And in 2016, Clinton, ran into her own problems when she estimated that half of Trump’s supporters could go into what she called “the basket of deplorables” — meaning, she said, that they were “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic.” The phrase turned into a rallying cry for Trump’s supporters, and after he was elected, some threw a “DeploraBall” to celebrate.
WASHINGTON – In a concession to Republicans, President Joe Biden proposed that instead of raising the corporate tax rate to pay for a bipartisan infrastructure package totaling at least $1 trillion, they’d work to ensure corporations don’t exploit tax loopholes.
But the president still supports raising corporate taxes to cover other parts of his agenda, the White House said.
Biden’s latest infrastructure counteroffer, proposed to Republican senators this week, would keep intact President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts that they oppose unwinding, calling it a “red line” in their negotiations with the White House.
The tweaked proposal would no longer raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, relying on other funding components of Biden’s American Jobs Plan: beefing up tax enforcement on the country’s wealthiest earners and ensuring the largest corporations – some of which have avoided paying any taxes because of loopholes – pay at least a minimum of 15%.
“This should be completely acceptable to a number of Republicans who have said that their bottom line is they want to keep the 2017 tax law untouched,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday.
Psaki made clear that Biden has not abandoned his push to increase the corporate tax rate to pay for proposals such as a $1.8 trillion families plan that includes subsidized child care and national prekindergarten.
“What the president believes is that corporations can afford to pay a little bit more,” Psaki said. “And that’s a way we can pay for a range of the bold proposals that he has put forward.”
Biden’s offer, first reported by The Washington Post, was made during a private one-on-one meeting Wednesday with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., the lead negotiator for a group of six Republicans seeking a deal on infrastructure with the White House. The conversation in the Oval Office lasted nearly an hour. Biden, who is visiting Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Thursday, and Capito said they plan to regroup Friday.
Biden signaled he wants at least $1 trillion in spending on infrastructure in addition to $400 billion in baseline spending already approved for infrastructure needs.
Capito’s Senate office declined to comment on the president’s offer.
Biden reduced the cost of his American Jobs Plan to $1.7 trillion from $2.25 trillion last month to get closer to an amount Republicans could support. In their counterproposal last week, Republicans upped their offer to $928 billion from $568 billion. Their proposal contains $290 billion on top of baseline funds.
Psaki did not say whether Biden is willing to go below $1 trillion. “We’re going to keep optionality on the table, and we’ll see how the conversation goes tomorrow,” she said.
Republicans proposed repurposing COVID-19 rescue funds already approved and user fees to pay for infrastructure – ideas the Biden administration immediately rejected.
Republicans said they are willing to pay for only physical infrastructure such as repairs to roads, bridges and airports, as well as broadband expansion. In addition to traditional infrastructure, Biden has stayed committed to “social infrastructure” – opposed by Republicans – such as $400 billion proposed to overhaul caregiving for the elderly and people with disabilities.
The White House also expressed concerns that the GOP counteroffer has little or no funding for fixing Veterans Affairs hospitals, rail and transit systems, replacing the nation’s lead pipes and investing in clean energy jobs.
Next week, when Congress is to return after a weeklong recess, is emerging as a key moment in infrastructure negotiations between Biden and Republicans that have dragged on for weeks. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will begin drafting legislation Wednesday for surface roadway funding that could complement Biden’s proposal.
Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN on Sunday “the negotiations can’t go on forever,” and White House officials hope to produce a “clear direction” on a bipartisan package next week.
Psaki called next week “an important moment in the timeline,” noting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have said they want to approve infrastructure legislation by the summer. Psaki stopped short of calling next week a deadline to reach a deal.
“We’re not here to set new deadlines,” Psaki said. “Certainly the president is not going to accept a deal that doesn’t help create millions of jobs and make a historic investment in our nation’s infrastructure.”
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation that is home to the world’s second-largest Muslim population, has for decades been a reluctant — if important — American partner in the campaign against terrorism.
For two decades after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Pakistan was ostensibly a U.S. partner in the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban after the United States demanded that Pakistan choose sides. In exchange, Pakistan’s military won tens of billions of dollars in American aid.
But from the start, the relationship between the two countries was rife with divided interests, with Pakistan playing a double game: accepting American aid, while often backing the very militants that the United States was fighting.
Pakistan’s goal in Afghanistan was to create a sphere of influence to block its archnemesis, India, which, according to Pakistan, supports separatist groups operating from havens in Afghanistan to stir unrest in Pakistan.
During the Afghan war, the United States tolerated Pakistan’s duplicitous game because, given the choice, American officials preferred fighting a chaotic war in Afghanistan to falling out with a nuclear-armed Pakistan. Pakistan’s ports and airfields offered critical entry points and supply lines for American military equipment needed in Afghanistan.
But the U.S. relationship with Pakistan cooled after Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in 2011 at a safe house located near a Pakistani military academy.
China, a longtime patron of Pakistan, has invested heavily in Pakistani infrastructure. China is also counting on Pakistan to serve as its facilitator in Afghanistan, home to millions of dollars’ worth of rare earth minerals that have piqued China’s interests, analysts say. Mr. Khan, in trying to establish closer ties with Moscow, also visited President Vladimir V. Putin in Russia hours before the invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Khan intended to push for a multibillion-dollar gas pipeline to be built by Pakistani and Russian companies, according to news reports in Pakistan.
If Mr. Khan is ousted, many experts on the region say that Pakistan could grow closer to the United States and the West. Over the past three years, Pakistan’s military, which has historically determined the country’s foreign policy and security priorities, has often disagreed with Mr. Khan’s views on distancing from the United States, analysts say. Those differences contributed to Mr. Khan’s relationship with the military souring in the latter part of his tenure.
The day before the no-confidence vote was planned to take place, the chief of the Pakistani Army, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, voiced a desire to deepen ties with both China and the United States, and condoned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden told an audience in Atlanta Thursday that he no longer supports the Hyde Amendment, which bans most federal funding from paying for abortions.
John Bazemore/AP
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Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden told an audience in Atlanta Thursday that he no longer supports the Hyde Amendment, which bans most federal funding from paying for abortions.
John Bazemore/AP
Former Vice President Joseph Biden said in Atlanta on Thursday that he now opposes the Hyde Amendment, which bans most federal funding for abortions through programs like Medicaid.
He attributed his change in stance to Republican legislators’ passing bills to limit access to abortions and efforts to topple the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized the procedure.
“If I believe heath care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone’s zip code,” Biden said at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Georgia, among the states that have have recently passed laws restricting abortions.
Biden, who has been consistently leading in the polls for the Democratic primary, has been a longtime supporter of the Hyde Amendment, just as it has been challenged by some in his own party. Many of the 2020 Democratic contenders are united in wanting the amendment to be repealed.
The Hyde Amendment is a 43-year-old law that prohibits taxpayer-supported health care programs from utilizing federal funds for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or to save a woman’s life.
Just earlier in the week, Biden’s campaign affirmed the candidate’s support for the ban, setting off criticism from abortion rights supporters, who called on Biden to reverse his long-held position.
Biden, 76, a Roman Catholic, told the crowd that he voted for the Hyde Amendment as a senator because he thought women could still have access to abortions even if federally-backed programs did not provide funding for the procedure.
“There was sufficient monies and circumstances where women were able to exercise that right, women of color, poor women,” Biden said. “It was not under attack,” he said. “As it is now.”
Now, Biden says, there are too many legal obstacles to seeking an abortion, which has prompted a turnaround on his position.
“I can’t justify leaving millions of women without access to the care they need and the ability to exercise their constitutionally protected right,” Biden said.
Leana Wen, president of Planned Parenthood, applauded Biden changing his mind on the issue, but she noted that his thinking on it has been lagging behind the women’s rights movement.
“Happy to see Joe Biden embrace what we have long known to be true: Hyde blocks people—particularly women of color and women with low incomes—from accessing safe, legal abortion care,” Wen said.
President Trump says the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak shows the need for a better flu shot.
Trump told a rally crowd Monday night that he lectured drug executives, visiting the White House to discuss the coronavirus, that they need to reduce annual deaths from the flu.
“I actually told the pharmaceutical companies you have to do a little bit better job on that vaccine,” Trump said in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“You lose 27,000 people to the common flu. It can be much more,” Trump said. “One year it went up to 100,000 people. I said nobody told me that. Nobody knew that.”
Trump has invoked the flu before as he seeks to calm panicked markets and public concern about the coronavirus. On Monday, the Dow rebounded from a week-long nosedive. Trump celebrated the nearly 1,300 points, the single-biggest daily gain.
“You know, our opponents said, ‘Oh, maybe he’s in trouble, maybe the economy.’ They’ll do anything,” Trump said. He jeeringly added: “I’m sure they were thrilled. You think our opponents were thrilled when they saw the stock market today?”
Since the weekend, six people died from the virus in the US There are cases of unknown origin in California and Washington state, and researchers say there may be hundreds of undetected infections.
Visitors to a White House gathering of drug executives on Monday included GlaxoSmithKline CEO Emma Walmsley, Gilead CEO David O’Day, and Johnson and Johnson chief scientific officer Paul Stoffels.
Trump said at the rally that there may be a vaccine “relatively soon” and a treatment “even sooner” for the coronavirus.
Globally there are nearly 90,000 cases of the coronavirus, with more than 3,000 deaths. The vast majority are in China.
Portland Police Association president Daryl Turner calls out Mayor Ted Wheeler on ‘The Story’
A rally organized by the far-right Proud Boys in Portland, Ore., is expected to draw thousands of supporters and counterprotesters Saturday.
With the city bracing for violent clashes, Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency Friday and agreed to send in troopers to help local police, according to the Statesman Journal,.
The Proud Boys, designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, described the rally as a “free speech” event to support President Trump and police, restore law and order and condemn “violent gangs of rioting felons.”
Members of the Proud Boys and other right-wing demonstrators march across the Hawthorne Bridge during a rally in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
“As we head into the weekend, we are aware that white supremacist groups from out of town, including the Proud Boys, are planning a rally on Saturday in Portland,” Brown, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Significant crowds of people are expected to join — some people will be armed, with others ready to harass or intimidate Oregonians. Many are from out of state.”
“The Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer groups have come time and time again looking for a fight, and the results are always tragic. Let me be perfectly clear: We will not tolerate any type of violence this weekend,” she added. “Left, right or center, violence is never a path towards meaningful change.”
“The First Amendment does not give anyone license to hurt or kill someone because of opposing political views,” the governor said.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, also a Democrat, said the city will “use every available power and resource … to protect free speech and our community from violence.”
The Proud Boys have held multiple events in Portland since Trump’s election, alongside other right-wing groups such as Patriot Prayer. The gatherings have sparked some violent clashes with left-wing counter-demonstrators.
People hold candles during a vigil in Vancouver, Wash., for Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a supporter of Patriot Prayer who was shot and killed in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Paula Bronstein, File)
Similar competing demonstrations have ended with fistfights and bloodshed, including the fatal shooting on Aug. 29 of Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a supporter of a right-wing group, who was killed in Portland after a caravan a pro-Trump supporters drove pickup trucks in a caravan downtown.
The suspect, Antifa supporter Michael Reinoehl, was shot in a hail of gunfire by federal officers as they moved in to arrest him in neighboring Washington state.
In an interview with Vice published the day he was killed, Reinoehl said he was acting in self-defense when he shot Danielson in the chest.
The Proud Boys mentioned the death of Danielson, a Trump supporter, in their permit application, as well as Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old charged in the shooting deaths of two protesters in Kenosha, Wisc.
The body of Michael Reinoehl is lifted onto a stretcher in the early morning hours of Friday, Sept. 4, 2020, in Lacey, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Rittenhouse’s attorneys have said he was acting in self-defense.
The Proud Boys raised the specter of a vigilante response to the actions of a “mob” in a permit application filed with the city this week.
Shootings have also escalated. The Portland Police Bureau released gun violence statistics on Sept. 4 that showed there have been more than 480 shootings as of Sept. 3 compared to 299 shootings for all of 2019.
Authorities said in July that downtown Portland businesses have sustained an estimated $23 million in damages due to rioting.
A tradução deste artigo se encontra no final da versão em inglês.
As we near the end of 2015, all Brazilian television channels and networks are writing and broadcasting the most viewed and discussed news. The year of 2015 was a challenging year for Brazilians.
The economic chaos brought upon the country due to the ongoing investigation of Petrobras — Brazil’s semipublic multinational energy corporation — earned Brazil daily stories in most newspapers around the world. The scandal revealed the extent of corruption in the country.
Thousands of Brazilians took to the streets to demand that President Dilma Rousseff step down. Most believe that she, Brazil’s first female president, has been involved in the Petrobras scandal. The country experienced elevated inflation, with the dollar at the highest it has been ever since the real, Brazil’s currency, was implemented in 1994. There were tragedies: An estimated 2,400 babies in the northern Brazilian states were born with brain damage, possibly due to the mosquito-borne virus that led Brazil to declare an emergency. Two dams ruptured in the village of Bento Rodrigues in Minas Gerais state, located in the southern part of the country, which caused Brazil’s biggest environmental disaster.
Regardless of all the sadness and upheaval that transpired in Brazil in 2015, there were many news headlines that portrayed a population that always comes together and that makes people hopeful for a better future. On Monday, Dec. 28, a dengue vaccine was approved by Anvisa (Brazil’s health surveillance agency), and it is expected that in three months, the vaccine will be available to the public between the ages of 9 and 45, with a projected 66 percent protection.
In 2015, Brazilian surfer Adriano de Souza, 28, became the World Surf League champion. In October, a constitutional amendment was passed to give Brazilian domestic workers the same rights as everyone else in the country. These workers now have rights to the Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Serviço (FGTS), a government fund into which an employer must pay 8 percent of their employee’s total salary each month, earmarked for their retirement. Then there was “the right to hope” — fosfoetanolina — a possible cancer cure created by retired University of São Carlos Professor Gilberto Chierice, who has been researching for more than 20 years.
For 2016, Brazilians will continue to carry in their hearts hope for a better future. It is the year of the Olympics in Rio. The eyes of the world will be on Brazil, and perhaps that will help heal a country that has suffered so much in its history. I know that the underlying sentiment among Brazilians is the desire for peace, social justice, a good education system for their kids, combating corruption, safety. These dreams cannot remain just a utopia. The so famous Brazilian resilience is indestructible, after all as Brazilians say, “God is Brazilian,” and in God we trust.
Feliz Ano Novo.
Portuguese translation – Tradução em português
Brothers Gabriel Corzo and Plinio Savio Quarto from the Brazilian “Heralds of the Gospel” congregation conducted ceremonies in Portuguese at the Saint Augustine Roman Catholic Mass on Monday. Photo by Sam Moore
Com o ano de 2015 chegando ao fim, todos os jornais brasileiros, assim como canais locais estão escrevendo e exibindo os assuntos mais vistos e comentados. O ano de 2015 foi um ano árduo para os brasileiros.
O caos econômico que as investigações na Petrobras trouxeram ao país, não só demonstrou a todos os brasileiros a corrupção incessante de nossos políticos, como também ao mundo. Diversos jornais pelo mundo inteiro fizeram reportagens sobre o assunto.
Milhares de brasileiros saíram as ruas em manifesto contra a presidente Dilma Rousseff, pedindo seu impeachment. Muitos acreditam que Dilma, a primeira mulher a ser presidenta, está envolvida com o escândalo de corrupções da Petrobras. O país teve a inflação elevada, o Dólar chegou ao pico desde que o Real foi implementado no país em 1994. Houveram tragédias: estima-se que 2,400 bebês no nordeste do Brasil nasceram com deficiência cerebral possivelmente causada devido ao Zika vírus, transmitido pelo mosquito Aedes aegypti, o que levou o Brasil a declarar estado de emergência. Duas barreiras se romperam no vilarejo de Bento Rodrigues em Minas Gerais, causando a maior tragédia ambiental da historia do Brasil.
Independente da tristeza de determinados fatos e tragédias ocorridas no Brasil no ano de 2015, houveram notícias demonstrando um povo unido que apesar de tudo sempre carrega a confiança de que o amanhã pode ser melhor. Nesta segunda-feira a Anvisa (Agência nacional de vigilância sanitária do Brasil) aprovou a vacina contra a dengue, e estima-se que em três meses a vacina estará disponível para o público entre 9 e 45 anos, com uma eficácia de 66 porcento.
Em 2015, o surfista brasileiro Adriano De Souza, o Mineirinho, 28, tornou-se o campeão de surf mundial. Em outubro, uma emenda constitucional aprovou uma lei que concede às trabalhadoras domésticas os mesmos direitos de todos as outros trabalhadores no país. Estas trabalhadoras terão direito ao Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Serviço (FGTS), um fundo governamental ao qual seus empregadores terão que contribuir oito porcento no valor de seus salários mensalmente, auxiliando para suas aposentadorias. E por último, o direito a esperança — fosfoetanolina — uma possível cura do câncer criada pelo professor aposentado da Universidade de São Carlos, Professor Gilberto Chierice, o qual estudou a droga sintética por vinte anos.
Para 2016, os brasileiros continuarão a carregar em seus corações a esperança para um futuro melhor. É o ano das Olimpíadas no Rio. Os olhos do mundo estarão assistindo o nosso país, e talvez isso ajude a sarar um país com uma história sofrida. Eu sei que o sentimento predominante entre os brasileiros é o desejo por paz, a justiça social, um sistema de educação adequado para seus filhos, o combate a corrupção e a segurança. Estes sonhos não podem apenas permanecer como uma utopia. A tão famosa resiliência brasileira é indestrutível, afinal de contas como nós brasileiros dizemos, “Deus é brasileiro”, e em Deus nós confiamos.
A deadly tornado ripped through Arkansas and into part of Illinois on Friday night, leaving at least one person dead inside a nursing home, reports said.
At least 20 people were trapped inside the nursing home in Monette, Ark., after the twister struck. One person was reported killed, five others were injured, according to Marvin Day, the Craighead County judge.
The tornado struck the Monette Manor at around 8:15 p.m. and a search and rescue team was called shortly after to help those trapped in the building, Day told The Post.
Upon entering the building, first responders discovered one person dead and five others with serious injuries, he said.
The Amazon distribution center is partially collapsed after being hit by a tornado in Edwardsville. Ill. AP
“The building has been cleared,” Day said.
Earlier reports said that two people had died in the nursing home. Officials were working early Saturday to relocate residents to a safer location.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a tweet at around 9:30 that “a tornado has struck in Mississippi County” and “first responders are on the scene.”
The severe weather system moved north into Illinois and devastated an Amazon distribution center in Edwardsville, Ill.
Multiple workers were trapped inside the building after a “structural collapse,” according to Fox 2 in Illinois. Family members rushed to the site of the Amazon warehouse, hoping their loved ones were safe.
“He was on the phone with me while it was happening,” Aisha White told KMOV while waiting outside the building. “The tornado was hitting the back of the building, the trucks were coming in, I told him to jump out the truck and duck. We watched the building go up, stuff hitting the cars, I told him I was on my way.”
The tornado or series of twisters also reportedly touched in the towns of Mayfield and Benton, Kentucky.
At least 20 people were trapped inside the nursing home in Monette, Ark., after the twister struck.FOX 8
According to WPSD-TV, the courthouse in Mayfield, Ky was completely destroyed or severely damaged.
The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings throughout the region as the deadly weather system continued its pace northward.
Once the COVID-19 outbreak hit U.S. soil, it quickly became evident that Americans would need some amount of financial relief to cope with widespread unemployment and income loss. The solution came in the form of the CARES Act, which called for a one-time, $1,200 stimulus payment that millions of Americans have received over the past two months.
But many people blew through that stimulus cash quickly, and with the jobless rate hanging tight in double-digit territory, it’s clear that Americans need additional relief. Democratic lawmakers agree, and so they’ve introduced the HEROES Act, which calls for, among other provisions, a follow-up round of stimulus cash that’s actually more generous than the first.
Image source: Getty Images.
Under the CARES Act, stimulus payments were worth up to $1,200 per qualifying adult and up to $500 per qualifying child under the age of 17. Under the HEROES Act, stimulus checks will be worth $1,200 per qualifying individual, children included. And while that benefit maxes out at three children per household, it means some families could be in line for a $6,000 check if the HEROES Act passes a Senate vote.
Unfortunately, though, the latter is unlikely to happen. Republican lawmakers have been vocal in their opposition to the HEROES Act, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already come out and said that it’s unlikely to pass in its current form.
Still, that doesn’t mean the public should give up hope on a second stimulus package. In fact, news on a follow-up stimulus will likely be available in July, which would at least give desperate Americans something to look toward.
Is a second stimulus payment in the cards?
Critics of the HEROES Act have pointed to the fact that it’s too expensive, and that with states easing restrictions and businesses opening back up, that level of aid isn’t necessary. Still, that doesn’t mean lawmakers won’t come together on some type of relief package, albeit a less generous one, especially as the nation continues to grapple with a recession.
Furthermore, last week, McConnell himself came out and said that if a follow-up relief package is passed, that decision will be made in July. Granted, that doesn’t mean stimulus checks will actually go out in July — but if a relief package is decided upon next month, Americans could conceivably find themselves on the receiving end of a second stimulus payment by August, especially now that the IRS has a tool in place for non-tax-filers to register their banking details in order to get their money via direct deposit.
Of course, the amount of that second stimulus check is up for debate, and Americans shouldn’t assume they’ll receive $1,200 apiece (or more) like they did the first time around. Additionally, McConnell has expressly stated that if there is a second round of stimulus payments, recipients can count on it being the last one they get their hands on as they grappled with the COVID-19 crisis. That may not be the news desperate Americans want to hear, but a second and final stimulus check is still better than no additional relief at all.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is facing another allegation of sexual harassment, this time from a woman currently employed by his office. Alyssa McGrath, a 33-year-old executive assistant, told The New York Times that Cuomo stared inappropriately at her body and commented on her looks.
Her attorney, Mariann Wang, confirmed McGrath gave the account to the Times.
McGrath, who does not work directly for Cuomo, said the interactions began shortly after she was hired in mid-2018. The next year she was with Cuomo in his office when he allegedly made a comment to her in Italian. She later asked her parents what the phrase meant.
“It was commenting on how beautiful I was,” she told the publication.
In another meeting in his office, McGrath claimed Cuomo looked down her shirt and then asked about her necklace. “I put my head down waiting for him to start speaking, and he didn’t start speaking,” she said. “So I looked up to see what was going on. And he was blatantly looking down my shirt.”
McGrath also said Cuomo kissed her on her forehead during the office Christmas party in 2019 and called her and a coworker “mingle mamas” after he asked the coworker about her romantic life.
“He has a way of making you feel very comfortable around him, almost like you’re his friend,” McGrath told the Times. “But then you walk away from the encounter or conversation, in your head going, ‘I can’t believe I just had that interaction with the governor of New York.'”
Cuomo is facing pressure to resign after multiple women came forward with allegations against him. Cuomo has rejected calls for his resignation and has denied sexually harassing anyone. He has, however, apologized for comments he made that may have made women uncomfortable.
“I never, ever meant to offend anyone or hurt anyone or cause anyone pain. I feel terrible that these people felt uncomfortable, felt hurt, felt pain from the interactions, and I’m embarrassed by it, and I feel bad from it,” he said.
Cuomo’s office did not immediately respond to CBS News’ request for comment.
His lawyer, Rita Glavin, issued a statement to the Times, saying, “the governor has greeted men and women with hugs and a kiss on the cheek, forehead, or hand. Yes, he has posed for photographs with his arm around them. Yes, he uses Italian phrases like ‘ciao bella.'”
“None of this is remarkable, although it may be old-fashioned. He has made clear that he has never made inappropriate advances or inappropriately touched anyone.”
McGrath’s lawyer told CBS News: “The governor’s deflections are not credible. This was not just friendly banter.”
Moderate Democrats are fuming over New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s closed-door warning last week that Democrats who vote with Republicans are “putting themselves on a list” – a comment interpreted as a primary challenge threat.
Ocasio-Cortez has since downplayed her comments, made in the wake of 26 Democrats joining Republicans to vote for a provision requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be notified if illegal immigrants attempt to purchase guns.
“Being unified means ensuring that Democrats aren’t primary-ing other sitting Democrats,” Gottheimer told The Washington Post. “Since when is it okay to put you on a Nixonian list? We need to have a big tent in our party or we won’t keep the House or win the White House.”
The brouhaha began last week when two-dozen moderate Democrats broke from their party’s progressive wing and sided with Republicans on a legislative amendment having to do with illegal immigrants and guns.
In a closed-door meeting afterward, according to The Washington Post, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi scolded her wayward center-leaning colleagues, telling them: “We are either a team or we’re not.”
Ocasio-Cortez then told fellow Democrats that those who voted with Republicans were “putting themselves on a list.” Ocasio-Cortez later claimed she wasn’t talking about a list for primary challenges.
“I didn’t say that they were putting themselves on a list for primaries,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “I said that by Dems distinguishing themselves by breaking off on procedural…votes, they were inadvertently making a list of targets for the GOP and for progressive advocates on their pro-ICE vote.”
Reacting to Ocasio-Cortez’s comments, one party strategist who works for moderate Democrats argued Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t “respect” the views of other Democrats who don’t embrace her progressive politics.
“My main gripe about AOC is that while I respect her voice in the party, I don’t think she respects mine or anyone else’s who differs with her on policy or comes from a different political electoral reality,” said John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster in Alabama.
There’s been speculation since she was elected to Congress that Ocasio-Cortez could get involved in Democratic primary fights in 2020, especially with the group Justice Democrats signaling plans to primary incumbent Democrats they see as insufficiently progressive. Ocasio-Cortez has been aligned with that group.
It’s a tactic that has been embraced by some conservative groups and politicians on the right, especially during the 2010 and 2012 elections, when incumbent lawmakers in the House and Senate were ousted in primaries by conservative challengers.
Fox News’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
They trace their roots to the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when the C.I.A. began assembling a patchwork alliance of warlord-led fighting groups to topple the Taliban and pursue Qaeda fighters.
After the fall of the Taliban and the establishment of a new Afghan government, the C.I.A.’s shadowy paramilitary arm, known as Ground Branch, began transforming the fighting groups. Some developed into large, well-trained and equipped militias that initially worked outside the auspices of the Afghan government. The militias were used for sensitive and covert missions, including pursuing terrorist leaders across the border into Pakistan’s lawless frontier territory.
In more recent years, the agency’s hold over militant groups and other regional counterterrorism forces and strike teams has waned some, former officials said. Many of the militias now fall under the command of Afghanistan’s own intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security. But there is little doubt they are still advised, and often directed, by the C.I.A.
The Taliban’s disdain for the C.I.A.’s Afghan counterpart has been apparent in recent months. In July, a bomb targeting the Afghan covert service killed eight members and six civilians, and wounded hundreds more. In January, Taliban fighters infiltrated an Afghan intelligence base in Wardak Province, killing dozens in one of the deadliest attacks on the service during the nearly 18-year war.
Fighting in Afghanistan has increased since peace discussions began as both sides try to strengthen their positions. Taliban fighters mounted two attacks over the weekend, including one in the northern city of Kunduz that killed the top police spokesman and wounded the police chief, according to local officials.
In a Fox News interview last week, President Trump alluded to keeping American forces, and perhaps the C.I.A., in Afghanistan after any deal with the Taliban is reached. “We are reducing that presence very substantially and we’re going to always have a presence and we’re going to have high intelligence,” he said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom began a 10-day quarantine after a staff member who came in contact with him tested positive for the coronavirus on Sunday. The governor tested negative, as did other staff members, a Newsom spokesperson said.
“The governor and staff will be tested again in the next few days and continue to follow state and CDC guidelines,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We wish our staff member who tested positive well.”
The governor gave his regular Monday news briefing on the state’s coronavirus response from his home office. Asked about the precautions he takes around staffers, Newsom said, “Everybody wears masks; we have very strict guidelines, rules, procedures, temperature checks. People are being tested all the time. Most folks are teleworking. So this seems deeply anomalous. Just shows the virulence of this disease.”
Newsom said he had most recently been near the infected staffer on Friday.
This is the second time in a month that Newsom has had to quarantine. In late November, the governor and his family began a two-week quarantine after three of his four children came into contact with a California Highway Patrol officer who had tested positive for the coronavirus.
The governor’s office cited privacy laws in withholding the identity of the infected staff member and the office where the person works.
“State policy for state agencies after an employee tests positive includes protocols if an individual was potentially positive at work — including deep cleaning of shared spaces and asking those who interacted with the individual or shared work spaces to isolate and seek testing,” the governor’s office statement said.
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