White House social media director abused position by attacking Republican congressman - Washington Post

White House social media director abused position by attacking Republican congressman

A tweet by White House social media director Dan Scavino Jr. urging supporters of President Trump to challenge a GOP lawmaker may have violated a federal law that prohibits officials from using their positions for political activity, ethics experts said.

On Saturday, Scavino went after Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, calling him “a big liability” in a tweet from his personal account. “#TrumpTrain, defeat him in primary,” he added.

Amash is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, which Trump blames for derailing legislation that would have repealed parts of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Even though Scavino was tweeting from his personal account, the page at the time listed his official White House position and featured a photo of him inside the Oval Office, noted Richard Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration.

“You can't just load up your personal Twitter page with a lot of official stuff,” Painter said. “This is way over the top. It’s not a personal page. It's chock full of official stuff.”

Painter said he thinks Scavino's tweet violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits the use of one's office for political purposes.

“We would have fired him” in the Bush White House, he said. “This is use of official position for a partisan election. You can’t avoid it.”

A White House official said the tweet did not violate the Hatch Act “as it clearly comes from his personal account and not his official White House account.”

“He created an official account upon entering the White House to ensure compliance with the Hatch Act, and he has taken the necessary steps to ensure there is a clear distinction between both Twitter accounts,” the official said.

By Sunday morning, Scavino had changed the biography on his personal Twitter page, removing the reference to his current post at the White House and noting solely that he was director of social media for Trump's campaign. He also altered the photo at the top of his personal and official pages, removing images of Trump supporters at a rally holding signs.

dan-scavino-02.jpg

Scavino's missdirected Twitter bio

However, the profile photo on his personal account is still an image of Scavino inside the Oval Office. And in his apparent haste, he typed the wrong handle for the president, using @realDonaldTump instead of @realDonaldTrump. After the Washington Post noted the typo, Scavino removed the reference to Trump's handle.

Later Sunday, Scavino rejected the suggestion that he had done anything wrong when asked by a reporter on Twitter if he had a response to the ethics lawyers who say he violated the Hatch Act.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued

8.

“What 'ethics lawyers?' The ones from the Obama Admin who want to take Trump down, or the Bush Admin who were #NeverTrump? No thanks!” he wrote.

The Washington Post

Spain ‘surprised’ at UK commentary over Gibraltar - Financial Times

Spain ‘surprised’ at UK commentary over Gibraltar

Spanish foreign minister plays down tensions generated by Brexit guidelines

https://www.ft.com/content/fe4b7478-184f-11e7-a53d-df09f373be87

Spanish foreign minister Alfonso Dastis has said his government is “surprised” at the tone of commentary in the UK over Gibraltar, after a weekend in which former Tory leader Michael Howard suggested Britain could go to war to defend the territory.

“I think that someone in the UK is losing their temper and there’s no reason for that,” said Mr Dastis, as he sought to play down the tensions generated by a condition in the European Council’s draft negotiating guidelines on Brexit.

The condition in effect gives Spain a veto on any future UK-EU trade deal that affects Gibraltar, which has been in British hands for 300 years.

“We are a little surprised at the tone this has generated in the UK, a country characterised historically for its composure,” Mr Dastis said at the opening ceremony of an economic forum in Madrid. “In this case, the traditional British composure has been notable for its absence.”

On Sunday, Gibraltar chief minister Fabian Picardo told the Financial Times that Spain’s use of the territory as a bargaining chip was “scandalous” and noted that 12,000 workers, mostly Spanish, cross the border every day. “This is why it is in everyone’s interest that there should be a sensible, orderly and well managed Brexit between Spain and Gibraltar,” he said.

Mr Dastis seemed to make a nod towards these workers in his comments on Monday. “We are not in favour of raising tariffs or making the relationship more difficult with the UK and the citizens of Gibraltar,” he said, adding that Spain’s goal was to defend the interests of its citizens who live near, and work in, the territory.

The foreign minister also repeated the Spanish view, made explicit over the weekend, that Spain did not want to see Scotland secede from the UK but would not necessarily veto a Scottish application for EU membership if it did pursue independence.

UK stranded between the Rock and a hard place

Flare up over Gibraltar represents early skirmish in unprecedented talks with EU

“Our position is clear. When the UK leaves the EU, it leaves in its entirety. Our desire is that outside of the EU it remains whole. Spain does not defend fragmentation or secession,” Mr Dastis said. “More than that, I won’t speculate about possibilities.”

In an interview published by Spain’s El País newspaper on Sunday, Mr Dastis said he did “not foresee that we would block” a Scottish membership application.

Some Scottish opponents of independence have long suggested that Spain would veto EU membership for Scotland, worried about setting a precedent for Catalonia, the Spanish region with a sizeable constituency in favour of independence.

But Mr Dastis said the case was “not comparable” with Catalonia, citing constitutional differences between the UK and Spain.

Referring to the comments, Scottish Nationalist party MP Stephen Gethins said: “We can now be absolutely clear: there is no intention of a Spanish veto over Scotland’s EU membership.”

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2017. All rights reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

The return of a child slave - Al Jazeera News

The return of a child slave
What happens when a child escapes their traffickers and should they ever be returned to the families who sold them?
Ana Palacios | 27 Mar 2017 08:05 GMT | Human Rights, Africa

Togo and Benin - On the West Coast of Africa, thousands of children are sold by their families, often for as little as $30. In exchange, they are offered the vague promise of a better life for their child. But what actually awaits is a life of slavery. The children endure physical and psychological abuse as they work from dawn until dusk far from their homes.
As part of its child protection programmes, UNICEF develops strategies to prevent trafficking, as well as working with local organisations to identify and care for those children who have already been trafficked. Alongside governments, civil society and NGOs, it provides medical, psychological and social care to rescued children, as well as facilitating access to education, vocational training and job opportunities.

NGOs Mensajeros de la Paz in Cotonou, Benin, and Carmelitas Vedruna in the Togo capital Lome, and Misioneros Salesianos in Kara and Lome, Togo, have cared for hundreds of child victims of slavery. By February 2017, these organisations between them had successfully reintergrated 1,527 children into communities.
Al Jazeera

Donald Trump forgot to sign anything at a signing ceremony - Independent

Donald Trump forgot to sign anything at a signing ceremony, and the internet loved it

We all know how hard it is to keep track of things when you’ve had a long week.
And yesterday it seemed like the business of running the free world got a bit too much for Donald Trump, as he marched out of an executive order signing ceremony having forgotten to sign any orders.
During an Oval Office appearance on Friday, Trump had been scheduled to sign a pair of orders focused on reducing the trade deficit in front of a gaggle of journalists.
The President was joined by the Vice President Mike Pence, commerce secretary Wilbur Ross and National Trade Council director Peter Navarro.
Announcing the new directives, Trump promised: “Under my administration the theft of American prosperity will end.” He assured the room: “We have a team that’s second to none: and when everyone’s in gear after these two orders I think it’s going to be something very special.”
He finished by saying:
You’re going to see some very, very strong results, very, very quickly.
However, instead of then sitting at his desk and signing the promised bills, Trump headed straight for the door, giving the mystified press, or possibly Pence, a thumbs-up.
Realising Trump's mistake, Pence immediately sprung forward to call him back, but Trump merely motioned him to scoop up the orders and follow him out.
It's widely assumed that Mr Trump was trying to get away from journalists who were asking questions regarding former national security adviser Michael Flynn and his connections with Russia.
Naturally, Twitter users have been quick to mock the error and Trump's swift departure:
It is believed President Trump later signed the measures behind closed doors, but the White House has yet to offer an explanation as to why he walked out of the ceremony. We can only assume he must have had an urgent appointment elsewhere.

Who’s Worth What at the White House: The Financial Disclosures - New York Times

Who’s Worth What at the White House: The Financial Disclosures
*
*
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
MARCH 31, 2017
The Trump administration released the financial disclosure forms from members of the White House staff. Here is some of what they reveal.
■ The disclosures include the complicated assets of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, who retain vast business holdings.

■ Stephen K. Bannon, the president’s senior adviser, made as much as $2.3 million last year.
■ Gary Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council and the former No. 2 executive at Goldman Sachs, has assets valued at $252 million to $611 million.

■ Mr. Bannon and Mr. Cohn, who both have past ties to Goldman Sachs, nonetheless took very different paths to their fortunes. Read more »
Gary Cohn, a former Goldman executive, is among the wealthiest White House employees.
Mr. Cohn, who until late last year was the No. 2 executive at the investment bank Goldman Sachs, has assets worth $252 million to $611 million, according to a disclosure filing released Friday. That makes Mr. Cohn, now the director of the National Economic Council and a central adviser to Mr. Trump, one of the wealthier members of the already-affluent Trump administration, which includes more than one billionaire.
In addition to the many millions of dollars in cash and stock Mr. Cohn received from Goldman Sachs that made up the lion’s share of his personal assets, he held a slew of positions in publicly traded stocks — many of which he has already said he plans to sell — and in various private entities. Those entities include a stake valued at more than $1 million in a consumer education and consulting business called Payoff, a position in a cosmetics retailer also valued at more than $1 million, investments in several self-storage concerns in Ohio valued at $100,000 or more each, and an investment in a venture capital fund run by Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley powerhouse, valued at $100,000 or more.
Bannon made between $1.3 and 2.3 million last year.
Mr. Bannon may be one of the best known figures in the Trump White House, but as the Trump administration goes, he’s probably not one of the wealthiest. But by the standards of many Americans, he appears to be doing quite well.
Mr. Bannon earned at least $1.3 million and perhaps as much as $2.3 million last year, according to the disclosure report.
He disclosed $191,000 in consulting fees he earned from Breitbart News Network, the conservative media organization; $125,333 from Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that worked for the Trump campaign; and $61,539 in salary from the Government Accountability Institute, a conservative nonprofit organization. All three organizations are backed by the major Republican donors Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah.
Mr. Bannon’s most valuable asset was Bannon Strategic Advisors Inc., a privately held consulting firm from which income from his other investments appeared to flow into. It was valued at $5 million to $25 million.
He also listed the value of his Bannon Film Industries at $1 million to $5 million. His bank accounts were valued at as much as $2,250,000, while he listed rental real estate valued at as much as $10.5 million.
Mr. Bannon made clear in his disclosure report that he intended to sell some of his assets, including his stake in Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm that sells “psychographic” profiles that it asserts can predict the personality and hidden political leanings of every American adult.
Mr. Bannon served until last summer as vice president of Cambridge’s board.
— Eric Lipton, Steve Eder and Jonathan Weisman
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner still benefit from their real estate empires.
■ The president’s daughter and son-in-law will remain the beneficiaries of a sprawling real estate and investment business still worth as much as $740 million, despite their new government responsibilities.

■ Ms. Trump will maintain a stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
■ Mr. Kushner’s financial disclosuressaid that Ms. Trump earned from $1 million to $5 million from January 2016 to March 2017, and puts the value of her stake at $5 million to $25 million.
Gary Cohn, a former Goldman executive, is among the wealthiest White House employees.
Mr. Cohn, who until late last year was the No. 2 executive at the investment bank Goldman Sachs, has assets worth $252 million to $611 million, according to a disclosure filing released Friday. That makes Mr. Cohn, now the director of the National Economic Council and a central adviser to Mr. Trump, one of the wealthier members of the already-affluent Trump administration, which includes more than one billionaire.
In addition to the many millions of dollars in cash and stock Mr. Cohn received from Goldman Sachs that made up the lion’s share of his personal assets, he held a slew of positions in publicly traded stocks — many of which he has already said he plans to sell — and in various private entities. Those entities include a stake valued at more than $1 million in a consumer education and consulting business called Payoff, a position in a cosmetics retailer also valued at more than $1 million, investments in several self-storage concerns in Ohio valued at $100,000 or more each, and an investment in a venture capital fund run by Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley powerhouse, valued at $100,000 or more.
Kellyanne Conway made over $800,000 from her consulting firm.
Kellyanne Conway, one of Mr. Trump’s top advisers, is wealthy, but modestly so when compared with some of her superrich colleagues.
Ms. Conway, a Republican strategist and pollster, made over $800,000 last year, her filing shows. As head of her own consulting firm, Ms. Conway’s clients included an assortment of conservative causes, including the National Rifle Association and the Tea Party Patriots, as well as Cambridge Analytica, the political data firm that advised Mr. Trump’s campaign. She was also paid for a speaking engagement at Point72 Asset Management, the investment firm run by the billionaire stock picker Steven A. Cohen.
Not bad for journalism.
Julia Hahn, until she went to work in the White House, was known as the 20-something reporter who filled Breitbart.com with conservative screeds. But she is also quite rich for her age.
A PNC custodial account owned by Ms. Hahn is valued at $500,000 to $1 million. And various stock funds listed on her financial disclosure are worth as much as $1.5 million.
Her work as a journalist was also nothing to sneeze at. As a reporter, she made $117,217 last year at Breitbart. On top of that, she earned $74,082 from Laura Ingraham’s radio show.
— Jonathan Weisman
■ Omarosa Manigault, a White House aide who is a longtime associate of Mr. Trump and was once a contestant on “The Apprentice,” received a wedding dress, veil and accessories valued at $25,000 in exchange for appearing on the TLC reality show “Say Yes to the Dress.”
■ Peter Navarro, Mr. Trump’s trade czar and resident China hawk, is not a wealthy man, but his salary as an economics professor at a public university wasn’t bad. According to his disclosure form, Mr. Navarro earned $240,000 in salary and bonuses from the University of California, Irvine. He also earned $10,500 for delivering a speech in November to the Casket & Funeral Supply Association of America.
■ Sean Spicer, the press secretary, reported stakes in the Coca-Cola Company, McDonald’s and several real estate investments. But, despite his much-discussed taste for cinnamon-flavored gum, he reported no investments in chewing gum companies (although he does invest in Walmart, which sells chewing gum).
■ Sebastian Gorka, a deputy assistant to Mr. Trump and a former editor at Breitbart News, reported consulting fees of $38,200 from Breitbart. He also reported royalties of $50,000 to $100,000 for his book “Defeating jihad: The Winnable War” — and also said that he signed a contract for a second book.
■ Boris Epshteyn, who served during the presidential campaign as one of Mr. Trump’s chief attack dogs and television talking heads, stills owes over $50,000 on college loans he took out more than a decade ago, his filing indicates. Recently, Mr. Epshteyn left his White House post under circumstances that were unclear.
■ Jason Greenblatt, the Trump Organization lawyer tasked with helping to bring peace to the Middle East, earned $1,025,000 in compensation from Mr. Trump’s company last year.

‘Very blessed and very successful.’
At his daily briefing on Friday, the White House press secretary Sean Spicer tried to put the best spin on the vast wealth that would be on display Friday night:
I think one of the really interesting things that people are going to see today — and I think it’s something that should be celebrated — is that the president has brought a lot of people into this administration, and this White House in particular, who have been very blessed and very successful by this country, and have given up a lot to come into government by setting aside a lot of assets. And I think it speaks volumes to the desire for a lot of these people to fulfill the president’s vision and move the agenda forward that they are willing to list all of their assets, undergo this public scrutiny, but also set aside a lot.
A Friday night document dump.
The White House disclosures fit an age-old pattern in Washington of dumping mountains of documents on Fridays, when normal people have left work and are beginning to enjoy their weekend. Not many are likely to be glued to their computers and television sets to track the wealth of White House officials.

After all, as Josh Lyman, the fictional White House deputy chief of staff on “The West Wing,” put it, “No one reads the paper on Saturday.”
A long list.
Here’s the list of the disclosure forms we’ve received so far:
Stephen K. Bannon, counselor to the president
Thomas Bossert, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism and deputy national security adviser
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Who’s Worth What at the White House: The Financial Disclosures
*
*
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
MARCH 31, 2017
The Trump administration released the financial disclosure forms from members of the White House staff. Here is some of what they reveal.
■ The disclosures include the complicated assets of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, who retain vast business holdings.

■ Stephen K. Bannon, the president’s senior adviser, made as much as $2.3 million last year.
■ Gary Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council and the former No. 2 executive at Goldman Sachs, has assets valued at $252 million to $611 million.

■ Mr. Bannon and Mr. Cohn, who both have past ties to Goldman Sachs, nonetheless took very different paths to their fortunes. Read more »
ll
Financial disclosure forms from White House employees are being released on Friday.
AL DRAGO / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Gary Cohn, a former Goldman executive, is among the wealthiest White House employees.
Mr. Cohn, who until late last year was the No. 2 executive at the investment bank Goldman Sachs, has assets worth $252 million to $611 million, according to a disclosure filing released Friday. That makes Mr. Cohn, now the director of the National Economic Council and a central adviser to Mr. Trump, one of the wealthier members of the already-affluent Trump administration, which includes more than one billionaire.
In addition to the many millions of dollars in cash and stock Mr. Cohn received from Goldman Sachs that made up the lion’s share of his personal assets, he held a slew of positions in publicly traded stocks — many of which he has already said he plans to sell — and in various private entities. Those entities include a stake valued at more than $1 million in a consumer education and consulting business called Payoff, a position in a cosmetics retailer also valued at more than $1 million, investments in several self-storage concerns in Ohio valued at $100,000 or more each, and an investment in a venture capital fund run by Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley powerhouse, valued at $100,000 or more

The White House advisers Stephen K. Bannon, center, and Stephen Miller, left.
STEPHEN CROWLEY / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Bannon made between $1.3 and 2.3 million last year.
Mr. Bannon may be one of the best known figures in the Trump White House, but as the Trump administration goes, he’s probably not one of the wealthiest. But by the standards of many Americans, he appears to be doing quite well.
Mr. Bannon earned at least $1.3 million and perhaps as much as $2.3 million last year, according to the disclosure report.
He disclosed $191,000 in consulting fees he earned from Breitbart News Network, the conservative media organization; $125,333 from Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that worked for the Trump campaign; and $61,539 in salary from the Government Accountability Institute, a conservative nonprofit organization. All three organizations are backed by the major Republican donors Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah.
Mr. Bannon’s most valuable asset was Bannon Strategic Advisors Inc., a privately held consulting firm from which income from his other investments appeared to flow into. It was valued at $5 million to $25 million.
He also listed the value of his Bannon Film Industries at $1 million to $5 million. His bank accounts were valued at as much as $2,250,000, while he listed rental real estate valued at as much as $10.5 million.
Mr. Bannon made clear in his disclosure report that he intended to sell some of his assets, including his stake in Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm that sells “psychographic” profiles that it asserts can predict the personality and hidden political leanings of every American adult.
Mr. Bannon served until last summer as vice president of Cambridge’s board.
— Eric Lipton, Steve Eder and Jonathan Weisman
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner still benefit from their real estate empires.
■ The president’s daughter and son-in-law will remain the beneficiaries of a sprawling real estate and investment business still worth as much as $740 million, despite their new government responsibilities.

■ Ms. Trump will maintain a stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
■ Mr. Kushner’s financial disclosures said that Ms. Trump earned from $1 million to $5 million from January 2016 to March 2017, and puts the value of her stake at $5 million to $25 million.

Read more from Jesse Drucker, Eric Lipton and Maggie Haberman »


Kellyanne Conway at the Capitol last month.
DOUG MILLS / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Kellyanne Conway made over $800,000 from her consulting firm.
Kellyanne Conway, one of Mr. Trump’s top advisers, is wealthy, but modestly so when compared with some of her superrich colleagues.
Ms. Conway, a Republican strategist and pollster, made over $800,000 last year, her filing shows. As head of her own consulting firm, Ms. Conway’s clients included an assortment of conservative causes, including the National Rifle Association and the Tea Party Patriots, as well as Cambridge Analytica, the political data firm that advised Mr. Trump’s campaign. She was also paid for a speaking engagement at Point72 Asset Management, the investment firm run by the billionaire stock picker Steven A. Co

Not bad for journalism.
Julia Hahn, until she went to work in the White House, was known as the 20-something reporter who filled Breitbart.com with conservative screeds. But she is also quite rich for her age.
A PNC custodial account owned by Ms. Hahn is valued at $500,000 to $1 million. And various stock funds listed on her financial disclosure are worth as much as $1.5 million.
Her work as a journalist was also nothing to sneeze at. As a reporter, she made $117,217 last year at Breitbart. On top of that, she earned $74,082 from Laura Ingraham’s radio show.
— Jonathan Weisman
Several other nuggets from the disclosures...


Omarosa Manigault at the White House in February.
PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS / ASSOCIATED PRESS
■ Omarosa Manigault, a White House aide who is a longtime associate of Mr. Trump and was once a contestant on “The Apprentice,” received a wedding dress, veil and accessories valued at $25,000 in exchange for appearing on the TLC reality show “Say Yes to the Dress.”
■ Peter Navarro, Mr. Trump’s trade czar and resident China hawk, is not a wealthy man, but his salary as an economics professor at a public university wasn’t bad. According to his disclosure form, Mr. Navarro earned $240,000 in salary and bonuses from the University of California, Irvine. He also earned $10,500 for delivering a speech in November to the Casket & Funeral Supply Association of America.
■ Sean Spicer, the press secretary, reported stakes in the Coca-Cola Company, McDonald’s and several real estate investments. But, despite his much-discussed taste for cinnamon-flavored gum, he reported no investments in chewing gum companies (although he does invest in Walmart, which sells chewing gum).
■ Sebastian Gorka, a deputy assistant to Mr. Trump and a former editor at Breitbart News, reported consulting fees of $38,200 from Breitbart. He also reported royalties of $50,000 to $100,000 for his book “Defeating jihad: The Winnable War” — and also said that he signed a contract for a second book.
■ Boris Epshteyn, who served during the presidential campaign as one of Mr. Trump’s chief attack dogs and television talking heads, stills owes over $50,000 on college loans he took out more than a decade ago, his filing indicates. Recently, Mr. Epshteyn left his White House post under circumstances that were unclear.
■ Jason Greenblatt, the Trump Organization lawyer tasked with helping to bring peace to the Middle East, earned $1,025,000 in compensation from Mr. Trump’s company last year.

‘Very blessed and very successful.’
At his daily briefing on Friday, the White House press secretary Sean Spicer tried to put the best spin on the vast wealth that would be on display Friday night:
I think one of the really interesting things that people are going to see today — and I think it’s something that should be celebrated — is that the president has brought a lot of people into this administration, and this White House in particular, who have been very blessed and very successful by this country, and have given up a lot to come into government by setting aside a lot of assets. And I think it speaks volumes to the desire for a lot of these people to fulfill the president’s vision and move the agenda forward that they are willing to list all of their assets, undergo this public scrutiny, but also set aside a lot.
A Friday night document dump.
The White House disclosures fit an age-old pattern in Washington of dumping mountains of documents on Fridays, when normal people have left work and are beginning to enjoy their weekend. Not many are likely to be glued to their computers and television sets to track the wealth of White House officials.

After all, as Josh Lyman, the fictional White House deputy chief of staff on “The West Wing,” put it, “No one reads the paper on Saturday.”
A long list.
Here’s the list of the disclosure forms we’ve received so far:
Stephen K. Bannon, counselor to the president
Thomas Bossert, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism and deputy national security adviser



James W. Carroll, senior counsel
Justin Clark, deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs
Gary D. Cohn, director of the National Economic Council
Conway, Kellyanne, counselor to the president
Reed Cordish, special assistant to the president for intragovernmental and technology initiatives
Makan Delrahim, deputy White House counsel
Uttam Dhillon, special assistant to the president, Ethics Compliance Team
Carlos Diaz Rosillo, director of policy and interagency coordination, Domestic Policy Council
Jessica Ditto, deputy communications director
Ann Donaldson, chief of staff to the White House counsel
John Eisenberg, N.S.C. legal adviser, and deputy counsel to the president for national security affairs, National Security Council
Michael Ellis, associate counsel
Boris Epshteyn, assistant director of communications
Helen Ferre, director of media affairs
Scott Gast, special assistant to the president, Ethics Compliance Team
George Gigicos, director of advance and operations
Robert T. Goad, education policy adviser
Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president
Alexander Gray, deputy director for the defense industrial base, National Trade Council
Jason Greenblatt, special representative for international negotiations
Stephanie Grisham, deputy press secretary

Joseph Hagin, deputy chief of staff for operations
Julia Hahn, deputy policy strategist
Vincent Haley, adviser for policy, strategy and speechwriting, Domestic Policy Council

Hope Hicks, director of strategic communications
Kenneth Juster, deputy assistant to the president for international economic affairs and deputy director of the National Economic Council
Katsas, Gregory, deputy counsel to the president
Joseph K. Kellogg, Chief of Staff and Executive Secretary, National Security Council
Shahira E. Knight, special assistant to the president for tax and retirement policy, National Economic Council
Andrew D. Koenig, special assistant to the president and policy special assistant
Jared Kushner, senior adviser to the president for strategic planning
Gerrit Lansing, chief digital officer
Chris Liddell, director of strategic initiatives for the White House Strategic Development Group
Omarosa Manigault, director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison
Ashley Marquis, chief of staff of the National Economic Council
John McEntee, personal aide to the president
Kathleen McFarland, deputy national security adviser
Donald F. McGahn, counsel to the president
Bill McGinley, associate counsel
Stephen Miller, senior adviser to the president for policy
Peter Navarro, director, National Trade Council
Reince Priebus, chief of staff
Marc Short, director of the office of legislative affairs
Sean Spicer, press secretary
Reporting was contributed by Eric Lipton, Barry Meier, Rachael Abrams, Sarah Cohen, Jeremy Bowers, Andrew Lehren, Steve Eder, Jonathan Weisman, Lara Jakes and Ben Protess.

Mike Flynn could finally end Donald Trump's lucky streak - Independent

Mike Flynn could finally end Donald Trump's lucky streak
Unless his offer to provide evidence for immunity is all just some sort of pathetic Hail Mary to get his job back, Donald Trump should be pretty damn worried about this guy
* Nash Riggins
* @nashriggins
* Saturday 1 April 2017 14:15 BST
Donald Trump is lot like a cockroach – and not just because he’s generally chalk full of horse excrement. You can step on the guy all you want, but he always seems to scuttle away completely unscathed. And he’s survived more nuclear fallouts in the past 70 days than any other so-called politician would ever hope to see in ten lifetimes.
Cabinet resignations, court defeats, legislative setbacks, thousands of lawsuits, allegations of rape, mass protests and the lowest approval rating for a generation are just a “no, never mind” to him. Up until recently, it seemed like Trump’s ego, shameless ambitions and grip on power simply could not be killed.
But Michael Flynn might just be the industrial-grade pesticide the world has been desperately praying for.
Even if you’re unfamiliar with the name, you’ll have caught bits and pieces of his backstory. Flynn was a three-star army general turned ardent Trump warhawk. The two sparked quite a bromance over the course of 2016, and so it was hardly surprising when Trump named Flynn America’s top national security advisor after The Donald was sworn into office.
Within 24 hours of that appointment, Trump fed his friend to the crocodiles and kicked him out of the White House after it leaked Flynn had some alleged dodgy dealings with the Kremlin. Apparently Flynn met with a Russian ambassador to chat about the possibility of removing US sanctions after Trump came to power, and then lied to everybody about it.
Bad call. Critics scoffed at the early face plant, but everybody seemed to move on just fine.
But fast forward two months, and Russia has become Washington’s favourite buzzword. A few days ago, FBI Director James Comey announced that he was finally going to take action, and that he was formally investigating the Trump administration to see if the President’s team may have actually been working alongside Russia to cheat Hillary Clinton out of last year’s election.
And guess which disgraced former general with a huge chip on his shoulder immediately stepped out of the shadows offering to dish the dirt?
That’s right. Michael Flynn and his new, aggressively anti-Trump lawyer have volunteered to tell members of congress and the FBI everything there is to say about America’s greasy new president and his supposed links with Moscow – but only under the sole condition that Flynn is guaranteed total immunity from being prosecuted for what it is he has to say.
Senate insiders have already dismissed Flynn’s immunity offer as “wildly preliminary”, but members of the House Intelligence Committee sound quite keen. And unless this is all just some sort of pathetic Hail Mary to get his job back, Donald Trump should be pretty damn worried about this guy.
After all, as Michael Flynn himself so gingerly pointed out while campaigning for Trump in last year’s election: “When you are given immunity, that means you’ve probably committed a crime.”
We could speculate forever-and-a-day about what sort of crime that may have been, and where the big man with the little hands ultimately fits into all this. But the fact that wild speculation is even on the table speaks volumes as to just how far we as a society have fallen.
Donald Trump has completely and utterly desecrated the integrity of his office. He bathed the American people in snake oil in a desperate bid to reach what he perceived to be the top, and he stepped on a whole lot of friends along the way.
Well, Mr President, karma sure is a bitch – because it looks like Michael Flynn might have been the wrong friend to step on.

Defense Sec. James Mattis: North Korea ‘Has Got to Be Stopped’ - MSNBC News

Defense Sec. James Mattis: North Korea ‘Has Got to Be Stopped’

by ALEXANDER SMITH and GABE JOSELOW

LONDON — After years of North Korea thumbing its nose at the international community, on Friday Defense Secretary James Mattis appeared to signal enough was enough.

"Right now, [North Korea] appears to be going in a very reckless manner … and that has got to be stopped," Mattis said at a press conference in London.

He didn't give any details about how the administration of President Donald Trump plans to deal with the reclusive nation, which, under Kim Jong Un, has drastically increased its missile and nuclear-testing program.

But Mattis' remarks continue a recent trend of Trump officials taking a harder line on North Korea.

Earlier this month, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the "diplomatic … efforts of the past 20 years to bring North Korea to a point of de-nuclearization have failed."

He also said that military action was "on the table."

Many experts say that Trump's options are limited, however.

Kim has pledged to develop a weapons capable of striking the U.S. and its allies. Three of the country's nuclear tests were completed under his rule and he conducted more missile tests over the past four years than in the rest of the country's history.

Image: Defense Secretary James Mattis

Defense Secretary James Mattis made the comments during a joint press conference with British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon (not pictured) on Friday. Jack Taylor / Getty Images

Trump could try to levy more sanctions on the country, although these have not stopped previous tests and Tillerson appeared to dismiss this approach earlier this month.

But a full-scale invasion would be unlikely — not to mention extremely difficult — according to U.S. Army strategist Maj. ML Cavanaugh.

Cavanaugh wrote an article in the Modern War Institute at West Point, which is a research center of the United States Military Academy, warning of North Korea's tough, "Afghanistan-like geography" and an army that could act like "a much better-trained, much better-armed version of the Taliban."

An American invasion would also carry the risk of a retaliatory missile strike against America's allies, South Korea and Japan. The South Korean capital of Seoul, with its population of 10 million, is just 50 miles from its border with the North.

Russian Violation of Missile Treaty Draws U.S. Congress Scrutiny - Bloomberg

by Katia Dmitrieva

31 March 2017 at 8:11:34 AM AEDT

U.S. should add artillery in Europe surrounding Russia: Scher

Pentagon this month said missile deployment threatens NATO

Russia’s deployment of a ground-launched cruise missile in apparent violation of an international treaty drew scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers proposing a tougher stance in support of NATO allies.

Republican Representative Ted Poe of Texas said the U.S. is “living in fantasy land” if it believes that Moscow will comply with the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF, which bans both countries from owning, producing, or testing a ground-launched cruise missile capable of a distance of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (3,420 miles.)

General Paul Selva, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a hearing this month that the missile deployment, to a location he wouldn’t identify, presents a risk to many U.S. facilities in Europe as well as to allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. One battalion of the prohibited missiles is based near the southern city of Volgograd, the New York Times reported last month, citing U.S. officials it didn’t identify.

“There is a chance that we can convince Russia that it is better off coming back into compliance with the treaty, but up to this point, making that case to them through diplomacy has been ineffective, and I doubt that will change," Robert Scher, a former assistant secretary of Defense in the Obama administration, said in a prepared statement to members of two House subcommittees Thursday.

Scher said President Donald Trump’s administration should consider developing a ground-launched cruise missile similar to the one Russia deployed and asking Eastern European allies to add more artillery that can reach key targets in Russia.

In response to Russia’s arms deployment, Poe and Republican Representative Mike Rogers have introduced H.R. 1182, which would allow the U.S. to develop its own intermediate range missiles.

The hearing comes as investigations into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and potential contacts between Russian officials and associates of Trump’s campaign, continue to dog the White House. The Senate Intelligence Committee held its first public hearing Thursday on Russian activities during the election.

Hero Judge Shreds Bank of America for Putting Couple Through ‘Kafkaesque’ Foreclosure Nightmare - Wall Street Journal

Hero Judge Shreds Bank of America for Putting Couple Through ‘Kafkaesque’ Foreclosure Nightmare Posted: 30 Mar 2017 09:29 AM PDT “Franz Kafka lives. This automatic stay violation case reveals that he works at Bank of America.” So begins the epic 107-page ruling by a judge in California, who found that Bank of America’s “brazen” and “heartless” behavior, as well as “institutional obstinance and dishonesty” during an improper foreclosure, merited fines of $46 million. In his ruling, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Klein described the homeowners’ ordeal as a “kafkaesque nightmare,” summing up their surreal sense of confusion and despair. He also compared their trials to the Greek myth of Sisyphus—the guy condemned to rolling a boulder up a hill for eternity—and even referenced one of the biggest scandals in U.S. politics. “There comes a point at which this case is reminiscent of Watergate: the denial and coverup becomes worse than the crime,” Klein wrote. (The Consumerist has a link to the entire ruling.) The crazy case stems back to 2009, when the homeowners, Erik and Renee Sundquist, sought a loan modification for their house in Sacramento. Bank of America, which had taken over the bank that originally gave the couple a mortgage, instructed them to stop their monthly payments “Their sole reason for defaulting, which they did with considerable reluctance (their credit score had been above 800), was acquiesce in Bank of America’s demand that they default as a precondition for loan modification,” the court ruling explains. The bank then “led the Sundquists on a not-very-merry chase by inviting and entertaining mortgage modification applications it had no intention of granting,” the judge writes. A “game of cat-and-mouse” commenced. “With one paw, Bank of America batted the debtors between about 20 loan modification requests or supplements that routinely were either ‘lost’ or declared insufficient, or incomplete.” The Sundquists filed for bankruptcy in 2010, which should have halted foreclosure proceedings, but Bank of America slapped them with an eviction notice anyway. They fled to a $4,000-a-month rental, only to find out later—without being formally notified by the bank—that the home was still theirs after all. While the Sundquists were gone, the house had been looted, major appliances were stolen, and they came home to face a $20,000 fine from the homeowners association because the landscaping had been ignored. Meanwhile, Renee Sundquist suffered post-traumatic stress disorder that she says caused her to lose a job, and her husband tried to commit suicide. The couple also said their children were repeatedly terrified when bank agents showed up at the house unexpectedly and banged on sliding glass doors while the kids practiced piano. Many of these personal details come from the extensive journal kept by Renee Sundquist throughout the ordeal. The journal wound up being invaluable to their case, and is quoted throughout the court ruling. A sample excerpt, concerning her mother’s role as a co-signer of their loan: My mother sent a letter to the bank advising them she was an investor and wanted to make sure she did not lose her investment. She advised that she had the funds to pay for the foreclosure. I called to confirm that the bank had received the letter from my mother and they said they were converting their system and all documents were lost. And another journal entry: Called the bank talked to a representative who said the modifications were not real. When I told her my mother could pay it off the representative advised against because the modification doesn’t mean anything and it is just a way to create funds for the bank before foreclosure. Judge Klein ruled that the Sundquists would receive $1.075 million in damages. Among other things, Bank of America was deemed guilty of “foreclosing on the Sundquist residence, prosecuting an unlawful detainer action, forcing them to move, secretly rescinding the foreclosure, failing to protect the residence from looting, refusing to pay for Sundquist property lost, and subjecting the Sundquists to a mortgage modification charade,” the ruling states. The judge also found that punitive damages of $45 million, to be paid by Bank of America mostly to consumer advocacy groups and law schools, were necessary to serve as a “deterrent function” to all lenders considering such practices. “To award punitive damages measured by a conventional multiplier of three to six times of the Sundquist compensatory damages would be laughed off in Bank of America’s boardroom as a mere ‘cost of doing business’ payable out of the petty cash account,” Klein wrote. “The remedy needs to fit the wrong. The award should be sufficient to serve those interests, which may be an ‘eye-popping’ sum in the view of bystanders not possessed of great wealth.” A Bank of America spokesman described some of Klein’s rulings as “unprecedented and unsupported,” according to the Wall Street Journal.