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HOUSTON — A Boeing 767 cargo jetliner heading to Houston with three people aboard disintegrated after crashing Saturday into a bay east of the city, according to a Texas sheriff.

Witnesses told emergency personnel that the twin-engine plane “went in nose first,” leaving a debris field three-quarters of a mile long in Trinity Bay, Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said.

“It’s probably a crash that nobody would survive,” he said, referring to the scene as “total devastation.”

The cargo plane made a steep descent shortly before 12:45 p.m. from 6,525 feet to 3,025 feet in 30 seconds, according to tracking data from FlightAware.com.

The flight was being operated for Amazon by Atlas Air, according to a statement from the airline.

“Our main priority at this time is caring for those affected and we will ensure we do all we can to support them now and in the days and weeks to come,” Atlas Air said in a statement.

Dave Clark, senior vice president of Worldwide Operations at Amazon, said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the flight crew, their families and friends along with the entire team at Atlas Air during this terrible tragedy. We appreciate the first responders who worked urgently to provide support.”

Witnesses said they heard the plane’s engines surging and that the craft turned sharply before falling into a nosedive, Hawthorne said.

Aerial footage shows emergency personnel walking along a spit of marshland flecked by debris that extends into the water.

Hawthorne told the Houston Chronicle late Saturday afternoon that police had found human remains at the site of the crash.

Investigators have also recovered parts of the plane, he said. “There’s everything from cardboard boxes to women’s clothing and bed sheets,” Hawthorne said.

The largest piece from the Boeing 767 that police have recovered is 50 feet long, Hawthorne told the newspaper.

The sheriff said recovering pieces of the plane and its black box containing flight data records will be difficult in muddy marshland that extends to about 5 feet deep in the area. Air boats are needed to access the area.

The plane had departed from Miami and was likely only minutes away from landing at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued an alert after officials lost radar and radio contact with Atlas Air Flight 3591 when it was about 30 miles southeast of the airport, FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said.

Air traffic controllers in Houston tried at least twice to contact the plane but received no response.

After losing contact, they asked a United Airlines pilot if he had seen “ground contact” – wreckage – to his right or behind him, according to recordings of the conversation. “That’s a negative,” he said.

They also asked a Mesa Airlines pilot: “See if you can make ground contact. We are looking for a lost aircraft … it’s a heavy Boeing 767,” meaning it’s a big, two-aisle plane.

“No ground contact from here,” the Mesa pilot said.

The Coast Guard dispatched boats and at least one helicopter to assist in the search for survivors. A dive team with the Texas Department of Public Safety will be tasked with finding the black box, Hawthorne said.

Trinity Bay is just north of Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

FAA investigators are traveling to the scene as are authorities with the National Transportation Safety Board, which will lead the investigation.

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/02/23/cargo-plane-crashes-outside-houston-no-survivors-likely/2964491002/

President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela cut off diplomatic ties with neighbor Colombia after that nation was used to stage U.S.-backed humanitarian aid that he has vowed to block.

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who is recognized by President Trump as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, was in Colombia for a concert organized by billionaire Richard Branson.

“We can’t keep putting up with Colombian territory being used for attacks against Venezuela,” Maduro said at a rally Saturday. “For that reason I’ve decided to sever all ties with the fascist government of Colombia. All consul employees should leave within 24 hours. Out! Get out. Enough is enough.”

Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/venezuela-s-maduro-cuts-ties-colombia-amid-border-conflict-n974991

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort talks to reporters on the floor of the Republican National Convention in 2016. Prosecutors say Manafort “brazenly violated the law.”

Matt Rourke/AP


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Matt Rourke/AP

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort talks to reporters on the floor of the Republican National Convention in 2016. Prosecutors say Manafort “brazenly violated the law.”

Matt Rourke/AP

Prosecutors for special counsel Robert Mueller say they take no position on what Paul Manafort’s prison sentence should be, but say President Trump’s former campaign chairman acted in “bold” fashion to commit a multitude of crimes.

Manafort is scheduled to be sentenced next month after pleading guilty in a Washington, D.C. court last year to charges of conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

In a sentencing memo submitted to the court on Friday but made public on Saturday, prosecutors told Judge Amy Berman Jackson that Manafort “brazenly violated the law.”

“Manafort chose repeatedly and knowingly to violate the law— whether the laws proscribed garden-variety crimes such as tax fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and bank fraud, or more esoteric laws that he nevertheless was intimately familiar with, such as the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA),” they wrote in the filing.

Manafort shows a “hardened adherence to committing crimes,” the memo said. “His criminal actions were bold, some of which were committed while under a spotlight due to his work as the campaign chairman and, later, while he was on bail from this Court.”

Manafort had agreed to cooperate with the Mueller investigation after initially pleading guilty. But the plea deal fell apart after Jackson ruled earlier this month that he intentionally lied to Mueller’s office, the FBI and the grand jury in his case. The ruling meant prosecutors were no longer bound by the plea deal.

Jackson found Manafort broke the agreement after he lied about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, who has also been indicted by the special counsel and whom the FBI believes has ties to Russian intelligence. Authorities said Manafort was also untruthful in response to questions about his finances and his contacts with members of the Trump administration. Manafort’s attorneys say he did not intentionally give false information.

In D.C. the statutory maximum Manafort, 69, faces is 10 years.

In a separate case in Virginia, Manafort was found guilty on eight counts in a sprawling bank and tax fraud case. He faces up to 24 years in prison and tens of millions of dollars in possible fines for that conviction.

Manafort’s sentencing in the Virginia case is also scheduled for March. Prosecutors have urged Jackson to consider stacking his sentence in D.C. on top of his punishment in Virginia. Lawyers for Manafort are due to file their sentencing recommendation in D.C. on Monday.

Separately, authorities in New York are preparing charges against Manafort for violating state tax laws and other financial crimes, according to reports by Bloomberg News and The New York Times on Friday.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/02/23/697391538/paul-manafort-brazenly-broke-the-law-special-counsel-says-in-sentencing-memo

The left is invigorated by Democrats’ sweeping wins in 2018, yet moderates remain mindful of Republicans’ hold on the Senate and White House, and the challenge of dislodging President Trump, who, more than ever, has led his party to side with climate-deniers.

Source Article from https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-feinstein-green-new-deal-children-20190223-story.html

Several loose ends remain in special counsel Robert MuellerRobert Swan MuellerSasse: US should applaud choice of Mueller to lead Russia probe MORE’s investigation amid signs that it’s possible the long probe could be winding down.

Here are five questions about the investigation as Mueller’s probe nears its two-year anniversary.

Is Mueller really close to the end?

Trump’s allies and legal advisers have predicted for over a year that Mueller’s investigation was nearing completion, only to be disproven by new charges or investigative maneuvers.

However, there have been signals more recently that the special counsel is approaching his endpoint. Several cases, including those of former Trump campaign chairman Paul ManafortPaul John ManafortMueller won’t deliver report to Justice Dept. next week New York preps state charges for Manafort in case of a Trump pardon: report Defending the First Amendment, even for Roger Stone MORE and onetime national security adviser Michael Flynn, have moved toward sentencing.

Mueller has brought on federal prosecutors from other districts to assist in some cases, including the prosecution of Trump ally Roger StoneRoger Jason StoneMueller pushes back on Stone’s claim CNN was tipped off about arrest Mueller won’t deliver report to Justice Dept. next week Defending the First Amendment, even for Roger Stone MORE, a sign he may ultimately look to hand off some cases.

Press reports have identified prosecutors leaving Mueller’s office to return to their other jobs. And Rod RosensteinRod Jay RosensteinEx-Trump aide: Can’t imagine Mueller not giving House a ‘roadmap’ to impeachment Rosenstein: My time at DOJ is ‘coming to an end’ Five takeaways from McCabe’s allegations against Trump MORE, the deputy attorney general who first appointed Mueller and had been overseeing the investigation for more than a year, is expected to leave the Justice Department in coming weeks.

Various news outlets reported this week that the department was prepared to receive Mueller’s report as soon as next week, but a Justice Department official said Friday that would not happen.

Some unresolved matters cause some to believe the conclusion and Mueller’s final report are further off.

Mueller is still wrangling in court with two witnesses over grand jury subpoenas, including a mystery foreign company that has asked the Supreme Court to take up the case. As of January, former Trump campaign aide Richard Gates was cooperating in several ongoing investigations. Stone’s trial is also months away, and it’s possible he could decide to cooperate.

Randall Eliason, a George Washington University law professor and former assistant U.S. attorney, said he’s skeptical the probe is actually nearing its end.

“I’ll believe it when I hear it from Mueller himself,” he said. “We’ve heard this so many times in the past and there is so much out there that still needs to be resolved.”

Legal analysts note that Mueller submitting his final report does not necessarily mean an end to the investigation, given that the special counsel has referred cases to other districts.

“Shutting down the Mueller office is not the same as shutting down the investigation,” said Steven Cash, a lawyer at Day Pitney and former counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Will we see more charges?

Many wonder if Mueller will unveil more charges ± particularly ones that allege Americans were involved in a conspiracy to interfere in the election.  

Mueller’s court filings in the cases against Manafort and a Russian troll farm have referenced “uncharged individuals” and ongoing investigations, suggesting prosecutors are pursuing indictments against unknown subjects.

Meanwhile, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard BurrRichard Mauze BurrTrump says ‘witch hunt’ must end as reports say Mueller preparing to file report Cohen to testify before Senate Intel on Tuesday Harris on election security: ‘Russia can’t hack a piece of paper’ MORE (R-N.C.) said he referred cases to Mueller where witnesses questioned in the panel’s own Russia probe were suspected of lying. Earlier this month, the House Intelligence Committee shipped off dozens of witness transcripts to Mueller that could be cited as evidence of perjury if Mueller finds that anyone lied.

“We could see more arrests,” said Elie Honig, a defense attorney at Lowenstein Sandler and former assistant U.S. attorney. “There either already could be indictments that are under seal or there could be more arrests to come. It’s possible Mueller is preparing one last round of charges.”

Prosecutors are also sifting through troves of electronic evidence seized in searches of Stone’s residences, which could offer new leads or present new evidence of criminal activity.

How will Barr manage the report?

New Attorney General William Barr will decide what parts of Mueller’s report are released.

Barr said during his confirmation hearing that he would release as much about Mueller’s findings as possible in accordance with the law, though he did not commit to releasing it entirely.

Special counsel regulations require Mueller to submit a confidential report to the attorney general when he is finished. After that happens, Barr has broad discretion to decide what to release to Congress and what can be made public.

Legal and national security experts say that sensitive national security information and grand jury material would be redacted from any public report. It is also possible Barr will choose to summarize the findings in his own document to avoid the protected material. CNN reported Wednesday that Barr plans to give a summary to Congress soon after Mueller gives him the report.

Honig also noted that Barr first could share the report privately with the White House, raising the possibility Trump could object to certain portions becoming public by citing executive privilege.

Barr could be subject to handwringing from congressional Democrats if he limits the release of the report, but could also draw Trump’s ire if he reveals unsavory information about the president.

House Democrats are likely to subpoena the report if they believe Barr has not produced enough from it. They could also subpoena Mueller or Rosenstein to testify – setting the stage for high drama on Capitol Hill. 

What will the report look like?

Just as Barr has broad discretion over what to reveal, Mueller has freedom in writing it.

The regulations only require that the report explain why the special counsel chose to prosecute certain crimes or decided against bringing other charges. That means the report could be a terse, two-page summary or an elaborate and detailed narrative akin to one of Mueller’s “speaking” conspiracy indictments.

Mueller could choose to include classified and grand jury material in the report or decline to do so in a way that allows more of it to be released to the public. There is also nothing that precludes Mueller from issuing multiple reports.

It remains unclear whether his final documentation will answer the question at the core of the investigation: Did the Trump campaign conspire with Russia to interfere in the election?

Many legal analysts believe that Mueller’s report will be informative and fact-driven and will not resemble the salacious 500-page report from Ken Starr that laid out details of the relationship between then-President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.

“It’s going to be very well drafted, it’s going to be very well thought out,” said Cash. “I think it’s going to be a little bit boring. It’s not going to be like the Ken Starr report.”

Cash said the report would echo Detective Sergeant Joe from the series Dragnet: “‘Just the facts, ma’am.’”

What will the end mean for Trump?

Perhaps the most consequential question is what Mueller’s report reveals about Trump and any knowledge he had of his campaign’s contacts with Russians.

Trump has long denied that his campaign colluded with Moscow to meddle in the election and regularly derides the investigation as a partisan “witch hunt.”

It’s no secret Trump is eager to have the investigation wrapped up; he wrote that the probe “must end” in an early morning tweet Friday, describing it as “so bad” for the country.

“So long as the Mueller report does not personally implicate Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpAverage tax refunds down double-digits, IRS data shows White House warns Maduro as Venezuela orders partial closure of border with Colombia Trump administration directs 1,000 more troops to Mexican border MORE, it’s a good thing that it comes out,” said Republican strategist Ford O’Connell.

“And the reason why is very simple: They want this albatross off their neck. They’ve been playing defense for two years. They want to play offense now and show the Democrats’ actions are all about getting Donald J. Trump, not actually finding out what happened about Russian interference during the 2016 election,” O’Connell said.

However, if the report reveals derogatory information about Trump, it could be politically damaging and produce new headaches for the White House. And it could serve as a roadmap for Democrats looking to investigate the president and possibly launch impeachment proceedings.

The conclusion of Mueller’s investigation will also not mean an end to the president’s legal woes. Prosecutors are still pursuing investigations related to the president in other districts, including the Manhattan probe into former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s campaign finance violations stemming from payments to women who alleged affairs with Trump before the election. 

Cohen is scheduled to testify – publicly – before Congress next Wednesday.

Source Article from https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/431212-five-tantalizing-questions-about-muellers-investigation

Officials say they have recovered “human remains” from where a cargo plane carrying at least 3 people crashed into a Texas bay on Saturday.

Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said that witnesses say they saw the twin-engine Boeing 767 cargo jetliner dive “nose first” into Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas, about 12:45 p.m.

The plane’s engine was reportedly surging and the aircraft made a sharp turn before nose-diving, Hawthorne added.

“We have, regretfully, found some remains,” Hawthorne told reporters at the final press conference of the day. He said recovery efforts would resume in the morning.

While he would not confirm any fatalities, he did suggest the prospects for any survivors were dim.

“What I will tell you is I don’t believe that there’s any way that anybody could have  survived.”

Flight 3591, operated by Atlas Air Inc., lost radar and radio contact when it was about 30 miles southeast of Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to issue an alert notice.

“I would venture to say that it’s probably going to be mechanical,” Hawthorne said of a possible cause.

The sheriff said recovering pieces of the plane, its black box containing flight data records and any remains of the people on board will be difficult in muddy marshland. Airboats are needed to access the area.

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The Coast Guard dispatched boats and at least one helicopter to assist in search-and-rescue efforts. The Texas Department of Public Safety is expected to send in a dive team to recover the plane’s black box, which can provide vital clues about what brought the plane down.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is heading the investigation.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/human-remains-found-where-texas-cargo-plane-carrying-at-least-3-crashed-survivors-unlikely-officials-say

Media captionMr Kim waved to cheering crowds as his train left Pyongyang

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has departed for Hanoi by train for talks with US President Donald Trump.

He arrived at the Chinese border city of Dandong after 21:00 local time (13:00 GMT) on Saturday.

The much anticipated second US-North Korea summit is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in the Vietnamese capital.

It follows a historic first round of talks last year in Singapore. All eyes will be on what if any progress is made towards “denuclearisation”.

The departure, confirmed by North Korean state media, is the first official acknowledgement that the talks are taking place.

The state media report said Mr Kim would pay a “goodwill” visit to Vietnam as part of the trip.

He is thought to be travelling with his sister Kim Yo Jong and one of his key negotiators, former General Kim Yong Chol.

Why are they meeting again?

“We fell in love,” Mr Trump told a rally last September of Mr Kim. “He wrote me beautiful letters.”

Despite the flowery words, the months following the first summit last June were characterised by frosty and sparse contact.

This meeting is expected to build on the groundwork of that meeting and address the thorny issue of denuclearisation, where experts say little progress has been made.

Days before the Hanoi meeting, the agenda remains unclear.

What did the last summit achieve?

The first summit last June in Singapore, between two leaders who had previously only exchanged vitriol, was certainly a historic moment.

However, the agreement they signed was vague on detail and little has been done about its stated goal of “denuclearisation”.

Image copyright
AFP

Image caption

The second summit won’t be able to match that first handshake in 2018

Donald Trump promised to scale back the US-South Korea military exercises that angered the North, but in the months that have passed many have queried what he got in return.

Moves like the dismantling of a key rocket site in the North last summer are little more more than a gesture, experts say, given the North made no commitment to halt weapons development or shut down missile bases.

However, lower-level negotiation channels have recently seen activity, which could mean more goes into a Hanoi declaration.

So what can we expect this time round?

This time round both leaders will be very conscious that expectations will be high for an outcome that demonstrates tangible signs of progress – or at least a measurable roadmap for progress.

Analysts will watch closely what concessions both sides are prepared to make for this.

Washington’s original stance was that North Korea had to unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons before there could be any sanctions relief.

But just a few days ago, President Trump said he was “in no rush” to press denuclearisation.

One possibility mooted is a declaration to officially end the Korean War. Some suggest the US will ask North Korea to put forward concrete steps, such as dismantling the Yongbyon nuclear site and missile bases, in exchange for some US sanctions relief.

Why is it happening in Vietnam?

Image copyright
KCNA

Image caption

Mr Kim might try to get some insights into Vietnam’s remarkable economic growth

It’s an ideal location for many reasons. It has diplomatic relations with both the US and North Korea, despite once having been enemies with the US – and could be used by the US as an example of two countries working together and setting aside their past grievances.

Ideologically, both Vietnam and North Korea are communist countries – though Vietnam has rapidly developed since and become one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, all while retaining absolute power.

Its rapid development could be used by the US to show the direction North Korea could go in should it choose to open its doors.

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47328334

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Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/23/asia/mbs-saudi-arabia-crown-prince-asia-tour-round-up-intl/index.html

FBI special counsel Robert Mueller’s office accused former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort of “repeatedly and brazenly” violating the law, according to a redacted sentencing memo filed on Friday in a Washington court.

“Manafort committed an array of felonies for over a decade, up through the fall of 2018,” the memo says. “Manafort chose repeatedly and knowingly to violate the law — whether the laws proscribed garden-variety crimes such as tax fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and bank fraud, or more esoteric laws that he nevertheless was intimately familiar with, such as the Foreign Agents Registration Act.”

MUELLER WANTS PAUL MANAFORT IMPRISONED UP TO 24 YEARS

Prosecutors filed the memo Friday but it was released on Saturday after it was reviewed and partially redacted.

Manafort pleaded guilty in September to two counts of conspiring stemming from his Ukrainian political consulting work. As part of a plea deal in the case, Manafort admitted to one count of conspiracy against the United States and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. He has not been accused of being involved in Russian attempts to interfere in the election.

The memo filed Friday also said that some of his crimes were particularly “bold” as some were committed “while under a spotlight due to his work as the campaign chairman and, later, while he was on bail from this Court.” It goes on to allege that “Manafort represents a grave risk of recidivism” if released from jail.

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Prosecutors aren’t expected to recommend leniency because a judge found earlier this month that Manafort lied to investigators after agreeing to cooperate. They are not taking a position about whether the sentence should run consecutively or concurrently with the separate punishment that Manafort faces in a bank and tax fraud case in Virginia. In that case, where Manafort was convicted on eight counts of bank and tax fraud, Mueller’s team recommended a sentence of up to 24 years in prison and as much as a $24 million fine.

Mueller has been investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election since his appointment as special counsel in 2017. He is believed to be coming to the end of his investigation and expected to file his report to Attorney General William Barr soon, although there has been no notification that his work is complete.

Fox News’ David Spunt and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mueller-sentencing-memo-says-manafort-repeatedly-and-brazenly-violated-law

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Saturday his government had broken relations with Colombia and would expel some Colombian diplomatic staff after Colombia assisted the opposition’s efforts to bring humanitarian aid into the country.

“Patience is exhausted, I can’t bare it anymore, we can’t keep putting up with Colombian territory being used for attacks against Venezuela. For that reason, I have decided to break all political and diplomatic relations with Colombia’s fascist government,” Maduro said in a speech.

He said the ambassador and consular staff would have to leave Venezuela within 24 hours.

Reporting by Fabian Cambero; Writing by Angus Berwick; Editing by Sarah Marsh

Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-colombia/venezuela-breaks-diplomatic-relations-with-colombia-over-aid-maduro-says-idUSKCN1QC0SR

A six-month human-trafficking and prostitution sting in massage parlors across Florida yielded hundreds of arrest warrants, including several from the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter where at least two business executives were charged of soliciting a prostitute.

Ten spas have closed since the operation that stretched from Palm Beach to Orlando, according to the Associated Press. Cameras inside and outside the businesses were reportedly planted in the operation, with videotapes revealing some of the defendants committing sexual acts.

News reports suggest that although a high-profile executive like New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was implicated in the sting operation, there were more revelations to come.

“There are people down there in that area, I’m told, who say that this story is going to heat up and get a lot worse,” ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter said Friday.

“I’m also told that Robert Kraft is not the biggest name involved down there in South Florida,” Schefter added.

First-time offenders charged with solicitation are typically permitted to enroll in a diversion program and serve 100 hours of community service, a former prosecutor told the Associated Press.

Here are the executives who have been charged in Florida’s prostitution sting:

Source Article from https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-massage-parlor-prostitution-sting-johns-2019-2

After more than 20 months of digging, issuing subpoenas, interviewing witnesses, getting indictments, making plea deals, and achieving felony convictions in federal court, Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly nearing the end of his investigation into Donald Trump and his campaign for their connections to Russians during the 2016 election. Whether one week away or one month away, the Trump White House is said to be steeling itself for Mueller’s report. The end is near.

If neither Trump nor his henchmen have done anything wrong, he won’t have anything to worry about. But six men who worked for Trump in various capacities have pled guilty and have been sentenced to federal prison, or are awaiting sentencing, or have already served time. That’s not to mention the 26 Russian nationals, including 12 agents for the Russian intelligence service the GRU, who have also been indicted, along with several other individuals. There has been speculation for weeks that Mueller has more indictments to bring, and he has moved to delay sentencing for several Trump associates whom he is still interviewing or taking before his grand jury in Washington D.C., which recently received an extension of its term upon a request by Mueller.

But it’s not the report of the Special Counsel to the Attorney General that Trump should be worried about. The charter of Mueller’s investigation is narrow, limited to crimes arising out of Russian interference in the campaign of 2016 and the connections of Trump and his campaign to the Russians. Many have pointed out that the indictments Mueller has brought read like a complex narrative of the connections between the Trump campaign and Russians. We already know who stole the Democrats’ emails, how they were distributed, and who among Trump’s associates actually met with Russians during the campaign. What we don’t yet know is what took place during those meetings and whether Trump himself directed, participated in, or knew about these encounters, such as the infamous Trump Tower meeting between six Russians with connections to Kremlin intelligence and Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort, then Trump’s campaign chairman.

Mueller is not going to make the mistake James Comey made as director of the FBI when he issued his report at the close of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private mail server during her time as secretary of state. In announcing that the FBI found that Clinton had committed no crimes, Comey tarred and feathered her politically, saying she had been careless and sloppy in handling her private emails.

Mueller is constrained by strict rules limiting what he can do and say as a prosecutor, and all indications are he will follow them to the letter.

He is unlikely to find that Trump committed no crimes, but report that boy, is he one shifty, lying, corrupt son of a bitch. Nor, according to legal experts, is he likely to go against Department of Justice rules and indict Trump as a sitting President. There remains the possibility that Mueller could issue new indictments outlining direct contacts between Trump campaign officials and WikiLeaks, or between Paul Manafort and the Russians through characters such as Konstantin Kilimnik, and depending on what he has learned from Trump people who are cooperating with him.  He may include Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator.

You can be certain that anything done by Mueller at the close of his investigation short of an actual indictment of Trump will be celebrated by Trump and his people as an exoneration of the president. Even being named as an unindicted co-conspirator will be treated by the Trump base as a badge of honor. See! He was right all along! The deep state was out to get him!

While Trump shouldn’t be too worried about Mueller’s report, there are other things that should keep him up at night tweeting madly.

The first is that the close of Mueller’s investigation will mark the end of the “witch hunt.” Trump has beaten that drum more than 1,100 times over the past 20 months, according to The New York Times. He has used the Mueller investigation to keep his base riled up as much as he’s used the wall. Barring any serious legal consequences for Trump himself or members of his family like Donald Jr. and Jared, the end of Mueller’s investigation will leave a hole in the base drum he’s being pounding to keep his poll numbers up.

Then there are the other investigations that are underway and will not be closing. There are probes into Trump, his company, his foundation, his campaign, his transition, and his inauguration in multiple jurisdictions including the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of Virginia, and the District of Columbia. None of these investigations are constrained by the charter that limited what Robert Mueller could look into. There are no “red lines” to cross for the prosecutors who are looking into stuff like the Trump Moscow tower deal, the $107 million raised for Trump’s lame-ass inauguration, and the payoffs Trump made to porn stars and Playboy playmates to keep them quiet before the election. Not to mention the shenanigans Trump has run through his company and his foundation.

But the thing that should worry Trump the most is that when Mueller’s investigation ends, the muzzles come off the coterie of criminals Trump has surrounded himself with. As long as Mueller had people like Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, Felix Sater, and David Pecker cooperating with his investigation, they were constrained from what they could share with the Congress and the press about what they know.

Imagine someone like David Pecker hauled before the House Oversight Committee by Elijah Cummings. He stands up, takes the oath, sits down, and the first question he’s asked is, tell us everything about your personal meetings with Donald Trump when he was running for president about how you paid off former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal to keep silent about her year-long affair with Trump. What did Trump tell you to do? How did he describe Ms. McDougal’s appearance, or characterize her as a person? What were his exact words when he talked about their relationship?  The Access Hollywood tape is very likely to seem tame in comparison to what’s coming from Trump intimates.

Or how about Michael Cohen describing his own meetings with Trump in his office at Trump Tower about paying off Stormy Daniels. Or Cohen talking about the Trump Tower deal in detail: what Trump told him to do, who he met with, what was said, who else was involved.

You want to talk about a narrative? About novelistic details? Multiple house committees can question Flynn for hours about his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, what instructions he was given by Trump, what he and Trump talked about on his private plane when they flew from event to event during the campaign. Same for Rick Gates. As deputy campaign chairman, he had to have been in the room with Paul Manafort and Trump when they met before and during the Republican National Convention about weakening the Russia plank in the platform, why it was done, what they expected to get from the Russians in return.

Robert Mueller doesn’t need to pull a Comey to trash Donald Trump with his final report. Take the muzzle off the creeps and hustlers Trump surrounded himself with, and he’s going to come out looking like the scuzzball lying thieving lowlife he is. And none of Trump’s buddies are part of the deep state. They’re his people. He picked them. He paid them. They worked for him. Everything he said to them before, during, and after the campaign is now fair game.

The witch hunt is over, but Donald Trump is about to be burned at the stake.

Source Article from https://www.salon.com/2019/02/23/if-trump-is-worried-about-the-end-of-muellers-investigation-hes-worrying-about-the-wrong-thing/

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A Boeing 767 cargo jet crashed in a bay outside of Houston with three people on board Saturday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Atlas Air Flight 3591 was traveling from Miami to Houston when it crashed into Trinity Bay, near Anahuac, Texas, shortly before 12:45 CT, the FAA said.

The plane was operating for Amazon Air, the online giant’s air cargo business, according to Flightradar24, an airline tracking site. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Atlas Air is one of the cargo airlines that Amazon contracted to operate the Amazon-branded fleet, along with Air Transport Services Group. Each operates 20 Amazon-branded planes for the air freight service, which was previously called Prime Air.

Video taken at the scene by local news outlets showed debris in the bay, including a piece of material that appeared to feature a part of Amazon’s logo.

The flight lost radar and radio contact about 30 miles southeast of its destination, Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, said the FAA.

“FAA investigators are on their way to the accident site, and the National Transportation Safety Board has been notified,” said FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford in a statement. “The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation.”

The NTSB said it was sending a “Go Team” to the crash site on Saturday evening from Washington D.C.

Atlas Air confirmed that three people were on board the aircraft.

“Those people and their family members are our top priority at this time,” the company said in a statement. “Atlas Air is cooperating fully with the FAA and NTSB. We will update as additional information becomes available.”

Boeing, which manufactured the plane, said it in a statement that it “is deeply saddened to learn of the accident.

“We are concerned about the safety of the three people reported to be on board the airplane,” said the statement.

Boeing added that it would provide technical assistance to the NTSB’s investigation.

The Boeing 767 was powered by GE CF6-80C2 engines, one of General Electric’s most popular aircraft engines. The company said in a statement that it was aware of the accident and it has a team in place to “provide all the necessary support required.”

-CNBC’s Phil LeBeau contributed to this report.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/23/atlas-air-flight-3591boeing-767-cargo-jet-crashes-near-houston-airport-with-three-people-on-board.html

An exchange between Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and a group of schoolchildren petitioning her to advocate for the “Green New Deal” went viral, drawing criticism and prompting a response from the senator.

About 15 middle school and high school students in the San Francisco Bay area met with Feinstein on Friday, asking the six-term senator whether she would vote for the ambitious climate change proposal introduced this month by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.). An edited video of their meeting was shared on social media by the Sunrise Movement, a self-described “army of young people” striving to elect leadership that will address the urgent nature of climate change, according to its website. The group also posted an unedited version of the video on its Facebook page.

Feinstein, who sits on Senate subcommittees on Interior, Environment and related agencies, told the students that she doesn’t support the deal, mainly because there is “no way to pay for it.”

The Sunrise Movement, which the New York Times said has held protests and rallies this week aimed at Democrats who have not voiced support for the Green New Deal, said it found Feinstein’s tone toward the children to be callous.

“But we have come to a point where our Earth is dying, and it is literally a pricey and ambitious plan that is needed to deal with the magnitude of that issue,” a 16-year-old student replied. “So we’re asking you to vote ‘yes’ on the resolution for the Green New Deal because —”

The senator interrupted, “That resolution will not pass the Senate, and you can take that back to whoever sent you here.” She added, “I’ve been in the Senate for a quarter of a century, and I know what can pass, and I know what can’t pass.”

To appeal to young people during her campaign for reelection last year, Feinstein more closely aligned herself with issues prominent among Democrats in the state — opposing the death penalty and defending California’s marijuana industry, The Washington Post’s Dave Weigel reported.

While discussing the Green New Deal with the students Friday, however, she noted that the plan lacks support from Republicans, who control the Senate. She also discussed her own climate change legislation, which she said rivals the Green New Deal and has a “much better chance of passing.” She offered to provide copies for each child and asked them to review it and let her know if they see issues.

The children responded by pointing to military funding and then argued for drastic action as some scientists estimate the world has just over 10 years to address climate change before its effects are irreversible.

“Any plan that doesn’t take bold, transformative action is not going to be what we need,” one young woman said.

“Well you know better than I do, so I think one day you should run for the Senate.” Feinstein responded. “Then you can do it your way.”

The senator also touted her years of experience, at one point noting that the children in the room were not old enough to vote for her.

“You know what’s interesting about this group is I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I know what I’m doing,” Feinstein said. “You come in here and say, ‘It has to be my way or the highway.’ I don’t respond to that.”

She did not say definitively which way she would vote on the deal, telling one student she could support the measure. “I may do that. We’ll see,” she said. “I don’t know.”

Republicans have attacked the Green New Deal, asserting that it reeks of socialism, as The Post’s Salvador Rizzo notes. In a tweet this month, President Trump likened the proposal to permanently eliminating “all Planes, Cars, Cows, Oil, Gas & the Military.” (The Post’s Fact Checker said this is untrue.)

Some Democrats have also expressed skepticism of the deal, which calls for 100 percent clean electricity and projects to reduce carbon emissions across the United States. The Post’s Dino Grandoni reported that “fault lines within the Democratic caucus were already visible” the day the bill was introduced, “with some members urging caution about setting vague and, at times, impossible-to-achieve goals to only fall short.”

The proposal has been endorsed, however, by several Democratic presidential candidates, including Sens. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Cory Booker (N.J.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).

The abridged version of the video posted to Twitter on Friday by the Sunrise Movement quickly went viral, gaining nearly 6 million views by Saturday morning. The video underscored some of the more fiery remarks Feinstein made and was posted with the caption, “This is how @SenFeinstein reacted to children asking her to support the #GreenNewDeal resolution — with smugness + disrespect.”

“This is a fight for our generation’s survival. Her reaction is why young people desperately want new leadership in Congress,” the group wrote.

Young people around the world have been vocal in their desire to see concrete, tangible action in the fight against climate change. On Friday, hundreds of French students marched in Paris in protest, the Associated Press reports. A similar march took place in Brussels on Thursday.

The two videos have given rise to many interpretations of Feinstein’s interaction with the children. Some agreed with the Sunrise Movement’s claim that she was short and dismissive of the students. Others found the negative reaction to the her comments as unreasonable, especially after watching the full video.

Feinstein issued a response late Friday, writing in a tweet she and the group had a “spirited discussion” and that she’d listened to the children who lobbied in her office. Toward the end of the longer video, the senator is seen speaking with one of the students about a potential internship opportunity.

“Unfortunately, it was a brief meeting, but I want the children to know they were heard loud and clear,” Feinstein wrote. “I have been and remain committed to doing everything I can to enact real, meaningful climate change legislation.”

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/02/23/schoolchildren-debate-dianne-feinstein-green-new-deal-her-reply-i-know-what-im-doing/

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un‘s armoured train has arrived in China ahead of the second summit with US President Donald Trump in Vietnam, according to media reports.

The train arrived in the border city of Dandong after 9pm local time (13:00 GMT) on Saturday, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency and the specialist outlet NK News, though it was not known whether Kim was on it.

The train’s crossing into China follows days of speculation over Kim’s travel plans, which remain shrouded in secrecy, as his team gathered in Hanoi ahead of the talks expected next Wednesday and Thursday.

The Vietnamese foreign ministry announced on Saturday Kim would “pay an official visit in the coming days”, ahead of the summit though no details were released.  

Last week the Reuters news agency said Kim would arrive in Vietnam on Feb 25.

North Korea’s state media has yet to confirm either Kim’s trip to Vietnam or his summit with Trump.


Security was tight before the train’s arrival in China, with police cordoning off the riverfront about 100 metres from the bridge with tape and metal barriers.

Guests at a hotel facing the rail bridge from North Korea were suddenly asked to leave on Friday and told it was closed on Saturday for impromptu renovations.

“The train is long and crossed the bridge slower than the tourist train, but its definitely him, there’s a lot of police presence,” an unidentified source told NK News.

Windows on the train were blacked out, the source said, with only headlights turned on as it crossed.

Several sources told the AFP news agency that Kim was expected to arrive in Vietnam by train, stopping at the Dong Dang train station near the China border, then driving to Hanoi.

On Saturday soldiers were deployed to Dong Dang station and along the road to the capital, according to AFP reporters at the scene.

Vietnam had already announced the unprecedented move of closing that 170-kilometre stretch of road on Tuesday between 6:00 am and 2:00 pm — suggesting Kim could travel on the road between those hours.

Another option for Kim would be to take the train to Beijing and catch a plane to the Vietnamese capital.

A 60-hour journey

If the train does trundle all the way to Hanoi carrying the North Korean leader, it will mean a nearly 4,000-km, 60-hour journey on board for Kim.

On Kim’s last rail trip in January, he travelled to Beijing with his entourage in an olive-green train emblazoned with a yellow stripe.

The engine and carriages appeared similar, possibly identical, to the train Kim used the previous year to travel to the Chinese capital for his first overseas visit.

His predecessors, father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung, also preferred rail for their domestic and overseas travels.


China has one of the most extensive railway systems in the world, with 130,000km of tracks – enough infrastructure to circle the Earth three times.

Still, a journey from China’s frozen northern border to subtropical Vietnam would present a logistical headache and complex security challenges.

“The best route is the Beijing-Guangzhou line,” said Zhao Jian, who studies China’s railway system at Beijing Jiaotong University, describing a route that would see Kim travel straight down to southern China, before heading west into Guangxi province, which borders Vietnam.

Justin Hastings, associate professor in international relations at the University of Sydney, said that would be “a pretty major operation”.

“They would have to clear the tracks, they would have to provide security for basically the entire length of the Chinese eastern seaboard,” he said.

But China may view the hassle as a necessary cost to get Kim to the summit, he told AFP news agency.

“China wants North Korea to make some steps to denuclearise as much as anyone else.”


Source Article from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/north-korea-kim-reported-en-route-vietnam-summit-trump-190223184815749.html

Media captionThe moment Venezuelan troops crashed through border into Colombia

Soldiers from the Venezuelan national guard have left their posts ahead of an opposition-led effort to bring aid into the country, Colombia’s migration agency said.

In a separate development, Venezuelan troops have fired tear gas at people looking to cross into Colombia to work.

Tensions have been rising over a row about the delivery of humanitarian aid.

President Nicolás Maduro said the border with Colombia is partly closed to stop aid being delivered.

But self-declared interim president Juan Guaidó has vowed that hundreds of thousands of volunteers will help bring in the aid deliveries, which include food and medicine, on Saturday.

The first delivery of aid has already entered Venezuela through Brazil, Mr Guaidó tweeted.

The delivery of aid to the stricken country has proven to be a key area of contention between the two men who see themselves as Venezuela’s leader.

What’s the latest?

Footage posted online shows the soldiers requesting help from the Colombian migration agency to cries of “freedom” and “put down your arms.”

Local media report people jumping the barricades to cross the border at the Venezuela-Colombia border, while opposition MPs have posted defiant messages on social media denouncing the use of force.

The BBC’s Orla Guerin, on the Colombia border, said Venezuelans were begging soldiers to be allowed to cross.

Pictures show protesters burning outposts and throwing rocks at soldiers and riot police in border areas.

Mr Guaidó was seen at the Tienditas bridge on the Colombian side of the border, where he was accompanied by the country’s president, Iván Duque.

Mr Guaidó told reporters that humanitarian aid was on its way to Venezuela, in a “peaceful manner.”

“Welcome to the right side of history”, he told soldiers who had abandoned their posts, adding that soldiers who joined them would be guaranteed “amnesty.”

Earlier he had urged the military to allow aid trucks to enter, calling on Venezuelan soldiers to “put themselves on the side of the people“.

Media captionVenezuela-Colombia border turns violent

Three soldiers abandoned their post at this bridge by crossing into Colombia, while another did so at the Paula Santander International Bridge in Ureña, in south-west Venezuela.

A video posted on social media appears to show four soldiers publicly denouncing Mr Maduro and announcing their support for Guaidó.

“We are fathers and sons, we have had enough of so much uncertainty and injustice,” they say.

“We want to work!” people chanted as they faced riot police at the Ureña border bridge.

Activists there were joined by 300 members of the “Women in White” opposition group who marched in defiance of Mr Maduro’s attempts to close the border.

Meanwhile, a top ally of President Maduro has suggested the government would allow Venezuelans to accept aid “at their own risk”, but that no foreign soldiers would “set foot” inside Venezuela.

The president himself tweeted that “there will not be a war”, posting pictures of cheering crowds in Caracas. It is not clear when these photos were taken.

Earlier on Saturday, two people were killed by Venezuelan forces near the border with Brazil.

A military outpost near the Venezuela-Brazil border has been taken over by a militia loyal to President Maduro, according to VPI TV.

“Why are you serving a dictator?”

Guillermo Olmo, BBC Mundo, Ureña, Venezuela

Image copyright
Reuters

Image caption

A demonstrator kneels before security forces in Ureña

It’s been a difficult day here on the Venezuelan side.

We found locals getting angry because they found the border was closed – these people normally make a living across the border. Then it turned ugly in Ureña.

We witnessed protesters lunging to break one of the barriers but the National Guard started firing tear gas and pellets.

People were shouting at the National Guard asking them why, in their words, they were serving a dictator and not serving their own people.

We had to run away to avoid being hurt but there is still a lot of tension in the air, with a heavy military presence everywhere.

How did we get to this point?

Humanitarian aid has become the latest flashpoint in the ongoing standoff between Mr Maduro and Mr Guaidó.

Mr Guaidó, who is the leader of the country’s opposition-dominated National Assembly, last month declared himself the country’s interim leader.

He has since won the backing of dozens of nations, including the US. He has called the rule of President Nicolás Maduro constitutionally illegitimate, claiming that Mr Maduro’s re-election in 2018 was marred by voting irregularities.

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Venezuela is in the grip of a political and economic crisis. The country’s inflation rate has seen prices soar, leaving many Venezuelans struggling to afford basic items such as food, toiletries and medicine.

Mr Guaidó insists that citizens badly need help, while Mr Maduro says allowing aid to enter is part of a ploy by the US to invade the country.

About 2.7 million people have fled the country since 2015.

Media captionBattle of the concerts held on either side of the Venezuela-Colombia border

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-47343918

NFL owner Robert Kraft isn’t the only prominent name—or billionaire– snagged in a Florida prostitution bust.

Others named in the sweeping sex sting include billionaire Wall Street financier John Childs, as well as a former Citigroup president and a president of a Florida Boys and Girls Club, according to reports.

At the same time, WPEC-TV reported Friday that the probe also nabbed three former law enforcement officers in Indian River County.

Mugshot for billionaire John Childs, was charged with soliciting a prostitute by the Vero Beach Police Department. 
(Vero Beach Police Department)

Childs, 77, the founder of Boston private equity firm J.W. Childs Associates, was charged with soliciting a prostitute by the Vero Beach Police Department, Bloomberg News reported Friday. He was one of 165 charged in Vero Beach as part of the multijurisdiction criminal investigation into Florida massage parlors.

Childs, who has a home in Vero Beach, hasn’t been arrested. “I have received no contact by the police department about this charge,” he told Bloomberg on the phone. “The accusation of solicitation of prostitution is totally false. I have retained a lawyer.”

Bloomberg News in another report named John Havens, Citigroup’s former president and chief operation officer, as one of those caught up in the prostitution probe in Palm Beach County.

John Havens, Citigroup’s ex-president and COO, has been named as one of those caught up in the prostitution probe in Palm Beach County.
(M360 Advisors)

The names of Havens and Kraft were on a list of 25 men facing charges of soliciting prostitution at a Jupiter, Fla., massage parlor called Orchids of Asia, according to the news outlet.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS OWNER ROBERT KRAFT CHARGED WITH SOLICITING SEX AT FLORIDA SPA

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” said a man who answered a listed phone number for Havens, Bloomberg reported. The man then hung up and additional calls weren’t answered.

The list released by police matches Havens’ date of birth, the news outlet reported.

Havens, 62, resigned as Citigroup president in 2012 after a brief tenure. He is now chairman of Citigroup’s former hedge-fund arm, Napier Park Global Capital, and serves on the board of Money360, a commercial real estate lender, Bloomberg reported.

People gather in front of the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots, is facing charges of soliciting a prostitute after he was twice videotaped in a sex act at Orchids of Asia, police said.

The 77-year-old Kraft denied any wrongdoing.

Also busted in the lengthy massage parlor probe in three Florida counties was Kenneth Wessel, the 75-year-old president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Indian River County and the John’s Island Foundation, Treasure Coast Newspapers reported Friday.

Wessel, of Vero Beach, was arrested Wednesday on a soliciting prostitution charge and released on $1,000 bond.

Court records accuse Wessel of engaging in a sex act with a woman at a place called East Spa in Vero Beach on Dec. 2, 2018.

FLORIDA WOMAN ACCUSED OF HELPING TEENS USE APP FOR ‘PROSTITUTION DATES’

“We will be entering a plea of not guilty in this matter,” Wessel attorney Andrew Metcalf told Fox News Saturday. “I would caution officials and media to allow the justice system to take its course and not forget about the fundamental right to the presumption of innocence which has been ignored up to this point.”

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The three former law enforcement officers who are facing charges in the sex probe were Scott Taylor, 70, a former deputy with the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office, Charles Thompson, 67, a former Vero Beach cop and Vito Gioia, 54, a former Sebastian cop, WPEC reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/ex-citigroup-president-caught-up-in-prostitution-sting-that-ensnared-robert-kraft-report-says

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed on Friday that President Donald Trump has always “condemned violence against journalists or anyone else.”

In response to a question about the recent arrest of Christopher Paul Hasson, a Coast Guard lieutenant who allegedly plotted to kill prominent Democrats and members of the media, Sanders said, “In fact, every single time something like this happens, the president is typically one of the first people to condemn the violence, and the media is the first people to blame the president.”

But in reality, Trump has repeatedly encouraged violence against various individuals since declaring his candidacy in 2015.

At a campaign rally last October, the president praised Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) for being convicted of assaulting a reporter and suggested it helped the Montana Republican get elected.

In a 2017 speech, Trump encouraged more police violence and urged the audience of law enforcement officers to not “be too nice” while arresting “thugs.”

The president also promoted a video that depicted him physically assaulting CNN in 2017.

During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump suggested “Second Amendment people” could stop Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton if she won the election.

Trump repeatedly encouraged violence against protesters at campaign events in 2016, telling his supporters things like “You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out in a stretcher, folks” and “Try not to hurt him. If you do, I’ll defend you in court — don’t worry about it.”

Contrary to Sanders’ claims, Trump hasn’t yet commented publicly about U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant and alleged domestic terrorist Christopher Paul Hasson, but he did tweet about Jussie Smollett on Thursday.

This isn’t the first time that Trump’s rhetoric has been tied to acts of violence.

In October, a Florida man whose vehicle was covered in pro-Trump stickers was arrested after allegedly mailing explosive devices to a dozen Democrats and media members who are frequent targets of the president’s incendiary rhetoric.

Later that month, an anti-Semite allegedly murdered 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue after ranting about conspiracy theories regarding immigrants that the president also promoted.

Trump has repeatedly referred to news media as “the enemy of the people,” a phrase that was used by the California man who was arrested in August for threatening a mass shooting against the Boston Globe over its criticism of the president.

A BBC cameraman was also attacked by a Trump supporter who yelled “fuck the media!” at a rally in Texas last week.

Shortly after Sanders’ remarks, Trump retweeted an illustration of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer while proclaiming “Fake News is so bad for our Country!”

 


Source Article from https://thinkprogress.org/donald-trump-sarah-sanders-violence-media-christopher-paul-hasson-coast-guard-0c2a21b9d24a/

While it’s difficult for political commentators to resist the temptation to handicap the 2020 Democratic presidential race, the truth is that it’s effectively pointless until former Vice President Joe Biden announces whether he is running.

Put simply, Biden is the 800-pound gorilla in the Democratic race. He’s led by a comfortable margin in every national poll, as well as polls in the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. There are major donors, talented staffers, and lawmakers who are no doubt sitting on the sidelines for now, waiting for him to make his move.

Once he announces his intentions, it’s going to have a dramatic impact on the race as we currently conceive of it, no matter what.

[Rush Limbaugh: Joe Biden is front-runner in wide 2020 Democratic field trying to ‘out-extreme’ each other]

Should he run, it’s possible he will crowd out other candidates and leverage his institutional advantages all the way to the convention. On the other hand, right now he’s benefiting from universal name recognition and years of sympathetic news coverage. Once he announces, that will change, and he’ll undergo more scrutiny. He’ll face questions not only about his age, but about how he’s a relic from an earlier, pre-woke, version of the Democratic Party. Who can benefit from any collapse?

If he doesn’t run, then that immediately disrupts the polls, in which he is currently sucking up around 30 percent of support. Where do people who are starting out preferring Biden end up? At the same time as redistributing a large chunk of the Democratic electorate, should he choose to take a pass, it will free up a lot of campaign talent. Also, many lawmakers who may be reluctant to endorse somebody other than Biden without knowing his intentions, will now be up for grabs.

Without having a final answer from Biden, people would be wise to discount any sort of predictions about the Democratic race.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/handicapping-the-2020-democratic-presidential-race-is-pointless-until-joe-biden-announces-if-hes-running

The mission of the industry partnership includes advocacy, advertising, lobbying and public education, but it has not registered under federal lobbying laws. Forbes Tate, a public affairs company that lobbies for many health care and drug companies, coordinates the work of the partnership, but is not registered to lobby on its behalf.

“There are no direct lobbyists for the partnership,” Ms. Shaver said. “We work through all of our different groups. They have their own lobbyists who do obviously lobby on Medicare for all. But there are no registered lobbyists for the partnership because we are not doing that directly at this time.”

The coalition, like President Trump, attacks any proposals that smack of socialized medicine. But it also has a positive agenda. It wants to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act in Texas, Florida and other states that have yet to do so. It wants to expand federal subsidies under the health law so insurance will be affordable to more people. And it wants to stabilize premiums by persuading states to set up reinsurance programs, using a combination of federal and state funds to help pay the largest claims.

Beyond their desire to preserve the status quo, coalition members have done well by the Affordable Care Act. Many participants, such as the American Medical Association, the pharmaceuticals lobby and the hospital association, backed the A.C.A. from the start, banking that more insured Americans would mean more customers. The hospitals saw the health law’s Medicaid expansion as a lifeline as they struggled with the uninsured working poor.

Others, like the National Retail Federation, opposed the A.C.A. but have tried to make it work.

The need to bolster the Affordable Care Act will become even more urgent, the coalition says, if Texas and other states succeed in their lawsuit to invalidate the entire law.

Even without legislation to expand Medicare, the program is sure to grow because of the aging of the baby boom generation. The number of Medicare beneficiaries, 60 million today, is expected to top 75 million within a decade. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that Medicare spending will grow under current law to $1.5 trillion in 2029, double the total projected for this year.

E. Neil Trautwein, the vice president for health care policy at the retail federation, which represents companies like Walmart, McDonald’s and Amazon, said his top priority was to protect the stability of the coverage that employers provide to employees.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/23/us/politics/medicare-for-all-lobbyists.html

President Trump declared a national emergency with the express goal of circumventing Congress’s constitutional power of the purse and getting more than the $1.375 billion that lawmakers were willing to give him for his wall.

But even Trump’s declaration of an emergency does not hand him the keys to an unlimited slush fund. Indeed, as Roll Call explained on Thursday night, Trump will still need congressional approval to access as much as one-third of the funds that he had planned on using for the wall. For example, the Trump administration had planned to pull some $2.5 billion from Pentagon counterdrug funds. Although Trump is allowed to use that money under federal law, he can only spend money that’s actually in the account and, right now, there’s only $85 million there.

To make up the difference, the Defense Department is likely to try to reprogram money to the counterdrug fund, which could then be immediately pulled and used for the wall. But any attempt to reprogram the funds would run headlong into Congress.

That leaves Trump right back where he started — needing Congress to give him money for his wall.

Congress should not play along, lest it lend implicit approval to a president’s desire to simply cut Congress out of the picture when he doesn’t get what he wants. The wall’s merits aside, no lawmaker of any party should support the president’s efforts to override Congress by freely transferring funds for him to plunder. In fact, far from bending over backwards to meet the president’s will, Congress should be working to take back the power that it has previously ceded to the executive.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/heres-how-congress-can-still-deny-trump-money-for-his-wall