Trump favors exceptions to abortion laws
President Donald Trump waded into the issue of women’s reproductive rights, suggesting a new, highly restrictive measure banning abortion in Alabama signed this week went too far.
In a series of tweets, the president called himself “strongly Pro-Life, with the three exceptions — Rape, Incest and protecting the Life of the mother.”
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on May 15 signed into law a measure passed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature that would ban most abortions in the state. Lawmakers rejected a proposal for a rape and incest exception but would allow abortions in cases when a woman’s health is at “serious” risk.
Under the law, which is expected to be challenged, doctors who perform abortions in the state could be charged with a felony and face as much as 99 years in prison.
Mr. Trump called on Republicans to “stick together” on the issue, adding, ‘if we are foolish and do not stay UNITED as one, all of our hard fought gains for Life can, and will, rapidly disappear!”
Migrant plan shelved
Acting homeland security secretary Kevin McAleenan said that the Trump administration had considered sending migrants from Texas to Florida but ultimately decided not to because it wouldn’t have been “an effective use of resources.”
The statement by Mr. McAleenan follows an outcry from Florida officials late last week in response to the administration’s plans.
“We looked at it from a planning perspective: What’s prudent here?” Mr. McAleenan said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “We do have stations in Florida. We have stations on the northern border. They’re very small stations. They have a few agents that are busy patrolling their areas. There wasn’t going to be an effective use of resources. But yeah, we had to look at all options.”
Mr. McAleenan said John Sanders, the acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, made the decision to reverse course on Saturday.
Accounts red-flagged
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Anti-money laundering specialists at Deutsche Bank recommended in 2016 and 2017 that multiple transactions involving legal entities controlled by Donald Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, be reported to a federal financial-crimes watchdog.
The transactions, some of which involved Mr. Trump’s now-defunct foundation, set off alerts in a computer system designed to detect illicit activity, according to five current and former bank employees. Compliance staff members who then reviewed the transactions prepared socalled suspicious activity reports that they believed should be sent to a unit of the Treasury Department that polices financial crimes.
But executives at Deutsche Bank, which lent billions of dollars to the Trump and Kushner companies, rejected their employees’ advice. The reports were never filed with the government.