The Serious Side - part 7

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7641591/Elderly-womans-interview-goes-viral-offers-boot-president-Donald-Trump.html

[size=34]'How somebody hasn't bumped him off by now, I'm amazed': 101-year-old Australian war widow's interview about 'idiot' Donald Trump goes viral[/size]

• Dot Sullivan, 101, jokingly offered to 'bump off' US president Donald Trump
  
  
• She said she was amazed nobody had tried to kill him and joked she could do it
  
  
• Quote was shared on Twitter and has drawn a massive response from followers
  
  
• 'Dot is all of us,' one eager social media user commented on the viral tweet 
  
  

By AIDAN WONDRACZ FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
PUBLISHED: 23:38 EDT, 1 November 2019 | UPDATED: 04:59 EDT, 2 November 2019

     




A 101-year-old Australian war widow's interview in a local newspaper has gone viral after she jokingly offered to 'bump off' President Donald Trump.
Dot Sullivan had been speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald about how she befriended a man half her age by the name of Tim Castley, 54, while living at her Stanmore home, in Sydney's inner west.
The pair had met through Mrs Sullivan's niece and instantly struck up a friendship that has lasted eight years.


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A 101-year-old Australian woman's interview with a newspaper has gone viral after she jokingly offered to give US president Donald Trump the boot


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The conversation has since been shared on Twitter and drawn a massive response from social media users
Not only do the pair share a love for crosswords but they also have a keen interest in global issues and politics.

The colourful piece that was intended to look at significant age-gap friends took an unexpected turn when it turned to the topic of president Trump. 
'You can’t have an idiot like that floating around the world,' she said.
'How somebody hasn’t bumped him off by now, I’m amazed. I’d do it myself. That would sort things out: I think I’d get a medal.'
[size=10][size=18]Trump says China has 'total respect' for his 'very large brain'




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Mr Castley admitted his good friend picked up the thread and said Mrs Sullivan didn't like president Trump 'at all.'
The conversation has since been shared on Twitter and drawn a massive response from social media users.
'Dot is all of us,' one person said.
Another one added: 'To be fair to Dot, she wasn't looking for a contract; she was offering to do it gratis'. 

Got to love her telling it as she sees it. You can do that when you’re 101 and get away with it. ‘Dot is all of us’. True. But if Trump were assassinated, even by Dot, it would be even worse! He’d become a martyr. In historical sense he would most likely be hugely admired by his most devoted supporters and thought of as the greatest President of all time.

Donnamarie - Much as I agree with Dot, I guess you're right. He'd be a martyr and we'd probably end up with a civil war on our hands. Still, I keep expecting someone to start a go-fund-me page to hire an assassin. Failing that, maybe he could just trip on his tie and become incapacitated forever. Sigh!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7643633/Protesters-arrive-Madison-Square-Garden-President-Trump-attends-mixed-martial-arts-fight.html

[size=34]Trump is BOOED at MMA event at Madison Square Garden alongside top Republicans after he was greeted by protesters outside with signs saying 'headlock him up' - days after president officially left New York to become a resident of Florida[/size]

• Donald Trump was met by booing, as well as cheers, by UFC fans as he arrived Madison Square Garden flanked for a mixed martial arts title fight on Saturday night  
  
  
• Protesters gathered outside the Manhattan venue ahead of Trump's attendance at the at UFC 244 bout between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal
  
  
• Trump landed in New York on Saturday night and was joined by Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy and Republican Congressman Mark Meadows
  
  
• He was also flanked by his sons Donald Jr and Eric and UFC boss Dana White  
  
  
• POTUS has known Dana White for years as the two put on fights at Trump's now-defunct Atlantic City casino in the 1990s  
  
  
• The president and his wife Melania were also booed attending a Washington Nationals home World Series game earlier in the week 
  
  
• Saturday night's winner will receive the 'Baddest Mother****** in the Game' belt
  
  
• Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson will present and another big names will attend  
  
  

By GEOFF EARLE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and LEAH MCDONALD FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 21:30 EST, 2 November 2019 | UPDATED: 01:17 EST, 3 November 2019


President Donald Trump was met with loud boos from UFC fans as he entered Madison Square Garden on Saturday night for a mixed martial arts title fight.
Trump entered the arena with his sons Donald Jr and Eric Trump, and UFC President Dana White – a longtime friend – and a large security detail at around 10pm.
Trump also attended with a group of Republican lawmakers, as he did during Game 5 of the World Series, where he was roundly booed by Washington, D.C. fans and treated to chants of 'Lock him up!'
He got more mixed reviews in New York, where the Queens native also received some loud cheering from fans alongside the chorus of boos when he strolled in.

Soon afterward, before the first of five main card fights he came to watch, Trump stood to wave to audience members sitting close to the action. Here, many fight fans gave him cheers, as video shot by a DailyMail.com reporter traveling with the president revealed. 


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Donald Trump arrived at Madison Square Garden flanked by his security detail, UFC President Dana White and his son Donald Jr to watch the UFC 244 bout between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal


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President Donald Trump arrives at the UFC 244 mixed martial arts event on Saturday night and was greeted with a mixture of boos and cheers


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Trump and McCarthy smile after the pair enter Madison Square Garden for a night of UFC. The president entered to a chorous of boos and some cheers
[size=10][size=18]President Trump enters MSG with a chorus of boos from the crowd




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In other footage, someone in the crowd can be heard shouting: 'F**k you, f**k you,' as a section of the crowd in upper level seats could be heard booing as he walked in. 
At least one person could be seen making an obscene hand gesture when Trump walked in. Someone waved a Trump flag in the arena.   
Trump Jr. weighed in with his own crowd analysis on Twitter in the midst of the action.  
'Despite the bulls*** from blue checkmark Twitter, when we walked into the arena it was overwhelmingly positive. @danawhite said it was the most electrifying entrance he seen in 25 years of doing this. @ufc,' the president's son wrote.
The president retweeted his son's missive.
Eric Trump also weighed in saying there were chants of 'Donald Trump, Donald Trump... USA USA.'
A pool reporter traveling with the president didn't hear that particular chant in the packed arena, although there were multiple 'USA!' chants when American fighter Derrick Lewis took on Bulgarian Blagoy Ivanov. 
After his initial entrance and wave, the president tried to keep the focus on the fights, eschewing visible reactions to some of the most visceral action inside the black metal cage in the center of the arena. 


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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy speaks to Donald Trump as his son Eric Trump watches a mixed martial arts fight in Madison Square Garden


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Trump looks on as a bout announcer parades around the cage. The president was sat near top Republicans Kevin McCarthy and Peter King 


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Madison Square Garden hosted the UFC 244 event with Masvidal versus Diaz the top bout in the card


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Derrick Lewis punches Blagoy Ivanov of Bulgaria in their heavyweight bout during the UFC 244 event


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The referee steps in after Kevin Lee knocks out Gregor Gillespie during the first round of a heavyweight mixed martial arts bout at UFC 244


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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Donald Trump and Eric Trump watch a mixed martial arts fight in Madison Square Garden


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A woman celebrates in front of Donald Trump, his son Eric Trump and US representative for North Carolina Mark Meadows at Madison Square Garden
It didn't take long after the president's arrival for the stark violence of the sport to reveal itself. Lightweight Kevin Lee delivered a vicious left kick to rival Gregor Gillespie's face.
The fighter with a 13-1 UFC record immediately hit the deck, after Lee followed up with an additional glancing blow on his way down.
The president stood and looked on with an expression of concern after the audience gasped and the fighter lay prostrate on the mat for about 30 seconds with his mouth agape after the knockout.
After Gillespie was revived and appeared to be alright, the president could be seen clapping in support. 


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A woman shouts slogans as people take part in a protest against President Donald Trump and his administration policies near Madison Square Garden


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Protesters, (pictured), gathered outside Madison Square Garden on Saturday night ahead of Donald Trump's attendance at a mixed martial arts title fight


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People take part in a protest against President Donald Trump and his administration policies in midtown New York, holding a banner that read 'Trump/Pence out now'
Meanwhile protesters gathered outside Madison Square Garden on Saturday night ahead of Donald Trump's attendance at a mixed martial arts title fight.
Demonstrators outside the arena held a placard saying: 'Headlock him up', and 'Remove Trump' as they gathered at the entrance of the Manhattan venue. 
Some people claimed they 'wanted the truth' regarding Trump's demand to the Ukrainian government to lunch an inquiry into the Bidens in exchange for military aid mandated by Congress.  
Around 150 protesters from activist groups Refuse Fascism and Rise and Resist assembled in front of the Garden's main entrance on Seventh Ave.


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Donald Trump Jr. posted a tweet saying his dad being booed as he entered the Garden was 'fake news' and blamed 'blue checkmark Twitter' for not reporting an 'awesome welcome'  
Trump's son Donald Jr and Eric were seated beside their father at the game, and Donald Jr posted a picture of POTUS with Dana White on Instagram with the caption: Great night with two legends, @readldonaldtrump and @danawhite!!! @ufc.' 
The White House waited until Saturday night to confirm that Trump would be attending the Ultimate Fighting Championship event, which features two fighters battling it out inside a cage, with punches and kicks allowed.
He is the first president of the United States to attend an MMA fight during his term, and it comes days after he watched part of Game 5 of the World Series. Trump broke tradition by failing to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game during his presidency so far. 




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Donald Trump smiled as he entered Madison Square despite fans largely booing him as he went to take his seat before the fight got underway 


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Donald Trump was greeted by supporters as he entered the Manhattan stadium on Saturday 


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Trump's youngest son Eric, (right), was in attendance as was Republican Congressman Mark Meadows, (left), shortly before the game got underway 
Demonstrators could be heard chanting: Trump, Pence out now. The system is outrageous, they put our kids in cages.'   
'People are feeling helpless, like they have no power ... We are trying to avert an existential threat,' Jane Aptaker told the New York Daily News. 
Trump supporters were also in the vicinity of the midtown stadium and some of them could be seen wearing MAGA hats. 
POTUS was accompanied by Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy and Republican Congressman Mark Meadows at the fight. Both have been critical defends of the president as he takes on his own form of cage match – fighting off Democrats as they pursue an impeachment inquiry against him. 


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Trump still smiled and waved at the crowd as he took a seat beside sons Donald Jr and Eric and Republican Congressman Mark Meadows 


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Donald Trump Jr posted an image of his father with UFC President Dana White with the caption: 'Great night with two legends @realdonaldtrump and @danawhite!!! @ufc.' The belt's initials signify 'Baddest Mother****** in the Game'
There was also a high security presence and some traffic disruption as POTUS and his escort made their way from a helipad in Downtown New York to Midtown Manhattan to watch the event.
McCarthy earlier demanded that Nancy Pelosi suspend the Democrats' impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump until Congress can agree on 'transparent and equitable rules' in the process.
His offense move comes as some Republican lawmakers have been grumbling that the White House has not had a concise, planned response to the Democrats' position. 
The White House was tight-lipped about the event this week even amid suggestions that the president would go. Trump is longtime friends with Ultimate Fighting Championship owner Dana White. 


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Scores of demonstrators held placards and marched outside the Manhattan venue, with some claiming they 'wanted the truth' over the impeachment inquiry currently underway into Trump's request for an investigation into the Democrats
Air Force One touched down at Kennedy Airport at about 8.05 pm and afterwards Trump was expected to fly to the Wall St. Heliport.
Trump's trip to his home town comes after it was revealed he and First Lady Melania Trump have changed their official residence to Florida. 
His appearance at the MMA event comes just days after Trump Melania were booed  by a crowd chanting 'lock him up' and waving 'veterans for impeachment' banner. POTUS made a surprise appearance at World Series game in DC after celebrating death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in daring US raid.
Trump and First Lady Melania Trump entered a lower-tier box to the left of home plate as the game got underway.
At that point his presence wasn't formally announced, but baseball fans in the section just below Trump's suite turned to look toward the box as he arrived. Some waved at the president as he smiled and gave a thumbs-up.


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Donald Trump is seen arriving at a downtown helipad in New York City for the MMA clash 


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Trump was driven with an escort to Madison Square Garden from a downtown helipad in NYC 
[size=18]President Trump arrives in NYC landing in the Marine One helicopter




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At the end of the third inning, ballpark video screens carried a salute to U.S. service members that drew cheers throughout the stadium.
When the video cut to Trump and his entourage, cheers abruptly turned into a torrent of boos and heckling, with chants of 'Lock him up!' breaking out in some sections.
Trump cited New York's political leadership, taxes, being treated unfairly, and the city becoming 'dirty.'  
Trump and White have been friends for years. Trump's now defunct Atlantic City hotel hosted Ultimate Fighting Championship events soon after White took control of the league, which has gone through controversial periods. 
The main event at UFC 244 is a fight between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal.
In an interview on Saturday night, American MMA fighter Masvidal called Trump a bad motherf*****.'


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There was a high security presence in Downtown Manhattan on Saturday night as President Trump landed in town to watch an Ultimate Fighting Championship bout 


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The White House was tight-lipped about the event this week even amid suggestions that the president would go. Trump is longtime friends with Ultimate Fighting Championship owner Dana White


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Protesters held placards and chanted 'Trump, Pence out now!' outside the venue 
He said: 'No matter what your views on Trump as a president, the guy's a bad motherf***** man. The money that he's made, the obstacles that he's conquered. He's a bad motherf***** in his own way you know. No matter what your political views are.'
The winner will receive the 'Baddest Mother****** in the Game' belt. It is to be presented by Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson at the Garden, a venue that holds bout 20,000 for boxing fights.  
UFC President Dana White spoke at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland that nominated Trump. 'I've been in the fight business my whole life. I know fighters. Ladies and gentlemen, Donald Trump is a fighter and I know he will fight for this country,' he told the Cleveland crowd.
And White told the Washington Times in 2018: 'That guy gave us our start when nobody would talk to us. No arenas wanted us.'   


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Trump is seen landing on Saturday night to attend the fight with Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Congressman Mark Meadows


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Trump touched down in New York days after the president claimed  the city is 'dirty and unsafe again' which was met with outrage by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo 


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Donald Trump is pictured speaking to reporters before he departed The White House for New York to watch a mixed martial arts title fight
The high-profile sports event – which is available on pay-per-view – comes after Trump attended Game 5 of the World Series in Washington, D.C. Trump was treated to boos and cheers of 'Lock Him up.'  
Amid speculation of Trump going to the fight, Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York said he wasn't able to go to the event with the president, who he sometimes advises.
He noted that his twin daughter are having their bat mitzvah ceremonies in Florida Saturday. He wouldn't speculate on how the crowd would respond to the president.
'I have no idea what the exit polling of an MSG UFC fight is looking like these days,' Zeldin told DailyMail.com.
'I have no idea and won't try to speculate as to Trump's job approval amongst this Saturday's UFC MSG audience,' he added. 
Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, asked if Trump would get a better reception than he did at the World Series, replied: 'Unlikely.' 


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Trump spoke to reporters earlier in Washington D.C. ahead of his visit to his hometown to watch the UFC 244 bout between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal


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Trump was pictured departing The White House as he left for New York on Saturday night 
[size=18]People protest outside MSG ahead of Trump arriving at UFC match




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Trump quietly filed documents in September with the Palm Beach County Circuit Court changing his primary residence from Trump Tower to Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Palm Beach.
The president acknowledged the change in a series of tweets on Thursday, saying: '1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House, is the place I have come to love and will stay for, hopefully, another 5 years as we MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, but my family and I will be making Palm Beach, Florida, our Permanent Residence.'
'I cherish New York, and the people of New York, and always will, but unfortunately, despite the fact that I pay millions of dollars in city, state and local taxes each year, I have been treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state,' he continued.
Trump, born in Queens, is a lifelong New Yorker but has rarely returned to his penthouse in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue since taking office in January 2017.
He often spends weekends away from the White House at Mar-a-Lago, however.


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Jorge Masvidal, (left), and Nate Diaz face, (right), off during the UFC 244 weigh-ins at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on November 1, 2019 in New York, New York


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A general view of the Octagon prior to the UFC 244 event at Madison Square Garden on November 02, 2019 in New York City
White House officials refused to say why Trump had changed his official residence, but a person close to the president told the Times that it was primary for tax purposes.
That person also said that Trump was infuriated by a lawsuit filed by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, seeking to publicly release the president's tax returns.
Florida is noted as one of the states with no state income tax.
New York state has seen a notable exodus of the ultra-rich since Republicans passed a tax bill in 2017 eliminating federal tax deductions for certain state and local taxes.
New York State's top tax rate is nearly 9% and New York City's top rate is nearly 4%.
Under New York law, anyone who spends more than 184 days a year in the state has to pay New York taxes.


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Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson holds the 'BMF' belt during the UFC 244 weigh-ins at the Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden on November 1 in New York 
[size=18]The Rock at UFC 244's 'BMF Title' weigh-in




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In an interview ahead of the fight on Saturday night, American MMA fighter Masvidal called Trump a bad motherf*****'
Since becoming president, Mr. Trump has spent 99 days at Mar-a-Lago compared with 20 days at Trump Tower, according to NBC News.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has accused the president of changing his permanent residence from his home in New York to avoid having to share his tax returns.
Cuomo, however, told The Hill that he thought not only did the president want to pay lower taxes, but that he moved to Florida to avoid having to make his tax returns public since the Manhattan District Attorney is eager for them to be made known.
'I don't think this is about taxes. I think this is a legal maneuver.
'He's being sued by the Manhattan District Attorney in New York for release of his taxes which he doesn't want to do obviously and I think this is a desperate legal tactic whereby they're going to argue well we're not New York residents anymore, we're Florida residents, so New York doesn't have a right to the tax returns,' he said.
He earlier reacted to the news by saying 'good riddance.'
Trump has previously mocked CNN host Chris Cuomo as 'Fredo,' who is depicted in the Godfather trilogy as the brother who lacks the sense or fortitude to do almost anything right (although he does succeed in saving protagonist Don Corleone's life when he gets hospitalized).
Their father is former Gov. Mario Cuomo, meaning in Trump's analogy, the current governor would either be hot-headed Sonny Corleone or cunning successor Michael Corleone.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7643841/Released-Mueller-documents-reveal-Kushner-Ivanka-vacationed-Russian-oligarch.html

[size=34]Released Mueller documents reveal Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump enjoyed a vacation in Croatia 'with a Russian oligarch' and Wendi Deng - a meeting Steve Bannon thought was so dubious he planned to 'leverage' it against Trump's son-in-law[/size]

• Email was included in investigative documents released on Saturday by DOJ
  
  
• Bannon told Breitbart staffer that Kushner vacationed with 'Russian billionaire'
  
  
• Kushner was in Croatia with Ivanka in August 2016 at the height of the campaign 
  
  
• Bannon told investigators that he thought the decision was 'questionable'  
  
  

By KEITH GRIFFITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 01:00 EST, 3 November 2019 | UPDATED: 01:33 EST, 3 November 2019

     




New documents show Steve Bannon (above) hoped to 'leverage' Kushner's alleged vacation with a Russian billionaire
A tranche of newly released documents from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation have revealed that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump took a vacation in Croatia with a mystery 'Russian billionaire' during the 2016 campaign.
Also on the trip was and Rupert Murdoch's former wife Wendi Deng.    
According to the notes, former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon raised questions about the vacation and found it so dubious that he planned to 'leverage' the meetup with the Russian against Donald's Trump's son-in-law, Jared.  

The documents, including 274 pages of Mueller team interview notes, emails and other documents related to the investigation, were released on Saturday in response to a lawsuit from CNN and Buzzfeed. 
'Bannon knew Kushner was on vacation off the coast of Croatia with a Russian Billionaire when Bannon took over the campaign,' a summary of an investigative interview with Bannon read.
The summary said that Kushner was with Deng, the Russian billionaire, and the Russian's girlfriend, but it does not name the Russian.


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Kushner and Ivanka Trump spent the Croatia vacation (above) aboard the megayacht of billionaire Democrat donor David Geffen


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The couple was seen jet skiing in Croatia off the $200million boat


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The documents included this summary of DOJ investigators' interview with Steve Bannon


Bannon told friends in the intelligence community that he thought Kushner's choice of vacation company was 'questionable,' according to the interview summary. 
Kushner's and Ivanka Trump's vacation in August 2016 was previously documented in photos obtained by DailyMail.com, but the presence of a Russian billionaire had not been reported.
Throughout the trip, Deng was photographed with Kushner and his wife Ivanka. 
In an email dated July 24, 2017 to an individual with a Breitbart domain email, Bannon referenced Kushner's vacation and appeared to indicate that the information, if reported and confirmed, could be valuable against Kushner.
Bannon was widely known to be in a bitter power struggle with Kushner and Ivanka while serving in the White House, reportedly referring to the couple as the 'New York globalists.'  
'He was on 'vacation' off the coast of Croatia with a Russian billionaire when I took over the campaign,' Bannon wrote to the Breitbart employee, whose name was redacted in the released documents. 


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Kushner and Ivanka (left) went sightseeing in Dubrovnik with Wendi Deng (right with Ivanka)


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This email chain dated July 24, 2017 was part of the released documents
'How do we prove that?' the Breitbart employee replied. 'That's game set match.'
Kushner and Ivanka Trump spent the Croatia vacation aboard the megayacht of billionaire Democrat donor David Geffen.
David Geffen, who was one of the earliest supporters of Barack Obama and donated to both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary, hosted Kushner and Ivanka Trump on his boat the Rising Sun. 
The couple was seen jet skiing in Croatia off the $200million boat, and later went sightseeing in Dubrovnik with Wendi Deng and Brian Grazer and his new

[size=34]President appears to warn that he will release damaging information about war hero Alexander Vindman who testified against him at impeachment inquiry[/size]

• President Trump was asked on Saturday if he regretted calling Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman a 'Never Trumper' 
  
  
• Trump responded that 'you'll be seeing very soon what comes out' about Vindman, though he didn't specify 
  
  
• Vindman, in his closed-door testimony to lawmakers on Wednesday, shared his concerns about Trump's July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian president 
  
  
• He told lawmakers that he didn't think it was 'proper' to ask a foreign leader to investigate a US citizen
  
  
• Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden's links to a gas company that was probed for corruption
  
  
• The President was willing to hold up badly needed military aid to Ukraine unless Zelensky investigated Biden
  
  
• After Vindman's testimony, Trump denounced him as a 'Never Trumper' while some in conservative media questioned his loyalty to America 
  
  

By ARIEL ZILBER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and EMILY GOODIN, U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 20:52 EST, 2 November 2019 | UPDATED: 01:23 EST, 3 November 2019

     




President Trump on Saturday appeared to suggest that more information was going to be revealed about a decorated war hero who testified in the ongoing impeachment inquiry.
When asked if he regretted calling Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman a ‘Never Trumper,’ the President said: ‘Well, you’ll be seeing very soon what comes out and then you can ask the question in a different way.’
In his closed-door testimony to lawmakers, Vindman, an expert on Ukraine who works for the National Security Council, shared his concerns about Trump's July 25 phone call with the president of the Ukraine, saying he did not think it was 'proper' to ask a foreign leader to investigate a U.S. citizen.
His decision to testify prompted the President to refer to Vindman, a Purple Heart winner who was wounded during military service in Iraq, as ‘Yesterday’s Never Trumper witness.’

[size=10][size=18]President Trump talks Ukraine and impeachment before leaving for NY




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President Trump (left) hinted that more information about Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (right) would be revealed 'very soon' 
A number of Trump supporters in conservative media also suggested that the Ukrainian-born Vindman was looking out for Ukraine’s interests rather than those of the United States.
A day after Vindman testified on Capitol Hill, the President tweeted on Wednesday: ‘Yesterday’s Never Trumper witness could find NO Quid Pro Quo in the Transcript of the phone call. There were many people listening to the call.


‘How come they (including the President of Ukraine) found NOTHING wrong with it. Witch Hunt!’
'Never Trumper' is a term used to describe Republicans and conservatives who are opposed to Trump. 
Vindman, in his testimony this week, told lawmakers he was on the phone call with Trump and Zelensky and 'did not think it was proper' that the President pressured the Ukrainian leader to probe Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Vindman corroborated the testimony of other witnesses who said that Trump used military aid to Ukraine as leverage in order to coerce the government in Kiev to probe the Bidens’ connections to a Ukrainian gas firm that was once investigated for alleged corruption.
In his testimony, Vindman also noted he made hand-written minor revisions on a hard copy of the transcript but noticed those were not included in the transcript of the call the White House released. There have been reports the transcript is incomplete.
Vindman was awarded a Purple Heart after being wounded in Iraq and arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning in uniform with his medal visible.
The White House ordered him not to testify, prompting the House Intelligence Committee to issue a subpoena directing him to give evidence.
Trump took to Twitter to attack Lt. Col. Vindman the morning of his testimony, calling him an unimportant figure who never crossed paths with him.
'Why are people that I never even heard of testifying about the call. Just READ THE CALL TRANSCRIPT AND THE IMPEACHMENT HOAX IS OVER! Ukrain [sic] said NO PRESSURE,' Trump tweeted.


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Vindman is the latest in a line of subpoenaed witnesses who House Democrats hope will provide incriminating evidence against the president


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Alexander Vindman is seen with wife Rachel and their daughter in front of the White House
In his opening statement, Vindman claimed the National Security Council proposed that Trump call President Zelensky to congratulate him after his party won parliamentary elections.
He explained: 'On July 25, 2019, the call occurred. I listened in on the call in the Situation Room with colleagues from the NSC and the office of the Vice President.
'As the transcript is in the public record, we are all aware of what was said. I was concerned by the call. I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government's support of Ukraine.
'I realized that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma, it would likely be interpreted as a partisan play which would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing the bipartisan support it has thus far maintained.'
Burisma Holdings is the Ukrainian energy company where Biden's son Hunter held a board seat while his father was vice president.
'I realized that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma, it would likely be interpreted as a partisan play which would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing the bipartisan support it has thus far maintained.
Vindman claimed: 'This would all undermine U.S. national security. Following the call, I again reported my concerns to NSC's lead counsel.'


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The Trump campaign has alleged that Biden quashed a Ukrainian investigation into Burisma, where Biden's son Hunter served on the board from 2014 until earlier this year, using the threat of withholding U.S. foreign aid. Biden is pictured with son Hunter in 2010 
Vindman served multiple overseas tours, including South Korea and Germany, and was deployed to Iraq for combat operations. He was wounded in an IED attack and was subsequently awarded a Purple Heart.
He served in United States' embassies in Kiev, Ukraine and Moscow, Russia. In Washington, D.C., he was a politico-military affairs officer for Russia for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before his appointment to the NSC.
In his statement he adds: 'I have a deep appreciation for American values and ideals and the power of freedom. I am a patriot, and it is my sacred duty and honor to advance and defend OUR country, irrespective of party or politics.'
Vindman is due to tell the committee that he is not the whistle-blower who brought the issue to the CIA and the Committees' attention. He also claimed he never had direct contact or communications with the President.
'I did convey certain concerns internally to National Security officials in accordance with my decades of experience and training, sense of duty, and obligation to operate within the chain of command.
'As an active duty military officer, the command structure is extremely important to me.' Vindman said there was another incident which he thought was improper and he reported it to the National Security Council's lead counsel.
He claimed that on July 10, Oleksandr Danylyuk, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council for Ukraine, visited Washington, D.C. for a meeting with National Security Adviser John Bolton.
He said that Gordon Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, and Kurt Volker, who resigned as U.S. special envoy to Ukraine earlier this month, were also in attendance.
In his testimony he claimed the Ukrainians saw this meeting as critically important in order to solidify the support of their most important international partner.


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Vindman claimed that he reported an incident involving Gordon D. Sondland, United States ambassador to the European Union, to the National Security Council's lead counsel. He claimed Sondman emphasized the importance that Ukraine deliver the investigations into the 2016 election, the Bidens, and Burisma at a debriefing which he claimed was 'inappropriate'


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On April 21, 2019, Volodymyr Zelensky was elected President of Ukraine in a landslide victory 


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Alexander Vindman, raised concerns about comments made by Gordon Sondland when Oleksandr Danylyuk, (left),  the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council for Ukraine, visited Washington D.C. in July. Former U.S. special envoy to the Ukraine Kurt Volker, (right), had also attended the meeting
'Amb. Sondland started to speak about Ukraine delivering specific investigations in order to secure the meeting with the President, at which time Ambassador Bolton cut the meeting short.
'Following this meeting, there was a scheduled debriefing during which Amb. Sondland emphasized the importance that Ukraine deliver the investigations into the 2016 election, the Bidens, and Burisma.
'I stated to Amb. Sondland that his statements were inappropriate, that the request to investigate Biden and his son had nothing to do with national security, and that such investigations were not something the NSC was going to get involved in or push.
'Dr. Hill then entered the room and asserted to Amb. Sondland that his statements were inappropriate.'
Vindman is married with one child and has a twin brother named Eugene, who also serves in the military. It is understood he is a lawyer in the National Security Council.
In his statement, Alexander claimed his family fled the Soviet Union when he was three. Upon arriving in New York City in 1979, his father worked multiple jobs to support them while learning English at night.
The Trump campaign has alleged that Biden quashed a Ukrainian investigation into Burisma, where Biden's son Hunter served on the board from 2014 until earlier this year, using the threat of withholding U.S. foreign aid.
Biden has denied any wrongdoing, and Trump's phone call to the Ukrainian president asking him to look into the matter is at the heart of House Democrats' mounting impeachment probe into Trump. 
[size=18]President Trump goes on rant about impeachment during cabinet meeting




Lo[/size]

[size=34]READ IN FULL: Lt. Col. Alex Vindman's opening statement to impeachment inquiry about Trump-Ukraine call[/size]

Before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform
October 29, 2019
Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member, thank you for the opportunity to address the Committees concerning the activities relating to Ukraine and my role in the events under investigation.
Background
I have dedicated my entire professional life to the United States of America. For more than two decades, it has been my honor to serve as an officer in the United States Army. As an infantry officer, I served multiple overseas tours, including South Korea and Germany, and a deployment to Iraq for combat operations. In Iraq, I was wounded in an IED attack and awarded a Purple Heart.

Colonel Alexander S. Vindman is expected to deliver this statement on Tuesday
Since 2008, I have been a Foreign Area Officer specializing in Eurasia. In this role, I have served in the United States' embassies in Kiev, Ukraine and Moscow, Russia. In Washington, D.C., I was a politico-military affairs officer for Russia for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs where I authored the principle strategy for managing competition with Russia. In July 2018, I was asked to serve at the National Security Council.
The privilege of serving my country is not only rooted in my military service, but also in my personal history. I sit here, as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army, an immigrant. My family fled the Soviet Union when I was three and a half years old. Upon arriving in New York City in 1979, my father worked multiple jobs to support us, all the while learning English at night. He stressed to us the importance of fully integrating into our adopted country. For many years, life was quite difficult. In spite of our challenging beginnings, my family worked to build its own American dream. I have a deep appreciation for American values and ideals and the power of freedom. I am a patriot, and it is my sacred duty and honor to advance and defend OUR country, irrespective of party or politics.
For over twenty years as an active duty United States military officer and diplomat, I have served this country in a nonpartisan manner, and have done so with the utmost respect and professionalism for both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Introduction
Before recounting my recollection of various events under investigation, I want to clarify a few issues. I am appearing today voluntarily pursuant to a subpoena and will answer all questions to the best of my recollection.
I want the Committees to know I am not the whistleblower who brought this issue to the CIA and the Committees' attention. I do not know who the whistleblower is and I would not feel comfortable to speculate as to the identity of the whistleblower.
Also, as I will detail herein, I did convey certain concerns internally to National Security officials in accordance with my decades of experience and training, sense of duty, and obligation to operate within the chain of command. As an active duty military officer, the command structure is extremely important to me. On many occasions I have been told I should express my views and share my concerns with my chain of command and proper authorities. I believe that any good military officer should and would do the same, thus providing his or her best advice to leadership.
Furthermore, in performing my coordination role as a Director on the National Security Council, I provided readouts of relevant meetings and communications to a very small group of properly cleared national security counterparts with a relevant need-to-know.
My Service on the National Security Council
When I joined the White House's National Security Council ("NSC"), I reported to Dr. Fiona Hill, who in turn reported to John Bolton, the National Security Advisor. My role at the NSC includes developing, coordinating, and executing plans and policies to manage the full range of diplomatic, informational, military, and economic national security issues for the countries in my portfolio, which includes Ukraine.
In my position, I coordinate with a superb cohort of inter-agency partners. I regularly prepare internal memoranda, talking points, and other materials for the National Security Advisor and senior staff.
Most of my interactions relate to national security issues and are therefore especially sensitive. I would urge the Committees to carefully balance the need for information against the impact that disclosure would have on our foreign policy and national security.
I have never had direct contact or communications with the President.
The Geopolitical Importance of Ukraine
Since 2008, Russia has manifested an overtly aggressive foreign policy, leveraging military power and employing hybrid warfare to achieve its objectives of regional hegemony and global influence. Absent a deterrent to dissuade Russia from such aggression, there is an increased risk of further confrontations with the West. In this situation, a strong and independent Ukraine is critical to U.S. national security interests because Ukraine is a frontline state and a bulwark against Russian aggression.
In spite of being under assault from Russia for more than five years, Ukraine has taken major steps towards integrating with the West. The U.S. government policy community's view is that the election of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the promise of reforms to eliminate corruption will lock in Ukraine's Western-leaning trajectory, and allow Ukraine to realize its dream of a vibrant democracy and economic prosperity.
Given this perspective and my commitment to advancing our government's strategic interests, I will now recount several events that occurred.
Relevant Events
When I joined the NSC in July 2018, I began implementing the administration's policy on Ukraine. In the Spring of 2019, I became aware of outside influencers promoting a false narrative of Ukraine inconsistent with the consensus views of the interagency. This narrative was harmful to U.S. government policy. While my interagency colleagues and I were becoming increasingly optimistic on Ukraine's prospects, this alternative narrative undermined U.S. government efforts to expand cooperation with Ukraine.
April 21, 2019: President Trump Calls Ukraine President Zelenskyy
On April 21, 2019, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected President of Ukraine in a landslide victory. President Zelenskyy was seen as a unifying figure within the country. He was the first candidate to win a majority in every region of the country, breaking the claims that Ukraine would be subject to a perpetual divide between the Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking populations. President Zelenskyy ran on a platform of unity, reform, and anti-corruption, which resonated with the entire country.
In support of U.S. policy objectives to support Ukrainian sovereignty, President Trump called President Zelenskyy on April 21, 2019. I was one of several staff and officers who listened to the call. The call was positive, and President Trump expressed his desire to work with President Zelenskyy and extended an invitation to visit the White House.
May 21, 2019: Inauguration Delegation Goes to Ukraine
On May 21, 2019, I was directed by Ambassador Bolton and Dr. Hill to join the delegation attending President Zelenkskyy's inauguration. When the delegation returned, they provided a debriefing to President Trump and explained their positive assessment of President Zelenskyy and his team. I did not participate in the debriefing.
Oleksandr Danylyuk Visit – July 10, 2019
On July 10, 2019, Oleksandr Danylyuk, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council for Ukraine, visited Washington, D.C. for a meeting with National Security Advisor Bolton. Ambassadors Volker and Sondland also attended, along with Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
The meeting proceeded well until the Ukrainians broached the subject of a meeting between the two presidents. The Ukrainians saw this meeting as critically important in order to solidify the support of their most important international partner. Amb. Sondland started to speak about Ukraine delivering specific investigations in order to secure the meeting with the President, at which time Ambassador Bolton cut the meeting short.
Following this meeting, there was a scheduled debriefing during which Amb. Sondland emphasized the importance that Ukraine deliver the investigations into the 2016 election, the Bidens, and Burisma. I stated to Amb. Sondland that his statements were inappropriate, that the request to investigate Biden and his son had nothing to do with national security, and that such investigations were not something the NSC was going to get involved in or push. Dr. Hill then entered the room and asserted to Amb. Sondland that his statements were inappropriate.
Following the debriefing meeting, I reported my concerns to the NSC's lead counsel. Dr. Hill also reported the incident to the NSC's lead counsel.
Election Call – July 25, 2019
On July 21, 2019, President Zelenskyy's party won Parliamentary elections in a landslide victory. The NSC proposed that President Trump call President Zelenskyy to congratulate him.
On July 25, 2019, the call occurred. I listened in on the call in the Situation Room with colleagues from the NSC and the office of the Vice President. As the transcript is in the public record, we are all aware of what was said.
I was concerned by the call. I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government's support of Ukraine. I realized that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma, it would likely be interpreted as a partisan play which would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing the bipartisan support it has thus far maintained. This would all undermine U.S. national security. Following the call, I again reported my concerns to NSC's lead counsel.
Conclusion
The United States and Ukraine are and must remain strategic partners, working together to realize the shared vision of a stable, prosperous, and democratic Ukraine that is integrated into the Euro-Atlantic community. Our partnership is rooted in the idea that free citizens should be able to exercise their democratic rights, choose their own destiny, and live in peace.
It has been a great honor to serve the American people and a privilege to work in the White House and on the National Security Council. I hope to continue to serve and advance America's national security interests.
Thank you again for your consideration, and now I would be happy to answer your questions.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7643853/Donald-Trump-Jr-claims-father-racist-let-hang-Michael-Jackson.html

[size=34]Donald Trump Jr claims in his new book that his father can't be racist because he let him play video games with Michael Jackson and says his dad is more deserving of the Nobel Peace prize than Obama[/size]

• Donald Trump Jr is the author of a new book, Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us, which is due out on November 5 
  
  
• President's eldest son hits out at dad's enemies, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Robert Mueller, CNN, Mitt Romney, George W. Bush, and liberals 
  
  
• Don Jr called Mueller a 'feeble old fool' who ran a 'crooked investigation' into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 elections 
  
  
• He accused Twitter and Instagram of 'shadow banning' him and silencing conservatives 
  
  
• Don Jr also writes that his father was more deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize than his predecessor, Obama
  
  
• He denies that his father is racist, saying that when he was a child he was allowed to play video games with fellow Trump Tower resident Michael Jackson 
  
  
• Don Jr also slams Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her 'squad', which he says should be renamed 'the Hamas caucus' 
  
  

By ARIEL ZILBER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 01:18 EST, 3 November 2019 | UPDATED: 01:55 EST, 3 November 2019

     






Donald Trump Jr takes aim at his father's enemies in his new book, Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us
Donald Trump can’t possibly be racist because he allowed Donald Trump Jr to play video games with Michael Jackson, the President’s eldest son writes in his provocative new book.
To refute the accusation made against his father, Don Jr says that when he was a kid, he would spend time with the King of Pop, who had an apartment in Trump Tower in Manhattan. 
‘Oh, and by the way, given all the things my father has been called, particularly a “racist,” it sure sounds odd that he’d let his son vacation with a black man or hang out with Michael Jackson, doesn’t it?

‘If he’s a racist, he’s sure not very good at it.’ 
In published excerpts of Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us, Don Jr, 41, also writes that his father is more deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize than his predecessor, Barack Obama.
He dedicated the 294-page book, which is scheduled to go on sale next week, to ‘deplorables,’ a reference to the term used by Hillary Clinton to describe his father’s supporters during the 2016 campaign.
‘I am proudly one of you,’ Don Jr writes on the dedication page. The excerpt was reported by The Guardian.
In the book, Don Jr derisively refers to Mitt Romney, the senator from Utah who has criticized his father on a number of occasions, as a ‘liberal.’
He also takes on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her ‘squad,’ which includes progressive Congresswomen Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib.
Don Jr’s father has targeted the women on Twitter, at one point suggesting that they should ‘go back to where they came from’ - even though three of them were born in the United States.
Don Jr writes in his book that the ‘squad’ should be renamed ‘the Hamas caucus’ - a reference to the Palestinian terrorist group.


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Don Jr, 41, pushes back against criticism of his father, President Trump (center), saying that he could not possibly be racist because he allowed him and his brother, Eric, to play video games with Michael Jackson when they were young. Don Jr's girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, is seen left


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Don Jr writes that he and his brother Eric spent time with Jackson when they were young. The King of Pop once owned an apartment in Trump Tower. Jackson and Donald Trump are seen above in this undated file photo
The 'squad' has been accused of anti-Semitism. Omar has come under fierce criticism for comments about Israel that some perceived as anti-Jewish.
He also slams former President George W. Bush as a ‘loser’ while calling Bill Kristol, a ‘Never Trump’ Republican commentator, a ‘rat.’
He also mocked former special counsel Robert Mueller as a ‘feeble old fool’ who headed a ‘crooked investigation’ into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Don Jr writes that he ‘almost felt bad’ for Mueller during his testimony before Congress on July 24.
‘If it weren’t for the fact that I was probably number two on the guy’s kill list for years, I might have,’ he writes.
Mueller, 75, at times appeared confused and at a loss for words as the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees peppered him with questions about his two-year investigation.
The special counsel’s report states that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that Trump or anyone associated with his campaign conspired with Russia to defeat Clinton in 2016.


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Don Jr also writes that his father is more deserving of the Nobel Prize than his predecessor, Barack Obama. He also dedicated the book to 'deplorables' - a term used by Hillary Clinton to describe Trump supporters. Obama and Clinton are seen in Philadelphia in 2016
Don Jr was thrust into the center of the probe after it was learned that in June 2016 he had accepted a meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer who claimed to have dirt on Clinton.
When he was emailed about the possibility of meeting the lawyer, Don Jr famously replied: ‘If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.’


He writes that he felt vindicated after Mueller issued his report which he claims found ‘zero evidence of collusion or obstruction.’
‘Turns out I’m not a Russian agent after all!’ Don Jr writes.
In fact, the Mueller report doesn’t definitively reach a conclusion about whether Trump obstructed justice. 


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Don Jr also mocks former special counsel Robert Mueller as a 'feeble old fool' who ran a 'crooked investigation'
Don Jr also claims in his book that there is a conspiracy by social media networks to censor him.
‘With every day that goes by, Twitter and Instagram are removing more and more of my posts from people’s timeline,’ Don Jr writes.
‘People who have liked or shared my posts have been reporting sudden problems with their accounts or temporary lockouts from their devices.’
Twitter denies Don Jr’s claims that he is the victim of ‘shadow banning.’
“We enforce our rules dispassionately and do not engage in so-called shadow banning. We are constantly working to improve our systems and will continue to be transparent in our efforts,” a Twitter spokesperson told the New York Post.


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Don Jr refers to the 'squad' of Democratic congresswomen as 'the Hamas caucus.' Seen from left: Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ayanna Pressley
Instagram was not available for comment. Its parent company, Facebook, has been accused by conservatives of censoring right-wing voices.
Don Jr also repeats the accusation that liberals are silencing conservatives.
‘I’m essentially not allowed to have an opinion any more, let alone express that opinion in public,’ he writes.
Don Jr also echoes his father’s criticism of the mainstream media, according to an excerpt posted by Bloomberg.
He writes that the ‘mainstream media manipulates the news’ by using anonymous sources and ‘creative editing.’
Don Jr says one of the media’s ‘big whoppers was that I knew about the WikiLeaks dump’ of Clinton’s emails during the 2016 campaign ahead of time.
He also recalls the incident when his then-wife Vanessa and a Secret Service agent were sent to a hospital after an envelope containing white powder was sent to their Manhattan home in February 2018.
‘You are getting what you deserve,’ the letter read.
‘So shut the f*** up.’
The white powder turned out to be cornstarch.
The man who sent the envelope, Daniel Frisiello of Massachusetts, was sentenced to five years of probation.


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Don Jr also takes aim at Republican Party establishment figures like Senator Mitt Romney (left) of Utah, whom he calls a 'liberal', and 'loser' former President George W. Bush (right)
Don Jr writes that he is worried about the five children from his ex-wife, Vanessa.
He says that on Election Day 2016, he was walking through Manhattan with his family when a passerby began to curse at him in front of his children.
‘You know, tolerant liberals screaming and cursing at me while I had four of my children in tow,’ Don Jr writes.
Don Jr is currently dating Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former Fox News personality who was once married to current California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Interestingly enough, Don Jr criticizes the Democrat Newsom in his book for California's sanctuary policies benefiting illegal immigrants, though he doesn't mention the fact that Newsom was once married to his current girlfriend.
Aside from regular book retailers, Don Jr is offering the book for sale on a web site called ‘Trigger a lib.’
He invites buyers to pay $21 to send a hardcover copy of the book to ‘your favorite liberal’ so they could be ‘triggered.’ 
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Donald Trump Jr claims his father can't be racist because he let him hang out with Michael Jackson













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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7643369/US-judge-blocks-Trumps-health-insurance-rule-immigrants.html

[size=34]Federal judge blocks Trump administration rule requiring immigrants prove they will have health insurance or can pay for medical care before they can get visas[/size]

• US District Judge Michael Simon, of Oregon, granted a nationwide temporary restraining order Saturday stopping the rule from going into effect Sunday 
  
  
• The rule would require immigrants to prove they will have health insurance or can afford medical care before they can obtain permanent residency in the US
  
  
• President Donald Trump announced the policy in early October and justified it on the grounds that immigrants are more likely to be uninsured
  
  
• He said too many non-citizens were taking advantage of America's 'generous public health programs' and saddling US citizens with the costs
  
  
• Seven US citizens and a nonprofit group filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming the rule would block nearly two-thirds of all prospective legal immigrants 
  
  
• Judge Simon's ruling was the latest in a string of court decisions to derail Trump policies aimed at limiting admission of certain legal immigrants into the US
  
  

By ASSOCIATED PRESS and MEGAN SHEETS FOR DAILYMAIL.COM 
PUBLISHED: 18:28 EST, 2 November 2019 | UPDATED: 09:14 EST, 3 November 2019

     





A federal judge has blocked a Trump administration rule requiring immigrants to prove they will have health insurance or can afford medical care before they can get visas.
US District Judge Michael Simon, of Portland, Oregon, granted a nationwide temporary restraining order Saturday that prevented the rule from going into effect Sunday. It's not clear when he will rule on the merits of the case.
The ruling was the latest in a string of court decisions to derail White House initiatives aimed at limiting the admission of certain legal immigrants into the United States.  
Seven US citizens and a nonprofit organization filed the federal lawsuit Wednesday charging that the health care requirement would block nearly two-thirds of all prospective legal immigrants.

The lawsuit also claimed the rule would greatly reduce or eliminate the number of immigrants who enter the US with family-sponsored visas. 
'We're very grateful that the court recognized the need to block the health care ban immediately,' said Justice Action Center senior litigator Esther Sung, who argued at Saturday's hearing on behalf of the plaintiffs. 
'The ban would separate families and cut two-thirds of green-card-based immigration starting tonight, were the ban not stopped.'


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A federal judge in Portland, Oregon, has blocked a Trump administration rule that would require immigrants to prove they will have health insurance or can afford medical care before they can get visas. The Saturday ruling was the latest in a string of court decisions to derail President Donald Trump's initiatives aimed at limiting the admission of certain legal immigrants into the United States. Trump is seen outside the White House on Saturday night
The proclamation signed by President Donald Trump in early October applies to people seeking immigrant visas from abroad - not those in the US already. 
It does not affect lawful permanent residents, nor does it apply to asylum-seekers, refugees or children.
The proclamation says immigrants will be barred from entering the country unless they are to be covered by health insurance within 30 days of entering or have enough financial resources to pay for any medical costs. 
Trump had justified the policy on the grounds that immigrants were more likely to be uninsured, asserting that too many non-citizens were taking advantage of America's 'generous public health programs'. 
Legal immigrants are three times as likely as American citizens to be uninsured, with uninsured rates of 23 percent to eight percent respectively, according to a study released by the Kaiser Family Foundation in February. 
Trump said immigrants are contributing to the problem of 'uncompensated health care costs' that are 'passed on to the American people in the form of higher taxes, higher premiums, and higher fees for medical services'.  
The rule is the Trump administration's latest effort to limit immigrant access to public programs while trying to move the country away from a family based immigration system to a merit-based system.


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Seven US citizens and a nonprofit organization filed the federal lawsuit Wednesday charging that the health care requirement would block nearly two-thirds of all prospective legal immigrants. US visa holders are seen entering Texas from Mexico in June (file photo) 
Under the government's visa rule, the required insurance can be bought individually or provided by an employer and it can be short-term coverage or catastrophic.
Medicaid doesn't count, and an immigrant can't get a visa if using the Affordable Care Act's subsidies when buying insurance. The federal government pays for those subsidies.


According to the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan immigration think tank, 57 percent of US immigrants had private health insurance in 2017, compared with 69 percent of US-born, and 30 percent had public health insurance coverage, compared with 36 percent of native-born.
The uninsured rate for immigrants dropped from 32 percent to 20 percent from 2013 to 2017, since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, according to Migration Policy.
There are about 1.1 million people who obtain green cards each year.
'Countless thousands across the country can breathe a sigh of relief today because the court recognized the urgent and irreparable harm that would have been inflicted' without the hold, said Jesse Bless, director of federal litigation at the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Earlier this year, the administration made sweeping changes to regulations that would deny green cards to immigrants who use some forms of public assistance, but the courts have blocked that measure.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7644691/Donald-Trump-blasts-California-Governor-Gavin-Newsom-fires.html

[size=34]Trump threatens to cut federal funding for California's wildfires and blames Governor Newsom for not 'cleaning' the forest floors - who hits back by telling him he's 'excused from the conversation'[/size]

• President Trump started his Sunday by blasting California Gov. Gavin Newsom over the state wildfires 
  
  
• Trump said that Newsom has done a 'terrible job' with forest management and suggested that's because the Democrat is in the pocket of environmentalists
  
  
• 'Every year, as the [fires] rage & California burns, it is the same thing- and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more,' Trump threatened
  
  
• Newsom hit back on Twitter saying: 'You don't believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation' 
  
  
• Trump blasted forest management as the cause of the fires, but the two biggest blazes in the state are not on forest land 
  
  

By MARLENE LENTHANG and NIKKI SCHWAB, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 09:34 EST, 3 November 2019 | UPDATED: 16:00 EST, 3 November 2019

     



President Donald Trump has threatened to cut federal funding for the spate of devastating wildfires burning throughout California while blaming Gov. Gavin Newson for failing to prevent the natural disasters.  
'The Governor of California, @GavinNewsom, has done a terrible job of forest management. I told him from the first day we met that he must "clean" the forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him,' Trump wrote.  
However, neither of the two massive wildfires currently burning in California - the Maria Fire north of Los Angeles or the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County - are on forest land. 
He added that he wanted to give the state 'no more' help and withhold federal financial aid. 

Gov. Newsom hit back Sunday morning slamming the president saying: 'You don't believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation.' 



President Trump went after California Gov. Gavin Newsom Sunday morning over California's wildfires, blaming the Democrat for 'a terrible job of forest management' and threatening to withhold federal financial aid


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Newsom hit back on Twitter Sunday morning saying: 'You don't believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation'
[size=10][size=18]Trump blames California's governor Newsom for wildfires




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Although Trump has repeatedly blamed California officials for the state's fires and forest mismanagement, most of the state's forests are actually owned and managed by federal agencies. Federal agencies manage 57% of the 33million acres of forest in the Golden State. 
Trump reamed Newsom on Twitter on Sunday morning, slamming the California politician for the wildfires that continue to spark new destruction year after year. 
'Must also do burns and cut fire stoppers,' Trump advised. 'Every year, as the [fires] rage & California burns, it is the same thing- and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more.' 
'Get your act together Governor,' the president added. 
Trump pointed out that 'you don't see close to the level of burn in other states.' 
Newsom hit back at the president pointing at his refusal to acknowledge the role climate change has in accelerating wildfires. 
'We’re successfully waging war against thousands of fires started across the state in the last few weeks due to extreme weather created by climate change while Trump is conducting a full on assault against the antidotes,' the Governor said in a statement to DailyMail.com on his work in the state for wildfire prevention and response. 
'The reality is that while California has increased fire prevention investments and fuel management projects, the federal government has slashed its funding of those same activities,' Newsom's spokesman Jesse Melgar added.  
Scientists have noted that climate change has contributed to the ferocity of wildfires, which have grown in frequency and power over the past couple of years. Hotter temperatures lead to drier, more fire-prone land, meaning blazes are more likely to occur. 
In California specifically warm-season days have increased by 2.5 degrees since the early 1970s, according to a Earth's Future study.  


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President Trump went after California Gov. Gavin Newsom Sunday morning, complaining that he's to blame for the state's recent spate of forest fires 


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Trump claimed Sunday that California is in desperate need of water. However drought maps from this week show that the state is not in need of water and drought is not playing a role in the wildfires
[size=18]Timelapse captures start of Maria wildfire in California




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Scientists have also said that California's forestry management isn't the only thing that can mitigate wildfires. Climate change as well as human factors like downed power lines and homes built too close together in rural areas also contribute to the blazes. 
Last year's Camp Fire - which was the deadliest and more destructive in California history claiming 85 lives - was sparked by equipment operated by utility company Pacific Gas & electric.  
At the moment several of the largest wildfires this season aren't even burning in forests. 
The Getty Fire and Easy Fire broke out near Los Angeles in brush-filled hillsides.  
After slamming Newsom, Trump then used Twitter to show his appreciation to the firefighters working on the ground. 
'But our teams are working well together in putting these massive, and many, fires out. Great firefighters!' Trump said. 
The president also advised that the state 'open up the ridiculously closed water lines coming down from the North.' 
'Don't pour it out into the Pacific Ocean,' he said. 'Should be done immediately.'







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The past month has seen over a dozen of powerful wildfires erupt up and down the state of California. The Maria Fire racing down a hillside in Santa Paula on November 1 above


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As of Sunday morning, crews had contained 50 percent of the Maria Fire (pictured Friday), which broke out Halloween night, and tore through 9,412 acres and destroyed two structures


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Governor Gavin Newsom (left), L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin (center), and L.A. City Mayor Eric Garcetti tour a burned home along Tigertail Road on October 29


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The map features the active fires in California 
[size=18]LAPD dashcam shows the moment power lines sparked the Getty wildfire




Load[/size]






'California desperately needs water, and you can have it now!' Trump said. 
However, drought maps show that at this time California is not in desperate need of water and drought did not play a role in the wildfires.  
There are currently at least 11 active California fires burning up and down the state that have destroyed thousands of acres of land, evacuated tens of thousands, and left many without power for days. 
As of Sunday morning, crews had contained 50 percent of the Maria Fire, which broke out Halloween night, and tore through 9,412 acres and destroyed two structures, as per the Ventura County Fire Department.  


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Firefighters navigate across a narrow bridge to battle a house fire along Hwy 128, as spot fires from the Kincade Fire erupt behind the main fire lines on October 29


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Justo and Bernadette Laos hug while looking through the charred remains of the home they rented that was destroyed by the Kincade Fire near Geyserville, California on October 31


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A fireplace is left standing in a structure devastated by the Kincade Fire in Kellogg, California


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A charred tree stands above a smoky valley in the aftermath of the Kincade Fire near Healdsburg, California on October 30
In the North, the Kincade fire is 74 percent contained after burning for 11 days and after razing through 77,758 acres as of Sunday morning. 
On Saturday weather looked more favorable to firefighting in Southern California.
Crews are still working to tackle hotspots amid lingering winds, county fire Capt. Steve Kaufmass said Sunday. At least five people have died in wildfire-related cases since October, according to the Washington Post. 
Last year Trump made similar federal aid threats when wildfires razed through Malibu and Paradise, California, which he also planed on the 'gross mismanagement' of forests. 
At that time Newson defended California's wildfire prevention efforts and criticized the federal government for not doing enough to help protect the state.  
[size=18]Wildfire spreads across hilltop north of Los Angeles




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I wonder who he'll blame when his precious Mar-a-Lago is under water. due to coastal erosion. Will he claim the Florida governor didn't do enough to stop hurricanes and hold back the ocean? Will he claim they should have built a seawall around his property? Will he demand government funding to repair and rebuild??

We know he hates California and NY, so it's no surprise he's basically telling California to drop dead just like he did to PR and, I'm sure, would love to have the opportunity to say to NY. I just hope anyone who has friends or relatives in California realizes how callous his response to this disaster is.

May not have long to wait Lizzy - apparently the Polar icecap will be gone in two years.

And then there's this 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/01/canada-boreal-forest-toilet-paper-us-climate-change-impact-report

- and in the Amazon rainforest too....

PAN - To me, drumpf's despoiling of the planet is the most despicable thing about his presidency. All the political things he's doing can be fixed - wrecking the planet can't. Sadly, he can't see past his wallet so he won't stop fostering destructive policies. He doesn't care. He's so old that he probably won't live long enough to face the consequences of his actions.

Yes your right he won't be alive but his grandchildren will. I believe that the rich really think all their money will save them.Which we all know will never happen.

Annemaraie - Do you really think he gives a damn about his grandchildren? I don't . I don't think he really cares about his children, let alone their kids. He only cares about himself.

Pretty sure that you can take things into your own hands as far as the climate thing goes - and then, who knows? 

If enough people demand them, he may buy shares in recycled toilet roll companies!

They're in every supermarket here now..............and all the plastic bags you have to pay for are made from recycled plastic. Other stores just pack your stuff in a paper bag.

Things are changing here, too, but it's slow going. Even if each individual did all they possibly could, I don't think it would balance out the things drumpf's doing to roll back environmental protections. For him it's business as usual as if this was the beginning of the industrial revolution when profit was all that mattered.

I know he doesn't care about his grand children that is what i was saying his grandchildren and and their dumb parents will suffer from his actions.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7648077/New-York-prosecutors-Trump-tax-returns-court-rules.html

[size=34]BREAKING NEWS: Federal judges rule Donald Trump MUST let his tax returns be released to Manhattan DA probing Stormy Daniels payments - setting up Supreme Court clash[/size]

• Federal appeals judges in New York rule president cannot block his accounting firm from handing over years of tax returns to Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr.
  
  
• DA is probing Trump's payments before the election to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, allegedly to silence their claims of sex with him
  
  
• President's attorneys had claimed he was totally immune from prosecution while in office and could shoot someone in 5th Avenue and not be prosecuted
  
  
• Trump's lawyers are certain to appeal and case is set for Supreme Court  
  
  

By GEOFF EARLE, DEPUTY U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and REUTERS and ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 10:44 EST, 4 November 2019 | UPDATED: 12:23 EST, 4 November 2019

     




President Donald Trump's longtime accounting firm must hand over eight years of his tax returns to New York prosecutors, a U.S. appeals court ruled Monday in the latest setback for Trump in his tenacious efforts to keep his finances secret.
The ruling by the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backed the ability of prosecutors to enforce a subpoena for the returns against accounting firm Mazars LLP.  


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Trump's lawyer told the three-judge appeals panel this month that Trump is immune from state criminal law even if he shoots someone because he's president.



Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. sought the records in a broader probe that includes payments made to buy the silence of two women who claim they had affairs with the president before the 2016 presidential election. One of them was Stormy Daniels
The three-judge panel, consisting of three Bill Clinton appointees, issued its ruling in a blistering opinion where they took on the president's claim of immunity, reached back to the founding of the republic to find times when presidents cooperated in the legal process, and noted that the last six presidents released their own tax returns voluntarily even as Trump invoked a privilege to keep them private. 

A footnote in the opinion says: 'We note that the past six presidents, dating back to President Carter, all voluntarily released their tax returns to the public. While we do not place dispositive weight on this fact, it reinforces our conclusion that the disclosure of personal financial information, standing alone, is unlikely to impair the President in performing the duties of his office.'
With the Republican president set to appeal, the ruling sets the stage for an expected showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court, whose 5-4 conservative majority includes two justices appointed by Trump. 
Said Trump attorney Jay Sekulow: 'The decision of the Second Circuit will be taken to the Supreme Court. The issue raised in this case go to the heart of our Republic. The constitutional issues are significant.'  
The judges took on the president's claim of immunity, and said a subpoena to his longtime accounting firm would in no way disrupt his ability to carry out his duties. 
'But we are not faced, in this case, with the President’s arrest or imprisonment, or with an order compelling him to attend court at a particular time or place, or, indeed, with an order that compels the President himself to do anything,' the judges wrote. 'The subpoena at issue is directed not to the President, but to his accountants; compliance does not require the President to do anything at all.'
'We find no support in the Nixon Court’s conclusion—that even documents exposing the President’s confidential, official conversations may properly be obtained by subpoena—for the proposition that a President’s private and non‐privileged documents may be absolutely shielded from judicial scrutiny,' they wrote.
 They went back to the early days of the republic to show that presidents are not immune from the judicial process.
'Over 200 years ago, Chief Justice Marshall, sitting as the trial judge in the prosecution of Aaron Burr, upheld the issuance of a subpoena duces tecum to President Jefferson,' they wrote, in reference to an order for a person bring something with them to court.   
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. sought the records in a broader probe that includes payments made to buy the silence of two women who claim they had affairs with the president before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump's lawyer told the three-judge appeals panel this month that Trump is immune from state criminal law even if he shoots someone because he's president.
At the time, Trump attorney William Consovoy faced skeptical questions from the judicial panel, and was asked a variation of Trump's famous boast he could shoot someone on Fifth Ave. and not lose any support. 


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Prosecutors in New York are investigating hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels
[size=10][size=18]Lawyer argues Trump can't be prosecuted while in office




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'What’s your view on the 5th avenue example?' Judge Denny Chin asked him. 'Local authorities couldn’t investigate, they couldn’t do anything about it?'
Consovoy responded: 'Once a president is removed from office, any local authority – this is not a permanent immunity,' Consovoy responded, making the point that the 73-year-old president could face prosecution at the end of his term. 
'Well I’m talking about while in office,' the judge pressed. 'That's the [hypothetical question].
'No,' Consovoy responded.
'Nothing could be done. That’s your position?' Judge Chin followed up.
'That is correct,' Consovoy replied, in an exchange that can be heard on audio.
'Even gathering documents that could be used later? Once the president leaves office, that can’t be done either?' the judge wanted to know.
Then Consovoy hedged: 'That can be done, I apologize. I meant to say with respect to the president, directly or through his custodians. This grand jury is proceeding. We have not sought to enjoin the entirety for the grand jury,' he said, in reference to the DA's probe of potential campaign finance or other violations. 
The Appeals Court found the president 'has not shown a likelihood of success on the merits of his claims sufficient to warrant injunctive relief.'
Trump said in 2016: 'I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters. 
Vance had already reached an agreement not to enforce a subpoena until after the Appeals Court ruling, to allow for a quick appeal to the Supreme Court.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7647405/Donald-Trump-argues-no-reason-call-witnesses-impeachment-inquiry.html

[size=34]Donald Trump argues there is 'no reason to call witnesses' in impeachment inquiry as FOUR White House officials plan to defy congressional subpoenas on Monday[/size]

• Donald Trump argued there was 'no reason to call witnesses' to testify on his phone call with the Ukrainian president
  
  
• His call comes as four White House officials plan to defy subpoenas on Monday and not show up on Capitol Hill to testify in the impeachment inquiry 
  
  
• 'What I said on the phone call with the Ukrainian President is "perfectly" stated. There is no reason to call witnesses to analyze my words,' Trump tweeted 
  
  
• Two other administration officials plan to defy subpoenas this week
  
  
• Democrats are preparing to wrap closed-door hearings and hold public ones in the coming weeks  
  
  

By EMILY GOODIN, U.S. POLITCAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 07:49 EST, 4 November 2019 | UPDATED: 11:01 EST, 4 November 2019

     


Donald Trump on Monday argued there was 'no reason to call witnesses' to testify on his phone call with the Ukrainian president as four White House officials prepared to defy congressional subpoenas and not testify in the impeachment inquiry. 
'What I said on the phone call with the Ukrainian President is "perfectly" stated. There is no reason to call witnesses to analyze my words and meaning. This is just another Democrat Hoax that I have had to live with from the day I got elected (and before!). Disgraceful!,' the president tweeted.
National Security Council lawyers John Eisenberg and Michael Ellis will not testify nor will White House adviser Robert Blair nor Office of Management and Budget associated director Brian McCormack. 
Eisenberg and Blair did not arrive to testify at 9 am on Capitol Hill. Ellis and McCormack are not expected to attend their 2 pm session.  

[size=10][size=18]Trump on impeachment poll numbers: 'I have the real polls!'




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Donald Trump argued there was 'no reason to call witnesses' to testify on his phone call with the Ukrainian president



The four are leading a parade of White House officials who plan to skip their scheduled testimony on Capitol Hill this week as Democrats prepare to wrap up the closed-door testimony and begin public hearings in the coming weeks. 
It's also a sign of increased stonewalling from the Trump administration after a parade of witnesses on Capitol Hill revealed new details on the relationship between the U.S. and the Ukraine.  
All four officials scheduled to be on Capitol Hill Monday have ties to the July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that sparked the impeachment inquiry.
Eisenberg and Ellis decided to move the transcript of the call to a more secure server, NSC official Lt. Col. Andrew Vindman testified last week. 
Blair, an aide to acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, was on the call. Before joining the Trump administration he was a long time staffer on Capitol Hill, working on the Appropriations committee, the powerful panel that doles out federal money, giving him a unique perspective on the decision to with hold aid to Ukraine.
Previous witnesses have testified that Mulvaney put the hold on the nearly $400 million in military assistance to the Ukraine - that money was eventually released and sent to the Ukrainians.  


Before joining OMB, McCormack was chief of staff to Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who worked on U.S.-Ukrainian relations. 
Perry worked with EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland on what witnesses called a 'shadow' foreign policy with the Ukraine. He has also been subpoenaed but department officials have said he will not testify.
An administration official told CNN Eisenberg won't appear because of executive privilege while Blair, Ellis and McCormack will not show up because they won't be able to have an administration lawyer present. 
On Tuesday OMB official Michael Duffey and NSC staffer Wells Griffith are scheduled to testify but neither are expected to appear on Capitol Hill. 
On Wednesday, OMB acting director Russ Vought is expected to defy his subpoena. It's unclear if two others scheduled to testify will appear. State Department staffer T. Ulrich Brechbuhl and David Hale, the under secretary of State for political affairs, are both on the docket.
Perry is also scheduled for Wednesday but is not expected to show up.   
Vought's agency would have formally with held the money from the Ukraine and Duffey was the official there in charge of foreign aid - making them both people Democrats want to hear from as they continue their investigation of Trump.
Lawmakers are also seeking to hear from former National Security Adviser John Bolton on Thursday but it's unclear whether or not he will appear. 
Asked whether Bolton should testify, Trump told reporters on Sunday: 'That's up to him and up to the lawyers.'
He added: 'I like John Bolton, I always got along with him.'  


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National Security Council lawyer John Eisenberg will not show up for his testimony on Monday


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White House adviser Robert Blair (left) will also defy Monday's subpoena


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As will National Security Council lawyer Michael Ellis
[size=18]President Trump talks Ukraine and impeachment before leaving for NY




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The impeachment inquiry began when a whistleblower flagged Trump's call to Zelensky where he asked the Ukraine to look into allegations that Joe Biden, as vice president, quashed a Ukrainian investigation into Burisma, where Biden's son Hunter served on the board from 2014 until earlier this year, and used the threat of withholding U.S. foreign aid. 
Biden has denied any wrongdoing and no charges have been filed against either Biden.
Trump also has denied any wrong doing and said his call with Zelensky was 'perfect.'

This makes me furious! We all know what would happen if we refused to honor a subpoena. Why the hell are these jackasses allowed to get away with ignoring the law? If nothing else, isn't this contempt of Congress? These jerks should be locked up until they agree to testify,

[size=34]'You need an army to defeat an army': President Trump wages WAR on Mexican drug cartels to 'wipeout monsters' after three American Mormon mothers and six of their children are EXECUTED and their bodies left in burned out SUVs[/size]

• At least nine U.S. citizens, including six children, who live in the Mexican border state of Sonora were killed in a shooting attack Monday 
  
  
• Rhonita Maria LeBaron, died along with her 6-month-old twins and her two other children, aged 10 and 12  
  
  
• Christina Langford Johnson, Dawna Langford and two of Dawna's children, aged 11 and three, were also killed
  
  
• The victims belong to the LeBaron family - a breakaway Mormon community that settled in the hills of northern Mexico decades ago 
  
  
• At the time of the attack, the family members were traveling in three cars from the settlement 
  
  
• According to relatives, drug cartel gunman opened fire and torched vehicles as the victims burned to death 
  
  
• Mexico's top security official Alfonso Durazo said on Tuesday cartel gunmen may have mistaken the group's large SUVs for rival gangs 
  
  
• Nine of the family members were slaughtered in the massacre and one child was still missing 
  
  
• Six children were wounded in the attack and five have since been transferred to hospitals in Phoenix, Arizona 
  
  
• Relatives say one boy managed to hide his wounded siblings - some less than a year old - in bushes before he ran back to their settlement to get help after his mother was gunned down 
  
  
• One of the mothers who was killed managed to save her seven-month-old baby's life by throwing the infant to the floor of their SUV as bullets tore through the vehicle
  
  

By EMILY CRANE and ADRY TORRES FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 22:14 EST, 4 November 2019 | UPDATED: 10:40 EST, 5 November 2019

     


President Donald Trump has waged a war on Mexican drug cartels after three American mothers and six children from a Mormon community based in northern Mexico were massacred by cartel gunmen. 
The victims, who belonged to the LeBaron family, were ambushed by cartel gunmen eight miles apart on a dirt road in the Mexican border state of Sonora on Monday while traveling in a convoy of three SUVs. 
At the time of the attack, the family members were traveling from the La Mora religious community where they live, which is a decades-old settlement in Sonora state founded as part of an offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. La Mora is about 70 miles south of Douglas in Arizona. Many of the church's members were born in Mexico and thus have dual citizenship. 
Nine of the LeBaron family members were slaughtered in the massacre and one child was still missing, Mexican authorities said. Six children were wounded in the attack and five have since been transferred to hospitals in Phoenix, Arizona.

Mexico's top security official Alfonso Durazo blamed cartel gunmen on Tuesday for the gruesome attack and said they may have mistaken the group's large SUVs for rival gangs. 
The slaughter of U.S. citizens on Mexican soil quickly became an international issue with Trump on Tuesday vowing to help Mexico wage a war on its drug cartels. He said in a series of tweets that the LeBaron family had gotten caught up between 'two vicious drug cartels'. Mexican officials have not confirmed if this was the case.    
'If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these monsters, the United States stands ready, willing & able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively,' Trump tweeted. 
'The great new President of Mexico has made this a big issue, but the cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army! This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth. We merely await a call from your great new president!'  
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador responded to Trump's tweet, saying 'war is the worst thing that can happen' and said he doesn't believe lethal force would solve them problem.  
'We declared war, and it didn't work,' Lopez Obrador said at a press conference, referring to the policies of previous administrations.'That is not an option.' 


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At least three American mothers and six children from a Mormon community based in northern Mexico have been massacred in an attack blamed on drug cartel gunmen. Maria Rhonita Miller was killed along with her six-month-old twins, Titus and Tiana (left and right), her 10-year-old daughter Krystal (left) and 12-year-old son Howard (center) 


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Christina Langford Johnson (left) and Dawna Ray Langford (right) were also killed traveling in two separate SUVs. Christina saved her seven-month-old baby Faith's life by throwing the infant to the floor of their SUV. Two of Dawna's children, Trevor, 11, and Rogan, 3, were killed in the attack


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Dawna Ray Langford, 43, and two of her children, Trevor, 11, (right with his mom) and Rogan, 3, (left) also died in the attack
Several LeBaron family members, many of whom live in Utah, took to social media following the massacre and described horrific scenes, including how gunmen opened fire on one child running away while others burned to death inside a car that was torched. 
Other young children managed to escape and hide by the roadside while one of the mothers was shot in the chest as she put her hands up to surrender. Relatives fear some of the victims may have been raped.  






One family member has described how a boy managed to hide his wounded siblings - some less than a year old - in bushes before he ran back to their settlement to get help after his mother was gunned down. 
It is not yet clear what motivated the killings. Family members believe it was an attempted kidnapping after one relative reported receiving a phone call hearing screams before they were executed.
Family members say Rhonita Maria LeBaron was driving to Phoenix on Monday with her four children to pick up her husband at the airport following his work trip. 



Relatives told DailyMail.com that her car broke down after she blew a tire. She returned to their community to get another car and set off again shortly before the other two mothers left.  
Gunmen opened fire and torched her vehicle causing the gas tank to explode. She was killed along with her twin six-month-old babies, Titus and Tiana, her 10-year-old daughter Krystal and 12-year-old son Howard. 
A video posted on social media showed the charred and smoking remains of her vehicle riddled with bullet holes.  
Christina Langford Johnson, 29, Dawna Ray Langford, 43, and two of Dawna's children, Trevor, 11, and Rogan, 3, were killed traveling in the two the other SUVs. 
They were en route to see family in the state of Chihuahua for a wedding that was scheduled for Friday, relatives told DailyMail.com. 
Family members say Christina saved her seven-month-old baby Faith's life by throwing the infant to the floor of their SUV as bullets tore through the vehicle. Relatives say the baby had been in the back of the car all day before rescuers found her.  
Seven of Dawna's children survived but suffered multiple gunshot wounds, according to relatives.  
[size=10][size=18]Aftermath of car explosion where US family was attacked in Mexico




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A video posted on social media showed the charred and smoking remains of one of the vehicles riddled with bullet holes that was apparently carrying the victims when the attack happened 


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The shooting occurred near the town of Bavispe between Sonora and Chihuahua near the US-Mexico border 
Relatives have since taken to social media to share horrific details of the attack, including fears that some of the victims were raped.
They also described how one mother got out of her car during the siege and put her hands up to surrender before being shot in the chest at point blank range. 
They described how the injured children were left abandoned on the dirt road by their attackers. 
One of Dawna's sons managed to hide his injured siblings before running to a nearby town for help, according to relatives.  
Relatives have since been paying tribute to their slain family members while also praising the heroic efforts of the surviving children. 
'My beautiful niece.. I'm heartbroken I'm so so sorry you became a victim of the evil in this world. You will always be my angel girl. Hold your babies tight. Love you Dawna, Rogan and Trevor eternally #familieswillbetogetherforever,' Trish Cloes posted on Facebook. 
'The evil might of had a plan on this earth but God has a greater plan for our family.' 
She added in a later post: 'Dawna's children escaped with bullet holes in several places on their bodies. The children managed to get help under horrible circumstances.
'The children managed to escape with their baby brother. Baby was harmed with a bullet across his chest and through his arm. (Just got an update) This is a courage act of these innocent children.'


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Dawna's injured children are pictured above in hospital. Brothers Xander Boe, 4, and Cody Grayson, 7, suffered gunshot wounds in the attack


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Dawna's injured children are pictured above in hospital. Kylie Evelyn, 14, is pictured left in hospital with blood soaked jeans as she is comforted by a relative following thew shocking attack. Brixon Oliver, 10 months, feeds from a bottle (right) in hospital alongside his siblings
Kenny LeBarón, a cousin of one of the women, told the New York Times: 'When you know there are babies tied in a car seat that are burning because of some twisted evil that's in this world. It's just hard to cope with that.'
Another relative, Lafe LeBaron, said the family had no help from authorities. He said family members from the settlement had risked their own lives by 'scrambling into the mountains to find our loved ones' after first finding out about the attacks.     
Julian LeBaron, a relative and activist who has denounced criminal groups in the area, described the attack as a 'massacre'. 
His brother, Benjamin LeBaron, founder of a crime-fighting group called SOS Chihuahua, was assassinated in 2009. 
When asked who might be responsible, LeBaron said the attack took place in a 'war zone', home to drug cartels and 'thugs'. 
The government deployed the army to fight drug trafficking in 2006, but experts blame the so-called 'drug war' for the spiraling violence between fragmented cartels and the military, which has lead to more than 250,000 murders. 
His family 'may have been caught in crossfire or targeted by mistake, we don't know the cause,' he said, but added that the Mormon community had recently been the target of threats. 


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Family members say Rhonita Maria LeBaron (left) was driving to Phoenix on Monday with her four children to pick up her husband and then return to Mexico to celebrate their wedding anniversary. She was killed along with her twin six-month-old babies, Titus and Tiana, (right) her 10-year-old daughter Krystal and 12-year-old son Howard.


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Rhonita Maria LeBaron was driving to Phoenix on Monday with her four children to pick up her husband and then return to Mexico to celebrate their wedding anniversary, relatives say 


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 Rhonita Maria LeBaron's two children, 12-year-old Howard and 10-year-old Krystal, were killed alongside their mother


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Dawna Langford (center blue dress) was killed along with two of her children. Seven of her other children escaped and the injured were later treated in hospital 

[size=34]THE LEBARON FAMILY AND THEIR TIES TO MEXICO [/size]

LEBARON FAMILY'S HISTORY IN MEXICO:
The LeBaron family are part of a Mormon community based in the Mexican border state of Sonora.
They founded the group as part of an offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When the church abandoned the practice of polygamy in the late 1800s, some polygamous Mormons moved to Mexico to set up new colonies.
Alma Dayer LeBaron was one of them and set up the settlement with his family in 1924 after being excommunicated from the church.
Alma passed the leadership over to his son Joel when he died in 1951. He subsquently incorporated the settlement as part of Salt Lake City' Church of the Firstborn.
His younger brother Ervil was his second in charge at the time. The brothers later fell out over the leadership of the community and Ervil went on to set up another sect in San Diego, california in 1972.
Evril, who had at least 13 wives, had Joel killed in 1972. He was tried and convicted in Mexico for Joel's murder in 1974.
While in prison, he wrote the 400-page commandment to kill disobedient church members who were included in a hit list.
Evril died in prison in 1981 but six family members organized ‘four o’clock’ murders, which saw an eight-year-old child and three former members shot dead within minutes of each other in Texas in 1988.
FAMILY'S PREVIOUS DEALINGS WITH CRIME GANGS:
The massacre on Monday is not be the first time that members of the break-away church have been attacked in northern Mexico.
Eric LeBaron was kidnapped in May 2009 but the family turned down a $1 million ransom demand and he was eventually freed.
In June 2009, Benjamin LeBaron, an anti-crime activist, was murdered in neighboring Chihuahua state.



The Chihuahua state attorney general, Cesar Augusto Peniche, said the number of victims killed in the attacks remains 'confused'. 
Authorities in Sonora state and the U.S. Embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 
The federal Department of Security and Citizens' Protection said security forces were reinforced with National Guard, army and state police troops in the area following 'the reports about disappearance and aggression against several people.' 
The U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau said in a tweet in Spanish that 'the safety of our fellow citizens is our top priority. I am closely following the situation in the mountains between Sonora and Chihuahua'.
Claudia Pavlovich Arellano, the governor of Sonora, said on Twitter late Monday that 'as a mother,' she was filled with deep pain by 'the cowardly acts in the mountains'.  
'I don't know what kind of monsters dare to hurt women and children,' she wrote. 
Senator for Sonora, Lilly Téllez, tweeted: 'The massacre in Sonora cannot go unpunished.'
Manuel Añorve Baños, another Mexican senator, described the incident 'a despicable, merciless and savage act'.
It would not be the first time that members of the break-away church had been attacked in northern Mexico, where their forebears settled - often in Chihuahua state - decades ago.
The colony was founded by Alma Dayer LeBaron who moved to Mexico as a breakaway from the Mormon church in 1924 after being excommunicated from the church for practicing polygamy. 
When Alma died in 1951, he passed the leadership of the community on to his son Joel LeBaron, whose younger brother Ervil LeBaron, was his second in command.
When the brother's split, Ervil had Joel killed. He was tried and convicted in Mexico for Joel's murder in 1974. He died in prison in 1981.
In 2009, Benjamin LeBaron, an anti-crime activist who was related to those killed in Monday's attack, was murdered in 2009 in neighboring Chihuahua state. 
One former member is George Romney, father of 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who was born in 1907 in Colonia Dublan in Chihuahua state.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7651717/Principal-teacher-suspended-boy-Hitler-outfit-marches-elementary-schools-parade.html

[size=34]Utah principal and teacher are suspended after a student dressed up as Hitler for the elementary school's Halloween parade and 'saluted at ethnic minority children'[/size]

• Concerned parents watching the parade at Creekside Elementary School on Halloween took photographs and filmed the incident 
  
  
• The boy was pictured wearing a dark brown shirt and black tie, with a toothbrush mustache painted on his face and a red armband with a hand-drawn swastika
  
  
• Parents also say they saw the boy doing a Nazi salute as the children walked around the school campus and he reportedly wasn't instructed to stop
  
  
• One mother said he was directing the 'Heil Hitler' sign towards kids of ethnicity
  
  
• Creekside principal, Dana Rhinehart, and an unnamed teacher were suspended on full pay after video of the boy's outfit circulated on social media Friday 
  
  

By LUKE KENTON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and VALERIE EDWARDS FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 09:36 EST, 5 November 2019 | UPDATED: 13:40 EST, 5 November 2019

     


A Principal and a teacher from a Utah elementary school have been placed on leave after a student was allowed to march in the school's Halloween parade dressed as Adolf Hitler.
Photographs and videos were captured of the boy by concerned parents at the Creekside Elementary School on Thursday, showing him dressed in a dark brown dress shirt, black tie, a red armband with a hand-drawn swastika on it and a toothbrush mustache painted on his face.
Parents also say they saw the boy doing a Nazi salute as the children walked around the school campus, located in Davis County, and he reportedly wasn't instructed to stop.
One mother said the boy was directing the 'Heil Hitler' sign toward ethnic minority children. She called the costume as 'ridiculous and distasteful as one could get'.


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Photographs and videos were captured of the boy by concerned parents at the Creekside Elementary School on Thursday, showing him dressed in a dark brown dress shirt and a black tie, with a toothbrush mustache painted on his face and wearing a red armband with a hand-drawn swastika



Creekside principal, Dana Rhinehart, and an unnamed teacher were suspended with pay after video of the boy's outfit circulated on social media Friday - prompting with it a swell of backlash
Creekside principal, Dana Rhinehart, and an unnamed teacher were suspended with pay after video of the boy's outfit circulated on social media Friday - prompting with it a swell of backlash.

'The Davis School District apologizes for what took place yesterday. It does not tolerate speech, images or conduct that portray or promote hate in any form,' the district said in a statement. 'The district is taking the matter very seriously and is investigating every aspect of the situation.'
Parents of children at the school are demanding answers as to how the boy was allowed to walk into the school – and later around it – dressed as the infamous dictator in the first place.
A mother of a boy in the third grade said her son told her after the annual event concluded that, earlier in the day, the boy dressed as Hitler had been antagonistic towards minority children specifically, 'throwing the 'Heil Hitler' sign up,' in the faces.


The woman, who wished to remain anonymous when speaking to Fox 13, said that her son was one of the victims. She called the school the following day to complain about the incident and was told the boy was removed from the parade, ordered to change and his parents were called.
However, the mother was also allegedly told something by the school that concerned her.
'It was kind of like excused. I was told that [the school] thought he was Charlie Chaplin,' she said. 'And I'm like, he has a whole swastika on his arm.
'He had to have been seen by his teacher, by multiple people,' she continued. 'Hitler is hurtful. It's hurtful to people. It's a horrible part of the world's past, so it shouldn't be glorified at all.
'How do I know that this child isn't being taught so much hate that one day he decides to lash out and take it out on my son at school because my son is a minority?' the woman asked.
[size=18]Student wears Hitler costume in school's Halloween parade




L[/size]












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A mother of a boy in the third grade said her son told her after the parade concluded that, earlier in the day, the boy dressed as Hitler had been antagonistic towards minority children specifically, 'throwing the 'Heil Hitler' sign up,' in their faces
A second parent told Fox the boy made two laps around the school in the parade, before any action was taken. During the first lap, the boy walked with a Nazi salute.
In a statement Friday evening, the United Jewish Federation of Utah called the child's costume 'intolerably offensive' and said it was 'appalled' by the boy's attire.
'Almost all Jews and Americans regard Hitler and Nazi symbols as signifiers of the worst hatred, racism, and crimes against humanity that the world has known. Dressing a child as Hitler is intolerably offensive and should never be suggested, permitted, or condoned,' the statement said.
Others on social media voiced similar outrage, with one person calling out any adults who saw the boy in costume without intervening, writing 'shame on you!'
Another voiced disapproval of the school district's decision to suspend the principal and teacher with pay, tweeting, 'It should be fired on the spot and banned from working in schools again'.

What I find most disturbing is that the boy is certainly old enough to know better. He looks to be eleven or twelve at least - quite old enough to know that Hitler was not someone to be glorified unless, of course, you share his beliefs.

Which leads me to the other thing that bothers me. What were his parents thinking? Either they saw this as totally acceptable or they didn't know what he was wearing. Either way, a visit from social services seems called for - and a public apology by the boy to the rest of the student body. He needs to learn that actions have consequences.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7654179/Latest-Democrats-gain-Senate-control-1st-time-5-years.html

[size=34]Virginia Democrats take full control of the statehouse for the first time in 26 YEARS amid a wave of anti-Trump sentiment[/size]

• Democrats won majorities in both the state House and Senate in Tuesday's legislative election
  
  
• This is the third election in a row that Virginia Democrats have made significant gains since President Donald Trump was elected
  
  
• The win will give Democrats control of the legislature and governorship for the first time in 26 years
  
  
• Animosity toward Trump and concerns around the impeachment scandal has powered Democratic gains in Virginia in recent elections 
  
  

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 21:33 EST, 5 November 2019 | UPDATED: 23:46 EST, 5 November 2019

     




Virginia Democrats are taking full control of the statehouse for the first time in more than two decades.
Democrats won majorities in both the state House and Senate in Tuesday's legislative election. This is the third election in a row that Virginia Democrats have made significant gains since President Donald Trump was elected.
The win will give Democrats control of the legislature and governorship for the first time in 26 years. Democrats have pledged to pass new gun restrictions and raise the minimum wage once in power.
Virginia is the only state with legislative elections this year where partisan control was up for grabs.

Animosity toward Trump and concerns around the impeachment scandal has powered Democratic gains in Virginia in recent elections.  


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Virginia Democrats are taking full control of the statehouse for the first time in more than two decades Candidate for the 94th District, Shelly Simonds, celebrates with supporters as election results begin to come in Tuesday.  Simonds defeated Republican Del. David Yancey in Tuesday's race for the 94th District
The president has avoided Virginia, where Democrats found success in suburban swing districts in last year's congressional elections, as they did in states across the country. Tuesday's election, which saw Democrats prevail in several northern Virginia suburbs, suggested the trend was continuing. 
Prior to the election, Republicans had a slim majority in both the state House and Senate. 


The Virginia contest drew heavy attention and money from both parties. Former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential front-runner, visited Virginia over the weekend to campaign with several statehouse candidates, and Republican Vice President Mike Pence held a rally on Saturday.
Other Democratic presidential contenders, including U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker, have also campaigned with local candidates.
In one notable race, Democrat Shelly Simonds, who lost a state House of Delegates race in 2017 via random draw after the election ended in a tie, won a rematch against Republican David Yancey.
Virginia's Democratic gains came despite a year of scandal for the party's top officials in the state. Governor Ralph Northam barely endured a political firestorm after his yearbook page was shown to have photos of someone in blackface and another person in a Ku Klux Klan costume, while Attorney General Mark Herring admitted to wearing blackface himself in college.
Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, meanwhile, has denied two accusations of sexual assault.
The legislative wins likely mean that Democrats can pass a raft of bills that Republicans had resisted, including new gun limits. Democrats will also control the redistricting process in 2021, when lawmakers draw new voting lines for state and congressional elections after next year's U.S. Census. 


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A mobile billboard urges voters to cast ballots for Democrats outside Centreville High School in Clifton, Va., Tuesday


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However, it wasn't a clean sweep for the Democrats - the powerful Republican Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Kirk Cox (right) fended off a challenge from vocal gun control advocate Sheila Bynum-Coleman (left)
Donald Trump was clearly on the minds of some Virginia voters casting ballots to decide which party controls the statehouse.
Gary Keener, who lives in a suburb of Richmond, called Trump a 'baboon' on Tuesday. But he also says he's not sure that impeachment is the way to get rid of Trump, and that voting him out of office is the way to go.
Keener and his wife Marthanne say they voted Republican for years but have voted Democrat since the 2008 election of former President Barack Obama. They said Trump definitely had a large presence in Virginia's election.
Both say they voted for Democrats Debra Rodman for state Senate and Schuyler VanValkenburg for House of Delegates.


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Donald Trump was clearly on the minds of some Virginia voters casting ballots to decide which party controls the statehouse
However, it wasn't a clean sweep for the Democrats; Republican Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Kirk Cox fended off a challenge from vocal gun control advocate Sheila Bynum-Coleman. Cox, a retired schoolteacher, has served his district south of Richmond since 1990.
Bynum-Coleman is a mother of five whose daughter survived being shot in 2016. She made gun control a central part of her campaign.
The outcomes of Tuesday's elections in four states, including Mississippi and New Jersey, could offer clues to how next year's presidential election could unfold, when Trump will aim for a second four-year term.
In Kentucky, Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear, whose father Steve was the state's last Democratic governor, ousted Governor Matt Bevin despite an election-eve rally headlined by Trump.
In Mississippi, Republican candidate Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves held an early lead over Attorney General Jim Hood, a moderate Democrat who favors gun rights and opposes abortion rights.
Like Bevin, Reeves campaigned as a staunch Trump supporter in a state that Trump easily won in 2016. The president held a campaign rally in the state last week alongside Reeves.


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Shelly Simonds, celebrates with supporters as election results begin to come in Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019, at the Marriott in Newport News
In New Jersey, Democrats were expected to maintain their stranglehold on the state's general assembly, the legislature's lower chamber.
THE WINNERS AND LOSERS
Ghazala Hashmi, a community college administrator and first-time candidate unseated Republican incumbent Sen. Glen Sturtevant in the competitive Richmond-area state Senate race, in a key win for Democrats hoping to flip control of the Senate.
Hashmi campaigned heavily on education, gun violence prevention, and health care, criticizing Sturtevant for his vote against Medicaid expansion. Hashmi immigrated to the U.S. from India as a child. 
The state party says she will be the first Muslim-American woman to serve in the Senate.
Sturtevant, an attorney, took office in 2016. He promised to be an independent voice in the Senate and made opposition to a Richmond city schools rezoning plan a key part of his campaign.
Clinton Jenkins, an Army veteran who runs a real estate company, defeated Del. Chris Jones, one of the state's most powerful Republican lawmakers to earn a seat in the Virginia House. 
As chairman of the House appropriations committee, Jones had outsized influence in how Virginia spends its money every year. A pharmacist from Suffolk, he has served in the House since 1998.
Jones and Jenkins competed in a district redrawn after courts found that the GOP-led Virginia House illegally packed black voters into certain districts. The new map shifted the makeup of the district to Democrats' advantage.
Democrat Shelly Simonds defeated Republican Del. David Yancey in Tuesday's race for the 94th District. The contest was a rematch after Simonds lost the tiebreaker two years ago.
Del. John Bell on Tuesday defeated GOP opponent Geary Higgins, whom Trump endorsed in a tweet earlier in the week. The seat was left open after far-right Sen. Dick Black announced he would not seek re-election.  
Bell, a retired Air Force officer, has served in the House since 2016. Higgins is a member of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and vice president of labor relations for the National Electrical Contractors Association

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7653979/Kentucky-governors-election-flip-Democrat-Trumps-coattails-hang-balance.html

[size=34]Democrat leads Kentucky governor's race by 5,300 votes but Republican WON'T concede: Democrats praise 'earth-shattering victory' in a red state while Trump campaign gripes that the president had to 'drag' apparent loser across the finish line[/size]

• Democrat Andy Beshear defeated Kentucky Republican Gov. Matt Bevin by less than 1 per cent of the vote; Bevin is refusing to concede and could get a recount
  
  
• The Associated Press considers the race 'too close to call'
  
  
• Democrats say the loss in a state Donald Trump won by 30 points is earth-shaking; the Trump campaign blames Bevin, saying other Republicans won there
  
  
• Trump rallied for Bevin a day before polls opened, risking a show of political weakness during a season of impeachment talk
  
  
• 'If you lose, they are going to say Trump suffered the greatest defeat in the history of the world,' he told supporters; 'You can't let that happen to me!' 
  
  
• Voters went to the polls in Kentucky, Virginia, Mississippi and other states with minor races on ballots
  
  
• Trump rallied Friday in Mississippi to support Republican Tate Reeves in his race against Democrat Jim Hood; Reeves seemed poised to coast to victory
  
  
• Republicans all but abandoned Virginia and its blue-trending state legislature, where Democrats flipped both houses into their control
  
  
• Results will be seen as a leading indicator of the president's flagging strength as 2020 looms and congressional Democrats get more aggressive
  
  

By DAVID MARTOSKO, U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR  and NIKKI SCHWAB, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 20:23 EST, 5 November 2019 | UPDATED: 00:05 EST, 6 November 2019

     



Republicans appear to have lost the Kentucky governor's mansion in Tuesday's off-year elections to a Democrat who Donald Trump publicly pilloried less than a day before polls opened.
The president rallied Kentuckians one day before polls opened, gambling on taking the credit if the GOP governor kept his job. But now Trump's coattails seem to have shortened. 
Democratic state attorney general Andy Beshear led Republican Gov. Matt Bevin by just 0.3 percentage points. But that slim margin of 4,658 votes was enough to make Democrats giddy about seizing power in the state capital.
NBC News called the race for Beshear, as did Kentucky's secretary of state, Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes. As of 11:00 p.m., the Associated Press and the Fox news Channel both considered the race 'too close to call.' 

Bevin said his campaign was 'not conceding this race by any stretch.'
'We know for a fact there have been irregularities and the outcome will be determined by law,' he told supporters. 'This isn't a political issue as much as it is an integrity issue, and the process must be followed.'
Beshear was eager to move forward. 'I haven't had an opportunity yet to speak to Governor Bevin,' he said in a victory speech, 'but my expectation is that he will honor the election that was held tonight.'


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Kentucky Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andy Beshear beat a sitting governor who President Donald Trump praised just one day ago in a wild public rally; he's pictured Tuesday night giving a victory speech with his family at his side


+14


Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, right, with his wife Glenna, refused to concede Tuesday's election – which the Associated Press and Fox News both said was 'too close to call'


+14


Beshear, now governor-elect, tweeted 'Thank you , Kentucky!' and a photo of himself with running mate Jacqueline Coleman


+14


The president's influence in statewide races has been a question mark for the past year as the novelty of his style wears off and Democrats in Washington insist he's corrupt and impeachable


+14



Trump rallied in Lexington, Kentucky Monday night for Gov. Matt Bevin's re-election, a gesture that doesn't appear to have generated enough enthusiasm in the Bluegrass State


+14


Trump sought to distance himself from Bevin and take credit for the other five Republicans running for statewide office in the Bluegrass State –– all of whom won their races


+14


Voters in Virginia (pictured), Kentucky, Mississippi and New Jersey headed to the polls Tuesday, with voters in Louisiana picking a governor later this month. While New Jersey's race won't be a bellwether, the other four states' races tested President Trump's political staying power
[size=10][size=18]Trump rallies for GOP in tight Kentucky race




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Bevin could choose to request a recount or a less dramatic measure, a recanvassing. That would involve county boards of election reviewing vote totals in machines at every polling place. 
Kentucky law does not provide for an automatic recount for elections whose margins of victory are exceedingly close. Challengers have one week to request it and must pay for the process, which a judge oversees.
Sensing that he will lead a bitterly divided state, Beshear promised Republicans that he would 'work hard to earn your trust.'
But he hinted at uncompromising partisanship to come, casting elections as 'right versus wrong' instead of 'right versus left.
Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez congratulated Beshear, saying his apparent 'earth-shattering victory in a state Trump won by 30 points should terrify him and every Republican running in 2020.'
Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale blamed Bevin, noting that the other five Republicans running for statewide office all won.
'The President just about dragged Gov. Matt Bevin across the finish line, helping him run stronger than expected in what turned into a very close race at the end,' Parscale said. 'A final outcome remains to be seen.'




+14


Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale blamed Bevin, noting that the other five Republicans running for statewide office all won
Democrats' Kentucky victory is less an advance than a rebound: Thirteen of the state's 16 governors since World War II were Democrats, and Beshear's father held the office until 2015. 
As election officials tallied key races in two other states, the younger Beshear's apparent victory set an uncertain tone for the president that carried over into Virginia and only stopped at the Mississippi border. 
With 88 per cent of precincts reported there, Republican Tate Reeves was making comparatively easy work of Democrat Jim Hood in the Mississippi governor's race. Reeves led by 7.1 percentage points and was declared the winner with vote-counting still underway.
Virginia, especially, looked bad for Republicans. Democrats took over the state Senate with an apparent 21–19 margin, and were poised to take a 54–45 advantage in the House of Delegates, with 1 independent likely to win a seat.
Republicans had controlled both houses of the State Assembly by 2 seats in each.
The president spent the past week reliving the high-wire political strategy that helped North Carolina Republicans pull a rabbit out of a hat in a September special election. Republican Dan Bishop, then a state senator, came from far behind to win a U.S. House seat there after Trump stumped for him. 





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President Trump ignored the losing gubernatorial race, tweeting his congratulations only to the Republican winner of the state attorney general's race, Daniel Cameron


+14


President Trump (right) also traveled to Mississippi on Friday in advance of Tuesday's gubernatorial race. There he backed Republican Tate Reeves (left) who appeared to have an easy win against Democrat Jim Hood 
His rallies in Mississippi on Friday and Kentucky on Monday were pleas for proof that enthusiasm from the political base he sees as a 'silent majority' hasn't softened during a season of nonstop impeachment news. 
Trump called Beshear 'a major lefty' on Monday night in Lexington, and called him 'too extreme and too dangerous for the state of Kentucky.'
And he spun Bevin's legendary crankiness and low popularity statewide as a bristly positive for Kentuckians.
'When he needs something for Kentucky like money, like aid, like when he wants me to call one of the many manufacturers now that are coming into Kentucky ... I say, "Matt, do I have to do it? Please! Please!" But isn't that really what you want him to do?'
'He's such a pain in the ass,' the president said. 'But that's what you want' from a governor.  
'Here's the story,' Trump told thousands of supporters Monday night. 'If you win, they are going to make it like, "Ho hum." And if you lose, they are going to say Trump suffered the greatest defeat in the history of the world. You can't let that happen to me!' 


+14


A Mississippi voter holds up an 'I Voted' sticker on Tuesday as the state's gubernatorial race has the country's attention over whether a Democrat could become governor in the deep red state 


+14


Former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden stood alongside former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe at a 'Get out the Vote' rally in Sterling, Virginia on Sunday 


+14


A mobile billboard urged voters to cast ballots for Democrats, photographed Tuesday outside Centreville High School in Clifton, Virginia


+14


Democratic candidate Andrew Yang also rallied in Virginia in advance of the state's Tuesday election. Democrats are hoping to push the state House and Senate blue. Both are narrowly in Republican hands now 
Bevin and Beshear were tied last month, according to a Mason-Dixon poll.   
But Trump helped to nationalize the race, Bevin did his part by preaching to conservatives about pro-life positions and objections to 'sanctuary cities.' 
The president ignored Beshear and Bevin as reality set in Tuesday night, tweeting only about a down-ballot victory that made a Republican the Kentucky attorney general for the first time in more than 70 years.   
Daniel Cameron, the winner, is also the first African-American ever voted individually into state-wide office in the history of Kentucky. 
Trump will travel to Louisiana on Wednesday to rile up his faithful in Cajun country and make the case for ousting John Bel Edwards, the Democratic Party's only governor in the Deep South.
The president rallied in the Pelican State less than four weeks ago, arguing for an election stalemate that would force a runoff between Edwards and one of the two Republicans on the ballot. 
It worked: Edwards failed to capture 50 per cent of the vote. Now he must face Republican Eddie Rispone on November 16. 
Trump is slated to travel Wednesday night to Monroe, Louisiana for a 7:00 p.m. rally at the Monroe Civic Center.
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Pretty sure all the Clooney households will be smiling today.........

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7654275/State-Dept-worried-defending-ambassador.html

[size=34]Impeachment witness will say State Department officials thought defending ousted ambassador would slow down aid to Ukraine – as second subpoenaed official slips the country with Mike Pompeo[/size]

• David Hale will testify to lawmakers that State Department thought defending Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch would hurt the effort to free up U.S. military aid
  
  
• Hale is latest Trump administration official to testify in impeachment inquiry
  
  
• He is a longtime career diplomat in the State Department 
  
  
• He will also say the State Department worried about reaction from Rudy Giuliani
  
  
• Another subpoenaed official, T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, left the country with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on a trip to Germany
  
  
• Brechbuhl was scheduled to appear on Capitol Hill on Wednesday
  
  

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 22:09 EST, 5 November 2019 | UPDATED: 08:25 EST, 6 November 2019

     





The State Department's third-ranking official is expected to tell Congress that political considerations were behind the agency's refusal to deliver a robust defense of the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.
People familiar with the matter say the highest-ranking career diplomat in the foreign service, David Hale, plans to tell congressional impeachment investigators on Wednesday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other senior officials determined that defending Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch would hurt the effort to free up U.S. military assistance to Ukraine.
Hale will also say that the State Department worried about the reaction from Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, also one of the strongest advocates for removing the ambassador.


+4


David Hale will testify the State Department thought defending Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch would hurt the effort to free up U.S. military aid to the Ukraine


+4


Hale will also say State was worried about the reaction from Rudy Giuliani
Meanwhile, State Department Counselor T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, who was subpoenaed to appear before the impeachment inquiry Wednesday, was on the plane with Pompeo, who departed early Wednesday morning for Germany.

Yovanovitch, who was removed from her posting in May, has already appeared before investigators in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. She detailed efforts by Giuliani and other Trump allies to push her out of Ukraine, testifying that a senior Ukrainian official told her that 'I really needed to watch my back.'


Hale is expected to shed more light on why the State Department did not step up to defend its top envoy in Kyiv. According to the people familiar with the matter, he will say he tried to distance himself and the department from the matter by removing himself from email chains about Yovanovitch.
Hale, for example, never responded to an email sent by former top Pompeo adviser Michael McKinley urging Pompeo to speak out in defense of Yovanovitch after the White House released a partial transcript of Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the officials said.


+4


Former Ambassador to the Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was removed from her posting in May and has already testified in the impeachment inquiry


+4


Another subpoenaed official, T. Ulrich Brechbuhl (center), left the country with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (right) on a trip to Germany; Brechbuhl was subpoenaed to testify Wednesday
One official said Hale had 'tried to take himself out of the loop on Ukraine.' But another official said Hale would defend Pompeo's actions as 'politically smart' for the State Department and its employees in the long run.
The people familiar with the matter were not authorized to discuss Hale's appearance publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Hale, a fluent Arabic speaker who joined the foreign service in 1984, has served as ambassador to Lebanon, Pakistan and Jordan and in posts in Tunisia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7656835/Televised-impeachment-hearings-begin-WEEK.html

[size=34]BREAKING NEWS: Televised impeachment hearings begin NEXT WEEK as Adam Schiff says current top diplomat in Ukraine who said there was a 'quid pro quo' will testify first[/size]

• House Intelligence Chair Rep. Adam Schiff announced the commencement of public hearings next week
  
  
• First up will be top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine Bill Taylor, who testified about a quid pro quo
  
  
• Forced out ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yavanovitch also will appear
  
  
• Top State Department official for Ukraine George Kent testified that he was out of the look on alleged pressure campaign
  
  
• He also said he raised warnings about Hunter Biden's work for Ukrainian gas firm 
  
  

By GEOFF EARLE, DEPUTY U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 11:40 EST, 6 November 2019 | UPDATED: 12:28 EST, 6 November 2019

     




The public phase of Democratic-run impeachment hearings is about to begin, with three key witnesses scheduled to appear next week, Rep. Adam Schiff announced.
First to speak in a hearing involving three Democratic-run committees will be Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, who raised alarms in internal messages about holding up U.S. military aide.
Taylor testified last month that he was told that U.S. security military aid to the country was contingent on Kiev putting out a statement they were investigating the Bidens and the 2016 election. 
His testimony was buttressed on Tuesday by ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, who testifies he personally told a top Ukrainian official the aid was likely contingent on a public statement about investigating corruption. 

Among those testifying before the cameras will be Marie Yavanovich, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who was pushed out of her post after a campaign to undermine her by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. 
Yavanonovich testified in private that she was never told why she was removed from her post.
The first witness to speak to the nation will be Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine who wrote in a text message he thought it was 'crazy' to link U.S. military support to that country with a push for investigations related to a political campaign.


+5


House Intelligence Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff announced public impeachment hearings will begin next week
George Kent, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs also will testify. 
'Today, Chairman Adam Schiff announced that on Wednesday, November 13, 2019, and Friday, November 15, 2019 the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence will hold its first open hearings as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald J. Trump,' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement, saying additional details would come later.  


+5


Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch (C) is among those who will testify in public


+5


Schiff announced the schedule of public hearings on Twitter


+5


Bill Taylor testified he was told that American military aid to Ukraine was contingent on Kiev putting out a statement they were investigating the Bidens


+5


President Donald Trump wanted a probe of Bursima, a Ukraine company with Hunter Biden on its board, and unproven allegations on the 2016 election

BILL TAYLOR'S MOST DAMNING QUOTES

[size=13]ON TRUMP AND UKRAINE 
The following day, on September 8, Ambassador Sondland and I spoke on the phone. He said he had talked to President Trump as I had suggested a week earlier, but that president Trump was adamant that President Zelenskyy, himself, had to 'clear things up and do it in public.' President Trump said it was not a 'quid pro quo.' 
Ambassador Sondland said that he had talked to President Zelenskyy and Mr. Yermak and told them that, although this was not a quid pro quo, if President Zelenskyy did not 'clear things up' in public, we would be at a 'stalemate.' 
I understood a 'stalemate' to mean that Ukraine would not receive the much-needed military assistance. 
Ambassador Sondland said that this conversation concluded with President Zelenskyy agreeing to make a public statement in an interview with CNN. 
 ON HOW TRUMP WANTED UKRAINE IN 'A BOX'
... in fact Ambassador Sondland said, "everything" was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance. He said that President Trump wanted to put President Zelenskyy 'in a public box' by making a public statement about ordering such investigations.
ON WHAT SONDLAND TOLD UKRAINE'S LEADERS FACE TO FACE 
Ambassador Sondland told Mr. Yermak that the security assistance money would not come until President Zelenskyy committed to pursue the Bursisma investigation.   
 ON WHAT TRUMP WANTED
...on September 8, Ambassador Sondland and I spoke on the phone. He said he had talked to President Trump as I had suggested a week earlier, but that president Trump was adamant that President Zelenskyy, himself, had to clear things up and do it in public.' President Trump said it was not a 'quid pro quo.'
ON TRUMP'S UNDERSTANDING OF QUID PRO QUO
...Ambassador Sondland tried to explain to me that President Trump is a businessman. When a businessman is about to sign a check to someone who owes him something, he said, the businessman asks that person to pay up before signing the check.   




According to leaked testimony, Taylor testified that, 'President Trump did insist that President Zelensky go to a microphone and say that he is opening investigations of Biden and 2016 election interference, and that President Zelenskyy should want to do this himself.' 
Taylor said Trump wanted to put Zelensky in a 'public box' of committing to those probes before sitting down with him, The Washington Post reported. 
He also told lawmakers about a 'parallel' foreign policy outside of regular channels that he found highly unusual.
In a statement he described a phone call with Sondland. 'During that phone call, Amb. Sondland told me that President Trump had told him that he wants President Zelensky to state publicly that Ukraine will investigate Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election,' he said. 
Amid what Democrats call a 'shadow' foreign policy on Ukraine, Kent, a top diplomat on Ukraine issues, testified that he was left out of the loop.
 Kent, is the deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.
'Here is a senior State Department official responsible for six countries, one of which is Ukraine, who found himself outside of a parallel process that he felt was undermining 28 years of U.S. policy and promoting the rule of law in Ukraine,” Rep. Gerry Connolly told the New York Times after his testimony.
He testified there were 'three amigos' who took the lead on Ukraine issues.  
But Republicans, who have been defending President Trump amid the inquiry, will have some material to work with during the hearing.
Kent also reportedly testified that he raised concerns back in 2015 during the Obama administration when Joe Biden's son, Hunter, took a lucrative position on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma. 
House Intelligence chair Rep. Adam Schiff of California wrote on Twitter: 'Next week, the House Intelligence Committee will hold its first open hearings as part of the impeachment inquiry. On Wednesday, November 13, 2019, we will hear from William Taylor and George Kent. On Friday, November 15, 2019, we will hear from Marie Yovanovitch. More to come.'
Democrats haven't specified where the hearings will be head or if members of all three committees conducting an impeachment probe will be allowed to participate. 
The televised spectacle has the potential to grip the nation in a way that closed hearings in a basement room of the Capitol have not. Televised impeachment hearings of Richard Nixon were considered critical to moving public opinion against the president.  [/size]
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7656477/Comfortable-majority-voters-say-Trump-elected-2020.html

[size=34]Comfortable majority of voters say Trump WILL be re-elected in 2020 despite impeachment process – including one-third of Democrats[/size]

• A new poll found that 56 percent of registered voters believe President Trump will win again in 2020
  
  
• That includes 85 percent of Republicans, 51 percent of independents and 35 percent of Democrats, according to the Politico/Morning Consult survey 
  
  
• Pollsters found that voters believed that Trump's voters were twice as likely than Hillary Clinton's to be 'very motivated' to go vote 
  
  
• Another poll found that the percentage of voters who believe Trump should win re-election hasn't significantly changed since the impeachment inquiry opened
  
  

By NIKKI SCHWAB, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 11:47 EST, 6 November 2019 | UPDATED: 12:24 EST, 6 November 2019

     





A majority of registered voters believe President Trump will win again in 2020. 
A new Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 56 percent of all voters said Trump will be re-elected next year. The president obviously has an edge with Republicans, with 85 percent saying a Trump 2.0 is happening. 
But a majority of independents - 51 percent - agreed. Even a third of Democrats, 35 percent, said they believed there would be four more years of President Trump.  


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More than half of the registered voters surveyed in a new Politico/Morning Consult poll said that they believed President Trump would be re-elected in 2020 


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The perception among respondents was that President Trump's voters would be far more likely to head to the polls next year  


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Voters surveyed believed that only 25 percent of Hillary Clinton's voters would be highly motivated to cast a ballot next year  
The poll, released Wednesday, also found that respondents believed that Trump's voters were far more motivated than Hillary Clinton's to go vote next year.  

Fifty-three percent said Trump's voters were 'very motivated' to head to the polls on November 3, 2020, in comparison to the 25 percent of Clinton voters who respondents described as 'very motivated.'  
On the flip side, 12 percent of registered voters though Trump voters would be 'not motivated at all' to go vote - compared with 19 percent who thought the same of Clinton voters.   
When voters were asked if Democrats or Republicans would be more motivated, the answers were more on par.   
Forty-eight percent of respondents said Democrats would be 'very motivated' to vote next year, followed by 22 percent who said Dems would be somewhat motivated. Six percent said Democrats would not be too motivated, and 10 percent would not be motivated at all.  
Forty-five percent of those polled described Republicans as being 'very motivated' to cast a vote in the 2020 race. Twenty-four percent said Republicans would be somewhat motivated. Another seven percent said GOP voters would be not too motivated, and 9 percent said Republicans wouldn't be motivated at all.   
When respondents were asked a slightly different question - how likely it was that they would vote - the numbers were off the charts. 
Eighty-one percent said they were very likely to vote, followed by another 11 percent who answered somewhat likely. That's 92 percent signaling they could vote. Just 2 percent answered 'not too likely' and another 2 percent said 'not likely at all.'    


Full sampling results for the Politico/Morning Consult poll have a plus or minus 2 percent margin of error.  
In a new Monmouth poll, which was also released Wednesday, pollsters found that Trump's re-election prospects haven't taken a hit since House Democrats opened their impeachment inquiry. 
Forty-two percent of registered voters said they believed Trump should be re-elected in 2020, while 55 percent said they wanted to see someone new. 
While those calling for an ouster represent the majority, Trump got a slight bump - though one within the 3.4 percent margin of error - compared to Monmouth's September survey, when 39 percent of respondents said he deserved re-election. 
'It's important not to read too much into differences within the margin of error. But the fact that there is no significant change in the current results suggests that the opening salvo of the House impeachment inquiry has had little impact on the overall 2020 dynamic,' Monmouth University Polling Institute Director Patrick Murray said in a statement. 'Voter opinion remains baked in.'

Bear in mind that Morning Consult is owned by Republican Michael Ramlet.................

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7656653/Impeachment-Trumps-son-tweets-alleged-whistleblower.html

[size=34]'I love the outrage': Donald Trump Jr. tweets name of alleged whistle-blower then doubles down blaming 'full of s**t' media for 'faux outrage' as attorneys accuse president's son of putting CIA analyst's life at risk[/size]

• President's son tweeted a Breitbart article whose headline named a government whistle-blower
  
  
• The man, who the New York Times reports is a CIA analyst, launched Democrats' new impeachment push by objecting to Trump's phone call with Ukraine's leader
  
  
• Donald Trump Jr. said 'I love the outrage' that ensued, and blasted the 'full of s**t' news media for clobbering him and ignoring the outlet that 'outed' the man
  
  
• Real Clear Politics published the whistle-blower's name on October 30
  
  
• Federal laws ensure the government can't retaliate against whistle-blowers; the White House says it had no knowledge of what Don Jr. was tweeting
  
  

By AFP and DAVID MARTOSKO, U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 10:48 EST, 6 November 2019 | UPDATED: 13:32 EST, 6 November 2019

     


President Donald Trump's sldest son published on Wednesday the name of the alleged anonymous whistle-blower whose complaint fired the impeachment inquiry against Trump, breaking strict conventions for protecting officials who reveal wrongdoing in government.
Amid calls by the president himself to expose the whistle-blower, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted the name of a CIA analyst that has circulated online for weeks, and linked to a Breitbart news article implying the person was pro-Democrat and anti-Trump.
Neither DailyMail.com nor AFP could independently verify the whistle-blower's identity, so neither is publishing the name. Real Clear Politics first published it on October 30. 
'Maybe Real Clear Politics & others wouldn’t have been able to ID the alleged whistleblower if the NY Times didn’t out that he was a CIA official detailed to the WH?' Trump Jr. asked in a subsequent tweet. 

'The media is full of s**t with their faux outrage over me tweeting something already in the public domain!' 


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Donald Trump Jr. tweeted the alleged name of the anonymous intelligence community whistle-blower whose complaint about President Donald Trump's Ukraine dealings sparked the impeachment investigation in Congress


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Trump Jr. raged on Twitter that the unconfirmed name is one of Washington's worst-kept secrets, and observed that a respected news website had already published it



He laid some blame at the feet of The New York Times, which published the first clue to the whistle-bloewr's identity by revealing he was a CIA tasked to the White House who had specialized knowledge about Ukraine
[size=10][size=18]Trump demands name of Ukraine whistleblower be revealed




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The headline of the article Trump Jr. tweeted includes the alleged whistle-blower's name. Sharing it on Twitter directly from the website automatically adds the headline to the resulting tweet.
Trump Jr. told DailyMail.com that he only wrote the tweet's first line, which expressed mock ourage at Breitbart's claim that the whistle-blower 'worked closely' with people behind an unsubstantiated dossier of damaging information about the president that surfaced in 2016.
'Look at my Twitter. I think it speaks for itself. I retweeted an article on Breitbart like I've done several times a day,' he said in a brief phone interview. 
Federal laws forbid government agencies from retaliating against employees who are whistle-blowers. They do not protect a whistle-blower from public reactions. And in a constantly hungry news culture, the person could soon be a household name. 
The White House said Wednesday that neither President Trump nor anyone else in his team was aware of Trump Jr.'s tweet before he sent it. 
'The entire media is #Triggered that I (a private citizen) tweeted out a story naming the alleged whistleblower,' he tweeted late Wednesday morning. 




Share
''Are they going to pretend that his name hasn’t been in the public domain for weeks now? Numerous people & news outlets including Real Clear Politics already ID’d him.'
'I love the outrage about me tweeting an article about the 'alleged' whistleblower,' Trump Jr. added in another tweet, saying '[t]hose thinking I coordinated with The White House to tweet out a @BreitbartNews article haven't been watching my feed much. Didn't happen!'
The revelation by the president's son comes as the White House seeks to discredit the mounting impeachment effort in Congress against Trump, painting it as driven by politics.
'There is no Whistle-blower. There is someone with an agenda against Donald Trump,' the president tweeted on Monday.
Standing beside Trump at a political rally in Kentucky Monday, Republican Senator Rand Paul threatened to expose the person and demanded they testify in Congress.
'We also now know the name of the whistle-blower... I say tonight to the media, do your job and print his name.'
[size=18]Trump rails against impeachment probe at Mississippi rally




[/size]

Andrew Bakaj and Mark Zaid, the whistle-blower's lawyers, would not confirm or deny the reported name, but said Trump Jr. and others were endangering the person as well as the system built to protect whistle-blowers.  
'Identifying any suspected name for the whistleblower will place that individual and their family at risk of serious harm,' they said. 
'We will not confim or deny any name that is published or promoted by supporters of the President. Disclosure of any name undermines the integrity of the whistleblower system and will deter any future whistleblowers.'
Bakaj and Zaid said last week that exposing his name would 'place that individual and their family in great physical danger.'
'Any physical harm the individual and/or their family suffers as a result of disclosure means that the individuals and publications reporting such names will be personally liable for that harm,' they warned.
Democrats launched the impeachment investigation in August after the whistle-blower sent a formal complaint to the inspector general of the intelligence community, alleging that Trump improperly pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July 25 phone call to help the US leader's upcoming reelection campaign.
Democrats have accused Trump of abuse of power and illegally leveraging US military aid for political favors from a foreign country-- a quid pro quo that Trump denies.
[size=18]Lindsey Graham has 'no plans' to read impeachment transcripts




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A subsequently released call record shows Trump asked Zelensky for a 'favor' and specified that Ukraine should open investigations into Trump's Democratic rival Joe Biden, as well as into allegations, widely discredited, that Ukraine helped the Democrats in the 2016 election.
Republicans painted the whistle-blower, who had worked on the White House national security council earlier this year, as a Democratic Party supporter who lacked direct knowledge of the July 25 call.
But the call record and subsequent testimony to the impeachment inquiry by officials support the allegations that Trump withheld aid to pressure Zelensky to dig up dirt on Biden and the Democrats.
In testimony released Tuesday, close Trump ally Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, admitted he had told a senior Ukraine official that the aid would not be released until Zelensky fulfilled Trump's demands.
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7657181/Facebook-hit-tsunami-fake-political-news-2019-report-finds.html

[size=34]From AOC proposing a motorcycle ban to Trump’s 'pimp' grandfather: Fake political posts have been viewed more than 158 MILLION times on Facebook this year[/size]

• Investigated the top 100 political fake news stories shared on Facebook in 2019
  
  
• Were posted 2.3 million times, had 158 million views and 8.9 million interactions
  
  
• The study also found that Russia wasn't behind the fake stories, it was US users 
  
  

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 15:32 EST, 6 November 2019 | UPDATED: 15:32 EST, 6 November 2019

     




Fake political posts have been viewed more than 158 million times on Facebook this year, a new report has found.
The social media site was hit with a 'tsunami of disinformation' this year and unlike the 2016 election, this fake news is not coming from Russia – but from within the US.
Users have seen posts claiming President Donald Trump's grandfather was a 'pimp and tax evader', Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez called for a 'motorcycle ban', Ilhan Omar dined with 'Islamic groups tied to terror' and others that have been shared millions of times.
The report was put together by Avaaz, a global citizens' movement that monitors election freedom and disinformation, which combed through Facebook looking for the top fake political news posts.

'Politically relevant disinformation was found to have reached over 158 million estimated views, enough to reach every reported registered voter in the U.S. at least once,' the report published on Wednesday morning said.
Scroll down for videos 


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Users have seen posts claiming President Donald Trump's grandfather was a 'pimp and tax evader', AOC called for a 'motorcycle ban', Ilhan Omar dined with 'Islamic groups tied to terror' and others that have been shared millions of times
Although the public may be aware of the power Facebook has to influence the 2020 election, Luca Nicotra, a senior campaigner with Avaaz, told VICE News, 'what is surprising is that the surge of disinformation affecting 2020 is happening much earlier than the 2016 election.'
Following their research, Avaaz determined that the disinformation was not linked to foreign meddlers, but US users were found to be sharing the misleading content. 


While investigating the top 100 political fake news stories shared on Facebook, the organization found the stories were posted over 2.3 million times.
The stories were also found to have 158.9 million views and 8.9 million interactions – this includes likes, comments and shares.
The group estimated that these posts were viewed 86 million times in just the last three months, which they concluded is three times more the previous three months. 


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It was determined that the disinformation was not linked to foreign meddlers, but US users were found to be sharing the misleading content, like Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez was calling for a motorcycle ban


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While investigating the top 100 political fake news stories, which included one about Ilhan Omar, shared on Facebook, the organization found the stories were posted over 2.3 million times, had 158.9 million views and 8.9 million interactions
Almost all of the fake news was negative in nature, with 62 percent attacking Democrats and 29 percent against Republicans.
And the remaining nine percent were 'positive' posts that supported Republicans/Conservatives.
The fake news posts were a mix of memes, photos that were taken out of context, and articles from fringe websites like American Herald Tribune, Patriots Unite, Trump Maga Reports and Life News.
'It is a tool that just works and everybody uses it,' Nicotra said. 
'Inaction from Facebook means that it is just a competitive disadvantage not to use disinformation.'
'The fact there is this issue one year ahead of the elections means we don't even know the scale this could take. It will be huge even without foreign interference.'


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The group estimated that these posts were viewed 86 million views of these posts in just the last three months, which they concluded is three times more the previous three months


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Almost all of the fake news was negative in nature, with 62 percent attacking Democrats, like Nancy Pelosi, and 29 percent against Republicans


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The fake news posts were a mix of memes, such as the one created about Tim Allen that spoke against Obamacare, and articles from fringe websites like American Herald Tribune, Patriots Unite, Trump Maga Reports and Life News
And all of the top 100 fake news posts are still floating around Facebook to this day.  
Fadi Quran, Campaign Director at Avaaz said: 'Every American who cares about free and fair elections in 2020, including the candidates and political parties, should be sounding the alarm about Facebook's fake news problem.'
'This is a company that can easily reach every voter in this country, and their tools are accelerating a wave of political lies that leaves us less informed and more polarized.'
The report comes after Facebook has been under fire for the its defenses against fake news flooding its platform.


+10


The report comes after Facebook has been under fire for the its defenses against fake news flooding its platform, which many users are viewing and sharing. This fake news post was shared 78,000 times


+10


The top fake news political posts mostly attacking Democrats. Facebook is fighting back the notion it should 'fact-check' campaign ads ahead of the 2020 election
In April, CEO Mark Zuckerberg shrugged responsibility for vetting political ads ahead of the 2020 election.
He said it 'was not a company's job' to decide what the rules were as he said he was 'confident' Facebook would be able to fight efforts to interfere in the vote but could not guarantee it would be successful.
Zuckerberg has also defended the company’s refusal to 'fact-check' campaign ads just last month at Georgetown University, which he described as 'an unfiltered take' of his views on free expression and censorship.
‘We think people should be able to see what politicians have to say,' he said in defending Facebook's policy. 'I don't think it's right for tech companies to censor politicians in a democracy.'


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Many posts paint Democrats, such as former Vice President Joe Biden, in a bad light


+10



Other posts are simple memes that are sharing misleading information
Zuckerberg admitted that he had considered banning political ads from Facebook entirely, noting that the revenue they brought in was 'not worth the controversy' that they generated.
He explained that after careful consideration, he decided that banning political ads was not the right choice for several reasons.
'Banning political ads favors incumbents and whoever the media chooses to cover,' he said.
He also noted that there were many ads about political issues, such as healthcare and the environment, than about particular candidates.
He said that it would be difficult to determine where to draw the line in banning political issue ads, and ludicrous to allow anyone to have their say except for the actual candidates in elections.
[size=18]Mark Zuckerberg discusses allowing political ads on Facebook




L[/size]

[size=34]WHAT TYPES OF FAKE PHOTOS AND VIDEO IS FACEBOOK SEARCHING FOR?[/size]

She said Facebook's fact-checkers and algorithms are searching for three types of fake news commonly spread through images and video.
1) Manipulated or fabricated: Content that has been edited or doctored to spread fake news.
Facebook gives an example in which the face of Mexican politician Ricardo Anaya was photoshopped onto a US Green Card ahead of a key election.
The photo was created to make people believe he was from Atalanta, Georgia, despite running for election in Mexico.
[size=18]Facebook aims to facts-check videos and photos to fight misinformation




Loa[/size]




2) Out of context: Facebook posts that take images out of their original context to spread misinformation.
An example given by Facebook shows a user claiming a Syrian girl seen in several photos is an 'actor' used as part of a western propaganda campaign.
The post appears to suggest the injured child was spotted in photos of three 'attacks' carried out by the forces of Putin-backed Bashar Hafez al-Assad. 
Facebook's fake-news system was able to confirm that the photos posted were from the same attack on the Syrian city of Aleppo.
3) Text or audio claim: Facebook photo or video that is layered with text or audio that contains fake news.
A photo posted with a hoax caption picked out by Facebook claimed that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was rated by BBC 'researchers' as 2018's seventh 'most corrupt prime minister in the world'.

party animal - not! wrote:Pretty sure all the Clooney households will be smiling today.........

Absolutely PAN!  I was watching the results come in last night really nervous that Beshear wasn’t going to pull out a win.  But he did.  I’m sure Nick and Nina were real pleased.  And I’m equally thrilled that Democrats won the majority in the state legislature and have turned the state true blue!  First time in decades

Again, this is one reason why I won't use Facebook. Anyone can say anything and nobody cares if it's true. I will say, however, I saw/heard the story about drumpf's grandfather owning a brothel in California several times - not on Faceboook. Considering his attitude towards women I tend to believe it's true. Apple/tree.

LizzyNY wrote:Again, this is one reason why I won't use Facebook. Anyone can say anything and nobody cares if it's true. I will say, however, I saw/heard the story about drumpf's grandfather owning a brothel in California several times - not on Faceboook. Considering his attitude towards women I tend to believe it's true. Apple/tree.

Lizzy,
that's exactly why I deny to use it. It just sickens me that Zuckerberg etc don't care about how Facebook is misused. And whenever I look on Pinterest (which I like because I like the homemade ideas), I hate the algothythms claiming 'because you've looked at this you might also like that' which often is an offense of certain groups. I also very often see pins about 'that the EU wants to restrict freedom of speech by banning hate speech from Facebook' although Pinterest is not part of Facebook which I see as suspicious.

About Trump jr: The apple / tree saw just came to my mind as well - interestingy I never see articles about the daughters' posts on social medias. Could it be that they don't like to insult others on social medias?

Carolhathaway - I don't think Ivanka is any nicer than her father or brothers. I don't follow any of them, so I don't know what she tweets or posts, but it wouldn't surprise me if she can be just as nasty as they are. I don't think anyone pays any attention to Tiffany. I'm not sure they even consider her a real Trump.

It could also be that the media don't pick up what the girls tweet because they are, after all, just women.

Ivanka has been called out for being tone deaf on certain issues. Tiffany is just there nothing exciting .

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7659487/Mike-Pence-support-using-25th-Amendment-remove-Trump-book-claims.html

[size=34]Senior White House aides claim Mike Pence would support the 25th amendment to remove Donald Trump as president and take the job himself, anonymous new book alleges[/size]

• Anonymous official behind NYT op-ed has written a book called 'The Warning'
  
  
• It claims White House aides made a 'tally' of possible plotters against Trump 
  
  
• They allegedly had 'no doubt' that Pence would sign off on using the procedure 
  
  
• Pence's camp immediately denied the claim, labeling it 'fake news' last night
  
  

By TIM STICKINGS FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 03:49 EST, 7 November 2019 | UPDATED: 07:26 EST, 7 November 2019

     

 

• 
  

White House aides believed Mike Pence would support using the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump, a new book has claimed.  
The bombshell claim - immediately denied by the Vice President's camp - has emerged in a book by an anonymous Trump official entitled 'The Warning'. 
The official is the same one who wrote a New York Times op-ed in 2018 claiming to be 'part of the resistance' inside the Trump White House. 
In the book, the author claims that White House staff made a 'back-of-the-envelope tally' in 2017 of who would be willing to plot against Trump. 

According to HuffPost, they believed that Pence would sign off the procedure and take the acting presidency himself. 
Last night his press secretary Katie Waldman labeled the allegation 'fake news'.  


+3


Claim: Vice President Mike Pence, pictured at Fort Hood in Texas last month, was expected to support the use of the 25th Amendment against Donald Trump, a new book claims 


Under the 25th Amendment, Pence and a majority of the Cabinet could declare the President incapacitated and unable to discharge his powers. 
Pence would then become Acting President with all the 'powers and duties' of the top job.  
Trump could challenge their decision, setting up a constitutional stand-off in Congress where the House and Senate would decide the issue. 


+3


Revelations: The cover of 'A Warning', a new book by the same anonymous Trump official who wrote last year's New York Times op-ed
The procedure has never been used in that way, although Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush briefly triggered it themselves during medical surgery.   
Rumors that it could be used against Trump have swirled in Washington since his early days in office. 
According to the new book, entitled A Warning, White House staff discussed the matter in 2017 when James Comey was fired as FBI director. 
Aides described Trump's behavior at the time as 'unhinged' and allegedly drew up a list of staff who might agree to remove him. 
According to the author, there was 'no doubt in the minds' of senior staff that Pence would back such a move. 
However, the discussions only took place informally and never led to a concerted plot against Trump. 
In the New York Times op-ed, the same official said that 'no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis'. 
'We will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until one way or another it’s over,' they wrote.  
Pence has positioned himself as a loyalist and denied that he or his staff had written the anonymous NYT column. 
In the wake of the op-ed's publication he insisted he had 'never' been part of any discussion about the 25th Amendment.  
The writer claimed to be part of a 'resistance' movement inside the White House, working behind the scenes to thwart Trump's most dangerous impulses. 
[size=18]Donald Trump casts doubt on impeachment inquiry whistleblower




[/size]







+3


Under fire: Aides of Donald Trump (pictured yesterday in Monroe, Louisiana) allegedly discussed his 'unhinged' behavior in his early months in office 
The op-ed described the President as 'impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective' in the way he runs the government.  
Trump reacted angrily to the work, calling it 'gutless' and a 'disgrace'. 
'If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once,' he demanded.  
The New York Times said the person's identity was known to them but said their job would be 'jeopardized' if it was made public. 
The new book is described as offering a 'firsthand account of one of the most consequential presidencies in American history'. 
It is due to be published later this month.
According to publishers, the author plans to donate a substantial portion of the royalties to non-profit organizations. 
The literary agents behind the book also represented Comey and former White House aide Cliff Sims in their tell-all book deals.  
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham has already scorned the book, saying: 'Takes a lot of conviction and bravery to write a whole book anonymously.' 
The 25th Amendment was passed in 1967 to clarify what would happen in case of emergency. 
John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963 had heightened fears of a vacant presidency at the height of the Cold War.  
Vice Presidents George H.W. Bush and Dick Cheney each spent a few hours as Acting President while their bosses had colonoscopies.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7661965/Donald-Trump-told-pay-2-MILLION-non-profits-misusing-charitable-foundation.html

[size=34]Donald Trump ADMITS 'personally misusing' his charitable foundation and will pay $2 million to non-profits in settlement after New York court case - and Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric will have to undergo 'training' too[/size]

• Donald Trump on Thursday admitted to 'personally misusing' funds in his charity as part of settlement in a civil lawsuit 
  
  
• He has agreed to personally pay $2 million to a group of nonprofit organizations 
  
  
• Trump and his three oldest - Don Jr, Ivanka and Eric - were accused of using the Donald J. Trump Foundation for political and personal gain
  
  
• Trump also admitted his foundation paid for a portrait of himself for $10,000 
  
  
• Additionally, Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric agreed to undergo mandatory training
  
  
• The foundation was dissolved in December 
  
  

By EMILY GOODIN, U.S. POLITCAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 14:01 EST, 7 November 2019 | UPDATED: 17:32 EST, 7 November 2019

 

 

 

 

 

• [email=?subject=Read%20this:%20Donald%20Trump%20ADMITS%20%27personally%20misusing%27%20his%20charitable%20foundation%20and%20will%20pay%20$2%20million%20to%20non-profits%20in%20settlement%20after%20New%20York%20court%20case%20-%20and%20Ivanka,%20Don%20Jr.%20and%20Eric%20will%20have%20to%20undergo%20%27training%27%20too%C2%A0&body=Donald%20Trump%20ADMITS%20%27personally%20misusing%27%20his%20charitable%20foundation%20and%20will%20pay%20%242%20million%20to%20non-profits%20in%20settlement%20after%20New%20York%20court%20case%20-%20and%20Ivanka%2C%20Don%20Jr.%20and%20Eric%20will%20have%20to%20undergo%20%27training%27%20too%C2%A0%0A%0ADonald%20Trump%20admitted%20to%20%27personally%20misusing%27%20funds%20in%20his%20charity%20as%20part%20of%20settlement%20in%20a%20civil%20lawsuit%20and%20has%20agreed%20to%20personally%20pay%20%242%20million%20to%20a%20group%20of%20nonprofit%20organizations.%C2%A0%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-7661965%2FDonald-Trump-told-pay-2-MILLION-non-profits-misusing-charitable-foundation.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top%0A%0A%0AMost%20Read%20Articles%3A%0A%0ADuchesses%20honour%20Britain%27s%20heroes%3A%20Meghan%20Markle%20pays%20tribute%20to%20Britain%27s%20war%20dead%20as%20she%20joins%20Prince%20Harry%20at%20Westminster%20Abbey%27s%20remembrance%20poppy%20field%20-%20while%20Kate%20and%20Prince%20William%20meet%20emergency%20crews%20from%20Grenfell%20fire%20and%20terror%20attacks%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-7659353%2FHarry-Meghan-visit-Westminster-Abbey-Field-Remembrance.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0AHusband%2C%2046%2C%20decapitates%20wife%2C%2042%2C%20%27puts%20her%20head%20in%20her%20lap%27%20and%20slits%20their%20five-year-old%20daughter%27s%20throat%20before%20hanging%20himself%20as%20the%20woman%27s%20father%20reveals%20she%20tried%20to%20get%20a%20protection%20order%20just%20HOURS%20earlier%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-7660917%2FMan-46-decapitates-wife-slits-five-year-old-daughters-throat-hangs-himself.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0A%27Aggressive%27%20animal%20rights%20activists%20target%20blind%20man%2C%2030%2C%20for%20keeping%20a%20guide%20dog%20that%20they%20claim%20should%20be%20%27running%20free%20in%20the%20fields%27%C2%A0%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-7659653%2FBlind-man-30-targeted-aggressive-animal-rights-activists-keeping-guide-dog.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0A]e-mail[/email]
   
  
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Donald Trump on Thursday admitted to 'personally misusing' funds in his charity as part of settlement in a civil lawsuit and has agreed to personally pay $2 million to a group of nonprofit organizations. 
He also agreed to restrictions on his involvement in other charity groups and admitted he and his foundation engaged in 'illegal political coordination with the Trump campaign' during the 2016 election.
'Chiefly, Mr. Trump admits to personally misusing funds at the Trump Foundation, and agrees to restrictions on future charitable service and ongoing reporting to the Office of the Attorney General in the event he creates a new charity,' the New York Attorney General's office said in a statement on the case. 
The president also admitted 'that he used Foundation funds to settle legal obligations of companies he controlled, and that the Foundation paid for a portrait of Mr. Trump that cost $10,000.'

In 2014, Trump bought a four-foot-tall portrait of himself at a fundraising auction and paid for it with funds from his charity.


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Donald Trump admitted to 'personally misusing' funds in his charity as part of settlement in a civil lawsuit 


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President Trump also admitted he used his charity's money to pay $10,00 for this portrait of himself
[size=10][size=18]Judge orders Trump family to pay $2 million to non-profits




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Charities Receiving Trump payment

Army Emergency Relief
The Children’s Aid Society
Citymeals-on-Wheels
Give an Hour
Martha’s Table
United Negro College Fund
United Way of National Capital Area
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum



The state attorney general's office said Donald Trump Jr. reimbursed the foundation for the painting. 
'As separate piece of the settlement Donald Trump Jr. reimbursed the Foundation for the cost of the portrait.'
President Trump also repaid $11,525 spent on sports paraphernalia and champagne purchased at a charity gala as part of the settlement. 
Additionally, his three eldest children - Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric, all of whom sat on the board of the Donald J. Trump Foundation - agreed to undergo mandatory 'training on the duties of officers and directors of charities so that they cannot allow the illegal activity they oversaw at the Trump Foundation to take place again,' the attorney general's office said.
A New York judge ordered Trump to pay $2 million as part of the settlement of a case brought by the attorney general's office last year. 
That money, along with $1.78 million in assets currently held by the Trump Foundation will be equally distributed to eight charities: Army Emergency Relief, the Children’s Aid Society, Citymeals-on-Wheels, Give an Hour, Martha’s Table, United Negro College Fund, United Way of National Capital Area, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. 
The lawsuit alleged that President Trump and his three eldest children - Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric - used the Donald J. Trump Foundation for political and personal gain. The four were accused of violating federal and state campaign finance laws and abusing the foundation's tax-exempt status.  
Thursday's ruling appears to bring the lawsuit to an end. 
'Mr. Trump’s fiduciary duty breaches included allowing his campaign to orchestrate the Fundraiser, allowing his campaign, instead of the Foundation, to direct distribution of the Funds, and using the Fundraiser and distribution of the Funds to further Mr. Trump’s political campaign,' Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Saliann Scarpulla wrote in the ruling. 


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President Trump and his three eldest children - Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric - faced charges they used the Donald J. Trump Foundation for political and personal gain
[size=18]Cohen testifies that Trump bought own portrait with charity money




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The money must be paid by Trump himself for breaching his fiduciary duty to properly oversee his foundation, Scarpulla ordered.
'I direct Mr. Trump to pay the $2,000,000, which would have gone to the Foundation if it were still in existence, on a pro rata basis to the Approved Recipients,' the judge wrote. 
Scarpulla also declined to impose punitive damages on Trump, which would have added millions to the settlement, because, she ruled, he had taken the necessary steps to ensure the alleged illegal activity would not occur again.  
The foundation was dissolved in December as part of negotiations with the New York Attorney General's office. 
Trump had vowed to fight the civil lawsuit. He tweeted last year: 'I won't settle this case!' 
The suit was filed in June 2018 by then-New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood in June of last year.
Underwood was promoted to the job after then New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigned following allegations that he had physically abused some of his romantic partners.
Underwood was a career staffer, not an elected official, and she did not seek election for a full term.
Letitia 'Tish' James was elected to the position and said she intended to aggressively investigate Trump's businesses and finances.
'No one is above the law — not a businessman, not a candidate for office, and not even the President of the United States,' she said in a statement after Thursday's ruling. 

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As the state attorney general, Underwood had sought $2.8 million in restitution plus additional financial penalties. And she wanted the court to ban the Trumps from serving on the boards of other New York charities for a period of one year. 
Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump were named in the lawsuit because they were official board members of the Donald J. Trump Foundation for years.
There were reports on how Trump used charity's funds pay off legal settlements for his private business, to purchase art that decorated one of his clubs and to make a prohibited political donation.  
The suit was filled with scathing charges against the president and his management of his self-named non-profit. It includes allegations of violations of campaign finance laws and illegal coordination with Trump's presidential campaign.
Prosecutors charged Trump with repeatedly misusing the nonprofit to pay off his businesses' creditors, to decorate one of his golf clubs and to stage a multimillion dollar giveaway at his 2016 campaign events.
In her June filing, Underwood charged the nonprofit was essentially one of Trump's personal checkbooks — a pool of funds that his clerks knew to use whenever Trump wanted to pay money to a nonprofit. 
Legally, Trump isn't allowed to buy things for himself using the charity's money, even if he was buying them from nonprofits. 
The suit also listed some of the questionable expenses made by the charity, including a $10,000 on a portrait of Trump that was hung at one of his golf clubs.
And twice Trump used the charity's money to settle legal claims against his businesses.
[size=18]New York attorney general sues President Trump and family in 2018




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Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump were named in the lawsuit because they were official board members of the Donald J. Trump Foundation - the Trump family is see with the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall during June's state visit to England


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President Trump was ordered to personally pay the money
In 2007, he settled a dispute with the town of Palm Beach, Florida, over code violations at his Mar-a-Lago estate. The town agreed to waive outstanding fines if Mar-a-Lago gave $100,000 to the charity Fisher House.
But the donation came from the foundation and not the estate, prosecutors charged after Trump wrote a note requesting the move.
In 2012, a Trump golf club agreed to pay $158,000 to settle a lawsuit with a man who was denied a $1 million hole-in-one prize during a tournament at the club. The Trump Foundation paid the money instead of the club. 
In March, after the attorney general's investigation was underway, Trump repaid his foundation all $258,000, plus more than $12,000 in interest, the suit notes. 
Underwood said Trump had already repaid amounts spent by the foundation, plus penalty taxes totaling more than $4,000.
In the case of the portrait, she said Trump's golf club paid the foundation the 'fair rental value' of using the foundation-owned painting as decoration. The value: $182. 
IRS rules also prohibit tax-exempt foundations from aiding political campaigns. 
But Underwood cited two instances where Trump's foundation had seemed to do so.
In August 2013, Trump donated $25,000 from his foundation to a Florida political group aiding the reelection of state Attorney General Pam Bondi. Around that time, Bondi's office was considering whether to join an ongoing lawsuit by then-New York AG Schneiderman, alleging Trump had defrauded students at his now-defunct 'Trump University.'
The Trump Foundation omitted any mention of Bondi's political group from its annual report to the IRS and instead said the $25,000 donation had gone to a nonprofit in Kansas with a similar-sounding name.
Underwood said Trump's staff blamed confusion among accounting clerks for spending the foundation's money, instead of Trump's own. As for the incorrect IRS filing, Underwood wrote, 'the Foundation has no credible explanation for the false reporting of grant recipients.' 
Trump repaid the $25,000 and paid a penalty tax of $2,500 for an improper political gift after it came to light in a Washington Post investigative series on the Donald J. Trump Foundation during the 2016 campaign.
However, Underwood charges that the campaign Trump's foundation helped most was his own.
In January 2016, Trump skipped a debate among Republican presidential candidates because he was feuding with debate host Fox News. Instead, he held a televised fundraiser for veterans — bringing in millions from wealthy friends and small-dollar donors, much of which went to his foundation.
Underwood charged 'the Foundation ceded control over the charitable funds it raised to senior Trump Campaign staff.' 
She cited emails in which Corey Lewandowski, then-campaign manager, directed which veterans' charities should receive money.
The Trump Foundation has been in legal limbo since after the election, when the president wanted to dissolve it amid growing controversy about its practices. But the foundation could not legally dissolve while it was under investigation, the New York attorney general ruled. 
New York has jurisdiction over the Trump Foundation because the charity is based at Trump Tower in Manhattan and registered in New York State.
Trump had been president of the foundation since he founded it in 1987 until it was shuttered in December. 
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7662671/Michael-Bloomberg-gets-ready-2020-Democratic-ballot.html

[size=34]BREAKING NEWS: Michael Bloomberg, 77, gets ready to put his name on 2020 Democratic ballot in Alabama - opening way for $52 BILLION former NY mayor to make dramatic entry into presidential race[/size]

• Michael Bloomberg is preparing to enter the 2020 Democratic presidential field
  
  
• His staff will file paperwork for the primary in Alabama, which as Friday deadline
  
  
• Bloomberg's entry into the race would upend the Democratic presidential field
  
  
• He has not made a final decision on whether to mount a bid
  
  
• In March he said he would not run for the Democratic nomination
  
  
• But party elders were said to be worried about the Democratic field and hoping someone like Bloomberg would enter the race to take on Donald Trump 
  
  

By EMILY GOODIN, U.S. POLITCAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 17:45 EST, 7 November 2019 | UPDATED: 18:57 EST, 7 November 2019

     



Michael Bloomberg is preparing to enter the 2020 Democratic presidential field and will file the paperwork in one of the states with an early deadline, it was reported Thursday.
Bloomberg, 77, had toyed with running for the party's nomination but announced in March he would not pursue that path.
But now he is having second thoughts even though the former New York City mayor has not yet made a final decision on whether or not to run, an adviser told The New York Times.
He is having staff file his name for the presidential primary ballot in Alabama, which has a Friday deadline, in case he does jump into the field.


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Michael Bloomberg is preparing to enter the 2020 Democratic presidential field


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Bloomberg's entry into the race would upend the Democratic presidential field


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Donald Trump, Joe Torre, Ali Torre, then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Rudolph Giuliani and Billy Crystal attend the 2008 Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation Golf Classic at Trump National Golf Club on July 14, 2008
If he runs, such a move would upend the Democratic race.

While Bloomberg would be behind in fundraising, the billionaire has the funds to personally finance a campaign. 
However, he would have to build a national campaign from the ground up and move quickly to get on the ballot in other states. New Hampshire's filing deadline is Friday, Nov. 15th. Already 15 candidates have already filed to be on Democratic ballot - with more to file on Friday and next week. 
There will also be concerns about how a white male with strong ties to Wall Street would rally women, minorities, and the LGBTQ voting blocks in the Democratic Party. Women, in particular, were inflamed and activated in the wake of Donald Trump's election. 
Bloomberg had already vowed to spend millions on the 2020 election even if he wasn't on the ballot.  He spent $80 million on the 2018 midterm election.
The candidate most likely affected by a Bloomberg run would be Joe Biden. Bloomberg has the same moderate, elder-statesman appeal along with strong ties to the party elders.
The former vice president, meanwhile, has struggled to raise the funds needed to mount a presidential campaign and has seen his top spot in the polls slip.   


Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders - two of the more liberal members of the field - would likely go on the attack. 
Both have railed against the influence of money in politics and have forgone courting big donors in favor of small donations - a strategy that has brought in huge amounts of cash for each of them.
Pete Buttigieg, another top contender, would also fight Bloomberg for space among the moderates.  
Howard Wolfson, a close Bloomberg adviser told The New York Times the former mayor sees President Donald Trump as an 'unprecedented threat to our nation.'
He also cited concerns that many Democratic elders have - that none of the current crop of contenders have caught fire among the party faithful.  
'We now need to finish the job and ensure that Trump is defeated — but Mike is increasingly concerned that the current field of candidates is not well positioned to do that,' Wolfson said. 'If Mike runs he would offer a new choice to Democrats built on a unique record running America's biggest city, building a business from scratch and taking on some of America's toughest challenges as a high-impact philanthropist.'
Bloomberg endorsed Hillary Clinton and campaign heavily against Trump in 2016. The two men, who were never close friends, have become toxic political rivals. 
Republicans were quick to pounce on the speculation the former mayor would make a bid. 
'Really? Another one? The fact that Michael Bloomberg feels the need to run for president underscores the weak Democrat field and shows that Democrats know they can’t compete with President Trump in 2020,' said Republican National Committee spokesman Steve Guest in a statement.
In March, when Bloomberg announced he would not pursue the Democratic presidential nomination, aides said he was willing to spend up to $500 million to make Trump a one-term president. 
At the time he said he would put his focus on helping the environment and launch a 'grassroots effort' to move America 'as quickly as possible away from oil and gas and toward a 100 percent clean energy economy.' 
[size=18]'Todos con Biden' Joe makes a push for the Latino vote in new ad




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Joe Biden would be one of the candidates most affected by a Michael Bloomberg candidacy


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Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders - two of the more liberal members of the field - would likely go on the attack against Bloomberg


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Ali Torri, Rudolph Giuliani, Donald Trump, then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Bill Clinton, Joe Torre, and Billy Crystal at the 2008 Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation Golf Classic in July 2008
Bloomberg changed his party registration in October, switching from independent back to Democrat. He was a life-long Democrat until 2001 when he ran as a Republican during his first mayoral election. Bloomberg left the GOP behind in 2007 to become an independent, serving three terms as New York's mayor. 
If Bloomberg enters the race, one of the first questions would be whether he meets the qualifications for the Democratic debates. 
He would not have time to qualify for the next debate, which will be in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday Nov. 20.
To make the December debate in Los Angeles, he would need to hit 4 per cent in four pre-determined polls or hit 6 per cent in two polls in the early voting states; plus donations from at least 200,00 unique donors that includes a minimum of 800 unique donors per state in at least 20 states. 
Earlier this month The New York Times reported major Democratic fundraisers and party strategists were so worried about the shape of the current field they were hoping a high-profile candidate would enter the race to save the day.
Bloomberg's name was one of the ones on the wish list.  Another's was Hillary Clinton. 
[size=18]Bloomberg slams 'incompetent' Trump at conference in January




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Georgina Bloomberg, Emma Bloomberg, Michael Bloomberg, and Diana Taylor attend the 2017 Met Gala


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Bloomberg with daughters Emma and Georgina in September


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Donald Trump, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Jared Kushner attend The New York Observer 25th Anniversary in March 2013
If he runs, the 77-year-old would be the oldest and richest person to seek the Oval Office.
This also marks the fourth time Bloomberg has mulled throwing his hat into the presidential ring - an option he considered in 2008, 2012, and 2016. 
There has been speculation on a 2020 Bloomberg campaign for the past year, including reports he regretted that he didn't stay make an independent run in 2016 because he feels he could have either won or at least prevented Donald Trump from winning.  
Despite being New York billionaires, the two men rarely spent time together.
In 2007, when Bloomberg was in the second of his three terms as mayor, the two played together in a charity event at Trump National Golf Club.
And Bloomberg appeared twice on Trump's reality TV show, 'The Apprentice,' in 2004 and 2008, to show support for a program produced in New York.
Additionally, Bloomberg's daughter Georgina is friends with Ivanka Trump. 
In July 2017, Bloomberg, in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, took a shot at Trump's wealth, implying the president wasn't actually a billionaire.
'Let me phrase this carefully so you get the message: I don't know how wealthy other people are,' Bloomberg told the interviewer when asked about the president.
And when asked if he was implying Trump wasn't a billionaire, Bloomberg replied: 'I didn't say that. You said that.'
Bloomberg is believe to be worth $52 billion, according to Forbes, while Trump's is believed to be $3.1 billion.

annemarie wrote:Ivanka has been called out for being tone deaf on certain issues. Tiffany is just there nothing exciting .

Two of Ivanka’s tweets stand out. The one where she was having a tender moment with one of her children while the separation and caging of immigrant children was happening at the border. Totally insensitive. The other a picture of Ivanka’s new all white puppy drew all kinds of blowback because of her father being a racist.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7664235/Las-Vegas-makes-crime-sleep-rough.html

[size=34]Las Vegas becomes first major city to make it a crime to sleep or camp out on the streets as it moves to tackle the homeless crisis blighting cities across America[/size]

• The law will be enforced across downtown Las Vegas not the Las Vegas strip 
  
  
• People found sleeping rough when beds are available could receive $1000 fine
  
  
• Las Vegas has a large homeless population due to a perfect storm of expensive rents, drug addiction, recent job losses and a lack of mental health services 
  
  

By RYAN FAHEY FOR MAILONLINE and AP
PUBLISHED: 05:47 EST, 8 November 2019 | UPDATED: 06:12 EST, 8 November 2019

 

 

 

 

 

• [email=?subject=Read%20this:%20Las%20Vegas%20becomes%20first%20major%20city%20to%20make%20it%20a%20crime%20to%20sleep%20or%20camp%20out%20on%20the%20streets%20as%20it%20moves%20to%20tackle%20the%20homeless%20crisis%20blighting%20cities%20across%20America%C2%A0&body=Las%20Vegas%20becomes%20first%20major%20city%20to%20make%20it%20a%20crime%20to%20sleep%20or%20camp%20out%20on%20the%20streets%20as%20it%20moves%20to%20tackle%20the%20homeless%20crisis%20blighting%20cities%20across%20America%C2%A0%0A%0ALas%20Vegas%20officials%20passed%20a%20law%20on%20Wednesday%20which%20will%20make%20it%20illegal%20for%20the%20city%27s%20homeless%20population%20to%20sleep%20on%20streets%20when%20beds%20are%20available%20at%20established%20shelters.%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-7664235%2FLas-Vegas-makes-crime-sleep-rough.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top%0A%0A%0AMost%20Read%20Articles%3A%0A%0AShocking%20moment%20Mexican%20police%20officer%20who%20arrested%20El%20Chapo%27s%20son%20is%20shot%20150%20TIMES%20in%20brutal%20broad%20daylight%20execution%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-7662587%2FMexican-police-officer-arrested-El-Chapos-son-assassinated-hail-bullets.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0AHusband%2C%2046%2C%20decapitates%20wife%2C%2042%2C%20%27puts%20her%20head%20in%20her%20lap%27%20and%20slits%20their%20five-year-old%20daughter%27s%20throat%20before%20hanging%20himself%20as%20the%20woman%27s%20father%20reveals%20she%20tried%20to%20get%20a%20protection%20order%20just%20HOURS%20earlier%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-7660917%2FMan-46-decapitates-wife-slits-five-year-old-daughters-throat-hangs-himself.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0AMom%20of%20missing%20Florida%20girl%2C%205%2C%20who%20%27disappeared%20two%20days%20ago%27%20is%20no%20longer%20cooperating%20with%20police%20-%20as%20searchers%20comb%20rivers%20near%20the%20home%20amid%20claims%20the%20little%20girl%20hasn%27t%20been%20seen%20for%20MONTHS%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-7661145%2FFive-year-old-girl-missing-Florida-mom-bed-woke-gone.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0A]e-mail[/email]
   
  
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Las Vegas officials passed a law on Wednesday the first in the US that will make it illegal for homeless people to sleep on streets when beds are available at established shelters. 
The measure will apply to the city's downtown urban core, not the tourist-heavy Las Vegas Strip, which is overseen by a different jurisdiction.
Las Vegas becomes the latest city in the US West - from San Francisco and Seattle to Honolulu and Salt Lake City - to try to deal with complaints about homelessness.  


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This image shows a homeless camp in Las Vegas on Las Vegas Boulevard North near Foremaster Lane. City officials introduced a law on Wednesday that will make this type of camping illegal on the streets of the city
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a similar law from Boise, Idaho, last year - calling it unconstitutional to prosecute people for sleeping in public places when there aren't enough shelter beds.

City Attorney Brad Jerbic said the Las Vegas law was crafted to withstand a similar legal challenge, with its 'if beds are available' provision. 
Opponents rejected city officials' assurances that there will be enough shelter space when necessary. 
Las Vegas is one of many cities in the US with a large homeless population due to a perfect storm of high addiction rates, expensive housing, job losses and a lack of mental health service infrastructure. 
Mayor Carolyn Goodman, the sponsor of the measure, called it imperfect but necessary to deal with what officials and downtown business owners characterize as a homeless crisis.


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Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman points toward protesters during the council meeting where the city council issued a ban on homeless camping on Wednesday


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Sitting on an installation on the downtown sidewalk, Sebastian Bach, 62, has been homeless and living in the arts district for a year and a half in Las Vegas, NV, pictured on February 20, 2016. The ruling will not extend to the tourist heavy Las Vegas strip as it is managed by a different jurisdiction 
'This is flawed but it is a start,' the mayor said after noting Las Vegas' economy relies on its image as an attractive international tourist attraction.
'We have been having these conversations for 20 years,' she said, 'and we must have results.' 
The issue spurred emotion and drama, including the ejection by city marshals of several audience members who  Goodman deemed disruptive during a daylong City Council meeting that drew dozens of time-limited comments.
Most people spoke against the law before the 5-2 council vote.    


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In this October 15 photograph, patrons of The Salvation Army homeless shelter grab supplies near downtown Las Vegas. The new ruling will mean that if a bed is available at a shelter like the one pictured, homeless people will be fined or imprisoned for staying on the streets


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The camping ban proposal drew opposition from Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden (2R), Elizabeth Warren (right), Bernie Sanders (3R), Kamala Harris (4R), Cory Booker (3L), Tom Steyer (2L) and Julian Castro (not pictured)

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The law provides for warnings by public officers, beginning Sunday, for people found 'camping, lodging, sitting, lying down, sleeping and similar activities' in most downtown areas.
Those activities become a misdemeanor beginning 1 January, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
'It's criminalizing the homeless,' the Rev. Leonard Jackson, associate pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church in North Las Vegas and director of the regional Faith Organizing Alliance said during a morning protest outside City Hall.
About 100 people rallied, chanting, 'The war on the poor has got to go,' before taking their protest into the contentious public meeting that lasted more than nine hours.
'If we can build stadiums, then we can build housing for the homeless,' George Allen, a self-described 'working homeless' home-care worker, told the council.
Allen was referring to a $2 billion, 65,000-seat football stadium set to open next year for the relocated Oakland Raiders. Taxpayers are contributing $750 million to the project through hotel room taxes.
City officials report spending more than $35 million on homeless-related services last year, including outreach, fire, police and community services.
The camping ban proposal drew opposition from Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Tom Steyer and Julian Castro.


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In this file photo from July this year, a homeless man moves his belongings from a street near Los Angeles City Hall, background, as crews prepared to clean the area. Los Angeles is also planning to ban homeless people from sleeping on the city's sidewalks 


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A homeless camp at Market Street and 5th Street is photographed on Thursday, May 18, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. San Francisco's attempts to criminalize homelessness have been halted after the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals deemed it unconstitutional to prosecute rough sleepers for sleeping on the sidewalk when there is no alternative
Castro, a former US Housing and Urban Development secretary, attended a 2 October protest against the proposed ordinance.
Michael McDonald, head of the Nevada Republican Party, accused the Democrats of 'pandering to Las Vegans' and 'advocating for the homeless to continue suffering on our streets.'
He noted the proposal requires warnings and offering transportation to a shelter with an available bed before a person would get cited.
An annual survey taken one night in January counted more than 5,500 people on the streets in Las Vegas and surrounding cities and county property. Officials estimate that more than 14,000 people are homeless in and around Las Vegas at some point during the year.
The Review-Journal has tallied about 2,000 beds plus an open-air, 24/7 courtyard offered by the city where officials say more than 300 people stay on any given night. It has 220 sleeping mats.
 [/size]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7664871/Trump-decided-not-confront-Saudis-Jamal-Khashoggis-murder-oil-prices-spike.html

[size=34]'How f***ing stupid would I be?' Donald Trump decided he wouldn't 'pick a fight' with Saudis over journalist Jamal Khashoggi's brutal murder because oil prices would skyrocket [/size]

• Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has denied ordering the grisly murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year  
  
  
• Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident, had been critical of the Crown Prince in columns published in The Washington Post
  
  
• Donald Trump brushed it off, according to a tell-all written by an anonymous administration official, saying oil prices would skyrocket if he complained
  
  
• ''How f***ing stupid would I be?' the president asked aides, according to the book, saying he would not 'pick this fight' 
  
  
• He was murdered on October 2 last year when he entered to a Saudi consulate in Turkey to collect a document that he needed to marry his Turkish fiancee
  
  
• Agents of the Saudi government killed Khashoggi inside the consulate and apparently dismembered his body, which has never been found
  
  
• Khashoggi's killers were heard laughing and discussing his murder just moments before it happened, according to secretly recorded tapes 
  
  

By DAVID MARTOSKO, U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 09:02 EST, 8 November 2019 | UPDATED: 09:19 EST, 8 November 2019

     



President Donald Trump decided not to actively confront Saudi Arabia's crown prince over the grislly murderer of columnist Jamal Khashoggi last year because he was afraid global oil prices would spike, according to a forthcoming book.
'Do you know how stupid it would be to pick this fight?' Trump asked, according to 'A Warning,' penned by an anonymous author described as a senior Trump administration official.
'Oil would go up to one hundred fifty dollars a barrel. Jesus. How f***ing stupid would I be?'
'A Warning' is due in stores this month—and bombshells are trickling out in the press.


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President Donald Trump told aides that he thought it would be dumb to confront Saudi Arabia's royalty about the state-sanctioned murder of Jamal Khashoggi last year


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Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman is thought to be behind Khashoggi's brutal killing, but he denies it; he and his father also control the flow of oil from the Middle East's most petro-prolific natioon


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Khashoggi (right) entered the Saudi consulate in Turkey on Oct. 2, 2018, to collect a document that he needed to marry his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz (left). Agents of the Saudi government killed Khashoggi inside the consulate and apparently dismembered his body, which has never been found
The anonymous book author writes that Trump told his advisers he had decided not to confront MBS about the headline-grabbing killing. The president has dismissively dodged questions, including two in public from DailyMail.com, about the ensuing scandal. 

The Washington Post reported Thursday that it had an early copy of the hotly anticipated tell-all. 
Khashoggi was murdered in a Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, as his fiancee waited outside for him to obtain a marriage license. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known in the West as 'MBS,' is thought to be behind it.
Some analysts believe instead that Prince Turki bin Faisal is instead responsible, but it's undisputed that Riyadh decided to terminate the outspoken sometimes-journalist for his very public anti-kingdom views.
MBS said in September that he takes responsibility but denied that he ordered the slaying of the Saudi citizen, who had criticized him openly in the Post.


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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told CBS News in October that he did not order the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi
[size=10][size=18]Trump calls Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince 'a friend of mine'




L[/size][/size]




'This was a heinous crime,' he said. 'But I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by individuals working for the Saudi government.'

Revelations: The cover of 'A Warning', a new book by the same anonymous Trump official who wrote last year's New York Times op-ed
Asked if he ordered a hit on Khashoggi, the Crown Prince replied: 'Absolutely not.'
The Crown Prince's interview came as it was revealed that Khashoggi's killers were heard laughing and discussing his murder just moments before it happened. 
Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Turkey on October 2, 2018, to collect a document that he needed to marry his Turkish fiancee. 
Agents of the Saudi government killed Khashoggi inside the consulate and apparently dismembered his body, which has never been found. 
Saudi Arabia has charged 11 people in the slaying and put them on trial, which has been held in secret. As of yet, no one has been convicted.
The Crown Prince described Khashoggi's slaying as 'a mistake.'
[size=18]Saudi Crown Prince denies ordering Khashoggi killing on 60 Minutes




Load[/size]
A United Nations report asserted that Saudi Arabia bore responsibility for the killing and said the Crown Prince's possible role in it should be investigated.    
Saudi Arabia has long insisted the Crown Prince had no involvement in an operation that included agents who reported directly to him.
'Some think that I should know what three million people working for the Saudi government do daily,' the Crown Prince said. 
'It's impossible that the three million would send their daily reports to the leader or the second-highest person in the Saudi government.'
[size=18]CCTV shows Jamal Khashoggi entering Saudi consulate




L[/size]




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Khashoggi, a contributor to the Washington Post, was killed on October 2 shortly after entering the kingdom's consulate (pictured) in what Riyadh called a 'rogue' operation


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CCTV footage emerged allegedly showing Jamal Khashoggi's body parts being carried into Saudi Arabia's consul residence in bags and suitcases on the day he was murdered

[size=34]The murder of Jamal Khashoggi: Key moments surrounding the writer's disappearance and death[/size]

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who wrote critically of the kingdom's policies and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials say a 15-men team tortured, killed and dismembered the writer, while Saudi Arabia says he died in a 'fistfight.'
Here are some key moments in the slaying of the Washington Post columnist: 
BEFORE HIS DISAPPEARANCE
September 2017: The Post publishes the first column by Khashoggi in its newspaper, in which the former royal court insider and longtime journalist writes about going into a self-imposed exile in the U.S. over the rise of Prince Mohammed. His following columns criticize the prince and the kingdom's direction.
September 28, 2018: Over a year after the Post published his first column, Khashoggi visits the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, seeking documents in order to get married. He's later told to return October 2, his fiancee Hatice Cengiz says. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says a plan or a 'road map' to kill Khashoggi was devised in Saudi Arabia during this time.
September 29: Khashoggi travels to London and speaks at a conference.
October 1: Khashoggi returns to Istanbul. At around 4.30pm, a three-person Saudi team arrives in Istanbul on a scheduled flight, checks in to their hotels then visits the consulate, according to Erdogan. The Turkish president says another group of officials from the consulate travel to a forest in Istanbul's outskirts and to the nearby city of Yalova on a 'reconnaissance' trip. 


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Jamal Khashoggi (right) arriving at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2
THE DAY OF HIS DISAPPEARANCE
3.28am, October 2: A private jet arrives at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport carrying some members of what Turkish media will refer to as a 15-member Saudi 'assassination squad.' Other members of the team arrive by two commercial flights in the afternoon. Erdogan says the team includes Saudi security and intelligence officials and a forensics expert. They meet at the Saudi Consulate. One of the first things they do is to dismantle a hard disk connected to the consulate's camera system, the president says.
11.50am: Khashoggi is called to confirm his appointment at the consulate later that day, Erdogan says.
1.14pm: Surveillance footage later leaked to Turkish media shows Khashoggi walking into the main entrance of the Saudi Consulate. No footage made public ever shows him leaving. His fiancee waits outside, pacing for hours.
3.07pm: Surveillance footage shows vehicles with diplomatic license plates leaving the Saudi Consulate for the consul general's home some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away.
5.50pm: Khashoggi's fiancee alerts authorities, saying he may have been forcibly detained inside the consulate or that something bad may have happened to him, according to Erdogan.
7pm: A private plane from Saudi Arabia carries six members of the alleged Saudi squad from Istanbul to Cairo, the next day returning to Riyadh.
11pm: Seven members of the alleged Saudi squad leave on another private jet to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which the next day returns to Riyadh. Two others leave by commercial flights.
Erdogan confirms reports that a 'body double' - a man wearing Khashoggi's clothes, glasses and a beard - leaves the consulate building for Riyadh with another person on a scheduled flight later that day. 


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CCTV images showed a a private jet alleged to have been used by a group of Saudi men suspected of being involved in Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death
INITIAL REACTION
October 3: Khashoggi's fiancee and the Post go public with his disappearance. Saudi Arabia says Khashoggi visited the consulate and exited shortly thereafter. Turkish officials suggest Khashoggi might still be in the consulate. Prince Mohammed tells Bloomberg: 'We have nothing to hide.'
October 4: Saudi Arabia says on its state-run news agency that the consulate is carrying out 'follow-up procedures and coordination with the Turkish local authorities to uncover the circumstances of the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi after he left the consulate building.'
October 5: The Post prints a blank column in its newspaper in solidarity with Khashoggi, headlined: 'A missing voice.'
October 6: The Post, citing anonymous Turkish officials, reports Khashoggi may have been killed in the consulate in a 'preplanned murder' by a Saudi team.
October 7: A friend of Khashoggi tells the AP that officials told him the writer was killed at the consulate. The consulate rejects what it calls 'baseless allegations.'
October 8: Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Turkey is summoned over Khashoggi's disappearance and alleged killing. 
LEAKED FOOTAGE
October 9: Turkey says it will search the Saudi Consulate as a picture of Khashoggi walking into the diplomatic post surfaces.
October 10: Surveillance footage is leaked of Khashoggi and the alleged Saudi squad that killed him. Khashoggi's fiancee asks President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump for help.
October 11: Turkish media describes Saudi squad as including royal guards, intelligence officers, soldiers and an autopsy expert. Trump calls Khashoggi's disappearance a 'bad situation' and promises to get to the bottom of it.
October 12: Trump again pledges to find out what happened to Khashoggi.
October 13: A pro-government newspaper reports that Turkish officials have an audio recording of Khashoggi's alleged killing from his Apple Watch, but details in the report come into question. 
INTERNATIONAL UPROAR
October 14: Trump says that 'we're going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment' if Saudi Arabia is involved. The kingdom responds with a blistering attack against those who threaten it, as the manager of a Saudi-owned satellite news channel suggests the country could retaliate through its oil exports. The Saudi stock exchange plunges as much as 7 percent at one point.


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Khashoggi (pictured), went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul
October 15: A Turkish forensics team enters and searches the Saudi Consulate, an extraordinary development as such diplomatic posts are considered sovereign soil. Trump suggests after a call with Saudi King Salman that 'rogue killers' could be responsible for Khashoggi's alleged slaying. Trump says Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to the Mideast over the case. Meanwhile, business leaders say they won't attend an economic summit in the kingdom that's the brainchild of Prince Mohammed.
October 16: A high-level Turkish official tells the AP that 'certain evidence' was found in the Saudi Consulate proving Khashoggi was killed there. Pompeo arrives for meetings in Saudi Arabia with King Salman and Prince Mohammed. Meanwhile, Trump compares the case to the appointment of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing, saying: 'Here we go again with you're guilty until proven innocent.'
October 17: Pompeo meets with Turkey's president and foreign minister in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Turkish police search the official residence of Saudi Arabia's consul general in Istanbul and conduct a second sweep of the consulate.
October 18: A leaked surveillance photograph shows a member of Prince Mohammed's entourage walked into the consulate just before Khashoggi vanished there.
October 20: Saudi Arabia for the first time acknowledges Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, claiming he was slain in a 'fistfight.' The claim draws immediate skepticism from the kingdom's Western allies, particularly in the U.S. Congress.
October 22: A report says a member of Prince Mohammed's entourage made four calls to the royal's office around the time Khashoggi was killed. Police search a vehicle belonging to the Saudi consulate parked at an underground garage in Istanbul. 
CCTV emerges showing a Saudi intelligence officer dressed in a fake beard and Jamal Khashoggi's clothes and glasses on the day he went missing. 
October 23: Erdogan says Saudi officials murdered Khashoggi after plotting his death for days, demanding that Saudi Arabia reveal the identities of all involved. 
October 25: Changing their story again, Saudi prosecutors say Khashoggi's killing was a premeditated crime. 
November 2: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims the order to kill Khashoggi came from the highest levels of the Saudi government. Earlier the same day, Yasin Aktay, a ruling party adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said he believed the body had to have been dissolved in acid.
November 4: Khashoggi's sons Salah and Abdullah Khashoggi issue appeal for his remains to be returned so that he may be buried in Saudi Arabia.
November 10: President Erdogan says Turkey gave the audio recordings linked to the murder to 'Saudi Arabia, to Washington, to the Germans, to the French, to the British'.
November 13: Turkish media reports that the luggage carried by the Saudi 'hit squad'  included scissors, defibrillators and syringes that may have been used against Khashoggi. 
November 15: Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor announces that he is seeking the death penalty for five out of 11 suspects charged in the murder. Shalaan al-Shalaan said the person who had ordered the killing was the head of the negotiating team sent to repatriate him, and exonerated Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. On the same day, the U.S. Treasury announces sanctions against 17 Saudi officials, including the Consul General in Turkey, Mohammed Alotaibi. 
November 16: A CIA assessment reported in the Washington Post finds that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination. 
November 18: Germany bans 18 Saudi nationals believed to be connected to the murder from entering Europe's border-free Schengen zone. Berlin also announces it has as halted previously approved arms exports to Saudi Arabia amid the fallout.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7665399/Donald-Trump-Jr-slammed-soldier-sacrifice-comparison.html

[size=34]'You know nothing of sacrifice!': Donald Trump Jr. is slammed by veterans after comparing sacrifices of slain U.S. soldiers to the experiences his family faced helping get his father elected[/size]

• Donald Trump Jr. was slammed on Twitter after it was revealed he made the comparison between his family and slain soldiers in his new book
  
  
• He compared the sacrifices of U.S. troops killed in combat to the experiences his family faced when his father was elected president 
  
  
• In one part of his book, Don Jr. described visiting Arlington National Cemetery the day before Trump's inauguration in 2017 
  
  
• He noted the financial cost his family had faced and the 'huge chunk of our business' they had to give up to get Trump elected
  
  
• Congressman Ruben Gallego, an Iraq war veteran, was among those to slam Don Jr.'s comparison saying that sacrifice was just a word to the Trump family 
  
  

By EMILY CRANE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 12:11 EST, 8 November 2019 | UPDATED: 12:44 EST, 8 November 2019

     



Donald Trump Jr. has faced fierce backlash from veterans after he compared the sacrifices of U.S. troops killed in combat to the experiences his family faced when his father was elected president. 
President Trump's eldest son was slammed on Twitter after it was revealed he made the comparison between his family and slain soldiers in his new book titled 'Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us'.
In one part of his book, Don Jr. described visiting Arlington National Cemetery the day before Trump's inauguration in 2017. 
'I rarely get emotional, if ever. I guess you'd call me hyper-rational, stoic. Yet, as we drove past the rows of white grave markers, in the gravity of the moment, I had a deep sense of the importance of the presidency and a love of our country,' he wrote.


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Donald Trump Jr., pictured on Thursday during his explosive appearance on The View, was slammed on Twitter after it was revealed he made the comparison between his family and slain soldiers in his new book
'In that moment, I also thought of all the attacks we'd already suffered as a family, and about all the sacrifices we'd have to make to help my father succeed - voluntarily giving up a huge chunk of our business and all international deals to avoid the appearance that we were 'profiting off of the office.'

He added later: 'Frankly, it was a big sacrifice, costing us millions and millions of dollars annually. Of course, we didn't get any credit whatsoever from the mainstream media, which now does not surprise me at all.'
Democrat Congressman Ruben Gallego, an Iraq war veteran, slammed Don Jr.'s comparison saying that sacrifice was just a word to the Trump family. 
'Eight men I served with are buried in Section 60 of Arlington. I visit them monthly,' Gallego tweeted. 
'Even if Donald Jr. lived a 1,000 years, he will never even get close to being as good and honorable as they were. Sacrifice is only a word to the Trumps.' 
A former U.S. Army captain and Iraq war vet, Matt Gallagher, also chimed in, tweeting: 'Imagine going to Arlington... and being moved to think about money. You are a soup sandwich, @DonaldJTrumpJr, and my friends buried there would tell you the same thing.' 



Congressman Ruben Gallego, an Iraq war veteran, was among those to slam Don Jr.'s comparison saying that sacrifice was just a word to the Trump family


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The Vote Vets group also tweeted, saying: 'Lots of things we can say. But it is all captured by one word: Gross. You know nothing of sacrifice, @DonaldJTrumpJr. Nothing.'
Others also criticized Don Jr. over the comments, including Robert Maguire, the research director for the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
'This Veterans Day, be sure to thank the real heroes: Third-generation multi-millionaires who work at Dad's company and come from wealth built on decades of fraud and tax evasion,' he tweeted.
'These brave men sacrifice every day - braving private jet flights and mean tweets -for your freedom.'











The backlash over this specific section of Don Jr.'s new book, which was published just days before Veteran's Day, came soon after his explosive appearance on ABC's The View on Thursday.
Don Jr., accompanied by his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, immediately became embroiled in a number of heated exchanges with The View's panel after he accused Joy Behar of wearing blackface and was questioned about Trump's impeachment investigation. 
The infamous leaked Access Hollywood tape in which Trump was heard bragging about grabbing women 'by the p****' was also brought up.  
After his appearance on the show, Don Jr. tweeted: 'I don't think I've enjoyed an interview this much in my life. Guess you could say that I just #Triggered The View!!!' 


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[size=18]A look into Don Jr.'s new book "Triggered"




Loa[/size]

The whole family is beyond belief. How can anyone be so lacking in human compassion and insight?

drumpf senior is due to be at the Veteran's Day Parade here in NYC. I wonder if he has the nerve to show up after what Junior said. He might get booed and get his feelings hurt, poor thing. Hell, he might even find himself marching alone.

Lizzy, he probably agrees with junior he has lost so much money since taking the job.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7664173/Ivanka-Trump-AP-impeachment-aimed-undoing-2016-vote.html

[size=34]Ivanka Trump says whistleblower's identity is NOT 'relevant' to impeachment inquiry despite Don Jr. outing alleged name and attacks the Bidens as the ones who used public service to 'create wealth'[/size]

• Ivanka Trump says identity of whistleblower is 'not particularly relevant'
  
  
• 'The whistleblower shouldn't be a substantive part of the conversation,' she told the AP, saying the person 'did not have firsthand information'
  
  
• First daughter is on a three-day visit to Morocco to promote women's issues
  
  
• She says her family has not profited off presidency 
  
  
• And she charged it was the Bidens who had 'created wealth as a derivative' of public service while her family had made its money in business
  
  
• Ivanka Trump also said she has not been involved with conversations about selling the Trump family hotel in Washington D.C. 
  
  

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 04:44 EST, 8 November 2019 | UPDATED: 10:36 EST, 8 November 2019

     




 Ivanka Trump on Friday echoed her father's view that the House impeachment investigation is an attempt to overturn the 2016 election. 
But, in an interview with The Associated Press, she parted ways with President Donald Trump by calling the identity of the impeachment whistleblower 'not particularly relevant.'
The Republican president and some of his allies have been pressing the news media to publicize the whistleblower's name, but Ivanka Trump said the person's motives were more important. And she declined to speculate on what they may have been.
'The whistleblower shouldn't be a substantive part of the conversation,' she told the AP, saying the person 'did not have firsthand information.'

She added that, 'to me, it's not particularly relevant aside from what the motivation behind all of this was.'


+6


Ivanka Trump says identity of the impeachment whistleblower is 'not particularly relevant' 


+6


Ivanka Trump is wrapping up a three-day trip to Morocco; she's seen here with Sean Cairncross, CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and Princess Lalla Meryem of Morocco
In a wide-ranging, 25-minute interview, Ivanka Trump also addressed her family's criticism of Democrat Joe Biden and his son Hunter, whether she wants four more years in the White House and the possible future sale of her family's landmark Washington hotel, which she helped develop and referred to as 'my baby.'
She said she shares her father's oft-repeated view that the impeachment investigation is about 'overturning the results of the 2016 election.' 
House Democrats, by contrast, maintain the inquiry is about whether Trump abused his office by putting his political interests first.
'Basically since the election, this has been the experience that our administration and our family has been having,' Ivanka Trump said of persistent criticism of the president. 'Rather than wait, under a year, until the people can decide for themselves based on his record and based on his accomplishments, this new effort has commenced.'
Asked whether impeachment marked a low point for the president, she demurred: 'I think when Americans are winning, we're feeling great, so I wouldn't consider it a low point. I think Americans are prospering like never before.'


Ivanka Trump noted that the whistleblower was not among administration officials who heard the president ask Ukraine's leader during a July 25 telephone conversation to investigate Biden, a former vice president who's currently a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination to challenge Trump.
While her brothers Don Jr. and Eric have been vocal critics of the impeachment inquiry, Ivanka Trump has largely stayed out of the discussion. 
She did recently tweet a quote from Thomas Jefferson about the 'enemies and spies' who surrounded him and added that 'some things never change, dad.'
In the interview, she again placed her father in august company when it comes to being the target of criticism, saying, 'This has been the experience of most.'
'Abraham Lincoln was famously, even within his own Cabinet, surrounded by people who were former political adversaries,' she said.
[size=18]Ivanka Trump visits Morocco to meet with local businesswomen




[/size]





+6


Ivanka Trump serves in the White House as a counselor to President Trump


+6


Ivanka Trump charged it was Joe and Hunter Biden who had 'created wealth as a derivative' of public service while her family had made its money in business
She rejected any suggestion that her own family has been profiting off the presidency even as President Trump and his allies have criticized the involvement of Biden's son with a Ukrainian oil venture when Biden was vice president.
Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company at the same time his father was leading the Obama administration's diplomatic dealings with Kyiv. Though the timing raised concerns among anti-corruption advocates, there has been no evidence of wrongdoing by either the former vice president or his son.
Still, Ivanka Trump said the Bidens had 'created wealth as a derivative' of public service while her family had made its money in business before her father became president.
Good government groups, however, have criticized the president for unethically mixing official business with promotion of his own interests.
Trump is the first president in modern history who has not separated himself from his business holdings. 
He makes frequent trips to his for-profit golf clubs, collects dues at his members-only properties and hosts fundraisers and foreign delegations at hotels that bear his family's name.


+6


Ivanka Trump meets with local women farmers in the Moroccan city of Sidi Kacem during her trip


+6


Ivanka Trump also said she has not been involved with conversations about selling the Trump family hotel in Washington D.C. 
Ivanka Trump said she hasn't been involved in discussions about the possible sale of the president's landmark Washington hotel after nearly three years of ethics complaints and lawsuits accusing him of trying to profit off the presidency. 
She led the acquisition and development of the hotel a few blocks from the White House.
But, a possible future sale 'should satisfy the critics,' she said.
The president's daughter is wrapping up a three-day visit to Morocco, where she has been promoting a U.S. program aimed at empowering women in developing countries.

[size=34]'The best is yet to come' pledges Donald Trump at 'Blacks for Trump' event as he says African-Americans have the 'worst schools than anybody' and Democrats care more about illegal aliens than them[/size]

• President Trump traveled to Atlanta, Georgia Friday to appear at a 'Black Voices for Trump' event, part of his 2020 re-election effort 
  
  
• The president slammed Democrats for letting down the black community, commenting that 'you have the worst schools than anybody'  
  
  
• HUD Secretary Ben Carson was Trump's opening act, telling the crowd that he's no 'Uncle Tom' for being a black conservative  
  
  

By NIKKI SCHWAB, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 17:13 EST, 8 November 2019 | UPDATED: 17:58 EST, 8 November 2019

 

 

 

 

 

• [email=?subject=Read%20this:%20%27The%20best%20is%20yet%20to%20come%27%20pledges%20Donald%20Trump%20at%20%27Blacks%20for%20Trump%27%20event%20as%20he%20says%20African-Americans%20have%20the%20%27worst%20schools%20than%20anybody%27%20and%20Democrats%20care%20more%20about%20illegal%20aliens%20than%20them&body=%27The%20best%20is%20yet%20to%20come%27%20pledges%20Donald%20Trump%20at%20%27Blacks%20for%20Trump%27%20event%20as%20he%20says%20African-Americans%20have%20the%20%27worst%20schools%20than%20anybody%27%20and%20Democrats%20care%20more%20about%20illegal%20aliens%20than%20them%0A%0APresident%20Trump%20made%20a%20pledge%20to%20black%20supporters%20in%20Atlanta%20Friday%20that%20the%20%27best%20is%20yet%20to%20come%27%20if%20they%20stuck%20by%20his%20side%20through%20the%20next%20election%20cycle.%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-7666233%2FThe-best-come-pledges-Donald-Trump-Blacks-Trump-event.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top%0A%0A%0AMost%20Read%20Articles%3A%0A%0AEXCLUSIVE%3A%20Emmy-winning%20producer%20who%20was%20fired%20for%20%27leaking%27%20ABC%27s%20Amy%20Robach%27s%20bombshell%20admission%20that%20network%20killed%20Jeffrey%20Epstein%20story%20is%20revealed%20in%20Megyn%20Kelly%27s%20comeback%20interview%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-7664915%2FMegyn-Kelly-helps-fired-CBS-employee-woman-leaked-ABCs-Amy-Robach-hot-mic-revelation.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0ACAPTURED%3A%20%27Armed%20and%20dangerous%27%20suspect%2C%2030%2C%20is%20caught%20and%20charged%20with%20kidnapping%20UFC%20fighter%27s%2019-year-old%20stepdaughter%20Aniah%20Blanchard%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-7664393%2FMan-charged-missing-stepdaughter-case-caught-Florida.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0APIERS%20MORGAN%3A%20In%20one%20brutally%20ballsy%20talk-show%20appearance%2C%20Donald%20Trump%20Jr.%20gave%20us%20a%20stunning%20View%20of%20barefaced%20lying%20liberal%20celebrity%20hypocrisy%20-%20and%20it%20wasn%27t%20a%20pretty%20sight%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-7665429%2FPIERS-MORGAN-Donald-Trump-Jr-gave-stunning-View-lying-liberal-celebrity-hypocrisy.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0A]e-mail[/email]
   
  
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President Trump made a pledge to black supporters in Atlanta Friday that the 'best is yet to come' if they stuck by his side through the next election cycle. 
He slammed Democrats for letting down black communities, trapping black children in failing public schools. 
'The betrayal of the black community is unbelievable,' Trump said. 'You have the worst schools than anybody in the country by far.' 
He went as far to say that Democrat prioritized undocumented immigrants over black citizens, who have long been a dependable Democratic voting bloc. 

'Democrats care more about illegal aliens than African-American citizens, or our military, or citizens all over the place,' Trump said. 


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President Trump traveled to Atlanta, Georgia Friday to appear at a 'Black Voices for Trump' campaign event 


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A crowd cheers for President Trump as he speaks Friday in Atlanta, Georgia at a 'Black Voices for Trump' event, which is part of his 2020 re-election effort 


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Supporters hold up their cell phones in order to capture a snap of President Trump who took a day trip to Atlanta Friday 
[size=10][size=18]Trump courts black voters, touts historic unemployment numbers




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Trump's speech was billed as a 'Black Voices for Trump' kick-off event through his 2020 re-election campaign. 
The president's opening act was his only black cabinet member, HUD Secretary Ben Carson. 
 'Today they say if you are a conservative you're somehow an Uncle Tom, you're a horrible person,' Carson told the crowd. 'What a bunch of crap,' the mild-mannered ex-brain surgeon added. 
'I only care about what God thinks,' Carson said. 
Vice President Mike Pence also spoke, while a number of prominent black supporters - Diamond and Silk, Katrina Pierson, Paris Dennard, Alveda King and Herman Cain - were in the crowd. 
Trump started his own speech by asking how to best identify the group. 
'What do you prefer - "Blacks for Trump" or "African-Americans for Trump?"' the president asked the audience. A loud 'Blacks for Trump' cheer started in response, so Trump sort of stuck with that. 


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HUD Secretary Ben Carson was an opening act for President Trump, telling the crowd he's no 'Uncle Tom' for being a black conservative 
He also tickled the crowd by commenting on his shoot-from-the-hip speaking style. 
'I do my best work off-script,' he said. 'I hate to say this,  but I also do my worst work  off-script.' 
'It makes things very exciting,' Trump added. 
Most of the meat of the speech was the president's usual boasts, though he made the point - as he did during the 2016 cycle as well - that black voters really have nothing to lose.  
'It's amazing that you've stayed so long to be honest,' he said, commenting on the high number of African-Americans who vote Democratic. 
 In 2016, Hillary Clinton won 88 percent of the black vote, while Trump got just 8 percent.  
'And ladies and gentleman of the African-American community, I just want to tell you really, really strongly, the best is yet to come,' Trump vowed as he wrapped up his remarks. 

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He said that next time he'd hold a Blacks for Trump event in a bigger room, commenting on how they needed overflow. 
A spokesperson for the campaign has yet to respond to a request for comment on attendance numbers. 
'You're very, very, very special people,' Trump went on. 
'What has happened in the last three years for the black community, the African-American community has been really incredible and it is my honor to have been there with you,' the president said.  
Also on Friday, Trump launched what he's dubbing the #MAGAChallenge on Twitter, which is geared to black and young voters. 
The president linked to a popular music video from supporter Bryson Gray, who calls himself 'MAGA Boy.' In the video, Gray raps in a giant 'Make America Great Again' hat about how he was told he shouldn't support Trump because he's black.   
'I will be announcing the winners of the #MAGAChallenge and inviting them to the White House to meet with me and perform,' Trump tweeted. 'Good luck!'  [/size]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7664613/Bloomberg-opens-door-2020-Democratic-presidential-bid.html

[size=34]Michael Bloomberg will skip Iowa and New Hampshire primaries in order to focus on key March 3 Super Tuesday contests as former NYC mayor makes late entry into Democratic race[/size]

• Ex-New York City mayor files paperwork to enter Democratic presidential race 
  
  
• Billionaire media mogul plans to skip early states to focus on Super Tuesday 
  
  
• Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina make up early voting states 
  
  
• Bloomberg hope to nap almost a quarter of delegates in March 3 primaries 
  
  

By ASSOCIATED PRESS and ARIEL ZILBER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 06:58 EST, 8 November 2019 | UPDATED: 01:07 EST, 9 November 2019






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Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (seen above on October 29 in New York) will skip early voting states in the race for the Democratic nomination
Michael Bloomberg plans to skip early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire if he launches a presidential bid and instead focus his efforts on the crush of states that vote on Super Tuesday and beyond. 
It's a strategy that acknowledges the limitations of entering the race at this late stage and the opportunities afforded by the billionaire's vast personal wealth.
Bloomberg adviser Howard Wolfson says other candidates already have a big head start in the first four states to vote - Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina - and Bloomberg needs to be realistic about where he can make up ground.

'If we run, we are confident we can win in states voting on Super Tuesday and beyond, where we will start on an even footing,' Wolfson said. 
Nearly a quarter of primary delegates up for grabs in the March 3 Super Tuesday contests.
Bloomberg qualified Friday to get on the ballot in Alabama, one of the Super Tuesday states. 
His team is also making plans to file in Arkansas, which has a Tuesday deadline.
Bloomberg's candidacy has the potential to upend the Democratic race less than three months before primary voting begins. 
The billionaire businessman initially ruled out a 2020 run, but began to reconsider in recent weeks, citing concerns about the ability of the current crop of contenders to defeat President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg himself has called prominent Democrats to alert them to his likely run, and his staff is scrambling to meet fast-approaching primary filing deadlines.


Among those Bloomberg has reached out to: Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor who remains popular in the state. Vilsack told The Associated Press that Bloomberg called him Thursday evening and left a voicemail indicating he plans to run.
'He is in,' Vilsack said of Bloomberg's message.
Despite the outreach to Vilsack, advisers say Bloomberg would not make a serious play for votes in Iowa and the other early states. 
Other candidates in the crowded field have spent months courting voters there and building campaign operations.
The early states offer just a small percentage of the delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination. 


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'Michael's a solid guy, and let's see where it goes,' Joe Biden (seen above in Concord, New Hampshire, on Friday) told reporters. 'I have no problem with him getting in the race.'
But victories there typically give candidates crucial momentum that helps carry them into bigger states with more delegates on the line.
Bloomberg is calculating that he could build an advantage in those states now with his ability to quickly pour money into staff, television advertising and other campaign operations while other candidates are competing elsewhere.
Bill Carrick, a veteran Democratic strategist based in Los Angeles, said he doesn't think skipping the early voting states is ever a viable strategy.
'I don't think you can just hopscotch around the calendar to suit your own political purposes,' Carrick said. 
'You skip the early states, you're going to have a difficult time. I don't see any evidence that strategy ever works.'
Officials in Iowa and New Hampshire said they were disappointed in Bloomberg's decision. 
New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley said it was unfortunate that Bloomberg won't 'be tested the same way that the other Democratic candidates have been and will be.'


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Bloomberg is apparently concerned that the current crop of Democratic candidates, including Senator Elizabeth Warren (above) of Massachusetts, is unable to defeat Donald Trump
Bloomberg has spent the past few weeks talking with prominent Democrats about the state of the race, expressing concerns about the steadiness of former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign and the rise of liberal Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, according to people with knowledge of those discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity to relay details of private conversations.
Biden, campaigning in New Hampshire on Friday, welcomed Bloomberg to the race.
'Michael's a solid guy, and let's see where it goes,' he told reporters. 
'I have no problem with him getting in the race.'
Bloomberg's moves come as the Democratic race enters a crucial phase. 
Biden's front-runner status has been vigorously challenged by Warren and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who are flush with cash from small-dollar donors. 
But both are viewed by some Democrats as too liberal to win in a general election faceoff with Trump.
Trump told reporters Friday that Bloomberg might well spend 'a lot of money' but 'doesn't have the magic to do well.' 
Trump suggested he'd easily beat the former mayor and fellow billionaire.


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Bloomberg will have to catch up to other Democratic contenders who have established ground operations in key states, like Senator Bernie Sanders (seen above with House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Friday)
'Little Michael will fail,' Trump said at the White House, adding, 
'There is nobody I'd rather run against than Little Michael, that I can tell you.'
Despite a historically large field, some Democrats anxious about defeating Trump have been looking for other options. 
Former Attorney General Eric Holder and former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick have quietly had conversations with supporters urging them to consider a run, but neither appears likely to get in the race.
Bloomberg, a Republican-turned-independent who registered as a Democrat last year, has flirted with a presidential run before but ultimately backed down, including in 2016. 
He endorsed Hillary Clinton in that race and, in a speech at the Democratic Party convention, pummeled Trump as a con who has oversold his business successes.
Bloomberg instead plunged his efforts and his money into gun control advocacy and climate change initiatives. He again looked seriously at a presidential bid earlier this year, traveling to early voting states and conducting extensive polling, but decided not to run in part because of Biden's perceived strength.
[size=18]Bloomberg slams 'incompetent' Trump at conference in January




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