Tiffany Trump has been enjoying her winter break from law school in her own way — and she has chosen a path that is noticeably different from President Donald Trump’s other children. Tiffany began her time off from Georgetown by stealing the Christmas spotlight from Trump, as the Inquisitr reported.

The only offspring from Trump’s second marriage to Marla Maples, Tiffany graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a double major in sociology and urban studies. Last year, she started law school at Georgetown University in Washington DC.

At 24-years-old, Tiffany has continued to earn a reputation for spending her time as she likes. The other Trump siblings, in contrast, have devoted themselves to Donald, pointed out Vanity Fair.

Following that event, Tiffany has been spending some time with her mom, Marla Maples. Trump continued to celebrate a fresh start to the New Year by heading to the José Eber Salon in Beverly Hills.

Tiffany Trump Splurges On New Bangs And Donald Trump Action Figures

With a set of new bangs replacing her side-parted hair style and a Saint Laurent leather jacket, Tiffany was ready to take on 2018 by shopping in Los Angeles. A Secret Service agent was by the First Daughter‘s side as she headed to the Kitson Kitross store on Tuesday, reported the Daily Mail.

“Hilarious,” said Tiffany about products linked to Donald. “Where on earth do you guys find this stuff?”

Trump wandered the aisles, studying the various items to choose what to buy. The Secret Service agent followed the First Daughter as she browsed through the store.

Tiffany appeared particularly attracted to one special item. She bought what the Daily Mail called “Donald Trump ‘Over Re-action’ figures.” The images show President Trump posed with his middle fingers pointing up.

Debating on whether it was appropriate for Trump to showcase the figures in the White House, Tiffany shared her thoughts.

Trump decided that her father could display the action figures in his New York office rather than the White House.

Tiffany didn’t forget about her brother-in-law and brothers. She purchased three Trump action figures priced at $18 each for Donald Jr., Eric, and Jared Kushner. A source at the store described Tiffany as very pleasant and “down to earth.” The Daily Mail also revealed the reaction of Trump’s Secret Service agent to her purchases.

Wearing a black workout suit, Tiffany also bought some items to brighten her wardrobe. Trump chose a gold necklace and a pair of Kendall & Kylie shoes.

Tiffany also headed to the section of books and greetings cards. She chose a book, Quotations From Chairman Trump, which featured quotes from the Presidential debates in 2015.

“Everything I’ve done virtually has been a tremendous success,” read one of the quotes in the book.

Donald Jr. celebrated his 40th birthday last week. Tiffany found a card that acknowledged her delayed birthday wish while mocking Hillary Clinton.

“I meant to send you a birthday email but it disappeared,” read the Hillary-Clinton-themed greeting card.

Tiffany revealed that she planned to send it to Donald Trump in February. She then skipped the section of books related to Hillary Clinton. However, Trump made it clear that she enjoyed her visit to the Kitson Kitross store.

“I could get lost in here there’s so much to look at,” she added.

Trump took time to pose with shoppers at Kitson Kitross, which has enjoyed a reputation for attracting celebrities. Janet Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Reese Witherspoon, Kate Beckinsale, Amy Adams, Jessica Lange, Adam Sandler, David Beckham, Liev Schreiber, rapper T.I., Tim Robbins, Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star Dorit Kemsley, songwriter Diane Warren, and beauty blogger Huda Kattan, who has 24 million Instagram followers, have all visited the store.

Kitson Kitross owner Fraser Ross praised Tiffany for her “sense of humor” about items such as the action figures and greeting cards that mocked Donald Trump.

“I think at this point she knows that it sort of comes with the territory!” summed up Ross.</s>(CNN) When the Trump administration recently signaled that it was going to crack down on affirmative action , some critics responded with an odd request:

Why not start with the man sitting in the Oval Office?

President Donald Trump embodies the worst stereotypes conservatives have invoked to describe affirmative action beneficiaries, according to several commentators, political scientists and diversity experts. They say he's entitled, unqualified and held to lower standards because of racial grievances. They call Trump the nation's first affirmative action president.

"He cannot think his way out of a wet paper bag," says Carol Anderson, historian and author of "White Rage," a winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award.

"He's demonstrated a lack of capacity to understand the bare bones of policy. He didn't go through any of the vetting. His taxes were never really fully revealed," says Anderson. ''He had no true medical exam, but folks let that slide. So this myth about affirmative action being about unqualified black and brown folks getting something they don't deserve -- that's Donald Trump."

That's not, however, how Trump defenders see him. They say a corrupt political system needs a disrupter-in-chief. Trump may be raw, but at least he's authentic. And it's not white privilege but "Trump privilege" -- the public persona he cultivated before the Oval Office -- that causes people to hold the President to different standards.

Which group is right? As Trump's first year in office comes to an end, here are three ways he became an affirmative action president, critics say.

White supremacy, sexism and Muslim bigotry -- that's the toxic trifecta that put Trump into office, some say.

But others say there's a fourth factor that gave birth to President Trump: hypocrisy.

Conservatives have lectured women and people of color for years about the importance of meeting high standards. No "handouts" or "set-asides" allowed. Only the most qualified should get the job.

Sometimes, they say, it shows.

Nor does he seem to want to, other critics say.

Trump even has an affirmative action administration, some say.

Affirmative action critics often say such programs violate the American principle of meritocracy: that people can go as far as their talent and ambition can take them. America is not some feudal society where class and wealth determine advancement, they say.

Yet Trump has repeatedly violated the principle of meritocracy by staffing his administration with relatives and others with little expertise in their areas of responsibility, critics say.

"It's odd that Trump's Justice Department is going after affirmative action while Trump is putting all of these people in positions of power and influence who are clearly not qualified for their positions," says John David Skrentny, author of "The Ironies of Affirmative Action." "This is not the meritocracy presidency by any stretch."

Trump, though, is not the first president to staff his Cabinet with relatives or people who didn't have experience in the areas of government they would be overseeing. President John F. Kennedy appointed his brother Robert, a lawyer, to be attorney general. He also appointed Robert McNamara to run the Defense Department though his previous experience was as a Ford executive and CEO.

Many Americans continue to hold Trump to lower standards as he approaches the end of his first year in office, others say.

Yet people continue to cut him slack, she says.

But it's not just because he's white; Trump is judged by a different standard because he embodies a certain type of whiteness, says Mark D. Naison, an activist and history professor who teaches a course on affirmative action at Fordham University in New York.

Trump is white in a way that previous presidents like the more patrician George H.W. Bush and his jocular son George W. Bush could never be, Naison says. He's white America's id unleashed.

"Donald Trump is vulgar, overweight, he's not politically correct," says Naison. "So there's this whole swath of white America who says we finally see one of us up there."

And racial grievances have now given America Trump, he says.

Some white Americans are now so embittered that they feel like they need their own form of racial compensation, he says. Trump is their symbol of racial progress, someone who channels their anger.

"The guy they chose," Naison says, "shows the level of anger among some whites. He's as angry as they are. He's the white affirmative action president. It's like they're saying we waited for somebody who looks and talks just like us.

"I don't see him as a projection of white supremacy," Naison says. "He's the president of white rage."

"It's a psychic reward that some white people get if white people are in control of everything," Naison says. "Even if they're getting f---ed. People are deeply invested in him succeeding, even if he's failing."

Trump's presidency could have an unexpected side effect: It could refute the notion that white men are better suited to be leaders, says Anderson, author of "White Rage."

"There's an automatic assumption of qualified when it's attached to whiteness," Anderson says. "That standard of white as being the norm of excellence is one of the things that you're beginning to see questioned in some of the most vigorous ways because of the blatant inadequacy of Donald Trump."

Parallel 3: He embodies the 'soft bigotry of low expectations'

They called it being "presidential." A person was supposed to bring a certain decorum and restraint to the Oval Office. Any man who didn't behave in a presidential way paid a price.

Think of how Americans expected their president to behave in the past, and how they expect Trump to act. Trump critics say there's a big difference.

In it, they noted, he has:

Curtis, the Roll Call columnist, was particularly offended by Trump's comments about Puerto Ricans.

"It recalled the language that's been used before against people of color, for instance, when black people were toiling in the field all day without compensation and being called lazy and shiftless by people on the porch drinking mint juleps," she says.

And then there's Trump's relationship with the truth. It's complicated.

Americans expect so little from Trump that he's described as acting "presidential" when performing the most mundane tasks, says Anderson, author of "White Rage."

"He's now becoming 'presidential' simply because he read a speech off a teleprompter without a gaffe," she says.

If someone tries to challenge Trump's behavior, his supporters will often respond with accusations of being elitist, some say.

What critics don't get about Trump or his supporters

His supporters, though, scoff at the notion of Trump as an affirmative action president. Critics didn't get Trump when he was running for President and they still don't get him today, his supporters say.

No one becomes a multimillionaire businessman and the President of the United States without having exceptional skills and drive, they say.

"I'm not saying the man is not talented. He may be a bully, but he built an empire in business and did far greater than his wealthy father did," says Naison. "Anybody who could run a global business of the magnitude that he did is capable of administering a complex governmental entity."

Besides, Trump can speak to people in a way other scripted politicians cannot.

Mercieca, who is a critic of Trump, studied his campaign speeches and concluded he is a "deceptively brilliant" communicator.

"He's not afraid to alienate people who say you have to say things in a certain way," she says. "He can't be controlled. The way he says things might appeal to people who do hold racist opinions, but they also appeal to people who don't agree with what he says but like the fact that he says what he thinks."

Shayne Lee, a sociologist at the University of Houston, has another explanation for why Trump can get away with not acting in a traditionally presidential way. It's not because he's white, or the "soft bigotry of low expectations," he says. It's because he's Trump.

"It's not white privilege. It's Trump privilege."

Trump defenders also say Obama, not Trump, was the first affirmative action president. He was a prime example of someone who was elected just because of his race. Obama was a former community organizer and state lawmaker in the midst of his first term in the US Senate when he ran for the Oval Office.

"Why didn't the media ask whether Americans 'lowered their standards' just to put Obama in office?"

The constant criticism of Trump only emboldens his supporters and ensures his re-election, Margolis says.

And then there's the question of presidential qualifications and experience. It's not as simple as you might think.

There's this assumption that Americans typically elect the most qualified person to be president, but that's actually a myth, according to Jake Novak, a CNBC columnist. He says "qualifications have become cheap in a political atmosphere where most voters distrust politicians inherently."

"Records and resumes don't really matter," Novak says. "Humans are emotional beings, and the candidate who connects with our emotions the best will win, period."

Presidential historian Robert Strauss says history also shows that a president's resume is overrated.

He says Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt were considered political lightweights before they entered the Oval Office. They'd lost big elections and didn't have broad experience. Yet they became two of the greatest American presidents.

Then there is one of the nation's worst presidents, James Buchanan. Strauss wrote the book on him: "Worst. President. Ever: James Buchanan, The POTUS Rating Game, And The Legacy Of The Least Of The Lesser Presidents."

Buchanan had the best resume of anyone who has run for president. He served in both houses of Congress, was a former secretary of state, and was ambassador to Great Britain and Russia, Strauss says. But during his presidency he helped cause the worst economic depression in 19th century America, helped engineer the most "obscene" Supreme Court ruling -- the Dred Scott decision of 1857 -- and did nothing to stop the nation's slide into its worst internal conflict, the Civil War.

"He was an awful president," Strauss says of Buchanan. "So I don't know what prepares you for the presidency. I can't tell you that there is a qualification."

Character, though, may be one vital qualification if you listen to historians.

Pivotal events in US history are often shaped by the character of the president, some of them say. Part of Lincoln's greatness was his magnanimous nature -- "with malice toward none, with charity for all." It helped him corral the "team of rivals" in his Cabinet and reconcile the nation after its bloodiest American war, they say.

The Cuban Missile Crisis might have also turned out differently if President Kennedy, a student of history and a former war hero, didn't have the confidence to reject his military leaders' request to invade Cuba.

If an unqualified person in an affirmative action program gets a spot he doesn't deserve, some deserving applicant may lose out on a job opportunity or not be able to attend her desired college. But if an unfit person sits in the Oval Office, humanity's survival could literally be at stake.

Perhaps that is why Trump got so much attention at a recent White House event where he appeared to allude to an imminent war. During a photo session for a White House dinner with military commanders, Trump delivered a cryptic warning to the press while flanked by military commanders.

"You know what this represents? Maybe it's the calm before the storm," he said.

The remark set off a flurry of questions. Was Trump talking about war with Iran? ISIS? A nuclear confrontation with North Korea?

Maybe. Hopefully not. Each week seems to bring some new drama from the Oval Office. Is that drama a product of unfair criticism of an unorthodox president? Or is Trump the nation's first affirmative action president, someone who is in way over his head?

We have at least three more years left of his presidency. More events that test Trump's character are bound to come.</s>Britain, France and Germany made a joint plea to Donald Trump on Thursday to endorse a key nuclear deal with Iran as the US president mulls reimposing sanctions on Tehran.

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"The deal is working, it is delivering on its main goal, which means keeping the Iranian nuclear programme in check," said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, stressing the importance of preserving an agreement that is "making the world safer and... preventing a potential nuclear arms race in the region".

Mogherini’s comments followed a meeting between her British, French and German counterparts with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Brussels Thursday.

In sharp contrast to Trump's view that the 2015 pact was "the worst deal ever negotiated", the foreign ministers of the three countries and the EU's top diplomat said there was no alternative to the accord and that sanctions should remain lifted.

Trump is expected to decide on Friday whether or not to reimpose sanctions against Tehran that were suspended under the deal. In October, Trump refused to certify Iran was complying with the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said there was "no indication" Tehran was not keeping its side of the bargain.

"It is important now that all parties respect this joint commitment and that our American allies respect it as well," said Le Drian.

Reporting from Brussels, FRANCE 24’s Meabh McMahon noted that Mogherini was doing “everything she can to try to preserve the deal” and the display of European unity was critical. “This is one of the main diplomatic success stories of the European Union in the last couple of years. It’s a chance for the EU to show how it can solve problems globally by using its soft power,” McMahon added.

EU has to show its ‘backbone’

In a Twitter post, Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif said the meeting had shown a "strong consensus" that Iran was complying with the pact.

"E3 (Germany, France and Britain) and EU fully aware that Iran's continued compliance [is] conditioned on full compliance by the US," Zarif added.

Strong consensus in Brussels today: 1)Iran is complying with #JCPOA, 2)Iranian people have every right to all its dividends, 3)any move that undermines JCPOA is unacceptable. E3 and EU fully aware that Iran’s continued compliance conditioned on full compliance by the US. pic.twitter.com/vpib5DQT18 Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 11, 2018

While the joint European position was welcomed by the Iranian government, Mohammad Marandi, a political analyst at the University of Tehran, noted that if the EU did not transform rhetoric into action, the 2015 deal was in peril.

“The only thing now is for the European countries to show they have a backbone to stand up and show that they can protect their citizens and their businesses,” said Marandi in an interview with FRANCE 24 from Tehran. “If Iran sees that implementation in action, then there is hope for the deal. If not, if it’s just empty rhetoric and the Europeans are not willing to stand up to Trump, then the Iranians will withdraw from the deal.”

Under the accord, Iran slowed its nuclear program in exchange for an easing of international economic sanctions.

Officials from major world powers and Iran meet roughly every three to four months to assess implementation of the deal, which is monitored by the world's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

US officials and others familiar with the administration's deliberations have indicated that Trump is likely to back the accord for now but that he may pair his decision with new, targeted sanctions on Iranian businesses and people.

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told reporters on Thursday that he believed Trump would impose new sanctions on Iran.

"I am expecting new sanctions on Iran," Mnuchin told reporters in Washington DC. "We continue to look at them. We've rolled them out and I think you can expect there will be more sanctions coming."

Regional conflicts

One of the criticisms levelled at the nuclear deal is that it does nothing to address Iran's continuing ballistic missile programme and meddling in Middle East conflicts such as Yemen and Syria.

The Europeans say these issues should be kept separate from discussion of the nuclear deal, but in a nod to US concerns, Mogherini stressed they were raised with Zarif at Thursday's talks.

She said they had also brought up "internal recent events" in a reference to anti-government protests in Iran that left more than 20 people dead.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson added that it was important for building global support for the nuclear deal that "Iran should be able to show that it is a good neighbour in the region" and show what it can do to help solve the Yemen crisis.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel even indicated that Iran had agreed to open talks about regional issues, starting with Yemen.

US Congress is working on a way to punish Iran for the ballistic missile programme and its interference in Middle East conflicts such as Yemen and Syria.

The 28-member EU has condemned the "unacceptable loss of human lives" in the protests and stressed that peaceful protest and freedom of expression are "fundamental rights".

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS and AP)</s>US President Donald Trump is being urged by some top advisers to waive sanctions on Iran by a Friday deadline, but privately he is expressing reluctance to do so, a senior administration official said on Wednesday. Trump faces deadlines related to the deal starting late this week, including deciding whether to reimpose oil sanctions lifted under the 2015 agreement that constrained Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump will seek to make a final decision on whether to waive the sanctions during a meeting with national security aides on Thursday, a senior administration official told Reuters. The official told Reuters that Trump’s top advisers were recommending that he extend Iran relief from sanctions. If he did so, the official said, the move would likely be accompanied by new, targeted sanctions on Iranian businesses and people.Another U.S. official said Trump was expected by some officials to renew the sanctions waivers but stressed that no final decision had been made.

Trump has privately gnashed his teeth at having to waive the sanctions again, believing his predecessor, Democratic President Barack Obama, negotiated a bad deal for the United States in agreeing to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The official said a decision not to waive the sanctions would leave the United States in violation of the agreement. “You either waive the sanctions or you don’t and if you don’t you’re in breach of the JCPOA,” the official said. Trump and his top advisers have been negotiating with U.S. lawmakers on Capitol Hill to try to change sanctions legislation so that he does not face a deadline on whether to waive the sanctions every 90 days.</s>President Donald Trump is holding a joint press conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg at the White House. The two leaders are taking reporters’ questions.

Their meeting touches on the topics of NATO defense, global security and trade. The meeting is taking place as President Trump is trying to work with Congress on issues of immigration and border security.

The Western European relationship with Russia is also important to Norway, and new developments in the investigation of the Trump campaign’s Russia connections may also figure in the conversation.</s>WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - Donald Trump is being urged by some top advisers not to bring back US economic sanctions on Iran this week, a move by the president that would effectively end a 2015 deal to limit Teheran's nuclear ambitions.

A senior administration official told Reuters on Wednesday (Jan 10) that Trump's top advisers were recommending that he not reimpose sanctions on Iran that were lifted under the agreement between Iran, the United States and other world powers.

But Trump, who has previously vowed to scrap the nuclear pact, is privately expressing reluctance to heed the advisers, the official said.

The US Congress requires the president to decide periodically whether to certify Iran's compliance with the deal and issue a waiver to allow US sanctions on Iran to remain suspended. The next deadline is Friday.

Trump will seek to make a final decision on the sanctions during a meeting with national security aides on Thursday, a senior administration official told Reuters.

If Trump did waive the sanctions, the official said, the administration would nevertheless impose new, targeted measure on Iranian businesses and people.

Another US official said Trump was expected by some officials to renew the sanctions waivers but stressed that no final decision had been made.

Trump has gnashed his teeth at having to waive the sanctions again, believing his predecessor, Democratic President Barack Obama, negotiated a bad deal for the United States in agreeing to the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Hailed by Obama as key to stopping Iran from building a nuclear bomb, the deal lifted economic sanctions in exchange for Teheran limiting its nuclear ambitions. It was also signed by China, France, Russia, Britain, Germany and the European Union.

Iran says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes. It has said it will stick to the accord as long as the other signatories respect it, but will "shred" the deal if Washington pulls out.

Trump in October chose not to certify that Teheran is complying with the deal and warned he might ultimately terminate it. He accused Iran of "not living up to the spirit" of the nuclear agreement even though the International Atomic Energy Agency says Teheran is in fact in compliance.

The first official said a decision not to waive the sanctions would leave the United States in violation of the agreement.

"You either waive the sanctions or you don't and if you don't you're in breach of the JCPOA," the official said.

Trump and his top advisers have been negotiating with US lawmakers on Capitol Hill to try to change sanctions legislation so that he does not face a deadline on whether to recertify Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal every 90 days.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker has been working on amending a US law to include "trigger points" that if crossed by Iran would automatically bring back US sanctions.

The trigger points would address strengthening nuclear inspections, Iran's ballistic missile programme and eliminate the deal's "sunset clauses" under which some of the restrictions on Iran's nuclear programme expire over time.</s>Democrats want urgent action to stave off deportation of some 800,000 immigrants currently protected by DACA, while Trump still wants his border wall, though he's toned down what that means.

Democrats want urgent action to stave off deportation of some 800,000 immigrants currently protected by DACA, while Trump still wants his border wall, though he's toned down what that means.

The five-year plan announced by the Department of the Interior would open 90 percent of the nation's offshore reserves to development by private companies.

The five-year plan announced by the Department of the Interior would open 90 percent of the nation's offshore reserves to development by private companies.

Trump's lawyers have previously stated their determination to cooperate with requests in the probe, which has already resulted in charges against four of Trump's campaign advisers.

Trump's lawyers have previously stated their determination to cooperate with requests in the probe, which has already resulted in charges against four of Trump's campaign advisers.

A vast cache of emails should never have been delivered to the Russia election meddling investigators without Trump for America's authorization, a lawyer for the president's transition group wrote.

A vast cache of emails should never have been delivered to the Russia election meddling investigators without Trump for America's authorization, a lawyer for the president's transition group wrote.

Trump group says memo should have kept email from prosecutor

Trump group says memo should have kept email from prosecutor

The plan will probably face strong political opposition and even legal challenges over concerns people would lose coverage.

The plan will probably face strong political opposition and even legal challenges over concerns people would lose coverage.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File). In this Aug. 20, 2007, file photo, Robert "Bob" Murray, founder and chairman of Cleveland-based Murray Energy Corp., arrives at a news conference at the entrance to the Crandall Canyon Mine.

WASHINGTON (AP) - In the early days of the Trump administration, the head of one of America's largest coal companies sent a four-page "action plan" to the White House calling for rollbacks of Obama-era environmental and mine safety regulations.

"We have listed our suggested actions in order of priority," Robert "Bob" Murray, the chairman and CEO of Ohio-based Murray Energy, wrote in his March 1 letter addressed to Vice President Mike Pence. "We are available to assist you and your administration in any way that you request."

A review of the memo by The Associated Press shows Murray, an early campaign supporter of President Donald Trump and major GOP political donor, has gotten about half the items on his wish list. They include pulling the United States out of the Paris climate accords and revoking the Clean Power Plan, President Barack Obama's signature effort to limit planet-warming emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Murray has spoken widely about his policy priorities in the intervening months, but a copy of his four-page plan became public this week after it was obtained by Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and first reported by The New York Times.

Under Trump, the Mine Safety and Health Administration has also moved to reconsider rules meant to protect miners from breathing coal and rock dust - the primary cause of black lung disease - and diesel exhaust, which can cause cancer.

Other Murray priorities, such as eliminating federal tax credits for wind turbines and solar panels, have floundered, however. The renewable energy tax breaks were largely retained in the final Republican-drafted tax plan signed by Trump last month.

And despite Trump's campaign pledges to put scores of coal back to work by ending what he and Murray have derided as Obama's "War on Coal," the administration's regulatory rollback has thus far had modest economic benefits.

Only about 500 coal mining jobs were added in Trump's first year, bringing the total to about 50,900 nationally, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The nation's utilities have also continued to shutter coal-fired plants in favor of those burning natural gas made cheaper and more abundant by new drilling technologies.

In an interview with the AP on Wednesday, Murray said Trump and his appointees have overall done a great job helping his industry, rating them "nearly a 10" in the first year. He specifically credited Environmental Protection Administrator Scott Pruitt and Energy Secretary Rick Perry with being "stars."

Murray said he had private meetings with both Pruitt and Perry last year to discuss his policy goals.

"President Trump has done a wonderful job in addressing what is needed to improve the cost of electricity in America and to improve the reliability, security and resilience of the electric power grid," Murray said. "I give him very high marks."

Spokespeople for Pruitt and Perry did not immediately respond to questions Wednesday about Murray's action plan.

Murray said he is still hopeful that Pruitt will follow through on the second-highest priority item on his 2017 action plan, revoking EPA's 2009 finding that emitting greenhouse gases in the atmosphere threatens public health and welfare. The finding provided the legal underpinnings for Obama's efforts to regulate carbon emissions as pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

Murray also expressed disappointment that Trump appointees on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted Monday to reject a proposal by Perry to make coal and nuclear power plants eligible for billions of dollars in government subsidies.

AP reported last year that Murray had asked the Trump administration to issue an emergency order protecting coal-fired power plants from closing. Murray warned that failure to act could cause thousands of coal miners to be laid off and force his largest customer, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Solutions, into bankruptcy.

Perry ultimately rejected Murray's request, but later asked FERC to boost coal and nuclear plants by subsidizing their continued operation.

The Republican-controlled commission voted unanimously to reject Perry's claim that further retirements of coal-fired power plants pose a threat to reliability of the nation's electric grid.

"There's no question about it, there are folks in the administration that have their own agenda, rather than President Trump's," Murray said. "There are some staffers who have gone contrary to the wishes of our president."

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>President Donald Trump signaled Tuesday he could support a deal to allow hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in the country illegally to keep their status, but only as part of a broader border security deal.

"We’ve been talking about DACA for a long time,” Trump said, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program formed in 2012 through an executive order by former President Barack Obama that allowed those who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children to stay and work without fear of deportation.

There are about 780,000 DACA recipients living in the country.

Trump ended the program last year, citing legal challenges by states, but gave Congress until March 5 to negotiate a deal that would allow "Dreamers" to stay legally.

Trump said a bill to rectify the problem he is largely responsible for "should be a bill of love. But it also has to be a bill where we’re able to secure our border".

It is unclear if Trump is going to demand Congress include funding for the wall he envisions running along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of any border security bill, but he appeared to indicate it is part and parcel with what he views to be border security when he said "if you don't have a wall, you cannot have security".

Senior Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein asked Trump if he would support a "clean" DACA bill, which would normally include the program's replacement program alone. Trump said he would, before adding that such a bill should include "border security" as well.

In addition, Trump said he is seeking an end to the U.S.'s visa lottery program, as well as immigration based on extended familial relations, as part of a comprehensive package.

"I’m appealing to everyone in the room to put the country before party and to sit down and to negotiate and to compromise," Trump said in unusually diplomatic rhetoric while hosting an immigration meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the White House.

Addressing the media afterward, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the administration believes “the wall is part of border security, that is one component".

Trump originally said Mexico would foot the bill for the wall, a claim incredulously dismissed by the U.S.'s southern neighbor. Sanders, maintained, however, that Trump has not abandoned the idea of Mexico paying for the structure.

Sanders said in a statement released after the meeting that the president and lawmakers "reached an agreement to negotiate legislation that accomplishes critically needed reforms in four high-priority areas: border security, chain migration, the visa lottery, and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy" during a closed-door session.</s>President Donald Trump says the reviews are in: He puts on a "tremendous" meeting.

President Donald Trump says the reviews are in: He puts on a "tremendous" meeting.

President Donald Trump's biggest lender won't have to give up part of its business as punishment from a criminal conviction thanks to a temporary reprieve from the administration.

President Donald Trump's biggest lender won't have to give up part of its business as punishment from a criminal conviction thanks to a temporary reprieve from the administration.

New York City officials are citing climate change as their motivation to join a growing number of entities divesting themselves of financial interest in fossil fuels.

New York City officials are citing climate change as their motivation to join a growing number of entities divesting themselves of financial interest in fossil fuels.

President Donald Trump is welcoming the prime minister of Norway to the White House.

President Donald Trump is welcoming the prime minister of Norway to the White House.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File). FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2007 file photo, Robert "Bob" Murray, founder and chairman of Cleveland-based Murray Energy Corp., arrives at a news conference at the entrance to the Crandall Canyon Mine, in northwest of Huntingto...

WASHINGTON (AP) - In the early days of the Trump administration, the head of one of America's largest coal companies sent a four-page "action plan" to the White House calling for rollbacks of Obama-era environmental and mine safety regulations.

"We have listed our suggested actions in order of priority," Robert "Bob" Murray, the chairman and CEO of Ohio-based Murray Energy, wrote in his March 1 letter addressed to Vice President Mike Pence. "We are available to assist you and your administration in any way that you request."

A review of the memo by The Associated Press shows Murray, an early campaign supporter of President Donald Trump and major GOP political donor, has gotten about half the items on his wish list. They include pulling the United States out of the Paris climate accords and revoking the Clean Power Plan, former President Obama's signature effort to limit planet-warming emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Murray has spoken widely about his policy priorities in the intervening months, but a copy of his four-page plan became public this week after it was obtained by Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and first reported by The New York Times.

Under Trump, the Mine Safety and Health Administration has also moved to reconsider rules meant to protect miners from breathing coal and rock dust - the primary cause of black lung - and diesel exhaust, which can cause cancer.

Other Murray priorities, such as eliminating federal tax credits for wind turbines and solar panels, have floundered, however. The renewable energy tax breaks were largely retained in the final Republican-drafted tax plan signed by Trump last month.

And despite Trump's campaign pledges to put scores of coal back to work by ending what he and Murray have derided as Obama's "War on Coal," the administration's regulatory rollback has thus far had modest economic benefits.

Only about 500 coal mining jobs were added in Trump's first year, bringing the total to about 50,900 nationally, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The nation's utilities have also continued to shutter coal-fired plants in favor of those burning natural gas made cheaper and more abundant by new drilling technologies.

In an interview with AP on Wednesday, Murray said Trump and his appointees have overall done a great job helping his industry, rating them "nearly a 10" in the first year. He specifically credited Environmental Protection Administrator Scott Pruitt and Energy Secretary Rick Perry with being "stars."

Murray said he had private meetings with both Pruitt and Perry last year to discuss his policy goals.

"President Trump has done a wonderful job in addressing what is needed to improve the cost of electricity in America and to improve the reliability, security and resilience of the electric power grid," Murray said. "I give him very high marks."

Spokespeople for Pruitt and Perry did not immediately respond to questions Wednesday about Murray's action plan.

Murray said he is still hopeful that Pruitt will follow through on the second-highest priority item on his 2017 action plan, revoking EPA's 2009 finding that emitting greenhouse gases in the atmosphere threatens public health and welfare. The finding provided the legal underpinnings for Obama's efforts to regulate carbon emissions as pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

Murray also expressed disappointment that Trump appointees on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted Monday to reject a proposal by Perry to make coal and nuclear power plants eligible for billions of dollars in government subsidies.

AP reported last year that Murray had asked the Trump administration to issue an emergency order protecting coal-fired power plants from closing. Murray warned that failure to act could cause thousands of coal miners to be laid off and force his largest customer, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Solutions, into bankruptcy.

Perry ultimately rejected Murray's request, but later asked FERC to boost coal and nuclear plants by subsidizing their continued operation.

The Republican-controlled commission voted unanimously to reject Perry's claim that further retirements of coal-fired power plants pose a threat to reliability of the nation's electric grid.

"There's no question about it, there are folks in the administration that have their own agenda, rather than President Trump's," Murray said. "There are some staffers who have gone contrary to the wishes of our president."

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>During a meeting at the White House with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, President Donald Trump seemed convinced that he can usher through a comprehensive immigration reform bill after passing legislation restoring the protections from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Trump held the meeting to reach an agreement to revive DACA’s protections, but his goals for immigration legislation quickly grew. He told lawmakers several times during the remarkable, televised meeting that he thinks comprehensive immigration reform is within reach.

“I think what we’re all saying is we’ll do DACA, and we can certainly start comprehensive immigration reform the following afternoon. We will take an hour off and start. I do believe that,” Trump told the lawmakers and reporters present. “Because once we get DACA done and it’s done properly, with security and everything else, if it’s done properly, we have taken a big chunk of comprehensive out of the negotiation. And I don’t think it’s going to be that complicated.”

The President’s new, lofty goal of passing a comprehensive immigration reform bill came as part of a lengthy media availability at the meeting. What started as a brief pool spray became an hour-long affair during which lawmakers and Trump debated which issues they would deal with and when — all in front of the cameras.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle made pitches for their pet issues, whether it be helping the young people once protected by DACA or ending “chain migration,” an obsession among conservatives.

With so much back and forth, and several pitches on how to pass a DACA fix, Trump became confused at one point when Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) suggested passing a “clean” DACA bill and tackling comprehensive immigration reform later.

“What about a clean DACA bill now with a commitment that we go into a comprehensive immigration reform procedure?” she asked Trump.

“I have no problem — I think that’s basically what [Sen.] Dick [Durbin (D-IL)] has said,” Trump replied. “We will do DACA and start on the phase two which would be comprehensive. I would like that. I think a lot of people would like to see that. But I think we have to do DACA first.”

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) then jumped in to clarify that a DACA bill should include funding for more border security, as Trump has supported.

“I think that’s what she is saying,” Trump then said.

Feinstein clarified that she believes border security should be part of a comprehensive bill.

During the hour-long televised debate on immigration, Trump also said that a bill addressing DACA should include provisions that address chain migration, end the visa lottery system and promote merit-based immigration. Though, while he offered his wish list for a bill, he also told the lawmakers in the room that he would sign whatever they agree to.

“My positions are going to be what the people in this room come up with,” he said. “If they come to me with things I’m not in love with, I’m going to do it because I respect them.”

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, also revealed during the meeting that he and a group of House Republicans will introduce a bill on Wednesday that would restore the DACA protections and address some of the issues on Trump’s wish list, like chain migration.

Following the meeting, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that Trump and congressional lawmakers agreed behind closed doors to draw up legislation that would address “four high-priority areas: border security, chain migration, the visa lottery, and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy.”
The United Kingdom, France, and Germany call on U.S. President Donald Trump to endorse the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.