Daily Archives: May 22, 2017

President Donald Trump took off on Friday afternoon, embarking on his first foreign trip as president and almost as soon as he was wheels up to Saudi Arabia the bombshells started going off.

The New York Times reported that Trump boasted to Russian officials that in firing FBI Director James Comey he had dispatched a nut job and that his ouster took great pressure off of him. The Washington Post, meanwhile, reported that the federal investigation into possible collusion between Trumps presidential campaign and Russia includes a current White House official as a significant person of interest.

Elsewhere in Trumps orbit:

COMEY ONE, COME ALL: Former FBI Director James Comey has agreed to testify in public to the Senate Intelligence Committee after Memorial Day.

SUBSIDY SUBMARINED?: President Trump has told associates that he would like to end payments of key Affordable Care Act subsidies a move that could destabilize the laws marketplaces.

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Donald Trump: Latest News, Top Stories & Analysis - POLITICO

When he hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Washington earlier this month, Trump said: "we will get it done," as the two men discussed a deal to end the conflict in the Middle East.

But like so many US presidents who have believed it their duty to bring peace to the region, Trump will face a series of challenges, which have grown increasingly insurmountable.

Seven years on since Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last held talks, the same issues remain -- disagreements over borders, security, Jerusalem, a right of return for refugees and mutual recognition are no closer to being solved.

"Everybody wants peace, they just want it on their terms," Senator George Mitchell who worked on peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians in 2010, told CNN.

"I don't think it's a case of finding people who want to make peace. If you said to everyone: 'do you want peace?' then of course they'll say they want peace. But they define peace differently and want it according to their definition, not the other side's definition."

One of the most difficult challenges facing Trump is trust between the two parties involved, according to former US Envoy to the Middle East, Dennis Ross.

A part of both the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations, Ross says the challenges are as much psychological as they are practical.

"The level of disbelief between the Israelis and Palestinians, not just the leadership, but also the public, has never been wider," Ross told CNN.

"You have to somehow recreate a sense of possibility which has been completely lost."

It's nearly seven years since Netanyahu and Abbas took part in a trilateral meeting with then US President Barack Obama in New York in September 2009. Obama -- working with both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in his first term and Secretary of State John Kerry in his second -- tried to advance the peace process in two rounds of negotiations.

The most recent negotiations fell apart in April 2014 after nine months of talks, with both sides blaming each other. Two months later, the Gaza war started, causing a further deterioration in relations between the Israeli and Palestinian leadership.

"We couldn't create that diagram where they all overlapped on these five issues," Makovsky told CNN

"Ultimately the status quo that they knew was more, and I hesitate to use this word, appealing, than taking a leap into the unknown."

Makovksy says Trump's wish for peace is genuine, though he cannot see a grand deal in the offing.

"There are no shortcuts and you have to do the heavy lifting on those five core issues," Makovsky added. "I don't see the parties or him about to be on the cusp of doing that heavy lifting."

For Mitchell, the challenges of brokering a major peace deal are well known. One of the leading figures in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ushered in a new chapter for Northern Ireland, he was brought in facilitate between the Israelis and Palestinians in 2010.

"There's such a high level of mistrust on both sides between both the public and leaders themselves that it's very hard to get them to genuinely listen to the point of view or narrative of the other side," Mitchell told CNN.

"In Northern Ireland it took years. Netanyahu and Abbas have known each other for many years but unfortunately the context they've had has tended to validate their mistrust and suspicion and I think that is and will continue to be one of the problems in the Middle East that has to be overcome."

US foreign policy has held for decades that the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a two-state solution: an Israeli state living side-by-side in peace and security with a Palestinian state.

But since then, Trump seems to have has fallen in line with traditional US policy.

"One thing I know is that a one state outcome is not a solution, it's a prescription for an enduring war," Ross said.

"Because you have two national identities, they won't co-exist in one state. You will have one, which will inevitably dominate the other and by the way, look at the Middle East."

Convinced he can find a solution, Trump has been intent on restarting dialogue between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Trump is determined to keep that momentum going. Before his trip to Israel and the West Bank, Trump is set to meet with Abbas and other Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia, setting up a regional Arab consensus on a need for a peace agreement with Israel.

Jerusalem is one of the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Under the 1947 UN Partition Plan, Jerusalem was supposed to be an international city, but that goal was never realized as war broke out between the fledgling state of Israel and its Arab neighbors. From 1948 to 1967, West Jerusalem remained under Israeli control, while East Jerusalem was held by the Jordanians.

Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. For the first time in modern history, all of Jerusalem came under Israel's governance. Israel claims the entire city as its united capital, but no country recognizes this decision. The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

"Addressing East Jerusalem means addressing occupied territories," Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization's Executive Committee, said.

"If you want to change the status of Jerusalem you have to address both sides - East and West Jerusalem. You can't accept an illegal reality that was imposed by an occupying power."

Israel's position has always been -- and perhaps will always be -- different.

"There's no distinction between East and West Jerusalem," said MK Michael Oren. "In July of 1967 after the Six-Day War, Israel liberated the eastern part of Jerusalem, the Israeli government made all of Jerusalem one sovereign Israeli city and our capital."

"That is actually Israeli policy. It's not a position. It's Israeli law."

The right of return stipulates that Palestinians who fled their land seized by Israel in 1948 and 1967 will be allowed to return home. With millions of refugees living in neighboring countries and around the world, Israel fears any return could tip the demographic balance where Jews become a minority. Palestinians claim it's their inherent right to return home.

"People's rights can't be negated. International law shouldn't be violated by agreements," explains Ashrawi. "But at the same time, once you recognize the rights we can discuss different ways of implementation."

But Oren says there is "no wiggle room" for Israel on the right of return.

"The Palestinian demand for refugee return is an existential threat to this country," he said.

"It's not about spirituality, it's not about national pride. It's about our national existence. Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people. Any attempt to erode the Jewish majority of this state is an existential threat."

No American administration has definitively weighed in on Jerusalem, leaving the final status of the city open to negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians as part of a two-state solution. The US has never recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and the US embassy to Israel sits in Tel Aviv.

Like other presidential candidates before him, Trump made a campaign promise to recognize a united Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move the embassy. But Trump has since demurred on the embassy move, walking back the promise as he attempts to reignite a peace process between Israelis and Palestinians.

The issue of refugees and Jerusalem remain two of the most contentious with neither side appearing likely to cede ground.

While expectations ahead of Trump's visit may be low, there is some cautious optimism.

Only last month, Abbas heaped praise onto Trump during their press conference in Washington. He finished by telling Trump in English, "Now, Mr. President, with you we have hope."

But back in the West Bank and in Gaza, many Palestinian leaders view the new US President skeptically. During the election campaign, they saw then candidate Trump pledge his unwavering support for Israel and after winning, nominate a new US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, who is considered to be on the far right even by Israeli standards.

"He has been extremely pro-Zionist. David Friedman is known for being an extreme supporter of the most hardline policies of Israel, including settlements which are illegal," Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization's Executive Committee, said.

"On the other hand we know he isn't beholden to the pro-Israel lobby in many ways. He is not really an ideologue, he is not really a party man. That gives him some leeway and freedom."

But any sort of peace deal will have to start within the Palestinian community itself with the rift between Hamas, which controls Gaza, and Fatah, which is led Abbas, growing deeper in recent months.

The situation in Gaza has become desperate with the United Nations cautioning that it may become unlivable by 2020.

"Both the Israelis and Palestinians know that the current situation is not good for anyone. It's bad for Israelis and awful for those in Gaza. That's where I'd start if I was Trump."

The threat of a nuclear Iran remains one of Netanyahu's major talking points, and it was at the top of the agenda when Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman met Secretary of Defense James Mattis in both Washington and Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu was perhaps the most outspoken critic of the Iran nuclear deal, lobbying against the deal up until the moment it was signed.

So far though, Trump has not made any changes to the deal, and key figures in Trump's administration have indicated that the Iran deal will remain in place, at least for the time being.

That has encouraged a number of Arab countries to seek co-operation with Israel on Iran, according to former US ambassador Shapiro, former US ambassador under Obama.

He says the new found co-operation could help advance the peace process with the Arab states keen to work with a new US President at a time where the threat of Iran is perhaps a more worrisome prospect.

"There is definitely more of a recognition that Israel is a strategic partner against Iran, ISIS and other strategic threats," Shapiro, senior visiting fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, told CNN.

"That strategic co-operation at a level of intelligence, security co-ordination is very strong and very real."

He believes Arab states can help provide cover for Abbas who would face criticism from the Palestinian public, particularly from Hamas.

"He needs a cover where there is a shared responsibility which makes it easier for him to take steps otherwise it might be impossible," Shapiro added.

If Trump wants to pressure the Israelis or Palestinians to make concessions, he has different ways of doing so for each party.

Early in his term, Trump is off to a strong start in his relations with the Sunni Arab states, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. Together with those countries, he could pressure the Palestinians into making concessions on certain issues.

The US also provides $440 million per year in foreign aid to the Palestinians. Offering an increase in that aid, possibly combined with an economic incentives package, could make compromise easier.

Trump has even more options for negotiating with Israel, both financially and politically. If Trump offers to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights or release Jonathan Pollard, an American convicted of spying for Israel, from the terms of his probation, it would be a political win for Netanyahu, and it would give the Israeli Prime Minister maneuvering room within Israeli politics.

Trump could also offer to increase US military aid to Israel from its record level of nearly $4 billion a year. As a last option, Trump can move the embassy to Jerusalem, but such a move would require large concessions to the Palestinians to avoid regional turmoil.

For those who have tried and failed in the past to bring peace to the Middle East, Trump's visit represents the next chapter.

For Makovsky, who was part of Kerry's negotiating team in 2013-14, an incremental approach rather than a traditional all or nothing scenario could work for Trump.

"I think the most likely prospect you'll get with the Trump visit is the prospect of possibly renewing talks between Netanyahu and Abbas which would be significant after seven years," Makovsky said.

Ross is also cautious of progress, though he believes there are ways to engage both parties and change their outlook on the possibility of a future deal.

"If you could persuade Israelis not to build outside the bloc, they could still build inside the bloc, then I think that would be something you could realize," he said

"If you could get the Palestinians to stop providing funds to the families of those who kill Israelis or try to kill Israelis or are in prisons because of that, it would send a message to the Israelis that something is changing.

"You could do things which resonate on each side. When you have disbelief, it's not like you can suddenly flick a light switch and everything is fine."

CNN's Oren Liebermann and Ian Lee wrote and reported from Jerusalem. CNN's James Masters wrote and reported from London.

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Can Donald Trump solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? - CNN

The week started with a report Monday in The Washington Post that Trump had disclosed highly classified information to Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during a recent Oval Office meeting. While the White House pushed back on the disclosures as "wholly appropriate" -- in national security adviser H.R. McMaster's words -- they urged news organizations not to report on the actual information Trump told the Russians because it was so sensitive. Um, ok. Even as the White House -- and congressional Republicans -- were reeling from that revelation, this bombshell came from the New York Times: Then FBI Director James Comey had written a memo following a February 14 meeting with the President in which he noted that Trump had asked him to drop the investigation into deposed national security adviser Michael Flynn's ties to the Russians. "I hope you can let this go," Trump reportedly told Comey, after asking Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to leave the room.

It was only Tuesday.

The initial reaction out of White House was decidedly muted. "As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know -- there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity," Trump said. "I look forward to this matter concluding quickly."

By Friday, official Washington was running on empty -- exhausted by a seemingly endless stream of gigantic news stories, any one of which would dominate a normal news cycle for weeks.

The White House didn't deny the story. Instead they offered a ridiculous spin that Comey was getting in the way of Trump's attempts to push the reset button in the US relationship with Russia. Uh-huh.

Even that laundry list of horrible developments for the White House leaves things out -- most notably the ever-changing stories of why Trump actually fired Comey. It's mind-boggling.

Donald Trump, for stuffing seven years' worth of bad news into seven days, you had the worst week in Washington. Again. Congrats, or something.

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Donald Trump just had a(nother) terrible week - CNN

Deadline

John Oliver Donald Trump's Last Seven Days Absolutely Insane Deadline Then, on Wednesday just four days ago, which is the equivalent of 150 years in 2017 time, Oliver said Donald Trump gave the commencement address at Coast Guard Academy, at which he whined about how mean people were being to him. and more »

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John Oliver Donald Trump's Last Seven Days Absolutely Insane - Deadline

California's outgoing Democratic Party chairman reportedly said "f--k Donald TrumpDonald TrumpBilly Bush: 'I didn't have the strength of character' on Access Hollywood tape Cuomo asks Trump for Penn Station emergency funding Sheriff Clarke denies plagiarism report, calls reporter a 'sleaze bag' MORE" from the stage while holding up two middle fingers at the state party's convention this weekend.

The crowd cheered Chairman John Burton, according to The Associated Press.

Outgoing @ca_dem chair @Johnburton gets standing O w final words to his party, finger upraised: "F@ck Donald Trump!" pic.twitter.com/VIqNQlhDJc

During the convention, Sen. Kamala Harris also blasted Trump, saying he is putting "Russia first, America second."

Gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsome, the current lieutenant governor, said California can be the center of liberal resistance to Trump.

The world, literally the world, is counting on all of you, counting on California to reject Trumps deception and destructiveness, Newsom said, according to the AP.

The convention comes as the Trump White House faces a series of controversies.

Additional reports said that during Trump's meeting with Russian officials, he called Comey a "nut job" and said his firing relieved great pressure.

The Justice Department last week appointed a special counsel for the probe into the Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia and that nation's 2016 election meddling.

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California Dem to convention crowd: 'F--k Donald Trump' - The Hill

A picture of Donald Trump, Saudi Arabias King Salmanand Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi with their hands on a glowing orb has the internet confusedprompting comparisons with Lord of the Rings, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and other films.

In reality, the widely shared photograph depicts Trump, King Salman and al-Sissi at the opening of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in Riyadh.

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During the centers opening ceremony, the leaders placed their hands on the globe in a gesture of solidarity to launchthe center.

Saudi Arabia was the initial stop on Trumps first foreign trip since inauguration, a tour that includes a visit to Israel, the Palestinian territories, Rome and Brussels.

During his visit to Saudi Arabia, Trump signed a $110 billion arms deal that mandatesSaudi Arabia buy military equipment from the U.S. and use Americancompanies to build military equipment in the kingdom.

Related:Trump to Saudis: 'drive out' islamist extremists

Describing the first day of his trip as a tremendous success,Trump went on to give a speech about extremist ideology to a group of 50 leaders of Muslim majority countries in an address that encouraged people to unite against terrorism.

The Republicanpresidentalso lambasted Iran during his speech, decryingits role in the spread of radicalization.

"If we leave this magnificent room unified and determined to do what it takes to destroy the terror that threatens the world," Trump said, "then there is no limit to the great future our citizens will have."

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Why Donald Trump Touched a Glowing Orb in Saudi Arabia - Newsweek

Local communities, eager to show their solidarity with the national resistance movement opposing President Trump, are taking up resolutions demanding Congress pursue impeachment against the new chief executive.

The latest to move against Mr. Trump is Brookline, Massachusetts, which will take up an impeachment resolution Tuesday, saying the president has run afoul of the Constitution because he hasnt divested of all of his international money-making enterprises, putting him afoul of the Emoluments Clause.

Therefore, the Town of Brookline resolves to call upon the United States House of Representatives to support a resolution authorizing and directing the House Committee on the Judiciary to investigate whether sufficient grounds exist for the impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, the resolution reads.

The Boston suburb is just one liberal enclave to take a stand, following cities and towns in Vermont, California and Massachusetts.

Flare-ups over the FBIs investigation into Trump campaign officials dealings with Russia and Mr. Trumps firing of FBI Director James B. Comey might add to the complaints, but the Emoluments Clause is the major target of the localities.

Analysts, though, say the claim is bogus.

These are people that probably dont in any other circumstance think the Constitution is worth any serious consideration, and yet they are the first willing to jump on an absurd reach in the Constitution to make their political point, said Matt Spalding, who for years edited The Heritage Foundations guide to the Constitution.

Now associate vice president and dean of educational programs for Hillsdale Colleges Washington office, Mr. Spalding said the same people targeting Mr. Trump didnt object when President Obama received $1.4 million for winning the Nobel Peace Prize, given by the Norwegian-backed Nobel Committee in the presence of the king and queen of Norway.

Mr. Obama donated his winnings to a series of charities.

Mr. Trump, meanwhile, has struck an arrangement to siphon any money that foreign governments spend at his hotels to the U.S. Treasury.

Inspired by the gift from French King Louis XVI to ambassador Benjamin Franklin of a portrait of the monarch set in 408 diamonds, the clause was meant to stop gifts, not the sorts of streams of income that are going into Mr. Trumps businesses, Mr. Spalding said.

This kind of stuff whether it is on the right or left is what gives serious constitutional thinking a bad name, he said.

Whatever the case, the petitioners behind the Brookline resolution Lisa Kolarik and Alexandra Borns-Weil maintain that the impeachment movement is gaining steam.

These resolutions can help build public support for impeachment and make representatives understand that their constituents favor starting the impeachment process, they said in the explanation filed with their resolution. There is plenty of evidence now to impeach President Trump for violations of the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses of the Constitution. It is our duty as citizens to make sure that the Constitution is enforced.

The local push started in February in the San Francisco Bay Area when the Richmond City Council unanimously adopted a resolution asking the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether sufficient grounds existed to impeach Mr. Trump over violations related to the Emoluments Clause in the Constitution.

Gayle McLaughlin, the council member leading the charge, told her colleagues that effort was part of a broader battle against Mr. Trump and efforts to shield their city from his vow to crack down on sanctuary cities.

Many, many of our residents and many residents nationwide have called on Congress to investigate the potential of impeaching President Trump for many violations that is believed are unconstitutional, she said. This is our voice, this is our country. We have a right to speak up.

Elected officials have hopped on the bandwagon in Charlotte, Vermont; in Los Angeles, Berkeley and Alameda, California; and in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Cambridge Vice Mayor Marc McGovern brushed off criticisms that these kinds of votes are just left-wing enclaves engaging in symbolic pandering to their residents rather than actual governing.

As far as the concern that this is not City Council business, I cannot think of anything more important than a local government standing up for the rights of people that live in their city and live in the rest of the country, he said before the municipal vote last month.

This is a constitutional matter, and if other cities and towns look at Cambridge and say, This is just Cambridge being Cambridge, I say, Thank you, he concluded.

Also on the agenda at that meeting was a change to the citys pet store ordinance. Council members ended up delaying that decision after realizing they had left arachnids out of the proposed rules.

In Brookline, the Tuesday agenda includes impeachment and a resolution asking the city to uphold and adhere to the Paris agreement on climate change.

Local demand for impeachment isnt new.

Takoma Park, Maryland, long known as one of the countrys most liberal places, was one of at least 80 jurisdictions demanding impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. The council voted unanimously in 2007 to press the issue, saying Mr. Bush misled the country into war and overstepped the boundaries of executive branch powers.

Last year, lawmakers in the Oklahoma Legislature tried to spark an impeachment debate over Mr. Obama, arguing that he earned the punishment for forcing schools to let transgender students use whatever bathroom they wish.

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Donald Trump impeachment on local agendas - Washington Times