DOJ watchdog Horowitz's report to be released, as Dems prep impeachment hearing

The Justice Department's internal watchdog is set to release a highly anticipated report Monday that is expected to document misconduct -- including the deliberate falsification of at least one key document -- during the investigation into President Trump's 2016 campaign.
At the same time, the report, as described by people familiar with its findings, is expected to conclude there was an adequate basis for opening one of the most politically sensitive investigations in FBI history. It began in secret during Trump’s 2016 presidential run before then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller ultimately took it over.
The report comes as Trump faces an impeachment inquiry in Congress centered on his efforts to press Ukraine to investigate a political rival, Democrat Joe Biden — a probe the president also claimed has been politically biased. The House Judiciary Committee is expected hold a hearing Monday on the inquiry's findings.
The release of Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz's review is unlikely to quell the partisan battles that have surrounded the Russia investigation for years. It's also not the last word: A separate internal investigation continues, overseen by Attorney General Bill Barr and led by U.S. Attorney John Durham. That investigation is criminal in nature, and Republicans may look to it to uncover wrongdoing that the inspector general wasn’t examining.
Sources told Fox News in October that Durham's probe into potential FBI and Justice Department misconduct in the run-up to the 2016 election through the spring of 2017 has transitioned into a full-fledged criminal investigation -- and Horowitz's report will shed light on why Durham has been leading a criminal inquiry.
Horowitz has forwarded to Durham evidence that an FBI lawyer manipulated a key investigative document related to the FBI's secretive surveillance of former Trump adviser Carter Page in 2016 and 2017 -- enough to change the substantive meaning of the document, according to multiple reports last month.
"I think we'll learn part of the story tomorrow," Page told the Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo on "Sunday Morning Futures." "What I've learned from some of the leakers and one of the papers of record: a top reporter there said there's a lot of exculpatory evidence that's remaining classified, and there's been internal battles."
It is unclear how Barr, a strong defender of Trump, will respond to Horowitz's findings. He has told Congress that he believed "spying" on the Trump campaign did occur and has raised public questions about whether the counterintelligence investigation was done correctly.
The inspector general's investigation began in early 2018, and has focused in part on the FBI's surveillance of Page. The FBI applied in the fall of 2016 for a warrant from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor Page's communications, flatly telling the court that Page was an "agent" of a foreign power.
Page was never charged and has denied any wrongdoing. The ultimately successful warrant application on Page relied in part on information from British ex-spy Christopher Steele – whose anti-Trump views have been well-documented – and cited Page's suspected Russia ties.
In its warrant application, the FBI inaccurately assured the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court on numerous occasions that media sources independently corroborated Steele's claims, and did not clearly state that Steele worked for a firm hired by Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Much of the Steele dossier has been proven discredited or unsubstantiated, including the dossier's claims that the Trump campaign was paying hackers in the United States out of a nonexistent Russian consulate in Miami, and that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen traveled to Prague to conspire with Russians. Mueller also was unable to substantiate the dossier's claims that Page had received a large payment relating to the sale of a share of Rosneft, a Russian oil giant, or that a lurid blackmail tape involving the president existed.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is scheduled to hear testimony from Horowitz on Wednesday, said he expected the report would be "damning" about the process of obtaining the warrant.
"I'm looking for evidence of whether or not they manipulated the facts to get the warrant," Graham, R-S.C., told "Sunday Morning Futures."
Fox News' Brooke Singman, Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

China Trade Cartoons

Butt Kissing Nations

China’s trade with US sinks in November amid tariff war

FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2019, file photo, a worker loads imported goods on a truck at a distribution company outside the container port in Qingdao in east China's Shandong province. China's trade with the United States sank again in November as negotiators worked on the first stage of a possible deal to end a tariff war. (Chinatopix via AP, File)

BEIJING (AP) — China’s trade with the United States sank again in November as negotiators worked on the first stage of a possible deal to end a tariff war.

Exports to the United States fell 23% from a year earlier to $35.6 billion, customs data showed Sunday. Imports of American goods were off 2.8% at $11 billion, giving China a surplus with the United States of $24.6 billion.

Exports to some other countries including France rose, helping to offset the loss.

China’s global exports were off 1.1% from a year earlier at $221.7 billion despite weakening worldwide demand. Imports were up 0.3% at $183 billion, giving China a global surplus of $38.7 billion.

Hopes for a settlement to the fight over Beijing’s technology ambitions and trade surplus rose after President Donald Trump’s announcement of a “Phase 1” agreement following talks in October. But there has been no sign of agreement on details nearly two months later.

The dispute has disrupted global trade in goods from soybeans to medical equipment and threatens to depress economic growth.

Trump put off a tariff increase in October but penalties already imposed by both sides on billions of dollars of imports stayed in place. Another U.S. increase is due on Sunday on $160 billion of Chinese goods. That would extend penalties to almost everything Americans buy from China.

Chinese spokespeople have expressed hope for a settlement “as soon as possible,” but Trump spooked financial markets last week by saying he might be willing to wait until after the U.S. presidential election late next year.

Financial markets have repeatedly risen on optimism about the talks only to fall back when no progress is announced.

The “Phase 1” agreement doesn’t cover contentious issues including U.S. complaints that Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology. Economists warn tensions could rise again next year and the bulk of tariff hikes are likely to stay in place for some time.

For the first 11 months of 2019, China’s total global exports were off 0.3% at $2.3 trillion despite the tariff war. Imports were down 4.5% at $1.8 trillion, adding to signs Chinese domestic demand is cooling.

China’s exporters have been hurt by the U.S. tariff hikes but its overall economy has been unexpectedly resilient. Growth in the world’s second-largest economy slipped to 6% over a year earlier in the three months ending in September, down from the previous quarter’s 6.2% but still among the world’s strongest.

Weaker Chinese demand has global repercussions, depressing demand for industrial raw materials and components from other Asian economies and oil, iron ore and other commodities from Brazil, Australia and other suppliers.

The Ministry of Finance announced Friday that China was waiving punitive import duties on U.S. soybeans and pork, keeping a promise announced in September.

A sticking point is Beijing’s insistence that Washington roll back its most recent penalties on Chinese goods as part of the “Phase 1” deal. Beijing said last month the U.S. side agreed, but Trump dismissed that.

A Chinese spokesman repeated Thursday that Beijing expects such a move in a “Phase 1” agreement.

N. Korea conducts ‘important test’ at once-dismantled site

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Sunday that it carried out a “very important test” at its long-range rocket launch site that it reportedly rebuilt after having partially dismantled it at the start of denuclearization talks with the United States last year.

The announcement comes amid dimming prospects for a resumption of negotiations, with the North threatening to seek “a new way” if it fails to get major U.S. concessions by year’s end. North Korea has said its resumption of nuclear and long-range missile tests depends on the United States.

Saturday’s test at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground will have “an important effect on changing the strategic position of (North Korea) once again in the near future,” an unidentified spokesman from the North’s Academy of National Defense Science said in a statement, carried by the country’s official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea didn’t say what the test included. Kim Dong-yub, an analyst at Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said that North Korea likely tested for the first time a solid-fuel engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The use of solid fuel increases a weapon’s mobility and reduces the amount of launch preparation time. The long-range rockets that North Korea used in either ICBM launches or satellite liftoffs in recent years all used liquid propellants.

CNN reported Friday that a new satellite image indicated North Korea may be preparing to resume testing engines used to power satellite launchers and intercontinental ballistic missiles at the site.

Seoul’s Defense Ministry said in a brief statement later Sunday that South Korea and the United States are closely monitoring activities at the Sohae site and other key North Korean areas.

On Saturday, President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in discussed developments related to North Korea, and the two leaders committed to continuing close communication, the White House said in a statement. Moon’s office also released a similar statement, saying the two leaders had a 30-minute phone conversation at Trump’s request.

The North Korean test “is meant to improve military capabilities and to shore up domestic pride and legitimacy,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “With the activity at Sohae, Pyongyang is also trying to raise international concerns that it may intensify provocations and walk away from denuclearization talks next year.”

The Sohae launching center in Tongchang-ri, a seaside region in western North Korea, is where the North has carried out banned satellite launches in recent years, resulting in worldwide condemnation and U.N. sanctions over claims that they were disguised tests of long-range missile technology.

North Korea has said its satellite launches are part of its peaceful space development program. But many outside experts say ballistic missiles and rockets used in satellite launches share similar bodies, engines and other technology. None of North Korea’s three intercontinental ballistic missile tests in 2017 was conducted at the Sohae site, but observers said the site was used to test engines for ICBMs.

After his first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June last year, Trump said Kim told him that North Korea was “already destroying a major missile engine testing site” in addition to committing to “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula.

Satellite imagery later showed the North dismantling a rocket engine-testing stand and other facilities at the Sohae site. Last March, South Korea’s spy agency and some U.S. experts said that North Korea was restoring the facilities, raising doubts about whether it was committed to denuclearization.

U.S.-North Korea diplomacy has largely remained deadlocked since the second summit between Trump and Kim in Vietnam in February due to disputes over how much sanctions relief the North must get in return for dismantling its key nuclear complex — a limited disarmament step.

North Korea has since warned that the U.S. must abandon hostile policies and come out with new acceptable proposals by the end of this year or it would take an unspecified new path. In recent months, North Korea has performed a slew of short-range missile and other weapons launches and hinted at lifting its moratorium on nuclear and long-range missiles.

North Korea said the results of Saturday’s test were submitted to the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party. The North said last week that the Central Committee will hold a meeting in late December to discuss unspecified “crucial issues” in line with “the changed situation at home and abroad.”

At the United Nations, a statement released by North Korea’s U.N. ambassador, Kim Song, said Saturday that denuclearization had “already gone out of the negotiation table.”

The statement accused the Trump administration of persistently pursuing a “hostile policy” toward the country “in its attempt to stifle it.” The statement was a response to Wednesday’s condemnation by six European countries of North Korea’s 13 ballistic missile launches since May.

The North Korean diplomat accused the Europeans — France, Germany, Britain, Belgium, Poland and Estonia — of playing “the role of pet dog of the United States in recent months.”

“We regard their behavior as nothing more than a despicable act of intentionally flattering the United States,” the ambassador said.

___

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Ann Coulter counts Mitt Romney among ‘feckless old ladies’ in GOP who may vote to convict Trump

Conservative writer Ann Coulter took a shot Saturday night at three Senate Republicans who reportedly were the only remaining members of the GOP who hadn’t signed a Senate colleague’s resolution condemning the House impeachment inquiry against President Trump.
A story in The Hill on Friday had identified the trio as Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah -- lawmakers who’ve each opposed Trump from time to time from within the GOP tent.
Coulter offered her reaction to the story in a Twitter message.
“BREAKING: The Hill newspaper names 3 GOP senators as possible votes to convict Trump,” Coulter wrote. “Turns out they’re all legendarily feckless old ladies: Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, & Mitt Romney.”
Within a few hours the tweet had gained more than 16,000 likes and 4,000 retweets.
“The RINO’s want Trump impeached? I’m shocked!!,” one Twitter user commented.
“Disappointed; but not surprised about Romney,” another wrote.
“I have faith in Susan Collins after standing up for Brett Kavanaugh,” another commenter wrote. “I have no faith in Lisa Murkowski or Mitt Romney for this [if nothing] else [requires] integrity.”
The resolution defending President Trump was introduced Thursday by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and had been signed by every Senate Republican except the trio, Graham told The Hill on Friday.

U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, was on the receiving end Saturday night of one of the latest Twitter barbs from conservative writer Ann Coulter.

Graham’s resolution calls on House Democrats to allow Trump to “confront his accusers” and to allow Republicans to issue subpoenas to witnesses of their choosing, according to The Hill.
Neither Murkowski, nor Collins, nor Romney has endorsed the impeachment inquiry or the removal of Trump from the presidency, the story noted, adding that all three have simply refrained from taking a position on the matter so far.
Murkowski said Thursday that she hadn’t read Graham’s resolution, while Romney said he hadn’t read it but planned to do so, The Hill reported, adding that it hadn’t heard back yet from Collins’ office.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has backed Graham’s resolution but hasn’t stated whether he will call for a Senate vote on the matter, The Hill reported.
Coulter, meanwhile, has been a frequent critic of Trump as well. For example, she has repeatedly chided the president over delays in getting construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall underway, and last February referred to the president's State of the Union address as “the lamest, sappiest, most intentionally tear-jerking SOTU ever.”
The president has often opted not to return fire -- but last March referred to Coulter as a "Wacky Nut Job," insisting he was "winning on the Border" despite having "an entire Democrat Party of Far Left Radicals against me (not to mention certain Republicans who are sadly unwilling to fight)."

Trump to 4,000 Israeli Americans in Florida: US-Israel relationship is 'stronger now than ever before'

President Trump addressed a crowd of more than 4,000 people at the Israeli American Council (IAC) National Summit in Florida on Saturday night, saying Israel and America have an "unbreakable bond."
Trump delivered the keynote address at the summit, which took place in Hollywood, Fla., and was welcomed by the crowd chanting "four more years." The Israeli American Council is financially backed by one of Trump's top supporters, billionaire Sheldon Adelson.
In the first address by a sitting U.S. president at the IAC Summit, Trump said America and Israel's relationship is "stronger now than ever before."
"I have stood firmly and proudly with the state of Israel," Trump said. He said he kept his promises and that Israel "never had a greater friend in the White House than your president Donald Trump."
The president spoke about the latest move by his administration to strengthen Israel's position and undermine Palestinian claims regarding land sought for a future state. Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. government is easing its stance on Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Pompeo essentially rejected a 1978 State Department legal opinion holding that civilian settlements in the occupied territories are “inconsistent with international law.”
He also said the White House was reversing an Obama administration directive that allowed the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution declaring the settlements a “flagrant violation” of international law.
While the announcement received praise from Israeli officials -- including Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called it “historic” -- the international community, which overwhelmingly considers the settlements illegal, did not take the news favorably.
In a statement sent to Fox News, Federica Mogherini, vice president of the European Union, said: “The European Union's position on Israeli settlement policy in the occupied Palestinian territory is clear and remains unchanged: all settlement activity is illegal under international law and it erodes the viability of the two-state solution and the prospects for a lasting peace.”
Trump already broke with his predecessors by deciding to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moving the U.S. Embassy to that city and supporting Israeli sovereignty over the contested Golan Heights region. In Hollywood on Saturday, Trump mentioned all those decisions.
He said recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is a "great, great thing."
Trump talked about Israeli security and said, "My administration made clear Israel's absolute right to self-defense," as he referenced the latest round of fighting between Gaza and Israel.
Last month, two days of violence left at least 32 Palestinians dead. During the fighting, the Israel Defense Forces said it was “raining rockets” across the country, with Islamic Jihads firing one projectile every seven minutes. Since then, a senior commander of the terror group was killed by the Israeli military in a targeted airstrike.
Trump also told the crowd of Israeli Americans, “Today the ISIS caliphate has been 100 percent obliterated."
He noted that a few weeks ago, U.S. special forces killed the founder and leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Trump held a rally in Sunrise, Fla., last week where he also mentioned his unprecedented moves in strengthening U.S.- Israeli relations, which included supporting Israeli sovereignty over the contested Golan Heights region.
It’s a message the president seems to be pushing in his reelection campaign.
As Trump addressed the crowd at the IAC Summit on Saturday night, Trump also spoke about anti-Semitism and said his administration is committed to curbing the problem.
He said "we must not ignore the vile poison"  and said his administration is "using every single weapon at our disposal."
He brought up former New York University (NYU) student Adela Cojab to the stage. She said she experienced anti-Semitism on her college campus, including witnessing a student who was a member of a pro-Palestinian group on campus, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), burn an Israeli flag.
Her lawyers filed charges of anti-Semitism and a hostile environment for Jewish students at New York University, and they were notified last month that the Department of Education had opened a full-scale investigation into their allegations.
The complaint sent to the Department of Education said: “SJP is a radical organization affiliated with terror groups, bent on adopting a policy of anti-normalization of Jewish groups, and on isolating, demonizing and ultimately destroying the Jewish state.”
Cojab, who was the president of an Israel advocacy group at NYU and was a representative for Jewish students in student government, graduated in May and filed the complaint one month before.
NYU spokesman John Beckman told Fox News Saturday that the university "has not received any direct notice from the Department of Education indicating that there is an OCR investigation."
"If there is, we know that any allegations that the University has been anything less than highly supportive of or deeply concerned about its Jewish community are untrue and unfair, and ignore the real record," Beckman said, continuing: "That those involved in disrupting the pro-Israel rave in Washington Square Park in 2018 were referred to the University's student conduct office; that NYU and its president rejected and criticized attempts to ostracize pro-Israel groups; that the University has publicly, repeatedly, and vigorously repudiated BDS proposals both at NYU and elsewhere ... and ... that NYU is the only U.S. [university] to have opened its own dedicated academic campus in Israel, has flatly rejected any and all calls to close it, and continues to be committed to it."
National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.  However, in a statement sent to Fox News, NYU’s SJP chapter said: “NYU Students for Justice in Palestine and NYU Jewish Voice for Peace believe Palestinian liberation and Jewish liberation go hand in hand. We work tirelessly against anti-racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. The fact that around half of SJP is Jewish, along with our interfaith work where an Israeli Jewish woman and a Palestinian Muslim woman crafted a BDS resolution on human rights, is evidence of just that.”
On Saturday night, Cojab thanked President Trump for his work on anti-Semitism.
Trump also brought up U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism  Elan Carr to the stage.
Trump spoke at the 6th annual IAC Summit. Vice President Mike Pence was the keynote speaker at the conference the year before.
President Trump's trip to Florida on Saturday also featured a separate address to members of Florida's Republican Party at the Statesman's Dinner in Aventura. The Florida GOP did not allow news media coverage of the event.
The trip came hours after Trump celebrated Iran's decision to free a Chinese-American scholar from Princeton University who had been held since 2016. The U.S., in turn, released an Iranian scientist in its custody.
"We are also working to free hostages unjustly detained around the world including in Iran," Trump told the crowd on Saturday night.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Taliban Cartoons

US opens first round of resurrected peace talks with Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad held on Saturday the first official talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban since President Donald Trump declared a near-certain peace deal with the insurgents dead in September.

The talks will initially focus on getting a Taliban promise to reduce violence, with a permanent cease-fire being the eventual goal, said a U.S. statement. Khalilzad is also trying to lay the groundwork for negotiations between Afghans on both sides of the protracted conflict.

The meetings being held in the Middle Eastern State of Qatar, where the Taliban maintain a political office, follow several days of talks in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, where Khalilzad met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

The Taliban have so far refused direct talks with Ghani calling him a U.S. puppet.

Ghani leads the Afghan government with Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah in a power-sharing agreement brokered by the United States after the presidential elections in 2014 were so deeply mired in corruption that a clear winner could not be determined.

To head off a conflict Washington stepped in and forced the two leading candidates — Ghani and Abdullah — to share power in a so-called Unity Government that has been largely paralyzed because of the relentless bickering between the two leaders.

The Afghan government is now embroiled in a fresh elections standoff. Presidential polls on Sept. 28 again ended in accusations of misconduct, with no results yet announced.

Repeat leading contender Abdullah has challenged the recounting of several hundred thousand ballots, accusing his opponent Ghani of trying to manipulate the tally.

Meanwhile, Khalilzad’s return to his peace mission followed Trump’s surprise Thanksgiving Day visit to Afghanistan in which he said talks with the Taliban were back on.

While Khalilzad is talking to the Taliban about reducing violence, the U.S. military in its daily report said overnight on Saturday U.S. airstrikes killed 37 Taliban and operations by the Afghan National Security Forces killed another 22 of the militants.

The insurgents have continued to carry put near daily strikes against military outposts throughout the country. They now hold sway over nearly half of Afghanistan.

Trump has expressed frustration with America’s longest war repeatedly saying he wants to bring the estimated 12,000 U.S. soldiers home and calling on Afghanistan’s own police and military to step up. The Afghan government has also been criticized for its relentless corruption.