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Mnuchin Optimistic US-UK Trade Deal Gets Signed This Year

Leader of Human Smuggling Operation Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison: DOJ

A Florida man who headed a human smuggling operation that transported Cuban nationals to the United States through Mexico has been sentenced to 9 years in prison, according to the Justice Department (DOJ). George Ferrer Sanchez, 46, of Miramar, Florida, was sentenced by a district court judge on Wednesday for orchestrating a conspiracy to launder the proceeds of an alien smuggling operation. He previously pled guilty to participating in a conspiracy to commit money laundering, the department announced in a statement on Friday. Ferrer Sanchez was also ordered to pay a $5.4 million forfeiture money judgment and to forfeit two properties to the federal government. The 46-year-old was the leader of an alien smuggling conspiracy that was operating in Miami between around January 2009 and June 2015, according to DOJ, citing court records. He had directed…

Mnuchin Optimistic US-UK Trade Deal Gets Signed This Year

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin expressed optimism that a trade agreement would be signed this year between the United States and Britain, as Brexit throws open the door to a bilateral deal.

“I’m quite optimistic,” Mnuchin said at an event held at the Chatham House think tank in London on Jan. 25, responding to a question about the likelihood of the two countries signing the much-anticipated pact on trade.

President Donald Trump has been promising a “massive” new trade deal with Britain, the United States’ seventh-largest trading partner, since British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s election win in December.

Mnuchin Optimistic US-UK Trade Deal Gets Signed This Year

Mnuchin said he spoke to British finance minister Sajid Javid ahead of the Chatham House event, adding that both of them viewed the deal as pivotal.

“We’re focused on trying to get this done this year because we think it’s important to both of us,” Mnuchin told participants at Saturday’s event.

Earlier, Javid said a trade deal with the United States would take a back seat to an agreement with the European Union, Britain’s biggest trading partner. Speaking at the just-concluded World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Javid said a deal with the EU was Britain’s “first priority,” prompting  Mnuchin to say he was a “little disappointed” that U.S. talks weren’t at the top of the list.

Mnuchin Optimistic US-UK Trade Deal Gets Signed This Year

Mnuchin said he didn’t expect Britain’s prioritization of talks with the EU would pose significant delays to an agreement with the United States.

“I think a lot of the issues can be dealt with simultaneously and again we look forward to continuing a great trade relationship, and, if anything, I think there will be significantly more trade between the U.S. and the UK,” Mnuchin said.

Mnuchin Optimistic US-UK Trade Deal Gets Signed This Year

Senior officials in the UK government have reportedly been pushing for the deal with the United States to assume top priority. Unnamed sources cited by Business Insider said one of the officials pressing for such prioritization is Crawford Falconer, Britain’s chief trade adviser. Falconer reportedly argued it would be good optics for the recently elected British government to show they can deliver on trade and strike a deal with the United States.

Crawford Falconer, the UK’s chief trade adviser, said it would be a major symbolic moment for Britain as it enters a post-Brexit world, and would represent a victory for the UK government amid warnings about the difficulty of negotiating with the United States.

Vexing issues to be resolved between the two countries include opening up the British health care system to U.S. drug companies and allowing chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-treated beef into the UK market.

Theresa Villiers, Britain’s environment secretary, told the BBC the two foods would continue to be subject to a ban after Brexit.

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Cipollone: Democrats Left Out Entire Discussion on Burden Sharing in Impeachment Trial

White House counsel Pat Cipollone charged that House impeachment managers left out the discussion on burden sharing from President Donald Trump’s July 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Cipollone, opening the rebuttal for Trump’s defense team after days of House Democrat presentations to the Senate, said that Democrats “are asking you to do something very, very consequential, and I would submit to you … very, very dangerous.” “They’re asking you not only to overturn the results of the last election, but they’re asking you to remove President Trump from the ballot in an election that’s occurring in approximately nine months. They’re asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country, on your own initiative, take that decision away from the American people,” he said, referring to the…