Thursday night
That’s all for me tonight. Thanks for reading along! Here’s what happened:
- After Trump changed course on his Administration’s decision to defund the Special Olympics, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos switched her position, saying she was pleased with the decision.
- Trump has continued to double down on his claims that the yet-to-be published Mueller report cleared him of obstruction of justice. In comments to reporters he celebrated the claim, even though the report was actually inconclusive on the charge.
- Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has asked Congress for broadened legal powers that would allow her department to immediately deport unaccompanied minors migrating into the US and detain families, to avoid what she calls a “system-wide meltdown”.
- Trump held his first rally since the Mueller report was submitted. Speaking in Michigan, he attacked “little pencil neck Adam Schiff”, condemned “crooked journalists”, and said the “collusion delusion” was over.
Updated
Despite spending the last 3 years of trying to gut funding for The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, at his rally tonight he shared with the cheering crowd that he would be fully funding it.
“I support the Great Lakes,” he said. “They are beautiful, they are big, they are deep.” After a big buildup, he announced that he would get full funding for the program, which he said had been unsuccessful for 30 years.
Trump promises to restore $300 million for Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. His last three budget proposals sought to slash 90 percent of the funds, but Congress fully funded the program.
— Malachi Barrett (@PolarBarrett) March 28, 2019
Wait so pres trump just said he would get $300m for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative...but this story from Detroit Free Press says his budget would cut $270m. https://t.co/5Ab2JhCVhk
— Danielle Kurtzleben (@titonka) March 28, 2019
Earlier this month, Trump’s budget included a $270 million cut to the Initiative, which aims to restore and protect the “largest system of fresh surface water in the world”.
Trump in Michigan for first rally since Mueller report
Trump is speaking at a rally in Grand Rapids today—the first one since the Mueller report was submitted. After a several minutes of (for some reason) the song “Memory” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Cats” the President took the stage to chants of “USA! USA!”
Expected to celebrate the conclusions of the Special Council investigation, which ended without evidence of collusion but was inconclusive on obstruction of justice charges, Trump opened with condemnation of the “major losers” who he says attacked him.
“After three years of lies and smears and slander the Russia hoax is finally dead,” he said. “The collusion delusion is finally over”.
To cheers from the crowd he called House Intelligence Committee Chair, “little pencil neck Adam Schiff” and continued to mock both him and NY Congressman Jerry Nadler.
“All of the Democrat politicians, the media bosses—bad people—the crooked journalists” he said, “have to be accountable”. The crowd answered with the chant that originated in 2016 to condemn Hillary Clinton: “Lock them up!”
You can watch live above.
Updated
In a letter obtained by ABC News, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen wrote that her agency is facing a “system-wide meltdown” and asked Congress for broadened powers to immediately deport minors and detain migrant families as they enter the US. Per ABC:
Nielsen’s letter is a bold ask of a Congress that remains unsure whether the humanitarian crisis at the border warrants the national emergency President Donald Trump has claimed is necessary.
‘DHS seeks authority to return [unaccompanied children] to their families and home countries in a safe and orderly manner if they have no legal right to stay,’ Nielsen wrote to Congress”.
Agencies at the border have been overwhelmed with thousands already in custody, and are running out of room to house them.
One week after CNN called Indiana mayor and Democratic 2020 contender Buttigieg the “hottest candidate” in the race, and a day after a flattering feature on The Daily Show, the New York Times is gushish over what reporter Lisa Lerer is calling the “Buttigieg Boomlet”:
Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., and candidate for president, has suddenly emerged as a star of the Democratic primary. He’s a vet! A Rhodes Scholar! He speaks seven languages! He’s from the Rust Belt! And everyone’s favorite fact: He taught himself Norwegian to read more books!”
According to a new poll put out today by Quinnipiac University, Buttigieg is certainly gaining ground—but in the highly saturated race he is still barely registering among voters. Just 4% said he’d have their vote.
Speaking to reporters before boarding a plane to a campaign rally in Michigan, Trump again repeated his claim that Mueller’s report cleared him of all obstruction of justice charges.
The report, which has yet to be made public, was inconclusive on those charges, even though Trump-appointed Attorney General William Barr stated in his summary of the findings that he did not believe there was enough evidence to establish that the president committed the offense.
“I haven’t seen the report,” Trump said, before adding that it had a “beautiful conclusion and there was no collusion at all.”
“I wish you could have got it in one week instead of taking two years but the result was great,” he continued. “No obstruction, no collusion, no anything. It was a great thing but it took a long time.”
Gabrielle Canon here, taking over for Sabrina Siddiqui.
On the heels of President Trump’s announcement that he would override the Department of Education decision to defund the Special Olympics, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos reversed course from the previous day’s rhetoric, and said she was pleased with the outcome.
“I am pleased and grateful the president and I see eye to eye on this issue, and that he’s decided to fund our Special Olympics grant,” DeVos said in a statement. “This is funding I have fought for behind the scenes over the last several years.”
After coming under fire for the Decision Wednesday, DeVos doubled down defending her position by saying the nonprofit was well funded by private donations and blamed Democrats for casting her comments in a negative way.
So Trump made Betsy Devos just eat that turd for a couple days, huh. https://t.co/FFj8G6RnLs
— Sam Stein (@samstein) March 28, 2019
Friends -- that’s it from me, Sabrina Siddiqui. Handing over to my trusted colleague Gabrielle Canon. Before I go, here’s what transpired over the last couple of hours:
- Trump walked back his administration’s proposal to eliminate funding for the Special Olympics amid widespread outrage over cuts to the 51-year-old program in his 2020 budget;
- The House foreign affairs committee is demanding a briefing on Jared Kushner’s trip last month to Saudi Arabia following criticism by diplomats that they were shut out of key meetings and information regarding the visit;
- The Trump administration is to name Morgan Ortagus, a Fox News contributor, as the next State Department spokeswoman; Ortagus will replace current State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, herself a former Fox News host;
- In a reversal, Trump is extending a program for a year that allows Liberian immigrants to legally work and live in the US; the announcement comes as thousands of Liberian immigrants faced deportation following Trump’s initial decision to revoke the program;
- A new poll found a majority of Americans -- 56% -- believe Trump hasn’t done enough to distance himself from white nationalists; not surprisingly, the Pew Research Center survey was heavily split along partisan lines.
Stay tuned: Trump is to hold a rally at 7 p.m. EST in Grand Rapids, Michigan, marking his first public ‘victory lap’ following the conclusion of the special counsel investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia.
Trump also commented on Theresa May’s offer to resign if her Brexit deal is passed, stating: “She’s strong, she’s tough and she’s in there fighting.”
Asked about Boris Johnson as a potential successor to May, Trump said: “I like Boris Johnson a lot. He’s a friend of mine.”
Donald Trump backs off eliminating funding for Special Olympics
Faced with mounting pressure, Donald Trump said he is backing off his budget request that would cut funding for the Special Olympics.
“The Special Olympics will be funded, I just told my people,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “I’ve overridden my people.”
He added: “I wanna fund the Special Olympics, and I just authorized a funding of the Special Olympics. I’ve been to the Special Olympics, I think it’s incredible ... We’re funding the Special Olympics.”
Trump’s comments came as his administration faced widespread outrage over its proposal to do away with federal funding for the Special Olympics -- a 51-year-old program offering school programming and sports competitions and training for the disabled -- from its 2020 budget.
Trump’s budget proposed $17.6 million in cuts to the Special Olympics as part of an overall 10% reduction in the budget for the Department of Education.
Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education secretary, struggled to explain the decision this week as lawmakers grilled her during an appearance on Capitol Hill.
“I still can’t understand why you would go after disabled children in your budget,” Representative Barbara Lee, a Democrat from California, told DeVos at a hearing. “You zero that out. It’s appalling.”
DeVos subsequently defended the move in a statement that sparked its own controversy for blaming the media, without evidence, of misrepresenting the proposed cuts but then acknowledging them to be true. DeVos added that while she personally supported the Special Olympics and its mission, the federal government “cannot fund every worthy program, particularly ones that enjoy robust support from private donations”.
“There are dozens of worthy nonprofits that support students and adults with disabilities that don’t get a dime of federal grant money,” DeVos said.
Updated
Trump to name Fox News analyst as State Department spokeswoman
Donald Trump is expected to name a counterterrorism analyst for Fox News as the new State Department spokesperson, NBC News reported on Thursday.
Morgan Ortagus, who was a national security contributor at Fox News, will replace Heather Nauert, who has served as the State Department’s spokeswoman since January of 2017. Nauert was herself a former Fox News anchor and was nominated by Trump as the next UN ambassador but withdrew from consideration last month.
Ortagus is no longer a contributor to Fox News, a spokesperson for the channel said.
Ortagus, an active US naval reserve officer, was an intelligence analyst at the US Treasury in the Office of Intelligence and Analysis from 2008 to 2010. She also served as the deputy US Treasury attaché to the Saudi Kingdom.
The Trump administration has brought several Fox News personalities into its fold -- among the most prominent being Bill Shine, who resigned earlier this month as White House communications director. An investigation by the New Yorker detailed the close ties between the Trump presidency and the conservative network, which arguably ranks as the president’s most public and powerful boosters.
Updated
In reversal, Trump extends humanitarian program for Liberian immigrants
Donald Trump on Thursday unexpectedly extended an immigration designation granting protected status to Liberians for an additional year, just three days before the status was to expire.
More from Reuters:
Trump last year ordered an end to Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) eligibility for Liberians, a status first granted to them during the presidency of Republican George W. Bush that enabled the immigrants to work and protected them from deportation. Trump declared a one-year “wind-down” period, which set the final expiration date of the status as March 31.
But on Thursday, Trump said he had changed his mind.
“Upon further reflection and review, I have decided that it is in the foreign policy interest of the United States to extend the wind-down period for an additional 12 months, through March 30, 2020,” Trump said in a memorandum to his secretaries of state and homeland security that was released by the White House.
“The reintegration of DED beneficiaries into Liberian civil and political life will be a complex task, and an unsuccessful transition could strain United States-Liberian relations and undermine Liberia’s post-civil war strides toward democracy and political stability.”
A coalition of Liberians with DED status and immigration advocacy groups sued the Trump administration this month in federal court seeking to stop the termination of DED. The groups estimate that some 4,000 Liberians in the United States are protected by DED.
Trump’s decision eliminates the emergency the Liberians were living with, said Erasmus Williams, a Liberian community leader in Minnesota, which has a large population of Liberians.
“We have ample time now to work through Congress to have legislation passed that will create a pathway to citizenship for Liberians on DED,” he said.
Read the Guardian’s report here telling the stories of those who were facing deportation.
Updated
House committee demands briefing on Kushner Saudi trip
The House foreign affairs committee is demanding a briefing on Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner’s trip to Saudi Arabia last month.
In a letter sent to US secretary of state Mike Pompeo on Thursday, the committee’s Democratic chairman, Eliot Engel, and top Republican, Michael McCaul, raised concerns that embassy personnel were reportedly sidelined during Kushner’s trip.
The two lawmakers called for a briefing on the matter no later than 5 April, which they said should include more details on the planning, staffing, content and scheduling of Kushner’s trip, as well as his meetings with Saudi offcials, including Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.
“U.S. government resources are expended to support embassies in countries around the world to aid in the planning and execution of U.S. foreign policy, and no official visit to the Middle East by a senior White House aide would presumably bear meaningfully on the conduct of U.S. foreign policy in that region,” Engel and McCaul wrote.
Kushner has attracted congressional scrutiny on multiple occasions, most recently in the wake of reports that the president overruled the advice of intelligence officials and demanded his son-in-law be granted a top-level security clearance.
In the aftermath of Kushner’s trip to Saudi Arabia, the US embassy in Riyadh complained that they were not sufficiently briefed on the visit or the meetings Kushner held with members of the Saudi Kingdom.
His meeting with the powerful Saudi crown prince also raised eyebrows for its timing. Prince Mohammed is believed by US intelligence officials to have been involved in the killing of Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi in October of last year. A readout of Kushner’s meeting with the crown prince, with whom he shares close ties, made no mention of Khashoggi whatsoever.
Updated
Trump has 'done little' to distance himself from white nationalists: Poll
A majority of Americans do not believe Donald Trump has done enough to distance himself from white nationalist groups, according to a new survey released on Thursday.
The Pew Research Center poll found that 56% of respondents said Trump’s efforts were insufficient, while just 29% believed the president had done the right amount of work to distance himself from such groups. The views were virtually unchanged from the time Trump took office more than two years ago, the researchers added.
As expected, the responses were split along partisan lines with Democrats three times as likely than Republicans to say Trump had done too little to disavow white nationalists.
The president has stoked controversy on a number of occasions by appearing to embrace such groups, most infamously in the aftermath of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia in August of 2017. After a white nationalist drove his car through counter-protesters from the left, killing one and injuring several others, Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides”.
The survey also found that 40% of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling the presidency -- a small uptick since January, when his approval rating stood at 37%.
The poll was largely conducted before attorney general William Barr’s letter to Congress summarizing the conclusion of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Read the full findings here.
Updated
NRA could shut down 'very soon', fundraising plea warns
The National Rifle Association could shut down “very soon”, according to a fundraising letter authored by the group’s executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre.
The four-page letter, first reported by the Daily Beast, was sent to donors in March and depicted a dire situation for America’s most powerful gun rights lobby.
In the dramatic appeal, LaPierre blamed the NRA’s troubles on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who directed his financial services department to last year to urge companies that do business with the group to cut ties.
“[R]ight now we’re facing an attack that’s unprecedented not just in the history of the NRA, but in the entire history of our country,” the letter read. “And if this attack succeeds, NRA will be forced to shut down forever.”
“[Ve]ry soon, unless we can force Cuomo to break off this attack, NRA will have no choice but to cease operations after 147 years of fighting for freedom.”
It is not unusual for political candidates and groups to engage in theatrics while asking for money. But the NRA’s missive comes at a time when US-based brands have grown more wary of the reputational risk of doing business with the group.
The NRA’s activities in the 2016 election cast a further shadow over its conduct, after it was disclosed that the Russian government managed to infiltrate the group. The revelation called into question if the NRA helped the Russians funnel money into the 2016 campaign -- which could amount to a violation of federal law prohibiting foreign donations toward US elections.
Updated
Hello everyone! Sabrina Siddiqui here, taking the reins of the blog from good ole Adam. I’ll be taking you through the news the next few hours. Buckle up!
The Oklahoma Democratic Party’s headquarters were vandalized with anti-semitic graffiti early on Thursday morning, KFOR.com is reporting.
“Employees of the building on NW 37th and Classen Blvd reported Swastika drawings, neo-Nazi messages, and death threats spray painted in the parking lot and on the door of the property,” KFOR said.
Former Oklahoma governor David Walters, who owns the building, said:
It’s upsetting to the extent that our culture now and our country, it drives people to this type of expression [...] It encourages people to speak out violently. It’s clearly a crime. It’s clearly a hate crime.
Kirsten Gillibrand, senator for New York and Democratic presidential hopeful, released her tax returns yesterday – the first candidate for president to do so.
The return showed that she earned about $218,000 in 2018: $167,634 from her salary and $50,000 from book sales. The New York Times reported that Gillibrand paid $29,170 in federal taxes.
Here’s Gillibrand’s video on her taxes:
House majority speaker Nancy Pelosi has blasted – Politico’s term – attorney general Bill Barr for only releasing a four-page take on the Mueller report.
“Show us the report. Show us the report,” Pelosi said at her weekly news conference, according to Politico.
“[Only handing over the four-page summary] was condescending, it was arrogant, and it wasn’t the right thing to do.”
Pelosi seems to have been on a bit of a roll during the press conference – she also branded Trump and Republicans “scaredy-cats” for their criticism of Adam Schiff, and offered this when asked if she agreed with House chairs calls for the full Mueller report to be released:
I support my chairmen [...] They take the first bite of this wormy apple, and I trust their judgment as to how we go forward.
Updated
The first Democratic presidential debates will be held in Miami on June 26 and 27, the Democratic National Committee said this afternoon.
NBC News will broadcast both nights of debate, each of which could feature up to 10 people.
The debates will be open to candidates who meet certain fundraising and polling thresholds, and the participants will be assigned randomly to one of the evenings, according to the Associated Press.
Miami was one of three finalists for Democrats’ 2020 national convention, but was ultimately snubbed in favor of Milwaukee. The AP reports that no decision has been made yet on a host city for the July debates.
Updated
Nominee to head Interior Department faces tough questions over industry ties
Talking of climate change, the environment and use of public lands, some of the Guardian’s keenest issues of focus, in the US and worldwide, the former oil and gas lobbyist nominated to head the Interior Department faced tough questioning on Capitol Hill on Thursday morning.
Senate Democrats wanted to know whether David Bernhardt suppressed staff warnings about the impact of agency decision-making on endangered species.
Bernhardt appeared before the Senate energy and natural resources committee, which is considering his nomination.
Bernhardt has been serving as Interior’s acting secretary since Ryan Zinke’s resignation in December amid ethics allegations.
If you’re feeling a sensation of “frying pan...fire”, you’re not alone. But, onward.
Bernhardt told senators he aimed to keep “working to reduce regulatory burdens without sacrificing environmental outcomes.”
That sounds reasonable in its slick efficiency and noble in its aims, for a second, but, wait - to what extent is that possible and to what extent could someone like Bernhardt possibly be ingenuous in that statement, you might wonder.
Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, cited interior department documents recently made public under the federal Freedom of Information Act that he said showed Bernhardt’s agency suppressed internal findings about the impact that recent Interior decisions on pesticides would have on wildlife, the AP writes.
“You’ve meddled with the science, you’ve inserted yourself in the scientific process,” Wyden said.
Bernhardt responded that he made those decisions in accordance with advice from the department’s lawyers.
Wyden also spoke critically of Bernhardt’s past lobbying work for clients with business before Interior, saying they made it impossible for Bernhardt to impartially decide a host of regulatory matters dealing with the public resources under Interior’s control.
“I think you are so conflicted,” Wyden said.
Asked by Senator Joe Manchin, a relatively conservative West Virginia Democrat, if he would take himself out of regulatory dealings involving past clients when a one-year mandatory recusal period wraps up soon, Bernhardt pushed back.
“I have a really particular skill set” for the job, Bernhardt argued. “I’m basically handcuffed if I am recusing myself. And I don’t think that really is the best strategy.”
“I’m actually pretty good at going up against these guys, and I’m pretty good at it,” he said, referring to industry interests. “And I would say you want to have your A quarterback on the team.”
Senator Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican, defended Bernhardt, praising his experience in industry and as a department staffer.
Want more on climate change? Sign up to the Green Light email to get the planet’s most important stories every Friday.
Updated
UN: worsening climate change hits tens of millions globally
The United Nations’ weather agency says extreme weather last year hit 62 million people worldwide and forced 2 million people to relocate, as man-made climate change worsened.
The World Meteorological Organization’s annual state of global climate report says Earth is nearly 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) warmer than when the industrial age started. World leaders are trying to limit warming to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius), the Associated Press reports.
Emissions from burning fuels such as coal, gasoline and diesel for electricity and transportation are contributing to global warming that in turn brings more intense storms, floods and droughts.
The past four years were the warmest on record, according the to the report.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on global leaders to convene in September with plans to reduce emissions.
Updated
Supreme Court allows Trump ban on bump-stocks to continue
This is a mere token in the campaign for greater gun safety in the US, in contrast to New Zealand banning military-style assault weapons for civilians within days of the mass-shooting in Christchurch earlier this month, but there has been a tiny development here in America.
The US Supreme Court moments ago rejected a request by gun rights activists to put on hold the Trump administration’s ban on so-called bump stock attachments that allow semi-automatic weapons to be fired more rapidly - a rare recent instance of US gun control at the federal level.
The court, in a brief order, refused to grant a temporary stay sought by plaintiffs including the group Gun Owners of America, in a lawsuit filed in Michigan challenging the ban while litigation continues, Reuters reports.
The Trump administration policy took effect on Tuesday on the same day that Scotus Chief Justice John Roberts rejected a similar bid to delay implementation, in a separate legal challenge in Washington brought by individual gun owners and gun rights groups, including the Firearms Policy Foundation and Florida Carry Inc.
An appeals court previously exempted specific people and groups involved in the Washington case from the ban while that case continues.
Donald Trump pledged to ban the devices soon after a gunman used them in an October 2017 shooting spree that killed 58 people at a country music festival in Las Vegas. The Justice Department on Dec. 18 announced plans to implement the policy.
Bump stocks use a gun’s recoil to bump its trigger, enabling a semiautomatic weapon to fire hundreds of rounds per minute, which can transform it into a machine gun.
The Justice Department’s regulation followed the lead of many states and retailers that imposed stricter limits on sales of guns and accessories after a deadly shooting at a Florida high school in February 2018.
Updated
House votes to condemn Trump’s transgender military ban
Moment ago, the House of Representatives passed a resolution formally condemning the Trump administration’s transgender military ban in a 238-185 vote on Thursday, the Hill writes today.
Five Republicans joined every Democrat in backing the measure, which was spearheaded by Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.), who serves as the chair of the Equality Caucus’s Transgender Equality Task Force.
The resolution’s passage comes shortly after the administration announced the requirement for members of the military to serve as the gender they were assigned at birth would be implemented next month, effectively undoing the Obama administration’s policy from June 2016.
A federal appeals court on Tuesday finalized a ruling to lift an injunctionagainst the ban, allowing the policy to take effect April 12 as planned.
The non-binding resolution — which was cosponsored by 216 Democrats and GOP Rep. John Katko (NY) — states the reverse in policy is detrimental to “our national security by undermining our ability to recruit and retain the talented personnel” and “claims attempting to justify Trump’s ban are based on flawed scientific and medical assertions.”
Updated
Mueller report 'more than 300 pages' – report
Robert Mueller’s Russian interference report is more than 300 pages long, according to the New York Times – raising questions about the brevity of attorney general Bill Barr’s four page summary he released over the weekend.
From the Times:
Barr wrote to Congress on Sunday offering what he called the “principal conclusions” of the report — including that Mueller had not found evidence that the Trump campaign took part in a conspiracy to undermine the election. But he had notably declined to publicly disclose its length.
The total of 300-plus pages suggests that Mueller went well beyond the kind of bare-bones summary required by the Justice Department regulation governing his appointment and detailed his conclusions at length. And it raises questions about what Barr might have left out of the four dense pages he sent Congress.
In a follow-up story CNN, citing a Justice Department official, said the report was “between 300 and 400 pages, not including exhibits”.
How the world works:
NowThis is really just calling it for what it is. @AOC defeated 10-term Democratic incumbent Joe Crowley who was likely to be the next Speaker of the House after Pelosi — and less than 6 months later he’s now working as a corporate lobbyist.pic.twitter.com/6YUxcpvZJB
— Waleed Shahid (@_waleedshahid) March 28, 2019
Joseph Crowley joined Squire Patton Boggs last month. In 2018 the company’s clients included Shell, Amazon and Coca-Cola.
Updated
Some good news for Pete “Mayor Pete” Buttigieg, who has just recorded his best 2020 polling numbers.
In a national poll by Quinnipiac Buttigieg is the choice, nationwide, of 4% of Democrats and Democratic leaning registered voters – up from his previous high of 1%. According to CNN’s Harry Enten that is more meaningful than it seems.
“A jump of 3 points may not seem like a lot,” Enten wrote: “But, because the margin of error shrinks significantly the closer you get to 0, the move from 1% to 4% is likely statistically significant.
Earlier this week Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, came third in a poll of Iowa Democratic voters, and according to Enten Buttigieg “is receiving a lot of search interest on Google as well” – more people googled him in the past two weeks than in the previous 93 weeks combined.
What’s especially interesting about the search interest in Buttigieg is that it is much more organic than for other candidates. What I mean by that is candidates who receive more attention from the media are likely to receive more interest in searches.
That’s not the case for Buttigieg. About the only big media boost of attention Buttigieg has received has been the CNN town hall earlier this month. According to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver, Buttigieg has received less newspaper coverage over the last month than 10 of his fellow current or probable competitors for the Democratic nomination.
Amazingly, despite receiving less than a quarter of the newspaper mentions of Warren over the last month, Buttigieg has gotten more Google searches than Warren during the same period.
Updated
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has charged Facebook with “encouraging, enabling, and causing” housing discrimination.
In a statement HUD said Facebook was breaking the law by restricting who can view housing-related adverts on its site: which the department said “unlawfully discriminates based on race, color, national origin, religion, familial status, sex, and disability”.
“Facebook is discriminating against people based upon who they are and where they live,” said HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “Using a computer to limit a person’s housing choices can be just as discriminatory as slamming a door in someone’s face.”
From the HUD statement:
HUD alleges that Facebook unlawfully discriminates based on race, color, national origin, religion, familial status, sex, and disability by restricting who can view housing-related ads on Facebook’s platforms and across the internet. Further, HUD claims Facebook mines extensive data about its users and then uses those data to determine which of its users view housing-related ads based, in part, on these protected characteristics.
Updated
Republicans on the House intelligence committee are demanding the resignation of Adam Schiff, saying they have “no faith” in the committee’s Democratic chairman.
Despite Bill Barr’s letter stating that Trump did not collude with Russia, Schiff is insisting the president and his associates colluded with Russia and may be compromised.
That has prompted calls from Republicans for Schiff to quit the committee. Trump went one further this morning and said Schiff “should be forced to resign from Congress”. From AP:
The fiery back-and-forth came during a rare public hearing by the secretive committee on Thursday in the wake of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russia.
[...] Republicans submitted a letter to Schiff saying his statements [suggesting Trump did collude] have produced “no faith in your ability to discharge your duties” and mean Schiff should resign from the panel.
Schiff angrily refused and said some activities of Trump and his associates amount to “collusion” and “compromise.”
Updated
Good one:
Breaking wind from CNN! Floods in Midwest NOT caused by heavy rains but Rachel Maddow and Chris Cuomo tears upon hearing there was NO COLLUSION with RUSSIA.
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) March 28, 2019
Hundreds of people have been evacuated due to historic flooding in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, at least two people have died, and more than a million water wells are threatened.
Meteorologists do not believe Rachel Maddow is linked to the floods.
Trump won't rule out pardons for convicted associates
In a 45-minute interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity last night Trump refused to rule out pardoning Michael Flynn and others, despite some Republicans warning against it.
Asked by Hannity if he would consider pardoning Flynn, Trump said: “I don’t want to talk about pardons now,” but went on to suggest it was something on his mind. Some right-wing commentators have called for Trump to absolve Flynn and various other people convicted in the Mueller investigation, although Trump-ally Lindsey Graham told reporters on Monday that “if President Trump pardoned anybody in his orbit, it would not play well”. Here’s the Trump-Hannity exchange from Fox News:
“When you mention General Flynn, he was a man who had an incredible record in the military,” Trump told Hannity. “You see what happened to him. The FBI said he wasn’t lying, as I understand it, and the Mueller group said he was lying.
“And you know what he’s gone through, and what so many others have gone through,” Trump continued. “I could name names that would just go on for your entire show. It’s a very, very sad thing. I don’t want to talk about pardons now. But I can say, it’s so sad on so many levels.”
Angry-faced Fox News host Tucker Carlson had demanded pardons just 15 minutes before Trump’s Hannity interview. Carlson called for a slew of absolutions along with his guest Michael Caputo, a Republican strategist.
Their exchange:
Caputo: “Pardon General Flynn. Pardon George Papadopoulos. And pardon Roger Stone right now, Mr President.”
Carlson: “I agree! I agree!”
Caputo: “Do it right now. Do it right now on Twitter!” He added: “That would blow some minds, wouldn’t it?”
Charlie Kirk, the founder of pro-Trump group Turning Point USA, has been another loud pro-pardon voice.
President Trump should pardon General Mike Flynn
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 27, 2019
General Mike Flynn was entrapped by federal agents that were seeking revenge against Trump
Coward Jussie Smollett gets off free with no trial and no charges
Flynn has $5 million in legal fees and possible sentencing
Pardon him
Updated
“I’ll take the usual please, Donald”:
The Fake News Media is going Crazy! They are suffering a major “breakdown,” have ZERO credibility or respect, & must be thinking about going legit. I have learned to live with Fake News, which has never been more corrupt than it is right now. Someday, I will tell you the secret!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2019
Mexico is doing NOTHING to help stop the flow of illegal immigrants to our Country. They are all talk and no action. Likewise, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have taken our money for years, and do Nothing. The Dems don’t care, such BAD laws. May close the Southern Border!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2019
Republicans in turmoil over Trump's healthcare push
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the day’s political news.
•Republicans are said to be in turmoil over the Donald Trump’s push for Obamacare to be dismantled in the courts. Vice-president Mike Pence and new attorney general Bill Barr are among the skeptics, according to the New York Times, with concerns that scrapping the Affordable Care Act could be a boon for Democrats in 2020. On Wednesday House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy reportedly told his colleagues that Trump’s push made no sense. McCarthy is holding his weekly press conference at 11.30am, and may elaborate.
•Trump has weighed in charges being dropped against Jussie Smollett. The president said the FBI and Department of Justice will review the Smollett case, after prosecutors in Chicago abruptly dropped their case against the Empire actor, but failed to exonerate Smollett, on Wednesday. Trump was not-exonerated by Robert Mueller earlier this week.
•The House Intelligence Committee is holding a hearing today on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Among those testifying at the 9am quizzing are former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul and the former CIA chief of Russian operations. The official title of the hearing is: “Putin’s Playbook: The Kremlin’s Use of Oligarchs, Money and Intelligence in 2016 and Beyond”.
•The president is holding a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan tonight. He might just mention Mueller’s report. Trump needs to crack on with winning people over in the state, because polling suggests his approval rating in Michigan have plummeted since 2016.
