Mediaboss Marketing

He said he considered having elections systems designated as critical infrastructure, a classification that would allow for the same cybersecurity protections available to the financial services and transportation sectors.

But the reactions to that idea, at least from several state election officials who control elections, ranged from neutral to negative, Mr. Johnson said.

Around mid-August, Mr. Johnson said, federal officials began hearing reports of scanning and probing of some state voter database registries. In the weeks after, intelligence officials became convinced the Russians were behind those efforts, though he said it was not until January that they were in a position to say that.

The administration formally accused the Russian government on Oct. 7, when Mr. Johnson and James R. Clapper Jr., then the director of national intelligence, released a statement saying the Russians had leaked information intended to interfere with the U.S. election process.

That was not soon enough for some Democrats, who have criticized the Obama administration for waiting until a month before the election to reveal its concern. Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the committees senior Democrat, pressed Mr. Johnson to explain their rationale.

Why wasnt it more important to tell the American people the length and breadth of what the Russians were doing to interfere in an election than any risk that it might be seen as putting your hand on the scale? Mr. Schiff asked. Didnt the public have a compelling need to know?

Asked why former President Barack Obama did not make his own announcement that a foreign power was meddling in the election process, Mr. Johnson suggested administration officials believed just his involvement would inherently politicize the facts.

We were very concerned that we not be perceived as taking sides in the election, injecting ourselves into a very heated campaign or taking steps to delegitimize the election process and undermine the integrity of the election process, he said.

Noting that the hacking happened at the direction of Vladimir Putin himself, Mr. Johnson said he was moved to try to shield the nations election system by the unprecedented nature of Russian interference in the last election.

What I mean is that we not only saw infiltrations, but we saw efforts to dump information into the public space for the purpose of influencing the ongoing campaign, he said, referring to the disclosure of hacked emails.

Republicans also seized on the statement in January by James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, that the D.N.C. refused to turn over its servers to investigators after it was discovered that the servers had been hacked.

Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, a Republican who is helping to lead the committees investigation into Russian interference, asked Mr. Johnson why a victim in this case, the D.N.C. would not turn over evidence of a crime.

If they had turned the server over to you or Director Comey, maybe we would have known more, Mr. Gowdy said.

Im not going to argue with you, sir, Mr. Johnson said. That was a leading question, and Ill agree to be led.

Lawmakers were focusing largely on an issue they agreed presented a profound problem for the country: foreign interference in the nations democratic process and its pernicious effect on voter confidence.

Whether our guy won or next time your guy wins, said Representative Tom Rooney, Republican of Florida, if interference persists then we really do cease being the country that we are.

Get politics and Washington news updates via Facebook, Twitter and in the Morning Briefing newsletter.

A version of this article appears in print on June 22, 2017, on Page A16 of the New York edition with the headline: Obama Officials Were Wary of Detailing Hacking.

Read more:
Obama White House Knew of Russian Election Hacking, but Delayed Telling - New York Times

Senate Republicans released their long-awaited bill Thursday to dismantle much of Barack Obama's health care law, proposing to cut Medicaid for low-income Americans and erase tax boosts that Obama imposed on high-earners and medical companies to finance his expansion of coverage.

The bill would provide less-generous tax credits to help people buy insurance and let states get waivers to ignore some coverage standards that "Obamacare" requires of insurers. And it would end the tax penalties under Obama's law on people who don't buy insurance the so-called individual mandate and on larger companies that don't offer coverage to their employees.

The measure represents the Senate GOP's effort to achieve a top tier priority for President Donald Trump and virtually all Republican members of Congress. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., hopes to push it through his chamber next week, but solid Democratic opposition and complaints from at least a half-dozen Republicans have left its fate unclear.

"We have to act," McConnell said on the Senate floor. "Because Obamacare is a direct attack on the middle class, and American families deserve better than its failing status quo."

But some Republican senators, as well as all the Senate's Democrats, have complained about McConnell's proposal, the secrecy with which he drafted it and the speed with which he'd like to whisk it to passage. McConnell has only a thin margin of error: The bill would fail if just three of the Senate's 52 GOP senators oppose it.

Democrats gathered on the Senate floor and defended Obama's 2010 overhaul. They said GOP characterizations of the law as failing are wrong and said the Republican plan would boot millions off coverage and leave others facing higher out-of-pocket costs.

"We live in the wealthiest country on earth. Surely we can do better than what the Republican health care bill promises," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Some conservative and moderate GOP senators have their doubts, too.

Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., facing a tough re-election fight next year, said he had "serious concerns' about the bill's Medicaid reductions.

"If the bill is good for Nevada, I'll vote for it and if it's not, I won't," said Heller, whose state added 200,000 additional people under Obama's law.

The House approved its version of the bill last month. Though he lauded its passage in a Rose Garden ceremony, Trump last week privately called the House measure "mean" and called on senators to make their version more "generous."

At the White House on Thursday, Trump expressed hope for quick action.

"We'll hopefully get something done, and it will be something with heart and very meaningful," he said

The bill would phase out the extra money Obama's law provides to states that have expanded coverage under the federal-state Medicaid program for low-income people. The additional funds would continue through 2020, and be gradually reduced until they are entirely eliminated in 2024.

Ending Obama's expansion has been a major problem for some GOP senators. Some from states that have expanded the program have battled to prolong the phase-out, while conservative Republicans have sought to halt the funds quickly.

Beginning in 2020, the Senate measure would also limit the federal funds states get each year for Medicaid. The program currently gives states all the money needed to cover eligible recipients and procedures.

The Senate bill would also reduce subsidies now provided to help people without workplace coverage get private health insurance, said Caroline Pearson, a senior vice president of the health care consulting firm Avalare Health.

Unlike the House bill, which bases its subsidies for private insurance on age, the Senate bill uses age and income. That focuses financial assistance on people with lower incomes.

Pearson said those subsidies will be smaller than under current law. That's because they're keyed to the cost of a bare-bones plan, and because additional help now provided for deductibles and copayments would be discontinued.

Under Obama's law, "many of those people would have gotten much more generous plans," she said.

The bill would let states get waivers to ignore some coverage requirements under Obama's law, such as specific health services insurers must now cover. States could not get exemptions to Obama's prohibition against charging higher premiums for some people with pre-existing medical conditions, but the subsidies would be lower, Pearson said, making coverage less unaffordable.

Like the House bill, the Senate measure would block federal payments to Planned Parenthood. Many Republicans have long fought that organization because it provides abortions.

It would also bar the use of the bill's health care tax credits to buy coverage that includes abortions, a major demand for conservatives. That language could be forced out of the bill for procedural reasons, which would threaten support from conservatives, but Republicans would seek other ways to retain the restriction.

The Senate would provide $50 billion over the next four years that states could use in an effort to shore up insurance markets around the country.

For the next two years, it would also provide money that insurers use to help lower out-of-pocket costs for millions of lower income people. Trump has been threatening to discontinue those payments, and some insurance companies have cited uncertainty over those funds as reasons why they are abandoning some markets and boosting premiums.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the House bill would cause 23 million people to lose coverage by 2026. The budget office's analysis of the Senate measure is expected in the next few days.

More:
Senate GOP releases bill to cut Medicaid, alter 'Obamacare' - ABC News

President Obama has been out of office only a few months. But he might have both a street and an L.A. freeway named after him soon.

Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson has proposed renaming Rodeo Road in southwest L.A. Obama Boulevard in honor of the president. Wesson noted that Obama held a campaign rally at Rancho Cienega Park on Rodeo Road when running for president and that the area already has streets named after presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Adams).

In May, a plan to name a stretch of the 134 Freeway after Obama moved forward with approval from the state Senate. The freeway is not far from Occidental College in Eagle Rock, which Obama attended.

In California alone, several schools have been named after Obama. And in the Monterey Bay town of Seaside, city leaders designated a key street Obama Way.

Rodeo Road is a major street that runs from near the Culver City border east to Mid-City. Its sometimes confused by newcomers with the more upscale Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

Rodeo Road is not far from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. That used to be Santa Barbara Avenue until the city changed the name three decades ago.

Go here to read the rest:
Los Angeles considers renaming Rodeo Road in southwest LA 'Obama Boulevard' - Los Angeles Times

I'm Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I don't want you to miss today.

TOP STORIES

No Drama Obama

By August, the FBI had evidence that Russian-backed hackers had targeted electoral systems in 21 American states, officials confirmed Wednesday. So why did the Obama administration wait until Oct. 7 to reveal the cyberattack on the U.S. elections process? Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, testifying before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, said Obama administration officials feared they would be blamed for trying to influence the election. We were very concerned that we would not be perceived as taking sides in the election, injecting ourselves into a very heated campaign, he said.

Who Will be Ubers Next CEO?

With Uber co-founder and chief executive Travis Kalanicks resignation Tuesday, the ride-hailing company the worlds most valued start-up, with $6.5 billion in annual sales is searching for a new chief. Experts expect it will be an outsider, with an eye on improving company culture. The San Francisco company hopes to move past a trail of scandals, including allegations that complaints of sexual harassment were ignored and that the company used a program to dodge inquiries from public officials. Uber, valued at nearly $70 billion, is also looking to make other high-level hires, to replace executives who have departed. If the board doesnt act quickly and decisively, this executive merry-go-round can lead to a crisis of confidence, said Joseph Daniel McCool of the McCool Group, which advises companies on recruitment and succession planning.

Searching for a Bone-Marrow Match

Matthew Medina is a 40-year-old Los Angeles police officer with a rare blood disease. Doctors tell him he will likely die without a bone marrow transplant, but his chances of finding a donor are less than 50%. Medina, who is being kept alive by blood transfusions, is Filipino, and most registered donors are white. Few Filipinos have signed up as potential donors. Medina, who has aplastic anemia and is quarantined at his Bellflower home with his wife and two young daughters, needs a transplant soon, because his weakened immune system means exposure to a common virus can kill him.

Let the Finger-Pointing Begin

Tens of millions of dollars could not propel political neophyte Jon Ossoff to victory in Georgias traditionally Republican 6th district. Now comes the teeth-gnashing and finger-pointing. Who blew it? House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi? The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee? The cautious millennial candidate himself, who avoided attacking Trump, did not live in the district, and seemed less a Georgian than a Washingtonian? The president himself weighed in with some thoughts.

Trump Took a Personal Interest in the Otto Warmbier Case

President Trump rarely raises human rights concerns as part of his foreign policy, and his secretary of State says that advocating for them creates obstacles in advancing American interests abroad. But the president has shown interest in cases of individual Americans imprisoned overseas, as with Otto Warmbier, the university student who was arrested as a tourist in North Korea last year and died Monday. What are we doing for that kid in North Korea? Trump asked his briefers, according to a U.S. official. The president approved a risky operation to demand his release.

MUST-WATCH VIDEO

-- Roger Waters talks about his first solo album in decades, and his new tour.

-- Artist Kam Redlawsk describes how her rare genetic disorder has informed her perspective.

-- At Griffith Park, a summer solstice celebration.

CALIFORNIA

-- Immigration officials pointed to a pair of decades-old misdemeanor convictions as the basis for arresting Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez, a Mexican citizen and longtime resident of the United States. He was arrested in Highland Park after dropping his 12-year-old daughter off at school, and has been detained for nearly four months. Now that Avelica-Gonzalez, 49, has resolved those misdemeanors, his lawyers hope to stop his threatened deportation.

-- A proposed salary package, backed by L.A.s mayor and headed to the city council, would give six raises in five years to thousands of employees at the Department of Water and Power. It is expected to embolden other city employees and their unions to push similar deals. Every time you give a pay raise to Water and Power employees, you know youre going to get a knock on your door from the city employees, saying, Us too, said Zev Yaroslavsky, who has served on the city council and the county Board of Supervisors.

-- Oaklands mayor and its former police chief mishandled a sexual misconduct scandal in the city police department, according to a report filed Wednesday by a court-appointed investigator. The scandal stems from a teenagers claims that she had sex with as many as two dozen officers, starting at age 16.

-- As a heat wave continues to roll across California, the National Weather Service says the Southland should prepare for an increased fire risk.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

--- Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the playful directors behind The Lego Movie, have been removed from the Han Solo Star Wars spinoff four months into production over creative differences. The details are still ambiguous, but their departure raises questions about how independent Hollywood really wants its directors to be in the franchise era.

-- A child development expert is suing Walt Disney Co. over the 2015 Pixar hit Inside Out. The claim? That the plaintiff had repeatedly pitched an idea to the studio years earlier about animated characters who embodied a childs different moods.

-- At 73, Roger Waters is one of rocks senior statesman and an enduring provocateur. The English rocker from Pink Floyd has produced his first solo album in decades, and his latest tour tackles themes of political polarization. There is a whack at Trump in a couple of the songs, he says. He doesnt shy from controversy, though his prior activism has reportedly exacted a financial toll, as when he weighed in on the Middle East.

-- Critic Robert Lloyd calls Spikes adaptation of Stephen Kings The Mist a well-made creep show, but lacking in comic relief.

CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

Some Like It Hot. Ninotchka. Double Indemnity. The Lost Weekend. Sunset Boulevard. These and so many other classic films were the work of writer and director Billy Wilder, who fled Germany for Hollywood after Adolf Hitler came to power. He was born on this date in 1906 and died March 7, 2002.

NATION-WORLD

--Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, 31, is the new public face of Saudi Arabia.

--Iraqi officials say Islamic State destroyed a historic mosque in Mosul.

BUSINESS

-- L.A. Countys median home price has surged to $560,500, passing the historic high it reached in 2007 (just before the great crash).

-- Crude oil stock dived Wednesday to its lowest point since last summer, though healthcare and tech stocks made gains.

SPORTS

-- What do you do on the eve of the NBA draft? If youre Lonzo Ball you chill in a Manhattan hotel room with some chicken nuggets and sports news on the TV. Will the Lakers take the hometown phenom with the second pick? We find out today.

-- Yasiel Puig stayed hot at the plate in the Dodgers 8-2 win over the Mets. He's slugging .722. But Puig sure did take his time rounding the bags when he hit a homer in the fourth inning.

OPINION

-- Columnist Michael Hiltzik asks whether the resignation of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is good for the company. Yes, because it will allow the company to improve its reputation and recruit talent. No, because his departure will focus attention on what Hiltzik calls the fundamental unprofitability of its business model.

-- Its been nearly a decade since the public first got its hands on an iPhone. And boy has it changed us. Looking back, theres no doubt Steve Jobs knew he was making history.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

--From The Atlantic: The Fall of a Foreign Affairs Reporter.

--From The New York Times: Audrey Tautous Very Private Self-Portraiture.

ONLY IN L.A.

It was a startling alert from the U.S. Geological Survey: A 6.8 magnitude quake had struck off the coast of Santa Barbara. The quake was real, the date was real, the year, however, was 92 years in the past. The error happened when a Caltech scientist tried to correct the exact location of the deadly Prohibition-era Santa Barbara earthquake.

Los Angeles Times archive

(Los Angeles Times archive)

Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.

If you like this newsletter, please share it with friends.

See original here:
Today: No Drama Obama - Los Angeles Times

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is not backing down from partially blaming former President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaIce Cube: Black community not high on Trump's priorities list Lawmakers unveil bill to set 355-ship Navy Defense bill would limit implementation of nuclear arms treaty with Russia MORE for theattack on Republican lawmakers at baseball practice last week.

The answer is no, King toldCNNonThursday whenasked if he regretted his comments.

King last weeklinked Obama to the shooting, saying he deepened the countrys political divisions by emphasizing "differences rather than our things that unify us." He said political division is what led someone to open fire on the Republican lawmakers.

King told CNN that he had made similar comments about Obama before, not just in the aftermath of the shooting.

He said Obama was elected in 2008 in a perfect position to heal the divisions in this country, but he failed in that regard.

We have to speak about these things accurately, King added. What I said on that ball field about that politically motivated shooting is exactly on target, and most of the public agrees with me on it.

Read the rest here:
GOP rep: No regrets for partly blaming Obama for lawmaker shooting - The Hill (blog)