Republicans weigh proposals to protect Mueller from firing

Republicans on the Hill appear to be divided on whether or not to agree on legislation that would help protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by President Trump.

There have been conversations about protecting Mueller in the past, but last week’s report by The New York Times, claiming that Trump wanted to fire the investigator last summer, brought new attention to the matter, even though Trump denied the report and called it “fake news.”

“I have got legislation protecting Mr. Mueller,” Sen Lindsey Graham told ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on Sunday. “I’ll be glad to pass it tomorrow.”
The Washington Post reported that Graham has a bi-partisan proposal—joined by Sen. Cory Booker—that calls for a panel to approve any call to fire Mueller.
“Everybody in the White House knows it would be the end of President Trump’s presidency if he fired Mueller.”
The report said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R.-Calif., turned down calls to pass such a proposal, claiming that there is no need for the safeguard. He said Trump and his team “have fully cooperated” with Mueller’s investigation into possible Russian collusion with Trump’s staff.
The Times reported last week that Trump ordered for Mueller’s firing in June and only backed down after his White House counsel refused to carry out the instruction and threatened to resign.
Trump was asked about the report in Davos, where he was participating in the World Economic Forum, and denied the report and called it “typical” of the paper to run the report.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D.- N.Y., said that the report calls for Republicans in Congress to act, The New York Times reported.
“The most important thing Congress can do right now is to ensure that Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation continues uninterrupted and unimpeded,” he said.
Schumer was not joined by all of his fellow Senate Democrats. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said it would be “premature for us to go down that road. Manchin, The Post pointed out, is up for re-election this year in a state where Trump easily won.

Hillary Clinton makes Grammys cameo to mock Trump by reading 'Fire and Fury'

Idiot

Hillary Clinton surprised viewers by making an appearance in a pre-taped segment for the 60th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night -- and she mocked President Trump in the process.

"We know that our current president does love winning awards and the good news he may just be the subject of next year's winner [for Best Spoken Word Album]," host James Corden said. "The question I've got is who'll be the narrator?"

In a pre-taped video, outspoken anti-Trump stars John Legend and Cher then auditioned to be the narrator for Michael Wolff's book "Fire and Fury" about Trump's White House.
Snoop Dogg, DJ Khaled and Cardi B also read excerpts from the book during the fake auditions.
Finally, Clinton read from the book and Corden declared, "That's it! We've got it!"
Clinton said, "You think so? The Grammy's in the bag?"
Corden replied, "In the bag!"
The segment resulted in wild applause from the star-studded crowd. But not all were pleased. United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed the bit. However, the harshest words came from Donald Trump Jr.

The more Hillary goes on television the more the American people realize how awesome it is to have @realDonaldTrump in office #GrammyAwards2018

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 29, 2018

Nailed it.
So sick of celebrity preaching, I could scream.

— Ben Lund (@RealBenLund) January 29, 2018

I have always loved the Grammys but to have artists read the Fire and Fury book killed it. Don’t ruin great music with trash. Some of us love music without the politics thrown in it.

— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) January 29, 2018

I disagree. That part ruined the Grammys. Such a shame.

— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) January 29, 2018

That 👏🏻 was 👏🏻 amazing 👏🏻 @HillaryClinton 😂 #GRAMMYS

— Megan (@m_jensen5) January 29, 2018

After the show, Grammys Execuitve producer Ken Ehrlich said getting Clinton to appear in the skit wasn't tough. However, he credited Corden with sealing the deal.
"She kind of took a couple of days to say 'yes,' but ultimately she saw the script, she knew what we were doing and she liked it."
Clinton recorded the segment near her home on Friday, the Grammys producer added.
He also admitted that he was aware the cameo was recieving some backlash, but said they stand by what they did.

Hollywood Hypocrisy Cartoons

Illinois Democrat's retaliation case cost taxpayers $500G: report

Illinois gubernatorial candidate Bob Daiber, third from the right, settled a retaliation lawsuit at taxpayer expense, a newspaper reported.  (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune via Associated Press)

Records of a 2010 retaliation lawsuit involving an Illinois Democrat running for governor have resurfaced after he called for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and touted an 80 percent female staff.

Madison County taxpayers paid nearly $500,000 to settle the suit against Bob Daiber, who allegedly retaliated against a former female employee by laying her off after she complained about not being paid as much as a male coworker, the Chicago Tribune reported, citing court records.  

Daiber, the Madison County Regional Office of Education superintendent, “denied retaliating against the employee,” and said he had tried to “work with her to find a resolution,” according to the report.
Mary Parker, a subordinate of Daiber's in the mid-2000s, had learned that male colleague with the same position was making more money than her, court records show.
The suit alleged that Parker had approached Daiber several times between 2007 and 2009 to ask for a remedy in the pay discrepancy. According to the Tribune, Daiber offered to give Parker a $4,000 raise as well as extend the job from 10 months to 12 months, both of which she rejected as unfair.
Daiber’s attorney said the male coworker had had higher qualifications and a contract that had been negotiated by the local teachers union, the Tribune reported.
Daiber later said in court he threatened Parker’s job because she had been insubordinate and not, as she claimed, for trying to negotiate a pay raise.
The jury rejected Parker’s claims of wage-based discrimination, but agreed with her claim that her position had been eliminated because she complained. A judge awarded her $432,145 to cover court costs and damages, the Tribune reported.  
The verdict was appealed, but later settled for $487,500 out of fear that the cost would increase as the legal battle wore on at the expense of taxpayers.
The general primaries for 2018 Illinois gubernatorial election will take place March 20. Daiber's Democratic rivals include Kenilworth millionaire Chris Kennedy, a son of the late U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy who has made gun control and reducing violence in Chicago a centerpiece of his platform.

'All She Wanted Was an Apology': 'Scandalous' Chronicles Paula Jones' Accusation Against Bill Clinton

Paula Jones' former attorney joined Bill Hemmer on "America's Newsroom" to reflect on the "extraordinary time" being chronicled in the Fox News Channel documentary series "Scandalous."
The seven-episode series gives a riveting, up-close look at the Clinton scandals of the 1990s.
The second episode, which airs Sunday night at 8:00pm ET, follows Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit against former President Bill Clinton and the high-stakes political drama that ensued.
Jones alleged that then-Arkansas Gov. Clinton propositioned her and exposed himself at a conference in Little Rock in 1991. He denied the allegation.
"She was a woman that really just wanted to have her good name cleared. All she wanted was an apology," said Joseph Cammarata, who represented Jones.
When that didn't happen, they filed a lawsuit, eventually reaching a $850,000 settlement with Clinton in 1999.
"It was an extraordinary time," Cammarata said. "It was amazing to have a case that attracted so much attention, nationally and internationally. It was a very, very good learning experience for me professionally. It was quite an important case to be on, and I'm glad I was on it."
He added Jones was a "wonderful client" who just wanted to have her reputation restored.
Tune in to "Scandalous" Sunday night at 8:00pm ET on Fox News Channel, and revisit last week's episode on the Whitewater scandal.

Justice Ginsburg to skip State of the Union, signals she has no plans to retire

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will not be attending President Donald Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday.

Instead, she will be at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, for a talk that was announced in August, the Providence Journal reported.

Ginsburg, 84, also has sent signals recently that she intends to keep her seat on the bench for years to come.
When asked how long she intends to serve, she said she will stay as long as she can go “full steam,” drawing inspiration from her model, Justice John Paul Stevens, who stepped down in 2010 at age 90.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Ginsburg's nomination by President Bill Clinton and her confirmation as the second woman on the court -- following former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
“She is so spry,” said friend Ann Claire Williams, a newly retired federal appeals court judge, adding that Ginsburg’s mind is also sharp and her recall on cases “extraordinary.”

The eldest Supreme Court justice has produced two of the court’s four signed opinions so far this term. She’s even hired law clerks to take her through June 2020, just months before the next presidential election.
Ginsburg also did not attend last year’s presidential address, after attending to all eight of former President Barack Obama’s addresses, the Hill reported. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas also didn’t attend President Trump’s address last year.
Other justices have skipped out on the annual address, so the practice is not abnormal, the report said.

Anti-Trump celebs plan 'People's State of the Union'

Democrats are not interested in Border Safety & Security or in the funding and rebuilding of our Military. They are only interested in Obstruction!

They do not care if America is great again.

They do not care if America is great again.

Actor Mark Ruffalo, center, is among the celebrities participating in an evening of speeches and music in New York City on Monday, Jan. 29, 2018, a day before President Trump's State of the Union address.  (Associated Press)

A cabal of Hollywood elites, progressive groups and social activists are planning a “People’s State of the Union” as a “public alternative” on the eve of President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address.

Notable participants in Monday's scheduled event in New York City include filmmaker Michael Moore, actors Mark Ruffalo, Alyssa Milano, Rosie Perez and Whoopi Goldberg.

They'll congregate at the Town Hall in Manhattan, the venue where suffragists met in the 1920s. Singer Andra Day and rapper Common will be performing the song, “Stand Up for Something,” from the biopic film "Marshall," about the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
Tickets were still available Saturday at $47 each.
The event, coordinated by unions, organizers of the Women’s March and Planned Parenthood, is being marketed as a celebration of the “resistance,” closer to “the people’s point of view,” USA Today reported.     
Ruffalo, an inveterate progressive and vocal critic of President Trump, told People magazine, “I think it’s important because we have a president who has a difficult time with the truth, who has a radical, divisive agenda, and spends an enormous amount of time focusing on the negative and hopelessness and despair.”
Monday’s event also will serve as a platform for the launch of "We Stand United," the lead organizing group of the "People’s State of the Union."
The group’s campaign director, Julia Walsh, said, “We’re all going to work together across all different movements to make sure that we win back Congress in 2018 and hold this president in check.”

Cher Cartoons

Pres. Trump Backs Long-Term ‘Strong Dollar’ Policy

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin showing his wife, Louise Linton, a sheet of new $1 bills, the first currency notes bearing his and US Treasurer Jovita Carranza’s signatures.

The U.S. dollar bounces back after a two day slide as President Trump says he backs the “strong dollar” policy.
The president said he supports a longer-term strength of the dollar against its major competitors.
He added, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s “weaker dollar” comments have been misunderstood, suggesting there’s no disagreements within the administration over the economic policy.
The president made his remarks in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Previously, Secretary Mnuchin said short-term dollar weakness will boost U.S. economy.
“We are doing so well, our country is becoming so economically strong again, and strong in other ways too, by the way, that the dollar is going to get stronger and stronger, and ultimately I would wanna’ see a strong dollar,” said President Trump.
Following the president’s comment, the dollar bounced-back from its three year slide against the Euro.

Ex-chairman of Missouri Democratic Party pleads guilty in corruption case

A former Democratic Party chairman and prosecutor in Missouri was convicted of wire fraud Friday after admitting he exploited campaign funds for personal use, such as trips to California's wine country and Las Vegas.

The Kansas City Star reported that Mike Sanders pleaded guilty to the federal corruption charge, along with his aide and chief of staff, Calvin Williford, who also pleaded guilty to the same charge at a separate hearing that same day.

With a guilty plea, former Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders’ downfall is complete https://t.co/a7H7bsRcyh

— The Kansas City Star (@KCStar) January 26, 2018

Williford also testified that the pair had a scheme involving a printing company that would create phone invoices and distribute the money to Williford and other workers on Sanders’ campaigns to bypass the Missouri Ethics Commission.
Sanders admitted to converting roughly $62,000 in campaign funds for personal use through a kickback scheme using an old high school friend named Steve Hill.
Hill told the Star in December that Sanders delivered checks to him for campaign work that he never performed, and would keep 10 percent while Sanders pocketed the rest for what he said was political purposes. Authorities later found that not to be the complete story, according to the paper.
For example, in one instance Sanders’ used $4,550 in kickback money he obtained from Hill in 2012 to pay his federal taxes from 2010, the paper reported.
Sanders, who served as the chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party from 2010 to 2013, cut off the checks in late 2013 after Hill told him the FBI was investigating, the paper reported. He also worked as a Jackson County prosecutor starting in 2002, prior to becoming county executive in 2007.
Williford and two other unidentified conspirators were also tied to the kickback scheme.
Both Williford and Sanders, who were released on signature bonds pending sentencing, could face up to five years in prison, as well as a fine of up to $250,000, according to the paper.