Nearly 60 percent of African-Americans in Virginia want Gov. Ralph Northam to remain
in office despite the recent scandal surrounding a racist photo on the
Democrat's 1984 medical school yearbook page, according to a poll
released Saturday. The Washington Post-Schar School poll,
conducted Wednesday through Friday, found Virginia's broader population
to be split evenly about Northam’s fate, with 47 percent wanting him to
stay and the same percentage wanting him to resign. African-Americans, however, prefer that the Democrat remain in office, 58 percent to 37 percent. Whites are more evenly divided. The poll
also found that 11 percent of Virginia residents have either worn
blackface or known someone who has. Northam has denied that he is one of
two men shown on his yearbook page, backtracking an earlier admission.
The photo shows one person in blackface and the other dressed in a Ku
Klux Klan hood and robe. “Initially, I could have forgiven him,
and I think he could have gotten past it. It was something that was 35
years ago,” David Hughes, an African-American sheriff's deputy in
Newport News, told the Post. “What really bothered me was the change in story.” Hughes, 54, thinks the governor should resign. Louise
Butler, 76, of Richmond, grew up during segregation and was bothered by
the Klan costume, which she said brought back memories of violence and
discrimination directed at African-Americans before the Civil Rights
Movement. She told the paper she believed Northam was committed to racial equality despite whatever views he may have held in 1984.
This image shows Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s page in his 1984
Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook. (Eastern Virginia Medical
School via AP)
“He’s been a good governor, and he’s been good, as far as I know, to black people,” Butler said. In an interview Saturday, Northam said he wants to heal the wounds that some feel after the racist photo emerged. "There
are still some very deep wounds in Virginia, and especially in the area
of equity. ... There are ongoing inequities to access to things like
education, health care, mortgages, capital, entrepreneurship," he
said. "And so this has been a real, I think, an awakening for Virginia.
It has really raised the level of awareness for racial issues in
Virginia. And so we’re ready to learn from our mistakes.” Other results from the poll revealed about a third of Virginians think Attorney General Mark Herring
should resign after he admitted to wearing blackface at a party in
college. Most residents are still undecided – 65 percent – on the future
of Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who is accused of sexual assault by two women. Fairfax denies the accusations. Respondents were not asked about the second allegation against him, that was made public Friday after the poll began.
Critics: Ralph Northam can't possibly come up with another way to explain himself out of the yearbook mess. Northam: Hold my beer. The embattled Virginia governor says
he's certain he's not one of the two men shown in a racist photo in his
1984 medical school yearbook -- because the men in the photo are
holding beers in their right hands while he’s left-handed. Northam, who initially apologized for the racist photo,
but later backtracked and said he doesn’t believe he’s actually in it,
has been fighting for his political life ever since the picture showing a
man in blackface and a man in Ku Klux Klan garb emerged Feb. 1. LIBERAL HYPOCRISY: DEMOCRATS' CALLS FOR NORTHAM TO RESIGN FADE AS THREE SCANDALS THROW VIRGINIA INTO CHAOS Most
top Democrats and his party have issued statements calling for him to
resign amid the controversy, but Northam insists on his innocence and is
trying to convince others that the picture was added to the yearbook by
mistake and doesn’t feature him. Northam's left hand-versus-right hand theory. Northam
reportedly told his staff that the photo struck him as odd because,
while attending the medical school, he particularly had trouble using
his right hand and even struggled to use a scalpel with it. He
claimed that his left hand is his dominant hand and pointed out that
another picture in the yearbook shows him holding a beer with his left
hand. VIRGINIA DEMS REPEAT CALL FOR NORTHAM TO RESIGN, BUT NOT FAIRFAX OR HERRING But
the latest theory isn’t convincing many on social media, with many
users noting that Northam, even while being left-handed, has been
pictured comfortably using his right hand, including to hold beer and
sign bills. Northam, who admitted wearing blackface as part of a
Michael Jackson costume in a different instance the same year, is
looking for ways to withstand the calls to resign by coming up with
policy initiatives that tackle Virginia’s history of racism. He’s
also begun a learning process and started reading works written by
black Americans, according to the outlet. The books include the 1976
Alex Haley novel “Roots” in addition to the Ta-Nehisi Coates 2014 essay
“The Case for Reparations."
Details of a likely bipartisan border-security deal in Congress are
being worked out after the White House indicated it will accept an
agreement giving President Trump just a fraction of the money he's demanded for his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall. Congressional
negotiators said the money allocated to the border wall will be far
below Trump’s requested figure of $5.7 billion, a demand that led to a
showdown with congressional Democrats and the longest-ever federal
government shutdown. The figure is likely to be somewhere around $1.6
billion. The
deal would not only partially fund the wall, it would also prevent
another government shutdown next weekend. Trump threatened to go with
the shutdown again, though congressional Republicans are unlikely to
have the stamina for another shutdown for which they have been held
responsible. One White House aide indicated that Trump will accept
whatever agreement comes out of the negotiations as he understands
there isn’t enough willpower among Republicans to fight for the full
border-wall funding. But even with a breakthrough in negotiations,
Democrats are insisting that the money given to the border security
shouldn’t be just for the physical barrier. “Throughout
the talks, Democrats have insisted that a border security compromise
not be overly reliant on physical barriers,” Evan Hollander, a spokesman
for Democrats who control the House Appropriations Committee, told the
Associated Press. “We will not agree to $2 billion in funding for
barriers.” The White House may still attempt to get the additional
funding for the wall by using executive action, though such a move is
likely to be met with resistance and lawsuits. The negotiations
also include talks about the type and location of the barriers. The
question of the number of beds the federal Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agency could have for detained migrants has also been
raised, in addition to some high-tech surveillance equipment and the
number of personnel. Still,
some GOP lawmakers believe the deal’s details could be too much for
Trump to swallow, with Rep. Mark Meadows saying “I'm not optimistic
it'll be something the president can support.” A bipartisan deal
is likely to pass even without the votes of conservative Republicans,
who demand more money for the border wall, and progressive Democrats,
who oppose funding of immigration authorities.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is expected to launch her 2020 presidential campaign
on Sunday, but is facing an early crisis over a wave of accusations
that she has mistreated staff -- with her conduct reportedly getting so
bad that then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid told her to change her
behavior. Klobuchar is expected to announce her 2020 run in Minneapolis on Sunday. But that announcement was overshadowed this week when HuffPost
reported this week that Klobuchar has such a bad reputation over her
treatment of staff that a number of potential staffers have withdrawn
from consideration to manage her campaign because of it. AMY KLOBUCHAR ALLEGEDLY MISTREATED STAFFERS, SEES DIFFICULTY GETTING TEAM FOR 2020 RUN: REPORT The
left-wing outlet reported that staffers described Klobuchar as
“habitually demeaning and prone to bursts of cruelty,” although others
said that while working for Klobuchar was challenging, it was also
rewarding. Some pushed back and questioned whether those making the
accusations “were falling for sexist stereotypes about female leaders
with high standards.” Klobuchar’s team issued a lengthy statement saying she is “proud” of her staff. "Senator
Klobuchar loves her staff — they are the reason she has gotten to where
she is today. She has many staff who have been with her for years —
including her Chief of Staff and her State Director, who have worked for
her for 5 and 7 years respectively, as well as her political advisor
Justin Buoen, who has worked for her for 14 years — and many who have
gone on to do amazing things, from working in the Obama Administration
(over 20 of them) to running for office to even serving as the
Agriculture Commissioner for Minnesota," a campaign spokesperson told
HuffPost. "She is proud of them and the work they have done for
Minnesota." But since the outlet published its first story, more
stories of alleged mistreatment emerged. Former staffers said that
Klobuchar’s wrath left employees in tears, and that one was accidentally
hit with a flying binder, according to BuzzFeed News. “I cried. I cried, like, all the time,” said one former staffer. While
BuzzFeed also received some positive stories from former staffers (one
said Klobuchar threw her a baby shower and cooked a meal for her friends
and family), it noted she has one of the highest turnover rates of
staff in the Senate. Klobuchar would reportedly blow up about
anything from minor grammar mistakes, the use of the word “community” in
press releases, or failing to charge her iPad. On Friday evening, HuffPost published
a story filled with new allegations, including that she required staff
to perform personal duties such as washing dishes. Such a demand would
be in violation of the Senate’s rules and federal law against personal
use of the office, it said. The outlet cites a 2012 campaign memo
that includes demands such as “only speak when spoken to at events” and
telling staffers that while waiting for her in a dressing area or
bedroom they should pick up her dirty laundry and place it in a basket.
The memo included the following passage: “Especially while in the
car during a busy day: if she is EXTREMELY upset about something, let
her rant through it, DON’T interupt [sic] her unless ABSOLUTELY
necessary and be careful when trying to calm her down...Often she just
needs to talk things out in the open and is not interested in other
people’s opinions -- this is something that you will become used to and
adjust to -- its just a note for the first time this happens.” The
allegations of mistreatment were reportedly well known to other
senators as well. HuffPost reported that Reid spoke to Klobuchar in 2015
about her mistreatment of staff. A Reid spokesman told the outlet that
he didn’t remember if he had such a discussion, and instead described
her as “one of the most brilliant, hard-working members of the Senate. According
to HuffPost, a former aide to then-Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said that a
terrified Klobuchar staffer came up to them to explain Klobuchar’s
lateness to an event: “I’m supposed to tell you...Senator Klobuchar is
late today because I am bad at my job.” If Klobuchar announces a
candidacy, she will likely enter a crowded field that already includes
Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Cory Booker, D-N.J. and Elizabeth Warren,
D-Mass. On Friday, she teased the announcement again, releasing a video
in which she said she would be making it on Boom Island. "As in boom, drop the mic," she quipped.
Top Democrats running for president in 2020 have jumped on and endorsed Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s radical Green New Deal that aims, among other things, to eliminate air travel. But
the elimination of air travel strikes particularly close to the homes
of Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, and Kamala
Harris – all of whom extensively used air travel, including private
jets – throughout the years in office. GREEN NEW DEAL: OCASIO-CORTEZ AIMS TO MAKE AIR TRAVEL OBSOLETE, AID THOSE ‘UNWILLING’ TO WORK Harris,
among the leading Democratic candidates in the 2020 race so far, has
been an early backer of Ocasio-Cortez’s resolution to tackle climate
change by radically transforming the country by rendering air travel
obsolete, moving the U.S. to rely completely on renewable energy with
net-zero emissions, and guaranteeing economic security even for people
who are “unwilling” to work. “I’m proud to co-sponsor @AOC and
@EdMarkey's Green New Deal. We must aggressively tackle climate change
which poses an existential threat to our nation,” she tweeted, adding in
that “The Green New Deal is a bold plan to shift our country to 100%
clean and renewable energy.” Yet Harris herself is far from following what she preaches. Since 2015, her campaign has spent around $300,000 on air travel. Harris’
FEC records also show that she spent less than $7,000 on trains, even
though the Green New Deal proposes making trains the main means of
transport “at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary.” She
is, however, an outlier compared to the three other Democrats when it
comes to private jets, with no records or media reports indicating that
she took a chartered flight. Still, Harris’ lavish spending on
airline tickets – with many of them first-class tickets – even became a
campaign issue in 2015 during her Senate run, as the travel also
included first-rate hotels around the country all while her staffers had
to fly budget and stay in low-end rooms. Booker is another 2020
candidate who immediately jumped on the Green New Deal without delving
too much on the details, even though he also extensively relies on air
travel. His campaign records show that at least $300,000 were
spent on air travel since 2013 by his campaign. He spent just about
$11,000 on Amtrak – the Green New Deal’s preferred mode of transport. While
public records don’t clearly indicate whether Booker spent money on
chartered flights, multiple media reports have indicated Booker
occasionally travels using chartered flights. The
New Jersey Democrat defended his support for the proposal on Friday,
comparing it to the government-led push to overhaul the nation’s economy
and energy sector to landing on the moon and defeating the Nazis in
World War II. “There's a lot of people now going back on the Green
New Deal, they're like 'oh it's impractical, oh it's too expensive, oh
it's all of this,'” he said at a stop in Mason City, Iowa. “If we used
to govern our dreams that way, we would have never gone to the Moon.
'God, that's impractical. See that ball in the sky? That's
impractical.'” Gillibrand, a New York Democrat and a close friend
of Booker, is also backing the Green New Deal, despite being one of the
worst offenders when it comes to air travel. “A #GreenNewDeal is
ambitious. It's bold. And I’m cosponsoring this resolution with @aoc and
@senmarkey because it’s exactly the kind of action it will take to
conquer the biggest threat of our lifetime,” she tweeted. But
Gillibrand has long been criticized for her extensive use of private
jets. A Fox News review of public records reveal that Gillibrand’s
campaign spent at least $439,000 on air charter company Zen Air between
2010 and 2017. In the last decade, her campaign also spent an additional
$465,000 on non-charter flights. The New York senator doesn’t
always charge her campaign for the travel. She charged American
taxpayers $93,098 in 2013 and $194,797 in 2012 for chartered flights,
according to Senate financial documents, the USA Today reported. She ranked just below her fellow Democrat Chuck Schumer, who hasn’t endorsed the Green New Deal. Lastly,
Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who long fought for against climate
change, is one of the original backers of Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal. “I
am proud to be an original co-sponsor of the Green New Deal proposal.
We must address the existential crisis of planetary climate change,
while at the same time creating millions of good-paying jobs in our
country,” he wrote. While Sanders hasn’t yet declared his
candidacy for president in 2020, he likely to face attacks even from
other progressives for his excessive use air travel. Just last
October, Sanders reportedly spent $300,000 on private air travel just so
he could speak to people in nine battleground states prior to
November's midterm elections. Sanders’ 2018 campaign committee
issued an Oct. 10 payment of $297,685 to New York-based Apollo Jets, a
charter jet company used by retired sports stars Derek Jeter and
Shaquille O’Neal, according to federal campaign reports obtained by
VTDigger.org, a watchdog news site in Vermont. Since 2015, his
Senate campaign also spent an additional $100,000 on air travel. Sanders
also ran for Democratic Party’s nomination for president in 2016,
meaning some of the travel costs were made on behalf of the presidential
campaign. His presidential campaign spent over $10 million on air travel, compared to just around $75,000 on train travel.
Rep. Al Green , D-Texas, issued his third call to impeach President Trump. (Getty/AP, File)
Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, on Thursday issued
his third call to impeach President Trump, despite two previous efforts
failing to generate enough support in Congress.
“I love my
country. However, despite the love I have for my country, I cannot
overlook a history spanning some four centuries of racism and oppression
based on race, color, gender, as well as socioeconomic status. This
year marks 400 years since the first documented African slaves were
brought to this land,” he said in a statement. “The remedy must be more
than talking points about a much-needed conversation concerning bigotry.
Because I believe that 400 years of bigotry culminating in the Trump
presidency is worthy of impeachment, I will call for a third vote on
impeachment regardless of the findings of the Mueller investigation
which is unrelated to bigotry. We cannot allow bigotry to go unchecked.”
The congressman repeatedly has called for the president’s removal from office.
Green previously presented proposals to impeach Trump in January 2018 and December 2017.
Many
Trump opponents on the left have pressured the Democrat-controlled
House to launch impeachment hearings and to persuade the party’s
presidential contenders to support impeachment on their platform.
House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has insisted that any
impeachment effort be put on hold until evidence of an impeachable
offense is found.
The White House repeatedly has called Green’s efforts “pathetic.”
The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel issued a blistering critique of the proposed Green New Deal, saying that the proposal reads like a parody of the Democratic Party done by Republicans.
“By
the end of the Green New Deal resolution (and accompanying fact sheet) I
was laughing so hard I nearly cried,” Strassel wrote on Twitter. “If a
bunch of GOPers plotted to forge a fake Democratic bill showing how
bonkers the party is, they could not have done a better job. It is
beautiful.”
The Green New Deal, pushed by freshman New York Democrat Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez,
attempts to radically transform the country, including rendering air
travel obsolete, move the U.S. to rely completely on renewable energy
with net-zero emissions, and guarantee economic security even for people
who are “unwilling” to work. OCASIO-CORTEZ CONTRADICTS HERSELF ON ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN MASSIVE AND UNPRECEDENTED 'GREEN NEW DEAL'
But
the sweeping proposal was hit with mockery once the details were
unveiled on Thursday, with many pointing out how unrealistic the
suggestions are.
Strassel pointed out that in order to live up to
the proposal’s promise of 100 percent of renewable energy, a space as
big as the entire state of California would have to be dedicated solely
for the facilities, wind turbines, and solar panels.
The
proposal’s suggestion of putting charging stations “everywhere,”
upgrading or replacing “every building” and developing high-speed
railway across every state may also hit a wall due to permitting laws. FULL TEXT: GREEN NEW DEAL FAQ CALLS FOR ABOLISHING 'FARTING COWS' AND 'AIRPLANES' ASAP
Strassel
notes that the Green New Deal is far from just a proposal to curb
emissions and create more environmental regulations – it’s also about
implementing radical left-wing measures.
“Somehow, government-run
healthcare, ‘family sustainable’ wages, paid leave, and ‘affordable’
housing are also ‘required’ for a clean economy,” the writer wrote. “I
would love to understand this logic. (And imagine what wages will need
to be to pay for billion-dollar-per-kilowatt electricity).”
But
even those pushing for the document aren’t sure it can actually be
achieved within 10 years. In a now-deleted FAQ page on Ocasio-Cortez’s
website, the document explains that it’s calling for an elimination of
greenhouse gas emissions rather than an immediate ban on fossil fuels
because "we aren't sure that we'll be able to fully get rid of farting
cows and airplanes that fast."
“Planes run on fossil fuel. No
fossil fuel, no visits to granny. Cows produce methane, why alarmists
want to get rid of livestock,” Stressel wrote. “She can't do it ‘fully’
in 10 years, but AOC is coming after your air miles and bacon. This is
honesty (sp) about how Democrats would micromanage private life.”
Lastly,
the Green New Deal, which doesn’t exactly reveal how it will be funded,
except for the suggestion that the Federal Reserve could step in and
extend credit.
“And
how to pay for mass trillions in cost? Don't worry! Federal Reserve
will just ‘extend credit’ and ‘new public banks can be created to extend
credit too,’” the writer tweeted. “Because, you know, like, money is
just paper, and how hard can it be to make some more of the stuff,
right? Right?”
A federal judge grilled Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team earlier this week on its claims that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort intentionally lied to investigators, according to a newly released, partially redacted court transcript released Thursday.
Manafort,
who avoided a second trial in Washington, D.C., last year by agreeing
to cooperate with investigators, allegedly lied to prosecutors about
five separate topics, including Manafort’s contact with administration
officials; information “pertinent to another Department of Justice
investigation,” and a $125,000 wire transfer to a firm working for
Manafort.
But at the closed-door hearing on Monday, U.S. District
Judge Amy Berman Jackson repeatedly and bluntly pressed prosecutors to
explain why Manafort's misstatements, including some that he corrected
voluntarily, should affect his upcoming sentencing.
The judge, who is also handling the ongoing criminal case
against Trump associate Roger Stone, openly wondered whether
prosecutors had bombarded Manafort with a series of difficult and
irrelevant questions during the roughly 50 hours of interviews that
followed his plea deal.
"Putting
aside whether it has to be established and whether we have to establish
all the elements of [a criminal false statements statute], why is this
important?" Jackson asked prosecutors, referring to the their claim that
Manafort misled authorities about the nature of the $125,000 wire
transfer.
Kevin Downing, attorney for Paul Manafort leaves Federal District
Court after a court hearing for Manafort in Washington, Friday, Jan. 25,
2019. Judge Amy Berman Jackson has scheduled a sealed proceeding to
determine whether the former Trump campaign chairman intentionally lied
to investigators. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Manafort has denied intentionally misleading
Mueller's team and said he is under stress and physically ill. The
former Trump campaign chairman claimed variously that the money was owed
to him as a loan repayment, income and reimbursement.
The funds were sent in 2017 through a political action committee that spent millions to help Trump's candidacy.
"I
mean, basically what you're saying is, you were just asking about
something and it turned -- it snowballed into a series of false
statements," Jackson said. "But was there something about his -- if I
agree with you that he was lying about that, that was material to what
you were doing? What was the importance of asking him about the payment
in the first place?"
Jackson later told Manafort's lawyers she
wasn't entirely convinced by their argument that his "succession of
inconsistent explanations" could be chalked up to confusion caused by
accounting practices, adding that "there's some aspects of the evidence
I'm going to need to re-review."
At the hearing, prosecutors
maintained that Manafort also lied about his interactions
with Russian-Ukrainian political consultant Konstantin Kilimnik, who has
ties to Russian intelligence. Prosecutors said Manafort made false
statements about sharing polling data during the 2016 presidential
election with Kilimnik.
Top Mueller deputy Andrew Weissmann told
Jackson that Manafort's connections to Kilimnik "goes, I think, very
much to the heart of what the Special Counsel's Office is investigating.
... In [August] 2016 there is an in-person meeting with someone who
... is understood by the FBI, assessed to be -- have a relationship with
Russian intelligence."
Jackson acknowledged that Manafort, after
pleading guilty to conspiring with Kilimnik, offered an "exculpatory
version of Kilimnik's state of mind" that "isn't necessarily consistent
with what one would call full and forthright cooperation."
But,
she added, Manafort quickly corrected some of his statements on the
matter, undercutting prosecutors' claims that Manafort had acted
intentionally to mislead them. FLASHBACK: MANAFORT JUDGE SAYS MUELLER PROSECUTOR NEEDS TO STOP CRYING IN COURT
"Given
[Manafort's] correction after consultation with counsel, why would this
be something that we would characterize as the crime of making an
intentionally false statement to the FBI, or even just a law of
significance for acceptance of responsibility in sentencing purposes?"
Jackson asked.
FILE - In this May 23, 2018, photo, Paul Manafort, Presiden
Trump's former campaign chairman, leaves Federal District Court after a
hearing in Washington. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
After Weissman underscored the extraordinary nature
of Manafort's in-person meeting with Kilimnik, Jackson again said it was
unclear why that would be a focus of Mueller's inquiry.
"So, I'm
trying to figure out what the importance is of his ongoing work for a
potential candidate in the Ukraine at that time is, and the importance
of any lies about that, or lies about Kilimnik's knowledge about that,"
Jackson said.
Although
much of Weissman's response is redacted, Jackson said she found his
response "helpful" -- but the judge went on to question prosecutors
further, after the defense team slammed the government's theories about
the relevance of Manafort's shifting statements on Kilimnik as mere
"conjecture."
"So, I don't think the Court needs to reach that
issue, and I don't know that we've presented evidence on the -- that
issue," Weissman says, after a partially redacted question from Jackson.
That reply drew a curt response from the judge.
"You
didn't. So you just don't want me to think about it, that's okay,"
Jackson said, prompting Weissman to quickly embark on a longer
explanation.
Again, at the end of his partially redacted reply,
Jackson sounded a note of overt doubt as to the relevance of Manafort's
alleged misrepresentation.
"So, this is an important falsehood
because it was false?" Jackson asked. "Or is there some larger reason
why this is important?"
Toward the
end of the proceeding, Jackson took particular umbrage at prosecutors'
contention that Manafort had lied about his contacts with the Trump
administration.
"And of all of them, this is the one where I have
the most difficulty figuring out where the real contradiction is of
moment to the investigation," Jackson said.
Manafort's "outreach
appears to have been two people outside the administration who
themselves would have contacts within," Jackson said. "So, again, I want
you to point to the specific statement in a 302 [FBI witness report] or
a grand jury statement that is the precise question and answer you
think I should denote as false. And, you know, it does seem to be that
there are indications that he may have bragged that he still had sway or
offered to assist people or to lobby. But do we have direct evidence of
contacts that contradict a denial of a contact?"
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team has aggressively pursued
criminal charges against several former top Trump aides, but none of the
charges have involved criminal collusion with Russia. (AP)
At
that point, a member of Mueller's team replied that Manafort had lied
by denying having any direct or "indirect" contacts with the
administration -- and that the "indirect" statement was a lie.
But the prosecutor, Greg Andres, began his response by acknowledging the judge's critical tone.
"Given that you have issues with it, I drew the short straw," Andres said.
The
Mueller deputy is no stranger to harsh criticisms from the bench. Last
August, during Manafort's first trial in Virginia, Judge T.S. Ellis
accused Andres of crying.
“I understand how frustrated you are. In
fact, there’s tears in your eyes right now,” Ellis said. (When Andres
denied Ellis’ claim, the judge said, “Well, they’re watery.”)
Manafort's
sentencing on two felony charges related to his Ukrainian lobbying is
set for March, when Jackson will determine whether his punishment should
be affected by his alleged false statements. Manafort faces up to ten
years in prison in the separate case in Virginia, where he was convicted
on tax and fraud charges.
Before adjourning, Jackson said she
appreciated Manafort's attendance, having denied his attempt to skip the
hearing because of logistical concerns and what he says are health
challenges.
"I believe it was very helpful, very useful and very
important for you to have been here, Mr. Manafort," Jackson said. "I
know that we've had hearings where counsel sought to minimize the burden
on you and not have you be here, but this is about you, it's not about
them. And I think it's very important that they have you available to
ask questions to."
Earlier this month, Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck
Grassley said he expects the Mueller probe to produce its final report
"within a month."
This image shows Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s page in his 1984
Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook. (Eastern Virginia Medical
School via AP)
