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A top U.S. Republican lawmaker predicted Sunday that if opposition Democrats in the House of Representatives try to impeach President Donald Trump, the president will be re-elected next year and Republicans will retake control of the House.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, an ally of Trump’s, told “Fox News Sunday” that if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Democratic-controlled lower chamber, permits an impeachment inquiry to start, “it would be suicide for the Democratic Party.”

Graham said Pelosi’s “job is very much on the line,” depending on whether she eventually relents on allowing an impeachment hearing to open.

About three dozen Democrats and a lone Republican in the 435-member House have called for impeachment hearings to start against Trump, to consider whether he obstructed justice by trying to thwart special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian intrusion in the 2016 U.S. presidential election that Trump won. Even if the House were to impeach Trump, the Republican-controlled Senate is highly unlikely to remove him from office.

So far, Pelosi has resisted calls to start an impeachment inquiry, instead opting to continue several House committee investigations of Trump’s finances, taxes and actions he took during his 28-month presidency to try to end the Mueller probe or curb its scope. But she said last week that Trump has been engaging “in a cover-up” by refusing to cooperate with the Democratic-led investigations.

She said the House investigations “may take us to impeachment,” but that currently “we are not at that place.”

Trump pointedly rejected her “cover-up” claim, saying, “I don’t do cover-ups.” At a brief White House meeting, Trump refused to negotiate with Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer over policy issues while the House investigations continue.

“You can’t do it under these circumstances,” he said. “What they’ve done is abuse. Let them play their games.”

Mueller concluded that Trump did not collude with Russia to help him win, but outlined 11 possible times he engaged in obstructive behavior, while not reaching a conclusion whether he should face criminal charges. Subsequently, Attorney General William Barr and then Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided criminal charges were not warranted against Trump.

Trump has encouraged a counter-investigation by Barr, his appointee as the country’s top law enforcement officer, as he has started a probe into the origins of the Russia probe. Trump gave Barr full authority to declassify intelligence information that led to the start of the investigation of Russian meddling in the election and eventually the Mueller probe.

Before leaving Washington for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump said, “They will be able to see… how the hoax or witch hunt started and why it started. It was an attempted coup or an attempted takedown of the president of the United States.”

He claimed, “There’s word and rumor that the FBI and others were involved, CIA were involved with the [United Kingdom], having to do with the Russian hoax. We’re exposing everything.”

Several Democratic lawmakers and former intelligence community officials have attacked Trump for telling Barr he is free to release whatever information he decides to.

But Graham said that does not worry him. “I support Attorney General Barr to make this as transparent as possible,” he said.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, from Tokyo on Trump’s visit, told NBC, “We already know there was an outrageous amount of corruption at the Justice Department.”

She said Trump wants “to get to the bottom of what happened.”
…

Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp. will not have to immediately hand over the financial records of U.S. President Donald Trump, three of his children and the Trump Organization, according to a court filing on Saturday. 

The filing in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York followed an appeal submitted Friday by Trump and his affiliates against an existing order from a federal judge allowing the banks to hand over financial records to Democratic lawmakers. 

Amid an ongoing legal battle between the Republican president and Democrats in Congress, the agreement to hold off for now on enforcing the subpoenas for Trump’s financial records was a rare accord between Trump’s attorneys, the banks and the House Intelligence and the Financial Services committees. 

“The parties have reached an agreement regarding compliance with and enforcement of the subpoenas” while the appeal to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is pending, the filing said. 

Key lender

Parts of the subpoenas have been included in court filings. 

The subpoena on Deutsche Bank seeks records of accounts, transactions and investments linked to Trump, his three oldest children, their immediate family members and several Trump Organization entities, as well as records of ties they might have to foreign entities. 

Deutsche Bank has long been a principal lender for Trump’s real estate business, and a 2017 disclosure form showed that Trump had at least $130 million in liabilities to the bank. 

The subpoena on Capital One seeks records related to multiple entities tied to the Trump Organization’s hotel business. It followed an informal request to the bank by Democratic lawmakers in March seeking records related to 

potential conflicts of interest tied to Trump’s Washington hotel and other businesses. 

A lawyer for the Trumps argued earlier this week that the subpoenas exceeded the authority of Congress and were “the epitome of an inquiry into private or personal matters.” 

U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos, however, found that they were allowed under the broad authority of Congress to conduct investigations to further legislation.
…

President Donald Trump has asked the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to resign, leaving yet another vacancy within the Department of Homeland Security. 

Lee Francis Cissna told staff on Friday that his last day would be June 1, according to a copy of the email obtained by The Associated Press.

Cissna leads the agency responsible for legal immigration, including benefits and visas. He had been on the chopping block last month amid a White House-orchestrated bloodbath that led to the resignation of Secretary Kirstjen (KEER’-sten) Nielsen, but his job was saved after high-ranking Republicans spoke out about his record. 

There are more than a dozen vacancies of top posts at the sprawling 240,000-member department that are being temporarily filled, including secretary and the inspector general. Cissna’s position, like others, requires Senate confirmation. 
…

President Donald Trump has asked the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to resign, leaving yet another vacancy within the Department of Homeland Security. 

Lee Francis Cissna told staff on Friday that his last day would be June 1, according to a copy of the email obtained by The Associated Press.

Cissna leads the agency responsible for legal immigration, including benefits and visas. He had been on the chopping block last month amid a White House-orchestrated bloodbath that led to the resignation of Secretary Kirstjen (KEER’-sten) Nielsen, but his job was saved after high-ranking Republicans spoke out about his record. 

There are more than a dozen vacancies of top posts at the sprawling 240,000-member department that are being temporarily filled, including secretary and the inspector general. Cissna’s position, like others, requires Senate confirmation. 
…

John Pinto, a Navajo Code Talker in World War II who became one of the nation’s longest serving Native American elected officials as a New Mexico state senator, has died. He was 94.

Senate colleague Michael Padilla confirmed Pinto’s death in Gallup on Friday after years of suffering from various illnesses that rarely kept him from his duties.

After serving as a Marine, Pinto was elected to the Senate in 1976 and represented a district that includes the Navajo Nation for more than four decades. The region is one of the poorest in the country.

“Words cannot express the sadness we feel for the loss of a great Dine warrior,” said Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, using the indigenous word for Navajo. “He dedicated his life to helping others.”

Born in Lupton, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation to a family of sheep herders. Pinto didn’t start formal schooling until he was nearly a teenager. 

“At the age of 12, I was in kindergarten,” Pinto told the Albuquerque Journal in a 2007 interview. “I guess I did all right.”

Pinto also recalled that his grandparents told of being forced at gunpoint from their land in the 1860s by the U.S. Army in the forced relocation of the Navajo people on foot to southern New Mexico.

After serving as a Code Talker — a group of radio men who translated American coordinates and messages into an indecipherable code based on the Navajo language — Pinto had to take an English test four times before he was finally admitted into the University of New Mexico’s College of Education.

He graduated with a bachelor’s in elementary education at 39, and eventually earned his master’s, becoming a teacher and a truancy officer in Gallup.

Pinto delved into politics to address the needs of impoverished indigenous populations. The Democrat won a seat in state Senate in 1976 as one of the state’s first Native American senators.

An unassuming appearance and manner belied Pinto’s political determination that carried him through 42 years in the Legislature. Laurie Canepa, the senior librarian for the Legislative Council Service, said that made him the longest serving senator in state history.

Manny Aragon, the state’s one-time Senate president, tells the story of driving to the Statehouse in a January 1977 snowstorm and picking up a middle-aged Navajo man who was hitchhiking in Albuquerque. The hitchhiker was newly elected Sen. Pinto.

“I just thought he was a transient,” Aragon said.

In the Legislature, Pinto advocated for education reform and anti-poverty programs. Receiving a lifetime achievement award in 2016, Pinto recalled going hungry at times as a child while his parents juggled odd jobs and said the experience influenced his work on issues of homelessness as a lawmaker.

Every year, Pinto would sing on the Senate floor the “Potato Song” — a Navajo song about a potato, planted in the spring and visited in the summer until it is harvested. Fellow senators, staff and aides clapped along to Pinto’s rendition.

Lenore Naranjo, the Senate’s chief clerk, says Pinto taught her bits of Navajo language over the decades.

“A beautiful man is all I can say,” Naranjo said.
…

John Pinto, a Navajo Code Talker in World War II who became one of the nation’s longest serving Native American elected officials as a New Mexico state senator, has died. He was 94.

Senate colleague Michael Padilla confirmed Pinto’s death in Gallup on Friday after years of suffering from various illnesses that rarely kept him from his duties.

After serving as a Marine, Pinto was elected to the Senate in 1976 and represented a district that includes the Navajo Nation for more than four decades. The region is one of the poorest in the country.

“Words cannot express the sadness we feel for the loss of a great Dine warrior,” said Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, using the indigenous word for Navajo. “He dedicated his life to helping others.”

Born in Lupton, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation to a family of sheep herders. Pinto didn’t start formal schooling until he was nearly a teenager. 

“At the age of 12, I was in kindergarten,” Pinto told the Albuquerque Journal in a 2007 interview. “I guess I did all right.”

Pinto also recalled that his grandparents told of being forced at gunpoint from their land in the 1860s by the U.S. Army in the forced relocation of the Navajo people on foot to southern New Mexico.

After serving as a Code Talker — a group of radio men who translated American coordinates and messages into an indecipherable code based on the Navajo language — Pinto had to take an English test four times before he was finally admitted into the University of New Mexico’s College of Education.

He graduated with a bachelor’s in elementary education at 39, and eventually earned his master’s, becoming a teacher and a truancy officer in Gallup.

Pinto delved into politics to address the needs of impoverished indigenous populations. The Democrat won a seat in state Senate in 1976 as one of the state’s first Native American senators.

An unassuming appearance and manner belied Pinto’s political determination that carried him through 42 years in the Legislature. Laurie Canepa, the senior librarian for the Legislative Council Service, said that made him the longest serving senator in state history.

Manny Aragon, the state’s one-time Senate president, tells the story of driving to the Statehouse in a January 1977 snowstorm and picking up a middle-aged Navajo man who was hitchhiking in Albuquerque. The hitchhiker was newly elected Sen. Pinto.

“I just thought he was a transient,” Aragon said.

In the Legislature, Pinto advocated for education reform and anti-poverty programs. Receiving a lifetime achievement award in 2016, Pinto recalled going hungry at times as a child while his parents juggled odd jobs and said the experience influenced his work on issues of homelessness as a lawmaker.

Every year, Pinto would sing on the Senate floor the “Potato Song” — a Navajo song about a potato, planted in the spring and visited in the summer until it is harvested. Fellow senators, staff and aides clapped along to Pinto’s rendition.

Lenore Naranjo, the Senate’s chief clerk, says Pinto taught her bits of Navajo language over the decades.

“A beautiful man is all I can say,” Naranjo said.
…

U.S. intelligence agencies will cooperate with a new Justice Department investigation into whether officials overstepped their bounds and improperly surveilled U.S. President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. 

In a statement issued late Friday, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said intelligence agencies would provide U.S. Attorney General William Barr with “all of the appropriate information” for his investigation. 

“As part of that process, I am confident that the attorney general will work with the IC [intelligence community] in accordance with the long-established standards to protect highly sensitive classified information that, if publicly released, would put our national security at risk,” Coats added. 

The statement from the country’s top intelligence officer followed Trump’s directive, issued late Thursday, that called on U.S. intelligence agencies to “quickly and fully cooperate” with the new Justice Department probe.  

The directive also gave Barr what the White House described as “full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation.” 

“We want to be very transparent,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday before leaving for a state visit to Japan. 

“Everything that they need is declassified, and they’ll be able to see how the hoax or witch hunt started and why it started,” he added. “It was an attempted coup or an attempted takedown of the president of the United States. It should never, ever happen to anybody else.” 

The move comes as some Democratic lawmakers have ratcheted up calls to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump, a Republican. It also comes as the White House has battled with Democratic lawmakers over the two-year investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. 

Already, several Republican lawmakers have praised the new investigation.

North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows called the move “outstanding” and tweeted:

Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan also accused Democratic lawmakers of being “focused on taking down the president.” 

“They’re so desperate to stop the president that they won’t help the country,” he tweeted.

But Democrats fired back. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California tweeted:

The vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia, also raised concerns. 

“People risk their lives to gather the intelligence material that President Trump and Attorney General Barr are so eager to politicize,” Warner said in a statement Friday. “Selectively declassifying sources and methods in order to serve a political agenda will make it harder for the intelligence community to do their jobs protecting this country from those who wish to do us harm.”

Former U.S. intelligence officials also expressed reservations about Trump’s actions. 

April Doss, a former head of intelligence law at the National Security Agency, said on Twitter:

​Asha Rangappa, a former FBI special agent who also comments for CNN, tweeted: 

​But Trump has repeatedly pointed to the special counsel’s report, which did not find evidence to support criminal charges against the president, as proof his campaign did not collude with Russia to turn the 2016 election in his favor. 

Instead, the president has said the report shows there was a conspiracy against him, telling supporters at a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday that former U.S. officials spied on his presidential campaign and were guilty of treason, a claim he stood by on Thursday. 

“If you look at [former FBI Director James] Comey; if you look at [former FBI Deputy Director Andrew] McCabe; if you look at probably people higher than that,” Trump said when asked which officials committed treason, which is punishable by death. 

“They couldn’t win the election, and that’s what happened,” he said. “That’s treason.” 

Comey, the former FBI director who was fired by Trump, responded Friday on Twitter:

Another frequent target of Trump’s ire, former CIA Director John Brennan, an outspoken Trump critic, also spoke out on the social media platform late Friday. 

Highlighting one of the president’s tweets — showing a cartoon of him, Comey and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper — Brennan called Trump’s behavior “very immature”: 
…

U.S. intelligence agencies will cooperate with a new Justice Department investigation into whether officials overstepped their bounds and improperly surveilled U.S. President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. 

In a statement issued late Friday, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said intelligence agencies would provide U.S. Attorney General William Barr with “all of the appropriate information” for his investigation. 

“As part of that process, I am confident that the attorney general will work with the IC [intelligence community] in accordance with the long-established standards to protect highly sensitive classified information that, if publicly released, would put our national security at risk,” Coats added. 

The statement from the country’s top intelligence officer followed Trump’s directive, issued late Thursday, that called on U.S. intelligence agencies to “quickly and fully cooperate” with the new Justice Department probe.  

The directive also gave Barr what the White House described as “full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation.” 

“We want to be very transparent,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday before leaving for a state visit to Japan. 

“Everything that they need is declassified, and they’ll be able to see how the hoax or witch hunt started and why it started,” he added. “It was an attempted coup or an attempted takedown of the president of the United States. It should never, ever happen to anybody else.” 

The move comes as some Democratic lawmakers have ratcheted up calls to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump, a Republican. It also comes as the White House has battled with Democratic lawmakers over the two-year investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. 

Already, several Republican lawmakers have praised the new investigation.

North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows called the move “outstanding” and tweeted:

Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan also accused Democratic lawmakers of being “focused on taking down the president.” 

“They’re so desperate to stop the president that they won’t help the country,” he tweeted.

But Democrats fired back. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California tweeted:

The vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia, also raised concerns. 

“People risk their lives to gather the intelligence material that President Trump and Attorney General Barr are so eager to politicize,” Warner said in a statement Friday. “Selectively declassifying sources and methods in order to serve a political agenda will make it harder for the intelligence community to do their jobs protecting this country from those who wish to do us harm.”

Former U.S. intelligence officials also expressed reservations about Trump’s actions. 

April Doss, a former head of intelligence law at the National Security Agency, said on Twitter:

​Asha Rangappa, a former FBI special agent who also comments for CNN, tweeted: 

​But Trump has repeatedly pointed to the special counsel’s report, which did not find evidence to support criminal charges against the president, as proof his campaign did not collude with Russia to turn the 2016 election in his favor. 

Instead, the president has said the report shows there was a conspiracy against him, telling supporters at a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday that former U.S. officials spied on his presidential campaign and were guilty of treason, a claim he stood by on Thursday. 

“If you look at [former FBI Director James] Comey; if you look at [former FBI Deputy Director Andrew] McCabe; if you look at probably people higher than that,” Trump said when asked which officials committed treason, which is punishable by death. 

“They couldn’t win the election, and that’s what happened,” he said. “That’s treason.” 

Comey, the former FBI director who was fired by Trump, responded Friday on Twitter:

Another frequent target of Trump’s ire, former CIA Director John Brennan, an outspoken Trump critic, also spoke out on the social media platform late Friday. 

Highlighting one of the president’s tweets — showing a cartoon of him, Comey and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper — Brennan called Trump’s behavior “very immature”: 
…

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered the intelligence community to cooperate with Attorney General William Barr’s review of the events that prompted an investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The directive comes as the White House spars with congressional Democrats over the work of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who led a two-year investigation into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election and if there were any ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“Today, at the request and recommendation of the attorney general of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the attorney general’s investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 presidential election,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said after Trump issued the directive.

The order also allows Barr to declassify any information he sees fit during his review.

​Mueller report

A redacted version of Mueller’s report was released publicly in April. The probe found no evidence that the Trump campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Russia and did not draw a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice, but outlined some incidents that Democrats have said may be obstruction.

Republican House member Mark Meadows tweeted Thursday that “Americans are going to learn the truth about what occurred at their Justice Department.”

Adam Schiff, a Democrat member and Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, criticized Trump’s directive.

“While Trump stonewalls the public from learning the truth about his obstruction of justice, Trump and Barr conspire to weaponize law enforcement and classified information against their political enemies,” Schiff said on Twitter. “The cover-up has entered a new and dangerous phase. This is un-American,” he added.

In separate comments late Thursday on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said Mueller had told him that he is willing to testify to lawmakers in private.

Nadler, a Democrat, told Maddow that if Mueller did testify behind closed doors then the public would get a written transcript of the testimony.

But Trump railed on Twitter early Friday against the investigation, and said that the investigation was politically motivated.

‘Draining the swamp’

Trump, a Republican, harbors suspicions that the Democratic Obama administration ordered that Trump be investigated during the 2016 campaign to try to undermine his candidacy, and he wants payback against those he believes were responsible.

“Comey, Brennan, Clapper, we’re draining the swamp, folks,” Trump told a rally Monday in Pennsylvania, referring to former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, and James Clapper, a former director of national intelligence, all of whom have been critical of Trump.

Of specific interest to Trump are the warrants that emanated from a secretive court that authorizes surveillance on foreign powers and their agents. Trump supporters believe the warrants will identify those responsible for the Russia probe that is still roiling Washington.

Last month, Barr said at a Senate hearing that “spying” on Trump’s campaign was carried out by U.S. intelligence agencies, though he later referred to his concerns as focused on “unauthorized surveillance.”

Barr has assigned a top federal prosecutor in Connecticut to probe the origins of the Russia investigation in what is the third known inquiry into the opening of the FBI probe.
…

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered the intelligence community to cooperate with Attorney General William Barr’s review of the events that prompted an investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The directive comes as the White House spars with congressional Democrats over the work of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who led a two-year investigation into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election and if there were any ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“Today, at the request and recommendation of the attorney general of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the attorney general’s investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 presidential election,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said after Trump issued the directive.

The order also allows Barr to declassify any information he sees fit during his review.

​Mueller report

A redacted version of Mueller’s report was released publicly in April. The probe found no evidence that the Trump campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Russia and did not draw a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice, but outlined some incidents that Democrats have said may be obstruction.

Republican House member Mark Meadows tweeted Thursday that “Americans are going to learn the truth about what occurred at their Justice Department.”

Adam Schiff, a Democrat member and Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, criticized Trump’s directive.

“While Trump stonewalls the public from learning the truth about his obstruction of justice, Trump and Barr conspire to weaponize law enforcement and classified information against their political enemies,” Schiff said on Twitter. “The cover-up has entered a new and dangerous phase. This is un-American,” he added.

In separate comments late Thursday on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said Mueller had told him that he is willing to testify to lawmakers in private.

Nadler, a Democrat, told Maddow that if Mueller did testify behind closed doors then the public would get a written transcript of the testimony.

But Trump railed on Twitter early Friday against the investigation, and said that the investigation was politically motivated.

‘Draining the swamp’

Trump, a Republican, harbors suspicions that the Democratic Obama administration ordered that Trump be investigated during the 2016 campaign to try to undermine his candidacy, and he wants payback against those he believes were responsible.

“Comey, Brennan, Clapper, we’re draining the swamp, folks,” Trump told a rally Monday in Pennsylvania, referring to former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, and James Clapper, a former director of national intelligence, all of whom have been critical of Trump.

Of specific interest to Trump are the warrants that emanated from a secretive court that authorizes surveillance on foreign powers and their agents. Trump supporters believe the warrants will identify those responsible for the Russia probe that is still roiling Washington.

Last month, Barr said at a Senate hearing that “spying” on Trump’s campaign was carried out by U.S. intelligence agencies, though he later referred to his concerns as focused on “unauthorized surveillance.”

Barr has assigned a top federal prosecutor in Connecticut to probe the origins of the Russia investigation in what is the third known inquiry into the opening of the FBI probe.
…

A routine event in the White House Roosevelt Room on Thursday afternoon to announce $16 billion in farm aid morphed into a verbal attack on the most powerful Democrat in Congress by the president, who also accused by name former top FBI officials of treason. 

After announcing the agriculture assistance package in response to losses stemming from the U.S. trade war with China, President Donald Trump responded to questions from a small group of reporters. 

The president spent much of the time criticizing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying she had told U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer that she needed two weeks to understand the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal (USMCA). 

“Pelosi does not understand the bill,” said Trump. “So she’s got to get up to snuff, learn the bill.” 

Some of the queries during the 47-minute event dealt with his temperament in an Oval Office meeting the previous day, when a discussion with top Democrats from Capitol Hill about infrastructure funding ended quickly. 

Trump insisted he was calm, “like I am right now.” 

He did not, however, drop the subject. 

Trump called on a number of aides in the Roosevelt Room to assert that he had remained calm and had not thrown a temper tantrum as Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer implied. 

“You were very calm and very direct,” replied Mercedes Schlapp, the White House director of strategic communications. 

“Very calm,” responded White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. “I’ve seen both. And this was not angry and ranting.” 

Three other White House officials Trump asked to bear witness echoed that sentiment. 

Trump labeled Pelosi as crazy, said she had “lost it” and “has a lot of problems.” He termed as nasty the House speaker’s suggestion earlier in the day that the president’s family needed to stage an intervention because of his behavior. 

“I’m an extremely stable genius,” Trump asserted at one point. 

Minutes later, Pelosi tweeted:

During the impromptu news conference, a reporter asked Trump if he wanted to be impeached by the opposition Democrats in the House, as Pelosi asserted. 

“I don’t know that anybody wants to be impeached,” he replied. 

Trump again criticized ongoing investigations of him by Congress, lamenting that special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his two-year probe did not end questions about links between the president’s 2016 campaign and Russians. 

A reporter asked Trump to name the perceived political opponents he has accused of treason for launching investigations into those who worked on his campaign. 

Trump responded by naming, among others, former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. 

Trump said “probably people higher than that” also committed treason, but he did not elaborate. 

Those found guilty of treason in the United States face possible life imprisonment or execution. 

Asked whether he would approve sending more troops to the Middle East to respond to threats from Iran, Trump noted he was holding a meeting on the subject later in the afternoon, but said, “I don’t think we’ll need it.” 

Trump emphasized, though, that “nobody’s going to mess with us.”

Trump also termed Chinese telecommunications equipment provider Huawei “very dangerous” but quickly added that the company, which now faces severe restrictions in the United States, could be part of a trade deal with China.

Trump also indicated he would sign a bipartisan $19.1 billion disaster relief bill, even though it does not include border funding that the president had demanded. 

“We’ll take care of the immigration later,” said Trump.
…

The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved $19.1 billion in aid to help Americans rebound from a string of natural disasters, but without the extra funds to 

address a migrant surge at the border that President Donald Trump had requested. 

The Senate, which has a thin Republican majority, approved the measure 85-8. Democrats, who have a majority in the House of Representatives, said a vote could soon follow in that chamber. 

Trump supports the legislation, fellow Republican lawmakers said. 

The measure is aimed at assisting victims of disasters across the country over the last two years, from hurricanes in the Southeast to Midwestern flooding and California wildfires, with funds to help farmers and repair highways and other infrastructure. It also includes hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which was devastated by a hurricane in 2017. Trump had vehemently opposed sending more aid to the Caribbean island. 

The bill does not include emergency funds to address a migrant surge at the southern U.S. border that Trump had requested earlier this month. 

“I had a nice conversation with the president,” Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who helped negotiate the bill, told reporters outside the Senate. “The president said OK.” 

Shelby said Republicans would push for separate approval of the border aid Trump wanted after lawmakers return from a recess next week, saying, “It’s needed.” 

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, a Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said he was willing to keep negotiating about border aid. “We’re close but we’re not there yet,” he said. 

Trump on May 1 requested $4.5 billion for programs that house, feed, transport and oversee the record number of Central American families seeking asylum at the U.S. southern border with Mexico. 

A spokesman for House Appropriations Chair Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat, said she was pleased the bipartisan legislation “will meet urgent needs across the country,” adding that House Democrats supported clearing it “as soon as possible.” 

The legislation includes disaster relief for farmers; development grants for rural communities; funds for wastewater infrastructure; and resources to restore highways, aviation facilities and other transit projects, Shelby’s office said. 

It also includes $600 million in nutrition assistance and $304 million in Community Development Block Grant funding for Puerto Rico sought by Democrats, as well as an extension of the National Flood Insurance Program, a statement said. 

Democrats said the bill took much longer to pass than it should have, in part because of Trump’s interventions. 

“Each time the president messes in, things get messed up,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said, referring to repeated criticism from Trump of the proposed aid for Puerto Rico and Trump’s border aid request. “So I suggested this morning that we just do disaster aid and no border, and that’s what we’re doing. … We got all we wanted for Puerto Rico.” 
…

The Trump administration on Thursday said a surge of migrant arrivals at the southern U.S. border continues to accelerate, with more than 300,000 mostly Central American undocumented immigrants apprehended or requesting asylum so far in the current fiscal year, which began last October. 

“We are in the midst of an ongoing humanitarian and security crisis at the southwest border,” acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan told a Senate panel. “Almost 110,000 migrants attempted to cross without legal status last month, the most in over a decade, and over 65% were families and unaccompanied children.” 

At the current pace, 2019’s total for migrant arrivals would more than triple the number reported for all of 2018, which was 169,000. 

Factors in migration

McAleenan said that while gang violence and rampant insecurity in three Central American nations has started to ebb, other factors, such as persistent droughts and a lack of economic opportunity, continue to compel a large number of people to trek north.  

The DHS acting secretary also highlighted U.S. policy as a “pull factor” for migrants. 

“Families [apprehended at the border] can no longer be held together through an appropriate and fair proceeding, and essentially have a guarantee of release and an indefinite stay in the United States,” McAleenan told the Senate Homeland Security Committee. “It’s been exploited by smugglers who are advertising that opportunity, and that’s what’s causing the significant surge that we see this year.” 

The administration’s handling of migrant children continued to be a focus of congressional scrutiny after news broke earlier this week that a sixth minor — a 10-year-old girl from El Salvador — had died in U.S. government custody. 

“We all agree that we must absolutely secure our borders, but the death of children in custody is simply unacceptable,” the panel’s top Democrat, Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, said. “We must identify what went wrong and ensure that this doesn’t happen again.” 

Overwhelmed system

McAleenan said he has directed that all arriving children receive health screenings, and that, on average, 65 migrants are taken to hospitals daily. Overall, he pointed to an overwhelmed system pushed to the breaking point.  

“Given the scale of what we are facing, we will exhaust our resources before the end of this fiscal year,” said McAleenan, who also serves as chief of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an agency within DHS. 

The Trump administration has requested supplemental funds for the current fiscal year and substantial increases in next year’s DHS budget to address the border crisis. The panel’s chairman echoed the calls. 

“This is a growing crisis and we have to … pass that emergency spending bill,” Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said. 

While agreeing that more resources are needed, several lawmakers said money alone can’t resolve the situation. 

“I think the smartest thing we could actually do would be comprehensive immigration reform, and God willing, someday we’ll get back and do that,” Delaware Democratic Sen. Tom Carper said. 
…

The Trump administration on Thursday said a surge of migrant arrivals at the southern U.S. border continues to accelerate, with more than 300,000 mostly Central American undocumented immigrants apprehended or requesting asylum so far in the current fiscal year, which began last October. 

“We are in the midst of an ongoing humanitarian and security crisis at the southwest border,” acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan told a Senate panel. “Almost 110,000 migrants attempted to cross without legal status last month, the most in over a decade, and over 65% were families and unaccompanied children.” 

At the current pace, 2019’s total for migrant arrivals would more than triple the number reported for all of 2018, which was 169,000. 

Factors in migration

McAleenan said that while gang violence and rampant insecurity in three Central American nations has started to ebb, other factors, such as persistent droughts and a lack of economic opportunity, continue to compel a large number of people to trek north.  

The DHS acting secretary also highlighted U.S. policy as a “pull factor” for migrants. 

“Families [apprehended at the border] can no longer be held together through an appropriate and fair proceeding, and essentially have a guarantee of release and an indefinite stay in the United States,” McAleenan told the Senate Homeland Security Committee. “It’s been exploited by smugglers who are advertising that opportunity, and that’s what’s causing the significant surge that we see this year.” 

The administration’s handling of migrant children continued to be a focus of congressional scrutiny after news broke earlier this week that a sixth minor — a 10-year-old girl from El Salvador — had died in U.S. government custody. 

“We all agree that we must absolutely secure our borders, but the death of children in custody is simply unacceptable,” the panel’s top Democrat, Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, said. “We must identify what went wrong and ensure that this doesn’t happen again.” 

Overwhelmed system

McAleenan said he has directed that all arriving children receive health screenings, and that, on average, 65 migrants are taken to hospitals daily. Overall, he pointed to an overwhelmed system pushed to the breaking point.  

“Given the scale of what we are facing, we will exhaust our resources before the end of this fiscal year,” said McAleenan, who also serves as chief of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an agency within DHS. 

The Trump administration has requested supplemental funds for the current fiscal year and substantial increases in next year’s DHS budget to address the border crisis. The panel’s chairman echoed the calls. 

“This is a growing crisis and we have to … pass that emergency spending bill,” Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said. 

While agreeing that more resources are needed, several lawmakers said money alone can’t resolve the situation. 

“I think the smartest thing we could actually do would be comprehensive immigration reform, and God willing, someday we’ll get back and do that,” Delaware Democratic Sen. Tom Carper said. 
…

Federal prosecutors on Thursday unsealed criminal charges against Federal Savings Bank CEO Stephen Calk, accusing him of corruptly approving high-risk loans to U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort in exchange for trying to secure a top job in the Trump administration.

The indictment against Calk, issued in New York, does not name Manafort directly. But the bank executive’s name repeatedly came up during Manafort’s 2018 financial fraud trial in Virginia in which prosecutors said Calk and Manafort engaged in a scheme to exchange the $16 million in loan approvals for an administration post.

Calk, 54, faces one count of financial institution bribery, which carries a maximum prison term of 30 years.

Federal Savings Bank, based in Chicago, said in a statement it is a victim of bank fraud perpetrated by Manafort. It added that Calk “has been on a complete leave of absence and has no control over or involvement with the bank” and that the bank is “not a party to the federal criminal case.” It described Calk as its “former chairman.”

Calk could not immediately be reached for comment.

He provided Manafort with a ranked wish list of government jobs that he wanted, starting with treasury secretary and followed by other top jobs in the Treasury, Commerce and Defense Departments, prosecutors said. Other possible jobs on his list included 19 ambassador posts in countries including Britain, France, Germany and Italy.

Manafort also used his influence with Trump’s post-election transition team before taking office to land Calk a formal interview for the position of under secretary of the U.S. Army in January 2017, though Calk was not selected for the position, according to the indictment.

While Calk never managed to secure a government job, the indictment said Manafort did help Calk land an appointment on a “prestigious economic advisory committee” affiliated with Trump’s campaign.

Manafort was one of the first people in Trump’s inner circle to face charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of his now-completed investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and Trump campaign contacts with Moscow.

Manafort was convicted of bank and tax fraud in the Virginia trial, and also pleaded guilty to other charges in Washington. He is serving a 7-1/2-year sentence in a federal prison in Pennsylvania.

The prospect of Calk facing charges emerged in a transcript of a bench discussion during the Manafort trial.

“Mr. Calk is a co-conspirator,” Greg Andres, a prosecutor on Mueller’s team, said during a discussion with the judge at the bench, according to a transcript of the discussion. “And he participated in a conspiracy to defraud the bank.”

“There was an agreement between Mr. Manafort and Mr. Calk to have the loans approved,” Andres said. “They were approved and, in turn, Mr. Manafort proposed Mr. Calk for certain positions within the administration.”
…

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that President Donald Trump wants opposition Democratic lawmakers to impeach him, but that the case has yet to be made to start a formal impeachment inquiry.

She said that several ongoing investigations being conducted by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives “may take us to impeachment,” but that currently “we are not at that place.” Three dozen Democrats and a single Republican in the 435-member House have called for the start of impeachment proceedings, although even if the House were to eventually impeach Trump, the Republican-controlled Senate is highly unlikely to remove him from office. 

Pelosi said, however, impeachment is “what he wants us to do.”

She said Democrats will “follow the facts” in collecting information about Trump’s financial dealings, his 28-month presidency and the aftermath of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian intrusion in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and whether Trump tried to obstruct it.

She said she wishes Trump well, but that she thinks administration officials and his family need to have an “intervention” with him for the good of the country.

Pelosi’s assessment of any move toward impeaching Trump came hours after the U.S. leader unleashed new attacks on congressional Democrats investigating him, contending they are “the do-nothing party!”

“All they are geared up to do, six committees, is squander time, day after day, trying to find anything which will be bad for me,” Trump said on Twitter a day after he abruptly walked out of a White House meeting with Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer about infrastructure spending.

Trump, incensed by Pelosi’s contention that he was “engaged in a cover-up,” which she repeated Thursday, said he would not talk about policy issues with Democratic leaders as long as they continue their investigations.

“A pure fishing expedition like this never happened before, & it should never happen again!” Trump claimed, although Republican lawmakers in recent times often investigated Democrat Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state Trump defeated in the 2016 election. 

There was no indication that Democratic lawmakers would back off their investigations of Trump’s finances related to his global business empire and the Mueller report. Mueller concluded that Trump had not colluded with Russia to help him win, but reached no decision whether he obstructed justice. Subsequently, Attorney General William Barr and then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided obstruction charges against Trump were not warranted.

Pelosi and Schumer both described Trump’s walk-out as a “temper tantrum.” Schumer told MSNBC that he believes it occurred because Trump and his aides “were so ill-prepared and afraid to actually say how they pay for infrastructure — they were unable — that they looked for a way to back out.”

On Thursday, Trump said:

After walking out of the meeting Wednesday, Trump told reporters in the White House Rose Garden, “I don’t do cover-ups.”

He said investigations of him and engaging in government policy negotiations could not be conducted simultaneously.

Business, financial records

Trump continues to spar with congressional Democrats over access to his business and financial records from the years prior to his presidency when he was widely known as a New York real estate mogul.

Twice this week, federal judges have upheld congressional subpoenas for his records, at an accounting firm that handled some of his financial transactions and from Deutsche Bank, his primary lender for two decades, and Capital One Bank, where he keeps some of his money.

Meanwhile, the New York state legislature approved a measure that would authorize state tax officials to release his state tax returns to any of three congressional committees in Washington. Trump has appealed the ruling related to the accounting firm and is likely to appeal the bank information decision, as well.

Trump, unlike U.S. presidents for the past four decades, has declined to release his federal tax returns, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has refused a congressional request for the last six years of Trump’s returns.

Panel’s victory

With one exception, Trump has held Democrats at bay, for the moment, in their pursuit of information and public oversight. 

Congressman Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Wednesday his panel has won an agreement from the Justice Department to turn over 12 categories of counterintelligence and foreign intelligence information that had been collected as part of Mueller’s investigation.

The House Intelligence panel had subpoenaed the information, and Schiff said the subpoena “will remain in effect, and be enforced” if Justice fails “to comply with the full document request.”
…

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that President Donald Trump wants opposition Democratic lawmakers to impeach him, but that the case has yet to be made to start a formal impeachment inquiry.

She said that several ongoing investigations being conducted by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives “may take us to impeachment,” but that currently “we are not at that place.” Three dozen Democrats and a single Republican in the 435-member House have called for the start of impeachment proceedings, although even if the House were to eventually impeach Trump, the Republican-controlled Senate is highly unlikely to remove him from office. 

Pelosi said, however, impeachment is “what he wants us to do.”

She said Democrats will “follow the facts” in collecting information about Trump’s financial dealings, his 28-month presidency and the aftermath of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian intrusion in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and whether Trump tried to obstruct it.

She said she wishes Trump well, but that she thinks administration officials and his family need to have an “intervention” with him for the good of the country.

Pelosi’s assessment of any move toward impeaching Trump came hours after the U.S. leader unleashed new attacks on congressional Democrats investigating him, contending they are “the do-nothing party!”

“All they are geared up to do, six committees, is squander time, day after day, trying to find anything which will be bad for me,” Trump said on Twitter a day after he abruptly walked out of a White House meeting with Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer about infrastructure spending.

Trump, incensed by Pelosi’s contention that he was “engaged in a cover-up,” which she repeated Thursday, said he would not talk about policy issues with Democratic leaders as long as they continue their investigations.

“A pure fishing expedition like this never happened before, & it should never happen again!” Trump claimed, although Republican lawmakers in recent times often investigated Democrat Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state Trump defeated in the 2016 election. 

There was no indication that Democratic lawmakers would back off their investigations of Trump’s finances related to his global business empire and the Mueller report. Mueller concluded that Trump had not colluded with Russia to help him win, but reached no decision whether he obstructed justice. Subsequently, Attorney General William Barr and then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided obstruction charges against Trump were not warranted.

Pelosi and Schumer both described Trump’s walk-out as a “temper tantrum.” Schumer told MSNBC that he believes it occurred because Trump and his aides “were so ill-prepared and afraid to actually say how they pay for infrastructure — they were unable — that they looked for a way to back out.”

On Thursday, Trump said:

After walking out of the meeting Wednesday, Trump told reporters in the White House Rose Garden, “I don’t do cover-ups.”

He said investigations of him and engaging in government policy negotiations could not be conducted simultaneously.

Business, financial records

Trump continues to spar with congressional Democrats over access to his business and financial records from the years prior to his presidency when he was widely known as a New York real estate mogul.

Twice this week, federal judges have upheld congressional subpoenas for his records, at an accounting firm that handled some of his financial transactions and from Deutsche Bank, his primary lender for two decades, and Capital One Bank, where he keeps some of his money.

Meanwhile, the New York state legislature approved a measure that would authorize state tax officials to release his state tax returns to any of three congressional committees in Washington. Trump has appealed the ruling related to the accounting firm and is likely to appeal the bank information decision, as well.

Trump, unlike U.S. presidents for the past four decades, has declined to release his federal tax returns, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has refused a congressional request for the last six years of Trump’s returns.

Panel’s victory

With one exception, Trump has held Democrats at bay, for the moment, in their pursuit of information and public oversight. 

Congressman Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Wednesday his panel has won an agreement from the Justice Department to turn over 12 categories of counterintelligence and foreign intelligence information that had been collected as part of Mueller’s investigation.

The House Intelligence panel had subpoenaed the information, and Schiff said the subpoena “will remain in effect, and be enforced” if Justice fails “to comply with the full document request.”
…

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration plans to use a loophole and rising tensions with Iran to sell bombs to Saudi Arabia, even though Congress blocked such sales for months over concerns about civilian deaths in the war in Yemen, Senator Chris Murphy said Wednesday.

Congressional aides said there are provisions of the Arms Control Act, which sets rules for international arms transactions, that would allow a president to approve a sale without congressional review in case of a national emergency.

In this case, they said the Republican president would cite rising tensions with Iran as a reason to provide more military equipment to Saudi Arabia, which he sees as an important U.S. partner in the region. Trump has touted arms sales to the Saudis as a way to generate U.S. jobs.

Trump previously declared an influx of immigrants a national emergency to bypass Congress and get $6 billion to build his wall along the Mexican border. Both Democrats and his fellow Republicans voted to block the move, forcing Trump to issue the first veto of his presidency.

​Resistance in Congress

It was not immediately clear what equipment would be sold to Saudi Arabia or when any sale might go ahead.

However, any such plan would run into resistance in Congress, from Trump’s fellow Republicans as well as Democrats like Murphy, even in the Senate, where Republicans have a slim majority.

A handful of Republicans recently voted with Democrats in a failed effort to override Trump’s veto of a resolution that would have ended U.S. support for the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen’s devastating civil war. 

Many lawmakers from both parties have also expressed anger over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkey.

Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s closest congressional allies, told CNN he would oppose the administration if it decided to go around Congress, citing Khashoggi’s killing.

“We are not going to have business as usual until that issue is dealt with,” Graham said.

The State Department declined comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Defensive weapons

The top Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations and House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committees, who review major international weapons deals, have been approving sales of defensive military equipment to Saudi Arabia.

But they have been blocking the sale of offensive weapons like bombs, anti-tank missiles, small-diameter rockets and large mortars.

Senator Bob Menendez, the ranking Foreign Relations Democrat, has been blocking the sale of Raytheon Co’s precision-guided munitions (PGMs) to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for about a year over concerns about the war in Yemen.
…

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration plans to use a loophole and rising tensions with Iran to sell bombs to Saudi Arabia, even though Congress blocked such sales for months over concerns about civilian deaths in the war in Yemen, Senator Chris Murphy said Wednesday.

Congressional aides said there are provisions of the Arms Control Act, which sets rules for international arms transactions, that would allow a president to approve a sale without congressional review in case of a national emergency.

In this case, they said the Republican president would cite rising tensions with Iran as a reason to provide more military equipment to Saudi Arabia, which he sees as an important U.S. partner in the region. Trump has touted arms sales to the Saudis as a way to generate U.S. jobs.

Trump previously declared an influx of immigrants a national emergency to bypass Congress and get $6 billion to build his wall along the Mexican border. Both Democrats and his fellow Republicans voted to block the move, forcing Trump to issue the first veto of his presidency.

​Resistance in Congress

It was not immediately clear what equipment would be sold to Saudi Arabia or when any sale might go ahead.

However, any such plan would run into resistance in Congress, from Trump’s fellow Republicans as well as Democrats like Murphy, even in the Senate, where Republicans have a slim majority.

A handful of Republicans recently voted with Democrats in a failed effort to override Trump’s veto of a resolution that would have ended U.S. support for the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen’s devastating civil war. 

Many lawmakers from both parties have also expressed anger over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkey.

Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s closest congressional allies, told CNN he would oppose the administration if it decided to go around Congress, citing Khashoggi’s killing.

“We are not going to have business as usual until that issue is dealt with,” Graham said.

The State Department declined comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Defensive weapons

The top Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations and House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committees, who review major international weapons deals, have been approving sales of defensive military equipment to Saudi Arabia.

But they have been blocking the sale of offensive weapons like bombs, anti-tank missiles, small-diameter rockets and large mortars.

Senator Bob Menendez, the ranking Foreign Relations Democrat, has been blocking the sale of Raytheon Co’s precision-guided munitions (PGMs) to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for about a year over concerns about the war in Yemen.
…

The House Oversight Committee has reached an agreement with President Donald Trump’s attorneys to seek an expedited appeal in a court case in which lawmakers are seeking the U.S. leader’s financial records from his 

accounting firm, the panel said in a statement Wednesday. 

A U.S. judge ruled Monday that the Mazars accounting firm must turn over the documents to the House Oversight and Reform Committee, but the president had appealed the decision. 

The panel said in a statement that under the schedule, written arguments could be submitted as early June 12, with briefings completed by July.

The court has yet to approve the accelerated schedule. 
…

A Democratic lawmaker on Wednesday blamed the Trump administration’s border policies for the deaths of migrant children, an accusation the acting head of the Homeland Security Department called “appalling.”

The brouhaha came at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the budget for the sprawling law enforcement department, which has seen major upheaval over the past two months following a White House-orchestrated shake-up. Kevin McAleenan, the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, was named to lead the department temporarily following the resignation of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

At the hearing, Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., questioned McAleenan about what he knew of the psychological problems migrant children face when they are separated from their parents.

Policy stopped

Last year, the administration separated more than 2,500 children from parents as part of a policy to prosecute anyone caught crossing into the United States illegally, but that practice was stopped. Border agents are still allowed to separate children at the U.S.-Mexico border if the adult has a criminal history or there is concern for the health and welfare of the children.

Underwood told McAleenan that “at this point, with five children dead and thousands separated, it’s a policy choice being made by this administration, and it’s inhumane.”

McAleenan responded by calling that an “appalling accusation.”

The committee’s top Republican, Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers, accused Underwood of saying the administration was intentionally murdering children.

“I did not say murder,” said the first-term lawmaker, who also is a nurse. “I said five children have died as a result of a policy choice.”

The squabbling continued. After a brief recess, Republicans on the Democratic-run committee were able to push through a vote to admonish Underwood. Her statement was stricken from the official hearing record, and she was barred from talking during the rest of the session.

Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said Underwood’s statements were appropriate.  

McAleenan testified that more money was needed to help manage the immigration crisis, where vast numbers of Central American families are entering the U.S., straining resources. There have been more than 100,000 border crossings per month the past two months, a 12-year high. The families crossing require different care from single adults and can’t be easily returned over the border. 

“We continue to face tragedies on the border,” McAleenan said. He also cited the recent deaths of two teenagers and the drowning death of a 10-month-old baby who was on a raft trying to cross the Rio Grande with his parents when it overturned. Border Patrol agents pulled some of the group to safety.

​False claims alleged

Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-Calif., said the separation of families, and what she described as false claims by administration officials about the practice, and other border policies have helped foster the notion that what is happening is intentional.

“It’s a belief based on all the lies that have been out in the public,” she said.

She said McAleenan should not be proud of the work his agencies are doing. 

“Look at all the lies. Look at all the harm done to children and their mental health. Look at the children that are dying under your watch,” she said. “You should not be proud of a record of having five children die under your watch.” 

The U.S. government has faced months of scrutiny over its care of children it apprehends at the border. On Wednesday, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and 23 other Democratic or independent senators asked the International Committee of the Red Cross and Homeland Security’s inspector general to investigate the conditions of facilities.

On Monday, a 16-year-old Guatemala migrant died after being held for six days — twice as long as federal law generally permits.

A 2-year-old child died last week after he and his mother were detained by the Border Patrol. The agency said it took the child to the hospital the same day the mother reported he was sick, and he was hospitalized for several weeks.

Another teenager died April 30 after officials at a Health and Human Services Department detention facility noticed that he was sick.

Two small children, ages 7 and 8, died in December in separate incidents.

Following those deaths, Homeland Security ordered medical checks of all children in its custody and expanded medical screenings. 

Sixth death

Meanwhile, in a previously unreported case, U.S. officials said Wednesday that a 10-year-old girl from El Salvador died last year after being detained by border authorities.

That death marked the sixth known case in the last year.

HHS officials said the girl died Sept. 29 at an Omaha, Neb., hospital of fever and respiratory distress.

Spokesman Mark Weber said the department began caring for the unidentified girl in March 2018. Weber said the girl was “medically fragile,” with a history of congenital heart defects.

He did not say when she entered the U.S. or whether a parent or adult accompanied her. HHS provides care to children the government considers unaccompanied.
…

Attorney General William Barr is taking on another item from President Donald Trump’s agenda, railing against judges who issue rulings blocking nationwide policies. 

In a speech Tuesday night, Barr took aim at the broad judicial power, arguing that federal judges who have issued the so-called nationwide injunctions are hampering Trump’s efforts on immigration, health care and other issues with “no clear end in sight.”

It is the latest example of Barr moving to embrace Trump’s political talking points.

The attorney general is traditionally expected to carry out the president’s agenda as a member of the Cabinet while trying to avoid political bias. Democrats have cast Barr as an attorney general who acts more like Trump’s personal lawyer instead of the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.

At a re-election rally earlier this month, Trump railed against “activist judges who issue nationwide injunctions based on their personal beliefs,” which he said “undermine democracy and threaten the rule of law.” 

Administration officials have often complained about the proliferation of nationwide injunctions since Trump became president. Vice President Mike Pence said a few weeks ago that the administration intends to challenge the right of federal district courts to issue such rulings. 

“The legal community and the broader public should be more concerned, particularly about this trend of nationwide injunctions,” Barr said.

DACA

Barr highlighted the legal fights that have happened in federal courts across the country over Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that shields young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children but don’t have legal status to protect them from deportation.

The Justice Department, under former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, argued that the Obama administration acted unlawfully when it implemented DACA. Texas and other Republican-led states eventually sued and won a partial victory in a federal court in Texas.

Civil rights groups, advocates for immigrants and Democratic-led states all have sued to prevent the end of the program. A three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled that the administration decision to end DACA was arbitrary and capricious.

Barr said Trump “lost much of his leverage” in negotiations with congressional Democrats, who were pushing for a permanent solution for DACA recipients, after one district court judge issued an order forcing the administration to maintain the program nationwide. 

“Unsurprisingly, those negotiations did not lead to a deal,” Barr said. 

‘Unprecedented power’

In his speech to the American Law Institute, Barr argued it isn’t about partisanship and said the approach taken by judges who issue these nationwide rulings departs not only from the limitations of the Constitution, but also from the “traditional understanding of the role of courts.” The Justice Department will continue to oppose such rulings, he said. 

“Nationwide injunctions not only allow district courts to wield unprecedented power, they also allow district courts to wield it asymmetrically,” Barr said. 
…

President Donald Trump is telling Democratic leaders that he believes Congress should first pass a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico before taking up a bill to boost the nation’s infrastructure.

The president made his request in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer before a White House meeting Wednesday.

The Democratic leaders and Trump are aiming for a $2 trillion bill to address roads, bridges and other priorities.

Trump says he remains committed to passing a bill, but he wants Pelosi and Schumer to spell out their priorities and how much money they would provide to each. He says Democrats have “expressed a wide-range of priorities, and it is unclear which ones have your support.”
…

President Donald Trump is telling Democratic leaders that he believes Congress should first pass a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico before taking up a bill to boost the nation’s infrastructure.

The president made his request in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer before a White House meeting Wednesday.

The Democratic leaders and Trump are aiming for a $2 trillion bill to address roads, bridges and other priorities.

Trump says he remains committed to passing a bill, but he wants Pelosi and Schumer to spell out their priorities and how much money they would provide to each. He says Democrats have “expressed a wide-range of priorities, and it is unclear which ones have your support.”
…