Trump calls out 'Fool Trade' after G7, says Trudeau acted 'hurt'

President Trump fired off a series of tweets early Monday criticizing Canada and its prime minister over trade policy, saying that "Fair Trade is now to be called Fool Trade if it is not Reciprocal."
"According to a Canada release, they make almost 100 Billion Dollars in Trade with U.S. (guess they were bragging and got caught!). Minimum is 17B. Tax Dairy from us at 270%. Then [Canadian Prime Minister] Justin [Trudeau] acts hurt when called out!" Trump added.
He continued, "Sorry, we cannot let our friends, or enemies, take advantage of us on Trade anymore. We must put the American worker first!"
The president sent the messages from Singapore approximately 24 hours before his scheduled summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump arrived in Singapore directly from a contentions G7 summit in Quebec, where he roiled his allies by first agreeing to a group statement on trade only to withdraw from it while complaining that he had been blindsided by Trudeau's criticism of Trump's tariff threats at a summit-ending news conference.
The attack on a longtime ally and its leader drew sharp criticism. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who also attended the summit, told German public television that she found Trump's tweet disavowing the G7 statement "sobering" and "a little depressing."Merkel also said the European Union would "act" against the U.S. trade measures.
Undeterred, Trump continued to tweet Monday: "Why should I, as President of the United States, allow countries to continue to make Massive Trade Surpluses, as they have for decades, while our Farmers, Workers & Taxpayers have such a big and unfair price to pay? Not fair to the PEOPLE of America! $800 Billion Trade Deficit...And add to that the fact that the U.S. pays close to the entire cost of NATO-protecting many of these same countries that rip us off on Trade (they pay only a fraction of the cost-and laugh!). The European Union had a $151 Billion Surplus-should pay much more for Military!"
Then, Trump turned his sights on Merkel's government: ....Germany pays 1% (slowly) of GDP towards NATO, while we pay 4% of a MUCH larger GDP. Does anybody believe that makes sense? We protect Europe (which is good) at great financial loss, and then get unfairly clobbered on Trade. Change is coming!"
Earlier, the White House escalated the initial tirade and leveled more withering and unprecedented criticism against Trudeau, branding him a backstabber unworthy of Trump's time.
"There's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door," Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro told "Fox News Sunday."
Canada's foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, said her country "does not conduct its diplomacy through ad hominem attacks."
Trudeau, who had said at the news conference that Canada would retaliate for new U.S. tariffs, didn't respond to questions about Trump when the prime minister arrived at a Quebec City hotel Sunday for meetings with other world leaders. Freeland later told reporters that "we don't think that's a useful or productive way to do business."
A Trudeau spokesman, Cameron Ahmad, said Saturday night that Trudeau "said nothing he hasn't said before -- both in public and in private conversations" with Trump.
And, Roland Paris, a former foreign policy adviser to Trudeau, jabbed at Trump on Twitter: "Big tough guy once he's back on his airplane. Can't do it in person. ... He's a pathetic little man-child."
Trudeau said he had reiterated to Trump, who left the G7 meeting before it ended, that tariffs would harm industries and workers on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. Trudeau told reporters that imposing retaliatory measures "is not something I relish doing" but that he wouldn't hesitate to do so because "I will always protect Canadian workers and Canadian interests."
Navarro said his harsh assessment of what "bad faith" Trudeau did with "that stunt press conference" on Saturday "comes right from Air Force One."
He said Trump "did the courtesy to Justin Trudeau to travel up to Quebec for that summit. He had other things, bigger things, on his plate in Singapore ... He did him a favor and he was even willing to sign that socialist communique. And what did Trudeau do as soon as the plane took off from Canadian airspace? Trudeau stuck our president in the back. That will not stand."
But the criticism left former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper stumped. "I don't understand the obsession with trade relations with Canada," he told Fox Business Network's "Sunday Morning Futures." "We're the closest partners in the world and you don't want to see a dispute over one particular issue poison everything."
Trudeau had said Saturday that Canadians "are polite, we're reasonable, but also we will not be pushed around." He described all seven leaders coming together to sign the joint declaration despite having "some strong, firm conversations on trade, and specifically on American tariffs."

Robert De Niro throws F-bombs at Trump during Tony Awards

Idiot

June 10, 2018: Robert De Niro introduces a performance by Bruce Springsteen at the 72nd annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall.  (AP)

Actor Robert De Niro launched a profanity-laced tirade at President Donald Trump during Sunday’s politically-charged Tony Awards, earning a standing ovation.
“I'm gonna say one thing: f--- Trump!" he stated, as he clenched his two fists in the air, leaving panic-stricken broadcast censors trying bleep out the remarks. "It's no longer down with Trump, it's f--- Trump!"
The U.S. viewers at home heard dead silence, though in other regions the f-bombs reportedly weren’t censored. The expletives sparked a roaring reaction from the audience, with many of the celebrities standing up.

The veteran actor went on to introduce Bruce Springsteen's performance. “Bruce, you can rock the house like nobody else," said De Niro. "Even more important in these perilous times, you rock the vote. Always fighting for, in your own words, truth, transparency, integrity in government. Boy, do we need that now.”
Backstage, playwright Tony Kushner raised De Niro for his tirade on stage, saying he agrees with the sentiment expressed by the actor. “Good for him. I mean, it’s Robert De Niro. Who’s gonna argue with him?” he said.
Kushner went on to denounce the Trump’s presidency as “the Hitler mistake” that put a “borderline psychotic narcissist in the White House.”
De Niro is a no fan of the president. He has recently appeared multiple times on “Saturday Night live,” playing Special Counsel Robert Mueller who’s investigating the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
In March, the actor reportedly bashed Trump at the Fulfillment Fund fundraiser. “A college education is important, but education without humanity is ignorance. Look at our president. He made it through the University of Pennsylvania, so he was exposed to a quality education, but he’s still an idiot. And he lacks any sense of humanity or compassion,” he said, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
De Niro again criticized Trump in April during the opening night of the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. "America's being run by a madman who wouldn't recognize the truth if it came inside a bucket of his beloved Colonel Sanders Fried Chicken,” he said.

Trump to meet Kim Jong Un for one-on-one at historic summit

President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un are planning to meet one-on-one during Tuesday’s historic summit in Singapore.
A U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak but was familiar with the summit plans, said Trump is set to meet with Kim at the beginning of the summit. They will be joined only by translators and will spend a couple of hours before admitting their close advisers to the meeting.
The plan for one-on-one meeting was first reported by Bloomberg.

People watch a TV screen showing file footage of U.S. President Donald Trump, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, June 11, 2018. Final preparations are underway in Singapore for Tuesday’s historic summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim, including a plan for the leaders to kick things off by meeting with only their translators present, a U.S. official said.  (AP)

Both leaders will be joined later by their closes aides. Trump will be joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton.
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of the North Korean leader who was launched a diplomatic offense at the Winter Olympics in South Korea earlier this year, will also be present in Singapore.
The summit is set to kick off with a handshake between Trump and Kim, a symbolic image that may define the future of millions of people. Trump’s meeting with Kim will be the first meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader in history.
The U.S. official noted that the summit is unlikely to last longer than one day.

 Ministry of Communications and Information of Singapore via AP  (In this photo released by the Ministry of Communications and Information of Singapore, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, arrives at the Changi International Airport, Sunday, June 10, 2018, in Singapore ahead of a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. )

The president said Saturday that he’ll understand Kim’s intentions “within the first minute” of meeting him and whether he’s willing to give up the nuclear arsenal.
“I feel that Kim Jong Un wants to do something great for his people,” Trump said at a press conference in Canada during the G7 summit over the weekend. “It’s a one-time shot and I think it’s going to work out very well.”
But he urged caution, adding that “there’s a good chance it won’t work out” and that “there’s probably an even better chance it will take a period of time.”
“I think the minimum would be relationship. You would start at least a dialogue, because, you know, as a deal person, I have done very well with deals,” Trump said of his expectations.
Pyongyang indicated that it may be open to getting rid of its nuclear weapons in exchange of the U.S. security guarantees and other benefits, though some believe it’s an unrealistic prospect as nuclear arsenal cements Kim’s grip on the country and deters all-out attacks against the them.
But the two sides could come up with a peace treaty that would end the Korean War, which is technically still in place since the 1950s. Trump also raised a possibility of further summits in the future.

Branco Political Cartoons

Busloads of Illegal Immigrants Arrive at a Federal Prison in Victorville, Calif.

County officials expect federal immigration officers to conduct raids in the near future. (Photo Courtesy of ICE)

Busloads of illegal immigrants are arriving at a federal prison facility in California’s high desert region.
Around 1,000 detainees were transferred from over crowded ICE detention facilities, to a prison complex in Victorville, about 85 miles north east of Los Angeles.
Visitations at the prison have been put on hold for security measures.
Immigrants rights groups say, by placing detainees in prisons, they’re being treated like criminals, and may not be receiving the assistance they need.
According to ICE officials a total of five federal prisons will be housing detainees awaiting court hearings.
The move, however, is said to only be temporary.

Pres. Trump Offers Blistering Rebuke Of Canadian Pm’s Trade Threats

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before leaving the White House in Washington, Friday, June 8, 2018, to attend the G7 Summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

OAN Newsroom
June 9, 2018
President Trump issues a blistering tweet about Canada and its Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, following his threat to impose tariffs on U.S. goods and his criticism of U.S. trade practices.

Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2018

Trudeau called recent U.S. tariffs “insulting” and said Canada will not be pushed around.
President Trump later responded saying Trudeau acted “meek and mild” during the G7 summit, calling his new statements “very dishonest and weak.”

PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, “US Tariffs were kind of insulting” and he “will not be pushed around.” Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2018

He also noted the recent U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods are due to Canada’s 270 percent upcharge on U.S. dairy.

The New York Times wants to bury a reporting scandal -- and other examples of media madness

James Wolfe, left, the former security director for the Senate Intelligence Committee, and New York Times reporter Ali Watkins, right. Federal investigators had seized years' worth of Watkins’ email and phone records as part of a leak probe into Wolfe.  (AP)

Government documents were leaked to the press. A reporter’s communications were seized by the government without her knowing about it. And a former Senate aide was charged with “lying repeatedly to investigators about his contacts with three reporters.”
It sounds like the makings of the next Hollywood production about the news media’s war against President Trump. There’s only one problem. The reporter wasn’t just involved with her stories. She was involved for three years with the man the feds charged.
The man is James A. Wolfe, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s director of security for nearly 30 years – an important figure for a young journalist to befriend.
Wolfe and Times reporter Ali Watkins “exchanged tens of thousands of electronic communications, often including daily texts and phone calls,” according to The Washington Post.
The Post described it this way: “How a reporter’s romance with her source muddies the FBI’s seizure of her records.”
“President Trump's administration excels at muddying the water, and the arrest of a former Senate aide, following an inquiry in which federal agents seized records from a New York Times reporter, might be its best work yet,” wrote Callum Borchers in The Post.
Most outlets weren’t that obvious. Especially The Times. Here are just a few of its headline choices: “Press Groups Criticize the Seizing of a Times Reporter’s Records.” Or “Times Says Justice Seized Reporter's Email, Phone Records.” Perhaps, even, “Former U.S. Senate Staffer Charged With Lying to FBI Over Contacts With Media.”
Notice the difference? The Times practices the CYA strategy known as “hide in plain sight.” It addresses the issue, but not until several paragraphs into the story, where only true news junkies read. A couple of those stories were written by The Associated Press and Reuters. In the Times version, we don’t learn until the seventh paragraph that “She and Mr. Wolfe had been in a three-year relationship.”
But there’s more. According to The Times, the Justice Department told Watkins back in February that it seized her records. Only she didn’t tell her bosses about the news.
“Ms. Watkins, after consulting with her lawyer, decided not to disclose the letter to The Times, according to Eileen Murphy, a spokeswoman for the newspaper.” Watkins waited until June. “Editors learned of the seizure from Ms. Watkins on Thursday, as reporters were working on an article about Mr. Wolfe’s impending arrest,” the Times wrote.
I bet Watkins’ editors were thrilled.
The Post story added several quotes defending Watkins, including those from when she worked at BuzzFeed and Politico.
Media ethics Professor Jane E. Kirtley tried to separate what was legal from “media ethics considerations” – for good reason. Then she used a unique public relations term for dating a source, calling it “a multidimensional relationship.”
The article even conveniently linked to the Society for Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, which reads in part: “Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Disclose unavoidable conflicts.” Apparently, that disclosure involves bosses, eventually, just not readers.
Watkins’ Twitter comments have also come back to haunt her. Back in 2013, she was tweeting about getting involved with a source.
“I wanted to be Zoe Barnes...until episode 4. Sleeping with your source- especially a vindictive congressman? #badlifechoice #HouseofCards,” she wrote in April. By June she asked, “So on a scale of 1 to ethical, how does everyone feel about pulling a @RealZoeBarnes for story ideas? #TOTALLYKIDDING @HouseofCards.”
Totally not kidding.
Bee Is Back: Fresh off a calling Ivanka Trump the C-word the week before, TBS comedy show host Samantha Bee was back for more. This time it was a thoroughly insincere apology on a broadcast so radioactive that most of her advertisers fled for the exits. None of those who advertised on the previous show were back for another round.
Bee argued her use of the word was innocent.  She said she has used the word “on the show many times, hoping to reclaim it.” She took yet another swing at Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. (She once called him a “fish-faced, horses--- salesman.”) This time she said: “I never intended it to hurt anyone except Ted Cruz.”
Still, Bee tried to take the sting out of her apology, claiming the classic comedian exemption. “If you are worried about the death of civility, don’t sweat it. I’m a comedian.”
Even The Washington Post called Bee out. Erik Wemple wrote: “We can worry plenty about the ‘niceness of our actions’ and refrain from calling Ivanka Trump a ‘feckless c---’ at the same time. It’s not an either-or proposition.”
Then Bee ended the pretend apology by talking about being nicer. “Civility is just nice words. Maybe we should all worry a little bit more about the niceness of our actions.” She’s a “comedian,” not a hypnotist. We don’t have to believe her.
Do As We Say, Not As We Do: Doxing is bad, just ask journalists who … do doxing. Wired describes doxing as “the distribution of someone's personal information across the internet against their will.” It’s become an awful tool of online combat. It can result in threats and job loss. It’s been used by extremists of almost every political stripe.
Lately, it’s become a tool of so-called journalism. The Daily Beast used it to target the daughters of conservative Pamela Geller. This time it was used both by and against HuffPost staff. Reporter Luke O’Brien went digging into the woman behind a popular Twitter account with about 220,000 followers.
O’Brien’s subsequent article didn’t just attack the author of the account. It went after her family. Here’s the unsubtle headline: “Trump’s Loudest Anti-Muslim Twitter Troll Is A Shady Vegan Married To An (Ousted) WWE Exec.” Only at the time he wasn’t “ousted.”
The story mentioned the woman’s husband who worked for pro wrestling’s WWE by name. O’Brien didn’t stop at targeting the man’s wife. He went after the man’s employer, asking for comment about the Twitter account.
O’Brien wasn’t satisfied with what he heard the first time from the WWE, so he tried again. This time he got results. “Now that it has come to our attention” the man (who I am choosing not to name) is no longer an employee,” said a WWE spokesperson. The completed story mentioned the WWE 10 separate times.
O’Brien’s story even brought in the woman’s brother and his wife, though they had nothing to do with her activities.
“Her brother runs a popular restaurant and craft beer bar in Brooklyn that also bears the family name,” O’Brien wrote.
In the resulting battle, O’Brien was doxed, as were many others on the HuffPost staff. O’Brien was also suspended from Twitter for telling someone to “Go DDT himself,” which he claims believably was intended to reference a wrestling move. He also said less believably that his reporting was, “EXACTLY how ethical journalism works.”
HuffPost Editor-in-Chief Lydia Polgreen defended the story: “Doxing is revealing a person’s private information: home address, telephone number, etc. Identifying a popular anonymous troll by name is NOT doxing,” she wrote, seemingly forgetting the woman’s husband, as well as her brother and his wife.
Polgreen added that “private information of 10 of my colleagues – some of whom had no connection to this reporter – was also doxed.” She concluded with an ironic truism: “It’s scary stuff.”
It’s scary for everyone, not just journalists.

Kim Jong Un arrives in Singapore for summit with Trump

A motorcade carrying Kim Jong Un sped through the streets of Singapore on Sunday after the North Korean leader arrived for a scheduled summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The jet carrying Kim had landed earlier in the afternoon amid huge security precautions on the city-state island.
Kim's summit with Trump has captured intense global attention after a turn to diplomacy in recent months following serious fears of war last year amid North Korean nuclear and missile tests.
The North Korean autocrat's every move will be followed by 3,000 journalists up until he shakes hands with Trump.
Despite the initial high stakes of a meeting meant to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons, the talks have been portrayed by Trump in recent days more as a get-to-know meeting. He has also raised the possibility of further summits and an agreement ending the Korea War by replacing the armistice signed in 1953 with a peace treaty. China and South Korea would have to sign off on any legal treaty.

A motorcade believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un travels along Singapore's Orchard Road, June 10, 2018.  (Associated Press)

There has been widespread speculation about Kim's rare trip out of the North, where he enjoys supreme power. He will reportedly stay at the St. Regis Hotel, where China's President Xi Jinping once stayed. He may be bringing his own armored limousine and bodyguards. A throng of journalists stood outside the hotel.
It's not just the logistics of Kim's trip that are unclear. There's a flurry of speculation about what results might come from the summit.
It initially was meant to rid the North of its weapons, to forge the "complete denuclearization" of the country. North Korea has said it's willing to deal away its entire nuclear arsenal if the United States provides it with a reliable security assurance and other benefits. But many, if not all analysts, say that this is highly unlikely, given how hard it has been for Kim to build his program and that the weapons are seen as the only protection he has.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, arrives at the Changi International Airport, in Singapore, June 10, 2018.  (Ministry of Communications and Information of Singapore via Associated Press)

Any nuclear deal will hinge on North Korea's willingness to allow unfettered outside inspections of the country's warheads and radioactive materials, much of which is likely kept in a vast complex of underground facilities.
Another possibility from the summit is a possible deal to end the Korean War. North Korea has long demanded a treaty that may be aimed at getting U.S. troops off the Korean Peninsula and, eventually, paving the way for a North Korean-led unified Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, is greeted by Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, at the Changi International Airport, June 10, 2018.  (Ministry of Communications and Information Singapore via Associated Press)

The fighting ended on July 27, 1953, but the war technically continues today because instead of a difficult-to-negotiate peace treaty, military officers for the U.S.-led United Nations, North Korea and China signed an armistice that halted the fighting. The North may see a treaty -- and its presumed safety assurances from Washington -- as its best way of preserving the Kim family dynasty. The ensuing recognition as a "normal country" could then allow sanctions relief, and later international aid and investment.
Trump's supporters have floated the idea that forging such a treaty, which would need a signoff from China and South Korea, would deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.
Kim may be interested in getting aid and eventual investment to stabilize and then rebuild a crumbling economy. Just meeting with Trump will also give Kim recognition as the leader of a "normal" country and as an equal of the U.S. leader.

CBS Charlie Rose Cartoons

Charlie Rose reportedly invited to join media elite at Idaho retreat

Disgraced host Charlie Rose was fired from his CBS and PBS jobs, but he may still be welcome among some of the media elite.
Rose is reportedly included on the guest list for next month’s Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Idaho.
The annual week-long retreat, where the media and finance worlds come together, is known for its lovely scenery and its “potential for furtive deal-making,” Vanity Fair reported.
If he attends, Rose -- who lost his "CBS This Morning" gig and eponymous public-television talk show over allegations of sexual misconduct -- would find himself in the company of media giants such as Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, CBS CEO Les Moonves, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and others, the magazine reported.
The news of Rose's possible re-emergence followed rumors that he was being considered for a #MeToo-inspired comeback series, a report said.
Page Six reported in April that producers pitched the idea of a show on which the likes of Louis C.K., Matt Lauer and others implicated in high-profile sexual misconduct scandals would be interviewed.
Editor and women's advocate Tina Brown, who ultimately passed on the idea, said at the Time 100 Gala that she was approached about co-hosting the #MeToo show with Rose.
But after word got out, social media users quickly posted their disapproval.
In May, a report revealed an additional 27 women had accused Rose of inappropriate sexual behavior over the years. A lawsuit filed that month by three former colleagues claimed the journalist sexually harassed female underlings and threatened their jobs.
Rose didn’t respond to Vanity Fair’s request to confirm whether he would attend the Idaho event.

Stewing about Trump, California tech group bets on distant ‘purple’ candidates

Democratic candidate for Michigan's 8th Congressional District Elissa Slotkin, a former Defense Department official and intelligence analyst, poses for a picture on her family farm in Holly, Michigan, U.S., April 12, 2018. Picture taken April 12, 2018. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

June 9, 2018
By Heather Somerville
MILL VALLEY, California (Reuters) – Sipping California zinfandel, munching deviled eggs and fretting about President Donald Trump, the guests attending a political fundraiser at a Silicon Valley executive’s home were the usual assortment of tech entrepreneurs and investors.
But the congressional candidate they had come to meet that March evening in the hills north of San Francisco was anything but typical.
Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat and former defense official, is running for Congress in Michigan’s 8th District, a pocket of Detroit suburbs, college campuses and farmland more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) away. She is a gun owner, a supporter of constitutionally enshrined gun rights and a critic of single payer health care – hardly the kind of far-left candidate voters in the San Francisco Bay Area generally embrace.
But Slotkin, 41, and the party guests shared a goal: wresting control of the House of Representatives from Republicans in November’s congressional elections.
With no Bay Area Democrats facing serious challenges from Republicans, the party host, Brian Monahan, and a group of fellow technology and marketing executives have decided to look farther afield for candidates in swing districts that need financial support.
To focus their efforts, Monahan, technology investor Chris Albinson, executive recruiter Jon Love and a handful of others have formed a loose-knit organization they call Purple Project.
So far, the group has raised at least $210,000 for Democratic candidates in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. The sum is a pittance compared to the money being spent on key races by fundraising Political Action Committees (PACs), which represent corporations and political interest groups and contribute millions of dollars each election cycle. But in moderate districts with close races like Slotkin’s, such grassroots efforts can make a difference.
‘SIMPLY UNACCEPTABLE’
Purple Project is one of a number of informal groups in solidly blue states such as California, Vermont and Massachusetts that have mobilized this year to back candidates in distant swing districts. So far, it has endorsed six candidates and plans to endorse 14 more by the end of July.
Love, a longtime executive recruiter for technology companies, spearheads candidate vetting. Many in the group have made the maximum allowable individual donation of $2,700 to each candidate.
For its participants, Purple Project is a way to channel months of political frustrations since Trump took office.
“Things are simply unacceptable and sitting on the sidelines just stewing on it isn’t helping anyone,” Monahan said. “You feel like out here in California your vote is worthless.”
That’s because House representatives from the San Francisco Bay Area are unwaveringly Democratic.
The group’s efforts could backfire, however, by opening candidates up to accusations of being beholden to outside interests and disconnected from their constituents, said Kyle Kondik, who studies House races for the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
“You might be able to attack Slotkin as not having deep enough roots in the district,” Kondik said.
To re-take the House, Democrats would need to take 23 seats held by Republicans, as well as keep all the districts they now hold. That means races like Slotkin’s, in a competitive district with a mix of Republican and Democratic counties stretching from north of Detroit to the state capitol, Lansing, are pivotal.
She faces a bruising battle, however, trying to unseat two-term Congressman Mike Bishop, who won with 56 percent of the vote in 2016.
Out-of-state money has been the financial lifeblood of Slotkin’s campaign, putting her far ahead of her competitor for the Democratic nomination and nearly neck-and-neck with Bishop. Slotkin had raised $1.5 million as of March 31, with just $304,000 coming from Michigan donors, approaching Bishop’s $317,000 in home-state contributions, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Slotkin raised more than $120,000 from individuals in the San Francisco Bay Area.
(Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2sjPBV1)
FEC filings generally do not include donations of $200 or less.
“Our campaign finance laws are so broken that in order to compete you have to raise a significant amount of money,” she told Reuters during a tour of her 400-acre farm in Holly, Michigan, when asked about Purple Project’s donations to her campaign. “If that means raising from outside the state I’d rather have that than the influence of a corporate PAC.”
At a house party in April in the small Michigan city of Brighton, about a dozen neighbors from a tidy middle-class neighborhood gathered to meet Slotkin and cheer her on, but not all were hopeful.
“I don’t give her much of a chance, but it’s good to have her there and maybe she’ll take a bite out of Bishop’s vote,” said Blake Lancaster, 74.
PERSONAL POLITICS
Purple Project is a political organization with a deeply personal origin. Albinson, co-founder of San Francisco technology investment firm Founders Circle, said he was unnerved to learn his father-in-law in Michigan, Jerry Smith, voted for Trump. After 18 years as a registered Republican, Albinson, also a Michigan native, became an independent voter following Trump’s nomination.
He set about finding moderate congressional candidates he and his friends in Silicon Valley could support, but who would also appeal to Smith.
After Albinson met Slotkin, he subjected her to a litmus test: she had to visit his father-in-law.
Smith, 72, describes himself as a “common-sense Republican” worried about his healthcare costs. A retired small business owner who lives on a 40-acre farm just outside the 8th District, Smith said he and his wife, Barb, fret about spending down their savings “just for the regular monthly bills.”
Slotkin won over Smith, who said he was impressed by her resume and decency, and her views on improving President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul, the Affordable Care Act, to keep healthcare costs down. From there, Purple Project has grown, with members scattered across the country.
To win the group’s backing, candidates must be able to appeal to Trump supporters and must have past service in the military, government or non-profit sector. They also have to reject corporate PAC money and support affordable health care and infrastructure improvement, among other criteria.
The group offers more than money. Monahan, who was head of marketing at Walmart.com and an advertising executive at image-sharing and shopping website Pinterest, helps campaigns with digital marketing, for instance.
Last spring, Slotkin left Washington and a 15-year government career in defense and intelligence work to move back to the family farm in Holly. But some of her neighbors in this working-class town are not particularly interested in a newcomer Democrat.
Holly town supervisor George Kullis said he plans to vote for Bishop because the congressman helped him get federal funding for new signs for the national cemetery in town.
“Bishop has been good; he’s been ‘Johnny on the spot,'” Kullis said. “Besides, who is this Elissa Slotkin? I’ve never heard of her.”
(Reporting by Heather Somerville; Editing by Sue Horton and Ross Colvin)

President Trump: I’m Not Above the Law, No Reason to Pardon Myself

President Trump is doubling down on his claims there was no collusion between his 2016 campaign and Russia. He is accusing Democrats of using the Russia investigation to undermine his presidency.
While speaking to reporters outside the White House Friday, the president hit back against the media, saying he does not believe he is above the law, however, he does have the executive power to pardon himself.
He added, a self-pardon is not needed because he did nothing wrong.
The president called the Russia probe a total ‘witch hunt’ and suggested that Democrats should be investigated for corruption in reference to the FBI’s alleged mishandling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation and SPYGATE.
“I do have an absolute right to pardon myself, but I’ll never have to do it because I didn’t do anything wrong and everybody knows it,” said President Trump. “There’s been no collusion, there’s been no obstruction — it’s all a made up fantasy, it’s a witch hunt.”
The special counsel’s Russia investigation entered its second year last month, and has so far cost taxpayers around $17 million.

Bid to block Bernie Sanders? DNC adopts rule change, wants only avowed Democrats to run

The Democratic National Committee adopted a new rule Friday aimed at preventing non-Democrats, such as independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, from seeking the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, reports said.
The rule change, adopted at a DNC meeting in Providence, R.I., requires all candidates for the party’s nomination to “run and serve” as Democrats, Yahoo News reported.
Some supporters of Sanders -- who caucuses with the Democrats despite declining to declare a party affiliation -- say the move was motivated by “spite” after Sanders gave Hillary Clinton a run for her money during the Democratic primaries in 2016.
But a source told Yahoo News it was actually part of a push to limit the power of so-called superdelegates -- which, ironically, has long been a goal of Sanders.'
Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, ultimately lost the nomination to Clinton when superdelegates from states he won chose not to vote for him at the party's 2016 convention in Philadelphia.
DNC Chairman Tom Perez on Tuesday floated a proposal to eliminate superdelegates on a presidential primary’s first voting ballot, the Washington Post reported. Party leaders would vote only if the contest required a second ballot.
“You had superdelegates voting for Hillary Clinton in states that I won pretty handsomely,” Sanders told Post this week. “And now there is agreement among Tom Perez and our people, and a lot of the Clinton people, to say we should reduce the number of superdelegates.”
Still, the rule change left some Sanders supporters puzzled as to why Democrats would want to make their party less inclusive.
“We just came off a devastating presidential loss in 2016,” Mark Longabaugh, a senior adviser to Sanders’ 2016 campaign, told Yahoo News. “It would seem to me the actual impetus would be to expand the Democratic Party. I, just for the life of me, don’t see any motivation for this beyond personal spite.”

"I just for the life of me don’t see any motivation for this beyond personal spite.”

A photo of a printout of the rule change was shared Friday in a Twitter message posted by DNC member Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
“At the time a presidential candidate announces their candidacy publicly, they must publicly affirm that they are a Democrat,” the printout says. "Each candidate must then affirm in writing that they: A. are a member of the Democratic Party; B. will accept the Democratic nomination; C. will run and serve as a member of the Democratic Party.”
But Sanders may be protected from the change thanks to a resolution passed in his home state, by which he is considered a Democrat, “for all purposes and [is] entitled to all the rights and privileges that come with such membership at the state and federal level,” Politico reported.

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton clashed in a heated presidential primary.  (Associated Press)

DNC members will meet in August for a final vote on the proposal to eliminate superdelegates, Yahoo News reported.

State-level Dems funneled $84M to Clinton's campaign, lawsuit alleges

As many as 40 state-level Democratic parties may have been involved in a scheme to funnel as much as $84 million to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, a campaign finance lawyer contends.
Dan Backer, an attorney based in Virginia, has filed a lawsuit alleging that a plan was in place to circumvent campaign contribution limits set by the federal government, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
“You had individuals giving $300,000,” Backer told the newspaper Friday. “They’re not doing it because they care about Nevada’s or Arkansas’ state party. They’re doing it to curry favor with and buy influence with Hillary Clinton.”

“You had individuals giving $300,000. They’re not doing it because they care about Nevada’s or Arkansas’ state party. They’re doing it to curry favor with and buy influence with Hillary Clinton.”

Nevada’s Democratic Party may become the latest pulled into a federal lawsuit that Backer has filed, the paper reported. Backer represents the Committee to Defend the President, a pro-Donald Trump political action committee that initially lodged a complaint in December with the Federal Election Commission, the report says.
Backer told the paper he filed his lawsuit because the FEC failed to meet a deadline for taking action.
He said the Hillary Victory Fund reported transferring more than $1.7 million to the Nevada Democratic Party between December 2015 and November 2016. But the party reported receiving only $146,200, which it transferred to the DNC.
The remaining $1.6 million was sent by the Hillary Victory Fund to the Nevada party and received by the DNC and never appeared on the Nevada party’s reports, Backer contends.
But Nevada's Democratic Party disputed Backer's claims.
“This is nothing more than a bogus political stunt feebly designed to distract from vulnerable Republicans’ disastrous agenda,” Helen Kalla, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Democratic Party, told the Review Journal.

“This is nothing more than a bogus political stunt feebly designed to distract from vulnerable Republicans’ disastrous agenda.”
- Helen Kalla, spokeswoman, Nevada Democratic Party

In Idaho, Democrats allegedly contributed $1.6 million to the plan in a series of 13 transactions, the Idaho Statesman reported.
But local party officials might have been unaware of how the money was being handled, the paper reported.
It is "reasonably possible the Idaho State Democratic Party had no prior knowledge of, or control over, these transfers because they were handled entirely by HVF, the DNC, HFA, [Hillary Victory Fund, Democratic National Committee, Hillary for America] and/or their treasurers," states the 101-page complaint that Backer’s group filed in December, the Statesman reported.
The Idaho Democratic Party did not respond to the newspaper’s request for a comment.
In Delaware, the state Democratic Party received $2.4 million from the Hillary Victory Fund over 11 transactions, then transferred roughly the same amount to the DNC, WXDE-FM radio reported.
The handling of cash in Delaware “doesn’t pass the sniff test,” Backer told the station.

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Trump should consider pardoning ex-CIA boss Petraeus, senator says

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and other Republicans walk to a closed-door GOP meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 18, 2013.  (Associated Press)

After recently granting a pardon and considering at least two more, President Donald Trump should also consider pardoning former CIA director and U.S. Army general David Petraeus, a U.S. senator said.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, made the suggestion Thursday morning during an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, the Washington Examiner reported.
While in the Army, Petraeus oversaw coalition forces during the Iraq War before moving to the CIA under the Obama administration.
But his time at the CIA was short-lived. A 2012 FBI investigation unearthed emails between Petraeus and his biographer, Paula Broadwell, with whom he was having an affair.
Petraeus pleaded guilty in 2015 to a misdemeanor charge of handling classified information, which he gave to Broadwell in eight notebooks.
"I think Gen. Petraeus is an incredible patriot, and helped guide our country during a very difficult time in Iraq and basically pulled a rabbit out of a hat there. But he made a terrible mistake," Cornyn said on Hewitt’s show. "What I respect about Gen. Petraeus is he admitted it candidly and publicly, and took responsibility for it. You don’t see that much in Washington.”

"I think Gen. Petraeus is an incredible patriot, and helped guide our country during a very difficult time in Iraq ... But he made a terrible mistake. What I respect about Gen. Petraeus is he admitted it candidly and publicly, and took responsibility for it."

President Trump had once considered Petraeus to be his secretary of state. But that title ultimately went to Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon-Mobil CEO who has since resigned.
The prospect of pardoning Petraeus comes shortly after Trump pardoned conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, who pleaded guilty to making illegal campaign contributions in the 2012 Senate race.
Trump is also reportedly considering pardons for TV personality Martha Stewart and former Illinois Gov. Rob Blagojevich, Politico reported.
The president also recently commuted the sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, 62, who had served more than 20 years of a life sentence without parole for a nonviolent drug offense, the report said.

Seattle cracks down on renters, free speech – and common sense. Good luck trying to rent an apartment

The Seattle City Council seems to think the right to speak is a privilege it can grant or withhold at its pleasure. It has slapped a year-long ban on the use of certain housing websites that allow renters to place bids on advertised rental housing, while it reviews the sites.
Officials say they fear the sites might violate local housing laws or inflate housing costs, so the City Council wants to study the sites while forbidding their use in the meantime. While city leaders try to figure things out, landlords are barred from posting ads on the sites, and renters can’t even do a simple search for Seattle housing on the sites.
This is a clear restriction of speech protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Pacific Legal Foundation, representing a website called Rentberry and a small-time landlord, recently filed a lawsuit to raise this claim.

The City Council will likely try to portray the website ban as modest and temporary, as if it is just pressing the “pause” button. But in fact, the City Council has resurrected a frightening government power – the power to censor speech until the government has decided to approve it.
In First Amendment parlance, a law that forces speakers to receive government approval in advance of speaking (including publishing) is called a prior restraint – the most insidious form of government speech restriction.
In 17th century England, for instance, anyone who wanted to publish a book or a pamphlet had to get the government’s permission from the royal Stationers’ Company. John Milton famously broke that rule in 1643 by publishing a pamphlet without asking for permission that called for the legalization of divorce.
When scandalized officials called for the pamphlet to be censored and burned, Milton published another unapproved pamphlet called the “Areopagitica,” one of the greatest defenses of free speech ever written. Milton conceded that cultivating virtue was vital, “yet God commits the managing so great a trust, without particular Law or prescription, wholly to the demeanour of every grown man.”
In other words, we’re all adults here – we’re just as wise or virtuous as the clucking politicians who would censor us for our own good.
Our own Supreme Court has long frowned on prior restraints, and the prior restraints it has struck down share much in common with the website ban.
In one case, an anti-Semitic tabloid lambasted a public official, who then sued to have the tabloid declared a “public nuisance.” The trial court issued a temporary restraining order to bar the tabloid from publishing until the court decided whether it was a nuisance or not.
And in the famous Pentagon Papers case, the government sought to put a temporary halt on publishing secret Defense Department documents because the publication might endanger national interests.
In both these cases, the government wanted to place a temporary hold on speech while it determined whether the speech was harmful. The Supreme Court’s position was firm – government couldn’t just hold speech hostage “predicated upon surmise or conjecture that untoward consequences may result.”
The Seattle City Council dallies with the same unconstitutional pattern here; it wants to place a hold on use of websites – based on nothing but speculation and suspicion that these sites might be bad.
We’ve been here before.

The government’s behavior toward Milton or the Pentagon Papers may seem more oppressive than requiring pre-approval for a commercial website. But we enter dangerous territory when we let government decide what speech is worthy of protection and what speech isn’t.
Certainly, Milton’s controversial pamphlet advocating legal divorce carries more gravity than a landlord posting an ad for a townhouse in Seattle. But speech is speech. And no one needs the government’s permission to speak.
The message behind this website ban – whether the Seattle City Council realizes it or not – is that the Council members believe people are not free to speak until the City Council says they can.
This is a distressing revival of ghosts that we long ago thought vanquished. The City Council’s conceit might be cured by a healthy dose of modesty. And perhaps a lesson in constitutional history.
Ethan Blevins is an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, which litigates nationwide to achieve court victories enforcing the Constitution’s guarantee of individual liberty.

US plan to release alleged American ISIS fighter in Syria draws ACLU legal challenge

A member loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) waves an ISIL flag in Raqqa June 29, 2014  (Reuters)

The Trump administration’s plan to release a suspected American ISIS fighter caught in Syria back to Syria is facing a legal challenge from a civil rights group that decried the move as the “death sentence.”

An unidentified man, who holds a dual Saudi-U.S. citizenship, has been held in Iraq by the U.S. military for about nine months. The U.S. government’s attempt to transfer the American into Iraq or Saudi Arabia failed in April after a U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan blocked the release. Last month, a federal appeals court panel upheld the ruling.

The Pentagon is now seeking to release the detained American near where he was captured by Syrian Democratic Forces and turned over to the U.S. military, according to a declaration filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis was named in the ACLU's lawsuit against the Pentagon's plan to release the American citizen in Syria.  (AP)

“Upon his release, the Petitioner will be given $4,210 in cash, the same amount he had in his possession when was captured,” the Pentagon official, Mark Mitchell, said in the documents, Politico reported.
“He will also be provided a new cellular phone (in its original sealed packaging), which he can activate and use if he desires to do so. He will be provided sufficient food and water to last for several days,” he added.
The official said the planned release is considered to be “safe” and that it complied with “traditional military practice.”
But the plan is facing a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represents the unnamed man. The group opposes his release into Syria and sued Secretary of Defense James Mattis and the Department of Defense.

The Trump administration has effectively admitted it has no reason to detain our client and he doesn’t pose a threat. But instead of offering a safe release, they want to dump an American citizen onto the side of a road in a war-torn country without protection or identification.

— ACLU (@ACLU) June 7, 2018

“Instead of offering a safe release, they want to dump an American citizen onto the side of the road in a war-torn country without any assurances of protection and no identification,” Jonathan Hafetz, an ACLU attorney, said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The Trump administration has effectively admitted it has no reason to detain our client and he doesn’t pose a threat. But instead of offering a safe release, they want to dump an American citizen onto the side of a road in a war-torn country without protection or identification,” the group added.
The release of the man into the war-ravaged country should happen this week, but the ACLU lawsuit is expected to delay the action. The alleged ISIS fighter reportedly declined the two release options – either be in a town or near an Internally Displaced Person camp.
The unnamed man denies he went to Syria to fight for ISIS and says he wanted to document the violence there.

James A. Wolfe, former Senate Intel panel security director, indicted for allegedly lying to FBI

Justice Department announces that a former security director for the Senate Intelligence Committee has been indicted and accused of making false statements to FBI agents while they were investigating leaks of classified information.
A former security director for the Senate Intelligence Committee -- who was in charge of maintaining all classified information from the Executive Office to the panel -- was indicted for allegedly giving false statements to FBI agents looking into possible leaks to reporters, the Justice Department announced Thursday night.
James A. Wolfe, 58, served as the panel's security director for 29 years, according to the feds.
Wolfe lied to the FBI in December 2017 about contacts he had with three reporters, the indictment read. He also allegedly lied about giving two reporters non-public information about committee matters.

The New York Times revealed federal investigators had seized years' worth of email and phone records relating to reporter Ali Watkins.

Earlier Thursday, the New York Times revealed that federal investigators had seized years' worth of email and phone records relating to one of its reporters, Ali Watkins. She previously had a three-year romantic relationship with Wolfe, the Times reported, adding that the records covered a period of time before she joined the paper.
Wolfe allegedly admitted to FBI agents in 2017 that he lied to them about his relationship with a reporter identified in court papers as "REPORTER #2" after he was shown photos of the two of them together. But he maintained that he did not share any classified information or news leads.
Wolfe is not charged with disclosing classified information.
Wolfe was allegedly in contact with "REPORTER #2" and exchanged tens of thousands of electronic communications and often daily phone calls. He would also meet at the reporter’s apartment, court papers alleged.
Wolfe had extensive contact with reporters about "MALE-1," who was reportedly identified as Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser.
Wolfe received classified information about "MALE-1" on the same day he exchanged 82 text messages with "REPORTER #2," according to the indictment. A few weeks later, "REPORTER #2" published an online article that revealed the identity of "MALE-1."
On April 3, 2017, Watkins’ byline appeared on a BuzzFeed article that revealed that Page had met with a Russian intelligence operative in 2013.
Wolfe allegedly called "REPORTER #2" nearly a half-hour after the story went live and had a phone conversation for about seven minutes.
In December 2017, Wolfe allegedly messaged "REPORTER #2."
“I’ve watched your career take off even before you ever had a career in journalism. ... I always tried to give you as much Information (sic) that I could and to do the right thing with it so you could get that scoop before anyone else. ... I always enjoyed the way that you would pursue a story,like nobody else was doing in my hal1way (sic). I felt like I was part of your excitement and was always very supportive of your career and the tenacity that you exhibited to chase down a good story," the message read, according to the indictment.
Watkins worked previously for BuzzFeed, Politico and McClatchy.
The Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed source, reported that Watkins disclosed the relationship when she joined The Times.
Mark MacDougall, Watkins’ attorney, said: "It's always disconcerting when a journalist's telephone records are obtained by the Justice Department — through a grand jury subpoena or other legal process. Whether it was really necessary here will depend on the nature of the investigation and the scope of any charges."
It is alleged that Wolfe used several means to contact reporters, including Signal and WhatsApp. He also met “clandestinely in person,” in secluded areas of the Hart Senate Office Building, the indictment charges.
Wolfe is expected to make his first court appearance Friday. It wasn't immediately clear if he had a lawyer. Each false statement count is punishable by up to five years in prison, though if convicted, Wolfe would almost certainly face only a fraction of that time.

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