Thirteenth Week of the Trump Presidency

• 3 current and 4 former U.S. officials told Reuters that Vladimir Putin directed RISS, Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, to develop a plan to swing the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump and undermine voter’s faith in the American electoral system.
• Trump deported the first protected DREAMer to Mexico ignoring Obama’s DACA protections. He has since stated that he will not deport DREAMers – only individuals with criminal records. (So what will happen to the ones he has already deported who have no criminal record but are not DREAMers?)
• Trump hopes to sabotage the ACA by urging congress to not fund the subsidies.
• Trump supporters have a new plan to replace ACA which they hope will appeal to the conservative right. This time, they will not require insurance companies to cover individuals with pre-existing conditions. More individuals will lose insurance coverage!
• The White House has suggested avoiding a government shutdown by giving support for ACA subsidies if Democrats are willing to pass funding for the border wall.
• Trump tweeted an attack ad against Jon Ossoff: “The super liberal Democrat in the Georgia congressional race tomorrow wants to protect criminals, allow illegal immigration, and raise taxes.”
• Trump congratulated Turkey President Erdogan Tayyip on winning a referendum that will bolster his autocratic power. If the referendum stands against claims of voter fraud, Turkey will shift from a parliamentary government to an autocratic one largely controlled by the president of Turkey.
• Trump demands an investigation into protestors who want his tax returns. He wants to know who is paying them to protest.
• While visiting the Korean DMZ Mike Pence threatened war with Korea stating “We’re going to abandon the failed policy of strategic patience, but we are going to redouble our efforts to bring diplomatic and economic pressure to bear on North Korea.”
• Pence and Secretary Maddis tell Koreans that an American aircraft carrier and its support force are positioned off of the Korean coast when they are actually 3,000 miles away on naval exercises with the Australian Navy.
• Montana chooses to pay out $750,000 dollars for a special election rather than risk having cheaper mail-in voting which could allow more people to vote.
• Georgia Republicans try to block newly registered voters from voting in the run-off election between Jon Ossoff and Karen Handel by telling voters that they could only vote in the run-off election if they had previously voted in the primary.
• A Texas court strikes down a GOP drawn State House gerrymander due to evidence of racial discrimination.
• China grants Ivanka 3 more patents for merchandise to be sold in China after a dinner meeting with Chinese President Xi. More money for the Trumps!
• 7 states have given rapists paternal rights to the child of the woman they raped.
  Bill O’Reilly was booted from Fox News for being a sexual harasser. Fox gave him a 25 million dollar severance package.
• Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz has said he will step down in 2018.