Pelosi to Biden: 'Join the straight-arm club'

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday offered some gentle advice to her friend and ally Joe Biden, encouraging the former vice president to adopt a more hands-off approach to his interpersonal associations, particularly with women.

"I'm a member of the straight-arm club. … I just pretend that you have a cold and I have a cold," Pelosi said during a public interview with Politico in Washington.

"I've known Joe Biden a long time. My grandchildren love Joe Biden. He's an affectionate person — to children, to senior citizens, to everyone, that's just the way he is," she continued.

"But that's just not the way — join the straight-arm club with me, if you will."

Pelosi emphasized that she doesn't think the allegations facing Biden make him unfit for a run at the White House.

"I don't think it's disqualifying," she said, adding that any one of the Democratic contenders would be an improvement over President Trump.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/436879-pelosi-to-biden-join-the-straight-arm-club

Trump: Dems 'have become totally unhinged' following Mueller report

President Trump on Tuesday took aim Democrats, specifically focusing on two House members in a pair of tweets accusing the party of becoming "unhinged" in the wake of special counsel Robert Mueller's conclusion to his investigation of the Trump campaign and Russian election interference.

The president accused Democrats of looking at Mueller as a "God-like figure" and said that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) would never be satisfied by cooperation and testimony from members of his campaign and administration.

"Robert Mueller was a God-like figure to the Democrats, until he ruled No Collusion in the long awaited $30,000,000 Mueller Report," Trump wrote. "Now the Dems don’t even acknowledge his name, have become totally unhinged, and would like to go through the whole process again. It won’t happen!"

"There is no amount of testimony or document production that can satisfy Jerry Nadler or Shifty Adam Schiff," the president continued, adding: "It is now time to focus exclusively on properly running our great Country!"

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/436875-trump-dems-have-become-totally-unhinged-following-mueller-report

Nuclear issues sharpen focus on US-Saudi relations

A nuclear war is in prospect between Congress and the Trump administration. Tension is high. Skirmishes have begun. But the political battle is not being fought with nukes. Rather, it is about nukes — Saudi nukes.

The word “Saudi” is cropping up in many headlines these days. Perhaps too many. The Saudis likely are players in the “deal of the century” — the yet-to-be-announced Middle East plan, where their financial weight, regional prestige and religious significance could be crucial to U.S. diplomacy.

But this role runs in parallel with the challenge of coping with the notoriety gained by imprisoning and allegedly abusing women political activists, and the cause celebre of the murder and dismemberment of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The nuclear issue bridges the positives and negatives — what we want the Saudis to do, and what we hope they will stop doing.

Riyadh wants nuclear power plants, for generating electricity and for desalination. To access U.S. technology, Riyadh needs to sign a so-called 123 Agreement, which would lay out the parameters for nuclear cooperation. When the United States signed one with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2009, Abu Dhabi pledged not to enrich its own fuel nor to reprocess its spent fuel. (Enriching is the technique that can result in highly enriched uranium, a nuclear explosive. Reprocessing produces plutonium, which also can be used in atomic bombs.)

Riyadh declares its nascent nuclear program is entirely for peaceful purposes but wants to retain the right to enrich and reprocess. An additional argument made by individual Saudis is that, if Iran is allowed to enrich under the terms of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear accord — which still exists even though President Trump withdrew the United States last year — why can’t Riyadh?

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/436799-nuclear-issues-sharpen-focus-on-us-saudi-relations

Duke graduate details being held down and 'raped' by Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax in the dark when they were students and says she blames herself for his other accuser's 2004 oral sex 'assault'

A woman has given a harrowing account of how she was raped by Justin Fairfax when they were in college and how she blames herself for him allegedly assaulting another woman four years later.

Meredith Watson claims she was 'held down' by the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 2000 when they were both students at Duke University, 'forcibly sexually assaulted' and raped in the dark.

Like Fairfax's other accuser, Vanessa Tyson, she says she had confided in him about being raped by someone else when he allegedly attacked her.

Both women made their accusations in February but have each spoken out since in an effort for him to be brought to justice.

In an interview with CBS This Morning on Tuesday, Watson said she felt responsible for the alleged attack on Tyson which happened four years later.

She also gave a harrowing account of the night Fairfax, now 40, allegedly assaulted her.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6877557/Fellow-Duke-grad-details-held-raped-Justin-Fairfax.html

Schiff says Trump broke 'cardinal rule' of childish nicknames: 'Pick one and stick with it'

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) quipped that President Trump broke the "cardinal rule of childish nicknames" by giving him several instead of sticking with just one.

"This is nothing new," Schiff told CNN. "We've seen these childish nicknames for a year and a half, but he is violating the cardinal rule of childish nicknames which is you've got to pick one and stick with it."

Trump in recent weeks has called Schiff names including "little shifty Schiff" and "little pencil-neck Adam Schiff." Trump's 2020 reelection campaign has also begun selling "Pencil-Neck Adam Schiff" shirts.

Republicans have ramped up attacks after Schiff said Democrats would continue their investigation of the president following the completion of the special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian election interference and alleged collusion between Trump's campaign and Moscow.

Mueller in March submitted his final report to Attorney General William Barr, who said the special counsel's team did not find enough evidence to conclude that anyone on the campaign conspired with Russia.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/436906-schiff-says-trump-broke-the-cardinal-rule-of-childish-nicknames-youve-got-to

This needs a graphic to go along with it…. any help?

Biden office highlights support from women after second accuser comes forward.

Joe Biden's office highlighted women Tuesday who have come forward in defense of the former vice president after a second woman accused him of crossing a line between supportive behavior and inappropriate touching.

Biden spokesman Bill Russo in a lengthy statement emailed to reporters highlighted 24 testimonies from a variety of notable women in politics and the public sphere, as well as Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) speaking on behalf of his daughter.

Russo on Monday sent out a statement with excerpts from Coons and Stephanie Carter, who is married to former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, saying that photos of them with Biden had been taken out of context to argue he was acting inappropriately.

In Tuesday's letter, Russo shared more testimony from women who had positive interactions with Biden.

Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice shared in tweets on Monday said that in her experience "he is warm and affectionate with women (and men)."

"But never have I found his actions inappropriate or uncomfortable. I have always appreciated his kindness and warmth," she said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) told reporters on Monday that "the Joe Biden that I have known for 25 years is a warm and friendly human being."

"He didn't mean it as anything other than that. And I guess, there has never been a problem before," she defended him.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/436900-biden-camp-highlights-support-from-women-after-second-accuser-comes-forward

Starting to think Biden is being politically sacrificed by other potential 2020 Dim candidates.