Republicans plotting to oppose Trump in 2020 waiting for Mueller and June before pulling trigger

Renegade Republicans intent on upending President Trump in 2020 are keeping their powder dry, waiting to see if legal and political controversies drive him from office first. Political operatives and potential candidates that inhabit the loose-knit community of Republicans who oppose Trump’s re-election are eyeing June as the approximate moment for deciding on a primary challenge or independent bid. It’s a strategic delay. Some Republicans think the weight of multiple investigations could motivate the president to exit the White House after one term — especially if special counsel Robert Mueller issues a politically damaging report.

"The scenario I think we could be heading toward is Trump hitting a Mueller-induced problem where there would suddenly be several people looking at running because of the odds increasing that he won’t run again," said Rob Stutzman, a veteran GOP consultant in Sacramento, Calif., who has had discussions with like-minded Republicans about how Trump 2020 might be derailed. The president begins the election cycle in a position to cruise to renomination, bolstered by the overwhelming support of grassroots Republicans. But a small-but-persistent group of Republicans unhappy with his leadership remains. Some are actively attempting to recruit a credible primary challenger; others are examining the viability of an independent bid.

The Republicans most often listed as possible Trump challengers are outgoing Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who ran in 2016; Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who is up for re-election next year; Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the GOP presidential nominee in 2012 who was elected to his current post just last year; Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan; and former Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Flake of Arizona, who sources say are unlikely to run.

Depending on the circumstances, Kasich is perhaps the most immediately prepared to mount a credible challenge to Trump, notwithstanding his prickly relationship with loyal Republicans. But Kasich isn’t interested in waging a primary campaign that might hobble the president against the Democrats in the general election but falls short of the White House. That’s why he’s considering running as an independent. Any Kasich bid, independent or GOP, would likely rely quite a bit on New Hampshire. The governor finished second there in the 2016 primary, and his supporters in the state say he retains considerable backing for another run. "We would not run to be a Pat Buchanan-like spoiler. That's not anything that the governor or we are interested in," said John Weaver, a senior Kasich adviser. "We have an organization in place in New Hampshire that's grown since we finished second in 2016. We have consolidated, to some degree, the anti-Trump or disparate groups around the country who are opposed to the president within the party."

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/republicans-plotting-to-oppose-trump-in-2020-waiting-for-mueller-and-june-before-pulling-trigger

Report: Immigration loophole OK’d 8,686 child marriages, some children just 14

Washington Secrets

Report: Immigration loophole OK’d 8,686 child marriages, some children just 14

by Paul Bedard

| January 11, 2019 09:15 AM

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A huge loophole in Washington’s messy immigration laws has paved the way for over 8,000 child marriages, mostly to girls brought in from outside the country, including 14-year-olds, according to a new Senate report released Friday morning. In one case, a 71-year-old won a visa for a 17-year-old from Guatemala, according to the bipartisan report from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Reform Committee chaired by Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson.

The report, the product of a year-long investigation, puts attention on a quirk in policies that promote child marriages and trafficking in the U.S. at a time when the State Department is fighting child marriages overseas. It also shines a light on the complicated and sometimes contradictory web of immigration laws that President Trump and some in Congress are trying to rewrite and reform. “U.S. law and U.S. Department of State policy aim to prevent and reduce the risks of child marriages occurring around the world, yet major loopholes in U.S. law have allowed thousands of minors to be subjected to child marriages,” the committee’s report said. “Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a U.S. child may petition for a visa for a spouse or fiance living in another country, and a U.S. adult may petition for a visa for a minor spouse or fiance living abroad,” it stated.

In total, the committee estimated that over the past 11 years, mostly under the Obama era, 8,686 visas for child spouses or fiances were approved. “In 95 percent of the cases, the younger person was a girl,” said the report. Many were from Latin America. And overall, more than 3 million of the spousal and fiance visas were OK'd over that time.

The report has shocked many. Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton tweeted, "Horrifying: 'US approved thousands of child bride requests.' Yet, not surprising that our immigration system is complicit in supporting #childmarriage." In 48 states, this abhorrent practice is legal. #GirlsNotBrides ⁦@UnchainedAtLast⁩ https://t.co/jHAxMIxYxd

Some of those seeking visas were older citizens, others were to very young citizens seeking to bring their spouses into the U.S., including those who were forced into marriage overseas and encouraged to bring their spouses to America. Said the report, “USCIS awarded petitions to people with significant age differences, including a 71-year-old U.S. citizen’s petition for a 17-year-old spouse from Guatemala and a 14-year-old’s petition for a 48-year-old spouse from Jamaica. USCIS approved 149 petitions involving a minor with an adult spouse or fiance who was more than 40 years old.” In one case, the committee spoke with a U.S. citizen forced to marry her first cousin during a family vacation to Pakistan. “USCIS approved her petition for a spousal immigration benefit for her cousin when she was 13-years-old after she returned to the United States. She is just one of the thousands of U.S. women and girls forced into a child marriage involving the U.S. immigration system,” said the report, titled, “How the U.S. Immigration System Encourages Child Marriages.” Getting a visa for a spouse or fiance requires an approval from State and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The government does not require parental consent even if the petition for a visa is made by a minor.

According to the report, “Over the last eleven years (FY2007 to FY2017), USCIS approved 3,595,447 petitions for spousal or fiance entry into the United States. Of those, 8,686 involved a minor. Two minors whose petitions were approved were 13 years old (and later rejected), 38 were 14 years old, 269 were 15 years old, 1,768 were 16 years old, and the remaining 6,609 were 17 years old.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/report-immigration-loophole-okd-8-686-child-marriages-some-just-14

How the U.S. Immigration System Encourages Child Marriages

ttps://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Child Marriage staff report 1 9 2019 EMBARGOED.pdf

>>4712886

They are in for a rude awakening, imho.

Russia threatens retaliation if UK builds bases

Russia could take “retaliatory” actions if the United Kingdom builds new military installations around the world, a top diplomat warned. “The intention to build up military presence in third countries are of counter-productive, destabilizing and frequently provocative nature," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Friday.

Zakharova’s rebuke followed a forecast from British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson, who revealed that the United Kingdom intends to play a more prominent national security role following the exit from the European Union. He has a goal of “creating a deterrent but also taking a British presence,” as he told British media two weeks ago. “This is our moment to be that true global player once more – and I think the armed forces play a really important role as part of that,” Williamson said. “We are looking at those opportunities not just in the Far East but also in the Caribbean as well.”

The expansion would reverse the 1968 decision to withdraw U.K. forces previously deployed “east of Suez,” which marked the effective end of the British Empire. "The pronouncements by the U.K. defense secretary in favor of further militarizing the British policy cause at least bewilderment,” Zakharova replied. "Naturally, if any measures that create a threat to the security of Russia and its allies are implemented, our country reserves the right to adequate retaliatory actions.”

Williamson predicted a greater role for the United Kingdom to provide “moral leadership, the military leadership and the global leadership,” following the exit from the EU. “This is our biggest moment as a nation since the end of the Second World War, when we can recast ourselves in a different way, we can actually play the role on the world stage that the world expects us to play,” he said.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/russia-threatens-retaliation-if-uk-builds-bases

>>4713324

Indeed, he's just being his usual slobbering self