[AMV] Amerikaanse politiek #462 Stormy actions

quote:

The Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, have been working together to track the status of 626 top jobs in the executive branch. This includes assistant secretaries, chief financial officers, general counsels, heads of agencies, ambassadors and other leadership positions that experts believe are critical for the federal government to function effectively. These represent about half of the roughly 1,200 positions that require Senate confirmation.

The White House likes to blame Congress for dragging its feet, but that’s only part of the story: As of this morning, there is no pending nominee for 245 of the 626 jobs we're tracking. Among them: deputy secretary at Treasury and Commerce, director of the Census, director of ATF, director of the Office on Violence Against Women at Justice and commissioner of the Social Security Administration.

At Veterans Affairs, no one has been tapped to be the undersecretary for health or benefits.

At the Transportation Department, there is not a nominee to be administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration or National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Trump has not submitted nominees to direct the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the U.S. Geological Survey. He has also not picked someone to be assistant secretary of Interior for fish, wildlife and parks.

Many of these jobs have “acting” directors, but these people aren’t fully empowered and cannot indefinitely stay in these roles without being confirmed by the Senate because of laws related to vacancies. The lack of permanence creates uncertainty and makes strategic planning difficult. It also makes it harder to manage career staff, who are less likely to follow orders they disagree with when they realize that their boss is a short-timer.

SPOILER

Om spoilers te kunnen lezen moet je zijn ingelogd. Je moet je daarvoor eerst gratis Registreren. Ook kun je spoilers niet lezen als je een ban hebt.

twitter:

MittRomney twitterde op vrijdag 16-02-2018 om 14:19:48 I am running for United States Senate to serve the people of Utah and bring Utah's values to Washington. https://t.co/TDkas6gD2p reageer retweet

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 februari 2018 16:48 schreef Kijkertje het volgende:

twitter:

MittRomney twitterde op vrijdag 16-02-2018 om 14:19:48 I am running for United States Senate to serve the people of Utah and bring Utah's values to Washington. https://t.co/TDkas6gD2p reageer retweet

quote:

Encounters with an angry traveler in the Atlanta airport and other unruly critics prompted EPA security staff to recommend first-class travel for the administrator, the agency says.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s security team decided last year he should fly first class to avoid confrontations with angry individuals on planes and in airports, an agency official said Thursday as EPA sought to explain the chief’s penchant for pricey travel.

“He was approached in the airport numerous times, to the point of profanities being yelled at him and so forth,” Henry Barnet, director of the agency's Office of Criminal Enforcement, told POLITICO.

quote:

Mark Corallo, former spokesperson for President Donald Trump’s legal team, spoke with Special Counsel Bob Mueller on Thursday for over two hours, two people familiar with the matter told The Daily Beast. He isn’t expected to go in for another interview, according to a person familiar with the matter. When he was in the White House, Corallo sparred with Hope Hicks, Jared Kushner, and Ivanka Trump. The New York Times reported last month that Corallo’s conversation with Mueller would likely involve topics related to potential obstruction of justice.

quote:

"Mark Corallo [former spokesman for Trump's personal legal team] ... privately confiding [to Wolff] that he believed the meeting on Air Force One represented a likely obstruction of justice -- quit."

quote:

Mr. Corallo is planning to tell Mr. Mueller about a previously undisclosed conference call with Mr. Trump and Hope Hicks, the White House communications director, according to the three people. Mr. Corallo planned to tell investigators that Ms. Hicks said during the call that emails written by Donald Trump Jr. before the Trump Tower meeting -- in which the younger Mr. Trump said he was eager to receive political dirt about Mrs. Clinton from the Russians -- "will never get out." That left Mr. Corallo with concerns that Ms. Hicks could be contemplating obstructing justice, the people said.

In a statement on Wednesday, a lawyer for Ms. Hicks strongly denied Mr. Corallo's allegations.

"As most reporters know, it's not my practice to comment in response to questions from the media. But this warrants a response," said the lawyer, Robert P. Trout. "She never said that. And the idea that Hope Hicks ever suggested that emails or other documents would be concealed or destroyed is completely false."

quote:

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office said Friday that a grand jury indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for alleged interference in the 2016 presidential elections, during which they boosted the candidacy of Donald Trump.

The indictment says that the defendants by early to mid-2016 were "supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump ... and disparaging Hillary Clinton."

The indictment said "the organization," known as the Internet Research Agency LLC, "sought, in part, to conduct what it called 'information warfare against the United States of America' through fictitious U.S. personas on social media platforms and other Internet-based media."

"By in or around May 2014, the organization's strategy included interfering with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, with the stated goal of "spread[ing] distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general," the indictment said.

An announcement from Mueller's office said that the government accuses all the defendants of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Three defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.

Five defendants are charged with aggravated identity theft.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 februari 2018 19:11 schreef westwoodblvd het volgende:
Ben benieuwd of er in de indictments iets te vinden is over contact tussen de verdachten en Amerikanen. Want dat Rusland gestookt heeft in de verkiezingen was al wel duidelijk.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 februari 2018 19:16 schreef speknek het volgende:

[..]

Contact ja. Maar voor nu nog unwitting individuals.

[ afbeelding ]

https://mobile.twitter.com/user/status/964560879269433344

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 februari 2018 19:16 schreef speknek het volgende:

[..]

Contact ja. Maar voor nu nog unwitting individuals.

https://mobile.twitter.com/user/status/964560879269433344

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 februari 2018 19:21 schreef Nintex het volgende:

[..]

Jup, dit is praktisch vrijspraak voor de Trump campagne.

Opvallend ook dat de Russen zowel anti als pro Trump events organiseerden en met name Jill Stein probeerde te pushen.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 februari 2018 19:21 schreef Nintex het volgende:

[..]

Jup, dit is praktisch vrijspraak voor de Trump campagne.

Opvallend ook dat de Russen zowel anti als pro Trump events organiseerden en met name Jill Stein probeerde te pushen.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 februari 2018 19:07 schreef Kijkertje het volgende:
Russians indicted in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of election meddling to support Donald Trump

[..]

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 februari 2018 19:31 schreef Szura het volgende:
Overigens weet die Mueller wel hoe je een bommetje gooit, z’n team zit werkelijk potdicht .

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 februari 2018 19:32 schreef Nintex het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

Goddamn, dat troll niveau van die Russen.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 februari 2018 19:07 schreef speknek het volgende:
Mueller onthult aanklacht tegen 13 Russen vanwege inmenging in de verkiezingen. Gaat om leden van de St Peterburgse trollfarm IRA.

https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/964558562780381184

https://twitter.com/user/status/964557150038253570

[ afbeelding ]