Radio America Online News Bureau

Archives for May 2018

Americans Freed, U.S. Exits Iran Deal, GOP Voters Get It Right

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are in very good spirits as they savor three wonderful martinis for conservatives.  First, they celebrate the news that three American hostages are on their way home from North Korea in advance of the upcoming Trump-Kim summit.  They also applaud President Trump for withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, which was riddled with inspection loopholes and was never properly submitted to Congress.  And they cheer the victory of conservative Patrick Morrisey in the West Virginia U.S. Senate primary, the lopsided defeat for “Cocaine Mitch” accuser Don Blankenship, and strong turnout for Republicans in three primary states.

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Iran Decision ‘Right and Overdue’

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President Trump announced Tuesday that the United States will withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal on May 12, citing the ineffectiveness of the agreement in stopping development of a nuclear weapon and announcing tough new economic sanctions to put the pressure back on the Iranian government.

In 2015, President Obama, through then-Secretary of State John Kerry, signed on to the JCPOA without consulting Congress.  The stated conclusion of the deal was that the U.S. and five key allies would ease sanctions and return frozen Iranian assets in exchange for Iran allowing international inspections at its admitted nuclear sites.

By labeling the plan an executive agreement rather than a treaty, Obama and Kerry were able to bypass Congress.  But they also set the stage for a future president reversing the policy unilaterally.

Obama administration veterans, the media, and America’s partners in the agreement, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, are very critical of Trump decision, but he is earning wide praise from most congressional Republicans and conservative policy experts.

“The thing that you’ve got to admire about President Trump is that he makes a decision.  He move forward with it.  We will deal with it and the rest of the world will deal with this,” said Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla, who chairs the House Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.

Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney, who served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy in the Reagan administration, is also very happy with the move.

“I think the decision was both right and overdue.  I’m thrilled he has taken this step,” said Gaffney.  “It finally denies legitimacy to this heinous regime, which could just mean that the people of Iran are able to achieve freedom as well as us achieving a measure of security that would otherwise be denied us.”

Gaffney points out Iran is not only the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism but has proven it cannot be trusted to honor agreements.

“It has cheated on every agreement that it has participated in.  It has pursued weapons of mass destruction.  It continuously says that it seeks death to America.  It has gotten an enormous amount of money (from the nuclear deal), which it has used to further endanger our interests and those of our friends and allies in the region and beyond,” said Gaffney.

Yoho also cited Iran’s bad faith on the world stage.

“Right after it was agreed to by those entities, not us in Congress, Iran fired ballistic missiles and that was against the clause of exercising good faith and Iran broke that the next day,” said Yoho.

But even if Iran had abided by the terms of the JCPOA, Yoho says there are still terrible flaws, including the gaping holes in the inspections.

“They were supposed to be able to check anywhere, anytime, any place per John Kerry.  I was in the hearing when he said that.  Then it turned out it was 24 hours notice and (no access) to places like military bases.  Those places are off limits.  Then we can only inspect those places we know.  We can’t inspect places that we may hear of,” said Yoho.

Where Yoho and Gaffney strongly disagree is what should happen once the sanctions put Iran in a vulnerable spot again.

“Let those start to work.  Let the dust settle.  Then we’ll see how earnest and sincere Iran is, wanting to come to the table and put this nuclear business behind everybody,” said Yoho.

Gaffney believes there should never be a table to return to when it comes to Iran.

“There is clearly no point in having a deal with people who can’t be trusted – not only can’t be trusted but can be trusted to violate any obligation they make,” said Gaffney.

He says the only permanent solution to Iranian nuclear ambitions is for the Iranian people to kick the mullahs to the curb.

“I think the only solution to this is for the people of Iran to remove this regime that enslaves and brutalizes them and threatens us.  And I think that is clearly the desire of the people of Iran,” said Gaffney.

“We will end the threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon by once and for all seeing this regime removed from power,” added Gaffney.

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Trump’s Recissions, Schneiderman’s Downfall, Perils of GOP Primaries

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America welcome President Trump’s efforts to cut $15 billion in federal spending and prod Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to pursue the plan.  They also need a shower after recounting the horrific allegations of physical abuse lodged against New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman by four ex-girlfriends, one of whom says she was urged by friends not to go public with the assaults because it would be bad for Democrats.  And they bite their fingernails as they wait to see if West Virginia Republicans nominate a sensible candidate for U.S. Senate or follow in the footsteps of many other states that blew recent chances to win Senate seats by choosing troubling and unelectable nominees.

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Senate Primary Showdown in West Virginia

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Three states hold U.S. Senate primaries Tuesday, all of them are in states won handily by President Trump in 2016 but are represented by Democrats in the Senate, and the biggest drama is playing out in West Virginia, with Trump begging GOP voters there not to nominate the candidate that both conservatives and moderates believe has no chance of winning in November.

Conservatives are trying to rally the base to get West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey into the general election, but polls show him locked in a tight primary with Rep. Evan Jenkins and former Massey Energy chairman Don Blankenship.

The winner faces Sen. Joe Manchin in November.

Blankenship, who spent time in prison after being convicted in connection with the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, had been fading in the polls.  But he is getting a great deal of free media attention for referring to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as “Cocaine Mitch” and accusing McConnell of helping “China people” through his in-laws.  McConnell is married to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, whose father is a prominent businessman in the Far East.

The Senate Conservatives Fund is backing Morrisey in the race.  The group’s president, former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, says all the attention on Blankenship’s comments means this race is completely up in the air.

“The spike in talk about Blankenship has really confused things substantially,” said Cuccinelli.

He also says the Democrats see a chance to lock up this seat and are meddling intensely in the primary.

“(Senate Minority Leader) Chuck Schumer has funded a PAC that has been taking shots at Morrisey first and foremost, and some at Jenkins, because they want Blankenship as the Republican nominee,” said Cuccinelli.

Stung by the lost opportunity in the special Senate race in Alabama in December, President Trump is urging West Virginia voters to stay away from Blankenship.

“To the great people of West Virginia we have, together, a really great chance to keep making a big difference. Problem is, Don Blankenship, currently running for Senate, can’t win the General Election in your State…No way! Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!” Trump tweeted.

Cuccinelli welcome the first part of the tweet but not the closing line.

“He said vote either for Morrisey or Jenkins.  It’s not like he’s endorsing the conservative in the race.  In fact, the president has never endorsed a conservative when there were others in a race,” said Cuccinelli.

So what’s wrong with Jenkins?  Cuccinelli says the congressman’s very recent past presents a very big problem, since Jenkins switched from being a Democrat to a Republican just a few years ago.

“Jenkins has just what you’d expect from a 20-year Democrat in terms of his public record.  It creates all sorts of problems for him, nothing less than supporting Hillary in 2008 and voting for Obama in ’08 and ’12,” said Cuccinelli, noting both Clinton and Obama were drubbed in West Virginia due to their anti-coal policies.

In contrast, Cuccinelli points out Morrisey sued the Obama administration over efforts to target the coal industry.  He also fought back against the Obama administration’s transgender initiatives.

In addition, Morrisey is joining with five other states to force the Trump administration to end the DACA program, as Trump had ordered to happen by early March.  He is part of a 20-state effort to have the remainder of the Affordable Care Act declared unconstitutional as a result of the recent tax bill removing the individual mandate penalty and thus allegedly ending the ability of the government to consider the individual mandate a tax,

Cuccinelli says the conservative grassroots in West Virginia are squarely behind Morrisey.

“West Virginians for Life is behind Morrisey.  The West Virginia gun groups are for Morrisey.  There’s virtually no West Virginia grassroots group supporting either Jenkins or Blankenship.  They are all supporting Patrick Morrisey,” he said.

Cuccinelli says Morrisey is also the one best suited to defeat Manchin.

“Manchin is a family name.  He goes back a long way.  He’s not just a first-term senator.  He is part of a long and strong political family in West Virginia.  This is no easy task but he is beatable and Morrisey is the best guy to beat him.

“It’s why the Senate Conservatives Fund endorsed him, that in addition to his conservative track record,” said Cuccinelli.

He is confident the conservative base is with Morrisey.  Now it’s just a matter of getting them to the polls.

“He’s got a track record of beating Democrats, but he isn’t going to get a chance to beat Manchin if he doesn’t get enough votes from conservatives tomorrow in West Virginia,” said Cuccinelli.

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Mueller Reprimanded, Left’s Lack of Gun Logic, McCain Funeral Plan Fury

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America welcome Judge T.S. Ellis reminding Special Counsel Bob Mueller that he does not have “unfettered power” in his investigation and that he shouldn’t use his position to compel testimony towards a desired end in his probe.  They also also shake their heads as liberals are not getting upset with the Justice Department for enforcing existing gun laws and as officials in Broward County, Florida, admit that the Parkland shooter did avoid the criminal justice system for previous offenses by being enrolled in the school-based PROMISE program – and therefore never triggered any red flags when trying to buy guns.  And they wonder why Trump supporters are so upset that John McCain doesn’t want President Trump at his funeral.

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Judge Delivers ‘Smashmouth Takedown’ of Mueller

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A federal judge blasted the special counsel investigation of Robert Mueller Friday, accusing the former FBI director of assuming “unfettered” authority and maintaining control of the Paul Manafort prosecution solely to squeeze out incriminating information about President Trump.

And a former federal prosecutor says this was an “unprecedented rebuke” of Mueller and his team, as well as Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the Mueller probe.

“This was a smashmouth  takedown,” said Joe diGenova, a former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.  “To question the integrity, in essence, of Mr. Mueller, because of the nature of the case that he has in front of him in federal court, is truly unprecedented.”

On Friday, District Judge T.S. Ellis strongly challenged the authority Mueller and his team have to veer off into prosecuting financial crimes, such as the ones lodged against one-time Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort.

Ellis specifically wanted to know why Mueller’s team had no trouble referring the Michael Cohen case to the Southern District of New York but continues to handle the prosecution of Manafort on financial allegations unrelated to Russian involvement in the 2016 campaign.

“I don’t see what relation this indictment has with what the special counsel is authorized to investigate,” Ellis said Friday.

“You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud. … What you really care about is what information Mr. Manafort could give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump or lead to his prosecution or impeachment,” he added.

Ellis also took aim at Mueller’s approach to the investigation.

“What we don’t want in this country, we don’t want anyone with unfettered power.  It’s unlikely you’re going to persuade me the special counsel has unlimited powers to do anything her or she wants,” said Ellis.

Ellis has been on the federal bench since 1987.  diGenova says Ellis has a reputation for being a conservative but calm judge, which makes his comments on Friday all the more striking.

“I was absolutely stunned in a positive way that a judge, who was so fundamentally conservative in both his approach and his demeanor in court, was so appalled by what was happening in front of him.  This is a very bad sign for Mueller,” said diGenova.

“This was a remarkable dressing down for Mr. Mueller,” he added.

“What it shows is that seeping out into the federal court system and judges is a sense that not only is the Mueller investigation out of control, but the supervision of it by Rod Rosenstein is either non-existent or out of control.  That is a very bad sign for Mr. Mueller and Mr. Rosenstein,” said diGenova.

In addition to the specifics of the investigation, diGenova says the comments from Ellis mark an important moment.

“What we are watching here is the slow education of the American people through a civics lesson, which is being conducted  through the media.  People are discussing the law and the Constitution and the threat to our constitutional order that the Mueller investigation represents, because it started with no crime being investigated,” said diGenova.

“People are beginning to see that the original sin in the Mueller investigation was the outrageous memorandum signed by Rod Rosenstein appointing him, which mentioned no crime to be investigated,” said diGenova.

diGenova suspects the rebuke from Judge Ellis will likely quash any possibility of Mueller to subpoena President Trump.

“I don’t think he’s going to issue a subpoena because I think Bob Mueller knows he’s going to do something then which will take him down.  That will be an act of suicide.  But if he is arrogant enough to do it, it will destroy his investigation.  It will take him down.

“This will be the kind of stupid overreach that frequently undoes constitutional officers,” said diGenova.

On Friday, Mueller’s attorney, Michael Dreeben, argued that prosecuting Manafort is within the scope of the investigation based on a letter signed by Rosenstein after the investigation began.  Ellis demanded to see the letter within two weeks.

diGenova says Ellis will likely dismiss the case against Manafort if Mueller refuses to share the Rosenstein letter.  Even if Ellis gets to see it, Manafort could soon get good news, given the timing of the letter.

“Remember, that letter came to Mueller from Rosenstein after the raid on Paul Manfort’s home in Virginia.  That could be a very serious legal problem for Mr. Mueller,” said diGenova.

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Vulnerable Senate Dems, Evangelicals & Trump, Wild West Virginia Ad

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David French of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer new poll numbers showing that voters in many states with incumbent Democratic senators overwhelmingly want someone new.  David explains his concern that evangelicals are showing themselves to be hypocrites and damaging their efforts to share the gospel by defending President Trump in every situation.  And they discuss the closing ad from Republican West Virginia Senate candidate Don Blankenship, who uses his 30 seconds to accuse Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of creating jobs for “China people” and labels McConnell himself as “Cocaine Mitch.”

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Improving Economy Trumps Sanders’ Socialist Dream

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New economic reports suggest an increasingly thriving economy thanks to changes in regulatory and tax policy and the Bernie Sanders promise of the government providing a job, an education, and health care is just a fantasy that ultimately ends in misery, according to Texas Public Policy Foundation Chief Economist Dr. Vance Ginn.

Numbers released Thursday from the Labor Department show, that in the final week of April, just 211,000 Americans filed first-time unemployment claims.  That’s the lowest number since 1969.  The monthly average for April was 221,500 new claims, the lowest since 1973, when the U.S. workforce was half the size it is now.

Ginn says there are pretty simple reasons for the low numbers.

“A big part of it has to do with the regulatory reform.  The rollbacks by the Trump administration last year gave some more consumer and business confidence out there, that are near record highs.  Along with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that was passed in December, these things have (people) saying, ‘Let’s go ahead and invest.  Let’s go ahead and hire more workers.

“People are spending more at the same time.  That’s the way you really get more job creation and more economic growth over time,” said Ginn.

But the historically low unemployment claims don’t tell the whole story.  Ginn says there is definitely room for improvement in the labor participation rate and the unemployment rate, known as U-6, that includes part-time workers and people who have given up looking for work.

“They are improving but there is still a ways to go.  The unemployment rate – the reported number – is at 4.1 percent.  But the U-6, which includes under-employed and discouraged workers, is still above eight percent.  That’s above where we’re usually at at this time in an economic expansion.  As of this month, this is the second-longest economic expansion in U.S. history,” said Ginn.

He’s also not satisfied from what he’s seeing from an economic indicator known as the employment to population ratio.

While the economy grows, the political left has a very different vision for America’s economic future.  Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, who narrowly lost the 2016 Democratic Party nomination to Hillary Clinton, is now pushing a plan to provide a government job to every American, along with taxpayer-funded health care and college tuition.

While conservatives recoil at such an agenda, a new Rasmussen poll shows 46 percent of Americans like the Sanders plan.

Ginn is not surprised.

“What it tells us is that people like to get things for free or what they perceive to be free.  But it also tells me that 54 percent of people understand the opportunity cost and what direct cost this will have,” he said.

“So even with it being “free,” they still oppose it because they understand this is going to come with some sort of cost.  Somebody’s got to pay for it and all the details aren’t out yet,” said Ginn.

He says a majority of Americans still realize this cannot be done.

“Making sure that the jobs pay $15 an hour or making sure that there’s health care benefits, maybe even having “free college,” all these things come with a huge cost,” said Ginn, who says that money would have to come from tax hikes on businesses and individuals.

“If you’re raising the cost of doing business, that means fewer jobs available in the private sector.  So are we going to have more federal government jobs.  How exactly will these people be employed?” asked Ginn, who also notes that many people may not like the jobs the federal government would assign them.

But conservatives like Ginn face an uphill climb.  While firmly believing data and experience are on the side of limited government and free markets, Ginn says it’s a lot easier to promise “free” stuff than to articulate the beauty of markets.

“Often times that can be difficult.  When you say you’re cutting taxes and then you show that the corporate income tax rate went from 35 percent to 21 percent, how is that not for the “rich?”  (We know) businesses simply submit taxes.  They don’t actually pay for them.  People pay for them through the form of higher prices, lower wages, and fewer jobs available.

“Often times that’s a difficult message to sell but that’s the economic reality and I think we’ve got to stick to those core principles throughout each and every one of these policy initiatives,” said Ginn.

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Kim’s Latest Concession, Rudy’s Stormy Revelation, Redskins Under Fire

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are glad to see reports that North Korea is prepared to release three U.S. prisoners, but they’re still cautious about why Kim Jong-Un is suddenly so eager to find common ground.  They also shake their heads as Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani reveals that President Trump did reimburse Michael Cohen for his $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, although he claims Trump didn’t know what the reimbursement was for.  And they react to the New York Times story alleging the Washington Redskins took passports away from cheerleaders on a trip to Costa Rica, allowed male sponsors and suite holders to watch the cheerleaders in various states of undress on the photo shoot, and assigned some of them to serve as escorts for the sponsors.

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‘Adult Supervision’ Needed at DOJ

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A former federal prosecutor says Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s threat to subpoena President Trump shows a Justice Department in need of “adult supervision” and says the Mueller questions leaked to the media show that Mueller still hasn’t found a crime to prosecute.

Mueller’s prosecutors and Trump lawyers have been negotiating the terms of a voluntary interview, but Mueller is now threatening a subpoena if Trump does not commit to the session.

Andrew C. McCarthy served as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York and led the case against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and others for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and plots against other New York City landmarks.

McCarthy says the subpoena threat shows this process is off the rails.

“We’re not having adult supervision in the Justice Department,” said McCarthy, who asserts that proper oversight would not allow the subpoena of lesser figures without clear evidence of a crime.

“You’d have to go through hoops at the Justice Department for permission to serve (a subpoena to), say, a journalist.

“With a president, the prosecutor should not be permitted to even ask for an interview, much less coerce the appearance of the president with a subpoena unless he can show there is a serious crime that Trump is implicated in and that can’t be accessed through any other source, like Nixon with the tapes,” said McCarthy.

“If you don’t have that kind of a scenario, then you as a prosecutor don’t have any business asking the president to answer some questions because you think it would be interesting.  The Justice Department is supposed to be the body that steps in and makes sure that kind of stuff doesn’t happen,” said McCarthy.

McCarthy says Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein established Mueller as special counsel “in a panic” after the Trump administration “completely botched” the firing of FBI Director James Comey by offering conflicting reasons for his termination.

Nonetheless, DOJ guidelines are clear on this matter.

“The appointment was not in compliance with Justice Department regulations for appointing a special counsel because you’re supposed to have a basis for a criminal investigation, which they didn’t.  They assigned Mueller a counterintelligence investigation

“But [Rosenstein] also, according to published reports, committed to congressional Democrats that Mueller would have carte blanche to take the investigation wherever Mueller decided the facts went,” said McCarthy.

So what is Trump to do if Mueller does subpoena his testimony?  McCarthy says there are strong grounds for executive privilege.

“This is a prosecutor.  He doesn’t work for Congress.  He’s an inferior executive official who has a very narrow license to ask questions and conduct investigations in furtherance of probing a crime.  And if you don’t have a crime, he doesn’t get to ask superior executive officials a bunch of questions,” said McCarthy, likening a Mueller subpoena to a subordinate military officer making demands of a superior officer.

McCarthy says it’s also clear to him that Mueller still hasn’t found a crime based on the questions Mueller reportedly passed along to Trump.  Instead, he sees Mueller hunting for a motivation to obstruct justice in Trump’s actions to fire Comey, etc.

McCarthy says a sitting president can be targeted if he commits an illegal act but cannot be probed for why he committed a legal act.

However, the strongest defense for Trump against any allegations of obstruction is that no investigations have been obstructed.

“If you look at what happened here, whether you’re thinking about him weighing in on the (Michael) Flynn case or him firing Comey, there was no obstruction whatsoever.  The Russia investigation has never been sidetracked.  It continued apace.

“After Trump weighed in with Comey on the merits of prosecuting Flynn, Comey has testified that the FBI ignored what the president said.  We now know that Mueller picked up the investigation, ran with it and ultimately prosecuted and convicted Flynn.  So there was no obstruction here,” said McCarthy.

McCarthy says there is damage to the presidency from Mueller hunting down sinister motives by Trump.

“It’s a frivolous basis to conduct an investigation under circumstances where it really hurts the country to have the president under the cloud of suspicion,” said McCarthy.

 

 

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