Wanderlust

Tag: Politics

  • US aides: Venezuela opens backchannel over jailed American

    Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro welcomed a visit by a top-ranking Republican congressional staffer last month to discuss the possible release of a Utah man jailed for more than 20 months in this v

    CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro welcomed a visit by a top-ranking Republican congressional staffer last month to discuss the possible release of a Utah man jailed for more than 20 months in this volatile South American nation, six U.S. congressional and administration aides told The Associated Press.

    It’s not known if there has been any progress in the backchannel talks to secure Joshua Holt’s freedom, but the mere fact that Maduro met with the staffer, and in turn sent an envoy of his own this week to Washington, may be a sign of movement in a case that has become a major irritant as tensions between the two countries rise.

    The unannounced discussions began when Caleb McCarry, a Republican aide on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, traveled to Caracas in February and met with Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores to discuss Holt’s imprisonment, said the aides, who agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name because the talks are sensitive.

    They said McCarry, who has known Maduro for more than 15 years, made the unusual visit at the request of Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah. While in Caracas, McCarry visited Holt in jail, delivering him a letter from Hatch.

    The Trump administration is said to be aware of McCarry’s lobbying, though there is no indication it has lent support to the effort. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert declined to comment Monday when asked about the informal talks, saying only: “We are disappointed Mr. Holt has still not been released on humanitarian grounds.”

    The behind-the-scenes dialogue prompted a surprise visit this week to Washington by a trusted ally of Maduro, Gov. Rafael Lacava of Carabobo state, to discuss Holt, three congressional aides familiar with the visit said.

    Holt, 25, traveled to Caracas in June 2016 to marry a fellow Mormon he met online practicing his Spanish. The couple was waiting for her U.S. visa when they were arrested during a police raid on the government-built housing complex where they were living in her apartment. Venezuelan authorities alleged Holt was stockpiling “weapons of war.”

    U.S. officials have repeatedly demanded Holt’s release on humanitarian grounds, considering the charges against him and his wife, Thamara Candelo, to be trumped up and politically motivated.

    His imprisonment while awaiting trial in a Caracas jail where some of Maduro’s chief opponents are being held has further strained relations already marred by U.S. sanctions and almost-daily accusations by Maduro that the U.S. is working with his opponents to topple his socialist administration. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on a recent trip to South America warned that the U.S. may slap crippling oil sanctions on Venezuela and cheered on the prospect of the Venezuelan military overthrowing Maduro.

    The visit by Lacava, who traveled to Washington on Sunday after being granted a U.S. visa, has been met with hostility by Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who is a harsh critic of Maduro and has President Donald Trump’s ear on policy toward Venezuela.

    Rubio, in an email sent by his office to fellow Republicans on the Foreign Relations Committee, decried Lacava’s visit as an attempt to negotiate Holt’s freedom in exchange for sanctions relief or the release of the first lady’s two nephews who were convicted last year in a New York federal court for drug trafficking.

    The message cites press reports about Lacava’s alleged involvement in money laundering and other criminal activity. It also says Rubio has received assurances from the White House and State Department that no one in the Trump administration will meet with Lacava.

    “The fact that Rafael Lacava is even coming to the U.S. to negotiate a sanctions-for-hostage deal proves that Holt is being held as leverage,” says the email, a copy of which was obtained by AP and whose authenticity was confirmed by Rubio’s office. “The very news of high-level meetings would be used by Maduro to sow confusion and doubt in the minds of our regional allies about the commitment of the United States to sanctions.”

    Lacava could not be reached and has not commented publicly since Rubio criticized him in a tweet Sunday. Venezuela’s Communications Ministry declined to comment.

    One congressional aide said that Lacava had only requested meetings on Capitol Hill and that the sole purpose of those meetings is to urge the release of Holt and not negotiate anything in exchange. Any discussion of sanctions relief that may be on Lacava’s agenda is unlikely to come up, since that is a matter for the administration to decide, the aide added.

    McCarry knows Maduro from their time together on the Boston Group, an informal gathering from across the political spectrum – Democrats, Republicans, socialists and capitalists – from both countries that worked discreetly to repair relations between the two countries following a brief coup in 2002 against then-President Hugo Chavez. The U.S. recognized the government that arose briefly from the failed coup.

    Maduro and Flores were members of the Venezuelan delegation of lawmakers that traveled to Massachusetts, along with U.S. representatives like then-Sen. John Kerry. McCarry at the time worked for one of the Republican founders of the now-defunct group and over the years has maintained ties to many Venezuelan officials. He also accompanied Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican who is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, on a trip to Caracas in 2015.

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    Joshua Goodman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APjoshgoodman

  • Oregon Democrats abandon bill to oust teachers’ union critic from state education board

    Democrats in the Oregon legislature have shelved a hotly contested bill that would have removed an outspoken critic of the teachers’ union from the State Board of Education.

    Democrats in the Oregon legislature have shelved a hotly contested bill that would have removed an outspoken critic of the teachers’ union from the State Board of Education.

    Kim Sordyl, a lawyer and mother of two children attending Portland public schools, was chosen last year by Secretary of State Dennis Richardson to represent him on the board, but the bill would have forced her to vacate the seat by requiring him to name a full-time state employee.

    House Democrats approved the legislation last week on a party-line vote despite an uproar from her supporters, but the Senate Democratic leadership told news outlets that the bill won’t advance before the end of the session, which could come as early as this weekend.

    Proponents argued that the legislation was needed to clarify the original intent of the 2009 bill adding two non-voting members to the board, while Mr. Richardson said the effort was “clearly designed to silence an advocate for our children’s education.”

     

    This is a victory for our children, their education, and for transparency. It should be clear that bills designed specifically to silence an advocate for our children’s education is the wrong direction for our state. https://t.co/Wox5b1VjhD#orpol

    — Dennis Richardson (@OregonSOS) March 2, 2018

     

    Ms. Sordyl, a Democrat who has filed numerous complaints against school districts on behalf of parents, was appointed to the board by the Republican Richardson after he was elected in 2016.

    The legislation was proposed by Democratic state Rep. Margaret Doherty, a 22-year consultant for the Oregon Education Association, which Ms. Sordyl has fought for years over rules designed to protect teachers that also make it more difficult to remove abusers.

    Ms. Sordyl said Friday she hoped an ethics investigation would be conducted into what she described as Ms. Doherty’s “unethical and dishonest abuse of her position.”

    “We should all be vigilant over the Representatives who voted in favor of silencing a voice for students,” she said in an email. “They appear to be loyal to union donors at the expense of student health, safety and education.”

    Ms. Doherty, who no longer works for the OEA, had no immediate public comment, but she indicated last month at a committee hearing that she didn’t know Ms. Sordyl.

    Republican political consultant Jonathan Lockwood called the bill’s shelving a defeat for the Democratic establishment.

    “The system is broken and it was only after Oregon Democrats were found out for targeting an outspoken advocate that this legislation died,” said Mr. Lockwood in a statement. “This was a battle victory, but the war against Gov. Kate Brown’s status quo is not over.”

    The State Board of Education has seven voting members appointed by the governor and approved by the state Senate, as well as two non-voting members, one named by the Secretary of State and the other by the State Treasurer.

  • Man who shot himself outside White House has died: Secret Service

    A man is dead after he shot himself in the head with a handgun Saturday outside of the White House, according to the Secret Service.

    A man is dead after he shot himself in the head with a handgun Saturday outside of the White House, according to the Secret Service.

    “At approximately 11:46 AM, a white male suffered a self-inflicted gun-shot wound to the head outside the North White House fence line,” the Secret Service said in a statement Saturday afternoon.

    “The subject is deceased,” the statement said.

    Authorities have identified the person but are withholding his name until their next of kin is notified, the Secret Service said.

    The man appeared to have approached an area near the fence line, removed a concealed handgun and fired several rounds, according to the Secret Service.

    None of the shots immediately appeared to have been aimed toward the White House, and no other persons were injured as a result of the incident, the Secret Service said. Neither President Trump nor the first lady were were at the White House at the time of the shooting.

    Mr. Trump is currently in Florida and has been briefed on the incident, White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters Saturday.

    The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department will be the lead agency investigating the shooting, the Secret Service said.

    It was not immediately clear if law enforcement fired any shots during Saturday’s incident, and the MPD did not immediately return a message requesting additional information.

    The area on the north side of the White House near where the shooting occurred is typically open to pedestrians but is policed heavily. Last week, meanwhile, a woman was arrested for allegedly driving her automobile while armed with a gun into a barricade nearer the building’s eastern entrance.

  • Colorado House expels Democratic state legislator over sexual-harassment claims

    The Colorado House voted Friday to expel a Democratic state legislator faced with complaints of sexual harassment filed by five women, including a Democratic colleague.

    The Colorado House voted Friday to expel a Democratic state legislator faced with complaints of sexual harassment filed by five women, including a Democratic colleague.

    Elected in 2012, state Rep. Steve Lebsock was ousted in a 52-9 vote after an emotional six-hour floor debate, then made the stunning announcement that he had changed his party registration from Democrat to Republican immediately before the vote.

     

    I changed party affiliation at 3:02pm. As I walked down to speak for the last time, approx. 4pm, I handed the minority leader a document with affiliation change. Nothing was planned. He did not know about party change before. #copolitics

    — Steve Lebsock (@RepLebsock) March 3, 2018

     

    The switch was apparently made so that the vacancy would be filled by a Republican rather than a Democrat — Democrats had led the charge to remove him from office — although Colorado Democratic Party officials were confident they would ultimately regain the Thornton seat.

    “As far as Lebsock goes, the Republicans can have him. As far as the seat, we’re looking into it. Either way, we’re confident the district will be represented by a Democrat by the time the next session begins,” said the party in a statement.

    Mr. Lebsock became the first Colorado legislator to be expelled in more than 100 years and the second state lawmaker expelled this year over sexual-misconduct allegations in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

    Last month, the Arizona House voted 56-3 to expel Republican state Rep. Don Shooter after an investigation found he had made “unwelcome sexualized comments” to a number of women.

    At least 14 legislators in 10 states have stepped down in the last year after being accused of sexual harassment, according to the Associated Press.

    A week ago, California state Sen. Tony Mendoza, a Democrat, resigned rather than face an expulsion vote over “a pattern of unwelcome flirtation and sexually suggestive behavior towards several female staff members” and other women, according to the investigation.

    In Colorado, Democratic state Rep. Faith Winter filed a complaint in November against Mr. Lebsock, saying he touched her inappropriately and pursued her aggressively for sex as lawmakers gathered at a bar to celebrate the end of the legislative session in May 2016.

    “I said no, five times. Five times. Not once, not twice, five times,” said Ms. Winter in her floor statement on Colorado Politics. “I used all the tools women have to say no. I laughed it off, I told him to go home to his girlfriend, I said no directly. Nothing worked. Each time I said no he became angrier, he stood closer, he stood over me. I felt unsafe.”

    Two Democratic state legislators said they were so worried about retaliation from Mr. Lebsock that they began wearing bulletproof vests to work several weeks ago.

    Mr. Lebsock fought the sexual-misconduct accusations, releasing the results of a polygraph that he passed and describing some of the allegations as exaggerated or false. He has also argued that his case has not received due process.

    “Our investigations in this body should be held at the very highest standard,” said Mr. Lebsock before the vote. “This investigation has been anything but a highest standard. In fact it’s been the lowest of standards.”

    The state constitution holds that, “The person appointed to bill the vacancy shall be a member of the same political party, if any, as the person whose termination of membership in the general assembly created the vacancy.”

    Democrats held a 37-28 majority in the state House, meaning that having Mr. Lebsock’s seat flip to Republican would not affect the balance of power.

    This story was based in part on wire-service reports.

  • Nathan Deal, Georgia governor, signs bill without Delta tax break after NRA rift

    Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed Friday a tax-reform bill that eliminated a lucrative tax break for Delta Airlines over dropping its partnership with the National Rifle Association, but the airline ins

    Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed Friday a tax-reform bill that eliminated a lucrative tax break for Delta Airlines over dropping its partnership with the National Rifle Association, but the airline insisted that there are no hard feelings.

    Delta CEO Ed Bastiancalled the Republican governor a “great friend” despite the signing of the $5 billion tax-cut legislation, which was shorn by the state Senate of a $50 million jet-fuel tax exemption last week in retaliation for Delta’s ending of its discount deal for NRA members.

    Delta announced Feb. 24 that it would eliminate the membership discount, prompting Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle to vow that he would kill any airline tax break until the company reinstated its partnership with the NRA.

    I will kill any tax legislation that benefits @Delta unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with @NRA. Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back.

    — Casey Cagle (@CaseyCagle) February 26, 2018

    In a Friday statement, Mr. Bastian that he considered the governor to be a “friend” and thanked him for his work on the issue.

    “I have tremendous respect and admiration for Governor Nathan Deal, and thank him for the work he has done on the jet fuel tax exemption,” Mr. Bastian said. “He is a great friend to Delta. I know this action by the state legislature troubled him as it does all of us.”

    Mr. Deal said at a Wednesday press conference he would keep working to resolve the rift.

    “Delta made a statement or an action that caused this dispute to erupt,” Mr. Deal said. “I’ve tried my best to resolve it within the time frame we have available to us. I am still hopeful that some of those feelings and positions can be rectified, but they could not be in the time frame we were operating under.”

    More than a dozen companies have dropped their NRA membership partnerships following the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 dead.

    Mr. Bastian said that the airline is reviewing its partnerships and would rescind deals with other political organizations.

    “While Delta’s intent was to remain neutral, some elected officials in Georgia tied our decision to a pending jet fuel tax exemption, threatening to eliminate it unless we reversed course,” Mr. Bastian said. “Our decision was not made for economic gain and our values are not for sale. We are in the process of a review to end group discounts for any group of a politically divisive nature.”

    He added that Atlanta would remain the airline’s home, despite overtures from states such as New York and Virginia.

    “None of this changes the fact that our home is Atlanta and we are proud and honored to locate our headquarters here,” Mr. Bastian said. “And we are supporters of the Second Amendment, just as we embrace the entire Constitution of the United States.”

  • Marion Barry, D.C. ‘Mayor for Life,’ memorialized with statue

    A bronze, larger-than-life statue of late D.C. politician Marion Barry was unveiled Saturday on Pennsylvania Avenue, memorializing the controversial so-called “Mayor for Life” mere blocks from the Whi

    A bronze, larger-than-life statue of late D.C. politician Marion Barry was unveiled Saturday on Pennsylvania Avenue, memorializing the controversial so-called “Mayor for Life” mere blocks from the White House outside the city building where he worked during his decades in public office.

    Erected outside the John A. Wilson Building, the seat of D.C. local government, the eight-foot-tall statue portraying a smiling, waving Barry constitutes “a fitting tribute in this city that he so loved,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said at Saturday afternoon’s unveiling.

    Born and raised in Mississippi, Barry moved to D.C. in the 1960s while working for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, one of the era’s most prominent civil rights groups. He ran for city school board the following decade, and in 1974 he was won a seat on the District’s first elected city council.

    Barry, a Democrat, ultimately served four terms as mayor and spent 16 years on the city council prior to passing away in 2014 at the age of 78.

    “Sometime after Martin Luther King had a dream, and before President Barack Obama gave us hope, it was Marion Barry that brought opportunity to Washington, D.C.,” said Ms. Bowser, a fellow Democrat elected mayor in 2014.

    “He embodied the spirit of Washington,” Ms. Bowser said. “Where you can fall down and get back up…Where you fight hard and speak up,” she added.

    Indeed, Barry’s arguably best known outside the Beltway not for his accomplishments during his decades in office, but rather over his 1990 arrest for crack cocaine possession that resulted in six months behind bars. The incident anything but derailed his political career, however, and Barry was re-elected mayor hardly two years after completing his prison sentence.

    “Mr. Barry taught us do not ever give up hope, because as long as you’re waking up on this earth, there can be a comeback,” said Ms. Bowser.

    Chairman Phil Mendelson said the statue of Barry is the first to honor an African-American on Pennsylvania Avenue, a historic roadway that also hosts the White House as well as every presidential inaugural parade.

    “It’s exciting because we are placing a statue to a District of Columbia hero on Pennsylvania Avenue, the nation’s avenue, and in so doing we are reminding everybody that this is not a federal city but a local city with real people and real issues,” he said during there unveiling. “This is an exciting day because we are erecting a statue to an African American hero in the nation’s capital on the nation’s avenue. There are few statues commemorating African Americans in our city, and none on Pennsylvania Avenue.”

    “Some may ask, how could somebody with controversy get elected and re-elected and then get memorialized with a statue?” asked Mr. Mendelson “Well, an essential part of good governance is human relations. Marion Barry connected with people. Marion Barry helped people through thick and thin,” he said.

    The Barry statue was designed by artist Stephen Weitzman and selected by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities from a pool of 13 submissions.

    Built in the early 1900s, the Wilson building has housed several city offices since after the Home Rule Act established the D.C. government in 1973. Then a council member, Barry was shot in the chest while in the Wilson building in 1977 during a two-day standoff perpetrated by a radical Muslim group.

  • New York Gov. Cuomo signs bill to move primary election date

    New York state has moved its fall 2018 primary election date back two days so it doesn’t interfere with the anniversary of 9/11 or the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

    ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York state has moved its fall 2018 primary election date back two days so it doesn’t interfere with the anniversary of 9/11 or the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

    Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that he has signed into law a measure moving the date of the primary election from Tuesday, Sept. 11 to Thursday, Sept. 13.

    Lawmakers approved the date change earlier this month.

    Lawmakers and supporters said that they wanted to move the date so the election would occur on a less busy day, and to honor both 9/11 and the observation of Rosh Hashanah.

  • NATO rejects Putin’s ‘unacceptable’ threats to target allies

    NATO says Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to target its members are unacceptable and that the military alliance will continue using its armed forces to deter aggression.

    BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO says Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to target its members are unacceptable and that the military alliance will continue using its armed forces to deter aggression.

    NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said Friday that “Russian statements threatening to target allies are unacceptable and counterproductive.”

    Putin said Thursday that Moscow has tested an array of new strategic nuclear weapons that can’t be intercepted, telling the West: “You have failed to contain Russia.”

    Lungescu said NATO’s missile defense system is built to respond to attacks from outside Europe and North America and not directed against Russia.

    Noting Russia’s “aggressive actions” in Ukraine and military buildup around Europe, she said: “NATO is pursuing a twin-track approach to Russia: strong deterrence and defense, combined with meaningful dialogue.”

  • Germany downplays ‘acute’ cyberattack amid concerns of Russian meddling

    Germany’s interior ministry has downplayed a cyberattack that reportedly resulted in sensitive information being stolen from a government computer network.

    Germany’s interior ministry has downplayed a cyberattack that reportedly resulted in sensitive information being stolen from a government computer network.

    Ministry spokesman Johannes Dimroth told reporters Friday that authorities were monitoring the attack before it was revealed in the media this week, and that “acute danger was averted soon after it became known.”

    The attack affected Germany’s Informationsverbund Berlin-Bonn (IVBB), a federal computer network used to exchange sensitive but not highly classified documents, Mr. Dimroth told reporters, according to Reuters.

    The attack was first disclosed by German news outlets on Wednesday, prompting members of the German parliament’s intelligence oversight committee to convene a special session Thursday demanding details after having been left in the dark prior to recent media reporting.

    “It is a real cyberattack on parts of the government system. It’s an ongoing process, an ongoing attack,” Armin Schuster, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party and the committee’s chairman, told reporters after being briefed on the attack. “The spilling of secrets caused considerable damage, but the government, as of today, is trying to limit the damage.”

    Authorities are investigating the leak, Mr. Dirmoth said Friday, and Germany’s chief federal prosecutor’s office said a preliminary probe is underway.

    Mr. Dirmoth declined to comment on whether authorities have linked the attack to Russia, notwithstanding media reports linking the incident to suspected state-sponsored hackers.

    German media reported earlier this week that security researchers believe the attack was waged by a hacking group known as “Snake” previously linked to Russian intelligence, drawing a reaction Friday from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

    “We note with regret that any hacking attacks in the world are associated with Russian hackers but that each time they (the allegations) are made without any tangible proof,” Mr. Peskov said during a conference call with reporters Friday.

    Like the U.S., Germany has blamed Russia before for instances of state-sponsored cyberattacks. The German Federal Office for Information Security previously said a 2015 attack against the Bundestag parliamentary network was likely waged by a hacking group known by names such as APT28, Fancy Bear and Sofacy. Security researchers have linked that group to Russian intelligence as well, including hacking campaigns waged against U.S. targets during the 2016 presidential election widely blamed on Russian operatives.

    The IVBB hack was “a technically sophisticated attack that had been planned for some time,” Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said Thursday.

    If positively linked to Russia, the hacking will constitute “a form of warfare against Germany,” said Greens Party member Dieter Janacek, the head of the digital affairs committee, the Berliner Zeitung newspaper reported.

    German authorities discovered the IVBB hack in December, but the attackers may have been active at that point for upwards of a year already, according to media reports.

    A total of 17 computers are believed to have been affected, including at least one machine apparently belonging to an employee of the Federal Ministry of Defense, Germany’s NDR/WDR reported Friday. The attack was part of a global operation that also targeted computers Scandinavian, South American and Ukrainian computer systems, the report said.

    Palo Alto Networks, a U.S. cybersecurity firm, warned earlier this week that Fancy Bear hackers have been actively foreign affairs agencies and ministries in North America and Europe.

  • Angela Merkel, Donald Trump discuss Syrian cease-fire, Vladimir Putin’s new weapons

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken with U.S. President Donald Trump about Syria, and both sides agreed that Syrian government forces and their Russian and Iranian allies must abide by a U.N. S

    BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken with U.S. President Donald Trump about Syria, and both sides agreed that Syrian government forces and their Russian and Iranian allies must abide by a U.N. Security Council cease-fire resolution, her office said Friday.

    Following their call Thursday, Merkel and Trump urged Russia to stop participating in the bombardment of Damascus’ rebel-held suburbs known as eastern Ghouta, according to her office.

    “The five-hour cease-fire announced by the Russian side isn’t being adhered to. The Syrian regime in particular is constantly breaking it,” Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told reporters.

    Germany appeals “to all parties to the conflict to fully implement this U.N. resolution and we see a particular responsibility on the part of Russia,” he added.

    Seibert said attacks should stop for 48 to 72 hours in order for aid to be effectively delivered to civilians. He called it “particularly cynical that the regime in Damascus used chlorine gas against its own population again just one day after the passing of the U.N. resolution.”

    According to Merkel’s office, both she and Trump also expressed concern about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unveiling of new weapons systems Thursday “and their negative consequences for international arms control efforts.”

    Seibert said Germany watched Putin’s announcement with concern, noting the Russia’s military modernization program and what he described as doubts about Moscow’s adherence to international treaties, its annexation of Crimea and threats against some of its neighbors.

    Still, Seibert said Berlin was always ready to talk with the Kremlin even when the two sides differ significantly on the issues.