First lady Melania Trump on Wednesday accused an impeachment hearing witness of being "very angry" and "obviously biased," after she mentioned Trump's son Barron during her testimony.
While appearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Stanford University Prof. Pamela Karlan was asked by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) how Trump's conduct as president was different from a king's behavior. Karlan responded, "The Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility, so while the president can name his son Barron, he can't make him a baron."
Republicans jumped on Karlan for mentioning Barron, 13, and the first lady tweeted, "A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it." After making her comment, Karlan expressed remorse for saying Barron's name. "I want to apologize for what I said earlier about the president's son," she said. "It was wrong of me to do that. I wish the president would apologize, obviously, for the things that he's done that's wrong, but I do regret having said that."
The first lady's Be Best campaign aims to end bullying, but critics say she doesn't always walk the walk or call out those close to her — she famously wore a jacket that read "I REALLY DON'T CARE, DO U" to a facility holding detained immigrant children and President Trump on average insults at least five people a day. Catherine Garcia
Not long after Jeff Bezos' phone was allegedly hacked via a link sent by a WhatsApp account believed to belong to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, a New York Times journalist was reportedly targeted by Saudi-linked spyware.
Ben Hubbard, who has covered the kingdom extensively, wrote Tuesday that he received a "fishy" looking link in June 2018, which researchers from Citizen Lab determined contained software sold by the Israeli NSO Group and deployed by Saudi hackers. NSO Group denied its technology was responsible, and the Saudi government didn't provide comment, but Riyadh has denied any involvement in the alleged Bezos infiltration.
Hubbard didn't click on the link, which proved to be the right call, since it appears his phone wasn't compromised. But the mere fact that he received a harmful link is another example of Saudi's possible targeting of journalists and dissidents, which has been magnified since the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
Per Hubbard, human rights experts think hacking technologies have reached the point where they require enhanced government regulation. Read more at The New York Times. Tim O'Donnell
A tsunami threat message was issued Tuesday after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck near Jamaica and Cuba, CNN reports.
The International Tsunami Information Center said Tuesday "hazardous tsunami waves are forecast for some coasts," per Reuters, and CNN writes there was a "threat of tsunami waves reaching 0.3 to 1 meter (about 1 to 3 feet) above tide level for the coasts of Jamaica, Belize, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico and the Cayman Islands."
The earthquake, which struck shortly after 2:00 p.m. Eastern, was felt in Miami and caused "very strong to severe shaking in far western Jamaica," The Weather Channel reports, citing the U.S. Geological Survey. The Associated Press also reports it could be felt "strongly" in Santiago, where a witness said, "We were all sitting and we felt the chairs move. We heard the noise of everything moving around."
There have not been reports of any casualties, and according to the National Tsunami Warning Center, there is no tsunami threat for the eastern United States or the Gulf of Mexico. The Washington Post reports, though, this "appeared to be one of the biggest [earthquakes] on record in the Caribbean, and the largest since 1946." Brendan Morrow