Day 705 of NO EVIDENCE produced by Trump that his phones were tapped by Obama.
The FISA warrant Trump referenced targeted Carter Page. #TrumpLies
Day 493 since the deadliest mass shooting on U.S soil in Las Vegas that killed 58, injuring 546.
Although a bump stock ban takes effect in 39 days, Congress must take action to prevent future mass shootings. #NeverForget #NeverAgain #EnoughIsEnough
Real-time American gun violence data for 2019, as of February 8th:
•1,456 gun deaths
•2,566 gun injuries
•54 kids shot
•246 teens shot
•209 armed home invasions
•133 incidents of defensive gun use
•159 unintentional shootings
•35 mass shootings
#NationalEmergency
Maps of gun violence so far in 2019 (total incidents, gun deaths, gun injuries, incidents of defensive use).
All GVA maps are updated daily: gunviolencearchive.org/charts-and-maps
Guns have destroyed communities in the U.S so Trump is now exporting the carnage:
Semi-automatic weapons, flamethrowers &even some grenades will become easier for US weapons manufacturers to export overseas under new Trump rules.
nbcnews.com/politics/white…
House Judiciary chair Jerry Nadler has announced that he'll hold a markup next week on the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, which requires background checks on all firearm sales.
It's the next step to getting a vote on the legislation. bit.ly/2DmA6QE
FYI: The Trump admin has quietly resumed separating immigrant families at the border.
At one agency, the children were put into temporary foster care and shelters with little or no indication that they arrived at the border with their parents: propub.li/2QcsPvY
Reminder: The Trump administration is systematically locking up thousands of children at unheard of rates - now almost 15,000 are in U.S. custody.
The government classifies these children as "unaccompanied"
n.pr/2BdhcL8
Thousands more kids may have been separated from their parents at the border under the Trump administration than was previously thought, according to an internal government report.
abcn.ws/2DmTr5t
"Does anyone know how many children were separated from their parents?" Jan Schakowsky asked the panel of 3, to no response. "Does anyone know how many separated kids are still in U.S. custody?"
Schakowsky paused. More silence. "No one knows."
thedailybeast.com/hhs-official-w…
Matt Whitaker: "There was no family separation policy."
(There was. The zero-tolerance policy necessitated the separation of kids from asylum-seeking parents who didn't cross at official ports of entry.)
No sign of progress in three days of talks to prepare second U.S.-North Korea summit
reut.rs/2Dmcdc0
Trump says his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam will take place in Hanoi. apne.ws/pGrGacH
Make North Korea Great Again!
The Trump inauguration paid the Trump hotel $175,000 PER DAY for event space.
Federal prosecutors are probing the festivities. propublica.org/article/trump-…
White House refuses to meet legal requirements to determine if MBS responsible for Khashoggi killing cnn.com/2019/02/08/pol…
Siding with Saudi crown prince, WH does NOT make determination on punishing those responsible for Khashoggi murder under Magnitsky Act. “[Trump] maintains his discretion to decline to act on congressional committee requests when appropriate"
cnn.com/2019/02/08/pol…
Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir on Jamal Khashoggi: “Mistakes happen. We acknowledge that this was a huge mistake." Per @JoshNBCNews
Foreign Affairs chair Eliot Engel: "The Admin is again making its disdain for Congress’s constitutional authority abundantly clear. With or without the Admin's assistance, the Foreign Affairs Committee will push for accountability for the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi."
8 Days remain until the temporary bill providing fiscal appropriations through February 15, 2019 expires.
If Congress & Trump do not agree on a fiscal year spending bill, government agencies will again be shut down.
#TrumpShutdown
Post-shutdown chaos: Nearly 2 weeks after the #TrumpShutdown ended, many feds still haven’t gotten their back pay, @kimberlykindy @reinlwapo & @joelachenbach report
wapo.st/2RL83zC
Why is Trump now considering “fencing” and a lower dollar figure, as Politico reported? Because he has almost no cards to play right now >>
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
"In his sharpest criticism, McCabe writes that after firing Comey, Trump and the White House counsel, Don McGahn, acted like mobsters by in effect offering McCabe protection in return for loyalty."
theguardian.com/us-news/2019/f…
“[Trump] and his men were trying to work me the way a criminal brigade would operate,” McCabe writes, recalling an Oval Office meeting soon after his elevation to acting FBI director." theguardian.com/us-news/2019/f…
Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler on Matthew Whitaker possibly invoking executive privilege: "In other words, you reserve the right to refuse to answer the question forever. That's not how it works." Via ABC
KEY from Whitaker:
“I have not talked to the president of the United States about the special counsel’s investigation.”
Also says later he hasn't talked to senior WH officials.
Jerry Nadler asks Matthew Whitaker if he has ever been asked to approve any request or action to be taken by the Special Counsel.
Whitaker: "Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up."
The response in the room is remarkable.
Whitaker makes another remark about members' time to Rep. Shiela Jackson-Lee.
Jackson-Lee: "Mr Attorney General, we're not joking here. And your humor is not acceptable. Now, you're here because we have a constitutional duty to ask questions."
Given Doug Collins’ innuendo about why CNN was at Roger Stone's home during the arrest, here’s the actual reason why: Reporting, piecing together clues from grand jury moves, long stake outs and the widely reported expectation Stone was in trouble cnn.com/2019/01/25/pol…
After ranking member Doug Collins raises more objections, Eric Swalwell suggests that Collins sit with Whitaker's lawyers. Via CSPAN2
Fire from Jamie Raskin when Whitaker tries to challenge him: "I control this time, Mr. Whitaker...This is my time. Mr. Whitaker, you don't run this committee! You don't run the Congress of the United States & you don't run the Judiciary Committee."
LIEU: There’s no sentence in the US Constitution that says the sitting President cannot be indicted, correct?
WHITAKER: That is the opinion of the office.
LIEU: I don’t actually care what DOJ policy is, I’m asking you about the Constitution.
Ex-FBI official Frank Figliuzzi: "Listen, I'm not kidding when I say I have interviewed terrorists who are more cooperative and respectful than Matt Whitaker was today." @MSNBC
Prosecutors working for Mueller have asked Judge Amy Berman Jackson to impose a limited gag order on Roger Stone for statements related to his trial.
Prosecutors aren't asking to silence Stone entirely, but don't want him talking about his case.
washingtonpost.com/local/legal-is…
Robert Mueller wants to know more about a secret $1 million loan made to Paul Manafort's family in the days after the FBI raided his home, according to Bloomberg. It's unclear right now who actually funded the loan. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Prosecutors suggest Manafort may have lied to investigators because he wanted a pardon from Trump. @SharonLNYT
nytimes.com/2019/02/07/us/…
Ivanka Trump says she knew “almost nothing” about talks over the Trump Tower Moscow project.
Yeah, OK.
abcnews.go.com/Politics/ivank…
Trump campaign is paying Abbe Lowell’s fees repping Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
Do Trump supporters know their campaign donations are funding Trump and family's legal defense?!?
abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump…
Trump's longtime bodyguard, Keith Schiller, has received $225,000 so far from the RNC, through his one-man consulting firm.
Schiller is being paid by the RNC...to remain silent.
cnbc.com/2019/02/08/fir…
Trump is the first modern president to hire his customers.
Since taking office, Trump has appointed at least eight people who identified themselves as current or former members of his private clubs to senior posts in his administration. #PayToPlay
usatoday.com/story/news/inv…
Trump’s Bedminster golf course employed so many undocumented immigrants that there’s an entire town in Costa Rica built on Trump paychecks.
“My whole town practically lived there,” one said of the Trump course.
washingtonpost.com/politics/my-wh…
The workers say Trump paid them $8/hour to operate heavy equipment. No benefits.
A licensed, legal operator would have cost him $51/hour, including benefits.
washingtonpost.com/politics/my-wh…
During the campaign, Trump cited use of E-Verify to answer claims his company hired unauthorized immigrants. That wasn't universally true.
He also said that those who hire such immigrants should face large fines or criminal charges.
wapo.st/2I26Zbb
Beto O'Rourke is counterprogramming Trump's Monday visit to El Paso Monday with a "Celebration of El Paso," including a march, music and a Beto speech at the same time Trump is speaking across town.
#CelebrationOfElPaso
thehill.com/homenews/campa…
@MeghanMcCain on Ivanka and Jared attending her dad's funeral: “I thought that my family had made it clear, at least I had, that the Trumps are unwelcome around me"
bit.ly/2ROOiHm
Federal prosecutors are reviewing the National Enquirer's handling of its story about Jeff Bezos' affair to determine if the company violated an earlier cooperation deal with prosecutors, two people familiar with the matter tell Bloomberg News. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
"Hogan Gidley came into the hold room briefly. He didn't have a explanation for how Trump was tweeting during his physical." Via @ByBrianBennett (pool report # 4)
Trump’s “very good health” should last for “duration of his Presidency, and beyond,” his doctor says
wapo.st/2E0GtuE
WH officials have launched a mole hunt to find the leaker who revealed Trump's private schedules; one Trump official said the culprit is likely a career government employee who works in the White House, not a person appointed by Trump himself: politi.co/2IayW0y
Every president since Nixon has voluntarily given their tax returns. Trump hasn’t.
There’s a reason for that, he has a lot to hide.
In case you missed yesterday's thread: