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Presidential News
First Lady Obama Jokes
Michelle Obama Graces Front Page Of Glamour Magazine
Sarah Jessica Parker, First Lady Michelle Obama and Kerry Washington.
Michelle Obama graced the cover of Glamour Maga- zine with Kerry Washing- ton and Sarah Jessica Parker for its May issue.
The threesome are team- ing up for a joint venture and will be revealing what that is in Glamour’s “Power Women” issue.
Secret Service Supervisor Suspended After Allegations Of Assault
Senior Secret Service agent Xavier Morales has been suspended.
A senior U.S. Secret Service agent has been placed on leave, and had his security clearance revoked, following allegations that he assaulted a female agent in a sexual manner at the organization's headquarters last month.
The agent, Xavier Morales, is a senior supervi- sor in the agency's security clearance division. The allega- tions against him, first re- ported by the Washington Post, allege that he told the un- named female agent that he was in love with her, and wanted to have sex with her at a party at a Washington D.C. bar on March 31.
He is subsequently alleged to have tried to kiss her, and then grabbed her arms when she resisted, while at the orga- nization's headquarters later that evening, according to peo- ple familiar with the investiga- tion, cited by the Post.
Morales is a manager in the security clearance division, which determines when agents should lose their jobs, NBC Washington reported, and his wife is a special agent recently promoted to deputy assistant director over government and public affairs.
President Obama Calling For End Of ‘Cure’ Therapies For Gay Youths
About First Daughters Being ‘Influential’
WASHINGTON — A 17- year-old transgender youth, Leelah Alcorn, stunned her friends and a vast Internet au- dience in December when she threw herself in front of a trac- tor-trailer after writing in an online suicide note that reli- gious therapists had tried to convert her back to being a boy.
In response, President Obama is calling for an end to such therapies aimed at “re- pairing” gay, lesbian and transgender youth. His deci- sion on the issue is the latest example of his continuing em- brace of gay rights.
In a statement that was posted on Wednesday evening alongside a WhiteHouse.gov petition begun in honor of Ms. Alcorn, Mr. Obama con- demned the practice, some- times called “conversion” or “reparative” therapy, which is supported by some socially
First Lady Michelle Obama appears on Live with Kelly and Michael.
President Obama boards U.S. Marine One on Tuesday.
conservative organizations and religious doctors.
The petition has received more than 120,000 signatures in three months.
President Obama will not explicitly call for a federal law banning therapists from using such therapies on their patients, but he is open to con- versations with lawmakers in both parties, White House of- ficials said on Wednesday. In- stead, he will throw his support behind the efforts to ban the practice at the state level.
At the end of last year, Sasha and Malia Obama made it to Time Magazine’s “Most Influential Teens of 2014” list.
But Sasha, 13, and Malia, 16, are not often in the public arena, and that’s thanks to their parents, Barack and Michelle Obama.
Although Time may think the teens are influential, their mother doesn’t think they are. During an appear- ance on Live! With Kelly and Michael, Michelle Obama joked about her daughters’ appearance on the list."I don’t know why—they’re not influential; they just live here!” she joked during the special broadcast from the
White House. “They have done nothing to gain any in- fluence.”
The First Lady doesn’t even know whether her daughters know about the honor. “I don’t think they even realize that they’re in- fluential. I don’t think any- body showed them that article, so don’t mention it!”
Mrs. Obama also told Kelly and Michael that Malia is now a licensed driver, so drivers in the na- tion’s capital should watch out.
“I’ve got a driver—a 16- year-old driving around,” she said, mirroring the expe- rience of so many other par- ents of teenagers. “Look out, D.C.”
Broken Power Line Dims Lights In White House
A power line broke loose at an electrical substation near Washington on Tuesday, briefly dimming the White House, emptying museums and cutting electricity to gov- ernment buildings and the U.S. Capitol for hours.
The Justice Department and State Department were among thousands of cus- tomers whose power was cut in the early afternoon, along with the University of Mary- land and some World Bank of- fices.
The outage was caused by a power line breaking loose in Maryland state south of Wash- ington, causing a drop in volt- age, electrical company officials said.
There were concerns that militant groups might be re- sponsible, but the Department of Homeland Security said there was no indication of ma- licious activity. The outage was centered in the heart of Wash- ington before power was largely restored a few hours later.
White House offices and the press room went dark briefly before backup sources kicked in. President Barack Obama was in the Oval Office and did not notice the power failure, spokesman Josh Earnest told a news briefing.
"Things are slowly but surely returning to normal here in the White House com- plex," he said.
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