“Taken during the Obama Administration (despite $150 Billion gift), returned during the Trump Administration,” the president wrote on Twitter. “Thank you to Iran on a very fair negotiation. See, we can make a deal together!”
Xiyue Wang, 38, was a Princeton University doctoral student doing research in Iran when he was arrested there in August 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison over suspicion of being a spy.
U.S. officials have repeatedly denied that Wang, who was held in Evin Prison on two counts of espionage, was a spy.
Wang was released in Switzerland in exchange for Iranian citizen Massoud Soleimani, who was being held in an Atlanta jail over charges of violating American trade sanctions against Iran. Soleimani was expected to be released as early as January under a plea agreement.
Wang was among at least four other Americans being held in Iran.
The swap comes amid growing tensions between Iran and the U.S. and massive protests in Iran. Trump has placed significant economic sanctions on Iran and withdrew from the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal.
The protests erupted across Iran in November in response to a 50% increase in gas prices. U.S. officials believe the demonstrations have left as many as 1,000 people dead and 7,000 imprisoned, drawing widespread global criticism.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that “The United States will not rest until we bring every American detained in Iran and around the world back home to their loved ones.”
The White House confirmed the trade on Saturday with a statement from Trump, and Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, also confirmed the deal on twitter.
Murphy conceded “it’s a small list, on one hand,” but Democrats would consider it a major victory if they could tout a bipartisan vote in the Senate to remove Trump from office in an election year.
Collins has carefully avoided commenting on evidence that has emerged from the House impeachment inquiry even though she has been one of the president’s most vocal Republican critics in the Senate, breaking with Trump on several high-profile votes.
While Collins has declined to say how she might vote on articles of impeachment, citing her likely role as a juror who will need to weigh the evidence impartially, she has followed the House proceedings more closely than many of her Senate GOP colleagues.
“I’m definitely reading materials. I’ve started reviewing the transcripts. My staff is doing summaries of some of the witnesses. I’ve asked them to compile each day the major moments in the hearings in the House,” she told reporters last month.
She will also have to consider her long-established brand as an independent-minded moderate, which surely will come under attack from Democrats if she votes to acquit.
But if Collins votes to convict, she could face a primary challenge next year from former Maine Gov. Paul LePage or one of his GOP allies.
“The one worry that she has would be the primary. Paul LePage has returned to Maine to make it known that even he would run against her if she didn’t toe the line, which would mean support for Donald Trump,” said Janet Martin, a government professor at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
Adding to the pressure is one of Collins’s mentors, former Maine Sen. William Cohen (R), who helped seal President Nixon’s fate in 1974 when he voted for two articles of impeachment as a House Judiciary Committee member.
Romney has emerged as one of Trump’s toughest Republican critics in Congress since taking office in January.
He has called Trump’s prodding of Ukrainian officials to investigate Biden “troubling in the extreme.” When the president also called on China to investigate Biden, Romney blasted the move as “wrong and appalling.”
Romney, 72, is seen as having the most freedom to vote to convict, as he made his concerns about the president’s character known during the 2016 primary, when he excoriated Trump as “a phony” and “a fraud” in a last ditch effort to deprive him of the nomination.
Romney’s career as a former governor and GOP presidential nominee, in addition to his fortune amassed in the private sector, affords him greater independence than most lawmakers.
A Republican source familiar with Romney’s thinking told The Hill in October that the Utah senator is “more concerned about his legacy in terms of his family, his faith, his country and his party” than about whether he is popular with fellow Senate Republicans.
Vin Weber, who served as an adviser to Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, says Romney will follow his conscience and vote how he thinks is best for the country.
“I’m sure he’s deeply troubled by Trump’s actions because he’s a person of pristine integrity and high intellect,” Weber said.
He added that Romney will also carefully weigh the national implications of voting to remove a president from office for the first time in American history.
“My guess is that Sen. Romney, although he’s going to be really troubled by this, is going to come to the conclusion the country’s interests are not served by removing Donald Trump from office,” he said.
But if Romney decides that’s what’s best for the country, he will vote without fear of political backlash, Weber said. “He’s a strong man and he’ll do what he thinks is the right thing.”
Tim Chambless, an associate professor of political science at the University of Utah, said Romney’s clashes with Trump have cost him some support, noting that an October poll showed Romney with a 46 percent approval rating and 51 percent disapproval rating in the state.
But Romney, who isn’t up for reelection until 2024, has free rein to vote how he wants, Chambless said.
Relations between Trump and Romney have remained strained. In October, the president slammed Romney as a “pompous ass.” Just last week, Romney shot down Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine, not Russia, meddled in the 2016 election.
Romney has declined to comment on the evidence against Trump produced by the House inquiry, saying says he will weigh all the facts once they are presented to the Senate before expressing his judgment.
Murkowski isn’t up for reelection until 2022, and her base of political support in Alaska includes independents and Democrats who helped her win a write-in campaign in 2010 when she lost the GOP primary to a conservative challenger.
As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Murkowski criticized Trump for holding up U.S. aid to Ukraine, telling a reporter in October: “You don’t hold up foreign aid that we previously appropriated for a political initiative.”
Like Collins and Romney, Murkowski has declined to comment on the developments of the House impeachment inquiry and says she will weigh the evidence when articles of impeachment are submitted to the Senate.
“Alaskans are not paying much attention to the House impeachment drama,” she told The Hill last month.
“They’re seeing the headlines in their paper and know that it’s underway, but I’ve been checking in with my staff that are working the phone lines, not just here in D.C. but around the state. I check the mail traffic coming in and it is not something that is occupying the waking hours of Alaskans right now,” she added.
Other Senate Republicans
After Collins, Romney and Murkowski, there is a larger group of GOP senators who have publicly or privately expressed concern over Trump’s withholding of military aid to Ukraine and his attempt to persuade Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to conduct a corruption investigation.
But none of them are seen as being close to voting for any articles of impeachment, barring a major revelation of new information, say Senate GOP aides.
A senior Senate GOP aide said Collins, Romney and Murkowski are the only possible defectors “and the list ends there” unless dramatically new information emerges before a vote.
“There is not a next tier, absent some new evidence,” said the aide.
Republican strategists argue that voting for articles of impeachment would hurt Gardner and McSally more than it would help them in 2020.
“Politically, it doesn’t benefit anybody because if you vote to impeach, the base abandons you and Democrats are never going to say, ‘Thank God you voted to impeach, you have my vote,’ and the moderates and independents don’t care about this,” said the Senate GOP aide.
“For Gardner and McSally and [Sen. Thom] Tillis [N.C.] and [Sen. David] Perdue [Ga.] there is no net benefit to voting to convict on any of the charges because you will lose the loyalty of your base,” the aide said, referring to other Senate Republicans up for reelection.
Still, Mr. Trump made heavily promoted visits to the states and touted the candidates on Twitter, personalizing the races almost every time he talked about them.
A loss would be damaging, Mr. Trump told the crowd at a rally in Kentucky the night before the election. “You can’t let that happen to me!” he implored.
Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers say they see fund-raising benefits in the president’s traveling to those states, even with the losses. And they believe that even if he had stayed out of the races, political reporters would have described them as losses for Mr. Trump.
But senior Republicans acknowledge that Mr. Trump still doesn’t understand the nuances between the types of races run by governors, who have to tend to voters back home, and senators and representatives, who must survive in Washington and have a different political balancing act.
Former Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina, a Republican, said that Mr. Trump shared something in common with his predecessor, Barack Obama, in that neither one had significant coattails in off-year elections. The two men developed a “personal relationship” with voters who turned out only for their presidential elections and could not be cajoled into supporting other candidates, he said.
Some Trump advisers have questioned why his aides have not pushed back more forcefully against his desire to inject himself into contests in solid-red states like Kentucky and Louisiana where there is no electoral benefit to him in 2020.
“The curse of Donald Trump is that he can’t help himself, and he always makes it about him,” Mr. Sanford said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken the lead as authorities look into al-Shamrani’s past and motives, and its Jacksonville branch said Saturday morning that the inquiry remains “active and still very fluid.” The FBI has not yet determined whether to classify the case as one of terrorism, though it is being reviewed, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. An initial survey found no apparent connection to a foreign terrorist group, though the official cautioned that the investigation is still in its early stages. There are no indications of a conspiracy at the moment, the official said, adding that the shooter may have been self-radicalized.
This week, the fact-finding phase of the Trump impeachment inquiry officially ended. Reports were released, hearings were held, articles of impeachment are being drafted. Andrew Prokop helps us break it all down on this week’s episode of Impeachment, Explained.
Then, the impeachment analogue that most closely resembles what we are going through today isn’t Clinton or Nixon, it’s Andrew Johnson. Historian Brenda Wineapple, author of The Impeachers, helps us understand the trial that shaped our nation’s conception of what impeachment means.
Plus, how the GOP has become a definitively anti-Constitutional party.
The Trump administration on Saturday announced the release of Xiyue Wang, a Chinese American graduate student detained in Iran since 2016, as part of a prisoner exchange with Tehran.
“We thank our Swiss partners for their assistance in negotiating Mr. Wang’s release with Iran,” Trump continued. “The highest priority of the United States is the safety and well-being of its citizens. Freeing Americans held captive is of vital importance to my Administration, and we will continue to work hard to bring home all our citizens wrongfully held captive overseas.”
Wang was freed from the Evin Prison in Iran and flew on a Swiss government airplane from Tehran to Zurich, where he was met by the State Department’s special envoy for Iran, Brian Hook. The department tweeted a photo of the pair showing Wang holding a folded American flag.
A senior administration official said that Wang appeared to be in good health following his release and would go to Germany to undergo medical evaluations before coming to the United States.
“We continue to call for the release of all U.S. citizens unjustly detained in Iran,” he added in a statement.
The senior administration official said that negotiations have been going on for some time to secure Wang’s release but more “intensely for the past three or four weeks,” adding that “the Swiss took a leading role in organizing these negotiations.”
Wang, a Princeton University scholar, had been held captive in Iran since August 2016. The student was charged with espionage and in 2017 sentenced to 10 years in prison; Americans officials denied that he was a spy.
The U.S. released Iranian scientist Masoud Soleimani in exchange for Wang. Soleimani was arrested last fall on charges of violating trade sanctions against Iran and was reportedly expected to be released from prison under a plea agreement.
“This was an exceedingly good situation for the United States and Mr. Yang,” the administration official said.
The official indicated that Wang could come to the White House for a visit when he feels ready, saying that “the president would like to welcome him home to America.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted about the prisoner exchange early Saturday, writing that the two men “will be joining their families shortly.”
“Many thanks to all engaged, particularly the Swiss government,” he added.
Glad that Professor Massoud Soleimani and Mr. Xiyue Wang will be joining their families shortly. Many thanks to all engaged, particularly the Swiss government. pic.twitter.com/1TeZUL0CDG
Wang’s wife, Hua Qu, thanked those involved in securing her husband’s release.
“Our family is complete once again,” she said in a statement. “Our son Shaofan and I have waited three long years for this day and it’s hard to express in words how excited we are to be reunited with Xiyue. We are thankful to everyone who helped make this happen.”
Wang is a Chinese-born naturalized U.S. citizen whose wife and child are Chinese citizens. The Princeton graduate student traveled to Iran in 2016 to attend a Farsi language program before he was detained. His family and the university said they had not seen the indictment against him, the records from the trial or the verdict.
“The entire Princeton University community is overjoyed that Xiyue Wang can finally return home to his wife and young son, and we look forward to welcoming him back to campus,” Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber said in a statement.
“We are grateful to everyone, at Princeton and beyond, who has supported Xiyue and his family throughout his unjust imprisonment, and for all the efforts that have led to his release,” he added.
The prisoner swap comes amid broader tensions between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program and as the Trump administration has threatened to increase penalties on the country in recent days over its bloody crackdown on protesters.
Hook had briefed reporters about Iran’s crackdown on Thursday, describing in graphic detail Iranian security forces firing on fleeing protesters with machine guns.
The U.S. believes that more than 1,000 people have been killed, with victims as young as 13, Hook said. As many as 7,000 demonstrators have been detained following the protests triggered by a rapid rise in fuel prices last month.
The Trump administration said this week that the U.S. would pursue sanctions against two Iranian prisons for gross human rights violations.
Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran but has sought to maintain a “maximum pressure campaign” on the country with economic sanctions.
The administration official on Saturday expressed optimism that the prisoner exchange might suggest openness by Iran to abandoning “the practice of hostage-taking diplomacy” in order for Tehran to receive recognition in the international community.
“We believe the Iranians are feeling the pressure,” the official said.
The official added: “We feel very good about our role in resolving the charges against Mr. Soleimani and the reciprocal humanitarian gesture by the Iranians to release Mr. Wang.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said earlier this week that Tehran would negotiate with the U.S. “whenever the U.S. lifts the unfair sanctions.”
ANOTHER PRISONER SWAP … AP/TEHRAN: “Iran frees Chinese-American scholar for US-held scientist,” by Nasser Karimi and Jon Gambrell: “Iran and the U.S. conducted a prisoner exchange Saturday that saw a detained Princeton scholar released for an Iranian scientist held by America, marking a rare diplomatic breakthrough between Tehran and Washington after months of tensions.
“In a trade conducted in Zurich, Switzerland, Iranian officials handed over Chinese-American graduate student Xiyue Wang, detained in Tehran since 2016, for scientist Massoud Soleimani, who had faced a federal trial in Georgia. …
“Wang’s release had been rumored over recent days, with one lawyer involved in his case tweeting out a Bible verse about an angel freeing the apostle Peter just hours before Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif broke the news in his own tweet.
“‘Glad that Professor Massoud Soleimani and Mr. Xiyue Wang will be joining their families shortly,” Zarif wrote. “Many thanks to all engaged, particularly the Swiss government.’ President Donald Trump shortly after acknowledged Wang was free in a statement from the White House, saying the Princeton scholar would be ‘returning to the United States.’ ‘Mr. Wang had been held under the pretense of espionage since August 2016,’ Trump said. ‘We thank our Swiss partners for their assistance in negotiating Mr. Wang’s release with Iran.’” AP
— NYT’S MICHAEL CROWLEY: “In exchange for Mr. Wang’s release, the United States freed Masoud Soleimani, an Iranian scientist who was arrested at a Chicago airport last year and was convicted on charges of violating American trade sanctions against Iran.
“American officials said that Mr. Soleimani’s release was a low price to pay for Mr. Wang’s freedom because Mr. Soleimani was expected to be released from prison as early as next month under a plea agreement.” NYT
THE SHOOTING IN FLORIDA … PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL: “A shooting at a Naval base that left four people dead (including the shooter) and eight others injured was carried out by an aviation student. He was identified as Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a member of the Saudi military authorities, a U.S. official told the Associated Press.
“Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said two of his deputies exchanged gunfire with the man just before 7 a.m. at a classroom at the base, resulting in Alshamrani’s death. The two deputies were injured but expected to recover.”
— PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL FRONT PAGE BANNER HEADLINE: “‘DARK DAY’”
THE WHITE HOUSE IS DONE PARTICIPATING IN IMPEACHMENT … AGAIN: “White House won’t take part in House Judiciary impeachment hearings,” by Anita Kumar: “The White House will not participate in future House Judiciary Committee hearings that are designed to outline evidence in support of President Donald Trump’s removal from office.
“In a one page letter sent to Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), White House Counsel Pat Cipollone criticized the ongoing impeachment inquiry as ‘completely baseless’ and that it violates ‘basic principles of due process and fundamental fairness.’” POLITICO
WHAT EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT: IS BIDEN BUNGLING HUNTER? … MARC CAPUTO in Elkader, Iowa: “‘People have real questions about this’: Hunter-Ukraine questions cloud Biden tour”: “Joe Biden has two methods of responding to questions about his son’s controversial business dealings in Ukraine: denial and anger.
“But so far, Biden doesn’t have a clear and cogent message — and Iowa voters are starting to take notice, especially after his fiery encounter Thursday with a retired farmer who advanced the unfounded claim that the former vice president played a role in landing his son a job at a Ukrainian gas company. …
“[Biden] denied that Iowans want to talk to him about his son Hunter Biden’s overseas business deals. ‘We’ve had over 2,000 people show up on this bus trip and no one has done it except that fella,’ Biden told reporters briefly after an event Friday morning in Cedar Rapids. ‘It’s going to be part of what is the opposition’s case, ‘You’ve done a bad thing to so and so.’ It’s just not true. Trump’s already spending 12 million bucks to try to make the same message. And there’s nothing to the message.’
“The problem for some, however, isn’t the president’s attacks — which many Democrats dismiss out of hand. It’s Biden’s response. To voters like Carol Wickey, a 78-year-old Cedar Rapids Democrat who is undecided in the race and attended a Biden event in her hometown, the candidate isn’t explaining enough.
“‘He needs to be prepared to answer questions about it. And I don’t think he is. I don’t think he’s come up with an answer,’ she said. ‘Loving his kid to death and not doing anything wrong is not an answer. And I, as someone who thinks he’s a really decent human being, when I first started hearing about the Hunter connection, it bothered me. I wanted an answer because it doesn’t look good. It’s a bad perception.’” POLITICO
… AND JMART TELLS US TO BUCKLE UP!: NYT’S JONATHAN MARTIN in Mason City, Iowa:“As Candidates Jostle for Position, a Long Race May Become a Marathon”: “With just under two months until the Iowa caucuses, the already-volatile Democratic presidential race has grown even more unsettled, setting the stage for a marathon nominating contest between the party’s moderate and liberal factions.
“Pete Buttigieg’s surge, Bernie Sanders’s revival, Elizabeth Warren’s struggles and the exit of Kamala Harris have upended the primary and, along with Joseph R. Biden’s Jr. enduring strength with nonwhite voters, increased the possibility of a split decision after the early nominating states.
“That’s when Michael R. Bloomberg aims to burst into the contest — after saturating the airwaves of the Super Tuesday states with tens of millions of dollars of television ads.
With no true front-runner and three other candidates besides Mr. Bloomberg armed with war chests of over $20 million, Democrats are confronting the prospect of a drawn-out primary reminiscent of the epic Clinton-Obama contest in 2008.”
Good Saturday morning.
SPOTTED at a welcome-back-to-D.C. party for NORAH O’DONNELL at Sally Quinn’s house in Georgetown on Friday night: Norah O’Donnell and Geoff Tracy, Chris Isham, Bob Costa, Margaret Brennan, Molly Ball, Bob Schieffer, Chuck Todd, Don Graham, Kristen Welker, Bill Weld, Steve Rattner, Evan Ryan and Tony Blinken, Tammy Haddad, Carl Hulse, Daniel Lippman, Elisabeth Bumiller, Susan Zirinsky, Andrea Mitchell and Alan Greenspan, Mike Allen, Jake Tapper, Marty Baron, George Conway, Josh Dawsey, Dan Balz …
… John Harris and Anne O’Hanlon, Elaina Plott, David Sanger, Mark Leibovich, Ryan Lizza and Olivia Nuzzi, Michael Beschloss, Margaret Carlson, Bob Woodward, Bill Hamilton and Jane Mayer, Steve Case, Frank Lowenstein, Evan Osnos and Sarabeth Berman, Chris Matthews, Phil Musser,Marianne Williamson, Kara Swisher, Maureen Dowd, Shawn McCreesh, Richard Cohen, Tammy Haddad, Terry McAuliffe, Susan Rice and Ian Cameron, Mike Morrell, Neera Tanden, Carol Leonnig, Linda Douglass and John Phillips, and Nick Johnston.
— SPOTTED: George Conway giving his email address to Bob Woodward.
A LONG DECEMBER, BUT IS THERE REASON TO BELIEVE? … SARAH FERRIS and HEATHER CAYGLE: “Dems brace for pre-Christmas deadline crash”: “House Democrats are hoping to accomplish in the next two weeks what would usually take an entire Congress to achieve.
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her deputies are scrambling to nail down a shutdown-averting spending bill, a caucus-unifying prescription drug bill and a continent-spanning trade deal — all before Christmas. And that doesn’t include the widely anticipated vote to impeach President Donald Trump, potentially even in the same week.” POLITICO
WHAT IVANKA IS READING … WSJ: “Congress, White House Reach Tentative Deal Over Paid Parental Leave for Federal Workers,” by Lindsey Wise and Mike Bender: “Congress struck a tentative bipartisan agreement that would authorize 12 weeks of paid parental leave for all federal workers, in a potentially historic deal negotiated with the White House.
“Draft language for a must-pass annual defense policy bill includes a provision that would allow 2.1 million civilians who work for the U.S. government across the country to take paid leave to care for a new baby after birth, adoption or the initiation of foster care, according to multiple people familiar with the agreement.” WSJ
“The stay issued by Justice Ginsburg came just three days after the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York said that Deutsche Bank and Capital One must cooperate with subpoenas of two Democratic-controlled committees in the House of Representatives.
“The release of the records had been expected to give Democrats a trove of documents about Mr. Trump’s financial dealings as they pursue impeachment. The stay is in effect until Dec. 13 and is not considered an indication of any potential ruling by the Supreme Court in Mr. Trump’s appeal of the disclosure order, as well as Justice Ginsburg’s leanings in the records dispute.”
BIG PICTURE … NYT’S MAGGIE HABERMAN: “Trump Can’t Resist Campaigning for Governors. But They Can Resist Him.”: “His grip on Republican senators has held in the lead-up to a historic impeachment trial. Members of the House have faced the prospect of retiring before going against him. And he frequently boasts about his strong approval ratings among Republican voters.
“Yet for a party leader who inspires fear in Washington, President Trump has been bedeviled by governor’s races time and again, even after his aggressive campaigning has helped Republican candidates win.
“Unable to modulate his excitement for other people’s political battles — and, according to advisers, not understanding the distinct incentives for governors who run their own states and senators who have to work with him in Washington — Mr. Trump has plunged headfirst into contests that have done little but expose his own political vulnerabilities.” NYT
THE PRESIDENT’S SATURDAY … THE PRESIDENT will leave the White House for Andrews at 2:30 p.m., and he’ll fly to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. At 5:50 p.m., he will arrive at the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa for the Republican Party of Florida 2019 Statesman’s Dinner. He’ll speak at 6:30 p.m.
AT 7:35 P.M., THE PRESIDENT will go to The Diplomat Beach Resort Hollywood for the Israeli American Council National Summit 2019, where he’ll speak at 8 p.m. At 9:35 p.m., he’ll fly from Fort Lauderdale back to Washington.
FRONT PAGE OF THE TAMPA BAY TIMES … “New menu tonight at Trump dinner: His first Statesman event was in the shadow of the 2012 GOP convention. Much has changed.”
PLAYBOOK READS
CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 16 keepers
GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman (@dlippman):
— “The Class of 2000 ‘Could Have Been Anything,’” by NYT’s Dan Levin: “The high school yearbook is a staple of teenage life. But for some, it reflects the devastating toll of the opioid crisis.” NYT
— “Blood and Soil in Narendra Modi’s India,” by The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins: “The Prime Minister’s Hindu-nationalist government has cast two hundred million Muslims as internal enemies.” New Yorker
— “Taking Virtual Reality for a Test Drive,” by The New Yorker’s Patricia Marx: “I walked with Jesus, shopped for a sofa, and flew like a bird over New York City.” New Yorker
— “He’s a Liar, a Con Artist and a Snitch. His Testimony Could Soon Send a Man to His Death,” by ProPublica and NYT Magazine’s Pamela Colloff: “Paul Skalnik has a decadeslong criminal record and may be one of the most prolific jailhouse informants in U.S. history. The state of Florida is planning to execute a man based largely on his word.” ProPublica (h/t Longform.org)
— “The Intoxicating History of Gin,” by The New Yorker’s Anthony Lane: “The current gin craze knows no bounds, but the British have been imbibing the stuff for hundreds of years, sometimes with disastrous results.” New Yorker
— “Inside the Cell Where a Sick 16-Year-Old Boy Died in Border Patrol Care,” by Robert Moore, Susan Schmidt and Maryam Jameel in ProPublica: “Video obtained by ProPublica shows the Border Patrol held a sick teen in a concrete cell without proper medical attention and did not discover his body until his cellmate alerted guards. The video doesn’t match the Border Patrol’s account of his death.” ProPublica
— “Chaos at the Top of the World,” by Joshua Hammer in GQ — per Longreads.com’s description: “Despite bitterly cold and harsh conditions, the prestige associated with summiting the highest mountain in the world continues to make Mount Everest a dangerous lure for many, regardless of their climbing skill and experience. Nepal and China handed out nearly 500 pricey climbing permits during the 2019 season. Partly due to a massive logjam of over 100 summit hopefuls crowding the ascent during a rare break in the weather on May 22nd and 23rd, over 11 people died on the mountain.” GQ
— “Ponzi Schemes, Private Yachts, and a Missing $250 Million in Crypto: The Strange Tale of Quadriga,” by Nathaniel Rich in Vanity Fair’s holiday issue: “When Canadian blockchain whiz Gerald Cotten died unexpectedly last year, hundreds of millions of dollars in investor funds vanished into the crypto ether. But when the banks, the law, and the forces of Reddit tried to track down the cash, it turned out the young mogul may not have been who he purported to be.” VF
— “Under The Weather,” by Ash Sanders in Believer Magazine: “As psychiatrists and philosophers begin the define a pervasive mental health crisis triggered by climate change, they ask who is really sick: the individual or society?” Believer (h/t Longform.org)
— “Diplomats for sale: How an ambassadorship was bought and lost,” by Al-Jazeera’s Kevin Hirten: “The story of Ali Reza Monfared, the Iranian who tried to buy diplomatic immunity after embezzling millions of dollars.” AJ
— “52 things I learned in 2019,” by Tom Whitwell in Medium — per TheBrowser.com’s description: “An Internet institution. Every one a gem. The world produces 1,000 times as many transistors as it does grains of rice and wheat combined. Drunk shoppers spend $45 billion per year and only 6% of them regret their drunk purchases. The UK male suicide rate is the lowest since accurate records began in 1981. Nigeria spends more on petrol subsidies than on health, or education, or defence. Some people feel better just having a placebo drug in their possession without even consuming it.” Medium
— “The Champion Who Picked a Date to Die,” by NYT’s Andrew Keh with photographs and additional reporting by Lynsey Addario: “Knowing she had the legal right to die helped Marieke Vervoort live her life. It propelled her to medals at the Paralympics. But she could never get away from the pain.” NYT
SPOTTED: U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Callista Gingrich and Newt Gingrich having dinner at Cafe Milano on Friday night.
SPOTTED at the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts’ “Una Noche Linda con Linda Ronstadt” private salon dinner for the Kennedy Center honoree at the home of Ginny Grenham and Paul Zevnik: Linda Ronstadt, Felix Sanchez, Rep Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.), FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, Dan and Rhoda Glickman, Angie Gates, Gregory Nava, Deborah Rutter, Noel Greene, Maria Cardona, Lyndon Boozer, Cynthia Palafox, Connie Coopersmith, Gordon Peterson, Capricia Marshall, and Mariella and Michael Trager.
SPOTTED at Julian Zelizer’s 50th birthday party at Bustan NYC on Friday night: Robert and Ina Caro, Eric Alterman, Amber Tamblyn, David Shaw and Beth Kobliner, Anthony Appiah and Henry Finder, Lisa Benenson, Jonathan Alter, David Greenberg and Suzanne Nossel, Daniel Steinman and Alyssa Quint, Robert Schenkkan and Stephanie Rosenbloom.
TRANSITION — “Trump Energy Adviser Leaving White House After Ukraine Subpoena,” by Bloomberg’s Jennifer Dlouhy and Ari Natter: “Wells Griffith, who has been serving as a senior director for international energy and environment on the National Security Council, is set to join the Overseas Private Investment Corp. next week.” Bloomberg
ENGAGED — Matt Blackwell, legislative director for Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.), proposed to Leah Grace Denny, a legislative assistant for Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), at the Georgetown waterfront Thursday night. They met while working on the Hill. Instapic
WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Eddie Vale, a partner at New Paradigm Strategy Group, and Katey Vale, a program manager at the St. Albans School of Public Service, welcomed Carole Elizabeth on Friday morning. She joins big brother Charlie. Pic
BIRTHWEEK (was Friday): Robert Cresanti, president and CEO of the International Franchise Association (h/t Matt Haller) … Brian Mosteller … Evelyn Farkas, New York congressional candidate and former Obama Pentagon official
BIRTHDAYS: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is 67 … Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is 43 …Mike Roman, a Trump White House alum … USAID Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick (h/t Richard Parker) … Carole Simpson is 78 … Suhail Khan, Microsoft director of external affairs … Emily Hamilton … Roma Daravi, deputy director of broadcast media at the White House … Kate Tummarello, policy director at Engine … Bennett Roth of Bloomberg Government (h/t Bill McQuillen) … Allie Ciaramella … Larisa Alexandrovna Horton … POLITICO’s Sam Sutton and Devika Modak … Sarindee Wickramasuriya … Michael Punke, VP of global public policy for Amazon Web Services … Scott Greene … Kenny Fried … Patrick Lee Plaisance is 56 … Molly Block, senior adviser for strategic communications and policy at EPA … Maria Fuentes …
… CNN’s Ashley Killough and Sarah Mucha … Jonathan Tisch is 66 … Noam Chomsky is 91 … Jeannie Lough … Adam Culbertson … Ben Fallon … Kyle Noyes, professional staff member for the House Homeland Security GOP (h/t girlfriend Katharine Cooksey) … Erika Reyes … NYT’s Dean Chang … Doug Henwood … Dafna Tapiero … Priya Dayananda … Anne MacMillan (h/ts Heather Podesta) … Sam Runyon … Christina Freundlich … Tyler Prell … Mary Heitman … Illinois state Sen. Dan McConchie … Kathryn McQuade … Deloitte’s Sam Schofield … Jenny Kordick … Lisa Sun … Raj Peter Bhakta … Tim Andrews … Kim Bradford … Karla Gonzalez, deputy head of mission for the Panamanian Embassy in the U.K. … Mike Meece … Cristina Beato … Alice Parker … Sachin Chheda … Antha Williams … Jeff Blum (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)
THE SHOWS, by Matt Mackowiak, filing from Austin:
— NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) … Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) … Rep. Denny Heck (D-Wash.). Panel: Bob Costa, Carlos Curbelo, Stephanie Cutter and Kristen Welker.
— CNN’s “State of the Union”: Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) … Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.). Panel: Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), David Urban, Jen Psaki and Linda Chavez (substitute anchor: CNN’s Dana Bash).
— ABC’s “This Week”: Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) … Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) … Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). Panel: Chris Christie, Rahm Emanuel, Yvette Simpson and Alice Stewart.
— CBS’ “Face the Nation”: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) … Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) … White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien … Neal Katyal. Panel: Ed O’Keefe, Josh Holmes, Julie Pace and Adam Entous.
— “Fox News Sunday”: Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) … Defense Secretary Mark Esper. Panel: Michèle Flournoy, Sam Nunn, Karl Rove and Jennifer Griffin … “Power Player of the Week”: Spy Museum’s Keith Melton.
— Sinclair’s “America this Week with Eric Bolling”: Rudy Giuliani … Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) … acting USCIS Director Ken Cuccinelli … Austan Goolsbee.
— Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures”: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy … Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) … Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) … Carter Page.
— Fox News’ “MediaBuzz”: White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham … Mollie Hemingway … Griff Jenkins … Mo Elleithee … Emily Jashinsky.
— CNN’s “Inside Politics”: Julie Pace, Vivian Salama, Jeff Zeleny, Karoun Demirjian and Errin Haines Whack (substitute anchor: David Gregory).
— CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS”: NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg … Nigel Farage … Alistair Campbell and Zanny Minton Beddoes … Maziar Bahari.
— CNN’s “Reliable Sources”: Olivia Nuzzi and David Frum … Liz Mair … Damon De Ionno … Thomas Patterson.
— Univision’s “Al Punto”: Family of Frank Ordoñez … Julián and Adrián LeBarón …Mario Vargas Llosa … Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) … Paula Arenas.
— C-SPAN: “The Communicators”: Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) and The Information’s Ashley Gold … “Newsmakers”: Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), questioned by The Hill’s Scott Wong and the Washington Examiner’s Susan Ferrechio … “Q&A”: Holly Jackson.
— MSNBC’s “Up with David Gura”: Kurt Bardella … Julián Castro … Andrew Desiderio … Josh Gerstein … Danielle Moodie-Mills … Mike Pesca … Christine Quinn … Shermichael Singleton … Joyce Vance.
— MSNBC’s “Kasie DC”: Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) … Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) … Bob Costa … Philip Bump … John Harwood … Maria Teresa Kumar … Bret Stephens … Errin Haines Whack … Kyle Cheney … Mike Allen … Michael Steel (substitute anchor: MSNBC’s David Gura).
— Washington Times’ “Mack on Politics” weekly politics podcast with Matt Mackowiak (download on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify or Stitcher or listen at MackOnPoliticsPodcast.com): Bill O’Reilly.
WASHINGTON – No American president had been impeached since Andrew Johnson a century earlier when the House launched formal impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon in the fall of 1973.
But once the door to impeachment was flung back open, it would reopen again and again.
Three presidents – Nixon,Bill Clinton and, now, Donald Trump – have faced impeachment inquiries in just the past four decades.
Nixon resigned in 1974 to avoid almost certain impeachment. Clinton earned a dubious place in history in 1998 by becoming only the second president to be impeached. All signs point to Trump soon becoming the third impeached president following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement on Thursday that Democrats would proceed with articles of impeachment.
Impeachment, an extraordinary constitutional punishment used only once against an errant president during the first two centuries of the republic, has evolved into a more habitual part of contemporary political discourse.
Why?
The answer, scholars say, lies in the no-holds-barred nature of modern-day partisan warfare, the idiosyncrasies of American political campaigns and the desire to rein in presidents as the executive branch’s powers have expanded.
“Impeachment, although it is a constitutional process, is evidence in some ways that the system has failed and we need to resort to extraordinary remedies,” said Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
“Impeachment is the fire extinguisher on the wall,” Baker said. “But it’s better not to have the fire.”
In Trump’s case, House Democratic leaders argue that while they recognize impeachment is extraordinary, his actions – urging a foreign government to investigate a political rival – were so egregious that he left them no choice but to pursue an impeachment investigation. Trump accuses Democrats of pursuing a partisan witch hunt through the impeachment inquiry.
‘A decent set of chaps’
When the Constitution was written, some of the framers of the document resisted including an impeachment clause. “There was a thought you didn’t need impeachment because you had elections,” said Frank Bowman, a law professor at the University of Missouri and the author of a book on presidential impeachment.
But delegates to the constitutional convention in Philadelphia adopted the impeachment clause after much debate because they feared that someday it might be necessary to remove a president from office.
It wasn’t until Johnson nearly a hundred years later that presidential impeachment would be put to the test.
The unpopular 17th president was impeached by the House in 1868 after a bruising fight with Congress over his post-Civil War Reconstruction policies and his removal of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Thirty-five senators voted to find him guilty of the charges – a single vote short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction and removal from office.
No other president would face possible impeachment until Nixon got entangled in the Watergate scandal. One reason, Bowman said, is that all of the presidents between Johnson and Nixon “were a pretty decent set of chaps.”
Some may have been mediocre, and others may have downright lousy at their jobs. But, “by and large, the presidents were a pretty good lot and didn’t do the kind of stuff the framers would think of as being impeachable,” Bowman said.
Nixon represented a new era that would continue with Clinton and Trump.
The scandal that led to Nixon’s resignation began with a 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate hotel by five men who were later revealed to have ties to the president’s reelection campaign.
An extramarital affair and charges that he lied under oath would trigger the case against Clinton, who was impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate.
The impeachment investigation into Trump was sparked by charges that he pressured Ukraine to announce an investigation into a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, and Biden’s son Hunter, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.
“We happen to be in a period in which the people who secure the presidential nominations in elections are more problematic,” Baker said.
He blames some of that on the nation’s personality-driven presidential campaigns.
“When you are looking at potential presidents, what we know about them mostly is what they tell us about themselves,” Baker said. “Even though journalists and scholars try to make some appraisals of them, self-presentation turns out to be an incredibly important thing, and some people are just preternaturally gifted at presenting themselves without blemishes.
“Even those who have multiple blemishes, like Donald Trump, basically have a good line of self-promotion.”
University of North Carolina law professor Michael Gerhardt, who has written books on impeachment, offers another theory. Though impeachment is still rare, it’s happening to more presidents because more people are watching their every move, he said.
“The presidency itself is covered more closely (by the press), scrutinized more closely and held potentially more accountable,” said Gerhardt, who testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that Trump’s actions were worse than the misconduct of any prior president.
Perhaps more than anything, Bowman said, the rise of hyperpartisanship has fueled the recent push for presidential impeachments.
When Nixon faced impeachment, the Democratic and Republican parties each included liberals and conservatives among their ranks. Nixon, in fact, had been counting on the support of Southern Democrats to keep him in office but was forced to face reality – and, ultimately, resignation – as their support crumbled.
Political parties in the post-Nixon era are characterized more by ideological purity than diversity, which breeds fierce partisan warfare in which the goal is to take down the other party’s leader, Bowman said.
“Success or failure becomes defined as the rise or fall of your ideological faction led by the president,” he said.
Expansion of presidential powers
Over the last century, multiple presidents have expanded the president’s powers – from Teddy Roosevelt’s reliance on executive orders to carry out much of his progressive agenda, Woodrow Wilson’s heavy involvement in international affairs during World War I, and Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal reforms that gave rise to a large bureaucracy headed by the president.
Bowman and others suggest there may be a correlation between the increase in presidential powers and the renewed interest of impeachment as a way to keep the president in check.
The tussle between the White House and Congress over presidential powers escalated when Nixon defied a congressional subpoena to turn over White House tapes, transcripts and other documents during the Watergate hearings.
The matter would eventually end up in the courts, and Nixon would lose. In a decision that limited a president’s powers to claim executive privilege, the Supreme Court ruled on July 24, 1974, that Nixon had to turn over the requested documents.
Another landmark ruling came during Clinton’s presidency when the Supreme Court decided on May 27, 1997, that a sitting president cannot be immune from civil lawsuits filed against him or her for acts committed before taking office. The decision cleared the way for Paula Jones, who claimed Clinton had propositioned her, to proceed with a lawsuit against Clinton while he was still president.
“For some conservatives, they have wanted to push back on these judicial decisions which they have thought cut back on the president’s power,” Gerhardt said.
Hence, Trump has refused to hand over records to House Democrats and has tried to block top administration officials from testifying before House committees leading the impeachment inquiry against him.
In partisan warfare, impeachment can be a way to expose alleged misbehavior or wrongdoing even when there’s little chance that it will end with a president’s removal from office, Bowman said.
“That’s what we’re going to see here (with Trump),” he said. “Unless a miracle occurs, we’re not going to remove Trump as a result of this process. Impeach him? Yes. Remove him? No.”
Michael Collins covers the White House. Reach him @mcollinsNEWS.
The White House confirmed the prisoner swap early on Saturday with a statement from President Trump. Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, also confirmed the deal on Twitter and posted photos of himself accompanying Mr. Soleimanihome on an Iranian jet.
The senior American officials, speaking only on the condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate nature of the exchange, said they saw no indication that it portended a larger dialogue with Iran.
As part of a “maximum pressure campaign,” Mr. Trump has targeted the country with severe economic sanctions. The president, who withdrew from the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, has said he hopes to negotiate with Tehran over its nuclear program and regional aggression. On Wednesday, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, reiterated that Iran would be prepared to meet with the parties to the nuclear deal, including the United States, “whenever the U.S. lifts the unfair sanctions.”
Trump administration officials believe Iran may have released Mr. Wang in order to soften its image and deflect attention from a recent brutal crackdown on mass domestic protests. American officials believe the unrest has left hundreds dead and as many as 7,000 imprisoned, drawing condemnation from around the world.
Mr. Hook, who flew to Zurich overnight on an American military jet to meet Mr. Wang on Saturday, briefed reporters on Thursday at the State Department on the crackdown, denouncing “the atrocities the Iranian regime has committed against its own people.”
An aviation student from Saudi Arabia opened fire in a classroom at the Naval Air Station Pensacola on Friday morning, killing three people in an attack that the Saudi government quickly condemned and that U.S. officials were investigating for possible links to terrorism.
The assault, which ended when a sheriff’s deputy killed the attacker, was the second fatal shooting at a U.S. Navy base this week and prompted a massive law enforcement response and base lockdown.
Twelve people were hurt in the attack, including the two sheriff’s deputies who were the first to respond, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said. One of the deputies was shot in the arm and the other in the knee, and both were expected to recover, he said.
The shooter was a member of the Saudi military who was in aviation training at the base, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference. DeSantis spokesman Helen Ferré later said the governor learned about the shooter’s identity from briefings with FBI and military officials.
A U.S. official who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity identified the shooter as Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The official also said the FBI is examining social media posts and investigating whether he acted alone or was connected to any broader group.
During a news conference Friday night, the FBI declined to release the shooter’s identity and wouldn’t comment on his possible motivations.
“There are many reports circulating, but the FBI deals only in facts,” said Rachel L. Rojas, the FBI’s special agent in charge of the Jacksonville field office. “This is still very much an active and ongoing investigation.”
Earlier Friday, two U.S. officials identified the student as a second lieutenant in the Saudi air force, and said authorities were investigating whether the attack was terrorism-related. They spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose information that had not yet been made public.
President Trump declined to say whether the shooting was terrorism-related. Trump tweeted his condolences to the families of the victims and noted that he had received a phone call from Saudi King Salman.
He said the king told him that “the Saudi people are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter, and that this person in no way shape or form represents the feelings of the Saudi people who love the American people.”
The Saudi government offered condolences to the victims and their families and said it would provide “full support” to U.S. authorities investigating the shooting.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirms that the perpetrator of this horrific attack does not represent the Saudi people whatsoever,” the government said in a statement. “The American people are held in the highest regard by the Saudi people.”
Vice Minister of Defense Khalid bin Salman noted on Twitter that he and many Saudi military personnel have trained on U.S. military bases and gone on to fight “against terrorism and other threats” alongside American forces. “Today’s tragic event is strongly condemned by everyone in Saudi Arabia,” he said.
DeSantis said Saudi Arabia needed to be held to account for the attack.
“Obviously, the government … needs to make things better for these victims,” he said. “I think they’re going to owe a debt here, given that this was one of their individuals.”
A national security expert from the Heritage Foundation warned against making an immediate link to terrorism.
“If there is some connection to terrorism, well, then, that’s that,” Charles “Cully” Stimson said. “But let’s not assume that because he was a Saudi national in their air force and he murdered our people, that he is a terrorist.”
Stimson said it was also possible that the shooter was “a disgruntled evil individual who was mad because he wasn’t going to get his pilot wings, or he wasn’t getting the qualification ratings that he wanted, or he had a beef with somebody, or there was a girlfriend involved who slighted him.”
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) issued a scathing statement calling the shooting an act of terrorism “whether this individual was motivated by radical Islam or was simply mentally unstable.”
Scott said it was “clear that we need to take steps to ensure that any and all foreign nationals are scrutinized and vetted extensively before being embedded with our American men and women in uniform.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in a statement Friday that he was “considering several steps to ensure the security of our military installations and the safety of our service members and their families.” He did not elaborate.
The U.S. has long had a robust training program for Saudis, providing assistance in the U.S. and in the kingdom. The shooting, however, shined a spotlight on the two countries’ sometimes rocky relationship.
The kingdom is still trying to recover from the killing last year of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Saudi intelligence officials and a forensic doctor killed and dismembered Khashoggi on Oct. 2, 2018, as his fiancee waited outside the diplomatic mission.
One of the U.S. Navy’s most historic and storied bases, Naval Air Station Pensacola sprawls along the waterfront southwest of the city’s downtown and dominates the economy of the surrounding area.
Part of the base resembles a college campus, with buildings where 60,000 members of the Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard train each year in multiple fields of aviation. A couple of hundred students from foreign countries are also enrolled in training, said base commander Capt. Tim Kinsella.
The base is also home to the Blue Angels flight demonstration team, and includes the National Naval Aviation Museum, a popular regional tourist attraction.
Lucy Samford, 31, said her husband, a Navy reservist and civilian worker on the base, was about 500 yards from where the shooting happened. She said she got a call from him a little after 7 a.m., and “one of the first things out of his mouth was, ‘I love you. Tell the kids I love them. I just want you to know there’s an active shooter on base.’”
Her husband, whom she declined to identify, later told her he was OK.
The shooting took place in a single classroom and the shooter used a handgun, authorities said. Weapons are not allowed on the base, which Kinsella said would remain closed until further notice.
The shooting is the second at a U.S. naval base this week. A sailor whose submarine was docked at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, opened fire on three civilian employees Wednesday, killing two before taking his own life.
“How many white men would choose, of their own accord, that their closest associates in sleeping quarters, at mess, and in a gun’s crew should be of another race? How many would accept such conditions, if required to do so, without resentment and just as a matter of course?”
Miramar, Florida — The overwhelming use of force is being questioned after a chase in Florida ended in a deadly shootout with police. It started when two men, who the FBI said were already wanted for two similar heists near Miami, robbed a jewelry store and hijacked a UPS van.
After a 23-mile chase, the officers opened fire when the gunmen shot at them, leaving drivers in rush-hour traffic panicked and scrambling.
The two men who police said robbed the jewelry store were killed. But so was 70-year-old Richard Cutshaw, who was waiting in his car at the intersection. The UPS driver who was taken hostage, Frank Ordonez, was also killed.
Ordonez was father of two daughters, ages 3 and 5. Now his stepfather is criticizing the officers’ actions.
Frank Ordonez
CBS Miami
“They disregard the hostage, they disregard for the people around the scene. They went out there like the old West,” said Joe Merino.
Miami-Dade’s police director, Juan Perez, explained why officers had to move in on the suspects, saying the suspects weren’t just fleeing, they were being violent and “confronting officers shooting at them.”
But Manny Orosa, who was Miami-Dade’s police chief from 2011 to 2015, questions the tactic given the number of civilians and the hostage.
“If you’re shooting into a truck and you don’t have a clear vision of who you’re shooting at, you don’t just shoot at the truck,” Orosa said.
It’s not clear yet who fired the shots that killed the UPS driver and the innocent bystander. A complete investigation could take months, even years. The Miami-Dade officers who opened fire have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard during these types of investigations.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren released a doctor’s note on Friday saying the 70-year-old candidate is in good health, as voters consider the vitality of her and her fellow septuagenarians vying for the Democratic nomination.
“Senator Warren is in excellent health and has been throughout the 20 years I have served as her physician,” Dr. Beverly Woo of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital said in a letter dated Wednesday, according to NBC News.
Woo wrote that there are “no medical conditions or health problems that would keep her from fulfilling the duties of the President of the United States.”
The memo noted that Warren has never smoked, used drugs or had a problem with alcohol, and that she exercises regularly and eats healthy foods. Her only medical condition, hypothyroidism, is being treated by a daily dose of levothyroxine. Blood tests in January, taken at her most recent physical, came back normal.
The clean bill of health comes as voters consider whether the race’s oldest contenders are up to the grueling task of running the country.
Sanders, 78, and Biden, 77, lead Warren in support in national surveys. But voters are less concerned about Warren’s health.
Only 7% in the poll had concerns about her age. Warren has made a show of her endurance during the race, frequently spending hours on her feet after campaign events taking photos and chatting with supporters.
Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York who entered the primary contest last month, is 77. The poll said 17% of voters are concerned about his age.
Sanders and Biden did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Bloomberg aide said the billionaire will release his medical records.
Biden has said he will release his medical records before votes are cast, and has criticized those who have questioned his vigor, challenging one Iowa voter to pushup and IQ contests on Thursday.
Sanders, who was hospitalized in October after a heart attack, has said he will release his medical records by year’s end. Sanders made public a doctor’s note during his 2016 run that pronounced him to be in good shape.
President Donald Trump, who is 73, has had numerous physicals while in office. In February, his physician said that Trump was in “very good health.”
In November, the president made an unannounced visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center that the White House said was the first part of his routine annual physical.
The White House did not release details about the visit, but press secretary Stephanie Grisham said following the examination that Trump was healthy, “as demonstrated by his repeated vigorous rally performances in front of thousands of Americans several times a week.”
“Damaging the W.F.P. is small potatoes when you consider the much broader movement being built,” said Jonathan Westin, director of New York Communities for Change, a grass-roots organizing group. “There is a growing anger on the left about where we need to be going and that the Democratic Party has not gone there.”
Ms. Nnaemeka seemed confident of the party’s future.
“There are new formations that are aligning. The D.S.A. is growing, and there are all sorts of other insurgent left groups that we are in a deep relationship with,” she said in an interview, referring to the Democratic Socialists of America.
“We were still on an upward trajectory,” she added. “We still delivered on progressive visions even as our party changed shape.”
Bill Lipton, whom Ms. Nnaemeka is replacing, said he would be involved with the state party through the 2020 election, then work on climate issues for the national party.
The W.F.P. and the D.S.A. may not agree on everything. The W.F.P., for example, has endorsed Senator Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic presidential primary; the Democratic Socialists have endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders.
“The endorsement of Elizabeth Warren is not a choice we would have made, but everyone knows that beating Trump requires a coalition,” said Cea Weaver, a member of a D.S.A. steering committee in New York City. “We help each other be more left versions of ourselves.”
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said he wants a nationwide review of water efficiency standards because of issues with “sinks and showers and other elements of bathrooms” across the country.
“People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times as opposed to once. They end up using more water,” Trump said, continuing that the Environmental Protection Agency is “looking at” the issue at “his suggestion.”
“We have a situation where we’re looking very strongly at sinks and showers and other elements of bathrooms, where you turn the faucet on in areas where there’s tremendous amounts of water, where it rushes out to sea because you could never handle it. And you don’t get any water. You turn on the faucet and you don’t get any water,” Trump said during the White House round-table on small business and red tape reduction.
EPA spokesman Michael Abboud told USA TODAY that the “EPA is working with all federal partners including Department of Energy to review the implementation of the Federal Energy Management Plan and how its relevant programs interact with it to ensure American consumers have more choice when purchasing water products.”
Trump said they’re looking at “opening up the standard” of water-saving regulations, noting that “there may be some areas where we’ll go the other route — desert areas. But for the most part, you have many states where they have so much water that it comes down — it’s called rain — that they don’t know, they don’t know what to do with it.”
“So we’re going to be opening up that, I believe. And we’re looking at changing the standards very soon,” the president stated.
The EPA’s websitestates every drop counts because “water managers in at least 40 states expect local, statewide, or regional water shortages to occur over the next several years.”
Trump also quipped that the White House would need to change out the lightbulbs because the new ones “give you an orange look.” He has made similar comments before and complained about the energy efficiency requirements directed under former President Barack Obama.
“The new bulb is many times more expensive, and, I hate to say it, it doesn’t make you look as good,” Trump said. “Of course, being a vain person, that’s very important to me. It gives you an orange look. I don’t want an orange look. Has anyone noticed that?”
Trump has been rolling back regulations since taking office, particularly taking aim at many environmental rules formed during the Obama administration.
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