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Watch: Obama Gets Heckled At White House LGBT Pride Event

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President Barack Obama has heckled by a transgender woman this afternoon, but quickly won support from his guests.

President Barack Obama has had more than his fair share of heckling. Usually it’s at a campaign event, but today was different.

During his annual LGBT Pride Month celebration, when the President invites leaders from the LGBT community for an afternoon of speeches and hors d’oeuvres, an undocumented transgender woman interrupted him.

“President Obama,” she repeated, “release all LGBTQ immigrants from detention and stop all deportations.”

“OK, you know what? No, no, no, no,”  Obama responded. “Hey,” he said, as Vice President Biden, apparently embarrassed, bent over. “Listen. You’re in my house,” the President scolded, to laughter from the crowd, then cheers and applause.

“It’s not respectful when you get invited to somebody,” President Obama said, trailing off. “You’re not going to get a good response from me by interrupting me like this,” a noticeably frustrated Obama continued.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Obama continued, as the Vice President put both hands over his face. “Shame on you, you shouldn’t be doing this.”

The crowd began to chant, “O-bam-a!, O-bam-a!”

The President told her she could stay if she quieted down, but apparently she refused and was then escorted out, saying, “Not one more deportation.”

Obama joked, “My attitude is, when you’re eating the hors d’oeuvres…,” to which the crowd laughed. “You know what I’m saying? And drinkin’ the booze.”

Afterwards, the President said, “Anyway, where was I?” to which a guest replied, “We love you!”

“I love you back!,” Obama responded.

The heckler was later identified as Jennicet Gutiérrez, a member of LGBT and immigration rights group GetEQUAL, and NotOneMoreDeportation, which says it is “a campaign made of individuals, organizations, artists, and allies to expose, confront, and overcome unjust immigration laws.”

Gutiérrez said she could not celebrate while some 75 transgender detainees were still being exposed to assault and abuse in ICE custody at this very moment.
“The White House gets to make the decision whether it keeps us safe,” Gutiérrez told NotOneMoreDeportation. “There is no pride in how LGBTQ and transgender immigrants are treated in this country. If the President wants to celebrate with us, he should release the LGBTQ immigrants locked up in detention centers immediately.”

Watch:

On any given day there are about 267,000 LGBT immigrants subject to deportation. For many if not most of them, deportation back to their native country can literally be a death sentence.

As it was happening, attendees and others responded via Twitter:

 

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Republicans Scuttled Trump Health Care Fix Because They Felt ‘Left Out’: Report

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President Donald Trump was set to announce a two-year extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies, as soon as Monday, to help fix Obamacare premiums that are set to skyrocket, but the White House pulled the announcement and delayed its plans in part because House Republicans reportedly felt “left out.”

The Trump White House is now delaying announcing any health care plan — it “will not be this week,” reported PBS Newshour’s Lisa Desjardins.

“This as Republican members of Congress, including senior members,” Desjardins wrote, “expressed outrage at being left out of any process on what they all know is a critical issue – affecting huge #s of constituents.”

READ MORE: GOP Lawmaker Suggests US ‘About to Go In’ to Venezuela for Oil

Desjardins added that House Republicans are directing their anger not only at the White House but at Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

“This has been quickly rising and the idea of a WH-only sudden [health care] plan has rank and file fuming at their leader,” she added.

The Trump White House also delayed announcing any fix because House Republicans do not want to extend the Obamacare subsidy premiums, which the president’s plan would have done.

In response to pressure from the House GOP, Trump reportedly pulled the announcement.

READ MORE: Family Food Costs Hit Record High Despite Trump Touting Cheaper Holiday Dinner

MS NOW’s Jake Traylor reported on Monday, “White House to delay healthcare proposal after significant congressional backlash.”

“According to two White House officials,” Traylor noted, “the announcement has been delayed, with one of those officials citing strong congressional backlash to Trump’s proposed plan.”

Some Democrats blasted Republicans for the delay.

“Yet another delay while Republicans wait to see if a health care plan will fall from the sky,” wrote U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

House Ways and Means Democrats added, “BREAKING: The 15 year waiting period for the GOP health care plan will NOT end today.”

READ MORE: Red State Democrat: How to Turn Rural America Blue

 

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GOP Lawmaker Suggests US ‘About to Go In’ to Venezuela for Oil

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A Republican congresswoman says that the United States is about to “go in” to Venezuela and suggests one of the reasons is oil.

“The U.S. is considering dropping leaflets in Venezuela as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, sources say,” CBS News reported.

U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) told Fox Business on Monday that she expects that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will succumb to U.S. pressure and step down.

READ MORE: Trump Was Set to Announce Health Care Fix but Republicans Objected: Report

The Fox Business host told Salazar, “I would love to see a change in government. The dictators there rely on Venezuelan oil, but at the same time, a lot of Americans don’t want actual U.S. participation in regime change in Venezuela. They would much prefer the Venezuelans to do it on their own.”

“Maduro is not a brave boy,” said Salazar, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“So now that he has understood that he’s on that very nefarious list of the terrorist organizations, that the airspace above Venezuela has been closed off, and the commercial airlines from the United States are not flying, he’s understanding that we’re about to go in,” Salazar declared.

“He understands that he is, he has been our enemy for the last 25 years,” she noted, before explaining her thoughts on why the U.S. should “go in” to Venezuela.

READ MORE: Family Food Costs Hit Record High Despite Trump Touting Cheaper Holiday Dinner

“Venezuela, for those Americans who do not understand why we need to go in — for three, basically for three reasons,” she said.

“Venezuela, for the American oil companies, will be a field day, because it will be more than a trillion dollars in economic activity. American companies can go in and fix all the oil pipe, the whole oil rigs, and everything that has to do with the Venezuelan petroleum companies, or everything that has to do with oil and the derivatives.”

She went on to say, “We’re going to be doing a favor to us, to our children, to our economy, to our oil companies to be able to liberate. And to Venezuelans who want to be free.”

READ MORE: Red State Democrat: How to Turn Rural America Blue

 

Image: Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

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Trump Was Set to Announce Health Care Fix but Republicans Objected: Report

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President Donald Trump was expected to announce as soon as Monday a long-awaited fix for the expiring Obamacare subsidies, to prevent health care premiums from skyrocketing to double and in some cases even triple their current levels, but congressional Republicans reportedly have objected.

Trump was prepared to extend the subsidies for two more years, according to multiple reports including from MS NOW‘s Jake Traylor and Politico.

Traylor had reported that the president would be calling on Congress to send him legislation that would halt the Obamacare premium spikes.

“The announcement is expected to occur at the White House, and is slated to feature remarks from Trump and Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,” Traylor had reported on Sunday.

READ MORE: ‘Complete Propaganda’: Trump DoD Blasted for Court-Martial Threat Against Democrat

Also on Sunday, Politico had reported that “The White House expects to soon unveil a health policy framework that includes a two-year extension of Obamacare subsidies due to expire at the end of next month and new limits on eligibility, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the unannounced plans.”

Trump has on his Monday schedule a 4 PM Oval Office executive order signing scheduled. It is unclear if that was to be for the extension of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.

Now, Traylor reports, “White House to delay healthcare proposal after significant congressional backlash.”

“According to two White House officials the announcement has been delayed, with one of those officials citing strong congressional backlash to Trump’s proposed plan. Trump planned to make an announcement as early as Monday proposing a framework to address health care costs which included an extension of Obamacare subsides.”

READ MORE: Red State Democrat: How to Turn Rural America Blue

Monday afternoon, CNBC reported that “Republicans are proposing direct Health Savings Account payments to ACA enrollees rather than extending enhanced premium tax credits.”

“The White House is expected to make an announcement this week addressing efforts to either renew or replace the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent,” CNBC added, appearing to make clear any decision has yet to be set in stone.

Bobby Kogan, Senior Director of Federal Budget Policy at American Progress, responded to Traylor’s reporting:

“It’s because congressional Republicans want the enhanced subsidies to expire,” Kogan wrote. “That’s why they didn’t extend them in [the One Big Beautiful Bill Act], and that’s why they kept calling them a ‘December problem’ even though open enrollment [began] on November 1.”

READ MORE: Family Food Costs Hit Record High Despite Trump Touting Cheaper Holiday Dinner

 

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