Category Archives: Donald Trump

As Democrats in Nevada went to the polls on Saturday, Donald Trump gleefully stirred the pot over reports that US intelligence believes Russia is trying to aid Bernie Sanders, the frontrunner for the nomination to face the president in November.

In a tweet, Trump said: Democrats in the Great State of Nevada (Which, because of the Economy, Jobs, the Military & Vets, I will win ) be careful of Russia, Russia, Russia.

According to Corrupt politician Adam Shifty Schiff, they are pushing for Crazy Bernie Sanders to win. Vote!

US intelligence has determined that Russian interference in the 2016 US elections not only supported Trump but included efforts to boost Sanders in his bitter primary against the eventual Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.

On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that the House intelligence committee had been briefed that Russia was once again trying to interfere in favour of Trump.

Schiff is the Democratic chair of that committee and as a leading figure in Trumps impeachment over his approaches to Ukraine has become a regular target for presidential vitriol.

Reports about the briefing described a furious reaction from Trump which led to the departure of Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, and his replacement by a Trump loyalist, the ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell.

On Saturday, ABC News released an interview in which Robert O'Brien, Trump's fourth national security adviser, said he had not seen any intelligence that Russia is doing anything to attempt to get President Trump reelected.

On Friday, the Post reported that Sanders, Trump and lawmakers on Capitol Hill had been briefed about Russian assistance to the Vermont senator this year, but said it was not clear what the effort involved.

In a statement, Sanders said: I dont care, frankly, who [Russian president Vladimir] Putin wants to be president. My message to Putin is clear: Stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do.

In 2016, Russia used internet propaganda to sow division in our country, and my understanding is that they are doing it again in 2020. Some of the ugly stuff on the internet attributed to our campaign may well not be coming from real supporters.

In Nevada, ugly stuff attributed to Sanders supporters has included abuse aimed at female leaders of the Culinary Workers Union, an influential presence in the state which opposes the Vermont senators plan for Medicare for All healthcare reform.

Nonetheless, Sanders seems set to win. On Saturday morning the realclearpolitics.com polling average for Nevada put the progressive star 16.5 points up on two moderates, Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden.

Nationally, Sanders leads the same sites average by 11.4 points, over Biden and the former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, who is not competing in Nevada.

Some suggest Trump wants to face Sanders at the polls, rather than Biden or Bloomberg.

Rick Wilson, a former Republican consultant turned author and ardent Trump critic, recently told the Guardian that Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who sits in the Senate as an independent, would be the easiest person in the world to turn into the comic opera villain Republicans love to hate, the Castro sympathiser, the socialist, the Marxist, the guy who wants to put the aristos in the tumbril as they cart them off to the guillotine.

The special counsel Robert Muellers investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election did not establish a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Moscow but did lay out extensive contacts and numerous instances in which the president seemed to seek to obstruct the course of justice.

Trump has claimed vindication but the investigation remains a running sore and at a campaign rally in Las Vegas on Friday, he duly took aim at his political opponents.

I see these phoneys, the do-nothing Democrats, Trump said. They said today that Putin wants to be sure that Trump gets elected. Here we go again. Here we go again. Did you see it? ... Now I just see it again. I was told that was happening, I was told a week ago. They said you know theyre trying to start a rumor. Its disinformation.

In tweets and retweets after the event, the president loosed off shots at another favourite target, the media.

Referring to MSNBC as MSDNC (Comcast Slime), he said that network and CNN and others of the Fake Media, have now added Crazy Bernie to the list of Russian Sympathizers, along with Tulsi Gabbard [and] Jill Stein (of the Green Party), both agents of Russia, they say.

Gabbard, a Hawaii congresswoman still in the running for the Democratic nomination but not registering significantly in the polls, has sued Hillary Clinton for allegedly calling her a Russian asset.

Stein was the Green nominee for president in 2016, taking nearly 1.5m votes nationally (while the Libertarian Gary Johnson took more than 4m) in a contest Clinton won by nearly 3m. Trump took the White House in the electoral college.

Clinton beat Trump by two points in Nevada, a key swing state again this year.

On Twitter, Trump claimed the reason for media reports that President Putin wants Bernie (or me) to win is that the Do Nothing Democrats, using disinformation Hoax number 7, dont want Bernie Sanders to get the Democrat Nomination, and they figure this would be very bad for his chances.

Its all rigged, again, against Crazy Bernie Sanders!

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Donald Trump pounces on reports Russia is seeking to help Bernie Sanders - The Guardian

Donald Trump's previously close relationship with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson looks close to collapse, with the president reportedly accusing him "betrayal" after a furious phone call between the two leaders.

Trump's behaviour during the call was described by officials as "apoplectic," with the president reportedly slamming the phone down to end the call.

Johnson has now cancelled his plans for a visit to the White House next month.

The prime minister had been one of Trump's few close international allies, with the president labelling Johnson "fantastic," a "good man" and "Britain Trump."

However, relations broke down following a series of high-profile threats from Trump and a series of pointed interventions against Trump by Johnson and senior members of his government.

Here's how Trump is losing the support of the leader of the United States' closest international ally.

Getty President Donald Trump reportedly slammed the phone down on UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson last month after what officials described as an "apoplectic" call.

The call was ended by Trump "slamming the phone down" on Johnson.

The call, which one source described to the Financial Times as "very difficult," came after Johnson defied Trump and allowed Chinese telecoms company Huawei the rights to develop the UK's 5G network.

Trump's fury was triggered by Johnson backing Huawei despite multiple threats by Trump and his allies that the United States would withdraw security co-operation with the UK if the deal went ahead.

Trump's threats reportedly "irritated" the UK government, with Johnson frustrated at the president's failure to suggest any alternatives to the deal.

Following the call, US Vice President Mike Pence said that the Trump administration had made its disappointment at the UK "very clear to them".

The official UK account of the call gives a hint of the disagreement, stating that "the Prime Minister underlined the importance of like-minded countries working together to diversify the market and break the dominance of a small number of companies."

Johnson has cancelled his planned trip to Washington, which was due to take place next month.

Getty Trump has threatened a new trade war with European countries over their continued support for the Iran nuclear deal.

The threats were met with a stark response from Johnson earlier this month.

The prime minister used his first major speech on Brexit since the general election to hit back at the president's threats, launching a barely coded attack on President Trump and his "protectionist" economic strategy.

"Free trade is being choked," Johnson told an event in London on Monday, referencing ongoing trade battles between Washington and China.

"And that is no fault of the people, that's no fault of individual consumers. I am afraid it is the politicians who are failing to lead."

In a clear barb at Trump and his threats to launch a new trade war with Europe, Johnson added that "from Brussels to China to Washington, tariffs are being waved around like cudgels, even in debates on foreign policy where frankly they have no place."

Boris Johnson and Donald Trump Getty Trump's decision to assassinate Qassem Soleimani last month was quickly criticised by Johnson's administration, with UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab warning that further conflict with Iran is "in none of our interests."

Raab subsequently warned that terrorists "would be the only winners" of any conflict with the West.

Trump's threats to target Iranian cultural sites were also criticised by Johnson, with his spokesperson telling reporters in London that any attempt to do so would be a war crime.

Getty Johnson's administration's most outspoken criticism of Trump came last month from the UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.

Wallace said that Trump's isolationist foreign policy meant that the UK would have to consider ending its continued support for US-led interventions.

"I worry if the United States withdraws from its leadership around the world," hetold The Sunday Times.

He added: "The assumptions of 2010 that we were always going to be part of a US coalition is really just not where we are going to be."

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Donald Trump ally Boris Johnson says the president is 'failing to lead' - Business Insider - Business Insider

Schiff appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! remembered expressing his shock at being recognized on the street while visiting his daughter at college in New York.

Well, you know Dad, its the pencil neck, Schiff said she responded. Trump called Schiff a little pencil-neck during a rally in Michigan in March 2019.

Schiff said his collar size was 16 1/2, which Kimmel deemed perfectly reasonable. He also revealed how people now sometimes approach him and are surprised to find his neck looks kind of normal.

Kimmel suggested it was a good thing Trump was obsessed with Schiff, the lead House impeachment manager in the Senate trial of the president.

I spend half my day inside his head, apparently, and I gotta tell you its pretty scary in there, said Schiff. Its everything I can do to avoid all the marbles rolling around.

Check out the full interview here:

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Adam Schiff Reveals The Donald Trump Insult His Daughter Jokingly Used Against Him - HuffPost

Donald Trump Jr has been granted the right to hunt a grizzly bear in north-western Alaska near the Bering Sea town of Nome, a state official says.

The son of US president Donald Trump was one of three people who applied for 27 spots for non-resident hunters targeting grizzlies in a designated region of north-western Alaskas Seward Peninsula, said Eddie Grasser, the wildlife conservation director for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The state conducts periodic drawings for permits to hunt bears, caribou, moose and other animals in various regions. Winners are chosen by a lottery, and there are typically many more applications than hunting tags awarded.

We get thousands of applications, Grasser said on Friday. Whether anyone won came down to pure chance, luck of the draw.

But in the case of the bear-hunt permit the presidents son won, there was little competition. Twenty-four tags for hunting bears in that region went unclaimed, Grasser said.

Winners of the states latest hunting-permit drawings were announced on Friday.

To follow through with the Nome-area bear hunt, Trump had to pay a $1,000 non-resident tag fee and buy a $160 non-resident hunting license, Grasser said.

The presidents eldest son is an avid hunter and has made several trips to hunt in Alaska and Canada. He is scheduled to go to Alaska later this year to hunt deer and ducks.

The Safari Club this month raffled off a $150,000 seven-day dream hunt expedition with Trump Jr. The raffle winner got the right to accompany the presidents son on a yacht traveling in November along coastal areas of the Tongass National Forest.

Link:

Donald Trump Jr granted permit to hunt Alaska grizzly bear - The Guardian

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump retweeted calls for Mr. Barr to clean house at the Justice Department, apparently referring to anyone with the temerity to maintain allegiance to the Constitution rather than to the president.

Characteristically, while interfering in the justice system, Mr. Trump is both insisting hes doing nothing of the sort and asserting his right to do so. Just so you understand, I chose not to be involved, he said Tuesday in response to a question about his meddling in Mr. Stones case. Im allowed to be totally involved.

This is in the style of autocrats across the globe, who weaponize the law to help themselves and their friends and hurt their enemies. The nations legal system is now run by a man who has spent his life mocking it.

He is trying to turn the people charged with federal law enforcement into presidential fixers, starting with Mr. Barr, who finds himself in a tight spot. Whether or not you believe him when he says the presidents tweets make his job impossible, the fact is that he said it, and that Mr. Trump ignored him. And if you do believe him, then you have to ask why, if his job has become impossible, he hasnt resigned already. (You might also ask just what Mr. Barr considers his job to be.) Mr. Barr becomes only the latest in a long line of powerful officials Mr. Trump has seemed to take delight in publicly humiliating, including, to name just a few: Jeff Sessions, Rex Tillerson, H.R. McMaster, Jim Mattis, Kirstjen Nielsen and John Kelly.

This is the second time in half a century that a lawless chief executive has tested the nations fundamental constitutional design. The first time, we passed. But now we know that the mechanisms put in place after Watergate were not sufficient. One potential new safeguard would be for Congress to make the Justice Department more independent, like the Federal Reserve, thus insulating it from the self-interested meddling of unethical presidents. The Supreme Court is currently considering the scope of Congresss power to establish independent agencies. However it rules, the current checks are demonstrably not strong enough.

If there is anything useful to draw from Mr. Trumps degradation of the rule of law and the powers of his office, its that he is exposing a critical vulnerability in the Constitutions design, which anticipated presidents behaving badly, but not this badly. To be fair, the founders did include two backstops to guard against a lawless chief executive: One is impeachment. The other is a quadrennial election.

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When Donald Trump Is the Law - The New York Times

It is common knowledge that Donald Trump Jr, the son of the billionaire president, is just a regular guy. But now this truth is indubitable, because it turns out Don Jr flies coach.

I am not an elitist I like fishing, hunting, red meat, trucks and guns.And yes, I usually fly coach, he said in an Instagram post on Sunday.

Don Jr posted the statement alongside a screenshot from someones Twitter feed presumably a fan of Trumps who praised his humble act of flying coach. How cool is this? tweeted Dennis Harms. He posted a photo of Don Jr sitting in the middle seat behind him, saying Dont anyone tell me the Trump family doesnt know how real Americans live, giving an entirely new meaning to the phrase squeezed middle.

In fact, 40% of Americans have never left the country, and a 2017 survey by Airlines for American found that most Americans hadnt flown that year. Twelve per cent of Americans have never flown at all. Don Jr, on the other hand, spent about $125,000 on flights to Dubai in 2017 with his brother Eric. They were visiting a golf course (you know, golf, that notoriously working-class sport that costs over $1,000 on average to start playing?) But it is totally not elitist because he wasnt paying for it the taxpayer was! At least he left the private plane at home. Humble.

Oh, and by the way, about that super non-elitist hunting hobby of his. Don Jrs regular trips to the Yukon mountains to hunt stone sheep are actually kind of pricey one in August 2017 cost the Secret Service $16,600, according to Politico. And it looks like Don Jr didnt even get a discount for staying at his fathers hotel he spent $5,700 at the Trump International Hotel and Tower on that same trip. Which is official proof that Don Jr refuses to use his dads name to get a leg up. Just like all of the other non-elitist Americans who happen to be the presidents son.

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Flying coach, red meat and trucks: why Donald Trump Jr thinks hes not the elite - The Guardian

WASHINGTON (AP) In their boisterous presidential debate, several Democrats sold short the health care plans of rivals or glossed over aspects of their own record. In an audacious league of his own, President Donald Trump celebrated the elimination of a tax that still exists and went deep and wide in distorting what hes done in office.

A sampling from the past week:

TAXES

TRUMP: We got rid of it. No more death tax, no more inheritance tax. Colorado rally Thursday.

THE FACTS: False. The death tax is still alive.

Hes referring to the estate tax, also known as the inheritance tax. He didnt get rid of it.

The 2017 tax overhaul doubled the threshold at which the estate tax gets levied. A couple worth less than $22.4 million would avoid the tax. But the increase of the threshold isnt permanent. Its set to expire in 2026.

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TRUMP, on the effects of the estate tax on people inheriting family farms: You know what? They go out and they would borrow a lot of money and they would lose the farms. The number is staggering. Colorado rally.

THE FACTS: Hes inflating the peril to family farms from the estate tax, which is aimed at the hugely wealthy. After his 2017 tax cuts, the Agriculture Department published estimates that 38,106 farm estates would be created in 2018. Of those, only 230 would have to file an estate tax return and only 133 would have any estate tax liability.

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TRADE

TRUMP: If our formally targeted farmers need additional aid until such time as the trade deals with China, Mexico, Canada and others fully kick in, that aid will be provided by the federal government, paid for out of the massive tariff money coming into the USA! tweet Friday in all capital letters.

THE FACTS: Thats a flatly false account of where the money for the farm subsidies comes from. It comes from U.S. taxpayers. There is no massive tariff money coming into the country, from which the subsidies could be drawn.

Since the start of his trade war with China, Trump has been consistently deceptive about who is paying for it. Tariffs are principally paid by U.S. importers and those costs are usually passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices for goods. China and other exporters are not cutting the U.S. a check. The money to help farmers hurt by the trade war comes from the U.S. treasury at the expense of other federal programs and the debt.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says household income takes a hit from the tariffs. It estimated last year that the tariffs then in play would bring down average inflation-adjusted household income by $580 from 2018 to 2020.

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STOP AND FRISK

DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MIKE BLOOMBERG, on the stop-and-frisk policing policy when he was New York mayor: What happened, however, was it got out of control and when we discovered I discovered that we were doing many, many, too many stop and frisks, we cut 95% of them out. Democratic debate Wednesday.

THE FACTS: Hes misrepresenting how stop and frisk declined. That happened because of a court order, not because Bloomberg learned that it was being overused.

In Bloombergs first 10 years in office, the number of stop-and-frisk actions increased nearly 600% from when he took office in 2002, reaching a peak of nearly 686,000 stops in 2011. That declined to about 192,000 documented stops in 2013, his final year as mayor.

Bloomberg achieved his claim of a 95% cut by cherry-picking the quarterly high point of 203,500 stops in the first quarter of 2012 and comparing that with the 12,485 stops in the last quarter of 2013.

The former mayor defended the practice even after leaving office at the end of 2013 and only apologized for it a few weeks before declaring his candidacy for presidency.

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COAL

BLOOMBERG, citing his philanthropys work with the Sierra Club: Already weve closed 304 out of the 530 coal fire plants in the United States, and weve closed 80 out of the 200 or 300 that are in Europe. Democratic debate.

THE FACTS: Hes wrongly taking credit for driving the U.S. coal industry to its knees.

The U.S. coal industrys plunge is largely due to market forces, above all drops in prices of natural gas and renewable energy that have made costlier coal-fired power plants much less competitive for electric utilities. Bloomberg has indeed contributed huge sums to efforts to close coal plants and fight climate change, but against the backdrop of an industry besieged on other fronts.

U.S. coal production peaked in 2008, but since then has fallen steadily. Thats due largely to a boom in oil and gas production from U.S. shale, begun under the Obama administration, that made natural gas far more abundant and cheaper, and falling prices for wind and solar energy, partly because of improving technology in the renewable sector.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reaffirmed in a report in December the extent to which the market has turned away from coal.

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HEALTH CARE

TRUMP, on Sanders Medicare for All plan: Think of this: 180 million Americans are going to lose health care coverage under this plan. But if you dont mind, Im not going to criticize it tonight. Let them keep going and Ill start talking about it about two weeks out from the election. Arizona rally Wednesday.

THE FACTS: Thats a thorough misrepresentation of the Sanders plan as well as similar plans by Democrats in Congress. People wouldnt lose coverage. Under Sanders, they would be covered by a new and universal government plan that replaces private and job-based insurance. Democrats who stop short of proposing to replace private and job-based insurance would offer an option for people to take a Medicare-like plan, also toward the goal of ensuring universal coverage.

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WARREN on Klobuchars health plan: It is like a Post-it note, insert plan here. ... Amy, I looked online at your plan. Its two paragraphs. Democratic debate.

THE FACTS: Thats not true. Klobuchars health care policies run thousands of words online, addressing coverage, substance abuse and mental health, prescription drugs and the elderly. Some of her material lacks specifics found in the plans of several of her rivals. Yet aspects of her agenda are grounded in detailed legislation led or supported by the senator from Minnesota.

Its true that Klochuchars main health policy page devotes two paragraphs to summarizing her way of achieving universal coverage. But thats not the extent of her plan.

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SANDERS, to Buttigieg: Lets level, Pete. Under your plan, which is a maintenance continuation of the status quo. ... Democratic debate.

WARREN: Buttigiegs health care plan is not a plan. Its a PowerPoint.

THE FACTS: Its more than the status quo and more than a PowerPoint presentation. Buttigiegs plan would cover almost all U.S. citizens and legal residents, even if its not as far reaching as the proposals of Sanders and Warren.

An analysis of health care overhaul plans by the Urban Institute and the Commonwealth Fund found that an approach like the one advocated by Buttigieg would reduce the number of uninsured people from more than 32 million to less than 7 million. Those 7 million or so would mainly be people who are in the country illegally.

The proposal from Buttigieg features a new government-sponsored public option plan that even people with employer-sponsored coverage could join voluntarily.

Warrens put-down of Buttigiegs plan comes after she reconsidered her own approach to Medicare for All, deciding to proceed in stages. She would first expand coverage by building on existing programs and postpone the push for a system fully run by the government until the third year of her presidency.

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TRUMP: We are now offering plans that are up to 60% less expensive than they were, and it is better health care. Arizona rally.

THE FACTS: Cheaper, yes. But not cheaper and better.

The bargain health insurance plans Trump talks about are cheaper because they skimp on benefits such as maternity or prescription drug coverage and do not guarantee coverage of preexisting conditions.

The short-term plans the Trump administration is promoting as an alternative to the Affordable Care Act provide up to 12 months of coverage and can be renewed for up to 36 months.

Premiums for the plans are about one-third the cost of fuller insurance coverage. Theyre intended for people who want an individual health insurance policy but make too much money to qualify for Obamacare subsides.

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TRUMP: We are protecting people with preexisting conditions ... we are trying to get rid of Obamacare ... we are trying to get rid, so we can give you a great health-care plan and protect preexisting conditions. Arizona rally.

THE FACTS: Not really. People with preexisting medical problems have health insurance protections because of Obamas health care law. As Trump notes, he is trying to dismantle it.

One of Trumps major alternatives to Obamas law short-term health insurance doesnt have to cover preexisting conditions. Meanwhile, his administration has been pressing in court for full repeal of the Obama-era law, including provisions that protect people with preexisting conditions from health insurance discrimination.

He and congressional Republicans say they would put new protections in place, but they have not spelled them out.

With Obamas law still in place, preexisting conditions continue to be covered by regular individual health insurance plans. Insurers must take all applicants, regardless of medical history, and charge the same standard premiums to healthy people and those who had medical problems before or when they signed up.

Before the Affordable Care Act, any insurer could deny coverage or charge more to anyone with a preexisting condition who was seeking to buy an individual policy.

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PRESIDENTIAL POWERS

TRUMP, on one of the people who benefited from his round of pardons and sentence commutations: Rod Blagojevich did not sell the Senate seat. He served 8 years in prison, with many remaining. He paid a big price. Another Comey and gang deal! tweet Wednesday.

THE FACTS: Thats misleading at best. The FBI closed in on Blagojevich when he was trying to make the sale. He was convicted of trying to sell an appointment to President Barack Obamas former Senate seat as well as trying to shake down a childrens hospital. Trump commuted the sentence of the former Illinois governor on Tuesday.

James Comey, the FBI director fired by Trump, had nothing to do with the case. Comey was working in the private sector when Blagojevich was indicted, tried and convicted. As for Comeys gang, Patrick Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor who brought the case against Blagojevich, is a Comey friend and one of his lawyers.

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TRUMP: Im actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country. remarks Tuesday to reporters.

THE FACTS: Thats disputed.

Several veterans of Obamas administration described Trumps assertion as simply wrong on the law, while conservative legal minds say they think Trump is right.

While the president is in charge constitutionally, as a matter of good policy, presidents have kept law enforcement at arms length, said John Yoo, a University of California at Berkeley law school professor and Justice Department lawyer during President George W. Bushs Republican administration. Neutrality in law enforcement is important if the government is to have the credibility and integrity to convince judges and juries, who are the ones who ultimately render the verdict.

Trumps push for leniency for convicted confidant Roger Stone drew condemnation from more than 2,400 former Justice Department officials who served in Democratic and Republican administrations.

Martin Lederman, a Georgetown law professor and former Obama Justice Department official, said on Twitter that Congress, not the president, gives the authority to prosecute to the attorney general. Its also the attorney generals responsibility, Lederman said, to stand up to a president who charts an unlawful course, knowing that it might ... lead to removal.

Chris Lu, who managed Obamas Cabinet in his first term, said the Obama White House followed its predecessors in adhering to strict rules on who could communicate with the Justice Department and on what topics.

What Trump is suggesting is at odds with this longstanding precedent and dangerous to the principle of impartial justice, Lu said.

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Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Jonathan Lemire, Ellen Knickmeyer, Eric Tucker, Mark Sherman and Paul Wiseman in Washington and Amanda Seitz in Chicago contributed to this report.

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EDITORS NOTE A look at the veracity of claims by political figures.

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Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd

Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck

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AP FACT CHECK: Donald Trump and the audacity of hype - Associated Press

The department can also show leniency to a presidents political friends. The Roger Stone case is an example. Indeed, the very possibility that it will do so can create a strong incentive to become the presidents political friend.

The presidents power over the Justice Department is potentially even more dangerous than that. The department helps to oversee the antitrust laws, and in allowing or forbidding mergers, it can play political favorites. Civil actions, and not merely criminal ones, can be polluted by the presidents electoral interest (or spite).

The Office of Legal Counsel, which sits within the department, is supposed to provide the president and the rest of the executive branch with objective legal advice. But at least some of the time, that offices judgment is anything but objective. To an uncomfortable degree, its assessment of what the president is entitled to do, as a matter of law, often fits with the presidents wishes.

In the post-Watergate era, a reasonable balance has been struck. As a matter of established norms, both Republican and Democratic presidents have usually given the attorney general a great deal of room to maneuver, especially when it comes to criminal prosecutions and ongoing litigation. In other words, norms have done the work of law.

Under President Trump, those norms have come under severe pressure. If they collapse, there would be incalculable damage to both liberty and self-government.

In light of that risk, Congress should seriously consider making the Justice Department an independent agency. Sure, a Republican-dominated Senate is unlikely to allow that to happen in the near future.

But wouldnt it be better? There are two objections.

The first involves accountability. Theres a reasonable argument that the priorities of the department, which oversees so many important questions of law and policy, should reflect the views of the American people and so the president, whom they elected.

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Imagine That Donald Trump Has Almost No Control Over Justice - The New York Times

In April, Miller initiated a purge of D.H.S. It began with the firing of Nielsen, then continued with the ouster of Vitiello, Cissna, the head of Customs and Border Protection, and the departments top lawyer. Restrictionist groups like the Center for Immigration Studies protested Cissnas departure. Chuck Grassley, who had worked with Cissna on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that the President was pulling the rug out from the very people that are trying to help him accomplish his goal. But with Nielsen and the other officials gone, Miller was able to move loyalists into the top positions. One of them was Matthew Albence, the new head of ICE, who, in congressional testimony from 2018, compared family-detention facilities to summer camp. A senior D.H.S. official said, Now there are no breaks in the chain of command.

Disgruntled department veterans saw many of Millers actions as policy miscues and legal errors, but they were more likely signs of Millers success. So was the political deadlock on immigration, which the White House was deliberately exacerbating. Michael Chertoff, who led D.H.S. under GeorgeW. Bush, told me, The only two arguments you hear now are Dont enforce the law at all, or Be draconian. Miller has exploited calls by left-wing Democrats to abolish ICE and to decriminalize border crossings. On the whole, public outrage has dissipated, and the federal courts, which are increasingly populated by Trump appointees, are starting to uphold the Administrations policies. The U.S. is resettling the fewest number of refugees in its history; there are more than fifty-five thousand asylum seekers stuck in Mexico under a policy called the Migrant Protection Protocols; and the Central American asylum dealsknown as safe third-country agreementsare expanding. A former senior official told me, Without Miller, Nielsen would still be secretary. There would be no safe third-country agreements, no M.P.P. He pushed and pushed. He simply works harder than everyone else.

Last October, the Presidents fourth head of Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan, who filled the position left by Nielsen, announced his resignation, six months into the job. What I dont have control over is the tone, the message, the public face and approach of the department in an increasingly polarized time, he told the Washington Post. White House officials initially distrusted McAleenan, who was a career official and had served during the Obama Administration. Yet the President soon came to depend on McAleenans experience: after he took charge of the department, the number of immigrants apprehended at the southern border dropped by close to sixty per cent. He was also the lead negotiator of the Central American asylum deals. When McAleenan tendered his resignation, Miller initially refused to accept it.

In late fall, as Trumps impeachment hearings began, Miller tried to limit his own public exposure. He was getting a little too much steady attention, so he knew he had to hang back, a top Administration official told me. Miller has survived the upheavals in Trumps inner circle by representing himself as a member of the supporting cast. This strategy was reinforced by the demise of Steve Bannon, who, a few months before being fired, in August, 2017, appeared on the cover of Time, next to the headline The Great Manipulator. Sessions was forced out in November, 2018, after having recused himself from the Russia probe. Trump continued to mock him, often in front of Miller. According to someone who witnessed the exchanges, Miller never spoke up to defend his mentor. He was part of the family now, a White House official told me.

By the end of November, Miller was back in the news, though not by choice. The Southern Poverty Law Center acquired and published hundreds of e-mails that Miller had exchanged, between 2015 and 2016, with editors at Breitbart. They included links to articles on the white-supremacist Web site VDare, as well as an enthusiastic reference to The Camp of Saints, a racist French novel about the ravages of immigration. In one e-mail, Miller approvingly forwarded an article arguing that the U.S. should deport immigrants on trains to scare out the people who want to undo our country. In Congress, there were calls for his resignation, but only from Democrats.

The e-mail scandal barely registered at the White House, where Miller faced a greater challenge. At Trumps behest, Jared Kushnerwho was already responsible for negotiating peace in the Middle East, overhauling international trade agreements, and leading the Presidents relection campaignhas added immigration to his portfolio. Stephen understands that Kushner is the real power, a former White House official said. He would never cross Kushner.

When Kushner came in to work on this, he told people that they were too close to the issue, that he had the distance from it that was needed, a senior Republican aide told me. A number of people Kushner consulted on the Hill recommended that he start by trying smaller deals, such as one on DACA. Im doing this big or Im not doing it at all, he responded. In May, from a dais in the White House Rose Garden, Trump announced the broad contours of Kushners merit-based immigration plan, in which applicants would be evaluated based not on family ties, as in the current system, but on a combination of factors, including language skills, education, and employment prospects. (Sitting in the front row was Lindsey Graham, who was now one of Trumps strongest allies.) In 2013, when Miller was first engaged in immigration policy, he and Sessions talked about moving to a merit-based system, and it was laughed about, one of the former Republican aides told me. It wasnt just a fringe position. It was a politically impossible position. Now the proposal represents the White Houses moderate pitch, though it is still unlikely to get through Congress.

A six-hundred-page bill that details Kushners plan has been circulating in Washington. It would not directly lower the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country each year, but, so far, Miller has coperated with Kushner, writing the parts of it that address asylum and family detention. Jared is the most powerful White House adviser, but hes very busy, a person who has worked closely with both Miller and Kushner told me. Miller is focussed on one thing. He and Kushner make situational alliances. They both think the President needs the other, and they each believe in the others absolute loyalty to Trump. In all my time around them, I have never heard either one of them say a negative word about the other, and thats not true of anyone else.

Recently, the number of migrants intercepted at the border has dropped significantlyfrom a hundred and forty-four thousand, in May, 2019, to thirty-six thousand, last month. Asylum seekers stuck in Mexico have given up on reaching the U.S. Americas legal and moral standing may not survive the Administrations immigration policies, but Trump has succeeded in realizing one of his most infamous tweets: Our country is full.

With the border virtually sealed, Miller is turning his attention inward. D.H.S. has begun sending armed agents from Border Patrol SWAT teams to New York, Chicago, and other so-called sanctuary cities, where local law enforcement has limited its coperation with ICE. Theres no one left at D.H.S. to say No to Miller anymore, a senior department official told me. Another official was present at a meeting in which Miller advocated allowing ICE officers to pull children out of school.

This summer, months before the election, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether the Administration can cancel DACA. Everythingeverything!hinges on that decision, a former senior D.H.S. official told me. If the Supreme Court ends DACA, then Miller will be in ecstasy. Hell finally have the leverage over the Democratic Congress that hes been dying to have this entire time. Hell say, Well, youre all worried were going to deport them. What will you agree to? The official continued, Itll be the summer of a huge campaign, and Miller will be in his glory.

An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

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How Stephen Miller Manipulates Donald Trump to Further His Immigration Obsession - The New Yorker

President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump suggests Sotomayor, Ginsburg should have to recuse themselves on 'Trump related' cases Sanders says idea he can't work with Republicans is 'total nonsense' Sanders releases list of how to pay for his proposals MORE promised to end the reckless foreign intervention of the United States over the past two decades, and he is keeping that promise. Reports indicate that he is closer than ever to fulfilling this by bringing a satisfactory end to the longest war in American history. After years of negotiations, the Taliban appears on the verge of signing an accord that would pave the way for a reduction of hostilities, a settlement on the future of Afghanistan, and a withdrawal of American troops.

If and when the deal is signed, about 5,000 troops will leave Afghanistan. If conditions continue to improve after that, the remaining 8,000 soldiers could eventually be brought home as well, ending an military presence of 18 years that has long since fallen off the radar of most Americans who do not have friends or loved ones in danger. As I wrote a decade ago in Operation Dark Heart, a negotiated settlement would be a necessary solution to end the Afghanistan conflict. Trump has taken the path to victory and is bringing an effective conclusion to the war.

After our country was attacked on 9/11, the United States had to retaliate against the monsters who killed more than 3,000 innocent civilians. Our superb military proved its valor and worth, enduring deployment after deployment and years of bloody conflict around the world to deliver that righteous retribution. Osama Bin Laden and his successor as the most prominent leader of Islamist terror, Abu Bakr Baghdadi, are both dead, brought to justice by the powerful might of American arms.

Nevertheless, on the campaign trail, Trump struck a chord with Americans by promising to avoid endless wars, which is exactly what our involvement in Afghanistan had become over the years. By the 2016 election, however, Americans finally came to recognize an ugly truth that the global war on terror had long since transformed into an open commitment of American troops to hostile war zones with no obvious conditions for victory.

Nowhere has this been more clear than in Afghanistan. Our presence there is now officially older than some of the American soldiers fighting there. Our troops were originally tasked with rooting out those people responsible for 9/11 and establishing a legitimate government in Kabul, but today their mission and the definition of victory are unclear.

For far too many years, Americans have fought and died to create the conditions for peace to flourish and for the democratic government in Kabul to establish its own legitimate authority. Just last week, two more American families joined the roughly 2,400 others who have received the tragic news that their loved one will never leave Afghanistan.

But the war in Afghanistan is no longer crucial to the core of our national security, leaving our troops with no obvious mission. Our Afghan partners need our support, but the exact conditions that would constitute a victory are unclear. Even if we had clear victory conditions, we do not even have accurate metrics to judge whether we have achieved them.

Given these realities, Trump and his advisers have now charted the best possible path forward. We have to set a clear and easily verified condition of a reduction in violence and aggression from the Taliban. American troops and negotiators meeting with Taliban and Afghan government representatives in Qatar appear to be on the cusp of achieving that.

Trump gave a lot of American families a great deal of renewed hope when he promised to stop the endless wars that have taken so many American lives over the past two decades. By fulfilling that promise, he is finally turning that hope into gratitude and relief across the country.

Tony Shaffer is a retired senior intelligence operations officer who served with the United States Army. He is now the president of the London Center for Policy Research and an adviser to the 2020 campaign of Donald Trump.

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Donald Trump is ending endless war | TheHill - The Hill