House panel delays Kellyanne Conway contempt vote amid White House talks

The House Oversight Committee announced Wednesday that it had postponed a vote on whether to recommend that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway be held in contempt of Congress, as talks continued with the Trump administration.
“I am postponing the Committee’s vote as I work with the White House to try to reach an accommodation,” panel Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said in a statement. “Ms. Conway violated the law numerous times and must be held accountable.”
The vote was supposed to take place Thursday and recommend that the House find Conway to be in contempt of Congress “for her refusal to comply with a subpoena duly issued” by the committee, The Washington Post reported.
The move stems from Conway’s failure to appear July 15 to testify after a government watchdog found that she violated the Hatch Act, a law banning federal government employees from engaging in certain political activities, despite the committee’s subpoena.
The Office of the Special Counsel, which is separate from the office with a similar name previously run by Robert Mueller, said in a scathing report in June that Conway violated the Hatch Act by “disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media,” and recommended she be fired.
A White House attorney sent a letter to Cummings advising him that Conway won’t appear before the panel, prompting calls to hold her in contempt of Congress.
Conway told Fox News that she was “taking one for the team” and insisted that as a presidential adviser she shouldn’t be forced to testify.
“I’d be happy to testify. I have nothing to hide. I’ve done nothing wrong,” Conway added. “I would love to go testify, but I’m taking one for the team here because there’s a longstanding tradition to claim immunity and not have people like me testify.”

Portland mayor distances self from Antifa violence in his city: 'I wasn't even here'

Portland, Ore., Mayor Ted Wheeler seemed to shun responsibility for allowing Antifa to freely roam the streets and commit violence in the city, insisting he always orders the police to “enforce the law.”
Wheeler, who’s been in office since January 2017, has been under fire for the rise of Antifa in his city, particularly after a June 29 protest that led to the violent assault of conservative journalist Andy Ngo.

Portland, Ore., Mayor Ted Wheeler. (Facebook)

“The game plan we've been using up to this point is no longer effective,” Wheeler told Oregon's FOX 12 about the violence on the streets.

“The game plan we've been using up to this point is no longer effective.”
— Ted Wheeler, Portland, Ore., mayor

Ngo was seen being kicked and doused with a milkshake during a clash between Antifa and members of the conservative group Proud Boys during the protest. As a result of the attack, Ngo said he suffered a brain hemorrhage.
Portland Police Association President Daryl Turner released a statement following the violent protest, blaming Wheeler for lack of enforcement and saying the mayor must “remove the handcuffs from our officers and let them stop the violence through strong and swift enforcement action.”
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, meanwhile, called for a federal investigation into Wheeler and his actions that may have allowed “domestic terrorists” to attack on Americans on the streets.
But Wheeler, who also serves as police commissioner as part of the mayor’s office, denies he was responsible for lack of policing at the protest.
“I thought it was beneath a United States senator,” Wheeler told the outlet. “The truth is, I wasn't even here. I wasn't even in the United States. I was with my family in Ecuador on a wildlife tour.”
“One of the things I would like the public to know, is there is a unified incident command center that's engaged during these demonstrations,” he continued. “There is an incident commander, certainly the police chief.”

“The truth is, I wasn't even here. I wasn't even in the United States. I was with my family in Ecuador on a wildlife tour.”
— Ted Wheeler

He added: “I have never made a tactical decision and I most certainly did not on June 29th.”
Wheeler also claims that he never told Portland police not to enforce certain laws, on the contrary, he claims he explicitly asked to curb violence during protests.
“Enforce the law, don't let people commit acts of violence, don't let people shut down regional transit,” Wheeler said were among the directives. “Keep the city active and moving. Don't let people get onto the highways and do anything stupid.”

Jon Summers: Mueller hearings cannot be the last word. Dems must continue to investigate Trump

Wednesday, during his testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee, Robert Mueller made major headlines following this interaction with Rep. Ken Buck, a Colorado Republican:
Buck: "Could you charge the president with a crime after he left office?"
Mueller: "Yes"
Buck: "You believe that he committed -- you could charge the president of the United States with obstruction of justice after he left office?"
Mueller: "Yes"
Mueller has been clear and consistent about two things since releasing his report.
First, his investigation did not exonerate President Trump, despite his claims.
Second, he never considered prosecuting the president because of the Justice Department’s controversial policy stating a sitting president cannot be indicted. But, as Mueller testified on Wednesday, Trump could very well be prosecuted once he leaves office.
There’s no doubt that is something Trump and his legal advisers have had in mind all this time.
The longer Trump is in office, the better his chances are of staying out of prison, and if he is reelected, he could very well go untouched.
The statute of limitations for federal obstruction of justice is five years from the time the crime was committed. If President Trump is re-elected in 2020, his second term would conclude well after the statute of limitations has run out. If he loses, however, he could be in a world of hurt.
So, while every president is motivated to win reelection, for Trump the stakes are higher. Maybe that’s why he is working so hard, raising more than $100 million and peddling $15 straws with his name on them. Trump knows what he did and knows he can only be held accountable if he loses next year.

Imagine for a moment if this president was a Democrat, Republicans would be the first to call for investigations.

While he tells us America’s future is on the line, maybe what he’s really worried about is his own freedom – and he’s doing everything he can to salvage it.
For Trump, it has always been about looking out for Number One. He’s ramping up his message of fear and hatred, telling members of congress, whom the people elected, to go back to where they came from (three out of four of them were born in America) and attacking law enforcement including Mueller and the FBI, intelligence officials and judges, the very people sworn to protect our citizenry and our democracy.
He’s behaving this way because he knows fear and division drive his base, and he needs them more than ever because he has lost moderate Democrats and the majority of independent voters.
While any potential remaining legal action will have to wait, Congress must not. As Mueller said in the press conference he held in May, it is Congress’ job to investigate and take action, if necessary, against a sitting president.
So, as much as Republican hacks will continue to whine, kick, and scream, Congress must continue to investigate Trump’s actions during the 2016 campaign.
Imagine for a moment if this president was a Democrat, Republicans would be the first to call for investigations.
Opening an impeachment inquiry is the best way for the American people to get the facts they need to decide for themselves whether to remove the president from office (we know the Republican Senate will not) in 2020.
Frankly, the president and his allies in Congress should welcome any effort that could potentially clear his name. But they oppose it because they know they facts, and those facts are not in the president’s favor.
I believe in the American people and, unlike our president, I believe in the American system of justice.
The 2020 election will not only determine the future of our nation and whether we want four more years of a failing reality show, the outcome and the actions that follow will answer the question burning in the minds of many Americans: Is the president of the United States above the law?

Savior no more? Distraught Dems turn on Mueller after stumbling hearing

Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's mythic profile -- built over a period of two years by Trump detractors hoping his investigation and later his testimony would pave the way for the president's removal from office -- took a hit Wednesday as the veteran lawman was seen stumbling through questions and at times unclear about the contents of his own report.
Now, some of President Trump’s biggest critics are turning their ire toward the legend himself, panning his performance at this high-stakes forum, even though Mueller repeatedly made clear he did not wish to testify in the first place.
“Much as I hate to say it, this morning’s hearing was a disaster,” Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe tweeted, in reference to Mueller’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. Tribe is an outspoken critic of Trump who often calls for his impeachment and indictment. He noted Mueller’s appearance failed to provide the made-for-TV moment that Democrats could rally behind in their efforts to bring down the president.
“Far from breathing life into his damning report, the tired Robert Mueller sucked the life out of it.”
Left-wing documentarian Michael Moore had even harsher words about Mueller, and all the “pundits and moderates and lame Dems” who thought he would deliver.
Democrats did get Mueller to make certain statements that were clearly damaging to the president, including refuting Trump's claim that he was exonerated by the investigation. But Mueller largely was retreading ground already covered in the report. And his critical comments were undermined by his stumbling in the face of Republican questioning, and confusion over key details. Several on the left readily acknowledged this was not the home run for which they hoped.
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin scored it as a win for President Trump.
“Look at who’s winning now, it certainly seems like Donald Trump is winning between the two of them,” Toobin said Wednesday.
NBC’s Chuck Todd noted that while Mueller did deliver some substance that benefitted Democrats, “on optics, this was a disaster.”
Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who just a week earlier introduced a resolution to impeach Trump, recognized that even though Mueller “met my expectations,” others may have been disappointed.
“Some persons were hoping for a seminal moment. A ‘wow’ moment. It didn’t happen,” Green said. Green tweeted Thursday morning that this was because the report and Trump’s actions had been already been discussed “ad nauseum.”
David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Obama, was far more critical as the morning hearing drew to a close.
“This is very, very painful,” Axelrod said
Trump’s legal team reacted to the testimony by stating that this should be the end of the discussion.
“The American people understand that this issue is over. They also understand that the case is closed,” attorney Jay Sekulow said in a statement.
Trump’s other attorney Rudy Giuliani called the testimony "disastrous." He said that with Mueller’s testimony out of the way, it is time to “move on” to other issues surrounding the origin of the investigation and how it was conducted. Republicans grilled Mueller over details of what led to the probe, but the former special counsel refused to answer, citing ongoing investigation of the matter.
The Justice Department Inspector General also is examining the FBI’s use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to conduct surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. A report is expected to be released this summer. Attorney General Bill Barr also has Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham investigating the origins of the investigation.
Fox News' John Roberts and Ellison Barber contributed to this report.

Asylum Seeker Cartoons

Theresa May heads to Buckingham Palace to resign

LONDON (AP) — The Latest on Boris Johnson officially becoming Britain’s new prime minister (all times local):
2:35 p.m.
Theresa May has left 10 Downing St. for the final time as prime minister and is heading for Buckingham Palace to resign.
In a formal handover of power, May will ask Queen Elizabeth II to invite her successor Boris Johnson to form a government. Johnson will then visit the palace, and leave as Britain’s new prime minister.
May is stepping down after failing to secure lawmakers’ support for a Brexit deal and lead Britain out of the European Union.
In a final speech outside 10 Downing St. with husband Philip by her side, May said it had been “the greatest honor” to serve as Britain’s prime minister.
And she said “I hope that every young girl who has seen a woman prime minister now knows for sure there are no limits to what they can achieve.”
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2:30 p.m.
Senior members of Prime Minister Theresa May’s government, including her Treasury chief Philip Hammond, are resigning just hours before Conservative Party leader Boris Johnson succeeds her.
The departures clear the way for Johnson to appoint a raft of fresh faces to his government.
Justice Secretary David Gauke and International Development Secretary Rory Stewart have also resigned.
The three had previously announced they would rather leave rather than serve Johnson, who wants to leave the European Union even if no agreement is in place to ease the transition to a new relationship between Britain and the bloc. He insists that the country will leave the EU by Oct. 31 — “do or die.”
Many lawmakers worry the shock of severing decades of frictionless trade would devastate the country’s economy.
David Lidington, effectively May’s deputy prime minister, also resigned, saying it was “the right moment.” to go. He had not previously pre-announced his departure.
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2 p.m.
A Russian Foreign Ministry official says no immediate changes in relations with Britain are expected upon Boris Johnson becoming Britain’s new prime minister.
Andrei Kelin, head of the ministry’s European cooperation department, said Wednesday that “I don’t think that something will change in the near future, because Boris Johnson belongs to the team that has spoiled these relations for quite a long time.”
Moscow-London relations have plummeted since the nerve agent poisoning of a Russian former double agent and his daughter in the town of Salisbury last year. Britain blames the poisoning on Russian military intelligence.
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1 p.m.
Prime Minister Theresa May says she’s glad her successor, Boris Johnson, is committed to “delivering on the vote of the people in 2016” to leave the European Union.
May offered muted praise of the incoming leader in her last Prime Minister’s Questions session in the House of Commons. She said she was pleased to be handing power to another Conservative leader.
After Wednesday’s question period, May will travel to Buckingham Palace and submit her resignation to Queen Elizabeth II. Johnson, who won a contest to replace her as Conservative leader, will become prime minister later in the day.
May said she would “continue my duties in this House from the back benches” as an ordinary lawmaker.
May shook her head at a suggestion from Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn that she join opposition attempts to stop the “reckless” Johnson, who has vowed to take Britain out of the EU with or without a divorce deal.
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11:50 a.m.
The European Parliament is warning new Boris Johnson, who in a few hours is set to become British prime minister, not to count on any renegotiation of the Brexit deal that his predecessor Theresa May negotiated with the EU.
The legislature’s Brexit steering group said in a statement that the statements made by Johnson during his campaign to lead the Conservative Party “have greatly increased the risk of a disorderly exit of the UK.”
It adds that a no-deal exit would be “economically very damaging, even if such damage would not be inflicted equally on both parties.”
The group, including the top Brexit legislators, held talks in a conference call the day after Johnson won the race to succeed May, who is due to quit as prime minister in the next couple of hours.
Johnson has said he would take the UK out of the EU on the Brexit departure date of Oct. 31 “come what may.”
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11:30 a.m.
Incoming British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is assembling his top team, with a key job set to go to a controversial figure from the country’s Brexit referendum campaign.
Johnson’s allies say Dominic Cummings, director of the “Vote Leave” campaign in the 2016 referendum, will become a senior adviser to the prime minister.
Cummings has been both praised and criticized for his work as the campaign’s lead strategist. Lawmakers and electoral officials have investigated Vote Leave’s links to the firm Cambridge Analytica, which harvested Facebook users’ data to help political campaigns.
Cummings — who was played by Benedict Cumberbatch in the TV drama “Brexit: The Uncivil War” — was found to be in contempt of Parliament earlier this year for refusing to give evidence to a committee of lawmakers investigating “fake news.”
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8:50 a.m.
Boris Johnson is set to form a “cabinet for modern Britain” as he prepares to become prime minister following his victory in an election to lead the governing Conservatives.
The incoming leader has just over three months to make good on his promise to lead the U.K. out of the European Union by Oct. 31.
Johnson easily defeated Conservative rival Jeremy Hunt, winning two-thirds of the votes of about 160,000 party members across the U.K. He becomes prime minister once Queen Elizabeth II formally asks him to form a government.
He will replace Theresa May, who announced her resignation last month after Parliament repeatedly rejected the withdrawal agreement she struck with the 28-nation bloc.
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For more on AP’s Brexit coverage, https://www.apnews.com/Brexit

Deadline nears for closing shelter for asylum seekers

Democratic Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling

 

 

 

 

 

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Some are accusing Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling of sending mixed signals to more than 200 African asylum seekers about their housing prospects.
The city is racing to find housing for more than 200 people who are living at an emergency shelter at the Portland Expo before Aug. 15, when it will close.
There is not enough housing for all of them in Portland.
So far, 38 families have been placed in housing in Portland and in communities as far away as Bath.
But many newcomers want to stay in Portland, which is home to a Congolese community.
Strimling acknowledged telling some of the newcomers that they cannot be forced to live where they don’t want to. But he also says he told them they could be forced onto the streets.

Immigration roundup that targeted 2,100 nets 35 arrests

WASHINGTON (AP) — An immigration enforcement operation that President Donald Trump said was part of an effort to deport “millions” of people from the United States resulted in 35 arrests, officials said Tuesday. 
Trump billed the operation targeting families as a major show of force as the number of Central American families crossing the southern border has skyrocketed. There are about 1 million people in the U.S. with final deportation orders; the operation targeted 2,100.
Of those arrested, 18 were members of families and 17 were collateral apprehensions of people in the country illegally who were encountered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. None of those arrested resulted in the separation of family, officials said.
The effort was demonized by Democrats as a full-force drive to deport families and trumpeted by Republicans as a necessary show of force to prove there are consequences for people coming here illegally. But career ICE officers described it as a routine operation, one expected to net an average of about 10% to 20% of targets.
A separate nationwide enforcement operation targeting immigrants here illegally who had criminal convictions or charges netted 899 arrests. And officers handed out 3,282 notices of inspection to businesses that may be employing people here illegally.
Acting ICE director Matthew Albence said the operations would be ongoing, stressing the importance of enforcement. “Part of the way you stop people from coming is having a consequence to the illegal activity when you do come,” he said.
The operation targeted families centered on those who had been ordered deported by an immigration judge in 10 cities around the country who were subjected to fast-track proceedings. It was canceled once after media reports telegraphing when and where it would begin, though Trump announced it would be postponed following a phone call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who urged him to do so.
The second effort began July 14 and again was met with media attention noting where and when it was to start, including from Trump, who announced the date.
Albence conceded the number was lower than that of other operations. A similar operation in August 2017 netted 650 arrests over four days, including 73 family members and 120 who entered illegally as children. There were 457 others encountered during this operation also arrested.
Albence said Trump’s comments didn’t hurt the effort because it had already been the subject of media reports for weeks.
But the overall publicity caused problems for an operation that relies largely on secrecy and surprise. Albence said the publicity made some officers targets, and they had to be pulled off.
Part of the reason other, similar operations, were more successful is because they were “done without a lot of fanfare and media attention,” Albence said. “That certainly, from an operational perspective, is beneficial.”
Another factor was weather; operations were suspended in New Orleans because of the hurricane there.
And immigrant rights activists nationwide had the rare advantage of knowing when to expect increased immigration enforcement, and they pushed “know-your-rights” campaigns hard.
Any hint of ICE activity, including false alarms, brought out dozens of activists to investigate in several cities, including Houston, New York and Chicago. To inform the public, they used hotlines, text networks, workshops and social media and promoted a smartphone app that notifies family members in case of an arrest.
In Chicago, even city officials got involved.
Two city aldermen started “bike brigades,” patrolling immigrant-heavy neighborhoods to look for ICE agents and warn others. Another, Alderman Andre Vasquez, sought volunteers on Facebook to serve as “ICEbreakers.” Over the weekend, it was standing-room only at his ward office as volunteers walked the neighborhood handing out know-your-rights cards and recruited businesses to be on the lookout.
“We were seeing concern and people starting to panic,” Vasquez said. “We want to live in the kind of environment where we never have to worry about ICE and raids.”
Activists reported one clear success story in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday. Neighbors noticed ICE surveillance in the area and helped a 12-year-old boy and man avoid arrest by calling others and then linking arms around their van. ICE officers eventually called off the operation to avoid escalation.
Nashville showed what’s possible in an organized community: Immigrant families can exercise their rights and their neighbors can help them to defend their rights, Lisa Sherman-Nikolaus, policy director at the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition, said in an emailed statement. “The incredible scene that unfolded shows how deeply rooted immigrants are in our community.”
Advocates also said many immigrants simply stayed home.
During the first weekend the raids were supposed to start, some immigrant-heavy churches had noticeably lower attendance and attributed the fear of stepped-up enforcement. Businesses in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods, including in Chicago, Atlanta and Miami, also reported very light traffic.
Those arrested were awaiting deportation. During the budget year 2018, about 256,086 people were deported, an increase of 13%. The Obama administration deported 409,849 people in 2012′s budget year.
On Monday, the administration announced it would vastly extend the authority of immigration officers to deport migrants without allowing them to appear before judges. Fast-track deportations can apply to anyone in the country illegally for less than two years. Previously, those deportations were largely limited to people arrested almost immediately after crossing the Mexican border. Advocates said they would sue.
It was the second major immigration shift in eight days. Last Monday, the administration effectively banned asylum at the southern border by making anyone coming to the U.S. from a third country ineligible, with a few exceptions. Lawsuits are pending.
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Tareen reported from Chicago.