Republicans used their majority on the House Intelligence Committee to authorize the release of Chairman Devin Nunes’ memo. Democrats’ rebuttal will remain classified.

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Republicans used their majority on the House Intelligence Committee to authorize the release of Chairman Devin Nunes’ memo. Democrats’ rebuttal will remain classified.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

The House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines Monday to release a controversial memo aimed at bolstering Republicans’ attacks against the FBI and Justice Department, over the objections of both.

The decision starts a process seldom, if ever, glimpsed inside Washington’s national security world: Now that members of Congress have sought to release the secret document, President Trump has five days to notify the committee of any objection.

But the White House wants the memo out and appeared ready to give a green light. So it wasn’t clear on Monday night whether the clock needed to run until Saturday or the memo might appear sooner.

The document was prepared by Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and the Republican majority staff of the committee. It’s been described as an indictment of alleged abuse by the FBI and Justice of their surveillance powers, specifically the quality of evidence they presented in asking to monitor at least one person in Donald Trump’s campaign.

Republicans say the FBI and Justice are infested with Democrats out to get Trump because of partisan animus. Nunes’ memo is believed to charge that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein presented weak evidence to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in asking it to reauthorize surveillance on an American.

The New York Times reported the person was former Trump adviser Carter Page.

Republicans on Nunes’ committee and others, including the House Judiciary Committee, also have asked whether the FBI used material from the infamous, unverified Russia dossier to make the case to surveil Americans.

That’s important, they argue, because the material in the dossier is not only unproved but partly underwritten by Democrats. In Republicans’ construction, biased special agents within the FBI took scurrilous Democratic-funded opposition research and used it to launch a baseless investigation of the Trump camp’s ties to Russia.

Evidence of potential collusion between the Trump camp and Russia has always gone beyond the dossier, including contacts that have been revealed in court documents as part of the investigation by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller.

And Washington has already previously hashed out complaints by Trump and Nunes about the abuse of surveillance powers, from Trump’s claim that Trump Tower was wiretapped to Nunes’ charge that people in the Trump orbit were wrongly “unmasked” by Obama administration officials.

But this time, Democrats complain they are being denied their chance to fire back at what they call the cherry-picked version of events in Nunes’ file. House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff told reporters on Monday evening that the majority used another party-line vote to reject his motion to release his secret memo responding to Nunes’ memo.

Schiff said Republicans said they might consider that in another week. So depending on when the Nunes memo becomes public, it could dominate the discussion in Washington and TV airwaves for several days before Democrats’ counterpoint is unveiled.

A man suspected of gunning down four people at a self-service Pennsylvania car wash was driven by jealousy, according to family members of the shooting victims.

State police said Timothy Smith, 28, was armed with a semi-automatic rifle, a .308-caliber rifle and a handgun and was wearing a body armor carrier without the ballistic panels inserted when he opened fire early Sunday morning at Ed’s Car Wash in Saltlick Township, a rural town about 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

Twenty-seven-year-old William Porterfield, 25-year-old Chelsie Cline, 23-year-old Courtney Snyder and 21-year-old Seth Cline were all killed.

Smith was on life support Sunday and not expected to survive after suffering a gunshot wound to his head. State police said it was possible that the gunshot wound was self-inflicted.

Authorities wouldn’t reveal how Smith knew the victims, but relatives of the victims say Chelsie Cline dated Smith at one time, reports CBS Pittsburgh.

Chelsie Cline’s half-sister, Sierra Kolarik, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that Smith had developed an obsession with Cline.

Cline shared a meme on her Facebook page last week that read, “After this week, I rlly (sic) need to get taken out … on a date or by a sniper either one is fine w me at this point.” A Facebook friend of hers named Tim Smith replied, “I could do both.”

Porterfield’s pregnant wife, Jenna Porterfield, 24, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that a state police investigator told her that Smith was a jealous former boyfriend of Cline.

Porterfield said she was told by family members of other victims that her husband and Cline had spent the past two days together after Cline ended a relationship with Smith. Porterfield said that she and her husband – who were married in November – had been “having some troubles” this month.

“I’m not holding that against Will. We weren’t fighting. We were fixing. And if he was with someone else while we were having problems, honestly, I don’t care what he did. I’m not going to hold that against him,” Porterfield told the newspaper. “I’d give anything to have him back.”

State police said Smith was the first person to arrive at the scene and parked his pickup truck on the side of the two-bay car wash. They said he shot Porterfield and Cline when they got out of their car and walked to the side of the car wash.

Snyder and Seth Cline arrived in a pickup truck at the same time and were both shot and killed in their vehicle, state police said. Another unidentified woman in the rear seat took cover in the truck and survived with only minor injuries from broken glass.

Cayleigh Myers said she was friends with Seth Cline, Chelsie Cline’s half-sibling, and described the construction worker as “very outgoing, very funny and very smart.”

“You always had fun when you were around him,” Myers said. “He would give his shirt off his back for you, anything, it didn’t matter what it was, what time it was, if you need him, you could call him. He was everything.”

Ed Bukovac, who owns the car wash, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that a neighbor called him around 4 a.m. Sunday and said something was wrong at his business. Bukovac said police were on the scene by the time he arrived and that he had few other details about what happened.

A man who lives nearby told the newspaper that he heard about 30 gunshots over a span of several minutes.

Above is video of Ronda Rousey talking to the WWE cameras after coming back out to greet fans after the Royal Rumble went off the air in Philadelphia on Sunday. As noted, Rousey made her debut by interrupting a post-Rumble segment with winner Asuka, SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair and RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss. Rousey pointed at the WrestleMania 34 sign, took a look at both titles and tried to shake Asuka’s hand but Asuka slapped it away. Rousey also shook Stephanie McMahon’s hand at ringside to squash their storyline beef.

Rousey says she really doesn’t know how to process everything but this is not something she does every day and is something very different from fighting. Rousey says it was a real pleasure being able to soak everything up and she’s very aware of how lucky she is. Rousey says coming to WWE has been her dream since before she could talk. She talks about asking late WWE Hall of Famer Roddy Piper if she could use the “Rowdy” nickname when she got into MMA. Rousey says no matter what else she did in life, pro wrestling kept following her around and it was time to take a hint from the WWE Universe.

Rousey also reveals that the leather jacket she wore at the Rumble was brought to her by Piper’s son Colt, who flew the jacket in from Las Vegas to Philadelphia. Rousey says she wants people to remember Piper every time she’s out there and says she wouldn’t be here or had her run in UFC if it weren’t for Piper. Rousey says Piper taught her so much from afar and showed her that she can also touch people from afar. Rousey says she is a better person because Piper lived.

Regarding the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match, Rousey says she was thinking about how a women’s Rumble would have been laughed at before and how she’s been laughed out of gyms in the past. Rousey says women have been brushed aside in combat sports for so long but to see everyone give a standing ovation to the women’s Rumble was big, and how fans were really invested in the match, and how it was well-accepted by the fans, not forced on them. Rousey says she didn’t even know about women’s wrestlers when she was a kid but she wants to make sure there’s not another generation that doesn’t know about women’s wrestlers when they’re little.

When asked about pointing to the WrestleMania 34 sign, Rousey says she thinks it’s a big fat hint that she’s going to be there in New Orleans at the big event.

Republicans in Congress were divided Sunday over protecting special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, with two senators embracing plans to make it more difficult for President Trump to have him fired but a top House lawmaker declaring them unnecessary.

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) highlighted his proposal to check Trump’s power over Mueller, while Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said it wouldn’t hurt to pass legislation along those lines.

But House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said there was no need to pass such a measure, as he defended how the president and his team have navigated Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The GOP discord came just days after the revelation that Trump sought Mueller’s ouster last June, prompting Democrats to make a renewed pitch for Congress to shore up the special counsel’s standing. It underscored the growing split in the Republican Party between Trump loyalists and others who are becoming increasingly concerned with the president’s actions.

That rift presents a challenge for lawmakers hoping to place new limits on Trump’s authority. Republicans control both chambers of Congress, and many in the party have been reluctant to take a hostile posture toward the president, who holds considerable influence over the conservative base despite his low approval ratings nationally.

“I have got legislation protecting Mr. Mueller. And I’ll be glad to pass it tomorrow,” Graham said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” He was referring to a proposal he unveiled last August with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) to require a panel of judges to review any decision to fire a special counsel before it is final.

“Everybody in the White House knows it would be the end of President Trump’s presidency if he fired Mr. Mueller,” Graham said.

Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) have offered a similar plan. Collins said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that adopting some version of their collective ideas could be helpful.

“It would certainly not hurt to put that extra safeguard in place, given the latest stories,” she said. Late last year, Collins was cooler toward the idea of moving to shield Mueller.

In the House, where GOP lawmakers have tended to align themselves more closely with Trump, McCarthy showed no appetite for moving ahead with those kinds of bills.

“I don’t think there’s a need for legislation right now to protect Mueller,” McCarthy said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He said Trump and his team “have fully cooperated” with the investigation.

McCarthy expressed confidence in Mueller but questioned the motivations of some others in the FBI and Justice Department who have been involved in the probe, citing the revelations of politically charged texts disparaging Trump. Graham voiced a similar sentiment.

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III departs Capitol Hill last summer after briefing senators on his investigation. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

Trump sought the firing of Mueller last June and backed off only after White House Counsel Donald F. McGahn threatened to resign, two people familiar with the episode confirmed on Thursday.

White House legislative affairs director Marc Short was asked directly on “Fox News Sunday” whether Trump wanted to fire Muller last summer. He responded carefully.

“I’m not aware the president ever intimated that he wanted to fire Robert Mueller,” Short said. He declined to say what Trump would do if Congress acted to make it more difficult for him to get rid of the special counsel.

“I don’t know, hypothetically,” he said.

Democrats have advocated proceeding with the proposals to reinforce Mueller’s standing, even as many Republican lawmakers and aides have shown little urgency about acting. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said Democrats will try to add the protections during the government spending negotiations.

Not all Democrats are embracing that tactic. Asked Sunday on CNN whether it would be a good idea, Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), a centrist facing reelection this year, said that it would be “premature for us to go down that road.”

Read more at PowerPost

China and Japan emphasized the need to improve relations as the countries’ foreign ministers met in Beijing amid a backdrop of lingering territorial disputes and the challenge posed by North Korea.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said it was important for Asia’s two biggest economies to cooperate on global and regional issues during talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Sunday.

But while lauding Japan’s apparent “desire” to improve ties — evidenced by the visit to China at the start of the year — Wang said China hopes that Japan can put its words into actions when it comes to normalizing the relationship.

“At present, China-Japan relations are at a crucial stage,” he said. “There is positive progress, but many disturbances and obstacles remain.”

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Senator Marco Rubio of Florida announced late Saturday that he had fired his chief of staff after allegations of improper conduct.

After an internal investigation, he determined that the employee had “violated office policies regarding proper relations between a supervisor and their subordinates,” Mr. Rubio said in a statement posted to his website. “I further concluded that this led to actions which in my judgment amounted to threats to withhold employment benefits.”

Mr. Rubio’s statement did not identify his chief of staff by name. Clint Reed is listed in that position in the Washington Information Directory published by Congressional Quarterly; he also identified himself as the chief of staff on his social media accounts as of early Sunday.

Contact information for Mr. Reed was not available. He joined Mr. Rubio’s staff in December 2016 after managing his presidential campaign in Iowa, South Carolina and Florida.

Mr. Rubio’s statement said his office would “not be disclosing any further details about the incidents which occurred.” It said Mr. Rubio, a Republican, was directly informed of the allegations on Friday afternoon.

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