President Donald Trump presents the “President’s Cup” to the Tokyo Grand Sumo Tournament winner Asanoyama, at Ryogoku Kokugikan Stadium on Sunday.
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President Donald Trump presents the “President’s Cup” to the Tokyo Grand Sumo Tournament winner Asanoyama, at Ryogoku Kokugikan Stadium on Sunday.
Evan Vucci/AP
President Trump attended a sumo wrestling competition with Japan’s Prime Abe on Sunday, as the Japanese rolled out the red carpet for Trump during his visit to Tokyo.
The wrestler who won the competition received a U.S.-made trophy named the President’s Cup, in honor of Trump’s trip.
“That was something to see these great athletes, because they really are athletes,” Trump said after the tournament. “It’s a very ancient sport and I’ve always wanted to see sumo wrestling, so it was really great.”
On Monday, Trump will be the first foreign world leader to officially meet with Japan’s new emperor, Naruhito, who ascended to the throne at the beginning of May.
Politics
World Leaders’ Attempts To Woo Trump Yield Mixed Results
Saudi Arabia hosted Trump for his first trip abroad as president in May 2017. He was greeted with a military flyover and canons when he arrived. He was also presented with a gold medal known as the Collar of Abdulaziz al Saud, which is Saudi Arabia’s highest honor. Here, Trump and first lady Melania Trump are seen with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi (left) and Saudi King Salman.
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Saudi Arabia hosted Trump for his first trip abroad as president in May 2017. He was greeted with a military flyover and canons when he arrived. He was also presented with a gold medal known as the Collar of Abdulaziz al Saud, which is Saudi Arabia’s highest honor. Here, Trump and first lady Melania Trump are seen with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi (left) and Saudi King Salman.
Saudi Press Agency via AP
During a trip to China in 2017, Trump was treated to an opera performance and acrobats during a tour of the Forbidden City, a palace where China’s emperors lived for nearly six centuries. Chinese President Xi Jinping personally escorted Trump on the sightseeing excursion.
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During a trip to China in 2017, Trump was treated to an opera performance and acrobats during a tour of the Forbidden City, a palace where China’s emperors lived for nearly six centuries. Chinese President Xi Jinping personally escorted Trump on the sightseeing excursion.
Andrew Harnik/AP
French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, dined with President Trump and first lady Melania Trump in the Eiffel Tower in July 2017. Trump later called it “one of the most beautiful evenings you’ll ever see. So that was a great honor.”
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French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, dined with President Trump and first lady Melania Trump in the Eiffel Tower in July 2017. Trump later called it “one of the most beautiful evenings you’ll ever see. So that was a great honor.”
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Trump was the guest of honor at France’s Bastille Day parade in 2017, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of U.S. involvement in World War I. Trump was so impressed by the military display that he tried to have a similar parade in the U.S., but plans for the event fell through.
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Trump was the guest of honor at France’s Bastille Day parade in 2017, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of U.S. involvement in World War I. Trump was so impressed by the military display that he tried to have a similar parade in the U.S., but plans for the event fell through.
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The Trumps had tea with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle during a visit to the United Kingdom last year. Trump said the queen was “fantastic” and that the first couple and the monarch really “got along.”
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The Trumps had tea with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle during a visit to the United Kingdom last year. Trump said the queen was “fantastic” and that the first couple and the monarch really “got along.”
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Japan is the latest country to attempt to use a visit like this to impress Trump, who loves pageantry and puts a great deal of stock in personal connections. But these grand displays haven’t translated into lasting benefits for these countries. Listen to the story on NPR’s Morning Edition and see photos of past events below.
A large tornado tore through Oklahoma late Saturday, killing at least two people and leaving a lengthy path of rubble and debris, a decimated motel, overturned cars and downed streetlights.
The storm struck the city of El Reno, 25 miles west of Oklahoma City, where a Sunday-morning search for dozens of unaccounted-for individuals was underway.
El Reno Mayor Matt White confirmed two deaths during a news conference on Sunday, and said several people were rushed to hospitals in Oklahoma City, according to the Associated Press.
The tornado ripped through the American Budget Value Inn, causing the second story to collapse, and the Skyview Estates mobile home park, which CBS News reported housed 88 mobile homes.
“We have all hands on deck,” White said. “We have absolutely experienced a traumatic event.”
As of Sunday morning, a survey team for the National Weather Service had found EF-2 damage, though the survey was expected to continue into the afternoon. Tornadoes with an EF-2 rating contain winds of approximately 110 to 135 mph.
In an interview with the AP, Tweety Garrison, 63, described the harrowing five to 10 minutes during which the tornado ripped through the Oklahoma town. She and her family were inside their mobile home when the twister touched down. It flipped her neighbor’s trailer onto her own roof.
“We’re trapped,” Garrison said, recalling a phone call to her 32-year-old son for help. After “clearing a path” and removing “a portion of an outside wall,” Garrison’s son was able to rescue his mother and four others, the AP reported.
El Reno, with a population of more than 19,000, like other towns and cities in other parts of the Southern Plains and Midwest, has endured a week of powerful thunderstorms, tornadoes and flash floods; the AP reported that at least nine deaths have been attributed to the severe weather across multiple states.
Since Monday, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., has received more than 150 tornado reports.
Richard Stephens, police chief in the nearby town of Union City, warned locals that there was a “very dangerous situation tonight in El Reno. Severe damage with serious injuries and fatalities involved.”
“This is an unfortunate example of just how quickly these types of storms can develop from a simple thunderstorm into a deadly supercell tornado,” Stephens said in a statement on Facebook. “Please pray for those effected by these storms as well as the emergency services workers assisting in this ongoing rescue.”
Police stand at the ruins of a hotel in El Reno, Okla., Sunday, May 26, 2019, following a likely tornado touchdown late Saturday night. (Sue Ogrocki)
Emergency workers search through debris from a mobile home park, Sunday, May 26, 2019, in El Reno, Ok., following a likely tornado touchdown late Saturday night. (Sue Ogrocki)
TOKYO—President Trump began his four-day visit to Japan on a provocative note.
Just moments before departing his Tokyo hotel for a round of golf with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the president wrote on Twitter that he is not bothered by North Korea’s recent missile tests.
“North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some…
One day after President Donald Trump‘s national security adviser, John Bolton, said North Korea‘s missile launches earlier this month violated a U.N. Security Council resolution, the president said Kim Jong Un’s launch of “small weapons” doesn’t bother him.
The president, who spent Sunday morning playing golf with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, went on to say he has confidence that Kim will “keep his promise” to not launch any missiles and thinks Kim’s recent insult against presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden — calling him a “low-IQ individual,” the same language Trump himself has used — is a “signal” to him. He also spelled Biden’s name incorrectly — as “Bidan” — in an initial tweet, before correcting it and resending.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump walks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before playing a round of golf at Mobara Country Club, Sunday, May 26, 2019, in Chiba, Japan.
Trump tweeted, “North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me. I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me, & also smiled when he called Swampman Joe Biden a low IQ individual, & worse. Perhaps that’s sending me a signal?”
North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me. I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me, & also smiled when he called Swampman Joe Biden a low IQ individual, & worse. Perhaps that’s sending me a signal?
A Biden campaign aide responded after the tweet, saying, ““I would say the tweet speaks for itself, but it’s so unhinged and erratic that I’m not sure anyone could even say that with a straight face.”
The same aide said of the president’s tweet correcting the spelling of Biden’s name: “The spelling error was not the main problem with the first one.”
While Trump has tried to spin North Korea’s recent launch, both Bolton and Japan have accused North Korea of violating U.N. resolutions. Bolton’s comments were the first time a U.S. official said North Korea was in violation.
The Trump administration is trying to keep diplomatic doors open to North Korea, even though Bolton admitted the U.S. has not “heard much” from North Korea since the last summit in Hanoi fell apart. He said U.S. Special Envoy to North Korea Stephen Biegun has not received contact from his counterpart in Pyongyang.
Bolton also said he supports Japan’s efforts to sit down for negotiations with Kim. Abe still has not met with the North Korean leader.
Japanese officials said that during Trump’s four-day state visit, Abe will be introducing Trump to the families of Japanese abducted by North Koreans. Trump had a similar meeting during his last visit to Japan. The release of Japanese abductees is a top priority for Abe.
Despite the defense of Kim, the two foreign leaders appeared to be getting along great on the golf course Sunday. Abe tweeted a photo of the two smiling from the course talking about an “unwavering” alliance between the two countries in Japanese.
After the pair hit the links, Trump stated on Twitter the two world leaders have made “great progress” in the trade negotiations, but indicated he may wait until after July to announce any potential deal.
Great progress being made in our Trade Negotiations with Japan. Agriculture and beef heavily in play. Much will wait until after their July elections where I anticipate big numbers!
Trump himself tweeted about the round of golf — a pastime both leaders have bonded over — and his love for former South African great and nine-time major champion Gary Player.
ABC News’ Rachel Scott contributed to this report.
Hundreds of counter-protesters demonstrated against an estimated nine attendees of a planned rally by a Ku Klu Klan-affiliated group in Dayton, Ohio on Saturday, WHIO reports. Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl told the CBS Dayton affiliate he was “very pleased” with security, noting that no one was arrested or injured.
“This clearly was a safety challenge for our city and our community,” Biehl said.
The nine members of the Honorable Sacred Knights of Indiana did little talking and when they did try to communicate, counter-protesters made sure they couldn’t be heard, WHIO reports. All but one of the members wore masks.
City officials estimated that around 500 to 600 people gathered in the area of Courthouse Square during the rally. News spread nationally earlier this week about the planned rally by the Honorable Sacred Knights of Indiana, which had received a permit last month for the event.
Counter protesters gather en masse to protest against a rally held by the KKK affiliated group Honorable Sacred Knights of Indiana at Courthouse Square on May 25, 2019 in Dayton, Ohio.
Matthew Hatcher / Getty Images
More than 200 people attended an NAACP-sponsored “Love” event in downtown Dayton, city officials told WHIO.
Mayor Nan Whaley praised those who attended the counter-event “to celebrate what Dayton is all about.”
“We are united against hate,” Whaley said. “We are a community that no matter who you love, where you come from or what you believe, you are welcome in Dayton.”
Rod Bramblett, the radio voice of the Auburn Tigers, and his wife, Paula, died from injuries suffered in a car accident Saturday night in Alabama, the Lee County Coroner’s Office confirmed early Sunday morning.
Paramedics responded to a two-car crash in Auburn shortly after 6 p.m. local time Saturday. Rod Bramblett, 53, was airlifted to UAB Hospital in Birmingham, where he died of a severe closed head injury, the coroner’s office said. Paula Bramblet, 52, died of multiple internal injuries in the emergency room of East Alabama Medical Center.
The name of the 16-year-old driver of the other vehicle has not been released, and an investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing.
“Our hearts are full of grief,” Auburn president Steven Leath wrote in a tweet. “Janet and I offer our sympathy and support to the family of Rod and Paula Bramblett. The Auburn family loves you!”
The Auburn Family is devastated by the tragic passing of Rod and Paula Bramblett. 🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/BiynTWHcIx
Bramblett served as the lead announcer for Auburn football, men’s basketball and baseball.
According to the school’s athletic website, he had been the voice of the baseball team since 1993, and he took over play-by-play duties for football and basketball in 2003.
Earlier this month, the Tigers baseball team honored Bramblett and his longtime radio partner, Andy Burcham, for their 25 years with the team.
“It left me speechless, to be sure,” Bramblett said then of the surprise ceremony.
Bramblett is a three-time winner (2006, ’10, ’13) of the Alabama State Broadcaster of the Year award. He was honored as the National Broadcaster of the Year by Sports Illustrated in 2013, in part for his call on Chris Davis’ miracle, game-winning, 109-yard return of a missed field goal as time expired to beat Alabama in the Iron Bowl.
An Alabama native, Bramblett and his wife are survived by two children, Shelby and Joshua.
LONDON — Boris Johnson is one of the most divisive political figures in the United Kingdom.
He is also favorite among bookmakers and pollsters to become the next leader of the Conservative Party — and therefore the next prime minister — after Theresa May announced Friday that she would be stepping down June 7.
But who is this mop-haired eccentric, viewed by many as an inspiring political entertainer and by others as a dangerous populist?
Consensus candidate?
May leaves a Conservative Party in open revolt. Johnson, a celebrity lawmaker who spearheaded the Brexit vote, is hoping to win over the rebels, finally make Brexit happen and be the leader to put the party back together.
But he’s far from a consensus candidate. Thirty two percent of people have a positive opinion about him, according to the pollster YouGov, the highest of any politician in the country. But far more, 46 percent, hold a negative view.
“He has a polarizing effect,” said Scott Lucas, a professor of politics and American studies at England’s University of Birmingham. “He’s probably the most liked politician but also one of the most disliked as well.”
Former London Mayor Boris Johnson dangles from a zipwire in London’s Victoria Park on Aug. 1, 2012 in London, England.Rebecca Denton / Getty Images file
Critics accuse Johnson of being an arch opportunist. In the past, he has argued for tax cuts and against rises in welfare spending, and in the House of Commons he has voted generally in favor of equal gay rights, according to They Work For You, a website that tracks lawmakers’ decisions.
However, there are still big questions about what his government would actually look like, including its relationship with the United States.
In 2015, when President Donald Trump said parts of London had been “radicalized,” American-born Johnson, who was the city’s mayor at the time, replied that the president’s “ill-informed comments are complete and utter nonsense.”
He added, “Crime has been falling steadily in both London and New York. And the only reason I wouldn’t go to some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump.”
Fast forward to last year, and the two were exchanging pleasantries, with Johnson saying there were many reasons for “admiring Trump” and the president declaring Johnson is “a friend of mine” and backing him to be the next prime minister.
There were also reports he had been talking privately with Trump’s former senior adviser, Steve Bannon.
Leadership race
Johnson will face competition for leader. Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, and Esther McVey, the former work and pensions secretary, are among those to have confirmed they will run.
In the United Kingdom, choosing a new prime minister does not necessarily require a general election. If the leader of the largest party changes between elections, that person usually becomes the new prime minister automatically.
This happened when Cameron resigned in 2016 and May succeeded him unopposed.
London Mayor Boris Johnson laughs in action during the Rally Against Cancer charity match on day seven of the AEGON Championships at Queens Club on June 16, 2013 in London, England.Clive Brunskill / Getty Images file
Johnson would likely face a sterner test, with perhaps more than a dozen potential hopefuls lining up against him. Conservative lawmakers would winnow down this long list to a runoff of two, and the winner would be chosen by the 124,000-odd party members.
In any potential matchup, Johnson is the members’ favorite “by huge margins,” according to a YouGov poll earlier this month. But whoever wins will inherit a Conservative Party in disarray.
Its lawmakers are engaged in a civil war over Brexit and the party was polling as low as 7 percent ahead of European Parliament elections which took place in the U.K. on Thursday.
Even those who dislike Johnson’s disheveled style may see him as their best chance of defeating populists on both the left and right, such as Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage.
Controversial jokes
Johnson — full name Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson — is among that rare club of politicians instantly recognizable by one name only — “Boris.”
Born in New York’s Upper East Side, he held U.S. citizenship until 2006. He was educated at Eton — Britain’s most prestigious private school — and Oxford University, before starting a career in journalism in the 1980s.
But he was soon fired by The Times of London for making up a quote. He later joined the Daily Telegraph as a Brussels correspondent, which still pays him £275,000 per year on top of his lawmaker’s salary for a weekly opinion column.
Johnson is known for causing outrage with quips and turns of phrase that have been described as racist. In 2016, he called President Barack Obama “part-Kenyan” and suggested he had an “ancestral dislike of the British empire.”
In 2002, he said that Queen Elizabeth II probably enjoyed touring the Commonwealth because of the “cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies.” He wrote that Tony Blair, then prime minister, would be met with “watermelon smiles” when he toured the Congo. He has also described Muslim women wearing the burqa as “letter boxes.”
In 2008, he was elected mayor of London and he served for eight years. He announced himself to the world in August that year, waving a giant flag at the Beijing Olympics to promote London’s hosting of the Games four years later.
Never shy of a photo opportunity, during the London 2012 Olympics, Johnson was pictured dangling helplessly from a zipwire waving a Union Jack flag. “This is great fun but it needs to go faster,” he told the assembled reporters.
British Conservative Party politician Boris Johnson gives a speech during a fringe event on the sidelines of the third day of the Conservative Party Conference 2018 at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, on Oct. 2, 2018.Paul Ellis / AFP – Getty Images
In 2016 he lent that star power to the Brexit campaign, electrifying the referendum with his crowd-drawing speeches and barnstorming rhetoric about Brexit being “our independence day.”
“He isn’t a typical British politician,” Lucas at the University of Birmingham said. “He has always played up the idea that he is this really smart guy, but also a bit of a bumbler.”
Brexit has left Johnson particularly reviled by pro-E.U. “Remainers,” not least because of his campaign’s discredited mantra that Britain sends £350 million to the E.U. each week.
His Brexit victory forced the resignation of his old friend, the then Prime Minister David Cameron, who backed the opposing, pro-E.U. side in 2016.
Johnson launched a leadership bid then — but withdrew after his ally Michael Gove unexpectedly announced he would run against him.
But last week, even before May had announced her departure, Johnson confirmed he would be running to replace her.
“I’m going to go for it,” he said. “Of course I’m going to go for it.”
Alexander Smith
Alexander Smith is a London-based senior reporter for NBC News Digital.
Hillary Clinton has called President Trump’s sharing of an edited Nancy Pelosi video “sexist trash.”
While speaking at a Harris County Democratic Party event in Houston Friday, she said: “The president and his cronies have been running around spreading a doctored video of Nancy Pelosi.”
“Now, it is sexist trash, but it is also a sign that Trump is running scared,” she continued. “So if you believe in the rule of law and the responsibility we all have to hold our leaders accountable, then we cannot relent on this front either.”
RELATED: Hillary Clinton at the Women in the World summit
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Clinton’s fiery comments were made the day after Trump tweeted a segment from Fox Business along with the quote, “PELOSI STAMMERS THROUGH NEWS CONFERENCE.”
The clip shows House Speaker Pelosi appearing to slur her words while speaking, at least in part, about immigration.
The release of this video and another one of Pelosi that appears to have been manipulated come as Trump and the House Speaker battle over calls for impeachment and continuing investigations.
If the president’s soft stance on Mr. Kim rattled Mr. Abe, it did not show when the two leaders met on Sunday. Just before they headed into their round of golf at a country club in Chiba Prefecture, Mr. Abe greeted the president with a smile and a handshake before driving Mr. Trump away in a golf cart.
A Japanese television news station caught aerial footage of Mr. Trump, clad in a red jacket, and Mr. Abe, clad in blue, swinging their golf clubs and putting, surrounded by aides and security officials.
The local news media has covered the visit breathlessly, reserving special interest for a trophy that Mr. Trump planned to present at a sumo tournament on Sunday evening.
The object, four feet tall and weighing 60 pounds, is being called the President’s Cup. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said the trophy would be displayed to the public at the president’s hotel in Tokyo before the sumo event.
With the trip underway, at least one part of Mr. Abe’s charm offensive seemed to be paying off. In a phone interview with John Roberts, a Fox News White House correspondent, Mr. Trump said he would wait until after the July election in the upper house of the Japanese Parliament before pushing for a bilateral trade deal with Japan.
“I would say that Japan has had a substantial edge for many, many years, but that’s O.K.,” Mr. Trump said on Saturday night during a reception in Tokyo with Japanese business leaders. “Maybe that’s why you like me so much.”
Federal district judges aren’t emperors for the whole United States. Congress and the Supreme Court should both remind them of that reality.
By issuing putatively national injunctions, Attorney General William Barr said in a May 21 speech to the American Law Institute: “One judge can, in effect, cancel the policy with the stroke of the pen. No official in the United States government [rightly] can exercise that kind of nationwide power, with the sole exception of the president. And the Constitution subjects him to nationwide election, among other constitutional checks, as a prerequisite to wielding that power.”
The subject arises because, on issue after issue, liberal district judges have blocked President Trump’s executive orders or rules promulgated by his administration. The most prominent example occurred when Trump ordered an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration program. Even though DACA was created out of thin air by an executive memorandum by President Barack Obama, three separate district judges ruled that Trump could not undo it using the same presidential power. All three said their orders apply nationwide.
Other judges have issued similar injunctions against Trump’s “travel ban,” against his effort to delay a sweeping “clean water rule” issued by the Obama administration, and against an order of his intended to protect religious freedom. (The Supreme Court reversed the injunction against the travel ban.) In all, Barr said, district judges have issued at least 37 nationwide injunctions against the Trump administration in barely more than two years. They issued such injunctions only 27 times in the entire 20th century, he said.
The Trump administration has been hounded by such injunctions more than any other, but the threat applies across ideological lines. A trial judge in Texas, for example, blocked an ill-advised Obama administration directive that public schools allow students to use bathrooms corresponding with their chosen “gender identity,” not their biological sex.
Vice President Mike Pence says the Trump administration is searching for a solid case in which to argue that the Supreme Court should forbid or severely restrict district court powers to issue such injunctions. He and Barr are on the right track. As Barr said, “Nationwide injunctions undermine the democratic process, depart from history and tradition, violate constitutional principles, and impede sound judicial administration.”
A New York University Law Review paper in October 2017 listed many practical problems with such injunctions, and its key point was that they violate constitutional principles, undermining “the structural design of the federal courts by allowing a single lower court to make nationwide law.”
The Supreme Court should indeed stop inferior courts arrogating unconstitutional power to themselves. Congress can do so as well, through the Constitution’s Article III, Section 2, paragraph 2, which specifically allows it to regulate the jurisdiction of federal courts.
Both the Supreme Court and Congress should act as Barr and Pence suggest to rein in rogue judges who are undermining the Constitution and our democracy. Future presidents and Congresses of both parties will benefit from knowing their work cannot be negated by the whim of a single politicized judge.
(CNN)It took Facebook more than a day to downgrade a doctored video making House Speaker Nancy Pelosi look like she was slurring her words — and the video itself remains on the site, with copycats proliferating.
At 4:35 a.m. Sunday local time in Tokyo, President Donald Trump tweet-slammed a U.S. judge’s ruling against part of his border-wall funding as “in favor of crime, drugs and human trafficking.”
“Another activist Obama appointed judge has just ruled against us on a section of the Southern Wall that is already under construction. This is a ruling against Border Security and in favor of crime, drugs and human trafficking. We are asking for an expedited appeal!” Trump wrote.
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On Friday, an injunction by Calif.-based U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam halted a $1 billion transfer from Pentagon counterdrug moneys aimed at funding parts of border-wall construction and maintenance in Texas and Arizona.
Trump’s tweet came during his four-day state visit to Japan to talk trade, North Korea and to meet with Japan’s newest emperor Naruhito.
On Saturday, Trump arrived aboard Air Force One at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo before meeting with Japanese business executives, where he talked about the strong relationship between the two countries and the future of trade relations.
“Japan has had a substantial advantage for many, many years, but that’s OK, maybe that’s why you like us so much,” Trump said, adding that in the future it will be “a little bit more fair, I think.”
Trade negotiations between the two countries have been a major factor in the U.S.-Japan relationship after Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership early in his presidency. Last week, Trump delayed auto tariffs for six months while the administration pursues trade deals with Europe and Japan.
Later Sunday, Trump will meet with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Chiba, where they will attend a sumo wrestling championship, before going to dinner with Abe and his wife, Akie.
On Monday, Trump will meet with Emporer Naruhito, the first foreign leader to do so since he assumed the throne.
About a half hour later Sunday in a barrage of tweets and re-tweets, Trump thanked actor Jon Voight, who made a series of videos on Twitter declaring that Trump was the “the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln.” Trump also re-tweeted Jesse Watters, the Fox News host who is interviewing Sen. Lindsey Graham tomorrow night, in part about the South Carolina senator’s relationship with the president.
Trump also railed against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett for committing what Trump claims is a hate crime. Smollett was accused of staging an attack in Chicago where two men wearing MAGA hats yelled homophobic and racist remarks, but his case was dismissed by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
“In addition to great incompetence and corruption, The Smollett case in Chicago is also about a Hate Crime. Remember, “MAGA COUNTRY DID IT!” That turned out to be a total lie, had nothing to do with “MAGA COUNTRY.” Serious stuff, and not even an apology to millions of people!” Trump said.
Smollett’s case file was recently made publicly available in a recent ruling.
To many Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi scored a political victory over President Trump last week this week, making him so incensed that he hurled insults at her and blew up negotiations on the one issue that held the promise of a rare bipartisan deal — infrastructure.
To the president’s allies, a weakened Pelosi (D-Calif.) needed to mollify her fractious Democratic caucus, with a growing number demanding that she launch an impeachment inquiry, a move that would give the president a fresh argument that he was a victim of overzealous Democrats incapable of legislating and only interested in investigations.
Taking stock of the feud, each side insisted they got the upper hand in a fight that shows no sign of waning 18 months before the 2020 elections, with implications for the economy as the budget and federal borrowing limit remain unresolved while the dispute regarding oversight between the White House and Congress rages.
Pelosi’s allies said she showed up the president and reinforced an image of a chief executive behaving so badly and childishly that he is unfit for office — a clear message to voters next year. But to Trump’s backers, the president succeeded in highlighting that an already unpopular politician is struggling not only with the far-left liberals in the Democratic ranks, but even some on her leadership team.
“She has very challenging dynamics in her conference, and she’s trying to appease her conference,” said Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Pence. “She has a very difficult job.”
Some White House aides also said it was better for Trump to be fighting with Pelosi than former vice president Joe Biden or other 2020 candidates, as the president has done recently, elevating their status.
For Trump and Pelosi, the series of salvos was a break from past practices. Trump has derided other politicians with nicknames, but refrained from mocking Pelosi, the most powerful woman in Democratic politics. During the 2018 midterm election, the speaker had instructed Democratic candidates to focus on health care, education and other issues rather than on Trump, who was not on the ballot. The strategy, which she also adopted, paid off as the party reclaimed the House majority.
Pelosi’s allies said her taunting of Trump now is intentional, designed to get under his skin and elicit an angry reaction, according to officials close to her who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. She contended that his resistance to investigations was to goad her members to back impeachment, which would undermine her party.
Emerging from a special closed-door caucus meeting on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Pelosi took the unusual step of speaking to reporters and in front of television cameras, accusing Trump of “engaging in a coverup” in response to congressional subpoenas.
At the White House a short time later, Trump angrily walked out of a meeting with Pelosi and other Democrats on infrastructure after three minutes. The president told reporters in remarks in the Rose Garden that he could not work with Democrats until they “get these phony investigations over with” and argued that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s nearly two-year investigation had cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Back on Capitol Hill, Pelosi and the Democrats kept up their criticism, with the speaker suggesting Trump’s possible “lack of confidence” prevented him from reaching a deal on infrastructure and saying she prayed for the president.
Pelosi wrote of Trump’s “temper tantrum” in a letter to colleagues Wednesday afternoon, and the next day was relentless in her attacks, suggesting his White House aides and family “should stage an intervention for the good of the country.”
Hours later, Trump called her “crazy Nancy” at a White House event on aid to farmers, impugned her mental clarity and intelligence and pressed aides to attest to his calmness during the meeting the previous day. He later tweeted a spliced video that made her appear confused.
White House aides say Trump was more frustrated by the “coverup” comment than her Thursday commentary likening him to a toddler. He flew into a rage Wednesday morning after she made those remarks — and then stewed as she continued to taunt him from Capitol Hill. The aides spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.
Pelosi’s allies insist the events left Trump as the one to blame for the failure to reach a deal on infrastructure, as he had taken responsibility in advance for the government shutdown in an Oval Office meeting with Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) in December.
When the shutdown — the longest in history — ended earlier this year after 35 days, Pelosi was seen as the winner in the standoff.
“The speaker knows how to use power,” said longtime Pelosi ally Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.). “She knows who. She knows how. She’s a master negotiator. … I think the president is really befuddled by her.”
Her allies argued that his angry reaction feeds the narrative of an erratic president.
“The more unhinged he looks, the better it is for us,” said one senior House Democratic aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. “We want to govern and he’s the crazy man.”
Trump’s proponents pushed back.
“She talks about him like he’s incompetent. It’s totally ridiculous,” said Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s lawyer. “You may not like him, you may despise him, but there’s no question he is mentally and physically capable to do the job.”
As for Pelosi, Giuliani said she is “not exactly the most articulate person in the world. The last couple of weeks, she’s been talking funny. I’ve noticed it, and a lot of other people have noticed it.”
Until recently , Trump was telling advisers that he wanted to reach a deal on infrastructure and had even talked to the trucking industry about a gas tax to help finance upgrades to the nation’s roads, bridges and tunnels. He also telephoned Pelosi to tell her how good her television coverage was after the two of them huddled to discuss infrastructure three weeks ago.
Trump, who has long admired Pelosi and showered her with compliments for her grip on her caucus, also recently told West Wing aides how tough she is — and how she keeps her party in line with an iron fist. “She has some real crazies,” he said recently to an adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
While Pelosi has employed a strategy of trying to make Trump appear childish, she actually has told colleagues she thinks he’s unworthy of such a comparison. When a Democrat compared Trump to a fifth-grader, Pelosi responded that such a remark was an insult to fifth-graders, according to an individual who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the conversation.
“Don’t say that. Children are wonderful!” said the mother of five and grandmother of nine.
Privately, Pelosi repeatedly has said Trump is not worth impeaching. She has managed to tamp down the clamor for impeachment from an increasing number of Democrats, arguing that Trump would welcome the move and an acquittal vote in the Republican-led Senate.
For now, the talk of impeachment has quieted, even as Pelosi accused Trump of a “coverup.”
Trump allies predicted she was trying to appease her frustrated caucus and base.
“She was trying to throw a little red meat to her caucus right before they headed home to the long recess,” said David Urban, a Trump ally who worked on the 2016 campaign and the GOP convention. “And Pelosi, who is usually a masterful politician, misjudged the president’s reaction. She made a statement that overplayed her hand. Now we’re going to be at some place of an impasse we haven’t seen before.”
Fights loom in coming months between the White House and Congress on legislation to keep the government running and raising the nation’s borrowing authority. Against that backdrop, the two sides are bitterly divided over investigations.
U.S. citizens use ropes to cross the Rio Grande from San Antonio del Bravo, Mexico, into Candelaria, Texas. U.S. citizens depend on the free health clinic in San Antonio del Bravo.
Lorne Matalon for NPR
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Lorne Matalon for NPR
U.S. citizens use ropes to cross the Rio Grande from San Antonio del Bravo, Mexico, into Candelaria, Texas. U.S. citizens depend on the free health clinic in San Antonio del Bravo.
Lorne Matalon for NPR
Along one rugged stretch of the Rio Grande, U.S. citizens routinely cross the border into the United States illegally. A shortage of basic services in rural Texas, such as health care, means U.S. citizens rely on Mexican services and rarely pass through an official port of entry on return.
Informal, unregulated crossings have been a fixture of life for generations in rural communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. Today, however, with the unrelenting focus on border security, this kind of unfettered back-and-forth by U.S. citizens is rare.
“We’re citizens. We’re U.S. citizens that have to go to get help in Mexico,” said Loraine Tellez, a resident of the unincorporated town of Candelaria in West Texas. She said that the help principally involves health care.
There are two towns here, hamlets really, both remote within their own countries yet a stone’s throw from each other across the Rio Grande — San Antonio del Bravo in Mexico and Candelaria in Texas. Their combined population is estimated by residents to be approximately 150 people.
If you are in Texas and get sick or have an accident, you can walk across the river — using ropes to cross above the water — to a clinic in San Antonio del Bravo where treatment and medicine are free, paid for by the Mexican government even if you’re a U.S. citizen. In the U.S., the nearest hospital is a long drive away in Alpine, Texas.
“A 10-minute walk versus three hours to the hospital,” Tellez said, detailing her options.
It’s not a violation of U.S. law to walk into Mexico. However, returning back to Candelaria is. The official port of entry is a 90-minute drive away.
All this back-and-forth has created an unspoken but clearly understood relationship between residents and the U.S. Border Patrol. Mike Shelton is the U.S. Border Patrol agent in charge for the region that includes Candelaria and a group of tiny river towns.
Border Patrol agent Mike Shelton. “The Border Patrol doesn’t want to admit that things like this are going on,” he says, “but the reality of the situation is it does.”
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Border Patrol agent Mike Shelton. “The Border Patrol doesn’t want to admit that things like this are going on,” he says, “but the reality of the situation is it does.”
Lorne Matalon for NPR
“The Border Patrol doesn’t want to admit that things like this are going on, but the reality of the situation is it does,” Shelton explained. He said agents are trained to use their judgement on a case-by-case basis. “We want these agents to reason for themselves: ‘Is what I’m about to do going to further the interests of the government and society?’ “
“Just because we can take enforcement action doesn’t necessarily mean we should,” Shelton continued. “We don’t want agents to put people’s lives at risk simply because [the agents] are blindly following the letter of the law. It’s about being human.”
This area is also a well-trodden corridor for both human and drug smugglers. Residents said they’ll tell agents if they have any misgivings about strangers they don’t recognize.
“That’s our way of helping them in order for them to help us,” said Evelyn Lozano, 18, who said she has seen human smugglers passing through the region on multiple occasions.
Lozano is a U.S. citizen but effectively lives in both countries, with school in Texas during the week and weekends with family in San Antonio del Bravo. Lozano must travel three hours round trip each weekday to attend school in the border city of Presidio, Texas, because Candelaria does not have a school. Nor does it have a grocery store or gas station.
“They know that we are crossing illegally,” Lozano said of Border Patrol agents working in the area from a small base in Candelaria. “But they do understand the fact that we do need to cross sometimes in order to get help, in order for us to get food, in order for us to survive. So that’s why we go to Mexico, because we don’t get that help here in Texas.”
The help is reciprocal. Some Mexican citizens receive their mail in Candelaria because there’s no postal service in San Antonio del Bravo. Their American relatives bring the mail across.
Tellez acknowledged that what is happening here flies in the face of border enforcement.
“Down deep in my heart it does make me feel guilty, but I have to do it sometimes,” she said. However, she and other residents said, they don’t flaunt what they’re doing.
They understand that the Border Patrol has a job to do.
Meanwhile, the delicate dance between otherwise law-abiding U.S. citizens and border agents will continue on this isolated section of the Rio Grande.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos defends deep budget cuts to programs including Special Olympics while urging Congress to spend more on charter schools USA Today
WASHINGTON — In a letter sent to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Friday evening, 51 attorneys general called on the Education Secretary to automatically cancel disabled veterans’ student debt, something that is not currently done by the Department of Education.
“We write to…urge the Department of Education to take prompt action to satisfy its statutory mandate to discharge the student loans of veterans who are permanently and totally disabled or otherwise unemployable,” wrote the attorneys general. “As a nation, we have a moral obligation to assist those who have put their lives on the line to defend us.”
The group included attorneys general from 47 states, three territories, and the District of Columbia. Alabama, Arizona, and Texas did not sign on.
In April last year, DeVos announced a new partnership between the Departments of Education and Veterans Affairs that would match borrowers in the Department of Education’s records system with disabled veterans in the Department of Veterans Affairs records system.
People deemed eligible for loan discharges would be mailed a letter including an application for “totally and permanently disabled” (TPD) status. Under the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, if student borrowers die or become permanently disabled, they are eligible to have their loans forgiven, so a successful granting of TPD status would allow for the complete discharge of student loans.
The attorneys general argued that automatically canceling the student debt would benefit veterans whose severe disabilities might prevent them from filling out the necessary forms.
Education Department spokesperson Liz Hill told Politico that “while ‘automatic discharge’ may seem like a simple solution, there are long-term impacts we want all veterans to have the chance to consider before their loans are discharged.”
Hill also cited “potential state and local tax liabilities” that could burden veterans after their loans were forgiven and veterans’ potential inability to take out other student loans in the future if their current ones were forgiven.
Anticipating this criticism, the attorneys general wrote that “we think it likely that most borrowers would prefer to have one hundred percent of their outstanding loans discharged, even if this resulted in an increase to their state tax bill,” though they considered adding a way to opt out of the automatic loan forgiveness.
According to a FOIA request filed by Veterans Advocacy Succes, an advocacy group, with the Department of Education, more than 42,000 veterans are eligible for TPD status, but fewer than 9,000 people had applied as of the beginning of May 2018, More than 25,000 eligible veterans were in default.
The reserve is more than 2,000 acres, and is surrounded by thousands more acres of dense forest full of steep ravines, lava rocks, giant ferns and thick vegetation that often must be hacked with machetes.
Ms. Eller had intended to go on a short trail walk, one she had done before. She went off the path at one point to rest, and when she resumed hiking, she got turned around.
“I wanted to go back the way I’d come, but my gut was leading me another way — and I have a very strong gut instinct,” she said. “So, I said, my car is this way and I’m just going to keep going until I reach it.”
Ms. Eller estimated that she had hiked continuously from 10:30 a.m. until around midnight that first day, looking for her car.
The same determination that led her astray would push her to stay alive.
“I heard this voice that said, ‘If you want to live, keep going,’” she said. “And as soon as I would doubt my intuition and try to go another way than where it was telling me, something would stop me, a branch would fall on me, I’d stub my toe, or I’d trip. So I was like, ‘O.K., there is only one way to go.’”
Chloe had previously been named by her family as the girl who was pronounced dead soon after arriving at the Lawrence hospital Monday night. She was not identified by the Essex district attorney.
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Rivera, 47, was arrested by Lawrence police after being questioned by investigators and is expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Lawrence District Court, according to the district attorney’s office.
Rivera faces charges that include two counts of indecent assault & battery on a child under 14, one count of indecent assault & battery on a person over the age of 14, and two counts of distributing drugs to a minor, according to the district attorney’s office.
Rivera is being held on $750,000 bail until his arraignment, said Carrie Kimball, the spokeswoman for the Essex district attorney’s office.
The Amesbury 13-year-old and another girl under the age of 16 were at Rivera’s apartment at 59 Bellevue St. in Lawrence the evening of last Sunday and most of the day Monday,
according to the district attorney’s statement.
Around 4:45 p.m. Monday, Rivera brought the 13-year-old to Lawrence General Hospital, the statement said. They were accompanied by the other underage girl who was in Rivera’s apartment.
The district attorney’s statement did not name Chloe or the other girl with Rivera in his apartment and at the hospital.
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The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has not yet determined the cause and manner of the 13-year-old’s death, according to the district attorney’s statement.
“I want to commend the entire investigative team who worked around the clock to determine the events leading of the tragic death of a 13-year-old girl,” Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said in the statement. “We will continue our diligent pursuit of justice for this victim.”
Chloe’s mother, Deborah Goldsmith-Dolan, and her stepfather, Brian Dolan, previously told the Globe that Chloe had been dropped off at a friend’s house around 4 p.m. Sunday.
Goldsmith-Dolan said that when Chloe did not come home Sunday night, she reached out to her daughter’s friends the next day and was told the girl was with a friend in Haverhill.
At some point during the day Monday, Goldsmith-Dolan said, a state worker from the Department of Children and Families contacted her, saying “there was some red flags” and that Chloe was possibly planning to move out of state.
Goldsmith-Dolan reported her daughter missing around 4 p.m. Monday and was with police when a friend of Chloe’s texted her to say the girl was in the hospital.
The death remains under investigation by the Essex district attorney’s office, the Essex State Police Detective Unit, and Lawrence police.
There is no dispute that the Facebook video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) viewed by millions is a fake, deliberately altered to make her appear drunk. YouTube acted fast and removed duplicates. Other social media outlets have not made the same call.
Facebook acknowledged the video is “false” but said the videos would remain on the platform.
Amid fierce calls across the public and government for Facebook to remove the video — which has been viewed 2.6 million times — and others like it, a Facebook official took to CNN on Friday to defend its decision.
Monika Bickert, a company vice president for product policy and counterterrorism, said the video was reviewed by fact-checking organizations, and after it deemed the video a hoax, the company “dramatically” reduced its distribution. But Facebook did not remove the video, Bickert said.
“We think it’s important for people to make their own informed choice for what to believe. Our job is to make sure we are getting them accurate information,” she said.
A question has vexed lawmakers and Silicon Valley for years, particularly after massive disinformation campaigns were harnessed in the 2016 election: Should we consider platforms like Facebook “news publishers,” and should they handle information like one?
CNN host Anderson Cooper believes the answer is yes and pressed Bickert on her company’s responsibilities.
“You’re making money by being in the news business,” he said. “If you can’t do it well, shouldn’t you just get out of the news business?”
Bickert rejected the premise in a tense back-and-forth. “We aren’t in the news business. We’re in the social media business,” she said, adding the company removes content deemed a threat to public safety and from fake accounts.
Cooper shot back: “The reason you’re sharing news is because you make money from it. . . . But if you’re in the news business, which you are, then you have to do it right. And this is false information you are spreading.”
Bickert said earlier in the segment that the original video is now tagged with fact-checker icons underneath the post.
But even Internet novices have internalized small icons under posts as either related videos or advertisements and easily gloss over them, potentially missing Facebook’s main effort to alert users over the disinformation.
The video page from Politics WatchDog. (Facebook)
“Why is she not arrested for being drunk while conducting federal business as a federal employee!” one Facebook user wrote in the video comment section on Saturday morning, hours after Bickert said “anybody” who viewed the video was alerted about it. An expanded link for the video shows no fact-checker warnings.
The video was shared nearly 47,000 times from the original source, a conservative page called Politics WatchDog.
Twitter earlier declined to comment about company efforts around the video, taken Wednesday at a Center for American Progress event, and several versions of the video remained on the platform Friday.
Lawmakers are focusing their criticism at Facebook, demanding the company take immediate action.
Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.) demanded Facebook “fix this now!”
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) tweeted: “Facebook is very responsive to my office when I want to talk about federal legislation and suddenly get marbles in their mouths when we ask them about dealing with a fake video. It’s not that they cannot solve this; it’s that they refuse to do what is necessary.”
As The Post’s Drew Harwell reported, analyses of the distorted video by Washington Post journalists and outside researchers indicate the video has been slowed to about 75 percent of its original speed.
To possibly correct for how that speed change would deepen her tone, the video also appears to have been altered to modify her pitch to more closely resemble the sound of her natural speech.
Analysts have warned about “deepfake” videos that use sophisticated editing and artificial intelligence software to create the appearance of someone recorded, which have been used to embarrass and harass targeted women.
But the Pelosi video is a clear example of how even low-tech, relatively simple editing can dupe viewers and trigger widespread disinformation.
President Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani received the video in a text and shared it on Twitter before Facebook’s response was issued, then later deleted it.
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