Trump says arrest of Senate staffer in leak probe could be a terrific thing'
Trump says arrest of Senate staffer in leak probe 'could be a terrific thing'
President Trump said Friday that the arrest of a Senate Intelligence Committee staffer who is accused of lying to the FBI about leaking to the media "could be a terrific thing."
Trump, who routinely denounces leaks, said he still is learning details about James Wolfe, the former Senate intelligence Committee security director who was charged with making false statements about his links to four journalists.
"It's very interesting they caught a leaker in a very important — it's a very important leaker. So it's very interesting," Trump said on the South Lawn of the White House. "I'm getting information on it now. It happened last night. It could be a terrific thing."
Trump said, however, that he believes in press freedom, amid reports that the government acquired phone and email records of New York Times journalist Ali Watkins, who reportedly was in a romantic relationship with Wolfe.
"I know I believe strongly in freedom of the press. I'm a big, big believer in freedom of the press. But I'm also a believer in classified information," Trump said. "It has to remain classified. And that includes [former FBI Director James] Comey and his band of thieves who leaked classified information all over the place. So I'm a very big believer in freedom of the press, but I'm also a believer you cannot leak classified information."
Wolfe has not been charged with specific crimes covering mishandling classified information, which could come with harsh criminal sanctions. An indictment leveling three false-statement charges, however, links his handling of a classified document with a story published by Watkins.
So far in Trump's presidency, just two other alleged leakers have been prosecuted: former NSA contractor Reality Winner and former FBI agent Terry Albury.
Winner, jailed without bail pending trial, was arrested in June 2017 for allegedly providing a document to The Intercept on 2016 Russian attempts to hack election systems. Albury, who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to two felonies in April, is believed to have sent The Intercept an FBI guide to informant recruitment and rules for seizing records from journalists.
Trump returned to the subject of the new leak case later in a wide-ranging gaggle with reporters on Friday, saying that "I think you have a double edge. Reporters can't leak. You cannot leak classified information."
It's unclear what he meant to communicate about reporters being unable to leak, as reporters can legally publish classified information. But Trump added: "At the same time, we need freedom of the press. But you cannot leak. Like Hillary Clinton did, like Comey did. You cannot leak classified information."
Trump then returned to a favorite subject, invoking the year-long prison sentence given to former Navy sailor Kristian Saucier. Trump allowed Saucier to serve his full prison sentence, but pardoned the young father this year. Saucier took six photos inside a nuclear submarine that were deemed to contain confidential information, the lowest level of classification.
"If you look at the young sailor, Saucier, he went to jail over not classified — a much lower level. And it's very unfair that he goes to jail and that Comey is allowed to do it all over," Trump said.
https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/trump-says-arrest-of-senate-staffer-in-leak-probe-could-be-a-terrific-thing
Trump: Melania had major surgery that lasted four hours
First lady Melania Trump won’t be accompanying her husband on his trips to Canada and Singapore because her doctors said she shouldn’t fly so soon after having surgery, President Trump said Friday.
Melania Trump had surgery May 14 for a benign kidney condition. The first lady’s office has been mostly private about Melania Trump’s health, but the president gave more details Friday while speaking to the press before heading to Canada.
The president said his wife’s operation was a “big” surgery that last four hours, but she’s now doing “great.”
“She wanted to go. Can’t fly for one month, the doctors say. She had a big operation. That was close to a four hour operation. She’s doing great,” Trump said.
Melania Trump appeared for the first time in public outside the White House on Wednesday when she attended an event at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters with the president. She attended an event for Gold Star families at the White House on Monday, but the event was not open to the press.
The president left the White House early Friday to attend the G7 summit in Canada. He’s traveling to Singapore on over the weekend to prepare for an historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to discuss denuclearization of Kim’s country.
https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-melania-had-major-surgery-that-lasted-four-hours
Russia, China pledge deeper cooperation in 'all areas'
Russia and China have agreed to deepen their cooperation on security and instability in the region, at a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"The sides express their intention to build up cooperation in all areas, and for this purpose they will be developing strategic trust-based dialogue at high and top levels and continue to develop mechanisms of bilateral intergovernmental, interparliamentary, interparty, interagency and interregional cooperation," the two countries said in a joint statement, as reported by Russia's state-owned news outlet Tass.
The two countries said they would also cooperate more closely on "growing instability and uncertainty in the world." Increased military cooperation is also a goal.
"Russia and China intend to further build up strategic contacts and coordination between their armed forces, improve the existing mechanisms of military cooperation, expand interaction in the field of practical military and military-technical cooperation and jointly resist challenges to global and regional security," they said.
The statement comes as the U.S. continues to wrestle with Russia and China's influence around the world. The U.S. and Russia have worked at cross-purposes in Syria, and Russia has vetoed U.S.-sponsored resolutions on Syria at the United Nations.
China has been a more stable partner for the U.S. when dealing with North Korea. But tensions between U.S. and China have been rising over China's territorial claims to the South China Sea.
https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/russia-china-pledge-deeper-cooperation-in-all-areas
Trump shocked by Anthony Bourdain death
President Trump said Friday he was shocked to hear CNN host and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain took his own life while in France.
Bourdain, 61, was found dead in his hotel room after apparently hanging himself, CNN reported. He was in the process of filming an upcoming episode for “Parts Unknown.”
Trump said he was a fan of Bourdain’s show and extended condolences to Bourdain’s family.
“I want to extend to his family my heartfelt condolences,” Trump told reporters Friday. “That was very shocking. When I woke up this morning, Anthony Bourdain is dead. I enjoyed his show.”
“He was quite a character,” Trump continued.
Bourdain, who was critical of Trump, joked in 2017 that he would poison the president if he had to cook for him.
Bourdain is the second high-profile figure to die of suicide this week. Fashion designer Kate Spade was found dead in her home earlier this week after taking her own life.
Trump also sent his condolences to Spade’s family.
https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-shocked-by-anthony-bourdain-death
Trump's clemency list has 3,000 names, asks NFL players to suggest people to be pardoned
President Trump said Friday he is considering a massive number of potential clemency recipients, and invited football players kneeling for the national anthem to add more to the list.
"We have 3,000 names. We're looking at them. Of the 3,000 names, many of those names really have been treated unfairly," Trump said on the South Lawn before boarding Marine One.
Trump repeatedly stressed his desire to give clemency to ordinary people, rather than just famous people.
"I would get more thrill out of pardoning people nobody knows. Like Alice [Johnson] yesterday," he said, referring to his decision to commute the grandmother's life sentence for drug dealing. Johnson was Trump's second commutation recipient.
"I thought Kim Kardashian [West] was great because she brought Alice to my attention. The way she left that jail and the tears and the love she has with her family, to me that was better than any celebrity that I could pardon," he said. "So we're looking at it. We're looking at literally thousands of names of people that have come to our attention that have been treated unfairly or where their sentence is far too long."
Trump said he's considering a pardon for Muhammad Ali, the boxer who died a beloved national figure in 2016 after a politically controversial early career. Ali was convicted in 1967 after refusing his draft order to join the military during the Vietnam War. It was unclear, however, what Ali would be pardoned for. The Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1971 and President Jimmy Carter pardon all Americans who avoided the Vietnam draft in 1977.
"The power to pardon is a beautiful thing. You got to get it right. You've got to get the right people," Trump said. "I am looking at Muhammad Ali. But those are the famous people. And in one way it's easier and people find it fascinating. But I want to do people that are unfairly treated, like Alice where she comes out and it's something beautiful."
Unprompted, Trump said he was considering inviting athletes who won't stand for the national anthem in protest of police-perpetrated injustice to submit examples of worthy clemency aspirants for his review.
"You have a lot of people in the NFL in particular, but in sports leagues, they're not proud enough to stand for our national anthem. I don't like that," he said. "What I'm going to do is I'm going to say to them instead of talk, it's all talk, talk, talk. We have a great country, you should stand for our national anthem. You shouldn't go in a locker room when our national anthem is played. I am going to ask all of those people to recommend to me — because that's what they're protesting. People that they think were unfairly treated by the justice system. I understand that. I'm going to ask them to recommend to me people that were unfairly treated. Friends of theirs or people they know about and I'm going to take a look at those applications. If I find — if my committee finds they're unfairly treated, we will pardon them or at least let them out."
Trump's use of clemency powers already is unconventional, but the volume would be unprecedented in recent history. In eight years, former President Barack Obama issued just 212 pardons and 1,715 commutations.
It's not clear how Trump assembled a list of 3,000 clemency aspirants. The White House was not immediately able to supply additional details.
So far, Trump has issued two prison commutations and five pardons. But excitement was already building among clemency activists and inmates after Trump met with Kardashian West last week to discuss Johnson's case, following an unusual amount of early-term pardons.
Longtime Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, who pushed Trump to issue his first commutation before consulting on two pardons, told the Washington Examiner last week that "this president may want to go down in history as somebody who has given pardons in places where other presidents would not have done it."
https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/trump-asks-nfl-players-to-suggest-people-to-be-pardoned
Nice!
Big Time for them for a change, and a world full of Big Pain for Hollywood and others. It feels good to see the tide change :)
Democrats demand investigation into Trump's premature jobs report tweet
Democratic senators are asking regulators to investigate whether President Trump gave anyone an inside tip on the May jobs report, after he prematurely touted the numbers on Twitter.
Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and two other Democrats asked the Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal regulators to probe whether anyone spoke with Trump prior to the report's release and was able to trade on information from the president, who received the jobs numbers the night before they were released publicly.
"President Trump recklessly violated federal rules and years of precedent by telegraphing financial data that has the power to move our markets," Warren said in a statement. "The Trump administration is swarming with people who have secret financial holdings and conflicts of interest a mile long."
The senators also asked the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Council of Economic Advisers to explain Trump's too-soon Tweet.
Federal guidelines prevent administration officials from commenting on the jobs numbers before they're released. The payroll jobs report is one of the most important indicators for investors to trade on.
About an hour before last week's report, however, Trump hinted that the numbers would be good.
"Looking forward to seeing the employment numbers at 8:30 this morning," he tweeted.
Sure enough, the report was very encouraging, showing unemployment falling to 3.8 percent and strong job growth and wage growth.
In their letter to regulators, Democrats raised the possibility that Trump might also have shared information about the report privately.
This isn't the first time Democrats have tried to get regulators to probe insider trading related to Trump, although they have yet to get results. Last year, for example, Democrats sought an investigation into the possibility that billionaire investor Carl Icahn, an outside adviser to Trump, traded on nonpublic information.
https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/democrats-demand-investigation-into-trumps-premature-jobs-report-tweet
Trump says he can 'probably' support bill letting states set marijuana policy
President Trump said Friday that he "probably" will support new legislation allowing states to set their own marijuana policies, making good on assurances he gave Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., this year.
The bill sponsored by Gardner would federally legalize marijuana in states that allows its use, ending a long-standing conflict between state and federal law, which still deems all possession of the drug illegal.
"I support Senator Gardner. I know exactly what he's doing," Trump said. "We're looking at it. But I probably will end up supporting that, yes."
In April, Trump told Gardner in a pair of private phone conversations that he would back such legislation, but Trump did not publicly discuss his position.
More than two dozen states allow medical marijuana sales. Nine states and the nation's capital have recreational legalization laws, though neither Vermont or D.C. regulate sales.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump said he favored a states-rights approach to recreational pot and that he supported medical marijuana. But his nomination of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a longtime reform opponent, generated concern among the state-legal industry.
Gardner won Trump's initial backing on pot reform legislation by blocking Justice Department nominations after Sessions withdrew the 2013 Cole Memo in January. That memo acted as a green light for states' autonomy by identifying specific trip wires for a federal crackdown, and Sessions' move was seen as a threat by states like Colorado. Sessions instead empowered individual U.S. attorneys to decide whether to prosecute marijuana crimes.
Gardner introduced the new legislation with co-sponsor Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Companion legislation in the House was introduced by Reps. David Joyce, R-Ohio, and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.
The Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act, or the STATES Act, would change federal law to say that the federal Controlled Substances Act doesn't apply to state regulated markets. It sets a 21-year age requirement for recreational sales, and removes industrial hemp, or low-THC cannabis, from the CSA, making it legal to grow nationwide. It would also ease banking hurdles to state legal pot businesses.
Sauce: https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/trump-says-he-can-probably-support-bill-letting-states-set-marijuana-policy
Air Force grounds B-1 bombers after ejection seat incident
The Air Force has ordered a grounding of its B-1B Lancer bomber fleet after a problem with an ejection seat.
One of the long-range strike aircraft made an emergency landing in Midland, Texas, when the issue was discovered and the stand-down was ordered on Thursday, Air Force Global Strike Command announced in a press release on Friday.
The Air Force Safety Investigation Board is investigating the problem and the fleet will remain grounded until it is resolved, the command said.
“The SIB’s purpose is to prevent future mishaps or losses and is comprised of experts who investigate the incident and recommend corrective actions. The safety of airmen is the command’s top priority,” according to the release.
https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/air-force-grounds-b-1-bombers-after-ejection-seat-incident
Trump administration tells court it won't defend Obamacare against lawsuit seeking to cripple it
The Trump administration told a federal court Thursday it won’t defend Obamacare against a lawsuit that’s trying to strike down most of the law.
It’s a notable stance that means it will be up to Obamacare fans such as Democratic governors to step in and defend the Affordable Care Act against on onslaught from GOP attorneys general, who say after Congress nixed the individual mandate at the heart of the law, the rest of it should follow.
In court papers, the Justice Department said it doesn’t want to stop the law in its tracks, but said they agreed with the plaintiffs who say the most famous parts of the law are now illegal.
The crux of the argument goes back to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s 2012 ruling upholding the constitutionality of the individual mandate as a valid use of Congress’s taxing power. The court held that Congress was able to offer people a choice: get insurance, or pay a tax.
If there is no tax penalty for not buying insurance now, then no taxation is taking place, so the other parts of the law tied to the individual mandate must go, the 20 GOP attorneys general argue.
The Justice Department concurred.
“The Supreme Court’s saving construction of the individual mandate as a tax is no longer available,” government lawyers wrote.
The White House and congressional Republicans had said they would like to have a replacement in hand before Obamacare is scrapped, but if the lawsuit prevails, that may not be the possible.
Republicans tried to repeal and replace the law last year, but those efforts stalled and GOP leaders haven’t expressed any desire to wage a health care fight in a mid-term year.
Justice attorneys said they don’t think it’s lawful to freeze Obamacare now, since repeal of the mandate doesn’t take effect until 2019.
But they suggested the court consider ordering that as of Jan. 1 two parts of the law will be invalid: that people with preexisting conditions must receive coverage, and that they cannot be charged more than healthier consumers.
“This court should hold that the ACA’s individual mandate will be unconstitutional as of January 1, 2019, and that the ACA’s guaranteed-issue and community-rating provisions are inseverable from the mandate,” they wrote.
Those protections had been considered sacrosanct by most members of Congress, with GOP lawmakers fretting during their efforts last year over how to unwind Obamacare while still preserving those parts of the law.
During the Obama years, the law had an ardent defender in the executive branch.
Now the defense is left to 17 Democratic states that intervened in the case, correctly fearing the administration wouldn’t mount much of a defense.
They urged the court to consider the implications of nixing more of Obamacare.
“There is no legal or equitable justification for depriving tens of millions of Americans of the benefits of these vital healthcare programs,” they wrote.
Nicholas Bagley, a law professor at the University of Michigan who tracks the issue, said he was stunned by the administration’s decision.
“I am at a loss for words to explain how big of a deal this is,” he said on Twitter. “The Justice Department has a durable, longstanding, bipartisan commitment to defending the law when non-frivolous arguments can be made in its defense. This brief torches that commitment.”
Still, refusing to defend a law is not unprecedented.
The Obama administration made the same move with respect to the Defense of Marriage Act, declining to defend it.
https:// www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jun/7/trump-administration-wont-defend-obamacare-against/