Syrian American group says Trump deserves Nobel Peace Prize, US troops should come home

A Syrian American doctor is spearheading an initiative to nominate President Trump for a Noble Peace Prize after Trump managed to convince Putin to throttle back on plans to seize the Syrian refugee city of Idlib in 2018, an attack that could have potentially killed upwards of 3 million civilians.
Dr. Tarek Kteleh, a rheumatologist in Indiana and board member of a group that promotes national security issues in Syria called Citizens for a Secure and Safe America, told Fox News Thursday that Trump "deserves credit" for preventing the potentially deadly attack on one of the last remaining cities not under the control of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian military and their Russian and Iranian allies surrounded Idlib, a sanctuary city that nearly 4 million civilians fled to, ready to attack and push out the Syrian rebels by the end of summer 2018. The small province of land was a necessary stronghold for rebel forces, vital to preventing the dictator from accessing control of the Northern portion of the Middle East.
Kteleh and president of their group, Dr. Rim Al-Bezem, a cardiologist from New Jersey, met Trump at a fundraiser in Indiana specifically with the intention of bringing attention to the plight in Syria.
Al-Bezem explained to Trump the potential slaughter of innocent lives, almost a quarter of whom were children and Trump assured them that he was "not going to let this happen," Kteleh told Fox News.
Kteleh admits he was skeptical that Trump would take action, instead believing he was trying to appease himself and Al-Bezem, both of whom had families living in Idlib at the time.
Days after their meeting, on Aug. 31, 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted about the dire situation in Idlib warning, "The U.S. sees this as an escalation of an already dangerous conflict."
"The 3 million Syrians, who have already been forced out of their homes and are now in #Idlib, will suffer from this aggression. Not good. The world is watching," Pompeo said.
"We thought maybe that was just an accident," Kteleh said, after seeing Pompeo's tweet. "But it could not be an accident--- that the president said he's not going to let this happen and then the next morning for the first time Secretary Pompeo says this."
Two days later, Trump used his active presence on social media to further the calls for the three foreign powers to stand down in Syria.
"President Bashar al-Assad of Syria must not recklessly attack Idlib Province. The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don’t let that happen!"
"This is the first time ever in the last seven or eight years that anyone has done anything for the Syrian people and many of the civilians,"  Kteleh said, singling out former President Barack Obama's approach to interventions in Syria, and refusing to react with force to Assad's use of chemical weapons on his people.
"Unlike your predecessor, you bombarded Assad's military airport when he launched chemical weapons against civilians. We are grateful for this display of strength. The world now knows: you mean what you say," Kteleh and Al-Bezem wrote in a letter to Trump Thursday.
"He said 'the media did not give me credit for it. It's OK. I hear it from Syrian Americans, they thank me for it,'" Trump told Kteleh and Al-Bezem, who praised him for his efforts and told him he deserved to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
"We took it seriously and started thinking about how we could give him credit for what he's done. Number one because he deserves the credit. Saving millions of people is an honor people need to be awarded for," Kteleh said. "And number two because we feel that if he gets the nomination or gets considered, that will shed more light on these people who became refugees and at any point in time if Putin and Assad start assaulting them again it will give them hope and make the world recognize it."
Kteleh and other members of his advocacy group, made up of doctors, businessmen and activists, launched a petition and Facebook page in support of nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020.
"We were surprised with the amount of support we got in a short period of time," Kteleh said, adding that in less than 10 days of creating the page, it garnered almost 28,000 supporters, a number that he says continues to climb by the thousands daily, as well as 21,000 signatures on a petition.
Kteleh said that despite allegations of collusion and Russian meddling in the 2016 election, a nearly two-year investigation that has clouded much of Trump's presidency, he doesn't believe the president is anything other than "sincere."
"He would not have done that," Kteleh said of Trump working with the Russians.
"We witnessed this firsthand. We went, we talked to the president, told him this was going to happen. He went out. Put pressure on Putin and Russia to stop the massacre. I don't believe it," he said.
Kteleh says he also fully supports Trump's withdrawal of nearly 1,000 troops from the northeast border of Syria, which many politicians and officials on both sides of the aisle condemned as an abandonment of U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who now struggle to fend off Turkish enemies in the region.
"We're American first. We understand where he's coming from. He promised he'd bring the troops home. He promised during his election and campaign. He promised he would not be intervening in wars all over the world," Kteleh said. "He's just trying to commit to what he promised the people who elected him."
"When he protected the people in Idlib he did not have to commit troops or anything. All that he really did was give warnings to the Russians and the Iranians and Assad, that if you can attack and commit crimes, we're going to respond to you. That's all that he did. He did not have to put troops there. And we hope that he can do the same thing here. The ceasefire announced today is very similar."
Vice President Pence successfully negotiated a ceasefire after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara Thursday, with the foreign nation agreeing to halt Turkey's shellings in Syria for five days to allow the Kurdish YPG forces to pull back from the roughly 20-mile safe zone on the Turkish-Syrian border.

El Chapo’s son released after arrest in Mexico as security forces outgunned by cartel: reports

Smoke from burning cars rises due in Culiacan, Mexico, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019. An intense gunfight with heavy weapons and burning vehicles blocking roads raged in the capital of Mexico’s Sinaloa state Thursday after security forces located one of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s sons who is wanted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges. (AP Photo/Hector Parra)

Violence seized a city in northwestern Mexico Thursday night as the son of infamous drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was briefly arrested then released by militarized police who struggled to contend with his heavily armed supporters, according to a report.
Ovidio Guzman Lopez was arrested by the National Guard in Culiacan, the capital of Mexico's Sinaloa state, on drug trafficking charges after he was discovered in a house with three other men, Reuters reported.
His arrest sparked an hours’ long gun battle with cartel members who surrounded the house and outgunned security forces.
The cartel also blocked the main roads out of the city with vehicles they torched.
“The decision was taken to retreat from the house, without Guzman, to try to avoid more violence in the area and preserve the lives of our personnel and recover calm in the city,” Security Minister Alfonso Durazo told Reuters.

 Amid the gunfire, a group of prisoners escaped from the city’s prison and cartel members fought police and soldiers throughout the city as citizens cowered or ran in fear.
Cristobal Castaneda, head of security in Sinaloa told a Mexican TV network that at least two people have been killed and 21 injured as the violence continued into the night. He asked residents to stay in their homes.
Falko Ernst, senior analyst for the International Crisis Group in Mexico, told Reuters Lopez’s release creates a “dangerous precedent" and shows the military is not in control.
Guzman led the Sinaloa cartel for decades before he was arrested and extradited to the United States. He had previously escaped Mexican prisons twice.

Marc Thiessen: Elizabeth Warren tells voters economy not working for them – Most voters disagree

With three polls showing her in the lead, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., may soon eclipse former Vice President Joe Biden as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. That's great news for Republicans, because Warren has a problem: The central message of her campaign is that the economy is working for the very wealthy but it is not working for ordinary Americans. Unfortunately for her, ordinary Americans disagree.
A Marist poll asked voters whether "the economy is working well for you personally." Nearly two-thirds of Americans said yes. This includes large majorities in almost every demographic group.
Sixty-seven percent of college graduates and 64 percent of those without a college education say the economy is working for them. So do 68 percent of whites and 61 percent of nonwhite people.

So do Americans of every generation: 63 percent of Generation Z and millennials; 69 percent of Generation X; 63 percent of baby boomers; and 69 percent of Greatest Generation and Silent Generation voters.
So do supermajorities in every region in the country: 60 percent in the West, 65 percent in the Northeast, 67 percent in the Midwest, and 68 percent in the South.
So do most voters in every type of American community: 63 percent of both big and small city voters; 64 percent of small-town voters; 66 percent of rural voters and 72 percent of suburban voters.
Most everyone, it seems, says the economy is working for them.
The only groups who disagree, Marist found, are progressives (59 percent), Democratic women (55 percent) and those who are liberal or very liberal (55 percent.
So, when Warren declares that President Trump is "part of a corrupt, rigged system that has helped the wealthy and the well-connected and kicked dirt in the faces of everyone else," it resonates with almost no one except those on the political left.
There is a good reason for that. Unemployment is near a record low, and the United States has about 1.6 million more job openings than unemployed people to fill them.
Not only are jobs plentiful, but wages are rising. And The New York Times reported in May that "over the past year, low-wage workers have experienced the fastest pay increases."
Americans don't just think they are doing better in the Trump economy, they are doing better. Little wonder Democrats barely mentioned the economy in Tuesday's debate.
This progress is bad news for Warren. Why would Americans rally to her call for "big structural change" to the economy when they say the economy is working for them? Especially when they learn the structural changes Warren is proposing would cost tens of trillions of dollars and – whether she admits it or not – would require them to pay more in taxes
Manhattan Institute budget expert Brian Riedl recently added up the price tag for Warren's proposals, and the numbers are staggering: $30 trillion to $40 trillion over 10 years for Medicare-for-all; $2 trillion for Social Security expansion; $3 trillion for climate change and environmental policies; $2 trillion free college and student loan forgiveness; and another $1 trillion for initiatives that include free child care and housing.
"Total cost: $38 trillion to $48 trillion," Riedl says. And that's before calculating the cost of offering free government health care to illegal immigrants, which Warren supports.
There's no way to pay for that miasma of spending with Warren's wealth tax; it will require massive middle-class tax increases.
No wonder the so-called moderates were going after Warren so hard at Tuesday's debate; they know it would be a disaster if she were to capture the Democratic nomination.
To win in 2020, Democrats need to win over voters who like Trump's policies but don't like Trump. They can't do that by telling these voters they are wrong about the economy working for them, and that they need to make peace with socialism. Instead, they need to convince voters that they can dump Trump and still keep their prosperity.
If Democrats nominate Warren, they will give voters suffering from Trump exhaustion no safe harbor. Her nomination would turn the election into an existential threat to the American economy.
And since Warren said Tuesday that, if she is elected, and Democrats take back the Senate, they will "repeal the filibuster," she will be able to pass her radical agenda by simple majority vote. That means Trump's message – "whether you love me or hate me, you have got to vote for me" – will ring true for millions of Americans whose votes might otherwise be up for grabs.

Trump rally in Dallas marked by enthusiasm, in sharp contrast to chaos in Minneapolis

tiny from House Democrats conducting an impeachment inquiry -- and a week after chaos and violence broke out at a Trump rally in Democratic-leaning Minnesota.
A massive crowd of approximately 30,000 gathered outside the American Airlines Center to watch the speech on a large screen, as the president launched into an extended critique of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. He derided former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke as "very dumb" for pushing to confiscate guns and tax religious institutions, and remarked that Joe Biden's family overtly profited from his political career.
"Last week, a very dumb Democrat candidate for president -- that's the end of him in this state -- pledged to revoke the tax-exempt status of many churches and religious charities," Trump said, as boos rocked the arena. "And by the way, that was after, a few weeks ago, he said, 'Excuse me, we're gonna take your guns away.' ... The flailer. You remember he was flailing all over the place?"
It was a marked difference from the bedlam on the streets during Trump's speech last week in Minneapolis, when left-wing activists were recorded attacking Trump supporters on video. A Trump-supporting woman leaving that rally was hit in the face on camera.
A brief security episode as Trump spoke was quickly resolved. Dallas officers assigned to the rally said they were "made aware of an adult male wearing body armor" outside the arena, and that "officers located the individual observing that he was also armed." The man, who was licensed to carry a firearm, was transported to a local hospital for evaluation without incident, investigators said.
Meanwhile, after Trump tweeted a video showing long lines to enter the American Airlines Center just before he took the stage, actor Tom Arnold responded with an apparent threat: "Don't get too cocky traitor. They showed up for JFK too."
Inside the arena, Trump kept the focus on his presidential rivals, as well as the plummeting unemployment and poverty rates for various demographic groups.
"Last month, unemployment reached its lowest level in 51 years," Trump said to applause. "1.3 million children have been lifted out of poverty -- think of that. And, African-American, Hispanic American and Asian American unemployment rates have reached the lowest levels in history. Our great Hispanic American population has reached a poverty level which is an all-time low in U.S. history. ... The median income for Hispanic Americans has surpassed $50,000 a year for the first time ever."
While Democrats wanted to raise taxes, Trump said, Republicans "ended the war on a thing called American energy, which is very good for Texas. Since my election, natural gas production in Texas has increased by 35 percent, and oil production has increased by 60 percent. And the United States is now the number-one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world!"
Trump added: "Yet every major Democratic candidate running for president wants to abolish all production of oil and natural gas. I think they want to go to windmills. 'Darling, I want to watch Trump tonight'; 'You can't, darling. The wind isn't blowing.' In other words, they want to annihilate our Texas economy."
The rally came at a critical time for Trump, whose dealings with the president of Ukraine have been the subject of a quickly unfolding impeachment inquiry run by House Democrats. Perry was subpoenaed earlier Thursday by House committees conducting the probe.

President Donald Trump taking the stage for the rally at American Airlines Arena in Dallas on Thursday. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Republicans have raised concerns that they might take a historic beating in Texas in 2020, as more suburban voters have balked at the president. Trump carried the longtime Republican stronghold and its 38 Electoral College votes by only 9 points in 2016 -- down from Mitt Romney's 15-point win in 2012.
Trump recounted his win in Texas during the rally, as well as his debate preparation in the primary against college debate champion and Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz.
"I hired a debate coach, and he lasted about 10 minutes -- I said, 'This guy knows less than I do.' He didn't know anything, it's true. He said, 'Never, ever interrupt if they're speaking.' I said, 'OK coach, put me in, coach.' I mean, you can't beat Ted Cruz if you don't interrupt him. It's impossible.
"I said, to my wife, first lady, potentially, I said, 'I got a problem,'" Trump recounted. "'Some of these guys are OK, they were only president of the class. ... I liked playing baseball better. But I said, Melania, and I called Ivanka, my kids -- I said, 'I got a problem. Ted Cruz was the national debate -- the number-one guy in college. He was the number-one guy in law school. How the hell do I beat a guy who's that good at debating?' But we came out OK, Ted. Ted was tough -- smart as hell, and tough."
In a shot at Democrats a day after their most recent presidential primary debate, Trump remarked, "In recent debates, you see these people up there, they're not Ted Cruz, believe me. Hey Ted, you should turn Democrat, you would win. Every single Democrat candidate for president raised their hands in favor of giving health care to all illegal aliens."
The White House has emphasized Democrats' historic leftward push, and Trump also hammered that theme at Thursday's rally -- saying Democrats wanted to "eviscerate" not only Medicare, but also babies just prior to their birth.
"They want to impose an extreme agenda," Trump said, referring to the field of Democrats seeking the White House. "They cannot pass it, and they cannot win it at the ballot box -- they're not going to win. They won't come close in 2020. They know it."
He continued: "They want to tear down symbols of faith and drive Christians and religious believers from the public square. They want to silence your voices on social media, and they want the government to censor, muzzle and shut down conservative voices -- you know that."
Democrats, though, have pointed to demographic trends as well as the fact that Cruz won reelection by just over 2 points last year as evidence that the second-most-populous state could soon be in play.

The line to enter the campaign rally for President Trump forming outside the American Airlines Center on Thursday in Dallas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)

“I expect President Trump to win Texas by 5 percentage points, not 9 points this time,” Southern Methodist University political science professor Cal Jillson told Politico. “There are long-term demographic changes taking place in the state that eat into Republican support. The major cities like Austin, Houston and Dallas are already leaning blue. Plus, his Republican coalition has been destabilized by his own actions and conduct."
At the same time, Trump's campaign and the RNC have been raking in money, raising a record $125 million in the third quarter of this year. By comparison, former President Obama and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) raised just over $70 million in the third quarter of 2011 for his reelection campaign.
The RNC raised a record-setting $27.3 million just last month and had $59.2 million cash as of the end of August, amid the impeachment push against the president  -- which has fueled GOP campaign contributions heading into the 2020 election.
This cycle, to date, the RNC has more than doubled the DNC's fundraising efforts, according to the GOP, which also noted that the Democrats, as of last month, carried $7.3 million in debt.
The campaign continued to haul in cash Thursday. Trump began his trip at a fundraiser in Fort Worth that raised about $5.5 million for Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee benefiting the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee. Looking to promote new jobs, Trump then toured the recently built Louis Vuitton plant in Alvarado with his daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump.
"I've seen that before," Trump told his tour guides while pointing to one of the iconic bags set up on a table.
While Republicans largely have defended Trump, they have sounded alarms over his decision to pull U.S. troops out of northern Syria — a move that paved the way for Turkey to invade and assault the Kurds, who'd fought alongside the U.S. in its campaign against Islamic State militants.
Upon landing in Texas on Thursday, Trump credited his threat of sanctions on Turkey and the violence that has unfolded for the announcement of a cease-fire, though critics said Trump green-lit the incursion and put the Kurdish forces in danger by announcing a U.S. troop withdrawal.

A sea of red hats as supporters of President Trump lined up to enter the campaign rally on Thursday in Dallas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)

Trump described the cease-fire as an "incredible outcome" that could not have occurred "unless you went somewhat unconventional."
A White House meeting between Trump and congressional lawmakers to discuss the situation Wednesday devolved into an insult-fest, with the president calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a "third-grade politician," and Pelosi and other top Democrats storming out.
A senior aide for the Democrats told Fox News that Trump began the meeting, which ostensibly had been called by the White House, by remarking that "someone wanted this meeting so I agreed to it." Trump also was said to have told Pelosi, "I hate ISIS more than you do," prompting Pelosi to respond, "You don't know that."
Trump and Pelosi continued to trade jabs after the meeting, with each accusing the other of having a meltdown.
As the Democrats walked out, Trump reportedly remarked, "I'll see you at the polls."
Fox News' Lissa Kaplan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Squad Cartoons

‘Squad’ members not ‘all in’ on Sanders endorsement -- at least not yet

Is there dissension in the ranks of “The Squad”?
One day after reports emerged that the group of far-left House Democrats planned to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2020 presidential race, it seemed only one of them – Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. – was officially aboard the Bernie Bus:
As for the others:
-- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had made no official endorsement but was still rumored to be attending a Sanders rally scheduled for this weekend in Queens, N.Y. – one of two New York city boroughs that include a portion of Ocasio-Cortez’s home district.
-- Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., clarified Wednesday that she had not yet endorsed a 2020 presidential candidate – even though CNN and Omar claimed Tlaib had backed Sanders.
-- Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., also hadn’t made an endorsement.
Pressley’s camp stressed that while the Squad members support one another in Congress, they don’t necessarily speak with one voice on all issues.
“Ayanna has tremendous respect for her sisters-in-service,” a Pressley spokesperson told Vox. “Ultimately, these political decisions are made as individuals.”

“Ayanna has tremendous respect for her sisters-in-service. Ultimately, these political decisions are made as individuals.”
— Spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.

One factor possibly stalling a Pressley endorsement of Sanders: She hails from the same state as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, so she might not be as eager to oppose a presidential candidate from her home area – the way that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., for example, backed former Vice President Joe Biden instead of her fellow Californian, Sen. Kamala Harris.
According to Boston.com, Pressley’s ties to the Sanders campaign aren’t as strong as those of Ocasio-Cortez and Omar, with Pressley having backed Hillary Clinton over Sanders in 2016. In addition, Pressley has worked with Warren on legislation in Congress and also has close relationships with Harris and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who have been seeking her endorsement, the report said.
Tlaib, meanwhile, hasn’t ruled out a Sanders endorsement down the road, telling the Detroit Free Press she will host the U.S. senator from Vermont in her district later this month – just as she recently did recently with Warren. (Warren posted video from that visit online Wednesday -- and Tlaib retweeted it.)
"I am looking forward to bringing Senator Sanders to Michigan on Oct. 27 for a tour of our district that will highlight economic justice issues and corporate tax giveaways, and (include) a roundtable with housing justice advocates,” Tlaib said. “I need to know that anyone I choose to endorse will fight for my residents, and I appreciate the opportunity for them to have a dialogue with Sen. Sanders about these critically important issues.”

“I need to know that anyone I choose to endorse will fight for my residents, and I appreciate the opportunity for them to have a dialogue with Sen. Sanders about these critically important issues.”
— U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.

But regardless of what Tlaib and Pressley ultimately decide to do, the Sanders endorsement by Omar – and rumored endorsement by Ocasio-Cortez – were blows to the Warren campaign, coming on the same night that the senator fended off fierce attacks from fellow Democrats at the party’s presidential debate in Ohio.
As Boston.com noted, Warren has courted Ocasio-Cortez, having lunch with her in March, writing a blurb for Ocasio-Cortez’s entry in Time magazine’s “Time 100” listing, and filming a video with Ocasio-Cortez in which the pair reviewed the final episode of “Game of Thrones.”

Buttigieg tweeted support for Medicare-for-all in resurfaced tweet despite attacking Warren at debate

South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg attacked Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Medicare-for-all plan at Tuesday night’s Democratic debate, saying that his Medicare-"for-All-Who-Want-It" plan is "just better."
He has criticized single-payer at the last few debates, claiming it would "obliterate private plans."
But in a resurfaced tweet from last year, Buttigieg professed support for it.
"I, Pete Buttigieg, politician, do henceforth and forthwith declare, most affirmatively and indubitably, unto the ages, that I do favor Medicare for all, as I do favor any measure that would help get all Americans covered," Buttigieg wrote in a February 2018 tweet, responding to whether he supported it.
A Buttigieg aide Wednesday said that he had not changed his position on Medicare for all, explaining that he supports it as an end goal but he wants to take a "glide path" to get there, The Hill reported.
“What I'll say is that I've laid out a plan that now explains how we're going to get there, that makes Medicare available to all and at the same time doesn't do away with private plans," Buttigieg told a reporter Wednesday who asked if his position had changed.
He added that he doesn’t think private plans need to be gotten rid of to make Medicare available to everyone, according to The Hill.
At the debate, Warren said Buttiegieg’s plan was really “Medicare-for-all-who-can-afford-it.”
Former President Obama aide and "Pod Save America" host Jon Favreau tweeted Wednesday that both Buttigieg and Kamala Harris have changed their positions on Medicare-for-all.
"And there can be perfectly legitimate reasons for that," he wrote. "The difference is, Harris hasn’t been openly attacking her old position. Trickier to pull off!"

Presidential pardons less of an obstacle for NY state prosecutors under new law: report

So you’ve committed a crime but received a pardon from the president of the United States.
That might no longer help you in New York state.
In what appeared to be an action aimed squarely at President Trump, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law Wednesday that lets the state’s prosecutors bring charges against those who’ve received presidential pardons for the crimes in question.
According to Politico, the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that state prosecutors can bring charges against people who have already faced similar federal charges. But New York’s state law had included ways of blocking the state-level trials.
Cuomo’s signature Wednesday helped erase those obstacles, the report said.
One test of the new law could come if Trump attorney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani eventually faces charges of lobbying violations under the federal probe he is reportedly facing regarding business dealing in Ukraine, Politico reported.
"This critical new law closes a gaping loophole that could have allowed any president to abuse the presidential pardon power by unfairly granting a pardon to a family member or close associate and possibly allow that individual to evade justice altogether,” New York state Attorney General Tish James said in a statement Wednesday. “No one is above the law, and this commonsense measure will provide a reasonable and necessary check on presidential power today and for all presidents to come.”
In August, President Trump criticized The Washington Post after the newspaper printed a story saying the president claimed he would pardon aides if they broke the law in order to speed the process for building a U.S.-Mexico border wall before the 2020 presidential election.
“Another totally Fake story in the Amazon Washington Post (lobbyist) which states that if my Aides broke the law to build the Wall (which is going up rapidly), I would give them a Pardon,” Trump wrote at the time. “This was made up by the Washington Post only in order to demean and disparage - FAKE NEWS!”
Earlier this month Trump posthumously pardoned Zay Jeffries, a World War II scientist who helped develop tank-piercing artillery that helped defeat the Nazis. After the war, Jeffries was convicted of business actions that violated Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
Other recipients of Trump pardons have included Joe Arpaio, a former sheriff in Arizona; Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a former chief of staff to former Vice President Dick Cheney; Jack Johnson, a champion boxer; and Dinesh D’Souza, a conservative author and filmmaker.
Fox News' Danielle Wallace and Melissa Leon contributed to this story.