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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Lois Beckett in Oakland (now) and Erin Durkin in New York (previously)

Trump denies white nationalism is growing threat – as it happened

Trump spoke at the White House on Friday afternoon.
Trump spoke at the White House on Friday afternoon. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

Summary

As we head into the weekend, people around the world are still mourning the 49 people killed in attacks on two New Zealand mosques, and wrestling with what can be done to counteract the threat of white supremacist violence around the globe.

  • In Washington, Congressional Republicans had joined Democrats in an attempt to block Trump’s efforts to declare a national emergency at the Southern border of the US. But Trump vetoed the resolution, and pledged to move forward with using federal funding to build a wall between the US and Mexico.
  • In defending his border security strategy, the president again referred to Central American migrants as an “invasion,” and talked about criminals streaming across the border. “People hate the word invasion, but that’s what it is,” Trump said.
  • The president’s comments mirrored the anti-immigrant rhetoric of a document that surfaced online justifying the New Zealand mosque attacks, which included a series of white supremacist conspiracies, including describing immigration as “an invasion on a level never seen before in history.”
  • White nationalism is “not really” a rising threat, the president also told reporters, in response to questions about the New Zealand shooting. “I think it’s a small group of people.”
  • At the same time, an estimated 1 million students around the world skipped school on Friday to protest government inaction on climate change. From Australia and New Zealand, to Asia, Europe, Africa, North America and South America, students took to the streets. Organizers said there were more than 2,000 protests in 125 countries. Read our full coverage here.

Updated

Mosques. Synagogues. Black churches. Leftwing politicians.

In the past eight years, across continents, white supremacists have repeatedly chosen the same targets for shootings, stabbings, bombings and car attacks.

Here’s a look at the ongoing toll of global white supremacist terror:

A large group of people celebrated the birthday of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by doing the plank outside the Supreme Court.

The 86-year-old liberal icon has an impressive and fitness regimen, which includes plank poses, squats, and push-ups.

President Trump’s 2020 election campaign is now using the President’s standoff with Congress over funding for the border wall as a fundraising opportunity.

The Hill reported than an e-mail sent out under Trump’s name asked supporters to donate in the wake of Trump’s first veto, which he used to defy members of Congress who opposed his move to declare a national emergency at the border.

“I need you to contribute to the most important fund of my presidency – the OFFICIAL WALL DEFENSE FUND,” the e-mail read.

The American poet W.S. Merwin has died.

Bernie Sanders’ campaign staff has unionized, the first major party presidential campaign to do so, my colleague Lauren Gambino reports.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 will be representing the campaign workers.

“When candidates practice what they preach, it sends powerful message that they’ll deliver on their promise to strengthen union rights and level the playing field between workers and employers,” the union tweeted, hailing move for “making history.”

In the crowded field of Democrats running for president in 2020, releasing early fundraising numbers has been a way for candidates to demonstrate how much support they have -- and how serious a challenge they might pose to their opponents.

But Beto O’Rourke, who launched his presidential campaign with a glamorous Vanity Fair cover and photographs by Annie Leibovitz, told reporters today that he was choosing not to release his fundraising figures.

Updated

51 women and girls are suing the U. S. Olympic Committee, its officers, directors and national governing board for failing to prevent sexual abuse by former coaches and national team doctor Dr. Larry Nassar, the Denver Post reported.

Lois Beckett here, taking over the blog.

Today was far from the first time Trump has referred to migrants and refugees from Central America as an “invasion.”

But his public remarks this afternoon, defending his attempt to declare a national emergency at America’s Southern border, came in the immediate wake of what appeared to be a white supremacist terror attack on two New Zealand mosques that left 49 people dead.

A document linked to the mosque shooter justified the attack by suggesting that nonwhite immigration was an “invasion.”

As The Week put it, “Trump just called immigration an ‘invasion.’ So did the New Zealand shooter.”

More from Donald Trump’s remarks before vetoing the congressional resolution to block his national emergency at the southern border, where he doubled down on his portrayal of immigrants as invaders and criminals:

He called it a “reckless resolution” and said, “Congress’s vote to deny the crisis on the southern border is a vote against reality.”

“It is a tremendous national emergency. It is a tremendous crisis,” Trump said.

Trump claimed there was an “invasion” of migrants storming the US border.

“People hate the word invasion, but that’s what it is. It’s an invasion of drugs and criminals and people, we have no idea who they are,” he said.

Trump said that immigration detention centers were “bursting at the seams” but he was unwilling to release more people.

“When you release them they come into our society and in many cases they’re stone cold criminals,” he said. “You have killers coming in and murderers coming in.”

Beto O’Rourke, speaking in Iowa, said he is “no longer sure” single payer healthcare is the best solution, according to a Wall Street Journal reporter.

He also declined to release early fundraising figures.

Trump: White nationalism "not really" a growing threat

Donald Trump said white nationalism is “not really” a growing threat when asked about the issue in light of the deadly mosque shooting in New Zealand, according to Voice of America.

He said he did not see the shooter’s manifesto.

Updated

The ACLU reacts to Trump’s veto, per PBS:

Donald Trump gave the pen he used to sign a veto of the resolution to a mother whose child was killed by someone in the country illegally, per AP.

Updated

Trump vetoes resolution to block national emergency

Donald Trump has issued a veto of the congressional resolution blocking his national emergency declaration. It is the first veto of his presidency.

Updated

“Today I am vetoing this resolution. Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution and I have the duty to veto it,” Donald Trump said in the Oval Office, where he was joined by his attorney general and secretary of homeland security.

He said Republican voters were “overwhelmingly” against the resolution, which Congress passed to block him from using a national emergency to get money for a border wall without their approval, according to a pool report.

Trump said the veto will give us “safety at our border.”

“The fact that this is an emergency is undeniable,” said homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen

Attorney General William Barr said the resolution is “clearly authorized under the law.”

Donald Trump briefly addressed the New Zealand mosque shooting at the top of his Oval Office event and then began discussing border security, per PBS.

“I will be signing and issuing a veto,” Trump said of the congressional resolution to terminate his national emergency. “People hate the word invasion, but that’s what it is.”

Updated

Texas Senator Ted Cruz has been fined $35,000 by the Federal Election Commission for failing to disclose more than $1 million in campaign loans from Citibank and Goldman Sachs.

The fine stems from a complaint filed by Campaign Legal Center, the group said. They said Cruz got $1.1 million in loans from the banks for his 2012 Senate campaign, but incorrectly reported the loans as coming from personal funds.

“Candidates should take seriously their legal requirement to disclose where their campaign money comes from. Today’s announcement is an acknowledgement that Cruz’s campaign deprived voters of that critical information,” the CLC said.

Donald Trump says he has spoken to New Zealand’s prime minister after the mass shooting at two mosques there.

The EPA has scaled back Obama administration rules to ban most uses of a very toxic paint stripper called Methylene Chloride, which has killed dozens of people, according to the New York Times.

The agency will now only ban sales to regular consumers, but will allow contractors to continue to use it, which would have been banned under the Obama plan.

Cesar Sayoc, the Donald Trump fan accused of sending bombs to Democratic political figures and media organizations, is expected to plead guilty, the New York Daily News reports.

The so-called MAGA bomber was behind 16 bombs sent by mail to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, CNN and others, authorities say.

He’s expected to plead guilty next week, according to a notice scheduling a plea hearing cited by the News.

Graham demands to see records of Trump 25th amendment talk

Senate Judiciary Committee chair Lindsey Graham is asking for all documents and communications related to discussions about removing Donald Trump from office under the 25th amendment.

Graham made the request in a letter Friday to Attorney General William Barr, the Washington Post reported.

Top law enforcement officials discussed using the 25th amendment, which allows a president to be removed if he is unfit to perform his duties, former FBI acting director Andrew McCabe has said.

Graham wrote that he would investigate “what amounts to a coup,” according to the Post.

Updated

Beto O’Rourke belonged to the oldest group of computer hackers in US history when he was a teenager, he told Reuters in a new interview.

O’Rourke was part of Cult of the Dead Cow, which released tools that allowed ordinary people to hack Windows computers, and coined the term “hacktivism.”

“There’s just this profound value in being able to be apart from the system and look at it critically and have fun while you’re doing it,” O’Rourke told Reuters. “I think of the Cult of the Dead Cow as a great example of that.”

The story also reveals that O’Rourke once wrote a murder fantasy in which the narrator drives over children on the street.

“One day, as I was driving home from work, I noticed two children crossing the street. They were happy, happy to be free from their troubles,” reads the story, which O’Rourke wrote when he was 15. “As I neared the young ones, I put all my weight on my right foot, keeping the accelerator pedal on the floor until I heard the crashing of the two children on the hood, and then the sharp cry of pain from one of the two. I was so fascinated for a moment, that when after I had stopped my vehicle, I just sat in a daze, sweet visions filling my head.”

Updated

Senator and presidential candidate Cory Booker criticized tech companies for giving a “platform for hate” after the deadly shooting at two New Zealand mosques.

“Tech companies have a responsibility to do the morally right thing. I don’t care about your profits. When it comes to the values, the safety, security and decency, tech companies have an obligation to do the right thing,” Booker said, according to a video tweeted by an aide.

“This is a case where you’re giving a platform to hate. That’s unacceptable. It should never have happened, and it should have been taken down a lot more quickly, and the mechanisms should be in place to allow these companies to do that.”

Trump expected to veto resolution blocking national emergency at 3.30pm

Donald Trump has now scheduled a 3.30 pm Oval Office event where it’s expected he will veto the congressional resolution to block his national emergency.

The schedule says he will deliver remarks on national security and the humanitarian crisis at the southern border.

Updated

Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders got 7 stitches to his head after hitting his head on a glass shower door this morning, his campaign says. He got a “clean bill of health” and plans to continue with his regular schedule.

Students are rallying on Capitol Hill as part of the youth climate strike. “We don’t want to die,” one banner reads.

Donald Trump is expected to veto the congressional resolution to block his national emergency around 3pm Friday, Reuters reports.

It will be Trump’s first veto.

“I look forward to VETOING the just passed Democrat inspires Resolution which would OPEN BORDERS while increasing Crime, Drugs, and Trafficking in our Country,” Trump tweeted after the Senate passed the resolution Thursday. “I thank all of the Strong Republicans who voted to support Border Security and our desperately needed WALL!”

Trump declared the national emergency to get money to build a border wall without congressional approval, but several Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the resolution to stop him. But there do not appear to be enough votes to override a veto.

All the ridicule directed at Starbucks billionaire Howard Schultz’s potential presidential bid is just encouraging him, New York Magazine reports.

When Schultz was heckled at a book signing event in New York, he told a friend, ““We’ve clearly struck a nerve.” And Schultz has been telling his team: “We touched the third rail! And this is what happens when we touch the third rail!”

Schultz has drawn ire from liberals who think a run as an independent would just help Donald Trump get re-elected.

“Oddly enough, he’s become a magnet for vitriol — oddly enough! — from the left! It’s incredible. These are the people who should be celebrating new ideas!” his friend Billy Etkin told New York.

Added his pollster Greg Strimple: “The reaction we got from the extremes is proof-positive that we’ve struck a chord. That sounds really basic, but I think it’s true: We go out there, Howard says on 60 Minutes he’s thinking of running for president, and the world becomes unglued...How can that one sentence unglue the whole political Establishment of the most powerful country on Earth? It tells me we’re onto something.”

Senator Amy Klobuchar acknowledged she “can always do better” with her staff but argued her toughness would be an asset on the world stage.

Klobuchar’s presidential campaign has been dogged by reports of mistreatment against her Senate staff.

“If you are a boss, you have to have high standards, and that is what I have always had. And that doesn’t mean it’s a popularity contest all the time,” Klobuchar told CNN in an interview that aired Friday. “And so I’ve had high standards for myself, high standards for our staff, and mostly I’m going to have high standards for the country.”

She added: “One can always do better, and that means you want to be sure that you are listening to people if they felt that something was unfair, or they felt bad about something. But I still think that you have to demand good product. When you’re out there on the world stage and dealing with people like Vladimir Putin, yeah, you want someone who’s tough. You want someone that demands the answers and that’s going to get things done, and that’s what I’ve done my whole life.”

Jeb Bush calls on Republicans to challenge Trump

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush says Donald Trump should face a Republican primary challenge in 2020.

Bush, who ran for president in 2016, told CNN the party “ought to be a given a choice.”

“I think someone should run. Just because Republicans ought to be given a choice,” he said. “To have a conversation about what it is to be a conservative I think is important...And our country needs to have competing ideologies that people -- that are dynamic, that focus on the world we’re in and the world we’re moving towards rather than revert back to a nostalgic time.”

But Bush acknowledged it would be difficult for anyone to defeat Trump because “he has a strong, loyal base” and “it’s hard to beat a sitting president.”

The comments were made in excerpts released by CNN of an interview on The Axe Files, set to air in full Saturday.

Updated

A former Fox News reporter plans to testify to Congress about allegations the network killed her story about Donald Trump’s affair with Stormy Daniels.

Diana Falzone plans to talk about the House Oversight Committee with committee investigators and provide documents, NBC News reported.

Falzone signed a non-disclosure agreement but her lawyer said it does not cover a government investigation.

“The law requires that you be allowed to participate in any government investigation — and no NDA can stop that,” lawyer Nancy Erika Smith told MSNBC Thursday night.

According to a New Yorker report, the reporter told colleagues the story was killed because Fox owner Rupert Murdoch wanted Trump to win the election.

The editor who decided not to publish the story has said it was shelved because it lacked sufficient confirmation, and that other news outlets were aware of the possible affair and made the same decision.

Updated

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refuted a North Korean official’s claim that he and National Security Adviser John Bolton created a hostile atmosphere at a summit in Hanoi.

“They’re wrong about that,” Pompeo said Friday, the Hill reported.

He called his relationship with North Korean counterpart Kim Yong Chol “professional” and said he expects denuclearization talks to continue, despite North Korean threats to call them off.

The United States will revoke or deny visas to International Criminal Court personnel who attempt to investigate or prosecute alleged abuses committed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan or elsewhere, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday.

The Associates Press reports:

Pompeo, making good on a threat delivered last September by national security adviser John Bolton, said the U.S. had already moved against some court employees, but declined to say how many or what cases they may have been investigating. The ICC prosecutor currently has a pending request to look into possible war crimes in Afghanistan that may involve Americans. The Palestinians have also asked the court to bring cases against Israel.

“We are determined to protect the American and allied military and civilian personnel from living in fear of unjust prosecution for actions taken to defend our great nation,” Pompeo said. He said the visa restrictions would apply to any court employee who takes or has taken action “to request or further such an investigation.”

“These visa restrictions may also be used to deter ICC efforts to pursue allied personnel, including Israelis, without allied consent,” he said.

The United States has never been a member of the ICC.

Former President Barack Obama condemned the New Zealand mosque shooting.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Friday asked a court to delay sentencing for U.S. President Donald Trump’s former deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates, given his continued cooperation into multiple probes, Reuters reports.

“Gates continues to cooperate with respect to several ongoing investigations, and accordingly the parties do not believe it is appropriate to commence the sentencing process at this time,” Mueller’s team said in a court filing.

Rep. Ilhan Omar says the Muslim community “must not live in fear” after the deadly New Zealand mosque shooting.

“I will be at Jumu’ah today and I hope others will too,” she tweeted.

Updated

Donald Trump has posted a new Twitter tirade attacking special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

He said the special counsel “should never have been appointed and there should be no Mueller Report.”

“This was an illegal & conflicted investigation in search of a crime,” he said.

Donald Trump has been unusually quiet about the detention of a former US Marine in Russia, Yahoo News reports.

Trump has frequently boasted about his ability to get US citizens detained abroad released, but has had little to say about the imprisonment of Paul Whelan, who was arrested in Moscow on Dec. 28, 2018 and accused of espionage.

Family members told Yahoo they have received little new information from US officials in Washington. “It’s mind-boggling,” said twin brother David Whelan.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has pardoned a Bronx man facing deportation to Gambia because of decade-old misdemeanor convictions for selling clothes without a license.

From Cuomo’s office:

Governor Andrew Cuomo today issued a pardon to a father of five minor children, who has been a contributing member of society and crime free for more than 10 years, but currently subject to deportation by the federal government.

Baba Sillah immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 22, fleeing an oppressive father in Gambia and, like so many others, hoping to pursue a better future in America. He married a U.S. citizen and had five children. Because he entered this country as a visitor, he was not allowed to work and sold clothing and supplies without a license and was charged with multiple low-level misdemeanors and violations. He subsequently obtained a job as a porter, a position he has held for 15 years and paid taxes for 15 years.

“While President Trump is obsessed with building walls to keep immigrants out, the New York family knows that its diversity is our strength,” Governor Cuomo said. “Compassion and justice is the Empire State way and Mr. Sillah is a father of five who deserves to remain with his family.”

Mr. Sillah has been detained since January, after appearing for a routine U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) appointment, that he has been making as directed for 17 years. He is being held in Hudson Correctional Facility in Kearny, New Jersey and recently applied for clemency in New York. After his removal was scheduled for the end of February, his deportation was stayed by an emergency application to federal district court. He next appears before this court on Friday, where he will be able to present this pardon as further evidence that his deportation should continue to be stayed. If the court decides in Mr. Sillah’s favor, then with this pardon, he will be able to apply for a waiver of inadmissibility to prevent his removal once and for all and allow him to pursue naturalization through his wife, who is a U.S. citizen.

Rob Porter, the former White House aide accused of physical abuse by two ex-wives, has an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal.

The former staff secretary to Donald Trump quit his post after the domestic violence allegations emerged last year.

In the op-ed, Porter promotes Trump’s trade agenda.

Donald Trump said Friday that “Republicans are waiting with open arms” to welcome Jewish voters he claims have been treated with “total disrespect” by the Democratic party.

Trump backed the so-called “Jexodus” movement, apparently after watching segments on it on Fox News and the right-wing One America News Network.

“Remember Jerusalem (U.S. Embassy) and the horrible Iran Nuclear Deal!” he said, in reference to his decision to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and his termination of a nucelar agreement with Iran.

National Security Adviser John Bolton says North Korea’s allegations that he and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo created an atmosphere of hostility and mistrust at last month’s nuclear summit in Hanoi are “inaccurate.” The Associated Press reports:

North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said Friday that Trump was willing to talk, but was influenced by uncompromising demands by Pompeo and Bolton. She said the “gangster-like stand of the U.S. will eventually put the situation in danger.”

Bolton said Friday he has spoken with his South Korean counterpart about the North Korea allegations.

The North said Kim Jong Un (gihm jung oon) will decide soon whether to continue the talks aimed at getting him to give up his nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief.

North Korea has threatened to scrap negotiations and resume missile and nuclear tests.

US leaders condemn New Zealand mosque shooting

US leaders are condemning a shooting attack on mosques in New Zealand that killed 49 people during Friday prayers.

“My warmest sympathy and best wishes goes out to the people of New Zealand after the horrible massacre in the Mosques. 49 innocent people have so senselessly died, with so many more seriously injured,” Donald Trump said in a tweet. “The U.S. stands by New Zealand for anything we can do. God bless all!”

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders also released a statement condemning the attack. “The United States strongly condemns the attack in Christchurch. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with the people of New Zealand and their government against this vicious act of hate,” she said, according to USA Today.

Updated

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