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Bush family welcomes baby 2 days after Barbara Bush's death

Portrait of the Bush family sitting in front of their home in Kennebunkport, Maine. BACK ROW: Maragret Bush (Marvin's wife), holding daughter Marshall, Marvin Bush, Bill LeBlond (Doro's Husband). FRONT ROW: Neil Bush holding son Pierce, Sharon (Neil's wife), George W. Bush holding daughter Barbara Bush, George Bush, Sam LeBlond (Doro's son), Doro Bush LeBlond, George P.

Neil Bush lost his mother Tuesday, but gained a grandson Thursday, completing what he called “the circle of life.”
Neil and Maria Bush's daughter Lauren, a granddaughter of former President George H.W. Bush and the late former first lady Barbara Bush, gave birth to a baby boy just two days after Barbara Bush died at age 92.
“Maria and I will always be grateful for being able to say a proper goodbye to our wonderful mother,” Neil Bush wrote on his Facebook page. “And then two days later, yesterday morning, two weeks before her due date, Lauren Bush Lauren gave birth to a beautiful 7 lb 8 oz baby boy Max Walker Lauren.”
Neil Bush’s daughter Lauren is married to David Lauren, son of fashion designer Ralph Lauren, the New York Daily News reported.
The couple also has a 2-year-old son James, the report said.
“Maria and I were so blessed to spend lots of time with mom and dad during mom’s last weeks and we are so grateful for the condolences and the outpouring of love expressed towards her by many, many friends,” Neil wrote on his Facebook.

“Maria and I were so blessed to spend lots of time with mom and dad during mom’s last weeks and we are so grateful for the condolences and the outpouring of love expressed towards her by many, many friends.”

Barbara and George H.W. Bush had six children together: former President George W. Bush, Robin, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Neil, Marvin and Dorothy. Robin Bush died of leukemia at age 3 in 1953.
A public visitation for the former first lady was held in Houston Friday. Her funeral is scheduled for Saturday, with burial at the George H.W. Bush library at Texas A&M University.

DC lawmaker accused of anti-Semitism reportedly gave constituent funds to Louis Farrakhan event

Trayon White reportedly donated $500 of constituent funds to a Nation of Islam event in which leader Louis Farrakhan made anti-Semitic comments.

A D.C. council member is under fire for allegedly donating $500 to a Nation of Islam event in which leader Louis Farrakhan declared that “powerful Jews are my enemy,” a new report claims.
According to The Washington Post, Trayon White Sr. made the Jan. 29 donation from an account for his constituents.
The private funds were reportedly raised by lawmakers with the intention of being used for members of the community.
Instead White, a Democrat representing Ward 8, allegedly donated to the Nation of Islam’s “Saviours Day,” a weekend gathering each year in which Farrakhan made controversial comments about Jews.
At that February event, Farrakhan railed against Jews, who he claimed were in charge of the FBI and “were responsible for all of this filth and degenerate behavior that Hollywood is putting out turning men into women and women into men.” At the event, Farrakhan also reportedly claimed that both “powerful Jews” and the government were his enemies.
White told The Post that he didn’t know about the donation, but defended the group in broader terms.
“The Brothers from the Nation are of the few men that show up to help . . . us address crime and social ills in Southeast. They also run a feeding program in several public housing communities in ward 8,” White reportedly wrote in a text message to the outlet. “I’m a Christian but I support a lot of people and all religions who support my community.”
An official with the Nation of Islam told The Post that White personally ordered the funds be provided to the group.
“He said to me, ‘I want you to make a payment to the Nation of Islam for Saviours’ Day,’” Darryl Ross, the group’s treasurer, told The Post. “So I went on the website to get the information I needed in order to make the payment.”
The controversy surrounding the contributions follows an outcry over previous anti-Semitic remarks White has made. Last month White claimed that rich Jews control the weather.
"Man, it just started snowing out of nowhere this morning, man," White said in a Facebook video. "Y'all better pay attention to this climate control, man, this climate manipulation.
"And that’s a model based off the Rothschilds controlling the climate to create natural disasters they can pay for to own the cities, man."
During the 19th century, the Rothschild family had one of the world's largest fortunes, amassed through banking and other endeavors.
In a subsequent visit to the Holocaust museum, White reportedly questioned the accuracy of the actions of a Nazi in a 1935 photograph.
White has a May 3 deadline to explain the donation to campaign finance officials and could be fined if they determine that the money given was improper.

Fresno State prof blasts farmers as 'stupid' Trump supporters in video rife with F-bombs

Randa Jarrar, an author and professor at Fresno State’s Department of English, sparked outrage for her comments on Twitter calling the late Barbara Bush an "amazing racist."  (California State University, Fresno)

A video posted online this week includes profanity-laced clips from past interviews and speeches by embattled, Bush-bashing Fresno State professor Randa Jarrar, in which she says farmers who support President Donald Trump are "just f---ing stupid."
The nearly 4-minute YouTube video, published Wednesday under the username Vigilante Goose, was emailed Friday to university officials -- including university President Joseph Castro, the Fresno Bee reported.

Jarrar, an English professor at the school, also known as California State University, Fresno, ignited a firestorm Tuesday, just after news broke about the death of Barbara Bush, whose funeral is scheduled for Saturday in Texas.
In Twitter posts Tuesday, Jarrar called the late first lady an “amazing racist,” and said she was “happy the witch is dead.”
WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
Outrage over the posts has had Castro and other university officials worried about alienating key donors -- and sparked debate among the faculty over the professor's free speech rights.
As part of the fallout, the university also has been dealing with reports that Jarrar listed the phone number of a student crisis line in Arizona as being her own number, resulting in a flood of calls to the crisis line.
'The bigger person'
The video posted this week opens with Jarrar commenting about the agriculture industry, which is vital to the Fresno area.
“A lot of the farmers now are Trump supporters and just f---ing stupid,” she says, adding that she “can’t f---ing stand the white, hetero-patriarchy.”

“A lot of the farmers now are Trump supporters and just f---ing stupid.”

At another point, Jarrar talks about guns, and criticizes "the left" for being too "gentle" in dealing with "the other side."
“I don’t give a f---. I’m buying guns. I’m an American, I’m buying guns,” Jarrar says. “You know what, the other side is doing some stupid s—t. I’m going to do some stupid s—t. I'm tired of, like, being the bigger person — literally am, usually — but, like, I'm also just tired of the left being, like, f---ing stupid and being like, ‘No we have to, like, be gentle' … no, don’t be f---ing gentle.'"
To some, the video may appear to be intended to embarrass the professor by recycling her most controversial comments, but the professor herself appears to view it differently, calling the compilation “iconic.”
"A troll made a beautiful clip of all my recent greatest hits,” Jarrar wrote on Twitter this week, and included a link to the video, the Bee reported.
Jarrar has since made her Twitter account private following the slew of tweets about Bush, in which she also said she “can’t wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way 1.5 million Iraqis have.”
As for the fallout her posts have generated, Jarrar taunted that she “will never be fired” as she is a tenured professor making $100,000 per year, and “will always have people wanting to hear what I have to say.”
University president responds
Castro took to Twitter himself Thursday to address Jarrar’s comments that sparked national outrage, saying that he too was “upset” and believes it is “important for us to condemn that part of what was done and said,” while stressing the need to “continue to role-model leadership” while upholding the First Amendment rights.
“A single set of tweets does not define the success of our university,” he said.
The video shows Jarrar’s profanity-laced comments eliciting different reactions from audience members who heard her speak. But at one point it shows people walking during an appearance in Indiana, the Bee reported.
What was Jarrar's reaction?
“I’m so proud when people walk out of my talks," she says.

Trump fires back on Twitter over Democrats' lawsuit

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Trump's private Mar-a-Lago club, April 18, 2018, in Palm Beach, Fla.  (Associated Press)

President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Friday night to fire back at a Democratic Party lawsuit alleging a widespread conspiracy to tilt the 2016 election in his favor.
On a night when he was also tweeting about perceived progress on the denuclearization of North Korea, the president had this to say about the Dems' lawsuit:
"Just heard the Campaign was sued by the Obstructionist Democrats. This can be good news in that we will now counter for the DNC Server that they refused to give to the FBI, the Debbie Wasserman Schultz Servers and Documents held by the Pakistani mystery man and Clinton Emails."

The Democratic Party on Friday filed a multimillion-dollar federal lawsuit against Trump campaign officials, the Russian government and WikiLeaks, alleging an election conspiracy.   
Calling it an “all-out assault on our democracy,” the Democratic National Committee filed the civil suit in federal district court in Manhattan. The suit amounts to another legal broadside related to the 2016 race, on top of the special counsel's ongoing Russia probe and the FBI raid on Trump's personal attorney this month.
"The conspiracy constituted an act of previously unimaginable treachery: the campaign of the presidential nominee of a major party in league with a hostile foreign power to bolster its own chance to win the Presidency," the suit states.
The new suit claims that Trump campaign officials worked in tandem with the Russian government and its military spy agency to bring down Hillary Clinton by hacking into the computer networks of the Democratic National Committee and spreading stolen material.
The suit names several Trump campaign aides who met with Russian nationals during the campaign, including son-in-law Jared Kushner, former campaign chair Paul Manafort and former campaign deputy Rick Gates.
Gates and Manafort have both been charged in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The suit also claims WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange “shared the defendants’ common goal of damaging the Democratic Party in advance of the election.” The suit states that Russia, using WikiLeaks, would disseminate information stolen from the DNC “at times when it would best suit the Trump campaign.”

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DOJ watchdog sends criminal referral for McCabe to federal prosecutor

The Justice Department’s internal watchdog has sent a criminal referral for fired FBI official Andrew McCabe to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington.
The move follows a recent DOJ inspector general report that found McCabe leaked a self-serving story to the press and later lied about it to then-Director James Comey and federal investigators, prompting Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire him on March 16.
A source confirmed to Fox News that the referral was sent.
The Washington Post reported earlier that the IG referred the finding that McCabe misled investigators "some time ago," asking the top federal prosecutor for D.C. to examine whether he should be charged.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe lacked "candor" in conversations with federal investigators.  (AP)

Representatives with the Justice Department, inspector general’s office and U.S. attorney’s office all declined to comment.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., backed the move in a tweet Thursday afternoon.
"The criminal referral from the IG is the right decision. It's about time we have some accountability for this type of conduct at the Justice Department," he said.
In an interview with CNN Thursday, Comey said that he had no knowledge of the referral, but confirmed that he could be a witness against McCabe if he is prosecuted.
"Given that the IG’s report reflects interactions that Andy McCabe had with me and other FBI senior executives, I could well be a witness," said Comey.
The former FBI Director added that he liked McCabe "very much as a person, but sometimes even good people do things they shouldn’t do ... I think it is accountability mechanisms working and they should work because it’s not acceptable in the FBI or the Justice Department for people to lack candor. It’s something we take really seriously."

Former FBI Director James Comey ordered the inspector general investigation that led to Andrew McCabe's ouster.  (AP)

In a statement, McCabe's legal team said they were advised of the referral "within the past few weeks."
"Although we believe the referral is unjustified, the standard for an IG referral is very low. We have already met with staff members from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. We are confident that, unless there is inappropriate pressure from high levels of the Administration, the US Attorney’s Office will conclude that it should decline to prosecute," they said.
While Comey may not have intentionally launched the investigation gunning for McCabe, it was spurred by a desire to find who leaked to The Wall Street Journal in October 2016 about an FBI probe of the Clinton Foundation. The story said a senior Justice Department official expressed displeasure to McCabe that FBI agents were still looking into the Clinton Foundation, and McCabe had defended agents' authority to pursue the issue.
That leak confirmed the existence of the probe into the Clinton Foundation, which Comey, who led the bureau at the time, refused to do.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz sent a criminal referral for Andrew McCabe to the U.S. Attorneys Office in Washington D.C.  (AP)

Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report said McCabe authorized the leak and then misled investigators about it, leaking in a way that did not fall under the “public interest” exception.
Horowitz found that McCabe lacked “candor” when questioned by FBI agents on multiple occasions, and that he told agents he did not authorize the disclosure and did not know who was responsible.
But McCabe’s legal counsel, Michael Bromwich, has blasted the inspector general report and has criticized Comey. The report said Comey and McCabe gave conflicting accounts about a conversation they had on the leak.
“The OIG should credit Mr. McCabe’s account over Director Comey’s,” Bromwich wrote to Horowitz in a letter, complaining that the report “paints Director Comey as a white knight carefully guarding FBI information, while overlooking that Mr. McCabe’s account is more credible…”
He issued a similar statement Wednesday in response to Comey's interview comments:
"In his comments this week about the McCabe matter, former FBI Director James Comey has relied on the accuracy and the soundness of the Office of the Inspector General's (OIG) conclusions in their report on Mr. McCabe. In fact, the report fails to adequately address the evidence (including sworn testimony) and documents that prove that Mr. McCabe advised Director Comey repeatedly that he was working with the Wall Street Journal on the stories in question prior to publication. Neither Mr. Comey nor the OIG is infallible, and in this case neither of them has it right."
On Thursday night, Comey told MSNBC that McCabe didn't tell him about plans to speak to the press.
“He didn’t tell me about it," Comey said. "He didn’t ask me about it before he did it. And I would’ve expected that. But I think he had the authority to do it. But I think as a matter of rule, he had the authority.”
On Wednesday, nearly a dozen Republican members of Congress sent their own criminal referral to the Justice Department and FBI seeking an investigation of McCabe, along with Comey, ex-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Hillary Clinton and others.
GOP REPS REFER COMEY, CLINTON, MCCABE FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION 
The IG referral, however, could represent a more serious problem for McCabe.

US taps Lockheed for $928M hypersonic project after reported gains by Russia, China

A Russian fighter launches a hypersonic missile during a test in March over southern Russia.  (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service)

The U.S. Air Force has tapped defense giant Lockheed Martin to develop a hypersonic weapon, in a deal reportedly worth $928 million.
The contract comes one month after Russia said it successfully tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile with no equal. China has similar capabilities, the Washington Post reported.
Defense officials have warned that hypersonic missiles that can travel at more than five times the speed of sound and could -- in theory -- evade U.S. missile defense systems, the report said.
The Air Force project is considered the Pentagon’s top “technical priority,” which is remarkable due to ever-evolving cyber-warfare threats and bioterrorism.
“We will, with today’s defense systems, not see these things coming,” Michael Griffin, the Pentagon’s research and development leader, said, according to the Post.
The Russian Defense Ministry posted video in March showing a MiG-31 launching a Kinzhal (Dagger) missile during a training flight. The ministry claimed the missile hit a practice target and had been put on combat duty with a unit of Russia’s Southern Military District.
The Pentagon said in a statement that the Lockheed contract "provides for the design, development, engineering, systems integration, test, logistics planning, and aircraft integration support of all the elements of a hypersonic, conventional, air-launched, stand-off weapon."
Defense News reported that the deal’s value could be as high as $928 million for Lockheed.

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Lockheed is reportedly developing a hypersonic unmanned plane, the SR-72, “son of Blackbird,” that aims to fly at Mach 6.
Marillyn Hewson, the company’s CEO, said the SR-72 “could forever change our ability to deter and respond to conflict.”

Bush-bashing professor has Fresno State scrambling to keep its donors

Fresno State is investigating comments made by professor Randa Jarrar, who posted that former first lady Barbara Bush was an "amazing racist," among other things, just an hour after Bush's death was announced.  (Facebook)

A Fresno State professor who called the late Barbara Bush “racist” soon after her death Tuesday, and said she was glad “the witch is dead,” continues to face fallout as donors mull ceasing donations to the institution.
Randa Jarrar, an English professor at the school (also known as California State University at Fresno), sparked outrage Tuesday just hours after the former first lady died at age 92, writing a number of tweets attacking Bush and the family.
“Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal. F*** outta here with your nice words,” the professor tweeted. “I'm happy the witch is dead. Can’t wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way 1.5 million Iraqis have.”

Jarrar, a tenured professor, boasted on social media that because she has tenure, she won’t be fired from her job. She’s currently on leave this semester and was reportedly traveling overseas.
Amid the backlash, someone on social media shared Jarrar's publicly available work phone number and email address, to which the professor responded with a phone number for a crisis hotline at Arizona State University, saying that’s her number, prompting a flood of calls to the hotline that normally receives just a few calls per week.
FRESNO STATE SAYS BARBARA BUSH-BASHING PROFESSOR CAN BE FIRED DESPITE TENURE
A university investigation is underway. But several donors to Fresno State are reportedly considering whether the university deserves their contributions.
Ed Dunkel Jr., who made sizable financial contributions to Fresno State, said he will await the outcome of the controversy before deciding whether to close his checkbook.
“I have a lot of friends that I've been talking to, and these are people who donate now and talking about holding back, and some are even questioning whether to send their kids to Fresno State," Dunkel told the Fresno Bee.
"I admire and have a lot of respect for President (Joseph) Castro and huge affection for Fresno State," Dunkel said. "But I have huge concerns. This represents such an embarrassment to the university and the community. It's hard to believe this is an isolated thing that just happened. I have to imagine people previously knew of this person's character and what she's about."
Fresno State President Joseph Castro acknowledged that he’s been having conversations with donors regarding the controversy.
"The conversations I'm having are more about their concern, and I share that concern. I understand where they're coming from. I'm asking them for understanding here as we work through the complexities of this issue,” he told the Fresno Bee.

"I understand where [university donors are] coming from. I'm asking them for understanding here as we work through the complexities of this issue."

"They're outraged, and I'm outraged as well," he added. "This is behavior that is unacceptable as a university that models the development of leaders. We just cannot tolerate it."
On Wednesday, the school seemed to make a point of posting on Twitter that campus flags were at half-staff in memory of Barbara Bush.
The school's College Republicans also tweeted that they were "outraged" by Jarrar's comments.
But while Jarrar is facing calls to be terminated, she attracted support from multiple advocacy organizations and professors who defended her right to free speech.
“Jarrar’s tweets are unquestionably protected speech under the First Amendment and Fresno State has no power to censor, punish, or terminate Jarrar for them,” Adam Steinbaugh, senior program officer for FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education), said in a statement to Fox News.
FIRE also joined other free speech advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in opposing the university’s decision to investigate Jarrar, saying it conflicts with the First Amendment.
Another controversial Fresno State professor, who was demoted after tweeting that President Donald Trump “must hang” in order to “save American democracy,” said the university is failing to live up to its promise to defend academic freedom.
Lars Maischak, a history lecturer, wrote an article for the Bee claiming the university professor is siding with attackers of Jarrar rather than standing up to the “fascist threat to academic freedom.”

Trump tweets that Comey memos ‘clearly’ show no obstruction, collusion

President Trump late Thursday tweeted that the newly released memos written by former FBI Director James Comey “show clearly” no collusion with Russia in 2016 and no obstruction into the investigation.
The memos, which were written by Comey about his interaction with Trump, prove that the fired FBI director never felt obstructed, GOP lawmakers said. Many Democrats claim that Trump tried to hold up the FBI’s investigation into alleged collusion leading up to the 2016 election.
“James Comey Memos just out show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION. Also, he leaked classified information. WOW! Will the Witch Hunt continue?” Trump tweeted.
The memos also showed that eight days after he was sworn in as president, Trump told Comey during a one-on-one dinner at the White House that he "needed loyalty and expected loyalty."
Comey wrote that he "did not reply, or even nod or change my facial expression, which [Trump] noted because we came back to it later." At a later point, Comey wrote that Trump told him directly, "I need loyalty."
"I replied that he would always get honesty from me," said Comey. "[Trump] paused and said that's what he wants, 'honest loyalty.' I replied, 'you will get that from me.'"
"It is possible we understood that phrase differently," Comey added as a parenthetical, "but I chose to understand it as consistent with what I had said throughout the conversation: I will serve the President with loyalty to the office, the country, and the truth. I decided it would not be productive to push the subject further."
More than two months later, on March 30, Comey wrote that Trump had called him and pressed the FBI director to make public that the president was not under investigation over contacts between Russian officials and members of his campaign.
"I reminded [Trump] that I had told him we weren't investigating him and that I had told the Congressional leadership the same thing," Comey wrote. "[Trump] said it would be great if that could get out and several times asked me to find a way to get that out."
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.; House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.; and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said in a joint statement that Comey's memos "show the President made clear he wanted allegations of collusion, coordination, and conspiracy between his campaign and Russia fully investigated.
"The memos also made clear the 'cloud' President Trump wanted lifted was not the Russian interference in the 2016 election cloud, rather it was the salacious, unsubstantiated allegations related to personal conduct leveled in the dossier" compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele, they added.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., disagreed, tweeting that the memos "are further proof of [Trump's] contempt for the rule of law.
"His attempts to intimidate, circumvent the law & undermine integrity of law enforcement investigations demand immediate action to protect the Mueller investigation," she said.
The assurance from Comey that Trump was not being investigated seemed to have weighed on the president's mind as Michael Flynn was fired as national security adviser after misleading Vice President Mike Pence about contacts with the Russian envoy to the U.S.
Trump told Comey during their March 30 conversation that "if there was 'some satellite' (NOTE: I took this to mean some associate of his or his campaign) that did something, it would be good to find that out, but that he hadn't done anything," Comey recalled.
Comey said Trump restated at the end of their conversation that the president "hoped I could find a way to get out that he wasn't being investigated.
"I told him I would see what we could do and that we would do the work well and as quickly as we could," Comey said he responded.
Goodlatte, Gowdy and Nunes noted that Comey "never wrote that he felt obstructed or threatened," adding that while Comey "went to great lengths to set dining room scenes, discuss height requirements, describe the multiple times he felt complimented, and myriad other extraneous facts, he never once mentioned the most relevant fact of all, which was whether he felt obstructed in his investigation."
Trump called Comey again on April 11 to ask "if I did what he had asked last time -- getting out that he personally is not under investigation." Comey says he advised Trump to have White House Counsel Don McGahn call then-Acting Attorney General Dana Boente to request that such a statement be made.
After Trump said he would do so, Comey said the president told him, "I have been very loyal to you, very loyal, we had that thing, you know."
"I did not reply, or ask him what he meant by 'that thing,'" wrote Comey, who added that as Trump ended the call, the president told him he was "doing a great job and wished me well."
During their Jan. 27 dinner in the Green Room, Comey wrote that Trump "thought maybe he should ask me to investigate" salacious allegations "to prove [the dossier] was a lie."
Comey wrote that "it was up to [Trump], but I wouldn't want to create a narrative that we were investigating him, because we are not and I worried such a thing would be misconstrued."
"My sense is that [the president] was focused on the personal piece [of the dossier]," Comey told MSNBC Thursday night. "He would bring it up to me repeatedly."