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(CNN)Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam “cannot effectively govern” following the controversy over a racist photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page, a Virginia lawmaker who’s known him for more than a decade said Monday.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/04/politics/va-lawmaker-northam-cnntv/index.html

New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday unveiled new details on the so-called “Green New Deal” she plans to introduce in a matter of days, as she worked behind-the-scenes to rally congressional support for the proposal that could cost as much as $7 trillion.

Ocasio-Cortez, who is set to unveil the plan with Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey, told her fellow representatives in a letter that the Green New Deal calls for a “national, social, industrial and economic mobilization at a scale not seen since World War II.”

“Next week, we plan to release a resolution that outlines the scope and scale of the Green New Deal,” Ocasio-Cortez said in the letter, adding that the country’s near-total economic transformation should take approximately ten years.

To raise awareness for the measure, Markey announced Monday he had invited Varshini Prakash, the co-founder of the Sunrise Movement environmentalist group, to be his guest at President Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night. (Several other Democrats announced guests apparently intended to highlight their opposition to various Trump administration policies, while Trump himself extended invites to the family of a couple allegedly murdered by an illegal immigrant and a child bullied at school for having the last name “Trump.”)

The Green New Deal proposal would lead to national net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, according to Ocasio-Cortez’s letter, “through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers,” while also generating millions of “good, high-wage jobs.” Details of the letter were first published by Bloomberg.

ANALYSIS: GREEN NEW DEAL IS MOST RADICAL LEGISLATION IN DECADES

Through it all, the Green New Deal would additionally “promote justice and equity by preventing current and repairing historic oppression to frontline and vulnerable communities,” according to Ocasio-Cortez.

December 10, 2018 – Washington, DC, United States – Protesters seen holding placards during the Sunrise Movement protest inside the office of US Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to advocate that Democrats support the Green New Deal.
(Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images via ZUMA Wire)

On Twitter Monday, Ocasio-Cortez reposted a claim from one of her advisers, Robert Hockett, arguing that “in this case, size matters” and that “the problems the Green New Deal addresses require solutions where bigger is better, imperative, and paraodixcally, more affordable.”

Hockett is a lawyer and law professor, and is not an expert in environmental policy.

Several analysts, meanwhile, have cautioned that the liberal firebrand is in over her head, even though the as-yet vague and uncertain details about the Green New Deal render a precise calculation impossible at the moment. Physicist Christopher Clack told The Hill that the cost would easily be into the trillions.

“It’s a daunting task, and I’m not sure that the authors of the Green New Deal fully comprehend how much they’ll need,” Clack said.

Institute for Energy Research president Tom Pyle was more blunt: “One hundred percent renewable energy defies the laws of physics. It would be impossible to achieve.”

And Paul Bledsoe, a strategic adviser at the Progressive Policy Institute, said progressives were overcompensating. “I understand the value of aspirational goals,” Bledsoe said. “My personal view is, that undermines the credibility of the effort.”

Nevertheless, approximately 70 Democratic lawmakers have so far tentatively endorsed a Green New Deal plan, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has vowed to address climate change, has not publicly signed onto the plan, even though scores of progressive activists — joined by Ocasio-Cortez — staged a sit-in at her House office late last year, demanding action on the climate.

While there is no legislative text yet available for the Markey/Ocasio-Cortez proposal, a draft circulated by Ocasio-Cortez last week called for a committee to be formed to create a plan, and lays out a framework that includes eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing and agriculture, while “dramatically” expanding energy sources to meet 100 percent of power demand through renewable sources.

FILE – In this Nov. 28, 2018, file photo, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., joined by from left, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio., and Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., speaks to media at Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, to announce her nomination by House Democrats to lead them in the new Congress. Pelosi has appointed Castor to lead a special committee on climate change that replaces one eliminated by Republicans in 2011. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

To cover what would presumably be a gargantuan cost, it envisions financing by “the federal government, using a combination of the Federal Reserve, a new public bank or system of regional and specialized public banks, public venture funds and such other vehicles or structures that the select committee deems appropriate, in order to ensure that interest and other investment returns generated from public investments made in connection with the plan will be returned to the treasury, reduce taxpayer burden and allow for more investment.”

CRENSHAW, OCASIO-CORTEZ TRADE BARBS ON WEALTH TAX, NFL PROTESTS

As it stands, any such proposal would be almost certainly dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled Senate, and also possibly the House — where it is not clear if a majority of Democrats would back a plan.

Even if Congress managed to pass a version of the Green New Deal, the White House could veto the legislation, and a two-thirds majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate would be needed to override the veto.

The Trump administration has made clear it would not accept Ocasio-Cortez’s proposals. In January, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders derided Ocasio-Cortez’s recent claim that the world will end in 12 years due to climate change, and suggested the Trump administration has little need for the progressive firebrand’s thoughts in general.

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“I don’t think we’re going to listen to [Ocasio-Cortez] on much of anything — particularly not on matters we’re gonna leave in the hands of a much, much higher authority — and certainly, not listen to the freshman congresswoman on when the world may end,” Sanders told Fox News’ “Hannity.”

Speaking at an event commemorating Martin Luther King Day that month, Ocasio-Cortez asserted that climate change constituted “our World War II” and added: “Millennials and people, you know, Gen Z and all these folks that will come after us are looking up and we’re like: ‘The world is gonna end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change and your biggest issue is, how are we gonna pay for it?'”

But conservative commentators have argued that most proposed solutions to global warming would do more harm than good, and also have accused climate activists of crying wolf. In 2006, a NASA scientist and leading global warming researcher declared that the world had only 10 years to avert a climate catastrophe — a deadline that has come and gone.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/green-new-deal-details-emerge-as-ocasio-cortez-preps-big-reveal

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov played down the possibility of renewed Cold War-era hostilities after the breakdown of an arms control treaty between Washington and Moscow.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced last week that the U.S. will formally withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) in six months’ time and would suspend adherence to the agreement as of last Friday.

Russia followed suit on Saturday by saying that it too had suspended its involvement in the deal, although President Vladimir Putin said “the doors for talks are open.” The U.S. also said that it “stands ready to engage with Russia on arms control” if Russia complies with the treaty.

Lavrov said his country was not to blame for the pact’s breakdown. “I don’t think that we should talk about a new Cold War. A new era has begun, an era when the United States decides to move towards destroying the entire arms control system, which is regrettable,” he said, according to news agency TASS.

The INF Treaty was created in 1987 by then-Presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev and was designed to end decades of bitter relations and arms insecurity between old foes the U.S. and Russia. The treaty states that neither country can produce, possess, or flight-test a ground-launched, intermediate-range ballistic and cruise missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.

Both sides have accused each other of violating the treaty in recent years, however, and diplomatic relations have once again deteriorated.

Russia has said the U.S.’ missile defense system in eastern Europe is a violation of the agreement (the U.S. insists the system is to defend itself and Europe from “rogue states”). Meanwhile, the U.S. has said Russia has violated the treaty with what it says is a “non-compliant missile system” called the 9M729 (or SSC-8) system. Russia refutes this, claiming that it’s just an updated version of an older missile and actually has a shorter range than its predecessor.

Lavrov insisted that Russia does not want an “arms race” but was ready to respond to military threats if necessary.

“Certainly, we will respond with military-technical means to the threats that are being created as a result of the United States’ pullout from the INF Treaty and its plans for creating low-yield nuclear warheads, which, according to all experts in the West, in Russia and in other countries, will drastically lower the threshold of using nuclear weapons,” he said.

Alex Brideau, director of Russia and Ukraine at analysis firm Eurasia Group, said the chances of both sides coming to a solution over disputed missiles was unlikely.

“The U.S. and Russian governments are far apart on the disputed Russian missile that is the basis for the withdrawal,” Brideau said in a research note Friday.

“Furthermore … the skepticism in President Donald Trump’s administration about bilateral arms control treaties will make it far less likely the two could strike a deal on the INF dispute.”

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/04/cold-war-has-not-been-reignited-despite-breakdown-of-arms-treaty-russia-says.html

One saving grace that might have helped mitigate the Iraqi outrage, one American official said, was that the Iraqi Parliament was not in session, perhaps sparing Washington even greater fury.

“Our troops are in Iraq to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS,” a senior administration official said on Monday, in a conference call with reporters ahead of a meeting this week in Washington with representatives of the nearly 80 countries that belong to the coalition fighting the Islamic State in Syria, Iraq and several other countries where the organization has offshoots.

Mr. Trump seemed to have stepped on a diplomatic hornet’s nest inadvertently, American diplomats and military experts said, when he discussed the nature of the sprawling Al Asad Air Base in western Iraq, which he visited in late December and referred to on Sunday, and where American troops operate with Iraqi permission. He suggested Americans could use the base to carry out surveillance of Iran.

“We have a base in Iraq and the base is a fantastic edifice,” Mr. Trump said in the CBS interview. “I was there recently, and I couldn’t believe the money that was spent on these massive runways.”

American military and intelligence officials expressed bafflement at Mr. Trump’s claim that United States forces at Al Asad, or at most any other Iraqi base, could take a leading role in monitoring Iran’s nuclear program or other suspicious activities.

Such intelligence collection is typically conducted by a combination of American spy satellites, electronic intercepts collected by the National Security Agency and possibly covert operations by C.I.A. spies.

Mr. Trump’s visit to Al Asad in December provoked similar anger from Iraqi politicians, some of whom called it an arrogant affront that recalled American behavior dating back to the 2003 invasion and what followed: the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison; incidents with civilian casualties; and widespread sectarian violence.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/world/middleeast/trump-iraq-iran-reaction.html

CLOSE

After taking the oath of office to become the 45th president of the United States, President Trump addressed the nation, pledged to “rebuild our country and restore its promise for all our people.”
USA TODAY NETWORK

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee confirmed Monday that it had received a subpoena from federal prosecutors in New York as part of an investigation into the group’s fundraising activities.

“While we are still reviewing the subpoena, it is our intention to cooperate with the inquiry,” the committee said in a statement.

Owen Blicksilver, a committee spokesman, declined to elaborate on the scope of the government’s request.

The investigation is being led by prosecutors from the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, and represents potentially more legal trouble for the Trump administration as it continues to confront the ongoing inquiry into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and other spinoff investigations.

State of the Union: Politically wounded from the shutdown, Trump faces a tough time with his agenda

Related: When, where and how to watch President Donald Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address

A copy of the new subpoena, reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, indicated that prosecutors had sought all documents linked to the committee’s fundraising activities, including donors and those who provided services to the organization.

The committee had raised more than $100 million to host events related to Trump’s inauguration.

The inaugural committee inquiry is separate from the investigation led by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller whose inquiry is focused on possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Nevertheless, prosecutors leading the inaugural probe also are believed to be reviewing whether the committee received contributions from foreign sources, according to previous accounts by the New York Times.

Federal law prohibits such donations.

The investigation rose, at least in part, out of information seized while investigating Michael Cohen, the president’s former attorney and fixer

In December, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for a host of crimes, including making secret hush payments before the 2016 election to women who accused Trump of having affairs and lying to Congress.

During April raids on Cohen’s home, office, and hotel room, federal investigators discovered a taped conversation between Cohen and Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who worked with the inaugural committee, the Wall Street Journal reported last year.  

The contents of the recording are unclear but Wolkoff, according to the Journal, voiced concerns over how some of the inaugural funds were being spent. 

Disclosure of the new subpoena also comes at a politically fraught time for Trump, who is scheduled to deliver the State of the Union address Tuesday and as a possible second government shutdown looms over a clash with Democrat lawmakers about funding for the president’s long-promised border wall.

 

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/04/donald-trump-inaugural-committee-subpoenaed-federal-prosecutors/2774815002/

Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam should not resign because he was an idiot in the past. He should resign because he is an idiot in the present.

On Feb. 1, a 35-year-old photo reportedly showing Northam dressed either in blackface or Ku Klux Klan regalia first surfaced on the right-wing news site Big League Politics.

Competing newsrooms, including the Virginian-Pilot, soon confirmed that the photo came from Northam’s page in a 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook. He was 25 years old at the time of the book’s publication. A separate yearbook unearthed this weekend also shows Northam went by a few nicknames when he attended Virginia Military Institute, including “ coonman.”

Taken together, the blackface photo and the racial slur are not enough to disqualify Northam from office. It’s true there’s no “youthful indiscretion” defense for racist behavior the governor likely thought was funny when he was well into his 20s. But everyone deserves a mulligan for the dumb and awful things they did decades ago. Everyone deserves a chance to show they’ve changed.

The problem with Northam, however, is that he is too stupid to manage any of that.

After the blackface yearbook photo was published on Feb. 1, the governor immediately apologized for it.

“I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now,” he said.

However, by Saturday morning, after it became clear that his allies were not going to call it square after his apology, he adopted a new strategy: denial.

“When I was confronted with the images yesterday,” he said at a press conference, “I was appalled that they appeared on my page, but I believed then and now that I am not either of the people in that photo.”

The press conference got much worse. Much, much worse.

One reporter asked Northam why he apologized Friday if it wasn’t him in the yearbook photo. The governor responded, “I didn’t study it as well as I should. The first comment I made to the individual that showed it to me, I said this can’t be me.”

As to why he didn’t just say so from the beginning, Northam told reporters, “My word is important to me and my first intention … was to reach out and apologize. As you might imagine and understand, there are a lot of people that are hurt by this and I wanted to reach out to them. After I did that last night, I sat and looked at the picture. Today, I’ve had the opportunity to talk to classmates. My roommate and I am convinced that is not my picture.”

The governor also claims he “vividly” remembers donning blackface to look like Michael Jackson for a talent show in 1984, explaining that this memory makes him confident that he’s not the person featured in the medical school yearbook.

“I used just a little bit of shoe polish to put on my cheeks and the reason I used a very little bit because — I don’t know if anyone’s ever tried that — you cannot get shoe polish off,” he said.

As the governor recounted the talent show anecdote for reporters, Northam blanked on the name “Michael Jackson.” He had to be reminded by his wife, Pam, who whispered it in his ear.

The governor also told members of the press that he won the talent show because he learned to “moonwalk” like Jackson. One reporter asked Northam if he could still do the dance move. The governor was fully prepared to answer that question with a dance demonstration, but he was again saved by his wife. It was only after she told him the circumstances were “inappropriate” that he declined to answer whether he can still “moonwalk.”

Remember: This press conference, which was meant to salvage Northam’s gubernatorial career, came just days after he caused a major headache for his office and his party when he seemingly endorsed post-birth abortions.

No one should be automatically disqualified from holding office because of something hateful he said or did decades ago. Everyone deserves the chance to show they’ve matured in wisdom and judgment and that they’ve learned from their past mistakes.

On Saturday, the Virginia governor showed he is nearly every bit as stupid and tone-deaf as he was in college. Northam had a chance to show he is not the man that he was 35 years ago, and he blew it with an idiotic, hair-brained attempt at crisis management that would make even Anthony Weiner blush.

The governor should not be chased from office for things he did 20 or 30 years ago. He should be chased from office because can’t be trusted with a book of matches.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/ralph-northam-shouldnt-resign-because-of-an-old-photo-he-should-resign-because-hes-an-idiot

President Donald Trump on Monday unveiled who he’s invited as guests to attend his second State of the Union address.

The White House invited 13 people to attend the address Tuesday night on Capitol Hill. The invitees come from many different backgrounds, including a young boy who shares the same last name as the president.

DEMOCRATS TROLL TRUMP WITH STATE OF THE UNION GUESTS

Josh Trump, a sixth grader in Wilmington, Delaware, is scheduled to attend the address. The 11-year-old has been bullied at school because of his name, his mother has said.

“They curse at him, they call him an idiot, they call him stupid,” Megan Trump told WPVI in December. “He said he hates himself, and he hates his last name, and he feels sad all the time.”

Josh Trump, 11, has been bullied for having the same last name as President Trump.
(White House)

The boy’s school acknowledged the bullying was an issue, and changed his name in their school system to his father’s name.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT LINKED TO NEVADA KILLING SPREE WAS FROM EL SALVADOR, ACCORDING TO ICE

Also among Trump’s guests are relatives of a Nevada couple who was killed — allegedly at the hands of an illegal immigrant who was employed as a landscaper at their home in Reno.

Gerald David, 81, and Sharon David, 80, were killed on Jan. 16. Wilber Ernesto Martinez-Guzman, 19, of El Salvador, was charged last week in their deaths. Martinez-Guzman is also accused of killing Connie Koontz and Sophia Renken days earlier.

The Davids’ relatives — Debra Bissell, Heather Armstrong and Madison Armstrong — were invited to the president’s address.

Debra Bissell, Heather Armstrong and Madison Armstrong — relatives of Gerald and Sharon David — are scheduled to attend the State of the Union as Trump’s guests.
(White House)

Trump tweeted about the Nevadans’ deaths after it was reported Martinez-Guzman was in the U.S. illegally, and said their murders prove the need for “a powerful wall.”

ALICE JOHNSON: PRESIDENT TRUMP FREED ME FROM PRISON — I’M GLAD HE WANTS TO GIVE OTHER NONVIOLENT OFFENDERS THEIR FREEDOM

Alice Johnson, the woman whose life sentence was commuted by Trump in June, is also among those set to attend.

The 63-year-old woman’s sentence was reversed after reality TV star Kim Kardashian West took up her case and met with Trump at the White House to plead for clemency.

Johnson promised to Fox News in June that she’d “make [Trump] proud” after he gave her a “second chance at life.”

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“Thank you so much, President Trump, for taking the time to look at my case and to really look at me,” she said.

Trump’s address is scheduled for Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/president-trump-invites-josh-trump-alice-johnson-as-guests-to-state-of-the-union

February 4 at 10:57 PM

An 11-year-old boy who says he’s been bullied because of his last name — Trump — will be one of President Trump and first lady Melania Trump’s guests at the State of the Union on Tuesday, the White House announced.

Joshua Trump, a sixth-grade student from Wilmington, Del., who is not related to the president, drew headlines last year after his parents went public to share stories of the abuse they said he had suffered because of his last name.

“They curse at him, they call him an idiot, they call him stupid,” his mother, Megan Trump Berto, told ABC affiliate WPVI at the time.

The issue has been ongoing for years, his parents said. They even pulled Joshua out of school for home schooling at one point but decided to enroll him in middle school with the hope that the bullying would decrease. It didn’t.

“He said he hates himself, and he hates his last name, and he feels sad all the time, and he doesn’t want to live feeling like that anymore, and as a parent that’s scary,” Trump Berto said.

The Trumps’ other guests include Grace Eline, a child who was diagnosed with a brain tumor when she was 9; Judah Samet, a survivor of the Holocaust who lived through the shooting at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh; Ashley Evans, a recovering opioid addict; Elvin Hernandez, a special agent at the Department of Homeland Security who focuses on human trafficking; and Debra Bissell, Heather Armstrong and Madison Armstrong, family members of a Nevada couple who authorities say were killed by an undocumented immigrant.

Melania Trump has made combating bullying one of her main priorities in the White House — the thrust of her “Be Best” initiative. But many have pointed to the disconnect between her work and her husband, who regularly employs sharp rhetoric and frequent verbal and personal attacks.

Trump Berto did not return a message left with her father. At least five students at Joshua’s middle school have been disciplined for bullying-related issues, officials said previously.

The White House said Joshua is a fan of science, art and history and hopes to pursue a career that has something to do with animals.

“His hero and best friend is his Uncle Cody, who serves in the United States Air Force,” the White House said.

Read more:

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A superintendent used her son’s insurance to help a sick student. She just lost her job.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/02/05/joshua-trumps-name-got-him-bullied-now-sixth-grader-is-going-state-union/

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Republican-led U.S. Senate backed largely symbolic legislation on Monday that broke with President Donald Trump by opposing plans for any abrupt withdrawal of troops from Syria and Afghanistan.

The Senate voted 70-26 in favor of a non-binding amendment, drafted by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying it was the sense of the Senate that Islamist militant groups in both countries still pose a “serious threat” to the United States.

The amendment acknowledged progress against Islamic State and al Qaeda in Syria and Afghanistan but warned that “a precipitous withdrawal” could destabilize the region and create a vacuum that could be filled by Iran or Russia.

It called on the Trump administration to certify conditions had been met for the groups’ “enduring defeat” before any significant withdrawal from Syria or Afghanistan.

Before the vote, McConnell said he introduced the bill so the Senate could “speak clearly and directly about the importance of the” missions in Afghanistan and Syria.

Passage was expected, after the Senate voted to advance it in a procedural vote last week. After concerns from some Democrats, the Senate approved a change to the bill making it clear the amendment was not intended to be a declaration of war or authorization to use military force.

The vote added the amendment to a broader Middle East security bill making its way through Congress. The Senate voted 72-24 to advance the broader bill in a procedural vote on Monday after the amendment vote.

To become law, however, the bill would need to pass the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, where it is unlikely to move without significant changes because of concerns about a provision addressing the “Boycott, Divest and Sanction” movement concerned with Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

The votes marked the second time in two months that the Senate supported a measure contradicting Trump’s foreign policy, although legislation to change his policies has yet to become law.

Several of Trump’s fellow Republicans strongly disagreed with his plans to withdraw 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria on the grounds that militants no longer pose a threat.

Senator Jim Risch, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, disputed before Monday’s vote that the amendment rebuked or insulted Trump. “As I read it, it recognizes … his effort for us to examine exactly what we are doing in these places,” Risch said.

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Peter Cooney

Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-congress/senate-breaks-from-trump-with-syria-troop-vote-idUSKCN1PT2DH

She said it ever so subtly, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., made clear this past week she is ready to compromise on border funding.

She will not do it, though — she cannot do it — unless she is given a way to save face.

“There’s not going to be any wall money in the legislation,” she said. “However, if they have some suggestions about certain localities, technology, some infrastructure … that’s part of the negotiation.”

Pelosi did not directly propose a “fence” instead of a “wall,” but she implied nearly as much. “There’s 600 miles of something,” she said. “Three hundred miles of them are Normandy fences. If the president wants to call that a wall, he can call it a wall. … So, again, if there’s a place where enhanced fencing, Normandy fencing, would work? Let them have that discussion.”

Pelosi went from there to discuss the cost-benefit analysis of border barriers, implying that a fence would be cheaper and more efficient than a wall.

She may be right, and on some parts of the border, very right. Meanwhile, President Trump is right that a country has a right to control its borders, which in many cases will involve a wall or physical barrier.

Democrats are under a lot of political pressure to prevent Trump from coming out of this debate with anything resembling a win. They were, after all, elected to oppose him. And many Democrats (not all, but including Pelosi) have gone so far as to make the idiotic argument that a border wall is immoral. That’s rather a stretch, considering the hundreds of miles that already exist, which Democrats voted for not long ago, but that’s where we are today.

The last thing the nation needs is another major government shutdown. In order to prevent it, both Pelosi and Trump need to negotiate within the realm of reason. They need to work for a deal instead of repeating what they did in round one — working to avoid a deal so as to break their respective counterpart.

Trump needs to negotiate for something that lets Pelosi walk away able to say she succeeded — “ no new wall” — while still allowing the construction of barriers at the border, whatever we want to call them. A particular need, based on the Border Patrol’s account, is to fill in between the existing segments of wall — er, fence — that are already scattered throughout South Texas along the Rio Grande.

If either side insists on total victory — on pulverizing and humiliating the other side — then we’re heading for another shutdown, and this time, the party that brings it on should expect to blamed.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/again-lets-make-a-deal-on-the-border-not-spark-another-shutdown

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Washington (CNN)The US and South Korea have reached a preliminary agreement on the cost of keeping nearly 30,000 troops in South Korea, two State Department officials said, alleviating fears among President Donald Trump’s advisers that he could move to withdraw US troops during his upcoming summit with North Korea’s leader.

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/04/politics/trump-north-korea-summit-south-korea-troops/index.html

    Virginia’s Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax on Monday denied a new sexual assault allegation against him, just as many were preparing for him to take over for embattled Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.

    “Lt. Governor Fairfax has an outstanding and well-earned reputation for treating people with dignity and respect,” Fairfax’s chief of staff and communications director said in a statement Monday that was released at 2:57 a.m. “He has never assaulted anyone — ever — in any way, shape, or form.”

    Fairfax will become Virginia governor if embattled Ralph Northam resigns after it was revealed that his 1984 medical school yearbook page contained a photo of a man in blackface standing beside a man in a KKK outfit

    The statement appeared to be referencing a claim from a woman, Vanessa Tyson, who said she was sexually assaulted by Fairfax at the DNC convention more than a decade ago.

    “Imagine you were sexually assaulted during the DNC Convention in Boston in 2004 by a campaign staffer. You spend the next 13 years trying to forget it ever happened” Tyson wrote. “Then by strange, horrible luck, it seems increasingly likely that he’ll get a VERY BIG promotion.”

    Tyson is a professor at Scripps College in California.

    “This is part of the sad and dark politics that the Lt. Governor has dedicated himself to helping Virginia and the nation rise above,” the statement from Fairfax’s office said.

    Gov. Ralph Northam is under pressure to resign after his medical school yearbook surfaced last week, and showed an image of someone in blackface and another in Ku Klux Klan garb on his page. Northam’s resignation would likely let Fairfax step in as governor.

    Northam held an emergency meeting with his staff Sunday evening during the Super Bowl and is expected to have another meeting later Monday to discuss whether to bow to the widespread calls for him to step down.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/more-trouble-in-virginia-ralph-northams-possible-successor-denies-sexual-assault-allegations

    The subpoena marked an escalation of the investigation, which the prosecutors opened late last year amid a flurry of scrutiny of the inaugural committee. The United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn is separately investigating whether foreigners illegally funneled donations to Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee using so-called straw donors to disguise their donations. Federal law prohibits foreign contributions to inaugural committees.

    As part of their inquiry, prosecutors in Manhattan have pursued the possibility that the inaugural committee made false statements to the Federal Election Commission, according to people familiar with the matter. It can be a crime to knowingly make false or fraudulent statements to a federal agency.

    The inaugural committee disclosed a list of its donors to the F.E.C., and the prosecutors are examining whether that list is complete and accurate, the person said. If a donor was omitted from the report, prosecutors could take an interest in that as well.

    The inaugural committee was chaired by Thomas J. Barrack, a close friend of the president. No one who worked for the committee, or donated to it, has been accused of wrongdoing, and a subpoena is an initial step in the inquiry.

    The investigation into the inaugural committee grew out of the investigation into Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer. Mr. Cohen is due to begin a prison sentence next month after pleading guilty last year to a range of crimes, including one campaign finance-related charge, in which he implicated the president.

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/us/politics/trump-inaugural-committee-subpoena.html

    If the Washington Post didn’t have double standards, it would have no standards at all.

    Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax’s office issued a statement Monday rejecting claims by a woman who alleges he sexually assaulted her in 2004, when they both attended the Democratic National Convention.

    Almost as notable as Fairfax’s denial is the fact that the Washington Post was first approached by the alleged victim more than a year ago and decided not to publish her story. The Post explained Monday that it declined to report the woman’s allegations due to an absence of corroborating evidence.

    It’s good to see that the newspaper has found a renewed interest in the standard of proof it abandoned entirely when it broke the story of similar allegations of sexual misconduct leveled last year against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Recall that it was the Post that first got Christine Blasey Ford to go on the record with her allegations.

    The accusation against Virginia’s lieutenant governor was published first by the right-wing news site Big League Politics, which last week unearthed a 35-year-old photo reportedly showing Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam dressed in either blackface or KKK robes at a party ( more here on that). Fairfax stands to take over the governorship, should Northam’s blackface scandal force the current governor out of office.

    “Lt. Governor Fairfax … has never assaulted anyone — ever — in any way, shape or form,” reads a statement from Fairfax’s office. “The person reported to be making this false allegation first approached the Washington Post … more than a year ago, around the time of the Lieutenant Governor’s historic inauguration.

    “The Post carefully investigated the claim for several months,” the Fairfax statement said. “After being presented with facts consistent with the Lt. Governor’s denial of the allegation, the absence of any evidence corroborating the allegation, and significant red flags and inconsistencies within the allegation, the Post made the considered decision not to publish the story. Tellingly, not one other reputable media outlet has seen fit to air this false claim.”

    The Post published a slightly different, but mostly similar, version of events Monday: “The Washington Post, in phone calls to people who knew Fairfax from college, law school and through political circles, found no similar complaints of sexual misconduct against him,” the paper reported. “Without that, or the ability to corroborate the woman’s account — in part because she had not told anyone what happened — The Washington Post did not run a story.”

    The article added, “She said she never told anyone about what happened at the time or in the years that followed until shortly before she approached The Post.” Notably absent from the paper’s explanation is any indication that it had indeed found “significant red flags and inconsistencies within the allegations” in the accuser’s story, as Fairfax’s office claims. But let’s put that aside for a moment and focus on the fact that the Post claims it didn’t publish the alleged victim’s story due to a lack of evidence.

    What’s the paper’s excuse for running multiple stories repeating totally uncorroborated allegations of sexual abuse aimed at Kavanaugh? When the Post got Ford on the record amid the fight over Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, the paper didn’t seem to be so concerned by the fact that she couldn’t provide a single piece of evidence to verify her claim that the judge tried to rape her when they were both in high school — or even that they’d ever met.

    Note that, absent the leaks, her allegation could have been properly investigated by senators from both parties on the Senate Judiciary Committee without the resulting damage to privacy and reputation. But the Post, less worried in that case about the lack of evidence behind the allegation, plowed ahead.

    In fact, as the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute’s Ted Frank noted Monday, there are fewer red flags in the Fairfax accuser’s story then there were in Ford’s. Unlike Ford, Fairfax’s accuser identifies the exact year and location of the alleged assault. Unlike Ford, Fairfax’s accuser belongs to the same political tribe, and therefore speaks against interest in at least one sense.

    There are other things that bother me about the Post’s uneven treatment of the Fairfax and Kavanaugh accusers. For example, the paper’s first original coverage of the allegation against the lieutenant governor came only after Fairfax had issued a statement defending himself. Kavanaugh was afforded no similar benefit.

    It’s fine if the Post passed on the Fairfax story because of a genuine lack of evidence. And there definitely doesn’t appear to be that much to go on, other than the word of a single accuser. But it’s hard to see the Post’s decision to spike her story as anything but politically biased considering how the paper gorged itself on nearly every flimsy and fantastic allegation hurled in Kavanaugh’s direction, no matter how ridiculous, again with no evidence to back any of it up.

    It’s funny how editorial standards change, depending on the target’s party affiliation.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-washington-post-went-all-in-on-the-brett-kavanaugh-but-spiked-a-similar-story-about-a-democrat

    The White House on Monday announced the guests who will join President TrumpDonald John TrumpCivil rights figures kick off Super Bowl with coin toss Congress can avoid trumped up national emergency declaration Howard Dean calls for Northam to resign, rips GOP over ‘double standard’ MORE and First Lady Melania TrumpMelania TrumpThe Hill’s 12:30 Report: Booker jumps into 2020 race | Trump to suspend nuke treaty with Russia | Economy adds 304K jobs in January The Hill’s Morning Report — Trump complicates border wall negotiations Dems warn against deporting former Trump golf course workers MORE at the U.S. Capitol for the State of the Union address. 

    The crop of individuals who will visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday night include family members of a couple killed by an immigrant illegally in the country, a young boy who says he faced bullying due to his sharing the last name “Trump,” a survivor of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and Alice Johnson, the woman Trump granted clemency last year.

    “This year’s guests come from all different walks of life, and each has an incredible story to tell. No matter their background, each one has something important in common: They represent the very best of America,” the White House said in a statement

    More than 10 people will sit with the first lady while Trump delivers his annual State of The Union address. 

    Timothy Matson, a member of the Pittsburgh Police Department who suffered multiple gun shot wounds when a shooter opened fire at the Tree of Life Synagogue in October of last year, will be in attendance. So will Judah Samet, a Holocaust survivor and a survivor of the Tree of Life shooting.

    Joshua Trump, an 11-year-old from Delaware whose parents said he faced bullying in school because of his last name, will also be in attendance. 

    The White House statement says Joshua Trump was “thankful to the First Lady and the Trump family for their support.”

    The daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Gerald and Sharon David will also serve as special White House guests. The two were murdered in their home in Nevada earlier this year, allegedly by an undocumented immigrant. 

    Alice Johnson will also be there. Johnson was serving a life sentence for nonviolent drug and money laundering charges until Trump granted her clemency last year after meeting with Kim Kardashian about her case.

    Other special guests include the first prisoner released as a result of the First Step Act and a woman recovering from an opioid addiction. 

    Trump’s State of the Union address will come after it was delayed multiple weeks due to a 35-day partial government shutdown. Trump signed a continuing resolution last month to temporarily reopen the government, but has continued to demand that funds for a border wall be included in a long-term spending bill. 

    Democrats have repeatedly opposed the demand. 

    Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/428456-white-house-announces-trump-guests-for-state-of-the-union

    Any senator from either party could then demand a vote, because the resolution would be deemed “privileged.” Mr. McConnell told Mr. Trump that he would have no choice but to schedule a floor vote on the measure within 15 days, and Republican aides have estimated that between three and 10 Republicans would side with the chamber’s Democrats against Mr. Trump.

    That would force the president into a politically costly effort to keep the Senate from overriding his veto of the resolution, even as Democrats moved to block him in the courts.

    “He’s been talking about all this for a month, in front of the cameras,” said Don Stewart, a spokesman for Mr. McConnell, who played down the exchange.

    The leader delivered a similar message to Vice President Mike Pence and the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, three weeks ago during negotiations to reopen the government. Since then, both men have counseled the president to move cautiously on the emergency declaration, according to a senior administration official.

    Democrats have begun drafting legislation that would remove the president’s ability to shift money from one project to another. Representative John Garamendi, Democrat of California, would repeal a line in the 1986 Water Resources Development Act that grants the president authority to use civil works money to respond to a national emergency.

    Administration officials struck a defiant note on Monday, saying the president needed the threat of a declaration to pressure Ms. Pelosi.

    “The Congress has failed to do its job — this Congress, last Congress and for quite a while to make sure that we have what we need at the southern border, which of course the centerpiece is a physical barrier, wall, steel slats,” Kellyanne Conway, the counselor to the president, told reporters.

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/us/politics/trump-border-wall-republicans.html

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    (CNN)President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the US would use a base in Iraq as a means to “watch” Iran evoked the scorn of Iraqi lawmakers on Monday and seemed to cause confusion among Pentagon officials and analysts, while the State Department told CNN that the US mission in Iraq remains unchanged.

      Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/04/politics/trump-iraq-iran-comments/index.html

      Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has been caught in a firestorm after a photo surfaced of his 1984 medical school yearbook page showing a man in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. A number of Democrats have called on Northam to resign, but thus far, he says he’s sticking around.

      Northam, a Democrat who was elected as Virginia’s governor in 2017, has offered a befuddling response since the photo from his 1984 medical school yearbook became public on Friday. He initially confirmed he was one of the two people in the picture and apologized, only to then walk that back on Saturday, saying he was still sorry but denying he was one of the men in the picture. He did, however, say he had at another point in time worn blackface — to dress up as Michael Jackson. During a press conference on Saturday, he seemed open to a reporter’s suggestion that he try to moonwalk before his wife stopped him.

      The pressure is mounting for Northam to resign and let Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax take over. Dozens of Democrats — including 2020 presidential contenders, Virginia lawmakers, and the Democratic National Committee — and outside groups have called on Northam to step down.

      Thus far, he appears determined to hold on to his post, even though very few people are standing by him. Kirk Cox, the Republican speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, has said he thinks Northam should step down but is hesitant about seeking to remove him.

      The ordeal has a lot of layers to it — political, historical, and, obviously, racial. Wearing blackface is deeply offensive, whatever the context. Northam has shown contrition, but he doesn’t have to remain in public office. He could step down and let Fairfax, a descendant of slaves, take over. Democrats have largely taken the side of asking Northam to resign, but thus far, he’s not going for it.

      This started with a yearbook picture — and an abortion bill

      Prior to the yearbook photo’s publication, Northam had already been in the news last week over confusing remarks he made about a Virginia abortion bill, House Bill 2491, that would roll back some of the state’s requirements on abortion, including a 24-hour waiting period and a requirement that second-trimester abortions take place in a hospital.

      As Vox’s Anna North explained, the bill was always a long shot legislatively, especially because of a controversy over a provision that would reduce the number of doctors required to sign off on a third-trimester abortion from three to one. In a Wednesday radio interview, Northam discussed the matter, and that’s where things went awry, per North:

      Appearing to discuss what would happen if a child was born after a failed attempt at abortion, he said, “the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

      Some took Northam’s comments as an endorsement of infanticide. “In just a few years pro-abortion zealots went from ‘safe, legal, and rare’ to ‘keep the newborns comfortable while the doctor debates infanticide,” said Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) in a statement on Wednesday.

      A spokesperson for Gov. Northam told Vox his comments were “absolutely not” a reference to infanticide, and that they “focused on the tragic and extremely rare case in which a woman with a nonviable pregnancy or severe fetal abnormalities went into labor.”

      The remarks stirred a national debate about abortion amid several recent state efforts to expand abortion access.

      Subsequently, the photo of Northam’s page in the 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook with a picture of a man in blackface and another in a KKK costume began to bubble up in conservative media outlets. And on Friday, the Virginian-Pilot published the photo and story accompanying it. Other media outlets confirmed it as well.

      Northam said it was him and then said it wasn’t

      When the Virginian-Pilot reported on the photo on Friday, the outlet noted that it wasn’t clear whether Northam was actually in it. Northam apparently wasn’t clear on it either.

      In a statement on Friday evening, Northam apologized for the picture and said he was, indeed, one of the people shown, though he didn’t say which one.

      “I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now,” he said. “This behavior is not in keeping with who I am today and the values I have fought for throughout my career in the military, in medicine, and in public service. But I want to be clear, I understand how this decision shakes Virginians’ faith in that commitment.”

      He also released a video response on Twitter accepting his actions but refusing to resign.

      On Saturday morning, there were varying reports about what Northam would do — some suggested he was going to step aside; others said he wouldn’t. He reportedly called members of the state party to tell them he didn’t think it was him in the picture after all. And at a press conference on Saturday, he said the same publicly.

      “I recognize that many people will find this difficult to believe,” Northam said. “The photo appears with others I submitted on a page with my name on it. … In the hours since I made my statement yesterday, I reflected with my family and classmates from the time and affirmed my conclusion that I am not the person in that photo.”

      He said there is “no way that I have ever been in a KKK uniform” but that he does have a recollection of wearing blackface as part of a Michael Jackson costume at a San Antonio dance contest. He explained he used “just a little bit of shoe polish” to dress up and won the contest because he had learned how to moonwalk. A reporter asked Northam if he could still moonwalk, and he seemed to contemplate responding before he said his wife told him “inappropriate circumstances.”

      A lot of people want Northam to step aside

      Many Democrats were quick to call for Northam to step down as soon as the picture surfaced, but some initially stood by him. But as time went on — and especially after Saturday’s press conference — Northam found himself increasingly alone.

      At Vox, Amanda Sakuma listed out the dozens of Democrats, groups, and public figures condemning Northam’s actions and calling on him to resign. The group includes Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, multiple Virginia members of Congress, multiple potential and declared 2020 presidential candidates, the NAACP, Planned Parenthood, and the Virginia Democratic Party.

      Many Republicans have called for Northam to step aside as well.

      Fairfax, who would become acting governor if Northam resigned, said in a statement that he was “shocked and saddened” by the yearbook picture and said he “cannot condone the actions from his past that, at the very least, suggest a comfort with Virginia’s darker history of white supremacy, racial stereotyping, and intimidation.” He did not say he thinks Northam should resign.

      There’s more to this than the basic facts

      The basic ins and outs of the controversy surrounding Northam are significant enough, but there’s also a lot of context here.

      For one thing, blackface is a no-go no matter the circumstances, including for a Michael Jackson contest, and in the 1980s. Harmeet Kaur at CNN delved into the racist roots of blackface:

      The origins of blackface date back to the minstrel shows of mid-19th century. White performers darkened their skin with polish and cork, put on tattered clothing and exaggerated their features to look stereotypically “black.” The first minstrel shows mimicked enslaved Africans on Southern plantations, depicting black people as lazy, ignorant, cowardly or hypersexual, according to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC).

      The performances were intended to be funny to white audiences. But to the black community, they were demeaning and hurtful.

      But in more recent history, the photo is notable when juxtaposed with Northam’s 2017 gubernatorial campaign. His Republican opponent, Ed Gillespie, ran a campaign that included fearmongering about immigrants and defending Confederate statues. Democrats decried his bid as “the most racist campaign in Virginia history.”

      As Vox’s Jane Coaston lays out, some in the GOP have seized on the Northam picture as proof that Democrats can be just as racist as Republicans. They say that Democratic accusations of racism among Republicans are just politics. Of course, just because Northam may or may not have appeared in a racist photo does not mean Gillespie’s actions were not also racist.

      There have also been a lot of questions about why the Northam picture appeared now and not during the 2017 election or at some other point before this. It appears timed to the abortion debate in Virginia right now.

      Despite the pressure, Northam seems to be digging in. It’s not clear how much longer he’ll hold on. Northam on Monday morning reportedly told staff he needs more time to decide.


      The news moves fast. Catch up at the end of the day: Subscribe to Today, Explained, Vox’s daily news podcast, or sign up for our evening email newsletter, Vox Sentences.

      Source Article from https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/4/18210666/ralph-northam-yearbook-photo-blackface-virginia

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      (CNN)Democratic Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax said reports that he committed sexual assault are false and he instead described an encounter that was “100% consensual.”

      Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/04/politics/justin-fairfax-sexual-assault-allegation/index.html

      Congressional Democrats are using their guest lists for the State of the Union address on Tuesday to score political points against President Trump on immigration, the government shutdown and more.

      While Trump has said he plans to deliver a message of unity on Tuesday night and find common ground with Democratic lawmakers, many on the other side of the aisle aren’t buying his plea for bipartisanship. With Democrats fuming over Trump’s push for a border wall amid a still-unresolved funding standoff, those guest lists signal the president could face a tough crowd.

      WHEN IS THE 2019 STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS? EVERYTHING TO KNOW ABOUT TRUMP’S SECOND SPEECH TO CONGRESS

      In the latest example, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said on Monday she’ll bring an activist who made headlines protesting against now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

      Archila famously cornered then-Sen. Jeff Flake in a Senate elevator and pleaded for the Republican lawmaker to reconsider voting for Kavanaugh, who was accused by Christine Blasey Ford of sexual assault. Flake agreed to delay a committee vote to allow for a brief investigation, before ultimately supporting Kavanaugh — who denied the accusations.

      Archila said she is “honored” to be the guest of the freshman Democrat and will sit in the gallery overlooking the chamber during Trump’s address. She said she will wear white and a pin the congresswoman gave her that says, “Well behaved women rarely make history.”

      While Ocasio-Cortez has chosen to highlight the controversy surrounding Kavanaugh with her guest, other Democrats have invited guests directly affected by the ongoing immigration debate and the recent partial government shutdown.

      Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D- N.J., invited Victorina Morales, a Guatemalan woman living in the U.S. illegally who reportedly was fired from the Trump National Golf Club.

      Morales has spoken out about the Trump Organization’s hiring practices. The Trump Organization said last week that it will use the E-Verify electronic system at all its properties to check employees’ documentation.

      Sandra Diaz, a native of Costa Rica who worked at Trump’s club from 2010 to 2013, also will be attending the State of the Union as a guest of Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez of California.

      Diaz was also hired without legal papers. She is now a legal permanent U.S. resident and said she decided to speak out because she is angry about the president describing some immigrants as violent.

      KAMALA HARRIS’ STATE OF THE UNION GUEST WILL BE FEDERAL EMPLOYEE AFFECTED BY SHUTDOWN

      Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., invited a mother and daughter from Guatemala who were denied asylum in the U.S. and eventually were separated for two months last spring after they were caught illegally crossing the southern border.

      “This child separation policy came from a dark and evil place within the heart of this administration,” Merkley said, according to local Oregon media. “Innocent children suffered because of deeds that were carried out in our names and using our tax dollars as Americans. I’m bringing Albertina and Yakelin as my guests to the State of the Union because we need to bear witness to the suffering that this cruel policy inflicted, and resolve to make sure that nothing like this ever happens in the United States of America again.”

      Other Democratic lawmakers have invited guests who were directly affected by the government shutdown.

      Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., who is running for president in 2020, invited Trisha Pesiri-Dybvik, an air traffic controller who lost her home in the 2017 Thomas fire in Southern California and was one of the 800,000 federal workers who missed paychecks during the shutdown.

      “Trisha Pesiri-Dybvik was one of the more than 800,000 federal workers whose paychecks were withheld during the shutdown — and it happened while her family was still recovering from losing their home in the Thomas Fire,” Harris wrote on Twitter. “I’m honored she will join me at the State of the Union.”

      Harris’ colleague in the Senate, Democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut, has invited Regina Moller, the executive director of Noank Community Support Services. The nonprofit organization, which was affected by the government shutdown, offers shelters to unaccompanied minors separated from their families at the U.S. southern border with Mexico.

      Democrats have also invited guests affected by gun violence, high drug and insurance costs and the Trump administration’s changes to rules on transgender people in the military.

      CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

      Democrats, however, do not have a monopoly on using the State of the Union guest list to make a political point.

      Republicans are bringing guests ranging from survivors of sexual slavery in the Middle East to survivors of the opioid epidemic and Border Patrol agents.

      Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, invited a police officer who accidentally overdosed on the synthetic opioid Fentanyl after the powder ended up on his shirt following a drug arrest, while Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., is bringing Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad, a Yazidi human rights activist and sexual slavery survivor under ISIS.

      Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, invited the sector chief for the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Manny Padilla to be his guest.

      Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., also invited Art Gallegos, the co-founder of the Latinos Conservative Organization, to the State of the Union in an effort to emphasize the need for border security.

      The Associated Press contributed to this report.

      Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-troll-trump-with-state-of-the-union-guests