Guatemala is struggling to provide for its own people, president-elect Alejandro Giammattei said Tuesday, and there's no way the country will be able to support an influx of migrants.
During an interview with The Associated Press, Giammattei said the immigration agreement cobbled together in July by outgoing President Jimmy Morales and the Trump administration just won't work. Under the deal, migrants who cross into Guatemala on their way to the United States must apply for asylum there first; only if they are denied can they go on and request asylum in the U.S.
"In order to be a safe country, one has to be certified as such by an international body, and I do not think Guatemala fulfills the requirements to be a third safe country," Giammattei said. "That definition doesn't fit us. If we do not have the capacity for our own people, just imagine other people." Guatemalans are leaving the country in droves, escaping poverty and crime, and critics say it makes no sense to have people apply for asylum there. The deal was forged after the Trump administration threatened Guatemala with taxes.
Giammattei, a conservative, won a runoff election over the weekend, and will take office on Jan. 14, 2020. He told AP the way things are now, he has no reason to believe that undocumented migrants will stay away from the United States. "I do not think physical walls, or walls of weapons, can stop migration," he said. "I think what can stop migration are walls of opportunities." Catherine Garcia
It doesn't look like President Trump will be able to keep his 2016 campaign promise of paying off the federal debt within the span of his two-term presidency.
The Congress Budget Office released a report Tuesday predicting U.S. debt will reach 98 percent of the country's GDP by 2030, up from the 81 percent the office foresees the deficit reaching by the end of 2020. The CBO projects the government will spend $1 trillion more than it collects in 2020, a number which would then increase every year for, well, a while.
The prognostication is reportedly mostly a result of tax cuts and the assumption that the government will continue to increase spending, per The Wall Street Journal. If the Trump administration's tax cuts enacted in 2017 are extended beyond their current expiration at the end of 2025, the latest CBO estimates may fall short.
CBO Director Phillip Swagel expects the deficit level to eventually reach some historic highs, especially for a time of low unemployment. He said his office's projections will approach figures not seen "since World War II." Read more at The Wall Street Journal. Tim O'Donnell
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is taking a stand against one of the Senate's strictest rules.
When in the hallowed halls of the Senate chamber, lawmakers may only sip water or milk, the latter of which has been spotted in the glasses of a few senators throughout the past week of impeachment. But on Tuesday, Romney became the first senator to be seen drinking chocolate milk in the Senate — a bold step that comes as he's considering taking a few more.
A slew of reporters spotted Romney, safely outside the Senate camera's view, drinking the chocolate milk from an approved glass on Tuesday — he'd tried to bring it to the floor in a "contraband bottle" earlier, per The Wall Street Journal. It's not the healthiest choice, but as Romney's wife Ann Romney told Politico in 2011, it's his guilty pleasure food.
Romney's cocoa-dusted decision begs another question: What other unconventional choices might Romney be angling to make? Like the smoke signal that determines a pope's selection, does this indicate Romney has opted to push for witnesses in the Senate trial? Perhaps he's chosen to vote to convict President Trump altogether? Only time — and perhaps another sign in the form of dairy — will tell. Kathryn Krawczyk
After a second Harvey Weinstein accuser took the stand in his rape trial this week, her former roommate just corroborated the account.
Former Project Runway production assistant Mimi Haleyi testified Monday in the trial of the disgraced producer, telling jurors Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006. The rape and sexual assault charges Weinstein is facing stem from Haleyi's allegation, as well as the allegation of Jessica Mann, who says Weinstein raped her in 2013. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and denied all allegations of nonconsensual sex acts.
On Tuesday, Haleyi's roommate in 2006, Elizabeth Entin, testified that Haleyi told her about the alleged assault at the time.
"I said, 'Miriam, that sounds like rape' and told her to call a lawyer,” Entin said, Variety reports.
Entin reportedly testified she "very clearly" remembers the day Haleyi told her about the alleged assault and that she "was pacing" and "seemed anxious." In the weeks afterward, Haleyi was "much more withdrawn," Entin said.
Actress Annabella Sciorra last week became the first Weinstein accuser to testify in the New York trial, telling jurors he raped her in 1993 or 1994. Her account was backed up by Rosie Perez, who testified that Sciorra told her about it at the time.
Several additional witnesses are expected to testify in the trial, including Mann, who Deadline reports is "scheduled to appear in the coming days." Deadline additionally reports that although the trial was "initially projected to last through March," it has "moved at a steady clip and could conclude by mid-February." Brendan Morrow