President Trump's press conference Thursday may have been billed as an announcement about new labor secretary nominee Alex Acosta, but it was so much more than that. After mentioning Acosta twice during his opening remarks, Trump veered into his campaign promises and, of course, his campaign competitor, Hillary Clinton.
In the course of a 76-minute press conference, Trump managed to utter the name of the woman who lost the presidential election in November a grand total of 11 times. That's not even including the more implicit mentions, like when Trump falsely claimed he won the election with 306 electoral votes (he won 304) and landed more Electoral College votes than anyone since former President Ronald Reagan (former President Barack Obama won 332 in 2012).
Trump's first Clinton call-out was a reference to Clinton allegedly receiving a presidential debate question in advance, which happened months ago when Trump and Clinton were still vying for the White House. "Nobody mentions that Hillary received the questions to the debates. Can you imagine — seriously — can you imagine if I received the questions? It would be the electric chair," Trump said.
He then turned to how Clinton tried to "do a reset with Russia" while she was secretary of state and gave Russia "20 percent of the uranium in the country." "Hillary Clinton did a reset, remember?" Trump said. "With the stupid plastic button that made us all look like a bunch of jerks." At another point, Trump asked the audience if anybody really thought Clinton "would be tougher on Russia than Donald Trump."
You may recall: Trump defeated Clinton to win the White House three months ago. To be fair, Acosta's name did come up a third time towards the end of the press conference when Trump jokingly asked CNN reporter Jim Acosta — with whom he has publicly sparred — if he was related to his new pick for secretary of labor. Becca Stanek
The opposition broke through Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's blockade for the first time on Saturday, when a humanitarian aid truck crossed the border from Brazil.
With a skyrocketing inflation, widespread hunger, and hospitals lacking medicine, the international community — led by the United States — has been attempting to deliver aid to Venezuela. But Maduro has placed an embargo on any international supplies entering the country. The blockade stems from a political crisis in Venezuela, in which the opposition, led by internationally-recognized interim President Juan Guaido, has questioned the legitimacy of Maduro's presidency.
The opposition movement has vowed to forcibly bring the aid into the country. The New York Times reported that their ability to do so effectively would signal Maduro's "loosening grip on power." Per The Washington Post, the opposition is also testing the military's loyalty to Maduro by "encouraging the armed forces to disobey" the blockade orders — indeed, three members of the Venezuelan National Guard abandoned their posts at the border and defected to Colombia.
The truck's crossing coincided with intensified protests on the Colombia-Venezuela border on Saturday, which involved Venezuelan authorities shooting volleys of tear gas on protesters. Some opposition leaders also reported the use of live fire.
As it stands, more trucks are moving toward the Colombia border. Tim O'Donnell
Construction was completed in October of 2017 on eight wall prototypes at the border near San Diego. President Trump looked at the sample walls the following March, and now they will all be torn down.
Each prototype cost between $300,000 and $500,000, for a total bill of $2.4 to $4 million. Additional expenditures will be required to remove them now that their brief show-and-tell purpose is finished.
"There is money already allocated to either take them down or build infrastructure around them," Border Patrol Agent Theron Francisco said Friday. "But the decision has been made at the national level to take them down, and the secondary replacement project will take their place." The timeline for the prototypes' destruction has yet to be set.
Earlier this month, Trump declared a national emergency to help obtain the billions he seeks for further border wall construction, but it is already facing legal challenge which could delay or permanently block Trump's plan from moving forward. Bonnie Kristian
President Trump announced on Friday that the U.S. will leave 400 soldiers in Syria.
Half of the troops will serve as part of a multinational force — which could end up consisting of as many as 1,500 soldiers — in the northeastern part of the country, while the other half will be stationed at an outpost in the southeast.
On Friday, Trump denied that the decision is a reversal from his previous rhetoric, in which he said he would pull all U.S. troops from Syria. "It's a very small, tiny fraction of the people we have, and a lot of people like that idea," he said.
The decision is part of a joint plan by the U.S. and its NATO allies to assemble a "monitoring and observing force" in northeastern Syria, with the hope of providing a buffer between Turkey and U.S.-allied Syrian opposition forces, particularly Kurdish resistance forces. The remaining soldiers will attempt to prevent an Islamic State resurgence in the area.
Per The New York Times, the United States' European allies refused to deploy troops if the U.S. did not. Tim O'Donnell
In the wake of his first choice, Heather Nauert, removing her name from consideration, President Trump announced on Friday that he has nominated Kelly Knight Craft to succeed Nikki Haley as U.N. ambassador.
Craft, a Republican donor from Kentucky, currently serves as the U.S. ambassador to Canada. She is credited with playing a key role in negotiating a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico.
Trump tweeted the announcement on Friday evening. "Kelly has done an outstanding job representing our nation and I have no doubt that, under her leadership, our country will be represented at the highest level," he wrote.
Having already been confirmed by the Senate for the Canada posting, she is not expected to face a challenge in getting confirmed for the role, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters. Tim O'Donnell
A group of nearly 100 Microsoft workers signed a petition Friday calling on their employer to cancel a $480 million contract with the U.S. Army and to stop developing "any and all weapons technologies."
Microsoft has agreed to sell the military its HoloLens headset, which allows users to see a virtually augmented version of reality. Contract bidding documents indicate the Army intends to use the gear as part of its Integrated Visual Augmentation System for both training and battlefield situations to improve soldiers' "lethality, mobility, and situational awareness."
"We did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used," says the employee petition, arguing that when the HoloLens headset is "deployed on the battlefield," it will turn "warfare into a simulated 'video game,' further distancing soldiers from the grim stakes of war and the reality of bloodshed."
In a response statement Friday, Microsoft said it appreciated workers' input but will continue working with the military.
A similar intra-company conflict at Google last year over technology used for drone strikes resulted in the resignation of about a dozen employees and protest from some 4,600 more. Google ultimately did not renew the defense contract at issue, saying it clashed with company values. Bonnie Kristian
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un fully expects his children to join the family dictatorship business someday, and when that happens, he reportedly does not want them to be burdened with a nuclear arsenal.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "asked Chairman Kim: Do you really intend to denuclearize?" former CIA official Andrew Kim said of a meeting between Kim and Pompeo last year. "You know, I'm a father, and I'm a husband, and I have children, and I don't want my children to carry the nuclear weapon in their bag to live through their entire life," Andrew Kim reported Kim Jong Un replied.
The question of the Kim regime's sincerity in its denuclearization pledges is much debated, especially given reports of secret missile test sites. Pyongyang has explicitly pointed to the fates of Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Libya's Moammar Gadhafi as cautionary tales of voluntary denuclearization leading to forcible, U.S.-orchestrated regime change. Bonnie Kristian
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) argued with a group of school of children over her unwillingness to support the Green New Deal on Friday.
The Sunrise Movement, an organization which encourages young people to combat climate change, posted a video of the encounter to Facebook. More than a dozen children and adults met with Feinstein to ask her to vote yes on the proposal. Feinstein, however, informed the crowd that the resolution will never pass the senate and "there's no way to pay" for the deal.
When one girl requested she vote yes anyway, Feinstein told her that she might end up doing that, but "it's not a good resolution."
Feinstein also clashed with crowd over age and experience. A young woman told Feinstein that she was "looking at the faces of the people who will be living these consequences" of climate change. "I've been doing this for 30 years," Feinstein replied. "So, you know, maybe people should listen a little bit."
Feinstein's camp released a statement about the meeting. "I have been and remain committed to doing everything I can to enact real, meaningful change," Feinstein said. She said the discussion was "spirited" and she heard the children's voices "loud and clear." Tim O'Donnell