Trump gives support to embattled Speaker Mike Johnson at pivotal Mar-a-Lago meet

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson during a press conference at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on April 12, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Updated 13 April 2024
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Trump gives support to embattled Speaker Mike Johnson at pivotal Mar-a-Lago meet

  • Trump flashed some criticism over efforts to oust the speaker calling it “unfortunate,” saying there are “much bigger problems” right now
  • Johnson and Trump underscored their alliance by pummeling President Joe Biden with alarmist language over what Republicans claim is a “migrant invasion”

PALM BEACH, Florida: Donald Trump offered a political lifeline Friday to House Speaker Mike Johnson, saying the beleaguered GOP leader is doing a “very good job,” and tamping down the far-right forces led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene trying to oust him from office.

Trump and Johnson appeared side-by-side at the ex-president’s Mar-a-Lago club, a rite of passage for the new House leader as he hitches himself, and his GOP majority, to the indicted Republican Party leader ahead of the November election.
“I stand with the speaker,” Trump said at an evening press conference at his gilded private club.
Trump said he thinks Johnson, of Louisiana, is “doing a very good job – he’s doing about as good as you’re going to do.”
“We’re getting along very well with the speaker — and I get along very well with Marjorie,” Trump said.
But Trump flashed some criticism over efforts to oust the speaker calling it “unfortunate,” saying there are “much bigger problems” right now.




Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and House Speaker Mike Johnson are seen together at the US Capitol in Washington as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived to address a joint meeting of Congress on April 11, 2024. (REUTERS)

The visit was arranged as a joint announcement on new House legislation to require proof of citizenship for voting, but the trip itself is significant for both. Johnson needed Trump to temper hard-line threats to evict him from office. And Trump benefits from the imprimatur of official Washington dashing to Florida to embrace his comeback bid for the White House and his tangled election lies.
“It is the symbolism,” said Charlie Sykes, a conservative commentator and frequent Trump critic.
“There was a time when the Speaker of the House of Representatives was a dominant figure in American politics,” he said. “Look where we are now, where he comes hat in hand to Mar-a-Lago.”
While the moment captured the fragility of the speaker’s grip on the gavel, just six months on the job, it also put on display his evolving grasp of Trump-era politics as the Republicans in Congress align with the “Make America Great Again” movement powering the former president’s re-election bid.
Johnson and Trump underscored their alliance Friday by using similar wording to describe one part of their campaign strategy — pummeling President Joe Biden with alarmist language over what Republicans claim is a “migrant invasion.”
By linking the surge of migrants coming to the US with the upcoming election, Trump and Johnson raised the specter of noncitizens from voting — even though it’s already a federal felony for a noncitizen to cast a ballot in a federal election and exceedingly rare.
Trump called America a “dumping ground” for migrants coming to the US, and revived pressure on Biden to “close the border.”
The speaker nodded along. “It could, if there are enough votes, affect the presidential election,” warned Johnson, who had played a key role in challenging the 2020 election that Trump lost to Biden, previewing potential 2024 arguments.
In fact, Trump had made similar claims of illegal voting in 2016 but the commission he appointed to investigate the issue disbanded without identifying a single case. A previous voter crackdown risked striking actual citizens from the voting rolls.
Ahead of the meeting, the Trump campaign sent a background paper that echoed language from the racist great replacement conspiracy theory to suggest that Biden and Democrats are engaging in what Trump’s campaign called “a willful and brazen attempt to import millions of new voters.”
Some liberal cities like San Francisco have begun to allow noncitizens to vote in a few local elections. But there’s no evidence of significant numbers of immigrants violating federal law by casting illegal ballots.
In the Trump era, the sojourns by Republican leaders to his private club in Palm Beach, Florida, have become defining moments, amplifying the lopsided partnership as the former president commandeers the party in sometimes humiliating displays of power.
Such was the case when Kevin McCarthy, then the House GOP leader, trekked to Mar-a-Lago after having been critical of the defeated president after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. A cheery photo was posted afterward, a sign of their mending relationship.
Johnson proposed the idea of coming to Mar-a-Lago weeks before Greene filed her motion to vacate him from the speaker’s office, just as another group of hard-liners had previously ousted McCarthy. The visit comes days before the former president’s criminal trial on hush money charges gets underway next week in New York City.
The speaker’s own political future depends on support — or at least not opposition — from the “Make America Great Again” Republicans who are aligned with Trump but creating much of the House dysfunction that has brought work there to a halt.
Johnson commands the narrowest majority in modern times and a single quip from the former president can derail legislation. He was once a Trump skeptic, but the two men now talk frequently.
“I think it’s an emerging relationship,” said Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, who served as interior secretary in the Trump administration.
Even still, Trump urged Republicans this week to “kill” a national security surveillance bill that Johnson had personally worked to pass, contributing to a sudden defeat that sent the House spiraling. The legislation was approved Friday in a do-over but only after Johnson provided his own vote before departing for Florida.
“I can’t imagine President Trump being very happy about that,” said Greene.
Johnson understands he needs Trump’s backing to conduct almost any business in the House — including his next big priority, providing US aid to Ukraine to fight Russia’s invasion.
In a daring move, the speaker is working both sides to help Ukraine, talking directly to the White House on the national security package that is at risk of collapse with Trump’s opposition. Greene is warning of a snap vote to oust Johnson from leadership if he allows any US assistance to flow to the overseas ally.
“We’re looking at it,” Trump said about the national security package.
On the issue of election integrity, though, Johnson is leading his House GOP majority to embrace Trump’s lies about a stolen 2020 election and laying the groundwork for 2024 challenges.
Trump continues to insist the 2020 election was marred by fraud, even though no evidence has emerged in the last four years to support his claims and every state in the nation certified their results as valid.
As he runs to reclaim the White House, Trump has essentially taken over the Republican National Committee, turning the campaign apparatus toward his priorities. He supported Michael Whatley to lead the RNC, which created a new “Election Integrity Division” and says it is working to hire thousands of lawyers across the country.
Tired of the infighting and wary of another dragged-out brawl like the monthlong slugfest last year to replace McCarthy, few Republicans are backing Greene’s effort to remove Johnson, for now.
But if Trump signals otherwise, that could all change.
 


US military aircraft flies over sensitive Taiwan Strait

Updated 4 sec ago
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US military aircraft flies over sensitive Taiwan Strait

TAIPEI: A US military patrol plane flew over politically sensitive waters separating China and Taiwan on Tuesday, as the United States seeks to reinforce the airspace as international.
The United States and its allies regularly cross through the 180-kilometer (112-mile) Taiwan Strait, either by ship or aircraft, angering Beijing.
China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and claims jurisdiction over the body of water separating the two.
To assert its claims, Beijing regularly deploys fighter jets and warships around the island, while opposing transits by military ships and aircraft belonging to the United States and its allies.
“A US Navy P-8A Poseidon transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace on Nov. 26, 2024 (local time),” the US Navy’s 7th Fleet said in a statement.
“The aircraft’s transit of the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
China on Tuesday said it had monitored the aircraft and condemned the flight for being “openly hyped.”
“US remarks distort legal principles, confuse the public and mislead international perception,” said Cao Jun, a senior colonel and spokesman for China’s Eastern Theatre Air Force, in a statement.
Beijing had “organized naval and air forces to monitor and guard the trajectory of the US aircraft and effectively responded and dealt with it,” Cao added.
During a previous transit by a US P-8A Poseidon in September, the Chinese military tailed the aircraft.
The United States is Taiwan’s most important security partner, but like most other countries it does not have official diplomatic relations with Taipei.

Ukraine says Russia launched ‘record’ 188 drones overnight

Updated 2 min 40 sec ago
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Ukraine says Russia launched ‘record’ 188 drones overnight

KYIV: Russia staged a record number of drone attacks overnight over Ukraine, damaging buildings and “critical infrastructure” in several regions, the air force said Tuesday.
“During the night attack, the enemy launched a record number of Shahed strike unmanned aerial vehicles and unidentified drones,” the air force said, referring to Iranian-designed drones and putting the figure at 188.


President of Chile denies sexual harassment complaint

Updated 26 November 2024
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President of Chile denies sexual harassment complaint

  • Chilean President Gabriel Boric denies claims he sexually harassed a woman over a decade ago

Santiago: Chilean President Gabriel Boric was accused in a criminal complaint of sexually harassing a woman over a decade ago, an allegation he “categorically” denies, a lawyer said Monday.
“The president ... rejects and categorically denies the complaint,” attorney Jonatan Valenzuela said in a statement, referring to an alleged event in 2013.
The complaint was filed on September 6 in the local prosecutor’s office of Magallanes, in the far south of Chile where Boric is from.
Cristian Crisosto, who heads the Magallanes prosecutor’s office, confirmed “there is a criminal case related to the facts listed,” adding that there was a special team at the agency investigating the complaint.
According to Valenzuela, the complaint was filed by a woman who at the time sent Boric 25 emails that were “unsolicited and non-consensual,” including one with explicit images.
More than 10 years later, the woman “filed a complaint without any basis whatsoever against now-president Gabriel Boric.”
Boric, now 38, was 27 at the time and had just completed his law degree.
“My client never had an emotional relationship or friendship with her and they have not communicated since July 2014,” Valenzuela added.
The accusation against Boric comes as his administration is dealing with a separate scandal over sexual abuse after former crime czar and ex-deputy interior minister Manuel Monsalve was arrested this month on suspicion of raping his subordinate.
Boric, who is ineligible to run for reelection after his four-year presidential term ends in 2026, has special immunity and must first be subject to an impeachment trial by the justice department to be formally investigated.


South Korea holds memorial for forced laborers in Japan after boycotting Japanese event

Updated 26 November 2024
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South Korea holds memorial for forced laborers in Japan after boycotting Japanese event

  • South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that it had decided not to attend the Japan-organized memorial largely because the contents of the government speech
  • Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters Monday that Japan held the ceremony in line with its pledge at the UNESCO World Heritage committee meeting

SADO, Japan: South Korea commemorated wartime Korean forced laborers at Japan’s Sado gold mines in a ceremony Monday, a day after boycotting a similar event organized by Japan, as tensions over historical atrocities continue to strain relations between the two sides.
Monday’s ceremony at a former dormitory near the mines on Sado Island, which date to the 16th century and were listed this year as a UNESCO World Heritage site, was organized by South Korea’s Foreign Ministry and attended by nine family members of Korean wartime laborers, the country’s ambassador to Japan and other officials.
Japan on Sunday held a memorial service for all workers at the Sado mines, including Koreans. It thanked them for their contributions at the mines but did not acknowledge their forced labor or issue an apology.
At the Korean-sponsored memorial on Monday, participants in dark suits observed a moment of silence and offered white chrysanthemums in honor of the South Korean laborers, along with offerings such as dried fish, sliced apple and pears.
In a short speech, South Korea’s Ambassador to Japan Park Choel-hee offered his condolences to the forced laborers and their families, expressing hopes that the memorial would bring comfort to families. He said South Korea and Japan should both make efforts to ensure that the painful wartime history is remembered.
“We will never forget the tears and sacrifices of the Korean workers behind the history of the Sado mines,” Park said.
“I sincerely hope that today will be a day of remembrance for all the Korean workers who suffered indescribable pain under harsh conditions, and that this memorial service will bring comfort to the souls of the deceased Korean workers and their bereaved families,” Park added.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters Monday that Japan held the ceremony in line with its pledge at the UNESCO World Heritage committee meeting after thoroughly communicating with South Korea. “It is disappointing that South Korea did not participate,” Hayashi said.
About 1,500 Koreans were forced to labor under abusive and brutal conditions at the mines during World War II, historians say.
Sunday’s ceremony, which was supposed to further mend wounds, renewed tensions between the two sides. South Korea announced Saturday its decision to not attend the Japanese-organized ceremony, citing unspecified disagreements with Tokyo over the event.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that it had decided not to attend the Japan-organized memorial largely because the contents of the government speech at the event were expected to fall short of the agreement between the two sides over the Sado mines’ World Heritage site listing.
Holding a separate memorial ceremony was an expression of “our government’s firm resolve not to make a compromise with Japan on history issues,” it said.
There was speculation that South Korea boycotted the event over the Japanese government’s representative, whom a since-withdrawn report had linked to Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine.
Japanese lawmaker and former entertainer Akiko Ikuina is controversial among Japan’s neighbors in part because of a Kyodo News report — later withdrawn as erroneous — that she visited the shrine, which commemorates 2.5 million war dead including war criminals, after she was elected. China and Korea view Yasukuni as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism.
Ikuina has denied visiting Yasukuni since her term began, and Kyodo News on Monday published an apology saying it had erroneously reported Ikuina was among some 20 lawmakers who visited Yasukuni on Aug. 15, 2022, a report widely quoted by Japanese and South Korean media and noted by the South Korean Foreign Ministry.
Hayashi on Tuesday criticized Kyodo over the erroneous story and for causing confusion over the Sado ceremony, adding that the government plans to seek further explanation from Kyodo. He said “there was no problem” with the government’s decision to send Ikuina, who is tasked with culture and public affairs.
Hayashi, noting the importance of cooperation between the two countries in the current security environment, said, “Though there are difficult problems between Japan and South Korea, we plan to continue our close communication.”
The Sado mines were registered as a UNESCO cultural heritage site in July after Japan agreed to include an exhibit on the conditions of Korean forced laborers and to hold a memorial service annually, after repeated protests from the South Korean government.
Signs, including one at the site where South Koreans held their ceremony, have been erected indicating former sites of Korean laborers’ dormitories. A city-operated museum in the area also added a section about Korean laborers, but a private museum attached to the main UNESCO site doesn’t mention them at all.
The site of South Korea’s memorial was the former Fourth Souai Dormitory, one of four dorms for Korean laborers without families. A newly erected sign there reads, “Workers from the Korean Peninsula lived here during the wartime.”
On Saturday, the families visited a former housing site where Korean laborers lived. They also briefly saw the city-run museum and an exhibit on the Korean laborers as they listened to explanations through a translator.


Indonesia digs out as flooding, landslide death toll hits 20

Updated 26 November 2024
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Indonesia digs out as flooding, landslide death toll hits 20

JAKARTA: Rescue workers in western Indonesia used heavy equipment on Tuesday to dig out from weekend flooding and landslides that have killed at least 20 people, the national disaster agency said.
In North Sumatra, the bodies of five people listed as missing had been pulled from under a mountain of mud and debris, agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said in a statement.
“All victims have been found dead,” he said Tuesday, adding that 10 people in all had been killed in a Karo district landslide.
Beginning Saturday, heavy rain pounded four districts across northern Sumatra, producing the deadly floods and landslides.
Juspri Nadeak, disaster chief in hardest-hit Karo district, said the discovery of victims not yet reported missing to authorities remained a possibility.
“The landslide area provides access to hot springs, so there’s a possibility that tourists were hit by it,” he told AFP Tuesday.
“We are still cleaning up the mud and debris from the landslide while anticipating the possibility of discovering more victims.”
In a village in Deli Serdang district, where four people have been found dead and two more were missing, piles of mud, logs and rocks were scattered around the village where a rescue operation was underway.
“The electricity was cut off and there is no cellphone reception, making it difficult for us rescuers to communicate,” Iman Sitorus, a local search and rescue agency spokesman, told AFP.
Authorities also have deployed heavy equipment to clean up the debris, he said.
Indonesia has suffered a string of recent extreme weather events, which experts say are made more likely by climate change.
In May, at least 67 people died after a mixture of ash, sand and pebbles carried down from the eruption of Mount Marapi in West Sumatra washed into residential areas, causing flash floods.
The disaster agency on Monday revised downward its tally to 15 dead and seven missing following an earlier report that listed one more killed.
The death toll climbed to 20 on Tuesday following the discovery of the five bodies in Karo district.
The rest of the victims were found in South Tapanuli, Padang Lawas and Deli Serdang districts.