Key points from Facebook-Zuckerberg hearings

WASHINGTON, United States — Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg testified for nearly 10 hours over two days on Facebook's privacy and data protection issues before committees of the Senate and House on Tuesday and Wednesday (Wednesday and Thursday, Manila time).

Here are key points:

Protecting the platform

"It's clear now we didn't do enough," Zuckerberg said on the protection of private user data and to prevent the hijacking of data on millions by Cambridge Analytica.

Zuckerberg said Facebook was built as "an idealistic and optimistic company" to help people connect but failed "to prevent these tools from being used for harm... that goes for fake news, for foreign interference in elections, and hate speech, as well as developers and data privacy."


He said that by the end of the year Facebook would have 20,000 people working on security and content review and would also step up use of artificial intelligence to weed out fake accounts and inappropriate content.

Regulation

Zuckerberg said regulation of social media companies is inevitable, but warned that rules could also hamper the industry's growth.

"The internet is growing in importance around the world in people's lives, and I think that it is inevitable that there will need to be some regulation," he told lawmakers.

"But I think you have to be careful about putting regulation in place. A lot of times regulations put in place rules that a company that is larger, that has resources like ours, can easily comply with, but that might be more difficult for a smaller startup company."

Zuckerberg said the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to come into effect on May 25 was more stringent than what was currently in place at Facebook and suggested it could serve as a rough model for US rules in the future.

Facebook is implementing the GDPR standards for European users next month, and some of its rules will be extended to US and other users later, he confirmed.

"The GDPR requires us to do a few more things and we are going to extend that to the world," he said.

Facebook model

Zuckerberg maintained that Facebook users deserve protection of private data but appeared to argue that its controls make it possible to determine how information is shared.

He claimed that "there's a very common misperception... that we sell data to advertisers," adding that "we do not sell data to advertisers. We don't sell data to anyone."

But he maintained that advertising enables Facebookto offer a free service and that targeted ads based on user categories were more acceptable to users, even if they could opt out.

Zuckerberg also said the company believed in an ad-supported business model, but appeared to leave open the possibility of a paid version.

"There will always be a version of Facebook that is free," Zuckerberg told the hearing.

Russian manipulation

The 33-year-old CEO said Facebook was in a constant struggle to guard against Russian manipulation of the Facebook platform to influence elections in the US and elsewhere.

"There are people in Russia whose job it is to try to exploit our systems and other internet systems and other systems as well," he said.

"So this is an arms race. They're going to keep getting better and we need to invest in getting better at this too."

Zuckerberg has previously acknowledged the social network failed to do enough to prevent the spread of disinformation during the last US presidential race.

"One of my greatest regrets in running the company is that we were slow in identifying the Russian information operations in 2016," he said.

"We expected them to do a number of more traditional cyber attacks, which we did identify and notify the campaigns that they were trying to hack into them. But we were slow at identifying the type of — of new information operations."

He added that Facebook is cooperating with the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"Our work with the special counsel is confidential. I want to make sure in an open session I don't reveal something that's confidential," he said.

source: philstar.com

Trump’s son met Kremlin-linked lawyer after promise of damaging info about Clinton – NYT

President Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. agreed to meet with a Kremlin-linked lawyer during the 2016 campaign after being promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton, the New York Times reported on Sunday, citing three advisers to the White House.

Trump’s then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also attended the meeting at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, two weeks after Trump won the Republican nomination, the Times reported.

The Times quoted a statement from Donald Trump Jr. in which he acknowledged meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

“After pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms. Clinton,” the Times quoted Donald Trump Jr. as saying. Clinton was the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

“Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was provided or even offered. It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information.”

The Times said Veselnitskaya then turned the conversation to the adoption of Russian children and a U.S. law blackisting Russians linked to alleged human-rights abuses.

President Trump was “not aware of and did not attend” the meeting reported by the Times, Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Trump’s legal team, said in an emailed statement.

Trump Jr. was quoted saying he believed information on Clinton was only a pretext for the meeting. The Times said it was unclear whether Veselnitskaya produced the promised compromising information about Clinton.

Trump Jr. told the Times he did not tell Manafort and Kushner what the meeting was about when he asked them to attend.

Representatives for Manafort and Kushner did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.

Allegations of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia have cast a shadow over Donald Trump’s first five months in office, distracting from attempts by his fellow Republicans in Congress to overhaul the U.S. healthcare and tax systems.

The Kremlin has denied U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Moscow tried to tilt the election in Trump’s favor, using such means as hacking into the emails of senior Democrats.

Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion.

The allegations came up during Trump’s meeting on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin but the two agreed to focus on better ties rather than litigating the past.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Trump accepted Putin’s assertions the allegations of Russian meddling were false.

Trump said on Sunday he and Putin had discussed forming a cyber security unit, an idea harshly criticized by Republicans who said Moscow could not be trusted after its alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

source: interaksyon.com

Evictions, sanctions as US strikes back at Russia over election hacks

HONOLULU/WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian suspected spies and imposed sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies over their involvement in hacking US political groups in the 2016 presidential election.

The measures, taken during the last days of Obama's presidency, mark a new post-Cold War low in US-Russian ties which have deteriorated over Ukraine and Syria.

Allegations by US intelligence agencies that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally directed efforts to intervene in the US election process by hacking mostly Democrats have made relations even worse.

"These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm US interests in violation of established international norms of behavior," Obama said in a statement from vacation in Hawaii.

It was not immediately clear whether President-elect Donald Trump, who has repeatedly praised Putin and nominated people seen as friendly toward Moscow to senior administration posts, would seek to roll back the measures once he takes office on January 20.

The Kremlin, which denounced the sanctions as unlawful and promised "adequate" retaliation, questioned whether Trump approved of the new sanctions. Moscow denies the hacking allegations.

US intelligence agencies say Russia was behind hacks into Democratic Party organizations and operatives ahead of the November 8 presidential election. US intelligence officials also say that the Russian cyberattacks were aimed at helping Trump, a Republican, defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump has rejected that conclusion and said on Wednesday that "we ought to get on with our lives," when asked about possible tough sanctions for the cyberattacks.

Should Trump seek to overturn Obama's measures, he would likely encounter wide bipartisan Congressional opposition.

US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, said Russia "has consistently sought to undermine" US interests and the sanctions were overdue.

Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said they intended to lead effort in Congress to "impose stronger sanctions on Russia."

The actions on Thursday were the strongest response by the Obama administration to Russia's cyber activities, however, a senior administration official acknowledged that Trump could reverse them and allow Russian intelligence officials back into the United States once he takes office. He said that would be "inadvisable".

"We believe these steps are important because Russia is not going to stop," one official said. "We have every indication that they will interfere in democratic elections in other countries, including some of our European allies," the official said.

Persona non grata

Obama is seeking to deter Russia and other foreign governments from leveraging cyberattacks in the future to meddle in US politics, former officials and cyber security experts said.

Obama put sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies, the GRU and the FSB, four GRU officers and three companies "that provided material support to the GRU’s cyber operations.

Obama said the State Department declared as "persona non grata" 35 Russian intelligence operatives and is closing two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland that were used by Russian personnel for "intelligence-related purposes". The State Department originally said the 35 were diplomats.

A senior US official told Reuters the expulsions would come from the Russian embassy in Washington and consulate in San Francisco. The Russian embassy declined to comment on the expulsions.

The Russians have 72 hours to leave the United States, the official said. Access to the two compounds will be denied to all Russian officials as of noon on Friday, the senior US official added.

"These actions were taken to respond to Russian harassment of American diplomats and actions by the diplomats that we have assessed to be not consistent with diplomatic practice," the official said.

The State Department has long complained that Russian security agents and traffic police have harassed US diplomats in Moscow, and US Secretary of State John Kerry has raised the issue with Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.

The US official declined to name the Russian diplomats who would be affected, although it is understood that Russia's ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak, will not be one of those expelled.

The United States also released an analysis report by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security examining forensic evidence officials said linked the cyberattacks to computer systems used by Russian intelligence services.

The report largely corroborates the existing findings of private sector cyber firms that investigated the breach at the Democratic National Committee and elsewhere.

source: interaksyon.com

Obama orders 'full review' of 2016 election cyberattacks

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has ordered a review of all cyberattacks that took place during the 2016 election cycle, the White House said Friday as concerns over Russian interference mount.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said Obama called for the review earlier this week, amid growing calls from Congress for more information on the extent of Russian interference in the campaign.

"We are committed to ensuring the integrity of our elections and this report will dig into this pattern of malicious cyberactivity timed to our elections, take stock of our defensive capabilities and capture lessons learned to make sure that we brief members of Congress and stakeholders as appropriate," said Schultz.

Obama wants the report completed before his term ends on January 20, Schultz said.

"We are going to make public as much as we can," he added. "This is a major priority for the president."

Trump denies Russian role 


The move comes after Democrats in Congress pressed the White House to reveal details, to Congress or to the public, of Russian hacking and disinformation in the election.

It also comes after President-elect Donald Trump rejected the intelligence community finding of official Russian involvement. 

Confidential emails from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, a top advisor to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, were steadily leaked out via WikiLeaks in the months before the election, damaging Clinton's White House effort.

On October 7, one month before the election, the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence announced that "the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of emails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations."

"These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process," they said.

But in an interview published Wednesday with Time magazine for its "Person of the Year" award, Trump dismissed those findings. Asked whether the intelligence was politicized, Trump answered: "I think so."

"I don't believe they interfered," he said. "It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey."

Worried that Trump will sweep the issue under a rug after his inauguration, seven Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee called on November 29 for the White House to declassify what it knows about Russian interference.

The seven have already been briefed on the classified details, suggesting they believed there is more information that the public should know.

Then on Tuesday of this week, leading House Democrats called on Obama to give members of the entire Congress a classified briefing on Russian interference, from hacking to the spreading of fake news stories to mislead US voters.

Republicans in Congress have also promised hearings into Russian activities once the new administration comes in.

But some have suggested the Democrats are raising the issue out of bitterness over their sweeping electoral defeat.

Schultz denied politics was behind Obama's order.

"I want to be clear here that this is not an effort to challenge the result of the election," he said.

Russian interference in Germany

Obama's homeland security advisor Lisa Monaco said the cyber interference goes back to the 2008 presidential race, with both the Obama and John McCain campaigns hit by malicious computer intrusions.

"We have seen in 2008 and in this last election system malicious cyber activity. We maybe [have] crossed into a new threshold and it is incumbent upon us to take stock of that," said Monaco.

Russian hacking and election interference have also become a big issue in Germany.

On Thursday Germany's domestic intelligence agency BfV issued a stark warning over a rising Moscow-directed campaign of hacking and misinformation directed at "destabilizing" the country and influencing political discourse.

Last week WikiLeaks published stolen documents on intelligence activities that embarrassed Chancellor Angela Merkel just as she began campaigning for the elections slated for late 2017.

"In the political realm, we detect an increasingly aggressive cyber espionage, warned BfV chief Hans-Georg Maassen.

"The indications of attempts to influence the German parliamentary elections next year are intensifying."

source: interaksyon.com

Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Madonna, Katy Perry lead celebs mourning Clinton loss

Lady Gaga called for kindness, Miley Cyrus was in tears, Madonna vowed never to give up and Katy Perry urged Americans not to weep as Republican Donald Trump stunned the world by defeating heavily favored Democrat Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election.

Celebrities, many of whom had campaigned for Clinton, were shocked as Trump was elected after a long and bitter campaign.

A tearful Cyrus posted a video on social media on Wednesday saying she had not slept because of Clinton’s loss. But the “Wrecking Ball” singer, 23, who had said earlier this year she would leave the country if Trump won, urged unity, saying “Donald Trump, I accept you as President of the United States … Please treat people with compassion and respect.”

Lady Gaga went to Trump Tower in Manhattan early on Wednesday and posted a picture of herself on Instagram holding a “Love trumps hate” campaign poster.

“I want to live in a #CountryOfKindness #LoveTrumpsHate. He divided us so carelessly. Let’s take care now of each other,” she wrote.

Hollywood actors, comedians and filmmakers had thrown their support behind Clinton. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, entertainment sources contributed $22 million to her campaign and to pro-Clinton super-PACs through Oct. 19, compared with less than $290,000 for Donald Trump, Hollywood trade publication Variety reported this week.

Cher, who had said earlier in the campaign that she would move to Jupiter if Trump was elected, tweeted “World will never be the same. I feel sad for the young.” She made no mention of moving out of the United States.

Perry, who performed for Clinton at several campaign rallies, said “Do not sit still. Do not weep. MOVE. We are not a nation that will let HATE lead us.”

“A New Fire Is Lit. We Never Give Up. We never Give In,” wrote Madonna on Twitter.

“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, who is British, got into a Twitter spat after urging her followers to challenge “racism, misogyny and hatred.”

But Trump too had his show business supporters.

“CONGRATULATIONS PRESIDENT TRUMP! @realDonaldTrump against all odds ..against the establishment and even against most from the GOP..U did it!,” tweeted former “Cheers” actress Kirstie Alley.

Actor Stephen Baldwin, the brother of “Saturday Night Live” star Alec Baldwin, tweeted that he was “proud to have been part of such amazing history.”

source: interaksyon.com

At long last, Americans decide between Clinton and Trump

NEW YORK - Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump face the judgment of the voters on Tuesday as millions of Americans turn out on Election Day to pick the next US president and end a bruising campaign that polls said favored Clinton.

In a battle centered largely on the character of the candidates, Clinton, 69, a former secretary of state and first lady, and Trump, 70, a New York businessman, made their final, fervent appeals to supporters late on Monday to turn out to vote.

Their final week of campaigning was a grinding series of get-out-the-vote rallies across battleground states where the election is likely to be decided.

"We choose to believe in a hopeful, inclusive, big-hearted America," Clinton said in Philadelphia before a crowd of 33,000 - the biggest of her campaign.

She was joined by Democratic President Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, and Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton

Trump made one of his final appearances late on Monday in Manchester, New Hampshire, where polls showed a tight race.

“Tomorrow, the American working class will strike back,” Trump said. “It’s about time.”

He brought much of his family on stage for his last rally in the state where he scored his first victory in the Republican nomination fight.

First woman president

Clinton went into Election Day as the favorite to become the first US woman president after spending eight years in the White House as the first lady in the 1990s.

A Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation poll gave Clinton a 90 percent chance of defeating Trump and said she was on track to win 303 Electoral College votes out of 270 needed, to Trump's 235.

But Trump advisers said the level of his support was not apparent in the polling and believed the New York businessman was in position for an upset victory along the lines of the "Brexit" vote in June to pull Britain from the European Union.

"We have seen enormous momentum," said deputy Trump campaign manager Dave Bossie.

Financial markets brightened in reaction to the latest twists in what has been a volatile presidential campaign. Global stock markets and the US dollar surged, putting them on track for their biggest gains in weeks.

Investors, who see Clinton as a known quantity, were buoyed by an announcement on Sunday by FBI Director James Comey that cleared Clinton of a cloud of controversy involving her use of a private email server while President Barack Obama's secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.

While opinion polls showed a close race, but tilting toward Clinton, major bookmakers and online exchanges were more confident of a Clinton victory. PredictIt put her chances of capturing the White House at 81 percent.

Both Clinton and Trump planned to vote on Tuesday - she in Chappaqua, New York, and he in Manhattan. They were then to hold victory rallies about a mile apart in the evening in New York City.

Eyes on Florida, North Carolina
An early indicator of the strength of each candidate could come in North Carolina and Florida, two must-win states for Trump that have been the subject of frantic last-minute efforts by both the Republican and Democratic campaigns.

Races in both those states were shifting from favoring Clinton to being too close to call.

A strong vote for Clinton could jeopardize Republican control of the US Senate, as voters choose 34 senators of the 100-member chamber. Democrats needed a net gain of five seats to win control. The 435-seat House of Representatives was expected, however, to remain in Republican hands.

Voters had to choose between Clinton, who has vowed to largely continue the policies of Democrat Obama, and Trump, who has never held public office and has positioned himself as a change agent. Both were viewed unfavorably by majorities of voters.

The long-running US election campaign has been one of the most negative in American history with each candidate accusing the other of lacking the character and judgment to be president.

Trump, a former reality TV star, reveled in the drama and seized the spotlight time and again with provocative comments about Muslims and women, attacks against the Republican establishment and bellicose appeals to build a wall along the US southern border with Mexico to stem illegal immigration.

But the spotlight was not always kind to Trump, with the release of a 2005 video in which he boasted about groping women damaging his campaign and leaving him on the defensive for critical weeks.

Clinton, a former US senator with a penchant for secrecy, sustained damaging blows of her own linked to her handling of classified information as the country's top diplomat. FBI Director Comey shook up the race and slowed her momentum with an Oct. 28 announcement the agency was reviewing newly discovered emails that might pertain to her email practices.

On Sunday, Comey told Congress that investigators had found no reason to change their July finding that there was no criminal wrongdoing in Clinton's use of the server. (Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson and Amanda Becker)

source: interaksyon.com

Clinton camp dares FBI to tell about Trump's Russia ties

WASHINGTON/FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A top aide to Hillary Clinton urged the FBI on Tuesday to disclose what it knows about any ties between Donald Trump and Russia, accusing the agency of unfairly publicizing its inquiry into Clinton's email practices while staying quiet about the Republican presidential candidate.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation opened a preliminary inquiry in recent months into allegations that Trump or his associates might have had questionable dealings with Russian people or businesses, but found no evidence to warrant opening a full investigation, according to sources familiar with the matter. The agency has not publicly discussed the probe.

A week before Election Day, the Clinton campaign was trying to contain damage from the announcement by FBI Director James Comey on Friday that his agency was looking into newly discovered emails that might relate to Clinton's use of a private server while she was secretary of state.

Clinton has voiced confidence the FBI will not find anything problematic.

She campaigned on Tuesday in the battleground state of Florida, where she was joined in Dade City by former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, whom Trump had mocked for gaining weight. Chants of “Lock her up!” from dozens of Trump supporters gathered nearby could be faintly heard while Clinton spoke.

In Ft. Lauderdale, a young man who yelled, "She's a liar" was escorted out of the rally. Several other protesters removed during the course of her speech.

"I am sick and tired of the negative, dark, divisive, dangerous vision and behavior from people who support Donald Trump," Clinton said as another protester was removed from the rally.

Trump and other Republicans have seized on Comey's announcement, which did not indicate any wrongdoing by Clinton, to ratchet up criticism of the Democratic candidate. She leads in most opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

Trump urged people on Tuesday who voted early for his Democratic rival to cancel their ballots and switch to him.

"This is a message for any Democratic voters who have already cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton and who are having a bad case of buyer's remorse, in other words you want to change your vote," Trump told a Wisconsin rally.

“So if you live here or in Michigan or Pennsylvania or Minnesota, you can change your vote to Donald Trump."

Several states, including those cited by Trump, have a process to allow voters who cast early ballots to change their votes, either by submitting new ballots or showing up at their polling place on Election Day.

'Connections to the Russians'

Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook questioned why the FBI director had not released any information about the agency's Russia inquiries.

"If you're in the business of releasing information about investigations on presidential candidates, release everything you have on Donald Trump. Release the information on his connections to the Russians," Mook said on CNN.

The FBI inquiry reviewed allegations that Trump or his associates might have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or engaged in contacts or commerce with people in Russia who are subject to US or international financial sanctions.

The US government has blamed Russia for cyberattacks on Democratic Party organizations. Democrats criticize Trump for taking what they say is a pro-Russia foreign policy stance.

Russia's possible role in the campaign again came into focus when online magazine Slate said a group of computer scientists had been alarmed by records showing thousands of apparent connection attempts between an email server operated on behalf of the Trump Organization and computers inside a Russian company, Alfa Bank in Moscow.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said the server, which had been used to send out hotel marketing material, had been dormant for years.

Prominent US cyber security company FireEye said it had been hired by Alfa Bank to investigate the records and had been granted access to the bank’s systems in Moscow to look for evidence of any relationship with Trump’s company or any signs of hacking or infection. FireEye said so far it had found no emails being sent back and forth or any other link.

Opinion polls showed Clinton's lead has narrowed slightly since early last week but it was too early to say whether the email controversy was hurting her.

Clinton led businessman Trump in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll of likely voters released on Monday, by 44 percent to 39 percent. Clinton, hoping to be the first woman elected president, strengthened her lead over Trump in polls after the release last month of a 2005 video in which the Republican bragged in vulgar terms about groping women.

But in a dramatic twist, Comey told Congress in a letter on Friday that the FBI was reviewing the newly discovered emails.

Comey had announced in July that the FBI had completed a probe into the email practices, concluding there were no grounds to bring any charges.

Clinton's team has been pressing the FBI to provide details on the new trove of emails, which Comey said may or may not be significant in the case.

Little is publicly known yet about the emails, other than that they were found during an unrelated probe into former US Representative Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Comey's letter has provided Republicans with fresh fodder for attack in the waning days of the campaign. US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Tuesday that a Clinton presidency would bog down in "scandal baggage."

Congressional Republicans, who had been concerned Trump risked damaging their majorities in the House and Senate, were also encouraged by his recent statements on efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. A campaign aide said if Trump wins, he would ask Congress to begin working on legislation to repeal the law before the Jan. 20 inauguration.

source: interaksyon.com

Tom Hanks calls Donald Trump ‘self-involved gasbag’

ROME | Movie star Tom Hanks took a shot at U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump Thursday, branding him “a simplistic, self-involved gasbag of a candidate”.

Hanks, in Rome to receive a lifetime achievement award at the eternal city’s film festival, joked with the press ahead of the ceremony about similarities between Trump and Italy’s ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

“Why the Trump?” he said, imitating one of the many Italian journalists who had asked him the same question, before quipping: “You’re Italian. Why the Berlusconi?”

The star attended the world premiere of his new film “Inferno” last week in Florence.

“Every four years, the circus comes to town in the United States. Every four years, we decide who’s going to be the leader,” he added.

“It’s always at some form of crossroads. Often there is a fever pitch of fear and anxiety. Sometimes it’s warranted, and other times it’s manufactured.”

The two-time Academy Award winning actor said “without a doubt the world is going through something quite profound in which the future is shaky, in which the future is mysterious, in which great parts of the world are dealing with problems that seem as though they have no solution”.

However, “when America has faced those circumstances and times, we have never turned to a simplistic, self-involved gasbag of a candidate,” he said.

source: interaksyon.com

Women accuse Trump of groping, forcibly kissing them; Donald denies

Washington, United States - A flood of newly published accusations that Donald Trump groped or inappropriately kissed women rocked the race for the White House Wednesday (Thursday PH time), with the Republican nominee angrily denying the reports and his campaign branding them "character assassination."

Claims by five women, whose accounts were reported by The New York Times, The Palm Beach Post, NBC, People Magazine and Yahoo News, came to light after he said in Sunday's presidential debate with rival Hillary Clinton that he had never kissed women without their consent.

Trump's denial came as he tried to set his campaign back on track after a video recording from 2005 surfaced Friday in which the 70-year-old real estate mogul is heard making lewd boasts about how his celebrity meant he could grope women with impunity.

"When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything... Grab them by the pussy'."

When he meets beautiful women, he added, "I just start kissing them."

Trump has apologized for the comments, dismissing them as "locker room" banter.

With just 27 days until the November 8 election, and Democrat Clinton in the driver's seat with national polls in her favor, the embattled Republican nominee had sought to get back on the offensive.

But the series of explosive new allegations of sexual misconduct put Trump's behavior with women in the spotlight once again.

'Like an octopus'
Former businesswoman Jessica Leeds, 74, told The New York Times that Trump groped her on a flight in the early 1980s as they sat next to each other in first class.

About 45 minutes after takeoff, Trump lifted the armrest and began grabbing her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt, she said.

"He was like an octopus," she told the daily. "His hands were everywhere."

"It was an assault," she added.

Rachel Crooks said she was a 22-year-old receptionist at a real estate company in Trump Tower in 2005 when she encountered Trump outside an elevator in the building one morning.

She introduced herself and shook his hand, but he would not let go. Trump began kissing her cheeks and then "kissed me directly on the mouth," she told the daily.

"It was so inappropriate," Crooks added. "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that."

"None of this ever took place," Trump angrily told The New York Times, calling the reporter a "disgusting human being."

'I was startled'
Also on Wednesday, the Palm Beach Post published an exclusive on its web site in which Mindy McGillivray, now 36, alleged that Trump grabbed her at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida in early 2003.

"It was pretty close to the center of my butt," she said of the incident that happened as she was working as a photographer's assistant at an event. "I was startled. I jumped."

None of the women reported the incidents to law enforcement.

The New York Times and Palm Beach Post spoke with friends and family of the women, who corroborated their accounts and knew of the incidents before the "hot mic" video was released last week.

Former Miss Utah Temple Taggart McDowell told NBC on Wednesday that Trump kissed her on the lips when she was a 21-year-old contestant in his Miss Universe beauty pageant in 1997.

Asked about last week's leaked tape, she suppressed tears, saying, "I have a daughter now and it's really hard because you think of sending your little daughter out there with men like that who think like that."

More sordid allegations came from Miss Washington 2013, Cassandra Searles. Yahoo News reported that she had called Trump a "misogynist" in a Facebook post, and said in a comment that he had "continually grabbed my ass and invited me to his hotel room."

People Magazine also published an account late on Wednesday by a staff writer who said Trump forced himself on her when she interviewed him at his residence at Mar-a-Lago in 2005.

"We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us," Natasha Stoynoff wrote. "I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat."

'Character assassination'
The Trump campaign quickly fired back, calling The New York Times article a political attack and demanding a retraction.

"This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," senior communicators advisor Jason Miller said in a statement.

ABC News reported three senior-level sources as saying Trump is drafting a lawsuit against the newspaper for defamation.

"Your article is reckless, defamatory and constitutes libel per se," Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz wrote in a letter to the daily.

"It is apparent from, among other things, the timing of the article, that it is nothing more than a politically-motivated effort to defeat Mr Trump's candidacy."

Trump traveled to Florida Wednesday for two rallies, where he ramped up his attacks on the 68-year-old Clinton, calling her a criminal who "has to go to jail" for endangering national security by using a private email account while secretary of state.

He also took aim at Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, who have abandoned him in the wake of the hot mic revelations.

source: interaksyon.com

Clinton, Trump move to show medical fitness for White House

WHITE PLAINS, NY -- US presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on Wednesday moved to show their medical fitness for the White House as Clinton released a letter from her doctor declaring her fit for the presidency and Trump taped a TV-segment about his well-being.

Clinton, 68, is healthy and fit to serve as president and is currently recovering from non-contagious, bacterial pneumonia, her physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack, said in a letter about the Democratic nominee’s medical condition released by the campaign.

Trump, 70, knows he could stand to lose a few pounds but otherwise is in great health, campaign adviser Sarah Huckabee Sanders told MSNBC on Wednesday after the Republican nominee taped an episode of the “Dr. Oz Show” in New York that will air on Thursday.

Bardack, in her letter about Clinton, wrote: “She is recovering well with antibiotics and rest. She continues to remain healthy and fit to serve as President of the United States.”

The announcements came as Clinton spent a third day resting at her home in Chappaqua, New York, after falling ill on Sunday morning as she left a September 11 memorial in New York City. Video footage taken by a bystander showed Clinton becoming dizzy as she attempted to get into a waiting vehicle. Her campaign said later in the day that the former secretary of state had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday.

Though senior aides knew about Clinton’s diagnosis, the delay in public disclosure fueled criticism that she is prone to secrecy and fed unsubstantiated internet rumors that she is hiding a health issue.

Bardack said Clinton’s pneumonia was diagnosed after a chest scan on Friday and that she was prescribed a 10-day course of antibiotics.

Bacterial pneumonia can be treated with antibiotics while viral pneumonia necessitates a different approach, according to Dr. Steve Simpson, acting director of the Division of Pulmonary Disease at the University of Kansas Hospital. Simpson has not evaluated or treated Clinton.

Since bacterial pneumonia is not contagious, Clinton was at no risk of transmitting the infection at campaign and fundraising events before or after she was diagnosed. She is scheduled to return to the campaign trail on Thursday.

Bardack said Clinton’s cholesterol and blood pressure are within normal ranges. She had a normal mammogram and breast ultrasound and shows no signs of developing heart disease, which runs in her family. Clinton takes medication for an underactive thyroid, which has been stable for years, Clarinex for her allergies, a vitamin B12 supplement and the blood thinner Coumadin following a 2012 blood clot in her head.

In December 2012, as Clinton was near the end of her term as secretary of state, she fell at home and suffered a concussion, developing a blood clot shortly thereafter.

Since then, Clinton’s dosage of Coumadin has “been adjusted as needed according to regular lab testing,” Bardack said. After consultation with a specialist, a decision was made to not switch Clinton to a newer anticoagulation drug.

Bardack had released a two-page assessment of Clinton’s health in July 2015. Trump’s campaign released a brief letter from his personal physician in December 2015 that said he was in “astonishingly excellent” health but did not provide detail about treatment or medications.

Neither candidate has released the type of detailed or voluminous medical records provided by past presidential candidates such as US Senator John McCain, who in 2008 allowed reporters to review 1,173 pages of medical records after concerns were raised about a cancer scare.

Trump’s campaign has said he will release additional medical information to the public in the coming days.

The “Dr. Oz Show” on Wednesday released a short clip of its Thursday segment with Trump. In it, Trump gives Dr. Mehmet Oz two letters showing the results of medical tests conducted last week. Huckabee Sanders said she did not see the summary Trump showed Oz, but “he self-admitted he could lose a few pounds.”

Trump weighs 267 pounds, according to media reports. That weight would mean Trump, like many Americans but few US presidents, is considered medically obese, according to body mass index standards.

Clinton’s running-mate, US Senator Tim Kaine, 58, also released a physician letter on Wednesday. Dr. Brian Monahan, who oversees the Office of the Attending Physician in the US Congress, said Kaine, as of his last physical last February, was in “overall excellent health.” Monahan said Kaine was on no medications but recommended a vitamin D supplement.

source: interaksyon.com

Sidelined by pneumonia, Clinton vows quick return to campaign trail

WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton sought to draw a line Monday under the health scare rocking her White House campaign, assuring supporters she will return to the fray this week as her team stated she has no medical ailments other than pneumonia.

Clinton was set to get a boost Tuesday, when President Barack Obama will hit the campaign trail to support her bid to replace him.

Facing intensifying scrutiny about her health, the Democrat will also make new disclosures of medical records and data, as her team acknowledged it stumbled when it failed to transparently alert the press and public about Clinton's condition at the weekend.

"I felt dizzy and I did lose my balance for a minute, but once I got in (the van), once I could sit down, once I could cool off, once I had some water, I immediately started feeling better," Clinton told CNN, adding that she would be back on the campaign trail within the "next couple of days."

Clinton, 68, fell ill at a 9/11 memorial event in New York and was seen wobbling as she was helped into her vehicle, forcing her campaign to disclose she had been diagnosed with the acute respiratory infection.

The incident -- captured on amateur video -- gave her Republican rival Donald Trump, 70, a new opening to question her fitness for the nation's highest office as the race heats up with eight weeks until Election Day.

The campaign said she "felt overheated," then released a statement by her personal doctor, Lisa Bardack, revealing that Clinton had been diagnosed with pneumonia Friday and was suffering from dehydration.

"There's no other undisclosed condition. The pneumonia is the extent of it," Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon told MSNBC.

On CNN, Clinton initially said that she has "twice" gotten dehydrated and felt dizzy over the past five years, then said it had been "a few times."

Clinton was forced to scrap her California fundraising trip Monday and Tuesday. And the campaign acknowledged, just as Clinton was tweeting, that she will not attend her scheduled campaign event Wednesday in Nevada -- with Bill Clinton due to stump there on her behalf according to an aide to the former president.

In his first public comments since Clinton abruptly left Sunday's Ground Zero ceremony, an unusually restrained Trump offered her his wishes for a rapid recovery.

But he also suggested the former secretary of state's health issues were of longer standing than admitted.

"Something is going on but I just hope she gets well and gets back on the trail, and we'll be seeing her at the debate" in two weeks, the Republican told Fox News.

The unexpected turn of events has turned a conservative angle of attack into a serious line of questioning about Clinton's health and why it took two days to reveal the pneumonia diagnosis.

"Antibiotics can take care of pneumonia. What's the cure for an unhealthy penchant for privacy that repeatedly creates unnecessary problems?" asked David Axelrod, a former White House aide to Barack Obama, on Twitter.

Clinton admitted: "If we weren't fast enough, you know, I've talked to my staff, we, you know, take responsibility for that."

But she quickly insisted she has been far more transparent than Trump.

"The information is out there. You can't say the same thing about Donald Trump," she said.

"The American people deserve to know what he's up to and what he is hiding."

'Not the first time'

The episode has fueled fresh speculation and conspiracy theories on the internet, already awash with unsubstantiated rumors Clinton may have a brain tumor, Parkinson's or dementia.

The root of persistent claims about Clinton's health lies in 2012, toward the end of her tenure as secretary of state.

A stomach virus and dehydration prompted her to faint, causing what her doctor said was a concussion. Doctors said they found a blood clot on the brain. Clinton later received the all-clear.

On Monday, Fallon insisted that "there was nothing here in terms of anything that was caused by what happened in 2012."

He also said Clinton's team would be releasing medical records "in the next few days" in order to "further put to rest any lingering concerns about what you saw yesterday."

Trump also promised to release medical records once test results are back.

The former first lady has dismissed rumors about her health, but Trump has repeatedly raised doubts about Clinton's stamina and physical strength, and he questioned her campaign's account of the current episode.

"They say pneumonia on Friday, but she was coughing very, very badly a week ago and even before that if you remember, and this was not the first time," he told CNBC.

'Hard time keeping up'

Clinton spokesman Fallon said several senior Clinton collaborators at campaign headquarters in Brooklyn also fell ill in recent weeks, including campaign manager Robby Mook. But it was not known if that was the source of Clinton's infection.

Democrats including her running mate Tim Kaine rushed to her defense.

"Her energy staggers me," he told a crowd in Dayton, Ohio. "I have a hard time keeping up with her."

source: interaksyon.com

Clinton vows to be president for 'all Americans'

PHILADELPHIA -- Hillary Clinton on Thursday accepted the Democratic Party's White House nomination, casting herself as a tireless champion of the people and rejecting Donald Trump's dark picture of America.

Becoming the first woman to win the nomination of a major political party, Clinton promised to be a president for "all Americans," whether they voted for her or not.

Making a bold play for the political center ground in an election year that has seen the hard right and the hard left become louder and more shrill, Clinton vowed to "be a president for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents."

"For the struggling, the striving and the successful. For those who vote for me and those who don't. For all Americans."

Much of Clinton's address to Democrats gathered in Philadelphia for their party's convention was focused on perhaps her biggest weakness come November -- a tough public image forged over decades of withering political trench warfare.

"Some people just don't know what to make of me," she said with a frankness that is unusual in American politics.

"The truth is, through all of these years of public service, the service part has always come easier to me than the public part."

But addressing her image of putting policy above politics, Clinton was unrepentant.

"It's true," she said. "I sweat the details," be it the amount of lead permissible in drinking water or the cost of prescription drugs.

"It's not just a detail if it's your kid, if it's your family," she said.

Clinton also trained fire on Trump's dystopian view of America.

"He wants to divide us from the rest of the world and from each other," Clinton said, mocking Trump's claim that he alone can "fix" the country.

"He's taken the Republican Party a long way from 'Morning in America' to midnight in America. He wants us to fear the future and fear each other."

Clinton also offered an olive branch to those who backed her rival Bernie Sanders, telling them their voice had been heard, even as isolated voices of dissent echoed around the Philadelphia sports arena.

"I want to thank Bernie Sanders ... And to all of your supporters here and around the country, I want you to know I've heard you," Clinton said.

"Your cause is our cause."

source: interaksyon.com

'We are going to win the presidency' - Trump

CLEVELAND -- Donald Trump told the Republican National Convention on Tuesday that he would win the White House in November, saying he was "so proud" to be their nominee for US president.

"This is a movement. But we have to go all the way. I am so proud to be your nominee for president," he told delegates by video link.

The New York billionaire, who has never previously held public office, said it had been "a very special day" to watch his adult children declare New York's delegate count that put him over the top.

"What we did getting the party's nomination, I will never forget it," he said. "With your vote today, this stage of the presidential process has come to a close. Together we have achieved historic results."

Trump will address the convention in person on Thursday when he will formally accept the nomination and promised to outline "how we build a brighter and more hopeful future for all Americans."

"We are going to win the presidency and bring real change and leadership back to Washington," he said to applause. "We will win in November."

He praised his pick for vice president, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, as an "incredible man" who would make "a great vice president."

source: interaksyon.com

Cleveland on security knife edge for Republican convention

CLEVELAND - Cleveland deployed overwhelming security Sunday, bracing for possible violent protests as delegates poured into town for the Republican National Convention that will anoint Donald Trump the party's US presidential nominee.

The killing of three police officers Sunday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana only added to the tensions in Cleveland, where law enforcement agencies have thrown a ring of steel around downtown.

Authorities in the city on the shores of Lake Erie have erected eight-foot-tall (2.5-meter) metal fencing around the Quicken Loans Arena, closed off streets and deployed thousands of armed police officers.

The four-day political jamboree, which kicks off Monday, will see the bombastic billionaire secure the nomination for the Party of Lincoln after a thumping primary victory that confounded the US establishment.

Roads in the Ohio city are lined with concrete barriers and helicopters patrol overhead, as light aircraft, paid for by sponsors, trail anti-Hillary Clinton slogans.

Law enforcement is on edge, braced for protests from demonstrators enraged by Trump's divisive presidential campaign and preparing for the worst after anti-police violence erupted in Louisiana.

At least three officers were shot dead and three others wounded in Baton Rouge, one of America's most racially segregated cities, which has seen days of protests against the treatment of blacks by law enforcement. The motivation for the latest shooting was not immediately clear, however.

Cleveland, a Midwestern city of nearly 400,000, has taken out $50 million in protest insurance, and Ohio's open-carry law, allowing people with proper permits to carry a loaded weapon on the streets, has inflamed fears of violence.

"We have policies in place for mass arrests through our prosecutor's office, our clerk's office and our court system," Cleveland police chief Calvin Williams told a news conference.

Williams said barricades had also been erected downtown to thwart any potential terror attack after a truck bomber killed 84 people in the French city of Nice last Thursday.

"We use blocking vehicles, we use concrete barriers and things like that at positions that we think may be vulnerable to attacks like that which happened in Nice," he said.

Declare war against ISIS

Trump, a New York tycoon who has never held elected office and who opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, vowed in his latest interview to wage war against the so-called Islamic State extremist group, which is also known as ISIS.

"We're going to declare war against ISIS. We have to wipe out ISIS," he told CBS in excerpts aired on the eve of the convention, which will culminate with a Trump speech accepting the nomination on Thursday.

"I am going to have very few troops on the ground. We're going to have unbelievable intelligence, which we need, which, right now, we don't have. We don't have the people over there," said Trump.

US Special Forces are already operating on the ground against IS, backed by US-led air strikes.

Trump made the remarks in his first joint interview with his pick for vice president, Indiana's conservative governor Mike Pence, an evangelical Catholic.

Trump's choice of Pence, announced Friday, has been welcomed by 61 percent of Republicans and conservatives in critical battlegrounds, states likely to decide the November election, according to a CBS News poll.

The survey found that these voters believe Pence brings stability to the ticket and will boost Trump's chances of defeating Clinton. Pence, however, is not well known beyond the party rank and file.

National polls show Trump tied with Clinton, who was branded "extremely careless" by the FBI in handling classified material in a long-running email scandal dating from her time as secretary of state.

Critics and protests

But Trump faces a herculean task to win over legions of critics.

His salty rhetoric and populist message have outraged many conservatives, raising fears he has fanned a racial backlash and prompting a battle for the soul of the Republican Party.

Unusually, the Cleveland convention features no former presidents, few party luminaries and only a smattering of elected officials. Instead it is expected to hand a starring role to Trump's family to make his case.

The first major anti-Trump protest was to kick off at around 4:00 pm (2000 GMT) Sunday, advertised as a "march against racism, Islamophobia, attacks on immigrants and on LGBTQ people and endless war" and was expected to draw 1,000 people or more.

Another "Stop Trump" march has been permitted by the city for noon on Monday, just hours before the convention launch.

The US homeland security secretary, Jeh Johnson, told Congress last week that he was concerned about demonstrations getting out of hand.

US authorities have been on alert since a gunman intent on killing white policemen went on a rampage and shot five Dallas officers dead earlier this month.

US political conventions, quadrennial affairs, are designed to bring a party together, formally select its presidential nominee and catapult the candidate and party towards November's election.

source: interaksyon.com

In circuitous speech, Trump touts VP pick Pence as man to unify party

NEW YORK  - US presidential hopeful Donald Trump on Saturday presented his vice presidential running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, as the man who can unify a fractured Republican party and help him bridge the gap created by the candidate's outsider status.

In a wide-ranging speech in which he touted his own "landslide" victory in the Republican primaries, Trump cast Pence as a perfect complement for the White House: a veteran of government, a man with a Midwestern sensibility and strong Republican credentials as a job creator and budget balancer.

"Indiana Governor Mike Pence was my first choice, I've admired the work he's done, especially in the state of Indiana," Trump said at an event in New York City.

"And one of the reasons is party unity, so many people have said, party unity. Because I'm an outsider," he added in explaining his decision.

Trump and Pence made their debut just two days before the beginning of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, where delegates from around the country will convene to officially nominate the pair as their party's ticket for the Nov. 8 election.

Frequently straying from the notes on the lectern, Trump talked about himself and likely Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, often detouring from the purpose of the event: to introduce a little-known politician to the broader public.

"Back to Mike Pence," Trump said, interrupting himself during a lengthy explanation about why evangelical voters support his candidacy. He then read a series of statistics highlighting the job growth in Indiana.

"He looks very good," added the New York real estate mogul, who is known to comment openly on people's appearances.

Trump had a bit of a winding path to settle on Pence, a devout Christian and conservative. He postponed his planned Friday announcement after the deadly attack in Nice, France and saying he had not made his "final, final decision," Trump privately had second thoughts on who to pick in late-night conversations on Thursday, said a Republican source familiar with the situation.

Trump had been annoyed that the element of surprise had been taken away by the leaking of Pence's name, the source added. Trump ended up announcing Pence as his running mate on Twitter on Friday.

Saturday's event in a New York City hotel ballroom had few of the traditional hallmarks of what is arguably one of the most important decisions for a presidential candidate. Before it started, supporters listened to the Rolling Stones song "You Can't Always Get What You Want," a tune in regular rotation at Trump events.

There were no "Trump Pence" signs distributed to the crowd or adorning the room. The two appeared together on stage only briefly - each standing out of view while the other one spoke.

On stage, they made scant eye contact and shook hands rather than raising arms together in the classic pose of running mates. Neither offered anecdotal stories about their private time together.

'Come together'

Pence, in sharp contrast to Trump, delivered a prepared speech, discussing the love of his wife and country and his adoration for Ronald Reagan. He gave a full-throated call to fellow Republicans to back Trump.

"Lets come together as a party, as a people, as a movement, to make America great again and that day begins when Donald Trump becomes the 45th president of the United States of America," Pence said.

Trump has struggled to bridge the gap between himself and the establishment and conservative wings of the party. The drastically different styles highlighted Pence's ability to provide a complementing tone to the presidential ticket.

It's unclear when the two will appear together again. Pence heads back to Indiana for a solo event on Saturday night, and the Trump campaign hasn't released a schedule for the convention that would include a joint appearance.

The pair recorded an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" that is scheduled to air on Sunday night.

One of their big challenges will be to brook their policy differences in public. Pence gave a nod to that by saying "strong Republican leadership can bring about real change."

Trump has made renegotiating trade deals a central theme of his campaign, while Pence has spoken in favor of trade agreements. In an appearance on Friday night on Fox News, Pence offered a moderated take on trade, saying he agrees with Trump that deals should be renegotiated.

He also softened his vocal opposition to Trump's call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States.

"I am very supportive of Donald Trump's call to temporarily suspend immigration from countries where terrorist influence and impact represents a threat to the United States," Pence told conservative Fox News commentator Sean Hannity.

Pence added that he supports Trump's call for building a wall along the US border with Mexico. (Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Cleveland)

source: interaksyon.com

Clinton attacks Trump's foreign policy as a threat to US safety

WASHINGTON - US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lambasted Donald Trump's foreign policy platform as "dangerously incoherent" in a speech on Thursday that cast her Republican rival as both a frightening and laughable figure.

In remarks that at times resembled a comedy roast, Clinton unleashed a torrent of polished zingers and one-liners to attack Trump's policies and character, suggesting Trump might start a nuclear war if elected to the White House simply because "somebody got under his very thin skin."

"Donald Trump's ideas are not just different, they are dangerously incoherent," she said to a room of supporters in San Diego, California. "They're not even really ideas, just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies."

Clinton, the front-runner in the race to become the Democratic presidential nominee, delivered her speech as she seeks to shift her attention to the Nov. 8 election against likely rival Trump and away from Bernie Sanders, a US senator from Vermont, who is continuing his long-shot bid for the nomination.

Clinton was speaking in San Diego ahead of California's June 7 primary election.

Democratic Party leaders have fretted about how to best oppose Trump, who managed to knock out all 16 rivals for the Republican nomination in part with his uninhibited style of assailing them with personal insults. Trump revels in referring to Clinton as "Crooked Hillary" and dredging up the infidelities of her husband, Bill Clinton, the former president.

Clinton's remarks were intended in part to show she would not be cowed and that she could go toe-to-toe with him in scornful put-downs.

"He says he has foreign policy experience because he ran the Miss Universe pageant in Russia," she said as the crowd guffawed, and she suggested Trump would run the US economy "like one of his casinos."

During her speech, Clinton predicted Trump, who has been deeply critical of Clinton's foreign policy record, would take to his Twitter account to insult her, and he did.

"Bad performance by Crooked Hillary Clinton!" ran one posting during the speech, which included a typo. "Reading poorly from the telepromter! She doesn't even look presidential!"

Trump has said previously that Clinton is distorting his actual policies.

Two visions

Amid the laugh lines, Clinton cited her own experience as secretary of state, in particular her role advising President Barack Obama during the mission to kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, to suggest her approach to foreign policy was the more serious.

"He praises dictators like Vladimir Putin and picks fights with our friends, including the British prime minister, the mayor of London, the German chancellor, the president of Mexico and the pope," Clinton said, listing some of the allies with whom Trump has verbally sparred in the last year.

Obama, who has also been repeatedly mocked by Trump, has criticized Trump as being ignorant or cavalier about world affairs and has said that Trump's rise has "rattled" foreign leaders.

Trump has talked tough on foreign policy. He has said he would bring back waterboarding and other brutal interrogation techniques for terrorism suspects that are widely regarded as torture and were discontinued by Obama.

Trump has also vowed to renegotiate trade deals, called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, and said he would ask members of the 28-nation NATO alliance to "pay up" or "get out." He has said he would sit down with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Clinton derided these and other positions, promising she would do a better job keeping the United States safe. Standing in front of a backdrop of 19 large US flags, an unusual abundance even by the standards of presidential campaign events, Clinton painted the election as a choice between "two very different visions."

"One that's angry, afraid and based on the idea that America is fundamentally weak and in decline," she said, summing up Trumpism. "The other is hopeful, generous and confident in the knowledge that America is great, just like we always have been."

Trump has criticized Clinton for her handling of foreign policy during her 2009-2013 stint as secretary of state, including the Sept. 11, 2012, attack by Islamist militants on a US diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the US ambassador and three other Americans.

He cites Clinton's support for the war in Iraq, launched by former Republican President George W. Bush, as another example of her shortcomings.

Democratic challenger Sanders echoed Clinton's concerns about Trump after her speech, though he also criticized Clinton's foreign policy. "I agree ... that Donald Trump's foreign policy ideas are incredibly reckless and irresponsible," Sanders said in a statement.

In criticizing Clinton, Sanders cited her vote for the war in Iraq, calling it "the worst foreign policy blunder in modern American history," and said "she has been a proponent of regime change, as in Libya, without thinking through the consequences."

In assailing each other's suitability for the White House, Clinton and Trump are reflecting a negative voter mood ahead of next month's party conventions that will choose the presidential nominees.

Both Clinton and Trump are facing record-low favorability ratings. A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken Friday through Tuesday shows half of Trump supporters say the primary reason they are going to vote for him is "I don't want Hillary Clinton to win," while 41 percent of Clinton supporters cite their primary reason as not wanting Trump to win. (Additional reporting by Chris Khan in New York and Ginger Gibson in Washington)

source: interaksyon.com

Demonstrators blast Trump at San Diego rally

SAN DIEGO -- Donald Trump brought his message of walls and deportations to the doorstep of America’s busiest border crossing on Friday as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee greeted supporters in San Diego, amid one of the largest counter-protests organized against him.

The scene inside the San Diego Convention Center during Trump's speech was relatively placid, while outside demonstrators opposed to his controversy-ridden White House bid marched and chanted, carrying signs criticizing his rhetoric against illegal immigration.

Waving US and Mexican flags, more than 1,000 people turned out for anti-trump rallies in San Diego, a city on the US-Mexico border whose San Ysidro port of entry sees nearly 300,000 people a day cross legally between the countries.

San Diego is considered a binational city by many who live and work on opposite sides of the border, and about a third of the city's population is Latino.

During Trump's speech on Friday, some protesters outside the convention center scaled a barrier and lobbed water bottles at police. One man was pulled off the wall and arrested as others were surrounded by fellow protesters and backed away from the confrontation.

After the convention center emptied, clusters of Trump supporters and anti-Trump demonstrators began to mix in the streets, many exchanging shouted epithets and some throwing water bottles at one another.

Police in riot gear declared the gathering an unlawful assembly and ordered the crowd to disperse, herding the crowd out of the city's hotel and restaurant-filled Gaslamp Quarter.

Police reported making more than dozen arrests during the hour following the department's order to disperse.

Trump has weathered months of blowback from all ends of the political spectrum for his immigration policy, which calls for the building of a wall along the US-Mexico border and deporting the nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants who reside in the United States.

Critics have said his plan is needlessly cruel and impossible to implement. At Trump's campaign stops, attendees often chant "build the wall."

While Trump is running unopposed in the June 7 California Republican primary, his stance on border control and deportation seems unlikely to resonate with the electorate at large in a state where political fallout from a Republican-backed crackdown on illegal immigrants 20 years ago cost the party dearly.

Friday was not the first time Trump has been greeted by civil unrest in California, which is home to the largest Latino population in the country. Late last month, a visit to the California Republican convention set off days of protests in the area, leading to several arrests.

Waiting for ‘first place finisher’

Shortly before taking the stage in San Diego, Trump issued a statement ruling out a one-on-one debate with second-place Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders, who was also in California, killing off a potentially high-ratings television spectacle.

The suggested debate, an idea first raised during a talk show appearance by the New York billionaire, would have sidelined likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton but given Sanders a huge platform ahead of California Democratic primary.

A day after saying he would welcome a Sanders debate, Trump called the idea "inappropriate," declaring that he should only face the Democrats' final choice.

"I will wait to debate the first-place finisher in the Democratic Party, probably Crooked Hillary Clinton," Trump said in a statement.

Sanders, a US senator from Vermont, expressed disappointment on Friday, and sought to goad Trump into reconsidering.

"Well, Mr. Trump, what are you afraid of?" he said in a video clip posted on ABC News' Twitter account.

Trump suggested broadcast networks were unwilling to go along with his demand that at least $10 million raised from the encounter be donated to charity.

“I’d love to debate Bernie,” he told a rally in Fresno, California. “But the networks want to keep the money for themselves.”

Sanders is trailing Clinton in the race to secure their party’s nomination, but opinion polls show he is slicing into her lead in California.

Clinton has shown no interest in debating Sanders before the California primary, which will be part of a final slate of nominating contests. It is possible she will clinch the nomination by winning New Jersey earlier that day, making the outcome in California superfluous.

The former US secretary of state has said she is looking forward to debating Trump later this year ahead of the Nov. 8 general election.

Clinton leads Trump by 4 percentage points in the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. Democrats nationally remain evenly split between Clinton and Sanders.

source: interaksyon.com

Republicans seize control of US Senate in midterm polls

WASHINGTON -- Republicans rode a wave of voter discontent to sweeping midterm election wins on Tuesday, seizing control of the US Senate in a punishing blow to President Barack Obama that will limit his political influence and curb his legislative agenda in his last two years in office.

Republicans won in places where Democrats were favored, like a Senate race in North Carolina, pulled out victories where the going was tough, like a Senate battle in Kansas, and swept a number of governors' races in states where Democrats were favored, like Obama's home state of Illinois.

They also strengthened their grip on the House of Representatives and when the new Congress takes power in January, will be in charge of both chambers of Congress for the first time since elections in 2006.

Obama, first elected in 2008 and again in 2012, called Democratic and Republican leaders of Congress to the White House on Friday to take stock of the new political landscape. He watched election returns from the White House, and saw little to warm his spirits.

Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who won a tough reelection battle against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, will replace Democrat Harry Reid as Senate majority leader.

“Some things don’t change after tonight. I don’t expect the president to wake up tomorrow and view the world any differently than he did when he woke up this morning. He knows I won’t either. But we do have an obligation to work together on issues where we can agree," McConnell said in his victory speech in Louisville.

Republicans needed six seats to win control of the 100-member Senate, and by late evening they had seven.

The winning margin came when Iowa Republican Joni Ernst was declared the winner over Democrat Bruce Braley and Republican Thom Tillis defeated incumbent Democratic Senator Kay Hagan in North Carolina.

Republican Senate candidates also picked up Democratic seats in Montana, Colorado, West Virginia, South Dakota and Arkansas.

The Republican surge will force Obama to scale back his legislative agenda and limit his ambitions to either executive actions that do not require legislative approval, or items that might gain bipartisan support, such as trade agreements and tax reform.

It will also test his ability to compromise with newly empowered political opponents who have been resisting his legislative agenda since he was first elected.

'Terrific night'

But Republicans, hoping to win the White House in 2016, will also be under pressure to show Americans they are capable of governing after drawing scorn a year ago for shutting down the government in a budget fight.

“Tonight was a terrific night for Republicans. It was a powerful repudiation of the Obama agenda, and the Obama economy, which isn’t working," Republican Senator Ted Cruz, a conservative firebrand, told CNN.

"The American people, they’re frustrated with what’s happening in Washington, but now the responsibility falls on us to lead," he said.

Partisan battles could erupt over immigration reform, with Obama poised to issue executive actions by year's end to defer deportations of some undocumented immigrants, and over energy policy, as Republican press the president to approve the Keystone XL pipeline carrying oil from Canada.

The Republican victory had been widely predicted ahead of Tuesday's voting to elect 36 senators, 36 state governors and all 435 members of the House of Representatives.

Election Day polling by Reuters/Ipsos found a dour mood among the electorate with less than one-third of voters believing the country is headed in the right direction.

Roughly 40 percent of voters said they approved of the job Obama is doing as president, though they were split over whether they expected the economy to improve or worsen in the coming year.

In a consolation win for Democrats, Jeanne Shaheen won re-election over Republican Scott Brown in New Hampshire in what polls had forecast as a tight race.

In Virginia, heavily favored Democratic incumbent Senator Mark Warner found himself in a surprisingly close fight against Republican challenger Ed Gillespie, with much of the vote counted. By late evening, he claimed victory but Gillespie had not yet conceded.

In the most closely watched governors' races, Florida's Republican Governor Rick Scott edged out Democrat Charlie Crist, and Republican Scott Walker survived a challenge from Democrat Mary Burke in Wisconsin.

The White House tried to play down the prospect of sharp changes in strategy after the election, saying Obama would seek common ground with Congress on areas like trade and infrastructure.

On other issues, like climate change and immigration reform, Obama is likely to continue to take actions on his own. By the end of the year, he is expected to announce executive action to defer deportations for some undocumented immigrants.

Jay Carney, Obama's former spokesman, said he expects Obama to make an "all-out push" on his priorities regardless of the makeup of Congress.

Whatever the case, Obama will face pressure to make changes at the White House. A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed 75 percent of respondents believe the administration needs to "rethink" how it approaches major issues facing the United States.

Sixty-four percent said Obama should replace some of his senior staff after the election.

source: interaksyon.com