Thats a tough one. I want to shut down all immigration unless they went through the correct steps. The ones here....have no problem with vetting all 11 million illegals in the country, look at them and if they havent commetted any crimes.....amensty could be brought up and taken through. The border has to be shut down prior for a predetermined time, and go from there.
Bottom line.....the thought of taking people in to take care of them on American tax payers dime is wrong. Thats my problem with this. The government isnt running a surplus and there are far more important issues needed to be addressed for citizens. Its a fiscal monetary issue for me.
As far as the EO.....Trump should have slowed down a day or so, visas and green cards were the mistake. He needs to scrap those two items and rewrite.
Is Because Asian People live 9 Times, Lives on Earth Nine and in between dying and being Born Again, between Lives, is Limpopo which is big room vast with just ping pong tables and overhead TVs showing Bruce Lee Movies.
Well, there are weird ass Parades too on occasion with Huge Paper Mache animals like Clouds In Sky, scary.
That's why many, if not most of them, come to America,and other Western Countries, to get away from those Countries. To live in a place where Religion is just a sidebar, not the law of the land. Something you can practice as little, or as much as you want, based on your wants. Not the law. At least for now, until Pence and the Religious Whackos take over.
Thats where "The Disconnect" Occurs and Liberals go astray, many of them it seems On Purpose fully knowing that neither Pence, Trump or really anyone has called for an Across-The-Board ban on people who think they are Muslim. Libs Protest and yell like thats whats been called for but its a Temporary Ban to get in place better Vetting. Some of these countries there is actually Less Than Zero way to ID who these people are. -0 being countries where Forged (False) Info, ID Histories are created.
Ya'll's "Opposition" here just do not want to Mimic Merkel's failure and that of Sweden. We do not disagree on this.
The RollOut, Travel Restriction EO was messed up though, I don't think I can successfully deny that anymore, can't diminish this....when I consider Kelly-Anne coming out and talking to try and Downplay the chaos it made.
I still Wonder though if Trump wanted that chaos to demonstrate a level of Seriousness and...."commitment" to acting against entry of Islamists intent on inflicting pain here.
I hear you, and don't disagree in this particular case. I was only commenting on the ridiculous media misinformation as it pertains to Ninth Circuit Court. I think with a bit more planning and thought the EO can be passed, it was just rushed and poorly written and implemented.
Enough talk about politics, talk to me about the Bulldogs. A local kid I've been following is headed down there, D'Andre Swift, I really think this guy could be a player for your boys.
Challenge is if noise is even MADE about "Amnesty" its like Charge of The Light Brigade times Thousands of Men Women & Kids swarming onto Mexico from HellHoles South of there and terribly: Hardcore Criminals fleeing less Hellish nations down there too so Mexico gets swamped and Brutality happens.
Zero Talk of Savagery inflicted by Mexicans on Refugees from Ecuador, Honduras, Venezuela, El Salvador.
I suppose there is no point in talking about this cuz what would be accomplished anyways? Mexican Government literally has No Soul. 365 Days a Year its Dia de los Muertos for those in Power within the country of Mexico. They care about Money and their own Families, The Elite. Nothing else. Nobody Else.
So Zero could possibly get accomplished anyways and they'd only deny and Lie.
I can't imagine why anyone would have a problem with this stance on the issue.
I guess there is some mystical belief that "Everything will work out" regardless like on a God Intervening Level or some thing.
Thats all that I can come up with as to why anyone would have Issue with this stance. What are we now? 19,982,461,884.32 in Debt right now?
Approaching 20 Trillion?
"fiscal monetary issue" with Illegal Immigration seems very very reasonable to me anyways. Puzzles me why it doesn't come down to this for more people.
No, he signed some anti gay bill, masked as Religious Freedom BS, but had to walk it back. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Freedom_Restoration_Act_(Indiana)
Another Idiot Drumpf Nominee/Selectee goes down in flames before his 1st month, as the disgrace of a Clown show continues. A Russian Spy and a Wife Beater. One can only imagine what's next: "I'll pick the best people" 
hno:.
<header id="story-header" class="story-header" style="position: relative; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Andrew Puzder Withdraws From Consideration as Labor Secretary
By ALAN RAPPEPORT<time class="dateline" datetime="2017-02-15T21:26:18-05:00" itemprop="dateModified" content="2017-02-15T21:26:18-05:00" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 0.6875rem; line-height: 0.75rem; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-left: 0px;">FEB. 15, 2017</time>
</header><figure id="media-100000004935142" class="media photo lede layout-large-horizontal" data-media-action="modal" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/02/16/us/16puzder/16puzder-master768.jpg" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" aria-label="media" role="group" style="display: flex; margin: 0px 0px 45px; position: relative; flex-direction: column; clear: both; width: 705px;">
<figcaption class="caption" itemprop="caption description" style="font-size: 0.8125rem; line-height: 1.0625rem; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); max-width: 630px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;">Andrew F. Puzder, President Trump’s nominee for labor secretary, in November.CreditHilary Swift for The New York Times</figcaption></figure>WASHINGTON — The fast-food executive Andrew F. Puzder withdrew his nomination to be labor secretary on Wednesday as Republican senators turned sharply against him, the latest defeat for a White House besieged by infighting and struggling for traction even with a Republican-controlled Congress.
The toppling of one of President Trump’s cabinet picks was a victory for Democrats, unions and liberal groups that had been attacking Mr. Puzder’s business record and his character since he was chosen in December. Conservative publications, including National Review and Breitbart, had also expressed resistance, zeroing in on Mr. Puzder’s employment of an undocumented immigrant as his housekeeper.
And records from his 1988 divorce, disseminated Tuesday night by opponents, resurfaced spousal abuse accusations that made some Republican senators uncomfortable. His ex-wife had recanted those accusations, but senators from both parties privately screened a videotape from “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that featured her laying out the charges while in disguise.
The opposition from Republicans was broad, and the reasons varied. Among the senators who expressed concerns were John Thune of South Dakota, Rob Portman of Ohio, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Tim Scott of South Carolina, more than enough to scuttle the nomination.
<aside class="marginalia related-combined-coverage-marginalia marginalia-item nocontent robots-nocontent" data-marginalia-type="sprinkled" role="complementary" module="Related-CombinedMarginalia" style="width: 360px; margin-bottom: 0px; border-top: 1px solid rgb(226, 226, 226); padding-top: 7px; flex-shrink: 0;"><header>
</header>
A spokesman for Mr. Puzder, George Thompson, said his treatment had been “an unprecedented smear campaign.”
In a statement, Mr. Puzder thanked the president and those who supported him for their optimism about the “policies and new thinking” he would have brought to the job.
Mr. Puzder’s withdrawal came two days after the resignation of Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn. Earlier this month, his nominee for Army secretary, the billionaire financier Vincent Viola, also withdrew his name from consideration, saying he could not disentangle his business connections. And his secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, was confirmed only after Vice President Mike Pence cast a tiebreaking vote.
The Senate must still vote on the nomination of Representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina to be Mr. Trump’s budget director, over the loud objection of Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, who took to the Senate floor again Wednesday to accuse Mr. Mulvaney, a hard-line conservative, of being anti-military.
“This is not personal. This is not political. This is about principle,” Mr. McCain said. “This is about my conviction as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee that providing for the common defense is our highest constitutional duty.”
Mr. Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, is facing a revolt by E.P.A. employees scrambling to block him. Ms. Collins declared her opposition to him Wednesday.
Republicans blamed Democratic obstruction, not the quality of the president’s choices, for the arduous confirmation process.
“I think when you have to put all this energy into an unreasonable nominations process, it takes away the energy that could better be used for other things,” Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri said.
Democrats cheered Mr. Puzder’s withdrawal as a victory for working Americans. The Labor Department regulates workplace safety, enforces wage and hour laws, maintains unemployment and payroll data, and is generally seen as an advocate for workers. Mr. Puzder, at the helm of his fast-food company, ardently opposed the Affordable Care Act, cast a skeptical eye on minimum wage and overtime rules, and pledged an assault on regulations that he said in his withdrawal statement would “put America’s workers and businesses back on a path to sustainable prosperity.”
Some critics also cast him as sexist, denouncing fast-food advertisements he championed that featured bikini-clad women eating monstrous hamburgers.
“The simple truth is that, given his relationship to employees at the companies he runs, he was not fit to lead a department responsible for defending workers’ rights,” said Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination last year.
Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, called on Mr. Trump to nominate someone who supported the rights of workers rather than suppressed them.
“Puzder should never have even been nominated to lead the Labor Department, and Senate Republicans clearly recognized this, too,” Mr. Schumer said. “The fact that someone so anti-labor was even nominated shows how far President Trump is from where he campaigned.”
As the chief executive of CKE Restaurants, which owns the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. fast-food chains, Mr. Puzder had come under intense criticism from Democrats and liberal groups that accused him of mistreating his workers and supporting automation in the workplace. The intense scrutiny of his personal life compounded his troubles.
His hearing was repeatedly delayed as he sought to extricate himself from his business and investments. Democrats, who organized screenings of the video of his wife detailing her allegations of abuse, were preparing to make his marriage an issue and to question him about his company’s salacious TV ads. However, as recently as last week, he had said through a spokesman that he was “all in” to move forward.
Despite the growing backlash, the White House and Republican leaders tried to rally support around him last week, arguing that no nominee was perfect.
“I think Andy Puzder is an outstanding choice,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, who counted himself a friend of Mr. Puzder’s. “We’re always looking for nominees who have never made a mistake. Frequently, it’s impossible to find nominees who have never made a mistake.”
Republicans quietly acknowledged the setback as they saluted Mr. Puzder.
“Andy Puzder has the experience and ability to make an excellent labor secretary, but I respect his decision,” said Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the chairman of the labor committee.
Mr. Trump ignored questions about Mr. Puzder after a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Wednesday afternoon, but he will be under pressure to quickly find a replacement.
While labor groups and supporters of a higher minimum wage opposed Mr. Puzder, some in corporate America had been optimistic that he would understand the plight of businesses and relieve companies of regulations.
The National Restaurant Association, the industry’s lobbying group and one of Mr. Puzder’s biggest backers, lamented his treatment on Wednesday and expressed hope that Mr. Trump would choose someone else in his mold.
“It is extremely unfortunate that the confirmation process has resulted in a qualified and dedicated man withdrawing from the labor secretary nomination,” said Cicely Simpson, executive vice president of the association. “We hope that President Trump’s next labor secretary nominee, like Andy, has experience creating jobs and a deep understanding how to get business and government to work together to grow the economy.”
Jim Talent, a former Missouri senator, had been helping prepare Mr. Puzder for his confirmation hearing and said he was ready to answer the questions about his family and his business record. After it became clear to Mr. Puzder that he did not have sufficient Republican support, Mr. Talent said, he decided to drop out.
“Nobody likes a process where you’re attacked all the time,” Mr. Talent said. “He was looking forward to being able to address these concerns, particularly the ones about his family.”
hno:. <header id="story-header" class="story-header" style="position: relative; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Andrew Puzder Withdraws From Consideration as Labor Secretary
By ALAN RAPPEPORT<time class="dateline" datetime="2017-02-15T21:26:18-05:00" itemprop="dateModified" content="2017-02-15T21:26:18-05:00" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 0.6875rem; line-height: 0.75rem; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-left: 0px;">FEB. 15, 2017</time>
</header><figure id="media-100000004935142" class="media photo lede layout-large-horizontal" data-media-action="modal" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/02/16/us/16puzder/16puzder-master768.jpg" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" aria-label="media" role="group" style="display: flex; margin: 0px 0px 45px; position: relative; flex-direction: column; clear: both; width: 705px;">
<figcaption class="caption" itemprop="caption description" style="font-size: 0.8125rem; line-height: 1.0625rem; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); max-width: 630px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;">Andrew F. Puzder, President Trump’s nominee for labor secretary, in November.CreditHilary Swift for The New York Times</figcaption></figure>WASHINGTON — The fast-food executive Andrew F. Puzder withdrew his nomination to be labor secretary on Wednesday as Republican senators turned sharply against him, the latest defeat for a White House besieged by infighting and struggling for traction even with a Republican-controlled Congress.
The toppling of one of President Trump’s cabinet picks was a victory for Democrats, unions and liberal groups that had been attacking Mr. Puzder’s business record and his character since he was chosen in December. Conservative publications, including National Review and Breitbart, had also expressed resistance, zeroing in on Mr. Puzder’s employment of an undocumented immigrant as his housekeeper.
And records from his 1988 divorce, disseminated Tuesday night by opponents, resurfaced spousal abuse accusations that made some Republican senators uncomfortable. His ex-wife had recanted those accusations, but senators from both parties privately screened a videotape from “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that featured her laying out the charges while in disguise.
The opposition from Republicans was broad, and the reasons varied. Among the senators who expressed concerns were John Thune of South Dakota, Rob Portman of Ohio, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Tim Scott of South Carolina, more than enough to scuttle the nomination.
<aside class="marginalia related-combined-coverage-marginalia marginalia-item nocontent robots-nocontent" data-marginalia-type="sprinkled" role="complementary" module="Related-CombinedMarginalia" style="width: 360px; margin-bottom: 0px; border-top: 1px solid rgb(226, 226, 226); padding-top: 7px; flex-shrink: 0;"><header>
</header>
- <article class="story theme-summary ">
</article>
A spokesman for Mr. Puzder, George Thompson, said his treatment had been “an unprecedented smear campaign.”
In a statement, Mr. Puzder thanked the president and those who supported him for their optimism about the “policies and new thinking” he would have brought to the job.
Mr. Puzder’s withdrawal came two days after the resignation of Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn. Earlier this month, his nominee for Army secretary, the billionaire financier Vincent Viola, also withdrew his name from consideration, saying he could not disentangle his business connections. And his secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, was confirmed only after Vice President Mike Pence cast a tiebreaking vote.
The Senate must still vote on the nomination of Representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina to be Mr. Trump’s budget director, over the loud objection of Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, who took to the Senate floor again Wednesday to accuse Mr. Mulvaney, a hard-line conservative, of being anti-military.
“This is not personal. This is not political. This is about principle,” Mr. McCain said. “This is about my conviction as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee that providing for the common defense is our highest constitutional duty.”
Mr. Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, is facing a revolt by E.P.A. employees scrambling to block him. Ms. Collins declared her opposition to him Wednesday.
Republicans blamed Democratic obstruction, not the quality of the president’s choices, for the arduous confirmation process.
“I think when you have to put all this energy into an unreasonable nominations process, it takes away the energy that could better be used for other things,” Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri said.
Democrats cheered Mr. Puzder’s withdrawal as a victory for working Americans. The Labor Department regulates workplace safety, enforces wage and hour laws, maintains unemployment and payroll data, and is generally seen as an advocate for workers. Mr. Puzder, at the helm of his fast-food company, ardently opposed the Affordable Care Act, cast a skeptical eye on minimum wage and overtime rules, and pledged an assault on regulations that he said in his withdrawal statement would “put America’s workers and businesses back on a path to sustainable prosperity.”
Some critics also cast him as sexist, denouncing fast-food advertisements he championed that featured bikini-clad women eating monstrous hamburgers.
“The simple truth is that, given his relationship to employees at the companies he runs, he was not fit to lead a department responsible for defending workers’ rights,” said Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination last year.
Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, called on Mr. Trump to nominate someone who supported the rights of workers rather than suppressed them.
“Puzder should never have even been nominated to lead the Labor Department, and Senate Republicans clearly recognized this, too,” Mr. Schumer said. “The fact that someone so anti-labor was even nominated shows how far President Trump is from where he campaigned.”
As the chief executive of CKE Restaurants, which owns the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. fast-food chains, Mr. Puzder had come under intense criticism from Democrats and liberal groups that accused him of mistreating his workers and supporting automation in the workplace. The intense scrutiny of his personal life compounded his troubles.
His hearing was repeatedly delayed as he sought to extricate himself from his business and investments. Democrats, who organized screenings of the video of his wife detailing her allegations of abuse, were preparing to make his marriage an issue and to question him about his company’s salacious TV ads. However, as recently as last week, he had said through a spokesman that he was “all in” to move forward.
Despite the growing backlash, the White House and Republican leaders tried to rally support around him last week, arguing that no nominee was perfect.
“I think Andy Puzder is an outstanding choice,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, who counted himself a friend of Mr. Puzder’s. “We’re always looking for nominees who have never made a mistake. Frequently, it’s impossible to find nominees who have never made a mistake.”
Republicans quietly acknowledged the setback as they saluted Mr. Puzder.
“Andy Puzder has the experience and ability to make an excellent labor secretary, but I respect his decision,” said Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the chairman of the labor committee.
Mr. Trump ignored questions about Mr. Puzder after a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Wednesday afternoon, but he will be under pressure to quickly find a replacement.
While labor groups and supporters of a higher minimum wage opposed Mr. Puzder, some in corporate America had been optimistic that he would understand the plight of businesses and relieve companies of regulations.
The National Restaurant Association, the industry’s lobbying group and one of Mr. Puzder’s biggest backers, lamented his treatment on Wednesday and expressed hope that Mr. Trump would choose someone else in his mold.
“It is extremely unfortunate that the confirmation process has resulted in a qualified and dedicated man withdrawing from the labor secretary nomination,” said Cicely Simpson, executive vice president of the association. “We hope that President Trump’s next labor secretary nominee, like Andy, has experience creating jobs and a deep understanding how to get business and government to work together to grow the economy.”
Jim Talent, a former Missouri senator, had been helping prepare Mr. Puzder for his confirmation hearing and said he was ready to answer the questions about his family and his business record. After it became clear to Mr. Puzder that he did not have sufficient Republican support, Mr. Talent said, he decided to drop out.
“Nobody likes a process where you’re attacked all the time,” Mr. Talent said. “He was looking forward to being able to address these concerns, particularly the ones about his family.”
As part of intelligence operations being conducted against the United States for the last seven months, at least one Western European ally intercepted a series of communications before the inauguration between advisers associated with President Donald Trump and Russian government officials, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.
The sources said the interceptions include at least one contact between former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and a Russian official based in the United States. It could not be confirmed whether this involved the telephone call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that has led to Flynn’s resignation, or additional communications. The sources said the intercepted communications are not just limited to telephone calls: The foreign agency is also gathering electronic and human source information on Trump’s overseas business partners, at least some of whom the intelligence services now consider to be agents of their respective governments. These operations are being conducted out of concerns that Russia is seeking to manipulate its relationships with Trump administration officials as part of a long-term plan to destabilize the NATO alliance.
These sources spoke on condition that they not be identified because they were not formally authorized to disclose the information. While Newsweek was told which allied nations intercepted the communications and are gathering intelligence on Trump associates, the sources did so on condition that the countries not be identified out of concern those governments would incur the president’s wrath.
The Western European intelligence operations began in August, after the British government obtained information that people acting on behalf of Russia were in contact with members of the Trump campaign. Those details from the British were widely shared among the NATO allies in Europe. The Baltic nation has been gathering intelligence for at least that long, and has conducted surveillance of executives from the Trump Organization who were traveling in Europe.
These operations reflect a serious breakdown in the long-standing faith in the direction of American policy by some of the country’s most important allies. Worse, the United States is now in a situation that may be unprecedented—where European governments know more about what is going on in the executive branch than any elected American official. To date, the Republican-controlled Congress has declined to conduct hearings to investigate the links between Trump’s overseas business partners and foreign governments, or the activities between Russia and officials in the Trump campaign and administration—the very areas being examined by the intelligence services of at least two American allies.
Some details about Trump’s business partners were passed to the American government months ago. For example, long before the president’s inauguration, German electronic surveillance determined that the father of Trump’s Azerbaijani business partner is a government official who laundered money for the Iranian military; that information was shared with the CIA, according to a European source with direct knowledge of the situation.
Of equal concern to our allies is Trump’s business partner in the Philippines, who is also the special representative to Washington of that country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte. This government official, Jose E.B. Antonio, is the head of Century Properties, which in turn is a partner with the president’s business in the construction of Trump Tower at Century City in Makati, Philippines. According to people with direct knowledge of the situation, a European intelligence service has obtained the contracts and other legal documents in the deal between the Trump Organization and Antonio. That deal has already resulted in large payments to Trump’s business, with millions of dollars more on the way—all coming from an agent of the Philippine president.
The financial relationship between an American president and the Philippine government comes at a time when the historic alliance between the West and the Southeast Asian country is under great stress. Since the election last year of Duterte, a campaign of slaughter has gripped the Philippines, with death squads murdering thousands of suspected drug users in the streets. The carnage, which intelligence officials have concluded is being conducted with Duterte’s involvement, has been condemned throughout the Western world; the Parliament of the European Union and two United Nations human rights experts have urged Duterte to end the massacre.
Duterte has responded by signaling his government could tilt its alliances away from the West, instead turning to China as its primary ally. Such a move could be devastating, given that the American armed forces maintains large military bases there. The situation with the Philippines “is already an enormous challenge,” one official with direct knowledge of the European intelligence operations said. “President Trump’s business there is a complicating factor that we are trying to assess.”
The information gathered by the Western European government has been widely shared among the NATO allies, although it is not clear how much has been provided to American intelligence officials. One source said that members of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s staff had been briefed on the surveillance findings prior to her meeting last month with Trump and that officials within the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel have also obtained the details.
These intelligence operations against the United States come as a result of allied concern about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s designs to damage NATO and whether Trump intends to follow a policy path that would embolden Russia. In addition, they are apprehensive about whether a newly strengthened Moscow would use its energy weapon—Western Europe obtains almost 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia—to push aggressive policies with little objection from the Trump White House.
http://www.newsweek.com/allies-intercept-russia-trump-adviser-communications-557283
The sources said the interceptions include at least one contact between former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and a Russian official based in the United States. It could not be confirmed whether this involved the telephone call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that has led to Flynn’s resignation, or additional communications. The sources said the intercepted communications are not just limited to telephone calls: The foreign agency is also gathering electronic and human source information on Trump’s overseas business partners, at least some of whom the intelligence services now consider to be agents of their respective governments. These operations are being conducted out of concerns that Russia is seeking to manipulate its relationships with Trump administration officials as part of a long-term plan to destabilize the NATO alliance.
These sources spoke on condition that they not be identified because they were not formally authorized to disclose the information. While Newsweek was told which allied nations intercepted the communications and are gathering intelligence on Trump associates, the sources did so on condition that the countries not be identified out of concern those governments would incur the president’s wrath.
The Western European intelligence operations began in August, after the British government obtained information that people acting on behalf of Russia were in contact with members of the Trump campaign. Those details from the British were widely shared among the NATO allies in Europe. The Baltic nation has been gathering intelligence for at least that long, and has conducted surveillance of executives from the Trump Organization who were traveling in Europe.
These operations reflect a serious breakdown in the long-standing faith in the direction of American policy by some of the country’s most important allies. Worse, the United States is now in a situation that may be unprecedented—where European governments know more about what is going on in the executive branch than any elected American official. To date, the Republican-controlled Congress has declined to conduct hearings to investigate the links between Trump’s overseas business partners and foreign governments, or the activities between Russia and officials in the Trump campaign and administration—the very areas being examined by the intelligence services of at least two American allies.
Some details about Trump’s business partners were passed to the American government months ago. For example, long before the president’s inauguration, German electronic surveillance determined that the father of Trump’s Azerbaijani business partner is a government official who laundered money for the Iranian military; that information was shared with the CIA, according to a European source with direct knowledge of the situation.
Of equal concern to our allies is Trump’s business partner in the Philippines, who is also the special representative to Washington of that country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte. This government official, Jose E.B. Antonio, is the head of Century Properties, which in turn is a partner with the president’s business in the construction of Trump Tower at Century City in Makati, Philippines. According to people with direct knowledge of the situation, a European intelligence service has obtained the contracts and other legal documents in the deal between the Trump Organization and Antonio. That deal has already resulted in large payments to Trump’s business, with millions of dollars more on the way—all coming from an agent of the Philippine president.
The financial relationship between an American president and the Philippine government comes at a time when the historic alliance between the West and the Southeast Asian country is under great stress. Since the election last year of Duterte, a campaign of slaughter has gripped the Philippines, with death squads murdering thousands of suspected drug users in the streets. The carnage, which intelligence officials have concluded is being conducted with Duterte’s involvement, has been condemned throughout the Western world; the Parliament of the European Union and two United Nations human rights experts have urged Duterte to end the massacre.
Duterte has responded by signaling his government could tilt its alliances away from the West, instead turning to China as its primary ally. Such a move could be devastating, given that the American armed forces maintains large military bases there. The situation with the Philippines “is already an enormous challenge,” one official with direct knowledge of the European intelligence operations said. “President Trump’s business there is a complicating factor that we are trying to assess.”
The information gathered by the Western European government has been widely shared among the NATO allies, although it is not clear how much has been provided to American intelligence officials. One source said that members of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s staff had been briefed on the surveillance findings prior to her meeting last month with Trump and that officials within the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel have also obtained the details.
These intelligence operations against the United States come as a result of allied concern about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s designs to damage NATO and whether Trump intends to follow a policy path that would embolden Russia. In addition, they are apprehensive about whether a newly strengthened Moscow would use its energy weapon—Western Europe obtains almost 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia—to push aggressive policies with little objection from the Trump White House.
http://www.newsweek.com/allies-intercept-russia-trump-adviser-communications-557283
The idiot isn't even answering questions from legit press anymore, continuing to follow through on the Fascistic/Nazi model of destroying a Free Press. And the idiot supporters, especially here, who claim to care about the Constitution, which makes Freedom of the Press the FIRST amendment for a reason, bury their head in the sand.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...in-netanyahu-fox-news-fake-news-a7582491.html
Donald Trump only takes questions from right-wing news outlets for third press conference in a row
President attracts criticism for 'avoiding tough questions'
