District work week roundup: what’s your representative up to?
The Alabama Congressional delegation was back in the yellowhammer state this week, and members have taken to social media to share the stories of those they have encountered while working within their districts. Here’s what your representative has been up to this week: Alabama 1st District U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne: Enjoyed speaking at the #SmallBiz “Lunch and Learn” event in Jackson today! Thanks to @SBAgov, @univwestalabama, @ASBDC and Clarke County Economic Development for helping put the #SmallBusinessWeek event together! pic.twitter.com/3OBjF8JJu3 — Rep. Bradley Byrne (@RepByrne) May 4, 2018 Had an awesome visit of the @LockheedMartin facility in Troy this afternoon. I am so proud that we have Alabamians doing this important work for our national security. pic.twitter.com/AoWiVaIwiC — Rep. Bradley Byrne (@RepByrne) May 3, 2018 Alabama 2nd District U.S. Rep. Martha Roby: I also got to “fly” the cockpit simulator again, & I’m glad to report that I have improved since my first attempt yesterday! I’d like to extend a very sincere thank you to @LockheedMartin & the @MGMChamber for making this event happen. We have a lot to be excited about. pic.twitter.com/Fwqzl9JfZV — Rep. Martha Roby (@RepMarthaRoby) May 3, 2018 Alabama 3rd District U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers: Had a nice visit today with Kelly Morris of UPS in my #Anniston office. #AL03 A post shared by Congressman Mike D. Rogers (@repmikerogersal) on Apr 30, 2018 at 10:00am PDT Thank you to Viiz Communications Call Center for the tour today! #CalhounCo #AL03 A post shared by Congressman Mike D. Rogers (@repmikerogersal) on Apr 30, 2018 at 12:02pm PDT Great to visit the new Fort McClellan Credit Union on Golden Springs Road. Thank you to my friend, Kevin Ford, for showing me around! #AL03 #CalhounCo A post shared by Congressman Mike D. Rogers (@repmikerogersal) on Apr 30, 2018 at 12:44pm PDT A gorgeous day in Lanett! Checking out Streetscape with Mayor McCoy! #ChambersCo #AL03 A post shared by Congressman Mike D. Rogers (@repmikerogersal) on May 2, 2018 at 9:01am PDT Presenting a Congressional Record statement to the Sylacauga High School Varsity Boys’ Basketball Team in recognition of them bringing home the AHSAA Class 5A state title! Great work, guys! Go Aggies! #Sylacauga #AL03 #TalladegaCo A post shared by Congressman Mike D. Rogers (@repmikerogersal) on May 2, 2018 at 10:35am PDT Speaking to Munford High School’s AP Government class this morning! #AL03 A post shared by Congressman Mike D. Rogers (@repmikerogersal) on May 2, 2018 at 1:15pm PDT Had a wonderful visit this week at Pursell Agri-Tech in #Sylacauga this week! Thanks for having me! #AL03 #TalladegaCo A post shared by Congressman Mike D. Rogers (@repmikerogersal) on May 4, 2018 at 10:32am PDT Alabama 4th District U.S. Congressman Robert Aderholt: Tonight on the steps of our Gadsden office, 80 high school students took their military oaths. They are going into the Army, Air Force and Marines. You all make us proud with your commitment to serve our nation. @WBRCnews @WVTM13 @abc3340 @CBS_42 pic.twitter.com/ACA6Ak6N2V — Rep. Robert Aderholt (@Robert_Aderholt) May 5, 2018 Alabama 5th District U.S. Congressman Mo Brooks: As a strong supporter of Israel, it was my pleasure to meet Mr. Guy Gilady, a Deputy Consul General for Israel, today in my Huntsville office. Thx for visiting! pic.twitter.com/ydVPIxTPmr — Mo Brooks (@RepMoBrooks) April 30, 2018 Alabama 7th District U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer: Alabama 7th District U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell: A big thank you to the Stillman College family, including alumni, the board of trustees, students, faculty, and Dr. Warrick- what a special day!! pic.twitter.com/wmaBhpKutS — Rep. Terri A. Sewell (@RepTerriSewell) May 5, 2018 Stillman College represents such an important part of the legacy Alabama’s 7th District. Our HBCUs are truly a national treasure. Please join me in congratulating 2018’s graduating class! pic.twitter.com/bUvMFhFa20 — Rep. Terri A. Sewell (@RepTerriSewell) May 5, 2018 Just wrapped up our second town hall today – this town hall in Sumter County. THANK YOU to the constituents who turned out to make their voices heard!!! pic.twitter.com/YrEyPKJYjE — Rep. Terri A. Sewell (@RepTerriSewell) May 2, 2018
Donald Trump says he won’t let right to bear arms ‘be under siege’
Months after the horror of the Parkland school shootings in Florida, President Donald Trump stood before cheering members of the National Rifle Association and urged them to elect more Republicans to Congress to defend gun rights. Trump claimed that Democrats want to “outlaw guns” and said if the nation takes that drastic step, it might as well ban all vans and trucks because they are the new weapons for “maniac terrorists.” “We will never give up our freedom. We will live free and we will die free,” Trump said Friday as he tried to rally pro-gun voters for the 2018 congressional elections. “We’ve got to do great in ’18.” Activists energized by shootings at schools, churches and elsewhere are also focused on those elections. In the aftermath of the February school shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which left 17 dead and many more wounded, Trump had temporarily strayed from gun rights dogma. During a televised gun meeting with lawmakers in late February, he wagged his finger at a Republican senator and scolded him for being “afraid of the NRA,” declaring that he would stand up to the group and finally get results in quelling gun violence. But he later backpedaled on that tough talk. He was clearly back in the fold at the NRA’s annual convention, pledging that Americans’ Second Amendment right to bear arms will “never ever be under siege as long as I am your president.” Trump briefly referenced the Parkland shootings in his speech, saying that he “mourned for the victims and their families” and noting that he signed a spending bill that included provisions to strengthen the federal background check system for gun purchases as well as add money to improve school safety. He also repeated his strong support for “letting highly trained teachers carry concealed weapons.” Trump’s speech in Dallas was his fourth consecutive appearance at the NRA’s annual convention. His gun comments were woven into a campaign-style speech that touched on the Russia probe, the 2016 campaign, his efforts in North Korea and Iran and his fight against illegal immigration. In strikingly personal criticism of members of Congress, he decried what he said were terribly weak immigration laws, declaring, “We have laws that were written by people that truly could not love our country.” While the president veered wildly off topic at times — speaking about entertainer Kanye West’s recent support and former Secretary of State John Kerry’s bicycle accident three years ago — he repeatedly returned to the message of the day: his support for the Second Amendment. Trump said some political advisers had told him attending the NRA convention might be controversial, but, “You know what I said? ‘Bye, bye, gotta get on the plane.’” Trump has long enjoyed strong backing from the NRA, which spent about $30 million in support of his presidential campaign. He was introduced by Vice President Mike Pence, who pointed to his own support for gun rights and accused the news media of failing to tell “the whole story” that “firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens” make communities safer. One of the Parkland student survivors, David Hogg, criticized Trump’s appearance in advance. “It’s kind of hypocritical of him to go there after saying so many politicians bow to the NRA and are owned by them,” Hogg said. “It proves that his heart and his wallet are in the same place.” Back in February, Trump had praised members of the gun lobby as “great patriots” but declared “that doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything. It doesn’t make sense that I have to wait until I’m 21 to get a handgun, but I can get this weapon at 18.” He was referring to the AR-15 the Parkland shooting suspect is accused of using. Those words rattled some Republicans in Congress and sparked hope among gun-control advocates that, unlike after previous mass shootings, tougher regulations might be enacted. But after expressing interest in increasing the minimum age to purchase an assault weapon to 21, Trump later declared there was “not much political support” for that. He then pushed off the issue of age restrictions by assigning it to a commission. Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who was shot outside a grocery store during a constituent gathering in 2011, said Trump had “allowed his presidency to be hijacked by gun lobbyists and campaign dollars.” She said Trump had “ignored the pleas of young people demanding safer gun laws.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Donald Trump chides Rudy Giuliani to ‘get his facts straight’ on Stormy Daniels
President Donald Trump is suggesting Rudy Giuliani, the aggressive new face of his legal team, needed to “get his facts straight” about the hush money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election. Giuliani quickly came up with a new version. Trump on Friday chided Giuliani even while insisting “we’re not changing any stories” about the $130,000 settlement paid to Daniels to keep quiet about her allegations of a sexual encounter with Trump — a tryst Trump has denied. Hours later, Giuliani backed away from his previous assertion that the Oct. 27 settlement had been made because Trump was in the stretch run of his campaign. “The payment was made to resolve a personal and false allegation in order to protect the president’s family,” Giuliani said in a statement. “It would have been done in any event, whether he was a candidate or not.” A day earlier, Giuliani had told Fox News: “Imagine if that came out on October 15, 2016, in the middle of the last debate with Hillary Clinton.” Trump said Giuliani was “a great guy but he just started a day ago” on the defense team, and the former New York mayor was still “learning the subject matter.” Giuliani disclosed this week that Trump knew about the payment to Daniels made by Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and the president repaid Cohen. Giuliani insisted Trump didn’t know the specifics of Cohen’s arrangement with Daniels until recently, and he told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday that the president was unaware of all the details until “maybe 10 days ago.” Giuliani told The New York Times that Trump had repaid Cohen $35,000 a month “out of his personal family account” after the campaign was over. He said Cohen received $460,000 or $470,000 in all for expenses related to Trump. While Giuliani suggested Trump knew something about the payments, even as a monthly retainer, Trump had told reporters on Air Force One last month that he hadn’t known about a settlement with Daniels. Trump’s irritation was plain Friday when reporters reminded him of his previous denial. He blasted the media for focusing on “crap” stories such as the Daniels matter and the special counsel’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The president claimed that “virtually everything” reported about the payments has been wrong. He declined to elaborate. It was the Trump team’s own missteps that yielded another day of headlines about Daniels. In his statement, Giuliani said his previous “references to timing were not describing my understanding of the president’s knowledge, but instead, my understanding of these matters.” He didn’t elaborate on that either. Giuliani’s statement correcting himself came just a day after he said, “You won’t see daylight between me and the president.” The about-face came amid concern in the White House that Giuliani’s comments could leave the president legally vulnerable. Giuliani repeated his belief that the payment did not constitute a campaign finance violation. But legal experts have said the new information raises questions, including whether the money represented repayment of an undisclosed loan or could be seen as reimbursement for a campaign expenditure. Either could be legally problematic. The episode also revived worries in Trump’s inner circle about Giuliani, who enjoys the media limelight and has a tendency to go off script. He had been widely expected to join Trump’s administration but was passed over for secretary of state, the position he badly wanted. His whirlwind press tour this week bewildered West Wing aides, who were cut out of the decision-making process when Giuliani first revealed that Trump, who often boasts about signing his own checks, had some knowledge about the payment to Daniels. No debt to Cohen was listed on Trump’s personal financial disclosure form, which was certified on June 16, 2017. Asked if Trump had filed a fraudulent form, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday: “I don’t know.” Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, is seeking to be released from a nondisclosure deal she signed in the days before the 2016 election to keep her from talking about a 2006 sexual encounter she said she had with Trump. She has also filed defamation suits against Cohen and Trump. Her attorney, Michael Avenatti, tweeted Friday that “Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Trump are making it up as they go along.” He added: “How stupid do they think all of us are?” Trump is facing mounting legal threats from the Cohen-Daniels situation and the special counsel’s investigation of possible Russian coordination with the Trump presidential campaign. Cohen is facing a criminal investigation in New York, and FBI agents raided his home and office several weeks ago seeking records about the Daniels nondisclosure agreement. Trump has been playing down his relationship with Cohen but did acknowledge last week that Cohen represented him in the “crazy Stormy Daniels deal.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Alice Martin asked Robert Bentley for attorney general’s appointment
Republican attorney general candidate Alice Martin last year asked then-Gov. Robert Bentley to appoint her as attorney general while Bentley faced a criminal investigation by her office, but said Friday she played no active role in the probe after seeking the job. Public records obtained from the attorney general’s office by The Associated Press show Martin, while chief deputy in the attorney general’s office under Luther Strange, sent a Jan. 26, 2017 email to Bentley’s office seeking, “consideration for appointment to the office of attorney general” if the position became available. “I trust the Governor will consider my qualifications and experience to serve as the first female and 50th Attorney General for the state of Alabama should the seat be vacated,” Martin wrote. In later emails from her state account, she thanked two people for calling, or offering to write, Bentley on her behalf and that she hoped the governor “will give me the nod.” The emails show that Martin actively sought the appointment. Martin issued a statement saying that she put her name into consideration when it became clear that Bentley would be appointing a new attorney general, because she believed she was the most qualified for the job. Bentley last year appointed Strange to the U.S. Senate to fill the seat previously held by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The move raised some eyebrows since it allowed Bentley to appoint a new state attorney general as he faced an ethics investigation in the fallout of an alleged affair with a staffer. After interviewing Martin and other candidates Bentley on Feb. 10 appointed Steve Marshall, the longtime district attorney of Marshall County, as attorney general. Martin is challenging Marshall in the GOP primary for attorney general. Marshall recused immediately from any matter involving Bentley and appointed Ellen Brooks, the former district attorney of Montgomery County, to handle the probe. Asked about the appropriateness of seeking the appointment, Martin said she played no part in the investigation after seeking the post. “As I have long stated, after it became apparent that the Governor would be making a Senate appointment that would leave the Attorney General position vacant, I asked that my name be considered. I believed then, as I believe now, that I was the most qualified candidate for the position and would best serve Alabama. After seeking consideration, I had no role in the Bentley investigation except to attend a briefing for Marshall and Brooks,” Martin said in a statement. It is unclear exactly what the status of the investigation was when Martin interviewed with Bentley for the appointment. Martin wrote in a Feb.16 letter to Brooks after meeting with her said her role had been to provide “legal oversight and administrative support for this investigation since opened.” Martin wrote that she was recusing from further involvement. Martin later left the office and Marshall named his own chief deputy. Martin said in a statement that it was clear during her interview with Bentley that he had, “made his choice and that it would not be me. He was more interested in a status quo Attorney General like Steve Marshall rather than someone who will stand up to corrupt public officials.” Bentley resigned two months later, pleading guilty to misdemeanor campaign finance violations. Brooks announced this spring that the grand jury was closed without additional indictments, but with recommendations to toughen the state ethics law. Martin has criticized the outcome of the Bentley investigation, saying that Bentley got a “get out of jail free card.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Kay Ivey’s Republican challengers release health information
Gov. Kay Ivey’s challengers are indirectly trying to raise questions about her health ahead of Alabama’s June 5 primary, releasing their own medical information and saying the public deserves to have confidence in the health of the next governor. Ivey, the 73-year-old front-runner, dismissed the attempts Friday as a “publicity stunt.” The state’s gubernatorial candidates have generally not released health information. State Sen. Bill Hightower, 58, released copies of his blood tests and a cardiac stress test and called on other candidates to do the same, saying voters have a right to know about not only experience and vision, but the candidate’s physical ability to lead.” Sixty-two-year-old Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle followed suit Friday by releasing a letter from his doctor saying his general medical condition is “very good.” “This is about the health of each candidate,” Hightower said Friday. “Alabama needs to have a governor who is strong and vigorous and can complete the term.” Hightower declined to say if he was directly questioning Ivey’s health and physical fitness. The doctor’s letter released by Battle’s campaign also says he has no “physical evidence of underlying medical illness.” Battle takes no medications other than for seasonal allergies, his doctor added. “Battle believes it is important that the people of Alabama have faith and confidence in the health of their governor. That’s why he’s being transparent about his fitness to lead,” his campaign statement said. Ivey turns 74 in October, and if elected in November, she’ll be one of the oldest in state history, although only slightly older than some previous governors. “Maybe with age comes wisdom,” Ivey told The Associated Press in an interview last month. “My health is good. I get physicals twice a year. All is well. If you look at our schedules, you can see how active I am. Thank goodness and thank God I am healthy and will continue to be if the Lord wills.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Marchers to commemorate 1963 Children’s Crusade in Birmingham this weekend
This weekend, on the 55th anniversary of one of Birmingham’s most famous civil rights protests, the Children’s Crusade, hundreds of children from Birmingham and the nation will join those who experienced the protest firsthand to march to commemorate the events of 1963. Jack and Jill of America, Inc. and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute have planned two separate events for this weekend in and around Kelly Ingram Park and the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Dozens of the original “foot soldiers,” will have prominent roles in both events. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute event will feature a recreation of the original marches. At 10 a.m. Saturday marchers will gather at St. Paul United Methodist Church on 6th Ave North. The church was one of two churches used for the 1963 protests to gather the young marchers and give them instructions before heading into Kelly Ingram Park. “The Power of Children: Then and Now,” hosted by Jack and Jill Inc. is a three-day event which takes place at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex and the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and includes a commemorative march at 2 p.m. on Saturday from Kelly Ingram Park to Railroad Park. “When you think about the pivotal role that children played, not just in civil rights history but in U.S. history in Birmingham, and it is critically important that our young people know that,” Jack and Jill President Joli Cooper-Nelson told AL.com. “So this weekend is about educating, honoring, remembering, inspiring, and celebrating.” Jack and Jill is expecting up to 2,000 of its members and their families to participate, with many families traveling from outside Alabama. “We have determined based on the response we’re getting that this will be the first of many annual commemorations of the children’s march,” Birmingham Civil Rights Institute CEO, Andrea Taylor told AL.com. “Because I can assure you that five years from now, 10 years from now, 25 years from now, even half a century from now, there will be issues of concern in the moment that young people want to engage with and can be change agents about.” The original marches were a major turning point in the Civil Rights movement. Thousands of children were trained by movement leaders in the tactics of non-violent protesting. May 2, 1963 they left the 16th Street Baptist Church in groups, marching throughout the city to peacefully protest segregation, but were not met with a peaceful response. On the first day of the protest, hundreds of children were arrested. On the second day, Commissioner of Public Safety Bull O’Connor ordered police to threaten the children with police dogs, spray them with powerful water hoses, and hit them with batons. Pictures and stories of the violent crackdown on peacefully protesting children in Birmingham circulated throughout the nation and the world, and caused a major outcry on their behalf, eventually leading to the desegregation of businesses and marking a significant victory in Birmingham.
