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Week In The News: Trump And The 'Squad,' Impeachment Vote, Eric Garner, Asylum

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President pumps his fists as he arrives for a "Make America Great Again" rally at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, N.C., on July 17, 2019. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
President pumps his fists as he arrives for a "Make America Great Again" rally at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, N.C., on July 17, 2019. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

With Jane Clayson

Racial firestorm. The House condemns Trump’s comments. No charges in the chokehold death of Eric Garner. New asylum rules. The roundtable is here.

Guests

Shawna Thomas, Washington bureau chief for Vice News. (@Shawna)

David Nakamura, White House reporter for the Washington Post. (@DavidNakamura)

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst. (@JackBeattyNPR)

From The Reading List

Washington Post: "‘Teflon Don’: Some say Trump’s racist remarks could hurt him — but history suggests otherwise" — "In Washington, forecasting Trump’s demise has become the longest of long-shot bets. Since his campaign, the president has absorbed, parried and bulldozed through ethical scandals, moral equivocations and seemingly reckless governing actions with few lasting repercussions among his core supporters.

"Time and again, analysts have debated whether this or that particular Trump scandal would finally be the moment that sinks him. The “Access Hollywood” tape. The Charlottesville white-nationalist rally. The Helsinki news conference with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin. Personal tax revelations from Trump’s past. The longest-ever government shutdown. Ethics violations by Cabinet members. A tariff war with China that harmed U.S. farmers. Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. The special counsel report from Robert S. Mueller III.

"Yet 2½ years into his presidency, Trump’s standing among Republicans is rock solid, with an 87 percent approval rating within the party, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll this month. His overall approval rating stood at 44 percent, not good for a president heading into a reelection campaign, but his best on record and enough for analysts to conclude that his path to victory remains viable."

Bloomberg: "That Strange Impeachment Vote? It May Be a Big Deal" — "There was a vote on impeachment in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. Well, sort of. Not really. Maybe a little.

"Confused? Here’s what happened.

"Representative Al Green, a Democrat from Texas, has regularly introduced articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. Usually, when a regular bill or resolution has been introduced, it’s then referred to committee. If the majority party doesn’t want to consider the bill, it will die with no further action. Under House rules, however, any member can force an impeachment resolution onto the floor as pending business. That’s what Green did Wednesday.

"This maneuver doesn’t mean that impeachment gets a final vote, or even debate. What it does get is a “motion to table,” which means that lawmakers can vote to either keep the resolution as pending business or kill it off. When Green did this in 2017, 58 Democrats voted to keep the impeachment measure alive. In 2018, 66 did so. This time, it was up to 95."

New York Times: "Eric Garner’s Death Will Not Lead to Federal Charges for N.Y.P.D. Officer" — "A contentious, yearslong debate inside the Justice Department over whether to bring federal civil rights charges against an officer in the death of Eric Garner ended on Tuesday after Attorney General William P. Barr ordered that the case be dropped.

"The United States attorney in Brooklyn, Richard P. Donoghue, announced the decision one day before the fifth anniversary of Mr. Garner’s death at the hands of police officers on Staten Island.

"The case had sharply divided federal officials and prompted national protests over excessive force by the police.

"Bystanders filmed the arrest on their cellphones, recording Mr. Garner as he gasped 'I can’t breathe,' and his death was one of several fatal encounters between black people and the police that catalyzed the national Black Lives Matter movement."

NPR: "Trump's New Asylum Rules A Hard Blow To The Thousands Waiting To Cross Legally" — "A crowd has gathered outside Centro de Atención Integral a Migrantes in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where migrants come to check their number on a long list of asylum seekers. Most days, a Mexican official calls several numbers off the waiting list here, and a lucky few get to cross the international bridge.

"These migrants are just some of the thousands of asylum-seekers staying in Mexican border cities right now, waiting for their turn to legally cross the border and make their case in court.

"Right now, U.S. immigration officers limit the number of asylum seekers allowed into ports of entry each day.

"It's scorching here – over 100 degrees. A woman is selling ice-cold soda and water from a small cooler. People fan out on benches under big, shady trees, trying to avoid the sun.

"The Trump administration's new asylum rule has hit this group particularly hard. To qualify for asylum, the rule says, most migrants must have applied for protection in another country they traveled through before arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border."

Allison Pohle produced this hour for broadcast.

This program aired on July 19, 2019.

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