DonViejo
DonViejo's JournalSources: Nunes still has say in issuing subpoenas in House Intel's Russia inquiry
Source: CNN
By Manu Raju and Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 12:30 PM ET, Fri May 26, 2017
(CNN)Rep. Devin Nunes, who stepped aside from leading the House intelligence committee's Russia probe under a cloud of controversy, still is in charge of a key decision: Whether to issue subpoenas to obtain records and testimony central to the investigation.
In a private meeting this week, House intelligence committee members discussed their plans to move ahead with the Russia investigation into meddling in the US election. And the GOP members made clear that the current rules of the committee still apply: That Nunes can issue the subpoenas "upon consultation with" ranking Democrat Adam Schiff or by a vote of the full committee, according to several sources familiar with the matter.
The decision means Nunes still has significant sway to influence the direction of the probe, despite announcing in April that while he would still remain chairman of the committee but temporarily step aside from leading the investigation as the House Ethics Committee planned to investigate him for potentially disclosing classified information. Rep. Mike Conaway, a Texas Republican, took his place.
The House panel's approach differs markedly from the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is also investigating the possibility of collusion between Trump associates and Russian officials during last year's elections. On Thursday, members of the Senate committee gave their GOP chairman, Richard Burr, and Democratic ranking member, Mark Warner, blanket authority to issue subpoenas as they see fit. The move was intended to speed up a probe that some Senate Democrats had sharply criticized for moving too slowly.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/26/politics/devin-nunes-house-intel-subpoenas/index.html
Wellesley grads erupt in cheers when Hillary Clinton cites Nixon's impeachment to bash Trump
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/watch-wellesley-grads-erupt-in-cheers-when-hillary-clinton-cites-nixons-impeachment-to-bash-trump/
FBI probing attempted hack of Trump Organization, officials say
Source: ABC News
The FBI is investigating an attempted overseas cyberattack against the Trump Organization, summoning President Donald Trump’s sons, Don Jr. and Eric, for an emergency session with the bureau’s cybersecurity agents and representatives of the CIA, officials tell ABC News.
Law enforcement officials who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity confirmed the attempted hack and said the subsequent meeting took place at the FBI’s New York headquarters on May 8, the day before Trump fired FBI director James Comey. Spokesmen for the FBI, CIA and Secret Service all declined to comment.
Reached by phone, Eric Trump, an executive vice president of the family company, would not confirm or deny that he and his brother had met with the FBI but told ABC News that the company had ultimately not been infiltrated. “We absolutely weren’t hacked,” Eric Trump said during the brief call. “That’s crazy. We weren’t hacked, I can tell you that.”
As federal agencies monitor international computer networks in order to protect government and private sector computer infrastructure and data, the Trump Organization’s networks would be given high priority, according to Richard Frankel, a retired senior official with the FBI's New York office and an ABC News contributor.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fbi-probing-attempted-hack-trump-organization-officials/story?id=47652150
John Boehner torches Trump's presidency: Almost everything he's done 'has been a complete disaster'
Source: RawStory
John Boehner torches Trumps presidency: Almost everything hes done has been a complete disaster
BRAD REED
26 MAY 2017 AT 11:43 ET
John Boehner, the former Speaker of the House who has been out of politics since 2015, doesnt think very highly of Donald Trumps presidency so far.
Energy trade publication RigZone [link:http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/150324/Former_House_Speaker_Boehner_Trump_Still_Learning_How_to_be_Presidentreports] that Boehner this week gave a keynote address at the KPMG Global Energy Conference in which he said that President Trump still seems to be learning how to do the job, although he admitted the results havent been good in the early going.
While Boehner cut Trump a break on the GOPs troubled health care bill He did what he could, the former speaker emphasized he conceded that everything else hes done has been a complete disaster. Additionally, Boehner threw cold water on hopes that the GOP will make significant progress on getting its legislative agenda passed in the near future. In particular, he thinks the GOP plan to reform the tax code faces some serious hurdles.
I was a little more optimistic about it early in the year, he said. Now my odds are 60/40 the border adjustment tax is deader than a door nail tax reform is just a bunch of happy talk.
Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/john-boehner-torches-trumps-presidency-almost-everything-hes-done-has-been-a-complete-disaster/
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Boehner: Trump a ‘Complete Disaster’ Beyond Foreign Policy
Former speaker of the House says Trump is still learning to be president
Posted May 26, 2017 11:34 AM
Eric Garcia
Former House Speaker John A. Boehner told attendees at an energy conference that beyond foreign policy, President Donald Trump has been a “complete disaster” so far.
As the keynote speaker at KPMG’s Global Energy conference, Boehner said he’s known the president for 15 years and Trump would call him regularly when he had a bad day or to commend him. “But president? I just never envisioned him in that role,” he the trade site Rigzone reported.
Boehner said he never subscribed to the idea of repealing and replacing the 2010 health care law but supported “repairing” it.
Boehner said international leaders are thrilled that Trump is aggressive about ISIS and and thought he was doing a good job in international affairs and foreign policy. But, “Everything else he’s done (in office) has been a complete disaster.” But he said Trump is still learning to be president.
On questions of the Russia investigations, Boehner said he didn’t know why either Hillary Clinton or Trump’s campaigns were talking with Russian officials, but “they need to get to the bottom of this.”
- See more at: http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/boehners-got-some-advice-for-donald-trump#sthash.Te9UDsXo.dpuf
Steny Hoyer sums up Democrats' thoughts on Russia saga: A "continuing pattern of cover up"
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2017 05:28 AM EDT
Steny Hoyer sums up Democrats’ thoughts on Russia saga: A “continuing pattern of cover up”
The congressman from Maryland says the "continuing pattern" has led him to believe there's a fire behind the smoke
CHARLIE MAY
Rep. Steny Hoyer D-Md., said that he believes he’s seen a “continuing pattern of cover up” in President Trump’s actions to thwart the federal investigation into his campaigns alleged ties to the Russian Government, in an interview with CNN on Thursday.
“It’s the pattern that leads one to believe that there’s fire where there is so much smoke,” Hoyer told CNN.
https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/867722147845861376
“First you start out with [Paul] Manafort, and [Roger] Stone and [Michael] Flynn and [Carter] Page and others who had very close financial relationships with the Russians,” he said. “Then you have a candidate who talks very positive about Putin — you have a candidate justifying feeling that he’s a pretty good guy, and then you have this continuing pattern of cover-up,” Hoyer continued.
Over the past two weeks it has been reported that Trump has repeatedly attempted to interfere with the FBI’s investigation. Trump has been accused of requesting former FBI Director James Comey to halt the investigation into Flynn. It was also revealed that the Trump administration has been exceptionally irresponsible when it comes to handling sensitive information which may make U.S. allies apprehensive when it comes to sharing intelligence in the future. For the past week Trump has enjoyed time away from Washington, and has been on his first international trip which comes to a close in the coming days.
more
http://www.salon.com/2017/05/26/steny-hoyer-sums-up-democrats-thoughts-on-russia-saga-a-continuing-pattern-of-cover-up/
GOP strategist admits he colluded with Russian hackers to hurt Hillary Clinton, Democrats
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2017 07:03 PM EDT
GOP strategist admits he colluded with Russian hackers to hurt Hillary Clinton, Democrats
It’s bigger than Trump
SOPHIA TESFAYE
The U.S. intelligence community has long since concluded Russia meddled in the 2016 election, and it was reported shortly after the 2016 presidential election that a GOP superPAC linked to Paul Ryan used illegally hacked material to attack Democratic House candidates. But a bombshell report published on Thursday confirms that Republican political operatives were working with the Russian government to hurt Hillary Clinton and Democrats during the election — the first direct evidence of so-called collusion.
The Wall Street Journal reported that hacked information was posted on a blog run by Aaron Nevins, the political operative, and then passed along to top Trump adviser Roger Stone during the campaign. The Republican operative in Florida received a trove of Democratic documents from the allegedly Kremlin-linked hacker, Guccifer 2.0. For months, both Congress and the FBI have been scrutinizing evidence that associates of Trump may have colluded with Russia during the campaign.
Nevins confirmed to the Journal that he told hacker Guccifer 2.0 to “feel free to send any Florida based information” after learning that the hacker had tapped into Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) computers last summer. From the DCCC, Guccifer 2.0 released internal assessments of Democratic congressional candidates, known as “self-opposition research,” to GOP operatives using social media. Nevins told the Journal that, after receiving the stolen documents from the hacker, he “realized it was a lot more than even Guccifer knew that he had.” The stolen DCCC documents also contained sensitive information on voters in key Florida districts, breaking down how many people were considered dependable Democratic voters, undecided Democrats, Republican voters and the like. Nevins made a war analogy, describing the data he received to Guccifer 2.0 as akin to a “map to where all the troops are deployed.”
After Nevins published some of the material on the blog HelloFLA.com, using his own pseudonym, Guccifer 2.0 sent a link of the information to close Trump associate Roger Stone — who is currently under federal investigation for potential collusion with Russia.
“I just threw an arrow in the dark,” Nevins, who set up a Dropbox account for Guccifer 2.0 to transfer data, told the Journal. “If your interests align,” the operative concluded, “never shut any doors in politics.”
more
http://www.salon.com/2017/05/25/gop-strategist-admits-he-colluded-with-russian-hackers-to-hurt-hillary-clinton-democrats/
Trump-Russia special prosecutor Mueller taps spokesman
Source: Politico
By JOSH GERSTEIN 05/26/2017 10:37 AM EDT
Trump-Russia special prosecutor Robert Mueller has selected veteran Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr to handle media inquiries related to the high-profile investigation, officials said Friday.
Carr has worked at Justice Department headquarters since 2013 as the top spokesman for the Criminal Division. He also did a stint recently as the acting director of public affairs while Obama appointees were cycling out and Trump picks were cycling in.
Previously, Carr was the spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Virginia, which has offices in Alexandria and further south in Richmond, Norfolk and Newport News. From 2002 to 2007, Carr also served as a spokesman for Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), including during one of his reelection campaigns.
Last week, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein named former FBI Director Mueller as a "special counsel" under department regulations, charged with taking over ongoing investigations into alleged Russian attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election, including any coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/26/peter-carr-robert-mueller-spokesman-238860
GOP turns gloomy over Obamacare repeal
Senate Republicans leave for recess uncertain they can craft a plan that improves on the House bill and gets 50 votes.
By BURGESS EVERETT and JENNIFER HABERKORN 05/25/2017 06:27 PM EDT
A feeling of pessimism is settling over Senate Republicans as they head into a weeklong Memorial Day recess with deeply uncertain prospects for their push to repeal Obamacare.
Senators reported that they’ve made little progress on the party’s most intractable problems this week, such as how to scale back Obamacare's Medicaid expansion and overall Medicaid spending. Republicans are near agreement on making tax credits for low-income, elderly Americans more generous, but that might be the simplest matter at hand.
Republicans have started writing the very basics of their repeal legislation, even though they've made few decisions about what it will say. Staffers will work on the bill over the break to try to increase the pace of negotiations, as well as haggle with the Senate parliamentarian over whether the chamber can even consider the bill because of procedural reasons. But in the meantime, frustrations are rising and confidence is diminishing.
“We talk about it every goddamn day,” said one GOP senator, who did not want to be quoted criticizing his own party. “But we haven’t done anything about it.”
Senators privately reported being surprised by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s assessment on Wednesday that he doesn’t know how the party gets the requisite 50 of the party’s 52 members on board. Though aides said McConnell was restating the challenge of passing a bill in a sharply divided conference, senators said they also did not take the calculating majority leader’s words as a vote of confidence.
more
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/25/gop-obamacare-repeal-senate-recess-gloom-238839
U.S. economy grows at tepid 1.2 percent; business spending softens
Source: Reuters
BUSINESS NEWS | Fri May 26, 2017 | 10:19am EDT
By Lucia Mutikani | WASHINGTON
The U.S. economy slowed less than initially thought in the first quarter, but there are signs it could struggle to rebound sharply in the second quarter amid slowing business investment and moderate consumer spending.
Gross domestic product increased at a 1.2 percent annual rate instead of the 0.7 percent pace reported last month, the Commerce Department said on Friday in its second GDP estimate for the first three months of the year.
"The second estimate paints a better picture about the degree of slowing in activity at the start of the year, but the main concern about soft growth in private consumption remains," said Michael Gapen, chief economist at Barclays in New York.
That was the worst performance since the first quarter of 2016 and followed a 2.1 percent rate of expansion in the fourth quarter. The government revised up its initial estimate of consumer spending growth, but said inventory investment was far smaller than previously reported.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-idUSKBN18M1GP
Trump and other leaders clash on trade, climate at G7
Source: Reuters
Fri May 26, 2017 | 11:11am EDT
By Steve Holland and Elizabeth Piper | TAORMINA, ITALY
Leaders from the world's major industrialized nations began talks on Friday at a G7 summit in Sicily which is expected to expose deep divisions with U.S. President Donald Trump over trade and climate change.
The two-day summit, at a cliff-top hotel overlooking the Mediterranean, began a day after Trump blasted NATO allies for spending too little on defense and described Germany's trade surplus as "very bad" in a meeting with EU officials in Brussels.
After receiving warm receptions in Saudi Arabia and Israel, Trump's confrontational stance with long-standing partners in Europe cast a cloud over the meeting in Taormina, where leaders are due to discuss terrorism, Syria, North Korea and the global economy.
"No doubt, this will be the most challenging G7 summit in years," Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister who chairs summits of European Union leaders, said before the meeting. White House economic adviser Gary Cohn predicted "robust" discussions on trade and climate.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-g7-summit-idUSKBN18L2ZU
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Name: DonGender: Male
Hometown: Massachusetts
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Member since: Sat Sep 1, 2012, 03:28 PM
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