A new opposition could be a healthy sign for Syria
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Reuters
38 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump visits police, military carrying out Washington crime crackdown
WASHINGTON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump declared his crime crackdown in the nation's capital a success on Thursday as he visited federal officers deployed under his plan, which has drawn resident complaints that its tactics are too heavyhanded. Trump visited the U.S. Park Police headquarters in Southeast Washington, D.C., bringing pizza and hamburgers for officers as a gesture of support. Without citing evidence, the president told several hundred uniformed personnel that their efforts were leading to a drop in crime. "It's like a different place," he said. "Everybody is safe now." Earlier on Thursday, Trump had said he would go on patrol with law enforcement during his visit, but the ride-along did not happen. Saying the city was gripped by a violent crime wave, Trump last week declared a public safety emergency. He deployed National Guard soldiers and federal agents on the streets, and said he was temporarily taking over the city's police department in an extraordinary assertion of presidential power. The crackdown has included ramped-up stop-and-frisk operations, federal patrols in residential neighborhoods and reports of people being stopped with little explanation. Projecting confidence in the federal response, Trump told the assembled officers that Washington was on the rebound. "We're going to have the best capital ever," he said. City officials have rejected the claim that violent crime is rampant, pointing to federal and city statistics that show violent crime has declined significantly since a spike in 2023. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, asked by reporters earlier on Thursday if the city was safer now, said the capital has seen a decrease in crime for the last two years. "We expect that having 500 additional officers will yield more arrests, and we want guns off the streets. Our police officers continue to do the work, and we expect some incremental difference with more officers," she said, referring to the extra personnel ordered by Trump. The partnership between local and federal law enforcement has been tense at times, with federal agents not only targeting violent crime but also prioritizing immigration arrests and clearing homeless encampments. Five years after Trump deployed National Guard troops to disperse racial justice protesters outside the White House, his 30-day takeover of local law enforcement has sparked some demonstrations. These have included in the past week organized protests near the White House as well as city residents and demonstrators spontaneously confronting federal agents. In one incident, a resident was charged with a felony for throwing a sandwich at an officer. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Wednesday visited troops at Union Station, Washington's central train hub, where protesters heckled them with jeers and shouts. Trump on Thursday was joined by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, his White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, architect of Trump's migrant crackdown. Trump's administration this week ordered federal prosecutors in Washington to be more aggressive in pursuing criminal cases against people arrested as part of the crackdown in the nation's capital, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Trump officials urge Fed to remove governor after she refuses to quit
The Trump administration is ratcheting up pressure on the Federal Reserve to remove governor Lisa Cook, after the economist declared she had 'no intention of being bullied' into stepping down. Cook, who was appointed to the US central bank's powerful board of governors by Joe Biden, has been accused by Donald Trump's officials of committing mortgage fraud. The allegations are unconfirmed. The US president has waged an extraordinary war on the Fed's independence, breaking with precedent to demand interest rate cuts and urge its chair, Jerome Powell, to resign. Trump promptly called on Cook to quit on Wednesday. The Department of Justice is reported to have indicated it is investigating the allegations, with a top Trump official telling Powell the case 'requires further examination' – and calling on him to remove Cook from the Fed's board. 'At this time, I encourage you to remove Ms Cook from your Board,' Ed Martin, the official, wrote in a letter, according to Bloomberg News. 'Do it today before it is too late! After all, no American thinks it is appropriate that she serve during this time with a cloud hanging over her.' The Fed declined to comment. The justice department declined to comment. Despite Martin's demand, the Fed chair has no authority under the Federal Reserve Act to remove another member of the board of governors. On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had discussed how to fire Cook for cause, citing an unnamed administration official. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the report. On Wednesday morning, Bill Pulte, head of the US Federal Housing Finance Agency, who has become – beyond the president himself – one of the Trump administration's most vocal critics of Powell and the Fed, published allegations against Cook. Pulte says the finance agency is investigating a third property owned by Cook. In June 2021, Cook entered into a 15-year mortgage agreement on a property in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and declared her intention to use it as her principal residence, according to Pulte. In July 2021, Cook bought a property in Atlanta, Georgia, and also committed to use that property as her primary residence when taking out a 30-year mortgage, according to Pulte. In a statement, Cook said: 'I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts.' She is the latest figure to be targeted by Trump officials over claims of mortgage fraud. Pulte has made similar allegations about the New York attorney general, Letitia James, and the California senator Adam Schiff, both Democrats. The justice department is reportedly investigating. James has dismissed the claims as 'baseless', while Schiff has vehemently denied the allegations, and accused the administration of weaponizing the US justice system.
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
It's been a confusing week - and Trump's been made to look weak
It's been a confusing week. The Monday gathering of European leaders and Ukraine's president with Donald Trump at the White House was highly significant. The leaders went home buoyed in the knowledge that they'd finally convinced the American president not to abandon Europe, and he had committed to provide American "security guarantees" to Ukraine. 0:49 The details were sketchy, and sketched out only a little more through the week - we got some noise about American air cover - but regardless, the presidential commitment represented a clear shift from months of isolationist rhetoric on Ukraine - "it's Europe's problem" and all the rest of it. Yet it was always the case that, beyond that clear achievement for the Europeans, Russia would have a problem with it. Trump's envoy's language last weekend - claiming that Putin had agreed to Europe providing "Article 5-like" guarantees for Ukraine, essentially providing it with a NATO-like collective security blanket - was baffling. 0:50 Russia gives two fingers to the president And throughout this week, Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has repeatedly and predictably undermined the whole thing, pointing out that Russia would never accept any peace plan that involved any European or NATO troops in Ukraine. "The presence of foreign troops in Ukraine is completely unacceptable for Russia," he said yesterday, echoing similar statements stretching back years. Remember that NATO's "eastern encroachment" was the justification for Russia's "special military operation" - the invasion of Ukraine - in the first place. All this makes Trump look rather weak. It's two fingers to the president, though interestingly, the Russian language has been carefully calibrated not to poke Trump but to mock European leaders instead. That's telling. 4:02 The bilateral meeting hailed by Trump on Monday as agreed and close - "within two weeks" - looks decidedly doubtful. Maybe that's why he went along with Putin's suggestion that there be a bilateral, not including Trump, first. It's easier for the American president to blame someone else if it's not his meeting, and it doesn't happen. NATO defence chiefs met on Wednesday to discuss the details of how the security guarantees - the ones Russia won't accept - will work. European sources at the meeting have told me it was all a great success. And to the comments by Lavrov, a source said: "It's not up to Lavrov to decide on security guarantees. Not up to the one doing the threatening to decide how to deter that threat!" The argument goes that it's not realistic for Russia to say from which countries Ukraine can and cannot host troops. 5:57 Would Trump threaten force? The problem is that if Europe and the White House want Russia to sign up to some sort of peace deal, then it would require agreement from all sides on the security arrangements. The other way to get Russia to heel would be with an overwhelming threat of force. Something from Trump, like: "Vladimir - look what I did to Iran...". But, of course, Iran isn't a nuclear power. Something else bothers me about all this. The core concept of a "security guarantee" is an ironclad obligation to defend Ukraine into the future. Future guarantees would require treaties, not just a loose promise. I don't see Trump's America truly signing up to anything that obliges them to do anything. A layered security guarantee which builds over time is an option, but from a Kremlin perspective, would probably only end up being a repeat of history and allow them another "justification" to push back. Image and reality don't seem to match Among Trump's stream of social media posts this week was an image of him waving his finger at Putin in Alaska. It was one of the few non-effusive images from the summit. He posted it next to an image of former president Richard Nixon confronting Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev - an image that came to reflect American dominance over the Soviet Union. That may be the image Trump wants to portray. But the events of the past week suggest image and reality just don't match. The past 24 hours in Ukraine have been among the most violent to date.
