[AMV] Amerikaanse politiek #306 Divine Comeydy

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Op vrijdag 19 mei 2017 01:12 schreef Nibb-it het volgende:

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benpauker twitterde op donderdag 18-05-2017 om 23:47:40 EXCLUSIVE: Trump planning retaliation for leaks -- “ludicrous” revenge plan targeting Obama administration. https://t.co/1X3jbK41Fl reageer retweet

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Op vrijdag 19 mei 2017 01:41 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:
Someone Needs to Explain to Donald Trump That His Own Administration Appointed the Special Counsel

Treffende headline

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Op vrijdag 19 mei 2017 01:41 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:
Someone Needs to Explain to Donald Trump That His Own Administration Appointed the Special Counsel

Treffende headline

twitter:

nytimes twitterde op vrijdag 19-05-2017 om 01:46:42 Phone calls. A dinner. An awkward hug. We have previously unreported details of Trump’s efforts to win over Comey. https://t.co/TrKLysvm3n reageer retweet

twitter:

lawfareblog twitterde op vrijdag 19-05-2017 om 02:02:35 Benjamin Wittes: What James Comey Told Me About Donald Trump https://t.co/OXtsfQ5eve reageer retweet

twitter:

LisaDNews twitterde op donderdag 18-05-2017 om 21:52:22 .@senjohnmccain to me now: "Joe Lieberman has more experience than all of my Dem. colleagues combined. So screw them. And u can quote me." reageer retweet

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Op vrijdag 19 mei 2017 02:03 schreef Nibb-it het volgende:

twitter:

nytimes twitterde op vrijdag 19-05-2017 om 01:46:42 Phone calls. A dinner. An awkward hug. We have previously unreported details of Trump’s efforts to win over Comey. https://t.co/TrKLysvm3n reageer retweet

twitter:

lawfareblog twitterde op vrijdag 19-05-2017 om 02:02:35 Benjamin Wittes: What James Comey Told Me About Donald Trump https://t.co/OXtsfQ5eve reageer retweet

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According to lawmakers, Rosenstein confirmed that the bureau’s investigation into Russian interference in the election is no longer strictly a counterintelligence investigation — a kind of probe that does not normally result in charges — but also a criminal one.

He also said he was aware President Trump intended to fire Comey prior to penning a memo that the White House later used as its justification for the dismissal.

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Russia probes in limbo after special prosecutor announcement

The surprise decision to appoint a special prosecutor to oversee the FBI's investigation into Russia’s election meddling is throwing ongoing congressional probes into limbo.

Senators are scrambling to figure out what Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s decision to name former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special prosecutor means for their own investigations.

Lawmakers have been working for months to sort through documents and line up interviews with former Trump officials and have even issued a subpoena against former national security advisor Michael Flynn, who resigned earlier this year.

“I think it pretty well at a minimum limits it, maybe just takes us out of the game,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Thursday. "It’s going to be hard for us. … Public access to what happened is going to be very limited now because of a special counsel and I don’t want to get in his way."

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) added his “concern is that we do not end up in place where the special counsel doesn’t communicate with Congress for months or years.”

Graham and Coons are both members of the Judiciary Committee, one of four congressional committees digging into Russia’s election interference and possible ties to Trump campaign officials. The Senate Intelligence, House Intelligence and House Oversight committees are also conducting investigations.

Senators raised questions about how they might coordinate their investigations with the FBI and Justice Department probes with Rosenstein during a closed-door briefing Thursday.

Mueller is effectively taking over an ongoing FBI investigation into Russia's election meddling and any contacts between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

But his special prosecutor title leaves him largely unaccountable to Congress, raising concerns among lawmakers that he could limit what documents the congressional investigations receive or who can appear before their committees.

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The Senate Intelligence Committee has also struggled to get Flynn to comply with its investigation. It is unclear what, if anything, lawmakers could do to force him to meet with the committee.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said he would “go to the mat” to make sure the subpoena was followed, but Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the former chairwoman of the committee, hedged, telling reporters, “frankly he has rights.”

Graham echoed Feinstein, saying Flynn has a “Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself.”

“If I were his lawyer I would probably be making the argument that if I’m under criminal investigation, you cannot force me to compromise myself,” he added.

Senators also appeared uncertain on Thursday about what the Mueller pick meant for their push for Comey to testify publicly.

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U.S. Bombs Syrian Regime Forces For First Time

American aircraft bombed a military convoy flying Syrian flags in the country’s southeast on Friday, marking the first time the U.S. military has targeted regime forces in Syria’s six-year civil war, according to U.S. Defense officials.

The U.S. strikes came after the military convoy came too close to a U.S commando base and failed to respond to multiple warnings, according the officials.

The strike showed American commanders are willing to use force to maintain de facto safe zones in the country’s east, where U.S. forces are training local militias to battle the Islamic State and provide security in liberated regions.

U.S. forces spotted a convoy of vehicles, bulldozers and tanks moving toward the garrison at al-Tanf near the Jordanian and Iraqi borders early Friday, and watched as the group stopped within 20 miles of the outpost and began digging defensive positions.

The Americans first alerted their Russian colleagues using a special hotline the two sides set up to ensure their aircraft don’t operate in the same airspace. The Russians were unsuccessful in reaching the regime or convincing the group to turn around, after which U.S. aircraft buzzed the encampment to warn the forces off, according to the officials.

Warning shots were then fired, followed by airstrikes that destroyed the ground positions, along with one tank and several vehicles. Officials would not comment on any casualties.

The strikes were taken on the order of American military commanders in the region under the authorities granted by the Trump administration allowing the military greater leeway to strike targets they deem necessary.

The U.S. forces on the ground were in no danger, but the strikes were deemed to be in self defense because the Syrian regime forces were within about 20 miles of the U.S. position, one military official said.

twitter:

tedlieu twitterde op donderdag 18-05-2017 om 19:08:25 If true, this is FRICKIN ILLEGAL. Trump does not have Congressional authorization to attack Syria, a country that h... https://t.co/mcB6IR8pJe reageer retweet

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. He starts in Saudi Arabia, which he’s attacked in the past, and where he’ll give a speech that’s being written by the same aide who wrote his Muslim ban. Then he’ll go to Israel, which he may have just sold out to the Russians on their intelligence gathering, but where he’s already scrapped a stop to the historic site of Masada, constricted his visit to the Holocaust Museum there to 15 minutes, had his national security adviser suggest that the Western Wall isn’t part of Israel and appears to be backing out of his promise to move the Embassy to Jerusalem.
Next up, Rome to see Pope Francis, who’s sideways criticism of him last year for attacking Mexican immigrants Trump called “disgraceful.” Then, a series of meetings for NATO and the G7, which he spent the last year degrading, in addition to swiping at several of the leaders whom he’ll be seeing.

Plus, he’ll spend the NATO part of the trip in Brussels, the city he called “a disaster” in his response to the terrorist attacks there last year

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Op vrijdag 19 mei 2017 06:05 schreef Ulx het volgende:
Anyway, misschien wat rust voor hem als Trump naar het buitenland gaat. Maar ik ben niet heel zeker.

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Op vrijdag 19 mei 2017 02:03 schreef Nibb-it het volgende:

twitter:

nytimes twitterde op vrijdag 19-05-2017 om 01:46:42 Phone calls. A dinner. An awkward hug. We have previously unreported details of Trump’s efforts to win over Comey. https://t.co/TrKLysvm3n reageer retweet

twitter:

lawfareblog twitterde op vrijdag 19-05-2017 om 02:02:35 Benjamin Wittes: What James Comey Told Me About Donald Trump https://t.co/OXtsfQ5eve reageer retweet

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Op vrijdag 19 mei 2017 07:26 schreef Maxerazzi het volgende:
Erdo stond gezellig te kijken naar de matpartij op Amerikaanse bodem. Sterker nog, je kunt je afvragen wat er de eerste achttien seconden van het filmpje gebeurt. Erdo geeft iets door aan de ene beveiliger, die geeft weer iets door aan de andere beveiliger, die dan naar het protest rent en ongeveer op hetzelfde moment begint het aftuigen.

En het Witte Huis doet er natuurlijk geen flikker aan. Onder Trump verliest de VS zo keihard z'n geloofwaardigheid.

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Op vrijdag 19 mei 2017 07:26 schreef Maxerazzi het volgende:
Erdo stond gezellig te kijken naar de matpartij op Amerikaanse bodem. Sterker nog, je kunt je afvragen wat er de eerste achttien seconden van het filmpje gebeurt. Erdo geeft iets door aan de ene beveiliger, die geeft weer iets door aan de andere beveiliger, die dan naar het protest rent en ongeveer op hetzelfde moment begint het aftuigen.

En het Witte Huis doet er natuurlijk geen flikker aan. Onder Trump verliest de VS zo keihard z'n geloofwaardigheid.

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Op vrijdag 19 mei 2017 07:38 schreef Ringo het volgende:

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Hetzelfde gebeurde toch tijdens Trump's verkiezingsrally's? Het boeit die gifclown allemaal geen ene ruk. Won the election.

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Op vrijdag 19 mei 2017 07:40 schreef Ulx het volgende:

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Won it bigly.

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Op vrijdag 19 mei 2017 08:10 schreef DustPuppy het volgende:
US spies caught Russian officers bragging about causing chaos in the election 6 months before the vote

Huehuehue

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Op vrijdag 19 mei 2017 08:12 schreef Barbusse het volgende:

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Je ziet het verkeerd, dit is slechts Rusland en de USA dichter bij elkaar brengen en de koude oorlog die Obama is begonnen tot een einde brengen

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Trump Treasury backs away from talk of breaking up big banks
The Trump administration on Thursday distanced itself from a populist push to break up the nation's biggest banks after months of publicly flirting with the idea.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin emphatically rejected that move during a Senate hearing in response to a question by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Warren pressed him on what the administration meant by repeatedly saying it was open to an updated version of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall law, which separated commercial and investment banking.

Mnuchin, a finance industry veteran who's leading the administration's drive to overhaul Wall Street regulations, said splitting up the banks "would be a huge mistake."

That set off a testy exchange with Warren, who questioned how the administration could speak favorably of Glass-Steagall without supporting the breakup of the banks, which was at the heart of the law before it was repealed in 1999.

"This is like something straight out of George Orwell," Warren said during the Senate Banking Committee hearing.

Mnuchin's comments put more daylight between the administration and the anti-Wall Street rhetoric that was a centerpiece of Trump's winning campaign. The GOP party platform even included a pledge that stated, "We support reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which prohibits commercial banks from engaging in high-risk investment."

Yet Mnuchin's testimony raised more questions about what administration officials have in mind by promoting what they call a "21st Century Glass-Steagall" — branding that Warren had previously adopted for a bill that would force banks to cease certain activities.

Early this month, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, a former president of Goldman Sachs, suggested in a private meeting with bankers that the administration's definition of Glass-Steagall was merely developing different sets of rules for large and small banks, according to people familiar with the discussion.

"If we had supported a full Glass-Steagall, we would have said at the time that we believed in Glass-Steagall, not a 21st Century Glass-Steagall," Mnuchin said on Thursday.

He said the Trump team was "very clear in differentiating it." But many in the finance industry have been on high alert about the president embracing a breakup of the banks because the administration had not defined its position.

For Warren, a potential 2020 presidential contender, the revelation marked one more opportunity to attack President Donald Trump for abandoning a populist movement that ushered him into office and embracing policies more in line with Wall Street's agenda.

"When it was politically convenient for Donald Trump and for the Republicans to say they were in favor of Glass-Steagall, then they were in favor of Glass-Steagall," Warren said in a rare scrum with reporters outside the hearing room. "But now that the giant financial institutions have been in to visit them, they've decided to reverse that 180 degrees."

Senate Banking Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said in an interview that Mnuchin's comments did not constitute a new position from the administration.

"Separating the function of investment banking from deposit banking and making sure there are adequate protections there was something I think most members of Congress were willing to look at, and it's what I actually think they're talking about," he said. "But the notion of an absolute Glass-Steagall, which was what he discussed today, is not something I think the administration has ever said that they supported."

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Obamacare repeal faces possible re-vote in House
It's an unlikely scenario, but GOP leaders are still hanging onto the bill to ensure it clears a procedural hurdle.

House leaders have yet to send their Obamacare repeal bill to the Senate as they await a budget analysis that could force them to revise — and re-vote on — the high-stakes legislation.

A House GOP leadership source indicated that the measure will very likely move to the Senate after the Congressional Budget Office releases its score of the bill early next week. But “out of an abundance of caution,” Republicans have held onto the measure, known as the American Health Care Act, the source said.

The news, first reported by Bloomberg, raises the prospect of another uncomfortable vote for GOP lawmakers. The House narrowly passed the legislation earlier this month after a series of wrenching negotiations among a divided Republican conference. The bill passed 217-213 and forced a slew of vulnerable and moderate Republican lawmakers to support the bill through gritted teeth.

Asked about their hurry to pass the bill despite lacking a final CBO score, lawmakers argued they had made onlly small tweaks to the measure in the final negotiations. But they also need to ensure that the latest version conforms to complex budget reconciliation rules. Under reconciliation, the bill can pass the Senate with 51 votes, rather than the typical 60-vote threshold, ensuring Democratic support is not needed.

“Based on the previous two scores, we believe we’ll hit our target deficit reduction number, but we’re holding out of an abundance of caution,” the House GOP leadership aide said.

For the bill to meet the reconciliation standard, CBO must find that it will reduce spending by at least $2 billion.

Senate Republican aides said Thursday they're not worried about the updated bill violating reconciliation rules, but they also weren’t involved in crafting the House legislation. They knew they would always have to wait for a CBO score on the House bill because the same rules require the Senate’s version to at least match the savings of the House bill.

Senate Republicans, who are working on their own bill, say they're not close to putting legislation on the floor.

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Op vrijdag 19 mei 2017 10:23 schreef Monolith het volgende:
Stoere woorden over het opnieuw invoeren van Glass-Steagall lijken toch vooral loze praat geweest te zijn: