Trump blasts McConnell over 'excessive expectations' remark, source says

President Donald Trump ripped into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in a tense private phone call Wednesday morning, a source familiar with the call told Fox News.

The source said Trump was reacting angrily to McConnell’s remarks at a Rotary Club speech Monday in his home state of Kentucky in which he suggested that the president, given his lack of political experience, suffers from “excessive expectations” about what both chambers of Congress can get done.

During the approximately 10-minute phone call, the source said, the president curtly told McConnell he did not appreciate the criticism and still expects Republican leaders to push for repealing ObamaCare, even though that has largely been shelved for now.
The source added that Trump also told McConnell he is unhappy with U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who cast a decisive vote against repealing ObamaCare without a replacement in place. McCain, who is battling brain cancer, also slammed the president’s aggressive rhetoric on North Korea this week.
The source said the president mused to McConnell that he does not understand why the majority leader is allowing McCain to keep his powerful chairmanship of the Senate Armed Services Committee after bucking the party.
The barb-filled phone call between Trump and McConnell -- the Senate leader whom the president still needs to shepherd the rest of his legislative agenda -- came hours before the president's Wednesday afternoon tweet expressing more gentle public annoyance over McConnell’s remarks.
“Senator Mitch McConnell said I had ‘excessive expectations,’ but I don’t think so,” the president tweeted. “After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?”

Japan Collecting Intel on North Korea, Guam Responds to Provocation

Tens of thousands of North Koreans gathered for a rally at Kim Il Sung Square carrying placards and propaganda slogans as a show of support for their rejection of the United Nations’ latest round of sanctions on Wednesday Aug. 9, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)

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Japanese officials say the country is collecting intelligence on North Korea’s nuclear program.
The nation plans to closely coordinate with the U.S. and South Korea, urging Pyongyang to comply with the U.N. Security Council resolutions.
One of the specific investigations Japan will be conducting aims to determine the validity of a report that says North Korea has successfully produced a miniature nuclear warhead which can fit inside its missiles.
Officials in Tokyo point to the U.S. as a vital ally amid Pyongyang’s provocation.
As the threat in Pyongyang escalates, Japan is also considering changes to the way it approaches defense.
Meanwhile, the governor of Guam is reassuring his people after North Korea threatens to carry out a missile strike on the U.S. territory.
In an online message Wednesday, Governor Eddie Calvo says he was told by both the DOD and DHS that changing the country’s threat level is unnecessary.
This despite growing threats by North Korea to strike the U.S. via Guam.
Calvo says North Korea’s warning is no threat, and the island is prepared for “any eventuality.”
He says Guam has defenses strategically placed to protect its people.
Pyongyang says it’s “carefully examining” a plan to strike Guam, which is home to about 163,000 people, and a U.S. military base.

Scientists Debunk N.Y. Times Story About ‘Leaked’ Climate Change Report

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Scientists debunk The New York Times claim that it leaked a secret — “gloom and doom” — climate change report which President Trump is trying to keep from the public.
The story was published on Monday, and makes allegations against those who challenge scientific data on human-caused climate change.
It reported that people were worried the study would be publicly released, but those who worked on the report are pushing back against the claims.
A scientist who authored the report tweeted quote, “BBC asked me if I leaked our climate science report to the media. I said no — why bother. It was publicly available during review.”

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Scientists call out New York Times for incorrect claim about climate report

Editor's note: Several hours after publication of this article, a New York Times spokesperson returned an earlier request for comment to say the story had been updated.

Scientists appear to have debunked The New York Times' claim it was leaked a secret, gloomy climate change report which it published amid fears President Trump would suppress it.

On Monday, The New York Times published a story saying there are concerns that the Trump administration could suppress what’s known as the National Climate Assessment, a project of the U.S. Global Change Research Program.
The story, titled “Scientists fear Trump will dismiss blunt climate report,” said the draft report “has not yet been made public” but “a copy of it was obtained by The New York Times.”
The paper also said “those who challenge scientific data on human-caused climate change" are worried the report will be publicly released.
But those who worked on the report are pushing back against the claims, saying the version that was obtained and posted in full by the New York Times has actually been online and available to the public for months.
“It's not clear what the news is in this story,” Robert Kopp, a climate scientist at Rutgers University who is listed on the report as among the lead authors, said on Twitter.
The Internet Archive, a website that archives content published online, says it downloaded the report from the Environmental Protection Agency's website in January 2017.
Kopp noted the draft was published on the site during the public comment period, but then taken down after the period. But it still remained online at the Internet Archive's site.
“The Times' leaked draft has been on the Internet Archive since January, during the public comment period,” Kopp said.
Another scientist who authored the report, Katharine Hayhoe, a professor at Texas Tech who leads the school’s Climate Science Center, also emphasized that the report is already publicly available.
“Important to point out that this report was already accessible to anyone who cared to read it during public review & comment time,” she tweeted. “Few did.”
Hayhoe added: “Side-by-side comparison shows that @nytimes has public review version of our new climate sci report - so, no leak. It was available to all.”
Hayhoe also said anyone who wanted access to the draft could still request a copy from the National Academy of Sciences.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Tuesday said the New York Times story is “disappointing, yet entirely predictable.”
“As others have pointed out – and The New York Times should have noticed – drafts of this report have been published and made widely available online months ago during the public comment period,” Sanders said. “The White House will withhold comment on any draft report before its scheduled release date.”
Kopp, the Rutgers University scientist, said Tuesday afternoon that The Times updated the online story to post a newer draft, the Fifth Order Draft, which is currently under review. A correction, however, has not yet been added.
The New York Times story cites an anonymous scientist involved in the report as saying he and others are concerned the Trump administration would suppress the report.
“It directly contradicts claims by President Trump and members of his Cabinet who say that the human contribution to climate change is uncertain, and that the ability to predict the effects is limited,” The New York Times said.
The story said that the National Academy of Sciences has signed off on the draft, but scientists are “awaiting permission from the Trump administration to release it.”
But Kopp, one of the authors, pointed out in his tweets about the New York Times story that the White House hasn’t missed its August 18 review deadline yet.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

White House adviser Miller on immigration: 'What's happening now is not the norm'

Fresh off a heated confrontation with a CNN reporter at a press briefing last week, White House Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News he's focused on implementing President Donald Trump’s agenda, not any media backlash against him.

Last week, President Trump endorsed the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act, legislation which aims to cut the number of green cards issued in half from 1 million to 500,000 a year.

“Right now I’m focused on trying to get more support, as much as we can, for the RAISE Act and the president’s other policy initiatives,” Miller said Tuesday night in an exclusive interview with Laura Ingraham on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
“We admitted about 300,000 people a year in the '70s,” Miller said. “About half a million a year in the '80s. Now it’s over a million a year. So, what’s happening right now is actually not the norm. It’s actually unusual how many people we’re letting in right now.
“There’s segments of the extreme media - I wouldn’t call it mainstream - because it’s extreme to want no borders. It’s extreme to want to have unlimited, cheap migration driving down working-class wages. These are extreme positions,” Miller continued. “And so, the extreme media is going to do whatever they can to tear down this president, but as long as the people stand for what they want and what they believe in, we’re going to keep winning.”
TRUMP AIDE STEPHEN MILLER SLAMS CNN STAR ACOSTA ON IMMIGRATION
In the confrontation with CNN’s Jim Acosta during a White House press briefing on Aug. 2, Miller accused the reporter of suffering from a “cosmopolitan bias.” That comment came after Acosta asked if the bill’s preference for English speakers was geared so that the U.S. would limit its immigrants to those from Great Britain and Australia.
"I can honestly say I am shocked at your statement that you think only people from Great Britain and Australia would know English,” Miller stated. “It reveals your cosmopolitan bias to a shocking degree — this is an amazing moment.”
The two men also sparred over the meaning of "The New Colossus," the Emma Lazarus poem attached to the base of the Statue of Liberty -- before the tensions dissipated.
“The media’s gotten the president wrong, of course, since the day he announced and every day since, and he’s been right and they’ve been wrong,” Miller said on Tuesday while discussing the act.
“Well, it’s an American issue,” he said. “Bottom line is that Democrats support it, Independents support it and Republican voters support it. And, eventually, if an idea has support from a broad swath of the public, it’s only a question of time when it happens.”

N. Korea is Developing Mini-Nuclear Warheads for Missiles

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U.S. officials are warning the international community that North Korea has successfully developed a miniature-nuclear warhead for it’s intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The new data comes from the Defense Intelligence Agency, which completed an assessment of North Korea’s weapons capabilities.
The report also says Pyongyang could possess up to 60 nuclear weapons, although the number could be much lower.
This week the Japanese Defense Ministry also concluded there was evidence North Korea has created smaller nuclear weapons.
Communist leader Kim Jon Un continues to push ICBM testing, but officials still believe the regime has yet to master re-entry developments as well as target accuracy.
Just recently, the United Nations slammed new sanctions on the hostile country in an effort to denounce missile development and testing.
Even China supported the movement.
Meanwhile, President Trump warns North Korea to stop making threats or it will face quote — “fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
He made the comments Tuesday from New Jersey.
On Twitter Tuesday morning the president praised the international community, saying after many years of failure countries are finally coming together to face Pyongyang.
On the country’s state run news network, North Korea threatened to take physical action against any countries opposing it.
The regime shows no signs of backing down, despite world condemnation.

House GOP Unveils Website Blasting Mainstream Media Coverage

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a meeting with House Republicans at the White House in Washington, U.S. February 16, 2017. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

House Republicans launch a website blasting the media for focusing on “chaos,” rather than their accomplishments made during President Trump’s first 200 days in office.
The website called “Did You Know” says the news has not been keeping Americans informed on all the legislation GOP lawmakers have passed in the House.
It went live on Monday, and includes both a video and a written list of all of their achievements.
There’s also a quiz where visitors can answer questions comparing how well they know news reported by mainstream media compared to GOP events and laws.
This comes after the first 200 days of Trump’s presidency was overshadowed by Russian “collusion” and unwavering investigations, which the president referred to as the “single greatest witch hunt of a politician” in U.S. history.