Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 6-13-17

White House And Political News
D. C. And Maryland Suing President Trump
19.5 Million Watch Ex-FBI Director James Comey Testify On Thursday
President Donald Trump
is once again the target of a lawsuit over conflicts of inter- est between his presidential of- fice and business pursuits.
The Washington Post re- ports that the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia plan to file a federal lawsuit Monday (today) that claims Trump is violating a government anti-corruption principle in the U. S. Constitu- tion, known as the Emolu- ments Clause.
President Trump has been allowed to sit in the White House while his business em- pire continues to make deals at home and overseas in secrecy. It raises questions about the motives behind his decisions, such as the controversial plan to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord to benefit the U. S. coal indus- try.
According to The Post, which viewed a copy of the lawsuit Sunday night, the suit alleges that the president’s businesses receive millions of dollars from foreign governments and indi- viduals, making him “deeply enmeshed with a legion of for- eign and domestic government actors.”
Trump said in January that he placed his businesses into a trust that his sons manage, to avoid conflicts of interest.
President Donald Trump, ac- cording to the suit is making presidential decisions directly related to his personal business with foreign countries.
However, Trump’s sons are traveling the globe—at public expense—to make deals with foreign entities to build the family’s wealth.
District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A. Racine and Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh, both Democ- rats, allege that Trump is in- volved in “unprecedented constitutional violations.”
“This case is, at its core, about the right of Marylanders, residents of the District of Co- lumbia and all Americans to have honest government,” Frosh told The Post.
Racine said this lawsuit is necessary because Republi- cans, who control both houses of Congress, have failed to do their job.
Nearly 20 million Americans tuned in to watch former FBI Director James Comey's tes- timony before Congress on TV last week, according to data re- leased Friday.
An estimated 19.5 million tuned in for Comey's testi- mony before the Senate Intel- ligence Committee, according to Nielsen data.
All major broadcast and cable news networks carried the late-morning hearing live, pre-empting regular program- ming during the more than two-hour event.
Former FBI director James Comey being sworn in on last Thursday.
Comey's hearing was the most dramatic testimony on Capitol Hill in years, featuring an ousted FBI chief accusing the sitting president's adminis- tration of lying about him and his former bureau.
Past congressional testi- monies have similarly drawn large audiences.
In 1991, more than 20 mil- lion households tuned into watch Anita Hill's testimony alleging that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her.
Republican U. S. Senators Finding Path To Repeal ObamaCare; Medicaid Is The Target
To Everyone’s Surprise:
A path is emerging for Sen- ate Republicans to pass their ObamaCare repeal bill, even though there are major obsta- cles ahead.
Critically, Senate moderates are indicating that they can agree to ending the additional federal funds for ObamaCare's expansion of Medicaid, albeit on a slower timetable than other Republicans want.
A compromise on Medicaid funding would remove one of the biggest obstacles for the bill.
Medicaid provides health coverage to millions of Ameri- cans, including eligible low-in- come adults, children, pregnant women, elderly
adults and people with disabil- ities. And estimated 60 million Americans will lose coverage.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is speed- ing toward a vote, with the goal of passing a healthcare bill the
last week of June, before the Fourth of July recess.
Republicans have said there will be no committee hearings or markups for the bill, a major departure from the standard Senate process. Instead, the bill will go straight to the floor for a vote.
Democrats fear the legisla- tion will be kept secret until just a couple of days before the vote, to minimize time for op- position to build.
“13 Republican men are meeting in secret to make a healthcare plan,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) wrote on Twitter on Friday. “Their plan is to do it so fast we can't stop them. Stop them.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions
Trump To Change U. S.-Cuba Policy On Friday
Plans To Testify About Russia
According to reports, Attor- ney General Jeff Sessions has announced that he would tes- tify before the Senate Russia investigators caught everyone - - including the intelligence committee -- by surprise. It is not clear whether Sessions would appear before the TV cameras like former FBI Direc- tor James Comey did last week.
President Trump and his team have struggled to move
President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Ses- sions.
the focus away from Russia.
For all those who didn’t get to go to Cuba in the two years since former President Barack Obama lifted travel restrictions to the country, you might be SOL.
President Trump is ex- pected to make substantial changes to the U. S. policy to- ward Cuba in Miami on Friday.
On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to completely terminate Obama’s opening, which re-established diplo-
Car in Cuba.
matic relations between the two nations after more than 50 years, and this time, Trump
actually may be able to do it. However, a government of- ficial briefed on Trump’s changes told USA Today that he didn’t expect Trump to
completely shut off relations. Vocal critics of former pres- ident Obama’s opening, in- cluding Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., both Cuban-Americans, have pushed Trump to shut rela-
tions down completely.
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