TheNewsGuru

Tag: trump

  • BREAKING: Trump sacks his media chief, Anthony Scaramucci

    White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci is out of the job after less than 10 days in the post.

    “President Trump has decided to remove Anthony Scaramucci from his position as communications director, three people close to the decision said Monday, relieving him just days after Mr. Scaramucci unloaded a crude verbal tirade against other senior members of the president’s senior staff.” New York Times reports.

    Mr. Trump’s chief of staff Reince Priebus and spokesman Sean Spicer both left their post over his appointment.

    The decision was made by Mr Trump’s new chief of staff, John Kelly, US media report.

    Background: Scaramucci recently got upset over a report published in The New Yorker and decided to call Ryan Lizza [The reporter] and started heated conversations without asking for background or off-the-record privileges.

    In the call, Scaramucci hounded Lizza to give up his sources, threatened to fire the entire White House communications staff, and gave what Saddam Hussein would have described as the mother of all quotes in an effort to bash fellow backstabbing Trump insider Steve Bannon:

    “I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own cock,” he said. “I’m not trying to build my own brand off the fucking strength of the President.”

    Bannon declined to comment on Scaramucci’s charge that he sucks his own cock.

    It’s hard to believe that it was barely a week ago, on July 21st, that Scaramucci was given Trump’s top press job.

  • Trump disappointed in China for doing ‘nothing’ on North Korea

    Donald Trump expressed his disappointment at China for failing to stop North Korea despite making “hundreds of billions of dollars in trade”.

    The US President has long accused China of profiting at the expense of America and refusing to stop North Korea’s nuclear programme.

    Pyongyang, which this week held another successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile—that analysts said could mean the US mainland is now within range—counts China as its sole major ally.

    Trump accused “our foolish past leaders” of allowing the situation to unfold and tweeted that “we will no longer allow this to continue”.

    He said on Twitter, late on Saturday night: “I am very disappointed in China. Our foolish past leaders have allowed them to make hundreds of billions of dollars a year in trade, yet they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk.

    “We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!”

  • Trump bars transgenders from serving in US military

    President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that transgender people may not serve “in any capacity” in the US military, citing the “tremendous medical costs and disruption” their presence would cause.

    In late June, Pentagon chief Jim Mattis had delayed for six months a plan put in place under Barack Obama’s administration to start accepting transgender recruits.

    An estimated 2,500 to 7,000 transgender people are among the 1.3 million active duty service members.

    But, former Defence Secretary Ash Carter had given the military until July to develop policies around allowing people who had already identified as transgender to join the military if they met physical, medical, and other standards.

    Military chiefs had argued that they needed more time to assess policy, and requested an extension of six months past July.

    There isn’t an official tally of transgender people serving in the military, but Mr Carter quoted an estimate from the think tank Rand last year when making his decision, saying that there are around 2,450 transgender personnel in some active position in the US military. Other groups like the Transgender American Veterans Association, American Military Partner Association, and OutServe-SLDN have said that the figure is higher at 15,500 transgender personnel in the military.

    There are approximately 1.3 million active service members in the US military, and 1,510 in the Select Reserve.

    Following the loosening of restrictions on transgender people last year, there were as many as 250 service members who had announced they were in the process of changing their gender identity, or who had been approved for a formal gender change in the Pentagon’s personnel system.

     

  • Obasanjo blasts Americans for voting Trump

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said Donald Trump came to humble the United States of America.

    Obasanjo said the fact that Americans can vote Trump means they are as human as Africans.

    ‘‘The fact that America can produce a Trump in this day and age, it means Americans are as human as we are,’‘ he was quoted to have said.

    Obasanjo said this during an event earlier this week at the French Embassy in Pretoria.

    ‘‘I am not justifying what African leaders are doing. If our leaders are doing wrong, we should say that they are doing wrong. Trump has come so that America can be humbled, and we can also learn that lesson,’‘ he added.

    He said it was time for Africa to show the rest of the world that it can take charge of its own future.

    “Nobody can do it for us, and it is all of us, and if we do it, we will get it right,’‘ he added.

  • JUST IN: Sean Spicer resigns as Trump’s White House Press Secretary

    Sean Spicer has reportedly resigned as Donald Trump’s Press Secretary after the appointment of Anthony Scaramucci as director of communications.

    The President had asked Mr Spicer to stay on, according to The New York Times, but Mr Spicer told the President that the appointment of Mr Scaramucci was a major mistake.

    Mr Scaramucci, a Wall Street financier and longtime supporter of Mr Trump, will replace Mike Dubke, who resigned from the job in May amid fallout from primarily Russia-related scandals.

    During the transition, Mr Trump had planned to appoint Mr Scaramucci as director of his office of public liaison, but the offer was pulled at the request of Mr Priebus over concerns about the financier’s overseas investments, The Times reported.

    Mr Spicer’s resignation comes after Mr Trump also reshuffled his personal legal team, which is building the President’s defence against allegations of collusion with the Russian government around the 2016 election.

    Jonathan Karl, the chief White House correspondent for ABC News, tweeted that when he went to ask Mr Spicer a question about Mr Scaramucci, the Press Secretary “slammed the door” in his face.

    Minutes later, it was reported that Mr Spicer had resigned.

    Throughout his six-month tenure as the White House Press Secretary, Mr Spicer became known for his combative style with the press that inspired a caricature of him on “Saturday Night Live”.

    A former Republican National Committee spokesman and strategist, Mr Spicer was on the frontlines defending Mr Trump’s directives and decisions, from the controversial travel ban to the President’s abrupt firing of James Comey as FBI Director in May.

    Mr Scaramucci and Mr Spicer’s replacement will be joining the administration when friction between the White House and the press is at a high. Mr Trump has criticised several news organisations, and communications staff has received backlash for holding fewer on-camera briefings. Mr Spicer has said the change is meant to draw more attention to the President’s remarks, but some reporters have asserted that the White House “should have the backbone” to answer questions during on-camera proceedings.

  • Trump legal team spokesman Corallo resigns

    The spokesman for U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal legal team has resigned, media reports say.

    Mark Corallo was a spokesman for Marc Kasowitz, who is defending Trump in an inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

    Corallo, in an emailed statement, gave no other details about his departure, which comes amid media reports that Trump’s legal team is being reorganised.

     

    (Reuters/NAN)

  • U.S., French relations stronger than ever – Trump

    The relations between the United States and France are stronger than ever, US President Donald Trump said Friday, as part of his thanks to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, for the dinner at the Eiffel Tower.

    “Great evening with President @EmmanuelMacron & Mrs. Macron. Went to Eiffel Tower for dinner. Relationship with France stronger than ever,” Trump wrote on his Twitter account.

    Trump also attached a picture from the Jules Verne restaurant, where they had dined on Thursday evening.

    The photo depicts Trump and Macron standing in the center, with Macron’s wife Brigitte standing next to the US President and Melania Trump, posing between the French President and the restaurant’s chief.

    On Thursday, Trump arrived in France on his first official visit. During the first day of his two-day visit, Trump visited the U.S. embassy in Paris and held bilateral talks with Macron on global issues, having dinner at the Eiffel Tower afterward.

    On Friday, Trump is expected to participate in the celebrations of Bastille Day, the French National Day, and commemorate the 100th anniversary of the entry of U.S. troops onto French soil during World War I.

    NAN

  • Trump gives Nigeria $121m aid

    Trump gives Nigeria $121m aid

    U.S. President Donald Trump on yesterday promised $639m in aid to feed people facing starvation because of drought and conflict in Northeast Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.

    Of the funding, $121m would go to Nigeria, according to Rob Jenkins, Acting Head, Bureau of Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

    Similarly, more than $191m would go to Yemen, $199m to South Sudan and nearly $126m for Somalia.

    “With this new assistance, the United States is providing additional emergency food and nutrition assistance, life-saving medical care, improved sanitation, emergency shelter and protection for those who have been affected by conflict,” USAID said in a statement

    Jenkins said conflicts in all the four countries had made it difficult to reach some communities in need of food.

    “We’re in a dire situation right now. The situation in southern Ethiopia, fortunately, does not rise to the dire situation of the other four, but the situation is deteriorating and might very well be catastrophic without additional interventions,” he said.

    Jenkins said that USAID was also concerned about the situation in southern Ethiopia, adding that Washington had already provided some $252m this year to Ethiopia, “but the needs continue to grow.”

    Trump’s pledge came during a working session of the G20 summit of world leaders in Hamburg, Germany, the UN World Food Programme, Executive Director, David Beasley, said on the sidelines of the meeting, according to Reuters.

    “We’re facing the worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two,” Beasley said, describing the pledge as providing a “godsend” to the suffering millions and the global food agency fighting hunger worldwide.

    The new funding brings to over $1.8bn aid promised by the U.S. for the fiscal year 2017 for the crises in the four countries, where the UN had estimated more than 30 million people needed urgent food assistance.

    Beasley said the U.S. funding was about a third of what the WFP estimated was required this year to deal with urgent food needs in the four countries in crisis as well as in other areas.

    The WFP estimates that 109 million people around the world will need food assistance this year, up from 80 million last year, with 10 of the 13 worst-affected zones stemming from wars and “man-made” crises, Beasley said.

    “We estimated that if we didn’t receive the funding we needed immediately that 400,000 to 600,000 children would be dying in the next four months,” he said.

    Trump’s announcement came after his administration proposed sharp cuts in funding for the U.S. State Department and other humanitarian missions as part of his “America First” policy.

    Beasley said the agency had worked hard with the White House and the U.S. government to secure the funding, but Trump would insist that other countries contributed more as well.

     

    NAN

  • Photos: Emotions as Chibok schoolgirls read letter to Trump, encourage him to keep America safe

    Photos: Emotions as Chibok schoolgirls read letter to Trump, encourage him to keep America safe

    Joy Bishara and Lydia Pogu, two of the Chibok schoolgirls, who escaped from Boko Haram captivity in 2014, read a letter applauding U.S. President Donald Trump during a recent visit to the White House.

    The White House released more photos of the girls on Saturday, saying during their visit, Joy and Lyida “read the President a letter about their experience”.

    On the night of April 14, 2014, Boko Haram terrorists attacked the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno.

    An excerpt of the letter is below:

    “Mr. President, we urge you to keep America safe and strong.

    “We know that some people are trying to discourage you.

    “Do not be discouraged. You are right to keep American safe and strong.

    “Not only for America. But for the world.

    “If America is not safe and strong, where can people like us look for hope, when there is danger?

    “Finally, we urge you to keep making America prosperous.”

    Photos: Emotions as Chibok schoolgirls read letter to Trump, encourage him to keep America safe

    Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, hosted the Chibok schoolgirls during their visit, the White House said.

    The Boko Haram insurgents broke into the school and kidnapped the girls, who were sitting for their final exams.

    “But approximately 50 of the girls have escaped, including Joy Bishara and Lydia Pogu, who visited President Donald Trump, and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, at the White House last Tuesday.

    “The girls are recent graduates of Canyonville Christian Academy in Oregon, and they were accompanied by the school President, Doug Wead.

    “The President and Ivanka were both deeply moved by the girls’ visit,” the statement by the White House read.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Chibok schoolgirls’ visit coincided with the U.S. State Department’s release of its annual Trafficking in Persons Report.

    “In the wake of the report, the two Chibok schoolgirls’ visit to the White House was a reminder that the survivors of the scourge of human trafficking are heroes whose courage can inspire us all,” the White House said.

    “Let us recommit ourselves to finding those still in the shadows of exploitation, and let us celebrate the heroes who continue to shine on the darkness of human trafficking.”

     

     

    NAN

  • Trump pledges $50m for female entrepreneurs

    Trump pledges $50m for female entrepreneurs

    U.S. President Donald Trump promised 50 million dollars to a World Bank Fund for female entrepreneurs in the developing world during the Group of 20 summits in Hamburg on Saturday.

    The fund would “transform millions of lives, millions and millions,” Trump said, praising women with entrepreneurial spirit and joking his business career would have been more challenging if there had been more female competitors.

    “When more women participate in the workforce, there will be a lot more competition for people like me,’’ he said, while noting the power of entrepreneurship to lift people out of poverty.

    The programme would help women in developing nations gain access to finance, markets and networks to start new businesses.

    “The U.S. will serve as a founding member,’’ the White House said.

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel had enlisted Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, to advance the effort.

    The president said he was proud of his daughter’s work, adding that the fact he is her father “might be the only bad thing she has going.”

    “Empowering women is a core value that bonds us together,’’ Trump said, who came under fire during his presidential campaign for his past treatment of women, including misogynist remarks.

    He often retorted that he had helped women advance their careers within his company.

     

     

    dpa/NAN