Democratic presidential candidate Senator Amy Klobuchar continues to face scrutiny over “dehumanizing” treatment of her staffers, with new details in reports from the New York Times and the Huffington Post.
On climate change: Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein is facing criticism for her response to a group of young activists who wanted her to vote yes on the Green New Deal. Also, Donald Trump announced his pick for his new UN ambassador: a diplomat who, when asked recently if she believed in climate change, said: “ I appreciate and respect both sides.”
Trump’s most famous “both sides” moment came when he praised the “very fine people on both sides” of the deadly neo-Nazi rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia. Today, told reporters that he does not believe his rhetoric played any role in inspiring a neo-Nazi coast guard officer was accused of planning an act of domestic terrorism. Federal prosecutors said the man had assembled a list of targets, including prominent Democrats and media figures. “I think my language is very nice,” Trump said.
Mueller watch: the special counsel’s reporter will, in fact, not be out next week, according to the latest reports. The chairs of six House committees wrote to Attorney General Bill Barr today saying that they expect the report to be made public.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, met with federal prosecutors in New York last month to offer information about “possible irregularities within the president’s family business”, the New York Times reports.
Since the Minnesota senator launched her campaign for president on February 10, a series of articles have examined Amy Klobuchar’s treatment of her employees.
“The way she treats staff is disqualifying,” an anonymous former staffer for senator Amy Klobuchar told a reporter earlier this month.
The latest: Klobuchar “is well known on Capitol Hill for calling prospective employers in an attempt to shut new job opportunities down,” Huffington Post reports, providing new details about a habit first described by aides to Yahoo News.
“In one instance, Klobuchar went so far as to confront a fellow Democrat in Congress who had offered a job to one of Klobuchar’s staffers, making it clear she wanted the offer rescinded,” Huffington Post reports. “One former employee said that when she was looking for a new job, she warned potential employers that Klobuchar might seek a way to sabotage her prospects.”
Klobuchar, who has reportedly has thrown objects, including binders and phones, “in the direction” of her staffers, has one of the highest staff turnover rates in the Senate.
Multiple former staff said they/their coworkers are so afraid Klobuchar will try to undermine them that departing staff keep their future employment an absolute secret until they leave. https://t.co/7li7LXYgd1
Reactions to Sen. Feinstein’s sharp exchange with young activists over the Green New Deal are continuing to roll in. Here’s a reaction from a former Obama spokesman and host of Pod Save America, the influential liberal podcast:
“We are officially living in a gerontocracy,” Charlotte Alter, a national correspondent for Time Magazine, wrote. Alter notes that Feinstein was born in 1933, “in the early days of the original New Deal.”
Now the 85-year-old senator is opposing “a bold plan to give them the same types of protections she grew up with.”
When an octogenarian is lecturing schookids about why she won't vote for a bold plan to give them the same types of protections she grew up with in the ~1930s~ it means we are officially living in a gerontocracy
Trump's UN Ambassador Pick Believes in 'Both Sides' of Climate Change Debate
Martin Pengelly
Donald Trump is nominating Kelly Knight Craft to be the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations. Knight is currently the US’ ambassador to Canada.
In December 2018, Knight Craft made headlines about a key UN concern when she was asked in a television interview: “Do you believe in climate change?”
She answered: “I believe there are scientists on both sides that are accurate.”
Asked if she believed “there is science that proves that man is not causing climate change”, she said: “Well, I think that both sides have, you know, their own results from their studies, and I appreciate and respect both sides of the science.”
Knight Craft, who has donated to the Republican party, is married to Joseph Kraft, a billionaire coal magnate from Kentucky.
I am pleased to announce that Kelly Knight Craft, our current Ambassador to Canada, is being nominated to be United States Ambassador to the United Nations....
The president’s announcement comes a week after Trump’s first choice to replace Nikki Haley at the UN, former Fox News host and state department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, withdrew her candidacy.
'You didn't vote for me'. California senator's response to kids on 'Green New Deal'
California senator Dianne Feinstein is facing criticism over a video of her response to a group of children and teenagers asking her to support the “Green New Deal.”
The video clip shows part of a Friday morning meeting between Feinstein and young activists from the Sunrise Movement. Founded in 2017, the group organizes young people to fight climate change and support the Green New Deal.
When Feinstein pushed back on the young activists’ request, one child says, “The government is supposed to be for the people, by the people, and all for the people.”
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I know what I’ve been doing,” Feinstein responds in the video. “You come in here and say it has to be my way or the highway. I’ve gotten elected. I just ran. I was elected by almost a million vote plurality and I know what I’m doing. Maybe people should listen a little bit.”
“I hear what you’re saying,” a teenage activist says. “But we’re the people who voted you, you’re supposed to listen to us.”
“How old are you?” Feinstein asks her.
“I’m sixteen,” the young woman responds.
“Well, you didn’t vote for me,” Feinstein says.
Feinstein’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The senator reacted “with smugness + disrespect,” the Sunrise Movement tweeted on Friday, sharing a video clip of the meeting. “Her reaction is why young people desperately want new leadership in Congress.”
Later in the clip, Feinstein tells a young activist, “Well, you know better than I do. So I think one day you should run for the United States Senate and then you do it your way.”
“Great, I will,” the teenager responded.
The Green New Deal, a proposal that aims to fight inequality and tackle climate change at the same time, is being advanced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among other Democratic lawmakers. Want more details? Here’s our explainer on the Green New Deal.
“That resolution will not pass the Senate,” Feinstein told the activists, according to a press release from the Sunrise Movement. “And you can take that back to whoever sent you here.”
Need a break from political news? It’s the Friday before the Oscars, and Vanity Fair has reportedly disinvited the New York Times from its storied Oscars party.
The Times Style section ran a critical story yesterday questioning whether Vanity Fair’s annual party was still the “hottest” Oscars event.
The magazine was apparently unhappy with the coverage, Choire Sicha, the editor of the Times Style section, noted.
Just got word that Vanity Fair has disinvited The New York Times from covering their annual Oscars party. They said it "feels like the Times has already run their coverage of the VF party this year," they said. I guess we did!https://t.co/xZUWpbQnJH
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, met with federal prosecutors in New York last month to offer information about “possible irregularities within the president’s family business”, the New York Times reports. The conversation involved “insurance claims the company had filed over the years”, the Times reported, and there was “no indication” that President Trump was implicated in the “irregularities.”
Cohen was also questioned about Zuberi, the one person named in the inaugural committee subpoena. Zuberi had tried to downplay his interactions w Cohen in NYT interview weeks ago. Turns out he gave Cohen a $100k business check that was never cashed. https://t.co/Rx2znQI7nS
Donald Trump tried to change the subject when asked about a North Carolina election invalidated because of absentee ballot fraud, instead pointing to other questionable allegations of voter fraud.
The state board of elections has ordered a new election for a House seat after an operative working for the Republican candidate, Mark Harris, was found to have run an illegal absentee ballot harvesting operation.
“I condemn any voter fraud of any kind, whether it’s Democrat or Republican,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, Politico reports. “But when you look at some of the things that happened in California in particular, when you look at what has happened in Texas with all of those votes that they recently found that were not exactly properly done. I condemn all of it.”
A reporter attempted to point out the cases he was referring to were unsubstantiated.
“I condemn all of it. And that includes North Carolina if anything — I guess they’re going to be doing a final report. But I’d like to see the final report. Any form of election fraud, I condemn,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly made false allegations of mass voter fraud in the 2016 election, blaming it for his loss of the popular vote to Hillary Clinton.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello says Donald Trump is refusing to meet with him to discuss Hurricane Maria relief.
He told the Associated Press that the White House declined public and private requests to meet ahead of a governors’ conference in Washington this weekend to discuss the response to the storm, which has drawn heavy criticism.
Donald Trump said he doesn’t believe a resolution to block his border emergency declaration can survive his veto.
“Will I veto it? One hundred percent. One hundred percent. And I don’t think it survives a veto. We have too many smart people who want border security,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I will veto it, yes.”
The resolution was introduced in the Democratic-controlled House Friday, where it is expected to pass. It’s fate is unclear in the Senate, where it would need some Republican votes and a handful of moderate Republicans are wavering.
Prosecutors have begun presenting evidence to a grand jury in Washington in their investigation of whether former interior Secretary Ryan Zinke lied to federal investigators, the Washington Post reports.
The grand jury deliberations are focused on Zinke’s decision not to grant a petition by two Indian tribes to operate a commercial casino in Connecticut, two sources told the Post.
The tribes say Zinke denied their application for political reasons, and investigators with the Interior Department inspector general’s office believe that Zinke lied to them when they questioned him about that claim.
Donald Trump blames Amazon’s abandonment of a planned campus in New York on the “radical left.”
Trump on Amazon being chased out of New York:
“It’s the kind of thinking that our country is going to on the left, on the radical left. But ultimately it’s not good for jobs and it’s not good for the economy," he said. “I think it was a big loss for New York City.” https://t.co/mez6ToijPj
He also disparaged New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s presidential aspirations, per Bloomberg News.
PRESS: Thoughts on Bill de Blasio heading to Iowa?
TRUMP in Oval: “I think he has to learn New York City before he starts running the country because he hasn't done a very good job. Including, by the way, with Amazon."
Donald Trump said Friday that he bears no responsibility for a Coast Guard lieutenant’s domestic terror plot against a hit list of Democrats and news media figures.
“No I don’t. I think my language is very nice,” Trump told reporters when asked whether his language bears any responsibility for inspiring the plot.
“I think it’s a shame. I think it’s a very sad thing when a thing like that happens,” he said.
The chairs of six House committees wrote to Attorney General Bill Barr Friday saying that they expect special counsel Robert Mueller’s report to be made public.
“The public is entitled to know what the Special Counsel has found. We write to you to express, in the strongest possible terms, our expectation that the Department of Justice will release to the public the report Special Counsel Mueller submits to you—without delay and to the maximum extent permitted by law,” they wrote.
The letter was signed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, Committee on Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters, Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal and Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel.
