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The Hill: Biden Saying He'll Give 2020 Run 'a Shot'

Former Vice President Joe Biden is saying he will give the 2020 presidential race "a shot," The Hill reported Tuesday.

Quoting an unnamed senior Democrat lawmaker, Biden tipped his hand in a "matter-of-factly" phone call within the past week, The Hill reported.

"I'm giving it a shot," he told the lawmaker.

In the brief phone call, Biden asked if he could bounce some campaign strategy ideas off the lawmaker and invited the lawmaker to sit down with him in the near future, The Hill reported.

Biden also sought the lawmaker's support, which was not given — and Biden responded there was no harm if they keep talking, The Hill reported.

The former VP did not share any details about when or where he planned to make his formal announcement, the lawmaker told The Hill.

Biden spokesman Bill Russo pushed back on the idea Biden's entry in the race is sure thing, telling The Hill: "He has not made a final decision. No change."

But Biden himself sounds pretty sure.

"I appreciate the energy you all showed when I got up here," Biden told the International Association of Fire Fighters' annual conference in Washington, D.C., which erupted in chants of "Run, Joe, run."

"Save it a little longer, I may need it in a few weeks. Be careful what you wish for."

According to The Hill, Senate and House sources said Biden has been reaching out to allies on Capitol Hill with increasing frequency in recent weeks. And Democrats said he has talked about how he could win in the primary, making the case that a growing Democratic field would work in his favor, and his blue-collar roots make him the strongest candidate to beat Trump.

"He's basically in. He's just running the traps, as he says," one source told The Hill.

Despite the swarm of senators already in the race — Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. — one unnamed Democrat senator told The Hill he is hoping Biden piles on.

"I love him," the senator told The Hill, "and think he's got a unique ability to connect with Americans in the Rust Belt who feel left behind by government."

Source: NewsMax America

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Business jet deliveries rise 3.8 percent in 2018: industry group

FILE PHOTO: An interior view of Bombardier's Global 7500, the first business jet to have a queen-sized bed and hot shower, is shown during a media tour in Montreal
FILE PHOTO: An interior view of Bombardier's Global 7500, the first business jet to have a queen-sized bed and hot shower, is shown during a media tour in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, December 19, 2018. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi/File Photo

February 20, 2019

(Reuters) – Business jet deliveries worldwide rose 3.8 percent on an annual basis to 703 planes in 2018, lifted by demand from North America and the introduction of new models, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) said on Wednesday.

Forecasters and corporate plane makers expect higher business jet deliveries in 2019, fueled by the recent entry into service of new aircraft like Bombardier’s Global 7500 and U.S. rival Gulfstream’s G500.

Demand for business jets has slowly rebounded following slumping sales after the 2009 global economic crisis.

Deliveries are a closely watched metric since that is the point when customers pay the bulk of the cost of a new plane.

General aviation aircraft deliveries rose across all segments in 2018 for the first time in five years, helped by demand for new models, GAMA said.

Global airplane deliveries increased to 2,443 planes in 2018, up 4.7 percent on an annual basis, according to data from Washington-based GAMA. Rotorcraft deliveries rose 5.4 percent to 976 aircraft.

“This is the first year since 2013 that we’ve seen all segments up in deliveries,” said GAMA President and Chief Executive Pete Bunce in a statement.

The “impacts” of a 35-day, partial U.S. government shutdown that ended on Jan. 25 are “still being felt and assessed,” GAMA said. The shutdown affected the certification program for Gulfstream’s new G600 corporate plane.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Tom Brown)

Source: OANN

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Democrats need to talk less about Russia if they want to win in 2020: former DNC chair Ed Rendell

Democrats now need to shift their focus away from Russia and the 2016 presidential election and spend more time “doing the business of the people” if they want to have a chance of defeating Trump in 2020, former DNC chairman Ed Rendell says.

The comments from the ex-governor of Pennsylvania on "America’s Newsroom" Monday come as his party is grappling with how to proceed following the release of a summary of findings from Robert Mueller’s investigation, which, Attorney General Bill Barr says, could not prove that Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 race.

“We have to get back to doing the business of the people,” Rendell said. “And that’s legislating on infrastructure, immigration, fixing the Affordable Care Act, things like that. That will be the key to whether we will be successful in 2020.”

Rendell added that it is important to note the summary released by Barr “did exonerate [Trump] on any evidence on collision, but it specifically said… it did not exonerate him on obstruction of justice.

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FILE - In this June 21, 2017, file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller departs after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this June 21, 2017, file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller departs after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

“That has to be looked at by people who are going to look at the report and decide what to do with it,” he added, further suggesting that “I wouldn’t if I were a Republican say that President Trump is out of the woods.

“This was just one of many, many different places that are investigating President Trump,” Rendell said.

But as for the Democratic Party, “we should continue to do investigations when appropriate but we should focus our attention now on legislating, on getting some things done,” Rendell believes.

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“The Democrats should not have made the statements that there was plenty of evidence of collusion,” he said. “There wasn’t – it was at the margins at best.

“Now we should put that behind us and focus on investigating other things that need investigation. But most important, our legislating,” he continued. “We need to pass out of the Democratic House an infrastructure bill to get people back to work to do something about the absolutely pathetic state of our infrastructure. Immigration, we should try to solve the immigration problem.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Residents in world’s most violent city are buying stolen US-Mexico border wire for protection, report says

Steel razor wire installed by American troops and Border Patrol officials to deter migrants from crossing into the country illegally from Mexico is now being stolen and sold to people looking to protect themselves in what is said to be the most dangerous city in the world.

Officials in Tijuana reported this week that around 15 to 20 people have been arrested there for allegedly removing concertina wire from the U.S.-Mexico border fence and setting it up around their own homes.

“The people arrested were mainly Mexican [citizens], and most were people who have been deported from the United States, and people who have problems with drug addiction and live mostly on the street,” Reynaldo González Mora, a Tijuana border official, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Tijuana’s secretary of public safety also said to the newspaper that thieves are taking the wire at night and then are pawning it off to residents who want to beef up their home security. The wire he added, is more distinctive than anything found in the city’s hardware stores.

HUNDREDS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RELEASED INTO US DUE TO OVERCROWDING AT DETENTION FACILITIES

Concertina wire -- named after the accordion-like instrument -- is outfitted with galvanized steel blades and can expand and contract, making it easy to transport. It’s been frequently used by militaries worldwide since the outbreak of World War I, according to the Associated Press.

Customs and Border Protection officials said in November last year that they were setting up the wire at the busy San Ysidro Port of Entry, near Tijuana, to “prepare for the potential arrival of thousands of people migrating in a caravan heading towards the border of the United States.”

President Trump at the time boasted about the wire, tweeting “This is what it really looks like - no climbers anymore under our Administration!”

Now, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports contractors were spotted Monday on the U.S. side of the fence near the San Ysidro Port of Entry re-installing some of the stolen wire.

Those who currently have the wire wrapped around homes and properties in Tijuana are being coy as to where they obtained it.

“I don’t actually live here in this house, so I have no idea how that wire got here,” one woman told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Tijuana made headlines days ago after being ranked as the most violent city in the world.

The Mexican nonprofit group Citizens’ Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice said it made that determination based on using the average number of homicides per 100,000 residents in 2018.

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Tijuana topped their list with 138 killings per 100,000 residents, averaging about seven per day.

The city is reported to be caught in the crossfire of a turf war amongst gangs for control of its domestic drug market.

Fox News’ Travis Fedschun contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Second Justin Fairfax accuser calls for public hearing into assault allegations

A woman who has accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of raping her while they were undergraduates at Duke University nearly two decades ago called Monday for the state's general assembly to hold a public hearing into her allegations and those of another woman against the Democrat.

Meredith Watson wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece that she was "frustrated by calls for an investigation rather than a public hearing" into the allegations brought against Fairfax by her and Vanessa Tyson.

"Such 'investigations' are secret proceedings, out of the public eye, leaving victims vulnerable to selective leaks and smears. And we all know how such investigations end: with 'inconclusive results,'" Watson wrote. "My privacy has already been violated, yet I am still willing to testify publicly under oath. Tyson has made the same offer. Our plea to the Virginia General Assembly to require the same of Fairfax has been met with inaction."

Watson has said that Fairfax raped her in 2000, but that she did not report it because of how Duke officials responded to her earlier claim that she was raped by basketball star Corey Maggette. An attorney for Watson has claimed that Fairfax was one of the people she told about the alleged assault by Maggette and that the future lieutenant governor "used this prior assault against Ms. Watson" when he allegedly raped her. The attorney, Nancy Erika Smith, claimed that Fairfax told Watson at a campus party after the alleged assault that "I knew that because of what happened to you last year, you’d be too afraid to say anything."

FACEBOOK MESSAGES SHOW SECOND FAIRFAX ACCUSER DETAILED RAPE ALLEGATIONS DURING 2017 RACE

Last week, Fox News obtained Facebook messages from Watson in which she commented on Fairfax's 2017 candidacy for Virginia lieutenant governor and told contacts about the alleged rape.

"I see you’ve been promoting Justin Fairfax on FB despite knowing he raped me, which is mind-blowing to me. Are you seriously voting for him today? #METOO,” she wrote to one contact on Election Day, 2017.

Tyson, an associate professor of politics at Scripps College in California, previously accused Fairfax of forcing her to perform oral sex on him during the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Fairfax, who was attending Columbia Law School, was working as a so-called "body man" for vice presidential nominee John Edwards.

Fairfax has said that the encounters with Watson and Tyson were consensual and suggested that both women's accusations are part of a political smear campaign to prevent him from succeeding Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam if he's forced to resign amid a racist photo scandal.

Watson wrote that she had refused to make her allegations "a partisan issue" or "a financial issue by suing for compensation. I have refused to make it a law-enforcement issue. Despite nearly 100 offers to be interviewed, I have refused to make my rape a media opportunity ... My motivation was never for personal gain. And what have I gained? I have endured relentless scrutiny of my personal life and an unending, bitter flood of hurtful misinformation trumpeted by the media."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"Despite every attempt to shame me, I am not ashamed," Watson concluded. "It is Justin Fairfax who should be ashamed. It is the Virginia legislature that should be ashamed. And it is the media that should be ashamed.

"If we as a society continue to allow women who report rape to be abused, disparaged and tormented a second time, then shame on us all."

Fox News' Brooke Singman, Matt Richardson, Garrett Tenney and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Australia works to repatriate terrorist’s 3 children

Australia's prime minister said on Friday his government was working with international aid workers to repatriate three orphaned Australian children of a convicted terrorist from a Syrian refugee camp.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia would only help the children of extremists — not adults — return from the war zones of Syria and Iraq.

"Where there are Australians who are caught up in this situation, particularly as innocent children, then we will do what I think Australians would expect us to do on their behalf," Morrison told reporters.

The government has previously refused to help Australians who have joined Islamic State fighters in the Middle East then changed their minds.

The three survivors of former Islamic State group fighter Khaled Sharrouf's five children who were brought by their mother Tara Nettleton to Syria in 2014 contacted their Sydney grandmother Karen Nettleton last month, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

The grandmother immediately traveled to the crowded al-Hawl refugee camp in northeast Syria where 17-year-old Zaynab, Hoda, 16, and Humzeh, 8, have been since they fled the Islamic State fighters' last stand in the Syrian village of Baghouz.

Zaynab is heavily pregnant and has her own two children with her, Ayesha, 3, and Fatima, 2. Both Zaynab and Hoda have shrapnel wounds, ABC reported.

Morrison said his government is working with the Red Cross to get the children out of Syria to a country with an Australian diplomatic post.

Once the children have been identified and their citizenships confirmed, they would be issued with travel documents to Australia, Morrison said.

Karen Nettleton was negotiating with Kurdish authorities who control the camp to get them out, ABC reported.

The grandmother said she feared that her eldest granddaughter and her unborn baby might not survive if she gives birth in the camp.

"They're just kids. They're Australian children. They're orphan children. They're my children. They're not going to be a risk to anyone," Nettleton told ABC.

The siblings' father in 2017 became the first dual national to be stripped of Australian citizenship for actions contrary to his allegiance to Australia.

Sydney-born Sharrouf slipped out of Australia in 2013 on his brother's passport because his own had been canceled because of a conviction for his part in a thwarted terrorist attack plot in Australia. He was left with Lebanese citizenship.

Sharrouf horrified the world in 2014 when he posted on social media a photograph of his young son clutching the severed head of a Syrian soldier.

Then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry described that image as "one of the most disturbing, stomach-turning, grotesque photographs ever displayed."

Sharrouf's wife died in Syria of medical complications a year after she arrived in Islamic State territory with their children.

Sharrouf and his two eldest sons Abdullah, 12, and Zarqawi, 11, were killed in an air strike near Raqqa, the Islamic State-group's stronghold in Syria, in August 2017, the ABC reported.

Source: Fox News World

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Pence to visit Nebraska to survey flood damage, Sanders announces

After a week of historic flooding featuring record-high river levels that killed at least three people in the Midwest, Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Nebraska Tuesday at the president's request, press secretary Sarah Sanders announced Monday.

Pence will be joined by Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds.

NEBRASKA FARMER WHO DIED TRYING TO RESCUE A STRANGER FROM FLOODWATERS IS HAILED AS A HERO

“Thank you to First Responders and many volunteers helping those affected!” Sanders added in a tweet announcing Pence's visit.

The Sarpy County Nebraska Sheriff's office said at least 500 homes have been destroyed in the floods so far, leaving hundreds of people displaced, The Weather Channel reported Sunday.

One of the two people killed was a 50-year-old Nebraska farmer who was trying to save a stranger trapped in flood waters. James Wilke, 50, drove his tractor onto a bridge in an attempt to save a stranded driver, but the bridge collapsed.

Eighty-year-old Betty Hamernik and a 55-year-old man have also been killed in the flooding, The Weather Channel reported. Two other men remain missing.

President Trump tweeted about the flooding last week.

“Just spoke w/ @GovRicketts,” he wrote. “The people of Nebraska & across the Midwest, especially the Farmers & Ranchers, are feeling the impacts from severe weather. The first responders & emergency response teams have done a great job dealing w/ record flooding, high winds, & road closures.”

The flooding has also displaced residents in nearby Iowa and Missouri.

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To help, donations can be made to the American Red Cross of Nebraska and Southwest Iowa.

Source: Fox News National

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FILE PHOTO: Naqvi Founder and Group Chief Executive of Abraaj Group attends the annual meeting of the WEF in Davos
FILE PHOTO: Arif Naqvi, Founder and Group Chief Executive of Abraaj Group attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Tom Arnold

LONDON (Reuters) – A London court case to extradite Arif Naqvi, founder of collapsed private equity firm Abraaj Group, to the United States on fraud charges was adjourned until May 24, a court official said on Friday.

Naqvi was remanded in custody until that date, the official said. A former managing partner of Dubai-based Abraaj, Sev Vettivetpillai, was released on conditional bail to appear again at Westminster Magistrates Court on June 12, the official said.

Under the U.S. charges, both men are accused of defrauding U.S. investors by inflating positions held by Abraaj in order to attract greater funds from them, causing them financial loss, the official said.

Vettivetpillai could not be reached for a comment.

Naqvi, in a statement released through a PR firm, has pleaded innocent.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Naqvi and his firm raised money for the Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund, collecting more than $100 million over three years from U.S.-based charitable organizations and other U.S. investors.

Naqvi and Vettivetpillai were arrested in Britain earlier this month. Another executive, Mustafa Abdel-Wadood was arrested at a New York hotel, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Griswold said at a hearing in Manhattan federal court on April 11.

Abdel-Wadood appeared at the Manhattan hearing and pleaded not guilty to securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy charges.

(Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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Former Vice President Joe Biden announces his 2020 candidacy
Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in this still image taken from a video released April 25, 2019. BIDEN CAMPAIGN HANDOUT via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

April 26, 2019

By James Oliphant

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, in his first interview as a Democratic presidential candidate, said on Friday that he does not believe he treated law professor Anita Hill badly during the 1991 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Biden had joined the burgeoning 2020 Democratic field a day earlier.

Biden’s conduct during those hearings, when he was chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, became a renewed subject of controversy after the New York Times reported that Biden had called Hill earlier this month in the run-up to his presidential bid and that Hill was dissatisfied with Biden’s expression of regret.

Appearing on ABC’s “The View,” Biden largely defended his actions as a senator almost 30 years ago, saying he believed Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment levied at Thomas and tried to derail his confirmation.

Activists have long been unhappy that Hill was questioned in graphic detail by the all-white, all-male committee chaired by Biden.

“I’m sorry she was treated the way she was treated,” Biden said, but later, he asserted, “I don’t think I treated her badly. … How do you stop people from asking inflammatory questions?”

“There were a lot of mistakes made across the board and for those I apologize,” he said.

Biden praised Hill as “remarkable” and said she is “one of the reasons we have the #MeToo movement.”

Asked why he had not reached out to Hill earlier, Biden said he had previously publicly stated he had regrets about her treatment and that he “didn’t want to quote invade her space.”

That seemed to be a reference to another controversy that looms over Biden’s presidential run: allegations by several women that he made them uncomfortable by touching them at political events.

Biden also addressed that criticism, saying he was now more “cognizant” about a woman’s “private space.” But he maintained that he had been “trying to bring solace.”

He suggested he was still trying to sort out the guidelines for his conduct going forward.

“I should be able to read better,” he said. “I have to be more careful.”

Pressed by the show’s panel for an apology to his accusers, Biden would not entirely capitulate.

“So, I invaded your space,” he replied. “I mean, I’m sorry this happened. But I’m not sorry in a sense that I think I did anything that was intentionally designed to do anything wrong or be inappropriate.”

Biden, 76, served as former President Barack Obama’s vice president for two terms. He is competing with 19 others for the Democratic presidential nomination and the chance to likely face President Donald Trump next year in the general election.

His first public event as a presidential candidate is scheduled for Monday in Pittsburgh.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of Tesla is seen in Taipei
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Tesla is seen in Taipei, Taiwan August 11, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Tesla Inc’s stock slumped over 4% on Friday to its lowest price in two years, rounding out a rough week that included worse-than-expected quarterly results and a pitch by Chief Executive Elon Musk on autonomous cars that failed to win over investors.

With investors betting Tesla will soon raise capital, the stock has fallen 13% for the week to its lowest level since January 2017, before the launch of the Model 3 sedan aimed at making the electric car maker profitable.

One positive development for Tesla: a U.S. District Court judge on Friday granted a request by Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission for a second extension to resolve a dispute over Musk’s use of Twitter.

On Wednesday, Tesla posted a worse-than-expected loss of $702 million for the March quarter. Musk said Tesla would return to profit in the third quarter and that there was “some merit” to raising capital.

Musk is still battling to convince investors that demand for the Model 3, the company’s first car aimed at the mass consumer market, is “insanely” high, and that it can be delivered efficiently to customers around the world.

Tesla ended its first quarter with $2.2 billion, down from $3.7 billion in the prior quarter, and the company is planning expansions including a Shanghai factory, an upcoming Model Y SUV, and other projects.

(GRAPHIC: Tesla’s cash – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DyJjX6)

On Monday, Musk hosted a self-driving event, where he predicted Tesla would have over a million autonomous vehicles by next year. Some analysts perceived the presentation as a way to deflect attention from questions about demand, margin pressure, increasing competition and even Musk’s ongoing battle with U.S. regulators.

Tesla’s stock has now fallen 29 percent in 2019 and the company’s market capitalization has declined to $41 billion from $63 billion in mid-December.

(GRAPHIC: Tesla’s declining market cap – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dwd62r)

Analysts now expect Tesla’s revenue to expand 19% in 2019, compared with 83% growth in 2018 and 68% growth in 2017, according to Refinitiv.

Following Tesla’s quarterly report, 12 analysts recommend selling the stock, while 11 recommend buying and eight are neutral. The median analyst price target is $275, up 16% from the stock’s current price of $236. Berenberg analyst Alexander Haissl has the most optimistic price target, at $500, while Cowen and Company’s Jeffrey Osborne has the lowest, at $160, according to Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said Friday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s rare public criticism of the Obama administration was a “soft” way of accusing the previous administration of covering up Russia’s attempts at hacking the 2016 presidential election.

While speaking Thursday in New York at the Public Servants Dinner of the Armenian Bar Association, Rosenstein said that the Obama administration “chose not to publicize the full story about Russian computer hackers and social media trolls and how they relate to Russia’s broader strategy to undermine America.”

During an appearance on “America’s Newsroom” Friday morning, Huckabee called the comments an “unusually candid moment for Rosenstein.”

“I thought it was a soft way of him saying there was a cover-up,” Huckabee said. “They knew the Russians were attempting to influence the election and attempting to hack the election but they didn’t fully disclose that to the American people and certainly didn’t disclose it to the Trump campaign.

SWALWELL NOT CERTAIN TRUMP ISN’T A ‘RUSSIAN ASSET’

“Instead they tried to set a trap for them. It failed. The Trump team did not take the bait. And that’s the one conclusion that we can certainly come away with from the $35 million worth of investigation,” Huckabee continued.

Next week, Attorney General William Barr will testify before Congress and is expected to answer questions about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of President Trump, which found that there was not adequate evidence to conclude that President Trump and his administration colluded with Russia, though the president could not be exonerated in terms of the possibility that he obstructed justice.

Barr will testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee next Wednesday and to the House Judiciary Committee the following day.

TRUMP ASSESSES 2020 DEMS; TAKES SWIPES AT BIDEN, SANDERS; DISMISSES HARRIS, O’ROURKE; SAYS HE’S ROOTING FOR BUTTIGIEG 

“It is going to be a theater, an absolute show,” Huckabee said of the hearings. “Just like the Kavanaugh hearings were and like everything else is in Congress. We ought to close the curtain on them and can’t come back until after the election. They aren’t doing their job anyway. We aren’t paying them because they’re doing a wonderful service to the country and spare us the hypocrisy of thinking they’re interested in getting to the bottom of the facts,” he continued.

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Ultimately, Huckabee argued, if Americans “took their partisan hats off,” they would see that President Trump was exonerated by the investigation.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Sri Lanka's former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake
Sri Lanka’s former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake, Sri Lanka April 12, 2019. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

April 26, 2019

By Sanjeev Miglani and Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s former wartime defense chief, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said on Friday he would run for president in elections this year and would stop the spread of Islamist extremism by rebuilding the intelligence service and surveilling citizens.

Gotabaya, as he is popularly known, is the younger brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the two led the country to a crushing defeat of separatist Tamil rebels a decade ago after a 26-year civil war.

More than 250 people were killed in bomb attacks on hotels and churches on Easter Sunday that the government has blamed on Islamist militants and that Islamic State has claimed responsibility for.

Gotabaya said the attacks could have been prevented if the island’s current government had not dismantled the intelligence network and extensive surveillance capabilities that he built up during the war and later on.

“Because the government was not prepared, that’s why you see a panic situation,” he said in an interview with Reuters.

Gotabaya said he would be a candidate “100 percent”, firming up months of speculation that he plans to run in the elections, which are due by December.

He was critical of the government’s response to the bombings. Since the attacks, the government has struggled to provide clear information about how they were staged, who was behind them and how serious the threat is from Islamic State to the country.

“Various people are blaming various people, not giving exactly the details as to what happened, even people expect the names, what organization did this, and how they came up to this level, that explanation was not given,” he said.

On Friday, President Maithripala Sirisena said the government led by premier Ranil Wickremesinghe should take responsibility for the attacks and that prior information warning of attacks was not shared with him.

Wickremesinghe said earlier he was not advised about warnings that came from India’s spy service either, presenting a picture of a government still in disarray since the two leaders fell out last October.

Gotabaya is facing lawsuits in the United States, where he is a dual citizen, over his role in the war and afterwards.

The South Africa-based International Truth and Justice Project, in partnership with U.S. law firm Hausfeld, filed a civil case in California this month against Gotabaya on behalf of a Tamil torture survivor.

In a separate case, Ahimsa Wickrematunga, the daughter of murdered investigative editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, filed a complaint for damages in the same U.S. District Court in California for allegedly instigating and authorizing the extrajudicial killing of her father.

Gotabaya said the cases were baseless and only a “little distraction” as he prepared for the election campaign. He said he had asked U.S. authorities to renounce his citizenship and that process was nearly done, clearing the way for his candidature.

‘DISMANTLE THE NETWORKS’

He said that if he won, his immediate focus would to be tackle the threat from radical Islam and to rebuild the security set-up.

“It’s a serious problem, you have to go deep into the groups, dismantle the networks,” he said, adding he would give the military a mandate to collect intelligence from the ground and to mount surveillance of groups turning to extremism.

Gotabaya said that a military intelligence cell he had set up in 2011 of 5,000 people, some of them with Arabic language skills and that was tracking the bent towards extremist ideology some of the Islamist groups were taking in eastern Sri Lanka was disbanded by the current government.

“They did not give priority to national security, there was a mix-up. They were talking about ethnic reconciliation, then they were talking about human rights issues, they were talking about individual freedoms,” he said.

President Sirisena’s government sought to forge reconciliation with minority Tamils and close the wounds of the war and launched investigations into allegations of rights abuse and torture against military officers.

Officials said many of these secret intelligence cells were disbanded because they faced allegations of abuse, including torture and extra judicial killings.

Muslims make up nearly 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 22 million, which is predominantly Buddhist.

(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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