NATO turns a wary eye toward China

China is gaining the capability to pose a critical threat to NATO, U.S. officials warned on the eve of an alliance summit in Washington. “NATO is now assessing what China is doing,” Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, told reporters Tuesday evening in Washington. "We are assessing risk. We’re much more active in doing so with China.” The results of that assessment could presage a new eastern focus for a security bloc that formed in 1949 with the goal of deterring the Soviet Union aggression against European and North American powers. But Chinese espionage and economic influence could undermine NATO in a variety of ways, U.S. officials worry.

“It’s critical from the United States' view … that we maintain secure, reliable information and transportation and other infrastructure networks in Europe and in the United States so that we have the ability to respond in a crisis without any concerns about threats posed by Chinese influence over this infrastructure,” a senior State Department official who was not authorized to speak publicly told reporters Tuesday. Those threats appear in traditional military forms, such as China’s growing naval capabilities, and the cybersecurity alarms unique to the 21st century. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has launched a high-profile effort to discourage European allies from partnering with Chinese tech giants such as Huawei, which are pioneering the next generation of wireless technology. “So if a country is investing in the 5G infrastructure that could interrupt our NATO communications or, again, have our NATO communications be distorted or disrupted, that is a very serious issue for NATO,” Hutchison said.

Those comments amplify a warning issued by a bipartisan group of senators, who introduced a resolution last week discouraging NATO allies from striking economic bargains with China’s telecommunications giants, which Western officials regard as being under the thumb of Communist spy services.

China is also using unconventional tactics to gain conventional naval strength. Italy agreed to join China’s vaunted Belt and Road Initiative, an infrastructure investment plan that U.S. officials regard as a “predatory” strategy to purchase political influence and even sovereignty in strategically significant areas. International port access is expected to help Beijing, which is modernizing its navy to be capable of operating around the world, project military power far from Chinese shores, to the doorsteps of the United States. “China is buying rights into seaports in Italy as well as in other parts of the world,” Hutchison said. “So we’re looking at the risk.”'''

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/nato-turns-a-wary-eye-toward-china

Senators demand answers from Rick Perry on nuclear exports to Saudi Arabia

Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J., pressed Energy Secretary Rick Perry Tuesday to disclose specific details of a "secret" nuclear technology export agreement with Saudi Arabia. "We are very concerned about the nuclear proliferation risk associated with the Kingdom’s nuclear program," the senators said in a letter sent to Perry, requesting specific information on seven export licenses approved by Perry and first revealed last week. "We therefore believe the United States should not be providing nuclear technology or information to them at this time," they added.

Rubio, who leads the Foreign Relations Committee's panel on the Western Hemisphere and human rights, maintains that it is the place of Congress to approve all agreements and transfers of nuclear technology to the kingdom. He introduced bipartisan legislation with Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., earlier this year to place further congressional oversight on all nuclear deals with Saudi Arabia in the wake of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was allegedly murdered at the request of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The senators' letter says Mohammed has threatened to develop a nuclear weapon in response to Iran, which poses a major nonproliferation risk that could stoke a conflagration in the Middle East.

"The Kingdom frankly has engaged in many deeply troubling actions and statements that have provoked alarm in Congress and led lawmakers to begin the process of reevaluating the U.S.-Saudi relationship and our long-term stability and interests in the region," the letter said. The senators warned Perry that Saudi Arabia has repeatedly asked that no limitations be placed on how it uses nuclear fuel in any agreement with the United States. That request is unacceptable, according to the senators, who asked Perry to disclose details of his recent authorizations so they could judge the proliferation risk. The Trump administration's negotiations "have been clouded in secrecy," they wrote, and the White House has not kept Congress fully informed on the discussions as required by the Atomic Energy Act. They also asked Perry about the specific technology he authorized and why the companies involved in the export agreements could not disclose what those technologies were. The senators are giving Perry until April 10 to respond. Rubio has also asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate the administration's nuclear negotiations with Saudi Arabia.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/senators-demand-answers-from-rick-perry-on-nuclear-exports-to-saudi-arabia

Jordan, Meadows urge House Intelligence to give them access to Michael Cohen transcripts

Republican Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows pressed the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday to provide them access to transcripts from Michael Cohen’s closed-door appearances before the panel in February and March. Frustrated with a lack of bipartisan support for a criminal referral they recently sent to the Justice Department, the pair called for there to be accountability for what they said was blatant lies by President Trump’s former personal attorney.

“Every Member of the House of Representatives — whether Republican or Democrat — should not tolerate witnesses who lie before Congress,” Jordan, R-Ohio, and Meadows, R-N.C., wrote in a letter to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and ranking member of the committee Devin Nunes, R-Calif. “This is a matter that goes directly to the integrity and credibility of the institution.”

According to Jordan and Meadows, both members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Cohen made “demonstrably false statements” when he appeared in February before their panel. In February they submitted a criminal referral to the Justice Department urging the agency to investigate statements made by Trump’s former attorney, including his denial that he was interested in working for the White House. House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., has disagreed with the pair's characterization of Cohen's testimony, casting doubt on whether Cohen actually wanted to work in the White House — citing salary limitations. In their letter, Jordan and Meadows said Cummings "promised" accountability if Cohen lied and "is now delaying action on referring Cohen on the purported basis that he first needs to review" Cohen's testimony to the intelligence panel. “Although we believe there is extensive evidence from Cohen’s Oversight Committee testimony to support a referral to the Justice Department, Chairman Cummings has been reluctant to accept the fact that the first announced witness of his chairmanship repeatedly lied to our Committee,” Jordan and Meadows wrote.

The Republican pair are requesting the House Intelligence Committee vote to grant them access to the transcripts to mitigate Cummings’s concerns on the matter. "Although we do not believe it is necessary to review [the House Intelligence Committee’s] transcripts to determine whether Cohen lied to our Committee, we respectfully request that [the House Intelligence Committee] vote to permit us access to the transcripts of Cohen’s [House Intelligence Committee] appearances to help assuage Chairman Cummings’s concerns,” they wrote.

Cohen, who once said he would take a “bullet” for Trump, pleaded guilty in August to tax and bank fraud and to violating campaign finance law by arranging payments to silence women alleging affairs with Trump. In November, he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about efforts to open a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison, and he's due to start that sentence in May.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/jordan-meadows-urge-house-intelligence-to-give-them-access-to-michael-cohen-transcripts

>>6026092

AMEN to that!

Illegal immigrant who was deported in 2005 arrested in Louisiana on 100 child porn charges

An illegal immigrant deported in 2005 was arrested in Louisiana on Tuesday on 100 counts of possession of pornography of children under the age of 13, among other charges. “This arrest should serve as a wake-up call to Congress,” Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said in a statement. “By not securing our borders and properly vetting those coming into our Nation, we have seen lives lost and destroyed.”

Miguel Martinez, 44, was illegally living in Harvey, La., when he was arrested on child exploitation charges. In addition to the juvenile pornography charges, he also faces one count of production of pornography with a child under the age of 13, and one count of sexual battery of a juvenile under the age of 13. It’s likely Martinez, a registered sex offender in California, will face additional charges from the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation Cyber Crime Unit and the Mississippi Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, according to the Louisiana attorney general’s office.

Landry, who warned that “internet crimes against children continuously inflict damage,” also implored Congress to back President Trump’s efforts to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. “Illegal immigration has real-life consequences — countless numbers of needless crime victims, including too many Louisiana families and children,” said Landry. “For their sake — I again urge Congress to realize the national emergency we have at our Southern border, support President Trump, build the wall, and help us make our communities safer.”

Trump declared a national emergency at the border in February, which directs billions of dollars from the military construction budget to construct physical barriers. The move prompted a swift legal challenge from more than a dozen states, as well as rebuke from Democrats and some Republican lawmakers.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/illegal-immigrant-who-was-deported-in-2005-arrested-in-louisiana-on-100-child-porn-charges

Ecuador president: Julian Assange violated asylum agreement

Ecuador President Lenin Moreno said that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has repeatedly violated his asylum conditions at the country's embassy in London. “We should ensure Mr Assange’s life is not at risk but he’s violated the agreement we have with him so many times,” Moreno told the Ecuadorian radio broadcasters association Tuesday, the Guardian reported. Moreno says that Assange, who sought asylum at the London embassy seven years ago and has been living there ever since, “cannot lie or, much less, hack into private accounts or private phones” and he could not “intervene in the politics of countries, or worse friendly countries” under the agreement.

He then said, stopping short of blaming WikiLeaks, that photos of his bedroom, the food he ate, and his wife, daughters, and friends have been widely shared on social media. The Ecuadorian government says, however, that it believes the photos of Moreno's room and family were initially shared by WikiLeaks. From its Twitter account, WikiLeaks posted that Moreno said he would make a decision on Assange’s fate “in the short term.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/ecuador-president-julian-assange-violated-asylum-agreement

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1113132398454210560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw