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Trump Ousts Scandal-Plagued Veterans Affairs Secretary, Appoints Replacement

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By The Daily Wire. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced that Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin was out and that he was being replaced by White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson.

Trump tweeted: “I am pleased to announce that I intend to nominate highly respected Admiral Ronny L. Jackson, MD, as the new Secretary of Veterans Affairs. In the interim, Hon. Robert Wilkie of DOD will serve as Acting Secretary. I am thankful for Dr. David Shulkin’s service to our country and to our GREAT VETERANS!” . . .

A Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) report found that Shulkin intentionally lied to government ethics officials and then lied to investigators to cover up his misuse of government funds. The details of Shulkin’s misbehavior can be found here. (Read more from “Trump Ousts Scandal-Plagued Veterans Affairs Secretary, Appoints Replacement” HERE)

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Trump Fires VA Secretary David Shulkin, Taps Navy Physician as Replacement

By The Washington Times. ust hours earlier, a spokesman for Mr. Shulkin told The Washington Times that there were “no personnel changes to announce” at the agency, despite mounting reports that Mr. Trump was preparing to remove Mr. Shulkin.

“President Trump has made clear that he expects the department’s sole focus to be on providing quality care to America’s veterans who have sacrificed to keep this country free and safe,” VA spokesman Curt Cashour said.

A White House spokesman said Monday that Mr. Trump had confidence in Mr. Shulkin “at this point in time.” Some major veterans groups expressed support for keeping Mr. Shulkin in the post.

Mr. Shulkin was a rare holdover from the Obama administration in Mr. Trump’s Cabinet, having served as undersecretary of health at the VA from 2015 to 2017. While the president initially praised his performance, he began to sour on Mr. Shulkin this year after an inspector general’s report criticized the secretary for wasting taxpayer money on a trip to Europe with his wife last summer.

Mr. Shulkin fell out of favor with some White House advisers who favor pushing more veterans’ health care services to the private sector. (Read more from “Trump Fires VA Secretary David Shulkin, Taps Navy Physician as Replacement” HERE)

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Color Me Shocked, Stormy Daniels’ Lawyer Utters the One Sentence All Trump Supporters Were Waiting to Hear

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By Bizpac Review. Michael Avenatti, the attorney for porn star Stormy Daniels, said on “CBS This Morning” Wednesday that his client would be willing to accept a settlement in her lawsuit, which seeks to void a 2016 nondisclosure agreement regarding her alleged affair with President Trump.

“If they came to you with a settlement in this case, would you accept it?” co-host Anthony Mason asked.

“I think we would consider it, I would converse with my client,” Avanatti replied. “It would depend on the terms of a settlement. But at this point, I don’t see how the case gets resolved short of the truth coming out.”

Responding to Gayle King’s question about whether the lawsuit is “politically motivated” and an effort to “embarrass” the president, the attorney said:

“It’s just simply not true. I’m not involved in politics. I’m representing my client. The president and [Trump lawyer Michael] Cohen are the ones that have spread half-truths and falsities about my client.

(Read more from “Color Me Shocked, Stormy Daniels’ Lawyer Utters the One Sentence All Trump Supporters Were Waiting to Hear” HERE)

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Daniels’ Spurs Settlement Talks After Filing Request to Depose Trump

By Newsweek. Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti said in an interview with CBS This Morning that he and his client would consider a settlement in their lawsuit against President Donald Trump and attorney Michael Cohen —but both would prefer for “the truth to come out.”

“I think we would consider it. I would converse with my client,” the adult film star’s lawyer said Wednesday. “It would depend on the terms of a settlement. But at this point, I don’t see how the case gets resolved short of the truth coming out.”

Avenatti’s discussion of a potential settlement comes on the same day the attorney filed a formal request to depose Trump and Cohen about the $130,000 paid to Daniels in October 2016. The hush agreement was made in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair she had with the business mogul in 2006-2007.

“We’re only getting started,” Avenatti told CBS This Morning host Gayle King. He also accused Cohen of “thuggish behavior” and using “intimidation tactics” to “step on little people.”

“Mr. Cohen and the president better be very careful what they come out and state regarding my client,” said Avenatti, who has been going from talk show to talk show to discuss the case. (Read more from “Daniels’ Spurs Settlement Talks After Filing Request to Depose Trump” HERE)

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One ’60 Minutes’ Accusation Could Get Stormy Daniels in Trouble; Lawyer Demands Apology and Retraction

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After Stormy Daniels’ national interview on “60 Minutes,” where the aging porn star shared details of an alleged one night stand with now-President Donald Trump over a decade ago, to include the dramatic claim that her life was threatened, a key player in the story immediately fired back.

The lawyer representing Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal attorney, sent a cease and desist letter Sunday night demanding that Daniels refrain from making further “false and defamatory” statements about Cohen, and requested a retraction and apology for the comments she made in the interview . . .

Brent Blakely, who represents Cohen, told Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti in the letter that his client had nothing to do with the alleged threat that Daniels said came from “a guy” in a parking lot, who warned her, “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.”

“In truth, Mr. Cohen had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with any such person or incident, and does not even believe that any such person exists, or that such incident ever occurred,” Blakely wrote.

“You and your client’s false statements about Mr. Cohen accuse him of criminal conduct and constitute, among other claims, libel per se and intentional infliction of emotional distress.” (Read more from “One ’60 Minutes’ Accusation Could Get Stormy Daniels in Trouble; Lawyer Demands Apology and Retraction” HERE)

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One Good Thing in Omnibus Bill, and It Has to Do With the Jailed Doctor Who Helped Us Kill Bin Laden

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By Bizpac Review. . .The $1.3 trillion spending bill signed by the president on Friday withholds $33 million in foreign aid to Pakistan until the release of Shakil Afridi, the doctor who helped the CIA locate and kill terror leader Osama bin Laden, Fox News reports.

Afridi assisted American intelligence by running a fake hepatitis vaccine program that allowed the CIA to confirm bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad, Pakistan via comparison of DNA samples.

Lt. Col. Michael Waltz, a counter-terrorism adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney, called Afridi’s role in the bin Laden capture-or-kill mission “critical.”

While hailed as a hero in America, the physician was imprisoned on charges of treason in his home country and reportedly tortured by Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency, including being burned with cigarettes and electrocuted. (Read more from “One Good Thing in Omnibus Bill, and It Has to Do With the Jailed Doctor Who Helped Us Kill Bin Laden” HERE)

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What’s Included (and What’s Not) in the $1.3 Trillion Omnibus Bill

By Forbes. Tax Administration. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) finally gets funding. After years of cuts, the bill allocates $11.4 billion to IRS, $196 million more than last year. The money is to be used to improve customer service and fund a “business systems modernization program” meant to bring IRS systems into the 21st century. Also included in that number is an extra $320 million “to be used solely for carrying out” the new tax law passed in December.

Border Security. The bill provides $1.6 billion in funding for border security. However, don’t start mixing up the plaster just yet: The funding can’t be used for “the wall.” Language in the bill only allows fencing similar to what’s already in place.

Opioid Crisis. The bill includes $500 million to fund research on opioid addiction and billions more in other programming and studies (including those related to opioid alternatives). Lest you doubt the impact of the crisis on the economy, the word “opioid” appears 24 times in the bill. Yes, a federal government spending bill.

Elections. The bill includes $380 million for states to shore up voting systems, including electronic enhancements.

Military. Medical care for veterans, including Medical and Prosthetic Research, gets a bump under the bill. There is also more money for troops (including a 2.4% pay raise, the largest since 2010).

(Read more from “What’s Included (and What’s Not) in the $1.3 Trillion Omnibus Bill” HERE)

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This Is the Comment Joe Biden ‘Regrets’ Saying About Trump

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By The Daily Wire. Former Vice President Joe Biden says he regrets suggesting that he could have beaten up a teenaged Donald Trump had the pair attended high school together.

Speaking to the podcast, Pod Save America, Biden said that he’s concerned with the coarsening of political discourse, and is sorry that he contributed to the decline.

“I shouldn’t have said what I said because I don’t want to get down in the mosh pit with this guy,” Biden said.

Last week, Biden told an audience in Florida that “If we were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.” Biden was talking about how he might have handled a hypothetical teen-aged Donald Trump’s “locker room talk,” which Biden said was offensive to women. (Read more from “This Is the Comment Joe Biden ‘Regrets’ Saying About Trump” HERE)

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Biden Supporters Are Thrilled Over His Fight With Trump

By The Hill. . .It’s only heightened speculation that Biden, 75, is serious about challenging Trump.

The former vice president sat out the 2016 presidential race, and has heard supporters say he would have defeated Trump if he’d been in the running. Trump triumphed over Democrat Hillary Clinton by winning the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — states Biden sees as practically his political base . . .

In each case, a Trump insult or taunt was turned into a fundraiser pitch to Democrats eager to resist the president.

“The fundraising email practically writes itself,” the Biden World source said.

Even Republicans saw the comments as a positive for Biden. (Read more from “Biden Supporters Are Thrilled Over His Fight With Trump” HERE)

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Trump Issues Major Decision on Transgender Members in the Military

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By The Blaze. In a late Friday evening announcement, the White House announced that transgender persons would be banned from the military, with a few exceptions . . .

“Today the President rescinded his previous memorandum on transgender service in the military in order to allow Secretary Mattis new policy developed through extensive study by senior uniformed and civilian leaders including combat veterans,” the statement read.

“The experts’ study set forth a policy to enhance our military’s readiness, lethality, and and effectiveness,” it continued. “On the advice of these experts the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security have concluded that the accession or retention of individuals with a history of diagnosis of gender dysphoria – those who may require substantial medical treatment, including through medical drugs or surgery – presents considerable risk to military effectiveness and lethality.”

“This new policy will enable the military to apply well-established mental and physical health standards – including those regarding the use of medical drugs – equally to all individuals who want to join and five for the best military force the world has ever seen,” the statement concluded. “The Secretary of Defense’s memorandum and accompanying report have been made public today.” . . .

Gender dysphoria is the technical term for transgender persons, those who don’t consider themselves to have a gender that fits into traditional, normal categories. Previously the condition was considered to be an abnormal psychiatric condition, but it is now gaining acceptance as merely another “state” of gender existence, especially among the left. (Read more from “Trump Issues Major Decision on Transgender Members in the Military” HERE)

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White House Announces Ban on Most Transgender Service Members

By CBS News. President Trump announced Friday a new transgender policy for the military that would ban most transgendered people from military service. He revoked the blanket ban announced last summer and said in a memorandum that he would defer to the recommendations of Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Mattis, according to a court filing Friday, stated that transgendered people with gender dysphoria — that is, who feel their emotional and psychological identity to be the opposite of their biological sex — will be disqualified from military service, except in specific circumstances.

The White House said retaining troops with a history or diagnosis of “gender dysphoria” — those who may require substantial medical treatment — “presents considerable risk to military effectiveness and lethality.”

The announcement was expected, since it was part of President Trump’s executive memo in August 2017 reinstating a pre-2016 ban on transgender military service. . .

The ban does not go into effect immediately because the ban is the subject of several ongoing lawsuits. (Read more from “White House Announces Ban on Most Transgender Service Members” HERE)

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Trump Derangement Syndrome Strikes Again

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Make Peru great again? … CNN “Republican” analyst Ana Navarro is back at it again. This time she responded to the news that Peru’s president is resigning by tweeting, “Oh how I wish we were Peru, right now.” Really, you wish we were Peru? Let’s look at some quick facts about Peru: The per capita GDP is $13,300, which is 22 percent of the US GDP per capita of $59,500. The unemployment rate in Peru is 6.7 percent, and over 20 percent of the population is in poverty. Ana, you really don’t wish we were Peru; that’s your Trump Derangement Syndrome talking again.

Biased … The media went apoplectic over the weekend when Donald Trump tweeted about the firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. That led to the Associated Press “fact-checking” the president’s tweets. As NewsBusters shows, the AP played fast and loose with the “facts” it used to perform its analysis. The cherry-picking shed the worst possible light on the tweets. Bias by omission is real, and the AP is a master at it . . .

Uh … The New York Times published obituaries of people that it missed over the years. The piece opens with, “Since 1851, obituaries in The New York Times have been dominated by white men. Now, we’re adding the stories of remarkable women.” As CR’s Chris Pandolfo noted on Twitter, the first obituary in this new format is of a man. The Times describes Marsha P. Johnson as a “transgender pioneer and activist.” The piece goes on to list many others, but really — that’s who they put at the top of the list.

Roseanne fights back … Next week, the reboot of 1980s/90s classic “Roseanne” is premiering on ABC. Roseanne, who in real life is a supporter of Donald Trump, has said it’s realistic that her TV character would support Trump, since many of his voters are blue-collar middle-Americans. That has the media upset. The Washington Post says that Roseanne’s character reminds them of bigoted Archie Bunker. Roseanne fired back that the show is “about love.” It is a welcome sign that ABC is willing to present American families as they are, not as Hollywood wants them to be. You can read all about Roseanne’s reaction here. (For more from the author of “Trump Derangement Syndrome Strikes Again” please click HERE)

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China Responds to Tariffs by Targeting These 128 U.S. Products

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By The Daily Wire. Early Friday morning, China responded to the Trump administration’s tariffs by revealing that they are proposing tariffs on 128 U.S. products that had an import value of $3 billion in 2017.

The proposed tariffs come in response to Trump signing “an executive memorandum on Thursday that would impose retaliatory tariffs on up to $60 billion in Chinese imports,” CNBC reported . . .

In a memo from the White House on Thursday, Trump revealed that he had directed “the United States Trade Representative to determine whether to investigate China’s laws, policies, practices, or actions that may be unreasonable or discriminatory and that may be harming American intellectual property rights, innovation, or technology development.”

According to the statement, the Trade Representative advised Trump that the investigation supports the following findings:

First, China uses foreign ownership restrictions, including joint venture requirements, equity limitations, and other investment restrictions, to require or pressure technology transfer from U.S. companies to Chinese entities. China also uses administrative review and licensing procedures to require or pressure technology transfer, which, inter alia, undermines the value of U.S. investments and technology and weakens the global competitiveness of U.S. firms.

(Read more from “China Responds to Tariffs by Targeting These 128 U.S. Products” HERE)

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China Responds to Trump Tariffs With Proposed List of 128 US Products to Target

By CNBC. . . .China’s commerce ministry proposed a list of 128 U.S. products as potential retaliation targets, according to a statement on its website posted Friday morning.

The U.S. goods, which had an import value of $3 billion in 2017, include wine, fresh fruit, dried fruit and nuts, steel pipes, modified ethanol, and ginseng, the ministry said. Those products could see a 15 percent duty, while a 25 percent tariff could be imposed on U.S. pork and recycled aluminium goods, according to the statement.

The statement did not go into greater detail. U.S. agricultural products, particularly soybeans, have been flagged as the biggest area of potential retaliation by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s administration.

Beijing will take measures against the 128 U.S. goods in two stages if it cannot reach an agreement with Washington, the ministry said, adding that it could take legal action under World Trade Organization rules. (Read more from “China Responds to Trump Tariffs With Proposed List of 128 US Products to Target” HERE)

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This Lawsuit Is a Real Threat to Trump

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By The Blaze. Summer Zervos, a contestant on “The Apprentice” in 2005, is bringing a defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump.

Trump’s lawyers tried to get the case thrown out, but on Tuesday, New York State Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Schecter ruled that “no one is above the law” and Zervos can bring her case. Schecter wrote in her decision that the accusations were not related to any of Trump’s presidential duties and cited the precedent set when Paula Jones sued Bill Clinton for sexual harassment in the ’90s . . .

Glenn and Stu analyzed this story and the dangers for Trump on today’s show. Trump will obviously be in a lot more trouble if Zervos can provide evidence during her day in court, but one of the biggest risks for anyone in this situation is having to speak under oath, increasing the chances that you will make a mistake . . .

Stu pointed out that you can be pinned for a “wrongly worded phrase” once you’re under oath.

“The goal would be to wreck [Trump],” Stu said. “Just get him on something.” (Read more from “This Lawsuit Is a Real Threat to Trump” HERE)

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‘No One Is Above the Law’: Trump Loses Bid to Dismiss Defamation Lawsuit by ‘Apprentice’ Contestant Who Says He Groped Her

By CNBC. A New York state judge Tuesday said “no one is above the law” as she denied President Donald Trump’s request to dismiss a defamation lawsuit by a former “Apprentice” contestant who claims he sexually groped her.

Manhattan Court Justice Jennifer Schecter’s decision, which allows the suit by Summer Zervos to proceed, rejected Trump’s argument that a sitting president cannot be subject to a state court’s jurisdiction.

Schecter cited the U.S. Supreme Court case that found a federal sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton by former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones, who accused Clinton of exposing himself to her, could proceed when Clinton was in the White House. (Read more from “‘No One Is Above the Law’: Trump Loses Bid to Dismiss Defamation Lawsuit by ‘Apprentice’ Contestant Who Says He Groped Her” HERE)

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Congressman Wants to Use Guns to Go After Trump

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By The Daily Wire. A New York Democratic congressman appeared to endorse using lethal force against President Donald Trump during a March 12 Q&A session where he suggested using the Second Amendment against the president if he doesn’t follow the law and listen to the courts.

Speaking with constituents in Huntington, on Long Island, Rep. Tom Suozzi, (D-NY) said, “I mean, this is where the Second Amendment comes in quite frankly, because you know, what if the president was to ignore the courts? What would you do? What would we do?”

(Read more from “Congressman Wants to Use Guns to Go After Trump” HERE)

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Democratic Congressman Hints at Armed Rebellion Against Trump

By Ed Kilgore. In pursuit of the ever-popular Beltway sport of False Equivalence, it’s common to see today’s left-bent resistance to Donald Trump compared to right-wing extremist movements of the recent past, from the tea party movement to precincts further off in the fever swamps. This sort of talk is often the product of laziness or malice. But now and then something happens that makes left-right parallels unavoidable and accurate. One such incident, surprisingly, comes from the loose lips of a member of Congress, New York’s Tom Suozzi. According to the New York Post, the Nassau County Democrat had this to say about the remedies available to deal with Donald J. Trump during a town hall meeting last week:

“It’s really a matter of putting public pressure on the president,” Suozzi said in a newly released video of the March 12 talk in Huntington. “This is where the Second Amendment comes in, quite frankly, because you know, what if the president was to ignore the courts? What would you do? What would we do?”

A listener then blurts out, “What’s the Second Amendment?”

The left-leaning Democrat says, “The Second Amendment is the right to bear arms.”

(Read more from “Democratic Congressman Hints at Armed Rebellion Against Trump” HERE)

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