Schultz heckled, called profanity at event day after announcing possible 2020 bid

Howard Schultz, the self-made billionaire and former CEO of Starbucks, was heckled Monday during an event at a New York City Barnes & Noble over fears that an independent run in 2020 would all but guarantee President Trump’s second term.
Schultz, who grew up in subsidized housing in Canarsie, Brooklyn, said in an interview that aired Sunday that he is "seriously considering running for president." His life story is compelling and different from Trump's. Schultz said he had to "fight his way out" from his humble beginnings whereas Trump benefited from his father's real estate business and connections in New York.
Many Democrats have been vocal about the dangers of a Schultz presidential run. One heckler in the audience on Monday summed up their concern, "Don't help elect Trump you egotistical billionaire a—hole," according to video that captured the exchange.
The crowd booed, but the heckler continued, "Go back to Davos with the other billionaire elite who think they know how to run the work."
Trump on Monday said Schultz doesn’t have the "guts" to run for president.
"Watched him on @60Minutes last night and I agree with him that he is not the ‘smartest person.’ Besides, America already has that! I only hope that Starbucks is still paying me their rent in Trump Tower!” Trump tweeted Monday morning.

Trump slams 'Da Nang Dick' Blumenthal, questions why he's on Senate Judiciary after Vietnam scandal

President Trump took aim at Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in a tweet Monday. (AP, File)

President Trump attacked Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., on Twitter Monday night, mockingly referring to him as "Da Nang Dick" and questioning his fitness to serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the wake of decade-old allegations of stolen valor related to Blumenthal's false claim that he fought in the Vietnam War.
"How does Da Nang Dick (Blumenthal) serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee when he defrauded the American people about his so called War Hero status in Vietnam, only to later admit, with tears pouring down his face, that he was never in Vietnam," wrote Trump, who added that Blumenthal was, "An embarrassment to our Country!"
It's unclear exactly what prompted the president's tweet. Earlier Monday, Blumenthal and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced legislation that would require Special Counsel Robert Mueller to submit a report to Congress and the public when his investigation into alleged collusion between Russian officials and the Trump campaign concludes. The legislation also would require a report within two weeks if a special counsel is fired, transferred or resigns.
Blumenthal, who was elected to the Senate in 2010, regularly referenced his supposed Vietnam service in the 2000s, when he was Connecticut attorney general.
“I served during the Vietnam era,” Blumenthal reportedly said at a Vietnam War memorial in 2008. “I remember the taunts, the insults, sometimes even the physical abuse.”
Blumenthal reportedly obtained at least five military deferments between 1965 and 1970. He eventually served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, but did not deploy to Vietnam.
In 2010, Blumenthal admitted that he had "misspoken about my service, and I regret that and I take full responsibility."
Grassley and Blumenthal are both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Grassley is a former chairman of the panel. Both men supported legislation last year to protect Mueller's job. The bill, approved by the Judiciary Committee in April, would allow any fired special counsel to seek a judicial review within 10 days of removal and put into law existing Justice Department regulations that a special counsel can be fired only for good cause.
"A special counsel is appointed only in very rare serious circumstances involving grave violations of public trust," Blumenthal said. "The public has a right and need to know the facts of such betrayals of public trust."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declined to hold a vote on the bill, however, saying it was unnecessary.

Kamala (Camel) Harris vows to get rid of private health care plans: 'Let's eliminate all of that. Let's move on'

California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, speaking during a town hall Monday night, vowed to eliminate all private health care insurance for approximately 150 million Americans if she is elected president.
Asked by CNN host Jake Tapper if people who like their current health care insurance could keep it under Harris' "Medicare for All" plan, Harris indicated they could not -- but that, in turn, they would experience health care without any delays.
Her statements appeared to be a full-throated call for single-payer health insurance, as opposed to merely expanding Medicare, and a dramatic embrace of the kind of proposals advocated by Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.
"Well, listen, the idea is that everyone gets access to medical care. And you don't have to go through the process of going through an insurance company, having them give you approval, going through the paperwork, all of the delay that may require," Harris told Tapper.
"Who among us has not had that situation?" she continued. "Where you got to wait for approval, and the doctor says, 'Well I don't know if your insurance company is going to cover this.' Let's eliminate all of that. Let's move on."
President Barack Obama famously repeated several times throughout his presidency, in seeking to promote the Affordable Care Act (known as "ObamaCare"), that "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it."
SF MAYOR SAYS HE HAD AFFAIR WITH HARRIS, HELPED HER CAREER
The fact-checking website Politifact eventually named that statement its "Lie of the Year," noting that several million Americans received cancellation notices from their providers because of ObamaCare. Politifact also said the Obama administration was aware from the outset that its promise was unsustainable.

"Let's eliminate all of that. Let's move on."
— California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris

Harris appeared unwilling to follow Obama's example on Monday night, and instead stuck to her answer as she jokingly told Tapper to move onto the next question.
During a speech to officially launch her 2020 run earlier this month, Harris declared that "health care is a fundamental right" and vowed to serve her constituents by supporting "Medicare for All."
In August 2017, Harris became the first Senate Democrat to support Sanders' "Medicare for All" bill. The program, if implemented, would cost tens of trillions of dollars over a decade, experts say.
Several independent studies have specifically estimated that government spending on health care would surge by $25 trillion to $35 trillion or more in a 10-year period. A study released over the summer by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, for example, estimated that Sanders' program would cost $32.6 trillion — $3.26 trillion per year — over a decade. By comparison, the federal budget proposal for the fiscal year 2019 was $4.4 trillion, the Congressional Budget Office states.

FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2019, photo, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., reacts during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. “Medicare-for-all” makes a good first impression, but support plunges when people are asked if they’d pay higher taxes or put up with treatment delays to get it. AP

Analysis by The New York Times in 2017 showed at least 74 million Americans who currently benefit from Medicaid would potentially face higher taxes under "Medicare for All."
Sanders and New York Democratic Rep. Ocasio-Cortez have countered that while spending would necessarily increase in the short-term, fundamentally restructuring Medicare would ultimately yield sustained economic benefits by reducing administrative inefficiencies, cutting perscription drug costs, and encouraging young people to put more money into the economy.
But Charles Blahous, a senior strategist at the Mercatus Center and an author of the study, has said Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders would need to make unrealistic assumptions to come to that conclusion, because increased demand for healthcare would potentially offset any such administrative gains.
He criticized the two for making comments that "appear to reflect a misunderstanding of my study" after they cited his work as proof that 'Medicare for All' would, in fact, necessarily save money. Numerous fact-checkers, including The Washington Post and FactCheck, concluded that both liberal politicians had misread the paper's conclusions.
Speaking separately in response to a gun rights question at Monday's town hall, Harris urged a ban on "assault weapons," without defining the term.
"There is no reason in a civil society that we have assault weapons around communities that can kill babies and police officers," Harris said to applause. "Something like universal background checks -- it makes perfect sense that you might want to know before someone can buy a weapon that can kill another human being, you might want to know have they been convicted of a felony where they committed violence? That's just reasonable. You might want to know before they can buy that gun if a court has found them to be a danger to themselves or others. You just might want to know. That's reasonable."
Harris also defended her record as attorney general in California, saying she enforced the death penalty in the state despite opposing the practice. Likewise, she said she chose not to take a public position in 2015 on legislation to require her office to investigate all police-related fatal shootings because her office would write the law and enforce it.
The town hall event marked Harris' first public appearance in Iowa since announcing her candidacy last week.

New details of 2016 meeting with Trump dossier author conflict with Dems’ timeline

New details contained in congressional transcripts and emails about a July 2016 meeting involving the author of the anti-Trump “dossier,” Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, and his wife, Nellie, appear to conflict with claims from Democrats -- and the co-founder of the firm behind the dossier -- that significant contacts did not occur until after the election.
According to the records, the little-known breakfast meeting was held on July 30, 2016 at Washington, D.C.’s Mayflower Hotel.
Congressional transcripts, confirmed by Fox News, showed Nellie Ohr told House investigators last year that Christopher Steele, the British ex-spy who compiled the dossier, wanted to get word to the FBI at the time.
“My understanding was that Chris Steele was hoping that Bruce (Ohr) could put in a word with the FBI to follow-up in some way,” Nellie Ohr testified in response to a Republican line of questioning, regarding the purpose of the meeting. Bruce Ohr did just that, almost immediately contacting then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
Asked by House investigators what they talked about at the breakfast meeting, Nellie Ohr said: “[Steele’s] suspicions that Russian Government figures were supporting the candidacy of Donald Trump.”
The transcripts came from closed-door interviews conducted last year by the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees when they were under Republican control. The transcripts are undergoing an FBI and DOJ review and are not public.
Nellie Ohr was of interest to investigators since she conducted opposition research on then-candidate Donald Trump for the firm Fusion GPS – the same company that commissioned the dossier. Her husband, meanwhile, is a senior official at the Justice Department who became a back channel between Steele and the FBI, after Steele was fired by the bureau on the eve of the 2016 presidential election over his contacts with the media.
In her testimony, Nellie Ohr also said that pieces of the unverified dossier – which later would be used to secure a surveillance warrant for Trump campaign aide Carter Page – may have been shared during the meal.
In response to a committee Democrat's line of questioning, Ohr stated, "At the breakfast, I – if I recall correctly, they may have shown pieces ..." of the document.
Ohr said she never saw the entire body of opposition research, later dubbed the "dossier," until it was published by BuzzFeed in January 2017.
Question: "Okay. And you hadn't seen it or its portions during the time that you were employed, correct?"
Ohr: "I -- if I recall correctly, I may have seen a -- maybe a page or something of it at the breakfast."
Email traffic, reviewed by Fox News, indicated that Steele broached the possibility of a meeting with Bruce Ohr as early as July 1, 2016.
He emailed Ohr at the time: "I am seeing [redacted] in London next week to discuss ongoing business but there is something separate I wanted to discuss with you informally and separately. It concerns our favourite business tycoon!"
Subsequent emails between Ohr and Steele also confirmed the July 30 meeting in Washington.
Nellie Ohr’s testimony regarding Steele and the FBI would appear to align with her husband’s.
Fox News recently reported that Bruce Ohr told House investigators as part of the Republican-led probe that shortly after the July 30, 2016 meeting, his “first move” was to reach out to senior FBI officials.
Fox News recently confirmed the Bruce Ohr transcript said: “Andy McCabe, yes and met with him and Lisa Page and provided information to him. I subsequently met with Lisa Page, Peter Strzok, and eventually [an FBI agent]. And I also provided this information to people in the criminal division specifically Bruce Swartz, Zainab Ahmad, Andrew Weissmann.” (Strzok and Page left the bureau last year after their anti-Trump texts emerged. Swartz was a deputy assistant attorney general. Weissmann was chief of the DOJ Criminal Division’s Fraud Section before becoming a senior prosecutor on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team. Ahmad worked at the DOJ and is also now assigned to Mueller’s team.)
However, congressional Democrats have asserted many of the contacts occurred later in the year.
In February, in response to a Republican report on the surveillance-warrant process, Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee accused Republicans of overstating Bruce Ohr’s role.
"The Majority mischaracterizes Bruce Ohr's role, overstates the significance of his interactions with Steele, and misleads about the time frame of Ohr's communication with the FBI. In late November, Ohr informed the FBI of his prior professional relationship with Steele and information that Steele shared with him (including Steele's concern about Trump being compromised by Russia)," the Democrats' statement said. “He also described his wife’s contract work with Fusion GPS, the firm that hired Steele separately. This occurred weeks after the election and more than a month after the Court approved the initial FISA application.”
There appeared to be another discrepancy.
The emails showed Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson was in contact with Ohr in August 2016. However, Simpson's November 2017 transcribed interview before the House Intelligence Committee showed him saying he worked through Bruce Ohr "sometime after Thanksgiving."
Fox News recently asked the FBI, Justice Department and special counsel's office whether the meetings with Ohr over Steele and the dossier were consistent with -- or in conflict with -- existing DOJ or FBI rules, including chain-of-custody procedures for handling evidence. In addition, the special counsel's office was asked whether Weissmann and Ahmad had fully disclosed their contacts with Bruce Ohr and others over the dossier.
The FBI and special counsel declined to comment; the DOJ did not immediately respond.
An attorney for Nellie Ohr did not respond to a request for comment. An attorney for McCabe did not respond.
Fox News also reached out to the office of Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the current chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, for comment.

Starbucks Schultz Cartoons

U.S.-Backed Coalition Continues Final Offensive Against Islamic State

FILE – In this Wednesday, April 4, 2018 file photo, a U.S. soldier, left, sits on an armored vehicle behind a sand barrier at a newly installed position near the front line between the U.S-backed Syrian Manbij Military Council and the Turkish-backed fighters, in Manbij, north Syria. An American military official said Friday, Jan. 11, 2019 that the U.S.-led military coalition has begun the process of withdrawing troops from Syria. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

 

A U.S.-led coalition is cracking down on the remnants of the Islamic state in Syria, ahead of the planned troop withdrawal from the country.
According to the Syrian Democratic Forces, the ongoing U.S.-backed offensive is focusing on the last outposts of ISIS on the Syrian-Iraqi border.
Officials say ISIS only controls two small villages on the east bank of the Euphrates River.
SDF fighters believe ISIS will lose its last remaining territories over the upcoming weeks.
The ongoing military operation is expected to end the existence of the ISIS caliphate on the ground in Syria.
The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said at least 42 people–including 13 civilians–were killed in a recent series of airstrikes against the Islamic state.

NBC News' Tom Brokaw apologizes after comments on Hispanics spark backlash

Tom Brokaw, right, backtracked from remarks he gave on "Meet the Press." (William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images)

NBC News special correspondent and former "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw apologized Sunday evening for remarks he made on "Meet the Press" earlier in the day about Hispanic assimilation, after the comments triggered backlash.
During a panel discussion about the fight for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Brokaw said: "On the Republican side, a lot of people see the rise of an extraordinary, important new constituent in American politics, Hispanics, who will come here and all be Democrats."
He continued, "Also, I hear, when I push people a little harder, 'Well, I don’t know whether I want brown grandbabies.' I mean, that’s also a part of it. It’s the intermarriage that is going on and the cultures that are conflicting with each other." He did not explain who had told him this.
Brokaw went on to say: "I also happen to believe that the Hispanics should work harder at assimilation. That’s one of the things I’ve been saying for a long time. You know, they ought not to be just codified in their communities but make sure that all their kids are learning to speak English, and that they feel comfortable in the communities. And that’s going to take outreach on both sides, frankly."
PBS correspondent Yamiche Alcindor replied: "I grew up in Miami, where people speak Spanish, but their kids speak English. And the idea that we think America can only speak English, as if Spanish and other languages wasn’t always part of America, is, in some ways, troubling."
The backlash was stronger online.
Sunday evening, Brokaw tweeted: "i feel terrible a part of my comments on Hispanics offended some members of that proud culture."
He also wrote, "i’ve worked hard to knock down false stereo types... i said ALL sides [have] to work harder at finding common ground."
He wrote later: "i am sorry, truly sorry, my comments were offensive to many. the great enduring american tradition of diversity is to be celebrated and cherished. yamiche, thank u for your comments. let’s go forward together."
However, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists said the apology wasn't nearly enough. "To assert that the U.S. is not the melting pot that the country prides itself on being, is disinformation as the U.S. has always had immigrants and a mixture of races, religious beliefs and languages in its history. It is these values in fact that makes the country fascinating and has spread the 'American Dream,'" the group said. "The 'sorry some Hispanics were offended' apology tweeted by Tom Brokaw earlier this evening is not an apology at all. It only further demonstrates Brokaw’s lack of understanding of what forced assimilation does to communities."
NBC News did not respond to Fox News' request for comment.
Brokaw anchored the long-running "NBC Nightly News" from 1982-2004.

Ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz 'seriously' mulls presidential run, bashes Trump as 'not qualified'

Howard Schultz says he is considering running for president as a 'centrist independent.' (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz told CBS News' "60 Minutes" Sunday that he is "seriously thinking" of making a run for the White House in 2020 as a "centrist independent," decrying what he called "revenge politics" by both mainstream political parties.
"We're living at a most fragile time, not only the fact that this president is not qualified to be the president, but the fact that both parties are consistently not doing what's necessary on behalf of the American people," said Schultz, who specifically cited the spiraling national debt as "a reckless example, not only of Republicans, but of Democrats, as well, as a reckless failure of their constitutional responsibility."
Late Sunday, The New York Times reported that Schultz would spend the next three months traveling around the country promoting his new book "From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America" before he makes a final decision about whether or not to run. He has stops this week in New York; Tempe, Arizona; Seattle; and San Francisco — but no dates listed for the early voting states of Iowa or New Hampshire.
Hours before the "60 Minutes" interview aired, Schultz sent his first message on Twitter, where he's had an account since September 2012.
"It feels good to be here," he wrote. "My hope is to share my truth, listen to yours, build trust, and focus on things that can make us better."
Schultz tweeted again after the interview aired, writing: "This moment is like no other. Our two parties are more divided than ever. Let’s discuss how we can come together to create opportunities for more people."
The prospect of an independent run by Schultz, who described himself as a "lifelong Democrat" and has given approximately $150,000 to Democratic campaigns over the years, has caused consternation among the party's establishment who fear he might siphon votes from whoever the Democrats nominate to challenge President Trump.
"Howard Schultz running as an independent isn’t about bringing people together," said Tina Podlodowski, the Democratic Party chair in Schultz's adopted home state of Washington, in a statement late Sunday. "It’s about one person: Howard Schultz."
Neera Tanden, the president of the liberal Center for American Progress, tweeted Saturday that she would boycott Starbucks if Schultz threw his hat into the presidential ring.
"Vanity projects that help destroy democracy are disgusting," she wrote. " ... I’m not giving a penny that will end up in the election coffers of a guy who will help Trump win."
On "60 Minutes," Schultz deflected a question from interviewer Scott Pelley about the possibility of playing spoiler for a Democratic nominee.
"I wanna see the American people win," he said. "I wanna see America win. I don't care if you're a Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, Republican. Bring me your ideas. And I will be an independent person, who will embrace those ideas. Because I am not, in any way, in bed with a party."
No third-party or independent candidate has won over five percent of the popular vote since Ross Perot in 1996, but Schultz said far more people than that have had it with both parties.
"What we know, factually, is that over 40 percent of the electorate is either a registered Independent or currently affiliates themselves as an Independent," Schultz said, "because the American people are exhausted. Their trust has been broken. And they are looking for a better choice."
Schultz criticized Trump for pulling out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which he called a "tremendous mistake" and slammed the administration's aggressive trade policy and outwardly ambivalent stance toward multinational alliances.
"Is it in our national interest to have a fight with Mexico, Canada, the EU, China, NATO? Is it in our interest?" he said. "Give me a break. No, it's not in our interest. These are our friends. These are our allies. We are much better, as a country, being part of the world order."
On paper, Schultz offers a number of qualities that might appeal to voters. He grew up in public housing in Brooklyn, N.Y., and became the first person in his family to graduate from college.
He took over Starbucks when it sold only coffee beans, not cups — it had 11 stores and fewer than 100 employees at the time — and grew it into a global behemoth that now has close to 30,000 stores in 78 countries. Along the way he adopted an ethos of corporate responsibility, making Starbucks one of the earliest U.S. companies to offer stock options and health insurance even to part-time employees, and more recently partnering with Arizona State University to cover tuition for workers who want to earn their bachelor's degree online.
He's waded into contentious social issues. In 2013, Starbucks asked customers not to bring guns into stores following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and in 2015, Schultz drew anger and ridicule after he urged baristas to write "Race Together" on cups to spark conversations amid tension over police shootings of black men. Last year, after two black men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks while waiting for a business meeting, Starbucks closed 8,000 U.S. stores early so employees could take anti-bias training.
However, some of his views might clash with a Democratic Party gearing up to unseat Trump. While some potential nominees, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and California Sen. Kamala Harris, have endorsed single-payer health care, heavily taxing the rich or free tuition at public colleges, Schultz has criticized some such proposals as unrealistic and instead emphasized expanding the economy and curbing entitlements.
"It concerns me that so many voices within the Democratic Party are going so far to the left," Schultz told CNBC last June. "I ask myself, 'How are we going to pay for all these things?' in terms of things like single-payer or people espousing the fact that the government is going to give everyone a job. I don't think that's realistic."