House Democrats close to finalizing border aid bill | TheHill – The Hill
House Democrats close to finalizing border aid bill | TheHill – The Hill

House Democrats on Wednesday said they will move forward next week with funding legislation that addresses the surge of migrants at the southern border.

Democratic lawmakers say they are close to an agreement — which has been stalled for weeks — in response to the Trump administration’s request for $4.5 billion in emergency funds to help agencies handle the influx of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The development came as the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced bipartisan legislation Wednesday in response to the administration’s request. That measure is expected to hit the Senate floor next week.

House Democrats say they intend to advance their own bill next week before lawmakers leave town for the Independence Day recess.

Rep. Nita LoweyNita Sue LoweyHouse Democrats close to finalizing border aid bill House Democrats close to finalizing border aid bill Democrats take aim at Trump policies by passing T spending package MORE (D-N.Y.), head of the House Appropriations Committee, said she and her colleagues have “concerns with the Senate bill as currently written.”


“We are continuing to work diligently to finalize legislation to address the humanitarian crisis at the southern border, with a view to bringing a House bill to the floor next week,” Lowey said in a statement.
 
A Democratic aide said there are concerns regarding protections for migrant children and the inclusion of Defense Department funding in the Senate bill. That measure would provide $145 million to the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force and Army National Guard for their involvement in the border response, including medical assistance and mobile surveillance.

The House is in the process of plowing through its annual spending bills for fiscal 2020, which starts Oct. 1, but Republicans have been hammering Democrats for weeks of inaction on the president’s emergency request. They argue the money is needed by early July to ensure the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, doesn’t fall short on funding.

“They’re literally days away from running out of money to have the funding they need to take care of these young children with serious health issues,” said House Minority Whip Steve ScaliseStephen (Steve) Joseph ScaliseHouse Democrats close to finalizing border aid bill House Democrats close to finalizing border aid bill Hillicon Valley: GOP senator wants one agency to run tech probes | Huawei expects to lose B in sales from US ban | Self-driving car bill faces tough road ahead | Elon Musk tweets that he ‘deleted’ his Twitter account MORE (R-La.).

House Majority Leader Steny HoyerSteny Hamilton HoyerHouse Democrats close to finalizing border aid bill House Democrats close to finalizing border aid bill Hoyer expects reparations bill to get a floor vote MORE (D-Md.) said Democrats “don’t want to leave here without humanitarian resources to handle what is a humanitarian crisis at the border.” He said Democrats might move forward with their own bill if Republicans can’t get on board.


“There’s a crisis, and we need to deal with it. And we want to deal with it,” Hoyer said.


GOP lawmakers have been shown draft text of the bill Democrats intend to put on the floor next week, according to a Democratic aide.


A major sticking point in the House stems from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, where lawmakers are concerned that the bill could end up funding the administration’s deportation policies. Appropriators are trying to assuage those concerns by ensuring the funding can’t be used beyond the purposes of humanitarian aid.

“We should provide the humanitarian assistance necessary to change the conditions along the border, particularly as it relates to immigrant children,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem JeffriesHakeem Sekou JeffriesHouse Democrats close to finalizing border aid bill House Democrats close to finalizing border aid bill House hearing marks historic moment for slavery reparations debate MORE (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday. “But we need to make sure that there are guardrails that are erected so that we do not inadvertently fund the reckless Trump deportation machine. That will be, in my view, our negotiating posture moving forward.”

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), an Appropriations Committee member who represents a district along the border, said he wants to see $40 million in funding to reimburse state and local governments for care of migrants. The Senate measure calls for $30 million on that front.
 
He also wants to ensure there’s sufficient funding for immigration judges.
 
But overall, lawmakers are nearing an agreement, Cuellar said.

“In many ways, I think we’re very close,” he said.

The Senate version includes a provision stating the allocated funds can be used only for the provided purpose, a nod to concerns that money could be transferred elsewhere.

It also would ensure that lawmakers can conduct oversight by entering facilities that house unaccompanied migrant children, as long as they coordinate the visit at least two days in advance. That provision came in response to multiple lawmakers over the past 12 months being denied entry when attempting to visit the facilities.

More than half of the funding in the Senate bill would go toward the Office of Refugee Resettlement to care for migrant children, while $1.3 billion would be used for improving conditions and reducing overcrowding at Customs and Border Protection facilities.

The White House request had included $3.3 billion for humanitarian aid to increase shelters and care for unaccompanied migrant children, as well as $1.1 billion for border operations like increasing the number of detention beds.

Sen. Patrick LeahyPatrick Joseph LeahyHouse Democrats close to finalizing border aid bill House Democrats close to finalizing border aid bill Senate panel approves .5B for Trump’s border request MORE (Vt.), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the legislation a “good faith compromise.”

“This package does not include everything that I would have wanted, it does not include everything that Sen. Leahy would want, but most importantly it does not include poison pills from either parties,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard ShelbyRichard Craig ShelbyHouse Democrats close to finalizing border aid bill House Democrats close to finalizing border aid bill Congressional leaders, White House officials fail to reach budget deal MORE (R-Ala.) said at the panel’s markup on Wednesday.

 

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/house/449431-house-democrats-close-to-finalizing-border-aid-bill

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India’s sixth biggest city is almost entirely out of water – CNN
India’s sixth biggest city is almost entirely out of water – CNN

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

Source Article from https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/19/india/chennai-water-crisis-intl-hnk/index.html

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The US, Australia, and the Netherlands should catch the MH17 suspects – Washington Examiner
The US, Australia, and the Netherlands should catch the MH17 suspects – Washington Examiner

The U.S., Australia, and the Netherlands should establish a joint task force to find, capture, and render suspects in the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17 so that they will face charges issued on Wednesday by Dutch prosecutors.

That would be a justifiably aggressive response to a clear atrocity. After all, the July 17, 2014 downing of MH17 killed 298 innocent civilians as they flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Russia bears direct responsibility. It provided a Buk missile launcher (utilizing a shrapnel based warhead) to Russian intelligence agents in eastern Ukraine. Dutch prosecutors have charged four of those agents with the atrocity. Three are Russians: former Russian FSB intelligence officer and Russian intelligence cutout, Igor Girkin, Russian GRU intelligence cutout operations officer, Sergei Dubinsky, and GRU ground branch officer, Oleg Pulatov. Also charged is Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko, who commanded Ukrainian separatists as a loyal Kremlin servant (it’s risky not to be loyal).

Of course, Russia and Russian-controlled Ukrainian separatists in eastern Ukraine aren’t going to hand over these suspects. The Russians deny any culpability for MH17 and, as with other Russian intelligence operations such as the 2018 poisoning of Sergei Skripal, will hide from the facts. That means others must bring justice. Seeing as 193 Dutch citizens and 27 Australians died on MH17, those nations should join with America to do so.

Why America?

Four reasons. Because Australia and the Netherlands are very close allies whose citizens have fought and died alongside ours in Afghanistan. Second, because those nations actively support us today. Third, because the U.S. military can bring special capabilities to bear in this mission. Fourth, because President Barack Obama woefully failed to support those nations in the immediate aftermath of MH17’s downing. New U.S. leadership will restore American alliance credibility.

President Trump should thus engage Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the formation of a joint military task force to capture the four suspects.

But this task force wouldn’t have to start from scratch. Relying on allied intelligence cooperation, the task force could center around three special forces units specifically trained for just this kind of hunting operation: the Netherlands Korps Commandotroepen, the Australian Special Air Service regiment, and the CAG (also known as Delta Force). Able to operate deep behind enemy lines, the task force could wait to strike and then grab our shared enemies off the streets or out of their homes.

Yes, this operation would likely entail taking casualties and earning new ire from Russian President Vladimir Putin. But Putin only has himself to blame. Moreover, the joined cause of justice and future deterrence makes this a worthy mission.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-us-australia-and-the-netherlands-should-catch-the-mh-17-suspects

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Federal agents raid ward office of South Side Ald. Carrie Austin: law enforcement source – Chicago Tribune
Federal agents raid ward office of South Side Ald. Carrie Austin: law enforcement source – Chicago Tribune

“Any time the FBI executes a search warrant of an elected official’s government office is a shocking development,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, said later at an unrelated news conference. “So I know what you know, which is not a lot at this point.”

Source Article from https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-chicago-alderman-ward-office-raided-fbi-20190619-yixrngfl5ncwnicwqexxon2fwy-story.html

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72 Officers In Philadelphia Pulled From Streets Over Inflammatory Facebook Posts – NPR
72 Officers In Philadelphia Pulled From Streets Over Inflammatory Facebook Posts – NPR

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross announced on Wednesday that 72 officers have been placed on administrative duty following an investigation into inflammatory social media posts.

Matt Rourke/AP


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Matt Rourke/AP

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross announced on Wednesday that 72 officers have been placed on administrative duty following an investigation into inflammatory social media posts.

Matt Rourke/AP

The Philadelphia Police Department has pulled 72 officers off their regular duties as authorities investigate inflammatory social media posts revealed in a database that found thousands of offensive postings by current and former officers, the city’s police commissioner said Wednesday.

Police officials in Philadelphia are describing the action as the largest removal of officers from the street in recent memory.

“We are equally as disgusted by many of the posts that you saw and in many cases, the rest of the nation saw,” said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross.

It is the latest fallout since the advocacy group The Plain View Project earlier this month released thousands of Facebook posts and comments by current and former police officers that range from racist memes, to posts celebrating violence and messages containing Islamophobic themes, among other offensive material.

Since the data dump, internal affairs officials in police departments including Phoenix, St. Louis and Dallas are probing whether the distasteful and sometimes violent material should warrant disciplinary action or terminations.

In Philadelphia, Ross said Wednesday that at least “several dozen” of the 72 officers now on desk duty will be disciplined and others will be fired, but he did not provide specifics, including any of the names of those who have been taken off of their regular duties.

“We’ve talked about from the outset how disturbing, how disappointing and upsetting these posts are,” Ross told reporter at the police department’s headquarters. “They will undeniably impact police-community relations.”

David Rudovsky, longtime Philadelphia civil rights lawyer who focuses on police misconduct, called the decision to place 72 officers on desk duty “significant,” saying the social media posts appear to show conduct that is inconsistent with the department’s promise of fair and equal treatment for all residents.

Rudovsky told NPR, “More important will be the future decisions regarding sanctions or other measures to deal with this widespread problem in the police department.”

The research project tracking officers’ use of social media flagged offensive material posted by about 2,900 current officers, some in supervisor roles, and posts by hundreds of former police officers across eight police departments.

The database, first reported on by BuzzFeed and Injustice Watch, was undertaken by Philadelphia lawyer Emily Baker-White, who compiled the trove of postings in an effort to examine whether the online behavior could undermine public trust in police and make it more difficult for officers to work with minority communities.

After looking through the postings, Ross said some of the bigoted content will indeed compromise confidence in the city’s police department.

“This puts us in a position to work even harder than we already do to cultivate relationships with neighborhoods and individual groups that we struggle to work with or struggle to maintain relationships with now,” said Ross, noting that the postings tarnish the police department’s reputation.

“We will work tirelessly to repair that reputation,” he added.

The scandal has implicated more than 300 officers in Philadelphia, a city that has some 6,500 active police officers.

It would not be fair, Ross said, to assume all officers are biased because of the Facebook activities of a fraction of the department.

“There are many, many thousands who don’t think like this and who wouldn’t engage in this kind of behavior,” Ross said. “Wouldn’t make sense to assume that everybody is a racist and everybody is Islamophobic and everybody is a sexist, because they’re not,” he said.

The department has hired the private law firm Ballard Spahr to sift through the 3,100 posts identified as containing offensive messages. The firm will help determine if the post was protected under the First Amendment, or not, Ross said.

Additionally, anti-bias and anti-racist training will be conducted across the department and officers will be reminded of what constitutes appropriate behavior on social media, according to Ross. Officials will also launch periodic audits of police officers’ social media accounts.

The department’s social media policy prohibits profanity, discriminatory language or personal insults.

The 72 officers placed on desk duty represents the largest removal of Philadelphia police officers from the streets over a single investigation, Ross said.

“I can’t think of any other investigation that we’ve undertaken, at least in my 30 years, with that many people taken off the street at one time,” he said.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has called the officers’ Facebook postings “extremely disturbing.”

“The content of the social media posts are antithetical to our administration’s values and simply won’t be tolerated,” said Kenney’s spokeswoman Deana Gamble. “He is confident that the Commissioner will discipline officers accordingly when the investigation concludes.”

The Philadelphia NAACP has called on Ross to fire officers who are found to have published objectionable material.

While Ross refused to say how many officers will be terminated at the end of the department’s investigation, he said the posts will cause some law enforcement officials to lose their jobs.

“There are some, sadly,” Ross said. “who won’t return to service here.”

WHYY’s Max Marin contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/06/19/734241210/72-philadelphia-police-officers-placed-on-desk-duty-over-offensive-social-media

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Joe Biden says Cory Booker ‘should apologize’ for slam over working with segregationist senators – Fox News
Joe Biden says Cory Booker ‘should apologize’ for slam over working with segregationist senators – Fox News
Video

Joe Biden suggests Cory Booker owes him an apology

Joe Biden speaks after a fundraising event in Bethesda, Maryland.

Former Vice President Joe Biden told reporters on Wednesday that he was not going to apologize for invoking his ability decades ago to work with two segregationist southern senators to “get things done.”

A Fox News camera was rolling when Biden was asked if he was going to apologize for his remarks. The 2020 Democrat hopeful answered, “Apologize for what?”

Biden faced scorching criticism Wednesday from his primary rivals including two of the three black candidates running for the White House — Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California – who raised serious concerns after Biden highlighted his ability to work with the segregationist senators.

BIDEN SLAMMED BY DEM RIVALS FOR HIGHLIGHTING ABILITY TO WORK WITH SEGREGATIONIST SENATORS

Booker said in a statement he was “disappointed” Biden had yet to issue an “immediate apology.”

“Cory should apologize,” Biden said in response on Wednesday. “He knows better. Not a racist bone in my body. I’ve been involved in civil rights my whole career. Period. Period. Period.”

Video

Biden made the comments as he was arriving at a fundraising event in Bethesda, Md., on Wednesday evening.

Appearing on CNN later Wednesday night, Booker said, “I was surprised he didn’t apologize.”

He added, “I know that I was raised to speak truth to power and that I will never apologize for doing that. Vice President Biden shouldn’t need this lesson and at a time when we have from the highest office in the land divisiveness, racial hatred and bigotry being spewed he should have the sensitivity to know that this is a time I need to be an ally, I need to be a healer, I need not engage in usage of words that will harm folks. And so, this is deeply disappointing.”

When asked how he felt about rival Democrats saying he had issues talking about race, Biden answered, “They know better.”

Video

Booker said Wednesday, “Vice President Biden’s relationships with proud segregationists are not the model for how we make America a safer and more inclusive place for black people, and for everyone.”

Harris told Fox News while riding an elevator on Capitol Hill that “it concerns me deeply.”

BIDEN HOLDING TOP-DOLLAR FUNDRAISERS AMID ATTACKS FROM RIVALS

She continued, “If those men had their way, I wouldn’t’ be in the United States Senate and on this elevator right now.”

Biden, the clear front-runner in the race for the Democrats’ nomination, initially brought up the names of Sens. James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia while speaking at a fundraiser Tuesday in New York City. Eastland and Talmadge, two senior members in the Senate when Biden arrived in the chamber in 1973, were firmly opposed to desegregation efforts.

“I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,” the 76-year old Biden said as he briefly imitated the late senator’s southern drawl. “He never called me boy. He always called me son.”

And, he called long-deceased Talmadge “one of the meanest guys I ever knew.”

Video

But, discussing the “civility” in the Senate during the 1970s, Biden said: “Well guess what? At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done. We got it finished. But today, you look at the other side and you’re the enemy. Not the opposition, the enemy. We don’t talk to each other anymore.”

The comments were part of Biden’s repeated warnings against Democrats who said it was not worth trying to find compromise with Republicans on the numerous divisive issues that have brought Washington to a standstill.

When asked for his reaction to the criticism from his fellow Democrats, Biden said, “What I was talking about, I could not have disagreed with Jim Eastland more. He was a segregationist. I ran for the United States Senate because I disagreed with the views of the segregationists [sic] in the Senate at the time.”

He added, “As I led the Judiciary Committee, I was able to pass, what I was talking about was The Voting Rights Act, I was able to pass the voting rights act while, when I was a young senator, when he [Eastland] was still the chairman, he voted against it and we beat him in The Voting Rights Act.”

He continued, “Secondly, when I was chairman I extended The Voting Rights Act for 25 years not five years. In addition to that, I made it very clear by the last time as I was on that committee I was chairman of foreign relations but I was a lead Democrat. We extended it another 25 years and we got 98 out of 98 votes for it.”

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote.

“The point I’m making is, you don’t have to agree. You don’t have to like the people in terms of their views. But you just simply make the case and you beat them,” Biden said.

“You beat them without changing the system,” he added.

Later Wednesday, Biden spoke about the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. “He’s the guy who got me on the Judiciary Committee, we served from years and years. And we had to put up with the likes of Jim Eastland and Hermy Talmadge and all those segregationists and all of that,” Biden said. “And the fact of the matter is that we were able to do it because we were able to win– we were able to beat them on everything they stood for.”

He continued, “We in fact detested what they stood for in terms of segregation and all the rest.”

Biden then brought up The Voting Rights Act once again.

“And because of Teddy letting me become chairman of the Judiciary Committee in 1982, when he moved on to take on Health and Human Services, we were able to do so much. We restored The Voting Rights Act, we did it, and over time we extended it by 25 years not just five years.”

Video

Booker, in his statement on Wednesday, emphasized that you “don’t joke about calling black men ‘boys.’ Men like James O. Eastland used words like that, and the racist policies that accompanied them, to perpetuate white supremacy and strip black Americans of our very humanity.”

“I have to tell Vice President Biden, as someone I respect, that he is wrong for using his relationships with Eastland and Talmadge as examples of how to bring our country together,” Booker added. “And frankly, I’m disappointed that he hasn’t issued an immediate apology for the pain his words are dredging up for many Americans. He should.”

The political spotlight on Biden’s comments came on Juneteenth, an American holiday that commemorates the June 19, 1865, announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas. The holiday more broadly also marks the emancipation of those held in slavery throughout the Confederacy.

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The pushback also marked Biden’s second major dispute in recent weeks with his primary rivals, having recently faced criticism for his support of the Hyde Amendment, which bars the use of federal funds to subsidize abortions in most cases. He later reversed his stance.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser, Alexandra Pamias, Jason Donner and Sam Dorman contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/joe-biden-cory-booker-segretationist-senators-apologize

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Trump’s plan for the Dem debates: Make it about him – POLITICO
Trump’s plan for the Dem debates: Make it about him – POLITICO

President Donald Trump wants to stay the focus of attention as 2020 Democratic hopefuls duke it out for their party’s nomination. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

2020 elections

The president aims to suck up as much oxygen as possible from the 20 Democratic presidential contenders debating in Miami.

Donald Trump wants his Democratic competitors for the White House to introduce themselves to the American public next week on his terms.

Ahead of the first two Democratic presidential primary debates next Wednesday and Thursday, the president and his political team are angling to dominate the news cycle with carefully released tidbits meant to keep the public hooked on the machinations of the commander in chief. This will range from the president sitting down for an extended interview with an anchor from Noticias Telemundo, who is also a moderator of the Democratic debates, to an announcement by the vice president next Tuesday in Miami — where the Democrats are holding their debates — that unveils a list of prominent Latino and Hispanic supporters. And on the night of the first debate, Trump himself might live-tweet the debates as he flies on Air Force One to Japan for the G-20.

Story Continued Below

Just as Trump has dictated so much of the political narrative over the last four years, the president’s team is hoping the two Democratic debates simply morph into liberal candidates reacting to the president instead of putting forward their own visions for the country, policy proposals or personal stories. The blunt reality, Trump’s allies say, is that a Trump tweet can quickly overtake most actions by any one Democratic presidential candidate — an exasperating scenario for Democrats.

“Donald Trump knows how to dominate the media landscape like no other candidate in history, whether he’s bringing up a new issue or branding an opponent or adversary. The media can’t help but react to his statements and tweets,” said Sean Spicer, the former White House press secretary and communications director.

In particular, the Trump campaign wants to illustrate the president’s support among Hispanic voters in Florida, a key swing state where the Democratic debates will be held and where both parties are vying for votes.

To that end, Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to speak Tuesday at an event in Miami where he will unveil a coalition of top Hispanic supporters and business executives, according to four people familiar with the schedule. The campaign is still finalizing the exact list, assembled by campaign staffer Sandra Benitez, but it is expected to include Houston businessman Rick Figueroa and Orange County entrepreneur Mario Rodriguez, among others.

A spokesman for the Trump campaign declined to comment.

The goal, those close to Trump say, is to show top Trump officials actively courting a key demographic group just two days before Democrats take the stage to spar with one another, said one Republican close to the campaign.

Locking down Hispanic votes could also help the Trump campaign expand the electoral map in 2020, said one Trump supporter.

“Hispanics massively outperformed expectations in the 2016 election for Trump, and will likely prove even more critical in 2020,” said Steve Cortes, president of Trump’s Hispanic Advisory Council. “Rising Hispanic pro-Trump sentiment can solidify key Trump states, especially Florida and Arizona, and potentially flip other blue states like Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada.”

That same day, Trump is slated to speak to a long-planned fundraising dinner in Washington, D.C., for the Republican National Committee — an event intended to bolster the campaign’s preferred image that Trump is far ahead of any individual Democratic candidates in terms of fundraising.

The RNC announced Wednesday — just after his reelection launch rally Tuesday night in Orlando, Fla. — that Trump had raised $24.8 million in a 24-hour period, without specifying the exact timing for raking in that specific figure. That haul far exceeds the fundraising dollars any Democratic candidates raised following their own campaign launches.

The two-part Democratic debates kick off Wednesday night, an event that all of Trump’s political advisers expect him to watch closely and offer up reaction.

Several of Trump’s top political advisers would like the president to sit out live-tweeting the debates, according to two Republicans close to the White House, yet they are also realistic enough to realize Trump will do whatever he wants.

And Trump has shown that his in-the-moment tweets can even change the direction of high-profile events.

During a House hearing in March 2017, Trump’s Twitter account shared a misleading clip from then-FBI chief James Comey and former NSA head Mike Rogers, indicating that they had said Russia “did not influence [the] electoral process.” Within minutes, a Democratic congressman was reading the tweet aloud, asking Comey to reaffirm that the intelligence community reached no conclusion on whether a widespread Russian meddling campaign affected the outcome of the 2016 election.

“It certainly was not our intention to say that today, because we do not have any information on that subject,” Comey said. “That’s not something that was looked at.”

Trump’s allies said the president’s tweets could lead to a similar situation during the Democratic debates, yet again making the narrative about Trump and not the Democrats.

“It would not shock me if one of the moderators of the debate asked a Democrat about one of the president’s tweets and somehow then Trump became an even bigger part of the night,” said one Republican close to the White House.

Top campaign and political advisers have been urging the president instead to cast the wide field of Democrats in broad brushstrokes as socialists. They want him to brand the Democrats as uniform supporters of sweeping policies like Medicare-for-all and the Green New Deal — progressive ideas that could pull more centrist Democrats to the left.

They’ve also tried and failed to convince Trump to avoid calling out specific candidates, like former Vice President Joe Biden, to mixed results.

There’s a prevailing view among top advisers that the president should save that specific name-calling and verbal ammunition for the general election, or once the Democratic nominee becomes clear.

“Everyone says, ‘Get him off Twitter,’ but the president seems to know when to push things and when he goes too far, how to use Twitter to get things back on track,” the Republican close to the White House added.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/19/donald-trump-democratic-debates-1372359

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Judge in census case: New evidence alleging political motivation behind citizenship question ‘raises a substantial issue’ – CNN
Judge in census case: New evidence alleging political motivation behind citizenship question ‘raises a substantial issue’ – CNN

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

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/19/politics/judge-citizenship-census-case-substantial-issue/index.html

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India’s sixth biggest city is almost entirely out of water – CNN
India’s sixth biggest city is almost entirely out of water – CNN

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

Source Article from https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/19/india/chennai-water-crisis-intl-hnk/index.html

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With Maduro entrenched in Venezuela, Trump loses patience and interest in issue, officials say – The Washington Post
With Maduro entrenched in Venezuela, Trump loses patience and interest in issue, officials say – The Washington Post

Karen DeYoung

Josh Dawsey

June 19 at 10:35 PM

Last winter, the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro seemed a sure bet to President Trump, a quick foreign policy win at a time when other initiatives in Asia and the Middle East appeared stalled or headed in the wrong direction.

Then came spring, when Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader Trump had recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate president, called for the Venezuelan military to rise up and switch sides. But while the White House had received opposition assurances that many in the upper echelons of the security forces and government had pledged to flip, virtually none answered Guaidó’s call.

A frustrated Trump believed that national security adviser John Bolton and his director for Latin American policy, Mauricio Claver-Carone, “got played” by both the opposition and key Maduro officials, two senior administration officials said. As the president “chewed out the staff” in a meeting shortly after the April 30 failure, in the words of one former Trump official involved in Venezuela policy, he mused that he might need to get on the phone himself to get something done.

Summer arrives this week with Maduro still in place, and little indication that he is imminently on his way out, or that the Trump administration has a coherent strategy to remove him. The president, officials said, is losing both patience and interest in Venezuela.

[How a plot filled with intrigue and betrayal failed to oust Venezuela’s president]

Other officials disputed the report of a chewing-out. National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis, said, “Not only is this patently false, but once more the Washington Post traffics in fairy tales rather than the truth.”

“The United States never said that its effort in Venezuela would be limited to one round,” another senior official said. “The administration’s maximum-pressure policy relies upon consistency and discipline to achieve the ultimate goal.”

This official and others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss administration policymaking.

As Venezuela becomes more ungovernable, with sanctions having cut off much of its income, some argue, the fatigue afflicting many Maduro opponents has also begun affecting the regime. That will theoretically encourage negotiations over elections in which Maduro does not participate, although it may not ensure his immediate departure, as the United States has advocated.

But Trump has clearly been frustrated about a foreign policy issue he “always thought of . . . as low-hanging fruit” on which he “could get a win and tout it as a major foreign policy victory,” the former official said. “Five or six months later . . . it’s not coming together.”

Since early last month, Trump has rarely spoken publicly about Venezuela or his “all options” promise to use military force if necessary to achieve U.S. goals there.

In a closed-door meeting Wednesday to campaign donors at his Doral golf club in key election state Florida — just miles from where he delivered a February speech to Venezuelan and Cuban expatriates warning that those who continued to support Maduro would “lose everything” — Trump did not mention Venezuela, one person in attendance said.

Trump’s Twitter account, which once provided regular saber-rattling on Venezuela, has largely gone silent on the subject.

In one exception, Trump tweeted early this month that “Russia has informed us that they have removed most of their people from Venezuela.” After Russia denied it, saying there had been no such action or communication with the administration, it was never mentioned again.

It was Russian President Vladi­mir Putin whom Trump had called in early May to tell him — leader to leader — that Moscow’s support for Maduro had to stop. Both Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had already put Russia on notice. But Trump, after the call, had said mildly that Putin assured him that Russia was “not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela, other than he’d like to see something positive happen.”

Early last week, responding to shouted questions as he prepared to board Marine One on the White House South Lawn, Trump blamed the ongoing Venezuela crisis on his predecessor and threw in a dig at his 2020 electoral competition. “It’s been brewing for many years,” he said. “It really started, in the worst form, during the Biden-Obama administration.”

Asked whether he would consider giving special immigration status to Venezuelans fleeing their country, something others in the administration have carefully avoided committing to, Trump said that “we’re looking at that very strongly.”

Later in the week, he met for more than two hours with top officials from Major League Baseball, who asked that he reconsider his cancellation of a deal they made with Cuba to bring its baseball players to the United States. In addition to Russia, the administration blames Cuba for supporting Maduro, and during the meeting Trump tried to enlist baseball executives to deliver two messages to leaders in Havana. He’s be happy to make a deal on Cuban baseball players, Trump said, if they would tell Cuba to get out of Venezuela.

Trump also suggested he would be willing to meet directly with Cuban officials under the right conditions. “The president gave MLB the same message he’s given to everyone — the Cubans need to change their behavior, in Venezuela and internally,” said one senior administration official.

While Trump appears to have withdrawn from the fray, Bolton tweets about Venezuela more than on any other foreign policy issue. “The United States will continue to stand firmly in support of ending Maduro’s repression,” he wrote Tuesday.

In Miami, as Trump was heading toward Florida, it was Vice President Pence who spoke to Venezuelan Americans to salute the embarkation of the U.S. Navy ship Comfort to Latin America, expecting to treat Venezuelan refugees.

Pence deflected questions about U.S. military intervention, saying that the administration’s objective was “to see democracy and the rule of law restored in Venezuela so Venezuelans can go home to a free nation.”

John Hudson contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/with-maduro-entrenched-in-venezuela-trump-loses-patience-and-interest-in-issue-officials-say/2019/06/19/a7ba2c56-92b1-11e9-b58a-a6a9afaa0e3e_story.html

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Trump UN pick Kelly Craft breaks with White House on climate change – BBC News
Trump UN pick Kelly Craft breaks with White House on climate change – BBC News

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Reuters

President Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations has broken with his viewpoint on climate change, saying it “poses real risks”.

Kelly Craft told lawmakers at her confirmation hearing she would “be an advocate for all countries to do their part in addressing climate change”.

In the past, she had claimed to believe “both sides” of the climate debate.

Mr Trump has previously called climate change a “hoax” and questioned the scientific consensus on the matter.

Earlier this month, Mr Trump said climate change “goes both ways” and blamed other nations for worsening air and water quality.

In 2017, he pulled the US out of the landmark Paris climate agreement, saying the deal was disadvantageous to US workers.

Mrs Craft who is currently serving as the ambassador to Canada, had offered a similar opinion in 2017, telling CBC she believed “there are scientists on both sides that are accurate”.

But she reversed that viewpoint on Wednesday, telling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “human behaviour has contributed to the changing climate”.

“Let there be no doubt: I take this matter seriously.”

She also acknowledged “that fossil fuels have played a part in climate change”.

However, Mrs Craft did support Mr Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris accord, saying the US did not have to “be part of an agreement to be leaders”.

She added that the US should not have to assume “an outsized burden on behalf of the rest of the world”.

Mr Trump’s nominee has been under scrutiny over her ties to the coal industry as she is married to Joseph Craft III, the head of Alliance Resource Partners, one of the country’s largest coal companies.

After being grilled by Democrats on how she would handle fossil fuel discussions in the UN, Mrs Craft pledged to recuse herself from such talks if the ethics agreement called for it.

Media captionClimate Change: Should humans worry about extinction?

If confirmed, Mrs Craft would replace Nikki Haley, who resigned last October.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has continued to roll back environmental protections.

The latest such effort on Wednesday loosened restrictions on coal-fired power plants. The measure, signed by Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler, will allow individual states to determine if coal plants should reduce emissions.

The new measure replaces an Obama-era plan that sought to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Environmentalists have criticised the new policy, saying it will worsen fossil fuel emissions, while Republican lawmakers from coal industry states praised the move.

Media captionClimate change: How 1.5C could change the world

New York Attorney General Letitia James has promised a lawsuit.

In a statement, she called the rule “another prime example of the Trump administration’s weak attempt to deny that climate change has caused – and will continue to cause – devastating impacts on both the safety and health of all Americans and the economy”.

Scientists have warned that the world is headed towards a temperature rise of 3C, that would cause significant and dangerous changes to the planet.

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48699663

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‘Stain of slavery’: Congress debates reparations to atone for America’s original sin – The Guardian
‘Stain of slavery’: Congress debates reparations to atone for America’s original sin – The Guardian

For the first time in more than a decade, a debate has taken place between lawmakers in Congress on the original sin of the United States – the enslavement of 4 million Africans and their descendants – and the question of what can be done to atone for it through reparations.

At a hearing at a House judiciary subcommittee on Wednesday, lawmakers and their witnesses ranged over the legacy of slavery, the Jim Crow segregation that followed and modern scourges of mass incarceration, inequality and poverty that still plague African Americans.

As the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates summed up the discussion: “It was 150 years ago and it is right now.”

The hearing convened poignantly on Juneteenth, marking the day in 1865 when Union troops landed in Galveston, Texas, finally bringing freedom to slaves across the defeated south. That the debate has been a long time coming was demonstrated by the large numbers of people, most of them black, who attended the proceedings.

Inside the committee room, the sense of pent-up emotion being released was made plain through outbursts of booing and cheering as lawmakers and witnesses aligned to the two main parties made their cases.

The focus of the debate was HR 40, a House bill that was first introduced in 1989 by John Conyers, former Democratic congressman from Michigan. Since 2017, following Conyers’ departure from the House, the bill has been sponsored by Sheila Jackson Lee, the congresswoman from Texas. Her legislation would establish a 13-person government commission to study possible forms of compensation for the descendants of slaves as well as “any other forms of rehabilitation or restitution”.

Jackson Lee began by setting out the sobering statistics of slavery and its aftermath. She pointed out the 10 to 15 million Africans who were transported by force across the Atlantic, 2 million of whom died during the Middle Passage.

She then leapt forward to the present day, laying out the similarly stark statistics of African American disadvantage. One million black people are incarcerated, black unemployment stands at 6.6% – more than double the national rate, and 31% of black children live in poverty, also more than twice the national figure.

“I am not here in anger. I am not seeking to encourage hostilities,” Jackson Lee said. But she said of the concept of reparations: “Why not? And why not now? If not all of us, then who?”

The idea of reparations is as old as emancipation itself, having been enshrined in the promise approved by Abraham Lincoln to recompense freed slaves on southern land with “40 acres and a mule”. That pledge was revoked by Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson.

But in the modern era, it has periodically risen up again, championed by advocates and politicians. The Rev Jesse Jackson made it a pillar of his 1988 presidential campaign.

Now a new head of steam has built up, unprecedented in recent times. Of the 20 Democratic White House hopefuls who will be appearing at the first televised debates in Miami next week, 15 have indicated they would back a government study of the sort put forward in HR 40.

One of them, Cory Booker, has sponsored a companion bill in the US Senate that echoes the House version. Booker has enticed five other presidential candidates – his fellow US senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren – to join him as co-sponsors.

The frontrunner in the Democratic pack, Joe Biden, by contrast, has remained non-committal.

Booker addressed the reparations hearing, saying: “The stain of slavery was not just inked in bloodshed, but in policies that have disadvantaged African Americans for generations.”

The political explanation for the sudden uptick in interest in reparations lies in the dynamics of the 2020 race. Democratic candidates jockeying for position in a crowded field know that they must attract the support of African American voters in next year’s primaries if they are to have a chance of becoming the nominee to take on Donald Trump.

In the early primary state of South Carolina, more than 60% of the Democratic electorate is black.


Cory Booker, right, with Ta-Nehisi Coates before the hearing. Photograph: Pablo Martínez Monsiváis/AP

But Wednesday’s hearing was not only infused with the pragmatic needs of the presidential contenders. The idea of reparations has begun to develop a life of its own amid growing alarm about the racial direction in which America is moving.

In particular, concern has increased over the mounting racial wealth gap. As Elizabeth Warren, another leading presidential hopeful, frequently points out on the campaign trail, for every $100 enjoyed by the average white family, their black equivalent has only about $5.

Black families have an average net worth of $17,100, a tenth of the average accumulated wealth of white households, according to US government statistics. Economists routinely point to the legacy of slavery as a starting point to explain the wealth gap.

That case was most forcefully put at the hearing by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the author who helped kickstart the modern debate on reparations with an excoriating article in the Atlantic magazine five years ago. Coates said that it was impossible to divorce the evils of slavery from the modern suffering of black communities across America, because out of slavery came the implantation in the American mind that black people are inferior.

That idea of black inferiority was codified not just in the culture but in laws themselves, and persists powerfully today.

Coates launched into a devastating takedown of Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader in the US Senate who on Tuesday pre-empted the reparations debate by outright dismissing it. In a statement, McConnell had said: ““I don’t think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none of us currently living are responsible is a good idea.”

That set Coates off on a long monologue in which he pointed out that though McConnell may not have been around during slavery, he certainly was around for the injuries heaped upon black communities in more recent times. “For a century after the civil war black people were subjected to a relentless campaign of terror, a campaign that extended well into the lifetime of majority leader McConnell,” he said.

McConnell may not have been there for the Battle of Appomattox at the end of the civil war, “but he was alive for the execution of George Stinney, he was alive for the blinding of Isaac Woodard”.

Stinney was aged 14 when he was executed by electric chair in 1944 after a trial for murder of two white girls that was later overturned as unfair. Woodard was blinded after he was attacked by South Carolina police in 1946 – he was still in uniform having recently been honorably discharged from the US army as a second world war veteran.

Among the other celebrated witnesses was Danny Glover, the star of the Lethal Weapon movies and a longtime reparations advocate. He said that a national reparations policy was a “moral, democratic and economic imperative”.

Glover described himself as the great-grandson of Mary Brown, who was freed from slavery on 1 January 1863 when the emancipation declaration came down. He remembers meeting her when he was a small child.

“I call on all elected public officials to demonstrate your commitment in action today and co-sign HR 40,” Glover said.

But despite the new wind in the sails of the reparations movement , the idea of making amends for the wounds of slavery still faces a steep uphill struggle.

Opinion polls suggest that the American people remain divided over the idea. A Point Taken-Marist survey from 2016 found that 80% of Americans said they were opposed to reparations, with 60% of African Americans saying they were in favor.

The debate at the judiciary subcommittee was similarly starkly partisan. While the seats reserved for Democratic lawmakers were full, the places for their Republican colleagues were largely empty for the duration.

Republican Congress members and their invited witnesses followed McConnell’s lead and argued that the sins of a small minority of Americans more than 150 years could not be loaded on to the shoulders of today’s taxpayers.

Burgess Owens, a retired NFL player who spoke as a Republican witness, said that as a black man his main inspiration had been his father. “He inspired young people to work harder – if they pulled themselves up by the bootstraps, work harder than the next guy, that’s not racist – that’s the American way.”

Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/19/reparations-ta-nehisi-coates-cory-booker-congress-debate

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Dominican prosecutors say David Ortiz was not intended target in shooting – USA TODAY
Dominican prosecutors say David Ortiz was not intended target in shooting – USA TODAY
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USA TODAY Sports’ Bob Nightengale discusses the reactions of the baseball community after David Ortiz was wounded in a shooting in the Dominican Republic.
USA TODAY

The Dominican Republic’s chief prosecutor said Boston Red Sox icon David Ortiz was not the intended target of the June 9 shooting that put his life in peril, but was merely the victim of a hit gone wrong.

Attorney General Jean Alain Rodriguez said in a Wednesday news conference that Sixto David Fernandez, a friend of Ortiz’s who shared a table with him that night at the Dial Bar and Lounge in the capital city of Santo Domingo, was the real target.

Rodriguez added that a fugitive named Victor Hugo Gomez, whom he said is wanted by U.S. law enforcement, ordered the killing of Fernandez because of a longtime beef over supposedly providing information to the police about him.

Rodriguez said the gunman, identified by police as Rolfi Ferreira Cruz, was handed a photo of the intended victim but the lighting made it look like Fernandez was wearing white pants, as Ortiz was that night, and confused one for the other.

ORTIZ: Revered in Boston, a legend in the Dominican Republic

MORE: Ortiz’s condition upgraded

National Police Chief Ney Aldrin Bautista went on to describe an intricate plot purportedly masterminded by Gomez to extract payback on Fernandez by hiring an inmate he met when both spent time in a Dominican jail.

“Sixto David Fernandez pointed to Victor Hugo Gomez as the only person who may want to attempt to kill him, which he had already expressed through repeated threatening messages,’’ Rodriguez said.

The AG also said he interviewed Ortiz the day after the incident and the former baseball star known as “Big Papi’’ insisted he didn’t know anyone who would want to harm him, and that he had not received any threats.

Ortiz, 43, was shot in the back at point-blank range while sitting in the bar’s patio. He’s perhaps the best-known Dominican on the planet, but the shooter came in from behind and might not have seen his famous face.

Dominican police have arrested 11 persons in connection with the case, but until Wednesday they had not provided a motive for the attack. In the absence of an official version, unconfirmed stories about a liaison with the girlfriend of a drug kingpin and other speculation have filled the void.

Ortiz, who became one of the most popular players in Red Sox history as he led them to three World Series championships, remains in the intensive care unit of Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital. His wife, Tiffany, said Tuesday his condition has been upgraded from “guarded’’ to “good.’’

The previous day, Dominican authorities identified fugitive Alberto Miguel Rodriguez Mota as the man they believe paid the hitmen to attack Ortiz in a case that has drawn worldwide attention.

Ferreira Cruz escaped after the shooting but was later captured. His alleged accomplice, identified as Eddy Vladimir Feliz Garcia, fell off his getaway motorcycle and was pummeled by an enraged crowd before being handed over to police.

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Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2019/06/19/david-ortiz-shooting-dominican-prosecutors-target/1505609001/

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Biden campaign blasts ‘willfully disingenuous’ attacks on remark about segregationist senators | TheHill – The Hill
Biden campaign blasts ‘willfully disingenuous’ attacks on remark about segregationist senators | TheHill – The Hill

Joe BidenJoe BidenFive takeaways from Trump’s 2020 kickoff rally Five takeaways from Trump’s 2020 kickoff rally Sanders tears into Trump in response to campaign kickoff rally MORE‘s campaign on Wednesday defended the former vice president from mounting criticism from his Democratic White House rivals after he invoked his working relationships with two segregationist senators in the 1970s and pointed to it as an example of “civility” that no longer exists in the Senate.

Biden campaign spokeswoman Symone SandersSymone SandersOvernight Health Care: Biden camp defends amid Hyde backlash | Ebola outbreak may last 2 years | Feds target vaping companies over social media ‘influencers’ Overnight Health Care: Biden camp defends amid Hyde backlash | Ebola outbreak may last 2 years | Feds target vaping companies over social media ‘influencers’ Biden adviser pushes back against Hyde reversal criticism: ‘He’s authentic’ MORE issued a lengthy response on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon after multiple Democratic presidential rivals blasted Biden for mentioning former Sens. James Eastland (D-Miss.) and Herman Talmadge (D-Ga.) during a speech at a fundraiser the previous night.

“[Biden] did not praise a segregationist. That is a disingenuous take. He basically said sometimes in Congress, one has to work with terrible or down right racist folks to get things done. And then went on to say when you can’t work with them, work around them,” Sanders tweeted.

“Joe Biden has been an ally in the fight for civil rights for years. I am all here for VALID CRITICISM, but suggesting that Joe Biden – the man who literally ran for office against an incumbent at 29 because of the civil rights movement, the man who was at the forefront of marriage equality before it was politically popular, the man who served as President Obama’s VP, the man who literally launched his 2020 campaign calling out Nazis in Charlottesville along with Trump’s equivalency – suggesting he is actively praising a segregationist is just a bad take and a willfully disingenuous act,” she wrote in multiple tweets.

Biden’s campaign issued the response as Democratic rivals pounced on his remarks from a fundraiser Tuesday night, with Sen. Cory BookerCory Anthony BookerWarren introduces universal child care legislation Warren introduces universal child care legislation Booker responds to Trump’s mass deportation threat: ‘This is not who we are’ MORE (D-N.J.) saying Biden was “wrong” to invoke his working relationships Eastland and Talmadge as an example of political compromise and calling on him to apologize.

“You don’t joke about calling black men ‘boys,’ ” said Booker, who is black. “Men like James O. Eastland used words like that, and the racist policies that accompanied them, to perpetuate white supremacy and strip black Americans of our very humanity.”

“I have to tell Vice President Biden, as someone I respect, that he is wrong for using his relationships with Eastland and Talmadge as examples of how to bring our country together,” he added. “And frankly, I’m disappointed that he hasn’t issued an immediate apology for the pain his words are dredging up for many Americans. He should.”

Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersFive takeaways from Trump’s 2020 kickoff rally Five takeaways from Trump’s 2020 kickoff rally Sanders tears into Trump in response to campaign kickoff rally MORE (I-Vt.) echoed Booker’s call for an apology, adding that Biden’s remarks were particularly harmful “at a time when the Trump administration is trying to divide us up with its racist appeals.”

Democratic Sens. Kamala HarrisKamala Devi HarrisBiden, Sanders to be center stage at first debate Biden, Sanders to be center stage at first debate Poll: Six Dems lead Trump in Florida match-ups MORE (Calif.) and Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth Ann WarrenSanders tears into Trump in response to campaign kickoff rally Sanders tears into Trump in response to campaign kickoff rally Warren introduces universal child care legislation MORE (Mass.), New York City Mayor Bill de BlasioBill de BlasioPoll: Biden leads Sanders by 22 points Poll: Biden leads Sanders by 22 points Democratic presidential hopefuls react to debate placement MORE and former Rep. John DelaneyJohn Kevin DelaneyEx-Democratic lawmaker: Medicare needs have changed ‘dramatically’ over last 50 years Ex-Democratic lawmaker: Medicare needs have changed ‘dramatically’ over last 50 years Five takeaways from first Democratic debate lineup MORE (Md.) also blasted Biden over the comments he made Tuesday night in which he touted his ability to work with the two staunch segregationists during his time in the Senate despite their disagreements.

“At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done. We got it finished,” Biden said of Eastland and Talmadge. 

Biden has long cast himself as a supporter of civil rights and polls show he enjoys strong support among African American voters, many of whom associate him positively with former President Obama.

Biden launched his campaign in April with a broadside levied at President TrumpDonald John TrumpGOP senator introduces bill to hold online platforms liable for political bias Rubio responds to journalist who called it ‘strange’ to see him at Trump rally Rubio responds to journalist who called it ‘strange’ to see him at Trump rally MORE over his reaction to the deadly 2017 Charlottesville riots between white supremacists and counter-protesters. Trump infamously said he believed there were “very fine people on both sides.”

Yet progressives, eager to cut down Biden’s comfortable leads in early primary polls, have pointed to his association with Republicans during his time in the Senate as evidence that the former vice president may be too eager to work across the aisle if he were elected. 

“I know the new New Left tells me that I’m – this is old-fashioned,” Biden said Tuesday. “Well guess what? If we can’t reach a consensus in our system, what happens? It encourages and demands the abuse of power by a president. That’s what it does.”

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/449406-biden-campaign-blasts-willfully-disingenuous-attacks-on-remark-about

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New poll offers Trump dose of good news, amid 2020 campaign launch – Fox News
New poll offers Trump dose of good news, amid 2020 campaign launch – Fox News
Video

Trump kicks off 2020 campaign by targeting media, Democrats, Hillary Clinton

The president fires up his reelection campaign with harsh words for the media, congressional and 2020 Democrats and Hillary Clinton in Orlando, Florida; Jacqui Heinrich reports from Miami.

Hours after he formally kicked off his 2020 re-election campaign, a new national poll offers some encouraging numbers for President Trump.

The release Wednesday of a Suffolk University survey for USA Today comes a day after another poll in the crucial presidential battleground state of Florida showed the president trailing — and as several other polls have similarly shown high-profile Democratic candidates ahead.

THE LATEST POLLS FROM FOX NEWS

But the USA Today/Suffolk University survey showed 49 percent of Americans approving of the job Trump’s doing as president, with 48 percent giving him a thumbs down.

That’s a more positive showing for Trump compared with other recent polling of his presidential approval rating.

And in the new survey, 49 percent of voters predicted Trump would win re-election, with 38 percent pointing to a victory by the eventual Democratic presidential nominee. Further, the poll indicated that if the November 2020 general election were held today, the president would narrowly edge an unnamed Democratic nominee — 40-37 percent, with 9 percent supporting an unnamed third-party candidate and 14 percent undecided.

That result differs from other recent national and early primary and caucus voting state polls, which indicate Trump trailing some of the leading Democratic White House hopefuls in hypothetical general election matchups. Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign manager has slammed such non-partisan surveys as “the biggest joke in politics,” and the president frequently rails against them.

Trump trailed former Vice President Joe Biden – the clear front-runner right now in the race for the Democratic nomination – 50-41 percent in a Quinnipiac University poll in Florida that was released on Tuesday. The survey also suggested Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont topping Trump 48-42 percent and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of  Massachusetts ahead of the president 47-43 percent in hypothetical November 2020 showdowns.

“President Donald Trump trails both former Vice President Joseph Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders in general election matchups and basically ties other leading Democratic challengers,” Quinnipiac University poll assistant director Peter Brown said. “While most Florida voters are feeling better financially, President Trump remains underwater with a 44 percent job approval rating and a 51 percent disapproval rating.”

TRUMP FORMALLY KICKS-OFF 2020 RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN

The Quinnipiac University poll was released a few hours before Trump kicked off his 2020 re-election bid in a jam-packed arena in Orlando. Trump edged Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election to capture Florida’s 29 electoral votes. Democratic President Barack Obama narrowly won the state in the 2008 and 2012 elections.

Trump’s re-election campaign manager, Brad Parscale, is taking aim at such polls.

“The country is too complex now just to call a couple hundred people and ask them what they think. There are so many ways, and different people that are gonna show up to vote now,” Parscale told CBS News. “The way turnout now works, the abilities that we have to turn out voters – the polling can’t understand that. And that’s why it was so wrong in 2016. It was 100 percent wrong. Nobody got it right. Not one public poll.”

TRUMP’S  EYE POPPING SINGLE DAY FUNDRAISING HAUL

While Trump’s facing early warning signs in many national and early voting state polls, raising campaign cash has not been an issue. Trump’s re-election campaign and related committees raised an eye-popping $24.8 million in the 24 hours surrounding the president’s campaign kick-off, according to Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel.

“@realDonaldTrump has raised a record breaking $24.8M in less than 24 hours for his re-election. The enthusiasm across the country for this President is unmatched and unlike anything we’ve ever seen! #trump2020 #KeepAmericaGreat,” McDaniel tweeted early Wednesday morning.

The USA Today/Suffolk University poll was conducted June 11-15, with 1,000 registered voters nationwide questioned by live telephone operators. The overall sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted June 12-17, with 1,279 Florida voters questioned by live telephone operators. The overall sampling error is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/poll-trump-2020-launch

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Dominican Republic tourist deaths: FBI looking at minibar test results – CNN
Dominican Republic tourist deaths: FBI looking at minibar test results – CNN

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

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/19/us/dominican-republic-fbi-toxicology/index.html

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Nxivm sex cult leader found guilty: Live updates – CNN
Nxivm sex cult leader found guilty: Live updates – CNN
WRGB

Richard Donoghue, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, thanked the judge and jury for “carefully considering evidence” in the trial of Keith Raniere.

He also thanked the rest of the investigation and prosecution team as well as New York state police and the FBI.

“His crimes and the crimes of his co-conspirators, ruined marriages, careers, fortunes, and lives,” Donoghue said.

He described Raniere as a massive manipulator and con man.

“This trial has revealed that Raniere, who portrayed himself as a savant and a genius, was in fact a massive manipulator, a con man, and the crime boss of a cult-like organization involved in sex trafficking, child pornography, extortion, compelled abortions, branding, degradation and humiliation,” Donoghue said.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/nxivm-keith-raniere-verdict/index.html

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Watch: President Trump debuts Hillary Clinton impression during Florida campaign rally – Fox News
Watch: President Trump debuts Hillary Clinton impression during Florida campaign rally – Fox News
Video

Trump: The system is rigged, they gave Hillary a free pass on illegal server

President Trump addresses supporters during 2020 campaign kickoff rally in Orlando, Florida.

It’s been years since President Trump rolled out his nickname for Hillary Clinton, but on Tuesday night he unveiled a potentially new impression of her.

Trump, speaking at his official campaign launch in Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday night, harkened back to a moment from the 2016 debates with “Crooked Hillary” when the Democratic candidate asked if he would accept the results of the election.

To the delight of the thousands in attendance, Trump mockingly asked the question in a voice — seemingly debuting his “Hillary voice”.

‘OMG’: TOP HILLARY AIDE STUNNED BY APPARENT EMAIL HACK ATTEMPT IN MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, FBI DOCS SHOW

“You remember during one of the debates when ‘Crooked Hillary’ said ‘If I win, are you going to support me?’  But I must be honest, I didn’t give her a great answer,” Trump said, using the former Secretary of State’s voice. “That might have been my hardest question. During the debates. Isn’t it amazing that it worked the other way around, right?”

The entertainer-in-chief had the Florida crowd in a frenzy as he described his analysis of Clinton and her email scandal, telling the crowd he would not get the same benefit of the doubt with one email deleted and compared the Russia investigation to Clinton’s Benghazi investigation.

STATE DEPARTMENT IDENTIFIES 23 VIOLATIONS, ‘MULTIPLE SECURITY INCIDENTS’ CONCERNING CLINTON EMAILS

“If you want to know how the system is rigged, just compare how they came after us for three years with everything they had versus the free pass they gave to Hillary and her aides after they set up an illegal server, destroyed evidence, deleted and acid washed thirty-three thousand e-mails, exposed classified information and turned the State Department into a pay for play cash machine,” Trump said working the crowd into a fervor.

“If I got a subpoena for e-mails if I deleted one e-mail. Like a love note to Melania it’s the electric chair for Trump,” the president joked.

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Trump has shown he isn’t afraid to go off script during his rallies and also takes pride in prodding his political rivals. He recently dubbed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ‘Nervous Nancy.’

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/president-trump-hillary-clinton-campaign-launch

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Cory Booker, Democrats Slam Joe Biden For Segregationists Remarks – NPR
Cory Booker, Democrats Slam Joe Biden For Segregationists Remarks – NPR

Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event in New Hampshire. Biden came under fire from fellow Democrats after his remarks on working with segregationists during his time in the U.S. Senate.

Scott Eisen/Getty Images


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Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event in New Hampshire. Biden came under fire from fellow Democrats after his remarks on working with segregationists during his time in the U.S. Senate.

Scott Eisen/Getty Images

The day after former Vice President Joe Biden recalled his “civil” and productive working relationships decades ago with two longtime segregationist and racist fellow lawmakers, fellow Democrats are pouncing.

At a New York City fundraiser Tuesday night, Biden told donors he has reached across the aisle throughout his career. “I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,” Biden said, according to a pool report. “He never called me ‘boy’; he always called me ‘son.’ “

“Well, guess what? At least there was some civility,” Biden said, also pointing to a working relationship he forged with Georgia Sen. Herman Talmadge, another segregationist Democrat. “We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done. We got it finished. But today, you look at the other side and you’re the enemy. Not the opposition, the enemy. We don’t talk to each other anymore.”

Eastland represented Mississippi in the Senate for decades. He decried integration in public schools, the military and elsewhere and was a staunch opponent of civil rights legislation.

At the height of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s landmark Montgomery bus boycott, Eastland told a segregationist rally that “In every stage of the bus boycott we have been oppressed and degraded because of black, slimy, juicy, unbearably stinking n*****s.” According to Robert Caro’s Master Of The Senate, Eastland went on to urge the crowd to “abolish the Negro race” with “guns, bows and arrows, slingshots, and knives.”

“You don’t joke about calling black men ‘boys,’ ” New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, one of three black Democratic candidates for president, said in a statement Wednesday. “Vice President Biden’s relationships with proud segregationists are not the model for how we make America a safer and more inclusive place for black people, and for everyone. I have to tell Vice President Biden, as someone I respect, that he is wrong for using his relationships with Eastland and Talmadge as examples of how to bring our country together.”

Booker said in a statement that he was disappointed Biden had not offered an immediate apology. The Biden campaign has not yet responded to NPR’s requests for additional comment.

Booker wasn’t the only 2020 candidate to weigh in. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted that “it’s past time for apologies or evolution from Joe Biden. He repeatedly demonstrates that he is out of step with the values of the modern Democratic Party.”

Some of the sharpest criticism came from Connie Schultz, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist married to Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. “That segregationist never called you ‘boy’ because you are white,” she tweeted. “If you want to boast about your relationship with a racist, you are not who we need to succeed the racist in the White House.”

Throughout his career, Biden has said the civil rights movement was his motivation for entering politics. He has framed his 2020 presidential campaign as a rescue mission of sorts for the United States’ national character, pointing to President Trump’s response to the deadly 2017 Charlottesville white supremacist rallies as the moment he decided to enter the race.

Polls repeatedly show Biden with far more support from voters of color than any other Democratic candidate, and many African American voters say their main reason for backing him are his eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president.

As Biden has maintained his double-digit lead on the rest of the 23-candidate field, fellow Democrats have begun to take increasingly vocal shots at Biden’s moderate approach to governing. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have both begun to routinely criticize incremental and “middle ground” Democratic policies, though both have made a point to, for the most part, avoid calling out Biden specifically.

Biden’s reminiscence for his “civil” and productive relationship with Talmadge and Eastland moved the criticism from implicit to explicit — and did so a week before Biden will appear on a televised debate stage with nine other Democratic candidates.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/06/19/734103488/democrats-blast-biden-for-recalling-civil-relationship-with-segregationists

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House Democrats will vote on bill exploring reparations – POLITICO
House Democrats will vote on bill exploring reparations – POLITICO

“I think that’s a very serious issue and we need to look at it,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said of the reparations bill. | Alex Edelman/Getty Images

Congress

The push to respond to the country’s history of slavery and discrimination against African Americans is growing quickly in the Democratic Party.

House Democratic leaders on Wednesday committed to a floor vote for legislation to study reparations for the descendants of slaves — a historic move for the black community after the party sidestepped the debate for decades.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters that Democrats plan to vote on the bill, which he said would “look at how we try to compensate for the extraordinary racism and denigration” that African Americans have long faced.

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“I think that’s a very serious issue and we need to look at it,” Hoyer said.

The bill, drafted by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), would create a commission to look at a “national apology” for slavery and discrimination against African Americans, potentially including compensation.

Jackson Lee’s bill received a hearing Wednesday in the House Judiciary Committee — the chamber’s first hearing on reparations in a decade. The bill is expected to soon have a full committee markup, though Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) has not yet set a date. A floor vote would come after.

“It will get a vote if it comes out of committee. I expect it to come out of committee,” Hoyer said.

The proposal is largely backed by the Congressional Black Caucus, though some senior members fear it could alienate moderate voters and the idea has divided the caucus along generational lines.

Support for considering reparations has also quickly gained support in the 2020 Democratic primary, with contenders like Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) expressing their interest in Jackson Lee’s plan. It’s a stark shift from previous presidential campaigns where Barack Obama opposed reparations.

House passage of the bill would be a momentous event, though it’s unlikely to be considered in the Republican-controlled Senate; Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) rejected the idea of reparations on Tuesday.

“I don’t think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none us currently living are responsible is a good idea,” McConnell said. “We’ve tried to deal with our original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war, by passing landmark civil rights legislation. We’ve elected an African-American president.”

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries blasted McConnell on Wednesday, saying he has “zero credibility” on the issue.

“I could spend all day commenting on the inappropriate things that come out of the Grim Reaper’s mouth,” Jeffries said, using Democrats’ favored nickname for the GOP leader. “A reasonable exploration and discussion of how to deal with the legacy of slavery is the least that could occur.”

Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose 2014 essay “The Case for Reparations” reintroduced the issue to the national conversation, rebuked McConnell in his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday.

“Majority Leader McConnell cited civil rights legislation yesterday,” Coates said. “As well he should — he was alive to witness the harassment, jailing and betrayal of those responsible for that legislation by the government sworn to protect them.”

Coates also directly disputed McConnell’s argument that no one currently alive was responsible for the fallout of slavery, rattling off half a dozen instances of racist violence that took place in the 77-year-old senator’s lifetime and denouncing “a relentless campaign of terror” that stemmed from the laws and policies that followed slavery.

“It is tempting to divorce this modern campaign of terror, of plunder, from enslavement,” he said. “But the logic of enslavement, of white supremacy, respects no such borders.”

Heather Caygle contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/19/congress-reparations-bill-slave-descendants-1370402

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We Put the 2020 Democrats on the Spot. Here’s What We Learned. – The New York Times
We Put the 2020 Democrats on the Spot. Here’s What We Learned. – The New York Times

Fewer than half of the 21 candidates interviewed explicitly said that they were open to the idea, including all four female senators in the race: Ms. Warren, Kamala Harris of California, Ms. Klobuchar and Ms. Gillibrand.

“It depends on what happens with the Senate, if that’s realistic,” Ms. Klobuchar said.

Many others, including Mr. Sanders, Mr. O’Rourke and Mr. Booker, said they were against the notion. And some proposed alternate ideas to change the court.

“It’s not just about the number of justices,” said Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., who has proposed both expanding the court and overhauling the way justices are selected.

[See their responses on troops in Afghanistan and Israel’s record on human rights.]

On foreign policy, the Democrats appeared focused on undoing Mr. Trump’s policies and repairing the standing of the United States abroad. This was most apparent on the issue of climate, where nearly every candidate said they would aim to lead the world in addressing the crisis, reversing Mr. Trump’s approach.

Clarity and consensus were more elusive where the Middle East and Afghanistan were concerned. Some candidates — including Ms. Warren, Ms. Gillibrand and Julián Castro, the former housing secretary — said definitively that there would not be American troops in Afghanistan at the end of their first term. But many said it was possible or likely that they would leave some forces there.

“I believe that we should bring back our troops in Afghanistan,” said Ms. Harris, “but I also believe that we need to have a presence there in terms of supporting what the leaders of Afghanistan want to do in terms of having peace in that region.”

And even as liberals have grown more skeptical about the American relationship with Israel, most of the candidates expressed nuanced views about Israel’s record on human rights and the Palestinians.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/us/politics/2020-democratic-candidate-interviews.html

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