Hearing date set for Trump showdown with porn star

Porn star Stormy Daniels will go to court on July 12 in a bid to dissolve an agreement stopping her discussing an affair she says she had with President Donald Trump, according to court papers published Wednesday.

Lawyer Michael Avenatti filed a lawsuit on behalf of Daniels last week seeking to toss out the confidential settlement she signed just days before the November 2016 election.

The lawsuit alleges that Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, began an "intimate relationship" with Trump in the summer of 2006 that continued well into 2007.


She has offered to return the $130,000 she received so that she can be free to "speak openly and freely about her prior relationship with the president and the attempts to silence her."

Daniels is also asking to be allowed to publish text messages, photos and videos relating to the president, Avenatti said in a letter to Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen.

"I think it's time for her to tell her story and for the public to decide who's telling the truth," Avenatti said last week.

A copy of the settlement filed in court shows that Daniels received the $130,000 from a company known as Essential Consultants LLC in return for her silence.

Using the pseudonyms Peggy Peterson and David Dennison, Daniels and Trump were to sign the agreement, along with Essential Consultants.

But Trump never signed, providing the basis for Avenatti's attempt to have it thrown out and release Daniels from her obligations.

Daniels is asking for presiding judge Elizabeth Feffer to be replaced, arguing that she has a conflict of interest because she is seeking an appointment to a seat in federal court.

The White House has denied any sexual encounter between Trump and Daniels.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Top Trump economic aide Cohn resigns

WASHINGTON - Donald Trump's White House was rocked by another high-profile resignation Tuesday, as top economic adviser Gary Cohn quit in protest at the president's decision to levy global steel tariffs.

"It has been an honor to serve my country and enact pro-growth economic policies to benefit the American people," Cohn said in a statement.

Cohn is just the latest in a long string of senior Trump advisers to resign or be fired, a virtually unprecedented turnover of administration staff.

The 57-year-old had strongly opposed Trump's decision to levy tariffs on steel and aluminum, which has sparked fears of a trade war.

"For several weeks Gary had been discussing with the president that it was nearing time for him to transition out. His departure date is to be determined but will be a few weeks from now," a White House official said.

A former Goldman Sachs executive, his departure prompted concerned murmurs on Wall Street and could portend a rocky trading session on Wednesday.

The aide, who is Jewish, had threatened to resign after Trump refused to condemn neo-Nazi groups who protested in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Then, like now, allies had tried to keep Cohn on board with the prospect of a future cabinet-level position or passing tax reform -- which he helped usher through Congress.

A long-time Democrat, he was seen as a moderating influence that curbed Trump's nationalist economic instincts and those of advisors like Peter Navarro.

In a statement, Trump praised Cohn's as a "rare talent."

"Gary has been my chief economic advisor and did a superb job in driving our agenda, helping to deliver historic tax cuts and reforms and unleashing the American economy once again," Trump said.

"He is a rare talent, and I thank him for his dedicated service to the American people."

'NO CHAOS'

Cohn's departure presents a political problem for Trump, as he wrestles Congressional Republicans who share the aide's concern about tariffs and a looming trade war.

It also blows a hole in Trump's claim, made just hours earlier, that his White House is running smoothly, despite a wave of resignations and FBI investigators circling his top aides.

In an early morning tweet, Trump said there was no "CHAOS in the White House" describing it as a "Fake News narrative" as he tried to reassure supporters that his administration has not careened off the rails.

"Wrong! People will always come & go," he said after his closest aide Hope Hicks and staff secretary Rob Porter stepped down amid interwoven scandals.

Trump's first year in office has been a frenzy of departures and infighting, which insiders put down to clashing interests, inexperience and the president's unique management style.

"I want strong dialogue before making a final decision," Trump said, defending his method of promoting staff argument.

But the former real estate developer also hinted that things were not perfect.

"I still have some people that I want to change (always seeking perfection). There is no Chaos, only great Energy!" he said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

The FBI: political punching bag or in need of reform?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, accused of abusing its power in its probe of links between President Donald Trump's election campaign and Russia, has become a political punching bag, experts in the US law enforcement community say.

But after two years of becoming deeply enmeshed in the swirl of American politics -- at one point in 2016, it was investigating both Trump's team and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton -- the FBI also needs to clean up its image, they say. 

"I think that there are troubling things that myself, many former agents, as well as current on-board employees, would like to see a full accounting of," said retired special agent James Gagliano.

In the past few years, actions by the agency's top management "have had a deleterious effect on the reputation of the FBI," Gagliano, who is now an adjunct assistant professor at St John's University in New York, told AFP.

The FBI was accused of both aiding Clinton's campaign and causing her loss.

Since then, Trump and his Republican Party claim that the agency has tried to discredit his victory -- and possibly help force him from office -- by opening a special investigation into possible collusion with Moscow.

The FBI took another brutal hit Friday when Trump spearheaded a Republican effort to tar the agency as deeply politicized, with the release of a secret, controversial GOP memo.

But the agency's director Christopher Wray -- who was hand-picked by Trump six months ago, but whose future now seems unclear -- has so far stood tall.

"Talk is cheap," he told his 35,000-strong staff after the memo release, in an internal letter obtained by AFP.

- History of clashes - 

Trump's battle with the Justice Department and FBI is not new, and is just one in a long series of fights between presidents and their top law enforcement officials.

Legendary G-Man J. Edgar Hoover, the agency's first director who served for nearly a half-century, turned the FBI into an institution feared by crooks and politicians alike.

Presidents from Harry Truman to Richard Nixon considered dismissing him, but Hoover was seen as too powerful -- and dangerous.

The FBI director is appointed for a term of 10 years -- a method seen as ensuring he or she remains apolitical. But some critics say that goal has not been met.

The root of the current battle is former director James Comey's personal handling of the 2016 investigation into Clinton's use of an unauthorized personal email server while she was secretary of state. 

His attempts to keep that sensitive probe apolitical fell flat, reaping attacks from both parties even as he twice found the evidence lacking to charge her.

"The Clinton investigation put the FBI in the center of the political battle," said Jeffrey Ringel, a veteran agent who is now director of the Soufan Group, a security consultancy. 

"Either way, the FBI was going to come out bruised."

- The Russia probe - 

After becoming president, Trump took umbrage when Comey pursued allegations that Russia had meddled in the 2016 election to help the real estate mogul win. 

Comey refused to back off and declare loyalty to Trump, who fired him, accusing him of being pro-Democrat.

Since then, Trump has built a campaign against the agency, alleging that Comey, his onetime deputy Andrew McCabe, agents who served on both the Clinton and Trump probes, and some Justice Department officials were biased against him. 

Republicans say leaked text messages show that two investigators working both cases were deeply anti-Trump. They note that McCabe's wife was supported by Clinton in a failed run for state office in Virginia. 

Before Friday's release of the memo, Trump said leaders of both the FBI and the Department of Justice had "politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago."

- Impossible situation - 

FBI agents say Comey made the best of an impossible situation -- investigating two top candidates during an election.

But he also plunged the agency too much into the limelight, and blurred the lines of impartiality, they said.

Gagliano says while the agency's current predicament is not unprecedented, "it is unsettling."

He insisted that while agents have their political leanings, they rigorously put them aside on the job, and that only "a few people" had compromised that.

"Their impartiality, their lack of a political agenda has been compromised to some extent via a few people," he noted.

Most analysts have dismissed the criticisms in the so-called "Nunes memo" released by the House Intelligence Committee on Friday as deeply distorted and unfair to the FBI.

But current and former agents say Wray needs to strongly defend the agency -- while clearing the cloud of political bias hanging over the staff.

"Wray needs to stress among the rank and file that the FBI must be seen as apolitical and cannot let their personal opinions affect their investigative actions," Ringel said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

'Bigotry seems emboldened:' George W. Bush slams Trump-era politics

Former president George W. Bush issued a sharp if veiled denunciation of Trumpism on Thursday, warning that bigotry, white supremacy and falsehoods are coarsening the national tone and threatening American democracy.

"Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication," Bush said in a speech in New York.

He did not mention President Donald Trump by name, but Bush offered unmistakable criticism of the current administration and the controversial politics of millions of voters who swept Trump to victory last November.

"Bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed," Bush said.

Argument "turns too easily into animosity," he added. "Disagreement escalates into dehumanization."

Unlike his Democratic successor Barack Obama, the Republican Bush has said very little publicly about Trump or the state of US politics.

Thursday's speech -- at the Bush Institute's Spirit of Liberty event -- marked a departure from that silence, an expression of concern by a former leader in a unique moment in the nation's history.

"We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism and forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America," the 71-year-old Bush said.

"We've seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty. At times it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together."

The 43rd president, observing America's "fading confidence" in free markets and international trade, lamented the "return of isolationist sentiments" in the country.

And while it is important not to ignore concerns of those whose jobs may have been lost to global economic forces, "we cannot wish globalization away," Bush said, while also stressing the importance of welcoming refugees and dissidents to US shores.

He also called for the nation to pass its civic ideals on to the next generation.

"Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone," Bush said. "The only way to pass along civic values is to first live up to them."

Bush's remarks came three days after a speech by another major Republican national figure, Senator John McCain, appeared to rebuke Trump's ideas and politics.

War hero McCain slammed what he described as "half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Caitlyn Jenner joins celebs mulling run for US political office

LOS ANGELES - Caitlyn Jenner has joined the list of celebrities who are considering running for political office in the United States following the election of former reality television star Donald Trump as president.

Jenner, who as former Olympic champion Bruce Jenner in 2015 became the highest-profile American to transition to a woman, said she would decide in the next six months or so whether to run for the US Senate in California.

Jenner told John Catsimatidis on his "CATS Roundtable" New York radio show on Sunday, that she is working with activist groups to improve the Republican Party's stance on lesbian, gay and transgender issues.

"Over the next six months or so I gotta find out where I can do a better job. Can I do a better job from the outside working the perimeter of the political scene, being open to talking to anybody, or are you better off from the inside?

"We are in the process of determining that. But yeah, I would look for a senatorial run," she said. Democratic US Senator Dianne Feinstein is up for re-election in California in 2018.

Jenner, 67, is a Republican but in February she criticized the Trump administration for reversing a federal directive that allowed transgender students to use public school bathrooms of their choice.

"From one Republican to another, this is a disaster," she said in a video message to Trump at the time.

The success of Trump, a businessman who found fame through TV reality show "The Apprentice," has encouraged others with no political experience to consider running for office.

Last week country-rock singer Kid Rock, a supporter of Trump, hinted he intends to run for the Senate in 2018 but he has yet to make any official announcement. He has not mentioned where he would run.

Actor and former wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has said he might run for the White House someday but has not mentioned a political affiliation.

Previous celebrities who made the transition to politics include action movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who served two terms as California governor, and professional wrestler Jesse Ventura, who was elected Minnesota governor.

Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Clinton delivers stinging attack on Trump at graduation speech

NEW YORK, United States – Hillary Clinton launched a stinging attack on Donald Trump Friday, obliquely comparing him to former president Richard Nixon, who resigned in 1974 to escape impeachment, and savaging the Republican assault on fact-based politics.

The defeated Democratic presidential nominee made her remarks in a commencement address at her alma mater Wellesley College, a women's liberal arts college in Massachusetts, 48 years after her own graduation.

Never once uttering Trump's name, she urged the class of 2017 to get politically and socially involved, saying that the future of America depends on "brave, thoughtful people like you insisting on truth and integrity."

Coughing at one point before being passed a bottle of water and continuing briefly in a hoarse voice, the former secretary of state who made history as the first US woman to win a major party nomination for president was frequently interrupted by applause.

"Now, you may have heard that things didn't exactly go the way I planned, but you know what? I'm doing ok," she said of her electoral defeat. "I won't lie, Chardonnay helped a little too," she added to roars of delight.

Clinton implicitly compared Trump to Nixon, the Republican president brought down by the Watergate scandal. He sacked his attorney general in a move some have compared to Trump's firing of FBI director James Comey, who was investigating Russian interference in last year's election and possible collusion by Trump's campaign.

The former first lady said her class of 1969 was "furious" about the then-recent election of Nixon, "a man whose presidency would eventually end in disgrace with his impeachment for obstruction of justice."

- 'Assault on truth' -
"You are graduating at a time when there is a full-fledged assault on truth and reason. Just log on to social media for 10 seconds it will hit you right in the face," she said.

"People denying science, concocting elaborate hurtful conspiracy theories... Drumming up rampant fear about undocumented immigrants, Muslims, minorities, the poor," she added.

"Some are even denying things we see with our own eyes, like the size of crowds," she said, again alluding to but not naming Trump, who falsely accused the news media last January of misrepresenting the size of his inauguration crowds. "Then defending themselves by talking about quote unquote alternative facts."

Clinton called Trump's proposed federal budget "an attack of unimaginable cruelty on the most vulnerable" that "grossly underfunds" public education, mental health care, efforts to combat America's opioid epidemic and threatens to worsen climate change.

"It matters because if our leaders lie about the problems we face, we'll never solve them. It matters because it undermines confidence in government as a whole."

Much of her speech was a rallying cry for graduates to get politically involved and engaged with their communities.

"In the years to come, there will trolls galore, online and in-person, eager to tell you that you don't have anything worthwhile to say or anything meaningful to contribute, they may even call you a nasty woman," she said.

"You don't have to do everything, but don't sit on the sidelines."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Sanders concedes defeat to Clinton in Missouri primary

WASHINGTON, United States - Senator Bernie Sanders has conceded defeat to Hillary Clinton in the Missouri Democratic presidential primary, a Sanders spokesman said Thursday.

This means Clinton won in all five states where primary voting was held on Tuesday, including the key ones of Florida and Ohio.

The Missouri results had been too close to call, until Thursday. Sanders conceded defeat and will not request a recount.

"I prefer to save the taxpayers of Missouri some money," the senator said, according to spokesman Michael Briggs.

Clinton is the frontrunner to win the Democratic nomination for the presidential election in November.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

How Rubio's campaign failed: problems from the start

MIAMI - Marco Rubio had all that you need in a Republican presidential candidate: fluency on the issues, a conservative outlook, crossover appeal as a Cuban-American, and youthful good looks.

But in an election year when anyone associated with the Republican establishment is seen as tainted, Rubio ended his campaign after New York real estate mogul Donald Trump won the coveted primary, or nominating contest, in Rubio's home state of Florida on Tuesday.

"This may not have been the year for a hopeful and optimistic message about our future," Rubio told supporters as he announced his decision.

How the 44-year-old U.S. senator got to this point is a story of miscalculations and missed opportunities, according to interviews with more than a dozen campaign officials, financial donors and Republican strategists.

Rubio attempted to position himself as a new-age Republican, the son of Cuban immigrants who was able to connect with everyday voters with tales of his hard-luck upbringing. He also tried to appeal to America's growing Hispanic population to help boost his party's chances of claiming victory in the Nov. 8 election.

He got off to a difficult start.

His advisers wanted to run a campaign where it made more sense to be on Fox News, a channel popular with Republicans, or on other cable networks and local broadcasters whose clips can go viral on social media, rather than spend a lot of time in small towns in Iowa and New Hampshire. The early nominating contests there often shape the narrative and direction of presidential elections.

So Rubio made a strategic gamble. He would try a different approach in those two states, strategists familiar with his campaign said. He would try to save time and money by making strategic stops in those states rather than carpet-bomb them with multiple visits.

'HE COULD HAVE DONE IT'

It would be a break from the usual playbook of White House hopefuls that says candidates should saturate Iowa and New Hampshire with town halls and other events and aim for early wins to garner media coverage and campaign donations and build momentum.

Rubio's gamble backfired. Republican activists in Iowa complained he was largely absent from the state for long stretches, not spending the face-to-face time necessary to sell himself. He only made an all-out push in the late stages of the race.

Throughout the campaign, Rubio has battled perceptions that he does not work hard enough. For other candidates running for president, a voting record in the Senate would be a minor issue. But for Rubio, missing votes on the Senate floor dovetailed with the narrative that was building on the trail. If he was not in the Senate and was not on the trail, where was he?

Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said Rubio faced more than $50 million in attacks ads. "Obviously that had a massive impact. I think we could have won Iowa had it not been for the more than $25 million in attacks spent on us in Iowa alone."

Republican rival and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas tried to visit every Iowa county on a bus. Rubio tended to fly in and fly out. Polls showed he typically did better in metropolitan areas, not the hamlets than can often make or break candidates in early states.

Cruz won Iowa's caucuses on Feb. 1 with Trump second. Rubio's third-place finish was seen as something of a victory by his camp, but Republicans in the state were not so sure.

"He had a chance to win Iowa," said Jamie Johnson, a Republican activist in Iowa. As Johnson traveled the state ahead of the caucuses, voters often asked him when Rubio would visit their area, he said.

"Iowans like being visited in their home county," he explained. "If a presidential candidate wants to win in Iowa, then he must put in the shoe leather."

Rubio's team said he had tended to campaign in major population centers in Iowa in order to get the most impact from the news media.

"I was very pleased with the campaign that we ran here and I thought the national team did a very good job and I had no complaints," said Iowa state Senator Jack Whitver, who was the head of Rubio's Iowa campaign.

NO-SHOW AT DINNERS

Rubio heard similar complaints in New Hampshire. He spent just 28 days campaigning there, about half as much as former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and a fraction of the some 70 days that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Ohio Governor John Kasich were there.

Fergus Cullen, a former chairman of the state Republican Party, sought to hold meet-and-greet events at his home for each candidate. Candidates such as Bush and Kasich took him up on it. Rubio did not. Cullen eventually aligned himself with Kasich, who went on to finish second to Trump in the state.

"There were a lot of opinion leaders - key endorsers who end up on a candidate's delegate list - who were interested in Rubio but never got to meet him or have those small-group, private meetings that result in commitments," Cullen said.

Renee Plummer, a real-estate developer and an influential conservative activist in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who hosted more than 10 Republican candidates for intimate dinners with local leaders, said she tried to schedule Rubio three separate times to no avail. She eventually threw her support behind Christie.

'LACK OF STATURE'

Rubio faced another problem: a perception that he could only muster well-worn talking points.

At a July 6, 2015, dinner at a Chicago steakhouse with reporters, he appeared relaxed and knowledgeable. But as the campaign intensified, that Rubio appeared less and less frequently, replaced by a candidate who seemed able only to deliver canned lines and talking points.

Christie's campaign noticed. Days before the Feb. 9 New Hampshire primary, Christie caught Rubio in repeat mode during a debate, calling him robotic and scripted. It affirmed some voters' doubts that he lacked depth. Rubio never quite recovered.

"What happened to Marco in New Hampshire struck a responsive chord," said John "Mac" Stipanovich, a prominent Florida lobbyist who first supported Bush and then switched to Rubio. "It crystallized that lack of stature."

Trump's unrelenting dominance of the media spotlight made it hard for rivals to shine. But Rubio's decision, starting with a debate in Houston on Feb. 25, to try to match Trump insult for insult was cited by voters as another wrong move. Rubio has since said he regretted the negative turn.

A campaign source said it was Rubio who made the ultimate decision to switch gears and attack Trump personally, motivated in part by a desire to win more media coverage. It worked. At a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, he ruefully noted that when he was engaged in his war of insults with Trump, CNN and other networks carried his events live, something they had not done before.

That was, in a nutshell, the problem. Months of wall-to- wall news coverage of Trump decimated Rubio's strategy of using free-media avenues.

"You can't out-Trump Trump," said Rubio supporter Jim Bundstein in Florida.

'NOTHING BUT AMNESTY'

For some, the roots of Rubio's problems can be traced back further to an icy afternoon in Washington on Jan. 28, 2013. That is when he held a news conference with three Democratic senators and a Republican on Capitol Hill to launch immigration reforms.

The legislation, sponsored by what became known as a bipartisan "Gang of Eight" senators, would have created a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, but only if steps were taken to secure the U.S. southern border with Mexico and strengthen visa tracking.

Rubio had already faced conservative anger when flirting with immigration reform a year earlier, when he proposed a path to citizenship for young people who came to the country illegally but would join the military.

Conservative columnist Ann Coulter derided those ideas as "nothing but amnesty" for lawbreakers.

The "Gang of Eight" bill ran into similar resistance. As Rubio distanced himself from it, Hispanic groups faulted him for giving up.

In a Republican primary race where Trump has thrilled many conservatives by vowing to deport immigrants and build a wall on the Mexican border, Rubio's involvement in the legislation and sudden abandonment of it haunted his 2016 campaign.

It was the centerpiece of attack ads by his rivals and the independent fundraising groups supporting them.

At a rally in Tampa, Florida, on Monday, Trump said of the senator: "He's weak on immigration. He's very weak on amnesty. I don't know how he got elected."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Cruz victorious in first of five Saturday election contests

Washington (AFP) - US Senator Ted Cruz struck first in the series of five presidential nomination contests held Saturday, besting Donald Trump in Kansas and boosting his claim as the most viable alternative to the billionaire frontrunner.

With nearly half of the votes counted, networks called the midwestern state for Cruz, who earned some 49 percent of the vote, doubling up on Trump who was second with 25 percent. Senator Marco Rubio was in third, followed by Ohio Governor John Kasich.

Kansas and the other contests will provide the first test of whether the Republican establishment's desperate effort to halt Trump, led this week by 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, is having any effect among voters.

The brash real estate mogul Trump is ahead in the all-important delegate count for the Republicans, having won 10 of the 15 states that have voted to date in the process that determines the nominees for both parties.

But Cruz's win is a reminder that while Trump still appears to be the likely nominee, it is by no means inevitable.

"God bless Kansas!" Cruz told a campaign rally in Idaho, upon learning that he was projected the winner.

"What we're seeing is conservatives coming together... and standing as one behind this campaign."

The GOP race has been winnowed down to four men: political outsiders Trump and Cruz, and the more mainstream candidates Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Ohio Governor John Kasich. Many in the Republican establishment are in virtual panic over whether anyone can stop Trump's march.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is well ahead of rival Senator Bernie Sanders, hoping to expand her lead as she inches closer to securing the nomination.

Clinton and Sanders do battle Saturday in Kansas, Louisiana and Nebraska, while the Republicans are contesting Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Maine.

The former secretary of state is expected to dominate in Louisiana, the weekend's biggest prize, because of its large African-American vote.

But Sanders could bounce back in the other two states -- plus Maine, which holds its Democratic caucus Sunday -- because they have largely white populations, a demographic with which Sanders has done well.

Saturday's races are wedged between far more consequential contests: the dozen states that voted on "Super Tuesday" March 1 and the big battles on March 15, when many Republican races, including in Rubio's Florida and Kasich's Ohio, become winner-take-all affairs.

Cruz received an added boost Saturday when he won the straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a prominent gathering of grass roots far-right activists.

Cruz finished first with 40 percent, followed by Rubio with 30, Trump with 15 and Kasich at eight percent.

Trump made waves when he cancelled a scheduled Saturday morning appearance at CPAC near Washington, opting instead to hold a rally in Wichita, Kansas.

A woman holds a sign as she waits for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders at a rally on …
The move angered members of the American Conservative Union which hosts CPAC.

"I think it was a big mistake for Donald Trump not to be here," ACU chairman Matt Schlapp told CNN.

- 'Establishment is against us' -
Trump told the Wichita crowd that Romney, who on Thursday called Trump "a fraud," was a "loser" who should have defeated President Barack Obama.

"It's the establishment. The establishment is against us," Trump said.

Rubio, seen by many political observers as the best hope to defeat Trump, issued a forceful repudiation of the frontrunner, challenging him, like many Republicans have, on his conservative credentials.

Rubio brought the house down at CPAC when he warned about a dire future for Republicans "if the conservative movement is hijacked by someone that's not a conservative."

With Trump's challengers insisting they are in it for the long haul, there is a chance no candidate will rack up the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination before the convention in July.

That would mean a contested or "brokered" convention, a scenario that could turn chaotic, especially if establishment figures seek to somehow actively prevent delegates from coalescing around Trump.

There are 155 delegates at stake in Saturday's Republican races.

Heading into Saturday, Trump led the field with 329 delegates, followed by Cruz with 231 and Rubio with 110. Kasich trailed with 25.

Trump has won 10 state contests, while Cruz has claimed five including Kansas. Rubio has won one.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Clinton strays from her roots as coal miner's great granddaughter

WASHINGTON - In her 2008 bid for the White House, Hillary Clinton cast herself as a blue-collar Democrat who was unabashedly pro-coal, a stance that helped her beat opponent Barack Obama easily in primaries in states that produced or were reliant on coal.

Eight years later, a Reuters review of her recent campaign speeches and policy announcements shows that the great-granddaughter of a Welsh coal miner is now talking about the coal industry in the past tense.

The little-noticed shift in rhetoric speaks volumes about how the United States' energy landscape has changed since Clinton last campaigned in 2008: oil and gas fracking have exploded and cheap natural gas has taken a huge bite out of coal.

In the intervening years the Obama administration has also proposed aggressive measures to tamp down greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels like coal, while once-powerful coal companies like Arch Coal, which declared bankruptcy last week, have lost their political clout.

The shift by Clinton is not without significant political risk. She will have to walk a fine line in trying to please the progressive activists she needs to win her party's nomination and working-class "swing" voters whose support will be crucial for the general election in November 2016. Ohio and Pennsylvania, in particular, have a lot of electoral votes, which are key to electing a new president.

Mindful of that, Clinton has been careful to pay tribute to the contribution coal miners have made to the American economy, but she has also made clear that they should be helped to find new jobs, and a new way of life.

Ed Rendell, former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania and Clinton ally, said an economic case for addressing climate change could resonate in his state, where the coal industry employs more than 36,000 directly and indirectly, according to the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance.

"Citizens, coal miners and executives are not dumb and they see the handwriting on the wall. Someone needs to tell them the truth and make it clear," he said in an interview.

Clinton's campaign declined to comment on the shift in her coal message or how she plans to appease both environmentalists and coal workers.

"VOODOO ENVIRONMENT CONCERNS"
Clinton was quick last week to praise President Obama's stricter rules on coal-fired power plants, vowing to both defend and build on them. Her stance won plaudits from environmentalists within her party, but unions, a key constituency, are concerned she has yet to say how tougher climate rules will affect coal industry jobs.

"We would like to see some more specifics regarding her energy policies," said Phil Smith, a spokesman for the United Mine Workers Association, which represents about 80,000 workers.

Roland "Butch" Taylor, a business manager at the Plumber & Pipefitters Local 396, a union in Boardman, Ohio, said he hopes Clinton does not cater solely to "voodoo environment concerns."

"A candidate should be pushing for clean coal technology until alternative energy is available," Taylor said.

In 2008, Clinton triumphed in the Democratic primaries in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania with a promise to make coal cleaner.

She told the environmental magazine Grist then: "You have got to admit that coal - of which we have a great and abundant supply in America - is not going away."

She is no longer saying that but neither is she fully embracing the agenda of environmentalists in her party who want her to turn her back completely on fossil fuel industries.

Clinton was pressed at a town hall in Dover, New Hampshire, last month about why she had not promised to move more quickly to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

"I know what the right answer in terms of getting votes would've been," Clinton responded.

Holding up her hand to calm agitated activists, she added, "It's really easy to say 'yeah, let's ban all of these fossil fuel extractions' and forget about all the people who are employed, who have jobs that rely on the energy."

But Clinton said that on climate, as on other issues, "I am going to tell you what I believe, and some people will like it, and some people may not like it."

The line drew applause that overtook chants from the dozen or so climate activists in the room.

Clinton's Republican opponents are almost certain to use her support of Obama's new measures to restrict greenhouse gas emissions from power plants to say she is part of what they call Obama's "war on coal."

CLINTON'S APPALACHIAN ROOTS

Clinton has personal ties to the Appalachian region where the mining industry thrived for decades. She often talks about her grandfather's work in a lace mill in coal-dependent Scranton, Pennsylvania and her childhood summer vacations spent at a cottage in the area.

"We need to say to people in coal country: 'We are grateful for your service,'" Clinton said at a New Hampshire house party last month.

"They made it possible for this country, starting in the 19th century, to become an economic engine of prosperity," she said. "We've got to say 'what can we do to help you? How can we help you have a better future? What kind of investments can we help bring to coal country? How can we give you a stake in the future?"

Clinton has hinted that her climate plan - which she has yet to fully unveil - will be as much about focusing on boosting the middle class as it will be about the environment.

She plans in the coming months to release details of an initiative to protect the health care and pensions of coal workers.

She has also proposed eliminating capital gains taxes to encourage investment in hard-hit industrial states known as the Rust Belt, as well as expanding tax credits to prevent them from "spiraling downward after a major economic shift or plant closing."

Clinton met privately recently with a group of Capitol Hill Democrats and pitched them a rough outline of her climate plan.

U.S. senators Tim Kaine of Virginia and Joe Manchin of West Virginia both praised Clinton's recognition of coal's contribution to the U.S. economy but said any plan could not abandon the coal industry immediately, since it still provides one-third of the country's energy.

"I can't tell you how much I appreciated hearing a presidential candidate of her stature being able to recognize how we got to where we are today and how we move forward without leaving anybody behind," Manchin said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

After midterms, race for the White House is on

Let the campaign begin.

Fresh off the resounding Republican win in midterm elections, all eyes -- and political minds -- in Washington are now narrowing in on the 2016 presidential election.

For the Democrats, smarting from a sound Republican beating, Hillary Clinton -- the former secretary of state and former first lady -- is not officially a candidate, but is the presumptive nominee.

For the Republicans, things are not as simple. A dozen names are in play, but no one has emerged as a favorite.

Voters will elect the 45th president of the United States of November 8, 2016. The two main parties will stage their primaries in the early part of that year.

But the months ahead are crucial -- candidacies will be announced, rallies will be held, horse-trading will happen behind closed doors... and campaign funds will be raised.

While Tuesday's big win for Republicans is a major slap in the face to Democrats, who lost control of the Senate, it is not necessarily bad news for Clinton if she decides to make another run for the White House, eight years after losing to Barack Obama in the primaries.

The Republicans about to reign supreme on Capitol Hill will provide the 67-year-old Clinton with strong fodder for her eventual campaign platform.

The former senator from New York will seek to exploit the internal rifts in a Republican party still struggling to assimilate a feisty Tea Party contingent with little desire to stay in line with veteran leaders.

Republican Senator Rand Paul, one of those weighing a White House run, did not wait long to launch the first salvo in the White House battle.

"Tuesday's biggest loser is @HillaryClinton," Paul said on Twitter soon after the Republican victory was clear.

The Kentucky senator then posted a series of photos on Facebook showing Clinton stumping for Democratic candidates who lost on Tuesday -- with the hashtag #HillarysLosers.

Will she or won't she?

"After a historic rebuke in yesterday’s midterms, the Obama-Clinton policies will be on the ballot again in 2016," the Republican National Committee said in a research memo listing how the former rivals are inextricably linked.

The RNC went on to argue that the numbers don't add up for sending another Democrat to the White House.

Indeed, rarely does one party win three consecutive terms at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In the past 60 years, it has only happened once, when George H.W. Bush succeeded Ronald Reagan.

Clinton is expected to make her intentions known in early 2015. While her actions seem to telegraph her plans to run, some doubt remains.

The wife of former president Bill Clinton has said she plans to enjoy her new role of grandmother -- her daughter Chelsea gave birth to Charlotte in September -- before making any decisions on her future in politics.

If she decides not to run, the Democrats could find themselves in a tough spot, as she has so dominated the 2016 conversation for the past year.

Vice President Joe Biden, who is five years older than Clinton, has left his options open and made it clear he would like another crack at the White House, but Washington insiders think it's unlikely.

Tuesday's shock election of a Republican governor in Maryland has weakened the chances of outgoing Democrat Martin O'Malley, another hopeful.

Jeb Bush on the fence
On the Republican side, rarely has a race been as open.

First question mark: former Florida governor Jeb Bush, the son of George H.W. Bush and the brother of George W. Bush. After 41 and 43, the Bush family could see president number 45.

But Jeb -- more of a centrist than his brother -- is hesitant.

Earlier this year, his mother Barbara made known her mixed feelings about political dynasties -- the Kennedys, the Bushes, the Clintons.

"This is a great country. And if we can't find more than two or three families to run for higher office, that's silly," she said.

Since then, she hasn't said much.

A bunch of other names are in the mix: Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas, and a host of governors -- Chris Christie (New Jersey), Rick Perry (Texas), Scott Walker (Wisconsin) and Bobby Jindal (Louisiana).

Former Arkansas governor Mick Huckabee is also regularly listed as a possible candidate.

Mitt Romney, who lost the Republican primary to Senator John McCain in 2008 and the election to Obama in 2012, has resurfaced.

Romney has initially ruled out another run, but lately has been more vague in his public comments on the matter.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Putin calls Hillary Clinton a 'weak' woman

PARIS - Russian President Vladimir Putin waded into US politics Wednesday describing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- and possible 2016 presidential candidate -- as "weak" in some sarcastic comments about women.

In an interview with French television, Putin was asked about Clinton's recent remarks that the Russian leader was trying to redraw the boundaries in eastern Europe just like Adolf Hitler did in the 1930s.

"It's better not to argue with women," Putin replied, adding: "But Mrs. Clinton has never been too graceful in her statements."

Putin remarked that he met Clinton when she was the US top diplomat "and had cordial conversations at various international events. I think even in this case we could reach an agreement".

But as the Russian leader has come under fire in the West for his aggressive policies in Ukraine and Moscow's annexation of Crimea, he did not hide that he found Clinton's Hitler-like comments extreme.

"When people push boundaries too far, it's not because they are strong but because they are weak," said Putin, who then went on.

"But maybe weakness is not the worst quality for a woman."

First Lady when her husband Bill Clinton was in the White House, Hillary Clinton has become a political force in her own right and an idol of feminists who hope to see her become the first US woman president.

She was a presidential candidate in 2008 but lost the Democratic Party nomination to Barack Obama, who after his election victory asked her -- then a senator from New York -- to head the US State Department.

Clinton chose not to continue in that post after Obama won a second term in office in 2012, but speculation has been rife that she is planning another run for the White House in 2016.

The French reporters pressed Putin about whether he wanted to get back at Clinton or laugh it off.

"Someday I will indulge myself and we will laugh together at some good joke," he responded.

But Putin didn't stop at that.

"When I hear such extreme statements, to me it only means that they don't have any valid arguments.

"Speaking of US policy, it's clear that the United States is pursuing the most aggressive and toughest policy to defend their own interests -- at least this is how the American leaders see it -- and they do it persistently."

As for America's current leader, President Obama on Wednesday condemned Moscow's "dark tactics" in Ukraine where the new pro-West Kiev government is battling a pro-Russian insurgency in the east of the country.

Obama and Putin will come face-to-face on Friday in France at the 70th anniversary commemorations of the D-Day Normandy landings in World War II.

No formal meeting between the two is planned.

"It is his choice, I am ready for dialogue," Putin said of Obama in the interview with French broadcasters Europe 1 and TF1 conducted at his dacha in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com