March 26, 2019

Wisconsin AG Josh Kaul joins opioid distributors investigation

https://lacrossetribune.com/news/state-and-regional/wisconsin-ag-josh-kaul-joins-opioid-distributors-investigation/article_3acc3fec-e98b-5558-bc0f-139ac6855196.html



Wisconsin AG Josh Kaul joins opioid distributors investigation

Associated Press Mar 25, 2019 Updated 1 hr ago


Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul is joining a multistate investigation into three opioid distributors that began in 2017 as a nationwide overdose crisis continues to claim thousands of lives.

Kaul announced Monday that the Wisconsin Department of Justice would join the probe that's looking into the distribution practices of AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson. The three control about 90 percent of the country's opioid supply, Kaul's office said.

Kaul calls the opioid epidemic "the most significant public-safety challenge we face."

The multi-state investigation into marketing and sales practices seeks to find out whether the industry's own actions worsened the epidemic........................

March 26, 2019

Whether Trump obstructed justice isn't the attorney general's call to make. It's Congress' Decision

Michael Conway Whether Trump obstructed justice isn't the attorney general's call to make. It's Congress' decision.


https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/whether-trump-obstructed-justice-isn-t-attorney-general-s-call-ncna986971



The Mueller report didn't draw a conclusion about any obstruction of justice. Barr needs to show the evidence on which he based his decision.

March 25, 2019, 10:36 AM CDT


By Michael Conway, Former counsel, U.S. House Judiciary Committee

Attorney General William Barr’s four-page summary of the “principal conclusions” of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’ still-secret report, released on Sunday, engages in sleight-of-hand when finding that President Donald Trump did not engage in criminal obstruction of justice.

Mueller made no such conclusion. Rather, Trump’s hand-picked attorney general, William Barr, in consultation with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, decided that the evidence found by Mueller was insufficient to convict Trump beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal trial.

Mueller apparently adhered to the principle of seeking “just the facts.” And facts matter: Neither Congress nor the public know the facts found by Mueller regarding obstruction of justice. A White House that famously promulgated a theory of “alternative facts” will find that the actual facts found by Mueller’s investigation matter.


Indeed, Barr’s letter acknowledges that Mueller “describe[d] the facts of his obstruction investigation without reaching any conclusion.” Thus, the validity of Barr’s conclusion that Trump should not be indicted for obstruction of justice can only be tested if the full Mueller report is made public. The House of Representatives could well reach a different conclusion based upon those facts in deciding whether Trump should be impeached for obstruction of justice.

The impeachment inquiry of President Richard Nixon adhered to the approach of investigating the facts and then allowing Congress to draw its own conclusions. A 410-4 vote by the House of Representatives in February 1974 authorizing the House Judiciary Committee to “investigate fully and completely whether sufficient grounds” existed to impeach President Nixon, after which an impeachment inquiry staff of the committee, on which I served, set to work. Under the leadership of John Doar, a distinguished former assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division in the 1960s, the inquiry staff provided 650 “statements of information” with 7,200 pages of supporting evidentiary material to the committee members in closed sessions......................................

March 26, 2019

Justice Department now says courts should strike the entire ACA

Source: axios





Sam Baker 50 mins ago


The Justice Department now says the courts should strike down the entire Affordable Care Act — not just its protections for pre-existing conditions. The department signaled its new, broader position in a legal filing Monday, part of a lawsuit challenging the law's individual insurance mandate.

Why it matters: A ruling striking down the entire ACA would upend major parts of the health care system. Millions of people would lose their health care coverage, and a host of seemingly unrelated policies — including new experiments in how Medicare pays for care and an entire class of prescription drugs — would also go out the window.

How it works: A federal judge ruled in December that the ACA's individual mandate has become unconstitutional, because of the way Republicans zeroed out the penalty for being uninsured.

He said the entire ACA had to fall along with the mandate —.........................
At the time, ..........................

What's next: The case is pending before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals — the most conservative appeals court in the country. From there it would go to the Supreme Court..................................

Read more: https://www.axios.com/justice-trump-court-affordable-care-act-unconstitutional-ab8bf281-65fc-4b91-8606-d1f3f65818d6.html

---

Cruel. And the Repugs have nothing to replace it with. damn. Just remember-this is Trumps DOJ!





Axios
?Verified account @axios


JUST IN: In a new filing, the Justice Department now says the courts should strike down the entire Affordable Care Act — not just its protections for pre-existing conditions.
https://twitter.com/axios/status/1110349695258447873

March 25, 2019

Schumer pushes for release of report, but McConnell objects

Source: boston globe









WASHINGTON — Democrats grappled Monday with special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings, holding strategy sessions as Republicans gleefully called for them to ‘‘move on.’’ President Donald Trump accused those responsible for launching Mueller’s Russia probe of ‘‘treasonous things against our country’’ and said they ‘‘certainly will be looked into.’’


Trump said the release of Mueller’s full report ‘‘wouldn’t bother me at all’’ as the Democrats clamored for the Justice Department to release the entire document and not just Sunday’s four-page summary from Attorney General William Barr.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer tried to quickly pass a resolution urging the public release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, but was being blocked by Republicans.
Advertisement

Schumer said Monday that since Trump supports releasing the report, ‘‘there’s no good reason for anyone to object.’’

Shortly after the Senate opened, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell objected to Schumer’s request, saying the Justice Department needs more time to wrap up Mueller’s two-year probe.
..........................................
The House unanimously approved the resolution last week.

.......................


Continue Reading
......................................



Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2019/03/25/democrats-demand-full-mueller-report-trump-says-that-wouldn-bother-all/ZRUc1as3Qsw5y3UHEtg4tM/story.html

March 25, 2019

Trump moves to weaponize Mueller findings

It is already happening with the Repugs backing him up.





Trump moves to weaponize Mueller findings


https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/25/politics/donald-trump-mueller-campaign-trail/index.html





By Jeremy Diamond and Kevin Liptak, CNN

Updated 6:04 PM ET, Mon March 25, 2019


Washington (CNN)For more than two years, Donald Trump has wanted the investigation into allegations of collusion with Russia to go away. Now that it has, the President isn't prepared to let go.

Even as the specter of Robert Mueller's probe has vanished, Trump plans to turn the investigation, Democrats' constant accusations of wrongdoing and the media's coverage of it all into a new foil, half a dozen advisers and aides said. He has already signaled he'll weaponize the results, targeting those who ordered the investigation and Democrats he says waged political warfare.


The counteroffensive has some advisers concerned the President could overstep, diminishing a clear victory by sinking back into old grudges or calling for extreme steps to punish those he views as foes.


The conclusion of Mueller's investigation without evidence of collusion could present an opportunity to move past a dark period and toward a sunnier, more disciplined presidency -- an outcome some advisers have wished for in private.

Maybe for a different President..................................

March 25, 2019

BREAKING: Mitch McConnell moves to block release of Mueller Report.

whow. I am not watch TV so have no idea why this is happening.


https://twitter.com/TeaPainUSA/status/1110291674729713664


Tea Pain
? @TeaPainUSA

BREAKING: Mitch McConnell moves to block release of Mueller Report.

To paraphrase Leonard Cohen, "There's a leak in everything. That's how the truth gets out."
4:25 PM - 25 Mar 2019



https://twitter.com/TeaPainUSA/status/1110289361508028416

New conversation
Sister Democrat

🇺🇸
💙
🇺🇸
? @sherrilee7
4m4 minutes ago
Replying to @TeaPainUSA

Bitch McConnell is the biggest coward on earth. I wonder what he’s afraid of?
4 replies 3 retweets 12 likes

1 more reply

T. J. Lee

🗽
? @TrueflintThomas
5m5 minutes ago
Replying to @TeaPainUSA

Wow, sounds like it really really exonerates Trump, the way they want to bury it so badly.
0 replies 2 retweets 20 likes

Billy
? @halliganotoole
6m6 minutes ago

Replying to @TeaPainUSA

Here we go....
0 replies 0 retweets 10 likes

March 25, 2019

Special Counsel says report 'does not exonerate' President Trump

https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/special-counsel-says-report-does-not-exonerate-president-trump-1463997507553


Special Counsel says report ‘does not exonerate’ President Trump

—

01:11 / 05:26

Nadler: We can't rely on what may be a hasty, partisan interpretation of facts
07:30
Mueller states no exoneration for Trump on obstruction, Trump claims opposite
04:55
Trump: 'This was an illegal takedown that failed'
01:27
Trump lawyer: 'A complete victory for the president'
07:44
Katyal: Letter caused me grave concern
04:19
Special Counsel says report ‘does not exonerate’ President Trump
05:27
Melber: Matters of obstruction are usually adjudicated by House
03:32
White House 'prepared to take a major victory lap'
05:28
Chuck: Barr's summary 'will color' our understanding of the Mueller Report
07:30
Analysis: Mueller did not find ‘agreement’ between Trump campaign, Russian government
06:04
BREAKING: Mueller does not conclude Trump committed crime, does not exonerate
07:08
Maxine Waters: if report is not released it should be subpoenaed
07:54
Right-wing media claims Trump victory before report made public
17:09
BREAKING: AG Barr will deliver his summary of the Mueller report to Congress in 30-45 minutes
01:11

msnbc
Special Counsel says report ‘does not exonerate’ President Trump

MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson speaks to Katy Tur about how AG Bill Barr summary does not conclude that the president committed a crime, but also "does not exonerate him." “Those words ‘does not exonerate him’ that you will hear again and again from Democrats... that is kind of the murky waters here,” Jackson says.March 24, 2019

March 25, 2019

Rick Gates' case before Judge Amy Berman Jackson will be handed off to the DC US Attorney's Office,

While the special counsel office announced this--they did not give a reason. I am curious. Anyone know why??




Shimon Prokupecz
?Verified account @ShimonPro

Rick Gates’ case before Judge Amy Berman Jackson will be handed off to the DC US Attorney’s Office, the special counsel’s office said on Saturday. @kpolantz
1:39 PM - 23 Mar 2019



https://twitter.com/ShimonPro/status/1109524968860200961


1,158 Retweets


81 replies 1,158 retweets 2,688 likes

Another Space Cowboy
? @AnitherSpace
Mar 23

Replying to @ShimonPro @kpolantz

Oh?
0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes

New conversation
myreille
? @myreiIIe
Mar 23

Replying to @ShimonPro @kpolantz

I have *so* many questions.
2 replies 0 retweets 88 likes

1 more reply

New conversation
SpeakOutNow16
? @SpeakOutNow16
Mar 23

Replying to @ShimonPro @kpolantz

Time to ask the US attorney in DC if she was asked for a loyalty pledge when she met with Trump prior to appointment. Only DC and SDNY US attorneys were brought in to be interviewed by Trump at WH
3 replies 34 retweets 122 likes

1 more reply

New conversation
AY Allgood
? @ayallgood
Mar 23

Replying to @ShimonPro @kpolantz

Sounds more and more like the AG has shut Mueller down before his team was finished.

March 25, 2019

Andrea Mitchell--#Mueller was NOT consulted on content of AG letter.

interesting. Yesterday, I read that Barr said he would consult with Mueller (actually I think he said it in a tweet-or his office said it).



Andrea Mitchell
?Verified account @mitchellreports
3h3 hours ago

AG Barr will he called to testify says House Judiciary Chair Nadler. #Mueller was NOT consulted on content of AG letter.


https://twitter.com/mitchellreports/status/1109920918166560771

March 24, 2019

A guest just brought up a point-How much did Mueller actually include about Trump since

if prosecutors for not bring charges, they do not include the information. We have heard this over and over this last year so it is a good reminder every time we hear--Release the entire report.