Saturday, 11 May 2019

This is the group digging up videos of GOP shifts on contempt of Congress debate

This is the group digging up videos of GOP shifts on contempt of Congress debateThis activist group resurfaced videos of Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio talking about contempt of Congress — something in stark contrast with their current positions




South Africa's ANC Projected to Lose Ground in National Vote

South Africa's ANC Projected to Lose Ground in National VoteThe ANC is also in danger of losing its majority in the Gauteng province, the nation’s richest province, according to the projections from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the public broadcaster. The results threaten to dent President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ability to quell opposition in the faction-riven ANC and push through reforms needed to spur growth in Africa’s most-industrialized economy. The estimates, which are based on results released by the Independent Electoral Commission from 31.9% of voting districts, show the main opposition Democratic Alliance securing 22.7% support nationally, and the populist Economic Freedom Fighters 10.3%.




Trump says senior adviser wants to get him ‘into a war’ in Venezuela after failure to oust Maduro

Trump says senior adviser wants to get him ‘into a war’ in Venezuela after failure to oust MaduroDonald Trump is questioning his administration’s aggressive strategy in Venezuela following the failure of a US-backed effort to oust Nicolás Maduro, complaining he was misled about how easy it would be to replace the socialist president with a young opposition figure, according to administration officials and White House advisers.The president’s dissatisfaction has crystallised around national security adviser John Bolton and what Mr Trump has groused is an interventionist stance at odds with his view that the United States should stay out of foreign quagmires.Mr Trump has said in recent days that Mr Bolton wants to get him “into a war” – a comment he has made in jest in the past but that now belies his more serious concerns, one senior administration official said.The administration’s policy is officially unchanged in the wake of a fizzled power play last week by US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó.But US officials have since been more cautious in their predictions of Mr Maduro’s swift exit, while re-assessing what one official described as the likelihood of a diplomatic “long haul”.US officials point to the president’s sustained commitment to the Venezuela issue, from the first weeks of his presidency as evidence that he holds a realistic view of the challenges there, and does not think there is a quick fix.But Mr Trump has nonetheless complained over the last week that Mr Bolton and others underestimated Mr Maduro, according to three senior administration officials who like others interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.Mr Trump has said Mr Maduro is a “tough cookie”, and that aides should not have led him to believe that the Venezuelan leader could be ousted last week, when Mr Guaidó led mass street protests that turned deadly.Instead, Mr Maduro rejected an offer to leave the country and two key figures in his government backed out of what Mr Bolton said had been a plan to defect.Mr Maduro publicly mocked Mr Trump in response and said he wasn’t going anywhere, saying the United States had attempted a “foolish” coup.Late on Wednesday, masked Venezuelan intelligence police detained National Assembly Vice President Edgar Zambrano in a dramatic operation in Caracas, marking the first senior opposition official taken into custody by the socialist government in retaliation for the failed military uprising.Mr Zambrano is one of 10 opposition officials charged with treason, conspiracy and rebellion by the pro-Maduro Supreme Court in connection to the plot.Mr Bolton publicly revealed the defection plan to apply pressure to Mr Maduro, which US officials said has worked.They claim Mr Maduro is sleeping in a bunker, paranoid that close aides will turn on him.But Mr Trump has expressed concern that Mr Bolton has boxed him into a corner and gone beyond where he is comfortable, said a US official familiar with US-Venezuela policy.Mr Bolton’s tweets egging on Mr Maduro to begin an “early retirement” on a “nice beach” and urging for mass defections have been widely viewed as cavalier, raising unrealistic expectation for how quickly his ouster can be engineered, the US official said.Despite Mr Trump’s grumbling that Bolton had gotten him out on a limb on Venezuela, Mr Bolton’s job is safe, two senior administration officials said, and Mr Trump has told his national security adviser to keep focusing on Venezuela.The open threat of US military involvement in Venezuela has grown alongside the administration’s increasingly confrontational approach to Iran, with Mr Bolton announcing last weekend that a US aircraft carrier battle group would be deployed to counter Iranian plots to harm US forces in the Middle East.In both cases, the administration has adopted a get-tough policy that appeals to Mr Trump’s instincts to project American power abroad but that also echoes the kind of military adventurism he has long ridiculed.Mr Trump appears more comfortable with the Iran policy, which is grounded in his own strong belief that the former president, Barack Obama, miscalculated in striking a nuclear bargain with Tehran.He is less comfortable with the escalating rhetoric on Venezuela, which does not pose a direct military threat to the United States.Any US military involvement there risks a proxy fight with Russia, which backs Mr Maduro and has sold him arms.Mr Trump spoke approvingly of Russian actions in Venezuela following a lengthy phone call with Vladimir Putin on Friday, saying the Russian president “is not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela other than he’d like to see something positive happen for Venezuela. And I feel the same way. We want to get some humanitarian aid”.His comments stood in contrast to earlier statements from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Mr Bolton, who accused Russia of propping up Mr Maduro with money and military equipment.During the Putin call, Mr Trump expressed his concern about the security and humanitarian situation on the ground in Venezuela, said a person briefed on the call.Mr Putin agreed with Mr Trump’s assessment but said that the US position has solidified Mr Maduro’s grip on power in Venezuela.Mr Putin also told Mr Trump that Moscow was not selling new weapons to Venezuela but maintaining existing contracts and he downplayed Russia’s financial investments in the country.The events of 30 April have effectively shelved serious discussion of a heavy US military response, current and former officials as well as outside advisers said.Rather, US officials think time is on their side and that Mr Maduro will fall of his own weight.That waiting game poses its own risk, however, if Mr Guaidó asks for US military assistance.Mike Pompeo brushed off criticism from Jeremy Corbyn about US “interference” in Venezuela during an interview Wednesday in London.“Providing food to starving children isn’t interference. It’s support; it’s what we do,” Mr Pompeo said.“It’s in our deepest traditions of humanitarian assistance. The interference has taken place; the Cubans are there. They’ve interfered. So I hope Mr Corbyn will ask the Cubans to cease their interference in Venezuela.”Vice President Mike Pence was measured in his threats to Mr Maduro during remarks at a gathering of Latin American leaders in Washington on Tuesday, saying that “Maduro must go,” but also signalling that it might not happen quickly.Mr Pence announced deployment of a Navy hospital ship to the region in June, and said the United States would lift sanctions on one senior Maduro aide who had switched sides.That was a shift from previous rhetoric about the tightening yoke of sanctions, and meant to emphasise that there are carrots in the US policy as well as sticks, one senior official said.The famously hawkish Mr Bolton has been the loudest voice within the administration in support of a potential military response to the political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, where escalating US sanctions have not forced Mr Maduro to cede power.He was not the first, however.Mr Trump mused about invading or bombing Venezuela last year, comments that were at first dismissed as fanciful.He is now not inclined to have any sort of military intervention in Venezuela, two officials and an outside adviser said.Mr Trump has, in Oval Office meetings and phone calls with advisers, questioned his administration providing such strong support of Mr Guaidó.Some White House officials said Mr Trump likes the charismatic leader, whom he has called courageous, but has wondered aloud whether he is ready to take over and about how much the administration really knows about him.Mr Guaidó’s many supporters within the administration say he has proved himself as the first Venezuelan opposition leader to unite factions and pose a credible threat to Mr Maduro.His standing within the country is borne out by the fact that Mr Maduro has not seized or harmed him, fearing a backlash, some officials said.Senator Lindsey Graham said he has no concern that the United States is making a bad bet on Mr Guaidó.“Oh God, no. Smart money,” Mr Graham said. “I think he’s the future of Venezuela. He’s young, he’s the solution – not the problem.”Mr Graham also said Mr Trump has been well served by his advisers, including Mr Bolton.Mr Pompeo was also bullish about Mr Maduro’s ouster last week, saying after the plan faltered that Mr Maduro had been heading to the airport before Russian advisers talked him out of leaving. Mr Maduro denied it.Senator Marco Rubio, who has been influential in shaping the administration’s Venezuela response, said Mr Trump and Mr Bolton are on the same page.Mr Rubio, who said he spoke to Mr Trump about Venezuela on Tuesday evening, backs the policy of waiting out Mr Maduro.“He’s in the same mind-set that I’m in, and that is that we’ve got to stay the course, it’s working,” Mr Rubio said in an interview.Mr Rubio said some of the harshest US sanctions are only now having full effect, including sowing dissension among Mr Maduro's aides.“Only now are you starting to see it burn and I think that’s what’s causing some of this internal friction in the regime.”US defence leaders regard any military scenario involving boots on the ground in Venezuela as a quagmire, and warn that standoff weapons such as Tomahawk missiles run a major risk of killing civilians.The White House has repeatedly asked for military planning short of invasion, however.Officials said the options under discussion while Mr Maduro is still in power include sending additional military assets to the region, increasing aid to neighbouring countries such as Colombia, and other steps to provide humanitarian assistance to displaced Venezuelans outside of Venezuela.More forward-leaning options include sending naval ships to waters off Venezuela as a show of force.Other steps under discussion are intended for after Mr Maduro is gone, when US military personnel might be permitted inside Venezuela to help with humanitarian responses.John Feeley, a former US ambassador and Univision political analyst, said there is another reason that military intervention is unlikely.“It runs counter to Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election narrative. At a time when you’re pulling people back from Syria, back from Iraq, back from Afghanistan, how do you say we’re going to commit 50-, 100-, 150,000 of our blood and treasure to a country where you can’t tell the bad guys from the good guys?” Mr Feeley said.The Washington Post




Chinese court holds off ruling on Canadian's death penalty appeal

Chinese court holds off ruling on Canadian's death penalty appealA Chinese court adjourned a hearing on a Canadian man's appeal against his death sentence for drug smuggling without a decision Thursday in a case that has deepened a diplomatic spat between Beijing and Ottawa. Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, 36, was sentenced to death in January after a court deemed his previous 15-year prison sentence too lenient. The Liaoning High People's Court in northeast China said in a statement that "all procedural rights of appellant Schellenberg were guaranteed in accordance with the law".




South Korea: North Korea fires 2 suspected missiles in possible new warning

South Korea: North Korea fires 2 suspected missiles in possible new warningNorth Korea fired at least one unidentified projectile from the country's western area, South Korea's military said, the second launch in the last five days.




Sean Spicer: Democrats should accept the conclusions of the Mueller report

Sean Spicer: Democrats should accept the conclusions of the Mueller reportOn Donald Trump's presidency, stop trying to breathe life into a scandal that simply doesn’t exist, writes former White House spokesman Sean M. Spicer




Comey Acknowledges Strzok, Page Damaged FBI: ‘It Made Us All Look Bad’

Comey Acknowledges Strzok, Page Damaged FBI: ‘It Made Us All Look Bad’Former FBI director James Comey conceded Thursday night that former FBI agent Peter Strzok and his mistress, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, damaged the Bureau's reputation through their political partisanship.Strzok and Page have been publicly excoriated by Republicans and allies of President Trump ever since the release of anti-Trump text messages they exchanged while they were working on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team.“Considering the high standards that we set for law enforcement, what do you think should have been the consequences for Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and Andrew McCabe?” an audience member asked Comey during a CNN townhall Thursday night.“I think, given the standards that we have — especially we in the FBI have — there should have been, and was, severe discipline around their behavior,” said Comey. “As [CNN host] Anderson [Cooper] said, very different episodes of behavior. Everyone has opinions — about political issues, about religious issues, and sports issues. You can’t bring them to work and have them affect your work. There have to be severe consequences. FBI employees must tell the truth, always. And if they don't, I don't care what it's about, it's going to be investigated and there's going to be severe consequences.”Comey went on to explain that he was unaware of the bias exhibited by Strzok and Page at the time Strzok was serving as the lead investigator of Russian interference in the election, but admitted that the revelations about Strzok and Page's hostility toward Trump damaged the FBI's credibility.“So, do you acknowledge that this whole episode with Strzok and Page, that it damaged the reputation of the FBI and that it perhaps tarnished the investigation?” asked Cooper.“Definitely,” said Comey. “Yeah. Very painful. It was important that it be investigated, and important that there be discipline that follows it. But yeah, it made us all look bad.”Republicans have focused specifically on one text exchange in which Strzok and Page discuss deploying an "insurance policy" in the event that Trump wins the election. Page confirmed in a House Judiciary Committee hearing in July 2018 that the "insurance policy" referred to the counterintelligence investigation into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, which Strzok was overseeing.Comey, who has forcefully defended the intelligence community's decision to investigate the Trump campaign, concluded by praising Strzok as a “very talented agent.”Attorney General William Barr told lawmakers last month that he is investigating whether the counterintelligence investigation, which Strzok approved, was motivated by political bias — an allegation that Comey and others involved in the process have strenuously denied.