Trump wants military to secure the border
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he wants to use the military to secure the U.S.-Mexico border until his promised border wall is built.
Speaking during a visit with Baltic leaders, Trump said he’s been discussing the idea with his Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis.
“We’re going to be doing things militarily. Until we can have a wall and proper security, we’re going to be guarding our border with the military,” he said, calling the measure a “big step” that had rarely been done before.
Federal law prohibits the use of active duty service members for law enforcement inside the U.S., unless specifically authorized by Congress. But over the past 12 years, presidents have twice sent National Guard troops to the border to bolster security and assist with surveillance and other support.
U.S. proposes tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is recommending 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports to protest Beijing’s alleged theft of American technology.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a list targeting 1,300 Chinese products, including industrial robots and telecommunications equipment. But the proposed tariffs wouldn’t take effect before a public comment period ends May 11.
The move is the latest in a series of aggressive actions the administration has taken to combat what it calls unfair trade practices by China and other countries. American businesses worry that the administration’s moves will draw painful retaliatory sanctions.
First person sentenced in Russia probe draws 30 days
WASHINGTON — A Dutch attorney who lied to federal agents investigating former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced Tuesday to 30 days in prison in the first punishment handed down in the special counsel’s Russia investigation. He was also ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.
Alex van der Zwaan’s sentence could set a guidepost for what other defendants charged with lying in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation may receive when their cases are resolved. Among them are a former White House national security adviser and a Trump campaign foreign policy aide.
Van der Zwaan had faced zero to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, and his attorneys had pushed for him to pay a fine and leave the country.
But U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, citing the need to deter others from lying in an investigation of international importance, said incarceration was necessary.
“These were not mistakes. These were lies,” Jackson told van der Zwaan as he stood before her. Being able to “write a check and walk away,” she added later, would not fit the seriousness of the crime or send the right message.
Israeli leader nixes UN deal to resettle African migrants
JERUSALEM — In an abrupt and startling reversal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nixed his own deal Tuesday with the United Nations to resettle tens of thousands of African migrants in Israel and other Western nations, caving in to nationalist critics who have demonized the migrants for taking over poor neighborhoods in Tel Aviv.
The move leaves unresolved one of Israel’s most charged and divisive issues — what to do with the Africans who say they fled for their lives in search of sanctuary in the Jewish state.
The about-face also opened Netanyahu to scathing assaults on his leadership, raising doubts about his ability to make controversial decisions on bigger issues in the future, including how he would respond to a peace plan promised by President Donald Trump.
By wire sources
Thank you Trump !