Trump vows to speak at NRA convention this weekend after Texas school shooting
Former President Donald Trump vowed to speak at this weekend’s National Rifle Association convention even after an 18-year-old gunman killed 21 people, including 19 children, at a Texas elementary school.
Denouncing “politicians and partisanship,” Trump said he would appear as scheduled on Friday at the pro-gun group’s annual confab in Houston, about four hours east of the town of Uvalde where the slaughter unfolded.
“Americans need real leadership and real solutions at this moment,” he wrote in a post on his new Truth Social platform. Trump echoed complaints by Republican leaders that Democrats are seeking to make political hay out of the latest horrifying attack.
“We all continue to pray for the victims, their families and our entire nation,” Trump said. “We are all in this together!” Trump will be joined by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and other GOP leaders at the convention.
—New York Daily News
Hawley calls for more troops in Asia as Biden says US would defend Taiwan with military force
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday indicated the United States would use military force to defend Taiwan against an attack from China, breaking from decades of “strategic ambiguity” where leaders have been intentionally vague about how the U.S. would react if China attempts to reclaim the island.
Quickly, the administration walked it back, saying the policy remains the same as it has under previous administrations. That wasn’t enough for Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, who has advocated for a more aggressive stance against China to the point where he has downplayed the war in Ukraine.
“If he wants to send a message to China, the thing to do is to get our forces in a position in the Asia Pacific, where we can stop an invasion of Taiwan,” Hawley said Tuesday. “That’s how you deter China.”
Earlier Tuesday, Hawley published an op-ed where he argued the country needed to take a more nationalist approach to foreign policy. In it, he said the $40 billion aid bill Congress passed in support of Ukraine, saying it would put the country on the hook for financing the war against Russia and for helping the country rebuild after.
—The Kansas City Star
Notre Dame says it is ‘appalled’ the Buffalo shooting suspect cited an article by one of its professors
CHICAGO — The University of Notre Dame issued a statement saying it is “appalled” that the suspect in the Buffalo grocery store shooting cited an article written by one of its professors in his diatribe before he killed 10 people.
Payton Gendron, 18, has been charged with murder and is being held without bail.
In 2013, John Gaski, associate professor at Notre Dame, wrote a commentary titled “A Discussion on Race, Crime and the Inconvenient Facts,” where he makes claims of race-based rape and crime statistics but fails to cite where he got his information.
A 180-page diatribe allegedly written by Gendron refers to one of the claims in Gaski’s article and links to it. The diatribe, which officials are working on to verify its authenticity, repeatedly cites the “great replacement theory,” a conspiracy theory that falsely claims white people are being replaced.
On May 14, Gendron allegedly went to a supermarket in a majority Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, and opened fire, killing 10 and injuring three, most of them Black. The mass shooting is being investigated as a hate crime.
—Chicago Tribune
Johnson must bear responsibility for partygate, probe finds
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his senior officials must bear responsibility for the illegal parties held in Downing Street during the pandemic, according to a long-awaited internal probe into the so-called partygate scandal.
Civil servant Sue Gray, who was commissioned by Johnson to investigate the allegations, found examples of officials boasting about getting away with drinks parties and evidence they knew what they were doing was wrong.
“Many of these events should not have been allowed to happen,” Gray said in her report published Wednesday. “The senior leadership at the center, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture.”
Gray’s full findings were due weeks ago, at a time when many in Westminster predicted they had the potential to end Johnson’s political career. But the report was delayed by a separate police inquiry and attention has since shifted to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Conservative Members of Parliament are now showing far less inclination to try to oust the prime minister.
—Bloomberg News
