Pres. Trump defends Pompeo: relations with Saudi Arabia good for jobs, oil

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gestures while speaking during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 8:55 AM PT – Thur. Nov. 22, 2018

President Trump tweets out in support Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, after he suggested the U.S. get tougher on Saudi Arabia.
In a tweet Thursday, the president quoted Pompeo saying maintaining relations with Saudi Arabia was ‘vital to national security.’
However, the secretary of state also said it was the president’s obligation to adopt policies that further America’s security interests.
President Trump applauded Pompeo’s stance saying he agrees 100%, adding that retaining working relations with Saudi Arabia is good for American jobs and oil.

“It’s a mean & nasty world out there, the Middle East in particular. This is a long and historic commitment, & one that is absolutely vital to America’s national security.” @SecPompeo I agree 100%. In addition, many Billions of Dollars of purchases made in U.S., big Jobs & Oil!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2018

Secretary Mattis addresses White House order to protect Border Patrol

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis waits outside for Chinese Minister of Defense General Wei Fenghe to begin an arrival ceremony at the Pentagon, Friday, Nov. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 8:00 AM PT – Thur. Nov. 22, 2018

Defense Secretary James Mattis speaks out on the presence of troops at the Southern border in the wake of the White House’s authorization of lethal force.
On Wednesday Mattis said President Trump saw ‘the need’ to back up Border Patrol and indicated the military is ‘sizing up’ the additional measures authorized.
He also estimated more than 5,700 federal troops are committed to the mission on the border right now.
Mattis asserted the president’s concern for the safety of Border Patrol personnel is valid.

“You saw were six Mexican policemen were injured according to The New York Times. I think it’s an accurate report. This down the Guatemalan border. So it is not an unreasonable concern on the part of the president that we may have to back up Border Patrol.” – Defense Secretary James Mattis

He went on to suggest the crowd control barriers and barbed wire implemented at the border are partly aimed at protecting Border Patrol.

Trump and Melania host Thanksgiving dinner at Mar-a-Lago

President Donald Trump, center, and first lady Melania Trump, right, sit with their family as they have Thanksgiving Day dinner at their Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018. Ivanka Trump, left, and Barron Trump, second from left, attend.  (AP)

President Trump was joined by his family as he hosted a Thanksgiving dinner Thursday at the “winter White House” – his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Items on the menu included a carving station with turkey and all the trimmings, as well as beef tenderloin, lamb and salmon.
There was also Chilean Sea bass, Red Snapper, Braised short ribs and sides including whipped potatoes, sweet potatoes and traditional stuffing.
TRUMP THREATENS TO SHUT DOWN 'WHOLE BORDER' WITH MEXICO IF IMMIGRATION BECOMES 'UNCONTROLLABLE'
The White House’s pool reporter said romaine lettuce was not used in any dish. At least 32 people have gotten sick as a result of an E.coli outbreak believed to be connected to romaine, according to the FDA.

Ivanka Trump talks with her kids as she has Thanksgiving Day dinner at their Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018, with President Donald Trump, left, and sister Tiffany Trump, background left. (AP)

Trump could be seen enjoying dinner, flanked by his wife Melania and son Barron, aged 12. He was also joined by his oldest daughter Ivanka and her family, his younger daughter Tiffany, and his son Eric and his wife Lara. His oldest son Donald Jr. was not present.
He arrived at the Palm Beach club on Tuesday night, where he has been mixing business with pleasure. On Wednesday he played a “quick round” of golf with Jack Nicklaus, his son Gary and grandson G.T.
TRUMP CONTINUES WAR OF WORDS WITH CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS
But he was active on Thursday, speaking to reporters about the U.S. border with Mexico, where he threatened to close it for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines its southern neighbor has lost “control” on its side.

President Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up as he has Thanksgiving Day dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday (AP)

Trump said that if U.S. officials "find that it's uncontrollable, if we find that it gets to a level where we are going to lose control or where people are going to start getting hurt, we will close entry into the country for a period of time until we can get it under control. The whole border."
He also held a Thanksgiving Day conference call with members of all five branches of the military to thank them for their service and check in on the status of their mission.
Speaking over the phone, he told members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard that he and First Lady Melania Trump wanted to express their "profound gratitude."
“Your courage truly inspires us,” Trump said.
He also visited the Coast Guard Station Lake Worth in Riviera Beach, where he shook hands and posed for photos with Coast Guard members.

Small group breaks from caravan, within 500 feet of US border, report says

A group of about 150 migrants carrying white flags that read, "La paz y Dios," or "Peace and God are With Us," separated from the larger caravan near Southern California and inched within 500 feet of the U.S., a report Thursday said.
The migrants said they are carrying the white flags to show that they are peaceful, and will attempt to present themselves as asylum seekers near Baja, Calif., The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
President Trump on Thursday threatened to close the border with Mexico if his administration determines that Mexico has lost control of the situation. The Union-Tribune reported that Mexican federal police held a barrier near a pedestrian crossing and urged the migrants to apply for jobs in Tijuana. Police claimed there are thousands of jobs in the city. Federal police were dressed in riot gear and prevented the caravan from getting closer to the U.S.
Carlos Lopez, a Honduran who was leading the small group, told the paper that the conditions in Mexico are horrible. He said there are sick children and women and children are forced to remain outside in the elements. Those already in the city have camped out in tents, slept on dirt fields or under bleachers or are staying in overcrowded shelters throughout the city as they wait to figure out their next steps.
"The whole world is watching what is happening here," he said.
The report said the larger group contains about 6,219 Central Americans. The federal government estimates the number of migrants could grow to 10,000 in the coming weeks, or months. President Trump warned that the caravan is a national security threat and it will not enter the U.S.
On Monday, a judge barred the president from enforcing a ban on asylum for those who cross the U.S. border illegally – a decision the administration said would cause “countless illegal aliens to pour into our country."
The report said that the migrants who traveled for over a month can now see a bridge that separates them from the U.S.
Speaking to reporters while in Florida for the holiday, Trump threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines that its southern ally has lost "control" on its side.
Trump also said he has given the thousands of active-duty troops he sent to the border before the Nov. 6 midterm elections the "OK" to use lethal force against migrants "if they have to." And he said Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, whom he has faulted for not being tough enough on immigration, is "in there trying."

2018 Thanksgiving Turkey Cartoons

Americans travel across U.S. for Thanksgiving

Travelers check in for flights at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in New York. The airline industry trade group Airlines for America expects that Wednesday will be the second busiest day of the holiday period behind only Sunday, when many travelers will be returning home after Thanksgiving. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 8:35 AM PT — Wed. Nov. 21, 2018

Airlines and highways are now feeling the holiday travel spirit as Americans gear up to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Officials said the day before Thanksgiving will be the second busiest day to fly, behind the following Sunday, with an estimated 2.93 million passengers flying.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials are predicting a record number of air travelers this holiday season, with more than 25 million passengers nationwide going through security between November 16th through November 26th.
AAA expects over 54 million Americans to hit the roads and travel 50-miles or more for the holiday this year, which is a nearly five-percent increase from 2017.
“We’re seeing this is the busiest travel since 2005, more than 54 million people traveling, 85-percent of those — or 48 and a half million — will be driving to their destinations,” stated Robert Sinclair, spokesman for AAA. “People have more money in their pockets, household net worth is up, disposable is up, consumer confidence is up, and when we have a little time built into our schedules, we take advantage of it.”
Airlines for America said more Americans are traveling by air than ever due to historically low fares.

Pres. Trump applauds lower oil prices, thanks Saudi Arabia

President Donald Trump waves after speaking to the media before leaving the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. The president thanked Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018 for the lower oil prices. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

OAN Newsroom

UPDATED 11:18 a.m. PT – Wednesday Nov. 21, 2018

Pres. Trump applauds the low oil prices comparing it to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
On Twitter Wednesday the president thanked Saudi Arabia for the low oil prices, saying a barrel went from $82 to $54 and he wants to continue getting that price lower. He then said it’s like a big tax cut for America and the world.

Oil prices getting lower. Great! Like a big Tax Cut for America and the World. Enjoy! $54, was just $82. Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let’s go lower!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2018

The president’s tweet comes one day after he released a statement reaffirming the U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia.

Dual Saudi-American citizen imprisoned by Crown Prince remains detained

A dual Saudi-American citizen has been detained in Saudi Arabia for over a year after the country's crackdown on corruption and his status has raised new criticism of President Trump's reluctance to punish the kingdom over issues that do not directly affect American citizens.
The White House has been barraged with criticism over its stance towards Saudi Arabia in the wake of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post writer whose death in Turkey was allegedly ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The murder of the writer prompted outrage across the world, with some countries such as Germany ending its arms deal with Saudi Arabia. A U.S. official told The Associated Press that intelligence officials have concluded that bin Salman ordered the killing.
Trump fired back against the criticism that the U.S. isn’t doing enough, saying Khashoggi wasn’t an American citizen and it happened on Turkish soil. “Well, it's not our country. It's in Turkey. And it's not a citizen, as I understand it,” he said last month.
TRUMP UNSURE WHETHER SAUDI CROWN PRINCE KNEW OF KHASHOGGI MURDER: ‘MAYBE HE DID AND MAYBE HE DIDN’T!’

Walid Fitaihi, a Harvard-trained doctor, television host and motivational speaker was arrested last year together with 17 other people in what bin Salman touted as a crackdown on corruption. 

But as he made the comments, an American doctor was spending his days in prison as part of bin Salman’s purge of businessmen, princes, clerics, scholars and activists in a bid to consolidate power, the New York Times reported.
Walid Fitaihi, a Harvard-trained doctor, television host and motivational speaker was arrested last year together with 17 others in what bin Salman touted as a crackdown on corruption. The detained individuals reportedly underwent harsh treatment and abuse, with at least one person dying due to abuse in detention.
Unlike some other detainees, who managed to free themselves after pledging loyalty to the new Saudi leadership or paying money, Fitaihi was transferred to prison for incarceration despite not being formally charged with any crime.
Fitaihi obtained his American citizenship more than a decade ago when studying and practicing medicine in the U.S. He once was registered to vote in U.S. elections and moved back to Saudi Arabia sometime in 2006. Upon his return to Saudi Arabia, he founded a private hospital.
After the September 11, 2001 terror attack in the U.S., Fitaihi was quoted by the Denver Post condemning the attacks. “There are Muslims who died, Christians who died, Jews who died — it’s a crime against humanity,” he said. “It’s a test for us as a nation.”
In 2004, Fitaihi came under fire for revelations that he made anti-Semitic comments in Arabic newspapers, including calling Jews “perpetrators of the worst of evils” and to have said they control “the power of the media,” according to the Times.
CIA DETERMINES KHASHOGGI’S DEATH WAS ORDERED BY SAUDI CROWN PRINCE MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN: REPORT
The Trump administration has long sought to free imprisoned Americans across the world, taking harsh measures against hostile countries in an attempt to force their release.
Earlier this year, three Americans were freed from North Korea who were accused of hostile acts against the communist state. The President also campaigned to bring back American college student Otto Warmbier, who suffered brain damage and died after being held captive in North Korea for 15 months after an ill-fated trip to the country in 2015. More recently, Trump imposed trade sanctions on Turkey, forcing the release of Pastor Andrew Brunson.
But it appears the Trump administration hasn’t made attempts to free Fitaihi, except for “routinely request[ing] consular access to all American citizens that have been detained in Saudi Arabia,” according to the Times.
Khashoggi, the slain writer, once spoken out against about his friend’s arrest.
“What has happened to us?” Khashoggi tweeted. “How can someone like Dr. Walid Fitaihi be arrested and what are the justifications for it?”
“Everyone is in a state of confusion and helplessness, there is no one you can go to,” he added. “God help us.”

Justice Roberts’ attack against President Trump was blatantly political and wrong

In a remarkably inappropriate and blatantly political statement Wednesday, U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts chastised President Trump for the president’s quite accurate criticism of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and its rogue district and appellate court judges.
The spectacle of the ostensibly nonpolitical chief justice engaged in a dispute with the president of the United States is insulting to the Supreme Court and to our system of justice.
Shame on the chief justice. What he did is unforgivable, especially after the corrosive Senate confirmation battle over now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was the subject of bitter and baseless partisan attacks and character assassination by Senate Democrats.
With everyone looking for ways to remove the high court from the political thicket, Roberts strode arrogantly right into it. Sad day.
Roberts responded Wednesday to comments President Trump made to reporters a day earlier, after a district court judge appointed by President Obama issued an order to stop Trump’s new emergency restrictions on asylum claims by immigrants from taking effect.
U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar in San Francisco issued the nationwide injunction blocking the president’s restrictions. The restrictions would have made it harder for many of the thousands of Central American migrants now heading toward the U.S. border in caravans to apply for asylum in America.
“This was an Obama judge, and I'll tell you what, it's not going to happen like this anymore," the president said of Tigar. "Everybody that wants to sue the U.S. – almost – they file their case in the 9th Circuit, and it means an automatic loss. No matter what you do, no matter how good your case is. And the 9th Circuit is really something we have to take a look at, because it's not fair."
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts shot back Wednesday, as if he were facing Trump in a presidential candidate debate. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them."

The spectacle of the ostensibly nonpolitical chief justice engaged in a dispute with the president of the United States is insulting to the Supreme Court and to our system of justice.

But President Trump’s criticism of liberal judges in the 9th Circuit who were nominated by President Obama was accurate. These judges previously issued an order blocking the president’s Travel Ban Executive Order that was designed to protect our country from terrorists crossing our borders. As President Trump correctly noted, the Supreme Court later overturned the ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Roberts’ comments seemed particularly strange because he had never injected himself into a political debate before.
In fact, Roberts sat quietly through President Obama’s 2010 State of the Union Address when Obama sharply attacked Supreme Court justices sitting in the audience for their ruling in the Citizens United case, which allowed unlimited political campaign contributions by unions and corporations.
President Obama falsely claimed in this speech that the Citizens United ruling allowed massive political contributions by foreign corporations. It did no such thing.
As the justices sat in the House chamber listening to his speech, President Obama embarrassed the court directly and fiercely. Not a peep from Roberts. Only Justice Samuel Alito quietly mouthed to himself “no, no” as Obama railed against foreign campaign contributions.
Roberts has said nothing about Obama’s remarks in the eight years since.
So why did Roberts attack President Trump on Wednesday? Well, Trump is not a Democrat.
Many believe that Roberts caved to political criticism by President Obama and his Democratic cohorts in a case where Roberts was the decisive vote in a ruling that found ObamaCare was constitutional – a historic victory for Democrats.
Roberts clearly accepted the claim by Democrats in that case that the Supreme Court could not overturn ObamaCare or the high court would forever harm the republic and subvert the legislative process and the will of the people.
It is widely believed that Roberts changed his vote at the last minute to stop the Supreme Court from overturning ObamaCare in that landmark case because of pressure from outside forces directed against him.
Indeed, the wording of various dissents in the ObamaCare case – especially Justice Antonin Scalia’s – made it clear that Roberts’ decision to find that ObamaCare was constitutional was political and nothing more – not a decision based on the Constitution or on the law.
The ObamaCare ruling was a legacy opinion for Roberts because he couldn’t take another wave of criticism like what he received from the liberal media, Obama and the Democrats after his ruling in the Citizens United case. Roberts caved in an obvious nod to the attacks on him. It was palpable and most unfortunate.
Roberts’ ObamaCare opinion had a quality of “oh by the way” and artificiality to it that was apparent to Supreme Court observers.
So Roberts’ pro-Democratic bias that we saw Wednesday is nothing new. It is, in fact, a repetition and a return to normal for him.
The chief justice was institutionally the wrong person to make his point in criticizing President Trump. If the point was to be made at all, it should have been made by the usual suspects: the American Bar Association, any well-known and respected lawyer, or a prominent media commentator or newspaper editorial page.
The candidates for attacking President Trump are numerous and inoffensive. Perhaps Roberts could have chosen his favorite Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. At any rate, he chose none of these options. One wonders why.
Why would Roberts insert himself, at this time, in this situation, to attack President Trump? He is a very smart man. This was not an accident or a coincidence.

Megyn Kelly Cartoons