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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Julia Carrie Wong in Oakland (now) and Erin Durkin in New York (earlier)

Mueller report: no new indictments recommended, says DoJ official – as it happened

Robert Mueller seen in 2013. The special counsel has submitted his report on the Trump-Russia investigation.
Robert Mueller seen in 2013. The special counsel has submitted his report on the Trump-Russia investigation. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Summary: the Mueller report finally drops

Well, it happened. Special counsel Robert Mueller completed his report and gave it to the attorney general. But that’s not all! Here’s a rundown of the biggest stories of the day.

  • Trump reversed his Treasury Department’s decision on sanctions against North Korea because he “likes Chairman Kim”, according to his press secretary.
  • Mueller delivered his report to William Barr, the US attorney general.
  • Barr said that he will release the report’s “principle conclusions” to congressional leaders as soon as this weekend.
  • Democrats in congress called for the report’s immediate release. Republicans were more circumspect.
  • An inspector general’s report revealed that Fema, the US disaster relief agency, unnecessarily released sensitive identifiable data, including banking information, of 2.3m disaster survivors to an outside contractor.

What do you want to know about the Mueller report?

If you’re like me, you probably have a ton of questions about the Mueller report. What happens next? Will Trump be impeached? Why did the DOJ say not to expect more indictments? Who is going to keep the local witch population under control now that the witch hunt is over?

Never fear! The Guardian’s political reporters want to help. Use this form to tell them your questions, and they’ll do their best to track down the answers and report back!

It’s been a banner headline kind of day.

Let’s say your name is Bob, you’ve just turned in a big report that’s been hanging over your head for literally YEARS, it’s a Friday night ... what do you do next?

My money is on Mueller getting deeply into Korean skincare and cryptocurrency, but the internet-at-large has also weighed in, and my colleague Matthew Cantor has all the best jokes here.

If you think politics in the US has gone a bit mad, just take a gander across the pond, where mentalist Uri Geller (you know, the guy who bends spoons with his mind) is promising to stop Brexit using, well, his super strong spoon-bending mind.

In an open letter to Theresa May, Geller promised that he will prevent the UK’s exit from the EU, saying, “I feel psychically and very strongly that most British people do not want Brexit ... As much as I admire you, I will stop you telepathically from doing this – and believe me I am capable of executing it.”

Lest you think it’s only British politics that attracts figures making questionable claims of telepathy, however, feel free to tune into cable news tonight to hear all manner of political experts weigh in on the contents of a report they’ve yet to read.

How did the Mueller investigation manage to keep its secrets under wraps for two years?

My colleagues Oliver Laughland and Jon Swaine have a new article looking at the “leak-proof inquiry”:

Behind the walls of a nondescript concrete office building in south-west Washington DC, special counsel Robert Mueller has meticulously compiled one of the most important investigations in American history.

There have been 37 indictments or guilty pleas and 199 criminal charges. Five people, including some of Donald Trump’s closest former advisers, have been sent to prison.

And yet for all the political fallout, intrigue over Mueller’s prosecutorial strategy and obsession with the contents of his final report, the office of the special counsel has remained an almost sealed vessel.

Read the full report here.

Fema exposed data of 2.3m hurricane and wildfire survivors

Pardon the Mueller Time interruption, but my colleague Vivian Ho is reporting on a deeply concerning data breach by the US disaster relief agency:

The US disaster relief agency unnecessarily released sensitive identifiable data, including banking information, of 2.3m disaster survivors to an outside contractor, according to a report by theOffice of Inspector General.

The survivors, who were affected by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, as well as the 2017 wildfires in California , had provided their information to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) while applying for transitional sheltering in hotels.

Find the full article here.

Here’s a fun blast from the past, courtesy of historian Michael Beschloss. William Barr’s tie is a choice.

Here’s a small update on how the special counsel’s office will be wound down over the next few days:

Tom McCarthy and Jon Swaine have also put together this helpful explainer with answers to all your most pressing questions about the Mueller report.

One thing to keep in mind: there are still lots of other investigations into Trump. Per Tom and Jon:

Are any other Trump-related investigations still ongoing?

Yes, lots. While the special counsel’s office has concluded its work, investigations taken up by federal prosecutors in the southern and eastern districts of New York continue, and prosecutors have also been active in the eastern district of Virginia and the District of Columbia. Unlike Mueller, those prosecutors are not bound by narrow authorizations dictating what activity they can investigate, and there is no pressure to hasten the investigations.

Congress is conducting separate investigations of Trump’s campaign and other matters. Evidence gathered by Mueller could feed those investigations.

Read the full article here.

The investigation into President Trump’s campaign and administration is closer than ever to bringing the truth to light, and The Guardian is here to help bring clarity, analysis, and fact-based reporting to this critical moment in American history. But we need your help, too. More people, all around the world, are reading and supporting The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism. And unlike many news organizations, we haven’t put up a paywall. We have chosen an approach that allows us to keep our reporting accessible to everyone, regardless of where they live or what they can afford. We hope you’ll consider making a contribution. Every contribution we receive goes directly into funding our journalism.

Here’s my colleague Tom McCarthy on Robert Mueller, the “pain in the ass” who took on Trump:

The formidable edifice of Mueller’s personal reputation built over a 50-year career as a public servant, which began with voluntary conscription in the US Marine Corps at age 21, featured multiple distinguished turns as a federal prosecutor and culminated with the top job at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Along the way, Mueller, 74, won a reputation among Republicans and Democrats alike as an intimidatingly hardworking, methodical and serious straight-shooter for whom personal integrity and adherence to the justice department playbook have always been granite-etched fact.

Read the full article here.

Adam Schiff, chair of the House intelligence committee, has an important reminder about the “no new indictments” line from the Justice department: the special counsel’s investigation is not the only game in town.

A few more Democratic presidential candidates are out with statements demanding the complete release of the Mueller report.

Updated

NBC News has multiple sources confirming that Mueller is not recommending any further indictments.

Lindsey Graham, chair of the Senate judiciary committee, has released a statement:

The Department of Justice has notified me and Ranking Member Feinstein that the Mueller Report has been turned over to Attorney General Barr. This notification indicates that Attorney General Barr will pursue as much transparency as possible.

Importantly, the notification also indicates that there were no areas of disagreement between the Attorney General or the Acting Attorney General and Special Counsel Mueller regarding courses of action. This information is specifically required to be disclosed by the regulations governing Special Counsel reports.

I expect both Ranking Member Feinstein and I will be briefed more thoroughly about the report in the coming days.

I will work with Ranking Member Feinstein and our House Judiciary Committee colleagues to ensure as much transparency as possible, consistent with the law.

I have always believed it was important that Mr. Mueller be allowed to do his job without interference, and that has been accomplished.”

Senator Amy Klobuchar, another Democratic presidential hopeful, is also out with this call for the report to be made public: “The Mueller report should be released to the public. This decision is not about politics but about protecting our democracy. Now is the time to do the right thing. The American people deserve the truth.”

No new indictments recommended by Mueller, per DOJ official

Mueller may have finished his report, but that doesn’t mean his work is entirely done. According to BuzzFeed News reporter Zoe Tillman, he and a few other staff will remain employed as they “close up the office”.

After that, well, this string of political reporters has some ideas for his future funemployment.

As the investigation into President Trump’s administration unfolds, The Guardian will continue to provide insight, analysis and factual reporting to help bring the truth to light. But we need your help, too. What makes The Guardian different from so many others in media is our editorial independence, meaning we set our own agenda. Our journalism is free from commercial bias and not influenced by billionaire owners, politicians or shareholders. Every contribution we receive from readers like you, big or small, goes directly into funding our journalism. This support enables us to keep working as we do – but we must maintain and build on it for every year to come. Support The Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you

And here’s a joint statement from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, calling for the public release of the full report:

Now that Special Counsel Mueller has submitted his report to the Attorney General, it is imperative for Mr. Barr to make the full report public and provide its underlying documentation and findings to Congress. Attorney General Barr must not give President Trump, his lawyers or his staff any ‘sneak preview’ of Special Counsel Mueller’s findings or evidence, and the White House must not be allowed to interfere in decisions about what parts of those findings or evidence are made public.

The Special Counsel’s investigation focused on questions that go to the integrity of our democracy itself: whether foreign powers corruptly interfered in our elections, and whether unlawful means were used to hinder that investigation. The American people have a right to the truth. The watchword is transparency.

The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has also issued a response to the report. While he says he hopes for “as much openness and transparency as possible”, he is not demanding the immediate release of the full report.

Here’s the full statement:

I welcome the announcement that the Special Counsel has finally completed his investigation into Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 elections. Many Republicans have long believed that Russia poses a significant threat to American interests. I hope the Special Counsel’s report will help inform and improve our efforts to protect our democracy.

I am grateful we have an experienced and capable Attorney General in place to review the Special Counsel’s report. Attorney General Barr now needs the time to do that.

The Attorney General has said he intends to provide as much information as possible. As I have said previously, I sincerely hope he will do so as soon as he can, and with as much openness and transparency as possible.

Updated

A number of Democratic lawmakers (and presidential hopefuls) are quick out of the gate with calls for the full release of the Mueller report.

Senator Mark Warner is the vice-chair of the Senate intelligence committee.

Jerry Nadler is chair of the House judiciary committee.

Updated

President Trump’s attorneys have also responded to the report’s release, according to NBC News.

Updated

White House responds to Mueller report

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders issued a statement on the report’s release on Twitter.

My colleague Jon Swaine has the context you need on the conclusion of special counsel Mueller’s investigation:

Mueller’s move signals the end of a sprawling criminal inquiry that has dominated the first two years of Donald Trump’s presidency, prompting furious attacks from Trump and his allies.

The investigation led to the criminal convictions of Trump’s campaign chairman, deputy chairman, personal attorney and two policy advisers. The president’s longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone was also indicted.

Mueller’s team secured criminal indictments of others, including more than two dozen Russians accused of involvement in Moscow’s interference in the 2016 US election, which US intelligence agencies concluded was aimed at helping Trump win.

Feverish anticipation of the “Mueller report” has grown for months, with critics of Trump hoping for a full public account of any links between his presidential campaign team and the Russian operation.

But by law Mueller’s report to the attorney general, William Barr, must explain only why his team of investigators decided to prosecute those people who were charged – and declined to pursue others.

It is now up to Barr, who was confirmed as Trump’s attorney general only last month, to decide how much information unearthed by Mueller is disclosed to Congress and the American public.

Read the full article here.

AG Barr says he is 'committed to as much transparency as possible'

Here’s a picture of the full text of Barr’s letter to congressional leaders, from AP reporter Chad Day.

“I am reviewing the report and anticipate that I may be in a position to advise you of the Special Counsel’s principal conclusions as soon as this weekend,” Barr writes.

“Separately, I intend to consult with Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and Special Counsel Mueller to determine what other information from the report can be released to Congress and the public consistent with the law, including the Special Counsel regulations, and the Department’s long-standing practices and policies. I remain committed to as much transparency as possible, and I will keep you informed as to the status of my review.”

William Barr letter on Robert Mueller report

Updated

AG may tell Congress Mueller's 'principle conclusions' by weekend

The Mueller report is now in the hands of the attorney general, William Barr. The next step is for Barr to report to Congress, something that could happen “as soon as this weekend”, according to a letter he sent congressional leaders.

Updated

Mueller delivers completed report to US attorney general

Robert Mueller has delivered his completed report to attorney general William Barr, the Justice department has said.

Mueller’s move signals the end of the special counsel’s two-year criminal inquiry, which led to the criminal convictions of Trump’s campaign chairman, deputy chairman, personal attorney and two policy advisers.

Here we go.

The federal judge who oversaw the trial of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s has recommended that he serve his sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Cumberland, Maryland, according to a new court filing.

Manafort was sentenced to seven and half years in prison for bank fraud, tax fraud, and other crimes.

The prison in Cumberland has been nicknamed a “Club Fed”, according to this Washington Post article from 2015, which described Cumberland as the “go-to for white collar Washington criminals”.

Here’s another reaction to Trump’s reversal on North Korea sanctions, from Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading Democratic presidential candidate.

As you may recall, Trump previously faced harsh criticism for tweeting threats at Kim Jong Un and North Korea, like this gem from January 2018.

The Rocket Man tweets were too cold, the sanction-canceling tweets are too warm, but ceasing to make foreign policy announcements on Twitter sounds just right.

Hello all! This is Julia Carrie Wong in Oakland taking the helm of the politics live blog for the rest of your Friday.

While DC frets over Schrödinger’s Mueller report, President Trump’s Twitter diplomacy took another turn, with his surprise announcement reversing the Treasury Department’s decision on sanctions against North Korea.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee, now chaired by New York Democrat, Eliot Engel, just released a scathing statement saying Trump is “making critical national security decisions on the fly”.

Summary

  • Speculation has been flying that the report from special counsel Robert Mueller may be imminent, but there’s no word from the special counsel so far today.
  • Donald Trump warned that “people will not stand for it” if the Mueller report is bad for him.
  • Trump in a tweet reversed his Treasury Department’s decision on sanctions against North Korea, with his press secretary saying he was doing it because he “likes Chairman Kim.”

Sign up for our morning briefing for a global perspective on the US. We’ll email you a summary of the day’s top stories and must-reads. Subscribe now.

Updated

Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani seems just as mystified as the rest of official Washington about the timing of the Mueller report.

“They said it was going to be at noon or 12:30,” he told the New York Times this afternoon at the Trump International Hotel. “It’s not going to be Saturday, so they’ve got to do it today.”

As reporters and photographer’s staked out Mueller’s office, the Times reported, one woman joked to the crowd, “I have the report in my purse!”

New Jersey Senator and presidential candidate Cory Booker endorsed his state’s bill to legalize marijuana.

“All too often, communities of color and low-income individuals are unjustly impacted by our broken drug policies, but by including measures to expunge records and reinvest in the communities most impacted, our state has the opportunity to lead in prioritizing social justice,” Booker said Friday, according to the Hill.

“With this bill, New Jersey legislators can send a strong message to the country that marijuana legalization and social justice must be inextricably linked.”

The New Jersey legislature is aiming to vote next week on the legalization bill.

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz will run for governor of Puerto Rico in 2020, she announced Friday.

“We have to break away from the chains that tie us down in order to have a promising future and break our cycle of poverty,” Cruz said in announcing her run, NBC News reported.

The San Juan Mayor became a prominent foe of Donald Trump after Hurricane Maria.

She said current Gov. Ricardo Rosselló “was unable to count deaths after Hurricane Maria” and “stood by Trump when he threw paper towels at people.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is condemning her party’s move to discourage primaries against incumbents by refusing to hire political consulting firms that work on such campaigns. The New York Democrat famously defeated longtime Rep. Joe Crowley last year.

While we continue to wait for the Mueller report, new attorney general William Barr is rolling out an agenda that goes beyond his department’s most notorious investigation.

One of his priorities is fighting the opioid crisis, the Wall Street Journal reports. And Barr plans to propose limiting federal judges’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions, a pet peeve for Donald Trump.

He’s planning a series of policy speeches to lay out his agenda, according to WSJ. He has mostly left day-to-day management of the Russia probe to deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein.

Updated

The White House does support the Treasury Department’s announced sanctions on Venezuela, unlike the ones on North Korea.

“President Donald J. Trump is committed to preventing Nicolas Maduro and his regime from further stealing Venezuela’s resources and wealth for their personal gain, while the people of Venezuela suffer from lack of food, medicine, and reliable power and water,” press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

“Today, the Department of the Treasury determined that Venezuela’s financial sector is subject to sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 13850, and sanctioned a major Venezuelan bank and four subsidiary banks used by Maduro and his regime as slush funds to evade United States sanctions and to move money out of Venezuela. The United States will continue to take steps to pressure Maduro, his regime, and those who support him, until they step out of the way and allow a democratic transition to occur.”

Treasury department imposes new Venezuela sanctions

The US treasury department has slapped new sanctions on Venezuela’s banking sector.

The sanctions target Venezuela’s state-controlled bank, the Banco de Desarrollo Economico y Social de Venezuela, or BANDES, as the Trump administration seeks to increase pressure on president Nicolas Maduro.

The regime has turned the bank and its subsidiaries “into vehicles to move funds abroad in an attempt to prop up Maduro. Maduro and his enablers have distorted the original purpose of the bank, which was founded to help the economic and social well-being of the Venezuelan people, as part of a desperate attempt to hold onto power,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The announcement comes soon after Trump tweeted that he was reversing another sanctions decision by Treasury, to penalize companies for violating existing sanctions against North Korea.

Updated

The US posted its biggest monthly budget deficit in history last month, Bloomberg News reports.

The budget gap jumped to $234 billion in February, up from $215 billion in February 2018.

Beto O’Rourke was one of just two Democrats to oppose measures to condemn Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, the Daily Beast reports.

The Texas congressman voted against an aid package for Ukraine in 2014. He also voted against a resolution condemning Russian president Vladimir Putin for “carry[ing] out a policy of aggression against neighboring countries aimed at political and economic domination.”

  • This post was corrected on 25 March 2019. O’Rourke opposed measures to condemn Russia after it invaded Ukraine, not Iraq.

Updated

“There is not even the pretense of a national security process. Hard to imagine what would occur if there were a real crisis,” said Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, citing Donald Trump’s announcements of foreign policy by tweet on two consecutive days. Thursday, he announced on Twitter that the US is recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Adam Mount, a nuclear expert at the Federation of American Scientists, said Donald Trump’s reversal of punishments against companies that violated North Korean sanctions will make it more difficult to maintain pressure against the North.

“The message this sends is unmistakable. After refusing to consider sanctions relief at Hanoi, Trump volunteers to loosen enforcement in order to preserve the talks,” he told CNN. “It shovels leverage to other side, assuring them their tactics could work.”

“Reversing the designations will make it even more difficult for US diplomats to concentrate allies and partners on sanctions enforcement, especially at sea,” he said.

Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, reacting to Donald Trump’s reversal of his administration’s latest North Korea sanctions, says, “The United States of America no longer has a foreign policy.”

Former astronaut and US Senate candidate Mark Kelly has returned $55,000 he was paid for a speech in the United Arab Emirates, CNN reported.

The event was sponsored by the country’s crown prince and attended by UAE leaders. Kelly spoke alongside his twin brother and fellow astronaut Scott Kelly.

The money was returned after CNN inquired about the payment. Kelly, the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords, is challenging Republican Arizona Sen. Martha McSally.

National Security Adviser John Bolton yesterday praised the North Korea sanctions that Donald Trump has now reversed.

Trump reverses North Korea sanctions

The White House clarifies that Donald Trump is reversing the sanctions against companies doing business with North Korea announced last night.

“President Trump likes Chairman Kim and he doesn’t think these sanctions will be necessary,” press secretary Sarah Sanders said, according to Bloomberg News.

Updated

It’s not entirely clear what Donald Trump was referring to when he tweeted that he was reversing sanctions announced today by his Treasury Department against North Korea.

The department announced sanctions today against Iran, not North Korea. Separately, yesterday it was announced that two companies would be punished for violating existing North Korean sanctions.

Hillary Clinton is asking for support for a flight attendant and DACA recipient faced with possible deportation after working on a flight to Mexico.

Some poor reviews for Donald Trump’s appointee to the Federal Reserve board.

Updated

The White Houses’s declaration that ISIS has been completely defeated in Syria appears not to square with facts on the ground.

CNN’s Bed Wedeman, in eastern Syria, reports that while the territory held by ISIS is very small, there is still gunfire coming from ISIS positions. “The fighting is not over,” he said.

There are still hundreds of ISIS holdouts in the territory, including women and children being used as human shields, and they are expected to put up a fierce fight before relinquishing the remaining territory, he reported.

An MSNBC reporters also says he can still hear clashes and air strikes.

Updated

Donald Trump says he has ordered the reversal of sanctions against North Korea that were announced just today by his own Treasury Department.

Former White House staff secretary Rob Porter must admit wrongdoing to move on from allegations of domestic violence, his ex-wife said Friday.

“I can’t speak for any therapy or counseling, or remorse or repentance that Rob has done privately, but in order to be able to step back into public service, there has to be some sort of public acknowledgment that what you did was wrong and you would like to have another space, another shot. And I think that’s the piece that’s missing for me,” Jennie Willoughby said in an interview with CNN.

Porter quite his White House job last year after Willoughby and another ex-wife accused him of abuse. He has inched back into the public eye with a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.

Willoughby said she was in regular contact with her ex-husband up until about a month ago, urging him to admit fault as he seeks redemption.

“I need to know that you are doing the work and we need to see it.,” she said. “He hasn’t been willing so far. I think he’s doing work privately and likes to keep that very private. In my opinion, in order for it to translate, in order for me to feel at peace with the work that he’s doing, I want it to be acknowledged openly.”

CNN has confirmed that Beto O’Rourke asks for permission before he climbs up on people’s counters.

The House Judiciary Committee is asking a Trump administration official to clarify his testimony about the government tracking the pregnancies and menstrual cycles of young immigrant women in federal custody.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, the chair of the House judiciary committee, told Scott Lloyd, the former head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, that his February testimony before Congress appears inconsistent with the facts, the Hill reported.

“We were troubled by your responses at the time — but we now have reason to believe that your responses are inconsistent with documentation that has been made public since your testimony,” Nadler wrote.

Judiciary Committee members asked Lloyd whether ORR had used spreadsheets to track how far along unaccompanied girls were in their pregnancies, and tracked their menstrual cycles. He denied it.

Since then, documents have emerged showing Lloyd was in fact tracking pregnancies and receiving receiving updates on girls’ menstrual cycles.

Presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke called Friday for ending cash bail.

He noted his own past arrests for drunk driving and burglary, and said he was able to post bail both times because his family has the money.

“Ending the cash bail system makes sense. You cannot be too poor to have your freedom,” he said at a South Carolina campaign stop, according to footage aired by CNN.

Rep. Ruben Gallego wrote to the joint chiefs of staff to ask if military readiness if being hurt by the diversion of resources to the US southern border.

Donald Trump has made his nomination of former campaign adviser Stephen Moore to the federal reserve board Twitter-official.

More signs of possible tension between Trump and Fox News. Trump in recent days has criticized the network’s news reporters (while praising its pro-Trump opinion presenters).

Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani tweeted a misleading video clip claiming that Rep. Ilhan Omar took classes on terrorism.

The video has spread on right wing conspiracy sites, the Washington Post reports. The video shows Omar, who went to North Dakota State University, saying she took a class on terrorism in college. She studied political science and international relations.

“What is she laughing at in recalling her terrorism classes? This represents the future of the Democrat Party? God help us,” Giuliani says in his tweet.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is moving to deter primary challenges to Democratic incumbents.

The DCCC sent out a list of hiring standards to political consulting firms Friday, saying it will not do business with any firm that works to oust a sitting member of Congress, National Journal reported.

“The core mission of the DCCC is electing House Democrats, which includes supporting and protecting incumbents,” the committee wrote.

Donald Trump will appoint his former campaign adviser Stephen Moore to the federal reserve board, he said Friday.

“He’s going to be great on the fed,” Trump told reporters in Florida.

Moore has been a frequent critic of the Fed. Trump has also criticized the body for raising interest rates.

The White House says ISIS has been fully defeated in Syria.

Arriving in Florida, Donald Trump showed reporters a map to make his point.

Updated

The Treasury Department will waive penalties for more taxpayers who had too little in taxes withheld from their 2018 paychecks, officials announced Friday.

People who paid at least 80% of their tax liability during the year will not get hit with penalties, the Hill reported. Normally the threshold is 90%, and Treasury previously said they would lower it to 85%.

After Congress passed a major tax overhaul, a number of taxpayers ended up having too little money withheld from their paychecks.

Cory Booker’s presidential campaign has won an endorsement from a South Carolina state lawmaker.

State Rep. John King is backing Booker, the Associated Press reported. He is the first South Carolina lawmaker to make an endorsement.

King said Booker’s experience combating corruption as mayor of Newark would help him do the same in Washington.

“He has spent his entire career running toward big challenges, so I sat long and hard and thought about who I wanted to support and who I feel would take this country in the right direction,” King said. “Cory Booker is that guy.”

Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond calls Rep. Steve King a “white supremacist” after the Iowa Republican disparaged victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The deputy US attorney who oversaw the prosecution of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen is set to leave his post.

Robert Khuzami plans to leave the job at the US Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York next month, CNN reports.

Former Vice President Joe Biden may wait until the end of April to announce a run for president, CNN reports.

Biden is expected to make a decision about whether to run in the next week or so, but if he decides to run, his team may take another three weeks to plan a launch.

Iowa Rep. Steve King criticized the victims of Hurricane Katrina at a town hall Thursday, suggesting they sat around waiting for government help.

King has a history of controversial remarks and was stripped of his committee assignments for comments about white supremacy.

In Iowa Thursday, he suggested his constituents who are dealing with severe floods were handling the disaster better than mostly-black residents of New Orleans, CNN reported.

“Here’s what FEMA tells me. We go to a place like New Orleans, and everybody’s looking around saying, ‘Who’s going to help me? Who’s going to help me?’” King said.

“We go to a place like Iowa, and we go, we go see, knock on the door at, say, I’ll make up a name, John’s place, and say, ‘John, you got water in your basement, we can write you a check, we can help you.’ And John will say, ‘Well, wait a minute, let me get my boots. It’s Joe that needs help. Let’s go down to his place and help him.’”

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, a Republican who represents a part of New Orleans, told CNN King’s comments were absurd and offensive.

The governor of Louisiana also condemned him.

Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani says the wait for the Mueller report is like “waiting for a baby.”

Giuliani told the Washington Post he has no information to indicate when the report will be delivered.

“It’s like waiting for a baby,” he said. “Or, maybe, it’s more like waiting for a jury. You make your case, then you have to wait days for that verdict.”

Giuliani said he spoke to Trump Friday morning to discuss their strategy on responding to the special counsel’s findings.

“If the report is good,” he said,“I’ll give out cigars.”

The Trump administration hit Iran with new sanctions on Friday while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was denouncing Iran’s growing influence on a visit to Lebanon, the Associated Press reports:

The Treasury Department said the sanctions target 31 Iranian scientists, technicians and companies affiliated with Iran’s Organization for Defense Innovation and Research, which had been at the forefront of the country’s former nuclear weapons program. Officials said those targeted continue to work in Iran’s defense sector and form a core of experts who could reconstitute that program. Fourteen people, including the head of the organization, and 17 subsidiary operations are covered by the sanctions.

The sanctions freeze any assets that those targeted may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bar Americans from any transactions with them. But, officials say the move will also make those targeted “radioactive internationally” by making people of any nationality who do business with them subject to U.S. penalties under so-called secondary sanctions.

As more advertisers pull out of Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show, the show is increasingly filling commercial space with ads for Fox’s own programming, the Hollywood Reporter reports.

The show has broadcast a growing number of “house ads” for Fox News, Fox Nation, Fox television and Fox Sports.

The nine episodes of Tucker Carlson Tonight that have aired since Media Matters released sexist comments that Carlson made in radio appearances have included 6.2 house ads per show, making up more than a third of the show’s total advertising, according to the Hollywood Reporter’s review.

Trump: Democrats are 'anti-Jewish'

Donald Trump accused the Democratic party of being anti-Jewish, when asked about several presidential hopefuls choosing to skip an AIPAC conference.

“The Democrats have very much proven to be anti-Israel,” he told reporters as he departed the White House.

“It’s a disgrace,” he said. “They are totally anti-Israel. Frankly I think they’re anti-Jewish.”

Trump, who is headed to Florida for the weekend, is also not attending the AIPAC conference.

Updated

Beto O’Rourke is on a campaign swing through South Carolina today, where he’s drawing big crowds, the Huffington Post reports.

O’Rourke said he would support a wealth tax.

“We don’t have princes and princesses, kings and queens, a concentration of wealth and power, and that’s exactly what we have right now,” he told Huffington Post.

“I have no idea about the Mueller report,” Donald Trump told reporters as he departed the White House.

He attacked both Mueller’s investigation and multiple probes being conducted the Democratic-controlled House.

The White House has indicated it will resist House investigators’ requests for documents.

“Just a continuation of the same witch hunt. They know it. And behind closed doors, they laugh at it,” Trump said. “It’s just a continuation of the same nonsense.”

Trump said it would be “very interesting” to see what is contained in the Mueller report and expressed faith in his current Attorney General, William Barr, to decide what to do with the document when he receives it.

“There was no collusion. There was no obstruction. Everybody knows it. It’s all a big hoax,” he said.

Donald Trump, as he departed for Florida, told reporters he doesn’t know when the Mueller report will be released, according to AP. He again hit the investigation as a “witch hunt.”

Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton, long viewed as a rising star, is now on the outs in Washington after leading a faction that unsuccessfully sought to topple House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. And he’s struggling to gain traction with a potential presidential bid, the Boston Globe reports.

Moulton made a trip to South Carolina this week, where the Globe reports he drew an audience of 22 students at a time when even longshot candidates have drawn crowds of hundreds.

“Moulton may have a bright future. I am not sure if now is the moment,” said Sean Carrigan, a former congressional candidate who attended a roundtable discussion for veterans that the congressman hosted during the trip.

The Supreme Court is set to consider North Carolina’s congressional district maps next week, in a case opponents hope will lead to the court’s first-ever ruling striking down a map is too partisan.

Bloomberg News reports on the case, which has arguments scheduled for Tuesday. The justices will consider both the North Carolina map, drawn by Republicans, and a Maryland map drawn by Democrats.

North Carolina Republicans openly said they were drawing the districts in 2016 to give the party an electoral advantage, according to Bloomberg.

“I propose that we draw the maps to give a partisan advantage to 10 Republicans and three Democrats because I do not believe it’s possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and two Democrats,” state Representative David Lewis, who led the redistricting effort, said at the time.

But the odds are probably against the parties challenging the maps. The court refused to strike down partisan gerrymanders in a Wisconsin case a year ago.

Donald Trump offered some more insight into his decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which has provoked global anger.

He compared it to his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, noting past presidents have promised during their campaigns to move the embassy and recognize the Golan Heights but never followed through.

“It’s been a very hard decision for every president,” he said in an interview on Fox Business.

“They all campaigned on it. They never did it, and I understand why,” he said of the embassy move. “When I got elected, I was inundated with calls from all over the world, the leaders, mostly the leaders saying please, don’t do it, don’t do it. I did it, and it’s been done, and it’s fine. Golan Heights is the same thing. For years, other presidents have campaigned. They said they’d do it. This is sovereignty. This is security. This is about regional security.”

Trump denied it had anything to do with boosting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is up for re-election in three weeks. “I wouldn’t even know about that,” he said.

Also in the interview, Trump hit the federal reserve for raising interest rates and said he believes he can work with Congressional Democrats on an infrastructure bill.

“The easiest thing is infrastructure. They want it, I want it. I spoke to Nancy Pelosi about it the other day. We agree on it,” he said.

Democratic presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand pitched her ideas to improve the asylum process while touring a law clinic at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas that helps immigrants with legal matters.

The Associated Press reports this morning on Thursday’s events:

The senator from New York kicked off her first presidential campaign trip to Nevada by meeting with immigration law students. The 2020 White House hopeful took notes while the students described the cases they’ve worked on and the problems they’ve encountered in the U.S. legal system as they try to help immigrants, including unaccompanied minors.

Gillibrand, who has stressed her role as a mother on the campaign trail, spoke to the students while she picked up and examined several small pieces of canvass with painted handprints of those unaccompanied children whose cases were handled by the clinic.

The Democrat said she’s working on legislation that would guarantee asylum seekers a lawyer, create a system for Americans to foster immigrant children and break out immigration judges from under the U.S. Department of Justice so they can be independent.

“We want unbiased judges that are appointed for life so they can do the right thing, not the political thing,” she told reporters.

Immigration reform is a prime issue in Nevada, which has a sizeable population of immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission and 13,000 young immigrants seeking protection from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

“I think this is a huge issue for all of America,” Gillibrand said. “I think we have a crisis at the border that has been literally manufactured by President Trump, entirely creating a humanitarian crisis of separating families.”

She met Thursday afternoon with former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and spoke to voters at a downtown Las Vegas bar Thursday night.

A close reading of Donald Trump’s interview with Fox Business Network, where he again went after John McCain, suggests he may have been given some kind indication the network would not ask about the issue.

Donald Trump ripped the Green New Deal as the “most preposterous thing” and said he hopes Democrats will move forward with it because it will hurt them politically.

Trump tore into the proposal to combat climate change in an interview with Fox Business Network that aired Friday morning.

“It’s the most preposterous thing,” Trump said. “I really hope they keep going forward with it… because I think it’s going to be very easy to beat.”

Trump said Democrats are becoming “a far-left party.”

“They are radicalized,” he said.

A federal judge in San Francisco will scrutinize the Trump administration’s policy of returning asylum seekers to Mexico during a court hearing Friday to help him decide whether to block the practice. The Associated Press reports:

Civil rights groups have asked Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco to put the asylum policy on hold while their lawsuit moves forward. Seeborg was not expected to rule immediately.

The policy began in January at the San Ysidro border crossing in San Diego, marking an unprecedented change to the U.S. asylum system . Families seeking asylum are typically released in the U.S. with notices to appear in immigration court.

The administration later expanded the policy to the Calexico port of entry, about 120 miles east of the San Ysidro crossing.

The lawsuit on behalf of 11 asylum seekers from Central America and legal advocacy groups says the administration is violating U.S. law by failing to adequately evaluate the dangers that migrants face in Mexico.

Donald Trump is heading for his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida Friday, where he’ll meet with Caribbean leaders to discuss the crisis in Venezuela.

Trump is scheduled to depart the White House at 9:30am and arrive at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida at 12:25pm.

He’ll meet with the leaders of the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and St. Lucia, and the Associated Press reports that the political and economic crisis in Venezuela tops the agenda. Trump will be showing his support for Caribbean countries that back democratic transition in the crisis-racked South American country, where Nicolas Maduro has clung to power despite international pressure.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein hinted last year that the Mueller report would not include harsh condemnation of anyone who has not been charged with a crime.

Talking Points Memo obtained a letter Rosenstein sent to Senator Chuck Grassley on June 27, 2018.

“Punishing wrongdoers through judicial proceedings is only one part of the Department’s mission,” Rosenstein wrote. “We also have a duty to prevent the disclosure of information that would unfairly tarnish people who are not charged with crimes. … In fact, disclosing uncharged allegations against American citizens without a law-enforcement need is considered to be a violation of a prosecutor’s trust.”

Trump warns 'people will not stand' for Mueller report

As Washington braces yet again for the possible release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, Donald Trump is warning that “people will not stand for it” if the report portrays him badly.

The ominous warning came in an interview with Fox Business Network released Friday morning.

“It’s always interesting to me because a deputy, that didn’t get any votes, appoints a man that didn’t get any votes, he’s going to write a report on me,” Trump said, referring to deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein’s decision to nominate Mueller. “I have a deputy, appoints a man to write a report on me, to make a determination on my presidency? People will not stand for it.

“For two years we’ve gone through this nonsense. There’s no collusion,” Trump said.

No one knows for sure when the report on Russian election interference is coming, but there is again buzz it could be imminent.

Reporters are staking out Mueller’s office Friday morning.

“We’re tea leaf reading like everyone else,” one White House official told CNN.

Updated

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