News Dump

Pelosi is reportedly 'softening to the idea of an impeachment inquiry' after the Mueller hearings | Pelosi said if the House moves forward with impeachment, it "would have to be done with our strongest possible hand," preferably after obtaining Trump's financial records and other key information via the courts. "If we have a case for impeachment, that's the place we will have to go," she added. "The stronger our case is, the worse the Senate will look for just letting the president off the hook." (In other words she isn't going all in until she has a full house.)
https://theweek.com/speedreads/854873/pelosi-reportedly-softening-idea-impeachment-inquiry-after-mueller-hearings

Warren: I would've accepted a VP offer from Clinton
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/25/warren-hillary-clinton-vice-president-1435422

Democrats file brief saying courts can't stop panel from getting Trump tax returns
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/454740-democrats-file-brief-saying-courts-cant-stop-panel-from-getting-trump-tax

Lawmaker says she’s been told to back off call for probe of Jeffrey Epstein’s work release. Florida Sen. Lauren Book has reached out to Capitol police after receiving an anonymous warning connected to her demand for a state inquiry into Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw’s handling of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s lenient work release program, the Miami Herald has learned. Book, a vocal advocate for child sexual assault survivors, said she also received more than a dozen calls by Bradshaw’s political supporters asking her to back off on her call for an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into Bradshaw.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article233102457.html

House panel votes to authorize subpoenas for all White House work communications sent via personal email and cellphone
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2019/07/25/house-panel-votes-to-authorize-subpoenas-for-all-white-house-work-communications-sent-via-personal-email-and-cellphone/

House Democrats vote to subpoena Ivanka Trump's private email and Jared Kushner's WhatsApp messages
https://theweek.com/speedreads/854972/house-democrats-vote-subpoena-ivanka-trumps-private-email-jared-kushners-whatsapp-messages

Reminder: "There's two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump," McCarthy said in June 2016. (McCarthy had just emerged from a meeting w/the Ukrainian Prime Minister, who had described the Kremlin's financing of populist politicians to undercut democracy.) https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html?utm_term=.90fd7f27c91b …

Reminder: Trump vetoed three resolutions that Congress passed to stop several arms sales benefiting Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which the president pushed through without congressional approval. | Congress is unlikely to have the votes to override the veto and does not have a consensus on how to proceed.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-vetoes-congresss-attempt-to-block-arms-sales-to-saudi-arabia/2019/07/24/7b047c32-ae65-11e9-a0c9-6d2d7818f3da_story.html?utm_term=.eee3db81712a

Supercut Shows Republicans Echoing Fox News Questions For Robert Mueller - A Media Matters montage shows there was a very familiar feel to some of what House Republicans asked the former special counsel.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fox-news-mueller-hearings-supercut_n_5d395ec8e4b0419fd338190f

Trump Org is not a big company, so the Saudis can single-handedly have a massive impact at his hotels. 500 nights in just 3 months at his DC hotel is a major windfall, and it doesn't stop there: Since February 2017, Saudi customers have boosted the bottom line at two other Trump hotels. In Chicago, the Trump hotel's internal statistics showed a sharp uptick in customers from Saudi Arabia after Trump took office. In New York this year, the general manager of Trump's hotel at Central Park said a single stay by some Saudi customers — who were traveling with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — was so lucrative it helped the hotel turn a profit for the quarter.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/saudi-funded-lobbyist-paid-for-500-rooms-at-trumps-hotel-after-2016-election/2018/12/05/29603a64-f417-11e8-bc79-68604ed88993_story.html?utm_term=.feda246c87cc

All he has to do is sign a few vetoes, and they happily launder his reward back through Chicago, NYC, or DC. This is happening with REPUBLICAN ENDORSEMENT. We need a clause in the constitution stopping the President from collecting emoluments from foreign governments....

Judge: Trump and His Children Must Face Multilevel Marketing Fraud Lawsuit
https://www.thedailybeast.com/judge-trump-and-his-children-must-face-multilevel-marketing-fraud-lawsuit

Trump speaks before presidential seal doctored with symbols of Russia and golf
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/24/trump-presidential-seal-doctored-russia-golf-turning-point
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-spoke-in-front-of-presidential-seal-edited-with-symbols-of-russia-and-golf

Autopsy Offers Jarring New Details About the Death of a 16-Year-Old Guatemalan Boy | Days after he was supposed to be in a children's shelter, Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez died of the flu near the toilet in his Border Patrol holding cell.
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/autopsy-details-death-guatemalan-migrant-child/

The Turkish government has managed to exert its force to cancel a basketball camp on Long Island. Why? Because it is hosted by Enes Kanter. Here is the statement from Kanter:
https://twitter.com/SBondyNYDN/status/1154181253471584257?s=19

Boris Johnson's car blocked by climate protesters during journey to meet Queen to become prime minister
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-protest-greenpeace-motorcade-mall-buckingham-palace-a9018971.html

After more than a week of protests the Governor of Puerto Rico resigns | With his resignation, he seeks to avoid an impeachment process for which pro-independence legislator Denis Márquez had already filed a resolution in the House of Representatives. Instead of working with that resolution, House Speaker Carlos "Johnny" Méndez Núñez, came up with a panel of three law experts who would analyze whether there's basis for impeachment in the content of the leaked Telegram chat that the Governor initiated as administrator and in which his closest advisors conducted public business, shared confidential government information with a lobbyist, schemed to attack political opponents, and insulted obese persons as well as personalities like singer Ricky Martin. The experts' opinion, handed down today, was that the chat's participants committed at least five felonies. That, and the fact that the Governor did not meet a 5:00 pm deadline to make public his decision, caused the House to call for a special session on Thursday, July 25th, to begin the impeachment process.
https://www.noticel.com/english/massive-protest-lead-to-history-making-resignation-of-puerto-rican-governor/1099447884

Scotland's leader tells UK PM Johnson: we want an independence referendum
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-scotland/scotlands-leader-tells-uk-pm-johnson-we-want-an-independence-referendum-idUSKCN1UK0S6

'Cabinet from hell':  Prime Minister Boris Johnson's opponents have accused him of creating the "Cabinet from hell" after he appointed a Home Secretary with a history of supporting the death penalty, a deputy who has called feminists "Obnoxious bigots," and multiple ministers who voted against gay marriage legislation. Johnson, who became prime minister yesterday, conducted the most brutal cabinet purge in modern political history, as ministers who backed his rival Jeremy Hunt were thrown out of Cabinet. Pledging to deliver Brexit by October 31, with "No ifs or buts," Johnson fired a total of 17 Cabinet ministers and gave many top jobs to MPs who had been involved in the Vote Leave team, handing Michael Gove the job of no-deal preparations as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
https://www.businessinsider.com/cabinet-from-hell-boris-johnson-appoints-death-penalty-gay-marriage-2019-7

Current warming 'unparalleled' in 2,000 years
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49086783

Drug Manufacturers Sent 5 Million Opioid Pills to One Town of Just 400 People — Unsealed court documents show pharmaceutical companies flooded the country with highly addictive painkillers, while the DEA did nothing.
https://www.gq.com/story/drug-companies-millions-of-pills-one-small-town

Refugee Women Could Contribute As Much As $1.6 Billion to U.S. GDP
https://www.newsweek.com/refugee-women-could-contribute-1-6-billion-u-s-gdp-1451074

Kathy Griffin takes aim at Bernie Sanders supporters: 'They're like Trumpers'
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kathy-griffin-bernie-sanders-trump-supporters-143042829.html

Sixteen US Marines were arrested Thursday for alleged involvement in various illegal activities ranging from human smuggling to drug-related offenses, according to a statement from the Marine Corps. The arrests took place in a dramatic fashion on Thursday morning at Camp Pendleton, California, during a battalion formation. "Information gained from a previous human smuggling investigation precipitated the arrests," the statement said. "None of the Marines arrested or detained for questioning served in support of the Southwest Border Support mission." Eight other Marines were also questioned on their involvement in alleged drug offenses unrelated to today's arrests, the Marine Corps said. A US official told CNN that Thursday's arrests are related to an incident that occurred earlier this month in which two Marines from Camp Pendleton were charged with transporting undocumented immigrants for financial gain.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/25/politics/us-marines-arrested/index.html


ESCOBAR:

Director Mueller, you wrote in your report that you, quote, "determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment," end quote. Was that in part because of an opinion by the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel that a sitting president can't be charged with a crime?

MUELLER:

Yes.

ESCOBAR:

Director Mueller, at your May 29, 2019 press conference, you explained that, quote, "the opinion says that the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing," end quote. That process other than the criminal justice system for accusing a president of wrongdoing, is that impeachment?

MUELLER:

I'm not going to comment on that.

ESCOBAR:

In your report you also wrote that you did not want to, quote, "potentially preempt constitutional processes for addressing presidential misconduct," end quote. For the non-lawyers in the room, what did you mean by, quote, "potentially preempt constitutional processes"?

MUELLER:

I'm not going to try to explain that.

ESCOBAR:

That actually is coming from page 1 of Volume 2. In the footnote is the reference to this. What are those constitutional processes?

MUELLER:

I think I heard you mention at least one.

ESCOBAR:

Impeachment, correct?

MUELLER:

I'm not going to comment.

Friday votes are cancelled. House about to leave on a six-week summer recess after passing two-year budget caps and debt limit deal.

Pitkin County, Colorado, Sheriff Joe DiSalvo said it’s “somewhat disappointing” that no one has paid for the $24,000 security bill racked up during Vice President Pence’s trip to Aspen earlier this week. DiSalvo told the Aspen Daily that he is having trouble locating the organizer behind a Republican fundraiser headlined by Pence on Monday to bill them for the local officers who worked overtime as security. “We had 64 total police officers on that assignment in the 20 or so hours that he was here, totaling 519 person hours,” DiSalvo said. “Out of those 64, 14 were state troopers, and we don’t have a responsibility to pay them. But the 50 other cops that were here are all on the county dime." “I guess the whole thing is generally just somewhat disappointing to me,” DiSalvo went on. “You raise $700,000 in an hour, you should be able to pitch in to support the community that made you feel welcome.” (It's the Trump/Republican policy not to pay for things, like rallies and tax cuts.) (So Pence won't eat a meal with a woman who is not his wife, but doesn't mind fundraisers in gay clubs?)
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/454755-aspen-police-chief-hits-disappointing-failure-of-pence-event
https://www.aspendailynews.com/news/pence-visit-racked-up-k-in-security-costs/article_d1cc2422-adb9-11e9-a456-7f75123d8e11.html

Mike Pence skipped out on the $24k bill after his fundraiser at a gay-owned club | No one would have known where it was if the chef of the Caribou Club didn’t get arrested on charges of strangling and punching a female friend just before the event. In court, the chef said that he was supposed to cook for Pence on Monday, so he needed to be out of jail.
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019/07/mike-pence-skipped-24k-bill-fundraiser-gay-owned-club/

Republican Challenger aiming to unseat Ilhan Omar charged with felony theft. Danielle Stella, reported to support baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, held twice this year over alleged shoplifting. Danielle Stella was arrested twice this year in Minneapolis suburbs over allegations that she shoplifted items worth more than $2,300 from a Target and goods valued at $40 from a grocery store. She said she denied the allegations. Stella, a 31-year-old special education teacher, was reported this week to be a supporter of the baseless “QAnon” conspiracy theory about Donald Trump battling a global cabal of elite liberal paedophiles. This week Stella also described Minneapolis as “the crime capital of our country”. She has in the past complained that local police were “overworked and overburdened” and said that, if elected, she would work to reduce crime.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/25/danielle-stella-republican-ilhan-omar-charged-felony-qanon-trump

Remember Gianforte, Mr. Bodyslam? He assaulted a reporter and it boosted his poll numbers with conservatives. He ended up winning the seat even though he got charged with assaulting a reporting during the campaign. He body-slammed a reporter, called that story fake news before the special election, then pled guilty to it after the special election. He won re-election too. Even Roy Moore *barely* lost.

Senate Intel finds 'extensive' Russian election interference going back to 2014 | The panel is expected to release further volumes laying out the investigation’s findings regarding the intelligence community’s assessment, the Obama administration’s response to Russian interference, social media disinformation campaigns and whether there was coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow sometime in the fall leading up to Election Day.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/454766-senate-intel-releases-long-awaited-report-on-2016-election-security

Senate Probe Finds 'Extensive' Russian Meddling in U.S. Election:: U.S. 'was unprepared at all levels,' Senator Burr says
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-25/senate-probe-finds-extensive-russian-meddling-in-u-s-election?srnd=markets-vp

Ex Nazi SS soldier, 96, faces five years in prison after denying the Holocaust and blaming Hitler’s victims for their own deaths
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9582440/nazi-soldier-faces-prison-after-denying-the-holocaust/

Most YouTube climate change videos 'oppose the consensus view' - Scientist behind study urges platform to tweak algorithms to ‘prioritise factual information’
https://defazio.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/statement-from-rep-peter-defazio-on-opening-an-impeachment-inquiry

Sri Lanka is measles free. The country achieved an immunisation coverage of above 95%.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/10/health/measles-eliminated-sri-lanka-intl/index.html

Earth had a near-miss with 'city-killer' asteroid this morning
https://www.smh.com.au/national/earth-had-a-near-miss-with-city-killer-asteroid-this-morning-20190725-p52apn.html

House Overwhelmingly Passes Multiple Pro-Israel Bills. The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed several pro-Israel bills, including one opposing boycotts of the Jewish state, dealing a blow to far-left lawmakers such as Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), who voted against the legislation. In a vote of 398 to 17, lawmakers approved a bill spearheaded by Rep. Brad Schneider (D., Ill.) opposing the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS), an anti-Israel effort that wages economic warfare on the Jewish state. Among the 17 who voted against the bill are Tlaib, Omar, and progressive ally Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.). Five members including frequent Trump administration critic Rep. Justin Amash (I., Mich.) voted "present" on the measure, while 12 members, including Greg Gianforte (R., Mont.), skipped the vote. Two other bills meant to strengthen Israel's military alliance with the United States and provide justice to victims of Palestinian terrorism also sailed through the House on Monday evening with overwhelming bipartisan support. The consecutive votes are a sign that despite vocal anti-Israel outcry and anti-Semitic sentiment from fringe lawmakers such as Omar and Tlaib, the majority of Congress continues to back the U.S.-Israel alliance and America's military commitment to the Jewish state. "The Global BDS Movement denies the Jewish people's connection to the land of Israel, refuses to accept the basic idea of a Jewish state, and seeks to delegitimize Israel in international forums, on college campuses, and in global commerce," Schneider said in a statement after the vote on his anti-BDS bill. "Our resolution does not infringe on any American's right to protest, and it explicitly recognizes that boycotts have a long and important history in our country, including during the Civil Rights movement and efforts to end apartheid in South Africa," Schneider said. "However, not all boycotts seek just ends. Our objection is to the fundamental aim of the Global BDS Movement: the delegitimization of Israel and the destruction of the Jewish state." In a second show of bipartisan support for Israel, House lawmakers went on to pass legislation aimed at bolstering cooperation between the United States and Israel on a host of regional security and economic matters. Dubbed the United States-Israel Cooperation Enhancement and Regional Security Act, the bill also paves a way for victims of Palestinian terrorism to receive justice.
Rep. Ted Deutch (D., Fla.), the primary sponsor of that bill, touted the near-unanimous support lawmakers gave the legislation. "Today we sent a clear message that bipartisan support for the U.S.–Israel relationship, for the security and civilian cooperation between our countries, and for the ties between the American and Israeli people remains strong and unwavering," Deutch said in a statement. "This bill will expand relations with one of our closest allies, a relationship that is broad and deep, that highlights the positive impact the United States and Israel can have in so many critical areas when we work together." A third bill that would impose sanctions on foreign entities that support Palestinian terrorism also sailed to approval.
The legislation, forwarded by Rep. Brian Mast (R., Fla.), a U.S. veteran who also served in the Israeli Defense Forces, would impose economic penalties on any foreign government that supports Palestinian terrorism. "Radical Islamic terrorists, like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, have made it clear that they will stop at nothing to reign terror on innocent people around the world," Mast was quoted as saying about the bill. "Hamas is single-handedly responsible for the deaths of numerous Americans and Israelis. These sanctions send a strong message to anybody who supports these radicals preaching the destruction of Israel and death to everything we hold dear in the United States."
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/house-overwhelmingly-passes-multiple-pro-israel-bills/

Impeachment Is Not an Exercise in Futility | It is the constitutional duty of Congress.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a28509492/impeachment-not-futile-senate-republicans/

No Joke: the U.N. just condemned Israel as the world's only violator of women's rights, backed by votes of council members Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan & Yemen
https://twitter.com/HillelNeuer/status/1154076008158519297

'Daddy, I’m scared': Police smash car window, drag man out while baby sits in back then hand him over to ICE
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ice-police-smash-car-window-man-baby-mexican-immigration-a9020386.html

'No One Should Retire Into Poverty': At Historic Hearing, Progressives Make Case for Expanding—Not Cutting—Social Security Benefits
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/25/no-one-should-retire-poverty-historic-hearing-progressives-make-case-expanding-not

Paris registers its hottest temperature in recorded history
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-hottest-temperature-record-europe-heatwave-france-latest-a9019716.html

Trump asks GOP senators for 'flexibility' on Turkey sanctions. The president wants more time to work out a deal before implementing congressionally mandated sanctions over Turkey's purchase of a Russian missile defense system.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-asks-gop-senators-flexibility-turkey-sanctions-n1033571?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_np

Literally the day after Rand Paul said that his conscience compelled him to vote against extending the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, he introduced an unpaid-for bill extending a tax break for Kentucky bourbon producers.
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article233070912.html

While I support our heroic first responders, I can’t in good conscience vote for legislation which to my dismay remains unfunded. We have a nearly trillion dollar deficit and $22 trillion in debt. Spending is out of control.
https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/1153753564336050176

The Senate Intelligence Committee concluded Thursday that election systems in all 50 states were targeted by Russia in 2016, largely undetected by the states and federal officials at the time, but at the demand of American intelligence agencies the committee was forced to redact its findings so heavily that key lessons for the 2020 election are blacked out.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/us/politics/russian-hack-of-elections-system-was-far-reaching-report-finds.html

Active-duty troops are now stationed inside the Border Patrol's holding facility in Donna, Texas, and monitoring migrant adults and children from just a few feet away, NBC reports, a move a congressman says comes close to violating the Posse Comitatus Act.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/active-duty-u-s-troops-are-now-just-feet-away-n1034416

Barr directed the Justice Department on Thursday to adopt a new rule for carrying out the death penalty, which would restore executions in the federal system for the first time in 16 years.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/ag-barr-orders-reinstatement-federal-death-penalty-n1034451

Sanders reaches deal with campaign staffers’ union for $15 minimum wage
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/23/bernie-sanders-strikes-deal-with-campaign-union-for-15-minimum-wage.html