Former Gillibrand Staffer Resigned Over Handling of Sexual Harrasment Claims

One of the most prominent voices of the #MeToo movement, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), ignored sexual harassment complaints from a young female staffer last year prompting the aide to resign in protest, according to a digital copy of her resignation later sent to the senator’s personal email. Gillibrand was spearheading efforts to change how Congress handles allegations of sexual harassment last year, as the female aide—who wanted to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation and damage to her future career—accused the senator of going against her own “public belief that women shouldn’t accept sexual harassment in any form.” “I have offered my resignation because of how poorly the investigation and post-investigation was handled,” the former aide wrote.

The staffer said in her letter that she had filed a complaint to Deputy Chief of Staff Anne Bradley on July 25 detailing her sexual harassment at the hands of Abbas Malik, the special assistant to Gillibrand. Gillibrand’s office conducted an investigation into her claims on the day and resolved it on July 30. The staffer said she was told both the office and Gillibrand did not find cause to fire Malik and claimed it was a “series of misinterpretations” and too much of a “he said, she said” situation. Malik was still punished as a result of making inappropriate remarks and was demoted.

But the former aide said the following events “directly led” to her decision to resign. On July 31, Bradley entered the former aide’s office and said that “Jess [Fassler] told Abbas that he could have fired him for a number of reasons but isn’t going to, so he should consider himself lucky.” Fassler is the chief of staff. The former aide said she was “deeply confused” and “saddened” by what she heard, prompting her to discuss the matter later in the afternoon with Fassler and Bradley. But in that discussion, Fassler told her “You could also be fired at any minute, for any reason.” In a later discussion on her resignation with Fassler in August, Fassler told her, “I could have fired you too. You fed Abbas alcohol while he was on duty.” The former aide said the comments were “grossly inaccurate” and said she felt intimidated, even when she was in the process of quitting. “I trusted and leaned on this statement that you made: ‘You need to draw a line in the sand and say none of it is O.K. None of it is acceptable,” the aide wrote to Gillibrand.

Gillibrand’s’ office did not respond to a request for comment, but she issued a statement to Politico defending how her office handled the incident: “As I have long said, when allegations are made in the workplace, we must believe women so that serious investigations can actually take place, we can learn the facts, and there can be appropriate accountability,” she said. “That’s exactly what happened at every step of this case last year. I told her that we loved her at the time and the same is true today.”

Malik kept his job until Politico sent new allegations of misconduct to the senator’s office two weeks ago. Gillibrand’s office then opened a new investigation and dismissed Malik last week. Gillibrand, who in January announced she is running for president in 2020, has emphasized her support for far-left policies such as “Medicare for all” and the abolition of Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE).

https://www.theepochtimes.com/former-gillibrand-staffer-resigned-over-handling-of-sexual-harrasment-claims_2833001.html

Federal Reserve Chairman Says Trump Can’t Fire Him

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell believes that President Donald Trump does not have the legal authority to fire him and intends to serve out the rest of his four-year term.

In an interview with “60 Minutes” aired on March 10, host Scott Pelley asked Powell if the president can fire the chair of the Federal Reserve. “Well, the law is clear that I have a four-year term. And I fully intend to serve it,” Powell responded. “So no, in your view?” Pelley asked. “No,” Powell answered.

Last year, Trump repeatedly criticized the central bank for raising interest rates, raising the possibility he may fire Powell, his appointee. The question was settled when Trump’s chief economic adviser said on Dec. 26 that Powell’s job is “100 percent safe.” The law is not clear on whether the president can remove the chairman of the central bank. Trump appointed Powell in late 2017. Powell has raised rates five times since, drawing increasingly fiery criticism from Trump. In December, the president wrote on Twitter that the Federal Reserve is the “only problem” for the American economy. In November, he told The Wall Street Journal that the central bank “is a much bigger problem than China.”

When presented with one of the president’s criticisms, Powell declined to comment and reasserted the Fed’s independence. “My duty is one that Congress has given us, which is to use our tools to achieve maximum employment and stable prices and to supervise and regulate banks so that they treat their customers fairly and so that they’re strong, well-capitalized, and can perform their critical function in good times and bad,” Powell said. “That’s my job.” The central bank did not raise interest rates in January this year for this first time during Powell’s tenure. The Fed kept interest rates at an all-time low throughout the eight years of the presidency of Barack Obama. “We are directed to take, to execute policy, in a strictly nonpolitical way, serving all Americans and that’s what we do. We are independent in that sense. Our decisions on rates can’t be reversed by any other part of government,” Powell said.

The central bank is the sole vehicle for creating money in the United States, with much of the supply created via unbacked bank loans, similar to creating money out of nothing. Congress also tasked the Federal Reserve to keep inflation steady and prevent financial crises, but the bank’s policies have nevertheless repeatedly led to and amplified the crises it was created to prevent. Shortly before announcing his presidential bid in 2015, Trump suggested that moving back to the gold standard “would be wonderful,” but hard to do because the United States no longer has the gold needed. Under a gold-standard banking system, every dollar is backed by gold held by the government. “We used to have a very very solid country because it was based on the gold standard,” Trump told WMUR on March 27, 2015. “We don’t have that anymore.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/federal-reserve-chairman-says-trump-cant-fire-him_2833137.html

U.S. Charges Maduro’s Industry Minister With Sanctions Violations

NEW YORK—The U.S. government on Friday, March 8, announced criminal charges against a top official in Nicolas Maduro’s government for violating sanctions imposed two years ago when the official was accused of drug trafficking. Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah, Venezuela’s industry minister, was accused of evading the February 2017 sanctions by hiring U.S. companies to provide private jet services, including for a Feb. 23 return trip to Venezuela from Russia. Venezuelan businessman Samark Jose Lopez Bello, an El Aissami associate also sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, was also criminally charged, as were several other defendants. A lawyer for El Aissami could not immediately be located. Lopez Bello’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

El Aissami and Lopez Bello, both 44, were each charged with five counts of circumventing sanctions and violating the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, which targets people believed to threaten U.S. economic and foreign policy interests. Each count carries a maximum 30-year prison term. The sanctions against El Aissami were the first by the Trump administration against a top official in Maduro’s government for alleged money laundering and drug trafficking. El Aissami was accused of helping arrange drug shipments out of Venezuela, including to the United States and Mexico, through his control of a Venezuelan airbase and shipping ports. “Enforcement of these sanctions is critical to the national security interests of the U.S.,” Attorney Geoffrey Berman in Manhattan said in a statement. The White House no longer recognizes Maduro’s government.

Friday’s charges accuse El Aissami and Lopez Bello of illegally using services provided by American Charter Services LLC of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and SVMI Solution LLC of West Palm Beach, Florida. The Justice Department said these services included travel to or from the Dominican Republic and Turkey, as well as Venezuela and Russia.

Victor Mones Coro, 41, who established ACS, and Alejandro Miguel Leon Maal, 51, who established SVMI, were charged with the same counts as El Aissami and Lopez Bello. Mones Coro appeared on Friday in the West Palm Beach federal court. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A lawyer for Leon Maal could not immediately be located. ACS and SVMI were not charged, and did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/u-s-charges-maduros-industry-minister-with-sanctions-violations_2833470.html

Venezuelan Minister and Former Vice President Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah charged with violations of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/venezuelan-minister-and-former-vice-president-tareck-zaidan-el-aissami-maddah-charged

Highest Levels of British Government Investigated Over Child Abuse

LONDON—The highest levels of the British political establishment are being examined over allegations they failed to protect children from sexual abuse. Over three weeks, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) is hearing evidence involving lawmakers and high ranking police and whether they covered up pedophilia at the heart of the British government. In his opening statement, lead council Brian Altman said the inquiry would investigate “whether Westminster institutions have failed—and, indeed, whether they are still failing—to protect children.

“Questions have been asked as to how Westminster institutions—be they political parties, government departments, law enforcement, or intelligence agencies—have responded to allegations of child sexual abuse and exploitation,” he said. Altman added that the panel would examine “whether there was a culture whereby people of public prominence were shielded from investigation and their wrongdoing tolerated at the expense of their victims.” He said that the inquiry would assess whether police officers could have been “warned off” investigating possible cases of child sexual abuse when they involved prominent people.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/highest-levels-of-british-government-investigated-over-child-abuse_2833306.html

WW proof out in the open now.