Saturday, December 10, 2016
Trump closes companies tied to Saudi Arabia
Corporate registrations in Delaware show that President-elect Donald Trump shut down some of his companies in the days after the election, including four companies that appeared connected to a possible Saudi Arabia business venture.
News of the move comes days before Trump was expected to describe changes he is making to his businesses to avoid potential conflicts of interest as the U.S. president.
The Trump Organization's general counsel, Alan Garten, told The Associated Press that the business currently has no deals in Saudi Arabia.
Garten said he did not know why those companies were set up or whether they were involved a previously planned business venture.
He said the closure of corporate entities was routine.
Ryan: 'We've been fighting Barack Obama for 8 years'
The
Speaker of the House said Friday that while President-elect Donald
Trump and him had previously had their differences, now their
relationship is great, saying at the “end of the campaign we merged
forces.”
In an exclusive interview with Fox News' "Hannity," Paul Ryan discussed meeting with the President-elect at Trump Tower earlier on Friday saying the two decided to “forget about any differences in the past” in order to look forward and focus on “personnel and policy.”
“We agree on the same goals, our agenda is one in the same,” Ryan said of Trump.
Ryan discussed his main focus during the campaign process saying his, “primary responsibility is to save House Republicans.”
“You got to know how exciting this is for us,” Ryan said while discussing having a unified Republican government. He added. “We’ve been fighting Barack Obama for 8 years.”
Ryan said they were going to focus on getting things done and discussing a plan to undo “the wreck and the problems” and how to “execute it.”
In an exclusive interview with Fox News' "Hannity," Paul Ryan discussed meeting with the President-elect at Trump Tower earlier on Friday saying the two decided to “forget about any differences in the past” in order to look forward and focus on “personnel and policy.”
“We agree on the same goals, our agenda is one in the same,” Ryan said of Trump.
Ryan discussed his main focus during the campaign process saying his, “primary responsibility is to save House Republicans.”
“You got to know how exciting this is for us,” Ryan said while discussing having a unified Republican government. He added. “We’ve been fighting Barack Obama for 8 years.”
Ryan said they were going to focus on getting things done and discussing a plan to undo “the wreck and the problems” and how to “execute it.”
U.S. is sending 200 more troops to Syria to help fight ISIS
MANAMA, Bahrain – U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Saturday that as many as 200 more American troops are being sent to Syria to help Kurdish and Arab fighters capture the Islamic State group's key stronghold of Raqqa.
The extra troops will include special operations forces and are in addition to 300 U.S. troops already authorized for the effort to recruit, organize, train and advise local Syrian forces to combat IS.Addressing a security conference in Bahrain, Carter also took gentle jabs at U.S. Middle East partners for failing to provide more military muscle in the broader campaign to defeat IS and counter extremism.
Without mentioning any by name, Carter suggested the U.S. has been the target of disingenuous criticism from "regional powers here in the Middle East" for not doing more to help fight extremism.
"I would ask you to imagine what U.S. military and defense leaders think when they have to listen to complaints sometimes that we should do more, when it's plain to see that all too often, the ones complaining aren't doing enough themselves," he said.
He said it is not unreasonable for Washington to expect regional powers who oppose extremism in the Middle East to do more to help fight it, "particularly in the political and economic aspects of the campaign."
"The fact is, if countries in the region are worried about Iran's destabilizing activities - a concern the United States shares - they need to get in the game. That means getting serious about starting to partner more with each other, and investing in the right capabilities for the threat."
Carter said the 200 extra troops going to Syria will help local forces in their anticipated push to retake Raqqa, the de facto capital of the extremist group's self-styled caliphate, and to deny sanctuary to IS after Raqqa is captured.
He said President Barack Obama approved the troop additions last week.
"These uniquely skilled operators will join the 300 U.S. special operations forces already in Syria, to continue organizing, training, equipping, and otherwise enabling capable, motivated, local forces to take the fight to ISIL," Carter said in his address to the IISS Manama Dialogues in the Bahraini capital, using an alternative acronym for IS.
"By combining our capabilities with those of our local partners, we've been squeezing ISIL by applying simultaneous pressure from all sides and across domains, through a series of deliberate actions to continue to build momentum," he said.
The military push is complicated by the predominant role played by local Kurdish fighters, who are the most effective U.S. partner against IS in Syria but are viewed by Turkey -- a key U.S. ally -- as a terrorist threat.
A senior defense official said the troop boost announced by Carter will give the U.S. extra capability to train Arab volunteers who are joining the Raqqa push but are not well trained or equipped. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of internal Pentagon planning.
The First 100 Days: Can Trump really 'drain the swamp'?
In his often-repeated calls to "drain the swamp" of Washington, President-elect Donald Trump has targeted in particular the capital city's so-called "revolving door."
If there is a poster child for what that door represents, it might be former Rep. Billy Tauzin of Louisiana -- a 12-term Democrat turned Republican, who chaired the influential House Commerce Committee from 2001 to 2004 and pushed the controversial Medicare Bill of 2003 through Congress.
The bill was designed, in part, to make drugs cheaper for senior citizens. But it ended up costing taxpayers a fortune -- $549 billion over nine years. It also made huge profits for drug companies, partly because it prohibited Medicare and the federal government, which represented millions of senior patients, from negotiating for lower prices from pharmaceutical companies.
A few months later, Tauzin left Congress to become chief lobbyist for and CEO of The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America where he made an estimated $2 million a year.
"It's a sad commentary on politics in Washington that a member of Congress who pushed through a major piece of legislation benefiting the drug industry, gets the job leading that industry," Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, said at the time.
Tauzin denied Fox News’ request for an interview, but has often defended his move. He told the Washington Post that he was diagnosed with intestinal cancer after leaving Congress and credited cutting-edge pharmaceuticals for his survival. "I wanted to work in an industry whose mission is no less than saving and enhancing lives," he told the Post.
Tauzin's route from Capitol Hill to the lobbying world is hardly unique. "Many of the top staffers who helped write the Affordable Care Act then became health care lobbyists," said Tim Carney, commentary editor at the Washington Examiner.
Yet, this common practice is not illegal. Some believe it’s not even unethical.
Paul Miller of the National Institute for Lobbying and Ethics says the public benefits from the revolving door. "People don't like to hear that, but government is run a different way. You have to understand how it operates, and you need people like myself to be here every day looking out for your interests, because if you're not, somebody else will," he told Fox News.
Trump’s plan to drain the “swamp” includes three ambitious components:
- A five-year ban on White House and congressional officials lobbying after they leave government.
- A lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.
- A complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.
"That's where the gray line is," Miller said. "You have people in the PR arena who will say, I do some lobbying but most of it is in PR, so that’s not lobbying, so I don’t have to register. Its people skirting the system in my opinion.”
This has allowed the Obama administration to hire people who did lobbying work, after it vowed it would not. The same test awaits the Trump administration.
Miller said previous attempts to shut the revolving door have backfired. He cited the 2006 ban on lobbyists paying for a congressman's meal. Forbidden from picking up the tab, lobbyists simply found new ways to buy time and influence. "I can call your boss and say I want to have a one on one for an hour over a meal and talk about my issue, settle up with the check, and then push an envelope across the table and say, ‘Oh, by the way, here’s your campaign check.You tell me what looks more corrupt,’" said Miller.
The revolving door’s effect can be insidious, not only enriching those who pass through, but raising the cost of government. Take, for example, the Pentagon where former high-ranking military officers are scarfed up by major defense contractors to not just acquire their expertise, but to preserve the contractor’s connections and their business.
"Fewer and fewer companies are involved in the defense business because the Pentagon does play favorites," said Tom Schatz of Citizens Against Government Waste." He added, "Smaller, newer, more agile companies have trouble getting into the process itself. When the Pentagon has 469 billion dollars in cost overruns in its major defense acquisition portfolio, then something really needs to be done."
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