The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Donald Trump

  • Veterans help bill signed by Trump

    Veterans help bill signed by Trump

    U.S. President, Donald Trump, on Friday signed a bill to improve services for military veterans following a scandal that plagued the government agency responsible for providing health care.

    Surrounded by veterans and other supporters of the legislation, Trump signed the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act at a White House ceremony.

    Trump made improved care for veterans a promise of his presidential campaign, and said he was “thrilled to be able to sign that promise into law.’’

    He said that the scandal of long, waiting times for veterans to see doctors and other widespread problems in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ hospital system was a “national disgrace’’.

    According to him, it meant that the government failed to keep its promise to people who have served in the country’s armed forces.

    Trump spoke of a “nightmare for veterans,’’ noting that some patients died waiting for care.

    “The new law would make it possible for the federal government to fire managers who under the previous law could remain on the department’s payroll,” Trump said.

    The president also commended David Shulkin, one of the few holdovers from the Obama administration, whom he tapped in January to lead the department.

    With his job approval rating at around 40 percent, Trump lately has been touting his administration’s achievements, while criticising opposition Democrats for opposing his reforms.

    “I’ve helped pass and signed 38 Legislative Bills, mostly with no Democratic support, and gotten rid of massive amounts of regulations. Nice!’’ he wrote on Twitter on Friday.

  • U.S. student’s death a ‘mystery to us as well’ – North Korea

    U.S. student’s death a ‘mystery to us as well’ – North Korea

    North Korea said on Friday the death of U.S. university student Otto Warmbier soon after his return home was a mystery.

    The North’s foreign ministry spokesperson also dismissed accusations that Warmbier had died because of torture and beating during his captivity as “groundless”.

    The unnamed spokesperson said in comments carried by the official KCNA agency that Warmbier was “a victim of the policy of strategic patience” of former U.S. President Barack Obama whose government never requested his release.

    “The fact that Warmbier died suddenly in less than a week just after his return to the U.S. in his normal state of health indicators is a mystery to us as well,” the spokesman was quoted by KCNA as saying.

    Warmbier, 22, was arrested in the reclusive country while visiting as a tourist. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan from his hotel, North Korea state media said.

    He was brought back to the United States last week in a coma with brain damage, in what doctors described as state of “unresponsive wakefulness”, and died on Monday.

    His death heightened the conflict between the North and the U.S. already aggravated by North Korea’s defiant missile launches and two nuclear tests since early 2016 as part of its effort to build a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

    U.S. President Donald Trump blamed “the brutality of the North Korean regime” for Warmbier’s death and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who had advocated dialogue with the North.

    Trump said Pyongyang had a “heavy responsibility” in the events leading up to the American’s death.

    The North’s spokesman said such accusations are part of a smear campaign to slander the country that had given “medical treatments and care with all sincerity” to a person who was “clearly a criminal”.

    The unnamed ministry spokesman said that the U.S. doctors who had traveled to the North on June 14 to evacuate Warmbier had recognised that the North had “provided him with medical treatment and brought him back alive whose heart was nearly stopped.”

    “Although Warmbier was a criminal who committed a hostile act against the DPRK, we accepted the repeated requests of the present U.S. administration and, in consideration of his bad health, sent him back home on humanitarian grounds,” the spokesman said.

    DPRK is short for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

    The exact cause of Warmbier’s death remains unclear.

    Officials at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was treated after his return from the North, declined to provide details, and his family asked the Hamilton County Coroner on Tuesday not to perform an autopsy.

    Thousands of friends and family members gathered at Wyoming High School in suburban Cincinnati on Thursday for a memorial service for Warmbier, who graduated from the school as salutatorian in 2013.

    The U.S. has demanded North Korea release three other U.S. citizens it holds in detention: missionary Kim Dong Chul and academics Tony Kim and Kim Hak Song.

    Warmbier was freed after the U.S. State Department’s special envoy on North Korea, Joseph Yun, traveled to Pyongyang and demanded the student’s release on humanitarian grounds, capping a flurry of diplomatic contacts, a U.S. official has said.

    The North previously released American detainees it had accused and convicted of crimes against the state on the occasion of high-level visits by U.S. officials.

  • Four Arab states send 13 demands to Qatar

    Four Arab states send 13 demands to Qatar

    Four Arab states boycotting Qatar over alleged support for terrorism on Friday sent Doha a list of 13 demands including closing Al Jazeera television and reducing ties to their regional adversary Iran.

    Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain, on June 5, cut economic, diplomatic and travel ties to Doha.

    An official of the four Arab countries, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that they gave Doha 10 days to comply, failing which the list becomes “void”.

    The official who did not elaborate further, suggested that the offer to end the dispute in return for the 13 steps would no longer be on the table.

    The official said that the list which was compiled by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain, also demands the closing of a Turkish military base in Qatar.

    The demands aimed at ending the worst Gulf Arab crisis in years appear designed to quash a two decade-old foreign policy in which Qatar has punched well above its weight, striding the stage as a peace broker, often in conflicts in Muslim lands.

    Doha’s independent-minded approach, including a dovish line on Iran and support for Islamist groups, in particular the Muslim Brotherhood, has incensed some of its neighbours who see political Islamism as a threat to their dynastic rule.

    The demands, the official said, was handed to Qatar by mediator Kuwait.

    The official added that the demands also require that Qatar stop interfering in the four countries’ domestic and foreign affairs and stop a practice of giving Qatari nationality to citizens of the four countries,

    He said that Qatar must pay reparations to these countries for any damage or costs incurred over the past few years because of Qatari policies.

    Any resulting agreement to comply with the demands will be monitored, with monthly reports in the first year, then every three months the next year, then annually for 10 years, the official said without elaborating.

    Turkey’s Defence Minister Fikri Isik rejected the demand, saying any call for the base to be shut would represent interference in Ankara’s relations with Doha.

    He suggested instead that Turkey might bolster its presence.

    Isik said: “strengthening the Turkish base would be a positive step in terms of the Gulf’s security.

    “Re-evaluating the base agreement with Qatar is not on our agenda.”

    The Arab official said that Qatar must also announce it is severing ties with terrorist, ideological and sectarian organisations including the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic State and al Qaeda.

    Others, the officials said, are Hezbollah, and Jabhat Fateh al Sham, formerly al Qaeda’s branch in Syria, , and surrender all designated terrorists on its territory.

    The four Arab countries accuse Qatar of funding terrorism, fomenting regional instability and cozying up to revolutionary theocracy Iran.

    Qatar has denied the accusations.

    Qatari officials did not reply immediately to requests for comment.

    On Monday, Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said Qatar would not negotiate with the four states unless they lifted their measures against Doha.

    “The demands are so aggressive that it makes it close to impossible to currently see a resolution of that conflict,” said Olivier Jakob, a strategist at Switzerland-based oil consultancy Petromatrix.

    Several Qataris who spoke to Reuters described the demands as unreasonable. “Imagine another country demanding that CNN be closed,” said 40-year-old Haseeb Mansour, who works for telecom operator Ooredoo.

    Abdullah al-Muhanadi, a retired public sector shopping for groceries in Doha on Friday morning, said the boycott must be lifted before negotiations to resolve the dispute could start.

    “There’s a lot on the list that is simply not true or unreasonable, so how can we comply?” he said.

    “There are no Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps elements in Qatar and the agreement with Turkey is a long- standing diplomatic agreement so we cannot ask them to leave.”

    U.S. President Donald Trump has taken a tough stance on Qatar, accusing it of being a “high level” sponsor of terrorism, but he has also offered help to the parties in the dispute to resolve their differences.

    Turkey has backed Qatar during the three-week-old crisis.

    It sent its first ship carrying food aid to Qatar and dispatched a small contingent of soldiers and armoured vehicles there on Thursday, while President Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Saudi Arabia’s leaders on calming tension in the region.

  • Trump says he prefers having rich person in charge of economy

    Trump says he prefers having rich person in charge of economy

    U.S. President Donald Trump said he wouldn’t want a poor person in charge of the economy, as he defended his cabinet, which is thought to be the wealthiest in the country’s history.

    “Somebody said, ‘Why did you appoint a rich person to be in charge of the economy?’” he told supporters at rally in Iowa.

    “So I said …. because that’s the kind of thinking we want… because they’re representing the country.”

    Making a particular reference to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a billionaire former investor, Trump said:, “They don’t want the money. And they had to give up a lot to take up these jobs.”

    Trump, himself a billionaire, went on to refer to Gary Cohn, his chief economic advisor.

    “This is the president of Goldman Sachs. Smart. Having him represent us, he went from massive paydays to peanuts, to little tiny … I’m waiting for them to accuse him of wanting that little amount of money.

    “These are people that are great, brilliant business minds, and that’s what we need, that’s what we have to have so the world doesn’t take advantage of us.

    “We can’t have the world taking advantage of us any more. And I love all people, rich or poor, but in those particular positions I just don’t want a poor person.

    “Does that make sense? Does that make sense?

    “If you insist I’ll do it but I like it better this way, right?”

    Trump’s Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is also a billionaire heiress, while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former boss of oil giant Exxon, is thought to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

    Other rich appointees include Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a former hedge fund manager, and Housing Secretary Ben Carson, who made his fortune selling books on his career in medicine and his political ideas.

  • Climate change: Aregbesola cautions Donald Trump

    Climate change: Aregbesola cautions Donald Trump

    The Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has on Tuesday urged the United States of America to seriously consider its stand concerning climate change, as whatever decision America takes will seriously affect many countries of the world negatively.

    This was even as the United States of America Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Stuart Symington described the social protection programmes of Osun Government as the dividend of democracy and good governance.

    The American envoy also lauded the State Government for running an impactful and people-oriented government in spite of the present economic challenges facing Nigeria.‎

    ‎Governor Aregbesola, while playing host to the American Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Stuart Syminton who paid him a courtesy visit at the Governor’s office in Osogbo said the United States of America had over the years evolved to be a major factor in what happens to the other parts of the world.

    He added that when an entity becomes powerful as America in the world, such a nation needs to consider other nations before taking major decisions.

    The governor noted that the position of America in the world is so strategic to the extent that major decisions of the United States have a direct bearing on other nations of the world.

    According to Aregbesola, America is so important and significant that issues like climate change can not be taken for granted.

    He said: “America has evolved to be a major factor in world growth and development to the extent that whatever decision the country takes on any burning issue shakes the world.

    “When an entity is as powerful as America, such entity needs to be very careful about every major decision it takes because of other countries.

    “An entity whose decision can affect other nations of the world must be very careful.

    “America’s human and international relations must not be taken for granted, if you love America it is to your own benefit and if you hate America it is to your own disadvantage,” The Governor stated.

    The Osun governor also made it clear to the ambassador that his administration came into government with a clear objective of how to tackle its responsibilities to the people of the state.

    He said the coming into power of the administration was to revive the peace, progress, and prosperity of the state and the nation at large.

     Aregbesola maintained that his administration focused on the six-point integral action plan which has over the years made his government focus on social security areas through schemes such as the O-YES, O-MEALS, O-AMBULANCE the welfare scheme for the aged among others.

    “We came into government with a clear objective, it is to stimulate the growth and development of the Osun people and to leave them better than the way we met them.

    “From the onset, our goal for the people of the state was clear to us. As part of our efforts to take our people out of poverty, we re-energised the school feeding programme which we met on ground.

    “The OMEAL programme of our state has turned subsistence farming into a commercial venture in Osun. It has boosted the sales of agricultural products in the state tremendously” Aregbesola stated.

    Speaking earlier, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Symington who commended the efforts of the state government in road infrastructure likened road development to human development.

    The envoy also applauded various social intervention programmes of Ogbeni Aregbesola through job and wealth creation, saying that is why people are always interested in coming to the state to learn.

    Describing democracy as the best form of government in the world, Syminton noted that the policies adopted by the Osun state government in stimulating her economy and advancing the well-being of her citizens remain the major characteristics of democracy in the world.

    “The state is on a steady growth, I so much appreciate good roads. This state is investing so much in roads infrastructure and it’s very good for the future and overall development of the state.

    “Another good area is your various social intervention programmes, you are helping in creating jobs and wealth, no wonder people always come to your state to learn,” The American envoy noted.

  • CNN reporter labels White House spokesman ‘just kind of useless’

    CNN reporter labels White House spokesman ‘just kind of useless’

    A CNN reporter labelled White House spokesman Sean Spicer “just kind of useless”, in the the ongoing tussle between the Washington press corps and the Trump administration.

    The comment was made by CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta during an appearance on “CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin.”

    “The White House press secretary is getting to a point, Brooke, where he’s just kind of useless,” Acosta said.

    “You know, if he can’t come out and answer the questions and they’re just not going to do this on camera or audio, why are we even having these briefings or these gaggles in the first place?”

    Acosta’s comments came shortly after Spicer held an off-camera press briefing that journalists were reportedly not allowed to record.

    The 47-year-old, who has covered the last three elections for CNN, also criticized President Donald Trump for not holding a “full blown press conference” since February.

    “I don’t know why everybody is going along with this. It just doesn’t make any sense to me,” Acosta said.

    Citing an unnamed senior White House official, the Washington Post reported Monday that Spicer is expected to move to a more “behind-the-scenes role overseeing communications strategy.”

    The move is part of a “broader overhaul” of the communications team at the White House, the Post said.

    Spicer has been the subject of criticism by reporters in Washington for months, and has also attracted the attention of comedy show Saturday Night Live, where he is portrayed by actress Melissa McCarthy.

  • Russia inquiry: I’m under investigation – Trump

    Russia inquiry: I’m under investigation – Trump

    United States President, Donald Trump, has acknowledged he is under investigation in the inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in last year presidential election held in his country.

    In a tweet, the President also accused the U.S deputy attorney general of pursuing a “witch hunt.”

    He said: “I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director!”

    The BBC reports that Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, wrote a memo the White House used to justify the firing of the ex-FBI chief.

    Mr. Rosenstein took over the investigation into whether Russia tried to tip the U.S election in favour of Mr. Trump after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself in March.

    The deputy attorney general later appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller to lead the inquiry.

    The FBI and Congress are both looking at whether Trump campaign officials colluded with the alleged Kremlin plot. The inquiries have yet to show evidence of collusion.

    Mr. Trump also tweeted on Friday morning: “After seven months of investigations and committee hearings about my ‘collusion with the Russians,’ nobody has been able to show any proof. Sad!”

     

  • Trump travel ban suffers new court defeat

    Trump travel ban suffers new court defeat

    A US appeals court has upheld a decision blocking President Trump’s revised “travel ban” on people from six mainly Muslim nations.

    A lower court had issued the injunction on the grounds that the ban was discriminatory after a challenge by the state of Hawaii.

    The 90-day ban was to apply to people from Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

    It also called for a 120-day ban on all refugees.

    The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco was reviewing a March ruling by a Hawaii-based federal judge that blocked parts of Mr Trump’s order.

    In their ruling, the judges said that “immigration, even for the President, is not a one-person show”.

    They said Mr Trump had failed to show that the entry of people from the six countries mentioned in the ban, as well as the refugees, would be detrimental to US interests.

    But the judges said the government was allowed to review the vetting process for people entering the US – something the earlier Hawaii ruling had blocked.

    The administration has said the travel ban is needed to prevent terrorism in the US.

    The latest ruling follows another ruling in May by a different court, the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, that upheld a Maryland judge’s ruling that also blocked parts of Mr Trump’s revised ban.

    Earlier this month the Trump administration filed an emergency request with the Supreme Court to block the Hawaii and Maryland rulings and revive the ban.

    Lawyers for Hawaii had described Mr Trump’s executive order as a “thinly veiled Muslim ban”.

    The Supreme Court will decide whether Mr Trump’s comments during his election campaign can be used as evidence that the executive order was intended to discriminate against Muslims, which would be against the US constitution.

    During his election campaign, Mr Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States”.

    An earlier version of Mr Trump’s travel ban, issued in January, sparked confusion and protests and was blocked by a judge in Seattle because it probably violated the due process rights of individuals with valid residency papers and visas.

    The department also said it was unconstitutional to sue the president in his official capacity.

    Mr Trump has not yet commented on the latest move.

  • Comey is a leaker, says Trump

    Comey is a leaker, says Trump

    U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday called James Comey, former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), “a leaker”.

    Trump on his Twitter handle on Friday also said that many statements made by the former FBI chief on Thursday were false.

    “In spite of so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication…and WOW, Comey is a leaker!” Trump tweeted.

    Trump’s reaction followed the admission by Comey that he gave the memos of his conversations with Trump to a friend to leak to the media.

    The former FBI chief also revealed for the first time that he turned over memos about his conversations with Trump to the Special Counsel investigating the Russian scandal, Robert Mueller.

    Comey had, while testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating the alleged Russian collusion with Trump Campaign during the 2016 presidential election, made some damming remarks about Trump.

    The former FBI boss, at the public hearing televised live, accused Trump of suggesting to him to “let Michael Flynn”, the president’s former National Security Adviser, “go”.

    Comey had testified that Trump and others in his administration lied when they said FBI agents had lost confidence in him to continue leading the bureau.

    Referring to Trump’s suggestion that he may have recorded their conversations, Comey said: “Lordy, I hope there are tapes”.

    Comey had also described Trump as a liar but stressed that Trump was not under investigation and the Russian interference did not affect the votes of the election.

    Trump’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, issued a statement afterwards denying Comey’s testimony that the president pressured him to drop his investigations into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia.

    Kasowitz also said Trump never demanded “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty” as Comey testified on Thursday.

    “Contrary to numerous false press accounts leading up to today’s hearing, Mr Comey has now finally confirmed publicly what he repeatedly told the president privately:

    “The president was not under investigation as part of any probe into Russian interference.”

    “He also admitted that there is no evidence that a single vote changed as a result of any Russian interference,” Kasowitz’s statement said.

    NAN also reports that a source close to the Trump legal team said on Friday that Kasowitz  plans to file a complaint on Monday about former Comey’s disclosure of conversations with the president,

    A source, who declined to be identified because the matter was not public, said Kasowitz will file the complaint with the Justice Department’s inspector-general.

    The source also added that Kasowitz will also make a “submission” to the Senate Judiciary and Senate Intelligence committees about Comey’s testimony.

  • FBI: Trump to nominate Christopher Gray as head

    FBI: Trump to nominate Christopher Gray as head

    President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he will nominate Christopher Wray, former U.S. Assistant Attorney-General under President George Bush, to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

    “I will be nominating Christopher Wray, a man of impeccable credentials, to be the new Director of the FBI. Details to follow,” Trump said in a statement on Twitter.

    The U.S. Senate must approve Trump’s choice to replace former FBI Director James Comey, whom the president fired last month amid the agency’s ongoing probe into alleged Russian meddling into the U.S. election.

    Trump’s announcement comes the day before Comey is scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Moscow’s alleged interference and any potential ties to Trump’s campaign or associates.

    The president met last week with candidates for the FBI director post, including Wray, according to White House spokesman Sean Spicer.

    Wray currently works for King and Spalding’s Washington and Atlanta offices where he handles various white-collar criminal and regulatory enforcement cases, according to the firm.

    He served as assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s criminal division from 2003 to 2005, working on corporate fraud scandals and cases involving U.S. financial markets, according to his biography on the law firm’s website.

    Many lawmakers have said that Trump should pick a career law enforcement professional.

    One former FBI official questioned whether Wray had the management experience to run an agency with more than 35,000 people, given the small size of the division he ran at the Justice Department.