Trump warns of ‘violence’ if Republicans lose fall elections
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump urged evangelical leaders this week to get out the vote ahead of the upcoming midterm elections and warned of “violence” by opponents if they fail.
Trump made the dire warning at a White House dinner Monday evening attended by dozens of conservative Christian pastors, ministers and supporters of his administration.
Trump was stressing the stakes in November when he warned that, if Democrats win, they “will overturn everything that we’ve done and they’ll do it quickly and violently,” according to attendees and audio of his closed-door remarks obtained by media outlets, including The New York Times. He specifically mentioned self-described antifa, or anti-fascist groups, describing them as “violent people.”
Asked Wednesday what he meant, Trump told reporters, “I just hope there won’t be violence.”
“If you look at what happens … there’s a lot of unnecessary violence all over the world, but also in this country. And I don’t want to see it,” Trump said.
UN: Ortega’s Nicaraguan govt behind widespread repression
MEXICO CITY — A United Nations report released Wednesday on four months of unrest in Nicaragua describes a comprehensive effort of repression by the government that extends from the streets to the courts.
The report by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights calls on the government of President Daniel Ortega to immediately halt the persecution of protesters and disarm the masked civilians who have been responsible for many of the killings and arbitrary detentions.
More than 300 people have been killed in violence since mid-April in this Central American nation. Neighboring Costa Rica has been flooded with thousands of requests for asylum by people fleeing Nicaragua.
The report describes illegal arrests, torture and closed trials. Doctors, professors and judges who have spoken out or protested have been dismissed from their jobs to discourage people from participating in or supporting the protests.
“The level of persecution is such that many of those who have participated in the protests, defended the rights of the protesters, or simply expressed dissenting opinion, have been forced to hide, have left Nicaragua or are trying to do so,” according to the U.N. report.
Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the U.N. human rights chief, told reporters in Geneva that “repression and retaliation against demonstrators continue in Nicaragua as the world looks away.”
Kanye West apologizes for saying slavery was ‘a choice’
Kanye West apologized Wednesday on a Chicago radio station for calling slavery a “choice,” and he broke down on air over an old friend.
“I don’t know if I properly apologized for how that slave comment made people feel, so I want to take this moment right now to say that I’m sorry for hurting, I’m sorry for the one-two effect of the MAGA hat into the slave comment,” West told 107.5 WGCI radio in his hometown.
“And I’m sorry for people who felt let down by that moment, and also I appreciate you guys giving me the opportunity to talk to you about the way I was thinking and what I was going through and what led me to that,” he said.
West also addressed a question that left him speechless on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” about why he thinks President Donald Trump cares about black people. He later tweeted he wasn’t stumped by the question and didn’t much appreciate how the show cut awkwardly to a commercial break after his extra-long pause. He said he was just carefully considering his answer.
White ex-Texas cop gets 15 years in black teenager’s death
DALLAS — A white former police officer was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday night, after being convicted of murdering an unarmed 15-year-old boy when he fired into a car packed with black teenagers leaving a house party in suburban Dallas.
Roy Oliver, who faced up to life in prison, was sentenced one day after being convicted in the 2017 death of Jordan Edwards. The verdict marked an extremely rare murder conviction for shootings involving on-duty police officers. His lawyers are expected to appeal.
Oliver was a police officer in Balch Springs when he and his partner responded to reports of underage drinking at the party. Oliver fired into a car carrying Edwards and his friends, later saying he feared the vehicle was moving toward and endangering his partner . Edwards, who was in the front passenger seat, was shot.
Police initially said the vehicle backed up toward officers “in an aggressive manner,” but later admitted that bodycam video showed the vehicle was moving forward as officers approached. Oliver’s partner told jurors he didn’t believe his life was ever in danger.
Investigators said no guns were found in the vehicle. Oliver was fired from the Balch Springs Police Department days after the shooting.
Dad, partner plead not guilty in toddler’s compound death
TAOS, N.M. — The father of a 3-year-old boy found dead in a filthy New Mexico compound and his partner pleaded not guilty Wednesday to new charges of child abuse resulting in death after lesser charges were dismissed against them and other members of their extended family as the result of a deadline missed by prosecutors.
The dead boy’s father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, and his partner Jany Leveille remained silent as pleas were entered by a judge on their behalf. The charges could carry life sentences in the death of Abdul-ghani Wahhaj.
Their pleas came after a judge dismissed child neglect charges filed against them earlier this month. Another judge made the same decision involving three other defendants earlier in the day.
District Judge Jeff McElroy criticized the office of Taos District Attorney Donald Gallegos for how the charges have been handled, citing a “complete failure to follow procedures in prosecuting the case.” Defense attorneys had pointed out that prosecutors failed to schedule a preliminary hearing within 10 days of the arrests.
“It’s difficult I’m sure for the public to understand why this has to happen this way,” he said. “It’s not the court making this decision, it’s the decision of the district attorney to not seek a hearing in the time required by the rule.”
CNN stands by story about whether Trump knew of meeting
NEW YORK — Despite a key source backing off his assertion, CNN is sticking by a story casting doubt on President Donald Trump’s claim that he did not have prior knowledge of a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer to get damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
CNN said it had more than one source for its story, co-authored by Jim Sciutto and Watergate legend Carl Bernstein.
CNN’s story, written on July 27, said that Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen was willing to say that he heard Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., tell his father about the Russians’ offer to share material about Clinton, his Democratic rival for the presidency. It also said that Trump gave the go-ahead to take the meeting at Trump Tower. If true, that would contradict what Trump and representatives have long said, that he didn’t know about the meeting until long after it happened.
Such information would be of great interest to special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 American presidential campaign.
