TRUMP SEEKS RESET AT STATE DEPARTMENT
WASHINGTON» President Donald Trump is trying to hit reset at the State Department on the eve of a critical decision on the Iran nuclear deal and a potential summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump made his first visit to the department Wednesday for the ceremonial swearing-in of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, highlighting his relationship with the head of a Cabinet agency he largely neglected during the tenure of Rex Tillerson. The former Exxon Mobil CEO was unceremoniously dumped by Trump as the top U.S. diplomat in March after months of personality and policy clashes.
“That’s more spirit than I’ve heard from the State Department in a long time,” Trump said as he took the podium to applause from the crowd on the ornate seventh floor.
It was a tacit acknowledgement that department morale had suffered under Tillerson, who undertook an unpopular restructuring of the department before he was fired. Pompeo has repeatedly promised to reinvigorate the department.
“I want the State Department to get its swagger back,” he said.
Trump lashes out at investigation into obstruction of justice.
WASHINGTON»
President Donald Trump on Wednesday called an investigation into possible obstruction of justice a “setup & trap” in a defiant morning tweet in which he once again aslegal, serted that there was no wrongdoing to be uncovered in the special counsel investigation.
Trump’s tweet comes amid ongoing negotiations between his lawyers and special counsel Robert Mueller over whether the president will consent to an interview as part of the probe of Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election.
In March, Mueller warned during a meeting with Trump’s lawyers that he could issue a subpoena for the president to appear before a grand jury, according to four people familiar with the encounter.
GOP groups take out ads to stoke Trump-Tester feud.
MONT.» Republican HELENA, groups are taking out attack ads against Sen. Jon Tester to make good on President Donald Trump’s pledge that the Montana Democrat will pay for scuttling his Department of Veterans Affairs nominee.
One online ad by the National Republican Senatorial Committee launched Wednesday, says Tester spread allegations and lies about White House physician Ronny Jackson.
The ad shows a clip of Trump saying that what Tester did to Jackson “is a disgrace” and a Trump tweet that said Tester should resign. “Trump is right. It’s time for Jon Tester to go,” the ad says.
“Sen. Tester didn’t even think twice before spreading unsubstantiated claims about a decorated veteran, just to please Chuck Schumer and his liberal party bosses in Washington,” NRSC spokesman Calvin Moore said.
Moore declined to say how much the NRSC spent on the ad.
Ryan backing Rosenstein despite conservatives’ impeachment threat.
House Speaker Paul Ryan split from more conservative elements of his conference by continuing to back Rod Rosenstein, even though some of President Donald Trump’s allies in the House have begun drafting articles of impeachment for the deputy attorney general.
The speaker’s position has not changed since January, a spokeswoman said responding to further murmurs of impeachment. Rosenstein is “doing a fine job” and there is “no reason” for Trump to fire him, Ryan said at the beginning of the year.
Rosenstein oversees the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election — and President Donald Trump’s potential obstruction of justice in the ongoing probe — headed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from it.
The cadre of House conservatives calling for Rosenstein’s head are accusing the deputy AG of withholding from Congress documents regarding the Department of Justice’s Russia investigation and its past investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.
Lawmakers send six-week abortion ban to governor.
DES MOINES,
Republican legislators sent Iowa’s governor a bill early Wednesday that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy, propelling the state overnight to the front of a push among conservative statehouses jockeying to enact the nation’s most restrictive regulations on the procedure.
Critics say the so-called “heartbeat” bill, which now awaits the signature of anti-abortion GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds, would ban abortions before some women even know they’re pregnant. That could set up the state for a legal challenge over its constitutionality, including from the same federal appeals court that three years ago struck down similar legislation approved in Arkansas and North Dakota.
Pence praises pardoned Arpaio.
Vice President Mike Pence called former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of contempt of court last year, a champion of “the rule of law” and said he was honored by his attendance at an event with him Tuesday in Arizona.
President Donald Trump pardoned Arpaio last year after his conviction on a misdemeanor contempt of court charge for ignoring a federal judge’s order to stop detaining people because he merely suspected them of being immigrants living in the country illegally.
Arpaio is now a primary candidate for the Republican nomination to succeed the retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.
Arpaio’s critics spent years trying to stop police practices under Arpaio that they charged were discriminatory and abusive.
After Trump announced his pardon of Arpaio, an official at the American Civil Liberties Union called it “a presidential endorsement of racism.”