The Post It Note 6/26/18

News from the note…

A round up of the day’s news that might be of interest to you.

Consider this an OPEN THREAD,  folks. Chat about any of the stories listed, share links to stories that caught your eye today, and generally have a good time discussing whatever you want.

 

GOP flails ahead of immigration vote

From Politico

A last-minute effort to salvage a House GOP immigration bill appeared to flounder Tuesday, amid unyielding opposition from the far right.

Desperate to flip conservative votes, centrist House Republicans offered to add a controversial provision requiring the use of E-Verify, which mandates all companies certify the legal status of their workers.

But it doesn’t look like it will be enough.

“Without E-Verify in the bill, [some members] couldn’t get to ‘yes,’” said Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina, one Freedom Caucus member who pushed for the mandate’s addition.

 


17 states sue Trump administration over family separations

From AP

Seventeen states, including Washington, New York and California, sued President Donald Trump’s administration Tuesday in an effort to force officials to reunite migrant families who have been separated at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The states, all of which are led by Democratic attorneys general, joined Washington, D.C., in filing the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle. It’s the first legal challenge by states over the practice.

“The administration’s practice of separating families is cruel, plain and simple,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in an emailed statement. “Every day, it seems like the administration is issuing new, contradictory policies and relying on new, contradictory justifications. But we can’t forget: the lives of real people hang in the balance.”

Immigration authorities have separated about 2,300 children from their parents in recent weeks, sparking global outrage as images and recordings of weeping children emerged. Many parents are in custody thousands of miles from their children, whom they have not been able to see and have rarely spoken to for a month or more.

 


Trump calls Erdoğan to congratulate him on election win

From The Hill

President Trump called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday to congratulate him on his election victory last weekend, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Turkish voters delivered a decisive victory to Erdoğan on Sunday, extending his 15-year rule in the country and giving him sweeping new executive powers.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday said that a call was being set up between the two leaders to “reaffirm” the “strong bond” between the U.S. and Turkey.

 


Pompeo gives U.S. diplomats ‘dose of reality’ after early high hopes

From Politico

When Mike Pompeo took over as secretary of state in April, U.S. diplomats viewed him as a liberator rescuing them from the irrelevance they felt under his predecessor, Rex Tillerson.

Nearly two months later, some are having second thoughts.

Many employees at the department feel hoodwinked by Pompeo’s claim that he lifted a hiring freeze. Staffers are alarmed about reports that a political appointee is vetting career staffers for loyalty to President Donald Trump. And many fear that Pompeo won’t be able to fill vacant leadership slots quickly enough, or with the right people.

 


Schmidt: Trump’s ‘only affinity for reading anything were the Adolf Hitler speeches he kept on his nightstand’

From The Hill

GOP strategist Steve Schmidt said Tuesday that President Trump‘s “only affinity for reading anything were the Adolf Hitler speeches he kept on his nightstand” during an appearance on “Morning Joe.”

Schmidt, Sen. John McCain‘s (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign manager in 2008, also said Trump’s victory over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was a fluke.

“So in the 240th year of the independence of the United States, in three states by 78,000 votes, the American people by a fluke elected an imbecilic former reality TV show host and con man whose only affinity for reading anything were the Adolf Hitler speeches he kept on his night stand,” Schmidt told co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.

Schmidt, a regular on the show, has been prolific in making headlines with critical remarks about Trump.

 


Texas officials rage against ‘crazy’ Farenthold election

From Politico

Texas officials are fuming over the tab for the upcoming special election to replace former Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold.

The cost of the June 30 election to replace Farenthold, who resigned in April amid reports he had used $84,000 in taxpayer money to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit, is expected to be at least $157,000 in total — and many of the 13 largely rural counties holding the election say they can’t afford their share of the bill.

Worse, they argue, the special election is a pointless and needlessly costly exercise since the contest is likely to go to a September runoff — meaning the eventual winner will likely serve in Washington for less than 90 days.

“We’re all not happy,” said Wharton County Elections Administrator Cynthia Richter. “It is what it is, it’s just crazy.”

 


DOJ to Devin Nunes: We already ‘provided documents and answers to your inquiries’

From Washington Examiner

The Justice Department responded to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ latest deadline, telling him he already has the “documents and answers” he has been inquiring about.

“Your letter asks whether the Department and the FBI ‘intend to obey’ the law. We believe that is exactly what the Department and the FBI have been doing responding to the Committee’s subpoenas and requests,” wrote Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd in a Monday letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.

Nunes, R-Calif., wrote a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Sunday in which he slammed the DOJ’s Number 2 official for “unilaterally” restricting access to some subpoenaed documents to the “Gang of Eight,” a term used to describe a bipartisan group of congressional leaders briefed on information relating to the FBI’s use of a confidential informant in the Trump campaign.

 


Poll: Trump’s approval rating falls back to 41 percent

From The Hill

President Trump’s approval rating in Gallup polling has sunk to 41 percent, down from his personal best of 45 percent approval just a week ago.

Gallup survey released on Monday found that Trump’s job approval rating fell this week after a peak likely boosted from the historic June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

The 41 percent approval rating is slightly higher than his term-to-date average presidential approval rating of 39 percent.

The drop comes after a week of national outrage over his administration’s zero tolerance immigration policy that aggressively prosecutes anyone who illegally crosses the southern border.

 

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