U.S. President Donald Trump  seemed Saturday to change his story on why he fired Michael Flynn as his national security advisor. Initially, the president said he let Flynn go because Flynn was not honest with Vice President Michael Pence about his contacts with Russians during the presidential transition.

But then Trump tweeted Saturday: “I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies.  It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful.  There was nothing to hide!”

The tweet suggested that the president knew Flynn had lied to the FBI, as well as the vice president, about his Russians contacts.  Trump had not mentioned the FBI before in his tweets about Flynn and the Russians.

It is against the law to lie to the FBI.

Trump also tweeted Sunday morning that “I never asked (FBI director James ) Comey to stop investigating Flynn.  Just more Fake News covering another Comey lie!”

The president’s tweets have resulted in a climate of confusion about what the president knew and when he knew it about Flynn’s contact with the Russians.  

An Associated Press report says that the president did not write the tweet about the FBI, but that it was instead written by John Dowd, one of Trump’s attorneys.

Flynn pleaded guilty Friday to lying to federal agents, and he has agreed to cooperate with investigators examining allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

Earlier Saturday, in his first remarks since Flynn entered the guilty plea, Trump said there was “absolutely no collusion” between his presidential campaign and Russia.

“What has been shown is no collusion, no collusion,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for New York.

Appearing before a federal judge in a packed courtroom in Washington, Flynn, a 59-year-old retired army general, pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about a series of private conversations he had in December 2016 with Russia’s then-ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak.

The charge carries a sentence of up to five years in prison, but under U.S. sentencing guidelines the average sentence for the offense ranges from zero to six months.

The guidelines are advisory, but prosecutors agreed to seek a reduced sentence if Flynn provides “substantial assistance” with the investigation being led by special counsel Robert Mueller. No sentencing date was announced.

Guilty plea

As part of his guilty plea, Flynn agreed to “cooperate fully” with  Mueller’s team of investigators, answering questions, providing written statements, taking polygraph exams, and “participating in covert law enforcement activities.” In return, Mueller’s office agreed that Flynn “will not be further prosecuted criminally.”

Flynn is the fourth member of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign to be charged by Mueller’s team and the first former White House staff member to plead guilty in connection with the Russia investigation.

On Oct. 30, Paul Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman, and Rick Gates, another senior campaign official, were charged in a 12-count indictment unrelated to the Russia investigation.

Another Trump campaign surrogate, George Papadopoulos, secretly pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian government and is cooperating with the special counsel as well.

Flynn’s decision to cooperate with a probe that could implicate others close to Trump marks a dramatic turnaround for a man who staunchly campaigned for the real estate mogul and promised a hard edge in U.S. foreign policy before being fired.

White House reaction

The White House sought to play down the significance of Flynn’s guilty plea.

White House lawyer Ty Cobb said Flynn’s plea does not implicate “anyone other than Mr. Flynn” and added Flynn was a “former Obama administration official” who served in the Trump White House for only 25 days.

But the plea agreement provided an indication that Mueller sees Flynn’s cooperation as critical to his investigation.

“The trick is we won’t know perhaps for some time how significant it is,” said Steve Vladeck, a professor of law at the University of Texas who closely follows the Russia investigation. “But it’s a strong sign that more is coming. And what’s coming down the pipe probably involves more senior officials and individuals closer to President Trump himself.”

In a statement released after his court appearance Friday, Flynn said, “The actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong, and, through my faith in God, I am working to set things right.”

Flynn was swept up in the Russia probe as the FBI began examining contacts between Russia and Trump campaign officials.

Flynn admitted to lying to the FBI about the conversations he had with the Russian ambassador at the behest of senior Trump transition officials shortly after the election.  

The conversations focused on two foreign policy issues the Trump transition team sought to influence before coming into office: a pending U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel for its settlement activities in Palestinian territories and a possible Russian retaliation to sanctions imposed by then-President Barack Obama.  

In two separate conversations – Dec. 22 and Dec. 23, 2016 – Flynn, directed by a “very senior” member of the Trump transition team, called Kislyak to urge him that Russia “vote against or delay” the Security Council resolution. Kisliyak later called back to say Russia would not vote against the resolution.

‘Very senior’ member of transition team

Several U.S. news outlets have identified as the “very senior” member of the transition team as Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser who is leading the White House’s Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

Five days later, on Dec. 28, after Obama announced punitive sanctions against Russia over its interference in the election, Kislyak called Flynn, according to prosecutors.

The next day, Dec. 29, Flynn contacted an unnamed senior transition official who was at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort to discuss what to tell Kislyak about the sanctions.

The two discussed the impact of sanctions on Trump’s foreign policy. Immediately after the conversation, Flynn called Kislyak and urged him to “refrain from escalating the situation.”

On Dec. 31, the day after Putin announced that Russia would not retaliate to the U.S. sanctions, Kislyak called Flynn to say that “Russia had chosen not to retaliate” in response to Flynn’s request.  

When confronted by the FBI four days after Trump’s inauguration, Flynn, then the president’s national security adviser, denied everything, according to court documents filed on Friday.

The filing also says Flynn falsely stated he did not remember Kislyak informing him the Kremlin had decided to “moderate its response to those sanctions” in response to Flynn’s request.

The court document says Flynn also falsely claimed the Russian ambassador never described Moscow’s response to that request.

Kushner is scheduled to make public comments about the administration’s Middle East strategy on Monday in Washington, his first expected public remarks since Flynn pleaded guilty, according to VOA’s  Nike Chiang.

“Jared Kushner will speak publicly for the first time about the #Trump administration’s approach to the #MiddleEast on Sunday at the Saban Forum in Washington, an annual conference organized by the Center for Middle East Policy at  @BrookingsInst focused on U.S.- #Israel relations.”

 
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The Palestinians are warning the United States against recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Mahmoud Habash, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Saturday that if President Donald Trump were to do so, it would amount to a “complete destruction of the peace process.”

Speaking in Abbas’ presence, Habash said “the world will pay the price” for any change in Jerusalem’s status.

Officials in Washington say Trump is considering recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as a way to offset his likely decision to delay his campaign promise to move the U.S. Embassy there. 

Israel regards Jerusalem as its capital, a position nearly the entire world rejects, saying its status should be determined in peace talks with the Palestinians. The Palestinians claim the eastern part of the city as their future capital.
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U.S. President Donald Trump praised the Senate’s early Saturday morning passage of an immense Republican tax overhaul bill, telling reporters outside the White House the measure calls for “the biggest tax cuts in the history of our country.”

Later Saturday at a Republican fundraiser in New York, Trump attributed passage of the bill to semantics.

“For years I said I wonder why they (lawmakers) use the word reform. Because nobody knows what reform means. Reform could mean your taxes are going up. And I said to my guys, I called everybody and we had a meeting — senators, Congress, everybody. I said we have to use the word, ‘tax cuts.’”

Earlier Saturday, Trump praised two top Senate Republicans, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, for securing enough votes for passage.

“We are one step closer to delivering MASSIVE tax cuts for working families across America. Special thanks to @SenateMajLdr Mitch McConnell and Chairman @SenOrrinHatch for shepherding our bill through the Senate. Look forward to signing a final bill before Christmas!,” Trump said on Twitter.

The Senate passed the legislation by a 51 to 49 margin without a single Democratic vote, a development Trump said was a political mistake that will haunt Democrats in the 2018 midterm election.

“We got no Democratic help and I think that’s going to cost them very big in the election because basically they voted against tax cuts. And I don’t think politically it’s good to vote against tax cuts.”

The Senate passed the legislation without Democratic support and congressional reaction was also divided along party lines.

House Speaker Paul Ryan commended the Senate and urged congress to act quickly to get a final bill signed into law.

“I look forward to a conference committee so we can get a final bill to the president’s desk,” the Republican lawmaker tweeted.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi tweeted that the bill is a “scam” and would result in “Tens of millions of middle class families” being “slapped with a tax hike.”

“In passing the #GOPTaxScam, @SenateGOP has sealed its betrayal of the American middle class. https://goo.gl/fBvQrH.”

Many Democrats, including Senator John Tester, were angry over the way Republicans approved the hastily-written bill in the wee hours of the morning without any public debate.

“I was just handed a 479-page tax bill a few hours before the vote. One page literally has hand scribbled policy changes on it that can’t be read. This is Washington, D.C. at its worst.  Montanans deserve so much better,” Tester wrote on Twitter.

A few more hurdles must be overcome before a final tax package can become law. The Senate bill and a version passed earlier by the House of Representatives must now be reconciled. The reconciled measure must then be approved by both chambers of Congress before it is submitted to the president for him to sign into law.  

Negotiations over the tax measures will take place as Congress simultaneously tries to meet a December 8 deadline for government funding to expire, putting additional pressure on Republicans to get a new tax law on the books before Christmas as requested by Trump.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday the actions of former national security adviser Michael Flynn during Trump’s transition to the White House “were lawful.”

“I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!” Trump tweeted between Republican fundraising events in New York.

Flynn pleaded guilty Friday to lying to federal agents, and he has agreed to cooperate with investigators examining allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

Earlier Saturday, in his first remarks since Flynn entered the guilty plea, Trump said there was “absolutely no collusion” between his presidential campaign and Russia.

“What has been shown is no collusion, no collusion,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for New York.

Appearing before a federal judge in a packed courtroom in Washington, Flynn, a 59-year-old retired army general, pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about a series of private conversations he had in December 2016 with Russia’s then-ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak.

The charge carries a sentence of up to five years in prison, but under U.S. sentencing guidelines the average sentence for the offense ranges from zero to six months.

The guidelines are advisory, but prosecutors agreed to seek a reduced sentence if Flynn provides “substantial assistance” with the investigation being led by special counsel Robert Mueller. No sentencing date was announced.

Guilty plea

As part of his guilty plea, Flynn agreed to “cooperate fully” with  Mueller’s team of investigators, answering questions, providing written statements, taking polygraph exams, and “participating in covert law enforcement activities.” In return, Mueller’s office agreed that Flynn “will not be further prosecuted criminally.”

Flynn is the fourth member of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign to be charged by Mueller’s team and the first former White House to plead guilty in connection with the Russia investigation.

On Oct. 30, Paul Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman, and Rick Gates, another senior campaign official, were charged in a 12-count indictment unrelated to the Russia investigation.

Another Trump campaign surrogate, George Papadopoulos, secretly pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian government and is cooperating with the special counsel as well.

Flynn’s decision to cooperate with a probe that could implicate others close to Trump marks a dramatic turnaround for a man who staunchly campaigned for the real estate mogul and promised a hard edge in U.S. foreign policy before being fired for lying about his Kislyak interactions to Vice President Mike Pence.

Flynn didn’t know at the time but his phone conversations with Kislyak were all recorded by the FBI as part of its probe into Russian interference.

White House reaction

The White House sought to play down the significance of Flynn’s guilty plea.

White House lawyer Ty Cobb said Flynn’s plea does not implicate “anyone other than Mr. Flynn” and added Flynn was a “former Obama administration official” who served in the Trump White House for only 25 days.

But the plea agreement provided an indication that Mueller sees Flynn’s cooperation as critical to his investigation.

“The trick is we won’t know perhaps for some time how significant it is,” said Steve Vladeck, a professor of law at the University of Texas who closely follows the Russia investigation. “But it’s a strong sign that more is coming. And what’s coming down the pipe probably involves more senior officials and individuals closer to President Trump himself.”

In a statement released after his court appearance Friday, Flynn said, “The actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong, and, through my faith in God, I am working to set things right.”

Flynn was swept up in the Russia probe as the FBI began examining contacts between Russia and Trump campaign officials.

Flynn admitted to lying to the FBI about the conversations he had with the Russian ambassador at the behest of senior Trump transition officials shortly after the election.  

The conversations focused on two foreign policy issues the Trump transition team sought to influence before coming into office: a pending U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel for its settlement activities in Palestinian territories and a possible Russian retaliation to sanctions imposed by then-President Barack Obama.  

In two separate conversations — Dec. 22 and Dec. 23, 2016 — Flynn, directed by a “very senior” member of the Trump transition team, called Kislyak to urge him that Russia “vote against or delay” the Security Council resolution. Kisliyak later called back to say Russia would not vote against the resolution.

‘Very senior’ member of transition team

Several U.S. news outlets have identified as the “very senior” member of the transition team as Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser who is leading the White House’s Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

Five days later, on Dec. 28, after Obama announced punitive sanctions against Russia over its interference in the election, Kislyak called Flynn, according to prosecutors.

The next day, Dec. 29, Flynn contacted an unnamed senior transition official who was at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort to discuss what to tell Kislyak about the sanctions.

The two discussed the impact of sanctions on Trump’s foreign policy. Immediately after the conversation, Flynn called Kislyak and urged him to “refrain from escalating the situation.”

On Dec. 31, the day after Putin announced that Russia would not retaliate to the U.S. sanctions, Kislyak called Flynn to say that “Russia had chosen not to retaliate” in response to Flynn’s request.  

When confronted by the FBI four days after Trump’s inauguration, Flynn, then the president’s national security adviser, denied everything, according to court documents filed on Friday.

The filing also says Flynn falsely stated he did not remember Kislyak informing him the Kremlin had decided to “moderate its response to those sanctions” in response to Flynn’s request.

The court document says Flynn also falsely claimed the Russian ambassador never described Moscow’s response to that request.

Kusher is scheduled to make public comments about the administration’s Middle East strategy on Monday in Washington, his first expected public remarks since Flynn pleaded guilty, according to VOA’s  Nike Ching.

“Jared Kushner will speak publicly for the first time about the #Trump administration’s approach to the #MiddleEast on Sunday at the Saban Forum in Washington, an annual conference organized by the Center for Middle East Policy at  @BrookingsInst focused on U.S.- #Israel relations.”

 
…

President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, retired General Michael Flynn, pleaded guilty Friday to charges of lying to the FBI in connection with the ongoing probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Flynn has become the first former Trump White House official to face charges and admit guilt in connection with the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has details from Washington.
…

Republicans pushed a nearly $1.5 trillion tax bill through the Senate early Saturday after burst of eleventh-hour horse trading, as a party starved all year for a major legislative triumph took a giant step toward giving President Donald Trump one of his top priorities by Christmas.

“Big bills are rarely popular. You remember how unpopular Obamacare was when it passed?” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in an interview, shrugging off polls showing scant public enthusiasm for the measure. He said the legislation would prove to be “just what the country needs to get growing again.”

Senate approval came on a 51-49 roll call with Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the only lawmaker to cross party lines. The measure focuses its tax reductions on businesses and higher-earning individuals, gives more modest breaks to others and offers the boldest rewrite of the nation’s tax system since 1986.

​Corker balks at debt increase

Republicans touted the package as one that would benefit people of all incomes and ignite the economy. Even an official projection of a $1 trillion, 10-year flood of deeper budget deficits couldn’t dissuade GOP senators from rallying behind the bill.

“Obviously I’m kind of a dinosaur on the fiscal issues,” said Corker, who battled to keep the bill from worsening the government’s accumulated $20 trillion in IOUs.

The Republican-led House approved a similar bill last month in what has been a stunningly swift trip through Congress for complex legislation that impacts the breadth of American society. The two chambers will now try crafting a compromise to send Trump.

After spending the year’s first nine months futilely trying to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law, GOP leaders were determined to move the measure rapidly before opposition Democrats and lobbying groups could blow it up. The party views passage as crucial to retaining its House and Senate majorities in next year’s elections.

​Democrats deride gift to wealthy

Democrats derided the bill as a GOP gift to its wealthy and business backers at the expense of lower-earning people. They contrasted the bill’s permanent reduction in corporate income tax rates from 35 percent to 20 percent to smaller individual tax breaks that would end in 2026.

Congress’ nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation has said the bill’s reductions for many families would be modest and said by 2027, families earning under $75,000 would on average face higher, not lower, taxes.

The bill is “removed from the reality of what the American people need,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. He criticized Republicans for releasing a revised, 479-page bill that no one can absorb shortly before the final vote, saying, “The Senate is descending to a new low of chicanery.”

“You really don’t read this kind of legislation,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told home-state reporters, asked why the Senate was approving a bill some senators hadn’t read. He said lawmakers needed to study it and get feedback from affected groups.

Democrats took to the Senate floor and social media to mock one page that included changes scrawled in barely legible handwriting. Later, they won enough GOP support to kill a provision by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., that would have bestowed a tax break on conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan.

​Tax panel: $1 trillion added to debt

The bill hit rough waters after the Joint Taxation panel concluded it would worsen federal shortfalls by $1 trillion over a decade, even when factoring in economic growth that lower taxes would stimulate. Trump administration officials and many Republicans have insisted the bill would pay for itself by stimulating the economy. But the sour projections stiffened resistance from some deficit-averse Republicans.

But after bargaining that stretched into Friday, GOP leaders nailed down the support they needed in a chamber they control 52-48. Facing unyielding Democratic opposition, Republicans could lose no more than two GOP senators and prevail with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence, but ended up not needing it.

Leaders’ changes included helping millions of companies whose owners pay individual, not corporate, taxes on their profits by allowing deductions of 23 percent, up from 17.4 percent. That helped win over Wisconsin’s Johnson and Steve Daines of Montana.

People would be allowed to deduct up to $10,000 in property taxes, a demand of Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. That matched a House provision that chamber’s leaders included to keep some GOP votes from high-tax states like New York, New Jersey and California.

The changes added nearly $300 billion to the tax bill’s costs. To pay for that, leaders reduced the number of high-earners who must pay the alternative minimum tax, rather than completely erasing it. They also increased a one-time tax on profits U.S.-based corporations are holding overseas and would require firms to keep paying the business version of the alternative minimum tax.

Deal on DACA?

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who like Corker had been a holdout and has sharply attacked Trump’s capabilities as president, voted for the bill. He said he’d received commitments from party leaders and the administration “to work with me” to restore protections, dismantled by Trump, for young immigrants who arrived in the U.S. illegally as children. That seemed short of a pledge to actually revive the safeguards.

The Senate bill would drop the highest personal income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 38.5 percent. The estate tax levied on a few thousand of the nation’s largest inheritances would be narrowed to affect even fewer.

Deductions for state and local income taxes, moving expenses and other items would vanish, the standard deduction, used by most Americans, would nearly double to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for couples, and the per-child tax credit would grow.

The bill would abolish the “Obamacare” requirement that most people buy health coverage or face tax penalties. Industry experts say that would weaken the law by easing pressure on healthier people to buy coverage, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said the move would push premiums higher and leave 13 million additional people uninsured.

Drilling would be allowed in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Another provision, knocked out because it violated Senate budget rules, would have explicitly let parents buy tax-advantaged 529 college savings accounts for fetuses, a step they can already take but which anti-abortion forces wanted to inscribe into law. There were also breaks for the wine, beer and spirits industries, Alaska Natives and aircraft management firms.
…

As U.S. lawmakers grapple with allegations of sexual harassment in their ranks, some senior American diplomats are speaking out about their struggles over the years.

Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, who was U.S. ambassador to Malta from 2012-2016, told her story about serving at the State Department and the White House.

“There was one occasion in the department when a boss touched me and I told him if he did it again, I’d knock the s— out of him. He did not repeat it, but he did try to get me to curtail from the position,” Abercrombie-Winstanley told the Foreign Service Journal, a publication by the American Foreign Service Association.

The former U.S. envoy recalled another incident in which she said she was harassed by a senior lawmaker while serving on the White House National Security Council.

“Initially, I parried the advance from a senior member of Congress, but when he continued to call me, I reported to the NSC’s executive secretary that it was happening, and told him that if I had to do violence to repel it, I would,” Abercombie-Winstanley said.

“I was letting him know beforehand, I said, because I did not expect to lose my job as a result,” she added. “After a moment of shocked silence, he said ‘Thanks for letting me know.’ And the member stopped calling me.”

She later told VOA these occasions are an “extremely small part of my professional journey” and declined to either comment further on details or identify the congressman.

‘Zero-tolerance’ policy

In a letter electronically distributed to all American diplomats around the world earlier this year, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the department upholds a “zero-tolerance” policy regarding discriminatory and sexual harassment.

“Effective harassment prevention efforts must start with and involve the highest level possible,” Tillerson said in his policy statement.

For years, secretaries of state release their statements on diversity and harassment in the workplace at the beginning of their tenure and review annually thereafter. They usually highlight two anti-harassment policies: one prohibiting sexual harassment, the other banning discrimination.

Male-dominated circuits

Still, female ambassadors said they must learn to adjust and handle the challenges involved in working in mainly male-dominated diplomatic circles.

“I am frequently the only woman in meetings outside the office with the host country, and when I have control over the guest list, I insist that we include at least 30 percent women, if not more,” U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua Laura Dogu said in the Foreign Service Journal article.

Like Ambassador Dogu, former Ambassador to Mongolia Jennifer Zimdahl Galt said she has been the only woman or one of the only women in the room at virtually every meeting throughout her career. The key to working in such an environment, she said, is to be well-prepared and a good listener.

“So you can speak authoritatively and there is no question that you are on top of your brief. It’s also important to dress professionally, which in my book means wearing a suit at all times,” said Galt, who was appointed as principle deputy assistant secretary for educational and cultural affairs earlier this month.

She also said, “Being sure to listen carefully to what others have to say so that you’re not repeating, but rather amplifying and adding value with your remarks.”

Building minority leadership

In a speech to student programs and fellowship participants in August, Tillerson said he had directed relevant committees to develop “minority leadership” at the State Department.

“Every time we have an opening for an ambassador position, at least one of the candidates must be a minority candidate. Now they may not be ready, but we will know where the talent pool is,” Tillerson said.

Seen as part of these efforts, Irwin Steven Goldstein will begin his new position next week (December 4) as the first openly gay undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs.

In Senate testimony, Goldstein thanked his spouse for supporting his career of developing and executing communications strategies that connect diverse audiences.
…

Another woman — the fourth — has spoken out against the longest-serving member of Congress, Democrat John Conyers, Thursday, accusing him of harassing her repeatedly over the decade during which she worked for him. Meanwhile, Conyers’ lawyer told reporters that the 88-year-old congressman has been admitted to the hospital. Esha Sarai reports.
…

The White House dismissed reports Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump plans to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo as reported in the news media. The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other major U.S. news outlets quoted senior administration officials saying the plan to oust Tillerson could be set in motion as early as December or January. But as VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports, it is not clear the president has made a final decision on the issue.
…

A rancher’s son at the center of an armed standoff with government agents near his family ranch in Nevada in 2014 and a takeover of an Oregon wildlife refuge in 2016 was released Thursday from federal custody in Las Vegas.

Ammon Bundy, 42, was greeted by his wife and six children while friends cheered as he walked out of the federal courthouse.

His first words after 22 months behind bars were about family and American freedoms and his reasons for opposing federal power.

“It’s about people, and life, and trying to do the best we can to promote and benefit the enjoyment of life,” he said. “That’s all we’ve tried to do.”

Surprise ruling

Bundy’s brief comments to reporters quickly shifted to the surprising order on Wednesday by Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro to release him, his father, Cliven Bundy, and a co-defendant from jail to house arrest with friends during their ongoing trial on charges in the armed standoff that stopped a federal roundup of Bundy cattle from public land.

Navarro didn’t specify why she reversed previous detention rulings. Her decision followed a four-hour, closed hearing amid questions from defense teams about whether federal prosecutors have turned over complete evidence records, and about the conduct of FBI and other government agents during the standoff.

“I want to give Judge Navarro some credit here,” Ammon Bundy said outside the courthouse. “She saw something, and she did with her power what she had authority to do.

“It shows where the evidence is taking this case, and what the truth is,” Bundy said.

Elder Bundy refuses release

Cliven Bundy, 71, refused the offer and remains in custody.

“There are still a lot of people that are incarcerated right now that he feels a little bit of responsibility for,” Ammon Bundy said of his father. “He wants to make sure they’re not forgotten … that they get out as well.”

Two other Bundy sons, Dave and Mel Bundy, also remain in federal detention awaiting a trial next year with co-defendants Brian Cavalier, Micah McGuire, Joseph O’Shaughnessy and Jason Woods.

Navarro ruled that Ryan Payne could be released once a federal judge in Portland, Oregon, approves. Payne’s defense attorney, Ryan Norwood, said that authorization could come in several days.

Payne, Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy were among a group of people arrested in January 2016 following an occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon.

Payne pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge before a trial at which Ammon Bundy and his elder brother, Ryan Bundy, were acquitted of all charges. Payne is now fighting to withdraw his plea that is expected to bring a sentence of more than three years in prison.

Ryan Bundy is also standing trial in Las Vegas. Navarro on Wednesday relaxed release restrictions she set earlier this month when she allowed him to live at a halfway house while serving as his own attorney.

Ryan Bundy, 45, still has a GPS monitor. But he can split time between a friends’ home the Las Vegas area and his own home in Mesquite.
…

British lawmakers and officials have reacted angrily to President Donald Trump’s retweeting of anti-Muslim videos initially posted by a far-right British leader who has been convicted of hate speech. Trump remains unrepentant for the tweets, and the situation has escalated with members of parliament. VOA’s Jeff Custer reports from Washington.
…

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions met behind closed doors on Thursday with members of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee as it investigates possible Russian efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

He was expected to spend at least two hours in the interview.

The panel is among several congressional committees, along with the Justice Department’s special counsel Robert Mueller, investigating alleged Russian interference in the campaign and potential collusion by President Donald Trump’s campaign.

Moscow has denied any meddling and Trump has said there was no collusion.

When he was a Republican U.S. senator, Sessions was an early supporter and close adviser to Trump during his run for the White House.

Later on Thursday, the intelligence committee said it was meeting with Erik Prince, who founded the private military contractor Blackwater and also was a supporter of Trump’s presidential campaign.

Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Bill Trott.
…

U.S. President Donald Trump within the next several weeks could name Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, according to media reports quoting senior administration officials on Thursday.

Several U.S. news outlets reported that the shakeup of Trump’s top national security team has been under consideration for some time now, although it was not clear that Trump has made a decision.

In a brief exchange with reporters at the White House, Trump, when asked about Tillerson’s fate, said, “He’s here. Rex is here.” The president made no other comments.

The White House downplayed the reports of Tillerson’s departure.

“As the president just said, ‘Rex is here.’ White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. “There are no personnel announcements at this time. Secretary Tillerson continues to lead the State Department and the entire cabinet is focused on completing this incredibly successful first year of President Trump’s administration.”

​Reports say under the plan, Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton, a staunch ally of Trump on national security issues, would replace Pompeo as the CIA chief.

Tillerson’s departure from the State Department would end a troubled tenure for the former ExxonMobil chief executive, who has clashed with Trump over dealing with the nuclear threat posed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Thomas Wright told VOA, “The Secretary of State is only influential if he is perceived as close to the president. Now that the White House has told multiple media outlets it intends to replace Rex Tillerson, he has been stripped of any power he enjoyed.”

But Tillerson has given no indication he plans to resign, saying in early October, “There has never been a consideration in my mind to leave. I serve at the appointment of the president and I am here for as long as the president feels I can be useful to achieving his objectives.”

Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he spoke with Tillerson on Thursday. “He’s conducting business, as is the norm, and is unaware of anything changing,” Corker told reporters.

Trump routinely has disparaged Kim Jong Un as “Little Rocket Man” and threatened to unleash U.S. military power on North Korea if it attacks the U.S. or its allies. Months ago, Trump told Tillerson in a Twitter comment to stop wasting his time trying to negotiate with the Pyongyang dictator.

“Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!” Trump said.

At one point, the 65-year-old Tillerson was quoted as calling Trump a “moron” after a Pentagon meeting.

He did not deny making the disparaging assessment of the U.S. leader’s intellect, instead deflecting questions about the story, saying it was part of Washington political games. “I’m not going to deal with that petty stuff,” he said.

Pompeo, a 53-year-old former three-term congressman from the Midwestern state of Kansas, apparently has won Trump’s favor while giving him the CIA’s daily intelligence briefings in person at the White House, rather than delegating that responsibility to a staff aide.

Senator Cotton is a staunchly conservative lawmaker who has often voiced support for Trump’s policies. He has signaled that he would take the job as CIA director if Trump offers it.

 
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Broadcast reporters for Russian state-funded TV channel RT will no longer be able to report daily from the U.S. Capitol.

A committee that governs Capitol Hill access for broadcast journalists has withdrawn credentials for RT after the company complied earlier this month with a U.S. demand that it register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The law applies to people or companies disseminating information in the U.S. on behalf of foreign governments, political parties and other “foreign principals.”

The action also comes just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed legislation allowing Russia to register international media outlets as foreign agents, an act seen as the Kremlin’s retaliation for the Trump administration decision on RT. The new rules require disclosures to the Russian government and are seen as stigmatizing the news outlets as promoters of American propaganda.

In Washington, C-SPAN’s Craig Caplan informed RT that its credentials were being withdrawn after a unanimous vote of the executive committee of the Congressional Radio and Television Correspondents’ Galleries.

Caplan, the chairman of that committee, wrote that gallery rules “state clearly that news credentials may not be issued to any applicant employed by ‘any foreign government or representative thereof.’ ” He said the FARA registration made the network ineligible to hold news credentials, and their withdrawal is effective immediately.

Many news outlets with ties to foreign governments are required to similarly register. English-language newspaper China Daily is registered due to its affiliation with the Chinese government, for example. But the pressure on RT has angered Russian officials, who have said they will retaliate with restrictions on U.S. news outlets.

The letter was sent to Mikhail Solodovnikov of RT’s U.S.-based production company, T & R Productions. RT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. intelligence agencies have alleged RT served as a propaganda outlet for the Kremlin as part of a multi-pronged effort to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Russia denies interfering.

 
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The future of almost 800,000 undocumented young people in the United States is hanging in the balance in an end-of-year legislative pileup on Capitol Hill that could result in the shutdown of the federal government.

The government will run out of money December 8 unless Congress approves a new budget or budget extension. While the focus this week has been largely on the Senate’s approval of its tax cut bill, the budget bill could have greater short-term ramifications. The Republican-dominated Senate cannot pass it alone; Democratic votes will be needed.

But both houses of Congress will have to vote on a spending measure before it can go into effect.

And underlying all the discussions of spending priorities is finding a permanent solution for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which gave temporary protection from deportation, and permission to legally work, to undocumented young people brought to the U.S. as children.

Trump calls for legislation

President Donald Trump rescinded the Obama administration measure earlier this year, calling on Congress to pass legislation that would provide DACA recipients with a path to permanent status in the U.S. before the program phases out in March 2018.

Democrats initially pushed for stand-alone legislation to address the problem, but given the country’s contentious immigration debate, they have instead tried to tie DACA legislation to the spending bill.

Some Democrats have vowed to vote against any budget bill that does not include a DACA fix, threatening a government shutdown when the funding runs out.

But House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has said the fix to the DACA program should “be considered on its own merits” and not as part of a larger spending bill.

Action stalled

Moves toward any bipartisan agreement stalled before a planned meeting Tuesday when Trump tweeted that he “didn’t see a deal” with Senate and House Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer of New York and Nancy Pelosi of California, respectively.

Trump tweeted a claim that a deal was being held up, in part, because Schumer and Pelosi “want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked.”

House Democratic Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland responded to Trump’s tweet in a background briefing with reporters Tuesday morning, saying, “That is absolutely false. That has nothing to do with reality — he is pandering to his angry base. DACA kids are here. They’re not flooding across the border. They’re here.”

Hoyer reiterated a Democratic claim that if brought up for a floor vote, DACA legislation would pass by 300 votes.

Schumer and Pelosi responded by withdrawing from the meeting with Trump, asking to work instead with Senate and House Republican leaders Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Ryan, respectively. The White House meeting continued with all Republicans present and no Democrats.

On the face of it, the March 2018 deadline for the program gives lawmakers room to maneuver if Congress were to pass a short-term spending bill and kick DACA down the road. The budget could be extended to Christmas to give Democrats and Republicans more room to work on a compromise.

But some DACA recipients have already lost their status.

Renewal failures

The Department of Homeland Security said in October that about 22,000 DACA recipients had failed to renew their two-year permits before an October 5 deadline. That number may come down after a review of renewal applications that may have been lost in the mail.

And while support for DACA is bipartisan, it may not be enough. Both parties are reluctant to risk the political blowback that would occur if either side appears responsible for a government shutdown.
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Opposition has grown among Americans to a Republican tax plan before the U.S. Congress, with 49 percent of people who were aware of the measure saying they opposed it, up from 41 percent in October, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday.

Congressional Republicans are trying to rush their tax legislation to a vote on the Senate floor before the end of the week. President Donald Trump strongly backs the bill and wants to sign it into law before the end of the year.

In addition to the 49 percent who said they opposed the Republican tax bill, 29 percent said they supported it and 22 percent said they “don’t know,” according to the Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll of 1,257 adults conducted from Thursday to Monday.

When asked “who stands to benefit most” from the plan, more than half of all American adults surveyed selected either the wealthy or large U.S. corporations. Fourteen percent chose “all Americans,” 6 percent picked the middle class and 2 percent chose lower-income Americans.

The tax bill being crafted in the Senate would slash the corporate tax rate, eliminate some taxes paid only by rich Americans and offer a mixed bag or temporary tax cuts for other individuals and families.

As congressional discussion on the bill has unfolded, public opposition to it has risen, on average, following Trump’s unveiling of a nine-page “framework” on September 27 that started the debate in earnest, Reuters/Ipsos polling showed.

On October 24, for example, among adults who said they had heard of the “tax reform plan recently proposed by congressional Republicans,” 41 percent said they opposed it, while 31 percent said they “don’t know” and just 28 percent said they supported it.

Trump and his fellow Republicans are determined to make a tax code overhaul their first major legislative win since taking control of the White House and Congress in January.

The House of Representatives on November 16 approved its own tax bill. The Senate is expected to decide on Wednesday whether to begin debating its proposal, as the measure moves toward a decisive floor vote later this week.

The two chambers would need to reconcile differences between their plans before legislation could be sent to the White House for Trump’s signature.

In the November 23-27 poll, 59 percent of Republicans supported the tax bill, 26 percent said they did not know and 15 percent opposed it. Among Democrats, 82 percent opposed it, 11 percent said they did not know and 8 percent supported it.

 
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Irwin Steven Goldstein, President Donald Trump’s nominee for under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, is a communications and marketing executive with experience at large corporations as well as in government.

Goldstein is the senior vice president of BP Global Solutions, a New York consulting firm.

According to the bio on his company’s website, Goldstein “has a passion for building compelling brands and developing and executing communications strategies that connect diverse audiences.”

In a written statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after his nomination, Goldstein wrote, “Those who seek to undermine America do so by spreading misinformation about our people and our objectives. We can fight these efforts by inspiring the world with our shared humanity and our great compassion.”

Moira Whelan, who served as the deputy assistant secretary for digital strategy at the State Department during the Obama administration, said Goldstein would be a potential lead in the fight to combat Russia’s dissemination of false information about the United States.

In an article last month in Foreign Policy magazine she wrote: “In September, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Irwin Steven Goldstein as under secretary for public diplomacy at the State Department. He would be a key player in the effort to push back against Russian disinformation efforts around the world and in the United States.”

Goldstein’s qualifications do match those of his predecessors — former White House senior adviser Karen Hughes during George W. Bush’s administration and the former Time editor Richard Stengel during Obama’s.

His experience includes seven years as executive vice president and chief communications officer for TIAA, a Fortune 100 financial services firm providing retirement security to individuals in the not-for-profit sector.

Goldstein served as vice president and chief communications officer for Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal during the period following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In the administration of President George H.W. Bush, he was an assistant to the secretary and the director of public affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior. He previously was a press secretary and chief of staff on Capitol Hill.

As senior vice president of BP Global Solutions, he advises start-up technology ventures in the transportation and health care spaces.
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The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, accused social media company Twitter of being politically biased  Tuesday as he defended his plan to roll back rules intended to ensure a free and open internet.

Pai, a Republican named by President Donald Trump to head up the FCC, unveiled plans last week to scrap the 2015 landmark net neutrality rules, moving to give broadband service providers sweeping power over what content consumers can access.

“When it comes to an open internet, Twitter is part of the problem,” Pai said. “The company has a viewpoint and uses that viewpoint to discriminate.”

He pointed to Twitter’s refusal to let Representative Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, advertise a campaign video with an anti-abortion message.

“To say the least, the company appears to have a double standard when it comes to suspending or de-verifying conservative users’ accounts as opposed to those of liberal users,” Pai said.

A spokesperson for Twitter said that at no time was Blackburn’s video censored and that her followers would have been able to still see it.

“Because advertisements are served to users who do not necessarily follow an account, we therefore have higher standards for their content,” the Twitter spokesperson said.

Twitter in October declined a campaign video advertisement by Blackburn, who announced she was running for the U.S. Senate, saying that a remark by Blackburn about opposing abortion was inflammatory. Twitter later reversed its decision.

Internet-based firms’ letter

Pai’s criticism came a day after Twitter and a number of other internet-based companies — including AirBnb, Reddit, Shutterstock, Tumblr and Etsy — sent a letter urging the FCC to maintain the net neutrality rules.

Trump is a prolific user of Twitter, often posting his thoughts on the news of the day. He used Twitter throughout his presidential campaign to circumvent traditional media and talk directly to voters.

Pai has also been a frequent user of the website — acknowledging during the speech, “I love Twitter” — to push his case in favor of the rule changes. On Tuesday afternoon, he even posted a link to his remarks critical of Twitter on his own Twitter account.

Following Pai’s remarks on Tuesday, at an event organized by the libertarian-leaning R Street Institute, two other FCC commissioners said they would support his proposal when they vote on December 14.

Big internet service providers such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon Communications have favored a repeal of net neutrality. On the other side, websites such as Facebook and Alphabet’s Google have favored the rules.

The rules prohibit broadband providers from giving or selling access to speedy internet, essentially a “fast lane,” to certain internet services over others.

“So when you get past the wild accusations, fearmongering and hysteria, here’s the boring bottom line,” Pai said. “The plan to restore internet freedom would return us to the light touch, market-based approach under which the internet thrived.”
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A U.S. District Court judge in Washington ruled Tuesday in favor of President Donald Trump in his bid to install White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Judge Timothy Kelly declined to stop, on an emergency basis, the president from making Mulvaney the acting director of the CFPB.

In doing so, Kelly ruled against Leandra English, the CFPB’s deputy director. English had requested an emergency restraining order to stop Mulvaney from becoming acting director, claiming the position was rightfully hers.

President Donald Trump celebrated the ruling on Twitter, calling it, “A big win for the Consumer!”

English’s lawyer, Deepak Gupta, said they are evaluating their legal options and deciding “how to proceed next.”

Mulvaney is a former small-business owner and congressman who once called the agency a “sick, sad” joke that should be abolished.

“This agency will stay open. Rumors that I’m going to set the place on fire or blow it up or lock the doors are completely false,” he told reporters on Monday. “I am a member of the executive branch of government. We intend to execute the laws of the United States.”

The battle over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau boiled over last week.

Former Director Richard Cordray, criticized by conservative Republicans and business interests in Washington, abruptly resigned and named English, his chief of staff, as deputy director, meaning she would be his successor.

Trump countered by appointing Mulvaney, who opposes government regulations on business as much as Cordray believes they are essential.

2011 law cited

English had argued that the law that created the agency in 2011 clearly spelled out that she should be acting director. Her lawsuit against Mulvaney asked the court to deny the Trump administration’s claim that another law gave the president the power to name an acting director.

The White House and bureau lawyers, in turn, said there were precedents showing that Trump was authorized to fill temporary vacancies in federal agencies even when another law of succession might be on the books.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was founded after the global financial crisis of 2008. Its job is to protect consumers against predatory lending and and other questionable practices by banks, credit card companies, lenders and debt collectors.

Republicans, including Mulvaney, have said the agency has too much power and loads down banks with too much bureaucracy.
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President Donald Trump’s year-end agenda is at a critical juncture as he heads Tuesday to Capitol Hill to rally Senate Republicans on taxes – and then pivot to negotiations with Democrats pressing for victories of their own in a separate, high-stakes showdown over the budget and immigration.

Trump is still seeking his first marquee win in Congress, but the White House and top GOP leaders have work to do to get their tax bill in shape before a hoped-for vote later this week. Party deficit hawks pressed for a “backstop” mechanism to limit the risk of a spiral in the deficit, even as defenders of small business pressed for more generous treatment for Main Street.

On a separate track from taxes is a multi-layered negotiation over a huge Pentagon budget increase sought by Trump and Republicans and increases for domestic programs demanded by Democrats. Democrats carry leverage into the talks, which have GOP conservatives on edge.

A temporary spending bill expires Dec. 8 and another is needed to prevent a government shutdown. Hurricane aid weighs in the balance and Democrats are pressing for legislative protections for immigrants known as “Dreamers,” even as conservative Republicans object to including the issue in the crush of year-end business.

Tuesday would bring Trump’s third visit to the Capitol in little more than a month – this time to make the sale to Senate Republicans on his signature tax bill. But among the holdouts are GOP Trump critics, including Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Bob Corker of Tennessee – though GOP leaders are seeking to rope in straggling Republicans with a flurry of deal-cutting.

“There’s still some loose ends. We’re not quite there yet,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio. “But I think we’re going to get there, I really do.”

Trump’s sessions with big groups of Republicans tend to take the form of pep rallies, and when visiting a Senate GOP lunch last month Trump spent much of the time on a rambling account of the accomplishments of his administration.

Later on Tuesday, the bipartisan top four leaders of Congress – Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for the House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. – will head to the White House to touch gloves on a range of year-end issues.

Topping the bipartisan agenda is a heavily-sought year-end spending package to give both the Pentagon and domestic agencies relief from a budget freeze.

Trump hasn’t engaged much with Pelosi and Schumer since a September meeting that produced an agreement on a short-term increase in the government’s so-called debt limit and a temporary spending bill that is keeping the government’s doors open through Dec. 8.

Trump reveled in the bipartisan deal for a time and generated excitement among Democrats when he told then he would sign legislation to protect from deportation immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children.

Trump in September reversed an executive order by former President Barack Obama that gave protections to these immigrants, many of whom have little or no connection to their home country. Shortly afterward, he told Pelosi and Schumer he would sign legislation protecting those immigrants, provided Democrats made concessions of their own on border security.

Since the president is such a wild card, neither Democrats nor Republicans were speculating much about what Tuesday’s meeting might produce.

“Hopefully, we can make progress on an agreement that covers those time-sensitive issues and keeps the government running and working for the American people,” Schumer said.
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The Washington Post says it was targeted by a conservative sting operation that tried to get it to print a dramatic but phony story about Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore and a pregnant teenager.

The Post broke the story about alleged sexual misconduct by Moore and his reported pursuit of teenage girls when he was in his 30s and an Alabama district attorney. Several woman gave similar accounts to the newspaper. Moore has denied the allegations and threatened to sue the newspaper.

The Post said late Monday a woman identifying herself as Jaime Phillips told a reporter that Moore impregnated her when she was 15 and forced her to have an abortion.

She told the reporter she wanted the Post to guarantee Moore would lose the election to the U.S. Senate if she told her story.

But the newspaper found numerous holes and inconsistencies in her account and her background and declined to publish her sordid tale.

Further investigation by The Post revealed that Phillips may have been working for Project Veritas — a New York organization that targets and tries to discredit mainstream media outlets and left-wing groups.

Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe declined to answer any questions from The Washington Post Monday, including questions whether Phillips worked for her.

Telephone calls to Phillips went unanswered, but she had denied working for any such group during a second meeting with Post reporters.

“We always honor ‘off-the-record’ agreements when they’re entered into in good faith,” Washington Post executive editor Martin Baron said.

“But this so-called ‘off-the-record’ conversation was the essence of a scheme to deceive and embarrass us. The intent by Project Veritas clearly was to publicize the conversation if we fell for the trap. Because of our customary journalistic rigor, we weren’t fooled and we can’t honor an ‘off-the-record’ agreement that was solicited in maliciously bad faith.”

There have been earlier attempts at debunking the charges leveled against Roy Moore as reported by The Post, including allegations the newspaper paid the women for telling it Moore sexually molested them as teens.

The Post says it never pays anyone for information.

Moore is running for the Alabama Senate seat formerly held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Polls in Alabama show him trailing his Democratic opponent Doug Jones.
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A senior U.S. official overseeing a reorganization of the State Department that has been criticized by current and former U.S. diplomats has stepped down after less than four months on the job, U.S. officials said on Monday.

Maliz Beams, a former financial industry executive who was named State Department counselor on Aug. 17, is “stepping away” to return to Boston, said a department spokesman on condition of anonymity. Christine Ciccone, the department’s deputy chief of staff, will take over the agency’s “redesign,” he added.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been criticized by current and former U.S. diplomats as well as by some members of Congress for his management of the agency, where may top posts have not been filled nearly 10 months into Tillerson’s tenure.

The department has also seen an exodus of senior diplomats.

Tillerson defended the department when he was recently asked about morale problems and concerns that the agency was being weakened.

“The redesign is going to address all of that. And this department is performing extraordinarily well, and I take exception to anyone who characterizes otherwise. It’s just not true,” he said on Nov. 20.

State Department officials observing the reorganization say it has been plagued with uncertainty both about what Tillerson wants to achieve and how to go about it.

“If the one thing she (Beams) was asked to do was the redesign and she is quitting … how does this not reflect poorly on the overall management of this enterprise, that is the redesign?” said one official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Another State Department official said Beams had left of her own volition and was not fired. Beams did not immediately respond to voicemails left at her office and Massachusetts phone numbers or to an email sent to her State Department address.

The State Department spokesman declined comment on criticism of the reorganization.

A congressional aide said the effort is so amorphous that Congress is unable to pass legislation to give the agency the legal authority to make changes.

“To do that we would need to have some road map – something – and none of that has been provided,” said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
…

U.S. President Donald Trump and key Republican senators were meeting Monday in a new push to advance Senate legislation to overhaul the country’s complex tax laws.

The president was having lunch with some members of the Senate Finance Committee ahead of what was expected to be a series of contentious votes in the full Senate later in the week over proposed changes to the labyrinth U.S. tax code. The tax measure could cut the country’s corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent and trim taxes for millions of individual American taxpayers, depending on their specific financial circumstances.

In a Twitter comment, Trump said the legislation “is coming along very well, great support. With just a few changes, some mathematical, the middle class and job producers can get even more in actual dollars and savings.” He said a proposal planned for taxation affecting small businesses would become “simpler and really works well!”

But whether Trump’s White House push for the legislation will be enough to win approval is uncertain. The changes, if adopted, would be the biggest U.S. tax overhaul in three decades.

Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate, meaning they can only lose two dissenters, with Vice President Mike Pence poised to vote for the changes in the event of a 50-50 tie. No Democrats have announced their support for the measure and several Republican senators have voiced objections to specific provisions, leaving their eventual support in doubt.

The House of Representatives has already approved its version of the tax overhaul, but it differs in several ways from the Senate plan. If the Senate approves its proposal, the two chambers would have to reach an accord before final votes on an identical measure and then send it to Trump for his signature.

In another tweet as he returned to Washington from his Thanksgiving holiday at his oceanfront resort along the Atlantic Ocean in Florida, Trump said, “Senate Republicans will hopefully come through for all of us. The Tax Cut Bill is getting better and better. The end result will be great for ALL!”

The independent Congressional Budget Office concluded in a new report Sunday that the Senate version of the tax changes would give substantial cuts and benefits to those who earn more than $100,000 a year, while the country’s poorest taxpayers would be worse off. 

Ten months into his presidency, Trump is looking for passage of his first significant piece of legislation. He came close months ago to overhauling the health care policies championed by former President Barack Obama, but Senate Democrats uniformly opposed dismantling the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, as did a handful of Republicans, leaving Trump short of the votes he needed.
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President Donald Trump will not campaign for Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore before the Dec. 12 special election, a White House official said Monday.

Despite public statements in which he raised doubts about the accounts of women who have accused Moore of sexual misconduct, Trump will not to travel to Alabama on Moore’s behalf, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the president’s plans publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The president held the door open to campaigning for Moore last week, when he all but endorsed Moore’s candidacy and attacked his Democratic opponent, Doug Jones

The announcement comes as Trump continued to wade into race over the weekend, taking to Twitter to bash Jones.

Trump said electing the Democrat as Alabama’s next senator “would be a disaster,” warning of damage to his legislative agenda.

“The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY,” Trump wrote from Florida, referring to Democrats’ congressional leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi.

Trump has declined to follow the path of other mainstream Republican leaders, who have called on Moore to step aside. Republican lawmakers are considering expelling Moore should he win the seat.

For weeks, accusations that Moore, now 70, sexually molested or assaulted two teens, ages 14 and 16 – and tried to date several others – while he was in his 30s have taken center stage in the heated Alabama race. Moore denied the allegations of misconduct and said he never dated “underage” women.

Trump’s words could be a boost to the Moore camp, since Democrats’ hopes in the race partly depend upon peeling away Republican support from Moore in the deeply red state.

Moore’s campaign quickly touted Trump’s comments on social media and in a fundraising email to supporters that lashed out at Republican leaders as much as it did Jones.

“President Trump calls them like he sees them. And, he’s got my opponents in D.C. scrambling,” Moore wrote in a fundraising email.

The Republican candidate has made limited public appearances since the allegations surfaced earlier this month.

Jones, speaking to reporters in Birmingham, shrugged off Trump’s criticisms, saying he would not be a partisan voter. He said Alabamians are focused on issues such as the economy, education and health care.

“My record speaks for itself … I think I am very strong on the issues that the people of Alabama care for,” Jones said.

Jones, a former federal prosecutor, said he would be an independent voice in the U.S. Senate, similarly to his political mentor, the late U.S. Sen. Howell Heflin, who represented the state for nearly 20 years.

Jones’ campaign issued a more biting statement saying, “Roy Moore was unfit for office even before nine Alabama women served as witnesses to all Alabamians of his disturbing conduct.”

Trump’s comment in the race signaled that the success of his legislative agenda outweighs widespread concerns from national Republicans, many of whom are repulsed at the prospect of seating Moore.

Top Republicans in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, have called for Moore to leave the race, and the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have pulled their support for his campaign.

GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said the Dec. 12 election has become a referendum on “the character of the country” that transcends partisan politics.

“In my opinion, and in the opinion of many Republicans and conservatives in the Senate, it is time for us to turn the page because it is not about partisan politics. It’s not about electing Republicans versus Democrats,” Scott said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has also called for Moore to step down, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Trump is “definitely trying to throw a lifeline to Roy Moore.”

But when it comes to Moore, Graham said it’s unclear “what winning looks like.”

“If he wins, we get the baggage of him winning and it becomes a story every day about whether or not you believe the women or Roy Moore, should he stay in the Senate, should he be expelled. If you lose, you give the Senate seat to a Democrat at a time we need all the votes we can get,” he said, referring to Republicans’ current 52-48 majority in the Senate.

“The moral of the story is: Don’t nominate somebody like Roy Moore who could actually lose a seat that any other Republican could win,” Graham said.

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, said he’d like to see Trump “come out and support what many of us have said and that is that Roy Moore needs to step aside” and “allow somebody else to be a write-in candidate.”

He said on “Fox News Sunday” that if Moore ends up winning and comes to Washington in January, he will be the immediate subject of an ethics investigation, “which is going to be a cloud that he’ll be operating in and it’s going to be a distraction for us and for our agenda.”

Trump backed incumbent Sen. Luther Strange in the Alabama Republican primary but moved quickly to embrace Moore after he won. The seat opened up after Republican Jeff Sessions was tapped as U.S. attorney general.
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