FBI Suspected Trump, What a Wall Costs
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Vol. 8, No. 12
The Russia Thing:Soon after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, the agency became so concerned that it opened an investigation into whether Trump had become an instrument of the Russians, The NY Times reports.
The paper says the FBI had become suspicious during the 2016 campaign, but held off until the Comey firing. Special Counsel Robert Mueller took over the investigation only days after it was opened, the Times says. If Trump fired Comey to stop the Russian election-influencing investigation it would have had national security implications.
The Times is careful to point out that, “No evidence has emerged publicly that Mr. Trump was secretly in contact with or took direction from Russian government officials.”
“This is absurd,” Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement provided to Politico. “James Comey was fired because he’s a disgraced partisan hack, and his Deputy Andrew McCabe, who was in charge at the time, is a known liar fired by the FBI.”
The National Emergency:President Trump said yesterday that he would hold off declaring a national emergency to build his border wall, saying he would rather have Congress give him the money
The government shutdown is now in in its 22nd day, the longest closure ever. Trump has refused to sign a spending bill that doesn’t include $5.7 billion for his wall.
“We want Congress to do its job,” Trump said during a White House event on border security, adding that Democratic lawmakers “should come back and vote.”
“What we’re not looking to do right now is national emergency,” the President said.
That Trump considers it optional whether to declare a national emergency means that there isn’t one.
News reports say some Republicans are beginning to waiver in their support for Trump and his shutdown. He tweeted, “There is GREAT unity with the Republicans in the House and Senate, despite the Fake News Media working in overdrive to make the story look otherwise.”
Economist Robert Reich says Trump “is treating the government of the United States as a bargaining chip. He is asserting power by any means possible. This is the method of a dictator.”
One of Trump’s most vocal detractors is George Conway, husband of close aide Kellyanne Conway. Mr. Conway tweeted yesterday, “Incompetence, along with his ingrained, pathological narcissism, leaves us with a president who does little more than spout nonsense and lies, and pander to those who feed his egotistic needs. And all of this makes rational governance impossible.”
Riddle of the Sphinx:President Trump’s current demand for $5.7 billion to build his wall is merely a down payment. It’s seed money to get started, not the whole nut.
The MIT Technology Review ran estimates and says the obvious; the price of the wall depends on how high and how long it is. Trump has said it would be between 35 and 65 feet high. He never said how long.
It will take at least three years to build, according to an estimate by Reuters. That pretty much means it can’t be finished by the end of Trump’s term in office.
One thing the Technology Review says for certain, the wall will be expensive. The publication estimates that a 30-foot wall, one foot thick, sunk 10 feet into the ground, and running 1,000 miles, would cost $31.2 billion. At 40 feet tall, they estimate the cost at $34.6 billion.
Disaster Beat:What appears to have been a gas explosion destroyed a Paris bakery today, injuring at least 20 people and damaging nearby cars and buildings. —A double-decker bus in Ottawa crashed into a passenger platform, killing three people and injuring 20.
The Obit Page:Verna Bloom, the actress who made her mark as the amorous wife of the college dean in the classic “Animal House,” has died of the effects of dementia at age 80. She broke into the movies as a kind of tour guide through the rioting at the 1968 Chicago Democratic convention in the film, “Medium Cool.”
The Roundup:A 21-year old man has been arrested in the Wisconsin kidnapping of 13-year-old Jayme Closs, who was found safe Wednesday night. The suspect is Jake Patterson, of Gordon, Wisc. Police say the kidnapping was pre-meditated, but they have not said why the girl was targeted. — Doctors say Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is recovering from cancer surgery, is free of disease. — Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, who fled her family and landed in Thailand, has been granted asylum in Canada.— New Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel on Friday over his handling of February’s massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, saying he “repeatedly failed and has demonstrated a pattern of poor leadership.”— Hawaii Democratic Rep. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard says she’s running for President. Her political campaign biography is titled, “Is Today the Day? Not Another Political Memoir.” Go ahead, believe that.
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