The federal appeals court in Atlanta has upheld a Board of Regents policy that prevents immigrant students who’ve received a special deportation reprieve from attending three of the state’s top universities.

The court’s ruling Wednesday applies to immigrants who have been accepted into the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. DACA encourages government officials not to enforce federal immigration laws against certain children who were brought illegally to the U.S. before they turned 16 years old.

The regents’ prohibition involves those students who want to attend the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech or Georgia College & State University, the ruling said.

(see link for rest of article)

Bill Shine, the former Fox News executive who joined the White House staff last summer to manage President Trump’s communications operation, has resigned and will move to the president’s re-election campaign, the White House announced Friday.

Mr. Shine’s abrupt departure came as a surprise to many in the White House and was revealed, as such personnel moves often are in this administration, as the president was on Air Force One leaving Washington.

While described by admiring White House colleagues as a rare adult in the room, Mr. Shine has sometimes been absent during key moments, including the president’s trip last week to Vietnam. Colleagues said he had developed little chemistry with Mr. Trump, and critics increasingly focused on Mr. Shine’s ties to Fox, where he was forced out for his handling of sexual harassment claims.

In a meeting late Friday morning with communications staff members, Mr. Shine told colleagues that he was leaving for two reasons, according to a person familiar with what took place. He said that he lived a solitary existence in Washington and missed his family, who remained in New York. But the second reason, he said, was that he had become a distraction for Mr. Trump and did not see that changing.

The White House sought to present Mr. Shine’s resignation as amicable and issued statements in the name of the president and other officials praising him. But people close to the White House described the campaign job as a way to save face.

“Bill Shine has done an outstanding job working for me and the administration,” Mr. Trump said in his statement. “We will miss him in the White House, but look forward to working together on the 2020 presidential campaign, where he will be totally involved. Thank you to Bill and his wonderful family!”

In the same statement, Mr. Shine was quoted calling his time in the White House an honor and “the most rewarding experience” of his life. “I’m looking forward to working on President Trump’s re-election campaign and spending more time with my family,” he said.

(see link for rest of article)

Issued on: March 8, 2019

South Lawn

9:37 A.M. EST

Q    (Inaudible) February jobs numbers?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, the economy is doing very well.  We’re seeing wages rise more than they have at any time for a long, long time.  Wages are going up first time for many years — I talked about it during the campaign — for over 20 years.  So, I’m happy about that.

The economy is very, very strong.  If you look at the stock market over the last few months, it’s been great.  And certainly since my election, it’s up — getting close to 50 percent — the stock market.  So, we’re obviously very happy with that.

We will — I think as soon as these trade deals are done, if they get done — and we’re working with China; we’ll see what happens — but I think you’re going to see a very big spike.  A lot of people are waiting to see what happens with the China deal.  Mexico, Canada is done.  We’ll be submitting to Congress very shortly.  And that’s a great deal for the United States, so we’re very happy about that.

And I am now, as you know, going to Alabama.  Some of you are joining me.  But I look forward to it.  I’ll be meeting with Governor Ivey.  The people of Alabama, they got hit very hard by the tornadoes.  We’re stopping there, then we’re going to Florida.  And we’re going to do a lot of work.  We’ll be working very hard.

Q    Your reaction to Manafort’s sentencing?

THE PRESIDENT:  I feel very badly for Paul Manafort.  I think it’s been a very, very tough time for him.  But if you notice, both his lawyer — a highly respected man and a very highly respected judge — the judge said there was no collusion with Russia.  It’s had nothing to do with collusion.  There was no collusion.  It’s a collusion hoax.  It’s a collusion witch-hoax.  I don’t collude with Russia.

So I just want to tell you that his lawyer went out of his way, actually, to make a statement last night.  No collusion with Russia.  There was absolutely none.  The judge, I mean, for whatever reason — I was very honored by it — also made the statement that this had nothing do with collusion with Russia.

So, you know, keep it going.  Let’s go.  Keep the hoax going.  Just a hoax.  Senator Burr said there’s no collusion.  If you look at Devin Nunes and the House Intelligence Commission — Committee — they said there’s no collusion.  And guess what?  There is none.

Q    Is 20,000 new jobs good enough, sir?

THE PRESIDENT:  What?

Q    Is 20,000 new jobs good enough for you, sir?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, it’s a step.  I think you’ll probably find out it averages out.  The unemployment rate just went lower.  We’re down now to 3.8 percent, so we had very good news on that.

I think the big news, really, was that wages went up.  And that’s great for the American worker.  That’s something people — I don’t know if they ever expected to see it.

Yeah?

Q    Mr. President, we’re hearing rumblings from China that they’re not really positive about a trade deal and that perhaps (inaudible) may not happen.  Where is that?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I haven’t heard that.  I think they’re doing well.  But if it happened that way, we’ll do even better.  We’ll do very well either way, with or without a deal.  But you’re telling me something that I have not heard.

Q    Do you feel confident that you can get a trade deal with China?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.  Sure.  I’m confident.  But if we don’t make a very good deal for our country, I wouldn’t make a deal.  If this isn’t a great deal, I won’t make a deal.

Q    Are you ruling out a pardon for Manafort?

THE PRESIDENT:  Say it?

Q    Are you ruling out a pardon for Manafort?

THE PRESIDENT:  I don’t even discuss it.  I have — the only one discussing it is you.  I haven’t discussed it.

I know that, in watching and seeing you folks at night, that Michael Cohen lied about the pardon.  It was a stone-cold lie.  And he’s lied about a lot of things, but when he lied about the pardon, that was really a lie.  And he knew all about pardons.  His lawyers said that they went to my lawyers and asked for pardons.  And I can go a step above that, but I won’t go do it now.

Q    Why do you think Cohen is suing the Trump organization?

THE PRESIDENT:  Why what?

Q    Why do you think Cohen is suing the Trump organization?

THE PRESIDENT:  It’s the most ridiculous suit I’ve ever seen.  Bad lawyer.  I had a bad lawyer.

Go ahead.  That happens.

Q    Your administration is being sued by Planned Parenthood over Title 10 funding.  What’s your reaction to that?

THE PRESIDENT:  We’ll make a comment on it later.

Q    (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Talk.  Talk.  Up.  You’re competing with a helicopter, John.

Q    On immigration and what’s going on in Congress now, are you certain that they will not be able to override your veto?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think that it’s going very well.  The border — we’re doing a great job.  We’re apprehending record numbers of people — 75,000 over the last short period of time.  That’s a lot of work.  And with a wall, we wouldn’t have to do it.

No, I think we’re doing fine in Congress.  They understand it’s an emergency.

Q    Michael Cohen’s decision to testify (inaudible) your decision to walk (inaudible) with North Korea?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, time will tell, but I have a feeling that our relationship with North Korea — Kim Jong Un and myself — Chairman Kim — I think it’s a very good one.  I think it remains good.  I would be surprised, in a negative way, if he did anything that was not per our understanding.  But we’ll see what happens.

Look, when I came in — under the Obama administration, North Korea was a disaster.  You were going to war, folks, whether you know it or not.  You were going to war.  There was no talking.  There was testing.  We didn’t have our people back.  We didn’t have our great hostages back.  Now we’re getting the remains, we’re doing a lot of things now.  This was a disaster.  I inherited a mess.

In many ways, I inherited — the Middle East, I inherited a mess, and it’s straightening out a lot.  We’re doing very well there.  I inherited a mess.

Q    (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT:  I inherited — wait.  Wait.  I inherited a mess with North Korea.  And right now, you have no testing.  You have no nothing.  Let’s see what happens.  But I would be very disappointed if I saw testing.

Q    What do you make of the vote yesterday in the House of Representatives on the anti-Semitism resolution?

THE PRESIDENT:  I thought yesterday’s vote by the House was disgraceful because it’s become — the Democrats have become an anti-Israel party.  They’ve become an anti-Jewish party.  And I thought that vote was a disgrace and so does everybody else, if you get an honest answer.  If you get an honest answer from politicians, they thought it was a disgrace.  The Democrats have become an anti-Israel party.  They’ve become an anti-Jewish party, and that’s too bad.

I’m going to Alabama.

END

9:45 A.M. EST

Women’s March co-founder Linda Sarsour explained Friday how she and other left-wing organizers influenced the final language of the “anti-hate” resolution that passed the House Thursday night.

The resolution, initially launched as a rebuke exclusively against anti-Semitism following remarks made by Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, was later broadened to include all forms of bigotry. Sarsour in her video took credit for convincing House Democratic leadership for “expanding the language of the resolution to include condemning all forms of bigotry.” (RELATED: Democratic Rebuke Against Anti-Semitism Becomes Resolution Against Everything Else)

The Women’s March co-founder attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last Tuesday for initially allowing the anti-Semitism resolution, saying in a Facebook post, “Nancy is a typical white feminist upholding the patriarchy doing the dirty work of powerful white men. God forbid the men are upset – no worries, Nancy to the rescue to stroke their egos.”

(See link for rest of article and some video)

Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar ripped former President Barack Obama in an interview published Friday, belittling his “pretty face” and saying his agenda of hope and change was an illusion.

She cited the “caging of kids” at the Mexican border and the “droning of countries around the world” on Obama’s watch — and argued that he wasn’t much different from President Trump

“We can’t be only upset with Trump,” the freshman firebrand told Politico Magazine.

“His policies are bad, but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies. They just were more polished than he was,” Omar said.

“And that’s not what we should be looking for anymore. We don’t want anybody to get away with murder because they are polished. We want to recognize the actual policies that are behind the pretty face and the smile.”

The explosive comments about a man lionized by Democrats were only the latest in a series of incendiary statements that have put the national spotlight on Omar, a Somali-American Muslim who spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya after her family fled the violence in their homeland.

(see link for rest of article)

Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, who orchestrated the anti-Trump dossier, provided the Justice Department with a thumb drive in December 2016 containing company’s opposition research into the president.

The disclosure comes from senior Justice Attorney Bruce Ohr in closed congressional testimony last year. Rep. Doug Collins, Republican of Georgia and the ranking House Judiciary Committee member, released a transcript on Friday.

Mr. Ohr’s testimony adds to the picture of wide access Mr. Simpson, a Hillary Clinton opposition researcher, gained to the upper levels of DoJ and the FBI.

Mr. Ohr tells the story of how he became the middleman between the FBI and Mr. Simpson and his contractor, former British spy Christopher Steele. The FBI was investigating the Trump campaign for possible election collusion with Moscow at the time.

The Simpson thumb drive, which Mr. Ohr delivered to the FBI, was his second from Fusion. His wife, Nellie, a Russia expert at Fusion, provided the first one before the election.