OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 2:50 PM PT – Sat. March 16, 2019
President Trump appears to explain why GOP lawmakers in the House of
representatives voted with Democrats, in favor of publicly releasing the
Mueller report.
In
this March 15, 2019, photo, President Donald Trump speaks about border
security in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, March 15, 2019,
in Washington. Trump’s veto of a bipartisan congressional resolution
rejecting his border emergency declaration is more than a milestone. It
signals a new era of tenser relations between the two ends of
Pennsylvania Avenue. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
In a tweet Saturday, the president said he told Congressional
leadership to let all Republicans vote for transparency, in relation to
the non-binding resolution. The president also suggested the vote makes all Republicans look good, and it essentially doesn’t matter. The resolution, which calls on the DOJ to publicly release “Mueller’s findings,” was approved unanimously in the House. However, it was blocked from moving forward in the upper chamber by Senator Lindsey Graham.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is officially running for president, formally declaring her candidacy Sunday morning. “We
need a leader who makes big, bold, brave choices. Someone who isn’t
afraid of progress. That’s why I’m running for president. And it’s why
I’m asking you for your support,” the New York Democrat says in a video announcing the official launch of her campaign. The
move comes two months after Gillibrand set up a presidential
exploratory committee -- which allowed her to raise money and build a
campaign structure -- and began introducing herself to voters in Iowa,
New Hampshire and South Carolina – three of the four states that kick
off the primary and caucus calendar - as well as California and Texas,
which hold contests immediately after the early voting states. In
her video – titled "Brave Wins" – the senator uses "The Star-Spangled
Banner" to say that bravery has been a constant choice in the nation’s
history, and so many Americans have chosen to be brave. Gillibrand also takes aim at President Trump, claiming the Republican has promoted an “agenda of cowardice, hate and fear.” “Brave doesn’t pit people against each other. Brave doesn’t put money over lives. Brave doesn’t spread hate. Cloud truth. "Build a wall. That’s what fear does,” she charges in the video. Gillibrand
says that if America could land astronauts on the moon, “we can
definitely achieve universal health care. We can provide paid family
leave for all, end gun violence, pass a Green New Deal, get money out of
politics and take back our democracy.” Her announcement comes one
day after Gillibrand wrapped up her third trip this year to New
Hampshire, which holds the first primary in the race for the White
House. On Monday, Gillibrand heads to Michigan to join Democratic
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for a public event with a local women’s group,
Fems for Dems. She’ll also hold a town hall. On Tuesday, Gillibrand
heads to Iowa – which votes first in the presidential nominating
calendar -- and later in the week makes a trip to Nevada, which is the
first western state to vote. Next Sunday, Gillibrand plans to give a speech outside the Trump International Hotel in New York City. With
her declaration, Gillibrand becomes the 14th major Democrat to
officially launch a presidential campaign. She joins fellow Sens. Cory
Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of
Minnesota, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Elizabeth Warren of
Massachusetts. Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington state, former Gov.
John Hickenlooper of Colorado, former San Antonio mayor and former
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, and former Rep.
Beto O’Rourke of Texas have also declared their candidacies. So have
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland,
best-selling spiritual author Marianne Williamson of California and
entrepreneur Andrew Yang of New York. South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg has launched a presidential exploratory committee. The
52-year-old Gillibrand, who served in the House before her current
tenure in the Senate, is known for spearheading efforts in the fight
against sexual harassment and assault, and has become a prominent voice
in the #MeToo movement. In her video, she touted taking “on the Pentagon
to end sexual assault in the military.” But a sexual harassment issue in Gillibrand’s own Senate office is
now making headlines, with the reporting that a female aide in her
mid-20s who was working in Gillibrand’s office resigned in protest last
summer as she criticized the office’s handling of her sexual harassment
complaint against a senior male adviser to the senator. That male
adviser was recently terminated.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar took a swipe at fellow Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke — saying she "wasn't born to run" for the White House. “It
was probably more when I got to college. When I was growing up, in high
school, that's not what girls thought they were going to do,” the Democratic senator said during a Sunday interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “My
parents, I think, thought it was a possibility. But I really didn't.
And so for me, it's something that’s happened over time, as I've
realized I can do things,” Klobuchar reportedly said. “I can get elected
to the secretary-treasurer of my high school class. I can move on from
there. And so I think it's something that I didn't have from birth.” Her reported comments appear to reference O'Rourke's statements about being "born" for a White House run in a glowing Vanity Fair profile that has drawn criticism. "I
want to be in it," O'Rourke said in the magazine's cover story. "Man,
I'm just born to be in it, and want to do everything I humanly can for
this country at this moment." The Texan's comments to Vanity Fair,
along with his decision to rule out a second Senate run last month,
have been called emblematic of his white male privilege, amid a race with several viable female and African-American candidates, by critics within the Democratic Party.
Former Democratic Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke laughs during a
live interview with Oprah Winfrey on a Times Square stage at "SuperSoul
Conversations," in New York, on Feb. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens,
File)
“If a woman was presented with a similar choice: Do
that less ambitious, but better-for-the-party thing, versus more
ambitious but longer-shot thing, I don’t see people being super
understanding when she takes the latter,” Jess McIntosh, a Democratic
strategist and former Hillary Clinton aide, told The New York Times. Klobuchar
continued, saying, “But no, I wasn't born to run for office, just
because growing up in the '70s, in the middle of the country, I don't
think many people thought a girl could be president. I wasn't born to
run. But I am running.”
Former 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush is seen above. (Getty Images)
(Paul Marotta/Getty Images)
Jeb Bush believes a Republican should challenge President Trump for the nomination in 2020 — slamming the president's "dangerous" policies on trade and other issues. In
the latest salvo between the two former rivals, Bush, who ran
unsuccessfully for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, made the
comments Saturday during an interview with ex-Obama adviser David
Axelrod. “I think someone should run just because Republicans
ought to be given a choice,” Bush said on CNN's "The Axe Files." “It’s
hard to beat a sitting president, but to have a conversation about what
it is to be a conservative, I think it’s important.” Bush, whose
father George. H.W. Bush was the 41st president of the United States
and his brother, George W. Bush, was the 43rd, reportedly added that
Republican voters should be given more of a choice between different
ideologies. "And our country needs to have competing ideologies
that people -- that are dynamic, that focus on the world we're in and
the world we're moving toward rather than revert back to a nostalgic
time," he said on CNN, seeming to take aim at Trump's "Make America
Great Again" 2016 slogan. Bush elaborated about his disagreements with Trump during the interview. "We
haven't had a major crisis to deal with, but this unilateralism or
going-alone-ism I think is really dangerous," Bush said of Trump's
foreign policy moves, according to The Hill. "Our
friends no longer believe they can trust the United States and our
enemies, in many cases, feel emboldened by this approach," he reportedly
added. "I think it defies the...bipartisan kind of consensus on foreign
policy that has, by and large, kept America safe." According
to The Hill, Bush also critiqued Trump's ability to handle the more
symbolic aspects of running the country, such as responding during
moments of crisis. However, he did praise Trump's tax policy, regulatory changes and judicial nominations. “You
can honestly say he’s done good things in terms of policy and applaud
them,” Bush said. “I think the symbolic, you know the kingly duties of
the presidency, that’s where he falls short, and it’s important.” The interview is the latest in a series of back-and-forth jabs between the two men. Bush blasted Trump in September 2018 as a bad role model for young children, telling the Detroit Free Press: “He is not my role model as it relates to values I would share with my children and grandchildren.” During
a June 2018 interview with CNBC, Bush criticized Trump for going
negative, saying that candidates must be civil with one another. "The
kind of campaign [Trump] ran would have never been successful a decade
ago or in the age of [Ronald] Reagan and Bush, for example," said Bush. The ends don't justify the means, Bush said, referring to the way Trump goes negative. "It's not worth disparaging people." Bush
told Axelrod that Republicans need to "offer a compelling alternative"
to Democratic ideas rather than just calling their ideas "bad." So far, the only person to hint at challenging Trump for the 2020 GOP nomination is former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, who formed an exploratory committee in February.
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 11:06 AM PT — Friday, March 15, 2019
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently announced new restrictions regarding probes from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
On Friday at the State Department, Pompeo said he would revoke visas
for anyone responsible for for an ICC investigation of U.S. personnel.
The U.S. secretary of state said, “if you are requesting an ICC
investigation of U.S. personnel in connection with a situation in
Afghanistan, you cannot assume you will get a visa to enter the U.S.”
Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference at the State
Department, Friday, March 15, 2019 in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn
Kaster)
Pompeo went on to say, “this includes persons who take or have taken
action to request or further section an investigation — these visa
restrictions may also be used to deter ICC efforts to pursue ally
personnel, including Israelis , without ally’s consent.
The head of State said he hopes to convince the ICC to change course
in Afghanistan from taking action inconsistent with U.S. views.
Former
British spy Christopher Steele confessed that he used an unverified
report submitted to a CNN website, where “random individuals” can post
information, for his salacious anti-Trump dossier.
Steele
made the awkward revelation during a deposition last year in a case
involving Russian entrepreneur Aleksej Gubarev, who claims his companies
Webzilla and XBT Holdings were defamed by Steele after the dossier was
published by BuzzFeed.
Steele
was asked during the deposition how he verified allegations about
Gubarev's companies and whether he found “anything of relevance
concerning Webzilla,” according to the newly released transcripts of the
deposition.
“We did. It was an article I have got here which was posted on July 28, 2009, on something called CNN iReport,” Steele said.
But CNN iReport, which appears to be no longer active -- though archives remain accessible online -- states that
it’s a “user-generated site” and warns that “the stories submitted by
users are not edited, fact-checked or screened before they post.”
“The stories submitted by users are not edited, fact-checked or screened before they post.” — CNN iReport disclaimer
Even the site’s banner included the slogan “Unedited. Unfiltered. News.”
Former British spy Christopher Steele confessed that he used an
unverified report submitted to a CNN website, where “random individuals”
can post information, for his salacious anti-Trump dossier.
When asked whether the former British spy understood
how the website actually worked, he confessed that “I do not have any
particular knowledge of that” and noted he didn’t understand at the time
that the site has “no connection to any CNN reporters.”
“Do you
understand that CNN iReports are or were nothing more than any random
individuals’ assertions on the Internet?” an examiner asked Steele.
He
replied: “No, I obviously presume that if it is on a CNN site that it
may has [sic] some kind of CNN status. Albeit that it may be an
independent person posting on the site.”
“No, I
obviously presume that if it is on a CNN site that it may has [sic] some
kind of CNN status. Albeit that it may be an independent person posting
on the site.” — Christopher Steele
According to the archive copy
of the iReports site, the website specifically notes that none of the
users who submit content can be described as working for CNN.
“Being
an iReport.com user and creating and uploading content to iReport.com
does not mean that you work for CNN, and you should never represent
yourself as working for CNN,” the site’s FAQ section read.
The
dossier authored by Steele alleged that Gubarev's companies “used
botnets and porn traffic to transmit viruses, plant bugs, steal data and
conduct 'alerting operations' against the Democratic Party leadership”
and that Gubarev himself played a “significant” part in the operation
while “under duress” from the Russian security agency FSB.
The
latest revelation of using unconfirmed sources put the dossier’s
legitimacy further into question, especially since the FBI extensively
relied on the dossier in its warrant applications to the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court in seeking to surveil Trump
aide Carter Page.
Steele
and his company, Orbis Business Intelligence, were hired by Glenn
Simpson's U.S. based company, Fusion GPS, to work on the dossier and
promote its contents to journalists. Fusion GPS received $1.8 million
via the law firm Perkins Coie, with the money paid by the Democratic
National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign. Fox News' Catherine Herridge and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
