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December 9, 2018 at 2:25 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The more that special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors reveal, the darker grow the legal clouds over President Donald Trump.
Trump’s own Justice Department has now implicated him in a crime, accusing him of directing illegal hush-money payments to women during his 2016 presidential campaign. Mueller keeps finding new instances of Trump associates lying about their contacts with Russia during an election the Kremlin worked to sway in the Republican’s favor.
The president hasn’t been charged with any crimes. He may never be. Whether a president can be prosecuted while in office remains a matter of legal dispute.
But Trump also hasn’t been cleared of wrongdoing. Each new legal filing underscores that the president is a central f...
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December 9, 2018 at 2:25 pm
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Sunday that the language federal prosecutors are using to refer to President Trump in an indictment against Michael Cohen makes it sound as if they might have corroborating evidence that the president violated campaign finance law.
“The language in the sentencing memo is different from what we’ve heard before,” Christie told ABC’s “This Week,” noting that Trump’s former attorney Cohen has previously said he violated campaign finance law at the president’s direction. “The only thing that would concern me if I was the president’s team this morning about this sentencing memo is the language.”
“The language sounds very definite,” Christie said. “And what I’...
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December 9, 2018 at 2:25 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Top House Democrats on Sunday raised the prospect of impeachment or almost-certain prison time for President Donald Trump if it’s proved that he directed illegal hush-money payments to women, adding to the legal pressure on the president over the Russia investigation and other scandals.
“There’s a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the Justice Department may indict him, that he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, the incoming chairman of the House intelligence committee. “The bigger pardon question may come down the road as the next president has to determine whether to pardon Donald Trump.”
Rep. Jerry Nadler, the incoming chair...
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December 9, 2018 at 2:03 pm
President Trump lashed out at James Comey early Sunday, accusing the former FBI director of lying during his testimony to House lawmakers about the investigation into Russia’s election interference.
“Leakin’ James Comey must have set a record for who lied the most to Congress in one day. His Friday testimony was so untruthful!” the president tweeted.
“This whole deal is a Rigged Fraud headed up by dishonest people who would do anything so that I could not become President. They are now exposed!” he added.
Read more at The Hill.
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December 9, 2018 at 1:57 pm
A top Israeli minister called on the government on Sunday to craft a “comprehensive plan” to encourage the aliyah of French Jews.
In Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett’s view, there has been a “historic missed opportunity” in recent years to bring more French Jews to Israel as immigrants.
“There are 200,000 French Jews who want to come here, and the state bureaucracies simply aren’t prepared for it,” Bennett, who also serves as education minister and head of the right-wing HaBayit HaYehudi party, claimed at a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. “These are ethical people, Zionists, lovers of the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, and it is our moral obligation to help them.”
France’s Jewish community — totaling a...
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December 9, 2018 at 1:55 pm
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu briefed on members of his cabinet on Sunday on a phone call he had with Russian President Vladmir Putin the previous day.
“I told President Putin that we are continuing our policy — we will not allow Iran to establish a military presence in Syria,” Netanyahu said. “We will continue to take action against the precision weapons in Lebanon, and we will complete the operation to foil the tunnels threat.”
Relations between Jerusalem and Moscow have been clouded in recent months by a mid-September incident in which a Russian military plane was accidentally downed by a Syrian anti-aircraft missile over the Mediterranean Sea, near Latakia. Russia indirectly blamed Israel for the mishap, asserting it had not been given enough...
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December 9, 2018 at 1:23 pm
Washington - A leading Republican senator on foreign policy issues says he doesn’t know whether President Donald Trump’s pick to be U.N. ambassador has the expertise and background to capably handle the job.
Trump wants former Fox News reporter and current State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert (NOW’-urt) to replace Nikki Haley as ambassador. Nauert had little foreign policy experience before taking the State Department post.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee would consider Nauert’s nomination, and one committee member, GOP Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, tells CBS’ “Face the Nation” that “I most certainly think she has the ability to do the job well.”
But he adds, “Does she have detailed knowledge of foreign policy ...
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December 9, 2018 at 1:17 pm
France - Paris tourist sites reopened, workers cleaned up broken glass and shop owners tried to put the city on its feet again Sunday, a day after running battles between yellow-vested protesters and riot police left 71 injured and caused widespread damage to the French capital.
The man at the focus of protesters’ anger, President Emmanuel Macron, broke his silence to tweet his appreciation for the police overnight, but pressure mounted on him to propose new solutions to calm the anger dividing France. A spokesman said Sunday that Macron would address the nation early in the week.
The number of injured in Paris and nationwide was down Saturday from protest riots a week ago, and most of the capital remained untouched. Still, TV footage broadcast around the world of the violence in P...
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December 9, 2018 at 1:16 pm
Pittsburgh, PA - Authorities are investigating the dissemination of anti-Semitic pamphlets in Pittsburgh neighborhoods, including the one in which a gunman killed 11 people in a synagogue in October.
A spokesman said police and the city department of public safety “are taking this matter very seriously and will follow every investigative avenue.”
Police said Sunday morning the material was found in neighborhoods including Squirrel Hill, where a gunman entered the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27 and killed 11 people in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. A man who authorities said raged against Jews during and after the shooting has pleaded not guilty to numerous murder and hate crime charges.
Police said “such hate-filled material” will not be tolerat...
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December 9, 2018 at 11:28 am
Ten months after losing their daughter Meadow in the mass shooting at Majory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Andrew Pollack and his family stood alongside US President Donald Trump as he lit the menorah on the fifth night of Hanukkah, being celebrated on Thursday at the White House with two parties.
“Mr. President, despite the pundits and so-called experts who said you couldn’t, you have retaken Washington for the American people,” said Pollack. “You are the greatest friend that the Jewish people have ever had in the White House—not only because you recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and followed through on your promise to move the embassy to Jerusalem, but because you understand the spirit of Hanukkah within your heart.”
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December 9, 2018 at 10:44 am
Israel on Friday slammed the Lebanese government for “hypocrisy” after Lebanon’s UN envoy accused the Jewish state of violating a critical Security Council resolution that — had it been implemented after it was passed in 2006 — would have resulted in the disarming and disbanding of Hezbollah, Iran’s Shi’a proxy in Lebanese territory.
In a letter to the Security Council, Lebanese Ambassador Amal Mudallali charged that Israel was waging a “political and diplomatic war” against Lebanon, which she said marked a prelude to “further attacks.”
Condemning Israel’s “Operation Northern Shield” — launched this week by the IDF to destroy underground tunnels into Israeli territory dug by Hezbollah — Mudall...
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December 9, 2018 at 10:43 am
The ancient menorah belonging to Rav Meshulam Dovid Soloveitchik, rosh yeshivas Brisk in Yerushalayim, was stolen on Friday night.
Matzav.com learned that at 3 a.m. the menorah was still in its place, according to an eyewitness, and apparently an hour later it was stolen.
Rav Dovid has lit that menorah every night of Chanukah at his house on Rechov Amos in Yerushalayim.
Rav Dovid has used that menorah for 70 years, since he first immigrated to Eretz Yisroel.
The menorah does not have much monetary value, according to sources, but tremendous sentimental value to the 96-year-old rosh yeshiva and son of the Brisker Rov.
Authorities were apprised of the theft.
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December 9, 2018 at 10:30 am
Hezbollah planned to use a cross-border tunnel uncovered by the IDF this week to cut off the northern town of Metula during a future war, the Hebrew news site Mako reported, citing Israeli military officials.
The IDF announced the launch of “Operation Northern Shield” on Tuesday, saying its goal was to “expose and neutralize cross-border attack tunnels dug by Hezbollah” under the Israel-Lebanon border.
The Trump administration has voiced its support for Israel’s actions.
According to the Mako report, IDF officials believe they have a firm handle on the scope of the Hezbollah tunnel project. The Israeli military’s anti-tunnel activities are currently occurring at three sites on the border, but “there will soon be more,” an IDF official was ...
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December 9, 2018 at 10:29 am
In what may well turn out to be a first for an Arab country, the Gulf kingdom of Bahrain publicly opposed a UN vote to condemn Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group, while publicly supporting an Israeli military operation against Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist group — all on the same day.
While the US-sponsored resolution at the UN General Assembly on Thursday condemning Hamas won a historic 87 votes in favor, Bahrain was among the 57 countries to vote against it. That in itself was not unexpected, as all of the Arab and most of the Muslim member states — including those with burgeoning behind-the-scenes ties with Israel, like Oman and the United Arab Emirates — opposed the US draft.
But what did raise eyebrows was the tweet issued earlier in the day by Bahrain&rsqu...
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December 9, 2018 at 10:29 am
Students at New York University passed a resolution on Thursday endorsing the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel — a Palestinian-led movement that the school’s administration has repeatedly denounced.
In a secret ballot vote with 35 in favor, 14 against, and 14 abstentions, NYU’s Student Government Assembly adopted legislation calling on NYU to divest from Caterpillar, General Electric, and Lockheed Martin for their alleged involvement “in the violation of Palestinian human rights and human rights globally.”
NYU spokesperson John Beckman said the university would not abide by the measure, citing President Andrew Hamilton’s previous rejection of economic and academic boycotts of Israel.
“The University opposes this p...
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December 9, 2018 at 10:23 am
It is no secret that the United Nations has long been viewed as a hotbed of anti-Israel sentiment. However, there has been a remarkable shift in recent years as a result of efforts by the United States under outgoing U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon to build new partnerships while singling bias, as well as anti-Semitism towards the Jewish state.
The fruits of this labor were on display this past week when the U.N. General Assembly considered a U.S.-sponsored resolution condemning the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas for the first time. The resolution, which gained a simple majority in voting, received strong support, especially from Israel’s allies in Europe and elsewhere.
While ultimately the United Nations failed to adopt the resolution, a...
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December 9, 2018 at 10:21 am
In the midst of reciting Hallel on Shabbos Chanukah at his bais medrash, the Biala Rebbe of Bnei Brak required immediate medical attention and was taken to the hospital.
On Shabbos morning, during davening, the rebbe felt unwell. He went down to his room, which is below his bais medrash on Rechov Yerushalayim in Bnei Brak.
A doctor, who lives next door, was called to the room and ordered that the rebbe be evacuated to the hospital right away. The 56-year-old rebbe was taken to Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, where he was hospitalized. Doctors have indicated that the rebbe’s condition is cardiac-related.
All are asked to daven for Rav Yaakov Menachem ben Sarah Rivka.
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December 9, 2018 at 10:05 am
Jerusalem - The Israeli military says it has opened an investigation into the death of a 22-year-old Palestinian man after a video surfaced appearing to show him being shot in the back.
The security-camera video shows Mohammed Habali walking in an alleyway holding a stick when he is shot from behind and falls down on his face. Several other young males are standing nearby or walking away in the same direction as Habali.
A military statement on Sunday says dozens of Palestinians were hurling stones at soldiers during “operational activity” last week in the West Bank town of Tulkarem.
It says soldiers responded with “riot dispersal means” and live fire and that military police are now investigating the shooting. It gave no details on when the probe would be complet...
