President Trump, please never stop tweeting!
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/epic-trump-breaks-the-internet-after-he-tweets-picture-of-obama-scaling-trump-tower-with-binoculars/
Sen. Van Hollen releases documents from GAO investigation
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) released a slew of documents Thursday night that were either obtained during or related to the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) assessment that the Trump administration broke the law when it withheld congressionally approved aid from Ukraine last summer.
In December, Von Hollen wrote to the GAO requesting that it review the freezing of the aid.
The independent government watchdog released its report last week and concluded that by withholding the aid from Ukraine, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was in violation of the Impoundment Control Act (ICA).
“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” the report reads. “OMB withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act. …Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the ICA.”
The OMB's aid freeze is at the center of the impeachment of President Trump that is taking place.
Van Hollen noted in a statement Thursday that the OMB submitted an "incomplete response" to the GAO during the watchdog's review of the matter, and that the White House "refused to respond altogether and blocked DOD from providing an independent response as well."
On Tuesday, the GOP-controlled Senate voted down a series of trial rule amendments from Democrats that would've allowed witnesses to be called during the trial and forced the White House to turn over many of the documents regarding the Ukraine aid freeze.
Democratic House managers have argued this week that by freezing the aid to Ukraine, President Trump tried to use the power of his office to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to publicly announce an investigation into Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President and 2020 Democratic primary front-runner Joe Biden.
GOP lawmakers have countered that the White House was doing its due diligence to make sure that the aid to Ukraine wasn't falling into corrupt hands.
However, documents have shown that aid freeze happened well after the Pentagon had already confirmed that Ukraine had met the anti-corruption guidelines that were set by Congress in order for Ukraine to receive the aid.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/479693-sen-van-hollen-releases-documents-from-gao-investigation-follows
back to the subject of books, book deals, and shady publishing houses…..
Penguin Random House appoints new heads of Alfred A. Knopf
Penguin Random House on Thursday named two executives it recruited from outside the company to take over for Sonny Mehta, the longtime head of Alfred A. Knopf, who died last month.
Reagan Arthur, a senior vice president and publisher at Little, Brown & Co., will join as executive VP and publisher of Knopf, Pantheon and Schocken on Feb. 11, the company said.
“I’m incredibly happy to report that as his last gift to us, Sonny identified Reagan Arthur as his first choice for this role and they were able to meet and talk about the opportunity in the fall,” said Penguin Random House Chief Executive Madeline McIntosh in a memo to staffers.
Arthur will report to Maya Mavjee, who will become president and publisher of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
Mavjee had a 22-year career at Penguin Random House companies, heading Crown in the US and Doubleday in Canada before jumping to Macmillan in January 2019 as president of publishing strategy.
Also in the lineup: Jordan Pavlin is being promoted to senior VP, editorial director at Alfred A. Knopf.
The odd man out appears to be Tony Chirico, president of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, who the company said will report to McIntosh in a corporate capacity on an interim basis.
https://nypost.com/2020/01/23/penguin-random-house-appoints-new-heads-of-alfred-a-knopf/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow