FILE – In this April 28, 2018 file photo, President Donald Trump, left,
watches as Corey Lewandowski, right, his former campaign manager for
Trump’s presidential campaign, speaks during a campaign rally in
Washington Township, Mich. Trump is throwing his support behind his
former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who is considering a run for
Senate in his home state of New Hampshire. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 2:30 PM PST – Sat. September 7, 2019
The president’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is set to
testify before the House Judiciary Committee in the coming weeks.
Reports Saturday said Lewandowski will appear before the panel to
answer questions related to their probe into possible obstruction of
justice by President Trump.
Specifically, lawmakers are looking into findings outlined in the
special counsel’s report, which claims the president instructed
Lewandowski to pressure former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, to curb
the Russia probe.
The former campaign head has maintained that Democrats are on a
political witch hunt. In an interview with OAN, lewandowski slammed
Hillary Clinton and her so-called “cohorts,” who he claims kick-started
the Russian collusion narrative.
Lewandowski’s upcoming testimony comes after the panel’s chairman
Jerry Nadler issued subpoenas to two other administration officials to
testify the same day.
However, only Lewandowski is expected to appear before the committee on the 17th.
Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale insisted Saturday that the GOP hasn’t given up on California despite setbacks at the polls there in 2018.
“We have the potential to win back eight congressional seats, back to Republicans, here in California,” Parscale said at the state Republican Party’s fall convention in Indian Wells.
“We have the potential to win back eight congressional seats, back to Republicans, here in California.” — Brad Parscale, Trump 2020 campaign manager
But
Parscale acknowledged the job won’t be easy – and said the work would
ultimately have to be done by the Golden State's Republicans, not
national party leaders.
“You’re the California GOP,” he said, according to Politico. “There’s
no trick I can do on my laptop that you can’t do yourselves. It takes
hard work, and talking to your neighbors. And with a strong leader with
President Trump at the helm, the sky’s the limit.”
"It
takes hard work, and talking to your neighbors. And with a strong
leader with President Trump at the helm, the sky’s the limit." — Brad Parscale, Trump 2020 campaign manager
Democrats
hammered California’s GOP at the polls last year, leaving Republicans
with only seven of the state’s 53 seats in the U.S. House. Both
California seats in the Senate also belong to Democrats.
The
state’s Republicans were dealt another harsh blow just last month when
the registrar of voters in Orange County – long a GOP stronghold in
Southern California – reported that registered Democrats there now
outnumbered registered Republicans for the first time since the
Watergate era.
Nevertheless, Parscale told conventioneers Saturday
that the Trump reelection campaign was planning a big effort in
California, with as many as 50 paid staffers, making it one of “the
largest Election Day operations” in state history, Politico reported.
In
addition, the campaign plans to leverage artificial intelligence and
other high-tech tools, in a bid to learn “who the voters are, where they
live, how they consume information – and how to contact them,” he said.
“Many
of you are worried that we have written you guys off – that California
doesn’t matter,” Parscale said. To the contrary, he said, the Trump
campaign views the nation’s most populous state as a key battleground in
“the fight for the future of this country.”
Later
this month, President Trump is scheduled to visit California, with
events planned in the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego, Sacramento’s FOX 40 reported.
Trump previously visited California in April, making stops in Los Angeles and at the state’s border with Mexico. Fox News’ Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this story.
President Trump and his family represent a political movement with the potential of transforming the Republican Party, according to Brad Parscale, manager of the president’s 2020 reelection campaign.
“I just think they’re a dynasty,” Parscale told reporters after delivering a speech Saturday at the fall convention of the California Republican Party.
“I
think they’re all amazing people … with amazing capabilities,” he said,
according to the Associated Press. “I think you see that from Don Jr. I
think you see that from Ivanka. You see it from Jared. You see it from
all.”
“I
think they’re all amazing people … with amazing capabilities. I think
you see that from Don Jr. I think you see that from Ivanka. You see it
from Jared. You see it from all.” — Brad Parscale, manager of President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign.
Parscale
was speaking at the end of a week that saw Ivanka Trump embark on a
trip to Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay to promote the Women's Global
Development and Prosperity Initiative; saw Republican political
strategist Rick Wilson predict in a Daily Beast column
that Donald Trump Jr. will seek and likely win the 2024 GOP
presidential nomination; and saw Jared Kushner appoint a lieutenant in
his role of crafting the president's Middle East policy, according to Politico.
Earlier
Saturday, Parscale told the convention crowd in Indian Wells that the
Trump family’s influence would likely “last for decades,” and propel the
GOP “into a new party – one that will adapt to changing cultures.
“One
must continue to adapt while keeping the conservative values that we
believe in,” he added, though when speaking later with reporters he
declined to speculate on whether any of the president’s family members
would seek elected office, the AP reported.
Then-President-elect Donald Trump, center, is flanked by daughter
Ivanka Trump and son Donald Trump Jr., at a news conference in the lobby
of Trump Tower in New York City, Jan. 11, 2017. (Associated Press)
At the California GOP convention, party delegates
sought to develop an election strategy in a heavily Democratic state
that Trump lost by more than 4 million votes in 2016. Polls show the
president remains widely unpopular there.
Parscale acknowledged
that California was not a key focus of Trump's reelection plans. "This
is not a swing state," he said, drawing laughs from the crowd.
But he noted California was the biggest source of the president's campaign donations.
The
party's struggles in California are well known. Democrats control every
statewide office and both chambers of the Legislature, while holding an
edge of nearly 4 million in voter registrations. Both U.S. Senate seats
are in Democratic hands, and the party has a 46-7 edge over Republicans
in U.S. House seats in the state.
The last significant push by a
Republican presidential candidate to win California was in 2000, when
George W. Bush was backed by more than $15 million, then lost to
Democrat Al Gore by 12 points. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., claimed Saturday that she didn't hear an audience member at a New Hampshire town hall Friday call President Trump "mentally retarded" and apologized for laughing after the comment.
"When my staff played the video from my town hall yesterday, it was upsetting," Harris
tweeted Saturday. "I didn’t hear the words the man used in that moment,
but if I had I would’ve stopped and corrected him. I’m sorry. That word
and others like it aren’t acceptable. Ever."
Video of the incident includes the following exchange: Audience member: "What are you going to do in the next one year to diminish the mentally retarded actions of this guy?" Harris: "Well said." (Giggles.) "Well said. Well, I plan to win this election, I'll tell you that."
"I
heard him talk about the other stuff and then that came later and it
was not something that I really heard or processed or I in any way
condone. That's for sure," Harris told CBS News on Saturday.
She
added: "It's offensive and you would think that in the year 2019, people
would have a better understanding of how hurtful a term like that can
be; but also the history behind it, which is a history of really
ignoring the needs and the realities and the capacity of our disability
community."
Last month, Harris released a policy proposal geared at expanding economic opportunity for people with disabilities.
"Kamala
believes in an America that is fully accessible and inclusive for
everyone and her administration will fight to make this a reality across
all parts of our society," the proposal read.
The
document also contained a pledge to include people with disabilities in
her policymaking processes. "As president, Kamala will have diverse
leaders with disabilities developing all the policies her administration
champions, including priorities that will lift up people with
disabilities," the plan read.
White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow talks with reporters
outside the White House, Friday, Sept. 6, 2019, in Washington. (AP
Photo/Evan Vucci)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 12:56 PM PT — Friday, September 6, 2019
White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the Trump
administration is happy with the August jobs report despite growth
coming in lower than expected. The Labor Department revealed the U.S.
added 130,000 new jobs in August, with the unemployment rate unchanged
at 3.7-percent.
The Economy is great. The only thing adding to “uncertainty” is the Fake News!
In an interview Friday, Kudlow said that’s a “very solid number,” and
pointed out that August is always “a quirky month.” The economic
adviser said seasonal factors usually impact the initial August report,
with upward revisions happening later.
Kudlow touted the wage growth seen in Friday’s report, suggesting it showed “blowout” numbers.
“American workers are getting paid. Now, average hourly earnings, 12
month change, is 3.2-percent, but in the last three months average
hourly earnings have picked up to four-percent, 4.2-percent, at an
annual rate, ” he explained. “And by the way, that’s what the
productivity of numbers is showing, so look, this actually was a blowout
number.”
The professional and business services sector saw the most growth,
closely followed by the government as the U.S. hired temporary workers
for the 2020 census.
NEW CASTLE, NH – Joe Biden on Friday forcefully defended his appearance the previous evening at a top-dollar campaign fundraising event in New York City that was held at the home of a supporter who helped found a natural gas company.
And standing right next to the environmental
activist who challenged him for attending the fundraiser -- after he'd
vowed not to take contributions from the fossil fuel industry -- Biden
asked the young woman , whom he called “kiddo,” to “look in my eyes” as
he pledged to wean Americans off fossil fuels by 2050.
Twenty-four hours earlier, the former vice president and frontrunner for the 2020 Democratic presidential
nomination attended an event with donors co-hosted by Andrew Goldman –
one of the founders of the Texas-based natural gas company LNG Western.
Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks with environmental activist
Rebecca Beaulieu during a town hall in New Castle, New Hampshire on
Friday, Sept. 6
On Friday, at a town hall in New Castle, N.H., with
the Atlantic Ocean as a backdrop, 24-year-old environmental activist
Rebecca Beaulieu from nearby Newmarket, asked Biden, "How can we trust
that you’re going to act on the climate crisis if you’re still attending
fundraisers that fossil fuel executives like Andy Goldman are at?”
'Here's the deal, folks'
Biden
quickly denied there were any executives there, acknowledging that
Goldman did co-found the company, “but he’s not on the board or any of
it. He does not run it at all.”
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden
pumps his fist as he speaks during a campaign stop, Friday, Sept. 6,
2019, in Laconia, N.H. (Associated Press)
But LNG Western still lists on its company website that Goldman is part of its “leadership” team and his LinkedIn profile lists that he still works for the company.
Biden
then reiterated his pledge not to take contributions from fossil fuel
companies, a vow that nearly every candidate in the record-setting field
of Democratic White House contenders has also taken.
“Here’s the deal, folks. I have never taken money from the industry,” Biden told the crowd.
Biden highlighted his decades of work in trying to combat climate change,
emphasizing “I’m incredibly proud of my record.” And he touted his
climate change plan that he unveiled this summer, saying “it’s gotten
rave reviews from the vast majority of all of the major environment
groups.”
Then, moving in close and holding Beaulieu’s hand, he
said “Kiddo. I want you to just take a look. You don’t have to agree.
But I want you to look in my eyes. I guarantee you. I guarantee you
we’re going to end fossil fuel … before 2050, God willing.”
Beaulieu
later told reporters she appreciated that Biden seriously answered her
question - but that she thinks his plan to eliminate net carbon
emissions by 2050 wasn’t adequate.
She also said she found Biden's use of "kiddo" patronizing.
Blunt advice
Hours
earlier, Biden received some blunt advise from one of his top
supporters in New Hampshire. Longtime state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, known
as the ‘Lion of the state Senate,’ met one-on-one with the former vice
president ahead of Biden’s town hall Friday afternoon in Laconia, N.H.
D’Allesandro
- who has known Biden for years and last month endorsed the former vice
president’s White House bid -- said that he urged Biden to be more
concise on the campaign trail.
“I
said that he’s got to leave them wanting more and be specific and right
on point. He’s got a great message but he’s got to condense it and get
it out there,” D’Allesandro told Fox News and the Concord Monitor.
Asked if Biden agreed with his critique, D’Allesandro noted, “I think he concurred. He understood what I was saying, clearly.”
The
state senator stuck around for the town hall – where Biden spoke and
answered questions from the audience for just over an hour.
Asked
if Biden was concise during the event, D’Allesandro said, “I think there
were moments he was concise and the people appreciated that. But there
were other times when he was way too long.”
The federal agency that monitors hurricanes said Friday that Hurricane Dorian could have impacted Alabama, backing claims by President Trump that he was right to tweet a warning over the weekend about the storm affecting the state.
In
an unsigned statement, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) said that "information provided by NOAA and the
National Hurricane Center to President Trump and the wider public
demonstrated that tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Dorian could
impact Alabama." The advisories in question were dated from Wednesday, Aug. 28 to Monday, Sept. 2, the agency said.
The
statement points to a few graphics issued by the National Hurricane
Center to support Trump's claims. The maps show percentage possibility
of tropical storm force winds in the United States. Parts of Alabama
were covered, usually with 5 percent to 10 percent chances, between Aug.
27 and Sept. 3. Maps on Aug. 30 grew to cover far more of Alabama, but
for only 12 hours, and the highest percentage hit 20 percent to 30
percent before quickly shrinking back down.
The controversy began
Sunday morning when Trump tweeted that Florida, "South Carolina, North
Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit [much] harder
than anticipated" by Dorian. In response, the National Weather Service's
Birmingham office tweeted that Alabama “will NOT see any impacts from
Dorian.”
“We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane Dorian will be felt
across Alabama. The system will remain too far east," the office said
in response to Trump's comments.
But on Friday, NOAA said that the
NWS tweet "spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with
probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time."
The
statement from NOAA contrasts with comments the agency's spokesman,
Chris Vaccaro, made Sunday. "The current forecast path of Dorian does
not include Alabama," Vaccaro said at the time.
Dan Sobien,
president of the union representing weather service employees, tweeted
Friday, "Let me assure you the hard working employees of the NWS had
nothing to do with the utterly disgusting and disingenuous tweet sent
out by NOAA management tonight."
Other meteorologists also voiced
concerns about NOAA's actions Friday. University of Georgia meteorology
professor Marshall Shepherd, former president of the American
Meteorology Society, simply responded, "OMG."
"I am very
disappointed to see this statement come out from NOAA," Oklahoma
University meteorology professor Jason Furtado told The Associated
Press. "I am thankful for the folks at NWS Birmingham for their work in
keeping the citizens of Alabama informed and up to date on weather
hazards."
Furtado said NOAA's statement and the president's
Twitter "war on weather" are undermining confidence in meteorologists,
adding, "The job just got harder because of this issue."
Trump has
defended his comments repeatedly this week, insisting that the
information he gave Sunday was accurate. On Wednesday, the president
held up a map in the Oval Office showing the “cone of uncertainty” over
areas possibly affected by the storm. A part of Alabama appeared to be
circled in black marker.
The
media criticized the president over his claims, causing Trump to say
Thursday that the coverage was meant to “demean” him, adding, “What I
said was accurate!” He posted images of NOAA graphics that at one point
projected Dorian’s possible impact on Alabama.
On Thursday
afternoon, Trump invited Fox News into the Oval Office to emphasize his
point that forecasts for Dorian last week had Alabama in the warning
cone, providing a graphic from the National Hurricane Center and a
screenshot of a news report on NBC.
Fox News was also told that
Trump was shown a graphic prior to a briefing by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) last week that appeared to show an older
forecast track with Dorian going north through the Florida peninsula and
just grazing Alabama.
When asked why his Sunday morning tweet
mentioning Alabama came after the forecast track had moved much farther
east, the president seemed to agree that the forecast track had moved
but was adamant that at some point, Alabama had been at risk. He also
emphasized that on occasions in the past, forecast tracks have changed
dramatically.
Also
Thursday, the White House released a statement from Rear Adm. Peter
J. Brown, the president’s homeland security and counterterrorism
adviser, who said he briefed the president on Sunday about the storm,
including “possible storm impacts well outside the official forecast
cone.”
“The president’s comments were based on that morning’s
Hurricane Dorian briefing, which included the possibility of tropical
storm-force winds in southeastern Alabama,” Brown said.
On Friday,
Trump tweeted: “The Fake News Media was fixated on the fact that I
properly said, at the beginnings of Hurricane Dorian, that in addition
to Florida & other states, Alabama may also be grazed or hit. They
went Crazy, hoping against hope that I made a mistake (which I didn’t).
Check out maps.....”
He followed up hours later by tweeting: "Just as I said, Alabama was originally projected to be hit. The Fake News denies it!" Fox News’ Brooke Singman, John Roberts and Alex Pappas contributed to this report, along with the Associated Press.
The Mexican government announced Friday that the number of migrants
coming to its border with the U.S. had dropped by 56 percent over the
past three months as the country tries to avert President Trump's
threatened tariffs on Mexico's exports to its northern neighbor.
Foreign
Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, citing data from U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) said the number of migrants apprehended at the frontier
in August was 63,989 in August, down from 146,266 in May. Those numbers
included people who presented themselves at U.S. ports of entry and
were deemed inadmissible.
The Mexican government has deployed more
than 20,000 police officers and National Guard troops across the
country as part of an aggressive campaign meant to deter Central
American migrants from passing through its territory en route to the
United States. Ebrard said there had been seven formal complaints of
human rights violations involving the National Guard, a relatively low
number which he saw as another sign of success.
The
U.S. and Mexico agreed in June to a 90-day window to allow Mexico to
reduce the flow of migrants from Central America to the U.S. The
agreement averted plans by Trump to impose a five percent tariff on
Mexican goods in the U.S. that would have increased every month until it
hit 25 percent.
Ebrard, is scheduled to meet with U.S. officials at the White House Tuesday to review the Mexican government's progress.
"We're
showing that the strategy that Mexico put forward has been successful,"
Ebrard told reporters. "I don't expect a tariff threat Tuesday because
it wouldn't make sense."
While drops in migration are typical
during the summer months, officials denied any link between the drops in
migration and seasonal trends.
Despite
the apparent progress in stopping illegal migration, Ebrard repeated
his government's refusal to become a so-called "third country,' as Trump
has proposed. That would require migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. to
apply for such protections in Mexico instead.
"The Mexican
strategy is working," said Ebrard, according to Agence-France Press. "We
will not agree to be a safe third country ... because it goes against
our interests. It is unfair to our country."
Trump
has not yet responded to the latest figures, but on Wednesday he seemed
very pleased by Mexican efforts. "I want to thank Mexico, the Mexican
government, their great President of Mexico, for helping us," he told
reporters. "They're helping us in a very big way. Far bigger than
anybody thought even possible."
In addition to stopping U.S.-bound
migrants, Mexico said it has been targetting smuggling networks, which
it blames for instigating large migrant caravans bound for the U.S.
which popped up earlier this year. Authorities have raided freight
trains that migrants ride north, and pulled thousands off buses and out
of the freight compartments of trucks. The government has warned bus and
taxi drivers they could lose their permits if they transport migrants. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Then-President-elect Donald Trump, center, is flanked by daughter
Ivanka Trump and son Donald Trump Jr., at a news conference in the lobby
of Trump Tower in New York City, Jan. 11, 2017. (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden
pumps his fist as he speaks during a campaign stop, Friday, Sept. 6,
2019, in Laconia, N.H. (Associated Press)
CNN’s Scott Jennings once again took liberals to the cleaners on the Abrego Garcia case, the ‘Maryland man...
