| President Trump said Thursday in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that he’s postponed her upcoming overseas trip until the government shutdown has been resolved, according to a tweet from Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been postponed,” Trump wrote. “We will reschedule this seven-day excursion when the Shutdown is over. In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I’m sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate.” Pelosi was reportedly scheduled to leave at 3:30 p.m. ET—about an hour after the letter was released publicly. The letter comes just a day after Pelosi delivered a similar blow to Trump, when she called on him to cancel his upcoming State of the Union address until the shutdown has concluded. “I look forward to seeing you soon,” Trump added, “and even more forward to watching our open and dangerous Southern Border finally receive the attention, funding, and security it so desperately deserves!” Pelosi’s Chief of Staff Drew Hamill later tweeted to explain the trip, noting that the plane planned to stop in Brussels to give the pilot time to rest and to “affirm the United States’ ironclad commitment to the NATO alliance” with key allies. In Afghanistan, the speaker reportedly planned to “express appreciation & thanks to our men & women in uniform for their service & dedication, & to obtain critical national security & intelligence briefings from those on the front lines.” Pelosi had no plans to go to Egypt, Hamill said. |
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| Law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom—which worked for the Ukrainian government with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort—has settled with the Justice Department, agreeing to pay over $4.6 million and register as a foreign agent, according to a DOJ release. As part of the settlement, the law firm has acknowledged that a partner misled prosecutors about the extent of its work for Ukraine. “A partner then at Skadden made false and misleading statements to the FARA Unit, which led it to conclude in 2013 that the firm was not obligated to register under FARA,” prosecutors said. “The facts, when uncovered, showed that Skadden was indeed required to register in 2012, and, under the Agreement, it will do so retroactively.” According to the DOJ, the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice hired the firm—with the assistance of Manafort—to write a report on the 2011 trial of Yulia Tymoshenko, a top political opponent of Viktor Yanukovych, the former pro-Russian president of Ukraine. The Justice Department also said the firm had agreed to advise Ukraine on a “second, potential future prosecution” of Tymoshenko. In a statement, Assistant Attorney General John Demers said the firm’s report for Tymoshenko was “part of a Ukrainian foreign influence campaign.” A former lawyer at Skaaden, Alex Van Der Zwaan, spent 30 days in jail after he was charged with making false statements to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. |
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| In an interview with HuffPost, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey wouldn’t confirm that President Trump would get banned from Twitter if he called on his followers to kill a journalist. The response was only one of Dorsey’s several vague responses. Dorsey was asked if he would remove Trump if the president “tweeted out asking each of his followers to murder one journalist.” Dorsey responded: “That would be a violent threat. We’d definitely ... You know we’re in constant communication with all governments around the world. So we’d certainly talk about it.” Dorsey has come under repeated fire for his platform’s inaction in response to harassment on the site, as well as for reportedly consulting with far-right fringe figure Ali Akbar, who is known for his history of anti-Semitic remarks. Dorsey danced around the controversies plaguing his company, suggesting ideas to deal with the problems without providing any concrete plans Twitter has in place to solve them. In response to questions regarding the rampant harassment on Twitter, Dorsey said, “We’re not in a great state right now with our systems because they rely upon reporting. So we’re not going to take any action unless it’s reported. And then we take action, and we have a whole queue that we have to get through... there are limitations to how much we can do.” |
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| Bill Maher is ready to get real in an all-new season of Real Time with Bill Maher, returning to HBO this Friday, January 18, at 10 PM ET. Bill is back to interview newsmakers, facilitate real conversations, and share his unique take on the news with marquee guests: Governor John Kasich, NFL running back Marshawn Lynch, former Representative Barney Frank, journalist Catherine Rampell, and radio host Erick Erickson. Now in its 17th season, Real Time with Bill Maher is also available on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and partners’ streaming platforms (so you can catch-up anytime). And if you need more Maher after your Friday fix, don’t forget about the show’s Overtime segments on YouTube. View this cheat in a browser to see this video. |
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| Eight workers have filed a lawsuit against General Motors alleging that managers at the Toledo, Ohio, Powertrain plant did little to nothing to stop an “underlying atmosphere of violent racial hate and bullying,” according to the lawsuit. Two of the workers, both supervisors, said they were forced to treat their workplace like a “battlefield” in order to compensate for the lack of support they received from upper management after repeatedly reporting insubordination, racist remarks, and threats of violence. Fourteen months after starting as a supervisor, Marcus Boyd says he found a noose hanging in the area where he worked. As the only black employee in that space on his shift, he believed it was meant to intimidate him. In total, five nooses were found and all reported to GM to little avail, according to the lawsuit. GM has rejected the allegations, stating that “we treat any reported incident with sensitivity and urgency, and are committed to providing an environment that is safe, open and inclusive.” Lawyers for the men suing GM say there continue to be racist remarks at the plant to this day, which they plan to include in the lawsuit. |
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| An investigation concluded that former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin violated ethics rules by allowing his driver to provide transportation for his wife, the VA inspector general said in a report Thursday. The investigation cleared him of other allegations that he misused his security detail for shopping and other errands. Investigators determined Shulkin permitted his driver to transport his wife on several occasions, in one case to a train station in a government vehicle when he was on duty, and in other cases, in his personal vehicle on his own time. Federal ethics rules bar employees from accepting gifts from subordinate staff, and the inspector general concluded that the personal transportation services qualify as a gift. “Secretary Shulkin was aware that these services, which benefited him at least indirectly, were being offered to his wife,” the inspector general’s report said. “Accordingly, he had an ethical obligation to decline the gift.” The investigation was triggered by complaints that Shulkin improperly used agents during trips to Home Depot, when house-hunting, and to a furniture store in the weeks after he took office in February 2017. |
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| Liberty University came to the defense of its chief information officer after The Wall Street Journal reported that Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, had paid him to rig polling data in favor of the president. “John Gauger is one example among many outstanding LU employees who have made great contributions in their official roles and enjoyed success as independent entrepreneurs,” the university wrote in a statement. According to the newspaper, Jerry Falwell Jr.—the school’s president—is a known Trump supporter. Gauger, who worked at the school but also ran a firm called RedFinch Solutions, was hired by Cohen to “rig” a CNBC and Drudge Report poll in 2014 and 2015 for $50,o00. Gauger told the newspaper that he was never paid in full. Cohen also reportedly asked Gauger to create a @WomenForCohen Twitter account praising him as a “sex symbol.” Cohen later confirmed the Journal report, telling CNN that he hired Gauger to rig the polls “at the direction and for the sole benefit of Donald J. Trump.” View this cheat in a browser to see this embedded tweet. |
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| A jury found Joshua Hupperterz guilty of first-degree murder, among other charges, in the death of Temple University student Jenna Burleigh, local news station KWY-TV reports. The jury reportedly took an hour-and-a-half in their deliberations Wednesday. According to authorities, Burleigh, 22, was brutally punched, stabbed, and strangled in Aug. 2017. The two allegedly met at a pub in the early morning hours, and started to fight while they had sex in his apartment. Hupperterz, who also attended Temple University, allegedly stuffed Burleigh’s body in a blue plastic bin after the incident and moved it to his mother’s house. Assistant District Attorney Jason Grenell reportedly showed the jury a picture of Burleigh’s body in the box. “It is almost inconceivable,” said Grenell. “Thrown away, treated like trash … how could somebody do that?” |
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| The New York City Police Department still has photos of Black Lives Matter activists years after the group was staging regular protests in the city, according to a public records request cited in a Thursday report from The Appeal. Advocates claim that the retention of these photos could violate the department’s own surveillance guidelines, known as the Handschu Guidelines, which prohibit the police from retaining photos taken at rallies unless they “relat[e] to potential unlawful or terrorist activity.” Given that the group became less active years ago, advocates say, there’s no reason the department should be legally allowed to retain those photos, many of which just include protesters milling about on the street. Some experts are also concerned that the photos could violate activists’ First Amendment rights. “There are First Amendment questions about how long you can keep and access these photos,” Rachel Levinson-Waldman, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program, told The Appeal. “How is it being used and kept? These practices could potentially chill First Amendment activities. I would have a concern if [photos of] basically innocent third parties are living in these files and being used for other reasons. What protections do they have?” |
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