Source: The Hill

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday doubled down on his request to fire the State Department's internal watchdog, while also refusing to detail his reason for recommending the move.

“Frankly should have done it some time ago,” Pompeo said during a combative briefing with reporters at the State Department, referring to his request.

...

Trump told reporters after he terminated Linick that he had done so on Pompeo’s recommendation and didn’t know the man, saying that he was an Obama appointee was reason enough to call for his termination.

Pompeo on Wednesday denied any knowledge of investigations being undertaken by Linick, saying charges of political retaliation are “patently false.”

“I’ve seen the various stories that someone was walking my dog to sell arms to my dry cleaner, I mean, it’s just crazy,” he said.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/international/498730-pompeo-on-ig-firing-frankly-shouldve-done-it-some-time-ago

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https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1263120297366085634

Source: The Hill

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) fired back at President Trump Tuesday after the president referred to Northam as “crazy” and an opponent of Second Amendment rights.

Trump, speaking at a White House event Tuesday, followed a speaker from Virginia by saying, "We're going after Virginia, with your crazy governor, we're going after Virginia. They want to take your Second Amendment. You know that, right? You'll have nobody guarding your potatoes."

“I grew up on a Virginia farm, Mr. President — our potatoes are fine. And as the only medical doctor among our nation's governors, I suggest you stop taking hydroxychloroquine,” Northam tweeted. “Let's all get back to work.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/498540-virginia-governor-fires-back-at-trump-i-suggest-you-stop-taking

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https://twitter.com/GovernorVA/status/1262785595216211969

Source: The Hill


President Trump will be required to wear a mask when he visits a Ford ventilator assembly plant in Michigan this week, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday.

"Our policy is that everyone wears PPE to prevent the spread of COVID-19," Ford spokeswoman Rachel McCleery said in a statement to Crain's Detroit Business.

"We shared all of Ford's safety protocols, including our manufacturing playbook, employee pamphlet and self-assessment survey with the White House ahead of time and in preparation for this trip."

...

If the president follows Ford's provisions, it will mark the first time he will have worn a mask in public since the coronavirus pandemic began. He did not wear a mask during previous trips to Arizona and Pennsylvania, and he has previously suggested the mask would be a hindrance during meetings with other leaders.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/498551-ford-to-require-trump-to-wear-mask-during-plant-visit-report

Source: The Hill

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the most senior Republican in the Senate, is pressing President Trump to explain why he fired the State Department inspector general, noting that Trump's notice on Friday that he would remove Steve Linick after 30 days did not include an explanation as required by law.

Grassley in a letter to Trump Monday warned inspectors general “should be free from partisan political interference, from either the Executive or Legislative branch.”

He is asking Trump to “provide a detailed reasoning” for the removal of Linick no later than June 1.

Trump wrote in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Friday night that he had fired Linick because he “no longer” had the “fullest confidence” in him.

But Grassley in his letter to Trump Monday noted that “lost confidence” is not sufficient to dismiss an inspector general under the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/498337-grassley-demands-trump-explain-firing-of-state-department-inspector-general

Source: The Hill

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Thursday that the Senate Judiciary Committee will start hearings in June on the FBI's investigation into Russian election interference and President Trump's campaign.

Graham said in a statement that the hearings will deal with the Justice Department's decision to drop its case against former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn, the warrant applications against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and if former special counsel Robert Mueller should have been appointed.

“The Judiciary Committee will begin holding multiple, in-depth congressional hearings regarding all things related to Crossfire Hurricane starting in early June," Graham said.

Graham previously told The Hill that he would start holding public hearings in June, with the goal of putting out a report by October.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/497792-graham-to-start-hearings-on-russia-probe-flynn-in-june

Source: Fox 40

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A viral video shows a delivery driver being held against his will in an Oklahoma City area neighborhood Monday, blocked in by a man who identified himself as the homeowners association president.

Travis Miller, a home appliance and furniture delivery driver, captured the encounter on Facebook Live while driving through the neighborhood of Ashford Hills.

“I want to know where you’re going,” says the resident whose car is blocking Miller’s way.

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“All we want to know is why you’re in here and who gave you the gate code. That’s all we need to know,” the man says.

Miller told sister station KFOR he did not want to share his customer’s personal information.

Read more: https://fox40.com/news/black-delivery-driver-blocked-into-oklahoma-neighborhood-by-hoa-president/?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A%20Trending%20Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0hLAoI-6O-sEcdysb4tiMh9ZjR4gz-XkmSMm-OLc1wsAcRReMYuPTyc6o

Source: CBS News

A Target security guard broke his arm during a brawl with two men after they were confronted for allegedly not wearing masks, Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement Monday. The would-be shoppers were charged with assault, police said.

The two suspects, identified as 31-year-old Philip Hamilton and 29-year-old Paul Hamilton, entered a Target on May 1 in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles with no masks on, according to police. They were called out for not wearing masks in the retail store and escorted out, the LAPD said.

"As they approached the exit, one suspect, suddenly without provocation, turned and punched a store employee, causing him and the suspect to fall to the floor. While on the ground, the store employee broke his left arm," police said.

Surveillance footage of the incident showed the brawl unravel between the suspects, security guard and other workers in an aisle. The employee was seen grabbing his arm moments after the fight. He was taken to a local hospital and was treated for his injuries.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/target-security-guard-breaks-arm-fight-face-masks/

Source: Time

President Trump’s April 23 musing that injections of disinfectant could help defeat the coronavirus did not do much for his reputation as a reliable arbiter of public health. What’s harder to determine is how many people—if any—took his advice and in some way ingested the toxic chemicals. The most recent bulletin from the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), which aggregates data from its state counterparts, does offer some clues, however.

Even before Trump’s comments, accidental poisonings from bleach and other disinfectants were on the rise from Jan. 1 to March 31 of this year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, with people sanitizing surfaces, groceries, smartphones and more as a defense against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Most of the poisonings were the result of inhalation of fumes, but there were ingestion cases as well, typically among children who got their hands on chemicals left out in the open.

What’s key is what happened in the weeks that followed Trump’s controversial and widely debunked comments—and there does appear to have been a rise in accidental poisonings thereafter.

...

Critically, association is not causation, and with a frightened public doing whatever it can to protect itself from the virus, the same increases in poisonings might have happened regardless of Trump’s remarks. But the presidential megaphone is a powerful one, and even dangerous ideas projected through it can influence an awful lot of people.

Read more: https://time.com/5835244/accidental-poisonings-trump/

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) Former Trump-appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday defended his 2017 decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, after President Donald Trump attacked Sessions for not "being a man" and quashing the probe.

Sessions said in a statement that he recused himself because he was abiding by the law.

"To not recuse myself from that investigation, of which I was a target as a senior campaign official and a witness, would have been breaking the law. I do not and will not break the law," Sessions. "I did the right thing for the country and for President Trump. If I, as a target of the investigation, had broken the law by not recusing myself, it would have been a catastrophe for the rule of law and for the President."

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No, there wouldn't be. He would have stopped it immediately. ... Jeff Sessions was a disaster. I made him -- I didn't want to make him attorney general but he was the first senator to endorse me so I felt a little bit of an obligation," Trump said.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/08/politics/jeff-sessions-donald-trump-obligated/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0_LXpl6H_yhNXFPIDcEX2uoqf9A1BGJ5P7NhRAfYynsJzFj2w-JV6DHuo

Source: The Hill

The White House is pushing back on criticism of Jared Kushner’s role in responding to the coronavirus crisis after a sustained barrage of media fire on the president’s son-in-law.

...

“It is just kind of sad that they are looking for reasons to criticize a very successful effort instead of doing real reporting,” one senior administration official told The Hill. “This was an unusual situation and [the group] did some unconventional things, but ultimately there has been a lot of success.”

President Trump has also joined the pushback himself. At a meeting with GOP lawmakers on Friday, Trump invited Kushner to outline his work on acquiring ventilators and tests.

After he had done so, Trump added, “You’ve done a great job. Some day people are going to appreciate it. They say, ‘Oh, he’s a relation.’ Well if he wasn’t a good relation, I’d get him out of here so fast.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/496839-the-memo-white-house-pushes-back-on-kushner-critics

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