monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

WASHINGTON — Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, contradicted on Tuesday the White House timeline about the domestic abuse scandal involving Rob Porter, the president’s former staff secretary. Mr. Wray said that the bureau delivered to the White House a partial report on problems in Mr. Porter’s background in March, months earlier than the White House has admitted receiving the information.

Mr. Porter, one of President Trump’s top aides, was forced to resign last week after allegations of abuse by his two ex-wives were made public, sparking a week of shifting explanations by White House officials about who knew about Mr. Porter’s past and when they knew it.

Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. Wray did not disclose the contents of the bureau’s inquiry. But he said that after the partial report in March, the F.B.I. gave the White House “a completed background investigation” in late July. He said the bureau received a request for a “follow-up inquiry” and provided more information about Mr. Porter’s background to the White House in November.

He also said that Mr. Porter’s background check investigation was “administratively closed” in January, weeks before the allegations against Mr. Porter were publicly known.

Mr. Wray said he was “quite confident” that established protocol was followed.

But the timeline Mr. Wray provided is at odds with the latest explanation from White House officials, who have never mentioned any contact by the F.B.I. in March.

Officials have said the security office at the White House was first contacted by the F.B.I. in July, and again in November. But White House officials also have insisted that the investigation into Mr. Porter’s background was never completed.

“His background investigation was ongoing,” Raj Shah, the deputy White House press secretary, told reporters on Thursday. “He was operating on an interim security clearance. His clearance was never denied, and he resigned.”
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Nazis? What's your beef? They got the trains running on time.

Quote:

Laura Ingraham: Rob Porter's alleged wife-beating "didn't, however, affect his work, which by all accounts was top-notch"

MM

One of the big problems facing Trump is that there's only a small amount of people capable of doing the top jobs, and Trump has ruled out anyone who's been critical of him so that rules out most of them, Republican and Democrat alike.

Does this qualify as multi-tasking?

Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday removed an article from his radio show’s website that claimed the official portrait of former President Barack Obama contained secret images of sperm.

“Controversy surrounding Kehinde Wiley’s wildly non-traditional portrait of the Commander-in-Chief broke out within minutes of its unveiling,” the article, written by “Hannity staff” asserted, “with industry insiders claiming the artist secretly inserted his trademark technique -concealing images of sperm within his paintings.”

Speaking on Israeli television, Mr Netanyahu said the allegations were baseless and that he would continue as prime minister.

The allegations, he said, "will end with nothing".

...He said he had worked only ever "for the good of the nation" and accused police of being on a witch hunt against him.

Based on past experience, I believe the WH is telling the truth.

Honest.

CFPB ends payday lender lawsuit
...Note, NPR's report makes clear that CFPB officials spent years building a case against Golden Valley Lending, and if the litigation had been successful, thousands of Americans stood to get some of their money back. Mulvaney didn't care.

The report specifically highlighted a Michigan woman named Julie Bonenfant, who faced a financial crisis that led her to borrow $900 from Golden Valley Lending. She soon discovered that "her scheduled payments in less than 12 months will total $3,735, or more than four times what she borrowed."

Bonenfant told NPR, "To be honest I'm really mad, really pissed, because I actually voted for Trump. So knowing that his guy threw out this case that affects people like me, I feel kind of like stupid -- just kind of like betrayed."

I love these people. They really care for the little guy.

A Koch Brothers Group Is Targeting These Democratic Senators for Voting Against Tax Reform

The political arm of the network helmed by conservative and libertarian mega donors Charles and David Koch is investing millions in an ad buy targeting two Democratic Senators up for reelection this year in states President Trump won by a landslide for failing to support the tax reform bill.

The group, Americans for Prosperity, is launching the $4 million ad campaign on Feb. 15 against Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill and Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly.

“Joe Donnelly and Claire McCaskill promised tax reform for years but chose partisan politics over Indiana and Missouri families when they had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to provide tax relief. Americans deserve better, which is why AFP is committed to ensuring citizens see the pro-growth benefits of tax reform despite dismissals and deception from ‘no’ votes like Donnelly and McCaskill,” AFP President Tim Phillips said in a statement.

A US spy chief has warned that presidential aides with interim security clearances should have "limited" access to secret information.

US Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said the clearance process was "broken" and needs to be reformed.

He was responding to a question about former White House aide Rob Porter, an alleged wife beater, and the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Mr Kushner is only allowed interim security clearance, like Mr Porter.

Mr Coats was one of several spymasters who gave evidence on Tuesday to the Senate Intelligence Committee about global threats facing the US.

"But if that is the case the access has to be limited in terms of the kind of information they can be in a position to receive."

He told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday there is currently a government-wide backlog of 700,000 security clearance applications.

"The process is broken, it needs to be reformed. It's not evolution, it's revolution," he said.

"Sometimes it is necessary to have some type of preliminary clearance in order to fill a slot," the US director of national intelligence said in response to a question from Democratic New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich.

Mr Coats was one of several spymasters who gave evidence on Tuesday to the Senate Intelligence Committee about global threats facing the US.