Government Shutdown Cartoons

Trump may own the shutdown, but it's unlikely despite TV drama Howard Kurtz By Howard Kurtz | Fox News Facebook Twitter Flipboard Comments Print Email

For all the drama of the televised confrontation in the Oval Office, the odds are overwhelming that there won't be a government shutdown. The plain fact is that neither party wants one.
So what happened between Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer during those tense 17 minutes on Tuesday was more about political theater and blame-shifting.
The amount of money — Trump wants $4 billion more for his wall than the Democrats are willing to provide — is almost negligible. And the House Democrats aren't going to budge when they take over next month. What's at stake is the symbolism surrounding the president's signature issue.
The media verdict is that Pelosi and Schumer embarrassed Trump and boxed him into a damaging declaration: He now owns any shutdown.
As The New York Times put it, "The trick in Washington has always been to make sure a government shutdown is pinned on the other guy. President Trump is the first to ever pin one on himself."
With the Times saying Pelosi and Schumer "essentially goaded" the president into saying he'd proudly close the government for border security, The Washington Post says the Democratic duo "called out Trump's falsehoods. They exposed him as malleable about his promised border wall. They lectured him about the legislative process and reiterated to him that he lacked the votes to secure the $5 billion he seeks for the wall."
But there's another view, as these and other accounts acknowledged.
The border wall, and the broader issue of illegal immigration, is immensely important to Trump's core supporters. He wanted to send them an unmistakable signal that he's fighting for them and understands their concerns. And then, if he falls short, he can blame the Dems. Or, with his recent comments that some of the wall is already being built, Trump can try to cobble something together and claim victory.
The incoming House speaker seized upon Trump's tactic of brutally personal insults. Democratic allies leaked to reporters that Pelosi later told party colleagues that she felt like she'd been in a "tinkle contest with a skunk," adding: "It's a manhood thing for him. As if manhood could ever be associated with him." So much for the high road.
What the president may not have fully appreciated is that the party seen as triggering a partial government shutdown always pays a stiff price. The Republicans were hurt when they tried the tactic during the Clinton years and again during the Obama administration. But when Democrats were seen as precipitating a shutdown at the end of last year, they quickly backed off and made a deal within hours.
When real people are hurt — furloughs, delayed paychecks, national parks and monuments closed — the underlying issues get lost in the backlash. Of course, that may not be a factor if Trump doesn't really plan to take things past the brink.
I think it's great to watch our leaders debating serious issues on TV. Trump did that with lawmakers last year on gun control but never followed through, leading to criticism it was all about the show.
But let's face it, the process only goes so far. Pelosi and Schumer were right when they told Trump that a deal needed to be made behind closed doors. There's too much posturing, by everyone, when the cameras are on.
The frenzy over the meeting will quickly fade unless there's actually a Christmas-season shutdown. But the one clear loser was Mike Pence. The media mockery of a stiff and stone-faced vice president may have been unfair, but the images will stick to him like tarpaper.

California Dem Ted Lieu say he would 'love to regulate' speech, bemoans US Constitution that prohibits him

California Democrat Ted Lieu bemoaned on Wednesday that though he would “love to be able to regulate the content of speech,” including that on Fox News, he can’t do it because of the U.S. Constitution.
Lieu made the comments during an interview about the testimony of Google CEO Sundar Pichai at a House Judiciary Committee hearing, where he dismissed the allegations that the tech giant amplifies negative stories about Republican lawmakers, saying “if you want positive search results, do positive things."
CNN host Brianna Keilar praised Lieu for his performance but asked whether other Democrats should have used the committee to press Google on conspiracy theories that spread on their platforms.
“It's a very good point you make. I would love if I could have more than five minutes to question witnesses. Unfortunately, I don't get that opportunity,” Lieu said of the committee hearings.
“However, I would love to be able to regulate the content of speech. The First Amendment prevents me from doing so, and that's simply a function of the First Amendment, but I think over the long run, it's better the government does not regulate the content of speech,” he continued.

"I would love to be able to regulate the content of speech. The First Amendment prevents me from doing so, and that's simply a function of the First Amendment, but I think over the long run, it's better the government does not regulate the content of speech."
— California Democrat Ted Lieu

Lieu added that private companies should self-regulate their platforms and said the government shouldn’t interfere.
After his remarks aired, Lieu came under fire on social media, prompting him to go on a Twitter spree to clarify his views, including that he would like to regulate Fox News.
One Twitter user had accused him of being “a poster child for the tyranny.”
Lieu insisted that he’s actually defending the First Amendment rather than showing his desire to regulate speech.
“My whole point is that government officials always want to regulate speech, see e.g. the Republican Judiciary hearing alleging Google is biased against Republicans,” he wrote in another tweet. “But thank goodness the First Amendment prevents me, @POTUS and Republicans from doing so.”
“I agree there are serious issues, but the speech issues are protected by the First Amendment,” the Democrat added. “Would I like to regulate Fox News? Yes, but I can't because the First Amendment stops me. And that's ultimately a good thing in the long run.”
Lieu has become somewhat a foe of President Trump following his election, often taking to social media to throw jabs at the president.
He’s among the Democrats who’s been flirting with the idea of impeaching Trump over the perceived collusion between Russia and the campaign. He also tried to kick-start earlier this year the impeachment process of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
CA DEM: TRUMP 'TRULY AN EVIL MAN' WHO LIKELY VIOLATED HIS OATH OF OFFICE
Lieu also raised eyebrows in summer after playing on House floor an audio recording of the crying migrant children separated from their families as part of the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance policy.”
Last year, Lieu was slammed for walking out of a moment of silence for victims of a mass shooting at a Texas church.

Trump lawyer Giuliani calls on Mueller to end Russia probe: 'Wrap the damn thing up'

Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for President Donald Trump, speaks in Portsmouth, N.H. (Associated Press)

Rudy Giuliani, one of President Trump’s lawyers, said Wednesday that the president’s legal team is focused on encouraging special counsel Robert Mueller to end his Russia investigation.
“Our strategy is … to do everything we can to try to convince Mueller to wrap the damn thing up, and if he’s got anything, show us,” Giuliani told Yahoo News in a phone interview. “If he doesn’t have anything, you know, write your report, tell us what you have, and we’ll deal with it. He can’t prosecute him [Trump]. All he can do is write a report about him, so write the g--damned thing and get it over with now.”
Giuliani said he believes there is no further reason to probe into Russian efforts to influence the election in Trump's favor.
“I’ve seen their questions. There’s nothing to look at. They could look at collusion for the next 30 years and, unless they get somebody to lie, they’re not going to find any evidence of it because it didn’t happen,” Giuliani said.
“I think he’s desperately trying to come up with some smoke and mirrors so he can say there’s some form of collusion. I don’t think he can do it,” Giuliani said of Mueller. “I saw a prosecutor that was on a fishing expedition as opposed to somebody that has a solid piece of evidence and wants to nail you with it. It’s like something you’d do at a beginning of a case, not the end.”

“I saw a prosecutor that was on a fishing expedition as opposed to somebody that has a solid piece of evidence and wants to nail you with it."
— Rudy Giuliani, lawyer for President Trump

READ: MICHAEL COHEN SENTENCING MEMO FILED BY PROSECUTORS
He suggested a crime could have taken place only if Trump was directly involved in efforts by Russia to hack Democrats’ emails during the 2016 campaign. U.S. intelligence agencies have said the Kremlin orchestrated hacking efforts to hurt Hillary Clinton and help Trump.
Giuliani’s comments came hours after Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in relation to several charges, including lying to Congress about a tower Trump sought to build in Moscow, tax evasion and making payments to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump.
“The president’s not a lawyer. The simple fact is that it’s not a criminal violation of the campaign finance law,” said Giuliani of the alleged payments.
During FBI raids, agents seized tapes made by Cohen of conversations with Trump and others.
“Cohen is a completely dishonorable person. … I’ve never heard of a lawyer that tape-recorded their client without the client’s permission, and I’ve known some pretty scummy lawyers,” Giuliani said. “You don’t exist very long in the legal profession if you go around taping your client.”

"I’ve never heard of a lawyer that tape-recorded their client without the client’s permission, and I’ve known some pretty scummy lawyers."
— Rudy Giuliani, lawyer for President Trump

He also chimed in on Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman who agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation, though Manafort was accused by Mueller last month of violating the terms of the agreement by lying about contacts he had with the Trump administration.
MUELLER FILING: MANAFORT LIED ABOUT CONTACTS WITH TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS
“In Manafort’s case, they really should give up at this point. I mean, how much do you want to do to the guy? Do you want to waterboard him? I mean, come on, you have him in solitary confinement," Giuliani said. "They take him out every other day. He knows exactly what he has to say to get out, but he says, you know, ‘I’m not going to say it because it’s not true.’ Gee, is it possible maybe he’s right — it isn’t true?”

Judge in Flynn case orders Mueller to turn over interview docs after bombshell claim of FBI pressure

One day after former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's legal team made the bombshell allegation that the FBI had pushed him not to bring a lawyer to his fateful Jan. 24, 2017 interview with agents at the White House, the federal judge overseeing Flynn's criminal case late Wednesday ordered Special Counsel Robert Mueller to turn over all of the government's documents and "memoranda" related to the questioning.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan -- who overturned the 2008 conviction of former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens after government misconduct came to light -- is weighing how to sentence Flynn, who pleaded guilty to one count of lying to federal authorities in the Russia probe during that interview in the West Wing. Flynn faced mounting legal bills that forced him to sell his home amid the prosecution, and Mueller has already recommended he receive no prison time.
Sullivan's extraordinary demand puts Mueller under the microscope and sets a 3:00 p.m. EST Friday deadline for the special counsel's office to turn over the sensitive FBI documents. Sullivan's brief order states that Mueller can choose to file the materials under seal.
Sullivan also ordered the Flynn team to turn over the documents backing up its assertions. The judge could determine why the FBI apparently took a significantly more aggressive tack in handling the Flynn interview than it did during other similar matters, including the agency's sit-downs with Hillary Clinton and ex-Trump adviser George Papadopoulos.
Flynn is set to be sentenced next Tuesday -- but Sullivan's move might delay that date, or lead to other dramatic and unexpected changes in the case. Sullivan even has the authority to toss Flynn's guilty plea and the charge against him if he concludes that the FBI interfered with Flynn's constitutional right to counsel, although he has given no indications that he intends to do so.
Federal authorities undertaking a national security probe are ordinarily under no obligation to inform interviewees of their right to an attorney unless they are in custody, as long as agents do not act coercively. Flynn's lawyers claimed in Tuesday's filing that FBI brass had threatened to escalate the matter to involve the Justice Department if Flynn sought the advice of the White House Counsel before talking with agents.
Sullivan, first appointed a judge by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and then to the D.C. federal bench by Bill Clinton in 1994, could also assess why the two FBI agents who interviewed Flynn -- including fired anti-Trump agent Peter Strzok -- would have provided an Aug. 22, 2017 date on their so-called "302" report documenting what Flynn told them during their conversation at the White House.
The August date on the FBI 302 cited by the Flynn team is nearly seven months after the Flynn interview took place, and about a week after reports surfaced that Strzok had been summarily removed from Mueller's Russia probe because his persistent anti-Trump communications had surfaced.
So-called 302 reports are ostensibly contemporaneous accounts by agents of what is said during their interviews with witnesses and subjects, as well as other critical details like interviewees' demeanor and descriptions of where the interview took place. They are often critical pieces of evidence in false statements cases where, as in the Flynn case, the FBI typically does not audio- or video-record interviews.
FEDERAL JUDGE 'SHOCKED' AND 'DUMBFOUNDED' BY FBI ACTIONS IN HILLARY PROBE, SAYS STATE DEPT LIED TO COVER FOR CLINTONS
In June, Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C, charged that the FBI may have "edited and changed" key witness reports in the Hillary Clinton and Russia investigations. Meadows also raised the possibility that the FBI misled the Department of Justice watchdog in an attempt to hide the identities of FBI employees who were caught sending anti-Trump messages along with Strzok.

In this image made from a video taken on Dec. 10, 2015 and made available on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017, US President Donald Trump's former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, right, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow.  (The Associated Press)

Flynn "clearly saw the FBI agents as allies," according to the 302 prepared by Strzok and another agent.
In a lengthy court filing Tuesday, Flynn's attorneys alleged that then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe pushed Flynn not to have an attorney present during the questioning that ultimately led to his guilty plea on a single charge of lying to federal authorities.
The document outlines, with striking new details, the rapid sequence of events that led to Flynn's sudden fall from the Trump administration.
While Flynn is among several Trump associates to have been charged with making false statements as part of the Russia probe, no one interviewed during the FBI’s Clinton email investigation was hit with false statement charges – though investigators believed some witnesses, including Clinton herself, were untruthful.
FALSE STATEMENT CHARGES ABOUND IN MUELLER PROBE, IN CONTRAST TO CLINTON CASE
According to Flynn's legal team, FBI agents in his case deliberately did not instruct Flynn that any false statements he made could constitute a crime, and decided not to "confront" him directly about anything he said that contradicted their knowledge of his wiretapped communications with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
If “Flynn said he did not remember something they knew he said, they would use the exact words Flynn used, ... to try to refresh his recollection," FBI agents wrote in the 302 report cited by the filing, which Sullivan has ordered both the Flynn team and the FBI to produce by Friday. "If Flynn still would not confirm what he said, ... they would not confront him or talk him through it.”
According to the 302 as described in the filing, Flynn was “relaxed and jocular” as he gave the agents a "little tour" of his West Wing office.
McCabe -- who was fired earlier this year for making unauthorized media leaks and violating FBI policy -- wrote in a memorandum that shortly after noon on Jan. 24, 2017, he called Flynn on his secure line at the White House, and the two briefly discussed an unrelated FBI training session at the White House. Quickly, the conversation turned to a potential interview, according to an account provided by McCabe cited in the Tuesday filing.
McCabe reportedly testified later that the agents, after speaking with Flynn, “didn’t think he was lying" at the time.
HOW THE FBI MADE INCORRECT ASSURANCES TO THE FISA COURT TO OBTAIN A SECRET WARRANT TO SURVEIL TRUMP AIDE CARTER PAGE
In his order, Sullivan requested Mueller turn over not only the Flynn 302, but also a memo written by McCabe and any similar documents in the FBI's possession. Sullivan similarly demanded that Flynn's lawyers produce the McCabe memorandum and 302 they used to make their assertions.

Mueller has signaled he is wrapping up his probe into the Trump campaign's communications with Russians. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

(Separately, Sullivan ruled last month that Clinton must answer more questions under oath about her use of a private email server to store classified documents. But the hard-charging judge has not been easy on the Trump administration: In August, he threatened to hold then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt of court when he learned that authorities were in the process of deporting a woman and her child while a court heard her legal appeal, calling immigration officials' actions "pretty outrageous.")
JEROME CORSI: MUELLER WANTED ME TO LIE
McCabe purportedly said in the memo that he told Flynn he “felt that we needed to have two of our agents sit down” to discuss his contacts with Russian officials.
“I explained that I thought the quickest way to get this done was to have a conversation between [Flynn] and the agents only," McCabe wrote, according to the Flynn filing. "I further stated that if LTG Flynn wished to include anyone else in the meeting, like the White House Counsel for instance, that I would need to involve the Department of Justice. [General Flynn] stated that this would not be necessary and agreed to meet with the agents without any additional participants."

Former FBI Lawyer Lisa Page and fired FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok exchanged anti-Trump text messages during their time at the bureau. (AP, File)

Explaining why Flynn was not warned about the possible consequences of making false statements, one of the agents wrote in the 302 cited by Flynn's lawyers that FBI brass had "decided the agents would not warn Flynn that it was a crime to lie during an FBI interview because they wanted Flynn to be relaxed, and they were concerned that giving the warnings might adversely affect the rapport."
FBI OFFICIALS IMPROPERLY RECEIVED SPORTS TICKETS FROM REPORTERS, DOJ WATCHDOG FINDS
The tactics were apparently in sharp contrast to the FBI's approach to interviewing former Trump aide George Papadopoulos, who also pleaded guilty to making false statements and was recently released from prison. In a court filing last year, Special Counsel Mueller's team took pains to note that FBI agents who interviewed Papadopoulos on Jan. 27, 2017 -- just days after the Flynn interview -- had advised Papadopoulos that "lying to them 'is a federal offense'" and that he could get "in trouble" if he did not tell the truth.
The revelations in the court filing, if accurate, would also sharply differ from the FBI's handling of its interview with then-presidential candidate Clinton in 2016, during the height of the presidential campaign. Clinton brought a total of nine lawyers to her interview -- a number that fired FBI Director James Comey said was "unusual ... but not unprecedented" in House testimony in September.
A scathing report released earlier this year by the Department of Justice's inspector general (IG) found that the FBI had taken actions "inconsistent with typical investigative strategy" by allowing former Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills and ex-campaign staffer Heather Samuelson to sit in on the Clinton interview -- even though "they had also both served as lawyers for Clinton after they left the State Department."
FLYNN HAS PROVIDED 'SUBSTANTIAL ASSISTANCE' ON CRIMINAL PROBE, MUELLER WRITES
In fact, the IG wrote, FBI officials fretted about how many FBI representatives should be at the interview, for fear of prejudicing Clinton against the agency if, as expected, she went on to become president.
“[S]he might be our next president," FBI attorney Lisa Page wrote, in urging that the number of people at the interview be limited to four or six. "The last thing you need us going in there loaded for bear. You think she’s going to remember or care that it was more doj than fbi?”
The IG report further noted: “Witnesses told us, and contemporaneous emails show, that the FBI and Department officials who attended Clinton’s interview found that her claim that she did not understand the significance of the ‘(C)’ marking strained credulity. (FBI) Agent 1 stated, ‘I filed that in the bucket of hard to impossible to believe.’"
FBI MAY HAVE MODIFIED 302 REPORTS AFTER-THE-FACT, GOP REP SAYS
Strzok, who was one of the two agents who interviewed Flynn and who was later also fired for violating FBI policies, had compromised the FBI's appearance of impartiality by sending a slew of anti-Trump texts on his government-issued phone, the IG concluded.
“In particular, we were concerned about text messages exchanged by FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, Special Counsel to the Deputy Director, that potentially indicated or created the appearance that investigative decisions were impacted by bias or improper considerations,” the IG report said.
In one of those texts, Strzok wrote to Page in 2016 that Trump would not become president because "we'll stop" it from happening.
SEVEN BOMBSHELL REVELATIONS IN SCATHING IG REPORT INTO FBI, DOJ MISCONDUCT DURING CLINTON, RUSSIA PROBES
"Even when circumstances later came to light that prompted extensive public debate about the investigation of General Flynn, including revelations that certain FBI officials involved in the January 24 interview of General Flynn were themselves being investigated for misconduct, General Flynn did not back away from accepting responsibility for his actions," Flynn's lawyers wrote in the filing Tuesday.

FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump accompanied by, from second from left, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Vice President Mike Pence, White House press secretary Sean Spicer and then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn speaks on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington. (The Associated Press)

Flynn was fired as national security adviser in February 2017 for misleading Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials about his contacts with Russian officials. In arguing that Flynn should receive no more than a year of probation and 200 hours of community service for making false statements to federal investigators, his lawyers Tuesday emphasized his service in the U.S. Army and lack of criminal record.
In a sentencing memo earlier this month, Mueller recommended a lenient sentence -- with the possibility of no prison time -- for Flynn, stating he has offered "substantial" help to investigators about "several ongoing investigations."
Meanwhile, Comey revealed in closed-door testimony with House Republicans on Friday that he deliberately concealed an explosive memorandum about his one-on-one Oval Office meeting with President Trump in February 2017 from top Department of Justice officials.
The former FBI head also acknowledged that when the agency initiated its counterintelligence probe into possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government in July 2016, investigators "didn't know whether we had anything" and that "in fact, when I was fired as director [in May 2017], I still didn't know whether there was anything to it."
His remarks square with testimony this summer from former FBI lawyer Page, whose anti-Trump texts became a focus of House GOP oversight efforts. Page told Congress in a closed-door deposition that "even as far as May 2017" -- more than nine months after the counterintelligence probe commenced -- "we still couldn't answer the question" as to whether Trump staff had improperly colluded with Russia.