Archive for the ‘Mike Pence’ Category

DC Daily: Pence peddles health care in Kentucky, DOJ cans 46 US Attorneys – 10News

Department of Justice requests for resignations from 46 U.S. Attorneys sparked anger from government officials overnight, who claim they were not clued into the move. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer also spoke Friday on the possibility of government employees working against the Trump Administration.

President Donald Trump also plans to submit his newest nomination, this time for the Federal Food and Drug Administration.

Saturday, Vice President Mike Pence will be in Kentucky to make the case for the administration's new health care law.

Pence in Kentucky to make case for health care

-- Vice President Mike Pence is in Kentucky Saturday to make the case for a bill to overhaul the Obama-era Affordable Care Act.

Kentucky is home to one of the leading critics of the Trump Administration plan to replace the law, Republican Gov. Matt Bevin and Republican Sen. Rand Paul,according to ABC News.

Vice President Pence has tried to calm critics of the House-backed plan, telling Fox News the current draft is justthe start of the process.

Watch 10News' Facebook Live of Pence's speech here:

President Trump invites Palestinian leader to White House

-- The White House confirmed Friday that President Trump has invited Palestinian leader MahmoudAbbas to the White House to discuss resuming peace talks regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Abbas' spokesperson said the leader would travel "very soon," ABC News reports.

"The president emphasized his personal belief that peace is possible and that the time has come to make a deal," the White House said. "The president noted that such a deal would not only give Israelis and Palestinians the peace and security they deserve, but that it would reverberate positively throughout the region and the world."

White House announces Scott Gottlieb as FDA nomination

-- The White House confirmed Fridaythat Scott Gottliebis in line to be nominated as the new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

ABC News reports that Gottlieb isa physician who previously served as deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs with the FDA under former President George W. Bush's administration.

He is currently a partner at New Enterprise Associates, where he specializes in health care investments.

.@POTUS has announced his intent to nominate Scott Gottlieb as next Commissioner of the FDA

Department of Justice requests resignations from 46 U.S. Attorneys

-- The Department of Justice requested the resignation of 46 U.S. Attorneys packing late Friday, prompting a spark of anger from U.S. officials who said they were not aware of the move.

Many prosecutors were notified from the time the notices were sent Friday afternoon without any formal notice, CNN reports. Law enforcement officials have criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions' handling of the situation as being poorly handled, with many of those effected finding out through media reports.

"As was the case in prior transitions, many of the United States attorneys nominated by the previous administration already have left the Department of Justice. The attorney general has now asked the remaining 46 presidentially appointed US attorneys to tender their resignations in order to ensure a uniform transition," Justice Department spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores told CNN.

Spicer hints on 'Deep State' of government employees

-- Friday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer alluded there may be a segment of government employees actively working against the interests of President Trump's administration.

In a news conference with reporters, Spicer said eight years of a Democrat-controlled White House has likely left some agendas behind, according to CNN.

"So I don't think it should come as any surprise there are people that burrowed into government during eight years of the last administration and may have believed in that agenda and may continue to seek it." Spicer said. "I don't think that should come as a surprise."

Spicer denied that the CIA was working to identify those employees and remove them from their positions.

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DC Daily: Pence peddles health care in Kentucky, DOJ cans 46 US Attorneys - 10News

Mike Pence to keynote AIPAC conference – Jerusalem Post Israel News

Mike Pence. (photo credit:REUTERS)

WASHINGTON Vice President Mike Pence and a bipartisan slate of top members of Congress are scheduled to address AIPACs upcoming annual conference.

An American Israel Public Affairs Committee official confirmed to JTA that Pence will keynote the conference scheduled for March 26-28 in Washington, DC.

Pence, who enjoyed a long relationship with the pro-Israel lobby as a congressman and later as Indiana governor, spoke last month at the Republican Jewish Coalitions annual confab and has taken a lead in condemning recent antisemitic incidents.

Also scheduled to speak will be top lawmakers from both parties, including Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., its ranking member; and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the US House of Representatives majority leader, and Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the minority whip.

Hoyer and McCarthy likely will continue a tradition of top Republican and Democratic lawmakers appearing to claim that while they may differ on some issues, they are agreed on support for Israel. However, fissures between the parties have emerged, with Democrats still forcefully backing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while President Donald Trump has retreated from explicitly backing that outcome.

Jewish Insider reported on Friday that a letter to Trump from House members asking him to reaffirm support for the two-state solution led by Reps. David Price, D-N.C., and Gerry Connolly, D-Va. has so far gathered 115 signatures, only two of them from Republicans.

Additionally, Democrats want to preserve the Iran nuclear deal reached by President Barack Obama, while Trump is skeptical of the deal and has said he might want to pull out of it.

AIPAC continues to back the two-state solution and backs measures that would subject the deal to a review.

Another area where there might be partisan tension is around support for funding the Palestinian Authority. Republicans propose cutting funding to the PA as long as it disburses compensation to families of terrorists, while Democrats oppose the measure, saying that the authority helps keep the West Bank stable, which is critical to Israels security.

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Mike Pence to keynote AIPAC conference - Jerusalem Post Israel News

A majority of Democrats wish Mike Pence were president – The Week Magazine

President Mike Pence? Most Democrats wish they could say those words, a new poll has found. The PredictWise and Pollfish survey discovered that an entire 62 percent of Democrats prefer Pence in office over President Trump, BuzzFeed News reports.

"I think it's fair to say that every Democrat I know would prefer a President Mike Pence, without hesitation," said one top Democratic aide. "He would pass some very bad laws, possibly more efficiently than Trump will. But we would not be worried about nuclear war, the end of NATO and an unholy alliance with Russia, the dissolution of basic democratic norms and principles, or the base-level stability and mental health of the world's most powerful person."

President Obama's speechwriter, Jon Favreau, agreed: "I'd sleep easier with almost any other human being as president than Donald Trump," Favreau confessed. "I'm not as worried [Pence] would accidentally start a nuclear war because some Breitbart lunatic floated a conspiracy that got under his skin."

Director Joss Whedon told BuzzFeed News that he would prefer Veruca Salt, Smaug, and four radishes in a bowl over Trump and yes, Mike Pence too. "Pence is unethical, but he's quantifiable. He's opposable," Whedon explained. "Like a thumb."

Other liberals warned about falling for the grass being greener on the other side. Clearly on the 'oh s--- am I going to die' every morning, Pence would provide a little bit of relief," Angelo Carusone, the president of Media Matters, told BuzzFeed News. But "what Pence represents is just as scary. It's a slower approach to the same sort of devastation that Trump is bringing us to."

The poll reached 1,200 people on March 6, with PredictWise economist David Rothschild declining to report a margin of error because he does "not believe it can be accurately estimated." Jeva Lange

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A majority of Democrats wish Mike Pence were president - The Week Magazine

Vice President Mike Pence is coming to Louisville on Saturday – The Courier-Journal

House Republicans have unveiled their replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act. The plan differs from Obamacare in various ways. Time

In Gov. Mike Pence answers a question at a news conference earlier this year.(Photo: Darron Cummings, AP)

Less than one day after saying President Donald Trump is not coming to the city, White House officials confirmed on Thursday that Vice President Mike Pence will be in Louisville Saturday to discuss health care and the economy.

Vice President Pence will travel to the Louisville area on Saturday for an appearance with Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, according to his office. More details about the visit are expected to be released later Thursday.

On Wednesday, a Louisville Regional Airport Authority spokeswoman said officials were told that Trump was preparing a trip to Louisville. A White House source said later that night that the president wasnot planning a trip to Kentucky at that time and that more details of his schedule would be released later this week. The Tennessean is reporting that Trump will be in Nashville Wednesday.

At an event in Lexington on Thursday afternoon, Bevin confirmed he would meet with Pence on Saturday but declined to provide details about the visit. The governorhas said the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, has been a disaster in Kentucky, saying many counties only have one insurer available under the plan.

More than 500,000 Kentuckians gained health coverage in Kentuckyafter it was implemented by former Gov. Steve Beshear, who gave theDemocratic response to Trump's first addressto Congress last week.After the implementation, Kentucky dropped from about 20 percent of its 4.3 million residents with no health coverage to about 7 percent.

Bevin and Trump: Stars 'perfectly aligned' Pence used personal email for state business and was hacked Beshear responds to Trump speech: 'This isn't a game'

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is among the conservative lawmakers who have criticized the House GOP bill to overhaulthe Affordable Care Act, saying it doesnt do enough to dismantle the law.

On Tuesday, TrumpadviserKellyanne Conway appeared on840 WHAS radioand criticized Paul for his opposition to the proposed repeal-and-replace effort, which he says doesn't go far enough. Later that day, a tweet from Trump's account said, "I feel sure that my friend @RandPaul will come along with the new and great health careprogram because he knows Obamacare is a disaster."

Paul spokeswoman Kelsey Cooper said Thursday morning that Paul is happy to welcome Pence to the state. This week, thesenator on Thursday reintroduced legislation from the last Congress to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

The Republican Party is unified on Obamacare repeal, Paul said. We can honor our promise right away by passing the same language we acted on in the last Congress. Then, we can have a separate vote on replacement legislation that will deliver lower costs, better care, and greater access to the American people.

Republicans have a slim margin in the Senate and will have a difficult time crafting health care legislation that can satisfy both conservatives and moderates. If three Republican senators oppose the bill, aunited Democratic opposition can stop it.

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In the past two weeks, Pence has made similar visits to discuss the repeal-and-replace measure, including invite-only appearances with small business leadersinSpringdale, Ohio, andJanesville, Wisconsin.

Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said Thursday he think's Pence's Kentucky visit serves multiple purposes, including to buildsupport for the bill and going to the Beshear's home state.

But he thinks it's mainly directed at Paul.

Sabato said it's common for politicians to make appearances in the backyard of key legislators they want to pressure.

"There is a lot of resistance" to the repeal-and-replace proposal,Sabato said. "They got a lot of work to do, and this is one of the things that Trump's been willing to put his stamp on."

But Sabato said he doesn't expect Paul to back down becauseof the visit.

"Whether you like him or not, you've got to call him principled," he said. "I don't think he's gonna change his mind on this."

The repeal-and-replace measurewould phase out Obamacare's expansion of Medicaidandwould also end the open-ended match states receive for all other Medicaid beneficiaries, which is about 70 percent in Kentucky. Instead, states would be given a set amount of money based on the number of enrollees they had in 2016 in various categories, including children, disabled adults and the elderly.

The bill also changes the private insurance subsidies available under the ACA for those who arent covered through an employer and dont qualify for a government program like Medicare and Medicaid.

The change could help people who are younger, higher-income or live in areas where premiums are lower, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Those who are older, lower-income or live in high-premium areas such as Alaska and Arizona benefit more from the current subsidies.

Information from the USA TODAY was used in this report. Reporter Justin Sayers can be reached atjsayers@gannett.com or 502-582-4252. Follow him on Twitter at @_JustinSayers.

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Vice President Mike Pence is coming to Louisville on Saturday - The Courier-Journal

Mike Pence: Sharing Intel a ‘Very Serious Offense’ – Newsmax

Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that the Trump administration would use "the full force of the law to hold all of those accountable" in hacking of documents that were released this week by WikiLeaks.

"Trafficking in national security information, as is alleged WikiLeaks has done here, is a very serious offense," Pence told Bret Baier on Fox News. "It represents a compromise of the security of the American people.

"This president and this administration will take that very seriously and use the full force of the law and resources of the United States to hold all of those to account that were involved," he said.

"If proven to be true and confirmed publicly, I can assure you that no resource will be spared in holding those [to] account that have leaked information that could well constitute a compromise of methods and a compromise of national security."

WikiLeaks published nearly 9,000 documents Tuesday purporting to contain details of CIA hacking operations, including claims that the spy agency could record information from Apple, Google and Samsung smartphones and televisions.

Federal officials were investigating the latest dump and Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions Thursday if WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had broken the law or might face prosecution.

"Does the Department of Justice believe Julian Assange has broken the law and is the department aggressively pursuing his detention and prosecution?" Sasse asked in a letter to Sessions.

"Frankly, it is amazing that I even have to ask this question of the administration in light of the intelligence community's formal assessment that Mr. Assange's website is a known outlet for foreign propaganda and in light of Mr. Assange's history of recklessly endangering the lives of Americans through his illegal disclosures," he said.

Assange also said Thursday that WikiLeaks would help technology companies find and fix software vulnerabilities in their everyday products.

In an online news conference, he said that some companies had sought out more details about the alleged CIA toolkit that was revealed in the latest document drop.

"We have decided to work with them, to give them some exclusive access to the additional technical details we have, so that fixes can be developed and pushed out," Assange said.

The digital blueprints for what he described as "cyberweapons" would be published to the world "once this material is effectively disarmed by us."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Mike Pence: Sharing Intel a 'Very Serious Offense' - Newsmax