President Trump will not answer any more questions from Mueller: Giuliani

(Reuters) - Lawyers for U.S. President Donald Trump have told special counsel Robert Mueller that he will not answer any more questions in the probe of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani told Reuters on Wednesday. Trump submitted written answers to questions from Mueller in late November. In an interview with Reuters, Giuliani said Mueller raised the possibility of follow-up questions but that the president’s outside legal team told the special counsel before Christmas that Trump would not respond.

Trump’s lawyers and Mueller’s team have had no contact since then, Giuliani said. “As far as we’re concerned, everything is over,” Giuliani told Reuters. “We weren’t convinced they had any questions they don’t know the answer to.” Giuliani said the ball was now in the special counsel’s court. “They could try to subpoena him if they want,” he said. “But they know we could fight that like hell.” Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to try to help Trump win. Trump has denied any collusion with Moscow and Russia has said it did not meddle in the election.

Mueller was appointed in May 2017 to investigate the Russian interference and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. It is unclear when the probe, which has clouded Trump’s first two years in office, will end. Trump answered Mueller’s campaign-related questions focused on Russia in November. However, Giuliani told Reuters at the time, he would not answer questions on whether he tried to obstruct the investigation once he won office, such as by firing former FBI Director James Comey. In his latest interview, the president’s lawyer said it was time for the special counsel to issue his report. “Put up or shut up,” Giuliani said. “We challenge you to do it.” When Mueller ends his investigation, he will send a report on his findings to the Justice Department. It is unclear if the report will be made public.

Since at least last summer, Trump’s legal team has been drafting a rebuttal in preparation for Mueller’s report. Giuliani said the team also was ready to respond to legal issues raised by the hush money paid to an adult film star and a former Playboy playmate before the 2016 election. Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was sentenced last month to three years in prison for crimes including orchestrating the payments in violation of campaign finance laws. When he pleaded guilty, Cohen said he was directed by Trump.

“We have a memo from a number of campaign finance experts that paying what they call hush money, since it has a personal purpose, is not considered a campaign contribution,” Giuliani said. “Therefore it’s not a violation of the campaign finance law.” Giuliani said it is unclear to the legal team whether acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is now in charge of the investigation. Rosenstein, who is preparing to leave his job soon after attorney general nominee William Barr takes office, has overseen the Mueller probe since former Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself in 2017.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia/president-trump-will-not-answer-any-more-questions-from-mueller-giuliani-idUSKCN1P32FW?il=0

Pfizer to shut two manufacturing plants in India

(Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) said on Wednesday it was shutting down two manufacturing plants in India that make generic injectables like penicillin in response to falling demand. The company employs around 1,700 workers at the two factories in the states of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra - nearly 6 percent of Pfizer’s global manufacturing workforce. “Pfizer has conducted a thorough evaluation of the … sites in India and concluded that due to the very significant long term loss of product demand, manufacturing at these sites is not viable,” the company said in an emailed statement.

Pfizer acquired the sites as part of its $15 billion purchase of Hospira Inc in 2015, to boost its portfolio of generic injectable drugs and copies of biotech medicines. The company is also closing a Hospira research and development lab in Taramani, Chennai, but spokesman Steven Danehy said that was unrelated to the shutdown of the two plants. The roughly 150 employees at that facility were informed of that shutdown in the fourth quarter, he said. The plant in Chennai makes generic injectable cephalosporin, penems and penicillin. The Maharashtra plant supplied the Chennai unit with certain products. Both plants do not manufacture products for the India market, Pfizer said, adding that it is expanding operations in its Visakhapatnam facility in south India. Indian financial newspaper Business Standard first reported here the news of the manufacturing plant closings on Tuesday.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pfizer-facilities/pfizer-to-shut-two-manufacturing-plants-in-india-idUSKCN1P31R0?il=0

California Republicans object after Trump threatens wildfire aid

SACRAMENTO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out once more at California on Wednesday for a series of devastating wildfires he blames on poor forest management, threatening to withhold federal disaster aid in a Twitter blast that drew rebukes from lawmakers in his own party. Trump’s tweet, the latest of several in recent months accusing California of bringing wildfires on itself, came two days after newly elected Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, used the occasion of his swearing-in to critique “corruption and incompetence” of the Republican president.

Beyond Newsom, who has vowed to position California as a counterweight to Trump, the deeply blue state is home to some of the president’s most outspoken political foes, including U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The San Francisco Democrat is leading the fight on Capitol Hill against Trump’s demands for $5.7 billion in funding to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, pitting congressional Democrats against Trump in a standoff leading to a prolonged partial closure of the federal government.

Pivoting from weeks of headlines dominated by the shutdown, Trump returned to his commentary that California’s supposed mishandling of its forests and water resources were chiefly to blame for a fire season that ranks as the most destructive on record. “Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen,” Trump wrote on Twitter, a day after Western governors asked for greater federal investment in wildfire prevention. “Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!” the president said, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The tweet drew a sharp reaction from two Republican state lawmakers who represent the area around the northern California town of Paradise, which was mostly incinerated in a wildfire that killed 86 people and destroyed nearly 14,000 homes in November. Trump toured the Camp Fire zone in November, promising “to take care of the people who have been so badly hurt.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-fires-trump/california-republicans-object-after-trump-threatens-wildfire-aid-idUSKCN1P31ND?il=0

Congressional Democrats zero in on latest Manafort-Russia revelation

(Reuters) - Senior Democratic lawmakers called on Wednesday for further investigation into a revelation that in 2016 Donald Trump’s then-presidential election campaign chairman gave polling data to a man U.S. prosecutors have linked to Russian intelligence. On Tuesday, portions of a court filing by lawyers for convicted former Trump campaign head Paul Manafort were inadvertently made public. They showed he shared the data with a business partner and Russian-Ukrainian political operative Konstantin Kilimnik.

Patrick Boland, a spokesman for Representative Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee’s new Democratic chairman, noted that Schiff had described the revelation as “stunning” to the Washington Post and told Reuters that Schiff planned to dig into questions the court filing had raised. The office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller has charged Manafort and Kilimnik in its investigation of Russian interference in the election and whether Trump campaign members coordinated with Moscow officials. President Trump denies any campaign collusion with Russia.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has been conducting a bi-partisan investigation into Russian election meddling, also called for further probing of the matter. “If accurate, this is damning evidence of a senior Trump campaign official providing information to individuals tied to Russian intelligence at the height of the Kremlin’s effort to undermine our election,” Warner said. There is no evidence that Trump was aware that Manafort was sharing the data with Kilimnik, who was described by Mueller in court documents last year as having “ties to a Russian intelligence service.”

Jackie Speier, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, said the revelations raised new questions about possible “collusion” between Trump’s election team and Russia. “It’s a significant revelation that further makes the case for cooperation between the President’s team and Russia on steering the outcome of the 2016 election,” Speier told Reuters.

Tuesday’s court filing was submitted by Manafort’s lawyers in response to allegations that their client had lied repeatedly to Mueller, breaching a plea deal under which Manafort agreed to assist Mueller’s probe. Due to a formatting error the redacted portions of the filing as initially submitted could be electronically reversed, and an uncensored version was circulated by journalists and others on the Internet. It was later replaced with a properly redacted version. In addition to the polling data revelation, the filing also showed that Mueller believes Manafort lied to prosecutors about his discussions with Kilimnik about a “Ukrainian peace plan” and a previously undisclosed meeting between Manafort and Kilimnik in Madrid. Manafort’s lawyers said any incorrect statements by him were unintentional.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a former Trump campaign aide told Reuters that he was unaware Manafort had shared data with Kilimnik and found the news “disturbing” and especially problematic because the data was provided to a foreign national. Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for Trump who has repeatedly criticized the Mueller probe as a fruitless “witch hunt”, dismissed the sharing of data with Kilimnik as inconsequential. “It’s not a crime to talk to a Russian,” Giuliani said. “They are searching for what doesn’t exist. The president did not conspire with the Russians.” Giuliani also said on Wednesday that Trump’s legal team told Mueller that the president will not answer any more questions in the investigation.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-congress/congressional-democrats-zero-in-on-latest-manafort-russia-revelation-idUSKCN1P32OF?il=0

Billionaire environmentalist Steyer will not enter 2020 White House race

(Reuters) - Billionaire donor and liberal activist Tom Steyer, who has led an effort to impeach President Donald Trump, announced on Wednesday he will not seek the Democratic presidential nomination and instead will continue his effort to oust the president.

Steyer, 61, made his announcement in Iowa, the traditional starting point for the presidential nominating contests that will kick off early next year, after months of openly exploring his own presidential campaign, his staff confirmed. “The impeachment question has reached an inflection point,” Steyer wrote on Twitter. “That’s why I just announced that I will be dedicating 100% of my time and effort in 2019 toward Mr. Trump’s impeachment and removal from office.” Steyer’s decision not to enter the race also leaves the deep-pocketed donor available to support one of as many as two dozen Democrats who are weighing 2020 presidential bids.

Steyer plans to spend $40 million this year to pressure the U.S. House of Representatives, which Democrats won control of in the November 2018 elections, to begin impeachment proceedings, and to encourage Democrats vying for the White House to support Trump’s impeachment. Steyer has been a force in Democratic fundraising over the past decade. NextGen America, a political nonprofit he formed in 2013, has poured millions into elections, focusing on climate change, immigration and access to affordable healthcare, among other issues. Steyer said he spent $120 million on the 2018 elections, investing heavily in youth turnout, which he called an untapped source of Democratic support. He also spent more than $90 million during the 2016 elections, when he backed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Some of his money has gone to his Need to Impeach campaign against Trump. Steyer has accused the Republican president of colluding with Russia to win the White House in 2016 and obstructing investigations into their efforts, allegations that Trump has denied.

“I will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to remove this president,” Steyer wrote Wednesday on Twitter. In a tweet in October, Trump dismissed Steyer as a “crazed & stumbling lunatic who should be running out of money pretty soon.”

Steyer amassed a fortune estimated by Forbes at $1.6 billion by founding the investment firm Farallon Capital in the mid-1980s and serving as a partner at the San Francisco private equity firm Hellman & Friedman. Early opinion polls showed the environmentalist and philanthropist, who is based in San Francisco, trailing other Democrats in name recognition and support.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-steyer/billionaire-environmentalist-steyer-will-not-enter-2020-white-house-race-idUSKCN1P32J8?il=0

>>4686551

I do, everyone of these names in this article, will be going down hard..imho.

High-tech border wall plan on display at CES

The same technology used in self-driving cars is being touted as a potential high-tech solution to the US border wall conundrum – with some added benefits. At least one startup at the Consumer Electronics show is showcasing how Lidar, a laser-based detection system widely used in autonomous vehicles, could be deployed along the US-Mexico border at a far lower cost than a physical wall or fence, and with fewer environmental impacts.

Quanergy Systems, among a handful of tech firms working on Lidar border security, is showing to CES attendees its technology being deployed in pilot projects on the India-Pakistan frontier as well as a small section of the southern US border.

"We offer a solution that is more capable than a physical wall," said Louay Eldada, chief executive and co-founder of the Silicon Valley startup. "It can see day and night in any weather and can automatically track intruders, and give the GPS coordinates in real time to patrol officers." Eldada said such a system would cost "about two to three percent" of the price of a physical barrier for the entire US-Mexico border. An electronic solution offers additional benefits, according to Quanergy, including for the environment and in operating costs. "A barrier is an eyesore and it intrudes on the environment, it impedes the flow of wildlife" Eldada told AFP. And without a wall in place, "you don't have to have patrol officers driving back and forth, so you need fewer people" to monitor the border.

A decade ago, the US government canceled plans for an electronic fence, amid concerns it would be ineffective. But Eldada said that technology has vastly improved in recent years, notably with the development of Lidar – light detection and ranging technology – paired with artificial intelligence. "With the long range of Lidar, you detect things before they get to the perimeter, and the AI software is so much more advanced," he said. "We can get very high resolution images, and look at someone's behavior. You can see every articulation. This allows you to see how each person is moving and have a good idea of whether it?s a patrol officer or someone about to cross illegally."

https://www.france24.com/en/20190108-high-tech-border-wall-plan-display-ces

>>4686696

Yeah, I can't understand why there isn't a clear line here…quite bizarre to say the least., On another thought though…wonder if this is one of the placeholders yet to be filled.