PETRO VISIT: Trump is set to meet with Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday at the White House as the two leaders attempt to further cool tensions after months of trading insults.
Petro has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration throughout the past year, particularly over the U.S. military's repeated strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean. But that escalated to a new level in the lead-up to and the aftermath of the U.S. operation to capture former Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro.
After the raid, Trump issued warnings that the U.S. would consider intervening in several other countries in the region, including Colombia and Cuba. He has specifically called out Petro a few times, accusing him of facilitating the flow of cocaine into the U.S.
"Colombia is very sick, too. Run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he's not going to be doing it very long," Trump said last month, also signaling openness to a military operation in the South American country.
Petro accused Trump of being more interested in securing access to Venezuela's oil than fighting drug trafficking or bringing democracy to the country.
"I believe that is Trump's logic. He's not thinking about the democratization of Venezuela, let alone the narco-trafficking," he said.
But the two leaders appeared to be on slightly better terms after they spoke by phone a few days after the raid. Trump said speaking with Petro was a "great honor," while the Colombian government called it a "good and positive call."
Trump announced days later that he had invited Petro to the White House.
The meeting is the latest high-profile visit from a foreign leader to the White House, with foreign policy dominating much of Trump's first year back in office. He has had a wide range of interactions with the heads of other countries, some of whom he's been at odds with.
But Trump's comments about Petro have been among the sharpest rhetoric he's used about a foreign leader, adding to the significance of the Tuesday meeting.
▪ The New York Times: Petro can't stop needling Trump.
▪ Bloomberg: Colombians on edge ahead of visit.
CLINTONS CHANGE COURSE: Former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have agreed to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
Their decision comes as the House had been moving toward voting to hold them in contempt this week for their refusal. Some Democrats had even crossed party lines to support advancing contempt resolutions last month to a full House vote.
A spokesperson for the Clintons accused Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) of not acting in good faith but said they would appear.
Comer appeared to learn the news in real time during a meeting of the House Rules Committee on Monday. Democrats pressed him on whether he would move forward with the contempt resolution, but Comer later demurred.
"The only reason they have said they agree to terms is because the House has moved forward with contempt. I will clarify the terms they are agreeing to and then discuss next steps with my committee members," he said in a statement.
▪ The Hill: NFL looking into ties between Epstein, Giants co-owner.
'TAKE OVER': Trump said Republicans should "nationalize" voting in more than a dozen states as Democrats raise concerns that the president may attempt to interfere with the results of the midterms.
"The Republicans should say, 'We want to take over — we should take over the voting — the voting in at least many, 15 places,'" Trump told former Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino in an interview on his podcast.
The Trump administration has already been pushing for greater federal influence in the midterm elections, requesting states turn over voter roll information. Most have not complied with the request.
The administration also raised controversy last week after the FBI executed a search warrant for 2020 election records at the Fulton County, Ga., elections office.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Trump cares about the "safety and security" of elections and is pushing Congress to approve legislative proposals to safeguard them.
"That's why he's urged Congress to pass the SAVE Act and other legislative proposals that would establish a uniform standard of photo ID for voting, prohibit no-excuse mail-in voting, and end the practice of ballot harvesting," she said.
UNUSUAL CALL: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reportedly arranged a phone call between Trump and the FBI agents in the Fulton County search, an unusual instance of the president having any involvement in an investigation.
The New York Times reported Gabbard met with some of the agents who conducted the search the following day and used her cell phone to call Trump, who addressed the agents by speakerphone. He asked them questions and thanked them for their work on the inquiry, three people with knowledge of the meeting told the outlet.
One person said the call was short and Trump gave no directions to the agents. But the call itself raises questions about him having any tie to a federal investigation.
Gabbard's presence at the election office raid itself has drawn scrutiny. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told CNN on Sunday that he wasn't sure why Gabbard was there.
"She is not part of the grand jury investigation, but she is for sure a key part of our efforts at election integrity and making sure that we have free and fair elections," he said.
The Times reported Trump had asked Gabbard personally to travel to Atlanta for the search.
Trump's spy chief defended her presence at the raid in a letter to top Democrats on the House and Senate Intelligence committees Monday, NBC News reported, saying she was there in line with her duties as the top U.S. intelligence official.
ICE BODY CAMERAS: All federal immigration officers in Minneapolis will wear body cameras while in the field amid the scrutiny facing the federal government for its enforcement crackdown, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday.
Noem said in a post on X that the change is effective immediately, and she has spoken with White House border czar Tom Homan, acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons and Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott about it.
"As funding is available, the body camera program will be expanded nationwide," Noem said. "We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country."
The announcement comes as pushback has been mounting against the Trump administration's tactics after the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti last month at the hands of immigration authorities. Mandating all immigration officers wear body cameras has been one key demand from Democrats to reform DHS.
Good's brothers are testifying at a Democratic forum on Capitol Hill today. It is led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (R-Conn.) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.).
The Hennepin County medical examiner formally ruled Pretti's death a homicide on Monday.
Multiple investigations are ongoing into Pretti's death, including from DHS, the FBI and the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Civil Rights Division.
▪ The Hill: Judge declines to order officials to preserve evidence.
▪ The Hill: Four issues to watch for in DHS funding fight.
DOJ SHAKEUP: Close Trump ally Ed Martin is no longer leading the DOJ's "weaponization" initiative focused on reviewing the investigations into the president and his allies, multiple outlets have reported.
A prominent proponent of Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, Martin first joined the DOJ last year after Trump chose him to serve as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. But Trump pulled Martin's nomination to serve permanently in the role after it became clear he wouldn't have enough support to get confirmed.
Martin was then moved to lead the DOJ's new Weaponization Working Group and serve as the department's pardon attorney. In the former role, he has overseen efforts to examine former special counsel Jack Smith's probes into Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and retention of classified and sensitive documents at Mar-a-Lago.
The group has also been looking into the prosecutions of Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rioters and other areas of alleged prosecutorial misconduct.
But Martin came under scrutiny as the DOJ took an unusual step in November by launching a probe into an investigation pushed by Martin and Bill Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
A DOJ spokesperson said Martin continues to serve as pardon attorney.
But CNN reported Martin is expected to leave the DOJ in the coming weeks following the demotion.
INDIA TRADE DEAL: Trump announced he reached a trade deal with India on Monday after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to no longer buy Russian oil, turning to the U.S. instead.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that Modi also agreed to "potentially" buy Venezuelan oil. Gaining access to Venezuela's vast oil reserves has been a clear priority for the president since Maduro's ouster.
"This will help END THE WAR in Ukraine, which is taking place right now, with thousands of people dying each and every week!" Trump said.
Modi confirmed the deal in his own post on X.
Pressuring various countries to cease their purchasing of Russian oil has been a focus for Trump as the war between Russia and Ukraine approaches its fourth anniversary.
Trump increased tariffs on India last year to 50 percent for buying Russian oil and threatened to raise them again recently if it didn't stop doing so. As part of the agreement, the U.S. will lower its tariff on India from 25 percent to 18 percent and India will reduce its tariffs and nontariff trade barriers to zero.
▪ CBS News: More Russia-Ukraine peace talks set for next week.
▪ Fox Business: SpaceX blocks Russian military from using stolen Starlink units.
No comments:
Post a Comment