Ex-spy Valerie Plame now eyes US House seat instead of Senate

Former CIA operative Valerie Plame gestures while testifying on Capitol Hill, in an undated photo. (Associated Press)

Ex-spy Valerie Plame is considering running for an open U.S. House seat in New Mexico after previously saying she would launch a Senate bid.
Plame, a Democrat, said she will make a decision soon about going after the seat currently held by Democrat U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, who is stepping down to run for the U.S. Senate.
“Right now, I am going around and meeting with people,” said Plame, a Democrat. “I have a lot to learn and I would like another opportunity to serve my country.”
Her decision to focus on the House after indicating interest in the Senate stems from wanting to “continue Ben Ray’s legacy.”
Plame, 55, told media outlets last month that she planned to run a for Senate seat being held by Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., after he announced he would not seek re-election. Plame has been highly critical of President Trump. In 2017, she crowdfunded nearly $90,000 to buy a stake in Twitter in an unsuccessful effort to ban the president from the platform.
The former CIA operative was thrust into the national spotlight when she was outed in a 2003 column that cited officials with the George W. Bush administration as sources of a leak. Plame maintained the revelation was an effort to discredit her then-husband Joe Wilson, a former diplomat who was critical of Bush's decision to invade Iraq.
Plame wrote a memoir: “Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House," which was later made into a film.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans Central America trip to examine 'root causes of migration'

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday he will travel to El Salvador this month to discuss the poverty and violence that's causing waves of migrants to seek asylum in the United States. (Associated Press)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom will head to El Salvador this month to meet with lawmakers to get to the root cause of why Central American migrants make the arduous journey to the United States.
Newsom, a Democrat, will travel to the capital city of San Salvador, just as President Trump and U.S. border officials are calling for tougher security measures amid a spike in Central American migrants attempting to enter the U.S. through Mexico.
“While the Trump Administration demonizes those who are fleeing violence from Central America, California is committed to lifting up our immigrant communities and understanding the root causes of migration,” Newsom said in a statement. “I am looking forward to traveling to El Salvador in April to talk with the nation’s leaders and activists while deepening the bond between our families and communities.”
California is home to the largest number of El Salvadoran immigrants, Newsom’s office told the Sacramento Bee.
Trump has assailed Central American and Mexican leaders for not doing enough to stop large migrant caravans headed toward the U.S. border. Many of the migrants include children and travel in caravans for protection.
Most are asylum seekers fleeing violence and poverty. Critics of Newsom's impending trip argue that international travel is the president's responsibility and that he's just boosting his anti-Trump credentials, the Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs reported.
“I’ve got areas in my district that are flooding,” state Assemblyman Devon Mathis, a Republican, told the paper. “Not in Central America. Come see the central San Joaquin Valley. ... Come down to where we have Third World conditions."

“I’ve got areas in my district that are flooding. Not in Central America. Come see the central San Joaquin Valley. ... Come down to where we have Third World conditions."
— Assemblyman Devon Mathis, a California Republican

El Salvador has one of the highest murder rates in the world, due in part, to gangs like MS-13, which was started by Salvadoran immigrants in the U.S. and spread to El Salvador and other countries.
The trip will be Newsom’s first abroad as governor, according to the paper. His predecessor Jerry Brown traveled to Russia, China, Germany and other nations as part of his efforts to combat climate change.

Ex-Dem staffer pleads guilty to 'doxxing' McConnell, others in GOP during Kavanaugh hearings

Jackson Cosko pleaded guilty Friday to charges stemming from posting to the Internet the personal information of five GOP senators. (Linkedin)

A former House Democratic staffer pleaded guilty Friday to five federal offenses related to posting online the personal information of five Republican senators, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, during hearings for then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The charges against Jackson A. Cosko, 27, include making public restricted personal information, computer fraud, witness tampering and obstruction of justice.
In addition to McConnell's information, Cosko posted the home addresses and phone numbers of GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky -- as well as then-Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah.
Cosko reportedly became angry about the senators' support for Kavanaugh despite sexual assault allegations that President Trump's nominee was facing during the hearings. Cosko intended to intimidate the senators and their families, according to court records. Kavanaugh's nomination was ultimately confirmed.
At the time of his arrest, Cosko was working as an unpaid intern for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, who fired him soon after. He was previously employed as a computer systems administrator in the office of Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., a job that gave him "intimate knowledge of, and broad access to" the computer systems in Hasan's office, according to court records. But he had been fired from Hassan’s office in May 2018 for failing to follow office procedures.
After the firing from Hassan's office, Cosko became angry and repeatedly burglarized the office without being detected, court records said. He copied gigabytes-worth of data, including dozens of user names and passwords belonging to Senate employees and "contact information for numerous sitting U.S. senators," according to court records.
Cosko was arrested Oct. 3, 2018, one day after a staffer discovered him working on a computer in Hassan's office, where Cosko was not authorized to be. Records show Cosko sent a threatening email to the staffer the evening he was confronted.
He is scheduled to be sentenced in Washington on June 13. He could face between two and five years in prison.
Cosko previously held positions with other prominent Democrats, including former Sen. Barbara Boxer of California and the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, also of California and the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Fox News' Samuel Chamberlain and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Democrats Really Suck Cartoons

Bill to OK driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants advances in Minnesota

Minnesota House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler appears at a state Capitol news conference on Friday, April 5, 2019. (Associated Press)

Minnesota lawmakers advanced legislation Friday that would allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, highlighting the debate in the state over immigration and access to social benefits.
“Immigrants, whether they are documented or undocumented, are Minnesotans. They are part of the fabric of our communities,” said Democratic House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler. “It is time that we helped take away this shadow of not having a driver’s license.”

“Immigrants, whether they are documented or undocumented, are Minnesotans. They are part of the fabric of our communities. It is time that we helped take away this shadow of not having a driver’s license.”
— Minnesota House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, a Democrat

The 74-52 vote came after nearly five hours of highly charged debate in the state's Democrat-led House. The bill now advances to the Republican-controlled state Senate, where some say the plan would incentivize illegal immigration, voter fraud and reward people who violate the law, the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis reported.
GOP state Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen said the bill would “undermine our current values.”
“Minnesota shouldn’t be in the business of incentivizing illegal behavior, and by allowing illegal and undocumented immigrants access to driver’s licenses, that’s exactly what our state would be doing,” he said.

“Minnesota shouldn’t be in the business of incentivizing illegal behavior, and by allowing illegal and undocumented immigrants access to driver’s licenses, that’s exactly what our state would be doing.”
— GOP state Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen

Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka called the bill’s chances of passing “small,” the paper reported.
Supporters argue that granting driver’s licenses to immigrants, regardless of their legal status, will lead to safer roads and let the estimated 95,000 undocumented immigrants living the state live and work with dignity.
“It’s common sense,” said Democratic Rep. Samantha Vang. “This will allow people to simply open a bank account, to drive safely on the road to their jobs, to their school.”
Republican Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, said the bill is “one step closer to making Minnesota a sanctuary state.”
Should the measure advance through the state Legislature, Minnesota would become the 13th state in the nation to provide drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants. Prior to 2003, immigrants – whether living in the country legally or not – could obtain driver’s licenses by passing a driving test and purchasing insurance.

Trump declares 'country is full' in Fox News interview, says US can no longer accept illegal immigrants

President Trump, in an interview with Fox & Friends that aired Saturday morning, declared the “country is full” and said the U.S. immigration system can no longer absorb a mass influx of illegal immigrants, but praised Mexico for stopping border crossings after his threat to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border.
“No, we're witnessing people that are going to be brought out of the country, the country is full,” Trump told Fox News’ Griff Jenkins after being asked whether the second generation of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is forming amid new immigrant arrivals, many accompanied by children.
“We have our system full. We can't do it anymore,” Trump continued, slamming the 1997 Flores settlement as “a horror show” for forcing the government to release migrant minors from detention after 20 days.
“We go by this horrible Flores situation. You know that decision is a horror show. We have to release after 20 days and we build big detention areas but they fill up immediately,” he said.
The comments come in the wake of an escalating immigration crisis, with data suggesting Customs and Border Protection is on track to apprehend almost 1 million illegal immigrants at the border this year, and threats to close the southern border.
Trump visited the border area in California on Friday, on his way to events in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. He blamed the border situation on the current immigration system and the Democrats' opposition to his border security measures.
“There's never been so many people coming up and that's because they're gaming the system and the system is changed for the worse because of what happened with Democrats and what they've done in terms of Congress,” Trump said.

“There's never been so many people coming up and that's because they're gaming the system and the system is changed for the worse because of what happened with Democrats and what they've done in terms of Congress.”
— President Trump

“So if we change the laws it would be very easy. But in the meantime, Mexico, if they stop the people from coming in, we won't have a lot of people coming at the border.”
Trump said he’s not interested in having a summit with Latin American leaders, as Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has shown progress in helping to combat illegal border crossings.
“No, no I don't need a summit. I think we've done very well without the summit,” he said, adding that presidents of Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador “understand” the seriousness of his administration and the aims to stop the illegal immigration.
“They understand we stopped. We're saving 550 million dollars. And I respectfully told and I thank him very much because for the last four days it's been great. You see that whole stream is drying up,” Trump said, referring to his warning days ago to close the southern border.
“They could stop them at the southern border, their southern border. And you look at what's happening now. They pulled in fifteen hundred, one thousand five hundred yesterday they brought them back. They pulled in over a thousand the day before. Over a thousand the day before that today I haven't gotten the number but I mean it's a lot.”
The full interview will be shown on "Fox & Friends," starting at 6 a.m. ET saturday.

Trump's threat to close border less crazy than Congress inaction on immigration: Mollie Hemingway

Inaction by Congress as the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border nears a boiling point is more damaging than any idea President Trump has floated in recent days, the Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway said Friday.
Last week, Trump threatened to shut down the border if Mexico refused to take action against the Central American migrants traveling through that country on the way to the U.S. to try and claim asylum. The president also floated the idea of using tariffs as a deterrent.
During Friday's All-Star panel segment of Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier," Hemingway -- along with Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York and Washington Post opinion writer Charles Lane -- weighed in on Trump’s ongoing battle to reform immigration.
Hemingway began by pointing out that critics get upset when Trump tries to act “unilaterally,” without support from Congress.
“We really do have a crisis," Hemingway observed. "Congress did not want to address [immigration] seriously this year during the shutdown. They haven’t wanted to address it seriously for the past several decades.
“This is not just a Democrat problem or a Republican problem," she continued. "This is a bipartisan failure that goes back decades. So it sounds like Donald Trump is saying a bunch of crazy stuff -- shutting down the border, tariffs and whatnot. Why a lot of people think this is crazy is that nobody is doing anything to address the problem because the situation is fine. I mean, the open-borders policy is largely fine for a lot of the people who are elite and so they don’t feel the incentive to do anything.”

"This is not just a Democrat problem or a Republican problem. This is a bipartisan failure that goes back decades."
— Mollie Hemingway

Hemingway added that Trump’s threats were “finally incentivizing people” to make changes on immigration that they’ve been “reluctant to do for decades.”
York told the panel that Trump is “trying to get some sort of traction”  to address the “real” emergency taking place at the border, adding that the inaction led the president to celebrate the progress made on barrier construction.
Meanwhile, Lane noted that Trump’s trade agreements with Mexico have not made “great progress” in passing Congress and that they're being “held hostage” by “partisan deadlock.”
“It’s not just that they can’t come to an agreement, it’s not just that they have differences," he said. "Those differences are widening, the partisan differences are widening through this crisis."

House sues members of Trump administration over 'sham' border-emergency declaration

The U.S. House of Representatives is suing members of President Trump’s administration over his national emergency declaration at the U.S.-Mexico border to divert funds for his signature border wall.
The suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington, alleges the administration “flouted the fundamental separation-of-powers principles and usurped for itself legislative power specifically vested by the Constitution in Congress,” Politico reported.
The complaint names as defendants Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and the departments they oversee. Trump is not named as a defendant.
"The House has been injured, and will continue to be injured, by defendants' unconstitutional actions, which usurp the House's appropriations authority and mean that the relevant funds are no longer available to be spent on the purposes for which they were appropriated," the complaint says.
Trump declared a national emergency in February, a move that came after a partial government shutdown and was met with outcry from members of both parties who claimed he was interfering with Congress.
The declaration allows Trump to divert extra funds needed to build his long-promised border wall. He had requested $5.7 billion for construction, but Congress has granted only a fraction of that.
House Speak Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced her intention to sue the administration Thursday, the Politico reported.
"The President’s sham emergency declaration and unlawful transfers of funds have undermined our democracy, contravening the vote of the bipartisan Congress, the will of the American people and the letter of the Constitution,” Pelosi said in a statement.
In March, Congress passed a measure to block Trump’s emergency declaration, prompting him to issue his first veto. Attempts by House Democrats to override the veto failed.