Patriot Prayer founder and rally organizer Joey Gibson speaks to
his followers at a rally in Portland, Ore., Aug. 4, 2018. (Associated
Press)
Idiot
The leader of a conservative group was arrested Friday in Portland, Ore., one day before planned protests involving supporters of the far-left Antifa movement and supporters of several conservative groups.
Joey Gibson, leader of Portland-based Patriot Prayer, turned himself in to authorities in connection with an arrest warrant for rioting,
stemming from a violent clash in the city on May 1, according to the
Associated Press. He was later released after posting bail, with further
legal action pending.
In a video posted on Facebook, Gibson
accused police of targeting conservative groups for arrests but not
members of Antifa, even though masked Antifa supporters have been seen
on videos engaging in violence during past protests.
Gibson asserted that authorities were trying to intimidate conservatives who planned to protest Saturday.
“They want you to not show up in Portland, they want to put fear in your hearts,” Gibson said.
“They want you to not show up in Portland, they want to put fear in your hearts.” — Joey Gibson, Patriot Prayer
He also asked conservative protesters to refrain from violence Saturday.
"Force them to arrest you for being peaceful," he said.
"Force them to arrest you for being peaceful." — Joey Gibson, Patriot Prayer
Gibson,
35, was not connected to the events planned for Saturday but had
organized Portland rallies that turned violent in 2017 and 2018, the
report said.
Separately, a conservative group called the Oath
Keepers has decided it will not participate Saturday, saying it did not
believe organizers had done enough to discourage white supremacists from
showing up.
Portland authorities have been taking steps intended
to minimize the chances that Saturday’s demonstrations repeat the
violence of past events. Personnel from more than two-dozen law
enforcement agencies – representing local, state and federal government –
are involved in trying to maintain order during the demonstrations, the
AP reported.
“I'm confident that from a law enforcement
perspective, we're going to have all the tools and the resources and
personnel we need,” Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said Friday on Fox News’ “Outnumbered Overtime.” The mayor, a Democrat, has drawn criticism over the city’s handling of past protests.
In June, conservative writer Andy Ngo was hospitalized after being attacked by Antifa supporters at a Portland demonstration.
On Friday, Ngo told “Fox & Friends” that he feared Saturday’s event “has the potential to be a powder keg.”
Precautions being taken in Portland for Saturday include plans by many downtown businesses to close for the day,
as well as the planned closure of the Hawthorne Bridge, which connects
eastern Portland to the downtown area, across the Willamette River, OregonLive reported. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s
decision Friday to refuse to visit her grandmother on the West Bank
unless she could use the trip to campaign for the anti-Israel Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement proves that the goal of her trip
was to generate anti-Israel propaganda.
Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri tweeted that he granted the Michigan Democratic congresswoman permission to visit “her 90 year old grandmother” as a “gesture of goodwill on a humanitarian basis.”
But
when Tlaib retracted her pledge to refrain from promoting the BDS
movement while visiting her grandmother, Deri said on Twitter:
“Apparently her hate for Israel overcomes her love for her grandmother.”
President
Trump – who had urged Israel not to permit Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar,
D-Minn., to visit the Jewish state this weekend – agreed with Deri.
The
president tweeted: “Rep. Tlaib wrote a letter to Israeli officials
desperately wanting to visit her grandmother. Permission was quickly
granted, whereupon Tlaib obnoxiously turned the approval down, a
complete setup. The only real winner here is Tlaib’s grandmother. She
doesn’t have to see her now!”
It’s important to understand that
BDS is not just anti-Israel – it is anti-Semitic. It seeks to cut off
the only Jewish state in the world from all international trade,
diplomatic and military relations, cultural and academic programs,
tourism and all other ties with every nation on Earth. If fully
implemented, BDS would destroy Israel’s economy and lead to the collapse
of the Jewish state – a goal the founders of BDS proudly embrace.
Israel
has been getting plenty of criticism for barring the entry of Tlaib and
Omar, including from many individuals and groups who are normally
strong supporters. Few of these people are defending Tlaib and Omar for
their repeated anti-Semitic and anti-Israel comments, but instead have
expressed concern that Israel looks bad for refusing entry to members of
the U.S. Congress.
After all, a democratic nation should never
bar elected representatives of a close ally from visiting, critics of
the Israeli decision argue. What kind of nation would take such an
action?
Well, one nation that did the exact same thing
in 2012 was the United States of America, in an action by the
administration of Democratic President Barack Obama. The U.S. government
refused to give a visa to a member of the Israeli Knesset (the nation’s
parliament), because it said the political party he belonged to was a
“terrorist organization.”
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin protested the exclusion of Knesset Member Michael Ben Ari, a member of the National Union Party.
"National
Union," Rivlin wrote in his letter of protest to the U.S.,"is a
completely legitimate faction of the Israeli parliament, and Ben Ari an
elected representative of the State of Israel, a close American ally. To
impugn him as belonging to a terrorist organization and bar him from
visiting the country is unacceptable.”
So much for the
“unprecedented” action Israel is being criticized for in barring Tlaib
and Omar from entering. Every nation on Earth has the sovereign right to
determine who can and cannot enter – including Israel.
Barring Tlaib and Omar from entering Israel was a tough call, but I believe Israel made the right decision.
Importantly,
Tlaib and Omar turned down an invitation to be part of a bipartisan
group of 72 U.S. House members who visited Israel last week. There is no
indication that Israel would have barred the pair from being part of
that large group of U.S. lawmakers.
The Democratic House members
on the trip met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas – who has strongly denounced President Trump for moving the U.S.
Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and for other actions – refused to meet
with the Republican House members, just as he refuses to negotiate peace
with the Israelis.
Instead of joining their colleagues, Tlaib
and Omar chose to work with a blatantly anti-Semitic group called Miftah
to set up a trip that would have avoided any meetings with Israeli
government officials and turned into a hate-filled media circus
attacking Israel and the Jewish people.
Miftah, which would have been the tour guide for Tlaib and Omar, has published an article
that said Jews celebrate Passover by killing Christian children and
using their blood to bake matzoh (unleavened bread). This is an ancient
anti-Semitic lie that has been used for 2,000 years to justify the
murder of Jews, and was heavily promoted by the Nazis, who slaughtered 6
million Jews in the Holocaust.
In 2006, Miftah published
an article that praised female suicide bombers. The group has also
expressed support for naming public squares after Palestinian terrorists
who murder innocent Jewish civilians in Israel.
Instead
of joining their colleagues, Tlaib and Omar chose to work with a
blatantly anti-Semitic group called Miftah to set up a trip that would
have avoided any meetings with Israeli government officials and turned
into a hate-filled media circus attacking Israel and the Jewish people.
Miftah
refuses to recognize the existence of Israel and opposes joint
Arab-Israeli peace programs. The group also denies the existence of the
ancient Jewish temples in Jerusalem, an absurd claim that rejects
historical reality and undermines a central pillar of Islam as much as
it undercuts Judaism and Christianity.
If that weren’t enough, Miftah also posted a neo-Nazi article that compares Jews to poison
and derides “Jewish media control” as an evil that must be combated. To
be clear, this isn’t just anti-Israel; it is basic anti-Semitism.
Likewise,
the BDS movement, which Tlaib and Omar actively support, isn’t about
registering dissatisfaction with Israeli policies. It is about applying a
double-standard to Israel.
BDS is designed to demonize and
delegitimize the Jewish state and replace it with a Palestinian state –
something the BDS movement’s co-founder proudly proclaimed in 2013.
BDS
does not simply object to Israel’s administration of land it captured
after Arab armies invaded the Jewish state in 1967 in an effort to
destroy it. BDS opposes Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state within
its pre-1967 borders, according to the movement’s official documents.
Instead, the BDS lobby calls for a series of steps that would dismantle
the Jewish state.
It
is no wonder, then, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
decided not to allow Tlaib and Omar into Israel on a Miftah-orchestrated
anti-Israel trip.
Netanyahu explained that while Israel is open
to critics and criticism, “Israeli law prohibits the entry into Israel
of those who call for and work to impose boycotts on Israel, as do other
democracies that prohibit the entry of people who seek to harm the
country.”
Given the long track record of anti-Israel comments by
Tlaib and Omar, there was plenty of reason for Israel to be skeptical
about the purpose of their trip. The red flags dramatically increased as
their supposed arrival date approached.
Because the Israelis were
kept in the dark about the plans by the two congresswomen, Israel was
compelled to prepare for the uncomfortable possibility that the two
would try to visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City – the
complex where the two Jewish temples once stood and where the Islamic
holy sites of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque are located.
Such
a visit would stir controversy after weekend riots erupted on the
Temple Mount and could have sparked a new outbreak of potentially deadly
violence by Palestinians. President Trump and Prime Minister
Netanyahu appear to realize that the bipartisan pro-Israel congressional
consensus that existed in the past is vanishing. That is a sad reality
for Israel and American Jews.
While House Democratic leaders may
believe the trend in their own chamber is reversible, they nevertheless
rushed to defend Tlaib and Omar when the two were barred from entering
Israel, instead demonizing Netanyahu. This is unfortunate.
The
fact is that anti-Semitism (cloaked as opposition to Israel since the
creation of the modern Jewish state) in one of the oldest and vilest
forms of prejudice around, and has been used to justify mass murder on a
nightmarish scale.
Just as all men and women of good conscience
must denounce racism and other forms of prejudice against particular
groups, we must denounce the evil of anti-Semitism. Reps. Tlaib and Omar
do not deserve our sympathy or support after being barred from entering
Israel. They only deserve our condemnation for their actions promoting
hatred of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
A state judge in New Jersey issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday blocking the state's right-to-die law from being implemented two weeks after it took effect. The
move came after Dr. Yosef Glassman, a Bergen County physician, filed a
lawsuit, saying he refused to participate in assisted suicides,
including referring patients to another doctor if he decides to opt-out
of prescribing life-ending medication, which is a stipulation in the
law. Glassman said in the lawsuit that the law conflicts with his
religious beliefs as an Orthodox Jew as well as his obligations as a
doctor to heal people. Glassman
said that being required to transfer medical records under the law is
"not only a violation of the rights to practice medicine without
breaching the fiduciary duties owing to those patients ... but also
violations of their First Amendment
rights under the United States Constitution to freely practice their
religions in which human life is sacred and must not be taken." Gov.
Phil Murphy, a first-term Democrat who signed the Aid in Dying for the
Terminally Ill Act into law April 12, said he would fight back
against Mercer County Superior Court Judge Paul Innes's decision. Murphy also asked Attorney General Gurbir Grewal to release guidance for New Jersey residents in light of the judge's order. “It
is really hard for me, particularly given growing up as a Catholic,”
Murphy said Thursday at a news conference. “This one was not an easy one
to get to, but I got convinced that it shouldn’t be the law that
dictates how things end. But it should be you and your loved ones.”
“It
is really hard for me, particularly given growing up as a Catholic.
This one was not an easy one to get to, but I got convinced that it
shouldn’t be the law that dictates how things end. But it should be you
and your loved ones.” — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy
The law, which took effect at the beginning of August but required a two-week wait period before doctors could administer prescriptions, permits
adult patients with six months or less to live to obtain and
self-administer life-ending medication. Patients must be diagnosed by
two medical doctors and must also sign a written declaration with two
witnesses present who can attest that the patient is acting voluntarily.
The patient must also take the medication themselves. “New
Jersey’s assisted suicide law is a bad public policy that leaves many
New Jersey residents at risk of abuse and coercion," Kristen Hanson, a
community advocate for the Patients Rights Action Fund said in a
statement to Fox News on Thursday. "The temporary restraining order
issued, which prevents the policy from going into effect, is a welcome
reassessment of a law that threatens the lives of the poor, older
people, the terminally ill, and people with disabilities. New Jersey
deserves better end-of-life-care, not assisted suicide.”
“New
Jersey’s assisted suicide law is a bad public policy that leaves many
New Jersey residents at risk of abuse and coercion. ... New Jersey
deserves better end-of-life-care, not assisted suicide.” — Kristen Hanson, community advocate, Patients Rights Action Fund
The next court date is scheduled for Oct. 23. Seven states -- California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon, Vermont and Washington -- and Washington, D.C., all have similar legislation for medically assisted suicide, according to the Death With Dignity National Center and the Death With Dignity Political Fund. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Alert tones used in a "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" episode earlier this year to poke fun at a presidential alert test that occurred last year cost ABC $395,000 in fines, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said in a Thursday statement announcing a handful of settlements with TV networks. The
FCC said it had settled with the networks for the misuse of
the emergency alert system (EAS) tone. The tone is broadcast via TV,
radio and other devices to warn of emergencies such as hurricanes and
other national disasters. “We remain concerned about the misuse of
the EAS codes and EAS and WEA Attention Signals, or simulations
thereof, to capture audience attention during advertisements; dramatic,
entertainment and educational programs, and at any other time that there
is no genuine alert,” the agency said in a statement. “The FCC may issue sanctions for such violations, including, but not limited to, monetary forfeitures.” The
comedian's late-night show used a tone three times during an Oct. 3,
2018, sketch. Earlier that day, roughly 225 million electronic devices
across the U.S. received the "Presidential Alert" that read "THIS IS A
TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is
needed." The network said the tones were improperly used in the
episode. ABC signed a consent decree with the FCC, in which it admitted
using the tones. The network said Thursday, "ABC takes regulatory compliance seriously and we are pleased to have resolved this issue." Other networks also reached a settlement for similar violations. AMC Networks agreed to pay $104,000 in civil fines for using an alert tone in a February episode of "The Walking Dead." Discovery's Animal Planet
and Meruelo Radio Holdings were also fined. Discovery agreed to pay
$68,000 for using an actual wireless emergency alert tone in an episode
of Animal Planet's "Lone Star Law." Crew members received the tone on their phones during filming Texas game wardens following Hurricane Harvey. And Meruelo paid $67,000 for broadcasting a signal during a promotion for Southern California-based radio stations.
The
former boss of a bartender who earlier this week filed an explosive
lawsuit against CNN host Don Lemon, accusing the newsman of a strange, sexually charged assault, told Fox News he witnessed the incident and corroborated his one-time employee's claim. In
an exclusive interview, George Gounelas, who managed Dustin Hice at
the Old Stove Pub in July of 2018, detailed what allegedly occurred on
the night of the bizarre encounter at Murf’s Backstreet Tavern, which is
located in the prestigious Hamptons area east of New York City.
Gounelas is named in the suit filed by Hice. Lemon, through CNN, has vehemently denied Hice's allegations. “Dustin
worked for me as a bartender [and] we went out after work one night. We
were standing there and he said, ‘Hey, that’s Don Lemon,’” Gounelas
said. “Murf’s is a place you go to drink after you’ve been out drinking.
We had just gotten off of work. So that’s why we ended up there,
because we worked in the restaurant business. So by the time everything
is done, we can only hit a late-night spot.” Hice
approached Lemon to strike up a conversation but the newsman declined,
according to Gounelas, who said he and Hice then offered to buy Lemon a
drink, which the CNN host also declined. Gounelas said that a few moments later, Lemon came up to them.
Dustin Hice says CNN host Don Lemon assaulted him during the summer of 2018.
“Don Lemon has now come around the corner and is
standing face to face with us. There is a beam, a pole, in the place.
Don’s standing up against the pole, face to face with Dustin, I turn
around and I’m standing right there between the two of them,” Gounelas
said. “He’s saying, ‘So you like me? Is that why you’re bothering me?’” Hice responded, “Nah, man, I just wanted to say, 'What’s up?’” according to Gounelas. Gounelas
told Fox News he couldn’t recall what Lemon said verbatim, but it was
“along the lines of, 'Do you like me? Is that why you’re bothering me,
because you wanna f--- me?'” Gounelas said Lemon appeared “pretty drunk” when he confronted the duo at the wee-hours watering hole. “He
put his hands down his pants, inside his board shorts, grabbed his
[genitals], and then came out with two fingers and, like, clipped
Dustin’s nose up and down with two fingers asking ‘do you like p---- or
d---?’” Gounelas said.
George Gounelas told Fox News he witnessed CNN’s Don Lemon assault
his former colleague at Murf’s Backstreet Tavern in Sag Harbor, New
York.
Gounelas said he laughed during the alleged incident
and immediately mocked Hice as “gross” because of Lemon’s alleged
actions – but Hice didn’t think it was a laughing matter. “Dustin
was in this shock mode saying, ‘Bro, did that just happen? That was
disgusting,’” Gounelas said before explaining that he didn’t think it
was too unusual at the time. “The whole thing is like, I go out in the
Hamptons, I live out here, I have a restaurant, I get it, people get
crazy. To me, it was just another thing. To [Dustin], he was like
shocked.” Gounelas said he isn’t sure if Lemon, who is openly gay, was being confrontational or simply flirting. “I
guess it’s a little of both. If someone had done that to me, I probably
would have punched him. But I think it might have been flirting. I
think Dustin was more in shock… If someone was flirting with me like
that I’d say, ‘alright man I’m not gay,’” Gounelas said. “I wouldn’t go
up to a girl like that. It could be his way of flirting.” Hice continued to work for Gounelas at the now-shuttered Old Stove Pub for the duration of the summer, where his former boss said the bartender was regularly teased about the incident. “As his boss, I was kind of making fun. I feel bad now,” Gounelas said. Gounelas
told Fox News that the incident allegedly happened in the presence of
others and he’s seen Lemon in Murf’s Backstreet Tavern on other
occasions. “The
place was packed. I’m sure other people saw. It was a known thing in
the Hamptons, not like this quiet thing. Everybody knew Dustin and what
happened to him,” Gounelas said. “Every time we went out, every
bartender offered him a Lemon drop shot, making fun of him. He got some
sh-t for it.” Multiple attempts to contact Murf’s Backstreet Tavern management by Fox News have gone unanswered. Gounelas said Hice was “a little messed up” from the alleged incident. “This is the only thing he could talk about, not in a good way, like ‘I can’t believe that sh-t happened,’” Gounelas said. Murf’s
Backstreet Tavern is located in Sag Harbor, a part of the Hamptons
where New York’s wealthiest residents have multi-million dollar weekend
homes. Lemon apparently hosted a star-filled bash at his Sag Harbor home
only two months before the alleged incident occurred. In
May 2018, a former aide to Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic Governor of New
York and brother of fellow CNN host Chris Cuomo, tweeted -- and then
deleted – a photo of herself with Lemon and now-disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti, who was a regular CNN guest at the time.
Don Lemon threw a “Sag Harbor soiree” weeks before he allegedly
assaulted Dustin Hice at a Sag Harbor bar, according to Juanita
Scarlett.
The former Andrew Cuomo aide, Juanita Scarlett, wrote
that she was at “the Sag Harbor soiree” of her “second favorite on-air
journalist,” with a photo that included her husband, New York Daily News
columnist Errol Louis, CNN contributor Margaret Hoover, Avenatti and
Lemon. Hice’s lawsuit against Lemon, first reported by Mediaite,
was filed Aug. 11 in Suffolk County Court. In the suit, Hice also said
Lemon's off-screen demeanor was in stark contrast to the "Me Too"
advocate whom he often saw on TV. "When the cameras are turned
off, however, Mr. Lemon’s actions are in stark and disturbing contrast
to the public persona he attempts to convey," the suit reads. Lemon
offered a six-figure settlement before talks broke down and Hice filed
the formal complaint, according to a source close to Hice's attorney. CNN denied Hice's account and said Hice seemed to have animosity toward the cable news network. "The
plaintiff in this lawsuit has previously displayed a pattern of
contempt for CNN on his social media accounts," a CNN spokesperson told
Fox News in a statement. "This claim follows his unsuccessful threats
and demands for an exorbitant amount of money from Don Lemon. “Don
categorically denies these claims and this matter does not merit any
further comment at this time," the CNN spokesperson added. CNN did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment. Fox News’ Liam Quinn and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
With several of his Democratic rivals hosting competing events down the street, President Trump confidently told raucous rallygoers Thursday evening in New Hampshire, the
state that gave him his first presidential primary win, that they have
"no choice" but to vote for him again in 2020 -- if they want their
401(k)s to remain intact. "Are we sure we're in New Hampshire?"
Trump asked at one point, as the crowd roared and he discussed the
state's soaring economy. "You have a reputation as a very staid, very
elegant people, and you're not acting it tonight, and that's a good
thing." And after a protester briefly interrupted the rally, Trump
remarked, "That guy has a serious weight problem. Go home, start
exercising. Get him outta here." When the sparks died down, Trump
turned to domestic and foreign policy, with a focus on the economy.
Responding to recent mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, the
president emphasized the importance of mental health treatment and
vowed, to sustained applause, "We will always uphold the Second
Amendment." Trump also promised to work more on the opioid epidemic, which, according to The Washington Post, has claimed more lives in 2017 alone than mass shootings have in the past five decades.
"Now we have a bunch of socialists or communists to beat." — President Trump
"We have reduced the total amount of opioids prescribed by 34 percent," Trump said, noting that thousands of defendants have been prosecuted federally in opioid-related cases. A fiery stage was set hours before Thursday's rally, when the president told reporters at a New Jersey airport that Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., were "very anti-Jewish and anti-Israel" -- and said he supported Israel's decision to bar them from entering the country. "Now
we have a bunch of socialists or communists to beat," Trump said, as
the Manchester crowd jeered. "They're not far away. Does anybody want to
pay a 95-percent tax?" Trump went on to say that recent episodes in which people threw water on New York City police officers were indicative of a larger trend among progressives.
Supporters cheering at President Trump's campaign rally on Thursday.
(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
"They view
everybody as fascists and Nazis ... They accuse our heroic border agents
of running concentration camps," Trump said, in an apparent reference to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "And, they look down upon the hardworking citizens who truly make our country run." Less than a month ago, Trump supporters in North Carolina erupted in a chant of "send her back" directed at Omar as Trump spoke, prompting the president to urge future rallygoers
not to use that language. At a later rally, Trump avoided mentioning
Omar by name -- but, on Thursday, he directly named her and other
members of the so-called progressive congressional "Squad." The
president was making the quick trip to Southern New Hampshire University
as he spends the week at his New Jersey golf club. The event gave Trump
a chance to address the heightened fears about the economy, fueled by a
development in the bond market that had predicted previous recessions. Avoiding an economic slump would be critical to Trump's reelection hopes. During
the rally, Trump talked up the economy extensively. "We've created over
6 million new jobs since the election," Trump said, adding that more
than 7 million Americans "have been lifted off food stamps." "America is working again, America is winning again -- and America is respected again, like never before," Trump said. A
nearly full house roared its approval throughout the speech. Trump
campaign manager Brad Parscale told Fox News there were roughly 12,000
in attendance at the Southern New Hampshire University Arena. A handful
of rows of empty seats were visible mid-rally in the uppermost seating
areas. Trump added that China was "eating" the cost of his tariffs, and losing scores of jobs amid the ongoing trade war. "We
had a couple of bad days, but we're going to have some very good days
'cause we had to take on China," Trump said. "I never said China was
gonna be easy. ... And again, China's devaluing their currency, they're
pouring at money, the prices haven't gone up -- so that means we're
taking in" money. The markets in the early afternoon had clawed
back some of their steep losses from the previous day. Trump told
rallygoers that the markets would have "crashed" entirely if he were not
president, and that they should focus on the big picture, rather than
short-term losses. "You have no choice but to vote for me," Trump said. "Your 401(k)'s gonna be down the tubes" otherwise. He continued: "Whether you like me or hate me, you've got to vote for me."
The crowd at the Southern New Hampshire University Arena on Thursday. (Fox News' Paul Steinhauser)
Trump also criticized Democrats for supporting late-term abortions, saying the governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, had endorsed "executing" infants post-birth. “The infant would be delivered," Northam said in a radio interview earlier this year. "The
infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if
that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion
would ensue between the physicians and the mother." He also said his administration will have appointed nearly 200 federal court judges by the end of the year. New
Hampshire, which Trump lost by about 2,700 votes in the 2016 general
election, has been doing very well economically. According to June
government figures, New Hampshire had the fourth-lowest jobless rate in
the country. "You have the most successful state in the history of
your state, and the history of our country, and you're gonna vote for
somebody else?" Trump asked sarcastically. "We have the best numbers
we've ever had. Let's vote for somebody else! I don't think that's gonna
happen. Only with fixed polls is that gonna happen." Despite
the rosy numbers, a recent poll from the University of New Hampshire
Survey Center poll found 42 percent of New Hampshire adults approved of
Trump while 53 percent disapproved. The poll also showed 49
percent approved of Trump's handling of the economy and 44
percent disapproved. And, a national Fox News poll released Thursday
showed Trump trailing Joe Biden by 12 points (50-38 percent), Bernie
Sanders by 9 (48-39), and Elizabeth Warren by 7 (46-39). Those leads
were outside the poll’s margin of error. It was the first Fox News Poll
to show a lead for Warren outside the margin of error. "I saw some
fake polls put out by the fake news media," Trump said in New
Hampshire, as the crowd booed. "We have taken this big, beautiful ship,
and it's being turned around -- very quickly." Some
Democrats' presidential campaigns were holding events to capitalize on
Trump's trip. Biden's campaign set up down the street from the arena to
talk to voters and enlist volunteers. Responding to reports
that Biden was considering scaling back campaign events because of his
frequent gaffes, Trump called the former vice president a "disaster" and
repeated a frequent attack, labeling his rival "Sleepy Joe Biden." As
Trump spoke, a group for Pete Buttigieg's campaign gathered in nearby
Concord to call voters about his support for new gun safety laws. And, Cory Booker urged Trump to cancel the speech and instead urge Congress to take immediate action to prevent gun violence. How
New Hampshire receives the president on Thursday likely will offer a
fresh test of whether voters will give credit to Trump for the state's
economy in 2020. At 2.4 percent, New Hampshire's seasonally
adjusted unemployment rate for May was among the lowest in the nation.
But, wage growth was significantly below national gains. Average hourly
earnings rose a scant 1.1 percent in New Hampshire in 2018, lagging the
3-percent gain nationwide, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In
other ways, like the homeownership rate — first in the nation — and
median household income — seventh in the U.S. — the state has been
thriving, according to census data. New Hampshire's four Electoral
College votes are far fewer than what key swing states such as Florida,
Wisconsin and Michigan would provide, but its influence has proven
powerful in close election years such as 2000, when George W. Bush's
victory in the state gave him the edge needed to win the White House. Meanwhile,
Trump on Thursday threw his support behind his former campaign manager,
Corey Lewandowski, who has been considering a run for Senate in his
home state of New Hampshire. Trump praised Lewandowski as "a very
outstanding guy" in the "New Hampshire Today" interview. Trump said he
thought Lewandowski would be hard to beat if he decided to challenge
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat. At Thursday's rally, Trump touted
Lewandowski as "tough" and "smart," and predicted he would be "tough to
beat" in the Senate. But, the president noted Lewandowski was still
mulling a run. "Corey, let us know please, if you don't mind," Trump said. The
comments came hours before the House Judiciary Committee announced it
was subpoenaing Lewandowski and an ex-White House aide as part of its
investigation into Trump's conduct in office. Lewandowski responded in a
tweet writing that it was "sad and pathetic" that the committee's
chairman, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., "is harassing private citizens." Fox News' Paul Steinhauser in Manchester, Dana Blanton, Andrew O'Reilly and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
