Susan Rice: Trump's pledge about working with China to save ZTE is 'super-whack

Susan Rice, a former Obama national security adviser, was left aghast Sunday after President Trump announced he was interceding in a trade dispute between his own Commerce Department and a Chinese telecommunications firm.

"Even with all the crazy, this move by the President stands out as super-whack," Rice wrote on Twitter.

Even with all the crazy, this move by the President stands out as super-whack. https://t.co/uVLTXNSKyQ

— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) May 13, 2018

Trump tweeted Sunday morning that he was working with Chinese President Xi Jinping to overturn a seven-year ban prohibiting U.S. businesses from selling parts and software to ZTE Corporation.

"Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!” Trump wrote.

President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018

The Commerce Department barred supply sales of U.S. products to ZTE in April after the company pleaded guilty in 2017 to violating sanctions on Iran.

Rice, who was also a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for the Obama administration, retweeted a quote from another Obama official who oversaw the U.S. case against ZTE.

“I am speechless. I’m highly confident that a [U.S.] president has never intervened in a law-enforcement matter like this before," former assistant secretary of commerce Kevin Wolf said, according to the Financial Times.

“I am speechless,” said Kevin Wolf, who oversaw the launch of the ZTE case as assistant secretary of commerce in the Obama administration. “I’m highly confident that a [US] president has never intervened in a law-enforcement matter like this before.” https://t.co/Kkbnaom2m0

— Shawn Donnan (@sdonnan) May 13, 2018

Trump's announcement comes as the U.S. seeks Chinese cooperation in its efforts to put pressure on North Korea leader Kim Jong Un in preparation for a historic summit aiming to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/susan-rice-trumps-pledge-about-working-with-china-to-save-zte-is-super-whack

DOJ, FBI slow-walking release of documents hoping for a blue wave in midterms: Darrell Issa

Rep. Darrell Issa charged the Justice Department and FBI with purposefully slow-walking their responses to document requests from Congress in the hopes that Republicans will lose their majorities after the 2018 midterms.

With the Democrats in power, the California Republican claimed the intelligence community will get their way.

"The realty is they are being slow-walked until after the election with the hopes the Democrats will take over the House or the Senate and then the investigations will be covered up," Issa said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures."

ssa suggested there are now thousands of documents that have yet to be produced, despite requests over the past year by committee chairmen Bob Goodlatte, Trey Gowdy, and Devin Nunes, who in their oversight roles are looking for evidence of wrongdoing by the government.

Host Maria Bartiromo mentioned that sometimes when documents are fought over, the government makes redactions in what it claims are the interest of national security, but when they are unredacted, there never was any national security risk.

Issa, formerly a chair of the Oversight Committee that Gowdy now leads, declared that it is "very much a tradition" for the Justice Department to lie and hope not to get caught.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/doj-fbi-slow-walking-release-of-documents-hoping-for-a-blue-wave-in-midterms-darrell-issa

Trump officials on why they leak: This is a never-ending 'Mexican stand-off'

White House leakers used a raft of excuses Sunday to justify sharing sensitive Trump administration information with reporters, reasons ranging from a way to settle personal scores to dealing with a confrontational work environment within the West Wing.

"The most common substantive leaks are the result of someone losing an internal policy debate," a senior administration official told Axios. "By leaking the decision, the loser gets one last chance to kill it with blowback from the public, Congress, or even the President."

The aide then likened working in the White House to "kind of like being in a never-ending 'Mexican Standoff.'"

"Everyone has guns (leaks) pointed at each other and it's only a matter of time before someone shoots. There's rarely a peaceful conclusion so you might as well shoot first," the official added.

Other officials attributed the spilling of administration secrets to "personal vendettas" or "to make sure there's an accurate record of what's really going on" in the West Wing.

The Axios report chafes with an interview White House chief of staff John Kelly gave last week in which he alluded to a cessation in leaks under his leadership.

"After about six weeks in [the] job one of the reporters said to me, 'Look you were our worst nightmare. This place was a clown show before you showed up. We didn't think this president would last a year [or] 18 months. Now that you're here, there's order to the place. The leaks all but went away,'" Kelly told NPR.

On Thursday, the White House experienced a major leak in which word got out that White House aide Kelly Sadler mocked the health of Sen. John McCain, who is fighting brain cancer, during a close-door meeting.

>>1400768

Sauce;

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-officials-on-why-they-leak-this-is-a-never-ending-mexican-stand-off

>>1400791

If memory serves me correctly, her father was the first black male to be a member also.

Netanyahu Welcomes U.S. Delegation to Jerusalem on Eve of Embassy Opening

JERUSALEM, Israel — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the official U.S. delegation to Jerusalem Sunday evening, on the day before the transfer of the American embassy to Israel’s capital.

“Our people will be eternally grateful for [President Trump’s] decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to move the American Embassy there tomorrow,” Netanyahu declared.

“Tomorrow will be an historic day for our people and for our state.”

Netanyahu delivered his remarks at an official reception at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs before an audience of American and Israeli guests.

Among those in the audience were Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog; Christians United for Israel founder John Hagee, American lawyer Alan Dershowitz; new Republican National Committee finance chairman Todd Ricketts; Senators Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Ted Cruz (R-SC), Dean Heller (R-NV), and Mike Lee (R-UT); Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), American Jewish Committee chair David Harris; Guatemalan Minister of Foreign Affairs Sandra Jovel Polanco; Zionist Organization of America president Morton Klein; former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren; Republican donors Sheldon and Dr. Mirian Adelson; former Israeli Ambassador to the UN Dore Gold; U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman; Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer; and many others.

Netanya welcomed President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem and transfer the embassy there: “It’s been the capital of the Jewish people for the last 3,000 years. It’s been the capital of our state for 70 years. And it will be our capital for all time,” he said.

He also thanked Guatemalan foreign minister Polanco for her country’s decision to open its embassy in Jerusalem two days after the U.S. And he thanked the President of Paraguay, who is expected in Jerusalem later this month to open his country’s embassy as well.

“I call on all countries to join the US in moving their embassies to Jerusalem… because it’s the right thing to do… because it advances peace!” he exclaimed.

“Under any peace agreement you could possibly imagine, Jerusalem will remain Israel’s capital.

“It took a President Trump to enunciate a simple basic truth,” he said.

Netanyahu added that peace meant confronting “the enemies of truth. And I thank president Trump for his decision to confront Iran rather than to appease it.

“With all due respect to those sitting in European capitals… we’ve seen the disastrous consequences of the Iran deal.,” he said. He praised President Trump’s decision to leave the deal — “a good thing for the region, for the United States, and for the world.”

Netanyahu gave a special welcome to White House advisers Jared Kushner and his wife, Ivanka. He was sure to note Israel’s victory in the Eurovision song contest the night before, which coincided with the day’s celebration of Yom Yerushalayim (“Jerusalem Day”), the 51st anniversary of the reunification of the city in the Six Day War.

“Happy birthday Jerusalem!” he said.

He presented U.S. Ambassador Friedman with an official letter thanking him for his role in moving the embassy.

Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan, official head of the U.S. delegation, thanked Netanyahu for his hospitality.

He noted that May 14, the date of the embassy opening, was the anniversary of President Harry S. Truman’s decision to recognize Israel.

And he added that the U.S. hoped the embassy move would encourage peace talks between Israel and its neighbors.

http:// www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2018/05/13/netanyahu-welcomes-u-s-delegation-jerusalem-eve-embassy-opening/

I'll take a look and see if I can retrieve it.

>>1400845

But they are of the higher Moral Quality, didn't you know, kek.