Page 10A
NATION
East Oregonian
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Shifting U.S. policy to right,
Trump taps Sessions, Flynn
AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File
In this 2005 file photo, then real estate mogul and reality TV star Don-
ald Trump, left, listens as Michael Sexton introduces him at a news con-
ference in New York where he announced the establishment of Trump
University.
Trump agrees to $25M
settlement of lawsuits
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO — Pres-
ident-elect Donald Trump
agreed Friday to pay $25
million to settle several
lawsuits against his now-de-
funct school for real estate
investors, averting a trial in a
potentially embarrassing case
that he had vowed during the
campaign to keep fighting.
If approved by a judge,
the deal announced by New
York Attorney General
Eric Schneiderman would
lay to rest allegations that
Trump University defrauded
students who paid up
to $35,000 to enroll in
programs that promised to
share Trump’s secrets of the
real estate industry.
The deal would settle a
lawsuit Schneiderman filed
three years ago and two
class-action lawsuits filed
in California on behalf of
former students.
The complaints accused
the program of misleading
students by calling itself a
university when it was not
an accredited school and by
saying that Trump “hand-
picked” instructors.
Trump has denied the
allegations and repeatedly
said he would not settle. He
told supporters at a May rally
that he would come to San
Diego to testify after winning
the presidency.
“I could have settled this
case numerous times, but I
don’t want to settle cases when
we’re right. I don’t believe
in it. And when you start
settling cases, you know what
happens? Everybody sues you
because you get known as a
settler. One thing about me,
I am not known as a settler,”
Trump said at the time.
The deal does not require
Trump to acknowledge
wrongdoing.
In a statement, Trump’s
attorneys said they had “no
doubt” that Trump Univer-
sity would have prevailed
in a trial, but “resolution of
these matters allows Presi-
dent-elect Trump to devote
his full attention to the
important issues facing our
great nation.”
Schneiderman said the
$25 million to be paid by
Trump or one of his business
entities includes restitution
for victims and $1 million in
penalties to the state.
Trump “fought us every
step of the way, filing baseless
charges and fruitless appeals
and refusing to settle for even
modest amounts of compen-
sation for the victims of his
phony university. Today, that
all changes,” Schneiderman
said in a statement.
He called the settlement “a
stunning reversal by Donald
Trump and a major victory
for the over 6,000 victims of
his fraudulent university.”
Plaintiffs’ attorney Jason
Forge says all 6,000 people in
the class-action case will get
at least half their money back,
and some receive a full refund.
Forge said he “definitely
detected a change of tone
and change of approach”
from Trump’s camp after the
election.
A federal judge in Cali-
fornia had been set Friday
to consider arguments on
Trump’s latest request to delay
a trial until after Trump’s
inauguration on Jan. 20. After
the settlement was announced,
the trial was canceled.
The Trump Organization
is a party to numerous
lawsuits that threaten to
prove a distraction in his
administration.
The settlement comes a
day after watchdog groups
and ethics experts who served
in both Republican and
Democratic administrations
sent a letter to Trump urging
him to make a clean break
from his business to avoid
“embroiling the presidency
in litigation.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Presi-
terrorism
suspects
deserve
dent-elect Donald Trump signaled
American constitutional rights in
a sharp rightward shift in U.S.
civilian court and on the planned
national security policy Friday,
closure of the Guantanamo Bay
naming Alabama Sen. Jeff
detention facility. He’s also been
Sessions for attorney general,
protective of the attorney general’s
Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo to
right to refuse a legally unsound
head the CIA and former military
directive from the president.
intelligence chief Michael Flynn
Pompeo is a conservative
as his national security adviser.
Republican and a strong critic of
All three have been fierce Flynn
Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.
critics of President Barack
A three-term congressman, he
Obama’s handling of terrorism
graduated from the United States
and international relations. In
Military Academy at West Point
tapping Sessions and Flynn,
and from Harvard Law School.
Trump is also rewarding loyalty
Pompeo has said that Muslim
from two of his most ardent
leaders are “potentially complicit”
supporters during the presidential
in terrorist attacks if they do not
campaign.
denounce violence conducted in
Trump is a foreign policy
the name of Islam. “They must
novice and his early moves on
cite the Quran as evidence that
national security are being closely Sessions
the murder of innocents is not
watched both in the U.S. and
permitted,” he said in a 2013
overseas. Sessions and Pompeo would House floor speech.
both require Senate confirmation before
A member of the House intelligence
assuming their designated roles; Flynn committee, Pompeo said former National
would not.
Security Agency contractor Edward
Flynn, who has called Islam a “political Snowden should face the death penalty for
ideology” that “hides behind being a taking and releasing secret documents about
religion,” will work in the West Wing and surveillance programs in which the U.S.
have frequent access to Trump as he makes government collected the phone records of
national security decisions. Trump said in a millions of Americans.
statement Friday that Flynn would be “by
Trump called Pompeo “an unrelenting
my side as we work to defeat radical Islamic leader for our intelligence community to
terrorism, navigate geopolitical challenges ensure the safety of Americans and our
and keep Americans safe at home and allies.”
abroad.”
The president-elect is still weighing
Like Trump, Flynn has called for the a range of candidates for other leading
U.S. to work more closely with Moscow. national security posts. His choices for
But his warmth toward Russia has worried secretary of state are said to include former
national security experts, particularly after New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani,
he traveled to Moscow to join Russian Pres- former U.S. Ambassador to the United
ident Vladimir Putin at a celebration for RT, Nations John Bolton, Tennessee Sen. Bob
a Kremlin-backed television channel. Flynn Corker and South Carolina Gov. Nikki
said he had been paid for taking part in the Haley, who met with Trump Thursday.
event and brushed aside concerns that he
On Saturday, Trump plans to meet with
was aiding a Russian propaganda effort.
retired Gen. James Mattis, a contender to
Sessions was the first senator to endorse lead the Pentagon. Mattis would require a
Trump, rallying behind the Republican’s congressional waiver to serve as defense
hardline immigration policies. On Friday, secretary because he has not been out of
Trump called Sessions “a world-class legal uniform for the required minimum of seven
mind.”
years.
But the Alabama lawmaker could face
Trump planned the weekend meetings
obstacles in his confirmation hearing, for his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey,
even with Republicans in control of the where he arrived Friday afternoon. Others
Senate. He withdrew from consideration traveling there for discussions include
for a federal judgeship in 1986 after being 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt
accused of making racist comments while Romney, who lambasted Trump as a “con
serving as a U.S. attorney in Alabama, man” and a “fraud” in a stinging speech
including calling a black assistant U.S. in March. Trump responded by repeatedly
attorney “boy” in conversation. Sessions referring to Romney as a “loser.”
denied the accusation.
The two began mending fences after
Sessions has tangled with the past two Trump’s victory when Romney called with
Democratic attorneys general on whether congratulations.
Obama blocks new oil, gas
drilling in Arctic Ocean
WASHINGTON (AP) —
The Obama administration
is blocking new oil and gas
drilling in the Arctic Ocean,
handing a victory to environ-
mentalists who say industrial
activity in the icy waters will
harm whales, walruses and
other wildlife and exacerbate
global warming.
A five-year offshore
drilling plan announced on
Friday blocks the planned
sale of new oil and gas
drilling rights in the Chukchi
and Beaufort seas north of
Alaska. The plan allows
drilling to go forward in
Alaska’s Cook Inlet south-
west of Anchorage.
The blueprint for drilling
from 2017 to 2022 can be
rewritten by President-elect
Donald Trump, in a process
that could take months or
years.
Besides Cook Inlet, the
plan also allows drilling in
the Gulf of Mexico, long
the center of U.S. offshore
oil production. Ten of the
11 lease sales proposed in
the five-year plan are in the
Gulf, mostly off the coasts
of Mississippi, Louisiana,
Texas and Alabama.
Confirming a decision
announced this spring, the
five-year plan also bars
drilling in the Atlantic Ocean.
“The plan focuses lease
sales in the best places
— those with the highest
resource potential, lowest
conflict and established infra-
structure — and removes
regions that are simply not
right to lease,” said Interior
Secretary Sally Jewell.
“Given the unique and
challenging Arctic environ-
ment and industry’s declining
interest in the area, forgoing
lease sales in the Arctic is the
right path forward,” Jewell
said.
The decision follows an
2017 Camry
2016 Highlander
2016 RAV4
Choose from
13 different
2016/2017
models with
AP Photo/Al Grillo, File
In this 2007 file photo, an oil transit pipeline runs
across the tundra to flow station at the Prudhoe Bay
oil field on Alaska’s North Slope.
announcement last year by
Royal Dutch Shell PLC that
it would cease exploration
in the Chukchi and Beaufort
seas after spending nearly $7
billion. The company cited
disappointing results from a
well drilled in the Chukchi
and the unpredictable federal
regulatory environment.
Despite that, industry
representatives
reacted
bitterly to the latest
announcement, calling the
decision blatantly political.
“The arrogance of the
decision is unfathomable, but
unfortunately not surprising,”
said Randall Luthi, president
of the National Ocean Indus-
tries Association, an industry
group.
“Once again, we see the
attitude that Washington
knows best — an attitude that
contributed to last week’s
election results,” Luthi said,
referring to Trump’s victory
over Democrat Hillary
Clinton.
More than 70 percent
of Alaskans, including a
majority of Alaska Natives,
support drilling, Luthi said.
The state’s three Repub-
lican members of Congress
also blasted the decision.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski,
R-Alaska, said she was “infu-
riated” that Obama “has once
again ignored our voices to
side with the factions who
oppose” offshore drilling in
Alaska.
“Arctic development is
one of the best ways to create
jobs, generate revenues and
refill the Trans-Alaska Pipe-
line,” said Murkowski, who
chairs the Senate Energy
and Natural Resources
Committee. “Why the pres-
ident is willing to send all
of those benefits overseas is
beyond explanation.”
As he prepares to leave
office in two months, Obama
has worked to build an
environmental legacy that
includes a global agreement
to curb climate change and
an ambitious plan to reduce
carbon pollution from coal-
fired power plants. He also
has imposed stricter limits on
smog-causing pollution and
rejected the Keystone XL oil
pipeline from Canada.
All of those accomplish-
ments and others are at risk
from Trump’s presidency.
Trump loathes regulation and
wants to increase oil and gas
drilling and the use of coal.
also includes
2016 Corolla
2017 Camry Hybrid
2016 Prius LB
2017 Prius V
2016 Prius C
2016 Avalon
2016 Avalon Hybrid
2016 Yaris
2017 Yaris iA
2017 Sienna
APR
%
0 for 60 mo.
OR up to
$ 3000 Cash
Back
(Cash Back varies by model)
Get a new 2016 Tundra
APR
%
1.9 for 60 mo.
OR up to
$ 1500
Back
500 Cash
Every new Toyota comes with
(541) 567-6461 or 800-522-2308
ToyotaOfHermiston.com
Mon-Fri 8:30a-6:30p
Sat 9:00a-6:00p
Sun 10:30a - 5:30p
0% APR for 60 months = $16.67 per $1,000 borrowed. Excludes Rav4 Hybrid. 1.9% APR for 60 months = $17.48 per $1,000 borrowed.
Excludes TRD Pro. Cash back varies by model. All financing and offers on approved credit through TFS. Dealer doc fees vary by dealer. See
dealer for details. Offers end 12/5/2016. *ToyotaCare covers normal factory scheduled service. Plan is 2 years or 25K miles, whichever
comes first. The new vehicle cannot be part of a rental or commercial fleet, or a livery/taxi vehicle. See participating Toyota dealer for plan
details. Valid only in WA, ID, MT, OR & AK. Roadside assistance does not include parts and fluids, except emergency fuel delivery.