The Patriot Post® · Tuesday Top News Executive Summary
Columnist Gary Bauer reminds us of the real conspiracy regarding the 2016 presidential election: “Multiple Obama officials, with the help of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, attempted to delegitimize and potentially reverse the election of Donald Trump. We have yet to get to the bottom of who is responsible … and bring them to justice.” Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham agrees. He declares yesterday, “I’m going to get answers to this. … The double standard here has been striking and quite frankly disappointing.” Politico says that Graham “has plans for an aggressive oversight probe and is even hoping to convince the attorney general to appoint a second special counsel.”
The idea of a second special counsel isn’t a far-fetched notion, either. The Hill’s John Solomon penned a thoughtful op-ed headlined, “Trump-Russia collusion did affect an American election — the one in 2018.” Referring to what he calls “a political dirty-trick operation paid by Trump’s Democratic rival and run by a foreigner who disliked Trump,” Solomon notes, “If the FBI probe ran with the secrecy of a normal counterintelligence operation, Americans never would have heard all of this, especially when the core allegations — in the Steele dossier — turned out to be bogus.” And considering that “more than 530,000 stories were written between May 2017 and this month about a Trump-Russia investigation,” it would be doltish to assume this fraudulent witch hunt didn’t affect the 2018 midterms.
This week, CIA Director John Brennan laughably admitted, “I don’t know if I received bad information, but I think I suspected that there was more than there actually was.” Remember, Brennan was the deep-state boss who, as we noted, “has been one of the loudest Obama-era officials in criticizing Trump, regularly blaming him for ‘threatening America’s democracy.’” And just a few weeks ago he recklessly speculated, “I do think … if anybody from the Trump family … is going to be indicted, it would be in the final act of Mueller’s investigation.”
Today, senators get to decide whether or not they will vote to approve the Green New Deal. On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell cunningly stated, “I could not be more glad that the American people will have the opportunity to learn precisely where each one of their senators stand on the ‘Green New Deal’: a radical, top-down, socialist makeover of the entire U.S. economy.” As Fox News notes, “The resolution … undoubtedly will not pass in the GOP-controlled Senate. But Republicans say that the vote will allow them to better gauge Democrats’ commitment to its radical proposals.”
According to Fox News, “The Pentagon notified Congress late Monday that it authorized the transfer of up to $1 billion to erect 57 miles of ‘pedestrian fencing’ along the U.S.-Mexico border in direct support of President Trump’s national emergency declaration from last month.” The barrier will rise to 18 feet in height and be situated in the Yuma and El Paso sectors. “The Pentagon’s announcement was made as Trump nears a victory over Democrats as the House tries to override his first veto,” Fox adds, “a vote that seems certain to fail and allow his declaration to stand.” At least until a court intervenes. For now, though, there’s legit progress being made.
“The Trump administration told a federal court late Monday that it would ask judges to toss out the entire Affordable Care Act,” USA Today reports. The announcement is related to a ruling that was issued in December by U.S. District Court Judge Reed O'Connor, who “ruled that the constitutional foundation for the law — the requirement that people buy insurance or pay a penalty — was no longer constitutional because Congress had repealed the penalty.” The DOJ’s decision is somewhat of an about-face. As the report further notes, “Justice Department lawyers … had argued that some parts of the law, including an expansion of Medicaid that provides coverage for millions of people, could survive. The Justice Department’s letter on Monday reversed that position, saying the administration now agrees with O'Connor that all of the law must go.”
Yesterday, the president formally issued a “Proclamation on Recognizing the Golan Heights as Part of the State of Israel.” The declaration states, “Any possible future peace agreement in the region must account for Israel’s need to protect itself from Syria and other regional threats. Based on these unique circumstances, it is therefore appropriate to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.”
Rich irony: “Michael Avenatti, the pugnacious attorney best known for representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against President Donald Trump, was arrested Monday on charges that included trying to shake down Nike for as much as $25 million by threatening the company with bad publicity,” the Associated Press reports. “Avenatti, who was also accused of embezzling a client’s money to pay his own expenses, was charged with extortion and bank and wire fraud in separate cases in New York and California.” The use of the word “pugnacious” is interesting. It’s not wrong, mind you, but lest we forget, the media once floated Avenatti as a possible Democrat presidential contender. In fact, CNN hosted him 65 times over an eight-week period.
Humor: Nation awaits apology from media that pushed fake news story for two years (The Babylon Bee)
Policy: The Washington Free Beacon’s Aaron Kliegman lays out “The case for American military supremacy.”
Policy: The Heritage Foundation’s Emilie Kao warns, “The proposed Equality Act (H.R. 5) turns individuals’ beliefs about their sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) into protected classes under the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act. The bill creates obvious liberty, equality, privacy, and safety concerns.”
For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights.