Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel left City Hall for the last time Friday afternoon, ending his eight-year, often turbulent tenure.
The
mayor hugged and high-fived cheering staffers as he walked through the
halls but quickly exited into a waiting black SUV outside, where a much
smaller and quieter public crowd stood.
It
was reportedly a drastically different scene from 2011, when Emanuel’s
predecessor -- former Mayor Richard M. Daley, son of Chicago legend
Richard J. Daley -- left office after 22 years on the job.
Sparred with Trump
Emanuel,
who was known for being a flamboyant politician, started his mayoral
career fighting with a teacher’s union, then consistently sparred with
President Trump, defending Chicago as a sanctuary city. He also took
heat for allegedly covering up a video of a police officer's 2014 fatal
shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald until after he was re-elected to his second term, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. McDonald was shot 16 times. The officer, Jason Van Dyke, was convicted of second-degree murder.
The
shooting happened at a critical point in Emanuel’s reelection campaign
in 2015, and he didn’t release the video until after he won, and even
then only under a judicial order. The city settled with McDonald’s
family for $5 million.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced last September that he would not seek a third term in office. (Associated Press)
"Again and again and again he has resisted reforms,
he resisted the consent decree process that he has now embraced and is
taking credit for as part of his legacy," investigative reporter Jamie
Kalven wrote, according to WLS-TV in Chicago. Kalven first reported on
the existence of the dashcam video of McDonald’s shooting.
'Dead tired'
In an interview with WLS, Emanuel explained he didn’t want to run for a third term because he was “dead tired.”
“Being
mayor is not a part-time job," he said. "There is no Fourth of July
holiday. I knew I didn't have four years in the gas tank.”
Many
believe, however, that the 59-year-old Emanuel -- who first drew
national attention as a congressman, then as an adviser to former
President Bill Clinton and White House chief of staff for former
President Barack Obama -- didn’t have the votes to get re-elected after
the fallout from the McDonald shooting.
'Who knows if they even want me?'
“Rahm Emanuel could not have won the African-American vote needed to secure his spot as a three-term mayor,” Chicago Tribune
columnist Dahleen Glanton wrote last September. “The image of the
17-year-old [McDonald] lying on the pavement after Officer Jason Van
Dyke pumped 16 bullets into his body is too ingrained in
African-American voters’ minds.
He has ruled out running for
president and said he needs a break from politics to be with his family.
"However, should a Democrat win in 2020, might you go to Washington?
You know what, who knows if they even want me?” he told Chicago's WMAQ-TV.
Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot takes office on Monday.
Liberal author Fran Lebowitz went to the extreme Friday night during an appearance on "Real Time with Bill Maher," suggesting that President Trump should not only be impeached but killed.
Lebowitz
began by saying she felt "plagued" by Trump's presidency and "shocked"
by what she claimed was criminal behavior by Attorney General William Barr over his handling of the Mueller report.
But
when she was asked about impeachment, Lebowitz did not think that was
enough punishment for the president, who has not been charged with any
crimes.
"Certainly,
he deserves to be impeached. I mean, impeachment is just the beginning
of what he deserves. Not even scratching the surface of what he
deserves," Lebowitz said. "Whenever I think about this and what he
really deserves, I think, 'We should turn him over to the Saudis, you
know, his buddies. The same Saudis who got rid of that reporter, you
know. Maybe they can do the same for him.'"
"Certainly,
he deserves to be impeached. I mean, impeachment is just the beginning
of what he deserves. Not even scratching the surface of what he
deserves." — Fran Lebowitz, liberal author
Her remarks, which drew some applause from Maher's studio audience in Los Angeles, was in reference to the 2018 murder of Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi, who is believed to have been tortured and dismembered with a bone saw, purportedly under the orders of the Saudi government.
During the show's "Overtime" segment,
however, Lebowitz said the "Real Time" producers told her that her
remarks were getting blowback on social media, which prompted her to
walk them back.
"I saw your face when I said it. I didn't even
realize that I said it. I had twelve cups of coffee," Lebowitz told
Maher. "I regret saying it."
"I saw your face when I said it. I didn't even realize that I said it. I had twelve cups of coffee. I regret saying it." — Fran Lebowitz, liberal author
Author Fran Lebowitz spoke some harsh words about President Trump
on Friday night during an appearance on Bill Maher's weekly late-night
show. (Getty Images)
"You
know, everyone's too, too, too, too ... " Maher told the panel. "I
mean, it's a live show. You really don't want to see the president
dismembered by the Saudis. I don't like Donald Trump either. ... but no
matter who the president is, we don't want physical harm."
"I don't like Donald Trump either. ... but no matter who the president is, we don't want physical harm." — Bill Maher, "Real Time" host
"I
did not mean that and I regret saying it. I regret that everyone
misinterpreted it because they misinterpret everything," Lebowitz added.
The situation seemed reminiscent of the May 2017 controversy surrounding comedian Kathy Griffin,
who posed for a photo while holding a fake head of Trump, dripping with
fake blood, as if the president had been beheaded. The photo drew scorn
from around the world, and Griffin lost work as a result, including an
annual New Year's Eve gig on CNN.
Lebowitz is an author and
speaker best known for her appearances on "The Late Show with David
Letterman." She also appeared on "Law & Order" and in the film, "The
Wolf of Wall Street."
It seems to be all sound and fury these days, with no tangible outcome.
That
may be great for the media, which love combat and conflict, and for
politicians, who love to decry and declaim. But actual progress? Not so
much.
Washington has always been known for gridlock that matches the Beltway traffic, but now it's on steroids. It’s almost as though, while people slam each other on Twitter and Facebook, nobody expects anything to happen.
Let's go down the list.
President Trump unveiled an immigration plan yesterday, and even before the announcement The Washington Post
said it's "already is facing skepticism from lawmakers in both
political parties, and there appears to be no clear path toward
advancing the plan through Congress."
What a shock. And the president probably didn't help its chances by immediately calling Democrats the "open borders" party.
The
plan, which would favor legal immigrants with high skills over those
with family ties, is "another test of Trump's willingness to stump for a
plan that could face opposition from border hawks and his ability to
forge bipartisan support at a time when he has inflamed Democrats over
unilateral immigration actions, including declaring a national emergency
to pay for a border wall."
It's true that his hard-line approach
has played mainly to his base. But it’s not all Trump's fault. Barack
Obama couldn't solve the immigration mess either, and neither could
George W. Bush. Neither side is ever prepared to make the necessary
compromises.
Next up is abortion, an issue that has become more
politicized than ever. Alabama just adopted a law that would ban almost
all abortions in the state, including in cases of rape and incest, and
that has hardened the battle lines.
Liberal
commentators and the Democratic presidential candidates are all
denouncing the measure as an assault on women. Some conservative pundits
and Republicans — although there is a split over severity and tactics —
are defending the Alabama effort as overdue.
But here, too, we're
looking at a long period of inaction. The Alabama statute doesn't take
effect for six months and it faces a long legal battle that may well end
up at the Supreme Court.
With
its extreme provisions — no exceptions for rape and incest, 99-year
prison terms for providers — the law seems crafted to trigger a high
court review of Roe v. Wade. And even such pro-life advocates as Pat Robertson are predicting
it will be struck down, which takes us back to square one (although
several states are passing less severe abortion restrictions).
And
then there's Iran. The papers are full of details about backstage power
struggles after administration officials devised a contingency plan to
send up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East.
"President Trump is
frustrated with some of his top advisers, who he thinks could rush the
United States into a military confrontation with Iran and shatter his
long-standing pledge to withdraw from costly foreign wars," says The Washington Post, "according to several U.S. officials."
What’s
more, "Trump grew angry last week and over the weekend about what he
sees as warlike planning that is getting ahead of his own thinking, said
a senior administration official with knowledge of conversations Trump
had regarding national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo."
Such infighting occurs in every
administration. Trump, having pulled out of the Iran nuke deal, places a
high value on confronting that provocative regime, but is also
disdainful of endless wars. So we have plenty of behind-the-scenes
churning, but no real movement.
And
speaking of endless wars, don't get me started on endless
investigations. We've been through two years of the Mueller probe and
both sides are still fighting about the fallout. Now Bill Barr has
tapped a federal prosecutor to look into the origins of the FBI inquiry
into the Trump campaign and Russia, which is also being examined by
DOJ’s inspector general. More sound and fury.
I think many
Americans are just tuning out this daily warfare, along with a
presidential campaign that once again has started way too early. And
that may be a rational response.
A
former campaign adviser for John Kasich said Thursday that he’s backing
out of a $350,000 contract to lobby against sanctions on behalf of a
Russian state-owned nuclear energy company, vowing instead to put a
"laser focus" on helping prevent President Trump's re-election.
John
Weaver, who was the top strategist on the 2016 presidential campaign of
Kasich, the Republican former governor of Ohio who has frequently been
at odds with President Trump, announced his decision on Twitter after
drawing heat for accepting the lobbying gig. FORMER KASICH ADVISER TAKES $350G JOB LOBBYING FOR RUSSIA, REGISTERS AS FOREIGN AGENT: REPORT
“My
attorney has contacted Tenam this morning & informed them I must
reject this agreement. No funds were transferred, no actions taken,"
Weaver said, referring to the Russian company. "Now, I've got to get
back to the barricades. Apologies for the momentary distraction.”
Weaver
had signed a contract last month to lobby Congress and the Trump
administration on behalf of Tenam Corp., a subsidiary of the Rosatom,
the Russian state-owned nuclear energy company, for at least six months
and registered as a foreign agent, Politico reported.
When
news of the contract broke Wednesday, Weaver received heavy backlash
from social media users who pointed out he had spent most of his career
criticizing the Kremlin, most recently for its interference in the 2016
U.S. presidential election.
Weaver initially defended his new gig
in a lengthy series of tweets late Wednesday, claiming he took the job
working for Russia because he feared Trump’s “go-it-alone” policies
would jeopardize U.S. national security interests, the U.S. economy and
the world market.
He
announced a change of heart the following day, pledging to not let
money distract him from his sole mission: ensuring Trump is not elected
to a second term.
“While I fear the dangers of nuclear
proliferation & know a stable uranium market is important to the
USA's national & economic security -- & experts urged this -- my
laser focus is on 2020 & playing any role -- major or minor -- in
ensuring Trump serves only 1 term,” Weaver wrote Thursday.
“To allow anything to distract from that is a mistake. And I can recognize a mistake when I make it,” he said.
Kasich,
Weaver's former boss, has said he would give consideration to opposing
Trump in Republican primaries in 2020, but has not declared a candidacy
for president.
The growing feud between former FBI director James Comey and former CIA director John Brennan
is just another example of anti-Trump conspirators positioning
themselves to 'rat' each other out, according to conservative radio talk
show host Rush Limbaugh.
"So now they’re starting to point
fingers at each other, and it’s gonna be a perfect time for leverage to
be used for them to start ratting each other out," Limbaugh said
Thursday on his radio show.
The launch of a formal inquiry into the origins of the Russia investigation led by John Durham has triggered a new round of behind-the-scenes finger-pointing among Obama administration officials.
A
key dispute concerns whether Comey or Brennan, or possibly both, pushed
the unverified Steele dossier containing claims about President Trump
and his relationship to Russia. The dossier’s more sensational claims
were never substantiated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team.
"This
is what I meant yesterday when I said that the rats are beginning to
scurry around. This is a textbook example of CYA (cover your a--), and
in it, we have the former counsel — the lawyer for the FBI, James Baker —
telling Michael Isikoff yesterday that senior FBI officials were
worried Comey telling Trump about the golden shower story in the dossier
might be construed as an attempt to blackmail Trump. In other words,
we’re now hearing that FBI higher-ups were worried about what Comey was
doing," Limbaugh told his audience.
Former FBI general counsel James Baker said this week on a podcast,
hosted by Isikoff, that he and other officials were "quite worried"
that Comey appeared to be blackmailing then President-elect Trump during
a 2017 meeting regarding salacious allegations found in the Steele
dossier.
Baker said he and others were so concerned about Comey
briefing Trump that "analogies" were made to J. Edgar Hoover, the former
FBI director who famously abused his power to blackmail individuals.
Limbaugh accused Baker and anti-Trump forces of leaking the dossier to the press.
"Mr.
Baker, come on. The press had it because you gave it to them! The press
had it because John McCain made sure they had it. The press had it
because everybody in the Washington establishment wanted this dossier to
be publicly consumed. You knew that it was unverified. You knew that it
had not been corroborated, but you wanted it out there. McCain helped a
bunch of people get this dossier out there," Limbaugh proclaimed.
"You say you’re worried about about the J. Edgar Hoover comparisons? The press had the dossier because it had been leaked!" Fox News' Alex Pappas and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News, Attorney General William Barr
explained that he is trying to get to the bottom of whether or not
“government officials abused their power and put their thumb on the
scale” during the early stages of the Russia probe.
"I’ve
been trying to get answers to the questions and I've found that a lot
of the answers have been inadequate and some of the explanations I've
gotten don't hang together, in a sense I have more questions today than
when I first started," Barr told Fox News' Bill Hemmer in an interview set to air Friday on "America's Newsroom."
"What doesn't hang together?" Hemmer asked.
"Some of the explanations of what occurred," Barr said.
"Why does that matter?" asked Hemmer.
"People
have to find out what the government was doing during that period. If
we're worried about foreign influence, for the very same reason we
should be worried about whether government officials abuse their power
and put their thumb on the scale," Barr responded.
Barr added, "I'm not saying that happened but it's something we have to look at."
Hemmer
conducted the interview with Barr in El Salvador, where he will address
the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border, MS-13, drug trafficking and human
trafficking with officials.
On Monday, multiple outlets reported that Barr had appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to examine the origins of the Russia investigation
A
person familiar with the process told Fox News Tuesday that Durham has
been working on his review “for weeks,” to probe "all intelligence
collection activities" related to the Trump campaign during the 2016
presidential election.
The Russia investigation and Special
Counsel Robert Mueller's report continue to be debated by Republicans
and Democrats since its release last month.
Democrats
have accused Barr of acting as the president's "personal attorney"
while Republicans accuse Democrats of vilifying the attorney general in
order to harm President Trump. Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
