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A group of congressional Republicans is calling on Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson to undo the housing discrimination rule advanced under former President Barack Obama, saying the regulation will punish communities that are not as diverse as the Obama administration would have wished.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee joined with 12 other senators and seven representatives late Friday to ask Carson to rescind the rule, known as "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing."

"We stand with you in opposing any and all instances of discrimination, but this rule does not actually help in that effort," the senators wrote, warning that the rule would increase federal involvement in local zoning decisions.

A spokesman for Carson said Monday that he had received the letter and would review it but offered no comment.

Before taking office, Carson criticized the rule, finalized in 2015, as an "attempt to legislate racial equality" that was doomed to fail, raising expectations that he would seek to reverse it.

But he hasn't addressed the regulation since becoming head of the agency responsible for it.

Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing was the Obama administration's attempt to implement a part of the 1968 Fair Housing Act requiring agencies to ensure that housing aid reduced discrimination.

In their letter, the Republican lawmakers raised the fear that federal funds contingent on HUD approval, including Community Development Block Grants, could be withheld from communities that decline to accept the strings attached to the funds by the rule.

Separately, the Trump administration has called for ending Community Development Block Grant funding altogether, saying the grants have failed to provide benefits.

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Mike Lee, GOP call on Ben Carson to undo Obama housing discrimination rule - Washington Examiner

President Trump began to sour on Chris Christie during the presidential campaign after the New Jersey governor arranged for then-President Obama to call Christie's phone on election night to congratulate Trump, according to an excerpt of a new book.

Trump, a self-professed germaphobe, was repulsed at the idea of using Christie's phone to take Obama's call, the Daily Mail reported Monday after obtaining a preview of the book "Devil's Bargain," by Bloomberg Businessweek reporter Joshua Green, due out Tuesday.

"Hey, Chris, you know my fucking phone number," Trump told Christie, according to the book. "Just give it to the president. I don't want your fucking phone."

In November, Trump fired Christie as leader of his transition team, replacing the New Jersey governor with then Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

Christie did not receive a formal role in the administration, after a campaign in which he was a leading Trump surrogate and had been considered as running mate, though he is running the president's opioids task force.

A spokesman for Christie denied the account of the phone interaction with Trump, in a statement to The Daily Beast Monday.

"The account in the book is complete fiction," Christie's spokesman Brian Murray said. "Governor Christie never spoke to President Obama on election night nor did he make any arrangements for any phone call from The White House to be placed on his cell phone for the President-elect. Finally, he had no conversation on election night as was relayed in this book with the President-elect. The author should be ashamed of himself in passing off this account as true it is fiction."

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Trump dumped Chris Christie over Obama phone call dispute and germs: Report - Washington Examiner

Media Ridicule Photo of Evangelicals Praying Over Trump

Eric Bolling said one person would be to blame for possible interference in the 2016 presidential election.

"If Russia interfered in our elections there is only one person to blame, and that is Barack Obama, who was in charge of protecting the integrity of our federal elections system," the host said Saturday.

"From Wisconsin to Kentucky, and from Michigan to Pennsylvania people voted for Donald Trump because he promised jobs, security, willingness to drain the swamp," not because of the Kremlin, he continued.

Allegations of the Trump campaign's collusion with Russia were renewed this week as the media focuses on a meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and a Russian lawyer who was expected to have dirt on Hillary Clinton.

The Left and the media are conspiring against the president, Bolling said, adding that conservatives are always told to unite behind liberals, not vice versa.

Since Clinton's loss, Democrats have been the "epitome of sore losers," and it is time to unite behind President Trump, the host concluded.

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Bolling: One Person, Obama, to Blame for Any Russian Meddling ...

Donald Trump may be in the White House but in some welcome letters, its still Barack Obama whos commander in chief.

An administrative gaffe led to the distribution of some 200 congratulatory letters that identify Obama as the U.S. president to newly minted citizens,The Hill reported.

Aisha Sultan, a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, shared a photo of her British-born husbands letter on Twitter Friday, raising attention to the error that was liked more than 169,000 times.

We embrace you as a new citizen of our land, and we welcome you to the American family, read the letter, signed by Trumps predecessor.

Sultan wasnt the only one finding amusement with the gaffe, as fellow Twitter users responded with an assortment of playful GIFs and stories about their own familys experiences while becoming U.S. citizens.

The welcome letters are typically produced by the new administration and then distributed to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is a division of the Department of Homeland Security, USCIS press secretary Gillian Christensen toldThe Hill.

Christensen called the release of the Obama administrations letters an oversight that resulted in about 200 of the dated letters being distributed.

Maria Elena Upson, another USCIS spokeswoman, told Arizona Central last month that the agency had yet to receive a welcome letter and video message from Trump, but that its not unusual for new administrations to take several months to accomplish that task. Until that happens, she said that new citizens dont receive either a congratulatory letter or video message.

One twitter user, commenting on Sultans photo,wrote that during her husbands citizenship ceremony in March, they accidentally started to play Obamas congratulatory video.

Everyone cheered! she wrote.

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Obama Is Still President In Welcome Letter Sent To New US Citizens - HuffPost

New United States citizens participating in naturalization ceremonies around the country have typically received letters from the current president when taking their oaths of allegiance.

But on Friday, a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said she noticed that the name signed on her British-born husband's letter from the president wasn't that of President Trump. Rather, it was his predecessor Barack ObamaBarack ObamaFormer National Economic Council director slams attacks on CBO Columnist's husband gets Obama letter in paperwork for new US citizens Governors voice resistance to Senate health bill MORE.

"My British-born husband takes his oath of citizenship today," Aisha Sultan wrote on Twitter. "In the packet for new Americans, the welcome letter from POTUS is from Obama."

My British-born husband takes his oath of citizenship today. In the packet for new Americans, the welcome letter from POTUS is from Obama. pic.twitter.com/O56cMj0hhx

The letters are typically produced by new administrations and distributed to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) field offices throughout the country.

USCIS Press Secretary Gillian Christensen told The Hill that the packets signed by Obama were an administrative oversight, and that some 200 letters from the previous administration were distributed. Approximately 300,000 people have been naturalized since Trump's inauguration, she said.

But Maria Elena Upson, a spokeswoman for the agency, told the Arizona Republicin a statement last month that that producing a new letter and presidential video message for new citizens usually takes months.

She also specified that new citizens do not receive the congratulatory letters before the new administration distributes them.

"Following a change in administrations, it typically takes several months for a new letter and video message to be produced and distributed to USCIS field offices," she said. "During this interim period, USCIS does not provide a congratulatory letter or show a video message."

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Columnist's husband gets Obama letter in paperwork for new US citizens - The Hill