Radio America Online News Bureau

President Trump

Key ISIS Leaders Caught, Freed Americans Home, California Libs Strike Again

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are in a great mood again today, starting with the news that five of the “most wanted” ISIS figures are now in custody after good work by the Iraqis, the Americans, and the Turks.  They also swell with pride as three Americans wrongly imprisoned in North Korea come home to a powerful welcome at Joint Base Andrews.  And while these major accomplishments take place, California liberals are busy mandating that everyone building a new home in the state will soon be required to install solar panels, which could mean an extra $20,000 in building costs.

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‘Undue Concessions from the West Are Ending’

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President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Iranian nuclear deal leaves Iranian leaders with the grim realization that the era of endless concessions from the West is over and that their own grip on power continues to slip.

On Tuesday, Trump announced he was exiting the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.  In the hours since, Iranian officials have alternately vowed to keep honoring the deal with the remaining partners and to exit the JCPOA themselves and begin openly enriching uranium again.

Some official burned a paper American flag inside the Iranian parliament.

“It’s very important to realize that after several decades of appeasing the regime in Tehran…finally we see that the President of the United States is actually declaring that all the lavish money that was made (available) to the regime by the previous administration was actually disastrous,” said Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the Washington office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

The NCRI has played a key role in uncovering details of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.  And Jafarzadeh says the contrast in response to Iran from the past two administrations ought to be obvious.

“[Trump] has said [Iran] has funded its long reign of chaos and terror by plundering the wealth of its own people.  That is, of course, a sharp contrast with what we have seen before.  I think that’s what the regime is sensing,” said Jafarzadeh.

“That era of gaining undue concessions from the outside world, from the West, is actually ending.  They were pretty much getting away with everything they were doing and gaining concessions for their terrorism and development of nuclear weapons, and their missile program, all of that,” he added.

Unrest is raging in Iran, mostly over rapidly deteriorating economic conditions.  Unemployment is high and so is inflation.  Just two weeks ago, Jafarzadeh said the regime was desperate to keep the U.S. in the JCPOA.

Now he says, the pressure inside Iran will intensify.

“The regime was already frightened.  They were afraid of their own population, and then comes this new position by the United States that simply adds fuel to the fire that is already burning the regime through the uprisings in Iran.

“The regime’s economy is in shambles.  There’s a huge amount of corruption going on.  It’s very institutionalized corruption from top to bottom.  The regime has not been able to contain its own population, who want nothing but change,” said Jafarzadeh.

Jafarzadeh says the policies and excuses offered by the regime are also falling on deaf ears.  He says protesters want Iran out of Syria, chanting slogans such as “Leave alone Syria, think about us” and “Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, I give my life for Iran.”

Even blaming “The Great Satan” doesn’t work anymore.  Jafarzadeh says Iranians in rural areas – typically the places that most strongly support the regime – are chanting lines such as “The enemy is right here, they wrongly say it’s America.”

Jafarzadeh says pressure is clearly building on the regime and that American sanctions will add even more.

“That simply makes things a lot worse.  It just gives a picture for the future of the regime, much more bleak than it was before,” he said.

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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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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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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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