Good Friday Morning.
Here’s what is on the President’s agenda today:
- In the morning, President Donald J. Trump will depart the White House for Joint Base Andrews, en route to Miami, Florida.
- In the afternoon, the President will give remarks and participate in a signing on the United States’ policy towards Cuba.
- The President will then depart Miami, Florida, for Washington, D.C., en route to the White House.
WaPo: Anonymous sources say Mueller is investigating Jared Kushner
And now for our regularly scheduled anonymous leak:
The business dealings of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and trusted aide Jared Kushner are being investigated by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller, the Washington Post reported Thursday, citing officials familiar with the matter.
The news comes as the Justice Department continues its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and the Trump administration’s potential ties to Russia. The Washington Post report suggests that scrutiny has been folded into the special counsel office, and includes Kushner’s business dealings, though it offers no details on what that scrutiny is.
And then the WaPo goes on to say this:
Sources have stressed to CNN that there is no indication Kushner is currently a target of the probe, and there are no allegations he committed any wrongdoing.
What does that mean? He’s being “investigated” but is not a “target”? What is the purpose of reporting this? Mueller is supposed to be investigating the 2016 election, so naturally he would be examining the circumstances of those in the 2016 campaign’s orbit. Of course, if they are investigating anything or anyone related to the 2016 Clinton campaign, it’s not leaking. And that should tell you something.
“We do not know what this report refers to,” Jamie Gorelick, Kushner’s attorney, said in a statement to CNN. “It would be standard practice for the special counsel to examine financial records to look for anything related to Russia. Mr. Kushner previously volunteered to share with Congress what he knows about Russia-related matters. He will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry.”
And someone else important weighed in on the spigot of anonymous leaks…
DOJ warns against believing anonymous sources
This will certainly cut into the bottom line of the WaPo and NYT:
The Justice Department issued a statement Thursday night warning the media and other Americans against believing anonymous sources, and warning that the Justice Department doesn’t confirm statements from unnamed officials.
“Americans should exercise caution before accepting as true any stories attributed to anonymous ‘officials,’ particularly when they do not identify the country – let alone the branch or agency of government – with which the alleged sources supposedly are affiliated,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wrote Thursday.
“Americans should be skeptical about anonymous allegations,” the statement continues. “The Department of Justice has a long-standing policy to neither confirm nor deny such allegations.”
We don’t know if this is in reference to the latest Kushner story or some not-yet released story. Today is Friday, we might get a weekend surprise!
Here’s some amazing documentation of crimes committed against folks on the right
The Daily Caller has a list of attacks committed by the nutters on the left.
A wave of liberal rage has marked the last 11 months since the rise and subsequent election of President Donald Trump.
Antifa protestors clad in black masks shut down college campuses, destroy property and indiscriminately attack those they disagree with, whether women or the elderly. Meanwhile, CNN fires Kathy Griffin for taking photos with a bloody replica of the president’s decapitated head.
Honestly, the list seems a little short to me.
The aggression since Trump’s nomination is difficult to enumerate, but nevertheless, The Daily Caller News Foundation poured over media reports to compile a close but non-exhaustive list of violent acts against conservatives in months following the Republican National Convention.
In creating the list, TheDCNF reviewed numerous articles detailing attacks against conservatives and Trump supporters. Only incidences of violence and threats of violence where the perpetrators were clear are included in the report, excluded are events where the instigator was difficult to discern.
Bye-bye DAPA
The Trump administration has ended Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents program, which protected illegal immigrants with children born in the U.S.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly sent a memo to agents Thursday telling them not to follow the Obama-era rule, which was enacted by his predecessor Jeh Johnson in November of 2014.
In a press release, the Department of Homeland Security said that it was ending the DAPA program because there was “no credible path forward to litigate the currently enjoined policy.”
From the press release:
On June 15, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, after consulting with the Attorney General, signed a memorandum rescinding the November 20, 2014 memorandum that created the program known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (“DAPA”) because there is no credible path forward to litigate the currently enjoined policy.
The rescinded memo purported to provide a path for illegal aliens with a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident child to be considered for deferred action.
Texas and 25 other states sued the Obama administration to block the policy.
What did the NorKs do to Otto Warmbier?
The NorKs took 21-year-old Otto Warmbier hostage during a quick tour the young student took while he was visiting China last year, and he returned this week with severe brain damage.
What happened? We don’t know. A press conference yesterday with his father and his medical team paints a grim picture. Warmbier, the medical team reported, has suffered “extensive loss of brain tissue” in all areas of his brain. We also learned that there were no signs of botulism, which was the cover story the NorKs provided: Warmbier contracted botulism, took a sleeping pill and never woke up.
The medical team told the media that this kind of brain damage occurs with cardiac arrest or some pulmonary trauma where oxygen is cut off from the brain.
Instead, the doctors told reporters that the more likely cause of Warmbier’s condition is cardiopulmonary arrest. Their tests also did not reveal any signs of physical trauma to Warmbier, such as “acute or healing fractures.”
Earlier Thursday his father, Fred Warmbier, said that North Korea’s regime had “brutalized and terrorized” his son for more than a year, and that he’s happy Otto Warmbier is now home. He said his son will now get medical care that he was denied in North Korea.
Horrifying. I consider this a war crime.
Other morsels:
Department of Energy to close climate technology and eliminate 11 positions
Six officials arrested in Flint water crisis
Escaped Georgia inmates captured in Tennessee
16 more indicted in Turkish embassy brawl
More people subscribe to Netflix than have cable
Woman drowns rabid raccoon with bare hands
Violent deaths in Baltimore are beginning to rival the height of Afghanistan War
North Carolinian receives shocking $100 million charge on water bill
And that’s all I’ve got, have a great weekend!
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