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Former acting US attorney general Sally Yates will be testifying today (May 8) at a Senate subcommittee hearing investigating Russias involvement in the 2016 US election. The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism hearing will be broadcast live here, and is scheduled to start at 2:30pm.

Yates appearance is highly anticipated by critics and supporters of president Donald Trump alike. (Yates was originally scheduled to appear publicly before the separate House intelligence committee in March, but that hearing was abruptly canceled by intelligence committee chairman David Nunes.) However, much of the information in her testimony is unlikely to result in a path to impeach Trump, as his fiercest critics hope, or to exonerate the administration, as his White House supporters would like.

For anyone who has been following the investigation closely in recent months, much of the information Yates is expected to provide may already have been released via anonymously sourced news reports. Today her testimony will become part of the official Congressional investigation, however.

Viewers can expect an on-the-record account of when the Trump White House was notified by the Department of Justice about the actions of former national security advisor general Michael Flynn, and specifically about his interactions with Russian and other foreign officials ahead of the presidential inauguration. There may also be more information about what was alarming to the Department of Justice about those interactions.

What exactly the White House knew about Flynn and his conversations with Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak in December remains a matter of much speculation. Crucially, what Yates says under oath may contradict some or several of the White Houses official statements regarding Flynn, who was fired after just 24 days on the job.

Here are the key White House claims that Yates may be able to provide new context for:

Jan. 15: Vice-president Mike Pence says in a televised interview with CBS that Flynns several calls with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak on Dec. 29, the day that president Obama announced new sanctions against Russia, were purely coincidental. When asked whether anyone from Trumps campaign had ever been in touch with Russia, Pence says of course not, adding I think to suggest that is to give credence to some of these bizarre rumors that have swirled around the candidacy What I can confirm having spoken to him about it is those conversations that happened to occur around the time that the United States took action to expel diplomats had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions.

Jan. 26: Yates notifies the White House counsel that she has concerns about Flynn, according to later White House statements.

Jan. 30: The White House fires Yates for refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States, after she says she is not convinced the so-called Muslim ban is lawful.

Feb. 13: The Washington Post reports that Yates told the White House in late January about concerns Flynn had mislead officials about his Russia conversations, and could be vulnerable to blackmail. Former national security director James Clapper (who also will testify today) shared those concerns, the report notes.

White House advisor Kellyanne Conway says in a televised interview Flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president. Flynn offers his resignation in a letter, hours after saying he has the full confidence of the president in a public interview. I inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador, he wrote.

Feb. 14: Press secretary Sean Spicer says in his daily briefing that Flynn was fired after several weeks of review. Spicer claims the president no longer trusted Flynn, but denies that Flynn had done anything illegal:

Immediately after the Department of Justice notified the White House counsel of the situation, the White House counsel briefed the president and a small group of senior advisors, Spicer notes. When the president heard the information as presented by White House Counsel, he instinctively thought that general Flynn did not do anything wrong, and the White House counsels review corroborated that. Specifically on Yates, Spicer says:

The acting attorney general informed the White House counsel that they wanted to give a heads up to us on some comments that may have seemed in conflict with what he had sent the vice president out in particular. The White House counsel informed the president immediately. The president asked him to conduct a review of whether there was a legal situation there. That was immediately determined that there wasnt.

March 24: The White House warns Yates, through a lawyer, that her discussions with the White House counsel are likely covered by the presidential communications privilege adding the president owns those privileges and that she needs to get permission to testify.

March 28: Spicer says Yates is free to testify.

May 8: Ahead of Yatess testimony, Trump tweets that Yates should be asked if she knows how classified information got into the newspapers soon after she explained it to W.H. Council. (Trump later sent out an updated tweet correcting the spelling of counsel, as in legal counsel.)

Continued here:
Sally Yates vs. the White House: What the Trump team said about Mike Flynn's Russia ties - Quartz

WASHINGTON Vice President Mike Pence plans to travel to Montana next week to campaign for a Republican congressional candidate running in a special election.

The vice president's office said Friday that Pence is expected to campaign for Greg Gianforte during the weekend of May 13. Details on the trip have not yet been finalized.

Montana is holding a May 25 special election to fill the seat vacated by Ryan Zinke, who resigned from Congress earlier this year to serve as President Donald Trump's Interior secretary.

Gianforte is competing against Democrat Rob Quist and Libertarian Mark Wicks for the state's only congressional seat.

A spokesman for Gianfortes campaign could not immediately be reached for comment.

Trump's sonDonald Trump Jr.is campaigning for Gianforte next week in Helena, Great Falls and Sidney, making his second trip on the GOP candidate's behalf.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced hell becoming to Montana in Mayto campaign for Quist, but those dates are still undetermined.

Pence's trip was first reported byThe Washington Post.

Originally posted here:
Vice President Mike Pence to campaign for Greg Gianforte in Montana - The Missoulian

PEOPLE.com

Mike Pence Uses Cinco de Mayo Party to Talk Immigration PEOPLE.com Vice President Mike Pence hosted a Cinco de Mayo celebration in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Friday. The VP praised immigrants and emphasized President Donald Trump's focus on Latinos. We are, as the saying goes, with a few ... Mike Pence Uses Cinco De Mayo Party To Claim Latinos Are A 'Priority' For TrumpHuffington post (press release) (blog) Pence talks immigration at Cinco de Mayo celebrationCNN Mike Pence Reportedly Hosting White House Cinco De Mayo Party; Internet Reacts AccordinglyHuffington Post Latina -Politico -TeenVogue.com all 1,036 news articles »

The rest is here:
Mike Pence Uses Cinco de Mayo Party to Talk Immigration - PEOPLE.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. Life is winning in America, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told attendees at a pro-life gala on Wednesday evening in Washington, D.C.

Life is winning through the steady advance of so many areas of science that provide a glimpse at the unborn baby in the womb, the vice president said, through the generosity of millions of adoptive families, and through the compassionate caregivers and volunteers at crisis pregnancy centers and faith-based organizations, who minister to women in cities and towns across America.

Compassion is overcoming convenience, hope is defeating despair, he said.

Pence delivered the keynote address at the 10th annual gala of the Susan B. Anthony List on May 3rd in Washington, D.C.

The pro-life group honored Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) with the Marilyn Musgrave Defender of Life Award, and Leonard Leo, the executive vice president of The Federalist Society, with the 2017 Distinguished Leader Award.

SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser, in a statement, praised Blacks tireless efforts to investigate and defund Planned Parenthood, the nations #1 abortion business, and redirect their taxpayer dollars to real, comprehensive health care for women.

Black sponsored a joint resolution, ultimately signed by President Trump, that nullified an Obama administration rule which pro-life leaders had called the Presidents parting gift to the abortion industry. Blacks resolution allowed states to, once again, block clinics from receiving federal Title X grants if they performed abortions.

Vice President Pence had cast the tiebreaking vote in the U.S. Senate to ensure the passage of the resolution.

Leo, meanwhile, was credited for his work to help the Trump administration nominate Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, a pick that pro-life leaders applauded.

SBA List highlighted Pences past pro-life record as a U.S. congressman and as governor of Indiana, sponsoring more than two dozen pro-life bills in the U.S. House of Representatives as well as signing pro-life legislation into law in his state.

He also became the first sitting vice president to address the March for Life, this past January.

White House senior advisor Kellyanne Conway briefly addressed the gala attendees at the beginning of Wednesdays event, thanking them for their help in defending human life and promising that more would be done by the administration to protect life.

Pence, in his keynote speech, emphasized that life is winning in many ways, including through the quiet counsel between mothers and daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters, he continued, friends across kitchen tables.

He exhorted those in attendance to carry on the work of Susan B. Anthony, known for her activism for the abolition of slavery, womens suffrage and womens rights, and temperance. Let us strive with all our might to finish the work that Susan B. Anthony started, he said.

Susan B. Anthony fought against injustices, too many of which still survive to this day, Pence said, and abortion is the worst of them.

I truly believe that weve come to a pivotal moment in the life of this movement, the life of our nation, he said, asking those in attendance to continue to stand up and speak out.

We need every ounce of your energy and enthusiasm, he said. We need your prayers.

The recent passage of Blacks joint resolution was only the beginning of the fight, Pence said, and were going to see that fight all the way through.

More here:
Science, compassion, adoption why Mike Pence says 'life is winning' in America - Crux: Covering all things Catholic

Photo: Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla

When considering vice president Mike Pence, one might be inclined to recall that time he voted against recognizing Pi Day, or his alleged tendency to refer to his wife as mother. In his latest ascension within the Trump administration, Pencewho is ostensibly a creationistwill be given the responsibility of leading a science and technology-oriented committee.

The initiative Pence will be helming is the National Space Council (NSC), which was originally founded under president Eisenhower in 1958 as a centralized coordinating authority to direct policy for agencies that deal with space, such as NASA, the Department of Defense, and the National Reconnaissance Office. Since then, the committee has been killed and resurrected a few times, most recently in 1989 for four years during the George H. W. Bush administration. In the 90s, president Clinton decided to deactivate the organization, as it wasnt doing anything particularly valuable. But no obvious warning signs will stop President Trumpat some point very soon, SpaceNews reports that hes expected to issue an executive order to reinstate the committee.

The recommendation coming out of the Trump campaign to create the National Space Council is going to happen, former space policy advisor Robert Walker, who once called NASAs earth sciences division politicized science, said at a symposium for Ultra Low-Cost Access to Space in Washington, D.C. Its a way of ensuring that the nations resources are all directed towards national goals.

So far, the Trump administration has appeared quite interested in space, if not in training the next generation of rocket scientists. Recently, it was announced that the federal government will give NASA $19.65 billion for the fiscal year 2017, which is about $600 million dollars more than the agency originally requested. Reviving the NSC could be the administrations way of showing that it wants to make sure all this money is being used effectivelyand with Mike Pence overseeing it, what could go wrong?

To be fair to Pence, having the vice president oversee the NSC is tradition. This is part of a historical artifact, John Logsdon, founder of The Space Policy Institute, told Gizmodo.In 1961, President Kennedy was looking to give Lyndon Johnson something to do as his vice president. When [Johnson] was in the senate in 1958, he had been the person most influential in creating the council, so Kennedy was advisedand agreedthat running the space council would be a good thing for Lyndon to do. Its been a vice presidential role ever since.

But according to Logsdon, whos written an incredibly comprehensive analysis of the NSCs history, reactivating the committee might not be the most effective way to coordinate US space activities. This is because, for one thing, the NSC was never really that influential of an organization.

Frankly, its never been very important, Logsdon explained. Its been used on a few occasions. It was used to put together the recommendations to President Kennedy to go the Moon.

Aside from a few blips on the relevancy radar, the NSC hasnt done much to make space great again...or ever. Some, like former NASA administrator James Webb, resented the extra buffer between his agency at the White House during the Kennedy administration. So, one has to ask, will reviving a historically insignificant organization be a spectacular waste?

Thats controversial, Logsdon said. I think theres a clear need for coordination of the national space effort at the level at the top of the government. Whether this is the best way to do it is arguable.

To be fair, some experts think that a revived NSC could act as a liaison between Congress and the White House to resolve funding disputes.Theres a lot of congressional guidance on the programs they fund, and they dont always align with the administrations viewpoints, James Reuter, deputy associate administrator for programs in NASAs space technology mission directorate, said at the Ultra Low-Cost Access to Space symposium. Perhaps a space council could help us. Others at the symposium expressed hope that the NSC would foster more government cooperation with the commercial space industry.

According to Logsdon, the NSC is made up of the vice president, the head of NASA, a senior official from the Department of Defense, and another official from the Department of Transportation of commerce, among other high-ranking officials. But the real work is done by its staff, he explained. So one of the key issues if this proposal emerges, is how many staff positions will the executive secretary have to do this coordinating job? Since its unclear how much the NSC will be able to staff upor how influential itll beLogsdon suggests that having an adequately staffed National Security Council would be a better use of time and resources.

In any case, the executive order to revive the NSC is expected to come down any day. We can only hope Mike Pence is prepared for the enormous burden of nothingness headed his way.

See the article here:
What the Hell Is This Space Council Mike Pence Is Going to Lead? - Gizmodo