The deal was finalized in part thanks to the direct involvement of Jared Kushner, the President's son-in-law and senior adviser. He shocked a high-level Saudi delegation earlier this month when he personally called Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson and asked if she would cut the price of a sophisticated missile detection system, according to a source with knowledge of the call.
Pressured to finalize a massive $100-plus billion arms deal in the two weeks leading up to Trump's trip to Saudi Arabia, Kushner hoped to maneuver a discount on Lockheed's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system during the Saudis' visit to the White House on May 1 -- a request that Hewson said she would look into at the time.
The World Bank plans to announce Sunday at an event with Ivanka Trump, the U.S. president’s daughter and senior White House adviser, that Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have pledged $100 million collectively toward a fund for women who own or want to start businesses, according to people familiar with the announcement.
You know what would advance women in Saudi Arabia? Rights. Actual rights guaranteeing their protection and equality.
Ms. Trump has made the promotion of women entrepreneurs a signature part of her focus since her father’s inauguration in January. She has advocated for issues such as paid family leave, though the issue has gained little traction in Congress. While she had proposed the idea of the World Bank fund, Ms. Trump doesn’t control it or raise money for it, one person familiar with the plans said.
Others disputed that characterization. A White House officialstressedtoThe Washington Postthat while Ivanka helped inspire the idea, she will not be involved in soliciting funds. “This is not a White House fund. This is not something that she will have any authority over in any way,” the official said. The initiative was first mentioned publicly by German ChancellorAngela Merkelduring the panel, though a Trump administration official credited Ivanka for raising the idea during a meeting with World Bank PresidentJim Yong Kim.
The donations and the White House are not tied. Definitely not. No way! It is a total coincidence the $100 million donation is being made the same weekend a $110 billion arms deal is announced. And never mind that Ivanka Trump is traveling to Saudi Arabia in her official capacity as an ‘assistant to the president of the United States.’
Let’s recall Donald Trump’s reaction when it came to the Saudis donating to the Clinton Foundation. From October 2016:
When Chris Wallace asked Clinton about reports of conflicts of interest at the foundation, she responded, "I'm thrilled to talk about the Clinton Foundation because it is a world renowned charity and I'm so proud of the work that it does."
Trump shot in that it's a "criminal enterprise."
"Saudi Arabia given $25 million, Qatar, all of these countries. You talk about women and women's rights? These are people that push gays off business, off buildings. These are people that kill women and treat women horribly and yet you take their money," Trump said. "So I'd like to ask you right now why don't you give back the money that you've taken from certain countries that treat certain groups of people so horribly?
If true, this is egregious and potentially illegal, according to multiple ethics and legal experts. “Ifthe donation would be a quid pro quo bribe, then asking for it is certainly solicitation of a bribe, which is every bit as criminal as the bribe itself,” Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe tells me via email. “But I started that sentence with ‘if’ because I don’t have enough facts about the donation request to opine on the ultimate bribe issue.” Nevertheless, he says:
At the very least, though, a donation is a “present,” which – if made by a foreign government or an agent of such a government or an entity controlled by it – is expressly banned by the text of the Foreign Emoluments Clause with respect to anyone holding “any Office of Profit or Trust” under the United States. Whether it counts as an “emolument” becomes irrelevant if it’s a “present,” which any donation would at least be.
Tribe explains, “Even if the First Daughter and Assistant to the President somehow manages to create formal distance between herself and that version of the Clinton Foundation, which of course her father denounced endlessly during the campaign, the hypocrisy of the move is jaw-dropping.” He adds, “Such contributions would surely constitute a financial benefit to … her brand, and her family’s brand even if she is unable to spend a penny of the contributions themselves. As such, soliciting such contributions violates at least the spirit of the Foreign Emoluments Clause.”
Even more explicitly, the Office of Government Ethics rules, former Republican ethics counsel Richard Painter tells me, “prohibit use of official position to solicit for ANY charity or other private entity.” TheOGE guidelines specifically state: “Executive branch employees are subject to restrictions on the gifts that they may accept from sources outside the Government. Unless an exception applies, executive branch employees may not accept gifts that are given because of their official positions or that come from certain interested sources.” The rationale for this is obvious (except to Trump). “Even if a gift is from a person or organization that has no official dealings with the employee’s agency, accepting a gift offered because of the employee’s official position may create an appearance of using public office for private gain,” the OGE guidelines explain. “Moreover, if an employee receives a payment from an outside source in some circumstances, the public may believe that the employee is serving two masters or is distracted by outside activities.”
White House spokesman Sean Spicer is touting the massive donation, which totally has nothing to do with the White House. Here’s the link to his tweet promoting the donation, but there’s a screenshot below because it seems likely the tweet will disappear in the near future. Note the preceding tweet touting the record arms deal.
Please Support of Veterans! They deserve the BEST HEALTH CARE Americans can offer through the Veterans Administration. Please give serious consideration to your support and your VOTE!
Senator Bernie Sanders' record of supporting Veterans has been repeatedly misrepresented.
There is NO OTHER CANDIDATE who does not propose invading more countries, putting US military forces in other nations, waging more wars or bombing more nations into rubble to reward the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex for their generous campaign contributions.
Let's work together to provide not only for ALL Veterans, but for ALL Americans!
Please consider joining VoteVets.org and supporting the organization that is fighting for Veterans.
Veterans Groups Criticize Secret Proposal to End VA Healthcare
A new VA Health Care center in Salisbury, N.C. -- set to open this year -- would be shut down by a new proposal concocted in secret by a group of federal legislators. (VA photo)
Apr 02, 2016|by Bryant Jordan
Several of the largest veterans' service organizations in the US are criticizing a proposal drafted in secret to shut down veterans' hospitals and clinics across the country and turn over veterans health care to the private sector.
The proposal was circulated outside the normal process by several members of a congressionally mandated Commission on Care created to study how VA will provide health care over the next couple of decades.
"We are greatly alarmed by the content of the 'proposed straw man document' that was developed and drafted outside the open Commission process by seven ... of the fifteen members -- without the input or even knowledge of the other Commissioners," states the letter to the panel's chairwoman, Nancy Schlichting.
It was signed by the heads of Veterans of Foreign Wars, The American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, AMVETS, Military Order of the Purple Heart, Vietnam Veterans of America, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
The 34-page proposal would privatize veterans' health care and completely eliminate the Veterans Affairs Department health care facilities over the next 20 years, they said.
The proposal also calls for an immediate halt to new VA construction and for a "BRAC-like process" to begin shuttering existing hospitals and clinics, referring to the Pentagon's base realignment and closure process. The department's future role would essentially be to pay the bills of veterans getting care in the private sector.
Schlichting, chief executive officer of Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, had previously warned commission members against recommending a "payor-only" role for VA.
The VSO chiefs said what is "most unsettling about the [recommendation] is the utter lack of consideration that veterans would want to improve and expand the VA health care system. There is also no discussion of how this proposal would affect the coordination of care, the quality of medical services and the health outcomes of veterans."
Instead, the document simply asserts that "the current VA health care system is seriously broken and ... there is no efficient path to repair it" without backing up the assertion, the chiefs wrote.
Commissioners behind the straw man document are David Blom, former president of OhioHealth's central Ohio hospitals; Dr. Toby Cosgrove, chief executive officer of The Cleveland Clinic; retired Rear Adm. (Dr.) Joyce Johnson, formerly with the US Public Health Service and a former surgeon general of the US Coast Guard; Darin Selnick, the Senior Veterans Affairs Advisor for Concerned Veterans for America; retired Marine Gen. Martin Steele, associate vice president for Veterans Research, executive director of Military Partnerships, and co-chair of the Veterans Reintegration Steering Committee at the University of South Florida in Tampa; Dr. Marshall Webster, senior vice president of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; and retired Marine Corps Maj. Stewart Hickey, national director of AMVETS and former CEO for the Hyndman Area Health Center, Pa.
Five of the seven commissioners backing the shutdown of VA health care are Republican appointees, including all three named by former House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio before he resigned last year. Concerned Veterans for America, the group advised by Selnick, is a lobbying group largely funded by the billionaire Koch brothers that seeks to cut budgets and responsibilities of the VA.
"Today the Senate voted to cut 850 million dollars from the VA budget. So when they travel back to their home states to take photos with men and women in uniform, and give speeches about their profound gratitude for the veterans and their families, remember this vote." John Tester
Three veterans laid to rest last week weren’t known to their communities. Their families dissipated, as did their battle buddies.
MARINECORPSTIMES.COM
Teens serve as pallbearers for homeless veterans
Three veterans laid to rest last week were not known in their communities. Their families had dispersed and dissipated, as did their battle buddies.
But they served their country, and that’s all that mattered to students at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy who stepped up to serve as pallbearers at the funerals of those three homeless veterans.
Six students from the all-boys Catholic prep school in Detroit walked the remains to their final resting place at the Great Lakes National Cemetery, the high school announced Oct. 20.
“The men we honored today put their lives on the line for our country and now they deserve our dignity and service in return,” Leonard Froehlich, a senior, said in the school’s news release. “There is no better way to pay our respects than by being pallbearers. We honor these service members by being with them in their last moments on earth, and that in itself is a privilege.”
The student-led initiative, which has so far trained more than 50 students, partners with local funeral homes to ensure the remains of deceased veterans that go unclaimed after 90 days receive their proper disposition; the Dignity Memorial Network Homeless Veterans Program provides caskets for the services.
"The students' service is so important because they realize how they can give back to the people of our community who have given so much to us," faculty program leader Todd Wilson told TODAY. “The students have come to understand that it is not our place to judge someone and their circumstances in life, but rather to celebrate and respect the dignity of that person's life."
As Veterans Day approaches, more students will serve as pallbearers next month in the Detroit area.
"I know that these people had loved ones and, whether or not these loved ones could be there to say goodbye, it does not change the fact that everyone deserves a proper burial," Nick Benedetto, a senior, told TODAY. "During the funerals, while listening to the eulogies, I heard a particular statement that I feel was very important: While you didn't know him by name or sight, we are all here today to recognize his service to our country.”
The number of homeless veterans has been reduced by more than 25,000 in the last five years, but between 40,000 and 50,000 veterans are believed to still be struggling with homelessness.
Let's WAGE PEACE! Screw the GOP War Mongers, the Neo-Cons, the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex and the Dirty Energy Koch Brothers who don't benefit from PEACE!
VoteVets recently launched an effort to expose CVA [Concerned Veterans of America] as an advocacy arm of the far right, funded largely by the Koch brothers, well-known conservative activists.
"VoteVets is honest about being America's largest progressive veterans group, and supporting progressive policies," group officials said in a release. "CVA should be honest about representing the people who support dismantling programs that care for our elderly, our poverty-stricken, our children, and even our veterans." Please leave a comment and share this story courtesy of Military Times.
