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Maddow: Latest investigation on Elaine Chao is one of 4 Trump officials tagged with corruption probe
March 03, 2021
On MSNBC Wednesday, Rachel Maddow outlined how the inspector general referral of former Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao to the Justice Department for potential criminal prosecution was part of a pattern of Trump administration Cabinet secretaries being implicated in possible criminal conduct and let off.
"Robert Wilkie, Trump Veterans Affairs secretary, investigated for corruption, resulted in referral to the DOJ, Trump's DOJ declined to prosecute," said Maddow. "Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, investigated for corruption. Found to be substantive and serious enough it was referred to Justice Department for criminal prosecution. Trump's Justice Department declined to prosecute. Also, Trump Labor Secretary Alex Acosta was investigated for corruption. Found to be serious enough he was referred to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution. The Trump Justice Department declined to prosecute him as well. Now four of them at least, now Trump Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao as well also referred for criminal prosecution, and referred to Trump DOJ, an interesting timeline, before they too decided not to prosecute her."
<p>"In this letter explaining the actions of their office, inspector general's office says they started an investigation into Elaine Chao in 2019 and decided some of the allegations were serious and substantive enough they required a criminal referral to the Justice Department and made that referral based on the findings of the investigation," said Maddow. "Waning days of the Trump administration, during the transition, a month before Biden was sworn in as president, the Trump Justice Department receives criminal referrals to potentially prosecute Mitch McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, and quietly decline that prosecution."</p><p>"What other president in one term was effective enough to have four different Cabinet secretaries, at least, referred for criminal prosecution for corruption?" added Maddow.</p><p>
Watch below:
</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AFYJ-U7d1Gw" width="640"></iframe>
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'What are you thinking?' MSNBC host calls out key Dems who will cancel stimulus checks for 12 million people
March 03, 2021
MSNBC host Chis Hayes blasted Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) for initiating a Senate compromise on the COVID stimulus bill that would remove 12 million Americans and children from getting checks.
While Fox News is blaming Democrats for destroying Dr. Seuss and Mr. Patato Head, which Democrats had no role in, Americans are desperate for the stimulus funds that they've wanted since it was announced last year. When the bill was first proposed, 72 percent of Americans said they supported the bill which would deliver $2,000 checks to Americans. That was then cut by Manchin and others for a "compromise" bill.
<p>"The public understands this bill will help a lot of people who really need it. all of this said, why on Earth would you take steps to make it less effective and less popular?" asked Hayes. "And yet today that is exactly what Senate Democrats were insisting on."</p><p>He cited a <em>Washington Pos</em>t describing the deal: "Under the plan, individuals earning up to $75,000 per year and couples making up to $150,000 a year would qualify for the full $1,400 payment."</p><p>The House bill said that the size of the payments would scale down before zeroing out for individuals making $100,000 per year and couples making $200,000. But the new change would zero out the payment for anyone making over $80,000 and couples making over $160,000. </p><p>So, "around 12 million fewer adults and 5 million fewer kids would get the stimulus payments under the new Biden Senate compromise, according to preliminary estimates," Hays explained. "A lot of those adults are voters who will now get less in direct cash assistance from President Biden than they did from Donald Trump. Why would Democratic Senators, like Joe Manchin, and Jean Shaheen push for this to happen? Cut Joe Manchin a ton of slack. The guy got re-elected in West Virginia, the Trumpiest state in the union."</p><p>"On top of that, on top of all of this, keep in mind that the big gains that were made with college-educated voters in metropolitan areas, particularly suburbs, a lot of those people are making the amount that are now going to get shut out of stimulus checks," Hayes said. "There is nothing more than a reflexive, almost neurotic, compulsive desire to signal moderation by making things worse both substantively and what on Earth are you thinking?"</p><p>See the introduction below: </p><p><br/></p><p><br/></p>
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<span class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5ea56533bc40759b25b231747847d9ff" style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="auto" type="lazy-iframe" scrolling="no" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0K_28xkx5ZQ?rel=0" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" width="100%"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">covid stimulus fail</small>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K_28xkx5ZQ" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
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Republican mansplains the Great American Outdoors Act to Biden Interior Secretary nominee
March 03, 2021
On Wednesday Chris D'Angelo of the Huffington Post flagged that Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) tried to explain a key public lands law to Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM), President Joe Biden's nominee for Secretary of the Interior.
"Representative Haaland, The Great American Outdoors Act is a historic law that takes the revenue from energy development on public lands and uses it to reduce the backlog of maintenance on our parks and public lands," wrote Daines. "The program is estimated to reduce the backlog on parks by half over the next 5 years. Would you support extending the program, which means continuing energy development on public lands, in order to continue to reduce the backlog on public lands?"
<p>"I support the Great American Outdoors Act which permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund and provides funds to address the maintenance backlog on federal lands," replied Haaland. "If confirmed, I will work with Interior staff to ensure that the Department implements the Act as Congress intended."</p><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" class="" data-tweet-id="1367275695378939916" frameborder="0" id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1367275695378939916&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rawstory.com%2Fr%2Fentryeditor%2F2650883138%23publish&theme=light&widgetsVersion=e1ffbdb%3A1614796141937&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 604px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="Twitter Tweet"></iframe></div> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><p>Haaland, a climate activist who was first elected to Congress in 2018 and would be the <a href="https://nit.com.au/deb-haaland-one-step-closer-to-being-first-native-american-cabinet-secretary/" target="_blank">first Native American Cabinet secretary</a> if confirmed, has been a particular target from Republicans who have accused her of being <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/24/politics/what-matters-february-23/index.html" target="_blank">hostile to energy production</a>, due to her support of the Green New Deal and her opposition to fracking on public lands.</p>
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