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U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports sparked concerns of a trade war Friday, with emerging markets trading lower and some world leaders threatening to take retaliatory measures.

Japan’s Nikkei share average fell to a more than two-week low Friday. The Nikkei ended 2.5 percent lower at 21,181.64 points, its lowest closing since Feb. 14.

“Automakers will have to bear the cost, and they may also have to raise prices while auto sales are already sluggish,” said Takuya Takahashi, a strategist at Daiwa Securities. “This isn’t looking good to the auto sector.”

​China, EU, Canada react

China on Friday expressed “grave concern” about the apparent U.S. trade policy but had no immediate response to Trump’s announcement that he will increase duties on steel and aluminum imports.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker denounced Trump’s trade plan as “a blatant intervention to protect U.S. domestic industry.” He said the EU would take retaliatory measures, it Trump implements his plan.

Canada said it would “take responsive measures” to protect its trade interests and workers if the restrictions are imposed on its steel and aluminum products.

Trump said Thursday the tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum imports will be in effect for a long period of time. He said the measure will be signed “sometime next week.”

The trade war talk had stocks closing sharply lower on Wall Street.

The American International Automobile Dealers Association said Trump’s tariff plans would increase prices substantially.

“This is going to have fallout on our downstream suppliers, particularly in the automotive, machinery and aircraft sectors,” said Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade official. “What benefits one industry can hurt another. What saves one job can jeopardize another,” she said.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president’s decision “shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.” She said Trump had talked about the trade plans “for decades.”

Republicans speak out

Not all of Trump’s fellow Republican politicians agreed with his trade war talk.

Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska said, “You’d expect a policy this bad from a leftist administration, not a supposedly Republican one.”

A spokesman for House Speaker Paul Ryan said the House majority leader hoped the president would “consider the unintended consequences of this idea and look at other approaches before moving forward.”

Trump posted on Twitter Thursday about trade policy.

At the Thursday meeting, President Trump said the NAFTA trade pact and the World Trade Organization have been disasters for the United States. He asserted “the rise of China economically was directly equal to the date of the opening of the World Trade Organization.”

Trump told officials from steel and aluminum companies that the United States “hasn’t been treated fairly by other countries, but I don’t blame the other countries.”

In 2017, Canada, Brazil, South Korea and Mexico accounted for nearly half of all U.S. steel imports. That year, Chinese steel accounted for less than 2 percent of overall U.S. imports.

President Trump said he has a lot of respect for Chinese President Xi Jinping, and when he was in China, he told President Xi, “I don’t blame you, if you can get away with almost 500 billion dollars a year off of our country, how can I blame you? Somebody agreed to these deals. Those people should be ashamed of themselves for what they let happened.”

Xi’s top economic adviser, Liu He, is set to visit the White House Thursday to meet with top administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Trump’s chief economic adviser Gary Cohn.

A White House official speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters that they expect a “frank exchange of views” and will focus on “the substantive issues.”

Ryan L. Hass, the David M. Rubenstein Fellow at John L. Thornton China Center and the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at Brookings Institution told VOA he believes in the best-case scenario, Liu’s visit will assure both sides that “they are committed to solving underlying problems in the bilateral trade relationship.” Hass noted, “In such a scenario, both sides would agree on the problems that need to be addressed, the framework for addressing them, and the participants and timeline for concluding negotiations.”

Hass said if Liu’s visit fails to exceed the White House’s expectations, then the probability of unilateral U.S. trade actions against China will go up.

“If the U.S. takes unilateral actions, China likely will respond proportionately, and that could set off a tit-for-tat cycle leading to a trade war,” Hass said.
…

First lady Melania Trump reportedly gained permanent residence in the United States through a visa program specifically for people with “extraordinary ability.”

The Washington Post reported Thursday that President Donald Trump’s wife in March 2001 was one of only five people from Slovenia to enter the U.S. through the EB-1 program, also referred to as the “Einstein visa” program.

The EB-1 program is reserved for people such as academic researchers and multinational business executives, or those in other fields, such as Olympic athletes and Oscar-winning actors, who have demonstrated “sustained national and international acclaim,” the Post reported. 

According to government statistics, only 3,376 of more than 1 million green cards in 2001 were issued through the EB-1 program.

The first lady was dating Donald Trump when she received her green card. The former model had been featured in runway shows in Europe and had been included in the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated.

With her green card, she was able to obtain U.S. citizenship as well as sponsor the legal residency of her parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs. The Post reports they are close to receiving their citizenship.

That would mean that the Knavses were given legal status based on family reunification, also called “chain migration” by detractors, which President Trump has repeatedly called on Congress to end:

Michael Wildes, the attorney for Melania Trump and her family, defended her selection for the EB-1 program.

“Mrs. Trump was more than amply qualified and solidly eligible,” he told the Post. “There is no reason to adjudicate her petition publicly when her privacy is so important to her.” 
…

First lady Melania Trump reportedly gained permanent residence in the United States through a visa program specifically for people with “extraordinary ability.”

The Washington Post reported Thursday that President Donald Trump’s wife in March 2001 was one of only five people from Slovenia to enter the U.S. through the EB-1 program, also referred to as the “Einstein visa” program.

The EB-1 program is reserved for people such as academic researchers and multinational business executives, or those in other fields, such as Olympic athletes and Oscar-winning actors, who have demonstrated “sustained national and international acclaim,” the Post reported. 

According to government statistics, only 3,376 of more than 1 million green cards in 2001 were issued through the EB-1 program.

The first lady was dating Donald Trump when she received her green card. The former model had been featured in runway shows in Europe and had been included in the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated.

With her green card, she was able to obtain U.S. citizenship as well as sponsor the legal residency of her parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs. The Post reports they are close to receiving their citizenship.

That would mean that the Knavses were given legal status based on family reunification, also called “chain migration” by detractors, which President Trump has repeatedly called on Congress to end:

Michael Wildes, the attorney for Melania Trump and her family, defended her selection for the EB-1 program.

“Mrs. Trump was more than amply qualified and solidly eligible,” he told the Post. “There is no reason to adjudicate her petition publicly when her privacy is so important to her.” 
…

The White House on Thursday faced fresh speculation about the future of national security adviser H.R. McMaster, with officials sending mixed messages about his possible departure.

Amid a stream of staff leaving Donald Trump’s White House, NBC reported that the three-star general tasked with running White House security policy would, within months, be headed for the exit as well.

“We frequently face rumor and innuendo about senior administration officials,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said in response. “There are no personnel announcements at this time.”

That was followed up by a more categorical statement from McMaster’s spokesman, Michael Anton.

“I was just with President Trump and H.R. McMaster in the Oval Office. President Trump said that the NBC News story is fake news, and told McMaster that he is doing a great job,” Anton said.

NBC reported that a senior executive at U.S. automaker Ford, Stephen Biegun, was a possible replacement.

Biegun previously worked as national security adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, and worked in the George. W. Bush White House.

Trump and McMaster have had an uneasy relationship.

When the army general recently said there was “incontrovertible” evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, he was publicly upbraided by Trump.

“General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians,” Trump tweeted.

McMaster joined the administration in February last year, replacing Michael Flynn, who has since been indicted by Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russia’s role in the 2016 election and whether there were connections between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Last week, CNN reported that the Pentagon was looking at moving McMaster back into the military.
…

The White House on Thursday faced fresh speculation about the future of national security adviser H.R. McMaster, with officials sending mixed messages about his possible departure.

Amid a stream of staff leaving Donald Trump’s White House, NBC reported that the three-star general tasked with running White House security policy would, within months, be headed for the exit as well.

“We frequently face rumor and innuendo about senior administration officials,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said in response. “There are no personnel announcements at this time.”

That was followed up by a more categorical statement from McMaster’s spokesman, Michael Anton.

“I was just with President Trump and H.R. McMaster in the Oval Office. President Trump said that the NBC News story is fake news, and told McMaster that he is doing a great job,” Anton said.

NBC reported that a senior executive at U.S. automaker Ford, Stephen Biegun, was a possible replacement.

Biegun previously worked as national security adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, and worked in the George. W. Bush White House.

Trump and McMaster have had an uneasy relationship.

When the army general recently said there was “incontrovertible” evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, he was publicly upbraided by Trump.

“General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians,” Trump tweeted.

McMaster joined the administration in February last year, replacing Michael Flynn, who has since been indicted by Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russia’s role in the 2016 election and whether there were connections between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Last week, CNN reported that the Pentagon was looking at moving McMaster back into the military.
…

The first primary of 2018 could offer a test of the re-energized gun-control movement, but the issue has not dominated races in gun-loving Texas, even though the state recently endured a massacre that was deadlier than the Florida high school shooting.

The results of the Texas primary on Tuesday might be expected to give some early indication of whether voter attitudes toward weapons have changed in the two weeks since a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. But that now seems less likely because the attack has not emerged as a decisive factor in the final stages of the Texas campaign. The state has some of the most relaxed gun laws in the U.S. and hosts the National Rifle Association’s national convention in May.

“It’s hard. Texas is hard,” said Elva Mendoza, a leading Texas organizer with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Republicans on the ballot have not softened on gun rights, and Texas Democrats are still heavily focused on other issues, such as immigration, while much of the rest of their party mounts its strongest push in years for tighter restrictions on firearms.

The Florida assault spurred Mendoza’s group to survey candidates nationwide on gun-control measures before Election Day in November. But those results will not be ready for the Texas primary because of the early vote, which comes two months before primary elections really kick off in the U.S.

Even before the Florida shooting, Texas candidates were not talking about the even worse massacre that happened in their own backyard just four months ago. A gunman with an AR-15-style rifle shot and killed 25 people at a rural church in tiny Sutherland Springs. Authorities put the official toll death at 26. One of the victims was pregnant, and more than half of the dead were children.

Running for a congressional seat just an hour from Sutherland Springs, Republican Jenifer Sarver doesn’t recall getting a single question about the Second Amendment before the Florida massacre. She said Thursday that now “not a day goes by” where it doesn’t come up. But she is skeptical of the idea that voters will cast ballots solely on the gun debate.

“It’s not likely this is going to be a bellwether on one specific issue,” Sarver said.

Sutherland Springs is represented by Rep. Henry Cuellar, one of just a handful of Democrats in Congress who received money from the National Rifle Association in 2016. His South Texas district stretches to the Mexico border and is dotted with hunting ranches.

Cuellar said Thursday that he hasn’t been confronted by activists or constituents on guns since the Florida shooting. He said the same was true after the Sutherland Spring massacre.

“I didn’t get any, `Hey, you got to get rid of arms,”‘ said Cuellar, who has previously touted his NRA endorsement in ads. He will coast through next week’s primary without an opponent.

Texas has more than 1 million residents who are licensed to carry handguns. Since the 2012 shooting of an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, Texas has expanded gun rights by making it cheaper and easier to get licensed and allowing handguns into college classrooms and dorms.

President Donald Trump is looking at Texas as a possible model for his proposal to arm teachers in the wake of the Florida shooting. After the slayings in Sutherland Springs, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said more guns were needed in churches.

In a handful of GOP-held congressional districts that Democrats are targeting in November, guns have not broken through as key issues.

“It can be inflammatory in a way that might backfire on them. There are riper political arguments to make about immigration or about Donald Trump’s lack of inclusion than about guns,” said Brandon Rottinhaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston.

Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who is mounting a longshot bid to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, has gone further than other Democrats in calling for a ban on assault rifles like those used in both the Florida and Sutherland Springs attacks.

“If it means we’re not as viable in the election, so be it,” the told voters in the West Texas town of Brownwood.
…

The first primary of 2018 could offer a test of the re-energized gun-control movement, but the issue has not dominated races in gun-loving Texas, even though the state recently endured a massacre that was deadlier than the Florida high school shooting.

The results of the Texas primary on Tuesday might be expected to give some early indication of whether voter attitudes toward weapons have changed in the two weeks since a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. But that now seems less likely because the attack has not emerged as a decisive factor in the final stages of the Texas campaign. The state has some of the most relaxed gun laws in the U.S. and hosts the National Rifle Association’s national convention in May.

“It’s hard. Texas is hard,” said Elva Mendoza, a leading Texas organizer with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Republicans on the ballot have not softened on gun rights, and Texas Democrats are still heavily focused on other issues, such as immigration, while much of the rest of their party mounts its strongest push in years for tighter restrictions on firearms.

The Florida assault spurred Mendoza’s group to survey candidates nationwide on gun-control measures before Election Day in November. But those results will not be ready for the Texas primary because of the early vote, which comes two months before primary elections really kick off in the U.S.

Even before the Florida shooting, Texas candidates were not talking about the even worse massacre that happened in their own backyard just four months ago. A gunman with an AR-15-style rifle shot and killed 25 people at a rural church in tiny Sutherland Springs. Authorities put the official toll death at 26. One of the victims was pregnant, and more than half of the dead were children.

Running for a congressional seat just an hour from Sutherland Springs, Republican Jenifer Sarver doesn’t recall getting a single question about the Second Amendment before the Florida massacre. She said Thursday that now “not a day goes by” where it doesn’t come up. But she is skeptical of the idea that voters will cast ballots solely on the gun debate.

“It’s not likely this is going to be a bellwether on one specific issue,” Sarver said.

Sutherland Springs is represented by Rep. Henry Cuellar, one of just a handful of Democrats in Congress who received money from the National Rifle Association in 2016. His South Texas district stretches to the Mexico border and is dotted with hunting ranches.

Cuellar said Thursday that he hasn’t been confronted by activists or constituents on guns since the Florida shooting. He said the same was true after the Sutherland Spring massacre.

“I didn’t get any, `Hey, you got to get rid of arms,”‘ said Cuellar, who has previously touted his NRA endorsement in ads. He will coast through next week’s primary without an opponent.

Texas has more than 1 million residents who are licensed to carry handguns. Since the 2012 shooting of an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, Texas has expanded gun rights by making it cheaper and easier to get licensed and allowing handguns into college classrooms and dorms.

President Donald Trump is looking at Texas as a possible model for his proposal to arm teachers in the wake of the Florida shooting. After the slayings in Sutherland Springs, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said more guns were needed in churches.

In a handful of GOP-held congressional districts that Democrats are targeting in November, guns have not broken through as key issues.

“It can be inflammatory in a way that might backfire on them. There are riper political arguments to make about immigration or about Donald Trump’s lack of inclusion than about guns,” said Brandon Rottinhaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston.

Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who is mounting a longshot bid to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, has gone further than other Democrats in calling for a ban on assault rifles like those used in both the Florida and Sutherland Springs attacks.

“If it means we’re not as viable in the election, so be it,” the told voters in the West Texas town of Brownwood.
…

The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Roberta Jacobson, is resigning from her post this spring, amid strained relations between the two countries and on the heels of other notable departures from the State Department.

In a note sent to embassy staff Thursday, Jacobson wrote that after more than 31 years in government service, she has submitted her resignation and it takes effect May 5, two years to the day after she was sworn in as ambassador.

“I have come to the difficult decision that it is the right time to move on to new challenges and adventures. … This decision is all the more difficult because of my profound belief in the importance of the U.S.-Mexico relationship and knowledge that it is at a crucial moment,” Jacobson said.

She did not say why she made the decision, but tweeted later Thursday that she is leaving “in search of other opportunities.”

Diplomatic ties between Washington and Mexico city have been strained under the Trump administration amid the president’s tough stance and sharp rhetoric on migration and trade, and repeated vows to build a border wall and force Mexico to pay for it.

The countries are currently in a seventh round of talks in Mexico City on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, along with Canada.

A career diplomat, Jacobson previously served as assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs and is seen having a deep understanding of the region and the Mexico-U.S. relationship.

After the December 2014 shock announcement that the United States and Cuba would re-establish diplomatic relations after decades of enmity, Jacobson spearheaded negotiations with Havana — something that irked Cuban-American lawmakers and led to a long delay in her Senate confirmation as ambassador to Mexico.

Jacobson is the United States’ first female ambassador to Mexico. During her tenure in the country, she has taken special interest in and spoken frequently about issues such as the violence against women, human rights and the killings of journalists in the country.

She tweeted that she will leave “with Mexico in my soul and in my heart.”

In early February, Tom Shannon, the State Department’s top career diplomat and another official with extensive experience in the Americas, announced that he would retire as soon as a successor for his post was chosen and ready to fill the job.
…

The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Roberta Jacobson, is resigning from her post this spring, amid strained relations between the two countries and on the heels of other notable departures from the State Department.

In a note sent to embassy staff Thursday, Jacobson wrote that after more than 31 years in government service, she has submitted her resignation and it takes effect May 5, two years to the day after she was sworn in as ambassador.

“I have come to the difficult decision that it is the right time to move on to new challenges and adventures. … This decision is all the more difficult because of my profound belief in the importance of the U.S.-Mexico relationship and knowledge that it is at a crucial moment,” Jacobson said.

She did not say why she made the decision, but tweeted later Thursday that she is leaving “in search of other opportunities.”

Diplomatic ties between Washington and Mexico city have been strained under the Trump administration amid the president’s tough stance and sharp rhetoric on migration and trade, and repeated vows to build a border wall and force Mexico to pay for it.

The countries are currently in a seventh round of talks in Mexico City on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, along with Canada.

A career diplomat, Jacobson previously served as assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs and is seen having a deep understanding of the region and the Mexico-U.S. relationship.

After the December 2014 shock announcement that the United States and Cuba would re-establish diplomatic relations after decades of enmity, Jacobson spearheaded negotiations with Havana — something that irked Cuban-American lawmakers and led to a long delay in her Senate confirmation as ambassador to Mexico.

Jacobson is the United States’ first female ambassador to Mexico. During her tenure in the country, she has taken special interest in and spoken frequently about issues such as the violence against women, human rights and the killings of journalists in the country.

She tweeted that she will leave “with Mexico in my soul and in my heart.”

In early February, Tom Shannon, the State Department’s top career diplomat and another official with extensive experience in the Americas, announced that he would retire as soon as a successor for his post was chosen and ready to fill the job.
…

U.S. company Dick’s Sporting Goods has decided to stop selling assault-style rifles in the wake of February’s Parkland, Florida, high school shooting. The attack and its aftermath led other companies to cancel their discount programs for National Rifle Association members. This comes as President Donald Trump voiced support for new gun control measures in a bipartisan meeting with lawmakers in Washington. VOA’s Elizabeth Cherneff has more.
…

U.S. company Dick’s Sporting Goods has decided to stop selling assault-style rifles in the wake of February’s Parkland, Florida, high school shooting. The attack and its aftermath led other companies to cancel their discount programs for National Rifle Association members. This comes as President Donald Trump voiced support for new gun control measures in a bipartisan meeting with lawmakers in Washington. VOA’s Elizabeth Cherneff has more.
…

The U.S. Congress paid tribute to famed evangelist Rev. Billy Graham Wednesday with a memorial service as he lies in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. Graham, who died at 99 last week, was one of the leading spiritual voices of the 20th century and played a key role in bringing evangelical Christianity into mainstream American politics. As congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, Graham leaves behind a complicated legacy on women, gay rights and the role of religion in politics.
…

The U.S. Congress paid tribute to famed evangelist Rev. Billy Graham Wednesday with a memorial service as he lies in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. Graham, who died at 99 last week, was one of the leading spiritual voices of the 20th century and played a key role in bringing evangelical Christianity into mainstream American politics. As congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, Graham leaves behind a complicated legacy on women, gay rights and the role of religion in politics.
…

In recent weeks, the investigation into possible collusion between President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia has intensified, raising the prospect that the probe could become an issue in advance of the November midterm congressional elections.

Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort made another appearance in federal court in Washington Wednesday, where he pleaded not guilty to the latest round of charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller.

WATCH: Russia Probe Intensifies as Trump Complains About ‘Witch Hunt’

Last week, Rick Gates, Manafort’s former deputy, pleaded guilty to lying to prosecutors and is now cooperating with the investigation.

In mid-February, 13 Russians were indicted in connection with election meddling, which deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein described as an effort to “promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy. We must not allow them to succeed.”

Hicks testifies

Congressional inquiries also continue. Hope Hicks, the White House communications director and a longtime Trump aide, was the latest figure to testify before a congressional committee on the Russia probe.

Hicks declined to answer some questions before a closed session of the House Intelligence Committee, frustrating several Democrats.

“This is not executive privilege. This is executive stonewalling,” said ranking committee Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff.

Witch hunt

But there was more pushback from the White House this week. President Trump fired off a series of tweets dismissing the probe as a “WITCH HUNT.”

“They have had this phony cloud over this administration, over our government,” Trump told reporters at the White House last month. “And it has hurt our government, it does hurt our government. It is a Democrat hoax.”

Democrats reject that view, including Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“I continue to believe that this is the most important thing that I will work on in my whole public career, and getting the whole truth out is extraordinarily important,” he said.

Political cloud

Warner’s committee is also investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, an issue that has cast a cloud over the White House since Trump took office.

“I think it is a significant threat,” said Northeastern University analyst Costas Panagopoulos, via Skype. “We don’t know what that investigation is going to turn up. We don’t know how serious these findings will be for the president.”

Concerns about the investigation could further erode Trump’s historically low approval ratings in the runup to this year’s congressional elections, according to Brookings Institution expert John Hudak.

“And if Republicans lose the House and/or the Senate in 2018, it is going to mean a disastrous finish to the last two years of Trump’s first term.”

Trump’s approval averages just more than 40 percent in recent polls. Presidents with approval ratings of less than 50 percent can leave their party vulnerable during midterm elections. On average, the president’s party has lost about 30 House seats in midterms going back to the U.S. Civil War.

​Base unmoved

So far though, the probe seems to be having little impact on Trump’s core supporters. For example, it got little attention at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference, where the president was a featured speaker.

“The so-called Russia investigation is less of a negative draw on President Trump and his administration and their attention than many of his opponents would like it to be,” said conservative analyst Michael Barone of the American Enterprise Institute.

For the most part, opinion polls have found the public still believes the probe is worthwhile. A recent CNN poll found that 61 percent of those surveyed believe the Russia investigation is a serious matter, while 34 percent said it was mainly an effort to discredit Trump.

A Suffolk University/USA Today poll found that 75 percent of those asked took the charges of Russian meddling in the election either very or somewhat seriously. Twenty percent said they took it either not very seriously or not seriously at all.
…

In recent weeks, the investigation into possible collusion between President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia has intensified, raising the prospect that the probe could become an issue in advance of the November midterm congressional elections.

Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort made another appearance in federal court in Washington Wednesday, where he pleaded not guilty to the latest round of charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller.

WATCH: Russia Probe Intensifies as Trump Complains About ‘Witch Hunt’

Last week, Rick Gates, Manafort’s former deputy, pleaded guilty to lying to prosecutors and is now cooperating with the investigation.

In mid-February, 13 Russians were indicted in connection with election meddling, which deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein described as an effort to “promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy. We must not allow them to succeed.”

Hicks testifies

Congressional inquiries also continue. Hope Hicks, the White House communications director and a longtime Trump aide, was the latest figure to testify before a congressional committee on the Russia probe.

Hicks declined to answer some questions before a closed session of the House Intelligence Committee, frustrating several Democrats.

“This is not executive privilege. This is executive stonewalling,” said ranking committee Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff.

Witch hunt

But there was more pushback from the White House this week. President Trump fired off a series of tweets dismissing the probe as a “WITCH HUNT.”

“They have had this phony cloud over this administration, over our government,” Trump told reporters at the White House last month. “And it has hurt our government, it does hurt our government. It is a Democrat hoax.”

Democrats reject that view, including Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“I continue to believe that this is the most important thing that I will work on in my whole public career, and getting the whole truth out is extraordinarily important,” he said.

Political cloud

Warner’s committee is also investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, an issue that has cast a cloud over the White House since Trump took office.

“I think it is a significant threat,” said Northeastern University analyst Costas Panagopoulos, via Skype. “We don’t know what that investigation is going to turn up. We don’t know how serious these findings will be for the president.”

Concerns about the investigation could further erode Trump’s historically low approval ratings in the runup to this year’s congressional elections, according to Brookings Institution expert John Hudak.

“And if Republicans lose the House and/or the Senate in 2018, it is going to mean a disastrous finish to the last two years of Trump’s first term.”

Trump’s approval averages just more than 40 percent in recent polls. Presidents with approval ratings of less than 50 percent can leave their party vulnerable during midterm elections. On average, the president’s party has lost about 30 House seats in midterms going back to the U.S. Civil War.

​Base unmoved

So far though, the probe seems to be having little impact on Trump’s core supporters. For example, it got little attention at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference, where the president was a featured speaker.

“The so-called Russia investigation is less of a negative draw on President Trump and his administration and their attention than many of his opponents would like it to be,” said conservative analyst Michael Barone of the American Enterprise Institute.

For the most part, opinion polls have found the public still believes the probe is worthwhile. A recent CNN poll found that 61 percent of those surveyed believe the Russia investigation is a serious matter, while 34 percent said it was mainly an effort to discredit Trump.

A Suffolk University/USA Today poll found that 75 percent of those asked took the charges of Russian meddling in the election either very or somewhat seriously. Twenty percent said they took it either not very seriously or not seriously at all.
…

The walkway leading onto the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is lined with flowers and photographs, memorials to the 17 students and teachers killed in a Valentine’s Day massacre that forever altered their lives and thrust them into the center of the nation’s gun debate.

Alexis Grogan, a 15-year-old sophomore, planned to wear a Stoneman Douglas color — maroon — on the first day back to class Wednesday, plus sneakers that say “MSD Strong, be positive, be passionate, be proud to be an eagle” and “2/14/18” in honor of those who died.

She feels nervous, like it might be too soon to go on as usual without slain friends like Luke Hoyer, who sat two seats behind her in Spanish. Still, the support from her fellow students, and their fight to strengthen gun control laws have buoyed her spirits.

“I am so proud of how the kids at my school have been fighting because we all want change to happen and, as we see the progression, it really shows us that people do care and they do hear what we have to say,” Grogan said in a text message.

​Keeping the pressure on

The Douglas students return to school after a whirlwind of political activism that has reignited the nation’s gun and school-safety debate. Douglas sophomore Charlotte Dixon said some of her friends are having a hard time returning to classes. But like Grogan, they are encouraged by the attention to gun laws their actions have brought.

“I’m so glad that people are stepping forward and talking about it keeping it relevant … because it shouldn’t happen to anyone ever again,” Dixon said.

On Tuesday, relatives of the Stoneman Douglas victims kept up the pressure in Florida’s capital with emotional testimony during a legislative hearing to discuss passing a bill that would, among other things, raise the age limit to buy long guns from 18 to 21. The bill also would create a program that allows teachers who receive law-enforcement training and are deputized by the local sheriff’s office to carry concealed weapons in the classroom, if also approved by the school district. The school’s superintendent has spoken out firmly against that measure.

The House Appropriations Committee’s 23-6 vote in favor of the bill Tuesday followed more than four hours of emotional discussion with the parents of some of the 17 killed, and nearly two weeks of activism by students on social media and in televised debates.

Gov. Rick Scott, who met with officials in Miami-Dade County on Tuesday, said at a news conference that he hopes a gun and school-safety bill is passed before Florida’s annual legislative session ends March 9. He had proposed measures that overlap with the Legislature’s plan but did not include arming teachers. However, he declined to say Tuesday whether he would veto the sweeping package if it included that provision.

The Senate’s version of the school-safety bill was approved by a second committee on a 13-7 vote Tuesday evening. Sen. Bill Galvano, who is designated to become the next Senate president and is ushering through the bill, said the earliest it will be considered by the full Senate is Friday.

Marion Hammer, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association and Unified Sportsmen of Florida, told the House Appropriations Committee that she supports tightening school security and keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, but not the House bill’s gun-ownership restrictions, which she later said would not have stopped the Parkland shooting.

“Part of what we need to do is make people understand that guns are not the problem,” she said after the hearing. “So passing more laws dealing with guns as a solution to a problem that exists within the enforcement of laws is just kind of silly.”

Max Schachter, father of 14-year-old victim Alex Schachter, said the bill the House committee eventually approved doesn’t go far enough, but could have saved his son.

“If we would have had these measures in place, I would not have had to bury my son next to his mother a week and a half ago. … I’m pleading for your help. I’m willing to compromise. Are you?” he asked.

​Personal memorials

Outside the school on Tuesday, people tied poems to the chain-link fence surrounding the school, and dropped off red, heart-shaped balloons. The building where the shooting occurred was cordoned off, and people signed photographs of the fallen.

Junior Sidney Fischer, 17, was in a Holocaust history class when the shooter aimed his gun at the window and shot into the room. Two students in his classroom died. He’s planning to wear swim goggles on his first day back Wednesday to honor his friend Nicholas Dworet, who was an accomplished swimmer.

“Obviously our school will never be the same, but I think once we get back into our normal routine people will shift back into a comfortable state,” Fischer said.

He’s planning to ride to school with a friend — just like they did before the shooting.

“I’m actually not too scared of going back tomorrow,” he said. “There is this sort of looming thought that someone will try to perform another shooting but I’m sure our school will be riddled with security.”
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The walkway leading onto the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is lined with flowers and photographs, memorials to the 17 students and teachers killed in a Valentine’s Day massacre that forever altered their lives and thrust them into the center of the nation’s gun debate.

Alexis Grogan, a 15-year-old sophomore, planned to wear a Stoneman Douglas color — maroon — on the first day back to class Wednesday, plus sneakers that say “MSD Strong, be positive, be passionate, be proud to be an eagle” and “2/14/18” in honor of those who died.

She feels nervous, like it might be too soon to go on as usual without slain friends like Luke Hoyer, who sat two seats behind her in Spanish. Still, the support from her fellow students, and their fight to strengthen gun control laws have buoyed her spirits.

“I am so proud of how the kids at my school have been fighting because we all want change to happen and, as we see the progression, it really shows us that people do care and they do hear what we have to say,” Grogan said in a text message.

​Keeping the pressure on

The Douglas students return to school after a whirlwind of political activism that has reignited the nation’s gun and school-safety debate. Douglas sophomore Charlotte Dixon said some of her friends are having a hard time returning to classes. But like Grogan, they are encouraged by the attention to gun laws their actions have brought.

“I’m so glad that people are stepping forward and talking about it keeping it relevant … because it shouldn’t happen to anyone ever again,” Dixon said.

On Tuesday, relatives of the Stoneman Douglas victims kept up the pressure in Florida’s capital with emotional testimony during a legislative hearing to discuss passing a bill that would, among other things, raise the age limit to buy long guns from 18 to 21. The bill also would create a program that allows teachers who receive law-enforcement training and are deputized by the local sheriff’s office to carry concealed weapons in the classroom, if also approved by the school district. The school’s superintendent has spoken out firmly against that measure.

The House Appropriations Committee’s 23-6 vote in favor of the bill Tuesday followed more than four hours of emotional discussion with the parents of some of the 17 killed, and nearly two weeks of activism by students on social media and in televised debates.

Gov. Rick Scott, who met with officials in Miami-Dade County on Tuesday, said at a news conference that he hopes a gun and school-safety bill is passed before Florida’s annual legislative session ends March 9. He had proposed measures that overlap with the Legislature’s plan but did not include arming teachers. However, he declined to say Tuesday whether he would veto the sweeping package if it included that provision.

The Senate’s version of the school-safety bill was approved by a second committee on a 13-7 vote Tuesday evening. Sen. Bill Galvano, who is designated to become the next Senate president and is ushering through the bill, said the earliest it will be considered by the full Senate is Friday.

Marion Hammer, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association and Unified Sportsmen of Florida, told the House Appropriations Committee that she supports tightening school security and keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, but not the House bill’s gun-ownership restrictions, which she later said would not have stopped the Parkland shooting.

“Part of what we need to do is make people understand that guns are not the problem,” she said after the hearing. “So passing more laws dealing with guns as a solution to a problem that exists within the enforcement of laws is just kind of silly.”

Max Schachter, father of 14-year-old victim Alex Schachter, said the bill the House committee eventually approved doesn’t go far enough, but could have saved his son.

“If we would have had these measures in place, I would not have had to bury my son next to his mother a week and a half ago. … I’m pleading for your help. I’m willing to compromise. Are you?” he asked.

​Personal memorials

Outside the school on Tuesday, people tied poems to the chain-link fence surrounding the school, and dropped off red, heart-shaped balloons. The building where the shooting occurred was cordoned off, and people signed photographs of the fallen.

Junior Sidney Fischer, 17, was in a Holocaust history class when the shooter aimed his gun at the window and shot into the room. Two students in his classroom died. He’s planning to wear swim goggles on his first day back Wednesday to honor his friend Nicholas Dworet, who was an accomplished swimmer.

“Obviously our school will never be the same, but I think once we get back into our normal routine people will shift back into a comfortable state,” Fischer said.

He’s planning to ride to school with a friend — just like they did before the shooting.

“I’m actually not too scared of going back tomorrow,” he said. “There is this sort of looming thought that someone will try to perform another shooting but I’m sure our school will be riddled with security.”
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The United States says China’s proposal to abolish presidential term limits — a move that could make Xi Jinping president for life — is an internal matter for Beijing. VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from Washington.
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The United States says China’s proposal to abolish presidential term limits — a move that could make Xi Jinping president for life — is an internal matter for Beijing. VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from Washington.
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Joined by several state attorneys general and the acting DEA administrator, U.S. attorney general Jeff Sessions announced a new task force to crack down on opioid manufacturers and distributors. He also announced the hiring of a federal prosecutor to lead anti-opioid efforts at the Department of Justice. From Washington, VOA’s Jill Craig has more.
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Joined by several state attorneys general and the acting DEA administrator, U.S. attorney general Jeff Sessions announced a new task force to crack down on opioid manufacturers and distributors. He also announced the hiring of a federal prosecutor to lead anti-opioid efforts at the Department of Justice. From Washington, VOA’s Jill Craig has more.
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White House communications director Hope Hicks, one of President Donald Trump’s longest-running aides, appeared Tuesday before a congressional panel probing his campaign’s links to Russia, but it is not clear how many questions she was willing to answer.

The House Intelligence Committee is meeting behind closed doors with Hicks, who first worked for the Trump family as a public relations spokeswoman for Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, to promote her clothing business before later joining Trump’s campaign on his successful 2016 run for the White House.

The congressional panel has sparred in recent weeks with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon over the scope of questions he would answer about the weeks after Trump won the election before taking office and then events that occurred after Trump assumed power 13 months ago.

The White House did not invoke executive privilege against his testimony, but worked to limit the scope of questions he would answer to a prepared list of queries.

It has not been disclosed what line of questions the 29-year-old Hicks will face. Her earlier appearance in January before the same committee was scuttled in a dispute over what questions she would answer.

One point of Tuesday’s inquiry is likely to focus on her role in helping draft a misleading statement on Air Force One last year about a June 2016 meeting that Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort held with a Russian lawyer in Trump Tower in the midst of the campaign. The younger Trump set up the meeting believing he would get incriminating information about Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump’s opponent, but the mid-2017 statement about the gathering said it was about Americans’ adoptions of Russian children.

Congressman Michael Conaway, a Texas Republican who who is running the panel’s Russia investigation, said Monday that he “would not be surprised” if Hicks refuses to answer certain questions on grounds that Trump may eventually want to invoke executive privilege to keep secret conversations he had with her.

Trump almost daily attacks the investigations into Russia’s meddling in the election that was aimed at helping him defeat Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state.

On Tuesday, hours before Hicks was set for questioning, Trump said on Twitter, “WITCH HUNT,” in all capital letters. He quoted several analysts who say they see no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia or that he obstructed justice in trying to curb the FBI’s Russia investigation by firing former FBI director James Comey, who at the time was leading the agency’s Russia probe.

Trump’s ouster of Comey last May led to the appointment of another former FBI director, Robert Mueller, as the special counsel to continue the Russia investigation.

Mueller has secured guilty pleas from Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and former foreign affairs adviser George Papadopoulos for lying to investigators about their Russia contacts. One-time Trump campaign aide Rick Gates pleaded guilty last week to financial fraud and lying to investigators in connection with his lobbying efforts for the Moscow-backed government in Ukraine that predated his role in the U.S. political race. 
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U.S. President Donald Trump has named Republican digital strategist Brad Parscale to be the campaign manager of his 2020 re-election bid.

An official statement referred to Parscale as an “amazing talent, selected based on record of success.” Over the past year, the 42-year-old Parscale has been helping run a pro-Trump outside group called America First Action.

While Trump offers his views on issues large and small on Twitter, Parscale used the social media outlet Facebook to target rural voters during Trump’s successful 2016 campaign for the White House.

Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a top White House adviser, said Parscale “was essential in bringing a disciplined technology and data-driven approach to how the 2016 campaign was run.”

Trump, within hours of being inaugurated 13 months ago, said he would run for re-election for a second four-year term.

The U.S. leader has maintained a campaign office in Trump Tower, the New York skyscraper where he has a home and served as his 2016 campaign headquarters. He has been raising millions of dollars in a joint effort for his re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee.

Numerous Democrats have been eyeing the possibility of running against Trump, but most have held back on making any announcements of their intentions until after next November’s congressional elections.

A third of the Senate seats and the entire 435-member House of Representatives are up for election, with the results giving Washington politicians a reading on voter sentiment two years ahead of the next presidential contest in November 2020.

 
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Political activist Andy Cilek arrived at his local polling site in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, on Election Day in 2010 wearing a T-shirt touting the conservative Tea Party movement with the words “Don’t Tread on Me” as well as a button stating, “Please I.D. Me.”

His attire was enough to get him stopped in his tracks by a poll worker because Minnesota law forbids voters from donning political badges, buttons or other insignia inside polling places during elections. Cilek eventually was permitted to vote, but the confrontation became a key part of a legal challenge that reaches the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The nine justices will hear arguments over whether the state law violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment guarantee of free speech. Cilek is being represented by a prominent conservative legal advocacy group, but also has the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union.

At least nine other states – Delaware, Kansas, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and South Carolina – have similar restrictions on political apparel at polling places, according to the plaintiffs. Minnesota defends its law as necessary to keep order at polling places at a time of intense U.S. political polarization.

Political messages on apparel “could give rise to verbal disputes or even physical altercations,” a court filing by Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon and other officials said, citing fights at polling locations in Florida and Michigan on Election Day 2016.

“Tensions may well be running high, particularly when the election has been a contentious one,” they added.

The Minnesota Voters Alliance, a St. Paul-based conservative group headed by Cilek that brought the case with the support of the Pacific Legal Foundation, is appealing a lower court ruling that upheld the state law. The challengers said merely wearing something political at a polling station is a peaceful act.

In Minnesota, election officials have interpreted the law as barring campaign literature and material from groups with political views such as the Tea Party movement or the liberal MoveOn.org. Violators are asked to cover up or remove offending items. If they do not, the may still vote, but their names are to be taken down for possible prosecution. The state said it has no record of prosecutions under the law.

Third time’s a charm

Cilek said he was twice turned away from his polling site on Election Day 2010 because the head election judge disapproved of his attire, including the button that alluded to voter-identification laws backed by many Republicans.

On his third try, Cilek said, he was allowed to vote. “I was just thinking that they’re hell bent on not letting me vote,” Cilek said in an interview. “I was just kind of shocked by the whole deal.”

Cilek, a 54-year-old former U.S. marine, said the genesis of the lawsuit was a perception that election officials were targeting groups they did not like.

“It’s an absurd policy that you’re going to allow election judges to be the arbiters of free speech,” Cilek said.

In a brief filed supporting Cilek’s group, the ACLU warned against allowing poll workers discretion to decide what is impermissibly political.

“A phrase that one person may consider to be innocuous or nonpolitical – like ‘#MeToo’ – may appear to another to be an overtly political statement,” the ACLU said, referring to a movement encouraging women to share their experiences of abuse.

Minnesota said the law is applied neutrally and helps prevent confusion or intimidation during voting. The law is similar to one in Tennessee that the Supreme Court upheld in 1992 barring vote solicitation and the display or distribution of campaign materials within 100 feet (30 meters) of a polling place, the state said.

In rulings in 2013 and 2017, the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Minnesota restrictions, suggesting the law helps maintain “peace, order and decorum” at polling sites.

“On the one hand, the Supreme Court has recognized that areas immediately around polling places can be zones free of politics,” said Richard Hasen, a University of California, Irvine, professor specializing in election law. “On other hand, Minnesota’s law appears quite broad.”

Michael Dimino, a constitutional and election law professor at Widener University Commonwealth Law School in Pennsylvania, said Minnesota is going to have to show that the ban is the least restrictive means of solving the problem it is meant to address.

“Speculative arguments based on what could happen are the kinds of arguments that governments have used for decades to justify overly broad crackdowns on speech,” Dimino said.

 
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