Pres. Trump Praises Florida Sanctuary City Ban

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 11:15 AM PT — Sunday, June 16, 2019

President Trump praises Florida Governor, Ron Desantis, on his latest state legislation, a sanctuary city ban.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just signed Bill banning Sanctuary Cities in State, & forcing all law enforcement agencies to cooperate with Federal Immigration authorities. Bill prohibits local Gov’t from enacting Sanctuary policies that protect undocumented immigrants…@FoxNews

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2019

Saturday, the President said ‘more and more states want to do this, but their governors and leaders don’t have the courage to do so’ in a tweet.
He went on to applaud the policy claiming, it will help put an end to illegal migration, drug trafficking, and human smuggling.
The President said more states may take notice and begin to mandate similar sanctuary bans if significant results follow.
The measure was signed off last week and its expected to take effect in July.
It will require local law enforcement to cooperate with federal border protection, ICE, agents.
Currently, Florida does not have any designated so-called ‘sanctuary cities’, however, the measure is expected to combat the state’s city governments which have reportedly protected undocumented immigrants from deportation in the past.

Buttigieg says he won't be first gay president, 'almost certain' we've had others

Mayor Pete Buttigieg doesn’t believe he’ll be the first gay president if elected in 2020.
“I would imagine we’ve probably had excellent presidents who were gay — we just didn’t know which ones,” he told “Axios on HBO.”
“I mean, statistically, it’s almost certain.”
Asked if he possibly knew which commander-in-chief was playing for the other team, the Democratic hopeful said: “My gaydar even doesn’t work that well in the present, let alone retroactively. But one can only assume that’s the case.”
Buttigieg — who is mayor of South Bend, Ind. — has been rising in the polls as of late. He would be the first openly gay presidential candidate, if nominated next next year.
The 37-year-old has been asked in the past about the possibility of there ever being a gay president, with BuzzFeed posing the question back in March.
“My gaydar is not great to begin with and definitely doesn’t work over long stretches of time,” he repeated. “I think we’ll just have to let the historians figure that out.”

Pelosi flexes muscle over party in impeachment debate, but ‘dam’ could collapse

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., reflects on President Donald Trump's statement that he would accept assistance from a foreign power.  (AP)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has wielded her power to quash a faction of Democrats rallying for President Trump’s impeachment, but frustrated members within the party say the president is one misstep away from “that dam collapsing,” according to a Sunday report.
Since reassuming leadership over the house, Pelosi has thwarted her party’s liberal wing from going forward with impeachment proceedings, encouraging them to instead focus on other issues like health care.
“I don’t think there’s anything more divisive we can do than to impeach a president of the United States, and so you have to handle it with great care,” Pelosi told CNN on Sunday. “It has to be about the truth and the facts to take you to whatever decision has to be there.”
Some lawmakers say their deference to Pelosi is out of respect for the speaker’s political expertise, and agree that impeachment would do more harm than good.
“She is the single smartest strategist that we’ve ever had…People are not wanting to second guess her because she’s been right on so many fronts,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., told the Washington Post.
But other Democratic lawmakers, like Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., admit they toe the party line out of fear.
“One, you want to be a team player and support the leader’s position, but secondly you’re worried about your own self and…what can happen if you don’t follow along,” Schrader told the paper.
Some argue that President Trump’s defiance of congressional investigators will eventually break the divide between moderate Democrats and its liberal wing.
Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, D-Va., described Pelosi’s hold over Democrats as “fragile” because “we’re kind of one event, one piece of explosive testimony, one action by Trump away from that dam collapsing.”
The Democrats’ pro-impeachment camp howled this week after Trump said in an interview with ABC that he’d be willing to listen if a foreign government had dirt on an opponent. Yet despite the familiar refrain of impeachment, Pelosi didn’t budge an inch on impeachment after Trump’s comments.
Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

Iran & the Democrats Cartoons

Iranian President Tells Global Partners to send ‘Positive Signals’ or Else

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pose for a photo prior to their talks on a sideline of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Friday, June 14, 2019. Rouhani has called for closer cooperation between Tehran and Moscow amid rising regional tensions. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 11:01 AM PT — Saturday, June 15, 2019

Tension surrounding Iran continues to rise after the nation makes its latest threat toward global powers.
Speaking from a conference in Central Asia, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said, it is ‘necessary’ that all sides of the 2015 nuclear pact show ‘positive signals’ to Iran.
Rouhani said they will continue to digress and ultimately withdraw from the international nuclear pact unless signatories take action to restore relations.
Since the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are the only remaining partners to the pact.
In response Russian President Vladimir Putin said he will double down on his commitments to Iran and urged other signatories to do the same.
‘Everyone is concerned about the state of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to Iran’s nuclear program. The U.S. leaving this agreement has significantly unraveled its execution. We believe the only sensible decision is for all deal participants to honor their commitments. This is what Russia intends to do’ Putin said.
Iran did not specify what actions it will take or say what ‘positive signals’ it expects to see from its global partners.

Lindsey Graham says impeachment talks will only get Trump elected

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., believes a push for President Trump's impeachment by congressional Democrats will only lead to his re-election.
"To my Democratic colleagues in the House, if you bring impeachment after [Special Counsel Robert] Mueller issued his report ... then it's going to blow up in your face," Graham told Fox News' Jeanine Pirro on Saturday's installment of "Justice with Judge Jeanine."
"You're being unfair to the president and he's going to get re-elected," he said.

When asked about escalating tensions with Iran, Graham praised Trump for pulling out of the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal and for applying sanctions against the country.
He urged the president to stand tough and not let Iran flex its muscle over the Strait of Hormuz, an international shipping gateway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. The waterway separates Iran and the United Arab Emirates and is 21 miles across at its narrowest point.
The strait is critical to the oil industry, with it being used to ship more than 22 million barrels of oil and products per day in the first half of 2018.
"To President Trump, do not let them take over the Strait of Hormuz," Graham said. "Keep the pressure on and if they continue to do this, sink their navy like Ronald Reagan did back in the '80s."
Iran threatened to close the strait earlier this year and the U.S. blamed the country for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman earlier this week. Graham touted Trump's confrontational style of diplomacy, saying it has yielded positive results.
"He has put Iran on the run. He's taken on China. He's got [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro on the ropes," Graham said. "I love this man's foreign policy."

Trump backs bill to ban flag-burning: ‘A no brainer!’

Some Republicans in Congress on Friday reintroduced a proposal calling for a ban on burning the American flag – and they’ve already won an endorsement from President Trump.
“All in for Senator Steve Daines as he proposes an Amendment for a strong BAN on burning our American Flag. A no brainer!,” the president wrote in a Twitter message Saturday.
The proposal is being sponsored in the Senate by Sens. Steve Daines of Montana and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota and in the House by Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas. It calls for the U.S. Constitution to be amended so Congress would have “constitutional authority to ban the desecration of the United States flag.”
“The American Flag is a symbol of freedom – and it should always be protected,” Daines wrote Friday.
Added Cramer: “A flag worth dying for is a flag worth protecting.”
“Adding a Constitutional amendment to protect this symbol of freedom and liberty is not an attack on another Constitutional amendment,” he continued, “rather, it is an affirmation of the unifying principles our nation stands for.”
The amendment would be necessary because the Supreme Court has ruled in the past that flag-burning is a form of free speech protected by the First Amendment.
The new proposal was reintroduced Friday, which was Flag Day – and coincidentally President Trump’s 73rd birthday.

Critics on social media were quick to attack the proposal. Here are some samples:
According to the Washington Times, amendments can be added to the Constitution if two-thirds of both the House and Senate agree on a proposal and then three-fourths of the states ratify it, or if two-thirds of state legislatures call a convention to propose changes to the Constitution, and then three-fourths of the states ratify the change.

Immigrants’ sponsors to be on hook for ‘every dollar’ if new arrivals end up on dole, new Trump appointee warns

Sponsors of legal immigrants to the United States received word Friday that they’ll be on the hook “for every dollar” if those immigrants end up receiving welfare funds or other public support instead of earning a living and paying taxes.
The message came Ken Cuccinelli, a former Virginia state attorney general who last week became acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) following his appointment by President Trump.
“If the sponsored immigrant receives any federal means-tested public benefits, the sponsor will be expected to reimburse the benefits-granting agency for every dollar of benefits received by the immigrant,” Cuccinelli wrote in a USCIS memo.

“If the sponsored immigrant receives any federal means-tested public benefits, the sponsor will be expected to reimburse the benefits-granting agency for every dollar of benefits received by the immigrant.”
— Ken Cuccinelli, acting director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

'Enforceable contract'

In addition, the same message instructed agents who work for USCIS to remind applicants and sponsors that “the Affidavit of Support is a legal and enforceable contract between the sponsor and the federal government.”

Ken Cuccinelli, a former Virginia state attorney general, is now acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. (Associated Press)

According to Cuccinelli, all federal agencies dealing with immigration issues will be working to update or initiate procedures and regulations to make sure that immigrants who are ineligible for public benefits do not receive them, in accordance with a May 23 directive from the president.
“The President has made it a priority to ensure that every individual who seeks to come to the United States is self-sufficient, temporarily or permanently,” Cuccinelli wrote. “The principle of self-sufficiency has been enshrined in our immigration laws since the 1800s, and we as an agency must ensure that immigrants who become part of this great country abide by this principle.”

“The President has made it a priority to ensure that every individual who seeks to come to the United States is self-sufficient, temporarily or permanently.”
— Ken Cuccinelli, acting director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Cuccinelli took over at USCIS last Monday, coming to the job with a reputation as a hardliner on immigration issues. For example, he has been an advocate for denying citizenship to American-born children of parents living in the U.S. illegally and for limiting in-state tuition at public universities to citizens or legal residents.
He replaced Lee Francis Cissna, who reportedly had lost President Trump’s confidence.

Critical of McConnell, others in GOP

But Trump likely named Cuccinelli an acting director because his chances of winning Senate confirmation were said to be slim, Roll Call reported.
The outspoken Cuccinelli, as president of the Senate Conservatives Fund, a political action committee that has opposed many incumbent Republicans, has been critical of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and others in the GOP.
“Mitch McConnell has filled the Senate with people like Lisa Murkowski, John McCain, Shelley Moore Capito, Lamar Alexander and Dean Heller who all promised the voters they would repeal Obamacare, but when the time came to do it they refused,” Cuccinelli wrote in an August 2017 fundraising memo, according to Roll Call. “Instead of admitting his mistake, McConnell is blaming the President for having ‘excessive expectations’ even though he was the one who set those expectations with years of empty promises!”
Trump’s appointment of Cuccinelli came as the president is dealing with a growing crisis as tens of thousands of Central American migrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border each month, overwhelming the system, and he has struggled to deliver on his signature issue of reduced immigration and tighter border security.
Fox News’ Andrew O’Reilly and the Associated Press contributed to this report.