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A top U.S. diplomat gave explosive testimony Tuesday tying Ukraine aid to politically motivated investigations, a development Democrats called a game changer that could extend the impeachment inquiry into 2020.

William Taylor, the head of the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, informed House lawmakers he was told nearly $400 million in military aid was contingent on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announcing investigations into former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenTrump says he doesn’t want NYT in the White House Warren to protest with striking Chicago teachers Schiff punches back after GOP censure resolution fails MORE, his son Hunter Biden, the Burisma energy company and 2016 election interference.

Taylor’s testimony, that he understood the Trump administration was pushing for a quid pro quo, added more fuel to the Democrats’ hard-charging investigation.

Taylor tied President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump says he doesn’t want NYT in the White House Veterans group backs lawsuits to halt Trump’s use of military funding for border wall Schiff punches back after GOP censure resolution fails MORE’s personal attorney, Rudy GiulianiRudy GiulianiTrump says he doesn’t want NYT in the White House Diplomat who raised Ukraine concerns to testify in Trump impeachment probe Pelosi releases ‘fact sheet’ saying Trump has ‘betrayed his oath of office’ MORE, and Trump officials including Energy Secretary Rick PerryJames (Rick) Richard PerryOvernight Energy: Watchdog warns of threats to federal workers on public lands | Perry to step down on December 1 | Trump declines to appear in Weather Channel climate special Perry to step down on December 1 Here’s what to watch this week on impeachment MORE to a shadow foreign policy campaign that sought to obtain a public statement about political investigations.

“[T]he push to make President Zelensky publicly commit to investigations of Burisma and alleged interference in the 2016 election showed how the official foreign policy of the United States was undercut by the regular efforts led by Mr. Giuliani,” he told House investigators.

Some Democrats on Tuesday said Taylor’s “credible” testimony means some witnesses, including U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, may need to be called back to testify a second time to resolve what Democrats now see as inconsistencies in their statements.

Taylor testified that Sondland told him Trump said he wanted the Ukrainian government to state publicly it would launch investigations into the Bidens and the 2016 elections and that “everything,” including the military aid, depended on it.

“During our call on September 8, Ambassador Sondland tried to explain to me that President Trump is a businessman. When a businessman is about to sign a check to someone who owes him something, he said, the businessman asks that person to pay up before signing the check,” Taylor told investigators.

“Ambassador Sondland also told me that he now recognized that he had made a mistake by earlier telling the Ukrainian officials to whom he spoke that a White House meeting with President Zelensky was dependent on a public announcement of investigations — in fact, Ambassador Sondland said ‘everything’ was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance,” Taylor said.

Taylor also said he learned from two other officials that the order to hold security assistance for Ukraine came from acting White House chief of staff Mick MulvaneyJohn (Mick) Michael MulvaneyTrump urges GOP to fight for him Bill Press: Mulvaney proves need for daily briefings Gingrich calls for eliminating White House press corps in wake of Mulvaney briefing MORE.

Taylor first drew the attention of lawmakers when former Ukraine envoy Kurt VolkerKurt VolkerPutin, Hungarian leader pushed Trump on Ukraine corruption narrative: reports Diplomat who raised Ukraine concerns to testify in Trump impeachment probe Overnight Energy: Watchdog warns of threats to federal workers on public lands | Perry to step down on December 1 | Trump declines to appear in Weather Channel climate special MORE provided text messages to House investigators that quoted Taylor as saying, “I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.”

He stood by that assessment in his opening statement Tuesday.

“I believed that then, and I still believe that,” Taylor said.

Trump has repeatedly denied any quid pro quo.

Still, Taylor’s testimony comes just days after Mulvaney said aid for Ukraine was linked to Trump’s desire for the country to pursue a political probe related to the 2016 election. He later walked back the remarks.

In the four weeks since Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiOvernight Health Care — Presented by Partnership for America’s Health Care Future — Four companies reach 0M settlement in opioid lawsuit | Deal opens door to larger settlements | House panel to consider vaping tax | Drug pricing markup tomorrow Schiff punches back after GOP censure resolution fails Trump urges GOP to fight for him MORE (D-Calif.) formally announced the impeachment inquiry, Democrats have secured closed-door testimony from a number of witnesses who have detailed Trump’s efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate his political rivals.

Democrats say there are still more witnesses they want to interview before turning to the next phase of impeachment: public hearings, releasing transcripts and making recommendations for how to proceed before reaching a floor vote on articles of impeachment.

At least two more witnesses are scheduled to appear this week: Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper and acting Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker.

The Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight and Reform committees are leading the impeachment probe. Any public hearings are likely weeks away.

“That’s obviously a step after this. But right now we’re concentrating on getting as many people as we can,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot EngelEliot Lance EngelOvernight Defense: Trump weighs leaving some troops in Syria to ‘secure the oil’ | US has pulled 2,000 troops from Afghanistan | Pelosi leads delegation to Afghanistan, Jordan House chairman joins with European counterparts to slam Trump’s Syria withdrawal Pelosi, delegation make unannounced trip to Afghanistan MORE (D-N.Y.), adding that he didn’t know yet how many more witnesses would be called.

While virtually every Democrat says it’s necessary to take the time to gather all the facts, they also face a balancing act of trying to prevent a months-long impeachment process from completely eclipsing their policy priorities.

That puts centrists who resisted endorsing impeachment for months — for fear it would overshadow the issues they campaigned on last year — in a tough spot.

“Whatever it takes, it takes. But I hope that it doesn’t take excessively long, because it’s going to run right into the election,” said freshman Rep. Jefferson Van Drew (D-N.J.), who said it would be ideal for the inquiry to wrap up before the Iowa caucuses in early February.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who represents a deep-blue district outside of Washington, also has concerns that the impeachment probe could drag on too long.

“I think it’s going as fast as it can, responsibly, ethically,” Beyer told The Hill. “But I think getting it done sooner rather than later is really important for us, because we have so many other things that we’re doing.”

“We don’t want it to interfere too much with the 2020 election. It’s not up to me, but I would just assume [an impeachment vote] would happen before we leave for the Christmas break this year,” he said.

Other freshmen in competitive districts are resigned to an investigation that could drag on for months.

“I have four hearings today. And yet every question I’ve gotten is about impeachment and the inquiry. So it’s already overshadowing all of the other great work that we’re doing, unfortunately,” Rep. Abigail SpanbergerAbigail Davis SpanbergerHouse Dems introduce bill to fight social media disinformation Bipartisan lawmakers who visited Syrian border slam Trump’s ‘rash decision’ Pelosi-backed group funding ads for vulnerable Democrats amid impeachment inquiry MORE (D-Va.) said. “If that takes a short period of time or a long period of time, it is what it is. And it’s our responsibility to be driven by facts and not anything else.”

When Pelosi first endorsed the impeachment inquiry on Sept. 24, many House Democrats believed it might wrap up by Thanksgiving. Lawmakers now say the widening probe could last beyond the holiday season.

“I’d be surprised if it doesn’t go into January,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), a Pelosi ally who has been talking to colleagues on the trio of investigating committees.

Rep. Stephen LynchStephen Francis LynchBiden endorsed by former Connecticut senator, 51 Massachusetts leaders Democrats want Mulvaney to testify in Trump impeachment probe Overnight Defense — Presented by Boeing — Pence says Turkey agrees to ceasefire | Senators vow to move forward with Turkey sanctions | Mulvaney walks back comments tying Ukraine aid to 2016 probe MORE (D-Mass.), however, suggested the Taylor testimony — “the most powerful we’ve heard” — could actually speed up the impeachment probe as it confirms key elements of the quid pro quo narrative.

“This testimony is a sea change. I think it could accelerate matters,” said Lynch, a member of the Oversight and Reform Committee. “This will, I think, answer more questions than it raises.”

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/house/467028-democrats-say-they-have-game-changer-on-impeachment

Jan 20 (Reuters) – The prosecutor for Georgia’s biggest county on Thursday requested a special grand jury with subpoena power to aid her investigation into then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to influence the U.S. state’s 2020 election results.

In a letter to Fulton County’s chief judge, first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, District Attorney Fani Willis wrote that multiple witnesses being probed have refused to cooperate absent a subpoena requiring their testimony.

“Therefore, I am hereby requesting … that a special purpose grand jury be impaneled for the purpose of investigating the facts and circumstances relating directly or indirectly to possible attempts to disrupt the lawful administration of the 2020 elections in the State of Georgia,” Willis wrote.

The investigation by Willis, a Democrat, is the most serious probe facing Trump in Georgia after he was recorded in a phone call pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the state’s election results based on unfounded claims of voter fraud.

Willis specifically mentioned that Raffensperger, whom she described as an “essential witness,” had indicated he would only take part in an interview once presented with a subpoena.

In a statement, Trump defended what he called his “perfect” phone call and repeated false allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

In a separate legal woe for the Trump family, the U.S. House of Representatives’ panel investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol on Thursday requested an interview with Trump’s daughter and former White House aide Ivanka Trump.

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a rally in Florence, Arizona, U.S., January 15, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

And earlier this week, New York state’s attorney general accused Trump’s family business of repeatedly misrepresenting the value of its assets to obtain financial benefits, citing what it said was significant new evidence of possible fraud.

Trump critics hope that his legal problems may ultimately stymie a potential presidential run in 2024.

“It begins,” Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island tweeted after news of the Georgia request.

‘FINDING’ VOTES

In her letter, Willis said a special grand jury, which can subpoena witnesses, was needed because jurors can be impaneled for longer periods and focus exclusively on a single probe.

A spokesperson for the superior courts in Fulton County, which encompasses most of the state capital Atlanta, said there was no immediate timeline for a response to Willis’ request.

During the Jan. 2, 2021 call, Trump urged Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, to “find” enough votes to overturn his Georgia loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The transcript quotes Trump telling Raffensperger: “I just want to find 11,780 votes,” which is the number Trump needed to win Georgia.

Legal experts have said Trump’s phone calls may have violated at least three state election laws: conspiracy to commit election fraud, criminal solicitation to commit election fraud and intentional interference with performance of election duties. The possible felony and misdemeanor violations are punishable by fines or imprisonment.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/world/us/georgia-prosecutor-requests-special-grand-jury-trump-election-probe-2022-01-20/

The Washington Post appears quite selective when it comes to the urgency of its “fact-checks” of certain prominent politicians. 

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., was the subject of a lengthy piece on Friday by the Post’s star fact-checker, Glenn Kessler.

The piece, “Tim Scott often talks about his grandfather and cotton. There’s more to that tale,” examined the “origin stories” of comments the Senator has made over the years about being an ancestor of slaves. Scott has said his grandfather dropped out of elementary school to pick cotton, so the liberal newspaper enlisted its fact-checker to get to the bottom of the claim.

“The tale of his grandfather fits in with a narrative of Scott moving up from humble circumstances to reach a position of political power in the U.S. Senate,” Kessler wrote. “But Scott separately has acknowledged that his great-great-grandfather, Lawrence Ware, once owned 900 acres in South Carolina.”

WAPO RUNS ‘HIT PIECE’ ON TIM SCOTT HOURS AFTER IT WAS ANNOUNCED HE WOULD GIVE GOP RESPONSE TO BIDEN’S ADDRESS TO CONGRESS

Kessler declared he “dug into the South Carolina census records” to “close this gap in Scott’s narrative” despite admitting “census data is historically questionable at best — and at times unreliable.”

“Our research reveals a more complex story than what Scott tells audiences. Scott’s grandfather’s father was also a substantial landowner — and Scott’s grandfather, Artis Ware, worked on that farm,” Kessler wrote. “Scott’s family history in South Carolina offers a fascinating window into a little-known aspect of history in the racist South following the Civil War and in the immediate aftermath of slavery — that some enterprising Black families purchased property as a way to avoid sharecropping and achieve a measure of independence from White-dominated society.”

Kessler then dove into a longwinded tale of Scott’s ancestors using data he already admitted was often unreliable.

The fact-checker ultimately concluded to not give the lawmaker any Pinocchios, writing, “Scott’s ‘cotton to Congress’ line is missing some nuance, but we are not going to rate his statements.”

However, the Washington Post has yet to look into the “tale” from Vice President Harris, which has been accused of plagiarism earlier this year.

Harris has repeatedly boasted of her parents’ involvement in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. In an Elle magazine interview that was published in October, she recalled accompanying them to marches as a toddler in a stroller.

KAMALA HARRIS ACCUSED OF PLAGIARIZING MLK ANECDOTE IN OCTOBER INTERVIEW WITH ELLE MAGAZINE

“Senator Kamala Harris started her life’s work young,” writer Ashley C. Ford led off the piece. “She laughs from her gut, the way you would with family, as she remembers being wheeled through an Oakland, California, civil rights march in a stroller with no straps with her parents and her uncle. At some point, she fell from the stroller … and the adults, caught up in the rapture of protest, just kept on marching. By the time they noticed little Kamala was gone and doubled back, she was understandably upset.” 

“My mother tells the story about how I’m fussing,” Harris told the magazine. “And she’s like, ‘Baby, what do you want? What do you need?’ And I just looked at her and I said, ‘Fweedom.’”

This was a story Harris has told over and over again from her June 2020 appearance on “The Tonight Show” to her 2019 book tour. It was documented as early as 2004 in an interview with W Magazine.

However, after Harris’ ‘Fweedom” anecdote resurfaced on social media in January, Twitter users @EngelsFreddie and Andray Domise, a contributing editor of the Canadian publication Maclean’s, noted that her story resembled one told by civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. in a 1965 interview published in Playboy.

KAMALA HARRIS HAS A LONG HISTORY OF USING ‘FWEEDOM’ ANECDOTE ALLEGEDLY PLAGIARIZED FROM MLK

“I will never forget a moment in Birmingham when a White policeman accosted a little Negro girl, seven or eight years old, who was walking in a demonstration with her mother,” King said at the time. “‘What do you want?’ the policeman asked her gruffly, and the little girl looked at him straight in the eye and answered, ‘Fee-dom.’ She couldn’t even pronounce it, but she knew. It was beautiful! Many times when I have been in sorely trying situations, the memory of that little one has come into my mind, and has buoyed me.”

Fox News reached out to Kessler in light of his fact-check of Sen. Scott’s ancestry to see whether or not he was going to fact-check the vice president’s “Fweedom” story to determine if it was in fact plagiarized.   

The Post’s “fact-check” against Scott drew intense backlash on social media with critics calling it a “hit piece” that ultimately did not debunk the senator’s claims. 

The timing of the report also raised eyebrows since it came just 12 hours after it was announced that Scott would be delivering the Republican Party’s response to President Biden’s speech to a joint session of Congress on April 28. 

WASHINGTON POST CRUSHED FOR ‘FACT CHECK’ ON WHETHER SEN. TIM SCOTT TRULY WENT ‘FROM COTTON TO CONGRESS’

A spokesperson for The Washington Post told Fox News, “The Fact Checker began research on this story several weeks ago. As with all Post reporting, we publish when stories are ready.”

The Post did not immediately respond to Fox News’ inquiry when asking if the fact-check wasn’t “ready” until 3 AM Friday morning. 

Regarding the fierce backlash the report received, the paper stood by the fact-check, telling Fox News, “The Fact Checker piece acknowledges that Sen. Tim Scott may not have known his full family history and that historical records regarding the lives of Black Americans are often scant. Nonetheless, our reporting adds information found in official records to Scott’s public remarks and writings about his grandfather. The Fact Checker occasionally delves into the origin stories of politicians, often without reaching a conclusion about their completeness or veracity.”

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Scott’s office declined comment, saying he was focused on delivering the GOP response to Biden’s first speech to a joint session of Congress.

Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report. 

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/media/washington-post-fact-check-tim-scott-kamala-harris-fweedom

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — At least ten people have been shot, and four are dead after Fresno Police say a suspect opened fire as a family gathered at an east central Fresno home Sunday night.

Officers responded to a home on Lamona Avenue near Ceasar Avenue, located about three blocks south of the Fresno Yosemite International Airport just before 8 pm on Sunday.

Fresno Police say around 45 people were at the home to watch a football game on television.

The suspect came snuck into the backyard and opened fire on the ten people that were in the yard. The other 35 people inside the home were not injured.

Police officials say that five of the victims are currently being treated at Community Regional Medical Center in downtown Fresno and one victim is being treated at Saint Agnes Medical Center.

Hospital officials say of the shooting victims, two are in critical condition, three are in critical but stable condition. Another victim was grazed by a bullet.

When officers arrived, they found three people who had already died from their injuries. The fourth victim died at a hospital.

Police have also not yet released a description of the suspect, or a possible motivation.

The streets in the area have been closed off as an investigation is underway. Residents and drivers are advised to avoid the area.

Fresno Police say they are using their “mass casuality protocol” for this shooting.

RELATED: ‘Any available unit citywide’: Hectic moments authorities respond to Fresno ‘mass casualty’ shooting

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced late Sunday night that it will be sending agents from its San Francisco field office to assist in the investigation of the shooting.

California State Senator Andress Borgeas responded to the shooting on Twitter:

Fresno prosecutor and mayoral candidate Andrew Janz also tweeted:

This is a developing story. Stay with Action News for updates.

Source Article from https://abc30.com/police-searching-for-gunman-who-shot-at-fresno-family-gathering/5704122/

U.S. flags will fly at half-staff on federal and military posts through Sunday as President Trump orders a remembrance of the nearly 100,000 people who have died from COVID-19 in the U.S. Earlier this month, flags in the hard-hit state of New York flew at half their normal height to honor those lost to the pandemic.

Roy Rochlin/Getty Images


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U.S. flags will fly at half-staff on federal and military posts through Sunday as President Trump orders a remembrance of the nearly 100,000 people who have died from COVID-19 in the U.S. Earlier this month, flags in the hard-hit state of New York flew at half their normal height to honor those lost to the pandemic.

Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

U.S. government buildings, military posts and embassies will fly the flag at half-staff through Memorial Day weekend in memory of the nearly 100,000 people who have died of COVID-19, President Trump announced Thursday night. The decision comes after Democratic leaders in Congress sent a letter to the president requesting the gesture.

“I will be lowering the flags on all Federal Buildings and National Monuments to half-staff over the next three days in memory of the Americans we have lost to the CoronaVirus,” Trump said via Twitter.

Flags will be lowered from Friday through Sunday’s sunset. Trump added that flags will again be flown at half-staff on Monday to honor the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military.

The national flag is dropped to half its normal height at times when the nation is in mourning or after a national tragedy. The U.S. is currently in the throes of a pandemic that has killed about 95,000 people in the country and derailed normal life for millions of people.

“Our Nation mourns for every life lost to the coronavirus pandemic, and we share in the suffering of all those who endured pain and illness from the outbreak,” Trump wrote in a proclamation ordering the observance. “Through our grief, America stands steadfast and united against the invisible enemy. May God be with the victims of this pandemic and bring aid and comfort to their families and friends.”

The presidential proclamation came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent Trump a letter asking him to order that flags be flown at half-staff on all public buildings on what they called “a sad day of reckoning” — when the U.S. marks 100,000 deaths.

“It would serve as a national expression of grief so needed by everyone in our country,” they wrote.

Earlier this month, the governors of several hard-hit states ordered their public buildings to fly flags at half-staff, including New York, Massachusetts and Colorado.

The procedure for flying a U.S. flag at half-staff or at half-mast calls for it to be raised briefly to its full peak, then lowered halfway. The process is reversed when lowering the flag at the end of the day — except for Memorial Day, when the display is shortened.

“On Memorial Day the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff,” according to Title 4 of the U.S. Code regarding the flag and its protocols.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/22/860762128/president-trump-orders-flags-to-fly-at-half-staff-as-u-s-mourns-nearly-100-000-d

Michael Avenatti, the former attorney for adult-film star Stormy Daniels, was accused Monday by federal prosecutors in New York of operating “an old-fashioned shakedown” by trying to extort between $15 and $25 million from sports apparel giant Nike, part of a string of bombshell claims against the celebrity lawyer.

Avenatti, who briefly considered a bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, also was charged with wire fraud and bank fraud in a separate case out of California. He was taken into custody at a law firm where he had gone to meet with Nike executives. The 48-year-old appeared Monday evening in Manhattan federal court, where a magistrate judge ordered his release on $300,000 bond. He did not enter a plea.

Prosecutors said Avenatti tried to extort Nike “by threatening to use his ability to garner publicity to inflict substantial financial and reputational harm on the company if his demands were not met.”

A suspected co-conspirator working alongside Avenatti was identified Monday afternoon by The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal as Mark Geragos, who has represented celebrities including Michael Jackson and — more recently — “Empire” star Jussie Smollett. Geragos also was a CNN contributor.

“As alleged, Michael Avenatti approached Nike last week with a list of financial demands in exchange for covering up allegations of misconduct on behalf of the company,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge William Sweeney Jr. said in a statement. “The lofty price tag included a $1.5 million payoff for Avenatti’s client and upwards of tens of millions of dollars for the legal services of his firm – services Nike never requested. This is nothing more than a straightforward case of extortion”

The counts against Avenatti in the New York case are extortion, transmission of interstate communications with intent to extort, conspiracy to transmit interstate communications with intent to extort, and conspiracy to commit extortion..

MICHAEL AVENATTI CUTS TIES WITH STORMY DANIELS

At a news conference Monday, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said Avenatti used illegal tactics and threats in an effort to obtain millions of dollars for himself. He claimed that if Nike did not meet his demands, “the company might die.”

“Our system of justice requires and relies on attorneys, members of the bar, to not simply follow the law, but uphold its finest principles and ideals,” Berman told reporters. “But when lawyers use their law licenses as weapons, as a guise to extort payments for themselves, they are no longer acting as attorneys. They are acting as criminals, and they will be held responsible for their conduct.”

According to the New York complaint against him, Avenatti and the co-conspirator met with attorneys for Nike on March 19 and “threatened to release damaging information” if the company did not agree to make multi-million dollar payments to them, as well as an additional $1.5-million payment to a client Avenatti claimed to represent.

He allegedly told the attorneys that if his demands were not met, he would “go take ten billion dollars off your client’s market cap … I’m not f—ing around.”

The complaint said Avenatti threatened to hold a news conference on the eve of Nike’s quarterly earnings call and the start of the NCAA tournament to announce allegations of misconduct by Nike employees.

“Nike will not be extorted or hide information that is relevant to a government investigation,” the company said in a statement obtained by Fox News. “Nike has been cooperating with the government’s investigation into NCAA basketball for over a year. When Nike became aware of this matter, Nike immediately reported it to federal prosecutors. When Mr. Avenatti attempted to extort Nike over this matter, Nike with the assistance of outside counsel at Boies Schiller Flexner, aided the investigation.

Mark Geragos, left, is seen in this March 2015 photo representing R&B singer Chris Brown at a court hearing in Los Angeles.
(Reuters)

“Nike firmly believes in ethical and fair play, both in business and sports, and will continue to assist the prosecutors.”

JUSSIE SMOLLETT IS VICTIM OF ‘MEDIA GANGBANG,’ DEFENSE ATTORNEY MARK GERAGOS SAYS

The law office of Geragos & Geragos told Fox News that “our office has no comment” on the allegations. A spokeswoman for CNN, for whom Mark Geragos had contributed legal analysis, told the Washington Examiner that Mark Geragos was no longer a contributor at the cable network.

Meanwhile, the alleged client was identified as a coach for an amateur athletic union men’s basketball program based in California.

Earlier Monday, Avenatti tweeted he would be holding a news conference Tuesday to “disclose a major high school/college basketball scandal perpetrated by @Nike that we have uncovered. This criminal conduct reaches the highest levels of Nike and involves some of the biggest names in college basketball.”

Meanwhile, at a separate news conference in California, federal investigators announced additional criminal charges against the lawyer for a separate matter. In that case, Avenatti was accused of embezzling a client’s settlement money to pay his own expenses and debts — as well as those of his coffee business and law firm.

U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said Avenatti was charged with wire fraud and tax fraud stemming from a two-year IRS tax investigation after he allegedly obtained $4.1 million in loans for his law firm and coffee business from a Mississippi bank by using phony tax returns stating that he had made $4,562,881 in 2011, $5,423,099 in 2012, and $4,082,803 in 2013. Avenatti also stated that he had paid more than $1 million in estimated taxes to the IRS in 2012 and 2013 when, according to prosecutors, he actually owed the IRS $850,438 plus interest and penalties for the years 2009 and 2010. In addition, authorities say, Avenatti paid no personal income taxes for 2011, 2012 and 2013 and paid no estimated taxes in 2012 and 2013.

“[Avenatti] is a corrupt lawyer who instead fights for his own selfish interest,” Hanna said, adding that the allegations against the attorney “paint an ugly picture of lawlessness and greed.”

Avenatti became famous as the lawyer for Daniels, the adult-film actress who alleged she had an affair with President Trump in 2006 while his wife Melania was pregnant with the couple’s son, Barron. In the last year, Daniels and Avenatti became household names in their fight against Trump, dominating cable news shows for months and taunting the president in interviews.

Daniels released a statement Monday saying she was not “shocked” by the charges against Avenatti.

“Knowing what I know now about Michael Avenatti, I am saddened but not shocked by news reports that he has been criminally charged today,” Daniels said. “I made the decision more than a month ago to terminate Michael’s services after discovering that he had dealt with me extremely dishonestly and there will be more announcements to come.”

Charles Harder, who represented President Trump in the Daniels case, told Fox News that Avenatti’s arrest marked “a great day for the American justice system.”

Before Avenatti started representing Daniels in February 2018, he was virtually unknown outside of the California legal community. However, in a matter of months, he had become known as a no-holds-barred lawyer with a media style — and a penchant for tweeting — similar to Trump’s.

On Monday, Berman emphatically denied that politics played any role in the case, noting that investigators “received the call six days ago by the victim saying that three was extortionist threats made against them and that’s how we became involved in this case.

A senior Justice Department official told Fox News that while the California investigation into Avenatti had been going on for “a long time,” the Nike case in New York “came out of nowhere” and progressed “very quickly.”

“We could have arrested him last week,” the official told Fox News, adding that officials wanted the charges in both cases unsealed at the same time and wanted to ensure that Avenatti’s arrest went smoothly.

Both cases against Avenatti were overseen by the office of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Justice Department officials tell Fox News that Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed O’Callaghan, Rosenstein’s right-hand man, was involved in “significant coordination” on the Avenatti matter over the weekend while also playing a part in Attorney General William Barr’s letter to Congress summarizing the findings of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The officials added that Barr was also aware of the Avenatti case as it developed.

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Avenatti briefly mulled a 2020 presidential run as a Democrat — he even visited Iowa at one point — but ultimately ruled that out. He also was involved in another high-profile case, representing dozens of parents whose children were separated from them at the U.S. border as a result of the Trump administration’s immigration policies. More recently, he’s been representing women who said they were sexually abused by R&B star R. Kelly.

In the California case, Avenatti faces up to 50 years in prison, while in the New York case, the charges carry a potential penalty of 47 years in prison.

Fox News’ Jake Gibson, Lee Ross, Marta Dhanis and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/michael-avenatti-accused-of-trying-to-extort-nike-for-up-to-25m-feds-say

Mick Mulvaney is trying to achieve as acting White House chief of staff what he never could as a conservative firebrand in Congress.

Mulvaney this week helped persuade President Trump to get behind a legal effort aimed at striking down the Affordable Care Act over the objections of some in the administration and Republican leadership on Capitol Hill.

His pitch came during scheduled “policy time” with Trump on Monday and spanned several meetings throughout the day. It was met with resistance from some on the president’s legal team and his Justice Department, as well as with skepticism from Vice President Pence, who favors overturning President Barack Obama’s namesake health-care law but only if Republicans are ready with an alternative, according to White House officials familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private talks.

But Trump — fresh off a victory lap following the conclusion of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation — agreed with Mulvaney and was eager to forge ahead into dismantling his predecessor’s health law.

“The Republican Party will soon be known as the party of health care,” the president enthused while walking into a lunch of Republican senators Tuesday. He seemed to try to justify his administration’s unexpected decision, telling reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that “if the Supreme Court rules that Obamacare is out, we’ll have a plan that is far better than Obamacare.”

Mulvaney and his allies have told Trump that joining a lawsuit to overturn the ACA will help him fulfill a campaign promise and could help lead to his reelection, but congressional Republicans worry he’s sent the president on a suicide mission. While Republicans are united in their opposition to Obama’s signature health-care law, they remain divided on how to replace it, and Democrats are eager to exploit this tension while making health care a centerpiece of the 2020 campaign.

The behind-the-scenes role played by Mulvaney — who in Congress was a member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus and earned a reputation for frustrating Republican leadership — highlights the way he has operated as a top aide to Trump, first as budget director and now as acting chief of staff.

If Trump is well-known within the White House for having little interest in both policy and nuance, Mulvaney seems to specialize in it. But the acting chief of staff has also sought to frame his long-held views in a way that won’t undermine the president. This has allowed Mulvaney to use his proximity to power to directly shape major White House policy proposals that echo his priorities during a congressional career spent more in shouting from the sidelines than in rooms where deals were made.

He used his budget office perch to craft spending plans that drastically reduced funding for programs such as education, environmental protection and housing. Earlier this year, following a partial government shutdown he supported, it was Mulvaney who helped aggressively engineer the controversial emergency declaration plan to fund large sections of a border wall without congressional approval — and dubbed it “D-Day,” White House officials said. It was a move that deeply frustrated many Senate Republicans, but Mulvaney told the president that senators wouldn’t override him. And now he has pushed Trump into a health-care fight many in the party are eager to avoid. 

“The greatest political liability one can accrue is advocating for the disruption in coverage for Americans who are currently pleased with their own health care,” said Josh Holmes, a former senior adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “What’s happened in the last six months is the Democrats have taken the health-care issues and have walked to the precipice of the cliff and are ready to drop off. The only thing that’s saving them is a Republican grabbing them by the collar and jumping off instead.”

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who chairs the Freedom Caucus and is close with Mulvaney, said the acting chief is taking the right approach. “The 2020 elections will be more about domestic policy than they will be about foreign policy,” Meadows said. “It’s Mick Mulvaney’s sweet spot.”

In a new court filing Monday night, the Justice Department argued that the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, should be thrown out in its entirety. The filing was made with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans, where an appeal is pending in a case brought by Republican state attorneys general challenging the law’s constitutionality. A federal judge in Texas ruled in December that the entire law is invalid, in an opinion that went considerably further than the administration’s position at the time.

Before Monday’s filing, the Justice Department argued that there were grounds only to strike down the law’s consumer protections, including those for people with preexisting health conditions, but that the rest should be kept intact. Now the administration wants the whole law thrown out.

Politico first reported Mulvaney’s role in pushing Trump to support invalidating Obamacare. 

Mulvaney is proving to be a far different chief of staff than his predecessors. Reince Priebus, who first held the job, spent much of his time careening around the West Wing — trying to manage his presidential charge and the West Wing’s feuding factions. John Kelly, Trump’s second chief of staff, was a strict gatekeeper who worked to limit the president’s inner circle.

“What would surprise people is that the Freedom Caucus member who went to OMB and is now chief of staff is willing to evaluate things without making his opinions be a part of any calculation,” Meadows said. “The other [thing] is Mick Mulvaney has probably the second most powerful position in Washington, D.C., and yet he allows other people access to the president and doesn’t feel challenged by that.” 

Mulvaney has adopted a more relaxed approach, despite having held three different posts in the administration — at one point, he was acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — and at times holding two roles simultaneously. 

White House officials say Mulvaney is generally well-liked within the West Wing, allowing robust debate and empowering various advisers and officials. He helped foster his personal relationship with Trump over golf — and was on the course with the president as recently as Sunday, where the topic of health care also came up. 

“Mick’s approach is hands-off but not hands-free,” said White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. “He is involved in every policy discussion, presidential decision-making exercise, and he and his team make sure the president is fully briefed.”

Mulvaney aides have deliberately worked to keep his profile low, arguing that Trump often sours on advisers when he reads stories that say they are controlling, shaping or trying to influence him. Mulvaney declined to be interviewed for this article. 

He asks the president detailed questions about his daily calendar, knowing that Trump does not like to be over-scheduled and likes to have free time, and adheres to what Trump wants. He has also taken it upon himself to try to serve as Trump’s inside-the-Beltway fixer, familiarizing himself with as many rules and laws as possible to help his boss avoid stumbling blocks.

Earlier this month, when Trump unleashed 52 frenzied tweets in just 34 hours, Mulvaney was on vacation in Las Vegas. He has told other White House aides that he only worries about Trump’s tweets if they threaten a legislative priority — such as alienating a needed vote — or if they announce policy or personnel.

Mulvaney has also described a steep learning curve on foreign policy, and told others how surreal it was to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Hanoi summit last month.

His health-care maneuvering was met with dismay from many in his party. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), for instance, has urged Trump to hold off on pushing for the courts to overturn Obamacare, a private pitch first reported by Axios. A Republican strategist in frequent touch with the White House said some in the administration were frustrated with Mulvaney for his “ham-handed move,” describing Mulvaney as abiding by “Freedom Caucus and club for dopes rules.”

Mulvaney has been aligned with a broad coalition of conservative groups that have worked with the Republican attorneys general who brought the ACA lawsuit and have urged that the president adopt a harder legal line, according to a former member of Trump’s domestic policy transition team and steering committee member of the Conservative Action Project. Others, including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Attorney General William P. Barr, have been more aligned with McConnell, who has feared that any wholesale rejection of the 2010 health-care law would exert pressure on Congress to reopen debate about how to replace the ACA, according to the individual, who spoke about internal conversations on the condition of anonymity.

“Alex and, I think, Barr, have the more reserved positions,” the individual said. “The president netted out with the harder-line approach.”

Trump himself has not articulated his plan for health care, and urged members of Congress to write one. In his meeting Tuesday on Capitol Hill, he explained to senators that health care was the party’s main vulnerability because they had “owned” the economy and the border, officials with knowledge of the meeting said. He told them he decided in the motorcade ride over that his new slogan would link Republicans to being the party of health care.

Mulvaney’s defenders say that on health care, he is simply helping Trump achieve his policy objectives. When the Texas ruling was first announced, for instance, Trump tweeted that the decision was “great news for America!” 

Mulvaney’s budgets as OMB director have also prioritized the president’s goals over some of those Mulvaney himself advocated for as a fiery and conservative lawmaker. His fiscal plans have jacked up spending for military programs, a priority for Trump, and stopped short of imposing major structural changes to Medicare because Trump ordered it. Trump, however, grew angry last year when he learned Mulvaney was behind a budget request for the wall that only requested $1.6 billion.

If Mulvaney, who wears a boot on his right foot for an Achilles heel injury, struggled to transition from a conservative mischief maker who enjoyed needling his party’s leadership to a deputy in the Trump administration, he has shown few outward signs. In a closed-door speech to donors last year, Mulvaney argued that Republicans should support Trump even if they find his style distasteful, according to a recording of the event obtained by The Washington Post. 

He cited the administration’s handling of religious freedom cases and said there were many more examples.

Still, he added, “It’s not sexy.”

Alice Crites and Amy Goldstein contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-chief-of-staff-mulvaney-pushes-health-care-fight-trump-wants-republicans-fear/2019/03/27/c52a07de-50bc-11e9-8d28-f5149e5a2fda_story.html

Like the Titanic, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., looks grand on paper. She is energetic, experienced, and adorned with high decoration from prestigious universities. But like the Titanic and the iceberg, Warren is a collision with outsize arrogance. If Warren wins the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination, President Trump will almost certainly be re-elected.

Before we get into it, have a quick watch of Warren’s announcement that she is forming an exploratory committee.

Inadvertently for an announcement, that video encapsulates why Warren will struggle to enter the Oval Office as president. It is boring, loaded with not-so-subtle class warfare tropes, and full of rage toward conservatives. Most of all, it offers nothing original.

There’s nothing that might separate Warren from the growing pack of perhaps 30 Democrats who want to face Trump in 2020. Nothing that might allow Warren to evade Trump’s unpredictability and his occasional penchant for political genius.

But that’s Warren. Just slightly more moderate than Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but lacking any of Ocasio-Cortez’s charisma, Warren is what she appears to be: not terribly impressive. You can bet that as 2019 rumbles on and the Democratic nomination heats up, Warren will make mistakes similar to that which has most damaged her: the blood test. More specifically, Warren’s Native American blood test earlier this year that showed Warren is about as Native American as most Americans. Which is to say, not very.

Even if Democrats were not so obsessed with identity politics, Warren might be able to escape her blood test debacle with a mea culpa (as yet undelivered). But that would take something Warren lacks: originality. When one digs into the details of Warren’s domestic and foreign policy proposals, the result is relentlessly unremarkable.

Don’t get me wrong. There is something very special about a nation in which an impossible-to-tan Anglo-American such as myself can have first cousins who are half-Native American. Americans might cry out in 2020 for a candidate who is seen to offer a more optimistic vision than the angry warship of Trumpism. But that candidate must have a vision and instinct that inspires people personally. After all, if the economy remains strong and Trump remains in control, the incumbent will have a very good message: “I might be unpredictable, but things are pretty good, aren’t they? It’s me or Democrats offering higher taxes and spending.”

Again, a candidate must inspire the electorate to the cause of making the nation better. That’s what former President Barack Obama did in 2008, and it dissolved the Hillary Clinton machine. That’s what Trump did in 2016, and it dissolved the Republican establishment.

I don’t see Warren inspiring people. Instead, Warren is a politician without political instinct, and an intellect without introspective flair.

If Warren is the Democratic nominee, I think Trump is getting four more years in office.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/elizabeth-warren-is-the-titanic-of-democrats-destined-to-sink

A three-part plan delivers on President Biden’s promise to cancel $10,000 of student debt for low- to middle-income borrowers

President Biden believes that a post-high school education should be a ticket to a middle-class life, but for too many, the cost of borrowing for college is a lifelong burden that deprives them of that opportunity. During the campaign, he promised to provide student debt relief. Today, the Biden Administration is following through on that promise and providing families breathing room as they prepare to start re-paying loans after the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic.

Since 1980, the total cost of both four-year public and four-year private college has nearly tripled, even after accounting for inflation. Federal support has not kept up: Pell Grants once covered nearly 80 percent of the cost of a four-year public college degree for students from working families, but now only cover a third. That has left many students from low- and middle-income families with no choice but to borrow if they want to get a degree. According to a Department of Education analysis, the typical undergraduate student with loans now graduates with nearly $25,000 in debt. 

The skyrocketing cumulative federal student loan debt—$1.6 trillion and rising for more than 45 million borrowers—is a significant burden on America’s middle class. Middle-class borrowers struggle with high monthly payments and ballooning balances that make it harder for them to build wealth, like buying homes, putting away money for retirement, and starting small businesses.

For the most vulnerable borrowers, the effects of debt are even more crushing. Nearly one-third of borrowers have debt but no degree, according to an analysis by the Department of Education of a recent cohort of undergraduates. Many of these students could not complete their degree because the cost of attendance was too high. About 16% of borrowers are in default – including nearly a third of senior citizens with student debt – which can result in the government garnishing a borrower’s wages or lowering a borrower’s credit score. The student debt burden also falls disproportionately on Black borrowers. Twenty years after first enrolling in school, the typical Black borrower who started college in the 1995-96 school year still owed 95% of their original student debt.

Today, President Biden is announcing a three-part plan to provide more breathing room to America’s working families as they continue to recover from the strains associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This plan offers targeted debt relief as part of a comprehensive effort to address the burden of growing college costs and make the student loan system more manageable for working families. The President is announcing that the Department of Education will:   

  • Provide targeted debt relief to address the financial harms of the pandemic, fulfilling the President’s campaign commitment. The Department of Education will provide up to $20,000 in debt cancellation to Pell Grant recipients with loans held by the Department of Education, and up to $10,000 in debt cancellation to non-Pell Grant recipients. Borrowers are eligible for this relief if their individual income is less than $125,000 ($250,000 for married couples). No high-income individual or high-income household – in the top 5% of incomes – will benefit from this action. To ensure a smooth transition to repayment and prevent unnecessary defaults, the pause on federal student loan repayment will be extended one final time through December 31, 2022. Borrowers should expect to resume payment in January 2023.
  • Make the student loan system more manageable for current and future borrowers by:
    • Cutting monthly payments in half for undergraduate loans. The Department of Education is proposing a new income-driven repayment plan that protects more low-income borrowers from making any payments and caps monthly payments for undergraduate loans at 5% of a borrower’s discretionary income—half of the rate that borrowers must pay now under most existing plans. This means that the average annual student loan payment will be lowered by more than $1,000 for both current and future borrowers. 
    • Fixing the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program by proposing a rule that borrowers who have worked at a nonprofit, in the military, or in federal, state, tribal, or local government, receive appropriate credit toward loan forgiveness. These improvements will build on temporary changes the Department of Education has already made to PSLF, under which more than 175,000 public servants have already had more than $10 billion in loan forgiveness approved.
  • Protect future students and taxpayers by reducing the cost of college and holding schools accountable when they hike up prices. The President championed the largest increase to Pell Grants in over a decade and one of the largest one-time influxes to colleges and universities. To further reduce the cost of college, the President will continue to fight to double the maximum Pell Grant and make community college free. Meanwhile, colleges have an obligation to keep prices reasonable and ensure borrowers get value for their investments, not debt they cannot afford. This Administration has already taken key steps to strengthen accountability, including in areas where the previous Administration weakened rules. The Department of Education is announcing new efforts to ensure student borrowers get value for their college costs.

Provide Targeted Debt Relief, Fulfilling the President’s Campaign Commitment

To address the financial harms of the pandemic for low- and middle-income borrowers and avoid defaults as loan repayment restarts next year, the Department of Education will provide up to $20,000 in loan relief to borrowers with loans held by the Department of Education whose individual income is less than $125,000 ($250,000 for married couples) and who received a Pell Grant. Nearly every Pell Grant recipient came from a family that made less than $60,000 a year, and Pell Grant recipients typically experience more challenges repaying their debt than other borrowers. Borrowers who meet those income standards but did not receive a Pell Grant in college can receive up to $10,000 in loan relief.

The Pell Grant program is one of America’s most effective financial aid programs—but its value has been eroded over time. Pell Grant recipients are more than 60% of the borrower population. The Department of Education estimates that roughly 27 million borrowers will be eligible to receive up to $20,000 in relief, helping these borrowers meet their economic potential and avoid economic harm from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Current students with loans are eligible for this debt relief. Borrowers who are dependent students will be eligible for relief based on parental income, rather than their own income.

If all borrowers claim the relief they are entitled to, these actions will:

  • Provide relief to up to 43 million borrowers, including cancelling the full remaining balance for roughly 20 million borrowers.
  • Target relief dollars to low- and middle-income borrowers. The Department of Education estimates that, among borrowers who are no longer in school, nearly 90% of relief dollars will go to those earning less than $75,000 a year. No individual making more than $125,000 or household making more than $250,000 – the top 5% of incomes in the United States – will receive relief.
  • Help borrowers of all ages. The Department of Education estimates that, among borrowers who are eligible for relief, 21% are 25 years and under and 44% are ages 26-39. More than a third are borrowers age 40 and up, including 5% of borrowers who are senior citizens.
  • Advance racial equity. By targeting relief to borrowers with the highest economic need, the Administration’s actions are likely to help narrow the racial wealth gap. Black students are more likely to have to borrow for school and more likely to take out larger loans. Black borrowers are twice as likely to have received Pell Grants compared to their white peers. Other borrowers of color are also more likely than their peers to receive Pell Grants. That is why an Urban Institute study found that debt forgiveness programs targeting those who received Pell Grants while in college will advance racial equity.

The Department of Education will work quickly and efficiently to set up a simple application process for borrowers to claim relief. The application will be available no later than when the pause on federal student loan repayments terminates at the end of the year. Nearly 8 million borrowers may be eligible to receive relief automatically because their relevant income data is already available to the Department.  

Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, this debt relief will not be treated as taxable income for the federal income tax purposes.

To help ensure a smooth transition back to repayment, the Department of Education is extending the student loan pause a final time through December 31, 2022. No one with federally-held loans has had to pay a single dollar in loan payments since President Biden took office.

Make the Student Loan System More Manageable for Current and Future Borrowers

Fixing Existing Loan Repayment to Lower Monthly Payments

The Administration is reforming student loan repayment plans so both current and future low- and middle-income borrowers will have smaller and more manageable monthly payments.

The Department of Education has the authority to create income-driven repayment plans, which cap what borrowers pay each month based on a percentage of their discretionary income. Most of these plans cancel a borrower’s remaining debt once they make 20 years of monthly payments. But the existing versions of these plans are too complex and too limited. As a result, millions of borrowers who might benefit from them do not sign up, and the millions who do sign up are still often left with unmanageable monthly payments.

To address these concerns and follow through on Congress’ original vision for income-driven repayment, the Department of Education is proposing a rule to do the following:

  • For undergraduate loans, cut in half the amount that borrowers have to pay each month from 10% to 5% of discretionary income.
  • Raise the amount of income that is considered non-discretionary income and therefore is protected from repayment, guaranteeing that no borrower earning under 225% of the federal poverty level—about the annual equivalent of a $15 minimum wage for a single borrower—will have to make a monthly payment.
  • Forgive loan balances after 10 years of payments, instead of 20 years, for borrowers with original loan balances of $12,000 or less. The Department of Education estimates that this reform will allow nearly all community college borrowers to be debt-free within 10 years.
  • Cover the borrower’s unpaid monthly interest, so that unlike other existing income-driven repayment plans, no borrower’s loan balance will grow as long as they make their monthly payments—even when that monthly payment is $0 because their income is low.

These reforms would simplify loan repayment and deliver significant savings to low- and middle-income borrowers. For example:

  • A typical single construction worker (making $38,000 a year) with a construction management credential would pay only $31 a month, compared to the $147 they pay now under the most recent income-driven repayment plan, for annual savings of nearly $1,400.
  • A typical single public school teacher with an undergraduate degree (making $44,000 a year) would pay only $56 a month on their loans, compared to the $197 they pay now under the most recent income-driven repayment plan, for annual savings of nearly $1,700.
  • A typical nurse (making $77,000 a year) who is married with two kids would pay only $61 a month on their undergraduate loans, compared to the $295 they pay now under the most recent income-driven repayment plan, for annual savings of more than $2,800.

For each of these borrowers, their balances would not grow as long as they are making their monthly payments, and their remaining debt would be forgiven after they make the required number of qualifying payments.

Further, the Department of Education will make it easier for borrowers who enroll in this new plan to stay enrolled. Starting in the summer of 2023, borrowers will be able to allow the Department of Education to automatically pull their income information year after year, avoiding the hassle of needing to recertify their income annually.

Ensuring Public Servants Receive Credit Toward Loan Forgiveness

Borrowers working in public service are entitled to earn credit toward debt relief under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. But because of complex eligibility restrictions, historic implementation failures, and poor counseling given to borrowers, many borrowers have not received the credit they deserve for their public service.

The Department of Education has announced time-limited changes to PSLF that provide an easier path to forgiveness of all outstanding debt for eligible federal student loan borrowers who have served at a non-profit, in the military, or in federal, state, Tribal, or local government for at least 10 years, including non-consecutively. Those who have served less than 10 years may now more easily get credit for their service to date toward eventual forgiveness. These changes allow eligible borrowers to gain additional credit toward forgiveness, even if they had been told previously that they had the wrong loan type.

The Department of Education also has proposed regulatory changes to ensure more effective implementation of the PSLF program moving forward. Specifically, the Department of Education has proposed allowing more payments to qualify for PSLF including partial, lump sum, and late payments, and allowing certain kinds of deferments and forbearances, such as those for Peace Corps and AmeriCorps service, National Guard duty, and military service, to count toward PSLF. The Department of Education also proposed to ensure the rules work better for non-tenured instructors whose colleges need to calculate their full-time employment.

To ensure borrowers are aware of the temporary changes, the White House has launched four PSLF Days of Action dedicated to borrowers in specific sectors: government employees, educators, healthcare workers and first responders, and non-profit employees. You can find out other information about the temporary changes on PSLF.gov. You must apply to PSLF before the temporary changes end on October 31, 2022.

Protecting Borrowers and Taxpayers from Steep Increases in College Costs

While providing this relief to low- and middle-income borrowers, the President is focused on keeping college costs under control. Under this Administration, students have had more money in their pockets to pay for college. The President signed the largest increase to the maximum Pell Grant in over a decade and provided nearly $40 billion to colleges and universities through the American Rescue Plan, much of which was used for emergency student financial aid, allowing students to breathe a little easier.

Additionally, the Department of Education has already taken significant steps to strengthen accountability, so that students are not left with mountains of debt with little payoff. The agency has re-established the enforcement unit in the Office of Federal Student Aid and it is holding accreditors’ feet to the fire. In fact, the Department just withdrew authorization for the accreditor that oversaw schools responsible for some of the worst for-profit scandals. The agency will also propose a rule to hold career programs accountable for leaving their graduates with mountains of debt they cannot repay, a rule the previous Administration repealed.

Building off of these efforts, the Department of Education is announcing new actions to hold accountable colleges that have contributed to the student debt crisis. These include publishing an annual watch list of the programs with the worst debt levels in the country, so that students registering for the next academic year can steer clear of programs with poor outcomes. They also include requesting institutional improvement plans from the worst actors that outline how the colleges with the most concerning debt outcomes intend to bring down debt levels.
 

*** 

More information on claiming relief will be available to borrowers in the coming weeks.

Borrowers can sign up to be notified when this information is available at StudentAid.gov/debtrelief.

###

Source Article from https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/24/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-student-loan-relief-for-borrowers-who-need-it-most/

Con esperanza de cambio, decenas de tumaqueños recibieron resultados que dieron como ganador al candidato de Autoridades Indígenas de Colombia.

Julio César Rivera aseguró que comenzó una nueva era para los habitantes de Tumaco.

Aunque Juan Carlos Galindo, registrador nacional, dio un parte de tranquilidad en estas elecciones atípicas, algunos ciudadanos del barrio La Ciudadela denunciaron que sus votos iban a ser trasladados en un taxi.

Medidas de seguridad y presencia de la Policía en calles de Tumaco se mantienen para preservar el orden público.

Source Article from http://noticias.caracoltv.com/colombia/julio-cesar-rivera-es-elegido-nuevo-alcalde-de-tumaco-narino

WASHINGTON — After meeting with the top Senate Republican negotiator on a Homeland Security spending bill, President Donald Trump said Thursday that it is “not an option” for Congress to fail to provide security on the U.S. border with Mexico.

“We’ll see what happens but I certainly hear they’re working on something, and both sides are moving along,” he told reporters at the White House after he met with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., earlier in the day. “We need border security. We have to have it. It’s not an option.”

House and Senate negotiators from both parties are racing against a Monday deadline to hammer out a deal that funds the department and increases spending to control illegal immigration and the flow of contraband across the border.

Trump has insisted that he will build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico whether or not Congress grants him the $5.7 billion he has sought for the project, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that she will not sign off an any agreement that provides funding for it.

The president and leading lawmakers in both parties in Congress have voiced support for increasing spending for enhancements to technology for monitoring the border and for improvements to ports of entry to the United States. Trump has said he is considering tapping emergency powers and existing pots of money to build the wall if Congress doesn’t give him the cash he wants — a move that both sides see as likely to lead to a court fight.

If Congress and the president don’t strike an agreement on border security funding by Feb. 15 — and if they don’t pass a stopgap appropriations bill to buy more time — parts of the federal government will shut down for a second time in the last three months.

Trump ended a five-week government shutdown late last month when he announced that he would sign a short-term measure reopening closed federal agencies to give Congress time to negotiate a border-security agreement.

Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/deadline-looming-trump-says-failure-fund-border-security-not-option-n969011

What a difference a year made for Joseph Alcoff.

On Monday, the 37-year-old has a court date in connection with charges he’s facing in Philadelphia that include aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation for allegedly being part of an Antifa mob in November that attacked two Marines, Alejandro Godinez and Luis Torres, both Hispanic. Alcoff and two others charged in the attack have pleaded not guilty.

ANTIFA FIGURE CHARGED IN MARINE ATTACK

But while Democratic officials are distancing themselves from Alcoff now, until recently he was a well-connected, aspiring political player in Washington who may have even had a hand in key policy proposals.

His endorsement apparently mattered when several congressional Democrats in February 2018 issued press releases with his quote backing their bill on regulating payday lenders.

As the payday campaign manager for the liberal group Americans for Financial Reform, Alcoff participated in congressional Democratic press conferences, was a guest on a House Democratic podcast and met with senior officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from 2016 through 2018.

He was also pictured with now-House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Both committees oversee financial regulatory policies Alcoff was advocating.

Alcoff met with then CFPB Director Richard Cordray and other senior CFPB officials on April 2016, again in March 2017 and a third time in May 2017, as first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.

During this time, he reportedly was an Antifa leader in Washington.

Alcoff’s former employer had little to say about the matter.

“As of December, Mr. Alcoff no longer works for AFR,” Carter Dougherty, spokesman for Americans for Financial Reform, told Fox News in an email.

Dougherty didn’t answer whether Alcoff had been fired or resigned. He also didn’t answer whether the organization was aware of Alcoff’s associations during his employment.

Alcoff was reportedly also an organizer for Smash Racism DC, the group responsible for gathering and shouting threats outside the home of Fox News host Tucker Carlson in November and for heckling Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and his wife Heidi at a Washington restaurant in September. Reports have not said Alcoff was directly involved in either incident; only that he was associated with the group.

MARINES TESTIFY ON ANTIFA MOB ATTACK

Democrats are hardly eager to be associated with Alcoff now. Most spokespersons for Democratic members of Congress did not respond to inquiries from Fox News, or distanced themselves from Alcoff.

In one appearance, Alcoff dressed up as “Lenny the Loan Shark” at an event last March held outside the CFPB headquarters, which featured Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va.

“The congressman has never interacted with him nor has he taken any financial policy advice from him. Their names have appeared on the same piece of paper,” Beyer spokesman Aaron Fritschner told Fox News. “He appeared at the same press conference, but they didn’t speak to each other. This person was literally wearing a shark outfit.”

In the February 2018 press statement, House and Senate Democrats co-sponsoring the Stopping Abuse and Fraud in Electronic (SAFE) Lending Act, which boosted regulation on payday lenders, issued versions of a press release, most including the Alcoff quote.

“The Consumer Bureau and Congress have in the past understood the way that payday lenders structure loans to catch Americans in a cycle of debt with exorbitant interest rates,” Alcoff said in the press releases. “It is unfortunate that some in Washington would rather open the loan shark gates than continue to think about sensible borrower protections. The SAFE Lending Act would put Washington back on track to stop the debt trap.”

In August, Alcoff was a guest on the House Democrats’ Joint Economic Committee podcast, criticizing the decline of the CFPB under the Trump administration.

“It’s been an incredible kind of erosion [Trump administration actions] recently, but these are really, really important basic functions [CFPB’s mission] that people across the country should be able to look to Washington and expect,” Alcoff said on the podcast.

In connection with the subsequent attack in Philadelphia, the two Hispanic Marines said the Antifa mob of about 10 or 12 attackers shouted racial slurs during the beating. Only three from the mob were identified and arrested. The attack happened at the same time as a right-wing rally in Philadelphia, which Antifa showed up to protest. The Marines who were assaulted said they were not even aware of the rally.

“On one side, you have the Proud Boys, a racist group of Nazi thugs. On the other side, you have anti-racist activists,” Alcoff’s lawyer Michael Coard told Philadelphia Magazine. “Unfortunately, in the mix, there were two Marines who were caught up in the whole thing as innocent bystanders.”

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Coard, an African American activist in Philadelphia, also told the magazine regarding the alleged slurs, “The question that I have for the D.A.’s office and the police is this: Does anybody think that I, Michael Coard, would represent a racist? … I would never represent a racist. In fact, if I believed that he was a racist, I would prosecute him myself.”

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/antifa-activist-facing-assault-charges-was-tied-to-democratic-policymakers

Critics accused President Donald Trump of playing to anti-Semitic tropes during a speech Saturday in Florida at a conference sponsored by the Israeli-American Council, where he said many Jewish Americans do not “love Israel enough.” 

“We strongly denounce these vile and bigoted remarks in which the president – once again – used anti-Semitic stereotypes to characterize Jews as driven by money and insufficiently loyal to Israel,” said Halie Soifer, the executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, in a statement.

Soifer’s group is currently running an ad that calls Trump the “biggest threat to American Jews,” and she said his comments Saturday “only reinforce” that belief. 

In his address, Trump said the “Jewish State has never had a better friend in the White House” than himself, and he listed his acts since taking office, which he thought demonstrated that friendship. 

Trump’s bromance with Bibi over?:Netanyahu not cited in Florida speech

Israel settlements:Donald Trump proves he’s the ‘King of Israel’

As he discussed his choice of David Friedman as the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Trump told the crowd in Hollywood, Florida, “We have to get the people of our country, of this country, to love Israel more.”

“We have to get them to love Israel more because you have people that are Jewish people, that are great people – they don’t love Israel enough. You know that.” 

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/08/jewish-groups-condemn-trump-remarks/4375229002/

Melania Trump made a surprise trip to Iraq on Wednesday with her husband President Donald Trump to meet with American troops stationed at Al Asad Air Base.

For the visit, which was unscheduled, Melania broke first lady precedent by traveling to an active combat zone. To take selfies with soldiers and speak military members, FLOTUS wore a suede mustard belted blouse with dark green pants.

See the Trumps in Iraq:

President Donald Trump, accompanied by National Security Adviser John Bolton, third from left, first lady Melania Trump, fourth from right, US Ambassador to Iraq Doug Silliman, third from right, and senior military leadership, speaks to members of the media at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)




It’s Melania’s shoe choice that really stood out though. The Timberland boots are being called an “out of touch” style selection by some on Twitter.

One person even suggested that putting on Timberlands was a last-ditch effort by FLOTUS after getting critiqued for her other shoe choices — including the infamous “storm stilettos.”

However, it wouldn’t be the first time that Melania wore a pair of the brand’s boots, and similarly got mocked for them.

RELATED: See FLOTUS’ most divisive looks

As part of her first solo international trip as first lady, Melania visited Nairobi National Park in a white pith helmet, which drew criticism for its colonial-era past. 

Read more here

Melania Trump attended the General Debate of the 73rd session of the General Assembly at the United Nations alongside her husband. Her black dress was thought to be a slight towards President Trump as many people on the internet saw her outfit as a gesture of support for sexual assault survivors.

Read more here.

The Trumps welcomed Polish President Andrzej Duda and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda to the White House in September. The problem? Melania was wearing a wool coat while it was still 80 degrees outside. Furthermore, she didn’t remove her coat while dining inside with the Polish first lady, which Twitter deemed not the best hostess tactic. 

Read more here

Melania Trump tried her hand at gardening for the second time to plant an Eisenhower Oak at the White House in August. The $4000 skirt and sky-high Louboutin heels she wore to dig soil sent the internet aflame. 

“Melania is launching her new line of Gardening Attire, accompanied by the standard 4-inch heels,” joked one Twitter user. 

Read more here

FLOTUS stepped out on August 20th in Maryland to promote her Be Best initiative and discuss cyberbullying. To the event, she wore the once-controversial pussy-bow blouse — the same style she sported during the 2016 presidential debate after the Access Hollywood leak. 

Read more here.

Arguably her most controversial outfit yet, Melania sported a jacket emblazoned with the words “I Really Don’t Care Do You” to visit migrant children separated from their parents in Texas. The Zara jacket retails for $39.

Read more here.  

Melania arrived at POTUS’ State of the Union at the start of the new year in a white Dior pantsuit. Many members of Congress chose to wear black in solidarity with sexual assault survivors and in protest of the Trump administration: Melania stood out in all white. 

Read more here

Following Ivana Trump’s controversial interview in October, Melania donned an emerald green shirtdress from British brand Cefinn to an official visit to Lily’s Place to visit with families affected by addiction. It’s the first non-profit infant recovery center in the world. 

The dress was designed by former first lady of Britain Samantha Cameron. Is she reminding everyone of her status? 

Read more here

Alongside President Trump, FLOTUS arrived in Vegas in October to pay their respects to the 50 victims of the Las Vegas shooting. Her all-black, closed-off look drew some major criticism on Twitter. 

“I’m making a public plea to Melania Trump: stop with the sunglasses (and the heels at disaster areas),” one Twitter user wrote.

Read more here

Twitter had a lot to say about this picture of FLOTUS getting down and dirty in the garden established by former first lady Michelle Obama. 

Her $1380 Balmain shirt wasn’t the most appropriate choice for the event.

Read more here

Though this photo was taken at the White House Congressional Picnic in June, the Trumps tweeted a photo from the event to wish the country a happy Labor Day the following September. 

“We are building our future with American hands, American labor, American iron, aluminum and steel,” POTUS wrote. Ironically, Melania’s dress was designed by Mary Katrantzou, a Greek-born British designer. Twitter had *a lot* to say. 

Read more here.

Off to help Hurricane Harvey victims, Melania made headlines when she boarded Air Force One in sky-high stilettos.

“God grant me the serenity not to comment on the shoes,” wrote one Twitter user.

Read more here

FLOTUS turned heads in a $51,500 floral jacket by Dolce & Gabbana for the G7 summit in Italy. 

Read more here

While visiting Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial, Melania sported a white sleeveless dress. Twitter wasn’t happy with her sporting bare shoulders at the memorial.

Wrote one user, “Melania cover your arms up, show some respect.”

“Geez. The lambasted Michelle Obama for baring her arms and her is Melania Trump in conservative Israel with a sleeveless dress,” said another. 

Read more here

Just days after President Trump landed in hot water following the leaked Access Hollywood recordings, Melania sported a pussy bow shirt to the second presidential debates.

Read more here.




Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Melania Trump’s spokeswoman claims ‘absurdity abounds’ in media coverage of first lady
See the top 10 fashion controversies of 2018, from Melania Trump’s jacket to D&G’s runway fiasco
Fox News host: ‘No other modern first lady has been treated’ as badly as Melania Trump. The internet begs to differ.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.

Source Article from https://www.aol.com/article/lifestyle/2018/12/27/melania-trump-gets-mocked-for-wearing-timberland-boots-while-visiting-the-troops/23627920/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(CNN)It’s been 25 years since the murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey riveted the nation, and now Boulder, Colorado, investigators say they have analyzed almost 1,000 DNA samples to find the killer.

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    Former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenKlobuchar releases names of bundlers Poll: Sanders takes lead in Iowa less than a month before vote Incumbency’s advantage could trump Democrats in 2020 MORE trounces his 2020 presidential primary competitors on support among black Democrats according to a national Washington Post-Ipsos poll released Saturday. 

    Forty-eight percent of black Democrats back the former vice president, outpacing his nearest competitor by 28 points. Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersHill.TV’s Saagar Enjeti: ‘Woke cultural left’ could complicate Sanders’s economic message Klobuchar releases names of bundlers On The Money: Economy adds 145K jobs, meeting expectations | Dow briefly surpasses 29,000 for first time | Poll finds majority back tax hike for richest Americans MORE (I-Vt.) comes in second with 20 percent, followed by Sen. Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth Ann WarrenHill.TV’s Saagar Enjeti: ‘Woke cultural left’ could complicate Sanders’s economic message Klobuchar releases names of bundlers On The Money: Economy adds 145K jobs, meeting expectations | Dow briefly surpasses 29,000 for first time | Poll finds majority back tax hike for richest Americans MORE (D-Mass.) with 9 percent.

    Biden’s firewall among African American voters has helped him maintain his high levels of support in national and early state polls. 

    However, the poll also shows signs of strength for Sanders among younger black Democrats, with him leading Biden 42 percent to 30 percent among African Americans under the age of 35. The Vermont Independent has long banked on strong support from younger Democrats. Biden, however, leads Sanders by a 41-16 percent margin among black Democrats ages 35-49 and gets a whopping 68 percent support among those aged 65 and older. 

    The poll flashes warning signs for several other top- and middle-tier candidates who have thus far failed to gain traction among the crucial voting bloc.

    Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete ButtigiegPeter (Pete) Paul ButtigiegKlobuchar releases names of bundlers Poll: Sanders takes lead in Iowa less than a month before vote Mandy Moore to join Buttigieg on campaign trail in Iowa MORE, who has posted strong showings in largely white Iowa and New Hampshire but polls far weaker in South Carolina, hits only 2 percent in the poll. Sen. Amy KlobucharAmy Jean KlobucharKlobuchar releases names of bundlers Poll: Sanders takes lead in Iowa less than a month before vote Impeachment trial weighs on 2020 Democrats MORE (D-Minn.) receives less than 1 percent support from black Democrats. 

    The poll is one of the most comprehensive to date of a demographic that typically plays an outsized role in determining the Democratic presidential nominee. Biden gets the support of 58 percent of black Democrats in the South, a region with disproportionately high numbers of African Americans that helped propel both Barack ObamaBarack Hussein ObamaIncumbency’s advantage could trump Democrats in 2020 Trump points to stock market gains: ‘How are your 409K’s doing?’ The Memo: Trump claims Iran win while turning down heat MORE and Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonThe blue-state exodus gains momentum The Hill’s Campaign Report: Deadline day for Dems to make January debate Graham, Paul rift deepens over Trump’s war powers MORE to the presidential nominations in 2008 and 2016. 

    African Americans surveyed by The Post pointed to Biden’s association with Obama and his perceived electability as the chief reasons for their support.

    Biden “is the candidate that can try to get this country back on track, because we are way out of control,” said Eula Woodberry, a retired school district budget analyst in Dallas. “He’s levelheaded. I think he’s experienced, and I think he will look at the big picture. . . . He’s the type of person who can serve as the nucleus to bring people back together.”

    “You know he was vice president under Obama. You know his experience. I trust him. I believe him. I think he’s the only person among the Democrats who can defeat Trump,” agreed Edward Phillips.

    The Post-Ipsos poll surveyed 1,088 non-Hispanic black adults from Jan. 2-8 and has a margin of error of 3.5 percent.

    Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/477829-biden-trounces-other-candidates-in-poll-of-black-democrats

    Julio Guzmán, candidato a la presidencia por Todos por el Perú, está con un pie fuera de la contienda electoral, después de que el Jurado Nacional de Elecciones emitió un fallo que rechaza la apelación presentada por su agrupación política.

    PUEDES LEER: Francisco Távara: “El JEE debe considerar la resolución del JNE”

    El politólogo Eduardo Dargent consideró que esta es una situación difícil. “Nos hemos metido en un entrampamiento pensando que con formalidades se pueden fortalecer los partidos. Sin embargo, el propósito de la ley no es anular candidaturas, sino generar cierta competencia y evitar trampas internas”, señaló.

    Julio Guzmán tendría un problema, mientras que los que están tranquilos son los que han sabido trampear. Hacer como si tuvieran todos los requisitos, a pesar de que sabemos que varios partidos no tienen, en realidad, democracia interna.

    Eduardo Dargent

    Para el docente de la PUCP, más allá del fallo del JNE, es necesaria una revisión general de la normativa vigente. “Retirar partidos por reglamento es algo que debe revisarse  y así poder dejar establecidas causas extremas. Sólo bajo esas causas extremas deberían poder retirarse las candidaturas. Estas reglamentaciones actuales sólo generan ‘simulacros’ del cumplimiento de la ley, lo que nos lleva a situaciones absurdas”, dijo.

    En esa misma dirección apunta el análisis del ex jefe de la Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales (ONPE), Fernando Tuesta. Para él, los organismos electorales estarían en una situación difícil.

    Guzmán es el típico outsider. Hay gente que vota por él que no lo ha visto nunca.

    Fernando Tuesta

    Para el sociólogo, la normativa actual se encuentra fuera de la realidad. “Exigen a los partidos cosas que ellos no pueden cumplir. De esta forma, los partidos entregan papeles que no se condicen con lo que se hace”, indicó.


    Si se va Guzmán, ¿A dónde se iría el voto?

    Dargent considera que, de salir Julio Guzmán, hay un elector que decide tarde su voto en campaña y que podría irse con Acción Popular. “En especial los jóvenes, algunos también podrían irse con Verónika Mendoza. El votante urbano, que está buscando algo nuevo, podría en definitiva irse hacia Alfredo Barnechea y, en menor medida, a PPK”, afirmó.

    Asimismo, de quedarse, Julio Guzmán se podría ver fortalecido. “De hecho, el antifujimorismo ayudaría a que crezca Guzmán en una segunda vuelta, eso ya lo han dicho las encuestas”, añadió. Según su perspectiva, candidatos como Julio Guzmán o Barnechea pueden posicionarse al centro del espectro político, lo que atraería el voto antifujimorista.

    Por otro lado, Tuesta comentó que la intención de voto no pasaría de un candidato a otro por cercanía ideológica o programática. “Yo creo que el electorado de Guzmán va a dispersarse porque no se trata de una agrupación con identidad fuerte, donde se daría que dicho liderazgo dirija los votos que lo apoyaron en razón de otro. En el Perú no suele haber endoso de votos”, señaló.

    Tuesta coincide en que Alfredo Barnechea podría recoger esos votos pues, a pesar de ser un político antiguo, se presenta como nuevo para la la gran mayoría de electores jóvenes:

    Asimismo, consideró que el voto de Guzmán es de centro y se podría inclinar hacia Verónika Mendoza. “También podría ir a PPK e incluso, yo diría, un sector a Keiko Fujimori“, refirió.

    Source Article from http://larepublica.pe/politica/741841-que-pasaria-si-sacan-de-carrera-julio-guzman

    Derechos de autor de la imagen
    Lucarelli / Wikipedia

    Image caption

    Los reptiles fueron descubiertos en el lugar en 2015.

    La más grande de las dos, contando su larga y delgada cola, puede medir unos 60 centímetros.

    Pero su tamaño pequeño y aspecto inofensivo no le ha impedido a estas dos especies de lagartijas detener un multimillonario proyecto ferroviario en el sur de Alemania.

    Desde que fuera anunciado en 1994, este megaproyecto bautizado Stuttgart 21, que incluye la construcción de 56 km de vías nuevas para la red transeuropea de ferrocarril, ha estado plagado de demoras por sus elevados costos y por las disputas sobre su impacto ambiental.

    El problema ahora -que tiene la obra frenada desde hace 18 meses- son dos especies de lagartijas consideradas amenazadas en Europa y que fueron halladas en la ruta prevista entre Stuttgart y Ulm.

    Una de ellas es el lagarto ágil (lacerta agilis), una especie de reptil de color variable que pasa el invierno bajo tierra y duerme en agujeros.

    Derechos de autor de la imagen
    Mussklprozz / Wikipedia

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    Frente a la estación muchos han dejado mensajes expresando su desacuerdo con el proyecto.

    En el terreno por donde pasará el tren hallaron un grupo pequeño.

    Pero los individuos de la otra especie en cuestión, la llamada lagartija roquera (Podarcis muralis), se cuentan por miles

    Resolver los problemas cuando se presentan

    Según Deutsche Bahn, la principal compañía detrás del proyecto, el costo de reubicar a estos reptiles ronda los US$16 millones.

    Derechos de autor de la imagen
    George Chernilevsky / Wikipedia

    Image caption

    Un pequeño grupo de lagartos ágiles fue encontrado en el sitio por donde pasará la ruta del ferrocarril.

    Este incluye contratar a un equipo de expertos para atraparlos, transportarlos a su nuevo hábitat a unos 9 Km de allí y monitorear su proceso de adaptación.

    El costo de estos servicios por cada lagartija es de alrededor de US$3.000, afirmó la empresa.

    En opinión de los grupos conservacionistas, el elevado costo del operativo se debe a que el problema, identificado ya hace dos años, no se resolvió en su momento.

    “Si resuelves estos problemas cuando se suscitan, proteger a especies (como estas) no tiene por qué ser tan caro”, le dijo el director de la asociación para la protección de la naturaleza Nabu, Johannes Enssle, a medios alemanes.

    Si bien el proyecto de construcción, que también implica la destrucción de la estación original de Stuttgart, fue anunciado hace más de 20 años, las obras comenzaron recién en 2010.

    Cuando se informó al público de la obra, su costo estimado era de US$2.670 millones. Ahora, asciende a entre US$6.800 millones y US$10.800.

    Se espera que el nuevo complejo ferroviario comience a funcionar en 2021.

    Source Article from http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-39883447