Pence attacks Democrats & # 39; left absolute & # 39; against socialism – live updates | American News

Melania Trump will contribute to the international awards ceremony of courage to a group of women for the third year in a row. In a statement, the White House announced that Trump would participate in the "International Celebration of Women of Courage 2019" on March 7th.

In a statement, Trump said that she was proud to be the first lady of a country "where our democracy not only allows but also gives power, the ability to defend and promote all our rights ".

The International Women of Courage Award has been awarded to more than 120 women from more than 65 countries since its inception in 2007.

Melania's husband, President Donald Trump, has a remarkable track record of defending and promoting women. In the 2016 election, an audio recording of Trump was released, claiming that his fame allowed him to "grab" women "by the cat".

Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, admitted to paying two women who claimed to have had relations with Trump. Since being elected, Trump has attempted to suppress women's birth control coverage and has appointed few women to management positions.

Trump, however, was recognized for encouraging women to succeed in politics and engaging more in activism. The Women's March, coordinated in response to Trump's election, saw millions of women protest in the United States and a historic number of women were elected in the mid-term elections of 2018.

Special advocate Robert Mueller said the trial of Trump's adviser, Roger Stone, will last five to eight days, in court Friday afternoon.

Stone is accused of lying to Congress on his communications with Wikileaks during the 2016 election. He is also accused of manipulating witnesses and obstructing an official proceeding. WikiLeaks has published emails from Democrats suspected of being hacked by Russia in order to help Trump win the elections.

Stone, who was recently reprimanded by a judge for posting a photo of her to target the line of fire, denies the charges.

Some reactions to Mike Pence's speech earlier. The vice-president certainly has some interesting ideas.

Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Committee on Control and Reform, wrote to the White House Friday afternoon demanding "full and immediate compliance" with the committee 's investigation into the proceedings. government empowerment.

Cummings made this request "in the light of a new report released yesterday that President Donald Trump has asked his son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, to obtain a security clearance despite the many red flags – which directly contradicts the president's public denials just eight days after the start of the committee's investigation. "

He added:

These new reports raise serious questions about the derogatory information obtained by career managers about Mr. Kushner's recommendation to deny him access … why President Trump has concealed his role … and why your office continues to refuse [info] of this committee.

The committee was already investigating the security clearance process at the White House and Cummings said the Trump administration had up to now "refused to provide any of the documents or produce the documents. witnesses the committee had asked for interviews. "

"I am writing to you one last time to solicit your voluntary cooperation in this investigation," said Cummings.

"I ask you to immediately start producing all the relevant documents and I ask you to start scheduling interviews transcribed with each witness identified by the committee. Please provide your response to the Committee by 4 March 2019. "

Former Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill criticized the "citizens of Washington" who describe Trump's voters as "stupid" or "all racists".

McCaskill, who lost his bid for re-election in Missouri in 2018, told David Axelrod, in his podcast "Ax Files," that she would "fight anyone" scorning those who voted for the president.

"[Trump] exploited this vein of frustration and anger, "said McCaskill.

And if someone is frustrated and angry – that he does not think the world is giving him a fair shot based on his hard work, you have to listen to and understand it, and do not not look at it under the nose and call it by name. and to say that they are all racist or they are all this or they are all that, because it's just not true.

Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 18 points in Missouri in 2016. McCaskill, elected to the Senate for the first time in 2006, was defeated by Republican Josh Hawley in 2018.

"I know these people who voted for Donald Trump, and some of them do not care much and do not like a lot, but a lot of them, I have them." said McCaskill.

"And I hate it when people in Washington, especially brilliant blue statesmen, simply said," Well, the only people who vote for Trump are stupid people. "No, it's not true."

The announcement of Jay Inslee this morning on his candidacy for the presidency brings to 13 the number of people in the democratic race.

More than a dozen others "look at it", "discuss it with the family" and other variants of the verb "to think". Here is our guide of the contenders.

The remarks of the Warmbier family come after Republicans were critical Trump for taking into account the death of Otto Warmbier to Kim Jong-Un.

Senator Susan Collins said she found "this statement extremely hard to believe," while Rob Portman, in a speech to the Senate, warned Trump not to be "naïve" about "brutal nature" of the North Korean regime.

Former Republican Senator Rick Santorum said Trump's remarks were "reprehensible".

Before Trump's first summit with Kim in June 2018, the president said the meeting would guarantee "Otto is someone who did not die in vain". At the time, Fred and Cindy Warmbier were optimistic.

"We appreciate President Trump's recent comments on our family," said Warmbier's parents.

"We are proud of Otto and we miss him. Hopefully something positive can come from it.

The family of Otto Warmbier, the American who died in 2017 after being jailed and tortured in North Korea, reacted to Trump's soft statement about Kim Jong-un's involvement, insisting that Kim is " responsible for the death of their son.

Fred and Cindy Warmbier, parents of Otto Warmbier, said:

We have been respectful during this summit process. Now we have to talk. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for the death of our son Otto. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for unimaginable cruelty and inhumanity. No excuse or lavish eulogy can change that.

On Thursday, Trump said that he had taken Kim "to the word" when he denied any responsibility for the treatment reserved for Warmbier. Warmbier was arrested in North Korea for allegedly attempting to bring home a propaganda poster. He was sentenced to 15 years of forced labor, but was returned to the United States in a state of "insensitive vigil" in June 2017. Warmbier died six days later.

"Very bad things happened to Otto," Trump said Thursday. "But Kim tells me he does not know it and I'll take it at his word."

Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson is in "bad" health.

Adelson, a right-wing mogul from Vegas Casino, almost left Newt Gingrich alone to run for president in 2012. Gingrich was eventually defeated by Mitt Romney, who was eventually defeated by Barack Obama.

The 85-year-old has spent at least $ 93 million on Republican causes in this election cycle and has injected more than $ 100 million into the 2018 year.

Andrew Yang, a Democratic nominating businessman, welcomes Jay Inslee.

Yang, an entrepreneur from New York and Silicon Valley, has some bold plans. It offers a universal basic income of $ 1,000 a month, or $ 12,000 a year, for all US citizens between the ages of 18 and 64.

Just the president is talking to a former employee writing him a love letter:

This literary criticism apparently stems from a Daily Mail report that Michael Cohen had written a book proposal titled "Trump Revolution: From The Tower to the White House, Understanding Donald J. Trump" – last year. According to the Mail, Cohen had "only good things to say about his boss" in the proposed book.

Not surprisingly, Trump, who has spent his career inflating his personal wealth, still wants his finances not to be examined.

A big Democrat has threatened to summon the White House to convene the Jared Kushner controversy over security clearances, of other congressional Democrats accusing Trump of being a "nepotism" and calling those responsible security to immediately stop sharing information with Trump's son-in-law.

Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House's oversight committee, last month opened an investigation into the White House's security process. On Thursday, Cummings said the Trump administration had not yet returned the documents requested as part of this investigation.

"The Committee expects its requests to be fully fulfilled as soon as possible, otherwise it may be necessary to consider other means to compel them to comply", said Cummings.

Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House's intelligence committee, said, "There is no exception to nepotism for background investigations."

Schiff added that the New York Times reported that Trump had personally ordered Kushner to be granted a high-level security clearance "is the latest indicator of the president's total disregard for our national security and for the men and women who sacrifice every day so much for our safety "

Meanwhile Ted Location, a California Democrat, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said intelligence officials should stop sharing high-level information with Kushner.

"I have a message for our national security, defense and intelligence community: do not share top secret information with Jared Kushner. Trust career professionals. Do the right thing. Your loyalty is to America, not to Kushner or Trump, "said Lieu.

As pressure continues to mount on the White House, #FireKushner started the trend on Twitter.

Happy Friday, and welcome to the Guardian's live coverage of US policy news.

•Donald Trump ordered the authorities to grant Jared Kushner the very secret security clearance, ignoring the concerns of some of its highest officials, according to a report. The New York Times said Trump had ordered his chief of staff, John Kelly, to give his son-in-law high security in May. Trump's instruction was enough for Kelly to write an internal memo documenting the move.

•Democrats plan to interview Trump's children and Trump Organization's chief financial officer after Michael Cohen appointed several people to the congressional hearings. Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House's oversight committee, announced that he would call Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump to testify alongside Allen Weisselberg of the Trump organization.

•Congress has come close to rejecting Trump's national emergency declaration on border funding. Republican Senator Lamar Alexander suggested voting against Trump's statement, which would make him the fourth GOP member to oppose the measure and end the state of emergency. The resolution to oppose the wall was adopted by the House.

•Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced that he was running for president. The Democrat said that he would make climate change the centerpiece of his campaign. A governor of Washington since 2013, Inslee opposed Donald Trump and sued the president after he tried to ban immigration from several Muslim-majority countries.