President Trump said Monday on Twitter that Immigration and Customs Enforcement will begin deporting “millions” of illegal migrants next week.
“Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in. Mexico, using their strong immigration laws, is doing a very good job of stopping people…” the president tweeted.
Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in. Mexico, using their strong immigration laws, is doing a very good job of stopping people…….
“…long before they get to our Southern Border. Guatemala is getting ready to sign a Safe-Third Agreement. The only ones who won’t do anything are the Democrats in Congress. They must vote to get rid of the loopholes, and fix asylum! If so, Border Crisis will end quickly!” he added.
….long before they get to our Southern Border. Guatemala is getting ready to sign a Safe-Third Agreement. The only ones who won’t do anything are the Democrats in Congress. They must vote to get rid of the loopholes, and fix asylum! If so, Border Crisis will end quickly!
The president did not offer specifics on what his claim entails.
The news comes the same day as the State Department announced it would be cutting foreign aid to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras for failing to take proper steps to curb illegal migrants coming to the United States.
“Carrie has apologized but refuses to budge on withdrawing the bill and resigning,” Anson Chan, a democracy advocate who was Hong Kong’s second-highest official until her retirement in 2001, said on Tuesday. “It seems every concession has to be dragged out of her.”
Some democracy activists are quietly nervous about the possibility of a resignation by Mrs. Lam, a lifelong civil servant, because her political heir apparent, Paul Chan, has a reputation for being even more strongly pro-Beijing.
Others are adamant that Mrs. Lam step down. They contend that the Hong Kong public should press for full and free elections rather than accept the current system, in which a pro-Beijing committee of fewer than 1,200 people selects the chief executive.
Protesters made similar demands for open elections five years ago, when they occupied major roadways for almost three months in what is known as the Umbrella Movement. While that movement did not achieve its short-term objectives, it had a major influence on this year’s anti-extradition protests.
Emily Lau, a former chairwoman of the Democratic Party who is still an influential voice on democracy issues, said the politics of Mr. Chan, the financial secretary, should not deter critics from calling for Mrs. Lam’s resignation.
“It would be a disaster to have him as chief executive,” Ms. Lau said. “But we should not say, ‘Because we don’t want Paul Chan, maybe Carrie should stay.’”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the media about attacks on merchant ships in the Persian Gulf, placing the blame on Iran. | Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images
But the administration is looking to pressure the clerical regime, not fight it, a senior official said.
The Trump administration and its domestic political allies are laying the groundwork for a possible confrontation with Iran without the explicit consent of Congress — a public relations campaign that was already well under way before top officials accused the Islamic Republic of attacking a pair of oil tankers last week in the Gulf of Oman.
Over the past few months, senior Trump aides have made the case in public and private that the administration already has the legal authority to take military action against Iran, citing a law nearly two decades old that was originally intended to authorize the war in Afghanistan.
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In the latest sign of escalating tensions, National Security Adviser John Bolton warned Iran in an interview conducted last week and published Monday, “They would be making a big mistake if they doubted the president’s resolve on this.” Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan announced on Monday evening that the U.S. was deploying an additional 1,000 troops to the region for “defensive purposes.” And Secretary of State Mike Pompeo jetted to Tampa, home of Central Command, on Monday evening to huddle with military officials to discuss “regional security concerns and ongoing operations,” according to a State Department spokeswoman.
The developments came as Iran announced it was on course to violate a core element of its nuclear deal with major world powers, exceeding the amount of enriched uranium allowed under the agreement in 10 days unless European nations intervened to blunt the economic pain of American sanctions. And they came as U.S. officials promoted video footage and images showing what they say were Iranian forces planting explosive devices on commercial oil tankers.
Yet even as the president’s hawkish advisers have highlighted Iran’s alleged bad behavior, administration officials privately stressed that direct military action remained highly unlikely absent an Iranian attack on an American ship or an American citizen. The president, who campaigned against getting the U.S. bogged down in unnecessary foreign wars, is considered the primary internal obstacle to a counterattack, officials said, noting that Trump continues to press for an improved nuclear deal.
Still, to the alarm of Democrats and some Republicans, Pompeo has suggested that if the administration does take military action, it might rely on the 2001 congressional bill that greenlighted America’s military response to the 9/11 attacks to strike Iran. Asked Sunday by CBS host Margaret Brennan whether the administration believed it had the authority to initiate military action, Pompeo would say only, “Every option we look at will be fully lawful.”
And Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a close ally of the administration, urged the president to attack Iran outright — adding that he didn’t need permission from Congress. “Unprovoked attacks on commercial shipping warrant a retaliatory military strike,” Cotton told Brennan. “The president has the authorization to act to defend American interests,” he said.
But in a sign of some unease among other Republicans, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told POLITICO that she expected to discuss the legitimacy of that justification — and of military retaliation itself — with her Senate colleagues this week.
Trump has sent conflicting messages about his own intentions — one day signaling his desire to negotiate with the clerical regime in Tehran, the next dismissing Iran as unready for serious talks. “While I very much appreciate P.M. Abe going to Iran to meet with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,” Trump tweeted last Thursday, “I personally feel that it is too soon to even think about making a deal. They are not ready, and neither are we!”
“The regime in Tehran is testing American patience with violence in the Gulf,” said Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “The administration now has to weigh its options.”
In some of Pompeo’s recent pronouncements, many on the left, and a few on the right, see the Trump team paving a path to war.
In April, the State Department named the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a foreign terrorist organization, a legal designation that some fear could be used to link the elite paramilitary force with al Qaeda. Later, Pompeo also said Iran had “instigated” a May 31 suicide attack on a U.S. convoy in Afghanistan, even though the Taliban claimed credit for the incident.
Pressed by CBS’s Brennan on Sunday, Pompeo reiterated the claim. “[W]e have confidence that Iran instigated this attack,” he said. “I can’t share any more of the intelligence. But I wouldn’t have said it if the intelligence community hadn’t become convinced that this was the case.”
The secretary of state’s efforts to link Iran and al Qaeda and to terrorism more broadly have become a flashpoint in multiple congressional hearings this spring — and they have taken on renewed significance given the growing possibility of a military confrontation between the two countries.
“It’s not surprising that you have a kind of revisitation of the AUMF because here you have what looks like the potential for a kind of real escalation,” said Dennis Ross, the veteran Middle East negotiator, referring to the 2001 bill that authorized military action against any national or individual involved in the 9/11 attacks.
“In the 2001 AUMF, there’s actually no real relationship to this,” Ross added. “It certainly didn’t name Iran and there comes a point where many in Congress want to have oversight over getting into a shooting war with Iran.”
As the president’s senior national security advisers huddled on Monday to consider how to respond to Iran, it was unclear how close the U.S. was inching to military action. Schanzer, for one, cast skepticism on an unattributed report in the Jerusalem Post on Monday that the U.S. had drawn up plans for a limited bombing campaign against an Iranian nuclear facility.
A senior administration official said Monday that the goal of the administration’s maximum pressure policy remains forcing the regime back to the table to negotiate a new and improved nuclear deal.
Iran has thus far been careful to avoid attacks on American vessels — an internal administration red line that would force a military response, this official said. Administration allies including FDD’s chief executive, Mark Dubowitz, said that while he expects U.S. sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to increase, it is less clear whether military action will result absent a direct attack against an American ship or an American citizen.
The president himself is caught between competing impulses: his disdain for the 2015 deal the Obama administration struck with Iran and his desire to strike a contrast, on the one hand, and his reluctance to get into another war in the Middle East on the other. He has long been more skittish than his hawkish advisers about ratcheting up tensions, but he sent a blunt warning to Iran’s leaders last month that “If they do anything it would be a very bad mistake.”
Last week, two lawmakers — Trump ally Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Democrat Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) — said that Pompeo had invoked the 2001 AUMF in a closed-door briefing with lawmakers about Iran, suggesting the administration could use it as a legal justification for war.
“We were absolutely presented with a full formal presentation on how the 2001 AUMF might authorize war on Iran,” Slotkin said. “Secretary Pompeo said it with his own words.”
Exiting an earlier closed-door briefing on May 21 by acting defense secretary Shanahan, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) told reporters, “What I heard in there makes it clear that this administration feels that they do not have to come back and talk to Congress in regards to any action they do in Iran.”
The Trump administration’s case against Iran has rested in part on the argument that it has supported al Qaeda. Announcing the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in 2017, for example, Trump said that the country “supports terrorist proxies and militias,” including al Qaeda.
“Iran’s connection to al Qaeda is very real,” Pompeo told lawmakers in April. “They have hosted al Qaeda, they have permitted al Qaeda to transit their country. There is no doubt there is a connection between the Islamic Republican of Iran and al Qaeda. Period. Full stop.”
When Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) pushed Pompeo in that hearing to pledge that the administration would not rely on the 18-year old war authorization to attack Iran, the secretary demurred, saying that he would “prefer to leave that to the lawyers.”
“I can tell you explicitly you have not been given power or authority by Congress to have a war with Iran and in any kind of semblance of a sane world you would have to come back and ask us before you go into Iran,” Paul retorted.
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who was the only member of Congress to vote against the AUMF back in 2001, included an amendment repealing the provision in the defense appropriations bill currently being debated on the House floor. Her legislation would repeal the AUMF eight months after the appropriations bill becomes law, providing time, she has argued, for Congress to properly debate and vote on a replacement bill.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last month that the administration could not rely on the 2001 law to take military action in Iran, and more than 100 House Democrats followed up on her remarks by penning a letter to the president making a similar case.
“They cannot call the authorization, AUMF, the authorization for the use of military force that was passed in 2001, as any authorization to go forward in the Middle East now,” Pelosi said at a press conference in May.
Several Democratic presidential candidates have made similar comments. “If the administration wants to go to war against Iran, then the Constitution requires them to come to Congress to ask for an authorization for the use of military force,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), told The Intercept on Friday, calling it “Constitutional Law 101.”
In his campaign’s maiden foreign policy speech, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg argued for repealing and replacing the 2001 law in order to narrow its scope — an idea that has gained traction among some Democrats.
Some Republicans, however, say the administration could respond without getting a stamp of approval from Congress, drawing comparisons to the Reagan administration’s decision in 1987 to protect Kuwaiti oil tankers from Iranian attacks in the midst of the Iran-Iraq war. Because U.S. law prohibits the use of Navy ships to escort foreign vessels, the Kuwaiti ships flew American naval flags.
“Reagan ended up sinking about half the Iranian Navy,” said Eric Edelman, who served as undersecretary of defense for policy in the George W. Bush administration. “Admittedly, it was a small navy, but they noticed.”
Federal officers shot and killed a gunman firing on the federal courthouse in Dallas on Monday morning.
A photographer for the Dallas Morning News, Tom Fox, snapped photos of the gunman as he fired toward Fox, a court security guard and others, the Morning News reports. The Dallas Police Department is tweeting about the incident here.
No one besides the gunman was hurt. Security personnel in the courthouse, the Earle Cabell Federal Building, pushed everyone to the ground.
The gunman was wearing a ski mask, combat gear and glasses. He was carrying an assault rifle. He was identified as 22-year-old Brian Isaack Clyde.
Police detonated a device found in Clyde’s parked car. According to the Morning News, the blast was strong enough to shake several sapling trees blocks away.
Clyde is an Army veteran who attended Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, the Dallas Morning News reports in a separate article. He posted photos of ammunition magazines on Facebook on Saturday. On June 9, the day of a violent Dallas storm, Clyde posted content to Facebook of himself illuminated by candlelight.
“I don’t know how much longer I have, but the [expletive] storm is coming. However, I’m not without defense,” he said as he held up what appeared to be a rifle wrapped in duct tape. “[Expletive] ready. Let’s do it.”
Updated June 17 at 3:10 p.m. with additional information about Clyde.
In a late-night tweet Monday, Trump said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would begin the removal process next week. He told his Twitter followers, “They will be removed as fast as they come in.”
A MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter takes off from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Red Sea. The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group was recently deployed to U.S. Central Command area of responsibility as tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalate. On Monday, the State Department ordered additional troops to the Middle East.
Handout/U.S. Navy via Getty Images
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Handout/U.S. Navy via Getty Images
A MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter takes off from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Red Sea. The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group was recently deployed to U.S. Central Command area of responsibility as tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalate. On Monday, the State Department ordered additional troops to the Middle East.
Handout/U.S. Navy via Getty Images
The Defense Department announced it is deploying 1,000 more U.S. troops to the Middle East “for defensive purposes” amid growing tensions with Iran.
Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Monday in a statement that the action, meant to address air, naval, and ground-based threats, comes after “a request from the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) for additional forces.”
The Trump administration has blamed Iran for a series of attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.
“The recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region,” Shanahan said.
The statement did not mention the type of personnel being deployed. Officials told NPR that the troops are primarily intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance (ISR); force protection and engineers.
The announcement is the latest in a series of deployments of additional forces to the Gulf region as the U.S. continues to accuse Iran of attacks on commercial shipping and threats to U.S. troops and interests. The deployments began last month when the U.S. sent an aircraft carrier strike group to the region along with Patriot missile batteries and several thousand troops whose mission is defensive in nature.
“The United States does not seek conflict with Iran,” Shanahan said. “The action today is being taken to ensure the safety and welfare of our military personnel working throughout the region and to protect our national interests. We will continue to monitor the situation diligently and make adjustments to force levels as necessary given intelligence reporting and credible threats.”
The Trump administration has been trying to convince some U.S. allies, primarily Germany and Japan, that Iran is responsible for the alleged attacks on the Gulf oil tankers. The Pentagon has released new photos designed to back up its claims.
Earlier Monday, Iran threatened to exceed limits on uranium stockpiles set by the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action , an international agreement that sought to curb that country’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for an easing of sanctions.
President Trump withdrew the U.S. from that deal. Now the Iranians hope to pressure European countries to bypass U.S. sanctions.
“There is still time for the European countries, but if they want more time it means that they either can’t or don’t want to honor their obligations” under the international nuclear deal, spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi told reporters gathered at Iran’s Arak heavy-water reactor, according to The Washington Post.
State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus called the Iranian announcement “extortion” and accused the Iranian leadership of mounting a “challenge to international norms.”
But in criticizing the Iranians, the Trump administration is in the uneasy position of insisting that the Iranians abide by an international accord that the president already has condemned.
Brian Isaack Clyde – Gunman dead after shootout with police outside Dallas court building, Texas, Photo Date: 6/17/2019
DALLAS (AP) — The Latest on an exchange of gunfire outside the federal courthouse in downtown Dallas (all times local):
5 p.m.
A 22-year-old man who was killed after opening fire outside a federal courthouse in Dallas had just graduated from community college in Corpus Christi.
Brian Isaack Clyde was fatally shot Monday as he exchanged gunfire with federal officers.
Del Mar College says that Clyde graduated in May with an associate degree of applied science in nondestructive testing technology. The college says he was recognized as an outstanding student at a ceremony in April.
An FBI official says Clyde was discharged from the Army in 2017. The Army says he served as an infantryman from August 2015 to February 2017 and achieved the rank of private first class.
___
3:30 p.m.
The FBI says the man who was killed in a shootout at a federal courthouse in Dallas was an Army veteran who was carrying more than five 30-round magazines and a high-powered rifle.
Authorities say 22-year-old Brian Isaack Clyde was fatally shot Monday morning as he exchanged gunfire with federal officers. FBI agent Matthew DeSarno says the motive for the shooting is under investigation.
DeSarno says Clyde was discharged from the Army in 2017. He could not say what type of discharge Clyde received.
At a news conference, officials praised the federal officers who stopped the gunman.
___
1 p.m.
A photo of the man who was fatally shot after opening fire on a federal courthouse in Dallas shows him wearing a mask and tactical gear while carrying a long gun.
Authorities say 22-year-old Brian Isaack Clyde opened fire on the Earle Cabell Federal Building Monday morning and was then killed in an exchange of gunfire with federal officers.
Dallas Morning News photographer Tom Fox captured the image of the shooter outside the building. It shows him with several magazines on his belt and wearing a heavy vest.
Fox witnessed the gunman opening fire. One of his later photographs shows authorities tending to the shooter as he lay on the ground in a parking lot.
___
11:50 a.m.
The FBI says a 22-year-old man who was shot in an exchange of gunfire with federal officers outside a federal courthouse in Dallas has died.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew DeSarno said late Monday morning that Brian Isaack Clyde was pronounced dead at a hospital after the shooting outside the downtown Earle Cabell Federal Building.
DeSarno says they have no information indicating there were other shooters or other threats to the community.
A bomb squad meanwhile has been conducting controlled explosions of a vehicle associated with Clyde.
___
10:45 a.m.
A bomb squad has conducted a controlled explosion of the vehicle associated with a person who was shot while exchanging gunfire with federal officers outside a Dallas courthouse.
Police said earlier Monday that the bomb squad was examining the vehicle. Police then said they would do a controlled explosion. A loud blast was heard at 10:38 a.m.
Police say the person shot outside the Earle Cabell Federal Building has been taken to a hospital. No information has been released about that person’s condition. Police say no one else was injured.
A large law enforcement presence is visible downtown, and police have closed off several blocks around the federal building.
Police say federal officers are leading the investigation.
___
10:30 a.m.
Dallas police say a bomb squad is examining the vehicle of the person who was shot while exchanging gunfire with federal officers.
Police say the person who was shot outside the Earle Cabell Federal Building Monday morning was taken to a hospital. Police say no one else was injured.
The Dallas Morning News reports that one of its photographers outside the building witnessed a gunman opening fire. A photograph showed authorities tending to a man lying on the ground in a parking lot outside the building.
___
10 a.m.
Police say a person has been shot after exchanging gunfire with federal officers outside a federal courthouse in downtown Dallas.
Police say the suspect in the shooting Monday morning outside the Earle Cabell Federal Building has been taken to a hospital and that no one else was injured.
The Dallas Morning News reports that one of its photographers outside the building witnessed a gunman opening fire. A photograph shows authorities tending to a man lying on the ground in a parking lot outside the building.
The window panes in a revolving door of courthouse were broken afterward.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks out on the border crisis, stopping Democrats’ socialist policies, health care, Iran and the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund on’Fox & Friends.’
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on “Fox & Friends” Monday that Democrats have been less helpful than Mexico when it comes to addressing the border crisis.
In response, he said he will bring up a “freestanding” bill next week to commit roughly $5 billion to address the humanitarian part of the crisis.
McConnell, R-Ky., said the money was supposed to be included in a recent bill to provide emergency funds to areas hit by storms, but the Democrats insisted the funds be removed.
“I’m going to bring it up freestanding next week and see if they really aren’t interested in dealing with this mass of humanity that we have to take care of at the border. What’s the objection? he asked.
He stressed that the bill would focus on the humanitarian issues, not President Trump’s border wall, which is vigorously opposed by Democrats.
“I think it’s safe to say the president is getting more cooperation out of Mexico than he is out of congressional Democrats,” said McConnell.
He said Democrats are “suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome” and whatever he supports, they will “reflexively” oppose.
“We want to build a wall. We think the president has made a good case for that. That’s not what this is about. This is just the humanitarian part of the problem on our side of the border,” he said.
McConnell also responded to comedian Jon Stewart, who accused him on “Fox News Sunday” of failing to prioritize the continued funding of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund.
McConnell responded to the clip by stressing that the Senate has “never failed” to address the issue, adding “I’m not sure why he’s all bent out of shape.”
Amazon clapped back at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday — blasting the Democratic congresswoman in a tweet — for comments she made about the company’s workers being paid “starvation wages.”
“@AOC is just wrong,” Amazon tweeted, using its @AmazonNews account.
“Amazon is a leader on pay at $15 min wage + full benefits from day one,” the company said. “We also lobby to raise federal min wage.”
Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was speaking Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” about Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos possibly losing his status as a billionaire under a “true progressive program” when she drew the ire of company officials.
“[Bezos] being a billionaire is predicated on paying people starvation wages and stripping them of their ability to access health care,” Ocasio-Cortez said, adding that she didn’t care “whether Jeff Bezos is a billionaire or not.”
“And also, if his ability to be a billionaire is predicated on the fact that his workers are taking food stamps,” the lawmaker said.
Jay Carney, Amazon’s senior vice president of global corporate affairs — and former press secretary to President Barack Obama — joined his company in condemning the comments on Monday in a tweet of his own.
“More than 42% of all working Americans earn less than the $15/hour Amazon pays entry-level fulfillment center employees,” Carney said. “And all our employees get top-tier benefits. I’d urge @AOC to focus on raising the federal minimum wage instead of making stuff up about Amazon.”
Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter hours later to respond.
“If a person is working 40h/week & is paid so little that they need gov help to make ends meet, it’s not the person that’s a weight on our system – it’s the company,” she said. “People need to be paid a living wage. We stand up to co’s that rely on food stamps to make up for their low wages.”
Responding to Amazon’s claims about being minimum wage leader since “day one,” Ocasio-Cortez said: “From ‘day one?’ Really? 1 in 10 of Amazon’s Ohio employees were on food stamps after the company opened fulfillment centers in the state. Paying full-time employees so little that they require gov food assistance is what paying starvation wages means.”
The congresswoman had remained quiet all day on the issue, but her spokesperson, Corbin Trent, did offer a statement to ABC News — criticizing Amazon.
“Amazon built a nearly trillion-dollar company on the backs of the American people,” the statement said. “They have a business model that relies on the American taxpayer. Amazon has made billions using our roads, bridges, postal service, airports, and internet – all built with the tax dollars of hardworking Americans. You would think a company that relies so heavily on taxpayer innovations would be more willing to contribute to our society, but you’d be wrong. Amazon pays zero federal income tax, has extorted our cities and states for tax breaks and their employees often rely on government subsidies to get by. It is time for Amazon to do right by their employees. It is time for Amazon to do right by the American people.”
The speaker has been on a campaign to make the case against impeachment, saying in private and public that the move is the most divisive that Democrats could pursue. Instead, she has hammered away at a three-pronged strategy for challenging Mr. Trump — “legislate, investigate, litigate”— by pressing forward with measures to check his power and secure elections, scrutinizing his conduct and his administration’s policies, and taking legal action to compel his inner circle to answer to Congress.
But as she has brushed off suggestions she is taking heat within her own party, Ms. Pelosi has sharpened her own messaging against Mr. Trump, almost in direct proportion to the fervor within her ranks for impeaching him, telling reporters that he does not know right from wrong and “is involved in a criminal conspiracy.”
People close to the speaker likened her effort to the one she undertook during the midterm elections, when she resisted calls to make the races about Mr. Trump and instead encouraged Democrats to keep a single-minded focus on health care and other issues that polls showed were overwhelmingly popular with voters.
Representative Katie Hill, another freshman from a competitive district in California, said she was comfortable holding off on impeachment for now, but she has been spending more time educating people about the process.
“We’re getting more and more calls for impeachment, but when I explain it to people about these are the steps that we’re taking for accountability, then people understand,” Ms. Hill said last week in an interview. “They mainly want to know that we’re making forward movement. Many people are in a similar boat as I am, where if he takes it another step — if he defies a court order, or if and when we find evidence of underlying crimes — then we’re going to have to reassess.”
For her part, Ms. Porter acknowledged that she campaigned for office on lowering prescription drug costs, addressing the lack of affordable housing in Orange County and other policy issues — not impeaching Mr. Trump, despite his relatively weak support there. She framed her decision, though, as consistent with the values she presented to voters.
“When faced with a crisis of this magnitude, I cannot with a clean conscience ignore my duty to defend the Constitution,” Ms. Porter said in the video. “I can’t claim to be committed to rooting out corruption and putting people over politics and then not apply those same principles and standards in all of the work I do.”
Lawyers representing families of Sandy Hook massacre victims who are suing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said they received child pornography in documents they were sent by the Infowars founder, according to court papers filed Monday in Connecticut.
Consultants working with the lawyers discovered the images in the documents that were requested during a court hearing in April, the filing states. A lawyer representing the families immediately alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to the filing.
“The FBI advised counsel that its review located numerous additional illegal images, which had apparently been sent to Infowars email address,” the filing says.
During a segment on Infowars last week, Jones’ lawyer, Norm Pattis, said the FBI cleared Jones after an inquiry found “there was no suggestion that anyone here wanted that material, ever looked at it or even knew about it.”
Any “suggestion that anyone at Infowars knew child [pornography] was embedded in emails is risible,” Pattis added in a statement to NBC News.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jones did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday, but Infowars has described the emails as a “malware attack attempting to embed” child porn on Jones’ servers.
During a profanity-fueled segment of “The Alex Jones Show” on Friday, Jones said he was offering a $1 million reward to whoever could track down the person who tried “to set me up with child porn.”
In a later segment, Pattis clarified that the reward was actually $100,000 for information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of the culprit.
Monday’s filing also says that Jones threatened Chris Mattei, one of the lawyers working with Sandy Hook families, during an Infowars segment where Jones pounded on a picture of Mattei and claimed the attorney tried to frame him.
“This court has an obligation to protect the attorneys, parties, and the judicial process,” the filing says.
In the statement, Pattis said that Jones didn’t threaten anyone.
“To suggest otherwise is to engage in precious pleading,” he said.
The families of six Sandy Hook Elementary School victims sued Jones for defamation last year over his repeated claims that the shooting — which left 20 first-graders and six adults dead — was a hoax.
U.S. prepares to send more troops to Middle East; reaction and analysis from the ‘Special Report’ all-star panel.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) released new images Monday showing the aftermath of mine attacks against two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week, including some images purporting to show Iranian forces removing an unexploded device from the hull of one of the vessels.
Hours later, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said he had approved a request from CENTCOM to send approximately 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East “to address air, naval, and ground-based threats” in the region.
“The recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region,” Shanahan said. “The United States does not seek conflict with Iran. The action today is being taken to ensure the safety and welfare of our military personnel working throughout the region and to protect our national interests.”
The military says that some of the 11 new images taken from a Navy helicopter show members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy removing a limpet mine from the side of the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous oil tanker. Other photos show a large hole on the side of the Courageous, above the water line, that officials say appears to have been caused by another mine.
In a statement, Central Command reaffirmed the Trump administration’s previous claim that Iran was responsible for the attacks on the Kokuka Courageous and the Front Altair “based on video evidence and the resources and proficiency needed to quickly remove the unexploded limpet mine.”
Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy remove an unexploded mine from the hull of the M/T Kokuka Courageous in the Gulf of Oman last week (U.S. Central Command)
The images were made public one day before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to meet with CENTCOM commanders Tuesday. Pompeo has said that a new deployment of U.S. troops to the Middle East is an option in response to last week’s attack.
The early Thursday attack severely damaged both vessels and forced the evacuation of 44 sailors. The incident took place near the Strait of Hormuz, a key strategic water route through which about 20 percent of all oil traded worldwide passes.
Damage to the Kokuka Courageous from Thursday’s blast. (U.S. Central Command)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., warned the Trump administration after the reported troop deployment not to be “reckless and rash.” She also said, “This deeply concerning decision may escalate the situation with Iran and risk serious miscalculations on either side. Diplomacy is needed to defuse tensions, therefore America must continue to consult with our allies so that we do not make the region less safe.”
Relations between Iran and the U.S. have deteriorated in recent months. The U.S. has accelerated the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier battle group to the region, sent four nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to Qatar and bolstered its defenses in the region by deploying more Patriot air defense systems.
Earlier Monday, Iran announced that it would break a limit on uranium stockpiles established by the 2015 nuclear agreement with the U.S. and five other world powers that was intended to restrict Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for an easing of international sanctions. President Trump withdrew the U.S. from that agreement last year.
Material left on the hull of Kokuka Courageous after the removal of a limpet mine (U.S. Central Command)
Under the deal, Iran can keep a stockpile of no more than 660 pounds of low-enriched uranium. Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for Iran’s atomic agency said it would pass that limit on Thursday of next week. Iran has shown no willingness to negotiate another deal and vowed not to enter into talks with the United States while the administration maintains its “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions.
In addition to reinstating economic sanctions, Trump recently ended waivers that allowed some countries to continue buying Iranian oil. That has deprived Iran of oil income and has coincided with what U.S. officials said was a surge in intelligence pointing to Iranian preparations for attacks against U.S. forces and interests in the Gulf region.
Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin, Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The U.S. is sending 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East as tensions with Iran continue to rise after recent attacks on two oil tankers, which the U.S. says were carried out by Iranian forces.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan announced the new troop deployment in a statement Monday, saying U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) requested the forces “for defensive purposes to address air, naval and ground-based threats in the Middle East.”
“The recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region,” Shanahan said. “The United States does not seek conflict with Iran. The action today is being taken to ensure the safety and welfare of our military personnel working throughout the region and to protect our national interests.”
The move comes just days after the attacks on the oil tankers in one of the world’s most important shipping routes, which the U.S. says were carried out by Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Last week, the Pentagon released footage purporting to show an Iranian vessel affixing an unexploded mine to one of the ships. On Monday, the military released new photos of the aftermath, including an image showing a gaping hole in the side of one of the tankers.
The side of an oil tanker that was attacked in the Gulf of Oman on June 13, 2019.
Department of Defense
On Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told “Face the Nation” the administration was considering a “full range” of options to counter Iranian aggression, including a possible military strike. Pompeo traveled on Monday to Florida to meet with officials from CENTCOM, which oversees military operations in the Middle East.
The Iranian government has denied involvement in the attacks. The country’s atomic agency said Monday it was increasing its production of uranium and will surpass the limit allowed under the 2015 nuclear deal within 10 days. President Trump announced he was withdrawing the U.S. from that accord in 2018.
The United States is sending 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East, amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran. The decision follows last week’s attack on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman that the U.S. blamed on Tehran, with the Pentagon releasing new images on Monday that officials said show Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members removing an unexploded mine from one of the ship’s hulls.
“In response to a request from the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) for additional forces, and with the advice of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and in consultation with the White House, I have authorized approximately 1,000 additional troops for defensive purposes to address air, naval, and ground-based threats in the Middle East,” acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said in a statement on Monday.
Airmen conduct flight control checks during preflight of a Reaper drone launch at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia, Feb. 21, 2019.
The U.S. has already accelerated the deployment to the Middle East of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group and sent B-52 bombers after what it said were credible threats by Iran against U.S. forces and interests in the region. Since then, the U.S. has sent an additional 1,500 troops and increased defensive capabilities to continue to help deter Iran.
“The recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region,” Shanahan said.
“The United States does not seek conflict with Iran,” the statement continued. “The action today is being taken to ensure the safety and welfare of our military personnel working throughout the region and to protect our national interests. We will continue to monitor the situation diligently and make adjustments to force levels as necessary given intelligence reporting and credible threats.”
Iran attempted to shoot down a U.S. drone that was surveilling the attack on one of two tankers hit in the Gulf of Oman last week, CENTCOM said. The attempt missed the MQ-9 Reaper by “approximately one kilometer.”
The U.S. has also blamed Iran for an attack on four commercial vessels off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in May.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that Congress must be briefed on the plans.
“Americans must have no illusions about the Iranian regime, and must remain committed to holding Iran accountable for its dangerous activities in the region. But we must be strong, smart and strategic – not reckless and rash – in how to proceed,” Pelosi said in a statement. “The Congress must be immediately briefed on the Administration’s decisions and plans”
“This deeply concerning decision may escalate the situation with Iran and risk serious miscalculations on either side. Diplomacy is needed to defuse tensions, therefore America must continue to consult with our allies so that we do not make the region less safe,” the statement added.
Electronic material that Infowars host Alex Jones turned over to the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims who are suing him contained images of child pornography, according to a court filing Monday.
“I’ll get your ass,” Jones said, before offering a $1 million bounty for information that led to the apprehension and conviction of whoever sent him emails containing child porn.
Jones, who is being sued in Connecticut for allegedly defaming the Sandy Hook families, adamantly denied having known that child porn images was contained in email attachments sent to his Infowars media company.
Jones said that FBI has informed him that there is no evidence that he ever opened the emails containing the porn, or that he ever sent porn himself.
And he implied that the lawyers for the families suing him were behind an effort to put child porn into his electronic files.
Jones’ lawyer, Norm Pattis, on the same broadcast said, “Somebody directed child pornography into your email accounts hoping that you opened it.” But Pattis said he would be “shocked” if the plaintiffs’ lawyers were involved in that.
In a filing late Monday, Pattis said that on the InfoWars progam on Sunday, Jones “issued a public apology to Attorney Mattei.”
“Mr. Jones apologized for the statements he made [during] the previous day’s broadcast saying, ‘I’m not saying that the lawyers for the Sandy Hook families set me up or did this,'” Pattis wrote.
Pattis’ filing also asked the judge in the case to stay the proceedings because lawyers for the plaintiffs have “raised serious allegations” about whether there are conflicts of interest between Pattis and Jones.
A hearing in the case, which already was set for Tuesday, will address the claims that Jones threatened Mattei and his firm.
“Threats against counsel have been made on air to a very large audience,” lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote.
“The plaintiffs therefore request that the Court review the video in advance of tomorrow’s hearing. Plaintiffs intend to move to seek specific relief on an expedited basis, but this is an issue that the Court should be fully aware of at the earliest possible moment.”
In their filing, lawyers for the plaintiffs quoted Jones at length to substantiate their claim he was threatening the attorneys.
After pounding his fist on a photo of Mattei, Jones fumed, “And then no magically they want metadata out of hundreds of thousands of emails and they know just where to go. What a nice group of Democrats. How surprising. What nice people.”
“Chris Mattei. What a good American. What a good boy. You think you’ll put on me what … Anyway I’m done. Total war! You want it, you got it!”
The filing by Mattei’s firm said that Jones and other defendants in the lawsuit on May 21 turned over “a massive volume of documents” in electronic form as part of the discovery process in the defamation case.
In that case filed in May 2018, families of four children and two educators who were slain at the Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Connecticut, by lone gunman Adam Lanza accuse Jones of invasion of privacy, defamation, negligent infliction of emotional distress.
The suit claims that Jones and others have “persistently perpetuated a monstrous, unspeakable lie: that the Sandy Hook shooting was staged and that the families who lost loved ones that day are actors who faked their relatives’ deaths.”
After getting the electronic files from Jones last month, the plaintiffs’ electronic information consultants then began loading those files into a database to make it easier to review them, according to the filing.
“During that process, the consultants identified an image that appeared to be child pornography,” the plaintiffs’ filing said. “They immediately contacted counsel, who immediately contacted the FBI.”
The filing said the FBI directed lawyers for the plaintiffs to turn over the entire set of documents to the FBI, “which was done.”
Afterward, “The FBI advised counsel that its review located numerous additional illegal images, which had apparently been sent to Infowars emails addresses,” the filing said.
“When the FBI indicated it had completed its review, plaintiffs’ counsel advised [Jones’ lawyer] Pattis of the matter and arranged a joint telephone call with the United States Attorney’s Office.”
The filing said that “if the Jones Defendants had engaged in even minimal due diligence and actually reviewed the materials before production [to the plaintiffs], they would have found the images themselves.”
Pattis and a spokesman for the FBI’s bureau in New Haven, Connecticut, did not immediately respond to CNBC’s inquiries about the alleged child pornography discovered in the materials.
“He spoke in a compassionate fashion,” Pattis told the paper.
And Pattis, during a second broadcast by Jones, said, “We gave emails under court order to the lawyers for Sandy Hook. And that included metadata, or coded data, about the emails and what they meant and what they were associated with.”
“It is my understanding that the Sandy Hook lawyers then sent those materials to a California firm, to tell them what was in it, basically,” Pattis said. “The California firm spotted something suspicious, and did what lawyers are supposed to do. They reported it to the FBI.”
“For two weeks, the FBI conducted an inquiry, and I learned on Wednesday of this week that that inquiry concluded that no one here has any guilty knowledge of those emails,” Pattis said.
“Indeed, there is no reason to suspect anybody even knew they were here. They were not opened.”
Jones then chimed in, “So they are basically booby traps. They are land mines.”
The courtroom death of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Monday is a stain on his nation’s justice system. But history won’t regard Morsi kindly. He wasted an opportunity to lead.
That doesn’t make his death less concerning, of course. Morsi’s family suggest he was given inadequate medical support in prison and had been suffering from illnesses including diabetes and high blood pressure. The senior Muslim Brotherhood leader was also denied regular access to independent observers. Morsi’s supporters will react furiously to his demise and deserve an explanation for his death.
This concerns the United States in our vested interest to buffer the more moderate faction of the Muslim Brotherhood against the encroachment of Salafi-Jihadist sentiments. Those sentiments have fueled an aggressive jihadist uprising and a transnational terrorist threat from the Egyptian syndicate of the Islamic State.
That said, Morsi was not a very clever leader.
After winning the presidency in elections which followed the 2011 overthrow of dictator Hosni Mubarak, Morsi began his rule with sensible efforts to win international investor favor. He also engaged in outreach to other Egyptian political blocs. For a short time, it appeared that Egypt might replicate the Tunisian model and successfully transition to a stable democracy.
But then Morsi resorted to what came naturally: executive authoritarianism under an overtly Islamist banner. Morsi’s efforts to centralize power and his Islamist biases isolated the secular middle class and sparked growing international concern. Rather than recognize the warning signs and increasingly overt military protests, Morsi doubled down. With increasing antidemocratic behavior and a dismantling of the independent judiciary, he opened himself up to a perfect storm of civic protest and military reprisal.
In 2013, the time was ripe for Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to strike. The former army commander did so with ruthless efficiency, and he had widespread support when he did it.
While it is in our interest to build closer relations with Sisi, the U.S. should push him to grant everyone, including the Muslim Brotherhood, more political freedom. Failing that, Salafi-Jihadists will be empowered in the swamp of disenchanted youth.
Amazon clapped back at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday — blasting the Democratic congresswoman in a tweet — for comments she made about the company’s workers being paid “starvation wages.”
“@AOC is just wrong,” Amazon tweeted, using its @AmazonNews account.
“Amazon is a leader on pay at $15 min wage + full benefits from day one,” the company said. “We also lobby to raise federal min wage.”
Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was speaking Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” about Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos possibly losing his status as a billionaire under a “true progressive program” when she drew the ire of company officials.
“[Bezos] being a billionaire is predicated on paying people starvation wages and stripping them of their ability to access health care,” Ocasio-Cortez said, adding that she didn’t care “whether Jeff Bezos is a billionaire or not.”
“And also, if his ability to be a billionaire is predicated on the fact that his workers are taking food stamps,” the lawmaker said.
Jay Carney, Amazon’s senior vice president of global corporate affairs — and former press secretary to President Barack Obama — joined his company in condemning the comments on Monday in a tweet of his own.
“More than 42% of all working Americans earn less than the $15/hour Amazon pays entry-level fulfillment center employees,” Carney said. “And all our employees get top-tier benefits. I’d urge @AOC to focus on raising the federal minimum wage instead of making stuff up about Amazon.”
Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter hours later to respond.
“If a person is working 40h/week & is paid so little that they need gov help to make ends meet, it’s not the person that’s a weight on our system – it’s the company,” she said. “People need to be paid a living wage. We stand up to co’s that rely on food stamps to make up for their low wages.”
Responding to Amazon’s claims about being minimum wage leader since “day one,” Ocasio-Cortez said: “From ‘day one?’ Really? 1 in 10 of Amazon’s Ohio employees were on food stamps after the company opened fulfillment centers in the state. Paying full-time employees so little that they require gov food assistance is what paying starvation wages means.”
The congresswoman had remained quiet all day on the issue, but her spokesperson, Corbin Trent, did offer a statement to ABC News — criticizing Amazon.
“Amazon built a nearly trillion-dollar company on the backs of the American people,” the statement said. “They have a business model that relies on the American taxpayer. Amazon has made billions using our roads, bridges, postal service, airports, and internet – all built with the tax dollars of hardworking Americans. You would think a company that relies so heavily on taxpayer innovations would be more willing to contribute to our society, but you’d be wrong. Amazon pays zero federal income tax, has extorted our cities and states for tax breaks and their employees often rely on government subsidies to get by. It is time for Amazon to do right by their employees. It is time for Amazon to do right by the American people.”
A core objective of the 2015 nuclear deal — struck between Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — was to keep Iran at least one year from being able to construct a nuclear bomb. (Iran insists that its nuclear program it has developed over several decades is for peaceful purposes.)
But that timeline could shorten if Iran follows through on its most recent threats, which it calls a response to American sanctions that Iran says are a deal-breaker. The escalation could precipitate an international crisis and increase the likelihood of a military confrontation.
“I will not let Iran have nuclear weapons,” Mr. Trump told Fox News last month.
How has the nuclear deal limited Iran’s program?
The nuclear agreement, which Mr. Trump has called “the worst deal ever” and a “disaster,” placed strict limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting international sanctions on Tehran.
Under the terms of the deal, Iran can stockpile no more than 300 kilograms, or 660 pounds, of so-called low-enriched uranium, a fraction of what it previously hoarded. To remain under the stockpile limit, Iran has shipped low-enriched uranium out of the country.
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