【Move to another page】 Quote https://ift.tt/2LW19qb Trump Defends Supreme Court Justice Over Fresh Misconduct Claim
US President Donald Trump mounted an angry defense of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Sunday as the controversial judge faced calls for an investigation over fresh allegations of sexual misconduct.
Trump blasted the media and "Radical Left Democrats" after a former Yale classmate of Kavanaugh alleged that the jurist — one of the most senior judges in the land — exposed himself at a freshman year party before other students pushed his genitals into the hand of a female student.
The latest allegation in The New York Times came after Kavanaugh denied sexual misconduct accusations leveled against him by two women during his confirmation to the Supreme Court last October.
"Now the Radical Left Democrats and their Partner, the LameStream Media, are after Brett Kavanaugh again, talking loudly of their favorite word, impeachment," Trump tweeted.
"He is an innocent man who has been treated HORRIBLY. Such lies about him. They want to scare him into turning Liberal!"
Now the Radical Left Democrats and their Partner, the LameStream Media, are after Brett Kavanaugh again, talking loudly of their favorite word, impeachment. He is an innocent man who has been treated HORRIBLY. Such lies about him. They want to scare him into turning Liberal!
The new allegations came from Max Stier, who runs a non-profit in Washington. His concerns were reported to the FBI during Kavanaugh's 2018 confirmation process but not investigated, according to the Times.
Stier said he saw his former classmate "with his pants down at a different drunken dorm party, where friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student."
Stier has not spoken publicly about the incident but his story was corroborated by two officials, the Times said.
It is the latest in a string of accusations of unwanted sexual contact or assault against Kavanaugh since Trump nominated him to the Supreme Court.
'Shame'
Christine Blasey Ford testified before Congress that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the 1980s, while Deborah Ramirez told The New Yorker Kavanaugh had waved his penis in front of her face at a 1980s dormitory party.
FILE - Professor Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Brett Kavanaugh of a sexual assault in 1982, testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Kavanaugh on Capitol Hill in Washington.
The latest allegation surfaced during a 10-month investigation by Times reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly, and features in their upcoming book, "The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation."
Trump called on Kavanaugh to take legal action over the claims, suggesting also that the Department of Justice should intervene on the judge's behalf and "come to his rescue."
But Democrats seeking to be Trump's opponent in the 2020 election called for the judge to be investigated.
"Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation is a shame to the Supreme Court. This latest allegation of assault must be investigated," former housing secretary and Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro tweeted.
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobouchar, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who was involved in a heated exchange with Kavanaugh during his confirmation, described the process as a "sham."
"I strongly opposed him based on his views on executive power, which will continue to haunt our country, as well as how he behaved, including the allegations that we are hearing more about today," she told ABC's "This Week."
Republican Senator Ted Cruz dismissed the new allegation, however, as "the obsession with the far left with trying to smear Justice Kavanaugh by going 30 years back with anonymous sources."
【Move to another page】 Quote https://ift.tt/2UV1gX8 James Carafano: US killing of Hamza bin Laden sends important message to terrorists Like father, like son. Usama bin Laden's son Hamza was killed in a U.S. counterterrorism raid that strikes a blow against Al Qaeda. September 15, 2019 at 11:50PM
【Move to another page】 Quote https://ift.tt/2LSRvF2 With New North Korea-US Talks Likely, Will a Deal Result?
Promised talks this month between the United States and North Korea will give President Donald Trump yet another chance to conclude a deal with the reclusive nation, something that has eluded several of his predecessors.
But after three summits and more than two years of on-and-off talks, some analysts are asking just how well Trump's self-proclaimed prowess as a dealmaker translates to the world of diplomacy.
"I think the record is beginning to become clear that he is not as great a dealmaker as he believes and as he has advertised," said Alexander Vershbow, who served as an ambassador to South Korea during the George W. Bush administration.
Trump has presented himself as a master dealmaker who can transfer his business dealmaking skills into the world of politics and diplomacy since announcing his candidacy in 2015.
"I make a good deal," Trump said as he prepared for his presidential bid for the White House in 2015.
"I make good deals. That's what I do. I would make great deals for our country." - my @SRQRepublicans speech
Christopher Hill, a chief U.S. negotiator in nuclear talks with North Korea during the George W. Bush administration, said, "I'm skeptical that that type of business dealmaking can really translate into diplomatic so-called dealmaking."
Opportunity
Wendy Sherman, who served as North Korea policy coordinator during the administration of President Bill Clinton, said if Trump didn't get a deal in the real estate development market, he could seek another opportunity.
"But when it comes to war and peace, when it comes to the economic prosperity of the United States, things are little bit more complicated," Sherman said.
FILE - Real estate mogul Donald Trump announces, during a news conference in New York, the opening of his Taj Mahal Resort Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., Feb. 28, 1989.
Baruch Fischhoff, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Institute for Politics and Strategy, said Trump's dealmaking with world leaders is influenced by his dealmaking in the business world.
"Mr. Trump's business experience is primarily as a real estate developer," Fischhoff said. "In that business arena, it was possible for him to have major properties go bankrupt and still get funding for new ones."
In the world of business, deals are often viewed through the lens of cost and benefit analysis, and strategies involved are aimed at maximizing profit while minimizing cost, said Vershbow, the former Bush administration ambassador.
However, in the world of diplomacy, Vershbow continued, costs and benefits cannot always be assessed in monetary terms and strategies involved cannot solely be based on gaining financial advantage.
"In the business world, you're talking about economic benefits and costs," he said. "It's kind of fairly dry but straightforward. In [diplomatic] negotiations, there're many different factors in terms of building trust between different countries, different cultures, and calculating the interest of third parties who may not directly be involved but could be affected. So it's more complex undertaking."
It is in the international system of alliances where Trump's business calculations tend to overshadow the building of relationships and fostering intrinsic values, said Bruce Klingner, former CIA deputy division chief of Korea and current senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
"Trump's transactional views on the U.S. alliance and the stationing of American troops overseas are at odds with 70 years of post-World War II American strategy," Klingner said. "Seeking alliances as business transactions, rather than based on [sharing] common values and strategic objectives, is a disservice to the men and women in the U.S. military."
FILE - President Donald Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi., Feb. 28, 2019.
Top-down approach
In pursuing a denuclearization deal with Pyongyang, Trump began dealing with the North Korean leader himself in a so-called top-down approach toward diplomacy. This had the two leaders beginning the talks rather than adhering to the diplomatic convention of using working-level negotiators to put together a deal before any top-level meeting.
Sherman said, "The president sort of left things at the top and keeps saying what a great relationship he and Kim have." She continued, "Personal relationships certainly matter. [But] in very complex negotiations, it is not nearly sufficient."
Trump boasted of a beautiful letter he received from Kim even as North Korea was firing missiles in August amid stalled talks, and Trump frequently said North Korea has "tremendous economic potential," in an apparent move to lure Pyongyang to the negotiating table.
"Trump started talking about beachfront condos as he did in Singapore," Hill said, mentioning the location of the first Trump-Kim summit in 2018. "Maybe he believes. I don't think the North Koreans do. I don't think anyone else does."
At the Hanoi summit, Trump walked away from making a deal after North Korea rejected the U.S. proposal to give up its entire nuclear weapons program and instead offered a partial denuclearization in exchange for sanctions relief.
FILE - North Korea test fires a new weapon, in this undated photo released Aug. 11, 2019, by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.
Vershbow said a big-deal approach that demands a full denuclearization up front is ineffective because of the complications involved, including getting North Korea to inventory its nuclear arsenal, and verifying and inspecting its nuclear program.
"[Trump] thinks he can have a big bang and all the issues will fall into place," Vershbow said. "That's sometimes possible. But in the case of North Korea, clearly, there are … tremendous complications …. so this is simply impossible to solve with a big bang. You need to accept certain incrementalism."
Vershbow continued that a big deal approach could be risky, putting the U.S. and its allies, South Korea and Japan, in "a corner."
"Once you say it's all or nothing, either you succeed or if you fail, you're sort of forced to escalate and possibly even bring in military threats rather than having more modest expectations and proceeding step-by-step and maybe creating some momentum," he said.
Vipin Narang, a professor of political science and a North Korea expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said Trump might "blame [the outgoing National Security Adviser John] Bolton for the Hanoi hold-up, and reset America's negotiating position toward a step-by-step deal, comprehensive in scope but implemented in phases."
Trump announced he fired Bolton on Tuesday over disagreements on foreign policy issues, including North Korea. Bolton was known for taking a tough stance on North Korea, and against Trump's overtures to Kim and their meeting at the inter-Korean border in June.
