Sean Hannity endorses Mo Brooks for Alabama U.S. Senate seat
Fox News’ Sean Hannity tweeted his endorsement of Alabama 5th District U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks‘ Senate bid on Thursday. Hannity, an avid supporter of President Donald Trump, singled Brooks out from a crowded GOP field saying, “Mo Brooks will support Pres.Trump’s America 1st agenda, he is a proven conservative we need in the Senate. Support @RepMoBrooks 4 Senate.” Mo Brooks will support Pres.Trump’s America 1st agenda, he is a proven conservative we need in the Senate. Support @RepMoBrooks 4 Senate. — Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) June 8, 2017 Hannity is one of the most prominent and influential conservative voices in the country, hosting The Sean Hannity Show, a talk radio show that is syndicated to more than 500 stations and heard in all of the top 50 markets and has a loyal listenership of 13.5 million. Hannity also hosts a cable news show, Hannity, on Fox News Channel. Hannity’s endorsement follows the endorsements of other leading conservative thought leaders Brooks has picked up in recent weeks, including Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin. “With endorsements from leading national conservatives rolling in, my campaign is continuing to build momentum,” said Brooks. “Sean Hannity has carried the torch of conservatism for decades, and I’m proud to have his endorsement in this election.”
ADPH parts ways with controversial new employee, terminated VA director James Talton
On Friday, the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) confirmed the controversial new hire of James Talton, the former Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System (CAVHCS) Director fired for negligence in 2014. Less than one week later, the ADPH confirmed Thursday they had parted ways with the former Director. “Effective today, Mr. James Talton is no longer employed with the Alabama Department of Public Health. The Department wishes him well in his future endeavors,” a brief statement sent to Alabama read. The decision came after a public outcry from Yellowhammer State veterans and one state lawmaker who didn’t approve of ADPH’s hiring decision. Enterprise-Republican state Rep. Barry Moore posted a letter on Facebook Thursday morning to State Health Officer Tom Miller expressing his frustration and disappointment in the decision to hire Talton, saying it showed a “severe lack of judgment.” Moore is chairman of the Alabama House of Representatives’ Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. Last week, Miller had gone on record saying Talton was a “good fit” for the job. He had confirmed Talton’s role would oversee a group of units including finance, information technology, and vital statistics. Today, he said Talton had become a distraction. “It reached a point where it was interfering with us getting our work done,” said Miller. Alabama 2nd District U.S. Rep. Martha Roby, who worked extensively to remove Talton from the VA in 2014, quickly responded to the announcement from ADPH. “This is the right decision,” Roby said. “I worked with courageous whistleblowers to expose major wrongdoing at CAVHCS: Missing X-rays, the crack house incident, the manipulated wait times — go down the list. There was a clear record of neglect at CAVHCS, and I wouldn’t want anyone implicated in that scandal to hold a position of public trust.” Roby worked with whistleblowers and the press to bring to light egregious instances of neglect and misconduct at the CAVHCS in 2014, which ultimately led Talton to be the first VA senior manager in the nation fired as a result of the 2014 VA scandal. In 2014, Roby deemed Taltons’ firing from the VA “a necessary and important step toward instilling accountability at the VA and building trust within the veteran community.” Last week, Roby declined to comment publicly upon Talton’s ADPH hiring announcement as the issue involves a nonfederal state agency. “As a member of Congress, it isn’t my role to tell state officials how to do their job or who they should hire,” Roby explained. “However, the history at the Central Alabama VA speaks for itself, and I believe the state made the right decision. Our work to improve veterans’ services in Central Alabama continues. In fact, I’m optimistic we can get a new, stronger VA accountability bill to the President’s desk as soon as next week.” Watch Roby’s reaction to ADPH’s decision below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-1CFaMoM8M
Mitch McConnell groups buy $2.4M in ads supporting Luther Strange starting next week
Two groups, including the Senate Leadership Fund, canceled a planned $2.65 million ad buy to support U.S. Sen. Luther Strange, replacing it with a joint purchase of more than $2 million in air time, with radio ads starting next week. The Leadership Fund, controlled by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has “television and radio ads will start running next week in Birmingham and Mobile,” reports AL.com. The earlier Leadership Fund buy was just a placeholder, with the new airtime reservation moves up the start date of the ads, and increases the campaign by about $500,000 in radio ads. Listeners in the Birmingham and Mobile radio markets will hear the ads from June 13 to June 27, with another wave ending Aug. 15, the date of the special election primary. At the same time, “One Nation,” another group tied to McConnell, plans to spend $385,000 on issue ads supporting Strange scheduled for June 28 through July 12 in the Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile markets.
Facebook rolls out new features to help users connect with elected officials
Facebook announced three new features Wednesday aimed at boosting civic engagement in the U.S., allowing users to better connect with elected officials, candidates and staff. The new offerings help users sort through a mountain of content on the social network and help politicians find comments and news stories that connect directly to their home districts. First, Facebook users will have a new feature – “Constituent Badges” – that identify themselves as part of a representative’s district by securely entering a home address. “Constituent Insights” is another feature that allows a politician to track news stories and other viral content popular with users in their district. “District Targeting” can allow an elected official to change page settings to allow them to broadcast Facebook Live feeds and other messages only to individuals residing in their districts. The new features come as the social media giant seeks to make over its image as a credible source of information after November’s presidential election, when the company struggled to effectively combat a flood of fake news – either misleading or entirely fabricated political stories.
James Comey: Donald Trump administration spread ‘lies, plain and simple’
Former FBI Director James Comey accused the Trump administration Thursday of spreading “lies, plain and simple” about him and the FBI in the aftermath of his abrupt firing, in dramatic testimony that threatened to undermine Donald Trump’s presidency. As he opened his much anticipated first public telling of his relationship with Trump, Comey disputed the Trump administration’s justification for his firing last month, declaring that the administration “defamed him and more importantly the FBI” by claiming the bureau was in disorder under his leadership. And in testimony that exposed deep distrust between the president and the veteran lawman, Comey described intense discomfort about their one-on-one conversations, saying he decided he immediately needed to document the discussions in memos. “I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, so I thought it really important to document,” Comey said. “I knew there might come a day when I might need a record of what happened not only to defend myself but to protect the FBI.” Comey made his comments as the packed hearing got underway, bringing Washington and parts of the country to a halt as all eyes were glued on televisions showing the hearing. He immediately dove into the heart of the fraught political controversy around his firing and whether Trump interfered in the bureau’s Russia investigation, as he elaborated on written testimony delivered Wednesday. In that testimony he had already disclosed that Trump demanded his “loyalty” and directly pushed him to “lift the cloud” of investigation by declaring publicly the president was not the target of the FBI probe into his campaign’s Russia ties. Comey also said in his written testimony that Trump, in a strange private encounter near the grandfather clock in the Oval Office, pushed him to end his investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The Senate intelligence committee chairman, Richard Burr of North Carolina, asked Comey the key question about that encounter: “Do you sense that the president was trying to obstruct justice, or just seek a way for Mike Flynn to save face, given he had already been fired?” “I don’t think it’s for me to say whether the conversation I had with the president was an effort to obstruct,” Comey replied. “I took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning. But that’s a conclusion I’m sure the special counsel will work towards to try and understand what the intention was there and whether that’s an offense.” Later, in a startling disclosure, Comey revealed that after his firing he had tried to spur the appointment of a special counsel by giving one of his memos about Trump to a friend of his to leak to the press. “My judgment was I need to get that out into the public square, ” Comey said. The Republican National Committee and other White House allies worked feverishly to lessen any damage from the hearing, trying to undermine Comey’s credibility by issuing press releases and even ads pointing to a past instance where the FBI had had to clean up the director’s testimony to Congress. Republicans and Trump’s own lawyer seized on Comey’s confirmation, in his written testimony, of Trump’s claim that Comey had told him three times the president was not directly under investigation. Trump himself was expected to dispute Comey’s claims that the president demanded loyalty and asked the FBI director to drop the investigation into Flynn, according to a person close to the president’s legal team who demanded anonymity because of not being authorized to discuss legal strategy. The president has not yet publicly denied the specifics of Comey’s accounts but has broadly challenged his credibility, tweeting last month Comey “better hope there are no ‘tapes’” of the conversations. “Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” Comey remarked at one point, suggesting such evidence would back up his account over any claims from the president. But it was a Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who asked the question that many Republicans have raised in the weeks since Comey’s firing as one media leak followed another revealing Comey’s claims about Trump’s inappropriate interactions with him. Raising the Oval Office meeting where Comey says Trump asked him to pull back the Flynn probe, Feinstein asked: “Why didn’t you stop and say, ‘Mr. President, this is wrong,’?” “That’s a great question,” Comey said. “Maybe if I were stronger I would have. I was so stunned by the conversation I just took it in.” Comey was also asked if he believed he was fired because of the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election as well as Russia’s ties with Trump’s campaign. Graphic details opening exchange between James Comey and Senator Richard Burr. “Yes,” Comey said. “Because I’ve seen the president say so.” The hearing unfolded amid intense political interest, and within a remarkable political context as Comey delivered damaging testimony about the president who fired him, a president who won election only after Comey damaged his opponent, Hillary Clinton, in the final days of the campaign. Clinton has blamed Comey’s Oct. 28 announcement that he was re-opening the email investigation for her defeat. She’s argued she was on track to a victory when Comey’s move raised fresh doubts about her. “If the election were on Oct. 27, I would be your president,” Clinton said last month. Many Democrats blame Comey for Clinton’s loss, leading Trump to apparently believe they would applaud him for firing Comey last month. The opposite was the case as the firing created an enormous political firestorm that has stalled Trump’s legislative agenda on Capitol Hill and taken over Washington. Under questioning Thursday, Comey strongly asserted the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia did indeed meddle in the 2016 election. “There should be no fuzz on this. The Russians interfered,” Comey stated firmly. “That happened. It’s about as unfake as you can possibly get.” Trump has begrudgingly accepted the U.S. intelligence assessment that Russia interfered with the election. But he has also suggested he doesn’t believe it,
Former FBI director James Comey says White House ‘defamed’ him and FBI
Former FBI Director James Comey accused the Trump administration Thursday of spreading “lies, plain and simple” about him and the FBI in the aftermath of his abrupt firing, in dramatic testimony that exposed deep distrust between the president and the veteran lawman and threatened to undermine Donald Trump’s presidency. Comey disputed the Trump administration’s justification for his firing, declaring the administration “defamed him and more importantly the FBI,” as he opened his much anticipated first public telling of his relationship with Trump. Comey described discomfort about their one-on-one conversations, saying he decided he immediately needed to document the discussions in memos. “I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, so I thought it really important to document,” Comey said. “I knew there might come a day when I might need a record of what happened not only to defend myself but to protect the FBI.” Comey made his comments as the packed hearing got underway, bringing Washington and parts of the country to a halt as all eyes were glued on televisions showing the hearing. He immediately dove into the heart of the fraught political controversy around his firing as he elaborated on written testimony delivered Wednesday. In that testimony he had already disclosed that Trump demanded his “loyalty” and directly pushed him to “lift the cloud” of investigation by declaring publicly the president was not the target of the FBI probe into his campaign’s Russia ties. Comey also testified in his written testimony that Trump, in a strange private encounter near the grandfather clock in the Oval Office, pushed him to end his investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Comey also confirmed Trump’s claim that he had told him three times the president was not directly under investigation. The Republican National Committee worked to lessen any damage from the hearing, trying to undermine Comey’s credibility by pointing to a past instance where the FBI had had to clean up his testimony to Congress. And Trump himself was expected to dispute Comey’s claims that he demanded loyalty and asked the FBI director to drop the investigation into Flynn, according to a person close to the president’s legal team who demanded anonymity because of not being authorized to discuss legal strategy. Trump has not yet publicly denied the specifics of Comey’s accounts but has broadly challenged his credibility, tweeting last month Comey “better hope there are no ‘tapes’” of the conversations. But it was a Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who asked the question that many Republicans have raised in the weeks since Comey’s firing as one media leak followed another revealing Comey’s claims about Trump’s inappropriate interactions with him. Alluding to the Oval Office meeting where Comey says Trump asked him to pull back the Flynn probe, Feinstein asked: “Why didn’t you stop and say, ‘Mr. President, this is wrong,’?” “That’s a great question,” Comey said. “Maybe if I were stronger I would have. I was so stunned by the conversation I just took it in.” Comey was also asked if he believed he was fired because of the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election as well as Russia’s ties with Trump’s campaign. “Yes,” Comey said. “Because I’ve seen the president say so.” Comey described his concerns that Trump was trying to create a “patronage” relationship with him at a dinner where Trump asked him if he wanted to keep his job. “The statue of justice has a blindfold on because you’re not supposed to be peeking out to see whether your patron is pleased or not with what you’re doing,” Comey said. Senate intelligence committee Chairman Richard Burr is leading the committee’s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election, which is proceeding even as a special counsel recently appointed by the Justice Department also investigates. “We will establish the facts separate from rampant speculation and lay them out for the American people to make their own judgment,” Burr said. “Only then will we be able to move forward and put this issue to rest.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
The latest: Former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony before Congress
The Latest on developments involving fired FBI Director James Comey (all times EDT): 10:25 a.m. James Comey says President Donald Trump‘s administration spread “lies, plain and simple” and “defamed” him and the FBI. The former FBI director opened his Senate testimony Thursday by stating that the administration’s explanations for his firing confused and concerned him. He didn’t say what the lies were. The ousted FBI director says at the start of his high-profile Senate hearing that President Donald Trump had repeatedly told him he was doing a great job. Comey says he told the president he planned to serve out his full 10-year term. Comey is testifying before the Senate intelligence committee. His remarks are his first public statements since his firing on May 9, which came as he was leading an FBI investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. — 10:20 a.m. Former FBI director James Comey says that shifting explanations of his firing confused and concerned him. The ousted FBI director says at the start of his high-profile Senate hearing that President Donald Trump had repeatedly told him he was doing a great job. Comey says he told the president he planned to serve out his full 10-year term. Comey says he was “confused” by the explanation that his decisions during the 2016 election was the reason he was fired by Trump. — 10:18 a.m. Former FBI Director James Comey has begun his much-anticipated congressional testimony under oath. Comey is expected to recount a series of interactions with President Donald Trump in the weeks before his firing that he will say made him uncomfortable. Those include a January dinner in which he says Trump asked him for his loyalty, and a White House conversation weeks later in which he says Trump asked him to end an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Comey is testifying before the Senate intelligence committee. His remarks are his first public statements since his firing on May 9, which came as he was leading an FBI investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. — 10:15 a.m. Democratic Sen. Mark Warner says President Donald Trump’s pressuring of former FBI Director James Comey and other government officials to downplay the Russia investigation is inappropriate. Warner says it’s not “how a president of the United States behaves.” Warner, of Virginia, is the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee. The panel is hosting Comey for his first public account of his interactions with the president before he was dramatically fired. In his prepared opening remarks, Comey describes a series of uncomfortable interactions with the president. — 10:10 a.m. President Donald Trump will dispute key parts of former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony. That’s according to a person close to the president’s legal team. The person says the president disputes Comey’s claim that he asked him for loyalty. Trump also disputes Comey’s account of a conversation about the investigation into former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn. The person demanded anonymity because the person is not authorized to be named in a discussion about legal strategy. –Julie Bykowicz — 10 a.m. Former FBI Director James Comey has arrived in a Senate hearing room where he will deliver long-awaited testimony about his dramatic firing. Senators will ask Comey about his interactions with President Donald Trump before he was fired in May. Comey says he had a series of uncomfortable conversations with Trump. He says Trump asked him for a pledge of loyalty and pushed him to “lift the cloud” of the Russia investigation by declaring publicly the president was not the target of the probe into his campaign’s ties with Moscow. Comey’s remarks are his first since he was fired. — 9:52 a.m. President Donald Trump’s outside counsel Marc Kasowitz will be at the White House Thursday to monitor fired FBI Director James Comey’s testimony to Congress. The president is expected to watch some of Comey’s remarks to lawmakers. His public schedule is largely clear until the afternoon. Kasowitz is a longtime Trump lawyer. He was recently tapped to handle all inquiries related to the investigations into possible ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia — a move intended to distance the White House from the FBI and congressional probes. — 7:30 a.m. The ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee says former FBI director James Comey’s account of his conversations with the president about the Russia investigation are “disturbing.” Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia will emphasize at Thursday’s committee hearing that the American people need to realize that what happened was that a president asked an FBI director to drop an ongoing investigation into a former national security adviser. Warner released excerpts of his opening remarks to the committee early Thursday ahead of the hearing. Warner says that in violation of clear guidelines put in place after Watergate to prevent any whiff of political interference by the White House in FBI investigations, President Donald Trump also called Comey twice to ask him to lift the cloud of the Russia investigation over his White House. — 6:45 a.m. A Senate Democrat is cautioning members of Congress against asserting too hastily that President Donald Trump has engaged in acts that could constitute obstruction of justice in the investigation of Russian meddling in last year’s election. Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware says, “I think we have to be careful about making legal conclusions” and argues that lawmakers should not be “getting in the way” of the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. But Coons also tells MSNBC in an interview, hours before fired FBI Director James Comey’s Capitol Hill appearance, that he believes Trump’s words and deeds go “right up to the line” of legality. The senator adds that statements about the Russia probe attributed to Trump by Comey raise the question of whether the president’s actions “meet the legal standard for obstruction of justice.” — 6:05 a.m. The top Democrat on the House intelligence committee says former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony
Kay Ivey signs bill requiring emergency notification system for schools
On Thursday, Governor Kay Ivey announced she recently signed has signed a bill requiring the Alabama Department of Education (ALSDE) to develop and implement an electronic notification system that will share emergency information between schools and the state. House Bill 89, requires ALSDE to implement the system by October 1, 2017, which would allow emergency information to be shared with local schools, local school systems, the department, and the Governor. “As a former school teacher, I know the importance of keeping everyone informed of what is going on in our schools. This notification system is a much needed source of information to clarify the sometimes murky communications in times of emergency,” Ivey said in a press release. “I appreciate Representative Alan Baker for his hard work and leadership sponsoring this legislation.” Sponsored by Brewton-Republican Rep. Alan Baker, the bill saw overwhelming support in both chambers and passed unanimously in the Alabama Senate. “As students are engaged in the educational process, whether attending school or in transport by bus, their safety is of utmost importance. I applaud Governor Ivey for her strong support of education with an emphasis on school safety,” Baker said. The intent of the bill is that all local schools and local school systems use the electronic notification system as a means to input specific information relating to school delays, early releases, shelter-in-place information, and other emergency-related information to improve communications on all levels.
Ben Carson talks responsibility as senators question cuts
Housing Secretary Ben Carson defended the sharp budget cuts facing his agency even as he promised senators Wednesday that he would strive to help the most vulnerable Americans. Appearing before Congress or the first time since joining President Donald Trump‘s Cabinet, Carson said his agency was committed to “doing more with less.” Trump’s 2018 budget proposal calls for cutting $7 billion from the $48 billion budget for the Housing and Urban Development Department. That includes gutting the popular $3 billion Community Development Block Grant program, which funds a variety of local projects across the country. The program has done wonderful things, Carson said, “but there has been mission creep to the point where we have those dollars being used for spay and neuter clinics and flowers along highways.” He said at a time of tight budgets, “we have to be able to concentrate on what our primary goals are.” But senators from both parties questioned the cuts. Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware noted that HUD’s own website touts that the CDBG program has created thousands of jobs, supported tens of thousands of single-family home rehabilitation projects and helped over 200,000 seniors. “I could spend the rest of the afternoon giving you concrete and specific examples of how CDBG been used in my home county, home state and across this country,” Coons said. The chair of the panel, GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, suggested Congress may not agree to the cuts. She told Carson the budget proposal is “just a first draft,” with lawmakers ultimately having the final say on spending plans. The administration’s plan also would cut about $2 billion from the department’s rental assistance programs, to $35.2 billion. One proposal would increase the tenant contribution toward rent from 30 percent of adjusted income to up to 35 percent of gross income, a higher category of income. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Two House Democrats launch longshot bid to impeach Donald Trump
Two House Democrats are launching a longshot bid to impeach President Donald Trump, a step that illustrates the deep political divide engulfing Washington and much of the country. The effort by Reps. Al Green of Texas and Brad Sherman of California has little chance of success in the Republican-led House. They don’t even have the backing of many fellow Democrats. Nevertheless, the lawmakers said Wednesday they are drafting articles of impeachment. They say Trump obstructed justice when he fired FBI Director James Comey, who was investigating possible Russian ties to the Trump campaign. Federal authorities say they have definitive evidence that the Kremlin meddled in the U.S. presidential election. “The question really is whether the president can obstruct justice with impunity,” Green said. “We live in a country where no congressmen, no senator and not even the president of the United States of America is above the law.” Talk of impeachment could fire up both the Democratic and Republican bases. To many Democrats and liberals, Trump is an ethically-challenged narcissist who tweets ridiculous statements at all hours of the day and night. To Trump supporters, he is a bona fide maverick who is keeping his promises by shaking up the Washington establishment. The ugliness of the divide played out after Green first called for Trump to be impeached in a speech last month. Green, who is black, said his offices in Texas and Washington received phone calls from people calling him the N-word and saying he should be lynched. He recently played tapes of several calls at a town hall meeting in his district. Green said the U.S. Capitol police dispatched two officers to his Houston district to guard him while Congress was in recess last week. “No amount of intimidation will deter me,” Green said. “It may enhance my resolve.” Neither Green nor Sherman would give a definitive timeline on when they plan to file the articles of impeachment. Sherman said they would be filed in weeks, not months. Sherman acknowledged that any vote in the House to impeach Trump would fail – unless further evidence of possible wrongdoing comes to light. Since Comey’s firing, the Justice Department has appointed a special counsel, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, to oversee the federal investigation. Comey is scheduled to testify before the Senate intelligence committee Thursday. In prepared remarks released by the committee Wednesday, Comey says Trump sought his “loyalty” and asked what could be done to “lift the cloud” of investigation shadowing his administration. Democratic leaders have distanced themselves from talk of impeachment, saying they want to see the outcome of the investigation. “I can only speak for my personal views, and I think that a majority of the (Democratic) caucus is of the belief that we ought to allow the investigation to continue to its logical conclusion before making any determination,” said Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., the vice chairwoman of the Democratic Caucus. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
