U.S. Democratic leaders on Monday rallied behind a freshman lawmaker Monday after President Donald Trump and other Republicans attacked her over comments about the Holocaust and Palestinians.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer both issued statements on Twitter saying Trump and other Republicans should apologize to Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American from Michigan and one of two Muslim women in Congress. Presidential candidate and senator Bernie Sanders also weighed in.

On the Yahoo News podcast “Skullduggery” last week, Tlaib was asked about her support for a one-state solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestinians.

In a rambling answer, 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,” she said.

Congressional Republicans attacked Tlaib over the weekend, with House Republican Whip Steve Scalise labeling her comments anti-Semitic. “More than six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust; there is nothing ‘calming’ about that fact,” Scalise said.

Trump joined them on Monday with a tweet calling Tlaib’s remarks “horrible and highly insensitive.”

“She obviously has tremendous hatred of Israel and the Jewish people,” the president said.

Pelosi and Hoyer said Trump and House Republicans had taken Tlaib’s words out of context. They “should apologize to Rep. Tlaib & the American people for their gross misrepresentations,” Pelosi wrote on Twitter.

​Controversial remarks by Ilhan Omar

Their swift defense contrasted with the Democratic party’s internal wrangling earlier this year over whether to rebuke another Muslim lawmaker, Representative Ilhan Omar, for remarks that were also seen as anti-Semitic by some when she suggested that Israel’s supporters have an “allegiance to a foreign country.”

At that time some Democrats warned that party leaders were playing into Republicans’ hands. In the end, the Democratic-run House approved a broad resolution condemning anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim discrimination and other forms of bigotry.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, on Monday called Tlaib’s comments “grossly #antiSemitic and ignorant.”

“You should take some time to learn the history before trying to rewrite it,” he said on Twitter. 
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Fresh out of his job as deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein said Monday that the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian election interference was “justified,” that he would have never allowed anyone to interfere with it and that closing it had not been an option.

He also took aim at former FBI Director James Comey, characterizing him as a “partisan pundit” busy selling books and earning speaking fees. The barbs continued an extraordinary public spat between the two law enforcement officials, coming days after Comey said in a television interview that he didn’t view Rosenstein as a person of high character.

The speech before a Baltimore advocacy group for business and civic leaders marked Rosenstein’s most expansive remarks on the recently concluded probe into Russian election interference and potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. In it, Rosenstein repeatedly distanced himself from President Donald Trump — who has decried the investigation as a hoax and witch hunt — and sought to burnish a legacy for himself as a protector of the Justice Department’s independence who tried to do what he thought was right regardless of public criticism.

“I was responsible for overseeing that investigation,” Rosenstein said, according to his prepared remarks. “I knew from preliminary briefings with the agents and prosecutors that it was an important investigation. If it was not done correctly, there would always be lingering doubts about the scope of Russian efforts and the extent of American involvement.

“I would never have allowed anyone to interfere with the investigation,” he added.

Rosenstein’s resignation took effect last week, but the speech Monday night made clear he is likely to remain a public figure in the months ahead and underscored a desire to explain and even justify a decision-making process that has come under heavy scrutiny by Democrats and Republicans alike.

He used his speech, his second of the day, to defend some of the most contentious actions of his tenure, including his role in Comey’s firing — he wrote a memo the White House held up as justification for it — and his subsequent appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller to lead the Russia investigation.

He said Mueller’s appointment was necessary to preserve public confidence in the Justice Department and to resolve the investigation in a way that would protect America from foreign adversaries. He said he knew not everyone was happy with the move — a likely reference to Trump and congressional Republicans — and it would be unpleasant for him and his family.

“But at my confirmation hearing, I promised that I would conduct the investigation properly and see it through to the appropriate conclusion,” Rosenstein said. “In my business, you keep promises. And in my business, the appropriate conclusion is the one that results when you follow the normal process and complete an independent investigation.”

Perhaps his most pointed comments were reserved for Comey, whom he had criticized in a May 2017 memo for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, including his decision to publicly announce that the FBI was not recommending charges.

He said in his speech that though he did not blame Comey for being upset with him, “now the former Director is a partisan pundit, selling books and earning speaking fees while speculating about the strength of my character and the fate of my immortal soul.

“That is disappointing,” Rosenstein added. “Speculating about souls is not a job for police and prosecutors. Generally we base our opinions on eyewitness testimony.”

He also said the memo was “correct” and “reasonable under the circumstances,” even if Trump’s reasons for firing Comey were different from his own.

Two days after firing Comey, Trump acknowledged in a television interview that he was thinking of “this Russia thing” when he made the move. Rosenstein said no one had told him what reasons for firing Comey should be put in the memo — though Mueller’s report says Rosenstein had been asked to reference Russia, a request it says he rejected — and said he was never told that dismissing Comey was meant to shut down the investigation. He said he did not believe that firing Comey would affect the investigation.

In a clear break from Trump, though, he said that if he had been in charge of Comey’s firing, “the removal would have been handled very differently, with far more respect and far less drama.” 
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Top Republicans are hunting district-by-district for just the right candidates — women and minorities in many cases — to help them recapture the House six months after a political tidal wave swept Democrats into control of the most diverse majority in history.

Among the recruits are a Republican woman in the Oklahoma state Senate and a black political novice from Houston with Iraq combat experience and three Ivy League degrees on his resume. They are part of the GOP drive to gain at least 18 seats in the 2020 elections to win the majority — historically a tall order for the party out of power in presidential election years.

Finding women and minority candidates is an imperative for an overwhelmingly white GOP openly embarrassed that just 13 of its 197 House members are women. By contrast, 89 of the 235 House Democrats are women and nearly 90 are black or Hispanic.

But Republicans want challengers with other qualities too, following a 2018 election that saw the GOP lose 31 districts that President Donald Trump had won just two years earlier, many in moderate suburbs.

Desirable attributes include an ability to woo moderate GOP voters who’ve turned against Trump, whose name will be atop the ballot. In some districts they want political outsiders without voting records to attack, in others it’s political veterans with a proven ability to win votes. Enticing personal stories and an aptitude for raising money also help.

“You will see a party that’s reflective of the entire nation. That would mean from gender to race to others, but it will also show that we can compete in every single district,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

GOP leaders like potential challengers including Young Kim, who wants a rematch against the freshman Democrat who badly outspent her but only narrowly defeated her last year in increasingly diverse Orange County, California; Karen Handel, elected to the House in an expensive 2017 special election, only to lose re-election last November by 3,000 votes; and Tom Kean Jr., who’s seeking a House seat in western New Jersey and hopes the popularity of his father, moderate former Gov. Tom Kean, will outweigh the state’s antipathy to Trump.

McCarthy says he’s met with over 30 contenders, of whom nearly 6 in 10 are women and nearly half are minorities. Rep. Susan Brooks, R-Ind., recruitment chief for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOP’s campaign arm, says more than 130 women have contacted the committee about running. One group called Winning for Women and another, E-PAC, formed by Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., are also seeking female GOP candidates.

So far, Republicans haven’t matched Democrats’ ability to attract women candidates. According to data collected by The Associated Press through noon last Monday, just 38 of 172 declared Republican House challengers were women, around 1 in 5. That compared to 84 of 222 declared House Democratic challengers, nearly 2 in 5.

Democrats scoff that GOP efforts will flop because Americans care less about candidates’ attributes than about issues like buttressing health care and wages.

“You can have all the interesting stories in the world, you can have an interesting background,” said Rep. A. Donald McEachin, D-Va., a candidate recruiter for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Democrats’ political organ. He said if Republicans ignore people’s problems “and as long as you’ve got Donald Trump wrapped around your neck, we don’t have a whole lot to worry about.”

Democrats are already compiling GOP recruits’ weaknesses, including past statements, underwhelming fundraising starts and districts’ changing demographics. And there are no guarantees that Republican recruits will survive GOP primaries and be nominated.

Still, leaders are finding contenders like Wesley Hunt, a black West Point graduate and former Army Apache helicopter pilot who fought in Iraq and has three Cornell University master’s degrees. He would oppose freshman Rep. Lizzie Fletcher in Houston’s suburbs.

“As an African-American conservative man who grew up in a conservative suburban home, my values just align very well with the suburbs of Houston,” said Hunt, 37. He traveled to Washington last week so McCarthy could introduce him to potential donors in his first run for public office.

“You’re a West Point graduate, you served your nation. That’s going to give somebody an advantage over somebody that’s been in the legislature,” McCarthy said.

In other areas, Republicans hope women like Oklahoma GOP state Sen. Stephanie Bice would oust female Democrats like freshman Rep. Kendra Horn. Horn squeaked past a male GOP incumbent last November in a district around Oklahoma City that Trump carried in 2016 by 40,000 votes.

Bice, 45, said she’s spoken to McCarthy and other Republican leaders and was traveling to Washington last week for further meetings. “I get the impression that they’re really interested,” she said.

In one district encompassing Staten Island and part of Brooklyn, GOP leaders are touting Nicole Malliotakis, a state assemblywoman and New York City’s only elected Republican. She’s half Cuban and half Greek, lost a 2017 mayoral race but did well in that district and has reported raising $300,000 — a decent start in a race that could cost nearly 20 times that amount.

Republican leaders expect Sara Hart Weir, 37, to seek a House district that includes Kansas City, Kansas. Weir until recently was president of the National Down Syndrome Society, which gives her fundraising experience and familiarity with health issues. She says she’s met McCarthy and nearly every GOP congresswoman and would challenge freshman Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids, one of Congress’ first Native American women.

“I don’t see why they wouldn’t want somebody with my background, my results and my leadership to raise their hand and step forward,” Weir said.
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Voters in North Carolina’s 9th district will head to the polls Tuesday for a special election primary that will decide which Republican will face off against Democrat Dan McCready for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

McCready lost to Republican Mark Harris by just 905 votes in the general election held in September 2018. But the results were never certified because of allegations of absentee ballot fraud.

North Carolina’s elections board ordered new elections after allegations surfaced that Harris political operative Leslie McCrae Dowless may have tampered with mail-in absentee ballots.

According to testimony presented to the board, Dowless conducted an illegal “ballot harvesting” operation while working for Harris. Dowless and his assistants helped voters obtain absentee ballots and then gathered up the filled-in ballots from them by offering to put them in the mail.

Dowless’ workers in rural Bladen County testified that they were directed to collect blank or incomplete ballots from voters, forge signatures on them and even fill in votes for local candidates. It is generally against the law in North Carolina for anyone other than the voter or a family member to handle someone’s completed ballot.

Harris has refused to run in the special election.

There are 10 Republicans running in the primary. If none of them gets 30% of the vote or more, a runoff primary will be held on September 10 and the general election will be moved to November 5.

However, if a clear winner does emerge, the candidate will take on McCready in a general election on September 10.

 
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More tug-of-war is expected in Washington this week between congressional Democrats, who seek further information and material pertaining to the Russia probe, and the Trump administration, which is eager to turn the page and move on from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports.
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President Donald Trump’s combative approach to trade has been one of the constants among his often-shifting political views. And he’s showing no signs of backing off now, even as the stakes intensify with the threat of a full-blown trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.  

The president went after China on Day 1 of his presidential bid, promising to “bring back our jobs from China, from Mexico, from Japan, from so many places.” 

Trump’s views on trade helped forge his path to victory in states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, where he linked the loss of manufacturing jobs to the North America Free Trade Agreement and other trade deals. He warned the worst was yet to come with President Barack Obama’s proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership.  

His trashing of existing and proposed trade agreements grabbed the headlines, but he also made clear his view that globalization had been bad for America and that he would use tariffs to protect national security and domestic producers. He cited the nation’s Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan as leaders whose footsteps he was following when it came to trade and tariffs. 

Our original Constitution did not even have an income tax,'' Trump told voters in Monessen, Pa., four months before the 2016 presidential election.Instead, it had tariffs, emphasizing taxation of foreign, not domestic production.” 

​Taking on China

No. 7 on his list of trade promises in that speech: taking on China for “its theft of American trade secrets.” 

“This is so easy. I love saying this. I will use every lawful presidential power to remedy trade disputes, including the application of tariffs consistent” with existing trade laws, Trump said. 

Those laws include Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which Trump cited to enact tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from China, Canada, Mexico and elsewhere. 

They also include Section 301 of the Trade Act, which Trump used last year to apply 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods and 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion of goods. That 10 percent was increased to 25 percent on Friday. Trump is laying the groundwork to extend the 25 percent tariff to all of China’s exports to the U.S. 

“Such an easy way to avoid Tariffs? Make or produce your goods and products in the good old USA. It’s very simple!” Trump tweeted on Saturday. 

Of course, America’s trading partners haven’t let Trump’s tariffs stand without taking similar action themselves. Farmers, boat makers, and whiskey and wine producers are just some of the U.S. industries caught in the middle. 

Farming is a very small-margin, small-profit business. We rely on lots of volume and lots of sales to generate a profit,'' said Brent Bible, a soybean and corn farmer in Lafayette, Ind., who has seen prices for both commodities drop in the past year.We are operating at a loss now.” 

Trump’s philosophy on some issues has evolved over the years. 

He once described himself regarding the abortion issue as very pro-choice.'' Now, his administration promotes him as the mostpro-life president in American history.” 

​Complaint about Japan

On trade, not so much. In Trump: The Art of the Deal, Trump complained of the Japanese that “what’s unfortunate is that for decades now they have become wealthier in large measure by screwing the United States with a self-serving trade policy that our political leaders have never been able to fully understand or counteract.” 

Fast-forward nearly three decades, and Trump declared in his 2015 announcement for the presidency that other nations were prospering at America’s expense. “When was the last time anybody saw us beating, let’s say, China, in a trade deal? They kill us. I beat China all the time,” Trump said. 

Trump’s approach on trade is a dramatic departure for the Republican Party, but GOP lawmakers have declined to take action that would block his tariffs. They credit his tactics for getting improvements to a trade deal with Canada and Mexico to replace NAFTA, and for getting China to the negotiating table. 

President Trump is the first president to take China head-on,'' said Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee. He saideveryone knows I’m not a fan of tariffs, but I think everyone knows as well that China has been cheating for far too long.” 

Trump has received some encouragement from Democratic leaders. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tweeted to Trump: “Don’t back down. Strength is the only way to win with China.” 

Current and former officials in the administration believe that voters will give the president credit for standing up to China, and not blame him for any pain that may result from the tariffs war. 

Overall, AP VoteCast found Americans critical in their assessments of Trump on trade. But that’s not the case with his supporters. According to the survey of more than 115,000 midterm voters nationwide, 45% approved of Trump on trade, while 53% disapproved. Among voters who approved of Trump’s job overall, fully 88% approved of his handling of trade. 

​Who pays?

While Trump casts his tariffs as being paid for by China, they actually are paid by the American companies that bring a product into the U.S. This can help some U.S. producers, though, because it makes their goods more competitive pricewise. Still, the burden of Trump’s tariffs on imports from China and other countries falls entirely on U.S. consumers and businesses that buy imports, said a study in March by economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Columbia University and Princeton University. 

Republican-leaning business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have warned that the tariffs threaten to derail the economy raise unemployment, but with economic growth at 3.2 percent last quarter and the unemployment rate at 3.6 percent, Trump isn’t changing strategy now. 

“Tariffs will make our Country MUCH STRONGER, not weaker. Just sit back and watch!” Trump tweeted on Friday. 
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Donald Trump campaigned on an image of master negotiator and ultimate dealmaker. But two years into his presidency, major foreign policy successes remain elusive. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara updates us on President Trump’s proliferating confrontations abroad.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he did not not consider North Korea’s recent launch of short-range ballistic missiles “a breach of trust.”

In an interview with Politico, Trump downplayed the missile tests by North Korea, calling them “very standard stuff.” 

“They’re short-range and I don’t consider that a breach of trust at all. And, you know, at some point I may. But at this point, no,” Trump said. 

North Korea fired two short-range missiles on Thursday, its second such test in less than a week. 

The Pentagon said the launches consisted of ballistic missiles that flew in excess of 300 km (185 miles) and landed in the ocean. 

Trump said he might eventually lose faith in his friendly relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which he has previously described as “very strong.” 

“I mean, it’s possible that at some point I will, but right now, not at all,” Trump said. 

On Thursday, Trump appeared to hold the door open for more talks with North Korea. 

“The relationship continues … I know they want to negotiate, they’re talking about negotiating. But I don’t think they’re ready to negotiate,” he told reporters. 
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A top House Democrat on Friday issued subpoenas for six years of President Donald Trump’s tax returns, giving Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig a deadline of next Friday to deliver them. 

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., issued the subpoenas days after Mnuchin refused to comply with demands to turn over Trump’s returns. Mnuchin told the panel he wouldn’t provide Trump’s tax records because the panel’s request “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose,” as Supreme Court precedent requires.  

Neal reminded the two Trump appointees in a Friday letter that federal law states that the Internal Revenue Service shall furnish'' the tax returns of any individual upon the request of the chairmen of Congress' tax-writing committees and that Ways and Meanshas never been denied” a request. 

Refusals to comply

The White House and the Democratic-controlled House are waging a multifront battle over investigations into Trump, and the administration has been refusing to comply across the board — refusing to comply with subpoenas for the unredacted report by special counsel Robert Mueller and documents related to the testimony by former White House  counsel Donald McGahn. 

Neal originally demanded access to Trump’s tax returns in early April. He maintains that the committee is looking into the effectiveness of IRS mandatory audits of tax returns of all sitting presidents, a way to justify his claim that the panel has a potential legislative purpose. Democrats are confident in their legal justification and say Trump is stalling in an attempt to punt the issue past the 2020 election.    

In rejecting the request earlier, Mnuchin said he relied on the advice of the Justice Department. He concluded that the Treasury Department is “not authorized to disclose the requested returns and return information.” Mnuchin has also said that Neal’s request would potentially weaponize private tax returns for political purposes.  

“While I do not take this step lightly, I believe this action gives us the best opportunity to succeed and obtain the requested material,” Neal said in a statement.  

President won’t budge

Trump has privately made clear he has no intention of turning over the records. He is the first president since Watergate scandal of Richard Nixon’s presidency to decline to make his tax returns public, often claiming that he would release them if he were not under audit. The IRS’s Rettig has told House lawmakers that no rule bars release of a tax return because it’s under audit.

What's unprecedented is this secretary refusing to comply with our lawful ... request. What's unprecedented is a Justice Department that again sees its role as being bodyguard to the executive and not the rule of law,'' said Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J.What’s unprecedented is an entire federal government working in concert to shield a corrupt president from legal accountability.”  

But the president has told those close to him that the attempt to get his returns was an invasion of his privacy and a further example of what he calls the Democrat-led “witch hunt” — like Mueller’s Russia probe — meant to damage him.
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