Trump doubts he'd accept any deal Congress strikes for border wall

President Trump said Sunday he doubted he could accept any agreement struck by congressional negotiators that would give him less than his requested $5.7 billion for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border as White House officials dangled the possibility of another partial shutdown next month.
The president also cast doubt on the prospect of lawmakers reaching any agreement before funding for most government agencies runs out on Feb. 15, telling The Wall Street Journal: "I personally think it’s less than 50-50, but you have a lot of very good people on that board."
On Friday, Trump signed legislation ending the 35-day shutdown without any funding for his long-promised border barrier, a reversal from last month when he refused to sign any funding legislation that did not provide wall money.
"I have to do it right," Trump insisted to the Journal on Sunday, adding that another partial shutdown was "certainly an option." The president also cast doubt on any deal that would trade wall funding for increased protections or citizenship for Dreamers, a group of immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, calling it "a separate subject to be taken up at a separate time."
When asked on CBS News' "Face The Nation" if Trump was prepared to wage another shutdown fight over the wall, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney answered: "Yeah, I think he actually is."
"This is a serious humanitarian and security crisis," Mulvaney said. "And, as president of the United States, [Trump] takes the security of the nation as his highest priority."
Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Mulvaney said "the right way" to fund the wall would be through legislation passed by Congress.
"But at the end of the day," he added, "the president is going to secure the border one way or another."
The White House has directed the Army Corps of Engineers to "look at possible ways of funding border security," including possibly using the president's emergency powers and unspent disaster relief money.
"I think the president wants his $5.7 billion," Mulvaney said. "Keep in mind –  why is that number? It’s not a number that’s made up. It’s what the experts have told him. He’s listened to DHS. I’ve been in on the meetings. He’s listened to CBP [Customs and Border Patrol], he’s listened to ICE."
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a member of the Democratic leadership in the House, said his colleagues are looking for "evidence-based" legislation.
"Shutdowns are not legitimate negotiating tactics when there's a public policy disagreement between two branches of government," he told NBC News' "Meet The Press." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said repeatedly that congressional Democrats would not support any legislation that finances the wall.
The president kept up the case for the wall on social media, tweeting: "BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL!" On Sunday morning, he pegged the number of illegal immigrants at "25,772,342 ... not the 11,000,000 that have been reported for years." Trump also tweeted that the cost of illegal immigration so far this year was nearly $19 billion. He did not cite a source for either figure.
"I'm not exactly sure where the President got that number this morning," Mulvaney told "Face The Nation." "But I think what you see him trying to do is point out how silly this debate is. This is not that much money in the greater scheme of things the United States of America ... This should have been resolved a long time ago, and we do hope it gets resolved in the next twenty-one days."

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President Trump: Only fools or those with a political agenda don’t want a wall

FILE- In this Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019, file photo seen from a window outside the Oval Office, President Donald Trump gives a prime-time address about border security at the White House in Washington. With the standoff over paying for his long-promised border wall dragging on, the president’s Oval Office address and visit to the Texas border over the past week failed to break the logjam and left aides and allies fearful that the president has misjudged Democratic resolve and is running out of negotiating options. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

OAN Newsroom
8:59 PM PT – Sat. January 26, 2019

President Trump suggests opposition to his proposed barrier at the southern border is either unintelligent or politically motivated.
The President, in a tweet today, said only “fools or people with a political agenda don’t want a wall or steel barrier to protect our country from crime, drugs, and human trafficking.”
This comes as the Trump Administration and GOP lawmakers seek to negotiate border wall funding with democrats.
The President has also left open the possibility he will declare a National Emergency to build the wall if a funding deal cannot be reached.

Maduro: Venezuela’s Govt preparing for potential armed conflict with U.S.

FILE – In this Jan. 10, 2019, file photo, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro holds up a small copy of the constitution as he speaks during his swearing-in ceremony at the Supreme Court in Caracas, Venezuela. The coalition of Latin American governments that joined the U.S. in quickly recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president, and not Maduro, came together during weeks of secret diplomacy. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATE 7:55 AM PT – Sat. January 26, 2019

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says the country is preparing for a potential armed conflict with the U.S.
Maduro made the comments during a press conference on Friday, just a day after calling to close the Venezuelan embassy and its consulates in the U.S.
He went on to say the National Bolivarian Armed Forces are willing and ready to take the appropriate measures, to stand against any enemies that may arise in a potential coup.
While the White House claims “all options are still on the table with Venezuela,” officials said, they are not actively considering to take action.
“The conflict may happen, because they have said they are going to put the Marines in Caracas, and they will send them I don’t know where, and so, in each city, in each town; we will have a defense plan and a reaction plan for combat and victory,” said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.”
President Maduro also announced Friday, military exercises would be held in Venezuela between February 10th through 15th.

Mexico receives more than 12,000 humanitarian Visa applications from migrant caravan

OAN Newsroom
8:59 PM PT – Sat. January 26, 2019

Migrants of Honduras and El Salvador stand in line waiting to enter bridge over the Suchiate River on the border between Guatemala and Mexico, in Tecun Uman, Guatemala, early Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019. Hundreds of mainly Honduran migrants began crossing peacefully into Mexico without the confrontations that marked last fall’s migrant caravans. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

The number of Central American migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. continues to grow as Mexico fast-tracks humanitarian visas.
Mexican migration officials say, as of Friday, they’ve received more than 10,000 visa applications for adults, and nearly 2,400 for minors.
Mexico is offering one-year visas to migrants which include the right to work in Mexico and travel the country freely. So far, about 2,200 visas have been granted.
Honduran nationals make up about seventy-five percent of the caravan, including more 1,800 minors.

Extramarital affair with Kamala Harris? Former San Francisco mayor, 84, admits it happened

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris.

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown addressed his past extramarital relationship with U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris in his weekly column Saturday, saying he may have boosted the presidential hopeful's career.
"Yes, we dated. It was more than 20 years ago," Brown wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle.
"Yes, I may have influenced her career by appointing her to two state commissions when I was [California] Assembly speaker. And I certainly helped with her first race for district attorney in San Francisco."
Brown, 84, pointed out that he also helped the careers of other prominent California Democrats, such as U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
"The difference is that Harris is the only one who, after I helped her, sent word that I would be indicted if I 'so much as jaywalked' while she was D.A.,” Brown wrote. "That's politics for ya."
Brown appointed Harris -- about 30 years younger than Brown and just a few years out of law school – to two well-paid state commission assignments on the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the California Medical Assistance Commission, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
"Whether you agree or disagree with the system, I did the work," Harris said in a 2003 interview with SF Weekly. "I brought a level of life knowledge and common sense to the jobs."

"The difference is that Harris is the only one who, after I helped her, sent word that I would be indicted if I 'so much as jaywalked' while she was D.A.”
— Willie Brown, former mayor of San Francisco

The former mayor also connected Harris with campaign donors, which helped her outraise her opponent for San Francisco district attorney, Business Insider reported. Brown's involvement in her election raised questions as to how Harris would remain impartial, given his enormous political clout.
Questions about Brown’s relationship with Harris began anew after she announced her 2020 presidential bid on Martin Luther King Day.
During his two terms as mayor of San Francisco, Brown was known for his charm, arrogance and ego, according to a 1996 profile in People magazine.
Named one of the world’s 10 sexiest men by Playgirl magazine in 1984, Brown sometimes attended parties with his wife on one arm and a girlfriend on the other, according to a reporter quoted by the magazine.
Brown and Harris broke up in 1995 but remained political allies. In Saturday's column, Brown said Harris is "riding a buzz wave the likes of which we haven’t seen in years."
Fox News contacted Harris' office for a response to Brown's claims but did not receive a response.
For the past decade or so, Brown has reportedly been linked with Sonya Molodetskaya, a Russian refugee and socialite. He is said to be separated from wife Blanche Vitero, whom he married in 1958.
Brown and Vitero have three children, while Brown also fathered a child in 2001 with his former fundraiser, Carolyn Carpeneti, according to the Chronicle.

Trump slams 'one-sided' media, says BuzzFeed, HuffPost layoffs result from 'bad journalism'

President Donald Trump announces a deal to temporarily reopen the government, in the Rose Garden of the White House, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019, in Washington. (Associated Press)

President Trump took aim at "one-sided Fake Media coverage" and "bad journalism" Saturday in tweets referring to coverage of former adviser Roger Stone's indictment and arrest and to reports that layoffs had struck news outlets such as BuzzFeed and Huffington Post.
The tweets came a day after the Trump tore into "Fake News CNN," which had a camera crew outside Stone's home as he was being arrested by the FBI on obstruction and other charges in connection with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.
Trump on Saturday also mocked CBS News, asserting that its reporting on Stone neglected to include details on the "Fake and Unverified 'Dossier,'" which Trump described as "a total phony conjob, that was paid for by Crooked Hillary."
Faulty journalism has been a constant theme of Trump's for a long time, and the president suggested Saturday that recent job cuts at news organizations -- which have left around 1,000 journalists jobless, according to reports -- were an indication that he was accurate in his assessment.
“Ax falls quickly at BuzzFeed and Huffpost!” Headline, New York Post," the president wrote. "Fake News and bad journalism have caused a big downturn. Sadly, many others will follow. The people want the Truth!"
BuzzFeed announced this week that it was letting go 220 employees -- or about 15 percent of its staff -- in a restructuring move. The news came just days after the outlet published a since-discredited report that Trump had directed his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress about a potential real estate deal in Moscow.
The office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller took the rare step of issuing a brief statement saying the story was "not accurate," further escalating Trump’s claim that most news outlets are not to be trusted. BuzzFeed has stood by its reporting.
The Huffington Post, meanwhile, laid off 20 reporters as part of job cuts at Verizon, whose media division also includes AOL and Yahoo News. The parent company's media cuts represented a 7 percent workforce reduction. Other media organizations that laid off workers last week included Gannett – the nation’s largest newspaper chain, which owns USA Today.
In response to Trump, BuzzFeed’s Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith tweeted that the president's remarks were “a disgusting thing to say about dozens of American workers who just lost their jobs.”
HuffPost Editor-in-Chief Lydia Polgreen also chimed in. "1,000 journalists lost their jobs last week," Polgreen wrote. "Ordinary people with rent to pay, families to support, student loan bills coming due. They are workers like any other who do not deserve this cruelty."
Many of the journalists left jobless received death threats online and anti-Semitic messages, the Hill reported.
Trump often accuses the media of unfair coverage and not highlighting his “accomplishments” enough. On Thursday, for example, the president complained about a lack of coverage of corporate earnings.
Trump's tirade followed a storm of criticism against the media from many conservatives, particularly over coverage of the Catholic high school students from Covington, Ky., who were vilified online for allegedly harassing a Native American man -- until additional video footage showed that the MAGA-hat-wearing kids were not the aggressors they had been made out to be.

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