Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Republican-backed measure would meet Trump’s wall demand while the second would extend funding for closed agencies
The Senate will vote on Thursday on a pair of bills that could end the month-long partial shutdown of the federal government– if passed.
The first bill, a Republican-backed measure, would meet Donald Trump’s demand for a $5.7bn wall along the southern border in exchange for temporary protections for young undocumented immigrants. The second would extend funding for the agencies that are currently closed through to 8 February.
Donald Trump raised the possibility of one day granting amnesty to migrants living in the US illegally, after Democrats rejected his latest plan to fund a wall along the southern border and reopen the US government.
President offers temporary concessions and demands wall
Little chance of progress as House speaker says no
Donald Trump forged ahead on Saturday and proposed a deal to end the US government shutdown, despite Democrats having rejected it before he began to speak.
According to CNN, President Trump wasn’t pleased to learn that his AG pick was so close with special counsel Robert Mueller. AG nominee William Barr referred to Mueller as “Bob” during the first day of his Senate confirmation hearing, and said that “the Barrs and Muellers were good friends and would be good friends when this was all over”. He also described Mueller as a “straight-shooter”.
While Barr said during his hearing that Trump ‘was interested’ in hearing about the friendship, the details that emerged this week caught the President off guard, the three sources said. He bristled at Barr’s description of the close relationship, complaining to aides he didn’t realize how much their work overlapped or that they were so close”.
Reuters is reporting that four Volkswagen managers from the car company’s luxury Audi unit have been indicted for their role in the 2015 scandal over the automaker’s attempt to evade US exhaust emissions tests.
The four are charged in a 12-count indictment with conspiring to evade U.S. emissions standards in diesel vehicles sold in the United States with 3.0-liter engines. The vehicles include the 2009-2015 Audi Q7 vehicles as well as other Q5, A6, A7, and A8 diesel models. They are accused of wire fraud, violating the Clean Air Act and conspiracy.
Volkswagen spokesman Pietro Zollino said the company continues ‘to cooperate with investigations by the Department of Justice into the conduct of individuals. It would not be appropriate to comment on individual cases’”.
Steny Hoyer, the Democratic majority leader in the House, makes plain “the State of the Union is off” in an interview with CNN.
.@KateBolduan: "The letter sounds like she’s asking, but isn’t she just telling him?" Rep. Hoyer: "The speaker is the one who invites the president…” Kate: "So, the State of the Union is off?" Hoyer: "The State of the Union is off."
It’s worth looking at this time capsule at the shock felt in Washington in 1913 when Woodrow Wilson became the first president to deliver the State of the Union in person since John Adams.
WASHINGTON IS AMAZED. Pelosi proposal to delay the SOTU gives me a chance to once again tweet my favorite WaPo story ever, about how the city was "agape" when a pressident (Wilson) showed up to give a speech at the Capitol: https://t.co/8A1qsRYbsl
The office of Robert Mueller, the special counsel, submitted a new court filing on Tuesday detailing communications between former Trump aid Paul Manafort and alleged Russian intelligence operative Konstantin Kilimnik.
New filing from Mueller's office: Paul Manafort said in Jan 2017 he was using intermediaries "to get people appointed in the Administration", Rick Gates has told investigators. pic.twitter.com/yv5ypLdrpL
At a taping for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” this evening, Sen. Gillibrand shared that she was officially joining the race for the white house. Announcing that she was assembling an exploratory committee and will soon be on her way to Iowa, she told Colbert she was running as a mom as she outlined key parts of her platform:
“As a young mom, I’m going to fight for other people’s kids as hard as I’d fight for my own, which is why I believe health care should be a right, not a privilege; it’s why I believe we should have better public schools for our kids because it shouldn’t matter what block you grew up on; and I believe that anybody who wants to work hard enough should be able to get whatever job training they need to earn their way into the middle class” she said.
Tonight I announced that I’m preparing to run for president, because I believe we’re all called to make a difference. I believe in right vs. wrong – that wrong wins when we do nothing. Now is our time to raise our voices and get off the sidelines. Join me: https://t.co/I1vp93u0wh
Ms. Gillibrand, a 52-year-old former corporate lawyer, has been criticized by opponents as a politician without a firm ideological bearing of her own, having transformed from a pro-gun, conservative upstate congresswoman with deep ties to Wall Street financiers to a crusading liberal who rails against guns and refuses corporate political action committee money.”
CBC: assignments must be stripped over white supremacy line
Trump ally is immigration hardliner with far-right links
The Iowa Republican congressman Steve King was under mounting pressure on Saturday, over remarks in which he asked how the term “white supremacy” came to be seen to be offensive.
The US government shutdown is now the longest such closure in history. On Saturday, day 22, members of Congress were out of Washington, Donald Trump was unmoved in the White House, his border wall unbuilt, and around 800,000 federal workers were still without pay and facing mounting hardship.
Wednesday’s dramatic showdown between Donald Trump and Democratic leaders and the president’s defiant PR trip to the border the following day seemed to confirm observers’ fears: a breakthrough in negotiations to end one of the longest shutdowns in US history is far from imminent.
As key government operations remained shuttered for a 21st day and roughly 800,000 federal workers remained without pay, both the president and the Democrats have retreated into their own corners.
The Republican congressman says the diverse Democratic party appears to be ‘no country for white men’
A nine-term Republican congressman and close ally of Donald Trump known for making racially provocative statements said in an interview published Thursday that he did not understand why the phrases “white nationalist” and “white supremacist” had “become offensive”.
Congressman Steve King, who has represented his rural Iowa district in Washington since 2003, made the remarks in an interview with the New York Times.
The book chronicles Harris’ upbringing as the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, her unexpected rise in US politics and current policy vision for the country.
“There were a lot of ways Secretary Kelly could have shown responsiveness, a lot of information he could have provided,” Harris writes. “Indeed the American people had a right to this information, and, given my oversight role on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, I intended to get it. Instead, he said gruffly, “Why are you calling me at home with this?” That was his chief concern. By the time we got off the phone, it was clear that he didn’t understand the depth of what was going on. He said he’d get back to me, but he never did.”
Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who attended the infamous June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower during the presidential campaign, has been charged by US authorities with obstruction of justice.
The indictment, which was unsealed on Tuesday by the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, is separate from the special counsel investigation of Russian interference in the US election and potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.
Natalia Veselnitskaya is accused of fabricating evidence in a US money-laundering case she was working on when she visited Trump Tower in June 2016 to meet senior Trump advisers including his son Donald Jr and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Federal prosecutors in New York said on Tuesday that Veselnitskaya and a senior Russian official drafted a bogus investigation report that she presented in court as supposed evidence that exonerated her client, Prevezon.
Donald Trump has threatened a national emergency in the 'next few days' to allow him to build a wall on the US-Mexico border. By doing this, he could unlock money from other sources, thereby avoiding the need for approval from Democrats
Saturday was day 15 of a partial government shutdown that Donald Trump said could go on for months or years, if he is not given funding for a wall on the Mexican border. As new talks were held without result, potentially devastating effects of the shutdown were coming into focus.
President says ‘we can call it a national emergency’ to bypass Congress and build wall ‘quickly’ at press conference
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Asked if he would turn down the automatic raise coming his way during the government shutdown, @VP Pence says “yes.” pic.twitter.com/Z6vPc14Cuf
Trump also said he would consider asking his Cabinet officials not to accept the $10,000 raise due to take effect for them tomorrow.
Donald Trump seems to confirm ABC News reporting that his administration is considering building a wall without the consent or appropriation of Congress by declaring a national emergency.
“I can do it if I want,” Trump said. “We can call a national emergency and build it very quickly.”
"I can do it if I want," Trump now saying he is "allowed" to build the wall himself without congressional approval or appropriation. "We can call a national emergency and build it very quickly."
President Trump just said he could declare a national emergency to build the wall unilaterally without Congress. So this whole shutdown is... what, then?
Democrats reclaimed power in the House of Representatives on Thursday and officially elected Nancy Pelosi as the next speaker. Pelosi, who had previously served as speaker from 2007-2011, became the first former speaker to win re-election since Sam Rayburn in 1955
Donald Trump tweeted an image mocking Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign for president.
It features the slogan “Warren: 1/2020th,” an apparent reference to the much-derided DNA test the Massachusetts Democrat took finding she had a small fraction of Native American heritage.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein says former Vice President Joe Biden is her top pick for a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.
“I’ve watched him as vice president, I’ve seen him operate, I’ve seen him perform,” the California Democrat told Politico. “He brings a level of experience and seniority which I think is really important.”
Nancy Pelosi said Democrats will still vote on Thursday despite impasse at ‘border security briefing’
Donald Trump and top congressional leaders failed to resolve a partial government shutdown that has stretched well into a second week as the president refused to back off from his demands for billions of dollars for a long-promised wall along the southern US border with Mexico.
Democratic and Republican congressional leaders expected to attend session as shutdown enters 12th day
Donald Trump is convening a border security briefing on Wednesday for Democratic and Republican congressional leaders as a partial government shutdown over his demand for border wall funding entered its 12th day.