Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., speaks during the first of two
Democratic presidential primary debates hosted by CNN Tuesday, July 30,
2019, at the Fox Theatre in Detroit. (Associated Press)
A Democrat seeking the party's 2020 presidential nomination
faced sharp criticism on social media Saturday after linking that
day's massacre in El Paso, Texas, to President Trump's rhetoric. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.,
one of nearly two-dozen Democrats hoping to block Trump's bid for a
second term in the White House, made her remarks at a labor forum event
in Las Vegas. “The individuals who do the shootings are
responsible," Klobuchar said, referring to mass shootings such as the
one in El Paso that left 20 dead and 26 injured, "but I do think Trump's
rhetoric has fueled more hate in this country.” Klobuchar also pushed for gun reform legislation on Twitter. "Today
innocent people—families—went to that mall in El Paso," she
wrote. "Some of them never came home. The U.S. House has passed common
sense gun safety legislation. It is long past time to pass it in the
Senate. The question to ask: Whose side are you on? The NRA’s or the
people’s." The shooting in El Paso occurred at a Walmart store on Saturday afternoon. A suspect was later taken into custody, police said.
While some on social media praised Klobuchar’s comments, others criticized her for politicizing the shooting. “Amy!
Thank you for all that you do and we need more! This president needs to
be held accountable for these deaths and this carnage. He is complicit,
he is an accessory to this crime as he instigates hate amongst his
followers,” one supporter wrote. Another user wrote that it’s Democrats and Congress who are to blame for not acting on gun control. “I
see you blamed President Trump as usual for supposed hate crime in
shootings in El Paso GMAFB you Democrats always trying to get a
Political over this BS. You have had years to fix the gun violence but
you and all of congress can’t work,” they wrote. One user said that Klobuchar is the one spouting hateful rhetoric. “Ms
klobuchar enough, don’t blame President Trump your hateful rhetoric
fuels hate so just because your running for President,” the Twitter user
wrote. During last week's Democratic presidential debate in
Detroit, Klobuchar said she supports an assault weapons ban as well as
universal background checks for gun buyers. She also criticized the
president, saying he hadn't done enough in response to a shooting in
Parkland, Fla., that left 17 people dead in 2018. Several of the
other Democratic presidential candidates posted similar messages
Saturday pushing for gun safety legislation in Congress. The
president reacted to the shooting on Twitter, writing, “Today’s
shooting in El Paso, Texas, was not only tragic, it was an act of
cowardice. I know that I stand with everyone in this Country to condemn
today’s hateful act. There are no reasons or excuses that will ever
justify killing innocent people....”
New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu slammed Massachusetts officials Friday, accusing them of being responsible for the shocking crash in his state that killed seven bikers. The
attack follows revelations that Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 23, the
Massachusetts truck driver who has been charged with negligent homicide
in the June crash, should have had his driving license suspended for
previous infractions, but the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles
took no action. “Make
no mistake: The deficiencies within the Massachusetts RMV under the
leadership of Ms. Deveney resulted in the horrific crash in Randolph,”
Sununu spokesman Benjamin Vihstadt told the Boston Globe.
“Make
no mistake: The deficiencies within the Massachusetts RMV under the
leadership of Ms. Deveney resulted in the horrific crash in Randolph.” — Sununu spokesman Benjamin Vihstadt
The
governor’s office comments also follow remarks by Erin Deveney, the
RMV’s former registrar, who blamed both New Hampshire and Massachusetts
for failing to transmit notifications about out-of-state drivers whose
licenses should be suspended. She later resigned amid the uproar over
the failure to suspend the man’s license.
Erin Deveney, shown in 2014, resigned as head of the motor vehicle
division in Massachusetts after it was determined that Volodymyr
Zhukovskyy's commercial driving license should have been suspended prior
to a horrific deadly crash in June. (Associated Press)
But Sununu’s spokesman blasted the suggestion of
equal blame, saying, “For Ms. Deveney to try and conflate the severity
of their problem with New Hampshire is shameful and reaffirms why she no
longer has a job.”
Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 23, of West Springfield, the driver of a
pickup truck in a fiery collision on a highway in rural Randolph, N.H.,
that killed seven motorcyclists, stands with his attorney Donald Frank
during a hearing in Springfield District Court in Springfield, Mass.,
June 24, 2019. (Associated Press)
Since the crash, it has emerged that Zhukovskyy had multiple run-ins with the law. In
May, Connecticut prosecutors said Zhukovskyy was arrested in a Walmart
parking lot after failing a sobriety test. Zhukovskyy's lawyer in that
case, John O'Brien, said his client denies being intoxicated and will
fight the charge.
This photo provided by Miranda Thompson shows the scene where
several motorcycles and a pickup truck collided on a rural, two-lane
highway Friday, June 21, 2019 in Randolph, N.H. (Associated Press)
Zhukovskyy's refusal to take a chemical sobriety test
should have resulted in an immediate suspension of his commercial
drivers license, but no such action was taken by
Massachusetts authorities. Connecticut
officials twice alerted Massachusetts about an earlier drunken driving
arrest. Massachusetts investigators later determined the Registry of
Motor Vehicles hadn't been acting on thousands of out-of-state
notifications about serious driving violations. Westfield
Transport, the company for which Zhukovskyy had been driving on the day
of the June 21 crash, also has a troubled history. According to an
Associated Press analysis of Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration data, Westfield Transport Inc. faced more than 60
violations over the last 24 months. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Two planes were intercepted in New Jersey for entering a no-fly zone without the proper clearance while President Trump vacationed at his golf resort Friday, local reports said. The North American Aerospace Defense Command
(NORAD), in charge of airspace surveillance for the continental U.S.
and Canada, deployed F-16 fighter jets in two separate instances at 7:30
p.m. and again at 8 p.m. Two single-engine civilian aircraft
stopped communicating with air traffic control and entered a temporary
flight restriction zone near the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster,
N.J., where the president is spending the weekend, News 12 New Jersey reported. In
both cases, the pilots reestablished communication with air traffic
control and left the restricted airspace without incident, NORAD said. Trump was scheduled to land in Morristown, N.J., at 4:45 p.m. Friday then take a helicopter to the golf club at 5 p.m., Patch
reported. According to protocol, a VIP Movement Notification
implementing flight restrictions and road closures in the Bedminster and
Morristown areas was issued from Friday 5 p.m. through Sunday at 5:45
p.m. This is the president’s third visit to the New Jersey golf
course this summer. He is scheduled to return to the White House on
Sunday. During his last visit, July 19-21, the U.S. Air Force
intercepted a small general aviation aircraft for entering a temporary
no-fly zone during Trump’s stay. The intercepted plane landed at an
airport in Pittstown, N.J., without incident, where local law
enforcement met the pilot, NAADC said. That
weekend, Trump made headlines when he surprised a bride and groom
getting married at the Trump National Golf Club. He is scheduled to
return to the golf club next Thursday for his annual 10-day vacation. Since 9/11, the military, under Operation Noble Eagle, has made more than 1,800 intercepts of nonmilitary aircraft. Fox News’ Frank Miles contributed to this report.
Federal authorities charged 90 suspects related to separate drug conspiracies in Baltimore
in the month of July alone as part of an ongoing partnership between
federal, state and local agencies to crack down on violent crime in Maryland’s largest city. Baltimore’s
U.S. District Attorney announced midnight Saturday morning that
authorities also seized 51 guns, more than $1 million in cash and large
volumes of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and marijuana as a part of the
operation. “Reducing
violent crime in Baltimore is job one. It’s what we in law enforcement
think about morning, noon, and night,” U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur said
in a statement. “We will continue to do everything we can to prosecute
the violent criminals who wreak havoc in and terrorize Baltimore’s
neighborhoods.” Baltimore has been in the national spotlight since
President Trump first called the city a “rat and rodent infested mess”
in response to criticism from House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah
Cummings, D-Md. on conditions in border detention centers. Trump
has been called a “racist” by Speaker Pelosi and other Dems for his
remarks against Baltimore, given the majority of Baltimore’s
constituents are African-American. The president pushed back, affirming
Democrats play the “race card” instead of confronting the “facts.”
Several high-profile Dems and civil rights activists have visited the
city amid the controversy. Project
Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a violent-crime reduction strategy, partners
ATF, DEA, FBI, HSI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Baltimore Police
Department, and the Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City in
a join-effort to take down violent crime. All of those
defendants indicted in July are members of violent drug trafficking
organizations that have been operating in those Baltimore neighborhoods
hardest hit by gun violence, Baltimore’s U.S. Attorney's Office said. The
attorney’s office is expected to ramp up efforts to surpass last year’s
stats. In 2019, the office indicted 215 defendants in 2019 in Baltimore
under Project Safe Neighborhoods just past the year’s halfway mark. In
2018, the attorney’s office indicted 246 Baltimore PSN defendants
throughout the whole year. The latest development in the
Trump-Cummings feud came Friday when the president tweeted that it was
“too bad” Cummings’ own Baltimore home had been robbed earlier that
morning. Cummings clarified that an attempted burglar triggered his
security system Friday morning but left without entering the home. He
also thanked the Baltimore Police Department for their help.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
said Friday that she finds “common ground” with some members of the
Republican Party -- but criticized the GOP for becoming a “political
mob.” The New York Democrat made
the comments during one of her now-signature Instagram live streams
where she answered questions from viewers as she cooked food. “There
are quite a few Republican viewpoints that I actually share and I think
there are a lot of places where I have common ground. I actually think I
have a lot of common ground with many libertarian viewpoints in their
party,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“There are quite a few
Republican viewpoints that I actually share and I think there are a lot
of places where I have common ground. I actually think I have a lot of
common ground with many libertarian viewpoints in their party.” — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
She then began listing some of the libertarian viewpoints with which she agrees. “True
libertarians, which many happen to be in the Republican Party, true
libertarian viewpoints are pro-immigration. So that's one,” she said. “Another
is that I'm quite anti-interventionist. ... I'm anti-war and so from
the perspective of small government, there are Republicans who are very
consistently anti-war and anti-military spending. So I do tend to find a
lot of common ground with them on that.” The comment came just
before Ocasio-Cortez fired off a tweet at Republican Rep. Liz Cheney,
R-Wyo., who criticized Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth
Warren. The New Yorker dismissed Cheney's views based on the foreign
policies of her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney. "MFW
*Liz Cheney* of all people tries to offer foreign policy takes, as if an
entire generation hasn’t lived through the Cheneys sending us into war
since we were kids," she tweeted. She added during the live stream
that she finds a common cause with libertarian Republicans when it
comes to opposing government surveillance and other measures that
violate privacy rights and other civil liberties. She later
reiterated her sympathy to certain Republican viewpoints on Twitter,
saying she finds common ground on issues such as “Ending needless war
& curbing exploding military spending,” “Protecting civil liberties
& privacy rights” and “Holding bad contractors accountable.” But despite her comments, Ocasio-Cortez also slammed the party, criticizing it for shifting away from an ideological purity. “The Republican Party in Congress is no longer ideological conservative, they are kind of this political mob,” she said. “You
can't count on them to reliably hold certain views anymore because they
will advance certain views if it helps the president but then abandon
those same principles if it doesn't help the president.” Earlier
this year, both Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, found common
ground on the issue allowing the sale of birth control over the counter
and banning members of Congress from becoming lobbyists.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Calif., speaks to reporters at
his weekly news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July
25, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy blasted congressional Democrats
after a majority of left-leaning lawmakers said they support an
impeachment inquiry into President Trump. In an interview Wednesday, the representative said “Democrats are
trying to push impeachment without saying the word.” This comes after
more lawmakers switched sides to support an inquiry, bringing the total
number of lawmakers who support it to 114 with only four more needed to
push an inquiry forward. Impeachment has been a hot button issue since special counsel Robert
Mueller’s testimony on Capitol Hill last week, where McCarthy criticized
Democrats for pushing it. He had this to say during his weekly news conference following Mueller’s testimony:
“Why would you ever even bring up
impeachment after yesterday’s hearing? …That should be put to bed. That
is over. We watched it. We heard it. We’ve read it. What more can they
make up? The only people that want impeachment are the ones sitting
inside this chamber on the democratic side. The American public have
made their decision. Poll after poll you see it.”
McCarthy says even if House Democrats get support for an impeachment
inquiry in their chamber, the Republican-controlled Senate will reject
it right away.
