RINO Lawmakers Consider Legislation to Protect Mueller From Trump

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By The Hill. Republican lawmakers on Sunday grappled with the potential need to protect special counsel Robert Mueller in light of a report that said President Trump called for his firing last year.

Hosts on the Sunday shows questioned lawmakers about the revelations in The New York Times report and what they mean for the investigation into Russia’s election interference and any potential ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a key Republican who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting its own Russia probe, said it “wouldn’t hurt” to pass legislation protecting Mueller.

“It certainly wouldn’t hurt to put that extra safeguard in place given the latest stories,” she told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Collins also noted that only Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller last year after the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, could fire the special counsel. (Read more from “Republican Lawmakers Consider Need to Protect Mueller” HERE)

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Republicans in Congress Divided over Protecting Mueller from Being Ousted by Trump

By Sean Sullivan. Republicans in Congress were divided Sunday over protecting special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, with two senators embracing plans to make it more difficult for President Trump to have him fired but a top House lawmaker declaring them unnecessary.

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) highlighted his proposal to check Trump’s power over Mueller, while Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said it wouldn’t hurt to pass legislation along those lines.

But House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said there was no need to pass such a measure, as he defended how the president and his team have navigated Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The GOP discord came just days after the revelation that Trump sought Mueller’s ouster last June, prompting Democrats to make a renewed pitch for Congress to shore up the special counsel’s standing. It underscored the growing split in the Republican Party between Trump loyalists and others who are becoming increasingly concerned with the president’s actions. (Read more from “Republicans in Congress Divided over Protecting Mueller from Being Ousted by Trump” HERE)

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Google Harassing, Firing Employees For Politically Incorrect Speech

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The firing of Google engineer James Damore for suggesting men are more suited to technical roles than women has triggered a culture war inside the Internet giant, with some Google employees saying the company is not doing enough to protect them from a harassment campaign that has subjected them to hateful comments and violent threats . . . [They claim they’ve been harassed] after screenshots were included in the 161-page lawsuit Damore filed in January alleging Google discriminates against whites, conservatives and men. . .

Google site reliability engineer Liz Fong-Jones, a trans [man who dresses as a woman] who has been the target of a harassment campaign conducted by a group of “extremists” inside Google, says [he] knows “multiple” colleagues who were not contacted by human resources or who were told that the company couldn’t do anything about their concerns. . .

Members of the far right have escalated their campaign against Google and the tech industry in recent weeks. Chuck Johnson, who was kicked off Twitter in 2015 after tweeting about wanting to “take out” civil rights activist DeRay McKesson, filed a lawsuit against Twitter on the same day that Damore filed his against Google. That week, James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas also released undercover videos of Twitter employees that it said showed the company is out to quash conservative voices. . .

That debate blew up last August when Damore’s memo leaked and he was eventually fired. . . In his memo, Damore wrote that while he did not oppose diversity, efforts to increase the number of women in technology were unlikely to succeed because in general, women are more interested in people than ideas. Women are also more prone to anxiety and less tolerant of stress, Damore said. (Read more from “Google Harassing, Firing Employees Politically Incorrect Speech” HERE)

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Founder of Whistle-Blower SecureDrop Supposedly Hangs Self Just like Co-Founder Did While Being Pursued by Feds

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An outspoken internet activist killed himself in a New York hotel in eerily similar circumstances to fellow hacker and Reddit co- founder Aaron Swartz.

James Dolan, 36, took his own life at a newly opened hotel, Gowanus Inn and Yard, in Brooklyn just after Christmas.

He is the second developer of the whistle-blower submission system SecureDrop to commit suicide by hanging in the same area.

Soon after his death, the internet started drawing similarities between Dolan’s suicide and that of Swartz who hanged himself in his Brooklyn apartment in 2013 as he was being pursued by federal agents.

Among those was WikiLeaks, who tweeted: ‘Second developer of WikiLeaks inspired submission system ‘SecureDrop’ security expert James Dolan, aged 36, has tragically died. He is said to have committed suicide. The first, Aaron Swartz, is said to have taken his own life at age 26, after being persecuted by US prosecutors.’ (Read more from “Founder of Whistle-Blower Securedrop Supposedly Hangs Self Just like Co-Founder Did While Being Pursued by Feds” HERE)

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‘I’m All for It’: DACA Immigrants Suddenly Changing Their Tune on Trump and the Border Wall

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Many of the so-called Dreamers worried about their immigration status are starting to reconsider their opposition to a possible wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a report Friday from the San Francisco Chronicle.

President Donald Trump’s wall at the border wouldn’t be so bad, some groups are now saying, so long as it means citizenship for the nearly 700,000 people brought into the country through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

“If building a wall leads us to having citizenship, then I’m all for it,” Ana Rodriguez, who works at a daycare center in California, told reporters at the Chronicle. “The U.S. is what I know and that’s where I want to live my life — I want to be a part of it in full.”

Rodriguez and others like her are arguing about accepting a trade-off — giving Trump his wall in exchange for retaining DACA. The Trump administration proposed a bill earlier this month offering citizenship to 1.8 million illegal immigrants in exchange for $25 billion for a border wall.

Activist organizations have also noted that DACA recipients are making recalculations about their opposition. Marissa Montes, co-director of the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic in Los Angeles, noticed in recent weeks that they are sounding more and more likely to back a wall in exchange for citizenship.

“It’s coming from a point of exhaustion — they’ve tried everything,” Montes told reporters. “Their instinct is survival and as human beings, how much longer can they endure this? They’re ping-ponging back and forth.”

Former President Barack Obama implemented the program in 2012 to allow people younger than 16 who live in the country illegally to receive renewable, two-year protections from deportation along with work permits. They also had to live in the country continuously from 2007 onward and have no criminal convictions.

Trump ended the Obama-era executive action in September telling Congress it had six months to codify the program into law before protections expired. The president eventually temporarily reinstated the action after being showered with criticisms — but the temporary halt will be lifted over the next several months.

Democrats have been seeking a bill that covers DACA recipients, and as many as 2 million similarly situated illegal immigrants who did not apply or did not qualify for the Obama amnesty.

Trump’s upcoming proposal appears to be an effort to split the difference between the Democratic demand and an immigration reform bill from House Republicans, which was limited to roughly 700,000 existing DACA beneficiaries.

Democrats used the DACA issue as a cudgel during the budget debate earlier this month to temporarily shut down the government. Republicans refused to bend to the Democrat’s demands at the time to negotiate DACA, while the minority party largely unified to use the shutdown deadline to exact protections from the GOP for hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants.

Republicans tried to sweeten the deal, offering Democrats a long-term extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, as well as the delay of some unpopular health care taxes. The GOP believed the public would blame Democrats if the sweetener was rejected.

Democrats appear concerned about the optics as well. A Super PAC allied with Senate Democrats commissioned a poll in 12 battleground states to determine which party would be blamed if a shutdown was tied to the legal status of dreamers. The poll found that Democrats absorb most of the blame in such a scenario.

The poll, which was conducted in December by Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group on behalf of a Senate Majority PAC, also found that blame for a shutdown would be split between Trump and Republicans, and Democrats in Congress, The Washington Post reported earlier this month.

Recent polling shows Hispanics are evenly split on whether to combine a DACA deal to the building of a wall — 42 percent of Hispanics oppose it and 42 percent support it, according to the Quinnipiac poll conducted Jan. 18. In total, 73 percent of voters’ support allowing Dreamers to remain in the U.S. legally, according to the poll.

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

Former Presidential Candidate Fires Chief of Staff for ‘Improper Conduct’

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Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Saturday that he had fired his chief of staff after receiving allegations of improper conduct.

Rubio said in a statement that he had “sufficient evidence” to conclude that his chief of staff had “violated office policies regarding proper relations between a supervisor and their subordinates.” Clint Reed, who has been identified as the senator’s chief of staff, first began working for Rubio as his Iowa state director in October 2015.

“I further concluded that this led to actions which in my judgement amounted to threats to withhold employment benefits,” Rubio said.

The Florida senator said he was made aware of these reports Friday and immediately began investigating the matter. Rubio said he traveled from Florida to Washington D.C. on Saturday evening to fire his chief of staff.

Rubio’s office said that, in accordance with the wishes of those who made the complaints, it would not be disclosing any further details about the incidents. (Read more from “Former Presidential Candidate Fires Chief of Staff for ‘Improper Conduct'” HERE)

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Court Backs Right to Express Christian Views at Work

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By WND. Discrimination against Christian ideas has been handed a big reprimand by the Washington state Supreme Court.

The justices ruled Thursday a former fire captain who was fired for sending emails with religious content through his work account can sue the Spokane Valley Fire Department for damages because his First Amendment rights were violated.

Jon Sprague pointed out other employees used the same email system for a variety of other purposes, such as seeking babysitting and selling concert tickets. There also were discussions of substance abuse and conflicts with children.

But when Sprague shared thoughts from the Bible, he ended up unemployed.

The high court previously returned the case to the lower courts because of unresolved issues over the fire department’s violation of Sprague’s First Amendment rights. (Read more from “Court Backs Right to Express Christian Views at Work” HERE)

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Washington Court Rules Fire Department Violated Firefighter’s Free Speech

By CN. A fire department violated a firefighter’s free-speech rights when it restricted his ability to include religious comments in work emails and forums, the Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The fire department now has the burden of showing it would have fired the firefighter even without his protected First Amendment actions . . .

Sprague used the department’s email to send messages about the Christian fellowship, which often incorporated Bible passages and topics to be discussed at meetings, according to court documents . . .

Eventually, the department suspended and fired him after a mediation process failed.

Sprague claimed in state court he was the victim of religious discrimination and free speech violations. (Read more from “Washington Court Rules Fire Department Violated Firefighter’s Free Speech” HERE)

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Trump: ‘Firing’ Report Is Fake News

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By Washington Examiner. President Trump said Friday that the New York Times story saying he wanted to fire special counsel Robert Mueller last year was “fake news.”

“Fake news, folks, fake news,” Trump said in Davos. “Typical New York Times fake stories.”

The Times’ report said Trump ordered Mueller to be fired, and was stopped by White House counsel Don McGahn, who said firing Mueller in the middle of his probe into Russian meddling in the election would be a political disaster for Trump.

McGahn later said the idea of firing Mueller has “never been on the table, never.” (Read more from “Trump: ‘Firing’ Report Is Fake News” HERE)

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Trump Slams Report Claiming He Sought to Fire Mueller, Blames ‘Fake News’

By Fox News. President Trump on Friday denied reports that he ordered the firing of Special Counsel Robert Mueller in June and only backed down after his White House counsel refused to carry out the instruction and threatened to resign . . .

The Times’ report said that White House lawyer Don McGahn said he would not deliver the order to the Justice Department, according to The Times, which cites four people familiar with the request by the president.

Trump argued at the time that Mueller could not be fair because of a dispute over golf club fees that he said Mueller owed at a Trump golf club in Sterling, Va, the report said. The president also believed Mueller he had a conflict of interest because he worked for the same law firm that was representing Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner. (Read more from “Trump Slams Report Claiming He Sought to Fire Mueller, Blames ‘Fake News'” HERE)

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Poll: Majority of Small Business Owners ‘Very Concerned’ About the Cost of Health Care in 2018

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Roosevelt Opinion Research recently surveyed 500 small business owners at the behest of the Job Creators Network, and found that the cost of health care is a significant concern going into 2018.

When asked: “What is the biggest threat your business faces in 2018?” 16.2% replied “health care mandates.” While that ranks far below “finding qualified workers” (27.3%) and “other” (22.1%), 16.2% (approximately one sixth) is a significant number.

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), businesses with 50 or more full-time equivalent (FTE) employees must offer affordable health insurance for those employees and their dependents, or face a fine.

When asked: “Is the cost of health care a concern to you in 2018?” 55.9% said that they are “very concerned,” and 20.6% said they are “somewhat concerned.” A combined 20.2% said they are either “somewhat unconcerned” or “very unconcerned.” . . .

In early January, the Trump administration’s Department of Labor announced a proposal that would let a larger number of small businesses and sole proprietors than is currently allowed to band together and form associations. These groups could then use their collective power to negotiate lower health insurance costs. (Read more from “Poll: Majority of Small Business Owners ‘Very Concerned’ About the Cost of Health Care in 2018” HERE)

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Report: FBI Agents Used ‘Private’ Devices While Investigating Hillary’s Private Server

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Two anti-Trump and pro-Clinton FBI agents caught in the middle of a massive scandal regarding corruption and political bias at the nation’s leading investigative bureau allegedly used “private” devices to communicate with each other about government work while investigating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

In a letter, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told FBI Director Chris Wray that FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page may have used private devices while investigating Hillary Clinton for “similar” practices, Fox News reported Friday . . .

This latest revelation comes after Grassley released new text messages on Thursday between Strzok and Page, who were having an affair, that showed the two talked about using private devices to communicate about work-related matters while investigating Clinton. Fox News notes:

In an April 10, 2016 text, Strzok messaged Page to say: “Gmailed you two drafts of what I’m thinking of sending Bill, would appreciate your thoughts.”

In other messages, on June 3, Strzok told Page: “Dude. It’s all unclassified…Type on home computer and email to yourself.”

(Read more from “Report: Fbi Agents Used ‘Private’ Devices While Investigating Hillary’s Private Server” HERE)

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‘Lies’ About 9/11 Apparently ‘Approved by Mueller’

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By WND. . .Now there is an eye-opening report at Judicial Watch with evidence indicating Mueller approved a series of “lies” about a federal investigation of links between a Florida family and the 9/11 terror attack on the United States.

Judicial Watch says the evidence comes from court documents in a long-running cause involving a Saudi family whose members fled their Florida home just days before the terror attack, leaving behind cars and personal belongings.

The documents, Judicial Watch explains, “further rock the credibility of Russia Special Counsel Robert Mueller because they show that as FBI Director Mueller … worked to cover up the connection between a Florida Saudi family and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The documents reveal that Mueller was likely involved in publicly releasing deceptive official agency statements about a secret investigation of the Saudis, who lived in Sarasota, with ties to the hijackers.” . . .

The Bulldog reported it had issued a report in 2011 disclosing the existence of an FBI investigation about the family and the fact that it had been concealed from Congress.

What followed were statements from FBI officials in Miami and Tampa that “sought to discredit the story, asserting that agents had found no connection between the Sarasota Saudi family and the 9/11 plot.” (Read more from “‘Lies’ About 9/11 Apparently ‘Approved by Mueller'” HERE)

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As FBI Director Mueller Helped Cover up Fla. 9/11 Probe, Court Docs Show

By Judicial Watch. Director Mueller he worked to cover up the connection between a Florida Saudi family and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The documents reveal that Mueller was likely involved in publicly releasing deceptive official agency statements about a secret investigation of the Saudis, who lived in Sarasota, with ties to the hijackers. A Florida journalism nonprofit uncovered the existence of the secret FBI investigation that was also kept from Congress.

Under Mueller’s leadership, the FBI tried to discredit the story, publicly countering that agents found no connection between the Sarasota Saudi family and the 2001 terrorist plot. The reality is that the FBI’s own files contained several reports that said the opposite, according to the Ft. Lauderdale-based news group’s ongoing investigation. Files obtained by reporters in the course of their lengthy probe reveal that federal agents found “many connections” between the family and “individuals associated with the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001.” The FBI was forced to release the once-secret reports because the news group sued in federal court when the information wasn’t provided under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The disingenuous statements were issued by FBI officials in Miami and Tampa in a desperate effort to disparage a 2011 story exposing the agency’s covert investigation of the Sarasota Saudis as well as reporting that it had been concealed from Congress. Mueller is referenced in a document index that was ordered by a federal judge to be created in late November 2017. The south Florida judge, William J. Zloch, a Ronald Reagan appointee, asked the FBI to explain where it had discovered dozens of pages of documents in the public-records case filed six years ago. The index reference to then-FBI Director Mueller appears in an item involving an agency white paper written a week after the publication of a news story about the abrupt departure of Saudis Abdulaziz and Anoud al-Hijji from their Sarasota area home about two weeks before 9/11. The couple left behind their cars, clothes, furniture, jewelry and other personal items. “It was created to brief the FBI Director concerning the FBI’s investigation of 4224 Escondito Circle,” the al-Hijjis’ address, the index says. (Read more from “As FBI Director Mueller Helped Cover up Fla. 9/11 Probe, Court Docs Show” HERE)

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