Tag: Barack Obama

As Trump officials go on defense after reports of terrible conditions at the border, Trump says he inherited a migrant family separation policy from his predecessor. One former Obama official tells us that's simply false. Elliot Williams and Anita Kumar…

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he opposes paying reparations for slavery, arguing "none of us currently living are responsible" for what he called America's "original sin." CNN's Don Lemon discusses with Rev. Robert W. Lee and Vann Newkirk on…

America has been a free speech zone since our founding. Free speech led to The Revolutionary War. It stopped bad wars and ended slavery. America was founded on activism by men of honor whose actions spoke louder than their words. If it wasn’t for Paine’s activism, we’d still be subjects instead of citizens. “A man’s actions say much more than his most noble words.” – Thomas Paine Throughout our modern history, the activism of true leaders has made our nation stronger and far better than it would have been without them. Following the Tea Party Movement, tribal clans of self-anointed activist groups sprang up around America faster than Obama could say “change.” And the America Obama had divided, subdivided into activist bedlam. They were heroes of the day with mock activist groups. But their social media fame faded on Election Day as voters elected people who’d write laws to improve their lives, not to entertain activists. They had no experience, or knowledge of law, and campaigned to cause chaos in Congress.

Good Monday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today. This is the story behind the relationship between Barack Obama and Joe Biden. • Attorney General William P. Barr and congressional Democrats clashed on Sunday over his scheduled testimony before the House Judiciary Committee this week, with Mr. Barr threatening to skip the session and the panel’s chairman threatening to subpoena him. • As House Democrats return to Washington after a two-week recess, they will find a Capitol consumed by the Mueller report. But rank-and-file Democrats are not being propelled by their constituents into impeaching the president. • Guantánamo Bay as nursing home: With no sign that the prison will close, the Pentagon has begun planning for detainees to grow old at the American military base in Cuba. • As Washington wrestles with Mr. Trump’s refusal to grant more disaster relief to Puerto Rico, farmers affected by disaster elsewhere have been left in limbo. • Mr. Trump on Saturday repeated an inaccurate claim about doctors “executing babies.” Here’s the truth. • Ron Chernow, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, hosted the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, breaking from the tradition of featuring a comedian.

Mark Morgan, former Border Patrol chief under President Obama, said Monday he supports an idea floated by President Donald Trump to send immigrants from the border to sanctuary cities. Make no mistake, they could have prevented this (border crisis) and they failed to do so and then every time this current administration tries to come up with an option, they shoot it down. The border patrol, ICE, their facilities are overwhelmed, the faith-based organizations and other non-governmental organizations are overwhelmed. They have no choice. They’re going to have to start pushing these individuals out. Shouldn't we kind of share the burden throughout the country?” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed to "Fox News Sunday" that President Trump's prospective plan to send illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities is undergoing a "complete and thorough review," days after Democrats, who have fought to protect illegal immigrants from federal authorities, characterized the possible move as a dangerous stunt. "But until we can fix the crisis at the border, we have to look at all options. “This is again his manufactured chaos that he’s (President Trump) created over the last two years on the border,” said Thompson. Morgan, who served in the last six months of the Obama administration and a seemingly unlikely source of support for President Trump, said in response, “I’m here and I've broken my silence for one reason: because it’s fact.” He added, “What the president is saying and what they're trying to do as far as the policy goes, it’s based on reality and fact and I know that because he’s listening to the experts. Anyone who says this a manufactured crisis is absolutely misleading the American people.” Morgan then added there are “some questions of legality” as well as “some issues with logistics” with Trump's prospective plan.

The former vice president has begun testing the approach as he nears an expected campaign launch later this month. That puts both Obama and many of his longtime advisers in an awkward spot. Several months ago, Obama and Biden agreed that it would be best if the former president did not endorse any candidate early in the primary, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation, meaning Biden will be running as an "Obama-Biden Democrat" without Obama's explicit backing. Some Democratic voters share that concern. Biden advisers say it's more than nostalgia that positions the former vice president well in the 2020 campaign. The Obama health law, known as the Affordable Care Act, also has increased in popularity since Obama and Biden left the White House, with many Republican lawmakers now opposed to pushing for a full repeal. Scott Mulhauser, who advised Biden during the 2012 campaign, said Biden's positions put him in "the sweet spot where most of the Democratic Party could be, but also a decent amount of moderates and I'm sure some Republicans." According to a recent Pew Research Center survey of Democratic voters, 53% said they want their party to move in a more moderate direction, while 40% said they preferred a more liberal approach. Harstad, the former Obama pollster, said there's no doubt that Obama's legacy and policy record remain solid with Democratic voters. ___ Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.

In short, the right and the left are seeing the president they always thought was there. April 10, 201901:36 There's nothing wrong with Trump using the powers granted to him by the Constitution or Congress' cession of authority to the executive, Rachel Bovard, policy director at the Conservative Policy Institute, said. "Congress has plenty of authority to take their authority back and they haven’t. And they believed, as many liberals do now, that the president's party in Congress was far too willing to let the executive run roughshod over the legislative branch. There’s abuse of legitimate power. Those were legitimate powers that have gone unused by the Bush and the Trump administrations and that progressives would want to utilize if we take back the White House." Rather than a question of policy, it's a matter of politics and law that leaves no room for the possibility that it was legitimate both to investigate the Trump operation's ties to Russia and questions about the obstruction of justice, and for Mueller to find no evidence of a conspiracy with Russia. From the South Lawn of the White House, the seat of executive power, Trump told reporters Wednesday that former government officials involved in starting and pursuing the investigation into his campaign were guilty of "treason" — a crime punishable by death — at nearly the same time Attorney General William Barr was telling Congress he believes the Obama administration spied on Trump's campaign. Zelizer noted that Trump's allegations are made without producing evidence and that he uses the standing of his office to put them into the public discussion. It remains to be seen what comes of the Barr investigation into the investigators.

Former White House counsel Greg Craig was indicted by a grand jury Thursday for allegedly making false statements to the Department of Justice about work performed for Ukraine in 2012. Craig, 74, who was charged with concealing material information from the Foreign Agents Registration Act Unit and making false statements, failed to disclose work he performed for Ukraine because he believed it would prevent him from future roles within the federal government, according to the indictment, which stemmed from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe. Craig and his law firm were hired in early 2012 to lead an independent inquiry into whether former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko received a fair trial after she was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2011 for abuse of office, federal prosecutors say. He was also signed on to consult about Tymoshenko’s second trial. The investigation into Craig grew out of Mueller’s probe of lobbying efforts undertaken at Manafort’s direction and at the behest of the pro-Russian, pro-Putin Yanukovych government. Craig allegedly made false statements about the report in 2013 in response to the FARA Unit’s inquiries and again in 2017 after being interviewed by Mueller. The attorney allegedly stated in a formal written response to the FARA Unit that his firm did not inform, consult or act under the instruction of Ukraine. He failed to inform the FARA Unit that he generated the written inquiry report, that his firm advised the hiring of a public relations firm, was informed about the firm's strategy and met with a lobbyist whom he informed of the firm's strategy, according the indictment. Due to the allegedly misleading information provided by Craig, the FARA Unit determined the attorney and his firm did not have to register as a foreign agent, according to the indictment. "It ignores uncontroverted evidence to the contrary," the statement said.

Discussion panels on Effective Organizing and Leadership, moderated “Rad Women” series author Kate Schatz, and on Young Women Paving the Way in Male-Dominated Fields, moderated by Alameda school board President Mia Bonta. 6:30 p.m., Encinal Junior and Senior High School Student Center, 210 Central Ave., Alameda. “Charm City”: Screening of a documentary about violence in Baltimore and how a group of police, citizens, community leaders and government officials tried to combat it. 7 p.m., Evans Hall, UC Berkeley. Immigration issues: A discussion of immigration issues threatening vulnerable communities. 6:30 p.m., Diablo Valley College cafeteria, 321 Golf Club Road, Pleasant Hill. Josh Harder/TJ Cox: Newly elected Central Valley Democratic House members hold a thank-you event with Bay Area campaign volunteers. Screenings include two by Elizabeth Lo, “Mothers Day” and “Hotel 22,” and the Oscar-nominated “4.1 Miles.” Free. $30 for non-Commonwealth Club members, $10 for students. $25 for non-Commonwealth Club members, $10 for students.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Gregory B. Craig, a White House counsel in the Obama administration, expect him to be indicted in the coming days on charges related to his work for the Russia-aligned government of Ukraine. The case against Mr. Craig, 74, stemmed from an investigation initiated by the office of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. In a summary of the inquiry, Attorney General William P. Barr said that the special counsel’s team had concluded that there was no evidence that President Trump or his aides “conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” The case against Mr. Craig is related to the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, which the Justice Department is prioritizing in part because of scrutiny related to Mr. Mueller’s investigation. Mr. Manafort, who went on to become Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman in 2016, was sentenced last month to seven and a half years in prison on charges brought by Mr. Mueller’s team related to obstruction of justice and violations of FARA, as well as banking and tax laws stemming from his work in Ukraine. After the report was released, and Mr. Craig was quoted discussing it in an article in The New York Times, the Justice Department unit that oversees FARA reached out to Skadden Arps to ask why the firm and its lawyers had not registered as foreign agents for the Ukrainian government. Prosecutors cast doubt on Mr. Craig’s claim in a settlement reached in January between the Justice Department and Skadden Arps. Under that settlement, the firm avoided prosecution in the matter in exchange for an agreement to pay $4.6 million, to retroactively register its Ukraine work under FARA, to beef up its compliance processes and to cooperate with government investigations of the work on behalf of Ukraine. Neither Mr. Craig nor the journalist are identified by name in the settlement. Mr. Craig’s lawyers have argued that he was not required to register his work under FARA because he was not doing public relations for the Ukrainian government. In a statement on Wednesday, they said he “repeatedly refused requests that he participate in Ukraine’s media and lobbying campaign to promote the Tymoshenko Report.” Rather, they say he spoke to The Times to correct the Ukrainian Justice Ministry’s claims that the report cleared Mr. Yanukovych of accusations that he directed the prosecution of Ms. Tymoshenko for political purposes.