https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/trump...x-publisher-and-friend-conrad-black-1.4424348 Trump issues full pardon for ex-publisher and 'friend' Conrad Black U.S. President Donald Trump has granted a full pardon to former media mogul Conrad Black, with the White House calling him "entirely deserving" of the gesture. Black, who once described Trump as an “old friend” and recently published a glowing biography of the president, served nearly 42 months in a Florida prison after he was convicted for fraud and obstruction of justice in 2007. He was also fined US$125,000. Black said Trump called him last week to personally deliver the news. “He could not have been more gracious and quickly got to his point, that he was granting me a full pardon, that would ‘Expunge the bad wrap [sic] you got,’” Black wrote in an exhaustive 1,698-word statement. “The American criminal justice system is frequently and largely evil; I was convicted for attempted obstruction of injustice. It was never anything but a smear job.” In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders described Black as “an entrepreneur and scholar” who has a “distinguished reputation for helping others” and worked as a tutor in prison. “In light of these facts, Mr. Black is entirely deserving of this Grant of Executive Clemency,” the statement read. Black has long been a vocal supporter of Trump. Last year, Black published a flattering biography of Trump, "Donald J. Trump: A President Like No Other,” in which he highlighted what he considers the president’s biggest successes. After the book was published, political observers speculated that Black may have been angling for a presidential pardon. But in a statement to Maclean’s last December, Black denied doing so. “You are correct that no pardon has been applied for, and I have no comment on the subject,” Black told the magazine. “The public speculation about it that I have seen is bunk.” In 2015, when Trump was running to be the Republican nominee for president, Black wrote a piece for The National Review calling Trump “the good guy” in the race. The article caught the attention of then-candidate Trump. "What an honor to read your piece," Trump tweeted. "As one of the truly great intellects & my friend, I won't forget!!" Black responded in kind. "Many thanks, Donald and all good wishes in helping to clean up the American government. Honored to be your friend," he tweeted. Black previously headed Hollinger international, a global newspaper publisher that published The National Post, The Daily Telegraph and The Jerusalem Post. He famously renounced his citizenship to Canada in 2001 to become the Lord Black of Crossharbour, his official title as a British lord.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/16/ben-carson-table-gao-1329839 HUD's Ben Carson broke law with furniture order, GAO says Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson broke the law when he failed to report an order for a $31,561 dining room table set for his office as well as the installation of an $8,000 dishwasher in the office kitchen, the Government Accountability Office found in a report published Thursday. Agencies are required to notify Congress of expenditures over $5,000 to furnish an executive’s office. Carson canceled the table order after it surfaced in news reports in early 2018, and he appeared to blame the fiasco on his wife, Candy, in congressional testimony. HUD spokespeople offered conflicting accounts of what Carson knew about the order.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/20/us/politics/kris-kobach-trump.html A Would-Be Trump Aide’s Demands: A Jet on Call, a Future Cabinet Post and More Kris Kobach’s Conditions for Becoming Immigration Czar Mr. Kobach submitted the following list of demands during discussions for an administration post. 1. Office in the West Wing. 2. Walk-in privileges with the president. 3. Assistant to the President rank - at highest pay level for WH senior staff. 4. Staff of 7 people (2 attorneys, 2 research analysts, 1 scheduler, 1 media person, 1 assistant). 5. POTUS sits down individually with Czar and the secretaries of Homeland Security, Defense, Justice, Ag, Interior, and Commerce, and tells each of the Secretaries to follow the directives of the Czar without delay, subject to appeal to the President in cases of disagreement. 6. 24/7 access to either a DHS or DOD jet. Czar must be on the border every week. 7. Ability to spend weekends in KS with family on way from border back to DC, unless POTUS needs Czar elsewhere. 8. Security detail if deemed necessary after security review. 9. Serve as the face of Trump immigration policy - the principal spokesman on television and in the media. 10. Promise that by November 1, 2019, the president will nominate Kris Kobach to be DHS Secretary, unless Kobach wishes to continue in Czar position. Access to a government jet 24 hours a day. An office in the West Wing, plus guaranteed weekends off for family time. And an assurance of being made secretary of homeland security by November. Those were among a list of 10 conditions that Kris Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state, has given to the White House if he is to become the administration’s “immigration czar,” a job President Trump has been looking to create to coordinate immigration policy across government agencies. The list was described by three people familiar with it. Mr. Kobach, who once served as an adviser to the hard-line immigration Sheriff Joe Arpaio and helped write an Arizona law requiring local officials to verify the citizenship of anyone they had “reasonable suspicion” to believe was an unauthorized immigrant, said he would need to be the main television spokesman for the Trump administration on immigration policy. And he said he wanted a guarantee that cabinet secretaries whose portfolios relate to immigration would defer to him, with the president mediating disputes if need be. The list was submitted by Mr. Kobach in recent weeks as he discussed his interest in the job. Other conditions included having a staff of seven reporting to him, “walk in” privileges to the Oval Office, a security detail if deemed necessary and the title of assistant to the president. losing to a Democrat, Laura Kelly. He lost a race for the House in 2004. The list underscores the clout Mr. Kobach hopes to have in a job that would not require Senate confirmation, but could drive Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda. One of its main objectives was to minimize the influence of cabinet officials, who have at times been targets of Mr. Trump’s ire, or have jostled for his ear. After Kirstjen Nielsen, the former homeland security secretary, resigned in April, Mr. Trump met with Mr. Kobach about the possibility of succeeding her. Mr. Kobach, according to people familiar with the meeting, brought with him a detailed plan to crack down on asylum seekers entering the country. He told Mr. Trump that the only way for him to complete the mission was to be able to fly down to the border at a moment’s notice. At the time, Mr. Trump was convinced that Mr. Kobach would have a hard time winning Senate confirmation for the position, and the two discussed the possible creation of an immigration czar. He has yet to make a decision. And Mr. Kobach is also considering running for the Kansas Senate seat being vacated by Pat Roberts, a Republican. National Republicans, concerned about his hard-line positions, are hoping to keep him from winning the party’s nomination if he does run.
Be careful with that title, the last time someone got branded a "slayer" around here it didn't work out too well.