10 things you need to know today: August 12, 2019

Democrats slam Trump for retweeting Epstein conspiracy theories, Hong Kong airport cancels flights due to disruption by protesters, and more

Trump at the White House
(Image credit: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

1. Democrats criticize Trump for boosting Epstein conspiracy theories

Some of the Democratic presidential candidates on Sunday criticized President Trump for retweeting conspiracy theories about the apparent suicide of financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in his New York jail cell. "This is another example of our president using this position of public trust to attack his political enemies with unfounded conspiracy theories," Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke, a former congressman from Texas, said on CNN's State of the Union. O'Rourke accused Trump, once a friend of Epstein's, of using speculation about Epstein's death to divert attention from calls for gun control and an end to Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric that were sparked by last weekend's two deadly mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. Another Democratic candidate, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), said Trump was "whipping people up into anger."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.