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Reparations, criminal justice reform and Trump: Democratic presidential candidates make progressive pledges at Al Sharpton-led convention – CNBC
Reparations, criminal justice reform and Trump: Democratic presidential candidates make progressive pledges at Al Sharpton-led convention – CNBC

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A slew of democratic candidates hoping to challenge President Donald Trump for the White House spelled out their views on racial justice Friday in progressive campaign pitches to crowds at Al Sharpton’s National Action Network convention.

Nearly all of the 15-plus Democrats who have launched campaigns in the 2020 election showed up to the civil rights organization’s annual conference this week in a Sheraton hotel ballroom in Manhattan’s Times Square.

Eight of those candidates gave speeches on Friday – including Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who had just announced his campaign a day earlier – touching on a range of issues including taxes, child care and climate change.

But the predominant themes of their remarks mirrored the NAN’s own stated priorities, particularly reforming the criminal justice system with the past and current impacts of racism in America at top of mind.

And most of the 2020 contenders, often prompted by Sharpton himself, also affirmed their support for a bill introduced in Congress that would create a commission to study reparations for African-Americans.

“When I am elected president, I will sign that bill,” Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., told Sharpton to raucous applause from the convention hall crowd.

Harris also pledged to double the size of the civil rights division of the Justice Department: “Justice means recognizing domestic terrorism, including white nationalist extremism,” which Harris said “should be considered a national security priority.”

Bernie Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont and self-described democratic socialist who is running as a Democrat in 2020, called to repair the “racial wealth gap,” establish a single-payer health care system for all Americans, make public colleges and universities tuition-free and force large corporations to “start paying their fair share.”

He also appeared to spend significantly more time than the other candidates attacking Trump. “We have a president,” Sanders said, “who is a racist, who is a sexist, who is a homophobe, who is a xenophobe, and who is a religious bigot.”

At the end of many of their speeches, Sharpton asked them point-blank if they supported Texas Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee’s legislation in the House that, according to its press release, “seeks to establish a commission to also examine the moral and social implications of slavery.”

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who began with a longer response to Sharpton’s question about the bill, offered a playfully curt “yes, I’m gonna pass it!” when pushed by a shout from the audience to simply tell the crowd: “Yes or no?”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said she would support the bill as well. Warren tore into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., during her speech, and called for eliminating a Senate filibuster rule for legislation when the next Democrat takes over the White House. She also went into detail about her campaign proposal for universal childcare, recounting her own difficulties finding and paying for daycare for her children while pursuing education and a career.

Sanders told Sharpton that “if the House and Senate passed that bill, of course I would sign it.”

Sanders had been less committed to the idea of reparations in the form of payment when asked about it on ABC’s “The View” last month. “I think that right now, our job is to address the crises facing the American people and our communities, and I think there are better ways to do that than just writing out a check,” he said at the time.

Some of the candidates took the issue further.

“I firmly support congresswoman Jackson Lee’s bill,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said during a luncheon attended by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and 2020 candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who also spoke.

“But we must not only study the problem,” she said, promising to address a range of related issues if elected president, such as affordable housing, environmental justice and the practice of redlining.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., added a note of caution in his speech Friday afternoon, telling the crowd that the conversation around reparations “cannot become just a political box-checking exercise.”

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/05/2020-democrats-pledge-support-for-reparations-at-al-sharpton-led-convention.html

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Trump’s threat to close the border was just a trap for Democrats – Washington Examiner
Trump’s threat to close the border was just a trap for Democrats – Washington Examiner

President Trump had been vocally considering shutting down the southern border until he scaled back slightly on Thursday, giving Mexico one year to decide whether or not they’ll comply with his demands. His White House team probably talked him back from the ledge, since it seems he’s the only one in his own administration willing to take such a drastic step.

Indeed, senior staffers and Department of Homeland Security officials view closing ports of entry, what Trump calls a border shutdown, as a method of “last resort.” It’s not often that Trump entirely turns his back on his administration’s 2 cents, but when he does, it’s generally over immigration. This isn’t the first threat of this nature from Trump, and surely it won’t be the last, because, as is evident by his recent backtrack, the president’s not actually serious about shutting down the border. He really just wants the immigration debate to be framed in his favor. He hopes this will all be seen as a dichotomy between his pro-American immigration policy and the Democrats’ anti-American one.

It’s easy to see how empty Trump’s threat was: If he were to actually close the border, there would be dire economic consequences. It’s estimated there’s $1.5 billion worth of commerce occurring along the southern border every day. Meanwhile, from an immigration standpoint, nearly 500,000 people cross the border legally each day, and that’s just through Texas ports. With a border closure, shipments of vegetables and other goods would be halted, truck drivers blocked and stranded, and tourists denied passage of any kind. Trump loves to claim credit for the strong economy, but if he were to close the border, a plunge in stocks would most certainly follow.

It would punish a lot of innocent people, and Trump knows it. Following through on this threat as a political statement would have been extremely costly for Trump. But a claim like this one does force the Democrats who are running for president to reveal their stance on immigration, opening them up to attacks from Trump.

After all, President Trump’s 2016 campaign relied on the anxieties of middle America over immigrants taking jobs. He likely won’t stray from this strategy for the 2020 election, which is news to no one, including Democrats. But as Trump opponents elaborate on their positions in response to his pressure, the president is hoping they fall into his rhetorical trap by labeling themselves as open-border activists or “soft on crime” for their tolerance toward illegal immigration.

Trump recently unleashed a characteristic Twitter storm on the subject, prompting Democratic presidential hopefuls Beto O’Rourke, the former congressman from Texas, and Julián Castro, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama, to respond with their own sweeping immigration plans. For his part, Castro divulged that he wouldn’t consider an immigrant entering the U.S. without papers, no matter the circumstance, a federal crime. Trump will have a field day tearing down this proposal by attempting to rely on his “tough on crime” mentality, even though the electorate has steered away from this Reagan-era viewpoint.

O’Rourke is a native of El Paso, Texas, a city experiencing overcrowding due to customs and Border Patrol agents being reassigned to take care of unauthorized migrants. O’Rourke has highlighted Trump’s naive understanding on this matter by emphasizing that immigration policy is actually heavily tied to foreign policy, a reality Trump likes to avoid, evidenced by his recent call to cut off aid to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, which would only exacerbate the flow of immigrants toward our borders.

One other presidential hopeful, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., already tried to distance herself from Trump by passionately advocating for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, known as “Dreamers.” On April 3, she introduced a bill to Congress, perhaps intended to differentiate herself from primary opponent O’Rourke, that would allow “Dreamers” to work as staffers or interns in Congress.

The immigration debate will be the main focus of the 2020 election, which means Democrats must fine-tune their positions on immigration in order not to fall into Trump’s rhetorical trap. But we should all remember that Trump’s first two years of hard-line stances on immigration hasn’t actually alleviated the biggest source of conservative apprehension: the surge in migration. In fact, March 2019 saw the highest migrant rate since 2008.

Who knows, Trump could easily be provoked once again to follow through on his threat, even if his original intent was to force Democrats to show their cards. But if he does, he’s not going to do anything but hurt his chances at a 2020 victory — and the everyday Americans he claims to champion.

Natalie Dowzicky (@Nat_Dowzicky) is a researcher at a think tank in Washington, D.C., and a Young Voices contributor.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/trumps-threat-to-close-the-border-was-just-a-trap-for-democrats

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‘Suspicious’ Hopewell church fire under investigation – WWBT NBC12 News
‘Suspicious’ Hopewell church fire under investigation – WWBT NBC12 News

HOPEWELL, VA (WWBT) – Officials said they are investigating after a fire broke out at a church in Hopewell Friday night.

Source Article from http://www.nbc12.com/2019/04/06/hopewell-church-fire-under-investigation/

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Trump’s threat to close the border was just a trap for Democrats – Washington Examiner
Trump’s threat to close the border was just a trap for Democrats – Washington Examiner

President Trump had been vocally considering shutting down the southern border until he scaled back slightly on Thursday, giving Mexico one year to decide whether or not they’ll comply with his demands. His White House team probably talked him back from the ledge, since it seems he’s the only one in his own administration willing to take such a drastic step.

Indeed, senior staffers and Department of Homeland Security officials view closing ports of entry, what Trump calls a border shutdown, as a method of “last resort.” It’s not often that Trump entirely turns his back on his administration’s 2 cents, but when he does, it’s generally over immigration. This isn’t the first threat of this nature from Trump, and surely it won’t be the last, because, as is evident by his recent backtrack, the president’s not actually serious about shutting down the border. He really just wants the immigration debate to be framed in his favor. He hopes this will all be seen as a dichotomy between his pro-American immigration policy and the Democrats’ anti-American one.

It’s easy to see how empty Trump’s threat was: If he were to actually close the border, there would be dire economic consequences. It’s estimated there’s $1.5 billion worth of commerce occurring along the southern border every day. Meanwhile, from an immigration standpoint, nearly 500,000 people cross the border legally each day, and that’s just through Texas ports. With a border closure, shipments of vegetables and other goods would be halted, truck drivers blocked and stranded, and tourists denied passage of any kind. Trump loves to claim credit for the strong economy, but if he were to close the border, a plunge in stocks would most certainly follow.

It would punish a lot of innocent people, and Trump knows it. Following through on this threat as a political statement would have been extremely costly for Trump. But a claim like this one does force the Democrats who are running for president to reveal their stance on immigration, opening them up to attacks from Trump.

After all, President Trump’s 2016 campaign relied on the anxieties of middle America over immigrants taking jobs. He likely won’t stray from this strategy for the 2020 election, which is news to no one, including Democrats. But as Trump opponents elaborate on their positions in response to his pressure, the president is hoping they fall into his rhetorical trap by labeling themselves as open-border activists or “soft on crime” for their tolerance toward illegal immigration.

Trump recently unleashed a characteristic Twitter storm on the subject, prompting Democratic presidential hopefuls Beto O’Rourke, the former congressman from Texas, and Julián Castro, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama, to respond with their own sweeping immigration plans. For his part, Castro divulged that he wouldn’t consider an immigrant entering the U.S. without papers, no matter the circumstance, a federal crime. Trump will have a field day tearing down this proposal by attempting to rely on his “tough on crime” mentality, even though the electorate has steered away from this Reagan-era viewpoint.

O’Rourke is a native of El Paso, Texas, a city experiencing overcrowding due to customs and Border Patrol agents being reassigned to take care of unauthorized migrants. O’Rourke has highlighted Trump’s naive understanding on this matter by emphasizing that immigration policy is actually heavily tied to foreign policy, a reality Trump likes to avoid, evidenced by his recent call to cut off aid to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, which would only exacerbate the flow of immigrants toward our borders.

One other presidential hopeful, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., already tried to distance herself from Trump by passionately advocating for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, known as “Dreamers.” On April 3, she introduced a bill to Congress, perhaps intended to differentiate herself from primary opponent O’Rourke, that would allow “Dreamers” to work as staffers or interns in Congress.

The immigration debate will be the main focus of the 2020 election, which means Democrats must fine-tune their positions on immigration in order not to fall into Trump’s rhetorical trap. But we should all remember that Trump’s first two years of hard-line stances on immigration hasn’t actually alleviated the biggest source of conservative apprehension: the surge in migration. In fact, March 2019 saw the highest migrant rate since 2008.

Who knows, Trump could easily be provoked once again to follow through on his threat, even if his original intent was to force Democrats to show their cards. But if he does, he’s not going to do anything but hurt his chances at a 2020 victory — and the everyday Americans he claims to champion.

Natalie Dowzicky (@Nat_Dowzicky) is a researcher at a think tank in Washington, D.C., and a Young Voices contributor.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/trumps-threat-to-close-the-border-was-just-a-trap-for-democrats

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The members of Congress who could most use a ‘Queer Eye’ makeover, ranked – Washington Examiner
The members of Congress who could most use a ‘Queer Eye’ makeover, ranked – Washington Examiner

The Fab Five went to Washington, and a few lawmakers could really use their help.

Four members of the “Queer Eye” crew — Bobby Berk, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, and Jonathan Van Ness — visited D.C. this week to discuss legislation such as the Equality Act and the Violence Against Women Act. But they really missed out on some makeover opportunities.

Now in its third season, the remade “Queer Eye” brings its five frontmen across the country to give unsuspecting recipients makeovers. From shaggy-haired dudes to camo-wearing moms, beneficiaries have really upped their fashion and interior design games thanks to the show.
When it comes to style, no one needs a makeover more than Congress. Because recipients have to be nominated, I have a few recommendations for the Fab Five next time they visit Washington.
Ted Cruz

From his too-on-the-nose April Fools’ joke to his unfortunate association with the “Zodiac killer,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has a little charisma to develop. The fifth member of the squad, Karamo Brown, is in charge of culture and could help Cruz work on his likability. France, the fashion expert, could upgrade Cruz’s bland Hill style. Cruz’s new facial hair would probably have to go, too. Even grooming pro Van Ness, with his glorious mustache, would agree the beard just isn’t working for him.

Cory Booker

The man doesn’t know how to make a margarita. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., just needs someone to tell him about tequila. Or, as Porowski, the food expert, would say, how not to “get stuck in a rut” with the versatile beverage.

Elizabeth Warren

As her presidential campaign kicks into gear, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., could use a bump in authenticity. Warren received some lampooning after she posted an awkward Instagram live video from her kitchen in December. Chatting with your husband in your home is a good way to appear down-to-earth until you say, “Hold on a sec, I’m gonna get me a beer.”

She’s looking good for being almost 70 years old, but Warren needs a reminder that it’s OK not to be a millennial as long as you don’t try to act like one. As Brown would say, being vulnerable “shows that you are in tune with yourself.”

Mitch McConnell

In season three, the “Queer Eye” cast spends an entire episode convincing a young man to find a better spirit animal. He starts out identifying as a sloth and ends up calling himself a lion. If they gave Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a makeover, the Fab Five could help him seem less like a turtle. It’s an unfortunate association, thanks to the downturn of his mouth and his perpetual look of consternation, so anything else would do. Maybe he could try a French bulldog.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

From her earrings to pantsuits, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has great style. But there’s one way the Fab Five could still help her out. If Porowski could give her cooking lessons that involved non-vegan dishes, he’d be doing us all a favor.

And even though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., would like it, the lawmakers should leave future makeovers to the professionals.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-members-of-congress-who-could-most-use-a-queer-eye-makeover-ranked

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What’s at Risk if the Fed Becomes as Partisan as the Rest of Washington – The New York Times
What’s at Risk if the Fed Becomes as Partisan as the Rest of Washington – The New York Times

“It’s more overtly political than anything we’ve seen since at least the ’80s, and historically when we’ve had political appointments and interventions in the Fed, there have been unintended consequences that last,” said Julia Coronado, president of MacroPolicy Perspectives and a former Fed staffer. “It may be expedient in the near term, but what’s good for the next year or two may not be good for the next decade.”

All presidential appointees to the Fed’s board of governors come with their own political point of view, which generally dovetails with the president who appointed them. But typically they have also brought deep technical expertise and an inclination to keep political dimensions out of Fed debates.

“People around the table did have political views, and I did, too,” said Alan Blinder, who was appointed vice chairman of the Fed by President Bill Clinton and is more recently the author of “Advice and Dissent,” about the role of politicians versus technocrats in shaping policy. “But you weren’t supposed to bring them into the room when it was time to make a decision, and people didn’t.”

That is the tradition that Mr. Trump’s approach endangers.

You can read thousands of pages of transcripts of closed-door Fed policy meetings without seeing a reference to the political jockeying that occupies the rest of Washington.

Three times in recent decades, a president has reappointed a Fed chairman first named by a president of the opposite party (Ronald Reagan with Paul Volcker, Mr. Clinton with Alan Greenspan and Barack Obama with Ben Bernanke).

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/06/upshot/fed-moore-cain-risk-partisanship.html

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Jennifer Hart drove her six children to their deaths as her wife looked up how much they would suffer, a jury says – CNN
Jennifer Hart drove her six children to their deaths as her wife looked up how much they would suffer, a jury says – CNN

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Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) office and threatening to assault and kill the congresswoman. “,”descriptionText”:”A New York man is being charged after calling into Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) office and threatening to assault and kill the congresswoman. “},{“title”:”Video shows deadly standoff between gunman and police”,”duration”:”00:46″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/us/2019/04/06/georgia-hostage-standoff-body-camera-video-ndwknd-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”us/2019/04/06/georgia-hostage-standoff-body-camera-video-ndwknd-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190406072613-georgia-police-standoff-body-camera-video-thumb-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/us/2019/04/06/georgia-hostage-standoff-body-camera-video-ndwknd-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”Police were called to a home after some \”sort of domestic dispute,\” according to the police department in Henry County, just south of Atlanta. 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CNN’s \u003ca href=\”http://www.cnn.com/profiles/kaitlan-collins\” target=\”_blank\”>Kaitlan Collins\u003c/a> reports Trump also withdrew the nomination of Ron Vitiello to lead US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, surprising the Department of Homeland Security and members of Congress, sources familiar with the nomination told CNN.”},{“title”:”Biden jokes he had permission to hug union official”,”duration”:”01:46″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/04/05/joe-biden-joke-hug-sot-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/04/05/joe-biden-joke-hug-sot-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190405120537-joe-biden-union-speech-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/04/05/joe-biden-joke-hug-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”Former Vice President Joe Biden jokes about hugging a union official while making his first public 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Embassy”,”duration”:”04:03″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/04/05/ecuador-embassy-expulsion-julian-assange-wikileaks-founder-todd-dnt-tsr-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/04/05/ecuador-embassy-expulsion-julian-assange-wikileaks-founder-todd-dnt-tsr-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/180723125809-julian-assange-file-may-2017-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/04/05/ecuador-embassy-expulsion-julian-assange-wikileaks-founder-todd-dnt-tsr-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”The legal team of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange has said expelling him from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London would be \”illegal\” and would \”violate international refugee law.\” CNN’s Brian Todd reports.”,”descriptionText”:”The legal team of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange has said expelling him from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London would be \”illegal\” and would \”violate international refugee law.\” CNN’s Brian Todd reports.”},{“title”:”Third death at Grand Canyon in eight days”,”duration”:”00:59″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/us/2019/04/05/grand-canyon-deaths-orig-vstop-bdk.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”us/2019/04/05/grand-canyon-deaths-orig-vstop-bdk.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190405104928-grand-canyon-south-rim-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/us/2019/04/05/grand-canyon-deaths-orig-vstop-bdk.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”Park officials said a 67-year-old man died after falling around 400 feet at Grand Canyon National Park.”,”descriptionText”:”Park officials said a 67-year-old man died after falling around 400 feet at Grand Canyon National Park.”},{“title”:”Trump: We want to go in a tougher direction”,”duration”:”01:41″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/?refresh=1″,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/04/05/trump-ice-nominee-withdrawal-ron-vitiello-nr-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/04/05/trump-ice-nominee-withdrawal-ron-vitiello-nr-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190405151407-01-donald-trump-0505-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/04/05/trump-ice-nominee-withdrawal-ron-vitiello-nr-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”President Donald Trump said that he was going in a \”tougher direction\” when asked why Ron Vitiello’s nomination was pulled as ICE Director. “,”descriptionText”:”President Donald Trump said that he was going in a \”tougher direction\” when asked why Ron Vitiello’s nomination was pulled as ICE Director. “},{“title”:”Timmothy Pitzen imposter’s brother: He’s a terrible person”,”duration”:”02:01″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/us/2019/04/05/jonathon-rini-brother-claims-to-be-timmothy-pitzen-bpr-bts-newday-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”us/2019/04/05/jonathon-rini-brother-claims-to-be-timmothy-pitzen-bpr-bts-newday-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190405122106-brian-michael-rini–large-16-9.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/us/2019/04/05/jonathon-rini-brother-claims-to-be-timmothy-pitzen-bpr-bts-newday-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”Jonathon Rini, the younger brother of a man who claimed to be missing boy Timmothy Pitzen, says that his brother is a \”terrible person\” for giving Pitzen’s family false hope. “,”descriptionText”:”Jonathon Rini, the younger brother of a man who claimed to be missing boy Timmothy Pitzen, says that his brother is a \”terrible person\” for giving Pitzen’s family false hope. “},{“title”:”Trump: I don’t see Joe Biden as a threat”,”duration”:”00:52″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/04/05/trump-joe-biden-threat-sot-nr-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/04/05/trump-joe-biden-threat-sot-nr-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190405102543-trump-white-house-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/04/05/trump-joe-biden-threat-sot-nr-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”President Trump says he does not consider former Vice President Joe Biden a potential threat ahead of the 2020 presidential election.”,”descriptionText”:”President Trump says he does not consider former Vice President Joe Biden a potential threat ahead of the 2020 presidential election.”},{“title”:”Tim Ryan explains why he’s entering the 2020 race”,”duration”:”01:25″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”http://www.cnn.com”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/04/05/tim-ryan-president-run-2020-sot-cpt-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/04/05/tim-ryan-president-run-2020-sot-cpt-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190404212924-tim-ryan-cuomo-4-4-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/04/05/tim-ryan-president-run-2020-sot-cpt-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), a congressman who describes himself as fiercely independent, tells CNN’s Chris Cuomo why he thinks he has what it takes to become the next US president. “,”descriptionText”:”Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), a congressman who describes himself as fiercely independent, tells CNN’s Chris Cuomo why he thinks he has what it takes to become the next US president. “},{“title”:”Trump recommends Herman Cain for Federal Reserve Board”,”duration”:”01:41″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/04/04/trump-recommends-herman-cain-federal-reserve-board-ebof-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/04/04/trump-recommends-herman-cain-federal-reserve-board-ebof-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/151010143942-herman-cain-donald-trump-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/04/04/trump-recommends-herman-cain-federal-reserve-board-ebof-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”President Donald Trump said that he’s recommending Herman Cain, a former pizza executive who dropped his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination amid sexual harassment allegations, for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board.”,”descriptionText”:”President Donald Trump said that he’s recommending Herman Cain, a former pizza executive who dropped his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination amid sexual harassment allegations, for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board.”},{“title”:”Watch Trump flip on a threat he made just a few days ago”,”duration”:”02:02″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/04/04/president-trump-closing-mexico-border-tax-returns-phillip-dnt-lead-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/04/04/president-trump-closing-mexico-border-tax-returns-phillip-dnt-lead-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190404163737-president-trump-phillip-dnt-040419-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/04/04/president-trump-closing-mexico-border-tax-returns-phillip-dnt-lead-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”President Trump is backpedaling on his threat to close the US-Mexico border, now saying that he will give Mexico a \”one year warning\” to stop the drug trade before closing the border and placing tariffs that specifically target the auto industry.”,”descriptionText”:”President Trump is backpedaling on his threat to close the US-Mexico border, now saying that he will give Mexico a \”one year warning\” to stop the drug trade before closing the border and placing tariffs that specifically target the auto industry.”},{“title”:”Horrific details in timeline of Ethiopian crash”,”duration”:”03:28″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/04/04/boeing-ceo-acknowledges-jet-problems-flight-risk-foreman-dnt-tsr-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/04/04/boeing-ceo-acknowledges-jet-problems-flight-risk-foreman-dnt-tsr-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190404112233-02-0404-ethiopian-airlines-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/04/04/boeing-ceo-acknowledges-jet-problems-flight-risk-foreman-dnt-tsr-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”CNN is first to obtain the 33-page preliminary report on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 that crashed March 10, 2019, killing all 157 on board. The report’s timeline of what happened in this flight is \”stunningly similar\” to what happened in the Lion Air crash in October 29, 2018. CNN’s Tom Foreman reports. “,”descriptionText”:”CNN is first to obtain the 33-page preliminary report on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 that crashed March 10, 2019, killing all 157 on board. The report’s timeline of what happened in this flight is \”stunningly similar\” to what happened in the Lion Air crash in October 29, 2018. CNN’s Tom Foreman reports. “},{“title”:”Hall of Fame manager hospitalized after apparent stroke”,”duration”:”01:49″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/sports/2019/04/03/bobby-cox-hospitalized-atlanta-braves-orig-vstan-bdk.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”sports/2019/04/03/bobby-cox-hospitalized-atlanta-braves-orig-vstan-bdk.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190403145730-bobby-cox-1994-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/sports/2019/04/03/bobby-cox-hospitalized-atlanta-braves-orig-vstan-bdk.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”Former Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox was hospitalized after suffering an apparent stroke. Cox guided the Braves to 14 straight division titles and a World Series championship in 1995.”,”descriptionText”:”Former Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox was hospitalized after suffering an apparent stroke. Cox guided the Braves to 14 straight division titles and a World Series championship in 1995.”},{“title”:”Watch Biden’s video statement on personal space”,”duration”:”02:18″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/04/03/joe-biden-response-twitter-video-sot-nr-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/04/03/joe-biden-response-twitter-video-sot-nr-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190403153428-joe-biden-twitter-allegations-response-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/04/03/joe-biden-response-twitter-video-sot-nr-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”Former Vice President Joe Biden released a video on Twitter and said he will be \”more mindful about respecting personal space in the future.\” The video comes in the wake of allegations Biden made women feel uncomfortable in their encounters.”,”descriptionText”:”Former Vice President Joe Biden released a video on Twitter and said he will be \”more mindful about respecting personal space in the future.\” The video comes in the wake of allegations Biden made women feel uncomfortable in their encounters.”},{“title”:”Mar-a-Lago scare sparks concerns over Trump’s security”,”duration”:”02:56″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/04/03/trump-security-concerns-jake-tapper-dnt-lead-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/04/03/trump-security-concerns-jake-tapper-dnt-lead-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190323122700-01-trump-mar-a-lago-0322-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/04/03/trump-security-concerns-jake-tapper-dnt-lead-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”CNN’s \u003ca href=\”http://www.cnn.com/profiles/jake-tapper-profile\” target=\”_blank\”>Jake Tapper \u003c/a>reports on how the recent security breach at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate raises concerns over Trump’s apparent disregard for a tight security protocol. “,”descriptionText”:”CNN’s \u003ca href=\”http://www.cnn.com/profiles/jake-tapper-profile\” target=\”_blank\”>Jake Tapper \u003c/a>reports on how the recent security breach at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate raises concerns over Trump’s apparent disregard for a tight security protocol. “}],currentVideoCollectionId = ”,isLivePlayer = false,mediaMetadataCallbacks,mobilePinnedView = null,moveToNextTimeout,mutePlayerEnabled = false,nextVideoId = ”,nextVideoUrl = ”,turnOnFlashMessaging = false,videoPinner,videoEndSlateImpl;if (CNN.autoPlayVideoExist === false) {autoStartVideo = true;if (autoStartVideo === true) {if (turnOnFlashMessaging === true) {autoStartVideo = false;containerEl = jQuery(document.getElementById(configObj.markupId));CNN.VideoPlayer.showFlashSlate(containerEl);} else {CNN.autoPlayVideoExist = true;}}}configObj.autostart = CNN.Features.enableAutoplayBlock ? 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Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) office and threatening to assault and kill the congresswoman. “,”descriptionText”:”A New York man is being charged after calling into Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) office and threatening to assault and kill the congresswoman. “},{“title”:”Video shows deadly standoff between gunman and police”,”duration”:”00:46″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/us/2019/04/06/georgia-hostage-standoff-body-camera-video-ndwknd-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”us/2019/04/06/georgia-hostage-standoff-body-camera-video-ndwknd-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190406072613-georgia-police-standoff-body-camera-video-thumb-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/us/2019/04/06/georgia-hostage-standoff-body-camera-video-ndwknd-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”Police were called to a home after some \”sort of domestic dispute,\” according to the police department in Henry County, just south of Atlanta. Right after an officer kicked the front door down, a chaotic scene unfolded.”,”descriptionText”:”Police were called to a home after some \”sort of domestic dispute,\” according to the police department in Henry County, just south of Atlanta. Right after an officer kicked the front door down, a chaotic scene unfolded.”},{“title”:”Trump visits border after suddenly pulling ICE nominee”,”duration”:”03:13″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”http://www.cnn.com”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/04/05/trump-border-visit-suddenly-pulls-ice-nominee-collins-dnt-lead-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/04/05/trump-border-visit-suddenly-pulls-ice-nominee-collins-dnt-lead-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190405162451-trump-border-visit-suddenly-pulls-ice-nominee-collins-dnt-lead-vpx-00000907-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/04/05/trump-border-visit-suddenly-pulls-ice-nominee-collins-dnt-lead-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”President Donald Trump’s visit to the US-Mexico border comes after he retreated from his threat to completely close the southern border. CNN’s \u003ca href=\”http://www.cnn.com/profiles/kaitlan-collins\” target=\”_blank\”>Kaitlan Collins\u003c/a> reports Trump also withdrew the nomination of Ron Vitiello to lead US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, surprising the Department of Homeland Security and members of Congress, sources familiar with the nomination told CNN.”,”descriptionText”:”President Donald Trump’s visit to the US-Mexico border comes after he retreated from his threat to completely close the southern border. CNN’s \u003ca href=\”http://www.cnn.com/profiles/kaitlan-collins\” target=\”_blank\”>Kaitlan Collins\u003c/a> reports Trump also withdrew the nomination of Ron Vitiello to lead US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, surprising the Department of Homeland Security and members of Congress, sources familiar with the nomination told CNN.”},{“title”:”Biden jokes he had permission to hug union official”,”duration”:”01:46″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/04/05/joe-biden-joke-hug-sot-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/04/05/joe-biden-joke-hug-sot-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190405120537-joe-biden-union-speech-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/04/05/joe-biden-joke-hug-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”Former Vice President Joe Biden jokes about hugging a union official while making his first public appearance since facing allegations of inappropriately violating women’s personal space.”,”descriptionText”:”Former Vice President Joe Biden jokes about hugging a union official while making his first public appearance since facing allegations of inappropriately violating women’s personal space.”},{“title”:”Julian Assange could be expelled from Ecuadorian Embassy”,”duration”:”04:03″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/04/05/ecuador-embassy-expulsion-julian-assange-wikileaks-founder-todd-dnt-tsr-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/04/05/ecuador-embassy-expulsion-julian-assange-wikileaks-founder-todd-dnt-tsr-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/180723125809-julian-assange-file-may-2017-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/04/05/ecuador-embassy-expulsion-julian-assange-wikileaks-founder-todd-dnt-tsr-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”The legal team of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange has said expelling him from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London would be \”illegal\” and would \”violate international refugee law.\” CNN’s Brian Todd reports.”,”descriptionText”:”The legal team of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange has said expelling him from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London would be \”illegal\” and would \”violate international refugee law.\” CNN’s Brian Todd reports.”},{“title”:”Third death at Grand Canyon in eight days”,”duration”:”00:59″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/us/2019/04/05/grand-canyon-deaths-orig-vstop-bdk.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”us/2019/04/05/grand-canyon-deaths-orig-vstop-bdk.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190405104928-grand-canyon-south-rim-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/us/2019/04/05/grand-canyon-deaths-orig-vstop-bdk.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”Park officials said a 67-year-old man died after falling around 400 feet at Grand Canyon National Park.”,”descriptionText”:”Park officials said a 67-year-old man died after falling around 400 feet at Grand Canyon National Park.”},{“title”:”Trump: We want to go in a tougher 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Cox guided the Braves to 14 straight division titles and a World Series championship in 1995.”},{“title”:”Watch Biden’s video statement on personal space”,”duration”:”02:18″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/04/03/joe-biden-response-twitter-video-sot-nr-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/04/03/joe-biden-response-twitter-video-sot-nr-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190403153428-joe-biden-twitter-allegations-response-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/04/03/joe-biden-response-twitter-video-sot-nr-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”Former Vice President Joe Biden released a video on Twitter and said he will be \”more mindful about respecting personal space in the future.\” The video comes in the wake of allegations Biden made women feel uncomfortable in their encounters.”,”descriptionText”:”Former Vice President Joe Biden released a video on Twitter and said he will be \”more mindful about respecting personal space in the future.\” The video comes in the wake of allegations Biden made women feel uncomfortable in their encounters.”},{“title”:”Mar-a-Lago scare sparks concerns over Trump’s security”,”duration”:”02:56″,”sourceName”:”CNN”,”sourceLink”:”https://www.cnn.com/”,”videoCMSUrl”:”/video/data/3.0/video/politics/2019/04/03/trump-security-concerns-jake-tapper-dnt-lead-vpx.cnn/index.xml”,”videoId”:”politics/2019/04/03/trump-security-concerns-jake-tapper-dnt-lead-vpx.cnn”,”videoImage”:”http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190323122700-01-trump-mar-a-lago-0322-large-169.jpg”,”videoUrl”:”/videos/politics/2019/04/03/trump-security-concerns-jake-tapper-dnt-lead-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/”,”description”:”CNN’s \u003ca href=\”http://www.cnn.com/profiles/jake-tapper-profile\” target=\”_blank\”>Jake Tapper \u003c/a>reports on how the recent security breach at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate raises concerns over Trump’s apparent disregard for a tight security protocol. “,”descriptionText”:”CNN’s \u003ca href=\”http://www.cnn.com/profiles/jake-tapper-profile\” target=\”_blank\”>Jake Tapper \u003c/a>reports on how the recent security breach at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate raises concerns over Trump’s apparent disregard for a tight security protocol. “}],’js-video_headline-featured-1iqkefj’,”,”js-video_source-featured-1iqkefj”,true,true,’top-news-videos’);if (typeof configObj.context !== ‘string’ || configObj.context.length

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(17 Videos)

By Madeline Holcombe and Augie Martin, CNN

Updated 7:25 AM ET, Sat April 6, 2019

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

(CNN)As a drunk Jennifer Hart drove her six adopted children in their family SUV, her wife, Sarah, sat in the passenger seat looking up different ways to end a life.

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      MUST WATCH

    CNN’s Chris Boyette and Dan Simon contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/06/us/hart-family-crash-inquest-searches/index.html

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    Trump’s threat to close the border was just a trap for Democrats – Washington Examiner
    Trump’s threat to close the border was just a trap for Democrats – Washington Examiner

    President Trump had been vocally considering shutting down the southern border until he scaled back slightly on Thursday, giving Mexico one year to decide whether or not they’ll comply with his demands. His White House team probably talked him back from the ledge, since it seems he’s the only one in his own administration willing to take such a drastic step.

    Indeed, senior staffers and Department of Homeland Security officials view closing ports of entry, what Trump calls a border shutdown, as a method of “last resort.” It’s not often that Trump entirely turns his back on his administration’s 2 cents, but when he does, it’s generally over immigration. This isn’t the first threat of this nature from Trump, and surely it won’t be the last, because, as is evident by his recent backtrack, the president’s not actually serious about shutting down the border. He really just wants the immigration debate to be framed in his favor. He hopes this will all be seen as a dichotomy between his pro-American immigration policy and the Democrats’ anti-American one.

    It’s easy to see how empty Trump’s threat was: If he were to actually close the border, there would be dire economic consequences. It’s estimated there’s $1.5 billion worth of commerce occurring along the southern border every day. Meanwhile, from an immigration standpoint, nearly 500,000 people cross the border legally each day, and that’s just through Texas ports. With a border closure, shipments of vegetables and other goods would be halted, truck drivers blocked and stranded, and tourists denied passage of any kind. Trump loves to claim credit for the strong economy, but if he were to close the border, a plunge in stocks would most certainly follow.

    It would punish a lot of innocent people, and Trump knows it. Following through on this threat as a political statement would have been extremely costly for Trump. But a claim like this one does force the Democrats who are running for president to reveal their stance on immigration, opening them up to attacks from Trump.

    After all, President Trump’s 2016 campaign relied on the anxieties of middle America over immigrants taking jobs. He likely won’t stray from this strategy for the 2020 election, which is news to no one, including Democrats. But as Trump opponents elaborate on their positions in response to his pressure, the president is hoping they fall into his rhetorical trap by labeling themselves as open-border activists or “soft on crime” for their tolerance toward illegal immigration.

    Trump recently unleashed a characteristic Twitter storm on the subject, prompting Democratic presidential hopefuls Beto O’Rourke, the former congressman from Texas, and Julián Castro, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama, to respond with their own sweeping immigration plans. For his part, Castro divulged that he wouldn’t consider an immigrant entering the U.S. without papers, no matter the circumstance, a federal crime. Trump will have a field day tearing down this proposal by attempting to rely on his “tough on crime” mentality, even though the electorate has steered away from this Reagan-era viewpoint.

    O’Rourke is a native of El Paso, Texas, a city experiencing overcrowding due to customs and Border Patrol agents being reassigned to take care of unauthorized migrants. O’Rourke has highlighted Trump’s naive understanding on this matter by emphasizing that immigration policy is actually heavily tied to foreign policy, a reality Trump likes to avoid, evidenced by his recent call to cut off aid to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, which would only exacerbate the flow of immigrants toward our borders.

    One other presidential hopeful, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., already tried to distance herself from Trump by passionately advocating for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, known as “Dreamers.” On April 3, she introduced a bill to Congress, perhaps intended to differentiate herself from primary opponent O’Rourke, that would allow “Dreamers” to work as staffers or interns in Congress.

    The immigration debate will be the main focus of the 2020 election, which means Democrats must fine-tune their positions on immigration in order not to fall into Trump’s rhetorical trap. But we should all remember that Trump’s first two years of hard-line stances on immigration hasn’t actually alleviated the biggest source of conservative apprehension: the surge in migration. In fact, March 2019 saw the highest migrant rate since 2008.

    Who knows, Trump could easily be provoked once again to follow through on his threat, even if his original intent was to force Democrats to show their cards. But if he does, he’s not going to do anything but hurt his chances at a 2020 victory — and the everyday Americans he claims to champion.

    Natalie Dowzicky (@Nat_Dowzicky) is a researcher at a think tank in Washington, D.C., and a Young Voices contributor.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/trumps-threat-to-close-the-border-was-just-a-trap-for-democrats

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    Trump Lawyer Asserts President’s Right to Keep Tax Returns Private – The New York Times
    Trump Lawyer Asserts President’s Right to Keep Tax Returns Private – The New York Times

    “This request is about policy, not politics,” Mr. Neal said at the time. “My preparations were made on my own track and timeline, entirely independent of other activities in Congress and the administration.”

    Daniel Rubin, a spokesman for Mr. Neal, declined to comment on Friday’s letter.

    Mr. Consovoy said that Mr. Neal’s stated justification only thinly veiled what Democrats were really after: political gain. They have demanded for years that Mr. Trump release his tax returns, Mr. Consovoy argued, and they promised to use the House majority to find out whether the president had undertaken financial fraud.

    “Once this Pandora’s box is opened, the ensuing tit for tat will do lasting damage to our nation,” Mr. Consovoy wrote.

    Though he was defending Mr. Trump’s privacy rights as a taxpayer, his arguments also closely mirrored those used by Republicans in Congress who have argued against making the request.

    “If Chairman Neal genuinely wants to review how the I.R.S. audits presidents, why is he seeking tax returns and return information covering the four years before President Trump took office?” Mr. Consovoy asked. “Why is he not requesting information about the audits of previous presidents?”

    Mr. Consovoy’s argument bears similarity to one made by other Trump lawyers throughout the course of the obstruction of justice investigation led by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. In that case, the president’s lawyers repeatedly argued that he did not lose his rights as a citizen by dint of being the commander in chief. Those included his rights to free speech, his lawyers argued, a point echoed in the letter sent on Friday.

    Mr. Grewal said he thought Mr. Consovoy raised a valid objection about the legitimacy of Mr. Neal’s investigation, but cautioned that his letter was “part of public relations and advocacy, as opposed to any kind of official action” that would affect the case.

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/05/us/politics/trump-tax-returns.html

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    Editorial: 14 days. Americans should count the days until the Mueller report is released to Congress. – The Boston Globe
    Editorial: 14 days. Americans should count the days until the Mueller report is released to Congress. – The Boston Globe



    Fourteen days. That’s how long Attorney General William Barr has withheld the Mueller report from Congress and the public.

    It’s hard to imagine a legitimate reason for his foot-dragging, and disturbing leaks should deepen the urgency for members of Congress who are seeking to pry the full document out of his hands.

    Special counsel Robert Mueller spent nearly two years investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential obstruction of justice by President Trump. He finished his work two weeks ago and sent a nearly 400-page confidential report to Barr. Two days later, Barr furnished Congress with a four-page letter laying out what he said were its main findings.

    According to Barr, Mueller didn’t conclude whether or not Trump obstructed justice — but that in Barr’s view, the evidence Mueller gathered against Trump didn’t add up to obstruction.

    It’s become clearer with each passing day, though, that the letter wasn’t a thorough legal analysis. Instead, it was a spin job — an effort by a GOP political appointee to put the best possible gloss on the findings and hope that Mueller’s purported “exoneration” of the president becomes the accepted narrative.

    But according to reports in The New York Times and The Washington Post, the actual contents of the Mueller report are a good deal more damaging than Barr’s summary implied, and lay out a serious case that the president obstructed justice. Obstruction of justice is an impeachable offense under modern precedent.

    There’s ample grounds to be wary of Barr, considering his past. In his previous stint as attorney general, under President George H.W. Bush, Barr recommended pardons for key players in the Iran-Contra scandal just as an independent counsel investigation was focusing on Bush, related to his role in the illegal selling of arms to Iran and funneling the funds from those sales to the Contras in Nicaragua.

    Bush handed out the pardons on Christmas Eve in 1992, which had the effect of pulling the rug out from under the investigation and preventing a full accounting of what Bush and president Ronald Reagan knew about Iran-Contra.

    Fast forward to 2018, when Barr sent an unsolicited memo to the Justice Department making clear that he thought questioning the president over obstruction allegations would be inappropriate, a move that should raise concerns about whether Barr approached the obstruction section of the Mueller report with an open mind.

    Regardless of whether he spun the report, the fact is that only Congress, not Barr, gets to decide whether whatever actions Mueller uncovered constituted obstruction of justice by a sitting president. And they can only do that when they have the complete document. Rightly, House Democrats voted this week to subpoena the report.

    It shouldn’t come to that. If the recent reports are wrong, and Barr’s characterization of the Mueller report was an accurate account of the special counsel’s findings, then the attorney general should release the full report for his own sake. But if the news accounts are right, and the public’s understanding of the Mueller report is incomplete and politically skewed, then Barr must release it for the country’s sake.

    Until then, this editorial page will feature a daily reminder of how many days it has been since Barr has received the Mueller report without releasing the full document to Congress. Fourteen days and counting.


    Source Article from https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2019/04/05/days-americans-should-count-days-until-mueller-report-released-congress/wIR8sbhnyKFtnaU8lKOsUN/story.html

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    Trump adds pressure on Venezuela by blocking oil shipments to Cuba – Washington Examiner
    Trump adds pressure on Venezuela by blocking oil shipments to Cuba – Washington Examiner

    The Trump administration on Friday increased economic pressure on Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro by sanctioning 34 vessels used by the country’s oil company PDVSA to transport fuel to Cuba.

    A senior administration official told reporters that the action could be followed by additional economic measures against Venezuela, in a protracted effort to force Maduro to step down and allow the country’s elected leader under the constitution, Juan Guaido, to take complete control.

    The official also said that the option of using military force to oust Maduro is still an option.

    “It remains on the table” and is “seriously being considered,” the administration official said.

    But for the time being, the administration will continue to use economic pressure to sway Maduro to step down, with a number tools left in its “toolbox,” the official noted.

    The sanctions imposed Friday by the Treasury Department on the 34 vessels will “tighten the noose” around Maduro, the official added.

    The Trump administration had already placed sanctions on the oil company PDVSA, restricting the sale of oil to U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast, representing one of its largest customers.

    The restrictions placed on the 34 vessels are meant to make it more difficult for Maduro to ship oil to other regional customers in order to generate revenue, and diminish his influence in the region.

    “The story here is there is no future for PDVSA as long as Maduro” remains in power, the administration official said.

    He noted that Venezuela’s U.S.-based refinery company, Citgo, has been able to transition to alternate supplies of oil, and is doing better financially than when under Maduro’s control. Citgo is now under the control of the president-elect Guaido.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/trump-adds-pressure-on-venezuela-by-blocking-oil-shipments-to-cuba

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    Joe Biden jokes about touching allegations at first public event, leading to criticism – USA TODAY
    Joe Biden jokes about touching allegations at first public event, leading to criticism – USA TODAY
    CLOSE

    Joe Biden cracked jokes about touching allegations while giving a speech, just two days before vowing to be more “mindful and respectful.”
    USA TODAY

    WASHINGTON – At his first public event since a host of women have accused him of inappropriate touching, former Vice President Joe Biden cracked two jokes about the allegations, leading to a second round of criticism — including from at least one of his accusers. 

    Within the first minute of Biden’s speech at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers on Friday, he told the crowd, “I just want you to know, I had permission to hug Lonnie,” mentioning Lonnie Stephenson, the IBEW president, who just introduced him. 

    The reference to the host allegations led to a burst of laughter in the room. “I don’t know, man,” said Biden, who is considering a 2020 bid for president. 

    As Biden continued his speech, which revolved unions, resolving political divisions and President Donald Trump’s politics, Biden again referenced the allegations. 

    More: Biden calls Trump a ‘tragedy in two acts’ who is ‘locked in the past’

    More: Joe Biden vows to be ‘more mindful’ on same day as three more women make accusations

    Biden spotted several children in the room and invited four of them on stage. After introducing himself, Biden joked as he draped his arm around a boy that “he gave me permission to touch him.” 

    Throughout his 40-minute speech, Biden mentioned Trump by name. He said the president opposes the core values and beliefs of the nation in the way he treats people.

    “What in the hell is happening?” Biden asked. “Our children are listening.”

    At least seven women have come forward with allegations about the former vice president’s touching and kissing, saying that his behavior made them feel uncomfortable. On Wednesday, Biden posted a video on his Twitter account where he apologized, promised to change and attempted to explain his close contact was about making a connection and not intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable. 

    The string of accusations started when Lucy Flores, a former member of the Nevada Legislature, accused Biden of “demeaning and disrespectful” behavior when he kissed the back of her head.

    In a column for New York Magazine, Flores detailed a backstage encounter with Biden during an event in 2014 in Nevada where he spoke to help boost voter turnout for Democrats. 

    “I felt him get closer to me from behind. He leaned further in and inhaled my hair. I was mortified,” Flores wrote. “He proceeded to plant a big slow kiss on the back of my head. My brain couldn’t process what was happening. I was embarrassed. I was shocked. I was confused.”

    After Biden’s jokes on Friday, Flores blasted Biden and said his comments degrade the issue of consent.

    “It’s clear @JoeBiden hasn’t reflected at all on how his inappropriate and unsolicited touching made women feel uncomfortable,” she wrote on Twitter. “To make light of something as serious as consent degrades the conversation women everywhere are courageously trying to have.”

    Others on social media piled one.

    “Do we really need any more proof that #JoeBiden is a misogynistic creep?” one woman posted on Twitter. “What happened to ‘I will listen respectfully’? Mocking accusers and making light of the accusations doesn’t seem like respectfully listening…”

    Speaking to reporters afterward, Biden was asked about his jokes about the allegations and his possible 2020 run. 

    “It wasn’t my intent to make light of anyone’s discomfort,” Biden told reporters. “I realize it’s my responsibility to not invade the space of anyone who is uncomfortable in this regard.”

    Biden said he hoped “it wasn’t taken that way” and said he understands personal space and the need for personal consent. 

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    The allegations against Biden come amid #MeToo, a movement started nearly a decade ago that went viral in 2017 as women in Hollywood and across the country shared stories of sexual harassment and assault.

    It’s led to the resignation or downfall of more than 100 entertainers, executives and politicians, including Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer and Kevin Spacey. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., announced his resignation in 2017 after accusations of sexual misconduct. 

    Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., also stepped down, as well as Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., who resigned amid reports he discussed with female staffers the possibility they could be surrogates for his and his wife’s baby.

    President Donald Trump has repeatedly cracked jokes about the allegations circling Biden. On Thursday, he posted doctored footage of Biden’s apology video where a second Biden was edited into the footage to show him fondling himself. 

    “People got a kick out of it,” Trump said Friday of the doctored video he’d tweeted. “He’s going through a situation. You’ve got to sort of smile a little bit.”

    More than a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct over the years, including eight women who accused him of forcibly kissing them.

    Trump denied the allegations. In an “Access Hollywood” tape that surfaced during the final weeks of the presidential campaign in 2016, Trump made lewd comments and bragged about groping women. The president said that was “locker-room banter.”

    Contributing: Ledyard King and Maureen Groppe

    CLOSE

    Former Vice President Joe Biden promised to be respectful of people’s personal space after allegations of unwanted and inappropriate behavior.
    USA TODAY

    Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/05/joe-biden-jokes-allegations-touching-ibew-event/3378281002/

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    Nearly 40 million at risk of severe weather over weekend – ABC News
    Nearly 40 million at risk of severe weather over weekend – ABC News

    A new storm is beginning to organize along the Texas-New Mexico border, and it’s expected to deliver a first round of severe weather today from Texas to Mississippi.

    Gusts of almost 60 mph and golf ball-sized hail already have been reported in west Texas this morning.

    (ABC News) A new storm is forming in west Texas, and it’s forecast to head east over the weekend.
    (ABC News) Eastern Texas likely will be battered by massive storms later this afternoon.

    The system will head east across the southern Plains from San Antonio toward Dallas, with numerous severe storms predicted for later this afternoon.

    Weather models also are showing intense local storms in northwest Louisiana and southern Arkansas over that time period.

    (ABC News) Northeast Texas is bracing for severe weather tonight.

    In an enhanced risk region, there’s the greatest chance of damaging wind, large hail and tornadoes, as even outside that region, several storms will be developing from San Antonio all the way to Memphis. The main storm is expected to move north into the Midwest overnight.

    (ABC News) The severe weather will be heading out of Texas by tomorrow afternoon.
    (ABC News) Areas around New Orleans may see significant rainfall Sunday night.

    Tomorrow, another system is expected to develop, delivering a second ground of severe weather across that same area — roughly San Antonio to New Orleans — as severe scattered storms spread into the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. A larger region at slight risk for severe weather on Sunday stretches from Texas to Kentucky and includes major cities such as Houston, Nashville and Louisville. The biggest risk, again, will be damaging wind, hail and potential tornadoes.

    (ABC News) Severe weather is expected Sunday throughout much of the South and Midwest.
    (ABC News) Flooding will threaten the South through Monday.

    More than 4 inches of rain could be possible through Monday, especially along the Mississippi River Valley, where flash flooding from a massive or slow-moving storm remains be a concern. Fewer severe threats are expected on Monday.

    (ABC News) Warmer temperatures are expected on Sunday.
    (ABC News) Warmer temperatures are expected on Monday.

    Following the storms across the U.S. should be temperatures 10 to 15 degrees above normal. Atlanta may see 84 as a high on Sunday, with St. Louis predicted to reach 80. That warm air will slide east and push north on Monday, probably increasing temps along the east coast to about 15 degrees above historical averages.

    Cooler air over the Atlantic Ocean will begin pushing back to the west over New England on Monday, keeping parts of the region cool and cloudy and potentially with drastic temperature differences over just a few hundred miles.

    Source Article from https://abcnews.go.com/US/40-million-risk-severe-weather-weekend/story?id=62217124

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    U.S. to designate elite Iranian force as terrorist organization – Reuters
    U.S. to designate elite Iranian force as terrorist organization – Reuters

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is expected to designate Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps a foreign terrorist organization, three U.S. officials told Reuters, marking the first time Washington has formally labeled another country’s military a terrorist group.

    The decision, which critics warn could open U.S. military and intelligence officials to similar actions by unfriendly governments abroad, is expected to be announced by the U.S. State Department, perhaps as early as Monday, the officials said. It has been rumored for years.

    The Pentagon declined comment and referred queries to the State Department. The State Department and White House also declined to comment.

    The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a strident Iran hawk, has advocated for the change in U.S. policy as part of the Trump administration’s tough posture toward Tehran.

    The announcement would come ahead of the first anniversary of President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran and to reimpose sanctions that had crippled Iran’s economy.

    The administration’s decision to make the designation was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

    The United States has already blacklisted dozens of entities and people for affiliations with the IRGC, but the organization as a whole is not.

    In 2007, the U.S. Treasury designated the IRGC’s Quds Force, its unit in charge of operations abroad, “for its support of terrorism,” and has described it as Iran’s “primary arm for executing its policy of supporting terrorist and insurgent groups.”

    Iran has warned of a “crushing” response should the United States go ahead with the designation.

    IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari warned in 2017 that if Trump went ahead with the move “then the Revolutionary Guards will consider the American army to be like Islamic State all around the world.”

    Such threats are particularly ominous for U.S. forces in places such as Iraq, where Iran-aligned Shi’ite militia are located in close proximity to U.S. troops.

    Republican Senator Ben Sasse said the move would be an important step in America’s maximum pressure campaign against Tehran. “A formal designation and its consequences may be new, but these IRGC butchers have been terrorists for a long time,” Sasse said in a statement.

    Former Under-Secretary of State and lead Iran negotiator, Wendy Sherman, said she worried about implications for U.S. forces.

    “One might even suggest, since it’s hard to see why this is in our interest, if the president isn’t looking for a basis for a conflict,” said Sherman, who is director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. “The IRGC is already fully sanctioned and this escalation absolutely endangers our troops in the region.”

    IRGC’S REACH

    Set up after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shi’ite clerical ruling system, the IRGC is Iran’s most powerful security organization. It has control over large sectors of the Iranian economy and has a huge influence in its political system.

    The IRGC is in charge of Iran’s ballistic missiles and nuclear programs. Tehran has warned that it has missiles with a range of up to 2,000 km (1,242 miles), putting Israel and U.S. military bases in the region within reach.

    The IRGC has an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units and answers to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

    It is unclear what impact the U.S. designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization might have on America’s activities in countries that have ties with Tehran, including in Iraq.

    Baghdad has deep cultural and economic ties with Iran and Oman, where the United States recently clinched a strategic ports deal.

    Additional reporting by Idrees Ali, Michelle Nichols and Parisa Hafesi; Editing by Mary Milliken, Tom Brown and Daniel Wallis

    Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran/us-to-designate-elite-iranian-force-as-terrorist-organization-idUSKCN1RH2I4

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    Trump’s threat to close the border was just a trap for Democrats – Washington Examiner
    Trump’s threat to close the border was just a trap for Democrats – Washington Examiner

    President Trump had been vocally considering shutting down the southern border until he scaled back slightly on Thursday, giving Mexico one year to decide whether or not they’ll comply with his demands. His White House team probably talked him back from the ledge, since it seems he’s the only one in his own administration willing to take such a drastic step.

    Indeed, senior staffers and Department of Homeland Security officials view closing ports of entry, what Trump calls a border shutdown, as a method of “last resort.” It’s not often that Trump entirely turns his back on his administration’s 2 cents, but when he does, it’s generally over immigration. This isn’t the first threat of this nature from Trump, and surely it won’t be the last, because, as is evident by his recent backtrack, the president’s not actually serious about shutting down the border. He really just wants the immigration debate to be framed in his favor. He hopes this will all be seen as a dichotomy between his pro-American immigration policy and the Democrats’ anti-American one.

    It’s easy to see how empty Trump’s threat was: If he were to actually close the border, there would be dire economic consequences. It’s estimated there’s $1.5 billion worth of commerce occurring along the southern border every day. Meanwhile, from an immigration standpoint, nearly 500,000 people cross the border legally each day, and that’s just through Texas ports. With a border closure, shipments of vegetables and other goods would be halted, truck drivers blocked and stranded, and tourists denied passage of any kind. Trump loves to claim credit for the strong economy, but if he were to close the border, a plunge in stocks would most certainly follow.

    It would punish a lot of innocent people, and Trump knows it. Following through on this threat as a political statement would have been extremely costly for Trump. But a claim like this one does force the Democrats who are running for president to reveal their stance on immigration, opening them up to attacks from Trump.

    After all, President Trump’s 2016 campaign relied on the anxieties of middle America over immigrants taking jobs. He likely won’t stray from this strategy for the 2020 election, which is news to no one, including Democrats. But as Trump opponents elaborate on their positions in response to his pressure, the president is hoping they fall into his rhetorical trap by labeling themselves as open-border activists or “soft on crime” for their tolerance toward illegal immigration.

    Trump recently unleashed a characteristic Twitter storm on the subject, prompting Democratic presidential hopefuls Beto O’Rourke, the former congressman from Texas, and Julián Castro, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama, to respond with their own sweeping immigration plans. For his part, Castro divulged that he wouldn’t consider an immigrant entering the U.S. without papers, no matter the circumstance, a federal crime. Trump will have a field day tearing down this proposal by attempting to rely on his “tough on crime” mentality, even though the electorate has steered away from this Reagan-era viewpoint.

    O’Rourke is a native of El Paso, Texas, a city experiencing overcrowding due to customs and Border Patrol agents being reassigned to take care of unauthorized migrants. O’Rourke has highlighted Trump’s naive understanding on this matter by emphasizing that immigration policy is actually heavily tied to foreign policy, a reality Trump likes to avoid, evidenced by his recent call to cut off aid to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, which would only exacerbate the flow of immigrants toward our borders.

    One other presidential hopeful, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., already tried to distance herself from Trump by passionately advocating for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, known as “Dreamers.” On April 3, she introduced a bill to Congress, perhaps intended to differentiate herself from primary opponent O’Rourke, that would allow “Dreamers” to work as staffers or interns in Congress.

    The immigration debate will be the main focus of the 2020 election, which means Democrats must fine-tune their positions on immigration in order not to fall into Trump’s rhetorical trap. But we should all remember that Trump’s first two years of hard-line stances on immigration hasn’t actually alleviated the biggest source of conservative apprehension: the surge in migration. In fact, March 2019 saw the highest migrant rate since 2008.

    Who knows, Trump could easily be provoked once again to follow through on his threat, even if his original intent was to force Democrats to show their cards. But if he does, he’s not going to do anything but hurt his chances at a 2020 victory — and the everyday Americans he claims to champion.

    Natalie Dowzicky (@Nat_Dowzicky) is a researcher at a think tank in Washington, D.C., and a Young Voices contributor.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/trumps-threat-to-close-the-border-was-just-a-trap-for-democrats

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    Democrats face minefield if they get Trump’s tax returns – POLITICO
    Democrats face minefield if they get Trump’s tax returns – POLITICO

    Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal demanded that the administration turn over over six years’ worth of President Donald Trump’s tax returns — but Democrats may face a tougher-than-normal situation with taxpayer secrecy rules. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo

    Congress

    There will be a period, possibly lasting months, when Democrats will have seen the president’s taxes, but they won’t be able to talk about them.

    Democrats’ bid to seize President Donald Trump’s tax returns will come with some serious legal risk to themselves.

    Lawmakers are concerned that, even if they get the president’s filings, his returns will still be protected by strict confidentiality laws — it is a felony, punishable by up to five years, to improperly disclose private tax information.

    Story Continued Below

    There are ways around the dilemma, and Democrats intend to make at least some information about Trump’s taxes public — that is much of the point of their entire effort. But that probably won’t happen right away. Lawmakers say they will likely take some time to examine his filings behind closed doors before making anything publicly available.

    That means there will be a period, possibly lasting months, when Democrats will have finally seen the president’s long-hidden taxes — and they will be inundated with questions about what’s in them — but they won’t be able to talk about them. If they let anything slip, Republicans will surely jump, demanding an investigation by the Justice Department.

    “We’re going to have to be circumspect in terms of the way we handle this,” said Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee. “That’s the responsibility of every member.”

    It’s a risk that’s been barely acknowledged in the battle over Trump’s returns, though it is one reason why Democrats have taken so long to formally request them.

    Of course, Democrats have to get the returns first, and they’re a long way from that. Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) demanded this week that the administration turn over six years’ worth of Trump’s individual and business tax returns, giving them a deadline of April 10.

    The administration has indicated it plans to fight the demand in court.

    “From what I understand, the law is 100 percent on my side,” Trump said Friday.

    That Democrats may have to keep Trump’s taxes secret for a time has been largely overlooked in the debate over the returns, probably because of a misconception of how the law Democrats are tapping works.

    They are relying on a statute that allows the heads of Congress’s tax committees to examine anyone’s confidential taxes. Advocates of the effort emphasize that the law says the Treasury Secretary “shall” hand over any requested returns.

    But that’s just the question of whether the administration must give up the documents — even if Trump’s returns are handed over, they will still be protected by privacy laws. Making them public will be a separate matter.

    Experts say lawmakers can do that by essentially having the Ways and Means Committee vote in a closed session to release them.

    Though Democrats haven’t worked out exactly how they’ll proceed, there’s likely to be some time between when they receive the returns and when they consider divulging them.

    There seems to be a “false presumption” that lawmakers will simply release the returns the moment they get them, said Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), another Democratic tax writer who has helped lead the push to get the president’s returns.

    “There is a need for a thorough review of them to see if there’s anything in them that justifies releasing them and that’s something that could take awhile to do because they are, according to the president, very complex,” he said. “I hope it’s not months, but I don’t think it will be days.”

    “Until such time as that review is complete and a vote is taken to forward them to congress and the public, they will be protected.”

    Democrats may want to redact certain information from the returns. Trump’s filings could reveal private information about other people he’s in business with who are of little interest to lawmakers, for example.

    Tax veterans say the period between when Democrats get Trump’s returns and if and when they release something will be stressful for lawmakers, given the criminal penalties for even inadvertent disclosure. Democrats won’t be able to discuss even basic things about Trump’s returns, like how much he paid in taxes, what he reported earning or if he gave to charity.

    “When we’ve had members in these situations before, we frequently have members say, ‘I don’t know if I want you to tell me or not, because I don’t know if I can trust myself not to say anything,’” said Rick Grafmeyer, a former deputy head of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation and expert on taxpayer privacy laws.

    Tax writers typically use their power to examine private tax returns to help inform the policymaking process. If they are trying to write legislation outlawing a corporate tax shelter, for example, they might look at an individual company’s tax documents to better understand how the dodge works.

    Some say Democrats’ situation will be tougher than what most lawmakers deal with when it comes to taxpayer secrecy rules. Everyone will likely know Democrats have Trump’s returns and lawmakers would be besieged with questions from reporters, constituents and other lawmakers. That’s a lot different than when lawmakers quietly examine an oil company’s tax return.

    Also, the Ways and Means Committee is loaded with new members who aren’t steeped in the intricacies of the tax secrecy rules — the closest analogue many say is when lawmakers received classified intelligence briefings.

    “I’m sure that there will be briefings about all the ethical issues that surround this,” said Larson.

    Many of the details of how exactly Democrats would handle the returns have not been worked out.

    Neal could keep Trump’s documents to himself and a few close aides — and not even let other members of his panel see them. He has already said he won’t share the returns with any other committees, including the Judiciary and Oversight panels, which have been conducting their own high-profile investigations of the administration.

    That would keep the circle of people who’ve seen Trump’s taxes tight — and the more people who see the returns, the more likely there will be leaks.

    But many of his colleagues have been clamoring for the president’s returns for months, and will surely be unhappy to learn they won’t be able to examine them.

    Another option: Lawmakers turn the filings over to the JCT and ask its staff of tax experts to analyze Trump’s returns and report back on what they find.

    “They’re going to have to think carefully about how they’re going to want to do this,” said Dean Zerbe, a former Senate tax aide. “The penalties are certainly quite real.”

    Source Article from https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/05/democrats-trump-tax-returns-1329795

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    Boeing To Slow Production Of 737 Max Jets As It Works On Flight Control Software Fix – NPR
    Boeing To Slow Production Of 737 Max Jets As It Works On Flight Control Software Fix – NPR

    A Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplane sits on the assembly line on March 27, in Renton, Wash. Boeing is slowing production of its grounded Max airliner while it works on fixing flight-control software in the wake of fatal crashes.

    Ted S. Warren/AP


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    Ted S. Warren/AP

    A Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplane sits on the assembly line on March 27, in Renton, Wash. Boeing is slowing production of its grounded Max airliner while it works on fixing flight-control software in the wake of fatal crashes.

    Ted S. Warren/AP

    Boeing says it is reducing production of its 737 Max planes, and the temporary slowdown will begin in mid-April.

    CEO Dennis Muilenburg says the company will build 42 of the planes per month, down from the current 52, while keeping the same number of workers. Boeing still has an enormous backlog of orders — about 4,600 — for the Max planes. That will take years to fill.

    Muilenburg says he now knows that two deadly crashes within five months of each other, involving Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines, had a common link of a malfunctioning flight-control software called MCAS.

    He says he has asked Boeing’s board of directors to create a committee to review company policies for airplane development and recommend improvements.

    Ethiopian Airlines released a preliminary report Thursday on the crash of its plane on March 10. Investigators say the pilots used procedures provided by Boeing but couldn’t stop the plane’s repeated nose dives. All 157 people on board died in the crash just after takeoff from Addis Ababa.

    A Lion Air 737 Max jet crashed in a similar way on Oct. 9, with pilots frantically trying to stop the nose from dropping. The plane went down off the coast of Java, killing 189 people.

    The 737 Max planes have been grounded worldwide for nearly a month as Boeing works on a software fix.

    Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/04/05/710477435/boeing-to-slow-production-of-737-max-jets-as-it-works-on-flight-control-software

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    New York man arrested for death threats against Rep. Ilhan Omar, federal officials say – USA TODAY
    New York man arrested for death threats against Rep. Ilhan Omar, federal officials say – USA TODAY
    CLOSE

    Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House will vote on a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other forms of hate after an upheaval that split Democrats and clouded their agenda. But Pelosi said the measure won’t name Ilhan Omar. (March 7)
    AP

    ELMIRA, N.Y. – A New York man is in custody after federal authorities allege he made death threats against Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.

    Patrick W. Carlineo, 55, of Addison, was arrested Friday morning and charged by criminal complaint with threatening to assault and murder a United States official. 

    Carlineo threatened to kill Omar, a Democrat, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett A. Harvey, who is prosecuting the case.

    On March 21, a staff member in Omar’s office received a phone call around 12:20 p.m., the criminal complaint stated. 

    During the call, an individual, eventually identified as Carlineo, allegedly stated to the staff member, “Do you work for the Muslim Brotherhood? Why are you working for her, she’s an (expletive) terrorist. I’ll put a bullet in her (expletive) skull.”

    More: Fox News condemns host Jeanine Pirro’s comments about Rep. Omar’s hijab

    After receiving the call, Omar’s office referred the threat to the United States Capitol Police, which began an investigation in coordination with the FBI.

    Omar is a freshman representative who was elected to the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm election and one of three members of Congress who are Muslim. 

    Omar faced backlash in recent months for tweets and comments she made that critics say played into enduring anti-Semitic stereotypes.

    More: House overwhelmingly passes resolution condemning hate after Rep. Ilhan Omar’s comments

    Carlineo provided a name and phone number to Omar’s staff member, and authorities were able to trace the phone number to an Addison address. 

    He was questioned March 29 by FBI agents at his residence in Steuben County, according to the criminal complaint.

    Carlineo told the agents he is a patriot, that he loves President Donald Trump and hates radical Muslims in government, the complaint stated.

    He also told agents he didn’t remember exactly what he said to Omar’s staffer but admitted it might have been close to what her office reported to authorities.

    When asked if there were any weapons in the residence, Carlineo confirmed there was a shotgun and a .22-caliber rifle, according to the complaint.

    OPINION: You can critique Israel without sounding anti-Semitic. Rep. Ilhan Omar should learn how.

    Carlineo made an initial appearance Friday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marian W. Payson and is being held pending a detention hearing at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

    Follow Jeff Murray on Twitter @SGJeffMurray. 

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    Teacher and Franciscan brother Peter Mokaya Tabichi (C), 36, the recipient of Global Teacher Prize Award, celebrates with his students at Keriko secondary school in Njoro, Nakuru county, on April 4, 2019. Tabichi, a math and physics teacher from a secondary school in a remote village in Kenya’s Rift Valley, who organisers say gave away 80 percent of his monthly income to the poor, won the $1 million Global Teacher Prize for 2019. TONY KARUMBA, AFP/Getty Images

     

    Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/05/ilhan-omar-death-threat-leads-to-arrest-of-new-york-man/3379387002/

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    Israel’s Netanyahu, a political Houdini, is facing his toughest escape act yet – The Washington Post
    Israel’s Netanyahu, a political Houdini, is facing his toughest escape act yet – The Washington Post

    Loveday Morris

    Ruth Eglash

    April 5 at 1:36 PM

    JERUSALEM — When Israel’s top satire show launched its recent election special, it depicted an impersonator of Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu breaking out of chains in a Houdini-like feat. With a smirk he turned to exit, before realizing his foot was still shackled.

    Netanyahu has escaped many a peril in the quarter-century that he has been a dominant ­figure in Israeli politics, including 13 years as prime minister.

    There was the first “Bibigate,” when he dramatically confessed an extramarital affair to the Israeli public, and the second, when he was investigated during his first year in office amid allegations of influence peddling. More investigations would follow over the years as stories of extravagant spending by him and his wife, allegedly at taxpayers’ expense, filled Israeli newspapers.

    There was the $1,600 bill for his hairstyling and $1,750 for makeup on a 2015 New York trip. There was the $127,000 spent on installing a double bed on an El Al plane for a five-hour flight to London and a $2,700 ice-cream budget. 

    And still he has survived, denying all accusations of wrongdoing, staying put when others might have resigned and winning a pair of elections in which he was widely written off.

    But the latest corruption cases, which involve allegations of fraud, breach of trust and bribery, have overshadowed this year’s election campaign and left Israelis wondering whether he could be caught in that last shackle. Just days before Israelis vote on Tuesday, polls suggest the prime minister is in a very tight race with his main rival.

    If he prevails and stays in office through mid-July, Netanyahu will become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, surpassing the country’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion. But the question remains: Will his legal troubles catch up with him, or can he escape them once more?

    “The guy has the best staying power in politics,” said Eyal Arad, an Israeli political strategist who was an adviser to Netanyahu in the 1980s and 1990s. “He falls, he recuperates, but then he goes on to the next battle.”

    That, in part, Arad said, comes from his unshakable belief in himself. 

    “He believes that he is the only one who is capable to lead Israel,” he said. “He absolutely believes that.” 

    That self-belief has only grown over the years, former advisers say, as Netanyahu has defied the odds to stay in power.


    Netanyahu in the Oval Office during his visit to the United States last month. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

    Last time around, in the 2015 election, Netanyahu had been widely expected to lose. Aron Shaviv, his campaign adviser, recalls how five days before the vote, defeat seemed imminent. 

    “We were staring down the barrel of a 5 or 6 percent loss,” Shaviv said. But Netanyahu remained “cool and calculated,” he said. “Straight away we got down to business to work through all the options of this serious problem.”

    Netanyahu would call him throughout the night. If Shaviv screened the calls on his cellphone, Netanyahu would call on the house phone and keep ringing until Shaviv picked up.

    “My wife always used to joke that she felt like she was in bed with him,” he said. “He has such a deep voice, she could still hear him through the phone.” 

    To win, Netanyahu had to do something that did not come naturally — acknowledge he was likely to lose. Campaign research showed that right-wing Israelis were leaning toward smaller parties instead of Netanyahu’s Likud, confident that Netanyahu would still be the prime minister. He was not quick to heed the warnings.

    “Bibi being Bibi said: ‘I don’t trust you. But I do trust the data, so prove it to me,’ ” Shaviv said. He watched five hours of focus-group videos before he was convinced. 

    Shaviv said Netanyahu immediately went out to do what he does best: He conducted more than 40 media interviews to warn supporters that he was about to lose — and that the left would win. 

    Then, on election day, his campaign released a last-minute video declaring that Israeli Arabs were flocking to the polls, potentially threatening to thwart his reelection. The video, which was condemned by many Israelis as racist but may have succeeded in spurring his supporters to vote, was entirely the prime minister’s call, Shaviv recalled.

    It worked, and Netanyahu ultimately won. 

    “He felt that almost with his bare hands, he managed to win,” said Aviv Bushinsky, a former adviser and chief of staff to the prime minister.


    Netanyahu, left, in the Knesset in 1993. At right is former foreign minister David Levy, Netanyahu’s top rival in Likud leadership elections that year. (Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images)

    Netanyahu’s decision to release that video fits a long pattern of divisive politics, critics say, and early on those politics almost tripped him up.

    When Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by an ultranationalist Israeli in 1995, Netanyahu, as leader of the opposition, was blamed by some Israelis, including members of Rabin’s family, for stirring up an atmosphere of hate and fear. Many political observers thought he was too tarnished to defeat Rabin’s successor, Labor Party leader Shimon Peres, in the election a year later.

    “After Rabin’s assassination, everyone thought it would be a walk in the park for Peres,” recalled Nahum Barnea, a veteran Israeli journalist. “Nobody believed Netanyahu had a chance.” 

    But when Palestinian suicide bombers began blowing up buses and restaurants in Israel, the shine came off the peace process championed by Rabin and Peres. Public opinion swung toward Netanyahu.

    Barnea said Netanyahu’s skills as a public speaker also helped him turn the campaign around. 

    Shortly before the election, Netanyahu participated in a televised debate, prerecorded at the Labor Party headquarters in Tel Aviv. Barnea watched the session live with about a dozen other journalists. They thought Netanyahu performed well. Then, when Barnea reviewed the recording on television, Peres came off even worse, he said. 

    “I ran from the studio to our office,” Barnea said. “I went to the editor in chief and said Bibi won the debate.” 

    Netanyahu would go on to win the election with a razor-thin majority. 

    Netanyahu was not originally tapped to be the star of his family, growing up in the shadow of his older brother Yonatan, or Yoni, whom he idolized. But Yoni was killed in 1976, the lone Israeli military casualty in an operation to rescue more than 100 Israeli passengers and a flight crew held hostage at Uganda’s Entebbe Airport after their plane was hijacked. 

    If Yoni had lived, Netanyahu might have stayed in the United States — where he was partly raised and attended Harvard and MIT — and never entered politics. But he did, and despite that privileged upbringing, he went on to find a fierce following among Israel’s blue-collar voters.

    Painting himself as a repeated underdog who has been unfairly targeted by the elitist establishment, Netanyahu has tapped into the resentment of Israel’s Mizrahi Jews, whose roots mostly lie in other Middle Eastern and North African countries and who felt shut out of power in Israel’s early years by Ashkenazi Jews of European ancestry.


    Netanyahu at the White House last month. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

    While Netanyahu is also of Ashkenazi stock, his family had felt alienated from Israel’s Zionist establishment. Netanyahu’s father, Benzion, had been a follower of the revisionist leader Binyamin Zeev Jabotinsky, a rival of left-leaning socialists who dominated the early Zionist movement. 

    Netanyahu has survived in part by telling his political base that it is us against them, the right vs. the weak, dangerous and Arab-loving left. 

    “Netanyahu’s greatest achievement is keeping his base disgruntled and dissatisfied and angry despite Likud having been in power for three-quarters of the last four decades,” said Anshel Pfeffer, author of “Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu.” “Netanyahu’s biggest political asset is that he knows how to latch onto his voters’ phobias and keep them alive.”

    Yet despite presenting himself as a candidate of the people, he has a love for the high life, which biographers say is his Achilles’ heel.

    Over the years, Israeli newspapers have highlighted his penchant for leaving restaurants without picking up the bill and reported scintillating details of the extravagant habits of the Netanyahus. 

    Two months ago, the Israeli attorney general decided to charge him in three criminal cases, pending a hearing in which he can present his defense. One of those cases centers on allegations that he and his wife, Sara, received gifts of cigars and jewelry worth around $280,000 in exchange for ­political favors.

    But Netanyahu, who denies all charges, has built a loyal base that supports him no matter what and can deliver enough votes to keep him atop Israel’s fragmented politics.

    “He just needs to keep his right-wing base voting for him, which he’s done very effectively,” Arad said. 


    Netanyahu attends the funeral of Zachary Baumel on Thursday in Jerusalem. The U.S. citizen and Israeli soldier went missing during fighting in Lebanon in 1982. His remains were recovered this week. (Ariel Schalit/AP)

    The personal stakes for Netanyahu are higher in this election than ever before. 

    “He understands that the only good way, from his perspective, to fight his legal battles is from power,” Bushinsky said.

    Others might have resigned already. Rabin stepped aside in his first term when it emerged that he still had a U.S. bank account several years after working at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, in contravention of Israeli currency regulations. 

    Netanyahu’s most recent predecessor, Ehud Olmert, who stepped down when he was indicted, served 16 months in jail for corruption.

    But Netanyahu is cut from different cloth and has vowed to stay in office even if he is indicted.

    Bushinsky said that if Netanyahu is in power, he is in a stronger position to influence the time frame of the corruption investigations and could even push for legislation to prevent charges being pursued against a sitting prime minister.

    He has beaten the legal rap each time since the first criminal investigation back in 1997. At the time, police recommended he be indicted after he was accused of appointing an attorney general who, in return for political support, agreed to be lenient in pursuing an extortion case against one of the prime minister’s political allies.

    In an April 1997 editorial, The Washington Post asked, “Can Mr. Netanyahu hang on?” The editorial noted that less than a year into office he was already “hip-deep” in controversy. But already, he had a reputation as a survivor, if not an escape artist.

    “The prudent expectation must be that Mr. Netanyahu will somehow come through,” the Post editorial said. 

    Read more

    Under investigation and up for reelection, Netanyahu’s kinship with Trump has never been clearer

    A pro-pot party could tip the scales in Israel’s upcoming election

    Gazans have paid in blood for a year of protests. Now many wonder what it was for.

    Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

    Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/israels-netanyahu-a-political-houdini-is-facing-his-toughest-escape-act-yet/2019/04/05/b57113c8-4b21-11e9-8cfc-2c5d0999c21e_story.html

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    Bill Maher Insists Biden Controversy “Not That F*cking Serious”; Julian Castro Calls “Bullsh*t” – Deadline
    Bill Maher Insists Biden Controversy “Not That F*cking Serious”; Julian Castro Calls “Bullsh*t” – Deadline

    Bill Maher came out strongly in favor of Veep Joe Biden’s decision to make jokes on Friday about his past uncomfortable-making hugging and hair-kissing of women.

    The presumed Dem candidate “is still at large,” Maher joked at the top of his HBO late night show, Real Time.

    “Women are still being urged to walk at night in pairs.”

    Maher explained to younger viewers that Biden’s hands have been part of an exploratory committee for decades.

    “We’re getting a little nit-picky,” Maher scoffed. “No one likes to be touched unwantedly, and women get lots more of that than men. But the first person who brought this up said he made her feel gross and uneasy. You know what makes me feel gross and uneasy? A second Trump term!”

    “He’s not Harvey Weinstein or R. Kelly. He’s more like the TSA,” Maher insisted.

    Speaking to his first guest, Dem candidate/ former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, Maher credited Biden for being the first Dem to say, “I don’t say I’m sorry…I’m not sorry for my intentions.”

    ‘I like that,” Maher said, noting Castro had spoken to Biden’s past behavior “with great gravitas” on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show earlier in the week.

    “I think he should joke about it. I don’t think it’s that big a deal,” Maher scolded Castro.

    “I disagree,” the former San Antonio mayor Castro shot back, arguing that Biden was indeed out of line and, by implication, out of step with the times. For too long, he said, women have been told they have to be quiet “about stuff like this.”

    Maher pounced on that, arguing Biden’s behavior “is not the same as sexual harassment,” adding, “He did it to men, too, and children. He’s a toucher!”

    Castro conceded Biden did not intend to make people uncomfortable, but insisted it’s incumbent on men “to understand it’s not just your intention, it’s also how your actions are making somebody feel.”

    “I think it’s bullshit to say people can get away with laughing it off,” Castro challenged Maher. “I think that’s completely the wrong way to look at it.”

    But Maher stuck by his guns, saying Biden should joke about it, because “I don’t think it’s that big a deal.”

    As mid-show guest Chelsea Handler came out and went for him with a hug, Mahrer gently pushed her away, saying we don’t touch any more, leading to a more than awkward moment.

    Maher also wished the media would stop using #MeToo movement terms to report on Biden. “We have no sense of perspective Everything has to be…DEFCON 1,” he complained.

    “These are not allegations. They actually happened. It’s on tape,” he pointed out during the show’s panel conversation. The women, he said,  “are not victims stepping forward. All this is bullshit – he kissed the back of somebody’s head!”

    Maher singled out Chris Cillizza’s coverage on CNN; he had described the controversy as “not a joking matter.”

    “Yes it is,” Maher barked back. “It is exactly what is perfect for joking matter. It’s not that fucking serious!”

    Source Article from https://deadline.com/2019/04/bill-maher-joe-biden-controversy-metoo-donald-trump-julian-castro-bullshit-real-time-video-1202589585/

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    High-profile lawyer admits guilt and defends his daughter in college admissions scandal – Los Angeles Times
    High-profile lawyer admits guilt and defends his daughter in college admissions scandal – Los Angeles Times

    Singer told Caplan to bring his daughter to Los Angeles to meet with a psychologist he trusted. The girl should act “stupid,” Singer said, to be falsely diagnosed with a learning disability, a key component of the scheme. Once diagnosed, the girl could receive extra time on her ACT, allowing Singer’s accomplice and ace test-taker to correct her answers, according to the affidavit.

    Source Article from https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-parent-college-admissions-scandal-gordon-caplan-20190405-story.html

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