Free Republic

“There’s a lot I don’t know about how government works and how things get done, but I feel I know enough now that I can be much more proactive about the type of change and reform that I’d like to see happen,” she said. [snip] In interviews last week, she said she intended to act as a moderating force in an administration swept into office by nationalist sentiment. Other officials added that she had weighed in on topics including climate, deportation, education and refugee policy.

Ivanka Trump said resettling Syrian refugees in the United States should be “part of the discussion.” “I think there is a global humanitarian crisis that’s happening,” Ivanka — who serves as a special assistant to her father — said during an interview with the “Today” show. “And we have to come together and we have to solve it.” When asked if that means letting Syrian refugees into the United States, Ivanka said, “That has to be part of the discussion, but that’s not going to be enough in and of itself.” Donald Trump signed an executive order in March that...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump stepped back Monday from demanding a down payment for his border wall in must-past spending legislation, potentially removing a major obstacle to a bipartisan deal just days ahead of a government shutdown deadline. Trump told a gathering of around 20 conservative media reporters Monday evening that he would be willing to return to the wall funding issue in September, according to two people who were in the room. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the get-together, which was not originally intended to be on the record. (see link for full article)

In a White House marked by infighting, top economic aide Gary Cohn, a Democrat and former Goldman Sachs banker, is muscling aside some of President Donald Trump's hard-right advisers to push more moderate, business-friendly economic policies. Cohn, 56, did not work on Republican Trump's campaign and only got to know him after the November election, but he has emerged as one of the administration's most powerful players in an ascent that rankles conservatives. Trump refers to his director of the National Economic Council (NEC), as "one of my geniuses," according to one source close to Cohn. More than half a...