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Trump Threatens Iran — and Jabs at Arnold Schwarzenegger Trump Responds to Louvre Attack in Paris, Urging U.S. to ‘Get Smart’
(about 7 hours later)
■ President Trump rattles his saber against Iran — and against Arnold Schwarzenegger — but he may have offered some reconciliation with Australia. ■ President Trump responded to the failed attack in Paris with his trademark understatement. Europe is not amused.
■ Senate wakes early to push Betsy DeVos over a procedural hurdle, but a showdown still looms over Mr. Trump’s education secretary nominee. ■ The “Bowling Green massacre” that Kellyanne Conway lamented never happened, but it has triggered another Trump-Clinton battle.
■ The “Bowling Green massacre” that Kellyanne Conway lamented never happened, but it has sparked great mirth — and a search for the small kernel of truth in her tale. ■ The president’s phone manners apparently have not changed. This time he used them on Uber’s chief executive.
President Trump on Friday morning maintained his bellicose tone toward Iran, suggesting that, unlike Barack Obama, he would not be “kind” with Tehran. A soldier shot and wounded a man wielding a machete near the Louvre museum in Paris, prompting French authorities to open a terrorism investigation.
Mr. Trump and his national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, have “put Iran on notice” after a ballistic missile test that challenged the United Nations Security Council’s resolution calling on Tehran to show restraint over its missile program. The president of the United States responded:
The president had other unfinished work on Friday morning. He had to get in the last word with the former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who replaced him on the reality television show “The Apprentice.” Mr. Schwarzenegger suggested on Thursday that they switch jobs. It is difficult to divine Mr. Trump’s thinking at times, but safe to say “get smart” in this case most likely means accepting his policies.
To which Mr. Trump responded: For their part, Europeans aren’t taking well to the new American president.
(Which might just pass for kindness in a Trumpian kind of way.) President François Hollande of France, in a defense of the European Union that Mr. Trump has disparaged, said on Friday that European countries that wanted to forge bilateral ties with the United States had to “understand that there is no future with Trump if it is not defined in common.”
As for Australia, well, he may have insulted the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, prompting leading Republican lawmakers to try to mend fences, but hey, he has decided to let bygones be bygones — and to blame the news media. Then there are the Germans:
The president also let the world know that he has noticed the hundreds of thousands of people who have come out to protest his policies. When Kellyanne Conway, the White House senior adviser, cited the “Bowling Green massacre” to justify President Trump’s halt to visas from seven predominantly Muslim countries, America was left scratching its collective head.
In an unusual early morning session, the Senate cleared an important procedural hurdle to approving Betsy DeVos, Mr. Trump’s nominee for education secretary, setting up a final, nail-biting confirmation vote early next week.
The Senate’s 52-48 vote along party lines to limit further debate on her nomination is deceptive. Two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, went along with the procedural vote, but they say they will oppose her on the final vote, expected on Tuesday.
Callers have overwhelmed the Capitol’s phone system, many of them expressing angry opposition to Ms. DeVos. Senators have heard from all manner of educators in their home states opposing her confirmation — and not just teachers’ unions.
The opposition from Ms. Collins and Ms. Murkowski raises the prospects of a 50-50 tie that Vice President Mike Pence, as president of the Senate, would have to settle.
After convening at 6:30 a.m., one of the earliest starts in recent memory, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, urged his colleagues to take stock of their positions on Ms. DeVos’ nomination over the weekend. ”Sometimes loyalty to a president demands a bit too much,” he said on the floor.
Why so early? Under Senate rules, a set amount of time had to elapse between the first procedural actions, which took place Wednesday afternoon, and Friday’s vote.
When White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway cited the “Bowling Green massacre” to justify President Trump’s halt to visas from seven Muslim countries, America was left scratching its collective head.
And social media lit up with delight over the “massacre” that time forgot.And social media lit up with delight over the “massacre” that time forgot.
As FactCheck.org has discovered, there is some small kernel of truth to what Ms. Conway said, though no killings happened in Bowling Green, Ky., and a “massacre” does not appear to have ever occurred anywhere. In 2013, the State Department imposed a six-month freeze on processing Iraqi refugees after two Qaeda members were discovered in Iraq setting roadside bombs targeting U.S. troops. They had been admitted to the United States in 2009 and were living in Bowling Green before they returned to Iraq. This has not sat well with Ms. Conway, who after all did have a small kernel of truth to back her up, though no killings happened in Bowling Green, Ky., and a “massacre” does not appear to have ever occurred anywhere.
In 2013, the State Department imposed a six-month freeze on processing Iraqi refugees after two Qaeda members were discovered in Iraq setting roadside bombs targeting American troops. They had been admitted to the United States in 2009 and lived in Bowling Green before they returned to Iraq.
The fingerprint that nailed them was on a cellphone detonator tied to a bomb that had not exploded. So “massacre”? No. In Bowling Green? No. Refugees? Well, yes, sort of.The fingerprint that nailed them was on a cellphone detonator tied to a bomb that had not exploded. So “massacre”? No. In Bowling Green? No. Refugees? Well, yes, sort of.
Ms. Conway now says she misspoke.
But things got really hot when a Clinton jumped into the fray — Chelsea Clinton.
Which only stoked old campaign feuds, and a reminder of the exaggerated claim from Hillary Clinton that, as first lady, she once landed in war-torn Bosnia under fire from hostile Serbs.
It never ends.
President Trump has taken some heat for his phone manners since it emerged that he pretty much chewed out Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia before hanging up on him. Apparently Mr. Trump is unrepentant.
According to the new online newsletter Axios, Mr. Trump had an unpleasant conversation with the chief executive of Uber, Travis Kalanick, after the brash entrepreneur quit the president’s business council in protest of his executive order banning some foreigners from entering the country.
Some in Mr. Trump’s “inner circle” suggested that Mr. Kalanick was cutting off his access to the White House. Mr. Kalanick might be a little more concerned with all the smartphone users’ dropping their Uber app in favor of Lyft, a competitor that was first to protest Mr. Trump’s immigration policies.
In an unusual early morning session, the Senate on Friday cleared an important procedural hurdle to approving Betsy DeVos, Mr. Trump’s nominee for education secretary, setting up a final, nail-biting confirmation vote next week.
The Senate’s 52-to-48 vote along party lines to limit further debate on her nomination is deceptive. Two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, went along with the procedural vote, but they say they will oppose her on the final vote, expected on Tuesday.
Callers have overwhelmed the Capitol’s phone system, many of them expressing angry opposition to Ms. DeVos’s nomination. Senators have heard from all manner of educators in their home states opposing her confirmation — and not just teachers’ unions.
The opposition from Ms. Collins and Ms. Murkowski raises the prospects of a 50-to-50 tie that Vice President Mike Pence, as president of the Senate, would have to settle.
After convening at 6:30 a.m., one of the earliest starts in recent memory, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, urged his colleagues to take stock of their positions on Ms. DeVos’s nomination over the weekend. ”Sometimes loyalty to a president demands a bit too much,” he said on the floor.
Why so early? Under Senate rules, a set amount of time had to elapse between the first procedural actions, which took place Wednesday afternoon, and Friday’s vote.
Remember Russia? The country that intelligence officials believe interfered in the 2016 presidential election on Mr. Trump’s behalf?Remember Russia? The country that intelligence officials believe interfered in the 2016 presidential election on Mr. Trump’s behalf?
Two weeks into Mr. Trump’s presidency, talk of the foreign power’s apparent role has somewhat faded from view, at least temporarily, in the daily avalanche of White House exploits and misadventures.Two weeks into Mr. Trump’s presidency, talk of the foreign power’s apparent role has somewhat faded from view, at least temporarily, in the daily avalanche of White House exploits and misadventures.
But Capitol Hill will have its say. Two senators are convening an investigation into Russia’s election interference, joining other efforts in Congress to examine what happened.But Capitol Hill will have its say. Two senators are convening an investigation into Russia’s election interference, joining other efforts in Congress to examine what happened.
Senators Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, and Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, said their investigation would focus on Russian interference both in the United States’ election and in other elections around the world. (Senator Graham is the chairman and Senator Whitehouse is the ranking member of a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee that is focused on crime and terrorism.) Senators Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, and Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, said their investigation would focus on Russian interference both in the United States’ election and in other elections around the world. (Mr. Graham is the chairman and Mr. Whitehouse is the ranking member of a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee that is focused on crime and terrorism.)
“Our goal is simple,” the senators said in a joint statement. “To the fullest extent possible we want to shine a light on Russian activities to undermine democracy.”“Our goal is simple,” the senators said in a joint statement. “To the fullest extent possible we want to shine a light on Russian activities to undermine democracy.”
There are already multiple Senate committee examinations into Russia’s role, as well as an inquiry by the House.There are already multiple Senate committee examinations into Russia’s role, as well as an inquiry by the House.
Dr. Harold N. Bornstein has been President Trump’s personal doctor for more than 35 years. He prescribed Mr. Trump the prostate-related drug that keeps the presidential mane flowing, and declared him the healthiest man to hold the highest office in the land.Dr. Harold N. Bornstein has been President Trump’s personal doctor for more than 35 years. He prescribed Mr. Trump the prostate-related drug that keeps the presidential mane flowing, and declared him the healthiest man to hold the highest office in the land.
But for now, Mr. Trump will keep the same White House doctor who cared for Barack Obama, Ronny Jackson, a rear admiral in the Navy.But for now, Mr. Trump will keep the same White House doctor who cared for Barack Obama, Ronny Jackson, a rear admiral in the Navy.
The decision, first reported by the online medical journal Stat, raised the possibility that voters might actually get some reliable information on the health of their commander in chief.The decision, first reported by the online medical journal Stat, raised the possibility that voters might actually get some reliable information on the health of their commander in chief.
The meeting of big-shot chief executives at the White House on Friday — people like Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase and Stephen A. Schwarzman of Blackstone — was supposed to prove the bona fides of the new, business-focused businessman-turned-president.The meeting of big-shot chief executives at the White House on Friday — people like Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase and Stephen A. Schwarzman of Blackstone — was supposed to prove the bona fides of the new, business-focused businessman-turned-president.
But Mr. Trump’s temporary ban on visas from seven predominantly Muslim countries has complicated the discussion considerably.But Mr. Trump’s temporary ban on visas from seven predominantly Muslim countries has complicated the discussion considerably.
Travis Kalanick, Uber’s chief executive, told employees he was dropping off Mr. Trump’s economic advisory council in protest of his immigration policies, given the number of immigrant Uber drivers. Bob Iger of Disney is not attending.Travis Kalanick, Uber’s chief executive, told employees he was dropping off Mr. Trump’s economic advisory council in protest of his immigration policies, given the number of immigrant Uber drivers. Bob Iger of Disney is not attending.
And Elon Musk let it be known on Twitter that he would object to the ban to the president’s face.And Elon Musk let it be known on Twitter that he would object to the ban to the president’s face.