US Attorney General Expected to Face Mueller Report Questions

U.S. Attorney General William Barr goes before a House appropriations subcommittee Tuesday where he is expected to face some questions about special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

The Mueller report is not the purpose of the meeting, and in a prepared statement released ahead of the session Barr does not mention it.

Instead, the topic of his appearance is the Trump administration’s proposed budget for the Justice Department for the fiscal year that begins in October.

Barr does highlight Justice Department efforts to protect future elections from foreign interference, saying securing elections is a key issue for the agency.

“I believe that our country must respond to any foreign interference with the strongest measures, and we must work with partners at the state level to ensure that our election infrastructure is completely protected,” his statement says.

Other national security initiatives in the 2020 budget request include counterterrorism efforts and combating cyber attacks. Barr’s statement mentions $16 million for a vetting program for those who wish to enter or remain in the United States, something he says will help the government “identify terrorists, criminals and other nefarious actors.”

Immigration enforcement is another main portion of the department’s proposed budget.

“As I’ve stated before, in order to ensure that our immigration system works properly, we must secure our nation’s borders, and we must ensure that our laws allow us to process, hold, and remove those who violate our immigration laws,” Barr says.

The budget request includes $72 million for added border security and enforcement activities. If Congress agrees, there would be 100 new immigration judges, which the attorney general says are necessary to help address a backlog of about 820,000 pending cases nationwide.

A final key section in Barr’s statement is additional money to combat the opioid epidemic. He says the number of overdose deaths is too high, and that the situation represents not only a public health crisis but also a need to address trafficking of illegal drugs.

US Homeland Security Shake-Up Claims Political Victims

VOA News Center writer Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report from Washington.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who oversaw several contentious Trump administration immigration and border policies, will leave her post this week, opening up one of the most high-profile and influential positions in the president’s Cabinet.

The move appears to be part of broader leadership changes at several agencies within the DHS, following a string of departures in recent days.

On Monday, the White House said the head of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) Randolph “Tex” Alles would step down. Three days earlier, President Donald Trump rescinded his own nomination for the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Ronald Vitiello.

The New York Times reported Monday that the head of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), L. Francis Cissna, is also expected to step down soon, though neither the White House nor the agency has confirmed.

According to Trump, the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Kevin McAleenan — the country’s law enforcement agency at the border and at ports of entry — will temporarily take charge of DHS as acting secretary, which would mean a change in leadership at CBP as well.

Heading in a ‘tougher direction’

The top-down shake-up is said to be motivated by Trump’s interest in more restrictions regarding migration at the U.S.-Mexico border, and with immigration overall.

In rescinding Vitiello’s appointment last week, Trump said, “We want to go in a tougher direction” on immigration but did not elaborate.

Nielsen’s departure comes after publicly conflicting with the president late last month over U.S. relations with Central America, and amid media reports that Nielsen did not go far enough in pushing Trump’s restrictionist agenda at the southern U.S. border.

“Secretary Nielsen’s had a rocky tenure… from denying family separations were initially happening to having to justify the ‘zero-tolerance’ policy,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services. “This wasn’t altogether unexpected.”

With media reports that Trump wants to reinstate a policy of separating migrant children from their families at the border, the White House on Monday did not issue a flat-out denial of the allegation.

WATCH: US immigration policy

Hogan Gidley, White House deputy press secretary, told reporters: “The separation of families, you know, the president has said before he does not like that. It’s a horrible practice. But Congress has a way to fix that so that it will not be a magnet for people to come here and use children to do it.”

But migration is not triggered by one variable, such as congressional action, rather by several: conditions in migrants’ home countries, policies in the United States, economic variables, weather. And that list changes.

Neither Nielsen nor Trump, however, have publicly acknowledged that the administration’s policies may in fact be contributing to the increased number of border-crossers in recent months, as Dree K. Collopy, chair of the National Asylum and Refugee Liaison Committee of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, suggested in January.

Democrats welcome Nielsen resignation

News accounts say Nielsen had no intention of quitting when she arrived at the White House on Sunday to meet with Trump, but that he was determined to ask for her resignation, which she submitted shortly after the meeting.

White House sources have said Trump often yelled at Nielsen for apparently not being strong enough in curbing the number of migrants trying to enter the United States.

“It is deeply alarming that the Trump administration official who put children in cages is reportedly resigning because she is not extreme enough for the White House’s liking,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement following Nielsen’s announcement.

Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, responded by summarizing Nielsen’s tenure at DHS as “championing President Trump’s cruel anti-immigrant agenda” and McAleenan’s appointment “deeply disturbing” given the CBP commissioner’s actions at the border.

Castro went on to say McAleenan “cannot be trusted… based on his record of prioritizing Trump’s harmful policies.”

But Nielsen’s removal and McAleenan’s temporary appointment are not a slam dunk on either side of the political spectrum. Noted immigration restrictionist Mark Krikorian, head of the Center for Immigration Studies, tweeted that he is “not sure McAleenan would be an improvement over Nielsen.”

He fully opposed Cissna’s possible removal and said it would be a “colossal blunder.”

Trump has expressed frustration with the situation along the southern border, where hundreds of thousands of migrants trying to escape poverty and crime in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras have traveled through Mexico in hopes of entering the United States. Under U.S. law, foreign nationals are allowed to apply for asylum.

Nielsen’s last day in office will be Wednesday, April 10.

The Nielsen legacy

Trump’s immigration policies created tumult at the border, in airports and in the court system. For the first year, former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly carried out those decisions.

His tenure largely focused on the first — and subsequent, controversial, and legally fraught — travel bans affecting international travelers and families with relatives abroad. The first successful attempt to cut refugee arrivals also happened under Kelly. Two of the three primary agencies tasked with refugee admissions are within the Department of Homeland Security.

When Nielsen succeeded Kelly in December 2017, she led a shift toward more domestic-oriented policies, namely on the U.S.-Mexico border. McAleenan not only has led an agency that focuses on the domestic aspects of immigration, but who also has experience in law enforcement.

O’Mara Vignarajah, head of LIRS, said that may reinforce Trump’s interest in clamping down on asylum-seekers.

“We cannot effectively employ a law enforcement answer to what is a humanitarian problem,” O’Mara Vignarajah said. “We just hope that Nielsen’s departure doesn’t allow for new leadership to be put in place doubling down on policies to turn away vulnerable women and children.”

US Homeland Security Shake-Up Claims Political Victims

VOA News Center writer Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report from Washington.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who oversaw several contentious Trump administration immigration and border policies, will leave her post this week, opening up one of the most high-profile and influential positions in the president’s Cabinet.

The move appears to be part of broader leadership changes at several agencies within the DHS, following a string of departures in recent days.

On Monday, the White House said the head of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) Randolph “Tex” Alles would step down. Three days earlier, President Donald Trump rescinded his own nomination for the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Ronald Vitiello.

The New York Times reported Monday that the head of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), L. Francis Cissna, is also expected to step down soon, though neither the White House nor the agency has confirmed.

According to Trump, the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Kevin McAleenan — the country’s law enforcement agency at the border and at ports of entry — will temporarily take charge of DHS as acting secretary, which would mean a change in leadership at CBP as well.

Heading in a ‘tougher direction’

The top-down shake-up is said to be motivated by Trump’s interest in more restrictions regarding migration at the U.S.-Mexico border, and with immigration overall.

In rescinding Vitiello’s appointment last week, Trump said, “We want to go in a tougher direction” on immigration but did not elaborate.

Nielsen’s departure comes after publicly conflicting with the president late last month over U.S. relations with Central America, and amid media reports that Nielsen did not go far enough in pushing Trump’s restrictionist agenda at the southern U.S. border.

“Secretary Nielsen’s had a rocky tenure… from denying family separations were initially happening to having to justify the ‘zero-tolerance’ policy,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services. “This wasn’t altogether unexpected.”

With media reports that Trump wants to reinstate a policy of separating migrant children from their families at the border, the White House on Monday did not issue a flat-out denial of the allegation.

WATCH: US immigration policy

Hogan Gidley, White House deputy press secretary, told reporters: “The separation of families, you know, the president has said before he does not like that. It’s a horrible practice. But Congress has a way to fix that so that it will not be a magnet for people to come here and use children to do it.”

But migration is not triggered by one variable, such as congressional action, rather by several: conditions in migrants’ home countries, policies in the United States, economic variables, weather. And that list changes.

Neither Nielsen nor Trump, however, have publicly acknowledged that the administration’s policies may in fact be contributing to the increased number of border-crossers in recent months, as Dree K. Collopy, chair of the National Asylum and Refugee Liaison Committee of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, suggested in January.

Democrats welcome Nielsen resignation

News accounts say Nielsen had no intention of quitting when she arrived at the White House on Sunday to meet with Trump, but that he was determined to ask for her resignation, which she submitted shortly after the meeting.

White House sources have said Trump often yelled at Nielsen for apparently not being strong enough in curbing the number of migrants trying to enter the United States.

“It is deeply alarming that the Trump administration official who put children in cages is reportedly resigning because she is not extreme enough for the White House’s liking,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement following Nielsen’s announcement.

Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, responded by summarizing Nielsen’s tenure at DHS as “championing President Trump’s cruel anti-immigrant agenda” and McAleenan’s appointment “deeply disturbing” given the CBP commissioner’s actions at the border.

Castro went on to say McAleenan “cannot be trusted… based on his record of prioritizing Trump’s harmful policies.”

But Nielsen’s removal and McAleenan’s temporary appointment are not a slam dunk on either side of the political spectrum. Noted immigration restrictionist Mark Krikorian, head of the Center for Immigration Studies, tweeted that he is “not sure McAleenan would be an improvement over Nielsen.”

He fully opposed Cissna’s possible removal and said it would be a “colossal blunder.”

Trump has expressed frustration with the situation along the southern border, where hundreds of thousands of migrants trying to escape poverty and crime in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras have traveled through Mexico in hopes of entering the United States. Under U.S. law, foreign nationals are allowed to apply for asylum.

Nielsen’s last day in office will be Wednesday, April 10.

The Nielsen legacy

Trump’s immigration policies created tumult at the border, in airports and in the court system. For the first year, former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly carried out those decisions.

His tenure largely focused on the first — and subsequent, controversial, and legally fraught — travel bans affecting international travelers and families with relatives abroad. The first successful attempt to cut refugee arrivals also happened under Kelly. Two of the three primary agencies tasked with refugee admissions are within the Department of Homeland Security.

When Nielsen succeeded Kelly in December 2017, she led a shift toward more domestic-oriented policies, namely on the U.S.-Mexico border. McAleenan not only has led an agency that focuses on the domestic aspects of immigration, but who also has experience in law enforcement.

O’Mara Vignarajah, head of LIRS, said that may reinforce Trump’s interest in clamping down on asylum-seekers.

“We cannot effectively employ a law enforcement answer to what is a humanitarian problem,” O’Mara Vignarajah said. “We just hope that Nielsen’s departure doesn’t allow for new leadership to be put in place doubling down on policies to turn away vulnerable women and children.”

Trump Ousts Secret Service Chief

U.S. President Donald Trump is ousting the head of the Secret Service, the agency that protects him and his family and other former U.S. leaders.

Several U.S. news agencies reported Monday that Trump directed acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to fire Secret Service Director Randolph “Tex” Alles, a Trump appointee who had held the position for two years. There was no immediate public explanation for the dismissal.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Alles “has done a great job at the agency over the last two years, and the president is thankful for his over 40 years of service to the country. Mr. Alles will be leaving shortly.”

She said Trump had selected James Murray, a career Secret Service veteran, as the agency’s new director, starting in May.

Alles reported directly to outgoing Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen, who herself resigned under pressure Sunday after meeting with Trump. The U.S. leader had increasingly voiced his displeasure at the growing number of undocumented Central American migrants surging through Mexico to seek asylum in the United States and had frequently blamed Nielsen for the immigration crisis at the border.

Just five days ago, Trump said he “could not be happier with Secret Service,” even after a breach of security at Trump’s oceanfront retreat in Florida.

Aides familiar with Alles’ ouster said it was unrelated to the incident at Mar-a-Lago, the Trump resort, where a Chinese woman was detained after illegally entering the facility carrying four cellphones, a laptop and a thumb drive that the Secret Service said a preliminary analysis showed contained malware.

“Secret Service has done a fantastic job from Day 1. Very happy with them,” Trump said when asked about the trespasser.

Some Washington reports said Alles’ dismissal was part of a wholesale purge of top Department of Homeland Security officials being orchestrated by White House aide Stephen Miller, newly empowered by Trump to oversee tougher immigration policies. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Francis Cissna is also expected to leave soon.

Alles had previously been acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In this role, he was the agency’s chief operating officer. He was a 35-year Marine Corps veteran, retiring in 2011 as a major general.

Trump Ousts Secret Service Chief

U.S. President Donald Trump is ousting the head of the Secret Service, the agency that protects him and his family and other former U.S. leaders.

Several U.S. news agencies reported Monday that Trump directed acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to fire Secret Service Director Randolph “Tex” Alles, a Trump appointee who had held the position for two years. There was no immediate public explanation for the dismissal.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Alles “has done a great job at the agency over the last two years, and the president is thankful for his over 40 years of service to the country. Mr. Alles will be leaving shortly.”

She said Trump had selected James Murray, a career Secret Service veteran, as the agency’s new director, starting in May.

Alles reported directly to outgoing Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen, who herself resigned under pressure Sunday after meeting with Trump. The U.S. leader had increasingly voiced his displeasure at the growing number of undocumented Central American migrants surging through Mexico to seek asylum in the United States and had frequently blamed Nielsen for the immigration crisis at the border.

Just five days ago, Trump said he “could not be happier with Secret Service,” even after a breach of security at Trump’s oceanfront retreat in Florida.

Aides familiar with Alles’ ouster said it was unrelated to the incident at Mar-a-Lago, the Trump resort, where a Chinese woman was detained after illegally entering the facility carrying four cellphones, a laptop and a thumb drive that the Secret Service said a preliminary analysis showed contained malware.

“Secret Service has done a fantastic job from Day 1. Very happy with them,” Trump said when asked about the trespasser.

Some Washington reports said Alles’ dismissal was part of a wholesale purge of top Department of Homeland Security officials being orchestrated by White House aide Stephen Miller, newly empowered by Trump to oversee tougher immigration policies. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Francis Cissna is also expected to leave soon.

Alles had previously been acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In this role, he was the agency’s chief operating officer. He was a 35-year Marine Corps veteran, retiring in 2011 as a major general.

Sanders Planning Rallies in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to hold rallies in battleground states this weekend, starting Friday night in the liberal stronghold of Madison, Wisconsin.

Sanders announced Monday that he will also hold rallies on Saturday at a community college in Warren, Michigan, and in Pittsburgh on Sunday. His campaign says additional stops in Indiana and Ohio are also planned.

Sanders won the Wisconsin and Michigan primaries in 2016 but lost to eventual nominee Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania.

Wisconsin is seen as a tossup state and has been an early focus for Democratic presidential candidates. Beto O’Rourke campaigned in the state last month during the first week of his candidacy.

Sanders says the tour will emphasize that the Democrats’ “clearest and strongest path to victory in 2020 runs through the Upper Midwest.”

Some Experts Wary of Political Bent of Trump’s Two Choices for Central Bank

President Donald Trump’s decision to fill two vacant positions on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve with political supporters has experts concerned about the impact such a move would have on the credibility of the central bank as an independent, data-driven policymaking body, both domestically and around the world.

Last month, Trump said he would nominate Stephen Moore, a conservative economic commentator known for his devotion to supply-side economics, to fill one empty seat on the board. Last Thursday, the president said he planned to appoint Herman Cain, the former CEO of a pizza chain and an unsuccessful candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, to the other.

Neither Moore nor Cain has the sort of background or experience normally expected of nominees to the board of the world’s most powerful central bank, but each has been a vocal supporter of Trump, who is currently waging a one-sided war of words with the Fed over what he sees as excessively tight monetary policy.

Trump’s campaign to lower interest rates

Trump has put great public pressure on Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, to abandon a plan to gradually raise interest rates over the next few years.

The central bank held rates at or near zero for more than six years during and after the Great Recession, and has been slowly increasing them since early 2016. During the recovery, it also implemented a last-ditch economic stimulus policy, called “quantitative easing,” under which the Fed bought trillions of dollars’ worth of U.S. Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities as a means of injecting cash into the economy when interest rates could not be forced any lower.

The Fed has been slowly selling off those holdings as the economy strengthens.

Trump has repeatedly demanded that Powell lower rates again, despite the fact that the current target rate of between 2.25% and 2.50%, while higher than it was when Trump took office, is still historically low. On Friday morning, the president took his campaign against the Fed chairman a step further, telling reporters at the White House that the central bank should resume quantitative easing. 

“It’s certainly unprecedented for a president to go on camera and give, essentially, an ad-libbed multitiered criticism [of the Fed] and give a specific direction for monetary policy,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst for Bankrate. 

Larry Kudlow, the chief White House economic adviser, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday that Trump isn’t trying to interfere with the central bank’s independence, but that he has “every right to put people on the Federal Reserve Board with a different point of view.”

Kudlow added that Trump wants people on the Fed “who share his philosophy,” while insisting “this is not a political issue.”

If Moore and Cain are able to navigate the nomination process successfully — something that is far from certain — they would become de facto representatives of the president on the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rate targets. 

Because the FOMC has 10 voting members, they would probably not be able to have an immediate effect on U.S. monetary policy. But the role of the Fed in the U.S. and world economies goes well beyond simply setting interest rates. 

Fed’s impact on the dollar

For example, actions at the Fed can have substantial impacts on the value of the U.S dollar.

During the financial crisis, when banks around the world were besieged by depositors looking to exchange foreign funds for the safety of U.S. currency, and bidding up prices in the process, the Fed mounted a massive loan campaign to provide other countries’ central banks with a supply of dollars. 

The action went little-noticed at the time, and was broadly seen by experts as a well-considered response to a crisis situation. But in an administration that touts its “America First” policies, loans to foreign countries in the midst of an economic crisis could easily be exploited by political opportunists.

Having two members of the Fed board with close political ties to the president could make executing that sort of policy extremely difficult in the future.

The Fed also plays a large role in the regulation and supervision of the U.S. financial services industry, and works closely with other central banks around the world to prevent and respond to financial crises. 

For all those reasons, experts are worried about the effect such a pair of nominations would have on the central bank’s reputation as an institution where decisions are made based on rigorous economic analysis.

Moore is a prolific writer and commentator on economic issues, but he has a reputation for getting basic facts and economic theories wrong, often in service of partisan political ends. He has acknowledged that he “will be on a steep learning curve myself about how the Fed operates,” according to published reports.

“Steve is a perfectly amiable guy, but he does not have the intellectual gravitas for this important job,” wrote N. Gregory Mankiw, a Harvard University economist who served as the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the George W. Bush administration.

Cain, on the surface at least, has a connection to the Federal Reserve System. He served as chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City for a little more than a year and a half. However, Fed Bank boards actually have no responsibilities related to monetary policy or in setting regulatory policy. 

In his run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza received considerable attention for his simplistic “9-9-9” tax plan, which aimed at cutting three major tax rates to 9% each. He has also been a vocal advocate of returning the U.S. to the gold standard, a policy almost all economists view as dangerous snake oil, and one that would make Cain an extreme outlier on the Fed board.

Experts say they worry about the central bank’s ability to be a calming presence for global markets if two of the seats on the Fed board are filled by men who economists simply refuse to take seriously.

Fed’s importance in times of crisis

“We learned in 2007-08 that when there is a financial crisis, the world — everybody from the traders in the bond market to ordinary workers and citizens — looks to Washington and says, ‘Gosh, this is bad. We hope that there’s some grown-ups in charge who can reassure us that things are going to be alright,” said David Wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

Wessel said Trump’s key economic policy figures, like Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and National Economic Council Chairman Kudlow, were chosen more for loyalty to the president than for their policymaking acumen. There may be nobody with the gravitas to reassure global markets in the event of a major economic disruption, he added.

“That means the institution to which people will be looking in a crisis is the Federal Reserve,” Wessel said. “That’s just one more reason why it’s important that the Federal Reserve be seen as an island of sanity and competence in a city where everything else seems to be chaos and polarized politics.”

To be sure, neither Moore nor Cain is guaranteed to wind up on the Fed Board in the end. Both would have to be confirmed by the Senate, and would carry considerable baggage into their confirmation hearings. 

Moore’s checkered financial past

Moore, for instance, was once found in contempt of court for failure to pay some $300,000 in child support and alimony after a divorce. He also owes the federal government more than $75,000 in unpaid taxes and penalties, according to a lien filed in federal court last year.

Cain had to end his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 after at least five women came forward to accuse him of inappropriate sexual behavior. He denied the accusations but was forced to withdraw from the race.

Even if both men were to fail in the nomination process, though, critics like Wessel say that the very willingness of the president to nominate them in the first place is damaging.

“It makes people wonder, what is the president doing to our institutions if he is willing to put people like this on the most important economic body in the world?” he said.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Resigns

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has resigned after 16 months on the job and immense pressure from the White House and public over the situation along the U.S. southern border.

“Despite our progress in reforming homeland security for a new age, I have determined that it is the right time for me to step aside,” Nielsen wrote in her resignation letter to President Donald Trump.

While she did not say exactly why she is quitting, Nielsen wrote she hopes the next secretary “will have the support of Congress and the courts in fixing the laws which have impeded our ability to fully secure America’s borders and which have contributed to discord in our nation’s discourse. Our country and the men and women of DHS deserve to have all the tools and resources they need to execute the mission entrusted to them.”

Analysts have said Nielsen was frustrated by what she saw as a lack of cooperation from Congress and the courts in tackling illegal immigration.

Trump has also expressed frustration with the situation along the U.S. border with Mexico, where hundreds of thousands of migrants trying to escape poverty and crime in central America hope to enter the U.S.

White House sources have said Trump often yelled at Nielsen for apparently not being strong enough in curbing the flow of migrants trying to enter the U.S. They say she had to listen to what those sources called Trump’s impossible demands.

Along with the pressure from the White House to try to stop the influx of migrants, Nielsen faced a public outcry over the administration’s highly unpopular policy of separating migrant families when they crossed into the U.S.

Thousands of young children were taken from their parents and held in separation facilities, often in less than ideal conditions. Nielsen was responsible for executing that policy while at times denying there was such a policy.

Despite the acrimony, Nielsen wrote, “I can say with confidence our homeland is safer today than when I joined the administration. We have taken unprecedented action to protect Americans.”

President Trump tweeted Sunday that “Nielsen is leaving her position and I would like to thank her for her service.”

He announced that current U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan will become acting DHS secretary.

“I have confidence that Kevin will do a great job,” he tweeted.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Resigns

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has resigned after 16 months on the job and immense pressure from the White House and public over the situation along the U.S. southern border.

“Despite our progress in reforming homeland security for a new age, I have determined that it is the right time for me to step aside,” Nielsen wrote in her resignation letter to President Donald Trump.

While she did not say exactly why she is quitting, Nielsen wrote she hopes the next secretary “will have the support of Congress and the courts in fixing the laws which have impeded our ability to fully secure America’s borders and which have contributed to discord in our nation’s discourse. Our country and the men and women of DHS deserve to have all the tools and resources they need to execute the mission entrusted to them.”

Analysts have said Nielsen was frustrated by what she saw as a lack of cooperation from Congress and the courts in tackling illegal immigration.

Trump has also expressed frustration with the situation along the U.S. border with Mexico, where hundreds of thousands of migrants trying to escape poverty and crime in central America hope to enter the U.S.

White House sources have said Trump often yelled at Nielsen for apparently not being strong enough in curbing the flow of migrants trying to enter the U.S. They say she had to listen to what those sources called Trump’s impossible demands.

Along with the pressure from the White House to try to stop the influx of migrants, Nielsen faced a public outcry over the administration’s highly unpopular policy of separating migrant families when they crossed into the U.S.

Thousands of young children were taken from their parents and held in separation facilities, often in less than ideal conditions. Nielsen was responsible for executing that policy while at times denying there was such a policy.

Despite the acrimony, Nielsen wrote, “I can say with confidence our homeland is safer today than when I joined the administration. We have taken unprecedented action to protect Americans.”

President Trump tweeted Sunday that “Nielsen is leaving her position and I would like to thank her for her service.”

He announced that current U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan will become acting DHS secretary.

“I have confidence that Kevin will do a great job,” he tweeted.

Booker Raises $5 Million, Below Other White House Hopefuls

Cory Booker’s early fundraising numbers are well behind those posted by other major Democratic candidates in the race to challenge President Donald Trump.  

The New Jersey senator, who campaigned Sunday in New Hampshire, said he raised over $5 million in the two months since he entered the 2020 primary, and has over $6.1 million cash on hand.

Booker announced the figure in an email to supporters. The sum puts him near the back of the pack in fundraising with roughly 10 months left before the start of Democratic primary voting. Of those candidates that have announced their figures, only entrepreneur Andrew Yang announced raising less than Booker.

Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke raised $6.1 million during his first 24 hours of presidential campaigning beginning March 14, edging Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ $5.9 million over the same period to top the Democratic field.

Booker said Sunday he feels “incredible” about the fundraising haul.

“Money is important, but it is definitely not going to be the barometer with which people make their decisions over who’s going to be the next president of the United States,” Booker said. “And I’m happy that we have the resources we need to be in this race.”

On the policy front, Booker on Sunday promoted a program known as baby bonds. It calls for newborns to get a savings account. The government would contribute up to $2,000 to the account annually until the child is 18. The amount would depend on their parents’ income.

Booker’s campaign says it’s expected that one in 10 kids in New Hampshire would receive the full $2,000 contribution annually. He said the plan would let kids use the fund to get training, to go to college, to start a business or to buy a home. Booker said the idea is to “create a fair playing field where everybody has a stake in this economy.”

Elsewhere in campaigning Sunday:

PETE BUTTIGIEG

The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, defended his experience ahead of an expected run for president, saying he isn’t someone who has “been marinating in Washington” for a long time.

Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about his qualifications, he said he would “stack up my experience against anybody,” though he acknowledged “it’s not as traditional.”

The Democratic field is full of senators and members of the House.

Buttigieg said “being a mayor of a city of any size means that you have to deal with the kinds of issues that really hit Americans.”

Buttigieg would not confirm that he plans to announce his candidacy at an event next Sunday in South Bend but said “the kind of thing we’re going to announce is the kind of thing you only get to announce once.”

Buttigieg was campaigning in New Hampshire this weekend.

MICHAEL BENNET

The Colorado senator was in New Hampshire, days after he made his prostate cancer diagnosis public. Bennet said earlier this weekend that he wasn’t dwelling on the diagnosis and spoke to voters about health care and partisan divides in Washington.

He also told CNN’s “State of the Union” that he hopes to announce a run for president “as soon as I can,” depending on his health.

“I have got to go through a procedure at the beginning of the upcoming recess,” Bennet said. “That starts later this week.  And then it’s going to be a couple of weeks for recovery. But I would like to get on with this.”

He added that he’s “looking forward to running in 2020.”

“This obviously was unexpected,” Bennet said. “But we caught it early.  It’s something that I think we’re going to be able to treat. And I don’t think it should keep me off the trail.”  

Washington Awaits Redacted Mueller Report

Intensified battles are expected in Washington this week over the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe and over lawmakers’ access to President Donald Trump’s federal tax returns. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, Democrats are demanding disclosure on both fronts and encountering resistance from Republicans as well as attorneys for the president.

Washington Awaits Redacted Mueller Report

Intensified battles are expected in Washington this week over the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe and over lawmakers’ access to President Donald Trump’s federal tax returns. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, Democrats are demanding disclosure on both fronts and encountering resistance from Republicans as well as attorneys for the president.

Former South Carolina Senator Hollings Dies at 97

Ernest F. “Fritz” Hollings, the silver-haired Democrat who helped shepherd South Carolina through desegregation as governor and went on to serve six terms in the U.S. Senate, has died. He was 97. 

 

Family spokesman Andy Brack, who also served at times for Hollings as spokesman during his Senate career, said Hollings died at his home on the Isle of Palms early Saturday.

Hollings, whose long and colorful political career included an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, retired from the Senate in 2005, one of the last of the larger-than-life Democrats who dominated politics in the South. 

 

He had served 38 years and two months, making him the eighth longest-serving senator in U.S. history.

Nevertheless, Hollings remained the junior senator from South Carolina for most of his term. The senior senator was Strom Thurmond, first elected in 1954. He retired in January 2003 at age 100 as the longest-serving senator in history. 

 

In his final Senate speech, made in 2004, Hollings lamented that lawmakers came to spend much of their time raising money for the next election, calling money “the main culprit, the cancer on the body politic.” 

‘Real, real trouble’

 

“We don’t have time for each other, we don’t have time for constituents except for the givers. … We’re in real, real trouble,” he said.

 

Hollings was a sharp-tongued orator whose rhetorical flourishes in the deep accent of his home state enlivened many a Washington debate, but his influence in Washington never reached the levels he hoped. 

 

He sometimes blamed that failure on his background, rising to power as he did in the South in the 1950s as the region bubbled with anger over segregation. 

 

However, South Carolina largely avoided the racial violence that afflicted some other Deep South states during the turbulent 1960s. 

 

Hollings campaigned against desegregation when running for governor in 1958. He built a national reputation as a moderate when, in his farewell address as governor, he pleaded with the legislature to peacefully accept integration of public schools and the admission of the first black student to Clemson University.  

“This General Assembly must make clear South Carolina’s choice, a government of laws rather than a government of men,” he told lawmakers. Shortly afterward, Clemson was peacefully integrated. 

 

In his 2008 autobiography, Making Government Work, Hollings wrote that in the 1950s “no issue dominated South Carolina more than race” and that he worked for a balanced approach. 

 

I was 'Mister-in-Between.' The governor had to appear to be in charge; yet the realities were not on his side,'' he wrote.I returned to my basic precept … the safety of the people is the supreme law. I was determined to keep the peace and avoid bloodshed.”

In the Senate, Hollings gained a reputation as a skilled insider with keen intellectual powers. He chaired the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and held seats on the Appropriations and Budget committees.

Troublesome remarks 

 

But his sharp tongue sometimes got him in trouble. He once called Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, the “senator from the B’nai B’rith,” and in 1983 he used a derogatory term for unlawful immigrants in referring to the presidential campaign supporters of former Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif.

Hollings began his quest for the presidency in April 1983 but dropped out the following March after dismal showings in Iowa and New Hampshire. 

 

Early in his Senate career, he built a record as a hawk and lobbied hard for military dollars for South Carolina, one of the poorest states in the nation. 

 

Hollings originally supported American involvement in Vietnam, but his views changed over the years as it became clear there would be no American victory. 

 

Hollings, who made three trips to the war zone, said he learned a lesson there. 

 

It's a mistake to try to build and destroy a nation at the same time,'' he wrote in his autobiography, warning that America is nowrepeating the same wrongheaded strategy in Iraq.” 

 

Despite his changed views, Hollings remained a strong supporter of national defense, which he saw as the main business of government.

In 1969 he drew national attention when he exposed hunger in his own state by touring several cities, helping lay the groundwork for the Women, Infants and Children feeding program. 

 

A year later, his views drew wider currency with the publication of his first book, The Case Against Hunger. 

 

In 1982, Hollings proposed an across-the-board federal spending freeze to cut the deficit, a proposal that was a cornerstone of his failed presidential bid.  

He helped create the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and write the National Coastal Zone Management Act. Hollings also attached his name to the Gramm-Rudman bill aimed at balancing the federal budget. 

 

Hollings angered many of his constituents in 1991 when he opposed the congressional resolution authorizing President George Bush to use force against Iraq. 

 

In his later years, port security was one of his main concerns. 

 

As he prepared to leave office, he told The Associated Press: “People ask you your legacy or your most embarrassing moment. I never, ever lived that way. … I’m not trying to get remembered.” 

After the Senate

 

He kept busy after leaving the Senate, helping the Medical University of South Carolina raise money for the cancer center that bears his name and lecturing at the Charleston School of Law. 

 

Hollings’ one political defeat came in 1962 when he lost in a primary to Sen. Olin Johnston. After Johnston died, Hollings won a special election in 1966 and went to the Senate at age 44, winning the first of his six full terms two years later. 

 

Ernest Frederick Hollings was born in Charleston, S.C., on Jan. 1, 1922. His father was a paper products dealer but the family business went broke during the Depression. 

 

Hollings graduated from The Citadel, the state’s military college in Charleston, in 1942. He immediately entered the Army and was decorated for his service during World War II. Back home, he earned a law degree from the University of South Carolina in 1947. 

 

The next year, he was elected to the state House at age 26. He was elected lieutenant governor six years later and governor in 1958 at age 36. 

 

As governor, he actively lured business, helped balance the budget for the first time since Reconstruction and improved public education. 

 

Hollings had four children with his first wife, the late Patricia Salley Hollings. He is survived by three of his four children. His second wife, “Peatsy,” died in 2012. 

 

A funeral home handling arrangements said that after a three-hour visitation April 14 in Charleston, the senator’s body will lie in repose April 15 at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, with a funeral to follow the next day at the Citadel in Charleston.

Former South Carolina Senator Hollings Dies at 97

Ernest F. “Fritz” Hollings, the silver-haired Democrat who helped shepherd South Carolina through desegregation as governor and went on to serve six terms in the U.S. Senate, has died. He was 97. 

 

Family spokesman Andy Brack, who also served at times for Hollings as spokesman during his Senate career, said Hollings died at his home on the Isle of Palms early Saturday.

Hollings, whose long and colorful political career included an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, retired from the Senate in 2005, one of the last of the larger-than-life Democrats who dominated politics in the South. 

 

He had served 38 years and two months, making him the eighth longest-serving senator in U.S. history.

Nevertheless, Hollings remained the junior senator from South Carolina for most of his term. The senior senator was Strom Thurmond, first elected in 1954. He retired in January 2003 at age 100 as the longest-serving senator in history. 

 

In his final Senate speech, made in 2004, Hollings lamented that lawmakers came to spend much of their time raising money for the next election, calling money “the main culprit, the cancer on the body politic.” 

‘Real, real trouble’

 

“We don’t have time for each other, we don’t have time for constituents except for the givers. … We’re in real, real trouble,” he said.

 

Hollings was a sharp-tongued orator whose rhetorical flourishes in the deep accent of his home state enlivened many a Washington debate, but his influence in Washington never reached the levels he hoped. 

 

He sometimes blamed that failure on his background, rising to power as he did in the South in the 1950s as the region bubbled with anger over segregation. 

 

However, South Carolina largely avoided the racial violence that afflicted some other Deep South states during the turbulent 1960s. 

 

Hollings campaigned against desegregation when running for governor in 1958. He built a national reputation as a moderate when, in his farewell address as governor, he pleaded with the legislature to peacefully accept integration of public schools and the admission of the first black student to Clemson University.  

“This General Assembly must make clear South Carolina’s choice, a government of laws rather than a government of men,” he told lawmakers. Shortly afterward, Clemson was peacefully integrated. 

 

In his 2008 autobiography, Making Government Work, Hollings wrote that in the 1950s “no issue dominated South Carolina more than race” and that he worked for a balanced approach. 

 

I was 'Mister-in-Between.' The governor had to appear to be in charge; yet the realities were not on his side,'' he wrote.I returned to my basic precept … the safety of the people is the supreme law. I was determined to keep the peace and avoid bloodshed.”

In the Senate, Hollings gained a reputation as a skilled insider with keen intellectual powers. He chaired the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and held seats on the Appropriations and Budget committees.

Troublesome remarks 

 

But his sharp tongue sometimes got him in trouble. He once called Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, the “senator from the B’nai B’rith,” and in 1983 he used a derogatory term for unlawful immigrants in referring to the presidential campaign supporters of former Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif.

Hollings began his quest for the presidency in April 1983 but dropped out the following March after dismal showings in Iowa and New Hampshire. 

 

Early in his Senate career, he built a record as a hawk and lobbied hard for military dollars for South Carolina, one of the poorest states in the nation. 

 

Hollings originally supported American involvement in Vietnam, but his views changed over the years as it became clear there would be no American victory. 

 

Hollings, who made three trips to the war zone, said he learned a lesson there. 

 

It's a mistake to try to build and destroy a nation at the same time,'' he wrote in his autobiography, warning that America is nowrepeating the same wrongheaded strategy in Iraq.” 

 

Despite his changed views, Hollings remained a strong supporter of national defense, which he saw as the main business of government.

In 1969 he drew national attention when he exposed hunger in his own state by touring several cities, helping lay the groundwork for the Women, Infants and Children feeding program. 

 

A year later, his views drew wider currency with the publication of his first book, The Case Against Hunger. 

 

In 1982, Hollings proposed an across-the-board federal spending freeze to cut the deficit, a proposal that was a cornerstone of his failed presidential bid.  

He helped create the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and write the National Coastal Zone Management Act. Hollings also attached his name to the Gramm-Rudman bill aimed at balancing the federal budget. 

 

Hollings angered many of his constituents in 1991 when he opposed the congressional resolution authorizing President George Bush to use force against Iraq. 

 

In his later years, port security was one of his main concerns. 

 

As he prepared to leave office, he told The Associated Press: “People ask you your legacy or your most embarrassing moment. I never, ever lived that way. … I’m not trying to get remembered.” 

After the Senate

 

He kept busy after leaving the Senate, helping the Medical University of South Carolina raise money for the cancer center that bears his name and lecturing at the Charleston School of Law. 

 

Hollings’ one political defeat came in 1962 when he lost in a primary to Sen. Olin Johnston. After Johnston died, Hollings won a special election in 1966 and went to the Senate at age 44, winning the first of his six full terms two years later. 

 

Ernest Frederick Hollings was born in Charleston, S.C., on Jan. 1, 1922. His father was a paper products dealer but the family business went broke during the Depression. 

 

Hollings graduated from The Citadel, the state’s military college in Charleston, in 1942. He immediately entered the Army and was decorated for his service during World War II. Back home, he earned a law degree from the University of South Carolina in 1947. 

 

The next year, he was elected to the state House at age 26. He was elected lieutenant governor six years later and governor in 1958 at age 36. 

 

As governor, he actively lured business, helped balance the budget for the first time since Reconstruction and improved public education. 

 

Hollings had four children with his first wife, the late Patricia Salley Hollings. He is survived by three of his four children. His second wife, “Peatsy,” died in 2012. 

 

A funeral home handling arrangements said that after a three-hour visitation April 14 in Charleston, the senator’s body will lie in repose April 15 at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, with a funeral to follow the next day at the Citadel in Charleston.

Trump: Democrats Would ‘Leave Israel Out There’

President Donald Trump warned on Saturday that a Democratic victory in 2020 could “leave Israel out there,” as he highlighted his pro-Israel actions in an effort to make the case for Jewish voters to back his re-election.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Trump touted his precedent-shredding actions to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv and recognition last month of Israeli sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights, a strategic plateau that Israel seized from Syria in 1967.

“We got you something that you wanted,” Trump said of the embassy move, adding, “Unlike other presidents, I keep my promises.”

The group, backed by GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson, supported Trump’s 2016 campaign and is preparing to spend millions on his 2020 effort.

“I know that the Republican Jewish Coalition will help lead our party to another historic victory,” Trump said. “We need more Republicans. Let’s go, so we can win everything.”

​Adelson and standing ovations

Jewish voters in the U.S. have traditionally sided heavily with Democrats — and are often ideologically liberal — but Republicans are hoping to narrow the gap next year, in part as Trump cites actions that he says demonstrate support for Israel.

Trump earned standing ovations for recounting both the embassy move and the Golan Heights recognition.

Trump noted it had long been a priority for Adelson and his wife, Miriam.

“That is the most important thing that’s ever happened in their life,” Trump said. “They love Israel.”

​Attacking Dems, mocking Omar

Trump’s speech comes weeks after he suggested Democrats “hate” Jews. His remark followed an internal fight among Democrats over how to respond to comments by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., that some criticized as anti-Semitic.

Trump mockingly thanked Omar as he began his speech, before adding, “Oh, I forgot. She doesn’t like Israel, I forgot, I’m sorry. No, she doesn’t like Israel, does she? Please, I apologize.”

He also accused Democrats of allowing anti-Semitism to “take root” in their party.

Despite his criticism of Democrats, Trump has faced his own criticism from the Jewish community. Trump was slow to condemn white supremacists who marched violently in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. The previous year, he circulated an image of a six-pointed star alongside a photo of Hillary Clinton, a pile of money and the words “most corrupt candidate ever.”

When he addressed the RJC in 2015 he said he didn’t expect to earn their support because he wouldn’t take their money. 

“You want to control your politicians, that’s fine,” Trump said at the time. Ultimately, the group and many of its donors backed Trump.

Before Trump’s appearance, people assembled for the event carried signs with “We are Jews for Trump” and “Trump” written in Hebrew. Dozens of men and several women wore red yarmulkes with “Trump” in white that were distributed at the event.

​Israel’s election

Trump also took credit for eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians and for pulling the U.S. out of several U.N. organizations, the U.N. Human Rights Council and UNESCO, citing anti-Israel bias in their agendas.

Trump criticized some 2020 Democrats who have suggesting they would re-enter the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, from which Trump withdrew the United States. The agreement was fiercely opposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has cheered as Trump re-imposed stringent new sanctions on the country that Israel regards as an existential threat. Trump is closely aligned with Netanayu, who’s seeking to return power in Tuesday’s national election.

Trump predicted that election is “gonna be close,” adding it features “Two good people,” seemingly referring to Netanyahu and his chief threat to Netanyahu’s coalition, former Israeli army chief of staff, Benny Gantz.

Trump met privately with Adelson before speaking, according to an official. Adelson has cancer and has been in poor health, but he and his wife attended Trump’s remarks, receiving a standing ovation when they entered the ballroom.

The Adelsons gave Trump’s campaign $30 million in 2016. They followed that by contributing $100 million to the Republican Party for the 2018 midterm elections.

Introducing Trump, former Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., the chairman of the RJC, led the audience in an adapted version of the Passover reading “Dayenu,” as he recounted what Trump had done for Israel.

Jewish voters

Stuart Weil, a Jewish man from Fresno, California, said Americans have traditionally been very supportive of Israel but “the progressive, liberal wing of the Democratic Party” is changing that.

Weil, who wore a blue Trump-style hat that read, “Making Israel & America Great Again,” says he’s a Republican because of the party’s strong stance on Israel.

According to AP Votecast, a survey of more than 115,000 midterm voters and 3,500 Jewish voters nationwide, voters who identified as Jewish broke for Democrats over Republicans by a wide margin, 72 percent to 26 percent, in 2016.

Over the past decade, Jewish voters have shown stability in their partisanship, according to data from Pew Research Center. Jewish voters identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party over the Republican Party by a roughly 2-1 ratio.

AP Fact Check: Trump’s Mexico Mirage

Giving himself credit for tough diplomacy, President Donald Trump is describing a burst of activity by Mexican authorities to keep Central American migrants from getting to the U.S. border.

That’s an apparent mirage as Trump retreats from his latest threat to seal off the U.S. from Mexico.

Trump was wrong when he said last week that Mexico was doing “NOTHING” about migrants coming north. Mexico markedly tightened migration controls during the Obama administration and detained more than 30,000 foreigners in the first three months of this year.

And it’s not evident now that Mexico has suddenly cracked down as a result of his threat, “apprehending everybody” and making “absolutely terrific progress” in just a matter of days, as Trump put it Friday. Mexico’s apprehensions of foreigners have not surged.

During his visit to the border in Southern California Friday, Trump denounced a landmark immigration case he blamed on “Judge Flores, whoever you may be.” The case in question was named for Jenny Flores, a migrant teenager from El Salvador in the 1980s, not a judge.

Trump’s recent statements on border matters and how they compare with the facts:

Mexico

Trump, on why he is pulling back on sealing the border imminently: “Because Mexico has been absolutely terrific for the last four days. They’re apprehending everybody. Yesterday they apprehended 1,400 people. The day before was 1,000. And if they apprehend people at their southern border where they don’t have to walk through, that’s a big home run. We can handle it from there. It’s really good. … Mexico, for the last four days, it’s never happened like that in 35 years.” —remarks to reporters Friday.

Trump: “Mexico has brought people back, they’ve told people you can’t come in. And that’s happened really, they’ve done, as I understand it, over 1,000 today, over 1,000 people yesterday, over 1,000 people the day before that. Before that they never did anything.” — remarks to reporters Thursday.

The facts: This depiction of Mexico going from strikeout to home run is inaccurate at both ends.

Mexico reports that its interception and detention of migrants from the south are “about average” in recent months. Over the first three days of April, it apprehended 1,259 foreigners — not 1,000 or more a day, as Trump claimed.

“There is no very substantive change,” Mexico’s foreign secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, said this week. “There has not been a drastic change.”

“I don’t know what (Trump) was referring to,” he added.

Mexico is requiring migrants to register with authorities, but that’s been the case since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office Dec. 1, Ebrard said. 

“What Mexico is doing as far as the review of the southern border — well, it’s the same thing it has been doing since this government began.” On Thursday, Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S., Martha Bárcena, told The Associated Press her country is working to make its own border “more orderly” but “migration will never be stopped.”

Mexico took a substantial step in 2014, implementing a “Southern Border Plan” that established checkpoints and raids to discourage migrants from riding trains or buses from Guatemala. Its detention of foreigners, almost all Central Americans, surged to 198,141 over the next year, from 127,149. Last year, it detained 138,612.

The White House has refused to substantiate Trump’s claim about Mexico’s migrant apprehensions. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday credited Mexico with the “will” to help stem migration, but he did not cite results. Even as Trump claimed a Mexican crackdown, Pompeo said the U.S. needs to see action from Mexico, telling Fox News that it’s “one thing to talk about it.”

Trump has abandoned his vow to shut the border imminently. He now says that if Mexico does not continue cooperating on migrants, he will try to put heavy duties on autos from Mexico and revive his border-closure threat if that doesn’t work.

The Flores settlement

Trump: “The Flores decision is a disaster, I have to tell you. Judge Flores, whoever you may be, that decision is a disaster for our country, a disaster.” — remarks at a meeting with local officials in Southern California.

The facts: There’s no Judge Flores involved. Jenny Flores , a 15-year-old El Salvador native, was held in what her advocates said were substandard conditions, contending she was strip-searched in custody and housed with men. They launched a class-action lawsuit on behalf of migrant children in the country illegally. Her mother was a housekeeper in the U.S. who feared deportation if she picked up her daughter.

The case worked its way to the Supreme Court, which sided with the government and against the girl’s advocates. But the case gave rise to an agreement in 1997 setting conditions for the detention of migrant children and the codifying of those conditions in law a decade later. It generally bars the government from keeping children in immigration detention for more than 20 days and guides how they are to be treated.

Ex-lawmaker Weiner Must Register as Sex Offender 

Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner has been ordered to register as a sex offender as he nears the end of a 21-month prison sentence for having illicit online contact with a 15-year-old girl. 

 

A New York City judge on Friday designated Weiner a Level 1 sex offender, meaning he’s thought to have a low risk of reoffending. 

 

Weiner must register for a minimum of 20 years. He’s required to verify his address every year and visit a police station every three years to have a new picture taken. 

 

Weiner didn’t attend Friday’s court hearing. He’s in a halfway house after serving most of his sentence at a prison in Massachusetts. He’s due to be released May 14. 

 

Before being sentenced, the Democrat said he’d been a “very sick man.”

Ex-lawmaker Weiner Must Register as Sex Offender 

Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner has been ordered to register as a sex offender as he nears the end of a 21-month prison sentence for having illicit online contact with a 15-year-old girl. 

 

A New York City judge on Friday designated Weiner a Level 1 sex offender, meaning he’s thought to have a low risk of reoffending. 

 

Weiner must register for a minimum of 20 years. He’s required to verify his address every year and visit a police station every three years to have a new picture taken. 

 

Weiner didn’t attend Friday’s court hearing. He’s in a halfway house after serving most of his sentence at a prison in Massachusetts. He’s due to be released May 14. 

 

Before being sentenced, the Democrat said he’d been a “very sick man.”

Former Spy Valerie Plame Eyes Run for US Congress

Former CIA operative, author and activist Valerie Plame said Friday she is considering a 2020 run for an open U.S. congressional seat in New Mexico.

Plame told The Associated Press she is spending time with residents and will make a decision soon. The seat is currently held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Rey Lujan, who is stepping down to run for U.S. Senate.

“Right now, I am going around and meeting with people,” said Plame, a Democrat. “I have a lot to learn and I would like another opportunity to serve my country.”

Plame became a national figure after her identity as a CIA operative was leaked by an official in President George W. Bush’s administration in 2003 in an effort to discredit her then-husband Joe Wilson.

Wilson is a former diplomat who criticized Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. Plame left the agency in 2005.

Plame says she’d be honored to represent the sprawling district, which covers all of northern New Mexico, parts of the Navajo Nation and a large portion of state’s east side.

She would face several Democratic contenders if she decides to run. State Rep. Joseph Sanchez and businessman Mark McDonald have already announced they are candidates and Santa Fe District Attorney Marco Serna is considering a bid.

I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, however, was convicted of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice following the 2003 leak. President Donald Trump issued a full pardon to Libby last year.

In 2017, the Wilsons launched an unsuccessful crowdfunding effort to buy Twitter so Trump couldn’t use it. At the time, Plame said if she didn’t get enough to purchase a majority of shares, she would explore options to buy “a significant stake” and champion the proposal at Twitter’s annual shareholder meeting. Plame and Wilson divorced later that year.

Plame is the author of the memoir “Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House.”

The book was made into a 2010 movie starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts.

Former Spy Valerie Plame Eyes Run for US Congress

Former CIA operative, author and activist Valerie Plame said Friday she is considering a 2020 run for an open U.S. congressional seat in New Mexico.

Plame told The Associated Press she is spending time with residents and will make a decision soon. The seat is currently held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Rey Lujan, who is stepping down to run for U.S. Senate.

“Right now, I am going around and meeting with people,” said Plame, a Democrat. “I have a lot to learn and I would like another opportunity to serve my country.”

Plame became a national figure after her identity as a CIA operative was leaked by an official in President George W. Bush’s administration in 2003 in an effort to discredit her then-husband Joe Wilson.

Wilson is a former diplomat who criticized Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. Plame left the agency in 2005.

Plame says she’d be honored to represent the sprawling district, which covers all of northern New Mexico, parts of the Navajo Nation and a large portion of state’s east side.

She would face several Democratic contenders if she decides to run. State Rep. Joseph Sanchez and businessman Mark McDonald have already announced they are candidates and Santa Fe District Attorney Marco Serna is considering a bid.

I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, however, was convicted of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice following the 2003 leak. President Donald Trump issued a full pardon to Libby last year.

In 2017, the Wilsons launched an unsuccessful crowdfunding effort to buy Twitter so Trump couldn’t use it. At the time, Plame said if she didn’t get enough to purchase a majority of shares, she would explore options to buy “a significant stake” and champion the proposal at Twitter’s annual shareholder meeting. Plame and Wilson divorced later that year.

Plame is the author of the memoir “Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House.”

The book was made into a 2010 movie starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts.

Senator Bernie Sanders Calls Trump a ‘Racist’

Sen. Bernie Sanders made a trip to the Apollo Theater in Harlem to pay tribute to Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett and the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., but along the way slammed President Donald Trump as a racist.

The Democratic presidential contender was at the Jazz Foundation’s “A Great Night in Harlem” annual gala where Belafonte and Bennett were honored on Thursday night.

Sanders recounted the great strides King made toward racial harmony, but said that tolerance has lost steps over the past couple of years, and put the blame at the feet of Trump.

He said: “It’s hard to believe that we have a president of the United States who is, in fact, a racist.”

The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.

 

Trump Picks Former Presidential Candidate Herman Cain for Fed Board

U.S. President Donald Trump plans to nominate former pizza chain executive and Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, where he will help set interest rates for the world’s biggest economy.

“I have recommended him highly for the Fed,” Trump said in a press conference Thursday. “I’ve told my folks that’s the man.”

Trump has been a vocal and strident critic of the Fed’s rate hikes under Jerome Powell, whom the president picked two years ago to chair the U.S. central bank. Trump’s other Fed appointees have also supported the Powell Fed’s rate hikes, which the president has said hurt the economy.

This year the Fed has put rate hikes on hold, citing a slowing economy and risks from overseas. Trump, meanwhile, has continued to rail against the Fed, even as he has said he will nominate conservative commentator Stephen Moore, a proponent of rate cuts, for a second vacant seat on the Fed Board.

Asked if he is sending a signal to the Fed with the pair of nominations, Trump said: “None whatsoever. He’s a highly respected man. He’s a friend of mine. He’s somebody that gets it, and I hope everything goes well — but Herman Cain is a very good guy.”

Board members have a vote on setting interest rates every time U.S. central bankers meet, making them among America’s most powerful officials for economic policy. At full strength there are 19 Fed policymakers, including 12 regional Fed bank presidents.

Cain in February told Fox Business Network he believed deflation is a bigger worry, a view that suggests he is not inclined to support rate hikes aimed at keeping inflation in check.

Still, Cain’s policy views are not entirely clear: in the same February interview, he said he wanted to use wages as a factor in deciding monetary policy, which in the context of recently rising pay could suggest he would support rate hikes.

Cain’s history

Cain, who is 73, has little direct experience with monetary policy, but what track record he does have suggests a penchant for tighter, not looser, policy.

In the 1990s he served as a director at the Kansas City Fed, one of the 12 regional Fed banks that help process payments in the U.S. banking system and whose presidents take turns voting on rate policy. He chaired the board from 1995 to 1996, when its president was the famously hawkish Thomas Hoenig.

Minutes of meetings during that period, obtained by Reuters from the Fed, show that the bank’s directors were among those who repeatedly asked the Washington-based Board of Governors to raise rates when most of the boards of directors for the other Fed banks opposed any hike. The concern, according to the minutes, was that continued economic growth could produce price pressures that needed to be contained by tighter policy.

Cain made his fortune as chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza before launching a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

He led opinion polls for a while during the Republican nominating contests, buoyed by his signature 9-9-9 tax proposal, which would have levied a flat 9 percent corporate, income and sales tax.

Romney criticism

But his popularity slipped amid sexual harassment allegations from several women, which he denied as “completely false.”

Cain’s likely nomination drew criticism from Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney.

“I doubt that will be a nomination,” Romney told Politico. “But if it were a nomination, you can bet the interest rates he would be pushing for. … If Herman Cain were on the Fed, you’d know the interest rate would soon be 9-9-9.” 

Trump Picks Former Presidential Candidate Herman Cain for Fed Board

U.S. President Donald Trump plans to nominate former pizza chain executive and Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, where he will help set interest rates for the world’s biggest economy.

“I have recommended him highly for the Fed,” Trump said in a press conference Thursday. “I’ve told my folks that’s the man.”

Trump has been a vocal and strident critic of the Fed’s rate hikes under Jerome Powell, whom the president picked two years ago to chair the U.S. central bank. Trump’s other Fed appointees have also supported the Powell Fed’s rate hikes, which the president has said hurt the economy.

This year the Fed has put rate hikes on hold, citing a slowing economy and risks from overseas. Trump, meanwhile, has continued to rail against the Fed, even as he has said he will nominate conservative commentator Stephen Moore, a proponent of rate cuts, for a second vacant seat on the Fed Board.

Asked if he is sending a signal to the Fed with the pair of nominations, Trump said: “None whatsoever. He’s a highly respected man. He’s a friend of mine. He’s somebody that gets it, and I hope everything goes well — but Herman Cain is a very good guy.”

Board members have a vote on setting interest rates every time U.S. central bankers meet, making them among America’s most powerful officials for economic policy. At full strength there are 19 Fed policymakers, including 12 regional Fed bank presidents.

Cain in February told Fox Business Network he believed deflation is a bigger worry, a view that suggests he is not inclined to support rate hikes aimed at keeping inflation in check.

Still, Cain’s policy views are not entirely clear: in the same February interview, he said he wanted to use wages as a factor in deciding monetary policy, which in the context of recently rising pay could suggest he would support rate hikes.

Cain’s history

Cain, who is 73, has little direct experience with monetary policy, but what track record he does have suggests a penchant for tighter, not looser, policy.

In the 1990s he served as a director at the Kansas City Fed, one of the 12 regional Fed banks that help process payments in the U.S. banking system and whose presidents take turns voting on rate policy. He chaired the board from 1995 to 1996, when its president was the famously hawkish Thomas Hoenig.

Minutes of meetings during that period, obtained by Reuters from the Fed, show that the bank’s directors were among those who repeatedly asked the Washington-based Board of Governors to raise rates when most of the boards of directors for the other Fed banks opposed any hike. The concern, according to the minutes, was that continued economic growth could produce price pressures that needed to be contained by tighter policy.

Cain made his fortune as chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza before launching a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

He led opinion polls for a while during the Republican nominating contests, buoyed by his signature 9-9-9 tax proposal, which would have levied a flat 9 percent corporate, income and sales tax.

Romney criticism

But his popularity slipped amid sexual harassment allegations from several women, which he denied as “completely false.”

Cain’s likely nomination drew criticism from Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney.

“I doubt that will be a nomination,” Romney told Politico. “But if it were a nomination, you can bet the interest rates he would be pushing for. … If Herman Cain were on the Fed, you’d know the interest rate would soon be 9-9-9.” 

Long Before 2020, a Deep Democratic Bench Grows Deeper 

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio on Thursday became the latest Democrat to jump into the race for the party’s presidential nomination, joining a crowded field vying to challenge Republican Donald Trump in 2020. 

The pool of Democratic candidates for the White House is among the largest and most diverse ever.

It includes female U.S. senators, a current and a former governor, African-Americans, a Hispanic and a young gay mayor, and is likely to grow before the U.S. primary season gets underway next year. 

 

The Democratic nominating convention opens on July 13, 2020, in Milwaukee, Wis. Here are the party’s main contenders vying to be on the ballot. 

Tim Ryan

Ryan, 45, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio in November 2002 at age 29. He has won re-election seven times and currently serves on the Appropriations Committee.

Ryan launched his campaign for president on a platform of investing in public education and providing affordable health care. 

A moderate Democrat, Ryan mounted an unsuccessful challenge in 2016 for the Democratic leadership of the House against Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California. 

Beto O’Rourke

During a frenetic if failed campaign for the U.S. Senate last year in Texas, O’Rourke, 46, used his youth, energy and camera-friendly looks to become a media darling while setting fundraising records and drawing support from a range of celebrities. 

 

Despite a reputation forged in his three terms in Congress as a pragmatic centrist, O’Rourke launched his campaign in Iowa on a decidedly left-leaning platform, calling for health and immigration reform, a higher minimum wage and an all-out battle to curb climate change. 

 

His resolutely positive message, with calls for “kindness and decency” — along with criticisms of an “unfair, unjust and racist capitalist economy” — have drawn large and often youthful crowds wherever he appears.

​Kirsten Gillibrand

The New York senator, 52, had made a name campaigning against sexual abuse, especially in the military, even before the #MeToo movement gained national prominence. A fierce Trump critic, Gillibrand is making gender and women’s issues a hallmark of her campaign. 

 

She has called for a more egalitarian society and wants to improve the nation’s health and education systems.

Bernie Sanders

The self-described democratic socialist, 77, was an outsider when the 2016 Democratic primaries began. But he gave favorite Hillary Clinton a run for her money with his calls for a “political revolution” and battled her down to the wire. 

 

Sanders won passionate support among young liberals with his calls for universal health care, a $15 minimum wage and free public university education.

​Amy Klobuchar

The 58-year-old granddaughter of an iron miner, Klobuchar is a former prosecutor with an unpretentious demeanor. 

 

She has quietly gained attention in Washington as a centrist. Klobuchar is known for putting partisanship aside to pass legislation, something that has earned her a devoted following in Minnesota. 

 

Klobuchar has promised more stringent gun laws and set a target of universal health care.

Elizabeth Warren

At 69, the U.S. Senate’s consumer protection champion from Massachusetts is on the party’s left flank. She built her reputation by holding Wall Street accountable for its missteps.  

 

Warren is considered to have one of the best campaign organizations of any Democrat. Her campaign has been dogged, however, by her past claims of Native American heritage, and Trump mockingly refers to her as “Pocahontas.”

Cory Booker

The New Jersey senator, 49, announced his candidacy Feb. 1, evoking the civil rights movement as he promised to work to unite a divided America. 

 

Often compared to former President Barack Obama, Booker began his career as a community activist and rose to prominence as mayor of Newark, N.J. 

 

A talented orator, Booker was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2013, the first African-American senator from the Eastern state.

Kamala Harris

The barrier-breaking senator from California who aspires to be the nation’s first black female president announced her candidacy on a day honoring slain civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. 

 

The daughter of an Indian immigrant medical researcher mother and a Jamaican economist father, Harris, 54, began her career as a district attorney in San Francisco before serving as California’s attorney general.

​Pete Buttigieg

The South Bend, Ind., mayor, 37, joined the race with a resolutely forward-looking and optimistic message to counter Trump’s darker vision. 

 

A Rhodes Scholar, Buttigieg would be the first openly gay presidential nominee of either major party. 

 

A U.S. Navy Reserve officer, he put his mayoral duties aside to serve in Afghanistan in 2014.

Other candidates

Also in the race are former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, 44; U.S. Rep. John Delaney of Maryland, 55; U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, 37, of Hawaii; former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, 67; Jay Inslee, 68, the governor of Washington state; Wayne Messam, 44, the mayor of Miramar, Fla.; self-help author Marianne Williamson, 66; and technology executive Andrew Yang, 44.  

Waiting in the wings

Among the big Democratic guns who have yet to commit is former Vice President Joe Biden, who leads most surveys of Democratic voters. 

 

Biden, who combines experience and widespread popularity, would be expected to poll well in some of the blue-collar Midwestern states that propelled Trump to the presidency in 2016.