Thursday, March 2, 2017

Sen. Rubio booted from Florida office building over rowdy protests


Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., was evicted from his Florida office due to the weekly protests that have occurred outside the building.
Jude Williams, the president of America’s Capital Partners and the owner of the nine-story building in Tampa, notified Rubio’s office on Feb. 1 that it will not renew the lease. He said the rallies have become too disruptive to the other tenants and a costly security expense for the company.
"A professional office building is not a place for that," Williams told the Tampa Bay Times. “I understand their cause, but at the end of the day it was a security concern for us.”
Rubio’s office said it was looking for a new office space. The newspaper reported that Rubio’s lease expired in December and the office has been working on a month-to-month basis. Now, they have until Friday to leave the building and they do not have a new location in place.
"We are actively looking for new office space, and our goal is to remain accessible and continue providing prompt and efficient service to all Floridians," Christina Mandreucci, a Rubio spokeswoman, said in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times.
Several groups who oppose President Trump's agenda have gathered at least once a week at the building, lining up on the sidewalk to wave signs and shout messages.
Rubio's seven statewide offices have been lightning rods for demonstrations. Gatherings in front of the Tampa office have surpassed 150 people.
Williams said several of the building’s 21 tenants have complained about the protests. The demonstrations have blocked entranceways and have workers fearing for their safety.
"It's not political," he added. "It's for no other reason than good office management. Our duty is to keep a good peaceful office building environment for our tenants and that's not what they bargained for."
Rubio has other offices in Orlando, Miami, Jacksonville, Pensacola, Tallahassee and Palm Beach

Ex-Clinton volunteer slammed, loses job, after swipe at widow of fallen SEAL


A former Hillary Clinton volunteer drew swift condemnation -- and lost his job -- after mocking the widow of a fallen Navy SEAL who was honored by the president during his congressional address Tuesday night.
Dan Grilo, who said in his Twitter profile that he was a former volunteer for both Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama, made the remarks after Trump paid tribute to Carryn Owens. She is the widow of U.S. Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens, who was killed in a counterterrorism raid in Yemen last month.
“Our veterans have delivered for this nation—and now we must deliver for them,” Trump said, eliciting an extended standing ovation from the entire chamber for a visibly emotional Owens.
“Ryan died as he lived: a warrior, and a hero – battling against terrorism and securing our nation,” Trump said.
While widely regarded as the most powerful moment of the night, Grilo was not impressed. Responding to a tweet from L.A. Times reporter Matt Pearce, who noted that Owens was crying and overwhelmed, Grilo tweeted:
“Sorry, Owens' wife, you’re not helping yourself or your husband’s memory by standing there and clapping like an idiot. Trump just used you.”
The tweet quickly zipped around social media as commentators on both sides of the aisle were outraged by the swipe. Donald Trump Jr. called the tweet an example of “hatred from the other side."
Grilo followed up, apologizing for what we called a “poorly worded tweet.”
Grilo’s account soon went private, and was then deleted entirely. But the tweets were saved and archived by other Twitter users.
Grilo’s LinkedIn page says he works as a principal for the Chicago-based Liberty Advisor Group. But as of Wednesday morning, Grilo’s profile page on the site had been deleted, and the company later confirmed that an employee had sent what they called "an offensive and inappropriate tweet" regarding the Gold Star family.
In a statement, the company said that while the message was from his personal account, "his comments were inconsistent with the Company's values."
"Regardless of whether the comments in the tweet were intended to cause the hurt and anger that they ultimately generated, they were unacceptable to us, and the individual who issued the tweet is no longer affiliated with Liberty," the statement said.

New travel ban coming in days, Pence says


President Trump is expected to finalize a new travel order in the next few days, Vice President Pence said in an interview.
Pence told CBS News Wednesday that the administration is “putting the finishing touches” on the new executive order.
Trump has not laid out specific changes on the new plan, but The Associated Press—citing four U.S. officials—reported that the order will remove Iraq from the list of countries whose citizens face a temporary ban. Those predominately Muslim countries include Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
The new order includes other changes as well. The officials said the 12-page document no longer singles out Syrian refugees for an indefinite ban and instead includes them as part of a general, 120-day suspension of new refugee admissions.
The officials also said the order won't include any explicit exemption for religious minorities in the countries targeted by the travel ban. Critics had accused the administration of adding such language to help Christians get into the United States while excluding Muslims.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Fox News could not immediately confirm that Iraq was taken off the list.
Trump signed his original executive order in late January. It sparked immediate confusion, panic and outrage as some travelers were detained in U.S. airports before being sent back overseas and others were barred from boarding flights at foreign airports.
The government initially blocked U.S. green card holders before offering those legal residents special permission to come into the country. It finally decided the order didn't apply to them.
The State Department provisionally revoked roughly 60,000 valid visas in all, before a federal judge in Washington state blocked the government from carrying out the ban. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision.
Under the revised order, officials said, all existing visas will be honored.
In his first address to a joint session of Congress, Trump on Tuesday evening defended his effort.
"We will shortly take new steps to keep our nation safe and to keep out those who would do us harm," he said.
After Trump signed the original order, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi refuted the ban and said he would consider reciprocal measures. Many Iraqi lawmakers urged the government to ban Americans from Iraq in response, despite the potential effects that might have on the anti-IS fight.
Al-Abadi then met with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in Baghdad this month and underscored the U.S.-Iraqi partnership. And Mattis walked back comments made by Trump, suggesting that Americans could get another chance to seize Iraqi oil as compensation for its military efforts there.
"We're not in Iraq to seize anybody's oil," Mattis told reporters on that trip. Al-Abadi also met with Vice President Pence in Munich earlier this month, where the two publicly discussed ways of strengthening cooperation.

Obama administration reportedly raced to preserve intelligence on possible contact between Russians and Trump associates


In the final hours of Barack Obama's presidency, some White House officials reportedly raced to spread and preserve information about possible communications between associates of then-candidate Donald Trump and Russians.
The New York Times, citing former American officials, reported that these officials were concerned that the information they were gaining on the Russian meddling in the election and the possible campaign contact could be compromised with the new administration, and they wanted to set up any future investigation with the information.
According to The Times, after Obama asked for an investigation into Russian tampering into the elections, officials found some "damning" evidence.
A former intelligence official confirmed to Fox News that the Obama administration was determined to keep the Russian issue alive and data on Moscow's election interference was circulated broadly.
The usual intelligence practice is to circulate assessments privately, but such was the gravity of Russia's actions that there were two versions - one for the public to digest and the other classified, the former official said.
The New York Times reported that intelligence agencies pushed forward as much “raw” intelligence they could analyze. The intelligence reports were also reportedly labeled a low classification level, so they would be accessible to more government workers — and some European allies.
The Obama officials reportedly wanted to make sure that as many individuals — with the proper clearances — could see the intelligence. One of the tactics reportedly used was that officials asked pointed questions during intelligence briefings. The report said the answers to those questions are archived.
Congressional staffers have said they are unaware of any evidence that materials related to Russia are not being preserved.
But Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said last week: "There is real concern that some in the administration may try to cover up its ties to Russia by deleting emails, texts and other records that could shine a light on those connections. These records are likely to be the subject of executive branch as well as congressional investigations and must be preserved."
The Times report was released the same day that allegations emerged that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had two conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during last year’s presidential campaign.
The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. investigators had examined contacts between Sessions and Russian officials and that the Justice Department was "wringing its hands" about how to proceed in the matter.
The Journal also reported that Sessions did not know that his communications were under investigation.
Reports about the meetings appeared to contradict a statement Sessions made during his confirmation hearing to become attorney general.
Sessions was asked by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., how he would respond "if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign."When contacted by Fox News late Wednesday, Sessions said, "I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false."
Earlier this year, the FBI interviewed Michael Flynn, then Trump's national security adviser, about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. after the election. Flynn was fired after it was revealed that he misled Vice President Pence and other White House officials about the nature of his discussions with the envoy.
Trump, for his part, has denied that his campaign had any contact with Russian officials. The Times report pointed out that Trump has accused Obama officials with playing up the Russia story.
“The only new piece of information that has come to light is that political appointees in the Obama administration have sought to create a false narrative to make an excuse for their own defeat in the election,” Sean Spicer, the current White House spokesman, said, according to The Times. “There continues to be no there, there.”
The intelligence community has assessed that Russia's hacking of Democratic groups and operatives was carried out to help Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump has denied having any knowledge that aides were in touch with Russian intelligence agents during the election.

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