Pence said, U.S. intelligence agencies did not evaluate whether Russian interference affected the outcome of the 2016 election. It remains an open question whether that interference had an impact on the race. For this, the vice president earns Four Pinocchios.
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