North Korea must halt missile tests for talks with US to occur, Tillerson says

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Monday that North Korea must halt its missile testing if they want any sort of negotiations with the U.S.

Tillerson -- who made the comments at a regional security meeting in Manilla, Philippines-- offered his most specific outline to date of what preconditions the U.S. has for talks with Pyongyang. He said stopping the launches would be the "first and strongest signal."

He added the caveat that it would not be as simple as The Hermit Kingdom simply stopping launches for a few days or weeks, saying that he would not give a concrete timeframe but that the U.S. will “know it when we see it.”
The Secretary of State also praised the most recent sanctions imposed on North Korea over their recent intercontinental ballistic missile tests, saying that in leaves no doubt in anyone’s mind whether there is a common view on the matter among the international community.
The sanctions against the communist nation include a ban on coal and other exports worth over $1 billion -- a huge bite in its total exports, valued at $3 billion last year.
The comments come after President Trump tweeted late Sunday that he spoke with South Korean President Moon Jae-In and was “very happy and impressed” with the United Nations Security Council's 15-0 vote to hit Kim Jong Un's regime with the tough new sanctions.
The White House added that Trump and Moon “committed to fully implement all relevant resolutions and to urge the international community to do so as well.”
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley called the resolution “the single largest economic sanctions package ever leveled against the North Korean regime” and "the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation.”
Haley told Fox News' “Sunday Morning Futures,” “What we basically did was kicked them in the stomach, told them to stop and told them they are not going to put up with it anymore and the ball is now in North Korea’s court. They have a big decision to make. They can either respond by pulling back and said that they’re not going to be part of this reckless activity anymore or they can see where it goes and we’ll continue to keep up the strength and keep up the activity to make sure that we stop them.”
The sharp new U.N. sanctions also received a welcome boost on Sunday from China, North Korea’s economic lifeline, as Beijing called on its neighbor to halt its missile and nuclear tests.
For the U.S., it was a long-awaited sign of progress for Trump's strategy of trying to enlist Beijing's help to squeeze North Korea diplomatically and economically. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, meeting with North Korea's top diplomat during the gathering in Manila, urged the North to "maintain calm" despite the U.N. vote.
"Do not violate the U.N.'s decision or provoke international society's goodwill by conducting missile launching or nuclear tests," Wang said, in an unusually direct admonition.
On Monday, North Korea responded to the sanctions, saying that it will launch a "thousands-fold" revenge against the United States.
The North's statement issued Monday on state media came two days after the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved new sanctions, saying they were caused by a "heinous U.S. plot to isolate and stifle" North Korea.
It says the U.N. sanctions will never force the country to negotiate over its nuclear program or to give up its nuclear drive and that will take "action of justice" but didn't elaborate.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Perry Chiaramonte is a reporter for FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @perrych

White House Warns GOP on 2020 Challenge

FILE – In this Thursday, June 1, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump speaks about the U.S. role in the Paris climate change accord in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. The Trump Administration is officially telling the United Nations that the U.S. intends to pull out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. The State Department made the announcement late Friday afternoon, Aug. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

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The Trump administration sends out a warning to any Republicans thinking of running against the president in 2020.
Following reports that some GOP lawmakers are positioning themselves for a potential presidential-run, White House spokesperson Lindsay Walters quickly fired back.
She says the president is as strong as he has ever been in states like Iowa and every potentially ambitious Republican knows that.
President Trump is already forming his 2020 campaign and began raising money for the effort only weeks after the 2016 election.

Rosenstein: DOJ is Going After Leakers, Not Going After Journalists

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein says the DOJ crack down on Washington leakers will not affect journalists who publish sensitive information unless the circumstances warrant it.
During an interview Sunday, Rosenstein defended the investigations saying he wants to stop the criminals from breaking the law.
He also said reporters do not normally get prison time for printing classified intelligence, but depending on the intent and sensitivity of the leak criminal charges could be filed against journalists.
“We have the same position on that as attorney general holder, and that is we don’t prosecute journalists for doing their job,” Rosenstein said. We look at the facts and circumstances of each case. And we determine whether it’s appropriate to hold them accountable for it. I don’t think you can draw a general line like that, but it depends on the facts and the circumstances. generally speaking reporters who publish information are not committing a crime but there might be a circumstance where they do. I haven’t seen any of those to date, but I wouldn’t rule it out.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said his crack down will also review DOJ subpoena policies for journalists who publish leaked information.

Maxine Waters Crazy Cartoons

Maxine Waters next House speaker: Dem activist

Democrats have “no reason” to try to make bipartisan legislative deals with President Trump and should instead wait until next year when outspoken Democrat Maxine Waters leads the House and Chuck Schumer leads the Senate, Democratic activist Robert Patillo said Saturday.

“Democrats looking at a president hovering around a 30 percent approval rating have no reason to run into a burning building and try to put it out, when they should instead just wait for 2018 when they have Speaker of the House Maxine Waters and Senate leader Chuck Schumer,” Patillo, an attorney, civil rights activist and Atlanta radio host, told Fox News’ “America’s News Headquarters.”

Waters, a California congresswoman, has been one of Trump’s most outspoken Democratic critics, with her calls to impeach him creating buzz about a possible 2020 presidential bid.
Patillo’s comment presumes Democrats next year would retake control of the House and Senate and that Waters would unseat now-House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, of California, who has been the chamber’s top Democrat for roughly the past 11 years.
Schumer, of New York, is now the Senate minority leader.
Democrats next year would have to win a net total of about 35 House seats.
Republicans how hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate, but Democrats next year must defend 25 seats, compared to just eight for Republicans.

Asia-Pacific regional disputes impede united stand on North Korea

Disagreements over North Korea's tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles and territorial disputes in the South China Sea are preventing foreign ministers from other Asia-Pacific countries from issuing a unified statement about North Korea's actions, diplomatic sources said Sunday.

Washington had hoped the region's countries, including members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), would issue a joint communique after their annual gathering in Manila. But Cambodia was concerned its views weren't adequately reflected in the statement being developed, causing a delay, a diplomat said.

The obstacle came one day after the U.N. Security Council on Saturday unanimously approved new sanctions against North Korea in the wake of the communist nation's first successful tests of ICBMs capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday urged his North Korean counterpart to abide by U.N. resolutions and stop provoking "the international community's goodwill" with missile launches and nuclear tests.
Wang spoke to reporters in Manila after meeting with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting.
Wang said the two had an intensive conversation during which China urged North Korea to maintain calm. He said he told Ri, "Do not violate the U.N. decision or provoke the international community's goodwill by conducting missile launches or nuclear tests."
Wang also urged the U.S. and South Korea "to stop increasing tensions" and said that all sides should return to negotiations.

The sanctions resolution approved Saturday bans North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood — resources that are worth over $1 billion to the regime of Kim Jong Un. North Korea exported an estimated $3 billion worth of goods last year.
Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., praised the new sanctions, telling council members after the vote that it is "the single largest economic package ever leveled against the North Korean regime."
But she warned that it is not enough and "we should not fool ourselves into thinking we have solved the problem -- not even close."

"The threat of an outlaw nuclearized North Korean dictatorship remains ... (and) is rapidly growing more dangerous," Haley told council members after the vote.
Countries are also banned from giving any additional permits to North Korean laborers -- another source of money for Pyongyang. And it prohibits all new joint ventures with North Korean companies and bans new foreign investment in existing ones.

The resolution was drafted by the U.S. and negotiated with North Korea's neighbor and ally China. It is aimed at increasing economic pressure on Pyongyang to return to negotiations on its nuclear and missile programs.
The Security Council has already imposed six rounds of sanctions that have failed to halt North Korea's drive to improve its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons capabilities.
"All of this ICBM and nuclear irresponsibility has to stop," Haley told reporters as she headed to the council to vote.
The resolution condemns the launches "in the strongest terms" and reiterates previous calls for North Korea to suspend all ballistic missile launches and abandon its nuclear weapons and nuclear program "in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner."
A Security Council diplomat said coal has been North Korea's largest export, earning $1.2 billion last year which was then restricted by the Security Council in November to a maximum $400 million. This year, Pyongyang was estimated to earn $251 million from iron and iron ore exports, $113 million from lead and lead ore exports, and $295 million from fish and seafood exports, the diplomat said.
The resolution also adds nine North Koreans, mainly officials or representatives of companies and banks, to the U.N. sanctions blacklist, banning their travel and freezing their assets. It also imposes an asset freeze on two companies and two banks.
The council diplomat, who was not authorized to speak publicly and insisted on anonymity, called the newly sanctioned Foreign Trade Bank "a very critical clearing house for foreign exchange."

The Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies, which was also added to the blacklist, is described in the resolution as engaged in exporting workers for construction, including of monuments, in Africa and Southeast Asia.

The resolution asks the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against North Korea to ban the import of many more so-called dual-use items, which have commercial purposes but can also be used in conventional, biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.

It also gives the committee a green light to designate specific vessels that are breaking sanctions from entering ports all over the world and to work with Interpol to enforce travel bans on North Koreans on the sanctions blacklist.

The resolution expresses regret at North Korea's "massive diversion of its scarce resources toward its development of nuclear weapons and a number of expensive ballistic missile programs" -- a point stressed by Haley.

It notes U.N. findings that well over half the population lacks sufficient food and medical care, while a quarter suffers from chronic malnutrition.

"These sanctions will cut deep, and in doing so will give the North Korean leadership a taste of the deprivations they have chosen to inflict on the North Korean people," Haley said. "Revenues aren't going toward feeding its people. Instead, the North Korean regime is literally starving its people and enslaving them in mines and factories in order to fund these illegal missile programs."

Though the economic sanctions have teeth, Washington didn't get everything it wanted.

In early July, Haley told the Security Council that if it was united, the international community could cut off major sources of hard currency to North Korea, restrict oil to its military and weapons programs, increase air and maritime restrictions and hold senior officials accountable.

Neither oil nor new air restrictions are included in the resolution.

Its adoption follows U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's comments Wednesday reassuring North Korea that Washington is not seeking regime change or an accelerated reunification of the Korean Peninsula -- comments welcomed by China's foreign minister.

China's U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi said the Chinese government hopes the United States will translate these commitments "into concrete policies" toward North Korea.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow hopes Tillerson's assurances "would be clear that the United States is not seeking to dismantle the existing ... situation (in North Korea) or to force to reunite the country or militarily intervene in the country."

Tillerson also said the United States wants to talk eventually with North Korea but thinks discussions would not be productive if Pyongyang comes with the intention of maintaining its nuclear weapons.

North Korea has repeatedly said it will never give up its nuclear arsenal, which it sees as a guarantee of its security.

The resolution reiterates language from previous ones supporting a return to six-party talks with the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula; expressing the Security Council's commitment "to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution to the situation"; and stressing the importance of maintaining peace and stability in northeast Asia.

Liu said "China has been making tireless efforts to promote denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and to uphold peace and stability" and will keep working to convince other governments to support its suspension-for-suspension proposal.

Under the proposal and a roadmap supported by Russia, North Korea would suspend nuclear and missile tests in exchange for the U.S. and South Korea suspending their joint military exercises. It also includes security measures for both North Korea and South Korea leading to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

But Haley told the Security Council that U.S.-South Korean military exercises have been carried out regularly and openly for nearly 40 years and "they will continue."

Russia's Nebenzia stressed that sanctions "need to be a tool for engaging the country in constructive talks" and must not be used for "economic asphyxiation" of the country or "to deliberately worsen the economic situation."

Pres. Trump Touts Economic Growth During Weekly Address

In this photo taken July 26, 2017, President Donald Trump pauses while speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington.

President Trump touts the country’s economic growth since taking office.
In his weekly address, the President declared the Dow Jones hit an all-time high this week.
He added unemployment reached a 16-year-low in May.
He attributes these accomplishments to putting American workers and families first.
The president also discussed his new immigration bill to create a merit-based green card system claiming it will end the abuse to the country’s welfare system and help U.S. workers and the economy.
“The time for dreaming big, bold, and daring things for our country has begun. When Americans are free to pursue their dreams, there is no limit to what we can achieve. This is truly an exciting time in our country. Every day, we’re accomplishing great things for our people,” said President Trump.
The president went on to say his administration is working hard on behalf of the American people by removing regulations and targeting unfair trade practices.
He also emphasized his focus on the coal industry and unleashing American energy.

U.N. Approves Sanctions Against North Korea

Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks to reporters after a Security Council vote on a new sanctions resolution that would increase economic pressure on North Korea to return to negotiations on its missile program, Saturday, Aug. 5, 2017 at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

The U.N. Security Council unanimously approves new sanctions against North Korea, following two recent ICBM tests.
The sanctions ban exports from the country totaling $1 billion dollars or more, a measure that is broadly expected to deeply cut into the country’s profits.
Speaking at the meeting U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley praised the move.
“This resolution is the single largest economic sanctions package ever leveled against the North Korean regime,” Haley said. “The price the North Korean leadership will pay for its continued nuclear and missile development will be the loss of one third of its exports and hard currency. This is the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation.”
Haley also described North Korea as a threat that now impacts not just one country, but most of the world.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Cartoons

Stuart Varney: All of the endless leaks sure looks like an attempt to reverse last year's election

Stuart Varney

Programming note: Watch “Varney & Co.” weekdays on the Fox Business Channel from 9 – 12pm ET.

Moments from now Attorney General Jeff Sessions takes to the podium to deliver a progress report on the hunt for leakers.

Good. We hope he's made a lot of progress. We hope he and General Kelly can plug these leaks, because they endanger the country, and the ability of our elected president to pursue the policies that got him elected.
The latest leak is an outrage. The Washington Post has published transcripts of President Trump's phone conversations with the leaders of Mexico and Australia. This is the deliberate under-mining of foreign policy, diplomacy and national security. An obvious attempt to embarrass our president. And the post did this because “we have the right to know"?  Nonsense. They just hate him and they want to end his presidency now.
Part of the problem here, is that the federal government still has a large number of high level staffers held over from the Obama years. The democrats won't confirm their replacements, so the Trump administration is stuck with some disloyal bureaucrats!
When you see endless leaks, all designed to undermine Trump's ability to govern, you have to think it’s organized. It sure looks like an attempt to reverse last year's election.
You'll hear from the attorney general right here.
Adapted from Stuart Varney’s “My Take” on Thursday August 4, 2017.
Stuart Varney joined FOX Business Network (FBN) as an anchor in 2007 and is the host of "Varney & Co." (9-11 AM/ET) on weekdays. Click here for more information about Stuart Varney. 

Chicago to sue DOJ over sanctuary cities policy

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (WHY IS THIS PIECE OF SHIT STILL IN OFFICE?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the city plans to sue the U.S. Department of Justice over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, specifically over the so-called sanctuary cities program.

Emanuel made the disclosure Friday, while being interviewed for a Chicago radio program. The full interview is scheduled to air Sunday evening on WLS radio in Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The mayor, a Democrat who previously served as a congressman and as White House chief of staff under President Barack Obama, said the federal lawsuit will be filed Monday.
The suit will claim that it’s illegal for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to withhold federal Byrne grants from cities the Trump administration believes aren’t cooperating enough with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, the mayor said.
Chicago this year expects to receive $3.2 million from the Byrne grant program, money mostly used to buy police vehicles and other equipment, the Tribune reported. The grants are named for Edward Byrne, a New York City police officer who was murdered in 1988.
“We are not going to be between picking our values of who we are as a welcoming city, and strengthening our police department,” Emanuel said in the interview.
In filing the suit, Emanuel is likely trying to court support from Chicago’s Latinos, who are wary of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, as well as gain clout among other big-city Democratic mayors as they try to block Trump initiatives, the newspaper reported.
The Justice Department declined to comment on Emanuel’s comments Friday.
On Thursday, Fox News reported that Sessions threatened to withhold anti-crime funding from four cities – Baltimore; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Stockton and San Bernardino, California – if they did not begin to cooperate more thoroughly with federal immigration officers.

No bad behavior please: Grammys cleans up act to meet China demands

Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga

Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga

A record signed by representatives of the Recording Academy, Bravo Entertainment and China Music Vision spins on a player during a ceremony in Beijing marking a Chinese partnership to create the Grammy Festival China, August 3, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

BEIJING (Reuters) – The Grammys is looking to break into China, but it will have to do so without the help of some of its top stars – Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga among others – after it pledged to bring only well-behaved artists to meet Chinese censors’ demands.
Lady Gaga, plus Bjork and Bon Jovi, are blocked in China after they met or expressed support for the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. China recently blacklisted Canadian star Bieber, citing bad behavior.
China’s huge consumer base is a magnet for Hollywood studios to theme park operators, but entry in the market comes with strings attached. The country has long censored imported film and music and is now clamping down hard on audiovisual content online.
The Recording Academy, which runs The Grammys, pledged on Thursday in Beijing to respect China’s media curbs as it plans to launch a tour in China in 2018 featuring its award-winning artists, or nominees, performing live shows.
Lady Gaga has six Grammy Award wins. Bieber, a Grammy winner nominated seven times, apologized to fans on Thursday after he abruptly canceled the rest of his world tour and accidentally hit a photographer with his truck.
“If there are restrictions and things in that nature, we have to be respectful,” Neil Portnow, president and chief executive of The Recording Academy, told Reuters in Beijing.
China has launched a campaign to cleanse the entertainment sector of content it deems inappropriate and unhealthy, a vague term the authorities frequently use to justify censorship of politically sensitive topics.
“We will promote artists with a positive and healthy image,” said Steven Fock, chief executive of music events organizer Bravo Entertainment, one of The Recording Academy’s partners for the live show tour along with China Music Vision.
At a time of slowing domestic growth, Chinese audiences have become increasingly important to the U.S. entertainment industry. A livestream in China last year of the Grammy Awards drew nearly 11 million viewers.
In contrast, Grammy viewership dipped slightly for the latest show in February, from nearly 25 million last year in the United States. In January, The Recording Academy said it would build its first overseas Grammy Museum in China.
Portnow added he hoped curbs on some artists would be lifted eventually, and vowed to push China to clamp down on piracy after making progress in intellectual property protection.
(Reporting by Pei Li; Writing by Brenda Goh; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Neil Fullick)

The WH Postpones an Announcement on Trade Action Against China

President Trump was expected to sign a memorandum Friday targeting China’s trade practices, and directing his trade representative to launch an investigation into China’s alleged intellectual property theft.
However, the White House said the move has been postponed, but did not give a reason or a new date.
The memo would allow the president to unilaterally impose tariffs and other trade restrictions in order to protect U.S. industries.
President Trump has been weighing a crackdown on China as Beijing fails to take his advice to put more pressure on North Korea.

A man pushes a stroller past a magazine advertisement featuring U.S. President Donald Trump at a news stand in Shanghai, China. U.S. media reported Wednesday, Aug 2, 2017 that the administration of President Donald Trump is considering using rarely invoked U.S. trade laws to compel China to crack down on theft of copyrights, patents and other intellectual property and fend off technology sharing demands from Beijing. (Chinatopix Via AP, File)

No let-up likely in Trump trade war talk

Talk of trade war looks here to stay for the time being, especially as data over the coming week seems more likely than not to aggravate U.S. President Donald Trump’s gripes with China and Germany.
While global trade has bubbled back into life after a lean few years, so too have fears of protectionism, leaving financial markets wary in an otherwise improving global economy.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said last month it was a cause of “great concern” that the United States could start a trade war with Europe, while tension between Washington and Beijing has escalated.
In the last week U.S. senators from both sides of the house urged Trump to stand up to China as he prepares to launch an inquiry into its intellectual property and trade practices in coming days.
At the moment, the working assumption for most investors is that international cooperation will win the day – as the International Monetary Fund pushed for earlier this year – before a full-blown trade war starts.
“Do I think that the U.S. will be dumb enough to go ahead and put in place a series of measures which will act as an obstacle to trade with these countries? I suspect not,” said Peter Dixon, global financial economist at Commerzbank in London.
The United States posted a much smaller goods trade deficit than expected for June, helped by an improvement in exports.
But this may be eclipsed by figures from China and Germany due in coming days.
BUMPY ROAD
China’s goods trade surplus for July, due on Tuesday, looks set to top $46 billion, according to a Reuters poll of economists. That would be the second highest this year.
Although the surplus has fallen sharply year on year over the first half of 2017, against the United States it has increased 6.5 percent.
“We see a bumpy road ahead for the trade relationship between the two countries”, said Yang Zhao, Nomura’s chief China economist. “But it is unlikely that the two nations will enter a true trade war.”
Part of the reason for China’s bigger surplus with the U.S. this year is the better performance of the world’s no. 1 economy, Zhao said.
German figures also due on Tuesday are expected to show its goods trade surplus widened too, to 21 billion euros ($24.7 billion) in June from 20.3 billion in May, according to the Reuters poll.
Germany had the world’s biggest current account surplus in 2016 at $289 billion and has been under pressure to boost domestic demand to lessen its reliance on exports – not least from European Union peers that want to raise their own competitiveness.
Berlin can point to the fact its trade surplus has actually fallen 2 percent in the 12 months to May compared with the same period a year ago, but that pace of progress may not be enough to spare it criticism from the United States.
“I suspect it’s a lot of rhetoric at the moment,” said Dixon at Commerzbank. “But that doesn’t mean to say we can dismiss the risk.”
(This story corrects time reference in third paragraph)

Snowflake and Whiner Cartoons

Despite uproar, Trump's immigration proposal resembles 10 other merit-based policies

President Trump's call Wednesday for a merit-based immigration system sent critics and much of the media into a tizzy, but what he proposed is common in many parts of the world.

The proposed system, contained in a Senate bill, would replace one largely based on extended family ties with one that prioritizes education, English language proficiency, age, vocational skills and high-paying job offers as well as considering any criminal record and possible national security risks.

"The idea of using a point system to select immigrants is a completely conventional idea," Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies, said.

"The idea of using a point system to select immigrants is a completely conventional idea."

The proposal resembles policies in Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the United Kingdom.
But despite that, it didn’t take long for the critics to weigh in.
"Once again White Nationalists are pushing their ethnic cleansing agenda, scapegoating immigrants for their own inability to create a labor market that works for everyone," Sulma Arias, a spokesperson for the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, said in a statement.
"Today’s announcement ... is a direct attack on all immigrants, on our legal immigration system, and on one of the core principles that drives immigration — family reunification."
Supporters of the bill stressed how mainstream the proposed policy is.
"How you pick the immigrants is a separate question from how many people you take," Krikorian told Fox News. "It is just a scurrilous lie to say that somehow is it racist to use a point system to select immigrants," he said.
NumbersUSA said the bill reflects popular sentiments.
“Our polling confirms that American voters overwhelmingly want far less immigration because they know mass immigration creates unfair competition for American workers,” Roy Beck, the group’s president, said in a statement.
“Seeing the President standing with the bill's sponsors at the White House gives hope to the tens of millions of struggling Americans in stagnant jobs or outside the labor market altogether.”

U.S. ban on visiting North Korea a ‘sordid’ limit on exchanges: KCNA

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea has criticized Washington’s decision to ban U.S. passport holders from visiting the North, with state media describing it on Friday as a “sordid” attempt to limit human exchanges.
The North’s KCNA news agency, citing an unidentified spokesman for the foreign ministry, said there was no reason for foreigners to feel threatened while in North Korea and that citizens from around the world were encouraged to visit.
“Our doors are always open for all Americans who visit our country out of good will and wish to see our reality,” the spokesman said.
The U.S. State Department said earlier this week the ban would take effect on Sept. 1, although some, including journalists and humanitarian workers, may apply for exceptions.
The ban will make reclusive North Korea the only country to which U.S. citizens are banned from traveling.
It follows the death in June of U.S. student Otto Warmbier, who was sentenced in North Korea last year to 15 years’ hard labor for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda item from his hotel.
Warmbier was in a coma when he was released by the North on humanitarian grounds and circumstances of his death remain unclear.
KCNA did not name Warmbier in Friday’s report but said the North had delivered “just punishment” to some U.S. citizens who had carried out acts against the regime.
North Korea is currently holding two Korean-American academics and a missionary in addition to a Canadian pastor and three South Korean nationals who were doing missionary work.
“There is no country in the world that would let foreigners who commit this sort of crime be,” the spokesman said. “Ruling criminals by the law is exercising our confident right as a sovereign state.”
The report said the ban reflects Washington’s view of Pyongyang as an enemy and reiterated that President Donald Trump’s administration should abandon its hostile policies towards the North.
Republican U.S. Representative Joe Wilson, who introduced the bill to ban Americans from traveling to North Korea this year, has said hundreds of Americans are among the roughly 4,000 to 5,000 Western tourists who visit the North each year.
Aside from the threat of incarceration, North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threat is perhaps Trump’s most serious security challenge.
The North test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile last month that experts believe had the range to reach Alaska and Hawaii, and perhaps the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Strong U.S. jobs report seen in July; wages likely rose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. employers likely maintained a strong pace of hiring in July while raising wages for workers, signs of labor market tightness that could clear the way for the Federal Reserve to announce next month a plan to start shrinking its massive bond portfolio.
According to a Reuters survey of economists, the Labor Department’s closely watched employment report on Friday will probably show that non-farm payrolls increased by 183,000 jobs last month after surging 222,000 in June.
Average hourly earnings are forecast to have risen 0.3 percent after gaining 0.2 percent in June. That would be the biggest increase in five months. But the year-on-year increase in wages will probably slow to 2.4 percent as last year’s sharp rise drops out of the calculation.
Average hourly earnings increased 2.5 percent in the 12 months to June and have been trending lower since surging 2.8 percent in February. Lack of strong wage growth is surprising given that the economy is near full employment.
“This will be another encouraging labor market report for the Fed in their anticipated plans for gradual monetary policy tightening into the second half of the year,” said Sam Bullard, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Economists expect the Fed will announce a plan to start reducing its $4.5 trillion portfolio of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities in September.
Sluggish wage growth and the accompanying benign inflation, however, suggest the U.S. central bank will delay raising interest rates again until December. The Fed has raised rates twice this year, and its benchmark overnight lending rate now stands in a range of 1 to 1.25 percent.
Wage growth is crucial to sustaining the economic expansion after output increased at a 2.6 percent annual rate in the second quarter, an acceleration from the January-March period’s pedestrian 1.2 percent pace.
The unemployment rate is forecast to have dropped one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.3 percent, a 16-year touched in May. It has dropped four-tenths of a percentage point this year and matches the most recent Fed median forecast for 2017.
Still, some slack remains in the labor market, which economists say is restraining wage growth.
“We still have a lot of potential workers who are working part-time; there is still slack in the labor market which hasn’t been fully worked through,” said Mike Moran, head of economic research, the Americas, at Standard Chartered Bank in New York.
July’s anticipated employment gains would be close to the 180,000 monthly average for the first half of the year. The economy needs to create 75,000 to 100,000 jobs per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population.
SOLID DYNAMICS
Republican President Donald Trump, who inherited a strong job market from the Obama administration, has pledged to sharply boost economic growth and further strengthen the labor market by slashing taxes, cutting regulation and boosting infrastructure spending.
But after six months in office, the Trump administration has failed to pass any economic legislation and has yet to articulate plans for tax reform and infrastructure as well as most of its planned regulatory roll-backs.
“Labor market dynamics remain very solid and we think that payroll gains in the coming months will continue to be strong enough to reduced the unemployment rate,” said Harm Bandholz, chief U.S. economist at UniCredit Research in New York.
The jobs composition in July likely mirrored June’s. Manufacturing payrolls are forecast increasing by 5,000 jobs. But employment in the automobile sector probably fell further as slowing sales and bloated inventories force manufacturers to cut back on production.
U.S. auto sales fell 6.1 percent in July from a year ago to a seasonally adjusted rate of 16.73 million units. General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co have both said they will cut production in the second half of the year.
While further job gains are likely in construction, homebuilders probably laid off more workers in July. Investment in homebuilding contracted in the second quarter at its fastest pace in nearly seven years.
Retail payrolls are expected to have increased for a second straight month in July as hiring by online retailers more than offset job losses at brick-and-mortar stores.
Companies like major online retailer Amazon are creating jobs a warehouses and distribution centers. This week it held a series of job fairs to hire about 50,000 workers.

Grand jury issues subpoenas in connection with Trump Jr., Russian lawyer meeting: sources

Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya speaks during an interview in Moscow, Russia November 8, 2016. REUTERS/Kommersant Photo/Yury Martyanov

August 4, 2017
By Karen Freifeld and John Walcott
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A grand jury has issued subpoenas in connection with a June 2016 meeting that included President Donald Trump’s son, his son-in-law and a Russian lawyer, two sources told Reuters on Thursday, signaling an investigation is gathering pace into suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.
The sources added that U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller had convened the grand jury investigation in Washington to help examine allegations of Russian interference in the vote. One of the sources said it was assembled in recent weeks.
Russia has loomed large over the first six months of the Trump presidency. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia worked to tilt the presidential election in Trump’s favor. Mueller, who was appointed special counsel in May, is leading the probe, which also examines potential collusion by the Trump campaign with Russia.
Moscow denies any meddling and Trump denies any collusion by his campaign, while regularly denouncing the investigations as political witch hunts.
At a rally in Huntington, West Virginia, on Thursday night, Trump said: “Most people know there were no Russians in our campaign. … We didn’t win because of Russia. We won because of you.”
Mueller’s use of a grand jury could give him expansive tools to pursue evidence, including issuing subpoenas and compelling witnesses to testify. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported a grand jury was impaneled.
A spokesman for Mueller declined comment.
A grand jury is a group of ordinary citizens who, working behind closed doors, considers evidence of potential criminal wrongdoing that a prosecutor is investigating and decides whether charges should be brought.
“This is a serious development in the Mueller investigation,” said Paul Callan, a former prosecutor.
“Given that Mueller inherited an investigation that began months ago, it would suggest that he has uncovered information pointing in the direction of criminal charges. But against whom is the real question.”
A lawyer for Trump, Jay Sekulow, appeared to downplay the significance of a grand jury, telling Fox News: “This is not an unusual move.”
U.S. stocks and the dollar weakened following the news, while U.S. Treasury securities gained.
It was not immediately clear to whom subpoenas were issued and the sources did not elaborate.
Some lawyers said it would put pressure on potential witnesses to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation.
“When someone gets a subpoena to testify, that can drive home the seriousness of the investigation,” said David Sklansky, a professor at Stanford Law School and a former federal prosecutor.
In 2005, a grand jury convened by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald returned an indictment of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a top aide to then-Vice President Dick Cheney.
“A special counsel can bring an indictment and it has happened before,” said Renato Mariotti, a partner at the law firm Thompson Coburn and a former federal prosecutor.
DAMAGING INFORMATION
News last month of the meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer who he was told had damaging information about his father’s presidential rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, fueled questions about the campaign’s dealings with Moscow.
The Republican president has defended his son’s behavior, saying many people would have taken that meeting.
Trump’s son-in-law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort also attended the meeting.
One of the sources said major Russian efforts to interfere in the election on Trump’s behalf began shortly after the June meeting, making it a focus of Mueller’s investigation.
Ty Cobb, special counsel to the president, said he was not aware that Mueller had started using a new grand jury.
“Grand jury matters are typically secret,” Cobb said. “The White House favors anything that accelerates the conclusion of his work fairly. … The White House is committed to fully cooperating with Mr. Mueller.”
John Dowd, one of Trump’s personal lawyers, said: “With respect to the news of the grand jury, I can tell you President Trump is not under investigation.”
A spokesman for Manafort declined to comment.
Lawyers for Trump Jr. and Kushner did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
‘NOT THINKING OF FIRING MUELLER’
Trump has questioned Mueller’s impartiality and members of Congress from both parties have expressed concern that Trump might dismiss him. Republican and Democratic senators introduced two pieces of legislation on Thursday seeking to block Trump from firing Mueller.
Sekulow denied that was Trump’s plan.
“The president is not thinking of firing Bob Mueller,” Sekulow said.
One source briefed on the matter said Mueller was investigating whether, either at the meeting or afterward, anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign encouraged the Russians to start releasing material they had been collecting on the Clinton campaign since March 2016.
Another source familiar with the inquiry said that while the president himself was not now under investigation, Mueller’s investigation was seeking to determine whether he knew of the June 9 meeting in advance or was briefed on it afterward.
Reuters earlier reported that Mueller’s team was examining money-laundering accusations against Manafort and hoped to push him to cooperate with their probe into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia. It is not known if the grand jury is investigating those potential charges.

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Cotton, Perdue on bill cutting immigration: 'It's pro-worker, it's pro-growth and it's been proven to work'

Tucker Carlson

Republican senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia joined Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Wednesday to explain their bill calling for a merit-based immigration system that would cut legal immigration as much as 50 percent over the next decade.

"People out there in the real world get this," said Perdue. "It’s pro-worker, it’s pro-growth, and it’s been proven to work, in Canada and Australia."

TRUMP, GOP SENATORS CHAMPION BILL TO CUT LEGAL IMMIGRATION LEVELS
"The law of supply and demand applies to the labor market, just like it does every other market," Cotton said. "There’s just simply no doubt that people who come here who are unskilled and low-skilled, have a direct impact on the wages of Americans."
Cotton and Perdue spoke to Tucker Carlson after they joined President Trump at the White House to boost the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy, or the RAISE Act, which both men first proposed in February and which Trump hailed as "the most significant reform to our immigration system in a half century."
"The president campaigned on immigration as the single distinctive issue that separated him not just from Hillary Clinton, but from 16 other Republicans," Cotton said, "and the American people expect him to deliver on that."
"I can’t understand why anybody who wants a pro-growth effort in America [would] oppose this," Perdue added. "today, the system is so broken that only one out of every 15 who come into America come in with a skill. This is a broken system and it penalizes people who’ve been here and who just got here."

Sessions' job safe, White House officials say, as lawmakers look to shield Mueller

New White House chief of staff John Kelly recently called Attorney General Jeff Sessions to assure him his job was safe, Fox News has learned from a senior White House official and another source within the Trump administration.

Kelly called Sessions on Saturday to emphasize that the White House supported him and wanted him to continue leading the U.S. Department of Justice, the sources said.

The assurance comes despite tweets and comments about Sessions from President Donald Trump that came after the attorney general recused himself from the Russia collusion investigation.
Meanwhile, two members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee are readying legislation intended to help special counsel Robert Mueller – who is leading the Russia collusion probe – keep his job as well.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., plan to introduce the legislation Thursday. It would allow any special counsel for the Justice Department challenge his or her removal in court, with a review by a three-judge panel within 14 days of the challenge.
The bill would be retroactive to May 17 -- the day Mueller was appointed by deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible ties to Donald Trump’s campaign.
“It is critical that special counsels have the independence and resources they need to lead investigations,” Tillis said in a statement. “A back-end judicial review process to prevent unmerited removals of special counsels not only helps to ensure their investigatory independence, but also reaffirms our nation’s system of check and balances.”
Mueller was appointed as special counsel in May following Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey.
Mueller, who was Comey’s predecessor as FBI director, has assembled a team of prosecutors and lawyers with experience in financial fraud, national security and organized crimes to investigate contacts between Moscow and the Trump campaign.
Trump has been critical of Mueller since his appointment, and his legal team is looking into potential conflicts surrounding the team Mueller has hired, including the backgrounds of members and political contributions by some members to Hillary Clinton. He has also publicly warned Mueller that he would be out of bounds if he dug into the Trump family’s finances.
Mueller has strong support on Capitol Hill. Senators in both parties have expressed concern that Trump may try to fire Mueller and have warned him not to do so.
“Ensuring that the special counsel cannot be removed improperly is critical to the integrity of his investigation,” Coons said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., another member of the Judiciary panel, said last week that he was working on a similar bill that would prevent the firing of a special counsel without judicial review. Graham said then that firing Mueller “would precipitate a firestorm that would be unprecedented in proportions.”
The Tillis and Coons bill would allow review after the special counsel had been dismissed. If the panel found there was no good cause for the counsel’s removal, the person would be immediately reinstated. The legislation would also codify existing Justice Department regulations that a special counsel can only be removed for misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest or other good cause, such as a violation of departmental policies.
In addition, only the attorney general or the most senior Justice Department official in charge of the matter could fire the special counsel.
In the case of the current investigation, Rosenstein is charged with Mueller's fate because Sessions recused himself from all matters having to do with the Trump-Russia investigation.
Fox News’ Serafin Gomez and the Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.

Senate Confirms Multiple Pentagon Positions, Rick Perry Considered to Lead DHS

The Senate unanimously voted on the confirmation of eight nominees on Tuesday, including Wall Street executive Richard Spencer to Navy Secretary.
Spencer is a former Marine Corps aviator and investment banker.
Ellen Lord, the CEO of Textron Systems, will serve as the Pentagon’s Acquisition Chief.
The approval of these nominees brings the total number of Pentagon confirmations in the Trump administration to 15.
Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Rick Perry is reportedly being considered to replace General John Kelly in the Department of Homeland Security.
Sources familiar with the administration’s deliberations say Perry is among the people being looked at for the role.
However, an official in the Energy Department says Perry is focused on his current mission, but is honored to be mentioned.
Earlier this week, the White House downplayed rumors President Trump could move Attorney General Jeff Sessions from his position to the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS Spokesman Being Considered for WH Communications Director Role

New Chief of Staff John Kelly is reportedly considering an official from his former department for the role of White House communications director.
Administration sources say Homeland Security spokesman David Lapan is at the top of the short list for the spot.
Prior to serving at Homeland Security, Lapan led press operations at the Defense Department and the Marine Corps.
Lapan says he hasn’t spoken with anyone in the administration about the job, and noted he would need time to consider the proposal if he was offered the role.
This comes after former Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci was removed from his position earlier this week.

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