Eric Schneiderman resignation deals severe blow to climate camp

The resignation of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a stalwart in suing oil companies and President Trump over climate change, deals a blow to the environmental front he led.

Schneiderman led a coalition of Democratic state attorneys general opposing the Trump administration's deregulation agenda, especially the Paris climate change agreement.

He was the leader of a push to hold Exxon Mobil accountable for the effects of climate change through a multi-year investigation based on news accounts that the oil company suppressed its own internal findings on the risks from global warming.

Last month, he led 15 attorneys general in a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to issue regulations for cutting emissions of methane, a potent but short-lived greenhouse gas, from fracking operations.

Before the allegations surfaced, Schneiderman was busy Monday starting a new campaign against Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, leading a coalition of eight attorneys general in pressing Pruitt to consult with the National Academy of Sciences before moving forward on a rule that would change EPA's use of scientific studies in its decision-making.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/eric-schneiderman-resignation-deals-severe-blow-to-climate-camp

Democrats send fundraising emails with fake news about Robert Mueller

As Democrats accuse Republicans of trafficking misinformation, their own House campaign arm is spreading it.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent a pair of emails on Monday that outright lie about the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, deceitfully leading supporters to believe adding their name to a petition could compel President Trump to testify in the probe. Even by the standards of political fundraising emails, which allow for a generous amount of hyperbole, these DCCC messages are hard to defend.

“If we can gather 1,000,000 signatures, it will FORCE Trump to cooperate with the investigation once and for all,” the committee said in one email, first flagged by Buzzfeed reporter Dominic Holden.

“We need to gather 1 MILLION signatures for Robert Mueller to FORCE Trump to testify,” read another, later adding, “We’re the only ones left who can help Robert Mueller.”

No 1 million-signature petition is going to influence, let alone force, Trump to sit down with Robert Mueller, and the DCCC knows it. It might actually make Trump less likely to do so.

Democrats constantly accuse Republicans of spreading misinformation about the Mueller investigation. To be clear, that goes the other way around too. But when you're fundraising off such misinformation, those critiques lose their credibility.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/democrats-send-fundraising-emails-with-fake-news-about-robert-mueller

Russia willing to negotiate new Iran deal with Europeans

Russia is willing to enter negotiations with Western powers that seek to curb Iran’s aggression in the Middle East, according to a top diplomat in Moscow.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov endorsed French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for “a new deal with Iran” that counters the regime’s regional aggression without scrapping the 2015 nuclear pact, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Russia aired that affirmation of Macron just hours before President Trump’s expected announcement that the U.S. will stop complying with the deal.

"If the French president’s logic is to be followed, the JCPOA should stay in force, but negotiations are necessary over the future of this plan after 2025, the missile program and Iran’s regional policies," Ryabkov said, per TASS, a state-run outlet. "All this is negotiable. This is evidence that France is determined to preserve the JCPOA.”

That statement is consistent with Russian rhetoric about international cooperation. But it’s ironic, because the Russian military is allied with the Iranian forces to help Syrian President Bashar Assad win a civil war. That conflict has laid the groundwork for a potential clash between Israel and Iran, as the Israelis and U.S. policymakers worry that Iran will entrench in southern Syria and cooperate more easily with Hezbollah, its terrorist proxy in Lebanon.

“The tempo, in terms of the potential for conflict in Syria, has gone up,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told reporters after a trip to the Middle East in February. “The technological and the military and the developmental and the diplomatic pressure on Israel has gone up in almost every metric you can think of.”

Russia is a party to the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by former President Barack Obama’s team. But their role in those talks has drawn skepticism from American officials, particularly in light of Russia’s ensuing partnership with Iran in Syria.

"They're all in it together," Rep. Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said last year. "Russia and Iran have collaborated, it's my belief that they collaborated all during the negotiations on the JCPOA and I think that that's — the old line of the axis of evil, I think this is the axis of evil today. And we have to confront it."

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/russia-willing-to-negotiate-new-iran-deal-with-europeans

>>1338748 TY

>>1338751 Opportunity to right the ship, necessary for countries involved in this mess.

>>1338778 Agreed and yes quite possible.