The Serious Side - part 7

[size=34]Trump slams 'crazy Bernie' Sanders after the Democratic front-runner touted universal healthcare and tax hikes at a Fox News town hall - and claims anchors and cheering audience were being 'nice'[/size]

• President Trump criticized Bret Baier and the audience at Monday night's town hall for humoring Democratic presidential front-runner 'crazy Bernie' Sanders 
  
  
• This was the first time Trump tweeted about Sanders since he entered the race in February 
  
  
• Fox News' Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum hosted Sanders in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
  
  
•  The audience erupted in cheers when Baier asked if they would prefer a universal healthcare system instead of their employer's health insurance 
  
  
• Sanders explained healthcare isn't  really 'free' and that 'somebody is going to pay'
  
  
• He is leading the crowded field of Democratic candidates vying for the party's nomination 
  
  

President Donald Trump took a hit at 'crazy Bernie' Sanders for touting universal healthcare and tax hikes at a Fox News town hall Monday night. 
Trump said the the audience and co-host Bret Baier were humoring the independent senator by being 'smiley and nice' during the town hall. 
'So weird to watch Crazy Bernie on @FoxNews. Not surprisingly, @BretBaier and the 'audience' was so smiley and nice. Very strange, and now we have @donnabrazile?' Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.    
Sanders is the Democratic presidential front-runner, and he engaged in a town hall with two Fox News hosts, Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, Monday night.

Trump has not tweeted about Sanders since February 20, when he congratulated him for entering the presidential race in his second consecutive bid for the Democratic nomination.  
During the hour-long town hall on Monday, which was held in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Sanders faced off with the hosts about who would pay for a universal healthcare system.



Trump dubbed Sen. Bernie Sanders as 'Crazy Bernie' and slammed the audience from Monday's two hall, saying they were too 'smiley and nice' to the Democratic Socialist


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Baier is a lifelong Democrat and host of Special Report on Fox News Channel. He co-hosted Bernie Sanders' town hall  with Fox News' Martha MacCallum



The last time Trump tweeted about Sanders was in February when he announced he was entering the Democratic primary race
The rust-belt audience was surprisingly receptive to Sanders' socialist healthcare proposal. 
'Senator, this audience has a lot of Democrats in it. It has Republicans, independents, Democratic Socialists, conservatives. I want to ask the audience a question, if you could raise your hand here, a show of hands of how many people get their insurance from work, private insurance, right now?' Baier asked the audience.
More than half the audience for Fox's town hall raised their hand in the impromptu poll.
'OK. Of those, how many are willing to transition to what the senator says, a government-run system?' Baier asked, which was met with even more hands raising and cheers from the audience.


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Sanders told an audience at a Fox News town hall the U.S. should transition to a universal healthcare system


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The audience erupted in cheers when Fox News host Bret Baier, who co-hosted the town hall with Martha MacCallum, asked the audience if they would prefer a universal healthcare system

DEM HOPEFULS' CASH SO FAR IN 2019

Bernie Sanders: $18.2 million
Kamala Harris: $12 million
Beto O'Rourke: $9.4 million 
Pete Buttigieg: $7 million
Elizabeth Warren: $6 million 
Amy Klobuchar: $5.2 million 
Cory Booker: $5 million 
Kirsten Gillibrand: $3 million 
Jay Inslee: $2.25 million
John Hickenlooper: $2 million 
Tulsi Gabbard: $1.9 million 
Andrew Yang: $1.7 million 
Marianne Williamson: $1.5 million 
Julian Castor: $1.1 million 
John Delaney: $345,000 
Wayne Messam $84,000 
From January 1 to March 31 
 




Sanders, who represents Vermont in the Senate, identifies as a Democratic Socialist and says healthcare is a human right and should be free.
Baier's co-host, Martha MacCallum, asked how Sanders where the money would come from for a government-run healthcare system.
'I think everybody is in agreement that healthcare needs to be fixed in this country,' MacCallum said. 'You're going to pay one way or the other,' MacCallum rebutted. 'Whether it's in your income tax or your payroll tax.'
'Health care is not free,' Sanders conceded.
'Of course not, you just said it's going to be free for everyone.' MacCallum shot back.
'It's going to be free of the point of when you use it, OK? Why are you so shocked by this?' Sanders asked. 'Somebody is going to pay.'


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Even though Sanders touts the switch as a free alternative to healthcare, he admitted that it wasn't completely 'free' and that 'somebody is going to pay'


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Sanders is the 2020 front-runner among the 18 Democratic competing for the party's nomination
'Look, health care costs money,' Sanders continued. 'Every other country, or virtually every country, does it in the same way we do education for our kids. OK, when a kid walks into school, the kid doesn't have to take out a credit card, right? It's paid for out of public funds. That's what most countries do… Are people going to pay more in taxes? Yes. But at the end of the day, the overwhelming majority of people are going to end up paying less for health care because they're not paying premiums, copayments, and deductibles.'
Sanders is the only Democratic candidate that has had a town hall with Fox News in the 2020 cycle so far.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said that during the 2020 election cycle none of the Democratic debates would be hosted by Fox News.
'I believe that a key pathway to victory is to continue to expand our electorate and reach all voters,' Perez said in a statement in March. 'That is why I have made it a priority to talk to a broad array of potential media partners, including Fox News.'

[size=34]Wisconsin gym teacher placed on leave after 'separating students by race and telling black children to research slave games'[/size]

• An unnamed teacher at Shorewood Intermediate School, Wisconsin, has been placed on indefinite leave after the accusations of inappropriate behavior 
  
  
• She was accused of separating students by race, then asking the black children to research 'slave games' 
  
  
• Parent Dr. Reshunda Stephens said a similar incident happened last year when her other daughter was asked if she wanted to be part of the 'colored club'
  
  
• School officials are investigating and have notified parents of the situation 
  
  

     

• [email=?subject=Read%20this:%20Wisconsin%20gym%20teacher%20placed%20on%20leave%20after%20%27separating%20students%20by%20race%20and%20telling%20black%20children%20to%20research%20%27slave%20games%27&body=Wisconsin%20gym%20teacher%20placed%20on%20leave%20after%20%27separating%20students%20by%20race%20and%20telling%20black%20children%20to%20research%20%27slave%20games%27%0A%0AStudent%20MaHailey%20Stephens%20claimed%20her%20gym%20teacher%20in%20Wisconsin%20separated%20black%20children%20and%20asked%20them%20to%20research%20games%20enslaved%20would%20have%20played%20before%20the%20Civil%20War.%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-6921483%2FStudents-say-gym-teacher-black-kids-research-slave-games.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top%0A%0A%0AMost%20Read%20Articles%3A%0A%0AThe%20hero%20who%20saved%20the%20Crown%20of%20Thorns%3A%20Fire%20brigade%20chaplain%20entered%20flaming%20Notre%20Dame%20to%20recover%20holy%20relic%20-%20three%20years%20after%20he%20bravely%20helped%20Bataclan%20terror%20victims%C2%A0%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-6927345%2FFire-chaplain-helped-Bataclan-victims-entered-burning-Notre-Dame-save-Crown-Thorns-relic.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0AEntering%20the%20inferno%3A%20New%20footage%20shows%20how%20fearless%20firemen%20raced%20inside%20Notre%20Dame%20to%20tackle%20the%20blaze%20before%20sending%20in%20robot%20to%20hose%20down%20cathedral%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-6926807%2FDevastating-aftermath-Notre-Dame-inferno-leaves-world-mourning.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0AI%20walked%20through%20the%20gutted%20cathedral%E2%80%A6%20then%20the%20crucifix%20shone%20from%20what%20remained%20of%20the%20altar%2C%20a%20symbol%20of%20defiance%20in%20the%20gloom%3A%20ROBERT%20HARDMAN%20is%20among%20first%20witnesses%20inside%20ravaged%20Notre%20Dame%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-6926257%2FROBERT-HARDMAN-witnesses-inside-ravaged-Notre-Dame.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0A]e[/email]
  

[size=34]Trump campaign uses Facebook to target 65 and older voters with anti-immigration ads and is barely spending anything to reach young voters, new figures reveal[/size]

• President Trump is spending almost half of his Facebook campaign money on targeting elderly
  
  
• He is spending less than 5 per cent on the youngest demographic, 18-35
  
  
• About half the 44 per cent in ads targeting the elderly focus on illegal immigration and use nativist language 
  
  
• Bernie Sanders, 77, is spending 65 per cent of his Facebook advertising money on 18-35 year-olds
  
  

 President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign is spending almost half its Facebook advertising budget to target voters over 65 years old.
While his campaign is focusing 44 per cent of its budget on targeting elderly voters, the top 12 Democratic candidates of the 18 already running are only spending 27 per cent on the same demographic, according to data collected by Bully Pulpit Interactive.
Only 4 per cent of Trump’s Facebook budget is being allotted to targeting 18-35 year-olds.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is the front-runner in the Democratic primary field and the oldest person running for president in 2020, is only spending 9 per cent of his Facebook budget on voters 65 and older.


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President Trump isn't even spending 5 per cent of his Facebook advertising money on 18-35 year olds


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Instead, Trump's 2020 reelection campaign is focusing 44 per cent of its advertising budget on the elderly, aged 65 and older. The average of the top 12 Democrats running in 2020 are spending only 27 per cent of their budget on that demographic


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Bernie Sanders, who is the oldest candidates running in 2020, is spending 65 per cent of his Facebook advertising budget on the youngest demographic

DEM HOPEFULS' CASH SO FAR IN 2019

[size=34]Trump accuses Ilham Omar of having 'a way about her that's very, very bad for our country' in ANOTHER attack on controversial Democrat, as Nancy Pelosi says he is using '9/11 as a political tool'[/size]

• President Donald Trump said he would not apologize to Rep. Ilhan Omar for the criticism he's heaped on her after her 9/11 comments 
  
  
• 'She's been very disrespectful to this country. She's been very disrespectful, frankly, to Israel,' he told a local Minnesota TV station
  
  
• Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused him of using the terror attacks as a 'political tool' 
  
  
• 'I criticized the president for using video of 9/11 as a political tool. I think he was wrong to do that,' she told CNN 
  
  
• Rep. Omar has been a subject of grief for Democrats and a target for Republicans after a series of controversies 
  
  

President Donald Trump said he would not apologize to Rep. Ilhan Omar for the criticism he's heaped on her after her 9/11 comments, saying she's 'been very disrespectful to this country,' as Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused him of using the terror attacks as a 'political tool.'
'No not at all,' the president said when asked if he had any second thoughts about a video he tweeted that the Minnesota Democrat claimed increased death threats on her life. 
'Look, she's been very disrespectful to this country. She's been very disrespectful, frankly, to Israel. She is somebody that doesn't really understand life. Real life, what it's all about,' he told KSTP, a Minneapolis TV station, during his visit to Minnesota on Monday. 


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President Donald Trump said he would not apologize to Rep. Ilhan Omar for the criticism he's heaped on her after her 9/11 comments


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Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused him of using the terror attacks as a 'political tool'

[size=34]Trump's Attorney General Barr BLOCKS ruling allowing asylum seekers to ask for bond: Move means thousands of immigrants could face YEARS in detention before their cases are heard[/size]

• Previous decision had allowed some immigrants to ask for bond from a judge
  
  
• Barr's ruling now means they could be in detention for months or years 
  
  
• Trump's new AG's first ruling on immigration is in line with the administration
  
  
• White House has moved to clamp down on the asylum process for thousands 
  
  

The U.S. Attorney General on Tuesday struck down a decision that had allowed some asylum seekers to ask for bond in front of an immigration judge, in a ruling that expands indefinite detention for some migrants who must wait months or years for their cases to be heard.
The first immigration court ruling from President Donald Trump's newly appointed Attorney General William Barr is in keeping with the administration's moves to clamp down on the asylum process as tens of thousands of mostly Central Americans cross into the United States asking for refuge. 
U.S. immigration courts are overseen by the Justice Department and the Attorney General can rule in cases to set legal precedent.
Barr's ruling is the latest instance of the Trump administration taking a hard line on immigration. This year the administration implemented a policy to return some asylum seekers to Mexico while their cases work their way through backlogged courts, a policy which has been challenged with a lawsuit. 


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U.S. Attorney General William Barr has struck down a decision that had allowed some asylum seekers to ask for bond in front of an immigration judge, in a ruling that expands indefinite detention for some migrants who must wait months or years for their cases to be heard
Several top officials at the Department of Homeland Security were forced out this month over Trump's frustrations with an influx of migrants seeking refuge at the U.S. southern border.

Barr's decision applies to migrants who crossed illegally into the United States.
Typically, those migrants are placed in 'expedited removal' proceedings - a faster form of deportation reserved for people who illegally entered the country within the last two weeks and are detained within 100 miles (160 km) of a land border. Migrants who present themselves at ports of entry and ask for asylum are not eligible for bond.

BY 

• TINA NGUYEN
  

By Scott Eisen/Getty Images.

With a net worth that hovers around $50 billion, Michael Bloomberg is by far the highest-rolling potential 2020 candidate, towering over President Donald Trump,and even self-declared person-of-means Howard Schultz. The former mayor hasn’t hesitated to throw his weight around, hinting that he might spend around $100 million to buy an advantage in the race, and shelling out donations to Democrats in the midterms. On Wednesday, however, Bloomberg upped the ante with a Politico report that he would spend at least $500 million in 2020 to defeat Trump—whether or not he runs.
Half a billion dollars is an ungodly amount by any metric. That’s roughly $175 million more than Trump spent in 2016, and outstrips the $129 million currently sitting in the president’s re-election war chest. And that might just be the beginning: “[$500 million] will get us through the first few months,” Bloomberg adviser Kevin Sheekey told Politico. “Mike spent $100 million in his last New York City election. And you can do the math as you think more broadly but New York City is 3 percent of the national population.”

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As Democratic operatives briefed on Bloomberg’s operation told Politico, the billionaire philanthropist has earmarked said pile of money with two plans in mind. Plan A, obviously, is a presidential run as a Democrat. Plan B is bowing out of the race, but launching a massive parallel, data-driven campaign on behalf of the Democrats. According to internal polls, plan A could still pan out. “When people learn about his involvement in climate-change activism and gun safety, and when they learn that he’s not just a billionaire—but he came from a middle-class background and his dad never earned more than $6,000 a year, and you talk about the work he’s done on the ground and his philanthropy—Dem primary voters view him favorably,” said one Democrat familiar with the polling, adding that 80 percent of Democratic primary voters respond positively to Bloomberg’s biography.

Watch Now: 

Steven Yeun’s Mysterious "Twilight Zone" Character

Still, the chances that Bloomberg wins the Democratic nomination are slim. His multi-year flirtation with running for president has never exactly caught the public’s imagination. Even now, after dropping $100 million on midterm races and continuing to fund gun-control efforts, Bloomberg is a dark horse: according to RealClearPolitics, he polls an average 4.5 percent among Democratic candidates, with Joe Biden, his primary rival for the centrist vote, field-stripping him by double digits. And that number is sure to fall as the field expands. In an election year in which Democrats are focused on identity politics and debating whether they should abolish billionaires altogether, a 76-year-old white man with an eleven-figure net worth isn’t exactly a shoe-in.
That leaves plan B, which seems carefully calculated to earn Bloomberg maximum goodwill. After promoting his favored policies in the Democratic primary—including strict gun-control measures—Bloomberg could easily pass his $500 million apparatus on to the nominee. That he’s publicizing plan B at all is an indication he’s eager to avoid the label of Schultz-style spoiler. “[His] priority No. 1 is Trump doesn’t get re-elected in 2020,” a Bloomberg insider told my colleague Chris Smith earlier this month. “Obviously, who else is running is a part of that. What the polls say is a part of that. But I wouldn’t say there’s one thing he’s looking for to make his decision.” Ultimately, Bloomberg’s massive fortune gives him a layer of insulation: even if he drops out, he’ll earn bragging rights for launching a full-scale attack against the most unpopular president in the modern era.

• 
  
• [url=https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Trump tampered with witnesses. These Senate Republicans voted to oust Bill Clinton for doing just][/url]
  
  

Robert Mueller’s report effectively accused Donald Trump of obstructing justice by witness tampering, one of the offences that led Republicans to impeach Bill Clinton 20 years ago.
Mueller’s team found Trump repeatedly made efforts to “encourage witnesses not to cooperate with the investigation” into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, the special counsel’s final report said.

Democrats vow to investigate report Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress

 
Read more


Trump “made it known” that Paul Manafort, his former campaign chairman, could receive a pardon, according to Mueller. The president also urged Manafort and Michael Cohen, his legal fixer, not to “flip” and help Mueller’s inquiry.
In both these cases, Mueller found evidence that Trump acted with the intent of hindering the investigation – a necessary component for prosecuting witness tampering and obstruction of justice generally.
In addition, Mueller found that Trump asked senior advisers to tell Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, to “stay strong”, and asked for two senior White House officials who were witnesses in the investigation to create fake records that would help protect him.



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 Donald Trump and Michael Flynn at a rally in Grand Junction, Colorado, on 18 October 2016. Photograph: George Frey/Getty Images
More than three pages describing Trump’s potentially obstructive actions towards yet another witness – seemingly his longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone – were completely redacted in Mueller’s report because they related to an “an ongoing matter”. Stone is being prosecuted on federal charges.

It is against federal law to tamper with a witness in an “official proceeding” such as Mueller’s investigation. But Mueller’s team declined to conclude whether or not Trump’s actions were criminal, in part because justice department policy holds that sitting presidents may not be indicted.
In a move that has attracted sharp criticism from Democrats, William Barr, the attorney general, decided that Trump had not committed obstruction.
Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives in December 1998 on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. The obstruction charge said he committed witness tampering by trying to “corruptly influence” the potential testimony of his secretary Betty Currie, and urged the former White House intern Monica Lewinsky to submit a false affidavit in a lawsuit against him.
Clinton was acquitted by the Senate. But 14 current Republican senators, some of whom were then serving in the House, voted either to impeach or convict Clinton on the obstruction charge. Some specifically cited his actions toward the witnesses when explaining their votes.
 Mitch McConnell. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

Mitch McConnell, Kentucky

Following his deposition, the president had to decide what to do with his loyal secretary, Ms Betty Currie. And, again, the undisputed evidence shows that the president took the path of lies and deceit.
Contrary to federal obstruction of justice laws and contrary to judge Wright’s protective order … President Clinton left the deposition, went back to the White House and called Ms Currie at home to ask her to come to the White House the next day, which, I might add, was a Sunday.
… I am completely and utterly perplexed by those who argue that perjury and obstruction of justice are not high crimes and misdemeanors.

• Senate floor, 12 February 1999
  

Chuck Grassley, Iowa

It is clear to me that the president committed serious crimes when he coached his secretary, Betty Currie, and when he misled his aides Sidney Blumenthal and John Podesta … These actions weren’t just outrageous and morally wrong. They were also illegal. They were a direct assault on the integrity of the judicial process.

• Statement, 12 February 1999
  

Lindsey Graham, South Carolina

The question I have that needs to desperately be answered by somebody is – when he approached Ms Currie to coach her in the fashion he did, is that a crime? Because I don’t want people at home to be confused that they can do these things, because if they do what the president did, in my opinion, they will wind up in jail.

• Interview with CNN, 27 January 1999
  

[N]obody because of their position in society has the right to cheat and to get somebody to lie for them, even as the president. That means we’re not a nation of men or kings. We’re a nation of laws, and that’s what this case has always been about to me … He turned the judicial system upside down, every way but loose. He sent his friends to lie for him. He lied for himself.

• Speaking on the Senate floor while a House impeachment manager, 8 February 1999
  

Pat Roberts, Kansas

We in Kansas know that you don’t call witnesses in the middle of the night unless you want to sway them. The president did so. We in Kansas know that you don’t urge hiding legal evidence under the bed unless you want to affect the outcome of a legal proceeding. The president did so.
… Do these actions rise to the level envisioned by our founding fathers in the constitution as ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ so warranting removal from office? Our constitution requires that the threshold for that judgment must be set by each senator sitting as a juror.
I believe an open-minded individual applying Kansas common sense would reach the conclusion that I reached.

• Statement, 12 February 1999
  

Mike Crapo, Idaho

While most of the national attention has focused on the tawdriness of this matter, this intense fixation on sensationalism diverts attention from the true issues – the true issues related to abuse of the power of the presidency, perjury, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

• Statement, 20 December 1998
  

Tampering with the truth-seeking functions of the law undermines our justice system and the foundations on which our freedoms lie. All Americans must abide by the rule of law, including the president of the United States, who is the highest official in the land and who has the additional duty to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed.

• Opinion article in the Idaho Falls Post Register, 21 February 1999
  

Mike Enzi, Wyoming

The president’s lawyers have argued that the president made these statements to refresh his recollection or to find out what Ms Currie knew in the event of a press avalanche. Neither of these explanations is plausible. It is impossible to refresh one’s recollection with false, leading questions. It is also impossible to find out what someone else knew if you tell them what they are supposed to believe.
The plausibility of either of these explanations is entirely discounted when you consider that the president called Betty Currie in a second time, on January 20, to ‘remind’ her of these statements.
The most likely explanation for these statements is far more sinister. That the president was intending to influence the testimony of a likely witness in a federal civil rights proceeding. President Clinton was, in fact, trying to get Betty Currie to join him in his web of deception and obstruction of justice.

• Statement entered into Senate record, 22 February 1999
  

James Inhofe, Oklahoma

Isn’t it true that [the federal law on witness tampering] criminalizes anyone who corruptly persuades or engages in misleading conduct with the intent to influence the testimony of any person in an official proceeding?

• Question co-signed by Inhofe submitted in impeachment proceedings, 23 January 1999
  

Richard Shelby, Alabama

Shelby said Clinton’s January 1998 meeting with Ms Currie, after returning from his own testimony in the Jones lawsuit, was a key factor in his decision to vote for conviction on the obstruction charge. House managers accused Clinton of using that meeting to try to influence Currie’s testimony.
‘That was a strong component,’ Shelby said. ‘But it’s not just one thing in the obstruction evidence. If you put it all together, I thought it was beyond a reasonable doubt.’

• Associated Press report, 12 February 1999
  

Roy Blunt, Missouri

There is clear evidence that President Clinton committed perjury on two or more occasions, and urged others to obstruct justice. These are serious felonious acts that strike at the heart of our judicial system. Oaths taken in the American system of government are serious commitments to truth and the rule of law. Violating these oaths or causing others to impede the investigation into such acts are serious matters that meet the standard for impeachment.

• %7D&s=3&r=9]House floor, 19 December 1998
  

Richard Burr, North Carolina

I believe the facts presented by the judiciary committee prove beyond a reasonable doubt that President Clinton repeatedly lied to a grand jury and encouraged a witness before that grand jury to provide false information. The United States is a nation of laws, not men. And I do not believe we can ignore the facts or disregard the constitution so that the president can be placed above the law.

• Statement, 19 December 1998
  

Jerry Moran, Kansas

It is clear that President Clinton on numerous occasions lied to a federal grand jury, lied in a civil proceeding affecting the civil rights of an American citizen, and orchestrated an attempt to obstruct justice.
… The untruthful actions of the president are not mere technical violations of federal law; rather, the president’s lies, obfuscation and overt acts to obstruct justice are serious and felonious, and they tear at the essential foundation of our judicial system.

• %7D&s=9&r=2]House floor, 19 December 1998
  

Rob Portman, Ohio

I believe the evidence of serious wrongdoing is simply too compelling to be swept aside. I am particularly troubled by the clear evidence of lying under oath in that it must be the bedrock of our judicial system.
I believe the long-term consequence to this country of not acting on these serious charges before us far outweigh the consequences of following what the constitution provides for and bringing this matter to trial in the United States Senate.

• %7D&s=2&r=1]House floor, 18 December 1998
  

Roger Wicker, Mississippi

[Allegations that Clinton urged Lewinsky to lie] would amount to a federal felony, and that would mean serious, serious problems for President Clinton.

• Interview with the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, 23 January 1998
  

John Thune, South Dakota

Our declaration of independence says it best. ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ In America there is no emperor, and there is no Praetorian guard. There is one standard of justice that applies equally to all, and to say or do otherwise will undermine the most sacred of all American ideals.
President Clinton has committed federal crimes, and there must be a reckoning, or no American shall ever again be prosecuted for those same crimes.

• %7D&s=2&r=1]House floor, 18 December 1998
  

As details emerge…

[size=34]Sarah Sanders accuses CNN commentator April Ryan of wanting her 'decapitated' after demanding heads should roll in wake of Mueller report revealing White House press secretary's repeated untruths[/size]

• CNN correspondent April Ryan said the White House needed to 'start lopping the heads off' of untrustworthy employees, including Sarah Sanders
  
  
•  Sanders said Ryan 'hit a new low' in calling for her decapitation
  
  
• Ryan's comments came after the White House's response to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's redacted Russia report was made public last week
  
  
• Ryan has an ongoing feud with the White House due to her high criticism of the Trump administration 
  
  
• Sanders says she feels sorry for journalists who can't obsess over collusion reports now that the Mueller report is out 
  
  

 White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said reporter April Ryan hit a 'new low' by calling for her to be fired and decapitated.
'Look, I've had reporters say a lot of things about me. They've said I should be choked, they said I deserve a lifetime of harassment,' Sanders told Fox and Friends Monday morning from the White House, where the 141st annual Easter Egg roll was taking place.
'But certainly never had someone say I should be decapitated. This takes us to a new low, even for the liberal media. I think this once again proves why this journalist isn't taken seriously.'
Ryan, a White House correspondent with CNN and D.C. bureau chief for American Urban Radio, said that the American people couldn't trust Sanders.

'The American people can't trust her. They can't trust what's said from the president's mouthpiece, spokesperson from the people's house. Therefore, she should be let go, she should be fired,' Ryan said on CNN Friday, the day after Special Counsel Robert Mueller's redacted version of the Russia report was made public.


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White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said CNN correspondent April Ryan hit a 'new low' in calling for her firing and decapitation


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Ryan said that the White House needed to 'start lopping the heads off' of administrations officials that Americans couldn't trust, including Sanders
'When there is a lack of credibility there, you have to start and start lopping the heads off,' Ryan continued.
Sanders said that she felt sorry for journalists now that they can't obsess over reports of collusion in Mueller's findings from his Russia probe.
'I think our team needs to remain focused on how we keep pushing those things that actually help Americans, and not engaged in these petty fights with journalists simply that, again, shouldn't be taken seriously… and are just looking for a couple more minutes on TV,' Sanders continued.

[size=34]Trump and Melania to make state visit to United Kingdom in June to meet with Queen and celebrate the 75th Anniversary of D-Day[/size]

• President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will make a state visit to the United Kingdom June 3 to June 5 
  
  
• They will meet with Queen Elizabeth II and celebrate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the start of the invasion that led to the end of World War II 
  
  
• Trump will also meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May 
  
  
• It's unclear if Trump will address parliament 
  
  
• After their UK stop, the president and first lady will travel to Normandy on June 6 to observe the 75th Anniversary of D-Day at the Normandy American Cemetery 
  
  
• Trump will also meet with French President Emmanuel Macron 
  
  

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will make a state visit to the United Kingdom in June to meet with Queen Elizabeth II and celebrate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the start of the invasion that led to the end of World War II.
The White House announced Tuesday morning the first couple will make the three-day trip from June 3 to June 5 at the invitation of the Queen, which they follow with a visit to France. 
While in Britain, President Trump will participate in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May, whose handling of Brexit the president has criticized. It's unclear if Trump will address parliament.


+9


President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will make a state visit to the United Kingdom June 3 to June 5; the first couple met with Queen Elizabeth II during a working visit in July 2018


+9


President Trump and first lady Melania Trump also had dinner with British Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip May at Blenheim Palace during that July 2018 visit

[size=34]Two neo-Nazi students face jail over vile chat group calling for Prince Harry to be killed for marrying Meghan with a picture of a gun pointed at his head and slogan: 'See ya later, race traitor!'[/size]

• Michael Szewczuk and Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski had joined far-Right group
  
  
• Group shared sick online posts, including threats against Prince Harry
  
  
• Szewczuk also had terror manuals, including a Mujahid's Guide
  
  
• Pair both now face possible jail terms after admitting terror charges 
  
  

Two teenage neo-Nazis are facing jail for encouraging terrorism in online messages to a group which posted threats against Prince Harry.
Michael Szewczuk, 19, a Polish student living in Leeds and studying at Portsmouth University, pleaded guilty to encouraging terrorism, disseminating terrorist publications and possessing terrorist material today.
Szewczuk and his associate Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski, 18, were members of SonnenKrieg Division, a British arm of an American neo-Nazi terrorist group said to be responsible for the murder of a gay teenager.

The group posted a picture of the Duke of Sussex set against a swastika, with a gun pointed at his head and the slogan: 'See ya later, race traitor!' 


+3




+3



Neo-Nazi teen Michael Szewczuk (left) has admitted terror offences. He and Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski (right) both face jail after a court heard of posts threatening Prince Harry
They communicated using the Gab social media platform that has attracted neo-Nazi users including the Philadelphia synagogue killer, Robert Bowers.
The Daily Mail reported last year that the security services had concerns about British users of the site.
Dunn-Koczorowski and Szewczuk were members of a group called SonnenKrieg Division, which has links to the US group called Atomwaffen Divsion.
They believe in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and think that a 'race war' is imminent and 'white separatist' and 'survivalist' tactics will be necessary.

Group's shocking material lionised serial killer Ian Brady 

According to the anti-extremist group Hope not Hate, Sonnenkrieg Division has produced 'some of the most frightening and sickening material' seen on the British far right for decades, including 'open interest in Satanism and the promotion of paedophilia, rape and murder.'
Hope not Hate said in a report earlier this year that members of the Sonnenkrieg Division 'openly celebrate and encourage sexual violence' and 'lionised' notorious figures such as the Moors Murderer Ian Brady.
They said that SKD was 'more extreme and potentially violent' than National Action, the group which encouraged attacks on MPs to emulate the killing of Jo Cox. 
SKD was said to have links to an American based neo-Nazi group called Attomwaffen Division whose branding appears on some of the media on the Gab sites.
Atomwaffen Division was founded in 2013 and follows the neo-Nazi ideology of 'Universal Order', propagated by cult leader Charles Manson.
The group has been linked to high profile murders in the US including the murder of an openly gay, Jewish man named Blake Bernstein (pictured below) in California. 

[size=34]'This is your Nuremberg moment': Amal Clooney urges UN Security Council to take action on 'genocide' of sexual violence perpetrated by ISIS fighters[/size]

• Barrister Amal Clooney, 41, was speaking at the UN in New York on Tuesday
  
  
• She told the UN Security Council Yazidi women were victims of an ISIS genocide
  
  
• Clooney told debate on Sexual Violence in Conflict a tribunal should be created
  
  
• She appeared alongside Yazidi survivor and Nobel Prize Laureate Nadia Murad
  
  

[size=34]'The American people deserve to know who is in this Country': Trump urges Supreme Court to leave citizenship question in 2020 census plan after justices lean toward allowing it[/size]

• The Supreme Court has heard arguments over whether the Trump administration can ask about citizenship in the 2020 Census 
  
  
• Question has not been asked in full census since 1950 and opponents say it will cut the number of people who respond to the survey 
  
  
• Neil Gorsuch, a Trump's appointee, said question was 'not improper' and Brett Kavanaugh, said: 'It's a very common question internationally' 
  
  
• If 5-4 majority back Trump it will be victory for administration after series of lower courts ruled against his commerce secretary Wilbur Ross 
  
  
• Census is used to allot seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and distribute some $800 billion in federal funds
  
  
• New York State brought challenge to including question and were backed by tech firms including Uber and Lyft who say accurate data is vital for economy
  
  
• Census Bureau's own estimate is that 6.5 million households will not respond if citizenship question is asked 
  
  

President Donald Trump stepped into a brewing controversy over the coming 2020 Census on Wednesday, urging the Supreme Court to permit a question that could establish how many non-citizens are living in the U.S. 
'The American people deserve to know who is in this Country,' he tweeted. 'Yesterday, the Supreme Court took up the Census Citizenship question, a really big deal. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!' 
The high court's conservative majority appeared inclined on Tuesday to hand Trump a victory on his administration's plan to add the citizenship question to the head-count that happens every 10 years.
Democrats call the plan an effort to deter illegal immigrants from participating.

During arguments in the closely watched case, conservative justices rallied in defense of the administration's stated justification for using the citizenship question in the decennial population count, while their liberal counterparts remained skeptical.
The court has a 5-4 conservative majority. Among the conservative justices indicating support toward the administration's stance were Trump's two appointees, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, as well as Chief Justice John Roberts, considered the court's pivotal vote.



President Donald Trump egged on Supreme Court conservatives on Wednesday, cheerleading for his plan to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 U.S. Census


+2


The Trump administration wants to ask about citizenship in the 2020 Census, which many Democratic-controlled states and cities oppose, saying illegal immigrants will be less likely to take part; Leaning towards Trump ads Chief Justice John Roberts (center, front), Neil Gorsuch (standing, far left) and Brett Kavanaugh (standing, far right)


+2


Liberal groups were present outside the Supreme Court for the hearing on whether the 2020 Census should ask for citizenship for the first time since 1950
[size=10][size=18]Supreme Court to decide fate of citizenship question to 2020 census




L

• 
  
• [url=https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Sri Lanka told of extremist network months before blasts %E2%80%93 sources&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2019%2Fapr%2F24%2Fsri-lanka-knew-of-extremist-network-months-before-blasts-sources%3FCMP%3Dshare_btn_tw][/url]
  
  

Sri Lankan authorities were told by foreign security agencies more than four months ago that a network of violent Islamic extremists was active in the country and likely to commit terrorist attacks, regional and western officials have said.
The revelation that officials may have known last year about the threat posed by those responsible for the Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 350 people will fuel outrage at what now appears to be multiple and systematic intelligence failings.
On Wednesday, President Maithripala Sirisena demanded the resignation of senior officials who failed to pass on three separate formal warnings sent by Indian agencies in the three weeks before the attack.

[size=16]'The end of the story of my daughter, my wife': the victims of the Sri Lanka attacks

 
Read more


The sources said these formal warnings followed months of informal conversations between Indian investigators and their Sri Lankan counterparts in which details of the network, including the identities of its leader and members, were passed on.
Sirisena has already called for a massive security overhaul after the failure to prevent one of the most deadly terrorist attacks of recent years.
Sarath Fonseka, a Sri Lankan field marshall and politician, told parliament the attack appeared to have been “seven or eight months in the making” and exposed a “monumental lapse in intelligence gathering”.
“In any other country, the entire government would have had to resign for making a mess of things like this, but it won’t happen here,” he said. “Security has become a joke.”
The Indian information was gathered from a huge haul of data seized during raids on suspected Islamic State sympathisers in November, as well as their subsequent interrogation.
Large number of phones, discs and USB keys collected in the raids revealed links between detainees and Mohammed Zahran Hashim, the suspected leader of the Sri Lankan terrorist network responsible for the bombings, security officials told the Guardian.
A surveillance operation then revealed the radical cleric, who was already known to Sri Lankan security services, repeatedly contacted known Isis activists in Bangladesh. According to some reports, Hashim was also in touch with militants in eastern Afghanistan linked to Isis.
Isis has claimed responsibility for the bombings, believed to be the most lethal ever conducted by the group.
Indian officials increased their informal warnings to the Sri Lankans after explosives were found on a remote farm at a national park in north-west Sri Lanka. Hashimi’s network was linked to the cache. They were not aware at that time of any plot to target churches or hotels, the sources said.
It is not clear why Delhi waited until April to issue a formal communication about the threat.
On Wednesday, the death toll from the attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels in and around the capital, Colombo, rose to 359, with 500 injured.


[/size]

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[size]
 Moment of silence and memorial services held for Sri Lanka church blast victims – video
Despite the scale of the ongoing security operation, Sri Lanka’s prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, said several suspects armed with explosives had yet to be found.
He said there were more explosives and militants “out there”, and confirmed reports there had been a failed attack against a fourth major hotel, and that the Indian embassy was also a possible target.
One of the suspects was identified on Wednesday as Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, after Sri Lanka’s defence minister said a suspect had studied in the UK and Australia. British counter-terrorism investigators said they believed Mohamed attended a university in south-east England from 2006-07, and they were searching for any associates or signs of extremist activity during his time in the UK.
Eighteen suspects were arrested overnight, bringing the total number detained to more than 60.
Up to nine people directly linked to the attack could still be at large, sources involved in the investigation said. Officials said authorities expected to make further arrests in the coming days.
The exact role of Isis in the attacks is yet to be established. It is possible the group’s involvement reorientated Hashim’s network away from bombs directed at destroying major Buddhist monuments and towards targets more closely associated with its global jihadist ideology.
Hashimi could be seen in a video released by Isis on Tuesday after it claimed responsibility. Dressed in a black tunic and headscarf and carrying a rifle, the cleric is seen leading a group of men, said to be Sunday’s attackers, in a pledge of allegiance to the leader of Isis, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.



Facebook[url=https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Sri Lanka told of extremist network months before blasts %E2%80%93 sources&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2019%2Fapr%2F24%2Fsri-lanka-knew-of-extremist-network-months-before-blasts-sources%3FCMP%3Dshare_btn_tw%26page%3Dwith%3Aimg-2%23img-2]Twitter[/url][url=http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?description=Sri Lanka told of extremist network months before blasts %E2%80%93 sources&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2019%2Fapr%2F24%2Fsri-lanka-knew-of-extremist-network-months-before-blasts-sources%3Fpage%3Dwith%3Aimg-2%23img-2&media=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.guim.co.uk%2F35b11fbf5403c143a22a86075cc0b26b788c4fa9%2F0_0_2000_855%2F2000.jpg]Pinterest[/url]
 An image grab from a press release issued by the Isis agency Amaq allegedly shows men who carried out the bombings. The man in the centre is believed to be Hashim. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Western and south Asian officials said Hashmi had started a group of extremists in a small village in eastern Sri Lanka, attracting disaffected young men. The middle-aged cleric travelled overseas about two years ago, possibly to the Maldives, which has become a hub of Islamist activism in recent years. Security agencies followed Hashim’s online extremist activism closely and were concerned he could develop links to either al-Qaida or Isis.
Islamic State’s Amaq news agency also published a statement saying its “fighters” were responsible and listed the names of the suicide bombers.
The funerals of those killed in the blasts continued in Negombo and Colombo on Wednesday, as a social media ban and state of emergency remained in place across the country.

Topics[/size]

[size=34]Bernie Sanders is booed and jeered by crowd at a forum in Houston as he squirms while answering questions on how he would protect black voters from white supremacists[/size]

• Sanders was speaking at the She The People Forum in Houston on Wednesday
  
  
• He was asked several times by host Aimee Allison about plans for black voters
  
  
• The Vermont senator, 77, was jeered as he appeared to dodge some questions  
  
  

Bernie Sanders was booed and jeered by the crowd at the She The People Forum on Wednesday as he struggled to answer questions about black voters.
The 2020 presidential candidate was subjected to heckling from the fired-up crowd at Houston's Texas Southern University as he was asked about his plans to combat white-supremacist violence.
At one point host Aimee Allison asked the 77-year-old Vermont senator what he would do to protect black communities.
Scroll down for video 


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Sanders was heckled as he spoke at the She The People Forum in Houston, Texas on Wednesday afternoon

chris evans@notcapnamerica





[ltr]Bernie Sanders was asked by a woman of color in the audience what he would do about the rise of white supremacist violence as President.

Instead he started talking about minimum wage and Medicare For All.

The audience claps when the moderator clocks him.

Yikes.[/ltr]




4,016
5:09 PM - Apr 24, 2019

[size=34]'We will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment freedom': Trump tells the NRA he is pulling out of the international gun trade treaty signed by Obama[/size]

• President attends annual National Rifle Association forum in Indianapolis, Indiana, to cheers from attendees
  
  
• told members of the gun lobby that he intends to revoke the status of the United States as a signatory of the Arms Trade Treaty
  
  
• NRA has long opposed treaty, which regulates $70bn business in conventional arms and seeks to keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abuser
  
  
• The lobbying group argues it would undermine domestic gun rights, a view the Obama administration rejected
  
  
• Obama signed treaty in 2013 but it was never ratified by the U.S. Senate 
  
  

     

• [email=?subject=Read%20this:%20%27We%20will%20never%20allow%20foreign%20bureaucrats%20to%20trample%20on%20your%20Second%20Amendment%20freedom%27:%20Trump%20tells%20the%20NRA%20he%20is%20pulling%20out%20of%20the%20international%20gun%20trade%20treaty%20signed%20by%20Obama&body=%27We%20will%20never%20allow%20foreign%20bureaucrats%20to%20trample%20on%20your%20Second%20Amendment%20freedom%27%3A%20Trump%20tells%20the%20NRA%20he%20is%20pulling%20out%20of%20the%20international%20gun%20trade%20treaty%20signed%20by%20Obama%0A%0ATrump%20told%20members%20of%20the%20gun%20lobby%20that%20he%20intends%20to%20revoke%20the%20status%20of%20the%20United%20States%20as%20a%20signatory%20of%20the%20Arms%20Trade%20Treaty%2C%20which%20was%20never%20ratified%20by%20the%20U.S.%20Senate.%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-6964639%2FTrump-heeds-NRA-decides-pull-U-S-U-N-arms-treaty.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top%0A%0A%0AMost%20Read%20Articles%3A%0A%0ATexas%20big%20rig%20driver%2C%2023%2C%20arrested%20on%20suspicion%20of%20vehicular%20homicide%20after%2028-vehicle%20fireball%20pile-up%20that%20killed%20four%20and%20left%20bodies%20trapped%20underneath%20burnt%20wreckage%20in%20Colorado%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-6961941%2FFiery-multi-vehicle-crash-Colorado-claims-1-life.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0A%27This%20smells%2C%20big%20time%27%3A%20Judge%20rips%20Chicago%20prosecutor%20Kim%20Foxx%27s%20office%20for%20CHARGING%20a%20woman%20with%20filing%20a%20false%20police%20report%20after%20letting%20Jussie%20Smollett%20walk%20free%20for%20a%20more%20%27egregious%27%20offense%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-6962061%2FJudge-rips-Kim-Foxxs-office-double-standard-Jussie-Smollet.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0ATeen%20with%20Asperger%27s%20in%20courtroom%20confrontation%20with%20abuser%20she%20met%20in%20anorexia%20chat%20room%20and%20who%20did%20%27unimaginable%20things%27%20to%20her%20after%20locking%20her%20in%20a%20dog%20cage%20for%20a%20YEAR%2C%20as%20judge%20lets%20him%20off%20with%20PROBATION%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-6963991%2FMan-avoids-prison-keeping-teen-locked-cage-denying-food.html%3Fito%3Demail_share_article-top_most-read-articles%0A%0A]e[/email]
  

President Donald Trump on Friday announced at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting that the United States will drop out of an international arms treaty signed in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama but opposed by the NRA and other conservative groups.
Trump told members of the gun lobby that he intends to revoke the status of the United States as a signatory of the Arms Trade Treaty, which was never ratified by the U.S. Senate.
'We're taking our signature back,' Trump said to thousands of cheering attendees, many wearing red hats emblazoned with the Republican president's 'Make America Great Again' slogan.
'Under my administration, we will never surrender American sovereignty to anyone, Trump said, before signing a document on stage asking the Senate to halt the ratification process. 'We will never allow foreign diplomats to trample on your Second Amendment freedom.' 


+19


Home crowd: Donald Trump was in upbeat mood as he used an appearance at the NRA's annual forum to say he was pulling the U.S. out of a gun trade treaty long opposed by the lobby group


+19


Conspiracist: The crowd included this man whose shirt voices support for the Q-Anon conspiracy theory as well as for the president


+19


Ovation: Trump's speech to the NRA brought one man to his feet at the convention in Indianapolis, Indiana


+19


MAGA country: Hats at the NRA gathering left little doubt about who they support as they waited for the president to speak


+19


Ovation: The NRA crowd gets to its feet at the gun lobby group's annual convention


+19


Pledge of allegiance: The crowd stood to recite the pledge before the arrival of Donald Trump


+19


Happy to be here: Donald Trump takes to the stage at the NRA's annual leadership forum where he announced a crowd-pleasing measure pulling the U.S.'s signature from an international treaty on the arms trade


+19


The NRA has long opposed the treaty, which regulates the $70 billion business in conventional arms and seeks to keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers. 

The lobbying group argues it would undermine domestic gun rights, a view the Obama administration rejected.
Trump said the United Nations would soon receive formal notice of the withdrawal.
The NRA spent $30.3 million in support of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a group that tracks campaign spending.
The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the treaty in April 2013 and the United States, the world's No. 1 arms exporter, voted in favor of it despite fierce opposition from the NRA.
Trump's action drew an immediate rebuke from international human rights groups.
'The United States will now lock arms with Iran, North Korea and Syria as non-signatories to this historic treaty whose sole purpose is to protect innocent people from deadly weapons,' said Oxfam America President Abby Maxman.
Adotei Akwei, of Amnesty International USA, said in a statement: 'With this announcement the Trump administration will re-open the floodgates for arms sales with weakened human rights criteria.'
So far 101 countries have formally joined onto the treaty. Another 29, including the United States, have signed it, but not yet formally joined.
Ted Bromund, senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the treaty 'can only have the perverse effects of driving potential importers to buy from China or Russia' and other nations that are not party to the agreement.
Trump was joined on his trip to the NRA's meeting in Indianapolis by White House national security adviser John Bolton, an advocate of withdrawing the United States from international treaties out of concern they might undermine U.S. authority.
With Friday's announcement, Trump continued his drive to roll back Obama-era initiatives.
Nearly two years ago, Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, which aims to reduce global carbon emissions that scientists link to harmful climate change. 

annemarie wrote:My daughter was hoping biden wouldn't run, she thinks we need new ideas and he is stuck like many older democrats with no new ideas for the country. I think time will tell .

[size=34]John Bolton says Trump's negotiator DID agree to pay North Korea $2 million to get prisoner Otto Warmbier released – but the United States never sent the money[/size]

• A new book claims North Korea gave the United States a $2 million bill to cover its expenses for the care of comatose Otto Warmbier
  
  
• President Trump tweeted on Friday that he hasn't paid anything for hostage releases, but didn't rule out the possibility that an invoice existed
  
  
• National Security Advisor John Bolton confirmed Sunday that the U.S. did agree to pay for Warmbier's release
  
  
• But he said the U.S. stiffed Kim Jong-un on the bill
  
  
• Otto’s father, Fred Warmbier, said that he had not been informed about any hospital bill and it sounded like a 'ransom' for his late son, 22
  
  
• North Korea sentenced Warmbier to 15 years hard labor in 2016 for stealing a poster before returning him to the U.S. in a coma in 2017; he died shortly after 
  
  

National Security Advisor John Bolton confirmed Sunday that the Trump administration agreed to pay the North Korean regime $2 million as part of a deal to secure the release of American prisoner Otto Warmbier, but never paid the bill. 
President Donald Trump denied Friday morning in a tweet that his administration paid the totalitarian country a reported ransom in 2017. The president did not, however, address a report about the $2 million invoice for Warmbier's medical care.
'No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else,' Trump wrote Friday.
But when 'Fox News Sunday' host Chris Wallace asked Bolton if Trump's negotiator, Joseph Yun, and his team agreed to pay, he responded, 'It appears that they did.' The agreement was inked before Bolton joined the administration, he said. 

Bolton emphasized that the U.S. never paid a dime.  


+9


National Security Advisor John Bolton confirmed Sunday that the U.S. agreed to pay North Korea $2 million for Otto Warmbier's release, but he said no money was ever sent


+9


Warmbier was arrested and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for stealing a propaganda poster in Pyongyang; he was flown to Ohio in June 2017 after he fell into a coma from unknown causes
'I think that's the key point,' he said. 'The president has been very successful in getting 20-plus hostages released from imprisonment around the world and hasn't paid anything for any of them.'
'No money was paid,' he said. 'That is clear.'
Trump on Friday blasted his predecessor for agreeing to a 5-to-1 prisoner release as a condition of the Taliban cutting former Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl loose in 2014, and complained about a separate transaction that saw a 10-figure payout to Iran in an unrelated release of Americans in Tehran's custody.
'This is not the Obama Administration that paid 1.8 Billion Dollars for four hostages, or gave five terroist hostages plus, who soon went back to battle, for traitor Sgt. Bergdahl!' Trump vented on Twitter, misspelling the word 'terrorist.' 
A Washington Post report on Thursday concluded that the administration agreed to reimburse Pyongyang for Warmbier's care but stiffed the rogue nation on the bill after it released the comatose student to U.S. officials.


+9


Bolton emphasized on Sunday that no money changed hands, but his statement was the first to confirm that Trump's negotiator in North Korea agreed to pay what amounts to a ransom


+9


Warmbier mysteriously fell into a coma on the day he was sentenced, and died days after he was released into U.S. custody in 2017
Trump quoted an unnamed American 'chief hostage negotiator' in a second tweet to support his contention that he hadn't paid a ransom for Warmbier.
'“President Donald J. Trump is the greatest hostage negotiator that I know of in the history of the United States. 20 hostages, many in impossible circumstances, have been released in last two years. No money was paid.” Cheif Hostage Negotiator, USA!' he wrote, misspelling the word 'chief.' 
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders identified the author of the quote for DailyMail.com: 'His name is Robert O’Brien, the Administration’s Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.'
The administration has not said who the '20 hostages' are.
O'Brien has offered similarly sweeping praise for Trump in the past. Last month in the Oval Office he told reporters that 'the president has had unparalleled success in bringing Americans home without paying concessions, without prisoner exchanges, but through force of will and the goodwill that he’s generated around the world.'


+9


President Donald Trump tweeted on Friday that he didn't pay North Korea for Warmbier's release, but didn't rule out the possibility that his State Department was sitting on an unpaid invoice for $2 million payable to Kim Jong-un's government


+9


Trump and Kim have had two face-to-face meetings including this one, pictured in June 2018


+9


The president followed up with a tweet quoting an unnamed 'cheif [sic] hostage negotiator'
Warmbier died shortly after returning to his home state. He fell ill while he was in a North Korean detention center after being sentence to 15 years of hard labor for stealing a propaganda poster from a hotel. 



Robert O'Brien, the president's chief hostage negotiator, offered glowing praise for Trump on Friday, as he has in the past
An Ohio coroner said Warmbier died from a lack of oxygen and blood to the brain. Pyongyang blamed botulism and ingestion of a sleeping pill and dismissed torture claims.
Barack Obama was president at the time of Warmbier's incarceration and his State Department was not successful in freeing him.
Months after Obama left office, North Korea agreed to release the student, who arrived home in a vegetative state, to the Trump administration. 
Fred Warmbier, Otto's father, told the Post that he had not been informed about a hospital bill and said it sounded like a 'ransom' request for his late son. 


+9


Trump tweeted Friday morning that the U.S. did not pay any money for Warmier's release


+9




Otto’s father, Fred Warmbier, said that he had not been informed about any hospital bill and that it sounded like a 'ransom' for his late son
[size=10][size=18]Trump doesn't think Kim had role in Warmbier death




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[size=34]School bus driver, 26, who admitted to raping a 14-year-old girl he met on his route gets NO jail time as New York judge gives him probation[/size]

• Shane M. Piche, 26, pleaded guilty to raping the 14-year-old girl in February 
  
  
• He used to work as a bus driver for the Watertown City School District 
  
  
• But last week, a New York judge gave him probation, sparing him time in jail 
  
  
• He was sentenced to 10 years probation and to register as Level 1 sex offender  
  
  

+2


Shane M. Piche, 26, has been spared jail time despite admitting to raping a 14-year-old girl he met on his bus route
A former New York bus driver, who admitted to raping a 14-year-old girl he met on his route, has been spared jail time. 
Shane M. Piche, 26, who used to work as a bus driver for the Watertown City School District, pleaded guilty to third-degree rape in February.
Last week, Judge James P. McClusky sentenced Piche to 10 years probation and ordered him to register as a Level 1 sex offender.

McClusky said he gave Piche the sentence because he had no prior arrests and there was only one victim involved, according to the Watertown Daily Times. 
Level 1 sex offenders are considered to be at low risk for committing the crime again.
Piche will not be included in the online sex offender databases. 
Authorities said Piche met the teenager while on his bus route. According to the Daily Times, the rape happened at his residence along Ridge Road. 
Piche was fired from the bus company as a result of the incident. In addition to the probation, Piche is not allowed to be alone with anyone under 17 years old

[size=34]White nationalists storm Washington D.C. bookstore chanting 'this is our land' to protest launch of book on politics of racial resentment[/size]

• About 10 white male protesters marched into the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington D.C. on Saturday
  
  
• It took place as author Jonathan M. Metzl was discussing his new book on politics of racial resentment 
  
  
• The group, who identified themselves as nationalists and identitarians, marched in with a megaphone and chanted 'this is our land'
  
  
• Many who were there to listen to Metzl speak started booing loudly in response to the protesters 
  
  

Follow the latest updates from Washington

• Joe Sommerlad @JoeSommerlad
  
  
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[size=34]Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg is falsely accused of sexually assaulting a male college student in a stunt 'made up by conspiracy theorist Jacob Wohl and conservative lobbyist Jack Burkman'[/size]

• Pete Buttigieg was falsely accused on Monday of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old male Michigan college student in February
  
  
• Claims surfaced when Hunter Kelly appeared to publish a Medium post claiming he had been sexually abused by the Democratic presidential hopeful 
  
  
• Despite that post and a Twitter account, Kelly came out hours later to deny ever being sexually assaulted by Buttigieg
  
  
• He said the Twitter and Medium accounts bearing his name were fake and that he had nothing to do with the false abuse narrative 
  
  
• A Republican source claims conservative lobbyist Jack Burkman and conspiracy theorist Jacob Wohl were behind the fake allegations 
  
  
• The source accused the right-wing duo of trying to convince several young men to go public with fake sex assault allegations against Buttigieg 
  
  
• Burkman and Wohl have refused to comment and the Medium post has been deleted 
  
  

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Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg (above) has been falsely accused of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old university student in a stunt allegedly made up by two right-wing trolls
Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg has been falsely accused of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old university student in a stunt allegedly made up by two right-wing trolls. 
The claims surfaced on Monday when Hunter Kelly, a student at Ferris State University in Michigan, appeared to publish a post on Medium that claimed he was sexually assaulted by Buttigieg in February.
Despite that post and a Twitter account under his name that tweeted details of the so-called abuse, Kelly came out hours later to deny ever being sexually assaulted by Buttigieg. 

He said the Twitter and Medium accounts bearing his name were fake and that he had nothing to do with the false abuse narrative. 
A Republican source told the Daily Beast that conservative lobbyist Jack Burkman and conspiracy theorist Jacob Wohl were behind the fake allegations. 
The source accused the right-wing duo of trying to convince several young men to go public with fake sex assault allegations against Buttigieg in recent weeks in a bid to derail with his 2020 campaign.
Burkman and Wohl have refused to comment.
Buttigieg, who is openly gay, is the mayor of South Bend, Indiana and is a former Navy Reserve officer who served in Afghanistan.
He is one of several Democrats to put their name forward to be the presidential candidate. Buttigieg has already won over voters and many skeptics with his intelligence and an articulate yet plain-spoken speaking style. 


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A Republican source told the Daily Beast that conservative lobbyist Jack Burkman (left) and conspiracy theorist Jacob Wohl (right) were behind the fake allegations


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The claims surfaced on Monday when Hunter Kelly, a student at Ferris State University in Michigan, appeared to publish a post on Medium that claimed he was sexually assaulted by Buttigieg in February


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A Twitter account under the student's name, which also bears his photos, posted a link on Monday to the Medium article with the title: 'Pete Buttigieg Sexually Assaulted Me'. A follow up tweet also asked his followers to pray for him as he prepared to do an interview about his 'horrific experience'
He's also shown an ability to inspire voters of different ages with a message of hope and 'a new generation of leadership' and has been able to raise millions more than many of his Democratic rivals.
On the campaign trail on Monday, Buttigieg said the allegations were made up. 
The Medium post, which was first published Sunday night, has since been deleted.
The initial post, which appeared under Kelly's name, falsely claimed that the student had been sexually assaulted by Buttigieg in February.   
The post didn't offer exact details of the so-called abuse but said that coming forward with the allegations was the 'toughest thing' he has had to do. 

[size=34]Trump demands European countries take back astonishing total of 1,800 ISIS fighters captured in collapse of the caliphate[/size]

• President Donald Trump demanded European countries take back the 1,800 ISIS prisoners captured in the collapse of the caliphate in Syria and Iraq
  
  
• 'European countries are not helping at all, even though this was very much done for their benefit. They are refusing to take back prisoners,' he tweeted
  
  
• Some of the prisoners are natives of European countries like Britain and France 
  
  
• Trump has made this demand of European allies before
  
  
• But European nations have mixed feelings about accepting the prisoners 
  
  

President Donald Trump on Tuesday demanded European countries take back the 1,800 ISIS prisoners captured in the collapse of the caliphate in Syria and Iraq.   
'We have 1,800 ISIS Prisoners taken hostage in our final battles to destroy 100% of the Caliphate in Syria. Decisions are now being made as to what to do with these dangerous prisoners....,' he wrote on Twitter.
The president also complained European nations were failing to take back prisoners from their specific countries.  


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President Donald Trump demanded European countries take back the 1,800 ISIS prisoners captured in the collapse of the caliphate in Syria and Iraq


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'European countries are not helping at all, even though this was very much done for their benefit. They are refusing to take back prisoners from their specific countries. Not good!, he added. 

Trump has made this demand of European allies before.
In February, he tweeted European countries should take the 800 prisoners being held, a request that was received mixed reaction across the ocean.
'The Caliphate is ready to fall. The alternative is not a good one in that we will be forced to release them,' Trump warned at the time.  
Some of the prisoners are natives of European countries such as Shamima Begum, the British schoolgirl turned ISIS wife and mom, and Lukas Glass, who is German.
French jihadis made up the largest contingent of European recruits. 
The prisoners were actually taken by Kurdish militias, backed by U.S. and other coalition forces including France and Britain.