Washington (CNN)Donald Trump may not realize it totally yet, but today was the last easy-ish day of his presidency.
Ms. Di Lauro, the former strategist in Nevada, was emphatic in her own Facebook posts. “I have to speak up about this now because I hope it will be of service to the next Sanders campaign,” she wrote on Dec. 7.
In her interview with The Times, Ms. Di Lauro said she told several people who were high up in the campaign, including Rich Pelletier, who served as national field director, about her encounter in Nevada with the surrogate, a Mexican game show host named Marco Antonio Regil. But she felt she was not taken seriously by the campaign.
“It was as if nothing happened,” she said.
Masha Mendieta, who was also on the Latino outreach team and who was with Ms. Di Lauro when she spoke with Mr. Velazquez about the incident, confirmed his comments.
Mr. Velazquez said he does not recall making the flippant remark to Ms. Di Lauro and that he took her complaint seriously. He said he assigned two women to accompany the surrogate, and he checked in with them to make sure there were no problems.
Mr. Regil said through his agent that he was honored to be a campaign surrogate for Mr. Sanders. “I sincerely apologize for any interactions or behavior on my part that could’ve made anyone feel uncomfortable,” he said.
Mr. Velasquez said he also told his boss, Arturo Carmona, another manager on the Latino outreach team and deputy national political director, about what had happened and followed up with a memo to Mr. Carmona two weeks later, detailing the incident in an email and saying that he believed Ms. Di Lauro.
Mr. Carmona said in an email to The Times that, after Mr. Velazquez notified him about the incident, he reported it to Mr. Pelletier.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/02/us/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign-sexism.html
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Washington (CNN)Donald Trump may not realize it totally yet, but today was the last easy-ish day of his presidency.
Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/02/politics/donald-trump-democratic-house/index.html
In an interview Wednesday night, Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders claimed he was too “busy” to know about the bombshell sexual misconduct allegations that internally rocked his 2016 presidential campaign, even as he apologized to any women who had not been “treated appropriately.”
Sanders, widely considered a possible candidate for president again in 2020, was responding to a question from CNN anchor Anderson Cooper hours after a report Wednesday in The New York Times outlined what one former Sanders delegate called an “entire wave of rotten sexual harassment that seemingly was never dealt with.”
The paper also included numerous complaints that women on the campaign were paid less than men and were frequently forced into inappropriate and uncomfortable situations.
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Asked by Cooper whether he was unaware of the accusations, Sanders sarcastically replied: “Uh, yes. I was a little bit busy running around the country, trying to make the case.” He then appeared to smile.
Sanders, who caucuses with Senate Democrats and ran for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, added afterwards: “I certainly apologize to any woman who felt that she was not treated appropriately, and of course, if I run, we will do better next time.”
In one instance, according to The Times, Sanders’ then-director of Latino outreach, Bill Velazquez, allegedly joked about a sexual harassment allegation made by a subordinate while the two worked on the Sanders campaign.
The subordinate, Latino outreach strategist Giulianna Di Lauro, claimed she told Velazquez in February 2016 that a campaign surrogate, game show host Marco Antonio Regil, repeatedly touched her in an inappropriate “sexual” manner. In response, according to Di Lauro, Velazquez remarked before laughing, “I bet you would have liked it if he were younger.”
In response to the Times’ story, Sanders’ campaign arm on Wednesday did not dispute the allegations but said “there were a number of HR actions taken” in 2016 and that some employees received counseling, while others were fired. The campaign committee noted that a new sexual-misconduct policy was implemented for Sanders’ 2018 Senate run.
Regil apologized to the paper through a spokesman for “any behavior on my part that could’ve made anyone feel uncomfortable.” Velazquez said he didn’t recall saying what he said to Di Lauro and took her complaint seriously, the Times reported.
“Uh, yes. I was a little bit busy running around the country.”
In other episodes, according to individuals who spoke with the paper and provided contemporaneous emails, male staffers berated female colleagues and made lewd comments. So-called “Bernie Bros,” or fans of the campaign, often made parallel sexist attacks against then-candidate Hillary Clinton and female reporters.
Several of the women who spoke to The Times said that they had shared their concerns with high-ranking members of the campaign. Di Lauro said she alerted Rich Pelletier, who served as Sanders’ Deputy Campaign Manager and national field director, but that no substantive action was taken.
Pelletier did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
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Additionally, a letter written this weekend by more than two dozen former Sanders staffers alleged that a “predatory culture” pervaded the entire operation.
The scathing document, published Sunday by Politico, highlighted what it called an “untenable and dangerous dynamic” on the campaign and requested an in-person meeting with Sanders “to discuss the issue of sexual violence and harassment,” without discussing specific instances.
In response, Sanders’ campaign committee, which received the letter Sunday afternoon, said in a statement: “We thank the signers of the letter for their willingness to engage in this incredibly important discussion. We always welcome hearing the experiences and views of our former staff. We also value their right to come to us in a private way so their confidences and privacy are respected. And we will honor this principle with respect to this private letter.”
Sanders, who soundly defeated Clinton in the 2016 New Hampshire primary, has said he is considering running for president in 2020.
Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bernie-sanders-says-he-was-busy-amid-sexual-misconduct-allegations-during-campaign
Democratic leaders are negotiating in bad faith, against good policy, and to lamentable results in the current border-wall-funding theater on Capitol Hill.
Set aside for now the realities that President Trump has played his pro-wall poker hand incredibly ineptly, that conservatives in general have badly overstated the relative importance of immigration-related policy, and that the Trumpian Right has cultishly turned “The Wall” into an item of absurdly talismanic significance. Those contentions can be handled in another column.
For now, what matters is that Democrats are refusing to vote for a funding bill otherwise to their liking, and thus shutting down about one-sixth of the government, for the sake not of principle but of cynical politics. They know border control of some sort is an important element of sovereignty. They know physical barriers work. They know Trump’s requested $5 billion is not exorbitant and can be spent effectively. And they at least pretend to believe that shutting down large parts of the federal government actually hurts people.
Other columns have amply demonstrated that many key Democrats have hypocritically changed their positions, without real explanations, on the importance of border security and the utility of walls as part of the mix. They have acknowledged that stopping illegal immigration is important in the fights against crime, illegal narcotics, and terrorism. They have said it is crucial to “get tough” against illegal crossings, and they were right.
Back before the boogeyman of Trump appeared, the argument among serious Democrats wasn’t whether border walls were good policy, but where. There are many spots along the Mexican border where a wall is less practical (if at all) than others, for reasons of cost, topography, or ecology. Democrats said it would be foolish to try to wall the whole border — but admitted that in some places, such as San Diego, walls work.
The total cost for a wall across the entire border is at least $20 billion (and as much as $50 billion).The $5 billion at issue in the current budget fight could easily be spent in areas where almost everybody says walls can be effective. The substantive fight over the next $15 billion-plus could come later. In truth, there is little substance, but only political symbolism, in the Democrats’ fight today.
If Democrats truly believe shutting down one-sixth of the government hurts people, they should compromise to avoid causing such pain. It is they, after all — not Republicans — who say almost all current government activity is essential for civic health.
The obvious solution is for them to offer Trump something on the order of $4 billion for the wall right now but ask that the other $1 billion be spent for expedited processing of, or better acculturation services for, legal immigrants. They could actually try to solve a problem, rather than cynically manipulating the situation for political gain.
The fact is that Trump won a presidential election by attracting enough voters in enough states, perfectly according to the Constitution, while making a border wall the single most recognizable plank of what passed for his political platform. Elections have consequences. There was a time when both sides recognized this, for the greater good. Democrats should do so now.
Give Trump a part of his shiny new wall. Democrats will control the House for the next two years and can deny him any more wall funding for the rest of his term. But for now, for areas they themselves know full well that a wall can be of use in: Provide some money, reopen the government, and help restore the public’s faith in the workability of our constitutional system.
Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/on-wall-fight-democrats-are-the-cynical-ones
In an interview Wednesday night, Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders claimed he was too “busy” to know about the bombshell sexual misconduct allegations that internally rocked his 2016 presidential campaign, even as he apologized to any women who had not been “treated appropriately.”
Sanders, widely considered a possible candidate for president again in 2020, was responding to a question from CNN anchor Anderson Cooper hours after a report Wednesday in The New York Times outlined what one former Sanders delegate called an “entire wave of rotten sexual harassment that seemingly was never dealt with.”
The paper also included numerous complaints that women on the campaign were paid less than men and were frequently forced into inappropriate and uncomfortable situations.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Asked by Cooper whether he was unaware of the accusations, Sanders sarcastically replied: “Uh, yes. I was a little bit busy running around the country, trying to make the case.” He then appeared to smile.
Sanders, who caucuses with Senate Democrats and ran for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, added afterwards: “I certainly apologize to any woman who felt that she was not treated appropriately, and of course, if I run, we will do better next time.”
In one instance, according to The Times, Sanders’ then-director of Latino outreach, Bill Velazquez, allegedly joked about a sexual harassment allegation made by a subordinate while the two worked on the Sanders campaign.
The subordinate, Latino outreach strategist Giulianna Di Lauro, claimed she told Velazquez in February 2016 that a campaign surrogate, game show host Marco Antonio Regil, repeatedly touched her in an inappropriate “sexual” manner. In response, according to Di Lauro, Velazquez remarked before laughing, “I bet you would have liked it if he were younger.”
In response to the Times’ story, Sanders’ campaign arm on Wednesday did not dispute the allegations but said “there were a number of HR actions taken” in 2016 and that some employees received counseling, while others were fired. The campaign committee noted that a new sexual-misconduct policy was implemented for Sanders’ 2018 Senate run.
Regil apologized to the paper through a spokesman for “any behavior on my part that could’ve made anyone feel uncomfortable.” Velazquez said he didn’t recall saying what he said to Di Lauro and took her complaint seriously, the Times reported.
“Uh, yes. I was a little bit busy running around the country.”
In other episodes, according to individuals who spoke with the paper and provided contemporaneous emails, male staffers berated female colleagues and made lewd comments. So-called “Bernie Bros,” or fans of the campaign, often made parallel sexist attacks against then-candidate Hillary Clinton and female reporters.
Several of the women who spoke to The Times said that they had shared their concerns with high-ranking members of the campaign. Di Lauro said she alerted Rich Pelletier, who served as Sanders’ Deputy Campaign Manager and national field director, but that no substantive action was taken.
Pelletier did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
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Additionally, a letter written this weekend by more than two dozen former Sanders staffers alleged that a “predatory culture” pervaded the entire operation.
The scathing document, published Sunday by Politico, highlighted what it called an “untenable and dangerous dynamic” on the campaign and requested an in-person meeting with Sanders “to discuss the issue of sexual violence and harassment,” without discussing specific instances.
In response, Sanders’ campaign committee, which received the letter Sunday afternoon, said in a statement: “We thank the signers of the letter for their willingness to engage in this incredibly important discussion. We always welcome hearing the experiences and views of our former staff. We also value their right to come to us in a private way so their confidences and privacy are respected. And we will honor this principle with respect to this private letter.”
Sanders, who soundly defeated Clinton in the 2016 New Hampshire primary, has said he is considering running for president in 2020.
Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bernie-sanders-says-he-was-busy-amid-sexual-misconduct-allegations-during-campaign
US authorities fired tear gas into Mexico on Tuesday as about 150 asylum seekers tried to breach the border fence.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a statement that tear gas was used to target rock throwers, not those attempting to cross the border south of San Diego, California.
A photographer of the Associated Press (AP) news agency saw at least three volleys of gas launched onto the Mexican side of the border near Tijuana’s beach that affected the migrants, including women and children, as well as journalists. The photographer said rocks were thrown only after US agents fired tear gas.
CBP said, “no agents witnessed any of the migrants at the fence line, including children, experiencing effects of the chemical agents, which were targeted at the rock throwers further away.”
The agency also said agents saw “toddler-sized children” being passed over concertina wire with difficulty. It said its agents could not assist the children because of the rocks being thrown. Agents responded with smoke, pepper spray and tear gas, it said.
About 25 people were arrested by CBP. The incident is being reviewed by the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
Amnesty International called the use of tear gas “cruel and inhumane”.
“The Trump administration is defying international law and orchestrating a crisis by deliberately turning asylum-seekers away from ports of entry, endangering families who see no choice but to take desperate measures in their search for protection,” Justin Mazzola, Amnesty’s deputy director of research, said in a statement.
Migrants and refugees run as tear gas is thrown by US Border Protection officers to the Mexican side of the border fence [Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP Photo] |
Migrants and refugees who spoke to the Associated Press said they arrived in Tijuana last month with a mass exodus from Honduras, initially dubbed a caravan.
The exodus, which left Honduras in mid-October, grew to more than 6,000 members during its month-and-a-half trek north. It has been a constant target of US President Donald Trump, who has falsely labelled it an “invasion” and has sought to use it to sow fear and drum up support for his proposed border wall.
Many Central Americans have told Al Jazeera they are fleeing violence, political persecution and extreme poverty.
Those who have arrived in Tijuana to seek asylum in the United States have been told they may have to wait months before being allowed to make their claims. Rights groups and asylum seekers have accused the US government of stalling the asylum process, an allegation the US denies.
The long process has prompted many to attempt to cross the border between official ports in hopes of making their asylum claims sooner. Others have found jobs in Tijuana while they want to apply at an official port. And others have made the journey home.
“I haven’t seen my family in two months, but right now, God willing, we’ll reach our dream,” Marvin Ceballos, a Honduran asylum seeker, told Al Jazeera.
“If I’m caught, I can plead and fight for asylum. If I’m deported, I guess I’ll keep moving forward,” he said.
“Where there’s life, there’s hope.”
Last month, the Trump administration announced that it would send asylum seekers back to Mexico to wait out their immigration proceedings. Details regarding the new policy, including when it would take effect, have not been disclosed.
In November, US agents launched tear gas across the border after some migrants tried to breach the border following a peaceful march in Tijuana. Hundreds of migrants and refugees who were downwind of the gas were affected.
Trump is currently locked in a fight with congressional Democrats over funding for the border wall that he wants to build. The stalemate has led to a partial government shutdown.
On Friday, Trump threatened to seal the US-Mexico border “entirely” if Congress did not approve billions of dollars in funding for the wall.
Source Article from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/agents-fire-tear-gas-asylum-seekers-mexico-border-190102082249473.html
Reps. Mark PocanMark William PocanPelosi faces pressure to act on Saudi Arabia Pelosi gets her swagger on Dems to reframe gun violence as public health issue MORE (D-Wis.) and Pramila JayapalPramila JayapalJudiciary Democrats want Whitaker to testify in 2019 Liberal groups launch effort to get progressives on key House committees The Hill’s Morning Report — Will Trump strike a deal with Chuck and Nancy? MORE (D-Wash.), the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for the 116th Congress, said they will vote for the House Democrats’ rules package after two other progressives said they would vote against it due to concerns about a budget-related provision.
The rules package includes a pay-as-you-go provision that would raise a point of order against legislation that increases the deficit. Progressives are concerned that pay-as-you-go rules will make it harder to pass legislation on health care and other topics.
Rep. Ro KhannaRohit (Ro) Khanna‘Medicare for all’ advocates emboldened by ObamaCare lawsuit Ocasio-Cortez, progressives express disappointment with climate panel Is Congress really that far behind on tech policy? No. MORE (D-Calif.) and Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-CortezAlexandria Ocasio-CortezOcasio-Cortez slams Dems for deeming climate goals ‘too controversial’ Incoming Dem lawmaker to donate pay during shutdown 2018: A year of stalled progress and unprecedented ambition on climate MORE (D-N.Y.) said they will vote against the rules package because of the budgetary provision.
But Pocan and Jayapal said they plan to vote for the rules package because they’ve gotten assurances from House Democratic leaders and incoming Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) that the pay-go rule can be waived.
“Chairman McGovern and House Leadership have committed to us that PAYGO will not be an impediment to advancing key progressive priorities in the 116th Congress,” Pocan and Jayapal said in a statement Wednesday.
The support for the rules package from Pocan and Jayapal signals the package will likely pass. Eighteen House Democrats would need to vote against the package for it to fail.
The Progressive Caucus co-chairs said they’ve met with McGovern and leadership multiple times to express concerns with pay-go and that everyone agrees “that the real problem with PAYGO exists in the statute that requires it.”
Under federal law, the Office of Management and Budget is required to offset deficit-increasing legislation with across-the-board cuts to mandatory spending programs. Drew Hammill, a spokesman for House Democratic Leader Nancy PelosiNancy Patricia D’Alesandro PelosiWhite House: Pelosi’s plan to reopen the government ‘a non-starter’ Trump invites congressional leaders to White House amid shutdown Trump to Pelosi: ‘Let’s make a deal?’ MORE (D-Calif.), tweeted earlier on Wednesday that voting against the rules package would allow the White House to make spending cuts that reverse Democratic initiatives.
Pocan and Jayapal said they plan to introduce legislation to end the statutory pay-go mechanism.
Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/house/423537-progressive-caucus-co-chairs-to-vote-for-rules-package
The pay-as-you-go rules, commonly known as “pay-go,” would require Congress to offset any increased spending with equal cuts or revenue increases elsewhere. The provision is contained in a larger package of rules for the incoming 116th Congress, which convenes on Thursday.
Source Article from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/progressives-ro-khanna-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-paygo-rules-fight_us_5c2d2401e4b0407e9087b393
WASHINGTON – No one budged at President Donald Trump’s White House meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday, so the partial government shutdown persisted through a 12th day over his demand for billions of dollars to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. They’ll try again Friday.
In one big change, the new Congress convenes Thursday with Democrats taking majority control of the House, and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said outside the White House that there would be rapid passage of legislation to re-open the government — without funds for the border wall. But the White House has rejected that package, and Trump said ahead of the session with the congressional leaders that the partial shutdown will last “as long as it takes” to get the funding he wants.
“Could be a long time or could be quickly,” Trump said during lengthy comments at a Cabinet meeting at the White House, his first public appearance of the new year. Meanwhile, the shutdown dragged through a second week, closing some parks and leaving hundreds of thousands of federal employees without pay.
Democrats said they asked Trump directly during Wednesday’s private meeting held in the Situation Room why he wouldn’t consider their package of bills. One measure would open most of the shuttered government departments at funding levels already agreed to by all sides. The other would provide temporary funding for Homeland Security, through Feb. 8, allowing talks to continue over border security.
“I said, Mr. President, Give me one good reason why you should continue your shutdown,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said afterward. “He could not give a good answer.”
Added Schumer, “We would hope they would reconsider.”
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said there’s no need to prolong the shutdown and he was disappointed the talks did not produce a resolution. He complained that Democrats interrupted Homeland Security officials who were trying to describe a dire situation at the border.
“We were hopeful that we could get more of a negotiation,” said McCarthy.
He said the leaders plan to return to the White House Friday to continue negotiations.
The two sides have traded offers, but their talks broke down ahead of the holidays. On Wednesday, Trump also rejected his own administration’s offer to accept $2.5 billion for the wall. That offer was made when Vice President Mike Pence and other top officials met with Schumer at the start of the shutdown. Instead, on Wednesday Trump repeatedly pushed for the $5.6 billion he has demanded.
Making his case ahead of the afternoon session with Democratic and Republican leaders, he said the current border is “like a sieve” and noted the tear gas “flying” overnight to deter arrivals.
“If they knew they couldn’t come through, they wouldn’t even start,” Trump said at the meeting, joined by Cabinet secretaries and top advisers, including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
Trump complained that he had been “lonely” at the White House during the holiday break, having skipped his getaway to Mar-a-Lago in Florida. He claimed his only companions were the “machine gunners,” referring to security personnel, and “they don’t wave, they don’t smile.” He also criticized Pelosi for visiting Hawaii.
At the Capitol on Wednesday, Pelosi said she hoped Republicans and the White House “are hearing what we have offered” to end the shutdown.
Trump contended the Democrats see the shutdown fight as “an election point” as he celebrated his own first two years in office. He promised “six more years of great success.”
The partial government shutdown began on Dec. 22. Funding for the wall has been the sticking point in passing funding bills for several government departments.
Pelosi, who is expected to become speaker on Thursday, said Tuesday that Democrats would take action to “end the Trump Shutdown” by passing legislation Thursday to reopen government.
“We are giving the Republicans the opportunity to take yes for an answer,” she wrote in a letter to colleagues. “Senate Republicans have already supported this legislation, and if they reject it now, they will be fully complicit in chaos and destruction of the President’s third shutdown of his term.”
But the Republican-led Senate appears unlikely to consider the Democratic funding bills. A spokesman for GOP leader Mitch McConnell said Republicans would not take action without Trump’s backing.
Even if only symbolic, passage of the bills in the House would put fresh pressure on the president. At the same time, administration officials said Trump was in no rush for a resolution to the impasse, believing he has public opinion and his base on his side.
The Democratic package to end the shutdown would include one bill to temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security at current levels — with $1.3 billion for border security, far less than Trump has said he wants for the wall — through Feb. 8 as talks continued.
It would also include another measure to fund the departments of Agriculture, Interior, Housing and Urban Development and others closed by the partial shutdown. That measure would provide money through the remainder of the fiscal year, to Sept. 30.
___
Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman, Kevin Freking and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/no-deal-to-end-shutdown-trump-says-could-be-a-long-time
The incoming senator also says he’s not sure he will endorse the president’s re-election bid.
Incoming Sen. Mitt Romney on Wednesday said he won’t run for president again, though he warned that President Donald Trump doesn’t necessarily have his support for his 2020 reelection campaign.
“I think it’s early to make that decision and I want to see what the alternatives are,” Romney told CNN’s Jake Tapper about whether he will endorse Trump in 2020.
Story Continued Below
Romney, the failed 2012 GOP presidential nominee who will be sworn in as a senator from Utah on Thursday, penned a scathing op-ed in the Washington Post this week ripping Trump for not living up to the character of the presidency.
Trump responded to Romney’s editorial by saying that he hoped Romney would be more of a team player rather than a detractor in the Senate. He also reminded Romney which of the two was ultimately successful in winning the White House.
“If he fought the way he fights me, he would have won the election,” Trump said Wednesday afternoon during a meeting with his Cabinet.
Asked by Tapper whether he would challenge Trump in 2020, Romney said he would not.
“No. You may have heard, I ran before. I’ve had that experience,” he said, while acknowledging Trump’s point. “And, by the way, I acknowledge the president was successful. And I was not. He did something I couldn’t do. He won. And I recognize that and appreciate that. But no, I’m not running again. And we’ll see whether someone else does in a Republican primary or not. But time will tell.”
Romney has sparred with Trump before, delivering a speech in the thick of the 2016 primaries calling Trump a “fraud,” though the two appeared to have put aside their differences following the election when Romney was reportedly under consideration for the job of secretary of State.
Trump also endorsed Romney’s Senate bid when he announced he would run for the seat being vacated by longtime GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch.
The senator-elect said he was motivated to write the op-ed because of Trump’s sudden decision to pull U.S. troops out of conflict areas like Syria, as well as the departure of former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, calling the notion that Trump overrode his key national security aides “very troubling.”
Romney also ticked off more of Trump’s actions in office that caused him “great concern,” including his widely criticized response to a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 as well as his support of an Alabama Senate candidate accused of sexual assault, and his frequent broadsides against the press.
But while Romney’s editorial did not mince words when it came to hitting Trump’s character, he gave himself an opening to vote to advance Trump’s policies that he did agree with while attempting to relieve himself from being what he called a “daily commentator” on Trump.
One instance, he said Wednesday, was funding for a wall along the southern border with Mexico. Border wall funding has been the key hold-up in spending negotiations that prompted a partial government shutdown now in its 12th day.
While Democrats have remained firm in their offer to fund investments in border security that don’t include a wall, Romney said that he would vote with his fellow Republicans in favor of funding for a wall.
“I would vote for the border wall. I’ve made that part of my platform for many, many years. I think we should have a border wall on our southern border, and whether it’s a wall or fence or technology and perhaps in some cases the natural landscape prevents people from coming into the country easily, but we have to secure our border,” he said.
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Source Article from https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/02/romney-2020-election-1077876
House Democrats are preparing to force votes that would have the chamber’s legal counsel defend Obamacare against a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the healthcare law.
The House will vote Thursday, as part of a larger rules package, to allow the House counsel to intervene in the case, known as Texas v. Azar. The formal vote on the resolution will happen next week, according to the office of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the likely incoming House Speaker.
The plan marks one of the first orders of business for Democrats in the House as they take over under the new Congress Thursday. Democrats hope to put the spotlight on Republicans who ran campaigns telling voters they were devoted to keeping in place Obamacare’s protections on pre-existing illnesses. They plan to argue that votes rejecting the resolution demonstrate Republicans aren’t really committed to the protections.
The Obamacare rules obligate insurers cover people with pre-existing conditions, such as cancer or diabetes, at the same price as they cover healthier people. The law also mandates a range of medical coverage and guarantees for which sicker patients cannot be refused coverage. The provision is one of Obamacare’s most popular among voters, even though it has contributed to higher premiums for certain enrollees.
“After two years of brutal attacks on health care and desperate GOP misrepresentations on the campaign trail, we’re not giving Republicans anywhere to hide,” Pelosi spokesman Henry Connelly said in an email. “Republicans who survived the election on their tardy promises to protect pre-existing conditions will have to explain why they have once again been complicit in trying to strike down those life-saving protections.”
A federal judge issued a ruling in December that not only would undo rules on pre-existing conditions, but the rest of Obamacare as well. The ruling is being stayed until it is appealed. While experts from both political persuasions have said they do not expect it will ultimately succeed, Democrats have signaled they intend to continue using the case as political ammunition.
Republican state officials started the lawsuit, which argues that all of Obamacare must be thrown out as a consequence of Congress zeroing out the fine on the uninsured in the tax law. The Trump administration sided with the GOP officials, but asked specifically for the rules on pre-existing illnesses to be thrown out. The federal judge, Reed O’Connor, sided with the GOP officials.
Democratic attorneys general have already said they plan to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans. The case also may make its way to the Supreme Court, which has become more conservative through President Trump’s appointments of Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Senate Democrats tried to vote in December to have the Senate legal counsel intervene on the case, but Republicans, who hold the majority in the upper chamber, blocked the vote.
Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/house-democrats-tee-up-vote-to-put-republicans-on-record-on-obamacare-lawsuit
Alexandra Pelosi, the daughter of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was hesitant to discuss her mother Wednesday on CNN’s New Day with Alison Camerota and John Berman. But when she did, she was very candid.
Berman asked Alexandra how her mother approaches meetings with President Trump and how she feels about the Democratic politician becoming Speaker of the House for a second time.
“She’ll cut your head off and you won’t even know you’re bleeding. That’s all you need to know about her,” Alexandra said. “No one ever won betting against Nancy Pelosi. She’s persevered. You’ve got to give her credit. No matter what you think of her, you have to give her credit. Think about all those presidents she’s endured, right? The Bushes, the Clintons. She’s been through it all.”
Alexandra, a political reporter and documentary filmmaker, said it’s her mother’s experience through the decades that will help her during the current government shutdown and negotiations with Trump.
“She’s been around. This is not her first rodeo, as your friend George Bush would say. She knows what she’s doing,” Alexandra said. “And that should make you sleep at night, knowing that at least somebody in this town knows what they’re doing.”
She continued to reflect on her mother’s tenure and what the future holds. “When Nancy Pelosi came to town, it was a boys club. That was 30 years ago, a boys club,” Alexandra said. “Look around tomorrow. It will be a whole new America. You are going to see something so magical that you have not seen before.”
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Source Article from https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/01/02/nancy-pelosi-will-cut-your-head-off-and-you-wont-even-know-youre-bleeding-daughter-says/23632248/
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the U.S. hopes to gain access soon to a former Marine who was arrested in Russia on espionage charges and that “if the detention is not appropriate we will demand his immediate return.”
Paul Whelan, who is head of global security for a Michigan-based auto parts supplier, was arrested on Friday. In announcing the arrest three days later, the Russian Federal Security Service said he was caught “during an espionage operation,” but it gave no details.
Whelan, 48, was in Moscow to attend a wedding when he suddenly disappeared, his brother David Whelan said Tuesday.
Pompeo, speaking in Brazil, said the U.S. is “hopeful within the next hours we’ll get consular access to see him and get a chance to learn more.”
The U.S. has “made clear to the Russians our expectation that we will learn more about the charges and come to understand what it is he’s been accused of and if the detention is not appropriate we will demand his immediate return,” Pompeo said.
Whelan’s family said in a statement David Whelan posted on Twitter, “We are deeply concerned for his safety and well-being. His innocence is undoubted and we trust that his rights will be respected.”
The Russian spying charges carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
David Whelan said in an interview that his brother had been to Russia several times previously, so when a fellow former Marine was planning a wedding in Moscow with a Russian woman he was asked to go along to help out.
The morning of his arrest, he had taken a group of wedding guests on a tour of the Kremlin museums. The last time anyone heard from him was at about 5 p.m. and then he failed to show up that evening for the wedding, his brother said.
“It was extraordinarily out of character,” he said.
The family feared he had been mugged or was in a car accident, David Whelan said, and it was when searching the internet on Monday that he learned of the arrest.
“I was looking for any stories about dead Americans in Moscow, so in a way it was better than finding out that he had died,” he said.
The State Department said Monday it had received formal notification from the Russian Foreign Ministry of the arrest and was pushing for consular access. David Whelan said the family was told by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow they have not been able to speak to Paul Whelan.
David Whelan said he has no idea why his brother was targeted by the Russian security services. Paul Whelan had traveled to Russia in the past for work and to visit friends he had met on social networks, his brother said.
“I don’t think there’s any chance that he’s a spy,” David Whelan told CNN on Wednesday.
Paul Whelan did multiple tours in Iraq with the Marine Corps, his brother said. He now lives in Novi, Michigan, and is director of global security for BorgWarner, where he has worked since early 2017.
“He is responsible for overseeing security at our facilities in Auburn Hills, Michigan and at other company locations around the world,” company spokeswoman Kathy Graham said in a statement.
She said BorgWarner does not have any facilities in Russia.
Paul Whelan previously worked for Kelly Services, which does maintain offices in Russia, his brother said.
The arrest comes as U.S.-Russian ties are severely strained, in part over Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
A Russian gun rights activist, Maria Butina, is in U.S. custody after admitting she acted as a secret agent for the Kremlin in trying to infiltrate conservative U.S. political groups as Donald Trump was seeking the presidency. She pleaded guilty in December to a conspiracy charge as part of a deal with federal prosecutors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that the case is fabricated and that Butina entered the guilty plea because of the threat of a long prison sentence.
___
Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this report.
Source Article from https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/01/02/us-wants-access-to-american-held-in-moscow-on-spying-charges/23631943/
The active-duty two-star Marine general former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis tapped to serve as the on-camera spokesman for the Pentagon asked not to take the job, after Mattis resigned, Pentagon officials say.
One official said that in a meeting with Shanahan, Marine Maj. Gen. Burke Whitman gave five reasons why he preferred not to take the job, and that after considering the reasons, Shanahan agreed.
The Pentagon announced in November that Mattis had tapped Marine Maj. Gen. Burke Whitman to fill the position that had been effectively vacant since chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White stopped briefing in May 2018.
White resigned abruptly on New Year’s Eve, Mattis’ last day as defense secretary. Her deputy, Naval Reserve Captain Charles Summers, has been appointed in an acting capacity to fill her position.
Whitman’s appointment as the face of the Pentagon was controversial because of the strong tradition for members of the U.S. military to remain apolitical, while the Pentagon’s spokesman job often requires defending or explaining administration policy.
[Enter Patrick Shanahan: The Pentagon ‘remains focused on safeguarding our nation’]
The last uniformed Pentagon spokesman to serve as primary solo briefer was Rear Adm. John Kirby, who was forced out by Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Carter believed that a civilian, not a military officer, ought to be the one to defend Obama administration policy.
Kirby retired, hung up his uniform, and became the State Department spokesman, briefing as a civilian.
Kirby is now a paid contributor to CNN.
More typically, a civilian political appointee is paired with a military officer at the podium in the Pentagon briefing room, so that the civilian could handle policy questions and the military briefer could provide context on operational details.
Whitman, who was seen at the Pentagon Wednesday, will now be looking for a new assignment from the Marine Corps.
Whitman had just assumed command of the Marine Forces Reserve and Marine Forces North in New Orleans in September, a month before Mattis picked him to be the spokesman.
That job is still unfilled, so it is possible he could return to the assignment.
Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/two-star-general-withdraws-as-pentagon-spokesman
If presidents could be impeached for ignorance, Donald Trump just merited impeachment for endorsing the Soviet Union’s brutal 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.
To listen to what Trump said today at a Cabinet meeting is to enter a bizarrely anti-moral alternative universe. In a confused, ahistorical, and rambling comment in a ramblingly reality-deprived confab, Trump uttered this stunningly benighted take on the Soviets’ attempt to conquer and permanently communize Afghanistan: “The reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia. They [the Soviets] were right to be there.”
Right to be there? Really?
In 1979, there were no “terrorists” from Afghanistan going into the Soviet Union. None. Not even the Soviets claimed as much. The official Soviet excuse for invading was to shore up the supposedly legitimate Afghani government (itself installed in a pro-Soviet coup in the previous year), which had been upending local customs and brutalizing its internal enemies.
There was nothing “right” about the invasion. Not even close. Virtually the whole international community, even nations which usually kowtowed to the Soviets whenever conflicts arose, sharply denounced this flagrantly illegitimate use of Soviet power. The U.N. General Assembly, often a Soviet-friendly conclave, passed a resolution against the invasion, 104-18. In protest against the invasion, some 66 nations joined the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
The invasion was an application of the Brezhnev Doctrine, which promised the use of Soviet armed force to crush any attempt to roll back communism or attain human rights, anywhere the Kremlin considered within the Soviet sphere of influence. The doctrine was, in a word, evil. Tens of millions of people had human rights, or hopes for them, destroyed, and of course many thousands lost their lives.
Opposition to the Soviet invasion was, in turn, a key facet of the Reagan Doctrine, aimed at rolling back the Russian Evil Empire. It was a moral American doctrine, part of an immensely moral worldwide struggle. Because of the Reagan Doctrine, the large U.S. military build-up, and the eventual success at evicting the Soviets from Afghanistan, the Soviet Empire of course did collapse — and hundreds of millions of people won the freedom that had been denied them for decades.
For an American president to say the Soviets were “right” to invade Afghanistan is mind-boggling. It’s morally akin to approving Mussolini’s fascist invasion and subjugation of Ethiopia or even the “ killing fields” of Pol Pot. It is unfathomable. It is an outrage.
Trump is either historically illiterate or morally monstrous. Let’s hope it’s the former. Either way, he should recant his remarks. They sully the Oval Office and the nation which its occupant is supposed to serve.
Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/trump-mind-bogglingly-defends-the-soviets
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said his Homeland Security officials will “make a plea” for the border wall with Mexico during a briefing for congressional leaders Wednesday at the White House as the partial government shutdown over his demand for wall funding entered its 12th day.
The president made his case anew ahead of the afternoon session with Democratic and Republican leaders about the migrants arriving at the border in recent days. He said the border is “like a sieve” and noted the tear gas “flying” overnight to deter them. He called the border “very tough” at keeping immigrants out.
“If they knew they couldn’t come through, they wouldn’t even start,” Trump said at a meeting joined by Cabinet secretaries and top advisers, including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
The Cabinet meeting was the president’s first public appearance of the new year as the shutdown dragged into its second week, shut down some parks and leaving hundreds of thousands of federal employees without pay.
So far, the administration has rejected a proposal from Democrats to re-open government without money to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The president “wants an agreement that reopens the government AND keeps Americans safe,” the White House said on Twitter.
Trump contended the Democrats see the shutdown fight as “an election point” as he celebrated his own first two years in office. He promised “six more years of great success.”
The partial government shutdown began on Dec. 22. Funding for the wall has been the sticking point in passing funding bills for several government departments.
The Wednesday afternoon briefing with the congressional leaders is taking place the day before Democrats are to assume control of the House and end the Republican monopoly on government.
The session will be held in the high-security Situation Room at the White House, which is typically used to handle sensitive information. The location means the conversation will not be televised, unlike the volatile sitdown during which Democratic leaders talked back to Trump last month.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the top incoming House Republicans — Kevin McCarthy of California and Steve Scalise of Louisiana — planned to attend, according to aides. The departing House speaker, Paul Ryan, was not expected.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who is expected to become speaker on Thursday, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer planned to attend. Pelosi said Tuesday that Democrats would take action to “end the Trump Shutdown” by passing legislation Thursday to reopen government.
“We are giving the Republicans the opportunity to take yes for an answer,” she wrote in a letter to colleagues. “Senate Republicans have already supported this legislation, and if they reject it now, they will be fully complicit in chaos and destruction of the President’s third shutdown of his term.”
The White House invitation came after House Democrats released their plan to re-open the government without approving money for a border wall — unveiling two bills to fund shuttered government agencies and put hundreds of thousands of federal workers back on the job. They planned to pass them as soon as the new Congress convenes Thursday.
Responding to the Democratic plan, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders late Tuesday night called it a “non-starter” and said it won’t re-open the government “because it fails to secure the border and puts the needs of other countries above the needs of our own citizens.”
Trump spent the weekend saying Democrats should return to Washington to negotiate, firing off Twitter taunts. Aides suggested there would not necessarily be a traditional wall as Trump has repeatedly insisted since his presidential campaign, but he contradicted them.
On Tuesday morning, after tweeting a New Year’s message to “EVERYONE INCLUDING THE HATERS AND THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA,” Trump tweeted: “The Democrats, much as I suspected, have allocated no money for a new Wall. So imaginative! The problem is, without a Wall there can be no real Border Security.”
But he seemed to shift tactics later in the day, appealing to Pelosi. “Let’s make a deal?” he tweeted.
Whether the Republican-led Senate would consider the Democratic funding bills — or if Trump would sign either into law — was unclear. McConnell spokesman Donald Stewart said Senate Republicans would not take action without Trump’s backing.
“It’s simple: The Senate is not going to send something to the president that he won’t sign,” Stewart said.
Even if only symbolic, the passage of the bills in the House would put fresh pressure on the president. At the same time, administration officials said Trump was in no rush for a resolution to the impasse, believing he has public opinion and his base on his side.
The Democratic package to end the shutdown would include one bill to temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security at current levels — with $1.3 billion for border security, far less than the $5 billion Trump has said he wants for the wall — through Feb. 8 as talks continued.
It would also include another measure to fund the departments of Agriculture, Interior, Housing and Urban Development and others closed by the partial shutdown. That measure would provide money through the remainder of the fiscal year, to Sept. 30.
___
Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/shutdown-day-12-lawmakers-to-hear-wall-plea-at-white-house
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Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump fired back at Mitt Romney after the Republican senator-elect penned an op-ed saying Trump “has not risen to the mantle of the office.”
Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/02/politics/donald-trump-mitt-romney-oped/index.html
Washington is emerging from the holiday season consumed by the ongoing government shutdown. President Trump wants $5 billion for a border wall, Democrats don’t, and neither side appears willing to blink.
The only thing that will save the country from a damaging and prolonged shutdown (although note that there are arguments for letting this happen) is a solution that will allow both sides to save face, a compromise that gives everyone something they want. If both sides are willing, they may be able to move beyond shutdown brinkmanship and give the nation an example of serious leadership that places the common good ahead of political gamesmanship.
So what’s to be compromised? If Trump really wants his money for a border barrier, then an appropriate compromise should involve something Democrats have long demanded. According to Sen. Lindsey Graham, Trump is open-minded about a compromise that creates certainty for hundreds of thousands of law-abiding beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, whose fate currently hangs on a lawsuit in which their cause is likely to lose.
A swap of a DACA statute in exchange for a paltry $5 billion in border funding would be a perfectly appropriate compromise for both parties, given the circumstances. Previously, Trump had been hoping to trade DACA for a broad merit-based immigration system that Democrats strongly oppose.
Now that his party has lost the House, Trump needs to approach Democrats with a more practical deal that their base will be willing to swallow. It is our belief that Democratic leaders, who view the wall as a silly distraction, will be able to impress their base by attaining DACA from Trump. Although Democrats are also opposed to Trump’s fence, the few billion dollars to construct it is, at worst, a small waste.
A border wall or fence or slats has never been a complete solution to the nation’s problem with lawless migration. But it’s not going to hurt. A wall or fence of some kind (the controversy over its precise nature strikes us as ridiculous) is already authorized in current law. Hard-to-scale fences have seriously impeded illegal migration where they have been erected (in San Diego and Yuma, Ariz., for example).
And perhaps most importantly, if border barriers help successfully funnel asylum seekers to legal points of entry, they will be doing everyone a big favor. It will reduce the lethal dangers that honest border crossers are facing and save the Border Patrol the immense hassle and danger involved in rounding them up.
Democrats tell their supporters that they strongly support DACA in principle. It would help law-abiding U.S. residents who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, through no fault of their own. These people know no other country and would be seriously at a loss if forced to go back and live in Mexico or Central America.
The public supports a measure to give legal status to law-abiding people in this situation. Currently, they are protected by an Obama-era executive order whose legality is questionable, and the matter hinges on a court decision. DACA beneficiaries will not be safe until a statute is created to deal with their situation.
Instead of framing the government shutdown as a huge obstacle that cannot be surmounted, we would prefer to frame it as an ideal place for Trump and Democrats to make a bipartisan deal that everyone can be happy with. Democrats will be able to show their base that they got DACA from Trump, of all people. Trump will be able to show his base that he got some funding to build several miles of border fencing. Everyone saves face, everyone wins.
Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/on-the-budget-and-the-border-lets-make-a-deal
Netflix has removed a satirical comedy show from its service in Saudi Arabia following a complaint from authorities in Riyadh.
The streaming service took down an episode of “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj” which was critical of the kingdom’s rulers following the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Netflix said it had been told the episode breached Saudi Arabia’s anti-cybercrime law, which states that anyone who produces, prepares or transmits material “impinging on public order, religious values, public morals, and privacy” will be subject to imprisonment for a period of up to five years and/or a fine of up to $799,850.
In the episode which has been available since October, Minhaj criticizes Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who has been blamed by the U.S. Senate for being responsible for Khashoggi’s death in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last year.
“It blows my mind that it took the killing of a Washington Post journalist for everyone to go, ‘Oh, I guess he’s really not a reformer,’” Minhaj said, referring to the royal who is widely known as MBS. “Meanwhile, every Muslim person you know was like, ‘Yeah, no s—, he’s the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.’”
Minhaj goes on to raise questions about Washington’s relationship with Riyadh, which he said needs to be reassessed.
“Saudi Arabia was basically the boy band manager of 9/11,” he said, referring to the fact that many of the September 11 hijackers were Saudi citizens.
Netflix said it took down the episode to comply with local law.
“We strongly support artistic freedom and removed this episode only in Saudi Arabia after we had received a valid legal demand,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement.
Samah Hadid, Middle East director of campaigns at Amnesty International, said in a statement that the incident was further proof of “a relentless crackdown” on freedom of expression in the kingdom.
“By bowing to the Saudi Arabian authorities’ demands, Netflix is in danger of facilitating the Kingdom’s zero-tolerance policy on freedom of expression and assisting the authorities in denying people’s right to freely access information,” Hadid said.
Netflix is not the only media giant to encounter difficulties navigating the issue of censorship abroad in recent months. Google came under fire from rights groups and its employees in November for designing a censored search engine for the Chinese government.
In an open letter to their employer, Google workers urged the company to drop the project known as Dragonfly and said they no longer believed the company was “willing to place its values above its profits.”
Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/netflix-pulls-episode-patriot-act-hasan-minhaj-after-saudi-complaint-n953681
As the fight over the federal government shutdown entered the new year, President Trump on Tuesday expressed his desire to “make a deal” with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi over funding for his border wall.
“Border Security and the Wall ‘thing’ and Shutdown is not where Nancy Pelosi wanted to start her tenure as Speaker!” Trump tweeted. “Let’s make a deal?”
Pelosi is poised to become speaker of the House when Democrats officially take back control of the chamber on Thursday. Trump’s comments come amid the news that House Democrats plan to introduce a legislative package to re-open the government on Thursday – though it is unclear whether Trump or Republicans in the Senate will go along with it.
Fox News has learned there is a briefing at the White House on Wednesday for the top two leaders of each party from each chamber for the new Congress to discuss the impasse.
The House Democratic plan will include one bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security at current levels through Feb. 8, with $1.3 billion for border security. It doesn’t include money for the president’s desired wall on the border.
Whether the Republican-led Senate, under Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, will consider the bills — or if Trump would sign either into law — was unclear. McConnell spokesman Donald Stewart said Senate Republicans won’t not take action without Trump’s backing.
“It’s simple: The Senate is not going to send something to the president that he won’t sign,” Stewart said.
Even if only symbolic, the passage of the bills in the House would put fresh pressure on the president.
Republicans and Democrats have been at a standstill over President Trump’s demands for $5 billion to fund the border wall. Earlier Tuesday, the president ripped into Democrats for insisting they won’t fund a border wall.
“One thing has now been proven,” Trump tweeted. “The Democrats do not care about Open Borders and all of the crime and drugs that Open Borders bring!”
Negotiations over the partial government shutdown stalled over the holidays.
“Our negotiations are at an impasse at the moment,” Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “I wish it were not so.”
Funding for a slew of federal agencies lapsed at midnight on Dec. 22 – just days before Christmas — after Congress and the White House failed to pass a spending package. Nine of 15 Cabinet-level departments and dozens of agencies have closed, affecting about a quarter of the federal government.
With no resolution in sight, the shutdown is forcing hundreds of thousands of federal workers and contractors to stay home or work without pay. Museums and galleries popular with visitors and locals in the nation’s capital will close starting midweek if the partial shutdown of the federal government drags on.
Fox News’ Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-to-pelosi-on-shutdown-border-wall-lets-make-a-deal
Mitt Romney, former presidential candidate and a Republican senator-elect in Utah, has written a scathing op-ed for The Washington Post, saying President Trump “has not risen to the mantle of the office.”
Published in The Post on Tuesday, Romney’s piece reiterated past thoughts about Trump. That is, while Trump wasn’t his first choice to be the Republican Party’s presidential nominee in 2016, he hoped the billionaire businessman would “rise to the occasion” to lead and unite the U.S.
But, Romney said, he’s found that the president’s actions have proven otherwise.
ROMNEY PREDICTS A TRUMP WIN IN 2020
“… On balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions this month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office,” Romney wrote.
Trump’s policies and appointments as president have not necessarily been “misguided,” according to the former Massachusetts governor, who said he was encouraged by the elevation of Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, Nikki Haley, Gary Cohn, H.R. McMaster, John Kelly and James Mattis — a majority of whom have since been fired or resigned from the administration.
Romney said Trump should be bringing the country together, inspiring Americans. He should demonstrate “the essential qualities of honesty and integrity, and elevate the national discourse with comity and mutual respect.”
ROMNEY DENIES HE LED ‘NEVER TRUMP’ MOVEMENT, SAYS PRESIENT’S POLICIES ‘PRETTY EFFECTIVE’
“As a nation, we have been blessed with presidents who have called on the greatness of the American spirit,” he wrote. “With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable. And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring.”
The 71-year-old noted that the rest of the world often looks to the U.S. “for leadership” — and that the “world needs American leadership” — but that Trump’s “words and actions have caused dismay around the world.”
“To reassume our leadership in world politics, we must repair failings in our politics at home. That project begins, of course, with the highest office once again acting to inspire and unite us,” Romney wrote in the op-ed. He added that, “Our leaders must defend our vital institutions despite their inevitable failings: a free press, the rule of law, strong churches, and responsible corporations and unions.”
MITT ROMNEY’S CAREER HIGHLIGHTS, FROM BAIN CAPITAL TO GOVERNING MASSACHUSETTS
He said that regardless of the politician, he’ll support policies that benefit Americans and those he represents in Utah. Romney said he won’t comment on all of the president’s tweets or problems, but “will speak out against significant statements or actions that are divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions.”
Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/incoming-sen-romney-trump-hasnt-risen-to-the-mantle-of-presidency