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President Donald Trump meets with Fabiana Rosales, the wife of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he’s “100%” behind Venezuela’s opposition as he met with the wife of leader Juan Guaido, and doubled down on a pledge that the Republican Party would improve health care in the U.S.
ROSALES MEETING IN OVAL OFFICE
In his meeting with Fabiana Rosales, the wife of opposition leader Juan Guaido, Trump repeated a threat that “all options are open” for dealing with the regime of Nicolas Maduro, whom the U.S. says was illegitimately re-elected.
The president was also asked about Russian troops in Venezuela, in the wake of the arrival of nearly 100 troops on Saturday. “Russia has to get out,” he said. Trump added that Russian leaders “know very well” the position of the administration.
During the Oval Office session that was open to the media, Trump also touched on other topics, repeating a line he’s used in the past, that he has “inherited a mess” from other administrations.
“Between North Korea and all of the problems we have all over the world — the entire Middle East, and Venezuela — these are things that never should have happened…. But I’ll fix it,” Trump said, according to a White House pool report.
OBAMACARE REPLACEMENT, HOUSING MEMO
For the second straight day, Trump said his would be the party of health care. Discussing a Monday filing by the Justice Department, Trump said “if the Supreme Court rules that Obamacare is out, we’ll have a plan that is far better than Obamacare.”
Trump didn’t offer any clues about what he or congressional Republicans would offer as a replacement, but claimed that the Affordable Care Act is a “disaster” for the U.S. The president pledged during his campaign to ask Congress to repeal Obamacare, but that result did not materialize. The GOP-led Senate in 2017 failed to roll back parts of the law.
The president signed a memorandum on federal housing finance on Wednesday, a White House official said. It includes directing the Treasury Department to draft reports on reforming Fannie Mae FNMA, +8.18% and Freddie Mac FMCC, +7.48% the White House said in a summary. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will also prepare a reform plan for the housing finance agencies it oversees. Trump’s memorandum aims to preserve the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the White House said.
Now see: White House keeps option of going alone on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac privatization.
Also read: Fannie-Freddie reform could rewrite a familiar Washington script.
TALKING CHINA, ‘POLITICAL FAIRNESS’ WITH PICHAI
Trump tweeted he’d met with Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, who was reportedly in Washington to see Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, following Dunford’s criticism about the company’s artificial intelligence work in China.
Trump said that the head of Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG, -0.98% GOOGL, -0.99% Google “stated strongly that he is totally committed to the U.S. Military, not the Chinese Military,” and that they discussed “political fairness.” Trump in the past has accused tech companies, including Google, of political bias against Republicans. “Meeting ended very well!” Trump said.
The president also awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously to Army Staff Sgt. Travis Atkins, who died while shielding fellow soldiers from a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2007.
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