Democrats end early voting in Texas with 52.5% of the primary vote in the 15 largest counties.

JARED KUSHNER BACKED QATAR BLOCKADE A MONTH AFTER QATARIS WOULDNT FINANCE HIS PROPERTY

Jared Kushner's family-run real estate company tried to seek Qatari government financing for its troubled New York City property a month before Kushner backed a blockade on the Gulf kingdom, The Intercept reported on Friday.

Kushner Cos. directly solicited investment from Qatari Finance Minister Ali Sherif al-Emadi for its 666 Fifth Avenue luxury tower in April 2017, two sources in the finance industry told The Intercept. No deal came of it.

Kushner Cos. spokeswoman Chris Taylor denied such brokering attempts occurred. “To be clear, we did not meet with anyone from the Qatari government to solicit sovereign funds for any of our projects,” Taylor told Newsweek in an email. “To suggest otherwise is inaccurate and false.”

The following month, Kushner and the White House supported a blockade of Qatar organized by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Due to the crisis, alliances in the region have shifted, with Qatar—which holds the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East—aligning more closely with Iran and Turkey.


http://www.newsweek.com/jared-kushner-backed-qatar-blockade-after-qataris-wouldnt-finance-his-property-828847?utm_campaign=NewsweekTwitter&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social

Texas sets early voting record in nonpresidential year

Texans have set a record for early voting in a non-presidential primary election year, the Laredo Morning Times reported Friday.

More than 602,000 voters have cast ballots in the largest counties through Wednesday. That total includes votes cast in both Democratic and Republican primaries, with more ballots cast buy Democrats than Republicans.

It does not count ballots that were cast on Thursday or Friday, the last day of voting.

It's the first time in a decade, when Barack Obama was battling Hillary Clinton in a presidential primary, that Texas Democrats have seen the largest turnout in a primary.

Democrats have outvoted Republicans by more than 25,000 ballots since early voting began on Feb. 20.


http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/376520-texas-sets-early-voting-record-in-nonpresidential-year

2 Guns, Bible Stolen From GOP Rep. Tom Graves SUV in Atlanta

Two guns, a driver’s license, credit cards, birth certificates, a laptop, and a Bible were among the items stolen last weekend from an SUV that belongs to Rep. Tom Graves of Georgia, Atlanta police said.

The Republican congressman and staffer Travis Loudermilk returned to Graves’ GMC Yukon last Saturday night in downtown Atlanta and drove at least a mile before they discovered the items were missing, according to a police report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Loudermilk is the son of Georgia GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk.

Investigators later determined the likely thief picked the lock on the driver-side door.

“I hope these knuckleheads will read the Bible and make a return,” Graves said in a statement to the AJC Thursday. “Regardless, I’m very grateful for the swift response of the Atlanta Police Department, the U.S. Capitol Police and other law enforcement officers. I’m confident they will see this incident through to its conclusion.”

The perpetrators apparently swiped numerous highly sensitive financial and identification documents from the vehicle.

Graves' congressional ID, bank cards, a checkbook, passport and Social Security papers were also missing, he told police.


https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/tom-graves-bible-guns-looted

Roy Moore pleads for money, saying resources depleted

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore is pleading for money to pay for his legal bills as he fights a lawsuit against a woman who says he molested her when she was 14.

Moore said on a campaign Facebook page Thursday that his “resources have been depleted.” The link indicated that Moore had raised just $32,000 of a $250,000 fundraising goal.

Leigh Corfman has accused Moore of touching her when she was 14 and he was in his 30s. She is suing Moore, saying Moore and his campaign defamed her as he denied the allegations.

Moore has sent multiple emails to supporters seeking donations to the fund since losing the 2017 election to Democratic Sen. Doug Jones.


https://apnews.com/50f7dcaf18e24e7b88930c474c5024d9

Scaramucci Banned from White House

Anthony Scaramucci, President Donald Trump’s former communications director, is on a list of people blocked from entering the White House without special approval.

A day after saying he wasn’t blocked, a White House official confirmed that Scaramucci is indeed among fired officials excluded from the campus. The acknowledgment came after the financier provided to Bloomberg News official White House correspondence that confirmed he was denied an appointment.

Scaramucci is among a group of former staffers who left “under adverse circumstances” placed on an "administrative exclusion list," the White House said in response to Bloomberg’s questions. Those former employees must have any appointments on the premises "evaluated on a case by case basis."

Scaramucci provided emails indicating he had been denied access to the complex to counter a White House official’s assertion Thursday that his claim of being blacklisted from the building was false. At the time, the official - who requested anonymity to discuss personnel matters - said Scaramucci was treated the same as any former staffer and would be granted access if he had legitimate, official business.



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-02/scaramucci-on-white-house-exclusion-list-blocking-visits

WV-03: 'He's JFK With Tattoos and a Bench Press'

CHARLESTON, W.Va.—After pushing 90 for the better part of an hour to get here to the gold-domed Capitol from his home in rugged, woebegone Logan County, the former Army paratrooper and current state senator with 36 tattoos, bulging muscles and a dry-razored buzz cut jumped out of his red Jeep and bounded across a parking lot toward the snaking line of hundreds of striking teachers.

They rushed to shake his hand.

They clamored for snapshots and selfies.

They waved homemade signs. “HEAR US NOW.” “SUPPORT WV TEACHERS.” “UNITED WE STAND.”

“We got your back, you got ours!” one teacher called out, and they roared.

“You keep making that noise, ladies and gentlemen!” he bellowed back. “This is what union is right here! Hey! Shoulder to shoulder! Don’t take a step back! Y’all deserve it!”

As he tried to make his way through the pulsing crowd, another teacher stopped him, asking him to sign with a Sharpie the chest of her shirt that had on it a picture of him looking stalwart and stern in his military fatigues.

The people chanted his name.

“Oh-jed-ah!”

“Oh-jed-ah!”

“Oh-jed-ah!”




https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/02/richard-ojeda-west-virginia-blue-army-one-217217

New Hampshire Republican accuses Parkland students of "astroturfing".

Mueller went to Jared

“Federal investigators are scrutinizing whether any of Jared Kushner’s business discussions with foreigners during the presidential transition later shaped White House policies in ways designed to either benefit or retaliate against those he spoke with,” NBC News reports.

“Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team has asked witnesses about Kushner’s efforts to secure financing for his family’s real estate properties, focusing specifically on his discussions during the transition with individuals from Qatar and Turkey, as well as Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates, according to witnesses who have been interviewed as part of the investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign to sway the 2016 election.”



https://politicalwire.com/2018/03/02/mueller-asking-kushner-business-ties-influenced-policy/

Trade war was triggered during bad day for Trump

NBC News: “According to two officials, Trump’s decision to launch a potential trade war was born out of anger at other simmering issues and the result of a broken internal process that has failed to deliver him consensus views that represent the best advice of his team.”

“On Wednesday evening, the president became ‘unglued,’ in the words of one official familiar with the president’s state of mind.”

“A trifecta of events had set him off on in a way that two officials said they had not seen before: Hope Hicks’ testimony to lawmakers investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, conduct by his embattled attorney general and the treatment of his son-in-law by his chief of staff.”

https://politicalwire.com/2018/03/02/trump-unglued-started-trade-war/