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President Donald Trump kicked off his reelection campaign in Florida with a grievance-filled rally that attacked the press, the political establishment and Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation into Russian election interference. (June 18)
AP, AP

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly accused special counsel Robert Mueller of conducting a “witch hunt” against him, ratcheted up his attacks on Wednesday, alleging without evidence that Mueller had committed a crime by having “terminated” texts between FBI officials who privately derided him. 

During an interview with Fox Business Network, Trump claimed the public had not seen some communications between former FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page “because Mueller terminated them illegally. He terminated the emails, he terminated all the stuff between Strzok and Page.” 

“And that’s illegal,” he said. “That’s a crime.” 

But a December report from the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General on the recovery of texts messages from Strzok and Page’s devices did not determine that any crime had been committed, nor did it mention that Mueller was in any way involved in the loss of any exchanges between them. 

More: Robert Mueller to testify publicly before Congress next month

Strzok and Page both worked on the FBI’s investigation into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, and joined Mueller’s staff after he was appointed as special counsel in 2017. Page left after her 45-day temporary assignment ended, while Strzok was removed when Mueller was informed that the FBI agent and Page had exchanged texts hostile to Trump and in support of his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton. Some of the messages described Trump as an “idiot” and “loathsome.” 

The inspector general was unable to review any communications between Strzok and Page on the iPhones they were assigned during their time working for the special counsel’s office because the phones were returned to their factory settings when they were returned, which was done as a matter of routine. 

Texts between Strzok and Page between Dec. 15, 2017 and May 17, 2017, were lost because of a glitch in the FBI’s data collection system, but the inspector general was able to recover about 10,000 texts from each their devices. The report said there was no evidence that Strzok and Page had “attempted to circumvent the FBI’s text message collection capabilities. 

Trump accusation of illegal activity came the day after it was announced that Mueller will give public testimony before a congressional committee on July 17 about his report into Russia’s “sweeping and systemic” campaign to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. 

“Presidential Harassment!” Trump tweeted Tuesday in response to the news of Mueller’s testimony. 

“It never ends,” Trump lamented on Monday, repeating his previously expressed belief that “Mueller that obviously was not a Trump fan” and that he had hired “18 people that hated Donald Trump” to help conduct the investigation. 

Trump, who admitted last week he had not read the full report, repeated his mantra that Mueller report found no “collusion” and “no obstruction whatsoever.” 

Although Mueller’s report “identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign,” it “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

Mueller did not bring charges against the president, but – far from finding “no obstruction whatsoever” – his report outlined several potential instances of potential obstruction and said, “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” 

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/06/26/trump-accuses-mueller-crime-without-evidence/1572003001/

During a gut-wrenching scene in “Miracle,” the best amateur hockey players from across the country are taken to the brink of their physical limits while they stubbornly and repeatedly fail to recognize they no longer play for their individual college teams.

It takes grueling determination from the head coach to awaken the players that they now play for Team USA. It’s a gritty, emotional scene that ultimately captures one of the most patriotic sports moments to ever reach the big screen.

Watching Team USA unite together to give their very best while putting country and team-first can be inspirational.

US WOMEN’S SOCCER STAR MEGAN RAPINOE SAYS SHE’S ‘NOT GOING TO THE F—ING WHITE HOUSE’

Fast forward to Team USA’s women’s soccer team; a talented mix of players of various ages, socio-economic backgrounds, races, and sexual orientations. You know, Americans. They win a lot of games while fans sway American flags in the stands and little kids daydream about playing on the same field while wearing the red, white and blue.

Then there’s Megan Rapinoe. She is co-captain for Team USA. As should be expected, Rapinoe is arguably one of the best soccer players in the world. She won the World Cup and is an Olympic gold medalist. Nike and Samsung sponsor her. Just how talented is she? Ask her: “Because I’m as talented as I am, I get to be here, you don’t get to tell me if I can be here or not,” she said in a recent interview.

When she’s not playing soccer, she advocates for LGBT issues. She also served on a round-table for Hillary Clinton. Good for her.

She also can’t stand President Trump and seems intent on letting us all in on her feelings about that. She’s already announced she would refuse to visit the White House if invited to do so.

Until the U.S. team ruled all players needed to stand for the anthem, Megan Rapinoe showed a propensity to take a knee. Now she stands but refuses to put her hand over her heart or sing along with her teammates. Her actions are causing fans to boycott watching the team play. 

What a missed opportunity.

Our national anthem is a song about standing up for freedom despite all of the odds. When the bombs are bursting in air, the flag remains flying strong, giving hope and optimism that victory and freedom will win the day.

Captain Rapinoe has an opportunity to be a role model for all Americans, not just those that agree with her. She and she alone chose to put on the uniform and represent all of us.

How about just kicking butt, winning and enjoy it? That’s an American thing. So is encouraging all of us to enjoy the experience along with you.  It unites us. People from all backgrounds and political beliefs, including me, are proud of your accomplishments on the field and want the same freedoms and opportunities for you, your teammates and those who support your causes.

Visit the White House with enthusiasm if given the chance; it’s the center of the greatest nation on Earth that helped free more people around the world and expanded rights to more people than ever before.

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And if you truly want to help your cause, ask for a private meeting with the president to discuss your concerns. Half of us didn’t agree with our last president. Half don’t now. Get over it.

Stand up for your cause in a way that we can all support. Anything less is a missed opportunity.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE FROM JASON CHAFFETZ

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jason-chaffetz-us-womens-soccer-star-megan-rapinoe-missing-a-big-opportunity-to-bring-our-country-together

Robert Mueller agreed Tuesday to testify before the House Judiciary Committee and House Intelligence Committee in an open session.

The special counsel is set to appear before both committees in separate but back-to-back hearings on Wednesday, July 17, according to Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who chair the judiciary and intelligence committees, respectively.

“Americans have demanded to hear directly from the Special Counsel so they can understand what he and his team examined, uncovered, and determined about Russia’s attack on our democracy, the Trump campaign’s acceptance and use of that help, and President Trump and his associates’ obstruction of the investigation into that attack,” Nadler and Schiff said in a joint statement. “We look forward to hearing his testimony, as do all Americans.”

The agreement came the same day the committees issued a subpoena to bring Mueller in to testify about his report detailing Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections and potential incidents in which Donald Trump obstructed justice.

William Barr, U.S. attorney general, center, speaks as Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney general, right, and Ed O’Callaghan, principal deputy assistant Attorney General, listen during a news conference at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, April 18, 2019. Barr is set to release a redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report today, and the document could leave everyone unsatisfied, President Donald Trump, lawmakers and the public. Photographer: Erik Lesser/Pool via Bloomberg

William Barr, U.S. attorney general, left, speaks as Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney general, listens during a news conference at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, April 18, 2019. Barr is set to release a redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report today, and the document could leave everyone unsatisfied, President Donald Trump, lawmakers and the public. Photographer: Erik Lesser/Pool via Bloomberg




“We further understand that there are certain sensitivities associated with your open testimony,” Nadler and Schiff wrote to Mueller earlier Tuesday, alluding to criminal investigations the special counsel has referred to other Justice Department offices. “Nevertheless, the American public deserves to hear directly from you about your investigation and conclusions.”

Schiff confirmed to CNN that the judiciary and intelligence committees will each have their own separate hearing to question Mueller on July 17. The intelligence committee will reportedly have an open session but later go into a closed session with Mueller’s staff, according to the network.

The agreement is a victory for Nadler, who has long sought public testimony from Mueller. The special counsel has previously expressed not wanting to publicly testify, but said that if he did, he would not go beyond the parameters of what’s in his lengthy report, which he said speaks for itself.

Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow told NBC that Mueller “said his testimony was his report. We expect that his testimony will be his report.”

In May, Mueller made a rare appearance before the cameras to encourage Americans to read the report, reiterating that while Trump could not be charged with a crime while in office, that does not mean he is exonerated.

Though nothing Mueller said during that appearance was new information, his statements before the cameras resulted in a wave of Democrats confidently calling for an impeachment inquiry into the president.

House Democrats are hoping Mueller’s public testimony on July 17 will provide similar clarity about the special counsel’s findings.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.

Source Article from https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/06/25/robert-mueller-to-testify-before-house-judiciary-house-intel-committees/23756528/

Tesla looking to design its own battery cells to reduce reliance…

Tesla is working on new battery cell designs, and a way to make their own cells, with R&D teams in a lab near its car plant in Fremont, California.

read more

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/26/trump-raises-eye-popping-36-million-in-buildup-to-democratic-debates.html

“May I finish?” the witness asked. “May I please finish?”

The appeal was made in June 2013 by Robert S. Mueller III, then in the twilight of his term as the FBI director. Bent over the witness table in a House Judiciary Committee hearing room, he put up his left hand in protest.

The top law enforcement official asked Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican of Ohio, to stop interrupting him. The lawmaker fired back: “I’m asking basic questions about the investigation.”

At issue six years ago in the oversight hearing were allegations that the IRS had improperly targeted conservative groups for scrutiny.

The topic when Mueller appears before Congress next month will be an even more explosive one. The former special counsel is scheduled to testify on July 17, before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice by President Trump.

The president offered only an abbreviated response to the announcement Tuesday evening from the committee’s two Democratic chairmen. “Presidential Harassment!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

But the president’s loyalists in Congress — Jordan among them — will likely have much more to say to Mueller, whose 22-month investigation concluded with a report indicating that prosecutors did not decide whether Trump had engaged in criminal behavior because of Justice Department policy preventing the indictment of a sitting president.

Stepping down from his role in May, Mueller spoke briefly about his team’s findings, saying that if prosecutors “had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” The Constitution, he said, “requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.”

“Any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report,” he said at the time.

That vow is unlikely to stop lawmakers —— Republicans and Democrats alike — from trying to draw out the flinty former special counsel.

Rep. Douglas A. Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that he hoped Mueller’s testimony would “bring to House Democrats the closure that the rest of America has enjoyed for months.”

Asked on Fox News Tuesday night what questions he would put to Mueller, Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican who sits on the Judiciary Committee, did not list any specific questions but likened Mueller’s team to Chernobyl, the 1986 nuclear disaster in Soviet Ukraine.

For his part, the Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, suggested on CNN that Democrats would aim to find out where Mueller disagreed with the framing of his report following its summary by Trump’s attorney general, William P. Barr.

Insight into their possible tactics in questioning Mueller, and into the way he might respond, lies in his previous appearances before Congress. They show that adversarial committee members have been ready to go after the top law enforcement official, pressing him for details about investigations and faulting him for being unable or unwilling to answer. So, too, the encounters show that Mueller has been an assertive witness, unafraid to return fire and accuse lawmakers of making erroneous claims.

“Your facts are not altogether—” Mueller told Rep. Louie Gohmert, the Texas Republican, during the same 2013 oversight hearing in which he clashed with Jordan over the IRS. Both men still sit on the Judiciary Committee.

As his microphone was cut off, the witness appeared to say that Gohmert’s facts were not “well-founded.”

The lawmaker was asking why the FBI had not canvassed Boston mosques before the detonation of two homemade pressure cooker bombs, which killed three people and injured hundreds more near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in April 2013.

“May I finish my—” Mueller continued.

But Gohmert interjected: “Sir, if you’re going to call me a liar, you need to point out specifically where any facts are wrong.”

The exchange ended in an impasse, as Mueller insisted he had already answered the lawmaker’s question, and Gohmert insisted he had not.

Mueller is well-practiced at answering questions before Congress and not answering others.

Since President George W. Bush nominated him to head the FBI in the summer of 2001, Mueller has made dozens of appearances before Congress. The man whose voice Americans hardly know has spent hours speaking into microphones at congressional hearings, preserved by C-SPAN.

Mueller has answered questions on a range of hot-button topics, in front of both friendly and hostile audiences. Beginning his tenure at the FBI just days before the 9/11 attacks, Mueller was called to testify before a joint House-Senate panel on intelligence gathering. In the years since, he has regularly appeared to defend budget requests and to comply with congressional oversight. He has been asked to weigh in on momentous questions, from the Patriot Act to Russian espionage.

Perhaps most pertinent to the topic of the July hearings is a line of questioning pursued at Mueller’s confirmation hearing in 2001.

The questioner was none other than Jeff Sessions, the former Alabama senator who was forced out as Trump’s attorney general in November. His resignation followed months of escalating attacks from the president, who resented the Cabinet official for recusing himself from handling the Russia investigation.

The confirmation hearing unfolded in the wake of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, who was acquitted by the Senate in February 1999. The legal saga, fresh in the memory of Republican senators, prompted them to ask Mueller how he would manage an inquiry implicating the president.

The concern emphasized by the GOP lawmakers was that an FBI director — and law enforcement more generally — might be swayed by political pressure exerted by an attorney general. The worry finds a parallel today in criticism of Barr’s handling of Mueller’s conclusions.

“Under those circumstances, I hope that you will keep your options open, because you have a 10-year appointment,” Sessions told the nominee. “That is for a reason, so that if something serious occurs, and there has been a threat to the orderly operation of justice, that you would use that independence for a good reason.”

It wasn’t a question. But Mueller asked: “May I respond to that, Senator?”

“Please,” Sessions told him.

Mueller allowed that there could be circumstances in which he would “feel it necessary to circumvent the ordinary course of proceedings,” sidestepping the authority of the attorney general. He pointed to a situation “where one believes that political pressure is being brought to bear on the investigative process.” He said he might look “somewhere else in the executive, beyond the attorney general,” or else possibly disclose his misgivings to Congress.

“But I would look and explore every option if I believed that the FBI was being pressured for political reasons,” he said. “And if that were the situation as described here, I would explore other alternatives or a variety of alternatives in order to make certain that justice was done.”

Mike DeBonis contributed to this report.

More from Morning Mix:

Eric Trump says he was spit on by an employee at a Chicago cocktail bar

New White House press secretary yanked Arizona reporters’ access after critical coverage

A woman was fatally stabbed in the chest. Her identical twin sister has been charged.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/26/mueller-congress-testimony-investigation/

Three senators, four current or former representatives, a mayor, a governor and a former cabinet secretary all walk onto a stage … followed the next night by a former vice president, four senators, a congressman, a former governor, a mayor and a pair of entrepreneurs.

Millions of television viewers are getting their first extended look at the historically sprawling Democratic primary field over two nights in Miami this week.

The field is so large that the Democratic National Committee and NBC News split it into two 10-person debates, from 9 to 11 p.m. ET on Wednesday and Thursday, airing on NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo.

There will be half as many moderators as there will be candidates onstage each night: NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie, Telemundo and NBC Nightly News anchor Jose Diaz-Balart, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd and MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow.

While watching the debate, you can follow along with live fact-checking and analysis at NPR.org, with many NPR reporters covering politics, health care, foreign policy, immigration and more.

Desperate to avoid the 2016 Republican primary field’s “undercard” debate stages, the Democratic National Committee and NBC divided the candidates into two groups, those polling at 2% or above and those polling below 2%. Through random drawing, the candidates in each group were evenly split between the two nights.

Up first on Wednesday night: Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

The system left Warren as the lone representative of the five top-polling candidates on Wednesday night. The other four — former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, California Sen. Kamala Harris and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg — will all appear on the Thursday debate stage.

Also on Thursday’s stage will be Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, California Rep. Eric Swalwell, writer and spiritual guru Marianne Williamson and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.

Candidates will have to be succinct: The debate’s rules grant 60-second answers and 30-second follow-ups. There will be no opening statements. Each night will offer some chances for candidates to catch their breath — four commercial breaks among five segments during each two-hour event.

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Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/06/26/735852558/democratic-presidential-debate-see-the-20-candidates-who-will-be-onstage

Republicans will be ready to grill Robert Mueller at his July hearings, but the issuance of subpoenas to the former special counsel marks a dark time for “civil liberties,” according to U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C.

Congressional Democrats have been working for a while to have Mueller come and testify, Meadows said Tuesday on Fox News’  “The Ingraham Angle.”

“It is not a good day for America, but Bob Mueller better be prepared,” Meadows said. “Because I can tell you, he will be cross-examined for the first time and the American people will start to see the flaws in his report.”

ROBERT MUELLER AGREES TO TESTIFY BEFORE HOUSE LAWMAKERS JULY 17 AFTER SUBPOENA, NADLER AND SCHIFF ANNOUNCE

Meadows added he believed it is important to protect the rights of all involved in the Democrats’ post-Russia investigation, regardless of party affiliation.

“We have to protect our civil liberties,” he said. “Whether they’re Republican or Democrat or in between, we have to protect those. This is a sad day for civil liberties and those who love those. Those rights that we have.

“Yet it’s a worse day for Congress because … what Adam Schiff and them have done, they have basically harassed the president and put forth a political agenda.”

Rep. Schiff, D-Calif., is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, one of the two panels that have subpoenaed Mueller to testify. The other panel is the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Late Tuesday, Schiff and Nadler jointly announced that Mueller had agreed to testify before both panels on July 17.

Fox News has learned Mueller would appear only under a subpoena, which has been described as a “friendly” subpoena, one that in essence had been planned. Mueller is expected to stick to the “four corners” of his report.

“Americans have demanded to hear directly from the Special Counsel so they can understand what he and his team examined, uncovered, and determined about Russia’s attack on our democracy, the Trump campaign’s acceptance and use of that help, and President Trump and his associates’ obstruction of the investigation into that attack,” Nadler and Schiff said in a joint statement.

Meadows does not serve on either panel before which Mueller will appear but heads the House Freedom Caucus, an influential conservative group on Capitol Hill.

Fox News Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mueller-testify-meadows-gop-questions

Congress is debating emergency humanitarian aid to care for migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border. The need is obvious. With virtually no barrier to stop them, thousands of migrants are crossing illegally into the United States every day. More than a million will come this year. U.S. law prevents border officials from quickly returning them. While they are being processed, some of the migrants, including children, are being kept temporarily in terrible conditions. American officials have an obligation to take care of them before those with no valid claim to be in the United States are returned to their home countries.

Capitol Hill Democrats are reportedly torn about an emergency aid measure. On one hand, they want to care for the migrants. On the other hand, they fear approving aid would empower President Trump to carry out a plan to deport illegal immigrants whose cases have received full legal due process and who have been ordered deported. Such deportations used to be relatively uncontroversial but are now, apparently, unacceptable to some Democrats.

This moment might be a time for introspection for those who have consistently downplayed the urgency of the situation on the border. Earlier this year, with the number of illegal crossings rising; with the nature of the crossers changing — more families and more children than in earlier years; with the testimony of border officials that they were unable to handle the situation — with all that happening, many Democrats and their supporters in the media forcefully denied that there was a crisis on the southern border. Here are a few — actually, more than a few — examples:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the situation “a fake crisis at the border.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it “a crisis that does not exist.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said, “There is no crisis at the border.”

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries said, “There is no crisis at the border.”

House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Eliot Engel called the situation “a fake crisis at the border.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said, “There is no crisis at the border.”

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said, “We don’t have a border crisis.”

Rep. Lloyd Doggett called the situation “a phony border crisis.”

Rep. Earl Blumenauer called it “a fake crisis at the border.”

Rep. Sanford Bishop called it “a crisis that does not exist.”

Reps. Jesus Garcia, Jose Serrano, Suzanne Bonamici, Donald Beyer, Pramila Jayapal, and Adriano Espaillat called it a “nonexistent border crisis.”

Former congressman and current California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said, “There is no border crisis.”

All are in public office and all have a say in determining policy. In the media, “Never Trump” Republicans, former Republicans, and other commentators have joined in.

Former Rep. Joe Scarborough, now with MSNBC, called the situation “an imaginary border crisis.”

Former Bush White House official Nicolle Wallace, also with MSNBC, said “There’s not a crisis.”

Former Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol called the situation “a fake crisis.”

GOP strategist Rick Wilson said, “There is no crisis on the border.”

Former conservative talk radio host Charlie Sykes said, “There is no crisis at the border.”

The Washington Post’s Max Boot called the situation a “faux crisis.”

The Post’s Jennifer Rubin said, “There is no crisis at the southern border.”

The Post’s editorial board called it a “make-believe crisis.”

And finally, lest anyone ignore the late-night Resistance, comedian Jimmy Kimmel called the situation “a fake border crisis.”

Are 26 examples enough? There are plenty more, for those who care to look.

The situation at the border is so terrible in part because those in power, and those cheering them on in the media, have steadfastly resisted commonsense measures to reduce the flow of illegal migrants — the large majority of whom do not have a valid claim of asylum — across the border. The resulting paralysis in border policy encourages more migrants to come, making the situation worse by the day.

Perhaps some of those quoted above only want to deny the president a victory, no matter how sensible. Perhaps others are simply looking for a partisan advantage. Perhaps some sincerely believe in open, or virtually open, borders. It does not matter what their motives are. The crisis — yes, crisis — at the border worsens every day they do not act.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/byron-york-what-now-for-those-who-denied-a-crisis-at-the-border

The heart-rending image of a Salvadoran father and his young daughter who drowned crossing the Rio Grande on their way to the U.S. highlighted the human cost of the humanitarian crisis at the border.

The image, taken Monday by Julia Le Duc and published by Mexican newspaper La Jornada, showed the young daughter of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez wrapped in his shirt and clinging to his neck.

Martínez Ramírez was reportedly frustrated because his Salvadoran family was unable to immediately present themselves to U.S. authorities as they sought asylum, leading him to risk the dangerous river-crossing with his family.

Between the Sonoran Desert, which boasts regular temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and a fast-moving Rio Grande river, the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border is an often fatal crossing between ports of entry.

A total of 283 migrant deaths were recorded last year, according to the Associated Press. The toll for 2019 has yet to be released.

The bodies of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his nearly 2-year-old daughter Valeria lie on the bank of the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico.

“Very regrettable that this would happen,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Tuesday, responding to a question about the photograph. “We have always denounced that as there is more rejection in the United States, there are people who lose their lives in the desert or crossing [the river.]”

Last week, a shelter director noted how long waits were for those seeking asylum to meet with U.S. officials and have their cases heard, saying that there were only 40-45 cases heard per week in Matamoros. Meanwhile, anywhere from 800-1,700 names are on the waiting list.

“With greater crackdowns and restrictions,” said Cris Ramón, senior immigration policy analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank in Washington, “we could see more desperate measures by people trying to enter Mexico or the U.S.”

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/searing-photo-of-dead-toddler-with-arm-around-her-fathers-neck-after-both-drowned-in-rio-grande-highlights-perils-of-border-crossing

Insurgent candidate Tiffany Cabán — who has vowed to institute a slate of left-leaning criminal-justice reforms — declared victory over establishment favorite Melinda Katz Tuesday night in a tight Democratic primary race for Queens district attorney, but Katz refused to concede.

Cabán, endorsed by fellow progressives like Bronx-Queens Rep. Alexandria ­Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, got 39.6 percent of the vote to Katz’s 38.3 percent, with 99 percent of precincts reporting.

Since Cabán’s lead stood at 1.3 percentage points, it was above the 0.5-point threshold that would make a recount mandatory.

But there were still 3,400 absentee ballots reportedly to be counted — which would likely mean Katz would have to get a large percentage of them to erase the 1,090-vote lead Cabán held over her early Wednesday.

And the Board of Elections said the tally might not be officially completed until next Wednesday.

“They said I didn’t look like a district attorney. They said I was too young. They said we could not build a movement from the grassroots. They said we could not win — but we did it, y’all,” the 31-year-old public defender told cheering supporters at La Boom nightclub in Woodside.

“We built a campaign to reduce recidivism, decriminalize poverty, end mass incarceration, and to protect our immigrant communities. To keep people rooted in their communities with the access to support and services.”

Cabán, a democratic socialist, has said that, if elected, she would not prosecute farebeaters, sex workers, johns and some recreational-drug crooks; work to close Rikers Island; and end cash bail.

Katz said a recount was warranted in the six-way race, where no candidate came close to getting 50 percent of the vote.

“We always knew this was going to be tough, because if it wasn’t tough, it wouldn’t be a race,” she said. “There’s a lot of thank-yous to be made and a lot more days until a recount, but I didn’t want tonight to go by without thanking so many of you.”

In her victory speech, Cabán acknowledged the support of Ocasio-Cortez, who tweeted about the apparent victory.

Tiffany Caban gives her victory speech in Woodside Tuesday night.William C. Lopez/NY Post

“We meet a machine with a movement,” the freshman congresswoman wrote.

Sanders congratulated Cabán in a tweet. “Tiffany Cabán took on virtually the entire political establishment and built a grassroots movement,” the Vermont socialist wrote.

“This is a victory for working people everywhere who are fighting for real political change and demanding we end cash bail, mass incarceration and the failed war on drugs.”

Cabán was joined onstage by, among others, city Comptroller Scott Stringer and Queens State Sen. Jessica Ramos.

During her campaign, Cabán also received endorsements from Sen. Elizabeth Warren and The New York Times.

The unlikely apparent victory from an insurgent candidate on the left was reminiscent of Ocasio-Cortez’s upset victory last year against nine-term incumbent US Rep. Joe Crowley in a Democratic congressional primary.

Katz received support from Gov. Cuomo and Crowley, the former Queens Democratic Party chief.

Gregory Lasak, a Queens prosecutor, took nearly 15 percent of the vote, possibly siphoning support from Katz.

Cabán ran strong in Astoria, Long Island City and Sunnyside. Katz, meanwhile, underperformed in Broad Channel and the Rockaways.

Source Article from https://nypost.com/2019/06/25/aoc-backed-candidate-tiffany-caban-declares-victory-in-tightly-contested-queens-da-race/

Illinois just became the 11th state to legalize marijuana — and the first where the legislature legalized selling the drug.

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who advocated for legalization in his 2018 campaign, signed a marijuana legalization bill on Tuesday. The legislature had sent the bill to him in May.

Illinois’s marijuana legalization law will allow recreational possession and sales starting on January 1, 2020, creating a new system of taxes and regulations. Adults 21 and older will be allowed to possess and buy cannabis, although tourists in Illinois will be allowed to buy less than state residents. Cities and counties may prohibit sales, but not possession, within their borders. Personal growing will only be fully legal for medical use. Previous low-level convictions and arrests for marijuana will be pardoned and expunged.

The law will go into effect on January 1, 2020.

The state previously allowed marijuana for medical purposes.

Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, with federal law classifying cannabis as a Schedule 1 substance with no medical value and a high potential for misuse. But the federal government has generally taken a hands-off approach toward state laws loosening access to the drug.

Ten other states and Washington, DC, have legalized marijuana. But Vermont (which also legalized through its legislature) and DC have not yet allowed sales. Besides Vermont and now Illinois, states have legalized through ballot initiatives.

Several other states, including New York and New Jersey, have considered legalization in their legislatures this year, but the proposals have so far failed to pass despite support from the governors in those states.

Supporters of legalization argue that it eliminates the harms of marijuana prohibition: the hundreds of thousands of arrests around the US, the racial disparities behind those arrests, and the billions of dollars that flow from the black market for illicit marijuana to drug cartels that then use the money for violent operations around the world. All of this, legalization advocates say, will outweigh any of the potential downsides — such as increased cannabis use — that might come with legalization.

Opponents, meanwhile, claim that legalization will enable a huge marijuana industry that will market the drug irresponsibly. They point to America’s experiences with the alcohol and tobacco industries in particular, which have built their financial empires in large part on some of the heaviest consumers of their products. This could result in far more people using pot, even if it leads to negative health consequences.

At least in Illinois, supporters of legalization have won.

For more on marijuana legalization, read Vox’s explainer.

Source Article from https://www.vox.com/2019/6/25/18650478/illinois-marijuana-legalization-governor-jb-pritzker

A complete guide to the Trump-Xi meeting this week

Stocks should rally if the U.S. and China agree to new negotiations and a ceasefire in the trade war, but the economic impact of tariffs will continue.

read more

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/26/the-trade-war-is-weighing-on-chinese-home-buying-in-the-us.html

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations said Tuesday that the Iranians are “panicking” in the face of increased sanctions, dismissing the newest rhetoric coming from the regime.

A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a tweet Tuesday that new U.S. sanctions that target Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Iranian officials permanently end any chance of diplomacy between the countries.

Amb. Danny Danon said on “America’s Newsroom” that the situation is far from the “end of diplomacy,” as Tehran claims, arguing that the opposite is true.

“The Iranians are panicking and they are threatening that they will close the door for diplomacy because of the sanctions. I think the reality is exactly the opposite. The more sanctions you put on them, the better chance you have to bring them back to the negotiating room,” said Danon.

COTTON MOCKS IRAN OFFICIAL’S SANCTIONS COMPLAINT: WON’T BE ABLE TO SPEND IRANIANS’ MONEY IN ‘5-STAR RESTAURANTS’

The comment from Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman was followed by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who mocked the White House in a live address and said it is “afflicted by mental retardation.”

The U.S. and Iran have seen tensions increase exponentially in the past few weeks after an initial U.S. sanctions squeeze that Washington said led to the attacks on two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The situation became increasingly dire last week after Tehran admitted to downing a $100 million U.S. Navy drone.

Targeted retaliatory strikes were set to hit Iranian targets last Thursday, but President Trump called them off due to concern over the number of casualties it could have caused.

Trump warned Iran on Twitter Tuesday, emphasizing that any attack on Americans “will be met with great and overwhelming force.”

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Danon emphasized that effective sanctions led Iran to the negotiating table in 2013 during the Obama administration. He said the result was a “bad deal” on Iran’s nuclear program in 2015, but it proved that the Iranians will negotiate when faced with tough sanctions.

“Now the president applied sanctions on the leadership of the Iranians and they don’t like it at all,” he said, adding Israel will cooperate with the U.S. and others in the region to counter “aggression” from Iran.

Fox News’ Edmund DeMarche contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/world/israeli-ambassador-iran-panicking-increased-us-sanctions

The chairmen of the panels, Representatives Jerrold Nadler of New York and Adam B. Schiff of California, wrote in a letter to Mr. Mueller on Tuesday that they understood that he had reservations about appearing on Capitol Hill, but they were insistent he do so, anyway.

“The American public deserves to hear directly from you about your investigation and conclusions,” the chairmen wrote. “We will work with you to address legitimate concerns about preserving the integrity of your work, but we expect that you will appear before our committees as scheduled.”

The White House declined to comment on Tuesday night. However, Mr. Trump posted a familiar two-word refrain on Twitter amid news of the testimony: “Presidential Harassment!”

The president and his attorney general, William P. Barr, have said that they have no issue with Mr. Mueller testifying, but they could theoretically try to block him from appearing, as they have other former government officials.

The stakes could scarcely be higher for Mr. Trump, who is facing re-election next year, or for Congress, which is battling to weaken him. The executive and legislative branches have been locked in an ever escalating dispute over access to documents and witnesses related to Mr. Mueller’s work, with the White House refusing to honor congressional subpoenas and court battles looming. That intransigence has prompted growing calls for an impeachment inquiry on Capitol Hill, but has also slowly lost the attention of the wider public.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/us/politics/robert-mueller-testify.html

Congress is debating emergency humanitarian aid to care for migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border. The need is obvious. With virtually no barrier to stop them, thousands of migrants are crossing illegally into the United States every day. More than a million will come this year. U.S. law prevents border officials from quickly returning them. While they are being processed, some of the migrants, including children, are being kept temporarily in terrible conditions. American officials have an obligation to take care of them before those with no valid claim to be in the United States are returned to their home countries.

Capitol Hill Democrats are reportedly torn about an emergency aid measure. On one hand, they want to care for the migrants. On the other hand, they fear approving aid would empower President Trump to carry out a plan to deport illegal immigrants whose cases have received full legal due process and who have been ordered deported. Such deportations used to be relatively uncontroversial but are now, apparently, unacceptable to some Democrats.

This moment might be a time for introspection for those who have consistently downplayed the urgency of the situation on the border. Earlier this year, with the number of illegal crossings rising; with the nature of the crossers changing — more families and more children than in earlier years; with the testimony of border officials that they were unable to handle the situation — with all that happening, many Democrats and their supporters in the media forcefully denied that there was a crisis on the southern border. Here are a few — actually, more than a few — examples:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the situation “a fake crisis at the border.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it “a crisis that does not exist.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said, “There is no crisis at the border.”

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries said, “There is no crisis at the border.”

House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Eliot Engel called the situation “a fake crisis at the border.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said, “There is no crisis at the border.”

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said, “We don’t have a border crisis.”

Rep. Lloyd Doggett called the situation “a phony border crisis.”

Rep. Earl Blumenauer called it “a fake crisis at the border.”

Rep. Sanford Bishop called it “a crisis that does not exist.”

Reps. Jesus Garcia, Jose Serrano, Suzanne Bonamici, Donald Beyer, Pramila Jayapal, and Adriano Espaillat called it a “nonexistent border crisis.”

Former congressman and current California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said, “There is no border crisis.”

All are in public office and all have a say in determining policy. In the media, “Never Trump” Republicans, former Republicans, and other commentators have joined in.

Former Rep. Joe Scarborough, now with MSNBC, called the situation “an imaginary border crisis.”

Former Bush White House official Nicolle Wallace, also with MSNBC, said “There’s not a crisis.”

Former Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol called the situation “a fake crisis.”

GOP strategist Rick Wilson said, “There is no crisis on the border.”

Former conservative talk radio host Charlie Sykes said, “There is no crisis at the border.”

The Washington Post’s Max Boot called the situation a “faux crisis.”

The Post’s Jennifer Rubin said, “There is no crisis at the southern border.”

The Post’s editorial board called it a “make-believe crisis.”

And finally, lest anyone ignore the late-night Resistance, comedian Jimmy Kimmel called the situation “a fake border crisis.”

Are 26 examples enough? There are plenty more, for those who care to look.

The situation at the border is so terrible in part because those in power, and those cheering them on in the media, have steadfastly resisted commonsense measures to reduce the flow of illegal migrants — the large majority of whom do not have a valid claim of asylum — across the border. The resulting paralysis in border policy encourages more migrants to come, making the situation worse by the day.

Perhaps some of those quoted above only want to deny the president a victory, no matter how sensible. Perhaps others are simply looking for a partisan advantage. Perhaps some sincerely believe in open, or virtually open, borders. It does not matter what their motives are. The crisis — yes, crisis — at the border worsens every day they do not act.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/byron-york-what-now-for-those-who-denied-a-crisis-at-the-border

The heart-rending image of a Salvadoran father and his young daughter who drowned crossing the Rio Grande on their way to the U.S. highlighted the human cost of the humanitarian crisis at the border.

The image, taken Monday by Julia Le Duc and published by Mexican newspaper La Jornada, showed the young daughter of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez wrapped in his shirt and clinging to his neck.

Martínez Ramírez was reportedly frustrated because his Salvadoran family was unable to immediately present themselves to U.S. authorities as they sought asylum, leading him to risk the dangerous river-crossing with his family.

Between the Sonoran Desert, which boasts regular temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and a fast-moving Rio Grande river, the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border is an often fatal crossing between ports of entry.

A total of 283 migrant deaths were recorded last year, according to the Associated Press. The toll for 2019 has yet to be released.

The bodies of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his nearly 2-year-old daughter Valeria lie on the bank of the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico.

“Very regrettable that this would happen,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Tuesday, responding to a question about the photograph. “We have always denounced that as there is more rejection in the United States, there are people who lose their lives in the desert or crossing [the river.]”

Last week, a shelter director noted how long waits were for those seeking asylum to meet with U.S. officials and have their cases heard, saying that there were only 40-45 cases heard per week in Matamoros. Meanwhile, anywhere from 800-1,700 names are on the waiting list.

“With greater crackdowns and restrictions,” said Cris Ramón, senior immigration policy analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank in Washington, “we could see more desperate measures by people trying to enter Mexico or the U.S.”

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/searing-photo-of-dead-toddler-with-arm-around-her-fathers-neck-after-both-drowned-in-rio-grande-highlights-perils-of-border-crossing

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var r=n(24),i=n(138),o=n(69),a=n(49)(“IE_PROTO”),u=function(){},s=”prototype”,c=function(){var t,e=n(53)(“iframe”),r=o.length;for(e.style.display=”none”,n(141).appendChild(e),e.src=”javascript:”,(t=e.contentWindow.document).open(),t.write(“

Source Article from https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/06/census-case-john-roberts-bush-v-gore-tragedy.html

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The man and his 23-month-old daughter lay face down in shallow water along the bank of the Rio Grande, his black shirt hiked up to his chest with the girl’s head tucked inside. Her arm was draped around his neck suggesting she clung to him in her final moments.

The searing photograph of the sad discovery on Monday, captured by journalist Julia Le Duc and published by Mexican newspaper La Jornada, highlights the perils of the latest migration crisis involving mostly Central Americans fleeing violence and poverty and hoping for asylum in the United States.

From the scorching Sonora desert to the fast-moving Rio Grande, the U.S.-Mexico border has long been an at times deadly journey for those who cross it illegally between ports of entry.

In recent weeks alone, two babies, a toddler and a woman were found dead on Sunday, overcome by the sweltering heat. Elsewhere three children and an adult from Honduras died in April after their raft capsized on the Rio Grande, and a 6-year-old from India was found dead earlier this month in Arizona, where temperatures routinely soar well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Very regrettable that this would happen,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday in response to a question about the photograph. “We have always denounced that as there is more rejection in the United States, there are people who lose their lives in the desert or crossing” the river.

According to Le Duc’s reporting for La Jornada, Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez, frustrated because the family from El Salvador were unable to present themselves to U.S. authorities and request asylum, swam across the river with his daughter, Valeria.

He set her on the U.S. bank of the river and started back for his wife, Tania Vanessa Ávalos, but seeing him move away the girl threw herself into the waters. Martínez returned and was able to grab Valeria, but the current swept them both away. The account was based on remarks by Ávalos to police at the scene.

Their bodies were discovered Monday morning on the bank of the river near Matamoros, Mexico, across from Brownsville, Texas, and several hundred yards (meters) from where they had tried to cross, just a half-mile (1 kilometer) from an international bridge.

The photo recalls the 2015 image of a 3-year-old Syrian boy who drowned in the Mediterranean near Turkey, though it remains to be seen whether it may have the same impact in focusing international attention on migration to the U.S.

U.S. policy has drastically reduced the number of migrants who are allowed to request asylum, down from dozens per day previously to sometimes just a handful at some ports of entry.

The United States has also been expanding its program under which asylum seekers wait in Mexico while their claims are processed in U.S. courts, a wait that could last many months or even years.

This week the city of Nuevo Laredo in Tamaulipas, the same state where Matamoros is located, said it will become the latest city to receive returnees as soon as Friday.

Many migrant shelters are overflowing on the Mexican side, and cartels hold sway over much of Tamaulipas and have been known to kidnap and kill migrants.

Meanwhile, Mexico is stepping up its own crackdown on immigration, with much of the focus on slowing the flow in the country’s south.

“With greater crackdowns and restrictions,” said Cris Ramón, senior immigration policy analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank in Washington, “we could see more desperate measures by people trying to enter Mexico or the U.S.”

Image caption: A “No Swimming” sign is seen on the Mexican bank of the Rio Grande (also Rio Bravo), the river that divides the cities of Piedras Negras in Mexico’s Coahuila State and Eagle Pass in Texas, US, early on February 17, 2019.

Source Article from https://www.snopes.com/ap/2019/06/25/father-daughter-border-drowning-highlights-migrants-perils/

That assertion from Customs and Border Protection that children were being well cared for ran contrary to what the lawyers, from some of the nation’s top law schools, said they were told by children. During a court-ordered visit to the facility earlier this month, some children said they had not been allowed to shower in nearly a month, and were so hungry that it had been hard for them to sleep through the night.

[Read about the conditions migrant children were held in at Clint.]

“I personally don’t believe these allegations,” the Customs and Border Protection official, who spoke on the condition he not be identified, told reporters.

The lawyers’ accounts prompted a significant public backlash, after which all but 30 of the roughly 300 children who were being housed in Clint were transferred elsewhere. Some 249 were placed in a shelter network for children run by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, while others were moved to a tent facility in El Paso run by Customs and Border Protection.

But on Tuesday, the C.B.P. official said that those moves had alleviated overcrowding in Clint, and allowed for the return of more than 100 children there. The spokesman said that no additional resources had been provided to the children who were sent back.

After the lawyers’ accounts about Clint were made public, volunteers from around the country began to mobilize, hoping to deliver supplies such as diapers, soap and food to the facility. But those who arrived there were not allowed in and their donations were not accepted, according to local media reports.

[Meet the Justice Department lawyer who didn’t want to promise a toothbrush to migrant children.]

On the call with reporters on Tuesday, the Customs and Border Protection official said that the agency was reviewing its policy for accepting outside donations, but the official also disputed the idea that supplies were running low.

“We are looking at the possibility of using some of those donations going forward but those items, it’s important to note, are available now,” the official said.

Federal officials had previously told the office of Representative Terry Canales, a Democrat from Texas who requested a list of needed supplies, that the agency would not be able to accept outside donations, according to Curtis Smith, Mr. Canales’s chief of staff.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/us/john-sanders-cbp.html