Tag Archives: Donald Trump

House approves new Russia sanctions, defying Trump

A rainbow shines over the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. July 24, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

By Patricia Zengerle and Amanda Becker

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to slap new sanctions on Russia and force President Donald Trump to obtain lawmakers’ permission before easing any sanctions on Moscow, in a rare rebuke of the Republican president.

It was unclear how quickly the bill would make its way to the White House for Trump to sign into law or veto. The bill still must be passed by the Senate, which is mired in debate over efforts to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system as lawmakers try to clear the decks to leave Washington for their summer recess.

The sanctions bill comes as lawmakers investigate possible meddling by Russia in the 2016 presidential election and potential collusion by Republican Trump’s campaign.

Moscow has denied it worked to influence the election in Trump’s favor, and he has denied his campaign colluded.

The White House said the president had not yet decided whether he would sign the measure. Rejecting the bill – which would potentially hamper his hopes of pursuing improved relations with Moscow – would carry a risk that his veto could be overridden by lawmakers.

“While the president supports tough sanctions on North Korea, Iran and Russia, the White House is reviewing the House legislation and awaits a final legislative package for the president’s desk,” said spokeswoman Sarah Sanders.

House members backed the bill, which also imposes sanctions on Iran and North Korea, by a near-unanimous margin of 419-3, with strong support from Trump’s fellow Republicans as well as Democrats, despite objections from Trump, who wanted more control over the ability to impose sanctions.

The Republican-controlled Senate passed an earlier version of the bill with near-unanimous support. The House added the North Korea measures after becoming frustrated with the Senate’s failure to advance a bill it passed in May.

Representative Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the three countries “are threatening vital U.S. interests and destabilizing their neighbors. It is well past time that we forcefully respond.”

But the combined bill has run into objections from some senators, who are unhappy that the House added the North Korea sanctions after holding up the measure for more than a month.

Senate leaders have not said when they might consider the House bill. Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was not sure the bill would “fly through” his chamber.

“The only language we agreed to was Iran and Russia. So adding North Korea on, I just don’t know how we’re going to deal with it yet,” Corker told reporters. “The better route would have been to send over what had been agreed to.”

The bill had raised concerns in the European Union, where U.S. allies depend on supplies of Russian gas. But House members said the bill was tweaked to try to alleviate the worries of Europeans and the energy sector.

INVESTIGATIONS

The intense focus on Russia, involving several congressional probes and a separate investigation by a Justice Department-appointed special counsel, Robert Mueller, has overshadowed Trump’s agenda.

The scrutiny has angered and frustrated the president, who calls the investigations a politically motivated witch hunt fueled by Democrats who cannot accept his upset win in last November’s election against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state.

Without offering evidence, Trump lashed out on Twitter on Tuesday about “Ukrainian efforts to sabotage” his presidential campaign in order to aid Clinton. The Ukrainian embassy in Washington denied the accusations.

The Senate Judiciary Committee had been set to compel Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, to testify at a hearing on Wednesday, but rescinded the subpoena late on Tuesday as negotiations over his participation continued.

Manafort has started turning over documents to the committee and is negotiating a date to be interviewed, the panel said in a statement.

The committee is looking at a June 2016 meeting in New York with a Russian lawyer organized by Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. Trump Jr. released emails this month that showed he welcomed the prospect of receiving damaging information at the meeting about Clinton.

On Friday, the panel had asked that Manafort and Trump Jr. appear at the Wednesday hearing, but a witness list released on Tuesday evening included neither of their names.

Manafort met with Senate Intelligence Committee staff on Tuesday morning, his spokesman said.

On Tuesday, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, spent three hours with the House of Representatives intelligence panel, his second straight day on Capitol Hill answering questions about his contacts with Russians during the campaign.

Kushner had a “very productive session” with the House Intelligence Committee, Democratic Representative Adam Schiff said after the meeting.

Republican Representative Michael Conaway said Kushner was “straightforward and forthcoming. He wanted to answer every question that we had.”

Kushner, who is now a top aide in Trump’s White House, told reporters on Monday he had no part in any Kremlin plot..

U.S. House Republicans on Tuesday rejected a legislative effort by Democrats to obtain Treasury Department documents that could show any ties between the finances of Trump, his inner circle and the Russian government.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Amanda Becker; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Steve Holland, Susan Cornwell, Susan Heavey and Karen Friefeld; Writing by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Grant McCool and Peter Cooney)

Rouhani says Iran will respond to any new U.S. sanctions

FILE PHOTO: Iran's national flags are seen on a square in Tehran February 10, 2012. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl/File Photo

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Iran will reciprocate if the United States imposes new sanctions on it, president Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday according to state media, casting further doubt over the outlook for the 2015 Iran nuclear accord.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to slap new sanctions on Iran, Russia and North Korea, although it was unclear how quickly the bill would make its way to the White House for President Donald Trump to sign into law or veto.

State media quoted Rouhani as citing a verse from the Koran saying: “If the enemy puts part of their promises underfoot then we will also put part of it underfoot. And if they put all of their promises underfoot then we will put promises underfoot.”

But he added: “The Koran also advises that if enemies are really pursuing peace and want to put enmity aside and act appropriately toward you, then you should do the same.”

He said that parliament would take the initial steps in responding to any U.S. moves and that any necessary further steps would also be pursued.

On Tuesday, Trump issued a veiled threat against Iran, warning it to adhere to the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal it signed together with world powers or else face “big, big problems.”

A week after certifying Iran as complying with the agreement negotiated by Democratic President Barack Obama, Trump has made it clear that he remains extremely wary of Tehran.

The Iranian side appears equally wary of Washington, with a senior Revolutionary Guards commander issuing a similar threat in return on Wednesday.

“The Trump government, more than before, should be cautious and precise with their military approach in the Islamic revolution environment,” Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces was quoted by the Tasnim news site as saying on Wednesday.

“We will confront any American mischief with a response that will make them sorry,” he said.

The head of the Guards was quoted as saying last week that Washington should move its bases and avoid “miscalculations” over new sanctions against Tehran. The United States has bases in Qatar and Kuwait across the Gulf from Iran, while the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based in nearby Bahrain.

(Reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

House expected to approve Russia sanctions bill limiting Trump’s influence

U.S. President Donald Trump calls on Republican Senators to move forward and vote on a healthcare bill to replace the Affordable Care Act in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., July 24, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

By Amanda Becker and Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote overwhelmingly on Tuesday for a bill that would slap new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea, potentially complicating President Donald Trump’s hopes of pursuing improved relations with Moscow.

The bipartisan measure aims to punish Russia for its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and for alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The measure’s fate in the Senate is uncertain after a key senator said the deal announced over the weekend may not be final.

Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters that deal negotiators had a “very good weekend” but the announcement “seemed somewhat premature.”

“We’re about there, there’s still some procedural issues we’re discussing but, you know, I think it worked out very, very well, we still got a couple of things to talk about on North Korea,” Corker said.

If the Republican-led Senate passes the measure, Trump will need to decide whether to sign the bill or veto it. Rejecting it would carry a risk that his veto could be overridden by lawmakers if they can muster enough support.

The Trump administration has objected to a provision in the sanctions bill that the president obtain congressional approval before easing any sanctions on Moscow.

“He’s going to study that legislation and see what the final product looks like,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Monday when asked whether Trump would support it.

Trump’s relationship with Russia has been a focus of the first six months of his presidency as investigations continue into whether his associates colluded with Russian hackers to influence the election on his behalf.

Russia denies interfering in the U.S. election and Trump denies his campaign colluded with Moscow.

As the Republican-controlled House takes up the sanctions bill, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will visit Capitol Hill for a second straight day to be interviewed about his contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign and the presidential transition.

An earlier version of the bill, including sanctions on Russia and Iran, passed the Senate 98-2 on June 15. A North Korea sanctions bill passed the House by 419-1 in May and House lawmakers were becoming increasingly impatient with the Senate’s failure to take up that legislation.

House members saw the Iran and Russia sanctions bill as a chance finally to get the North Korea measure through the Senate.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Exclusive: U.S. immigration raids to target teenaged suspected gang members

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Field Office Director Jorge Field (R), 53, and Field Office Director David Marin arrest a man in San Clemente, California, U.S., May 11, 2017. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

By Julia Edwards Ainsley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. immigration agents are planning nationwide raids next week to arrest, among others, teenagers who entered the country without guardians and are suspected gang members, in a widening of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants.

The raids are set to begin on Sunday and continue through Wednesday, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. The teenagers targeted will be 16- and 17-years-old.

The raids represent a sharp departure from practices during the presidency of Barack Obama. Under Obama, minors could be targeted for deportation if they had been convicted of crimes, but were not arrested simply for suspected gang activity or membership.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement that a person can be identified as a gang member if they meet two or more criteria, including having gang tattoos, frequenting an area notorious for gangs and wearing gang apparel.

The agency said it does not comment on plans for future law enforcement operations, but that it focuses on individuals who pose a threat to national security and public safety.

The memo instructing field offices to prepare for the raids was dated June 30. A Department of Homeland Security official speaking on background confirmed on Friday the raids were still scheduled to take place, though ICE could still change its plans.

Trump, who campaigned on the promise of tough immigration enforcement, has made deporting gang members, especially those belonging to the El Salvador-based Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, a top priority.

“You have a gang called MS-13. They don’t like to shoot people. They like to cut people. They do things that nobody can believe,” Trump said at a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa last month. In a May speech, the president promised the gang would be “gone from our streets very soon, believe me.”

‘THIS IS TROUBLING’

Although children can be deported like adults, U.S. immigration law considers minors arriving at the border without a parent or guardian particularly vulnerable and gives them additional protections.

Minors apprehended entering the country without a guardian are placed in custody arrangements by U.S. Health and Human Services, often with a family member living in the United States.

Law enforcement agencies maintain databases of individuals suspected of having gang affiliations, but the lists have come under fire from civil rights groups.

Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles, said the databases often contain inaccurate information.

“This is troubling on several levels,” Hincapie said. “For one, the gang databases in places like California are rife with errors. We have seen babies labeled as potential gang members.”

Immigration lawyer David Leopold of Ulmer & Berne said innocent children could be swept up in the raids.

“In many cases, children don’t freely decide to join a gang. They are threatened by older gang members and forced to get a gang tattoo if they live in a certain neighborhood,” he said.

The raids planned for next week will also target parents who crossed the border illegally with their children and have been ordered deported by a judge, and immigrants who entered the country as children without guardians and have since turned 18, according to the memo.

The document directs field offices to identify people in their areas that meet the criteria.

The Obama administration targeted those two groups in 2016 raids that sought to deter a surge of illegal border crossings by families and minors that began in 2014.

Obama, however, directed immigration agents to prioritize for deportation only those who had committed serious crimes or had recently entered the country.

(Reporting by Julia Edwards Ainsley; Editing by Sue Horton and Ross Colvin)

Exclusive: Moscow lawyer who met Trump Jr. had Russian spy agency as client

Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya speaks during an interview in Moscow, Russia November 8, 2016. REUTERS/Kommersant Photo/Yury Martyanov

By Maria Tsvetkova and Jack Stubbs

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian lawyer who met Donald Trump Jr. after his father won the Republican nomination for the 2016 U.S. presidential election counted Russia’s FSB security service among her clients for years, Russian court documents seen by Reuters show.

The documents show that the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, successfully represented the FSB’s interests in a legal wrangle over ownership of an upscale property in northwest Moscow between 2005 and 2013.

The FSB, successor to the Soviet-era KGB service, was headed by Vladimir Putin before he became Russian president.

There is no suggestion that Veselnitskaya is an employee of the Russian government or intelligence services, and she has denied having anything to do with the Kremlin.

But the fact she represented the FSB in a court case may raise questions among some U.S. politicians.

The Obama administration last year sanctioned the FSB for what it said was its role in hacking the election, something Russia flatly denies.

Charles Grassley, Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has raised concerns about why Veselnitskaya gained entry into the United States. Veselnitskaya represented a Russian client accused by U.S. prosecutors of money laundering in a case that was settled in May this year after four years.

Veselnitskaya did not reply to emailed Reuters questions about her work for the FSB. But she later posted a link to it on her Facebook page on Friday.

“Is it all your proof? You disappointed me,” she wrote in a post.

“Dig in court databases again! You’ll be surprised to find among my clients Russian businessmen… as well as citizens and companies that had to defend themselves from accusations from the state…”

Veselnitskaya added that she also had U.S. citizens as clients.

The FSB did not respond to a request for comment.

Reuters could not find a record of when and by whom the lawsuit – which dates back to at least 2003 – was first lodged. But appeal documents show that Rosimushchestvo, Russia’s federal government property agency, was involved. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Veselnitskaya and her firm Kamerton Consulting represented “military unit 55002” in the property dispute, the documents show.

A public list of Russian legal entities shows the FSB, Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, founded the military unit whose legal address is behind the FSB’s own headquarters.

Reuters was unable to establish if Veselnitskaya did any other work for the FSB or confirm who now occupies the building at the center of the case.

‘MASS HYSTERIA’ OVER MEETING

President Donald Trump’s eldest son eagerly agreed in June 2016 to meet Veselnitskaya, a woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who might have damaging information about Democratic White House rival Hillary Clinton, according to emails released by Trump Jr.

Veselnitskaya has said she is a private lawyer and has never obtained damaging information about Clinton. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, has said she had “nothing whatsoever to do with us.”

Veselnitskaya has also said she is ready to testify to the U.S. Congress to dispel what she called “mass hysteria” about the meeting with Trump Jr.

The case in which Veselnitskaya represented the FSB was complex; appeals courts at least twice ruled in favor of private companies which the FSB wanted to evict.

The FSB took over the disputed office building in mid-2008, a person who worked for Atos-Component, a firm that was evicted as a result, told Reuters, on condition of anonymity.

The building was privatized after the 1991 Soviet collapse, but the Russian government said in the lawsuit in which Veselnitskaya represented the FSB that the building had been illegally sold to private firms.

The businesses were listed in the court documents, but many of them no longer exist and those that do are little-known firms in the electric components business.

Elektronintorg, an electronic components supplier, said on its website that it now occupied the building. Elektronintorg is owned by state conglomerate Rostec, run by Sergei Chemezov, who, like Putin, worked for the KGB and served with him in East Germany.

When contacted by phone, an unnamed Elektronintorg employee said he was not obliged to speak to Reuters. Rostec, responding to a request for comment, said that Elektronintorg only had a legal address in the building but that its staff were based elsewhere.

When asked which organization was located there, an unidentified man who answered a speakerphone at the main entrance laughed and said: “Congratulations. Ask the city administration.”

(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova and Jack Stubbs; additional reporting by Polina Nikolskaya, Gleb Stolyarov and Darya Korsunskaya in Moscow; Editing by Andrew Osborn, Mike Collett-White and Grant McCool)

Trump warns Iran over detained Americans: White House

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts as he leaves a Made in America roundtable meeting in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S. July 19, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Iran would face “new and serious consequences” unless all unjustly detained American citizens were released and returned, the White House said in a statement on Friday.

Trump urged Iran to return Robert Levinson, an American former law enforcement officer who disappeared more than 10 years ago in Iran, and demanded that Tehran release businessman Siamak Namazi and his father, Baquer.

The statement capped a week of rhetoric against Tehran. On Tuesday, Washington slapped new economic sanctions against Iran over its ballistic missile program and said Tehran’s “malign activities” in the Middle East undercut any “positive contributions” coming from the 2015 nuclear accord.

Those measures signaled that the Trump administration was seeking to put more pressure on Iran while keeping in place an agreement between Tehran and six world powers to curb its nuclear program in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions.

Friday’s statement said Trump and his administration were “redoubling efforts” to bring back all Americans unjustly detained abroad.

An Iranian court sentenced 46-year-old Siamak Namazi and his 80-year-old father Baquer Namazi to 10 years in prison each on charges of spying and cooperating with the United States.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps detained Siamak in October 2015 while he was visiting family in Tehran, relatives said.

The IRGC arrested the father, a former Iranian provincial governor and former UNICEF official in February last year, family members said.

Levinson, a former agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and for the Drug Enforcement Administration, disappeared in Iran in 2007 and the U.S. government has a $5 million reward for information leading to his safe return.

An Iranian court sentenced Xiyue Wang, a Chinese-born U.S. citizen graduate student from Princeton University, to 10 years in jail on spying charges, Iran’s judiciary spokesman said on Sunday.

“Iran is responsible for the care and wellbeing of every United States citizen in its custody,” the White House said in the statement.

Separately, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Oman’s foreign affairs minister, Yusuf bin Alawi on Friday.

Washington has in the past sought Oman’s mediation to help in securing the release of detained Americans abroad. Last year American prisoners held captive by Yemen Houthi rebels were released after Omani mediation.

Oman also paid bail that ultimately helped in the release of three American hikers in 2010 and 2011.

(Reporting by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by James Dalgleish, Toni Reinhold)

Sean Spicer resigns as Trump seeks to repair public image

FILE PHOTO: White House spokesman Sean Spicer holds a press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 8, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House spokesman Sean Spicer resigned on Friday, ending a brief and turbulent tenure that made him a household name, amid further upheaval within President Donald Trump’s inner circle.

A White House official confirmed the departure of Spicer, 45, and said Trump had named Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci as his new, top communications official.

While not a surprise, Spicer’s departure was abrupt and reflected heightened turmoil within Trump’s legal and communication teams amid a widening investigation into possible ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Kremlin.

Parodied memorably by Melissa McCarthy on the “Saturday Night Live” sketch comedy show for his combative encounters with the White House press corps, Spicer became one of the Trump administration’s most recognized figures.

He invited controversy from the beginning, attacking the news media in his debut appearance as press secretary for reporting what he called inaccurate crowd numbers at Trump’s inauguration.

“This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,” he said, an assertion that quickly drew scorn.

While the White House official gave no reason for Spicer’s resignation, the New York Times reported that he had quit over Scaramucci’s appointment. Spicer had been serving as both press secretary and communications director, but with a lower profile recently.

Spicer was targeted by critics for what they said were false or misleading statements. In recent weeks, he has less frequently taken the lectern in the White House press room.

From the start, Spicer and other Trump aides sought to shake up the status quo in White House dealings with the media, including cutting back daily televised news briefings and replacing them with audio briefings only.

When Trump tapped Spicer for the job of press secretary, he was spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

Separately, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating the possible Trump-Russia ties, has asked White House officials to preserve any records of a meeting last year between the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and a Russian lawyer, a source with knowledge of the request said on Friday.

The White House said deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders will give an on-camera briefing on Friday afternoon.

(Writing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Susan Heavey; Editing by Kieran Murray and Jonathan Oatis)

Judge refuses to remove block on Trump sanctuary city order

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a "Made in America" event on pharmaceutical glass manufacturing at the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., July 20, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

By Dan Levine

(Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Thursday refused to revisit a court order that blocks President Donald Trump’s administration from carrying out a policy designed to threaten the granting of federal funds to so-called sanctuary cities.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick III in San Francisco ruled that a recent memo from the Justice Department that appeared to narrow the scope of Trump’s executive order on sanctuary cities did not remove the need for a court-ordered injunction.

Orrick wrote that the memo is not binding and the attorney general can revoke it at any time.

A Justice Department spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Trump issued the order in January, shortly after he was inaugurated, directing that funding be slashed to all jurisdictions that refuse to comply with a statute that requires local governments to share information with U.S. immigration authorities.

Sanctuary cities generally offer safe harbor to illegal immigrants and often do not use municipal funds or resources to enforce federal immigration laws. Dozens of local governments and cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, have joined the growing “sanctuary” movement.

The Trump administration contends that local authorities endanger public safety when they decline to hand over for deportation illegal immigrants arrested for crimes.

After Trump issued the sanctuary cities executive order, California’s Santa Clara County – which includes the city of San Jose and several smaller Silicon Valley communities – sued, saying it was unconstitutional. San Francisco filed a similar lawsuit.

In a ruling in April, Orrick said Trump’s order targeted broad categories of federal funding for sanctuary governments and that plaintiffs challenging the order were likely to succeed in proving it unconstitutional.

The Justice Department asked Orrick to revisit that ruling, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo which said the only funds the government intended to withhold were certain grants tied to law enforcement programs.

Orrick voiced skepticism at a hearing earlier this month.

(Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Republicans meet late into night as Trump demands new healthcare plan

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnnell, R, and Senator Richard Shelby, L, (R-AL) listen as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Senate Republicans to discuss healthcare at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 19, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

By Yasmeen Abutaleb and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans struggling to agree on healthcare legislation to overhaul Obamacare obeyed U.S. President Donald Trump’s orders to try to swiftly reach a deal but were unable to resolve their differences in a long, late-night meeting.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump took Senate Republicans to task for failing to agree on how to dismantle Obamacare, as a new report showed 32 million Americans would lose health insurance if senators opt to repeal the law without a replacement.

Trump gathered 49 Republican senators for a White House lunch after a bill to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act collapsed on Monday amid dissent from a handful of the party’s conservatives and moderates.

After Trump’s exhortation to keep trying, party members met with Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price behind closed doors on Wednesday night to try to finally come together on a major Republican promise of the past seven years – undoing former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature legislation, popularly known as Obamacare.

There was no immediate breakthrough.

“We still have some issues that divide us,” said Senator Ted Cruz, a conservative who has proposed letting insurers offer cheaper bare-bones plans that do not comply with Obamacare regulations.

Republicans attending the late meeting sent their staff away in order to talk frankly and Senator John Kennedy said everyone was negotiating in good faith but he added he did not know if they would reach agreement.

Almost all the other senators rushed off after the meeting without comment.

As it was getting underway, the nearly two dozen Republican senators were shaken by news that their colleague, veteran Senator John McCain, had been diagnosed with brain cancer.

McCain’s absence from the Senate makes the job of passing a healthcare bill more difficult because leaders need every Republican vote they can get.

“Obviously, I think more people are worried about his health than thinking about the math. You understand the math. Obviously it makes things difficult,” Senator Bob Corker said as he left the meeting.

Trump had taken a hands-off approach to the healthcare debate last week and suggested on Tuesday that he was fine with letting Obamacare fail. Then on Wednesday he switched course and demanded senators stay in Washington through their planned August recess until they find common ground on healthcare.

“We can repeal, but we should repeal and replace, and we shouldn’t leave town until this is complete,” Trump said at the meeting.

Trump made the repeal and replacement of Obamacare, which he has called a “disaster,” a central promise of his 2016 campaign.

Even with Trump’s new push, Republican leaders in the Senate face a difficult task getting moderates and conservatives to agree on an overhaul that can pass.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had planned to hold a straight repeal vote next week, but several Republican senators have already said they oppose that approach.

Thirty-two million Americans would lose their health insurance by 2026 if Obamacare is scrapped without an alternative in place, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported on Wednesday, while 17 million would become uninsured next year alone.

At the same time, premiums on individual insurance plans would rise 25 percent next year and double by 2026.

The CBO’s estimates were unchanged from a previous report that assessed the impact of a 2015 bill to repeal Obamacare that passed the House of Representatives and Senate and was vetoed by Obama.

‘TRUE DEATH SPIRAL’

Democrats were swift to highlight the CBO’s assessment, while Republicans remained silent.

“President Trump and Republicans have repeatedly promised to lower premiums and increase coverage, yet each proposal they offer would do the opposite,” Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer said in a statement.

Insurers and hospitals have lobbied against straight repeal, saying the limbo would increase uncertainty and their costs.

“CBO projects half the country would have no insurers in the individual market by 2020 under the new repeal bill. That’s a true death spiral,” tweeted Larry Levitt, vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a healthcare research group.

Republicans say Obamacare is a costly intrusion into the healthcare system.

But the party is divided between moderates concerned the Senate bill would eliminate insurance for millions of low-income Americans and conservatives who want to see even deeper cuts to Obamacare, which boosted the number of Americans with health insurance by 20 million through mandates on individuals and employers, and income-based subsidies.

Moderate Republican Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Shelley Moore Capito said they opposed McConnell’s plan for a repeal that would take effect in two years. All three attended the lunch with Trump.

With Democrats united in opposition to repeal, McConnell can only lose two votes from the Republicans’ 52-48 majority in the 100-seat Senate to pass healthcare legislation.

Opponents of repeal protested throughout Senate buildings on Wednesday afternoon, leading to 155 arrests, police said. Demonstrators returned in the evening to yell as senators arrived for the meeting.

Party fractures also emerged in the House of Representatives. The chamber passed a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare in May. But on Wednesday, the House Freedom Caucus, the Republican Party’s conservative wing, filed a petition to vote on a straight repeal.

House Speaker Paul Ryan’s spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, said: “The House passed an Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill we are proud of and we hope the Senate will take similar action.”

(Writing by John Whitesides and Lisa Lambert; Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Richard Cowan, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Susan Heavey; Editing by Leslie Adler, Peter Cooney and Richard Pullin)

Trump ends CIA arms support for anti-Assad Syria rebels: U.S. officials

A Free Syrian Army fighter carries weapons as he walks past damaged buildings in a rebel-held part of the southern city of Deraa, Syria July 9, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Faqir

By John Walcott

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration has decided to halt the CIA’s covert program to equip and train certain rebel groups fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, two U.S. officials said, a move sought by Assad ally Russia.

The U.S. decision, said one of the officials, is part of an effort by the administration to improve relations with Russia, which along with Iranian-supported groups has largely succeeded in preserving Assad’s government in the six-year-civil war.

The CIA program began in 2013 as part of efforts by the administration of then-President Barack Obama to overthrow Assad, but produced little success, said the officials, both of whom are familiar with the program and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Washington Post was first to report the program’s suspension on Wednesday. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders declined to comment on the topic at the White House briefing.

The CIA also declined to comment.

The decision was made with National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and CIA Director Mike Pompeo after they consulted with lower ranking officials and before Trump’s July 7 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit in Germany. It was not part of U.S.-Russian negotiations on a ceasefire in southwestern Syria, the two officials said.

One of the officials said the United States was not making a major concession, given Assad’s grip on power, although not on all of Syria, “but it’s a signal to Putin that the administration wants to improve ties to Russia.”

Trump is under intense scrutiny by Congress and a special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump’s campaign had ties to the activity. Russia has denied U.S. intelligence agencies’ allegations of Moscow meddling, and Trump has denied collusion between his campaign and Russians.

A downside of the CIA program, one of the officials said, is that some armed and trained rebels defected to Islamic State and other radical groups, and some members of the previous administration favored abandoning the program.

Before assuming office in January, Trump suggested he could end support for Free Syrian Army groups and give priority to the fight against Islamic State.

A separate effort by the U.S. military effort to train, arm and support other Syrian rebel groups with air strikes and other actions will continue, the officials said.

However, aside from air strikes after the Syrian military launched a chemical weapons attack, the Trump administration has not increased military support from the limits set by the Obama administration.

(Reporting by John Walcott; additional reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Grant McCool)