After verbal missteps, Trump blames others
After verbal missteps, Trump blames others
ERIE, Pa. (AP) — It’s the media’s fault. That’s out of context. Never said it in the first place.
Donald Trump’s claim Friday that he was merely being “sarcastic” in accusing President Barack Obama of establishing a terrorist group was his latest attempt to blame others for the uproar over what he says. It’s an instinct that Trump’s opponents say a president can’t possess. Some Republicans seem to have the same concern.
This time, it followed two days of critical headlines and Democratic outrage over Trump’s claim that Obama was the “founder” of the Islamic State group. As Trump repeated the claim more than a dozen times, interviewers sought to ensure Trump wasn’t being misconstrued. Surely, they offered, he meant Obama’s policies had enabled the extremist group’s rise.
“No, I meant he’s the founder of ISIS. I do,” Trump said, using one acronym for the group. (His remark comes at 15:26 of the interview .)
Then an about-face Friday. “THEY DON’T GET SARCASM?” he tweeted.
Pressuring Trump, Clinton releases 2015 tax returns
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary and Bill Clinton earned $10.6 million last year, according to a tax filing released by her campaign Friday that sought to pressure presidential rival Donald Trump to disclose his tax returns.
The filing shows that the Clintons paid a federal tax rate of 34.2 percent in 2015. The bulk of their income — more than $6 million — came from speaking fees for appearances made largely before Hillary Clinton launched her campaign in April 2015. They gave more than $1,042,000 to charity, with $1 million going to the Clinton family foundation. That is the financial vehicle the family uses to give money to museums, schools, churches and other charitable causes. It is not the same organization as the better-known Clinton Foundation.
The Clintons’ income puts them well within the ranks of the top 0.1 percent of Americans, though they pay a higher tax rate than many of their elite peers, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, based on 2013 data.
The release is part of an effort to undercut Trump’s character by questioning the celebrity businessman’s record. Trump has refused to make his filings public, saying they’re under audit by the Internal Revenue Service and he’ll release them only once that review is complete. All major U.S. presidential candidates in modern history have released their returns.
Trump steered clear of mentioning his personal taxes Friday. A spokesman pointed to Clinton’s move to delete tens of thousands of personal emails from her private account as secretary of state and questions about whether she used her government post to benefit the Clinton Foundation.
Bombings in Thailand target tourist cities, killing 4 people
HUA HIN, Thailand (AP) — Attackers struck a series of tourist resort towns across southern Thailand with homemade explosives and firebombs in some of the worst violence to hit the country since a military coup two years ago. Police said at least four people were killed and dozens wounded, including 11 foreigners.
It was not clear who was behind the attacks Thursday and Friday, which followed a successful referendum held last weekend on a new constitution that critics say will bolster the military’s power for years to come.
But the violence appeared aimed at undermining the country’s tourism industry, which provides vital income to the government. One small bomb exploded on a beach in Patong on the island of Phuket and four others rattled the seaside resort city of Hua Hin, prompting businesses to shut their doors, streets to empty and anxious tourists to huddle inside their hotels.
Police said firebombs also triggered blazes at markets and shops in six places, including Phuket, Trang, Surat Thani, Phang Nga and a souvenir shop in the tourist town of Ao Nang, Krabi, a seaside province known for its stunning limestone cliffs.
Thailand’s economy has sagged since the military seized power in a 2014 coup. But tourism has remained one of the few bright spots, with visitors rising to 30 million in 2015 and more than 14 million having visited by May 2016, according to official figures.
Putin fires chief of staff, sign of fatigue with old guard
MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin on Friday abruptly replaced his longtime chief of staff with a low-profile younger aide, the latest in a series of moves by the Russian leader to rid himself of members of his old guard.
Analysts see the dismissal of the 63-year old Sergei Ivanov as a reflection of Putin’s increasing weariness with his close lieutenants who had known him even before his ascent to the presidency. The Russian leader now seems inclined to promote new, younger members of the Kremlin administration who fully owe their careers to him.
The elevation of 44-year-old Anton Vayno, one of Ivanov’s former deputies, doesn’t necessarily portend any shift of Kremlin policy, which has invariably been shaped by Putin himself throughout his 16-year rule.
Ivanov met Putin in the 1970s, when they were both young KGB officers. Unlike Putin, whose KGB career reached its peak with a stint in East Germany in the late 1980s, Ivanov served several stints in Western countries — coveted postings which were considered much more prestigious.
After Putin won his first presidential term in 2000, Ivanov became his defense minister. When Putin had to move into the prime minister’s seat in 2008 due to term limits, Ivanov had been considered his likely successor, but Putin chose Dmitry Medvedev as his placeholder for the following four years.
Newborn baby killed by 6-year-old brother; mother charged
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A 6-year-old boy beat his newborn sister to death after their 62-year-old mother left her young children alone in a car for more than a half hour while she went to get her cellphone fixed, authorities on Florida’s Gulf Coast said.
Now the mother, Kathleen Marie Steele, is charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gulatieri said she went to a cellphone repair business in St. Petersburg on Monday and left her children in the car — the infant, a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old.
While Steele was gone, the baby began crying and the 6-year-old began beating her to make her stop, the sheriff said.
“He was tossing that baby around like a rag doll,” the sheriff said during a press conference Thursday, shortly after Steele was arrested.