US sanctions Chinese Communist Party officials for Uighur human rights abuses

The Trump administration announced sanctions on Thursday aimed at Chinese Communist Party officials whom the United States believes have been involved in carrying out human rights abuses against Uighurs and other minorities in China. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control revealed the sanctions against a Chinese Communist Party entity and four Chinese Communist Party officials “in connection with serious rights abuses against ethnic minorities” in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China. These designations under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act include XUAR Chinese Communist Party Secretary Chen Quanguo and former XUAR Deputy Party Secretary Zhu Hailun. The Xinjiang Public Security Bureau was also targeted by U.S. sanctions, and the U.S. also designated XPSB Director and Communist Party Secretary Wang Mingshan and former XPSB Party Secretary Huo Liujun. The U.S. said the Chinese government officials were being designated “for their connection to serious human rights abuse against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, which reportedly include mass arbitrary detention and severe physical abuse, among other serious abuses targeting Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim population indigenous to Xinjiang, and other ethnic minorities in the region.” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin declared that “the United States is committed to using the full breadth of its financial powers to hold human rights abusers accountable in Xinjiang and across the world.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo simultaneously announced that he was also designating the Chinese Communist Party's Chen Quanguo, Zhu Hailun, and Wang Mingshan, and others “for their involvement in gross violations of human rights” against the Uighurs and others. The designations by the State Department mean that “they and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States.” Pompeo aimed his ire at Chen Quanguo, in particular, saying, “Before ramping up the CCP’s campaign of repression in Xinjiang, Chen oversaw extensive abuses in Tibetan areas, using many of the same horrific practices and policies CCP officials currently employ in Xinjiang.”

Since 2017, as many as 2 million Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities have been moved into reeducation and detention camps, often referred to as concentration camps, in the western Xinjiang province of China. There, Uighurs are allegedly put through rigorous "deradicalization" programs and are mocked and tortured by Chinese guards. But the camps are just one part of alleged large-scale surveillance and oppression inflicted on China’s Uighur population. In May, the Commerce Department decided to add nine Chinese Communist Party entities to a blacklist for their alleged complicity in human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region, which was itself a follow-up on the October 2019 decision to blacklist 28 other Chinese government-linked companies and agencies. President Trump signed a law in June that enshrines human rights for Uighurs in U.S. policies toward China and requires the president to levy sanctions against Chinese party leaders in Xinjiang. “The United States will not stand idly by as the CCP carries out human rights abuses targeting Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and members of other minority groups in Xinjiang, to include forced labor, arbitrary mass detention, and forced population control, and attempts to erase their culture and Muslim faith,” Pompeo said. “The United States is taking action today against the horrific and systematic abuses in Xinjiang and calls on all nations who share our concerns about the CCP’s attacks on human rights and fundamental freedoms to join us in condemning this behavior.”

The Chinese Communist Party has reportedly imposed forced birth control, sterilizations, and abortions on the Uighur population in a race-based effort to reduce the minority Muslim population in the country, with a late June analysis by the Associated Press finding that Beijing is imposing “draconian measures to slash birth rates” among Uighur Muslims and other minorities “as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population” while the Chinese government “encourages some of the country’s Han majority to have more children.” The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recently called on the State Department to investigate whether China’s reported campaign of forced birth control and abortion against the Uighur population constitutes genocide.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/us-sanctions-chinese-communist-party-officials-for-uighur-human-rights-abuses

DOJ: Roger Stone should report to prison next week

The Justice Department supports Roger Stone being sent to prison next week, prosecutors said in a court filing. On Thursday, federal prosecutors asked a federal appeals court to deny Stone’s bid to postpone his prison sentence until September. Stone, a longtime Republican operative and ally of President Trump, had asked the appeals court to delay his surrender date until Sept. 3. His lawyers cited “medically documented life-threatening health risks” that Stone would face if incarcerated during the coronavirus pandemic. Prosecutors said U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson made the right call in denying Stone’s request for a 60-day extension to his surrender date. Stone is expected to report to a Georgia prison on Tuesday after Jackson postponed his prison sentence by two weeks in late June.

The DOJ said the two-week delay by Jackson, who presided over Stone’s trial, was a “reasonable exercise of that court’s discretion based on the totality of the factual and legal circumstances.” “Accordingly, the government supports the district court’s ruling, and this Court should affirm it,” prosecutors said in a court filing. Stone appealed his conviction and 40-month prison sentence in April, months after he was found guilty of making false statements, witness tampering, and obstructing a congressional investigation. “I guess if I had to make an appeal, it would be that on humanitarian grounds, as an act of mercy, as well as of justice, I would pray that the president uses his incredible powers of clemency,” Stone told RealClearPolitics last week. Trump has teased a possible pardon for Stone but has yet to grant his longtime confidant one. “It was a disgraceful situation that was allowed to take place. With that, you will see what I’m going to do,” Trump told RealClearPolitics in an interview this week.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/doj-roger-stone-should-report-to-prison-next-week

Federal officials take precautions over fear Ghislaine Maxwell might commit suicide: Report

Federal law enforcement officials have taken precautions to make sure Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, does not commit suicide while in custody. An unnamed official said Maxwell, 58, had her clothes and sheets taken away and that they made her wear paper attire while in custody at a federal jail in New York City, according to a Thursday report by the Associated Press. The Justice Department also implemented additional security measures to keep her safe from herself and other inmates. "We have a number redundancy systems to monitor the situation," Attorney General William Barr told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas regarding Maxwell's safety. "I believe very strongly in that case, and I was very proud of the work done by the department, the Southern District, on that case."

Maxwell, a British socialite, was arrested by the FBI in New Hampshire last week on charges of conspiracy to entice minors, enticement of a minor, conspiracy to transport minors, transportation of a minor, and perjury. Investigators said Maxwell played a "critical role" in assisting Epstein in grooming underage girls. Epstein, a registered sex offender and wealthy financier, was arrested in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges for allegedly abusing girls as young as 14. The 66-year-old was found dead in his Manhattan prison cell in August, which the New York City medical examiner determined to be a suicide. Maxwell is not being held in the same prison Epstein was at when he took his own life.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/federal-officials-take-precautions-over-fear-ghislaine-maxwell-might-commit-suicide-report

AP source: Feds feared Epstein confidante might kill herself

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/ap-source-feds-feared-epstein-confidante-might-kill-herself/ar-BB16xDI6?li=BBnbcA1

>>9907177

AP Article:

AP source: Feds feared Epstein confidante might kill herself

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/ap-source-feds-feared-epstein-confidante-might-kill-herself/ar-BB16xDI6?li=BBnbcA1

BREAKING: Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen has been taken back into custody - Reuters

https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1281286010492596231

Mitch McConnell says GOP convention may not happen amid COVID-19

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell broke with the White House on Thursday and said the coronavirus pandemic may scuttle plans for the Republican National Convention. “We will have to wait and see how things look in late August to determine whether or not we can safely convene that many people,” McConnell said in his home state of Kentucky. The Republican leader did not directly answer whether he’s willing to skip the Jacksonville, Fla., gathering along with a handful of other GOP senators. “I think the convention is a challenging situation and a number of my colleagues have announced that they are not going to attend,” he noted.

McConnell, 78, is a polio survivor and early in the pandemic stoically carried on his duties on Capitol Hill, wading through tightly packed groups of colleagues and reporters. But as new infections surge, he’s been a leading Republican proponent of mask-wearing. President Trump and White House officials want to hold a traditional nominating event in August. Trump ordered the venue moved to Florida after Democratic officials in Charlotte, North Carolina, indicated they would object to original plans. Democrats have all but scrapped their Milwaukee, Wisconsin, convention and have sniped at Republicans for potentially threatening public health.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday, “We’re still moving forward with Jacksonville. It’ll be a safe event. It will be a good event. And it will be up to the RNC as to how those details are hashed out.” Vice President Mike Pence said last week during a visit to Florida that there would be “very sophisticated” plans to prevent attendees from spreading COVID-19. Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Susan Collins of Maine, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah say they don’t plan to attend the convention.

https://nypost.com/2020/07/09/mitch-mcconnell-republican-national-convention-may-not-happen/

>>9907304

Indeed as it should be..

>>9907235

Indeed, will they let her just disappear is the question here.

Florida Democratic Party to return $780,000 in PPP money, after bipartisan backlash

Florida Democratic Rep. Donna Shalala is reportedly among those critical of the state party taking the federal stimulus money

The Florida Democratic Party will reportedly return roughly $780,000 received under the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, following bipartisan backlash about accepting the money appearing unethical. The group made the announcement Wednesday that it would return the money, a small business loan made available under the $670 billion Paycheck Protection Plan that Congress made passed this spring to help small businesses through the coronavirus pandemic, according to Politico. “Like many employers during the shutdown, FDP was concerned about meeting payroll and keeping our staff employed, so we applied,” the group said in a statement. “The bank, the loan processor and agents of the Small Business Association approved the funding. It now seems they made a mistake in approving the funding so we are volunteering to return it.

In May, party Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo, reportedly called the PPP a “disaster” that “funneled” money to large corporations but failed to disclose that the group had applied for a loan of $350,000 to $1 million. The loan agreement was discovered earlier this week when the Small Business Administration released a report on recipients. Among the prominent Florida Democrats to purportedly criticize the state party’s decision to apply for and accept the money is Rep. Donna Shalala. She has demanded that the party return the money and has refused to participate in a news conference Friday about President Trump’s upcoming visit to Miami, two sources told Politico.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/florida-democratic#article