February, 2019 | últimas notícias

Top Trump appointees promoted selling nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia over objections from national security officials, House Democratic report says – The Washington Post

February 19 at 1:32 PM

Several current and former Trump administration appointees promoted the sale of nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia despite repeated objections from members of the National Security Council and other senior White House officials, according to a new report from congressional Democrats.

The officials who objected included White House lawyers and H.R. McMaster, then the chief of the National Security Council, according to the report, which cited documents obtained by the committee and accounts of unnamed whistleblowers. The officials called for a halt in the nuclear sales discussions in 2017, citing potential conflicts of interest, national security risks and legal hurdles.

But the effort to promote nuclear sales persisted, led by retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who served briefly as President Trump’s national security adviser, and more recently by Energy Secretary Rick Perry. The possible nuclear power sale was discussed in the Oval Office as recently as last week.

Details about these internal White House battles are contained in a 24-page report released Tuesday morning by House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.). It said the unnamed whistleblowers inside the White House came forward because they were distressed at the continued effort to sell the power plants.

Committee Republicans said Tuesday they were not included in the drafting of the detailed report and had not received a copy until Monday night. They said they had not had a chance to fully assess it.

“This is a delicate and nuanced issue that Chairman Cummings is approaching without bipartisan input and with far flung requests for information,” Charli Huddleston, a spokeswoman for Republicans on the committee, said in a statement.

The report includes a wide range of allegations and suggests the involvement of a long list of high-profile people in Trump’s orbit.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

The report’s release comes as Saudi-U.S. relations reach a particularly difficult moment. Following the death of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Congress has expressed reluctance to continue with a business-as-usual relationship with Riyadh.

The Trump White House has balked at endorsing intelligence reports suggesting that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in the killing.

The Cummings report notes that one of the power plant manufacturers that could benefit from a nuclear deal, Westinghouse Electric, is a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, the company that provided financial relief to the family of Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser. Brookfield Asset Management took a 99-year lease on the family’s deeply indebted New York City property at 666 Fifth Avenue.

“Multiple whistleblowers came forward to warn about efforts inside the White House to rush the transfer of highly sensitive U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in potential violation of the Atomic Energy Act and without review by Congress as required by law — efforts that may be ongoing to this day,” the report says.

The whistleblowers also “warned about a working environment inside the White House marked by chaos, dysfunction and backbiting. They noted that White House political appointees repeatedly ignored directives from top ethics advisers who repeatedly — but unsuccessfully — “ordered senior White House officials to halt their efforts.”

The Oversight Committee report, which focuses on the first three months of the Trump presidency, may have special relevance this week as Kushner prepares for a trip to the Middle East.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/top-trump-appointees-promoted-selling-nuclear-power-plants-to-saudi-arabia-over-objections-from-national-security-officials-house-democratic-report-says/2019/02/19/6a719762-3456-11e9-af5b-b51b7ff322e9_story.html

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Vatican secret out: There are rules for priests who father children – USA TODAY

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An investigation found more than 380 allegations of sexual misconduct by Southern Baptist church leaders over two decades.
USA TODAY

The Catholic Church has required celibacy from its priests for centuries, yet those vows were broken so frequently that the Vatican established a secret set of guidelines for dealing with clerics who fathered children.

This latest revelation, first reported by The New York Times, comes amid a new wave of developments tied to the burgeoning sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the church for close to two decades.

On Monday, the Diocese of Oakland, California, released a list of 45 clergymen and religious brothers it said have had “credible accusations’’ of child sexual abuse made against them, going as far back as the 1960s. Several other dioceses have taken similar steps in recent months.

On Saturday, Pope Francis defrocked former Washington archbishop Theodore McCarrick after he was found guilty of a series of sexual crimes, making him the first American cardinal to be expelled from the priesthood.

Two weeks ago, Francis acknowledged the long-known but rarely addressed problem of nuns being sexually assaulted by priests.

More: The stakes are high for Pope Francis, Catholics worldwide ahead of unprecedented sex abuse summit

Now, just ahead of Thursday’s unprecedented meeting of more than 100 bishops summoned to the Vatican to address the sexual misconduct crisis, the Catholic Church faces yet another sexually related controversy.

Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti acknowledged to the Times and other news outlets the existence of the guidelines, although he would not reveal specifically what they are.

More: The stakes are high for Pope Francis, Catholics worldwide ahead of unprecedented sex abuse summit

Gisotti said the instructions seek to protect the child and require – others contend they only encourage – the priest to request a leave from his clerical duties and “as a layman, assume his responsibilities as a parent by devoting himself exclusively’’ to the child.

Vincent Doyle, an Irish psychotherapist who learned in his late 20s his father was a priest, told the Times that church leaders initially misled him to believe his was a rare instance.

Though there’s no exact count of how many children have been fathered by clergymen, he eventually learned that wasn’t true when an archbishop showed him the Vatican instructions for cases like his.

“It’s the next scandal,’’ Doyle said. “There are kids everywhere.’’

More: Catholic Church: Jesuits name priests with ‘established accusations’ of child sex abuse

Doyle formed a global support group, Coping International, that provides counseling and resources to “children of the ordained,’’ as the church calls them. He said the organization’s website has 50,000 users in 175 countries.

Doyle told CBS News he wants to see them codified so the offspring of clergymen don’t have to live in the shadows. The Irish Catholic Church did as much two years ago, establishing a set of rules that prioritize the child’s well-being and mandate that the priest own up to his parental duties in every way.

“The first problem with children of priests is they’re not recognized,” Doyle said. “When you’re hidden … you are characterized by secrecy.’’

More: Vatican clarifies Pope Francis on issue of ‘sexual slavery’ of nuns

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/19/vaticans-secret-rules-priests-who-father-children/2918042002/

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Thanks to Trump’s national emergency, Congress might actually do its job – Washington Examiner

With these simple, pro-forma words, a national emergency was declared on Friday, February 15, to fund President Trump’s most important pet project, a wall (or should it be called a “barrier?”) along the southwestern U.S.-Mexico border: “NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America…hereby declare that a national emergency exists at the southern border of the United States.” Enter another political bombshell into the Washington, D.C., maelstrom — one certain to end up on the dockets of the black-robed justices of the Supreme Court.

With this emergency declaration, Trump will have the power to tap billions of dollars in the Pentagon budget ordinarily off-limits without congressional approval: $600 million will be taken from the Treasury Department’s forfeiture funds account, $2.5 billion will be swiped from the Pentagon’s counter-drug programs, and $3.6 billion will be re-appropriated from military construction projects. In addition to the roughly $1.3 billion in the latest government funding bill, Trump will have a total of $8 billion at his disposal to expand physical border barriers west of the Rio Grande.

More interesting than where the money is coming from and how the inevitable lawsuits will turn out is the irony of this entire affair. By a single stroke of his pen, Trump managed to shock lawmakers out of their coma with respect to emergency powers. It’s as if Congress suddenly discovered that it actually possessed the ability to block a president from exercising the extensive authorities granted to him during a national emergency.

The National Emergencies Act is one of those laws presidents have used to increase their power during extraordinary circumstances. Except extraordinary has now become ordinary. The Brennan Center of Justice has documented 59 national emergencies (Trump’s border emergency will be the 60th) in the 42 years the NEA has been in effect. Not including Trump’s recent declaration, 32 of those 59 emergencies are still germane. The only time a national emergency has been declared over was when a president no longer found them to be useful. It’s perfectly understandable if one believed that Congress has no say in the matter at all.

This, however, couldn’t be further from the truth. Congress is actually given tremendous power under the NEA, including the ability to end a national emergency the president invokes. In fact, Congress is supposed to meet every six months to review an emergency and determine whether a vote to terminate it is appropriate. Not once has Congress done what the law requires it to do. Not once has Congress met to review an emergency on the books, let alone voted to kill one.

This nauseating history may now come to an end thanks to Trump. Congressional Democrats are already drafting a resolution of disapproval to put on the House floor. Given the Democratic majority in the House, the resolution would most definitely pass if it’s introduced. There seem to be enough Senate Republicans nervous about the precedent Trump’s declaration would set for the willingness of future presidents to levy emergency authority that it could even pass the upper chamber.

Trump would veto any resolution of disapproval that comes to his desk, and his veto would likely be sustained courtesy of loyal Senate Republicans. But the bigger point stands: lawmakers, after four decades of sitting in the peanut gallery and twiddling their thumbs, will actually go through the trouble of following a law Congress itself passed.

Democrats will be reluctant to admit it, but Trump will deserve a big share of the credit for getting the legislative branch to do the job its members were elected to do: abide by the law. That would be no small accomplishment in an era when budgets are late, the government is constantly at risk of shutting down, committee hearings are exercises in partisan warfare, and Senate confirmations languish.

Daniel DePetris (@DanDePetris) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. His opinions are his own.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/thanks-to-trumps-national-emergency-congress-might-actually-do-its-job

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Trump administration launches global effort to end criminalization of homosexuality – NBC News

BERLIN — The Trump administration is launching a global campaign to end the criminalization of homosexuality in dozens of nations where it’s still illegal to be gay, U.S. officials tell NBC News, a bid aimed in part at denouncing Iran over its human rights record.

U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, the highest-profile openly gay person in the Trump administration, is leading the effort, which kicks off Tuesday evening in Berlin. The U.S. embassy is flying in LGBT activists from across Europe for a strategy dinner to plan to push for decriminalization in places that still outlaw homosexuality — mostly concentrated in the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean.

“It is concerning that, in the 21st century, some 70 countries continue to have laws that criminalize LGBTI status or conduct,” said a U.S. official involved in organizing the event.

Although the decriminalization strategy is still being hashed out, officials say it’s likely to include working with global organizations like the United Nations, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as other countries whose laws already allow for gay rights. Other U.S. embassies and diplomatic posts throughout Europe, including the U.S. Mission to the E.U., are involved, as is the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

Narrowly focused on criminalization, rather than broader LGBT issues like same-sex marriage, the campaign was conceived partly in response to the recent reported execution by hanging of a young gay man in Iran, the Trump administration’s top geopolitical foe.

Grenell, as Trump’s envoy to Germany, has been an outspoken Iran critic and has aggressively pressed European nations to abandon the 2015 nuclear deal and re-impose sanctions. But while the Trump administration has had some success in pressuring Iran through stepped-up U.S. penalties, efforts to bring the Europeans along have thus far largely fallen flat.

Reframing the conversation on Iran around a human rights issue that enjoys broad support in Europe could help the United States and Europe reach a point of agreement on Iran. Grenell called the hanging “a wake-up call for anyone who supports basic human rights,” in Bild, a leading German newspaper, this month.

“This is not the first time the Iranian regime has put a gay man to death with the usual outrageous claims of prostitution, kidnapping, or even pedophilia. And it sadly won’t be the last time,” Grenell wrote. “Barbaric public executions are all too common in a country where consensual homosexual relationships are criminalized and punishable by flogging and death.”

He added that “politicians, the U.N., democratic governments, diplomats and good people everywhere should speak up — and loudly.”

Yet by using gay rights as a cudgel against Iran, the Trump administration risks exposing close U.S. allies who are also vulnerable on the issue and creating a new tension point with the one region where Trump has managed to strengthen U.S. ties: the Arab world.

In Saudi Arabia, whose monarchy Trump has staunchly defended in the face of human rights allegations, homosexuality can be punishable by death, according to a 2017 worldwide report from the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA). The report identified 72 nations that still criminalize homosexuality, including eight where it’s punishable by death.

That list includes the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Afghanistan — all U.S. allies — although those countries aren’t known to have implemented the death penalty for same-sex acts. In Egypt, whose leader Trump has effusively praised, homosexual relations aren’t technically illegal but other morality laws are used aggressively to target LGBT people.

New U.S. pressure on those countries to change their laws comes as the Trump administration is working to use nascent ties between Arab nations and Israel to form a powerful axis against Iran, a strategy that dovetails with the administration’s planned rollout of an ambitious plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

In the Gulf state of Oman, for example, the Trump administration has touted a recent, historic visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a sign that old taboos are eroding. But any campaign to decriminalize homosexuality would ostensibly also have to call out Oman, where prison sentences can be handed out for being gay.

The push to end laws that outlaw homosexuality abroad also stands in contrast to the Trump administration’s mixed record on gay rights at home.

As a candidate, Trump was ambiguous about his position on many gay rights issues, but notably became the first Republican nominee to mention LGBT rights in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. His convention also featured another first: PayPal founder Peter Thiel became the first gay person to acknowledge his sexuality in a speech to the GOP convention, declaring he was “proud to be gay.”

Trump, after being elected, also said he was “fine” with same-sex marriage. But since he took office, his administration has scaled back some workplace protections for gay people and has argued in court that a federal anti-discrimination law doesn’t protect gay employees. He has also announced a ban on transgender people serving openly in the U.S. military, which the Supreme Court last month said could be implemented even as lower-court challenges play out.

U.S. officials said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is supporting the work by U.S. embassies and consulates to fight violence and discrimination against LGBT people. In his Senate confirmation hearing, Pompeo asserted: “I deeply believe that LGBTQ persons have every right that every other person in the world would have.”

Grenell, known for his hawkish views on national security, is also currently under consideration to be Trump’s ambassador to the U.N., three U.S. officials tell NBC News, after Trump’s previous pick for the job, Heather Nauert, withdrew from consideration over the weekend. Grenell once served as spokesman for the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. when that role was inhabited by John Bolton, who is now Trump’s national security adviser.

Planning for the campaign to decriminalize homosexuality started before the U.N. job became open. It was a topic of conversation over the weekend at the Munich Security Conference, where Grenell discussed it with a visiting congressional delegation that included Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.; and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.

Despite the dozens of countries that still outlaw homosexuality, LGBT rights have proliferated in recent years in many parts of the world. Two dozen countries now recognize same-sex marriage, according to the ILGA report, while another 28 recognize domestic partnerships. The last U.S. laws outlawing same-sex activity were invalidated by the Supreme Court in 2003 in Lawrence v. Texas.

Grenell, in his editorial in Bild, pointed out that India, Belize, Angola, and Trinidad and Tobago recently decriminalized same-sex conduct among consenting adults. But he said “reasonable people” must keep speaking out about laws in other places, including Iran and Chechnya, the Russian region where authorities have cracked down violently on gay people in recent years.

“While a student at Evangel University, a Christian liberal arts college in Missouri, I was taught by biblical scholars that all truth is God’s truth, no matter where it is found. The truth for LGBT people is that we were born gay,” Grenell wrote. “People can disagree philosophically about homosexuality, but no person should ever be subject to criminal penalties because they are gay.”

Josh Lederman is a national political reporter for NBC News.

Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-administration-launches-global-effort-end-criminalization-homosexuality-n973081

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Roger Stone Posted a Photo of a Judge Beside Cross Hairs. She Ordered Him to Court. – The New York Times

Mr. Stone told The Washington Post, meanwhile, that the symbol near Judge Jackson’s head was a “Celtic symbol.” And on a broadcast with the conspiracy site Infowars, he referred to the image as an “occult symbol.”

The Instagram post was not the first time Mr. Stone had transformed his court proceedings into a spectacle. As he emerged from a courthouse after his arrest, he threw up his arms in Richard M. Nixon’s trademark double peace sign.

Mr. Stone’s lawyers did not immediately return requests for comment on Tuesday afternoon. He told The Post that he planned to attend Thursday’s hearing.

Last month, Mr. Stone pleaded not guilty to felony charges in the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into Russian interference in the 2016 election. He was charged with obstruction of justice, witness tampering and making false statements.

Mr. Mueller’s indictment accused Mr. Stone of lying to investigators for the House Intelligence Committee, which is conducting its own inquiry into the Russian election interference campaign, and of pressuring another witness in that investigation to lie to the committee.

The indictment also said that Trump campaign officials dispatched Mr. Stone to make contact with WikiLeaks during the summer of 2016, when the website was releasing a trove of damaging information about Hillary Clinton that had been stolen by Russian intelligence operatives.

Mr. Stone has fiercely declared his innocence, saying he was “prepared to fight for my life” during the trial.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/us/roger-stone-instagram-judge.html

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As 2020 Democrats embrace ‘free everything,’ Klobuchar distinguishes herself by being realistic – Washington Examiner

With an announcement on Vermont Public Radio Tuesday morning, Sen. Bernie Sanders I-Vt. entered an already crowded field of Democrats hoping to land in the White House in 2020. Bringing his signature promises of free healthcare and the free college tuition to an already promise-heavy field, Sanders also joined the competition to tell voters only what they want to hear — not what is actually possible.

The night before, however, another Democratic candidate, Amy Klobuchar, offered a dose of reality — refreshing because of its rarity.

Speaking at a town hall in New Hampshire, she refused to back free four-year college. “If I was a magic genie and could give that to everyone and we could afford it, I would,” she said. When pushed on the subject and asked specifically about high debt burdens facing students, she held her ground, telling host Don Lemon:

That’s a remarkably candid and balanced approach to tackling a real problem of ballooning higher education costs.

And Klobuchar didn’t stop there. In the same town hall, she called the “Green New Deal” “aspirational” and characterized “Medicare For all” as something better suited to the future than a workable policy proposition in the present.

Klobuchar is right, and her fellow Democrats would do well to pay attention. Pragmatic policy might not be as flashy as grand promises of free goodies, but in the long run, Klobuchar is well on her way to differentiating herself. All she has to do is meet the low bar of being somewhat realistic.

Sanders and the Democrats who have been quick to embrace his proposals as party orthodoxy aren’t “magic genies” any more than Klobuchar is. The difference is that unlike Klobuchar, they aren’t ready to admit that.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/as-2020-democrats-embrace-free-everything-klobuchar-distinguishes-herself-by-being-realistic

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Mike Flynn ignored White House staff warnings, pushed plan to build nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia: Report – Washington Examiner

A new congressional report says President Trump’s former national security adviser Mike Flynn worked with a group of retired U.S. generals to push a plan to build dozens of nuclear power reactors in Saudi Arabia.

Flynn’s work with the retired military officials, who had formed a private company to promote the plan, was detailed in a report by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Flynn and Derek Harvey, whom Flynn hired to oversee Middle East affairs on the National Security Council, ignored several legal and ethical warnings from career White House staff about the proposal. The National Security Council’s top lawyer even ordered the pair to stand down, but they went ahead working to get the proposal on Trump’s agenda during a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the president’s May 2017 trip to Riyadh.

An unnamed official in the House report referred to the proposal as “a scheme for these generals to make some money.”

Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said the panel would be making requests for documents from the White House and other agencies as it continues to investigate the matter.

In February 2017, two weeks into the fledgling Trump administration, Flynn resigned from the White House after it was revealed that he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.

He pleaded guilty in December 2017 to a lying to the FBI about his two contacts with the Russian ambassador and agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Flynn participated in 19 interviews with prosecutors, who called his cooperation “substantial.” In exchange, Mueller recommended no prison time for the former Trump aide.

Flynn was supposed to be sentenced in December in the case, but a judge postponed the sentencing, asking both sides to update him on the case in March.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/mike-flynn-ignored-white-house-staff-warnings-pushed-plan-to-build-nuclear-reactors-in-saudi-arabia-report

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Dan Bongino: Like Comey and Brennan, McCabe finds impetus of Trump probe ‘inarticulable’ – Fox News

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McCabe says he briefed Congress on Trump probe with no objections

Did you notice how, during the Andrew McCabe interview with “60 Minutes,” the former FBI acting director kept talking about “articulable facts?”

Like ex-CIA boss John Brennan and disgraced former FBI Director James Comey, McCabe was coining his own phrase to explain why the intelligence community started spying the Trump team. But the justification for mounting a probe should not lie in weasel words. It belongs in something known in law enforcement circles as “Paragraph One.”

Paragraph One in federal investigations lays out precisely why the investigation began and how. You can’t skip over it with fanciful phrases or empty verbiage. Yet, in the case of the counter-intelligence probe that targeted Team Trump, it has been two years and we are still waiting for someone to articulate a clear reason why the program began.

MCCABE: ‘NO ONE’ IN CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP OBJECTED WHEN TOLD OF FBI’S TRUMP PROBE

McCabe told Scott Pelley the FBI had a bunch of “articulable facts,” but he didn’t bother to articulate them. Earlier, Comey told Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier the investigation was justified by a “mosaic of facts.” The impetus was described by Brennan in still another interview as the “corpus of intelligence.”

Is anybody ever going to describe what this is? Put yourself in Trump’s shoes. He is being investigated as a potential traitor to the United States for colluding with a foreign power and no one has yet described why they were investigating the Trump team during the campaign.

Here’s why they can’t say what the “articulable facts,” “mosaic,” or “corpus” really are. Because it was the dossier, commissioned and paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and later thoroughly discredited that prompted the never-ending probe. It was compiled by Trump-hating ex-British spy Christopher Steele, on behalf of Fusion GPS, which was hired by a law firm which in turn contracted with Clinton to get dirt – real or fake – on Trump. The dossier was the “predicate crime,” but now that it has been debunked, it is pretty hard to acknowledge what a house of cards this whole investigation has been.

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McCabe has already admitted the Justice Department would never have gotten a FISA warrant to investigate Trump, which gave them the power to monitor him, without the dossier. But you won’t hear him, Brennan or Comey say that anymore.

When the truth is no longer “articulable,” you have to get creative.

CLICK HERE TO HEAR MORE FROM THE DAN BONGINO SHOW

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/dan-bongino-like-comey-and-brennan-mccabe-finds-impetus-of-trump-probe-inarticulable

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‘Moderate’ a dirty word? 2020 Dems cringe at being labeled less than liberal – Fox News

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Senator Klobuchar becomes the latest in growing pool of 2020 Democratic contenders

Jacqui Heinrich reports.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar is highlighting her work bridging the political divide as she embarks on a 2020 presidential campaign – just don’t call her a “moderate.”

The day after the Minnesota Democrat declared her candidacy, she pushed back against the label, telling Rachel Maddow, “I think [voters] should see me as a progressive because I believe in progress and I have worked towards progress my whole life.”

KLOBUCHAR DISMISSES LIBERAL LABEL

The senator then touted a litany of “progressive” accomplishments during her years in Washington and at the state level.

The response underscored how even those candidates considered within the party’s center-left are reluctant to be seen as somehow ignoring the wishes of the – vocal and influential – liberal base. The label “moderate” is scorned, avoided as a potentially fatal term in a primary campaign stacked with left-wing heavyweights like Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey, who speak glowingly of big-government policies like the Green New Deal. Most recently, populist firebrand Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont on Tuesday launched his second straight bid for the Democratic nomination. And progressive champions Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jeff Merkley of Oregon may soon join the 2020 melee.

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Self-described centrists are few and far between. What is emerging is a field where candidates who might otherwise brand themselves moderates are pushing a message of unity while still highlighting their “progressive” bona fides — or, in the case of once-moderate-leaning figures like Beto O’Rourke or Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, openly aligning themselves with the party’s left flank.

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a possible 2020 candidate, pushed back on the “moderate” label during a visit to New Hampshire last week. “I think in many ways I’m more progressive than a lot of these other folks. We’re actually getting it done,” he said.

Last week, former Rep. O’Rourke of Texas, who appears to be leaning toward a presidential bid, called for tearing down existing wall along the U.S.-Mexico border in his home town of El Paso. His push may have been a move to highlight his progressive credentials, following coverage of his voting record in Congress which was more conservative than the average Democrat’s.

Asked about O’Rourke’s comments, Gillibrand signaled a willingness to consider the idea. The New York senator years ago was known for pro-Second Amendment views and strong opposition to illegal immigration. She has since backed calls to eliminate Immigration and Customs Enforcement, telling “60 Minutes” last year she’s “ashamed” of her past immigration stance.

“It’s clear at this early stage that the most energy is around progressive candidates,” said Wayne Lesperance, New England College vice president of academic affairs and a political science professor.

DEM HOPEFULS SHIFT TO THE LEFT

Lesperance has seen many of the candidates in action as they’ve made their way in recent weeks through the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire. He argued that “self-proclaimed moderates have a tougher path to navigate. And those who have taken moderate positions in the past find themselves having to explain those positions — never a good place to be while running.”

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Defending such accomplishments that may not sit well with the increasingly liberal progressive base may be an issue for former Vice President Joe Biden, who’s seriously mulling a White House run. While he’s credited with pushing progressive policies during his years as vice president, his more conservative record in the Senate may not play well on the 2020 campaign trail.

The percentage of Democrats identifying as liberal averaged 51 percent in 2018, according to Gallup polling. That’s up from 50 percent in 2017, marking the first time a majority of Democrats have adopted this term, following gradual increases since the 1990s.

But there may still be an opening for a moderate. The Gallup survey found that 47 percent of Democrats still identify as moderate or conservative. And the survey indicated that a majority of Democrats and independents who lean toward the party would like to see the party move more to the center.

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg appears to have no issues being labeled a moderate or centrist. The billionaire media mogul who’s contributed millions to fight for gun safety and battling climate change recently took aim at the Green New Deal, “Medicare-for-all” and other progressive proposals during a recent stop in New Hampshire, as he weighs launching a presidential campaign.

The Democrat turned Republican turned independent, who returned to the Democratic Party last year, called for “realistic” proposals that could win support from both Democrats and Republicans.

DELANEY TAKES AIM AT GREEN NEW DEAL

Count former three-term Rep. John Delaney of Maryland in that camp.

With many of his rivals for the nomination running to the left, Delaney highlights how he’s carving a more moderate path. And he’s taking aim at both the Green New Deal and “Medicare-for-all.”

At a speech last week at “Politics and Eggs,” a must stop for White House hopefuls campaigning in New Hampshire, Delaney called for a “sense of common purpose and unity” and described himself as a centrist, “which I don’t think is a dirty word.”

Asked by Fox News if many of the other Democratic White House hopefuls are too far to the left, Delaney said: “I think I’m the only one running as a problem solver. And I think there are two ways to seek the presidency. You can try to divide and create some goals that are unrealistic. I think that’s wrong … or you can actually try to unify the country.”

But Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson pushed back against labeling the contenders as progressive or moderate.

Ferguson, who was a senior spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, told Fox News that “voters are far more concerned with who you’re going to stand up for and why you’re going to do it than they are with any label you’re given. They want to connect with a candidate, believe what they are saying and see them as the antidote to Trump.”

“Voters don’t care what labels get pushed onto candidates because those labels don’t reflect the ideologies at play anymore,” he emphasized.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2020-dems-cringe-at-being-labeled-less-than-liberal

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Roger Stone Ordered To Appear In Court Following Post That Criticized Judge – NPR

Roger Stone has been ordered to appear in court on Thursday following an Instagram post that criticized the judge in his case. The judge may reconsider her gag order or Stone’s bail.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

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Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

Roger Stone has been ordered to appear in court on Thursday following an Instagram post that criticized the judge in his case. The judge may reconsider her gag order or Stone’s bail.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

The federal judge in Roger Stone’s case has ordered him to appear in court this week following a critical post about her that was shared on his Instagram account.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson scheduled a hearing for Thursday at which Stone will be required to argue why Jackson should not alter the gag order she has imposed or reconsider the bail Stone was granted after his arrest.

A post appeared on Stone’s Instagram account on Monday with a caption that criticized the “show trial” over which Jackson would preside, the latest element in a publicity campaign Stone has been carrying on since he was charged.

The caption that accompanied the photo of Jackson alluded to legal machinations by the “Deep State” that had set Stone up for a “show trial” in Jackson’s court.

The Instagram post was deleted, and Stone submitted documents apologizing to Jackson.

The judge had held open the prospect of modifying her gag order on Friday in the order that made clear she was trying to preserve her ability to seat an impartial jury and “maintain the dignity and seriousness of the courthouse and these proceedings.”

Stone, meanwhile, has been trying to raise money for a legal defense fund and told supporters in an earlier email that he has been reduced to surviving on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/02/19/695940185/roger-stone-ordered-to-appear-in-court-following-post-that-criticized-judge

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Bernie Sanders Announces 2020 Presidential Run – The New York Times

Born in Brooklyn, with an accent to match, Mr. Sanders ran unsuccessfully in the 1970s for governor and United States senator in Vermont before being elected mayor of Burlington in 1981. For 16 years, he served as the only congressman in the state before he was elected to the Senate in 2006.

Mr. Sanders has been a modest legislator and something of a lone wolf in Washington, promoting largely the same legislative agenda since his early days as a mayor. He voted against the Iraq War and, in 2008, he was one of roughly two dozen senators to vote against the $700 billion bailout of big banks.

And while he is often viewed as a pesky left-wing gadfly, he is also known to reach across the aisle, working on legislation with Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Senator John McCain of Arizona, both Republicans. He has rationalized voting for the 1994 crime bill, now heavily criticized for some its draconian provisions, by saying he had favored progressive parts of the bill, including the Violence Against Women Act, while strongly opposing measures that would lead to mass incarceration.

Mr. Sanders is the longest-serving independent in congressional history, a point of pride for him but one of consternation and annoyance for some Democrats who are quick to suggest he does not have the party’s interests at heart. Some Democrats blame him for Mrs. Clinton’s loss in 2016, saying his anti-establishment rhetoric during his campaign inflamed divisions in the party that proved insurmountable.

Mr. Sanders largely avoided scrutiny during his 2016 presidential run but he will likely face more direct attacks from his opponents and more attention from the news media in a second bid for the White House.

One 2016 campaign issue that will almost certainly resurface is his past record on gun control, Democratic strategists have said, given the intensity of the debate around gun violence following recent mass shootings. In 2005, Mr. Sanders voted for a law that granted immunity to gun manufacturers and dealers from most liability lawsuits. Mr. Sanders has also come under fire for support he received from the N.R.A. when he was running for Congress in 1990, in part because he vowed not to support a bill that mandated a waiting period for handgun sales.

Though his message is well worn, Mr. Sanders has indicated recently that he is trying to remedy weaknesses from his first presidential campaign. In recent months, he has made a series of trips to the South, where in 2016 he drew less than 20 percent of the black vote. On the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday this year, he made a two-day swing through South Carolina — where black voters made up about 60 percent of the Democratic primary vote in 2016 — that included addressing supporters and students and speaking with lawmakers.

He has also tried to shore up his foreign policy credentials, becoming a vocal critic of the United States support of Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. Late last year, the Senate passed a resolution, which Mr. Sanders helped introduce, to end American military assistance for the kingdom’s war there.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/us/politics/bernie-sanders-2020.html

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Trump mocks California over ‘Fast Train,’ firing back at emergency declaration lawsuit – Fox News

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Trump may veto legislation that blocks national emergency declaration

The White House is defending the president’s declaration to get funds to build the border wall and says Trump will protect it ‘guaranteed’; John Roberts reports.

President Trump on Tuesday ridiculed California for its “failed Fast Train project” as he fired back at a multi-state lawsuit opposing his declaration of a national emergency on the southern border.

“As I predicted, 16 states, led mostly by Open Border Democrats and the Radical Left, have filed a lawsuit in, of course, the 9th Circuit! California, the state that has wasted billions of dollars on their out of control Fast Train, with no hope of completion, seems in charge!” he tweeted.

NEW YORK, CALIFORNIA, 14 OTHER STATES SUE TRUMP IN NINTH CIRCUIT OVER EMERGENCY DECLARATION

Trump was referring both to the lawsuit and to California’s high-speed rail project from Los Angeles to San Francisco, which was canceled last week amid delays and cost overruns. The $77 billion project would dwarf the cost of a wall at the border — estimated to be $20-25 billion.

“The failed Fast Train project in California, where the cost overruns are becoming world record setting, is hundreds of times more expensive than the desperately needed Wall!” he tweeted.

The lawsuit, filed Monday by attorneys general of California, New York and 14 other states in the Ninth Circuit, challenges Trump’s announcement on Friday declaring a national emergency over border security — a move that allows him to potentially access more funds for the proposed wall on the southern border.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction to prevent Trump from shifting billions of dollars from military construction to the border without explicit congressional approval. The suit also asks a court to declare Trump’s actions illegal, arguing that Trump showed a “flagrant disregard of fundamental separation of powers principles engrained in the United States Constitution” by violating the Constitution’s Presentment and Appropriations Clauses, which govern federal spending.

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The litigation also includes allegations that Trump is violating the National Environmental Policy Act, by planning to build a wall that could impact the environment without first completing the necessary environmental impact reports.

HILLARY CLINTON SLAMS TRUMP’S NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARATION IN TWEET

“President Trump treats the rule of law with utter contempt,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Monday. “He knows there is no border crisis, he knows his emergency declaration is unwarranted, and he admits that he will likely lose this case in court.”

Trump had previously predicted that opposition to his declaration would come through the Ninth Circuit, a court he has had issues with before. The San Francisco-based circuit has long been a legal stumbling block for conservative policies, and the White House has sought to appoint conservative justices to thin out the liberal ranks on the court. Last year, Trump bypassed traditional protocols and ignored the concerns of the state’s Democratic politicians to nominate prominent conservatives to the Ninth Circuit.

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Trump announced his decision to declare a national emergency on Friday after a compromise spending bill to keep the government open gave only $1.4 billion for barriers, and that money came with strings attached about where it could be used and on what barriers. It was well short of the $5.7 billion Trump had demanded.

A senior administration official told Fox News the White House is planning to move $8 billion in funds toward the wall, $3 billion of which would be diverted with help from the emergency declaration.

Fox News’ Gregg Re, John Roberts and Barnini Chakraborty contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-mocks-california-over-fast-train-firing-back-at-emergency-declaration-lawsuit

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The Calm Before More Snow – WXOW.com

WXOW
3705 CTH 25, La Crescent, MN 55947
Phone: 507-895-1919 or 800-947-9969 (WXOW)
or aedesk@wxow.com>

Source Article from https://wxow.com/weather/weather-now/2019/02/19/the-calm-before-more-snow/

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Ocasio-Cortez raises eyebrows after comparing Trump’s border wall to Berlin Wall – Fox News

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez compares Trump’s border wall to Berlin Wall

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) compares Trump’s border wall to the Berlin Wall during a livestream.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised eyebrows after comparing President Trump’s border wall plans to the Berlin Wall separating communist Germany from the free world.

The New York Democrat made her remarks during a livestream for supporters on Friday, where she spoke out about the scrutiny she received ever since she won the election last year and dethroned top Democrat Joe Crowley.

BILL DE BLASIO CORRECTS OCASIO-CORTEZ’S CLAIM ABOUT SPENDING AMAZON TAX BREAK MONEY

“No matter how you feel about the wall, I think it’s a moral abomination,” Ocasio-Cortez said on the issue of the border wall that Trump has been pushing for since getting into office.

“I think it’s like the Berlin Wall. I think it’s like any other wall designed to separate human beings and block out people who are running away from the humanitarian disasters. I just think it’s wrong,” she added.

The Berlin Wall, which became the most notable border of the “Iron Curtain” during the Cold War, was built following the Soviet Union’s recommendation amid exodus of Germans living under the communist rule in East Germany following the World War II and the partition of the country.

The wall, guarded by soldiers on the East’s side, was a way to block the East Germans from fleeing communism to West Berlin and West Germany, a free and Democratic country. Multiple people were shot by the soldiers in their desperate efforts to escape East Berlin.

“Dear @AOC: Let me serve as your private professor here. The Berlin Wall was meant to keep people inside the socialist/communist utopia and stop them from fleeing to the decadent capitalist west. So as the New Millennial Lenin, you might want to refrain from using this example,” Gad Saad, an evolutionary behavioral scientist at the John Molson School of Business, tweeted.

NEW YORK, CALIFORNIA, 14 OTHER STATES SUE TRUMP IN NINTH CIRCUIT OVER EMERGENCY DECLARATION

“People who compare the US-Mexico border wall to the Berlin wall failed or slept through the easiest history classes in middle school and high school,” wrote another Twitter user.

President Trump’s proposed border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, meanwhile, has been touted as a deterrent against drug and human trafficking, in addition as a way to reduce illegal immigration numbers.

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The White House is planning to move $8 billion in currently appropriated or available funds toward construction of the wall. Of that, $3 billion could be diverted with help from the national emergency declaration.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ocasio-cortez-raises-eyebrows-after-comparing-trumps-border-wall-to-berlin-wall

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N.J. weather: Up to 6 inches of snow in forecast. Latest update on winter storm timing for Wednesday. – NJ.com

A winter storm watch for will be in effect beginning Wednesday morning until Wednesday night for mainly the western half of the state, where snowfall totals are expected to be highest. Those counties include Salem, Gloucester, Camden, northwestern Burlington, Cumberland, Hunterdon, Somerset, Middlesex, Mercer, Sussex, Warren and Morris.

Ice won’t be much of a factor with this storm for most with just a few hundredths of an inch are expected in northwestern counties.

Source Article from https://www.nj.com/expo/other/g66l-2019/02/cc470c510b3956/nj-weather-up-to-6-inches-of-snow-in-forecast-latest-update-on-winter-storm-timing-for-wednesday.html

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Memo to Trump: If this be ‘treason,’ make the least of it – Washington Examiner

When ordinary people too cavalierly throw around the word “treasonous,” they devalue civil discourse and constitutional understanding. When a president wantonly uses the word, he himself is being almost, well, treasonous.

And if that second sentence above is a slight overstatement, even with the modifier “almost” included, well, it’s still a lot closer to truth and reason than it was for President Trump to tweet the accusation Monday morning at two top law-enforcement officials. Trump concluded a series of tweets by saying that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and then-Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe had done something “ illegal and treasonous” in questioning his fitness for office.

No, Mr. President. What they did was patriotic by some lights, and at the very least was dutiful. But what you do by your charges of “treason,” coming from the Oval Office, is to dangerously ratchet up the political temperature. The president is not a king. Opposition to him is not a crime. And mere consideration of a constitutional provision to remove him is nowhere near treason.

Trump was reacting to McCabe telling TV newsmagazine “60 Minutes” that he and Rosenstein were at least somewhat serious in wondering whether Trump was mentally fit for office, and in trying to figure out ways to ascertain the answer in a way that would be dispositive – including including a wiretap if it could be done legally. In doing so, they were in the very earliest stages of considering use of the Constitution’s 25th Amendment, a section of which allows for the removal of an incapacitated president.

It is almost inarguable that Trump acts strangely sometimes, and mercurially and rashly. It is beyond question that a spirited public debate was occurring about whether Trump was indeed mentally unfit in 25th Amendment terms. The amendment is there for good reason. Prior presidents have suffered incapacitation. Witness former President Woodrow Wilson, who suffered a stroke and was forced to rely on his wife to carry on his official duties.

The amendment is not to be used lightly, and it contains significant internal safeguards against misuse. It was a well-considered reaction by the public at large, supported by two thirds of Congress and by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states, to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy.

To even suggest that the mere consideration of beginning a process of ascertaining a president’s mental fitness is illegal, much less treasonous, is to suggest that the 25th Amendment itself should be ignored. It is to suggest that the American people acted illegitimately in instituting the amendment, and that public officials are acting unlawfully by taking it seriously. It is to suggest that the president is a law unto himself, and that the mere act of questioning his fitness is not just a crime, but also is the single worst crime against the state itself that the Constitution recognizes.

A president holds a unique position of power. When he yells “treason,” it carries particular weight. And when he uses it to suggest that questioning him is illegitimate, he at least suggests that he is above the law.

For Trump to use the word treason in this way, as he now has done several times during his presidency, is to create a public impression which, if it takes hold, would undermine our constitutional order.

Of course, we all know that Trump tweets with abandon and often from ignorance. We know we aren’t supposed to take all his tweets literally. But that doesn’t excuse him. It just means we have even more reason to question his judgment, even if not his sanity.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/memo-to-trump-if-this-be-treason-make-the-least-of-it

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Trump declares ‘socialism is dying’ amid Venezuela ‘catastrophe,’ promises ‘this will never happen to us’ – Fox News

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Trump: A new day is coming in Venezuela and Latin America

Socialism is dying and liberty is being reborn, President Trump tells supporters in Miami, Florida.

President Donald Trump, speaking in a major foreign policy address in Miami to members of the Venezuelan community, declared Monday that “a new day is coming in Latin America” and issued a stark assessment that “socialism is dying” across the world.

In a wide-ranging rebuke of socialism that seemed targeted as much at Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua as it was at congressional Democrats, Trump remarked: “We know that socialism is not about justice, it’s not about equality, it’s not about lifting up the poor — it’s about one thing only: power for the ruling class. And, the more power they get, the more they crave. They want to run health care, run transportation and finance, run energy, education, run everything. They want the power to decide who wins and who loses, who’s up and who’s down, what’s true and what’s false, and even who lives and who dies.”

Before a supportive and raucous crowd at Florida International University in Miami Trump announced, flanked by large American and Venezuelan flags, “This will never happen to us. … To those who would try to impose socialism on the United States, we again deliver a very simple message: America will never be a socialist country.”

The president’s vow came as Democrats have proposed an evolving agenda of “Medicare-for-all,” free college tuition, minimum wage increases and even guaranteed basic income.

“When Venezuela is free, and Cuba is free, and Nicaragua is free, this will become the first free hemisphere in all of human history,” Trump said.

The address was the second time Trump publicly and forcefully has condemned what he has called “the horrors of socialism and communism” and “massive wealth confiscation” in recent weeks, following his similar vow during the State of the Union address that “America will never be a socialist country.”

That remark, which left Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., stone-faced, came as part of a larger condemnation of disputed President Nicolas Maduro for “turning that nation from being the wealthiest in South America into a state of abject poverty and despair” through a mixture of “brutality” and “socialist policies.”

Venezuelan boys holding cups of a grape-flavored drink, part of the free lunch that is given out daily at the “Divina Providencia” migrant shelter in La Parada, near Cucuta, Colombia, on the border with Venezuela, on Monday. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

On Monday, Trump hammered that theme repeatedly and called on Venezuela’s military to rise up and take on Maduro, who has blocked U.S. humanitarian aid shipments.

“We know the truth about socialism in Venzuela, in Cuba, in Nicaragua, and all around the world. Socialism promises prosperity, but it delivers poverty,” Trump said. “Socialism promises unity, but it delivers hatred and it delivers division. Socialism promises a better future, but it always returns to the darkest chapters of the past. That never fails. It always happens. Socialism is a sad and discredited ideology rooted in a total ignorance of history and human nature, which is why socialism, eventually, must always give rise to tyranny — which it does. Socialists profess a love of diversity, but they always insist on absolute conformity.”

DEMS SIT EXPRESSIONLESS AS TRUMP DECLARES SOCIALISM WILL NEVER COME TO THE U.S.

As the crowd chanted “USA,” Trump, who was joined by first lady Melania Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and National Security Adviser John Bolton, asserted, “The people of Venezuela stand at the threshold of history — ready to reclaim their country and to reclaim their future. Not long ago, Venezuela was the wealthiest nation by far in South America. But, years of socialist rule have brought this once-thriving nation to the brink of ruin.

“The results have been catastrophic,” Trump continued. “Almost 90 percent of Venezuelans now live in poverty. In 2018, hyperinflation in Venezuela exceeded one million percent. Crippling shortages of food and medicine plague the country. Socialism has so completely ravaged this great country that even the world’s largest reserves of oil are no longer enough to keep the lights on.”

FOX NEWS POLL: CAPITALISM TRUMPS SOCIALISM

As the monthslong political crisis in Venezuela continued, Trump took multiple generalized shots at socialism that pointedly were not limited to the country’s borders.

“America will never be a socialist country.”

— President Trump

“The days of socialism and communism are numbered not only in Venezuela, but in Nicaragua and Cuba as well,” Trump said, as the crowd roared. “Do we love Cuba? Do we love Nicaragua? Great countries. Great potential.”

SOCIALIST OCASIO-CORTEZ SAYS TRUMP IS ‘SCARED’ OF SOCALISM, AS AMAZON BAILS ON NYC

Trump again declared that Guaido was the country’s rightful president amid what he called an unprecedented “humanitarian disaster.” He also made a public case to Venezuela’s military, which has remained loyala to Maduro and could play a decisive role in the stalemate, to support Guaido’s government.

Trump issued a dire warning to Venezuela’s military that if they continue to stand with Maduro, “you will find no safe harbor, no easy exit and no way out. You will lose everything.”

Trump added: “We seek a peaceful transition of power, but all options are open.”

Trump urged the Venezuelan military to accept Guaido’s offer of amnesty and refrain from violence against those opposing Maduro’s government. And he praised the Venezuelan opposition, saying of the people of Venezuela, “They are turning the page on dictatorship and there will be no going back.”

Free lunches prepped with lentils, a slice of bologna, rice and a piece of plantain ready to be served at a migrant shelter in La Parada, near Cucuta, Colombia, on the border with Venezuela, Monday. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

The Maduro-controlled military has blocked the U.S. from moving tons of humanitarian aid airlifted in recent days to the Colombian border with Venezuela. The aid shipments have been meant in part to emphasize the hyperinflation and shortages of food and medicine that are gripping Venezuela.

“Unfortunately, Dictator Maduro has blocked this life-saving aid from entering the country. He would rather see his people starve than give them aid, than help them,” Trump said. “Millions of Venezuelans are starving and suffering while a small handful at the top of the Maduro regime plunder the regime into poverty and death. We know who they are and we know where they keep the billions of dollars they have stolen.”

The aid is supposed to be moved into Venezuela on Feb. 23 by supporters of Guaido. But, Maduro has called the aid unnecessary and said it constituted an attempt to destabilize his government.

Trump delivered the remarks to a supportive audience at Florida International University in Miami. South Florida is home to more than 100,000 Venezuelans and Venezuelan-Americans, the largest concentration in the country. Trump has largely been spending the holiday weekend at his private club in West Palm Beach.

Juan Guaido speaking during an economic forum in Caracas last week. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Critics said Maduro’s re-election last year was fraudulent, making his second term illegal.

On Sunday, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio — whom Trump invoked in his Monday address — visited a border staging point for U.S. aid to Venezuela and warned soldiers loyal to Maduro that it would be a “crime against humanity” if they blocked entry of the goods being channeled through Maduro’s rivals.

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An enthusiastic throng of Venezuelan migrants, some chanting “Rubio! Liberty,” met the senator as he visited Cucuta and held a news conference in sight of a border bridge that has been flooded in recent months by people escaping the hardships of Venezuela’s hyperinflation and severe shortages of food and medicine.

While Russia, China, Turkey and a large number of Asian and African countries still back Maduro, Rubio dismissed them, saying in English: “The countries that support Maduro do not surprise us. All of them are corrupt and none of them is a democracy and many of them are owed billions of dollars that they want to get paid by the corrupt regime.”

Fox News’ Greg Wilson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-venezuela-socialism-dying-this-will-never-happen-to-us

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Trump defies every restraint – CNN

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Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN

Updated 1:21 AM ET, Tue February 19, 2019

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what’s happening in the world as it unfolds.

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Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) reveals what she’d ask President Trump if the two were a part of a hypothetical debate.”,”descriptionText”:”During a CNN town hall, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) reveals what she’d ask President Trump if the two were a part of a hypothetical debate.”},{“title”:”Graham: Better for school kids to have a secure border “,”duration”:”01:23″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/02/18/graham-emergency-border-wall-funding-school-sot-lead-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/02/18/graham-emergency-border-wall-funding-school-sot-lead-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190218172227-graham-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/02/18/graham-emergency-border-wall-funding-school-sot-lead-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/”,”description”:”Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told CBS that he supports President Trump’s argument that building a border wall constituted a national emergency and that it would be justified to divert funds from schools to securing the border. “,”descriptionText”:”Sen. 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Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) discusses why she currently doesn’t support a Medicare for All style health plan for America.”,”descriptionText”:”During a CNN town hall, Sen. 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Joseph Votel, the top US commander in the Middle East leading the war against ISIS, shares why he disagrees with President Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria. CNN’s Barbara Starr reports.”,”descriptionText”:”Gen. Joseph Votel, the top US commander in the Middle East leading the war against ISIS, shares why he disagrees with President Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria. 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Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told CBS that he supports President Trump’s argument that building a border wall constituted a national emergency and that it would be justified to divert funds from schools to securing the border. “},{“title”:”Klobuchar: We can look to Medicare for All in the future”,”duration”:”00:44″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/02/19/klobuchar-medicare-for-all-town-hall-sot-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/02/19/klobuchar-medicare-for-all-town-hall-sot-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190218220945-03-klobuchar-town-hall-0218-screengrab-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/02/19/klobuchar-medicare-for-all-town-hall-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/”,”description”:”During a CNN town hall, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) discusses why she currently doesn’t support a Medicare for All style health plan for America.”,”descriptionText”:”During a CNN town hall, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) discusses why she currently doesn’t support a Medicare for All style health plan for America.”},{“title”:”Melania Trump: We support great people of Venezuela”,”duration”:”02:19″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/02/18/donald-melania-trump-miami-venezuela-praise-sot-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/02/18/donald-melania-trump-miami-venezuela-praise-sot-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190218171920-donald-and-melania-trump-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/02/18/donald-melania-trump-miami-venezuela-praise-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/”,”description”:”President Donald Trump and first lady Melania are in Miami where he is expected to urge Venezuelan military officials to back the country’s self-declared interim President Juan Guaido and allow humanitarian aid to flow into Venezuela.”,”descriptionText”:”President Donald Trump and first lady Melania are in Miami where he is expected to urge Venezuelan military officials to back the country’s self-declared interim President Juan Guaido and allow humanitarian aid to flow into Venezuela.”},{“title”:”Stone apologizes to judge for Instagram post”,”duration”:”01:53″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”http://www.cnn.com”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/us/2019/02/18/roger-stone-instagram-post-judge-misinterpreted-jarrett-tsr-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”us/2019/02/18/roger-stone-instagram-post-judge-misinterpreted-jarrett-tsr-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190201173752-roger-stone-judge-gag-order-perez-brown-tsr-vpx-00002309-large-169-4.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/us/2019/02/18/roger-stone-instagram-post-judge-misinterpreted-jarrett-tsr-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/”,”description”:”CNN’s Sara Murray reports that longtime President Donald Trump associate Roger Stone has apologized to the court after he shared a controversial Instagram post of the federal judge who is presiding over his case.”,”descriptionText”:”CNN’s Sara Murray reports that longtime President Donald Trump associate Roger Stone has apologized to the court after he shared a controversial Instagram post of the federal judge who is presiding over his case.”},{“title”:”Merkel hammers Trump as Ivanka looks on”,”duration”:”02:36″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”http://www.cnn.com”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/02/18/angela-merkel-ivanka-trump-german-cars-security-threat-sot-sanger-nr-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/02/18/angela-merkel-ivanka-trump-german-cars-security-threat-sot-sanger-nr-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190218160922-angela-merkel-ivanka-trump-german-cars-security-threat-sot-sanger-nr-vpx-00000102-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/02/18/angela-merkel-ivanka-trump-german-cars-security-threat-sot-sanger-nr-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/”,”description”:”While speaking at the Munich Security Conference, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called out the Trump administration over the President’s claim that German cars pose a security threat. CNN’s David Sanger discusses.”,”descriptionText”:”While speaking at the Munich Security Conference, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called out the Trump administration over the President’s claim that German cars pose a security threat. CNN’s David Sanger discusses.”},{“title”:”World leader puts Biden on the spot”,”duration”:”01:51″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/02/18/joe-biden-2020-run-armenian-president-sot-chalian-nr-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/02/18/joe-biden-2020-run-armenian-president-sot-chalian-nr-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190218154312-joe-biden-armenian-president-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/02/18/joe-biden-2020-run-armenian-president-sot-chalian-nr-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/”,”description”:”Armenian President Armen Sarkissian asked former Vice President Joe Biden if he intends to run for president in 2020.”,”descriptionText”:”Armenian President Armen Sarkissian asked former Vice President Joe Biden if he intends to run for president in 2020.”},{“title”:”Top US commander at odds with Trump over Syria and ISIS”,”duration”:”02:17″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”http://www.cnn.com”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/02/17/top-us-commander-votel-trump-isis-syria-troops-pullout-pkg-nr-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/02/17/top-us-commander-votel-trump-isis-syria-troops-pullout-pkg-nr-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190217170621-gen-joseph-votel-starr-intv-large-169-2.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/02/17/top-us-commander-votel-trump-isis-syria-troops-pullout-pkg-nr-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/”,”description”:”Gen. Joseph Votel, the top US commander in the Middle East leading the war against ISIS, shares why he disagrees with President Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria. CNN’s Barbara Starr reports.”,”descriptionText”:”Gen. Joseph Votel, the top US commander in the Middle East leading the war against ISIS, shares why he disagrees with President Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria. CNN’s Barbara Starr reports.”},{“title”:”Fox News hosts claim ‘coup’ against Trump”,”duration”:”02:31″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/02/17/fox-news-trump-coup-stelter-rs-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/02/17/fox-news-trump-coup-stelter-rs-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190217111112-trump-0215-large-169-2.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/02/17/fox-news-trump-coup-stelter-rs-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/”,”description”:”Brian Stelter and his panel examine Fox News’ use of the word \”coup\” after former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said in an interview with CBS that the Justice Department held meetings about Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and questioned whether there was cabinet support to remove President Trump. “,”descriptionText”:”Brian Stelter and his panel examine Fox News’ use of the word \”coup\” after former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said in an interview with CBS that the Justice Department held meetings about Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and questioned whether there was cabinet support to remove President Trump. “},{“title”:”Trump team is drowning with acting officials”,”duration”:”01:23″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/02/17/trump-administration-acting-officials-revolving-door-victor-blackwell-bts-ndwknd-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/02/17/trump-administration-acting-officials-revolving-door-victor-blackwell-bts-ndwknd-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190213080312-01-trump-cabinet-0212-large-169-2.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/02/17/trump-administration-acting-officials-revolving-door-victor-blackwell-bts-ndwknd-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/”,”description”:”Trump’s administration has been riddled with one departure after another, leaving his cabinet filled with vacancies and many acting officials. CNN’s \u003ca href=\”http://www.cnn.com/profiles/victor-blackwell\” target=\”_blank\”>Victor Blackwell \u003c/a>explains. “,”descriptionText”:”Trump’s administration has been riddled with one departure after another, leaving his cabinet filled with vacancies and many acting officials. CNN’s \u003ca href=\”http://www.cnn.com/profiles/victor-blackwell\” target=\”_blank\”>Victor Blackwell \u003c/a>explains. “},{“title”:”Heather Nauert withdraws bid for UN ambassador role”,”duration”:”01:33″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”http://www.cnn.com”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/02/17/heather-nauert-withdraws-us-ambassador-united-nations-nr-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/02/17/heather-nauert-withdraws-us-ambassador-united-nations-nr-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190204081619-01-heather-nauert-lead-image-large-169-3.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/02/17/heather-nauert-withdraws-us-ambassador-united-nations-nr-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/”,”description”:”Heather Nauert, the former Fox News anchor turned State Department spokesperson, has withdrawn her name from consideration as the US Ambassador to the United Nations “,”descriptionText”:”Heather Nauert, the former Fox News anchor turned State Department spokesperson, has withdrawn her name from consideration as the US Ambassador to the United Nations “},{“title”:”SE Cupp: Does this sound like a guy with an emergency?”,”duration”:”02:29″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”http://www.cnn.com”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/02/16/se-cupp-monologue-trump-national-emergency-unfiltered-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/02/16/se-cupp-monologue-trump-national-emergency-unfiltered-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190216181026-cupp-unfiltered-2-16-large-169-3.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/02/16/se-cupp-monologue-trump-national-emergency-unfiltered-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/”,”description”:”CNN’s SE Cupp slams President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency over border wall funding.”,”descriptionText”:”CNN’s SE Cupp slams President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency over border wall funding.”},{“title”:”Awkward silence after Pence mentions Trump in speech”,”duration”:”00:41″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/02/17/pence-silence-announcement-trump-ndwknd-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/02/17/pence-silence-announcement-trump-ndwknd-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/190217064145-pence-silence-announcement-trump-ndwknd-vpx-00002018-large-169-2.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/02/17/pence-silence-announcement-trump-ndwknd-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/”,”description”:”Vice President \u003ca href=\”https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/14/us/mike-pence-fast-facts/index.html\” target=\”_blank\”>Mike Pence\u003c/a> was met with an awkward silence after mentioning President Trump at a security conference in Munich. “,”descriptionText”:”Vice President \u003ca href=\”https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/14/us/mike-pence-fast-facts/index.html\” target=\”_blank\”>Mike Pence\u003c/a> was met with an awkward silence after mentioning President Trump at a security conference in Munich. “}],’js-video_headline-featured-14bskdo’,”,”js-video_source-featured-14bskdo”,true,true,’this-week-in-politics’);if (typeof configObj.context !== ‘string’ || configObj.context.length

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