John McCain writes blistering op-ed on Washington dysfunction - CBS News

John McCain writes blistering op-ed on Washington dysfunction

FILE--In this July 27, 2017, file photo, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. McCain says he hates the healthy diet his wife and daughter are forcing on him as he fights an aggressive form of brain cancer but expects to return to the Senate next month.

John McCain, Arizona's Republican senator, has written a stirring op-ed in the Washington Post calling for an end to Washington dysfunction and imploring his fellow legislators to stand up to President Trump.

"We must respect his authority and constitutional responsibilities," McCain wrote of Mr. Trump. "We must, where we can, cooperate with him. But we are not his subordinates. We don't answer to him. We answer to the American people. We must be diligent in discharging our responsibility to serve as a check on his power. And we should value our identity as members of Congress more than our partisan affiliation."

The op-ed in part reiterated his dramatic Senate floor speech, delivered upon his return to Congress for the health care vote, after his brain surgery and cancer diagnosis.

John McCain gives first remarks since returning to the Senate

McCain also refers to Mr. Trump as a "president who has no experience of public office, is often poorly informed and can be impulsive in his speech and conduct."

Trump attracts more controversy with pardon of Arpaio

The ailing senator's solution for what ails Congress is a return to regular order, which he describes as "letting committees of jurisdiction do the principal work of crafting legislation and letting the full Senate debate and amend their efforts.

"We might not like the compromises regular order requires, but we can and must live with them if we are to find real and lasting solutions," McCain writes. "And all of us in Congress have the duty, in this sharply polarized atmosphere, to defend the necessity of compromise before the American public."

McCain called for the return of regular order in his July floor speech during debate over a bill would have repealed much of Obamacare. "The Congress must now return to regular order, hold hearings, receive input from members of both parties, and heed the recommendations of our nation's governors so that we can produce a bill that finally provides Americans with access to quality and affordable health care," McCain said at the time.

The Arizonan, who is suffering from brain cancer, was the deciding vote against the Obamacare repeal effort, which he announced with a thumbs-down in the Senate chamber as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell looked on. That vote has earned him numerous rebukes from Mr. Trump, particularly at his Phoenix rally last month.

McCain also touched on the racist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia last month, where the president's handling of the situation was widely criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike.

"Most of us share Heather Hoyer's values, not the depravity of the man who took her life," McCain wrote. "We are the country that led the free world to victory over fascism and dispatched communism to the ash heap of history. We are the superpower that organized not an empire, but an international order of free, independent nations that has liberated more people from poverty and tyranny than anyone thought possible in the age of colonies and autocracies."

Mueller Has Early Draft of Trump Letter Giving Reasons for Firing Comey - New York Times

Mueller Has Early Draft of Trump Letter Giving Reasons for Firing Comey

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and MAGGIE HABERMANSEPT. 1, 2017

James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in May, less than a week before he was fired by President Trump. Credit Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has obtained a letter drafted by President Trump and a top political aide that offered an unvarnished view of Mr. Trump’s thinking in the days before the president fired the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey.

The circumstances and reasons for the firing are believed to be a significant element of Mr. Mueller’s investigation, which includes whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice by firing Mr. Comey.

The letter, drafted in May, was met with opposition from Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, who believed that its angry, meandering tone was problematic, according to interviews with a dozen administration officials and others briefed on the matter. Among Mr. McGahn’s concerns were references to private conversations the president had with Mr. Comey, including times when the F.B.I. director told Mr. Trump he was not under investigation in the F.B.I.’s continuing Russia inquiry.

Mr. McGahn successfully blocked the president from sending the letter — which Mr. Trump had composed with Stephen Miller, one of the president’s top political advisers — to Mr. Comey. But a copy was given to the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, who then drafted his own letter. Mr. Rosenstein’s letter was ultimately used as the Trump administration’s public rationale for Mr. Comey’s firing, which was that Mr. Comey had mishandled the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

Mr. Rosenstein is overseeing Mr. Mueller’s investigation into Russian efforts to disrupt last year’s presidential election, as well as whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice.

F.B.I. Agents Supported Comey, Surveys Show, Weakening Trump’s Claim of Turmoil AUG. 16, 2017

Trump Again Lashes Out at Comey’s Handling of Clinton Investigation SEPT. 1, 2017

Comey Says Trump Pressured Him to ‘Lift the Cloud’ of Inquiry JUNE 7, 2017

Comey’s Writing a Book, and Publishers Are Eager to Pay Big Money for It JULY 15, 2017

Mr. McGahn’s concerns about Mr. Trump’s letter show how much he realized that the president’s rationale for firing Mr. Comey might not hold up to scrutiny, and how he and other administration officials sought to build a more defensible public case for his ouster.

Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer, declined on Friday to discuss the letter or its contents. “To the extent the special prosecutor is interested in these matters, we will be fully transparent with him,” he said.

Stephen Miller, one of Mr. Trump’s top advisors, helped the president draft a letter explaining the rationale for firing Mr. Comey. Credit Al Drago/The New York Times

Mr. Trump and his aides gave multiple justifications for Mr. Comey’s dismissal in the days after he was fired. The first rationale was that the F.B.I. director had mishandled the Clinton email case. Another was that Mr. Comey had lost the confidence of the F.B.I. During an Oval Office meeting with Russian officials, Mr. Trump went so far as to call Mr. Comey a “nut job” and said that firing him lifted pressure off the White House.

The New York Times has not seen a copy of Mr. Trump’s letter — which was drafted at the urging of Mr. Trump during a pivotal weekend in May at the president’s private golf club in Bedminster, N. J. — and it is unclear how much of the letter’s rationale focuses on the Russia investigation. The Justice Department turned over a copy of the letter to Mr. Mueller in recent weeks.

The long Bedminster weekend began late Thursday, May 4, when Mr. Trump arrived by helicopter, joined by a trio of advisers — his daughter Ivanka; his son-in-law Jared Kushner; and Mr. Miller. It rained during part of the weekend, forcing Mr. Trump to cancel golf with Greg Norman, the Australian golfer. Instead, Mr. Trump stewed indoors, worrying about Mr. Comey and the Russia investigation.

The inquiry had already consumed the early months of his administration. Mr. Trump was angry that Mr. Comey had privately told him three times that he was not under investigation, yet would not clear his name publicly. Mr. Comey later confirmed in testimony to Congress in June that he had told the president that he was not under investigation, but said he did not make it public because the situation might change.

Mr. Miller and Mr. Kushner both told the president that weekend that they were in favor of firing Mr. Comey.

Mr. Trump ordered Mr. Miller to draft a letter, and dictated his unfettered thoughts. Several people who saw Mr. Miller’s multi-page draft described it as a “screed.”

Mr. Trump was back in Washington on Monday, May 8, when copies of the letter were handed out in the Oval Office to senior officials, including Mr. McGahn and Vice President Mike Pence. Mr. Trump announced that he had decided to fire Mr. Comey, and read aloud from Mr. Miller’s memo.

Some present at the meeting, including Mr. McGahn, were alarmed that the president had decided to fire the F.B.I. director after consulting only Ms. Trump, Mr. Kushner and Mr. Miller. Mr. McGahn began an effort to stop the letter or at least pare it back.

Later that day, Mr. McGahn gave Mr. Miller a marked-up copy of the letter, highlighting several sections that he believed needed to be removed.

Mr. McGahn met again that same day with Mr. Trump and told him that if he fired Mr. Comey, the Russia investigation would not go away. Mr. Trump told him, according to senior administration officials, that he understood that firing the F.B.I. director might extend the Russia investigation, but that he wanted to do it anyway.

Mr. McGahn arranged for the president to meet in the Oval Office that day with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Mr. Rosenstein, who he knew had been pursuing separate efforts to fire Mr. Comey. The two men were particularly angry about testimony Mr. Comey had given to the Senate Judiciary Committee the previous week, when he said “it makes me mildly nauseous” to think his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation might have had an impact on the 2016 election.

Mr. Comey’s conduct during the hearing added to concerns of Mr. Sessions and Mr. Rosenstein that the F.B.I. director had botched the rollout of the Clinton investigation and had overstepped the boundaries of his job. Shortly after that hearing, Mr. Rosenstein expressed his concerns about Mr. Comey to a White House lawyer, who relayed details of the conversation to his bosses at the White House.

During the May 8 Oval Office meeting with Mr. Trump, Mr. Rosenstein was given a copy of the original letter and agreed to write a separate memo for Mr. Trump about why Mr. Comey should be fired.

Mr. Rosenstein’s memo arrived at the White House the next day. The lengthy diatribe Mr. Miller had written had been replaced by a simpler rationale — that Mr. Comey should be dismissed because of his handling of the Clinton email investigation. Unlike Mr. Trump’s letter, it made no mention of the times Mr. Comey had told the president he was not under investigation.

Mr. Rosenstein’s memo became the foundation for the terse termination letter that Mr. Trump had an aide attempt to deliver late on the afternoon of May 9 to F.B.I. headquarters in Washington. The White House made one significant revision, adding a point that was personally important to Mr. Trump: “While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau,” the letter said.

Mr. Comey, however, was not in Washington to receive it. He was speaking to F.B.I. employees in Los Angeles when he looked up at a television screen in the back of the room and saw a breaking news alert that he had been fired.

An aide pulled Mr. Comey aside to tell him that he needed to call headquarters in Washington. Mr. Comey entered a small room, picked up the phone and learned that he had lost his job.

24 Surprising Facts About Warren Buffett - Business Insider

24 Surprising Facts About Warren Buffett

Posted: 30 Aug 2017 02:09 PM

Billionaire and legendary investor Warren Buffett turns 87 years old on August 30. With a net worth of nearly $77 billion, “The Oracle of Omaha” is currently the fourth-richest person in the world — but he doesn’t act like it.

His modest home in Nebraska is worth just .001% of his total wealth and he never spends more than $3.17 on his daily McDonald’s breakfast.

To those who knew him from the beginning, Buffett’s success comes as no surprise: He was picking out stocks at 11 years old and had amassed the equivalent of $53,000 in today’s dollars by the time he was 16.

But Buffett isn’t just a master at making money — he’s good at giving it away, too. Although he didn’t start donating until later in life at the insistence of his first wife, Buffett is now regarded as one of the most generous philanthropists in the world, giving more than $27 billion to causes in the last decade.

Inspired by a Quora thread asking “What are some mind-blowing facts about Warren Buffett,” we rounded up 24 astonishing facts about the legendary investor and his massive fortune.

Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Oprah all use the 5-hour rule — here’s how it works

While his elementary school classmates were dreaming about the major leagues and Hollywood, 10-year old Buffett was having lunch with a member of the New York Stock Exchange and setting life goals

Buffett’s legendary career all began with an epiphany at age 10 when he was on a trip to New York City with his dad.

Dining with a member of the NYSE planted the idea in young Buffett’s head to organize his life around money.

He bought his first stock at age 11.

He purchased multiple shares of Cities Service Preferred for $38 apiece.

When Buffett was a teen, he was already raking in about $175 a month — more than his teachers (and most adults).

He pulled this off by dutifully delivering the Washington Post.

He had amassed the equivalent of $53,000 by the time he was just 16.

Paper delivery was just one of many small businesses teenage Buffett orchestrated: He sold used golf balls and stamps, buffed cars, set up a pinball machine business, and turned a horse track into a lucrative playground.

He was rejected from Harvard Business School.

Buffett, confident he nailed his admissions interview, had already told a friend, “Join me at Harvard.”

“I looked about 16 and emotionally was about nine,” he recalled of the in-person interview. Forced to look elsewhere, he settled on Columbia University, which only required a written application and no interview.

His idol refused to hire him the first time he applied.

Buffett originally wanted to work with his idol, and author of “The Intelligent Investor,” Benjamin Graham, but Graham rejected him because he wasn’t Jewish (Graham was saving a spot at his firm for someone Jewish, since at the time Jewish people had a tougher time landing work on Wall Street).

Buffett wouldn’t take no for an answer, and continued pitching Graham ideas until he eventually hired him.

Buffett spent $100 to take a Dale Carnegie course on public speaking.

He was 21 and terrified of public speaking. It ended up being a worthy investment, as the course helped him propose to his wife.

His house is a humble five-bedroom in Omaha, Nebraska, that he bought in 1956 for $31,500.

If you want to be Buffett’s neighbor, the house across the street will cost you about $2.15 million.

Buffett doesn’t keep a computer on his desk, and he chooses to use a flip phone rather than a smartphone.

There is, however, a World Book Encyclopedia set on his shelf.

In fact, he’s only sent one email in his life, to Jeff Raikes of Microsoft.

‘It’s all mental with him’: Warren Buffett’s late wife revealed why it took the billionaire so many years to start giving away his fortune

His distance from technology leaves him time for bridge, which he plays about 12 hours a week.

Oftentimes, his bridge partner is Bill Gates.

He spends 80% of his day reading.

When he’s not playing bridge, he’s reading. “I just sit in my office and read all day,” he says.

He drinks an alarming amount of Coca-Cola each day.

The business magnate is a notoriously unhealthy eater: “If I eat 2,700 calories a day, a quarter of that is Coca-Cola. I drink at least five 12-ounce servings. I do it everyday.”

He also likes to double-fist salt shakers, and don’t put it past him to enjoy a bowl of ice cream for breakfast.

99% of Buffett’s wealth was earned after his 50th birthday.

Among investing legends, Buffett has the longest track record for beating the market.

The longevity of Buffett’s outperformance is greater than that of other savvy investors, such as David Einhorn and Walter Schloss.

$1,000 invested in Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway stock in 1964, when Buffett took over the company and shares cost just $19, would be worth about $13 million dollars today.

Buffett’s net worth is greater than the GDP of Uruguay.

Uruguay’s 2014 GDP was estimated to be $57,471,277,325.

Though Buffett spends frugally, he gives generously. In 2010, he teamed up with Bill and Melinda Gates to form The Giving Pledge, an initiative that asks the world’s wealthiest people to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.

As of June 2016, more than 154 affluent individuals have signed the pledge, including Michael Bloomberg, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Ellison.

Buffett has also so far donated nearly enough money in his lifetime to build six Apple ‘Spaceship’ Campuses, which are $5 billion endeavors.

The Apple Campus, one of the last major projects Steve Jobs worked on, is a futuristic-looking company campus that will feature curved glass panels, an underground parking lot, a private auditorium for keynotes and product launches, and a 360-degree view of nature.

Buffett has donated nearly $30 billion — the second-highest amount (following that of Bill Gates).

In 2013, Buffett made on average $37 million per DAY — that’s more than what Jennifer Lawrence made the entire year.

According to Forbes, Jennifer Lawrence was the second-highest-paid actress in 2013, and she is estimated to have made $34 million that year.

Warren Buffett made $37 million per day in 2013.

Read more: 5 things you didn’t realize about Warren Buffett, according to his daughter

In July 2016, Buffett broke his own giving record when he donated $2.9 billion to various charities, including The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which is named for his late wife.

The multi-billionaire reportedly earns only $100,000 a year at Berkshire Hathaway — and spends it frugally.

People are so fascinated with the legendary Buffett that they’ll spend millions of dollars to eat lunch with him.

Buffett has been auctioning off a “power lunch” since 2000 at his charity event for GLIDE Foundation.

The highest bidder gets to bring up to seven people to dine with the steak-loving business magnate at Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in Manhattan, and the most recent winner paid $3,456,789.

He doesn’t think money equals success: ‘I measure success by how many people love me. And the best way to be loved is to be lovable.’

This article originally appeared on BusinessInsider.com