Today In News: June 28, 2017

Today In News:

Courtesy of Reuters

• US President Donald Trump is holding a fundraising event at his hotel in Washington, to raise cash for his 2020 re-election campaign.

• A Republican senator who supports the Senate GOP's healthcare bill reportedly does not think President Trump has a clear understanding of the plan. Trump "seemed especially confused" after a moderate Republican said those who were against the bill would say it appeared to be a "massive tax break for the wealthy,” according to the Times report.

• President Trump on Wednesday blasted the press for saying he is "not totally engaged" on healthcare. "Some of the Fake News Media likes to say that I am not totally engaged in healthcare," Trump tweeted.

• Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said that House and Senate lawmakers should receive a $2,500 per month housing allowance — something he explained would help ease housing costs for members who "can’t afford" two mortgages or rents. Congressmen make a whopping $174,000 salary. “I really do believe Congress would be much better served if there was a housing allowance for members of Congress,” Chaffetz told The Hill. Jason Chaffetz is the same Congressman who infamously claimed that people who could not afford healthcare “shouldn’t have bought that second iPhone”.

• Australian police said they have charged the Vatican's treasurer, Australian Cardinal George Pell, with multiple sexual assault offenses.

• Guards fired warning shots and then opened fire at the vehicle when the driver rammed his car through the gates of Brazil's presidential residence. The driver was detained and appeared to be a minor.

• The Trump administration has set new criteria for visa applicants from 6 mainly Muslim nations and all refugees that require a “close” family or business tie to the United States.   The move comes after the Supreme Court partially restored President Donald Trump’s executive order that was widely criticized as a ban on Muslims.

• A police pilot accused by Venezuela’s president of conducting a helicopter attack on the country’s Supreme Court on Tuesday demanded Nicolas Maduro’s resignation and general elections.  Authorities conducted a nationwide manhunt for Oscar Perez a day after the government charged that he stole the police chopper and directed grenades and gunfire against the Supreme Court and Interior Ministry in what Maduro called a “terrorist attack.”

• The North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Thursday "revelation showed” former South Korean President, Park Gun-hye, had masterminded a plot to execute its "supreme leadership" - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un - in 2015 and it was imposing the "death penalty on traitor Park Geun-hye" and her spy chief Lee Byung-ho.

• Italy has threatened to stop vessels of other countries from bringing migrants to its ports.  The warning came as Italy's EU representative, Maurizio Massari, warned in a letter to the bloc the situation had become "unsustainable”.

• Secretary of State Rex Tillerson went after the head of presidential personnel office, Johnny DeStefano, for dismissing his appointments to senior State Department positions and questioning his judgment.

• House Democrats are acknowledging there’s virtually no chance Nancy Pelosi is going anywhere before the 2018 congressional elections — more than 16 months away — despite a sense of unrest and scattered calls for Pelosi’s resignation as Democratic leader.

• President Donald Trump’s outside legal team is acknowledging that it pressed pause on stated plans to file a complaint against former FBI director James Comey for allegedly sharing the content of “privileged conversations” with the press.