California businesses will be limited in their use of independent contracts under a closely watched proposal signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday, a decision that is unlikely to quell a growing debate over the rules and nature of work in the 21st century economy.
Newsom signed Assembly Bill 5 in a private ceremony in his state Capitol office. Legislators gave final approval to the sweeping employment rules before adjourning for the year last week.
The new law “will help reduce worker misclassification — workers being wrongly classified as ‘independent contractors’ rather than employees, which erodes basic worker protections like the minimum wage, paid sick days and health insurance benefits,” Newsom wrote in a signing message released by his office.
“As one of the strongest economies in the world, California is now setting the global standard for worker protections for other states and countries to follow,” Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), the author of AB 5, said in a written statement.
The bill was one of the most hotly debated by the Legislature this year, legislation that began as a way to clarify state law following a 2018 ruling by the California Supreme Court that found a number of workers across the state should be considered employees of a business who are entitled to various benefits. During the legislative process, a variety of powerful business interests sought specific exclusions from AB 5, an effort to ensure those industries could continue to rely on non-employees in a variety of functions.
Those in the most prominent industry left out of those final changes to the bill, California’s app-based technology sector, insisted they would continue to seek exemptions from any new mandate to classify workers as employees. Three companies — Uber, Lyft and DoorDash — opened a campaign committee last month with a $90-million contribution toward taking the issue to California voters in a 2020 ballot measure.
Newsom pledged on Wednesday to continue the discussion with business groups worried about the new law, which takes effect next year. In particular, he cited the need to ensure workers in the new tech sector businesses can join labor unions.
“I will convene leaders from the Legislature, the labor movement and the business community to support innovation and a more inclusive economy,” he wrote in his signing message.
Scuffles broke out between supporters and opponents of Donald Trump when an American flag was set on fire near a fundraising event for the president.
Several people were detained by police following the minor fights outside the Beverly Hills Hotel in Hollywood on Tuesday. However, no one was arrested and no one was injured.
Pro-Trump supporters and demonstrators opposing the president had been at the site from 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Three hours later, things got heated when some of the anti-Trump protesters set the flag on fire and several fights broke out, forcing police to intervene.
While the fights were taking place, Trump was at a nearby fundraiser hosted by real estate developer Geoffrey Palmer, who was a major donor to his 2016 campaign.
Gregg Donovan, a Trump supporter, told CBSLA: “All my years, I’ve never seen that. I was very disappointed in both sides. I took a neutral stance. I just stood there with my sign the whole time, but the burning of the flag really hurt.”
Anti-Trump protester Tony Blackstone explained why he turned up to voice his opposition to the president.
“I’ve still got family members who are struggling to pay for their medication. They’re elderly, and they have to decide whether to pay for their medication or to pay for their bill, and that’s sad.”
KUSI reported that Trump is looking to pick up around $15 million in campaign donations during the four-city California tour.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump had bagged $3 million from donors at an event in San Francisco.
Trump will also attend a joint fundraising committee breakfast on Wednesday morning before going to San Diego where he will meet with donors at the U.S. Grant Hotel in Downtown.
Tickets start at $2,800 and cost a minimum $35,500 per couple for a photo opp, according to KGTV. The event is expected to net him a total of $4 million.
California state governor Gavin Newsom, who has had Twitter spats with Trump, said that he was unhappy with the president trying to drum up funds in a state he has criticized in the past over homelessness and “horrible horrible conditions.”
CNN reported that ahead of Trump’s visit, White House official floated the idea of deregulating housing, which Newsom saw as a dig at Los Angeles’ homelessness problem.
“He’s got to find the areas where we’re not performing and that’s the issue of poverty, affordability and homelessness, and exploit those as a way of tearing down a new governing philosophy.”
“Stay out of our way. Let California continue not to just survive, but thrive…despite everything you’re doing to try to put sand in the gears of our success,” he told CNN.
There is no love lost between Trump and Newsom. Last year, the president called him a “clown“, prompting Newsom to call Trump ‘Pennywise’, the clown from the movie and Stephen King horror novel It.
Trump will end his tour by visiting a section of his much-touted border wall in Otay Mesa where he will spend about an hour. Trump went there in March 2018 to look at prototypes of the barrier.
A tropical storm formed quickly in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday and came ashore near Freeport, leading Brazoria County officials to warn of heavy rainfall that could cause flash flooding over the next couple days.
Tropical Storm Imelda came ashore carrying winds of 40 mph, just enough to register as a tropical storm. By early evening, it had been downgraded back to a tropical depression.
The weather will affect the coastlines and there is a risk of high rip currents over coastal waters, National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Cady said. Small water craft need to take precautions.
Major problems Tuesday night happened further inland, however.
The drainage pumps used throughout Angleton to prevent flooding couldn’t keep up with the amount of rain Imelda dropped in a short period of time, Assistant Police Chief Katherine Davis said. Residents were urged to stay inside and limit flushing and shower use to conserve water.
“We’ve taken on about 6 inches of water right now,” Davis said at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. “It seems to just be hovering over us at the moment. The ditches are full; they’re working but they’re full.”
The pumps are working and eventually will move the water out, Davis said.
Though officials didn’t have an exact prediction on the amount of rain Imelda would deliver, people need to avoid roadways with any amount of standing water, Cady said.
“We’re anticipating heavy rain from today through Thursday,” Cady said. “We’re also stressing that regardless of what we’re told, flash flooding is expected in low-lying areas.
“Don’t attempt to cross roadways with water. You’ve heard our slogan, ‘turn around and don’t drown,’” he said. “Regardless of what the system is called, we’re continuing to stress the rain may have an impact and make travel difficult.”
Surfside Beach officials closed entrances to the beach as police officers posted red flags warning people to stay out of the area.
“There’s no reason for anyone to be driving on the beach right now,” Mayor Larry Davison said.
However, there were no tidal flooding concerns Tuesday, he said.
“We’re going to keep monitoring the situation. There’s some localized street flooding, but I think that’s everywhere right now,” Davison said Tuesday afternoon. “We’re not concerned about the tides right now. They don’t look like they’ll be severe at this point.”
The Surfside Anchor Motel had about 10 guests Tuesday, manager Joyce Tarsek said.
“If winds or flooding get to be too much, we’ll notify guests that they might need to make other arrangements, but we’re not concerned at this point,” Tarsek said.
She never wants to cause unnecessary panic or alarm when a storm comes through.
“As long as no one is in danger, we’ll just leave our guests be and try not to disturb them,” she said.
Area school district officials monitored the weather as Imelda came ashore, but put off a decision on whether classes would be canceled or delays until this morning.
People need to take precautions and be patient, County Judge Matt Sebesta said. However, the rain is a good thing for the county right now, he said. Commissioners Court recently instituted a 90-day burn ban.
“We are starting out with very dry ground,” Sebesta said. “It will absorb a decent amount, and I imagine after this event, a week or so from now, we might be out of a burn ban.”
He urged residents to take extra precautions when traveling.
“We want folks to just be careful, be aware, use common sense and have courtesy,” Sebesta said.
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Activist and political donor Ed Buck is facing criminal charges after a third man was found to have overdosed on methamphetamine in his apartment. Buck was arrested Tuesday night.
Ann Johansson/Corbis via Getty Images
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Activist and political donor Ed Buck is facing criminal charges after a third man was found to have overdosed on methamphetamine in his apartment. Buck was arrested Tuesday night.
Ann Johansson/Corbis via Getty Images
Los Angeles County prosecutors say they have charged Democratic fundraiser and LGBTQ activist Ed Buck with running a drug house and other crimes after a man overdosed on methamphetamine at Buck’s apartment last week. The man survived, but two other men have died from overdoses at Buck’s apartment in the past two years.
Buck was arrested Tuesday night — after months in which activists and relatives of the men who died have called for criminal charges related to the suspicious circumstances around the deaths of 26-year-old Gemmel Moore in 2017 and 55-year-old Timothy Michael Dean in January.
Buck, who is 65, is now facing felony counts of battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine and maintaining a drug house.
If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of five years and eight months in state prison, said Greg Risling, the assistant chief of media relations for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The most recent overdose took place on Sept. 11. Prosecutors say Buck injected the 37-year-old victim with methamphetamine at his apartment on Laurel Avenue in West Hollywood. The man suffered an overdose but survived.
Advocates for Moore and Dean have long accused Buck of being a sexual predator who lured gay, at-risk black men to his home in West Hollywood. As member station KCRW reported this summer, Buck is alleged to have pressured men to do drugs, particularly crystal meth.
When Moore died, police say they found drug paraphernalia littered around the scene in Buck’s home, including syringes, pipes and plastic bags. The coroner blamed the death on an accidental overdose — but a homicide inquiry was launched after Moore’s journal was published weeks later. In it, Moore blamed Buck for introducing him to methamphetamine.
“I honestly don’t know what to do. I’ve become addicted to drugs and the worst one at that,” Moore wrote, according to his family’s website. He added, “Ed Buck is the one to thank.”
Prosecutors opted not to file charges against Buck related to Moore’s death. Earlier this year, Moore’s mother, LaTisha Nixon, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Buck and Los Angeles County officials. She says Dean’s death could have been avoided if authorities had charged Buck in 2017.
For more than two years, activists have said Buck wasn’t charged with a crime because he is white, wealthy and politically connected. Now they’re welcoming news that he’s been arrested.
“We’re just completely ecstatic,” writer and activist Jasmyne Cannick says via Twitter. “Black gay men’s lives matter. The whole black LGBT community is going to be celebrating this evening because our lives matter.”
Cannick, who has pointedly accused prosecutors and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department of failing to stop a violent predator, says she has collected a trove of evidence against Buck, publishing interviews and other materials online. The next step, in her view, is for him to face additional charges related to the deaths of Moore and Dean.
After Dean died earlier this year, Buck’s attorney, Seymour Amster, insisted his client is innocent of any crimes.
“This is not a situation where Mr. Buck has caused a death,” Amster said. “This is a situation where Mr. Buck has had longtime friends who unfortunately do not handle their life well.”
Prosecutors are recommending that bail for Buck should be set at $4 million.
“I remain deeply concerned for the safety of people whose life circumstances may make them more vulnerable to criminal predators,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey says, adding that new evidence from the recent overdose of the 37-year-old man at Buck’s apartment had prompted her to approve filing charges against Buck.
With indictments against him looming in three corruption cases, the election’s less-than-vindicating apparent outcome would put his future in grave jeopardy. As prime minister, he could stay in his post even if indicted, under Israeli law. And he could press his coalition to grant him immunity from prosecution. But as a lesser minister or ordinary lawmaker, he would have to resign if charged.
Israeli exit polls have often proven unreliable, and the official results, trickling in overnight and through the following day, did little to clarify the picture sharply. Many Israelis recalled the election of 1996, when they went to bed with the Labor leader Shimon Peres as the winner and woke up in the morning with Mr. Netanyahu as their next prime minister.
The two main contenders had offered Israelis starkly different choices.
Mr. Netanyahu was aiming for a narrow coalition with right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties, who had promised to grant him immunity as he vowed to annex a large swath of the occupied West Bank. His heavy reliance on the ultra-Orthodox parties would only perpetuate and even expand what many see as their disproportionate influence over matters of religion and state.
Mr. Gantz pledged to forge a broad, secular government aimed at curbing the influence of the ultra-Orthodox, protecting the institutions of democracy and rule of law, and healing internal divisions. He pledged to govern “from the center out,” saying 80 percent of Israelis agreed on 80 percent of the issues.
But in the hours after polls closed and through Wednesday, Israel was effectively on hold, suspended between those two visions and unclear about its path forward.
Just five months after the last inconclusive ballot, the country could once again face weeks of feverish coalition negotiations, political paralysis, brinkmanship and instability. A new government could take until November to be formed, marking a full year in campaign mode, a first for Israeli politics.
Have Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee figured out what President Trump did to them? By the looks of their questioning of Corey Lewandowski on Tuesday, the answer is no.
Democrats chose the former Trump campaign manager for their first hearing after declaring the committee is considering impeaching the president. They apparently thought Lewandowski would elaborate on his extensive testimony to special counsel Robert Mueller and also on his testimony to earlier investigations by other House and Senate committees.
Instead, Lewandowski jerked Democrats around — and around and around. He delayed. He asked for specific citations when anyone referred to the Mueller report. He repeated, over and over, his instructions from the Trump White House not to discuss his conversations with the president.
“The White House has directed that I not disclose the substance of any discussion with the president or his advisers to protect executive branch confidentiality,” Lewandowski said, over and over and over.
Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler was visibly frustrated from the start. “‘When you refuse to answer these questions, you are obstructing the work of our committee,” Nadler said. “You are also proving our point for the American people to see: The president is intent on obstructing our legitimate oversight. You are aiding him in that obstruction.”
“And I will remind you,” Nadler continued, “that Article 3 of the impeachment against President Nixon was based on obstruction of Congress.”
Perhaps Nadler thought that was a killer argument. But rather than highlight similarities between the Trump-Russia affair and Watergate, Nadler’s reference to Richard Nixon served to show the differences — and why Democrats are having so much trouble getting an impeachment effort off the ground.
Article 1 of the impeachment of Nixon began with an underlying crime: that agents of his reelection committee broke into Democratic National Committee headquarters. In Trump-Russia, the underlying crime — the DNC hack — was committed by Russians in Russia without any involvement of the Trump campaign. Article 1 then went on to accuse Nixon and his men of engaging “in a course of conduct or plan designed to delay, impede, and obstruct the investigation of such illegal entry; to cover up, conceal and protect those responsible; and to conceal the existence and scope of other unlawful covert activities.”
That was the heart of the Nixon impeachment, that the president obstructed the special counsel’s investigation into Watergate.
But Trump and his team, faced with a special counsel investigation, made a radically different decision. Beyond refusing to testify to special counsel Mueller — which Mueller never demanded he do — Trump cooperated fully with the investigation. Trump, who could have followed a Nixonian course of claiming executive privilege over all sorts of material, instead opened up the White House to Mueller’s investigators. Trump directed his people to testify and turn over thousands of documents to Mueller.
Don McGahn, the White House counsel, famously testified for 30 hours before Mueller’s prosecutors. All other key figures testified as well. That included Lewandowski, who said Tuesday that he spent hours with the Mueller team.
The fact is, House Democrats know what they know about the Trump-Russia matter, and in particular about alleged obstruction of justice in the White House, because Lewandowski and others in the Trump circle cooperated so fully with the Mueller investigation. They did so at the specific direction of the president.
And now, Democrats want to press a case of obstruction of justice against Trump.
What happened Tuesday was the second part of the Trump strategy. The first part was to cooperate with law enforcement. The second part was to not cooperate with congressional impeachment efforts.
Trump has refused to allow White House aides and former aides to testify before the impeachment panel; at the direction of the White House, two former aides, Rick Dearborn and Rob Porter, refused to appear alongside Lewandowski Tuesday. McGahn, also at the direction of the White House, has refused to testify before the committee. The House has gone to court to compel McGahn’s testimony, but a favorable decision is not guaranteed, and in any event will take a long time.
Lewandowski, who never worked in the White House, did appear and made clear he would address the specific contents of the Mueller report. Indeed, when he was asked to confirm this or that passage in the report, he did. In that sense, his testimony was like that of Mueller himself, who sought to stay within the boundaries of the report when he testified before Congress.
The Trump-Russia affair is the anti-Watergate in the sense that the president and his team cooperated extensively with the special counsel, which will make the Judiciary Committee’s task of pressing an obstruction of justice case against them all the more difficult.
But what about Nadler’s specific point, about Article 3 of the Nixon impeachment? (For the curious, Article 2 accused Nixon of abusing federal powers to go after his enemies.) Article 3 charged that Nixon “failed without lawful cause or excuse to produce papers and things as directed by duly authorized subpoenas issued by the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives.”
Of course, House leaders, if they can muster 218 votes, can impeach the president for virtually anything they choose. But practically, they need a court to rule that the needs of their impeachment inquiry outweigh any White House claims of privilege. Again, Democrats are looking back to the days of Watergate, when U.S. v. Nixon said the needs of a criminal trial outweighed the president’s claim of privilege. But of course, with Mueller, Trump has already cooperated with the criminal investigation.
The bottom line is that Trump has flummoxed Watergate-fixated Democrats with a simple strategy: cooperate with the special counsel. In not cooperating with the Judiciary Committee leadership, he is in effect arguing that he has already cooperated with the important investigation and does not have to cooperate with a political investigation on Capitol Hill, especially when the House leadership cannot decide whether it is a formal impeachment proceeding or not.
President Donald Trump did his best to appeal to Latinx voters during his rally on Monday evening in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. His “best,” however, was profoundly bizarre.
In one especially odd moment, Trump remarked upon how white one of his key Latino surrogates looks.
“He happens to be Hispanic, but I’ve never quite figured it out because he looks more like a WASP than I do. So I haven’t figured that one out. But I’ll tell you what — there is nobody that loves this country more or Hispanic more than Steve Cortes,” Trump said. (Cortes is a pro-Trump television commentator and member of Trump’s Hispanic Advisory Council.)
“Nobody loves the Hispanics more!” Trump continued, before asking Cortes a question that suggested Latinos have dual loyalties: “Who do you like more, the country or the Hispanics? He says the country. I don’t know, I may have to go for the Hispanics to be honest with you. We got a lot of Hispanics! We love our Hispanics.”
It makes sense that Trump would put effort into Latino outreach in New Mexico, which has the highest percentage of Latinos of any state of the country. But remarking on the tone of an ally’s skin and suggesting Latino voters have dual loyalties are probably not the best ways to do it. Trump’s comments unsurprisingly seemed to play well to his supporters in the room, but they are unlikely to win many new ones in a state where he can use all the supporters he can get.
Trump is not doing well with Latinos in particular or in New Mexico in general
Trump’s comments about Cortes came after he remarked about polling that purportedly shows his popularity among Latinos on the rise.
“It was very interesting because not too long ago, I saw where the Hispanic Americans, the Hispanics, were up, with me, in a poll, 17 percent, and everyone said, ‘How is that?’” Trump said. “The Hispanic Americans, they understand — they don’t want criminals coming across the border, they don’t want people taking their jobs, they want that security, and they want the wall.”
Trump claims, dubiously, that there’s a poll that exists that shows him “up by 17 percent” among Latinos.
But despite what he said on Monday, Trump is not doing well among the Latinx community. Polls consistently show his approval rating at about 30 percent. The HuffPost has a rundown:
A Washington Post-ABC News poll last week found that only 25 percent of Hispanics approve of the job Trump is doing as president ― considerably lower than his overall approval rating of 38 percent. A CNN/SSRS poll, also conducted last week, showed Trump’s approval rating among Hispanic adults to be 29 percent.
Trump’s poor performance is dragging him down in New Mexico, a state he lost by 8 points to Hillary Clinton in 2016. According to Morning Consult’s tracking polls, Trump’s approval rating in the state has dropped a whopping 34 points since his inauguration, and as of last month, sat 17 points underwater.
Nonetheless, during his rally on Monday, Trump insisted he plans to win New Mexico in 2020. His sales pitch largely centered around low Latinx unemployment rates and stoking fears about immigration — but these were also key components of his campaign message heading into last year’s midterms elections, and Republicans ended up losing all five statewide races in New Mexico. At this stage, there’s little reason to believe things will be different next November.
Lewandowski told Martha MacCallum Tuesday on “The Story” that Democrats on the committee are acting out of fear they could face primary challenges from left-wing candidates in 2020.
“What we know is that the far-left wing of the Democratic Party has to have these hearings to protect themselves in their congressional districts from further left progressives who want to take them out in their primary races,” he said. “This is all politics, and the truth is, it is a disservice to the American people.”
Lewandowski said he previously answered questions from lawmakers for more than 25 hours prior to being called before the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday.
The former Trump aide — who is mulling a bid to represent New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate next year — was called before the committee to answer questions about his contact with the president in regards to the Russia investigation.
Speaking to MacCallum, Lewandowski added he came before the committee with “nothing to hide.”
“I have nothing to hide because we never committed any crimes on the campaign. We never colluded with anyone, which is exactly what the Mueller report says, so I was happy to go,” he said.
He rejected a claim by committee member Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., that he was trying to “campaign” via his testimony.
“This is not a Republican primary campaign, you are not on the campaign trail yet. This is the House Judiciary Committee – act like you know the difference,” Jeffries told Lewandowski.
The former Trump aide said he was not trying to campaign during the hearing, adding he hasn’t even made up his mind about running against Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., in 2020.
“What the congressman failed to articulate was, I was compelled by a lawful subpoena to show up today – and that’s what I did.”
He added he also found it ridiculous that Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., would claim Tuesday he should be potentially fined by the House and be subject to an “inherent contempt order.”
“Jackie Speier wants to fine me? For what? Coming to Congress and testifying in open Congress under oath? I’m happy to do that.”
Of Democrats’ assertion Trump may be “guilty,” Lewandowski remarked they were half right.
“The president didn’t commit any crimes, didn’t collude with any foreign entities and didn’t try and stop the Mueller investigation,” he said. “If he’s guilty of something, it’s of putting America first – and if that’s the case, then he’s absolutely guilty as charged.”
WEST HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA) — Prominent Democratic donor and LGBTQ+ political activist Ed Buck was charged Tuesday with allegedly running a drug den out of his West Hollywood apartment and providing methamphetamine to a 37-year-old man who suffered an overdose last week, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said.
Buck, 65, was charged with one felony count each of battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine and maintaining a drug house.
According to the DA’s office, Buck was accused with injecting the victim with methamphetamine at the defendant’s apartment in the 1200 block of Laurel Avenue in West Hollywood. The man survived.
“I remain deeply concerned for the safety of people whose life circumstances may make them more vulnerable to criminal predators,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement. “With this new evidence, I authorized the filing of criminal charges against Ed Buck.”
Prosecutors recommended bail be set at $4 million in a motion that called Buck a “violent, dangerous sexual predator,” who “mainly preys on men made vulnerable by addiction and homelessness.”
The motion went on to say that Buck used the bait of “narcotics, money, and shelter” to lure victims to him home where, “in a position of power, Buck manipulates his victims into participating in his sexual fetishes.”
According to the motion, Buck’s actions “led to the death of two men in Buck’s apartment, Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean.”
“The defendant’s predatory acts and conscious disregard for human life must be stopped,” the motion said.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday. Buck’s attorney said he would fight the charges against his client “vigorously.”
An attorney who said he talked with family members of Moore and Dean said the family members were relieved and grateful that Buck was behind bars.
“It’s unfortunate that it’s taken a third overdose for the (Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department) to finally act,” Hussain Turk, the attorney for Moore’s family said. “We believe that the third overdose could have been avoided. We believe that the death of Timothy Dean could have also been avoided had they taken the death of Gemmel Moore seriously.”
If convicted as charged, Buck would face a possible maximum sentence of five years and eight months in state prison.
Buck remained in jail Tuesday night, and the case is still under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
President Trump on Tuesday was greeted with protests — and a “baby Trump” balloon — on his visit to the Bay Area.
Police cars and motorcycles from San Mateo County lined Alpine Drive from Interstate 280 west into Portola Valley.
A protest by about 200 people took place at Rossotti Field, adjacent to Rossotti’s Alpine Inn, a Stanford University and Palo Alto-area institution.
Members of the Raging Grannies, the Backbone Campaign and Vigil for Democracy lined the southern side of Alpine Road with signs calling for impeachment.
A balloon depicting an orange infant-like Trump in diapers was floated over the parking lot, in sight of the road and hilltop estate where Trump’s fundraising luncheon is being held.
The balloon was flown despite a temporary Federal Aviation Administration restriction issued last week banning “balloon operations” and other flying objects — airplanes, gliders and model rockets — in the area.
“We’re kind of wondering if they’re targeting us,” William Johnson of the Backbone Campaign, which brought the balloon, said of the FAA restriction.
The FAA issued the VIP flight restriction Saturday, prohibiting planes, gliders, parachute operations, hang gliding, banner towing and “balloon operations” in a 32-mile radius around Palo Alto.
Alvin ISD: Due to the uncertainty of the weather and the safety and security of our students and staff, Alvin ISD will be closed on September 18, 2019.
Angleton ISD: Closed Wednesday.
Brazosport ISD: All Brazosport ISD campuses are closed today (Wednesday, September 18) due to the continuing heavy rains and potential flooding in some areas across the district. We will continue to monitor the weather and provide updates for Thursday and Friday.
Channelview ISD: Out of an abundance of caution, Channelview ISD has canceled classes and activities scheduled for today, Wednesday, September 18, 2019, due to current weather conditions.
Clear Creek ISD: Due to ongoing forecasts for inclement weather and flooding, Clear Creek ISD has decided to cancel school for Wednesday, September 18. All activities are cancelled as well.
Cleveland ISD: CLOSED today, Wednesday, September 18th due to the weather circumstances and the road conditions.
College of the Mainland closed Wednesday, September 18, for both day and night classes.
Dayton ISD: Due to weather concerns, DISD has cancelled school and all activities today, September 18. Stay dry and stay safe.
Deer Park ISD: Closed Wednesday.
Dickinson ISD: All campuses closed Wednesday
Friendswood ISD: FISD will be closed today, Wednesday, September 18th due to inclement weather.
Galveston ISD has canceled classes for students Wednesday, September 18, 2019.They will communicate any changes on their website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and local cable Channel 17.
Galveston College will be closed on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, due to the threat of heavy rain and flooding. Day and evening classes have been canceled.
Goosecreek ISD: Closed Wednesday.
HCC: No classes Wednesday
High Island ISD: No classes Wednesday.
Hitchcock ISD: No classes Wednesday
La Porte ISD is closed for the day. This includes operations and administration.
Mainland Preparatory Classical Academy: will cancel school Wednesday, September 18, 2019.
Pasadena ISD: The safety of our students and staff is of the utmost importance; therefore, Pasadena ISD is closed today, Wednesday, September 18, 2019 due to Imelda. School will resume on Thursday, September 19, 2019. Be safe today!
Santa Fe ISD: All campuses and district offices will be closed on Wednesday.
Texas A&M Galveston: All classes Wednesday, Sept. 18 are cancelled. Visit http://tamug.edu for more information.
Texas City ISD: All schools closed Wednesday, September 18
After-school activities
HISD: All after-school activities & athletic events are cancelled for Wednesday, Sept 18. We will continue to monitor weather conditions today & will keep you informed of any impacts to schedules.
Other cancellations, closures or delays
Family Christian Academy will be closed, Wednesday, Sept. 18th
Harris County Jury Service for 8am Wednesday, September 18, 2019, has been CANCELLED. Jurors scheduled for the 8am jury call do NOT need to appear and will not need to reschedule. 10:30 and 1:00pm jury calls will operate as normal. Jurors are encouraged to exercise caution when traveling to 10:30am and 1:00pm jury service.
The Houston Zoo will be closed on Wed., Sept. 18. The safety of zoo staff, guests and animals is the zoo’s top priority. The animals will be cared for during the storm by a select group of zoo staff who will stay at the zoo throughout the weather event. The animals have safe and secure barns and night houses that have been constructed to weather storms like this one. The zoo will update its plans to reopen as the weather event continues.
Koala Kare Daycare & Preschool in Galveston will be closed Wednesday.
City of Bellaire: Solid waste and recycling collection is cancelled for Wednesday, September 18. This is being done to minimize the likelihood of trash and recyclables from being washed into the storm sewers system which can exacerbate street flooding. Please do not put your trash and recycle bins out and take them back into your home if you have put the items out already. These items will be collected on your next scheduled solid waste or recycling collection day.
Prairie View A&M University: Delayed until 10 a.m. Wednesday
Texas Southern University: All classes delayed until 10 a.m. Wednesday
University of Houston: All campuses including Sugar Land, Clear Lake, Pearland, Texas Medical Center and Katy are delayed until 10 a.m. Wednesday
Wharton County Junior College: All campuses delayed until 10 a.m. Wednesday
A rival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling for Israeli officials to form a unity government, kicking off a negotiation that threatens to end the longest-serving prime minister’s career.
“We are in an emergency situation,” former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, one of the main figures in a three-party rivalry, said after polls closed in Israel on Tuesday. “I would even recommend, this evening, to the president of Israel — who is now the key figure — not to wait even until we actually see all the final results, not even to wait for those official results to be published.”
Lieberman, the right-wing political leader who refused to agree to a power-sharing arrangement with Netanyahu after the April 9 elections, was a major beneficiary of the repeat elections. Initial exit polls show his Yisrael Beytenu party winning as many as ten seats; he need only five to block the Netanyahu’s bid to secure a victory in the race for the prime minister’s office earlier this year.
“The center-right tends to have a comfortable majority,” Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Washington Examiner. “So it’s not a question of which kind of government you’re going to get, but it really is going to be a question of who gets to form that government?”
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has the authority to answer that question, which is why Lieberman identified him as the “key figure” going forward. Rivlin offered Netanyahu the first chance to form a government after the April elections left the prime minister’s Likud party with the single-largest share of seats in the Israeli Knesset. Likud’s 36-seat bloc barely exceeded the 35 seats secured by the Blue and White Party, led by former Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff Benny Gantz.
Those results left Netanyahu still needing to form a coalition with smaller right-leaning parties in order to secure a majority of the 120-seat Knesset, a task that he was expected to complete with relative ease. But Lieberman, who leads a secular nationalist party and resigned previously from Netanyahu’s cabinet due to policy disputes, rejected an offer to form a coalition unless the prime minister promised to strip seminary students of their traditional exemption from military service.
“There is both personal politics involved, in terms of his falling out with Bibi — and there was never really much to fall out from,” Towson University’s Robert Rook, a Middle East historian and close observer of Israeli politics, told the Washington Examiner. “He knows that he can mobilize a lot of Israelis across the political spectrum by focusing on the power of religious parties and that’s something that will get a response across a great deal of the Israeli political spectrum.”
Netanyahu could not agree to this condition without losing essential support from the Ultra-Orthodox parties in his coalition, so he called another election, rather than have Rivlin give another power player a chance to form a government. Lieberman’s election night statement is an attempt to prevent Netanyahu from using the same escape hatch again. Rivlin, in parallel, made clear that he also opposes a third election.
“The president will be guided by the need to form a government in Israel as quickly as possible and to implement the will of the people as expressed in the results of the election, as well as the need to avoid a third general election,” Rivlin said after the polls closed. “Accordingly, the president will allocate the role of forming a government after consultation and discussion with representatives of the factions and the leaders of the relevant parties.”
Netanyahu has been the colossus of Israeli politics over the last decade, holding the prime minister’s office since 2009 after a previous stint from 1996 to 1999. He has been fortified by the way the Israeli electorate has shifted the right on the security issues that are his bread and butter. And he has enjoyed major diplomatic successes since President Trump took office, especially the decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. But he is vulnerable nonetheless, shadowed by corruption allegations and two challengers who may have the combined strength to topple him.
“I am asking now for your confidence in order to complete the historic task and fortify the State of Israel’s borders and security forever,” Netanyahu wrote in a closing appeal to voters.
That appeal has been undermined by scandals, as Israel’s attorney general announced in February that he intends to indict Netanyahu on charges of trading on his office to elicit gifts and favorable media coverage. And as Netanyahu’s political margins have worn thing, he has turned to political tactics — such as forming an alliance with a fringe Jewish party that favors expelling Arabs from Israel — have alienated some voters. “Netanyahu may have over bet the far right and the security situation,” Rook surmised.
Lieberman wants Rivlin to begin a three-party negotiation with Benny Gantz. “I would say unofficially he can already start inviting people this Friday,” Lieberman said. “What’s better than inviting people for a Friday lunchtime?”
Maybe nothing could be better, for Lieberman. But Netanyahu has little margin for error. “It’s possible that today, when we see the results, Bibi will no longer be the head of the largest party of the country,” Ottolenghi said. “Even if that happens, it will not be by a large margin. So the coalition politics start tomorrow. It will be interesting to watch.”
Donald Trump stepped off Air Force One at Moffett Field in a dark suit and bold yellow tie Tuesday for his first presidential visit to the San Francisco Bay Area, tapping Silicon Valley campaign wealth in seeming defiance of his unpopularity in the Democratic stronghold.
His arrival in Mountain View, not far from House Speaker and political nemesis Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco district, was greeted by a small group of party officials and supporters chanting “USA!” before he headed to a tech mogul’s Portola Valley mansion for a fundraising luncheon.
“Coming here makes great political sense,” said David McCuan, a politics professor at Sonoma State University. “He’s showing he can come into the center of anti-Trump energy, right into Nancy Pelosi’s backyard, thumb his nose at her and still walk away with a wad of cash.”
Before Trump’s arrival, his campaign and local GOP officials had been tight-lipped about the location of the fundraiser, citing violent demonstrations that broke out during Trump’s visits to the Bay Area as a presidential candidate in 2016.
Though word had spread by mid-morning that the event would be held in Portola Valley and protesters began to gather there, the demonstrations were uneventful, and there were no reports of arrests.
The Bay Area voted against Trump by the highest margin of any large metro area in 2016, and his trip comes amid acrimonious and escalating battles with California leaders on a host of issues, from sanctuary cities to greenhouse gas emission standards to high speed rail. State officials have sued the Trump administration more than 50 times since he stepped into the presidency. Most recently, Trump criticized the California Democratic leaders over the state’s growing homelessness problem and suggested he could take federal action to “clean it up.”
“What they are doing to our beautiful California is a disgrace to our country,” he said at a campaign rally last month.
But there are plenty of big Republican donors in the Bay Area. Trump’s campaign and joint fundraising committee received more than $6.5 million in large-dollar donations from Californians in the first six months of the year, more than many other Democratic presidential candidates.
Trump’s four events in California today and tomorrow are expected to raise $15 million for his joint fundraising committee with the RNC, a GOP source said. Today’s Bay Area luncheon will bring in $3 million, the source said.
McCuan said that for Trump, California “is the Golden State because of the money, the coverage and the contrast it lets him draw” between him and the state’s Democratic leaders.
“He’s able to use California as a symbol of brokenness across the country,” McCuan said. “He uses us as a foil.”
After headlining the Portola Valley fundraiser, a luncheon for which tickets ranged from $1,000 to $100,000, Trump left for other fundraising events in Los Angeles and San Diego.
The fundraiser was held at the 32,000 square-foot mansion that Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy put on the market last year for nearly $100 million. The five-bedroom house, completed in 2008, sits on 13.35 acres and offers “four floors of seemingly infinite amenities,” according to real estate agents. Among them: a 110-yard golf practice area with putting greens, an indoor hockey rink and tennis pavilion, and a large “social room” for hosting events. If the home sells at its $96.8 million asking price, it would more than triple the previous record for the most expensive home ever sold in Santa Clara County.
State and federal campaign finance records show Scott and Susan McNealy have given nearly $1 million to Republican candidates in state and federal races since 2000 but don’t list any contributions to Trump. The couple has supported Republicans who have sparred with Trump — they gave $156,600 to committees supporting Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign and $88,500 to committees associated with former House Speaker Paul Ryan, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Their only contribution from the 2016 presidential campaign, according to the FEC, was $2,000 Susan McNealy gave to a committee supporting Carly Fiorina before the Republican primary. Within California, state campaign finance records show they contributed to the gubernatorial campaigns of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Meg Whitman.
Scott McNealy did not respond to efforts to reach him for comment by phone or email after the fundraiser.
Trump touched down at 11:02 a.m. at Mountain View’s Moffett Field, where several dozen supporters had gathered on the tarmac, some wearing red Make America Great Again hats and carrying a big Trump 2020 banner.
Trump waved to his fans, who were chanting “USA,” as he descended the steps from the jet. He shook hands with RNC committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon, her spouse Sarvjit Randhawa, and Robin Aube-Warren, the associate director of NASA Ames Research Center, before getting into his car as the motorcade sped away. He did not take questions or talk to reporters.
“There’s such a thrill in being here,” said Rick Carraher, 71, who with his wife, Janis, got up at 4:30 a.m. and went to Moffett Field from their Antioch home to greet the president. “We finally have somebody who’s doing a great job for Americans, and we wanted to show our support.”
About a mile from the fundraiser, a crowd that at one point grew to about 100 people gathered at Rossetti Field on Alpine Road along the motorcade’s route to the fundraiser. A balloon shaped like a baby Trump, mounted by the protesters, flew overhead.
Yolando Sanchez, of Sacramento, joined four friends from the immigration advocacy group Abuelas Responden, or Grannies Respond, to protest. The five women spent the night in Newark, then drove around Tuesday morning until organizers told them to go to Alpine Road in Portola Valley.
There they joined others who held signs and chanted slogans as officers stood sentry between the crowd and the road where Trump’s motorcade drove past.
“We wanted to send him a message with how unhappy we are with him,” Sanchez said.
The motorcade arrived at the McNealy’s home at 11:40 a.m. Along the street, more than a dozen protesters standing behind secret service officers held banners depicting Trump as a baby, as Pinocchio, and in a straitjacket. Kira Od, a local artist who made the banners, urged her fellow demonstrators to keep things civil.
“This isn’t going to change the world, don’t get me wrong,” Od said. “But he’s so protected from criticism that I really wanted to be here so that he couldn’t avoid me and see this.”
Ralph King, a filmmaker who lives up the street, held a hand-written sign declaring, “You are not welcome here” and said, “It’s offensive that Trump is bringing his toxic message into our backyard.”
A few feet away, three Trump supporters unfurled an American flag and a Trump campaign banner.
“People think that to be conservative, you’ve got to be racist or rich,” said Kenny Camacho, 24, who came from Union City to catch a glimpse of the president. “It’s the complete opposite — we’re a silent majority in this country that supports him.”
The event was closed to the press. The White House pool report said attendees were served salmon and vegetables, there was a golf hole in the backyard with a Stanford flag, and at one point a cheer went up from inside the house.
But Dhillon said in an interview afterward that Trump “was incredibly funny and relaxed.”
“People were on their feet several times during his speech,” she said, adding that she thought the event went so well because the secrecy around its location prevented larger protests. Trump didn’t seem to notice the demonstrators, she said.
“He didn’t even make eye contact with any of that garbage,” she said.
She added that Trump talked about how he was fighting for Americans and responded to several questions from attendees. He said California is “a beautiful state” but claimed its elections are unfair, and he blamed Democrats for homelessness that is bringing back “medieval diseases,” according to Dhillon.
Trump’s motorcade swung out of the Portola Valley estate at 2:32 p.m. as a small group of protesters who had been waiting across the street for more than an hour chanted “shame on you!”
Protesters representing the Backbone Campaign, Resistance SF and Vigil for Democracy inflate a Baby Trump Ballon at Rossotti Field in Portola Valley, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019. President Trump is visiting the Bay Area for the first time as president to attend a fundraising event. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
Protesters representing the Backbone Campaign, Resistance SF and Vigil for Democracy inflate a Baby Trump Ballon at Rossotti Field in Portola Valley, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019. President Trump is visiting the Bay Area for the first time as president to attend a fundraising event. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
PORTOLA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA – SEPT. 17: Activists protest along Alpine Rd in Portola Valley, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019 as they wait for President Trump to arrive at a fundraiser held nearby. (Photo by Anda Chu/MediaNews Group/East Bay Times via Getty Images)
A protester, who did not wish to give her name, helps to inflate a Baby Trump Ballon at Rossotti Field in Portola Valley, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019. President Trump is visiting the Bay Area for the first time as president to attend a fundraising event. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
PORTOLA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA – SEPT. 17: Activists protest along Alpine Rd in Portola Valley, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019 as they wait for President Trump to arrive at a fundraiser held nearby. (Photo by Anda Chu/MediaNews Group/East Bay Times via Getty Images)
Protesters representing the Backbone Campaign, Resistance SF and Vigil for Democracy inflate a Baby Trump Ballon at Rossotti Field in Portola Valley, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019. President Trump is visiting the Bay Area for the first time as president to attend a fundraising event. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
His last visit to the Bay Area was for a June 2016 campaign rally in San Jose, during which protesters attacked and scuffled with Trump supporters, leaving some bloody. Several Trump supporters attacked at the event have sued the city for not providing adequate police protection, and the case is still working its way through the courts.
Before that, protesters surrounding an April 2016 Trump campaign event in Burlingame forced him to jump over a highway median to get into the hotel where he was speaking.
Traffic was snarled along Alpine Road following Tuesday’s presidential visit, annoying several residents.
“I realize this is a First World problem — I live in Portola Valley,” said one Portola Valley woman who did not want to be identified. “This will be over in a couple of hours. But this is a terrible inconvenience.”
Staff Writer Elliott Almond and Linda Zavoral contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump’s administration is expected to announce Wednesday that it will revoke California’s legal authority to set its own auto emissions standards, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
The state has been in an ongoing legal fight with the Trump administration for the last year over its right to that waiver, which has major influence on the manufacturing of all cars sold in the U.S.
The revocation has long been expected as part of Trump’s effort to roll back former President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which mandates that automakers double the fuel economy of all new cars and light trucks. However, sources familiar with the decision told the Times that this is the only confirmed change as Trump’s policymakers have struggled to find legal and scientific justification for the full overhaul.
The federal government has sanctioned California’s waiver for nearly 50 years, and 13 other states also follow California’s car pollution standards. In June, Canada ended two decades of aligning itself with U.S. fuel standards and signed on to California’s rules.
Trump’s impending announcement comes on the heels of his spat with major automakers, four of which reached a voluntary agreement with California on fuel efficiency rules. Trump derided them on Twitter last month as “politically correct Automobile Companies” with “foolish executives.”
The move is the latest salvo in what some now call the Trump administration’s war on states’ rights, inverting a well-worn Republican talking point.
The conservative movement’s rhetoric on states’ rights took shape during the 1960s, when federalism became a euphemistic proxy for the fight over desegregation. But, particularly under Obama’s administration, Republicans seized on states’ rights to push back against efforts to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.
Yet for all the Trump administration’s talk of making states the “laboratories of democracy once again,” the EPA is putting aggressive curbs on states’ power to enact stricter pollution rules.
In June, the agency issued a new legal guidance that seeks to restrict how states can use a specific provision of the Clean Water Act to deny permits to oil and gas pipelines. In July, the EPA proposed eliminating a rule that allowed individuals or community groups to contest agency-issued pollution permits before a panel of judges.
“States don’t always do the appropriate thing,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said that month at a conference at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Now, more than a year after it first threatened to revoke California’s waiver, the agency looks set to make good on that promise. But it may not hold up. A New York University School of Law report last year found that the EPA lacks the legal authority to withdraw the congressionally-granted waiver, and no president has ever tried.
Contemporary Washington and a modern news business often driven by technology rather than judgment doesn’t have a modern version of Cokie Roberts in its midst, and that is a loss to us all. She saw her fellow citizens with responsibilities of power as who they are, flawed, fragile, ambitious, dedicated human beings trying to drive the nation forward because, well, its our country, and citizens have to drive it. That didn’t mean she held her reporting punches, but they were often delivered with a measure of context and knowledge that truly informed rather than simply impressed.
President Donald Trump said “nobody loves Hispanics more” at a rally Monday in New Mexico, but his overtures to Latinos didn’t get much of this electorate to swipe right in 2016 and polls suggest it won’t again in 2020.
While the president assured the crowd that “we love our Hispanics,” Latinos appear to be rejecting the “amor,” according to polls taken in the last few months.
Seventy-three percent of Latinos nationwide plan to vote or are leaning toward voting for a Democrat in the 2020 presidential election, according to Univision poll released last week.
And 79 percent of Hispanics across the United States disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president, according to a Pew Research Center poll in August.
Will New Mexico Latinos love him back?
New Mexico is 49 percent Latino — the largest concentration of any state.
Trump would need about 40 percent of the Latino vote in New Mexico to win the state, said University of New Mexico political scientist Gabriel Sanchez, a principal at the polling firm Latino Decisions.
This is what Republican Susana Martínez received when she was elected the first Latina governor of the state in 2010.
Repeating that history in 2020 looks doubtful, Sanchez said.
“It would be a great showing for him if he got 25 percent of Hispanics,” he said.
Trump’s “most effective arguments for Latino voters are around the economy,” said Sanchez, and Trump touted that on Monday night, saying unemployment was at a record low.
But he cautioned the president from getting too excited about New Mexico’s Latino Trump supporters, who are very vocal and aggressive in their support, though they’re still a minority, Sanchez said.
New Mexico has a swath of conservative voters, including Latinos, according to Lonna Rae Atkeson, director for the Study of Voting, Elections, and Democracy at the University of New Mexico.
Hispanic voters are more conservative in the state, she said, but she found it hard to imagine the president picking up many “committed” Democratic partisans.
“You would have to pick up all the independent vote and some of the Democratic vote, and it’s just hard to imagine that happening,” she said. Trump has the most support in the southern part of the state, but “I can’t imagine him picking up Hispanic Democrats in northern New Mexico where they dominate.”
Drugs, walls, Cubans and Venezuelans
Trump told Hispanics at the rally they should support him and his efforts to build a border wall — which he thinks Latinos will love — because when it comes to the drug crisis, “Hispanics know it better than anybody.”
Trump also bragged during his speech about his Latino support in Florida. “The Venezuelans and the Cubans, they’re all for Trump.”
Cuban American voters have been more reliably Republican than other groups, but that has been changing in recent elections. During the 2018 midterms, two predominantly Latino congressional districts in South Florida went from Republican to Democrat. Former Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a Republican Cuban American, lost his seat in Congress and voters ushered in an Ecuadorian American Democrat, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, sending the first South American to Congress.
Members of the audience look on as President Donald Trump delivers remarks at a Keep America Great rally at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, on Sept. 16, 2019.Tom Brenner / Reuters
According to a recent poll by Equis Labs, a newly formed progressive group, about half of Florida Latinos support a Democrat, a third would re-elect Trump and about 14 percent would back another party candidate or are undecided.
The president and his administration have garnered support from Venezuelans over his stepped-up measures and sanctions against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. In response, Democrats have stepped up their hard-line rhetoric against Maduro and are criticizing the Trump administration for not granting Temporary Protected Status to Venezuelans in the U.S.
But Trump has garnered strong criticism over his rhetoric and policies around immigration — most notably his separation of children from parents and his restrictive migration and asylum policies — as well as his comments about Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
In national polls such as Pew Research, a majority of Latinos said they felt less secure with Trump as president. In the recent Univision poll, almost 7-in-10 Latino registered voters agreed with the statement that the El Paso shooter was influenced by Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric.
“Trump asks, ‘Who do you like more, the country or the Hispanics?'” This is meant to make people see Latinos are different from them,” said comedian Cristela Alonzo on Twitter. “We are not.”
President Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he now has five finalists for the position of national security adviser, though an aide later said there were more.
Trump named attorney and U.S. hostage negotiator Robert O’Brien, assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Ricky Waddell, Energy Department nuclear security expert Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, former National Security Council chief of staff Fred Fleitz, and retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who currently advises Vice President Mike Pence.
Trump seemed to implicitly ruled out leading contenders with large bases of support, including retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor, a favorite of noninterventionists, U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, and U.S. special representative for Iran Brian Hook.
Trump’s comments reflect his current thinking, but he has been known to change his mind frequently during the process of considering staff hires.*
O’Brien, who has a strong personal rapport with Trump, recently has appeared to emerge as a front-runner, according to two sources close to the White House. Many insiders are unfamiliar with his policy leanings, however, and some suspect that Trump would not want to gamble after coming to regret the selection of early administration figures.
Waddell, widely viewed as low-key and even-keeled, is close to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is expected to play a leading role in the selection after reports that he was personally interested in filling the role — an option that Trump downplayed last week.
Gordon-Hagerty was not widely discussed as an option before Trump named her. She also leads the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Fleitz formerly worked as chief of staff to fired national security adviser John Bolton but has maintained close links to the White House. He previously was under consideration to become director of national intelligence, though there were questions about whether the Senate would confirm him.
Kellogg, meanwhile, is seen as a potential hands-off national security adviser — a job the comes with a prime corner office in the West Wing overlooking the White House driveway.
“The president really likes him personally, [but Kellogg] is just not an in-the-weeds kind of guy,” said a former senior administration official. “He’s been retired for a lot of time. He likes being at the White House. He likes being on the plane. He likes giving the president his opinion. He doesn’t like nitty-gritty policy minutiae.”
* White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham Tuesday evening said there were more than five names on Trump’s list.
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