White House reporters left fuming after Sarah Sanders cuts them off

White House reporters on Monday were left angry and frustrated by press secretary Sarah Sanders, after she dodged questions about President Trump dictating a memo about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with Russians in 2016, and otherwise cut short several reporters who were looking to ask more followup questions.

Sanders has generally frustrated the press by offering short amounts of time for questions and answers, but Monday's briefing made it clear that more and more reporters are becoming openly hostile.

Tensions started rising Monday when the New York Times' Peter Baker asked Sanders if Trump thinks he's above the law, after Trump tweeted that he has the right to pardon himself.

Baker pressed Sanders a few times, after which she said, "Certainly, no one is above the law." But Sanders then tried to cut him off.

"I'm going to keep going right here," she said.

"I just want to ask…" Baker started.

"Sorry, Peter, we're going to keep moving," Sanders replied.

"But I'm going to Sarah, I think this is important…"

"I'm going to continue to keep going."

Brian Karem, the White House correspondent for Playboy, was also angry after Sanders cut him off. Karem asked if Trump would ever come to the briefing room for questions, and if anyone is asking Trump to stay away from Twitter.

"The president uses Twitter to communicate directly to the American people. Frankly, you have the ability to choose what you want to write about, and you guys choose to write about things the American people don't care about, day in and day out, and that's a decision that you make. And frankly, I think it's the wrong one," she said as Karem interrupted repeatedly to ask if Trump would visit the press room.

Sanders then dodged a series of questions about a new admission from Trump's lawyers that President Trump dictated a memo on behalf of Donald Trump Jr. on his meeting with Russians in 2016. At the time, Sanders said the president had nothing to do with the memo.

But when asked about the admission made public over the weekend that Trump did play a role, Sanders said she can't speak on behalf of Trump's private lawyers.

When asked what basis she had for first saying Trump wasn't involved, Sanders said, "Once again, I'm not going to get into a back and forth."

CNN's Jim Acosta got into his own usual scrape with Sanders, but asking it it was "appropriate" for Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump's lawyers, to make up a hypothetical about Trump being impeached after shooting former FBI Director James Comey. Sanders said he would have to ask Giuliani about that comment, and dismissed Acosta.

"If I can ask a followup question…" he said.

"Not today, Jim," Sanders replied.

"Others have had followup questions…"

"They haven't, actually," Sanders said.

"They have had followup questions," Acosta said before being ignored.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house-reporters-left-fuming-after-sarah-sanders-cuts-them-off

Obamacare plans ask for 19 percent increase in Washington state

Health insurers are asking Washington state regulators to allow them to raise the price of Obamacare premiums in 2019 by an average of 19 percent.

Under the latest proposals made public Monday, no county in the state will be left without an Obamacare insurer, a type of medical coverage offered to customers who do not get health insurance through a job or government program. Still, 14 counties would have only one insurer to choose from, which will limit their options and the doctors and hospitals that will be in their network.

State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler blamed the Trump administration's changes to Obamacare for the increases.

“There’s still a great deal of uncertainty in individual markets across the country, fueled by the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act," he said, using the formal name for Obamacare. "Instead of getting behind solutions that shore up these markets, the administration seems solely focused on undermining our health insurance system and the individuals and families who need to buy their coverage in the individual market."

Proposals still must be finalized, and how much customers pay for coverage will vary based on whether they smoke, how old they are, whether they receive subsidies, and where they live.

Eleven health insurers are requesting to sell plans in the state. The lowest proposed increase was from Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, at 2.57 percent, though it applied to only one county. The health insurance plan with the highest increase was Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington, at 29.78 percent, which intends to sell plans in 19 counties.

The state’s insurance regulator is expected to negotiate with the insurers over final prices, which will be revealed before Obamacare’s open enrollment begins Nov. 1. About 268,400 people in Washington buy on the exchange, called Washington Healthplanfinder.

Insurers in New York, Maryland, and Virginia also have asked for double-digit rate increases.

Once finalized, the rate increases mostly will affect people who don't receive subsidies under Obamacare, meaning individuals who make $48,240 or more. This group often buys directly from an insurer because they don't qualify for government help.

Most customers who buy on the exchange receive subsidies that increase when the cost of premiums increase, which shields them from higher costs. The Trump administration is putting together regulations that would allow cheaper plans to be sold, but they would provide fewer medical services than Obamacare plans and omit other consumer protections. Kriedler said the administration should abandon this plan and work on legislation to lower the costs of healthcare if it was "serious about providing relief to customers."

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, blamed the Trump administration and Republicans for the increases. Republicans passed a tax law signed by Trump that will repeal the fine for going uninsured, a move that is expected to contribute to an increase in premiums of roughly 10 percent.

“It is unacceptable that families in Washington state and nationwide are paying more for their healthcare because President Trump and Republicans care more about appealing to their extreme donors and special interests than helping people get the care they need," Murray said.

She urged Republicans to work with her on a bill that would help to reduce premiums. She and HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., had arrived at an agreement over legislation, but the effort fell apart during congressional debate over a spending deal. Republicans wanted to include restrictions on the legislation to prohibit federal dollars from paying for abortions, which Democrats would not agree to.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/obamacare-plans-ask-for-19-percent-increase-in-washington-state

White House tears into Jeff Merkley for 'blatant lies' about migrant detentions

White House officials tore into Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley on Monday for "irresponsibly spreading blatant lies," after he shared a video of himself being turned away from an immigration detention center in Texas over the weekend.

Merkley filmed himself being greeted by police after attempting to enter the facility, where he claimed he was "trying to get answers" about migrant children who have been separated from their parents by the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The Oregon senator later claimed that he witnessed "hundreds of children locked up in cages" at a separate facility in McAllen, Texas.

Deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley accused Merkley on Monday of "smearing hardworking, dedicated law enforcement officials" with his viral video and subsequent statements.

"No one is taking a public safety lecture form Sen. Merkley, whose own policies endanger children, empower human smugglers and drug cartels, and allow violent criminal aliens to flood into American communities," Gidley said, noting that Merkley voted against legislation that would have ended loopholes that are exploited by child smugglers.

The White House also accused Merkley of promoting "reckless open-border policies" that hurt his own constituents in Oregon, including "a 65-year-old Oregon woman who was sexually assaulted by an illegal alien that had been previously deported 20 times. … and a young Oregon girl who has allegedly raped several times by a twice-deported illegal alien."

Merkley's video, which he shared on social media over the weekend, has been viewed more than 1 million times.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/white-house-tears-into-jeff-merkley-for-blatant-lies-about-migrant-detentions

Marco Rubio: US must develop plan to ‘destroy’ Chinese assets in South China Sea

U.S. officials must develop plans to "destroy" China’s military installations in the South China Sea, according to Sen. Marco Rubio, to avert the Communist power’s dominance of one of the world’s most vital shipping lanes.

“If they've created a missile base that we can destroy, because we can position enough assets in the region that can penetrate defenses and destroy it, then we have neutralized that advantage,” the Florida Republican told the Washington Examiner during a phone interview last week.

That proposal is one aspect of a broader effort to offset China’s rise as a military power, particularly in the Asia-Pacific, where U.S. officials have a heightened wariness about China’s aggression. It’s a more confrontational approach than some of his colleagues think prudent, one likely to exacerbate Chinese sensitivity about American military power in the region. Rubio believes China is pursuing a “strategy of incrementalism” that, if unchecked, will eventually force American leaders into a choice between devastating war and bloodless defeat.

“There has to be a point here where it's too far,” said Rubio, who sits on the Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees. “We’re not unnecessarily seeking conflict, and there's a way to avoid it, and that is to respect the rules. But at some point, we're going to have to either enforce these rules or we're going to live in a world that they dominate. And that’s what they're counting on is that we don't have the stomach for it. And, in fact, if they conclude we don't have the stomach for it, they're likelier to do it.”

U.S.-Chinese relations have been fraught for years, but the adversarial turn has become more pronounced under Chinese President Xi Jinping. Chinese officials recently used military-grade lasers to cause ‘minor injuries” to two American pilots in Djibouti, according to the Pentagon. More significantly, China deployed anti-ship missiles and other armaments to artificial islands constructed in the South China Sea, to bolster their claims to sovereignty over the historically-international waterways.

“Despite China's claims to the contrary, the placement of these weapons systems is tied directly to military use for the purposes of intimidation and coercion,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said during a foreign policy conference in Singapore on Saturday. “China's militarization of the Spratlys [islands] is also in direct contradiction to President Xi's 2015 public assurances in the White House Rose Garden that they would not do this.”

Chinese officials have been contemptuous of such critiques.

“[C]ertain people in the US are staging a farce of a thief crying ‘stop thief,’” Foreign Ministry spokeswomen Hua Chunying said last week. “The U.S. warships deliberately trespassed into the neighboring waters of China's relevant islands or reefs from time to time. They prettify it as ‘freedom of navigation operation.’ Does the U.S. truly want the freedom of navigation entitled under the international law? Or does it just want the freedom to do whatever it likes as a hegemon?”

Mattis emphasized that international tribunals have repudiated China’s assertion of sovereignty over the sea lanes, a claim contested by several neighboring countries. “So we do not see it as a militarization by going through what has traditionally been an international water space,” Mattis said. “What we see it as is a reaffirmation of the rules-based order.”

The South China Sea controversy is part of a broader effort by the Chinese government to assert control over its near-borders. The Communist regime has warned American companies not to refer to Hong Kong and Tibet in a way that downplays the central government’s control over the territories, for instance. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., suggested the laser incident was a “brush back pitch” from China in response to the passage of a law encouraging meetings between U.S. leaders and Taiwan, which China regards as a breakaway province.

“There's no doubt about it: China wants to be the power in Asia,” Johnson, who also sits on the Foreign Relations panel, told the Washington Examiner. “I think it will be the power in Asia. I don't think there's much we can do about that.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/marco-rubio-us-must-develop-plan-to-destroy-chinese-assets-in-south-china-sea

>>1631531

Indeed, Nobody has better control of the press than her.

>>1631623

These guys, never Trumper's, Neocon's are alway going to advocate for war, because it equals $$.

>>1631625

They like the enterprise of war and $$, lining their pockets.

CNN correspondent cheers for Castro, boos for Kim

Media double standards don’t come much clearer than this.

CNN’s chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto is very upset that President Trump mugged for a photo this month with North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol, smiling and holding a comically oversized letter from the Hermit Kingdom’s boy dictator, Kim Jong Un.

“[Trump] is smiling next to a man who runs a gulag jailing some 200,000 North Koreans and who oversaw the sinking of a South Korean Navy ship killing 46 & the hacking of Sony North America,” an indignant Sciutto tweeted this weekend.

.@realDonaldTrump is smiling next to a man who runs a gulag jailing some 200,000 North Koreans and who oversaw the sinking of a South Korean Navy ship killing 46 & the hacking of Sony North America. pic.twitter.com/1sH5S9LbVa

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) June 2, 2018

He's not wrong. North Korea is indeed hell on earth, with the Kim dynasty playing the role of Satan. Trump threatens to legitimize the monsters by cozying up with smiles and praise (see more here).

The amusing thing about Sciutto’s criticism is: When it comes to the White House making overtures towards brutal dictatorships, the CNN correspondent, who served in the State Department under former President Barack Obama, is selectively offended. Recall that in 2014, as Obama restored the U.S.' formal relations with Cuba, Sciutto’s tone was decidedly different. Reverential, even.

“The call that changed half a century of division: POTUS speaking with #Cuba Pres. Raul Castro yesterday,” CNN’s chief national security correspondent wrote on Twitter on Dec. 17, 2014.

The call that changed half a century of division: POTUS speaking with #Cuba Pres. Raul Castro yesterday pic.twitter.com/3IUr8JIEZL

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) December 17, 2014

Never mind that the Castros have overseen decades of brutal, murderous oppression. Never mind that the Castros are directly responsible for the murders of thousands of political dissidents.

Never mind that the Castro regime is responsible for the murder, torture and "disappearance" of thousands of political dissidents.

As I've written earlier, it's difficult to put a figure on the number of deaths for which the Castros are responsible, but a Harvard-trained economist "estimates that almost 78,000 innocents may have died trying to flee the dictatorship," the Wall Street Journal's Mary Anastasia O'Grady reported. "Another 5,300 are known to have lost their lives fighting communism in the Escambray Mountains (mostly peasant farmers and their children) and at the Bay of Pigs."

"An estimated 14,000 Cubans were killed in Fidel's revolutionary adventures abroad, most notably his dispatch of 50,000 soldiers to Angola in the 1980s to help the Soviet-backed regime fight off the Unita insurgency," the report adds.

For further perspective, consider this anecdote from Armando Valladares' 1986 Against All Hope, in which he recounts the Castro regime’s brutal rise to power, just after defeating Gen. Fulgencio Batista's forces:

Hundreds of soldiers from the defeated army of Batista had been lined up in a trench knee-deep and more than 50 yards long. Their hands were tied behind their backs, and they were machine-gunned there where they stood. Then with bulldozers the trenches were turned into mass graves. There had been no trial of any kind for those men. Many of them were hardly more than boys, who had joined the army because money and food were scarce at home. The mass execution was ordered by Raul Castro and attended by him personally. Nor was it an isolated instance; other officers in Castro's guerilla forces shot ex-soldiers en masse without a trial, without any charges of any kind lodged against them, simply as an act of reprisal against the defeated army.

Remember: This story is from the early days of the Castro regime. It'll be decades before the full scope of that family's reign of terror is fully understood.

Anyway, it's very bad that Trump let himself be seen cozying up to the North Korean envoy:

Sciutto is welcome to his opinion, but his uneven application of outrage is a bit too cute.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/cnn-correspondent-cheers-for-castro-boos-for-kim

Democratic Congressman: "Looks Like Zuckerberg Lied To Congress"

Mon, 06/04/2018 - 14:40

Responding to a report in the New York Times which revealed Facebook gave at least 60 major device manufacturers unprecedented access to user data, Democratic Congressman David Cicilline (RI) tweeted on Sunday: "Sure looks like Zuckerberg lied to Congress about whether users have “complete control” over who sees our data on Facebook," adding "This needs to be investigated and the people responsible need to be held accountable."

The Times reported Sunday evening that Facebook gave at least 60 major device manufacturers access to user data over the last decade - including Apple, Amazon, BlackBerry, Microsoft and Samsung - as part of a data-sharing partnership program which allowed the companies to integrate various features such as messaging and "like" buttons into their products.

The agreement has allowed manufacturers to access information on relationship status, calendar events, political affiliations and religion, among other things. An Apple spokesman, for example, said that the company relied on private access to Facebook data to allow users to post on the social network without opening the Facebook app, among other things.

Even more disturbing, the manufacturers were able to access the data of users' friends without their explicit consent, despite Facebook declaring they would not let outside companies access user data. The catch? The NYT explains.

“It’s like having door locks installed, only to find out that the locksmith also gave keys to all of his friends so they can come in and rifle through your stuff without having to ask you for permission,” said Ashkan Soltani, a research and privacy consultant and former chief technologist for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The Times even performed a test to verify their claims.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-04/democratic-congressman-looks-zuckerberg-lied-congress

>>1631682

I understand the overall concept here, but we do have a problem on both sides of the isle right now, there are still some in the Republican Party who will not allow this President to run his agenda, they, are trying to stop him where ever they think they can, one of them is trying to gin up unnecessary wars. Peace Through Strength should be something everyone can stand behind, yet there are those who would prefer the act of a physical war.

>>1631783

I agree on both counts. Interesting also is the states you refer to also challenged the voter information on the special voter panel Trump convened.

>>1631835

Agree that and some jail time wouldn't hurt either, people have gone there for less.

>>1631730

This guy is always trying to inflame a situation anyway he can, he has to remain in the spot light, and I really don't think he cares one way or another how he gets it.

>>1631894

Something he knows nothing about being a newsreader and all, kek

Bill Clinton Melts Down Over Lewinsky Questions, Snaps At Interviewer Over "Gaping Facts"

Bill Clinton got feisty over his affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky - telling NBC's Craig Melvin that while he has not apologized to her personally, he has done so on national television - and would not reveal whether he thinks he owes her an apology today.

“This March, Monica Lewinsky penned an op-ed in “Vanity fair,” taking responsibility for her part in the scandal but also admitting that years later, she was diagnosed with PTSD from the unrelenting public scrutiny,” Melvin said to Clinton, reading aloud an excerpt from the op-ed. “Looking back, through the lens of #MeToo now, do you think differently or feel more responsibility?”

Clinton said he felt “terrible” and “came to grips with it,” before claiming that the investigation into his conduct was unfair and that he had to incur debt.

“Through the lens of #MeToo now, do you think differently or feel more responsibility?… Did you ever apologize to her [Lewinsky]?” @craigmelvin to Bill Clinton pic.twitter.com/rXcixhDHER

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 4, 2018

Bill Clinton gets asked if he ever apologized to Lewinsky. He responds by saying Starr investigation was unfair https://t.co/C96l2tJBe4

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 4, 2018

Bill Clinton responds by attacking Melvin as presenting “one side”, and pivots to talking about how much debt he incurred, how many women he employed and how he had a sexual harassment policy in the 1980s. https://t.co/D04WBZS52L

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) June 4, 2018

Clinton accused Melvin of giving a one-sided interview. “You typically have ignored gaping facts in describing this, and I bet you don’t even know them,” he continued.

“This was litigated 20 years ago. Two-thirds of the American people sided with me,” Clinton said. “They were not insensitive that I had a sexual harassment policy when I was governor in the ’80s. I had two women chiefs of staff when I was governor. Women were over-represented in the attorney general’s office in the ’70s for their percentage of the bar.”

The former President continued, “I’ve had nothing but women leaders in my office since I left. You are giving one side and omitting facts.”

Melvin defended himself, saying that he was "not trying to present a side."

Clinton shot back - “I don’t think — you think President Kennedy should have resigned? Do you believe President Johnson should have resigned?”

“Someone should ask you these questions because of the way you formulate the questions. I dealt with it 20 years ago, plus, and the American people, two-thirds of them, sided with me, and I’ve tried to do a good job since then with my life and with my work. That’s all I have to say.”

Meanwhile Juanita Broaddrick, who claims that Bill Clinton raped her on April 25, 1978 in an Arkansas hotel room, biting her upper lip so badly it was nearly severed, asks "WHY Doesn't any reporter have the guts to ask about Bill Clinton about the sexual assaults and rape???" adding "Monica was Consensual!!!"

WHY Doesn’t any reporter have the guts to ask about Bill Clinton about the sexual assaults and rape???….Monica was Consensual!!! https://t.co/CkuSMCAXAe

— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) June 4, 2018

https:// www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-04/bill-clinton-melts-down-over-lewinsky-questions-snaps-interviewer-over-gaping-facts

Putin Signs Law On Countermeasures To "Unfriendly Actions" By US And Its Allies

While Trump and Putin may, or may not, be planning a long overdue summit between the US and Russia - as a reference, presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama each held summits with Putin within six months of taking office; meanwhile 16 months into his tenure, Trump has yet to do the same - today Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law stipulating implementation of counter-sanctions against the US and its allies.

According to the Russian media, the legislation will be applied to any state or person for "hostile actions" against Russia, and allows Russian authorities to cut international cooperation with foreign states and impose import and export restrictions among other countermeasures. Trade embargos will not extended to certain goods, however, that are imported by Russian citizens for personal use.

As RT adds, the bill which is aimed at defending “economic interests and security” was drafted by State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and the heads of all four parliamentary caucuses in mid-April. It was approved by Russian lawmakers by the end of May. The move came in retaliation to Washington’s economic penalties against Moscow.

However, contrary to domestic concerns, the countersanctions do not apply to imported essential items, for which no replacements are produced in Russia or other countries, although in case of escalating trade wars, those are precisely the products which trading partners will limit their exports.

As a reminder, in early April, the US Treasury included 24 Russians, including high-profile politicians, and 14 corporations on a sanctions list relating to alleged "malign activity around the globe." The move has been repeatedly condemned by Russian authorities, with Moscow immediately promising to retaliate. It is unclear if by signing today's law, Russia will next proceed to respond in kind to the US action.

https:// www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-04/putin-signs-law-countersanctions-unfriendly-actions-us-and-its-allies

>>1632012

Anything to snag him with the narrative they want, they can try, but again, it will fail.

>>1632033

Putin doesn't have one, he's divorced.