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Tag: trump

  • Porn star, sues Donald Trump over ‘hush agreement’

    Stormy Daniels, the porn star who says she once had an affair with Donald Trump, US President, has sued him.

    In a lawsuit filed against the US president, Daniels says that his lawyer Michael Cohen took “considerable steps” to silence her “in the last week”.

    Recall that the porn star had earlier said she was involved in an “intimate relationship” with Trump between 2006 and 2007 during which they had sex without using a condom.

     

    Daniels had stated that she met Trump at a charity golf tournament and that she was paid $130,000 by Trump to stay silent about the fling.

     

    She revealed that Cohen transferred the money for the “hush agreement” into her account just before the 2016 presidential election.

     

    According to the suit, Cohen “aggressively sought to silence Ms. Clifford [Daniels] as part of an effort to avoid her telling the truth, thus helping to ensure he won the presidential election”.

     

    Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, filed the lawsuit at a Los Angeles superior court.

     

    The lawsuit seeks a court order that would void an alleged non-disclosure agreement between Trump and Clifford.

     

    She asserts that Trump never signed the agreement “so he could later, if need be, publicly disavow any knowledge of the Hush Agreement and Ms Clifford”.

     

    However,Trump’s failure to sign the nondisclosure agreement, she said, makes it unacceptable.

    I tried to stop getting naked, I got broke instead- Afrocandy

  • President Trump threatens to tax European auto imports

    U.S. President Donald Trump kept up pressure on trading partners on Saturday, threatening European automakers with a tax on imports if the European Union retaliates against his plan to slap tariffs on aluminum and steel.

    Trump’s tweet suggested he is refusing to yield to U.S. business interests and foreign trading partners alarmed at the prospect of a trade war that rattled financial markets this week.

    “If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S.,” Trump wrote on Twitter.“They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!”

    The United States imposes a 2.5-percent tariff on cars assembled in Europe and a 25-percent tariff on European-built vans and pickup trucks. Europe imposes a 10-percent tariff on U.S.-built cars.

    Trump criticized Europe in remarks at a fundraiser, according to video posted online Saturday, and suggested they would not increase tariffs.

    “The European Union: brutal. They’ve been brutal to us,” Trump said at a Florida fundraiser.“They’ve banded together in order to beat the United States in trade.”

    Trump did not respond to questions about tariffs or other topics upon returning to the White House Saturday.

    In a speech Friday night at Harvard University, European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager said the EU will respond to the tariffs“to defend European industry, and the world trading system,” according to a copy of her remarks. She called the Trump action“one-sided protectionist measures, which hurt, not just jobs, but the whole system of rules that makes our global economy work.”

    German automakers Volkswagen AG, Daimler AG and BMW AG build vehicles at plants in the United States. BMW employs more than 9,000 workers in South Carolina and is one of the state’s largest employers.

    The United States accounts for about 15 percent of worldwide Mercedes-Benz and BMW brand sales, while it accounts for 5 percent of VW brand sales and 12 percent of Audi sales.

    The United States had a $22.3 billion automotive vehicle and parts trade deficit with Germany in 2017 and a $7 billion deficit with the United Kingdom, according to U.S. government data.

    Last year, Germany’s automotive trade association said“the United States would be shooting itself in the foot by imposing tariffs or other trade barriers.”

    Trump’s threat comes amid mounting transatlantic tension on trade.

    On Thursday, Trump said the United States would apply duties of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum to protect domestic producers.

    Major automakers say the move will hike the cost of cars and trucks.

    The next day, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told German television that“We will put tariffs on Harley-Davidson (motorcycles), on bourbon and on blue jeans – Levis.”

    Canada also has said it will retaliate for any tariffs on steel and aluminum.

    Trump had tweeted on Friday that trade wars are good and“easy to win,” roiling U.S. financial markets.

    In January 2017, Trump warned German car companies he would impose a border tax of 35 percent on vehicles imported to the U.S. market.

     

    REUTERS

  • I would have confronted Florida shooter unarmed – Trump

    U.S. President Donald Trump said he would have rushed in unarmed to confront the Florida school shooter who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

    Trump stated this in his remarks to the ‘2018 White House Business Session with Governors’ winter meeting of the National Governors Association, a bipartisan organisation founded in 1908.

    Trump said: “You know, I really believe – you don’t know until you test it – but I really believe I’d run in there, even if I didn’t had a weapon.

    “And I think most of the people in this room would have done that, too, because I know most of you. But the way they performed was really a disgrace”.

    He described the incident as ‘horrible’, saying our nation is heartbroken. We continue to mourn the loss of so many precious, innocent young lives.

    “But we will turn our grief into action. We have to have action. We don’t have any action. It happens, a week goes by, ‘let’s keep talking’.

    “Another week goes by, we keep talking. Two months go by – all of the sudden, everybody is off to the next subject.

    “Then, when it happens again, everybody is angry and “let’s start talking again.” We got to stop,” he said.

    He insisted that there was the need to take steps to harden schools so that they were less vulnerable to attack.

    The measure, he said, included allowing well-trained and certified school personnel to carry concealed firearms.

    First Lady Melania Trump, in her remarks at the Governors’ Spouses’ Luncheon at White House, urged them to take a moment to reflect on the “horrific shooting”.

    She commended students across the country for voicing out against gun laws following the unfortunate gun violence at a Florida high school.

    “Our continued thoughts and prayers go out to all who were affected by such a senseless act. As a parent, I cannot imagine the kind of grief and tragedy like that brings.

    “And I hope, and I know, we all find ourselves wondering what we can do to help.

    “In my year as First Lady, I have also learned that it’s oftentimes after a tragedy that you see the strength and resilience of the human spirit.

    “I have been heartened to see children across this country using their voices to speak out and try to create change. They are our future, and they deserve a voice.

    “I know all of you are seeing this in your own states and territories, too.

    “And I believe that if we all come together, we can start to effect positive change for our children and help prepare them for their futures,” she said.

  • Sexual misconduct: Trump denies allegation of forcibly kissing, Rachel Crooks

    U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday denied allegations of sexual misconduct by Rachel Crooks who says he forcibly kissed her when she worked at Trump Tower in New York over a decade ago.

    Rachel Crooks, who initially came forward during the 2016 presidential election campaign, is one of over a dozen women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct.

    Crooks came amid women speaking up about workplace harassment as part of the #MeToo movement.

    “A woman I don’t know and, to the best of my knowledge, never met.

    “She is on the FRONT PAGE of the Fake News Washington Post saying I kissed her for two minutes in the lobby of Trump Tower 12 years ago,’’ Trump tweeted in response to a report by the newspaper.

    “Never happened! Who would do this in a public space with live security,’’ he stressed.

    Crooks said Trump repeatedly kissed her on the cheeks and mouth during an introductory conservation when she was a 22-year-old receptionist at Trump Tower.

    Following Trump’s election, she became one of several women to push Congress to investigate alleged sexual misconduct by Trump, but the investigation went nowhere.

    However, the White House has repeatedly denied the allegations.

  • Trump’s daughter in law, Vanessa hospitalized after contact with ‘white powder’

    Donald Trump Jr’s. wife, Vanessa Trump, was hospitalized Monday in the wake of accepting a letter containing white powder, New York City police disclosed to Fox News.

    President Trump’s daughter-in-law opened the letter routed to Donald Trump Jr. around 10 a.m. at the couple’s Manhattan flat. It’s vague what the “white powder” was.

    Vanessa Trump was taken to the healing facility as a safety measure, police said. Two other individuals were reportedly additionally taken to the doctor’s facility, as indicated by ABC7NY. The couple has five kids, however, it was not clear if any were home at the season of the occurrence.

    Police and Secret Service are investigating the incident.

    Trump Jr. is the eldest son of the president. He married Vanessa in 2005.

    Trump Jr. ditched his Secret Service detail for a period of time in September, reportedly because he wanted more privacy. But his detail was reactivated about a week later.

  • Trump signs deal to end US government shutdown

    Trump signs deal to end US government shutdown

    A brief U.S. government shutdown ended on Friday after Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law a wide-ranging deal that is expected to push budget deficits into the $1 trillion-a-year zone.

    The bill was approved by a wide margin in the Senate and it survived a rebellion of 67 conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives thanks to the support of some Democrats. Those conservatives were mainly angry about non-military spending increases.

    Trump’s signature brought an end to a partial government shutdown – or closure of federal agencies – that had been triggered in the early hours of Friday as Congress was still debating the budget deal.

    It was the second shutdown this year under the Republican-controlled Congress and Trump, who played little role in attempts by party leaders this week to end months of fiscal squabbling.

    In a Twitter post that acknowledged the misgivings of fiscal conservatives, the Republican president said after signing the measure, “Without more Republicans in Congress, we were forced to increase spending on things we do not like or want in order to finally, after many years of depletion, take care of our Military” with additional funding.

    Trump also wrote that negotiations will “start now!” on an immigration measure that he and Democrats have been battling over for months.

    The deal, the fifth temporary government funding measure for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, replenishes federal coffers until March 23, giving lawmakers more time to write a full-year budget.

    It also extends the U.S. government’s borrowing authority until March 2019, sparing Washington politicians difficult votes on debt and deficits until after mid-term congressional elections in November.

    The Republican Party was once known for fiscal conservatism, but congressional Republicans and Trump are now quickly expanding the U.S. budget deficit and its $20 trillion national debt. Their sweeping tax overhaul bill approved in December will add an estimated $1.5 trillion to the national debt over 10 years.

    Nearly $300 billion in new spending that is included in the bill approved on Friday will mean the annual budget deficit will exceed $1 trillion in 2019, said the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a private fiscal policy watchdog group in Washington.

    Friday’s budget deal allows for $165 billion in additional defense spending over two years, which will help Trump deliver on his promise to boost the military.

    That won over many Republicans, but some were furious over the $131 billion extra made available for non-military spending, including health and infrastructure.

    None of the added spending will be offset by budget savings elsewhere or revenue increases, relying instead on government borrowing. There also is no offset reduction for nearly $90 billion in new disaster aid for U.S. states and territories ravaged by hurricanes or wildfires last year.

    The U.S. Office of Personnel Management sent a notice to millions of federal employees Friday morning after Trump signed the measure, telling them to report to work.

  • Right-wing Populism in the Western world will destabilize Africa – Hamilton Odunze

    By Hamilton Odunze

    Western populist ideologies are gaining mainstream support, and make no mistake: if implemented the way that Trump and Macron envision, this will destabilize Africa. If you want to gauge the acceptance of populist ideology in mainstream America, consider the example of Donald Trump. This was why he won the United States presidency, and why he still “enjoys” forty percent support (although this is the lowest in modern American polling of presidential approval ratings), all while supporting anti-immigration policies, tweeting compulsively, and making outlandish comments that can only be interpreted as hatred towards immigrants in the United States.

    Another gauge for populist support is the example of Emmanuel Macron, the president of France. Although polls published a few days ago have Macron’s approval rating dropping down to fifty percent from fifty-two percent in December, 2017, he still is one of the most admired world leaders of our time. Even at a fifty percent approval rating, Emmanuel Macron enjoys more local support than Trump. But while Donald Trump pushes his “America First” policies, Emmanuel Macron pushes globalist policies. So, why have these leaders maintained grassroots support?

    The answer may lie in what Trump and Macron have in common: a focus on immigration. During his campaign, Trump promised his supporters that he would crack down on illegal immigration, and since assuming office as the President of the United States, Trump has signed the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act. The RAISE Act is aimed at reducing immigration into the United States by fifty percent, and the bill would also cap the United States’ refugee intake at 50,000, ending the DV lottery visa program as well.

    However, in his first State of the Union address a few days ago, Trump asked the United States Congress to support his move to end chain migration into the United States. Chain migration is the provision in immigration law that grants qualified immigrants the authorization to file for extended family members, such as parents, nephews, cousins, and uncles. If Trump’s request to end chain migration is granted—coupled with the discontinuing of DV lottery visas and skill-based visa approval—he has basically barred Africans from coming into the United States.

    Meanwhile, in France, Emmanuel Macron has toughened up France’s immigration policies as well. Macron’s interior minister has been criticized for stepping up the deportation of illegal immigrants who had been picked up from emergency shelters across France. A few days ago, in Calais, Macron defended his immigration policy by arguing that it is a hybrid of benevolence and firmness. But when the French police are ripping blankets away from freezing people in shelters, it’s hard to see the benevolent aspect of Macron’s immigration policy.

    Trump’s and Macron’s appeal to their base is hinged on tough immigration policies, and this is what is fueling the populist ideology. Incidentally, this is also why Brexit passed in the United Kingdom. Brits got overwhelmed when sheets of immigrants flocked from the Middle East and Africa, and reacted by voting to close themselves off from continental Europe.

    While Trump and Macron enjoy support while grappling with the controversies of their populist ideologies, it seems rather obvious that they do not understand the unintended consequences of their immigration policies. Just a few days ago, Donald Trump questioned why the U.S. is accepting more immigrants from “shithole” African nations than from Norway. He has made it clear that immigrants from nations with skilled labor are more desirable, and Trump’s supporters argue that there is nothing wrong with tilting immigration policies in favor of Norway, or any other nation with skilled labor.

    They are only partially right. Trump and Macron have no legal obligations to allow immigrants into their countries. More than anything, immigration is a global moral issue, which is why their critics have accused them of inhumanity. One thing is for sure: the global impact of western populist ideology will be felt in Africa more than in any other continent, and the unintended consequences will also be very noticeable.

    Consider the fact that Africa is marginally more peaceful than the Middle East, but it also has porous borders, which will make it easy for unimpeded numbers of refugees to gain entrance. Understandably, it sounds hypocritical to condemn America and Europe for their immigration policies and yet point out the problems created by refugee intake into Africa. But the problem is that Africa has very little economic resources with which to cope with an influx of refugees. In fact, the already poor economic conditions will just get even worse. A second point is that the African diaspora sends $120 to $160 billion home, which constitutes five percent of Africa’s GDP. As the number of African immigrants into the United States and Europe shrinks, a good portion of this GDP will be reduced as well.

    Yet if you go beyond immigration policies, there is also a selfish component to the populist ideology. President Trump calls it “America First.” In his State of the Union address last week, he touted the defeat of ISIS and other terrorist organizations in the Middle East as primary concerns. Trump never mentioned where the surviving members of these terrorist organization are headed, but the fact is that they are headed to Africa, and the “America First” policy will not allow for assisting Africa to become better equipped for the coming crisis. It’s only a matter of time before Africa is overrun by ISIS and other terrorist organizations, and when that time comes, the carnage and the abuse of human rights will become far worse.

    Hamilton Odunze

    @hodunze1

  • Twitter-addict Trump admits he sometimes tweets while in bed

    U.S. President Donald Trump has said he sometimes posts on Twitter while in bed, defending his use of the social networking tool as necessary amid “a lot of fake news” about him.

    The New York Times had previously revealed that Trump tweets from bed, and this is the first time the president admitted the allegation.

    “Well, perhaps sometimes in bed, perhaps sometimes at breakfast or lunch or whatever,” Trump said when asked by British journalist Piers Morgan about his tweeting habits in an interview aired on the British ITV channel Sunday.

    “Generally speaking during the early morning, or during the evening, I can do whatever, but I am very busy during the day, very long hours. I am busy,” he told Morgan.

    Trump uses Twitter so frequently that the contents of his tweets range from serious policy decisions to hostile war of words against nations or leaders he denigrates.

    The outspoken president’s frivolousness in both topic choices and wording styles has raised concern over his personal integrity as well as fitness for presidency.

    “If I don’t have that form of communication I can’t defend myself,” Trump said.

    “I get a lot of fake news, a lot of news that is very false or made up.”

    Following his swearing-in as president in January 2017, Trump was advised to abandon his personal @realdonaldtrump Twitter account and inherit the official @POTUS account from his predecessor Barack Obama, but he insisted on keeping both.

    Trump said he usually tweets himself but often lets other people write down what he says as well.

    “I will sometimes just dictate out something really quickly and give it to one of my people to put it on,” he said, describing the situation where people around the world wait to read his tweets as crazy

    Some 47.2 million Twitter users are following Trump’s personal account, which is more than twice the number of followers enjoyed by the official account.

    Concerning one typical example of controversies caused by his tweets, Trump apologized for his retweet of an anti-Muslim video originally posted in November 2017 by a far-right British nationalist group known as “Britain First.”

    In the build-up to his apology, Trump emphasised that he had only recently become aware of the nature of the group, and that stories about the group in the U.S. are less as popular than in Britain.

    “I am, as I say often, the least racist person that anybody is going to meet …

    “If you are telling me they’re horrible people, horrible, racist people, I would certainly apologise if you’d like me to do that,” he said.(

  • ‘Shithole’ comment: South African business leader snubs Trump in Davos

    The South African business leader who called for a boycott of Donald Trump’s closing World Economic Forum speech on Friday afternoon has explained why Africans were angry with the U.S. president and why some of them did not attend his Davos speech.

    Bonang Mohale, CEO of the lobby group Business Leadership South Africa, wrote an open letter to President Trump before the WEF meeting in which he condemned the discourse of the U.S. leader, the website of the national broadcaster Swissinfo reported on Friday.

    “We have read with consternation reports of your derisive comments characterizing African nations and others as ‘shithole countries’, and questioning why the United States should allow immigrants from our continent, or other similarly described nations like El Salvador and Haiti,” Mohale said in the letter to Trump.

    He noted Trump’s reported Jan. 12 comments which stated a preference for immigrants from “countries like Norway”.

    Mohale said many Africans were well aware of the serious challenges they faced such as poor governance, unacceptably high unemployment, inadequate public health care and education systems that, while improving, remained below the levels needed to lift them from poverty.

    “Some of these challenges are self-made, (but) many are the inevitable result of centuries of colonization and its aftermath. Many of us are clear-eyed about our difficulties and how to tackle them, and are doing just that,” said the South African.

    Noting South Africa’s legacy of the racist system of apartheid, Mohale said in the open letter to Trump, “Many of us will be boycotting your address to delegates at Davos in protest against your divisive comments and continued failure to unequivocally apologize.”

    South Africa’s deputy president and newly-elected leader of the ruling African National Congress, Cyril Ramaphosa, left Davos before Trump’s speech.

    He said he had hoped President Trump’s presence at the 2018 WEF meeting would help stimulate a debate that inspired commitment to a world premised on “basic principles of humanity, inclusiveness, respect, tolerance and forbearance”.

    Mohale said such a world is “an alternative, in other words, to a world where walls, disparagement, and hate dominate the discourse of the leader of the U.S.”

     

  • ‘Trump could live 200 years if…’ – Doctor

    ‘Trump could live 200 years if…’ – Doctor

    U.S. President Donald Trump could live up to 200 years if he had maintained a healthier diet over the past 20 years, White House physician, Dr Ronny Jackson, said.

    Jackson said, while presenting the outcome of Trump’s medical fitness, that the president could eat KFC and McDonald’s and still be in great shape because God gave him ‘incredible genes’.

    The White House physician also declared the president as “very healthy” and his overall health “excellent” in spite of his unhealthy habits.

    “It’s called genetics. I don’t know. Some people have just great genes.

    “I told the president that if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years, he might live to be 200 years old.”

    “I don’t know. It’s just the way God made him,” Jackson said.

    The physician’s press briefing came after Trump underwent his first physical examination as president on Friday at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland.

    Jackson said Trump received a perfect score on a cognitive test designed to screen for neurological impairment.

    According to him, it is evident that the President did not suffer from mental issues that could prevent him from functioning in office and can serve out two terms of eight years.

    “I’ve found no reason whatsoever to think the president has any issues whatsoever with his thought processes,” Jackson, a rear admiral in the Navy, said.

    A book published earlier this month, “Fire and Fury” by Michael Wolff, asserted that even Trump’s own advisers and associates questioned his fitness for office.

    Trump, the doctor said, asked for the cognitive test to answer his critics and attempt to quell questions about his mental abilities.

    Jackson said with mostly normal results on a battery of tests and examinations “excellent”, Trump, 71, has remarkably good cardiac health, probably because he does not smoke or drink alcohol.

    Jackson said the president sleeps only four to five hours a night but rarely sees the president overly stressed.

    “He has a unique ability to just get up in the morning and just reset. He gets up and he just starts a new day,” he said.

    According to him, however, Trump weighs 239 pounds, he is too sedentary and his cholesterol is too high, in spite of taking medicine to lower it.

    “The president and I talked; he would like to lose 10 to 15 pounds. We talked about diet and exercise a lot,” Jackson said.

    The physician, who was appointed to the White House post by President Barack Obama and retained by Trump, said that Trump’s diet had changed since he took office.

    During the presidential campaign, Trump’s long-time personal physician, Harold Bornstein, had declared that Trump would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”.