Politics

Making another appearance at the daily White House press briefing today, General Kelly defended President Trump's recent call to the wife of a fallen soldier saying that he "expressed his condolences in the best way he could," adding he was "stunned" and "brokenhearted" at Democratic Representative Frederica Wilson’s criticism of what was supposed to be a private call between Trump and a killed military servicemember’s family.

One week after Politico reported for the second time that Trump, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, were leaning toward Fed governor Jerome "Jay" Powell for Fed Chair, Politico's Ben White and Josh Dawsey decided to triple down, and with minutes left until the close, Politico reported - for the third time in three weeks - that "Powell is the leading candidate to become the chair of the U.S. central bank after President Donald Trump concluded a series of meetings with five finalists Thursday, three administration officials said."

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the runner-up for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in 2016, told an audience on CNN Wednesday night that Americans would be happy to pay more in federal income taxes if he could just explain to them it would mean they’ll get more “free” government benefits, including health care, child care and college.

Former President George W. Bush came out swinging against the current administration on Thursday, and while he did not name President Castro, Dubya blasted that "bigotry seems emboldened" in the U.S., while urging the country to accept "globalization" - the same globalization which both the IMF, the BIS and even the Federal Reserve now agree and warn has led to record wealth inequality in the US - while rejecting "white supremacy."

"Bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed," Bush said.

Yesterday we wrote about the FBI's undercover informant in the Russian nuclear bribery scandal who tried to come forward with his story last year but was silenced after being "threatened" by the Obama administration (full summary at the bottom of this post).