Breaking Down Mueller’s Testimony
Last week, Bob Mueller spoke to Congress regarding the findings of his Russia investigation and while there are a lot of partisan opinion pieces about his testimony, here are some of the facts:
· The final report did not exonerate Trump of committing any crimes.
· There are 3 “to-do’s” that a person must complete in order to have committed obstruction. Trump checked all 3 off his list.
· Trump was not charged with obstructing justice because of an old memo that restricts indicting sitting presidents, but Mueller confirmed that Trump could be charged with obstructing justice once he is out of office. Kinda.
The testimony was largely seen as a bore because there was no bombshell revelation and Mueller stuck to the report (as he said he would). Even still, the above points were enough to make the call for impeachment a little louder. It’s up to the House of Representatives to initiate and carry through the act of impeaching a president. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly declined to pursue this route and we doubt she’ll change her mind anytime soon. She prefers working the middle over rocking the boat.
Trump Getting His Way with Immigration
Donald Trump received some big immigration wins last week. How big? $2.5-billion-for-his-border-wall big. You might remember his national emergency from February in which he sought $6.7 billion for the wall. Well that was challenged through the legal system until it made its way to the Supreme Court, who made the final call on Friday. Donald also put pressure on Guatemala to require migrants traveling through to seek asylum there first before doing so in the US. This means, any Guatemalan, Honduran or Salvadorian (which most migrants are these days) who passes through Guatemala and makes it to the US with an asylum claim will be sent back to Guatemala if they have not submitted a claim there first. Why Guatemala? It’s because the administration has deemed the Central American country safe.
Congress, What’s Hannenin??
There isn’t much news in the form of bills for Congress to vote on this week, but there will be hearings on migration, digital currencies, and a few nominations of administration officials.
2020 Tings
Who knew A$AP Rocky would be a topic for 2020 candidates? Trump’s still tweeting, this time about how Sweden is letting the African American community down. Kamala thinks 45’s attempts to interject is a game of politics. Bernie was even asked about it on Jimmy Kimmel.
Elizabeth Warren is proving that she’s about that action. She has now taken the student loan forgiveness program that she promoted as a presidential candidate and turned it into a bill for Congress to vote on sooner rather than later.
Cousin Kamala rolls out her platform for decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level. Plus, the Howard alum wants to invest $60 billion in HBCUs. Plus plus, she also caused confusion with her student loan debt forgiveness plan.
Women all over the country are throwing their coins behind their favorite candidate’s campaigns. Can you guess which 2020 contender is killing everyone else by a landslide? Hint: white women have been a critical (and questionable) part to this person’s success thus far.
Around the Diaspora
The president of Ghana launches a program to formalize mining in select communities across the country.
Sudan will charge military officials involved last month’s deadly clashes with civilians.
Kenya will include “intersex” as an option on its census.
Don’t forget about the Ebola outbreak in the Congo. There are still ways for you to help.
Culture that Pops
Atlanta singer 6lack is using his influence to bring clean water to Uganda.
Insecure may not be coming back until 2020, but we will be getting a lil’ something something when it does: 2 more episodes.
HYFR! The Ford Foundation will pay $30 million to acquire archives from Ebony and Jet magazines. They will then donate those archives to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
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