President Trump, who has threatened press freedoms before, suggested Wednesday that NBC might lose its broadcast licenses following critical stories detailing his behavior. Substantively, Trump’s threat is fairly empty: NBC and other networks do not hold a license for the network as a whole. Licenses…
Here’s our look at the Trump administration and the rest of Washington:
White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, in a rare and wide-ranging press conference Thursday, told reporters he felt secure and satisfied in his job and expressed frustration with press reports to the contrary.
“I’m not quitting today,” Kelly said. “I don’t believe–and I just talked to the president–I don’t think I’m being fired.”
The chief of staff also said he was not aware beforehand of Trump’s frequent and often provocative posts on Twitter, but that they don’t make his life managing the White House more difficult.
A number of news reports have described Kelly as having difficulty managing President Trump’s unpredictable nature and habit of undermining his own policy messages with distracting outbursts.
“I was not brought to this job to control anything, » Kelly said, but rather to manage the flow of information to the president « so he can make the best decisions.”
White House chief of staff is the « hardest » and « most important » job he’s ever had, Kelly said, but it’s « not the best job » he’s ever held. That, he said, was being an enlisted Marine sergeant infantryman.
Trump, however, told reporters at the White House on Saturday that Kelly « loves it more than anything he’s ever done. » And, Trump said, Kelly is doing « an incredible job. »
In announcing his new executive order on healthcare, President Trump said that it would « increase choice and increase access to lower-priced, high-quality healthcare options » for « millions of Americans. »
Critics of the order warned that it could endanger care for millions of other Americans with existing health problems such as cancer, heart disease or diabetes.
But healthcare experts said Thursday that the effect of the order — for good or bad — won’t be fully known for months, at the earliest. That’s because the order set out broad policies and directed three federal agencies — the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury — to come up with the detailed plans.
« It’s remarkable how truly vague the executive order is, with words like ‘consider’ and ‘potentially,' » tweeted Larry Levitt, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation.
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The mayor of San Juan responded to President Trump’s tweets Thursday morning in which he blamed Puerto Rico for its problems and insisted that he had little patience for the years-long effort that will be required to repair the U. S. territory.
« We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P. R. forever! » he said in one tweet.
He blamed the island for « a total lack of accountability » in a pair of tweets and quoted a conservative journalist who invoked the island’s financial crisis as a problem « of their own making. »
In response, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz penned a letter to Trump, criticizing his approach.
« While you are amusing yourself throwing paper towels at us, your compatriots and the world are sending love and help our way, » she wrote. « Condemn us to a slow death of non drinkable water, lack of food, lack of medicine while you keep others eager to help from reaching us since they face the impediment of the Jones Act. »
During a White House event last week, President Trump said his administration is « marshaling every federal resource at our disposal » and « will not rest until that job is done » to help Puerto Rico recover and rebuild following the devastation wrought from Hurricane Maria.
That didn’t last long.
By Thursday, even as the death toll has risen above 40 and the majority of the island remained without power, Trump seemed to have had enough of all that. He blamed Puerto Rico for its problems and insisted that he had little patience for the years-long effort that will be required to repair the U. S. territory.
« We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P. R. forever! » he said in one tweet.
He blamed the island for « a total lack of accountability » in a pair of tweets and quoted a conservative journalist who invoked the island’s financial crisis as a problem « of their own making. »
The federal government traditionally takes a major role in storm rebuilding efforts, spending years and more than $100 billion in Louisiana and other states affected by Katrina .
Trump made a similar pledge to Texas and Louisiana following Hurricane Harvey.
« We will get through this. We will come out stronger, and believe me we will be bigger, better, stronger than ever before, » he said.
There are many paths to the presidency, most of them a standard climb from one elected office to the next.
A whole passel of lawmakers have cycled their way through a governorship or the U. S. Senate en route to the White House. Others arrived with less buttoned-down backgrounds. There have been war heroes, a former haberdasher, a onetime movie actor.
And then, of course, there is the current occupant whose resume — real estate developer, beauty pageant promoter, conspiracy monger, reality TV celebrity — comprises a category all its own.
In the whole history of the United States, however, there has never been a candidate who made the leap straight from City Hall to the White House, or who even managed to win his party’s presidential nomination.
Now Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is mentioned as a presidential prospect, fresh off his inauguration to a second term. He insists that more than 250 years of unbroken mayoral futility are no deterrent.
“I think all the rules are off,” he told a Wisconsin TV interviewer during a June visit to the Midwestern swing state. “No African American could be president until one was. No reality star could be president until one is.”
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President Trump hardened his conditions for approving legal status for young immigrants brought to this country illegally, insisting Wednesday that before he would back new protections for them, Democrats would have to back funding for a border wall and other security measures.
After a mid-September meeting with Democratic leaders Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Charles E. Schumer, Trump had said he favored a targeted, bipartisan solution for the so-called Dreamers, until recently protected by an Obama administration directive called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, that Trump began phasing out this month. “The wall will come later,” he said then.
Earlier this week, his administration put forth a series of hard-line conditions Democrats strongly oppose, prompting Pelosi and Schumer to issue a joint statement suggesting he’d reneged on his tentative deal with them. Trump reiterated Wednesday that the wall — detested by Democrats, and some border Republicans — remained a priority before any DACA deal could be reached.
“If we’re going to do something, we need to get something in return,” he said during an interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity that was conducted before a rally at the Harrisburg, Pa., airport, and broadcast on Fox later in the evening. Trump expressed some sympathy for the young immigrants, noting that many “don’t speak the language of their country” since they came to the United States so young.
Still, he added, “if we’re going to solve that, we want a wall and we want greater border security.”
During the lengthy and fawning interview, Hannity repeatedly praised the president and Trump returned the favor, twice telling an audience gathered behind him about Hannity’s ratings. “I’m so proud of you,” the president said.
Hannity did not correct multiple falsehoods Trump uttered during the interview.
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Saying she was « sick, » « shocked » and « appalled » by news of Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual predation, Hillary Clinton said in an interview Wednesday that she would donate to charity the money he had contributed to her campaign.
In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Clinton said she had no idea about Weinstein’s behavior until the revelations in recent days that led to his ouster from the company that bears his name.
« I certainly didn’t, and I don’t know who did, » she said. « Like so many people who’ve come forward and spoken out, this was a different side of a person who I and many others had known in the past. »
Asked about the campaign donations, Clinton said she would follow the pattern adopted by several other Democrats who received money from Weinstein.
« What other people are saying, what my former colleagues are saying, is that they’re going to donate it to charity, and of course I will do that, » she said.
Clinton added that until now, she would have considered Weinstein a friend, and she praised the women who have spoken publicly about his conduct.
« The courage of these women coming forward now is really important because it can’t just end with one person’s disgraceful behavior and the consequences that he is now facing, » she said. « This has to be a wake-up call and shine a bright spotlight on anything like this behavior anywhere, at any time. »
The White House will nominate Kirstjen Nielsen, a top aide to Chief of Staff John Kelly, to take over the Department of Homeland Security, according to a Homeland Security official.
The appointment of Nielsen likely would represent a continuation of the policies of Kelly. The retired Marine general won Trump’s praise for his tough approach to immigration enforcement during his six months running the department.
The sprawling department includes the agencies responsible for policing borders and immigration, a central focus for the Trump administration, including Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Acting Secretary Elaine Duke told her staff about the expected appointment Wednesday, the official said. The choice was first reported by Politico.
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President Trump intensified his threat against the press Wednesday afternoon, hours after threatening to use government power to penalize NBC, telling reporters that « it is frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write. »
The comments came as Trump was meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Oval Office.
Trump was still angry over an NBC report detailing his request to increase the nation’s nuclear arsenal by nearly tenfold.
He called the report « fake news. »
Ten times would be « totally unnecessary, » Trump said, adding that he wants the U. S. nuclear arsenal to be in « tiptop shape. »
Trump’s Twitter threat earlier in the day against NBC’s ability to hold local television licenses already had alarmed 1st Amendment advocates for its chilling tone.
The 1st Amendment has long been interpreted to protect speech that government officials object to as a bulwark against authoritarianism.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), siding with the National Rifle Assn., said Wednesday he prefers limiting « bump stocks » used in the Las Vegas massacre through administrative action, rather than legislation.
« We think the regulatory fix is the smartest, quickest fix, » Ryan told reporters.
The GOP leader’s approach largely reflects that of the NRA, which announced a surprise willingness after the Las Vegas shooting to consider limits on the devices that can essentially turn assault rifles into automatic weaponry.
Relying on administrative review, though, would likely squash efforts underway for a potentially more lasting legislative solution through law, and shield lawmakers from taking potential tough votes at odds with the NRA on a gun safety issue.
Several bills, including one from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and a bipartisan House proposal that has drawn 20 Republican and Democratic sponsors, are making their way through Congress after the shooting that left dozens dead and hundreds injured at an outdoor concert on the Las Vegas Strip.
