Hillary Clinton’s Pro-Putin Hatchet Man Swept up in ‘Trump-Russia’ Investigation

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Sid Blumenthal, a longtime confidant to Hillary Clinton, was reportedly interviewed by FBI agents about the infamous “Trump-Russia” dossier.

National security journalist Sara Carter revealed late Wednesday that Blumenthal was allegedly interviewed in connection to the dossier. It has been over a year since Buzzfeed decided to publish the dossier, and none of the substantive claims in the document have been proven as factual.

Blumenthal has a reputation in Washington as a hatchet man for Hillary Clinton. He was behind the Clinton campaigns efforts to spread the “birther” conspiracy alleging that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Given his role in the smear campaign, President Obama refused to allow Clinton to bring him onto her official staff.

While Hillary Clinton was serving as Secretary of State, Blumenthal acted as something of a private intelligence operative for her. Clinton’s private email archive reveals that the former Secretary of State relied on Blumenthal as one of her most trusted confidants. Using shady resources, Blumenthal often delivered her intricate reports on geopolitical matters.

Given his apparent connection to the Trump-Russia probe, it’s relevant to point out that Blumenthal has consistently advocated for cozying up to Moscow.

Blumenthal has also lobbied on behalf of a close ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In emails disclosed by Wikileaks, Blumenthal consistently advocated for Clinton to adopt a pro-Moscow position in Eastern Europe. Additionally, Blumenthal’s son is a pro-Putin propagandist who now openly advocates for Russia’s foreign policy priorities.

Blumenthal’s is not the only individual connected to the dossier who is close with the government of Russia. Glenn Simpson, who leads Fusion GPS–the organization that compiled the dossier–has substantial ties to the government of Russia and individual Kremlin operatives. It has led observers of Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation to ask whether Fusion GPS worked with the Kremlin to use the dossier as a way to sow discord within the country.

Through Hillary Clinton’s election campaigns and her stints in government, the two have remained ultra close. In October, Blumenthal was spotted at Clinton’s birthday party.

This revelation comes as questions continue to arise about the Clinton campaign’s connections to the “Trump-Russia” dossier. We already know that the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid for the research that led to the dossier. What remains unclear is if the unproven allegations were used as the main piece of evidence to spy on the Trump campaign. Evidence continues to build suggesting that she did indeed play a role. Republican congressional investigators — who reportedly have had access to the FISA court warrant — continue to suggest, in very pointed questions, that Clinton played a much bigger part than what has been publicly acknowledged. (For more from the author of “Hillary Clinton’s Pro-Putin Hatchet Man Swept up in ‘Trump-Russia’ Investigation” please click HERE)

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California House of Horrors Parents Face Life in Prison on Torture, Abuse Charges

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By Fox News. The parents of the children in the California house of horrors case are facing up to a life in prison after being charged Thursday for torture and child abuse, authorities said, while revealing more shocking details of the alleged atrocities that happened inside the suburban home.

Louise Anna Turpin, 49, and David Allen Turpin, 57, appeared in court Thursday afternoon and entered not guilty pleas on all counts, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said. They were each ordered held on bail of $12 million.

If convicted on all charges — which include torture, child abuse, false imprisonment, dependent adult abuse and a lewd act on a child under age 14 — they each face sentences of 94 years to life in prison, District Attorney Michael Hestrin said. The couple’s next court date is Feb. 23.

“One of the children at age 12 is the weight of an average 7-year-old,” he told reporters, revealing more about the discoveries alleged to have been made Sunday after police raided the home in Perris. “The 29-year-old female victim weighs 82 pounds.”

The district attorney said that “the victimization appeared to intensify over time. … What started out as neglect became severe, pervasive, prolonged child abuse.” (Read more from “California House of Horrors Parents Face Life in Prison on Torture, Abuse Charges” HERE)

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‘This Is Depraved Conduct’: Couple Charged with Torture After Kids Found Shackled

By NPR. Just days after Louise and David Turpin’s 13 children were discovered deeply malnourished and — in some cases — shackled to furniture in their home, the Southern California couple has been charged with torture, child abuse and false imprisonment. The two parents face the possibility of life in prison . . .

The Turpin children, who range in age from 2 to 29, allegedly suffered years of neglect and escalating abuse, both physical and psychological. For at least eight years and in three homes, Hestrin said the children were forced to eat rarely, shower no more than once a year and, when punished, were often beaten, strangled or tied up “for weeks or even months at a time.”

“Circumstantial evidence in the house suggests that the victims were often not released from their chains to go to the bathroom,” Hestrin added.

Police did not discover the house in Perris, Calif., until Sunday, when the 17-year-old daughter enacted a plan she and her siblings had been working on for more than two years. Hestrin said that the daughter, together with another sibling, escaped through a window — and that though the other sibling soon grew frightened and turned back, the 17-year-old forged ahead and contacted local police . . .

And though the parents had reportedly registered their home as a private school with the state’s Department of Education, the children “lack a basic knowledge of life,” Hestrin said. “Many of the children didn’t know what a police officer was. The 17-year-old, when asked whether there was medication or pills in the home, didn’t know what medication or pills were.” (Read more from “‘This Is Depraved Conduct’: Couple Charged with Torture After Kids Found Shackled” HERE)

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Horror: 7-Time Deported Illegal Alien Brutally Stabs Man in Sanctuary State

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed on Thursday that a man who viciously attacked an elderly man at a shopping area in California in December is an illegal alien that federal immigration officials have deported multiple times and is a convicted felon.

Law enforcement officials arrested 39-year-old Ricardo Velasquez-Romero in Santa Rose late last month after he allegedly stabbed a 61-year-old man in the neck in what police described as an “unprovoked and brutal stabbing,” Fox News reported.

Federal immigration authorities have deported Velasquez-Romero back to Mexico seven times since 2007, and a review of his records reveals a laundry list of previous criminal convictions inside the U.S.

James Schwab, a spokesman in San Francisco for ICE, told Fox News, “Records indicate Mr. Velasquez also has multiple prior criminal convictions, including those from felony drug and weapons charges.”

Police say that the attack happened at a restaurant and that Velasquez-Romero and the victim were sitting at different tables and had were not interacting with each other. It is unclear if they knew each other. (Read more from “Horror: 7-Time Deported Illegal Alien Brutally Stabs Man in Sanctuary State” HERE)

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Boom: This Is What a Government Funding Request Should Look Like

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Director of the Office of Management and Budget and acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Mick Mulvaney just set the gold standard of government funding requests.

Every quarter, the CFPB makes a funding request from the Federal Reserve for its operating funds. Politico reports that last quarter former director Richard Cordray asked for $217.1 million. But Cordray was a progressive. Mulvaney is a conservative. And so for this quarter, Mulvaney is asking for nothing.

Here’s the money quote from his letter to the Fed: “This letter is to inform you that for the Second Quarter of Fiscal Year 2018, the Bureau is requesting $0.”



“The reason for this is straightforward,” Mulvaney wrote. The bureau has a $177 million reserve fund that can cover the projected $145 million budget for this quarter. Mulvaney wants the Fed to return the money they would’ve given to the bureau to the Treasury.

“While this approximately $145 million may not make much of a dent in the deficit, the men and women at the Bureau are proud to do their part to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.”

“Sincerely, Mick Mulvaney.” God bless this man. (For more from the author of “Boom: This Is What a Government Funding Request Should Look Like” please click HERE)

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Police Spot Evidence in a Selfie That Solved Murder Case

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A Facebook selfie posted by a Canadian woman gave police officers the missing piece to a murder case.

Cheyenne Rose Antoine posted a picture with the murder victim, and in it Antoine was wearing the belt that was found near the dead woman’s body, Fox News reported.

The 21-year-old pleaded guilty on Monday to killing Brittney Gargol in March 2015. Antoine has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

The photo appeared on Facebook after Gargol was found dead on the side of a road in Saskatoon, according to Fox.

The two friends had gotten into an argument after a night of drinking before Antoine used her belt to strangle Gargol.

Antoine posted on Gargol’s personal Facebook page the next morning: “Where are you? Haven’t heard from you. Hope you made it home safe,” BBC reported.

Police later discovered that this post was a diversion attempt to add to her original story.

Initially, Antoine told the police that the two friends had gone to some bars after a house party from which Gargol left with an unidentified man and Antoine went to visit her uncle.

After security footage from the bar failed to verify her story, police used Antoine’s social media to try to piece together the real story, according to CBC. There, they found the picture with the murder weapon worn by Antoine.

A witness ultimately told the police that Antoine had confessed to her that she killed Gargol.

Antoine told the courtroom that she did not remember strangling her friend, but admitted that they were both drunk and high on marijuana before their argument.

“I will never forgive myself. Nothing I say or do will ever bring her back,” she said in a statement, according to Fox News. “I am very, very sorry. … It shouldn’t have ever happened.”

According to Antoine’s lawyer, she told the police a month before the murder that she was being abused by her foster parents.

BBC reported that because Antoine showed remorse, the judge agreed to a seven year sentence after a guilty plea to manslaughter and not the second-degree murder Antoine was originally charged with.

“Honor your friend by becoming a positive member of the community,” Judge Marilyn Gray told Antoine. “You owe it to her.”

Gargol’s family expressed anger and sadness over her death, and her uncle said that she was “a wonderful person that didn’t deserve this and we truly miss her every day,” according to the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.

“Most days we can’t stop thinking about Brittney, what happened that night, what she must have felt fighting for her life,” Jennifer Gargol, the victim’s aunt, told the court. (For more from the author of “Police Spot Evidence in a Selfie That Solved Murder Case” please click HERE)

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Democrats Would Rather Protect 800,000 Illegal Aliens Than Pay America’s Active Duty Military

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Democrats are threatening to hold national security hostage, potentially costing the economy billions and forcing hundreds of thousands of federal government employees to go without pay in exchange for securing legal protections for 800,000 illegal immigrants.

Congress has several days to strike a deal to keep the government funded through October. If members fail to come to an agreement by Jan. 19, all “non-essential” government employees and active U.S. military personnel will be working with out pay (including troops currently deployed). Funding for agencies like federal museums or national parks will also be cut off.

Congressional Democrats are apparently content with allowing military and law enforcement personnel to go without pay to secure protections and benefits for illegal immigrants and members of their extended families.

“The fact remains the only way to guarantee the legal status for Dreamers is to pass DACA protections into law and do it now,” Schumer said last week, according to the Washington Examiner. “For that reason, a resolution to the DACA issue must be part of a global deal on the budget.”

Pelosi has been careful to show her cards publicly, tacitly throwing her support behind a bipartisan agreement struck last week in the House and Senate that shields Dreamers from deportation, maintains chain migration, provides under 6 percent of the funding Trump asked for construction of the border wall and continues the Obama-era visa lottery program.

The Trump administration, along with a number of conservative Republicans in Congress, are against the proposal, arguing that it does too little to stop chain migration and opens the nation up to a host of economic and national security threats.

The minority leader’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Others within the Democratic caucus are more blunt as to what they are asking of Republican leadership, like Rep. Joseph Crowley of New York, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

“If they need Democratic votes, the overall legislation needs to meet certain Democratic criteria and be reflective of the values of the Democratic caucus and what we believe are the values of the American people,” Crowley said Monday, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said Tuesday that he will vote against any budget resolution that does not include protections for Dreamers.

Shutting down the federal government has some true and lasting consequences, which is probably why it has only happened four times since the 1970s.

When Republicans were the minority party in 2013, they forced a government shutdown over Obamacare’s individual mandate after years of trying to stop the program from taking effect.

The federal government closed its doors for 16 days, and the results were far-reaching. Some 800,000 federal workers that were deemed “non-essential” were furloughed without payment and an additional 1.3 million government employees, including active duty military personnel and civilians, had to work without pay.

Military and active duty federal employees were paid retroactively in 2013, but there is no legal guarantee that these individuals will receive payment for their work in the event of a government shutdown. Members of Congress have to first come to a short-term spending agreement before agencies, like the Department of Defense, can authorize paying their employees.

“In case of a potential government shutdown, the Department of Defense has no legal authority to pay any personnel — military or civilian — for the days during which the government is shut down,” the Defense Finance and Accounting Service states.

The 2013 shutdown also cost the U.S. an estimated $24 billion in economic output, according to the Standard and Poor’s ratings agency. Every day the government shut its doors, the U.S. economy lost (in output terms) $1.6 billion a week, $300 million a day, or roughly $12.5 million per hour.

Shutdowns also temporarily stop or delay a number of other economic activities like public-private contracts, federal small business and home loans, the federal medical approval process and international trade.

The chance of Republicans and Democrats striking a budget deal that includes protections for Dreamers and their parents remained slim as of Tuesday evening.

White House Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short said late Tuesday afternoon that he is confident lawmakers will figure out a legislative fix for DACA, but it would be a “fairly Herculean” effort to get it done before the Friday deadline.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged his colleagues on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon to pass a short-term funding bill and continue discussions on how to precede with DACA.

“With no imminent deadline on immigration and with bipartisan talks well under way, there’s no reason why Congress should hold government funding hostage over the issue of illegal immigration,” McConnell said.

“Now that a federal judge has issued a nationwide injunction preventing the administration from winding down the Obama administration’s DACA program, it is clear that Congress has at least until March at a minimum, and possibly even longer, to reach a compromise,” he added.

Schumer, Pelosi and others within the Democratic Party were livid when Republicans shut the government down over Obamacare, calling them anarchists and claiming they were legitimately killing Americans.

Schumer went to the Senate floor one week before the government shut down in October to rail against then freshmen Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas for threatening to shut down the government over Obamacare.

The minority leader said that Cruz was effectively holding “the American people hostage until everyone agrees with his view.”

“He wants to hold the cancer patient hostage who won’t get NIH treatments if the government shuts down. He wants to throw the construction worker out of work, who’s doing a job that’s federally funded and won’t be funded if the government shuts down. He wants to tell the recipient of social security that they may not get their checks if there aren’t enough people at the centers to send those checks and make sure they get to the right place, because he wants to shut the government down,” Schumer said.

“The senator from Texas think he has the right to trample … the needs of the American people,” he added.

One week after the government shutdown, Schumer said that Democrats would not shut down the government to secure “immigration reform.” The then-majority whip said that would be “governmental chaos.”

Pelosi equated a government shutdown to an “unthinkable tactic,” and said that Republicans using it to force Democrat concessions were “legislative anarchists.”

Former President Barack Obama flat out excoriated Republicans for doing exactly what Democrats are with DACA — tying idealogical demands to a must-pass spending bill.

“Right now, House Republicans continue to tie funding of the government to ideological demands like limiting a woman’s access to contraception or delaying the Affordable Care Act, all to save face after making some impossible promises to the extreme right wing of their party,” Obama said, according to The Washington Post.

“You don’t get to extract a ransom for doing your job, for doing what you’re supposed to be doing anyway, or just because there’s a law there that you don’t like.”

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

This Is the First Person Scheduled to Be Executed in 2018

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Texas is set to execute a convicted serial-killer known as the “Tourniquet Killer” Thursday. It will be the first execution of a U.S. inmate in 2018.

Anthony Shore, 55, was scheduled for execution by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas, at 6 p.m., Reuters reported Thursday.

Shore was convicted in 2004 of raping and/or murdering five girls and young women, using a homemade tourniquet to strangle them.

His gruesome crime spree took place during the 1980s and 1990s, and it is unlikely that there will be last-minute appeals to save his life.

His execution had already been scheduled for October 2017, but prosecutors postponed it because Shore was in an investigation regarding another inmate.

“Anthony Shore is the worst of the worst, a serial killer who took pleasure in his victims’ suffering,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. “Even Shore’s own family believes the death penalty is appropriate for his crimes.”

The oldest of his victims was 21-year-old Maria del Carmen Estrada, whose body was found nude in a Dairy Queen drive through in 1992.

Next by age was 16-year-old Dana Sanchez, murdered in 1995. He killed 14-year-old Laurie Tremblay in 1986 and raped an unnamed 14-year-old in 1993. His youngest victim was Dana Rebollar, a 9-year-old whom he raped and murdered in 1994.

Shore’s family has little sympathy for him, and his sister, Gina Shore, has gone so far as to say there must have been more victims than the five he’s known to have killed, according to the Houston Chronicle. As a result, she believes her brother’s execution is just and necessary.

“I think it will give closure. Then when people ask what about him, we can just say he’s dead,” Gina said. “I know in my heart without a doubt that there are more. There had to have been other girls.”

Mr. Shore avoided detection for 20 years after his last recorded murder and was only brought down as a result of his DNA being put on file in 1998 after he was convicted of molesting his daughters.

Police checked his DNA against cold cases and was able to match him with a murder. Shore has used everything in his power to avoid the death penalty since that time for nearly 20 years.

His most recent defense was that he’d experienced a personality-affecting brain injury when he got into a car crash in 1981, an excuse which his younger daughter, Tiffany Hall, isn’t buying.

“I think it’s a load of crap,” said Hall, now 32. “The only reason I can see him wanting a stay is so he can torture his victims and his family by being alive.”

Shore remained remarkably chipper during his time on death row, as was evidenced by his relentless correspondence with his family.

“I will likely get a stay, but ya’ just never know,” Shore wrote to his father in July 2017. “I’d prefer to live a bit longer but am ready if it’s God’s will.” (For more from the author of “This Is the First Person Scheduled to Be Executed in 2018” please click HERE)

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

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Police Caught in Another Lie as Authorities Finally Admit to Multiple Suspects in Vegas Massacre

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It has been months since the worst shooting in modern history was carried out in Las Vegas and Americans have been lied to, led astray, and essentially kept in the dark as to what went down that tragic evening. Official narratives have shifted like the tide; and despite dozens of lawsuits and media requests, very little information has been conceded by authorities—until now.

Three months later and Las Vegas Police have yet to even release a still image of Stephen Paddock inside the Mandalay Bay Casino and Resort. Police haven’t even released the type of gun Paddock used in the massacre.

The utter secrecy surrounding the case has some diligent local media pressing the police and, this week, some of that pressure has paid off.

As KVVU reports, inside a district courtroom on Jan. 16, a lawyer for multiple media outlets argued why information pertaining to 1 October is crucial to helping Las Vegas heal, but the lawyer for Metro Police said they can’t release any information because there are still suspects being investigated.

“Without naming names, there are potential charges against other people, because of the ongoing investigation?”, District Court Judge Elissa Cadish asked Metro’s Lawyer Nick Crosby.

“Yes there are charges being investigated,” Crosby replied.

This new revelation that Paddock may have had help or that other people may have had foreknowledge of the attack is nothing short of bombshell as they may be able to help in providing a motive, or at the very least, give a little insight into what actually happened that night.

According to KVVU, Metro police maintain because of possible new suspects they should not have to release anything pertaining to the obtaining of the search warrants or any evidence seized because of them.

Naturally, this left the media and attorneys for the victims with more questions than answers.

“Are they investigating obstruction of justice? Lies to Metro under oath from Mandalay Bay employees? Is it people who sold [Paddock] the guns or ammunition? Or did someone have knowledge of what he was going to do? Now [Metro Police] are just having us speculate more and more and more,” Craig Island, an attorney for some of the victims said.

When asked how long it may take for police to release any information on the possible suspects, Metro’s lawyer responded, maybe 60 days. Reporters also pointed out the fact that the admission of multiple suspects entirely contradicts the official narrative.

“Today is the first time we’ve heard there are additional suspects out there, this contradicts what they have been saying, [Sheriff] Lombardo has said there are no other suspects,” Maggie McCletchie, a lawyer for the media outlets said.

McCletchie argues Metro has had three months to show they are still investigating, and that there are in fact other suspects, and said enough is enough; the public has a right to know what happened, according to KVVU.

“There are important therapeutic effects of getting information out there after a tragedy,” she said. “The public has a right to know and shouldn’t just have to rely on what the sheriff and other law enforcement is saying.”

Metro police told the judge that telling the public why they can’t release the information would be damaging to the investigation. Judge Cadish, finding middle ground, gave Las Vegas police until the end of next week and noted that she would decide by then whether or not the information related to the search warrants for additional suspects will be released.

Media attorney McCletchie says that this is still too long as the victims have a right to know—now.

“The public has a dire need to know what happened on 1 October,” McCletchie said.

Interestingly enough, this information comes days after Joe Lombardo addressed the media and told Americans to forget about Vegas and move on.

The frustrating thing for me as the head of the law enforcement is the keyboard bandits the guys who sit at their couches at their home and Monday morning quarterback everything you do and that are smarter than you. The pressure that we are put under to do the right thing and I believe we did the right thing and I am not hiding anything from anybody. You know what I know. The reason why I say that it is just as important for you to be comfortable living here and have an understanding to prevent another event from taking place, for you to know what exactly happened. So, you know what exactly happened so far. I anticipate a press conference here in about a week to give you more information and to provide the media with more information associated with that event. But there will not be a keystone or an important piece associated with Mr. Paddock and why he did what he did, so it’s important for us to forget that and move on and be resilient.

Well, Lombardo, the families of the victims who want to know why their mother, father, son, or daughter was murdered that night have no plans of ‘forgetting.’ The pressure will continue to mount until the public knows everything you have been keeping under wraps. (For more from the author of “Police Caught in Another Lie as Authorities Finally Admit to Multiple Suspects in Vegas Massacre” please click HERE)

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Jobless Claims Lowest Since 1973

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U.S. filings for unemployment benefits plummeted to the lowest level in almost 45 years in a sign the job market will tighten further in 2018, Labor Department figures showed Thursday . . .

The drop in claims shows that companies are increasingly holding on to their employees amid a shortage of skilled labor. Businesses are struggling to find workers to fill positions, particularly in manufacturing and construction, as cited in some anecdotes for the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book released Wednesday.

The figures suggest the unemployment rate of 4.1 percent, already the lowest since 2000, could be poised to decline further. The latest week for claims includes the 12th of the month, which is the reference period for the Labor Department’s monthly employment surveys. (Read more from “Jobless Claims Lowest Since 1973” HERE)

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Trump Just Became the First Sitting President to Address This Cause

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President Donald Trump will become the first sitting president to address the March For Life, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday.

The annual event, held since 1974 in Washington, protests the “Roe v. Wade” decision dismissing many restrictions on abortion across the U.S . . .

Sanders said Trump will address the marchers live on Friday via satellite feed from the White House. (Read more from “Trump Just Became the First Sitting President to Address This Cause” HERE)

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