Jared Kushner: Trump's threat to close border is move 'to pressure everybody'

Jared Kushner, President Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law, told Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle" on Monday that the president's threats to close the U.S.-Mexico border are a way "to pressure everybody" into taking action to limit illegal immigration.
"This is something that needs a solution, and one of the things I love about the president is, he doesn't let people hide from problems," Kushner told host Laura Ingraham. "When there's a problem, he makes people confront the problem and he's very creative about ways that he'll look to find a solution."
Trump has threatened to close the southern frontier as soon as this week if Mexico does not "immediately stop" a surge of migrants flooding into the U.S. illegally. In a tweet Sunday, Trump accused Democrats of "allowing a ridiculous asylum system and major loopholes to remain as a mainstay of our immigration system."
"Mexico is likewise doing NOTHING, a very bad combination for our Country," Trump added.
Kushner also discussed the mainstream media's coverage of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, comparing it to their reporting on the 2016 presidential election.
"Well, look, the media got the election wrong. They thought for sure Hillary Clinton was going to win," Kushner said. "They didn't see what we were seeing out in the country and the field. Their data was wrong, their analysis was wrong and then it happened. Not a single person got fired, not a single person apologized ... I think people sometimes let their hatred for Trump overtake their rational ability to kind of look at things objectively."
"On the other hand," Kushner added, "you could look at it and say that because the media's been so distracted with Russia, Russia, Russia and all of these crazy conspiracy theories, we've been able to operate underneath that level and just be really effective."
Kushner specifically took issue with reporting by CNN, where political analyst Paul Begala recently referred to him and his wife Ivanka Trump as "cockroaches."
"The number of times that CNN wrote things about me that I would then call and say, 'That's not true,' [and] they would say, 'Well, we have a source,'" Kushner said. "It is what it is ... I just hope that going forward, everyone will look at it and maybe have a little bit of cooler heads and focus that we're all on the same team. We're all here for America."
Kushner also said he would be willing to testify on Capitol Hill on matters related to the Russia investigation, calling the claims of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia "a very serious accusation that goes to the very core of our democracy ... that was one [investigation] that we thought it was important to go [along] with, so we were fully compliant."
He also addressed the insistence of some congressional Democrats that evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials exists.
"I wish them luck," Kushner said, "[but] talking about this nonsense further, especially after two years and being wrong so many times is just really not productive and quite frankly, it’s kind of an embarrassment for our democracy."

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Home | Politics Tags: Donald Trump | Russia Probe | mueller | trump | probe | russia | barr Trump: Investigate How 'Fraudulent' Mueller Probe Started

President Donald Trump on Sunday called for an investigation into how Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s “fraudulent” probe started.
“Everybody is asking how the phony and fraudulent investigation of the No Collusion, No Obstruction Trump Campaign began,” Trump tweeted. “We need to know for future generations to understand. This Hoax should never be allowed to happen to another President or Administration again!”

Trump has criticized Mueller’s probe since it ended last week.

Mueller's report, as summarized last Sunday by Attorney General William Barr, "did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”
There was also insufficient evidence to pursue obstruction of justice claims against the president.

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney earlier Sunday questioned how the media bungled stories on the Russia probe.
“We need to figure out what went wrong with the Mueller report, why — in all fairness to your network, why the media got it so wrong for so long,” he told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union.” 

“How did the media get it so wrong? I think the president is just venting the same frustration a lot of people had when the Mueller report came out, and it turned out exactly like he said that it would,” he added.

Lara Trump rips 'socialist' 2020 Dems, dismisses Beto O'Rourke as 'a great skateboarder'

President Trump's senior campaign adviser and daughter-in-law Lara Trump said the Democrats aiming to unseat the president in 2020 were succumbing to the pull of socialism -- and she took a swipe at Beto O'Rourke in her interview that aired Sunday on Fox News.
“He’s a great skateboarder,” she said about O'Rourke, noting he’s really cool and fun to see, but no more than a flash in the pan. “We don’t worry about Beto.”
She also noted about the Democratic field, “I don’t know what they are running on except socialism.”
Trump told Fox News' Steve Hilton on “The Next Revolution” that following the Mueller report, “It’s time for the country to move on.”
She said her father-in-law is a legitimate president and questioned why the mainstream media and liberals seemingly wanted an American president colluding with Russia.
A redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation is to be sent to Congress by mid-April and will not be shared with the White House beforehand, Attorney General William Barr said Friday.
Barr’s timeline, included in a letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, set up a possible showdown with House Democrats, who are insisting they see the full report next week.
Lara Trump said with a booming economy, some of the lowest unemployment levels in history and wages rising, she's hoped the Mueller report doesn’t factor in the reelection.
“He’s doing such a great job as our president,” she said calling the spin and nonsense about Trump “disgusting” and “crazy.”
Last Tuesday the president hinted to reporters: “The Republican party will soon be known as the part of health care.”'
Lara Trump explained, “He wanted to fix health care because it’s not working for the people of this country.” She added Trump wants to own the issue himself.

Trump ‘saving’ Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace Ginsburg: report

Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative stalwart, is rumored to be President Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court should Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat become available, according to an Axios report that cited close confidants of the president.
Barrett, 46, was considered to replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy last year, but the president said he was “saving her for Ginsburg,” the report said.
Trump reportedly told people "I'm saving her for Ginsburg" as recently as two days before he nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, according to Axios. The report could not be independently verified by Fox News, but Barrett has been mentioned as a favorite by Trump in the past.
Trump advisers were concerned that Barrett, who staunchly opposes abortion, would alienate GOP moderates like Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, the report said. They were also confident that Republicans would maintain their control of the Senate and nominating another conservative judge to the Supreme Court wouldn’t be necessary at the time, the report said.
Ginsburg, who turned 86 last month, is unlikely to retire while Trump is in office. Health problems -- including undergoing lung cancer surgery in December -- kept her away from the bench for several months. She returned in February and is reportedly now in good health.
Trump appointed Barrett to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2017. Barrett, who is open about her Catholicism, was grilled by Democrats during her Senate confirmation. Should Barrett be nominated to the Supreme Court, a contentious confirmation process would undoubtedly play out.

Wife of former Defense secretary calls photo with Biden misleading

FILE 2015: The photograph of Vice President Joe Biden standing behind ex-Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s wife went viral. Stephanie Carter called the picture misleading. (Getty)

The photographs taken during the swearing-in of then-Defense Secretary Ash Cater in 2015 that showed Vice President Joe Biden standing behind the ex-cabinet member's wife with two hands on her shoulders and-- at times-- his nose nuzzled against her hair, were misleading and "extracted from what was a longer moment between close friends," Stephanie Carter said in a post on Medium.
The photographs from the Feb. 17, 2015 ceremony made their way back into the public eye in recent days after recent allegations against Biden. Nevada’s Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Lucy Flores alleged in an article Friday that the former vice president "plant[ed] a big slow kiss" on the back of her head.
Bill Russo, a spokesman for Biden, told the Associated Press that the former vice president doesn’t remember kissing Flores.
"In my many years on the campaign trail and in public life, I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support and comfort," Biden said in his own statement Sunday. "And not once -- never -- did I believe I acted inappropriately.  If it is suggested I did so, I will listen respectfully. But it was never my intention."
Carter titled her post, "The #MeToo Story That Wasn’t Me." She said her intention was to set the record straight that the moment was simply a longtime friend supporting another friend. But she wrote that Biden could sense she was nervous and "kept his hands on my shoulders as a means of offering his support."
The photograph made its rounds in 2015, but she wrote that she believed it would blow over without comment. She admitted that "clearly that was wishful thinking."
Carter made it clear that she supports Flores' "right to speak her truth and she should be, like all women, believed."
Several women who worked for Biden stepped forward over the weekend to vouch for his character, but Republicans used the alleged episode to raise questions about a potential Biden candidacy for 2020, in a post #MeToo era. Even some Democrats see a potential flaw in the candidate that could hurt his chances.
“It looks different in 2019,” said Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist, told the AP.
Kellyanne Conway, the White House adviser, told “Fox News Sunday”: "First of all, this woman Lucy is very bold to come forward, and I would remind the audience that she shares Joe Biden’s political party. He was there to help to Democratic Party of Nevada, and her candidacy, so it’s quite bold for her to go up against the highest levels of her own political party."
Carter said she was disappointed that the photograph was misused. When she met with the Bidens again, she "told them I felt awful that after he had generously taken time out of his day to swear in an old friend, his attempt to support me had become a joke and even more — supposed proof positive that he didn’t understand how to respect women."
"I won’t pretend that this will be the last of that picture, but it will be the last of other people speaking for me," she wrote.
The Associated Press contributed to this report

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Former House Oversight Cmte Chair: Revoke Schiff’s security clearance

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., pushes ahead with their oversight of the Trump administration at a hearing to examine to examine “Putin’s Playbook,” how the Russian government works to undermine its adversaries, especially the U.S., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 28, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

 

The former chair of the House Oversight Committee calls on Congressman Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) security clearance to be revoked.
Jason Chaffetz comments came in response to the aftermath of the Mueller Report on Thursday, and Attorney General William Barr.
The former-Utah republican lawmaker claims Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, has lost the confidence of his colleagues.
Schiff has been accused of making unfolded allegations in past months, which were ultimately debunked following the release of the Special Counsel’s findings.
Cheffetz says if Schiff’s security clearance were to be revoked he would no longer be able to serve on the Intel Committee.