July 27, 2017

While Boasting About His 'Buddies' on TV, Scaramucci Might Have Just Broken DOJ Rules

by Ronn Blitzer | 12:35 pm, July 27th, 2017

White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci spoke to CNN at length Thursday morning about his mission to get to the bottom of information leaks from within the Trump administration. During the conversation, he said that he spoke about the leaks with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his “buddies in the FBI.” Clearly, Scaramucci means business, but if he indeed spoke to Sessions and members of the FBI, this may have violated Justice Department protocols.

As Matthew Miller, Justice and Security Analyst for MSNBC, pointed out, there are rules against members of the White House and DOJ discussing certain matters, in order to keep the White House from influencing investigations.

https://twitter.com/matthewamiller/status/890539982255001601

“It’s quite inappropriate for anyone from the White House to have a contact with the FBI about a pending criminal investigation, that has been an established rule of the road, probably since Watergate,” Michael Bromwich, a former Department of Justice inspector general and director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management under Obama, told The Atlantic for a February article.

More recently than Watergate, however, is a memo from then-Attorney General Eric Holder that says that White House-DOJ communications regarding matters involving investigations can only take place between the Counsel to the President, the Principal Deputy Counsel to the President, the President or the Vice President and the Attorney General or Deputy Attorney General. Additionally, White House communications staff can speak with DOJ communications staff. That’s it. Scaramucci, who heads up White House communications, would not be permitted to discuss investigations with the Attorney General. Since many of the leaks Scaramucci is complaining about have to do with the Russia investigation, his talks with Sessions or FBI members could be a violation.

more
http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/while-boasting-about-his-buddies-on-tv-scaramucci-might-have-just-broken-doj-rules/

July 27, 2017

The Wheels Are Coming Off the White House

July 27, 2017 at 9:30 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

First Read: “Accusations of incompetency can undermine even the most talented of politicians. Just ask George W. Bush (Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina) or Barack Obama (HealthCare.Gov).”

“But while the events and news over the last 24 hours seem like just another day for the Trump White House, they expose a level of dysfunction and chaos that could leave a lasting mark for a president who said back in February that he was running a ‘fine-tuned machine.'”

“The whole point of electing a businessman to become president was expecting someone to effectively run the government. But what happens when that businessman can’t run the government? That’s the significant long-term danger for Trump and his administration.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2017/07/27/wheels-coming-off-white-house/

July 27, 2017

Democrats Have Record Number of House Challengers

July 27, 2017 at 11:28 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

Brookings: “As of the end of June, 209 Democratic challengers had registered with the FEC and raised at least $5,000. That more than doubled the previous high mark since 2003. In 2009, the Republicans had 78 challengers with at least $5,000. The early GOP challengers in 2009 foreshadowed the party’s regaining majority control. The question is whether the same will hold true for the Democrats in 2018.”

“The number of challengers at six months is truly remarkable. And the candidates are not simply bunching up in a few primaries. Yes, there is some doubling up: six Democrats have filed so far against John Faso in New York’s 19th congressional district. But there is also a good spread. So far, 105 different Republican incumbents have Democratic challengers with $5,000.”



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https://politicalwire.com/2017/07/27/democrats-record-number-house-challengers/

July 27, 2017

US conservatism expands to final frontier: City Hall

Source: Associated Press




NICHOLAS RICCARDI
Associated PressJuly 27, 2017

DENVER (AP) — For decades, a well-funded conservative group has helped state lawmakers across the U.S. write legislation to rein in unions, expand charter schools and lower taxes.

Now, it's expanding to the final frontier: normally nonpartisan city halls and county governments, which have become a bastion of liberal resistance to President Donald Trump.

The American Legislative Exchange Council is one of the country's most prominent conservative groups, and its annual convention in Denver last week drew thousands of state legislators and lobbyists for panels on school choice and marijuana legalization, as well as speeches from conservative luminaries like Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and former Senator James DeMint. But as attendees rubbed shoulders with the right's elite, a few dozen crowded into a small conference room for the fourth meeting of the American City County Exchange, the conservative group's new local government wing.

The city council project is the brainchild of Jon Russell, a councilman from the Virginia town of Culpepper, population 18,000. He was dissatisfied that the traditional, nonpartisan municipal groups, like the National League of Cities, seemed to constantly think more government was the answer to problems.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-conservatism-expands-final-frontier-city-hall-085002551--politics.html

July 27, 2017

Senate Republicans plan to defund Planned Parenthood in 'skinny' repeal

Source: The Hill




BY PETER SULLIVAN - 07/27/17 12:28 PM EDT

Senate Republicans are planning to include a one-year defunding of Planned Parenthood in their scaled-down ObamaCare repeal bill, according to lobbyists and congressional aides.

The sources said the repeal of ObamaCare's individual and employer mandates, as expected, will also be included in the "skinny" repeal bill as a part of Senate GOP leaders' attempt to pass any legislation to keep the repeal process alive.

The contents of the scaled-down bill still need to be discussed at the Senate GOP lunch on Thursday before they are finalized, the sources said. Many rank-and-file senators have been in the dark on the contents of the scaled-down bill, saying as recently as Wednesday that they did not know what would be included.

Senate GOP leaders are heading toward a vote late Thursday or early Friday with little time for lawmakers and the public to review the measure.

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/344133-senate-republicans-plan-to-defund-planned-parenthood-in-skinny-repeal

July 27, 2017

James Corden's tribute to transgender people will leave you in tears

By Bil Browning · Thursday, July 27, 2017

James Corden took a few minutes during last night’s Late Late Show to address Donald Trump‘s unilateral decision to ban transgender people from the military. The showstopping performance may be the most amazing thing ever aired on late night television.

The musical number will leave you in tears at the sheer amount of L.O.V.E. sent to our brothers and sisters in the fight for justice.

Watch. Just watch. Now.

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https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/07/james-cordens-tribute-transgender-people-will-leave-tears/

July 27, 2017

Log Cabin Republicans Oppose Trump Transgender Military Statement

Date: July 26, 2017

Washington, D.C. — Today, President Donald J. Trump announced the United States military would not “accept or allow” transgender servicemembers “in any capacity.”

In response, Log Cabin Republicans President Gregory T. Angelo issued the following statement:

This smacks of politics, pure and simple. The United States military already includes transgender individuals who protect our freedom day in and day out. Excommunicating transgender soldiers only weakens our readiness; it doesn’t strengthen it. The president’s statement this morning does a disservice to transgender military personnel and reintroduces the same hurtful stereotypes conjured when openly gay men and women were barred from service during the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ era. As an organization that led the charge against that hateful policy, Log Cabin Republicans remains equally committed to standing up for transgender military personnel who put their lives on the line to keep us free.

Press: (202) 420-7873 • [email protected]

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http://www.logcabin.org/pressrelease/log-cabin-republicans-oppose-trump-transgender-military-statement/

July 27, 2017

Eric Cantor: "If You've Got That Anger Working for You, You're Gonna Let It Be"

Cantor explains how Republicans staked the party on Obamacare's repeal and aided the rise of Trump.

Written by Elaina Plott | Published on July 26, 2017

-snip-

Let’s back up a moment. Remember the summer of 2013, when the “Defund Obamacare Tour” drove the news cycle all through Congress’s August recess? The town halls organized by the political arm of the Heritage Foundation enlivened the base and furthered what had been the GOP’s core message since 2010—that Obamacare was bad and, if Americans helped Republicans hold both chambers, it could be repealed.

Cantor helped create that perception. Earlier that summer—after many failed attempts over the years to shred the law piecemeal—Cantor promised colleagues that the House would vote on a “full repeal.” But even after it did, the measure was dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Cantor—in Congress 13 years and, fairly or unfairly, once thought to be above electoral reproach—paid the price. His 2014 avenger, now-congressman David Brat, bludgeoned him for being soft on Obamacare, among other things. But the failure to make a dent in the law landed a bigger blow on the party. After seven years of pledging they could dismantle Obamacare, if only they had control of Congress and the White House, Republicans—at last in charge of both—have faced deep divisions over a replacement.

Asked if he feels partly responsible for their current predicament, Cantor is unequivocal. “Oh,” he says, “100 percent.” He goes further: “To give the impression that if Republicans were in control of the House and Senate, that we could do that when Obama was still in office . . . .” His voice trails off and he shakes his head. “I never believed it.”

He says he wasn’t the only one aware of the charade: “We sort of all got what was going on, that there was this disconnect in terms of communication, because no one wanted to take the time out in the general public to even think about ‘Wait a minute—that can’t happen.’ ” But, he adds, “if you’ve got that anger working for you, you’re gonna let it be.”

It’s a stunning admission from a former member of the party leadership—that the linchpin of GOP electoral strategy for the better part of a decade was a fantasy, a flame continually fanned solely because, when it came to midterm elections, it worked. (Barring, of course, his own.)

-snip-

more
https://www.washingtonian.com/2017/07/26/eric-cantor-republicans-obamacare-donald-trump/

July 27, 2017

CNN panel shames Jeffrey Lord for insisting Trump should ban Viagra in the military

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/youre-being-ridiculous-cnn-panel-shames-jeffrey-lord-for-insisting-trump-should-ban-viagra-in-the-military/

July 27, 2017

Senate defies Trump on call to investigate Hillary Clinton

Source: McClatchy Washington Bureau




27 JUL 2017 AT 00:23 ET

Lesley Clark and Matthew Schofield
McClatchy Washington Bureau
Displayed with permission from Tribune Content Agency

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's relentless calls for more investigations into Hillary Clinton, her emails and the Democratic National Committee are largely being ignored in Congress, where Republicans spent years and millions of dollars on Clinton probes that turned up nothing.

And Senate Republicans say Trump is wrong in prodding his attorney general via Twitter to revive an inquiry into the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee who lost the election to Trump.

"It harkens back to the notion of a banana republic," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said of what he called Trump's "inappropriate" calls for investigations into Clinton. "It's what dictators do, they look to punish their enemies."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a Senate Intelligence Committee member, noted that Clinton's missing emails as secretary of state were investigated by the FBI. As a result, he said, there appears to be no need to reopen the case.

"As for me, I prefer to look to the future, not the past," Rubio said of Trump's tweets agitating for Clinton investigations. "It's time to move on."

Congressional investigators are not completely dismissing allegations about the Democrats. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, raised questions Wednesday about Democrats and Republicans in a hearing on foreign meddling in U.S. elections.

Grassley said he has asked the Department of Justice about Democratic National Committee officials allegedly working with Ukraine's government to "undermine" Trump's presidential campaign.

"The law needs to be enforced consistently and evenhandedly," Grassley said. "Otherwise, it won't be taken seriously."

Trump's complaints already have been investigated.

Clinton's use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 was investigated for months by the FBI.

That investigation appeared to end last summer when former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump fired in May, called Clinton's handling of her email careless, but said "no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case." Comey then wrote a letter to Congress on Oct. 28, days before the November election, that the case had been reopened, followed quickly by an announcement that the case was, again, considered closed.

Trump has needled Attorney General Jeff Sessions repeatedly, accusing him of being "weak" by not investigating Clinton. Democrats have suggested Trump is trying to humiliate Sessions to the point of resignation, a move that would ease the way for Trump to get rid of special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion by the Trump campaign.

Trump's pique with Sessions, one of his earliest and staunchest supporters, stems from the attorney general's decision in March to recuse himself from the Russia investigation after revelations he had met during the campaign with the Russian ambassador.

It's questionable as to whether Sessions would be able to order an investigation into Clinton even if he were inclined to do so: In his letter of recusal, Sessions noted he was sidelining himself from "any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for president of the United States."

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., repeated his circumspect stance, a position he's had all year, saying Wednesday that his committee is "investigating anything out of either campaign that could be collusion."

But there is little indication to believe that Clinton's campaign is a focus. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who said he understood Trump's frustration and criticized Democrats for "going after (Trump) on everything, while Clinton actually did something," suggested it was time for Trump to stop berating Sessions for not launching an investigation into his vanquished opponent.

"I don't believe he should do that, and I don't believe he should say that," Hatch said of Trump's repeated requests.

Democrats said the concept of a president browbeating his attorney general to take action against a political rival is entirely misguided.

"I didn't support him for the job, but Sessions is doing his job," said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "It's one more example of this president's disrespect for the rule of law."

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Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/senate-defies-trump-on-call-to-investigate-hillary-clinton/