Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Vivian Ho in San Francisco and Joan E Greve in Washington

Trump 'not worried' about lack of permanent Fema head amid hurricane season – as it happened

People line up to fill up their car with gas in West Miami ahead of Hurricane Dorian on 30 August 2019.
People line up to fill up their car with gas in West Miami ahead of Hurricane Dorian on 30 August 2019. Photograph: Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP/Getty Images

Evening summary

  • More details emerged on the sudden ousting of Madeleine Westerhout, the personal assistant to President Trump. Politico reported that she told reporters at an off-the-record dinner that Trump didn’t like taking pictures with Tiffany Trump because he thought she was overweight, and that he couldn’t pick her out of a crowd. Trump only confirmed that Westerhout had been drinking and made comments about Trump’s children.
  • With Hurricane Dorian approaching, the House Judiciary Committee postponed the gun violence legislation vote.

Sleep tight, everyone. Don’t let the Bret Stephens bite.

President Trump spent much his campaign for the 2016 election invoking the San Francisco killing of Kate Steinle, who died when she was struck by a ricocheting bullet shot by an undocumented immigrant. The subsequent trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate ignited a nationwide debate over immigration and sanctuary laws, but he was acquitted of Steinle’s murder and convicted only of a single count of being a felon in possession of a firearm - he had a criminal history of felony reentry into the country.

Today, a California court of appeal overturned that conviction.

Can you still subtweet if you deleted your Twitter account? If you’re New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, then the answer is yes.

Earlier this week, Stephens had a very public meltdown over a George Washington University associate professor David Karpf calling him a bedbug on Twitter. He deleted his account after sending an email to both the professor and the university provost in an attempt to get the professor in trouble - an email that promptly went viral.

That could have been the end of the whole saga. But alas. Stephens took to his column to essentially equate getting called a bedbug on Twitter to the pre-World War II rhetoric that led to the extermination of the Jews.

In the ultimate subtweet move, Stephens doesn’t even reference what happened on Twitter - he just casually drops a bedbug quote relating to the burning of Warsaw’s Jewish ghetto, as if him getting called a bedbug is anywhere in the same realm as living as a Jew in Warsaw’s ghetto.

“I am surprised and disappointed that he has decided to continue escalating what should have been a silly argument,” Karpf told the Guardian. “Bret Stephens does not appear to have the humility to admit that he was having a bad night, overreacted and was wrong.”

Karpf continued: “Stephens states in his op-ed that eliminationist rhetoric is particularly prominent from the left. That isn’t the least bit true, and the Times ought to hire a fact-checker to challenge him on these assertions. He also says that the most reviled people in American politics are the moderate Republicans...again, this is embarrassingly self-centered and obviously untrue.”

(Both Stephens and Karpf are Jewish).

Updated

Looks like Hurricane Dorian’s effect will stretch beyond the coast:

With Hurricane Dorian approaching, President Trump talked to reporters:

More on Madeleine Westerhout and her sudden departure: President Trump has confirmed at least part of the Politico report.

Updated

Madeleine Westerhout, the personal assistant to President Trump, purportedly told reporters that the president did not like taking pictures with his oft-overlooked younger daughter, Tiffany Trump, because he thought she was overweight.

According to Politico, this was just one of the comments Westerhout made at an off-the-record dinner at which she “had a couple drinks and in an uncharacteristically unguarded moment...opened up to the reporters” - comments that led to her sudden ousting last week.

At this dinner, she also bragged that she had a better relationship with Trump than either of his daughters, and that he couldn’t pick Tiffany out of a crowd.

Updated

There appeared to have been fireworks at the Flynn hearing over when to set his sentencing date.

Hey all, Vivian Ho on the west coast taking over for Joan Greve. Happy Friday before a holiday weekend. Let’s see where the day takes us, shall we?

That’s it from me this week. My west coast colleague, Vivian Ho, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Trump has approved a state of emergency declaration for Florida as the state prepares for the potentially catastrophic arrival of Hurricane Dorian, which has strengthened into a Category 3 storm and may make landfall as a Category 4.
  • Michael Flynn’s lawyers are sparring with federal prosecutors about when he should be sentenced, with the government pushing to hold a hearing by early November.
  • A military judge has set a Jan. 2021 start date for the trial of five men accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks, but significant questions remain about what evidence will be accepted.
  • Another House Republican, John Shimkus, has announced his retirement. He is at least the ninth congressional Republican to announce a departure in recent weeks.
  • Alabama’s Republican governor, Kay Ivey, is facing calls for her resignation over her involvement in a blackface skit over 50 years ago as a college student.
  • Trump has ousted his personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, after she gave details to the press about the president’s family and handling of the White House.

Vivian will have more on the news of the day, so stay tuned. Have a wonderful and relaxing Labor Day weekend.

The departing House Republicans have listed a variety of reasons for their retirements, but it seems clear that the party’s 2018 loss of chamber control is at least one contributing factor.

Democrats gained a House majority in 2018 for the first time in eight years, leaving Republican lawmakers with far less power than they previously had.

The retirements indicate that congressional Republicans have had a hard time adjusting to the change and don’t expect the pendulum to swing back next year, as a Washington Post reporter noted.

Another House Republican announces retirement

Representative John Shimkus, a Republican of Illinois, announced on a local radio program that he does not intend to seek re-election next year.

The 12-term congressman won his 2018 election by more than 40 points, so his seat will likely remain in Republican hands. But the news continues a string of retirement announcements among House Republicans in recent weeks.

Representative Sean Duffy announced Monday he would leave Congress next month to prepare for the arrival of his ninth child, who has a heart condition. Duffy was at least the eighth Republican congressman to announce a departure in recent weeks.

Donald Trump Jr is the subject of a new round of Twitter mockery after the president’s eldest son headlined a very poorly attended rally in Kentucky.

Trump spoke at the rally in support of the state’s Republican governor, Matt Bevin, who is facing a tough re-election this November.

The venue for the event, Appalachian Wireless Arena, can hold 7,000 people, but only a couple hundred showed up for the rally.

The communications director for the liberal group American Bridge noted that attendance might have been affected by Bevin’s low popularity in the state.

The dismal optics of the event delighted liberal commentators, who are hoping Democrats can win multiple statewide races there this year despite Kentucky’s status as a Republican stronghold.

Trump's Iran tweet sparks confusion

The intelligence community, along with the White House, appeared unable to elaborate on this tweet Trump sent a couple of hours ago.

The CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence referred reporters’ questions about the tweet to the White House. But when asked about the matter, the White House said it had no further comment.

A former adviser to Barack Obama’s National Security Council noted that the tweet could raise concerns if the image was originally classified.

Military judge sets 2021 date for Sept. 11 trial

A military judge has set Jan. 11, 2021, as the start date for the trial at Guantánamo Bay of five men accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks.

The New York Times reports:

The date set by the judge, Col. W. Shane Cohen of the Air Force, signals the start of the selection of a military jury at Camp Justice, the war court convening at the Navy base in Cuba. It is the first time that a trial judge in the case actually set a start-of-trial date, despite requests by prosecutors since 2012 to two earlier judges to do so.

If the 2021 timeline holds, jury selection would start nine months before the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. One major issue the judge has yet to resolve is what evidence will be used at trial. He begins a series of hearings next month with witnesses in an effort by the defense teams to exclude confessions the defendants made to F.B.I. agents in early 2006 as tainted by the years of C.I.A. torture.

As Florida prepares for the potentially catastrophic arrival of Hurricane Dorian, Trump has turned his attention to the important matter of James Comey and the former FBI director’s memos.

The DOJ inspector general released its report on the matter yesterday, concluding that Comey had violated DOJ and FBI policies by sharing the memos detailing his interactions with Trump.

Bur the watchdog crucially found no evidence that Comey had disclosed the contents of the memo to the media, contradicting Trump’s repeated claims that the former FBI chief was a “leaker.”

The president appears to be ignoring that latter point, though, in favor of casting the report as a “scathing” rebuke of Comey.

Trump has tweeted about the report four times in the past hour or so, while remaining silent about the strengthening hurricane preparing to strike Florida.

The president cancelled his planned trip to Poland this weekend, ostensibly so that he could better track the hurricane’s progress. But his Twitter feed bears no reflection of that.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who ended her presidential bid earlier this week, has set a goal of raising $1 million for women candidates in 2020.

“I’ve said it for months, and I’ll say it again today: Women are on fire in America. We’re speaking up, marching, running for office, and winning in historic numbers,” the New York Democrat wrote on Twitter. “And this is just the beginning. Now let’s go elect some more women.”

When she dropped out of the race, Gillibrand chose not to endorse another candidate, but she implied a woman would make an excellent nominee. “I think that women have a unique ability to bring people together and heal this country,” she told the New York Times. “I think a woman nominee would be inspiring and exciting.”

New York sending fire department personnel to Florida as hurricane strengthens

New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, is sending 25 members of the FDNY Incident Management Team to Florida to assist with Hurricane Dorian preparations.

“New York City is ready to do whatever it takes to help those impacted by Hurricane Dorian,” de Blasio said in a statement. “We are actively monitoring the situation in Florida and the FDNY Incident Management team will be assisting and coordinating with local first responders to ensure they have the support they need in the coming days.”

Meanwhile, Dorian continues to strengthen in the Atlantic Ocean, where it has become a Category 3 storm. It may strike Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, with winds of up to 156 mph.

The federal judge overseeing Michael Flynn’s case, Emmet Sullivan, appeared inclined to go along with prosecutors’ accelerated timeline for sentencing the former national security adviser.

Flynn’s lawyers are insisting they are not prepared for a hearing, arguing they have been denied access to information that would be crucial in determining their client’s sentence. They asked for “a significant amount of time” to clear up the matter.

But federal prosecutors pushed back against that request. “The defendant’s cooperation has ended. The case is ready for sentencing, and the government proposes the following dates for a sentencing hearing: October 21-23, 2019, or November 1-15, 2019,” they wrote in their filing to Sullivan. “The government is not aware of any issues that require the Court’s resolution prior to sentencing.”

The judge seems to agree. He quickly approved prosecutors’ request to hold a Sept. 10 conference to discuss the dispute, even though Flynn’s lawyers said they would not be available on that date.

The chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, Troy Price, said at a press conference that the state’s February caucus would occur as planned despite the Democratic National Committee scrapping the virtual option for voters.

But he acknowledged that state officials were still grappling with the repercussions of the DNC’s decision. “We just don’t know yet,” Price said. “We’re taking this news like everyone else.”

Still, Price assured those present that Iowa would maintain its first voting state status. He said: “Just know this: On Feb. 3, 2020 caucuses will take place in this state. Iowa will be first.”

Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro is criticizing the Democratic National Committee for moving to scrap virtual caucuses in Iowa and Nevada over hacking concerns.

Castro also warned in a statement that the move would “disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters” and potentially decrease turnout in Iowa by up to a third.

The committee’s decision leaves Iowa with little time to come up with an alternative virtual option for voters by the time of the state’s Feb. 3 caucus.

Trump’s press secretary announced in a statement that the president will welcome the emir of Kuwait to the White House on Sept. 12.

“The visit will build on the longstanding partnership between the United States and Kuwait and further strengthen our substantial economic and security ties,” the statement reads. “The two leaders are expected to discuss regional developments, bilateral security cooperation, and counterterrorism issues.”

The emir, Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, last visited the White House in Sept. 2018 to discuss the blockade of Kuwait’s Gulf neighbor, Qatar, over its alleged support of terrorism.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Lawyers for Michael Flynn said in a report to the judge overseeing his case that the former national security adviser had completed his cooperation with the government. But they are pushing back on prosecutors’ request to hold a sentencing hearing by early November.
  • Trump approved a state of emergency declaration for Florida as it prepares for the arrival of Hurricane Dorian, which has strengthened in the western Atlantic.
  • The president ousted his personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, for talking to the press about his family and his handling of the White House.
  • The Democratic National Committee is expected to scrap Iowa and Nevada’s plans to hold virtual caucuses due to hacking concerns.

The Guardian is continuing to cover hurricane preparations and Greta Thunberg’s climate protest, so stay tuned.

Bernie Sanders criticized Joe Biden’s climate proposals after the former vice president called out the Trump administration’s rollback of methane regulations.

During the last Democratic debate, Biden was confronted by Jay Inslee, who has since dropped out of the race, about whether his climate plan went far enough.

“Look these deadlines are set by science,” Inslee said. “Mr. Vice President, your argument is not with me, it’s with science. And unfortunately your plan is just too late.”

Biden responded by touting the merits of his plan, such as a proposed expansion of wind energy, but he was vague about whether his administration would end fracking. “We will work it out,” Biden said. “We will make sure it’s eliminated and no more subsidies for either of those, any fossil fuels.”

Alabama governor faces calls for her resignation over blackface incident

Alabama’s Republican governor, Kay Ivey, apologized for wearing blackface in a skit as an Auburn University student more than 50 years ago.

Ivey discussed the skit in a recorded conversation with her then-fiance. The governor said in a statement addressing the incident, “Even after listening to the tape, I sincerely do not recall either the skit, which evidently occurred at a Baptist Student Union party, or the interview itself, both which occurred 52 years ago.”

She added: “Even though Ben is the one on tape remembering the skit — and I still don’t recall ever dressing up in overalls or in blackface — I will not deny what is the obvious. As such, I fully acknowledge — with genuine remorse — my participation in a skit like that back when I was a senior in college.

“While some may attempt to excuse this as acceptable behavior for a college student during the mid-1960s, that is not who I am today, and it is not what my Administration represents all these years later.”

Alabama Republicans have urged constituents to accept Ivey’s apology, while some Democrats in the state are calling for her resignation.

Ivey is only the latest politician to come under scrutiny for a past incident involving blackface. Ralph Northam, the Democratic governor of Virginia, faced calls for his resignation after a blackface photo was uncovered on his medical school yearbook page. He remains in office. Meanwhile, the US currently has no black governors in office.

Hurricane Dorian is building strength in the western Atlantic as it prepares to unleash potentially catastrophic damage on Florida.

Tom McCarthy has the latest:

Emergency preparations were under way up and down the Atlantic coast, from Jacksonville in the north to Miami and the Florida Keys, as well as in Orlando and inland areas.

On Friday morning, Dorian was a category 2 hurricane located north-east of the Bahamas, with maximum sustained winds of 110mph. Ominously, the storm had developed a distinct eye and slowed its westward progress, meaning it could spend more time over land – and do more damage.

Meteorologists said Dorian could make landfall in Florida on Tuesday as a category 4 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 140mph.

‘If it makes landfall as a category 3 or 4 hurricane, that’s a big deal,’ University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy told the Associated Press. ‘A lot of people are going to be affected. A lot of insurance claims.’

Trump approves state of emergency declaration in Florida

The White House issued a statement that Trump has approved declaring a state of emergency in Florida as Hurricane Dorian approaches.

“Today, President Donald J. Trump declared that an emergency exists in the State of Florida and ordered Federal assistance to supplement State, tribal, and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Hurricane Dorian beginning on August 28, 2019, and continuing,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center warned that Florida residents could start seeing the storm’s effects as early as Sunday morning.

Fox News host Neil Cavuto lambasted Trump’s implication earlier this week that the network should be “working” for him.

The president tweeted on Wednesday, “We have to start looking for a new News Outlet. Fox isn’t working for us anymore!”

Cavuto criticized the comments in his closing monologue last night. “Mr. President, we don’t work for you. I don’t work for you,” the host said. “My job is to cover you, not fawn over you or rip you. Just report on you.”

Cavuto has previously called out Trump for dismissing negative coverage of his administration as “fake news.” “Now, I’m not saying you’re a liar,” he said last year amid reports of the payment to Stormy Daniels. “You’re the president. You’re busy. I’m just having a devil of a time figuring out which news is fake. Let’s just say your own words on lots of stuff give me, shall I say, lots of pause.”

But one former adviser to Barack Obama mocked the idea of a Fox News host trying to get some distance from Trump, given all of the fawning coverage the network has showered on the president.

Greta Thunberg joins protest outside the UN

Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate activist from Sweden, has joined a protest outside the United Nations headquarters in New York to demand action on the climate crisis.

Thunberg arrived in New York on Wednesday after crossing the Atlantic via a solar-powered yacht.

She told the Guardian after completing her journey: “It’s insane that a 16-year-old has to cross the Atlantic in order to take a stand, but that’s how it is. It feels like we are at a breaking point. Leaders know that more eyes on them, much more pressure is on them, that they have to do something, they have to come up with some sort of solution. I want a concrete plan, not just nice words.”

Updated

DNC likely to reject Iowa and Nevada's virtual caucuses

The Democratic National Committee is expected to recommend scrapping the proposed virtual caucuses in Iowa and Nevada over security concerns.

The AP reports:

The final choice whether to allow virtual caucuses in Iowa and Nevada is up to the party’s powerful Rules and Bylaws Committee. But opposition from DNC’s executive and staff leadership makes it highly unlikely the committee would keep the virtual caucuses, leaving two key early voting states and the national party a short time to fashion an alternative before the February caucuses.

The state parties had planned to allow some voters to cast caucus votes over the telephone in February 2020 instead of showing up at traditional caucus meetings.

Iowa and Nevada created the virtual option to meet a DNC mandate that states open caucuses to more people, but two sources with knowledge of party leaders’ deliberations say there are concerns that the technology used for virtual caucuses could be subject to hacking.

Flynn's lawyers and US prosecutors differ on sentencing timeline

Flynn’s lawyers are arguing that they need more time to review his case and that his sentencing should be delayed accordingly.

“The case is not ready for sentencing,” Flynn’s lawyers wrote in a report to the US District Court judge in the case, Emmet Sullivan.

They argued they had been denied access to pertinent information “that is either classified or being suppressed by the government.” “We must have access to that information to represent our client consistently with his constitutional rights and our ethical obligations,” the lawyers wrote.

But federal prosecutors say they are ready to close the case on Flynn, who was originally supposed to be sentenced in December. They have proposed a sentencing hearing between either October 21 and 23 or November 1 and 15.

Updated

Detective present for the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald dies at 99

James R. Leavelle, a former Dallas detective who appeared in the famous photograph of Jack Ruby shooting and killing Lee Harvey Oswald, has died at 99.

Lee Harvey Oswald reacts as Jack Ruby shoots at him. At left is Detective Jim Leavelle.
Lee Harvey Oswald reacts as Jack Ruby shoots at him. At left is Detective Jim Leavelle. Photograph: Bob Jackson/AP

The New York Times reports:

Mr. Leavelle, a veteran Dallas homicide detective who had survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, was handcuffed to Mr. Oswald and was leading him through a police station basement on Nov. 24, 1963, when Mr. Ruby, a nightclub owner, stepped out of the crowd and pumped a fatal bullet into the prisoner. The shooting, with Mr. Oswald’s pained grimace and Detective Leavelle’s stricken glower, was chillingly captured by Robert H. Jackson of The Dallas Times Herald in an iconic photograph that won the Pulitzer Prize the following year.

Moments earlier, he and Mr. Oswald had had an eerie exchange, Mr. Leavelle often later recounted. ‘Lee,’ he recalled saying, ‘if anybody shoots at you, I hope they are as good a shot as you.’

To which, he said, Mr. Oswald replied: ‘You’re being melodramatic.’

At the time, two days after President Kennedy had been gunned down in a motorcade through downtown Dallas, Mr. Oswald was a suspect in the killing of a Dallas police officer, J.D. Tippit, and had yet to be conclusively tied to the assassination. But after Detective Leavelle asked him whether he had shot the police officer, Mr. Oswald aroused the detective’s suspicions by insisting, ‘I didn’t shoot anybody,’ as if, Mr. Leavelle later recounted, there had been another shooting as well.

Flynn raised some red flags earlier this year, when the former national security adviser fired his lawyers and hired a fierce FBI critic in their place.

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn leaves US District Court in December.
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn leaves US District Court in December. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Politico reported back in June:

Flynn has a new attorney: former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell, one of the earliest and fiercest critics of the Justice Department and the FBI’s investigation into a potential conspiracy between President Trump’s campaign and Russia.

The move appears to signal a shift in posture, if not in strategy: Powell, a former Justice Department attorney who has written extensively about overzealous prosecutors, has claimed that Flynn was spied on as part of a ‘set-up’ by the FBI, and that his entire case should be ‘dismissed,’ taking a far more aggressive public stance than Flynn’s previous lawyers, Robert Kelner and Stephen Anthony, ever did.

Flynn, who fired Kelner and Anthony last week, awaits sentencing for lying to the FBI about his conversations with former Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak during the transition period.

Flynn completes cooperation with the government

Michael Flynn, who served as Trump’s national security adviser, has completed his cooperation with federal prosecutors, according to a new court filing.

The government said it was hoping to sentence Flynn, who was charged with lying to the FBI about his conversations with a Russian official, by early November. But Flynn’s legal team appeared hesitant about that timeline.

Florida braces for Hurricane Dorian

The Guardian is also tracking the progress of Hurricane Dorian, which is expected to become the worst storm to hit Florida’s east coast in more than 25 years.

Tom McCarthy and Joanna Walters have more:

Hurricane Dorian is likely to affect the state directly overnight Sunday, with the latest computer modeling predicting it will make landfall in the early hours of Monday, the Labor Day holiday in the US, around West Palm Beach.

But weather experts on Thursday proclaimed the state’s entire east coast at risk.

The tempest on Friday was threatening to become the most powerful hurricane to affect the east coast of Florida since Hurricane Andrew roared ashore in 1992, causing devastating damage and killing 65 people.

A state of emergency has been declared and Donald Trump has canceled his forthcoming trip this weekend to Poland as the storm approaches. The president warned the storm was an ‘absolute monster’.

Millions of Floridians on Friday were stockpiling water, food, fuel and materials such as plywood to board up properties. They have been advised to track the storm closely.

Trump pushes for more mental institutions to combat gun violence

The Trump administration is exploring how to act on the president’s unfounded claims after mass shootings that more mental institutions would minimize such tragedies.

The AP reports:

When back-to-back mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, jolted the nation earlier this month, Trump again spoke of ‘building new facilities’ for the mentally ill as a way to reduce mass shootings.

‘We don’t have those institutions anymore and people can’t get proper care,’ Trump lamented at a New Hampshire campaign rally not long after the latest shootings.

Now, in response to Trump’s concerns, White House staff members are looking for ways to incorporate the president’s desire for more institutions into a long list of other measures aimed at reducing gun violence.

It’s the latest example of White House policy aides scrambling to come up with concrete policies or proposals to fill out ideas tossed out by the president. And it’s an idea that mental health professionals say reflects outdated thinking on the treatment of mental illness.

After the shootings in El Paso and Dayton earlier this month, the American Psychological Association put out a statement criticizing those who tried to connect the violence to mental illness.

“Routinely blaming mass shootings on mental illness is unfounded and stigmatizing,” said Rosie Phillips Davis, the APA’s president. “Research has shown that only a very small percentage of violent acts are committed by people who are diagnosed with, or in treatment for, mental illness.”

Trump ousts personal assistant for talking to the press

Happy Friday, live blog readers!

It appears that the Trump White House’s high turnover rate has claimed another victim: the president’s personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout.

Westerhout has been with Donald Trump since his inauguration and has enjoyed extensive access to the president. Responsible for controlling the flow of traffic into the Oval Office, she also held a unique power, given Trump’s tendency to have his opinion be swayed by the last person he spoke to.

But all of that was forgotten when she spoke to reporters at an off-the-record dinner about the president’s office and his family. The New York Times reports:

Ms. Westerhout’s abrupt and unexpected departure came after Mr. Trump learned on Thursday that she had indiscreetly shared details about his family and the Oval Office operations she was part of at a recent off-the-record dinner with reporters staying at hotels near Bedminster, N.J., during the president’s working vacation, according to one of the people, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss White House personnel issues.

The breach of trust meant immediate action: Ms. Westerhout, one of the people familiar with her departure said, was now considered a ‘separated employee’ and would not be allowed to return to the White House on Friday.

Westerhout could have learned from James Comey’s memos detailing his interactions with Trump: this president demands absolute loyalty. And those who don’t offer it risk suffering a very unceremonious end to their public service.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden addresses a crowd at a town hall event at Clinton College.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden addresses a crowd at a town hall event at Clinton College. Photograph: Sean Rayford/Getty Images

Here’s what else the blog is keeping its eye on today:

  • Trump will have lunch with the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and later depart for Camp David.
  • Joe Biden has no public events on his campaign schedule as the Democratic presidential candidate grapples with the fallout of telling an apparently false war story on the trail.
  • Multiple other 2020 Democrats, including Bernie Sanders, are campaigning in South Carolina today.

That’s all still coming up, so stay tuned.

Updated

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Blake Lively sees most of her claims dismissed in a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni dismissed
After a federal judge ruled that only a narrowed portion of the case will proceed to trial, Blake Lively has seen most of her claims dismissed in a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni.
BANG Premier
BANG Premier
Check Your Medicine Cabinet: 5 Cough Drops Recalled Over Safety Concerns
It’s easy to overlook the small items in your medicine cabinet, especially something as routine as cough drops. Most of us grab them without a second thought, trusting they’re safe and effective. However, recent recalls have raised concerns about certain products that may pose unexpected health risks. From contamination issues…
Budget and the Bees
Budget and the Bees
Louis CK to headline Hollywood Bowl for Netflix festival
Headlining set for Netflix Is a Joke festival marks first outing with major streamer since misconduct allegations in 2017
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
“Who the F are the Cockroaches?”: Just the greatest rock n’ roll band in the world… perhaps
The Stones have used the guise before, and could be doing so again?
MusicRadar
MusicRadar
Mom’s Hack For Removing Red 40 From M&Ms Hilariously Roasted After Viewers Spot Daughter’s Reaction
“What is the purpose here? If it's unhealthy, it's completely unhealthy,” one comment read.
Bored Panda
Bored Panda
Meryl Streep Stuns Again: Top 10 Jaw-Dropping Looks from The Devil Wears Prada 2
Explore Meryl Streep's Devil Wears Prada 2 press tour looks, including the viral cerulean sweater moment that's sparking debate over nostalgia, styling choices, and Miranda Priestly's lasting fashion influence.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play