EPA says 'unprecedented' number of death threats against Pruitt

EPA administrator Scott Pruitt has faced an "unprecedented" number of death threats, according to an agency spokesman.
His statement follows reports Pruitt has spent millions on security despite no proof his life was in danger.
“According to EPA’s Assistant Inspector General, Scott Pruitt has faced an unprecedented amount of death threats against him and his family,” agency spokesman Jahan Wilcox said late Friday. “Americans should all agree that members of the president’s Cabinet should be kept safe from these violent threats.”
The statement was obtained Saturday by Fox News and included a list of several published reports about such incidents.
President Trump tweeted his support for Pruitt on Saturday evening. “While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA. Record clean Air & Water while saving USA Billions of Dollars. Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!”
A nationwide search of state and federal court records by the Associated Press found no case in which anyone was arrested or charged with threatening Pruitt, the wire service said Friday.
The agency has spent millions of dollars for a 20-member, full-time detail for Pruitt, which is roughly three times the size of his predecessor's part-time security contingent.
New details in Pruitt's expansive spending for security and travel emerged from agency sources and documents reviewed by the wire service. They come as Pruitt fends off allegations of profligate spending and ethical missteps.
Pruitt's domestic and international travel led to rapidly escalating costs, with the security detail racking up so much overtime that many hit annual salary caps of about $160,000. The demands of providing 24-hour coverage even meant taking some investigators away from field work, such as when Pruitt traveled to California for a family vacation.
Total security costs reportedly are nearly $3 million when pay is added to travel expenses.
Pruitt has said his use of first-class airfare was initiated following unpleasant interactions with other travelers. In one incident, someone yelled a profanity as he walked through the airport.
The EPA administrator also has come under intense scrutiny for big raises for two of closest aides and his rental of a Capitol Hill condo tied to a lobbyist who represents fossil fuel clients.
“This was like an Airbnb situation,” Pruitt told Fox News on Wednesday, in an exclusive interview in which he defended his actions amid allegations of questionable spending. “When I was not there, the landlord, they had access to the entirety of the facility. When I was there, I only had access to a room.”
At least three congressional Republicans and a chorus of Democrats have called for Pruitt's ouster. But Trump is so far standing by him.
A review of Pruitt's ethical conduct by White House officials is underway, adding to probes by congressional oversight committees and the EPA's inspector general.
Pruitt, 49, was closely aligned with the oil and gas industry as Oklahoma's state attorney general before being tapped by Trump, who has praised Pruitt's relentless efforts to scrap, delay or rewrite Obama-era environmental regulations.
Pruitt also has championed budget cuts and staff reductions at the agency so deep that even Republican budget hawks in Congress won’t implement them.
EPA's press office has not disclosed the cost of Pruitt's security or the size of his protective detail, saying doing so could imperil his personal safety.
But other sources within EPA and documents released through public information requests help provide a window into the ballooning costs.
Pruitt's predecessor, Gina McCarthy, had a security detail that numbered about a half dozen, less than a third the size of Pruitt's. She flew coach and was not accompanied by security during her off hours.
The EPA spent nearly $9,000 last year on increased counter-surveillance precautions for Pruitt, including hiring a private contractor to sweep his office for hidden listening devices and installing sophisticated biometric locks for the doors. The payment for the bug sweep went to a vice president at Perrotta's security company.
The EPA official who spoke to AP said Perrotta also arranged the installation of a $43,000 soundproof phone booth for Pruitt's office.
At least five EPA officials were placed on leave, reassigned or demoted after pushing back against spending requests such as a $100,000-a-month private jet membership, a bulletproof vehicle and $70,000 for furniture such as a bulletproof desk for the armed security officer always stationed inside the administrator's office suite.
Those purchases were not approved.

Rep. Kevin Cramer wins GOP endorsement to seek North Dakota Senate seat

Rep. Kevin Cramer is expected Saturday to win his state party’s endorsement in Republicans’ bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp.  (AP)

North Dakota GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer on Saturday won his state party’s endorsement in the Republicans’ bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp -- in what is expected to be this year’s toughest Senate race.
Delegates at the GOP state convention voted for him unanimously, the Grand Forks Herald reported.
The race -- which the nonpartisan Cook Political Report lists as a “tossup” -- is just one of several in 2018 that will help decide whether Republicans keep their slim Senate majority, which is now 51-to-49.

Republicans are seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, seen here.  (REUTERS/Yuri Gripas, File)

Cramer, a three-term House member, said he initially had no desire for the Senate seat, opting instead to remain in the House where he’s comfortably won reelection. But Cramer said he changed his mind because the party thought he was the only candidate who could defeat Heitkamp -- and because President Trump personally encouraged him three times to run for the seat, including twice after he said he wouldn't.
Cramer is a strong supporter of the Trump agenda, in one of the country’s most conservative states. Trump’s tax cuts and tough stance on illegal immigration likely will help Cramer. However, Trump’s tariff showdown with China could hurt GOP candidates in states like North Dakota, where local economies rely on agricultural exports. However, political analysts increasingly have argued that predicting how significantly any situation would affect voters six months away, on Election Day, is nearly impossible.
Thirty-five seats are up for reelection in the 2018 midterms -- with Democrats at a disadvantage in having to defend 26 -- including two held by Independents.
Their biggest challenge likely will be defending seats that Trump won in 2016 by double digits -- including North Dakota and Missouri, where Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill is facing a tough challenge from the state's GOP Attorney General Josh Hawley, with most polls showing the race a tossup.
West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin is also facing reelection in a state Trump won with about 69 percent of the vote.
On of the Democrats’ best opportunities to win a seat could be in Arizona, where GOP Sen. Jeff Flake is not seeking reelection. Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema likely will face the winner of a tough GOP primary that features GOP Rep. Martha McSally, former state Sen. Kelli Ward and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
The Cook report also lists that race as a tossup.
Cramer recently said beating Heitkamp wouldn't be easy and he expected each campaign to spend about $10 million -- not including outside money -- to win it.
"We are a long way from the election," he said. "North Dakotans have a role in shaping the agenda for the country -- and this enthusiasm and momentum has to be sustained."

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Kennedy dynasty faces a reckoning as controversial film hits theaters

The Kennedy dynasty faced a reckoning Friday, when a film hit theaters resurrecting the shocking details surrounding a late-night deadly car crash at Chappaquiddick Island that has haunted America’s most powerful political family since 1969.

“Chappaquiddick” opened in movie theaters across the U.S., drawing all eyes to the Kennedy family as the film renews questions about the controversial  incident at the island off Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts in 1969.

After the assassinations of both his brothers, former Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., was slated to carry the family’s political aspirations, even mulling a run for president of the United States.
But the movie tells the story of the incident that stopped that potential campaign in its tracks—depicting the involvement of Kennedy, then 37, in the fatal July 19, 1969 car accident that claimed the life of a young campaign strategist, Mary Jo Kopechne.
At approximately 12:50 a.m., Kennedy and Kopechne, 28, were driving back from a party hosted by a cousin of Kennedy on Martha’s Vineyard following the Edgartown Regatta, in which Kennedy had sailed. Kennedy’s car plunged 10 feet off of a bridge and into a pond, killing Kopechne and giving Kennedy “a slight concussion.”
Kennedy told police that he was “unfamiliar with the road,” came up to a narrow bridge, and said the car “went off the side of the bridge.” According to a description from a 1969 New York Times article, the road approaching the bridge is “narrow” with “no warning sign on the approach.”
Kennedy also told police that he had “no recollection” of how he got out of the car, which sank, landing with the roof resting on the bottom. Kennedy said that he “came to the surface and repeatedly dove down to the car in an attempt to see if the passenger was still in the car,” noting he was “unsuccessful in the attempt.”
Police said there was “apparently no criminal negligence involved in the accident itself.”
The accident, though, was not reported by Kennedy, but rather by a mother of a little boy who saw the overturned car in the pond when he was fishing.
Kennedy later described his failure to report the incident to police for 10 hours as “indefensible.”
Kennedy did, though, speak of the “Kennedy curse,” following the incident in a televised address, questioning whether “some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys.”
Kennedy’s eldest brother, Joseph Kennedy Jr. died in 1944 in World War II; his sister, Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish, died in a plane crash in 1948; his brother, former President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963; his brother Robert Kennedy, who served as JFK’s attorney general, was assassinated in 1968; decades later, in 1997, Robert F. Kennedy’s son Michael was killed in a skiing accident; and in 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr. died while flying his plane to Martha’s Vineyard.
While the incident squashed Kennedy’s hopes of running for president, he did serve as one of the longest-serving U.S. senators, and passed away in 2009 at the age of 77.
Almost 50 years following the incident, the Kennedy political ambition lives on—with his nephew, Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., a fresh face in the Democratic Party.
His office, though, did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment on the premiere of “Chappaquiddick.”
Rep. Kennedy, 37, delivered the Democratic response to President Trump’s first State of the Union address in January, following in the footsteps of Sen. Ted Kennedy, who delivered the same response to former President Ronald Reagan in 1982.
Chris Kennedy, the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, launched a gubernatorial bid in Illinois, but failed to garner the votes to win the Democratic nomination last month.
Caroline Kennedy, the only surviving child of JFK, served as the U.S. ambassador to Japan from 2013 to 2017, appointed by former President Barack Obama. When Obama appointed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, she mulled a run for Clinton’s Senate seat, but chose not to run.

Caroline Kennedy was U.S. ambassador to Japan from 2013 to 2017.
 (Reuters)

Despite not holding public office, Kennedy is still involved in the political world. Just last month, she spoke at the Desert Town Hall in California about navigating East Asian politics during her tenure as ambassador, and also discussing Trump and rising tensions with North Korea.
Douglas Kennedy, a son of Robert F. Kennedy, is a news correspondent at Fox News Channel.
Other Kennedys, while not yet rising to the political scene, have not stayed too far from the public eye.
Last summer, Robert F. Kennedy’s son, Max Kennedy, and his daughter were arrested after allegedly “inciting an angry mob” in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
In 2016, a grandson of RFK, Connor Kennedy, was arrested in Aspen, Colorado after allegedly getting into a fight in front of a nightclub. Connor also dated famed pop star Taylor Swift for a short period in 2012.
And JFK’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, began Harvard Law School in August 2017.

Newt Gingrich: California may elect a Republican governor -- Incredible as that sounds

John Cox is doing something remarkable for a Republican. A recent survey indicates he is now within striking distance of being elected governor of the infamously liberal state in November.

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, Cox (who I greatly respect and have worked with for years) has been gaining support since January and is now the second-place pick for governor among likely California primary voters. This puts him right behind the leading Democrat and represents a great potential for Cox to win the governorship seven months from now.

The poll result is important because California’s primary system for congressional and statewide elections is unusual.
Instead of running in individual party primaries, all candidates for governor of California – regardless of political party affiliation – will appear on a single ballot June 5. The two candidates who earn the most votes move on to the Nov. 6 gubernatorial election. Washington is the only other state that elects both congressional and state-level candidates this way.
California’s primary setup is a great system for silencing and drowning out political minorities, and it has likely been a big help to California Democrats since it was adopted in 2010. This is why Cox’s polling gains are so important.
In the Public Policy Institute of California survey, Cox earned 14 percent support against the five other primary candidates, as well as options for “someone else” and “don’t know.” This was up from 7 percent support in January. The top Democrat still has a significant lead on Cox, but nearly a quarter of likely voters in California remain undecided.
This race is also important for Republicans across the United States, because having Cox on the election ballot in November will be vital for keeping the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Republicans currently hold only 14 of California 53 House seats, all of which will be on the ballot this November. Any losses or gains in California could have a serious impact on the ability of Republicans to keep control of the House.
A survey by SmithJohnson Research found that 99.6 percent of California Republicans said they planned to vote in the June primary, with 97 percent reporting they “definitely will vote.”
However, when asked if they would vote in the November election if there were only Democratic candidates for governor on the ballot, only 56.1 percent of these Republican voters responded affirmatively, and only 42.8 percent reported they “definitely will vote.”
If California Republicans do not turn out in force in June and November, the Republican majority and President Trump’s agenda could be in trouble.
Clearly, Californians would benefit from Cox’s conservative leadership. The state is ranked worst for individual income taxes and 48^th overall by the Tax Foundation’s 2018 State Business Tax Climate Index.
Cox would work to cut state taxes so that Californians would see more take-home pay and small businesses would be more able to grow, succeed, expand and create more jobs. This includes the hugely unpopular gasoline tax that the Democratic California Legislature and Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown imposed on drivers last year.
The expensive welfare and government dependency programs that California’s liberal leadership has embraced and enacted over the years have also made it the “poverty capital of America,” as Kerry Jackson wrote in a Los Angeles Times op-ed.
Jackson, a fellow of California studies at the Pacific Research Institute, pointed out that duplicative state and local welfare programs in California have resulted in nearly $958 billion in spending from 1992 to 2015. Yet when the cost of living is factored in, California has the highest poverty rate among states in America.
California is home to 12 percent of the national population but about one in three of America’s welfare recipients live in the state. As Jackson puts it: “The generous spending, then, has not only failed to decrease poverty; it actually seems to have made it worse.”
Establishing a system that promotes work and capability over welfare and dependency would do wonders to bring struggling Californians out of poverty.
We know this system works. We saw it work when we put work requirements on welfare benefits when I was serving in Congress, and we’ve seen it work in states such as Maine, where Republicans leadership moved 80,000 people out of the Medicaid program and 70,000 off food stamps.
Following these pro-work models, Cox could do wonders for replacing poverty with prosperity in California. You can bet the Democratic candidates will simply double-down on the government spending model and make the problem worse.
Democratic leadership has also made California a haven for criminals who are in the country illegally. Cox has pledged to end California’s lawless sanctuary policies and work with federal officials to get those who are in the country illegally and committing crimes off the streets and out of the country.
As governor, Cox would put the safety and interests of Californians over those of criminal non-citizens.
If Republicans are serious about keeping and growing our governing majority – and making America great again – we need to engage and build momentum in every election, at every level. Each fight we win will make winning the next ones more and more likely.
There’s no doubt: California will be a difficult battleground. Our opponents are entrenched and well-funded. However, if we can win there, it will show the nation that we can win everywhere.

Newt Gingrich is a Fox News contributor. A Republican, he was speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. Follow him on Twitter @NewtGingrich. His latest book is "Understanding Trump."

ICE arrests 97 suspected illegal immigrants at Tennessee meat processing plant

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 97 people after raiding a Tennessee meat processing plant, in what civil rights activists say was the largest crackdown at a single place in almost a decade.
ICE spokeswoman Tammy Spicer announced the raid in a statement on Friday and said that of the 97 people taken into custody from Southeastern Provision meat processing plant in eastern Tennessee, 11 people were arrested on criminal charges, 54 were placed in detention and 32 were released.
She said they were all arrested on suspicion of being in the country illegally.
The National Immigration Law Center said it believes this was the largest single-workplace raid since George W. Bush was president, the Washington Post reported.
Federal immigration officials did not confirm if it was the largest.
This was the latest crackdown on illegal immigrants by the Trump administration after he announced last year that ICE agents would be targeting employers that choose to hire immigrants knowing they are illegal.
A total of 21 people were arrested after immigration agents raided 7-11 stores nationwide in January.

South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman draws gun, says 'I'm not going to be a Gabby Giffords'

To make a point that guns are dangerous only in the hands of criminals, a South Carolina congressman on Friday pulled out a loaded handgun during a meeting with constituents.
U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, a Republican, reportedly placed the .38-caliber gun on a table during the "coffee with constituents" meeting at a Rock Hill restaurant.
"I'm not going to be a Gabby Giffords," Norman said, referring to the former Arizona congresswoman who was shot outside a grocery store during a 2011 constituent gathering.
In a follow-up statement, Giffords' husband, retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, criticized Norman’s stunt.
"Americans are increasingly faced with a stark choice: leaders like Gabby, who work hard together to find solutions to problems, or extremists like the NRA and Congressman Norman, who rely on intimidation tactics and perpetuating fear," Kelly said.
Norman, who reportedly holds a state-issued concealed-carry gun permit, said he'll display his gun at future constituent meetings.
"I'm tired of these liberals jumping on the guns themselves as if they are the cause of the problem," Norman told the Post and Courier. "Guns are not the problem."
Norman's point about gun safety drew support from Republicans in the state, the newspaper reported.
"Hysterical to see liberals freak out over @RalphNorman accurately demonstrating that guns really are inanimate objects," state GOP Chairman Drew McKissick tweeted.
But some meeting attendees had a different view.
" ... (H)he chose to take the gun out and put it on the table not knowing if any of us had mental health issues," said Lori Carter, a schoolteacher from Charlotte, N.C., told the newspaper. "What was to prevent me from leaning across the table to take that gun?
"I felt it was highly inappropriate for an elected official, honestly, and it almost felt like an intimidation tactic," Carter added.
Meanwhile, South Carolina Democratic Party chairman Trav Robertson criticized Norman's action, saying "no responsible gun owner" would do such a thing.

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Liz Peek: Trump gains ground, much to liberals’ horror

In 2010, as President Obama’s popularity spiraled downward, Jeff Greenfield wrote for CBS News that “historically, no president in modern times has significantly improved his approval numbers in his second year.” Don’t look now, but some polls show President Trump is doing just that.
In the second year of his presidency, President Trump’s approval ratings are climbing, to the utter horror of liberals, who cannot for the life of them understand why.
Some 51 percent of the country now supports the president, according to the Rasmussen poll – up from 42 percent a year ago.
President Obama, at the same date, had 47 percent of the country behind him, down from 57 percent the year earlier.
The stock market is skittish, trade wars loom, President Trump tweets with abandon, Stormy Daniels dominates headlines, White House staff members come and go, and – oh yes – there’s pesky Special Counsel Robert Mueller trying to find evidence that President Trump obstructed justice or that he or his campaign conspired with the Russians.
Democrats wonder, how on Earth can Trump be gaining ground?
Here’s a clue: real growth is running above 3 percent, unemployment claims are the lowest since 1969, wage growth is the best since 2009 and Americans are more optimistic than they have been since 2004.
These are stunning stats, but just as important is this: many Americans think the president is trying to do the right thing. They view him as confronting a hostile media and an entrenched bureaucracy. And on numerous policy issues – like immigration, gun control and trade with China – President Trump is in synch with most Americans.

The same cannot be said for progressive Democrats or, for that matter, many of the Freedom Caucus very conservative types.
How do we know? Polling on the “direction of the country” indicates that Americans are more positive on what’s going on in the United States than they have been since 2009.
Meanwhile, approval ratings for Congress show it surely isn’t our legislators who are getting credit for the positive trend.
The president has long called out media bias; the public is beginning to agree with him. In a recent Gallup survey, nearly half the country thinks that there is a “great deal” of political bias in our news coverage, up from 37 percent in 2012.
A new Rasmussen poll finds that 52 percent of likely U.S. voters believe “when most reporters write or talk about the president, they are trying to block him from passing his agenda,” up from 44 percent a year ago and 47 percent in August.
This is why President Trump calls out the media at every opportunity. Not only is he right, it makes him an underdog, and Americans love underdogs.
On immigration, the president, like most of the country, supports a path to legal status for the so-called Dreamers, but also favors tightening our borders.  A huge majority of the country agrees, with both those opinions.
A Harvard Harris poll conducted earlier this year found that 79 percent of Americans favor a secure border, and nearly 70 percent oppose the diversity lottery system now in place. Almost 80 percent prefer merit-based immigration to a policy that prioritizes family ties. A Morning Consult/Politico poll also revealed a preference for merit-based immigration.
The left has become untethered on this topic, increasingly equating legal and illegal immigration. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez says that asking about citizenship on the U.S. census form is a "craven attack on our democracy." He’s got it exactly backwards; sending legislators to Congress to represent people who are in the country illegally is an attack on our democracy, and most Americans agree.
Gun control is another issue on which the president has veered towards the popular middle, demanding that his administration produce a rule banning bump stocks, for instance.
President Trump’s open White House meeting after the Parkland shootings shocked the political establishment, as the president called out his GOP colleagues for being in thrall to the National Rifle Association and proposed expanded background checks as well as other controversial measures. Though he later walked back his endorsement of further gun controls, he left no doubt that he was behind commonsense reforms, even if political necessity required a more tempered approach.
It appears that President Trump’s efforts to confront China have widespread appeal, and not just in the rust belt.
Pew Research reports that Americans’ view of China has deteriorated in recent years, with more than half the country having an unfavorable view of the world’s second-largest economy and, as of last year, 65 percent saying that China is either an adversary or a serious problem. Moreover, the president has the support of businesses operating in China, which have been on the front lines of China’s unfair trade practices and discriminatory rulings.
As many Americans applaud President Trump for his hard line on China or efforts to resolve the DACA issue, they see him hamstrung by unceasing Democratic resistance and a lack of cooperation even from some GOP members of Congress.
But that’s not the only reason that President Trump’s popularity may be inching higher. Unlike President Obama, President Trump did not enter the Oval Office burdened by high expectations.
In describing President Obama’s tough first year, in which he “suffered the steepest decline in job approval of any first year president since they started keeping such data,” Greenfield suggested that the drop was because Obama’s fans were overly optimistic. People expected too much and “more important, he did not come to office with a strong sense of where he was going.”
That is not the case with President Trump. He ran on boosting job creation through lower taxes and lighter regulation, and on making the country more secure. Whether it’s demanding fairer trade with China, tightening our control of our border or passing a big hike in defense spending, his agenda is surprisingly consistent for a man often guided by impulse.
Maybe the increase in approval comes from a much simpler place: President Trump is doing what he promised he would.