Trump Invites Family of Fallen Police Officer Onstage at Annual Memorial Event

President Donald Trump honored officers killed in the line of duty on Tuesday at the annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. “Today, every American heart bleeds blue,” Trump said. 

In an impromptu moment, Trump invited the family of Miosotis Familia on stage. Familia joined the New York Police Department in 2005 and was shot point blank last year in her car while on duty in the Bronx. 

“These are special people,” Trump said, after calling Familia’s elderly mother, Adrianna Valoy, up to the stage, embracing her, kissing her on the forehead, and then holding her hand through the end of his remarks. “We weren't going to bring you up, but I looked at you in the audience and I said, you have to come up because you're representing something so important. You understand that? She loved the department. She loved being a police officer. She loved her job. She was respected by everybody," Trump said as Familia's mother stood close by. 

The annual Peace Officers’ memorial service pays tribute to police officers killed in the line of service like Familia. 

In 2017, 129 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty. This year’s ceremony also paid tribute to 70 officers, many who died of illnesses related to their service during the September 11 attacks, whose deaths went unrecognized. The 199 total names of police officers killed, the Roll Call of Heroes, was read out loud during the ceremony. 

Thousands of law enforcement officers travel to Washington, D.C. for the annual event, founded by President John F. Kennedy in 1962. In 1982, the memorial service began as a small gathering in Senate Park. Today, the memorial service is broadcast on television and attended by over 20,000 officers and families.

Trump Blasts White House Leakers as 'Traitors'

Monday night, President Trump blasted so-called White House “leakers” as “traitors” and vowed to hunt them down. 

Trump sent out a tweet saying “The so-called leaks coming out of the White House are a massive over exaggeration put out by the Fake News Media in order to make us look as bad as possible. With that being said, leakers are traitors and cowards, and we will find out who they are!” 

The president, however, indicated an investigation is underway into who in the White House is sharing information with the press. 

“With that being said, leakers are traitors and cowards, and we will find out who they are!” he wrote.  

The comments come days after The Hill first reported that White House aide Kelly Sadler made off-color comments about Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) cancer diagnosis. Sadler said during an internal meeting that McCain’s opposition to CIA director nominee Gina Haspel “doesn’t matter” because “he’s dying anyway,” according to sources familiar with her comments. 

The White House has refused to offer a public apology for the remarks and Trump’s response is almost certain to further fuel the controversy surrounding them. White House spokesman Raj Shah suggested no apology would be forthcoming, saying the matter is “being addressed internally." Shah and the communications staff have focused more on how Sadler’s comments became public than on the nature of the remarks themselves, a concern echoed by Trump.

Ukrainian Politician Behind Controversial Peace Proposal to Appear in Mueller Probe

Andrii Artemenko, a Ukrainian politician who communicated with Trump associates about a controversial plan to resolve Ukraine’s conflict with Kremlin-backed rebels said Monday that he has been called to testify before a grand jury connected to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Artemenko said he could not provide details of his upcoming appearance before the grand jury, which he said is scheduled for Friday. 

Artemenko assumed he would be asked about the peace plan, about which he communicated with Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney, in early 2017. Artemenko received the subpoena last week and intends to comply with the request. He said he would appear in person. 

The Artemenko case is one of the more unusual developments in the investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 election. The New York Times reported in February 2017 that Andrii Artemenko had contacted Felix Sater, a former business associate of Trump’s, to find out how he could make his plan for peace in Ukraine known to the Trump administration.

Mueller's Team Questions Russian Oligarch About Payments to Cohen

Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators have questioned a Russian oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, about hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments his company's U.S. affiliate made to President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, after the election. 

Viktor Vekselberg, chairman of asset manager Renova Group, is an oligarch close to Vladimir Putin, and last month the Trump administration placed him on a list of sanctioned Russians for activities including election interference. 

The purpose of the payments, which predate the sanctions, and the nature of the business relationship between Vekselberg and Cohen is unclear. The scrutiny of the payments could add to the legal troubles for Cohen, whose home and office were raided last month as part of a criminal investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. In court documents, the prosecutors said at least part of their inquiry stemmed from a referral from Mueller's office.

Mueller Denies Manafort Claims of Secret Grand Jury Leaks

Special Counsel Robert Mueller urged federal Judge, T.S. Ellis, to reject a request by Paul Manafort, the indicted former Trump campaign chairman, for a hearing to determine whether government officials improperly leaked secret grand-jury information to the news media. 

U.S. prosecutors said in a filing on Monday that defense attorneys had failed to provide evidence that news reports about Mueller’s investigation of Manafort were based on matters before a grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, that indicted him in February on tax- and bank-fraud charges. 

Manafort had asked the judge to identify and punish government officials who allegedly disclosed secret information that appeared in reports by the Associated Press, the New York Times, CNN, NBC News and BuzzFeed. 

Mueller, who is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, called Manafort’s claims “speculative” and said Manafort had failed to meet the standard for a hearing. 

Manafort had said that leakers subjected him to “a torrent of negative and apparently false press generated by numerous unlawful disclosures,” according to a May 1 filing. “These government-sourced disclosures have violated the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, internal government policies and procedures, federal statutes and Manafort’s constitutional rights.”

Lewandowski Joins Pence PAC/Looking Forward to 2020

Corey Lewandowski is now joining Vice President Mike Pence’s political action committee, The Great America PAC, which will enable him to travel with the Vice President and puts him firmly back in the president’s 2020 reelection orbit. 

This move allows him to work more closely with the White House political team ahead of this year’s midterm elections and have more access then he could in his previous role as an advisor to the pro-Trump outside group America First Action. 

Working at America First Action, Lewandowski had been walled off from making spending decisions with the administration thanks to federal election law. But as part of the vice president's operation, Lewandowski will be able to play a direct role in the administration's midterm strategy.

Students Dismiss Idea of Nobel Prize for Trump, Defend Obama's But Don't Know Why

Students at the University of California, Santa Cruz shot down the idea of President Trump receiving the Nobel Peace Prize but defended President Obama’s award in 2009. 

Campus Reform Media Director Cabot Phillips spoke to the students and found that some of them could not give a reason why former President Obama won the award less than a year into his first term. 

Phillips began with straight forward, comparison and follow up questions: “Some of Trump’s supporters have said that President Obama won the Nobel Prize in 2009, and they think President Trump has done more, and so he deserves the award for the global peace that’s been brought about as a result of the seeming end of the conflict [in the Korean Peninsula]. Do you think there’s any validity to that claim?” 

Most of the responses were primarily negative. “Hell no, that’s a joke,” one student replied. “What has he done for peace?” Another student said. 

Phillips spoke with someone who asked the question, “I think if Obama won it, why wouldn’t he (President Trump) win it, right? Because I don’t know why Obama won it. I like Obama, but I don’t think there was any legitimate reason why he should have won it.” 

President Trump has been nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize by 18 House Republicans, “in recognition of his work to end the Korean War, denuclearize the Korean peninsula and bring peace to the region.” There had been whispers that the president would be nominated after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un crossed the bridge into the demilitarized zone with South Korea in a historic meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. 

“Since taking office, President Trump has worked tirelessly to apply maximum pressure to North Korea to end its illicit weapons program and bring peace to the region,” the letter, sent to the Norwegian Nobel committee on Wednesday and signed by Indiana Republican Luke Messer, said.

Mail Time!

• Good job Monica, sitting in for the big guy! This day is one for the history books with the US finally making good on its decades old resolution to move the embassy to Jerusalem. Too bad the media could only talk about Mueller and of course Stormy Daniel's crooked lawyer. It ought to be ashamed of itself.  

• Great job Monica! Your presentation deserves an A. Can you give any insights to the IG report that has been promised for 3 months now? I am beginning to think this report by Michael Horowitz is either a myth or being hidden from us for some sinister reason. What say you? 

• Kudos to you Bill for your outstanding choice of Dr. Monica Crowley to fill in for you during your absence. She is very easy to listen to and has all of the attributes you alluded to in your recorded introduction today.
All of that said, do hurry back as I, for one, miss the entertainment of you fiddling with your feisty earbud.