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Warren may be too wonkish to connect with voters, some say

Democratic Party presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign announced the candidate’s next scheduled visits to Iowa on Saturday – amid talk that the senator from Massachusetts may be viewed as too much of a policy wonk to win the party's 2020 nomination.
Warren will return to Iowa March 29-30 with plans to speak at a rally in Storm Lake, hold meet-and-greets in Marshalltown and Perry, and attend an organizing event in West Des Moines, FOX 28 of Cedar Rapids reported.
But her focus on breaking up tech giants, ending the electoral college, imposing lobbying bans on elected officials after they leave office and establishing universal pre-K and child care programs – all popular ideas with many Democratic voters – don’t seem to be translating into actual support for Warren, NPR reported.
“You hear from people that [Warren] sort of reminds them of Hillary [Clinton], which they mean in a purely stylistic sense,” Michelle Goldberg, a New York Times columnist, said on the newspaper’s podcast the Argument. “It leads me to wonder: What is the salience of policy in a Democratic primary — or in our politics at all?”

“You hear from people that [Warren] sort of reminds them of Hillary [Clinton], which they mean in a purely stylistic sense.”
— Michelle Goldberg, New York Times columnist

"I just don't know if she would go over nationally," former New Hampshire state Rep. Daniel Hansberry told the Associated Press. He was among 27 current and former state lawmakers who signed a 2015 letter urging Warren to seek the presidency.
"In the Northeast and on the West Coast I wouldn't be a bit surprised if she got a huge vote," Hansberry said. "But I don't know if she's too progressive for other parts of the country."
In other words, when it comes time to choose a candidate, many voters may prefer the sizzle rather than the steak.
That concept may explain why Donald Trump topped Hillary Clinton in 2016, Richard Reeves of the Brookings Institution wrote soon after that election.
"What Donald Trump did during the campaign was to paint in a very broad brush," Reeves wrote. "Rather than having a debate about immigration policy in the round, [Trump asked], 'Are you for or against the wall? Are you for or against the Muslim ban?’”
Warren’s failure to catch fire seems reflected in dollars: A federal filing shows she raised at least $300,000 on the day she launched her campaign – far short of the $6.1 million raised by former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, the $6 million raised by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., or the $1.5 million raised by Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.
Nevertheless, Warren seems to be sticking with the idea that in 2020 the devil – i.e, the votes – may be in the details.
“The rules of our economy are so rigged in favor of the rich and powerful,” Warren recently told Time magazine, “that we can’t afford to just tinker around the edges. Our fight is for big, structural change.

"The rules of our economy are so rigged in favor of the rich and powerful that we can’t afford to just tinker around the edges. Our fight is for big, structural change."
— U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

“This is the time for Democrats to identify exactly what’s broken,” she continued, “and lay out exactly how we’ll fix it.”
Aside from the idea the Warren may be focused too sharply on policy details, others note that many voters may associate Warren with an event that worked against her: Her release of DNA results last October in a bid to prove her claims of Native American ancestry – which won her the derisive nickname “Pocahontas” from President Trump.
Warren ended up apologizing to the head of the Cherokee Nation in early February, amid claims that she had exaggerated her ancestry for personal gain. Then just days afterward, reports surfaced that Warren had claimed Native American heritage on a 1986 Texas State Bar registration form.
Finally, Warren – and yes, some other Democrats in the 2020 field -- faces an unfortunate historical fact: Voters seldom back U.S. senators for the presidency, preferring Congress members and governors instead.
When Sen. Barack Obama was elected in 2008, he became just the third sitting senator – behind Warren Harding and John F. Kennedy – to win the White House, Politico reported.
So the obstacles between Warren and the White House would seem to make her potential election as the nation’s first female president even more of an achievement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Rep. Ilhan Omar faces hundreds of protesters outside CAIR fundraiser in California

U.S. Rep Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., speaks to support LGBTQ and allied high school students from across the state of Minnesota outside the State Capitol in St. Paul, March 21, 2019. (Associated Press)

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar faced hundreds of protesters Saturday outside a Southern California fundraising event for the local chapter of a major advocacy group representing Muslim-Americans.
“Burn the Quran!," “Ilhan Omar, go to hell!” and “Shame on you, terrorists!" were among some of the messages shouted outside a Woodland Hills hotel where the Minnesota Democrat spoke at a fundraiser for the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) of Greater Los Angeles, according to a report. The town is about 25 miles northwest of downtown L.A.
The protesters lined a sidewalk area, where they waved Israeli flags and denounced the freshman congresswoman over recent remarks that some have described as anti-Semitic, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. The atmosphere was a mix of dancing and music mixed with the vitriolic comments against Omar, the report said.
Omar, a 37-year-old immigrant from Somalia who came to the U.S. with her family in 1995, has faced a storm of criticism from pro-Israel politicians and groups after her February tweet that said “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” in reference to the support that some U.S. lawmakers have offered to Israel.
The freshman Democrat drew scorn from Republicans and some in her own party. She later apologized and clarified her criticism of the Israeli government.
“Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes,” she wrote on Twitter.
“Being opposed to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and the occupation is not the same as being anti-Semitic," she continued. "I am grateful to the many Jewish allies who have spoken out and said the same."
A handful of counterprotesters also appeared outside the event to voice support for Omar.
The event at the fourth annual Valley Banquet, titled “Advancing Justice: Empowering Valley Muslims,” was sold out and closed to the public. The Los Angeles Police Department told City News Service that it had an unspecified number of officers working the event.
“We don’t disclose the numbers,” Officer Sal Ramirez told City News Service.
Omar's visit to Southern California is expected to continue Sunday, as she is scheduled to attend a private meet-and-greet in Irvine, according to a flyer for the event.
Her appearance was one of two political events in the region Saturday. In Los Angeles, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a Democratic 2020 presidential candidate, visited a mosque to commemorate the victims of the March 15 mass shooting in New Zealand, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“Your background is different than mine,” Sanders told about 200 Muslims at the Islamic Center of Southern California. “What a joy it is to share that.”
Later in the day, he spoke to an estimated 12,000 people at a downtown Los Angeles rally.
“As president of the United States, I will not have kind words to say about authoritarian leaders around the world who espouse bigotry and hatred,” Sanders told the crowd. “Together we will make the United States the leader in the world in the fight for democracy and human rights.”

Pelosi Calls Mueller Report Summary 'Insufficient,' Seeks Full Report

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is rallying Democratic lawmakers to deliver a unified message demanding Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report be unclassified and made public in full, as congressional leaders await a summary of his findings from the Justice Department.
Pelosi and six top committee leaders held what they termed an emergency conference call on Saturday with Democratic House members. The call provided no new insight on Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether anyone in President Donald Trump’s campaign coordinated with that effort, according to lawmakers who took part.
The heads of the committees primarily involved in investigations of the Trump administration led the discussion, including Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff and Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler. The major thrust followed what Pelosi had earlier in the day outlined in a “Dear Colleague” letter -- that Congress must see the full report, plus its underlying documents and findings.
Among the talking points given to members Saturday was that Democrats were ready to subpoena the full report and underlying documents, or even to obtain testimony or a briefing from Mueller, Barr or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Pelosi wrote that Attorney General William Barr’s “offer to provide the committees with a summary of the report’s conclusions is insufficient.”
Democrats are attempting to keep pressure on Trump with their own investigations into his actions as president and his business dealings before taking office. But neither they nor Republicans know yet whether the conclusion of Mueller’s investigation will accelerate or tamp down further probes.
Pelosi said transparency is even more urgent given Barr’s letter on Friday that he may advise certain lawmakers this weekend on the “principal conclusions” from Mueller’s 22-month investigation.
“We are insisting that any briefings to any Committees be unclassified so that Members can speak freely about every aspect of the report and not be confined to what DOJ chooses to release publicly,” Pelosi said in her letter.
Barr is planning to release his summary of Mueller’s findings as early as Sunday, according to a Justice Department official. He’s said he will consult with Mueller and Rosenstein on “what other information from the report can be released to Congress and the public.”
Pelosi said Congress must get Mueller’s entire report so that the relevant committees can proceed with oversight and with potential legislation to address any issues the investigation may raise.

Key Findings to Congress Delayed as Mueller Wraps Russia Probe

U.S. Attorney General William Barr pored over a special counsel report into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Moscow, and was due to release key findings perhaps as early as Sunday.
Barr, the top U.S. law enforcement official, aimed to transmit to Congress and the public a summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report by the end of the weekend.
He will not deliver the summary on Saturday, a Justice Department official said, leaving it likely that he will do so on Sunday.
There appeared to be initial good news for President Donald Trump and his inner circle, as Mueller did not bring any new indictments when handing over his report to Barr on Friday after a probe of almost two years.
That signals there might be no more criminal charges against Trump associates on the issue of whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to help ensure the Republican businessman's surprise election win against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
"Once we get the principal conclusions of the report, it's entirely possible that that'll be a good day for the president and his core supporters," Democratic Senator Chris Coon told reporters on a conference call.
It was not immediately known what Mueller's report says about another strand of inquiry: whether Trump committed obstruction of justice to hinder the Russia investigation by acts such as firing then FBI Director James Comey in 2017.
Mueller had earlier brought charges against 34 people and three companies, with prison sentences for some of Trump's ex-aides such as former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former personal lawyer Michael Cohen.
None of those charges, however, directly related to the question of collusion between the campaign and Moscow.
Trump and his core team still face legal risks even if the report does not find that they committed crimes, and congressional Democrats on Saturday vowed to keep looking into his activities.
Trump's business, his charity and presidential transition operation remain under investigation, said Coons, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Other prosecutors have picked up strands of the Mueller probe, most notably the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York which is looking into Trump's business practices and financial dealings.
KEY FINDINGS
On Saturday, Barr and his deputy were working closely with principal advisers to determine what to include in a letter to Congress to present the key findings of Mueller's report.
Under Department of Justice regulations, Barr is empowered to decide how much to disclose publicly. A Trump appointee, Barr told lawmakers on Friday that he is "committed to as much transparency as possible."
The attorney general spent nine hours at the Justice Department on Saturday before leaving at around 7 p.m. (2300 GMT), CNN said.
Trump, at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, resort for the weekend, remained uncharacteristically silent about the completion of the investigation that has cast a shadow over his two years in the White House.
He has frequently derided the Russia investigation as a "witch hunt." He denies collaborating with Moscow. Russia says it did not interfere in the election.
Spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters that the White House still has not received or been briefed on Mueller's report.
The president had no public events scheduled on Saturday and played golf with musician Kid Rock. "He's fine," Gidley said when asked by reporters how Trump was feeling. "He's good, he's good." Gidley declined to say whether Trump had talked about the Mueller report while golfing.
A large pro-Trump float behind a flatbed truck pulled up to the golf course about an hour after he arrived, adorned with American flags and "Trump 2020" signs.
Political analysts expect the Mueller report to have a significant impact on the 2020 presidential campaign - how Democrats might be able to use it stop Trump being reelected and how Trump could use it if he is effectively cleared of wrongdoing.
The big question is whether the report contains allegations against Trump or exonerates him. Even if Mueller has outlined serious wrongdoing by Trump, the Justice Department has a policy that sitting presidents cannot face criminal charges.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Moscow meddled in the 2016 election with a campaign of email hacking and online propaganda aimed at sowing discord in the United States, hurting Clinton and helping Trump.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said Barr's offer to provide congressional committees with a summary of the report's conclusions is insufficient and that "Congress requires the full report and the underlying documents."
House Democrats have sent letters to the Justice Department to ensure Mueller report documents are preserved in case lawmakers need to see them, Representative Ted Lieu told MSNBC.

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Democrats vow to keep investigating Trump despite Mueller's conclusions, no new indictments

The Democrats can  keep stupids investigations going that cost millions of dollars because it's not their money, it's yours.

Congressional Democrats vowed Friday to keep investigating President Trump, his family, and associates despite Special Counsel Robert Mueller wrapping up his Russia investigation with no new indictments.
Attorney General William Barr notified key congressional leaders in a letter Friday evening that Mueller finished his investigation, adding that a summary of the probe’s findings may be provided to lawmakers as soon as this weekend.
Both the investigation's end and the lack of any new indictments struck at the core of the Democrats’ messaging for the last two years that led people to believe the Mueller probe would uncover evident collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
This prompted House Democrats to somewhat downplay the Mueller probe and suggested that the left-leaning lawmakers themselves might take on the job of trying to prove collusion, not ruling out the possibility of Mueller being asked or subpoenaed to testify before congressional committees.
“If the Justice Department doesn't release the whole report or tries to keep parts of it secret, we will certainly subpoena the parts of the report and we will reserve the right to call Mueller to testify before the committee or to subpoena him,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement.
Nadler is leading an investigation into “alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by President Trump,” a probe he announced earlier this month and has requested documents and records from 81 individuals and entities connected, in some way, to the president.
So far only a fraction of those targeted have responded or complied with the document requests by the Nadler-imposed deadline of March 18.
Democrats in the House will also ask multiple executive branch agencies to preserve the information they gave to the special counsel, the Washington Post reported.
The Democratic chairs of the six House committees investigating the Trump administration and their Senate Democratic counterparts reportedly have penned a letter that will be sent to the Department of Justice, FBI and White House Counsel’s Office, and other agencies in an effort to preserve records in the event of the committees requesting for them.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.,made similar comments to Nadler and rejected reports that no more Mueller indictments are coming.
“If necessary, we will call Bob Mueller or others before our committee, I would imagine the judiciary committee may call the attorney general if necessary,” Schiff told CNN.
This is not the first time Schiff dismissed the importance of the Mueller report. Earlier this month, he insisted that the question of whether Trump was “compromised by a foreign power” would end only when Schiff's panel's investigation ends.
“Our predominant concern on my committee is: Was this president, is this president, compromised by a foreign power?,” Schiff said during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“Well, if there’s insufficient evidence in the Mueller report and we’re not able to produce sufficient evidence in our own investigation," Schiff said, "that ends the inquiry."

Delivery of Mueller report met with stunned surprise – and tears? – on CNN, MSNBC

Mainstream media figures Jim Acosta of CNN, left, and Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews of MSNBC all seemed stunned as Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation wrapped up Friday with no more indictments planned.

The mainstream media seemed to suffer a collective shock Friday evening after the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller handed its final report of its Russia investigation to the Department of Justice.
MSNBC host Chris Matthews seemed livid that neither President Trump, his children, nor his “henchmen” would face any criminal charges from the special counsel.
“Maybe he missed the boat here,” Matthews said of Mueller. “Because we know about the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016, we know about the meeting at the cigar bar with Kilimnik [Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian political consultant]. My God, we know about all of those meetings with Kislyak [Sergey Kislyak, a Russian diplomat] at the Republican convention in Cleveland. All these dots we’re now to believe don’t connect.”
The liberal cable news host was particularly upset that the president wasn’t indicted on obstruction of justice and never sat down for an interview with the special counsel.
“Why was there never an interrogation of this president? We were told for weeks by experts, ‘You cannot deal with an obstruction-of-justice charge or investigation without getting the motive. ... How could they let Trump off the hook?” Matthews asked. “He will not be charged with obstruction of justice or collusion without having to sit down with the Special Counsel Mueller and answer his damn questions. How could that happen?”
Matthew’s primetime colleague, Rachel Maddow, was visibly emotional throughout her show.
Maddow kicked off by telling her viewers she was reporting live from Tennessee because she felt she needed to interrupt her vacation to address the breaking news. She appeared to be holding back tears.
"A couple of hours ago, or maybe even less than that, I was standing knee-deep in a trout stream in Tennessee," Maddow told her viewers. "But now it's Mueller time! And so I'm in a studio in the great state of Tennessee. The trout are basically just as safe as they were when I was flailing away at them ineffectually this afternoon."

"The trout are basically just as safe as they were when I was flailing away at them ineffectually this afternoon."
— Rachel Maddow, MSNBC

Meanwhile, several personalities on CNN were forced to admit that the announcement of the Mueller report was a positive development for the president.
CNN’s chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin offered rare favorable commentary for President Trump, calling the end of the Mueller probe “really good news” for the commander-in-chief.
"There has been a lot of suspicion around certain people. And a lot of negative things have been said and imputation of criminal activity,” Toobin told “Situation Room” anchor Wolf Blitzer. “Mueller has said, ‘I am not proceeding.’ There is no better news to receive than you are not being indicted by the United States government.”
Later, CNN’s chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta said the White House was “quietly celebrating” and that the Trump administration was reacting to Mueller’s report with “a fair amount of glee.”
“I talked to a Trump campaign adviser earlier this evening who said, ‘This was a great day for America and we won,’” Acosta told “AC360” anchor Anderson Cooper. “That’s how they feel right now.”
Liberal celebrities also appeared surprised by the sudden end to the investigation.
In Hollywood, “Real Time” host Bill Maher expressed disappointment but doubled down on his negative views of the president, whom he has often called a "whiny little b----."
“Did the Democrats put too must trust in the Mueller report? Because I don’t need the Mueller report to know he’s a traitor. I have a TV,” Maher told his panel of guests.
Outspoken anti-Trump comedian Chelsea Handler took to Twitter on Friday night and told her 8 million followers that she was “sexually attracted” to Robert Mueller.