In The Past 24 Hours Or So Weekend Edition

Your Daily Dose of Trump and His Administration News

11/16-11/17

• California and twenty-two other states sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday, challenging President Trump’s decision to block the state from setting tougher tailpipe emissions standards. Trump announced in September that he was revoking the waiver California has relied on for decades that require automakers to produce more environmentally friendly cars for the state.

• President Trump defended his Friday morning Tweet attacking former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch during her testimony in House impeachment inquiry, saying: “I have freedom of speech just like other people do” and that he’s “allowed to speak up” if others are talking about him.

• Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman had a private meeting with Giuliani and Trump at the White House’s annual Hanukkah party last year. At one point during the party, Parnas and Fruman slipped out of a large reception room packed with hundreds of Trump donors to have a private meeting with the President and Giuliani. Later Parnas bragged he was on a “secret mission” on behalf of Trump to get Ukraine to investigate the Bidens and the DNC.

• The Agriculture Department will begin distributing another round of tariff relief payments next week to farmers and ranchers burned by President Donald Trump’s trade war.The Trump administration has already paid farmers at least $6.7 billion for their 2019 production, on top of $8.6 billion provided for last year’s production and additional trade relief efforts like commodity purchases and marketing assistance.

• The White House is standing by senior adviser Stephen Miller as he faces calls to resign after newly released emails showed he circulated material linked to white nationalism to conservative media before taking his role in the Trump administration.

• Syrian President Assad announced a “resistance” against US troops. Which translates into Iran coordinating militia attacks against American military & SDF allies in East Syria. Militias to include Syrian Baath, Hezbollah, Iraqi Hashd, and other factions. The goal is to seize the oil and subdue the Kurds. 

• Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards defeated Trump-endorsed Republican Eddie Rispone. This is the second time this month that Trump campaigned for a gubernatorial candidate and lost in a state he carried in 2016.

• After harsh criticism from North Korea, U.S. and South Korean military forces have indefinitely delayed a planned joint exercise in what Defense Secretary Mark Esper said, “I see this as a good-faith effort by the United States and the Republic of Korea to enable peace, to shape … to facilitate a political agreement – a deal, if you will – that leads to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.” Despite the gesture, North Korea’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying it has no plans to negotiate over denuclearization unless the U.S. first puts an end to “hostile” policies toward North Korea.

• FedEx, a company that had a tax bill of $1.6 billion in 2017 fiscal year, reportedly owed zero dollars in taxes the fiscal year after President Trump signed off on a $1.5 trillion tax cut that sharply reduced tax rates for corporations in the country.