Trump Says U.S. ‘Losing’ Afghan War in Tense Meeting With Generals

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President Donald Trump has become increasingly frustrated with his advisers tasked with crafting a new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and recently suggested firing the war’s top military commander during a tense meeting at the White House, according to senior administration officials.

During the July 19 meeting, Trump repeatedly suggested that Defense Secretary James Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford replace Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, because he is not winning the war, the officials said. Trump has not met Nicholson, and the Pentagon has been considering extending his time in Afghanistan.

Over nearly two hours in the situation room, according to the officials, Trump complained about NATO allies, inquired about the United States getting a piece of Afghan’s mineral wealth and repeatedly said the top U.S. general there should be fired. He also startled the room with a story that seemed to compare their advice to that of a paid consultant who cost a tony New York restaurateur profits by offering bad advice.

Trump is the third president to grapple with the war in Afghanistan. On Wednesday, two American troops were killed in Afghanistan when a convoy they were in came under attack. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. (Read more from “Trump Says U.S.’Losing’ Afghan War in Tense Meeting With Generals” HERE)

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Former U.N. Amb. Power Unmasked ‘Hundreds’ in Final Year of Obama Admin

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Former United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power is believed to have made “hundreds” of unmasking requests to identify individuals named in classified intelligence community reports related to Trump and his presidential transition team, according to multiple sources who said the behavior is unprecedented for an official in her position.

Power was first identified by the Washington Free Beacon last month as a central figure in a congressional investigation into efforts by senior Obama administration officials to obtain classified intelligence information in what many allege was an effort to undermine President Donald Trump and his incoming national security team.

Power is believed to be the anonymous official responsible for “hundreds of unmasking requests during the final year of the Obama administration,” according to current and former U.S. officials who spoke to the Free Beacon about the ongoing investigation.

Efforts by the former Obama administration to obtain the names of Trump allies included in raw intelligence reports have fueled speculation that subsequent leaks to the press were orchestrated by the former administration and its allies in a bid to damage the current White House and smear Trump’s most senior confidantes.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R., Calif.), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, which is handling the probe, petitioned Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats last week to request his help in addressing the unmasking issue. (Read more from “Former U.N. Amb. Power Unmasked ‘Hundreds’ in Final Year of Obama Admin” HERE)

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Illegal ‘Dreamer’ Accused of Raping Woman

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A 23-year-old DREAMer in Washington state is accused of brutally raping a 19-year-old woman in her apartment complex’s gym and leaving her with severe facial injuries — including a broken jaw and dangling ear.

The woman ended up stumbling home with missing teeth, a bloody head and wearing only a black tank top, according to court documents obtained by Fox News. She was working out in the gym in Burien, a Seattle suburb, before the June 25 assault and did not know her attacker, police said.

Salvador Diaz-Garcia, an illegal immigrant who was a recipient of Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, is now facing second-degree assault and rape charges in the vicious attack. He also faces child molestation charges for allegedly assaulting a 14-year-old the same day the rape occurred.

His DACA status has been revoked and he now may face possible deportation, officials said. (Read more from “Illegal ‘Dreamer’ Accused of Raping Woman” HERE)

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Hersh: Here’s Who Invented Russia ‘Collusion’

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The entire Russia collusion story was a fiction made up by intelligence chiefs who lied about President Trump, and lied to President Obama and the media, according to a person on a just-released audio recording who is almost certainly legendary Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.

Further, the person who recorded the audio is almost certainly financier Ed Butowsky, who hired private investigator Rod Wheeler to investigate the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich last July.

Wheeler filed a defamation lawsuit against Butowsky and Fox News on Tuesday over a story the network retracted about the investigation.

The text of Wheeler’s lawsuit described a conversation between Hersh and Butowsky in which the reporter said: “I have somebody on the inside who will go and read a file for me. And I know this person is unbelievably accurate and careful. He’s a very high level guy.”

WND did some digging and discovered those identical words appear on the audio recording, apparently verifying they were spoken by Hersh and taped by Butowsky. Judging by a report in the Washington Post, the conversation happened during, or before, February. (Read more from “Hersh: Here’s Who Invented Russia ‘Collusion'” HERE)

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Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Wray as New FBI Director

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In an usual display of bipartisanship, the Senate easily confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick for the next FBI director.

The final tally was 92-5 in favor of Christopher Wray to head the bureau.

Wray replaces James Comey, who Trump fired in May.

Judiciary Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, expressed confidence that Wray would protect the integrity of the investigation of possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

“Mr. Wray was asked directly what he would do if presented with the opportunity to influence these investigations in any way. He told the committee that he won’t condone tampering with investigations, and that he would resign rather than be unduly influenced in any manner,” Grassley said. “Mr. Wray’s record of service, and his reputation, give us no reason to doubt him.”

Last month, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to approve Wray’s appointment, demonstrating the confidence senators had in his ability to lead the bureau in a fair manner.

Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, believes Wray will be “tested” by the Trump administration.

“One early test may come in relation to the investigations being conducted by Special Counsel [Robert] Mueller, this committee and other committees in Congress,” she said.

The five Democrat senators who voted against Wray were Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley or Oregon and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared happy to put one in the win column following last week’s failure of the Obamacare repeal to pass by one vote.

McConnell also chided Democrats for the slow pace of confirming Trump’s other appointments:

By this point in the Obama presidency only 41 top posts remained open compared to Trump’s 114. According to the New York Times, part of the blame lies with Trump, who has been slower than Obama in announcing his picks.

Wray has been in private law practice since 2005.

Prior to that, he served as assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal division at the Justice Department during the administration of President George W. Bush. (For more from the author of “Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Wray as New FBI Director” please click HERE)

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Huckabee Calls for Repeal of 17th Amendment

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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) on Friday called for the repeal of the 17th Amendment and the return to senators selected by state legislatures after the Senate GOP’s effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare died in a late-night vote.

The 17th Amendment was ratified in 1913 and established the popular election of senators. Previously, senators were elected by state legislatures.

The Senate’s “skinny repeal” of ObamaCare failed late Thursday night by a vote of 51-49. The bill would have repealed major parts of the Affordable Care Act, including the individual mandate and would have defunded Planned Parenthood. The vote failed after three Republican senators, John McCain (Ariz.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), defected and voted against the bill.

“We must now return to the correct way of legislating and send the bill back to committee, hold hearings, receive input from both sides of the aisle, heed the recommendations of nation’s governors, and produce a bill that finally delivers affordable health care for the American people,” McCain said in a statement after the vote. (Read more from “Huckabee Calls for Repeal of 17th Amendment” HERE)

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Former Obama Aide Now a Person of Interest in Unmasking Investigation

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Former Obama White House National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes is now an emerging as a person of interest in the House Intelligence Committee’s unmasking investigation, according to a letter sent Tuesday by the committee to the National Security Agency (NSA). This adds Rhodes to the growing list of top Obama government officials who may have improperly unmasked Americans in communications intercepted overseas by the NSA, Circa has confirmed.

The House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-CA, sent the letter to the National Security Agency requesting the number of unmaskings made by Rhodes from Jan. 1, 2016 to Jan. 20, 2017, according to congressional sources who spoke with Circa. Rhodes, who worked closely with former National Security Adviser Susan Rice and was a former deputy national security adviser for strategic communications for President Obama, became a focus of the committee during its review of classified information to assess whether laws were broken regarding NSA intercepted communications of President Trump, members of his administration and other Americans before and after the election, according to congressional officials. The committee is requesting that the NSA deliver the information on Rhodes by August, 21.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, Rice and former CIA Director John Brennan have all been named in the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the unmasking of Americans. A letter sent last week from Nunes to Dan Coats, the director of National Intelligence, suggested that top Obama aides made hundreds of unmasking requests during the 2016 presidential elections. The story, which was first reported by The Hill last week, stated that the requests were made without specific justifications as to why the unmasking was necessary. Rice and Brennan have confirmed they sought the unredacted names of Americans in NSA-sourced intelligence reports but insisted their requests were routine parts of their work and had no nefarious intentions. Power also has legal authority to unmask officials, though the practice has not reportedly been common for someone in her position. Rhodes also had legal authority to unmask Americans in NSA-source intelligence reports. But intelligence and congressional sources question the extent of the unmasking. (Read more from “Former Obama Aide Now a Person of Interest in Unmasking Investigation” HERE)

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Dem Senator Refuses to Discuss Constituent Raped by Illegal Alien

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Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden on Tuesday blew off wanting to talk about an elderly constituent in his state who was raped by an illegal immigrant that was previously deported 20 times.

Wyden refused to answer The Daily Caller’s questions about the illegal immigrant accused of raping a 65-year-old woman at her Portland home and assaulting another female in the area. Portland is a sanctuary city.

“We’ll have more to say about that another time. Today is about taxes,” Wyden said, before he veered off to discuss issues pertaining to the Russia investigation.

The man charged with attacking the women on July 24, 31-year-old Sergio Martinez, was released by the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office one week before the attacks, according to a letter from Sheriff Mike Reese.

Martinez only served 31 days in the Multnomah County Jail before he was released on July 17. (Read more from “Dem Senator Refuses to Discuss Constituent Raped by Illegal Alien” HERE)

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Panicked NYT Warns Reporters Not to Talk to ‘College Students’

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Deputy Managing Editor for The New York Times Clifford Levy warned reporters and editors in a tweet Tuesday to be on the lookout for someone posing as a “college student” attempting to solicit damaging quotes or information from the paper of record.

Levy tweeted a screenshot of a warning the unidentified impostor was asking for face-to-face interviews in the hopes that someone would slip up and say something disparaging about the staff, or share sensitive information.

“We’re happy for our journalists to engage with readers, students and other members of the public, and we don’t want to discourage that,” the warning read. “But be careful. In these polarized times, make sure you know whom you’re talking to, and be sure to maintain Times standards in any such interactions.” (Read more from “Panicked NYT Warns Reporters Not to Talk to ‘College Students'” HERE)

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U.S. Town Bans Residents From Criticizing Mosque

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A New Jersey township that was sued by Muslims for refusing to approve a massive mosque project is returning to court because of a settlement agreement that restricts speech regarding Islam.

The settlement required the township to hold a public meeting about the mosque project, but it forbade anyone from commenting on “Islam” or “Muslims.”

A key tenet of Shariah, the Muslim law that governs both personal and political life, bans any negative comments about Islam or Muslims.

According to the Thomas More Law Center, which sued the township on behalf of two residents whose home is within 200 feet of the proposed mega-mosque, the settlement with Bernards Township “reads more like an instrument of surrender.”

The Islamic Society of Basking Ridge sued and won a decision in federal court after its mosque proposal was rejected based on traffic and other concerns. (Read more from “U.S. Town Bans Residents From Criticizing Mosque” HERE)

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