Fusion GPS scandal: Clinton, DNC broke campaign finance law with dossier funding, complaint says

The revelation that Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund a salacious anti-Trump dossier last year is raising new legal questions for the Clinton team — with a watchdog group filing a formal complaint alleging they hid the payments from public view.
The Campaign Legal Center filed the complaint Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, accusing the DNC and Clinton’s campaign committee of breaking campaign finance law by failing to accurately disclose the money spent on the Trump-Russia dossier.
“Questions about who paid for this dossier are the subject of intense public interest, and this is precisely the information that FEC reports are supposed to provide,” Brendan Fischer of the Campaign Legal Center said in a statement to Fox News.
The Washington Post reported this week — and Fox News confirmed — that the political consulting firm Fusion GPS was retained last year by Marc E. Elias, an attorney representing the DNC and the Clinton campaign. The firm then hired former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to write the now-infamous dossier.
TRUMP RIPS CLINTON LINK TO FUSION GPS DOSSIER AS A ‘DISGRACE’
According to the Post, that money was routed from the Clinton campaign and the DNC through the law firm Perkins Coie and described on FEC reports as legal services.
Responding to the revelations, Clinton’s former campaign spokesman Brian Fallon compared the project to the kind of “oppo research” that “happens on every campaign.”
But the Campaign Legal Center described the FEC reporting as “misleading.”
“Payments by a campaign or party committee to an opposition research firm are legal, as long as those payments are accurately disclosed,” Fischer said. “But describing payments for opposition research as ‘legal services’ is entirely misleading and subverts the reporting requirements.”
The controversial dossier contained unverified and lurid allegations about dirt the Russians had on Trump and his campaign’s possible connections to Moscow.
Critics argued the latest revelation makes it harder for Democrats to accuse the Trump campaign of collusion.
“Kremlin gave info to Christopher Steele,” tweeted Ari Fleischer, the former press secretary to President George W. Bush. “His oppo-research was paid for by the Clinton campaign. If that’s not collusion, what is?”
“Given Democrats’ argument that Russia’s interference on Trump’s behalf was beyond the pale, the Clinton camp and the DNC paying a Brit for information would seem somewhat problematic,” wrote Aaron Blake of the Washington Post.
Responding to the controversy, a DNC official stressed that current Chairman “Tom Perez and the new leadership of the DNC were not involved in any decision-making regarding Fusion GPS, nor were they aware that Perkins Coie was working with the organization.”
A spokesman for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who led the DNC at the time, told Fox News on Wednesday that, “She did not have any knowledge of this arrangement.”
It’s unclear what Hillary Clinton may have known about the research, though Fallon said he didn’t know at the time.
“I personally wasn’t aware of this during the campaign,” Fallon said in a statement, adding: “The first I learned of Christopher Steele or saw any dossier was after the election. But if I had gotten handed it last fall, I would have had no problem passing it along and urging reporters to look into it.”
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Wednesday slammed Democrats for not being more concerned about Russia’s role in the dossier.
“It really tests the validity of how much the Democrats want to get to the bottom of Russia’s interference in this election,” McDaniel said on Fox News’ “The Daily Briefing.” “Because when it comes to them, when it comes to the DNC, when it comes to Hillary Clinton, they don’t seem to have that same appetite as when it comes to this witch-hunt against President Trump.”

Gag order lifted: DOJ says informant can speak to Congress on Uranium One, Russia bribery case with Clinton links

The Justice Department said Wednesday night that it had lifted a gag order on a former FBI informant involved in a high-profile Russia bribery case, clearing the individual to speak to Congress about Moscow’s Obama-era uranium deals in the U.S. market and other schemes.

In a statement, the department said it had authorized the informant to speak to the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, House Oversight Committee, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, in addition to select staffers.

The department said the informant could provide “any information or documents he has concerning alleged corruption or bribery involving transactions in the uranium market,” including Russian company Rosatom, subsidiary Tenex, Uranium One and the Clinton Foundation.
Uranium One refers to the name of a Canada-based company with mines in the U.S. that was bought by Rosatom, a company backed by the Russian state. The State Department, then led by Hillary Clinton, was one of nine U.S. government agencies that had to approve the deal back in 2010.
All three congressional committees launched investigations after The Hill reported that the FBI had evidence that Russian nuclear officials were involved in fraudulent dealings – including extortion, bribery and kickbacks – as far back as 2009 in a case involving Rosatom’s subsidiary, Tenex. Congressional Republicans have since questioned how the Uranium One deal was approved the following year by an inter-agency committee, and sought to gain access to the informant.
Republicans also have raised concerns about efforts by interested parties to influence the Clintons – citing donations to the Clinton Foundation as well as a $500,000 speaking fee received in Russia by former President Bill Clinton, who reportedly met with Vladimir Putin around the time of the deal.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tweeted Tuesday that the Justice Department should appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Uranium One deal.
The informant's attorney, Victoria Toensing, told Fox Business Network Monday that her client can "tell what all the Russians were talking about during the time that all these bribery payments were made." The informant earlier was prevented from testifying by former attorneys general Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, according to Toensing, after having signed a non-disclosure agreement.

Eric Holder Cartoons

Clinton campaign, DNC helped fund research that led to salacious Trump dossier

The controversial dossier containing salacious allegations about President Donald Trump and his possible connections to Russia, including coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, resulted from funding by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee to the firm Fusion GPS, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to Fox News.

Fusion GPS was retained by Marc E. Elias, an attorney representing the DNC and the Clinton campaign, The Washington Post first reported Tuesday. Fusion GPS then reportedly hired former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to write the now-infamous dossier.

Steele had ties both to the U.S. intelligence community and the FBI.
Prior to the firm being retained in April 2016 by Elias and his law firm, Perkins Coie, Fusion GPS’s research had been subsidized by an unidentified Republican during the GOP primary.
But the Clinton campaign – and the DNC – saw the research through, funding the firm through the end of October 2016, just days before Trump defeated Clinton in the general election, according to The Post's reporting.
Steele’s findings and other research were then submitted to Elias via Fusion GPS, The Post reported. The method and the amount of the information that was provided to the campaign and the DNC wasn't immediately clear. It also wasn’t known who in those organizations knew about the roles of both Steele and Fusion GPS.
Following Trump’s victory, The Post reported, the FBI arranged to pay Steele to proceed with intelligence gathering about both Trump and Russia. That deal was later nixed after the former intelligence officer was identified in news reports.
Perkins Coie was paid $5.6 million in legal fees by the Clinton campaign in a time period ranging from June 2015 to December 2016, The Post reported, citing campaign finance records. The DNC also paid the firm $3.6 million for “legal and compliance consulting” going back to November 2015.
Sources told The Post that neither the Clinton campaign or the DNC specifically directed Steele’s work, labeling the intelligence officer simply as a Fusion GPS subcontractor.

Fusion GPS has recently been in the spotlight of congressional Republicans as they've tried to get the firm to reveal those who supported Steele’s work.
Fusion GPS has refused to do so, citing client confidentiality agreements.
Officials with the firm have also invoked their right to refuse to answer questions from the House Intelligence Committee. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., subsequently subpoenaed the firm’s bank records in order to identify the client who subsidized the dossier.
Meanwhile, Glenn Simpson, the Fusion GPS founder, already gave a 10-hour interview to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
TRUMP DOSSIER FIRM'S 'SMEAR' TACTICS UNVEILED
The report on the dossier's funding come just days after the president tweeted about the controversial file. "Officials behind the now discredited 'Dossier' plead the Fifth," Trump tweeted on Oct 21. "Justice Department and/or FBI should immediately release who paid for it."
“Tom Perez and the new leadership of the DNC were not involved in any decision-making regarding Fusion GPS, nor were they aware that Perkins Coie was working with the organization," DNC Communications Director Xochitl Hinojosa said in a statement following the report's publication.
"But let’s be clear, there is a serious federal investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, and the American public deserves to know what happened.” 
First published by Buzzfeed in January, the dossier contained a series of controversial financial and sexual allegations about Trump.

White privilege bolstered by teaching math, university professor says

Professor Rochelle Gutierrez says the ability to solve algebra and geometry perpetuates white privilege.  (University of Illinois)

A math education professor at the University of Illinois says the ability to solve geometry and algebra problems and teaching such subjects perpetuates so-called white privilege.

Rochelle Gutierrez laid out her views on the subject in an article for a newly published anthology for math educators titled, “Building Support for Scholarly Practices in Mathematics Methods.”

“School mathematics curricula emphasizing terms like Pythagorean Theorem and pi perpetuate a perception that mathematics was largely developed by Greeks and other Europeans," she says, according to Campus Reform.
She also says that addressing equity in mathematics education will come when teachers can understand and negotiate the politics outside the classroom.
“On many levels, mathematics itself operates as whiteness. Who gets credit for doing and developing mathematics, who is capable in mathematics, and who is seen as part of the mathematical community is generally viewed as white,” she writes.
Further, she says mathematics operates with unearned privilege in society, “just like whiteness.”

Mathematics itself operates as Whiteness.

Gutierrez did not respond to an email from Fox News Tuesday seeking comment.
University of Illinois interim Provost John Wilkin told Fox News that Gutierrez is an established and admired scholar who has been published in many peer-reviewed publications.
“As with all of our faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Prof. Gutierrez has the rights of academic freedom necessary to pursue scholarship and research on important subjects and to reach conclusions even if some might disagree with those conclusions,” he said.
He added, “The issues around equity and access in education are real – with significant implications to our entire educational system. Exploring challenging pedagogical questions is exactly what faculty in a world-class college of education should be doing.”
In the book Gutierrez points out that mathematics operates as a proxy for intelligence, but asks, “are we really that smart just because we do mathematics?”
“As researchers, are we more deserving of large grants because we focus on mathematics education and not social studies or English?”
Gutierrez says evaluations of math skills can perpetuate discrimination against minorities, especially if they do worse than their white counterparts, Campus Reform reported.
“If one is not viewed as mathematical, there will always be a sense of inferiority that can be summoned” because the average person won't necessarily question the role of mathematics in society, she writes.
According to the website, Gutierrez adds that there are so many people who “have experienced microaggressions from participating in math classrooms… [where people are] judged by whether they can reason abstractly.”
NEW YORK PUBLIC COLLEGE OFFERING COURSE CALLED 'ABOLITION OF WHITENESS'
Her solution is a call for teachers to develop political "conocimeinto," or knowledge, to better prepare them in deciding on what learning opportunities work best for their students.
The book, published by Information Age Publishing, is a collaborative effort among more than 40 educators who teach mathematics methods courses for prospective pre-K‐12 teachers.

With Flake retirement, Steve Bannon claims scalp in bid to reshape GOP

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon speaks at a rally for U.S. Senate hopeful Roy Moore, in Fairhope, Ala., Sept. 25, 2017.  (Associated Press)

The unexpected retirement of U.S. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., will likely further inflame the Republican Party's civil war -- with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon racking up the fruits of victory in his bid to reshape the party.

Flake announced his resignation Tuesday with a scathing attack on Trump from the Senate floor, calling the commander-in-chief’s behavior “reckless, outrageous, and undignified."

The senator also slammed the GOP, saying it had “given in or given up on the core principles in favor of a more viscerally satisfying anger and resentment,” and noted that “anger and resentment are not a governing philosophy."
But Flake's speech was likely music to the ears of Bannon, who has announced plans to run pro-Trump candidates against Senate Republicans who don't back the president's agenda. And Flake's emotional speech was unlikely to change the views of GOP voters who see establishment Republicans such as Flake as obstacles for executing Trump's “America First” agenda.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., accompanied by his wife Cheryl, leaves the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017, after announcing he won't seek re-election in 2018.  (AP)

Recent polls show there is little appetite among voters for anti-Trump legislators in the Senate, especially in Arizona – a state Trump carried in 2016 presidential election. Flake was trailing his primary challenger, Kelli Ward, a former state senator who is backed by Bannon.
After Flake's announcement, Bannon quickly claimed a scalp for his anti-GOP establishment movement, warning incumbents that his recruited candidates “will defeat you in primaries or force you to retire," according to Breitbart News Network Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow, who tweeted the reaction.
"The days of establishment Republicans who oppose the people's America First agenda are numbered," Bannon added.
“Many more to come,” Bannon wrote to the Washington Post following Flake’s speech.
Andy Surabian, an adviser for Bannon's pro-Trump political PAC, Great America Alliance, told the Post that the resignation of Flake was a victory for the White House.
“This is a victory for President Trump and all of his supporters across the nation,” he said. “Jeff Flake was America’s top ‘Never Trumper,’ so getting his scalp is a signal to Never Trumpers everywhere that their time is up.”
From Alabama to Mississippi to Nevada, Bannon-backed candidates are emerging to challenge the establishment Republicans during the 2018 midterm elections, potentially reshaping the party beyond recognition.
And while the GOP is coming to realization that opposing Trump is bad politics, some top Republicans have criticized Bannon’s strategy to strengthen pro-Trump elements in Congress by replacing existing GOP senators rather than increasing the majority and taking seats from Democrats.
“Bannon’s so-called ‘war against the GOP establishment,’ is the worst strategic action Republicans could take right now,” wrote Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, noting that the candidates Bannon seeks to replace are senators who voted overwhelmingly for Trump’s agenda despite their public comments.
Noted Gingrich: "All voted to repeal Obamacare; all supported President Trump’s Cabinet nominations; all supported the American Health Care Act; all supported the so-called Skinny Repeal of Obamacare; and all voted to confirm conservative Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.”

'Smoking gun' email reveals Obama DOJ blocked conservative groups from settlement funds, GOP lawmaker says

While Eric Holder was attorney general, the Justice Department allowed prosecutors to strike agreements compelling big companies to give money to outside groups not connected to their cases to meet settlement burdens.  (Reuters)

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee claims he obtained a “smoking gun” email that proves the Obama Justice Department prevented settlement payouts from going to conservative-leaning organizations, even as liberal groups were awarded money and DOJ officials denied “picking and choosing” recipients.

“It is not every day in congressional investigations that we find a smoking gun,” Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said Tuesday. “Here, we have it.”

While Eric Holder was U.S. attorney general, the Justice Department allowed prosecutors to strike agreements compelling big companies to give money to outside groups not connected to their cases to meet settlement burdens. Republican lawmakers long have decried those payments as a “slush fund” that boosted liberal groups, and the Trump DOJ ended the practice earlier this year.
But internal Justice Department emails released Tuesday by Goodlatte indicated that not only were officials involved in determining what organizations would get the money, but also Justice Department officials may have intervened to make sure the settlements didn’t go to conservative groups.

“It is not every day in congressional investigations that we find a smoking gun,” House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said Tuesday. “Here, we have it.”  (Associated Press)

In one such email in July 2014, a senior Justice Department official expressed “concerns” about what groups would receive settlement money from Citigroup — saying they didn’t want money going to a group that does “conservative property-rights legal services.”
DOJ ENDS HOLDER-ERA ‘SLUSH FUND’ PAYOUTS TO OUTSIDE GROUPS
“Concerns include: a) not allowing Citi to pick a statewide intermediary like the Pacific Legal Foundation (does conservative property-rights legal services),” the official, whose name is redacted in the email, wrote under the title of “Acting Senior Counselor for Access to Justice.”
The official added that “we are more likely to get the right result from a state bar association affiliated entity.”
The Pacific Legal Foundation responded to the email release Tuesday by telling Fox News it believes “permanent reforms to prevent such abuse are needed.”
“We are flattered that the previous administration would be concerned enough about our success vindicating individual liberty and property rights to prevent settlement funds from making their way to Pacific Legal Foundation,” PLF CEO Steven D. Anderson said in a statement.

“When the federal government settles a case against a corporate wrongdoer, any settlement funds should go first to the victims and then to the American people— not to bankroll third-party special interest groups or the political friends of whoever is in power,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said.  (Associated Press)

Goodlatte, who is sponsoring the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2017, disclosed the emails during a speech on the House floor, taking aim at then-Associate Attorney General Tony West.
“Aiding their political allies was only the half of it,” Goodlatte said. “The evidence of the Obama DOJ’s abuse of power shows that Tony West’s team went out of its way to exclude conservative groups.”
The documents indicate West played an active role in helping certain organizations obtain settlement information.
“Can you explain to Tony the best way to allocate some money to an organization of our choosing?” Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Elizabeth Taylor wrote in one November 2013 email.
Groups who received funding also expressed appreciation for West’s efforts, according to the emails.
“Now that it has been more than 24 hours for us all to try and digest the Bank of America settlement, I would like to discuss ways we might want to recognize and show appreciation for the Department of Justice and specifically Associate Attorney General Tony West,” wrote Charles R. Dunlap, executive director of the Indiana Bar, in an August 2014 email.
Dunlap wrote that West “by all accounts was the one person most responsible” for the Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts group receiving money.
One person, Bob LeClair, responded to Dunlap’s email by saying, “Frankly, I would be willing to have us build a statue [of West] and then we could bow down to this statue each day after we get our $200,000.”
West, who now works as an executive vice president at PepsiCo, did not immediately return an email from Fox News seeking comment.
In 2015, however, Geoffrey Graber, who oversaw the Justice Department’s big banks settlements, told Goodlatte during a congressional hearing that the department “did not want to be in the business of picking and choosing which organizations may or may not receive any funding under the agreement.”
“But internal DOJ documents tell a different story,” Goodlatte said Tuesday. “They show that contrary to Graber’s sworn testimony, the donation provisions were structured to aid the Obama administration’s political friends and exclude conservative groups.”
Even before the release of Tuesday’s emails, Republicans had blasted these settlements as a “slush fund” for favored groups.
Gibson Guitars was forced to pay $50,000 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in 2012, though that organization has nothing to do with the case. In 2014, Bank of America gave money to the National Urban League, the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America and the National Council of La Raza as part of a major mortgage fraud settlement stemming from the 2008 financial crisis.

'Aiding their political allies was only the half of it.'

Asked about the emails, the Justice Department on Tuesday referred Fox News to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ statement in June after he announced the end to the practice.
“When the federal government settles a case against a corporate wrongdoer, any settlement funds should go first to the victims and then to the American people — not to bankroll third-party special interest groups or the political friends of whoever is in power,” Sessions said.
Goodlatte on Tuesday praised Sessions’ move to end mandatory donations, but called his legislation a “good governance measure,” and called it necessary to prevent a future Justice Department from reversing the action. The bill prohibits the Justice Department from requiring defendants to donate money to outside groups as part of a settlement with the federal government.
The Obama administration has been accused of unfairly targeting conservative organizations before — most famously after the revelation the IRS applied extra scrutiny to groups with “Tea Party” in their names.

Tax Cartoons

Pres. Trump Urges House GOP to Move Quickly on Budget, Tax Reform

FILE – In this July 24, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump speaks about healthcare in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

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President Trump urges House Republicans to move quickly on the budget and tax reform in order to avoid a “political failure” during next year’s election season.
President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence held a conference call with House Republicans on Sunday.
Sources say the president told lawmakers the GOP cannot afford to disappoint the nation by failing on fiscal overhaul ahead of the looming midterm elections.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reaffirmed his commitment to work with President Trump and House Republicans to speed the progress on tax reform.
“We’ve been waiting for the opportunity to do it, and Donald Trump being elected President, and Republicans having a majority in House and Senate, give us an opportunity to accomplish something really important for the country, to get it growing again,” announced McConnell.
During Sunday’s call House Speaker Paul Ryan said he hopes to pass a revised senate budget this week, which would allow them to enact tax reform by the end of the year.
President Trump also expressed confidence his tax reform is — quote — “the right thing to do for the country.”

Struggling to get signed, Kaepernick 'meeting publishers' to pitch book idea

Colin Kaepernick is reportedly meeting with publishers as he explores the possibility of writing a book.

The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback is “taking meetings with publishers in the New York offices of WME,” according to a Page Six source. IMG-WME agent Carlos Fleming is representing Kaepernick.

The athlete, who’s currently a free agent, has been struggling to get signed by an NFL team, many attributing his political activism and kneeling during the national anthem as one of the reasons teams are wary to sign him.
Green Bay Packers’ coach Mike McCarthy dismissed last week any possibility of signing Kaepernick while Arizona Cardinals is the latest team to snub the athlete on Monday, saying they have no intention of signing him, the Washington Post reported.
Kaepernick also filed last week a collusion grievance, accusing the owners of NFL teams of conspiring against him for kneeling during the national anthem last season and decided to keep him out of the league.
His political activism inspired multiple NFL athletes to kneel during the anthem as well following President Donald Trump remarks that kneeling players should be fired for disrespecting the country.

Sessions: All bets are off in hunt for MS-13 street gang

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has spoken out against MS-13 and promised a new push to combat the violent gang.  (Reuters)

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday promised an all-out assault on the brutal MS-13 street gang “just like we took Al Capone off the streets.”

Sessions said the gang’s members are suspected in a series of killings in New York City's suburbs and the U.S. “will use whatever laws we have” to get them off the street.

The new designation directs prosecutors to pursue all legal avenues, including racketeering, gun and tax laws, to target the gang, said Sessions, a Republican former U.S. senator from Alabama.
Sessions designated the gang with Central American ties as a "priority" for the Department of Justice's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, which has historically focused on drug trafficking and money laundering. MS-13, or La Mara Salvatrucha, is generally known for extortion and violence rather than distributing and selling narcotics.
"They leave misery, devastation and death in their wake. They threaten entire governments. They must be and will be stopped," the attorney general said, while in Philadelphia.
The gang has become a prime target of President Trump's administration amid its broader crackdown on immigration.
Members of the gang are suspected of committing several high-profile killings in New York, Maryland and Virginia. The gang's violence drew the Republican president's attention after two teenage girls was beaten and hacked to death in a suspected gang attack on Long Island.
The girls were among 22 people believed to have been killed by the gang on Long Island since the start of 2016. Most of the people arrested in those killings were in the U.S. illegally, law enforcement officials have said.
After Trump took office, he directed federal law enforcement officials to focus resources on combating transnational gangs, including MS-13. But the new designation will allow officials to target MS-13 with a "renewed vigor and a sharpened focus," said Sessions, who flew to El Salvador in July, in part to learn more about how the gang's activities there affect crime in the U.S.
MS-13 originated in Los Angeles in the 1980s, then entrenched itself in Central America when its leaders were deported.
Making a street gang like MS-13 a priority marks a shift for the drug enforcement task force, said James Trusty, who headed the Department of Justice's organized crime and gang section before he left in January.
Some MS-13 cases have drug connections, but "you'd be hard-pressed to come up with evidence that MS-13 is part of a cartel," he said. "The most common aspect of MS-13 prosecutions has been murder and witness intimidation or retaliation, not drug trafficking."

Clinton Uranium One deal: FBI informant blocked by Obama-era AG can unlock key info, attorney says

An informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is under a gag order that prevents him from testifying before the United States Congress that Russian nuclear officials were involved in fraudulent dealings in 2009 before the Uranium One deal was approved.
Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch blocked the informant from testifying last year and threatened criminal action against him if he were to do so.
In an interview with FOX Business’ Loud Dobbs, Victoria Toensing, the attorney representing the FBI informant, said she has never heard of a criminal penalty for breaching a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
“If it does and it is unconstitutional and it’s invalid, if it prohibits my client from giving information to the legislature, the executive cannot say to people, ‘Hey, you can’t give information to another body of the government,’” Toensing said.

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The former Reagan Justice Department official and former chief counsel of the Senate Intelligence Committee said the impact of her client’s knowledge of the Russians’ ability to use the Clintons’ position of power is significant.
“He can tell what all the Russians were talking about during the time that all these bribery payments were made,” Toensing said on “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”
The House Oversight Committee is investigating the Obama-era Uranium One deal, and Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Florida) is calling for the Justice Department to remove the NDA that prevents the former FBI informant from testifying.
“We are glad Ron DeSantis is doing it because he is a former federal prosecutor, and he is a go-getter on this and I think he’ll do a great job,” Toensing said.

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ICE Agents to Target Employers Who Knowingly Hire Illegal Immigrants

October 22, 2017

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As the crackdown on illegal immigration continues, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are set to target those who employ undocumented workers.
A spokesperson for ICE says the agency will criminally prosecute employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
This comes after the acting ICE director said his agents will increase workplace immigration enforcement.
Immigration officials claim the number of inspections at work sites has already grown and will continue to significantly increase over the next fiscal year.

Tillerson to Iranian-backed militias in Iraq: Go home

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson answers a reporter's question during a media availability after s meeting in Doha.  (Reuters)

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday told Iranian-backed militias in Iraq to “go home” during a joint meeting with leaders from Saudi Arabia and Iraq, Reuters reported.

“Iranian militias that are in Iraq, now that the fight against Daesh and ISIS is coming to a close, those militias need to go home. The foreign fighters in Iraq need to go home and allow the Iraqi people to regain control,” Tillerson said at a joint news conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir in Doha.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, reportedly criticized Tillerson’s remarks as influenced by Iran’s oil-rich regional rival Saudi Arabia.
“Exactly what country is it that Iraqis who rose up to defend their homes against ISIS return to?,” Zarif said in a tweet. “Shameful US FP (foreign policy), dictated by petrodollars.”
Meanwhile, Syria's largest oil field was seized from the Islamic State terror group on Sunday by the U.S.-led coalition, dealing another blow to the extremist group after the loss of its de-facto capital last week.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forced, with air support from the U.S.-led coalition, said it captured the Al-Omar field in a "swift and wide military operation," adding that some militants have taken cover in oil company houses nearby, where clashes are underway.
The U.S.-led coalition confirmed the SDF had retaken the oil field, and that Syrian government troops were two files away from the fields, located in the oil-rich Deir el-Zour province along the border with Iraq.
Syrian troops, backed by Russian warplanes and Iranian-sponsored militias, have retaken nearly all of the provincial capital of Deir el-Zour, as well as the town of Mayadeen, which is across the Euphrates River from the Al-Omar field.

Texas teens stand up to atheists and defend Christian flag

Students' trucks flying the Christian flag at LaPoynor High School in LaRue, Texas.  (Photo courtesy of Danielle Reichert-Davis )

The red, white and blue has flown outside LaPoynor High School in LaRue, Texas for as far back as anyone can remember. 

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But instead of 50 stars on a blue field, this flag bears a cross - a symbol of the Christian faith.
The Christian flag flies alongside the Texas flag and Old Glory.
And that's a big problem for a bunch of out-of-town atheist agitators -- a mighty big problem.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based group of atheists, agnostics and freethinkers, sent a letter to the local school district demanding the flag be removed.
"It is unconstitutional for the school to display the Christian flag," FFRF attorney Sam Grover wrote to Supt. James Young. "The display of this patently religious symbol by the District confers government endorsement of Christianity, in violation of the Establishment Clause."
The perpetually offended atheists told the school district they must be inclusive to minority religions and non-religious people.
"The District must immediately remove the Christian flag from school grounds," Grover wrote. "In addition, the District must ensure that its staff members are not organizing, promoting, or participating in religious events while acting int heir official capacities."
The school superintendent told local news reporters they were reviewing the demand letter - but have yet to make any sort of announcement. Continue reading at ToddStarnes.com.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary. His latest book is “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again.” Follow him on Twitter @ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.

Jimmy Carter: Media tougher on Trump than any other president in memory

Former President Jimmy Carter says the media have been tougher on President Trump than any other president he can remember.  (REUTERS/Neil Hall, Kevin Lamarque, File)

Jimmy Carter, the liberal 93-year-old former president, surprisingly sided with President Trump when he told The New York Times that the media have been been too hostile on the current commander-in-chief.

“I think the media have been harder on Trump than any other president certainly that I’ve known about,” Carter told The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. The 39th president served one term from 1977 to 1981.

Carter added that he thought the media “feel free to claim that Trump is mentally deranged and everything else without hesitation.”
The former president also pushed back on accusations of Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election, saying: “I don’t think there’s any evidence that what the Russians did changed enough votes, or any votes.” He said his wife, Rosalynn, disagreed with him, before he added, “We voted for [Bernie] Sanders” in the primary.
Carter also doesn’t believe the current president’s “America First” strategy is out of step with the larger world, spoiling international relations. “Well, he might be escalating it but I think that precedes Trump,” he told the Times. “The United States has been the dominant character in the whole world and now we’re not anymore. And we’re not going to be. Russia’s coming back and India and China are coming forward.”
Carter also said he's willing to go to North Korea on a diplomatic mission amid the escalating tensions over nuclear weapons.
“I don’t know what they’ll do,” he said of North Korea. “Because they want to save their regime. And we greatly overestimate China’s influence on North Korea. Particularly to Kim Jong Un. He’s never, so far as I know, been to China.”
He called the North Korean dictator “unpredictable.”
In September, Carter expressed optimism that Trump might break a legislative logjam with his six-month deadline for Congress to address the immigration status of 800,000-plus U.S. residents who were brought to the country illegally as children.
Carter told Emory University students that the “pressures and the publicity that Trump has brought to the immigration issue” could even yield comprehensive immigration law changes that Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama could not muster.
He blamed both major parties for an inability to pass any major immigration law overhaul since a 1986 law signed by President Ronald Reagan.
“I don’t see that as a hopeless cause,” Carter said. He added that Trump’s critics, including himself, “have to give him credit when he does some things that are not as bad” as they are depicted.

Funny Liberal Cartoons

Ahab the Arab (funny Video)

Secy Of State Tillerson Talks With Arab Leaders In Saudi Arabia

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is greeted as he arrives at King Salman Air Base, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in Saudi Arabia on a diplomatic mission, aimed to improve relations in the Middle East, and counter Iran’s influence in the region.
Tillerson arrived at Salman Air Base today to meet with officials from Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
He took part in the Inaugural Coordination Council meeting between the two countries government.
Officials say, Tillerson and Arabian leaders discussed the conflict in Yemen Iran and other regional and bilateral issues.
It’s his first stop on his six day trip, which will also take him to Qatar, Pakistan, India, and Switzerland.

Trump is a great champion of religious liberty -- a welcome change from Obama

“How times have changed. But you know what? Now they’re changing back again, just remember that!” Nothing encapsulates President Trump’s message at the recent Values Voter Summit more than those words.

When the president addressed the summit last weekend in Washington, religious liberty was front and center in his speech. Perhaps more than any other president in recent history, he chose to squarely address the issue and not shy away from the social conservative base.

“In America, we don't worship government – we worship God,” President Trump boldly proclaimed. “We defend our Constitution. We protect religious liberty. We treasure our freedom.”
The president continued: “Religious liberty is enshrined in the very first amendment of the Bill of Rights. And we all pledge allegiance to … one nation under God. This is America’s heritage, a country that never forgets that we are all are – all, every one of us – made by the same God in Heaven.” Indeed. Let us not forget this.
Values Voter Summit attendees were thrilled to see the president promote religious freedom in his speech. But even more significant than his words are his actions – policies that reflect the promises he made during the election campaign.
President Trump mentioned three clear steps he has taken to protect religious liberty domestically. The message to socially conservative voters was clear, and they will not forget it.
· He signed an executive order to ensure the Johnson Amendment does not interfere with the First Amendment and “allow government workers to censor sermons or target our pastors or our ministers or rabbis.” The Johnson amendment, named after then-senator and future president Lyndon Johnson, was made a provision of the U.S. tax code in 1954. It bars most nonprofit organizations, including religious institutions, from endorsing or opposing political candidates.
· His Justice Department issued guidance explaining how religious liberty should be protected.
· He took “action to protect the conscience rights of groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor,” observing that “the Little Sisters of the Poor and other people of faith, they live by a beautiful calling, and we will not let bureaucrats take away that calling or take away their rights.” The nuns challenged an ObamaCare mandate that insurance plans must cover contraception.
True, religious freedom was not as much of a concern domestically until policies from the Obama administration and the courts placed the freedom to live according to our beliefs in the political crosshairs. Historically, politicians made promises to gain the important evangelical vote but rarely delivered with actual policies. The Trump administration is breaking with history and is laboring to keep its commitments.
President Trump went on in his remarks to specifically mention the importance of faith and religion in public life 19 times – not counting references to the idea by other terms. He quoted George Washington in noting “that ‘religion and morality are indispensable’ to America’s happiness, really, prosperity and totally to its success. It is our faith and our values that inspires us to give with charity, to act with courage, and to sacrifice for what we know is right.”
The president observed that the “American Founders invoked our Creator four times in the Declaration of Independence,” and “Benjamin Franklin reminded his colleagues at the Constitutional Convention to begin by bowing their heads in prayer.”
In an era when public prayer and displays of faith are so readily attacked, social conservatives were heartened to hear this reaffirmation of the role religion has played – and is still playing – for the public good of our country.
That the president recognizes the important social role of institutions of faith is a welcome turn from the Obama administration.
The Obama administration irrationally insisted on harassing the Little Sisters of the Poor and other faith-based groups, including threatening them with tens of millions of dollars in fines unless they yielded to the Department of Health and Human Services’ ObamaCare contraception mandate.
Yet the Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to deny disaster assistance to churches simply because they are religious institutions. Work still needs to be done to ensure that our First Amendment and the new Justice Department religious liberty guidance is followed –both with regard to the FEMA policy and in other areas.
One of these other areas is the Middle East. As the president recognized, ISIS has “ruthlessly slaughtered innocent Christians, along with the vicious killing of innocent Muslims and other religious minorities,” and “repressive regimes” must “restore political and religious freedom for their people.”
While a genocide in the Middle East has been recognized, assistance has been slower in coming. Under U.S. policy, Christians are still being funneled through United Nations-run refugee camps in the Middle East. At these camps – as if they were not already traumatized enough by barely escaping genocide – the Christians are regularly subject to violence and mistreatment at the hands of Islamists.
This can change by directing U.S. assistance away from the U.N. and to organizations providing aid directly to these Christian communities. We must do more on this issue. If the government of Hungary can devote financial assistance and a high-level government post to this specific concern, the United States should be able to do so too.
Yes, a lot changed over the last eight years. America went from being a zealous advocate of religious freedom and human rights for all people, to being a promoter of special rights for a few. But you know what?  Now those times are changing back again. We have the ability to promote and protect religious freedom both here and abroad – just remember that!

Air Force could recall up to 1,000 retired pilots after Trump order

The Pentagon says the Air Force is more than 1,500 pilots short of requirements.  (REUTERS/Jonathan Drake)

The Air Force could recall up to 1,000 retired pilots after President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at addressing what the Pentagon has described as an "acute shortage of pilots."

The order, which Trump signed Friday, amends an emergency declaration signed by George W. Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Under current law, the Air Force is limited to recalling just 25 pilots. The order signed by Trump temporarily removes that cap for all branches of the military.
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Gary Ross, said in a statement that the Air Force is currently "short approximately 1,500 pilots of its requirements."
"We anticipate that the Secretary of Defense will delegate the authority to the Secretary of the Air Force to recall up to 1,000 retired pilots for up to 3 years," Ross said. "The pilot supply shortage is a national level challenge that could have adverse effects on all aspects of both the government and commercial aviation sectors for years to come."
In August, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson confirmed that the service was short 1,555 pilots of its requirements, including 1,211 fighter pilots.
At the time, Wilson announced the Air Force was increasing incentive pay to officers and enlisted crew members for the first time in 18 years. The service also expanded its aviation bonus program to apply to include pilots who were out of contract.

Trump Launches Petition to Stand for National Anthem

President Trump launched a petition to stand for the national anthem.
The president has been a prominent voice in the controversy over NFL players refusing to stand for the anthem to protest racial injustice in America.
Players across the league doubled down by kneeling, locking arms, and sometimes sitting for the anthem after the president called on owners to fire players who did so.
He has called the players' actions "disgraceful" and remarked that seeing military veteran amputees reminded him how important it is to stand for the anthem and respect the military.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said this week that “everyone should stand for the national anthem” but will not change the league's policy to require players to stand, as the NBA does.

The NFL has decided that it will not force players to stand for the playing of our National Anthem. Total disrespect for our great country!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2017

Trump's petition is paid for by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, and is found on the Republican National Committee's website.

Rachel Maddow called out by fellow liberals for pushing anti-Trump conspiracy

A report by Rachel Maddow on a deadly ambush of U.S. troops in Niger this month raised eyebrows  (REUTERS/Chris Keane)

MSNBC star Rachel Maddow’s latest anti-Trump conspiracy theory was so outlandish that even the dependably liberal HuffPost criticized it as "so flimsy that it could be debunked by a quick glance at a map."

On Thursday evening, "The Rachel Maddow Show" opened with a somber 25-minute diatribe that attempted to connect the tragic ambush attack that killed four American soldiers in Niger to the latest version of President Trump’s proposed travel ban, which included the nation of Chad. Maddow essentially claimed that the inclusion of Chad, which recently pulled its troops out of Niger, in the revised travel ban resulted in extremist attacks such as the one that left four Americans dead.

The HuffPost, which is so anti-Trump that it refused to even cover him in the political section during the early stages of his campaign, published a story headlined, "What the hell was this Rachel Maddow segment?" The MSNBC host proclaimed that Chad’s pullout from Niger "had an immediate effect in emboldening ISIS attacks," but the HuffPost easily shot down her theory.
Colby College Department of Government assistant professor Laura Seay told the HuffPost that "any expert" would have said Maddow's conspiracy theory was "crazy" and the pullout of Chadian troops isn’t necessarily related to the Trump’s travel ban.
"Everybody that I know is appalled by this. I would like to think that Maddow's researchers are more responsible," Seay told the HuffPost.

U.S. Special Forces Sgt. Dustin Wright, left, and U.S. Special Forces Sgt. La David Johnson were killed in Niger Oct. 4.  (U.S. Army Special Operations Command)

While the MSNBC host called the tragic attack on American troops "absolutely baffling," Seay said it was actually "almost inevitable," because it's such a remote and hostile area.
"The attacks that have increased can be traced back to militant group Boko Haram, which is based just across the border in Nigeria," the HuffPost reported, citing the Council on Foreign Relations and accounts from local residents.
"The Rachel Maddow Show" declined to comment to HuffPost but the host addressed the situation on Friday night’s episode.

U.S. Army Special Forces Sergeant Jeremiah Johnson, left, and U.S. Special Forces Sgt. Bryan Black were killed in Niger Oct. 4  (U.S. Army Special Operations Command)

"Over the course of the day today, lots of people have been very upset with me for reporting that last night, which is fine. I didn’t know you cared. But the upset over my reporting doesn’t mean that anything I reported wasn’t true," Maddow said. "Everything I reported was true."
Maddow continued: "Now, this doesn’t mean that Chad withdrawing their troops was necessarily the cause of what happened to those U.S. troops who were ambushed. That ambush is being described by the Pentagon as a shock."
The HuffPost’s Willa Frej wrote that Maddow built "myths" using unrelated or unreliable information and "reduced the story so thoroughly that it lost any semblance of the larger truth."
Maddow has seen increased viewership as the triggered left tunes in to watch her condemn Trump on a nightly basis, butit seems the MSNBC host this time went too far for one of the most liberal publications in America.