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Thursday, April 26, 2018
Rudy Giuliani takes over talks with Mueller on possible Trump interview
Rudy Giuliani, the newest arrival to Donald Trump's legal team, has taken over talks with Special Counsel Robert Mueller about a possible interview of the president, Fox News has learned.
The negotiations between Giuliani and the Mueller team have been called ongoing. The president is said to remain skeptical of the idea of an interview, but has not ruled one out.
In a statement to Fox News, Giuliani said his objective "is to end this investigation and distraction from the critical issues facing our President as quickly as possible. The President has produced 1.2 million documents that is historically unprecedented. We believe it presents overwhelming proof that the President did not collude with regard to the 2016 election.
"If anything else is needed," Giuliani added, apparently referring to a potential Trump interview by Mueller, "we will consider it if there is an open mind as to the merits."
Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney and onetime mayor of New York City, joined Trump's legal team last week and proclaimed his intent to bring the Mueller investigation to a swift end. He replaced John Dowd, who resigned last month.
Mueller has told Trump's legal team that the president is not a target of his investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. The president is currently a subject of the probe — a designation that could change at any time.
Judge rules New York City bar can refuse service to Trump supporter wearing MAGA hat
A bar patron sued claiming he was
refused service and kicked out for wearing a MAGA hat and supporting
Trump.
(Reuters)
A Manhattan judge ruled Wednesday that kicking a Trump supporter out of a bar does not violate the law – because the law does not protect against political discrimination.
Greg Piatek of Philadelphia claims he was refused service and then eventually removed from a New York City bar in January 2017 for wearing a “Make American Great Again” hat, in a lawsuit against the establishment.
“Anyone who supports Trump — or believes in what you believe — is not welcome here! And you need to leave right now because we won’t serve you!” Piatek claims the staff of The Happiest Hour told him.
SCHOOL DISTRICT APOLOGIZES AFTER TEACHER BANS MAGA SHIRTS
Piatek claimed the incident “offended his sense of being an American,” the New York Post reported.
The lawyer representing The Happiest Hour, Elizabeth Conway, argued that he was not discriminated against because only religious – not political – beliefs are protected under state and city discrimination law.
“Supporting Trump is not a religion,” Conway argued.
Piatek’s attorney Paul Liggieri responded in court, “The purpose of the hat is that he wore it because he was visiting the 9/11 Memorial.”
“He was paying spiritual tribute to the victims of 9/11. The Make American Great Again hat was part of his spiritual belief,” Liggieri claimed. "Rather than remove his hat, instead he held true to his spiritual belief and was forced from the bar,” Liggieri told Justice David Cohen, the New York Post reported.
The judge pressed Liggieri on the spiritual nature of his client's belief, saying the bar staff would not be aware of Piatek’s specific religious philosophies.
“How many members are in this spiritual program that your client is engaged in?” the judge asked.
“Your honor, we don’t allege the amount of individuals,” Liggieri said.
“So, it’s a creed of one?” the judge asked.
“Yes, your honor,” Liggieri replied, the New York Post reported.
The judge eventually made a ruling on the matter, saying the incident amount to nothing more than a “petty slight,” the New York Post reported.
“Plaintiff does not state any faith-based principle to which the hat relates,” Judge Cohen said. “Here the claim that plaintiff was not served and eventually escorted out of the bar because of his perceived support for President Trump is not outrageous conduct.”
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Piatek was suing for unspecified emotional damage and will review with Liggieri to determine whether or not to appeal the verdict.
The Happiest Hour denied that Piatek had been removed in the first place, stating Piatek “was sufficiently pleased with his service at the bar [and] that he added” a $36 tip onto the $186 tab, according to the New York Post. The bar owners suggest Piatek’s lawsuit was a “publicity stunt.”
Clinton cursed about 'disgusting' Trump during debate prep, book claims
 |
| Oct. 9, 2016: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump listens as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton answers a question from the audience during their presidential town hall debate at Washington University in St. Louis. (Reuters) |
New York Times reporter Amy Chozick released her new bombshell book, “Chasing Hillary: Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns, and One Intact Glass Ceiling” on Tuesday.
THE NEW YORK TIMES’ LEAD 2016 CLINTON CAMPAIGN REPORTER ADMITS CRYING AFTER TRUMP’S VICTORY
The inside story of the campaign details how Clinton, struggling to portray herself as genuine to voters during the 2016 campaign, unleashed a profanity-laced tirade about Trump to her aides to prove that she can be authentic.
“Aides understood that in order to keep it all together onstage, Hillary sometimes needed to unleash on them in private,” Chozick wrote in the book, according to the Guardian.
“‘You want authentic, here it is!’ she’d yelled in one prep session, followed by a f***-laced fusillade about what a ‘disgusting’ human being Trump was and how he didn’t deserve to even be in the arena.”
“‘You want authentic, here it is!’ [Clinton] yelled in one prep session, followed by a f***-laced fusillade about what a ‘disgusting’ human being Trump was and how he didn’t deserve to even be in the arena.”VIDEO SHOWS EX-CLINTON AIDE IN PROFANITY LACED CONFRONTATION WITH COPS
Chozick’s book points out that the campaign struggled to bridge the generational gap between the staffers and the Clinton family, prompting disagreements on simple campaign strategy or how to deal with Trump’s attacks on Bill Clinton and his sexual assault allegations.
Clinton reportedly “erupted” upon hearing that actress Lena Dunham, one the biggest supporters and main surrogates of the campaign, said she was “disturbed by how, in the 1990s, the Clintons and their allies discredited women” who accused the former president of sexual misconduct.
BILL CLINTON ‘CASUALLY ENCOURAGED’ TRUMP TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT BEFORE 2016 RACE: BOOK
The generational gap also led to campaign manager Robby Mook, 36, always “respectfully” listening to Bill Clinton, but mocking him behind his back and perceiving him as “a relic, a brilliant tactician of a bygone era.”
But the former president repeatedly warned the campaign about Trump’s appeal to voters and knew that “Trump had a shrewd understanding of the angst that so many voters – his voters, the white working class whom Clinton brought back to the Democratic Party in 1992 – were feeling,” Chozick writes in her book.
Meanwhile, the accusations of a toxic Clinton campaign environment come on the heels of this week's controversy involving a former Clinton financial adviser who was forced to resign from her current job after berating some New Jersey police officers.
"You may shut the f--- up!" Caren Z. Turner, 60, a former financial adviser to Clinton and other Democrats -- who was forced to resign from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey -- shrieked at an officer, according to a police dash cam video released Monday.
US military deaths in Niger attributed to complacency, lack of training, culture of excessive risk: report
A classified Pentagon report attributes the deaths of four U.S. soldiers -- who were ambushed during an operation in Niger in October -- to a list of military shortcomings, including complacency and a lack of training.
In addition, low-level commanders took shortcuts to approve operations – with at least one officer lifting orders from a different mission and pasting them onto the “so-called concept of operations to gain approval,” officials familiar with the report told the Wall Street Journal.
President Donald Trump approved recommendations granting lower-level military commanders the ability make decisions, but the move was not seen as a contributing factor in the Niger deaths, the Journal reported, citing information from the sources.
The report also cited a culture of excessive risk, according to the paper.
Initially, the mission on Oct. 3, 2017, that ultimately sent the Army Special Forces team, along with Nigerian soldiers, into a deadly ambush, was a planned meeting with local officials. However, the team was redirected to assist in a search for Doundou Chefou, a militant suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of an American aid worker.
Upon returning, the team was later attacked by Islamic State-linked militants in a village near Tongo Tongo, resulting in the deaths of four U.S. soldiers and four Nigerien troops on Oct. 4.
The slain U.S. military members were identified as Sgt. La David Johnson, Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson and Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright.
The report also includes measures from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis aimed at preventing a similar incident from happening again, including, “reinforce normal protocols within the chain of command,” the sources told the Journal.
The months-long investigation consists of testimony, diagrams, maps and video from the helmet cameras of the soldiers, as well as statements from Mattis, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and from the Africa Command, the paper reported.
Families of the fallen military heroes will be briefed on the 6,000-page report, along with lawmakers, before a declassified version is released to the public in the coming days, the paper reported.
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Maxine Waters tells Trump to resign, 'just get out' at TIME 100 Gala honoring her
 |
| IDIOT |
Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who has
long called for Trump's removal from office, said at the TIME 100 Gala
Tuesday night that she wants him to resign.
(AP)
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., called on President Trump
to "please resign" at the TIME 100 Gala on Tuesday night, so that she
"won't have to keep up this fight of your having to be impeached."Waters was prompted by a questioner who asked her if she had some advice for Trump.
"I don’t think you deserve to be there," Waters said, referring to the president. "Just get out.”
The annual event in New York assembles celebrities and prominent figures to celebrate the world's 100 most influential people according to TIME.
In the 2018 TIME 100, Waters was named as one such influencer. Actor Yara Shahidi praised Waters as "so eloquent in letting the world, particularly the white men of Congress who dare test her acumen, know that she is not here for any nonsense."
TUCKER: HOW DID MAXINE WATER AFFORD A $4.3 MANSION AFTER WORKING 40 YEARS IN GOVERNMENT?
Tuesday night's comments were relatively tame for Waters, who has previously called Trump the "most horrible man I've ever seen in my life."
Last month, Trump said Waters suffers from a 'very low IQ' and called on her to take an IQ test.
Waters responded that either the Russia investigation, or the allegations of porn star Stormy Daniels, will ultimately bring Trump down.
"I'm not going to be intimidated by him," Waters said.
Video shows ex-Clinton aide in profanity-laced confrontation with cops
 |
| A video released Tuesday shows Caren Z. Turner, a former finance committee member for Hillary Clinton, in a confrontation with police officers over her daughter's traffic stop. (Port Authority of New York and New Jersey) |
Police released a video Tuesday showing a former
financial adviser to Hillary Clinton getting involved in a heated,
profanity-laced confrontation with several officers.
"You may shut the f--- up!" the woman, Caren Z. Turner, 60, shrieks at an officer at one point.
Most recently, Turner has been a commissioner with the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and was chairwoman of its
ethics committee, Politico reported. She was forced to resign last week because of the interaction with police during Easter weekend.“The Port Authority has zero tolerance for ethics violations,” PA spokesman Ben Branham told the website.
According to a police report from March 31, Turner's daughter had been pulled over by police while driving, but allegedly could not provide proof of insurance or registration. So Turner was called to the scene to help resolve the matter, NJ.com reported.“The Port Authority has zero tolerance for ethics violations.”
Police video then shows Turner demanding to know what was going on, and brandishing her credentials as a Port Authority commissioner.
"I need to know," Turner repeatedly tells the officers, demanding information about the traffic stop.
The officers tell her that they are under no legal obligation to provide details because her daughter and the daughter's passengers were all over age 18.
Turner appears to grow increasingly frustrated, and demands that the officers refer to her as “Commissioner” rather than “Miss.”
In the police report, an officer writes that he advised Turner "to speak with the driver of the vehicle for more information,” based on the way she was “attempting to misappropriately user her professional position to gain authority in this situation.”
When an officer attempts to end the conversation, Turner says: “You may not tell me when to take my child. You may shut the f--- up!”
Allegations of a code of ethics violation prompted the Port Authority’s inspector to investigate. Turner resigned after learning of the investigation, the Port Authority said in a statement Monday.“You may not tell me when to take my child. You may shut the f--- up!”
A spokesman for the Port Authority called Turner’s actions “indefensible.”
Turner has yet to comment on her resignation or the allegations of violating the board’s code of ethics. Her name and photo have reportedly been removed from the Port Authority website.
Turner was appointed to the Port Authority by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. A Democrat, she had previously served on finance committees for Hillary Clinton, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine.
Comey's memo leak contact had 'special government employee' status at FBI
The Columbia law professor James Comey used as a go-between last year to leak the contents of sensitive memos to the media confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday that he previously worked as a “special government employee” (SGE) for Comey’s FBI on an unpaid basis.
The professor, Daniel Richman, confirmed the special status in response to an inquiry from Fox News, while referring other questions, including on the scope of his work, to the FBI.
"I did indeed have SGE status with the Bureau (for no pay)," Richman wrote in an email.
Richman emerged last year as the former FBI director’s contact for leaking memos documenting his private discussions with President Trump – memos that are now the subject of an inspector general review over the presence of classified material. Sources familiar with Richman’s status at the FBI told Fox News that he was assigned to "special projects" by Comey, and had a security clearance as well as badge access to the building. Richman’s status was the subject of a Memorandum of Understanding.
Sources familiar with Daniel Richman’s status at the FBI told Fox News that he was assigned to "special projects" by Comey, and had a security clearance as well as badge access to the building.
Incidentally, another “special government employee” who has come under scrutiny was Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, among others, previously questioned Abedin's special status that allowed her to work at the Clinton State Department and private-sector entities at the same time.
Lawmakers are only beginning to raise questions about Richman’s status. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo,” said the information about Richman and his special FBI status first emerged during closed-door testimony by Comey's former chief of staff James Rybicki before the House oversight and judiciary committees.
"[D]uring that deposition, it was brought out that Daniel Richman, the guy who information was leaked through to The New York Times, had this special status called special government employee status, where he could sort of come and go in the FBI,” Jordan said. He said he could not speak to the significance, but "it seems kind of interesting that the guy who Comey leaks to is a good friend, who had this sort of unfettered access into the FBI."
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., also raised questions about the status.
"It's certainly interesting that Director Comey would offer a special job and give full access to his friend when there are 35,000 employees at the FBI. And it isn't just that he gave these memos to a friend--he gave them to another FBI employee he had hand-picked to act as a 'special government employee' of the FBI. The question becomes: how many other people did he give these memos to?" he told Fox News in a statement.
According to the Office of Government Ethics, a special government employee is "an officer or employee who is retained, designated, appointed, or employed to perform temporary duties, with or without compensation, for not more than 130 days during any period of 365 consecutive days."
Fox News first reached out on Friday to Richman, who initially declined to comment on his special status with the FBI. Based on new information, Fox Newson Tuesday provided detailed questions about his responsibilities under the "special projects" portfolio -- and whether they included the Clinton investigation, the Russian counter-intelligence probe, andcontact with the media on behalf of senior FBI leadership.
Similar questions were provided to the publisher of Comey's book, "A Higher Loyalty." There was no immediate response.
Richman does appear in cryptic text messages between demoted FBI agent Peter Strzok and re-assigned FBI lawyer Lisa Page on Nov. 2, 2016 a week before the election. Texting about a New York Times report, Page writes, "Jesus. Another article pushed by nyt on this. Richman is a friend of Comey and [former FBI general counsel James] baker.”
This may be a reference to a Nov. 1, 2016 story headlined, "FBI's Email Disclosure Broke a Pattern Followed Even This Summer,” that quotes Richman on Comey's decision to re-open the Clinton email case before the election.
He says in the article, “Those arguing that the director should have remained silent until the new emails could be reviewed — even if that process lasted, or was delayed, until after the election — give too little thought to the governing that needs to happen after November. If the F.B.I. director doesn’t have the credibility tokeep Congress from interfering in the bureau’s work and to assure Congress that a matter has been or is being looked into, the new administration will pay a highprice.”
Richman’s Columbia bio page says he “served as a consultant to the Department of Justice” and he is “currently an adviser to FBI Director James B. Comey.”
Fox News first reached out to the FBI on Monday about Richman’s status and followed up Tuesday with detailed questions -- regarding his responsibilities under the “special projects” mandate, his security clearance, physical access to the bureau and whether he was the only special government employee during Comey's tenure. The FBI had no comment on Richman or Fox News' specific questions about his work for the bureau. A spokesperson said the FBI has employed a number of “special government employees” on an unpaid basis, and challenged the notion anyone has “unfettered” FBI access.
Bush-appointed federal judge rules Trump's DACA rescission was 'unlawful and must be set aside'
A George W. Bush-appointed federal judge on Tuesday ruled that President Trump's decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, "was unlawful and must be set aside."
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates in Washington became the third judge to rule against the White House's plans to end the program.
Judges William Alsup and Nicholas Garaufis, both Clinton appointees, had each issued injunctions earlier this year preventing the administration from terminating DACA based on its stated rationale that the Obama-era program was an illegal executive overreach.
In his ruling, Bates noted a "non-trivial" possibility that the administration would be able to remedy his concerns by providing an alternative rationale.
"Athough the substantive flaws in DACA’s rescission are curable in theory, the Department may face practical obstacles when attempting to remedy them," Bates wrote. "Nonetheless, there remains a 'nontrivial likelihood' that the agency could justify DACA’s rescission on remand."
But Bates' 60-page ruling was mostly bad news for the White House for now. It requires that immigration officials "accept and process new as well as renewal DACA applications" if the administration "cannot better explain its view that DACA is unlawful" within a 90-day stay period.
"[T]here remains a 'nontrivial likelihood' that the agency could justify DACA’s rescission on remand."DACA allowed immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, known as Dreamers, to stay and work legally under renewable permits. President Trump announced last year that he would end the program started by President Obama.
It was officially rescinded in March, but DHS is continuing to issue renewals because of the previous court orders.
Bates' underlying reasoning -- that Trump's decision to terminate DACA was impermissibly "arbitrary and capricious," lacking even a minimal coherent legal justification -- mirrors Alsup and Garaufis' judgment.
The White House's decision "was predicated primarily on its legal judgment that [DACA] was unlawful," Bates wrote. "That legal judgment was virtually unexplained, however, and so it cannot support the agency's decision."
'ANGEL MOM': DACA PROGRAM IS RIFE WITH FRAUD
But unlike Bates, Garaufis and Alsup had stopped short of ordering that the Trump administration also resume processing new DACA applicants, saying they could not show the same level of harm as existing beneficiaries.
The court "cannot say that plaintiffs have demonstrated either that these individuals would be irreparably harmed without injunctive relief or that the balance of equities favors these individuals to the same extent it favors existing DACA beneficiaries," Garaufis wrote in February.
Bates' decision stays the proceedings until July 27, by which point both parties have to file a joint report "stating whether DHS has issued a new decision rescinding DACA and whether the parties contemplate the need for further proceedings in this case."
Bates' ruling came in a pair of cases whose lead plaintiffs are the NAACP and Princeton University.
In a tweet responding to the ruling, the ACLU called the decision "a huge blow to the Trump administration's bottom line."
The civil rights group added: "DACA is constitutional, deal with it."
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