Pentagon authorizes up to $1B to start 57 miles of border wall construction

The Pentagon notified Congress late Monday that it authorized the transfer of up to $1 billion to erect 57 miles of "pedestrian fencing" along the U.S.-Mexico border in direct support of President Trump's national emergency declaration from last month.
The fencing, which will be 18 feet high, is to be erected in the Yuma and El Paso sectors, the statement read. The Pentagon's announcement was notable. A reporter from the New York Times tweeted that it is the first time the funds will be transferred under section 284 for the border wall.
Section 284 allows the Pentagon to "construct roads and fences and to install lighting to block drug-smuggling corridors across international boundaries of the United States in support of counter-narcotic activities of Federal law enforcement agencies," the statement read.
The Pentagon's announcement was made as Trump nears a victory over Democrats as the House tries to override his first veto, a vote that seems certain to fail and allow his declaration to stand. The vote, which is set for Tuesday, would keep the border emergency intact, which for now, would allow the president to shift an additional $3.6 billion from military construction projects to work on a barrier along the southwest boundary.
"The president will be fine in the House," said Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in a brief interview. "The veto will not be overridden."
Donald Trump Jr. tweeted, “Christmas came early this week,” in response to the announcement.  He was likely also referring to special counsel Robert Mueller’s report that said there was no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 presidential election.
Patrick M. Shanahan, the acting Secretary of Defense, announced that the funds will be used to support the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol. He authorized the Army Corps of Engineers to begin its planning and execution.
A group of Democratic senators criticized the Pentagon’s move and called the maneuver a violation of congressional appropriations, Bloomberg reported. Democrats have called the national emergency declaration a crisis manufactured by Trump
"The $1 billion reprogramming that the department is implementing without congressional approval constitutes a dollar-for-dollar theft from other readiness needs of our Armed Forces," Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and others wrote in a letter to Shanahan, according to the report.
Even with his veto remaining intact, Trump may not be able to spend the money for barriers quickly because of lawsuits that might take years to resolve.

Trump's Twitter Habits Influencing Politics, And The Law

President Donald Trump's Twitter habits have influenced how other elected and government officials interact with constituents online – and has become a free speech issue being battled in court, The Washington Post reported.

In court cases in Wisconsin, Missouri, and South Carolina, politicians are fighting over whether they can block their constituents from Twitter online conversations — and in each, a federal court ruling against Trump last May was cited — a case that is due to be argued on appeal Tuesday.
In the case, U.S. District Judge Naomi Buchwald of New York said Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking individual users critical of the president or his policies. The comments attached to Trump's tweets are a public forum, the judge ruled. Trump unblocked the seven people behind the lawsuit and appealed.

"Sometimes public officials don't back down," Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University — who is scheduled to argue the case against the president Tuesday — told the Post.

"But the courts seem to be siding with the constituents who are blocked, and in some cases the public officials are changing their minds."
Justice Department lawyers say in court filings in New York that @realDonaldTrump is a personal account on a privately owned digital platform. Trump created the account before he took office, and it is subject to his control — not the control of the federal government, they argue.

Analiese Eicher, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, told the Post that being able to monitor state officials and interact with them online is critical to the group's work on voting rights, student loan debt and free speech.
Banning people is just as problematic "online as it is at a town hall meeting," she told the Post.
"Free speech is not just for people or organizations with whom public officials like or agree with," she told the Post.

Lindsey Graham Wants a Special Counsel to Investigate Mueller Probe

A leading Senate Republican said on Monday he would ask Attorney General William Barr to appoint a special counsel to probe whether U.S. law enforcement officials made missteps in their investigation into possible collusion between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia.
A day after the attorney general said the report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller found Trump's campaign did not conspire with Russia, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham said: "We will begin to unpack the other side of the story."

He said it was time to look at the origins of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant for former Trump adviser Carter Page, which was based in part on information in a dossier compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer who co-founded a private intelligence firm.
Graham told reporters he planned to ask Barr to appoint a special counsel to investigate the FISA matter, which is already being probed by the Justice Department's internal watchdog, Inspector General Michael Horowitz.
A spokesman for Graham said later that Barr agreed to appear before the Judiciary Committee after he vets Mueller's report.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on Graham's request.
Graham said he would use subpoena power if necessary, whether or not a special counsel is appointed. He added he also had lingering questions about the FBI's probe into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was U.S. secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
Republican lawmakers have contended the FBI made serious missteps when it sought the warrant to monitor Page in October 2016 shortly after he left the Trump campaign.

Page, a foreign policy adviser during Trump's campaign, drew scrutiny from the FBI, which said in legal filings in 2016 that it believed he had been "collaborating and conspiring" with the Kremlin. Page met with several Russian government officials during a trip to Moscow in July 2016. He was not charged.
Fusion GPS, a Washington-based political research firm, was initially contracted to investigate Trump on behalf of Republicans who wanted to stop Trump's bid for the party's nomination. Fusion later hired Steele to investigate Trump, and the firm was paid for Steele's dossier work by a law firm connected to Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.

The top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Senator Dianne Feinstein, said Graham had the prerogative as chairman to bring whatever he wants before the committee.
But told of Graham's interest in Clinton's emails, Feinstein said to reporters: "Well, haven't we had enough of it? Look how many years it's been." Former FBI Director James Comey said in August 2016 that no charges would be brought against Clinton over the matter.

Political Cartoons

Graham sends ominous tweet to Comey: See you soon

Sen.  Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., posted an ominous reply to ex-FBI-Director James Comey on Twitter Sunday after Comey seemed to sum up the summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation by posting a picture of a man who appeared lost in the woods.
The photo posted by Comey was of a man surrounded by tall trees, and the caption was simply: "So many questions."
Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, replied, "Could not agree more," an obvious message that he hopes to question the former FBI head.
Comey's tweet followed Attorney General William Barr’s announcement that Mueller did not find evidence that Trump’s campaign “conspired or coordinated” with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election but reached no conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice.
Trump and his team celebrated the outcome but also laid bare his resentment after two years of investigations that have shadowed his administration. “It’s a shame that our country has had to go through this. To be honest, it’s a shame that your president has had to go through this,” he said.
Despite Trump’s claim of total exoneration, Mueller did not draw a conclusion one way or the other on whether he sought to stifle the Russia investigation through his actions including the firing of former FBI director James Comey.
According to Barr’s summary, Mueller set out "evidence on both sides of the question" and stated that "while this report does not conclude the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."
The Hill reached out to Graham for clarification about his tweet and his office referred the website to a letter from Graham to the attorney general about investigating a FISA surveillance warrant against Carter Page, a former campaign adviser to then-candidate Trump.
The surveillance of Page became a contentious matter between Republicans and Democrats.
Republicans say the FBI had abused its surveillance powers and improperly obtained the warrant, a charge that Democrats rebutted as both sides characterized the documents in different ways.
Critics have charged that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who signed off on the FISA application renewals, should not have approved them without more reliable intelligence.
Trump has claimed that his campaign was “illegally” spied on for “the political gain of  Crooked Hillary Clinton and the DNC.”

Harris Sends Signal to Biden on 2020: Every Era Has Its End

California Sen. Kamala Harris sent a signal to the old guard of Democratic politics that every era has its end.
At an Atlanta church service Sunday, the presidential candidate compared leadership to a relay race in which each generation must ask themselves "what do we do during that period of time when we carry that baton."
Then she added with a smile that for "the older leaders, it also becomes a question of let's also know when to pass the baton."
At 54 years old, Harris is one of the younger contenders for the White House in 2020. While former Vice President Joe Biden has not said whether he will run, both the 76-year-old and 77-year-old Bernie Sanders have previously run for the White House and fallen short.

Biden and Sanders are seen as strong contenders for the Democratic nomination, though other candidates and some voters have emphasized the need for a more youthful approach to try and beat President Donald Trump in the general election. Several other candidates in the race, including two governor, are also in their late sixties.
Other highlights of Sunday campaigning:
KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND
Democratic presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand assailed President Donald Trump as a coward who is "tearing apart the moral fabric of the vulnerable," as she officially started her campaign for president.
The senator spoke in New York Sunday, feet away from one of Trump's signature properties, the Trump International Hotel and Tower.

She said that instead of building walls as Trump wants to do along the U.S.-Mexico border, Americans build bridges, community and hope.
Gillibrand also called for full release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report in the Russia investigation. Attorney General William Barr released a summary Sunday afternoon, but Democrats want to see the full details.
Gillibrand is trying to position herself in the crowded field of Democrats seeking the party's nomination. While some hopefuls have shied away from mentioning Trump, Gillibrand has not hesitated to do so.

ELIZABETH WARREN
Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Sunday the National Rifle Association is holding "Congress hostage" when it comes to stemming gun violence.
The Massachusetts senator and Democratic presidential candidate tells a campaign rally that if seven children were dying from a mysterious virus, "we'd pull out all the stops till we figured out what was wrong." But in terms of gun violence, she said the NRA "keeps calling the shots in Washington."
Warren finished a two-day campaign trip to New Hampshire with an event at a middle school in Conway Sunday afternoon.
Warren focused much of her speech on her approach to economics, but paid special attention to unions Sunday. She said more power needs to be put back in the hands of workers.

BETO O'ROURKE
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke told voters in Las Vegas Sunday that President Donald Trump bears blame for the separation of families at the U.S.-Mexico border but responsibility lies with everyone in the country to fix the situation.
O'Rourke spoke Sunday to more than 200 people packed into and snaking around a taco shop on the city's north end. He said immigrant families are leaving their home countries and journeying on foot because they have no other choice.
The former Texas congressman said desperate families were broken up in the U.S. when they were at their most vulnerable and desperate moments, and what happened to them "is on every single one of us."

Dershowitz Slams 'Shameful' Mueller, Hits CNN

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report sounds like a “law school exam,” where he shirked his job and didn’t have “the guts” to make a decision on whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice, Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Sunday during an appearance on Fox News where he also slammed CNN personalities and guests who “misinformed the American public.”

Mueller turned in his final report Friday, and Attorney General William Barr on Sunday in a letter to Congress said the investigation concluded there was no collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

On the topic of potential obstruction of justice on the part of President Donald Trump, the special counsel referred the question of criminality to the attorney general.
“I thought it was a cop out for him to say there was not enough evidence to indict, but it’s not an exoneration, and we’re going to put a report out,” Dershowitz told anchor Shannon Bream “… It sounds like a law school exam. That’s not the job of the prosecutor. The job of the prosecutor is to decide yes or no. Make a decision.”

The TV personalities and guests on CNN who predicted Mueller’s probe would result in indictments for collusion and obstruction “should be hanging their heads in shame,” Dershowitz added.
“I have to tell you, they should be hanging their head in shame when you think about how many people went out on a limb and predicted there would be indictments for obstruction, there would be indictments for collusion, there would be indictments for this and for that,” he.

“They made it seem like it was an open and shut case, and they misinformed the American public, and they have to have some public accountability when you say things that turn out not to be true.”

President Trump: 'Complete and Total Exoneration'

Celebrating "no collusion and no obstruction" as reported by Attorney General William Barr's summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's report, President Donald Trump claimed "complete and total exoneration."

"Collusion, the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard," President Trump told the media before boarding Air Force One, leaving Florida's Mar-a-Lago during a weekend away from the White House. "No collusion and no obstruction.

"Complete and total exoneration." 
President Trump called the witch hunt of his administration and campaign "an illegal takedown that failed."

"It's a shame our country has had to go through this," he said. "It is a shame your president had to go through this."
President Trump also expressed hope "the other side of this" will be investigated, suggesting potential investigative abuses of FISA warrants and investigating the political opposition.

"The president was totally vindicated," Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani told Fox News after Trump's statement to the media. "And investigation by people who hate him."