Trump lashes ‘Liddle Bob Corker’ as senators call for calm
Trump lashes ‘Liddle Bob Corker’ as senators call for calm
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump lashed out at Sen. Bob Corker as “Liddle’ Bob Corker” on Tuesday, escalating a feud with the Tennessee Republican who’s dubbed the White House an “adult day care center” and charged that Trump could be setting the nation on the path toward World War III.
Fellow GOP senators, treading carefully, avoided siding with Trump or with Corker. But leading lawmakers called on both men to end a quarrel that could imperil the Republican agenda on Capitol Hill. Trump will need Corker if he is to get big tax changes through the Senate, where the narrow GOP majority was unable to repeal Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. And Corker also figures to be a key player if Trump moves as expected to unwind the Iran nuclear deal.
“I have a lot of respect for Sen. Corker and what he brings to the Senate, but I think the president is leading in the right direction and I’m supportive of what he’s doing,” Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, a member of the GOP leadership, told reporters Tuesday at the Capitol. “I would encourage them both to stop what they’re doing and get focused on what we need to be doing.”
Sen. Cory Gardner, another high-ranking Republican, issued a similar plea to reporters at home in Colorado.
“I’m not going to get in the middle of this fight, but I don’t think it’s helpful to have finger-pointing and name-calling on either side,” Gardner said. “We need to have people focusing on one thing and one thing only, and that’s what we’re going to do to create more opportunity for the American people.”
Poll: Most don’t want young immigrants deported
WASHINGTON (AP) — Just 1 in 5 Americans want to deport young immigrants brought to the United States as children and now here illegally, the focus of a politically fraught debate between the White House and Congress.
Americans also have largely negative opinions about President Donald Trump’s signature immigration pledge to build a wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just under half — 49 percent — oppose construction, while 32 percent support it.
On Sunday, Trump told lawmakers his hardline immigration priorities, including the wall, must be approved if he is to go along with protecting the young immigrants from deportation.
About 800,000 young immigrants had been given a deportation reprieve under President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA, until Trump ended the program last month. He’s given Congress six months to act.
About 60 percent of Americans favor allowing those young immigrants, commonly referred as “Dreamers,” to stay in the U.S. legally, compared to 22 percent who are opposed. Just 19 percent of respondents say all these childhood arrivals should be deported.
Catalan leader stakes claim to independence, then delays it
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Catalan separatists on Tuesday signed what they called a declaration of independence from Spain to cheers and applause in the regional parliament. The regional leader said he would delay implementing it for several weeks to give dialogue a chance.
Spain, however, called an emergency Cabinet meeting and gave little indication it is willing to talk.
In his highly anticipated speech, regional President Carles Puigdemont said the landslide victory in a Oct. 1 referendum gave his government the grounds to implement its long-held desire to break century-old ties with Spain.
But he proposed that the regional parliament “suspend the effects of the independence declaration to commence a dialogue, not only for reducing tension but for reaching an accord on a solution to go forward with the demands of the Catalan people.”
“We have to listen to the voices that have asked us to give a chance for dialogue with the Spanish state,” Puigdemont said.
Paltrow, Jolie join flood of allegations against Weinstein
NEW YORK (AP) — An avalanche of allegations poured out Tuesday against Harvey Weinstein in on-the-record reports that detailed claims of sexual abuse and included testimonies from Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, further intensifying the already explosive collapse of the disgraced movie mogul.
Three women accused Weinstein of raping them in a story published online by The New Yorker, including the Italian actress Asia Argento and a woman who was an aspiring actress in college when she caught Weinstein’s eye. A representative for the mogul vehemently denied the allegations in a statement to the magazine.
In a follow-up to its earlier expose, The New York Times also reported Tuesday that many other actresses have in recent days added to the chorus of accusations surrounding Weinstein. Paltrow described Weinstein’s attempt to lure her, then 22, into giving him a massage in a hotel room. The incident prompted her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt to angrily confront Weinstein at a film premiere.
Both reports significantly ratcheted up the unfolding scandal surrounding Weinstein, who was fired Sunday from the Weinstein Co. They not only describe a mounting number of alleged incidents, but thoroughly document the systematic harassment, abuse and intimidation of women — almost always young actresses trying to succeed in movies.
Lucia Evans, then a senior at Middlebury College, said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004 at the Miramax offices in Tribeca. She had been brought in for a casting meeting with Weinstein. Argento, an actress and director, said Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999. A third woman spoke anonymously.
Police received report of erratic student with weapon
DALLAS (AP) — A Texas Tech University student confessed to killing a campus police officer who had been booking him on a drug possession charge, telling detectives he had done “something illogical” and that “he was the one that shot their friend,” an investigator said.
In an affidavit released Tuesday, Det. Thomas Bonds of the Lubbock city police department said Hollis Daniels III confessed to killing Officer Floyd East Jr. after his recapture Monday night.
Campus Police Chief Kyle Bonath said at a news conference Tuesday that his department received reports of a student acting erratically who might have a weapon. University officials said East went to Daniels’ room to perform a welfare check and found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia. East arrested Daniels and took him to the campus police station to book him.
According to Bonds, the 19-year-old wasn’t handcuffed while East was processing the paperwork. Another officer left the room and then heard a loud bang. When he returned, he found East mortally wounded and Daniels gone. East’s body camera was also missing, but his service weapon was still holstered.
Bonath said Daniels “pulled a gun” and shot East at the station, but he didn’t specify whether it was a gun Daniels had on him or one that belonged to the department. He also didn’t say whether East checked Daniels for weapons when arresting him, and he didn’t take questions.