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U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has announced the next count of every resident in the country will include a question about citizenship status.

The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the survey every 10 years, with the next set to come in 2020. The deadline for finalizing the questions is Saturday.

Ross said in a memo late Monday that he chose to add the citizenship question after a request from the Department of Justice, which said the move was necessary to get data to better enforce a law that protects minority voting rights.

The decision brought criticism from those who say the citizenship question will cause people to not participate in the census because of concerns about how the government could use the information, resulting in an undercount of the population.

The census figures determine the number of seats each state is allocated in the U.S. House of Representatives as well as how the federal government distributes hundreds of billions of dollars in funding for various programs.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the state would file a lawsuit challenging what he called an “illegal” move.

“Innocuous at first blush, its effect would be truly insidious,” he wrote in a joint op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle with the California Secretary of State Alex Padilla.

Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who now serves as chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said his organization will also challenge the decision in court, calling it “motivated purely by politics.”

“This question will lower the response rate and undermine the accuracy of the count, leading to devastating, decade-long impacts on voting rights and the distribution of billions of dollars in federal funding,” Holder said. “By asking this question, states will not have accurate representation and individuals in impacted communities will lose out on state and federal funding for health care, education, and infrastructure.”

He also said that in his experience leading the Department of Justice, asking the citizenship question on the census “is not critical to enforcing the Voting Rights Act.”

The census has included a citizenship question in the past. Ross said in his memo the last time it was included was in 1950, but that other surveys by the Census Bureau do currently ask the question.

Ross noted the concerns about lower response rates, including from the Census Bureau itself, but said his department’s own review “found that limited empirical evidence exists about whether adding a citizenship question would decrease response rates materially.”

The Census Bureau plans to allow people to respond to the survey on a paper form, through the internet or by telephone. When people do not respond, teams attempt to follow-up with those households.

Ross said the higher cost of having to do more follow-ups in the case of a lower response rate was a factor he considered, but that “the need for accurate citizenship data” outweighs concerns about the potential for fewer responses.
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The Trump White House was on the defensive Monday, the day after adult film star Stormy Daniels spoke about her alleged affair with President Donald Trump back in 2006. Daniels detailed her involvement with Trump in an interview with the CBS program, “60 Minutes.” VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington.
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White House officials are looking into whether $500 million in loans that went to Trump administration senior adviser Jared Kushner’s family real estate company may have spurred ethics or criminal law violations, according to the head of the federal government’s ethics agency.

David J. Apol, acting director of the Office of Government Ethics, said in a letter sent late last week to Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi that the White House Counsel’s office told him that officials were probing the loans to Kushner Cos. and whether “additional procedures are necessary to avoid violations in the future.”

Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat, had asked Apol on March 1 about a New York Times report in February that Kushner Cos. accepted $184 million in loans from Apollo Global Management and $325 million from Citigroup last year over a span of several months after Kushner met with officials from the two firms. As President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and key adviser, Kushner plays an influential role in domestic and foreign policy decisions.

Both companies have insisted their officials did nothing wrong in meeting with Kushner. Both firms had financial interests overseen by the federal government at the time and both firms – either independently or through industry groups – backed elements of the tax reform legislation that passed Congress last year with support from Trump.

In one case cited by the Times, Citigroup lent $325 million to Kushner Cos. in spring 2017 shortly after Kushner met with Citi’s chief executive, Michael Corbat. Last week, Citigroup’s general counsel told several Democratic lawmakers in a letter that the loan was “completely appropriate.”

In a second case, Kushner met several times with Apollo co-founder Joshua Harris and discussed a possible White House job – followed by Apollo’s loan of $184 million to the Kushner family firm. An Apollo spokesman previously told The Associated Press that Harris “never discussed with Jared Kushner a loan, investment, or any other business arrangement or regulatory matter involving Apollo.”

In the letter to Krishnamoorthi, Apol responded to several of her questions about Kushner’s conduct during the period when his family’s real estate firm received the two loans. Apol was careful not to offer legal opinions on Kushner’s behavior, instead noting that “the White House is in a position to ascertain the relevant facts related to possible violations and is responsible for monitoring compliance with ethics requirements.”

Apol said he raised those questions with White House officials “to ensure that they have begun the process of ascertaining to determine whether any law or regulation has been violated.” During the conversations, “the White House informed me that they had already begun this process,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Kushner Cos. said Monday night that the firm had not received any correspondence or other notifications from the White House or OGE.

A spokesman for Jared Kushner at the White House was not immediately available to comment on Apol’s confirmation of the probe.
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A top fundraiser for President Donald Trump received millions of dollars from a political adviser to the United Arab Emirates last April, just weeks before he began handing out a series of large political donations to U.S. lawmakers considering legislation targeting Qatar, the UAE’s chief rival in the Persian Gulf, an Associated Press investigation has found.

George Nader, an adviser to the UAE who is now a witness in the U.S. special counsel investigation into foreign meddling in American politics, wired $2.5 million to the Trump fundraiser, Elliott Broidy, through a company in Canada, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. They said Nader paid the money to Broidy to bankroll an effort to persuade the U.S. to take a hard line against Qatar, a long-time American ally but now a bitter adversary of the UAE.

A month after he received the money, Broidy sponsored a conference on Qatar’s alleged ties to Islamic extremism. During the event, Republican Congressman Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced he was introducing legislation that would brand Qatar as a terrorist-supporting state.

In July 2017, two months after Royce introduced the bill, Broidy gave the California congressman $5,400 in campaign gifts — the maximum allowed by law. The donations were part of just under $600,000 that Broidy has given to GOP members of Congress and Republican political committees since he began the push for the legislation fingering Qatar, according to an AP analysis of campaign finance disclosure records.

Broidy said in a statement to AP that he has been outspoken for years about militant groups, including Hamas.

“I’ve both raised money for, and contributed my own money to, efforts by think tanks to bring the facts into the open, since Qatar is spreading millions of dollars around Washington to whitewash its image as a terror-sponsoring state,” he said. “I’ve also spoken to like-minded members of Congress, like Royce, about how to make sure Qatar’s lobbying money does not blind lawmakers to the facts about its record in supporting terrorist groups.”

While Washington is awash with political donations from all manner of interest groups and individuals, there are strict restrictions on foreign donations for political activity. Agents of foreign governments are also required to register before lobbying so that there is a public record of foreign influence.

Cory Fritz, a spokesman for Royce, said that his boss had long criticized the “destabilizing role of extremist elements in Qatar.” He pointed to comments to that effect going back to 2014. “Any attempts to influence these longstanding views would have been unsuccessful,” he said.

In October, Broidy also raised the issue of Qatar at the White House in meetings with Trump and senior aides.

The details of Broidy’s advocacy on U.S. legislation have not been previously reported. The AP found no evidence that Broidy used Nader’s funds for the campaign donations or broke any laws. At the time of the advocacy work, his company, Circinus, did not have business with the UAE, but was awarded a more than $200 million contract in January.

The sanctions bill was approved by Royce’s committee in late 2017. It remains alive in the House of Representatives, awaiting a review by the House Financial Services Committee.

Meetings probed

The backstory of the legislative push is emerging amid continuing concerns about efforts by foreign governments or their proxies to influence American politics. While reports about possible Russian links to Trump’s campaign and his presidential administration have been making headlines since 2016, questions are now arising about efforts during the Trump era to influence U.S. policy in the Middle East.

The U.S. has long been friendly with Saudi Arabia and the UAE as well as Qatar, which is home to a massive American air base that the U.S. has used in its fight against the Islamic State. But as political rifts in the Gulf have widened, the Saudis and Emiratis have sought to undercut American ties with Qatar.

Qatar and UAE have also exchanged allegations of politically motivated hacks. Scores of Broidy’s emails and documents have leaked to news organizations, drawing attention to his relationship with Nader. Broidy has alleged that the hack was done by Qatari agents and has reported the breach to the FBI.

“It’s no surprise that Qatar would see me as an obstacle and come after me in the way it has,” he said in a statement.

A spokesman for the Qatari embassy, Jassim Mansour Jabr Al Thani, denied the charges, calling them “diversionary tactics.” Representatives of the UAE did not respond to requests for comment.

The timeline of the influx of cash wired by Nader, an adviser to Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the de facto leader of the UAE, may provide grist for U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller’s legal team as it probes the activities of Trump and his associates during the 2016 campaign and beyond. However, it is not clear that Mueller has expanded his investigation in that direction.

Mueller’s investigators are looking into two meetings close to Trump’s inauguration attended by Nader and bin Zayed. The pair joined a meeting at New York’s Trump Tower in December 2016 that included presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon, who was Trump’s chief strategist at the time. A month later, Nader and bin Zayed were a world away on the Seychelles island chain in the Indian Ocean, meeting with Erik Prince, the founder of the security company Blackwater, and the Kremlin-connected head of a large Russian sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev.

Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman, agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s team after investigators stopped him at Dulles International Airport, according to a person familiar with his case.

That person and others who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity said they could not be identified because of the sensitivity of the issues surrounding the Mueller investigation.

A lawyer for Nader declined to comment for this story.

Policy push

Broidy and Nader first met at Trump’s presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Both men have checkered legal histories. Nader was convicted in a Czech Republic court in 2003 of multiple counts of sexually abusing minors. Broidy, a businessmen and prolific Republican fundraiser, was sidelined for a few years after he pleaded guilty to bribery in a case stemming from an investment scheme involving New York state’s employee pension fund.

Broidy later re-emerged as a player in GOP politics. During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, he raised money for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, Sen. Marco Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz. After Cruz bowed out of the race, Broidy signed on to help Trump during the 2016 election and beyond, co-hosting fundraisers across the country.

The meeting between Broidy and Nader at the dawn of Trump’s presidency soon led the two to work together in an effort to shift U.S. policies on the Middle East.

On April 2, 2017, Nader asked Broidy to invoice his Dubai-based company for $2.5 million, according to someone familiar with the transaction who spoke on condition of anonymity.

On the same day, Broidy attached an invoice for that amount from Xiemen Investments Limited, a Canadian company directed by a friend. The money was forwarded to his own account in Los Angeles from the Canadian account, the person said. It was marked for consulting, marketing and advisory services, but was actually intended to fund Broidy’s Washington advocacy regarding Qatar, two people familiar with the transaction said. The financial transaction and the White House meetings were first reported by The New York Times.

It was on May 23, 2017, when Royce, a 13-term Congressman, appeared at a conference on Qatar’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and announced that he was introducing the sanctions bill that would name Qatar a state sponsor of terrorism.

The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a think tank that hosted the conference, said Broidy had approached it about organizing the event. Broidy bankrolled that conference and contributed to the financing of a second conference hosted on a similar theme in October by another think tank, the Hudson Institute.

Both organizations said Broidy said that no money from foreign governments was involved. FDD says it does not accept money from foreign governments and Hudson only accepts money from Democratic countries allied with the U.S.

“As is our funding policy, we asked if his funding was connected to any foreign governments or if he had business contracts in the Gulf. He assured us that he did not,” FDD said in a statement.

Broidy donated millions of his own money to efforts to fight Qatar, in addition to the $2.5 million from Nader, according to someone close to him, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss Broidy’s private finances.

Broidy’s behind-the-scenes efforts unfolded as animosity was growing between the UAE and Qatar. These tensions came to a head when the UAE and Saudi Arabia launched an embargo with travel and trade restrictions against Qatar less than two weeks after Royce introduced the sanctions legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Weeks later, Trump himself waded into the fracas, accusing Qatar of funding extremism in tweets on June 6.

Royce and a staff member met with Broidy at Washington’s Capitol Hill Club to discuss the bill, according to someone who was at the meeting. An associate, who Broidy paid for some of the work, also had frequent contact with congressional staff.

Strong language

Broidy’s effort to cultivate allies in Congress extended beyond Royce.

Broidy has personally given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republicans over the past decade or more. But he gave nothing during the 2012 and 2014 election cycles and just $13,500 during the 2016 cycle. Things changed after Trump’s election as Broidy ramped up his advocacy on Middle East policy. Broidy has given nearly $600,000 to GOP candidates and causes since the beginning of last year when he began his advocacy push— more than in the previous 14 years combined.

Campaign finance records going back two decades show Broidy had not given any money to Royce — until he gave the lawmaker a pair of $2,700 donations on July 31, 2017.

By then, the sanctions bill was on a fast track.

The original draft considered by the Foreign Affairs Committee contained language singling out Qatar as a supporter of Hamas, a Palestinian organization that has been designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department.

“Hamas has received significant financial and military support from Qatar,” the draft bill states.

Soon Qatar was lobbying hard to have that language excised. Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, declared in a statement to the committee that Qatar does not fund Hamas.

According to two people familiar with the committee deliberations, both Republican and Democratic staff members reached a consensus that because of the tensions in the Gulf, the language would look like the lawmakers were taking sides. They agreed to take it out of the bill.

Qatari officials and lobbyists thought the matter had been settled, according to one lobbyist and a committee staffer. But just before the bill was to be put up for debate ahead of the committee’s vote, Royce ordered the language on Qatar not only reinstated, but strengthened, they say. The bill was approved by the committee in November with the stronger language on Qatar intact.

A Royce aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, denied that Royce had ever considered removing the Qatar language.

In January, Royce announced that he would not seek re-election, saying that he wanted to focus on his committee in the last year of his chairmanship rather than a political campaign.

In the same month, Broidy’s company signed the hefty contract with the UAE government for gathering intelligence, according to someone familiar with the work.

 
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Washington is watching President Donald Trump’s makeover of his national security team to include more outspoken hardliners when it comes to America’s posture on the world stage. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, days after nominating CIA director Mike Pompeo to become his new secretary of state, Trump tapped John Bolton, a former Bush administration diplomat known for unflinchingly bellicose rhetoric, to serve as national security adviser.
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Adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had an affair with Donald Trump before he was elected president, told the CBS news show 60 Minutes that she was threatened when she tried to tell her story and accepted hush money through a Trump attorney because she was scared for her family.

Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said in the highly anticipated interview Sunday that she was on her way to a fitness class with her infant daughter when she was approached by  a stranger.

“A guy walked up on me and said to me, Leave Trump alone. Forget the story,’ ” Daniels told journalist Anderson Cooper. “And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, ‘That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.’ And then he was gone.”

The incident, in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011, occurred shortly after she first tried to sell her story to a tabloid magazine.  She said the incident made her fearful for years and that she thought she was doing the right thing when she accepted $130,000 from Trump attorney Michael Cohen to stay quiet.

After The Wall Street Journal reported on the payment, Daniels told Cooper that she lied when she signed a statement denying the affair.  When asked why, Daniels said she was bullied into it. “They made it sound like I had no choice,” she said. While there was not any threat of physical violence at the time, she said, she was worried about other repercussions. “The exact sentence used was, ‘They can make your life hell in many different ways.'”

She said she didn’t know who could make her life hell, but that she believed “it to be Michael Cohen.”  

Cohen has denied threatening Daniels, and refused a request to appear on 60 Minutes.

Daniels’ appearance represents back-to-back trouble for Trump after an interview broadcast last week on CNN with former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who described a 10-month long affair with Trump starting in 2006.

McDougal has sued to break free of a confidentiality agreement that was struck in the months before the 2016 election, for which she was paid $150,000.

Daniels sued the president on March 6, stating Trump never signed an agreement for her to keep quiet about their relationship.   

Both women say their relationships with Trump began in 2006 and ended in 2007 and that they were paid for their silence in the months before the 2016 presidential election.

Representatives of Trump have dismissed the allegations of McDougal and Daniels, saying that the affairs never happened and that Trump had no knowledge of any payments.

Ahead of the interview, the president and first lady have opted to be in different states. Trump returned to Washington from Palm Beach on Sunday, while Melania will remain in Florida on a pre-scheduled spring break, her communicators director said.
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President Donald Trump’s favorite TV network is increasingly serving as a West Wing casting call, as the president reshapes his administration with camera-ready personalities.

Trump’s new national security adviser, John Bolton, is a former U.N. ambassador, a White House veteran – and perhaps most importantly a Fox News channel talking head. Bolton’s appointment, rushed out late Thursday, follows Trump’s recent attempt to recruit Fox guest Joseph diGenova for his legal team.

Bolton went on Fox to discuss his selection and said it had happened so quickly that “I think I’m still a Fox News contributor.”

Another recent TV-land addition to the Trump White House is veteran CNBC contributor Larry Kudlow as top economic adviser. Other Fox faces on Trump’s team: rising State Department star Heather Nauert, a former Fox News anchor; communications adviser Mercedes Schlapp and Treasury Department spokesman Tony Sayegh. The latter two are both former Fox commentators.

“He’s looking for people who are ready to be part of that television White House,” said Kendall Phillips, a communication and rhetorical studies professor at Syracuse University. “This is the Fox television presidency all the way up and down.”

DiGenova, who has accused FBI officials of trying to “frame” Trump for nonexistent crimes, will not be joining the legal team because of “conflicts,” said Trump counsel Jay Sekulow on Sunday. Sekulow, however, said diGenova and his wife, attorney Victoria Toensing, also a frequent commentator on Fox, would not be prevented from helping Trump “in other legal matters.”

Trump’s affinity for Fox News is by now well-documented. He has bestowed more interviews on the network than any other news outlet and is an avid viewer. People close to the president say he thinks Fox provides the best coverage of his untraditional presidency. It also provides him a window into conservative thinking, with commentary from Republican lawmakers and right-wing thinkers – many of who are speaking directly to the audience in the Oval Office.

On-air personalities Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham are favorites of the president, who also speaks to them privately. This past week Trump promoted Hannity on Twitter, saying: “@seanhannity on @foxandfriends now! Great! 8:18 A.M.”

The president’s early-morning tweets often appear to be reaction to Fox programming. On Friday, for example, Trump tweeted he was “considering” a veto of a massive spending bill needed to keep the government open not long after it was assailed on “Fox and Friends” as a “swamp budget.”

The critic in question was contributor Pete Hegseth, a favorite of the president who has been rumored to be a possible replacement for embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin.

Fox News came in for criticism this past week from CNN chief Jeff Zucker, who on Thursday attacked the rival network by saying it has become a propaganda machine that is “doing an incredible disservice to the country.”

Zucker spoke at the Financial Times Future of News conference two days after a former Fox military analyst quit, claiming he was ashamed at the way the network’s opinion hosts were backing Trump. Zucker said that analyst, Ralph Peters, voiced what a lot of people have been thinking about Fox in the post-Roger Ailes era.

Still, in Trump’s Washington, lawmakers and influence-seekers know that the best way to get in Trump’s ear is often to get on Fox. Legislators routinely seek to get airtime when they are trying to push legislation or policy ideas, said congressional aides who sought anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private thinking.

“A year ago, everyone was trying to figure out how to get into the building; now everyone is trying to figure out how to get on TV,” said Republican consultant Alex Conant.

This past week, for example, conservative lawmakers unhappy with the spending bill moving through Congress took to Fox. “This may be the worst bill I have seen in my time in Congress,” said Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Wednesday.

And when the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, prompted a national conversation on gun laws, Fox contributor Geraldo Rivera used his platform to urge the president to support raising the age requirement to buy assault-type weapons.

“You’ve gotta let me give my pitch,” he said on “Fox and Friends” several weeks ago, noting that he would see Trump that night. “Here in Florida and most states a kid cannot buy a beer … and yet he could buy an AR-15 legally.”

The hosts quickly pushed back. “Tell him to let the teachers carry concealed,” said one.

While the coverage varies by show, “Fox and Friends” tends to be Trump-friendly, with the chipper morning show spotlighting his achievements and bashing the “mainstream media.” On Friday, they featured a teen from the Florida high school where the shooting occurred who opposes gun control efforts, as well as a young conservative activist who interviewed Trump at a White House event the day before.

Also appearing Friday was White House counselor Kellyanne Conway – herself a constant presence on cable news – who pushed back at the idea Trump was focused on hiring TV personalities.

“The irony is not lost on me that you have a lot of quote ‘TV stars’ calling Larry Kudlow and John Bolton ‘TV stars,'” Conway said.
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U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday rebuffed the notion he is having trouble assembling a top legal team to defend him in the Russia probe, even as two lawyers announced as joining Trump’s defense won’t be after all.

A former federal prosecutor, Joseph DiGenova, and his wife, Victoria Toensing, agreed last week to help represent the U.S. leader. But within hours of Trump saying in a Twitter remark that he is “very happy” with his legal team, his personal attorney, Jay Sekulow, said that DiGenova and Toensing would not be among the lawyers defending Trump against allegations that his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to help him win and then obstructed justice to thwart the investigation.

“The president is disappointed that conflicts prevent Joe DiGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining the president’s special counsel team,” Sekulow said in a statement. “However, those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the president in other legal matters. The president looks forward to working with them.”

The latest shuffling of Trump’s legal team came days after his lead lawyer, John Dowd, quit, while another top Washington lawyer, Theodore Olson, declined to join Trump’s defense.

On Twitter, Trump said, “Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case. Don’t believe the Fake News narrative that it is hard to find a lawyer who wants to take this on. Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer, though some are conflicted. Problem is that a new lawyer or law firm will take months to get up to speed (if for no other reason than they can bill more), which is unfair to our great country — and I am very happy with my existing team.

“Besides, there was NO COLLUSION with Russia, except by Crooked Hillary and the Dems!” Trump added, employing his favorite epithet for the Democratic challenger he defeated, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

 

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been investigating the Trump campaign for months. He indicted 13 Russians on charges of carrying out an online campaign to sow discord in American democracy, while securing guilty pleas from two Trump aides, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and foreign affairs adviser George Papadopoulos, for lying to federal investigators about their contacts with Russian officials.

Mueller’s office and Trump’s defense attorneys have been negotiating over terms of possible testimony by Trump about his actions linked to Russia and the ensuing investigation. Trump says he wants to do the interview, but no agreement on his questioning has been reached.

Mueller is believed to particularly want to question Trump about his knowledge of a mid-2016 meeting his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., set up at Trump Tower in New York, with a Russian attorney on the premise that she was going to hand the Trump campaign incriminating information about Clinton, as well as Trump’s role while president in helping draft a misleading statement about the meeting.

In addition, Mueller’s lawyers want to question Trump about his firing of Flynn in the first month of his presidency and later his ouster of FBI chief James Comey, whom Trump fired while Comey was leading the Russia probe. Mueller, another former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was named shortly thereafter, over Trump’s objections, to take over the Russia investigation.

In other Twitter remarks, Trump defended his reluctant approval Friday of $1.3 trillion in funding for government operations through the end of September.

Trump had sought $20 billion or more to pay for construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to thwart illegal immigration, but had to settle for $1.6 billion.

“Much can be done with the $1.6 Billion given to building and fixing the border wall,” Trump said. “It is just a down payment. Work will start immediately. The rest of the money will come.” He blamed Democrats for not agreeing to a bigger wall deal with a companion agreement to block the deportation of 1.8 million young people who years ago were brought illegally into the country by their parents.

Trump said with $700 billion in funding for defense, “many jobs are created and our Military is again rich. Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense.

“Build WALL through M!,” with Mexico paying for it, Trump implored, revisiting one of his favorite pledges from the 2016 campaign.
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With the passage of an enormous budget bill, the GOP-controlled Congress all but wrapped up its legislating for the year. But will it be enough to persuade voters to give Republicans another term at the helm?

In two big ways, Republicans have done what they promised. They passed a long-sought tax overhaul bill that slashed tax rates. They’ve rolled back regulations, in ways they claim are boosting the economy. In the Senate, they confirmed a justice to the Supreme Court.

But there are signs Americans wanted more: immigration reforms, gun control legislation, even an infrastructure plan that President Donald Trump promised voters. Tax cuts, for now, will have to do.

“It’s very clear that tax reform was going to be the biggest legislative crown jewel of this Congress,” said Matt Gorman, the spokesman for the House GOP’s campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee. “That is a massive centerpiece of our campaign.”

​Mixed messages

But polls swing wildly these days, strategists said. Voters are rarely focused for too long on single issues that can make or break campaigns, as when Republicans seized control of the House in 2010 amid the economic downturn or Democrats pushed to the majority in 2006 over opposition to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and congressional ethics scandals.

Trump’s mixed messages on the GOP’s accomplishments only make the campaigning more difficult. At the White House on Friday, he toyed with a veto of the $1.3 trillion budget package, complaining it lacked his immigration deal and smacked of overspending, before ultimately signing it. Such shifting views leave Republicans without a reliable partner as they try to push through political headwinds in what’s expected to be a tough battle for majority control of the House and Senate.

Lawmakers left town for a two-week recess that marks the unofficial end of the legislating season having shelved resolution of other issues.

Leftovers: health care, DACA

Congress failed to pass legislation to curb rising health insurance premiums or protect young immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation, two issues that have stirred voters this year. And before the nationwide “March for Our Lives” protests against gun violence, lawmakers took modest steps to boost school safety funds and improve compliance with the federal gun purchase background check system.

Kris Brown, co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said the measures are “just not enough.”

“The American people have been screaming from the rooftops for real, bold change to fight against” tragedies such as the Florida and Las Vegas shootings, Brown said. “We have seen the consequences of Congress’s inaction.”

A modest agenda

Congress’ spring agenda is thin. It includes modest plans to finish a banking bill that rolls back some of the regulations put in place after the financial crisis and pass a big farm bill that sets agriculture and school nutrition policies. The Senate also has to begin confirmation hearings for Trump’s nominees for secretary of state and CIA director.

The one legislative lift will be another spending bill when the one Trump signed into law expires at the end of September. But it may bring more political risk than reward for Republicans, since conservatives largely sided with the president against this one, and could pose a more serious threat of voter revolt in the fall.

Strategists say it will be up to candidates to make the case that the GOP’s signature legislative accomplishment is worth their re-election.

Democrats have been hammering on the tax law as a giveaway to big business, in part because the steep reduction in corporate rates, from 35 percent to 21 percent, is permanent while the reduced rates for individuals and other provisions for families, including expanded child tax credits, expire in coming years.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has derided the lopsided benefits for households as “crumbs” — a quip Republicans eagerly throw back at Democrats. 

Millions in GOP ads

To prop up public opinion of the GOP’s top accomplishment, millions are being spent by outside groups. American Action Network, which is aligned with House Speaker Paul Ryan, is unleashing more than $30 million in ads, and the network backed by the influential Koch brothers will spend more than $20 million, heaping praise on lawmakers who voted for the tax cuts and informing voters about those who didn’t.

And with passage of tax cuts so important to the GOP election effort, Republicans might take the unusual step of trying to pass them again.

“We think there’s more we can do,” Ryan said.

House GOP leaders are seriously considering legislation this summer — “Tax Cuts 2” — that would try to build on the original bill that became law in December by making the individual tax cuts permanent.

A do-over tax cuts bill is not expected to pass this Congress. But setting up another showdown accomplishes political goals for Republicans by turning attention back on the tax law, and pushing Democrats into the uncomfortable position of voting against it, again.

Americans for Prosperity, one of the groups in the Koch network, launched an ad campaign urging Congress to fortify the law by making tax cuts permanent. “More needs to be done,” the group says on a website for its advocacy.

“Even if there are things that get passed between now and the fall, the bottom line is the single most important piece of legislation is going to be the tax bill,” said veteran strategist David Winston, who advises House and Senate GOP leadership. “That defines what this Congress is about.”
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Chin high and tears streaming, Florida school shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez stood silent in front of thousands gathered for the “March for Our Lives” rally in Washington.

She continued to stand silently as a few crowd members shouted out support. She remained silent as tentative chants broke out. Her silence continued as those attending also fell quiet, many weeping.

The gripping moment stretched for 6 minutes and 20 seconds, the amount of time Gonzalez said it took a shooter to kill 17 people and wound 15 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last month.

6 minutes and 20 seconds

“Everyone who has been touched by the cold grip of gun violence understands,” Gonzalez told the hushed crowd, describing the long hours spent waiting for authorities to identify their slain classmates, the horror of discovering many of them had breathed their last breaths before many students even knew a “code red” alert — designed to warn staffers and students of a potential threat — had been called.

“Six minutes and 20 seconds with an AR-15 and my friend Carmen [Schentrup] would never complain to me about piano practice,” she said, her voice strong but her throat momentarily catching. “Aaron Feis would never call Kyra ‘Miss Sunshine.’ Alex Schachter would never walk into school with his brother Ryan.”

Gonzalez went on, listing name after name of those killed at the school Feb. 14.

Silence spreads

And then she stopped, her breath heaving but remaining composed, looking straight ahead and silent.

Seemingly unsure what to do, the crowed waited. Some appeared to catch her intent right away, watching with hands covering mouths, foreheads wrinkled and tears falling. Chants of “never again” broke out for a time, and later someone came out from the wings of the stage to put a hand on her shoulder and whisper in her ear.

The silence by now had spread to the thousands thronging Pennsylvania Avenue. Protesters, parents, television news crews waited to see what Gonzalez would do next.

The beeping of a digital alarm broke the silence.

“Since the time that I came out here, it has been six minutes and 20 seconds. The shooter has ceased shooting and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape and walk free for an hour before arrest,” she said, voice clear. “Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job.”

‘Get out there and vote’

Gonzalez is one of several teens from the school to become gun control activists in the wake of the shooting. Their efforts have galvanized youth nationwide, with hundreds of thousands attending similar rallies across the country.

As the three-hour rally wrapped up, Gonzalez assigned some homework for the demonstrators:

“One final plug,” she said. “Get out there and vote.”
…

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend a “March for Our Lives” demonstration in Washington Saturday, drawing attention to school violence in the U.S. and what they see as a need for stricter gun control.  Organizers are hoping to draw half a million people.

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed on February 14 in the latest mass U.S. school shooting, are the organizers of Saturday’s event.

They are demanding that children’s lives be prioritized in a country where mass school shooting have become an epidemic.

More than 800 sister marches have been planned in each of the 50 U.S. states and other countries.

Americans have been reluctant to give up their guns and there have been few changes in gun laws in response to mass shootings.

Americans have been reluctant to give up their guns and there have been few changes in gun laws in response to mass shootings. Among the questions facing march organizers and participants will be how to translate a one-day event, regardless of turnout, into meaningful legislative change.

​A new poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, however, indicates that sentiment may be changing.  The poll found that 69 percent of Americans surveyed now think gun laws should be tightened, up from 61 percent in October, 2016, and 55 percent in October 2013.

Overall the survey indicated 90 percent of Democrats, 50 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of gun owners now favor stricter gun control laws.

But nearly half of Americans, the poll revealed, do not expect their politicians to take action towards changing gun laws.

Student activists, however, have begun concentrating on voter registration with mid-term congressional elections coming up in November.

The March for Our Lives website reports that it has almost reached its goal of raising $3.8 million.

Actor George Clooney and wife, Amal Clooney, a lawyer, gave March For Our Lives a $500,000 donation, which was matched by actress and TV host Oprah Winfrey, director Steven Spielberg and producer Jeffrey Katzenberg. Comedian Ellen DeGeneres and photo publishing service Shutterfly announced a joint donation of $50,000. Model Chrissy Teigen and husband John Legend, a musician, pledged $25,000.

The Clooneys, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, singers Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato, and actors Jennifer Hudson, Sofia Vergara and Julie Bowen have all expressed intentions of attending Saturday’s march in Washington.

 
…

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Washington and other U.S. cities Saturday to rally for tougher gun laws following a recent mass shooting that sparked outrage and political activism among young people across the country.

Many students from Parkland, Florida, where a shooter killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last month, came to Washington to encourage other young people to stand up for gun control, and to urge people 18 and older to vote for lawmakers who do.

One of the most outspoken Parkland students, Emma Gonzales, spoke to the crowd of thousands in Washington Saturday about the loss of a good friend and her determination to make a difference.

And then, she stopped speaking. She stayed silent, tears streaming down her face, while those listening to her chanted, waited uncertainly, or began to cry themselves.

At the end of her long silence, Gonzales said: “It has been 6 minutes and 20 seconds. The shooter has ceased shooting, and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape, and walk free for an hour before arrest. Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job.”

David Hogg: Politicians who oppose gun laws, get your resumes ready

Protest in Atlanta

In Atlanta, Georgia, tens of thousands of people, including more students from Parkland, marched carrying signs saying “Protect Kids, Not Guns,” and “Vote Them Out.”

Civil rights leader and U.S. Representative John Lewis marched, too, wearing a large red letter “F” pinned to his clothes. He said it was the grade, on a scale of A to F, that the National Rifle Association gave him for supporting gun control.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and several members of the state Legislature also attended the Atlanta rally.

In New York City, former Beatles member Paul McCartney attended the rally, telling CNN, “One of my best friends was killed in gun violence right around here, so it’s important to me.” McCartney was referring to his former bandmate John Lennon, who was shot to death in 1980 outside his New York City apartment building.

The organizers of the march say about 800 marches took place around the country and across the world, including Tokyo, Berlin and Paris, where Americans living abroad turned out to support their countrymen at home.

Gun enthusiasts march, too

The gun control marches were met in some places with objectors.

A man who wanted to be identified only as “Joe” from upstate New York spoke to VOA in front of the Trump International Hotel, just blocks from the White House.

“This whole march … is just an emotional reaction to something that is very tragic,” he said. He added that gun control proposals are not “going to reduce gun violence, it’s just going to take away the rights of law-abiding citizens.”

Hundreds of gun enthusiasts marched in Salt Lake City Saturday, calling for better protections for schools and for arming teachers. They turned up in Phoenix, Arizona, as well, challenging the gun-control activists to debate the issue.

Rubio releases statement

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, whose district includes the Parkland, Florida, high school where last month’s shooting took place, has been criticized by the Parkland students for accepting more than $3 million in political contributions from the NRA. On Saturday, he released a statement welcoming the demonstrations, but added, “Making a change requires finding common ground with those who hold opposing views.”

President Donald Trump, who has not commented on Saturday’s demonstrations, is spending the weekend at his vacation home in Florida, less than an hour’s drive from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

In Palm Beach 

Hundreds of protesters in Palm Beach lined up along the route Trump’s motorcade usually takes from his golf club to his vacation home, Mar-a-Lago, on Saturday. But his motorcade took a detour, avoiding the demonstrators.

The Palm Beach Post reports the detour also avoided a large billboard installed along the motorcade route last week that calls for the president’s impeachment.

Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said in a statement, “We applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights today. Keeping our children safe is a top priority of the president’s, which is why he urged Congress to pass the Fix NICS and STOP School Violence Acts, and signed them into law.”

Opinions shifting

A new poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates, however, that sentiment may be changing. The poll found that 69 percent of Americans surveyed thought gun laws should be tightened, up from 61 percent in October 2016 and 55 percent in October 2013.

Overall, the survey indicated 90 percent of Democrats, 50 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of gun owners favored stricter gun control laws.

But nearly half of Americans, the poll revealed, do not expect their politicians to change gun laws.
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Adult film star Stormy Daniels is expected to discuss her alleged affair with President Donald Trump Sunday on the CBS program “60 Minutes.” Trump has denied the affair, which Daniels says took place in 2006. Daniels is one of three women involved in court cases stemming from contacts with Trump that could become major distractions for a White House dealing with political turmoil on several fronts. More now from VOA National correspondent Jim Malone in Washington.
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A new opinion poll shows that 69 percent of Americans support stricter gun control measures in the weeks after a school shooting in Florida left 17 people dead.

The poll by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research said the support for gun control is up from 61 percent in October 2016 and up from 55 percent since the poll first asked the question in October 2013.

It said 90 percent of Democrats and 50 percent of Republicans now favor stricter gun control measures. The poll also found that 54 percent of gun owners support tougher gun control laws.

The poll asked respondents about specific gun control measures and found that more than 8 in 10 Americans favor a federal law preventing mentally ill people from purchasing guns.

Nearly 8 in 10 supported allowing courts to prevent people from owning guns if those people were considered a danger to themselves or others, even if they had not committed a crime, according to the survey.

The poll also found nearly 7 in 10 favor a nationwide ban on bump stocks, a device that allows semi-automatic guns to function like automatic guns.

Americans were divided about whether elected officials would implement tougher gun control regulations, with 51 percent saying they would enact them while 42 percent said they expect no changes.

The AP-NORC poll questioned 1,122 adults online or by phone from March 14-19.
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U.S. President Donald Trump says he has signed a $1.3 trillion spending bill into law Friday despite threats to veto the measure due to its lack of protections for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children and because it does not fully fund his proposed border wall.

“I will never sign a bill like this again,” Trump said. He did sign the bill, which prevented a Friday midnight federal government shutdown. “Nobody read it. Its only hours old,” the president said of the nearly 2,200-page bill released Wednesday night.

A a hastily arranged White House media briefing, the Republican president blamed Democrats for the lack of protections for immigrants arrived under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

“We want to include DACA in this bill. The Democrats would not do it,” the president said.

Trump called on congress to give him a “line item veto for all government spending bills” in the future.

The measure, which funds the federal government through September 30, was passed by Senate early Friday morning after the House of Representatives approved the measure on Thursday. Lawmakers had just hours to read the nearly 2,200-page bill released Wednesday night.

 

With midterm elections looming in November, the bill was likely the final time Capitol Hill considers major legislation this year. The law fulfills Trump’s vow to boost military funding but provides funding for limited parts of his immigration agenda. The law includes a 2.4 percent pay raise for military personnel.

 

After extensive negotiations between Republicans and Democrats, the law also provides $1.6 billion for physical barriers and 150 kilometers of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, short of the $25 billion Trump requested for the project he repeatedly touted on the campaign trail while pledging Mexico would pick up the cost.

 

“Got $1.6 Billion to start Wall on Southern Border, rest will be forthcoming. Most importantly, got $700 Billion to rebuild our Military, $716 Billion next year…most ever. Had to waste money on Dem giveaways in order to take care of military pay increase and new equipment,” Trump said on Twitter.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi touted the agreement in a letter to her Democratic colleagues, saying negotiators “fought for and achieved drastic reductions to the Trump/GOP plan,” including much less funding for the wall than Trump requested and a limit on the number of immigrants that can be detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

 

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said there was “plenty” of compromise in the spending package and that members of his party “feel very good.”

 

“So many of our priorities for the middle class are included,” Schumer tweeted. “From opioid funding to rural broadband, from student loans to child care, this bill puts workers & families first.”

Despite Democrats’ efforts, the law makes no mention of protections for so-called Dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. They were protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that began in 2012. Trump, however, rescinded the program late last year while giving Congress six months to come up with a permanent plan for the immigrants.

 

Democrats had called on Republican leadership to bring to a vote on the House floor a range of proposals that would fix DACA. Federal judges have meanwhile ordered the Trump administration to keep in place certain parts of DACA while legal challenges continue.

Republicans hold majorities in both the House and Senate, but there was not universal support in the party for the bill.

 

Both parties touted the $4.6 billion in total funding to fight the nation’s opioid addiction epidemic, and a record $3 billion increase for medical research at the National Institutes of Health.

Speaker Ryan said the measure tackles a number of critical programs, including boosting defense spending and funding for the Veterans Administration, as well as opioid treatment and drug enforcement and improvements for roads, railways and airports.

 

Facing growing calls to address recent school shootings, lawmakers also included bipartisan legislation strengthening the federal background check system for gun purchases. The “Fix NICS” measure provides funding for states to comply with the existing National Instant Criminal Background Check system and penalize federal agencies that don’t comply.

 

“This doesn’t restrict gun rights in any way, shape or form,” Republican Rep. Tom Cole told reporters shortly before the vote. “The FIX NICS was very bipartisan and we all recognize there are gaps in the background system.”

 

It also includes money to improve school safety, including money for training school officials and law enforcement officers on how to identify signs of potential violence and intervene early, installing metal detectors and other steps to “harden” schools to prevent violence.
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While President Donald Trump’s new National Security Adviser John Bolton has said he would set aside his personal policy preferences and implement Trump’s policies, the new appointment sparks speculations that a review on the United States’ current one-China stance may be underway.

Bolton has long argued that Washington can play a “Taiwan card” to compel Beijing’s attention for its potentially destabilizing actions in East Asia and the South China Sea.

In a commentary published by the Wall Street Journal in 2016, Bolton said it was time to shake up U.S.-China relations.

“This may involve modifying or even jettisoning the ambiguous ‘one-China’ mantra, along with even more far-reaching initiatives to counter Beijing’s rapidly accelerating political and military aggressiveness in the South and East China seas,” wrote Bolton.

The Taiwanese government’s response to a potential change in U.S. policy has been low-key, while Beijing has brushed off speculation Washington is reviewing its one-China policy.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Friday the Chinese position on the policy “is very clear and the United States is very clear about this.”

“No matter who holds the position, the importance of Sino-U.S. relations is self-evident and there will be no change,” she added. “China and the United States respect each other, focus on cooperation, properly handle their differences to achieve a mutual beneficial and win-win result. This is consistent with the common interests of China and the United States, and is also the common expectation of the international community.”

A senior Taiwanese official said his government “is not doing anything or saying anything yet” on Bolton’s appointment to avoid unnecessary diplomatic repercussions.

Experts say Bolton, whose appointment does not require Senate confirmation, is likely to sharpen the Trump administration’s hawkish stance of “a position from strength” towards China, and “a real geopolitical competition with China.”

“Bolton claimed he would set aside his personal policy preferences and implement Trump’s policy, but I’d be surprised if he doesn’t push for some of his long-standing priorities. Among those are regime change in North Korea and closer ties with Taiwan,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at Center for International and Strategic Studies.

Harry Kazianis, director of Defense Studies at the Center for the National Interest, told VOA “Bolton will not only back the administration’s efforts to hit China with tariffs, but also support crucial allies and partners in their disputes with Beijing in the East and South China Seas as well as making sure Taiwan’s democracy is never tampered with.”

Kazianis added he expected the new National Security Adviser to “press for Taiwan to get a much more full-throated relationship with the U.S. — and very likely a full-up review of our ties with Taipei.”
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At a time when the norms of American political discourse are being rewritten and some democratic institutions are undergoing a stress test, Republican Senator John McCain’s absence is keenly felt on Capitol Hill and beyond, fellow senators across the political spectrum told VOA.

“We miss him terribly,” independent Angus King of Maine said. “His voice is so clear and so well-grounded. He’s the conscience of the nation right now.”

“We miss his leadership,” North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis said. “If you think about Senator McCain — his independence, his historic maverick stance — he stretches everybody’s thinking.”

“He is a force of conviction and conscience,” Democrat Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said, adding that McCain is particularly needed on matters pertaining to Russia.

“The president’s [Donald Trump’s] abject failure to defend our national security interests against the Russians — John McCain’s voice would carry such weight. He is just a force of nature when it comes to our national defense and security,” Blumenthal said.

​Longtime senator

McCain, who has represented Arizona in the Senate since 1987, has been absent since December while receiving treatment for brain cancer. His office is not predicting when or whether he might return.

Known for fiery floor speeches, McCain’s public communication in recent months has come via Twitter. He recently defended Robert Mueller, the special counsel in the Russia probe, and blasted Trump’s outreach to his Russian counterpart.

“An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections. And by doing so with [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, President Trump insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election,” McCain tweeted.

Such statements earn particular praise from Senate Democrats.

“We’re grappling with whether we cozy up to a foreign adversary,” Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine said. “He has a gravitas that is in short supply. The Senate could use more John McCains, not fewer.”

Republicans are more apt to laud McCain’s leadership on national defense as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“During Senate debates, like earlier this week on our role in Yemen, he ordinarily would be in the thick of that,” the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, said. “These days it seems like the loudest voice is the one people listen to. John McCain has credibility because of his experience and his passion for national security that very few people can compete with.”

Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe has led the Armed Services Committee in McCain’s absence and is the first to acknowledge he has big shoes to fill, taking over from a man who fought in the Vietnam War, endured more than five years as a prisoner of war, and rose to become his party’s presidential nominee in 2008.

“There is no one [currently serving in the Senate] who has a background like he has,” Inhofe said. “There is something about the sacrifices he has made that sets him apart and beyond the rest of us. I know the things he went through that I didn’t go through.”

Senate votes

Without McCain, the Republican Party’s 51-seat Senate majority has effectively been reduced to 50 in the 100-member chamber. But sources close to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky noted that missing a member has not altered the outcome of any major vote so far this year.

“One senator’s absence on our side is not affecting our workload on any of the issues,” a McConnell aide said.

McCain’s votes have been but one element of his impact on Capitol Hill, according to senators of both parties.

“It goes beyond his vote,” Tillis said. “If you listen to him, sometimes you change your mind. Every once in a while, you try to change his, but I think he’s got a higher score [in changing minds].”

“John McCain calls it the way he sees it. He has a strong moral compass and a real love for this country,” Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin said. “We disagree on a lot of issues, and we agree on a lot of issues. Great leader and a person you could always rely upon to stand by what’s right for our country. Not what’s popular, but what’s right.”

Medical experts say the prognosis is grim for the aggressive form of brain cancer McCain is battling — something many of his colleagues in the Senate find difficult to acknowledge.

“I just wish he were here. I’m still counting on seeing him again here,” Blumenthal said.

“He’s a fighter. I hold out hope that he’ll be back strong as ever,” Cardin said.

On March 18, McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain, tweeted what appears to be the most recent photo of her father.
…

John Bolton, chosen by President Donald Trump late Thursday to replace H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, is a career lawyer and diplomat who has long been on the president’s short list to join the administration.

The lifelong conservative has taken hawkish public stances on such issues as North Korea’s nuclear program. In February, he told VOA’s Korean service that Pyongyang’s recent overtures aimed at renewing talks on the issue were “simply a continuation of their propaganda strategy. I mean, we’ve been down that road several times before, and it’s failed every time.”

Bolton has also been critical of South Korea’s “sunshine policy” regarding the North.

“I think we’ve run out of time” in the effort to prevent Pyongyang from developing nuclear weapons that could hit the United States, he told VOA. But rather than the U.S. taking defensive action, he said, he hoped the U.S. could persuade China “to do something that might eliminate the need for it.”

When questioned about a possible role in the Trump administration, however, Bolton kept mum. “I never comment on those kinds of questions,” he said.

At present, Bolton is a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, a senior adviser for a capital management firm, and a Fox News commentator. He is involved with several conservative policy institutes and lobbying groups, including the National Rifle Association, and he serves on the board of directors for EMS Technologies, a Georgia wireless company that has been a subcontractor on Department of Defense projects.

Bolton served in the presidential administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and held roles in the Justice and State departments, making use of his legal and security expertise.

Most recently, he served as the 25th U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under the George W. Bush administration.

​Critical of U.N.

Although he was a U.N. ambassador, Bolton has openly criticized the international organization as ineffective. His tenure at the United Nations lasted from August 2005 to December 2006. His was a recess appointment, meaning he did not have to undergo a Senate confirmation process. Bolton left his position when the appointment ended; he was seen as unlikely to win confirmation by the Democratic-majority Senate that took office in January 2007.

A public figure since the 1980s, Bolton is known for arguing against enforcement of a U.N. biological weapons convention in 2001, saying the agreement would put U.S. national security at risk by opening suspected U.S. weapons sites to inspections.

In a 2003 speech while serving in an arms control and international security post in the State Department, Bolton described North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as a “tyrannical dictator” and added that for North Koreans under Kim’s leadership, “life is a hellish nightmare.”

Bolton has said in a memoir that his “happiest moment” at the State Department was removing U.S. support from the Rome Statute that set up the International Criminal Court.

In 2009, Bolton proposed a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in which Gaza would be placed under Egyptian control and the West Bank would become part of Jordan.

Bolton has publicly considered running for president but has never actively campaigned. He has long been a Trump favorite and was considered for the position of national security adviser before it went to H.R. McMaster in February 2017. The national security adviser’s position does not require Senate confirmation.

VOA’s Korean service contributed to this report.
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U.S. President Donald Trump has been issued a summons by the attorneys general of the District of Columbia and the neighboring state of Maryland, alleging his business activities are violating a clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The summons issued earlier this week is addressed to Trump in both “his official capacity and his individual capacity.”

The lawsuit alleges that representatives from foreign governments who stay at Trump’s hotels constitute a violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution because the money they pay for lodging constitutes a gift to the president from a foreign government. Such gifts to the president are prohibited unless they are approved by Congress.

It also alleges that local businesses suffer because important foreign visitors may opt to stay at a Trump property as a means of currying favor with the president.

The president’s legal representatives have three weeks to respond.

A New York court dismissed a similar case in December, saying the issue brought by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics was something Congress ought to address, rather than the courts.

That case was appealed in February.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh told the Associated Press in February that this is the first time anyone has tried to sue a president as an individual for violating the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause.

When Trump took office, he failed to divest himself completely from his business interests, but handed over control of the businesses to his adult children.
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The son of a U.S. citizen detained in North Korea is hoping against hope that his father will be released in conjunction with the unexpected summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“I’m thankful that President Trump is going to have this summit. I’m thankful for his work and what he’s doing. I’m hoping the issue of my dad and other detainees would be brought up,” said Sol Kim in an interview with Voice of America’s Korean Service on Wednesday.

His father, Kim Sang Duk, whose American name is Tony Kim, has been detained in North Korea since April 22, 2017 when he was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport. North Korean state media reported that Kim had been arrested for “committing criminal acts of hostility aimed to overturn” the country and he was held in custody pending a “detailed investigation into his crime.”

Last week’s surprise Stockholm meeting between North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and his Swedish counterpart, Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom, set off speculation that Sweden would be a possible location for the summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un.

The meeting also brought the issue of Tony Kim and two other Americans to the fore as Sweden is thought to be negotiating with North Korea for release of the U.S. detainees. Sweden has maintained relations with North Korea since 1973 and is one of the few Western countries with an embassy in Pyongyang. It provides consular services for the U.S. in North Korea.  

However, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said on Wednesday “there’s nothing under way” although seeking the detainees release is “a high priority for this administration.”   

Sol Kim said he has not heard anything from the State Department about his father’s possible return.

Sol Kim and his family members and friends have been sending letters to Tony Kim via the State Department, hoping that, somehow, the letters would wind up with the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang for delivery.

“But I think the letters have not gone [to him] … We just don’t know,” Sol Kim said.

Accountant turned professor

Tony Kim, a former accountant turned professor, had been in North Korea teaching international finance and management to students at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), the only private university in the country. 

He also taught at PUST’s affiliate institution in China, the Yanbian University of Science and Technology (YUST) in Yanji, for more than 15 years. While at the Yanbian University, the 59-year-old professor made numerous trips to North Korea to teach at PUST after it opened in 2010.

PUST was founded by an evangelical Christian and funded from outside North Korea after the regime authorized the Northeast Asia Foundation for Education and Culture to establish PUST. The school has more than sixty foreign faculty members from China, the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and other European countries, according to its website.

Sol Kim, a 27-year-old graduate student in Southern California, visited North Korea as his father”s teaching assistant.

“I got to see students study. … I got to spend time playing sports after class time. We’d eat and share meals together,” Sol Kim said. “They were very curious. They worked hard. It was a positive experience.”

The Olympics thaw

Sol Kim began speaking out about getting his dad released as tensions began thawing on the Korean Peninsula during the Winter Olympics.

When he heard about the summit between the U.S. and North Korea, Sol Kim ramped up his efforts to get his father released. He talks to the State Department every week. He’s posted on YouTube and launched #USA3.

“I think the response was good. I don’t know how many people read but people would repost or retweet, sharing with their friends,” said Sol Kim.

“They are encouraging for me. I’m not … doing this to get millions and millions of views,” he said. “But the fact that people took the time to share and hear the messages … was encouraging.”

Sol Kim has messages for his father, ones he hopes reach the elder Kim … somehow: “We miss him a lot. I love him. We want him to know that he’ll be becoming a grandpa soon. I look forward to seeing him again.”

The last time he had word of his father was when Joseph Yun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy who retired early this month, visited North Korea in June 2017 to secure the release of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died shortly after his release in a comatose state. Warmbier’s death prompted Trump to issue a ban on U.S. citizens traveling to North Korea. 

Two other U.S. citizens, all ethnic Koreans  Kim Hak Song and Kim Dong Chul are also detained in North Korea on charges of conducting anti-state activities to overthrow the North Korean government.

Christy Lee contributed to this report which originated on VOA’s Korean Service.
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A proposed U.S.-North Korea summit is, for now, just that: a proposal. On this week’s edition of VOA’s “Plugged In With Greta Van Susteren,” analysts say that while the logistics and timing of talks are up in the air, so is the definition of real progress for all sides involved. VOA’s Robert Raffaele has more.
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U.S. officials conceded more work needs to be done to protect elections in America from continuing Russian cyberthreats. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports from Capitol Hill, where current and former Homeland Security secretaries testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
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Facebook is coming under intense criticism following reports that information from 50 million users was gathered by a voter data firm. Lawmakers are demanding answers, and Facebook stock has lost about $35 billion in its value. Michelle Quinn reports on the threats the company faces.
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The White House has defended U.S. President Donald Trump’s phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on his election victory. The call early Tuesday coincided with the announcement by a Senate panel that a careful investigation showed Russia had meddled in the U.S. 2016 presidential election. Trump made no mention of the finding Tuesday but rather spoke of the need to meet with Putin to discuss important global issues. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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