East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, January 26, 2019, WEEKEND EDITION, Page A10, Image 10

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    A10
NATION/WORLD
East Oregonian
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Trump’s retreat: Shutdown ends
without wall money, for now
By JILL COLVIN,
LISA MASCARO and
ZEKE MILLER
Associated Press
AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
Roger Stone, former campaign adviser for President Don-
ald Trump, walks out of the federal courthouse following
a hearing on Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Trump confidant Stone
charged with lying
about hacked emails
By ERIC TUCKER
and CHAD DAY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
President Donald Trump’s
confidant Roger Stone
was charged with lying
about his pursuit of Rus-
sian-hacked emails dam-
aging to Hillary Clinton’s
2016 election bid, with
prosecutors alleging that
senior Trump campaign
officials sought to leverage
the publication of the sto-
len material into a White
House victory.
The
self-proclaimed
dirty trickster, arrested by
the FBI in a raid before
dawn Friday at his Florida
home, blasted the prose-
cution as politically moti-
vated. In a circus-like
atmosphere outside the
courthouse, as supporters
cheered him on and spec-
tators shouted “Lock Him
Up,” Stone proclaimed his
innocence and predicted
his vindication.
“As I have said previ-
ously, there is no circum-
stance whatsoever under
which I will bear false
witness against the pres-
ident, nor will I make up
lies to ease the pressure on
myself,” Stone said.
The seven-count indict-
ment, the first criminal
case in months in special
counsel Robert Mueller’s
investigation, provides the
most detail to date about
how Trump campaign
associates in the summer
of 2016 actively sought the
disclosure of emails the
U.S. says were hacked by
Russia, and then provided
to the anti-secrecy web-
site WikiLeaks. It alleges
that an unidentified senior
Trump campaign official
was “directed” to keep in
contact with Stone about
when stolen emails relat-
ing to Clinton might be
disclosed.
Stone is the sixth Trump
aide or adviser charged by
Mueller and the 34th per-
son overall. The nearly
2-year-old
probe
has
exposed multiple contacts
between Trump associ-
ates and Russia during the
campaign and transition
period and revealed efforts
by several to conceal those
communications.
The 24-page indictment
brings the investigation
even further into the presi-
dent’s circle of advisers and
suggests that Trump cam-
paign officials were eager
to exploit the stolen mes-
sages for political gain. But
prosecutors did not accuse
Trump of wrongdoing or
charge Stone with con-
spiring with WikiLeaks
or with the Russian intelli-
gence officers Mueller says
hacked the emails.
They also did not reveal
whether any Trump associ-
ates conspired with Russia
or had advance knowledge
of the hacking.
Instead the prosecu-
tion mirrors other Mueller
cases in alleging cover-ups
and deception, accusing
Stone of lying to lawmak-
ers about WikiLeaks, tam-
pering with witnesses and
obstructing a House intel-
ligence committee probe
into whether the Trump
campaign coordinated with
Russia to tip the election.
Trump attorney Jay
Sekulow said the indict-
ment “does not allege Rus-
sian collusion by Roger
Stone or anyone else.”
Trump himself on Friday
called the investigation the
“Greatest Witch Hunt in the
History of our Country!”
WASHINGTON — Sub-
mitting to mounting pressure
amid growing disruption,
President Donald Trump
agreed to a deal Friday to
reopen the government for
three weeks, backing down
from his demand that Con-
gress give him money for his
border wall before federal
agencies get back to work.
Standing alone in the
Rose Garden, Trump said he
would sign legislation fund-
ing shuttered agencies until
Feb. 15 and try again to per-
suade lawmakers to finance
his long-sought wall. The
deal he reached with con-
gressional leaders contains
no new money for the wall,
but ends the longest shut-
down in U.S. history.
First the Senate, then the
House swiftly and unani-
mously approved the deal,
sending the legislation to
Trump for his signature.
Trump’s retreat came in
the 35th day of the partial
shutdown as intensifying
delays at the nation’s airports
and another missed payday
for hundreds of thousands of
federal workers brought new
urgency to efforts to resolve
the standoff.
The shutdown was ending
as Democratic leaders had
insisted it must — reopen the
government first, then talk
border security.
“The president thought
he could crack Democrats,
and he didn’t, and I hope it’s
a lesson for him,” said the
Senate Democratic leader,
Chuck Schumer. House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said
of her members: “Our unity
is our power. And that is
what maybe the president
underestimated.”
Trump still made the case
for a border wall and main-
tained he might again shut
down the government over it.
Yet, as negotiations restart,
Trump enters them from a
weakened position. A strong
majority of Americans
blamed him for the standoff
and rejected his arguments
for a border wall, according
to a recent poll by The Asso-
ciated Press-NORC Center
for Public Affairs Research.
“If we don’t get a fair deal
from Congress, the govern-
ment will either shut down
on Feb. 15, again, or I will
use the powers afforded to
me under the laws and Con-
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House on Friday in Washington.
stitution of the United States
to address this emergency,”
Trump said.
The president has said
he could declare a national
emergency to fund the bor-
der wall unilaterally if Con-
gress doesn’t provide the
money. Such a move would
almost certainly face legal
hurdles.
As part of the deal with
congressional leaders, a
bipartisan committee of
House and Senate lawmak-
ers was being formed to con-
sider border spending as part
of the legislative process in
the weeks ahead.
“They are willing to put
partisanship aside, I think,
and put the security of the
American people first,”
Trump said. He asserted
that a “barrier or walls will
be an important part of the
solution.”
The deal includes back
pay for some 800,000 federal
workers who have gone with-
out paychecks. The Trump
administration promises to
pay them as soon as possible.
Also expected is a new
date for the president to
deliver his State of the Union
address, postponed during
the shutdown. But it will not
be Jan. 29 as once planned,
according to a person famil-
iar with the planning but
unauthorized to discuss it.
As border talks resume,
Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell said he
hopes there will be “good-
faith negotiations over the
next three weeks to try to
resolve our differences.”
Schumer said that while
Democrats oppose the wall
money, they agree on other
ways to secure the bor-
der “and that bodes well
for coming to an eventual
agreement.”
In striking the accord,
Trump risks backlash from
conservatives who pushed
him to keep fighting for the
wall. Some lashed out Friday
for his having yielded, for
now, on his signature cam-
paign promise.
Conservative commenta-
tor Ann Coulter suggested on
Twitter that she views Trump
as “the biggest wimp” to
serve as president.
Money for the wall is not
at all guaranteed, as Dem-
ocrats have held united
against building a structure
as Trump once envisioned,
preferring other types of bor-
der technology. Asked about
Trump’s wall, Pelosi, who
has said repeatedly she won’t
approve money for it, said:
“Have I not been clear? No, I
have been very clear.”
Within the White House,
there was broad recognition
among Trump’s aides that
the shutdown pressure was
growing, and they couldn’t
keep the standoff going
indefinitely. The president’s
approval numbers had suf-
fered during the impasse.
Overnight and Friday, several
Republicans were calling on
him openly, and in private, to
reopen the government.
The breakthrough came
as LaGuardia Airport in
New York and Newark Lib-
erty International Airport in
New Jersey both experienced
at least 90-minute delays
in takeoffs Friday because
of the shutdown. And the
world’s busiest airport —
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta
International Airport — was
experiencing long security
wait times, a warning sign
the week before it expects
150,000 out-of-town visitors
for the Super Bowl.
The standoff became so
severe that, as the Senate
opened with prayer, Chap-
lain Barry Black called on
high powers in the “hour of
national turmoil” to help sen-
ators do “what is right.”
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