The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Donald Trump

  • Hillary, Bill Clinton arrive Trump’s inauguration

    Hillary, Bill Clinton arrive Trump’s inauguration

    Democratic presidential candidate in the Nov. 8, 2016 election and Donald Trump’s arch challenger, Hillary Clinton has arrived Trump’s inauguration venue at the Capitol Hill.

    Former President Bill Clinton accompanied the former First Lady, confirming their attendance in spite of the bitter loss and divisive presidential campaigns in U.S. history, according to the Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) monitoring the inauguration.

    The Clintons, sources said, decided to attend Trump’s inauguration “out of a sense of duty and respect for the American democratic process”.

    Former President Jimmy Carter and former Vice President Dick Cheney and wife have also arrived the Capitol Hill venue of the inauguration.

    Former President George W. Bush and wife, Laura, are also attending Trump’s inauguration.

    There are currently six living U.S. presidents, when Trump will have been sworn-in, a record number during any inauguration, NAN gathered.

    Former President Bush and former first lady Laura Bush’s attendance of Trump’s inauguration was announced by the 43rd president’s office.

    The statement said the couple “is pleased to be able to witness the peaceful transfer of power – a hallmark of American democracy – and swearing-in of President Trump and Vice President Pence.”

    “President and Mrs  Bush will attend the 58th Presidential Inauguration Ceremony on Jan. 20, 2017, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.,” the Bush’s statement read.

    “They are pleased to be able to witness the peaceful transfer of power — a hallmark of American democracy — and swearing-in of President Trump and Vice President Pence.”

    Carter was the only former president to RSVP to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

    Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush, will not be attending due to his health, a spokesman reportedly said.

    Former presidents traditionally attend the ceremonial transfer of power at the U.S Capitol.

    In spite of being a fellow Republican, Bush did not vote for Trump on Nov. 8 election, a decision Trump later described as “sad”.

    Bush’s father voted for Clinton, according to sources.

    During the primaries, both Bushes supported their family member, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who was a fierce challenger of Trump’s.

    Just a week after the election, George W. Bush lamented the role that anger played in politics today.

    “I understand anger, and some people may have been angry when I was president. But anger shouldn’t drive policy”, Bush said in Dallas in a rare public speech.

    “What needs to drive policy is what’s best for the people who are angry.”

    NAN reports that outgoing two-term 44th President Barack Obama who will hand-over to Trump, the 45th U.S. President, is the first black to have been elected U.S. president. (NAN)

  • Trump inauguration: Army brutalise protesters, journalist

    Trump inauguration: Army brutalise protesters, journalist

    Some soldiers allegedly detailed to stop a peaceful demonstration by Pro-Biafra members, on Friday, brutalised the Acting  South-South Editor of The Authority newspaper, Mr Willie Etim while trying to take pictures of protesting youths.

    The over one thousand Pro-Biafra youths in Port Harcourt, had staged a peaceful match in solidarity to the inauguration of the American President, Donald Trump and also to express the plight of Biafrans to the world.

    Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the personnel of the Nigerian Army who were fully armed in their numbers trying to stop the protest, Mr Willie Etim said, while on his way to the office, he noticed the massive crowd and he decided as a journalist to cover the protest, only to be attacked by some soldiers.

    He said that he narrowly escaped being lynched by two of the soldiers, after they had hit him with the butt of their gun,  destroyed his phone and other gadgets.

    Mr Willie said “At about 10:00am today, I was on my way to the office when I ran into a huge traffic holdup between Waterlines and Garrison bus stop in Port Harcourt. One lane was blocked and I was wondering what would have caused such massive crowd.

    “I got closer and discovered that it was Pro-Biafra protest in solidarity for the inauguration of Donald Trump and also to draw the world attention to the Biafra situation in Nigeria.

    “Haven gotten a brief from some of the protesters, I went further to take a picture of the protesting youths, unknowingly, one of the soldiers detailed to quell the protest sighted me as I was taking the picture while I was driving pass the crowd. Immediately, three of the soldiers walked up to me, asked me who authorised me to take the picture. It was then I introduced myself to them that I am a journalist.

    “One of them flared up and said ‘what stupid journalist’ and seized my phone which I use in snapping the picture and smashed it on the ground.

    “When I attempted to plead with them, to allow me to pick my sim card, they refused and threatened to shoot me if I come down from the car, as the two of them pointed their guns at me from the driver and passenger side of the window. When I insisted on picking my Sim card, one of them hit my car with the butt of his gun.

    “Afterwards, the soldier also hit me with the butt of his gun. It was then I got scared and narrowly escaped from the scene to my office”,  he said.

  • U.S. presidential inauguration: Obamas welcome Trumps to White House

    Outgoing President Barack Obama and wife Michelle on Friday received incoming President Donald Trump and wife Melania to the White House.

    The outgoing president and the First Lady will host a tea and coffee reception with Trump and his wife, according to reports.

    The pair will ride with their wives to the inauguration at Capitol Hill from the White House.

    In the afternoon, the Obamas will attend the Inaugural Swearing-In Ceremony for Trump and the new First Lady, with outgoing Vice President Joe Biden and incoming Vice President Mike Pence and wife, Jill.

    After the inauguration, Obama and wife will depart the U.S. Capitol en route Joint Base Andrews, where Obama will deliver remarks at a farewell event with staff.

    Later in the afternoon, the Obamas will depart Joint Base Andrews en route Palm Springs, California.

    Obama and his family will take one final flight on Air Force One to an as-of-yet-announced destination, which is customary.

    As for the Bidens, the White House press office said that following the inauguration, they will travel back to Delaware on passenger Train.

    Obama and Biden had earlier on Friday, left the Oval Office for the last time.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Obama was elected as the 44th U.S. president in a historic presidential election in 2008, defeating Republican nominee John McCain.

    The two-term president was the first black American in history to be elected U.S. president.

    The former Illinois senator, who won a re-election in 2012 for the second and last term, maintains an all-time high popularity rating throughout his presidency, which had been largely described as scandal-free.

    NAN also reports that Trump won the Nov. 8, 2016 presidency by electoral college vote, but lost the popular vote to Democratic Hillary Clinton by 2.9 million votes.(NAN)

  • Trump pledges unity at inauguration concert

    United States President-elect, Donald Trump, has pledged to unify America as he addressed cheering supporters at a concert on the eve of his presidential inauguration.

    Speaking on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, the president-elect also promised to bring change.

    Among attendees at the two-hour event were his family, actor Jon Voight and Soul Man singer Sam Moore, the BBC reports.

    Mr. Trump earlier laid a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.

    Thursday evening’s Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration was open to the public and featured performances by country stars Toby Keith and Lee Greenwood.

    “We’re going to unify our country,” Mr. Trump said in brief remarks at the end of the concert.

    “We’re going to make America great for all of our people. Everybody, everybody, throughout all of our country. That includes the inner cities.”

    His supporters have been streaming into Washington DC, and he reminded them that many had doubted the campaign’s chances of success.

    “They forgot about a lot of us,” he said. “On the campaign, I called it the forgotten man and the forgotten woman. Well, you’re not forgotten anymore.”

  • Man arrested for threatening to kill Trump at inauguration

    A man in Florida has been accused of posting online that he would kill United States President-elect, Donald Trump, at his inauguration on Friday.

    “This is January 16, 2017. I was requested to type this in and post it.

    “Yes, I will be at the review stand, the inauguration and I’m going to kill President Trump, President-elect Trump today,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted Dominic Puopolo as saying in a video posted on Monday.

    Puopolo, 51, was arrested on Tuesday and allegedly admitted to making the threat.

    He was ordered for a mental evaluation at a court hearing on Wednesday.

    The threat, which was directed at the Secret Service, came in the middle of a long string of incoherent video messages where he called himself Jesus Christ and repeatedly talked about his “father.”

    Some of the messages are aimed at President Barack Obama’s White House Chief of Staff, Denis McDonough and model Adriana Lima, as well as a woman he referred to as his daughter.

    Puopolo, who said in one of the posts that he had had three wives and three children, is the son of American Airlines Flight 11 9/11 victim, Sonia Morales Puopolo, the Miami Herald reported.

     

  • Trump meets Martin Luther King III

    Trump meets Martin Luther King III

    President-elect Donald Trump, who spent the weekend engaged in a war of words with civil rights activist and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, met on Monday with Martin Luther King III to discuss voting rights.

    The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s eldest son walked into Trump Tower at 12:51 p.m. with a handful of colleagues affiliated with the Drum Major Institute, a progressive public policy think tank where he is president, according to Washington Post.

    “Today, President-elect Trump is going to sit down with Martin Luther King III and others in New York and have a conversation about voting, about bringing more people into the system, the legacy of Doctor King and how we can continue to pursue that under the Trump administration,” Trump spokesman Sean Spicer had said on Monday.

    The private session at Trump Tower with civil rights advocates, on the same day the nation is honouring Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, represents a mix of symbolism and substance.

    King III has campaigned for years to establish a form of free government photo identification that could make it easier for Americans who lack a driver’s license or other official ID to cast ballots.

    He and the other attendees, including the Rev. James Forbes, have urged Trump to endorse the idea of making such identification free.

    But it also provides Trump, who is viewed largely in unfavourable terms by African Americans, with an opening to the black community.

    In national exit polling in November, black voters favoured Hillary Clinton over Trump by a margin of 89 per cent to 8 per cent respectively.

    Trump tweeted on Monday: “Celebrate Martin Luther King Day and all the many wonderful things that he stood for. Honour him for the great man that he was!”

    Many African American leaders see the distribution of a free government ID as a critical boost to low-income Americans who cannot open a bank account without one.

    The lack of an ID not only makes it more difficult to vote in several states but it also often makes individuals dependent on check-cashing operations that charge high commissions.

    In a letter to Trump, former UN ambassador and civil rights activist Andrew Young, who was invited to attend but had a scheduling conflict in Tennessee, wrote that when he and others have pressed for the change, “I always ask who could possibly be opposed to such a common sense solution and receive only one answer: check cashers.

    “A photo ID card is truly a freedom card”.

    King III, who had urged the Obama administration to make a government photo ID ubiquitous, invited Trump on Jan. 8 to commemorate his father’s birthday by accompanying him on a visit to his memorial on the Mall.

    Instead, Trump’s aides suggested that they meet at Trump Tower.

    All of the meeting attendees have a connection to the Drum Major Institute, which pledges to carry “forward the nonviolent social change legacy of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. by promoting economic justice, building community, and fostering a global culture of civil and human rights”.

    Young, who is chairman emeritus of the Drum Major Institute, wrote Trump that he thought it was appropriate for his colleagues to go ahead with the meeting, “having sent an invitation before the regrettable exchange between you and my friend John Lewis.”

    “The first rule of Kingian nonviolence is that you can never find common ground without conversation,” he added.

    In an op-ed published in The Washington Post last week, King III noted that Trump won in states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where minority turnout declined and stricter voter identification requirements may have deterred some minorities from voting.

    “While we can’t know how those affected would have voted, we can agree that every citizen should have the unfettered opportunity to vote.

    “Indeed, my concern is not how people vote,” he wrote.

  • Trump ‘willing to work with Russia and China’

    United States President-elect, Donald Trump, has said he is willing to work with Russia and China if they cooperate.

    Mr. Trump told the Wall Street Journal that newly-imposed sanctions on Russia would remain “at least for a period of time” but could then be lifted.

    He also said the “One China” policy, in which the U.S no longer acknowledges Taiwan, was up for negotiation.

    Meanwhile, a U.S Senate committee will probe claims Russia attempted to meddle in the presidential election.

    In his interview, Mr. Trump said sanctions on Russia could be lifted if Moscow helped Washington in the war against Islamic extremism and in other matters.

    “If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody’s doing some really great things?”

    The president-elect said he hoped a meeting with President Vladimir Putin would be arranged.

    With regards to Beijing, Mr. Trump said China had to allow U.S companies to compete by floating its currency.

    But he said he would not label China a currency manipulator the instant he took office.

    The BBC reports that he had already questioned the “One China” policy last month, provoking angry responses in Chinese state media.

    Republican and Democratic leaders on the Senate Intelligence Committee vowed to follow their investigation “wherever it leads.”

    They will examine Russia’s cyber activity and intelligence practices.

     

  • Don’t underestimate Trump, Obama warns

    Don’t underestimate Trump, Obama warns

    As U.S. President Obama prepares to turn the White House over to President-elect Donald Trump next Friday, he is offering some advice to his successor.

    Excerpts of Obama’s advice to Trump were broadcast on Friday in his recorded interview with CBS News’ Steve Kroft for “60 Minutes”.

    “One thing I’ve said to him directly, and I would advise my Republican friends in Congress and supporters around the country, is just make sure that as we go forward, certain norms, certain institutional traditions, don’t get eroded, because there’s a reason they’re in place,” Obama said.

    The interview would be Obama’s last network interview before he leaves office on Jan. 20, after a two-term as president.

    In a transition period that found the President-elect often commenting on presidential matters, Obama admitted that it has been an “unusual” time.

    “I suspect the President-elect would agree with that,” Obama said. “Look, he’s an unconventional candidate”.

    Obama noted that Trump “ran sort of a improvisational campaign” but cautioned him against running an “improvisational presidency,” saying it will be a test to see if Trump can build an organisation and execute the vision he laid out during the campaign.

    “I think everybody has to acknowledge, don’t underestimate the guy, because he’s going to be 45th president of the United States in about two weeks,” Obama said.

    Trump, who won the Nov. 8, 2016 presidential election by electoral college, but lost the popular vote to Democratic Hillary Clinton by almost three million votes, will be sworn in next Friday. (NAN)

  • Trump: British singers Church, Ferguson snub inauguration

    Trump: British singers Church, Ferguson snub inauguration

    British singers, Charlotte Church and Rebecca Ferguson, have rejected invitations from U.S. President-elect, Donald Trump’s team to perform at his inauguration next week, they said in separate statements on Tuesday.

    The rejections follow other apparent snubs by celebrities, including Elton John, whose publicist denied in November that he would be performing at the event after an economic adviser to Trump had said that he would.

    “@realDonaldTrump Your staff have asked me to sing at your inauguration, a simple Internet search would show I think you’re a tyrant. Bye,’’ wrote Church in a tweet she concluded with derogatory emojis.

    Tom Barrack, a longtime friend of Trump who is organising the Jan. 20 event, brushed aside suggestions that there would be a lack of star power at the Jan. 20 festivities.

    Barrack told reporters that Trump himself was “the greatest celebrity in the world’’ and that the inauguration committee was aiming for a “much more poetic cadence’’ rather than “a circus-like celebration that’s a coronation.’’

    Trump’s inauguration committee did not reply to requests for comment about Church and Ferguson.

    Classical crossover singer Jackie Evancho, who rose to fame as a child performer on the TV show “America’s Got Talent’’ six years ago, has confirmed she would sing the U.S. national anthem at Trump’s inauguration.

    Church, who also began her career as a child classical singer, has spoken out in recent years about her left-leaning political views, and posted multiple tweets during the 2016 campaign criticising Trump.

    Ferguson, who gained prominence as a runner-up on the TV talent show “The X Factor’’ in 2010, said on Tuesday she too had refused to perform at Trump’s inauguration because her choice of the song “Strange Fruit’’ was rejected.

    The anti-racist song, which has been performed by the likes of Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, protests against the lynching of African-Americans in the South in the early 20th century.

    “I requested to sing ‘Strange Fruit’ as I felt it was the only song that would not compromise my artistic integrity,’’ Ferguson said in a statement.

    “As music is so powerful, I wanted to try and help educate the people watching of where division and separation can lead to if not corrected. My aim was not to cause contention,’’ she said.

  • Russia has compromising information on Trump – report

    Russia has compromising information on Trump – report

    U.S. President-elect Donald Trump was presented last week with classified documents containing allegations that Russian operatives claimed to have compromising information on him, U.S. news reports, said on Tuesday.

    A synopsis of the allegations was attached to the end of a report by U.S. intelligence agencies on Russian interference in last year’s presidential election, said broadcaster CNN, which first reported on them.

    The network based its story on information from multiple U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the briefings.

    The synopsis was presented last week to President Barack Obama, Trump and top members of Congress, according to CNN.

    It included graphic details about Trump’s activities with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel which were filmed by the Russian secret service in order to potentially blackmail him in the future, the New York Times reported.

    The document also alleges the Russians offered Trump various real estate deals in order to further the Kremlin’s goals, but Trump had declined them.

    The information in the 35 pages was compiled by a former British spy, whom CNN said, U.S. officials had found to provide credible information in the past.

    Trump, who was scheduled to hold a news conference on Wednesday about his plans for his financial holdings, reacted on Twitter: “fake news a total political witch hunt’’.

    Details of the report were “widely known among journalists and politicians in Washington,’’ the Times said.

    The FBI is investigating the credibility and accuracy of the allegations, which came mostly from Russian sources, but has not confirmed many essential details in the memos, CNN said.

    Intelligence chiefs briefed Trump with the information to make him aware that Russia’s claims were circulating among intelligence agencies, senior members of Congress and other top U.S. officials, CNN added.

    Website Buzzfeed, which published the entire document online, said that some of the information it contained was “unverified and potentially unverifiable’’ and that the report also included some “clear errors’’.

    Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, told news website MIC the report was “absolutely silly’’.

    “It’s so ridiculous on so many levels. Clearly the person who created this did so from their imagination or did so hoping that the liberal media would run with this fake story for whatever rationale they might have,’’ Cohen told MIC.

    Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway said nothing in the report had been confirmed and pointed out that it was all based on unnamed sources.

    As American citizens “we should be concerned that intelligence officials leaked it to the press,’’ Conway said on a late night talk show on NBC.

    Brian Fallon, a Clinton campaign spokesperson, said on Twitter the material provided the only credible theory for why Trump refused to accept the intelligence community’s finding that Russia was behind cyber attacks that occurred during the campaign.

    Trump last week vowed to pursue good relations with Moscow despite the intelligence report that accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering interference in the election to undermine faith in the democratic process and damage his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

    After being briefed on the report, he blasted his critics as “fools,’’ tweeting, having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing only `stupid’ people, or fools, would think that it is bad.