Jim Mattis 'wide open' to potential reorganization of US military space operations

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday he is “wide open” to a potential reorganization of Air Force space operations, but cautioned that the Pentagon has yet to fully understand what issues first need to be addressed.

Two ongoing space studies will help lead to solutions, he told the Washington Examiner during an interview, pointing to the service’s struggles in developing and buying new space technology as well as years of stopgap budgets from Congress as potential reasons for why the U.S. might be losing its edge in space against competitors such as China and Russia.

Meanwhile, some lawmakers in the House push for a separate Space Force military service.

“To look now at the problem means we have to look fresh at it and where are the specific problems and break them down, and if an organizational construct has to change then I’m wide open to it,” Mattis said.

President Trump has touted the idea of a Space Force, and the House Armed Services Committee has laid the groundwork for the new service with some initial reorganization as part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which is being considered on the House floor this week.

Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., who head an Armed Services subcommittee, have charged the Air Force with bungling space operations and putting the country at risk of missile attacks and assaults on communications satellites. Rogers has said repeatedly that the Space Force will become reality, possibly within a few years.

“Frankly, I like congressman not just involved, but digging into issues. That it is in my best interest,” Mattis said. “I don’t think they are moving forward too fast. I think they are bringing legitimate issues up.”

Last year, Mattis took the usual step of writing a letter to lawmakers urging them to drop efforts to create a Space Force, saying it would create a "narrower and even parochial approach" to space. The House instead requested a study from the Pentagon on the idea that is due in December.

“We have some studies coming out and some very good work done on them, and when we see what the studies bring forward as the problem statement, then we’ll solve it,” Mattis said Wednesday. “But you break the problem down into bite-size pieces because you don’t just say ‘We have to solve space.’ That provides zero fidelity for what we have to do.”

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/jim-mattis-wide-open-to-potential-reorganization-of-us-military-space-operations

Jared Kushner lawyer dishes on client's second interview with Mueller team

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner's lawyer revealed Wednesday that his client had been interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team a second time last month, during which Kushner fielded questions about his communications with foreign nationals and the firing of FBI Director James Comey.

Abbe Lowell told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that Kushner, who is President Trump's son-in-law, answered every single question asked of him and that the interview covered “the appropriate topics that Bob Mueller and his team were looking at.”

“They’re looking to see whether there was collusion with Russia in the campaign, and whether or not anybody in the campaign was involved, and if that violated any law,” Lowell said. “And they’re looking at this broad topic that they call, or the media calls, obstruction of justice.”

He added that Mueller’s team “would have asked questions of all their witnesses, including Jared Kushner, about those topics,” but also noted that Kushner is in a “unique role” because he was part of the campaign, the transition team, and worked at the White House when “events occurred after the inauguration that is of interest to the counsel.”

Lowell did not disclose what questions were asked, but noted that Mueller’s team zeroed in on Kushner’s relationship with former White House national security

adviser Michael Flynn, who last year pleaded guilty to misleading the FBI about his communications with Russians.

Kushner’s relationship with Flynn was also a topic of discussion at his first interview with the special counsel’s team in November.

Altogether, Kushner’s latest interview with Mueller’s team lasted “almost an entire work day," according to Lowell.

Mueller is looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/jared-kushner-lawyer-dishes-on-clients-second-interview-with-mueller-team

Hang on might be back with a Royal Flush!

James Clapper claps back at Trump for creating a 'distortion' of what he said about FBI spying

Former intelligence chief James Clapper on Wednesday shot back at President Trump for creating a "distortion" of what he said about the intelligence community and the president's 2016 campaign.

Earlier in the day, Trump said Clapper “sort of admitted” the intelligence community spied on his campaign after it was revealed an FBI informant met with several members of the Trump campaign.

In speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper, Clapper, who was formerly director of national intelligence, rebuked the president, asserting that the intelligence community did not spy on Trump or his campaign.

“No, we did not. And that is — that is a distortion of what I said. In fact, I had an aversion to the use of the term and thought I made that clear,” Clapper told Tapper.

Clapper said that the intelligence community was trying to determine if the Russians were seeking to gain access or infiltrate a campaign, noting that it didn’t matter which campaign. “And it had nothing to do with spying on the campaign, it was about the Russians which is what we should all be concerned about, to include Trump,” Clapper added.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump misquoted Clapper on the topic early Wednesday morning.

“Trump should be happy that the FBI was SPYING on his campaign” No, James Clapper, I am not happy,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “Spying on a campaign would be illegal, and a scandal to boot!"

“Trump should be happy that the FBI was SPYING on his campaign” No, James Clapper, I am not happy. Spying on a campaign would be illegal, and a scandal to boot!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 23, 2018

Trump’s tweet referred to Clapper’s Tuesday appearance on “The View," where he used the word “spy” to indicate that there was intelligence being unearthed concerning Russian meddling.

When asked if the FBI had been “spying” on Trump’s campaign, Clapper said they “were spying on, a term I don’t particularly like, but on what the Russians were doing.”

Joy Behar, a co-host of “The View,” then asked,” Well why doesn’t he like that? He should be happy.”

“He should be. I mean, Russia — it’s one of the reasons I wrote my book, was the threat Russia poses because they are bent on undermining our system,” Clapper said. “And that’s what they did, and had a lot of success during the course of the election.”

Multiple media reports have identified an American who worked at Cambridge University as an FBI source who met with three Trump campaign staffers, including campaign advisers Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, and campaign co-chair Sam Clovis.

The Justice Department inspector general is looking into whether there were any irregularities in surveillance tactics that were used on Trump associates during the 2016 election.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/james-clapper-claps-back-at-trump-for-creating-a-distortion-of-what-he-said-about-fbi-spying

>>1522376

That is FANTASTIC!

>>1522384

Don't you just love the sucking sound of a drain when it nears the end!

Trump-backed VA bill sails through Senate, with signature ahead

The Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation to send to President Trump on Wednesday that would allow more veterans to see doctors outside the Veterans Affairs system.

The president has openly backed the bill, the VA Mission Act, and is expected to sign it into law. It passed the Senate 92-5, marking a bipartisan legislative victory for the president.

The bill failed to win the support of Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Mike Rounds, R-S.D., Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.

The bill would allow more veterans to go outside the VA healthcare system and use private-sector doctors when VA medical centers can't provide appointments within a month, veterans have to drive more than 40 minutes to access care, or when care is determined inadequate by VA leaders. It also would provide more access to caregivers.

The $52 billion plan includes $5.2 billion to avoid a shutdown of the Choice program, which is expected to run out of funds as early as May 31, disrupting medical care for veterans. Choice was created as a reaction to the scandals involving long wait times for care in the VA system, when veterans died while they waited to receive medical care.

"Veterans of all eras rely on the promise of accessible, quality care when they return home," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., wrote on Twitter. "But too often, the VA has fallen short of fulfilling it, with long waiting lists and limited treatment options. The shortcomings of the federal bureaucracy were apparent."

Veterans of all eras rely on the promise of accessible, quality care when they return home. But too often, the VA has fallen short of fulfilling it, with long waiting lists and limited treatment options. The shortcomings of the federal bureaucracy were apparent. (1/2)

— Leader McConnell (@SenateMajLdr) May 23, 2018

Opponents of the legislation have said they fear the VA is headed toward privatization, which would remove many responsibilities from the VA system and provide public funding to private medical centers.

Sanders said in a statement that while he believed the bill contained some positive provisions, he believed the best way to reduce wait times was to fill vacancies and feared the legislation would continue "a trend toward the slow, steady privatization of the VA."

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/trump-backed-va-bill-sails-through-senate-with-signature-ahead

Trump to cut foreign aid for home countries of illegal immigrants

President Trump announced Wednesday that the U.S. will begin to deduct foreign aid from countries whose residents illegally enter the United States.

"Many of these countries we give tremendous amounts of aid to. Tens of millions of dollars. And we're working on a plan to deduct a lot of the aid," Trump said at an event in New York denouncing the Salvadoran gang MS-13.

"We're going to work out something where every time someone comes in from a certain country, we're going to deduct a rather large amount of money from what we give them in aid, if we give them aid at all," Trump said. "We may just not give them aid at all."

Trump did not specify which countries would be targeted, but spoke after another panelist mentioned foreign countries refusing to accept deportees.

"They'll let you think they're trying to stop this. They are not trying to stop it," Trump said. "I think they encourage people… They don't want the people that we're getting."

"Despite all of the reports I hear, I don't believe they're helping us one bit. and it may be that's the way life is," he said. "We know where these people are coming from. We're looking at our whole aid structure and it's going to be changed very radically. It's already started."

MS-13 was founded in Los Angeles in the 1980s among refugees from El Salvador, where a U.S.-backed government fought communist rebels, with human rights violations on both sides. Many of its young members today illegally entered the U.S.

According to USAID, El Salvador received $75 million in U.S. aid in fiscal 2016. The amount fluctuates, and spiked to $332 million in 2015. Mexico, the top home country of illegal immigrants in the U.S., received $87 million in foreign aid in 2016, according to USAID.

Trump previously has threatened foreign aid penalties, notably in December after various countries that receive aid voted to condemn his decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/trump-to-cut-foreign-aid-for-countries-that-send-illegal-immigrants

>>1522399

He is the Man!!

>>1522524

Agree this made me very happy, more incentive for the leaders to keep them home, rather than kick their problems to the USA.

>>1522370

Awesome!