Thursday, September 14, 2017
Pres. Trump Meets With Sen. Scott on Race Relations
Scott is currently the only black Republican senator, and the pair discussed race issues in the wake of Charlottesville.
The one-on-one meeting Wednesday at the White House is also an effort by the president to unify the country.
They talked about issues facing African Americans, and how the president can continue to improve the lives of all people in the country.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders commented on the meeting, calling it productive.
Jemele Hill says 'white supremacist' comments 'painted ESPN in an unfair light'
ESPN host Jemele Hill took to Twitter on Wednesday
evening “to address the elephant in the room,” after coming under fire
Monday for calling President Donald Trump a “white supremacist.”
“My comments on Twitter expressed
my personal beliefs. My regret is that my comments and the public way I
made them painted ESPN in an unfair light. My respect for the company
and my colleagues remains unconditional,” Hill tweeted.
In a series of tweets Monday, Hill claimed Trump was
“unqualified and unfit to be president,” and that “his rise is a direct
result of white supremacy.”The network responded Tuesday, saying Hill’s comments “do not represent the position of ESPN,” and that she “recognizes her actions were inappropriate."
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, meanwhile, said Wednesday that she believes Hill’s statements about the president constituted a “fireable offense.”
“That is one of the more outrageous comments that anybody could make and certainly is something that is a fireable offense by ESPN,” Sanders told reporters at the White House daily briefing.
Hill co-hosts the 6 p.m. broadcast of “SportsCenter” alongside Michael Smith, and has been on ESPN since 2013.
As of Wednesday, the tweets have not been deleted from Hill’s account.
Schumer, Pelosi say they have deal with Trump to protect 'Dreamers'
:-) |
Democratic congressional leaders emerged from a
meeting with President Donald Trump Wednesday vowing to pursue an
agreement protecting immigrants who were brought illegally into the U.S.
as children from deportation.
In a joint statement, Senate
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi, D-Calif., said they and Trump had "agreed to enshrine the
protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of
border security, excluding the wall, that's acceptable to both sides."
An estimated 800,000 young immigrants are currently
covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA,
which was formed by former President Barack Obama in 2012. Earlier this
month, the Trump administration announced it was winding down the
program over the next six months, putting pressure on Congress to pass a
legislative solution.A source briefed on the meeting confirmed to Fox News that Trump and the leaders agreed to pair the DREAM Act, which provides for giving young illegal immigrants eventual citizenship, with some measures enhancing border security. The source said that those measures do not include Trump's long-promised wall across the U.S.-Mexico border.
However, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders issued a tweet denying that the border wall was off the table. A Democratic aide familiar with the conversations told Fox News that Trump "was clear he would continue to fight for the wall separate from this agreement."
Prior to Sanders' tweet, the White House issued a statement describing the meeting as "constructive" and "a positive step toward the President's strong commitment to bipartisan solutions for the issues most important to all Americans." The statement added that the three had discussed "policy and legislative priorities," including "tax reform, border security, DACA, infrastructure and trade."
During a White House meeting with moderate House members from both parties earlier Wednesday, Trump had urged lawmakers to come up with a bipartisan solution.
"We don't want to forget DACA," Trump told the members at the meeting. "We want to see if we can do something in a bipartisan fashion so that we can solve the DACA problem and other immigration problems."
The apparent deal is the latest example of Trump's sudden pivot to bipartisanship after months of railing against Democrats as "obstructionist." He has urged them to join him in overhauling the nation's tax code, among other priorities.
Trump, who was deeply disappointed by Republicans' failure to pass a health care overhaul, infuriated many in his party when he reached a three-month deal with Schumer and Pelosi to raise the debt ceiling, keep the government running and speed relief to states affected by recent hurricanes.
"More and more we're trying to work things out together," Trump explained Wednesday, calling the development a "positive thing" for both parties.
"If you look at some of the greatest legislation ever passed, it was done on a bipartisan manner. And so that's what we're going to give a shot," he said.
The "Kumbaya" moment now appears to extend to the thorny issue of immigration, which has been vexing lawmakers for years.
Funding for Trump's promised wall had been thought to be a major point of contention between Republicans and Democrats as they attempted to forge a deal.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who also sat down with Pelosi to talk immigration Wednesday, told the Associated Press that deporting the so-called "Dreamers" was "not in our nation's interest," and said the president had "made the right call."
"I wanted him to give us time. I didn't want this to be rescinded on Day One and create chaos," Ryan said, arguing the time would allow Congress to "come up with the right kind of consensus and compromise to fix this problem."
White House disputes Schumer, Pelosi's border wall claim
Well, at least that's solved.
Two top Democrats emerged Wednesday
from dinner at the White House with President Donald Trump saying the
meal was “very productive."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement that
Trump agreed to protect so-called "Dreamers" and agreed to terms on
border security -- "excluding the wall."Shortly after their statement, the White House issued one of its own. Trump indeed had a productive meal with the Democrats, but the exclusion of the border wall "was certainly not agreed to."
Pelosi's Twitter account still has a pinned tweet that reads: "Trump’s cowardice is on full display today. His cruelty must not stand! #ProtectDREAMERS."
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said earlier Wednesday that Trump was “committed to the wall. It doesn’t have to be tied to DACA, but it's important and he will get it done.” (DACA refers to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program through which the children of illegal immigrants have been allowed to stay in the U.S.)
Matt House, Schumer’s communications director, responded on Twitter: “The President made clear he would continue pushing the wall, just not as part of this agreement.”
The New York Times cited a White House official who said Trump pushed for border wall funding at the meeting.
Beside the border wall issue, the Democrats said Trump agreed to enshrine protections for the nearly 800,000 immigrants brought illegally to this country as kids who had benefited from the DACA program.
Trump ended the program earlier this month and gave Congress six months to come up with a legislative fix before the statuses of the so-called Dreamers begin to expire.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, who also sat down with Pelosi to talk immigration Wednesday, said in an interview that deporting the so-called Dreamers was “not in our nation’s interest,” and said the president had “made the right call.”
“I wanted him to give us time. I didn’t want this to be rescinded on Day One and create chaos,” Ryan said, arguing the time would allow Congress to “come up with the right kind of consensus and compromise to fix this problem.”
The dinner took place in the White House’s Blue Room, sources told Fox News. The Congress members sat at a rectangular table with Trump at the head with Pelosi to his right, and Schumer to his left. Eleven people were in the room, sources said. The first half-hour addressed trade issues with China.
The meeting between the three came shortly after Trump overruled congressional Republicans and cut a deal with Democrats to raise the federal debt ceiling for three months. Some conservatives criticized the deal as a capitulation by Trump.
Trump, however, appears to see bipartisanship as a key to get legislation out of the starting gate.
“More and more we’re trying to work things out together,” Trump explained Wednesday, calling the development a “positive thing” for both parties.
“Some of the greatest legislation ever passed, it was done on a bipartisan manner. And so that is why we’re going to give it a shot,” Trump said.
Fox News' Chad Pergram and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Edmund DeMarche is a news editor for FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @EDeMarche.
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Kid Rock opens Detroit's new arena, blocks newspaper from attending
Rocker-turned-maybe-politician Kid
Rock retaliated this week after a Detroit media outlet published a
“f----- up story” saying Rock didn't deserve to open the city's new
taxpayer-funded sports arena because of his racist attitudes.
Rock denied the Detroit Free Press a press pass to attend Tuesday night's opening gig at the $862 million Little Caesars Arena.
A Free Press columnist had written that Rock
represented a “middle finger to Detroiters” when he was chosen to
perform the opening concert. The move signaled that people of color
would not be welcome in the arena, the Detroit Free Press columnist opined.Stephen Henderson, a Free Press editorial page editor, wrote that when “divisive performer Kid Rock” was chosen to open the arena, “it sent a message to the Detroiters who made the project possible and who have yet to see the benefits promised. It's a message that's not too far off those Jim Crow-era signs warning that blacks weren't welcome.
“This is a musician who got rich off crass cultural appropriation of black music, who used to wrap his brand in the Confederate flag — a symbol inextricably linked to racism, no matter what its defenders say,” he added.
According to the Free Press, the negative article about Kid Rock was not the paper’s position but an opinion article reflecting the views of an individual writer.
But the explanation was not sufficient for Rock’s publicist, Kirt Webster, who slammed the publication after being asked for a quote, saying: “You guys wrote a f----- up story and allowed it to be published. You want a quote, there it is.”
“To be published without doing any fact-checking on what Kid Rock has done for the city of Detroit? We don't condone bad behavior. We won't reward bad behavior,” he added.
Early Monday, the artist vented on social media and attacked his critics, claiming he will focus his philanthropic work on charities that defended him.
“They are trying to use the old confederate flag BS, etc., to stir the pot, when we all know none of this would be going on if I were not thinking of running for office,” he wrote, asking his fans to “pay no attention to the garbage the extreme left is trying to create.” (Rock had previously flirted with the idea of running for a U.S. Senate seat from Michigan.)
He added: “I am however very disappointed that none of the people, businesses or charities I have so diligently supported in Detroit have had anything to say about all these unfounded attacks from these handful of jackasses and the Detroit Free Press.
“So for the unforeseen future I will focus my philanthropy efforts on other organizations besides the ones I have supported in the past.”
As for the show, the Free Press described Tuesday's event as a "rowdy, defiant initiation," and noted in a separate story that about 200 protesters demonstrated outside the venue.
GOP senator wants full transcripts from Comey staffer interviews
Sen. Ron Johnson is demanding full transcripts from
interviews the Office of Special Counsel conducted with former FBI
staffers for James Comey, becoming the latest lawmaker to dig deeper
after the documents raised questions about the bureau’s handling of the
Hillary Clinton email case and the ex-director’s statements to Congress.
The White House on Monday accused Comey of giving “false testimony,” and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Fox News last week he wants Comey to return to Capitol Hill – saying “I smell a rat.”
Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, made his request for the
full, un-redacted transcripts in a letter to Acting Special Counsel Adam
Miles.“The Committee has conducted oversight of the FBI’s investigation into Secretary Clinton’s use of a private email system. The information in OSC’s possession could further explain the scope, course, and nature of the FBI’s investigation,” Johnson wrote on Sept. 8.
The transcripts were from interviews conducted by the OSC with James Rybicki, Comey’s former chief of staff, and Trisha Anderson, the principal deputy general counsel of national security and cyber law. The Senate Judiciary Committee earlier received redacted transcripts of the interviews, revealing last month that they include claims that Comey “wrote a draft” of an "exoneration statement" for Clinton around early May 2016.
This would have been well before the bureau's early July interview with Clinton.
NEW PRESSURE ON COMEY TO RETURN TO CAPITOL HILL, AS WHITE HOUSE ACCUSES HIM OF 'FALSE TESTIMONY'
Johnson said the full transcripts “may shed light” on the FBI’s decision-making process during their investigation, the FBI’s interactions with other federal entities, and the FBI’s “distinction” between “extreme carelessness” and “gross negligence,” when referring to Clinton’s handling of her private email server.
Comey ultimately accused Clinton of being extremely careless in her handling of her personal email and server while secretary of state, but recommended against criminal charges. The claim that he drafted an exoneration statement weeks before Clinton was interviewed, however, raised questions about the bureau's handling of the case -- and about Comey's prior testimony.
Comey in June said one of the big reasons he spoke out on the case was concern over then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s infamous meeting days earlier on an Arizona tarmac with former President Bill Clinton. He also testified a year ago that he made the decision not to seek charges after the Clinton interview.
Some Republicans want Comey to return to Capitol Hill to testify and clarify his past statements. Just Monday, the White House slammed Comey’s testimony as “false.”
The interviews with Rybicki and Anderson were part of an OSC investigation into whether Comey violated the Hatch Act in October 2016. Richard Painter, former White House chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, requested an investigation after complaining that Comey may have influenced the election by telling Congress in late October that the bureau was revisiting the Clinton email probe.
Due to longstanding OSC policy, the only punishment from such a probe could be termination. So after President Trump fired Comey in May, the OSC investigation ended.
During that investigation, though, the OSC signed non-disclosure agreements with the FBI, giving them the privilege of redacting protected information. Those non-disclosure agreements bar the OSC from turning over any documents to Congress without permission from the FBI, despite Johnson’s committee having jurisdiction over the watchdog agency.
However, Johnson contends that, “Any reliance upon these non-disclosure agreements to withhold information from the Committee would be inappropriate.”
Johnson gave a deadline of Sept. 21 for the OSC to provide full transcripts, documents, and details regarding their investigation into Comey.
Both the FBI and the OSC told Fox News they had “no comment” on the interviews or on why portions of the transcripts have been redacted.
Brooke Singman is a Politics Reporter for Fox News. Follow her on Twitter at @brookefoxnews.
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