U.S. airport-security head named as No. 2 Homeland Security official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new chief of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) named the United States’ top airport-security official, David Pekoske, his acting deputy on Thursday, as President Donald Trump overhauls the leadership of the domestic-security agency. The move, by Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan, who took office on Wednesday, temporarily fills a leadership vacuum at the top of DHS, which is responsible for everything from border protection to disaster response. But it also places further strains on an agency of 240,000 employees, many of whose top leadership posts were unfilled even before Trump’s management shakeup.

McAleenan remains in charge of U.S. Customs and Border Protection even as he assumes responsibility for all of DHS. Likewise, Pekoske will continue to head the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, which screens airline travelers, while he serves as the No. 2 official at DHS. Both men are serving on a temporary basis.

In recent weeks, Trump has interviewed several candidates for DHS secretary, an appointee who must be confirmed by the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate. Trump has forced out top DHS officials over the past week as the agency tries to stem rising numbers of immigrants arriving at its southern border, many of them families fleeing violence and poverty in Central America. DHS said it arrested or denied entry to more than 103,000 people along the border last month, more than double the figure for March 2018. Trump has grown increasingly frustrated as DHS officials have told him that dramatic immigration changes he wants are not possible under current law, several sources say.

DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced her departure on Sunday after clashing with Trump over border security. Her deputy, Claire Grady, stepped down on Tuesday. Trump is trying to force out L. Francis Cissna, who oversees legal immigration programs as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, as well as John Mitnick, the top DHS lawyer, according to a source familiar with White House deliberations. Leadership is also in flux at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Ten other top positions are either vacant or filled on a temporary basis.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-homeland-leadership/u-s-airport-security-head-named-as-no-2-homeland-security-official-idUSKCN1RN25B?il=0

Not sure if this pic has been post… here ya go

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-assange-backstory/backstory-a-tip-off-a-red-light-how-reuters-captured-assanges-thumbs-up-idUSKCN1RN2OG

>>6143897

Looking more like father time…sad really.

>>6143928

@

>>6143948

Former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig on April 11 Indictment

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1153651/download

Rod Rosenstein Defends Attorney General’s Handling Of Mueller Report

Outgoing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Thursday defended Attorney General William Barr against allegations that he is misleading Congress and the public about the special counsel’s Russia report. “He’s being as forthcoming as he can, and so this notion that he’s trying to mislead people, I think is just completely bizarre,” Rosenstein said in a rare interview with The Wall Street Journal. Democrats have accused Barr of releasing misleading information about special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings from his 22-month investigation, which focused on possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, as well as whether President Trump tried to obstruct the probe.

Barr sent a letter to Congress on March 24 saying that Mueller was unable to establish that collusion occurred. On the obstruction matter, Barr said that Mueller declined to make a decision one way or the other on whether to recommend a case against Trump. Barr said that he conferred with Rosenstein and Justice Department lawyers and decided against pursuing a case. Barr said that since there was no allegation of conspiracy, Trump had no underlying crime to conceal by obstruction.

Democrats heightened their criticism last week after The New York Times reported that members of Mueller’s team were frustrated that Barr had misrepresented Mueller’s findings. The anonymous sources claimed that there was a stronger case to be made on obstruction than Barr’s letter let on. But Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel on May 17, 2017 and oversaw the probe, said that Barr revealed as much information as he could. He also defended the review process taking place ahead of the release of the report. Barr said on Tuesday that he expects to give a redacted version of Mueller’s report to Congress “within a week.”

The Justice Department, in coordination with Mueller’s team, is reviewing the report to decide which grand jury and classified information to redact. “It would be one thing if you put out a letter and said, ‘I’m not going to give you the report,'” Rosenstein told The Journal. “What he said is, ‘Look, it’s going to take a while to process the report. In the meantime, people really want to know what’s in it. I’m going to give you the top-line conclusions.’ That’s all he was trying to do.”

https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/04/11/rod-rosenstein-defends-william-barr/

>>6144309

Agreed