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Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
CNN's MAGA Panelist Panics When Confronted Over Trump's ‘Genocide' Talk
CNN's token Republican Scott Jennings had a hard time defending President Donald Trump's South African 'genocide' talk when confronted with the facts on NewsNight with Abby Phillip. At the top of the show Wednesday evening, the host dived into the big story of the day: Trump's 'Oval Office ambush' of a visiting South African delegation, including President Cyril Ramaphosa. Ramaphosa and his delegates thought they were coming for a meeting about a reset in relations between the two nations. Instead, South Africa's most famous white man, Elon Musk, watched on as Trump went on a rant about the 'genocide' allegedly being committed against white farmers in the country. 'This is straight out of the conspiracy land of the far right, and it is not based in fact,' Phillip said on her show of the MAGA 'genocide' claim. 'It's amazing that this has actually become the foreign policy of the United States,' she went on. 'We have the numbers, it's completely unsubstantiated.' Jennings, who had watched on with a furrowed brow, then intervened. 'You're saying it's not true that some white farmers have been murdered?' he asked. Phillip responded to clarify that she was saying it is not true that there is a genocide of white farmers in South Africa, as Trump claimed. Genocide, according to Merriam-Webster, is 'the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.' 'OK, whatever you call it, white farmers have been murdered?' Jennings continued. As Jennings pressed, Phillip hit back by simply ask him about the facts. 'Hold on a second,' she demanded, 'How many white farmers have been murdered?' This forced Jennings to admit: 'I don't know. Several…' 'No, no, how many?' the host continued. 'How many?' Jennings repeated that he didn't know the figure. 'I know why you don't know,' Phillip said. 'Because those numbers don't exist broken down by race.' 'I mean I wouldn't trust the South African government to tell me, I know that,' Jennings said. 'How many Black farmers have been murdered in South Africa?' Phillip asked. 'Look, you guys are so triggered over 59 people...' Jennings said, again unable to answer the question. 'I haven't even brought up the people, the white people that Trump picked out because they were white and told them they could come to the country,' Phillip said, referring to the 59 white South Africans who moved to the U.S. to resettle earlier this month after Trump granted them refugee status, claiming they faced racial discrimination. 'How much racial killing are you going to condone?' Jennings said, scrambling for a comeback. Phillip then displayed statistics from South African authorities showing that, from April to December in 2024, a total of 19,696 murders were committed in South Africa. Only 36 were committed on farms, and just seven victims were farmers. Official data is not broken down by race, so it is not known how many victims were white or Black. 'According to who?! According to who?!' Jennings demanded as Phillip read out the stats contradicting Trump's claims. Phillip later responded that 'the vast majority of people killed on South African farms are Black,' adding, 'Where's the concern about them?' Jennings spluttered: 'The concern is that there are white farmers who have had violence committed against them and they're being threatened every single day… there's 59 people and you're triggered about 59 people and I don't know why…' 'I haven't mentioned anything about 59 people,' Phillip pointed out. 'Why are you only concerned about white people?' she then pointedly asked. 'I'm only concerned about this story because these 59 people asked for status, they're getting status and now everybody's freaking out about it,' he said, changing the subject. Phillip later accused Jennings of 'taking a fringe movement and trying to make it a characteristic of an entire nation.'
CNN
6 days ago
- General
- CNN
Pet Peeve Edition
After Turkey announces fines for impatient airline passengers, the NewsNight panel weighs in on what other social faux pas might need to get a summons.
IOL News
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- IOL News
'I stand with my brothers and sisters in South Africa': Viola Davis slams 'white genocide' narrative
Viola Davis has slammed allegations of "a white genocide" in South Africa. The multi-award winning actress took to social media to share that she stood with South Africans following months of claims of a genocide in SA. In a post on Instagram, Davis said, "Spent a lot of time in Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl, and Durban… there is no argument. There is no justification. I've seen the ravages of apartheid. I've seen the townships — all Black. Full stop. "Thank you, @abbydphillip, for speaking truth to power. I stand with my brothers and sisters in South Africa. "NGIYAKUTHANDA" (Translated: I love you) In the clip, shared by Davis CNN's NewsNight anchor Abby Phillip was responding Scott Jennings's questions around murders in the SA. According to the statistics Phillip shared, there were 19,696 murders committed in SA between April to December 2024 with 36 being farm murders and seven farmers killed.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ex-Biden DOJ official slams Democratic Party for 'lying to everyone,' blasting cabinet over Hur report
A former Department of Justice official, Xochitl Hinojosa, called out members of the Democratic Party on Tuesday for "lying to everybody" about former President Joe Biden when it came to Robert Hur's report, which was dismissed as "gratuitous" at the time. "I was at the Justice Department at the time when we released the Hur report, and he was, the entire White House infrastructure at the time, was calling the report gratuitous, and said that Rob Hur should have never called him 'a well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.' And every Democratic pundit, many reporters, were out there saying that it was inappropriate for Rob Hur to say that. And the reality is, the whole reason why he put that in is because it was his whole reason not to prosecute," Hinojosa, who worked as the Director of Public affairs at the DOJ, said during CNN's "NewsNight." Audio from Hur's interview with Biden was released on Friday, and showed the former president struggling with words and key memories during the interview. Axios reporter Alex Thompson was on the panel as well to discuss the reporting about the former president from his new book, "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again," which he published with CNN host Jake Tapper. "So it's really infuriating to hear this happening in the Spring of 2024, around the time that the Hur report was released and certain aspects in Alex and Jake's reporting really talk about the timeframe being Fall of 2023, whenever he did his interview with Rob Hur, as well as early 2024, when was the release of the report. And so it's just, it's really frustrating, I think as a Democratic Party, hearing now that they were lying to everybody, and not only were they lying to everybody, but they were bashing their own cabinet when it came to the Hur report," Hinojosa added. Hur Transcript Confirms Biden Memory Lapses, Contradicts President's Claim About Exchange Over Son's Death Biden officials such as Karine Jean-Pierre and Ian Sams, as well as former Vice President Kamala Harris and former DHS Secretary Mayorkas, deemed the Hur report "gratuitous" after it was released, because Hur declined to charge the former president over the mishandling of classified documents due to his memory lapses. Read On The Fox News App "The reality is, that report, that part of the report does not live in reality. It just doesn't, it is gratuitous," Jean-Pierre said at the time, responding to a question about Biden's memory. "It is unacceptable and it does not live in reality." Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna, Jamie Raskin, and Daniel Goldman also deemed the report unnecessary and gratuitous at the time. Audio from the interview showed that Biden admitted he kept documents about Afghanistan for "posterity's sake." Cnn Host Suggests Robert Hur 'Undersold' Extent Of Biden Memory Lapses During Special Counsel Interview Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture When asked about a classified document on Afghanistan found at his lake house, Biden said at first he wasn't sure how the document got there, but then admitted, "I guess I wanted to hang on to it for posterity's sake." Fox News' Brie Stimson and Brooke Singman contributed to this article source: Ex-Biden DOJ official slams Democratic Party for 'lying to everyone,' blasting cabinet over Hur report
The Citizen
22-05-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
Ramaphosa hails Trump meeting a success despite ambush
Ramaphosa said trade, investment and golf were on the agenda when he met Trump. US President Donald Trump shakes hands with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 21, 2025. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa meets Donald Trump on Wednesday amid tensions over Washington's resettlement of white Afrikaners that the US president claims are the victims of 'genocide.' (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) President Cyril Ramaphosa says his visit to the Oval Office at the White House and meeting with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, was a major success despite the US President's ambush. Ramaphosa met Trump on Wednesday. He was joined by four ministers, renowned businessman Johann Rupert and golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen. The meeting between Trump and Ramaphosa started off with an amicable discussion, but took a dramatic shift to violence against white farmers and Afrikaners in South Africa when the US president played videos to prove genocide in the country. ALSO READ: 'There is doubt in Trump's head about genocide in SA,' Ramaphosa says [VIDEO] The videos which were played on a television screen in the Oval Office, featured EFF leader Julius Malema chanting 'Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer'. Meeting fruitful Despite the unsubstantiated claims made by Trump about genocide in South Africa, Ramaphosa said the meeting with Trump was fruitful. 'We were able to have a robust engagement with Trump, and it was also good to have a number of members of the delegation to field either a number of questions or make comments. So, that it my view was really good.' Ramaphosa said he had a good working lunch with Trump and his officials after the open bilateral talks. 'The discussions revolved of course around golf, but they also revolved around issues of trade and investment and discussing all that want to confirm there will continue to be engagement between South Africa and the United States officials, particularly the trade and industry level to deal with the package of issues that have to do with trade and investment.' WATCH President Cyril Ramaphosa addressing the media [ON AIR] President Cyril Ramaphosa says the meeting with US President Donald Trump was fruitful despite a 'number of issues'. #DStv403 #NewsNight #QustionThinkAct May 21, 2025 Agoa Ramaphosa said the issue of Agoa also came up over lunch. 'It's going to be further discussed in the engagements that we're going to have. The [US] Secretary of Commerce and our Trade and Industry Minister are going to be able to take that discussion forward,' Ramaphosa said. Ramaphosa added that it was Trump's suggestion to include Els and Goosen in the meeting — 'because he loves them, he's a golfer, he's an avid golfer and he respects the South African icons'. ALSO READ: WATCH: Donald Trump ambushes Cyril Ramaphosa in Oval Office
