Month: March 2019

The West Virginia House of Delegates convened Wednesday with a record-setter in their midst — freshman Del. Caleb L. Hanna, who became the nation’s youngest black legislator when he was elected at age 19 in November 2018.

“I always knew that I was not satisfied with the leadership I was getting within my own house district,” Hanna told The Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview. “I told myself if I ever had my opportunity to take that, I would give it my shot.”

At first, his small Republican campaign was designed to push Democratic incumbent Dana Lynch to be “more proactive in the legislature,” Hanna told TheDCNF. But things shifted when Hanna realized he could win the Republican primary — even if he was running his campaign from his dorm room at West Virginia State University, where he studies economics.

Leading up to the general election, Hanna faced doubts about his age and experience, a shoestring budget and one instance of racist flyers he reported to law enforcement. But Hanna defeated Lynch by roughly 25 points in West Virginia’s House of Delegates District 44 in November.

Making It To Charleston

Now Hanna is in the state capital Charleston as a member of the majority party in the House of Delegates. He said he’s ready to get to work on the economic issues that motivated West Virginia voters in 2018 as well as to stand for his principles, which he sums up as “God, guns and babies.”

Gun rights is one of the first issues Hanna wants to dive into as a legislator by cosponsoring a campus carry bill. It’s an issue that has attracted the attention of party leadership in the House of Delegates, reported West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

“The Constitution clearly lays out our constitutional right to keep and bear arms, not just in our homes but also in our places of work in our places of study,” Hanna told TheDCNF. “I live in my college dorm while I’m at the legislature. … I consider that to be my home. I feel like I should have the right to protect myself in my home.”

Help Along The Way

Learning the ropes of being a lawmaker hasn’t been easy, but Hanna said his colleagues, including those in leadership, are always ready to answer his questions.

“Not far from my office is Del. Ben Queen, who is only 23. He’s served a term here already, and he’s also a young member, so he kind of was in the same shoes as me. He was a great inspiration for me to learn from,” Hanna said.

Queen said he first met Hanna when the younger man was in high school. They were both fired up over the success of former West Virginia Del. Saira Blair, who upset a Republican incumbent in the primaries and became the youngest lawmaker in the U.S. at age 18 in 2014.

Hanna is eager to listen to others and learn about issues, which are qualities that make a young lawmaker successful, Queen told TheDCNF.

“Putting your name on the ballot is intimidating enough, let alone going through with a campaign,” Queen said of Hanna. “It’s really nice to have a seat at the table. I think that’s what young people are looking for here in West Virginia.”

Hanna’s district is rural and spread out. He recalls driving for hours to cover enough ground while door-knocking. At least 70 percent of voters in each of the four counties in Hanna’s district voted for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election, according to Politico.

“For them to elect a young African-American goes to show that I don’t think racial discrimination in Trump supporters is actually there,” he said.

Generation Z Enters The Political Arena

Hanna traces his interest in running for office to former President Barack Obama.

“It had nothing to do with policies,” Hanna told TheDCNF. “I was in third grade at the time, but I knew that that was something new. That wasn’t something normal, to have an African American hold the highest office in the United States. I kind of thought to myself in that moment, if he can do it, I can do it. That’s when I started following politics.”

Now Hanna is in the vanguard of Generation Z politicians. He chuckled at a comparison of himself and Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a millennial who became the youngest member of Congress at 29 in 2019. Before Ocasio-Cortez, Republican New York Rep. Elise Stefanik held the record for youngest woman elected to Congress.

“I’m not a huge fan of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s policies, the way that she goes about things, but I respect that she is a young person who set out to make a difference. I think you’re starting to see that throughout the country,” Hanna told TheDCNF. “We realize we have to stand up as Americans to do what’s best. That’s one thing I ran on in my campaign. We may be Republicans, and we may be Democrats, but we’re all West Virginians so we all have to come together.”

Hanna is wary of making a career out of politics, however. He envisions starting a family and doesn’t think that’s something he wants to do in the public eye.

“I didn’t come from a political family,” he told TheDCNF. “I’m living it one thing at a time.”

The civil rights group NAACP and the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) are adding to criticism of CBS News for not including a black journalist on its initial 2020 politics reporting team.

Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York drew attention to the supposed slight at the black community on Twitter Saturday after Ben Mitchell, an associate producer for CBS News, shared the outlet’s team for 2020 political coverage.

“CBS News’ decision to not include Black reporters on their 2020 Election news team further proves the voting power and voices of Black America continue to be undervalued,” the NAACP said in a statement. “As the voting bloc that will most certainly determine the direction of this country in the upcoming election, it is vital any and all media outlets have a diverse newsroom, including individuals of color in decision making positions to speak to and address the issues and concerns directly impacting the Black community.”

“It is unfortunate that we are still having these discussions about diversity and inclusion,” NABJ President Sarah Glover said in a statement. “In 2019 we’re still asking media organizations specifically, and society as a whole to do the right thing. CBS’s political team takes previously heralded steps back half a century.”

CBS has responded to the perceived scandal by promising to add more people to the team. The current group of a dozen reporters and editors is “an initial wave of what will be an outstanding and diverse group of journalists assigned to cover the 2020 election for CBS News,” CBS said in a statement, according to the NABJ.

CBS officials met with Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California over the issue. Waters said the media company has promised to place black reporters on its 2020 politics team, Newsweek reports.

Arizona Republican Rep. Martha McSally will be appointed to John McCain’s former Senate seat after Republican Sen. Jon Kyl announced he would resign from the U.S. Senate at the end of December.

Governor Doug Ducey, announced in a Tuesday statement that McSally will be taking the seat. This comes as McSally lost her Senate bid to Democratic Sen. Krysten Sinema in a tight Nov. 6 midterm race.

“All her life, Martha has put service first — leading in the toughest of fights and at the toughest of times,” Ducey said in his statement. “With her experience and long record of service, Martha is uniquely qualified to step up and fight for Arizona’s interests in the U.S. Senate. I thank her for taking on this significant responsibility and look forward to working with her and Senator-Elect Sinema to get positive things done.”

Kyl, who replaced Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain after his death, told The Arizona Republic that he will be leaving office on Dec. 31, when the legislative calendar ends. He said he agreed to finish working until the 115th Congress concluded, he also thanked Republican Gov. Doug Ducey for his appointment.

McCain’s wife, Cindy, tweeted out her support for McSally shortly after the news broke, saying “Arizonans will be pulling for her” and that she respected Ducey’s decision.

McSally said she was “humbled and grateful to have this opportunity to serve and be a voice for all Arizonans,” in a Tuesday statement. “I look forward to working with Senator-Elect Kyrsten Sinema and getting to work from day one,” she continued.

New York state lawmakers have approved a measure that aims to dole out millions in taxpayer-funded aid to illegal immigrants attending college.

The now-Democratic controlled New York State legislature on Wednesday passed the Dream Act, legislation that would make thousands of illegal immigrants eligible for financial aid to attend public colleges in the state. The bill, which has attracted praise from New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, would cost $27 million.

The measure is “a slap in the face for all the hardworking taxpayers who play the rules and struggle for the costs of a college education,” Republican state Sen. Daphne Jordan said of the bill. Jordan was joined by other Republican state legislators in criticism of the Dream Act, who argued it would unfairly take money away from legal residents who struggle to pay their college tuition.

The bill had been introduced in the New York legislature before, but Republican-control of the state Senate had prevented it from ever moving forward — until Democrats gained control of both chamber after the 2018 midterms.

“We do this as a symbol that you will be guaranteed an education and that the door to higher education is open to all children of New York State,” stated De La Rosa, sponsor of the bill and immigrant from the Dominican Republic.

While Cuomo has not yet signed the bill into law, but he has expressed support for tuition for undocumented immigrants and he has already included his own version in the state budget plan.

Passage of the Dream Act came one day after New York legislators passed a bill dramatically expanding access to abortion. The bill, which was promptly signed into law by Cuomo, allows women to have abortions after 24 weeks in situations where “there is an absence of fetal viability, or at any time when necessary to protect a patient’s life or health.”

New York Democrats say that have just begun.

Supporters of the Dream Act say they will also consider allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses and give them better housing protections. Cuomo has also expressed interest in forcing insurance companies to provide free contraceptive care.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s approval rating dropped to its lowest level Thursday amid a growing sense that the former banker is losing touch with France’s working-class citizens.

Macron’s approval rating slipped 4 percentage points in a month to 23 percent, according to an Elabe survey for Les Echos published Thursday. His approval rating is now lower than socialist predecessor Francois Hollande.

“There’s a battle being fought between Macron and public opinion,” Bernard Sananes, head of Elabe, told reporters at a local news outlet. Many of the respondents said Macron “doesn’t know the people and doesn’t understand them.”

Macron enacted a slew of new carbon taxes in January designed to wean consumers off fossil fuels and transfer France’s entire economy to electric cars. The price hikes triggered a wave of protest from demonstrators calling themselves the yellow vest movement. The government has since suspended the tax.

French riot police closed popular tourist areas Saturday and fired tear gas as they tried to quell the chaos in the streets. At least 110 people were injured while protesters associated with the grassroots-driven demonstrations clashed with authorities and vandalized the Arc de Triomphe.

Other polls suggest the French president’s numbers are hovering below 20 percent. A YouGov poll published Friday shows Macron’s approval rating is falling to 18 percent. It was conducted the day before Saturday’s riots, and surveyed 1,006 people across France.

The French government is going to extremes to prevent future protests this weekend. More than a dozen armored vehicles are expected to patrol Paris – which hasn’t happened in the capital city since World War II. There concerns are likely warranted, as the yellow vest movement is picking up steam.

The protests are gaining widespread support, especially among those in the rural areas of the country. Nearly 73 percent of the French approve the demonstrations, according to an Elabe poll conducted during the protests. Support is still divided between Macron’s urban supporters and small-town people who rely on cars.

• Former FBI Director James Comey continues to falsely claim that Republicans were the initial backers of Christopher Steele and his infamous dossier.
• In congressional interviews on Dec. 7 and Monday, Comey repeatedly claimed that Steele had Republican backers.
• In reality, Steele was hired in June 2016 by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was working at the time for the law firm for the DNC and Clinton campaign.

Former FBI Director James Comey falsely claimed throughout two recently congressional interviews that Republicans were the initial backers of the infamous Steele dossier, which alleges a vast conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian government to influence the 2016 election.

Comey claimed twice in an interview Monday with the House Judiciary and House Oversight Committees that Republicans initially commissioned the work of Christopher Steele, the former British spy behind the dossier. He made similar claims twice more in an interview with the same committees on Dec. 7.

“I remember being told that Steele’s work had been funded first by Republicans opposed to Trump, then by Democrats opposed to Trump,” Comey said at one point during Monday’s interview, according to a transcript of the session.

“It was Republicans opposed to Trump, and then it was Democrats opposed to Trump,” he said later in the same interview.

Comey, who was fired as FBI chief on May 9, 2017, made the same mistake in his interview earlier this month.

“I thought [Steele] was retained as part of a Republican-financed effort — retained by Republicans adverse to Mr. Trump during the primary season, and then his work was underwritten after that by Democrats opposed to Mr. Trump during 110 the general election season,” Comey said during his Dec. 7 interview.

Later, he said that he believed that it was important for investigators to understand that the dossier was “a politically motivated effort, first by Republicans, then by Democrats.”

It is clear from the transcripts of Comey’s interviews that he was unfamiliar with details of the dossier and how it was handled within the FBI. He was fuzzy on dates and said that he was not familiar with Fusion GPS, the firm the hired Steele, or Perkins Coie, the law firm that hired Fusion on behalf of the Clinton campaign and DNC.

Comey is not the only Trump opponent to falsely claim that Republicans were involved in the dossier. Democrats and many journalists have repeated the inaccurate claim. The source of confusion revolves around the timeline of Fusion GPS’s investigation into Trump.

The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website owned by Republican donor Paul Singer, paid Fusion GPS during the 2016 primary season to investigate Trump. But executives with the website and with Fusion GPS have said that they discontinued the Trump research effort after it became apparent that the real estate baron would win the GOP nomination.

“I think we started in September or October, and I think it wound down in April [2016], sometime in the spring,” Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson testified to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Nov. 14, 2017. “As the Republican primaries came to an end, it became obvious that that work was going to end.”

Fusion went looking for a new client soon after to continue its investigation of Trump. The firm found Perkins Coie.

With a new client funding its anti-Trump effort, Fusion GPS hired Steele in June 2016. Perkins Coie paid Fusion around $1 million through November 2016, and Fusion paid Steele around $170,000.

Steele, a former MI6 officer who worked in Russia before retiring, relied on intermediaries to obtain information about Trump and his campaign advisers.

Steele would go on to produce 17 memos dates from June 20, 2016, to Dec. 13, 2016. The FBI relied on his unverified memos to obtain four Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Republicans have accused the FBI and Comey of misleading the FISA Court by relying so heavily on the dossier, which was unverified when the FBI included information from it in FISA applications.

Republicans have also argued that the FBI should have told FISA judges that the Clinton campaign and DNC were the ultimate funders of the dossier.

Comey rejected that idea in his House interviews.

“Whether it was Sally Smith or Joe Jones, Republican, or Sally Smith, Democrat … to me, it didn’t matter,” Comey said in an exchange with North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, a Republican on the Oversight Committee.

The FBI did disclose in its FISA applications that Steele’s information was funded by a client that opposed Trump’s campaign.

Comey claimed that he believed it was important only that the FISA Court knew that “there was potential bias in this information.”

“That’s really important.”

After more than two years of investigation, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has not found evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government, the committee’s Republican chairman said in interview.

“If we write a report based upon the facts that we have, then we don’t have anything that would suggest there was collusion by the Trump campaign and Russia,” North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr told CBS News.

“If I can finish tomorrow, I would finish tomorrow,” said Burr, adding, “We know we’re getting to the bottom of the barrel because there’re not new questions that we’re searching for answers to.”

The Senate panel has conducted more than 200 witness interviews and reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents as part of an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The investigation, which has focused heavily on the collusion question, began in January 2017, alongside a parallel probe run out of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Republicans on the House committee released a report on April 27, 2018, that found no evidence of collusion. But that report was dismissed by Democrats, who have accused California Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House panel, of failing to conduct a full investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Burr has not been marred by the same sniping from Democrats. He and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the vice chairman of the committee, have largely operated in sync during the Senate probe. Burr noted in his CBS interview that he and Warner agreed early on that they would only take major investigative steps — subpoenas or witness interviews — only if both of them approved.

But unlike Burr, Warner has been a prominent presence in the media, appearing frequently for cable TV interviews to discuss Russia and the Trump campaign.

Burr has said in the past that he has not seen evidence of collusion involving the Trump campaign. In September, he told Fox News that the committee had not seen “hard evidence” of collusion. But his remarks to CBS are his strongest comments to date on the topic. They also indicate that the committee has not received any new evidence in recent months that would undercut that assessment.

They could also portend a partisan rift as Democrats face political pressure to prove that members of the Trump campaign conspired with Russian operatives.

Warner has not said that he has seen evidence of collusion, but he has touted various developments in the Russia probe as evidence of possible conspiracy with Russia.

Burr’s remarks come just as the House Intelligence panel is re-upping its own Russia investigation. California Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the committee, said Wednesday that the panel will begin exploring five areas of inquiry, including whether Trump associates colluded and whether foreign actors have leverage over President Trump or his associates.

“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett pleaded guilty for not only driving under the influence of alcohol, but also for driving without a license and giving law enforcement false information in 2007.

Smollett was sentenced to two years of probation, the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office confirmed with NBC News Tuesday. He also had to choose between jail time or paying a fine.

The case comes as Chicago Police Department (CPD) are seeking to meet with Smollett over an alleged attack.

Smollett claimed he was attacked, doused with an unknown chemical substance, had a rope tied around his neck and two men who yelled “This is MAGA (Make America Great Again) country” at him on Jan. 29.

There have been reports, however, that the attack was organized by Smollett and two brothers who were allegedly paid to help, according to CNN.

Smollett’s attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson released a statement Sunday saying such allegations were “nothing further from the truth.”

Here is the latest statement from the attorneys that Jussie Smollett has retained: pic.twitter.com/E6L8KytPgy

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Sources have said a potential motive for staging the attack was over a threat letter that did not receive enough attention, CBS 2 Chicago reported.

“When the letter didn’t get enough attention, he concocted the staged attack,” a source said to CBS 2 Chicago.

The alleged attack initially caused outrage among several celebrities and Democratic politicians, with some blaming President Donald Trump. Democrats like California Sen. Kamala Harris and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker kept their original statements on the issue while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi  deleted her original tweet.

Eric Schiffer of Reputation Management Consultants said to The Daily Caller News Foundation that Smollett’s career and reputation could end if the alleged attack turned out to be fake.

“Many people on the left will be privately devastated but most won’t apologize for false accusations and instead they will just move on to another controversy,” Schiffer said. “Politically those on the right may call for Smollett to be prosecuted as a hate crime for spewing an incitement of hatred against millions of MAGA members and white people.”

Smollett will need to “come clean” and “lay out the facts” in order to fix a damaged reputation, Schiffer added. But “his reputation for trust is going to take years to revitalize.”

James Comey claimed in an op-ed Thursday that he does not care one way or the other whether Special Counsel Robert Mueller finds evidence that President Trump conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 election or obstructed the FBI’s collusion probe.

But the claim, which Comey made in the New York Times, is at odds with the former FBI director’s testimony about his actions shortly after being fired by Trump in May 2017.

Comey testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee in June 2017 that he leaked memos that he wrote after conversations with Trump in order to force the appointment of a special counsel.

“I asked a friend of mine to share the content of a memo with the reporter, I didn’t do it myself for a variety of reasons, but I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel,” Comey testified on June 8, 2017.

Comey instructed his friend, Daniel Richman, to give The New York Times a memo that he wrote about a conversation he had with Trump on Feb. 14, 2017. Comey claimed that Trump asked him to shut down an investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Comey’s ploy worked, as Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel on May 17, 2017.

Though Comey clearly pushed for the special counsel’s probe, he now claims that he has no preference as to what Mueller will write in a report of the 22-month-long investigation.

“Even though I believe Mr. Trump is morally unfit to be president of the United States, I’m not rooting for Mr. Mueller to demonstrate that he is a criminal,” Comey wrote in his op-ed.

“I’m also not rooting for Mr. Mueller to ‘clear’ the president. I’m not rooting for anything at all, except that the special counsel be permitted to finish his work, charge whatever cases warrant charging and report on his work.”

Comey, who oversaw the FBI’s collusion investigation for more than nine months until his firing, said that he has “no idea” whether Mueller will conclude that Trump knowing colluded with Russia. He also does not know whether Trump obstructed justice.

“I also don’t care,” he says.

“I care only that the work be done, well and completely. If it is, justice will have prevailed and core American values been protected at a time when so much of our national leadership has abandoned its commitment to truth and the rule of law.”

Comey also said in the op-ed that he does not want to see Trump impeached. Instead, he said that he hopes Trump is voted out of office in 2020.

California Rep. Adam Schiff said Sunday that he is prepared to subpoena a report from the special counsel’s Russia investigation should the White House try to block its release.

“At the end of the day, this is just — this case is just too important to keep from the American people what it’s really about,” Schiff said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

CNN host Jake Tapper had asked Schiff, a Democrat, whether he would use his subpoena power when he takes over next month as chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to obtain the report, should the Trump administration attempt to block its release.

“I’m prepared to make sure we do everything possible so that the public has the advantage of as much of the information as it can,” Schiff said.

“That sounds like a yes,” said Tapper.

“Well, that pretty much is a yes, from my point of view,” Schiff replied, adding that “we ought to make sure this report is public.”

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly planning to send his report to the Justice Department as early as mid-February, NBC News reported on Friday.

The Justice Department, which is currently led by Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, would have the option of releasing parts of the report. The White House could exercise executive privilege to keep the document from being released to the public.

Mueller, who was appointed special counsel on May 17, 2017, has been investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to influence the election as well as whether Trump obstructed justice by firing James Comey as FBI director.

Mueller is expected to address both components of the investigation in his report, though it remains unclear whether he has found evidence of criminal wrongdoing on the part of Trump.

Schiff said Sunday that classified information and grand jury information will have to remain redacted in any report released to the public.

Schiff has been the top Democrat pushing the conspiracy theory that Trump associates colluded with Kremlin operatives to influence the election.

He claimed early on in the congressional investigation into the Trump campaign that he had seen “more than circumstantial evidence” of collusion between the Trump campaign and Kremlin. Schiff has failed to reveal that evidence when challenged by his Republican colleagues. Republicans on the House Intelligence panel released a report on April 27 asserting that the investigation found no evidence of collusion.