Trump Today: Job Training-Program, Lawsuit Against President, More
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork) -- President Donald Trump is launching a new effort to get more Americans into job-training programs nationwide.
The news followed a meeting with the president's cabinet Monday. As CBS2's Brian Conybeare reported, Trump is expected to unveil a new apprenticeship program this week.
"The apprenticeships -- a very good word from the Trump standpoint, the word 'apprentice," Trump said, joking about his reality TV career.
Trump said the new program aims to place more young people into technical training programs nationwide.
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"There are millions of good jobs that lead to great careers, jobs that do not require a four-year degree or the massive debt that often comes with those four-year degrees," he said.
The Department of Labor says nearly 600,000 jobs have been created since the first of the year and there are still 6 million open jobs to fill. Some employers, particularly in health care and computers, can't find qualified workers.
"If we can fix this skills gap, there's 6 million jobs that we can fill right now, and you compare that to 6.9 million individuals that are unemployed, and wow!" said U.S. Labor Secretary Alex Acosta.
The president did not answer questions about Attorney General Jeff Sessions volunteering to testify openly before the Senate Intelligence Committe on Tuesday about the firing of former FBI Director James Comey and the Russia probe that Sessions recused himself from.
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White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer shared the president's thinking.
"He wants this to get investigated as soon as possible and be done with it so he can continue with the business of the American people," Spicer said.
Meanwhile, the attorneys general from Maryland and Washington, D.C., announced a lawsuit against the president accusing him of violating the Constitution's emoluments clause. The anti-corruption rules bar sitting presidents from accepting money from foreign governments. Trump properties operate around the world, and the attorneys general want to see his tax returns.
"President Trump is unique in American history in violating the emoluments clause," said Maryland Attorney Genearl Brian Frosh.
"We're concerned that foreign governments are coming to the Trump businesses for the single purpose of currying special favor," said Karl Racine, D.C.'s attorney general.
The White House dismissed the lawsuit as a political attack. Spicer said the people behind it belong to advocacy groups with partisan ties.
And in another legal development Monday, an appeals court in Seattle upheld a federal judge's ruling blocking the president's revised travel ban targeting six Muslim-majority nations. Trump's team is hoping the Supreme Court will rule in his favor.
