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Andrew Kreig
JIP Editor
The Justice Integrity Project (JIP) researches official misconduct
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Editor's Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and alternative April 2018 news and views
April 24
Trump Cabinet Confirmations
New York Times, After Late Vote Switch, Senate Panel Approves Pompeo for Secretary of State, Nicholas Fandos, April 24, 2018 (print edition). The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a late pivot on Monday evening, approved the confirmation of Mike Pompeo to be the next secretary of state, after Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, bowed to pressure from President Trump and dropped his opposition.For days, the committee appeared ready to deliver a historic rebuke. Since it began considering nominees in the late 19th century, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has never given a nominee for secretary of state anything but a favorable vote, according to the Senate historian. It has been almost 30 years since any cabinet nominee was reported to the full Senate with an unfavorable recommendation.
But minutes before the committee convened, Mr. Paul, an ardent opponent of interventionist foreign policy, declared his support for Mr. Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, to lead the State Department, securing approval from the committee.
“After calling continuously for weeks for Director Pompeo to support President Trump’s belief that the Iraq war was a mistake, and that it is time to leave Afghanistan, today I received confirmation that Director Pompeo agrees with President Trump,” Mr. Paul wrote. “President Trump believes that Iraq was a mistake, that regime change has destabilized the region and that we must end our involvement with Afghanistan. Having received assurances from President Trump and Director Pompeo that he agrees with the president on these important issues, I have decided to support his nomination.”
Trump VA Pick Sidelined: Why?
Washington Post, Senate to delay confirmation hearing for Jackson to head Veterans Affairs, White House officials told, Seung Min Kim, Lisa Rein and Josh Dawsey, April 24, 2018 (print edition). The development, coming just two days before Ronny Jackson (shown at right) was scheduled to testify before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, appeared to put his confirmation in jeopardy.Palmer Report, Analysis: That whole thing with Donald Trump and his doctor has found a way to get even worse for them both, Bill Palmer, April 24, 2018. Donald Trump somehow managed to find a military doctor who was willing to announce that Trump was 6’3″ when he’s visibly no more than 6’2″, and that he weighs 239 pounds when he visibly weighs at least a few dozen pounds more. The doctor also declared that Trump was in fantastic cognitive health because he was correctly able to identify a picture of a rhinoceros. It was cartoonish even for a Trump scandal, and it was one of those things you just knew would get even worse.
Remarkably, when Trump turned around and rewarded Dr. Ronny Jackson for the glowing and fake medical report by nominating him to be the head of the VA, even that wasn’t the wackiest part of the scandal. Sure, why not put a doctor, who has no corporate or managerial experience, in charge of a massive bureaucracy? Now we’ve gotten to the part that’s just plain ugly, and it’s a tale involving prescription drug fraud and alcohol abuse.
The Senate committee vetting Jackson’s nomination has learned that he’s been accused of everything from being drunk on the job, to fraudulently prescribing drugs to patients. It’s not yet clear how valid these accusations are, or what the evidence is, but it’s explosive enough that the Senate promptly postponed Jackson’s confirmation hearings, without even bothering to schedule a new date. That doesn’t mean his nomination is officially dead, though the odds have been against him from the start. But it does remind us of an all too familiar pattern.
Any time something weird happens that doesn’t make any sense in Trump land, it always ends up being something much uglier by the time it’s all said and done. We’ve gone from a doctor comically lying about Donald Trump’s weight, to Trump illegitimately nominating that same doctor for a job he’s clearly not qualified for, to serious accusations of malpractice against that doctor. These things always get worse before they get even worse.
U.S. Regional Military Chief Visits Israel On 'Secret' Mission
Zero Hedge, Opinion: US CENTCOM Chief Makes "Secret And Unprecedented" Visit To Israel As Russia Mulls Arming Syria, Tyler Durden, April 24, 2018. Increasingly it appears that the recent US coalition missile strikes on Syria have utterly backfired: instead of weakening Syria or degrading its military capabilities, the attack may have actually served to strengthen Syria's defenses.
Since the massive strike which involved the US, UK, and France launching over 100 cruise missiles, Russia is rumored to be moving forward on delivery of its advanced S-300 missile defense system, which would be a monumental upgrade allowing Syrian defenses to far ...
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