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Deputy attorney general to brief full Senate on Comey firing

Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will conduct a classified briefing on Thursday, May 18 for the full U.S. Senate on President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Monday.
The top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said in a statement he hoped senators would use the briefing at 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT) to seek the “full truth” about Comey’s dismissal, press Rosenstein “to make way” for a special prosecutor and ensure the administration preserves and makes public any audio recordings of his conversations with Comey.
Critics have assailed Trump for abruptly firing Comey, who was leading the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and possible ties between Moscow and the Trump campaign.
Russia denies it sought to interfere in the election. Trump has dismissed such talk as little more than sour grapes by Democrats who cannot accept his upset victory on Nov. 8.
Democrats have been calling for a special prosecutor or select committee to investigate, saying getting to the bottom of foreign interference in the U.S. election is too important to leave to potentially partisan committees in Congress.
Comey’s firing last week added to the worries, and even some of Trump’s fellow Republicans have expressed concern about the timing of his dismissal.
The top Democrat in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said she has asked Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan to request a similar briefing for the House.
There was no immediate word from Ryan’s office. However, administration officials typically do not conduct such briefings for only one of the two chambers.

Republican Representative Gowdy says he is not interested in FBI job

Republican U.S. Representative Trey Gowdy, who was among 11 people being considered for director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said on Monday he is not interested in the job.
Gowdy said in a statement that he told Attorney General Jeff Sessions he “would not be the right person” to lead the agency. President Donald Trump touched off a political firestorm last week by firing FBI Director James Comey, who was leading a probe of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and possible ties between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

French right torn apart as Macron, PM prepare to name government

The head of France’s main conservative party disowned his colleague Edouard Philippe on Tuesday for taking up the job of prime minister under centrist President Emmanuel Macron.
Speaking as the new president prepared to name the rest of his government later in the day, Francois Baroin, leader of The Republicans (LR) party which is being torn apart by Macron’s divide and conquer tactics, said on BFM TV Philippe had “made a choice which is not ours.”
Macron appointed Philippe, a lawmaker from the moderate wing of The Republicans party, on Monday to head his first government in a move aimed at broadening his political appeal and weakening opponents before parliamentary elections in June.
Several Socialist members of parliament have also joined Macron’s cause and 21 LR members of parliament, including some party heavyweights and former ministers, issued a joint statement on Monday urging the party to positively respond to the “hand extended by the president”.
“It will be up to him to struggle with this element of schizophrenia,” Baroin added.
Macron is looking to the June elections to give him and his own start-up Republic on the Move (REM) party the majority in parliament needed to push through his plans to cut state spending, boost investment and create jobs, after years of economic malaise.
The nomination is a direct challenge to The Republicans, who say they aim to be the biggest party in the lower house of parliament but are lagging behind REM in the first opinion polls ahead of that ballot.
Baroin reacted sharply to a suggestion that Macron, a 39-year-old ex-banker who served briefly as economy minister in a Socialist government, was reshaping politics.
“What Emmanuel Macron is proposing is dynamiting not political reshaping,” he said, adding that the LR did not want to confront him but were prepared for political discussion with him.

Ford to cut North America, Asia salaried workers by 10 percent: source

Ford Motor Co plans to shrink its salaried workforce in North America and Asia by about 10 percent as it works to boost profits and its sliding stock price, a source familiar with the plan told Reuters on Monday.
A person briefed on the plan said Ford plans to offer generous early retirement incentives to reduce its salaried headcount by Oct. 1, but does not plan cuts to its hourly workforce or its production.
The move could put the U.S. automaker on a collision course with President Donald Trump, who has made boosting auto employment a top priority. Ford has about 30,000 salaried workers in the United States.
The cuts are part of a previously announced plan to slash costs by $3 billion, the person said, as U.S. new vehicles auto sales have shown signs of decline after seven years of consecutive growth since the end of the Great Recession.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday evening that Ford plans to cut 10 percent of its 200,000-person global workforce, but the person briefed on the plan disputed that figure. The source requested anonymity in order to be able to discuss the matter freely.
Ford declined to comment on any job cuts but said it remains focused on its core strategies to “drive profitable growth”.
“Reducing costs and becoming as lean and efficient as possible also remain part of that work,” it said in a statement. “We have not announced any new people efficiency actions, nor do we comment on speculation.”
Ford plans to emphasize the voluntary nature of the staff reductions. Ford said April 27 when it reported first-quarter earnings that it planned to cut $3 billion in costs.
“We are continuing our intense focus on cost and the reason for that is not only mindful of the current environment that we’re in, but also I think preparing us even more for a downturn scenario,” Chief Executive Mark Fields told analysts in a conference call at that time.
JOBS JOBS JOBS
During his election campaign President Trump was highly critical of the auto industry’s use of Mexican plants to produce vehicles for the U.S. market.
Since taking office, Trump has regularly focused on creating jobs in sectors like the automotive industry, though he has released few concrete plans to do so.
Following criticism from Trump, in January Ford scrapped plans to build a $1.6 billion car factory in Mexico and instead added 700 jobs in Michigan.
In March, Ford said it would invest $1.2 billion in three Michigan facilities and create 130 jobs in projects largely in line with a previous agreement with the United Auto Workers union.
Trump pounced on that announcement before Ford could release its plans.
“Major investment to be made in three Michigan plants,” Trump posted on Twitter. “Car companies coming back to U.S. JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!”