Trump makes false claims about crime in Washington DC as homeless camps are cleared
Good morning and welcome to the US politics stay weblog. My identify is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the most recent information traces over the subsequent few hours.
We begin with information that Donald Trump has falsely claimed crime in Washington DC is “the worst it’s ever been” on Thursday, amid a federal takeover of the town’s police division and deployment of the nationwide guard and federal brokers within the metropolis.
“Washington DC is at its worst level,” Trump mentioned from the Oval Workplace. “It’s going to quickly be at its finest level.” He additionally baselessly accused DC regulation enforcement officers of giving “phony crime stats” and mentioned “they’re underneath investigation”.
The president’s feedback got here after protesters heckled federal regulation enforcement officers as they reportedly stopped dozens of automobiles at a checkpoint alongside a busy avenue in Washington DC on Wednesday evening.
About 20 regulation enforcement officers, a few of whom seemed to be from the Division of Homeland Safety, pulled over drivers for infractions reminiscent of damaged taillights and never carrying seatbelts, in line with the Washington Put up.
A minimum of one girl was reportedly arrested as greater than 100 protesters gathered and reportedly yelled issues like “get off our streets”, in line with NBC Information. Some protesters started warning drivers to keep away from the world, the outlet reported.
The town’s homeless encampments, which Trump has lengthy fixated on, got here underneath goal Thursday evening as metropolis police started eradicating residents. Officers in Washington DC and advocates for the unhoused had warned individuals residing in camps to relocate to shelters earlier than the federal sweeps started.
“We do not need sufficient shelter beds for everybody on the road,” mentioned Amber W Harding, govt director of the Washington Authorized Clinic for the Homeless. “It is a chaotic and scary time for all of us in DC, however notably for individuals with out properties.”
Learn the total story right here:
In different developments:
As a part of its promoting blitz to draw new recruits, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) launched a social media video on Thursday that makes use of a music by the rapper DaBaby and exhibits company automobiles that look like painted in the identical crimson, blue and gold model as Donald Trump’s personal aircraft, which was featured within the opening sequence for The Apprentice.
New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, confirmed on social media {that a} federal constructing the place protesters held a silent vigil on Thursday towards Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) was evacuated after “envelopes containing white powder have been found”.
In one other signal that the Trump presidency is basically made-for-TV, the White Home and Fox Information revealed that Trump will seem on Fox Information each earlier than and instantly after his summit assembly with Vladimir Putin on Friday.
4 days after Trump ordered the unhoused residents of Washington DC, whom he sped previous in his motorcade for a golf outing, to depart the town, native officers helped clear encampments earlier than introduced sweeps by federal brokers.
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Chris Stein
Washington DC’s solely House Depot was busy with contractors and clients on Thursday morning – however the Hispanic day laborers who often collect and look ahead to work underneath the parking zone’s sparse bushes have been nowhere to be discovered.
Two days earlier, masked federal brokers swarmed the world and made a number of arrests, which have been photographed by bystanders and posted on social media. Juwan Brooks, a retailer worker who witnessed the raid, mentioned the brokers grabbed anybody who appeared Hispanic.
“They don’t ask no questions,” Brooks mentioned. Individuals strolling throughout the parking zone, getting out of their automobiles and even sleeping of their car – all have been grabbed by the brokers, abandoning empty work vans that have been finally towed away.
“It was cool when Trump was saying it, however to truly see it first-hand? I didn’t prefer it,” Brooks mentioned. The day laborers “aren’t unhealthy individuals”, and he puzzled what occurred to the youngsters of the lads that have been taken away.
4 days after Trump ordered federal brokers and nationwide guard on to the streets of Washington DC to combat a criminal offense wave that metropolis leaders say shouldn’t be occurring, residents of the capital have gotten used to the presence of teams of armed males of their neighborhoods, and the aggressive techniques they use.
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Up to date at 07.54 EDT
Stephanie Kirchgaessner
When the director of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH) this week mentioned funding for the event of mRNA vaccines – the spine of Covid vaccines – was being wound down as a result of they’d didn’t “earn public belief”, it was met, publicly and privately, with exasperated incredulity.
Critics say few have executed greater than Jay Bhattacharya and different high well being officers within the Trump administration to sow doubts about public well being establishments and, by extension, the worth of the vaccines which have saved thousands and thousands of lives all over the world.
“It’s astounding that Bhattacharya has the audacity to assert to know that Biden-era insurance policies are chargeable for mistrust of mRNA vaccines, when he and his associates have executed a lot to decrease the appreciation of those essential medical accomplishments,” Jeremy Berg, the previous director of the Nationwide Institute of Common Medical Sciences on the NIH, mentioned in a press release to the Guardian.
Bhattacharya’s feedback appeared in an op-ed within the Washington Put up during which he defended a current announcement by the well being secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, who’s anti-vaccine, to terminate $500m in federal funding for mRNA vaccine analysis, which Kennedy justified by claiming he had “reviewed the science”. Consultants say the proof Kennedy reviewed didn’t assist ending the analysis.
Whereas the mRNA platform was “promising” and will ship breakthroughs within the remedy of most cancers and different illnesses, Bhattacharya mentioned it had failed the check of use for a public well being emergency as a result of it had not earned public belief.
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Up to date at 07.48 EDT
My colleague Jakub Krupa is working our Europe stay weblog at this time, with all the most recent information traces forward of the Trump-Putin assembly later.
The summit is ready to start out 11am Alaska time, which for us in Europe is 8pm British time, 9pm central Europe time, beginning a flurry of diplomacy between the 2 delegations in a wide range of codecs: one-on-one and in bigger teams.
It’s anticipated to conclude some seven hours later, in line with the schedule, with plans for a joint press convention with each leaders. A minimum of that’s the plan for now.
Native residents are torn between pleasure over high-profile go to and trepidation over what US-Russian leaders would possibly agree, with some even joking: “Please don’t promote us again.” (The US purchased Alaska from the Russian empire in 1867).
Observe all of the buildup right here:
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Up to date at 07.32 EDT
Trump forward of Putin assembly: ‘excessive stakes!’
Nicely, the president is awake and has made his first Reality Social put up of the day.
Forward of his assembly in Alaska with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump says:
HIGH STAKES!!!
Extra on this as we get it …
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Up to date at 08.07 EDT
Maya Yang
Donald Trump cold-called Norway’s finance minister final month to ask a few nomination for the Nobel peace prize, Norwegian press reported on Thursday.
The Norwegian outlet Dagens Næringsliv, citing unnamed sources, reported: “Out of the blue, whereas finance minister Jens Stoltenberg was strolling down the road in Oslo, Donald Trump known as … He needed the Nobel prize – and to debate tariffs.”
The outlet added that it was not the primary time that Trump had raised the query of a Nobel peace prize nomination to Stoltenberg.
In a press release to Reuters, Stoltenberg, the previous Nato secretary normal, mentioned the decision targeted on tariffs and financial cooperation forward of Trump’s name with Jonas Støre, the Norwegian prime minister.
“I cannot go into additional element in regards to the content material of the dialog,” Stoltenberg mentioned, including that a number of White Home officers together with the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and US commerce consultant, Jamieson Greer, have been on the decision.
Annually, the five-member Norwegian Nobel committee critiques lots of of candidates earlier than selecting laureates. The committee members are appointed by Norway’s parliament in line with the desire of Alfred Nobel, a 19-century Swedish industrialist. Laureates are introduced in October.
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Up to date at 07.05 EDT
Sam Levine
Texas Democrats mentioned on Thursday they’re ready to return to the state underneath sure circumstances, ending an almost two-week-long effort to dam Republicans from passing a brand new congressional map that may add 5 GOP seats.
The lawmakers mentioned they’d return so long as the legislature ends its first particular session on Friday, which Republicans have mentioned they plan to do. Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, has mentioned he’ll instantly name one other particular session.
The Democrats additionally mentioned they’d return as soon as California introduces a brand new congressional map that may add 5 Democratic seats, offsetting the features in Texas. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, is anticipated to announce what he has teased as a “main” redistricting announcement on Thursday.
Gene Wu, chair of the Texas home Democratic caucus, mentioned in a press release that he and his colleagues “efficiently mobilized the nation towards Trump’s assault on minority voting rights”.
“Dealing with threats of arrest, lawfare, monetary penalties, harassment and bomb threats, now we have stood agency in our combat towards a proposed Jim Crow congressional district map,” he mentioned. “Now, as Democrats throughout the nation be part of our combat to trigger these maps to fail their political goal, we’re ready to carry this battle again to Texas underneath the correct circumstances and to take this combat to the courts.”
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Bondi sends ‘sanctuary cities’ letters to mayors of 32 cities
George Chidi
Pam Bondi, the lawyer normal, mentioned she has despatched “sanctuary metropolis” letters to the mayors of 32 cities and a handful of county executives, warning that she intends to prosecute political leaders who aren’t, in her view, sufficiently supportive of immigration enforcement.
“You higher be abiding by our federal insurance policies and with our federal regulation enforcement, as a result of if you happen to’re not, we’re going to return after you,” she mentioned, chatting with a Fox Information reporter. “Our leaders need to assist our regulation enforcement.”
Bondi’s letter asks the recipients to supply a response by 19 August that “confirms your dedication with complying with federal regulation and identifies the rapid initiatives you take to eradicate legal guidelines, insurance policies and practices that impede federal immigration enforcement”.
Bondi cites an govt order issued by Donald Trump on 28 April which known as for the lawyer normal to establish jurisdictions that “hinder the enforcement of Federal immigration legal guidelines” then to “notify every sanctuary jurisdiction relating to its defiance of Federal immigration regulation enforcement and any potential violations of Federal prison regulation” as a precursor to prosecution or withholding grants.
Every of the recipients seems to have acquired a near-identical letter, none of which specify what native legal guidelines or practices fail to adjust to Bondi’s assertions.
Preliminary responses from state and native governments receiving the letters embody a mixture of incredulity and defiance.
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Up to date at 08.06 EDT
Patrick Wintour
Donald Trump has mentioned he believes Vladimir Putin is able to make a deal on the conflict in Ukraine as the 2 leaders put together for his or her summit in Alaska on Friday, however his suggestion the Russian chief and Volodymyr Zelenskyy may “divvy issues up” might alarm some in Kyiv.
The US president implied there was a 75% likelihood of the Alaska assembly succeeding, and that the specter of financial sanctions might have made Putin extra prepared to hunt an finish to the conflict.
Trump insisted that he wouldn’t let Putin get the higher of him in Friday’s assembly, telling reporters: “I’m president, and he’s not going to fiddle with me.
“I’ll know throughout the first two minutes, three minutes, 4 minutes or 5 minutes … whether or not or not we’re going to have assembly or a nasty assembly.
“And if it’s a nasty assembly, it’ll finish in a short time, and if it’s assembly, we’re going to finish up getting peace within the fairly close to future,” mentioned Trump.
He additionally mentioned a second assembly – not but confirmed – between him, Putin and Zelenskyy could be the extra decisive.
“The second assembly goes to be very, essential, as a result of that’s going to be a gathering the place they make a deal. And I don’t wish to use the phrase ‘divvy’ issues up, however you recognize, to a sure extent, it’s not a nasty time period, OK?” Trump advised Fox Information Radio.
He was referring to the likelihood that Zelenskyy must settle for “land swaps” – in observe the handing over of Ukrainian territory to Russia, doubtlessly together with some not captured by Moscow.
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Newsom says California will push to redraw maps in riposte to Texas plan
Lauren Gambino
Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, mentioned on Thursday that state Democratic lawmakers would transfer ahead with a redistricting plan to counter the Republican-led map-drawing effort in Texas aimed toward securing a Home majority after the midterm elections.
As he spoke on the Japanese American Nationwide Museum’s Nationwide Middle for the Preservation of Democracy – a venue intentionally chosen for its symbolism – federal brokers, armed and masked, fanned out throughout the complicated, led by Gregory Bovino, head of the border patrol’s El Centro sector. Native information footage confirmed a person being led away in handcuffs.
Newsom, joined by congressional Democrats and legislative leaders, unveiled a plan, generally known as the “election rigging response act”, that may override California’s unbiased redistricting fee and draw new congressional traces – a direct counter to a Texas effort, sought by Donald Trump, to push by mid-cycle maps that would hand Republicans 5 additional US Home seats. The governor vowed the transfer would “neuter and neutralize” Texas’s proposal.
“Right now is liberation day within the state of California,” Newsom declared at a rally in Los Angeles, during which he formally known as for a 4 November particular election to approve a brand new congressional map. “We will’t stand again and watch this democracy disappear district by district all throughout the nation.”
After the rally, Newsom known as the presence of border patrol brokers “sick and pathetic” and accused Trump of ordering the operation to intimidate Democrats. “Get up, America,” Newsom warned. “You’ll not have a rustic if he rigs this election.”
Los Angeles’s mayor, Karen Bass, a Democrat who was not attending the occasion, arrived on the scene to sentence the raid. In remarks to reporters, she argued that it was not “a coincidence” the raid came about steps from the place Newsom was talking. “The White Home simply despatched federal brokers to attempt to intimidate elected officers at a press convention,” she mentioned in a social media put up. “The issue for them is Los Angeles doesn’t get scared and Los Angeles doesn’t again down. We by no means have and we by no means will.”
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Up to date at 07.10 EDT
Trump makes false claims about crime in Washington DC as homeless camps are cleared
Good morning and welcome to the US politics stay weblog. My identify is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the most recent information traces over the subsequent few hours.
We begin with information that Donald Trump has falsely claimed crime in Washington DC is “the worst it’s ever been” on Thursday, amid a federal takeover of the town’s police division and deployment of the nationwide guard and federal brokers within the metropolis.
“Washington DC is at its worst level,” Trump mentioned from the Oval Workplace. “It’s going to quickly be at its finest level.” He additionally baselessly accused DC regulation enforcement officers of giving “phony crime stats” and mentioned “they’re underneath investigation”.
The president’s feedback got here after protesters heckled federal regulation enforcement officers as they reportedly stopped dozens of automobiles at a checkpoint alongside a busy avenue in Washington DC on Wednesday evening.
About 20 regulation enforcement officers, a few of whom seemed to be from the Division of Homeland Safety, pulled over drivers for infractions reminiscent of damaged taillights and never carrying seatbelts, in line with the Washington Put up.
A minimum of one girl was reportedly arrested as greater than 100 protesters gathered and reportedly yelled issues like “get off our streets”, in line with NBC Information. Some protesters started warning drivers to keep away from the world, the outlet reported.
The town’s homeless encampments, which Trump has lengthy fixated on, got here underneath goal Thursday evening as metropolis police started eradicating residents. Officers in Washington DC and advocates for the unhoused had warned individuals residing in camps to relocate to shelters earlier than the federal sweeps started.
“We do not need sufficient shelter beds for everybody on the road,” mentioned Amber W Harding, govt director of the Washington Authorized Clinic for the Homeless. “It is a chaotic and scary time for all of us in DC, however notably for individuals with out properties.”
Learn the total story right here:
In different developments:
As a part of its promoting blitz to draw new recruits, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) launched a social media video on Thursday that makes use of a music by the rapper DaBaby and exhibits company automobiles that look like painted in the identical crimson, blue and gold model as Donald Trump’s personal aircraft, which was featured within the opening sequence for The Apprentice.
New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, confirmed on social media {that a} federal constructing the place protesters held a silent vigil on Thursday towards Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) was evacuated after “envelopes containing white powder have been found”.
In one other signal that the Trump presidency is basically made-for-TV, the White Home and Fox Information revealed that Trump will seem on Fox Information each earlier than and instantly after his summit assembly with Vladimir Putin on Friday.
4 days after Trump ordered the unhoused residents of Washington DC, whom he sped previous in his motorcade for a golf outing, to depart the town, native officers helped clear encampments earlier than introduced sweeps by federal brokers.
Share
