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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 2018)
NATION/WORLD Saturday, February 17, 2018 BRIEFLY Magazine obtains ex-playmate’s notes on alleged Trump affair NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump had a nine-month extramarital affair with the 1998 Playboy Playmate of the year beginning in 2006, showing the woman his wife’s bedroom in Trump Tower and bringing her to his private bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, according to the woman’s eight-page, handwritten account of the relationship obtained by The New Yorker magazine. The woman, Karen McDougal, confirmed in the story published online Friday that she wrote the account but said she was constrained in what else she could say publicly about Trump because she’d signed a confidentiality agreement. The affair ended in part after McDougal started feeling guilty about it and after Trump made an offensive comment about her mother’s age as well as a vulgar remark about the anatomy of black men, the magazine reported. The story said McDougal was paid $150,000 during the 2016 presidential campaign for the rights to her story of an affair with any “then-married man” by the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer, which never ran it. Just before Election Day, The Wall Street Journal reported that the tabloid, whose publisher, David Pecker, is a longtime friend of Trump’s, had paid for McDougal’s story but wasn’t printing it, a tabloid industry practice known as “catch and kill.” Under fire, Kelly overhauls White House clearance procedure NEW YORK (AP) — Under pressure over his handling of abuse allegations against a top aide, White House chief of staff John Kelly on Friday ordered sweeping changes in how the White House clears staff members to gain access to classified information, acknowledging that the administration “must do better” in how it handles security clearances. Kelly issued a five-page memo that acknowledged White House mistakes but also put the onus on the FBI and the Justice Department to provide more timely updates on background investigations, asking that any significant derogatory information about staff members be quickly flagged to the White House counsel’s office. The issue has been in the spotlight for more than a week after it was revealed that former staff secretary Rob Porter had an interim security clearance that allowed him access to classified material despite allegations of domestic violence by his two ex-wives. “Now is the time to take a hard look at the way the White House processes clearance requests,” Kelly wrote in the memo. “We should — and in the future, must — do better.” Romney makes it official: He’s running for Utah Senate seat SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Former presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is running for a Utah Senate seat, officially launching his political comeback attempt Friday by praising his adopted home state as a model for an acrimonious national government in Washington. Having been one of the Republican Party’s fiercest internal critics of President Donald Trump, Romney didn’t mention the administration or Trump himself in a campaign announcement posted online. The closest allusion to Trump was Romney noting that Utah “welcomes legal immigrants from around the world,” while “Washington sends immigrants a message of exclusion.” Romney, 70, will be the heavy favorite for the Senate seat being opened by Sen. Orrin Hatch’s retirement. Hatch was among the first Republicans to pitch Romney as his potential successor. Leading up to Romney’s widely anticipated announcement, confidantes said he intends to focus his campaign on Utah, where he moved with his wife, Ann, after losing the 2012 presidential election to incumbent Democrat Barack Obama. “Utah has a lot to teach the politicians in Washington,” Romney said in his announcement, noting that “on Utah’s Capitol Hill, people treat one another with respect.” GOP leaders struggle to push immigration bill WASHINGTON (AP) — As badly as things have gone for immigration legislation in the Senate, it’s not looking any easier in the more conservative House. Republican leaders there are scrambling to find enough GOP votes to pass a measure that’s even more restrictive than a proposal by President Donald Trump that flopped spectacularly in the Senate on Thursday. Compounding those divisions are pressures from some of the House’s most conservative members, who are casting the effort as a pivotal test for Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. “It is a, the, defining moment for this speaker,” said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C. who leads the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, which helped force former Speaker John Boehner from his job in 2015. “If he gets it wrong, it will have consequences for him but it will also have consequences for the rest of the Republican Party.” Ryan aides did not respond to a request for comment on Meadows’ remark. But underscoring party rifts, some Republicans defended the speaker and his work on the issue. “Any time you allow one member or a small group of members to dictate overall policy for the country, it is an unfair scenario,” Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., who’s opposing the conservative legislation, said Friday. “I just don’t think our speaker’s going to give into any type of threats.” Even if House leaders manage to push the measure through their chamber, it would be dead on arrival in the closely divided Senate. Democrats there could ensure its demise because any immigration measure would need 60 votes to survive, meaning bipartisan agreement is mandatory. Trump visits Florida hospital to thank medical personnel POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump visited a Florida hospital Friday to thank medical professionals who helped the wounded in a horrific high school shooting, coming face-to- face with first responders in the deadly assault. Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrived by motorcade at Broward Health North Hospital to pay their respects to doctors, nurses and others who responded to the shooting in nearby Parkland. They planned to meet with law enforcement officials at the Broward County Sheriff’s office later Friday. The president tweeted earlier that he would meet with people “whose lives have been totally shattered.” Some of the parents, survivors and others affected by the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have angrily called for firm action to prevent future assaults. “I don’t want Trump to come but we want more gun safety,” said 18-year-old Kevin Trejos, a senior at the school. East Oregonian Page 9A Mass shooters use loopholes, lapses in checks to get guns Associated Press Nikolas Cruz is just the latest U.S. mass shooter to legally obtain and own guns because of limited firearms laws, lapses in the background check process or law enforcement’s failure to heed warnings of concerning behavior. The 19-year-old had made threats and was expelled from school, bragged about killing animals, posed with guns on social media and went to a clinic for mental health treatment before took an AR-15-style rifle he had bought legally to a Florida high school and killed 17 people. The same style weapon has been used in Sutherland Springs, Texas; Las Vegas; San Bernardino, California; and Newtown, Connecticut. A similar rifle was used in Orlando. President Donald Trump kept a loophole allowing people to obtain guns while undergoing mental health treatment that President Barack Obama had tried to close. Other mass shooters have gotten around restrictions by using weapons initially purchased legally. A look at some recent mass shoot- ings, the number of deaths and how the attackers obtained their guns: PARKLAND, FLORIDA: FEB. 14, 2018. 17 DEAD Cruz legally purchased a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle in February 2017 from a licensed gun store located about 3 miles from the school, law enforce- ment officials said. Cruz had gone to a mental health clinic for treatment but hadn’t been there in more than a year, Broward County Mayor Beam Furr said. Under federal law, gun purchases can only be blocked if a person is legally declared a “mental defective” or committed to a mental institution. If Cruz wanted a handgun, however, the sale wouldn’t have been allowed. Federal allows people as young as 18 to buy semi-automatic weapons from licensed dealers. Handgun purchases are restricted to 21 and older. Cruz had his gun for about seven months when he commented on YouTube that he was “going to be a professional school shooter.” The FBI said it investigated but was unable to identify the person who posted the comment. In January, the FBI received a tip from someone who said Cruz had expressed a desire to kill people, was making disturbing social media posts and could potentially commit a school shooting. The agency failed to follow proto- cols and no further investigation was conducted. SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, TEXAS: NOV. 5, 2017. 25 DEAD Devin Patrick Kelley’s history of domestic abuse barred him from legally buying guns, but he did so anyway because information about his crimes was never entered into a federal database used for background checks. Kelley purchased four guns, John McCall/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP Medical personnel tend to a victim following a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Wednesday. including the AR-15-style rifle and handguns found in and near First Baptist Church, from licensed dealers in Texas and Colorado over a four-year span. The 26-year-old passed required background checks because the Air Force never informed the FBI about his criminal conduct — an assault on his wife and her child that led to a court-martial, a year of confinement and a bad conduct discharge. Military rules require that the infor- mation be shared. A 1996 law bans people convicted of even a misdemeanor-level domestic violence offense from owning guns. Kelley was convicted at a court-martial for choking his then-wife and fracturing her son’s skull in 2012. LAS VEGAS: OCT. 1, 2017. 58 DEAD Stephen Paddock amassed the bulk of his arsenal over the span of a year, culminating with a purchase three days before he holed up in the Mandalay Bay hotel and opened fire on a country music festival below. Paddock purchased 33 of the 49 weapons found in the hotel room and at his homes between October 2016 and Sept. 28, 2017, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. None of the purchases drew scru- tiny because the 64-year-old Paddock passed all background checks. His gradual accumulation of weapons went undetected because federal law does not require licensed gun dealers to alert the government about rifle purchases. Twelve of the semi-automatic rifles recovered by authorities were equipped with bump stocks, a device that allows them to fire repeatedly without pulling the trigger over and over. ORLANDO, FLORIDA: JUNE 12, 2016. 49 DEAD Omar Mateen purchased an AR-15- style rifle, a Sig Sauer MCX, and a handgun on separate days about a week before the attack from a licensed dealer near his home in Fort Pierce, Florida. The 29-year-old passed a background check and had two security licenses, one of which allowed him to be armed while on duty. The FBI investigated Mateen in 2013 and 2014 after co-workers shared concerns about statements he had made concerning possible ties to terrorist groups. Neither inquiry led to criminal charges. Even if he had been placed on a terrorism watch list, Congress in 2015 rejected attempts to prevent people on the list from purchasing guns. SAN BERNARDINO, CALI- FORNIA: DEC. 2, 2015. 14 DEAD Syed Farook and his wife used weapons that the FBI said were legally purchased by his neighbor, Enrique Marquez, from a licensed dealer in 2011 and 2012. Marquez, who pleaded guilty to charges he conspired to provide support to terrorists and made false statements to acquire a firearm, told investigators that Farook asked him to buy the weapons because he would draw less attention. At the time, the FBI said, the men were plotting to shoot up a community college and a highway. ROSEBURG, OREGON: OCT. 1, 2015. 10 DEAD Christopher Harper-Mercer and his family members legally purchased the handguns and rifle he used in the Umpqua Community College shooting from a federally licensed gun dealer, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: JUNE 17, 2015. 9 DEAD A drug arrest should have prevented Dylann Roof from purchasing the pistol authorities said he used at Emanuel AME Church, but a record- keeping error and background check delay allowed the transaction to go through. The FBI said a background check examiner never saw the arrest report because the wrong arresting agency was listed in state criminal history records. After three days, the gun dealer was legally permitted to complete the transaction.
