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State Department Tag

President Donald Trump told the media that the government "temporarily waived all interest on federally held student loans" for 60 days. The Department of Education chose not to"enforce standardized testing requirements for the current school year." Trump also shot down rumors that his administration will force a national lockdown.

The State Department found that 38 people committed violations during its probe into failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's email. From The Associated Press:
The investigation, launched more than three years ago, determined that those 38 people were “culpable” in 91 cases of sending classified information that ended up in Clinton’s personal email, according to a letter sent to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley this week and released on Friday. The 38 are current and former State Department officials but were not identified.

President Donald Trump will nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to take over as UN Ambassador to replace Nikki Haley. From The Washington Examiner:
“Heather Nauert will be nominated [for U.S. ambassador]. She's done work with Nikki Haley to replace Nikki at the United Nations. She will be ambassador to the United Nations,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn before departing for a trip to Kansas City, Mo.

Last year, after several American diplomats developed odd neurological problems that were theorized to be caused by sonic attacks, President Donald Trump ordered all non-essential personnel out of Cuba, then sent 15 Cuban diplomats packing. Then, this May, American diplomats in China developed health conditions similar to those reported by the staff who were serving in Cuba. Now NBC News has published a detailed review of the investigation of these “health attacks."
Physicians enlisted by the State Department have identified what they call a "Brain Network Disorder" acquired by U.S. personnel serving abroad, say U.S. officials, that includes structural changes to the brain not found in any previously known disorder.

Ismail Kowsari, a senior officer in Iran's Revolutionary Guard, lashed out at Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's vow to impose strong sanctions on the regime. From NBC News:
"The people of Iran should stand united in the face of this and they will deliver a strong punch to the mouth of the American secretary of state and anyone who backs them," said Kowsari, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also mocked Pompeo, asking, "Who are you" to make decisions for Iran while a member of parliament insisted the regime shouldn't play into "U.S. radicalism."

President Donald Trump tweeted that failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's former aide Huma Abedin should face jail after reports have emerged she sent State Department passwords to her personal Yahoo account. The Daily Caller reported on Monday that Abedin sent these passwords to the account before every single Yahoo email account was hacked.

Donald Trump is set to give a speech later today recognizing that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, which of course it is. According to reports based on news pool briefings by the White House, Trump will not declare Jerusalem the "united and undivided" capital of Israel, which is how Israelis refer to it. Rather, Trump will leave open that the parties could, as part of a final peace settlement, provide for some part of Jerusalem to serve as the capital of a Palestinian state or political entity.

If history proves one thing, it's that giving in to Palestinian threats only leads to intransigence and more threats. Unfortunately, for the second time the Trump administration has walked back an announced policy in just such a circumstance. The first walk back had to do with moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which is Israel's capital. That was a core Trump campaign promise, reiterated during the transition. As Prof. Miriam Elman explained in a prior post, locating the Embassy in Jerusalem would have a profoundly positive impact on the prospects for peace, since it would signal that Arab and Muslim threats of violence against the Jewish presence in Jerusalem would be futile, Move U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, for peace sake: