President Trump responds to Acosta ruling

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UPDATED 10:47 AM PT — Fri. Nov. 16, 2018

President Donald Trump listens to a question during a signing ceremony of the “Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act,” in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Nov. 16, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Trump has responded to Friday’s ruling to reinstate CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s press pass.
During a bill signing in the Oval Office, the president said “we have to practice decorum…we want total freedom of the press.”
He said this White House will be “setting up a certain standard” for press briefings in the future.
This comes after Press Secretary Sarah Sanders blasted the decision by saying the court made it clear there is no absolute First Amendment right to access the White House. She said the administration will develop rules to ensure fair and orderly press conferences.

President Trump to visit California to view impact of raging wildfires

President Trump will be joined by California’s current governor, and governor-elect when he visits areas ravaged by ongoing wildfires.
In a joint statement Friday, Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom said they “welcome the President’s visit to California,” and are “grateful” for the quick response to their aid requests.
They also called for unity over the wildfires.
This comes as President Trump’s planned visit to Paradise on Saturday.
The White House says the President will visit with people impacted by the deadly wildfires, along with first responders.

Stacey Abrams says she can’t defeat Brian Kemp in Georgia governor race; will sue over mismanagement of state's election

Stacey Abrams, the Democrat in Georgia’s governor race, acknowledged Friday that she cannot defeat her Republican opponent, Brian Kemp, but she vowed to file a federal lawsuit challenging the “gross mismanagement” of the state’s elections.
Abrams’ address to her supporters essentially concluded her bid for the governor’s mansion, the final result of which had been in doubt since Election Day, but she noted that she was not officially conceding the race.
While describing a variety of issues at the polls, Abrams said that "the state failed its voters."
"I acknowledge that former Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be certified as the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial election. But to watch an elected official – who claims to represent the people in this state, baldly pin his hopes for election on the suppression of the people’s democratic right to vote – has been truly appalling," Abrams said. "So let's be clear, this is not a speech of concession."
"Because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper. As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede that. But my assessment is the law currently allows no further viable remedy," she continued, before adding that although she could fight to keep the election going, she doesn't "want to hold public office if I need to scheme my way into the post."
Abrams had hoped to become the first black governor of Georgia and the first black female governor of any state.

Stacey Abrams acknowledged Friday that she could not defeat her GOP opponent in Georgia's gubernatorial election. (AP Photo/John Amis)

Unofficial returns in the state put Kemp ahead of Abrams with roughly 50.2 percent of more than 3.9 million votes. This standing gave him about 18,000 votes above the threshold required to win by a majority and avoid a Dec. 4 runoff.
Kemp issued a statement following his opponent's announcement, saying she "conceded the race and officially ended her campaign for governor."
"I appreciate her passion, hard work, and commitment to public service," the statement said. "The election is over and hardworking Georgians are ready to move forward. We can no longer dwell on the divisive politics of the past but must focus on Georgia’s bright and promising future."
He went on to request that people in Georgia "stand with me in the days ahead."
"Together, we will realize the opportunities and tackle the challenges to come," the statement said. "We will be a state that puts hardworking Georgians – no matter their zip code or political preference - first!”
Kemp, Georgia's former secretary of state, had received the endorsement of President Trump, who tweeted congratulations to Kemp on Friday evening.
"Congratulations to Brian Kemp on becoming the new Governor of Georgia," the president wrote. "Stacey Abrams fought brilliantly and hard - she will have a terrific political future! Brian was unrelenting and will become a great Governor for the truly Wonderful People of Georgia!"
Abrams gave her speech, where she also announced her intent to fight back legally," just after 5 p.m. That was the earliest state officials could certify the results after a court-ordered review of absentee, provisional and other uncounted ballots. Abrams' campaign had contended there were potentially enough uncounted votes to force a runoff.
"In the coming days, we will be filing a major federal lawsuit against the state of Georgia for the gross mismanagement of this election and to protect future elections," she said.
Following her announcement, Abrams' campaign sent out a news release that reiterated her comments.
"In her remarks, Abrams outlined the gross injustices Georgians faced when trying to cast their ballots during this election and launched Fair Fight Georgia," the news release said. "This new PAC will pursue accountability in Georgia’s elections and integrity in the process of maintaining our voting rolls."
"In the coming days, Fair Fight Georgia will be filing a major federal lawsuit against the state of Georgia for the gross mismanagement of this election and to protect future elections from unconstitutional actions," it continued.
After Abrams' announcement, Hillary Clinton posted a message of support via Twitter.
"Thank you, @StaceyAbrams, for fighting for Georgia and for the integrity of our elections," Clinton wrote. "Everyone should be able to exercise their right to vote. Every vote should be counted."
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. Fox News' David Lewkowict, Alex Pappas and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

GOP's Mia Love takes lead in Utah House race as count continues

Rep. Mia Love now leads Democratic challenger Ben McAdams as vote-counting continues in a Utah race that remained too close to call. (Associated Press)

A Republican incumbent congresswoman from Utah pulled ahead of her Democratic opponent by several hundred votes Friday, gaining her first lead in the House contest since Election Day.
After the latest tally, U.S. Rep. Mia Love, 42, held a razor-thin 419-vote lead over Democratic challenger and Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams for the state’s 4th Congressional District, FOX13 Utah reported.
The two-term incumbent had previously trailed McAdams early Friday afternoon by 1,169 votes before the release of updated numbers from Utah County, the station reported.
McAdam’s campaign has called the Utah County results “unsurprising,” saying they track with earlier voter trends.
“We’re optimistic that when final numbers are reported Monday, Ben McAdams will again be winning,” McAdams’ campaign manager, Andrew Roberts, told the Salt Lake Tribune.
McAdams, confident of victory, had spent the past week in Washington, attending House orientation meetings and even appearing in the freshman class photo, the paper reported.

Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, Democratic candidate for Utah's 4th Congressional District, speaks to supporters during an election night party, in Salt Lake City on Nov. 6. (Associated Press)

The lingering doubt over the vote’s outcome didn’t stop President Trump from calling out Love by name in a news conference last week where he bashed other fellow Republicans. trump said Love and others lost because they didn't fully embrace him.
Love "showed me no love," Trump told reporters.
But with thousands of provisional ballots still to be counted, the race for the 4th District’s House seat remained closer than ever.
Love, who became the first black Republican woman elected to Congress in 2014, maintains a 0.16 percent spread over McAdams, well within Utah’s margin for a recount, which is 0.25 percent, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
“This is just the start of Mia’s victory,” said Dave Hansen, Love’s campaign manager. “We will continue to closely monitor the election results.”
Earlier Friday, a judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Love, which sought to block counting ballots in Salt Lake County by challenging the signature verification conducted by the county clerk, FOX13 reported.

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Media furor over Trump trashing Mueller probe as 'absolutely nuts'

Donald Trump is so ticked off at Robert Mueller that he's calling him an Obama guy.
The special counsel is actually a registered Republican.
The president's eruption on Twitter yesterday fueled all kinds of media chatter about whether Mueller, who seems to be in the final phases of his Russia investigation, is about to drop some major indictment.
Maybe the president is just worked up because, according to news accounts, he's spent the last several days with his lawyers, hammering out written answers to Mueller's questions. (Does this mean there won’t be a face-to-face interview? Who knows?)
What I'm hearing from the White House is that the president is simply sick of the long-running investigation and, after conferring with his lawyers, wants to bring it to a head.
Trump has made his "witch hunt" allegations for much of the Mueller probe.And by the way, it’s hardly unprecedented to try to investigate those who are investigating you. Bill Clinton and his allies mounted a sustained campaign to demonize Ken Starr.
But Trump's attacks yesterday may be his harshest yet.
"The inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess," Trump tweeted. "They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want.
"They are a disgrace to our Nation and don't care how many lives the [sic] ruin. These are Angry People, including the highly conflicted Bob Mueller, who worked for Obama for 8 years. They won't even look at all of the bad acts and crimes on the other side. A TOTAL WITCH HUNT LIKE NO OTHER IN AMERICAN HISTORY!"
The all-caps was just for emphasis.
The president can certainly argue that Mueller, even with his charges against Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn and others, has come up with no evidence of collusion with Russia.
But keep in mind that it was Trump's own appointee, Rod Rosenstein, who named Mueller as special counsel, and the deputy attorney general says he's doing a good job.
What's more, it was George W. Bush who tapped Mueller as FBI director. Obama just let him finish out his 10-year term, and tacked on an additional two years. So to suggest that Mueller is some kind of Obama loyalist is just wrong.
One aspect that the pundits are focusing on is that the latest attack on Mueller comes after the president replaced Jeff Sessions with Matt Whitaker, who has a history of criticizing the special counsel. But whether the acting attorney general will take any steps to curtail the probe remains to be seen.
By outward appearances, Mueller seems to be down to third-level players. The Wall Street Journal reports that he is investigating whether veteran GOP operative Roger Stone tried to intimidate a witness who is contradicting his insistence he had no pipeline to WikiLeaks on the hacked Democratic emails. In emails to his former friend, Randy Credico, the Journal says, Stone threatened to "sue the f---" out of him and called Credico "a loser a liar and a rat." But this is pretty small potatoes.
The president also weighed in on the press yesterday, as he is wont to do. I reported yesterday on a spate of stories (The Washington Post, L.A. Times, Politico) about how Trump has been angry, furious and lashing out since the midterms as he mulls another White House shakeup.
Insiders tell me that many of the leaks likely emanate from places such as the Homeland Security Department and National Security Council, where people's jobs are threatened (such as Kirstjen Nielsen and deputy NSC director Mira Ricardel, who's being transferred after Melania Trump called for her firing). The president often discusses job changes with advisers and doesn't mind the rumors that float around and hit the press.
Trump tweeted yesterday: "The White House is running very smoothly and the results for our Nation are obviously very good. We are the envy of the world. But anytime I even think about making changes, the FAKE NEWS MEDIA goes crazy, always seeking to make us look as bad as possible! Very dishonest!"
I mean, why would anyone think he's angry?
But the president does have a point that routine personnel moves after an election are getting the media’s "chaos" treatment — even if "running very smoothly" is not the most apt description of this White House.

Across US, tax dollars being poured into 'legal defense fund for illegals'

In defiance of President Trump's hardline stands on immigration, more jurisdictions are going beyond "sanctuary city" policies and actively using taxpayer dollars to pay for legal representation for immigrants facing deportation.
This week Denver officials announced plans to set aside $385,000 to expand an immigrant legal defense program, Mayor Michael Hancock said.
“There is no greater responsibility that I have as mayor than to keep all residents of Denver, undocumented or not, safe and secure and when we have challenging language that comes out of Washington that threatens that very covenant that we have with all of our residents it makes it doubly difficult for us to help people feel safe in their city,” he said.
Others committing to designating public dollars for attorneys in immigration courts include lawmakers in Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington, D.C.; New York; Austin, Texas; Atlanta, San Francisco and Portland, Ore.
"We are proud to be a sanctuary city," said former San Francisco Supervisor David Campos when he introduced the proposal to fund legal assistance. "And we're not only proud to stand up for that, but we're going to invest the resources needed to make sure that the 44,000 undocumented people who live in the city and county of San Francisco have, at a minimum, legal representation if they're taken into immigration court."
One Chicago public official, Alderman Nicholas Sposato, called it "the legal defense fund for the illegals," the Chicago Tribune reported. He was the only city Budget Committee member to vote against a $1.3 million plan in 2016 to assist immigrants who were facing deportation.
In September, Portland approved a $500,000 grant toward legal defense for potential deportees and Baltimore approved $200,000 for its own defense fund.
Some cities and states -- California, Colorado, Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia and Maryland -- have joined up with the Vera Institute of Justice facilitate their programs.
The New York-based nonprofit spearheads the coalition, known as the Safety and Fairness for Everyone Network (SAFE).
People accused of being in the country illegally are not required to have a lawyer, unlike those facing criminal proceedings, where they must be represented by a public defender if they cannot afford an attorney. The government is not required to pay for an immigration court lawyer.
California has been providing attorney's to immigrants before Trump's election, but other SAFE members had not done so until the formation of the network, said network director Annie Chen.
Last year, Seattle passed a measure to put $1 million toward legal defense for immigrants and refugees. The money will be administered by community groups.
City leaders in Santa Ana, Calif., directed $65,000 last year toward its newly created legal defense fund and New York created the first statewide immigrant defense fund.
While immigration advocates have praised the initiatives, those who prefer stricter immigration laws have criticized them.
“It is simply bad public policy to be spending public funds at a time when everyone is strapped for cash and cannot fund the money for vital services," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), in an interview last year. "Even if they are relatively small funders, they are directing much-needed resources from schools and roads to meet the political desires of lawmakers."

“It is simply bad public policy to be spending public funds at a time when everyone is strapped for cash and cannot fund the money for vital services."
— Ira Mehlman, spokesman, Federation for American Immigration Reform

Some cities have faced opposition over its attempts to create similar programs.
A 2015 study published in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review reported that detained immigrants with access to legal counsel were 10 times more likely to be granted legal residency than those without.
In a statement just after his city approved financial support for legal representation to immigrants, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh said it was a matter of safety.
“Providing legal representation to those facing deportation maintains trust in law enforcement and our local institutions and keeps us all safe," Pugh said. "If our residents don’t feel safe – for example, coming forward to report crimes and cooperating with law enforcement – all of us are at more risk.”

Anti-Trump theatergoer allegedly yells, ‘Heil Hitler, Heil Trump’ during play: cops

Some audience members at a performance of “Fiddler on the Roof” in Baltimore were sent scrambling out of their seats Wednesday when a theatergoer shouted “Heil Hitler, Heil Trump” and made the Nazi salute during intermission, according to police.
Anthony Derlunas, 58, allegedly told police he was motivated by his hatred of President Trump and had been heavily drinking before the outburst from his balcony seat at the Hippodrome Theatre, the Baltimore Sun reported.
“People started running,” audience member Rich Scherr told the Sun. “I’ll be honest, I was waiting to hear a gunshot. I thought, ‘Here we go.’”
About 1,000 people were in attendance during the show.
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"Everything just got really, really quiet. And then I heard this guy screaming: "Heil Hitler! Heil Trump!," he said.
Samit Verma was seated in the balcony when he saw a man mimicking a Nazi salute.
“The people around me appeared to be quite shaken by the incident,” Verma said. “There were some people in tears.”
Derlunas allegedly told investigators he was reminded of Trump during the play’s final scene before the break. He was escorted out the venue by security a few minutes later and has been banned from the theatre for life.
He did not respond to the Sun’s requests for comment.
He was not arrested but was issued a stop ticket, which is the least-severe measure taken by the police when responding to a complaint. It does not carry fines and doesn’t require a follow-up from the recipient.
“As reprehensible as those words are, they are considered protected free speech because nobody was directly threatened,” police spokesman Matt Jablow said in an email.
In a Facebook post, the theatre said Derlunas behavior "will not be tolerated" and that the "venue has a proud tradition of providing shared experiences to people from all walks of life."
Authorities could have charged Derlunas with disorderly conduct, said Dana Vickers Shelley, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland. They instead gave him “what sounds like a ticket for jaywalking or less,” she said.
Uniformed police will be stationed at the Hippodrome for the remaining “Fiddler” shows through Sunday, Jablow said, adding that the extra security measure was not requested by the theatre.
“Fiddler” tells the story of a Jewish family facing persecution in Russia.
“It is a story inherently about Jews being made not to feel welcome, and here is this bozo who decided to express that he felt we should not be welcome here either,” said audience member Theodore Casser.
The incident comes in the midst of a rise in anti-Semitism and hate crimes nationwide and weeks after a gunman killed 11 people inside a Pittsburgh synagogue in October.
A recently released FBI report shows a 37 percent spike in anti-Semitic hate crimes in the U.S. and a 17 percent increase in hate crimes overall.

Kamala Harris compares ICE to KKK, gets slammed for 'disgusting,' 'horrifying' remarks

California Democrat and likely 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris drew fury after comparing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the Ku Klux Klan during a hearing on Capitol Hill.
She asked Ronald Vitiello, President Trump's nominee to lead ICE, whether he shares what she said was the public’s view that ICE was spreading fear and mistrust, in particular among immigrant communities, the same way the KKK did.
“Are you aware of the perception of many about how the power and the discretion at ICE is being used to enforce the laws and do you see any parallels [with the KKK]?,” she asked.

"Are you aware of the perception of many about how the power and the discretion at ICE is being used to enforce the laws and do you see any parallels [with the KKK]?"
— Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.

The comparison prompted outrage, with RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel slamming Harris for “disgusting” partisanship. “Kamala Harris is trying to launch her 2020 campaign off of comparing ICE officers to the KKK, and it's absolutely disgusting,” she tweeted.
“What utter, complete & horrifying disrespect for our law enforcement officers. I get she’s auditioning for 2020, but come on...,” wrote GOP spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany.
‏Harris pointed out to Vitiello’s controversial tweet from 2015 in which he said the Democratic Party was comparable to a “liberal-cratic” or “neo-Klanist” entity. The nominee apologized and admitted that those words were offensive.
“What is the history that would then make those words wrong?” the Democrat then asked, prompting Vitiello to say that the KKK would be labeled as a domestic terrorist group by today’s standards and was motivated by race and ethnicity.
But Vitiello pushed back against Harris’ line of questioning, saying “I do not see any parallels” between the immigration enforcement agency and the white supremacist group and inquired whether she was asking him if the two were in the same category.
“No, I'm very specific in what I'm asking you. Are you aware of a perception that the way that they ..." Harris went on, before the nominee snapped back saying, “I see none.”
“Are you aware that there is a perception that ICE is administering its power in a way that is causing fear and intimidation, particularly among immigrants and specifically among immigrants coming from Mexico and Central America?” she asked again.

“Are you aware that there is a perception that ICE is administering its power in a way that is causing fear and intimidation, particularly among immigrants and specifically among immigrants coming from Mexico and Central America?”
— Sen. Kamala Harris

Harris ended her questioning asking whether Vitiello can lead the agency if he’s not aware of the negative views toward it.
“It seems to me that you would understand that when you use words like the words you used just three short years ago, that that would contribute to that perception,” Harris said. “And it's harmful then, it's harmful, in terms of the mission of the agency and the work of the individuals there. And it is harmful in terms of leading — innocent people arriving at our border fleeing harm, it is harmful to them.”
Harris is widely rumored to be considering a run for Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination. She recently visited Iowa, one of the first primary states, and swing states such as Ohio, raising speculation that she’s building her national image before the election.

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