AP-NORC Poll: Trump’s approval rating up from historic lows
WASHINGTON — The good news for President Donald Trump? His approval rating is up 7 points since last month, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The bad news? That only lifts Trump’s approval to 42 percent, low for a president at this point in his tenure.
Still, the trajectory is a welcome shift for a White House that has been battered by chaos, controversies and internal upheaval. The poll suggests that at least some of the president’s improving standing is tied to the economy and the Republican tax overhaul, which offers a glimmer of hope for GOP lawmakers who plan to make both issues the centerpiece of their efforts to maintain control of Congress in November.
Nearly half of Americans surveyed — 47 percent — say they approve of how Trump is handling the economy, his highest rating on any issue. When it comes to tax policy, 46 percent of Americans back Trump’s moves.
“Our fortunes will rise and fall with the economy and specifically with the middle-class tax cut this fall,” said Corry Bliss, executive director of the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with House Speaker Paul Ryan. Bliss urged Republican candidates to view the law as “an offensive, not defensive weapon.”
‘Roseanne’ reboot picks up where show left off, adds Trump
NEW YORK — When the reboot of “Roseanne” premieres on ABC on Tuesday, it picks up where the show left off in 1997 — with one notable difference.
For the reboot, Roseanne will be at odds with her sister Jackie, played by Laurie Metcalf, over President Donald Trump.
Roseanne Barr says she thought it was important to show how the Conner family deals with the same issues that many American families currently face.
“It shows people’s different opinions and how they resolve them,” Barr said at the New York premiere of the show on Monday night.
She added: “I saw it happening in all the families I know, so I thought, ‘Well this is, you know, it’s good, hopefully it will get people talking to each other.’”
NATO joins wave of Russian diplomat expulsions
LONDON — NATO on Tuesday joined a wave of countries and groups expelling Russian diplomats over the nerve-agent attack on a former spy in Britain. Russia denounced the actions as “boorish” and pledged to retaliate.
The mass expulsions were a show of solidarity for Britain, which blames Russia for the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Moscow vehemently denies responsibility and has vowed a “tough response” to the expulsions.
More than 20 countries on Monday announced that they were expelling a total of more than 130 Russian diplomats, including 60 kicked out by the United States. Australia, Belgium, Ireland and Moldova joined them Tuesday.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance also would expel seven staffers from the Russian mission and deny the pending accreditation requests of three other workers at the Russian mission.
Stoltenberg said “we will continue to work for meaningful dialogue” with Russia, but added that the measure announced Tuesday should “send a very clear message to Russia that it has costs.”
California county votes to join Trump’s ‘sanctuary’ lawsuit
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Leaders of Orange County, Calif., voted Tuesday to join a Trump administration lawsuit against the state over its law aimed at protecting immigrants from stepped-up deportations.
The all-Republican Board of Supervisors in the county of 3.2 million people made the decision in a closed 3-0 vote. It took place ahead of a raucous public debate about another proposal targeting the California law — whether to support an effort by the small city of Los Alamitos in Orange County to opt out of the policy.
Residents and activists on both sides lined up to speak. Some held American flags and signs reading “Support Our Constitution” as they thanked the supervisors for taking a stand against illegal immigration. Others decried what they called a racist, anti-immigrant position aimed at gaining votes, not public safety.
The California law bars police in many cases from turning over suspects to federal immigration agents for deportation.
“This legislation prevents law enforcement from removing criminals from our community and is a threat to public safety,” Supervisor Shawn Nelson said before the vote.
Expert says Brexit campaign used data mined from Facebook
LONDON — The computer expert who alleges a trove of Facebook data was improperly used to help Donald Trump’s White House bid said Tuesday that he strongly believes the information was also used by the Brexit movement that persuaded Britain to quit the European Union.
In a 3½-hour hearing, Chris Wylie told the House of Commons media committee that he believes the breach exceeded the 50 million Facebook users reported earlier — though he didn’t give an exact figure. And he said the data compiled by the political consulting business Cambridge Analytica was available to other firms with links to it.
“All kinds of people had access to the data,” said Wylie, who helped develop Cambridge Analytica’s methods for using the information to target and persuade voters. “It was everywhere.”
Among the companies that had access to the data was AggregateIQ, a Canadian political consultant that did work for Vote Leave, the official campaign backing Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, Wylie said.
Wylie described Cambridge Analytica as just one arm of a global company, SCL Group, that gets most of its income from military contracts but is also a political gun-for-hire, often in countries where democratic institutions are weak. He suggested the company combines computer algorithms and dirty tricks to help candidates win regardless of the cost.
2 officers in black man’s fatal shooting won’t be charged
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana’s attorney general ruled out criminal charges Tuesday against two white Baton Rouge police officers in the shooting of a black man whose death led to widespread protests nearly two years ago.
Attorney General Jeff Landry’s decision came nearly 11 months after the Justice Department ruled out federal criminal charges in Alton Sterling’s July 2016 death.
Officer Blane Salamoni shot and killed Sterling during a struggle outside a convenience store where the 37-year-old black man was selling homemade CDs. Officer Howie Lake II helped wrestle Sterling to the ground, but Lake didn’t fire his gun. Two cellphone videos of the shooting quickly spread on social media, prompting large protests.
Landry made the announcement of no charges against the officers at a news conference after meeting with family members of Sterling. Relatives and their lawyers angrily denounced the decision.
Quinyetta McMillon, the mother of one of Sterling’s children, Cameron, said the officers killed Sterling “in cold blood.”