June 5, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement on the impending settlement between the U.S. and Mexico on sugar dumping:

“The devil is in the details on these kind of agreements, and we will be taking a close look at any remedies proposed in the U.S.-Mexico sugar settlement to determine if they have any teeth or not to stop Mexico’s sugar dumping on U.S. markets.”

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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June 2, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) for insisting that the FBI, NSA and CIA provide all unmaskings that occurred by the outgoing Obama administration throughout 2016 all the way through Jan. 20, 2017, which he said on the John Batchelor Program on June 1 were “We’ve been waiting since March 15 for that information. The intelligence agencies have been slow-rolling this, which is what led to these three subpoenas being issued to the appropriate agencies” against former CIA Director John Brennan, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice and former UN Ambassador Samantha Power:

“House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes is a hero and has absolutely done the right think in demanding that the FBI, NSA and CIA turn over all unmaskings that occurred by intelligence agencies in 2016 leading up to inauguration. There is no question his committee has an absolute right to that information, and to provide oversight to ensure that those powers were not abused in a safe, classified setting. These agencies’ refusal to comply with this request more than justifies the subpoenas that have now been issued.

“So far, these investigations appear to have not turned up evidence of Russia even hacking the DNC or John Podesta and posting emails on Wikileaks, let alone any collusion by Russian agents and the Trump campaign, leading to the question of just why it was that such a heavy-handed investigation was occurring. As Nunes stated in the interview, ‘at some point here, the Democrats are going to have to start to pull Russians out of their hats, because I can’t find them.’ It is up to Nunes and the House and Senate committees of oversight to find out what happened, and to see if these surveillance powers were abused, as they appear to have been.

“Because, if these intelligence agencies refuse to be subjected to oversight when there is a real question about their surveillance powers being used by an administration against the opposition political party in a presidential election year, then under no circumstances should Congress reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. If you have ever had concern for civil liberties — left, right or middle — you need to listen to what Chairman Nunes is saying here. These abuses are chilling and they have to stop.”

Attachments:

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, the John Batchler Program, June 1, 2017 at https://audioboom.com/posts/5978272-how-many-obama-officials-unmasked-american-citizens-what-is-to-be-done-devinnunes-marykissel?t=0

NUNES: “Every American is masked. All of the intelligence agencies are bound by law to mask all American citizens that get picked up in foreign collection. What has to happen then if you want to find out who that American is, there’s a process and procedure in place for that, it’s actually very uncommon in most cases and seldom happens.

“But the concern that I have had that I expressed publicly – quite publicly, actually – a couple of months ago was that it became excessive, that Obama administration officials were unmasking people in the Trump transition and it made me quite uncomfortable. We requested that we see all unmaskings that were done for the past year. We’ve been waiting since March 15 for that information. The intelligence agencies have been slow-rolling this, which is what led to these three subpoenas being issued to the appropriate agencies…

“[T]hose three individuals [John Brennan, Susan Rice and Samantha Power] that we named are ones that we have a particular interest in, but I can say that those are not the only ones that we have an interest in, but look, we want to work with the intelligence agencies. We didn’t want to have to subpoena them, but the process was moving way too slowly, so we picked these three individuals who we have a particular interest in and hopefully they are expedient. They have until next week [June 7] to give us the unmaskings that these three individuals have. I think they know now that we are serious…

“The big problem here is that the people that run these programs are protecting the United States, they’re protecting U.S. citizens from terrorist attacks, from other adversaries that we have around the globe, and we have to protect the American citizens from being picked up in these types of foreign intelligence collection. However, what clearly has happened here, at a minimum, I don’t know that it’s illegal, but it’s clearly an abuse of power that senior Obama administration would unmask someone, but also, what is illegal and I can’t say that it was the Obama administration officials who did this but we know that names were unmasked in intelligence products and if you believe the Washington Post and the New York Times and NBC News, you know that names were unmasked and intelligence was leaked and Americans were picked up in intelligence products were leaked out to the media… which is, what? A crime. It’s a crime to do that.

“So, we’re trying to get to the bottom of these crimes if in fact they were committed and to date, it’s the only crimes that we know have been committed and all this other Russia collusion stuff, you know, I keep looking for Russians, I know yesterday Hillary Clinton said that a thousand Russians [helped Trump]… She said that intelligence sources had told her that, that was news to me. You know, at some point here, the Democrats are going to have to start to pull Russians out of their hats, because I can’t find them. So if there’s a thousand Russian agents that were helping Donald Trump, I’d like to know who they are so that I can rush those down to the Department of Justice… but we don’t have that yet. But what I do know is that stories have been leaked to the newspapers that involve American citizens who were supposedly picked up in intelligence and unmasked and leaked to the press, that’s what I know, that would be a crime…

“I think it would be very unusual for any ambassador under any circumstance at any level to unmask names of American citizens no matter where they were serving, whether at the UN or in the UK or in Germany or China. I think it would be very unusual for an ambassador to request an unmasking so I’m not going to get into what I know at this point but I can tell you that we would not be asking this if we didn’t have probable cause to suspect that there was an abuse of power here…

“We will see whether or not the FBI produces the unmaskings that were done by these three individuals. If the FBI continues to not provide the information to Congress, or the NSA or the CIA, for that matter – look the bottom line is that these programs are really important to protecting the American people and everybody that works in the intelligence agencies, you know that they want to protect the American people, but I will tell you that these programs are in jeopardy.

“Right now, there’s no possible way we could reauthorize the foreign intelligence programs, we wouldn’t have the votes today. I mean, Democrats don’t typically give us the votes, and I can tell you that most of my Republican colleagues wouldn’t give us the votes to extend these programs. So at the end of the day, America will be left… less safe, because people expect the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee to be able to inspect and provide oversight over names that senior administration officials unmask. If they unmask American citizens, people expect the Congress to know who they were unmasking…

“This is only the beginning, there are many more officials that we have concerns about abusing the intelligence programs.”

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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June 1, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising President Donald Trump for withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accord:

“Today, the American people owe a debt of gratitude to President Trump, for putting America first and telling foreign powers no more. No more concessions. No more kowtowing. No more economic suicide pacts. A new day has come of prioritizing American interests on the world stage, and President Trump will be remembered decades from now as setting the U.S. on a new path of prosperity — by leaving the Paris agreement on the ash heap of history where it belongs.”

“In exiting the Paris Treaty, President Trump has made good on his campaign pledge to put America first. Obama’s bad climate deal endangered the future growth of the U.S. economy and millions of jobs that Americans need to provide for their families, and in leaving the agreement, President Trump has established his own doctrine, that the federal government’s first responsibility is to the American people, not to foreign interests.  The consequence of the Paris agreement was to simply shift production, growth and jobs to emerging markets overseas when there too many working families that are hurting here at home.

“Fortunately, President Trump has not forgotten that it was working families — in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and across the country in our industrial base — who depend on there being real, good-paying jobs in order to make ends meet.  These workers supported him in 2016, and the President’s commitment to pull out of the Paris climate accord was one of the most important promises made to the American people, a part of his very reason for being President, which was to stop the bad deals that are killing the American economy.

“Under Paris, the jobs we need to create cannot exist here. Under Paris, we cannot increase manufacturing here and we cannot get coal miners back to work.  Under Paris, we cannot expand our power grid and rid ourselves of these self-inflicted regulatory wounds. Paris was an obstacle to getting Americans back to work, and for that reason alone it had to go.”

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 30, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government has today launched EnforceNAFTA.org to urge President Trump to stop Mexican cheating on NAFTA and enforce U.S. law, accompanied by this statement from Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning:

“Mexico has been found in violation of antidumping rules by the U.S. International Trade Commission in 2015 for dumping sugar on U.S. markets illegally since 2008. President Trump has been clear that he is going to enforce U.S. law while renegotiating NAFTA or ultimately leaving that trade agreement on behalf of the U.S. economy and American workers if it proves unworkable.  After all, if our own trade partners are just going to violate the terms of the agreement, what’s the use of NAFTA?

“Now it is up to the U.S. Commerce Department to help President Trump keep his promise to enforce U.S. law and stop Mexican cheating on NAFTA, leveling tariffs if necessary under Chapter 19 of NAFTA and U.S. law for their sugar dumping violations. The Mexican actions have not been without consequences with the last sugar refinery closing in Hawaii and a refinery in Wyoming closing as a direct result. There can be no better time for the President to make this clear to the Mexican government that the dumping must stop when the decision comes up again on June 5. The President has the chance to bring Mexico into compliance with U.S. law and stop its illegal dumping by using the NAFTA renegotiation as leverage. We are urging the American people to go to EnforceNAFTA.org and send the message that illegal NAFTA dumping must stop.”

Attachments:

Letter to President Donald Trump urging either negotiated settlement or countervailing duties on Mexican sugar, May 15, 2017 at https://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/StopMexicoDumpingNAFTATrumpLetter-5-10-17.pdf

Article 1902 of NAFTA at http://www.sice.oas.org/Trade/NAFTA/chap-191.asp

Article 1902: Retention of Domestic Antidumping Law and Countervailing Duty Law

1. Each Party reserves the right to apply its antidumping law and countervailing duty law to goods imported from the territory of any other Party. Antidumping law and countervailing duty law include, as appropriate for each Party, relevant statutes, legislative history, regulations, administrative practice and judicial precedents.

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 23, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement reacting to the just-released statement by former Megaupload head Kim Dotcom that murdered DNC staff Seth Rich was the source of the DNC email leaks that were published on Wikileaks in 2016:

“If, as Kim Dotcom claims, murdered DNC employee Seth Rich was the source of the DNC leaks, then it is incumbent upon Special Counsel Mueller to shift the focus of his investigation away from Russia and all of the false innuendo about that country’s influence over our national elections.

“Occam’s razor states that, ‘the simplest explanation is usually the correct one’ and in this instance it now appears likely that the source of all of these leaks was a disgruntled employee who was sickened by the pro-Hillary Clinton corruption within the DNC. It is incumbent upon Mueller to take Kim Dotcom up on his offer to provide evidence, and if that evidence proves credible, to publicly exonerate those who have been smeared in the media over the past six months.”

Attachments:

Statement by Kim Dotcom, May 23, 2017 at http://kim.com

#SethRich was a hero

I know that Seth Rich was involved in the DNC leak.

I know this because in late 2014 a person contacted me about helping me to start a branch of the Internet Party in the United States. He called himself Panda. I now know that Panda was Seth Rich.

Panda advised me that he was working on voter analytics tools and other technologies that the Internet Party may find helpful.

I communicated with Panda on a number of topics including corruption and the influence of corporate money in politics.

“He wanted to change that from the inside.”

I was referring to what I knew when I did an interview with Bloomberg in New Zealand in May 2015. In that interview I hinted that Julian Assange and Wikileaks would release information about Hillary Clinton in the upcoming election.

The Rich family has reached out to me to ask that I be sensitive to their loss in my public comments. That request is entirely reasonable.

I have consulted with my lawyers. I accept that my full statement should be provided to the authorities and I am prepared to do that so that there can be a full investigation. My lawyers will speak with the authorities regarding the proper process.

If my evidence is required to be given in the United States I would be prepared to do so if appropriate arrangements are made. I would need a guarantee from Special Counsel Mueller, on behalf of the United States, of safe passage from New Zealand to the United States and back. In the coming days we will be communicating with the appropriate authorities to make the necessary arrangements. In the meantime, I will make no further comment.

Statement from

Kim Dotcom

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 23, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising President Donald Trump and the White House Office of Management and Budget for offering a budget that relies primarily on spending cuts to achieve balance:

“President Trump’s budget is based on a sober assessment of economic growth and achieves balance not through Washingtonian gimmickry but through $4.5 trillion of real cuts to baseline spending over 10 years. This breaks the cycle of perpetual spending increases being baked into the system, and repeals and replaces Obamacare.

“The good news is that when the President’s tax, regulatory and trade reforms take effect, the economic growth that they create should be a windfall for the U.S. economy — as more discouraged workers enter the labor force after a decade-long losing streak, and real wages finally increase.

“Through Trump’s conservative approach to the budget, the President takes nothing for granted, and should find willing allies amongst the Congressional GOP as their once in a generation opportunity to achieve an historic agreement on rational spending priorities moves forward.”

Attachments:

“Trump’s budget really could make America great again. Will Congress allow him to do it?” By Richard Manning, May 22, 2017 at http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/05/22/trump-s-budget-really-could-make-america-great-again-will-congress-allow-him-to-do-it.html

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 18, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to former FBI Director James Comey’s May 3 Senate Judiciary Committee testimony saying no political interference with FBI investigations had ever occurred on his watch, when he said, “I’m talking about a situation where we were told to stop something for a political reason, that would be a very big deal. It’s not happened in my experience.”:

“James Comey’s sworn testimony on May 3 under penalty of perjury that the FBI under his watch was never told to stop an investigation for political reasons — months after Comey’s meeting with President Trump — destroys the Democrat narrative that Trump somehow ever attempted to obstruct the FBI investigation. It is time for Congress to stop chasing these distractions and get back to work on the agenda members were elected to implement. In the meantime, the Obama holdovers who somehow still remain in government should be immediately dismissed to end these nonsensical and prejudicial leaks designed to overturn the 2016 election result. It is time for the Trump administration to begin.”

Attachments:

Former FBI Director James Comey response to Sen. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Senate Judiciary Committee, May 3, 2017 at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/05/03/read-the-full-testimony-of-fbi-director-james-comey-in-which-he-discusses-clinton-email-investigation/?utm_term=.6966369e61e6: “Not in my experience. Because it would be a big deal to tell the FBI to stop doing something… without an appropriate purpose… I’m talking about a situation where we were told to stop something for a political reason, that would be a very big deal. It’s not happened in my experience.”

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 16, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement defending White House senior advisor Kellyanne Conway against charges made by MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski:

“The Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski claims against Kellyanne Conway are clearly nothing more than an attempt to harm the President by driving a wedge between himself and one of his most able, experienced and professional advisors.

“As someone who has engaged Kellyanne as a pollster, I can attest that she is a class act, who would never put a client in jeopardy, as she surely would have if the allegations were true. Anyone foolish enough to believe Joe and Mika needs to ask themselves why they waited to report Conway’s dissatisfaction with the President until four months into a Trump presidency when it would have been relevant and damaging in real time.

“It is clear that this is nothing more than a desperate ratings grab.”

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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