Friends,
Happy Presidents day! To celebrate here are some fun facts about our nation’s most powerful men:
Shortest President: James Madison (5 feet, 4 Inches)
Tallest President: Abraham Lincoln (6 feet, 4 inches)
President with the least time in office: William Henry Harrison (31 days)
President with the most time in office: Franklin D. Roosevelt (4,422 days)
Youngest President: Theodore Roosevelt (42 years, 322 days)
Oldest President: Donald Trump (70 years, 220 days)
James Polk (11th President) was the first to have his photograph taken
Martin Van Buren (8th) President is credited with creating the term “OK”. Van Buren, from Kinderhook, New York received the support of the Old Kinderhook (O.K.) clubs, when he saw a member, he’d say “He’s OK”. It later was adopted to mean “all right”
Ok… back to the news. The Border deal is signed, sealed and delivered and, in case you didn’t know, we are in the midst of a NATIONAL EMERGENCY! Run and hide! Fewer immigrants are crossing the border today than any time in the past two decades! In other news, Roger Stone isn’t allowed to talk Mueller in DC, McCabe speaks out and asylum seekers are headed home.
Let’s dig in.
Immigration Deal
On Thursday night the House of Representatives approved a border security funding deal 300-128, the Senate subsequently passed the measure 83-16. On Friday, the President signed the bill and also used his Presidential powers to declare a national emergency, allowing him to reallocate federal dollars to build his wall.
$1.375 billion to build a physical barrier on the southern border – but not a wall that should cover about 55 miles of new fencing. Notably that is less than the bill President Trump rejected in December. In addition, it funds new technology to secure ports of entry, the most common throughways for drugs, and increases funding for ICE detention beds, a concession made by Democrats.
Now what about the national emergency? Where will the money come from? In addition to the $1.374 billion passed by Congress, the administration will be taking:
· $600 million from the Treasury Department’s drug forfeiture fund
· $2.5 billion from the Pentagon’s drug interdiction program
· $3.5 billion from the Pentagon’s military construction budget
If you believe the situation at the southern border constitutes and existential threat to the interests of the United States, a “national emergency” declaration sounds prudent. Unfortunately for the President, few hold that view and thus, legislative and legal battles are piling up.
First, House Democrats, led by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) are introducing a resolution to formally terminate the executive order. The resolution will certainly pass the House and, under congressional rules, the Senate will have to take up the measure within 15 days.
Politically, this forces Republican legislators to go on the record supporting the emergency declaration which has received bipartisan condemnation. The Heritage Foundation and the United States Chamber of Commerce, two conservative groups, both issued statements opposing the move, primarily because it undermines the constitution – only Congress can appropriate taxpayer money.
Only four Republicans will have to vote for the resolution to send it to the President’s desk. Keep an eye on Sens. Cory Gardner, Susan Collins and Thom Tillis who will be facing staunch Democratic challenges come 2020.
If it does reach the President’s desk, he will veto.
The executive order will also be challenged in the courts. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra along with 13 other state attorneys general are suing the federal government arguing no emergency exists and thus the move is a gross violation of the Constitution.
Unfortunately for Trump he admitted on live TV he didn’t actually need to make an emergency declaration, in fact he only did it to speed up the process.
“I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it faster,” he added. “I want to get it done faster, that’s all.”
Expect this to reach the Supreme Court where Trump’s insistence on appointing Constitutional conservatives may come back to bite him. If there is one thing staunch conservatives more than an overreaching federal government it’s an activist executive branch.
Andrew McCabe
Former FBI Director Andrew McCabe was interviewed on 60 minutes last night. The most important information was that McCabe took responsibility for ordering two investigations of Trump. One to determine if he obstructed justice by firing former FBI director James Comey and a second, counterintelligence investigation, to ask the question: was it at the behest of Putin?
McCabe justified opening investigations into the President after Trump:
1. Asked FBI Director Comey to drop the investigation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts.
2. Told Rod Rosenstein to specifically cite Russia as a reason for firing Comey, which Rosenstein did not.
3. Disclosed, voluntarily, to NBC and Russian diplomats that he fired Comey in part to end the Russian investigation.
Here are some of the most shocking quotes:
“I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency and won the election for the presidency and who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage.”
“And in the context of that conversation, the deputy attorney general offered to wear a wire into the White House.”
“Discussion of the 25th Amendment was simply, Rod raised the issue and discussed it with me in the context of thinking about how many other cabinet officials might support such an effort.”
“Intelligence officials in the briefing responded that that was not consistent with any of the intelligence our government possesses, to which the president replied, “I don’t care. I believe Putin.”
The exchange I found most disgusting was when McCabe recalled a phone conversation he had with the President after his wife lost her campaign for state Senate in Virginia. Trump publicly chastised her at rallies, attempting to tie Dr. Jill McCabe to the Clintons and therefore to Andrew McCabe.
After Dr. McCabe lost the election the President, in a phone conversation with her husband, said:
“What was it like when your wife lost her race for state senate? It must have been really tough to lose.” And I (McCabe) said, “Well, it’s tough to lose anything. But my wife has refocused her efforts on her career. And he (Trump) then said, “Ask her what it was like to lose. It must be tough to be a loser.”
Bite Sized Politics
· The Southern District of New York is likely to continue the legal investigations of Trump after the Mueller probe concludes. They have jurisdiction over the President’s political operation and his businesses. Most importantly their investigations are insulated from executive privilege.
· North Carolina’s board of elections will examine fraud allegations in the state’s 9th Congressional district which could lead to a new election this year.
· The US Senate confirmed William Barr to become the next Attorney General of the United States by a vote of 54-45
· Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, is facing up to 24.5 years in prison according the Mueller’s team.
· Special Counsel Mueller released a filing that suggested prosecutors may have Roger Stone’s communications with WikiLeaks, the website that disclosed stolen Democratic emails.
· Democratic House Members Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the Intelligence Committee and Rep. Eliot Engel, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee are consulting lawyers on how best to compel the President to disclose documents related to the President’s one-on-one discussions with Putin.
· Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is recruiting Amy McGrath, a 2018 congressional candidate, to challenge Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell.
· Japanese newspapers are reporting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Price because Trump asked him to.
· German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected an American request that the EU pull out of the Iranian Nuclear deal.
· More than 1,000 asylum seekers are headed home amidst tough Trump policies at the border.
Thanks,
Crawford
The Lens 