‘I’m not for impeachment,’ Pelosi says, potentially roiling fellow Democrats

In this file photo, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi(D-Calif.) holds a news conference earlier this year.

Source: MSN

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview that she opposes moving to impeach President Trump even though she believes he is “unfit” for office — her first definitive statement on the subject and one that stands to alienate members of her own Democratic Party who are intent on ousting the president.

“I’m not for impeachment,” she said in a March 6 interview conducted for a future issue of The Washington Post Magazine.

“This is news,” she added. “I haven’t said this to any press person before. But since you asked, and I’ve been thinking about this, impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.”

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Yet, Pelosi also said that she does not believe Trump is up for the job of running the country. Asked if he was fit to be president, she countered, “Are we talking ethically? Intellectually? Politically? What are we talking here?” When a reporter said all, she said he was not.

“All of the above. No. No. I don’t think he is,” she said. “I mean, ethically unfit. Intellectually unfit. Curiosity-wise unfit. No, I don’t think he’s fit to be president of the United States.”

The apparent contradiction shows that Pelosi is well aware of the political risks of impeachment and how pursuit of the president could energize Republicans voters ahead of the 2020 election. Still, her comments will almost certainly infuriate the far-left wing of the party, which has been clamoring to begin impeachment proceedings over controversies ensnaring the Trump administration.

Most House Democrats agree that they should give the chairmen of investigative committees the space to conduct their probes before engaging in serious impeachment discussions. But Pelosi’s suggestion that she doesn’t support those moves at all because “he’s just not worth it” won’t sit well with some in her caucus.

Pelosi’s comments come one week after the House Judiciary Committee, the panel with jurisdiction over impeachment proceedings, issued document requests to more than 80 people affiliated with Trump’s administration, campaign and businesses. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the committee, called the requests the first step in a larger probe into obstruction of justice and abuses of power by the president. Meanwhile, other committees in the House are beginning probes of campaign-time contributions that Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen made to silence women alleging affairs with the president as well as Trump’s plans to build a tower in Moscow and how he managed his private company.

Related video: Nancy Pelosi keeps throwing shade at Donald Trump (Provided by The Washington Post)

For months, Pelosi has treated the possibility of Trump’s impeachment delicately, publicly noting the need for bipartisan support and significant evidence of wrongdoing before pursuing the president’s removal.

“If and when the time comes for impeachment, it will have to be something that has such a crescendo in a bipartisan way,” she said, for instance, in a CBS News interview in early January.

She echoed that bipartisan requirement in the Post interview. However, given congressional Republicans’ unwillingness to push back on their leader in the Oval Office over the past two years, some Democrats disagree with Pelosi’s assessment that any impeachment proceedings must have support from the GOP. House Democrats, they argue, have a job to do in holding the president accountable — regardless of the GOP’s stance on impeachment.

Pelosi has, at times, referenced the failed 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton by congressional Republicans as a formative experience in her thinking — an argument she renewed in the interview.

“There was no question that was that was horrible for the country. It was unnecessary and the rest,” she said. “But in terms of where we are, as Thomas Paine said, the times have found us. And the times have found us now. We have a very serious challenge to the Constitution of the United States in the president’s unconstitutional assault on the Constitution, on the first branch of government, the legislative branch . . . This is very serious for our country.”

Meanwhile, members of Pelosi’s caucus have been outspoken about their desire to impeach Trump. Earlier this month, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) marched on Capitol Hill with impeachment supporters, and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has discussed impeaching Trump in numerous interviews.

Two House Democrats, Reps. Al Green (Tex.) and Brad Sherman (Calif.), have already drafted articles of impeachment. Green moved in December 2017 to force the House to consider impeachment articles; the effort was killed on a 364-58 vote.

And outside the Capitol, liberal billionaire Tom Steyer has pledged to spend tens of millions of dollars on an effort to impeach Trump, forming a group called Need to Impeach that has taken out television ads and constructed a grass-roots network to push the issue. Steyer has also vowed to target the chairmen of House panels investigating the president to ensure they do their job, as his organization has said.

“He’s brought us to the brink of nuclear war,” Steyer said in one nationally televised ad. “He’s obstructed justice at the FBI. And in direct violation of the Constitution, he’s taken money from foreign governments and threatened to shut down news organizations that report the truth. If this is not a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president, then what has our government become?”

Wells Fargo CEO’s pay raise draws rare Fed response

March 13, 2019

By Imani Moise and Pete Schroeder

(Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co gave Chief Executive Tim Sloan a 5 percent pay raise for 2018, prompting the Federal Reserve to release a statement saying that it does not sign off on executive pay.

Sloan’s base salary remained flat at $2.4 million, he earned $14 million stock awards and the board awarded him a $2 million bonus based on the bank’s financial performance and other factors, according to a company filing. In 2017, Sloan did not receive a bonus and his total compensation was $17.4 million.

“The Federal Reserve does not approve pay packages. We expect boards of directors to hold management accountable,” said a Fed spokesperson in an emailed statement when asked about the bank’s new executive compensation numbers.

The Fed typically has been tight lipped about the institutions it regulates and rarely comments beyond pre-scheduled regulatory events.

Wells Fargo is currently prohibited from growing in size, after the Federal Reserve issued an unprecedented asset cap on it in February, citing “widespread consumer abuses and compliance breakdowns.”

The 2016 revelation that Wells Fargo created millions of fake customer accounts prompted regulatory probes into mortgage foreclosures, auto insurance sales and its wealth management businesses, resulting in billions of dollars in fines.

Wells Fargo released its compensation one day after Sloan appeared before the House Financial Services Committee to prove to lawmakers that the bank was reformed since 2016 revelations that it created millions of unauthorized customer accounts.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Sloan was peppered with bipartisan criticism for four hours but he navigated a hostile committee without a major stumble. [L1N20Z0NY]

During 2018 Wells Fargo shares tumbled 22 percent as the bank continued to rack up fines and disclose new issues.

Earlier this year, Bank of America Corp disclosed CEO Brian Moynihan’s annual compensation rose 15 percent to $27 million, Morgan Stanley said CEO James Gorman’s overall pay rose 7 percent to $29 million, and JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon’s compensation rose 5 percent to $31 million, according to filings.

(Reporting by Imani Moise; editing by Diane Craft)

BREAKING: Scott Gottlieb abruptly resigns from the FDA following scrutiny over ties to Big Pharma

(Natural News) In a sudden and unexpected twist, Scott Gottlieb, the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), just announced that he’ll soon be resigning from his post amid ongoing media probes in to his ties to the pharmaceutical industry. This surprise decision comes just two months after Gottlieb tweeted that he wouldn’t…

Democrats target who’s who of Trump insiders but not Ivanka, others

March 4, 2019

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Some of U.S. President Donald Trump’s closest advisers, including his daughter Ivanka, were missing from a list of people that Democratic lawmakers sought documents from on Monday for a corruption investigation of the president.

The list covered a who’s who of Trump family members and associates, but Ivanka Trump was omitted, despite former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen testifying last week that he briefed her numerous times about a Trump skyscraper project in Moscow.

Also absent from the list were former senior White House officials, including chief of staff John Kelly and economic adviser Gary Cohn. Both spent more than a year in Trump’s inner circle and have featured prominently in books and other published accounts of conditions in the Trump White House.

The reasons for some prominent people being left off the House of Representatives investigators’ list were not immediately clear.

House Democrats say they have been careful to avoid conflicts with the investigation by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign, as well as federal probes being led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler told ABC on Sunday that Kelly could be included.

A committee aide said Monday’s list was only a first phase of document requests and more letters would be going out soon.

Eighty-one people, agencies and organizations were named by the committee as recipients of document requests, including Trump’s adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, as well as his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is Ivanka’s husband and a White House adviser.

Representatives for the White House and Justice Department said the document requests were being reviewed.

At the White House, Trump was asked if he would cooperate with Nadler’s probe. “I cooperate all the time with everybody,” he said, adding, “You know the beautiful thing? No collusion. It’s all a hoax … It’s a political hoax.”

Nadler’s committee hopes to determine whether Trump obstructed justice by possibly offering pardons or tampering with witnesses and by ousting perceived enemies, such as former FBI Director James Comey. Trump fired Comey in May 2017 while he was leading an investigation into Russian meddling in the election. The probe was taken over by Mueller.

Comey was not on Monday’s list. Nor was Andrew McCabe, the former top FBI official who began an obstruction of justice and counterintelligence investigation involving Trump and his ties to Russia after Comey’s firing. Nor was Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel.

(Reporting by David Morgan; editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Grant McCool)

Malaysian court postpones ex-PM Najib’s corruption trial pending appeal

February 11, 2019

By Rozanna Latiff

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – A Malaysian court on Monday postponed the corruption trial of former prime minister Najib Razak over charges related to a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB pending an appeal, his lawyer said.

Najib was ousted in an election in May last year amid public fury over the alleged theft of $4.5 billion from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

He has pleaded not guilty to ten charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power and his trial was originally set to begin on Tuesday.

His lawyers, however, filed an application last week to stay the trial pending an appeal over a lower court’s ruling to transfer some of the charges to Kuala Lumpur High Court, media reported.

Harvinderjit Singh, one of Najib’s lawyers, told Reuters in a brief text message that the Court of Appeal had agreed to postpone the trial “until the appeal is heard”.

No new date for the trial or the appeal has been set, he said.

The postponement is seen as a blow for the government of Mahathir Mohamad, which reopened probes into 1MDB shortly after the election and had promised to bring those involved in the scandal swiftly to justice.

Prosecutor V. Sithambaram told Reuters he expected the appeal to take only a week or two.

“It’s just a hiccup,” he said. “The case is just delayed slightly.”

The charges against Najib relate to a suspected transfer of 42 million ringgit ($10.3 million) into Najib’s bank account from SRC International, a former 1MDB unit.

CHARM OFFENSIVE

The trial is the first of four criminal proceedings that Najib is expected to face over the 1MDB scandal so far, and the sum involved is a fraction of the $1 billion that investigators say allegedly made their way into his bank accounts.

Police found nearly $300 million worth of goods and cash at properties linked to Najib soon after the election.

Authorities have also charged his wife, Rosmah Mansor, and several high-ranked officials of the former administration. All of them have pleaded not guilty.

Najib has consistently denied wrongdoing and says the charges against him are politically motivated.

In recent weeks, he has undergone a public makeover, appearing in a music video portraying himself as a champion of the working class and throwing jibes at the ruling government on social media in a bid to shed the image of a wealthy, elite politician.

But the charm offensive may not help him in court. Najib faces years in prison after being hit with a total of 42 criminal charges, most of them linked to 1MDB.

At least six countries, including the United States, Switzerland and Singapore, have launched money laundering and graft probes into 1MDB, set up by Najib in 2009.

U.S. prosecutors say money stolen from 1MDB was used to buy a private jet, luxury real estate, artwork by Picasso and Monet, as well as jewelry for Rosmah.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Democrat Schiff draws Trump ire with House intel probes

February 6, 2019

By Doina Chiacu

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The House Intelligence Committee is set to pursue a wide investigation into attempts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election, including a look at Donald Trump’s financial transactions, the panel’s Democratic chairman Adam Schiff said on Wednesday.

A day after the Republican president warned Democrats against “ridiculous partisan investigations” in his annual State of the Union address, Schiff said they would not be intimidated.

“We’re going to do our proper oversight,” he told reporters after the intelligence panel’s first meeting, which was closed.

The committee voted to provide transcripts of testimony it took behind closed doors in its probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to the special counsel for use in any prosecutions, something Schiff promised to do last month after a second Trump associate was charged with lying to Congress.

Schiff has said that an area of particular interest related to investigations of Trump are allegations that Russians might possess financial leverage over him.

“Our job involves making sure that the policy of the United States is being driven by the national interest – not by any financial entanglement, financial leverage or other form of compromise,” he said told reporters on Wednesday.

Trump, asked about Schiff’s comments at a White House appearance, retorted: “Under what basis would he do that? He has no basis to do that. He’s just a political hack. … There would be no reason to do that.”

Schiff, who assumed the committee chairmanship after Democrats won control of the House of Representatives in November elections, outlined lines of inquiry it intends to pursue on Russian election activities, possible Trump campaign ties and matters relating to Trump’s business dealings.

“Congress has a duty to expose foreign interference, hold Russia to account, ensure that U.S. officials – including the President – are serving the national interest and, if not, are held accountable,” Schiff said in a statement.

Schiff said the panel would release transcripts of all interviews after Roger Stone, a longtime ally of Trump, was charged with lying to Congress.

Stone is accused of lying to Congress about the 2016 campaign’s efforts to use stolen emails to undercut Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. He has pleaded not guilty.

Schiff said Special Counsel Robert Mueller had access to the transcripts but a formal release was necessary for him to be able to use them in any prosecutorial proceedings.

Trump’s longtime self-described “fixer,” lawyer Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to charges including lying to Congress.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason and Patricia Zengerle; editing by James Dalgleish)

Facebook likely to face two more state probes on privacy issues: Bloomberg

January 31, 2019

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc could be subjected to at least two more state probes in the United States on the alleged mishandling of user data, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

The report, which cited people familiar with the matter, said Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and his Illinois counterpart Kwame Raoul have joined forces with Connecticut to focus on investigating existing allegations.

The state probes are coalescing into two main groups, the report said. The states of New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts are also probing the social media giant and are seeking to uncover any potential unknown violations.

The Illinois attorney general’s office declined to comment on Bloomberg’s report when contacted by Reuters, while the office of the attorney general of Pennsylvania did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Facebook told Reuters in an emailed statement it was having “productive conversations” with attorneys general from a number of states.

“Many officials have approached us in a constructive manner, focused on solutions that ensure all companies are protecting people’s information, and we look forward to continuing to work with them,” Facebook’s vice president of state and local public policy, Will Castleberry, said.

Facebook and other tech giants have been under pressure for over a year after it was revealed that British consultancy Cambridge Analytical acquired data on millions of U.S. users to target election advertising. That led to heads of several tech companies testifying before Congress last year.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

Roger Stone: ‘This Is a Full-Fledged War on Alternative Media’

Roger Stone warns there is a war on alternative media

Trump ally Roger Stone has warned the American people that there is currently a full-fledged war taking place against the alternative media. 

Speaking on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Friday, Stone mentioned how the war on alternative media has left him almost bankrupt:

Former Trump adviser Roger Stone said in a Fox News interview Friday that the indictment brought against him as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation is “thin” and is really “about silencing” him. But, Stone said, he was prepared for the fight of his life.

“There’s a war on alternative media,” he said. “There’s a war where they’re trying to criminalize political expression. There’s a war where they’re trying to criminalize free speech.”

Stone’s remarks on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” came after he was taken into custody earlier Friday and indicted on charges of obstruction, making false statements and witness tampering.

“I’m in for the fight of my life but I will not quit. I will not fold. I will not bend. I will not bear false witness against the president,” Stone said. “I intend to fight because this indictment is fabricated. This indictment is thin as can be.”

[…]The indictment unsealed Friday does not charge Stone with conspiring with WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy website that published emails of Democrats during the 2016 campaign, or with the Russian officers Mueller says hacked them. Instead, it accuses him of lying about his interactions related to WikiLeaks’ release during probes by Congress and Mueller’s team.

Information Liberation reports: One of the craziest elements of this show was that Tucker didn’t cut to a commercial until around 35 minutes into the program due to the ongoing advertiser boycott (which is due to monologues like the one he gave last night).

Regardless, Mueller and his deep state cronies are doing to Stone exactly what they did to everyone else who helped Trump win his campaign — they’re using the full power of the state to manufacture “crimes” out of thin air. This is literally the most despicable tactic a government prosecutor has at their disposal and it’s almost the only tactic Mueller has used to persecute everyone connected to Trump.

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz shared an excellent video on Friday which went viral that shows a giant list of people who committed the same “crime” Stone is accused of but were never prosecuted:

President Trump made a similar point this morning:

Which is a greater “attack on our democracy”?:

– Russians sharing crappy memes and spending a meager amount of money on a few Facebook and Google ads

– A 2-plus year deep state witch hunt manufacturing charges against everyone connected to Trump and bankrupting them with drawn-out legal proceedings in order to force plea deals or throw them in prison

It’s a really tough call!

Grand jury extended in U.S. special counsel’s Trump-Russia probe

January 4, 2019

(Reuters) – The term of the grand jury being used by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation of possible collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign has been extended, an aide to the judge overseeing it said on Friday.

The extension is a sign that Mueller is not done presenting evidence before the grand jury in his investigation of U.S. allegations of Russian interference in the election and any possible coordination between Moscow and Trump’s campaign.

The grand jury was impaneled by the U.S. District Court in Washington in July 2017 for an 18-month term, the limit under federal rules. The term can be extended if the court determines it to be in the public interest to do so.

“The Chief Judge has confirmed that the term of Grand Jury 17-01 has been extended,” Lisa Klem, special assistant to Chief Judge Beryl Howell said in a statement.

Howell did not confirm any length of the extension, Klem said.

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment.

A number of Trump’s allies, including his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, have repeatedly called on Mueller to wrap up his investigation.

Trump has called the investigation a “witch hunt” and has denied collusion with Moscow. Russia has denied meddling in the election, contrary to the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that have said Moscow used hacking and propaganda to try to sow discord in the United States and boost Republican Trump’s chances against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Mueller’s investigation and other inquiries have clouded Trump’s two years in office. Mueller has secured more than 30 indictments and guilty pleas and has spawned at least four federal probes.

(reporting by Nathan Layne in New York; editing by Grant McCool)

Holder appoints U.S. attorneys to head criminal probes into leaks

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Holder appoints U.S. attorneys to head criminal probes into leaks 08 Jun 2012 Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. appointed two top federal prosecutors late Friday [LOL! Of course.] to “lead criminal investigations” into the recent leak of U.S. classified intelligence information, acting on a pledge from President Obama that his administration will not permit the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive materials. The prosecutors – U.S. Attys. Ronald C. Machen Jr. in the District of Columbia and Rod J. Rosenstein of Maryland – were tasked to open criminal probes into several recent disclosures after the New York Times printed detailed accounts of cyber warfare, the slaying of ‘Osama bin Laden’ and alleged “kill lists” maintained for targeting ‘foreign terrorists.’

Citizens for Legitimate Government

FBI chief urges US Congress to renew wide-ranging surveillance power in counterterror probes

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FBI chief urges US Congress to renew wide-ranging surveillance power in counterterror probes 09 May 2012 FBI Director Robert Mueller urged Congress on Wednesday to renew wide-ranging surveillance authority to thwart terrorism plots false flags like the latest one in which an al-QaidaCIAduh-engineered explosive device was to have been detonated on a U.S.-bound airline flight. Mueller told the House Judiciary Committee the FBI is examining the device and said the scheme hatched in Yemen demonstrates that it’s essential for Congress to reauthorize counterterrorism tools enacted in 2008. Some of these programs expire at year-end.

Citizens for Legitimate Government

FBI probes deadly shooting involving ICE agents in Long Beach

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FBI probes deadly shooting involving ICE agents in Long Beach 16 Feb 2012 About 100 FBI agents late Thursday were combing a shooting scene in Long Beach where a federal agent had wounded his supervisor before being fatally shot by another agent. The FBI agents were interviewing witnesses and processing the crime scene after the dispute between the agents with the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ICE, at the Glenn M. Anderson Federal Building. “At this time we believe this was an isolated incident and that the shooter acted alone,” Steven Martinez, assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, told reporters at the scene.

Citizens for Legitimate Government

Secret Service probes image of bullet-ridden Obama on Facebook

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Secret Service probes image of bullet-ridden Obama on Facebook 27 Jan 2012 A post on the Facebook page of a veteran Peoria police sergeant depicting the photo of seven Centennial High School students in Peoria, four with guns and one holding up a T-shirt with a bullet-riddled image of President Barack Obama, was brought to the U.S. Secret Service’s attention by a citizen and an “appropriate follow-up” is being conducted, a Washington D.C-based spokesman for the federal agency told The Republic Friday. Max Milien, spokesman for the Secret Service, described the Facebook post in the category of “unusual direction of interest,” which would merit an agency follow-up.

Citizens for Legitimate Government

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