Wednesday, Nov 12th
Last update09:32:05 AM GMT
Political Glance
The FBI investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia was originally known as "Crossfire Hurricane" before it was widely known to the public and even the bureau itself, officials told The New York Times.
The case, named after a Rolling Stones lyric, was used by only the small group of agents sent to interview the Australian ambassador to the United Kingdom, who had evidence of possible collusion between Russia and a Trump adviser.
The Education Department has in recent months largely dismantled a team charged with investigating abuses by for-profit colleges, The New York Times reported Sunday.
The investigative team was created in 2016 to look into widespread fraud claims against for-profit colleges. Roughly a dozen investigators and lawyers were later added to the unit.
The Times reported that the team now consists of three employees, who focus mainly on student loan forgiveness applications. The investigations into for-profit colleges have largely come to a stop, according to the report.
Another desk is being vacated in the ever-churning White House communications department.
Cliff Sims, a special assistant to the president who oversees White House message strategy, is expected to take a position at the State Department as a senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the coming weeks.
“Cliff worked on communications for Pompeo’s confirmation and did an outstanding job, which led to Secretary Pompeo offering him that position,” said a person close to Pompeo.
Sims was officially offered the post on Monday and is expected to begin as soon as possible, the source said. The White House press office did not respond to a request for comment on the personnel change.
A booklet published by Melania Trump’s new campaign for children’s online safety bears an uncanny resemblance to a document released under Barack Obama’s administration.
Donald Trump’s wife gave an opening night address at the Republican National Convention in 2016 that was partly plagiarised from a speech by then first lady Michelle Obama.
Melania’s initiative, Be Best, which launched on Monday, has a page on the official White House website that said near the bottom: “Parents, click here to read Talking with Kids about Being Online, a booklet by First Lady Melania Trump and the Federal Trade Commission.”
Donald Trump’s legal team for the Russia investigation has had its share of setbacks. Most recently, lead attorney John Dowd resigned from his post, reportedly because Trump stopped listening to him. Losing Dowd didn’t just mean losing a “fierce legal mind,” it also meant losing the only lawyer on Trump’s team with security clearance.
Now, Bloomberg reports, none of Trump’s lawyers working on issues related to the Russia probe have clearance. Jay Sekulow, Trump’s personal attorney and the host of Jay Sekulow Live!, replaced Dowd, but he’s still waiting to be cleared. The newest members of the team — Rudy Giuliani, Marty Raskin and Jane Raskin — haven’t been on the job long enough to get cleared themselves and none of them told Bloomberg whether they’d even sought such clearance.
In the fourth and final Florida bellwether election since 2016, the Democratic candidate beat the Republican in a contested race, providing the best evidence yet that the GOP is in retreat heading into the midterm elections under an unpopular president.
On Tuesday, in Florida’s 114th state House District in Miami, Javier Fernandez beat Republican Andrew Vargas by about 4.1 percentage points, despite being outspent by at least 2-1 in a swing seat where voters split their tickets between both parties in the 2016 elections.
The officials said Kelly portrays himself to Trump administration aides as the lone bulwark against catastrophe, curbing the erratic urges of a president who has a questionable grasp on policy issues and the functions of government. He has referred to Trump as "an idiot" multiple times to underscore his point, according to four officials who say they've witnessed the comments.
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