Month: November 2016

Former Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein’s running mate is concerned about how the well-funded effort to initiate recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania makes their political party look.

“It’s a shame the recount has resulted in questions regarding our motives after waging a powerful campaign against 2 corrupt candidates,” Ajamu Baraka tweeted Wednesday.

The human rights activist came out against Stein’s recount push this week, telling CNN on Tuesday that it “was a potentially dangerous move” because to some people it looks like Stein is fishing for a way to overturn Republican Donald Trump’s Electoral College victory and hand the White House to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

“It would be seen as carrying the water for the Democrats,” Baraka said.

So far, Stein has raised over $6.5 million and has filed for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and a selection of precincts in Pennsylvania over the last week.

Stein has defended herself against accusations that she is pulling for an outcome favoring Clinton. Flipping the vote in all three swing states would hand Clinton enough Electoral College votes to defeat Trump. Fueling some pushback this week was news that Clinton’s lawyer has filed a motion Tuesday to join in on the Wisconsin recount effort.

Stein, however, has been resolute in characterizing her recount effort as a way to ensure the integrity of the vote, following reports of “irregularities” in vote counting machines used in each state.

“I believe that Dr. Stein sincerely believed that she had an obligation, grounded in her commitment to the principle of election integrity, to mount a challenge to the results in those three states,” Baraka wrote in a Facebook post this week, adding that “the notion that her decision was made for any other reason than that is a position that I cannot support.”

Also from the Washington Examiner

“We’re doing this to support our country so let’s do it with honor, working together,” organizers said.

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11/30/16 4:45 PM

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Study of fuel efficiency standards was supposed to be done next year, with a final determination in 2018.

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11/30/16 2:13 PM

The Justice Department will be reforming its system of halfway houses, officials announced Wednesday, in an effort to ensure that those who live in them don’t end up in jail again.

Roughly four out of five federal prisoners spend the final months of their sentences in halfway houses before being freed.

Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced in a memo that the federal Bureau of Prisons will be overhauling the halfway houses market in an effort to reduce recidivism and help prisoners safely return to society.

The bureau has agreements with 103 contractors to operate 181 facilities nationwide, serving more than 30,000 halfway house residents annually.

The announcement comes just months after the DOJ announced it would be ending its use of private prisons.

“Successful reentry is critical for public safety, and so it is crucial that we get those services right,” Yates said in the memo, adding that the Bureau of Prisons will move to establish uniform standards for all halfway houses.

The BOP will also help ensure all federal prisoners entering halfway houses will be provided with government-issued identification documents, including a Social Security card, a birth certificate and a state-issued photo ID.

The memo also requests that the BOP implement a single, nationwide location-monitoring service. Currently, each halfway house is in charge of implementing its own system for monitoring the whereabouts of residents when they leave.

The Justice Department has been pushing a broader prisoner re-entry program during President Obama’s second term, aiming to reduce the prison population and lower incarceration costs.

Also from the Washington Examiner

The incident was captured in multiple short video clips that went viral on social media in October 2015.

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11/30/16 4:23 PM

Top Story

Study of fuel efficiency standards was supposed to be done next year, with a final determination in 2018.

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11/30/16 2:13 PM

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is pressing for the immigration and criminal history of the man responsible for the attack on Ohio State University’s campus Monday, which left 11 people injured.

News reports have identified Abdul Razak Ali Artan, a student at the university who crashed his car into a crowd then emerged with a knife he used to slash people, as a Somali refugee. Federal investigators also have said they believe Artan, 18, was inspired by the Islamic State, as well as the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, and are treating the incident as an act of terrorism.

Grassley on Tuesday wrote a letter to Homeland Secretary Jeh Johnson asking for all records related to Artan’s immigration, and his criminal history, in order to gain a better understanding of the circumstances surrounding his arrival into the United States, as well as any encounters he may have had with immigration or law enforcement authorities.

The Iowa Republican requested copies of Artan’s “alien file,” including any temporary files, working files and all documents and items contained in them that were generated by the Department of Homeland Security whether in electronic or written form.

“I anticipate that your written reply and any responsive documents will be unclassified,” Grassley said. He asked DHS to send all unclassified material directly to the committee and if files contain classified material, to separate out all the unclassified documents and provide it to the panel and then provide a classified addendum to the Office of Senate Security, which maintains classified material, as required by law.

Top Story

Lawmakers made their choice via secret ballot.

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11/30/16 11:46 AM

The House will be in session for the equivalent of three additional weeks in 2017, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced on Wednesday.

McCarthy, R-Calif., said the extra days are needed “to ensure that the United States House of Representatives has ample time to enact a conservative agenda.”

It’s not unusual for parties to add legislative time when they win both the White House and Congress. House Democrats in 2009 packed the calendar with legislative days in order to move President Obama’s agenda.

The House will notably remain in session after the opening day of Congress Jan. 3., as well as many of the days following President-elect Trump’s swearing-in.

McCarthy said the House 2017 calendar would still make room for plenty of district work weeks. McCarthy said he has included a recess week, “nearly every month so that elected Representatives can stay connected to their constituents.”

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., warned Wednesday that the GOP that Democrats will fight their agenda if it includes rolling back big Democratic programs, including Obamacare, which Republicans plan to do.

“As we look ahead to next year, Republicans should remember that they do not have an overwhelming mandate – in fact, more Americans voted for Hillary Clinton,” Hoyer said. “Democrats will represent the plurality of Americans and resist Republican efforts to pursue a divisive, controversial agenda.”

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Democrats currently on the Judiciary Committee argued that Sessions’ hearings should be an involved process.

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11/30/16 6:56 AM

Goldman Sachs alumnus and financier Steven Mnuchin confirmed he has been nominated to be President-elect Trump’s treasury secretary, while billionaire investor Wilbur Ross confirmed he will be appointed commerce secretary Wednesday.

The duo appeared on CNBC to confirm reports that broke Tuesday they had accepted roles offered by Trump. Mnuchin served as Trump’s campaign finance director and Ross has no political experience.

“I didn’t think I’d ever have a boss again,” Wilbur said when asked if he ever thought he would work in government.

Mnuchin, a Wall Street banker and Hollywood insider, will be the second treasury secretary in 10 years to come from Goldman Sachs. He currently works as the CEO of a hedge fund and, like Ross, has no experience in government.

Mnuchin said he believes in Trump since the start of his presidential campaign, and that close relationship will benefit the American people.

“This was never a gamble from my perspective. I’ve known the president-elect for over 15 years, I believed in his policies and I thought he would win,” Mnuchin said. “I did this because I believed in it.”

He added that the top priority of the Trump administration will be not only that jobs return to the country but that they’re good jobs.

“For the average American worker, they’ve gotten nowhere [under President Obama],” Mnuchin said. “Our job is to make sure that the average American worker has wage increases and has good jobs. That’s the priority of this administration.”

Ross said he believes the low unemployment rate and seemingly solid foundation of the current economy is a ruse.

Also from the Washington Examiner

President-elect Trump announced Wednesday morning via social media that his lawyers were drawing up “legal documents” to remove him from the operations of his sprawling business empire amid concerns that the company could create conflicts of interest.

“I will be leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country,” Trump said, saying he will hold a press conference with his children on Dec. 15 to explain the decision.

“While I am not mandated to do this under the law, I feel it is visually important, as President, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses,” he added.

The president and vice president are exempt from the conflict of interest laws that apply to most

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11/30/16 7:13 AM

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Rep. Tim Ryan believes the party’s November election debacle calls for a leadership shakeup.

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11/30/16 12:01 AM

The surprisingly competitive Democratic primaries served as “foreshadowing” for Hillary Clinton’s eventual general election defeat, says Jeff Weaver, a longtime top aide to Bernie Sanders.

“Most of the country would be colored [Sanders’] color versus Secretary Clinton’s,” Weaver, who served as Sanders’ campaign chairman, said during a conference call Tuesday evening held by MayDay.us, a grassroots group dedicated to campaign finance reform.

Many of the millions of Millennials old enough to vote, who were largely energized by Sanders’ progressive campaign during the primaries, stayed home on Nov. 8, Weaver pointed out.

The 74-year-old (now 75) democratic socialist, who conceded the Democratic nomination to Clinton over the summer and later supported her presidential campaign, was very popular among Millennials due in part to his efforts to address issues impacting the younger generation, including his promise to make college tuition free.

Weaver said Clinton’s share of vote among Millennials (55 percent), which among voters 18 to 29 slipped by 5 percent from Obama’s numbers in 2012, was a “really disappointing number.”

Where Donald Trump largely carried small cities and rural areas during the general election, which fueled his victory, Weaver suggested that Sanders would have put up a good fight because he succeeded in those places during the primary. Meanwhile Clinton’s main body of support came from the larger urban areas, which typically lean heavily Democratic, during the primaries and general election alike.

Although union organizations largely threw their endorsements behind Clinton during the primaries, union households supported Trump in “historically high” numbers, Weaver said.

And despite the media narrative, Sanders over-performed among African American and Latino voters, Weaver added.

Addressing the general election across the board, at both the presidential and local levels, Weaver offered what he said the lesson of this campaign.

Also from the Washington Examiner

The Florida senator said Republicans will use Harry Reid’s rule change to take care of business.

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11/30/16 12:48 AM

Top Story

Rep. Tim Ryan believes the party’s November election debacle calls for a leadership shakeup.

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11/30/16 12:01 AM