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The political network backed by conservative industrialists Charles and David Koch plans to spend $20 million to promote the tax overhaul recently signed into law by President Donald Trump.

The investment marks an early focus of the Koch brothers’ 2018 political strategy. It comes as the conservative billionaires work to expand their sweeping efforts to promote a “free society” in America.

Charles Koch and his chief lieutenants previewed their strategy on Saturday, the first day of a three-day private donor retreat at a luxury resort in the California desert. They previously announced plans to spend between $300 million and $400 million on politics and policy heading into the midterms when the GOP’s House and Senate majorities are at stake.

‘Increase the scale … 10 fold’

At an evening welcome reception, Koch called on his biggest donors to “increase the scale and effectiveness of this network by an order of magnitude — by another 10 fold.”

“If we can do that,” he said, “I’m convinced we can change the directory of this country.”

In addition to roughly 550 donors in attendance, each pledged an annual donation to the network of at least $100,000, the guest list featured a slate of Republican elected officials: Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Todd Young of Indiana, and House Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C.

Despite Koch’s optimism, there was concern about the midterm elections. Historical trends suggest that GOP majorities in the House and Senate could be in jeopardy, said Tim Phillips, who leads the network’s political arm, Americans For Prosperity.

‘Energized’ left

“The left is energized,” Phillips said, noting that the party that holds the White House typically loses congressional seats in its first midterm election. “You’re going against the tide. You’re going against history.”

For now, at least, the conservative powerhouse will focus on the tax overhaul to help protect the Republican majorities. Phillips said the Koch network would host rallies and phone banks and run television and internet ads in the coming months.

“Our job is to make sure we shine a spotlight on those benefits that are occurring because of this law,” Phillips said. “Over time, that should overwhelm what has been a lot of demagoguery and rhetorical nonsense.”

Several reporters, including one from The Associated Press, were invited to attend some of the forums in the private weekend retreat. As a condition of attending, reporters were not permitted to identify any donors without their permission. No photographs were allowed.
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President Donald Trump will deliver his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday. Lawmakers and a worldwide TV audience expect to hear the president’s priorities for 2018 in domestic and foreign policy. Trump is looking to shore up public support after a controversial first year that saw a victory on tax cuts but also numerous distractions and controversies that led to historically low poll ratings. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone previews it from Washington.
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Casino mogul Steve Wynn has resigned as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee amid allegations of sexual harassment and assault.

Wynn has been a prolific Republican donor and led the RNC’s fundraising efforts during President Donald Trump’s first year.

RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement Saturday that she accepted Wynn’s resignation.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that a number of women said they were harassed or assaulted by Wynn, the chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts.

Wynn has denied the allegations.

Wynn’s resignation was first reported by Politico.

 
…

During his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, President Donald Trump will discuss a return “to clarity about our friends and adversaries” and his efforts “to defeat terrorists around the world,” a senior administration official said Saturday.

The White House is keeping mum on specifics, but officials confirmed that North Korea’s pursuit of a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland was expected to be addressed.

The annual address by U.S. presidents to a joint session of Congress usually is heavily skewed toward domestic issues. Trump’s speech will be no exception. It will also be of interest to international audiences, however, as he will discuss national security, trade and immigration.

Trump also will be “emphasizing the fair and reciprocal nature of trade,” according to the official, who briefed reporters on the condition he not be further identified. Recent actions taken by the administration against China’s trade practices are likely to be mentioned. 

Push on immigration

In the days leading up to the speech, expected to last one hour, the White House is outlining Trump’s proposals on immigration reform, and officials say the president, in the State of the Union address, will call for Congress to approve them despite an initial poor reception among many lawmakers.

The speech, expected to be Trump’s most important of the year, and the one reaching the largest audience, will primarily deal with jobs and the economy, tax reform, deregulation and infrastructure.

Trump will make an appeal to lawmakers of his Republican Party and the opposition Democrats to advance his trillion-dollar infrastructure improvement plan.

“He’s going to talk about the need to replace depleted infrastructure,” according to the official, who declined to provide additional details.

Some of the White House guests invited into the chamber of the House of Representatives for the speech will personify the battle against drug addiction and the opioid crisis in America, another priority for the Trump administration.

“You can expect the president will be speaking from the heart,” said the official, who noted the address will be titled “Building a Safe, Strong and Proud America.”

Analysts have diverse expectations for the important speech.

Saying that in the first year of this presidency “the world has borne the brunt of Trump’s impulsive and inconsistent policies,” former U.S. diplomat Brett Bruen offered that the president “would be well-advised to try to reassure foreign leaders the United States will continue to be a reliable ally and honor its long-standing commitments.”

What has he learned?

Bruen, who heads the Global Situation Room consulting firm and was director of global engagement in the Obama White House, told VOA that around the world, people “want to see signs he’s learned from his mistakes, even if he won’t admit it. His message should be: ‘Year one, I wanted to break china so we could have a fresh start. Now let’s talk about what our future looks like and how we get there together.’ ”

The tone on global issues in the State of the Union will echo Trump’s most recent speech on the international stage, according to administration officials.

Addressing the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Friday, the U.S. president contended that defending national interests does not conflict with the global order, saying he “will always put America first — just like the leaders of other countries should put their country first. But America first does not mean America alone.”

Trump in Davos reiterated his support for free and reciprocal trade, but he bluntly warned that the “United States will no longer turn a blind eye to unfair trade practices.”

Tuesday’s speech also will be a chance for the president to build public support at home, according to Republican Party activist and strategist Morton Blackwell of the Leadership Institute, a suburban Washington organization that provides training in campaigns, fundraising, organizing and communications for conservatives.

“I’m confident things are going to turn around in terms of the polls with respect to Republicans versus Democrats, and I think the president’s popularity is going to go up,” said Blackwell.

Low approval rating

Recent national polls show Trump’s approval rating at just below 40 percent, the lowest level for any modern president at this point in a first term.

A Democrat with a centrist public policy research organization, Jim Kessler, noted “these speeches give you a bit of time to get to reintroduce yourself to voters. A lot of voters have made up their mind about him, though.”

Kessler, senior vice president for policy at Third Way, added that Trump “is capable of giving a decent speech,” terming as excellent his address in November to South Korea’s National Assembly.

“The question is, how long does it last? What is the shelf life or the half life on that speech? Does it help him for seven days or does it help him for seven months?” asked Kessler. 

VOA’s Jim Malone contributed to this report.
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U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday threw his support behind President Donald Trump’s immigration reform proposal, announced this week ahead of schedule.

In a speech on immigration and national security in Norfolk, Virginia, Sessions said a merit-based immigration system would be in the U.S. national interest.

“It is time to put in place smarter immigration laws and start enforcing them,” Sessions said to a group of law enforcement officials. “It is time to end the lawlessness and create a system that serves the national interest.”

A merit-based system, Sessions said, “would be great for our economy. … Much more importantly, it would be the best way to ensure that our immigration system does not continue to harm our national security. Immigration is a national security issue.”

In his speech, Sessions focused on alleged links between immigration, terrorism and crime. He blamed lax migration laws for allowing terrorists into the country.

“Employers don’t roll dice when deciding who they want to hire,” he said. “Our incredible military doesn’t draw straws when deciding whom to accept. But for some reason, when we’re picking new Americans — the future of this country — our government uses a randomized lottery system and chain migration.”

​Proposal includes

“Chain migration” is a term used by some to describe a system where immigrants can sponsor family members who can later sponsor other family members to join them in the United States.

In addition to eliminating family-sponsored migration, the plan would establish a $25 billion “trust fund” for a wall along the Mexican border, providing funding for the president’s core campaign promise. That money would also be for other ports of entry and exit and enhancements to the northern border with Canada.

The proposal also calls for ending the visa lottery system for certain countries.

In Washington on Friday, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen released a statement that also supported the president’s immigration plan. She said her department “fully supports the president’s security-focused immigration framework, including funding for the border wall system, the ability to quickly remove those who break our immigration laws, and reforms to our immigration system.

“This is what DHS front-line personnel have asked for to secure our borders and maintain the integrity of our immigration system,” she said.

The White House on Thursday released the details of its Framework on Immigration Reform and Border Security, four days earlier than had been scheduled. It characterized the plan as a framework for compromise.

For the 1.8 million young immigrants living in the United States known as “Dreamers,” who were brought to the country by their families when they were still minors, there would be a long path to citizenship and with conditions.

For those recipients who have been allowed to stay in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, as well as others who met the same criteria, there would be a “10- to 12-year path to citizenship with requirements for work, education and good moral character.”

​Opposition

On Friday, as the day before, opponents of the plan spoke out.

At Sessions’ speech in Norfolk, dozens of protesters gathered outside the library hosting the closed-door speech. Many held signs indicating their opposition to the plan: “Immigrants and refugees welcome” and “Deport racists, not dreamers.”

The group chanted: “Lies, hate and fear. One stinking year,” presumably referring to the one year that President Trump has been in office.

A statement from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Friday read, “The administration’s anti-immigrant framework is an act of staggering cowardice which attempts to hold the Dreamers hostage to a hateful anti-immigrant scheme.”

The No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin, has been closely involved with the immigration talks. His statement said, “The White House claims to be compromising because the president now agrees with the overwhelming majority of Americans that Dreamers should have a pathway to citizenship. But his plan would put the administration’s entire hard-line immigration agenda — including massive cuts to legal immigration — on the backs of these young people.”

​Republican reaction

Trump’s plan drew praise from some Republican lawmakers, although no promises to follow it to the letter.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released a statement Thursday evening saying, “I am hopeful that as discussions continue in the Senate on the subject of immigration, members on both sides of the aisle will look to this framework for guidance as they work towards an agreement.”

Some Republican hard-liners were displeased that the plan offered a concession to young immigrants.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz said, “I do not believe we should be granting a path to citizenship to anybody here illegally. … Doing so is inconsistent with the promises we made to the men and women who elected us.”

David Milliband, the president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee said that, based on current trends, the U.S. is “on track to cut by three-quarters the number of refugees allowed into the country for resettlement,” in fiscal 2018, what he called “an unprecedented assault on U.S. global leadership in this area.”

“It is no exaggeration that the future of America as a home for refugees is now on the line,” Milliband said. “The administration’s determination to squeeze the life out of the refugee resettlement program will harm the lives, and life chances, of some of the most vulnerable people on the planet, and it sets a terrible moral example to the rest of the world.”

The IRC resettlement assessment also found that only 13 percent of refugee arrivals in fiscal 2018 identify as Muslim, compared with 48 percent in fiscal 2017.

Pushing for vote

The White House is hoping the Senate will be able to vote on the plan early next month, before the Feb. 8 deadline for lawmakers to approve a spending bill to keep the U.S. government operating.

Many opposition Democratic Party lawmakers, as well as some from the president’s Republican Party, are opposed to voting for a long-term budget bill without a deal on immigration.

If there’s no legislation to deal with the DACA recipients by March 5, administration officials warned Thursday that they will be considered illegal immigrants and those who come into contact with immigration officers will be processed for deportation.

Steve Herman at the White House contributed to this article.
…

VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine interviewed former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson via Skype about his abrupt resignation from an international board that advises Myanmar on the Rohingya crisis.

Question: Do you prefer Ambassador Richardson or Governor Richardson?

Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson: I think governor is better.

Q: Governor Richardson. First just to clarify, did you resign from the advisory board, or were you asked to leave, and more importantly, why did you leave?

Richardson: Well I resigned. They’re claiming I was fired but they were begging me to stay till the very last minute by the national security advisor. I resigned for two reasons – one, because I felt the advisory board was just whitewashing operation meant to validate the policies of the government of Myanmar. The second reason is an explosive reaction Aung San Suu Kyi had as I was trying to give her frank advice to deal fairly with the two Reuters journalist that had been imprisoned. That showed me she wasn’t interested in frank advice, and this is after thirty years of very strong friendship where we worked together for democracy. That has obviously been shattered by my resignation.

Q: Right, right. And it’s well documented you’ve have been a very good friend of Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi for many, many years and she asked you to join the council. Was she herself I know that there were two Reuters Journalist were an issue. Was she herself also disparaging the United Nations, journalists and relief workers trying to get the facts and alleviate suffering in the area?

Richardson: Yes, certainly her chairman was. But she also in various conversations has disparaged the U.N., felt the U.N. was unfair to her – the human rights investigation especially. Disparaging the international media, disparaging human rights group saying that they are all against it. These are the people that worked with her and in that transition to democracy, that were her supporters, were in essence given her the Nobel Prize. She now feels an – “us against one situation,” “an us against them situation,” and has a siege mentality right now. She’s changed.

Q: Right I was going to ask if you were sort of blind sighted and really surprised by this and do you think she’s changed now that she is in a position of power? Or does she have a blind spot when it comes to the Rohingyas?

Richardson: No, I think she’s changed as she’s assumed power. She wants to get re-elected, she’s afraid to confront the military that basically handles national security issues like treatment of refugees, like I think they’ve been responsible for the atrocities. They have participated in the mass graves issue. Finding ways instead of helping the refugees move back to Myanmar, making it more difficult. Not guaranteeing safety. And I think she’s been afraid to confront them. There is a separation of power between the military and civilian government that she has. But she’s failed to exercise more leadership to push and tell the military that they can’t keep doing this. She doesn’t have control over them. But the fact that she not only doesn’t speak out but defends them is what has made her change. And I think these caused a lot of these problems that Myanmar has with the international community.

Q: What would you say to critics who say that Aung San Suu Kyi has to walk a fine line in her power-sharing position with Myanmar’s military rulers and the public criticism of her is counter-productive?

Richardson: Well I’m a politician. I know you have to balance the existing power centers – you can’t just attack anybody. But I think she’s overdone her consent in what the military has done. In stop defending them, exercise more leadership by saying – look military, we can’t continue torturing the Rohingya. Let’s find a way to deal with these very serious problems. Instead of constantly blaming the West, the international community, and the U.N., and the United States, and Canada, and the European Union. Instead of owning up to the problem she shifts blames to everybody else fails to deal with the issue by not confronting the military. Letting them basically run amok.

Q: Right. We just got word that the advisory board is now backing the government’s plan to repatriate Rohingya refugees. What is your feeling about that?

Richardson: Well I think that’s part of the whitewash. Look the government of Bangladesh, the United Nations human rights group say that this repatriation is not ready. And this is why the government of Bangladesh has delayed the repatriation because these refugees aren’t ensured of their safety. They’re probably thinking they’re gonna end up in mass graves. They have no guarantees about their citizenship. They should be given a path to citizenship. There’s no guarantee that they’re gonna be able to go back to their homes safely. Their homes have been destroyed and they’re down so – I think this is another incidence where this is a whitewash. And just to conclude on this issue – the advisory board met with Aung San Suu Kyi secretly without me. They didn’t want me there because they didn’t want hear my candid advice. That is what broke the camel – the stroke that broke the camel’s back. They don’t want my advice – I leave. That’s why I left.

Q: Right, right. Do you think the Trump administration is doing enough to help the Rohingyas?

Richardson: Yeah, I got to say the Trump administration has spoken out for internal investigations to treat the Rohingyas properly. They came out early to release the journalist. I was briefed by the American ambassador. About a month ago, Secretary (of State Rex) Tillerson called me and told me what they were doing. Yeah I think the Trump administration – the State Department is doing well on this issue. I think as long as they keep it away from the president, they’re doing OK.

Q: What do you think it be done to get those two journalists released?

Richardson: Well there has to be more international pressure. I think Aung San Suu Kyi and the military have to say – look this is not helping us internationally. There is a way this can happen. The attorney general has pardon power. I think they should exercise this immediately. This is a nightmare for the image of the Myanmar government. Plus it’s unfair to the journalist – they were set up. They violated no official secrets laws. They didn’t disclose anything. They discovered mass graves and it was done by Rohingya and non-Rohingya people, i.e. the military. So get it over with. But I think more international pressure, but mainly the two main actors – the commander of the military and Aung San Suu Kyi to have a public or secret meeting and get this off the table. This is hurting the country enormously.

Q: Right, Right. One more if I may on North Korea. What do you think of the Trump administration’s position on that? And if you asked, you’ve done it before, you’ve been there before. Would you be willing to try and go and negotiate with the North Korean president?

Richardson: I would and I told the Trump administration I’m ready to do it but I think the way to do it is I’m not going to get mixed up in their nuclearization talks. That should be done through official channels. But I think there is soft power. I’ve offered on humanitarian grounds, find ways to exchange the recovery of American serviceman in the Korean War, Korean American family reunification issues. I think what the North and South have done on this Olympic issue makes a lot of sense, bringing athletes together. Maybe that’ll create a path for a negotiation. So I think the Trump administration – I’ll give them credit for working with China, have China put stronger sanctions. I don’t think that’s going to do the trick – I give them credit for that. I don’t give the president credit for tweeting and making policy on the go – calling on Kim Jong Un “the rocket man” and I’ve got a bigger nuclear button. I don’t like Kim Jong Un also insulting the American president. They should step aside and let their diplomats and negotiator negotiate no preconditions, just to start talks.

Q: Right. Thank you so much, ambassador. Anything else you’d like to say we didn’t cover?

Richardson: No you got it all.

Saine: Okay. Real pleasure talking to you sir.

Q: Yes. So we talked – what the State Department is doing on Myanmar. Do you think the United States should reimpose sanctions on Myanmar?

Richardson: No I don’t think so. I – sanctions, economic sanctions particularly hurt poor people. I’m very fond of the Myanmar people. I don’t think they’re responsible for this travesty. Maybe targeted sanctions on some of the military at some point. But I don’t think the international community should turn its back on Aung San Suu Kyi at this time. Now if this continues, something has to happen. I think the answer is engagement. The West – the international institutions should reach out to Aung San Suu Kyi and she should do the same. Reach some kind of accommodation. Ease tensions and find ways to feel honorably and humanely with these refugees that are being devastated right now.

Q: Right and I hope this is not too personal but do you feel like you could still have the relationship with Aung San Suu Kyi to reach back to her?

Richardson: Well I’d be prepared to be helpful but right now no. She’s probably furious at me. It’s probably going to last a long time. I don’t think I would try to get a Visa there anyway. Yeah but I love the country. I’ve been so involved with the country and her and I’ve invest a lot of my foundation activity. My activity as a diplomat. Yeah but right now no. I think there has to be a big cooling off. It may be permanent but I realize that. What I did was a small (inaudible)–that even her friends are turning on it. That she has to get a frank advice from a friend. If she’s not prepared to do that, that’s going to be bad for her and Myanmar.

Saine: Right thank you. If your ever in D.C., we would love to have you again for a sit down interview.
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Yasmin Radjy finished graduate studies at one of the country’s top schools, Harvard University, and began mobilizing local efforts in Virginia to elect Democratic, progressive candidates.

Radjy said she soon learned that bookwork often doesn’t equate to real life. 

“They [Harvard professors] taught me a lot of things that didn’t work in [the election of] 2016,” she said. She said a simple strategy would win the midterm elections for the opposition Democratic Party in 2018: talking to voters and listening to their concerns.

That type of grass-roots campaigning is taking place across the country, and Democratic organizers say recent local elections have shown that it works.

A transgender woman, Danica Roem, will serve in the Virginia House of Delegates after defeating a Republican incumbent. Another woman, Jennifer Carroll Foy, gave birth to premature twins during her campaign and was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates with both babies still in the hospital.

Radjy said that grass-roots volunteers need to be trained to customize their pitches for non-typical candidates. “You can’t take them off the shelf and expect them to act the right way,” she said.

WATCH: Yasmin Radjy on Returning to Campaign Basics

Republican activism

President Donald Trump’s Republican Party also understands the importance of grass-roots activism, owing its current grip on power in part to the enthusiasm of tea party supporters who have advocated vigorously for conservative causes since 2009.

The movement took root as a reaction to measures introduced by then-President Barack Obama to help homeowners wiped out by the 2008 recession, and it gained strength in opposition to Democratic-sponsored legislation that gave government a larger role in the health care industry.

Tea party activists helped carry the Republicans to their unexpected success in the 2016 elections, when Trump’s earthy, populist rhetoric helped the party win not only the White House but also both chambers of Congress.

But that same rhetoric infuriated many left-leaning voters, especially women who vented their anger the day after Trump’s inauguration by staging the Women’s March of 2017, one of the largest protests in the history of the nation.

Now the energy seems to be more with the Democrats and especially women, who are running for office in unprecedented numbers. Almost 400 female candidates are running in the 2018 congressional elections.

Organizers say much of that anger has been channeled to the local level, where large numbers of liberals and especially women are running for mayoral offices, city councils and state legislatures.

The winner of any contest is “determined by the number of activists on the respective side,” acknowledged Republican Morton Blackwell, who is in his eighth four-year term as a Republican National Committee member from Virginia. 

Blackwell admitted that the Republicans have fallen behind Democrats of late and need more and better on-the-ground volunteers.

On the Democratic side, local groups like the DC Grassroots Coordinating Committee, supported by the Woman’s National Democratic Club, are holding regular meetings to teach organizers how to train grass-roots volunteers leading up to the November elections. The test for organizers is maintaining that vigor over the next 10 months.

Democratic momentum

Jean Gearon founded the Maryland-based Women’s Alliance for Democracy & Justice, a group that strives to empower women politically. Gearon said volunteers need to feel they are being effective, so her group keeps things simple.

When training her volunteers, she drafts simple scripts and gives them phone numbers, explaining everything. “Here’s what you want to say about fracking,” she gives as an example. “Here’s where you sign your name.”

Democrats still face tough odds in trying to break the Republican hold on power. After Congress passed a sweeping tax plan and Trump reached the first anniversary of his presidency, Republicans gave him an 87 percent approval rating in a Gallup Poll.

For 25 years, Guy Short, who lives in Erie, Colorado, and is vice president of fundraising with Campaign Solutions, has advised and managed Republican political campaigns and groups at all levels of government. He predicted that 2018 would be an election won with those staunch Republicans.

“We need to motivate and turn out the base,” he said. “This year, significant amounts of money are needed in order to compete in what’s a very big playing field.”

Short said Republicans were significantly ahead of Democrats in fundraising, but Blackwell said he thought Republicans would need more than money to win the midterm elections. If money were the key factor, he said, “Jeb Bush would have been the Republican nominee for president in 2016 and Hillary Clinton would have crushed Donald Trump for president.”

​Economy’s impact

Blackwell said the economy, which he predicted will improve throughout the year, would give his party a boost. “In just a few days, the paychecks of employees across the country are going to show a significant benefit [from the federal tax cut]. Ninety percent of the people are going to get more income, so that is going to have an impact.”

WATCH: Morton Blackwell on the Political Effects of the US Economy

In a January CBS News Nation Tracker survey, 67 percent said the U.S. economy was the same or doing well. Yet, 54 percent did not credit Trump with the improvement, while 46 percent said he had contributed to the economy doing well.

In the Gallup Poll, only 5 percent of Democratic voters approved of Trump’s performance. “Democrats are motivated by one thing and one thing only,” Short said, “and that is they hate Trump. That’s not enough.”

But Democrats said that’s exactly what has catapulted new candidates, new volunteers, and new voters into the spotlight.
…

U.S. President Donald Trump warned trading partners on Friday that Washington would no longer tolerate unfair trade, saying predatory practices were

distorting markets.

“The United States will no longer turn a blind eye to unfair trade practices,” Trump told chief executives, bankers and political leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “We cannot have free and open trade if some countries

exploit the system at the expense of others,” he added.

 
…

Last year it was tight-gripped hand-wrestling between Donald Trump and France’s Emmanuel Macron that attracted media attention. Neither male leader seemed to want to be the first to let go during their first face-to-face meeting in July, resulting in what was dubbed the “never-ending handshake.”

On Thursday, it was the U.S. leader’s prolonged Davos handshake with Britain’s Theresa May that excited fevered media speculation with the British press seeing it as an expression of how the recently troubled ‘special relationship’ between Britain and the United States is back on track.

The Trump-May handshake was analyzed by the European media almost as much as the grab-and-pull power pump between Trump and Macron that lasted 30-seconds and came across to some as a tussle between Alpha males. The warm handshake between the U.S. and British leaders, according to commentators, reinforced the friendly words between the two, who talked about how the two countries are joined at the hip and even the shoulder.

Tabloid newspapers in London plastered photographs of the handshake on their front-pages.

The Daily Express blazoned the question: “Has May ‘tamed’ Trump?” And the newspaper quoted a body-language expert who commented that Trump arrived for the World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland, “like a posturing prizefighter entering the ring but during his press conference with May he stopped showboating and looked truly respectful.”

She added that “he used direct eye contact” when he remarked at the news conference to May “rather romantically that ‘I will always be there for you – you know that’ and he produced the most normal handshake of his presidency so far.”

Britain’s Sky News also turned to a body-language expert to interpret the first meeting between the two leaders since their public clash over the president’s re-tweeting in November of a British far-right anti-Muslim campaigner, which earned a rebuke from May.

“A love-in,” pronounced the broadcaster’s satisfied Cordelia Lynch.

Handshake analysis

Why is a handshake so important? Transatlantic ties have taken on even greater importance for Britain as it struggles to shape a post-Brexit future. A trade deal with the United States could help offset the costs of leaving the European Union, Britain’s biggest trading partner, and May’s aides say a stronger alliance with America is critical to making a success of Brexit.

Hence the relief of both British officials and the country’s media at the public displays of affection between May and Trump in Davos only weeks after the U.S. leader canceled a planned trip to London next month for the official opening of a new U.S. embassy building in the British capital.

That cancellation followed a series of clashes between the pair including over Iran and intelligence leaks. The handshake was seized by the British as a public prize — an affirmation of sincerity.

But should a handshake be laden with so much importance?

Body-language has long been seen as an important element in diplomacy. “Communication is to diplomacy as blood is to the human body,” academics Christer Jönsson and Martin Hall noted in a study emphasizing that non-verbal language is as important as what is spoken during diplomatic encounters.

Body language

In 2014, USA Today revealed that the Pentagon had established a research team to study the body movements of Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders in order to better understand them, assess their sincerity and to predict their possible future actions.

According to an official with the Office of Net Assessment (ONA), “the goal is to learn about the physical movements of national leaders and determine if these can be used to gain insight about a leaders’ attitudes, mindset, etc. ONA does not make policy recommendations, so we cannot assert with any certainty how the studies have been used by policy-makers.”

France’s Macron certainly vested a lot in his handshake with Trump, admitting on French television that he viewed it as a “moment of truth.”

European officials and the continent’s media appear obsessed by Trump’s body language — more than with any other recent U.S. leader.

Some commentators say that’s because Trump’s body language appears to be more distinct and unpredictable than his predecessors.’ Others suggest it is because they are still trying to take the measure of a politician, who has upended U.S. politics and foreign policy and defied expectations and norms since he entered the race for the White House and pulled off an upset win. His governing style has been as unusual as his campaigning tactics.

A former Trump aide, Sam Nunberg, argued last year that in fact Trump invites the speculation and knows what he’s doing with body language. “I just think the president is very cognizant of the optics of what it looks like at these multi-lateral meetings with world leaders,” he told the Huffington Post website. “There is nobody who is a better showman,” he added.

 
…

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is claiming credit for beginning the end of what President Donald Trump has termed “American Carnage,” a spike in violent crime during 2015 and 2016, the final two years of the Obama administration.

In an opinion piece published Tuesday in USA Today, Sessions pointed to preliminary FBI data showing that violent crime in the United States decreased by 0.9 percent during the first half of last year and that the increase in the murder rate had slowed.

“When President Trump was inaugurated, he made the American people a promise: ‘This American carnage stops right here and stops right now,’” Sessions wrote. “It is a promise that he has kept.”

​Too soon to know

But criminologists say it’s too early to read anything into the reported six-month decline in crime and that there is little evidence to support Sessions’ claim that Trump administration policies contributed to it.

“It’s obviously positive if violent crime goes down, but I think drawing conclusions about annual trends or a ‘leveling out’ based on six months of data is premature,” said New Orleans-based crime analyst Jeff Asher. “I’m not sure the data shows anything has changed.”

The attorney general attributed the decline in part to increased federal prosecution of all manner of violent criminals: gang members, human traffickers and firearms violators.

Behind decline

But Thomas Abt, a former federal prosecutor now a senior fellow at Harvard Law School and Kennedy School of Government, noted that the decline came before Trump announced his first wave of U.S. attorneys in June.

“It’s simply not honest to say that aggressive federal prosecution was responsible for the crime decline when the federal prosecutors that Trump nominated weren’t even in office at the time,” Abt said.

What is more, he said, about 90 percent of criminal prosecutions in the United States are handled by local and state courts, not federal ones.

“The argument that Sessions seems to be making, which is that what we do with our 10 percent is having a big impact on the 90 percent, is a little hard to believe,” Abt said.

​Slowdown in ‘murder rate’

According to the FBI data, the number of murders rose by 1.5 percent during the first six months of last year, compared with an increase of 5.2 percent during the same period in 2016, a slowdown Sessions highlighted as an achievement.

Jeff Asher, a Louisiana-based criminologist, dismissed the change as insignificant.

“I’m not sure the data shows anything has changed,” Asher said. He added that the figures still leave the country’s murder rate about 20 percent higher than it was in 2014.

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Through much of the past year, Sessions has frequently cited FBI data on increases in violent crime in 2015 and 2016 to warn about a festering crime epidemic and to push his tough-on-crime agenda.

In February, he set up a task force on violent crime reduction and public safety. In March, he directed federal prosecutors to prioritize targeting violent criminals. And in May, he ordered U.S. attorneys to “pursue the most serious, readily provable offense” with the lengthiest sentences in all criminal cases.”

Citing an 11 percent increase in the murder rate in 2015, Sessions told a group of law enforcement officers in August that “violent crime is back with a vengeance.”

Fluctuation in data

But crime data fluctuate from year to year, and Abt said it is more helpful to look at three- to five-year increments of data for evidence of a trend.

“It’s premature to celebrate,” Abt said. “What happens month to month or year to year can change.”

Despite the upticks in 2015 and 2016, crime in the United States remains well below its peak in the early 1990s.

In 1991, about 5,850 crimes were committed per 100,000 Americans. In 2015, the overall crime rate stood at 2,857 per 100,000 residents.

Criminologists attribute the decline to a variety of factors, from improved policing to community engagement to increased incarceration.
…

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday he is optimistic bipartisan negotiations on immigration, government funding and other issues will lead to results and strongly prefers an agreement before Feb. 8, when current funding for the government expires.

McConnell, a Republican, said in a Senate floor speech that a bipartisan, bicameral group was working on immigration, and he looked forward to seeing a promised White House framework on the matter next week. “I‘m optimistic,” he said, adding: “It is my strong preference that senators reach bipartisan agreement on these issues in advance of February 8.”

McConnell restated his own pledge that if a long-term agreement by Feb. 8 eludes the Senate, the chamber will proceed to legislation on immigration and border security, as long as the government stays open.
…

The civil rights group NAACP is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over its decision to end nearly 60,000 Haitian migrants’ participation in a provisional U.S. residency program that shields them from deportation.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed a lawsuit Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, as the Miami Herald first reported Wednesday. It said the group – the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People – contends the decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti in July 2019 is “irrational and discriminatory.”

The suit was filed on behalf of the NAACP and its Haitian members. It alleges that Homeland Security did not follow its “normal decision making process in regards to whether or not Haitians should still receive the humanitarian protection,” thus blocking Haitians from exercising their constitutional right to due process and equal protection, the Herald reported.

The department’s acting secretary, Elaine Duke, announced her termination decision in November. The department, Duke and new DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen all are named defendants.   

The NAACP suit also cited what it called President Donald Trump’s “public hostility toward immigrants of color,” the Herald reported.

DHS acting press secretary Tyler Q. Houlton told the Herald the department does not comment on pending litigation.

In discussing immigration with a small group of lawmakers earlier this month, the president reportedly questioned including Haitians in a proposed deal. “Why do we want people from Haiti here?” he reportedly asked.   

U.S. Senator Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who was in that meeting, also reported Trump as describing Haiti, El Salvador and African nations as “s—hole” countries.

In a subsequent Twitter post, the president denied using the profanity, saying he used language that “was tough, but this was not the language used.”
…

U.S. President Donald Trump says he is willing to answer any questions under oath as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“I am looking forward to it,” Trump told reporters Wednesday at the White House before leaving for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.  “I would love to do it, and I would like to do it as soon as possible.  I would do it under oath, absolutely.”

Trump reiterated that there was “no collusion” with Russia to help him win the election and suggested he is being investigated for obstruction of justice as part of the Russia probe because he was “fighting back” against the probe.

“Oh, well, Did he fight back?” Trump said, “You fight back, Oh, it’s obstruction.”

Trump’s interview with Mueller’s investigators has not been scheduled, but the president suggested it could occur within the next two or three weeks. Terms of the interview have also not been set, with Trump saying it would be “subject to my lawyers.”

Months ago, Trump said he would “100 percent” agree to meet with Mueller’s investigators, but more recently questioned why any interview would be needed since there was “no collusion.”

Mueller is looking to interview Trump about his firing last year of former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, when he was heading the Russia investigation, before Mueller, over Trump’s objections, was appointed to take over the probe.

In addition, Mueller is looking at Trump’s dismissal of onetime national security adviser Michael Flynn and Comey’s claim that Trump then urged him to drop his probe of Flynn’s contacts with the Russian ambassador to Washington in the weeks before Trump assumed power a year ago.

U.S. law makes it a crime to obstruct justice or hinder an “official proceeding.”

Legal experts say that while a sitting president can’t be prosecuted for obstruction of justice or any other crime, the charge of obstruction can be used by Congress to impeach a president, if it decides to pursue such a case.

Former President Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998, in part for obstruction of justice, while one of three articles of impeachment brought against Richard Nixon in 1974 alleged obstruction of justice.  Clinton was acquitted in a Senate trial, while Nixon resigned as the corruption case mounted against him.

Russia probe

Mueller’s investigation into the Russian election interference has reached into Trump’s Cabinet, with the interview last week of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak while he was a U.S. senator and a Trump campaign advocate, and later played a role in Comey’s firing.  Comey was interviewed weeks ago.

Trump has contended the Mueller investigation and congressional probes into the Russian election meddling are a hoax perpetrated by Democrats looking to explain his upset victory over his opponent, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Trump and Republican colleagues in Congress increasingly have accused the FBI of bias in pursuing the Trump investigation and their dropping without charges of a 2016 probe into Clinton’s handling of classified material on a private email server while she was the country’s top diplomat from 2009 to 2013.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that shortly after Trump ousted Comey, the president had a get-to-know-you meeting with Andrew McCabe, the FBI’s acting director.

The Post said Trump “vented his anger” at McCabe, a longtime FBI official, for the fact that his wife had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations for her unsuccessful 2015 state Senate race in Virginia from a political action committee controlled by a close friend of Clinton, former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe.

Trump has complained in Twitter comments about McCabe and his wife’s Democratic Party fundraising.

 
…

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was willing to consider eventual citizenship for immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children by their parents.

“We’re going to morph into it. It’s going to happen, at some point in the future, over a period of 10 to 12 years,” Trump said to a group of reporters at the White House. 

On Twitter, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has proposed a bipartisan immigration deal with Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, quickly hailed the president’s comments, saying they “will allow us to solve a difficult problem.” 

Such consideration for the so-called “Dreamers” who are beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy would be part of an immigration reform plan, according to the president, that would restrict family sponsorship of immigrants and curtail the diversity visa lottery program.

Trump also said he wanted $25 billion for constructing his oft-touted wall along the 3,200-kilometer (1,990-mile) U.S. border with Mexico.

The president’s comments, prior to his departure to attend the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, came hours after his administration announced it would unveil on Monday an outline for lawmakers “that represents a compromise that members of both parties can support.”

The package is seen as an attempt by the White House to take the lead on the emotionally charged issue of immigration.

The reforms proposed by the administration “were assembled in coordination with front-line law enforcement officers and career public servants who know what is necessary to keep America safe,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters during Wednesday’s daily press briefing.

The administration said it was based on four fundamental issues: securing the border and closing legal loopholes; ending extended-family migration, called “chain migration” by some; canceling the visa lottery; and providing a permanent solution on DACA, which has allowed some who illegally entered the United States as minors to avoid deportation and be eligible for work permits.

The framework, according to the press secretary, takes into account conversations “with dozens” of House and Senate members from both parties.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump spoke to mayors gathered in the White House East Room, and he assailed those who had decided just hours before not to attend as word came that the Justice Department was demanding new proof from 23 states and cities that they were cooperating with federal immigration authorities to provide information about undocumented immigrants they have jailed for various alleged crimes.

“The mayors who choose to boycott this event have put the needs of criminal illegal immigrants over law-abiding Americans,” said the president, noting the “vast majority” showed up who “believe in safety for your city.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Twitter he would not attend because the Justice Department “decided to renew their racist assault on our immigrant communities. It doesn’t make us safer and it violates America’s core values.”

The White House press secretary said earlier, “If mayors have a problem with that, they should talk to Congress, the people that pass the laws. The Department of Justice enforces them, and as long as that is the law, the Department of Justice is going to strongly enforce it.”

The White House spokeswoman added, “We cannot allow people to pick and choose what laws they want to follow.”

The Justice Department action aims to eliminate “sanctuary cities,” which provide safe havens for immigrants who have illegally entered the country.

“Sanctuary cities are the best friend of gangs and cartels,” Trump told the mayors.

The Justice Department is demanding proof from three states — Illinois, Oregon and California — that they are cooperating with immigration authorities, along with five major cities — New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Denver.

The political debate over U.S. immigration policies was at the center of the three-day partial government shutdown that ended Monday.

The White House and lawmakers have so far been unable to agree on how to protect the roughly 800,000 DACA beneficiaries. Trump rescinded the Obama-era program last year but gave Congress until March 5 to weigh in on the issue.

According to a Pew Research Center survey taken this month, 74 percent of Americans favor granting permanent legal status to immigrants brought to the United States illegally when they were children, while 60 percent oppose the president’s pledge to substantially expand the wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
…

Protesters have been pouring into the streets in several Swiss cities to express opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump’s attendance at this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos.

Trump arrives Thursday in the Swiss ski resort and is slated to present his “America First” message in a speech Friday to global business and political leaders.

On the eve of his arrival, members of Trump’s economic team previewed the strategy for increasing U.S. global competitiveness.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, one of 10 Cabinet secretaries attending the gathering, endorsed a lower dollar, pushing the greenback to its lowest level in three years, according to the Bloomberg Dollar Index.

“Obviously, a weaker dollar is good for us as it relates to trade and opportunities,” Mnuchin told reporters at Davos.

A day after Trump imposed tariffs on imported solar-energy components and large washing machines, Mnuchin said he was not worried about what many see as a clash between Trump’s protectionist policies and the concept of globalism.

“This is about an ‘America First’ agenda, but ‘America First’ does mean working with the rest of the world” on free trade issues, Mnuchin said.

But many observers and analysts see an irreconcilable conflict of economic philosophies.

Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at Washington’s Peterson Institute for International Economics, expressed amusement at the prospect of the populist Trump speaking at a forum that has become a symbol of the growing consensus around an increasingly globalized world.

“It’s hard to square ‘America First’ with the Davos ethos of globalism, but Trump might put it this way: Every other country pursues its own interests first and foremost, while America makes concession after concession and carries burden after burden,” Hufbauer said in a written answer to a VOA request. “The time has come for America to act just like all the other countries represented in Davos.”

Presidential scholar Joshua Sandman of the University of New Haven likens Trump’s visit to the biblical story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den.

“Even though the Davos people are antithetical to his populist message, he wants to confront them and to establish the legitimacy of the American approach as he articulates it, which is to confront globalism and put American interests first,” Sandman said in a phone interview.

Briefing White House reporters this week, Trump’s chief economic adviser Gary Cohn said the president would use his speech at Davos to tell the world America is open for business. “We want the world to invest in America and create jobs for hardworking Americans,” he said.

“He’s going to talk to world leaders about making sure we all respect each other, we all abide by the laws, we all have free, fair, open, and reciprocal trade,” Cohn explained. “And if we live in a world where there are not artificial barriers, we will all grow and we will all help each other grow. And the president truly believes that.”

Political scientist Thomas Whalen of Boston University says Trump is unlikely to win many converts among the globalist crowd at Davos.

“Trump at Davos would be greeted about the same way an appearance by [disgraced Hollywood producer] Harvey Weinstein would go off at the Oscars,” Whalen said. “His approach to world affairs is anathema to those world leaders. We live in a 21st century interconnected globalized economy, and his idea of erecting trade barriers is going to unspool the entire system if left unchecked.”

Sideline meetings

The president ‘s schedule includes sideline meetings with several other world leaders, including British Prime Minister Theresa May. The president earlier canceled a planned trip to Britain for the opening of the new U.S. embassy in London, where he would be likely to face fierce protests. But National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Trump is prioritizing the meeting with May.

“We do have a special relationship,” McMaster said, adding that the meeting would touch on critical global issues, such as “the conflict in Syria, Iran’s destabilizing behavior, ways to address shortcomings in that Iran nuclear deal, and our shared goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.”

Trump also will meet the incoming African Union chairman, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, to “reaffirm the U.S.-Africa relationship and discuss shared priorities, including trade and security,” McMaster said.

The meeting comes weeks after Trump was reported to have used a vulgar slur to describe African countries during a conversation about immigration.

Trump will be the first U.S. president to attend the Davos forum since Bill Clinton in 2000. Other world leaders in attendance for the first time include Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also will be there, but her advisers say she will not meet with Trump.

Economic adviser Cohn has attended several Davos meetings in his previous role as president of the Wall Street banking firm Goldman Sachs. Asked what Trump might find on his first trip to the Swiss resort that he would not expect, Cohn replied, “A lot of snow. Fourteen feet [4.25 meters] of snow.”
…

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump imposed new sanctions Wednesday aimed at halting North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programs.

The Department of Treasury placed sanctions on nine entities, including two China-based trading firms that helped export millions of dollars’ worth of metals and other materials used in Pyongyang’s defense sector.

Sixteen individuals were also targeted, including members of the ruling Workers Party of Korea, who conduct business in China, Russia and the region of Abkhazia, a partially recognized state south of Russia and northwest of Georgia. The Treasury Department urged those countries to expel the individuals, who are prohibited from dealing with Americans.

Ten China- and Russian-based representatives of the Korean Ryonbong General Corporation were among those targeted. The company supports Pyongyang’s defense industry and is already under U.S. and U.N. sanctions. 

Five North Korean shipping companies and six vessels were also among the blacklisted entities.

“Treasury continues to systematically target individuals and entities financing the Kim [Jong-un] regime and its weapons programs, including officials complicit in North Korean sanctions evasion schemes,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The latest sanctions come as the global community has resorted to an economic crackdown to curb the aggression of Kim’s regime. But the U.S. and other countries have cited continuous violations of the sanctions meant to deter the North’s nuclear and missile development programs.
…

U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, British Prime Minister Theresa May, and other world leaders when he attends the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, White House officials said on Tuesday.

Trump is due to take an overnight flight on Wednesday night to snowbound Davos, where he will encourage investment in the United States and cooperation on national security issues, including the fight against Islamic State and North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Trump will have a full day of meetings in Davos on Thursday and then deliver a keynote address to the forum on Friday before returning to the United States later that day.

White House senior economic adviser Gary Cohn said Trump will use his speech to encourage global companies to invest in the United States and take advantage of Trump’s corporate tax cuts.

He will also stress his “America First” policies and seek more reciprocal trade policies from U.S. allies, Cohn said, in keeping with Trump’s belief that international trade deals are tilted against the United States.

“The president will continue to promote fair economic competition and will make it clear that there cannot be free and open trade if countries are not held accountable to the rules,” Cohn told reporters.

Trump will be the first U.S. president to attend Davos in 20 years, giving him a chance to mingle with the same elite “globalists” that he bashed in his 2016 presidential run.

In addition to meetings with world leaders, Trump will also host a small dinner for European business executives on Thursday night.

“The attendees run companies that have sizeable footprints in the United States. They have invested in our economy, we want them to continue to do so and encourage others to join them,” said Cohn.

White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster said Trump will meet with Britain’s May to discuss North Korea, the Syrian civil war and the Iran nuclear deal, which lifted sanctions on Iran and which Trump has vowed to abandon unless changes can be made.

Trump and May have had a rocky first year since Trump took power, which included British anger over the U.S. leak of the name of a suicide bomber in Manchester last May.

The two sides have been unable to agree on an appropriate time for Trump to visit Britain. Earlier this month, he pulled out of a potential February trip for the opening of a new U.S. embassy in London.

Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu will be his first one since he declared that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a decision that has strained U.S. ties with some Arab leaders.

McMaster said that in the meeting with Netanyahu, Trump will “reiterate America’s strong commitment to Israel and efforts to reduce Iran’s influence in the Middle East and ways to achieve lasting peace.”

Other meetings include Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who is chairman of the African Union, to discuss trade and security.

Trump will also meet with President Alain Berset of Switzerland.
…

U.S. intelligence officials believe North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is rational, ambitious and is not likely to settle for simply using his country’s nuclear weapons program to stay in power.

“We do believe that Kim Jung Un, given these tool sets, would use them for things besides simply regime protection,” U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo warned Tuesday.

“Call it coercive, how Kim Jong Un is prepared to use these nuclear weapons,” Pompeo said, describing the North Korean leader’s ultimate goal as “reunification of the (Korean) Peninsula under his authority.”

Pompeo and other intelligence officials have said repeatedly that Pyongyang is likely just months away from being able to hit the United States with a nuclear armed missile.  

But speaking at an event hosted in Washington by the conservative research group the American Enterprise Institute, Pompeo cautioned that the North Korean leader is bent on presenting the world with an even greater threat. 

“The logical next step would be to develop an arsenal of weapons … the capacity to deliver from multiple firings of these missiles simultaneously,” Pompeo said.

U.S. officials say President Donald Trump is focused on pursuing a diplomatic solution to the North Korean crisis, though defense and intelligence officials have also said all options are on the table to prevent North Korea from using nuclear weapons.

​Pompeo Tuesday refused to answer questions about whether there are any viable options for limited strikes to take out Pyongyang’s weapon sites, saying only, “We are working to prepare a series of options to make sure we can deliver a range of things so that the president will have the full sweep of possibilities.”

The CIA director also praised his agency for improving its reach and insights into North Korea over the past year, though he said more work needed to be done.

“We’re not quite where we need to be,” Pompeo said. “We are still suffering from having gaps.”

Among the gaps, Pompeo said, was the ability to gauge the impact sanctions on the North Korean regime.

Pyongyang has aggressively developed its nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programs in defiance of numerous international sanctions.

A number of countries and international organizations have imposed a variety of financial and trade sanctions against Pyongyang, including China’s decision to restrict oil and coal supplies to the country.

North Korea relies on imported fuel to keep its struggling economy afloat. Oil is also required for its intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear program.

And even if the sanctions are making an impact, there are ongoing concerns that Kim Jong Un may not fully understand the Trump administration’s resolve.

“We’re concerned that he may not be getting really good accurate information,” Pompeo said. “It is not a healthy thing to be a senior leader, bring bad news to Kim Jong-Un.”

“We’re taking the real-world actions that we think would make unmistakable to Kim Jong-Un that we are intent on denuclearization. We were counting on the fact that he will see it,” Pompeo said.
…

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed into law a steep tariff on imported solar panels, a move billed as a way to protect American jobs but which the solar industry said would lead to tens of thousands of layoffs.

The following are some questions and answers about the decision:

What impact will the decision have on the solar industry?

Trump has said the tariff will lead to more U.S. manufacturing jobs, by preventing foreign goods that are cheap and often subsidized from undercutting domestic products. He also expects foreign solar panel producers to start manufacturing in the United States.

“You’re going to have people getting jobs again and we’re going to make our own product again. It’s been a long time,” Trump said as he signed the order.

The main solar industry trade group, the Solar Energy Industries Association, has a different view: It predicts the tariff will put 23,000 people out of work in the panel installation business this year by raising product costs and thus reducing demand.

Research firm Wood Mackenzie estimated that over the next five years the tariffs would reduce U.S. solar installation growth by 10 to 15 percent. The United States is the world’s fourth-largest solar market after China, Japan and Germany.

Research firm CFRA analyst Angelo Zino said he expected any added manufacturing jobs would be “minimal” given the 18 months to two years it takes to build and ramp up a new production facility and the industry’s shift toward automation.

Who wanted the tariff?

The main beneficiaries of the tariff include U.S.-based solar manufacturers Suniva and SolarWorld.

Suniva filed for bankruptcy in April, days before it filed the petition for trade relief. The Georgia-based company argued it could not compete with the cheap imports that have caused panel prices to fall more than 30 percent since 2016. It was later joined in the petition by SolarWorld. They asked the Trump administration for the equivalent of a 50 percent tariff.

Suniva is majority-owned by Hong Kong-based Shunfeng International Clean Energy, and SolarWorld is the U.S. arm of Germany’s SolarWorld AG.

Suniva called the tariffs “necessary,” while SolarWorld said it was “hopeful they will be enough.”

Most other U.S. solar companies, including SunPower, which manufactures panels in Asia, and residential installer SunRun Inc. were opposed to the trade barrier — as were offshore manufacturers such as China’s JinkoSolar, which will be among the biggest losers.

Solar manufacturer and developer First Solar supported the tariffs, and is likely to be among the biggest beneficiaries. First Solar makes panels using cadmium telluride that are excluded from the trade case. The company has seen an increase in demand for its unique technology.

Will the tariff lead to a trade war?

China branded the move an “overreaction” that would harm the global trade environment.

“The U.S.’s decision … is an abuse of trade remedy measures, and China expresses strong dissatisfaction regarding this,” said Wang Hejun, the head of the commerce ministry’s Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau. “China will work with other WTO [World Trade Organization] members to resolutely defend its legitimate interests in response to the erroneous U.S. decision.”

Trump dismissed worries of trade retaliation.

“There won’t be a trade war. It’ll only be stock increases for companies that are in our country,” he said.

How does the tariff fit into Trump’s energy policy?

If the tariff cools growth in the U.S. solar industry, it could help Trump’s effort to support the coal industry — which competes with renewable energy technologies for a share of the nation’s power generation market.

Trump campaigned on a promise to revive the ailing coal mining sector and boost U.S. production of other fossil fuels as a way to create jobs and bolster American influence overseas.

He has also downplayed the threat from global warming — an issue that led past administrations to throw their support behind emissions-free solar and wind energy development — rolling back climate change regulations and pulling the United States from a global pact to combat it.
…

A partial U.S. government shutdown ended Monday with Senate Democrats providing enough votes to restart federal funding for the next few weeks in return for a promise by the Republican leadership to bring an immigration bill up for a vote by February 8. VOA House correspondent Katherine Gypson looks at how the brief shutdown sets up an even tougher fight ahead on Capitol Hill.
…

The United States government is headed back to work Tuesday, but Russia does not appear to be done trying to capitalize on the nearly three-day-long shutdown.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill late Monday, funding the government through February 8. But even as lawmakers and the White House reached agreement, Twitter accounts linked to Russian influence operations continued to post hashtags seemingly aimed at amplifying the country’s political divisions.

As of 10 p.m. ET Monday night, the hashtag #schumershutdown had been used 535 times in the last 48 hours, according to Hamilton 68, an online site that tracks about 600 Twitter accounts.

Meanwhile, the site reported the top trending hashtag was #schumersellout – it’s use increasing by 4,800 percent over the same period.

Both hashtags refer to Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who ultimately agreed to compromise with Republican lawmakers after initially refusing to support any spending bills without getting a deal on protecting “Dreamers,” undocumented immigrants brought to America as children, from possible deportation.

Among those using #schumershutdown Monday was U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.

“Thanks to the firm stand taken by @POTUS & Senate & House Republicans, the gov’t shutdown is coming to an end. The #SchumerShutdown failed,” Pence tweeted Monday while visiting Israel.

President Trump’s son, Donald Trump, Jr., also used it late Monday.

“Americans don’t forget that the #SchumerShutdown put illegal immigrants ahead of our military and American children’s insurance,” Trump, Jr. tweeted. “Just remember where you stood in their eyes.”

​

Meanwhile, #schumersellout began trending on Twitter Monday, used in 19,700 tweets as of about 10 p.m. ET.

Among the accounts using it was the Michigan Republican Party, which tweeted, “Schumer Sells Out the Resistance #SchumerSellout,” along with a link to an opinion column in The New York Times.

The Hamilton 68 website makes clear that hashtags like #schumershutdown or #schumersellout are often not created by the Russian-linked accounts. Instead, they often take hashtags created by Twitter users who are not necessarily linked to Russia and try to amplify them to help perpetuate existing divides.

The site said other top hashtags being heavily promoted by the Russian-linked accounts included “releasethememo”, “QAnon”, “maga”, “Syria”, “nodaca”, “wethepeople” and “Russia.”

#ReleasetheMemo, which the Russian-linked accounts tweeted 480 times Sunday and Monday, saw their heaviest usage late last week (Thursday and Friday), when the accounts tweeted the hashtag more than 3,000 times.

It also gained popularity among Twitter users, including some in Congress, pushing the House Intelligence Committee to release a confidential report written by the committee’s chairman, Republican Devin Nunes.

They argued the report shed light of bias at the FBI and the Department of Justice, both of which have been investigation possible ties between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia.

U.S. intelligence officials and lawmakers from both parties have warned Russia is continuing to try to meddle in U.S. politics with an eye on the 2018 midterm elections. Russia has denied the allegation.

“They’re trying to undermine Western democracy,” Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the Aspen Security Forum this past July, admitting Russia’s influence efforts are “quite a bit more sophisticated than they used to be.”

“I think all of my colleagues probably are worried or should be worried about it,” Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr warned last month.

“To believe that Russia’s not attempting in the United States to do things potentially for the ’18 cycle I think would be ignorant on our part,” Burr said.
…

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a bill reopening the government, ending a 3-day partial shutdown that was triggered in part by a partisan brawl over immigration.

Late Monday, members of the House of Representatives voted to approve the bill the U.S. Senate passed earlier in the day.

The so-called continuing resolution keeps the government funded until February 8 to allow Congress time to reach a longer-term budget agreement.

“It’s good news for the country,” Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio told reporters.

“Today is a day to celebrate,” Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said. “When government shuts down, it represents the ultimate failure to govern.”

“I am pleased that Democrats in Congress have come to their senses and are now willing to fund our great military, border patrol, first responders,” President Donald Trump said in a statement read by Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Trump later tweeted that after a “Big win for Republicans” he wants “a big win for everyone” on those issues.

“Should be able to get there. See you at the negotiating table!” he said.

The White House argues Democrats “caved” after Trump refused to negotiate with them on immigration policy until the government reopened. Democrats had been holding out for a firmer commitment to provide protections for some 700,000 younger immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children.

Earlier, Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky reassured Democrats that the Senate would address a range of immigration topics, including hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to America as children.

“So long as the government remains open, it would be my intention to take up legislation here in the Senate that would address DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals], border security, and related issues as well as disaster relief, defense funding, health care and other important matters,” McConnell said.

Democrats, who banded together to help defeat a funding bill late Friday, signaled a wary acceptance of the Republican offer.

“While this procedure will not satisfy everyone on all sides, it’s a way forward,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said. “We expect that a bipartisan bill on DACA will receive fair consideration and an up-or-down vote on the [Senate] floor.”

Enacting immigration reform will require more than the Senate, however. Action by the House of Representatives and Trump’s signature will also be required.

The White House has sent conflicting signals on what the president will accept in a final immigration deal. House Republicans, meanwhile, said they are not bound by promises made in the Senate.

“What they do inside their [Senate] chamber is up to them,” Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole said.

“The Senate’s finally doing the job, but that doesn’t commit us to doing anything other than what we said,” Republican Rep. Chris Collins of New York said. “We will also negotiate [on immigration] in good faith.”

Democrats, who had been hailed by immigrant rights advocates for drawing a line in the sand Friday, were blasted as weak-willed for taking the Republican deal.

“This Congress needs to get a heart and grow a backbone,” the California-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights said in a statement. “Democrats need to grow some courage and keep their word. It is a shame the leadership of the Democratic Senate chose to wait one more time to fulfill their promise to the Latino and immigrant community and the country as a whole.”

In a statement Congressman Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-IL) complained, “This simply kicks the can down the road with no assurance that we will protect Dreamers [DACA recipients] from deportation or fight Republican attempts to curtail or eliminate legal immigration.”

President Trump repeatedly accused Democrats of siding with illegal immigrants over the American people, a charge Democrats firmly rejected. On Monday, however, the White House expressed hope for a bipartisan deal on immigration.

WATCH: Government reopens

​”I don’t think there’s a whole lot of daylight between where we are and where the Democrats are,” Sanders said at a press briefing. “We certainly want to negotiate and get to a place [agreement], and we’re hopeful we can do that over the next couple of weeks.”

The U.S. government’s 2018 fiscal year began in October of last year, but Congress has yet to authorize a full year of spending, passing a series of short-term funding measures at 2017 levels, instead. Democrats went along with three extensions but balked at a fourth last week after immigration talks with Republicans and the White House broke down.

VOA’s Peter Heinlein and Katherine Gypson contributed to this report.
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The U.S. Senate advanced a stop-gap funding bill on Monday that paves the way to reopen the federal government three days into a partial shutdown that was triggered in part by a partisan brawl over immigration.

Thirty-three Democrats joined 48 Republicans to end debate in the 100-member chamber on a bill extending the government’s spending authority through Feb. 8, setting the stage for final Senate passage. Swift approval was expected in the House of Representatives, after which the bill would go to the White House for President Donald Trump’s signature.

The Democrats had demanded firm assurances that the chamber would consider the fate of the immigrants who were brought into the U.S. years ago by their parents before agreeing to end the legislative standoff. Democratic leader Charles Schumer said McConnell assured him if the immigration issue is not resolved by February 8, the Senate would immediately consider it right after that date.

The legislation to end the shutdown must still be approved by the House of Representatives, but that is considered virtually certain, before the measure is sent to President Donald Trump for his signature.

Ahead of the vote, federal agencies on Monday were in the midst of furloughing thousands of civil servants without pay and starting to curtail their operations at the start of a new workweek. The shutdown had started at Friday midnight after the Senate failed to adopt a House-approved stop-gap funding measure that extended through mid-February.

The stalemate roiled official Washington.

Before the vote, Trump attacked Democratic lawmakers in new Twitter comments, saying, “The Democrats are turning down services and security for citizens in favor of services and security for non-citizens. Not good!” He contended that “Democrats have shut down our government in the interests of their far left base. They don’t want to do it but are powerless!”

White House legislative affairs director Marc Short told CNN that the Trump administration wants “to find a pathway” for the young immigrants, many of whom only know the U.S. as their home country, to stay in the United States. But Short also said “a real security threat” remains on the southern U.S. border with Mexico, with Trump demanding funding for a wall to thwart further illegal immigration.

A new Trump political ad accused Democrats of being “complicit” in U.S. murders committed by illegal immigrants.

Late Sunday, Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer said Democratic and Republican lawmakers had “yet to reach an agreement on a path forward” linking the full reopening of the government to resolution of the deportation issue.

Earlier, in a Senate speech, he called the partial government closure the “Trump Shutdown,” contending that he offered the president funding for the wall, a key 2016 Trump campaign promise, but that the U.S. leader would not compromise on other immigration policy changes.

“He can’t take yes for an answer,” Schumer said of Trump.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters Monday, “We’re not going to start having negotiations about immigration reform until the government’s reopened. It’s pretty simple.”

The U.S. government has partially shut down on several occasions over lawmaking and funding disputes. The most recent till now was a 16-day shutdown in 2013 in a partisan deadlock over health care policy. About 850,000 federal workers were furloughed then.

Services that stop or continue during a federal shutdown vary. But federal research projects could be stalled, national parks and museums closed, tax questions left unanswered, processing of veterans’ disability applications delayed, and federal nutrition programs suspended, as was the case in 2013.

Senate lawmakers spent all day Sunday meeting and negotiating and looking for a way to end the impasse on immigration. McConnell called off a 1 a.m. Monday vote on reopening the government in favor of the vote at noon, Washington time.

With Republican and Democratic lawmakers blaming each other for the stalemate, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on Sunday also appeared to fault the White House for the immigration standoff, specifically hardline immigration Trump adviser Stephen Miller.

“Every time we have a proposal, it is only yanked back by staff members,” Graham said. “As long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiation on immigration, we are going nowhere.”

Graham said Miller is out of the “mainstream” with his immigration views.

Sanders called Graham’s comments “a sad and desperate attempt…to tarnish a staffer.” She said Miller was not at the White House “to push his agenda,” but rather to support Trump’s immigration views.

 
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The White House is defending a tough new ad by President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign that says Democrats will be “complicit” in any killings committed by immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

The 30-second spot was released on Saturday’s anniversary of Trump’s inauguration and amid the government shutdown. Democrats are refusing to fund the government unless Republicans agree to protect some 700,000 immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. The ad highlights the Republican president’s pledge to build a border wall and tighten border security.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says national security is Trump’s top priority as president.

Sanders told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday that “it’s absolutely appropriate for the commander in chief to do everything he can to make sure he’s protecting our citizens.”
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