Pence’s sensitivity to talk of 2020 speaks to White House insecurity
August 7, 2017 by admin
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For months, President Trump’s White House has been prone to veering off message, sometimes wildly so. But it was crystal clear on one point Sunday: No one except Trump should put up a hand for the 2020 GOP presidential nod.
Vice President Mike Pence denied that he is considering a run for the presidency the next time around, issuing a statement, the vehemence of which underscored how sensitive the White House is to any questioning of whether Trump will seek a second term.
In what appeared to be a coordinated message, the White House also hit back Sunday at a report in the New York Times that described steps Pence and some GOP lawmakers have taken that could position themselves for presidential bids.
Pence went so far as to call the newspaper’s report “disgraceful and offensive.”
“The American people know that I could not be more honored to be working side by side with a president who is making America great again,” the vice president said, invoking Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan.
“Whatever fake news may come our way,” he said, citing another favored presidential phrase, “my entire team will continue to focus all our efforts to advance the president’s agenda and see him reelected in 2020.”
Trump began fundraising for a 2020 campaign almost immediately upon taking office, but a reelection bid would face several potential obstacles:
He was 70 when he took office, the oldest first-term president to be inaugurated, has since turned 71, and would be the oldest second-term chief executive were he to run again and win the 2020 election.
the 2016 race, has been gathering momentum. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III recently began working with a grand jury in Washington.
Mueller has not commented on the course of the probe, but his investigators have sought documents related to several associates of Trump’s, including his former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, and his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. Investigators are also examining a meeting that Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., held with several Russians and Russian Americans in early June 2016, a few weeks before the senior Trump received the Republican nomination.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), a former prosecutor, said the reported impaneling of a grand jury pointed to a probe that was picking up its pace, not slowing to an end.
“You can’t read that this means that indictments are going to follow,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Nonetheless, he said, “it does mean the investigation is not only not being turned off, but it is moving into a new phase.”
Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod J. Rosenstein, to whom Mueller reports because Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions has recused himself from Russia-related matters, said Mueller would be guided by the emerging evidence, wherever it takes him, and implicitly rebutted Trump’s accusation that the entire matter is a “fraud.”
“The special counsel is subject to the rules and regulations of the Department of Justice, and we don’t engage in fishing expeditions,” Rosenstein said on “Fox News Sunday.” Mueller could seek authorization to broaden the scope of the probe if he deemed it necessary, Rosenstein said.
Rosenstein also commented on the Justice Department’s announcement Friday that it was stepping up investigations of leaks of classified information. He appeared to at least partially pull back from Sessions’ suggestion that prosecutors might pursue reporters for stories they’ve published.
“The attorney general has been very clear that we’re after the leakers, not the journalists. We’re after the people who are committing a crime,” Rosenstein said. “We don’t prosecute journalists for doing their jobs.”
“Generally speaking, reporters who publish information are not committing a crime,” he said, although he added that “there might be a circumstance where they do.”
The move to increase leak investigations appears to have placated Trump, who in recent weeks publicly disparaged both Sessions and Rosenstein. But his anger at Mueller and his investigation continues to threaten the relationship between the Justice Department and the White House.
Trump has talked with friends and aides about firing Mueller — something that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have explicitly warned him against, even if the investigation appears to encroach on areas the president and his allies consider out of bounds, such as Trump’s financial entanglements.
Preserving the special counsel’s independence has been enough of a concern in Congress that two pairs of lawmakers on opposite sides of the aisle have introduced legislation meant to shield Mueller against any attempt by Trump to fire him.
“We’ll let the facts lead us to whether or not it was a hoax or a distraction,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), one of the lawmakers, said on ABC’s “This Week” when asked about Trump’s longstanding contention that the investigation is a witch hunt. “But we are where we are, and I want to see this investigation concluded so that we can get on to doing the good work the president has already started.”
Despite the president’s perceived political and legal vulnerabilities, most prominent Republicans have avoided hinting at a challenge if Trump does seek the 2020 nomination. The main exception has been Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who opposed Trump to the end in 2016 and has not ruled out running against him.
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‘There is too much anger out there.’ Bombing of a Minnesota mosque leaves Muslims concerned
August 6, 2017 by admin
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Terror tore through a suburban Minneapolis community on Saturday after the bombing of a mosque, amplifying growing concerns among some Muslims who have felt targeted nationwide in recent months.
Law enforcement officials said the explosion occurred around 5 a.m. at the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis. Fire and smoke engulfed much of the red-brick structure, but there were no injuries.
The FBI is leading the ongoing investigation, along with local law enforcement. Authorities say they believe an improvised explosive device — also known as an IED — was to blame for the blast at the mosque, which primarily serves the area’s large Somali community.
Mohamed Omar, who has been executive director of the mosque for two years, said Saturday that he was relieved no one was hurt.
“It’s sad and just an inhumane act,” Omar said in a telephone interview. “There is too much anger out here.”
He said a handful of people were inside the mosque for morning prayers and that many in the Muslim community remained shaken.
“We must work to find who did this,” he said.
The explosion in Minnesota, which authorities had not yet labeled a hate crime, occurred at a time when studies have shown an uptick in violence against Muslims, and as vitriolic rallies targeting Islam have popped up across the country. Muslims make up about 1% of the population in the United States — or about 3.35 million people — and are one of the fastest-growing religious minorities, according to the Pew Research Center.
Last month, Pew released a survey that showed 48% of Muslims said they had faced some form of discrimination in the last year, such as name-calling or threats. The survey, which questioned about 1,000 U.S. Muslims from January through May, also found that 74% viewed President Trump as unfriendly.
During the presidential campaign Trump called for a complete ban on Muslims entering the United States after a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., carried out by a married couple who were inspired by Islamic State terrorists. More recently, Trump issued an executive order banning travel from six majority- Muslim countries, an effort that has led to legal wrangling and is headed to the Supreme Court. (The Trump administration has said the ban is needed to keep Americans safe.)
The survey from Pew found overwhelmingly negative views among American Muslims toward Islamic extremism, with more than 4 in 5 describing it as a threat to the world.
While many Muslims voiced concerns in the Pew survey, nearly 84% categorized Americans in general as “friendly.” Moreover, more than 6 in 10 U.S. Muslims polled said they believed Islam was still not viewed by others as part of the country’s mainstream. Even so, an overwhelming majority said they were proud to be both Americans and Muslims, and a large majority saw no clash between Islam and democracy,
On Saturday, as police continued to investigate the bombing at the Minnesota mosque, Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called on Trump to condemn the attack. The White House did not release a statement and did not respond to a request for comment.
“Silence on the part of public officials at the national level only serves to empower Islamophobes,” Hooper said in a statement. His group has put up a $10,000 reward for information on a suspect associated with the Minnesota attack.
In the spring, CAIR released a report that documented a 57% increase in anti-Muslim incidents last year compared with 2015. To produce the report CAIR investigated thousands of calls and emails made to dozens of its offices around the U.S. and reviewed data from national and local media reports. The process included interviews with witnesses and police. So far this year, mosques in Florida, Texas and Washington state have been set on fire in incidents that stoked fear among Muslims.
Recently protesters have taken to the streets to speak publicly on their concerns about Islam.
In June, a wave of so-called anti-Sharia law activists demonstrated nationwide, but were met by counter-protesters who assailed their rhetoric as insensitive and demeaning. Sharia law is a philosophical code derived from Islamic scripture and meant to guide observant Muslims. In addition to civil and criminal law, it prescribes a wide range of faith practices, such as abstaining from alcohol and praying five times a day.
“We have to protect America, our citizens and our way of life,” Lila Mercer, 49, told The Times in June.
“Sharia law does not belong in America,” added Mercer, an assistant manager for a big-rig dealership who protested in Atlanta.
At the mosque in Minnesota on Saturday, many were just seeking answers to what had occurred.
Yasir Abdalrahman, a worshiper at the mosque, told the Associated Press the explosion was “unimaginable.”
“We came to this country for the same reason everyone else came here: freedom to worship,” Abdalrahman said. “And that freedom is under threat. Every other American should be insulted by this.”
For Omar, who spent much of the day speaking to law enforcement officers and trying to console members of his mosque, hate is not something he fears.
“This is challenging,” he said, “but we will be OK. We will.”
kurtis.lee@latimes.com
Twitter: @kurtisalee
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