As the first week of impeachment proceedings gets underway, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said she's "certainly willing to listen" to a defense from the Trump White House but believes there's already enough evidence from the Mueller report to call for impeachment."He wants to mount a defense, I'm certainly willing to listen to it. But that's the evidence that's in front of us right now," Warren said on Sunday, at a presidential candidate forum in Madison Heights, Michigan.Warren was asked by a reporter if she thought it was "premature" to support impeachment proceedings "having heard no evidence" come before the House."I'm sorry, did you say, 'No evidence'?" Warren responded."I think Donald Trump has already said enough," Warren continued, pointing to the Mueller report, as well as the recently released whistleblower complaint about Trump's communications with the president of Ukraine."The details made it clear that Donald Trump had obstructed justice multiple times," Warren said "So, I am glad for the House to do the investigation, but it looks pretty clear to me what's going on."Though Warren on Sunday pointed to the Mueller report as the foundation for an impending impeachment probe, in recent days she's also said she believes the current inquiry's purview should focus on the Ukraine issue -- a belief held across the board by Democrats who want to maintain a simplified message."Right now, I'd like to just see us do the Ukraine issue because it is so clear and it is such a clear violation of law," Warren said in an earlier interview CNN. "The president is asking for help against one of his political rivals and asking a foreign government for a thing of value for himself personally. That's against the law. And after all that happened in 2016 and the Mueller investigation, the president knows that."That message was shared by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who also spoke on Sunday at the forum in Michigan, which was held by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union."The Mueller investigation was like a blockbuster movie that went on and on and on. And this is actually a much more pointed violation," Klobuchar told reporters. "The reason I keep bringing up Watergate is because, as you remember, that involved a lot of other things that President Nixon was doing that were bad and illegal, but it was one thing that people could understand when the truth really came out."

closeVideoRep. Collins: We saw a dark day in the House, we saw Speaker Pelosi abuse her oath of officeGeorgia Republican Rep. Doug Collins says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi abused her oath of office by saying an impeachment inquiry had started.House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Doug Collins told Fox News on Sunday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has "abused" her role with her treatment of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, claiming the president won't receive "due process" over a whistleblower's claim he improperly pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July phone call to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who served on the board of an energy company in Ukraine."We saw Speaker Pelosi abuse her oath of office, if you would, by abusing the role of the speaker by saying an impeachment inquiry had started and they were sending it to the Intelligence Committee where you have a gentleman who has a habit of lying about the facts, [Rep. Adam] Schiff," Collins, R-Ga., told host Maria Bartiromo on "Sunday Morning Futures." "They have decided to walk down a path in which they are in contrary to American values. They're not going to allow this president to have due process. They're not going to be fair. They're going to ramrod this thing through."Collins also said Trump was "not in jeopardy of being removed from office. He's in jeopardy of having to continue that onslaught of lies and attacks and half-truths from a one-sided investigation in the House."SCHIFF: AGREEMENT REACHED FOR WHISTLEBLOWER TO TESTIFYHunter Biden served on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma at the same time as his father was leading the Obama administration’s diplomatic dealings with Kiev. Trump also has claimed that Joe Biden pressured the Ukrainian government to shut down a corruption investigation of Burisma. The former vice president has denied doing anything wrong.In the July call, Zelensky appeared to make an effort to stay in Trump’s good graces, telling him at least twice that he was "absolutely right." But, after the White House released a rough transcript this week based on officials’ recollections of the call, Zelensky told reporters he didn’t feel pushed, emphasizing that "no one can pressure me." He also sought to play down the situation involving Biden and his son’s activities in Ukraine, calling it just one of "many cases that I talk about with leaders of other countries."VideoThis past Friday, Trump demanded Schiff resign after the House Intelligence Committee chairman read an exaggerated take of the call during a hearing. "I have a favor I want from you," Schiff, D-Calif., said while appearing to read from a piece of paper. "And, I’m going to say this only seven times, so you better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand? Lots of it, on this and on that."Schiff later said, "My summary of the president’s call was meant to be at least, part, in parody."Pelosi, D-Calif., has defended her decision to announce the formal impeachment inquiry into Trump last week, after saying for months that she wasn't yet on board. She told CBS News' "60 Minutes" in an interview that aired Sunday night, "It is wrong for a president to say that he wants you -- another head of state -- to create something negative about his possible political opponent to his own advantage, at the expense of our national security, his oath of office to the Constitution and the integrity of our elections."Trump repeatedly has denied any wrongdoing.Fox News' Adam Shaw and Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo contributed to this report.

The Trump administration has recommended that US regulators block China Telecom from operating in the US and warned that the China-backed company was creating “substantial and unacceptable” national security and law enforcement risks for the US.The move is the latest example of how the White House is seeking to rid the US telecommunications industry of any reliance on China. It comes after the Trump administration banned network manufacturer ZTE from buying US products in 2018 – a move that was later reversed – and its placement of severe restrictions on Huawei, which has separately been accused in an indictment of stealing trade secrets.The Department of Justice said that its executive branch recommendation to the Federal Communications Commission – which authorises US telecommunications licences – was based on new information about China’s alleged role in “malicious cyber activity” targeting the US, and fears that China Telecom was vulnerable to exploitation, influence and control by the Chinese government.The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately return a request for comment.The justice department also alleged that China Telecom had made inaccurate statements to the US regarding its cybersecurity practices and the “nature” of its US operations, which the department said was giving Chinese state actors opportunities to engage in malicious cyber-activity enabling economic espionage and the “misrouting” of US communications.“Today, more than ever, the life of the nation and its people runs on our telecommunications networks,” said John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security. “The security of our government and professional communications, as well as of our most private data, depends on our use of trusted partners from nations that share our values and our aspirations for humanity.”In a statement, China Telecom denied the allegations. It said: “The company has always been extremely cooperative and transparent with regulators. In many instances, we have gone beyond what has been requested to demonstrate how our business operates and serves our customers following the highest international standards.”The move by the Trump administration comes months after a bipartisan letter from two senators – Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Tom Cotton of Arkansas – called on the FCC to rethink previous authorisations to China Telecom, citing the Chinese government’s role in promoting economic espionage. Topics US national security China news

WASHINGTON -- White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney dug in on his claim that he had not admitted there was a quid pro quo in regard to U.S. military aid for Ukraine and investigating Democrats.The admission days earlier, during a Thursday press briefing, had contradicted President Donald Trump's consistent denials about a key subject of the House impeachment inquiry."That's not what I said," Mulvaney said on "Fox News Sunday." "That's what people said that I said."But at a press briefing at the White House on Thursday, Mulvaney had recounted that the president told him he didn’t want to send Ukraine "a bunch of money and have them waste it, and have them spend it, have them use it to line their own pockets.""Those were the driving factors," Mulvaney told reporters in the White House briefing room. "Did he also mention to me in the past that the corruption related to the DNC server? Absolutely, no question about that. But that’s it and that’s why we held up the money." (The "server" reference is to a debunked conspiracy theory that Trump has long clung to: that the Democratic National Committee’s hacked email server was being held in Ukraine -- and that individuals in Ukraine were behind an effort to sabotage his 2016 election. Last month, Trump’s own former homeland security adviser called the theory "completely false.")"So the demand for an investigation into the Democrats was part of the reason that he ordered you to withhold funding to Ukraine?" ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl asked."'Look back to what happened in 2016,' certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with the nation," Mulvaney said. "And that is absolutely equivalent.""What you described is a quid pro quo," Karl pressed. "It is: funding will not flow unless the investigation into the Democrats’ server happens as well.""We do that all the time with foreign policy," Mulvaney answered.Mulvaney issued a statement later Thursday evening after his admission set off a political firestorm, in which he claimed the press had decided to "misconstrue" what he had said -- despite reporting using the actual words he spoke in the White House briefing room hours earlier.On Sunday, Mulvaney pointed out that he himself never used the term "quid pro quo.""Reporters will use their language all the time," he said. "So my language never said quid pro quo."Trump said Friday he thought Mulvaney had "clarified" his initial remarks. "I think he clarified it," Trump said when a reporter asked him about Mulvaney's comments, before pivoting to off-topic comments about a visit to Texas the day before.On Sunday, Mulvaney also said he had listed just two reasons the Trump administration had held up aid for Ukraine -- misgivings about corruption and concerns other countries had not contributed enough of their own aid to Ukraine. On Thursday, though, he had actually listed a third reason: wanting Ukraine to cooperate with the Department of Justice investigation into the 2016 election.Mulvaney said he was referring to the DOJ's investigation into the origins of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. He suggested that the DOJ's look at the origins, led by U.S. attorney John Durham, was examining the debunked conspiracy theory about the DNC server. The DOJ has not said it was looking into the issue of the DNC's server, despite what Mulvaney said, and on Thursday, a senior DOJ official said that, “If the White House was withholding aid in regards to the cooperation of any investigation at the Department of Justice, that is news to us."On Sunday, Mulvaney said that the look at the DNC server was not linked to aid. "It wasn't connected to the aid, and that's why I think that people got sidetracked," Mulvaney said.ABC News' Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s repeated trashing of a Democratic impeachment inquiry has helped prompt a $13 million flood of campaign cash to bolster his reelection effort.House Speaker “Nancy (Pelosi) just called for Impeachment. WITCH HUNT!” his campaign said in one fundraising text message sent Tuesday. “I need you on my Impeachment Defense Team.”In the 24 hours that followed Pelosi’s Tuesday announcement, Trump and the Republican National Committee raised $5 million from online donors in all 50 states, campaign manager Brad Parscale said. In addition to the online money, he was expected to have raised $5 million for his reelection from a Wednesday night fundraiser, followed by an additional $3 million from a Thursday morning breakfast, according to an RNC official.ADVERTISEMENT“Huge groundswell of support leading to Trump landslide in 2020!” Parscale tweeted Wednesday.The swell of contributions comes right before next week’s third-quarter fundraising reporting deadline and will further pad what is already expected to be a massive haul. More than a year out from the November 2020 contest, his campaign and the RNC have already reported pulling in more than $210 million since the start of 2019, Federal Election Commission records show. That’s more than all the current Democrats seeking to replace him raised combined during that period.But he’s not the only one trying to cash in on the impeachment fervor, which stems from his efforts to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a potential 2020 rival, and his family. None of the allegations against Biden or his son Hunter, who worked for a Ukrainian gas company, have been substantiated.Biden, too, saw an uptick in donations last weekend after news of Trump’s conversation with the Ukrainian president broke, according to his campaign. He’s running ads on Facebook urging supporters to “stand with Joe.” And his campaign says he has had his best week of fundraising since his second week as a candidate.“Donald Trump sat in the Oval Office asking a foreign leader to investigate Joe Biden’s family because he knows Joe Biden will make sure he’s a one-term president,” one online ad states. “Don’t let the president get away with this gross abuse of power.”The Democratic National Committee similarly reported a surge in fundraising after sending out a fundraising appeal late Tuesday urging donors to “stand with Speaker Pelosi as the House moves forward with an official impeachment inquiry.”

Donald Trump has come to the defence of one of his potential rivals for the presidency, telling North Korea its recent description of Joe Biden as a “rabid dog” that should be “beaten to death” was a little unfair.Trump’s criticism of Pyongyang – albeit via a half-hearted endorsement of Biden’s character – came amid attempts to resurrect stalled nuclear talks, with Trump imploring North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, to “get the deal done”, and the US and South Korea agreeing to postpone an annual air force drill the North routinely condemns as a rehearsal for an invasion.“Joe Biden may be sleepy and very slow,” Trump said in a tweet on Sunday, using his nicknames for Biden, “but he is not a ‘rabid dog.’ He is actually somewhat better than that.”On Friday, North Korea had accused Biden of having “the temerity to dare slander the dignity of the supreme leadership”, although the regime did not specify what he had said to provoke its angry response.“Rabid dogs like Biden can hurt lots of people if they are allowed to run about,” a statement by the official KCNA news agency said. “They must be beaten to death with a stick.”There was speculation that the North felt aggrieved over an ad by the Democratic presidential hopeful’s campaign condemning Trump’s foreign policy. The ad said that “dictators and tyrants are praised, our allies pushed aside,” and featured an image of Trump meeting Kim at their first summit in Singapore last year.Trump’s tweet turned to the prospects of another meeting with Kim after the two leaders failed to agree on denuclearisation terms at their summit in Hanoi in February.Addressing Kim as “Mr Chairman”, he said: “I am the only one who can get you where you have to be. You should act quickly, get the deal done. See you soon!”Sunday’s decision to postpone US-South Korean air force drills, which would have involved an undisclosed number of US and South Korean aircraft, is being seen as an attempt to kickstart denuclearisation talks as the countries edge closer to an end-of-year deadline the North has set for Washington to come up with a mutually acceptable plan to salvage the dialogue.The two sides have so far failed to bridge the gap over how far the North would have to go in dismantling its nuclear capability before the US reciprocated by easing sanctions.The US defence secretary, Mark Esper, denied the indefinite postponement of the already scaled-down drills was a concession to Pyongyang.“I don’t see this as a concession. I see this as a good faith effort ... to enable peace,” he said in Bangkok on Sunday. “I think creating some more space for our diplomats to strike an agreement on the denuclearisation of the peninsula is very important.”Pyongyang, however, reportedly held its own air force exercises over the weekend, KCNA said on Monday. It quoted Kim as saying the drills had to be held “without notice under the simulated conditions of real war” for “improving the preparedness” of the country’s military units.Esper encouraged North Korea to “demonstrate the same goodwill as it considers decisions on conducting training, exercises and testing”.Referring to the country’s official name the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, he added: “We also urge the DPRK to return to the negotiating table without precondition or hesitation.” Topics North Korea Donald Trump Kim Jong-un Nuclear weapons Asia Pacific Joe Biden news

Mr. Fredericks faulted the White House. “That’s what the White House communications department pushed out for a month,” he said. “It’s fake news, deep state, witch hunt. It’s never going to amount to anything at all.”While the hosts offered little praise for the White House messaging effort, their praise of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was effusive.In a broadcast earlier this week, Mr. Bannon warned Mr. Trump’s supporters not to be blinded by their animosity toward the speaker. “I don’t care if you hate Nancy Pelosi,” he said. “This is a master, and she is teaching a master class.”“Tough as boot leather,” he added. Mr. Miller said Wednesday that Ms. Pelosi is one of “the best communications directors on the planet,” who has been able to dominate news cycles by releasing key details from the closed-door testimony. That’s what Democrats did on Tuesday after William B. Taylor Jr., the top American diplomat in Ukraine, described how Mr. Trump held up $391 million in assistance for the purpose of forcing Ukraine to help Mr. Trump discredit his potential 2020 political rivals. Ms. Pelosi, added Mr. Kassam, has figured out how to use the Congressional investigative process to the Democrats’ advantage. And Mr. Trump’s supporters can’t belittle that. “There’s a very serious failure to take this whole process seriously from the Republican side,” he said.As Mr. Trump railed about the saboteurs inside his administration on Wednesday, tweeting that the “Never Trumpers” like Mr. Taylor were out to get him, Mr. Bannon offered some feedback on the air. “All of these people,” he said, were “hired by Donald J. Trump or hired by people Donald J. Trump hired,” he said.

Democratic 2020 hopeful Marianne Williamson is a best-selling new age author and a guru to the celebs. But her campaign hasn’t taken off. She’s languishing at less than 1% in national polls and did not qualify for the last pair of presidential debates. The disconnect between her professional success and her political failure to launch is, she said, “an illusion”. During a question-and-answer session at the National Press Club in Washington, Williamson took umbrage at the insinuation her campaign was not gaining traction.“I sure as heck did break through,” she told the moderator. “It’s called the second debate.” Following a zany first debate appearance in which she challenged the prime minister of New Zealand and said she would “harness love” to beat Donald Trump, Williamson delivered a steadier performance in round two, receiving praise – and lots of Google searches – for her answers on race, reparations and the environment. After her rise in polls, Williamson said the other candidates and the Washington elite increasingly saw her as a threat. Then, she said, a political “smear” campaign began to paint her as “crazy and dangerous”. At the event on Thursday, Williamson laid out her case for the nomination while touting her plan to establish a “Department of Peace,” the centerpiece of her campaign platform. She talked about the layers of trauma average Americans face – food scarcity, homelessness, drug abuse, violence, among other issues. “Large groups of desperate people are a national security risk,” she said. Williamson also expanded on her criticism of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which sets the rules for participation in the party’s presidential primary debates. “It should be the purpose of the DNC to facilitate American democracy not dictate American democracy,” she said, decrying her exclusion from the debate stage. In response to a question about whether she supported any military interventions in recent US history, Williamson said she is “not a pacifist”. She said she would have gone to war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and added that, had she been president, she would have intervened in Rwanda. Williamson fielded other questions that seemed tailored to her unique appeal: What did she make of Trump assertion that he deserves a Nobel Peace prize? She laughed, “Poor darlin’. I don’t think he could help himself.” She has as much political experience as Trump when he ran for president – which is to say none – so why does she think she can do the job better? She said Trump’s problem wasn’t a lack of experience, it was a “lack of ethics”.And finally, would she consider Hillary Clinton for a position in her Department of Peace? Williamson paused before concluding: “I don’t want to be drawn into this pile on of Hillary Clinton that should offend every American woman.”

Take, for an example, colonial election laws banning “treating”—the practice, common at the time, of candidates handing out food, alcohol, and other gifts near polling places on voting days.Though treating was superficially neutral—men could accept the gifts and still vote for whomever they preferred—it was nevertheless an effective form of gaining electoral advantage because of how voting then worked. Voters gathered in regional capitals to cast their ballots, which was frequently done viva voce—vocally announcing their choices in front of not only the poll workers, but the local sheriff and the candidates for office.In this setting, candidates could exercise substantial leverage over elections without any overt exchanges or intimidation. They simply “treated” anyone approaching the polls to victuals and then stood by with a wink and an expectant smile.Many colonial legislatures nonetheless recognized the danger that treating posed to the democratic process. Election-related bribery thwarts the very process by which voters can normally check corruption: voting the bums out.The origins of Maryland’s anti-treating statute illustrate how seriously the founding generation took this problem. After several particularly flagrant incidents of treating, in 1768 the state’s assembly passed—unanimously—a bill banning the practice.The law’s language is striking; it prohibits giving not only “money, meat, drink, entertainment, or provision,” but also any “promise, agreement, obligation, or engagement.” The “greatness or smallness” of the offering didn’t matter, nor whether it was “directly or indirectly” given, so long as it was done “in order to be elected.”The penalty for treating was unequivocal: The legislature would void the election—the functional equivalent of impeachment—of anyone found guilty.Early American bans on treating demonstrate the robust founding-era precautions against bribery in an election context. Contrary to the typical modern conception of bribery, treating transferred gifts from officials to outside actors, rather than the other way around. Also, treating involved no quid pro quo. Candidates provided gifts, but never explicitly required anything from beneficiaries. The gift’s Election Day context, plus the wink and smile, was more than enough to convey the intended message.Despite these appearances, treating was still considered an impeachable form of bribery. And for the guilty, penalties were not limited to removal from office. In New York, election inspectors were authorized to arrest and imprison anyone using even “indirect” corrupt means to influence an election.The Framers of the Constitution were intimately familiar with anti-treating laws. In 1777, James Madison ran for the Virginia House of Delegates. He refrained from any form of treating, because it was not only illegal, but in his view also a “corrupting influence” and “inconsistent with the purity of moral and of republican principles.”

closeVideoSwamp Watch: The Bidens and UkraineAs President Trump is harassed with investigation inquiries, Joe and Hunter Biden continue to dodge an investigation of their own.Joe Biden hit back at allegations over his son, Hunter, saying there was nothing corrupt about the firing of that Ukrainian prosecutor. But that is a total dodge.The real scandal is not about the firing of the damn prosecutor!! -- it's about U.S. cash for Ukraine gas. It involves not just the Bidens, but former Secretary of State John Kerry and a growing number of Democratic senators as our special investigation will reveal.These credible allegations of corruption must be investigated. Of course, President Trump is right to pursue them with Attorney General Barr, and yes, with the leader of the country where the alleged corruption took place. How can you investigate U.S. cash for Ukraine gas without involving Ukraine?‘WHERE’S HUNTER?’ TRUMP ASKS, AS BIDEN’S SON PROMISES NOT TO WORK WITH FOREIGN COMPANIES IF FATHER WINS PRESIDENCY IN 2020Preening news anchors ask Republicans as if they've come up with the ultimate unanswerable "gotcha." If President Trump is so hot on corruption, can you name another American who is not a political rival that he has pushed to investigate?Can you -- to pick a name at random -- NBC's Chuck Todd -- think of another American accused of corruption at this level, who's not been investigated? The fact that Biden is running for president isn't a reason not to investigate him. It's surely the reason why the allegations must be investigated.When it comes to Republicans, there's never any reluctance to investigate.Just this week, two of Rudy Giuliani's associates were arrested for allegedly paying a man believed to be former Texas Republican member of Congress, Pete Sessions, $20,000 for his help in ousting our former ambassador to Ukraine who they thought was blocking their business aims.Congressman Sessions wrote a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling for the ambassador to be fired and the ambassador was eventually recalled.Now, all of that looks dodgy as hell. And it's quite right that Attorney General Barr has given the green light to arrest these two men, regardless of any connection to Rudy Giuliani or the president.If only we had the same investigative zeal on the other side. Instead, when it's a Republican who wants Democrats investigated, they try to impeach him.Let me remind you of the details here. In early 2014, someone called Devon Archer, who is the longtime business partner of Joe Biden's son, Hunter, joined the Board of Ukraine's largest gas company, Burisma. On April 16, 2014, Archer had a private meeting with Vice President Biden at the White House late into the night, according to White House records.Two days after that meeting, on April 18, Hunter Biden joined the Burisma Board, too; and three days after that, on April 21, Vice President Biden went to Ukraine with promises of U.S. taxpayer cash for the Ukrainian gas industry.It's been reported that in the years following Joe Biden's April 2014 visit, his son, Hunter, was paid $50,000 a month for his Burisma Board seat. But bank records taken from an unrelated FBI raid of Devon Archer's office in 2016 showed that Biden and Archer's firm, Rosemont Seneca, received monthly payments from Burisma with sums of over $150,000, sometimes even as high as $220,000, according to Fox News contributor John Solomon.What was it about the spectacularly unqualified and inexperienced Hunter Biden that could possibly be worth that much to a Ukrainian gas company? Well, now we know.Burisma's founder, a shady character called Mykola Zlochevsk, used his time as Ukraine's environment minister to hand out gas licenses from which Burisma would end up profiting. By 2015, Zlochevsky found himself under investigation for abuse of power, embezzlement and other charges.He may even have faced justice if it weren't for Hunter Biden's Burisma board seat, signaling to Ukrainian prosecutors that Zlochevsky had the backing of the American vice president who was acting like some kind of Imperial consul in Ukraine. His word was basically law.Unbelievably, despite all the evidence of corruption, Zlochevsky came out of it unscathed. But that wasn't all that Hunter Biden's connections had to offer.What was it about the spectacularly unqualified and inexperienced Hunter Biden that could possibly be worth that much to a Ukrainian gas company?Remember Devon Archer, Hunter Biden's business partner? He had previously been a top fundraiser for John Kerry, who was Secretary of State at the time. And soon after Devon and Hunter joined the Burisma Board, the company channeled $90,000 to a lobbying firm called ML Strategies, which was headed by none other than David Leiter, John Kerry's former chief of staff.That's handy because then-Secretary of State John Kerry himself has visited Ukraine with promises of U.S. aid and assistance. Well, Leiter registered as a Burisma lobbyist in mid-2014. But in the year leading up to that, he gave close to $60,000 to Democrats, including a select group of U.S. senators who would later be instrumental in pushing cash towards Ukraine's energy sector, directly in line with Burisma's interests.He donated to Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., four times and to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., three times. A month after the last of those donations, both Markey and Shaheen were among four senators who wrote a letter to President Obama that said, "We should leverage the full resources and expertise of the U.S. government to assist Ukraine in improving its energy efficiency, increasing its domestic production and reforming its energy markets."What's that line in there? "Increasing its domestic production." Production of what? Wind power? Solar? Burning household waste? No, they're talking about increasing gas production, U.S. cash to Ukraine gas. And guess who benefits from that?Actually, we don't need to guess; they told us. Here's the Burisma statement on Democrats' letter to Obama: "Burisma holdings today applauded the range of U.S. legislative support for the development of Ukraine's broad and untapped resources and an increase in transparency and good governance."Yes, I bet they applauded it. And the value they got from the 90 grand they paid to their new lobbyist, the Democrat, political crony of their new board members, Devon Archer and Hunter Biden.I suppose there could be an innocent explanation. I mean, Sen. Ed Markey could, for all we know, be a long-term champion of the gas industry.Sen. Ed Markey was the Senate sponsor of the Green New Deal! He wants to shut down gas production in America. Yet he personally intervened with the Obama administration to send your tax dollars to boost Ukraine's gas production. And not just once.Not only did he write that letter to Obama, but he sponsored multiple pieces of legislation that called for more U.S. assistance and aid specifically to help Ukraine's natural gas sector, including one that "directs the Overseas Private Investment Corporation to prioritize support for investments to increase energy efficiency, developed domestic oil and natural gas reserves and develop renewable energy sources in Ukraine."A version of this bill became law in December 2014 and gave another $50 million for Ukraine gas and in turn, there was another donation to Sen. Ed Markey from Burisma's lobbyist, David Leiter, in 2017.Oh, but the corruption PR agencies in the media keep telling us the following:Jake Tapper, CNN anchor: As President Trump continues to rail against, as far as the evidence shows, baseless claims of corruption --Chuck Todd, MSNBC host: And we don't know whether Mr. Trump's baseless charges about Joe Biden and Ukraine will make Biden a more sympathetic figure or tarnish him to the benefit of another Democratic candidate.Nicolle Wallace, MSNBC host: There is no veracity to any of these allegations about the Bidens.But, of course, there is veracity! We just showed you that veracity. And there's more. It turns out it wasn't just Sens. Markey and Shaheen in on this swampy cash for gas deal. We cross-referenced the Senate co-sponsors of Ed Markey's Ukraine gas bill with the list of Democrats whom Burisma lobbyist, David Leiter, routinely gave money to and found another one -- one of the most sanctimonious of them all, actually, Sen. Richard Blumenthal.Burisma's lobbyist -- Hunter Biden's crony -- gave money to Richard Blumenthal three times in 2013. The next year, Blumenthal returned the favor by backing legislation that would directly benefit Burisma and Hunter Biden. How is any of this different from the alleged offenses for which those two Giuliani cronies were rightly arrested last week? This is the quid pro quo! This is the foreign meddling! The foreign interests buying up members of Congress, Democrat senators who have policy favors and taxpayer dollars to the highest foreign bidder.This is a massive scandal. U.S. cash for Ukraine gas. Sen. Ed Markey, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, John Kerry, David Leiter, Devon Archer, Hunter Biden -- and yes, Joe Biden, who was literally presiding over all of this as it was going on -- of course, it should all be investigated.It'll be up to our justice system to look into any criminal charges, but it's open to anyone to make referrals of suspected campaign finance violations. We reached out to and invited Sens. Markey, Shaheen and Blumenthal to come on the show, but they didn't respond.Those payments from Burisma's lobbyists to those senators raised suspicions of money laundering and illegal foreign donations aiming to buy influence in America's democracy. The details should be sent to the Federal Election Commission. We will post them soon.Adapted from Steve Hilton's monologue on "The Next Revolution" on Oct. 14, 2019.

Two of India’s most prominent opposition leaders have been detained by police as they attempted to visit the family of a young woman who died after an alleged gang rape.Siblings Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, prominent figures within the Congress party, were accosted and detained by police in the state of Uttar Pradesh as they attempted to make their way to the village of Hathras on foot, after their vehicles had been stopped by officers on the motorway.They were later released by Uttar Pradesh police and taken back to Delhi.Hathras village has become a hotbed of protest this week following the death of a 19-year-old Dalit girl from the village, who was allegedly gang-raped and violently tortured by four neighbours. She died in hospital on Tuesday morning from her injuries.Her family have alleged that she was the victim of a caste-based attack, carried out by upper-caste men because she was a Dalit – the lowest caste.Protests began over allegations that police did not take her case seriously because of her status, and outrage was further inflamed on Wednesday when the family alleged that the police had cremated her body at night against their wishes.A section 144 order, preventing gatherings of more than five people, was imposed on the village. The area was also deemed a coronavirus containment zone, which prevented outsiders from entering, which some opposition leaders claimed was a politically motivated move in an attempt to contain the unrest.On Thursday morning, Priyanka and Rahul Gandi, who had both spoken out in support of the victim’s family, attempted to drive to Hathras to meet the family and protesters. Their car was stopped around 100 miles from the village by police, and so the leaders continued the journey on foot.A wall of police blocked their way, and Rahul Gandhi was pushed to the ground by officers, who then detained him. “I am standing here peacefully. I want to march alone to Hathras. Section 144 talks about public assembly. I will go alone to Hathras. On what basis are you detaining me?” Gandhi was heard saying to the officers as they arrested him.Speaking to the gathered crowds, Rahul said: “Just now police pushed me, lathi charged me and threw me to the ground. I want to ask, can only Modi-ji walk in this country? Can’t a normal person walk? Our vehicle was stopped, so we started walking.”The Congress party leaders had been accused by ministers in the ruling Bharatiya Janata party of stirring up tensions by visiting the village and engaging in “political tourism”.Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, said the case had been handed over to a special investigating team and would be quickly sent to trial.A police forensic report released on Thursday stated that the 19-year-old had not been raped, though this did not correspond with the report from the Delhi hospital where she was admitted and the girl’s own account to her family and police before she died.The alleged rape has brought the issue of sexual violence against lower-caste women, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, to the fore. India is the most dangerous country in the world to be a woman and it is women from the lower castes who bear the brunt of the sexual violence. Over the past month, there have been multiple incidents of young Dalit girls being raped and murdered in Uttar Pradesh, which has some of the highest incidents of caste-based violence in India.On Thursday, news broke of a 22-year-old Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh who was allegedly drugged and gang-raped while applying for admission to a local school two days earlier. She too later died from her injuries. Topics India Rahul Gandhi South and Central Asia news

Leaked screenshots of a private Instagram chat group have stirred up a storm over rape culture in India. Several Instagram accounts yesterday (May 3) posted stories with chats from a group titled “bois locker room.” The group’s members, seemingly belonging to some reputed schools in Delhi, purportedly made derogatory comments about women and morphed their bodies in the group chat, claimed Ashnaa Sharma, a Delhi-based influencer with nearly 27,000 followers on the photo-sharing app.Soon, the news spread on Twitter, too, and #boyslockerroom began trending. A few users even claimed to have gone to school with some of the chat group’s members.Later, Sharma and other girls who were posting about the group chat said they received abuses and threats and their accounts were being hacked.Eventually, some of the boys issued public apologies, but the Twitterati were in no mood to let go of the violation of the privacy of underage girls as an innocent mistake.The problem, however, may be bigger than only one or two schools. Victim-blaming is often normal in India’s conversations around rape.Mukesh Singh, the driver of the bus in the infamous 2012 Jyoti Singh gang rape case, had said, “A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy.” In January 2014, Asha Mirje of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra said women invite rape through their clothes and behaviour.Even when the #MeToo movement briefly hit the headlines in India in mid-2018, the victims themselves were often questioned.Some of the responses to #boyslockerroom only reflect this larger problem.

HARRISBURG, Pa. — After news networks declared President Donald Trump the loser of the 2020 election on Saturday, about 2,000 of his supporters gathered here in the capital of Pennsylvania — a must-win state the president lost — for a heavily armed pity party. The rally outside the state Capitol was in stark contrast to the joyous celebrations seen across the globe, including in the president’s hometown of New York City, where residents took over the streets to sing, dance and drink Champagne. Spencer Platt via Getty Images Hundreds of people — some armed — gathered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Saturday to show their anger that Joe Biden had been declared the winner of the 2020 election. In Harrisburg, a ghoulish and cruel coalition of gun-toting MAGA extremists — who have enjoyed four years of being emboldened and condoned by the president ― gathered for hours to participate in the shared delusion that their guy hadn’t really lost the White House. They arrived around noon, immediately attempting to disrupt a permitted protest organized by pro-democracy progressives who had just heard the news that their preferred candidate, Democrat Joe Biden, had won Pennsylvania and was therefore the new president-elect. They’re dancing on the PA capitol steps in Harrisburg pic.twitter.com/nQZH4a5y8o— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) November 7, 2020 As the Biden supporters danced on the steps, the MAGA crowd yelled “Stop the steal!” — a common chant at right-wing rallies across the country this week, part of a coordinated campaign to falsely allege Biden was winning because of widespread voter fraud. As I approached the dueling demonstrations, I was immediately accosted by Jonathan Lee Riches, a notorious troll. He wore a red MAGA hat and a T-shirt emblazoned with symbols of the Proud Boys, a violent neo-fascist street gang. He repeated the white nationalist slogan “It’s OK to be white” as he started to film me, demanding that I denounce “antifa.” Police eventually told the MAGA crowd that it needed to move its demonstration to the other side of the building. The protesters obliged, waving their MAGA flags and Thin Blue Line flags along the way. Once assembled there, Rep. Dan Mueser (R-Pa.), a Trump fan widely believed to be eyeing a run for governor, took hold of a megaphone and spoke to the crowd about how the results of the election were illegitimate. He was surrounded by fascists. To his left, a man waved a flag for the anti-Semitic white nationalist movement known as America First. To his right, a man clad in black held a sign that read “Standing Back And Standing By For Our President” — a reference to when Trump, asked at a debate to condemn the Proud Boys, instead told them to “stand back and stand by.” GOP Rep. Jim Mueser is talking to the MAGA crowd in Harrisburg while a guy waves a white nationalist America First flag to his left, and a guy on his right holds a “Standing Back and Standing By For My President” sign, a Proud Boys reference pic.twitter.com/FT6SpmQIUh— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) November 7, 2020 Far-right extremists have been a fixture of Trump rallies over the last four years, but it’s still hard to overstate how many were in Harrisburg on Saturday. The place was crawling with them. A man in sunglasses, who had a collared shirt tucked into his khakis, stood silently watching the MAGA rally. He held a mug in his right hand with the logo of America First, the white nationalist group whose founder marched in the deadly 2017 “Unite The Right” fascist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. When I asked him about the mug, and to identify himself, he looked back at me silently. Another man took hold of the megaphone before telling the crowd that it was time to “free Kyle” — a reference to the 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, a Trump supporter charged with shooting and killing two people at an anti-racism protest in Wisconsin in August. Armed militias were also in the city. They carried long guns and wore bulletproof vests. Some were members of a Pennsylvania chapter of the Three Percenters; others were followers of the militia-world influencer Daryl Stevens, aka “Angry Viking.” Stevens did an interview with Fox News, and told various people in the crowd that the Supreme Court would eventually deliver the presidency back to Trump and that “antifa and Black Lives Matter are both terrorist organizations.” The militiamen weren’t the only ones with guns. Multiple Trump supporters could be spotted carrying sidearms throughout the day. Spencer Platt via Getty Images An armed man at a protest in Harrisburg on Saturday. About 2,000 people gathered in the Pennsylvania state capital to show support for President Donald Trump after it was announced that he had lost the 2020 presidential election. Also in the crowd were believers in QAnon, a pro-Trump conspiracy movement based on online posts by an anonymous person known as “Q” who claims to be a senior government official with access to information about a globalist cabal of pedophiles waging war against the president. Many people wore QAnon pins or hats or T-shirts, and the crowd often broke into chants of “Joe Biden is a pedophile!” — a baseless accusation popular among the QAnon faithful. Despite many massive worldwide celebrations of Trump’s defeat Saturday, the demonstration in Harrisburg — along with similar pro-Trump rallies in Michigan and Minnesota and Oregon — offered sobering evidence that the fascist political movement the president has cultivated during his sole term in the White House is still hopelessly devoted to him, and that America will be dealing with the MAGAverse and all its delusions long after Biden is inaugurated in 74 days. Spencer Platt via Getty Images Trump supporters, QAnon believers and members of far-right militia groups gathered outside the Pennsylvania state Capitol, falsely claiming that Biden had won the election due to widespread voter fraud. After the sun set in Harrisburg, and as people began to leave the Capitol building, a man on Third Street sat in an RV papered over with some of the MAGA merchandise he sells at Trump rallies across the country: posters reading “Fire The Lockdown Liberal” or featuring an illustration of Trump standing atop a tank holding a machine gun. The man, who refused to identify himself, told me that without Trump, America would fall into the hands of globalists who would turn it into a “third-world country.” When I asked him if he was worried about losing business if Biden took over in the White House, he gave a one-word answer: “Nope.” CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated Rep. Dan Meuser's first name as Jim. RELATED... The Scariest Days Of The Trump Presidency Could Be The Final 74 The Nation’s Capital Parties Following Donald Trump's Defeat Joe Biden Ran On Character. That's Not Going To Fix What's Broken With America. Download Calling all HuffPost superfans! Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost's next chapter Join HuffPost

"When she arrived, she looked very weak. Our daughter couldn't speak or get up. When we asked her what had happened, she couldn't answer," she added.

Placed her company in a trust run by family members when she became an adviser to the president in 2017, and continued to receive a share of the profits.Investigated by the FBI in 2018, according to CNN, for a business deal in Vancouver. Shut down her fashion brand in July 2018, following intense criticism about how she was profiting from her father’s presidency.Met with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer with connections to the Kremlin, in New York’s Trump Tower in June 2016. Emails between Don Jr. and another meeting participant suggested that Veselnitskaya had potentially damaging information about Hillary Clinton. (Mueller investigated the meeting, but found insufficient evidence to support a criminal conspiracy.)Has promoted a great number of conspiracy theories, including one claiming that Joe Biden is a pedophile.Along with Bannon and Jared Kushner, was part of a reported 2019 criminal referral by the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee, for potentially misleading the committee during testimony. (All three have denied that they misled the committee.)Has tried (unsuccessfully) for three consecutive years to make cuts to the Special Olympics. Rescinded 72 documents outlining the rights of students with disabilities during her first year as secretary of education.Was sued, in 2017, by 18 states and the District of Columbia for delaying the implementation of regulations meant to protect college students who took out loans from predatory lenders. Ignored the ruling. Was held in contempt of court in 2019, and the Department of Education was ordered to pay a fine of $100,000. “At best it is gross negligence, at worst it’s an intentional flouting of my order,” the presiding federal judge said.Until March of this year, owned a stake in Cadre, a real-estate investment firm that sought to benefit from large tax breaks by investing in Opportunity Zone projects, a program that Kushner (along with his wife, Ivanka Trump) had pushed for. Failed to include Cadre in his initial 2017 financial-disclosure form, submitted just after his appointment as a senior adviser to the president. Also omitted dozens of contacts with foreign leaders and officials, including Russians, from his security-clearance forms.Initially received limited security clearance because of the previously unreported contacts with foreign officials and concerns about ties between his family’s real-estate business and foreign governments—before his father-in-law ordered that he be granted full clearance. (Kushner’s legal team said that his clearance “was handled in the regular process with no pressure from anyone.”)As White House press secretary, compared Trump’s June appearance at St. John’s Church amid Black Lives Matter protests to Winston Churchill’s survey of World War II damage. When asked whether Trump would accept the 2020 election result if he lost, said the president will “see what happens and make a determination in the aftermath.”Failed to include $95 million of his assets on Senate Finance Committee disclosure forms during his confirmation as Treasury secretary, along with his role as the director of an investment fund located in a tax haven.A leaked memo from the California attorney general’s office suggested that OneWest Bank repeatedly broke California’s foreclosure laws while Mnuchin was its CEO and chairman from 2009 to 2015. The memo identified more than 1,000 violations.Was found last year by the Office of Government Ethics to be out of compliance with federal ethics rules regarding conflicts of interest.

SEATTLE — After intense lobbying by local businesses and a bold threat by Amazon to curtail development in its hometown, the Seattle City Council on Monday approved a smaller and more limited tax on big companies than originally envisioned.The new tax — dubbed the “Amazon Tax” by locals — will fund affordable housing and homeless services in a city whose economic boom, driven in no small part by Amazon, has priced many residents out of the area and forced some onto the streets.Amazon, which halted two major expansion projects in Seattle in protest over the larger tax increase, said it was disappointed even with the smaller tax package, although the company said it would restart the planning process for one of its new buildings. It was still exploring the possibility of subleasing a second building that a developer is currently building.The council had originally considered an annual “head” tax of $500 per full-time employee for Amazon and other large employers, but the amended measure that passed reduced that figure to $275. Instead of the $75 million a year the tax was originally expected to raise, it will bring in less than $50 million. The council also included a sunset provision that would require the tax to be reauthorized in five years.ImageThe new tax — dubbed the “Amazon tax” by locals — will fund affordable housing and homeless services.Credit...Kyle Johnson for The New York TimesThe compromise failed to defuse tensions between Amazon and the city it has called home for the last 24 years.Even though the company decided to resume one of its building projects, Drew Herdener, an Amazon vice president, said in a statement, “We remain very apprehensive about the future created by the council’s hostile approach and rhetoric toward larger businesses, which forces us to question our growth here.”But the company’s tactics in Seattle has also garnered concern among other cities bidding to bring Amazon’s second headquarters to town.Twenty finalist locations across North America have been aggressively wooing Amazon to win up to 50,000 high-paying jobs that its second headquarters would bring. In some of those places, there is opposition growing over the tax incentives that some city and state governments have agreed to give Amazon in return for being selected. And Amazon’s hardball politics in Seattle has further soured some local leaders.“I absolutely find it unacceptable to see politically threatening behavior as is occurring there,” said Robin Kniech, a member of the City Council in Denver, one of the finalists for Amazon’s second headquarters. “It certainly doesn’t send a message that you expect to be a part of the community.”Ms. Kniech was one of more than 50 local lawmakers in the United States who sent an open letter to Seattle leaders and residents on Monday supporting the tax and criticizing Amazon’s resistance to it.“By threatening Seattle over this tax, Amazon is sending a message to all of our cities: we play by our own rules,” the letter said.The unanimous vote in favor of the amended tax proposal occurred at a raucous public meeting at which advocates for the homeless and affordable housing — some holding placards saying “Tax Amazon” — argued in favor of a stiffer tax on the company and other businesses. Representatives of businesses warned that the tax would drive employers out of town, while others speakers questioned whether Seattle’s city government could be trusted to spend the additional tax revenue wisely.Mr. Hederner, the Amazon vice president, said sharp increases in the city of Seattle’s revenues have outpaced the population growth of the city during the same period. “The city does not have a revenue problem — it has a spending efficiency problem,” he said. “We are highly uncertain whether the City Council’s anti-business positions or its spending inefficiency will change for the better.”The lower tax was the result of feverish negotiations over the weekend between members of the City Council and Seattle’s mayor, Jenny Durkan, who had opposed the council’s earlier tax proposal. The mayor had publicly hinted that she would veto the original tax proposal because of the risks she said it posed to the local economy.Several members of the nine-person City Council said they were reluctantly voting in favor of the smaller tax because there were not enough votes to override a mayoral veto of the larger tax plan.

The New York attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, has filed a lawsuit against disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein, his brother, Bob Weinstein, and their film production company alleging serious violations of civil rights, human rights and state business laws.The lawsuit, which was filed on Sunday with the New York County supreme court, alleges that the Weinsteins created “a years-long gender-based hostile work environment, a pattern of quid pro quo sexual harassment and routine misuse of corporate resources for unlawful ends that extended from in or about 2005 through at least in or about October 2017”.The complaint comes after four months of investigation and as the company seemed to be nearing a $500m sale to a group led by Maria Contreras-Sweet, who led the Small Business Administration for Barack Obama.Harvey Weinstein faces sexual misconduct investigations in four separate jurisdictions in the wake of the avalanche of sexual misconduct accusations against him in the last few months, which he denies.The 39-page suit alleges that unlawful conduct took two primary forms.First, it holds that as co-CEO of the Weinstein Company, Harvey Weinstein “repeatedly and persistently sexually harassed female employees at TWC by personally creating a hostile work environment that pervaded the workplace and by demanding that women engage in sexual or demeaning conduct as a quid pro quo for continued employment or career advancement”.Second, it says Harvey Weinstein repeatedly and persistently used his position, female employees and the resources at his disposal as a co-CEO to serve his interests in seeking sexual contact with women seeking employment at the company.“The Weinstein Company repeatedly broke New York law by failing to protect its employees from pervasive sexual harassment, intimidation, and discrimination,” said Schneiderman in a statement.He added that any sale of the company “must ensure that victims will be compensated, employees will be protected going forward and that neither perpetrators nor enablers will be unjustly enriched”.Among the specific allegations against Harvey Weinstein, who is currently undergoing rehabilitation in Arizona, is the allegation he threatened employees with violence, touted his connections to powerful political figures and asserted that he had contacts within the Secret Service “that could take care of problems”.New York prosecutors also allege that, at Weinstein’s direction, the company employed one group of female employees whose primary job it was to accompany Weinstein to events and to facilitate sexual conquests. The entourage was known to witnesses as Weinstein’s “wing women”. Some members were flown in from London to New York to teach assistants how to dress and smell more attractive to the executive.A second group of assistants, the complaint alleges, “were compelled to take various steps to further Harvey Weinstein’s regular sexual activity, including by contacting ‘Friends of Harvey’ and other prospective sexual partners via text message or phone at his direction and maintaining space on his calendar for sexual activity”.A third group was allegedly forced to facilitate Weinstein’s sexual conquests, and to follow through on his promise of employment opportunities to women who met with Weinstein’s favor. This compelled service “demeaned and humiliated them, contributing to the hostile work environment”, the complaint says.One employee told the company HR department that “only female executives are put in these positions with actresses with whom Weinstein has a ‘personal friendship’, which to my understanding means he has either had or wants to have sexual relations with them”.In one instance in 2015, Weinstein allegedly requested that a female employee to go to his hotel room at the end of the day, either to set up his phone and devices for the next day or for another alleged work-related reason.But when she arrived Weinstein allegedly appeared naked under a bathrobe and asked the employee for a massage. When the employee said no, he cajoled, badgered and insisted until she relented and, against her wishes, submitted to massaging him out of fear of employment-based retaliation.On another occasion, Weinstein allegedly exposed himself to a female employee and made her take dictation from him while he leered at her, naked on his bed.Among other behavior, assistants were allegedly required to possess copies of a document known as the “bible”, an assistant-created guide to Weinstein’s likes and dislikes, and a list of his “friends” with directions for assistants on how to arrange his extensive and frequent “personals”, a code for sexual encounters.The suit alleges that Weinstein “frequently targeted vulnerable, aspiring models, actresses, and entertainers as sexual conquests, using access to the company and other industry opportunities that purportedly would be made available by his female executives, acting at his direction, as a bargaining chip in return for sexual favors”.Weinstein, it alleges, used female executives’ participation in these meetings to lend an “official” air to his encounters. But female executives at the company quickly came to understand that some of the meetings that they were required to attend were not for legitimate business purposes.On occasion, the employees were allegedly instructed to discuss with the women career opportunities or a “career trajectory” they “knew were not appropriate for the women, eg English-speaking roles with women who did not speak fluent English”.The suit goes on to claim that the company and Weinstein’s brother, Robert “Bob” Weinstein, co-owner and co-CEO of the Weinstein Company, are liable “because they were aware of and acquiesced in repeated and persistent unlawful conduct by failing to investigate or stop it”.Benjamin Brafman, Harvey Weinstein’s defence attorney, said: “We believe that a fair investigation by Mr Schneiderman will demonstrate that many of the allegations against Harvey Weinstein are without merit.“While Mr Weinstein’s behavior was not without fault, there certainly was no criminality, and at the end of the inquiry it will be clear that Harvey Weinstein promoted more women to key executive positions than any other industry leader and there was zero discrimination at either Miramax or TWC.”He went on: “If the purpose of the inquiry is to encourage reform throughout the film industry, Mr Weinstein will embrace the investigation. If the purpose however is to scapegoat Mr Weinstein, he will vigorously defend himself.” Topics Harvey Weinstein New York Rape and sexual assault US crime Sexual harassment news

Days after his disastrous White House press briefing in which he admitted President Donald Trump was seeking out a quid pro quo with Ukraine before saying never mind, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney struggled to walk back his comments under the intense and relentless grilling of Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace.Almost immediately during the Sunday morning broadcast, Wallace pressed Mulvaney on his remarks, asking why he said during the press conference that military aid to Ukraine depended on investigating the actions of Democrats during the 2016 election, prompting Mulvaney to assert that he never actually said that.“Again, that’s not what I said, that's what people said I said,” he replied before saying there were “two reasons” why the United States would have held up aid: corruption and whether other European nations were helping with aid.Wallace, meanwhile, didn’t let Mulvaney’s spin go unchecked, telling the chief of staff that anyone listening to the briefing could “come to only one conclusion” before playing clips Mulvaney confirming that Trump withheld aid unless the Ukrainians investigated the Democrats.Mulvaney continued to insist that he had been misinterpreted and that aid was only contingent on corruption and additional European assistance, causing the Fox News anchor to fire back.“I hate to go through this but you said what you said,” Wallace stated. “And the fact is, after that exchange with [ABC News correspondent] Jonathan Karl, you were asked another time why the aid was held up. What was the condition for the aid? And you didn’t mention two conditions, you mentioned three conditions.”Wallace, once again, threw Mulvaney’s own remarks back in his face, playing yet another clip from the press briefing of Mulvaney claiming military aid to Ukraine was contingent upon them cooperating with the Trump administration and investigating the Democrats.The Trump aide, however, attempted to brush off his previous remarks by saying he didn’t actually use the words “quid pro quo,” prompting Wallace to point out that when Karl pressed him on whether or not there was a quid pro quo, Mulvaney said that “happens all the time.”The two would go back and forth over this issue for a few more minutes, with Wallace repeatedly cornering Mulvaney over his previous comments and the chief of staff flailing away and struggling to present even a laughable defense.At one point, Wallace asked Mulvaney whether he had offered his resignation to Trump in the wake of the blowback and criticism he received over the press briefing. Mulvaney said the topic was “absolutely not” discussed with the president, adding that he is “very happy working there.”CNN, meanwhile, reported Sunday that prior to the impeachment crisis that Trump finds himself currently embroiled in, there were internal efforts to push Mulvaney out as acting chief of staff. Those efforts subsided, however, when the push for impeachment heated up in the wake of the Ukraine scandal late last month.Besides the issues surrounding the Ukraine scandal and impeachment, Wallace also grilled Mulvaney on the president’s sudden reversal on next year’s G7 summit, which Mulvaney announced last week would be held at Trump’s personal property. Asked by Wallace why the president “caved” to the bipartisan backlash, Mulvaney said Trump was “honestly surprised at the level of pushback,” adding that the president “still considers himself to be in the hospitality business.”Wallace seized on the “hospitality business” comment and pressed Mulvaney if the president understood why it “looked lousy.” The acting chief of staff's retort: “I think he thinks people think it looks lousy.”

A parade of hardhat union workers and threats from hometown-behemoth Amazon did not stop Seattle leaders from passing on Monday a “head tax” meant to fund housing projects and homeless services.A watered-down version of the tax, which will charge the city’s largest employees $275 per worker annually, is now expected to be enacted by Seattle’s mayor, Jenny Durkan. The tax is projected to generate about $48m a year to address a housing crisis spurred on by Amazon’s rapid growth.A broader tax proposal prompted the tech company to halt construction on one Seattle office tower and put off a lease of another tower. Union construction workers marched on city call to protest the tax, which also drew opposition from business interests.Socialists and self-styled members of the “Seattle silent majority” squared off prior to Monday’s vote. Neither side supported the compromise, and most speakers blamed city leaders for an escalating homelessness crisis that has seen city sidewalks, parks and roadsides packed with tents and shacks.About 60% of the tax revenue will go to new housing projects for low and middle-income Seattle residents. The remainder would go to homeless services, including shelter beds, camps and overnight parking.On Friday, city council members approved a proposal to charge the large employers in the city $500-per-employee. Following a veto threat from Durkan, the council decreased the total charge and included a five-year sunset provision over objections of supporters of the original legislation.“Do not capitulate to [Amazon CEO Jeff] Bezos’ bullying,” Emily McArthur, an organizer with Socialist Alternative, demanded of the council. “Tax Amazon. Be leaders.”Amazon has driven Seattle’s economy in recent years, drawing thousands of well-paid workers to the region. The “Bezos Boom” has proved a mixed blessing, though, as middle-income residents have been priced out of Seattle. The city council president, Bruce Harrell, spoke to a growing “fear of what this city is becoming”.The move by Amazon to create HQ2 – a second headquarters elsewhere – has stoked fears that Seattle’s liberal politics will turn off the company. Threats from Amazon that it will halt growth in Seattle in favor of other offices lend credence to those concerns. In a statement issued Monday, Vice President Drew Herdener said the company would resume construction on the downtown tower but was considering whether Seattle is the place for it to grow.“We remain very apprehensive about the future created by the council’s hostile approach and rhetoric toward larger businesses, which forces us to question our growth here,” Herdener said.Marilyn Strickland, president and CEO of the Seattle Metro Chamber, voiced business leaders’ opposition to the tax.“Taxing jobs will not fix our region’s housing and homelessness problems,” said Strickland, who went on to praise Durkan for her role in the compromise.For her part, Durkan said the limited tax would “address our homelessness crisis without jeopardizing critical jobs.”The tax passed by a veto-proof unanimous vote. As it passed, socialists pushing for a larger tax broke out in a chant: “We’ll be back for more! We’ll be back for more!” Topics Seattle Washington state Amazon Housing US politics news

After repeated denials by the administration -- including by the president himself -- Mulvaney did not dispute to ABC News' Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl that there was a quid pro quo in the Ukraine affair. He has since walked back the comments he made on Thursday during a White House briefing, writing in a statement that the press has "decided to misconstrue" his earlier comments.When Stephanopoulos asked Pompeo on Sunday if it would be appropriate to put conditions on aid to Ukraine, Pompeo said he would not comment on a hypothetical."The chief of staff said it did," Stephanopoulos said."George, it -- you asked me if this happened," Pompeo said after a pause. "It's a hypothetical. I have told you what I observed, what I saw, the process related to this very funding."Pompeo also would not comment Sunday on the role in Ukraine policy of Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, including his potential conflicts of interest, citing his policy of not commenting on internal deliberations in the administration."But -- but this was different," Stephanopoulos pressed. "This was not a member of the administration. This is the president's personal lawyer, who was pursuing this as -- at the president's direction and -- and going around the normal State Department procedures.""George, private citizens often are part of executing American foreign policy," Pompeo said, referring to past envoys such as former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson who worked overseas on behalf of Democratic administrations. "You know that."He also said that he did not review Giuliani's dossier of materials from Ukraine, instead passing it on to the appropriate people within the State Department.Separately, Pompeo said he would not comment on the circumstances around former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch's removal, but noted that she was only withdrawn from her post a few weeks early and still works at the State Department."Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president, and when a president loses confidence in an ambassador -- it's not in that ambassador, the State Department or America's best interest for them to continue to stay in their post," he said.When Pompeo was asked about his former senior adviser Michael McKinley 's testimony on Wednesday, that he left the State Department over her removal, the secretary of state said, "I never heard him say a single thing about his concerns with respect to the decision that was made … not once."When Stephanopoulos asked Pompeo about the testimony of several State Department officials, Pompeo said it wouldn't be appropriate to comment on personnel decisions."George, in good time all of the facts surrounding each of these incidents will become clear. But it's not appropriate for me to comment on all of the things that happen inside of personnel decisions -- none -- none of our foreign service officers would welcome the secretary of state talking about why someone stayed, why someone was removed, why someone was transferred. It wouldn’t be appropriate," he said.Pompeo did disagree with Mulvaney's commenting that State Department officials who have testified as a part of the impeachment inquiry were doing so because they disagreed with the president's politics."Each of us has a solemn responsibility to defend the Constitution and to speak the truth," Pompeo said on "This Week." "I said this the other day, I hope those officers who go to Capitol Hill will speak truthfully, that they'll speak completely."He did, however, call Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff's investigation a "kangaroo court," and pushed back on information released from closed-door testimonies as "leaked reporting from Democrats."ABC News has reported on disgruntled career State Department employees, upset over the treatment of Yovanovitch and other perceived lack of support."We've done great things for these officers," Pompeo responded. "I see these stories about morale being low, I see things precisely the opposite. I see motivated officers."Last month, the secretary was subpoenaed as a part of the impeachment inquiry against Trump and he has accused Democrats of attempting to "bully" State Department officials. He was listening to the July call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy -- which is at the center of the complaint -- ABC News reported earlier this month.When asked Sunday if he would testify as a part of the inquiry if called to do so, Pompeo said "I've said all along, I'll do everything I'm required to do by law."