Tag Congress

نئی دہلی (ایمرا نیوز آن لائن) بھارتی اداکارہ کنگنا رناوت نے کانگریس پر تنقیدی نشتر چلا دیئے اور اپوزیشن جماعت کو ملک میں غربت کا ذمہ قرار دیا اور عوام پر زور دیا کہ ’بھارت کیلئے ووٹ “ دیں۔بھارتی اخبار کے مطابق کنگنا رناوت نے کہا کہ میرے خیال میں بھارت بالاآخر آزادی

حاصل کر رہا ہے کیونکہ اس پہلے ہم برطانوی یا اطالوی حکومت کے غلام تھے۔ان کا مزید کہنا تھا کہ جب تک کانگریس اقتدار میں تھی ملک ایسی غربت اور آلودگی کا شکار تھا جو ہم نے کبھی نہیں دیکھی لہٰذا لوگ بڑی تعداد میں نکلیں اور ووٹ ڈالیں۔اداکارہ کنگنا رناوت نے حال ہی میں اپنی سیاسی رائے کے ساتھ آواز نہ ملانے پر بالی ووڈ فنکاروں کو بھی تنقید کا نشانہ بنایا تھا۔

WASHINGTON: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats would pass new legislation to try to reopen parts of the government next week after talks between the Trump administration and Democratic negotiators on Saturday failed to end a two-week partial government shutdown.

President Donald Trump is demanding $5.6 billion to build a wall along the US border with Mexico but Democrats in control of the House of Representatives this week passed a bill to reopen the government without providing additional funding for the wall.

Trump says he will not sign the bill until he gets the money for the wall.

After a meeting aimed at breaking the deadlock failed on Saturday, Pelosi said House Democrats would seek to reopen government agencies next week through piecemeal appropriation bills, starting with the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service.

“This action is necessary so that the American people can receive their tax refunds on schedule,” she said.

Vice President Mike Pence led the administration’s team in the meeting with Democratic negotiators on Saturday. He said it was “productive” but an aide said there was no in-depth discussion of a possible compromise level of funding for border security.

The two sides agreed to meet again on Sunday.
Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Senior White House Advisor Stephen Miller walk to the West Wing before a meeting with Congressional staffers about ending the partial government shutdown at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 5, 2019. Photo: Reuters

A Democratic aide familiar with the meeting said Democratic staffers urged the administration to reopen the government, arguing that progress on the contentious issue of border security would be difficult while the government was closed.

The aide said the administration instead “doubled down on their partisan proposal that led to the Trump shutdown in the first place.”

With the two sides sticking to their positions, a quarter of the federal government has been closed for two weeks, leaving 800,000 public workers unpaid.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a senior adviser, also attended the meeting at the White House, along with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

They were negotiating with senior staff for the top Democrats in Congress, Representative Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer.

Pelosi, who took over as House speaker this week following Democratic victories at mid-term elections in November, has said Trump’s proposed wall is “immoral” and a “waste of money.”

A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll showed that 50 per cent of the public blame Trump for the shutdown and 7 per cent blame Republican lawmakers, against 32 per cent who blame Democrats.
. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) walks after speaking to the media about the ongoing partial government shutdown on Capitol Hill in Washington. Photo: Reuters

Still, Trump reiterated his demand for a border wall in a series of tweets on Saturday.

“The Democrats could solve the Shutdown problem in a very short period of time,” Trump said. “All they have to do is approve REAL Border Security (including a Wall), something which everyone, other than drug dealers, human traffickers and criminals, want very badly!”

Trump threatened on Friday to take the step of using emergency powers to build the wall without Congress’ approval. Such a move would almost certainly be met with legal challenges.

The funding bill passed by Democrats on January 3 included $1.3 billion for border fencing and $300 million for other border security items including technology and cameras.

Trump has in recent days backed away from his earlier insistence that it be a concrete wall on the border, saying a steel fence would work just as well, but he has stuck to his demand of $5.6 billion.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday blamed opposition Democrats for the death of two immigrant children in US custody, comments set to heighten tensions as the second week of a government shutdown began over his demands for a wall on the US-Mexico border.

“Any deaths of children or others at the Border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally. They can’t. If we had a Wall, they wouldn’t even try!,” Trump said on Twitter.

His comments came after the separate deaths of two Guatemalan children, aged seven and eight, who crossed the border illegally with relatives who were taken into custody by US Border Patrol.

The tweet hardened Trump’s tone after an earlier message on Twitter that said the next move in the eight-day budget standoff over border wall funding belonged to the Democrats.

“I am in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come on over and make a deal on Border Security,” Trump tweeted.

But members of Congress, most of them home for the holidays, kept low profiles, and there were no evident signs of any imminent breakthrough.

One Democratic representative, Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania, said in a tweet posted by his staff that Trump was “reaching new lows with these ridiculous tweets. His administration is the cause of pain and suffering that is taking place at the border. Nothing that he says will alter this truth.”

Others called the Trump tweets “disturbing” and pointed out that US immigration policies have been in place for years without children dying in government custody.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was in Yuma, Arizona, on a trip to witness border operations first hand after saying last week that the US will take “extraordinary” protective measures to deal with a surge of immigrant children in custody.

Eight-year-old Felipe Gomez, who collapsed after running a fever, died in US custody after traveling with his father Agustin Gomez from an indigenous community in Guatemala.

He died on the same day that Jakelin Caal, a Guatemalan girl who died in US custody under similar circumstances earlier this month, was buried back in her home village.

In the last two months, US Border Patrol agents have apprehended 139,817 people on the southwest border, compared with 74,946 during the same period a year earlier, Nielsen said.

More than 68,500 were “family units” while almost 14,000 others were unaccompanied children, she said, and the system has been pushed to the “breaking point.”

When the shutdown began on December 22, affecting a quarter of the federal government, Trump canceled his plans to spend the year-end holidays in Florida and vowed to remain at the White House 1 though he made a quick, unannounced trip to visit US troops in Iraq.

But as he tries to build pressure on Democrats to help fund the border wall he sees as an urgent priority — threatening even to close the border if no deal is reached — Democrats appear adamant in their refusal to pay for a project they view as a waste of money.

Some conservative Republicans, meanwhile, appear equally determined to press for the wall.

Trump has demanded $5 billion for wall construction — though the White House reportedly has shown flexibility on that number — while Democrats have offered to spend no more than $1.3 billion for security measures not including a wall.
A vow to reopen government

Nancy Pelosi, who is expected to be House speaker in the new Congress, has vowed to “swiftly” reopen the government once her Democrats take control of that chamber from the Republicans on Thursday.

She said Democrats “will govern responsibly in stark contrast to this chaotic White House.”

Trump had previously blamed Democrats for policies he said had forced his administration to separate some children from their parents at the border, a claim widely seen as specious.

The effects of the shutdown have been slow to appear — many of the 800,000 government employees sent home or working without pay would have been off for the holidays anyway — but once the New Year arrives, pressure will grow.

The popular Smithsonian museums and National Zoo in Washington, for example, said they found money to stay open through New Year’s Day but will close on January 2 if the standoff continues.

While most of the US military is unaffected, about 42,000 Coast Guard members are working without pay. That branch falls under the Department of Homeland Security, not the Pentagon.

This is the third government shutdown of the year, following shorter closures in January and February.

Shutdowns have rarely been popular with the public.

A recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that Americans — by 57 to 36 per cent — favored Trump seeking compromise rather than insisting on his wall demand.

WASHINGTON: An eight-year-old migrant from Guatemala died in US government custody on Tuesday, Customs and Border Protection said, the second child fatality in American detention this month.

The boy, who was with his apprehended father, had been transferred to a New Mexico medical centre showing signs of sickness on Monday, the agency said.

Staff diagnosed him with a cold but later discovered a fever. He was released at midday, with prescriptions for ibuprofen and the antibiotic amoxicillin.

The child was later transferred back to the hospital after showing signs of nausea and vomiting, and died just after midnight.

The CBP said it had not established the cause of death but would “ensure an independent and thorough review of the circumstances.”

Guatemala called on US authorities to conduct a “clear” investigation of the death, adding that “medical reports have been requested… to clarify the cause of death of the child.”

The news of the boy´s death triggered outrage on social media.

“Another child dies under this Administration´s watch,” tweeted Democratic Congressman Marc Veasey of Texas. “Such a devastating story to hear on Christmas Day.”

“Heartbroken and sickened by this news,” Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico wrote on Twitter.

“I am urgently demanding more details, but the Trump administration must be held accountable for this child´s death and all the lives they have put in danger with their intentional chaos and disregard for human life,” he tweeted.
´Searching for a dream´

The boy´s death came on the same day that Jakelin Caal, a Guatemalan migrant girl who died in US custody under similar circumstances earlier this month, was buried.

Her body was repatriated on Sunday and after a long journey reached the remote village where her family lives without electricity and other basic services.

“This girl left home happy searching for a dream, but unfortunately died on the way,” community leader Alberto Pop told AFP in the cemetery in the community of Maya Q´eqchi´.

“You hear that in the United States they pay well, not like the companies here in Guatemala — that´s why people leave,” said Pop, whose 22-year-old son Joaquin left in November in search of the American dream.

“I don´t know if he is alive or dead,” Pop said.

“Unfortunately, these decisions (to migrate) are made because of scarce economic resources,” Jakelin´s cousin Mario Caal said at the funeral.

Jakelin Caal´s December 8 death reignited debate in the United States over immigration policy and the treatment of migrants.

President Donald Trump has made hardline immigration policies a central plank of his presidency, drawing fire from critics who accuse him of demonising migrants for political gain.

He is locked in a battle with Congress over funding for his planned border wall, which he claims will stem migration from Latin American countries plagued by gang violence and poverty.

“Heartbroken to hear of a second child´s death in CBP custody,” tweeted Nydia Velazquez, a Democratic congresswoman from New York.

“We must demand accountability, find answers and put an end to this Administration´s hateful, dangerous anti-immigrant policies.”

Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador assumed the Mexican presidency on December 1, 2018, succeeding the unpopular Enrique Pena Nieto

MEXICO CITY: Anti-establishment leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador vowed a “deep and radical” change in Mexico as he swore in as the country´s president Saturday, after winning a landslide election victory.

The leader, widely known by his initials as “AMLO,” took the oath of office and donned the presidential sash before Congress — where the coalition led by the upstart party he founded four years ago, Morena, now has strong majorities in both houses.

Ending 89 years of government by the same two parties, Lopez Obrador surged to victory in the July 1 elections promising a new approach to issues fueling widespread outrage: crime, poverty and corruption.

But not everyone is persuaded: critics say the sharp-tongued, silver-haired leader has a radical and authoritarian streak. And despite his promises of business-friendly policies, Mexican stocks and the peso have plunged in recent weeks.

That did not stop Lopez Obrador, 65, from doubling down on his promise of a sweeping “transformation” as he started his six-year term.

“It might seem pretentious or exaggerated to say it, but today is not just the start of a new government. It is the start of a political regime change,” he said, the presidential sash newly draped over his dark suit and burgundy red tie.

“We will carry out a peaceful and orderly but also deep and radical transformation.”
Change in style

After the traditional swearing-in ceremony, Lopez Obrador climbed in his white Volkswagen Jetta — his car of choice — and headed to Mexico City´s central square, the Zocalo, for a colorful second ceremony of his own design.

There, indigenous shamans purified him with incense and flowers, and presented him with a symbolic chieftain´s staff.

“I reaffirm my commitment not to lie, rob or betray the Mexican people,” he said, clutching the long wooden staff.

Jose Angel Mejia, 38, was among the tens of thousands of people who gathered to fete the new president.

“It´s a historic day, I still can´t believe it,” he said, raising his eight-year-old son´s arm in the air in celebration.

“We´re going to have a change at last.”

The new president inherits a sticky set of problems from his unpopular predecessor, Enrique Pena Nieto.
Mexico’s new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador greets supporters outside the National Palace in Mexico City

They include deeply entrenched corruption, gruesome violence fueled by the war on drug cartels, and the caravan of 6,000 Central American migrants camped at the US-Mexican border — not to mention the minefield that diplomacy with Mexico´s giant northern neighbor has become under President Donald Trump.

Lopez Obrador, a former protest leader and Mexico City mayor, has been short on specifics regarding his plans for all of the above.

What he is promising, first and foremost, is a presidency like no other in Mexican history.

Vowing to lead his anti-corruption, pro-austerity drive by example, he has forsworn the presidential residence, jet and security detail, and cut his own salary by 60 percent.

In a sign of the times, the sumptuous presidential residence, Los Pinos, was opened to the public Saturday as a cultural center.
Pressure from Trump

Lopez Obrador´s inaugural address largely repeated the sweeping but vague promises of his campaign.

He resumed his attempts to sooth the markets with promises of balanced budgets and pro-investment policies.

But he also attacked Mexico´s “neoliberal” economic model as “a disaster” and railed against Pena Nieto´s landmark privatization of the energy sector.

Lopez Obrador has caused jitters over the future of Latin America´s second-largest economy with decisions such as the one to cancel a new $13-billion airport for Mexico City that was already one-third complete.

The day´s guest list included a host of regional presidents — among them crisis-torn Venezuela´s President Nicolas Maduro, who was met with protests from Mexico´s conservative opposition.

King Felipe VI of Spain, US Vice President Mike Pence, and first daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump also attended.

President Trump, who was at the G20 summit in Argentina, has struck up a surprisingly warm relationship with Lopez Obrador — though the migrant caravan threatens to interrupt that honeymoon.

The American president is pressuring Lopez Obrador to accept a deal to keep asylum-seeking migrants in Mexico while their claims are processed in the United States.

Lopez Obrador´s foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, is due in Washington on Sunday for talks on the issue with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

WASHINGTON: US Attorney General Jeff Sessions was fired by Donald Trump Wednesday, casting a cloud over the Russia investigation that has dogged the White House, a day after Republicans lost control over the lower house of Congress.

The move capped more than a year of bitter criticism by the president over his legal advisor’s decision to recuse himself from the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, paving the way for the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

In announcing the resignation in a tweet that thanked the former Alabama senator “for his service” — Trump right away named as acting attorney general Sessions’ chief of staff Matthew Whitaker.

We are pleased to announce that Matthew G. Whitaker, Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice, will become our new Acting Attorney General of the United States. He will serve our Country well….
….We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well! A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date.
That set off immediate alarm bells: Whitaker has been overtly critical of the broad scope granted to Mueller’s team to probe beyond allegations Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia in 2016, into other ties between Trump, his family and aides, and Russia — an investigation the president calls a “witch hunt.”

In an op-ed in August last year, he publicly urged Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — who oversees the probe — to “limit the scope of his investigation to the four corners of the order appointing him special counsel.”

As acting attorney general, Whitaker now has the power to wrest oversight away from Rosenstein and take charge himself.

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer immediately called on Whitaker to recuse himself from the probe as his predecessor had, “given his previous comments advocating defunding and imposing limitations” on it.

First casualty after midterms
Schumer and other leading Democrats were joined in their call for an unhampered probe by Republican Mitt Romney, a former presidential candidate and frequent Trump critic who won a US Senate seat in Tuesday’s midterm.

Thanking Sessions for his service, Romney said that it was “imperative that the important work of the Justice Department continues, and that the Mueller investigation proceeds to its conclusion unimpeded.”

Whitaker himself meanwhile offered little clue about his intentions in a bland statement to reporters thanking Trump for his appointment, praising his former boss as a “dedicated public servant” and adding he would work to leading a department that conformed to the “highest ethical standards.”

Sessions was the first casualty of a cabinet shakeup that had been expected from Trump following the midterm elections.

But his departure was anticipated since early this year, after he endured withering and repeated criticism from the president over the legally troubled ban on Muslim travelers Trump sought when he came into office, and over the Mueller probe.

“At your request, I am submitting my resignation,” Sessions said in the first line of a letter addressed to Trump, released by the Department of Justice.

Trump’s first backer
Sessions was the first US senator to back Trump’s presidential run in 2016, giving the New York real estate billionaire credibility against a broad field of Republican stalwarts.

The two were reportedly brought together by a shared wish to crack down on immigration.

After taking office in January 2017, the former prosecutor launched tough law-and-order policies and a broad ban on Muslim travelers promised by Trump during the campaign.

He was in the vanguard of administration pushes to expand the ranks of federal law enforcement, fill courts with conservative judges, and crack down on Central American gangs such as MS-13.

But the president was infuriated when in March 2017 Sessions recused himself from the nascent Russia investigation, because of his own Russian contacts during the 2016 campaign. Instead, he gave Rosenstein that authority.

When Trump weeks later fired FBI director James Comey in anger at the Russia investigation, Rosenstein stunned the administration by naming Mueller, a former FBI chief, to lead the probe as an independent prosecutor.

That structure, with Sessions recused and Rosenstein supervising Mueller, has insulated the investigation from outside interference.

Still, Trump has repeatedly accused Mueller of running an illegal investigation staffed by Democrats and threatened to shut it down.

Indictments looming
Matters though were clearly coming to a head after Mueller racked up indictments against 34 people and three companies, in direct and spinoff cases. Eight guilty pleas have resulted, and one jury trial conviction.

Most notably, several top Trump aides have agreed to cooperate: former national security advisor Michael Flynn; former campaign chair Paul Manafort; former vice chair Richard Gates; and former Trump Organization vice president Michael Cohen, long Trump’s personal fixer.

Mueller was expected to unveil in the coming weeks new indictments, possibly against 2016 campaign consultant Roger Stone and Trump’s son Donald Jr.

Moreover, Mueller’s team and the White House have been haggling for months over whether the president himself would answer questions. Mueller is known to be examining whether Trump obstructed justice in firing Comey — and other acts.

In addition, the White House has shown concern that Mueller is investigating the finances of the Trump Organization, and links to Russia.

This will be PM Imran Khan’s first official visit to China after assuming office in August this year/file photo
ISLAMABAD/BEIJING: Prime Minister Imran Khan will depart for Beijing today for a five-day visit during which he will hold meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, and other leaders.

The premier was earlier scheduled to visit China from November 2 to 5 on the invitation of the Chinese leadership. But an updated schedule of the prime minister’s visit released by the government said the prime minister would now depart a day earlier via a special plane.

This will be PM Imran’s first official visit to China after assuming office in August this year. A high-level delegation, including Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, will accompany the prime minister.

The Foreign Office, in a statement earlier, said the two sides will review the entire range of bilateral relations during the visit, which have enjoyed a long history of mutual trust and mutual support. The two leaderships will also sign several agreements in diverse fields.

PM Imran is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on November 2. He will visit the Monument to the People’s Heroes at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and also meet the chairman of the National People’s Congress on November 3.

He will meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang the same day at a ceremony during which the two leaders will sign memorandums of agreements between the two countries.

Pakistan and China are ‘all-weather strategic cooperative partners’: FM Qureshi

A guard of honour will also be given in honour of the Pakistani premier.

On November 4, the PM will speak at the Central Party School before leaving for Shanghai to participate in the first China International Import Expo. The premier will be a keynote speaker at the inauguration of the expo, and among 18 heads of state and government who will be attending the expo.

More than 2,800 companies from 130 countries and regions, and 160,000 buyers from over 80,000 Chinese and foreign companies will participate in the expo.

PM Imran’s visit to promote further development of bilateral ties: Chinese spokesperson
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson on Wednesday said China and Pakistan attached great importance to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s upcoming visit and believed that, with joint efforts of both sides, it would promote further development of relations between the all-weather strategic partners.

“This is his first official visit to China since Prime Minister Imran Khan took office, in which, the leaders of the two countries will conduct in-depth exchanges on issues of common concern,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang said during his regular briefing in Beijing.

The spokesperson said China and Pakistan were all-weather strategic partners. The relationship between the two countries was not affected by the changes in the international situation and the changes in their respective domestic situations, he added.

To a question that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) had caused some debt problems to Pakistan, the spokesperson reiterated that the Pakistani government and all sectors of society had expressed that the corridor served as a mutually beneficial cooperation project between China and Pakistan and had played an important role in improving people’s livelihood and promoting economic development in Pakistan.

US President Donald Trump addresses the media at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, US, September 25, 2018. AFP/Stephanie Keith

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump dismissed the latest accuser of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as “drunk” and “messed up” on Tuesday, slamming the sexual abuse allegations against his pick for the top US court as a “con game” by Democrats.

Plunging into the high-stakes battle over the future of the court, Trump rejected a claim by Deborah Ramirez that Kavanaugh was the person who dropped his pants and thrust his genitals in her face at an alcohol-fueled Yale University dorm party about 35 years ago.

“The second accuser has nothing. She thinks maybe it could have been him, maybe not,” Trump told reporters in New York. “She admits that she was drunk. She admits that there are time lapses.”

“Thirty-six years ago, nobody ever knew about it or heard about it, and now a new charge comes up and she said it might not be him, and there were gaps and said she was totally inebriated, all messed up,” Trump said.

“The Democrats are playing a con game. They know it’s a con game,” he said. “It’s a shame that you can do this to a person’s life.”
Second accuser

“The Democrats are working hard to destroy a wonderful man, and a man who has the potential to be one of our greatest Supreme Court Justices ever, with an array of False Accusations the likes of which have never been seen before,” Trump raged on Twitter.

Trump made the statement two days after The New Yorker published Ramirez’s story, the second woman in two weeks to come forth with allegations against Kavanaugh while they were students.

A week earlier, California professor Christine Blasey Ford said Kavanaugh tried to tear her clothes off in an assault during a party around 1982 when both were students at elite private high schools in Washington.

The 53-year-old Kavanaugh, currently a federal appeals court judge in Washington DC, flatly denies the accusations.

With Republicans pressing hard to get his nomination approved as soon as this weekend, Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford are to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday in what could prove a fiery hearing.

Democrats are demanding the hearing be put off so that the FBI can investigate the two women’s claims.

Michael Avenatti, a lawyer who represents Stormy Daniels (alternatively known as Stephanie Clifford), an adult movies actress, claiming to have had an affair with Trump, has said he is also representing a possible third Kavanaugh accuser, whom he has not identified.
US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh speaks on the second day of his confirmation hearing in front of the US Senate in Washington, US, September 5, 2018. AFP/Saul Loeb/Files
Kavanaugh denials

Kavanaugh’s approval to be the ninth justice on the Supreme Court was considered near-certain just two weeks ago, based on Republicans’ narrow control of the Senate.

The conservative, Republican-aligned judge would add to the court’s rightward tilt, potentially putting at risk longstanding legal protections for abortion rights and “affirmative action” policies to help boost minorities.

But first Blasey Ford, and now Ramirez, have thrown his nomination into doubt, even though their allegations lack the support of solid, corroborating witnesses.

Trump, however, tweeted early Tuesday morning that his Supreme Court nominee would be interviewed on television later in the day.

“Brett Kavanaugh and his wife, Ashley, will be interviewed tonight … This is an outstanding family who must be treated fairly,” he wrote.

With his wife at his side, Kavanaugh went on television Tuesday to defend himself, an unprecedented move by a Supreme Court nominee.

“I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone, not in high school, not ever. I’ve always treated women with dignity and respect,” he said.

“I’m not going to let false accusations drive us out of this process.”

His reputation took another blow, however, when his former Yale roommate James Roche said he believed Ramirez.

Kavanaugh was a “notably heavy drinker” in school who “became aggressive and belligerent when he was very drunk,” Roche said.

While he did not witness the incident alleged by Ramirez, Roche said Kavanaugh and his social circle “were capable” of such actions.

“I believe her to be unusually honest and straightforward and I cannot imagine her making this up.”
Election looming

With the election looming and their control of Congress at stake, Republicans have been mindful of the pitfalls of alienating women voters by their handling of the accusations against Kavanaugh.

But Republican committee members and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell also have made clear that they will question the women’s memories and lack of witnesses or evidence.

“The American people know that sexual misconduct is gravely serious,” McConnell said Tuesday.

“But the American people also insist that vague, unsubstantiated and uncorroborated allegations of 30-plus-year-old misconduct, where all of the supposed witnesses either totally deny it or can’t confirm it, is nowhere near grounds to nullify someone’s career or destroy their good name.”

Earlier Tuesday, White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders echoed Trump’s claim that the Democrats are playing games with Kavanaugh.

“The process that the Democrats have played is absolutely disgusting. I think it’s disgusting that they have exploited these individuals,” White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders told Fox News on Tuesday.

Americans paid their final respects Friday to John McCain as the national icon lay in state in the US Capitol as part of a momentous sendoff for the war hero and statesman.

McCain´s widow Cindy, his seven children and his 106-year-old mother Roberta McCain joined scores of members of Congress, state governors, diplomats and other dignitaries to bid the senator farewell.

President Donald Trump, who had feuded bitterly with McCain, was notably absent from the somber ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda, an honor accorded to just 30 Americans throughout the nation´s history.

The last visit to Washington by McCain — who died last Saturday at age 81 after a yearlong battle with cancer — is being spread out over two days with former presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama to eulogise him during a memorial service Saturday at the city´s National Cathedral.

Just before 11:00 am (1500 GMT) Friday, a military honor guard carried the flag-draped casket up the Capitol stairs, moving one deliberate step at a time, while inside the Rotunda dark-suited mourners stood at silent attention.

The silver-haired Roberta McCain — whose presence was only confirmed on the eve of the ceremony — appeared composed as she drew near her son´s casket in a wheelchair, making the sign of the cross on her chest.

Seated beside her granddaughter Meghan McCain, she held the young woman´s hand and appeared to comfort her as she wept.
Final rebuke to Trump

Vice President Mike Pence — who represented Trump at the ceremony — began his tribute with an address to McCain´s family, and particularly his mother.

“It is deeply humbling to stand before you today at the United States Capitol to commemorate the life and service of an American patriot, senator John McCain,” Pence said.

“The president asked me to be here, on behalf of a grateful nation, to pay a debt of honor and respect to a man who served our country throughout his life, in uniform and in public office.”

It was an awkward message to deliver from a president who has studiously refrained from praising McCain, either during his illness or since his death.

Guests included former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, riding in a wheelchair at age 95; the actor Warren Beatty, a McCain friend; and former senator Joe Lieberman, who in 2008 McCain came close to naming as his running mate.

The former aviator spent more than five years in a Vietnamese prison camp, returning home to launch a political career that saw him win the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

He will be buried Sunday at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

The funeral services were planned in advance by McCain, who made clear the US president was not welcome, in what was seen as a final rebuke to Trump.

Their feud took root during Trump´s 2016 campaign, when he questioned the notion McCain was a war hero — because he had been captured after his navy fighter jet was shot down over Hanoi in 1967.

The enmity was clear in the fracas this week over whether the White House would keep its flags at half staff in McCain´s honour — which Trump finally agreed to do under heavy pressure from politicians, veterans groups and reportedly his own aides.

McCain meanwhile took a final swipe at Trump in a farewell message to the nation, delivered posthumously on Monday, warning not to “confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries.”

The president was unusually quiet in the White House Friday, not tweeting during the McCain ceremony, then departing for a political event in North Carolina.

While Trump stayed away, Pence was joined by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, National Security Advisor John Bolton and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Thousands of people queued outside for hours, many holding umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun, waiting their chance to honor a patriot.

US Capitol staff confirmed that as of 2200 GMT Friday more than 10,000 people walked through the Rotunda to view McCain´s casket.

“I wanted to pay my respects to John McCain,” Mike Holy, a Vietnam war veteran sporting a Hillary Clinton button, told AFP as he waited in a line that snaked down the street.

Holy, 67, is a Democrat but felt compelled to vote for McCain in 2008, and he sides with the senator in not inviting Trump to the funeral remembrances.

“I think McCain was expressing a legitimate view, that he did not want somebody who is for the most part all fluff and no substance,” he said.

McCain´s remains were flown by military aircraft to Washington on Thursday from Arizona, which he had represented in Congress since his first election in 1982.

Donald Trump said Wednesday that White House counsel Don McGahn would soon be leaving his post, a crucial shift as the probe into Russia´s election interference probe closes in on the US president´s inner circle.

McGahn, who has advised Trump on dealing with Special Counsel Robert Mueller´s Russia probe, also has been interviewed at length as a cooperating witness by Mueller´s team.

He will be leaving his White House post “in the fall,” Trump said via Twitter.

The 50-year-old lawyer is one of the few people left in the White House who had a senior role in Trump´s election campaign, where McGahn was general counsel.

His replacement, according to media reports, could be his current deputy White House counsel Emmet Flood, a Washington veteran who represented president Bill Clinton when he faced impeachment in the late 1990s.

Trump also maintains a team of private lawyers led by former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani to deal with his personal legal troubles.
Helped fill courts with conservatives

McGahn´s departure will come “shortly after the confirmation (hopefully) of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court,” Trump said.

“I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!” he added.

But despite that assertion, Trump made the announcement on Twitter without first telling McGahn, The New York Times reported, citing people close to the president and the lawyer.

As the president´s official legal advisor, McGahn has served Trump well, advising on relations with Congress and the Justice Department as well as dealing with Mueller.

He has also been at the center of one of the Trump administration´s biggest political successes: placing dozens of pro-Republican, conservative judges on the Supreme Court and other federal courts around the country.

McGahn was instrumental in Trump´s nomination of both Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — judges with strong conservative records — to the Supreme Court.

But his personal relations with Trump have been formal and at times testy, as he has tried to protect the president from a slew of accusations and investigations into his personal behavior, his business, and his campaign´s alleged collusion with Russians in the 2016 election.

According to media reports, McGahn has struggled to prevent the president from acting on his impulses to interfere dangerously in the Russia investigation.

He also has had to mediate the deep tensions between Trump and the Justice Department over the probe.

According to the New York Times, McGahn threatened to quit in June 2017 rather than carry out Trump´s directive to fire Mueller, just weeks after he was named.

McGahn has also pushed back when Trump has sought to oust Attorney General Jeff Sessions, also out of frustration over the Mueller probe.

Those and other episodes, including the firing of FBI director James Comey, have made McGahn a potentially important witness as Mueller examines whether Trump illegally tried to obstruct the investigation — an offense that could lead to impeachment.

Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that McGahn had “cooperated extensively” with Mueller´s team, taking part in at least three interviews totaling 30 hours.

Trump, who has repeatedly called the probe a “rigged witch hunt,” said he had authorized his team to “fully cooperate” with investigators.

But the Times said McGahn´s cooperation arose in part from a feeling that he needed to protect himself, and speculation quickly mounted about whether McGahn´s testimony could harm the president.

Trump suffered a one-two punch in court this month, when his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and former campaign manager Paul Manafort was found guilty of tax and bank fraud.