| | What will the Trump administration do about suspected terrorists detained on the battlefield? So far, neither the White House nor the Pentagon have responded to questions about the April 30 deadline laid out in an executive order regarding the future of the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. That order, which President Trump signed on January 30 , reversed the Obama administration policy to close down Gitmo. One provision of the Trump order declared that “within 90 days,” the Defense secretary is ordered to “recommend policies to the president regarding the disposition of individuals captured in connected with an armed conflict, including policies governing transfer of individuals” to Gitmo. Spokespersons for both the White House and Pentagon did not respond to emails asking if Secretary James Mattis has or is expected to deliver those recommendations by April 30. While President Barack Obama issued his own executive order directing the closing of Gitmo’s detention camp in 2009, he was unable to shut down the facility. But his administration did transfer or release a large chunk of the prison’s population to other nations. An August 2016 transfer of 15 terrorist suspects to the United Arab Emirates, near the end of Obama’s term in office, was his largest in a single day. Some resettled detainees have fallen into recidivism or have otherwise disappeared. A story last week in the New York Times documented how two Libyan-born detainees, who the Obama administration transferred to Senegal, were recently deported back to Libya. “After a traumatic journey, the Libyans apparently fell into the hands of a hard-line militia leader who has been accused of prisoner abuse — and then they vanished.” |
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| Li Europan lingu es es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc, litot Europa usa li sam. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica, li pronunciation e li plu commun vocabules. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica. Li Europan lingu es es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc, litot Europa usa listing.
Li Europan lingu es es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc, litot Europa usa li sam. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica, li pronunciation e li plu commun vocabules. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica. Li Europan lingu es es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc, litot Europa usa ling.
Li Europan lingu es es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc, litot Europa usa li sam. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica, li pronunciation e li plu commun vocabules. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica. Li Europan lingu es es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc, litot Europa usa li sam vocabular. | |
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| Whatever Happened?—Ronny Jackson, who last week withdrew from his nomination to head the Department of Veterans Affairs after several allegations of bad workplace conduct emerged and delayed his confirmation hearing, will also not be returning to his job as the physician to the president. Eliana Johnson of Politico reports: Sean Conley, a Navy officer who took over Jackson’s role as the president’s personal doctor last month, will continue in the role, the officials said. Jackson bowed out last week after Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the top Democrat on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, released a document summarizing allegations by current and former colleagues that Jackson overprescribed pills, drank on the job and created a hostile work environment. Jackson has denied the allegations and has returned to work in the White House Medical Unit.
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| Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday reaffirmed America’s common approach with Israel to dealing with Iran, saying that “the United States is with Israel in this fight.” Pompeo was speaking following a meeting in Tel Aviv with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the final stop in the newly-confirmed secretary’s inaugural four-day trip to Europe and the Middle East.
Throughout his trip, Pompeo repeatedly maintained that America might soon reinstate economic sanctions on Iran if the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action deal were not strengthened to prevent Iran from advancing their nuclear program. “We remain deeply concerned about Iran’s dangerous escalation of threats to Israel and the region, and Iran’s ambition to dominate the Middle East remains,” Pompeo said. “President Trump’s been pretty clear. This deal is very flawed. He’s directed the administration to try and fix it and, if we can’t fix it, he’s going to withdraw.”
Meanwhile, the White House still maintains they have not decided whether to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal altogether. National security adviser John Bolton said Sunday that Trump was still considering the framework for a new nuclear deal that French president Emmanuel Macron urged him to accept during his state visit last week. “And that I think is something that is of interest to the president and worth pursuing,” Bolton said on Fox News Sunday. “But in terms specifically of the nuclear deal, there’s no decision on that yet.” | |
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Mark It Down—"This administration has its eyes wide open. We know the history. We know the risks. We're going to be very different. We're going to negotiate in a different way than has been done before." —Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on talks with the North Koreans, April 29, 2018
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| President Trump traveled to Michigan Saturday night for a rally to drum up Republican enthusiasm ahead of this year’s midterms, touting his administration’s accomplishments and firing repeated shots at the Democratic party and Michigan senator Debbie Stabenow, who is up for reelection.
“Debbie Stabenow is one of the leaders for weak borders and letting people in. I don’t know how she gets away from it,” Trump told the crowd. “A vote for a Democrat in November is a vote for open borders and crime. It’s very simple. It’s also a vote for much higher taxes.”
Trump was in full campaign-rally style throughout the event, leaning heavily into his tried-and-true applause lines on political corruption, the media, and immigration. He struck an optimistic tone about North Korea, saying that “peace is going to keep us out of nuclear war” and prompting chants of “Nobel!” from the audience. Trump also took time to lay into notable foes such as James Comey—“I did you a great favor when I fired this guy”—and to brag about his recent praise from rapper Kanye West, who tweeted words of support for Trump last week. “Kanye West gets it,” Trump said. “When he sees that African-American unemployment is the lowest in history. You know, people are watching. That’s a very important thing he’s done for his legacy.” Trump finished by urging his supporters to “fight like hell” ahead of November’s midterms. “And I think we’re going to do great in the Senate, and I think we’re going to do great in the House, because the economy is so good,” he said. | |
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2018 Watch—From the New York Times this weekend: “President Trump is privately rejecting the growing consensus among Republican leaders that they may lose the House and possibly the Senate in November, leaving party officials and the president’s advisers nervous that he does not grasp the gravity of the threat they face in the midterm elections.”
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