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Mornings on the Mall
Wednesday, March 29,2017
Hosts: Brian Wilson and Mary Walter
5am – A/B/C Trump signs order undoing Obama climate change policies
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order rolling back Obama-era rules aimed at curbing climate change.
The president said this would put an end to the “war on coal” and “job-killing regulations”.
The Energy Independence Executive Order suspends more than half a dozen measures enacted by his predecessor, and boosts fossil fuels.
Business groups have praised the Trump administration’s move but environmental campaigners have condemned it.
Outside the White House, a few hundred protesters gathered to vent their displeasure at the executive order.
Inside, the president was flanked by coal miners as he signed the order, saying: “My administration is putting an end to the war on coal.
Media captionUS President Trump said he would cancel “job-killing regulations”
“With today’s executive action I am taking historic steps to lift the restrictions on American energy, to reverse government intrusion and to cancel job-killing regulations.”
During the campaign, he vowed to pull the US out of the Paris climate dealagreed in December 2015.
President Trump takes a very different approach to the environment from Mr Obama. The former president argued that climate change was “real and cannot be ignored”.
Among the initiatives now rescinded is the Clean Power Plan, which required states to slash carbon emissions, to meet US commitments under the Paris accord.
Mr Trump says that the US will no longer wage war on coal
The regulation has been unpopular in Republican-run states, where it has been subject to legal challenges – especially from businesses that rely on burning oil, coal and gas.
Last year the Supreme Court temporarily halted the plan, while the challenges are heard.
The Trump administration says that scrapping the plan will put people to work and reduce America’s reliance on imported fuel.
It says the president will be “moving forward on energy production in the US”.
“The previous administration devalued workers with their policies. We can protect the environment while providing people with work.”
During the president’s maiden visit to the Environmental Protection Agency, he signed the Energy Independence Executive Order, which cuts EPA regulations in order to support Mr Trump’s plan of cutting the agency’s budget by a third.
He recently appointed climate change sceptic Scott Pruitt as its new head.
This order signed by President Trump is both a practical and a philosophical attempt to change the US narrative on climate change.
5am – D/E Mom says TSA agents at DFW Airport traumatized son with ‘horrifying’ security check
A mother who asked TSA agents at DFW International Airport for alternative screening for her son with special needs said they were “treated like dogs” and forced to miss a flight during an extensive security check, according to her Facebook post that has since gone viral.
But the Transportation Security Administration said in a prepared statement that it followed approved procedures to “resolve an alarm of the passenger’s laptop.”
Jennifer Williamson wrote Sunday morning that her son has a sensory processing disorder and that she asked agents to “screen him in other ways per TSA rules.”
An accompanying video shows a TSA agent patting down her son. The agent pats down his backside before moving to his front. She writes in the post they were kept for more than hour in the “horrifying” incident.
TSA disputed Williamson’s account, noting in its statement that the passengers were at the checkpoint for about 45 minutes, including the time it took to discuss screening procedures with the teen’s mother and the inspection of three carry-on items. The pat-down took about two minutes, according to the agency.
Williamson’s post had more than 26,000 shares by Monday afternoon.
“Let me make something else crystal clear,” she wrote. “He set off NO alarms. He physically did not alarm at all during screening, he passed through the detector just fine. He is still several hours later saying ‘I don’t know what I did. What did I do?’ I am livid.
“I wish I had taped the entire interchange because it was horrifying. We had two DFW police officers that were called and flanking him on each side. Somehow these power tripping TSA agents who are traumatizing children and doing whatever they feel like without any cause, need to be reined in.”
TSA said two police officers were called to mitigate the mother’s concerns.
“The video shows a male TSA officer explaining the procedure to the passenger, who fully cooperates,” the agency’s statement reads. “Afterward, the TSA officer was instructed by his supervisor, who was observing, to complete the final step of the screening process.”
6am – A/B/C Woman uses Tinder profile to scam gullible men out of money
More
Call it clever or cruel, but one 20-year-old college student has turned her online dating profile into a way to make a quick buck at the expense of gullible men.
Maggie Archer is a student at Missouri Western State University and she recently revealed on Twitter that she’s been making money by simply using her Tinder bio. Basically, any guy who matches with her on the dating app is encouraged to send her $5 on PayPal to “see what happens.” It’s an offer that more than one guy has taken her up on.
For those who are curious enough to see what $5 will buy them, they’re in for an unpleasant surprise. After the funds go through, Archer immediately unmatches with them on Tinder.
The money making scheme reportedly started as a joke. Archer’s friend apparently told her to use the $5 line in her Tinder bio. When it worked and she started making some money, Archer decided to stick with it.
Speaking to Buzzfeed News, Archer explained that “it’s really a foolproof plan because I’m not actually promising anything. I just say ‘see what happens.’”
She also revealed that on average about one in five men who ask her about the $5 offer actually send the money, with more than 20 sending money in the span of the week.
Screenshots on Archer’s Twitter account show her conversations on Tinder, as well as numerous deposits to her PayPal account.
“A surprising amount of men take the bait,” she explained.
And the scam has gained plenty of attention after going viral online, with some praising Archer’s ingenuity and others complaining that it comes off a bit mean-spirited.
“Some people are definitely upset about what I’m doing,” Archer told Buzzfeed. “Mostly men.”
But to be fair, it’s a little hard to feel bad for anyone naive enough to send $5 after reading a Tinder bio.
As the old saying goes, a fool and his money are soon parted.
Now it appears Archer will have to find another way to fill her bank account after Tinder caught wind of what’s been going on.
Bite Global, a communications agency that represents Tinder, contacted Yahoo Canada News to provide further clarification on the company’s stance regarding this matter. They emailed the following statement, attributable to a Tinder spokesperson:
“Requesting money from other Tinder users violates our terms of service. As a result, these users have been removed from Tinder.”
6am – D –INTERVIEW—Marc Morano – Climate Depot
Trump dramatically changes US approach to climate change
(CNN)President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order Tuesday at the Environmental Protection Agency, which officials said looks to curb the federal government’s enforcement of climate regulations by putting American jobs above addressing climate change.
The order represents a clear difference between how Trump and former President Barack Obama view the role the United States plays in combating climate change, and dramatically alters the government’s approach to rising sea levels and temperatures — two impacts of climate change.
Trump said during the signing that the order will “eliminate federal overreach” and “start a new era of production and job creation.”
“My action today is latest in steps to grow American jobs,” Trump added, saying his order is “ending the theft of prosperity.”
A White House official briefed on the plan said Monday the administration believes the government can both “serve the environment and increase energy independence at the same time” by urging the EPA for focus on what the administration believes is its core mission: Clean air and clean water.
More important than regulating climate change, the official said, is protecting American jobs.
“It is an issue that deserves attention,” the official said of climate change. “But I think the President has been very clear that he is not going to pursue climate change policies that put the US economy at risk. It is very simple.”
Tuesday’s order initiates a review of the Clean Power Plan, rescinds the moratorium on coal mining on US federal lands and urges federal agencies to “identify all regulations, all rules, all policies … that serve as obstacles and impediments to American energy independence,” the official said.
Specifically, the order rescinds at least six Obama-era executive orders aimed at curbing climate change and regulating carbon emissions, including Obama’s November 2013 executive order instructing the federal government to prepare for the impact of climate change and the September 2016 presidential memorandum that outlined the “growing threat to national security” that climate change poses.
“The previous administration devalued workers by their policies,” the official said. “We are saying we can do both. We can protect the environment and provide people with work.”
The White House official went on to argue that the best way to protect the environment is to have a strong economy, noting that countries like India and China do less to protect the environment.
“To the extent that the economy is strong and growing and you have prosperity, that is the best way to protect the environment,” the official said.
The executive order also represents the greatest fears climate change advocates had when Trump was elected in November 2016.
“These actions are an assault on American values and they endanger the health, safety and prosperity of every American,” Tom Steyer, the president of NexGen Climate, said in a statement. “Trump is deliberately destroying programs that create jobs and safeguards that protect our air and water, all for the sake of allowing corporate polluters to profit at our expense.”
Andrew Steer, CEO of the World Resources Institute, said that the executive order shows Trump is “failing a test of leadership to protect Americans’ health, the environment and economy.”
Some environmental advocates have already said they plan to take legal action against the Trump administration.
But as much as Democrats and climate advocates will decry it, Trump’s executive order follows the President’s past comments about climate change. Though Trump told The New York Times during the election that he has an “open mind” about confronting climate change, he also once called it a hoax.
“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive,” Trump tweeted in November 2012.
“I will also cancel all wasteful climate change spending from Obama/Clinton,” Trump said in October 2016.
On Tuesday, ahead of the signing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer declined to say whether Trump still believes climate change is a hoax.
“He does not believe … that there is a binary choice between job creation, economic growth and caring about the environment,” Spicer said. “That’s what we should be focusing on.”
The changes, the official said, do not mean the Trump administration will not look to protect the environment any longer, the official said, but when pressed about the human impact on climate change and Trump’s beliefs, the official was reluctant to say whether all government officials in the Trump White House believe humans cause climate change.
“I think there are plenty of rules on the books already. We will continue to enforce that provide for clean air and clean water. And that is what we are going to do,” the official said. “The President has been very clear that he wants the EPA to stick to that basic core mission that Congress set out for it.”
The changes also reflect the view of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who routinely sued the organization he now leads during his time as the Attorney General of Oklahoma. In an interview with CNBC earlier this month, Pruitt argued incorrectly that carbon dioxide isn’t the “primary contributor” to climate change, a comment that goes against most scientific research.
This executive order is also an attempt by the Trump administration to make good on its promise to bring more coal jobs back. The official said that Obama’s regulations “were not helpful” to the coal industry and these reversals are the President honoring “a pledge he made to the coal industry.”
“We are going to put our coal miners back to work,” Trump said at a March 2017 event in Kentucky. “They have not been treated well, but they’re going to be treated well now.”
He added: “The miners are coming back.”
On Tuesday at the EPA, Trump welcomed a group of miners that attended the signing and said the order was “putting an end to the war on coal.”
It is unclear whether Trump’s order will actually bring back coal jobs, in part, because of market forces like the rise of clean energy that are already putting pressure on the coal industry.
6am – E
Montgomery County Public Schools Reviewing Security of Schools After Rape of 14-Year-Old Girl
After the rape of a 14-year-old girl allegedly by two other students in a Rockville High School bathroom, Montgomery County Public Schools will review the security of all 25 of its high schools.
The review will include outside consultants and be completed in April, a district official said.
The school district official said he expects the review will check the positioning of security cameras, the quantity of blind spots in hallways and the positioning of teachers during class changes.
Montgomery County Public Schools is equipped with 5,000 security cameras in its buildings. The security review could recommend more cameras or additional security employees in schools, the district official said.
Top News: Britain Invokes Article 50 to Leave European Union
We’ll take a look at where they’re positioned and do we need to relocate some of them, angle them differently to provide us better visibility,” MCPS Chief Operating Officer Andrew Zuckerman. “And if there are areas that are blind spots for us, then we’ll want to add cameras in those spaces as well.”
The security review will also be conducted at middle and elementary schools and other school district buildings before the end of the school year in June. Rockville High School likely will be the first building reviewed, a district official said.
A review of the security of students participating in the in-school suspension program is also expected, the official said.
Montgomery County Public Schools has more than 200 school buildings and tens of thousands of students and employees.
6am – F
Single mom dressed as dad barred from father-daughter dance in Georgia
(ABC) – A single mother in Georgia said she was banned from attending her six-year-old girl’s elementary school father-daughter dance after she tried to go dressed up like a man.
Amy Peterson said her daughter, Gracie, was looking forward to having her mom play the role of her father, given that her dad is out of the picture, ABC affiliate WSB reported on Monday. But the school in Henry County, Georgia, forbade them from attending the annual dance.
“To me, I’ve identified myself as her father and her mother because that’s what I’ve done for six years,” Peterson told WSB. “She was okay with it. She was excited that her friends were going to get to see this.”
Peterson said she filed paperwork a month ahead of last Friday’s dance to let the school know that she would be attending.
But Peterson said she received a phone call from the school’s principal about an hour before the dance telling them not to come, according to WSB.
“She [the principal] said, ‘No. I forbid you to come and if you show up we will turn you away,'” Peterson said, recalling the conversation. “How do you explain that to a 6-year-old? You can’t go to a dance because you don’t have a male role model in your life?”
Peterson said she believes the school handled the situation poorly.
The Henry County school district defended its decision in a statement.
“The school is cognizant that different dynamics exist across households in our school system,” the statement read. “There are multiple parent engagement events and opportunities to participate with their kids annually at this school in an effort to make that connection and build school spirit.”
But Peterson said the policy makes children like Gracie feel left out and compared the school’s behavior to bullying.
“They’re already being bullied. Why be bullied by the school too?” Peterson said. “Why is she being punished because she doesn’t have a dad?”
7am – A Interview – Matthew Elliott – is the chief executive of the official pro-Brexit Vote Leave campaign, which led the way to the Brexit vote success
EU leaders will veto any attempt to make March 29 a ‘cut off date’ for free movement
EU leaders have risked putting themselves on a collision course with Theresa May by insisting that EU laws on free movement must apply in full until the day Britain leaves the European Union.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, and MEPs are reported to be troubled by the suggestion that the British government wants Wednesday to be the “cut-off date” for the free movement of people.
Concerns over EU citizens’ rights are understood to have been discussed at a meeting of MEPs and Mr Barnier on Monday night.
It is understood that one of the demands will rule out any “degradation” of the rights of EU nationals arriving in Britain during the next two years of talks.
Under existing rules, any EU national who comes to the UK and lives and works here for five years is eligible to apply for permanent resident status.
and London
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The Government has made no statement about when the cut-off date will be, other than to say that it will honour its EU obligations in full until Britain leaves the EU in 2019.
Ministers believe they have been generous in their interpretation of the rules, by allowing anyone who arrives before March 29 to qualify through the five-year rule, when they could have chosen to back-date the deadline to 2014 so that all five years had to come during the UK’s EU membership.
Whitehall sources have said it would be “absurd” for an EU citizen to be able to arrive the day before Brexit in March 2019 and still qualify for UK residency if they stay on for five years.
One source said it would be “highly unfortunate” if a clash over the cut-off date was allowed to sour the early stages of the negotiations if the EU negotiators adopt an “extreme” position on the issue.
But Gianni Pittella, the leader of the socialist bloc in the European Parliament, confirmed to the Guardian that MEPs would not accept any form of discrimination between European citizens.
He said: “We have heard that Theresa May is considering a cut-off date as the notification date. We completely disagree on this and we believe that the British citizens and those from the other 27 states are EU citizens until the day of the divorce.
“During this period the UK is a member state with full rights and obligations. It cannot be right that someone signing a work contract in the UK on Tuesday has more rights than someone signing a contract on Thursday.
“We will not allow Theresa May to deliver a hard Brexit for EU citizens. If we don’t insist on the rights of workers in the UK, then I am afraid the UK’s health service will collapse, given the number of EU nationals who are working as nurses. So there is a common interest here.”
A senior EU source told the paper: “The parliament will be tough but fair and seek to prioritise the rights of the citizens it represents.”
“The UK side could argue that any EU national who has not lived in the UK for five years when Brexit occurs would lose the right to win five-year residency,” said one source.
“That would effectively put the cut-off at March 2014, if Brexit was in March 2019.
“But if the cut-off date is set for Article 50 day – March 29, 2017, that means that anyone who came before that date would be eligible to stay for five years and win residency. That is a generous, reasonable offer.”
7am – B California’s state and local leaders strike a defiant tone on Sessions’ call to end ‘sanctuary cities’
State and local leaders in California struck a defiant tone Monday, saying they would continue to protect people in the country illegally despite an announcement by U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions that the U.S. Department of Justice would soon cut federal grants from so-called sanctuary cities.
During an appearance in the White House briefing room, Sessions repeated previous statements from the Trump administration decrying the danger of sanctuary cities, which limit cooperation between local and federal authorities on immigration enforcement. He did not offer new policies, and Justice Department officials said any new measures would be “weeks or months” in the future.
But in Sacramento the swiftest reaction came from state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), who is championing legislation that would effectively make California a sanctuary state by prohibiting state and local police from enforcing federal immigration laws. He called Sessions’ statements “nothing short of blackmail.”
“Instead of making us safer, the Trump administration is spreading fear and promoting race-based scapegoating,” De León said in a statement. “Their gun-to-the-head method to force resistant cities and counties to participate in Trump’s inhumane and counterproductive mass-deportation is unconstitutional and will fail.”
Through an executive order in January, President Trump first put cities and counties on notice that they would lose federal funding if they didn’t cooperate with immigration agents. The move has broad implications for California, a state that aggressively protects its immigrant population from deportation.
Sessions reiterated old policy during his appearance Monday. The administration of former President Obama issued instructions last July that required any cities applying for Justice Department grant programs to comply with a federal immigration law that requires local, state and federal agencies respond to requests from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Although many municipalities have policies that could qualify them as “sanctuary cities,” those policies do not necessarily mean they are violating the law.
Still, officials in sanctuary cities across California scrambled to touch base on Monday with attorneys to explore their legal options. For most cities, the move to declare themselves sanctuary jurisdictions largely serves as a message of political support for immigrants in the country illegally.
But some cities have adopted specific sanctuary policies, most notably San Francisco, which took steps to cut ties with federal immigration officials and refused to fully cooperate with them.
The city’s stance has come under criticism from Trump and was revisited Monday during Sessions’ briefing. The attorney general cited a high-profile case in San Francisco, where a 32-year-old woman was killed by man who had been previously deported multiple times despite a request by immigration authorities to continue his detention.
“Countless Americans would be alive today and countless loved ones would not be grieving today if these policies of sanctuary cities were ended,” Sessions said.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee could not be reached for comment, but he sent a tweet soon after Sessions’ announcement.
“#SF knows that #SanctuaryCities are safer, more productive, healthier places to live. We work for all our residents. #SFStandsAsOne,” he said.
Sessions’ comments also stirred opposition from leaders in California still calculating the fiscal impact of federal funding cuts on the state. And the move could further fuel tensions over a bill from De León that would prevent state and local law enforcement agencies from using resources to enforce federal immigration laws.
Law enforcement officials have said they are torn on whether the proposed state law, Senate Bill 54, would hinder public safety. But it has attracted a long list of supporters who say the state must ensure tax dollars are not used to assist mass deportations under the Trump administration.
The tension over immigration enforcement will take center stage in the state capital Tuesday night as Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, a former Republican candidate for Congress and staunch critic of illegal immigration, is scheduled to host a community forum with Thomas Homan, the acting ICE director.
On Monday, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom took to Twitter to rebuke Sessions, citing statistics showing that sanctuary cities have lower crime rates.
State Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra, a strong supporter of sanctuary cities, said Sessions is overstepping his authority.
“In California, we respect the Constitution and abide by federal law; we expect the federal government to do the same,” Becerra said in a statement. “The Trump administration should rethink its plan to force state and local governments to do the federal government’s bidding on immigration.”
Becerra said he wants to make sure violent criminals who are in the country illegally are removed from the streets, but said the federal government should not undermine local law enforcement by withholding money.
Last week, he filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Santa Clara County’s lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s threats to withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities and counties.
“I will continue to work with our federal law enforcement partners for the good and safety of all our people,” Becerra said. “But it’s a low blow to our brave men and women in uniform to threaten to withhold public safety funding that they have earned unless Donald Trump gets his way on immigration. We will fight to protect those policing resources, just as we will protect all the residents of our state against unconstitutional overreach by our federal government.”
Gov. Jerry Brown refrained from responding to Sessions’ comments Monday. But in an appearance Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” taped during Brown’s visit to Washington last week, he forcefully defended California’s acceptance of immigrants, including those who are in the U.S. illegally.
“Trump’s supposed to be Mr. Religious Fellow, and I thought we’ve got to treat ‘the least of these’ as we would treat the Lord,” said Brown, who trained to become a Jesuit priest in his youth. “So I hope he would reconnect with some of these conservative evangelicals, and they’ll tell him that these are human beings, they’re children of God. They should be treated that way.”
7am – C Massachusetts Sheriff: Arrest Leaders Of Sanctuary Cities
WASHINGTON (CBS) – A Massachusetts law enforcement official testifying before Congress on Tuesday called for leaders of sanctuary cities to be arrested.
Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson told the House Subcommittee on Illegal Immigration that sanctuary cities “have become magnets for illegal aliens, some of which have violent criminal records.”
“If these sanctuary cities are going to harbor and conceal criminal illegal aliens from ICE, which is in direct violation of Title 8 of the U.S. Code, federal arrest warrants should be issued for their elected officials,” Hodgson said. “Our citizens would be safer if we never stopped enforcing immigration law and if we never formed or turned a blind eye toward sanctuary cities.”
He also took aim at a Massachusetts legislator who passed along rumors of a planned ICE raid in Brockton on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Rep. Michelle DuBois, D-Brockton, warned her constituents in a Facebook post “if you are undocumented don’t go out on the street. If there is a knock on the door of your house and you don’t know who it is, don’t open the door.”
Hodgson called her actions “outrageous.”
“This is the most outrageous, outrageous example of what is going on across the United States that is undermining my job and every other law enforcement officer in the United States,” he said.
DuBois said the rumor of the ICE raid was wide-spread in Brockton. “Passing information along that is already all-over the community, not only lets the people I represent know what is happening, it lets ICE know that everyone in Brockton is aware of ICE’s planned raid (if there was one),” she said. “Having ICE know that this rumor is ramped allows them to change the date if they feel the public’s knowledge of the raid will bring them into danger.”
ICE said it does not release information regarding future operations and does not conduct random sweeps, checkpoints or raids.
“Any person who actively incites panic or fear of law enforcement is doing a disservice to the community, endangering public safety and the very people they claim to support and represent,” ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer said.
Sheriff Hodgson said there is no bigger threat to public safety than illegal immigration. He said his correctional officers have become de facto ICE agents and are able to perform all immigration-related actions.
Hodgson drew criticism from civil rights groups earlier this year when he joined an ICE screening group to identify inmates who may have entered the country illegally. He also made an offer to President Donald Trump to have inmates help build the proposed Mexican border wall.
On Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said sanctuary cities like Boston must end, and that those cities risk losing federal money. Democrats across the Commonwealth have pushed back and said they stand with sanctuary cities.
7am – D/E Trump signs order undoing Obama climate change policies
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order rolling back Obama-era rules aimed at curbing climate change.
The president said this would put an end to the “war on coal” and “job-killing regulations”.
The Energy Independence Executive Order suspends more than half a dozen measures enacted by his predecessor, and boosts fossil fuels.
Business groups have praised the Trump administration’s move but environmental campaigners have condemned it.
Outside the White House, a few hundred protesters gathered to vent their displeasure at the executive order.
Inside, the president was flanked by coal miners as he signed the order, saying: “My administration is putting an end to the war on coal.
Media captionUS President Trump said he would cancel “job-killing regulations”
“With today’s executive action I am taking historic steps to lift the restrictions on American energy, to reverse government intrusion and to cancel job-killing regulations.”
During the campaign, he vowed to pull the US out of the Paris climate dealagreed in December 2015.
President Trump takes a very different approach to the environment from Mr Obama. The former president argued that climate change was “real and cannot be ignored”.
Among the initiatives now rescinded is the Clean Power Plan, which required states to slash carbon emissions, to meet US commitments under the Paris accord.
Mr Trump says that the US will no longer wage war on coal
The regulation has been unpopular in Republican-run states, where it has been subject to legal challenges – especially from businesses that rely on burning oil, coal and gas.
Last year the Supreme Court temporarily halted the plan, while the challenges are heard.
The Trump administration says that scrapping the plan will put people to work and reduce America’s reliance on imported fuel.
It says the president will be “moving forward on energy production in the US”.
“The previous administration devalued workers with their policies. We can protect the environment while providing people with work.”
During the president’s maiden visit to the Environmental Protection Agency, he signed the Energy Independence Executive Order, which cuts EPA regulations in order to support Mr Trump’s plan of cutting the agency’s budget by a third.
He recently appointed climate change sceptic Scott Pruitt as its new head.
This order signed by President Trump is both a practical and a philosophical attempt to change the US narrative on climate change.
8am – A INTERVIEW — Doug McKelway
Younger Rockville High rape suspect also contends sexual contact was consensual
Attorneys for one of the two suspects accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in a bathroom stall at Rockville High School said the girl texted their client the day before the incident and agreed to have sex with him, according to court papers filed Monday.
The girl also texted “explicitly compromising images of herself” to him, the attorneys asserted in the court filing.
“This was a consensual act. It was preplanned,” said David Wooten, an attorney for Jose Montano, 17.
Wooten’s comments echo those made last week by an attorney for the other suspect in the case, Henry Sanchez Milian, 18. “All parties were willing participants,” that attorney, Andrew Jezic, said again Monday.
The court filing Monday, in which Wooten and defense attorney Maria Mena asked for a court hearing to have the terms of Montano’s bond reviewed, has the potential to add even more controversy to a case that already has been marked by it, owing to the suspects’ status as newly arrived illegal immigrants.
Many parents in Montgomery County have questioned what the school system knew about the teenagers before enrolling them at Rockville High. And the case has gained national attention in the debate on illegal immigration.
Even if there were such communications made between the girl and one of the suspects, the criminal case would hinge on whether the girl agreed at the time to have sex — in a bathroom stall, with two people — or whether she was attacked.
Capt. James Humphries, commander of the Montgomery Police Department’s Special Victims Investigation unit, which is handling the case, said he stands by the investigation’s findings.
“The events were horrible. They were not consensual,” he said.
Police Chief Tom Manger has described the attack as “brutal” and said he is confident that police have a strong case.
The police affidavits in the case, filed to obtain criminal charges against the suspects, both ninth-graders, describe several sexual assaults inside a boys’ bathroom during school hours the morning of March 16. The allegations in the affidavits were largely based on the girl’s statements to police.
The encounter started about 9 a.m., according the police, when Montano and the girl, who knew each other, began talking in a hallway. Montano asked the girl for sex, and she refused, prompting Montano to keep asking and to push her into the bathroom, the affidavits stated. The girl was pulled into a stall as she tried to resist by grabbing a sink, according to the affidavits.
Sanchez Milian then entered the stall, according to the affidavit, and the two young men took turns raping the girl as she cried out in pain and repeatedly told them to stop, according to the affidavits.
According to the affidavits, and to a prosecutor’s account in court, police obtained forensic evidence in the bathroom that seemed to confirm that sex activities had taken place.
Detectives spoke with both teenager, describing what they said in court papers that identified the girl as “Victim A.”
Montano “denied having any sexual contact with Victim A,” detectives wrote. “Montano stated they went into the bathroom to tell jokes.”
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Sanchez Milian “initially stated nothing happened,” detectives wrote. “Then changed his statement multiple times and admitted to having sex with the victim with his friend Montano.”
On March 17, the suspects appeared in court and were ordered held on no-bond status, based on the seriousness of the charges and their immigration history that made them extreme flight risks. Montano was charged as an adult.
On Monday, the attorneys for Montano asked for a hearing to have his bond conditions reviewed. They cited new evidence that has surfaced — the text messages allegedly sent by the girl to their client. The girl, they said, wrote about previous sexual activity with Montano and agreed to have sex with him “the next day, during P.E. class.”
“This new evidence completely changes the court’s bail review analysis, insofar as considering the nature and circumstances of the crime alleged,” the attorneys, Wooten and Mena, wrote. “The defendant appears to be actually innocent, and should be released forthwith.”
Mena said her client doesn’t understand why he has been charged with a crime: “He comes from a wonderful, hard-working family who supports him 100 percent.”
8am – B
Gorsuch path unclear; filibuster, nuclear option loom
Washington (CNN)Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Tuesday that Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed to the Supreme Court next Friday, confidently dismissing Democratic efforts to block the nominee knowing the GOP can use the “nuclear option” to get past the Democrats’ filibuster if needed.
But the exact math behind breaking a filibuster or changing the Senate rules did not yet appear to add up as of Tuesday evening.
Senior Democrats predicted their caucus will ban together to block Gorsuch on a key procedural vote expected next Thursday. And they held out hope that not all Republicans would back McConnell’s use of the nuclear option, a controversial rule change that would lower the threshold for overcoming a filibuster for Supreme Court nominees from 60 to 51 and allow them to confirm Gorsuch on a partly line vote.
“I don’t want to change the rules of the Senate, and I hope we’re not confronted with that choice,” said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, one of several GOP moderates Democrats think might vote against the nuclear option. In an interview with CNN, Collins stopped short of saying whether she would vote for the rule change.
But Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the GOP whip, predicted enough Republicans would vote together to approve the nuclear option.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that but if the Democrats force our hand, then we’ll be prepared to do what we need to do to confirm the judge,” Cornyn said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who actively whipped members of his caucus on the issue, said Gorsuch didn’t “impress” Democrats during his confirmation hearings and faces “an uphill climb” to get to 60 votes. Only a handful of Democrats appeared to be even contemplating advancing Gorsuch, although some Democrats thought the number might climb as the vote nears.
“I’m going to base my decision on him, input from Montanans, and what his opinions are,” said Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, who is under immense pressure from fellow lawmakers and outside interest groups. The second-term senator is running for re-election in a state President Donald Trump easily won in November.
Tester said he hoped the Republicans would not use the nuclear option because it would make the Senate more like the House — where majority party can rule without much input from the minority party — but insisted that issue would not weigh into his decision.
8am – C
Trump won’t throw first pitch on Nationals opening day
President Donald Trump will not throw the ceremonial first pitch at the Washington Nationals opening day Monday, the team told reporters Tuesday.
POLITICO Playbook reported Tuesday morning that Trump was in talks to throw the first pitch as the Nationals take on the Miami Marlins in Washington. But the White House said Trump has a “scheduling conflict” that makes him unavailable, the Washington Examiner reported.
Every president since William Howard Taft in 1910, with the exception of Jimmy Carter, has thrown out a first pitch on opening day at some point during their presidency. President Barack Obama threw the first pitch at Nationals Park on opening day 2010.
8am – D – Interview – DC Police Chief Peter Newsham
DC Mayor, Police Dept. reiterate District policy of not enforcing civil immigration laws
WASHINGTON – While announcing the arrest of a man suspected in the murder of a woman in D.C., Acting Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Newsham and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser held to their policy that the District would not enforce U.S. civil immigration laws.
Newsham, who announced the arrest of 28-year-old El Hadji Alpha Madiou Toure, a man suspected in the murder of Corrina Mehiel in a Northeast D.C. home last week, was asked about the suspect’s immigration status at Tuesday’s press conference.
“I think you know that the Metropolitan Police Department does not ask questions about immigration status,” he said.
“It’s a long-standing policy of the Metropolitan Police Department not to enforce civil immigration law,” Newsham continued. “We believe that the enforcement of civil immigration laws creates a divide between us and the community we serve and at the end of the day we believe that will make our community less safe. As the Chief of Police, I don’t think I should be involved in any behavior that makes our city less safe.”
Newsham said that in a discussion with the U.S. Attorney General, major city police chiefs collectively expressed their view that civil immigration enforcement is not the role of major police departments.
“The District – we are not responsible for civil immigration enforcement, like the Chief said,” Bowser stated. “Our job is to enforce the laws of the District of Columbia and we are not local I.C.E. officials.”
“We are not; however, a harbor for criminals – no matter where you’re from,” she added. “The police department will deal with criminals – violators of the law. They will be charged, they will be prosecuted, and they will be held.”
“I don’t think our policies are in violation,” Bowser said. “The Federal Government does not compel the District to do its job. And the Federal Government’s job is immigration enforcement.”
8am – E
Schumer loses cool with Trump supporter at swanky restaurant
Sen. Chuck Schumer caused a scene at a Manhattan restaurant when he began yelling at a wealthy and well-connected Donald Trump supporter that the POTUS is “a liar.”
Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, lost his cool on Sunday night at Upper East Side restaurant Sette Mezzo, according to witnesses.
He was dining with friends when he encountered Joseph A. Califano Jr. — the former US secretary of health, education and welfare under President Jimmy Carter and domestic policy adviser to President Lyndon B. Johnson — and his wife, Hilary, who were having a quiet dinner.
Onlookers said Schumer was incensed that Hilary — the daughter of William S. Paley, the founder and chairman of CBS — had voted for Trump, even though her husband, Joseph, is a well-known Democrat.
One witness said of the restaurant rant, “They are a highly respected couple, and Schumer made a scene, yelling, ‘She voted for Trump!’ The Califanos left the restaurant, but Schumer followed them outside.” On the sidewalk, Schumer carried on with his fantastical filibuster: “ ‘How could you vote for Trump? He’s a liar!’ He kept repeating, ‘He’s a liar!’ ”
Hilary confirmed the confrontation, telling Page Six, “Sen. Schumer was really rude . . . He’s our senator, and I don’t really like him. Yes, I voted for Trump. Schumer joined us outside and he told me Trump was a liar. I should have told him that Hillary Clinton was a liar, but I was so surprised I didn’t say anything.”
Joseph didn’t return calls for comment.
Another diner insists that Califano and his wife approached Sen. Schumer’s table. The diner said, “It was a pleasant conversation. Joe said the senator was doing a good job on health care. Joe joked that Hilary voted for Trump. The conversation continued outside because everyone left at the same time.”
A spokesman for Schumer said, “[He] and his wife ate at the café on Sunday, engaging in unremarkable conversation with patrons who approached their table. There were no heated exchanges with anyone.”
Schumer has been making a lot of noise about Trump. On Monday he called for the removal of Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) as chairman of House Intelligence Committee. He’s also said he and the Democrats will attempt to filibuster Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
