Month: July 2017

After days of enduring pointed criticism from President Donald Trump and calls from Congressional Democrats to testify over his contacts with Russian officials, Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ former colleagues in the Senate came to his defense on Tuesday.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a prominent Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and former presidential candidate, and Richard Shelby, another Senator from Sessions’ home state of Alabama, took to Twitter to refute Trump’s latest censure of his embattled attorney general.

Graham called Sessions “a rock solid Conservative” and “one of the most decent men I’ve met in my political life” and questioned Trump’s censure that Sessions had failed to investigate former political rival Hillary Clinton.

“President Trump’s tweet today suggesting Attorney General Sessions pursue prosecution of a former political rival is highly inappropriate,” Graham tweeted.

“On occasion, I’ve vigorously disagreed with Jeff but I’ve never once doubted his integrity or sense of fair play,” Graham wrote in another tweet.

Shelby called Sessions “a man of integrity, loyalty, and extraordinary character.”

“I join the people of Alabama in giving Jeff Sessions my deep respect and unwavering support,” Shelby tweeted.

Under fire

The two Senators’ vigorous defense of Sessions came after Trump took another jab at Sessions on Tuesday and suggested that Clinton, the Democratic candidate in last year’s presidential election, should be the one facing scrutiny.

“Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!” Trump wrote.

That followed a Monday tweet in which Trump described Sessions as “our beleaguered A.G.” and asked why he was not “looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?”

Sessions was the first U.S. Senator to endorse Trump’s candidacy during last year’s presidential campaign. After his victory, Trump tapped him to lead the Department of Justice, making Sessions the nation’s top law enforcement officer.   But the two former allies grew distant after the attorney general recused himself from the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the election.

In an interview with the New York Times last week, Trump said he never would have picked Sessions for attorney general had he known Sessions would recuse himself from the Russia probe.  The job passed to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who then appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation, which Trump has repeatedly called a “witch hunt.”

In a New York Times interview, Trump also accused Sessions of “giving bad” answers during his confirmation hearing in February when he was asked if he had had any contacts with Russian officials during the campaign.

“He gave some answers that were simple questions and should have been simple” Trump said.

Sessions recused himself In March after it emerged that he had failed to disclose details of his contacts with former Russian ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak, during his confirmation hearing.

Sessions denied that he had misled members of the Judiciary Committee that voted to confirm his nomination, and said that he withdrew from any role in the Russia probe because he had served as a campaign adviser to Trump.

Replacement talk

Trump’s public criticism of his attorney general has sparked speculation that the president is considering replacing him with loyalist.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said last week that Trump was disappointed in Sessions’ recusal decision but had confidence in him.

“Clearly, he has confidence in him or he would not be the attorney general,” Sanders said.

But on Tuesday, Anthony Scaramucci, the new White House Communications director, was asked by conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt if Trump wants Sessions out.

“I have an enormous amount of respect for the attorney general, but I do know the president pretty well, and if there’s this level of tension in the relationship that’s public, you’re probably right,” Scaramucci replied.

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, another former Trump campaign adviser and ally, has been mentioned as a possible successor.  Guiliani, who was under consideration for Secretary of State during the transition, dismissed reports on Monday that he was a candidate and said Sessions had made the right decision when he recused himself from the Russia investigation.

Sessions has not addressed Trump’s criticism but he told reporters last week that he would stay on the job “as long as that is appropriate.”

Kislyak connection

The Washington Post reported on Friday that Kislyak told his superiors in Moscow last year that he had discussed campaign-related matters with Sessions, contradicting what Sessions has said about those meetings. The newspaper said the information came from intercepted communications between Kislyak and Moscow.

“This is a serious matter, and the Judiciary Committee must hear directly from the attorney general,” Senator Dianne Feinstein wrote in a letter to Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, urging him to ask Sessions to testify.

Al Franken, another Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee and a Trump critic, called the purported conversation between Sessions and Kislyak a “very troubling development in the relationship between the Trump team and Russia.”

“It is now clearer than ever that Jeff Sessions needs to testify again in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee so that we can get some answers,” Franken wrote on Facebook on Friday. However, Franken later told CNN, Grassley “does not want [Sessions] to come back.”

A spokesman for Grassley told VOA late Monday that the committee chairman does want Sessions to appear later this year, once the attorney general’s team of senior officials is in place, “so we could get a complete picture of how the department is functioning with a full staff.”

The spokesman, Taylor Foy, said the Democratic minority in the Senate has “insisted on dragging out the confirmation process for Justice Department nominees,” and this had made it more difficult for the committee to perform its function of oversight.

The Senate Judiciary Committee oversees the work of the Department of Justice, and it is one of several Congressional panels investigating Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election.
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The Boy Scouts of America is distancing itself from U.S. political disputes after President Donald Trump gave a controversial speech to thousands of scouts at their national encampment.

“The Boy Scouts of America is wholly non-partisan and does not promote any one position, product, service, political candidate or philosophy,” the group said Tuesday. “The invitation for the U.S. President to visit the National Jamboree is a long-standing tradition and is in no way an endorsement of any political party or specific policies.”

Trump initially told Scouts Monday night at the National Scout Jamboree in West Virginia that he would not talk about politics. “Who the hell wants to talk about politics when I’m in front of the Boy Scouts?” he said.

In the course of the half-hour speech, however, Trump fired barbs at former President Barack Obama and his election opponent last year, Democrat Hillary Clinton, while attacking the “fake” news media and “this horrible thing known as Obamacare,” Obama’s national health care law Trump is trying to repeal. He spoke about about the “cesspool” of lawmakers in Washington and boasted about his election victory.

Some Scout leaders took to social media to disparage Trump’s speech, while the group’s Facebook page was filled with comments criticizing the president for using the Boy Scout gathering for political attacks.

Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, wrote on Twitter, “As a Scout leader, my stomach is in knots about what Trump did today. If you haven’t watched it yet, don’t. It’s downright icky.”

About 40,000 Scouts, leaders and volunteers were on hand for the Jamboree, an event held every four years.

Obama never appeared at the event in person during his two terms in the White House, but did send a video message in 2010, the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. Trump took note of that.

“By the way, just a question, did President Obama ever come to a Jamboree?” he asked. “The answer is no… But we’ll be back.”

Toward the end of his remarks, Trump reminisced about his election victory last November, mocking news media and pollsters who had predicted he would lose.

“But do you remember that incredible night with the maps?” he asked, referring to state-by-state maps denoting Democratic or Republican wins with blue or red coloring. “And that map was so red it was unbelievable, and they didn’t know what to say.”
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The U.S. Carrier factory where President Donald Trump says he saved 800 jobs from moving to Mexico notified 300 people last week that they were being laid off.

The layoff notices began Thursday, exactly six months since Trump took office. The layoffs are part of a deal Trump made with the company in December to prevent deeper cuts at the Indianapolis plant.

The layoffs are the first of a group of 630 job terminations planned for the year as the company moves some of its operations to Mexico. Carrier – owned by United Technologies Company (UTC) – announced in December that its fan coil department would relocate to Mexico by the end of 2017.

WATCH: Despite Trump’s efforts, Indiana Carrier lays off employees

The Carrier plant, which makes gas furnaces, became an issue in last year’s presidential election when UTC announced plans to eliminate about 2,100 jobs in the state and transfer those operations to Mexico. As a presidential candidate, Trump roundly criticized that decision.

After winning the election, Trump worked out a deal with his vice president-elect, Mike Pence, who was then the governor of Indiana, to provide as much as $7 million in tax incentives and training grants for Carrier in exchange for keeping about 700 of those jobs in the state.

In a letter sent to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development in May, a human resources manager for Carrier said, “While the entire facility is not closing, the separations are expected to be permanent.”

In addition, UTC is expected to lay off an additional 700 workers at factories in the town of Huntington, Indiana, near the city of Fort Wayne.

However, Carrier has also said it will honor its commitment, made in 2016, to employ about 1,100 people in Indianapolis.

Robert James, head of the United Steelworks Local 1099, the Carrier workers’ local union, told VOA the union is trying to negotiate retirement incentives and “voluntary separation” incentives, or buyouts, for the workers to cut down the number of actual job losses.

During the 2016 presidential election campaign, James was most concerned about job security. When he spoke to VOA in April of 2016, he was expecting to lose his job when Carrier moved the work to Mexico.

A lot has happened since.

“We appreciate what President Trump did,” James said at the time, referring to Trump’s efforts to keep the Carrier facility open and employing workers in Indianapolis making furnaces.

Uncertainties

While a lot of positive developments have happened since VOA last spoke to James, he recently said a cloud of uncertainty still hangs above the facility.

“What we saw in December when President Trump came to Carrier … it was a dog and pony show.” Because only some, not all, of the jobs were saved, he added.

“He stood up there before 100 people who were in that room and told those 100 workers that there were 1,100 jobs being saved. And he was wrong,” James said.

According to James, only 730 are slated to stay in Indiana.

Mohan Tatikonda, a professor of Operations Management at the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University, said most factories like Carrier “have already moved.”

Tatikonda said lower-skill jobs such as those at Carrier naturally flow to a lower-wage environment, eventually.

“We can be happy – it [[saving some jobs]] made a difference for so many families, but it wasn’t a lasting solution, and it is not a solution that is in any way replicable or applicable to other factories,” Tatikonda said.

While James’ job at the plant is secure, for now, he is focused on helping those who are leaving this year to look for other work, including “some the same age as I am that is going to make it a lot harder. Because when you are in your 50s, trying to look for a job – that’s not a good thing,” he added.

Earlier this year, Trump tweeted twice about former union leader Chuck Jones after Jones criticized the deal. Trump said Jones had done a “terrible job” negotiating for the workers and suggesting that he “spend more time working.”

Jones has since retired.

Carrier said the employees who lose their jobs will get severance pay. It says at least 30 people are taking advantage of educational funding offered by Carrier.

VOA’s Kane Farabaugh contributed to this report.
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Two Chinese fighter jets intercepted an American surveillance aircraft over the East China Sea, U.S. officials said Monday. The incident happened over the weekend.

Two U.S. military officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters that one of the Chinese J-10 fighter jets flew directly in front of the U.S. Navy EP-3, forcing the American aircraft to take “evasive action” to avoid a collision. One of the Chinese jets was armed.

The American reconnaissance plane was conducting normal operations over international waters 80 nautical miles from the Chinese city of Qingdao when the incident occurred.

Such incidents are becoming increasingly common around China’s coastline. In May, Chinese fighter jets intercepted a U.S. plane designed to detect radiation as it flew over international waters.
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The U.S. government said on Monday it would resume fast processing of H-1B visas requested by institutions of higher education and nonprofit and governmental research organizations, while leaving in place a longer approval time for companies that use the visas.

President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to crack down on immigrants, whom he said were taking jobs from U.S. citizens, and signed an executive order in April calling for a review of the H-1B program. The visa allows foreigners with certain skills to work temporarily in the United States.

U.S. companies often use the visas to hire graduate-level workers in several specialized fields, including information technology, medicine, engineering and mathematics. The visas are heavily used in the tech sector.

On April 3, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) suspended “premium processing” of the visas for up to six months. Under the expedited procedure, applicants can be eligible for visa approvals within 15 days, instead of a regular review period that can last several months.

The United States currently caps H-1B visas at 65,000 a year, with an additional 20,000 allowed for those who have earned advanced college degrees in the United States.

The overall suspension remains in place but USCIS said on Monday in a statement that premium processing would resume for some applications from educational and research-oriented organizations exempt from the cap.

The agency resumed premium processing for physicians working under a specific waiver program on June 26.

USCIS has said that suspending premium processing was necessary to reduce a backlog of long-pending visa petitions and thus reduce overall H-1B processing times.

 
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Russia is responsible for the “Hot War” in Eastern Ukraine, the newly appointed U.S. special envoy to Ukraine said Sunday.

Kurt Volker, who was appointed by the State Department earlier this month to negotiate an end to more than three years of fighting that has killed 10,000 people, visited Ukraine on the eve of telephone talks between its leader and Russian, German, and French counterparts.

“This is not a frozen conflict, this is a hot war and it is an immediate crisis that we all need to address as quickly as possible,” Volker said in the city of Karamatorsk in the war-torn Donetsk region.

“It is truly a high degree of suffering, there was a high human cost to this conflict and that is another reason why it is so urgent that we address it,” he added.

Volker’s visit followed a particularly bloody week in eastern Ukraine, with at least 11 people killed over the past few days, the most serious flare up of violence in recent months.

The U.S. Congress is set to vote this week on legislation calling for more sanctions against Russia, not only for its meddling last fall in the U.S. election, but also for its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.
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Jordan Spieth won golf’s British Open on Sunday, outdueling fellow American Matt Kuchar over the final holes to capture his third major championship.

Spieth, just shy of turning 24 in the coming week, won the tournament at the Royal Birkdale course in Lancashire, England by three shots over the 39-year-old Kuchar, long a fixture on the world golf scene.  

Spieth, who won the Master’s and U.S. Open championships in 2015, led the British tournament by three shots over Kuchar after the third round and both carded final round scores of 69, one under par.

But through 13 holes Sunday, Kuchar had pulled a shot ahead of Spieth before he regained control with three birdies and an eagle on the 14th to 17th holes to win the Claret Jug, the tournament’s signature trophy.

Three different golfers have now won the first three major tournaments this year, with Spain’s Sergio Garcia winning the Master’s in April and American Brooks Koepka the U.S. Open in June. The last of the sport’s four annual major championships, the Professional Golfers’ Association tournament, will be contested next month.

 
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The probe into Russian meddling in the U.S. election crosses into new territory this week as congressional committees seek information from two of Donald Trump’s family members, including the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is expected to make the first of two appearances on Capitol Hill  Monday.

A man often seen but rarely heard, Kushner is one of President Trump’s closest advisers, tasked with pursuing a peace deal in the Middle East and heading an effort to modernize the federal government.

In closed-door sessions, Kushner is slated to answer questions before the Senate and House intelligence committees. Both are expected to seek information about Kushner’s Russia contacts, including a December meeting with Russia’s ambassador and, last June, with a Russian attorney and other figures connected to Moscow.

That meeting has been the focus of great attention since the President’s son, Donald Trump Jr, released emails expressing eagerness for what he believed the Russian attorney would provide: harmful material about Hillary Clinton, Trump’s 2016 opponent.

Trump Jr. and campaign manager Paul Manafort also attended the meeting, and were initially scheduled to appear this week before the Senate Judiciary Committee. But that testimony has been postponed based on an understanding that the two men will provide the committee with records and information.

With the Russia probe now scrutinizing those closest to Trump, questions have arisen about any possible presidential pardons. Trump’s legal team noted the Constitution grants the president broad pardoning powers, but insisted that nothing is being contemplated.

“We’re not researching the issue because the issue of pardons is not on the table,” the president’s attorney, Jay Sekulow, said on ABC’s This Week program. “There’s nothing to pardon from.”

At the same time, the White House insisted the news media’s focus on the Russia probe is misguided.

“The top three issues that Americans care about are immigration, health care, and jobs,” said White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders, also on This Week. “The top three issues that the media cares about are Russia, Russia, and Russia.”

Lawmakers of both political parties are also having their say. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa, took to Twitter to urge full disclosure of a leaked U.S. intelligence intercept of Russia’s ambassador relaying to Moscow an account of an alleged conversation with then-senator Jeff Sessions, a Trump campaign backer and current attorney general.

Meanwhile, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee Mark Warner has slammed any preemptive presidential pardons of those under investigation in the Russia probe.
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With so many dining choices in New York City, keeping up with the trendiest restaurants can seem next to impossible even for a dedicated gourmand.  

But lately, it’s not any one restaurant that commands foodies’ attention, rather, the physical space where many eateries live.

Food halls, communal dining spaces featuring a variety of food vendors under one roof, are quickly becoming a popular option for eating out in New York City.

Food hall projects in the U.S. experienced a 37.1 percent growth during the first nine months of 2016, according to real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. Celebrity chef Todd English kick-started the trend in New York, opening Todd English’s Food Hall at the Plaza Hotel in 2010. Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich’s Italian-focused Eataly followed soon after.

Just in the last 6 months, four new food halls have opened in New York.

“Food is kind of the new rock and roll, it’s the thing that the public is just so excited about,” said Jonathan Butler, co-founder of the popular Smorgasburg outdoor food market in Brooklyn and the Berg’n food hall which opened in 2014.

Butler was on hand to discuss the pros and cons of operating a food hall at the recent “Cities for Tomorrow” conference hosted by The New York Times.

Social media undoubtedly fuels that dining-out excitement – photogenic foods like blooming rose ice cream have become international trends.

“My kids are 12 and 14, and they’re big foodies. All their friends are foodies. They’re all following all this stuff on Instagram. It’s just something the whole family can do that’s fun. Everyone has to eat, right?” Butler said.

Alternative business model

In major cities like New York, where high rents and operating costs have made it difficult for aspiring restaurateurs to establish themselves, food halls also offer start-up food vendors an alternative business model.

Vendors at Berg’n have typically gotten their start selling at outdoor stands, via food trucks or by operating solely as caterers. Food halls are a way for these less established vendors to test a brick-and-mortar location without fully committing to all the headaches that come with being a restaurant owner.

“One of the great trends we’ve seen is this hyper-local push – it’s less of the operators who have four or five locations,” said Carolyn Vahey, an associate at Hospitality House, a restaurant consulting firm. “They’re really pulling in a lot of operators who might have not had the opportunity to get into the space,” said Vahey.

Danie Garcia is general manager at Landhaus, a local “farm to sandwich” vendor popular for its bacon-on-a-stick. Besides food festivals and outdoor markets, Landhaus’ only retail location is inside Berg’n food hall.

“This gives us a little bit of flexibility because it’s less maintenance than having an entire restaurant, it’s a little bit easier to manage,” Garcia said

Berg’n other vendors include local favorites, Lumpia Shack, which specializes in Filipino-inspired spring rolls, and Mighty Quinn’s Barbeque. For small local vendors like these, food halls can also be marketing tool. “It’s a really great way for them to develop a brand identity in the market and align themselves with like-minded food and beverage operators,” Vahey said

Property developers are also taking note, some bringing food halls right to city dwellers’ front doors. Gotham West Market and Gotham Market at the Ashland are food halls located on the ground floor of residential high rises.

With the growing number of locations, will diners ever tire of the food hall concept? Vahey doesn’t think so.

“We feel as though the shift in dining is going to really switch over to this side and what you’ll see is a more diverse portfolio of types of food halls,” she said.

In a city with countless dining options, food halls appear to be a welcome addition to the menu for the New York City foodie.
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President Donald Trump helped commission Saturday the USS Gerald R. Ford, a technologically-advanced nearly $13-billion warship that he said sends a “100,000 ton message to the world” and will cause enemies of the U.S. to “shake with fear.”

After three years of delays and billions of dollars of cost overruns, Trump officially turned over the first of the next generation nuclear-powered aircraft carriers to the U.S. Navy at Naval Station Norfolk in the southeastern state of Virginia.

“Wherever this vessel cuts through the horizon, our allies will rest easy and our enemies will shake with fear because everyone will know that America is coming and America is coming strong,” he said.

The president said the warship serves as a “deterrent that keeps us from having to fight” but added, if conflict does arise, “it will always end the same way. We will win, win, win.”

After criticizing the previous administration for “a shortfall in military readiness,” Trump called on Congress to “do its job” and provide “stable and predictable funding levels” for the military.

The new carrier will be the flagship of the new class of “super carriers,” the first new class in 40 years and the most expensive warships ever built.

Construction of the USS Gerald R. Ford began in 2009 and was scheduled to be completed in 2015 at a cost of $10.5 billion. The Navy said the cost overruns and construction delays were due to the carrier’s cutting-edge technology.

The ship will have a lifespan of 50 years and its nuclear power plant will allow it to operate for 20 years without the need to refuel.

The USS Ford is named after the country’s 38th president, a lieutenant commander in the Navy during World War II. The warship was christened by his daughter, Susan Ford Bales, in 2013.

The Ford-class of carriers will replace the current Nimitz supercarriers, a class of 10 nuclear-powered warships named after World War II Navy Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.

The Navy said it would cost $43 billion to construct the first three ships in the Ford-class of carriers, including the USS John F. Kennedy, named after the country’s 35th president, and the USS Enterprise.
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