Pres. Trump Plans to Announce Trade Investigation into Chinese Goods

The People’s Republic of China flag and the U.S. Stars and Stripes fly along Pennsylvania Avenue near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, January 18, 2011. REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang

President Trump is expected to announce an investigation into Chinese trade practices Monday.
This is in response to allegations of violated U.S. intellectual property rights and forced technology transfers.
The announcement comes amid heightening tensions between the U.S. and China, despite voting in favor of sanctions on North Korea.
Although the investigation will not immediately impose sanctions on Beijing, it could lead to tariffs on Chinese goods.

President Trump will sign an executive memorandum on Monday authorizing the U.S. trade representative to determine whether to investigate China's intellectual property and trade practices, according to senior administration officials.
While administration officials said Saturday that it's too early to discuss specific actions against China, such an investigation could eventually pave the way for Trump to impose tariffs on Chinese goods.
Trump is expected to return to Washington from his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. on Monday to sign the memo.
It was reported earlier Saturday that Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the upcoming memo during a phone call Friday.
Administration officials, however, said that that call focused on Washington's current tensions with North Korea and an official readout of the conversation provided by the White House did not mention China's trade practices.
Trump's memo comes amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea and increasing frustration in the White House that China has not done more to rein in Pyongyang.
But a senior administration official said that concerns over China's trade practices have been longstanding, and that the president's memo was unrelated to efforts to put pressure on Beijing over North Korea.
While China joined the rest of the United Nations Security Council last week in voting for new sanctions against North Korea, Trump has continued to call on China to do more in regards to Pyongyang, suggesting this week that he would go easier on China if it stepped up its efforts to rein in its reclusive neighbor.
Trump was expected to sign the executive memo earlier this month, but the decision was delayed in order to press for China's cooperation on North Korea.

North Korea factories humming with ‘Made in China’ clothes, traders say

North Korean workers make soccer shoes inside a temporary factory at a rural village on the edge of Dandong

By Sue-Lin Wong and Philip Wen
DANDONG, China (Reuters) – Chinese textile firms are increasingly using North Korean factories to take advantage of cheaper labor across the border, traders and businesses in the border city of Dandong told Reuters.
The clothes made in North Korea are labeled “Made in China” and exported across the world, they said.
Using North Korea to produce cheap clothes for sale around the globe shows that for every door that is closed by ever-tightening U.N. sanctions another one may open. The UN sanctions, introduced to punish North Korea for its missile and nuclear programs, do not include any bans on textile exports.
“We take orders from all over the world,” said one Korean-Chinese businessman in Dandong, the Chinese border city where the majority of North Korea trade passes through. Like many people Reuters interviewed for this story, he spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Dozens of clothing agents operate in Dandong, acting as go-betweens for Chinese clothing suppliers and buyers from the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Russia, the businessman said.
“We will ask the Chinese suppliers who work with us if they plan on being open with their client — sometimes the final buyer won’t realize their clothes are being made in North Korea. It’s extremely sensitive,” he said.
Textiles were North Korea’s second-biggest export after coal and other minerals in 2016, totaling $752 million, according to data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). Total exports from North Korea in 2016 rose 4.6 percent to $2.82 billion.
The latest U.N. sanctions, agreed earlier this month, have completely banned coal exports now.
Its flourishing textiles industry shows how impoverished North Korea has adapted, with a limited embrace of market reforms, to sanctions since 2006 when it first tested a nuclear device. The industry also shows the extent to which North Korea relies on China as an economic lifeline, even as U.S. President Donald Trump piles pressure on Beijing to do more to rein in its neighbor’s weapons programmes.
Chinese exports to North Korea rose almost 30 percent to $1.67 billion in the first half of the year, largely driven by textile materials and other traditional labour-intensive goods not included on the United Nations embargo list, Chinese customs spokesman Huang Songping told reporters.
Chinese suppliers send fabrics and other raw materials required for manufacturing clothing to North Korean factories across the border where garments are assembled and exported.
FACTORIES HUMMING
Australian sportswear brand Rip Curl publicly apologized last year when it was discovered that some of its ski gear, labeled “Made in China”, had been made in one of North Korea’s garment factories. Rip Curl blamed a rogue supplier for outsourcing to “an unauthorized subcontractor”.
But traders and agents in Dandong say it’s a widespread practice.
Manufacturers can save up to 75 percent by making their clothes in North Korea, said a Chinese trader who has lived in Pyongyang.
Some of the North Korean factories are located in Siniuju city just across the border from Dandong. Other factories are located outside Pyongyang. Finished clothing is often directly shipped from North Korea to Chinese ports before being sent onto the rest of the world, the Chinese traders and businesses said.
North Korea has about 15 large garment exporting enterprises, each operating several factories spread around the country, and dozens of medium sized companies, according to GPI Consultancy of the Netherlands, which helps foreign companies do business in North Korea.
All factories in North Korea are state-owned. And the textile ones appear to be humming, traders and agents say.
“We’ve been trying to get some of our clothes made in North Korea but the factories are fully booked at the moment,” said a Korean-Chinese businesswoman at a factory in Dalian, a Chinese port city two hours away from Dandong by train.
“North Korean workers can produce 30 percent more clothes each day than a Chinese worker,” said the Korean-Chinese businessman.
“In North Korea, factory workers can’t just go to the toilet whenever they feel like, otherwise they think it slows down the whole assembly line.”
“They aren’t like Chinese factory workers who just work for the money. North Koreans have a different attitude — they believe they are working for their country, for their leader.”
And they are paid wages significantly below many other Asian countries. North Korean workers at the now shuttered Kaesong industrial zone just across the border from South Korea received wages ranging from a minimum of around $75 a month to an average of around $160, compared to average factory wages of $450-$750 a month in China. Kaesong was run jointly with South Korea and the wage structure – much higher than in the rest of North Korea – was negotiated with Seoul.
WORKERS IN CHINA
Chinese clothing manufacturers have been increasingly using North Korean textile factories even as they relocate their own factories offshore, including to Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia.
“Wages are too high in China now. It’s no wonder so many orders are being sent to North Korea,” said a Korean-Chinese businesswoman who works in the textiles industry in Dandong.
Chinese textile companies are also employing thousands of cheaper North Korean workers in China.
North Korea relies on overseas workers to earn hard currency, especially since U.N. sanctions have choked off some other sources of export earnings. Much of their wages are remitted back to the state and help fund Pyongyang’s ambitious nuclear and missile programmes, the U.N. says.
The new U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea this month ban countries from increasing the current numbers of North Korean laborers working abroad.
China does not disclose official figures for the number of North Koreans working in factories and restaurants in China, although numbers are down from a peak period two to three years ago, according to Cheng Xiaohe, a North Korea specialist at Beijing’s Renmin University.
“It’s a hassle to hire North Korean workers though,” the Korean-Chinese businesswoman from Dalian said. “You need to have the right set-up. Their living space has to be completely closed off, you have to provide a classroom where they can take classes every day. They bring their own doctor, nurse, cook and teachers who teach them North Korean ideology every day.”
One clothing factory that Reuters visited in Dandong employs 40 North Korean workers. They fill smaller orders for clients who are more stringent about their supply chains and expressly request no production inside North Korea.
North Korean factory workers in China earn about 2,000 yuan ($300.25), about half of the average for Chinese workers, the factory owner said.
They are allowed to keep around a third of their wages, with the rest going to their North Korean government handlers, he said. A typical shift at the factory runs from 7:30 a.m. to around 10 p.m.
The workers – all women dressed in pink and black uniforms – sat close together behind four rows of sewing machines, working on a consignment of dark-colored winter jackets. The Chinese characters for “clean” and “tidy” were emblazoned in bold blue lettering above their heads and the main factory floor was silent but for the tapping and whirring of sewing machines.
(Reporting by Sue-Lin Wong and Philip Wen; Additional reporting by Lusha Zhang and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

confederate statue removel cartoons

Trump riles conservative media allies with Alabama Senate primary pick

In between ratcheting up the rhetoric on North Korea and taunting Mitch McConnell – all while on vacation at his New Jersey golf club – President Trump did something else unusual this week: He endorsed the establishment pick in Alabama's upcoming Senate GOP primary. 

The president is now facing a backlash from his usual conservative media allies for stepping into the race in favor of incumbent Sen. Luther Strange. 

Some are irked that Trump sided with the mild-mannered Strange over Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks, a conservative with a penchant for provocative comments who has been endorsed by Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin and Sean Hannity.
“I love him, but that was completely idiotic,” Coulter complained to Breitbart News this week about the president's endorsement.
Trump unexpectedly tweeted his support Tuesday for Strange, who has the emphatic backing of Senate Majority Leader McConnell. The endorsement is significant because the top candidates have been portraying themselves as loyal advocates for the president in a state where Trump remains widely popular.
Strange, the state’s former attorney general who was once a lobbyist, was appointed to the seat in April after then-Sen. Jeff Sessions joined the Trump administration. Trump's endorsement was all the stranger – so to speak – considering he backed McConnell's pick even as he chastised the Senate GOP leader for not getting a health care bill passed.
“What has Trump gotten from McConnell?” Coulter asked after the endorsement. “But he’s still sucking up to establishment Republicans.”
Levin, the syndicated conservative radio host who is sympathetic to Trump, vented on Facebook about “Trump's pathetic endorsement of Luther Strange, McConnell's RINO puppet, screwing conservatives in Alabama and across the nation.”
While Strange has established a conservative voting record, his critics have painted him as someone too close to the GOP establishment.
Erick Erickson, the conservative radio host who has been critical of Trump in the past, argued the president was given bad political advice, saying: “This is not how the president drains the swamp.”
“Strange is a pillar of the establishment status quo and will not rock Mitch McConnell’s boat,” Erickson wrote for The Resurgent website. “In fact, Strange is one of McConnell’s oar hands in the boat.”
ERICK ERICKSON: MR. TRUMP, THIS IS HOW YOU DRAIN THE SWAMP?!
The primary to fill the seat once held by now-Attorney General Sessions is set for Tuesday. A runoff will be held Sept. 26 if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, which seems likely in the crowded field.
Trump weighed into the race with a single tweet on Tuesday evening.
“Senator Luther Strange has done a great job representing the people of the Great State of Alabama,” Trump tweeted. “He has my complete and total endorsement!”
TRUMP ENDORSES STRANGE IN ALABAMA’S GOP SENATE PRIMARY
Still reeling from Trump’s endorsement of Strange, Brooks on Friday released a new ad, which his campaign called a “direct address to President Trump.”
“McConnell and Strange are weak,” Brooks says. “But, together, we can be strong. Mr. President, isn’t it time we tell McConnell and Strange, ‘you're fired’?”
Meanwhile, Strange is running television ads touting the president’s endorsement -- while seemingly reminding people of Brooks' past Trump criticism.
“Others attack our president,” Strange says in the ad. “I’m fighting with him to drain the swamp and repeal ObamaCare.”
Strange said in a Thursday statement he was "deeply honored and humbled" to get the president's endorsement.
During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, Brooks supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, something that has been used to paint him as insufficiently pro-Trump. The McConnell-backed Senate Leadership Fund has been spending millions running television ads of Brooks’ past critical comments about Trump to try to drive a wedge between him and the president’s supporters.
But the race isn’t just between Strange and Brooks: the other major candidate in the race, former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, is also fighting for a place in the likely runoff. Recent polling in Alabama has shown Moore, who is enthusiastically supported by some Christian conservatives, leading both Strange and Brooks.
Moore, who traditionally rides a horse to the polls on election day, is beloved by his supporters in Alabama after being removed twice from his position on Alabama’s Supreme Court. Such loyalty could be beneficial in a special election where turnout is likely to be low.
In 2003, Moore refused to remove a bust of the Ten Commandments from the state’s judicial building despite orders from a federal court. In 2016, he was removed the bench for ordering Alabama judges to defy federal court orders on gay marriage.
He, too, has been endorsed by national figures: Moore’s campaign announced Thursday the endorsement of Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson. Earlier this week, actor Chuck Norris announced his support for Moore.

National Guard on standby for ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Virginia

Hundreds of white nationalists – and those who oppose them -- were expected for a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday after a federal judge’s ruling Friday cleared the way for the event.

The judge’s ruling sparked a pre-rally march Friday night on the University of Virginia campus, resulting in clashes between marchers, protesters and police.

The unrest prompted Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, to place National Guard members on standby, and encourage Virginians to stay away from Saturday’s event.
“Men and women from state and local agencies will be in Charlottesville [on Saturday] to keep the public safe,” McAuliffe said in a statement, “and their job will be made easier if Virginians, no matter how well-meaning, elect to stay away from the areas where this rally will take place.”
On Friday night, marchers holding tiki torches and chanting “White lives matter!” in front of a statue of university founder Thomas Jefferson were confronted by protesters, the Washington Post reported.
After fights broke out, police dispersed the crowd, claiming it was an unlawful assembly, Richmond’s WTRV-TV reported.
Saturday’s event is scheduled for Emancipation Park after U.S. District Judge Glen Conrad issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit that right-wing blogger and rally organizer Jason Kessler filed against the city of Charlottesville.
Kessler wants to protest Charlottesville’s decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park. He sued the city over free speech violations after the officials ordered the rally moved from Emancipation Park to a larger venue because of safety concerns.
In a statement, the city said it would honor the judge’s decision. Kessler is being represented in his case by the Rutherford Institute and the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia.

In phone call, Trump and Xi discuss a nuke-less Korean Peninsula

A Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons is a goal both Washington and Beijing are interested in pursuing, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed during a phone conversation Friday.

That portion of their phone call was confirmed early Saturday in a White House statement and in a report on Chinese state television.

During the conversation, Xi also requested that the U.S. and North Korea both tone down their recent rhetoric and avoid actions that could worsen tensions between the two nations, Chinese Central Television said.
“At present, the relevant parties must maintain restraint and avoid words and deeds that would exacerbate the tension on the Korean Peninsula,” Xi was quoted as saying.

“At present, the relevant parties must maintain restraint and avoid words and deeds that would exacerbate the tension on the Korean Peninsula.”

The White House confirmed early Saturday that Trump and Xi spoke Friday.
“The leaders affirmed that the recent adoption of a new United Nations Security Council resolution regarding North Korea was an important and necessary step toward achieving peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” the White House statement said. “President Trump and President Xi agreed North Korea must stop its provocative and escalatory behavior.
“The Presidents also reiterated their mutual commitment to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
The statement added that Trump was looking forward to meeting with Xi in China later this year.
The trip, announced in April, was recently confirmed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who met in Manila with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Trump has urged China to pressure North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons program, which North Korea says is nearing the capability of targeting the United States.
China is the North’s biggest economic partner and source of aid, but says it alone can’t compel Pyongyang to end its nuclear and missile programs.
Trump also spoke with Guam Gov. Eddie Calvo, reassuring him that U.S. military forces stand ready to ensure the safety and security of the U.S. territory, a White House statement said.
Japan’s leader makes pledge
Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Saturday to do “everything, to the best of my ability,” to protect his nation’s people as tensions escalate over North Korea’s plans to send missiles over Japan toward Guam.
Abe made the comments while visiting his father’s tomb in his ancestral hometown of Nagato, in western Japan.
On Friday, Japan’s Defense Ministry said it was deploying four surface-to-air Patriot interceptors in western Japan to respond to a possible risk of fragments falling from missiles.
The ministry did not confirm whether newly appointed Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera has already issued an order to shoot down incoming missiles.
Trump on Friday issued fresh threats of swift and forceful retaliation against nuclear North Korea, declaring the U.S. military “locked and loaded” and warning that the communist country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, would “regret it fast” if he takes any action against U.S. territories or allies.

Ex-Fox News host O’Reilly debuts ‘No Spin News’ webcast

Bill O'Reilly poses on the set of his show "The O'Reilly Factor" in New York March 17, 2015.

Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly has launched his first “No Spin News” online show with a format that closely follows the brand of conservative politics and pugnacious punditry that made him one of the most popular voices on U.S. television.
The 30-minute show, which debuted on Wednesday, featured the ousted Fox News personality analyzing the war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and his take on the FBI raid on the home of former Trump aide Paul Manafort.
“North Korea has been a pain in the butt for decades,” O’Reilly said. As for Trump, he said, “He’s not going to take any guff from North Korea, but he’s not going to do anything unilaterally.”
O’Reilly was fired from Fox News in April after 20 years following allegations of sexual harassment. He called the claims unfounded, but he had previously paid some $13 million to settle lawsuits.
Since then, O’Reilly has been producing daily podcasts on his website, for which members pay a yearly fee of $49.95 for full access to his material and the chance to ask questions and submit comments.
His “The O’Reilly Factor” show on Fox News was the most-watched prime-time cable news show on U.S. television, averaging some 4 million viewers a night.

Poll: Roy Moore Increasing Lead for Alabama Senate Seat

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore smiles before announcing his candidacy for U.S. Senate in Montgomery, Ala.

OAN Newsroom

A new poll shows an increasingly wide gap in the primary race for Alabama’s Senate seat.
The survey from the Trafalgar Group shows former State Chief Justice Roy Moore has 35% support.
Luther Strange — who was appointed to fill the seat left by Attorney General Jeff Sessions earlier this year — has 23% of the vote.
He also has the support of President Trump but other Republican leaders are split on their support.
Congressman Mo Brooks rounds out the top three with 20%.
This is the largest lead in a poll for Moore, as previous data has shown just a single digit lead for him.

Could Republican Infighting Send the ‘Ayatollah of Alabama’ to the Senate?

Alabama Republicans are holding a primary election next week to choose their replacement candidate in the Senate for Jeff Sessions. Until recently, the widespread expectation was that in the outcome of the three-horse race between appointed incumbent Luther Strange, U.S. Representative Mo Brooks, and suspended Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, either Strange or Brooks would survive this round of voting to make it to the September 26 runoff election. The survivor would defeat Moore, then roll over whatever paper candidate the Democrats proffered in the general. Moore’s universal name ID and dedicated conservative Evangelical following seemed certain to guarantee him a spot in the September 26 runoff, though the heavy spending of Strange and Brooks opened the possibility that they’d squeeze Moore, who has never been much of a fundraiser, into third place. After all, the last time Moore ran for a nonjudicial position, in the 2010 governor’s race, he finished a very disappointing fourth in the primary.

But now, the dynamics of the primary are beginning to resemble one of those murder-suicide scenarios where two candidates damage each other so much that a third eclipses both of them. Strange and Brooks have been going after each other with claw hammers from the get-go, with the former benefiting from massive spending by national party groups controlled by his colleague Mitch McConnell, and the latter accusing his appointed rival of being a puppet of the hated Washington Establishment. Both campaigns have largely ignored Roy Moore. Other than posturing over who’s the truest conservative of them all, there aren’t many actual issues dividing the three candidates.

A new robo-poll of Alabama Republicans shows Moore holding a comfortable lead over his rivals with 30 percent, to 22 percent for Strange and 19 percent for Brooks. That’s not particularly new; Moore has led most of the polls in this race. What’s new is that the judge’s approval ratios are vastly better than those of the two main combatants in the race: Moore is at 53/34; Strange is at 35/50; and Brooks is at 31/43. The nastiness between Strange and Brooks could get even worse down the stretch, as a wealthy Brooks backer invests in ads accusing Strange of a corrupt deal with disgraced former governor Robert Bentley to secure his appointment (Strange was attorney general at the time, and was supposedly investigating Bentley for the personal and financial irregularities that eventually forced him to resign).

Suddenly, it’s not so hard to envision Moore winning the runoff, as embittered supporters of the major candidate who finishes third stay home or gravitate to the judge.

If Moore does win the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate, Alabama opinion-leaders will have to take a good look at themselves and decide whether they really want to be represented at the highest levels of government for six long years by a grim theocrat who was removed from his chief justice position once for insisting on displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom, and then suspended years later because he refused to accept the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage. The man known as the “Ayatollah of Alabama” isn’t likely to burnish the reputation of his state as a sane and safe place to do business.

Indeed, a Moore nomination could even create the possibility of something even more unimaginable than his election: a viable Democratic candidacy in the general election scheduled for December 12. Unfortunately, Democrats have their own unusual problem this year: In all the polls, the consensus Democratic Establishment candidate, former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones, is badly trailing an unknown African-American businessman from Mobile with the fortunate name of Robert Kennedy Jr. It looks like Jones will at best need a runoff to gain the nomination, if, er, RFK — with no campaign staff, treasury, or so far, platform — doesn’t win outright.

Yes, it could be a wild ride for Alabama this year.

 

Robert Mueller Cartoons

Gregg Jarrett: Mueller has shrewdly 'stacked the deck' against Trump

Cheating in a game of cards can involve “stacking the deck” –arranging the cards in a way that advantages yourself while ensuring your opponent loses.

It appears that this is the way special counsel Robert Mueller has approached his investigation.  Consider the evidence. 

Mueller chose, of all places, the venue of Washington, D.C., to convene a grand jury to examine evidence in the Russia-Trump investigation.  It would be difficult to find a group of people more hostile to Trump than in the nation’s capital.  The president garnered a scant four percent of the vote there, compared to Hillary Clinton’s 93 percent.  
There was already a grand jury convened in Virginia looking into the related Michael Flynn matter and Mueller could have easily presented his case there.  But no, that would run the risk of being potentially fair to the president since the jurors there are more apt to be politically bi-partisan.  So, from the outset, Mueller dealt himself a high ace on his way to a royal flush.
His next card, a king, is the grand jury process itself.  Over time, this 5^th Amendment principle has devolved into a one-sided farce, favoring only the prosecution.  Defense attorneys are not allowed inside what has become a secret “star chambe,r, permitting no adverse party to challenge the truth and credibility of witnesses through the test of cross-examination.  It gets worse.
There are no enforceable rules of evidence during grand jury proceedings, which means that otherwise inadmissible hearsay or double-hearsay is perfectly acceptable.  Unauthenticated documents are copacetic.  Prosecutors are free to present only incriminating evidence, to the exclusion of exculpatory evidence.  All too often grand jurors simply rubber-stamp a prosecutor’s instructions.  Thus, the old saying, “you can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.”
With no meaningful limits on abusive tactics, the entire system is anathema to fairness.  A grand jury is to justice what military music is to music.  It bears no resemblance.  My apologies to John Philip Sousa, but you get the point.  This is precisely why grand juries, which were once in vogue everywhere, have now been banished in all nations except the United States and Liberia.
Mueller’s queen card is the Obama-appointed judge likely overseeing the D.C. grand jury.  Under local court rules, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell is the one who presides over decisions on grand jury subpoenas, witness testimony, any executive privilege and possible 5^th Amendment assertions.  In the past, she worked closely with former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and one of Mueller’s top staff lawyers, Andrew Weissman.
Indeed, Howell and Weissman co-authored a scholarly law article that explored obstruction of justice… which just happens to be part of what Mueller is reportedly investigating in the Russia-Trump case.  Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast uncovered this nugget.  A conflict of interest?  Surely.  But don’t expect a judicial recusal anytime soon, even though Judge Howell teaches ethics at American University’s law school.
Dealing himself a jack, Mueller has chosen to hire for his staff an unconscionable number of lawyers of the liberal persuasion.  Out of 14 lawyers retained thus far, eight have donated to Democrats while none appear to have contributed a nickel to Republicans. Several of Mueller’s lawyers gave generously to “Hillary for America,”, while another actually represented the Clinton Foundation.  The special counsel could have selected a more balanced team devoid of partisan ties, but he deliberately chose not to do so.
Finally, Mueller is holding a precious ten card in the very man who hired him, Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General who authored the infamous memo advising President Trump to fire FBI Director James Comey.  In any obstruction case arising therefrom, Rosenstein would be a prosecutor, investigator and witness all rolled into one.  Despite his glaring conflict of interest, Rosenstein has made no move to step aside.  Which means he is unlikely to fire Mueller for his own similar conflict of interest.
As explained in previous columns, Mueller’s close relationship to the key witness, James Comey, creates a disqualifying conflict of interest specifically forbidden by the special counsel law itself (28 CFR 600.7 and 45.2), not to mention the Code of Professional Responsibility which governs the conduct of lawyers.  Their record as longtime friends, allies and partners is well-documented and indisputable.
It is inconceivable that Mueller could be completely impartial in judging the credibility of his friend versus the president who fired his friend in deciding whether to pursue a charge of obstruction.  Even scrupulously honest people can be influenced in ways they do not recognize themselves.  This is exactly why there are legal and ethical rules that demand recusal based on prior relationships.  Even the appearance of a conflict is sufficient for recusal.  But Mueller remains on the job.
And so, the deck has been shrewdly stacked against President Trump.  Robert Mueller has dealt from the bottom of the deck.  There is a lot at stake on the table.
The only good hand the president may have requires a trump card called innocence.  Does he have it?
There is no bluffing in this game.
Gregg Jarrett is a Fox News Anchor and former defense attorney.

China pledges neutrality - unless US strikes North Korea first

China’s government says it would remain neutral if North Korea attacks the United States, but warned it would defend its Asian neighbor if the U.S. strikes first and tries to overthrow Kim Jong Un’s regime, Chinese state media said Friday.

“If the U.S. and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime, and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so,” reported the Global Times, a daily Chinese newspaper controlled by the Communist Party.

Meanwhile, other Asia-Pacific countries have come out in support of the United States in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack.
Japan’s defense minister, Itsunori Onodera, said this week that his nation’s military was ready to shoot down North Korean nuclear missiles, if necessary.
In Australia, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described his country and the U.S. as being “joined at the hip,” the South China Morning Post reported.
“If there is an attack on the U.S., the Anzus Treaty would be invoked,” and Australia would aid the U.S., Turnbull told Australia’s 3AW radio Friday morning. Turnbull was referring to a collective security agreement between the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
The Chinese response to the heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea followed a number of hot-headed proclamations.
North Korea has threatened the U.S. with a nuclear attack on Guam, a U.S. territory south of Japan, after President Donald Trump said additional threats against the country or its allies would be met with “fire and fury.”
On Thursday, the president doubled-down on the remarks, saying his original comment possibly “wasn’t tough enough.”
In a separate appearance, Trump added: “Let’s see what [Kim Jong Un] does with Guam. He does something in Guam, it will be an event the likes of which nobody has seen before – what will happen in North Korea.”
One North Korean government official, meanwhile, accused Trump of “going senile,” Fox News reported.

Trump thanks Putin for slashing U.S. diplomatic staff

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after a security briefing at his golf estate in Bedminster, New Jersey U.S. August 10, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering the United States to slash its diplomatic staff in Russia, remarks likely to rekindle criticism of Trump’s kid-gloves handling of Putin.
Breaking nearly two weeks of silence on Putin’s July 30 order cutting U.S. embassy and consulate staff by nearly two thirds, Trump said: “I’m very thankful that he let go of a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll.”
Trump said “there’s no real reason for them to go back” and “we’re going to save a lot of money,” in response to Putin’s Cold War-style move, differing from the reactions of other presidents in similar circumstances in the past.
It also clashes with a State Department official having called Moscow’s order “a regrettable and uncalled-for act.”
On Thursday, the State Department had no immediate reaction to the comments Trump made to reporters while on vacation at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Congressional committees and a special counsel are investigating the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 election campaign by hacking and other methods to help Trump, a Republican. They are also looking into possible collusion between the campaign and Russian officials. Moscow has repeatedly denied meddling in the election and Trump denies any campaign collusion.
Putin, reacting to new sanctions imposed by the U.S. Congress and reluctantly signed into law by Trump, ordered Washington to cut 755 of its 1,200 embassy and consulate staff by September. Many of those affected likely will be local Russian staffers.
It was also a tit-for-tat reaction to former President Barack Obama expelling 35 Russian diplomats from the United States last December over the intelligence agency reports.
During his campaign and since becoming president, Trump has consistently called for better ties with Russia, declined to criticize Putin and refused to unequivocally embrace the conclusions of the intelligence agencies.
Intended to be flippant or not, Trump’s remarks on Thursday were immediately denounced by current and former U.S. officials who have served both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Nicholas Burns, the State Department’s third-ranking official under Republican President George W. Bush, called Trump’s comments “grotesque.”
“If he was joking, he should know better,” said Burns, now a professor at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. “If he wasn’t, it’s unprecedented. A president has never defended the expulsion of our diplomats.”
The State Department has “horrified and rattled” by Trump’s remarks, said a veteran U.S. diplomat who has served in Russia, speaking on condition of anonymity.
And Heather Conley, formerly a top State Department official dealing with European affairs, said the expulsions of hundreds of people from an important U.S. embassy is extraordinary and “it is very difficult to see how the president could view these expulsions as a ‘positive’ development in any form.”
In additional remarks on Thursday, Trump said he was surprised by the FBI raid last month on the home of his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, adding that it sent a “strong signal.”
Trump said he has not given any thought to the possibility of firing special counsel Robert Mueller. In May, Trump dismissed James Comey, who was Director of the FBI when Trump went into office seven months ago.
As presidential candidate, Trump invited Russia to dig up thousands of “missing” emails from Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state, vexing intelligence experts and prompting Democrats to accuse him of urging a foreign country to spy on Americans.
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said on the campaign.
Clinton kept a private server from 2009 to 2013. She handed over thousands of emails in 2015 to investigators, but did not release about 30,000 she said were personal and not work-related.

College Student Sentenced To Prison for Voter Registration Fraud, 4 Others Arrested For Fake ID Scheme

James Madison University student Andrew Spieles leaves the federal courthouse in downtown Harrisonburg with his family and attorney, Gene Hart, after pleading guilty to voter fraud charges. (Photot/LocalMedia/RichmondTimesDipatch)

A college student pleads guilty in federal court for registering deceased Virginia voters for the Democratic party during the 2016 election.
21-year-old Andrew Spieles was sentenced to prison on Tuesday for submitting 18 fraudulent voter registration forms when he was working for the democratic campaign.
Spieles job was to register voters information in a computer system at a political organization.
According to the Department of Justice, the register’s office discovered falsified forms for people who were either deceased, or had incorrect birth dates and social security numbers in August of last year.
Spielies admitted to the crime and was sentenced to 100 days behind bars.
Meanwhile, President Trump’s accusations of widespread voter fraud appear to be gaining steam as authorities arrest six other people for allegedly running a fake ID scheme in Massachusetts.
Officials say four of the suspects are clerks at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and involved in a scheme to produce fake identification documents through their agency.
The U.S. attorney’s office believes the false identities may have been used to fraudulently register to vote.
This comes after media reports claimed more than five million non-citizens may have voted in the 2008 election, suggesting the issue could have been more widespread in 2016.

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'No f--- cops'! Gym bans police officers, military because they might offend minority members

The owner of a gym in Atlanta is coming under fire after posting an obscene sign outside his business that states in part: "No f------ cops."

The sign, which has since been removed, appeared outside of EAV Barbell Club on the east side of Atlanta, according to 11Alive. The full sign said: "Rules: Do whatever the hell you want, correctly, except Crossfit cultism. No f------ cops.”

The notice started to gain attention after a military veteran saw the message and reported it to media outlets.
Jim Chambers, the owner of the gym, told 11Alive he took responsibility for the sign and wanted the message to be clear.
“We’ve had an explicitly stated ‘no cop’ policy since we opened, and we also don’t open membership to active members of the military,” Chambers told NBC4i.
SUSPECT ACCUSED OF SHOOTING, KILLING MISSOURI POLICE OFFICER ARRESTED
Chambers said law enforcement agents were not allowed in his business because their presence made his minority clientele uncomfortable.
The Atlanta Police Department did not comment on the ban but said, “Were we to respond to an emergency there, this sign would not stop us from lawfully doing our job.”
Chambers added: “If they have a warrant, they can go anywhere they want, but we’re not breaking the law."
Chambers said he would put the sign back up at some point but claimed that he and his clients would not need the help of law enforcement in the future.
“It was really just that the vulgarity in that sign that seems to bring it out for people,” Chambers told 11Alive.

Trump blasts McConnell over 'excessive expectations' remark, source says

President Donald Trump ripped into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in a tense private phone call Wednesday morning, a source familiar with the call told Fox News.

The source said Trump was reacting angrily to McConnell’s remarks at a Rotary Club speech Monday in his home state of Kentucky in which he suggested that the president, given his lack of political experience, suffers from “excessive expectations” about what both chambers of Congress can get done.

During the approximately 10-minute phone call, the source said, the president curtly told McConnell he did not appreciate the criticism and still expects Republican leaders to push for repealing ObamaCare, even though that has largely been shelved for now.
The source added that Trump also told McConnell he is unhappy with U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who cast a decisive vote against repealing ObamaCare without a replacement in place. McCain, who is battling brain cancer, also slammed the president’s aggressive rhetoric on North Korea this week.
The source said the president mused to McConnell that he does not understand why the majority leader is allowing McCain to keep his powerful chairmanship of the Senate Armed Services Committee after bucking the party.
The barb-filled phone call between Trump and McConnell -- the Senate leader whom the president still needs to shepherd the rest of his legislative agenda -- came hours before the president's Wednesday afternoon tweet expressing more gentle public annoyance over McConnell’s remarks.
“Senator Mitch McConnell said I had ‘excessive expectations,’ but I don’t think so,” the president tweeted. “After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?”

Japan Collecting Intel on North Korea, Guam Responds to Provocation

Tens of thousands of North Koreans gathered for a rally at Kim Il Sung Square carrying placards and propaganda slogans as a show of support for their rejection of the United Nations’ latest round of sanctions on Wednesday Aug. 9, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)

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Japanese officials say the country is collecting intelligence on North Korea’s nuclear program.
The nation plans to closely coordinate with the U.S. and South Korea, urging Pyongyang to comply with the U.N. Security Council resolutions.
One of the specific investigations Japan will be conducting aims to determine the validity of a report that says North Korea has successfully produced a miniature nuclear warhead which can fit inside its missiles.
Officials in Tokyo point to the U.S. as a vital ally amid Pyongyang’s provocation.
As the threat in Pyongyang escalates, Japan is also considering changes to the way it approaches defense.
Meanwhile, the governor of Guam is reassuring his people after North Korea threatens to carry out a missile strike on the U.S. territory.
In an online message Wednesday, Governor Eddie Calvo says he was told by both the DOD and DHS that changing the country’s threat level is unnecessary.
This despite growing threats by North Korea to strike the U.S. via Guam.
Calvo says North Korea’s warning is no threat, and the island is prepared for “any eventuality.”
He says Guam has defenses strategically placed to protect its people.
Pyongyang says it’s “carefully examining” a plan to strike Guam, which is home to about 163,000 people, and a U.S. military base.

Scientists Debunk N.Y. Times Story About ‘Leaked’ Climate Change Report

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Scientists debunk The New York Times claim that it leaked a secret — “gloom and doom” — climate change report which President Trump is trying to keep from the public.
The story was published on Monday, and makes allegations against those who challenge scientific data on human-caused climate change.
It reported that people were worried the study would be publicly released, but those who worked on the report are pushing back against the claims.
A scientist who authored the report tweeted quote, “BBC asked me if I leaked our climate science report to the media. I said no — why bother. It was publicly available during review.”

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Scientists call out New York Times for incorrect claim about climate report

Editor's note: Several hours after publication of this article, a New York Times spokesperson returned an earlier request for comment to say the story had been updated.

Scientists appear to have debunked The New York Times' claim it was leaked a secret, gloomy climate change report which it published amid fears President Trump would suppress it.

On Monday, The New York Times published a story saying there are concerns that the Trump administration could suppress what’s known as the National Climate Assessment, a project of the U.S. Global Change Research Program.
The story, titled “Scientists fear Trump will dismiss blunt climate report,” said the draft report “has not yet been made public” but “a copy of it was obtained by The New York Times.”
The paper also said “those who challenge scientific data on human-caused climate change" are worried the report will be publicly released.
But those who worked on the report are pushing back against the claims, saying the version that was obtained and posted in full by the New York Times has actually been online and available to the public for months.
“It's not clear what the news is in this story,” Robert Kopp, a climate scientist at Rutgers University who is listed on the report as among the lead authors, said on Twitter.
The Internet Archive, a website that archives content published online, says it downloaded the report from the Environmental Protection Agency's website in January 2017.
Kopp noted the draft was published on the site during the public comment period, but then taken down after the period. But it still remained online at the Internet Archive's site.
“The Times' leaked draft has been on the Internet Archive since January, during the public comment period,” Kopp said.
Another scientist who authored the report, Katharine Hayhoe, a professor at Texas Tech who leads the school’s Climate Science Center, also emphasized that the report is already publicly available.
“Important to point out that this report was already accessible to anyone who cared to read it during public review & comment time,” she tweeted. “Few did.”
Hayhoe added: “Side-by-side comparison shows that @nytimes has public review version of our new climate sci report - so, no leak. It was available to all.”
Hayhoe also said anyone who wanted access to the draft could still request a copy from the National Academy of Sciences.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Tuesday said the New York Times story is “disappointing, yet entirely predictable.”
“As others have pointed out – and The New York Times should have noticed – drafts of this report have been published and made widely available online months ago during the public comment period,” Sanders said. “The White House will withhold comment on any draft report before its scheduled release date.”
Kopp, the Rutgers University scientist, said Tuesday afternoon that The Times updated the online story to post a newer draft, the Fifth Order Draft, which is currently under review. A correction, however, has not yet been added.
The New York Times story cites an anonymous scientist involved in the report as saying he and others are concerned the Trump administration would suppress the report.
“It directly contradicts claims by President Trump and members of his Cabinet who say that the human contribution to climate change is uncertain, and that the ability to predict the effects is limited,” The New York Times said.
The story said that the National Academy of Sciences has signed off on the draft, but scientists are “awaiting permission from the Trump administration to release it.”
But Kopp, one of the authors, pointed out in his tweets about the New York Times story that the White House hasn’t missed its August 18 review deadline yet.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

White House adviser Miller on immigration: 'What's happening now is not the norm'

Fresh off a heated confrontation with a CNN reporter at a press briefing last week, White House Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News he's focused on implementing President Donald Trump’s agenda, not any media backlash against him.

Last week, President Trump endorsed the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act, legislation which aims to cut the number of green cards issued in half from 1 million to 500,000 a year.

“Right now I’m focused on trying to get more support, as much as we can, for the RAISE Act and the president’s other policy initiatives,” Miller said Tuesday night in an exclusive interview with Laura Ingraham on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
“We admitted about 300,000 people a year in the '70s,” Miller said. “About half a million a year in the '80s. Now it’s over a million a year. So, what’s happening right now is actually not the norm. It’s actually unusual how many people we’re letting in right now.
“There’s segments of the extreme media - I wouldn’t call it mainstream - because it’s extreme to want no borders. It’s extreme to want to have unlimited, cheap migration driving down working-class wages. These are extreme positions,” Miller continued. “And so, the extreme media is going to do whatever they can to tear down this president, but as long as the people stand for what they want and what they believe in, we’re going to keep winning.”
TRUMP AIDE STEPHEN MILLER SLAMS CNN STAR ACOSTA ON IMMIGRATION
In the confrontation with CNN’s Jim Acosta during a White House press briefing on Aug. 2, Miller accused the reporter of suffering from a “cosmopolitan bias.” That comment came after Acosta asked if the bill’s preference for English speakers was geared so that the U.S. would limit its immigrants to those from Great Britain and Australia.
"I can honestly say I am shocked at your statement that you think only people from Great Britain and Australia would know English,” Miller stated. “It reveals your cosmopolitan bias to a shocking degree — this is an amazing moment.”
The two men also sparred over the meaning of "The New Colossus," the Emma Lazarus poem attached to the base of the Statue of Liberty -- before the tensions dissipated.
“The media’s gotten the president wrong, of course, since the day he announced and every day since, and he’s been right and they’ve been wrong,” Miller said on Tuesday while discussing the act.
“Well, it’s an American issue,” he said. “Bottom line is that Democrats support it, Independents support it and Republican voters support it. And, eventually, if an idea has support from a broad swath of the public, it’s only a question of time when it happens.”

N. Korea is Developing Mini-Nuclear Warheads for Missiles

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U.S. officials are warning the international community that North Korea has successfully developed a miniature-nuclear warhead for it’s intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The new data comes from the Defense Intelligence Agency, which completed an assessment of North Korea’s weapons capabilities.
The report also says Pyongyang could possess up to 60 nuclear weapons, although the number could be much lower.
This week the Japanese Defense Ministry also concluded there was evidence North Korea has created smaller nuclear weapons.
Communist leader Kim Jon Un continues to push ICBM testing, but officials still believe the regime has yet to master re-entry developments as well as target accuracy.
Just recently, the United Nations slammed new sanctions on the hostile country in an effort to denounce missile development and testing.
Even China supported the movement.
Meanwhile, President Trump warns North Korea to stop making threats or it will face quote — “fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
He made the comments Tuesday from New Jersey.
On Twitter Tuesday morning the president praised the international community, saying after many years of failure countries are finally coming together to face Pyongyang.
On the country’s state run news network, North Korea threatened to take physical action against any countries opposing it.
The regime shows no signs of backing down, despite world condemnation.

House GOP Unveils Website Blasting Mainstream Media Coverage

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a meeting with House Republicans at the White House in Washington, U.S. February 16, 2017. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

House Republicans launch a website blasting the media for focusing on “chaos,” rather than their accomplishments made during President Trump’s first 200 days in office.
The website called “Did You Know” says the news has not been keeping Americans informed on all the legislation GOP lawmakers have passed in the House.
It went live on Monday, and includes both a video and a written list of all of their achievements.
There’s also a quiz where visitors can answer questions comparing how well they know news reported by mainstream media compared to GOP events and laws.
This comes after the first 200 days of Trump’s presidency was overshadowed by Russian “collusion” and unwavering investigations, which the president referred to as the “single greatest witch hunt of a politician” in U.S. history.

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