CIA veteran agent resigned over Trump's Intel move - NBC News

the National Security Council said he resigned from the intelligence agency last week because he cannot in "good faith" work under the Trump administration. 

In an op-ed written for the Washington Post, Edward Price, who served under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, said he started his career with the CIA nearly 15 years ago, but left the agency after what he viewed to be a number of slights by new President Donald Trump. 

Price said he was reluctant to leave and said he didn't think anything would ever tear him away from his chosen career path. But he was pushed over the edge after Trump issued a directive reorganizing the National Security Council, which Price said he served on as a staff member from 2014 until earlier this year. 

The directive didn't include a seat for the CIA director and the director of national intelligence on the Principals Committee — but added Stephen Bannon, former Breitbart news executive and current White House chief strategist, as a regular attendee of the Principals Committee and the National Security Council, according to Politico. 

Related: Trump Works to Smooth Over Tensions With CIA Visit: 'I Am So Behind You'

"The public outcry led the administration to reverse course and name the CIA director an NSC principal, but the White House's inclination was clear," Price wrote in the Feb. 20 article. "It has little need for intelligence professionals who, in speaking truth to power, might challenge the so-called 'America First' orthodoxy that sees Russia as an ally and Australia as a punching bag."

 the CIA wasn't easy — knowing his work influenced the decisions of presidents Bush and Obama was the greatest reward, he said. But President Trump's distrust of the 17 intelligence agencies on the campaign trail was disheartening to Price, and with Bannon's appointment, he felt he could no longer serve the agency. 

The gulf between Trump and the intelligence community began during his campaign for president when he routinely criticized and expressed skepticism for the agencies. 

After being elected, he frequently cast doubt on the findings of the 17 American intel agencies that determined Russia likely interfered with the U.S. presidential election. 

Price wrote that he watched the third presidential debate in disbelief as Trump questioned the findings of the agencies in regards to Russia. 

Related: Ex-CIA Boss Brennan, Others Rip Trump Speech in Front of Memorial

On Trump's first full day as president, he visited the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where he addressed the agency in person for the first time. 

In a speech that was criticized by some members of the intelligence community, Trump stood before the CIA Memorial Wall and gave a campaign-style speech, including jokes about how much he'd support the agency. 

"And I know maybe sometimes you haven't gotten the backing that you've wanted, and you're going to get so much backing. Maybe you're going to say, 'Please don't give us so much backing,'" Trump said. 

Price said the speech was not what he and his colleagues had hoped to hear. 

"I couldn't help but reflect on the stark contrast between the bombast of the new president and the quiet dedication of a mentor — a courageous, dedicated professional — who is memorialized on that wall. I know others at CIA felt similarly," he wrote. 

Ten days before the speech — which former CIA Director John Brennancalled "a despicable display of self-aggrandizement in front of CIA's Memorial Wall of Agency heroes" — Trump had compared the U.S. intelligence community to Nazi Germany. The comment came after an unverified dossier alleging scandalous behavior by Trump in Russia was published by BuzzFeed.

"What intelligence professionals want most is to know that the fruits of their labor — sometimes at the risk of life or limb — are accorded due deference in the policymaking process," Price wrote. "Until that happens, President Trump and his team are doing another disservice to these dedicated men and women and the nation they proudly, if quietly, serve.

Father of Navy Seal killed in Yemem blames White House - CNN

Story highlights

• "The government owes my son an investigation," he said
• A White House official defended the raid

Washington (CNN)Bill Owens, the father of the Navy SEAL killed in a late-January raid in Yemen, leveled biting criticism at the White House and called for an investigation into his son's death in a news story published Sunday.

Owens told The Miami Herald that as his son William "Ryan" Owens' body made it to Dover Air Force Base outside Washington, he was told President Donald Trump was coming to meet him and his wife to pay his respects. 

But Owens told the chaplain he didn't want to see the commander-in-chief.

"I told them I didn't want to make a scene about it, but my conscience wouldn't let me talk to him," Owens told the newspaper.

Owens, himself a veteran, raised a number of questions about the raid itself.

"Why at this time did there have to be this stupid mission when it wasn't even barely a week into his administration," the paper quoted him as asking.

Owen, the Herald reported, hadn't voted for the President, and he took issue with how Trump treated the Gold Star family of Captain Humayun Khan after the slain soldier's mother and father publicly rebuked the then-Republican presidential nominee at the Democratic National Convention in July.

The administration responded to CNN's request for comment on the story by commending Owen's son, the slain Navy SEAL, for his service and defending the raid.

"Chief Petty Officer Owens is an American hero who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of his country," White House spokesman Michael Short said in a statement. "The mission he participated in yielded valuable intelligence in the ongoing fight against radical Islamic terrorism. The United States is safer today thanks to his bravery and years of faithful service in uniform. We will be forever in his debt."

The Yemen raid, which the White House has said was intended to gather intelligence, immediately came under scrutiny for resulting in the first combat death under Trump's presidency. In addition to Owens' death, several other service members were injured, and reports have said as many as two dozen civilians, or more, were killed, including an eight-year-old daughter of the deceased al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen who was killed in a drone strike in 2011.

The White House has insisted that the raid was a success. But some, including Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, have taken issue with the White House's framing.

The former prisoner of war said in a statement, "I would not describe any operation that results in the loss of American life as a success."

But the White House has bristled at any criticism, claiming such comments dishonor the life of Owens' son, the Navy SEAL who died in the raid.

Owens took issue with the White House's response, telling The Miami Herald, "Don't hide behind my son's death to prevent an investigation."

"I want an investigation. ... The government owes my son an investigation," he said.

Sources told CNN that three military investigations of the raid are underway: one to look at civilian deaths, another to look at the crash landing of one of the aircraft involved, and a third to look into Owens' killing, as is standard practice when there is a combat death.

A White House official confirmed to CNN that there is an "ongoing DoD investigation" and anticipated it would take a few months, after which a redacted version of the findings will become publicly available under the Freedom of Information Act.

Owens did not immediately return requests from CNN for comment on Sunday.

The White House official who spoke with CNN said the mission was thoroughly vetted and planning had begun months before during the Obama administration.

"There's risks with every military op that you take," the official said.

The official added that the ground commander of the operation made the decision to proceed with the mission despite knowing the team had "lost the element of surprise," possibly due in part to the noise of drones overhead.

Although Owens and his wife declined to meet with Trump in early February, the President and his daughter Ivanka met with other members of the Owens family, The Miami Herald reported.

Trump mentioned as much at the swearing-in of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on February 1, saying: "Just returned from an amazing visit with a great, great family at Dover, and it was something -- very sad, very beautiful. Ryan, a great man."

CNN's Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

President Trump Vowed to Solve the Opioid Crisis. He Needs to Fix This Problem First - TIME

President Trump Vowed to Solve the Opioid Crisis. He Needs to Fix This Problem First Posted: 24 Feb 2017 09:15 AM PST During a freewheeling recent press conference, President Trump declared that America was “drug-infested” country. “Drugs,” Trump said, “are becoming cheaper than candy bars.” What the President failed to mention: the price of one lifesaving medication—naloxone—is more expensive than caviar. Throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised to solve America’s opioid crisis, which claimed 33,000 lives in 2015—the most deaths in a single year in U.S. history, according to recent federal statistics. Trump’s plan to combat the epidemic included widespread access to naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. But as the need for the drug has grown, it has become increasingly expensive and hard to get for many addicts and the front line workers who try to help them. “All the politicians, Obama, Trump, everyone says, ‘We’re going to solve it’,” says Gordon Merry, director of West Virginia’s Cabell County EMS, which serves Huntington, a city that saw 26 opioid overdoses over four hours last August. “I haven’t seen anything that has changed.” Meanwhile, the price of naloxone is soaring. Evzio, a form of naloxone manufactured by Kaléo that’s administered through auto-injection, rose from $575 per package in 2014 to a whopping $4,100 in 2016. Another version of the drug, made by Hospira, has risen from from $9.20 for 10 vials in in 2005 to $158.30 in 2014, according to Truven Health Analytics. The price of the naloxone nasal spray Narcan has remained stable—around $125 for a two-pack—since it was approved by the FDA in 2015. “The best word for what’s happening now,” says Paul Ginsburg, director of the Center for Health Policy at the Brookings Institution, “is profiteering.” Naloxone price hikes parallel a spike in demand for the drug that’s fueled by the opioid epidemic, stretching government budgets—the drug is often administered by first responders—while creating a robust market for the drug. In late November, Dr. Leana Wen, Baltimore City’s Health Commissioner, and 10 other health officials wrote a letter to President Trump asking the new administration to prioritize public health, specifically solutions to the opioid epidemic. “In the campaign, President Trump talked about the problems of drug addiction,” says Wen. “We hope that this will not just be rhetoric but resources will be devoted to this issue too.” So far Wen and her colleagues haven’t received a response. Experts attribute the rising naloxone prices to a combination of soaring need, drug-industry consolidation and an onerous FDA-approval process, which can stifle competition. Critics contend that price gouging may also be at play.  Kaléo CEO Spencer Williamson says Evzio’s list price of $4,100 “is not a true net price to anyone…due to numerous discounts and rebates that are negotiated in the supply chain.” Most patients with insurance pay nothing out of pocket, says Williamson, while uninsured patients with household incomes of less than $100,000 can also access Evzio free of charge.  Kaléo says it also offers product grants to some nonprofits and government agencies that demonstrate a need for the drug. For instance, Kaléo has granted 2,200 kits to the Cabell-Huntington Health Department, where the overdose death rate is nearly 10 times the national average. “The more naloxone there is, the more lives will be saved,” says Dr. Michael Kilkenny, physician director of the Cabell-Huntington Health Department. “I have to admit, if we didn’t get the grant, we wouldn’t have the drug. We don’t have the finances.” Yet even beneficiaries of naloxone grants acknowledge that demand outstrips affordable supply. In Palm Beach County, Fla., for instance, the Fire and Rescue department spent nearly $205,400 on naloxone in 2016, compared with $57,500 in 2015.  In Baltimore, first responders are facing similar constraints. “We have to decide who is the most likely to die and make a guess on which patients we distribute naloxone to,” says Wen, the health commissioner, adding that the price they pay for naloxone more than doubled over the course of just a few years. “It doesn’t make sense that at a time of great demand this medication is being priced out of our reach.” In Newtown, Ohio, police chief Tom Synan says the opioid epidemic in his community is worsening. The county averages up to 70 overdoses a week. “That’s our new normal,” he says. Synan, who serves on the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition steering committee, says his officers use the naloxone nasal spray Narcan, and the department has not been hit with major cost increases. But the overall trend is disconcerting. “These are life and death situations,” says Synan. If his earlier promises hold true, Trump will eventually train his lens on drug companies—and drug prices. A White House spokesperson says the administration is extending grant programs to help get naloxone in the hands of first responders, has encouraged Medicaid programs to include naloxone access for low-income people, and has made sure Veterans Affairs programs offer naloxone for eligible veterans.  Still, some say more drastic action will be necessary. Ohio has already taken action: in November the state reached an agreement with Adapt Pharma, the manufacturer of Narcan, to freeze the price of the naloxone nasal spray for Ohio law enforcement, first responders, state and local government agencies, and community-based organizations for a year. These entities can buy 48 or more Narcan units for $75 each, a 40% discount from the $125 wholesale price. “It’s hard to justify the price increases you see on purely economic grounds,” says Darius Lakdawalla, an economist and professor of pharmaceutical development and regulatory innovation at the University of Southern California. “The case is pretty strong for government interference.” Especially when lives are at stake. Laurie Fugitt, co-founder of Georgia Overdose Prevention, a volunteer group, hopscotches across the state teaching people how to administer naloxone to themselves or their loved ones. She equates naloxone to a fire extinguisher. You never want anyone to use it. But it should be there just in case. “A lot of people have no idea that there’s even an antidote for an opioid overdose,” says Fugitt. “Back in the day, a vial of naloxone cost a couple of bucks. Now, everybody is trying to get their piece of the pie.” With reporting by Zeke J. Miller

These 8 Books Can Help You Finally Understand Business -TIME Business

These 8 Books Can Help You Finally Understand Business

Posted: 22 Feb 2017 10:13 AM PST

Run rate? M&A? Non-voting shares?
If you’ve never run your own business or considered B-school, it can be tough to wrap your head around how the corporate world works. Thankfully, there’s a wealth of excellent (yes, even enjoyable) tomes out there that can help. Here are eight great ones to start with, a mix of classics and new reads about today’s hottest startups as suggested by writers and editors at TIME and Fortune.

The Innovators Dilemma ($14, Amazon)

Clayton Christensen’s 1997 classic The Innovators Dilemma argues that market-leading companies can become shells of their former selves if they’re unwilling to “disrupt” themselves — because somebody else will come along and do it for them. It’s akin to a religious text in Silicon Valley, where it’s viewed as a guidebook for upstart innovators seeking to take on the world’s biggest firms.

Soul of a New Machine ($10, Amazon)

The Pulitzer-winning Soul of a New Machine, by Tracy Kidder, is considered by many to be one of the best non-fiction books about technology ever written. The 1981 novel follows the now-defunct Data General’s efforts to build a next-generation “minicomputer” in the 1970s. The company’s ability to overcome corporate, engineering and design challenges offers particularly insightful lessons for anybody interested in cross-team project management.

Good to Great ($19, Amazon)

The world is home to billions of companies, but only a few become true corporate powerhouses. What separates the merely good firms from the great? That’s the question Jim C. Collins seeks to answer in his 2001 Good to Great. His ultimate answer: It’s all about focusing on what you do best — what economists might call “comparative advantage.”

The Smartest Guys in the Room ($10, Amazon)

Enron’s demise was perhaps the most infamous corporate collapse in American business history. Here, journalists Peter Elkind and Bethany McLean offer an insightful look at the complex business arrangements that masked Enron’s feeble health, all without requiring that readers have a business degree before diving in. You’ll come away with a far greater respect for accounting principles than you ever thought possible.

Steve Jobs ($15, Amazon)

Steve Jobs, whose 1997 return to Apple sparked a turnaround that helped the Cupertino, Calif. become the world’s largest company by market capitalization, was in many ways a flawed genius. But it’s impossible to deny his business acumen, and anybody interested in business would do well to know his story well. Nobody has captured a better portrait of Jobs than former TIME Managing Editor Walter Issacson, whose 2011 biography leaves readers with a deeper understanding of the man and the now-massive company he helped resurrect.

The Upstarts ($20, Amazon)

Ours is an age dominated not only by decades-old corporate powerhouses, but increasingly by well-funded technology startups, too. In The Upstarts, Bloomberg’s Brad Stone offers a look at how two of these firms in particular — Uber and Airbnb — have remade the world in their image seemingly overnight. It’s especially insightful as a view into how modern companies deal with rules and regulations that stand to disrupt their business strategies.

DisneyWar ($12, Amazon)

Disney is called “the happiest place on Earth,” but its corporate history has long been marked by high-profile infighting and rivalries. James B. Stewart’s DisneyWar focuses on the tenure of former CEO Michael Eisner, along the way revealing how personal squabbles can threaten to derail even the world’s most iconic corporate powers. Read this one if you’re interested in learning about individual leaders’ ability to thrust companies forward — or spin them into chaos.

Losing the Signal ($16, Amazon)

Research in Motion, the Canadian maker of the instantly-recognizable BlackBerry Phones, once dominated the embryonic smartphone market. Today, not so much. What happened? Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff’s 2015 Losing the Signaloffers an answer: RIM simply wasn’t able to predict how Apple’s iPhone would change everything about the smartphone world. Read this one after Innovators’ Dilemma for a modern case study featuring a company you probably know well.

(Read TIME’s affiliate link policy.)

Mitch McConnell Unhappy With Donald Trump's Tweets, Fine With Everything Else - Huffington Post

WASHINGTON ― Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that he’s happy with everything Donald Trump has done since becoming president ― except for one thing.

Was it his executive order banning refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, perhaps, which was so bungled that it’s tied up in court? Was it his praise for Vladimir Putin? His war on the free press? His efforts to undermine the judicial branch of government? It’s none of those things. McConnell is annoyed by Trump’s tweets.

“Am I a fan of all the tweets? Use your imagination,” he chuckled at an event with constituents in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. “But if you focus on what the president is trying to accomplish, and you believe America needed to go in a different direction, I think he’s been doing all the right things.”

It’s the latest example of just how much GOP leaders are prepared to embrace or turn a blind eye to Trump’s actions, no matter how erratic or potentially dangerous they are, in exchange for the president signing the kinds of laws they’ve desperately wanted for years but couldn’t get under a Democratic president.

Certainly, Trump’s penchant for typo-ridden tirades on Twitter is bizarre and a distraction from the GOP’s agenda. But contrast the outrageousness of his tweets with that of his immigration executive order, for example, which left tens of thousands of immigrants in legal limbo for days and sparked protests nationwide.

Trump’s criticisms of the federal judges who ruled against him on that executive order sparked threats against those judges.

And the ban itself plays right into the hands of Islamic State terrorists, who thrive off the idea that the United States is at war with Islam.

McConnell didn’t raise concerns about any of that with his constituents. He talked about all the things Republicans want to do now that they control Congress and the White House, like comprehensive tax reform, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, and confirming Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch.

It’s the same approach House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has been taking, too: Block out the ugly things that are actually happening (e.g. Did Trump’s campaign coordinate with Russia during the election? Nothing to see here!) in favor of focusing on what your party wants to get done (e.g. quickly lining up bills to roll back government regulations).

That, for the moment, appears to be GOP leaders’ strategy for navigating the next four years under Trump.

“These are all the same kind of things a President Rubio or a President Bush or a President Romney would have recommended,” McConnell said of ACA repeal and tax reform at his constituent event. “So, I think we’re doing the kind of things that most Republicans believe can make the country better.”

Trump's company is receiving payments directly from Abu Dhabi - Huffington Post

WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump’s business receives direct payments from a registered foreign agent funded by the government of Abu Dhabi.
The U.S. headquarters for the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority is located on the 22nd floor of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue — just four floors below the president’s penthouse apartment. The authority, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, promotes tourism to Abu Dhabi, which is part of the United Arab Emirates. It has been registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. Department of Justice since 2012.

During his run for president, Trump claimed that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton “sold her office to corporations and foreign governments, betraying the public trust” by accepting donations from foreign governments to her family’s charity, which focused on delivering vaccines and low-cost HIV/AIDS drugs to people in poor countries. Now he’s benefiting from foreign government payments to his for-profit, privately owned business.

“Normally, the fact that a foreign agent — a registered foreign agent — was paying money to the President of the United States would create blaring headlines around the world, but so vast and scandalous are the President’s conflicts of interest that it hardly raises an eyebrow,” said Norm Eisen, the former top ethics adviser to President Barack Obama.

Trump has not sold his business interests, instead turning over management control to his sons, a move that ensures he will benefit any time any of his companies benefit.
Eisen, along with other ethics experts — including President George W. Bush’s ethics lawyer Richard Painter — and constitutional law professors, filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging that Trump is in violation of the Constitution for his acceptance of payments from foreign government entities. Under the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, the president is forbidden from receiving gifts or payments from foreign governments and foreign government-owned corporations.

“It does put a sharper point on it, the fact that they’re a foreign agent,” Eisen added. “All of these foreign governments who make payments to Trump’s businesses have a strong interest in the decision-making of the United States.”
The Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, like all foreign agents, is registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which is designed to help the federal government monitor foreign nations’ activities in the U.S. FARA requires foreign government-backed influence groups in the United States to register as foreign agents even if they are not lobbying the U.S. government directly.
Many foreign agents focus on promoting their country to the broader American public and media and not on lobbying the government. Based on its publicly available filings, this appears to be the case with the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority.
But during his run for president, Trump promised to sign a law banning “registered foreign lobbyists” from contributing to campaigns. FARA is the only law that registers foreign lobbyists.
And since at least 2012, his business has been taking a FARA registrant’s money.
Trump’s transition team initially included several advisers who were also foreign agents ― until they were dropped in the middle of November. One of them survived, however. Former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), a registered foreign agent for Taiwan and a senior transition aide, helped broker the controversial phone call between Trump and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in December.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Abu Dhabi authority is not the only foreign government-backed organization paying Trump. The Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, which is owned by that nation’s government, is also a Trump Tower tenant. In addition, The New York Times reported that Trump owes money to the Bank of China, another foreign government-owned entity.

Trump Takes Over CPAC — But Will He Own the Conservative Movement Too? - NBC News

Trump Takes Over CPAC — But Will He Own the Conservative Movement Too?

Trump takes over CPAC

A year ago at the height of the Republican presidential primary, not only did Donald Trump skip the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), he also received criticism from some of the speakers. "One of these candidates is not Tea Party at all. I know Donald Trump says he loves the Tea Party, but that's not what it takes to be Tea Party," said Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots. "You have to put freedom above your own interest." Well, things have certainly changed: Team Trump has taken over this year's CPAC, which begins today and lasts through Saturday. Indeed, as many as eight high-level Trump administration officials will address the conference over the next three days, including the president himself:

Kellyanne Conway (Thursday at 9:10 am ET)

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos (Thursday at 12:50 pm ET)

Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon (Thursday at 1:05 pm ET)

Vice President Mike Pence (Thursday at 7:30 pm ET)

President Trump (Friday at 10:20 am ET)

KT McFarland (Friday at 7:30 pm ET)

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt (Saturday at 1:50 pm ET)

By contrast, just two members of George W. Bush's team spoke at CPAC in 2001 (Dick Cheney and Karl Rove), but President Reagan and about one-third of his cabinet attended the conference in 1981. Since we started covering politics, CPAC has always featured different strands of the conservative movement -- the Paul libertarians, the Ted Cruz-like social conservatives, the Tea Party crowd, and even pro-immigration-reform conservatives. But this year, and most likely through at least 2020, Trump-ism (with its stances on immigration, race, and trade) is dominating CPAC.

But does he take over conservatism?

The bigger question, however, is whether Trump's time in office actually takes over the conservative movement, too. The Never-Trump crowd isn't so sure. "It's going to take a lot more than what the Trump folks have managed to take conservatism over from Burke and Kirk, to say nothing of Thatcher or Goldwater or Reagan," GOP strategist Liz Mair tells First Read.

Conservative radio host Charlie Sykes adds, "I would say that conservatism is in temporary eclipse. It remains intellectually robust and has deep roots at the local and state level. But for the time being, personality politics has trumped principles. Trump World has exposed how few genuine principled conservative there really were. It turns out that even conservatives were not that into small government, free markets, etc."

Play Trump staffers work to control president's Twitter habit Facebook Twitter Google PlusEmbed

Trump staffers work to control president's Twitter habit 5:19

Setting the CPAC stage

A divided conservative movement: NBC's Benjy Sarlin sets the stage for this year's CPAC. "Trump enjoys strong approval ratings among Republicans, but the rocky lead-up to the event this year is a reminder that the conservative movement is still divided over the president and the ideas raised by his campaign.

On Monday, CPAC dropped planned speaker Milo Yiannopoulos, a popular figure in so-called alt right circles who refers to Trump as "Daddy," after videos surfaced in which he discussed whether sex between young teenagers and adults might be considered consensual. Yiannopoulos also resigned from Breitbart News, which Bannon ran until leaving to oversee Trump's campaign last year. The outrage over the footage was amplified by prominent figures on the right who argued from the start that inviting Yiannopoulos was a mistake. 'The alt right is not part of the conservative movement,' ACU board member Ned Ryun said Tuesday on MSNBC's Hardball. 'I don't think we need to normalize them.'"

Trump administration rescinds Obama guidance on transgender protections

Meanwhile, in non-CPAC news… "In a complete reversal of the Obama administration's position, President Donald Trump's administration formally rescinded past guidance on transgender bathroom protections in public schools," per NBC News.

MORE: "Letters from the Justice and Education departments late Wednesday notified the Supreme Court and the nation's public schools that the administration is changing its position on the issue. Former President Barack Obama instructed public schools that they must allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with a child's chosen gender identity. The guidance was issued as an interpretation of Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education. Now, the administration is revoking key guidance on which that policy was based. The letter informs the court that the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division will no longer 'rely on the views expressed in that guidance, and instead will consider further and more completely the legal issues involved.'"

A sidelined secretary of state?

That's message from a pair of news articles out this morning. The Washington Post: "The Trump administration in its first month has largely benched the State Department from its long-standing role as the pre­eminent voice of U.S. foreign policy, curtailing public engagement and official travel and relegating Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to a mostly offstage role. Decisions on hiring, policy and scheduling are being driven by a White House often wary of the foreign policy establishment and struggling to set priorities and write policy on the fly."

And Politico: "Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has asked his aides to find ways to improve his media profile, a request that comes as U.S. diplomats increasingly worry about the direction of the State Department and whether their new boss has enough influence with President Donald Trump." NBC's Andrew Rafferty looks at Tillerson's trip to Mexico.

The big elephant in the room of the race for DNC chair

As DNC members travel to Atlanta to choose the party's next chair on Saturday, there's an elephant in the room that no one is talking about it — but that everyone is thinking about: Keith Ellison's Muslim faith.

Don't get us wrong, this isn't an issue among the 447 DNC members. As we've written, many/most voting members would be happy with either Ellison or Tom Perez. But some outside the party seem to be goading Democrats to pick Ellison, as David Duke did earlier this month. Even President Trump weighed in on Ellison yesterday, tweeting: "One thing I will say about Rep. Keith Ellison, in his fight to lead the DNC, is that he was the one who predicted early that I would win!"

Trump Cabinet watch

Secretary of State: Rex Tillerson CONFIRMED

Attorney General: Jeff Sessions CONFIRMED

Treasury: Steve Mnuchin CONFIRMED

Defense: JamesMattis CONFIRMED

Homeland: John Kelly CONFIRMED

Interior: Ryan Zinke NOMINATED

HHS: Tom Price CONFIRMED

HUD: Ben Carson NOMINATED

Education: Betsy DeVos CONFIRMED

Commerce: Wilbur Ross NOMINATED

Transportation: Elaine Chao CONFIRMED

Labor: Alexander Acosta NOMINATED

Agriculture: Sonny Perdue NOMINATED

Energy: Rick Perry NOMINATED

Veterans Affairs: David Shulkin CONFIRMED

OMB Director: Mick Mulvaney CONFIRMED

U.S Trade Representative: Robert Lighthizer NOMINATED

UN Ambassador: Nikki Haley CONFIRMED

Environmental Protection Agency: Scott Pruitt CONFIRMED

Small Business Administration: Linda McMahon CONFIRMED

CIA Director: Mike Pompeo CONFIRMED

Official Swedish Twitter account debunks Trump lying tweets one by one - Independent

An official Swedish Twitter account that is controlled by a different citizen each week has taken Donald Trump to task over his claims about the country.

The US President was greeted with a mixture of confusion and ridicule after he told a campaign-style rally in Florida: “We've got to keep our country safe. You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden! They took in large numbers, they’re having problems like they never thought possible.”

In response, Swedish politicians, news outlets and ordinary citizens, took to social media to question what had happened on a relatively peaceful Friday night in the Scandinavian country.

Charged with operating the @Sweden Twitter handle this week, Max Karlsson decided to debunk Mr Trump’s claims about his homeland.

The 22-year-old paralegal from Stockholm, told The Independent that he was driven to speak out because he believes passionately that even the US President should be held accountable for unverified claims.

“His comment felt so out of place, and in line with the image of Sweden that the so called 'alt-media' is trying to push,” he said. “Initially I thought I would address the issue with a lot more humour, but after speaking with friends I saw that this was a great opportunity to draw a line in the sand with facts.”

He added that he felt compelled to set the record straight "grounded in facts."

“Let's be clear: a lot happened #lastnightinsweden. Things happen all of the time. Just not the things @realdonaldtrump are spreading,” he wrote on Twitter.

Taking aim at claims Sweden is suffering from rising crime rates, he wrote: "We have around 100 murders per year. That's like two days in the US. Two. Days."

He added: “Crime in Sweden has not increased over the last 20 years. On the contrary, Sweden is safer.”

He also cited official commerce and industry statistics to demonstrate the positive impact of immigration on the country, after Mr Trump claimed it had created “problems like they never thought possible.”

“During the time Sweden received 250,000 refugees, unemployment has fallen with 1,2%-points,” he said.

“More people are working in Sweden than ever before…and in % a higher share is working than in 25 years.”

Sweden took in more refugees per capita than any other European country in 2016.

The former real-estate mogul focused on Europe's migrant crisis at last week's rally, linking migration to terror attacks in Brussels, Nice and Paris - before adding Sweden to the list.

Jeremy Corbyn and Donald Trump are cut from the same cloth

Mr Trump later explained he had seen a Fox News segment featuring a documentary filmmaker that accused the Swedish government of covering up an epidemic of immigration-related crime.

“When I found out it was based on the Horowitz clip, I felt a solid mixture of sadness and irritation that the world's most powerful man believes anything he sees on TV as long as it fits in his own narrative,” Mr Karlsson told The Independent.

It came as a 2016 report found immigration had helped fuel Sweden's biggest economic boom in five years.

A poll also rated the country the best for serving the interests of its citizens, when it was taken last year.