May 8, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to a lawsuit filed against the Department of Housing and Urban Development for suspending the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation until 2024:

“The lawsuit against the Department of Housing and Urban Development for suspending the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule until 2024 is irrelevant. Under the omnibus spending bill, currently HUD is prohibited from ordering any changes to zoning under the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation. HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s suspension of the rule until 2024 may have taken place prior to this Congressional prohibition, but the lawsuit is practically moot since it would be now be illegal for Carson to implement AFFH as currently written. In its present iteration, the HUD rule is illegal, since it still calls for changes to zoning. HUD should move for immediate dismissal, as it is clear that Congress has preempted whatever vision of AFFH the Obama administration implemented.”

Attachments:

“Congress succeeds in gutting Obama HUD racial and income zoning rule in omnibus,” By Robert Romano, March 27, 2018 at http://dailytorch.com/2018/03/congress-succeeds-in-gutting-obama-hud-racial-and-income-zoning-rule-in-omnibus/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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May 8, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising President Donald Trump for leaving the Iran nuclear deal:

“Under the Constitution and federal law, President Donald Trump can leave bad foreign agreements at his discretion and institute sanctions against countries hostile to U.S. interests, including Iran. Today, President Trump has put America first by ending the Iran nuclear deal and reinstituting sanctions on Tehran after it was revealed that Iran lied when it entered into the deal in the first place about the extent of its nuclear weapons program.

“In order for the U.S. to be taken seriously elsewhere including on the Korean peninsula, there has to be penalties for not dealing honestly with the U.S. To have stayed in the Iran nuclear deal would have told North Korea that it is okay to lie to the U.S. about the extent of its own program putting regional and international security at risk.

“The Iran nuclear deal was always a fiction, and now President Trump is protecting U.S. national security interests and holding Iran accountable for its Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty obligations.

“For those who now complain about the President’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, it should be noted that the previous administration failed to put the deal before the Senate for treaty ratification. The reason the Obama team made this choice is because the deal would have never passed public scrutiny and President Trump’s withdrawal is an affirmation that constitutional processes should be followed to ensure U.S. interests are upheld.”

Attachments:

“Netanyahu briefing proving Iran nuke program exists leaves Trump little choice but to leave Iran nuke deal,” By Robert Romano, May 8, 2018 at http://dailytorch.com/2018/05/netanyahu-briefing-proving-iran-nuke-program-exists-leaves-trump-little-choice-but-to-leave-iran-nuke-deal/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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May 7, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to revelations by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence including testimony by former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe that the FBI agents who interviewed former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn in Jan. 2017 did not think he had lied about his conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kisylak in Dec. 2016:

“The prosecution of former National Security Advisor reflects the Orwellian justice of the Mueller investigation where both James Comey and Andrew McCabe testified to Congress that Flynn did not lie to the FBI, and yet Flynn was forced to plead guilty to lying to investigators because he could no longer afford to defend himself financially.

“Two immediate actions should occur: First, Flynn should withdraw his coerced guilty plea and all charges against him should be dropped. Second, Congress is responsible for Mueller’s unending taxpayer-funded pocketbook used to overwhelm even well-heeled individuals and members can and should immediately vote to cut that funding from the Mueller probe and demand a final report be submitted to the Department of Justice. Failure by Congress to act would be a surrender of their duty to ensure the basic American principle of every deserving equal justice under the law. Mueller and the FBI’s rogue prosecutions will either go down as a stain on nation’s judicial system or it could very well be the end of the concept of innocent until proven guilty.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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May 4, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis in the Eastern District of Virginia’s statement on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of one-time Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, “I don’t see what relationship this indictment has with anything the special counsel is authorized to investigate”:

“It has been clear from the onset of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that it has gone beyond its original mandate to investigate Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 election. One-time Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort was charged with activities predating the election, not to do with Russia, but related to Ukraine and lobbying. The federal judge overseeing the Manafort case is absolutely right. Particularly, since the charges originate from an investigation that predated the appointment of Mueller, clearly they did not arise in the course of Mueller’s investigation. There’s no reason another U.S. Attorney could not have been assigned to this case.

“Similarly, former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was charged with activities alleged to have occurred after the election, related not to the campaign or Russian interference, but a conversation he had with the Russian ambassador in 2016 to do with sanctions and specifically, his recollection of the legal conversation in Jan. 2017.

“Judge Ellis was right when he shockingly said, ‘You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort,’ he continued, ‘You really care about what information Mr. Manafort can give you to lead you to Mr. Trump and an impeachment, or whatever.’

“Everyone outside the Department of Justice seems to be able to see that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s only objective is to create grounds for the Democrats to impeach the president. That isn’t his job; his job is to investigate Russian collusion if there was Russian collusion in the election. The Manafort case clearly demonstrates the special counsel is well beyond his legal mandate, and Judge Ellis should throw the charges out immediately on this basis.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 30, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the EPA to fix the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) or end it in light of a recent waiver issued to CVR Energy, Inc. by the agency:

“Granting CVR Energy, Inc. a waiver from the Renewable Fuel Standard is a good first step in implementing overall RFS reforms. As company owner Carl Icahn noted in a 2016 oped with the Wall Street Journal, his company ‘is losing hundreds of millions of dollars because of the Renewable Fuel Standard.’ While individual waivers are good to meet this and other companies’ needs, they point to an overall need for RFS reform. Just this year, Philadelphia Energy Solutions reached a bankruptcy settlement with the EPA because the RFS caused so many losses at the company. The EPA needs to fix the system so that waivers are no longer needed to simply survive. The RFS is an unacceptable example of the government picking winners and losers and it needs to be fixed now or ended once and for all.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 27, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement on the latest developments on the Korean peninsula:

“President Trump promised to change the geo-political world in which we live and the current rapprochement between South Korea and North Korea is evidence that his re-think everything approach is working.  In the past, China was seen as the key broker with the North Koreans, and while they have had a role in this process, the pictures of just confirmed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jung Un demonstrates that President Trump, unlike his predecessors, recognized that on the U.S. can represent U.S. interests.  By creating direct communications, President Trump opened the door for the historic meeting of the leaders of the North Korean and South Korean governments.

“Of course, this is just a first, but very important step toward ending this forgotten war that began in 1950 when North Korea first invaded South Korea. After the hot war ended, a Cold War has existed on the border between the two Koreas with 35,000 U.S. troops currently stationed there in constant harm’s way.  In order to show that they are sincere in their desire for peace, the North Koreans need to release the three Americans still being held hostage by the regime, followed closely by providing a full accounting of the North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile programs and U.S. inspectors must be part of the inspection teams throughout the denuclearization process. Once the peninsula is nuclear free, the U.S. can begin the process of bringing our troops home from South Korea.

“Most Americans only remember the Korean War through old MASH episodes.  The truth of that war is that it was bloody and brutal with battles like Chosin Reservoir, Inchon and Pork Chop Hill being etched in a generation’s memories from a time when instant gratification communications did not exist and the true perils and horrors of the war were largely unknown to the public.  President Donald Trump has been determined to change the status quo and end this stand-off from the outset of his administration as evidenced by his sending Vice President Pence to the DMZ early in his presidency and by ratcheting up pressure on North Korea as they expanded their nuclear program, have created a pathway to peace, if the North Koreans will take it.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 26, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting the Senate Judiciary Committee proposal to shield Special Counsel Robert Mueller or any future special counsel from firing:

“Americans for Limited Government has always been a leading group in support of Congress reaffirming its constitutional Article I powers. Senator Mike Lee is the leader of the Senate’s Article I project and has correctly noted that today’s Senate Judiciary Committee action is an unconstitutional attempt to protect a Justice Department at-will, political appointee from firing, effectively stripping the President of his constitutional, Article II power to execute the laws. He is not a civil servant and can be removed at any time.

“Even you disagree with Sen. Lee on the constitutionality of the Judiciary Committee’s proposal, this is still a disastrous idea. By taking away the Executive Branch’s ability to remove a Special Counsel without judicial approval, the Judiciary Committee is effectively creating a permanent position. Once appointed, the Attorney General or Acting Attorney General will be stripped of any meaningful oversight of the actions of the Special Counsel. In effect, the Judiciary Committee proposal would make this and any future Special Counsel one of the most powerful people in the world, able to engage in unending investigations of the President or anyone else without meaningful oversight or worse, with blind eye turned on his misconduct.

“In the case of Robert Mueller, his appointment itself is illegitimate because it does not comport with the regulatory requirement that a specific crime be cited by the Acting Attorney General to be investigated. This failure was used by Mueller to cast and recast wider and wider nets desperately seeking crimes that are far afield from the initial allegations. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has made a mistake in even considering this ill-conceived legislation, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is 100 percent correct in not wasting any floor time on it.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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