Senate moves forward with resolution to end US military support for Yemen war

The Senate on Wednesday advanced a resolution that would end U.S. military support for the Saudi-led conflict in Yemen that human rights advocates say is wreaking havoc on the country and subjecting civilians to indiscriminate bombing.
The procedural vote was 63-37, a rebuke to Saudi Arabia and President Trump's administration, which has issued a veto threat.  Late Wednesday, the Senate agreed to postpone any further action on the resolution until next week.
Lawmakers from both parties have signaled they want to punish Saudi Arabia for its role in the murder of writer and activist Jamal Khashoggi.
The U.S. is not directly involved in the civil war, but provides assistance to the Saudi-led coalition, including intelligence sharing and weapons sales. There has been increased scrutiny of that support in the wake of the killing of Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkey. U.S. intelligence agencies are said to have concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman must have at least known about the plan to kill Khashoggi, although Trump has appeared to doubt that assessment.
After a closed-door briefing with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary James Mattis, as Fox News previously reported, several senators said they were unsatisfied and likely to back the resolution to halt U.S. interference.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Fox News after the vote: “I changed my mind ’cause I’m pi--ed. … I don’t agree with what they’re doing. The way the administration has handled Saudi has been unacceptable, briefing didn’t help me today at all. Yemen is just one part of the puzzle. I think we have a right to be briefed by the CIA. How can I make an informed decision if I don’t have access to intelligence?”
SOME CARAVAN MIGRANTS HEADING BACK AS OTHERS ARRIVE AT U.S. BORDER
Emerging from the briefing, Pompeo said the vote would be "poorly timed" as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict are underway.
The years-long war, which began after the Houthis ousted the Yemen government in 2014, has wreaked havoc upon the country, and led to the bombing of civilians and a devastating cholera outbreak.
Tens of thousands of people are believed to have been killed in the conflict. Two-thirds of Yemen’s 27 million population rely on aid and more than 8 million are at risk of starvation. U.N. Special Envoy Martin Griffiths told the U.N. Security Council this month that Yemen “remains the largest humanitarian disaster in the world,” and civilians are dying from preventable diseases as the economy remains on the verge of collapse.
U.S. SERVICE MEMBERS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN BOMB ATTACK ARE IDENTIFIED
“The United States can no longer turn a blind eye to this conflict because we are a party to it. The longer we enable the conflict to continue, the more innocent men, women and children will die,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in a statement to Fox News after the vote. “I welcomed Secretary Mattis’ announcement that the United States will no longer refuel the coalition’s aircraft. But more must be done. Until there is a congressional authorization, all U.S. forces supporting the coalition’s war should be withdrawn. That’s why I support the Sanders-Lee resolution. By ending our participation in this brutal war, we will send an unambiguous message that we won’t accept continued bloodshed.”

Corsi tries to go on offensive against Mueller, DOJ, asks lawyers to file ‘criminal complaint’

Jerome Corsi, the conservative author accused of lying under oath to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators, instructed his legal team on Wednesday to file a criminal complaint against ‘Mueller’s special counsel’ and the Department of Justice, alleging prosecutorial misconduct.
Corsi, who was not specific about the alleged misconduct, said in the tweet that he retained attorney Larry Klayman, the founder of the conservative Judicial Watch. He later left and founded Freedom Watch. Bloomberg reported that Klayman is representing Alabama's Roy Moore in a defamation suit against comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and CBS Corp.
Corsi told Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Tuesday that Mueller's investigators accused him of lying after he didn’t "give them what they wanted." He elaborated further Wednesday on “Hannity.”
"My experience made it clear to me that political criminals are running the Department of Justice and Mueller’s prosecution," he said. "I was ridiculed; my testimony was laughed at; they yawned at it; they misbehaved. They accused me of being a liar and a fabricator."
The author theorized that investigators hoped that he would admit to a connection with WikiLeaks' Julian Assange. The connection would bolster their Russian collusion investigation, he said. A link between Corsi and Assange would make it easy to tie in President Trump's former Trump adviser Roger Stone, he said.
Corsi rejected a deal with investigators that would have required him to plead guilty to perjury. He said he could not lie to something he knew to be false, even if it meant living out his life in prison.
A draft court filing prepared as part of the abortive plea deal, which Corsi has provided to multiple media outlets, said Corsi notified Trump adviser Stone in August 2016 that WikiLeaks intended to release information damaging to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
Corsi, the onetime Washington bureau chief of the website InfoWars, said he had "figured out that Assange had Podesta’s emails. I figured that out and told Roger Stone and told many people in August and it just happened that I was right."
The DOJ did not immediately respond to an email from Fox News.
Bloomberg reported that Klayman said in an email that he is preparing to file a complaint with Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and two units within the DOJ.

Stormy Daniels says lawyer Avenatti sued Trump for defamation without her OK

Adult-film actress Stormy Daniels claimed Wednesday that her attorney, Michael Avenatti, sued President Trump for defamation without her approval and launched a second fundraising campaign to raise money "without my permission or even my knowledge ... and attributing words to me that I never wrote or said."
In a statement to The Daily Beast, Daniels said that "Avenatti has been a great advocate in many ways," but she added: "in other ways Michael has not treated me with the respect and deference an attorney should show to a client."
"For months I’ve asked Michael Avenatti to give me accounting information about the fund my supporters so generously donated to for my safety and legal defense," Daniels said. "He has repeatedly ignored those requests. Days ago I demanded again, repeatedly, that he tell me how the money was being spent and how much was left.
"Instead of answering me ... Michael launched another crowdfunding campaign to raise money on my behalf. I learned about it on Twitter," added Daniels, who also said that she had not yet decided if Avenatti would continue to represent her.
Avenatti responded with a statement obtained by Fox News: " I am and have always been Stormy’s biggest champion.  I have personally sacrificed an enormous amount of money, time and energy toward assisting her because I believe in her. I have always been an open book with Stormy as to all aspects of her cases and she knows that.  You need only look back at her numerous prior interviews where she states we talk and communicate multiple times every day about her cases.
STORMY DANIELS DEFAMATION SUIT AGAINST TRUMP TOSSED ON FIRST AMENDMENT GROUNDS
"The retention agreement Stormy signed back in February provided that she would pay me $100.00 and that any and all other monies raised via a legal fund would go toward my legal fees and costs," Avenatti went on. "Instead, the vast majority of the money raised has gone toward her security expenses and similar other expenses. The most recent campaign was simply a refresh of the prior campaign, designed to help defray some of Stormy’s expenses."
The fundraising appeal on the website CrowdJustice had raised $4,785 as of Wednesday evening. The fundraising page appeared to have been taken down after the Daily Beast published Daniels' statement. The website reported that an earlier fundraiser netted more than $580,000 for Daniels' expenses earlier this year.

Stormy Daniels and Michael Avenatti outside federal court in Manhattan earlier this year. (Reuters)

Last month, a federal judge in Los Angeles threw out Daniels' defamation suit against the president, which arose from an April tweet in which Trump denied her claims of being threatened by a man in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claimed Daniels said the man was threatening her for going public about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. Trump has repeatedly denied the affair took place.
As part of his ruling in the defamation suit, U.S. District Judge S. James Otero ordered Daniels to pay Trump's legal fees, which the president's attorneys estimated to be $350,000.
Daniels initially sued Trump to invalidate the confidentiality agreement she signed days before the 2016 presidential election that prevented her from discussing a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump years before he ran for president. The confidentiality agreement included a payment of $130,000 to Daniels from Trump's then-personal attorney Michael Cohen. This past August, Cohen admitted to making payments to Daniels and another woman, Karen McDougal "at the direction" of then-candidate Trump in violation of federal campaign finance law.

Cartoons

Trump goes unnamed but is clearly referenced as Obama, Bush-era figure talk politics in Texas

Former President Barack Obama speaks with Jon Meacham as he takes the stage during the 25th anniversary gala celebration for Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. (Associated Press)

Without mentioning President Trump, former President Barack Obama praised his indictment-free tenure Tuesday during an invitation-only gala in Houston.
Obama’s remarks came at the tail end of an hour-long interview with former Secretary of State James A. Baker III during the 25th anniversary celebration of the nonpartisan Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, the Houston Chronicle reported.
“Not only did I not get indicted, nobody in my administration got indicted," Obama said to a crowd of more than 1,000. "By the way, it was the only administration in modern history that that can be said about. In fact, nobody came close to being indicted, probably because the people who joined us were there for the right reasons."
Presidential historian Jon Meacham, who moderated the conversational interview between both men, asked Baker, 88, what he was most proud of in his time serving three presidents.
"I’m most proud that I had the privilege of serving two presidents as chief of staff, of being secretary of treasury, of being secretary of state, of running five presidential campaigns, and of leaving Washington without getting indicted," Baker responded.
Since taking office almost two years ago, several Trump aides and associates have been indicted or pleaded guilty to various crimes. On Monday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller said former Trump campaign Chairman Paul Manafort violated his plea agreement by lying to the FBI and his office.
At one point Meacham compared Trump to the fictional Harry Potter villain Voldemort.
Obama and Baker covered a wide range of topics, including redistricting, with Obama calling Texas a “champion of gerrymandering” and the evolution of the media and its impact on partisanship.
Baker, who served under Ronald Reagan and both Bush presidents, said "the responsible center in American politics has disappeared."
"Whether it was Cronkite, Brinkley, or what have you, there was a common set of facts, a baseline around which both parties had to respond to," Obama added.  "By the time I take office, what we see is if you are a Fox News viewer, your reality is dramatically different than a New York Times reader."
On foreign policy, Baker raised concerns over America's standing in the world under Trump's watch.
"American leadership in the world is absolutely imperative,” he said. “No other country can do it," adding that America won the Cold War "because we had alliances."
The former president also called for a stop to what he said was the growing threat of bigotry, FOX 26 Houston reported.
“In those environments, you then start getting a different kind of politics. You start getting politics that's based on ‘That person’s not like me and it must be their fault," Obama said. "And you start getting politics based on a nationalism, that's not pride and country, but hatred for somebody on the other side of the border."
Prior to the gala, Obama met with former President George H.W. Bush, Bush spokesman Jim McGrath tweeted.
"The two had a very pleasant and private visit at the Bush residence, where they rekindled what was already a very warm friendship," he wrote on Twitter.

'Broth of Legionella' remark about GOP colleague's kin gets Democrat in hot water in Illinois

Illinois state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Aurora, is facing calls to resign after remarks directed at a Republican colleague. (Illinois General Assembly)

A Democratic state lawmaker in Illinois is facing calls to resign after saying Tuesday she wanted to mix a “broth of Legionella” bacteria to infect the "loved one" of her Republican colleague.
The remark by state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, directed at GOP Rep. Peter Breen, came amid a heated debate over a bill aimed at helping families of those who died or became sickened by a Legionnaires’ outbreak at a state-run veterans home.
The Republican had raised questions about the details and cost of the plan, which Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner had vetoed. It called for raising the cap on damages the state could pay in civil cases from $100,000 to $2 million, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
“And, yes, we know the personal injury lawyers are going to make out like bandits, which they tend to do anytime they come to the General Assembly,” Breen said.
That prompted the Democrat, who co-sponsored the proposal, to lash out at him.
“To the representative from Lombard, I would like to make him a broth of Legionella and pump it into the water system of his loved one so that they can be infected, they can be mistreated, they can sit and suffer by getting aspirin instead of being properly treated and ultimately die,” she said.

“To the representative from Lombard, I would like to make him a broth of Legionella and pump it into the water system of his loved one so that they can be infected, they can be mistreated, they can sit and suffer by getting aspirin instead of being properly treated and ultimately die.”
— Illinois state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Aurora

From his microphone, Breen accused Kifowit of wishing death on his family.
Later, Kifowit, a Marine Corps veteran, took to Twitter and the floor to say her comments were misinterpreted, and that she “quite clearly” wanted him to imagine “if it was your family, hypothetically speaking.”
Republican Rep. Jeanne Ives also took offense to Kifowit’s remarks, the Chicago Tribune reported.
“How dare you. How dare you concoct up some sort of story about brewing up some batch of Legionella and having him feed it to his family,” Ives said. “How dare you take the discussion and the debate about a very serious bill that has a huge cost consequence on both sides, both for the victim and the state taxpayers. How dare you take an honest debate about an issue and then wish death on my colleague Peter Breen, his wife and his two adopted kids.”
In a tweet, the Illinois Republican Party called on Kifowit to resign.
The Illinois House of Representatives later voted 71-36 to override Rauner’s veto, the Sun-Times reported. The bill was passed earlier this year and meant to help the families of 14 people who died and dozens who became ill from a Legionnaires' outbreak at the Illinois Veteran Home in Quincy, about 280 miles southwest of Chicago.
A least a dozen lawsuits claiming negligence by the state have been filed since Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks beginning in 2015 at the post-Civil War-era facility.

Crackdown on snow-shoveling scofflaws reveals that scolding Dem is one of them: report

A resident digs out snow on the sidewalks in Fargo, North Dakota. A Minneapolis city official who supported a tougher approach on residents shoveling sidewalks was issued a fine herself. (FEMA)

A Minneapolis city official who backed a get-tough approach on residents who don't shovel snow from their sidewalks was herself the subject of seven complaints last winter and was issued a fine of $149 at a home she owns, according to a report.
City Council President Lisa Bender, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party who owns the home in the Wedge neighborhood with her husband, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that she didn't know what condition her sidewalk was in when the complaints were made or why her family wasn't able to clear the snow on time.
“We’ve owned our house for ten years. We’re a family of two working parents with two small children, and we do our very best to shovel our sidewalk at all times,” Bender said.
The city sent out letters earlier this month reminding residents of the requirement to shovel their sidewalks after snowstorms, the paper reported.
Bender said she supports a stricter approach so that sidewalks remain clear this winter, according to the report.
“If there are times when we haven’t gotten to it, then that’s why the city’s enforcement mechanism is there,” she said. “I should be treated like every other property owner in the city.”
City inspectors will be more proactive this winter in searching for unshoveled sidewalks and issuing notices of violations, the report said.

Trump congratulates Hyde-Smith on her ‘big win’ in Mississippi’s special election

President Trump late Tuesday congratulated incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith for handily defeating an insurgent challenge by Democrat Mike Espy in Mississippi's contentious special election runoff to become the first woman ever elected to Congress from the state.
Hyde-Smith, 59, is an ardent supporter of Trump who was appointed earlier this year by Mississippi's governor to fill retiring Sen. Thad Cochran's seat. She will finish out the remaining two years of Cochran's term in the deep-red state that went for Trump by nearly 20 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election.
"Congratulations to Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith on your big WIN in the great state of Mississippi. We are all very proud of you!” Trump tweeted.
With 95 percent of precincts reporting, Hyde-Smith had 446,927 votes to Espy's 374,880 -- a commanding margin of 54.4 percent to 45.6 percent, according to state election officials. The race marks the final midterm contest of 2018.
“I want everybody to know, no matter who you voted for today, I’m gonna always represent every Mississippian,” Hyde-Smith said at her victory party late Monday night.  "Being on that MAGA-wagon, the Make American Great Again bus, we have bonded, we have persevered, we have gotten through things, we were successful today."
Hyde-Smith's win gives Republicans more leeway to ensure the confirmation of Trump's federal judicial and Cabinet nominees that require Senate approval and strengthens the party's chances of holding the majority in 2020.
"She has my prayers as she goes to Washington to unite a very divided Mississippi," Espy said in his concession speech.
“Cindy Hyde-Smith has been a strong conservative voice since joining the Senate, so it should come as no surprise that she was elected by Mississippians to represent them in Washington,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Cory Gardner said in a statement. “Senator Hyde-Smith won tonight because she has a trusted record of fighting for Mississippi, and we are happy she will be returning to the United States Senate.”
On Nov. 6, Hyde-Smith prevailed in a four-way race that included firebrand Republican Sen. Chris McDaniel -- but she was unable to secure more than 50 percent of the vote amid heavy turnout, owing to McDaniel's strong showing. The Nov. 6 election -- which saw nearly half of registered voters in Mississippi cast ballots in the Senate race-- triggered Tuesday's runoff.
McDaniel sharply criticized Hyde-Smith throughout the campaign for being insufficiently supportive of the president's agenda, and some analysts suggested he may have dampened enthusiasm among conservatives for her candidacy.
“There has been a lot of work done to make sure that McDaniel’s supporters will turn out, but the hardest part about runoff elections is getting people to turn out,” Jennifer Duffy, the senior editor for the Cook Political Report, told Fox News. “If they don’t turn out, McDaniel will be seen as the spoiler because if it wasn’t for him, there would not have been a runoff in the first place.”
AT ROUNDTABLE WITH HYDE-SMITH, TRUMP CRITICIZES 'GRABBER' MIGRANTS WHO USE KIDS AS HUMAN SHIELDS
McDaniel offered only a lukewarm endorsement for Hyde-Smith after his defeat earlier in the month, saying, "I don't believe she's the conservative for this state." He also told his supporters that "President Trump wants us to unite, and we will unite" to back her.

Susan Fino, left, holds a sign for U.S. Senate candidate Mike Espy and Logan Liddy holds one for Susan Liddy, a candidate for judge in the Chancery Court, District 18, Place 1 race at the Oxford Community Center in Oxford, Miss. on Tuesday, November 27, 2018.

Mississippians are casting their ballots in runoff elections, including a U.S. Senate race pitting Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith against Democrat Mike Espy. (Bruce Newman/The Oxford Eagle via AP)

Espy “cannot be allowed to win this seat,” McDaniel said shortly after conceding the race, according to Mississippi Today. “President Trump wants us to unite, and we will unite. We will back Cindy Hyde-Smith.”
The 64-year-old Espy, who was vying to become Mississippi's first black senator since Reconstruction, had previously served in Congress and in former President Bill Clinton's administration.
Mississippi last elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1982, but Espy was trying for the same kind of longshot win that fellow Democrat Doug Jones had nearly a year ago in neighboring Alabama, another conservative Deep South state where Republicans hold most statewide offices.

Democrat Mike Espy, left feeds his ballot into the submission machine, as directed by poll manager Larry Greer, Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018 in Ridgeland, Miss. Mississippi voters are deciding the last U.S. Senate race of the midterms, choosing between Espy and Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

His campaign gained a second wind amid a flurry of damaging reports and missteps that inundated Hyde-Smith's campaign in recent days. Mississippi's past of racist violence became a dominant theme in the race after a video showed Hyde-Smith praising a supporter in early November by saying, "If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row." She said it was "an exaggerated expression of regard."
As voters headed to the polls, nooses were found outside Mississippi State Capitol, along with signs explaining that they were placed there by protesters who wanted to raise awareness about the state's history of racially motivated lynchings. Some media figures inaccurately blamed Hyde-Smith supporters for placing the nooses.
"So many things are taken out of context," said Elizabeth Gallinghouse, 84, from Diamondhead, Mississippi. "The fact that she toured Jefferson Davis's house. You or I could have done the same thing. They said, 'Put this cap on. Hold this gun.' It was a fun time. She wasn't trying to send any messages."
More than a week after the video's release, Hyde-Smith apologized at a televised debate to "anyone that was offended by my comments," but also said the remark was used as a "weapon" against her. Espy responded: "I don't know what's in your heart, but I know what came out of your mouth."
Some corporate donors, including Walmart and Major League Baseball, requested refunds on their campaign contributions to Hyde-Smith after the videos surfaced.
Hyde-Smith was seen in another video talking about making voting difficult for "liberal folks," and a photo circulated showing her wearing a replica Confederate military hat during a 2014 visit to Beauvoir, a beachside museum in Biloxi, Mississippi, that was the last home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis.
Critics said Hyde-Smith's comments and Confederate regalia showed callous indifference in a state with a 38-percent black population, and some corporate donors, including Walmart, requested refunds on their campaign contributions to her.
However, Espy has had his own negative press in the run-up to the runoff. In particular, the Hyde-Smith campaign hammered Espy for his $750,000 lobbying contract in 2011 with the Cocoa and Coffee Board of the Ivory Coast. She noted that the country's ex-president, Laurent Gbagbo, is being tried in the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
Espy, who is an attorney, said: "I found out later that this guy, the president, was a really bad guy. I resigned the contract."

"She stood up to the Democrat smear machine."
— President Trump

Espy resigned as President Bill Clinton's agriculture secretary in 1994 amid a special-counsel investigation that accused him of improperly accepting gifts. He was tried and acquitted on 30 corruption charges, but the Mississippi Republican Party ran an ad this year that called Espy "too corrupt for the Clintons" and "too liberal for Mississippi."
Espy said he refused to accept offers of plea deals because, "I was so not guilty, I was innocent."
The significance of the race was not lost on President Trump or top Republicans, who headlined two major rallies Monday night for Hyde-Smith in Mississippi to boost turnout.
"If you like [Supreme Court Justice Brett] Kavanuagh, there's more coming," South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told the crowd in Tupelo, Miss. "Let's win tomorrow."
"She stood up to the Democrat smear machine," Trump said, referring to Hyde-Smith's support for Kavanaugh amid a series of uncorroborated and lurid sexual misconduct allegations.
He added: "Your vote on Tuesday will decide whether we build on our extraordinary achievements, or whether we empower the radical Democrats to obstruct our progress."
Hyde-Smith, who has made the Trump rallies a highlight of her runoff campaign, told the crowd in Tupelo: "I worked very, very hard for you. I have stood up for you and you know I will continue to stand up for the conservative values of Mississippi."