March 30, 2018

Investment group removes ads from Laura Ingraham's show

BY JACQUELINE THOMSEN - 03/30/18 05:30 PM EDT

Global investment group Principal is removing its advertisements from Fox News host Laura Ingraham’s show, the firm told The Hill on Friday.

A spokesperson for Principal said the management company was in the process of pulling its ads from "The Ingraham Angle."

Principal is at least the 13th advertiser to pull support or distance themselves from Ingraham after she mocked Parkland, Fla., high school shooting survivor David Hogg over his college rejections.

Liberty Mutual, Office Depot, Jenny Craig, Atlantis Paradise Island, Stitch Fix, Johnson & Johnson, Hulu, Nestle, Expedia, Wayfair, Trip Advisor and Nutrish have also taken action since Thursday.

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http://thehill.com/homenews/media/381057-investment-group-removes-ads-from-laura-ingrahams-show

March 30, 2018

In an age of Trump and Stormy Daniels, evangelical leaders face sex scandals of their own

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey March 30 at 1:15 PM

As white evangelicals have been some of President Trump’s staunchest defenders, a handful of their leaders find themselves contending with a problem all too familiar to the commander in chief: a sex scandal.

As the allegations by Stormy Daniels, an adult-film actress who says she had an affair with President Trump, captures the nation’s attention, and as the #MeToo movement highlights sexual abuse, harassment and impropriety in the workplace, at least four leaders in the evangelical movement have been accused of violating the tenets of their faith, from adultery to sexual abuse. Now some observers wonder whether evangelicals are experiencing a repeat of the scandals that led to the downfall of several well-known televangelists in the 1980s.

“There’s a reckoning taking place across evangelicalism right now,” said Russell Moore, who leads the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and compared recent events to those scandals of the 1980s. Moore said the #MeToo movement has ushered a “welcome development in American culture toward believing women who have been harmed. I also think there’s a growing — but not fast enough — realization in church life of the way that power can easily be abused in predatory ways, especially spiritual power.”

Most recently, Frank Page, president and chief executive of the SBC’s executive committee, announced his resignation because of an “inappropriate relationship.” Page did not divulge the details of his relationship on Tuesday, but in a statement he called it a “personal failing” that has “embarrassed my family, my Lord, myself, and the Kingdom.”

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/03/30/in-an-age-of-trump-and-stormy-daniels-evangelical-leaders-face-sex-scandals-of-their-own/?utm_term=.77ded9905aca

March 30, 2018

Congressman alleges McCabe lied to Comey, hinting at rift between FBI officials

Source: The Washington Post


By Karoun Demirjian and Matt Zapotosky March 30 at 3:25 PM

The FBI’s disciplinary office found that ousted deputy director Andrew McCabe lied to his boss, then-director James B. Comey, in October 2016 about having authorized the disclosure of sensitive information to a reporter, a Republican congressman whose office reviewed the findings alleged Friday.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said in an interview that McCabe lied to Comey when Comey asked him how sensitive information ended up in an October 2016 Wall Street Journal story detailing internal tension at the FBI and Justice Department over an investigation into matters surrounding the Clinton Foundation. Jordan’s staffers, along with staffers for Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, were permitted this week to view a report on McCabe from the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility, Jordan said.

According to Jordan, the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility determined that McCabe lied to his superiors and investigators four times: to Comey in October 2016; to FBI investigators in May; and to the Office of the Inspector General twice, beginning in the summer.

In a statement, McCabe’s lawyer said it was fully appropriate for the bureau’s deputy director to authorize media interaction and asserted that Comey knew about it. The attorney, Michael R. Bromwich, said emails between the two men “clearly show that Mr. McCabe advised Director Comey that he was working with colleagues at the FBI to correct inaccuracies before the stories were published, and that they remained in contact through the weekend while the interactions with the reporter continued.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/congressman-alleges-mccabe-lied-to-comey-exposing-apparent-rift-between-fbi-officials/2018/03/30/d73d7ec8-3430-11e8-94fa-32d48460b955_story.html

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McCabe has emails proving Republicans lied about him misleading Comey: report

BOB BRIGHAM
30 MAR 2018 AT 15:58 ET

Two Republican congressmen appear to have been caught in a lie about former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Mark Meadows (R-NC) told Fox News on Thursday night that the FBI’s disciplinary office found that McCabe lied to then-Director James Comey about leaking information to the press.

Jordan claimed that the FBI’s disciplinary office found that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe lied to then-Director James Comey. But Michael Bromwich, McCabe’s attorney, told The Washington Post that claims that email evidence “clearly show that Mr. McCabe advised Director Comey that he was working with colleagues at the FBI to correct inaccuracies before the stories were published, and that they remained in contact through the weekend while the interactions with the reporter continued.”

Bromwich also slammed Republicans for “attempting to create a false narrative” about McCabe’s ouster. “We deeply regret being compelled to respond to this selective leaking with any comment at all,” Bromwich added.

“Nevertheless, one thing is clear: Mr. McCabe never misled Director Comey. Director Comey’s memory of these interactions was equivocal and speculative, while Mr. McCabe’s recollection is clear, unequivocal and supported by documentary evidence,” Bromwich concluded.

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https://www.rawstory.com/2018/03/mccabe-emails-proving-republicans-lied-misleading-comey-report/

March 30, 2018

Federal workers spill on life in Trump's Washington

From marital strife to high anxiety, civil servants reveal how the Trump administration has changed agency life.

By ANDREW RESTUCCIA 03/30/2018 05:03 AM EDT

One Health and Human Services employee swore off online dating after potential suitors repeatedly got upset that he worked for the Trump administration. An Education Department fellow eagerly returned to teaching after listening to Betsy DeVos bash public schools. And one Environmental Protection Agency official said staffers are distraught at having to personally dismantle regulations they spent years crafting.

This is Donald Trump’s government 14 months into his presidency.

Interviews with nearly three dozen current and recently departed workers across the ideological spectrum and across the federal bureaucracy — from the State Department to the Interior Department — show that Trump’s presidency has fundamentally altered the lives of government workers in ways big and small.

Trump’s frequent attacks on the “deep state” have engendered deep distrust between career and political employees, pushing many long-time civil servants toward the exits and raising the possibility of a government-wide brain drain.

And while some workers, such as Border Patrol agents, are feeling newly empowered under Trump, morale at other agencies is so low that some employees said they were suffering from increased anxiety and depression that has complicated their personal relationships and even led to heavier drinking.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/30/trump-washington-civil-servants-492347

March 30, 2018

Larry King Calls For Repealing 2nd Amendment: It Was Written to Stop 'Slave Uprisings'

by Rachel Dicker | 12:18 pm, March 30th, 2018



Larry King has weighed in on former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens‘ assertion that student protesters should “demand a repeal of the Second Amendment.”

“It’s poorly written,” King said of the amendment to TMZ. “What did they mean by ‘militia’?”

“You know [the people] who signed the Second Amendment were southern senators so they could ward off slaves’ uprisings,” King added. “Read the history.”

When the man behind the camera balks and asks King to briefly explain the history, he said: “Eventually it won in other areas but southern senators started it [for that reason].”

Another off-camera man offered that they wanted to protect themselves against black people, and King said, “Yeah, that’s correct… And the NRA is the worst.”

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https://www.mediaite.com/online/larry-king-calls-for-repealing-2nd-amendment-it-was-written-to-stop-slave-uprisings/

March 30, 2018

BESTIES NO MORE. Roger Stone: Sam Nunberg Is a 'Lying Asshole' and 'Psycho'

BESTIES NO MORE
Roger Stone: Sam Nunberg Is a ‘Lying Asshole’ and ‘Psycho’

The two ex-Trump confidants, once known for their tight friendship, engaged in an all-out war of words this week.

GIDEON RESNICK
03.30.18 11:19 AM ET

Two former aides to Donald Trump waged a war of words against each other this week, using cable news and social media as their battlefields.

Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of Trump’s, took to his personal Instagram page on Thursday to call fellow ex-aide Sam Nunberg, a man who once viewed Stone as a mentor, a “psycho” and a “lying asshole.”

That post came in response to an appearance by Nunberg on MSNBC yesterday in which he said that Stone was trying to curry favor with Trump by suggesting he had met with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange prior to the 2016 presidential election.

“He’s always trying to ingratiate himself to Trump. I don’t care about Trump. It’s irrelevant to me if I have a relationship with him again. Roger does. They have a long relationship,” Nunberg said in the clip.

https://twitter.com/TheBeatWithAri/status/979489178303033350

more
https://www.thedailybeast.com/roger-stone-sam-nunberg-is-a-lying-asshole-and-psycho?ref=home

March 30, 2018

Paul Manafort, a mysterious Russian jet, and a secret meeting

A private jet linked to a Russian oligarch flew to the U.S. at a key time in the 2016 election

By Greg Walters Mar 30, 2018

In August 2016, a private jet linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska traveled from Moscow to Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey. The Gulfstream G550 (registration M-ALAY) landed shortly after midnight and, according to publicly available flight records, flew back to Moscow that same afternoon. Deripaska, 50, is the founder of Basic Element, a Russian industrial conglomerate with massive holdings in aluminum, energy, and construction. With an estimated net worth of $6 billion, he can afford to send a private jet across the globe whenever he wants.

Still, according to a source familiar with the matter, that August flight has caught the attention of congressional investigators, in part because of its timing.

The jet arrived within hours of a meeting in nearby Manhattan between Paul Manafort, then chairman of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and Konstantin Kilimnik. Kilimnik spent over a decade as Manafort’s translator and fixer in Ukraine. Weeks earlier, Manafort had emailed his old associate and told him to extend an offer of "private briefings" to Deripaska, according to The Washington Post.

Congressional investigators looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 election are now probing the relationship between Manafort, Kilimnik, and Deripaska, according to two people familiar with the matter. The jet’s brief trip to New Jersey raises fresh questions about the relationship between the three men during the 2016 presidential campaign. Deripaska is believed to have close ties with the Kremlin. Kilimnik has been widely reported to be the unnamed person identified in court filings by special counsel Robert Mueller's office this week as having ties to Russian intelligence — a relationship Kilimnik has long denied.

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https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/paxkpb/paul-manafort-a-mysterious-russian-jet-and-a-secret-meeting

March 30, 2018

Autopsy Shows Police Shot Unarmed Man Stephon Clark 8 Times

Source: Yahoo News


Sebastian Murdock, HuffPost•March 30, 2018

Stephon Clark, the 22-year-old father of two who was unarmed when he was fatally shot by police in California earlier this month, was hit eight times, an independent autopsy shows.

On March 18, two Sacramento Police Department officers responded to reports of someone smashing car windows in Clark’s neighborhood. At approximately 9:30 p.m., they opened fire on Clark outside his home, shooting at him 20 times. Lawyers for Clark’s family held a press conference Friday to announce the findings of a private autopsy.

Dr. Bennet Omalu, who conducted the three-hour autopsy, told reporters that Clark was struck eight times. Six of the bullets hit Clark directly in the back, with a seventh hitting him in the side of his back, Omalu said.

“You could reasonably conclude that he received seven gunshot wounds from his back,” Omalu said. An eighth bullet hit Clark in the arm.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/autopsy-shows-police-shot-unarmed-180400487.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=6d5f98a9-30da-3e21-bf79-2d16fde5d3d4&.tsrc=notification-brknews

March 30, 2018

GOP Rep. Drops Pro-Gun Stance, A+ NRA Rating From Campaign Site

By Cristina Cabrera | March 30, 2018 12:00 pm

Rep. Mike Bishop (R-MI) has scrubbed all traces of his pro-gun stance and A/A+ rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA) from his campaign site.

The Detroit News reported on the change Wednesday, days after the massive nationwide March For Our Lives rallies that called for tighter gun control measures in wake of the Parkland high school shooting. The move could signal at least one Republican’s concern that the gun group’s mark of approval may not go over well with voters amid the burgeoning gun control movement.

Campaign spokesman Stu Standler told TPM in an email that the change merely “reflects an update for a Congressman who has served for 2 terms and has worked on several pieces of legislation that have been signed into law and are helping the community,” and that “Mike Bishop has not changed positions on these issues.”

“The last version of the website was written when Mike Bishop was a candidate in 2014 and never served in Congress,” Standler added.

Bishop’s district is one of the Democrats’ targets in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Red to Blue” program for the 2018 midterms, and the Detroit News noted that Democratic candidate Elissa Slotkin raised more money than Bishop during the last two quarters of 2017.

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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gop-bishop-delete-gun-nra-campaign-site

March 30, 2018

WaPo: Two Top Staffers In WH Personnel Office Have Several Past Arrests

By Caitlin MacNeal | March 30, 2018 12:34 pm

The office in the White House tasked with vetting and selecting candidates for key administration posts has struggled to recruit top candidates at a quick pace due to a small team and top staff with little experience, according to a new report from the Washington Post.

Two young staffers with top positions at the Presidential Personnel Office (PPO) have records of previous arrests for drunk driving and assault, the Post reported Friday.

Caroline Wiles, the daughter of a Florida lobbyist, started work on the Trump campaign when she was 30 years old, according to the Washington Post. She originally joined the Trump administration as a deputy assistant to the president but had to leave that job when she failed the background check. She was then moved to the PPO as a special assistant to the president, per the Washington Post. Wiles never completed her college degree and had her license suspended for drunk driving and was arrested over a bad check, according to the Washington Post.

Max Miller, a 29-year-old former Trump campaign staffer, is also a special assistant to the president at PPO. He has previously been charged with assault, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct, according to the Washington Post.

more
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/white-house-personnel-office-woes