James' World 2

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In the days before Donald Trump’s inauguration, a wealthy Russian pharmaceutical executive named Alexey Repik arrived in Washington, expressing excitement about the new administration.

He posted a photo on Facebook of a clutch of inauguration credentials arranged next to a white “Make America Great Again” hat, writing in Russian: “I believe that President Donald Trump will open a new page in American history.”

Throughout his trip, Repik had prime access. He wrote on Facebook that he got close enough to the president-elect at a pre-inaugural event to “check the handshake strength of Donald Trump.” He and his wife, Polina Repik, witnessed Trump’s swearing-in from ticketed seats in front of the U.S. Capitol. And he posed for a photo shoulder-to-shoulder with Mike Pompeo, the president’s nominee to head the CIA, although Repik later said he was not aware of Pompeo’s intended role at the time.

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Some prominent Russians came to Washington to witness Donald Trump’s inauguration last year. Above is a section where some had ticketed seats in front of the U.S. Capitol. (CNN/Photo illustration by The Washington Post)

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/amid-trumps-inaugural-festivities-members-of-russias-elite-anticipated-a-thaw-between-moscow-and-washington/2018/01/20/0d767f46-fb9f-11e7-ad8c-ecbb62019393_story.html?utm_term=.f68d310dab48

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Cindy Garcia has had a long, exhausting and life-changing week. And by all appearances, the whirlwind is going to continue.

On Monday morning, she watched immigration agents escort Jorge Garcia, her husband of 15 years, through the security gates at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, deporting him to Mexico after nearly three decades living and raising a family in Michigan.

Video of Cindy Garcia and the couple’s two adolescent children sobbing as they said goodbye grabbed national headlines. Supporters held up the family’s experience as an example of the far-reaching effects of President Trump’s sweeping crackdown on undocumented immigration. Observers across the political spectrum took notice. “Surely this should not be happening,” tweeted Bill Kristol, editor of the right-leaning Weekly Standard.

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Jorge Garcia poses with his wife, Cindy Garcia, in Detroit on Jan. 15 at a farewell party before he was deported to Mexico. (Niraj Warikoo /Detroit Free Press via AP)

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/01/19/wife-of-michigan-father-deported-after-30-years-is-coming-to-trumps-state-of-the-union/?utm_term=.2242e4c23977

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White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly told Democratic lawmakers Wednesday that some of the hard-line immigration policies President Trump advocated during the campaign were “uninformed,” that the United States will never construct a wall along its entire southern border and that Mexico will never pay for it, according to people familiar with the meeting.

The comments were out of sync with remarks by Trump, who in recent days has reiterated his desire to build a border wall that would be funded by Mexico “indirectly through NAFTA.”

The mixed signals underscore the difficulty congressional Republicans have faced as they have tried to decipher what the president wants in an immigration deal. And they have contributed to tensions over how to resolve the legal status of immigrants, known as “dreamers,” brought to the country illegally as children.

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White House Chief of Staff John Kelly arrives at the Capitol on Wednesday for a meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. (Susan Walsh/AP)

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/kelly-calls-some-of-trumps-campaign-pledges-on-immigration-and-wall-uninformed-meeting-attendees-say/2018/01/17/3e2524bc-fb86-11e7-a46b-a3614530bd87_story.html?utm_term=.5a5ac916a260

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A couple days before Christmas 1995, then-Senate Majority Leader Robert J. Dole grew fed up with his negotiating partners in Newt Gingrich’s House of Representatives and the Clinton White House.

“It’s time for adult leadership,” the Kansas Republican declared during a Senate floor speech.

Using a favorite phrase of his tenure as one of Washington’s most prominent figures, Dole emerged as the leader in talks to reopen the federal government amid a budget standoff pitting the House speaker, Gingrich (R-Ga.), against President Bill Clinton.

That “adult leadership” made a rare appearance Wednesday in the Capitol. President Trump and the bipartisan leadership awarded Dole, 94, with the Congressional Gold Medal, and it served as a stark contrast to today’s partisan toxicity, the whiff of another shutdown in the air.

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President Trump and congressinoal leaders pay tribute to former Senate majority leader Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) on Wednesday. In a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda, Dole received the Congressional Gold Medal. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/congress-to-honor-a-senate-master-in-the-art-of-dealmaking-amid-a-budget-impasse/2018/01/17/e6291f4e-faf8-11e7-8f66-2df0b94bb98a_story.html?utm_term=.67dbaa06634f

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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday unanimously rejected a proposal by Energy Secretary Rick Perry that would have propped up nuclear and coal power struggling in competitive electricity markets.

The independent five-member commission includes four people appointed by President Trump, three of them Republicans. Its decision is binding.

At the same time, the commission said that it shared Perry’s stated goal of strengthening the “resilience” of the electricity grid and it directed regional transmission operators to provide information to help the commission examine the matter “holistically.” The operators have 60 days to submit materials. At that time the agency can issue another order.

. Energy Secretary Rick Perry

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Click link below for article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/01/08/trump-appointed-regulators-reject-plan-to-rescue-coal-and-nuclear-plants/?utm_term=.e889ea514491

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