Evening summary
- President Trump proposes $1.6bn for NASA in his budget, as well as $18m for the Special Olympics (though that came with a heaping of controversy).
- Former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein speaks, and boy, does he ever. Just two days after his resignation, Rosenstein quotes Robert Mueller at a commencement address and then went on to give another speech in which he defended his handling of the investigation and the firing of former FBI director James Comey, whom he called a “partisan pundit”.
- A federal judge rejected the attempts of President Trump’s attorneys to block a hearing on a House oversight committee subpoena seeking access to the president’s personal and business finances. Earlier, Trump’s attorneys objected to this judge’s efforts to fast-track the trial.
Oh, the places you’ll go indeed, Rod Rosenstein.
After giving a commencement address and quoting Robert Mueller - you know, the man whose investigation he oversaw - Rosenstein went on to speak at the annual meeting of the Greater Baltimore Committee, where he continued to make waves.
Ex-Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein in a speech in Baltimore tonight is defending his handling of the Mueller probe and taking aim at ex-FBI director James Comey.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) May 13, 2019
Rosenstein also says: “Based on what I knew in May 2017, the investigation of Russian election interference was justified.”
The Washington Post is reporting that in this speech, Rosenstein went so far as to call former FBI director James Comey a “partisan pundit” - if you’ll recall, Rosenstein wrote the memo that led to former Comey’s firing, but it was later reported that he was ordered by President Trump:
In his prepared remarks, Rosenstein said Trump, “did not tell me what reasons to put in my memo,” but noted what the special counsel report had said. He said he did not include what Trump wanted because it was not relevant, and he did not have personal knowledge of what Comey had told Trump.
Rosenstein said he “did not dislike” Comey but that Comey took steps that were “not within the range of reasonable decisions” during the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Rosenstein suggested that if he — rather than Trump — had been in charge, “the removal would have been handled very differently, with far more respect and far less drama.”
“If I had been asked to make a recommendation before the removal decision was made, I would have included a more balanced analysis of the pros and cons,” he said. “But my brief memo to the attorney general is correct, and it was reasonable under the circumstances.”
He overall felt that “made the right decision” in appointing Mueller as special counsel.
“My soul and character are pretty much the same today as they were two years ago,” he said. “I took a few hits and made some enemies during my time in the arena, but I held my ground and made a lot of friends.”
More on President Trump’s attempt to block a House oversight committee subpoena for his personal and business records:
JUST IN: Judge rejects Trump lawyers' call to cancel tomorrow's hearing on Dem subpoena but will listen to their objections.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) May 13, 2019
"The hearing will proceed tomorrow as scheduled," Mehta wrote in a brief order tonight. https://t.co/VvAAn9bKrM
Trump proposes $1.6bn for NASA in budget
More budget updates from President Trump, via Twitter:
Under my Administration, we are restoring @NASA to greatness and we are going back to the Moon, then Mars. I am updating my budget to include an additional $1.6 billion so that we can return to Space in a BIG WAY!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019
Updated
First, education secretary Betsy DeVos comes under fire for not including the Special Olympics in her department’s budget proposal.
Next, Donald Trump says he’s “overridden” his own administration officials. “The Special Olympics will be funded, I just told my people,” the president said.
Finally?
Today, I officially updated my budget to include $18 million for our GREAT @SpecialOlympics, whose athletes inspire us and make our Nation so PROUD!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019
Insert joke here about the White House ducking hard questions from the press corps.
Mama duck and ducklings enter the WH grounds. pic.twitter.com/qHx3Dr2mfz
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) May 13, 2019
The attorneys general of California, Washington, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Oregon have joined forces in filing a lawsuit seeking to “block a new rule from the Trump administration that they say weakens labor unions and their ability to collectively bargain for wages and benefits,” the Associated Press is reporting.
The rule, finalized last week by the by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, would ban home health care workers paid for by Medicaid from automatically deducting their union dues and health insurance premiums from their paychecks, according to union leaders.
A spokesman for Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services declined to comment to the Associated Press on Monday, but in announcing the rule last week, the organization said “nothing in this rule would interfere with an employer’s ability to make payroll deductions that are required by law or voluntary deductions for things like health and life insurance ... and union dues.”
In his first public remarks following his resignation from the Justice Department, former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein quotes Robert Mueller.
The Baltimore Sun is reporting that Rosenstein, while giving the commencement address at the University of Baltimore law school on Monday, chose to quote the man whose investigation he oversaw:
“There may come a time when you will be tested,” Rosenstein quoted Mueller as saying. “You may find yourself standing alone, against those you thought were trusted colleagues. You may stand to lose all that you have worked for. And it may not be an easy call.”
Rosenstein had a tumultuous end to his almost 30-year tenure with the Justice Department. He wrote the memo that led to former FBI director James Comey’s firing, but it was later reported that he was ordered by President Trump.
When assumed oversight of the Mueller investigation after the former attorney general Jeff Sessions recused himself, he became a target of Trump and the president’s allies, who attacked the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the US election as a “witch-hunt” working within a department rife with anti-Trump bias.
Who knows, maybe Rosenstein has kicked off a trend and the Mueller Report will become the new “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” of graduation gifts.
Reuters is reporting that President Trump’s attorneys objected Monday to a federal judge’s plan to fast-track his lawsuit seeking to block a House oversight committee subpoena seeking eight years of Trump’s personal and business records.
For those having trouble keeping up with all the various subpoenas and lawsuits taking place on Capitol Hill at the moment, the House oversight committee issued this subpoena for financial records for Trump and his company in order to determine whether he has conflicts of interest or if he broke the law by not disentangling himself from his holdings as previous presidents did.
His attorneys filed a lawsuit last month to block the subpoena, arguing that it exceeds the constitutional limits of Congress’ investigative power.
In Monday’s filing, Trump’s attorneys argued that US district judge Amit Mehta’s proposal to holding a trial on 14 May would deny the president a “full and fair” hearing, and that they require more more time to collect evidence.
Hey all, Vivian Ho and the west coast bureau taking over for Adam Gabbatt. Happy Monday.
Presidential hopeful Cory Booker is getting some slack today after the Washington Post Fact Checker gave him three Pinocchios for repeatedly saying that toy guns are more regulated than real guns in the United States.
Why should toy guns be subject to more federal regulation than real ones? It’s time to change that. pic.twitter.com/pCmlGGL22Q
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) May 7, 2019
Booker elaborated his argument in a post on Medium, saying no federal agency is in charge of making safety warnings and issuing recalls for firearms. Meanwhile, all toys in the US, including toy guns, are subject to regulation by a government agency.
Glenn Kessler, the Post’s fact-checker, wrote that Booker’s comparison of gun and toy gun oversight is “specious” because it ignores the “many laws and regulations governing the sale, distribution and use of guns” in the country.
“Booker is calling for another level of regulation, but he can’t suggest toy guns are even more highly regulated,” Kessler wrote.
Though controversial among gun rights advocates, who claim guns are the most regulated products in the country, those who advocate for guns to be regulated as consumer products argue it may prevent accidental gun deaths.
But others say it’s an argument that misses the mark completely because guns in the US are ill-used, not ill-designed. Regulations like stricter background checks — which polls routinely find an overwhelming majority of Americans support — are more effective.
Booker hasn’t responded to his Pinnochios, but he did tweet out a call for bans on AR-15-style weapons today, perhaps suggesting he’ll move on from his toy gun talking point.
Assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and bump stocks have been responsible for some of the deadliest mass shootings in our country. Let’s be clear—they are made for no other purpose than to kill people quickly and efficiently. And we need to ban them for good. pic.twitter.com/Tcrkoi6i5t
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) May 13, 2019
Former president Jimmy Carter broke his hip Monday at his Georgia home, according to a spokeswoman for the Carter Center.
Carter was on his way to go turkey hunting, according to spokeswoman, Deanna Congileo, when he suffered the injury. The 39th president underwent successful surgery and was recovering comfortably, Congileo said, adding that he was treated in Americus, Georgia, near his home in Plains, and that his wife, Rosalynn, was with him.
“President Carter said his main concern is that turkey season ends this week, and he has not reached his limit. He hopes the State of Georgia will allow him to rollover the unused limit to next year,” In Congileo said.
Carter, 94, disclosed in 2015 that cancer that had been discovered on his liver and had also been found on his brain. He received treatment for seven months until scans showed no sign of the disease.
At the time he revealed the cancer, he said he felt “perfectly at ease with whatever comes.”
“I’ve had a wonderful life,” he said. “I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.”
Here’s a quick recap of what’s been happening this Monday:
- Trump welcomed controversial Hungarian nationalist president Viktor Orbán to the White House this afternoon. Orbán has been criticized for his stance on migration and freedom of the press, but Trump said “he’s a respected man” who has “done the right thing, according to many people on immigration”.
- The Dow Jones sunk earlier today to a two-month low in light of escalations in the US’ trade war China. China put tariffs on $60bn worth of US goods after Trump warned the country not to retaliate against the tariffs he introduced on Friday.
- Mike Pompeo announced a last minute trip this morning to Brussels to meet with EU leaders. The US secretary of state’s appearance is likely an attempt to soothe tension after the US pulled out of the Iran deal last week.
- Ousted Trump advisor Omarosa Manigault Newman claimed to experience pay discrimination when she was on Trump’s campaign team. Manigault Newman filed the statement in support of a class-action lawsuit led by Alva Johnson, another ex-Trump campaign staffer who says Trump forcibly kissed her on the campaign trail.
President Donald Trump is pledging not to use information stolen by foreign adversaries in his 2020 reelection campaign. And he’s insisting he didn’t use any in 2016, even though he did.
Trump told reporters Monday as he met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban that he “would certainly agree to that.”
He says: “I don’t need it. All I need is the opponents that I’m looking at.”
But he also insisted erroneously that he “never did use, as you probably know,” such information, adding: “That’s what the Mueller report was all about. They said no collusion.”
The special counsel didn’t establish a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, but it described Trump’s campaign as eager to exploit the release of hacked Democratic emails to hurt rival Hillary Clinton.
In fact, former Trump campaign official Rick Gates told Mueller’s team that “by the late summer of 2016, the Trump campaign was planning a press strategy, a communications campaign, and messaging based on the possible release of Clinton emails by WikiLeaks”.
Oh, and here’s a video of Trump exhorting Russia to hack Clinton’s emails:
Former White House advisor Omarosa Manigault Newman has accused Trump of pay discrimination during his 2016 presidential campaign, according to new court documents released today.
In support of a proposed class action lawsuit, Manigault Newman says the Trump campaign paid her and other female employees less than their male counterparts. The court document specifically refers to Bryan Lanza, who served as deputy communications director during the campaign, as an example of a colleague who was in a similar position yet got more pay.
“While I strongly suspected I was subjected to pay discrimination while with the Trump campaign, I have since seen expert analysis confirming this to be true,” Manigault Newman said in a statement. “The numbers don’t lie.”
The class action lawsuit is headed by fellow 2016 campaign staffer Alva Johnson. Besides alleging pay discrimination in the campaign, Johnson’s lawsuit also claims Trump forcibly kissed Johnson at a stop in Tampa, Florida on the campaign trail. The president has denied Johnson’s claims, and his attorneys made a motion to dismiss Johnson’s lawsuit
Since she was fired in December 2017, Manigault Newman has been a critic of Trump. In her memoir released last August, Manigault Newman listed a number of cases she says prove the president is racist and sexist.
Trump welcomes Hungarian nationalist president to White House
Trump is in the Oval Office, talking to the press alongside Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán. They’re both man-spreading on a pair of yellow leather chairs.
Trump is asked about Orbán’s troubled record in Hungary – his far-right government has been criticized for his stance on migration and on media freedom.
“I know he’s a tough man but he’s a respected man,” Trump says.
“[Orbán has] done the right thing, according to many people on immigration.”
The president does not elaborate on the “many people” who admire Orbán (you don’t have to be a close follower of Trump to know this is a common tactic of his), but Democrats Eliot L. Engel, chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee, and Marcy Kaptur co-chair of the Congressional Hungarian caucus, certainly aren’t among them.
In a joint statement earlier the pair said:
Prime Minister Orbán represents so many things that are antithetical to core American values. He has overseen a rollback of democracy in his country, used anti-Semitic and xenophobic tropes in his political messaging, and cozied up to Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin.
He has also suppressed independent media and academic freedom in an effort to consolidate his increasingly autocratic rule. It troubles us to see the president of our country, which has historically supported the protection and promotion of democracy and human rights worldwide, meeting with a man who so regularly disregards these values.
After praising Orbán, Trump talks about the Mueller report. Trump says the report found “no collusion, and no obstruction”, which is a lie.
Updated
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio made the bold decision to hold a rally at Trump Tower this afternoon, and it was unsurprisingly a bit of a mess.
As de Blasio – who has said he will decide this week on whether to run for president – spoke, Trump supporters could be seen going up escalators in the background, holding up signs that read “Trump 2020” and “Worst Mayor Ever”. Whistling and cheers from the president’s supporters along with loud music played by the building worked to drown out the mayor’s rally.
Scene in lobby of Trump tower as Trump supporters try to drown out de Blasio rally with signs saying “worst mayor ever” pic.twitter.com/5xo7wYpHKI
— Melissa Russo (@MelissaRusso4NY) May 13, 2019
Though the event was supposed to be an opportunity for the mayor to tout the city’s climate fines and Green New Deal, it came against a backdrop of de Blasio’s potential presidential run.
The mayor has been toying with running for months, but is far from beloved on his home turf, and with a crowded 2020 field, even consultants and allies have warned him not to run. The rally, some have argued, was a too-obvious tease to an anticipated, but partly uninvited presidential announcement.
As de Blasio hold a campaign-style, government-funded rally at Trump Tower, he says now is not the time to talk about his presidential ambitions
— Dana Rubinstein (@danarubinstein) May 13, 2019
Updated
US strategy on Iran carries big risks – EU leaders
EU foreign officials meeting in Brussels today to discuss the Iran nuclear deal did not hide their fears that US strategy toward Tehran carries grave risks, according to Politico.
“I think there’s a real concern that an escalation that is unintended could end up with a much more serious situation than we’re fearing,” British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told reporters ahead of the meeting.
“Any escalation should be avoided,” said Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief.
This morning Mike Pompeo announced a last minute trip to Brussels to meet with leaders, an apparent attempt to soothe relations after the US pulled out of the Iran deal last week.
The trip appeared to take EU officials by surprise, with one official suggesting earlier there might not actually be time to meet with the US secretary of state. Pompeo appears to have wangled himself one meeting, however, with Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg:
Great meeting with @SecPompeo during his visit to Brussels. Good discussions on a range of security issues including #Iran. pic.twitter.com/pGPiCJcf5N
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) May 13, 2019
Updated
As New York gears up to mark the 50th anniversary of the June 1969 police raid on the city’s Stonewall Inn (declared a National Monument under the Obama Administration) and resulting riots and birth of the modern LGBT+ rights movement, the Guardian’s Henry McDonald writes that an anti-gay US Christian fundamentalist pastor has been barred from entering Ireland.
Steven Anderson, who has also been accused of Holocaust denial, has become the first person to be barred from entering Ireland under a 20-year-old immigration law.
Anderson was due to travel to Dublin on 26 May to preach in the city, but the Irish justice minister, Charlie Flanagan, took the unusual step to ban him from coming into the country.
More than 14,000 people signed an online petition set up by the Christian gay rights campaign group Changing Attitude Ireland calling on the Irish government to block Anderson’s trip to the country. The organisation claimed that in the past he had “advocated exterminating LGBT+ people”.
It was understood on Monday that Anderson, 38, was scheduled to give a sermon to 150 followers at a secret location in the Irish capital on the fallout from the legalisation of abortion in Ireland last year.
Joanna Walters adds that Anderson, who hails from Arizona, shot to infamy in 2009 when he, um, prayed for the death of Barack Obama (what would Jesus do? Not that, Stevie) and has previously been denied entry to South Africa, Jamaica, Canada, the United Kingdom and Botswana.
He’s also praised the attack on people, who were predominantly Latinx and queer, at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, in what turned into a massacre in June 2016.
Anderson previously called for gay people to be stoned to death.
Updated
Donald Trump’s reluctance to address climate change is set to cost his business empire millions of dollars in fines levied by New York City due to the amount of pollution emitted by Trump-owned buildings.
According to data shared with the Guardian, eight Trump properties in New York City do not comply with new regulations designed to slash greenhouse gas emissions. This means the Trump Organization is on track to be hit with fines of $2.1m every year from 2030, unless its buildings are made more environmentally friendly.
According to city officials, the president’s eight largest New York properties pump out around 27,000 tons of planet-warming gases every ear, the equivalent of 5,800 cars. The buildings that exceed the new pollution thresholds include Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, and the Trump Building on Wall Street.
The biggest potential offender is Trump International Hotel & Tower, a 583ft skyscraper that looms over the south-west corner of Central Park. The building is on course to be fined $850,871 a year if no improvements are made to its energy efficiency.
Dow Jones sinks amid Trump tariff war
Meanwhile, in business land, the Trump vs China #tariffwar has sent the Dow Jones industrial average crashing.
“The Dow Jones industrial average has now sunk by 610 points, or 2.35%, to 25,331 points,” writes Graeme Wearden on the Guardian’s business live blog.
That’s a fresh two-month low. China announced its tariffs on $60bn worth of US goods shortly after Donald ‘Art of the Deal’ Trump warned China not to retaliate to the tariffs he introduced on Friday.
Updated
Three film and television production companies have said they won’t film in Georgia, in response the state passing an unconstitutional anti-abortion law.
Christine Vachon, chief executive officer of Killer Films; David Simon, creator of The Wire and head of Blown Deadline Productions; and Mark Duplass of Duplass Brothers Productions all said they won’t shoot in the state, according to CNN.
Georgia governor Brian Kemp signed legislation last week which would ban abortions from as early as six weeks, before many women even realize they are pregnant. The law, which contradicts Roe v Wade, is part of an swathe of anti-abortion measures introduced by ultra-conservative lawmakers across the country, who have been energized by the Trump-appointed new conservative majority on the US supreme court.
Don’t give your business to Georgia. Will you pledge with me not to film anything in Georgia until they reverse this backwards legislation?
— Mark Duplass (@MarkDuplass) May 9, 2019
Can only speak for my production company. Our comparative assessments of locations for upcoming development will pull Georgia off the list until we can be assured the health options and civil liberties of our female colleagues are unimpaired. https://t.co/WTb0tj95zH
— David Simon (@AoDespair) May 9, 2019
CNN reported that film and television production has resulted in “an estimated $2.7 billion pouring into [Georgia] from direct spending via 455 productions”.
Pompeo bids for EU meeting on Iran nuclear deal
Secretary of state Mike Pompeo is off to Europe today, hoping to crash a meeting of EU leaders to discuss the Iran nuclear deal.
Trump withdrew from the deal, which lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for a commitment from the country that it would curb its nuclear program – at the beginning of the month. Diplomats from the 28 European Union nations are meeting today to discuss a plan forward without the US.
Pompeo hadn’t been invited to the meeting, but that appears not to have stopped him from turning up, apparently with a view to advancing the US’s move.
But according to the Washington Post, it was at least initially unclear whether EU leaders would actually meet with Pompeo.
“We were told during the night that he was planning to change his travel plans,” the Post reported EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini as saying.
“We will be here all day, with a busy agenda, so we will see during the day how and if we manage to arrange a meeting. He’s always welcome, obviously, but there are no precise plans for the moment.”
Updated
Donald Trump has accused Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib as having “tremendous hatred of Israel and the Jewish people”, his latest allegation of anti-semitism from a first term member of Congress.
Trump’s denunciation came amid an escalating row regarding comments Tlaib made over the weekend. Republicans seized on her discussion of the historic establishment of Israel during an interview with Yahoo News, some selectively dissecting and misrepresenting her remarks.
Tlaib had been asked about a one-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict on Yahoo News’ Skullduggery podcast.
She said:
There’s kind of a calming feeling I always tell folks when I think of the Holocaust, and the tragedy of the Holocaust, and the fact that it was my ancestors, Palestinians, who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence in many ways, have been wiped out, and some people’s passports.
[...]
I mean, just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews, post-the Holocaust, post-the tragedy and the horrific persecution of Jews across the world at that time, and I love the fact that it was my ancestors that provided that, right, in many ways. But they did it in a way that took their human dignity away, right, and it was forced on them. And so when I think about a one-state, I think about the fact that, why couldn’t we do it in a better way?
As New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait wrote: “What [Tlaib] is saying here is not very hard to understand: While she regrets the establishment of the state of Israel, it did bring a benefit to Jewish refugees.”
However Republicans took a different view. Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney was among those to trim just three words from Tlaib’s hour-long appearance on Skullduggery to level charges of anti-semitism. Republican House minority whip Steve Scalise – who was forced to apologize in 2014 for giving a speech to a white supremacist group founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke – similarly misrepresented her comments before Trump waded in this morning.
Surely now @SpeakerPelosi & @LeaderHoyer will finally take action against vile anti-Semitism in their ranks. This must cross the line, even for them. Rashida Tlaib says thinking of the Holocaust provides her a “calming feeling” https://t.co/opUUNEol2d
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 12, 2019
Democrat Rep. Tlaib is being slammed for her horrible and highly insensitive statement on the Holocaust. She obviously has tremendous hatred of Israel and the Jewish people. Can you imagine what would happen if I ever said what she said, and says?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019
Updated
So what’s so special about that Orbán meeting? Well for one thing it fits into a pattern of Trump cosying up to authoritarian leaders – see Vladimir Putin, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman, to name but three.
Orbán, the far-right Hungarian prime minister, has been accused of attacks on the media, minorities and the courts. He was snubbed by both Barack Obama and George W Bush, while last year the European parliament voted to bring disciplinary proceedings against Hungary for putting the rule of law at risk.
As the New York Times put it: “[Orbán’s] welcome at the White House is seen by Mr Trump’s critics as emblematic of the president’s preference for strongman leaders who seek to undermine the liberal international order.”
We’ll have to wait and see if Trump addresses any of the concerns surrounding Orbán this afternoon.
Updated
Trump to meet Hungary's Orbán in Washington
Good morning and welcome to your live coverage of the day’s political news.
•Donald Trump is welcoming the nationalist prime minister of Hungary at 2pm for a bilateral meeting. Viktor Orbán was snubbed by the Obama administration, which accused him of weakening democracy in Hungary. Orbán is known for his loud anti-migration rhetoric and has repeatedly praised Trump.
•China has announced plans to raise tariffs on $60bn of US imports, escalating the trade war with the US. Beijing said it will set new tariffs of between 5% and 25% on $60bn of US imports from June 1. It’s a sign that China is not prepared to back down after Trump introduced trade penalties last week.
•Trump is keen for attorney general Bill Barr to consider investigating Joe Biden over his ties to Ukraine, it emerged on Sunday. Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, said he and Trump agreed that the attorney general should decide whether US investigators ought to look into a lucrative business deal in Ukraine obtained by Biden’s son while Biden was vice-president.
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