Sunday, July 2, 2017
Pentagon sails destroyer near disputed island in South China Sea, officials say
For the second time since President Trump took
office, the Pentagon dispatched a U.S. Navy warship to sail near a
disputed island claimed by China in the South China Sea, two U.S.
defense officials told Fox News.
The USS Stethem, a guided-missile destroyer based in Japan, sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island, which is part of the Paracel Islands located in the South China Sea between China and Vietnam.
The destroyer was trailed by a Chinese warship during its Sunday voyage.
While occupied by China, Vietnam and Taiwan also lay claim to the island. A defense official said the operation challenged Vietnam and Taiwan's claims to Triton Island in addition to China.
Twelve nautical miles is the territorial boundary that extends beyond the shores of all nations, sailing inside that distance sends a signal the United States does not recognize the claim.
The move comes as the Trump administration appears to be losing patience with Beijing over its continued military build-up in the South China Sea. The U.S. has been frustrated with Beijing’s failure to reign in North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
Triton Island is not one of China's seven artificial islands in the region. It has been constructed in the past few years. The U.S. Navy last sailed a warship off the coast of Triton Island in October. The Obama administration conducted similar operations.
The Pentagon wants to conduct what it calls "freedom of navigation" operations, or FONOPS, to challenge China's claims with enough frequency in the hopes they become more routine and not as newsworthy, according to an official with knowledge of the discussions.
Lt. Cmdr. Matt Knight, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, would not confirm the operation but said in a statement to Fox News, "We conduct routine and regular FONOPs, as we have done in the past and will continue to do in the future."
In late May, another guided-missile destroyer, USS Dewey, sailed approximately six miles from one of China's man-made islands in the South China Sea, a first for the Pentagon since Trump assumed office. The American warship conducted a "man-overboard" drill off the coast of Mischief Reef sending a signal to Beijing that the United States does not honor its claim to the reef--one of seven former reefs China has turned into artificial islands. Three contain runways and other military fortifications.
"Fake islands should not be believed by real people," said the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, in a speech Wednesday in Brisbane, where the United States is participating in the largest ever joint military exercise with Australia, aimed in part to send a message to Beijing.
"China is using its military and economic power to erode the rules-based international order," Harris added.
Friday, new satellite imagery published by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) part of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think-tank showed new military facilities including radar systems being installed on Mischief, Fiery Cross and Subi Reefs in the Spratly Islands located south of the Parcel Islands in the South China Sea.
While U.S. officials had seen the build-up for months, they are more concerned about the potential for China to place advanced surface-to-air missiles on the artificial islands, which could challenge U.S. military flights in the region. Fox News first reported in December that China moved SA-21 missile batteries with a 250-mile range to the island province of Hainan for training, which could be sent to the artificial islands at a later date. For the time being, they remain inside China.
The last time the U.S. Navy challenged China's claims in the South China Sea, the Trump administration pushed back on accusations it was turning a blind eye to China's military build-up on its artificial islands, while looking for Beijing to help with negotiations to halt North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs.
"While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!" Trump said in a tweet last month.
On Friday, the Trump administration unveiled new sanctions against a Chinese bank linked to North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs, a day after announcing a new $1.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan.
Announcing the sanctions, Treasury Secretary Steve Munchin said the move was not in retribution for Beijing failing to rein in North Korea. "This is not directed at China, this is directed at a bank, as well as individuals and entities in China," he said.
China is sending messages of its own.
As Beijing marked the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover from British rule this weekend, President Xi Jinping presided over the largest military parade ever held in the territory. Standing in the back of a jeep, Xi was driven past more than 3,000 assembled troops in formation in a show of strength.
On Wednesday, China launched the first of its newest class of destroyer called the Type 055, which many analysts say resembles the size and capability of the U.S. Navy's Arleigh-Burke class of guided-missile destroyers, like the one which conducted the operation near the contested Chinese island this weekend.
According to the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), China has 183 cruisers, destroyers, coastal ships and submarines compared wth 188 for the U.S. Navy. CNAS projected in a March report that China will surpass the United States Navy in these types of warships by the end of the next decade, one of the reasons the U.S. Navy has requested a buildup to a 350-ship fleet, a view shared by many in Congress.
China claims most of the South China Sea where more than $5 trillion of commerce passes through each year.
Last week, the U.S. State Department called out China for being one of the worst human trafficking offenders--dropping Beijing to its lowest designation joining Iran, North Korea and Russia. The report said China had done little to stop what has amounted to modern slavery and sex trafficking affecting millions.
Lucas Tomlinson is the Pentagon and State Department producer for Fox News Channel. You can follow him on Twitter: @LucasFoxNews
The USS Stethem, a guided-missile destroyer based in Japan, sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island, which is part of the Paracel Islands located in the South China Sea between China and Vietnam.
The destroyer was trailed by a Chinese warship during its Sunday voyage.
While occupied by China, Vietnam and Taiwan also lay claim to the island. A defense official said the operation challenged Vietnam and Taiwan's claims to Triton Island in addition to China.
Twelve nautical miles is the territorial boundary that extends beyond the shores of all nations, sailing inside that distance sends a signal the United States does not recognize the claim.
The move comes as the Trump administration appears to be losing patience with Beijing over its continued military build-up in the South China Sea. The U.S. has been frustrated with Beijing’s failure to reign in North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
Triton Island is not one of China's seven artificial islands in the region. It has been constructed in the past few years. The U.S. Navy last sailed a warship off the coast of Triton Island in October. The Obama administration conducted similar operations.
The Pentagon wants to conduct what it calls "freedom of navigation" operations, or FONOPS, to challenge China's claims with enough frequency in the hopes they become more routine and not as newsworthy, according to an official with knowledge of the discussions.
Lt. Cmdr. Matt Knight, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, would not confirm the operation but said in a statement to Fox News, "We conduct routine and regular FONOPs, as we have done in the past and will continue to do in the future."
In late May, another guided-missile destroyer, USS Dewey, sailed approximately six miles from one of China's man-made islands in the South China Sea, a first for the Pentagon since Trump assumed office. The American warship conducted a "man-overboard" drill off the coast of Mischief Reef sending a signal to Beijing that the United States does not honor its claim to the reef--one of seven former reefs China has turned into artificial islands. Three contain runways and other military fortifications.
"Fake islands should not be believed by real people," said the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, in a speech Wednesday in Brisbane, where the United States is participating in the largest ever joint military exercise with Australia, aimed in part to send a message to Beijing.
"China is using its military and economic power to erode the rules-based international order," Harris added.
Friday, new satellite imagery published by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) part of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think-tank showed new military facilities including radar systems being installed on Mischief, Fiery Cross and Subi Reefs in the Spratly Islands located south of the Parcel Islands in the South China Sea.
While U.S. officials had seen the build-up for months, they are more concerned about the potential for China to place advanced surface-to-air missiles on the artificial islands, which could challenge U.S. military flights in the region. Fox News first reported in December that China moved SA-21 missile batteries with a 250-mile range to the island province of Hainan for training, which could be sent to the artificial islands at a later date. For the time being, they remain inside China.
The last time the U.S. Navy challenged China's claims in the South China Sea, the Trump administration pushed back on accusations it was turning a blind eye to China's military build-up on its artificial islands, while looking for Beijing to help with negotiations to halt North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs.
"While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!" Trump said in a tweet last month.
On Friday, the Trump administration unveiled new sanctions against a Chinese bank linked to North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs, a day after announcing a new $1.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan.
Announcing the sanctions, Treasury Secretary Steve Munchin said the move was not in retribution for Beijing failing to rein in North Korea. "This is not directed at China, this is directed at a bank, as well as individuals and entities in China," he said.
China is sending messages of its own.
As Beijing marked the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover from British rule this weekend, President Xi Jinping presided over the largest military parade ever held in the territory. Standing in the back of a jeep, Xi was driven past more than 3,000 assembled troops in formation in a show of strength.
On Wednesday, China launched the first of its newest class of destroyer called the Type 055, which many analysts say resembles the size and capability of the U.S. Navy's Arleigh-Burke class of guided-missile destroyers, like the one which conducted the operation near the contested Chinese island this weekend.
According to the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), China has 183 cruisers, destroyers, coastal ships and submarines compared wth 188 for the U.S. Navy. CNAS projected in a March report that China will surpass the United States Navy in these types of warships by the end of the next decade, one of the reasons the U.S. Navy has requested a buildup to a 350-ship fleet, a view shared by many in Congress.
China claims most of the South China Sea where more than $5 trillion of commerce passes through each year.
Last week, the U.S. State Department called out China for being one of the worst human trafficking offenders--dropping Beijing to its lowest designation joining Iran, North Korea and Russia. The report said China had done little to stop what has amounted to modern slavery and sex trafficking affecting millions.
Lucas Tomlinson is the Pentagon and State Department producer for Fox News Channel. You can follow him on Twitter: @LucasFoxNews
McConnell rejects Trump's advice to repeal ObamaCare now, replace later
McConnell |
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is rejecting President Trump's suggestion on how the Senate could promptly pass its ObamaCare overhaul measure -- by immediately repealing the 2010 heath care law and replacing it later.
The Kentucky Republican said Friday night that the bill, which includes significant and complex changes to ObamaCare, remains challenging but "we are going to stick with that path."
He also riffed on Trump’s winning campaign slogan, saying, "It's not easy making America great again, is it?"
McConnell, the leader of GOP-controlled Senate, responded to Trump tweeting earlier in the day: “If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date!”
Trump is trying to revive an approach that GOP leaders and the president himself considered but dismissed months ago as impractical and politically unwise.
The Senate introduced its bill about two weeks ago but left Washington for July 4 recess without enough support from the chamber’s 52 GOP senators to pass the measure. McConnell will need support from at least 50 of them because the bill has no support among Senate Democrats.
The GOP-controlled House passed its ObamaCare overhaul bill earlier this month.
McConnell's is struggling to bridge the divide between moderates and conservatives.
The president also tweeted his message shortly after Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse appeared on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" to talk about a letter he had sent to Trump making that exact suggestion: a vote on repealing former President Barack Obama's health law followed by a new effort at a working out a replacement.
Trump is a known "Fox & Friends" viewer, but Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., also claimed credit for recommending the tactic to the president in a conversation earlier in the week.
"Sen. Rand Paul suggested this very idea to the president," said Paul spokesman Sergio Gor. "The senator fully agrees that we must immediately repeal Obamacare and then work on replacing it right away."
Either way, Trump's suggestion has the potential to harden divisions within the GOP as conservatives like Paul and Sasse complain that McConnell's bill does not go far enough in repealing former President Barack Obama's health care law while moderates criticize it as overly harsh in kicking people off insurance rolls, shrinking the Medicaid safety net and increasing premiums for older Americans.
McConnell has been trying to strike deals with members of both factions in order to finalize a rewritten bill lawmakers can vote on when they return to the Capitol the second week of July.
Even before Trump was inaugurated in January, Republicans had debated and ultimately discarded the idea of repealing the overhaul before replacing it, concluding that both must happen simultaneously. Doing otherwise would invite accusations that Republicans were simply tossing people off coverage and would roil insurance markets by raising the question of whether, when and how Congress might replace Obama's law once it was gone.
The idea also would leave unresolved the quandary lawmakers are struggling with now, about how to replace Obama's system of online insurance markets, tax subsidies and an expanded Medicaid with something that could get enough Republican votes to pass Congress. House Republicans barely passed their version of a replacement bill in May, and the task is proving even tougher in the Senate, where McConnell has almost no margin for error.
Moderates were spooked as the week began with a Congressional Budget Office finding that McConnell's draft bill would result in 22 million people losing insurance over the next decade, only 1 million fewer than under the House-passed legislation which Trump privately told senators was "mean." But conservatives continue to insist that the bill must go further than just repealing some of the mandates and taxes in Obama's law.
Underscoring the fissures within the GOP, conservative group leaders on that call welcomed Trump's suggestion but said it didn't go far enough because it could open the door to a subsequent bipartisan compromise to replace Obama's law. At the same time, a key House Republican, Rep. Kevin Brady, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, rejected Trump's suggestion, contending that it "doesn't achieve what President Trump set out to do."
President Trump: CNN is Garbage Journalism
July 1, 2017
OAN Newsroom
President Trump blasts CNN as ‘garbage journalism.’
He made the comments Saturday on Twitter, saying he’s ‘extremely pleased’ the network has been exposed.
The President’s remarks come after the cable network retracted a story which linked a Trump transition aide to the executive of a Russian investment fund.
CNN fired several reporters involved in the story, saying it did not fit its editorial standards.
The President also continued to blast MSNBC’s Morning Joe show, saying its hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski are not ‘bad people’, but their show is dominated by their bosses.
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski |
President Trump Honors Veterans in D.C.
President Donald Trump speaks during the Celebrate Freedom event at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Saturday, July 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) |
July 1, 2017
OAN Newsroom
President Trump honors the nations’ veterans at the Celebrate Freedom rally in Washington D.C.
During the ceremony, President Trump highlighted the newly signed Veteran’s Accountability Act, which gives the government the ability to fire workers who don’t pull their weight at the VA.
The President also talked about how his administration is trying to improve services for those who have fought for America, and said the forgotten men and women of this country will never be forgotten again.
“I will never stop fighting for you. I am delivering on trade, on the economy, on the Supreme Court, on the Second Amendment, on our military, for our veterans and on our borders,” he said.
President Trump then shared stories of bravery from our nation’s veterans, praising them for fighting for our freedom and saying they are the true example of American values.
The commander-in-chief also talked about religious freedom, and ended his speech by saying that if we have pride in our beliefs and faith in our god, we will not fail.
Comments from America:
I
am starting to think that Trump is the perfect President for our time.
He honors ALL Americans who sacrificed for our country. He is humble
before God. At 70 years old, he gave up an easy life as a
multi-billionaire to work his ass off and kick ass to help this country.
He is God's miracle for all who have prayed for this country. His election victory from being so down in EVERY poll on election eve is nothing less than God's will.
Think about it.
billwhit MrReality • 2 hours ago
He is God's miracle for all who have prayed for this country. His election victory from being so down in EVERY poll on election eve is nothing less than God's will.
Think about it.
I
have always said that God put him in the Oval Office, not the voters.
Democrats are feeling God's Wrath, for mocking HIM in 2012. I remember
watching them on TV, at the DNC, taking the vote to kick God out of the
Platform of their Party, and could not believe it. I knew right then,
God would punish these godless Democrats, and they have been losing
every time they turn around today. Something like 3000 Democratic loses
all over America, State and Federal, I read not long ago. Yes, God's
hand is against his Enemies, as it should be. Sad thing is, the
Democrats are too blind to realize it.
Ginette • 8 hours ago
Thank you for honoring our Vets President Trump and for making THIS 4th of July celebration the best ever. MAGA
wildfire1944 • 7 hours ago
After
8 years of hate and divisiveness from obuttflosser and killery it is so
refreshing to be treated this way. Thank you President Trump !
newsflash • 7 hours ago
Mr
President, thank you for honoring our Vets! After 8 long years of
misery under that milksop Obama, your sincerity, honesty and love for
America is INVIGORATING!! Here's to the best 4th of July yet!
Saturday, July 1, 2017
WATCH: Part 3 – Project Veritas Exposes CNN ‘Fake News’
Project Veritas continues its push to expose fake news in the mainstream media, releasing part three of its undercover look at CNN.
We brought you parts one and two earlier this week, which exposed a CNN producer and political commentator pushing false stories about President Trump and Russia.
On Thursday, Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe tracked down CNN President Jeff Zucker for a comment on these telling video’s.
Instead of responding, Zucker runs from O’Keefe.
Now we want to bring you part three of the series.
We would like to thank its founder James O’Keefe and the entire Project Veritas team for providing OANN with the undercover report.
Check it out.
Trump's 'feds' now in Chicago to fight gun violence 'epidemic'
Months after taking to Twitter to say he would send in "the Feds" to help reduce Chicago's murder rate, President Trump's administration has sent in agents to combat the ongoing violence.
The Chicago Sun-Times first reported that about 20 additional agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have been sent to the city.
Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions confirmed Friday that the federal government is sending help, while decrying the crime epidemic on the city's streets.
"Crime and killings in Chicago have reached such epidemic proportions that I am sending in Federal help. 1714 shootings in Chicago this year!" Trump tweeted.
Sessions also told "Fox & Friends" that his department is assisting.
“We’ll have an impact in reducing shootings in Chicago,” he said, while saying police there are “demoralized” and city policies are not working.
“Murders are way, way too high,” he said.
Sessions subsequently released a written statement saying the administration has created the Chicago Gun Strike Force and is sending “20 more permanent ATF agents to Chicago, reallocating federal prosecutors and prioritizing prosecutions to reduce gun violence” and working with law enforcement partners.
“The Trump Administration will not let the bloodshed go on; we cannot accept these levels of violence,” he said.
Shortly after his inauguration, Trump tweeted "If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!"
HOW COULD TRUMP 'SEND IN THE FEDS' TO CHICAGO?
The new set of agents will work with counterparts from the Chicago Police Department and Illinois State Police on a strike force to solve shootings and arrest gun traffickers, according to the Sun-Times.
Included in the strike force are prosecutors from the U.S. attorney's office and Cook County state's attorney's office, the Sun-Times reports, who will decided whether suspects in gun crime should be charged in state of federal court
“The goal is the prosecute as many of these guys as possible federally where they will serve longer prison terms,” Anthony Riccio, head of the Chicago Police Department’s organized crime unit, told the newspaper.
Trump has previously voiced concern about violence in Chicago. Earlier in January, he posted, “If Mayor can’t do it he must ask for Federal help!”
Chicago Mayor Rahm EmanuelThis is the same dimocrat that has been giving the POTUS trouble since he became president. |
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