Acting AG insists rioter violence will be considered by new anti-weaponization fund commission

Kraig Pakulski 0 14 Article rating: No rating
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche

By Paula Reid, Casey Gannon, Devan Cole, CNN

(CNN) — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made clear Wednesday that the conduct of January 6, 2021, rioters who attacked law enforcement will be factored when the soon-to-be-set-up commission reviews applications to the anti-weaponization fund.

“One of the factors the commissioners have to consider is what the claimant did — the claimant’s conduct,” Blanche told CNN’s Paula Reid in an interview Wednesday. “The claimant would have to say, ‘I assaulted a cop and I want money.’”

“Whether the commissioners will give that person money – that claimant – it’s up to them. But that’s one of the factors they have to consider,” he continued, adding that Trump “does not stand for assaulting law enforcement.”

Blanche told CNN, said he couldn’t fully rule out the possibility that someone who was violent toward officers, saying it was up to the commissioners.

“So, whether the commissioners will give that person money, that claimant, it’s up to them,” he said.

The comments come as Democrats and others have raised concerns that individuals who took part in the attack on January 6 will have broad access to the massive pot of taxpayer dollars if they simply show they were prosecuted by the Justice Department in the past.

Some of those people — including ones who acted violently that day — have already been seeking millions from the government, and CNN reported earlier Wednesday that many of them were looking to submit claims to the fund whenever possible.

The comments from Blanche represent the Justice Department’s clearest explanation thus far of how the application process for the fund would work.

The fund will be run by a commission whose members are chosen by Trump’s attorney general and who can be fired by the president at any time. One of the five members will be chosen “in consultation” with Congress, though it’s unclear what the counsel will look like or how closely the attorney general will adhere to it. The members won’t be paid for their service.

Blanche said in his interview with CNN that he didn’t think “you have to be wealthy” to serve in the unpaid role and expressed optimism that he’ll find suitable people to be on the commission.

“I think that there’s a lot of professions — really smart people in professions — that can handle work like this,” he said. “They’re going to be smart people. They’re going to be people that understand the political sensitivities that you’re raising.”

“We’ve had a bunch of people apply since we announced this, but that’s something that when we’re ready to announce who the commissioners are, we will let you know,” he added.

The attorney general also attempted to dispel any concern that claimants may receive exorbitantly high payouts from the fund, saying that “This is not a ‘you’re going to get rich’ process.”

“There’s claims processes set up all the time when there’s large numbers of potential victims that that are going to be compensated,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that that all those victims get rich because there’s a claims process put up. It just means that there’s money that’s set aside.”

This story was updated with additional reporting.

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Trump and Netanyahu diverge on Iran war’s future in tense phone call

Kraig Pakulski 0 15 Article rating: No rating
U.S. President Donald Trump

By Alayna Treene, Tal Shalev, Jeremy Diamond, Jennifer Hansler, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump had a tense conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that reflected their different views on how to proceed with the Iran war, a US official told CNN.

It wasn’t their first conversation in recent days. When the two leaders spoke on Sunday, Trump shared that he was likely to move forward with new targeted attacks on Iran early in the week, the official said — an operation that, as CNN has previously reported, was expected to get a new name: Operation Sledgehammer.

But roughly 24 hours after that initial conversation, Trump announced he was halting strikes that he said were planned for Tuesday at the request of allies in the Gulf, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In the days since, the Gulf nations have been in close contact with White House and Pakistani mediators in working on a framework that could further diplomatics talks, the US official and a person familiar with the situation said.

“We’re in the final stages of Iran. We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday morning about efforts to secure a deal.

“We’ll either have a deal or we’re going to do some things that are a little bit nasty,” he went on. “But hopefully that won’t happen.”

The ongoing negotiations have frustrated the Israeli prime minister, who has long advocated for a more aggressive approach in dealing with Tehran. Netanyahu has argued that a delay only benefits the Iranians, according to Trump officials and Israeli sources.

Netanyahu made his disappointment known on Tuesday, telling Trump that he believed delaying the expected attacks was a mistake, and that the president should continue as planned, the US official said. During the hour-long conversation, Netanyahu pushed for a resumption of military action, an Israeli source familiar said. The divergence was clear: Trump wants to see if a deal can be reached, but Netanyahu was expecting something else, an Israeli official said.

CNN has reached out to the White House.

Axios first reported the tense phone call.

The Israeli concern after that Tuesday phone call extended to officials around Netanyahu, another Israeli source told CNN. There is a strong desire in the upper echelons of the Israeli government for renewed military action, this source said, and mounting frustration that Trump is continuing to allow what they say is Iran’s diplomatic foot-dragging.

But Netanyahu’s frustration with the US approach — and specifically Trump making threats only to eventually press pause — is not entirely new, sources familiar with their conversations said. US officials in the past have acknowledged differing objectives between the US and Israel when it comes to the war.

Asked what he told the prime minister the night before, Trump suggested Wednesday he’s in the driver’s seat.

“He’ll do whatever I want him to do,” the US president said.

And despite Netanyahu’s pressure to return to active combat, Trump, for now, has continued to push for a diplomatic agreement, claiming Wednesday that things with Iran are “right on the borderline” and that it’s worth giving diplomacy a few more days if i

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