President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, April 22, 2019, during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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Developing now, Tuesday, April 23, 2019
DEMS BLINK ON PURSUING TRUMP IMPEACHMENT -- FOR NOW: Leaders of the House Democrats backed off the idea of immediately launching impeachment proceedings against President Trump in an urgent conference call Monday evening amid a growing rift among the party's rank-and-file members, presidential contenders and committee chairs ... Fox News is told by two senior sources on the private conference call that even House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters, an anti-Trump firebrand, told fellow Democrats that while she personally favored going forward with impeachment proceedings, she was not pushing for other members to join her. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her leadership team were clear there were no immediate plans to move forward with impeachment, Fox News is also told. Pelosi told fellow Democrats she favors more investigations of Trump to "save our democracy."
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POST-MUELLER INVESTIGATIONS: If Nancy Pelosi favors more investigations of Trump, she will not be disappointed ... House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., on Monday subpoenaed former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify publicly on May 21, following last week's release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on the Russia investigation. Nadler described McGahn, who stepped down as White House counsel in October 2018, as "a critical witness to many of the alleged instances of obstruction of justice and other misconduct described in the Special Counsel's report." He has set a May 7 deadline for him to provide documents related to the Mueller investigation.
Meanwhile, lawyers for President Trump have sued to block a subpoena issued by members of Congress that sought the business magnate's financial records.
OFFICIALS REPEATEDLY WARNED ABOUT GROUP BEHIND SRI LANKA ATTACKS - The purported leader of an Islamic extremist group blamed for an Easter attack in Sri Lanka that killed over 300 people began posting videos online three years ago calling for non-Muslims to be "eliminated," faith leaders said Tuesday ... Much remained unclear about how a little-known group called National Thowfeek Jamaath carried out six large near-simultaneous suicide bombings striking churches and hotels. However, warnings about growing radicalism in this island nation off the coast of India date to at least 2007, while Muslim leaders say their repeated warnings about the group and its leader drew no visible reaction from officials responsible for public security. - Associated Press
BERNIE SAYS BOSTON MARATHON BOMBER SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO VOTE: 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday defended his stance for granting voting rights to criminals in prison, including the Boston Marathon bomber and convicted sexual assaulters ... During a CNN town hall on Monday night, a student asked Sanders if his position would support “enfranchising people” like Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who she noted is a “convicted terrorist and murderer,” as well as those “convicted of sexual assault,” whose votes could have a “direct impact on women’s rights.”
Sanders first responded by saying he wanted a “vibrant democracy” with “higher voter turnout” and blasted “cowardly Republican governors” who he said were “trying to suppress the vote.” The Vermont senator then argued that the Constitution says “everybody can vote” and that “some people in jail can vote.”
FILE - This combination file photo, shows Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 9, 2019, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 28, 2019. When Kim meets with Putin for their first one-on-one meeting, he will have a long wish list and a strong desire to notch a win after the failure of his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in February 2019. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Evan Vucci, File)
NORTH KOREA'S KIM, PUTIN TO MEET: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will soon visit Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin, the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency confirmed Tuesday without releasing a set date or location for the meeting ... The meeting may give Kim more leeway in future negotiations with President Trump after their February summit in Vietnam broke down due to disagreement over ridding North Korea of its nuclear arsenal. The Kremlin announced last week that North Korea’s supreme leader will visit Russia “in the second half of April,” but did not elaborate further.
OLD TWEET HAUNTS ILHAN OMAR: A resurfaced tweet from Rep. Ilhan Omar saw the Minnesota Democrat claim U.S. forces killed “thousands” of Somalis during the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” mission -- despite multiple analysts concluding the number was much smaller ... In the October 2017 tweet discovered by journalist John Rossomando, Omar was responding to a Twitter user who'd highlighted that more than a dozen U.S. soldiers were killed and another 73 were wounded in the Battle of Mogadishu, saying it was the “worst terrorist attack in Somalia history.” Omar, a Somali refugee who was then a Minnesota state representative, refuted the tweet, insisting that “thousands” of Somalis were killed by American forces. The number of Somali casualties in the Battle of Mogadishu is widely disputed.
THE SOUNDBITE
OBSTRUCTION 'MOCKERY' - "We are supposed to believe now that Donald Trump committed repeated obstruction of justice over a crime that he now, as we all know, did not commit? He is trying to obstruct people from investigating something he said he didn't do and special counsel has confirmed he didn't do. It is ridiculous, it is a farce, it is making a mockery of America"– Piers Morgan, DailyMail.com editor-at-large on "Hannity," lambasting Democrats and the mainstream media for their reaction to the Mueller report's release. (Click the image above to watch the full video.)
TODAY'S MUST-READS
Klobuchar has 'please clap' moment, says CNN's Chris Cuomo 'creeping' over shoulder during town hall.
Washington Post faces backlash after Sri Lanka attacks for focus on 'far right.'
McConnell vows to be 'grim reaper' of socialist Dem proposals.
MINDING YOUR BUSINESS
Herman Cain withdraws from Fed seat consideration.
Elizabeth Warren wants to 'cancel' student debt for millions.
IRS audits may start to target more wealthy taxpayers.
On Fox News:
Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, on Democrats' push to investigate President Trump. Plus, Did the media fail to properly recognize that the bombings in Sri Lanka was an attack on Christians?
The Story with Martha MacCallum, 7 p.m. ET: An exclusive interview with talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh!
On Fox Business
Mornings with Maria, 6 a.m. ET: U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo.
Varney & Co., 9 a.m. ET: U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.
Countdown to the Closing Bell, 3 p.m. ET: Todd Krizelman, co-founder of TheGlobe.com.
Lou Dobbs Tonight, 7 p.m. ET: Kevin Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.
On Fox News Radio:
The Fox News Rundown podcast: "Social Security Funds to Run Out in 2035" - Social Security reserve funds are expected to run out by 2035, according to the latest Social Security and Medicare trustees report. Fox Business Network correspondent Edward Lawrence breaks down the report and what happens if Congress does not act fast to fix it. Federal benefits programs have become a main attraction for many immigrants entering the United States. Fox News correspondent William La Jeunesse explains the financial cost of immigration to our economy. Plus, commentary by Leslie Marshall, Democratic strategist and Fox News contributor .
Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher.
The Brian Kilmeade Show, 9 a.m. ET: Mary Walter guest-hosts. Special guests include: Allen West, former Florida congressman, on the latest in the Sri Lanka terror attacks on Christians; Michael Goodwin, New York Post columnist, on why President Trump's best path forward is to ignore Democrats and focus on policy; Chris Stirewalt, Fox News digital politics editor, on the latest in the 2020 presidential race and more.
The Todd Starnes Show, Noon ET: Todd speaks with John Bursch, vice president and senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom about their latest case for religious freedom.
#TheFlashback
2005: YouTube uploads its first clip, "Me at the Zoo," which shows YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim standing in front of an elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo.
1995: Iconic sportscaster Howard Cosell dies in New York at age 77.
1971: Hundreds of Vietnam War veterans opposed to the conflict protest by tossing their medals and ribbons over a wire fence in front of the U.S. Capitol.
Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Have a good day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing Wednesday morning.
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