The deal to avert tariffs that President Trump announced with great fanfare on Friday night consists largely of actions that Mexico had already promised to take in prior discussions with the United States over the past several months, according to officials from both countries who are familiar with the negotiations.
Friday’s joint declaration says Mexico agreed to the “deployment of its National Guard throughout Mexico, giving priority to its southern border.” But the Mexican government had already pledged to do that in March during secret talks in Miami between Kirstjen Nielsen, then the secretary of homeland security, and Olga Sanchez, the Mexican secretary of the interior, the officials said.
The centerpiece of Mr. Trump’s deal was an expansion of a program to allow asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while their legal cases proceed. But that arrangement was first reached in December in a pair of painstakingly negotiated diplomatic notes that the two countries exchanged. Ms. Nielsen announced the Migrant Protection Protocols during a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee five days before Christmas.
And over the past week, negotiators failed to persuade Mexico to accept a “safe third country” treaty that would have given the United States the legal ability to reject asylum seekers if they had not sought refuge in Mexico first.
Mr. Trump hailed the agreement anyway on Saturday, writing on Twitter: “Everyone very excited about the new deal with Mexico!” He thanked the president of Mexico for “working so long and hard” on a plan to reduce the surge of migration into the United States. …
From before Trump but since we’re all talking about tariffs again, this episode of Planet Money is worth another listen. Excellent primer on understanding the historical intersection of free trade, tariffs and foreign policy.
Side-note: In the episode they profile Cordell Hull as the main driver in America for free trade as an agent for peace. Noticing he was an unusual fellow from Tennessee, I took a chance and looked him up in my genealogy notes. I found very interesting detail on Cordell Hull - Secretary of State under Franklin Roosevelt, In Robert K. Thomas’s 1978’s paper, CHEROKEE COMMUNITIES OF THE SOUTH, he records Cordell Hull as a notable descendant of “Appalachian Native Groups”. This detail made me smile, so I wanted to share, he won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work and had a long prestigious career.
The U.S.-Mexico Joint Declaration released Friday mentions nothing about agriculture sales as part of the agreement.
Bloomberg News reported that three officials also said that increasing Mexico’s purchases from the U.S. wasn’t discussed during the talks in Washington that led up to Friday’s agreement. The White House declined to comment, according to Bloomberg.
Liar. Liar. Liar. Will his base ever call him out on his lies? Do they even know he’s lying? Or do they just believe everything he says and never check it against reality?
"One of Donald Trump’s signature moves as president is to act as both arsonist and firefighter, taking credit for resolving pseudo-crises that he in fact initiated," Brendan Nyhan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, wrote in a recent post on Medium.
How a watchdog whitewashed its oversight of FEMA’s disaster response with “feel good” reports
Auditors in the Department of Homeland Security inspector general’s office confirmed problems with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s performance in Louisiana — and in 11 other states hit over five years by hurricanes, mudslides and other disasters.
But the auditors’ boss, John V. Kelly, instead directed them to produce what they called “feel-good reports” that airbrushed most problems and portrayed emergency responders as heroes overcoming vast challenges, according to interviews and a new internal review.
For Congress, it’s a busy week ahead – starting with this:
A bipartisan Senate duo will kickstart proceedings on Monday to force a vote on the US-Saudi security relationship, including the US’ recent $8.1 billion arms sale to the country, their offices announced Sunday.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana will introduce a privileged resolution on Monday to eventually prompt a vote to assess the relationship based on Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.
The move comes as a bipartisan group of senators, including Murphy and Young, introduced resolutions of disapproval in response to the 22 US arms sales to Saudi Arabia totaling $8.1 billion. The Trump administration declared an emergency last week to bypass Congress and expedite the sales, citing the need to deter what it called “the malign influence” of Iran throughout the Middle East.
Monday’s resolution is based on Section 502Bc of the Foreign Assistance Act, which permits Congress to vote on requesting to receive human rights information on countries within 30 days, according to a press release. Upon receiving it, Congress can then vote on “terminating or restricting security assistance,” including the arms sales, the release states.
Once Murphy and Young introduce the resolution, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has 10 days to consider the information request – otherwise the two can force a floor vote to move it from the committee, according to the release.
“Congress needs to change how we do business with the Kingdom,” Murphy said in a statement. "The process we are setting in motion will allow Congress to weigh in on the totality of our security relationship with Saudi Arabia, not just one arms sale, and restore Congress’s role in foreign policy making."
Young added, “Our arms sales to Saudi Arabia demand Congressional oversight. This bipartisan resolution simply asks the Secretary of State to report on some basic questions before moving forward with them.”
A Democratic aide called the resolution “another effort that allows us to get the administration on record regarding Saudi’s human rights abuses,” stressing that it could extend beyond the 22 existing arms sales to block all security assistance and future arms sales.
The aide anticipated that the measure would attract bipartisan support as a “creative way to safeguard Congress’ role in foreign policy.”
Saudi Arabia’s recent military growth – in part due to backing from China – has raised concerns. The US government has obtained intelligence that China has helped Saudi Arabia significantly expand its ballistic missile program, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. The development threatens decades of US efforts to limit missile proliferation in the Middle East.
Other items on Congress’s agenda include hearings on the Mueller report and votes on holding Barr and McGahn in contempt. Here’s a thoughtful analysis from ABC News on how these events could play out and some of the forces that will shape the outcomes:
Good point. I’m not sure. McConnell is not mentioned in that article nor in this one: which would tend to imply that he doesn’t have the clout to intervene, but that’s only a supposition on my part. Anyone else know? Also, I can’t find any reporting on whether or not the measure was voted on today. If anyone tracks down some news on this, please post.
David E. Sanger is one of my favorite journalists at the New York Times, here’s his latest piece, it’s a must read. If you’re like me and you really are interested in cyber-ops, national security and foreign policy, then you might enjoy his book, “The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age’’
This passage stuck out the most to me,
Two administration officials said they believed Mr. Trump had not been briefed in any detail about the steps to place “implants” — software code that can be used for surveillance or attack — inside the Russian grid.
Pentagon and intelligence officials described broad hesitation to go into detail with Mr. Trump about operations against Russia for concern over his reaction — and the possibility that he might countermand it or discuss it with foreign officials, as he did in 2017 when he mentioned a sensitive operation in Syria to the Russian foreign minister.
Because the new law defines the actions in cyberspace as akin to traditional military activity on the ground, in the air or at sea, no such briefing would be necessary, they added.
The intent of the operations was described in different ways by several current and former national security officials. Some called it “signaling” Russia, a sort of digital shot across the bow. Others said the moves were intended to position the United States to respond if Mr. Putin became more aggressive.
Benjamin Netanyahu is entangled in a series of more severe corruption investigations and is due to appear at a pre-trial hearing in October after Israel’s attorney general announced his intention to indict in all three cases.
He could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of bribery and a maximum three-year term for fraud and breach of trust.
One case, called Case 1,000, involves allegations of receiving gifts, including cigars, champagne and jewellery, from billionaires, among them the Australian casino operator James Packer, allegedly in exchange for favours. In Case 2,000, Netanyahu is accused of colluding with the country’s top-selling newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, to hurt its competition in exchange for favourable coverage.
The third and most damning, Case 4,000, involves allegations that Netanyahu offered incentives to the Israeli telecoms provider Bezeq in exchange for positive stories on an online news website it owns.
Netanyahu has denied all accusations, dismissing them as part of a witch-hunt orchestrated by the press. He will fight for re-election in September, weeks before the pre-trial hearing is due to start.
A win for Netanyahu has been portrayed domestically as a lifeline to block the graft cases as some of his parliamentary allies have suggested they might back laws to grant him immunity.
Here’s another part of the explosive ABC interview with T and George Stephanopoulos where T gets very defensive and starts ranting on the Mueller Report. T tries to escape with the words “No collusion” and “No Obstruction.” A lot of weasel moves by T squirming in his chair commenting on on the Mueller Report, his attempted firing of Mueller, which McGahn’s testimony states was true…
T comes up with his Investigate the Investigator tryiing to pin the investigation on Stzrok, Obama and pointing fingers at those 12 angry democratics…and sets this up as his big defense. T plays the “I was mistreated.”
President Trump appeared to be obsessed with the Mueller report during his wide-ranging interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, insisting that he read the special counsel’s report while repeatedly claiming it says there was “no collusion” despite Robert Mueller stating specifically that no determination was reached on the concept of collusion.
While speaking to Stephanopoulos in the back of the president’s limousine, the president was asked what his pitch to swing voters “on the fence” would be, prompting Trump to quickly pivot to the Russia investigation, which he called a “phony witch hunt.”
Mueller comes out—there’s no collusion,” the president declared. “And essentially a ruling that no obstruction. And they keep going with it. You know what? People are angry about it.”
The ABC News host pushed back, stating that he didn’t think that’s what Mueller found, causing Trump to repeat his “no collusion” mantra while adding that the probe “didn’t find anything having to do with obstruction because they made a ruling based on his findings and they said no obstruction.”
“They didn’t examine collusion,” Stephanopoulos countered. “He laid out evidence of obstruction.”
A few decisions coming in from the Supreme Court…this am
#2 Supreme court ruling lets a Virginia racial Gerrymandering case stand. Allows the lower court stand…whic said that racial profiling did occur, keeping the SC away from the politics…per CNN.
U.S. Supreme Court spurns Virginia Republicans in racial gerrymandering case
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed Republican legislators in Virginia a defeat, leaving in place a ruling that invalidated state electoral districts they drew because they weakened the clout of black voters in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
New York Times on Double Jeopardy:
Supreme Court Affirms Exception to Double Jeopardy in a Case With Implications for Trump Associates
“I have the biggest people – yesterday I had some of the biggest business people in the world in my office and they have beautiful offices perhaps more beautiful than the Oval Office, although to me there is nothing more beautiful because of what it represents.”
