TheNewsGuru

Tag: trump

  • Ukrainegate: 2nd whistleblower against Trump loading

    A second intelligence official who was alarmed by President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine is weighing whether to file his own formal whistleblower complaint and testify to Congress, New York Times reported Saturday, quoting two persons briefed on the matter.

    The intel official has more direct information about the events than the first whistleblower, whose complaint that Trump was using his power to get Ukraine to investigate his political rivals touched off an impeachment inquiry. The second official is among those interviewed by the intelligence community inspector general to corroborate the allegations of the original whistleblower, one of the people said.

    The inspector general, Michael Atkinson, briefed lawmakers privately Friday about how he substantiated the whistleblower’s account. It was not clear whether he told lawmakers that the second official is considering filing a complaint.

    A new complaint, particularly from someone closer to the events, would potentially add further credibility to the account of the first whistleblower, a CIA officer who was detailed to the National Security Council at one point. He said that he relied on information from more than half a dozen American officials to compile his allegations about Trump’s campaign to solicit foreign election interference that could benefit him politically.

    Other evidence has emerged to back the whistleblower’s claim. A reconstructed transcript of a July call between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy released by the White House also showed Trump pressuring Ukraine. Trump appeared to believe that its release would quell the push for impeachment, but it only emboldened House Democrats.

    Because the second official has met with Atkinson’s office, it was unclear whether he needs to file a complaint to gain the legal protections offered to intelligence community whistleblowers. Witnesses who speak with inspectors general are protected by federal law that outlaws reprisals against officials who cooperate with an inspector general.

  • JUST IN: Trump bans immigrants who can’t pay for healthcare

    JUST IN: Trump bans immigrants who can’t pay for healthcare

    Amid his impeachment probe, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation on Friday night requiring many future immigrant visa applicants to show they can afford health care, a move that could make it harder for poor migrants to enter the U.S.

    The action, which is set to take effect in 30 days, would require applicants, including people with ties to family members in the U.S., to show they have health insurance or prove their financial ability to pay for medical care before being issued a visa that could lead to a green card.

    The proclamation wouldn’t apply to noncitizen children of U.S. citizens. Refugees and immigrants who won asylum are also excluded from the new requirement.

    The move marks the latest effort by President Trump to restrict immigrants’ ability to enter the U.S, cnbc.com reported.

    The administration is poised to implement a rule this month that would require many of the same applicants to demonstrate that they wouldn’t become reliant on public benefits including Medicaid should they be allowed to immigrate to the U.S.

    The new requirement would take a further step, requiring anyone looking to move to the U.S. to enrol in private insurance — including as a dependent on a family member’s health plan — or possess the financial means to cover significant medical costs.

    The proclamation also allows entry into the U.S. for migrants who have the “financial resources to pay for reasonably foreseeable medical costs, ” but it doesn’t define the threshold for meeting that standard.

    Subsidised plans purchased on the Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges wouldn’t count as an eligible form of insurance under the White House’s new definition.

    Low-income immigrants living in the country legally can’t use Medicaid for their first five years, but they can receive premium subsidies if their incomes are low enough. Under the new White House policy, purchasing health insurance using subsidies would disqualify people from living in the country legally.

    In its proclamation, the White House said it was taking the additional step to safeguard the health-care system for American citizens by preventing immigrants from enrolling in Medicaid or going to emergency rooms with no insurance, requiring hospitals or taxpayers to cover the cost.

    “President Trump has taken action to promote immigrant self-sufficiency, which has long been a fundamental aspect of our immigration system,” the proclamation said.

    The new requirement will apply to potentially hundreds of thousands of people moving to the U.S. each year on immigrant visas, which allow people to become permanent residents. In the 2018 fiscal year, the U.S. issued a total of roughly 534,000 visas, a 4.6% decline from the previous year’s total, according to State Department data.

    Some of those visas, like those granted to noncitizen children of U.S. citizens, won’t need to comply with the new requirement.

    The U.S. issues about 1.1 million green cards a year, but people issued immigrant visas often wait years in backlogs before they are granted permanent resident status.

  • Nigeria@59: Trump writes Buhari, says Nigerians are talented, creative, hardworking

    Nigeria@59: Trump writes Buhari, says Nigerians are talented, creative, hardworking

    …offers to partner in fight against Boko Haram, ISIS

    The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has congratulated Nigeria on its 59th independence anniversary on October 1.

    He also welcomed President Muhammadu Buhari’s drive to diversify opportunities for talented, creative, and hardworking Nigerians to the benefit of both countries, Africa, and the world.

    In a message personally signed by the US president Monday, and made available to TNG, he said: “On behalf of the American people, I extend our warmest greetings and congratulate you on the 59th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence.

    “Nigeria is among our strongest partners in Africa. We share common goals of expanding trade and growing our economic relationship. We are allies in the global battle against terrorism, and we want to see Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa driven out of the region and other insurgencies like them dismantled.” he said.

    Trump said he was pleased that following his meeting last year with President Buhari, vice presidents from both countries were also building on the longstanding history of cooperation. “I wish the people of Nigeria continued success as you mark another year of independence,” he added.

  • U.S. House of Reps begins impeachment inquiry against Trump

    By Dayo Benson New York

    The tempestuous relationship between President Donald Trump and the United States House of Representatives reached its climax yesterday as Speaker Nancy Pelosi, announced late afternoon the Congress’ decision to begin an impeachment inquiry against the President.

    Specifically, Speaker Pelosi accused President Trump of violating his oath of office by soliciting a foreign power to take actions that would be of electoral benefit to him.

    President Trump had come under fire following a whistleblower complain that he(Trump) put pressure on Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a telephone conversation to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, over alleged business corruption in Ukraine in 2014, in exchange for U.S. continuous financial aid.

    The quid pro quo offer allegedly made in the telephone conversation was seen as the reason Trump had withheld the financial aid which the Congress had approved to assist Ukraine’s military against Russia invasion.

    Trump had insisted the telephone conversation was “friendly and appropriate “ even as he promised to release the unredacted transcript of the conversation today(Wednesday).

    Biden in his reaction described Trump’s action as an “overwhelming abuse of power” that demanded Congress’ investigation, while another Democratic Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, called for impeachment.

    Consequently, the Speaker had directed the House’s six different Committees investigating the President to harmonize their investigations “under the umbrella of impeachment” .

    The development ended months of resistance by Speaker Pelosi to be drawn into impeachment move which she feared could have an unsalutary effects on the Democrats electoral fortunes in 2020.

    Addressing the media after a meeting of Congressional Democratic leaders, Speaker Pelosi made the decision to commence an impeachment inquiry known.

    “For the past several months, we have been investigating in our committees and litigating in the courts so the House can gather all the relevant facts and consider whether to exercise its full article one powers, including a constitutional power of the utmost gravity approval of articles of impeachment. And this week, the President has admitted to asking the president of Ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically. The actions of the Trump presidency revealed dishonorable fact of the President’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections.

    “Therefore today, I’m announcing the House of Representatives moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. “I’m directing our six committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry. The President must be held accountable. No one is above the law”,she declared.

    “Last Tuesday, we observed the anniversary of the adoption of the constitution on September 17th. Sadly on that day, the intelligence community Inspector General formally notified the Congress that the administration was forbidding him from turning over a whistleblower complaint on constitution day.

    “This is a violation of the law. Shortly thereafter, press reports began to break of a phone call by the president of the United States calling upon a foreign power to intervene in his election. This is a breach of his constitutional responsibilities”, Pelosi said.

    She continued ,“the facts are these, the intelligence community Inspector General, who was appointed by President Trump determined that the complaint is both of urgent concern and credible. And it’s disclosure, he went on to say, relates to one of the most significant, important of the Director of National Intelligence’s responsibility to the American people. On “Thursday, the Inspector General testified before the House Intelligence Committee stating that the acting Director of National Intelligence blocked him from disclosing the whistleblower complaint. This is a violation of law.

    “The law is unequivocal. It says the DNI, D-N-I Director of National Intelligence, shall provide Congress the full whistleblower complaint. For more than 25 years, I’ve served on the Intelligence Committee as a member, as the ranking member, as part of the Gang of Four even before I was in the leadership.

    “I was there when we created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. That did not exist before 2004. I was there even earlier in the ’90s when we wrote the whistleblower laws and continued to write them to improve them, to ensure the security of our intelligence and the safety of our whistleblowers. I know what their purpose was and we proceeded with balance and caution as we wrote the laws. I can say with authority, the Trump administration’s actions undermine both our national security and our intelligence and our protections of the whistleblowers. More than both.

    “This Thursday, the acting DNI will appear before the house intelligence committee. At that time, he must turn over the whistleblower’s full complaint to the committee. He will have to choose whether to break the law or honor his responsibility to the constitution.

  • US House Speaker, Pelosi announces formal impeachment inquiry against Trump

    US House Speaker, Pelosi announces formal impeachment inquiry against Trump

    Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Democrats in the House, on Tuesday announced a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump in the Congress.

    The announcement marks the most direct step taken by the House Democratic leader to embrace impeachment proceedings and is a significant escalation in the fight between House Democrats and the President.

    “The actions of the Trump presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of the President’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections.

    “Therefore, today, I am announcing the House of Representatives moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry,” Pelosi said at a news conference.

    The House speaker has long pushed to keep her caucus away from the politically divisive issue and is signaling that she’s responding to the seismic shift among Democratic members, following Trump’s admission of discussing Vice President Joe Biden and his son in his phone call with the Ukrainian President.

    Dozens of House Democrats — many from moderate or Trump-won districts — have announced their support for an impeachment inquiry over the past 48 hours.

    In advance of that statement, Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer also announced plans to vote on a resolution of disapproval on Wednesday for allegations “that the President of the United States sought to enlist a foreign government to interfere in our democratic process by investigating one of his political rivals — and may have used the withholding of Congressionally-appropriated foreign assistance days earlier as intimidation.”

    Their statement did not mention impeachment.

    Pelosi consulted Tuesday afternoon with the six House Democratic leaders to discuss their presentation to the caucus later in the day, Democratic sources familiar with the issue say.

    In that closed-door meeting before her public announcement, Pelosi said the six chairmen will continue to investigate under a powerful new umbrella of an impeachment inquiry.

  • Oil facility attack: Trump approves troops, missiles deployment to Saudi Arabia, UAE

    US President Donald Trump on Friday approved the deployment of thousands of American troops to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in response to an attack on Saudi oil facilities.

    The approval was announced at the Pentagon by Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

    He said the deployment was at the request of Saudi Arabia, after its oil facilities were targeted in drone and missile attacks.

    “In response to the Kingdom’s request, the president has approved the deployment of U.S. forces, which will be defensive in nature and primarily focused on air and missile defense, ” Esper said.

    Esper said “all indications” are that Iran was responsible for the attacks. The troops will be deployed in a “defensive posture” to increase security, Esper said, though it was not immediately clear how many additional troops would be sent to the region.

    Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Dunford said it would not be “thousands” of troops.

    Trump had in recent days indicated the administration believed Iran was behind the incident, but officials had refrained from saying so definitively.

  • Trump confirms killing of Osama Bin Laden’s son

    Trump confirms killing of Osama Bin Laden’s son

    Hamza bin Laden, the son of Osama bin Laden has been killed in a US Operation, President Donald Trump confirmed today.

    Trump said in a statement released by the White House that bin Laden was killed in a counter-terrorism operation near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, though did not provide an exact date for the death.

    Hamza last made a public statement in 2018.

    In February, there was a report suggesting his death.

    Then Defense Secretary Mark Esper in late August spoke about Hamza’s possible death in an interview with Fox News.

    “I don’t have the details on that. And if I did, I’m not sure how much I could share with you,” he added when asked if the U.S. had any role in his death.

    “The loss of Hamza bin Ladin not only deprives al-Qa’ida of important leadership skills and the symbolic connection to his father, but undermines important operational activities of the group. Hamza bin Ladin was responsible for planning and dealing with various terrorist groups,” Trump said in the statement.

    Bin Laden, buoyed by the fame of his father, was given a prominent role in the terrorist group that masterminded the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

    The State Department earlier this year offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his capture and labeled him an “emerging” leader in al-Qaeda.

    Hamza bin Laden had married the daughter of a senior leader in al-Qaeda who was charged by a federal grand jury for his role in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa, and intelligence seized from Osama bin Laden’s hiding place in Pakistan after the raid that killed him suggested his son was being groomed to eventually head the terrorist group.

    Bin Laden included threats to Saudi Arabia and a call to revolution in his last public statement made in a video in 2018, according to the United Nations.

    He was believed to have been in his early 30s.

  • Trump sacks National Security Adviser John Bolton

    Trump sacks National Security Adviser John Bolton

    American President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that he had fired his National Security Adviser John Bolton.

    The President made the announcement in a tweet in which he said he “disagreed strongly” with Bolton on “many issues”

    “I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House,” he said.

    “I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning.

    “I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week.”

    However, after Trump’s announcement, Bolton himself tweeted a direct contradiction of the president’s claim, saying: “I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, ‘Let’s talk about it tomorrow.’”

    Bolton had served as Trump’s top national-security aide since April 9, 2018.

  • U.S. Supreme Court approves Trump wall funding

    U.S. Supreme Court approves Trump wall funding

    The US Supreme Court has said that President Donald Trump can use $2.5 billion (£2 billion) of Pentagon funds for a section of wall on the southern border.

    The court ruled by five votes to four to block a ruling by a federal judge in California that barred the president from spending the money on the wall.
    The wall, dividing the US and Mexico, was Mr Trump’s major campaign promise during the 2016 election.
    It is fiercely opposed by Democrats.
    The decision by the Supreme Court means that the money will be used for wall projects in California, Arizona and New Mexico.
    The court in California had argued that Congress had not specifically authorised the funds to be used for constructing the wall.
    In a tweet, Mr Trump described the ruling as a “big victory”.
    On Friday, the US and Guatemala signed a deal, under which migrants from Honduras and El Salvador who pass through Guatemala will be required to stop and seek asylum there first, rather than continuing and trying to enter the United States.

    What has the reaction been to the ruling?

    US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: “This evening’s Supreme Court ruling allowing Donald Trump to steal military funds to spend on a wasteful, ineffective border wall rejected by Congress is deeply flawed. Our Founders designed a democracy governed by the people – not a monarchy.”
    The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has vowed to seek an expedited decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals “to halt the irreversible and imminent damage from Trump’s border wall”.
    Gloria Smith, an attorney with environmental group the Sierra Club, which sued to block the funds said: “Today’s decision to permit the diversion of military funds for border wall construction will wall off and destroy communities, public lands, and waters in California, New Mexico, and Arizona.”
    Mr Trump declared an emergency earlier this year, saying he needed $6.7bn to build the wall as a matter of national security. However this figure is far short of the estimated $23bn cost of a barrier along the whole 2,000 miles (3,200km) of border.
    Democrats claimed Mr Trump’s decision to declare an emergency exceeded his powers under the US constitution.
    About 20 states, along with groups including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have filed lawsuits to try and stop the president using the emergency declaration to bypass Congress.
    Environmental groups have also campaigned against building the wall claiming that it could have a negative impact on wildlife.
    In February, Congress approved $1.38bn for the construction of “primary pedestrian fencing” along the Rio Grande Valley in Texas – far less than Mr Trump had sought.
    The House of Representatives is also taking legal action to stop the diversion of further funds for the wall project.

    What is happening at the border now?

    According to US authorities, the number of border apprehensions dropped by 28% in June.
    The decline follows a record number of apprehensions between ports of entry in May – the highest in over a decade. Drops in migrations are typical during summer but this June saw a sharper decline compared to previous years.
    The Trump administration claims the decrease is due to new policies with Mexico to curb migration.
    The UN Missing Migrants project reports that 170 migrants have died or are missing on the US-Mexico border so far in 2019 – including 13 children.
    Culled from BBC

  • We are already effectively in Trump impeachment probe – U.S. Democrats

    The U.S. House Judiciary Democrats told newsmen on Friday that they do not need to launch a formal impeachment inquiry they are essentially conducting one already with their investigation into President Donald Trump.
    “In effect,’’ Judiciary Chairman, Jerrold Nadler, said when asked if the panel’s ongoing probe is effectively the same as an impeachment inquiry.
    The only difference, the New York Democrat said, is that with a formal impeachment inquiry the panel would only be considering impeachment.
    “That’s not what we’re doing. … We’re not limited to that,’’ Nadler said.

    Despite not being limited to impeachment, Nadler and several of his fellow Judiciary Democrats confirmed during a news conference that their investigation has reached a point where they are considering whether to draft articles of impeachment against the president.
    “From my personal stand point, I would say we’re in an impeachment investigation,’’ Maryland Representative, Jamie Raskin, said.
    Raskin noted that there is no statute or House rule governing what form an impeachment inquiry must take.
    Representative Eric Swalwell agreed, noting that the House efforts to impeach former Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton took different forms.
    “This is an impeachment investigation,’’ the California Democrat said of the Judiciary Committee’s current probe into Trump’s alleged crimes and misdeeds.