U.S. President Donald Trump’s new lawyer asserted Sunday that the president does not have to comply with a subpoena involving the burgeoning Russia investigation stemming from the 2016 election and might invoke his constitutional right against self-incrimination if he is forced to testify.

“We don’t have to” honor a subpoena, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who recently joined Trump’s legal team, told ABC’s Sunday news program “This Week.”

 He added, “He’s the president of the United States. We can assert the same privileges other presidents have.”

Trump often has said he would like to sit for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of lawyers, if he is “treated fairly,” as he said Friday. But Giuliani said there was no guarantee that Trump would answer questions and could instead assert his 5th Amendment right against incriminating himself.

“How could I ever be confident of that?” Giuliani said of the certainty of Trump answering questions. Giuliani voiced opposition to the prospect of Trump, often given to exaggerations or falsehoods, testifying about his campaign’s links to Russia and whether he obstructed justice by trying to thwart the investigation.

To allow his testimony, Giuliani said, “I’m going to walk him right into a prosecution for perjury like Martha Stewart,” the U.S. lifestyle maven sent to prison in 2004 for lying about a stock trade she made.

Giuliani said an agreement for Trump to testify could still be worked out with Mueller, but only if Trump is told the questions in advance and that his questioning was not under oath, conditions to which most U.S. prosecutors would not agree.

Mueller has suggested he could subpoena Trump to testify under oath before a grand jury if a voluntary agreement for his testimony is not reached.

If Trump rejects the subpoena, his lawyers could contest the demand for Trump to appear before a grand jury, with the case possibly and ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. legal precedent generally holds that no individual, including presidents, are above the law.

Giuliani said of Mueller’s investigators, “They don’t have a case on collusion. They don’t have a case on obstruction.”

ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos questioned Giuliani at length about a $130,000 reimbursement Trump made to another of his attorneys, Michael Cohen, who said he paid the money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels shortly before the election to keep her quiet about her claim she had a 2006 one-night affair with Trump at a Nevada hotel. Trump said the purported liaison did not occur.

Giuliani said the timing of the hush money paid to 39-year-old Daniels could have been related to the election, but that the payment was made chiefly because her accusations about the affair with Trump were “embarrassing to him and his wife,” now first lady Melania Trump.

Giuliani rejected the view of some Trump critics that the money amounted to an illegal campaign donation, made just weeks ahead of the Nov. 8, 2016, election, because its size was significantly bigger than the $2,700 limit individuals like Cohen can donate to candidates.

“It was not a campaign donation,” Giuliani contended, adding that “eventually, it was entirely reimbursed out of personal funds.”

Later on the same ABC show, Michael Avenatti, Daniels’ attorney, said, “No question, this had everything to do with the election.”

In April, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he did not know anything about the payment, although a New York Times report Friday said he knew of it months before.

Giuliani said, “I don’t know when the president learned about it. It could have been recently. It could have been a while back.”

In any event, Giuliani said that for a billionaire like Trump, the $130,000 was “not a great deal of money” and that Cohen made the payment without consulting ahead of time with Trump.

Giuliani said, ” I wouldn’t go and bother him two weeks before the election.” He said Cohen had a fund “to take care of situations like this … if it were necessary, yes.”

Giuliani said he knew of no other women linked to Trump who were paid by Cohen to keep quiet about their relations with the future president.

But former Playboy model Karen McDougal said she was paid $150,000 through the parent company of a tabloid newspaper to not talk about what she has said was a 10-month affair with Trump that allegedly started at the same celebrity golf tournament where Daniels said she met Trump. The president has also denied McDougal’s claims.

 
…

As primary season kicks into high gear, Republicans are engaged in nomination fights that are pulling the party to the right, leaving some leaders worried their candidates will be out of a step with the broader electorate in November.

Primaries in four states on Tuesday, all in places Donald Trump carried in 2016, showcase races in which GOP candidates are jockeying to be seen as the most conservative, the most anti-Washington and the most loyal to the president. It’s evidence of the onetime outsider’s deepening imprint on the Republican Party he commandeered less than two year ago.

In Indiana, Republicans will pick from among three Senate candidates who have spent much of the race praising the Trump and bashing each other. In West Virginia, a former federal convict and coal baron has taken aim at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., with racially charged accusations of corruption.

In Ohio, Republicans are certain to nominate someone more conservative than outgoing GOP Gov. John Kasich, a 2016 presidential candidate, moderate and frequent Trump critic. Even Kasich’s former running mate, Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, has pledged to unwind some of Kasich’s centrist policies, including the expansion of the Medicaid government insurance program following Democrats’ 2010 health insurance overhaul.

With Trump’s job approval hanging around 40 percent and the GOP-run Congress less than half that, the abandonment of the middle has some Republicans raising alarms.

“The far left and the far right always think they are going to dominate these elections,” said John Weaver, a Trump critic and top strategist to Kasich, who has been become a near-pariah in the primary to succeed him.

“You may think it’s wise in a primary to handcuff yourself to the president,” Weaver said. “But when the ship goes down, you may not be able to get the cuffs off.”

North Carolina Republicans will weigh in on the fate of Republican Rep. Robert Pittenger, facing a primary challenger who almost upset him two years ago. Pittenger features Trump prominently in his campaign. Challenger Mark Harris, a prominent Charlotte pastor, has tried to turn the table, saying Pittenger is a creature of Washington who refuses to help Trump “drain that swamp.”

Tough primaries certainly don’t have to be disastrous. They often gin up voter attention and engagement, and can signal strong turnout in the general election.

Dallas Woodhouse, who runs the North Carolina Republican Party, said candidates benefit because they must “make their arguments and voters become more aware of the election.”

Trump and his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton each survived internal party battles in 2016. Clinton won the national popular vote that year, but in the states that mattered most — Ohio and North Carolina, among them — wary Republicans gravitated back to Trump while Clinton struggled to hit the usual Democratic base targets.

Few national Republicans look at West Virginia and see helpful enthusiasm.

Former coal executive Don Blankenship has accused McConnell of creating jobs for “China people” and charges that the senator’s “China family” has given him millions of dollars. McConnell’s wife is Trump’s transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, who was born in Taiwan.

Indiana Senate candidates are trying to appeal to Trump voters by adopting the president’s harsh immigration rhetoric and penchant for personal insults. The candidates have even channeled Trump by assigning derisive nicknames to one another: “Lyin” Todd Rokita, Luke “Missing” Messer and “Tax Hike” Mike Braun.

In several of the Tuesday primaries, Democrats are watching with delight, and having less trouble aligning behind nominees. The chief beneficiaries would be Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Joe Donnelly of Indiana, both sitting on healthy campaign accounts after avoiding their own primary fights.

The leading Democrat for the North Carolina seat, Marine veteran Dan McCready, has raised almost $2 million, slightly more than Harris and Pittenger combined, in a district Trump won by about 12 percentage points. “He will absolutely make this competitive,” Harris said.

In the Ohio governor’s race, liberal former Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former state Attorney General Richard Cordray have managed to avoid open warfare. Cordray, who also led the federal consumer watchdog agency launched under President Barack Obama, is the favorite.

Republicans watched their state party, led by pro-Trump leadership that replaced Kasich allies after the 2016 elections, endorse state Attorney General Mike Dewine, while Taylor has effectively shunned an earlier endorsement from Kasich.

“If Ohio Republicans are divided into Trump Republicans and Kasich Republicans, the Trump Republicans have won,” said the state Democratic chairman, David Pepper. “That helps us.”

Gallup measures Trump with an 89 percent job approval rating among Republicans nationally, but 35 percent among independents and 42 percent overall. Historically, presidents below 50 percent watch their party suffer steep losses in midterm elections.

Democrats must flip about two dozen Republican-held seats to reclaim a House majority, and they must do it with Republican-run legislatures having drawn many districts to the GOP’s advantage. In North Carolina, Harris said the makeup of the district, which stretches from Republican areas of metro Charlotte east through small towns and rural counties, makes his pro-Trump, anti-establishment message a primary and November winner.

Senate Democrats are just two seats shy of a majority, but must defend 26 incumbents, 10 in states where Trump won, including Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia. Republicans are defending nine seats, just one in a state Trump lost.
…

Nearly 554,000 people were living on America’s streets last year, according to a government survey. That’s the first increase since 2010, driven, experts say, by a surge in the homeless in Los Angeles and other West Coast cities. Homelessness has been a serious problem for Los Angeles for years, but as the housing crisis intensifies, it seems to have gotten worse. Some say it’s time to cut municipal funding for the homeless, but others want to help. Angelina Bagdasaryan has more.
…

Nearly 554,000 people were living on America’s streets last year, according to a government survey. That’s the first increase since 2010, driven, experts say, by a surge in the homeless in Los Angeles and other West Coast cities. Homelessness has been a serious problem for Los Angeles for years, but as the housing crisis intensifies, it seems to have gotten worse. Some say it’s time to cut municipal funding for the homeless, but others want to help. Angelina Bagdasaryan has more.
…

Located just outside Washington, Arlington County, Virginia, is one of the richest, most educated and mostly white counties in the United States. It didn’t matter to Cambodian-American Chanda Choun that less than 11 percent of the population is Asian. When a seat opened on the Arlington County Board after the November 2017 election, he decided to run.

Choun, who the Arlington County Department of Voter Registration and Elections believes is the first Asian-American to run for office there, saw his opportunity to be of service to a place he now calls home.

“I didn’t see anybody with a military background, I didn’t see anybody with an immigrant background, and I didn’t see anybody with a tech background stepping up,” he said. “That’s all it came down to.”

But it wasn’t quite so cut and dried. Arlington exerts a pull on Choun, who calls the place “the love of my life.”

“I didn’t get to choose where I was born. I didn’t get to choose where the refugee resettlement agency placed my family. I didn’t get to choose where the Army sent me. But I can choose where I am now. And I choose Arlington,” according to Choun’s campaign website. “I will get married in Arlington. My children will run through the parks of Arlington. I will die in Arlington and be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.”

Part-time position

The five-member Arlington County Board is the jurisdiction’s governing body. Being a board member is a part-time job, one that can be the first rung in the political career ladder. But Choun says he has no aspiration to higher office.

Choun, a 30-year-old program manager at the cybersecurity company Securonix, came to the United States as a baby when his family fled Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, which ruled from 1975-1979, a time when 1.7 million people died.

Grateful that his family was chosen for resettlement in Connecticut from a Thai refugee camp for Cambodians, Choun enlisted in the U.S. Army at 17. He rose from private to staff sergeant and left after 12 years, although he remains on part-time reserve duty.

Choun began campaigning in February to “Make Arlington the North Star of Virginia,” as his campaign literature proclaims.

He secured by the March 29 deadline 125 signatures of registered Arlington County voters, which is required to get on the primary ballot. He believes he can defeat in November independent John Vihstadt, an established incumbent county board member.

First, however, Choun must defeat fellow Democrat Matt de Ferranti in the June 12 primary. Choun and de Ferranti have already faced off in party-sponsored public debates.

Choun says his background has prepared him for working on two critical issues facing the county: the budget shortfall and attracting more tech companies to fill Arlington’s many vacant offices.

He’s also aware of the importance of raising money and has raised more than $28,000, largely through a personal loan. De Ferranti has raised more than $35,000 from small donors.

​Cambodian-Americans

Rithy Uong, the first Cambodian-American elected to any U.S. public office, served three terms on the City Council in Lowell, Massachusetts, which has the second-largest Cambodian community in the nation.

Uong, who says he is tracking Choun’s run, says a candidate must be able to raise funds, but it is critical for a candidate to build trust and rapport with voters. Voters, he says, care less about a candidate’s background and more about issues particular to their community.

Choun says his most immediate priority is building a nimble election campaign organization.

“Essentially, just as in any new endeavor, any sector, it’s a business startup,” he says. “I’d group it down to three domains: people, process, tools.”

Choun is self-managing his campaign until the voters decide his future in the June primary. However, he has hired creative director Minh Pham, a Vietnamese-American, who is also new to political campaigning. Pham also likens their effort to a startup. Choun has also hired a field manager, John Victoria.

While social media is an important tool for reaching out to voters, Choun says that to be seen as a member of the community, he needs to attend as many meet-and-greet events as possible in the 26-square-mile county.

“I’m bringing my message, my person to the community,” he says. “I don’t want the community to come to me.”

​VFW meet-and-greet

To that end Choun asked to hold his first meet-and-greet event at John Lyon Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3150, a veteran’s community meeting post in Arlington.

An Air Force veteran with 28 years of service, Patrick Pope met Choun before the event and said Arlington voters are open to candidates like Choun who don’t mirror the county’s white majority.

“I think a lot of Arlington voters are looking for somebody fresh, with some fresh ideas and fresh perspective, looking for someone who doesn’t have deep ties with a political machine, but instead speaks to power as a person of the community,” Pope said.

​Lynn Borton, 56, another Arlington resident, has lived in the county since 1985. She learned about Choun’s event from Facebook and, like Pope, believes that voters need to get to know first-time candidates.

“I think there is value in meeting people,” Borton says. “You can learn something, you can make an assessment that is unmediated, literally un-media-ated, but I don’t know that that’s everything.”

Choun’s main challenges as a first-time candidate, Pope notes, will be getting Democratic Party support and name recognition.

But Pope believes voters also need to make an effort to meet the candidates.

“I think it’s important to get to know who your candidates are. You can’t do that just by watching the television ad or looking at a newspaper advertisement. You’ve got to get out and be engaged,” he says. “If you expect your representative to be engaged, then you need to be engaged as [an] informed voter.”
…

Located just outside Washington, Arlington County, Virginia, is one of the richest, most educated and mostly white counties in the United States. It didn’t matter to Cambodian-American Chanda Choun that less than 11 percent of the population is Asian. When a seat opened on the Arlington County Board after the November 2017 election, he decided to run.

Choun, who the Arlington County Department of Voter Registration and Elections believes is the first Asian-American to run for office there, saw his opportunity to be of service to a place he now calls home.

“I didn’t see anybody with a military background, I didn’t see anybody with an immigrant background, and I didn’t see anybody with a tech background stepping up,” he said. “That’s all it came down to.”

But it wasn’t quite so cut and dried. Arlington exerts a pull on Choun, who calls the place “the love of my life.”

“I didn’t get to choose where I was born. I didn’t get to choose where the refugee resettlement agency placed my family. I didn’t get to choose where the Army sent me. But I can choose where I am now. And I choose Arlington,” according to Choun’s campaign website. “I will get married in Arlington. My children will run through the parks of Arlington. I will die in Arlington and be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.”

Part-time position

The five-member Arlington County Board is the jurisdiction’s governing body. Being a board member is a part-time job, one that can be the first rung in the political career ladder. But Choun says he has no aspiration to higher office.

Choun, a 30-year-old program manager at the cybersecurity company Securonix, came to the United States as a baby when his family fled Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, which ruled from 1975-1979, a time when 1.7 million people died.

Grateful that his family was chosen for resettlement in Connecticut from a Thai refugee camp for Cambodians, Choun enlisted in the U.S. Army at 17. He rose from private to staff sergeant and left after 12 years, although he remains on part-time reserve duty.

Choun began campaigning in February to “Make Arlington the North Star of Virginia,” as his campaign literature proclaims.

He secured by the March 29 deadline 125 signatures of registered Arlington County voters, which is required to get on the primary ballot. He believes he can defeat in November independent John Vihstadt, an established incumbent county board member.

First, however, Choun must defeat fellow Democrat Matt de Ferranti in the June 12 primary. Choun and de Ferranti have already faced off in party-sponsored public debates.

Choun says his background has prepared him for working on two critical issues facing the county: the budget shortfall and attracting more tech companies to fill Arlington’s many vacant offices.

He’s also aware of the importance of raising money and has raised more than $28,000, largely through a personal loan. De Ferranti has raised more than $35,000 from small donors.

​Cambodian-Americans

Rithy Uong, the first Cambodian-American elected to any U.S. public office, served three terms on the City Council in Lowell, Massachusetts, which has the second-largest Cambodian community in the nation.

Uong, who says he is tracking Choun’s run, says a candidate must be able to raise funds, but it is critical for a candidate to build trust and rapport with voters. Voters, he says, care less about a candidate’s background and more about issues particular to their community.

Choun says his most immediate priority is building a nimble election campaign organization.

“Essentially, just as in any new endeavor, any sector, it’s a business startup,” he says. “I’d group it down to three domains: people, process, tools.”

Choun is self-managing his campaign until the voters decide his future in the June primary. However, he has hired creative director Minh Pham, a Vietnamese-American, who is also new to political campaigning. Pham also likens their effort to a startup. Choun has also hired a field manager, John Victoria.

While social media is an important tool for reaching out to voters, Choun says that to be seen as a member of the community, he needs to attend as many meet-and-greet events as possible in the 26-square-mile county.

“I’m bringing my message, my person to the community,” he says. “I don’t want the community to come to me.”

​VFW meet-and-greet

To that end Choun asked to hold his first meet-and-greet event at John Lyon Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3150, a veteran’s community meeting post in Arlington.

An Air Force veteran with 28 years of service, Patrick Pope met Choun before the event and said Arlington voters are open to candidates like Choun who don’t mirror the county’s white majority.

“I think a lot of Arlington voters are looking for somebody fresh, with some fresh ideas and fresh perspective, looking for someone who doesn’t have deep ties with a political machine, but instead speaks to power as a person of the community,” Pope said.

​Lynn Borton, 56, another Arlington resident, has lived in the county since 1985. She learned about Choun’s event from Facebook and, like Pope, believes that voters need to get to know first-time candidates.

“I think there is value in meeting people,” Borton says. “You can learn something, you can make an assessment that is unmediated, literally un-media-ated, but I don’t know that that’s everything.”

Choun’s main challenges as a first-time candidate, Pope notes, will be getting Democratic Party support and name recognition.

But Pope believes voters also need to make an effort to meet the candidates.

“I think it’s important to get to know who your candidates are. You can’t do that just by watching the television ad or looking at a newspaper advertisement. You’ve got to get out and be engaged,” he says. “If you expect your representative to be engaged, then you need to be engaged as [an] informed voter.”
…

President Donald Trump said Saturday “we want to make everything here” as he promoted his “America First” agenda during an appearance in Cleveland, days before the state’s primary election. 

Trump spent several hours in Ohio meeting with supporters and participating in a roundtable designed to highlight the benefits of the new Republican tax law. Striking a celebratory tone, Trump listed his poll numbers and recounted the successes of his first year in office. He also looked ahead to his meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

Trump criticized U.S. immigration policy, saying people entering the U.S. illegally are taking advantage of “catch-and-release” practices and don’t show up for their immigration court dates. He said: “We may have to close up our country to get this straight.” 

He also said U.S. protectionist trade policies and his more isolationist policies would benefit Americans. Trump pledged a strong stand on trade to achieve “a level playing field,” saying that “other countries, they put themselves first. … The fact is we want to be first.” 

“We’ll be taking care of our people,” he added.

Fundraisers

Trump also attended a fundraiser for Trump Victory, the joint committee funding his campaign and the Republican National Committee, meeting first with high-dollar givers and then addressing a larger group of about 250 donors. The RNC said Trump raised $3 million during the events.

Trump sought to boost Republican lawmaker Jim Renacci in his bid for the Senate, saying “we need his vote very badly.”

Renacci, a member of the House, is running for the Senate against Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown. Trump predicted: “He’ll be fantastic.”

At the official taxpayer-funded event, Trump also criticized Brown, saying he shares Democrats’ “deep-seated” support for what he claims are looser immigration policies. Renacci greeted Trump on the tarmac in Cleveland and was seated next to the president at the event.

Midterm challenges

Trump’s visit comes as Republicans are facing an increasingly challenging midterm election environment.

Ohio has several competitive races this November. The GOP is placing its election hopes on convincing Americans that the tax law is improving their lives, as the party seeks to skirt political headwinds emanating from the White House.
…

President Donald Trump appears to be increasingly frustrated that his growing legal challenges are overshadowing his economic and foreign policy accomplishments. Trump complained to reporters Friday that questions about a payment to an adult film star and the ongoing Russia probe are a distraction from an improving U.S. economy and a possible breakthrough on relations with North Korea. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington.
…

President Donald Trump appears to be increasingly frustrated that his growing legal challenges are overshadowing his economic and foreign policy accomplishments. Trump complained to reporters Friday that questions about a payment to an adult film star and the ongoing Russia probe are a distraction from an improving U.S. economy and a possible breakthrough on relations with North Korea. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington.
…

Rudy Giuliani, who last month joined President Donald Trump’s legal team in the Russia probe, lacks a security clearance and may find it hard to get one to see classified documents because of his work with foreign clients, legal experts said.

Former New York mayor Giuliani told Reuters in an interview Thursday that he would apply for top secret clearance, along with another Trump personal lawyer Jay Sekulow. Trump’s outgoing White House lawyer Ty Cobb has a security clearance, but no one on his outside legal team has had one since lawyer John Dowd resigned in March.

“They said they would get it right away,” Giuliani said.

Red flags

Giuliani’s work as a lawyer and security and business consultant during the past 16 years has included assignments on behalf of the government of Mexico City and the Qatari state oil company.

Many of his clients have not been publicly disclosed.

The contacts could raise red flags during his background check about his susceptibility to foreign influence, according to some legal experts. The security clearances are typically issued by the U.S. Department of Justice after FBI review.

The contacts could “cause a significant delay, if not outright denial,” of clearance, said Virginia lawyer John V. Berry, who specializes in the area.

Berry said a slow clearance may be an issue if Giuliani negotiates with U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking into the conclusions of intelligence agencies that Moscow interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.

“It’s hard to represent someone without knowing what’s in the files,” Berry said.

Too much trouble?

Washington national security lawyer Bradley Moss said he thought Trump’s team might ultimately decide it was too much trouble to get Giuliani a security clearance and “just keep him in the big picture.” Moss pointed out Giuliani has acted as the public face of the Trump team since coming aboard.

Both Berry and Moss said Trump has the power to grant a clearance, despite any concerns.

Given the involvement of intelligence agencies and issues of contact with Russia, some of the materials relevant to the investigation would be classified as top secret or higher. 

The Kremlin denies interference in the election, and Trump denies any collusion with Moscow officials.

Giuliani did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday on whether he would have difficulty securing a clearance. On Thursday, he played down the importance of a clearance for his role.

“There are only a few excerpted portions that we have to see,” he said. “I know what’s in them from the newspapers but, to make sure, they’re getting me a security clearance.”

127-page form

Sekulow said he started the process after Dowd left the legal team. He said other lawyers on the team would seek clearance as well.

Giuliani took a leave of absence, rather than resigning, from law firm Greenberg Traurig to join Trump’s legal team.

Virginia Canter, an ethics lawyer with watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that is a potential problem because he is still tied to a firm that represents foreign governments.

Berry said investigators conducting background checks for security clearances look at how close a person’s ties are, what kind of money they receive from the contacts, and whether the country has interests adverse to the United States.

To get a clearance, candidates must fill out Standard Form 86, a 127-page document that Berry said “goes into every part of your life” and requires listing foreign contacts.

Moss said interim security clearances could be issued but only after the form is reviewed and there are no immediate red flags.

Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner received a temporary clearance but lost access to highly classified information in February 2018. Kushner had not received his full security clearance because of his extensive business and financial connections.
…

Rudy Giuliani, who last month joined President Donald Trump’s legal team in the Russia probe, lacks a security clearance and may find it hard to get one to see classified documents because of his work with foreign clients, legal experts said.

Former New York mayor Giuliani told Reuters in an interview Thursday that he would apply for top secret clearance, along with another Trump personal lawyer Jay Sekulow. Trump’s outgoing White House lawyer Ty Cobb has a security clearance, but no one on his outside legal team has had one since lawyer John Dowd resigned in March.

“They said they would get it right away,” Giuliani said.

Red flags

Giuliani’s work as a lawyer and security and business consultant during the past 16 years has included assignments on behalf of the government of Mexico City and the Qatari state oil company.

Many of his clients have not been publicly disclosed.

The contacts could raise red flags during his background check about his susceptibility to foreign influence, according to some legal experts. The security clearances are typically issued by the U.S. Department of Justice after FBI review.

The contacts could “cause a significant delay, if not outright denial,” of clearance, said Virginia lawyer John V. Berry, who specializes in the area.

Berry said a slow clearance may be an issue if Giuliani negotiates with U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking into the conclusions of intelligence agencies that Moscow interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.

“It’s hard to represent someone without knowing what’s in the files,” Berry said.

Too much trouble?

Washington national security lawyer Bradley Moss said he thought Trump’s team might ultimately decide it was too much trouble to get Giuliani a security clearance and “just keep him in the big picture.” Moss pointed out Giuliani has acted as the public face of the Trump team since coming aboard.

Both Berry and Moss said Trump has the power to grant a clearance, despite any concerns.

Given the involvement of intelligence agencies and issues of contact with Russia, some of the materials relevant to the investigation would be classified as top secret or higher. 

The Kremlin denies interference in the election, and Trump denies any collusion with Moscow officials.

Giuliani did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday on whether he would have difficulty securing a clearance. On Thursday, he played down the importance of a clearance for his role.

“There are only a few excerpted portions that we have to see,” he said. “I know what’s in them from the newspapers but, to make sure, they’re getting me a security clearance.”

127-page form

Sekulow said he started the process after Dowd left the legal team. He said other lawyers on the team would seek clearance as well.

Giuliani took a leave of absence, rather than resigning, from law firm Greenberg Traurig to join Trump’s legal team.

Virginia Canter, an ethics lawyer with watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that is a potential problem because he is still tied to a firm that represents foreign governments.

Berry said investigators conducting background checks for security clearances look at how close a person’s ties are, what kind of money they receive from the contacts, and whether the country has interests adverse to the United States.

To get a clearance, candidates must fill out Standard Form 86, a 127-page document that Berry said “goes into every part of your life” and requires listing foreign contacts.

Moss said interim security clearances could be issued but only after the form is reviewed and there are no immediate red flags.

Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner received a temporary clearance but lost access to highly classified information in February 2018. Kushner had not received his full security clearance because of his extensive business and financial connections.
…

As U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in the 1980s, Rudy Giuliani earned a reputation as a tough prosecutor in going after white-collar crime and members of the American mafia. Today, Giuliani finds himself in an opposite role, a member of President Donald Trump’s legal team as special counsel Robert Mueller investigates Russia’s alleged involvement in the 2016 presidential campaign.

The former New York mayor was an informal adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign, and he was a frequent spokesman. Giuliani was the first person to be mentioned by Trump in the latter’s election acceptance speech. “He’s unbelievable,” Trump said. “He’s traveled with us and he went through meetings, and Rudy never changes.”

Giuliani, an attorney, was considered for secretary of state in Trump’s administration and often was mentioned as a possible attorney general. Giuliani’s past legal and consulting work, which raised concerns about his overseas business relationships, thwarted his efforts to become America’s top diplomat.

Giuliani and Trump have known each other for decades and share an aggressive rhetorical style and similar policy beliefs — including support for law enforcement in ways that have marginalized minorities, and adopting forceful positions on immigration enforcement. 

In the early 1990s, Giuliani became the first Republican elected mayor of New York City in two decades. Giuliani served two terms as mayor and during his tenure, which ended in 2001, crime in the city fell significantly. Later, he became known as “America’s Mayor” for his efforts to unite the city following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which destroyed the World Trade Center towers.

Giuliani’s political ambitions included running for the U.S. Senate seat that was vacated by then retiring four-term Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan. After medical, marital and other personal issues, Giuliani withdrew from the race in 2000.

In 2002, the former mayor founded Giuliani Partners, a security consulting firm that had Qatar’s Ministry of the Interior on its roster of clients. The contracts with the ministry were managed by Minister Abdullah bin Khalifah Al Thani, a member of Qatar’s royal family. Abdullah bin Khalifah Al Thani was said to have hosted Osama bin Laden on two visits to the royal family member’s farm, a charge that was repeated in a 2007 Congressional Research Service study.

In 2016, Giuliani began working for the influential law firm Greenberg Traurig, where he led the firm’s global cybersecurity and crisis management team, and served as a senior adviser to executive chairman Richard Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum announced in April that Giuliani would take a leave of absence “to handle matters unrelated to the law firm or its clients.” Giuliani’s work with the firm involved the Turkish government and a Turkish-Iranian businessman who was convicted in connection with a scheme to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions.

Giuliani is a one-time presidential hopeful who sought the Republican candidacy for the White House in 2008, but lost the nomination to Arizona Senator John McCain.

Giuliani has been married three times and reports say his current wife, Judith Nathan, filed for divorce in April. The couple have been married for 15 years. 

Giuliani is a Brooklyn, New York, native. He turns 74 later this month.
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Google said Friday in a blog post that it would do a better job of verifying the identity of political ad buyers in the U.S. by requiring a government-issued ID and other key information.

Google will also require ad buyers to disclose who is paying for the ad. Google executive Kent Walker repeated a pledge he made in November to create a library of such ads that will be searchable by anyone. The goal is to have this ready this summer.

Google’s blog post comes short of declaring support for the Honest Ads Act, a bill that would impose disclosure requirements on online ads, similar to what’s required for television and other media. Facebook and Twitter support that bill.

Google didn’t immediately provide details on how the ID verification would work for online ad buys.
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Another top appointee is leaving his job at Scott Pruitt’s Environmental Protection Agency.

John Konkus’ announcement Friday makes him the fourth senior aide in two weeks to announce departure plans.

Konkus served as the EPA’s deputy associate administrator for public affairs. He had worked as a Republican political consultant and helped on the Trump campaign before his EPA appointment.

Pruitt faces a series of federal investigations and audits over high administrative spending and other issues. Pruitt has blamed subordinates for the problems.

Pruitt’s top spokesperson, his security chief and his Superfund administrator earlier announced their departures.

Konkus will take a communications job at the Small Business Administration. EPA chief of staff Ryan Jackson says Konkus was a valuable member of the EPA.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday new legal team member Rudy Giuliani needs to “get his facts straight” about the hush money paid to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels in 2016, and maintained “we’re not changing any stories” after a series of revised explanations that have clouded the settlement.

Trump told reporters Friday at the White House that Giuliani, who joined Trump’s team of personal attorneys, is “a great guy but he just started a day ago” and was still “learning the subject matter.”

Giuliani upended the previous White House defense of the settlement by saying on Wednesday that Trump was aware of personal lawyer Michael Cohen’s payments to Daniels.

In a statement issued later Friday, Giuliani said the payment did not violate U.S. campaign laws, and he added it would have been made even if Trump was not running for president.

“The payment was made to resolve a personal and false allegation in order to protect the president’s family,” he said. “It would have been done in any event, whether he was a candidate or not.”

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders acknowledged on Thursday she first learned Wednesday night, along with the rest of America, that Trump compensated Cohen for the payoff to Daniels just before the 2016 election when Giuliani made the comment on a Fox News Channel program Wednesday night.

Sanders was pressed on whether she lied or was kept in the dark when she had previously told reporters that the president was not aware of the payments.

“I’ve given the best information that I had at the time,” she replied.

Trump confirmed earlier Thursday on Twitter what Giuliani said on the television program: that Cohen was reimbursed by the president for the payment made to Daniels.

This directly contradicted Trump’s earlier comments.

On Air Force One a month ago, the president responded “no” after a reporter asked if he knew about the payment Cohen had made to Daniels, and Trump also said he did not know why his attorney had made the payment.

The pornographic actress and director, whose real name is Stephanie Gregory Clifford, has alleged a one-night affair in 2006 in a Nevada hotel with Trump. The president, and his attorneys, maintained Thursday there was no such sexual encounter and that no campaign funds were involved in the payments made to Daniels.

Trump maintains the non-disclosure agreement reached with Daniels was “very common among celebrities and people of wealth” and said it “will be used in arbitration for damages” against Daniels since in recent weeks she has given interviews about the purported affair.

Daniels has claimed the no-talk agreement is not valid because Trump never signed it.

Trump said the non-disclosure agreement “was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair, despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair,” a statement Daniels said she signed under duress and subsequently has disavowed.

Giuliani, who is a former mayor of New York City, first disclosed the monthly reimbursements by Trump to Cohen in a Fox News interview Wednesday with program host Sean Hannity. Hannity is a strong on-air defender of the president and frequently speaks with him.

Giuliani told Hannity that Trump “didn’t know about the specifics of [the payments], as far as I know, but he did know about the general arrangement that Michael would take care of things like this. Like I take care of things like this for my clients. I don’t burden them with every single thing that comes along.”

On Thursday, in another interview on Fox, Giuliani said the payment to quiet Daniels came at a sensitive time in Trump’s campaign, just before the Nov. 8, 2016, election against his Democratic challenger, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“Imagine if that came out on Oct. 15, 2016, in the middle of the, you know, last debate with Hillary Clinton,” Giuliani told the Fox & Friends show Thursday. “Cohen didn’t even ask. Cohen made it go away. He did his job.”

Giuliani, who also is a former federal prosecutor, said the president did not know full details about the payments until about 10 days ago.

After Giuliani’s disclosure of the payment to Daniels, her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said Americans “should be outraged.”

Cohen, under federal investigation for business deals said to be unrelated to his legal work for the president, acknowledges he received a personal loan to make the payment to Daniels through a corporation he created.

The ultimate source of the funds is an important legal distinction. The $130,000 payment far exceeds the allowable size of personal campaign donations that Cohen could have made, although Trump could make sizable donations to his own campaign. Daniels-related expenses have not been reported as campaign donations.

Trump “appears to have violated federal law” by failing to disclose he owed Cohen for the hush money payment, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which has filed complaints with the Department of Justice and the Office of Government Ethics about the matter.

“There is now more than enough evidence for the DOJ to investigate whether President Trump intentionally omitted the Stormy Daniels liability from his personal financial disclosures,” CREW Board Chairman Norman Eisen said. “This is a very serious matter, including because there can be criminal penalties for false statements.”
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Former Massachusetts Senate President Stan Rosenberg announced Thursday he would end his long political career after a scathing ethics report concluded he failed to protect the Senate from his husband, who has been charged with sexual misconduct.

In a one-sentence letter delivered to the Senate, Rosenberg said his resignation would be effective at 5 p.m. Friday.

The decision came amid mounting calls, including several from his Democratic colleagues, for the Amherst Democrat to resign. He stepped down from the presidency in December when allegations first surfaced against his husband, Bryon Hefner. The couple has since separated.

In a statement, Rosenberg said he was leaving the Senate because he no longer had the authority to fully represent the interests of his constituents.

He noted that the report found no evidence that he violated any Senate rules, no evidence he was aware of any alleged sexual assaults by Hefner, nor that Hefner asserted any influence over his actions while Senate leader.

Failure in judgment found

But Rosenberg acknowledged findings in the report, prepared by investigators hired by the Senate Ethics Committee, faulting him for not doing more to control Hefner’s access to information and access to people who worked for or had business with the Senate.

“Although, as the report states, I was unaware of many of the events attributed to Bryon, and took steps to address those incidents that came to my attention, that does not diminish my sorrow at what reportedly transpired or my sense of responsibility for what the ethics committee concludes was a failure on my part in not doing more to protect the Senate,” Rosenberg wrote.

He also conveyed his “sincere apology” to anyone who’d been affected by events detailed in the report.

Investigators concluded that Rosenberg showed “significant failure of judgment and leadership,” and knew or should have known that Hefner was “disruptive, volatile and abusive,” and had racially or sexually harassed Senate employees.

Rosenberg also violated Senate policy by allowing Hefner access to his Senate email and to his cellphone, which Hefner on at least two occasions used to send messages to Senate staffers while pretending to be Rosenberg, the report found.

The committee had recommended Rosenberg be barred from serving in any leadership posts or from chairing any committees through 2020, and the full Senate could have imposed further punishment.

Calls for resignation

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey and at least six Democratic senators had publicly called for Rosenberg to quit after the report was released.

“I think the report made very clear that there was damage done … to the Senate and I think it was appropriate for him to step down and I’m glad he did,” Baker told reporters Thursday.

The governor said he was especially troubled that Rosenberg appeared not to keep a promise he made to Senate colleagues in 2014 to build a “firewall” between his personal and professional life.

Baker added that he had appreciated his long working relationship with Rosenberg, dating back to the 1990s when Baker was state Secretary of Administration and Finance and Rosenberg chaired the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

The first openly gay person to lead a legislative chamber in Massachusetts, Rosenberg, 68, has served in the Senate for more than a quarter century and helped craft numerous state laws.

He also played a key role in convincing the Legislature not to overturn a 2003 ruling by the state’s highest court that made Massachusetts the first U.S. state to legalize gay marriage.

Hefner, 30, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment last month on charges of sexual assault, criminal lewdness and distributing nude photos without consent. The allegations involve four men.
…

Former Massachusetts Senate President Stan Rosenberg announced Thursday he would end his long political career after a scathing ethics report concluded he failed to protect the Senate from his husband, who has been charged with sexual misconduct.

In a one-sentence letter delivered to the Senate, Rosenberg said his resignation would be effective at 5 p.m. Friday.

The decision came amid mounting calls, including several from his Democratic colleagues, for the Amherst Democrat to resign. He stepped down from the presidency in December when allegations first surfaced against his husband, Bryon Hefner. The couple has since separated.

In a statement, Rosenberg said he was leaving the Senate because he no longer had the authority to fully represent the interests of his constituents.

He noted that the report found no evidence that he violated any Senate rules, no evidence he was aware of any alleged sexual assaults by Hefner, nor that Hefner asserted any influence over his actions while Senate leader.

Failure in judgment found

But Rosenberg acknowledged findings in the report, prepared by investigators hired by the Senate Ethics Committee, faulting him for not doing more to control Hefner’s access to information and access to people who worked for or had business with the Senate.

“Although, as the report states, I was unaware of many of the events attributed to Bryon, and took steps to address those incidents that came to my attention, that does not diminish my sorrow at what reportedly transpired or my sense of responsibility for what the ethics committee concludes was a failure on my part in not doing more to protect the Senate,” Rosenberg wrote.

He also conveyed his “sincere apology” to anyone who’d been affected by events detailed in the report.

Investigators concluded that Rosenberg showed “significant failure of judgment and leadership,” and knew or should have known that Hefner was “disruptive, volatile and abusive,” and had racially or sexually harassed Senate employees.

Rosenberg also violated Senate policy by allowing Hefner access to his Senate email and to his cellphone, which Hefner on at least two occasions used to send messages to Senate staffers while pretending to be Rosenberg, the report found.

The committee had recommended Rosenberg be barred from serving in any leadership posts or from chairing any committees through 2020, and the full Senate could have imposed further punishment.

Calls for resignation

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey and at least six Democratic senators had publicly called for Rosenberg to quit after the report was released.

“I think the report made very clear that there was damage done … to the Senate and I think it was appropriate for him to step down and I’m glad he did,” Baker told reporters Thursday.

The governor said he was especially troubled that Rosenberg appeared not to keep a promise he made to Senate colleagues in 2014 to build a “firewall” between his personal and professional life.

Baker added that he had appreciated his long working relationship with Rosenberg, dating back to the 1990s when Baker was state Secretary of Administration and Finance and Rosenberg chaired the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

The first openly gay person to lead a legislative chamber in Massachusetts, Rosenberg, 68, has served in the Senate for more than a quarter century and helped craft numerous state laws.

He also played a key role in convincing the Legislature not to overturn a 2003 ruling by the state’s highest court that made Massachusetts the first U.S. state to legalize gay marriage.

Hefner, 30, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment last month on charges of sexual assault, criminal lewdness and distributing nude photos without consent. The allegations involve four men.
…

The White House press secretary acknowledged Thursday that she’d first learned the night before, along with the rest of America, that President Donald Trump repaid his lawyer for a payoff to an adult movie performer made just before the 2016 election.

“The first awareness I had was during the interview last night,” Sarah Sanders said during a regular televised press briefing. “The White House press office wouldn’t coordinate with the president’s outside legal team on legal strategy.”

Sanders was pressed about whether she had lied or had been kept in the dark when she previously told reporters that the president was not aware of the payments.

“I’ve given the best information that I had at the time,” she replied.

Giuliani remarks confirmed

Trump confirmed earlier in the day on Twitter what one of his lawyers, Rudy Giuliani, said on a Fox News Channel program the prior evening: The president reimbursed attorney Michael Cohen for the payments made to Stormy Daniels.

This directly contradicted Trump’s earlier comments.

On Air Force One a month ago, the president responded “no” after a reporter asked whether he knew about the payment Cohen had made to Daniels, and Trump also said he did not know why his attorney had made the payment.

The actress and director, whose real name is Stephanie Gregory Clifford, has alleged that she had a one-night affair in 2006 in a Nevada hotel with Trump. The president and his attorneys maintained Thursday there was no such sexual encounter and that no campaign funds were involved in the payments made to Daniels.

Daniels has claimed the no-talk agreement is not valid because Trump never signed it. The president’s mention of arbitration for damages refers to the fact that Daniels has given interviews about the purported tryst in recent weeks.

Daniels has also said that the letter of admission that there was no tryst was signed under duress and that she has since disavowed it.

Giuliani, a former mayor of New York City, spoke about Trump’s reimbursement to Cohen with Fox host Sean Hannity, a strong on-air defender of the president’s who frequently speaks with him. 

Giuliani told Hannity that Trump “didn’t know about the specifics of [the payment], as far as I know, but he did know about the general arrangement that Michael would take care of things like this. Like I take care of things like this for my clients. I don’t burden them with every single thing that comes along.”

On Thursday, in another interview on Fox, Giuliani said the payment to quiet Daniels came at a sensitive time in Trump’s campaign, just before the November 8, 2016, election against his Democratic challenger, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“Imagine if that came out on October 15th, 2016, in the middle of the, you know, last debate with Hillary Clinton,” Giuliani said on the Fox & Friends show. “Cohen didn’t even ask. Cohen made it go away. He did his job.”

Giuliani, who also is a former federal prosecutor, said the president did not know full details about the payments until about 10 days ago.

After Giuliani’s disclosure about the payment to Daniels, her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said Americans “should be outraged.”

Cohen, under federal investigation for business deals said to be unrelated to his legal work for the president, acknowledges he received a personal loan to make the payment to Daniels through a corporation he created.

The ultimate source of the funds is an important legal distinction. The $130,000 payment far exceeds the allowable size of personal campaign donations that Cohen could have made, although Trump could make sizable donations to his own campaign. Daniels-related expenses have not been reported as campaign donations. 

Trump “appears to have violated federal law” by failing to disclose he owed Cohen for the hush money payment, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which has filed complaints with the Department of Justice and the Office of Government Ethics about the matter.

“There is now more than enough evidence for the DOJ [Department of Justice] to investigate whether President Trump intentionally omitted the Stormy Daniels liability from his personal financial disclosures,” CREW Board Chairman Norman Eisen said. “This is a very serious matter, including because there can be criminal penalties for false statements.”

VOA’s Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report.
…

With the observation of World Press Freedom Day on Thursday, a group of press freedom organizations is calling attention to challenges faced by journalists in the United States.

The report cites a number of threats to the work of journalists, including a rise in whistleblower prosecutions, government restrictions on public information, stigmatization by politicians, physical attacks and arbitrary arrests.

“The alarming rise in threats to press freedom in the U.S. over recent years must be challenged,” said Thomas Hughes, executive director of Article 19. “Not only do these threats impact on freedom of expression in the U.S., but they have repercussions around the world.”

WATCH: Rights Groups Highlight New Threats on World Press Freedom Day

Article 19 joined with the Committee to Protect Journalists, International Freedom of Expression Exchange, International Press Institute, Index on Censorship and Reporters Without Borders to interview U.S. journalists.

American media under threat

Their report said despite current threats, protections in the U.S. Constitution make media in the United States among the most free in the world. But it noted some of President Donald Trump’s statements, most notably his rejection of what he calls “fake news,” being echoed by leaders in other countries, including Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

“The pressures that journalists are facing in the U.S. are reflective of the toxic atmosphere toward journalism being stoked by global leaders,” said Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive officer of Index on Censorship. “Animosity toward the press is undermining the public’s right to information.”

The report notes a rise in whistleblower prosecutions began under former President Barack Obama, and expresses concern about the Trump administration’s positions on reporters’ abilities to protect their sources. It also faults Trump for verbal attacks on the media, saying those have helped embolden other politicians to do the same.

“By openly and aggressively targeting journalists and media outlets, the current U.S. administration risks undermining media freedom and creates a culture where journalists find themselves unprotected,” the report says.

Reporters Without Borders cited those concerns in its own annual press freedom rankings last week as it dropped the United States down two spots.

The White House rejected criticisms, with Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders telling reporters she thinks the Trump administration is “one of the most accessible” in decades.

“We support a free press, but we also support a fair press,” Sanders said. “And I think that those things should go hand in hand, and there’s a certain responsibility by the press to report accurate information.”

In a statement commemorating the day, new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. “values freedom of press as a key component of democratic governance. By fostering a free press, citizens are more informed, active and engaged in political decision-making, and can better hold their governments accountable.”

He said the U.S. honors “the many journalists and media actors who have dedicated their lives, often at great risk, to promote transparency and accountability throughout the world.”

Global challenges to press freedom

The United Nations launched World Press Freedom Day in 1993 as a way to encourage the development of further freedom of the press, and to highlight the ways in which media organizations are “censored, fined, suspended and closed down,” while journalists face harassment, attacks, detentions and murder.

Reporters Without Borders reports that so far in 2018, 23 journalists have been killed and 176 imprisoned across the world.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday urged countries to adopt and implement laws that protect independent journalism, freedom of expression and the right to information.

“Journalists and media workers shine a light on local and global challenges and tell the stories that need to be told,” he told a U.N. gathering via video message. “Their service to the public is invaluable.”

But a side-event about the “fake news” phenomenon organized by the nonprofit News Literacy Project and the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations was abruptly canceled. The Alliance of Civilizations said it was due to a scheduling conflict, but the News Literacy Project said it was because their organization refused the Alliance’s request to remove references to several countries in which press freedom is limited.

According to the News Literacy Project’s website, they planned to discuss “severe restrictions on press freedom in Turkey, Mexico and Egypt and comments by Russian and Pakistani journalists describing the challenges they face.”

VOA’s Margaret Besheer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
…

U.S. President Donald Trump met with teachers of the year from several states Wednesday at the White House. Trump conferred the 2018 National Teacher of the Year award, as public teachers in many states protest low pay and criticize the administration for what they see as siphoning education funds from public schools into private alternatives. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
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U.S. President Donald Trump met with teachers of the year from several states Wednesday at the White House. Trump conferred the 2018 National Teacher of the Year award, as public teachers in many states protest low pay and criticize the administration for what they see as siphoning education funds from public schools into private alternatives. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says President Donald Trump’s plan to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un provides “an unprecedented opportunity to change the course of history on the Korean Peninsula.” Pompeo was formally sworn in as the 70th U.S. secretary of state in a ceremony attended by Trump. As VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department, the secretary has been preparing for the summit and dealing with Iran and other foreign policy challenges.
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At least 88 Central American asylum seekers from a caravan through Mexico had crossed into the United States by Wednesday, a movement that prompted U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to beef up legal resources on the border.

Dozens more remain just outside the entrance to the port of entry in a makeshift camp, waiting to plead their case.

Women, children and transgender people were among those who waited for hours inside the walkway to the U.S. gate before being allowed to pass through to begin the asylum process.

Those remaining wandered among boxes of cereal and diapers in a labyrinth of giant tents, near-luxury conditions for the bedraggled migrants, compared with the scarcity they had endured for weeks on their journey through Mexico to the U.S. border.

​Dramatic uptick

On Wednesday, U.S. officials let in three groups totaling 63 migrants, a dramatic uptick from the trickle permitted since Monday.

Border officials had allowed through only a few at a time, saying the busy San Ysidro crossing to San Diego was saturated and the rest must wait their turn.

In response, the Justice Department was sending 35 additional assistant U.S. attorneys and 18 immigration judges to the border, Sessions said, linking the decision to the caravan.

“We are sending a message worldwide: Don’t come illegally. Make your claim to enter America in the lawful way and wait your turn,” he said, adding that he would not let the country be “overwhelmed.”

Despite unusual attention on the annual, awareness-raising caravan after President Donald Trump took issue with it last month, the most recent data through December does not show a dramatic change in the number of Central Americans seeking asylum.

Apprehensions of people crossing to the United States illegally from Mexico were at their highest in March since December 2016, before Trump took office.

More than 100 members of the caravan, most from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, have been camped in the square near the entrance of the San Ysidro pedestrian bridge from Mexico to the United States, waiting for their turn to enter the checkpoint.

Pleading their case

At least 28 migrants who made it into the United States Wednesday had anxiously filed through the walkway to the U.S. gate the night before. Two by two, they walked up to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer standing in the gate to ask if they might pass through.

First to try was a man and his small nephew, a football under his arm; then a mother and child; then a woman with her grandsons.

Throughout the caravan’s 2,000-mile (3,220-km) odyssey from southern Mexico, its members maintained hope they would ultimately get the chance to plead their case for asylum in the United States, all the while knowing that U.S. officials might reject them.

The Trump administration cites a more than tenfold rise in asylum claims versus 2011 and growing numbers of families and children, who are more likely to be allowed to remain while their cases await hearing, as signs that people are fraudulently taking advantage of the system.

Trump wants to tighten laws to make it harder for people to claim asylum. For now, though, despite his orders to keep such migrant caravans out of the country, international and U.S. law obliges the government to listen to people’s stories and decide whether they deserve shelter.

The U.S. Department of Justice said on Monday it had launched prosecutions against 11 “suspected” caravan members on charges of crossing the border illegally.

Nicole Ramos, an attorney advising caravan members in Mexico, said she did not believe the individuals facing U.S. criminal charges were part of the caravan group.

“Quite a few people have claimed to be part of the caravan, including a sizeable contingent of Guatemalan men who were never part,” Ramos said.

 
…

President Donald Trump makes his first visit to the State Department Wednesday for a ceremonial swearing in of his new secretary of state.

“It’s an important day for the president’s first trip to this important place,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday while speaking to personnel who gathered as he arrived for his first full day at the State Department.

Pompeo, the former CIA director, has vowed to bring back the “swagger” to the State Department.

“The United States diplomatic corps need to be in every corner, every stretch of the world, executing missions on behalf of this country, and it is my humble, noble undertaking to help you achieve that,” said Pompeo on Tuesday.

Pompeo takes the helm of the State Department after Trump fired then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in March, hours after Tillerson had returned from a trip to Africa.

Unlike with Tillerson, Trump is said to have a close working relationship with Pompeo. The president and several Cabinet members will be on-hand on Wednesday for Pompeo’s ceremonial swearing-in, a clear sign that Pompeo enjoys the trust and backing of the president.

“Mike Pompeo is someone who I think has the close ear of the president,” said Nile Gardiner of the conservative-leaning Washington-based think-tank, The Heritage Foundation.

Tuesday, Pompeo took selfies with several State Department employees, vowing to reach out to as many staff members as he could.

“I’ll spend as little time on the 7th floor” and meet people in “many parts of this organization,” said the new secretary of state.

A U.S. foreign service officer, who did not want to be named, told VOA he hopes Pompeo’s experiences in Congress, the U.S. military, and the intelligence community “highlight that the United States faces real adversaries abroad, and that the [State] Department’s career employees are resources — not the enemy.”

Tillerson was under fire at the State Department for leaving many senior vacancies unfilled and proposing dramatic budget cuts, lowering the morale of the diplomatic workforce.

Pompeo, who was confirmed last week, boarded a plane just hours after being sworn in Thursday, traveling to the NATO foreign ministerial in Brussels. He continued on to Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Jordan.

“I do think he is going to be a far bigger presence on the world stage than Rex Tillerson was,” said The Heritage Foundation’s Gardiner.

And while former Secretary of State Tillerson brought just one reporter on his first foreign trip to Asia, Pompeo left Washington with six journalists on his plane last week. He picked up two more reporters as he continued his overseas trip to the Middle East, before returning to Washington on Monday.

“I think I have the record for the longest trip on the first day of work,” Pompeo joked on Tuesday.
…