Trump 'deserves' Khashoggi treatment, Maher guest Fran Lebowitz says before backpedaling

Liberal author Fran Lebowitz went to the extreme Friday night during an appearance on "Real Time with Bill Maher," suggesting that President Trump should not only be impeached but killed.
Lebowitz began by saying she felt "plagued" by Trump's presidency and "shocked" by what she claimed was criminal behavior by Attorney General William Barr over his handling of the Mueller report.
But when she was asked about impeachment, Lebowitz did not think that was enough punishment for the president, who has not been charged with any crimes.
"Certainly, he deserves to be impeached. I mean, impeachment is just the beginning of what he deserves. Not even scratching the surface of what he deserves," Lebowitz said. "Whenever I think about this and what he really deserves, I think, 'We should turn him over to the Saudis, you know, his buddies. The same Saudis who got rid of that reporter, you know. Maybe they can do the same for him.'"

"Certainly, he deserves to be impeached. I mean, impeachment is just the beginning of what he deserves. Not even scratching the surface of what he deserves."
— Fran Lebowitz, liberal author

Her remarks, which drew some applause from Maher's studio audience in Los Angeles, was in reference to the 2018 murder of Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi, who is believed to have been tortured and dismembered with a bone saw, purportedly under the orders of the Saudi government.
During the show's "Overtime" segment, however, Lebowitz said the "Real Time" producers told her that her remarks were getting blowback on social media, which prompted her to walk them back.
"I saw your face when I said it. I didn't even realize that I said it. I had twelve cups of coffee," Lebowitz told Maher. "I regret saying it."

"I saw your face when I said it. I didn't even realize that I said it. I had twelve cups of coffee. I regret saying it."
— Fran Lebowitz, liberal author

Author Fran Lebowitz spoke some harsh words about President Trump on Friday night during an appearance on Bill Maher's weekly late-night show. (Getty Images)

"You know, everyone's too, too, too, too ... " Maher told the panel. "I mean, it's a live show. You really don't want to see the president dismembered by the Saudis. I don't like Donald Trump either. ... but no matter who the president is, we don't want physical harm."

"I don't like Donald Trump either. ... but no matter who the president is, we don't want physical harm."
— Bill Maher, "Real Time" host

"I did not mean that and I regret saying it. I regret that everyone misinterpreted it because they misinterpret everything," Lebowitz added.
The situation seemed reminiscent of the May 2017 controversy surrounding comedian Kathy Griffin, who posed for a photo while holding a fake head of Trump, dripping with fake blood, as if the president had been beheaded. The photo drew scorn from around the world, and Griffin lost work as a result, including an annual New Year's Eve gig on CNN.
Lebowitz is an author and speaker best known for her appearances on "The Late Show with David Letterman." She also appeared on "Law & Order" and in the film, "The Wolf of Wall Street."

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From abortion to immigration, endless battles that lead nowhere

It seems to be all sound and fury these days, with no tangible outcome.
That may be great for the media, which love combat and conflict, and for politicians, who love to decry and declaim. But actual progress? Not so much.
Washington has always been known for gridlock that matches the Beltway traffic, but now it's on steroids. It’s almost as though, while people slam each other on Twitter and Facebook, nobody expects anything to happen.
Let's go down the list.
President Trump unveiled an immigration plan yesterday, and even before the announcement The Washington Post said it's "already is facing skepticism from lawmakers in both political parties, and there appears to be no clear path toward advancing the plan through Congress."
What a shock. And the president probably didn't help its chances by immediately calling Democrats the "open borders" party.
The plan, which would favor legal immigrants with high skills over those with family ties, is "another test of Trump's willingness to stump for a plan that could face opposition from border hawks and his ability to forge bipartisan support at a time when he has inflamed Democrats over unilateral immigration actions, including declaring a national emergency to pay for a border wall."
It's true that his hard-line approach has played mainly to his base. But it’s not all Trump's fault. Barack Obama couldn't solve the immigration mess either, and neither could George W. Bush. Neither side is ever prepared to make the necessary compromises.
Next up is abortion, an issue that has become more politicized than ever. Alabama just adopted a law that would ban almost all abortions in the state, including in cases of rape and incest, and that has hardened the battle lines.
Liberal commentators and the Democratic presidential candidates are all denouncing the measure as an assault on women. Some conservative pundits and Republicans — although there is a split over severity and tactics — are defending the Alabama effort as overdue.
But here, too, we're looking at a long period of inaction. The Alabama statute doesn't take effect for six months and it faces a long legal battle that may well end up at the Supreme Court.
With its extreme provisions — no exceptions for rape and incest, 99-year prison terms for providers — the law seems crafted to trigger a high court review of Roe v. Wade. And even such pro-life advocates as Pat Robertson are predicting it will be struck down, which takes us back to square one (although several states are passing less severe abortion restrictions).
And then there's Iran. The papers are full of details about backstage power struggles after administration officials devised a contingency plan to send up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East.
"President Trump is frustrated with some of his top advisers, who he thinks could rush the United States into a military confrontation with Iran and shatter his long-standing pledge to withdraw from costly foreign wars," says The Washington Post, "according to several U.S. officials."
What’s more, "Trump grew angry last week and over the weekend about what he sees as warlike planning that is getting ahead of his own thinking, said a senior administration official with knowledge of conversations Trump had regarding national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo."
Such infighting occurs in every administration. Trump, having pulled out of the Iran nuke deal, places a high value on confronting that provocative regime, but is also disdainful of endless wars. So we have plenty of behind-the-scenes churning, but no real movement.
And speaking of endless wars, don't get me started on endless investigations. We've been through two years of the Mueller probe and both sides are still fighting about the fallout. Now Bill Barr has tapped a federal prosecutor to look into the origins of the FBI inquiry into the Trump campaign and Russia, which is also being examined by DOJ’s inspector general. More sound and fury.
I think many Americans are just tuning out this daily warfare, along with a presidential campaign that once again has started way too early. And that may be a rational response.

Ex-Kasich adviser backs out of $350G Russia lobbying gig, vows 'laser focus' against Trump in 2020

A former campaign adviser for John Kasich said Thursday that he’s backing out of a $350,000 contract to lobby against sanctions on behalf of a Russian state-owned nuclear energy company, vowing instead to put a "laser focus" on helping prevent President Trump's re-election.
John Weaver, who was the top strategist on the 2016 presidential campaign of Kasich, the Republican former governor of Ohio who has frequently been at odds with President Trump, announced his decision on Twitter after drawing heat for accepting the lobbying gig.
FORMER KASICH ADVISER TAKES $350G JOB LOBBYING FOR RUSSIA, REGISTERS AS FOREIGN AGENT: REPORT
“My attorney has contacted Tenam this morning & informed them I must reject this agreement. No funds were transferred, no actions taken," Weaver said, referring to the Russian company. "Now, I've got to get back to the barricades. Apologies for the momentary distraction.”
Weaver had signed a contract last month to lobby Congress and the Trump administration on behalf of Tenam Corp., a subsidiary of the Rosatom, the Russian state-owned nuclear energy company, for at least six months and registered as a foreign agent, Politico reported.
When news of the contract broke Wednesday, Weaver received heavy backlash from social media users who pointed out he had spent most of his career criticizing the Kremlin, most recently for its interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Weaver initially defended his new gig in a lengthy series of tweets late Wednesday, claiming he took the job working for Russia because he feared Trump’s “go-it-alone” policies would jeopardize U.S. national security interests, the U.S. economy and the world market.
He announced a change of heart the following day, pledging to not let money distract him from his sole mission: ensuring Trump is not elected to a second term.
“While I fear the dangers of nuclear proliferation & know a stable uranium market is important to the USA's national & economic security -- & experts urged this -- my laser focus is on 2020 & playing any role -- major or minor -- in ensuring Trump serves only 1 term,” Weaver wrote Thursday.
“To allow anything to distract from that is a mistake. And I can recognize a mistake when I make it,” he said.
Kasich, Weaver's former boss, has said he would give consideration to opposing Trump in Republican primaries in 2020, but has not declared a candidacy for president.

Rush Limbaugh: Anti-Trump conspirators beginning to 'rat' each other out

The growing feud between former FBI director James Comey and former CIA director John Brennan is just another example of anti-Trump conspirators positioning themselves to 'rat' each other out, according to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
"So now they’re starting to point fingers at each other, and it’s gonna be a perfect time for leverage to be used for them to start ratting each other out," Limbaugh said Thursday on his radio show.
The launch of a formal inquiry into the origins of the Russia investigation led by John Durham has triggered a new round of behind-the-scenes finger-pointing among Obama administration officials.
A key dispute concerns whether Comey or Brennan, or possibly both, pushed the unverified Steele dossier containing claims about President Trump and his relationship to Russia. The dossier’s more sensational claims were never substantiated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team.
"This is what I meant yesterday when I said that the rats are beginning to scurry around. This is a textbook example of CYA (cover your a--), and in it, we have the former counsel — the lawyer for the FBI, James Baker — telling Michael Isikoff yesterday that senior FBI officials were worried Comey telling Trump about the golden shower story in the dossier might be construed as an attempt to blackmail Trump. In other words, we’re now hearing that FBI higher-ups were worried about what Comey was doing," Limbaugh told his audience.
Former FBI general counsel James Baker said this week on a podcast, hosted by Isikoff, that he and other officials were "quite worried" that Comey appeared to be blackmailing then President-elect Trump during a 2017 meeting regarding salacious allegations found in the Steele dossier.
Baker said he and others were so concerned about Comey briefing Trump that "analogies" were made to J. Edgar Hoover, the former FBI director who famously abused his power to blackmail individuals.
Limbaugh accused Baker and anti-Trump forces of leaking the dossier to the press.
"Mr. Baker, come on. The press had it because you gave it to them! The press had it because John McCain made sure they had it. The press had it because everybody in the Washington establishment wanted this dossier to be publicly consumed. You knew that it was unverified. You knew that it had not been corroborated, but you wanted it out there. McCain helped a bunch of people get this dossier out there," Limbaugh proclaimed.
"You say you’re worried about about the J. Edgar Hoover comparisons? The press had the dossier because it had been leaked!"
Fox News' Alex Pappas and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

AG Bill Barr tells Fox News public must know if officials 'put their thumb on the scale' in Russia probe

In an exclusive interview with Fox News, Attorney General William Barr explained that he is trying to get to the bottom of whether or not “government officials abused their power and put their thumb on the scale” during the early stages of the Russia probe.
"I’ve been trying to get answers to the questions and I've found that a lot of the answers have been inadequate and some of the explanations I've gotten don't hang together, in a sense I have more questions today than when I first started," Barr told Fox News' Bill Hemmer in an interview set to air Friday on "America's Newsroom."
"What doesn't hang together?" Hemmer asked.
"Some of the explanations of what occurred," Barr said.
"Why does that matter?" asked Hemmer.
"People have to find out what the government was doing during that period. If we're worried about foreign influence, for the very same reason we should be worried about whether government officials abuse their power and put their thumb on the scale," Barr responded.
Barr added, "I'm not saying that happened but it's something we have to look at."
Hemmer conducted the interview with Barr in El Salvador, where he will address the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border, MS-13, drug trafficking and human trafficking with officials.
On Monday, multiple outlets reported that Barr had appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to examine the origins of the Russia investigation
A person familiar with the process told Fox News Tuesday that Durham has been working on his review “for weeks,” to probe "all intelligence collection activities" related to the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.
The Russia investigation and Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report continue to be debated by Republicans and Democrats since its release last month.
Democrats have accused Barr of acting as the president's "personal attorney" while Republicans accuse Democrats of vilifying the attorney general in order to harm President Trump.
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

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AOC blames Twitter, readers after called out for tweets about Alabama pro-life law

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blamed Twitter's character limitations -- and the reading skills of her critics -- after getting called out for spreading misinformation about the newly signed abortion ban in Alabama.
The New York Democrat used the social media platform to criticize the law, which was signed by the governor on Wednesday and outlaws nearly all abortions in the state. The same law also makes performing an abortion a felony, punishable by up to 99 years or life in prison unless the mother’s health is at risk, with no exceptions for women impregnated by rape or incest.
“Alabama lawmakers are making all abortions a felony punishable w jail time, including women victimized by rape+incest,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet.
“Of course, no added punishments for rapists. It’s going to [Governor Kay Ivey’s] desk. She will decide the future of women’s rights in Alabama.”
The tweet was immediately called out by conservative commentators, who pointed out that the law specifically targets the abortion providers and is designed to not punish women.
“This is a lie,” tweeted the Daily Wire’s Michel Knowles, citing a portion of the law that specifically addresses the issue.
“Section 5. No woman upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted to be performed shall be criminally or civilly liable. Furthermore, no physician confirming the serious health risk to the child's mother shall be criminally or civilly liable for those actions,” read the bill’s text.
“Everything about this tweet by @AOC is false,” wrote Caleb Hull. “Women who receive abortions in Alabama do NOT face jail time under the new Heartbeat bill. It is doctors who face prison if they illegally perform abortions and are convicted of a felony, not the pregnant women.”
Ocasio-Cortez didn’t admit her error and instead went on to blame the social media platform for having limited space.
“It’s a felony punishable by jail, [including] cases of women pregnant by rape or incest. Twitter is 280 [characters] - read the context clues in grammar of the tweet,” she tweeted.
“But good to know you’re here to promote criminalizing medical providers aiding victims of rape and incest! good job.”
She also challenged those who claimed women wouldn't face felony charges, implying that they overlooked that women medical staffers could face charges for providing abortion services.
The Alabama abortion ban ignited a debate across the country, with critics arguing that it’s going too far while more conservative people say the law rightfully targets abortion providers.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) vowed to sue the law was first approved in the state Senate on Tuesday and reiterated the plan to sue on Wednesday.
A similar pro-life law has been enacted in Georgia, with Gov. Brian Kemp signing the “heartbeat” bill into law that prohibits abortions in the state after a heartbeat is detected, as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The law allows exceptions in the case of rape, incest, or if the life of the mother is in danger.