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Trump: New Honduras Migrant Caravan Justifies Need for Border Wall

U.S. President Donald Trump contended Tuesday that a new migrant caravan leaving Honduras justifies his demand for a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border to keep them from surging into the United States.

“A big new Caravan is heading up to our Southern Border from Honduras,” Trump said on Twitter. He urged people to tell House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, the top Democratic leaders who oppose his demand that U.S. taxpayers pay for a wall, “that a drone flying around will not stop them. Only a Wall will work. Only a Wall, or Steel Barrier, will keep our Country safe!”

He told Pelosi and Schumer to “Stop playing political games and end the Shutdown!” — the record 25-day partial government closure spawned by the dispute over Trump’s demand for more than $5 billion to build a border barrier. Democrats have offered $1.3 billion for improved border security, but none specifically for a wall.   

About 800,000 federal workers have been furloughed or ordered to work without pay in the Trump stalemate with Democratic lawmakers, an impasse that has curtailed government services, such as airport security monitoring, and closed some museums and parks.

“Why is Nancy Pelosi getting paid when people who are working are not?” Trump tweeted.

The White House said that it invited Republican and Democratic lawmakers to lunch to discuss the shutdown, but only Republicans accepted. “It’s time for the Democrats to come to the table and make a deal,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

Trump said, “Polls are now showing that people are beginning to understand the Humanitarian Crisis and Crime at the Border. Numbers are going up fast, over 50%. Democrats will soon be known as the Party of Crime. Ridiculous that they don’t want Border Security!”

The Honduran caravan left the crime-ridden city of San Pedro Sula in the early hours Tuesday, with more migrants expected to join it later in the day. Thousands of other Hondurans and people from other Central American countries remain encamped in Tijuana, Mexico, just south of the U.S. border, blocked from entering the United States after walking thousands of kilometers as part of a caravan that started in October.

Although a majority of Americans blame the U.S. president and Republicans for the prolonged partial government shutdown, Trump on Monday said Democrats in Congress are squarely responsible. Trump last month, before the shutdown started, said he would be “proud” to “own” it in a fight over border security  

“They will not approve the measures we need to keep American safe,” Trump said of Democrats at a national convention of farmers in New Orleans.

“I will never ever back down” from efforts to keep America safe, Trump vowed in the speech to the 100th annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation. He accused Democrats of refusing to approve money for a wall because they want to use it as an issue for next year’s presidential campaign when Trump faces re-election.

Six major polls indicate that half of or more Americans hold the president and his Republican Party responsible for the shutdown. And 63 percent of American voters support a Democratic proposal to reopen parts of the government that do not involve border security while negotiating funding for a border wall, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released Monday.  

Earlier in the day, Trump told White House reporters he would not, at least for the moment, declare a national emergency to build the wall without congressional authorization.

“I’m not going to do that,” Trump said as he left the White House for the New Orleans trip.

“We are open to resolution and negotiation,” Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway told VOA News on Monday, indicating that communication is under way between the executive branch and Democrats, but she provided no details.  

Trump rejected a call by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, one of his staunchest congressional supporters, to reopen shuttered agencies for three weeks while he holds more talks with Democratic leaders about his plan for a wall along the 3,200-kilometer southern U.S. border.

Graham told the Fox News Sunday television program he would still support a presidential emergency declaration to build the border wall after giving talks another chance.

“I would urge him to open up the government for a short period of time, like three weeks, before he pulls the plug, see if we can get a deal. If we can’t at the end of three weeks, all bets are off,” Graham said.

“I’m not interested,” Trump replied to a reporter’s query on Monday about Graham’s suggestion, contending that top Democrats in Congress could quickly end the stalemate.

The Democrat-led House of Representatives has passed several measures that would reopen the shuttered agencies while border security talks continue.

Another such bill is up for consideration Tuesday that would reopen the agencies through Feb. 1, and another that would open them through Feb. 28 is expected to go before the House on Thursday.

Pelosi on Monday used Twitter to blame Republicans for starting the shutdown, and called for Trump to allow the Senate to vote to end it, arguing furloughed federal workers, who have already missed one paycheck, “are facing a life or death situation” just so the president “can try to force taxpayers to fund a border wall he promised Mexico would pay for.”

In a speech on the Senate floor Monday, Democratic Minority Leader Schumer called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow a vote on legislation already approved by the House of Representatives to end the shutdown.

“How much more suffering must the president cause before leader McConnell realizes it’s time to move ahead without him? It seems clear to everybody but leader McConnell that Congress needs to move forward without the president,” Schumer said. “It’s time for leader McConnell to realize he has the power to break this impasse, passing the House legislation to reopen the government.”

Democrats Eye Censure of Steve King Over Racist Comments  

The highest-ranking Republican in the U.S. Congress sharply denounced Congressman Steve King of Iowa for racially charged comments. 

“There is no place in the Republican Party, the Congress or the country for an ideology of racial supremacy of any kind,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday.

McConnell joined fellow Republicans in condemning King, as House Democrats announced plans to censure him. 

The fallout against King stems from an interview published in The New York Times last week in which King lamented, “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?”

But his offensive remarks date back to 2006 when he compared immigrants to livestock.

Democratic Congressman Bobby Rush of Illinois was the first of three House Democrats to propose a measure sanctioning King.

“As with any animal that is rabid, Steve King should be set aside and isolated,” Rush said in a statement that also called on Republicans to strip King of his committee memberships until he apologizes. 

“My resolution to censure Representative King sends a clear message to the American people — this Congress will not turn a blind eye to his repugnant and racist behavior,” Rush said.

Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio, and House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina, have also said they will introduce resolutions against King. 

On Friday, King said on the House floor that the interview with the Times “also was a discussion of other terms that have been used, almost always unjustly labeling otherwise innocent people. The word racist, the word Nazi, the word fascist, the phrase white nationalists, the phrase white supremacists.”

King said he was only wondering aloud: “How did that offensive language get injected into our political dialogue? Who does that? How does it get done? How do they get by with laying labels like this on people?”

Iowa Republican state senator Randy Feenstra has announced plans to challenge King in 2020. 

Attorney General Nominee to Face Tough Questioning

President Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, William Barr, on Tuesday begins two days of confirmation hearings that are expected to delve into Barr’s criticism of the special counsel investigation and his expansive views of executive power.

Barr, who served as attorney general under former President George H.W. Bush, has drawn scrutiny in recent weeks for a memo he wrote last year criticizing special counsel Robert Mueller for examining whether Trump tried to obstruct the investigation. 

In the 19-page memo to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the investigation, Barr opined that Mueller’s probe of Trump for asking then-FBI director James Comey to “let … go” of a separate investigation and then firing him was “fatally misconceived” and “grossly irresponsible.”

The memo, written on June 8, came to light last month after Trump nominated Barr, 68, to succeed then-attorney general Jeff Sessions, whom he ousted over his recusal from oversight of the Russia investigation. Alarmed that Barr, a conservative Republican lawyer, might put limits on the investigation, Democrats have vowed to make the memo a key element of Barr’s nomination hearing. 

Seeking to mollify those concerns, Barr released his written testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, arguing that the memo was “narrow in scope” and did not address the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and other “potential obstruction-of-justice theories.”

In his testimony, Barr will say that he’ll allow the special counsel to complete his investigation without any interference.

“I believe it is in the best interest of everyone — the President, Congress, and, most importantly, the American people — that this matter be resolved by allowing the Special Counsel to complete his work,” Barr will say. “The country needs a credible resolution of these issues.”

Despite the seemingly reassuring tone of the statement, Democrats signaled they plan to grill Barr on the Mueller investigation as well as a range of other issues. 

Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, a prominent member of the Senate judiciary panel, tweeted after the release of Barr’s statement that despite the attorney general nominee’s avowed support for the Mueller investigation, “serious questions remain.”

Question of authority

One question Barr left unanswered in his statement but will likely feature prominently during the confirmation hearing:  Does Barr think the president has the legal authority to ask the attorney general to shut down the investigation? It is an old legal question that has taken on real-world significance in the midst of the Russia investigation. 

William Yeomans, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Justice and a lecturer in law at Columbia University, said that Barr — a strong proponent of the “unitary executive” — takes the view that the president has the authority to shut down any criminal investigation.

“What he says in his statement is, to the extent that the decisions are his, he’ll support the completion of the Mueller investigation but he doesn’t rebut the notion that the president could tell him to shut down the investigation,” Yeomans said. “The Senate needs to ask him in some detail about how he’d react to various instructions from the president: to shut down the investigation, or curtail certain investigative steps.”

Oversight of Russia investigation

If confirmed, Barr will take over oversight of the Russia investigation from Rosenstein, who has indicated to associates in recent weeks that he’ll leave the Justice Department after a new attorney general is confirmed.

Yeomans said that Rosenstein has protected the Mueller investigation from “political interference” and he added that there is “an inherent problem in having this president select the person who’s going to oversee the investigation into this president.”

Friends and supporters of Barr described him as a straight-shooting lawyer who will not bend to Trump’s wishes. 

“Mr. Barr is a very independent fellow who has his own view of what’s right and wrong, and I’m sure he’ll execute that,” said Andrew McBride, a longtime Barr friend and a partner at the law firm of Perkins Coie in Washington.  

McBride dismissed the notion that Barr is an “anti-Mueller zealot” out to upend the Russia investigation.

“The memo he wrote is about one part of the Mueller investigation and it’s a constitutional analysis,” he said. “It just says Mr. Barr believes in this one area the president had the authority to fire Mr. Comey and that it was not obstruction of justice. But it doesn’t comment on the Russian collusion aspect of Mr. Mueller’s investigation.”

McBride said Barr respects the uniquely American role of the attorney general.

“Bill has always thought there were two roles for the attorney general: one is as a cabinet officer who is loyal to the president, but one is as an independent law enforcement officer,” McBride said.

2nd Judge Blocks Trump Rules for Birth Control Insurance Coverage

A second federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from letting businesses and others opt out of birth control coverage required by the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

Judge Wendy Beetlestone handed down her ruling Monday in Philadelphia, blocking the Trump rules nationwide — a day after a federal judge in California issued an injunction affecting 13 states and Washington, D.C.

Both judges ruled that allowing employers to opt out of birth control coverage would force women to turn to the states for help, leading to such consequences as unwanted pregnancies.

There has been no reaction from the White House or Justice Department.

The Trump administration rules were to have taken effect this week. They would have let businesses and nonprofit groups opt out of the birth control requirement on moral grounds or if it violated religious beliefs.

Lawyers for those suing to block the rules argued that they violate women’s economic and reproductive rights.

Top Trump Senate Ally Urges President to Reopen Shutdown Government

U.S. President Donald Trump is standing by his demand for a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, as Democrats refuse to support what they call an expensive and ineffective measure while a partial government shutdown over the standoff hits its 24th day Monday.

Late Sunday, Trump issued a series of tweets quoting an editorial by conservative commentator Pat Buchanan in which Buchanan called for Trump to use executive authority to declare a national emergency to get the money he wants for wall construction.

Trump finished with his own comment: “The great people of our Country demand proper Border Security NOW!”

Earlier Sunday, one of Trump’s closest allies in the U.S. Senate urged him to at least temporarily reopen the shuttered federal government and negotiate with Democrats.

South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham told Fox News Sunday he would still support a presidential emergency declaration after giving talks another chance.

“I would urge him to open up the government for a short period of time, like three weeks, before he pulls the plug, see if we can get a deal. If we can’t at the end of three weeks, all bets are off,” Graham said.

Graham echoed Trump by blaming the three-week long government shutdown on Democrats — specifically House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who joked she would give Trump money for a border wall — $1.

​”How do you negotiate with the speaker of the house when she tells you even if you open up the government, we are not going to give you but $1 for the wall? So until that changes, there’s not much left except the national emergency approach,” Graham said on Fox.

Declaring a national emergency along the U.S.-Mexican border would allow Trump to spend the $5 billion he wants for a wall without congressional approval — a move Democrats would immediately challenge in court.

Most Democrats say they agree on the need for border security, but say there is no national security crisis and believe a wall would be an impractical waste of money.

“I do think if we reopen the government, if the president ends this shutdown crisis, we have folks who can negotiate a responsible, modern investment in technology that will actually make us safer,” Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said on Fox.

Coons blames the impasse on border wall funding that led to the shutdown on Trump. He said the president had accepted a border security package that included money for a wall, then changed his mind.

“The only crisis here is one that’s been created by the president’s abrupt change in position at the end of last year in the last days of a Republican-controlled Congress,” Coons said. He added that Trump should test the Democrats’ willingness to compromise by making the concessions he is willing to make clear to everyone.

Trump insists building a wall along the border will bring down the nation’s crime rate. He says illegal drugs are pouring into the United States from Mexico, even though security experts say most come through legal ports of entry.

Trump chided 30 congressional Democrats for heading to a Hispanic Caucus retreat in Puerto Rico to watch a charity performance of the smash Broadway show “Hamilton.”

Trump mocked them for “having fun” while he remains in snowy Washington.

But the lawmakers reportedly bought their own tickets to the show. They will also meet Puerto Rican officials on the recovery from Hurricane Maria — the powerful storm that devastated the island in 2017. They have also brought donated medical supplies.

Meanwhile, 800,000 federal employees are either furloughed or working without pay.

Congress says all affected federal workers will get back pay as soon as the shutdown is over, but that brings little assurance to those who have immediate expenses or little or no savings in case of an emergency.

While the Trump has said he “can relate” to their loss of income, he says a broken border is more damaging than a government shutdown.

Top Trump Senate Ally Urges President to Reopen Shuttered Parts of Government

One of President Donald Trump’s closest allies in the U.S. Senate is urging him to at least temporarily reopen the shuttered federal government and negotiate with Democrats on a border wall.

South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham told Fox News Sunday he would still support a presidential emergency declaration after giving talks another chance.

“I would urge him to open up the government for a short period of time, like three weeks, before he pulls the plug, see if we can get a deal. If we can’t at the end of three weeks, all bets are off,” Graham said.

Graham echoed Trump by blaming the three-week long government shutdown on Democrats – specifically House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who joked she would give Trump $1 for the border wall.

“How do you negotiate with the speaker of the house when she tells you even if you open up the government, we are not going to give you but $1 for the wall? So until that changes, there’s not much left except the national emergency approach,” Graham said on Fox.

Declaring a national emergency along the U.S.-Mexican border would allow Trump to spend the $5 billion he wants for a wall without congressional approval – a move Democrats would be expected to immediately challenge in court.

Democrats see waste of money

Most Democrats say they agree on the need for border security, but say there is no national security crisis and believe a wall would be an impractical waste of money.

“I do think if we reopen the government, if the president ends this shutdown crisis, we have folks who can negotiate a responsible, modern investment in technology that will actually make us safer,” Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said on Fox.

Coons blames the impasse on border wall funding that led to the shutdown on Trump. He said the president had accepted a border security package that included money for a wall, then changed his mind.

“The only crisis here is one that’s been created by the president’s abrupt change in position at the end of last year in the last days of a Republican-controlled Congress,” Coons said. He added that Trump should test the Democrats’ willingness to compromise by the concessions he is willing to make clear to everyone.

Trump insists building a wall along the border will bring down the nation’s crime rate. He says illegal drugs are pouring into the United States from Mexico, even though security experts say most come through legal ports of entry.

He said he is in the White House waiting for Democrats to come and make a deal.

‘Having fun’

Trump chided 30 congressional Democrats for heading to a Hispanic Caucus retreat in Puerto Rico to watch a charity performance of the smash Broadway show “Hamilton.”

Trump mocked them for “having fun” while he remains in snowy Washington.

Watch related video by VOA’s Michael Bowman:

But the lawmakers reportedly bought their own tickets to the show. They will also meet Puerto Rican officials on the recovery from Hurricane Maria – the powerful storm that devastated the island in 2017. They have also brought donated medical supplies.

Meanwhile, 800,000 federal employees will begin their 24th day Monday either furloughed or working without pay.

Newspapers and TV newscasts across the country are filled with stories of government workers lying awake at night wondering how they are going to pay their bills.

Congress says all affected federal workers will get back pay as soon as the shutdown is over, but that brings little assurance to those who have immediate expenses and little or no savings in case of an emergency.

While Trump has said he “can relate” to their loss of income, he says a broken border is more damaging than a government shutdown.

 

Congressman Blasted for Defense of White Nationalism

The leader of the Republican minority in the U.S. House of Representatives said Sunday that “action will be taken” against Congressman Steve King, a Republican lawmaker from rural Iowa who has questioned why the terms “white nationalist” and “white supremacist” are offensive.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told CBS News that he is holding a “serious conversation” with the 69-year-old King on Monday, reviewing whether King should be stripped of his House committee assignments, which would leave him all but powerless to shape legislation.

King has drawn widespread condemnation after last week telling The News York Times in an interview, “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive? Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”

After his remarks were published, King said, “I want to make one thing abundantly clear: I reject those labels and the evil ideology that they define.” On Friday, in a House speech, he expressed regret for the “heartburn” his remarks had caused.

But McCarthy sharply condemned King’s comments.

“That language has no place in America,” McCarthy said. “That is not the America I know.”

McCarthy said he would be discussing King’s future role in the Republican party when he meets with the lawmaker.

“I will not stand back as a leader of this party, believing in this nation that all are created equal,” and let King’s remarks stand as representative of the Republican party, McCarthy said.

Senator Tim Scott, the Senate’s only black Republican, said in a Washington Post opinion article, “When people with opinions similar to King’s open their mouths, they damage not only the Republican Party and the conservative brand but also our nation as a whole.”

He said, “King’s views are not conservative views but separate views that should be ridiculed at every turn possible.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Democratic majority, said Friday that the House would take some punitive action against King.

“We’ll see what we do about Steve King, but nonetheless, nothing is shocking anymore, right?” she told reporters. “The new normal around here is to praise white supremacists and nationalism as something that shouldn’t be shunned.”

 

Government Shutdown Day 23: Congress Gone, President Tweets

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history continues, entering its 23rd day Sunday.

On Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter to post about the Democrats and their congressional leaders.

In a reference to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, Trump posted late Saturday: “I am in the White House waiting for Cryin’ Chuck and Nancy to call so we can start helping our Country both at the Border and from within!”

Earlier Saturday, the president tweeted: “We have a massive Humanitarian Crisis at our Southern Border. We will be out for a long time unless the Democrats come back from their “vacations” and get back to work. I am in the White House ready to sign!”

Both the House and Senate adjourned Friday afternoon and will return to Washington Monday.

​Border wall standoff

The shutdown stems from Trump’s demand for billions of dollars to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, a move the House of Representatives has refused. The president says the wall is needed to keep out migrants whom he called “criminals” and “rapists” during his successful presidential campaign.

Meanwhile, the shutdown has affected some 800,000 federal workers who have been furloughed or who are working without pay. Neither group knows when they will see a pay check again.

Some municipalities and businesses are trying to help federal workers and their families with special discounts and offerings.

In the Washington area, Giant Food Stores opened pop-up markets on several of its parking lots Saturday to give free groceries to federal workers. School districts in Washington and surrounding areas have expanded their school lunch program to provide free lunches to children whose parents are victims of the shutdown.

​‘Painless as possible’

Russell T. Vought, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the Trump administration is seeking “to make this shutdown as painless as possible, consistent with the law.”

A former OMB leader, however, disagrees.

Alice Rivlin, who led OMB during the 21-day shutdown in 1996, said, “The strategy seems to be to keep the shutdown in place, not worry about the effect on employees and furloughed people and contractors, but where the public might be annoyed, give a little.”

Rivlin said the difference between 1996 and now is “We wanted it to end. I’m not convinced the Trump administration does.”

​National emergency talk

The lapse in funding has hit roughly a quarter of the federal government, including the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.

Trump visited the border town of McAllen, Texas, Thursday, saying he may declare a national emergency.

“We’re either going to have a win, make a compromise, because I think a compromise is a win for everybody, or I will declare a national emergency,” he said.

Such a declaration would allow Trump to spend money on a wall without congressional approval. It would likely bring an immediate court challenge from Democrats who say there is no emergency at the border and that the president would be overstepping his constitutional authority.

Trump is blaming the government shutdown and impasse on wall funding on the Democrats, especially House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Schumer.

He says they are oblivious to national security and will not compromise.

Pelosi and Schumer say the president is obsessed by the wall and has manufactured a crisis, in part, to distract the country from his other problems.

They have proposed reopening the government and separating the wall issue for separate negotiations.

Veterans Feel the Pinch, Weigh the Cost of Government Shutdown

It is more than three weeks into the partial government shutdown. Among the hundreds of thousands of federal employees affected by the political battle are military veterans. According to the latest government data, veterans make up about a third of the federal government’s civilian workforce.

Tyler Holmquist of Fredericksburg, Virginia, is a veteran and an employee of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He’s one of the federal workers furloughed in the government shutdown, unable to work or collect pay.

“You just start making adjustments. You start cutting eating out. You try to make less trips to town to save on gas,” Holmquist said.

Family legacy of service

Holmquist spent 24 years in the Marine Corps, continuing a family legacy of fighters that dates back to World War I.

And he views his job in the Department of Homeland Security as a continuation of his service.

“Support and defend the Constitution, support and defend the nation (is) something a Marine can easily get behind,” he said.

Carey Holmquist has been out of the workforce for years, opting to stay home to care for their children during her husband’s military deployments and the many family moves.

But that could change soon.

“Actually I may be applying for jobs because we don’t know how long this is going to last,” she said.

Border security, family security

Holmquist’s employer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is at the center of the political impasse fueling the furloughs.

“A lot of people that we’re talking about in terms of pay, they agree with me,” President Donald Trump said during a visit to the border Thursday.

Are the Holmquists among the people the president is referring to?

“I very much support a wall or barrier and better security,” Carey Holmquist said. “On the other hand, I’m starting to wake up at night and be stressed because we’re not getting a paycheck.”

They’re hoping elected leaders will quickly do their jobs, so Tyler can get back to his.

Senator to Call for Vote Against Easing Sanctions on Russian Companies

U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Saturday he will force a vote soon on a resolution to disapprove the Trump administration’s decision to relax sanctions on three Russian companies connected to oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

“I have concluded that the Treasury Department’s proposal is flawed and fails to sufficiently limit Oleg Deripaska’s control and influence of these companies and the Senate should move to block this misguided effort by the Trump administration and keep these sanctions in place,” Schumer said in a news release.

The U.S. Treasury announced Dec. 20 that it would lift sanctions imposed in April on the core businesses of Deripaska, including aluminum giant Rusal its parent En+ and power firm EuroSibEnergo, watering down the toughest penalties imposed since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

After lobbying by European governments that followed the imposition of sanctions, Washington postponed enforcement of the sanctions and started talks with Deripaska’s team on removing Rusal and En+ from the blacklist if he ceded control of Rusal.

The businessman, who has close ties to the Kremlin, also had ties with Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, documents have showed.

An FBI agent said in an affidavit attached to a 2017 search warrant unsealed earlier this year that he had reviewed tax returns for a company controlled by Manafort and his wife that showed a $10 million loan from a Russian lender identified as Deripaska.

On Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin insisted that the Trump administration would keep tight control on companies linked to Deripaska, despite the decision to ease restrictions.

Mnuchin said the firms would face consequences including the reimposition of sanctions if they failed to comply with the terms.

Schumer said given Deripaska’s potential involvement with Manafort, and because of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s ties with Russia has not yet concluded, “It’s all the more reason these sanctions must remain in place.”

Passage of the resolution of disapproval of Treasury’s decision would require the approval of both the Democratic-majority house and the Senate, led by Trump’s fellow Republicans who are unlikely to break with his policy.

Selective shutdown? Trump Tries to Blunt Impact, Takes Heat

The government shutdown is wreaking havoc on many Americans: Hundreds of thousands of federal employees don’t know when they’ll see their next paycheck, and low-income people who rely on the federal safety net worry about whether they’ll make ends meet should the stalemate in Washington carry on another month.

But if you’re a sportsman looking to hunt game, a gas company planning to drill offshore or a taxpayer awaiting your refund, you’re in luck: This shutdown won’t affect your plans.

All administrations get some leeway to choose which services to freeze and which to maintain when a budget standoff in Washington forces some agencies to shutter. But in the selective reopening of offices, experts say they see a willingness to cut corners, scrap prior plans and wade into legally dubious territory to mitigate the pain. Some noted the choices seem targeted at shielding the Republican-leaning voters whom Trump and his party need to stick with them.

The cumulative effect is a government shutdown — now officially the longest in U.S. history — that some Americans may find financially destabilizing and others may hardly notice.

Russell T. Vought, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the overarching message from Trump has been “to make this shutdown as painless as possible, consistent with the law.”

“We have built on past efforts within this administration not to have the shutdown be used to be weaponized against the American people,” he said.

Others say such a strategy suggests a lack of urgency and a willingness to let the political impasse in Washington drag on indefinitely.

“The strategy seems to be to keep the shutdown in place, not worry about the effect on employees and furloughed people and contractors, but where the public might be annoyed, give a little,” said Alice Rivlin, who led OMB during the 21-day shutdown in 1996, the previous recordholder for the longest in history.

That’s a clear difference between then and now, Rivlin said.

“We weren’t trying to make it better. We were trying to emphasize the pain so it would be over,” she said. “We wanted it to end. I’m not convinced the Trump administration does.”

The Trump administration earlier this week announced that the IRS will issue tax refunds during the shutdown, circumventing a 2011 decision barring the agency from distributing refunds until the Treasury Department is funded. The National Treasury Employees Union filed a lawsuit, arguing its workers are being unconstitutionally forced to return to work without pay.

Some agencies are finding creative ways to fund services they want to restore.

The administration has emphasized continued use of public lands in general, and particularly for hunters and oil and gas developers, angering environmental groups. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, using funds leftover from 2018, this week announced it will direct dozens of wildlife refuges to return staffers to work, ensuring planned activities on those lands, including organized hunts, continue.

Barbara Wainman, a spokeswoman for the agency, said most refuges have remained accessible to hunters throughout the shutdown, and the decision to staff them was made based on three criteria: resource management, high visitation and previously scheduled programming, which includes organized hunts and school field trips. Wainman said 17 of the 38 refuges have scheduled hunts that would have been canceled without the restaffing effort.

The IRS is using user fees to restore the income verification program, used by mortgage lenders to confirm the income of a borrower and considered a critical tool for the banking industry. After national parks were left open but unstaffed, causing damage to delicate ecosystems, the National Park Service announced it would take “an extraordinary step” and use visitation fees to staff some of the major parks. And despite the shutdown, the Bureau of Land Management is continuing work related to drilling efforts in Alaska.

Trump has refused to sign spending bills for nine of the 15 Cabinet-level departments until Congress approves his request for $5.7 billion in funding to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Democrats have refused. The president initially said he would be “proud” to own the partial shutdown, but he quickly shifted blame onto Democratic leaders and has flirted with taking some extraordinary measures to find money for the wall. Although most Republicans have stood by the president, others have expressed discomfort with the strategy.

The focus on services that reach rural voters, influential industries and voters’ pocketbooks is intended to protect Republicans from blowback, said Barry Anderson, who served as assistant director of the Office of Management and Budget from 1988 to 1998.

During the 1996 shutdown, Anderson said, he and others met each day to review which offices and services should be deemed essential. He said tax refunds never made the cut.

“A government agency may employ services in advance of appropriations only when there’s a reasonable connection between the functions being performed and the safety of human life or protection of property,” he said. “How does issuing tax refunds fall under either of those categories? It’s not a human life or property issue. I don’t know the proper word: surprised, aghast, flabbergasted.

“This,” he said, “is to keep Republican senators’ phones silent.”

OMB has held regular conference calls with agencies and is fielding a high volume of requests for services they’d like to resume. In addition, OMB officials are intentionally working to legally reopen as much of the government as possible, according to a senior administration official, adding that agencies are permitted to update their lapse plans as the shutdown progresses. The official was not authorized to discuss the internal discussions publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Across the government, agencies are scrambling. The Food and Drug Administration has scaled back on food inspections. The Department of Agriculture recently announced that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides food aid to nearly 40 million low-income Americans, will continue to operate through February because of a loophole in the short-term spending bill, which expired Dec. 22. But should the shutdown stretch into March, the department’s reserves for the program, $3 billion, won’t cover a month of benefits for all who need them. Other feeding programs, such as school lunch, food distribution and WIC, which provides nutrition aid to pregnant women, mothers and babies, are also in jeopardy should the shutdown last until March.

Hundreds of federal contracts for low-income Americans receiving housing assistance are expiring. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is unable to renew them and has instead directed private owners to dip into their reserves to cover shortfalls.

As time goes on, more and more programs will become vital, said Linda Bilmes, a public policy professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, and the meaning of what’s essential will shift.

“Even apart from the fact that there may be particular instances of things that are being manipulated for political purposes,” she said, “there are also realities that government agencies are facing as they reassess what is absolutely essential to do now that we’re here, with no immediate end in sight.”

‘No Pathway’ to Grand Bargain Ending US Government Shutdown

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has all but given up efforts to negotiate a compromise to end the U.S. government shutdown that would fund a U.S.-Mexico border wall in exchange for extending legal protections for thousands of young undocumented immigrants and others who recently have lost legal status under the Temporary Protected Status program.

As late as Wednesday, Graham expressed hope that such a grand bargain could be reached.

“There is a deal to be had. It’s always been there. I think I have been boring you all for a month about how this movie ends. It’s got to be wall plus something else,” said Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina and close ally to Trump.

But on Thursday, Graham admitted that a legislative resolution to this standoff is likely out of reach, and indicated that President Donald Trump may soon invoke emergency powers to build the wall without congressional approval.

“There’s no pathway forward that I can see. The president believes that’s his power, seems to me the only way left is for him to exercise that authority. I don’t see any action in the Congress,” Graham said.

DACA and TPS

Graham’s proposal would have given President Trump the $5.7 billion he wants to build the border wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, along with giving Democrats a significant concession by reaffirming former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that granted legal status to more than 700,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as young children.

The Trump administration attempted to terminate DACA in 2017, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently blocked the presidential rescission order, saying it was “arbitrary and capricious under settled law.”

The administration has appealed the matter to the Supreme Court, which is expected to decide in the coming days whether it will take the case.

TPS is in similar limbo. The program, which grants temporary legal status and work permits to citizens of countries suffering from natural disasters or armed conflict, was canceled by the Trump administration for about 400,000 people.

But a federal court ruled in October the U.S. government violated the law when it ended TPS for people from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan. This case, too, may be taken up by the Supreme Court.

Last year, the Senate attempted to pass a similar bipartisan plan to extend the DACA population legal status and authorize $25 billion over the next decade for southern-border-security construction projects, including $18 billion for the wall. Various versions of proposed legislation ultimately were rejected, as some Democrats opposed the tough immigration restrictions included and many conservative Republicans objected to any form of amnesty being granted.

​Uncompromising Democrats

The sharp political divide in Washington has only deepened since Democrats took control of the House of Representatives this month, following the party’s gains in midterm elections. And neither the Democrats nor Trump seem willing to compromise to end the government shutdown.

Many Democrats don’t want to link support for legal status for young immigrants known as Dreamers, a position that most Americans support, to funding the border wall, which remains a highly controversial issue.

“That is not the negotiation we should be having. It doesn’t make any sense at all, to trade something that absolutely can and should be done for good policy and moral reasons, for something that actually should not be done for policy or moral reasons,” said Tom Jawetz, an immigration policy analyst at the Democratic leaning Center for American Progress policy institute.

The Democratic leadership, Jawetz says, does not trust Trump to support any deal, and believes the president wants to keep immigration and border security as divisive issues to energize his core supporters in the 2020 election.

Immigration opposition

Trump’s demand for border wall funding to end the government shutdown, after earlier indicating he would sign a short-term funding bill with no money for the wall, is seen by many as a reaction to conservative media criticism that he was capitulating on his central campaign promise to “build the wall.”

But some hard-line anti-immigration groups that support Trump, like the Center for Immigration Studies, view the wall as more symbolic than essential to significantly restrict illegal immigration. Granting a mass amnesty in exchange for the wall is a deal they would not support.

“A wall is not the most important enforcement procedure, and it’s also not the thing we want most in terms of immigration reform. So to give away something big like an amnesty for people who aren’t even supposed to be in the country, we would want some significant concession,” said Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Increasing the number of agents, judges and detention facilities at the border, reforming the immigrations system to quickly deport most asylum-seekers that critics say are actually economic migrants, and increasing enforcement efforts to ensure U.S. businesses do not hire undocumented immigrants, Camarota says, would more effectively deter illegal immigration.

But the Trump administration may not have liked the linkage either. Vice President Mike Pence told reporters Thursday that DACA is not up for negotiation until the Supreme Court weighs in.

Trump Finding It Difficult to Stop ‘Never-Ending Wars’

President Trump’s plan to withdraw troops from Syria is underway, with the Pentagon confirming equipment has begun leaving the battlefield, but soldiers are staying for now. As White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara reports, President Trump is finding it difficult to fulfill his pledge to cut back on foreign military interventions.

Democratic Hawaii Rep. Gabbard Running for President in 2020

Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii has announced that she is running for president in 2020.

Gabbard said in a CNN interview slated to air Saturday night that she will be formally announcing her candidacy within the next week.

The 37-year-old Iraq War veteran is the first Hindu elected to Congress. She has visited New Hampshire and Iowa in recent months and has written a memoir that’s due to be published in May.

Gabbard was criticized in 2016 for traveling to Syria and meeting with President Bashar Assad, who has been accused of war crimes. She says it’s important to meet with adversaries if “you are serious about pursuing peace.”

Gabbard was one of the most prominent lawmakers to back Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary. 

Senator: King’s White Supremacy Remarks Damage GOP, Nation

U.S. Rep. Steve King says he’s not a racist, but the Iowa Republican faced intensifying criticism Friday over his remarks about white supremacy, including from a black GOP senator who said such comments are a blight on the nation and the party. 

For the second time in two days, King insisted that he is an advocate for “Western civilization,” not white supremacy or white nationalism. But he didn’t deny remarks published a day earlier in The New York Times in which he was quoted saying: “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?”

Within hours Thursday, the House’s top three Republicans condemned his remarks, and on Friday, GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina published his disapproval in an op-ed column.

King, who has denied being racist, appeared on the House floor after most lawmakers had left town.

‘My mistake’

“One phrase in that long article has created an unnecessary controversy. That was my mistake,” King told his colleagues. King said terms describing bigotry, such as racism, are unfairly applied to “otherwise innocent” people.

King, in his ninth House term, spoke as key members of his party publicly took issue with his remarks and as a Republican from back home lined up to challenge him in a GOP primary.

Scott, who is black, cast King’s remarks and those like them as a blemish on the country and the Republican Party, which has long had a frosty relationship with black voters.

“When people with opinions similar to King’s open their mouths, they damage not only the Republican Party and the conservative brand but also our nation as a whole,” Scott wrote.

King’s views, Scott added, are separate from the conservative movement and “should be ridiculed at every turn possible.”

“Some in our party wonder why Republicans are constantly accused of racism — it is because of our silence when things like this are said,” Scott wrote.

In fact, House Republican leaders swiftly condemned King’s remarks as racist. And on Wednesday, King drew a 2020 primary challenger: Randy Feenstra, a GOP state senator.

But King’s position in the GOP had been imperiled even before then.

In 2017, he tweeted: “We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.” Then he doubled down on CNN, telling the network, “I’d like to see an America that’s just so homogeneous that we look a lot the same.”

Shortly before the 2018 midterm elections, in which King was running, Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, then the head of the GOP campaign committee, issued an extraordinary public denunciation of him.

King on Friday suggested he’s been misunderstood. He said the foundation of the Times interview was partly a Sept. 12 tweet in which he wrote: ” ‘Nazi’ is injected into Leftist talking points because the worn out & exhausted ‘racist’ is over used & applied to everyone who lacks melanin & who fail to virtue signal at the requisite frequency & decibels. But…Nazis were socialists & Leftists are socialists.”

On Friday, King said on the House floor that the interview “also was discussion of other terms that have been used, almost always unjustly labeling otherwise innocent people. The word racist, the word Nazi, the word fascist, the phrase white nationalists, the phrase white supremacists.”

King said he was only wondering aloud: “How did that offensive language get injected into our political dialogue? Who does that, how does it get done, how do they get by with laying labels like this on people?” 

Legal Debate Rages Over US Presidential ‘Emergency Powers’

U.S. President Donald Trump is considering formally declaring the southern U.S. border a “national emergency,” likely clearing the way for him to authorize new funding for a permanent physical barrier.

The move could end a standoff with Congress over funding for the wall, but some legal analysts worry it will set a dangerous precedent for presidents trying to negotiate with Congress.

VOA spoke with John Hudak, Deputy Director of the Center for Effective Public Management at The Brooking Institute, about the legal issues around the president’s possible emergency declaration.

QUESTION: What powers does a president have to declare a national emergency? Could he simply order government funds to be used to build a border wall?

So there are really two questions here. First, under the National Emergencies Act, the president has a fairly broad power to declare a national emergency. Now the declaration of that emergency is simply that — a declaration. And according to a pretty firm reading of that law, it’s hard to see where there is an exception to the president’s ability to do it.

The next part of that, though, involves the powers that the president can exercise under that law and there are obvious limitations on that, constitutional limitations and other limitations within the law that the president can’t violate. And unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, we haven’t experienced serious questions about presidential power in this space. So it’s really left as an open question right now, in terms of the extent of presidential power that courts will need to sort out.

Q: Could Democrats block this in Congress? Is there any constitutional precedent for presidents simply going around Congress to fund a priority policy item?

So there is, within the law, the ability of Congress to stop a national emergency. It requires both houses of Congress to vote to say that the national emergency is over. Now Democrats can certainly do that alone, in the House. They cannot, however, do it alone in the Senate, it would require several Republican votes.

However, this is the type of exercise of executive power that leaves a lot of Republicans uneasy. And you’re already starting to see those conversations among Senate Republicans, saying that if we’re all right with President Trump doing this over a border wall, would we also be all right with a Democratic president doing this over climate change or other issues?

And so I think it remains to be seen whether Congress will have the votes to stop presidential action in this area, whether they’ll have the political will to do it. But they certainly have the power to stop this type of behavior.

To the second part of your question, you know, presidents have tried to go around Congress in terms of spending money in the past or even moving money around within or across budget lines or accounts in the past.

And frequently presidents are stopped because the spending power in the constitution rests with the Congress and so this creates a real challenge for President Trump if he wants to start moving funds or re-appropriating funds or using funds that are not even appropriated, pushing up against that constitutional protection against that power. So he might have the power to declare a national emergency, but he cannot usurp the Constitution in the exercise of powers during that emergency.

Q: On the politics of the current shutdown, is one side or the other winning? Which sides appears to have an advantage at the moment? How does it end?

Well, it’s clear one side is losing and that’s the American public, and particularly the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who are not being paid or who are not going to work. In terms of the political actors, you know, the polling that we have suggests that most Americans blame President Trump for the shutdown.

A smaller percentage of Americans blame congressional Democrats and smaller still blame congressional Republicans. I think a lot of Americans look at this skeptically and say, ‘What has changed between the beginning of the president’s term and now that makes this such a dire emergency?’ And I think it leaves a lot of Americans scratching their head. President Trump is playing to his base here, but unfortunately his base is a small percentage of the population. And most of the rest of the population is not with him on this issue of the wall.

Elizabeth Cherneff contributed to this report.

Government Shutdown Hurts Small Businesses

The 800,000 federal workers who are not being paid or are working without pay during the partial government shutdown were the first to feel its impact. But as Anna Kook reports, other segments of the economy are also being hurt, especially in Washington, home to the largest number of federal workers in the country.

Pompeo Repudiates Obama’s Middle East Vision

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sharply criticized former President Barack Obama’s policies in the Middle East, as he outlined the Trump administration’s vision for the region. Pompeo called on U.S. allies in the Middle East and elsewhere to do more to fight Islamic State terrorists and counter what he termed Iran’s “malign influence.” VOA’s diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington.

Former FEMA Boss: Border Situation Is Not Emergency

The former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday that what’s happening on the U.S. southern border is no emergency.

Craig Fugate, who ran the national disaster agency for nearly eight years under President Barack Obama and was head of Florida’s disaster agency under a Republican governor, said the push of refugees seeking asylum on the border with Mexico is not a national emergency.

President Donald Trump has called it a crisis and is weighing a national emergency declaration to bypass a reluctant Congress and fund his long-promised border wall. The issue has led to the extended partial government shutdown.

The Trump administration appointed Fugate, who ran recovery operations to numerous hurricanes and other disasters, to manage the issue of separated migrant children.

“And that was a crisis,” Fugate said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. It was an issue of mass care, he said.

More terrorists come into the United States through the northern border than the southern, said Fugate, who was part of the Department of Homeland Security.

“I’ve yet to see anything physically stop illegal immigration,” Fugate said. He said it would be cheaper and more effective to spend money to reduce crime and poverty in areas the refugees are fleeing from to stop illegal immigration that way.

“This is posturing, blustering,” Fugate said. He said Trump is essentially saying, “If I can’t get Congress to fund it, I’m going to use my authority to bypass Congress.”

Fugate said he worries that it continues a trend of presidents being more powerful than the legislative and judicial branches, something he traces back to Abraham Lincoln and, more recently, Franklin Roosevelt. The Supreme Court stopped President Harry Truman from using national emergency powers to nationalize the steel industry, but Fugate said he worries that won’t happen if Trump declares a national emergency to bypass Congress.

“What happens if they suspend the vote? What happens if they suspend the Congress?” Fugate asked. “That’s what happens in countries where the executive branch is greater than the legislative and judiciary.”

US to Lift Sanctions Against 3 Russian Companies

Three Russian companies have cut ties to a sanctioned oligarch and will no longer be under U.S. sanctions themselves, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday. 

 

Mnuchin appeared before the House of Representatives, where a number of Democrats want the Trump administration to postpone lifting sanctions against the three firms. 

 

In a statement issued before the meeting, Mnuchin said Oleg Deripaska would remain under U.S. sanctions, but the three companies he controlled — aluminum giant Rusal, its parent firm En+ and energy company EuroSIbEnergo — would not. 

 

“They have committed to provide Treasury with an unprecedented level of transparency into their dealings to ensure that Deripaska does not reassert control,” the statement read. 

 

Mnuchin assured lawmakers that the Trump administration would keep a close watch on the firms, promising that if they failed to comply with the terms to end the sanctions, they would face “very real and swift consequences, including the reimposition of sanctions.”  

Treasury placed sanctions on Deripaska in April 2018 for what it called Russian “malign activity,” including election meddling and crimes by Deripaska himself, which consisted of allegations of bribery, extortion, murder and links to organized crime.  

 

Deripaska has denied all the charges. 

 

“One of the goals of sanctions is to change behavior, and the proposed delisting of companies that Deripaska will no longer control shows that sanctions can result in positive change,” Mnuchin said. 

Fact Check: Trump Falsely Claims Obama Support for Wall

With the deceptive use of a video, President Donald Trump on Thursday heartily thanked his White House predecessor for supporting his policy at the Mexican border. Barack Obama has offered no such support; only criticism. 

Trump also denied that he ever expected Mexico to make a direct payment for his border wall, despite a call in a campaign policy paper for a “one-time payment” from Mexico of $5 billion to $10 billion, with options for Mexico to contribute in alternative ways. Mexico is refusing to contribute at all.

A look at Trump’s statements Thursday as he traveled to Texas to make his case for what he calls a security and humanitarian crisis, a possible precursor to declaring a national emergency at the border:

Obama video 

Trump: “President Obama, thank you for your great support — I have been saying this all along!’’— tweet, accompanied by video of Obama speaking as president in 2014.

Trump: “Obama used to call it a crisis at the border, too.” — remarks before departing the White House for Texas.

The facts: Obama’s remarks in the short video clip do not support Trump’s proposal for a border wall or endorse the path Trump is considering now: declaring a national emergency that might enable him to circumvent Congress and unilaterally spend money on the wall. Instead, Obama was asking Congress to approve an emergency appropriation to deal with a surge of tens of thousands of unaccompanied children and youth, mostly from Central American, trying to cross the border from Mexico.  

“We now have an actual humanitarian crisis on the border,” Obama said at the time, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden. He was referring specifically to the surge of minors that year.

That crisis eventually eased as the U.S. stepped up border enforcement, surveillance and resources for the waves of unaccompanied children. Now, a sharp increase in the number of families at the border, coupled with the Trump administration’s hard-line stance, is overwhelming border resources, worsening a backlog in the asylum system and leaving migrants to live in abysmal conditions on the Mexican side. 

Trump, however, has been unable to convince Congress that the border poses a national security risk. He has made a series of statements falsely claiming that terrorists are pouring in from Mexico, that a wall would choke off shipments of illicit drugs, which actually come mainly through legal ports of entry, and that people who get in the country illegally commit a disproportionate share of violent crime.

Late in his presidency, Obama was repeatedly critical of Trump’s immigration stance and the wall specifically. In May 2016, for example, he said: “Suggesting that we can build an endless wall along our borders, and blame our challenges on immigrants — that doesn’t just run counter to our history as the world’s melting pot; it contradicts the evidence that our growth and our innovation and our dynamism has always been spurred by our ability to attract strivers from every corner of the globe.”

Mexico and the wall 

Trump. on Mexico paying for the wall: “I never meant they’re going to write out a check.” — remarks before departure to Texas.

Trump: `”Mexico is paying for the wall indirectly. And when I said Mexico will pay for the wall, in front of thousands and thousands of people, obviously they’re not going to write a check.”— remarks before departure.

Trump: “They’re paying for the wall in a great trade deal.” — remarks in Texas.

The facts: Actually, a Trump campaign policy paper envisaged an explicit payment from Mexico: “It’s an easy decision for Mexico: make a one-time payment of $5-10 billion,” the paper said.

The plan also outlined various ways for Trump to compel Mexico to pay for the wall, such as by Washington cutting off billions of dollars in remittances sent back to Mexico by immigrants living in the U.S., or by recouping the money through trade tariffs or higher visa fees. None of that has happened.

Instead, Trump is arguing that the updated trade agreement with Canada and Mexico will pay for the wall because of economic benefits he predicts will come from the deal. Nothing in the trade agreement would cover or refund the construction cost or require a payment from Mexico. Instead, he is assuming a wide variety of economic benefits will come from the agreement that can’t be quantified or counted on. For example, he has said the deal will dissuade some U.S. companies from moving operations to Mexico and he credits that possibility as a payment by Mexico.

The agreement preserves the existing liberalized environment of low or no tariffs among the U.S., Mexico and Canada, with certain improvements for each country. The deal has yet to be ratified in any member country and there is no assurance it will win legislative approval.  

Although his campaign left open the possibility that Mexico might somehow contribute to the cost indirectly, Trump roused his crowds with the straight-ahead promise: “I will have Mexico pay for that wall.”

Again and again at his rallies, Trump asked his crowds dramatically who would pay for the wall.

“Mexico,” they responded.

“Who?” he’s asked again.

“Mexico,” they roared.

Now he is saying his words were not meant to be taken literally.

 

 

 

Rosenstein’s Departure Raises Concerns About Russia Investigation

The upcoming departure of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is raising questions about the future of a special counsel investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Rosenstein is seen as the protector of the probe, which has been vilified by U.S. President Donald Trump, whose nominee as attorney general, William Barr, has criticized the probe but said he has a high opinion of Mueller. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports Barr could be confirmed next month.

Frustrations Run High in Third Week of Shutdown

Efforts to end a 19-day partial government shutdown stalled Wednesday when President Trump walked out of White House talks with congressional Democrats. Trump’s request for nearly $6 billion in funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall triggered what is now the second longest government shutdown in U.S. history. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports on what’s next on Capitol Hill.