This Thursday, July 25, 2019, photo provided on Friday, July 26, 2019,
by the North Korean government shows a test of a missile launch in North
Korea. A day after two North Korean missile launches rattled Asia, the
nation announced Friday that its leader Kim Jong Un supervised a test of
a new-type tactical guided weapon that was meant to be a “solemn
warning” about South Korean weapons introduction and its rival’s plans
to hold military exercises with the United States. Independent
journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this
image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this
image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean
language watermark on image as provided by source reads: “KCNA” which is
the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News
Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
President Trump downplays last week’s missile tests by North Korea. Last week, during a press conference the President said the incident would not interfere with U.S. North Korea negotiations. He said the missiles were ‘short-range,’ commonly used by many countries, and therefore did not pose a threat to the U.S. “They are short range missiles and my relationship is very good with
Chairman Kim and we’ll see what happens. But they are short range
missiles, and many people have those missiles” President Trump said. In fact, the President went on to tout his healthy working
relationship with Chairman Kim Jong Un, saying the relationship remains
in good condition and the tests were not carried out in bad faith
against the U.S. “He didn’t say a warning to the United States. I can tell you that.
he didn’t say a warning to the United States” President Trump said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., speaks during a news conference on
Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, July 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan
Walsh)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appears to be more open to an impeachment
inquiry, following Robert Mueller’s” testimony on Capitol Hill. On Friday, reporters grilled Pelosi on whether she is running out the
clock on impeachment ahead of the six week August recess after her
party failed to obtain a game-changing soundbite from the former special
counsel. Pelosi denied the speculation and claimed she knows what she is doing handling the matter:
“No, I’m not trying to run out the
clock. Let’s get sophisticated about this. Okay? We will proceed when we
have what we need to proceed, not one day sooner. And everybody has the
liberty and the luxury to espouse their own position and to criticize
me for trying to go down the path in the most determined, positive way.
Again, their advocacy for impeachment only gives me leverage. I have no
complaint with what they are doing.”
Democrats have faced mounting criticism from within the party due to Pelosi’s slow yet measured approach to move on impeachment.
Democratic presidential candidate author Marianne Williamson
speaks during the Democratic primary in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Marianne Williamson, a 2020
Democratic hopeful, said she hopes to be taken more seriously as a
candidate on this week’s debate stage after her first debate left her on
the receiving end of online jokes and memes. In
an interview published Sunday, Williamson, a best-selling author and
Oprah Winfrey’s spiritual adviser, admitted she wasn’t thrilled with the
public’s response to her performance last month. “I hope that this time my delivery will be more aligned with my substance,” she told USA Today. “I don’t regret the substance of anything I said, but I understand that my delivery made me vulnerable to mockery.” Williamson,
who vowed to beat President Trump with a politics of “love,” said she
plans to “just be myself” during Tuesday’s debate in Detroit. This
time around she plans to avoid traditional debate preparation, she
said, and will instead rely on her experience thus far on the campaign
trail. "I did a lot of that last time. This time I’m seeing things a little bit differently," Williamson said. "Every
day on the campaign trail is preparation. Every day you’re thinking
about issues, writing about issues, talking about issues, learning about
issues,” she added. “It’s a continuous process. To me, that’s the best
preparation.”
The 2020 election Democratic field on Sunday responded to the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting
that killed at least four, including the gunman, and injured 15, saying
the incident is a horrible reminder of the country’s “gun violence
epidemic.” “This violence is not normal,” Joe Biden, the former
vice president, tweeted. “How many more families will have to lose a
loved one before we fix our broken gun laws? We must take action,
starting with real reform.” Authorities in Gilroy were joined
Monday by officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives in their investigation. Early reports indicated that a single
gunman opened fire and was engaged in under one minute by police
officers who were stationed nearby. The shooting, which occurred
during a band's performance, sending the crowd running, had chilling
similarities to the 2017 Las Vegas massacre that resulted in 58 deaths. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., who was once the state’s attorney general, took to Twitter to call the shooting “horrific.” “Our country has a gun violence epidemic that we cannot tolerate,” she tweeted. Sen.
Cory Booker, D-N.J., said on Twitter that his heart breaks for the
families involved in the shooting, and also pointed to the gun violence
“epidemic.” Beto O’Rourke did not mention the Gilroy shooting in a
late-Sunday tweet, but said he was “sending love to all who are hurting
tonight—and all who are affected by the 40,000 gun deaths in America
each year.” Gun control has been a key issue for Democrats and
many have laid out plans on how they will approach the issue. Booker
unveiled a wide-ranging gun control proposal this week and showcased his
call for federal licensing of firearms. Harris said she too would move quickly
to curb gun violence if elected to the White House, vowing to use
executive action if Congress didn’t act in her first 100 days. Fox News' Paul Steinhauser and the Associated Press contributed to this report
TexasRep. Joaquin Castro — the twin brother of 2020candidate Julián Castro — says he's grown a beard to help anyone avoid confusing the two, which seemingly happens often enough. The Democraticcongressman, who's
served since 2013, joked last week that he was experimenting with
facial hair to differentiate himself from his brother, who's currently
on the campaign trail seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. "I
hadn’t shaved in like three days and I decided I’d just grow the beard
back – and it does help so that people don’t always think that I’m
running for president,” Joaquin told reporters on Thursday, according to USA Today. The rep said people confuse him for his brother in public places like the airport or on the street "just about every day."
Julián Castro, left, and Joaquin Castro, right, are often confused
for one another. So Joaquin decided to grow his beard back "so that
people don't always think" he's running for president.
Since Julián — who previously served as the mayor of
San Antonio, Texas, and as former President Barack Obama's Housing and
Urban Development Secretary from 2014 to 2017 — launched his 2020 bid,
many have confused the 44-year-old twins. In June, MSNBC contributor Noah Rothman apologized for mistaking Joaquin for Julián during an episode of "Morning Joe." Rothman cited a June Fox News town hall, which featured Julián, and said Joaquin claimed the Trump administration "is 'hell-bent on moving towards war with Iran." Joaquin
quickly corrected Rothman and said he hasn't spoken to Fox News about
Iran. Rothman immediately apologized and was embarrassed, but said the
mixup must happen all the time. Host
Chris Hayes, also of MSNBC, in February, asked Joaquin if he was
growing a beard "so that people don't confuse you and your twin
brother." "I said that I would try not to look like a certain presidential candidate, so I hope you like the beard here," Castro said. Hayes
said on the show that he spoke to one of the Castro brothers on midterm
election night in 2018, but he actually didn't know who he had spoken
to. Joaquin said Hayes had spoken to Julián.
President Donald Trump said Saturday that he is considering declaring the far-left Antifa activist group a terrorist organization, equating it with the MS-13
street gang amid reports of members physically attacking conservative
demonstrators and journalists at rallies across the country.
"Consideration
is being given to declaring ANTIFA, the gutless Radical Left Wack Jobs
who go around hitting (only non-fighters) people over the heads with
baseball bats, a major Organization of Terror (along with MS-13 &
others). Would make it easier for police to do their job!" Trump
tweeted.
Trump's tweet came days after Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La.,and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced non-binding legislation that would designate the group as a domestic terrorist organization.
“Antifa
are terrorists, violent masked bullies who ‘fight fascism’ with actual
fascism, protected by Liberal privilege,” Cassidy said in a statement.
“Bullies get their way until someone says no. Elected officials must
have courage, not cowardice, to prevent terror.”
At a Senate
hearing last week, Cruz asked FBI Director Christopher Wray if he could
investigate Antifa under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations (RICO) Act. Wray responded that the bureau recognizes
Antifa as more of an ideology than an organization.
He added the FBI takes seriously any violence on committed on behalf of ideology.
"We
have a quite a number though, I should tell you, of properly predicated
investigations of what we categorize as anarchist extremists," Wray
told Cruz. "People who are trying to commit violent criminal activity
that violates federal criminal law and some of those people do subscribe
as what we would refer to as a kind of an antifa-like ideology,"
Antifa
members have drawn criticism for their confrontational style and acts
of violence against demonstrators with opposing viewpoints in otherwise
non-violent rallies. The group clashed with white supremacists in
Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 and have gone on the offensive against
far-right protesters in various cities.
Some mask-wearing members
have been accused of throwing eggs, bottles and other items at
people and beating and threatening counter-protesters and members of the
media.
Trump has labeled them the "alt-left" and accused the group of attacking people who won't or can't fight back.
“Do
you ever notice they [Antifa] pick on certain people?” Trump asked
while speaking at a White House event for conservative social media
personalities earlier this month where he recalled a violent attack on journalist Andy Ngo at a Portland, Ore., rally. “I mean, he [Mr. Ngo] would tell you he’s not the toughest person in the world physically, right?”
A 69-year-old man killed during his attack on a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility last week claimed to be an Antifa member.
"I am Antifa," he wrote in a manifesto the day before the attack.
Some critics say labeling certain groups as domestic terrorists is a step too far.
“It
is dangerous and overly broad to use labels that are disconnected
[from] actual individual conduct,” Hina Shamsi, director of the national
security project at the American Civil Liberties Union, told The Washington Post last
week. “And as we’ve seen how ‘terrorism’ has been used already in this
country, any such scheme raises significant due process, equal
protection and First Amendment constitutional concerns.”
Arizona State Sen. Sylvia Allen, pictured here during a
legislative session in May 2018, is apologizing while defending herself
from criticism for comments she made on immigration and birth rates.
(AP Photo, File)
RepublicanArizonastateSen. Sylvia Allen believes the U.S. will soon "look like South American
countries" because immigrants entering the U.S. and low birth rates
among white people are contributing to a lack of cultural assimilation. Speaking at a Republican Party event in Phoenix on July 15, Allen, of Snowflake, a city in Navajo County, said immigrants were inundating the U.S. — so much so that they can't learn "the principles of our country." Her remarks were obtained and published by the Phoenix New Times on Friday. "We
have a right as a country to have people coming in an organized manner,
so we know who is coming. So we can have jobs for them, so we can
provide education for them, and health care, and all these things that
people need," Allen said at the event, which celebrated "Mormon
Political Pioneers."
Arizona State Sen. Sylvia Allen, pictured here during a
legislative session in May 2018, is apologizing while defending herself
from criticism for comments she made on immigration and birth rates.
(AP Photo, File)
The senator continued:
"We can't provide that when people are just flooding us and flooding us
and flooding us and overwhelming us so we don't have time to teach them
the principles of our country any more than we're teaching our children
today." Allen also touched upon the declining birth rate of white
people in the U.S., telling those at the event the "median age of a
white woman is 43" while the "median age of a Hispanic woman is 27." "We
are not reproducing ourselves, the birthrates," she said, according to
the report. "But here's what I see is the issue: It's because of
immigration." Wendy Rogers, a Republican running for the state
Senate seat now held by Allen, issued a statement Saturday denouncing
Allen's comments as "very racist" and said Allen should retire from the
Legislature — while Democratic state Sen. Martin Quezada told the Arizona Republic that the "tone and perspective" of Allen's remarks on migrants were "insulting, to say the least." Allen
told the New Times that her comments were inspired by a respected
demographer who she says has described "the browning of America," and
apologized in Facebook posts on Friday and Saturday "to anyone who has
been hurt" by her words. She later thanked people who spoke in support
and added, "Verbal Lynching is the political tool used today to silence
debate on critical issues." The senator did not immediately return Fox News' request for comment regarding her remarks. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Trump is defending himself against accusations of racism,
claiming he’s just the latest target of a party that plays the “race
card,” as he leveled criticism against Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. Trump called out
Cummings on Saturday, slamming him as a “brutal bully” for how he spoke
to border patrol officials, and said that the congressman’s Baltimore
district is in “FAR WORSE” shape than the situation at the southern
border. That rebuke resulted in claims of racism from Democrats,
including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but Trump pointed out that he’s
hardly the first to get accused of racism, with the speaker herself
recently in the middle of a similar controversy. “Someone
please explain to Nancy Pelosi, who was recently called racist by those
in her own party, that there is nothing wrong with bringing out the
very obvious fact that Congressman Elijah Cummings has done a very poor
job for his district and the City of Baltimore. Just take a look, the
facts speak far louder than words!” Trump tweeted Sunday morning. “The
Democrats always play the Race Card, when in fact they have done so
little for our Nation’s great African American people,” he added. The
president appeared to be referring to how House Speaker Pelosi was the
target of a thinly veiled accusation of racism when Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., accused her of “singling out” women of color.
That was after Pelosi dismissed Ocasio-Cortez and her “Squad” -- that
includes Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley -- as
being more influential on social media than in Congress. Trump defended
Pelosi at the time. On Saturday, Pelosi stood by Cummings and the
city of Baltimore, where she was born, and rebuked Trump, calling his
remarks "racist." “Rep. Cummings is a champion in the Congress and
the country for civil rights and economic justice, a beloved leader in
Baltimore, and deeply valued colleague,” she tweeted. “We all reject
racist attacks against him and support his steadfast leadership.” Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., also called Trump's comments "ugly and racist" during a campaign stop on Saturday. Trump
doubled down on his comments against Cummings Saturday afternoon,
tweeting, "Elijah Cummings spends all of his time trying to hurt
innocent people through 'Oversight.' He does NOTHING for his very poor,
very dangerous and very badly run district!" The tweet included a video
purporting to show a rundown area of West Baltimore. The video
included a female voice lamenting that "they're worried about the kids
at the border, but this is how actual American citizens got to live and
deal with," she added. Trump tweeted a similar-appearing video late Saturday, asking: ".@RepCummings, why don’t you focus on your district!?" "Mr.
President, I go home to my district daily," Cummings tweeted in
response to Trump's initial criticism. "Each morning, I wake up, and I
go and fight for my neighbors. It is my constitutional duty to conduct
oversight of the Executive Branch. But, it is my moral duty to fight for
my constituents." Trump took another shot at Pelosi Sunday
morning, saying her San Francisco district was unrecognizable, and that
“Something must be done before it’s too late.” Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
