Ivanka and Jared publicly missing in action again amid Trump's 'disloyal' claim

As President Donald Trump has rotated between controversies for the last few days, two of his top advisers have been notably publicly absent -- again.

During a week filled with uncertainty over the economy, retweets of conspiracy theorists, battles for his ear on gun legislation and an unsolicited fight with the prime minister of Denmark over buying Greenland, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have remained under the radar.

The couple was on vacation in Wyoming with their children over the weekend, and, on Monday, participated in a Trump Victory fundraiser alongside his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. They returned to Washington this week but with a limited presence in the West Wing, people familiar with the situation said.

The President's daughter and son-in-law -- who are Modern Orthodox Jews -- stayed silent publicly as Trump caused a firestorm by questioning the loyalty of some Jewish Americans to Israel. Trump has recently decided that branding the Democratic Party as anti-Semitic would be savvy political strategy -- and aides have largely supported the fight, but when he questioned the intelligence and loyalty of Jewish people who support Democrats, some inside the West Wing privately conceded to CNN he had gone too far. The comments prompted criticism from many groups that what he said was anti-Semitic, but Trump dug in during the days that followed.

"I haven't heard anybody say that; it's just the opposite," he claimed to reporters Wednesday. "I think that if you vote for a Democrat, you're very, very disloyal to Israel and to the Jewish people."

The comments followed the President proudly quoting radio host and conspiracy theorist Wayne Allyn Root, who claimed Israeli Jews love him as if he were the "King of Israel" and "the second coming of God." He later implied a higher power picked him to fight this trade war with China.

The White House declined to comment on whether Ivanka Trump or Jared Kushner have addressed those comments with the President. While Ivanka Trump does not comment publicly on private conversations with him, there have been selective leaks throughout her tenure when she disagrees with her father. This is, so far, not one of those instances.

Additionally, the President has sent mixed signals on background checks in the past week. He had been encouraged by some aides, including Ivanka, to press on background checks in the wake of back-to-back mass shootings. Multiple media organizations reported, citing sources close to the President, that he had told National Rifle Association boss Wayne LaPierre that increased gun background checks were off the table. But on Wednesday, he injected further confusion, saying: "I have an appetite for background checks. We're going to ... be doing background checks."

Even the President expressed his surprise that the couple was off the grid.

"Two incredible people. I can't believe they're not working (few work harder)!" he tweeted Tuesday alongside a photo his daughter posted, posed in a belted denim ensemble alongside her husband as the Wyoming sun set, one of several posts from the trip West on her social media feeds.

Trump's daughter and son-in-law have developed a pattern of being absent amid some of the biggest controversies of his presidency.

They were skiing on the slopes of Aspen in March 2017 during a family vacation as the administration's first attempt to repeal Obamacare collapsed. That April, when leaks of infighting within the administration were on top of the news cycle, they were celebrating Passover at the Four Seasons Whistler in Canada, according to reports. That May, they stayed away from the cameras after the President fired then-FBI Director James Comey. That June, the couple skipped a Rose Garden ceremony when the President announced he was pulling out of the Paris climate agreement that Ivanka had advocated for, observing the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.

And they traveled to Florida amid the government shutdown last Christmas, even though the White House insisted Kushner had been actively leading negotiations with lawmakers.

CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to specify that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are Modern Orthodox Jews.

Despite Deficit Worries, Senate Gives Final Approval to Spending Increases

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said the budget was “the right deal because it brings predictability and stability through 2020.”CreditCreditAnna Moneymaker/The New York Times

The Senate gave final approval on Thursday to a two-year budget deal that would raise federal spending by hundreds of billions of dollars and allow the government to continue borrowing money, sending the measure to President Trump for his expected signature.

Deficit Will Reach $1 Trillion Next Year, Budget Office Predicts

President Trump speaking about manufacturing in Monaca, Penn., last week.CreditCreditAnna Moneymaker/The New York Times

The federal budget deficit is growing faster than expected, even as President Trump openly considers more tax cuts and other ideas that would add to government debt.

Migrant Families Would Face Indefinite Detention Under New Trump Rule

Migrant families waiting at a bus station last year after being released by immigration authorities in McAllen, Tex. The Flores agreement, a decades-old court settlement, says that the government cannot detain children for more than 20 days.CreditCreditIlana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times

The Trump administration unveiled a regulation on Wednesday that would allow it to detain indefinitely migrant families who cross the border illegally, replacing a decades-old court agreement that imposed a limit on how long the government could hold migrant children in custody and specified the level of care they must receive.

The White House has for more than a year pressed the Department of Homeland Security to replace the agreement, known as the Flores settlement, a shift that the administration says is crucial to halt immigration across the southwestern border.

The new regulation , which requires approval from a federal judge before it can go into effect and was expected to be immediately challenged in court, would establish standards for conditions in detention centers and specifically abolish a 20-day limit on detaining families in immigration jails, a cap that has prompted President Trump to repeatedly complain about the “catch and release” of families from Central America and elsewhere into the United States.

“This rule allows the federal government to enforce immigration laws as passed by Congress,” Kevin K. McAleenan, the acting secretary of homeland security, said in a statement. He called it a “critical rule” that would allow the government to detain families and maintain the “integrity of the immigration system.”

Lawmakers slam Trump and Netanyahu at emotional news conference following scrapped Israel trip

The first two Muslim women in Congress sharply criticized President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after a trip to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories was canceled once the two lawmakers were denied entry for supporting a boycott of Israel.

At a news conference in Minnesota on Monday, Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar -- alongside Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan -- made an emotional plea for her congressional colleagues to also visit the region as part of their role of congressional oversight for $3 billion in foreign aid.

"I would encourage my colleagues to visit, meet with the people we were going to meet with, see the things we were going to see, hear the stories we were going to hear," said Omar, who represents a district in Minnesota. "We cannot let Trump and Netanyahu succeed in hiding the cruel reality of the occupation from us. So I call on all of you to go. The occupation is real, barring members of Congress from seeing it does not make it go away. We must end it together."

Tlaib, who is the first Palestinian-American woman to serve in Congress, was later granted entry to visit the Palestinian territories to visit her grandmother who lives in the West Bank. Tlaib declined to visit citing the conditions placed on her entry by the Israeli government and the trip was canceled.

On Monday, Tlaib spoke about visits she took to Palestine as a young girl to visit her grandmother. When she spoke about her mother and herself having to go through "dehumanizing checkpoints," Tlaib grew visibly emotional.

"As a young girl visiting Palestine to see my grandparents and extended family I watched as my mother had to go through dehumanizing checkpoints, even though she was a United States citizen and proud American," Tlaib said.

Last week, Israel barred Tlaib and Omar, after Trump tweeted that allowing them would show "great weakness." Israel's decision to bar their entry and Trump's encouragement of the move was a remarkable step both by the US President and his ally Netanyahu to punish political opponents.

"Netanyahu's decision to deny us entry might be unprecedented for members of Congress, but it is the policy of his government when it comes to Palestinians," Omar said. "This is the policy of his government when it comes to anyone who holds views that threaten the occupation. A policy that has been edged on and supported by Trump's administration, that's because the only way to preserve unjust policy is to suppress people's freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of movement."

Members of Congress regularly take congressional delegation trips to Israel.

House Democratic lawmakers want answers about Israel's decision to bar the two lawmakers' entry and are considering potential oversight action targeting the US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, according to a House Democratic aide.

The aide said there is a potential that Democrats could request the opening of an inspector general investigation into Friedman and some members are even pushing for a congressional oversight inquiry focused on the US ambassador.

Separately, House aides confirm to CNN that there are conversations going on right now about what their next steps should be, and it is an active debate, as one aide described it.

Friedman has publicly supported the decision. He tweeted earlier this month, "Israel properly enacted laws to bar entry of BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) activists under the circumstances present here and it has every right to protect its borders against those activists in the same manner as it would bar entrants with more conventional weapons."

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty and Oren Leiberman contributed to this report.

How Greenland explains Donald Trump's entire ,

"Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time," Trump tweeted Tuesday night. "The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct. I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!"

It's easy to dismiss this episode as just another Trumpian flight of fancy that didn't work out. But take a minute and you start to realize that the whole Greenland incident, which lasted a total of five days, is broadly emblematic of the entire approach that Trump has taken to being president. The Greenland episode is the Trump presidency.

Consider how we got here:

1) The Wall Street Journal reported last Thursday that Trump has repeatedly quizzed aides on the possibility of buying Greenland.

2) On Sunday, before boarding Air Force One in New Jersey to head back to Washington, Trump addressed the story for the first time. Here's the key part of what he said (bolding is mine): "Denmark essentially owns it. We're very good allies with Denmark. We protect Denmark like we protect large portions of the world. So the concept came up and I said, 'Certainly, I'd be. Strategically, it's interesting, and we'd be interested.' But we'll talk to them a little bit. It's not number one on the burner, I can tell you that."

3) Denmark's government freaks out. "Greenland is not for sale. Greenland is not Danish. Greenland belongs to Greenland," Frederiksen, the Danish Prime Minister, told the newspaper Sermitsiaq on Sunday. "I strongly hope that this is not meant seriously."

4) Trump cancels the Denmark trip, citing Fredericksen's comments that Greenland isn't for sale.

What a whirlwind!

Now consider the Greenland purchase in the context of Trump's broader presidency. It meets all the criteria that have come to define his "modern-day presidential" approach to the job.

*Come up with a totally off-the-wall idea, with a whiff of America-gets-its-way-no-matter-what in there

*Idea leaks -- or the White House leaks it as a trial balloon -- to the media, with the caveat that his aides aren't sure if he is serious about it

*Downplay idea, insisting the media got it wrong -- even while leaving the door open to doing the deal if the other side is open to it

*Take ball and go home when off-the-wall idea is rejected, jeopardizing relationship with longtime strategic ally

See, the Greenland story really does have it all! It is the Trump presidency in microcosm. He says and does absolutely wild things. Even his top staffers aren't sure how serious he is about it, and, therefore, don't know whether to actually pursue it. The idea leaks to the media and immediately becomes a thing. Trump freelances, making up his views as he goes. A semi-serious conversation about whether any of this is even possible begins even as the intended target starts to freak out. Trump, either spurred or spurned by all of the attention, leans in -- to it all. Then it all unravels because, as we later learn, he was winging it all along. There was never any "there" there -- just Trump saying stuff.

(A quick sidebar on the this-is-all-a-strategic-distraction from gun control or immigration, etc., argument: No, it isn't. Is there anything you have seen in Trump's time in office that would lead you to believe that he is capable of that sort of strategic planning and execution? It's readily apparent at this point that Trump is just saying stuff -- and then reacting to how those things land with the general public. There is no three-dimensional chess. There's not any kind of chess being played.)

Greenland was never for sale. Mexico was never going to pay for the wall. His inauguration crowd was never the largest in history. There was not blame on both sides in the white supremacist riots in Charlottesville. Immigrants were never invading our country in hordes. Background checks were never going to happen.

You get the idea. It's the Trump presidency.

 President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s considering a payroll tax cut as one of several possible ways to stimulate the economy — a comment that comes just a day after the White House dismissed reports that such a move was being considered.

"Payroll tax is something that we think about, and a lot of people would like to see that, and that very much affects the workers of our country," Trump said at the White House when asked about reports that members of his administration were discussing such a tax cut to combat a possible economic slowdown.

On Monday, The Washington Post and The New York Times reported that several senior White House officials were weighing a temporary payroll tax cut, among other tax breaks, in a sign of rising concern among the president's economic aides about the strength of the economy. Conversations about cutting the payroll tax were reportedly in the preliminary stage, and officials had not decided whether to formally ask Congress to approve such measures, the Post reported, citing three people familiar with the discussions.

A White House official, however, denied the reporting on Monday, saying that cutting payroll taxes was not being considered at the moment.

“As [National Economic Council Director] Larry Kudlow said yesterday, more tax cuts for the American people are certainly on the table, but cutting payroll taxes is not something under consideration at this time,” the official said.

Trump's apparent support for the idea on Tuesday comes as he has lashed out at the news media for their coverage of growing economic concerns, accusing them of purposefully trying to "crash the economy because they think that will be bad for me and my re-election."

"I think the word recession is a word that’s inappropriate 'cause it’s a word that the certain people — I’m going to be kind — certain people, and the media, are trying to build up because they’d love to see a recession," he told reporters at the White House. "We’re very far from a recession. In fact, if the Fed would do its job, I think we’d have a tremendous spurt of growth."

Trump has repeatedly attacked the Federal Reserve, writing on Twitter on Monday that the economy "is very strong, despite the horrendous lack of vision by Jay Powell and the Fed."

Pressed on why Trump said he is considering the payroll tax cut just a day after the White House dismissed reports that it was under consideration, a White House official pointed to another of Trump's remarks Tuesday in which he suggested that action on tax cuts wouldn't be imminent: "I'm not talking about doing anything at this moment" related to such cuts, the president said.

Rust belt voters sharply divided on Trump's economy

Martin Savidge travels to Scranton, Pennsylvania, to speak with voters in the critical battleground state

Epstein signed will two days before his death: report

Reports show that Jeffrey Epstein signed his will two days before he committed suicide in his prison cell. 

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Trump: Jewish people who vote Democrat show 'total lack of knowledge or ...

Donald Trump is urging Jewish voters not to cast their ballots votes for Democrats, adding that doing so 'shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty'. The US president defended Israel's decision to bar Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering the country. 

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Trump touts economy but payroll tax discussion reveals recession fears

President Donald Trump said that the administration is looking at possible tax cuts, but reiterated that the US economy is still growing and remains very far from a recession.

"We're looking at various tax rate deductions but I'm looking at that all the time ... that's one of the reasons we're in such a strong economic position. We're, right now, the No. 1 country anywhere in the world by far as an economy," Trump told press during a White House meeting with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.

But despite Trump's public-facing vociferousness about the strength of the economy on his watch and aides stating they have no concerns about a recession, officials have discussed the possibility of a potential payroll tax cut to stave off anxiety over an economic slowdown in recent days.

Watch soon: Philadelphia police, mayor provide update on police shootings

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross and Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf speak about the police shootings. Read more: https://wapo.st/2KApBxV. Subscribe to The Washington Post on YouTube

New Dayton shooting details emerge from Montgomery County Coroner’s Offi...

Montgomery County Coroner's Office holds a press conference on further findings, after nine people were killed in a shooting in Dayton's Oregon district on Sunday Aug. 4.

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Israel gives Trump his way by banning two Democratic congresswomen

President Donald Trump praises Israel on its decision to ban Democratic representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering the country, after telling reporters he spoke to Israel prior and expressed support for the idea. CNN's Jim Acosta reports.

‘Trolls’ petition to rename Trump Tower street after Obama

More than a quarter of a million people have signed a petition to rename part of New York City’s iconic Fifth Avenue in honour of one president — and in spite of another.

The petition calls for New York City’s mayor to rename a stretch of Fifth Avenue between 56th and 57th streets “President Barack H. Obama Avenue.”

That one-block stretch of road happens to be home to current U.S. President Donald Trump‘s signature real estate building, Trump Tower.

: GOP once rejected Obama’s use of executive power — now they support Trump’s

If the petition succeeds, Trump Tower’s new address would be 725 President Barack H. Obama Ave., New York, N.Y.

Organizer Elizabeth Rowin says she was inspired to launch the petition after reading the idea on Twitter in December.

“It was hilarious,” Rowin told CNN. “I thought it was a fun way to troll the master troll.”

The petition had more than 294,000 signatures on Thursday afternoon.

China threatens retaliation for US tariffs while sidestepping Trump offer to meet with Xi Jinping

President Trump's 'America First' approach has relied on slapping tariffs on countries, such as China and Mexico, which have led to current trade wars. What is a tariff and how do they work? We explain. Just the FAQs

– China on Thursday sidestepped the idea of another meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and threatened retaliation if the United States follows through with new tariffs on its exports.

"China will have to take the necessary countermeasures," said a statement from China's Ministry of Finance.

Trump suggested that Xi meet "directly and personally" with anti-government protesters in Hong Kong, saying that could lead to "a happy and enlightened ending" to the problems in that city.

The Chinese objected to Trump's comments about Hong Kong, calling the situation an internal matter that is none of the president's business.

Trump tweeted Wednesday night about the possibility of a "personal meeting" between him and Xi amid massive declines in financial markets, the result of anxious investors worried about the trade war between the United States and China, as well as the Chinese crackdown on protesters in Hong Kong.

'Personal meeting?': Trump seeks one-on-one with China's Xi Jinping over Hong Kong, trade

"I know President Xi of China very well," Trump tweeted. "He is a great leader who very much has the respect of his people. He is also a good man in a 'tough business.' I have ZERO doubt that if President Xi wants to quickly and humanely solve the Hong Kong problem, he can do it. Personal meeting?"

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, "Regarding high-level communication, the Chinese and U.S. presidents have remained in contact with each other via meetings, phone calls and letters."

Trump defended his tariff policy toward China and blamed the Federal Reserve's interest rate policies for the market slump.

This week, the Trump administration announced it would delay until Dec. 15 tariffs on Chinese goods that were supposed to go into effect in September. Trump said he made the move to prevent the tit-for-tat tariff war from affecting the holiday shopping period in the USA.

Israel was wrong to ban Tlaib and Omar

Rep. Ilhan Omar appeared to take the side of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad Sunday night after terrorists fired hundreds of rockets at civilian targets in Israel this weekend.

“How many more protesters must be shot, rockets must be fired, and little kids must be killed until the endless cycle of violence ends? The status quo of occupation and humanitarian crisis in Gaza is unsustainable. Only real justice can bring about security and lasting peace,” the Minnesota Democrat said in a tweet Sunday night.

How Mayor Pete Buttigieg Helped Prepare Immigrants for ICE Raids

Buttigieg once said “a mayor can’t do much when it comes to immigration,” but he’s strived to bring immigrants into South Bend’s fold. Now, he wants his policies to go nationwide.

“A mayor can’t do much when it comes to immigration policy,” Pete Buttigieg wrote in his memoir, Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future.

But in his two terms as mayor of South Bend, Buttigieg has found creative ways to navigate within the strictures of local office to bring undocumented immigrants and their families into the city’s fold, running a city with a growing immigrant population under a president who has made the deportation of millions of undocumented people his signature issue.

Partnering with local nonprofit organizations, Buttigieg has instituted a “Community Resident Card” program to help undocumented South Bend residents open bank accounts and fill prescriptions, led “Know Your Rights” events for residents in South Bend’s Latino-heavy West Side to prepare them in the event of federal immigration operations, and even helped create a phone tree to alert local families in the event that ICE raided the homes or businesses of city residents.

“We, along with several other community organizations, lead a process of coming up with our local response plan to the rumor of, or actual ICE raid in our area,” Sam Centellas, executive director La Casa de Amistad, told The Daily Beast. La Casa coordinated with representatives of Buttigieg’s office to set up a roster of the best people to contact in the event of a federal immigration enforcement operation, Centellas said, and for advice on the best ways to communicate.

Genevieve Miller, deputy chief of staff and policy director for Buttigieg’s mayoral office, described the effort to The Daily Beast as a collaboration with community groups “to identify community members who can be contacted if there is an immigration event.”

The group—composed of members from local faith-based organizations, several local nonprofits and a few attorneys and community leaders who volunteered time—was the result of the “first scare of the Trump era,” Buttigieg wrote in his memoir. Rumors of impending immigration raids in South Bend had swept through the city’s West Side last month, and several small businesses had shuttered for days as families took refuge in a local church.

“Parents had grabbed their kids from Harrison Primary Center and small shops closed for the day,” Buttigieg recalled in Shortest Way Home. “After that day working the phones to verify this was all a false alarm, my staff and I added to our mayor’s office to-do list the creation of a phone tree in the event of immigration raids.”

Buttigieg, now an upper-tier candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is now proposing that some of his immigration initiatives be taken nationwide. On Tuesday, Buttigieg’s campaign released a sweeping set of policies intended to strengthen rural America—a key component of which is the creation of a location-based “Community Renewal visa” to encourage working-age immigrants to relocate to U.S. counties facing a shrinking population.

“Immigrants can and should be essential players in the growth of our economy, and it’s time we start recognizing that when we expand our lawful immigration system, everyone benefits,” the policy paper states, proposing that the new visa designation would target counties that have lost prime working-age populations. In return for three years of residence and employment in such communities, the visa would fast-track visa holders for a green card, and would allow the admission of spouses and children “to preserve family integrity and foster community integration.”

Increased immigration to the heartland also forms a key component of Buttigieg’s rural health plan, released last Friday, which would expand a waiver program that allows foreign doctors training in the United States to work in rural or medically underserved areas instead of returning to their home countries for two years, as currently required. 

Although Buttigieg’s campaign has not yet put out a comprehensive immigration plan, the immigration-related proposals in the candidate’s other white papers are an extension of his approach to immigration in South Bend, where he has made welcoming immigrant residents to the region a key component of the city’s economic growth strategy.

“Pete is proud of the strong immigrant community in South Bend, which has helped the city grow, contributed to the economy, and enriched the city’s social fabric,” Marisol Samayoa, the Buttigieg campaign’s deputy national press secretary, told The Daily Beast. “Pete has worked to adopt policies that help immigrants feel welcome in South Bend, creating a phone tree in case of immigration raids, and helping jumpstart initiatives like the Municipal ID program so that immigrants in South Bend can live without fear.”

Trump Appears to Swipe at Hannity for Defending CNN’s Chris Cuomo

“It always happens!” he wrote. “When a Conservative does even a fraction of what Chris Cuomo did with his lunatic ranting, raving, & cursing, they get destroyed by the Fake News.”

Continuing his obsession over CNN anchor Chris Cuomo’s filmed meltdown at a heckler who called the TV personality “Fredo,” President Donald Trump appeared to take a public swipe at one of his most loyal media sycophants on Tuesday for publicly defending Cuomo’s actions.

After devoting much of his Twitter timeline to blasting the CNN primetime host over his profanity-laced tirade, Trump groused that there were conservatives giving Cuomo a pass.

“It always happens!” Trump wrote. “When a Conservative does even a fraction of what Chris Cuomo did with his lunatic ranting, raving, & cursing, they get destroyed by the Fake News. But when a Liberal Democrat like Chris Cuomo does it, Republicans immediately come to his defense. We never learn!”

While there were a handful of right-wing pundits and notable Republicans who supported Cuomo and said he’d been baited by the heckler, the most prominent and Trump-centric defender was Fox News star Sean Hannity.

Shortly after the video of Cuomo’s altercation went viral on Monday evening, Hannity sided with his 9 p.m. cable-news rival, emphasizing that the CNN host had been confronted while out with his family.

“I say good for @ChrisCuomo,” the pro-Trump host tweeted Monday night. “He’s out with his 9 year old daughter, and his wife, and this guy is being a jackass in front of his family. Imho Chris Cuomo has zero to apologize for. He deserves the apology.”

And during his radio show on Tuesday afternoon, prior to Trump’s tweet, Hannity doubled down on his defense of Cuomo. After claiming that he’s taking some heat from fellow conservatives for backing the CNN anchor, Hannity told his listeners: “Maybe I’m a little sensitive to it because I’ve lived this life. I’ve said this many times before, but I don’t think fame is a healthy thing.”

Hannity brushed off complaints about Cuomo’s profane language as fake outrage. “We’ve all heard these words,” the primetime star said. “The feigning of outrage is an industry now.”

For his part, Cuomo has said of the incident that he “should be better than the guys baiting” him, adding that there was “no need to add to the ugliness.”

Elizabeth Warren Suggests She’d Repeal Biden’s 1994 Crime Bill

The senator had tough words for one of Joe Biden’s signature laws.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) suggested in an interview Tuesday evening that she would seek the repeal of the 1994 crime bill—a historic though highly controversial measure tied closely to one of her closest competitors for the Democratic presidential nomination. 

It “needs to be changed, needs to be rolled back, needs to be repealed.” Warren said of the law, which has become widely bemoaned by criminal justice reform advocates for its tough-on-crime measures, harsh sentencing guidelines, and general encouragement of the war on drugs.

The Massachusetts Democrat made the announcement during a candidate question-and-answer session with Maurice Mitchell, the national director of the left-wing Working Families Party, as part of its presidential endorsement process. 

Mitchell began his final question of the broadcast by noting that there are movement organizations seeking to repeal the ’94 crime bill. “And so,” he asked, “I’d like you to respond to that. Would you support a repeal of the ’94 crime bill? And what is your plan for tackling mass incarceration?”

“I think the devastation from the ’94 crime bill has now been well-documented,” Warren responded. “And there are huge parts of that that need to be swept away. It was just wrong. And it needs to be changed, needs to be rolled back, needs to be repealed. But that’s not enough. There is now a problem within our criminal justice system that runs from the front, what we declare to be illegal, through the system that is a justice system that treats blacks and whites, Latinx and whites differently through the system.”

Warren concluded: “My commitment is that we build a criminal-justice system that is at least closer to the four words above the United States Supreme Court: “equal justice under law.” That should be our guiding principle and that should mean we develop an America, we develop a criminal-justice system that is more in line with our values and that is fairer to everyone.”

Warren’s answer was vague enough to render it unclear as to whether she was calling for a full repeal of the ’94 crime bill or merely major components of it. Her campaign did not comment on the record for this story. 

But her response still positions her apart from two of her fellow frontrunners in the 2020 Democratic race: former Vice President Joe Biden, who authored the legislation but has introduced a plan meant to reverse many of its main provisions, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who voted for the bill despite being critical of it. 

Though the law has been the subject of intense criticism for accelerating the war on drugs and providing states with funds for the construction of prisons, some Democrats have called on their party to tone down their criticisms, noting that the bill also included money for community programs, an assault weapons ban, and the Violence Against Women Act. 

“I would encourage [Biden] to speak out about it and Bernie Sanders, too. Both of them ought to lean into this,” Jim Clyburn (D-SC), the third-ranking House Democrat, told The Daily Beast in May. 

Warren’s comments don’t address precisely how she’d tackle the law’s more progressive measures, which have become either standard Democratic policy or renewed policy pursuits. But at the end of 2018, the senator called attention to the expiration of the Violence Against Women Act due to the government shutdown (it was later reauthorized this year). And a reinstitution of the assault-weapons ban is part of a broader gun proposal that Warren recently unveiled. The senator voted for the First Step Act—the Trump era criminal justice reform measure that eased the ’94 bill’s infamous three-strikes rule. 

Warren’s larger approach to criminal justice reform mirrors the approaches of some of her primary competitors. She has called for ending mandatory minimum sentencing, advocated for eliminating private prisons, and called for legalizing marijuana and expunging records for marijuana crimes. 

This Is the Law That Could Take Down Trump

Bribery statutes apply to public officials. And Trump became one, says one federal prosecutor, when he became the GOP nominee. 

It’s all well and good for Paul Manafort to spend 15 years in prison for money laundering, and Rick Gates to plead guilty to cut a deal, and Alex Van Der Zwaan to miss the birth of his first child because he lied to the FBI.

But it would be an injustice if, once again, those around the president suffer and he is left unscathed. He was the beneficiary of the highly questionable Russian contacts his campaign made and desperately tried to keep secret leading up to the 2016 election, which speaks of collusion and much worse. Trump couldn’t have chosen two top advisers with more contacts with the Kremlin than campaign manager Manafort and national security adviser Michael Flynn. He could hardly have praised Russia President Valdimir Putin more. And he could have hardly benefitted more from Russian interference than to win.

Of course, there’s no law against Trump liking Putin; unseemly yes, illegal, no. But a veteran Washington former federal prosecutor who served during both the Clinton and Bush administrations believes there is a strategy that Mueller is quietly pursuing and that explains his actions so far.

Seth Waxman, now a partner specializing in white-collar crime in Dickinson Wright’s Washington office, has a theory of Mueller’s case, which requires no novel reading of existing law to find Trump broke it. It employs the main weapon any federal prosecutor uses to police public corruption. It is Title 18 United States Code, section 201 that specifically makes it a crime for a public official to take “anything of value,” a bribe, in exchange for government action, which can be prospective.

Note that above I wrote “public official.” That’s because the law is generally wielded against public officials. Problem: Mueller is investigating conduct before Trump became one. Enter Waxman. He points out that in 1962, Congress extended the bribery law to cover activity prior to the assumption of office. It did so, he says, in order to close a “loophole” afforded those “who assume public office under a corrupt commitment.” The upshot? Trump became covered by 18 USC not when he was sworn in but as of July 21, 2016 when he became his party’s nominee in Cleveland, Ohio.

What we know of Mueller’s strategy so far is consistent with leveling charges under the bribery statute. This is not to say Mueller is going to indict Trump. He would need an exception from a Justice Department rule, which advises against it. But neither is he likely to send a report laying out grounds for impeachment as former independent counsel Ken Starr did against Bill Clinton relying solely on perjury and obstruction of justice without a finding of an underlying crime.

“The upshot? Trump became covered by 18 USC not when he was sworn in but as of July 21, 2016 when he became his party’s nominee in Cleveland, Ohio.”

The bribery statute requires a finding of a quid pro quo, a this for a that. The quid is obviously Russian meddling in our election—a given to everyone but Trump himself—which worked to his everlasting benefit. Thus Mueller’s focus on the summer 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, the one Trump’s senior team of Donald Jr., Jared Kushner, and Manafort had with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a prominent Kremlin lawyer.  This was the meeting former chief White House strategist Steve Bannon called “treasonous.” When it became public, Trump was so concerned he got uncharacteristically involved in the details of defending it, drafting a statement, which said the meeting was simply about “adoptions.”

It wasn’t at all. It was an offer of “dirt” on Hillary Clinton which Don Jr. eagerly accepted, responding, “I love it.” The mere contact, Bannon said, should have prompted an immediate call to the FBI. But Trump was too soft on Putin to see the Russian contacts for what they were and thought he could hide behind the adoption excuse. In any event, Trump welcomed Russian involvement (“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing”) not to mention Trump’s hope that WikiLeaks would turn its attention to Democrats. He wasn’t joking.

One Thing All Liars Have in Common, Brace Yourself TruthFinde

I Typed in My Name and the Results Had Me Speechless

Have you ever googled yourself? A crush? Your neighbors? 57% of Americans admit to keeping an eye on their online reputation, and 46% admit to using the internet to look up someone from their past.

But Google is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to finding personal information. There’s a new website going around that users are calling "creepy," "scary," and "awesome."

Have you ever been issued a speeding ticket? Failed to stop at a stop sign? Do you know someone who’s had a run-in with the law? If you’re like most of us, the answer to at least one of those questions is "yes." Most of us have slipped up at least once or twice. In fact, one in four Americans has an arrest or a criminal record.

An innovative new website called Truthfinder is now revealing the full "scoop" on millions of Americans.

TruthFinder can search through hundreds of millions of public records in a matter of minutes. TruthFinder members can literally begin searching in seconds for sensitive data like criminal, traffic, and arrest records. Plus, they are able to check as many records as they want (think: friends, family, neighbors, enemies, etc. etc.).

Previously, if you needed to research somebody's arrest records, it involved a lot of work. First, you'd need to know where the arrest records were located. Then you'd have to travel to the appropriate county court office — in person! After filling out long and boring paperwork, you'd have to wait for the results.

Searching arrest records could take days, weeks, or even months. And what if somebody was hiding an arrest in an unknown county? You might never find it.

But with websites like TruthFinder, a background check is simple and easy. With just a few clicks of your mouse, you can find detailed and explicit information not readily available through a standard search engine.

I decided to test it out for myself and discover what information TruthFinder might expose about me. The search was easy, and after a few minutes, I found myself staring at my background report — and it wasn’t pretty!

There was that mortifying blog that I'd started in high school, still up for all the world to see! My report even included embarrassing photographs of myself that I'd totally forgotten about. I couldn't believe that TruthFinder even found my secret social media profiles that I'd created under an alias. The sheer volume of data about me was definitely scary. I feel like a perfect stranger could look me up on TruthFinder and find out my entire life story.

After conducting just one search, I was totally hooked. I just couldn't believe that it was legal to have this many personal details online! One of my friends from back home has pretty much dropped off the map entirely for the past three years. I've been kind of worried about him, and nobody seemed to know where he had gone. So, I typed his name into TruthFinder and was absolutely devastated by the search results.

My "friend" had gone to jail. TruthFinder had every single detail on the case, from the date he was arrested to which prison he was currently in. But the gruesome description of his offence made me realize that I probably needed to reevaluate who my friends were. This guy’s records listed charge after charge for battery, assault, and child abuse. His criminal record read like an infinite scroll of total depravity. I just couldn’t believe it.

From now on, I'm looking up everybody — no matter how normal they seem. Luckily for me, TruthFinder offers unlimited searches, so I'll never be fooled again.

Although TruthFinder can show deeply shocking criminal records, I've really been surprised by just how practical it is as an everyday tool. I've used it to look up addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, estimated income levels, assets — heck, I've even found Amazon wishlists on TruthFinder. One time I looked up Todd Kohlhepp, the scary serial killer from South Carolina who confessed to seven murders. Well, guess what? His Amazon profile came up in his background report, and let me tell you, it was downright chilling. He literally left reviews on knives and shovels, discussing how he used them in the murders. It was one of the creepiest things I've ever found online.

My own report came back with an interactive map of local sex offenders in my neighborhood, complete with mugshots and explicit details of their crimes. I was seriously grossed out to learn that my last apartment building was absolutely infested with perverts, rapists, and total scumbags.

It isn't all scary — After reading more about TruthFinder, I've heard lots of positive stories, too. Apparently, people have reunited because of this website. Estranged families have used public records to contact long-lost family members to get back in touch. Military friends have reunited after years of lost contact because they found the right phone number or email address on their report.

All in all, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend TruthFinder to my friends and family. In today's world, you need to take precautions to keep yourself and your family safe. But if you're going to look up someone that you know using TruthFinder, I have to warn you: the information you might find could forever change how you feel about someone. Make sure that you're emotionally prepared for the consequences if you find something you don't want to see. To get started with your search,

Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris seeks campaign jolt in pivotal Iowa

Armed with fresh endorsements from two of the state’s most sought after political influencers early on Saturday, the U.S. Senator from California got an enthusiastic welcome from over 500 people at a Des Moines area high school.

For the first time during her tour that started on Thursday, the crowd began chanting Harris’ new slogan about Republican Donald Trump’s presidency: “Dude gotta go!”

The country needs a leader who can “prosecute the case against Donald Trump” and “it will take a prosecutor to do it,” Harris, California’s former top prosecutor and a former district attorney of San Francisco, told the audience. “And we’ve got quite the rap sheet.”

Harris, 54, is among two dozen Democrats vying for the party nomination to take on Trump in the November 2020 election.

Months after entering the presidential race as a relatively fresh face on the national stage, Harris, who is of Jamaican and south Asian descent, has ranked fourth in most national opinion polls, behind former Vice President Joe Biden and liberal U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Her surge in support after the first Democratic presidential debate in June in Miami, where she successfully challenged Biden’s record on race, had dissipated by the second debate in July in Detroit, where she was attacked by lesser-known rivals.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken Aug. 1-5 showed that Biden remained in first place with 22% support, relatively unchanged from the month before. Harris was in fourth, dropping 4 points to 5.7% support over the same time period.

\But in Iowa, there are signs that her campaign could be gaining traction. A Monmouth University poll released Aug. 8 showed Harris third in the state, with 11% support, behind Biden and Warren.

And on Saturday, her campaign announced major endorsements from Iowa power couple Sue and Bob Dvorsky, a former state party chairwoman and a former state senator, who supported former President Barack Obama in 2008 in his surprise upset over Hillary Clinton, then Clinton in 2016 when she eked out a win over Sanders.

The winner of Iowa’s Democratic caucuses has gone on to be the party’s nominee for the last six election cycles and Obama’s victory there in 2008 catapulted him from little-known junior U.S. senator to the White House.

In an interview with Reuters on Sunday, Harris said she felt that her performance in the second debate did not match her stand-out performance in Miami. But she shrugged off concerns about her momentum stalling.

“You know I’m a frontrunner and that became clear on the second debate in a way that it was not on the first. You’ve got to be prepared to take the hits when you’re a frontrunner and that’s what happened,” Harris told Reuters aboard a bus with “Kamala” written on it in large, capital letters.

“I honestly don’t pay attention to polls,” Harris said. “I hear about them but that’s not my North Star because if I had listened to the polls I would have never run for any office I’ve run for.”

During her Iowa campaign stops, Harris said repeatedly that she is in the race to win it.

Her five-day trip across the state has been a departure from the early months of her candidacy, when she courted key constituencies in urban centers and held private events while rivals relied on the traditional barnstorm politicking.

How Pete Buttigieg made his money before he was a presidential hopeful

In a wealthy 2020 Democratic presidential field, Pete Buttigieg lags behind the pack.

The South Bend, Indiana, mayor makes a comfortable living. He and his husband, Chasten, earned $152,643 last year, according to tax returns.

Even so, Buttigieg made the least in 2018 out of the 13 Democratic presidential candidates who have released their tax returns. Former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, led the field by raking in $4.5 million, according to tax returns. Sen. Kamala Harris of California and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, followed with $1.9 million.

[CNBC is looking at how top 2020 presidential candidates accumulated their wealth. Read more about how Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris made their money.]

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and her husband, Bruce Mann, took in $846,394. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and his wife, Jane, made $561,293.

Aside from the money Buttigieg earns as mayor and what his husband makes as a middle school teacher, the presidential hopeful has taken in extra cash from his book, “Shortest Way Home.” From the start of 2018 to May 2019, he took in $45,000 in advance and royalties payments for the book, which came out in February.

In a primary race focused on middle class issues, Buttigieg’s lack of wealth relative to his rivals could insulate him from some of the criticism they have faced for their millionaire status.

Arnon Mishkin: Hatred for Trump is what truly unites 2020 Democrats – But they're playing a dangerous 000000000game

Just two weeks ago Democratic presidential hopefuls seemed to be taking turns laying the foundation for potentially very effective anti-Democratic ads – seemingly playing into President Trump’s characterizations of them as supporting socialized medicine, accepting open borders and appearing to embrace the “squad” of four very progressive Democratic congresswomen.

Now, a little more than a week later, in response to the horrible massacres of predominantly Hispanic customers at an El Paso Walmart, and predominantly African Americans in Dayton, the Democratic candidates have decided to be more explicit than ever in accusing Trump of being a “white nationalist” seeking to blame him for the two attacks.

A number of fairly sophisticated political observers, including in the Wall Street Journal, have suggested that this move by Democrats is shortsighted.

CNN backs Chris Cuomo after his rant over "Fredo" insult goes viral

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo unloaded a string of obscenities at a heckler who called him "Fredo," an insult Cuomo said was like the N-word for Italians. CNN said Cuomo had the right to defend himself. CBSN's Anne-Marie Green has the story.