[AMV] Amerikaanse politiek #511 The president has trade war-powers

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Op zaterdag 2 juni 2018 17:18 schreef Tijger_m het volgende:

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Waarom, het is niet alsof ze iets nuttigs deed behalve kopietjes maken van andermans teksten.

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Op zaterdag 2 juni 2018 15:43 schreef vigen98 het volgende:

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Omdat het anders nutteloos is om bij te zeggen dat het een staat is waar Trump +9 in de peilingen stond.

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A lawyer tapped to lead a task force at the Environmental Protection Agency overseeing cleanups at the nation’s most polluted places worked until recently for a top chemical and plastics manufacturer with a troubled legacy of creating some of those toxic sites.

Steven D. Cook has been named as the new chair of the Superfund Task Force, which EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt created last year to revamp how the agency oversees cleanups at the more than 1,300 toxic sites.

Before beginning work in February as deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management, Cook served more than 20 years as in-house corporate counsel for LyondellBasell Industries — one of the world’s largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies.

EPA records show that LyondellBasell and its subsidiaries are listed as being potentially responsible for at least three dozen Superfund polluted sites.

An analysis by The Associated Press shows that nearly half the political appointees hired at EPA under President Donald Trump have industry ties. Of more than 60 EPA hires tracked by the AP over the last year, about one-third worked as registered lobbyists or lawyers for chemical manufacturers, fossil fuel producers or other EPA-regulated companies.

Trump promised as a presidential candidate to drain the swamp in Washington. An executive order signed two weeks after his inauguration bars former lobbyists and corporate lawyers from participating in any matter they worked on for private clients within two years of going to work for the government.

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twitter:

realDonaldTrump twitterde op zaterdag 02-06-2018 om 19:43:07 There was No Collusion with Russia (except by the Democrats). When will this very expensive Witch Hunt Hoax ever end? So bad for our Country. Is the Special Counsel/Justice Department leaking my lawyers letters to the Fake News Media? Should be looking at Dems corruption instead? reageer retweet

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President Trump’s lawyers have for months quietly waged a campaign to keep the special counsel from trying to force him to answer questions in the investigation into whether he obstructed justice, asserting that he cannot be compelled to testify and arguing in a confidential letter that he could not possibly have committed obstruction because he has unfettered authority over all federal investigations.

In a brash assertion of presidential power, the 20-page letter — sent to the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and obtained by The New York Times — contends that the president cannot illegally obstruct any aspect of the investigation into Russia’s election meddling because the Constitution empowers him to, “if he wished, terminate the inquiry, or even exercise his power to pardon.”

[Read the annotated letter here.]

Mr. Trump’s lawyers fear that if he answers questions, either voluntarily or in front of a grand jury, he risks exposing himself to accusations of lying to investigators, a potential crime or impeachable offense.

Mr. Trump’s broad interpretation of executive authority is novel and is likely to be tested if a court battle ensues over whether he could be ordered to answer questions. It is unclear how that fight, should the case reach that point, would play out. A spokesman for Mr. Mueller declined to comment.

“We don’t know what the law is on the intersection between the obstruction statutes and the president exercising his constitutional power to supervise an investigation in the Justice Department,” said Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard Law School professor who oversaw the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel during the Bush administration. “It’s an open question.”

SPOILER

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Op zaterdag 2 juni 2018 21:03 schreef Kijkertje het volgende:
Gisteren haalde hij de NYT nog aan voor de jobs-cijfers vandaag behoren ze weer tot de fake news media

twitter:

realDonaldTrump twitterde op zaterdag 02-06-2018 om 19:43:07 There was No Collusion with Russia (except by the Democrats). When will this very expensive Witch Hunt Hoax ever end? So bad for our Country. Is the Special Counsel/Justice Department leaking my lawyers letters to the Fake News Media? Should be looking at Dems corruption instead? reageer retweet

Trump’s Lawyers, in Confidential Memo, Argue to Head Off a Historic Subpoena

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Op zaterdag 2 juni 2018 21:25 schreef crystal_meth het volgende:

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Een tweet verstuurd voordat het artikel van de NY Times verscheen...

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steve_vladeck twitterde op zaterdag 02-06-2018 om 20:48:43 It's not exactly confidence inspiring on the part of @realDonaldTrump's lawyers that their statutory (as opposed to constitutional) analysis is focused on the _wrong_ federal obstruction-of-justice statute—18 U.S.C. § 1505 instead of 18 U.S.C. § 1512:https://t.co/4ZZ2jQ0Qrs https://t.co/EmKbvB25ES reageer retweet

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SethAbramson twitterde op zaterdag 02-06-2018 om 22:27:53 In Trump's "God Manifesto," he asserts his right to cancel--at his pleasure--any federal law enforcement investigation into his own actions, the actions of his family, or the actions of his associates. It is, in short, the bald claim that he and his are beyond the reach of the law. reageer retweet

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Did exactly 4,645 people die in Hurricane Maria? Nope.

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The Harvard study offers only an estimate – a midpoint along a broad range of possibilities. It is not based on death records, only estimates of deaths from people who were interviewed in a survey.

In effect, the researchers took one number – 15 deaths identified from a survey of 3,299 households – and extrapolated that to come up with 4,645 deaths across the island. That number came with a very large caveat, clearly identified in the report, but few news media accounts bothered to explain the nuances.

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There have been several attempts already to estimate the actual death toll. Here’s a sampling:

The New York Times calculated 1,052 deaths through October.
The Center for Investigative Reporting calculated 985 through October.
University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez professors calculated 822, with a 95 percent confidence range that the total was somewhere between 605 and 1,039.
Pennsylvania State University professors calculated excess deaths of about 500 in September, or a total of 1,085 if the same pattern held in October. That estimate was based on six weeks of mortality records.
A Latino USA analysis, using updated data from Puerto Rico’s Department of Health, calculated 1,194 excess deaths in September and October.
Notice a consistent pattern? All of the estimates are roughly around 1,000 deaths, which is still about 15 times higher than the official count.

These figures are also based on actual data, not estimates, though researchers have been stymied in obtaining complete November and December data because the government halted access until the completion of the formal report ordered by the government.

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In response to questions, the researchers posted a document that includes this question: Does your study say that 4,645 died? The answer: “No. We provide a 95% confidence interval of 793 to 8,498, and 4,645 falls in the middle of this range.”

Bron: WaPo

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Op zaterdag 2 juni 2018 17:13 schreef vigen98 het volgende:

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Context met welk doel?

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realDonaldTrump twitterde op vrijdag 01-06-2018 om 15:18:21 Canada has treated our Agricultural business and Farmers very poorly for a very long period of time. Highly restrictive on Trade! They must open their markets and take down their trade barriers! They report a really high surplus on trade with us. Do Timber & Lumber in U.S.? reageer retweet

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kylegriffin1 twitterde op zondag 03-06-2018 om 00:00:03 Perrin Beatty, head of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, on this Trump tweet: "The tweet is no more intelligible than the administration’s trade policy is." https://t.co/vR1AhevIR6 https://t.co/uvrBquHAdg reageer retweet

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Op zaterdag 2 juni 2018 21:25 schreef crystal_meth het volgende:

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Een tweet verstuurd voordat het artikel van de NY Times verscheen...

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kylegriffin1 twitterde op zondag 03-06-2018 om 02:05:10 Fox News claims they exclusively obtained a letter the New York Times reported on hours earlier and actually obtained exclusively. https://t.co/Gxrf0hIvj3 reageer retweet

A secret memo written by President Trump's legal team has been leaked

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The president's lawyer Rudy Giuliani threatened a legal battle with special counsel Robert Mueller if he attempts to subpoena Donald Trump.

"If Mueller tries to subpoena us, we're going to court," Giuliani told ABC News.

His latest comments come on the heels of the publication of a 20-page confidential letter sent by Trump's lawyers to Mueller arguing that the president cannot legally obstruct justice in the Russia investigation due to his position as "chief law enforcement officer."

"It remains our position that the President's actions here, by virtue of his position as the chief law enforcement officer, could neither constitutionally nor legally constitute obstruction because that would amount to him obstructing himself, and that he could if he wished, terminate the inquiry, or even exercise his power to pardon if he so desired," reads the letter dated January 29, which was first obtained and reported by the New York Times.

Although Giuliani was not on the legal team at the time of the letter, he confirmed the contents of the letter to ABC News and said it was delivered to the special counsel in January.

He told ABC News the legal strategy outlined in the letter remains in effect.

Lawyers for Trump and a spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment to ABC News.

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Echoing Trump, Giuliani accused the special counsel of the leak of the letter, saying that Mueller should have put out a statement condemning it and that he should investigate his team. However, there's no evidence that the letter leaked to the New York Times came from members of the special counsel.

Trump's lawyers also acknowledge for the first time his involvement in dictating that infamous statement about the Trump Tower meeting in 2016, where Trump campaign officials, including his son and son-in-law met with a Russian lawyer who was offering negative information on Hillary Clinton.

"You have received all of the notes communications and testimony indicating that the President dictated a short but accurate response to the New York Times article on behalf of his son, Donald Trump, Jr."

The letter also argues that there is no need for the president to sit for an interview, as the lawyers assert the special counsel has all the information he could possibly need.

"The records and testimony we have, pursuant to the President's directive, already voluntarily provided to your office allow you to delve into the conversations and actions that occurred in a significant and exhaustive manner, including but not limited to the testimony of the President's interlocutors themselves," the letter says. "In light of these voluntary offerings, your office clearly lacks the requisite need to personally interview the President."

Trump's lawyers say that the investigation has interfered with the president's "ability to both govern domestically and conduct foreign affairs," adding "This encumbrance has been only compounded by the astounding public revelations about the corruption within the FBI and Department of Justice which appears to have let to the alleged Russia collusion investigation and the establishment of the Office of Special Counsel in the first place."

John Cohen, the former acting undersecretary for intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security, called the letter "highly unusual." He stepped down in 2014.

"It is highly unusual and extraordinarily unsettling that the lawyer(s) representing the president of the United States would send an official memorandum to a special counsel of DOJ alleging that leadership of the FBI and DOJ is/was corrupt," Cohen told ABC News. "This type of communique has only one purpose and that is to undermine the credibility of those investigating Russia's efforts to engage in an ongoing attack against the U.S. While it may advance the president's political and legal strategy, I fear that it plays into Russia's efforts, which seek to weaken America by undermining the credibility of our national security and law enforcement institutions."