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Former President Barack Obama speaks to young leaders from across Europe in a town hall event on April 06, 2019 in Berlin, Germany.(Photo: Sean Gallup, Getty Images)

WASHINGTON Former President Barack Obama warned Democrats about the dangers of rigidideologicaldogmatism, which he said can lead to a "circular firing squad" at an Obama Foundation event in Berlin on Saturday.

Obama made the comment while discussing the importance of compromise in a functioning democracy at the town hall-style forum with "emerging European leaders."

"One of the things I do worry about sometimes among progressives in the United States, maybe it's true here as well, is a certainkind of rigidity where we say, 'Ah, I'm sorry, this is how it's gonna be.' And then we start sometimes creating what's called a circular firing squad where you start shooting at your allies because one of them is straying from purity on the issues. And when that happens, typically the overall effort and movement weakens," Obama said.

The former Democratic president's warning comes as his party appears increasingly divided between left-wing politicians such as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders who espouse democratic socialism, and more moderate Democrats advocating more incremental reforms.

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That tension is also emerging in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination where voters will weigh whether to support figures calling for sweeping progressive policies such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, or more establishment Democratic figures, such as Obama's former running mate Joe Biden who, if he decides to run, might have more appeal in the general election.

Who is running for president?: An interactive guide

Obama said that if they want to get things done, voters and politicians need to accept that they aren't going to get "100% of what you want because somebody else is going to have a slightly different set of interests or slightly different set of values."

"You have to recognize that the way we've structured democracy requires you to take into account people who don't agree with you," he said.

But he also warned the audience that they should also remain to true their "core principles."

"You can't set up a system in which you don't compromise on anything, but you also can't operate in a system where you compromise on everything."

Obama blamed some of the inability to find common ground on the media, which he said are geared to "inflame" and "provoke."

He said he advises his wife Michelle Obama, "Don't watch cable news shows. They're designed to get you mad. That's what their purpose is. Social media is worse. They're designed to make you click."

"You've got social media that was once considered to be the network that would provide us greater understanding, now suddenly appears to be a tool that is used to spread disinformation and hatred and suspicion," said Obama, who was one of the first politicians to effectively use social media.

"We are collectively, all of us, going to have to find ways in which we improve the conversation on the internet and in social media. It is going to be difficult to do."

More: Barack Obama traveled extensively as president, but trips with his daughters were most cherished

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The Wall Street Journals Byron Tau and Aruna Viswantha reported late Wednesday:

Former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig expects to be indicted in the coming days on charges stemming from work he performed for Ukraine in 2012, Mr. Craigs legal team said. Mr. Craig has refused to accept a plea deal, and the matter could be presented to a grand jury for indictment as soon as Thursday, people familiar with the matter say. A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment.

The New York Times Kenneth Vogel, in his own report on the looming likely indictment of the former senior Obama official, writes that this stemmed from Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

While Mueller has concluded his investigation and determined that President Donald Trump and his campaign did not collude with the Russians, while also not finding sufficient evidence to charge Trump on obstruction of justice, other matters that came up in Muellers probe have been handed off to different U.S. attorneys and federal law enforcement agencies for their handling.

Vogel writes:

An Ivy League-educated lawyer who held prominent positions in the Clinton and Obama administrations, Mr. Craig would become the first person who made his name in Democratic Party politics to be charged in a case linked to the special counsels investigation.

Mr. Craig would also become the first person to be charged in a case connected to the special counsel after Mr. Mueller finished his investigation into the 2016 presidential election. In a summary of the inquiry, Attorney General William P. Barr said that the special counsels team had concludedthat there was no evidencethat President Trump or his aides conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.

Vogel adds that the case against Craig, according to his attorneys, is related to the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA)and his lawyers do not necessarily expect him to be charged with a violation of that act but something related to that.

Vogel wrote:

Rather, they [Craigs lawyers] expect him to be charged with making false statements to the Justice Department officials examining whether he was required to register under the law for work he did in 2012, while he was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. The work, on behalf of the government of Viktor F. Yanukovych, then the president of Ukraine, was linked to Paul Manafort, who at the time was a political consultant earning tens of millions of dollars for his representation of Mr. Yanukovych.

Manafort was at one time Trumps top 2016 presidential campaign adviser, and is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence on corruption convictions for actions he committed long before he worked for Trump. Muellers team found these violations, charged Manafort, and prosecuted him successfully, making him perhaps the highest profile former Trump aide to go down as part of the Special Counsels probe. The activities for which Manafort was charged and convicted had nothing to do with President Trump.

Craig, a top Democrat, served as White House counsel for nearly the full first year of Obamas presidencyfrom Jan. 20, 2009, when Obama was inaugurated, until the beginning of January 2010. He also served as a senior official in former Democrat President Bill Clintons White House and worked in high levels of Democrat politics for many years prior to and after that. Clinton had reportedly even offered him the White House counsel job back then, but he turned it down in 1996.

In a statement to the New York Times, Craigs lawyers said outright that while they expect charges to be filed against him, they also maintain his innocence.

We expect an indictment by the D.C. U.S. attorneys office at the request of the National Security Division, Craigs lawyers said, adding: Mr. Craig is not guilty of any charge and the governments stubborn insistence on prosecuting Mr. Craig is a misguided abuse of prosecutorial discretion.

Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorneys office for the Southern District of New York are also reportedly, according to recent Associated Press and other media reports, looking into another Democrat in addition to Craig on this matter that was borne out of the Mueller probe: Tony Podesta, a top Democrat lobbyist and the brother of former Obama White House chief of staff and former Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign chairman John Podesta.

Prosecutors there [in the Southern District of New York] are looking into the conduct of longtime Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta, former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig and former Republican congressman and lobbyist Vin Weber to determine whether they violated federal law by failing to register as foreign agents with the Justice Department, the Associated Press wrote in a 2018 report.

While none has yet been charged with a crime, the news that Craigs attorneys are saying he expects to be breaks the ice on this front and could mean serious problems for the Democratsespecially the Podestas and maybe even Clinton or Obama themselvesdown the road.

Originally posted here:
Obama's WH Counsel To Be Indicted on Federal Corruption ...

WASHINGTON Lawyers for Gregory B. Craig, a White House counsel in the Obama administration, expect him to be indicted in the coming days on charges related to his work for the Russia-aligned government of Ukraine.

The case against Mr. Craig, 74, stemmed from an investigation initiated by the office of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.

An Ivy League-educated lawyer who held prominent positions in the Clinton and Obama administrations, Mr. Craig would become the first person who made his name in Democratic Party politics to be charged in a case linked to the special counsels investigation.

Mr. Craig would also become the first person to be charged in a case connected to the special counsel after Mr. Mueller finished his investigation into the 2016 presidential election. In a summary of the inquiry, Attorney General William P. Barr said that the special counsels team had concluded that there was no evidence that President Trump or his aides conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.

The case against Mr. Craig is related to the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, which the Justice Department is prioritizing in part because of scrutiny related to Mr. Muellers investigation.

The law requires Americans to disclose detailed information about lobbying and public relations work for foreign governments and politicians, and it has been the basis for charges brought against several people investigated by the special counsel.

Mr. Craigs lawyers do not necessarily expect him to be charged with violating the act.

Rather, they expect him to be charged with making false statements to the Justice Department officials examining whether he was required to register under the law for work he did in 2012, while he was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

The work, on behalf of the government of Viktor F. Yanukovych, then the president of Ukraine, was linked to Paul Manafort, who at the time was a political consultant earning tens of millions of dollars for his representation of Mr. Yanukovych.

Mr. Manafort, who went on to become Mr. Trumps campaign chairman in 2016, was sentenced last month to seven and a half years in prison on charges brought by Mr. Muellers team related to obstruction of justice and violations of FARA, as well as banking and tax laws stemming from his work in Ukraine.

Mr. Manafort arranged for Skadden Arps to be paid more than $5.2 million in 2012 and 2013, primarily from a Ukrainian oligarch, to assist the Ukrainian Justice Ministry. Specifically, Mr. Craig and his team produced a report that Mr. Manafort intended to use to quell Western criticism of the prosecution and jailing by Mr. Yanukovychs government of one of his rivals, the former prime minister Yulia V. Tymoshenko, and to train Ukrainian prosecutors handling matters related to the case.

After the report was released, and Mr. Craig was quoted discussing it in an article in The New York Times, the Justice Department unit that oversees FARA reached out to Skadden Arps to ask why the firm and its lawyers had not registered as foreign agents for the Ukrainian government.

The department initially concluded in 2013 that Skadden Arps was obligated to register. But it reversed itself the next year after Mr. Craig made the case that the law did not apply to his work on behalf of Ukraine.

After the initial determination, Mr. Craig told the Justice Department that he and Skadden Arps did not proactively reach out to news outlets to disseminate and promote the report. Rather, he claimed he distributed the report only in response to requests from the media, according to a letter he sent to the department at the time.

Prosecutors cast doubt on Mr. Craigs claim in a settlement reached in January between the Justice Department and Skadden Arps. Under that settlement, the firm avoided prosecution in the matter in exchange for an agreement to pay $4.6 million, to retroactively register its Ukraine work under FARA, to beef up its compliance processes and to cooperate with government investigations of the work on behalf of Ukraine.

But the settlement did not exonerate Mr. Craig, and in fact it signaled that he was in prosecutors cross hairs. It quoted emails showing Mr. Craig reached out to a journalist to offer to provide the report and discuss it.

Neither Mr. Craig nor the journalist are identified by name in the settlement. The journalist, David E. Sanger of The New York Times, is an author of the article in which Mr. Craig is quoted.

Mr. Craigs lawyers have argued that he was not required to register his work under FARA because he was not doing public relations for the Ukrainian government.

In a statement on Wednesday, they said he repeatedly refused requests that he participate in Ukraines media and lobbying campaign to promote the Tymoshenko Report.

Rather, they say he spoke to The Times to correct the Ukrainian Justice Ministrys claims that the report cleared Mr. Yanukovych of accusations that he directed the prosecution of Ms. Tymoshenko for political purposes.

The report was critical of the Tymoshenko trial and caused unhappiness in the Ministry of Justice, the lawyers said in their statement.

Mr. Craigs lawyers asserted that the case against their client was flimsy, pointing out that Mr. Muellers team referred it to federal prosecutors in Manhattan last year for potential prosecution related to FARA, but that they did not bring charges. Instead, the case was moved in January to Washington.

It is being handled by the United States attorneys office in Washington, and the Justice Departments National Security Division, which enforces FARA.

Mr. Craigs lawyers said in the statement, We expect an indictment by the D.C. U.S. attorneys office at the request of the National Security Division. But they added, Mr. Craig is not guilty of any charge and the governments stubborn insistence on prosecuting Mr. Craig is a misguided abuse of prosecutorial discretion.

Mr. Craig left Skadden Arps last year as scrutiny of his work with Mr. Manafort escalated and after a former associate of the firm pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about his work on the effort.

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Ex-Obama Counsel Expects to Be Charged Soon in Mueller ...

U.K. leader loses 3rd vote on Brexit plan

The United Kingdom is issuing British passports without the words "European Union" on the front cover despite the delay to Brexit, BBC News reports.The U.K. government had said the new burgundy passports would be introduced starting several days ago, on March 30.

"Passports that include the words European Union will continue to be issued for a short period after this date," Her Majesty's Passport Office, which issues U.K. passports, said in a statement. "You will not be able to choose whether you get a passport that includes the words European Union, or a passport that does not."

The office said "both designs will be equally valid for travel."

The rollout is part of a two-stage design change that will see new blue passports being "phased in gradually" later this year. And it comes even though Brexit has been delayed.

Initially, the deadline for Britain to leave the European Union was March 29, but the EU granted the U.K. an extension, CBS News' Haley Ott reported. The deadline is now April 12, but the U.K. has asked for another extension.

Susan Hindle Barone, who said on Twitter she received a new passport on Friday, tweeted she was "TRULY APPALLED" by the change to the document's cover.

"Dear Passport Agency, @HM_Passport We're still in the EU - Why doesn't my new passport reflect that?" she tweeted.

British Prime Minister Theresa May formally asked the EU on Friday to delay Britain's departure from the bloc until June 30, hoping to avoid a potentially damaging "no-deal" crash-out in mid-April. European Council President Donald Tusk made a counteroffer. He proposed an indefinite time frame and urged 27 other EU states to offer the U.K. a "flextension" -- a delay of up to one year, CBS News' Ott reported.

Tusk will seek to get his concept approved at an EU summit scheduled to take place in mid April, according to EU officials.

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UK removes "European Union" from British passports despite ...

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Posted: Apr 07, 2019 12:01 AM

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent the views of Townhall.com.

It should surprise no one that in the radicalized Democratic Party of 2019 disgraced Reverend Al Sharpton is a major power-broker. His influence has been on display this week as many of the major Democratic Party presidential candidates attended a convention sponsored by the National Action Network, a civil rights organization founded by Sharpton. The list of attendees included Senators Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, as well as Congressman Julian Castro, former Congressman Beto ORourke, former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Democrats view Sharpton as an African American leader with a huge following across the country. Instead of being regarded as a major figure in the party, Sharpton should have been shunned many years ago. In 1987, he advocated the cause of Tawana Brawley, a young girl who claimed she was raped by a group of white men. She also maintained that she was smeared with feces and had racial slurs written all over her body.

Sharpton turned her case into a national story claiming a racist attack and demanding compensation for Brawley and prosecution for the white men accused of the crime. Ultimately, a jury decided that it was a hoax and the men were innocent. Subsequently, Brawley, Sharpton and some of her other advisers were ordered to pay restitution to one of the men, former prosecutor Steve Pagones, who was falsely named in the attack.

This outrageous hoax should have forever banished Sharpton to the political sidelines. Instead, he has been conducting his racial shakedowns ever since and given a national media platform with a syndicated radio show and a MSNBC television show.

For so many of the top Democrats to show solidarity with Sharpton is a stinging indictment of the party today. At his convention, the presidential candidates pledged support for the extreme Democratic Party agenda, including such controversial proposals as paying reparations to African Americans as atonement for slavery.

It is unclear exactly how Democrats foresee reparations being paid. A bill by U.S. Representative Shelia Jackson Lee (D-TX) calls for recommendations on payments along with an apology to African Americans. Several of the leading Democratic Party candidates, including Gillibrand, Harris, ORourke and Booker have endorsed the bill.

It is incredibly sad that Democrats are fixated on the past instead of trying to create a better future for Americans of all races. Obviously, they want to aggravate racial divisions in a bid to capture a higher percentage of minority voters in the next election.

Before the next election, lets hope African American voters will examine whether Democrat elected officials in office all over the country, regardless of their fiery race-baiting rhetoric, are actually enacting policies that are creating better living conditions in the major urban areas of the country. Today, almost all of the cities with the highest rates of crime and poverty, such as St. Louis, Baltimore, New Orleans and Chicago, are controlled by Democrats, who exacerbate these problems with their disastrous polices. Instead of accepting responsibility for such catastrophic results, Democrats usually blame Republicans and institutionalized racism as the true culprits.

This current push for reparations is another example of what Democrats always do to generate support at election time. Rather than offer strategies to improve the plight of African Americans such as initiatives that will produce good paying jobs and more opportunity for business growth, Democrats advocate policies like reparations that will create more racial division and economic misfortune for millions of Americans.

Such an idea is ludicrous for many reasons. Americans living today should not be financially penalized for morally reprehensible actions of previous generations. Poor and working-class white Americans should not be forced to pay reparations in a scheme to improve the financial situation of African Americans. Along with the racial discrimination involved in the proposal, it is also patently unfair. No white American living today has ever owned a slave and no African American living today has been a slave, at least not in this country.

What is ironic is that slavery currently does exist in many countries around the world and Democrats seem to have little to no interest in freeing those imprisoned people from oppression. Their only interest is in promoting positions that will enhance their political power, not in actually creating better conditions for people in this country or anywhere around the world.

By advocating destructive policies like reparations and paying homage to a race hustler and scam artist like Reverend Al Sharpton, these leading Democrats are giving all Americans a clear indication of the sickness that is afflicting their party.It is a powerful reminder that voters should heed as they start to focus on the upcoming 2020 elections.

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Democrats Kiss The Ring Of Al Sharpton - townhall.com