riversedge
riversedge's JournalA House Democrat Is Targeting Steven Mnuchin's Business Dealings In The Russian Sanctions Fight
Source: buzz feed
Rep. Jackie Speier is seeking answers about Mnuchin’s reported business dealings with a Ukrainian-born billionaire with ties to Oleg Deripaska.
Last updated on January 29, 2019, at 1:12 p.m. ET
Posted on January 29, 2019, at 11:36 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON —...............................................
California Rep. Jackie Speier, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to Mnuchin last week seeking answers about a deal he reportedly made in 2017 with an associate of Oleg Deripaska’s, the billionaire aluminum magnate whose companies Treasury surprisingly announced it would be taking off the formal sanctions list in December. The letter, sent Wednesday, was obtained by BuzzFeed News.
Mnuchin’s department has been embroiled in a fight on Capitol Hill over Treasury’s decision to lift sanctions on companies controlled by Deripaska, the oligarch connected to President Donald Trump’s former campaign chair, Paul Manafort. Democrats in Congress — and some Republicans — tried unsuccessfully in recent weeks to block Treasury from lifting the sanctions, which initially shook aluminum markets and reportedly cost Deripaska billions.
Speier said she wants to learn more about Mnuchin’s involvement with Leonid Blavatnik, a Ukrainian-born billionaire with whom he co-owned a Hollywood film company up until 2017. Mnuchin had to divest from RatPac-Dune Entertainment as part of his confirmation process and disclosed the sale of his shares, but the exact prices and purchasers are unknown. However, the Hollywood Reporter reported that Mnuchin sold the shares to Blavatnik for approximately $25 million.
In the letter, Speier wrote that she had “serious concerns” about the alleged transaction, adding that it is “especially alarming” given a recent New York Times report saying that Deripaska might have gotten a better deal with Treasury than has been publicly disclosed.
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Read more: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emmaloop/steven-mnuchin-deripaska-russia-sanctions-jackie-speier
Labor Secretary's Role in Abuse Deal Could Get DOJ Scrutiny (2)
Source: news.bloomberglaw
News
Posted Jan. 29, 2019, 3:46 PM Updated Jan. 29, 2019, 4:42 PM
The Justice Department’s inspector general wants lawmakers to give him the authority to investigate a decade-old plea deal in which Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta allegedly allowed an accused sex offender to skirt the harshest punishment for crimes against teens.
“Your letter raises important questions about the resolution of this case by department attorneys,” DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a Jan. 29 letter to lawmakers. “However, the OIG does not currently have jurisdiction over matters involving allegations of misconduct relating to DOJ attorneys’ handling of litigation or legal decisions.”
The department’s watchdog responded to lawmakers’ calls to look into an agreement that Acosta—then a federal prosecutor in South Florida—reached with lawyers for Miami hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein, which allowed Epstein to avoid federal sex trafficking charges. Epstein was sentenced to 13 months in prison on lesser charges.
Horowitz called on the Senate to take up a bill (H.R. 202) recently passed by the House. He said that legislation would give him the authority to investigate alleged prosecutorial misconduct.
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Read more: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/doj-watchdog-wants-to-probe-labor-secretarys-role-in-abuse-deal?utm_campaign=2019-01-29T21%3A48%3A42&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=lawdesk
Ted Lieu: Getting a snack.
oh, this guy is so good--
Ted Lieu
?Verified account @tedlieu
2h2 hours ago
Getting a snack.
https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1090382108038701057
House Homeland Security chair: 'Unacceptable' that Nielsen won't testify next week
Source: The Hill
By Brett Samuels - 01/29/19 06:40 PM EST
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Johnson (D-Miss.) criticized Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Tuesday for declining to testify before the panel.
Johnson wrote to Nielsen, indicating she had refused to appear before the committee on Feb. 6 to discuss border security. Johnson called her decision "unreasonable and unacceptable."
"Your attempt to use the President’s recent shutdown as an excuse not to testify before Congress prior to the impending shutdown is outrageous," he wrote. "As Secretary of Homeland Security, you should be prepared to testify on border security, the very issue that caused the recent shutdown, at any time and certainly prior to the potential February 15 lapse in appropriations."
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill about Nielsen's refusal to testify, or whether she would appear at another date......................
Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/427555-house-homeland-security-chair-says-nielsen-refused-to-testify-on-feb-6
YES!! Subpoena her. Now.
https://twitter.com/HomelandDems/status/1090384997939363840
Fox News' Shep Smith explains why Trump's foreign policy went down in flames at today's Senate Intel
Source: raw story
Fox News’ Shep Smith explains why Trump’s foreign policy went down in flames at today’s Senate Intel hearing
29 Jan 2019 at 15:31 ET
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Fox News host Shep Smith opened his show by discussing the ways in which their testimony proved a strong rebuke of Trump’s own foreign policy.
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Smith then detailed how the day’s testimony “directly contradicts President Trump’s foreign policy.”
“They say North Korea will likely not give up their nuclear arsenal. [National Intelligence director Dan] Coates say its leaders viewed nuclear weapons as critical to the North Korean regime’s survival,” Smith said. “Second, on Iran, the Islamic Republic is not currently undertaking the necessary steps to make a bomb.”
Trump’s claim that ISIS is defeated and that a border wall is needed to stop a “crisis” on the southern border were also undermined by Trump’s own appointees, he said.
“Regarding the ongoing threat from the Islamic state, ISIS still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria and is active in Syria and has networks around the world. In short, ISIS not defeated,” he said. “And finally, nowhere in the 42-page threat assessment report is there an indication that a wall on the southern border would be helpful in any way and nothing to indicate a ball should be built to bolster national security or anything else.”.........................
Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/2019/01/fox-news-shep-smith-explains-trumps-foreign-policy-went-flames-todays-senate-intel-hearing/
Idiot trump.
Watch .....................
https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/1090347678574227458
House Judiciary Com holding a hearing on HR1,..Couple tidbits about Rs on committee: 15 of the 17
Running commentary---I have not been able to watch.
https://twitter.com/gzornick/status/1090266829627392001
George Zornick
?Verified account @gzornick
House Judiciary Committee holding a hearing on HR1, the Dems' sweeping pro-democracy bill.
Couple tidbits about Rs on this committee: 15 of the 17 come from states with Voter ID laws.
All but one sit in gerrymandered districts where R has >95% chance of holding that seat.
9:14 AM - 29 Jan 2019
51 Retweets
75 Likes
Deedone
Carole Simpson
JJ
Myron Resists! 68 Days till Trump resigns.⏰
Willard
Harehatch Coe
Joyous Panther
Gravitas Problem
🌊🌊SO-CALLED Pres Trump🌊🌊
5 replies 51 retweets 75 likes
dora wiilliams Tweet text
New conversation
George Zornick
?Verified account @gzornick
4h4 hours ago
(notes: one of the two GOP members who doesn't come from Voter ID state is from PA, where courts have stopped Voter ID law; and I didn't count Armstrong from ND-AL seat in gerrymandering analysis.)
2 replies 3 retweets 16 likes
George Zornick
?Verified account @gzornick
4h4 hours ago
Dem witnesses are @vanitaguptaCR @Sifill_LDF @sarahturbo79 and @AdavNoti.
GOP witnesses are Hans von Spakovsky and J. Christian Adams; both were members of Trump's short-lived election integrity commission.
1 reply 5 retweets 25 likes
George Zornick
?Verified account @gzornick
3h3 hours ago
Rep. Ken Buck has gone full batshit in this hearing. "The Democrat Party has a long history of stealing elections in this country." Points to Huey Long, the Black Panther Party phony scandal from Philly in 2008, and Hillary stealing the nomination from Bernie. (??????)
4 replies 16 retweets 45 likes
George Zornick
?Verified account @gzornick
3h3 hours ago
(several Democrats on the committee broke into laughter during this screed.)
3 replies 21 retweets 124 likes
George Zornick
?Verified account @gzornick
3h3 hours ago
Rep. Matt Gaetz is up next, so this is gonna get worse before it gets better. He gave Buck a fist-bump after Buck's time was up.
4 replies 4 retweets 44 likes
George Zornick
?Verified account @gzornick
3h3 hours ago
Rep. Gaetz is asking Gupta, re: felon re-enfranchisement, about hypotheticals in which HR1 would allow various child rapists to vote. (Specific child rapists whose crimes Gaetz is describing.)
2 replies 0 retweets 11 likes
George Zornick
?Verified account @gzornick
1h1 hour ago
.@vanitaguptaCR just blasted Republicans for putting von Spakovsky on the witness panel, with von Spakovsky sitting three feet away. Cited recent court case where judge criticized von Spakovsky for "several misleading and unsupported claims" about non-citizen voting.
Trump's America Is Becoming More Corrupt, Report Says: 'Erosion of Ethical Norms at the Highest Leve
https://twitter.com/Newsweek/status/1090270867496542208
Trump’s America Is Becoming More Corrupt, Report Says: ‘Erosion of Ethical Norms at the Highest Levels of Power’
By Shane Croucher On 1/29/19 at 5:39 AM
Video Player is loading.
Under President Donald Trump, the United States has received its worst score on a global corruption index in seven years, according to a new report.
The United States scored 71 on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index for 2018, a fall of four points since 2017 and the nation's lowest score since 2011. Transparency International is an anti-corruption watchdog that tracks interactions between money and politics worldwide and ranks countries based on perceived corruption in the public sector.
Ranked 22nd in the world, the United States is no longer within the top 20 countries deemed the least corrupt.
“This decline comes at a time when the U.S. is experiencing threats to its system of checks and balances as well as an erosion of ethical norms at the highest levels of power,” the report states, listing the United States as a country to watch.
The less corrupt a country’s public sector is, the closer its index figure is to 100. The index uses a number of surveys and assessments of corruption by other reputable researchers to reach its figures.
The U.S. Office of Government Ethics did not respond immediately to a request for comment..........................
https://twitter.com/WHSCI/status/1090273296304693249
Beetles & drought have imperiled Montana's forests so much that they no longer clean the air o
https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1090285868001214465
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/national/gone-in-a-generation/forest-climate-change.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.71326a12aedf#forest
Really a devastating video
‘They’ve done their damage’
Beetles and drought have imperiled Montana’s forests so much that they no longer clean the air of carbon dioxide. Instead, they are sending millions of tons back into the atmosphere.
Michael Golden has hunted elk on this mountain in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley his entire life. It’s a tradition he shared with his father. But his son is growing up in a starkly different environment.
Montana has warmed 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit since 1950, considerably more than the United States as a whole. That added heat is contributing to raging forest fires and bark beetle outbreaks, a combination that has devastated the state’s forests.
What Golden and his son have witnessed is part of a broader trend. The forests have seen so much damage that Montana’s trees, which had provided the crucial function of pulling carbon dioxide from the air, are sending the greenhouse gas back into the atmosphere.
And forests that once provided a counterbalance to climate change are at the moment contributing to it, as carbon-rich trees suddenly burn, or die and slowly decompose. ....................................
The Steering and Policy Committee gave Pelosi a standing ovation--Because Nancy Pelosi is a badass.
Ted Lieu
?Verified account @tedlieu
I never disclose what happens in internal Steering and Policy Committee discussions. But I make one exception today.
We just gave @SpeakerPelosi a standing ovation. Because Nancy Pelosi is a badass.
https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1090031044043132928
https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1089957792260243456
https://twitter.com/Stop_Trump20/status/1090040251261861889
GOP lawmaker who employs hundreds of minors looks to abolish all state child labor laws
Source: raw story
28 Jan 2019 at 08:09 ET
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The Indy Star reports that Indiana state Sen. Chip Perfect has filed a bill that would get rid of work permit requirements for underage employees, while also removing restrictions on the hours underage teenagers can work.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
.............The Indy Star writes that, to drum up support for his bill, Perfect had his human resources director testify “in favor of the bill during a committee hearing last week, raising questions about whether his involvement in the legislation is a conflict of interest.”
However, Perfect is insisting that he is not conflicted in proposing the law, even though it would allow him to hire more minors and give them longer hours.
“It wouldn’t affect me directly, because as I testified today, we have invested an incredible amount of money and we are currently adhering to the laws,” Perfect said. “This is really more about small businesses who cannot afford the resources to adhere to these antiquated laws.”
Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/2019/01/gop-lawmaker-employs-hundreds-minors-looks-abolish-state-child-labor-laws/
He is a stinking slimeball, just like Trump
https://twitter.com/SaysHummingbird/status/1089923392185217024
https://twitter.com/OttenbergEve/status/1089955844123516932
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