Top News Stories for Today – Feb 16, 2019
Top News Stories for Today – Feb 16, 2019
Trump declares national emergency
President Trump on Friday declared a national emergency and signed a funding bill Congress passed Thursday to avert a partial government shutdown. He aims to obtain an additional $6.5 billion to build a border wall, and will redirect money from a Treasury Department drug forfeiture fund and a Defense Department drug interdiction program, in addition to using military construction funds.
The military construction funds are only available with Trump’s declaration of a national emergency, White House officials say, though the declaration will likely face a legal challenge. Lawmakers on both side of the aisle criticized Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would support the move. The bill passed by Congress includes $1.75 billion for border fencing. The Washington Post, The Guardian via The Week
Mueller interviewed Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has interviewed President Donald Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, she said Friday. Sanders said she was happy to sit down with Mueller. “The President urged me, like he has everyone in the administration, to fully cooperate with the special counsel. I was happy to voluntarily sit down with them,” Sanders said in a statement to CNBC.
The interview occurred around the time that Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly, was questioned by Mueller’s team, NBC News reported. That interview reportedly occurred in early fall of 2018. Sanders’ interview was first reported Friday afternoon by CNN. She has not been charged with any wrongdoing by Mueller, and the subject matter of the interview was not immediately clear. CNBC
Vatican expels former US cardinal
The Vatican said Saturday that Pope Francis has defrocked disgraced former U.S. cardinal Theodore McCarrick. In July of last year, Francis accepted McCarrick’s resignation from the College of Cardinals following allegations he had sexually abused minor and adult seminarians over a period of decades.
The Vatican said in a statement that in January 2019 it had found McCarrick guilty of “. . . solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.” (The Sixth Commandment says ‘Thou shall not commit adultery’ and is one of the Ten Commandments the Bible says were given by God. The Commandments are fundamental to Judaism and Christianity.) VOA
US Military delivers aid to Colombia-Venezuela border
More than 200 tons of U.S. humanitarian aid intended for Venezuela is scheduled to begin arriving just across the border in Colombia Saturday, delivered by U.S. military cargo planes. The aid will be delivered to Cucuta, Colombia, where other food and medical supplies are being held.
The aid comes at the request of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido to ease shortages of food and other essentials in economically troubled Venezuela. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said the aid is part of Washington’s political maneuvering to get him out of office, and he has blocked off a bridge needed to bring the supplies into Venezuela. The United States said Maduro’s election was unfair and illegitimate, and U.S. officials and scores of other nations have recognized his rival, Guaido, as the country’s interim leader. VOA
4 police officers, multiple civilians shot in Illinois
Police in Aurora, Illinois took a suspect into custody after four police officers and “multiple civilians” were shot outside of the Henry Pratt Company, a manufacturing plant. Officials said “multiple patients” were transported to local hospitals, but the exact number and condition of the victims was not announced. The four injured police officers are reportedly in “stable” condition. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) thanked law enforcement for responding to the shooting, writing, “my heart breaks for Aurora.” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said “this is a scary, sad day for all Illinoisans and Americans.” CNN via The Week