Lindsey Graham ‘not interested’ in calling Mueller to testify before Judiciary Committee
By Emma Dumain
April 18, 2019 11:38 AM, Updated 20 minutes ago



Lindsey Graham has no plans to ask White House special counsel Robert Mueller to testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

The South Carolina Republican, reached by phone by McClatchy as he traveled on official business in Rwanda, said he was “not interested” in hearing from Mueller, the lead author of the just-released report detailing the years-long investigation into whether President Donald Trump colluded with Russia and obstructed justice.

Graham could face increased pressure to invite Mueller to appear before the committee, which he chairs.

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, has asked Mueller to come speak to members of his panel, and Attorney General William Barr said at a press conference earlier Thursday morning he had no problem with Mueller testifying on Capitol Hill.

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https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article229362309.html?fbclid=IwAR0Gy6LL-uZXn1J_kR8nSA9NTUr9QHZpggKuiIutcHMWxyY0f8JqN_PHqCE

The attorney general just pre-spun the Mueller report for Trump
Barr spun everything in Trump’s favor — and literally walked offstage when he was called on it.
By Zack Beauchamp@zackbeauchampzack@vox.com Apr 18, 2019, 10:17am EDT


Attorney General William Barr’s Thursday morning press conference on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia report was a whitewash.

There’s no other way to describe it. Barr, who claimed beforehand that the press conference would focus on process, spun the report’s conclusions before it was released and expected reporters to ask questions about a document they had not even seen. He literally uttered the phrase “no collusion” to describe Mueller’s conclusions — providing a perfect sound bite to play on loop on cable news in the president’s favorite phrasing.

Barr repeated this and similar talking points multiple times during his prepared statement. He put tremendous effort into explaining why Trump’s behavior during the probe should be seen as justified and in no way constituted obstruction. He even praised the president for providing “unfettered access” to documents and said the White House “fully cooperated” with the investigation, despite Trump’s refusal to submit to an interview with Mueller.

At the end, when a reporter asked if it was improper for the attorney general to spin the report to the public before it was released, Barr literally walked off the stage.

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https://www.vox.com/2019/4/18/18484708/william-barr-conference-mueller-report-trump-spin?fbclid=IwAR1U9vIEsaqIpiPNktNtX90Pgk6JM2oes1qmkWQSaX4Lmbtf6gYoDGrKoG0

Fox's Chris Wallace: Barr sounded like a counselor to Trump rather than AG
By Joe Concha - 04/18/19 10:31 AM EDT


Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said Attorney General William Barr sounded like a counselor to the president during his press conference Thursday ahead of the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report.


https://twitter.com/AmericaNewsroom/status/1118880928925913090
Barr offered a staunch defense of President Trump on Thursday morning during a press conference, where he previewed the report's findings and explained why they led him to conclude that Trump had not obstructed justice.

Barr called the report a vindication of Trump over the allegations of collusion with Russian officials.

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https://thehill.com/homenews/media/439502-foxs-chris-wallace-barr-sounded-like-a-counselor-to-trump-rather-than-ag

Could Al Franken Make a Comeback? Amy Klobuchar Said Former Senator Has A Third Act
By Marie Solis On 4/15/18 at 2:43 PM EDT


There may be more to come for former Senator Al Franken, who resigned his post in January after facing sexual misconduct allegations from multiple women.

At Sunday’s TimesTalk panel for women senators — which featured Senators Susan Collins, Joni Ernst, Heidi Heitkamp and Amy Klobuchar — Klobuchar said she expects her former colleague and friend to make a comeback.

“He’s had two acts and he’s still going to have a third,” Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, told the crowd about Franken.

The Minnesota Democrat said she’s stayed in touch with Franken, and spoke to him just this weekend.

Klobuchar didn’t join the cohort of Democrats who called for Franken to step down in December, when a photo of Franken apparently grabbing a woman’s breasts resurfaced. The photo led to a landslide of accusations from women who said they’d been groped or otherwise harassed by the congressman, who’d built a reputation partly based on his support for women’s equality.

Despite criticism from some that Franken had been forced out, Klobuchar maintained that Franken had made his own choice, one informed by the calculation that the allegations against him would make it difficult to do his job in the Senate.

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https://www.newsweek.com/al-franken-comeback-amy-klobuchar-me-too-886465?fbclid=IwAR1ILnFAotT2gSgndbYd2ZGAn8ql6HnblbEwQn7JVHDSZglkaCar1JUfyPo

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mueller-report-pelosi-urges-special-counsel-to-testify-publicly-to-restore-trust-in-handling-of-reports-release?ref=home

1. CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE

Pelosi Urges Mueller to Testify Publicly to ‘Restore Trust’ in Handling of Report
Reuters / Jeenah Moon

https://www.axios.com/pete-buttigieg-des-moines-rally-draws-big-crowd-50e115fc-7ac8-4a9f-b5d8-304efc2dee1f.html

Rebecca Falconer
Apr 17, 2019
Buttigieg in Des Moines: 1,600 attend rally planned for 50 people

https://politicalwire.com/2019/04/17/orourke-stays-away-from-tv/

O’Rourke Stays Away from TV
April 17, 2019 at 10:18 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard

Trump Tells Aides: ‘Keep an Eye’ on Fox News, Make Sure It Stays Loyal to Me
Even before publicly freaking out about Bernie Sanders’ town hall, the president has long kept tabs on whether the network was going wobbly on him.
Asawin Suebsaeng,
Andrew Kirell
04.17.19 5:03 PM ET


It was late March, and Donald Trump was preoccupied with the swirl of new investigations launched by House Democrats against him and his inner sanctum, and with the coming delivery of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s long-awaited report on Russian election meddling and Trump’s possible obstruction of justice.

In the midst of all this, there was another question weighing heavily on the president’s mind: Was Fox News, his favorite organ of conservative media and pro-Trump messaging, being sufficiently subservient to him?

“Keep an eye on it,” Trump started telling aides, according to two people with direct knowledge of his directive, in conversations about what was going on behind-the-scenes at Fox, and if there was any cause for concern for even the slightest positive coverage of any Democrat.

To any casual observer of Fox News or the Fox Business Network, this might seem like a hilariously irrational fear. The networks’ ratings-driving primetime lineups are jam-packed with vociferous Trump defenders, and some of Fox’s biggest names—such as Pete Hegseth, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Rupert Murdoch, to name just a few—have long served as sounding boards, phone-a-friends, and informal advisors to the president.

But privately, President Trump had been raising these questions of institutional loyalty, on-and-off, since at least the middle of last year. Several people who’ve heard him do this view it as more of a gutcheck than a loss of faith, and as yet another indication that Trump can interpret even the smallest deviations as a slight or a betrayal.

more...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-tells-aides-keep-an-eye-on-fox-news-make-sure-it-stays-loyal-to-me?ref=home

https://politicalwire.com/2019/04/18/mueller-report-will-make-it-a-bad-day-for-trump/


Today Is a Bad Day for Trump
April 18, 2019 at 6:42 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

How intolerable for all of us.

I remember Chrystia Freeland as a very intelligent, personable woman/Canadian who appeared on cable news.


Canada joins new German-France 'alliance' that doesn't include U.S.
1 day ago
© Provided by Canadian Press Enterprises Inc


OTTAWA — Canada has formally joined a German-French coalition aimed at saving the international world order from destruction by various world dictators and autocrats — and U.S. President Donald Trump.

The initiative is part of ongoing government efforts to shore up international co-operation at a time of waning American leadership and Trump's outspoken disdain of institutions created after the Second World War, including the G7, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland offered Canada's support for the Alliance for Multilateralism during a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Dinard, France earlier this month.

Japan also joined the new alliance during the meeting, and Freeland marked the moment on Twitter posting a photo of herself with Jean-Yves Le Drian, Heiko Mass and Taro Kono, her French, German and Japanese counterparts.

"Many of today's greatest challenges are global and they can only be solved when we work together. That is why Canada stands united with its German, French, and Japanese friends," Freeland said in the photo's caption.

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https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/canada-joins-new-german-france-alliance-that-doesnt-include-us/ar-BBVXywD?fbclid=IwAR2MdEORJ5vgt4x8iPPUyf31pukQhHBRWkq1PY-SbXSAftSBU87SnBYrC5s