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Oval Office broadside, Israeli Embassy murders and a judicial dressing-down

 
Today's INTERNATIONAL story

Trump lectures South Africa president on 'white genocide'

What happened
President Donald Trump hosted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office yesterday, a meeting that devolved into spectacle when Trump presented his counterpart with purported evidence of "white genocide" of Afrikaner farmers. Trump has cut off aid to South Africa over his false genocide claims and welcomed Afrikaners into the U.S. as refugees.

Who said what
Ramaphosa "arrived prepared for an aggressive reception," Reuters said, and when the lights dimmed for Trump's "carefully choreographed Oval Office onslaught" of video and printed articles, the South African president remained "poised" as he "pushed back" against the claims. Genocide allegations can "be difficult to adjudicate," but "this claim is easy," CNN said: There is "not a genocide against white farmers" in South Africa.

"Death of people, death, death, death," Trump said as he flipped through his papers, one of which was a "months-old blog post featuring a photo from the Democratic Republic of Congo," Barron's said. Video of what he said were "burial sites" of "over 1,000" white South African farmers turned out to be crosses set up in 2020 by activists as symbols of farmers killed over the years.

The meeting was a "stark demonstration" of Trump's "belief that the world has aligned against white people, and that Black people and minorities have received preferential treatment," The New York Times said. Ramaphosa had entered the Oval Office "seemingly optimistic" about a "cordial conversation" focused on trade opportunities, and he "even tried a joke" after Trump became "irate" when a reporter asked about the "free plane" from Qatar's rulers. "I am sorry I don’t have a plane to give you," Ramaphosa told Trump. "I wish you did," Trump replied. "I'd take it."

What next?
Ramaphosa said after the meeting that he thought it "went very well." But the "extraordinary" confrontation, following Trump's similar televised Oval Office "ambush" of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February, could "prompt foreign leaders to think twice about accepting Trump's invitations and risk public embarrassment," Reuters said.

 
 
Today's CRIME story

2 Israel Embassy staff shot dead at DC Jewish museum

What happened
Two young Israeli Embassy workers were fatally shot last night as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in downtown Washington, D.C. The suspected gunman walked into the museum after the shooting and chanted "free, free Palestine" while being detained by event security, D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference.

Who said what
Smith said D.C. police had not received any intelligence on "any type of terrorist act or hate crime" and did not see anything in the background of the suspect, Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, "that would have put him on our radar." Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said the victims, later identified as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim (pictured above), were a couple on the verge of getting engaged. 

Smith said Rodriguez, 31, had been seen pacing outside the museum, where the American Jewish Committee was hosting a reception for young diplomats. Police believe he targeted the event but picked his victims at random, The Washington Post said. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the shooting would "frighten a lot of people" in the U.S. and "we will not tolerate any acts of terrorism" or "violence or hate in our city." 

What next?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "shocked" by the "horrific, antisemitic" shooting and has ordered stronger security for Israeli diplomatic missions worldwide, his office said. Attorney General Pam Bondi said after visiting the scene that "all our federal agencies will work hand in hand" with D.C. police, and the perpetrator "will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

 
 
Today's POLITICS Story

Judge scolds DOJ over Newark mayor arrest

What happened
A federal judge in New Jersey yesterday approved interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba's request to drop trespassing charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (pictured above), then spent several minutes criticizing her office's "hasty arrest" and "embarrassing retraction of charges." Baraka was arrested during a May 9 surprise visit to a migrant detention facility with three House Democrats from New Jersey. Habba earlier this week charged one of the Democrats, Rep. LaMonica McIver, with assault for allegedly elbowing two ICE agents in a scuffle, a charge she denies. 

Who said what
Baraka's arrest "suggests a worrisome misstep by your office," U.S. Magistrate Judge André Espinosa told Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Demanovich. "An arrest, particularly of a public figure, is not a preliminary investigative tool. It is a severe action" that "should only be undertaken after a thorough, dispassionate evaluation of credible evidence" and never "to advance political agendas." The "reprimands did not go unnoticed," the New Jersey Globe said, quoting Baraka commenting into a hot mic: "Jesus, he tore these people a new a--hole."

It is "highly unusual for the Justice Department to charge a sitting member of Congress with crimes outside of fraud or corruption," The Washington Post said. But the Trump administration has "decimated units responsible for prosecuting white-collar and public corruption cases," The New York Times, and "blurred, and at times obliterated, the line between personal score-settling and running a country."

What next?
Habba did not attend the Baraka hearing but did call into McIver's virtual initial court appearance a few hours earlier, where a different magistrate judge released McIver on her own recognizance. Her next court appearance is June 11. She faces up to eight years in prison for each of the two charges.

 
 

It's not all bad

Ali Shirkhodae, the owner of Lux Cleaning and Alterations in San Jose, California, gives unemployed customers a helping hand by dry cleaning and pressing their clothes for free before job interviews. Shirkhodae said he knows how hard it can be to find work, and when a customer recently called after an interview to let him know she got the job, he and his team were "very excited — I think even more than her," he told the San Jose Spotlight.

 
 
Under the radar

Summer is one of the busiest travel times of the year, but some would-be tourists may be rethinking their plans to visit Japan. The reason: a Japanese comic book, or manga, that warns of a devastating natural disaster.

"The Future I Saw," written in 1999 and republished in 2021, says a massive earthquake will hit Japan in July 2025. And some readers are concerned because the book seems to have been correct before. 

The 1999 version "warned of a major disaster in March 2011, a date which turned out to coincide with the cataclysmic quake that struck Japan's northern Tohoku region," said CNN. The republished manga now warns that on July 5, a "crack will open up under the seabed between Japan and the Philippines, sending ashore waves three times as tall as those from the Tohoku earthquake."

The manga's author, Ryo Tatsuki, has a "significant following in East Asia," and her fans "believe she can accurately see future events in her dreams," said CNN. But the book is not the only predictive device worrying tourists. Many "rumors warning that a huge earthquake will soon strike Japan" have been circulating online, said AFP. One Facebook group that "claims to predict disasters in Japan has over a quarter of a million members." 

Travel companies say tourists are altering their trips accordingly. The earthquake prophecy has "absolutely caused a big change to our customers' preferences," Frankie Chow, the head of Hong Kong travel agency CLS Holiday, said to AFP. Chow's company "received 70% to 80% fewer inquiries about traveling to Japan than last year."

 
 
On this day

May 22, 1992

Johnny Carson hosted his final episode of "The Tonight Show." He was widely considered the king of late-night television at the time and helped to turn the NBC talk program into an American institution. Jay Leno took over in 1992, and Jimmy Fallon has hosted "The Tonight Show" since 2014.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

"Trump team rebuked for violating judge's order" on deporting migrants, The Boston Globe says on Thursday's front page, and "in voter groups, Trump foes — and backers — say going too far" and "crossing the line on immigration." Immigrants "showed up to immigration court," and "then came ICE agents" to arrest them, the Arizona Republic says. "Congregations could lose thousands of foreign-born clergy" under changed immigration rules, and the "faithful fear being abandoned," USA Today says. "GOP support for Trump softens," according to a nationwide survey, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says. "Split House GOP races to pass spending bill," The Wall Street Journal says. "GOP aims to cut clean energy perks flowing to its own turf," says The New York Times.

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Spellcheck time

A Rhode Island man was disappointed when the $640 Donald Trump–branded watch he purchased arrived with a typo: "Rump" instead of "Trump." Tim Petit told WJAR that the pink and gold timepiece was a gift for his wife, and they "expected that it would have the integrity of the president of the United States and good follow-through." The flawed product was sold by GetTrumpWatches.com, which licenses Trump's name and likeness. After complaining, Petit received an apology and voucher for another product.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images;  IsraelinUSA / Twitter / Anadolu via Getty Images; Lokman Vural Elibol / Anadolu via Getty Images; Aytug Can Sencar / Anadolu via Getty Images