Bomb explodes outside US Embassy in Beijing, suspect injured: report

An explosion was reported on Thursday outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing's Chaoyang District.  (Associated Press)

A small bomb was detonated outside the U.S. Embassy compound in Beijing on Thursday, the embassy told The Wall Street Journal.
The bomber, a 26-year-old man identified only by his surname, Jiang, injured his hand when the homemade firework device exploded, Chinese police said in a statement. No one else was reported injured.
Police said Jiang was from the city of Tongliao in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia.
An embassy spokesperson told the AP that Jiang was the only person involved, and that no embassy property had been damaged.
Officials have not released a motive for the incident as they continue their investigation.
Bystanders shared video of the aftermath on social media, showing images of smoke unfurling in the street and what appeared to be police vehicles surrounding the building in the city's Chaoyang District.
The blast occurred around 1 p.m. local time and could be heard from blocks away, The New York Times reported.
Witnesses told Reuters they felt tremors, and later saw police examining a vehicle outside the compound.
Neither the police nor the embassy have commented on a report by ruling Communist Party newspaper Global Times that said police "took away a woman spraying gasoline on herself in suspected attempt at self-immolation" at around 11 a.m.
China and the U.S. are in the middle of a trade dispute.

Lawyer Michael Cohen Cartoons

Trump-backed Brian Kemp defeats NRA-endorsed Casey Cagle in wild Georgia gubernatorial runoff

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp has won a bruising Republican runoff in the state's race for governor, leveraging a damning secret audio recording of his opponent and a last-minute Trump-Pence endorsement.
With Tuesday's win against Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, Kemp faces Democrat Stacey Abrams. She could become the country's first black woman governor.

Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who secured Trump's endorsement, won in a primary runoff Tuesday against NRA-backed Lt. Gov Casey Cagle.  (AP)

The race will test Democrats' assertion that changing demographics have turned the Republican stronghold into a swing state. Cagle's campaign was rocked by a secret recording in which he says he helped pass a "bad public-policy" bill for political gain.
In another recording, Cagle allegedly offers to help pay off former gubernatorial candidate Clay Tippins' $300,000 in campaign debt in exchange for an endorsement.
“I’m well aware that we walked away from $300,000,” Tippins said. “It’s the best $300,000 we’ve ever walked away from."
Cagle denied the allegations, saying he never offered a bribe for any reason and saying he was tiring of "antics" in the race.
After conceding the GOP runoff to Kemp on Tuesday, Cagle told supporters that Kemp was "undeniably ready to lead this state." The praise was a swift reversal after a nine-week runoff that saw Cagle and Kemp attack each other on multiple fronts.
Gov. Nathan Deal and the National Rifle Association had supported Cagle. But Kemp was boosted by the president's endorsement.
Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Kemp called Trump's endorsement on Wednesday "huge," and compared it to "pouring gasoline on a fire."
Kemp, who has called himself a "politically incorrect conservative," made headlines in May for running an advertisement boasting that he has a pick-up truck "in case I need to round up criminal illegals."
WHO ARE KEMP AND CAGLE? A CLOSER LOOK AT THE CANDIDATES
And in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Cagle acknowledged the significance of Trump's endorsement, but touted Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal's support for his candidacy.
"We have two gold-star endorsements: one is President Trump, and the other is Gov. Deal," Cagle said. "And Gov. Deal knows this state, and I have partnered with him to create the number-one state to do business in, the historic job numbers and the historic tax cut, as well."
Georgia, long a deep-red state whose changing demographics may make it a swing state in coming elections, went for Trump by less than six percentage points in 2016.
Georgia's potential evolution toward swing-state status comes at a critical time for Democrats. Gains in coastal and Sunbelt states — Virginia, North Carolina and potentially Arizona — could offset growing challenges for the party in the upper Midwest, where Trump shocked many Democrats in 2016 by sweeping a band of states that Hillary Clinton's campaign had considered a "blue wall."
"This is a light-red state," GOP pollster Mark Rountree said. "I don't think Georgia will be a national afterthought for either side anymore" regardless of what happens in November, Rountree adds.

Republican challenger pulls even with anti-Trump Democrat in solid-blue Oregon's governor's race: poll

Republican state Rep. Knute Buehler is waging a serious challenge to incumbent Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, with both candidates getting support from 45 percent of likely voters, the latest poll shows.  (Facebook)

If there's a "blue wave" coming in 2018, someone may have forgotten to tell Oregon's voters. A Republican challenger has pulled even with blue state Oregon's Democratic incumbent governor, according to a new poll.
The news comes as a surprise in a state that hasn’t seen a Republican governor since late 1980s, sparking fears of the end of Democratic Party’s total domination of the state.
The poll indicates that Republican state Rep. Knute Buehler is waging a serious challenge to Gov. Kate Brown, a vocal critic of President Trump, with both candidates getting support from 45 percent of likely voters, the Oregonian reported.

January 9, 2017: Oregon Gov. Kate Brown delivers her inaugural speech in the Capitol House chambers in Salem, Ore.  (AP)

Oregon is considered a solid blue state, with Democrats controlling both the state House and Senate, while Brown has been the governor since 2015.
The poll, conducted by Florida-based Gravis Marketing, invigorated the race overnight, though Democrats began questioning its validity.
“It's hard to understand how this is a reputable piece of public opinion research,” Brown’s campaign spokesman, Christian Gaston, told the Oregonian.

"It's a bit surprising to see a Democratic statewide candidate in Oregon have such weak numbers, but (Brown) does."
- John Horvick, DHM Research Vice President

But other pollsters in the state aren’t dismissing the poll showing the two candidates deadlocked in the race, saying Brown doesn’t have strong voter support.
“We've seen it pretty close, head-to-head, between Brown and Buehler,” John Horvick, vice president and political director of DHM Research in Portland, told the newspaper. "It's a bit surprising to see a Democratic statewide candidate in Oregon have such weak numbers, but (Brown) does.”
DHM Research’s previous poll in January indicated Brown was leading Buehler 46 percent to 29 percent.
The latest poll, showing Brown struggling against a Republican in a solid blue state, strikes at the core of Democrats’ messaging about the looming so-called “blue wave” in the upcoming midterm elections.
Buehler is running a campaign based strictly on statewide issues, avoiding any national politics distractions. His platform is moderate Republican, promising to “restore fiscal sanity” and not to impose new taxes, all while improving the state’s education system.
Brown, meanwhile, appears to stick to the Democratic Party’s efforts to gather support by pointing fingers at the White House in a bid to energize voters in a state where the overwhelming majority of voters supported Hillary Clinton for president in 2016.
Brown has since become a loud voice in national politics. She has repeatedly called out the Trump administration over issues of immigration and, more recently, criticized the selection of Judge Brett Kavanaugh as President Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court.
But attacks on Trump may not work against Buehler as he himself once condemned Trump. In 2015, before Trump became the Republican Party’s nominee for the president, Buehler called Trump “angry” and “self-absorbed” while urging voters to reject him in the state's GOP primary.
“For Republicans to win nationally and here in Oregon, we need a presidential nominee and GOP that is positive, inclusive and hopeful,” he said at the time.

Georgia lawmaker to resign after yelling racial slurs, dropping pants on Sacha Baron Cohen show

Rep. Jason Spencer announced his resignation Tuesday following backlash from his appearance in an episode of "Who Is America," starring Sacha Baron Cohen, on Sunday in which he dropped his pants and used racial slurs.  (Showtime via AP) 

 

A Georgia state lawmaker on Tuesday announced that he will resign just days after he appeared on an episode of Sacha Baron Cohen’s controversial new show, “Who is America?” in which he took off his pants and shouted racial slurs. 
Rep. Jason Spencer plans to step down from his post on July 31, the Georgia House speaker's office said.
Spencer faced backlash after he repeatedly yelled the N-Word and mimicked a Chinese tourist while taking a photo up the skirt of an actor pretending to be a Muslim woman during Sunday’s episode.
Cohen, who posed as an Israeli military expert, also had Spencer expose his backside in an exercise to ward off a potential terrorist, while shouting, “USA mother----r.”
Spencer is one of several public figures -- including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin -- who claimed to have been duped into participating in the Showtime program.
Spencer previously said he was tricked into doing the show because of his “fears that I would be attacked by someone” and that “they exploited my state of mind for profit and notoriety.”
“This media company’s deceptive and fraudulent behavior is exactly why President Donald Trump was elected,” Spencer said in a statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, while threatening to take legal action if the “fraudulently obtained footage of me is used by these Hollywood liberals to line their own pockets.”
Several Republican colleagues called for Spencer’s resignation following his “appalling and offensive” conduct on the show.
“There is no excuse for this type of behavior, ever, and I am saddened and disgusted by it,” Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, said in a tweet.
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who is running for governor, removed Spencer from his campaign’s list of endorsements, he announced on social media.
“Rep. Spencer's words and behavior are hurtful, insensitive, and completely unacceptable. At the very least, he should issue a public apology for this shameful incident,” Kemp said in a statement.

Giuliani slams 'outrageous' Cohen-Trump tape leak, claims recording ends at key point

Rudy Giuliani, the personal attorney for President Trump, told Fox News on Tuesday that it is 'outrageous' that an audio conversation between Trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen was leaked to the media and questioned why the recording ended at a key part in the conversation.
Giuliani told Laura Ingraham, host of “The Ingraham Angle,” that he found out the tape was leaked at 6 p.m. Tuesday. He said Trump's legal team listened numerous times to the tape and determined that the then-candidate told Cohen, “Don’t pay with cash.”
“Cohen then interrupts,” Giuliani said. “And says, “No, no, no, I got it.’ And then you hear — distinctly … if you’re careful and you slow (the tape) it down — ‘check.’ And then Cohen follows with ‘No, no, no,’ and then quickly cuts off the tape.”
Giuliani admitted that the audio was muffled, but said the rest of the recording -- had it not stopped -- would have been “exculpatory,” from the point of view from the president.
The former prosecutor said he spent about 4,000 hours listening to legal recordings in his career and he is confident that if the public listens to the tape three times, "it will become clear."
CNN on Tuesday played the secretly recorded audiotape from two months before the 2016 presidential election. The tape was provided to CNN by Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis.
Davis, 72, was a special counsel to President Bill Clinton and regularly appeared on television to defend the Democrat during his 1998 impeachment.
Davis said he will not give another original copy to any other network. He gave one copy to CNN, to defend his client, whom he said was “falsely accused.”

“The president does bring up cash, but he said, ‘Don’t pay with cash.’”
- Rudy Giuliani

The conversation between Trump and Cohen came weeks after the National Enquirer's parent company reached a $150,000 deal to pay former Playboy model Karen McDougal for her story of a 2006 affair, which it never published, a tabloid practice known as "catch and kill."
Trump denies the affair ever happened and his campaign had said he knew nothing about the payment.
Trump and Cohen appear to be discussing buying the rights to McDougal's story from the Enquirer's parent company.
Cohen can be heard on the tape saying that he needed to start a company "for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David," a possible reference to David Pecker, Trump's friend and president of the National Enquirer's parent company, American Media Inc.
When Cohen begins to discuss financing, Trump interrupts him and asks, "What financing?"
"We'll have to pay," Cohen responded.
The audio is muffled, but Trump can be heard saying "pay with cash," though it isn't clear if he is suggesting to pay with cash or not to pay with cash.
“The president does bring up cash,” Giuliani said. “But he said, ‘Don’t pay with cash.’”
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, posted on Twitter that the Cohen tape shows that Giuliani was "untruthful" when he said Trump didn't know about the payments. He said the move was "campaign motivated" and "regardless of cash or check, whole point of phony corp. was to hide campaign expenditure."

Russian Meddling Cartoons

Why do Democrats only care about Russian meddling when it comes to Trump?

Human rights groups say nearly 300 anti-government protesters have been killed after the government tried to scale back social security for Nicaraguans; national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports.
Americans are rightly upset over President Trump’s obsequiousness toward Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. The former KGB agent heads a gangster government, and Mr. Trump should have stood up to him.
On the other hand, Democrats’ moralizing Helsinki hysteria is phony. They’re upset with Mr. Putin’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election because Hillary Clinton lost. When it comes to Russian expansionism in the Western Hemisphere and the Kremlin’s abysmal human-rights record, the American left mostly looks the other way.
Democratic ballyhooing over Mr. Putin’s habit of jailing and sometimes killing his political and media opponents is especially rich. Russia’s longstanding ally Cuba has an even worse civil-liberties record. Yet when President Obama unconditionally reshaped U.S. policy to please Cuban dictator Raúl Castro, his party cheered. Mr. Obama even trotted off to a baseball game in Havana with the Cuban mob boss. Democrats cheered some more.
Advocates of the Obama Cuba policy argue that Havana poses no threat to U.S. interests. But if regional security, stability and economic growth matter, that is demonstrably false. Sixty years after Castro came to power, Cuba, with strong backing from the Kremlin, still underwrites tyranny in Central and South America.

Trump looking into revoking security clearances for Brennan, other top Obama officials

Press secretary Sarah Sanders accused former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director Michael Hayden, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice and former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe of having 'politicized' or 'monetized' their public service.
President Trump is looking into revoking the security clearances of several top Obama-era intelligence and law enforcement officials, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday, accusing them of having "politicized" or "monetized" their public service.
She made the announcement at Monday's press briefing, after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called on the president to specifically revoke Trump critic and former CIA Director John Brennan's clearance.
In an interview with Fox News' "The Story" Monday night, Paul told host Martha MacCallum that Brennan "should not get anywhere within 10,000 yards of the government. He should have a restraining order."
"John Brennan leaked information that almost cost the life of a double agent. ... He should have been fired for that. But he wasn’t fired by President Obama because I think he was a partisan," Paul said. "But now he’s a talking head on the outside, saying that basically President Trump should be executed – that’s what we do for treason. And so, yeah, I’m very concerned about him having privileges because of his past history."
Paul added that he would go "one step beyond" the White House and remove top-secret clearances from all retired CIA agents and officers "of any stripe."
Sanders said Trump is also looking into the clearances for other former officials and Trump critics, including former FBI Director James Comey; former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe; former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper; former National Security Adviser Susan Rice and former CIA Director Michael Hayden (who also worked under President George W. Bush).
Sanders said Trump is “exploring mechanisms” to remove the security clearances “because [the former officials] politicized and in some cases actually monetized their public service and their security clearances in making baseless accusations of improper contact with Russia.”
Sanders added that their clearances effectively give “inappropriate legitimacy to accusations with zero evidence.”
“When you have the highest level of security clearance … when you have the nation’s secrets at hand, and go out and make false [statements], the president feels that’s something to be very concerned with,” Sanders said.
However, McCabe spokesperson Melissa Schwartz said his security clearance had already been deactivated when he was fired.

President Trump is looking into revoking former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's security clearance, but McCabe's spokesman said that clearance had already been deactivated.  (AP)

"Andrew McCabe's security clearance was deactivated when he was terminated, according to what we were told was FBI policy. You would think the White House would check with the FBI before trying to throw shiny objects to the press corps...," Schwartz tweeted Monday.
Benjamin Wittes, a friend of Comey’s, tweeted Monday afternoon that he texted the former FBI director, who told him he doesn’t have a security clearance to revoke. However, clearances can remain automatically "active" for several years after an official departs government service.
The Justice Department Office of the Inspector General declined to comment on Wittes' claims.
When asked whether former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden might have their security clearances revoked, Sanders said she did not have any further information.
The topic came into the spotlight Monday morning, with Paul’s tweets against the former CIA director.
“Is John Brennan monetizing his security clearance? Is John Brennan making millions of dollars divulging secrets to the mainstream media with his attacks on @realDonaldTrump?” Paul tweeted early Monday.
Brennan joined NBC News and MSNBC in February as a contributor and senior national security and intelligence analyst.
Late Monday, Nick Shapiro, a former CIA Deputy Chief of Staff under Brennan, said: "John Brennan hasn't made one penny off of his clearance. Not one thing he has done for remuneration since leaving the government has been contingent on him having a security clearance.
"One doesn't need a security clearance to speak out against the failings of Trump," Shapiro added. "This is a political attack on career national security officials who have honorably served their country for decades under both [Republicans] & [Democrats] in an effort to distract from [Special Counsel Robert] Mueller's investigation."
Congressional Republicans are pushing for Brennan to testify on Capitol Hill regarding the investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign associates in the 2016 presidential election.
The former CIA director has been a consistent and harsh critic of the president, blasting his performance with Putin in Helsinki as “nothing short of treasonous.”
But Brennan is not the only former intelligence official to take to the media world. In April, Comey began a media blitz promoting his new memoir, “A Higher Loyalty,” while Hayden and Rice also frequently make media appearances.
On Twitter, just minutes after the announcement from the White House briefing, Hayden responded in a tweet to several journalists that a loss of security clearance would not have an "effect" on him.
"I don't go back for classified briefings. Won't have any effect on what I say or write," Hayden tweeted.

Waiter made up story about 'racist' tipper: restaurant

A Texas waiter reportedly cooked up a hoax when he claimed a racist patron stiffed him and wrote “We don’t tip terrorist” on their bill.  (Facebook)

A Texas restaurant server cooked up a steaming-hot hoax when he claimed a racist patron stiffed him and wrote “We don’t tip terrorist” on their bill, according to a new report.
“After further investigation, we have learned that our employee fabricated the entire story,” Saltgrass Steak House COO Terry Turney said Monday in a statement to the Odessa American newspaper.
“The customer has been contacted and invited back to our restaurant to dine on us. Racism of any form is intolerable, and we will always act swiftly should it occur in any of our establishments. Falsely accusing someone of racism is equaling disturbing.”
Waiter Khalil Cavil, 20, who is black, had claimed the patron stiffed him on a $108 meal and instead wrote the hateful message.
Saltgrass officials said Cavil no longer works at the restaurant, but did not reveal how they determined it was a hoax.