Donald Trump has taken to Twitter to suggest a 75-year-old Black Lives Matter protester knocked to the ground and injured in Buffalo, New York, during the George Floyd protests could be “an ANTIFA provocateur” and the incident, which was filmed and went viral, “a set up” during a barrage of tweets onTuesday.
The president has also claimed his re-election rallies could begin "next week" while dismissing calls for local authorities to “defund the police” and redistribute resources towards social services in the wake of Floyd’s killing. “There won’t be defunding. There won’t be dismantling of our police. And there is not going to be any disbanding of our police,” he said on Monday.
After two weeks of nationwide protests and civil unrest, Floyd’s funeral is taking place in Houston, Texas, with Trump’s Democratic challenger Joe Biden in attendance.
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Former Secretary of State says US president has no capacity to ‘tell the truth, or face it, to lead’
In their withering assessment, John Kerry, the former Secretary of State and Samantha Power, former ambassador to the UN, charged the president with peddling fantasies and sacrificing national interest for his own political agenda.
Mr Trump was also accused abdicated US leadership in the wider international arena. As a result of this, they said, China is seeking to step into the vacuum - with some success.
Speaking at the Global Leadership Summit, CogX, Mr Kerry said: “the odds were against us from the beginning” on the pandemic because “you have the United States with a leader who has no ability to tell the truth, or face it, or to lead.
“And so the result was that you had our president attacking the World Health Organization almost from the beginning. He wanted to dismiss the notion of really knowing how many the numbers were because he knew it would affect his politics.”
Law enforcement agencies acknowledge involvement in deflating tyres after viral video shows police in military gear striking parked cars
Before the videos — which have since gone viral — surfaced online and were published by Mother Jones, many believed the slashed tyres were done by protestors rather than the police.
Bruce Gordon, spokesperson for the Minneapolis Department of Public Safety, said in a statement that slashing tyres was “not a typical tactic” while adding: “Vehicles were being used as dangerous weapons and inhibited our ability to clear areas and keep areas safe where violent protests were occurring.”
“State Patrol troopers strategically deflated tyre … in order to stop behaviours such as vehicles driving dangerously and at high speeds in and around protesters and law enforcement,” Mr Gordon said in a statement to the Star Tribune, which initially reported on the tyres slashing.
My latest:
Lawyer arrested twice after spitting on black teenager and slapping another the next day
According to eye witness reports from the scene on Saturday, Stephanie Rapkin, a white 64-year-old resident of the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood, parked her car in the middle of an intersection to block an anti-racism protest, angrily ignoring demands that she get back into the car and move it.
As seen on video shot by a bystander which has since been widely shared online, Ms Rapkin angrily refused, then spat in the face of a young black protester who approached her, angering the crowd. She was arrested at her home later that night, but not transported to the Milwaukee County jail because of restrictions in place to stop the spread of Covid-19.
The next day, Ms Rapkin was arrested again after an altercation with protesters outside her home who were chalking the sidewalk with messages including “racist” and “I spat on a child”.
Donald Trump Jr's secretive Mongolia hunting trip cost $60K more than first disclosed
John Bennett writes: How much does it cost US taxpayers for one of Donald Trump's sons to hunt an endangered sheep in Asia and stop for a secretive meeting with the president of Mongolia? Sixty-thousand dollars more than initially disclosed, according to a government watchdog group.
Donald Trump Jr, the president's oldest son, visited the country last year on a hunting vacation organised by a company owned by a member of the Mongolian president's political party. It was that company that helped Don Jr obtain a hunting permit for the argali sheep -- after he already had killed one of the animal.
US Secret Service documents initially put the cost of the trip at around $17,000. But Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW), a Washington-based government watchdog organisation, obtained additional documents that put the actual costs of the trip for US taxpayers at over $75,000.
The initial documents did not cover his stop in Ulaanbaatar to meet with Khaltmaagiin Battulga, Mongolia's president, or his flight costs, CREW found.
Law enforcement officers were caught on camera slashing tires near protests in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd, with reports revealing the vehicles belonged not just to demonstrators, but medics and journalists as well.
Officers from the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office and Minnesota State Troopers were ordered to deflate tires as part of an effort to quell the protests, both agencies confirmed this week. The acknowledgement comes after videos surfaced online showing law enforcement dressed in military attire slashing tires at a parking lot near the demonstrations.
Before the videos — which have since gone viral — surfaced online and were published by Mother Jones, many believed the slashed tires were done by protestors rather than the police.
Bruce Gordon, spokesperson for the Minneapolis Department of Public Safety, said in a statement that slashing tires was “not a typical tactic” while adding: “Vehicles were being used as dangerous weapons and inhibited our ability to clear areas and keep areas safe where violent protests were occurring.”
“State Patrol troopers strategically deflated tires … in order to stop behaviors such as vehicles driving dangerously and at high speeds in and around protesters and law enforcement,” Mr Gordon said in a statement to the Star Tribune, which initially reported on the tire slashing.
Story to come...
As we saw when the statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston was toppled and tossed into Bristol harbour on Sunday, divisive monuments are a focal point for Black Lives Matter protesters in response to the killing of George Floyd.
A slave auction block has been removed in Fredericksburg, Virginia, as has a statue dedicated to American Civil War officer John B Castleman in Louisville Kentucky.
Graig Graziosi has the full story on the fall of Castleman.
In the last hour, we’ve seen Trump retweeting a “joke” by Ben Shapiro about defunding the police, video of the Met Police in London seemingly retreating from aggressive demonstrators, slamming the city of Minneapolis for not bringing in the National Guard sooner and announcing his return to rallies due to "BIG DEMAND!" (I thought he was 14 points behind in the polls...)
None of which is particularly helpful from a leader with a duty to unite the nation in a tense moment.
“Admitted” Ku Klux Klan leader Harry Rogers has been arrested and is being investigated for hate crime charges after he allegedly drove through peaceful protesters occupying a Virginia highway in the name of George Floyd, prosecutors have said.
No word from Donald Trump on this case though.
Louise Hall has this report.
Her comments drew this seething response:
"I think it's important that we have a president that's working to bring people together," she said. "Tone and words matter."
The legendary NWA rapper is as angry today as you might expect and tweeting up a story about everything from QAnon and the coronavirus to lynching and Jeffrey Epstein.
He also turns out to run a nice line in Trump memes.
You would hope the opposition wouldn't have to make a stipulation like this but such is the reality we find ourselves in.
Er, what?
Was he expecting "Mad Dog" to bring in a salary for Trump and the rest of the administration to live on?
He backs up his case by retweeting Seb Gorka, which is a tactic that's surely never yet won an argument anywhere...
...and then follows that with one from American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp, announcing his plan to boycott the NFL for, er, opposing racism, days after his own wife - who works for Trump - was forced to apologise for retweeting the "Texas chainsaw racist".
The president starts his day sharing a tweet suggesting the Democrats have “gone so far Left that they eat their young”, knocking out tedious Republican Party account retweets aaaaand suggesting a 75-year-old Black Lives Matter demonstrator shoved over by police in Buffalo, New York, could have been “an ANTIFA provocateur” and the whole incident a “set up”.
Including, presumably, the blood gushing from his ear as he lay on the pavement.
Gugino is reportedly a member of two nonprofits and part of the Catholic Worker Movement.
This is the One America News Network video in question, with some all-important context.
This reaction is fairly representative of the aghast response to the president's tweet.
Here's Chris Riotta with the story.
For Indy Premium, Griffin Connolly says the president is enjoying the rejection of George W Bush, Colin Powell and Mitt Romney as their disapproval allows him to resume his old guise as maverick upsetter.
Steve Schmidt tells Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC's The Last Word that Biden's surge in the polls can be attributed to his being repeatedly on the right side of the debate on the defining issues of the moment - from race to healthcare - and voters' weariness of watching Trump's "clinic of ineptitude" play out as the months tick by.
Biden's attendance at George Floyd's funeral today, when there has been no serious suggestion of Trump joining him (he would no doubt be very unwelcome indeed), speaks volumes.
Louis Chilton has the latest (hilarious) cease-and-desist order Team Trump has received from a beloved artist disgusted to have their work associated with him.
“If this guy wins, the world is in peril. Not just the United States of America. The world,” the legendary filmmaker also says in a new interview with GQ to promote his new film Da 5 Bloods.
The film features a scene in which one character alludes to “that Klansman in the Oval Office”. Asked about that line, Lee stated: “He has those tendencies... He sided with the Klan in Charlottesville. He’s sympathetic to their cause.”
The Fox News host here goes to bat for Trump's "law and order" message by demonising anti-police brutality activists and stoking the fears of conservative white America to fever pitch.
