Expert says Garland police officer "was far outgunned (but) far better trained" Police say two men with assault rifles and wearing body armor fired at police in Texas They are shot dead by an officer with a pistol who "acted quickly and decisively" It wasn’t a fair fight. On one side, you had two men in body armor, toting assault rifles and showing every willingness to open fire now and count their victims later. On the other, you had a security officer – a traffic officer by day – with a pistol. Somehow, the officer won. Authorities have not released the name of the overmatched Garland, Texas, police officer who stopped a pair of gunmen Sunday night outside that city’s Curtis Culwell Center, where people had gathered at an event featuring controversial cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed. But they have described what he did, actions that could be characterized as equal parts skillful, heroic and miraculous. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson lauded the police officer for having “acted quickly and decisively, and thereby likely (saving) a number of innocent lives.” “He did what he was trained to do,” added Garland police spokesman Joe Harn. “And under the fire that he was put under, he did a very good job.” ISIS threatens attacks against the U.S. Authorities knew ahead of time that there could be trouble this weekend in Garland. Many Muslims firmly denounce cartoons that depict Mohammed as offensive to their faith. And some extremists have turned to violence to express their opposition, by attacking those behind such drawings, as they did in the January massacre at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine and a February incident at a Copenhagen, Denmark, forum attended by Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks. Related video Who is Geert Wilders? As if the Mohammed cartoons weren’t enough to make Sunday’s event a target, there was also the presence of its keynote speaker, Geert Wilders. The right-wing Dutch politician is on an al Qaeda hit list for his short film, “Fitna,” which pairs disturbing images of terrorist acts with text from the Quran and recordings of incitements by extremist Islamic authorities. The potential of a new attack was why the Garland police officer was at the convention center, which the Texas city’s school district operates. He had plenty of company: Harn didn’t specify the number of law enforcement officers on site, but did say the event’s organizers paid $10,000 for beefed-up security. “Garland police officers work at the convention center all the time as an off-duty job,” Harn said. “And that was the case … for everyone.” The officer who’d later be praised as a hero was parked in a patrol car in front of the first entrance, from the east, off Naaman Forest Boulevard into the center’s parking lot. An unarmed Garland school district security officer sat in the car with him, ostensibly to check the identification of those coming in. The event started, by all accounts, without a hitch around 5 p.m. (6 p.m. ET), and for nearly two hours nothing serious happened. Until, that is, about 6:50 p.m., when a dark-colored vehicle pulled into the entrance the Garland officer and school district officer were blocking. Related video 2 gunmen killed at Mohammed cartoon event in Texas “When that car pulled up and stopped, those officers began to exit that vehicle, and two men exited the dark-colored sedan,” Harn said. “Both of them had assault rifles, came around the back of the car and started shooting at the police car.” According to a law enforcement source close to the investigation, the two men had six guns – a mix of assault-style semiautomatic rifles and handguns – that are being traced back to various parts of Arizona. Gunfire reverberated around the complex, from the two gunmen, and the armed officer. A short time later, four members of a nearby SWAT team came in firing their high-powered rifles, according to a source familiar with the officers involved. But by the time they did, the Garland traffic officer was the only one standing. The school district officer had been hit in the leg, according to Harn. And the two attackers were already down on the ground by their car, having been shot by the traffic officer. Within 15 seconds, the chaotic eruption was basically over. How? He had a .45-caliber Glock pistol, a much less powerful weapon than the rifles used by the attackers, who have since been identified by federal law enforcement officials as Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi. Related video Who were the Texas gunmen? “There’s no advantage for a handgun over an assault rifle,” said Dick Fairburn, a veteran law enforcement officer who is a columnist for PoliceOne.com. “An assault rifle has more distance, more accuracy, more power, more penetration. “You cannot downplay what he did there.” Granted, the officer likely had on some sort of protective jacket. But Tom Fuentes, a former FBI assistant director and current CNN contributor, said that the thin Kevlar vests often worn by police would be useless against an assault rifle round that “will go through that like a hot knife through butter.” The same can’t be said for bullets coming from the officer’s pistol: The attackers’ body armor likely would have blocked those. Thus, aiming for the suspects’ torso – as officers are trained first to do, since it is their biggest possible target – is no longer an option. But still, somehow, the traffic officer managed to down both men in seconds. “It speaks to his skill level,” Fairburn, who is a firearms trainer for law enforcement, said of the Garland officer. “In terms of weaponry, he was far outgunned. But he was far better trained.” Plenty of examples exist of officers who aren’t so cool under fire, or at least not as accurate. For all the mandatory firearms and other training police officers undergo – from stationary targets to computer simulations to live exercises – “you also have to have the composure and the concentration” to hit your target, Fuentes notes. It’s one thing to aim at a cardboard target at a gun range; it’s another to shoot straight when the targets are shooting back with assault rifles. Clearly, the Garland police officer had his wits about him. Both Fuentes and Fairburn point out that hitting one suspect could be an accident, but not two. So who is this officer? Fuentes believes we may not find out anytime soon because, the moment you identify him, you also put a target on his back (and perhaps those of his family members) that will stay there for years. “I think that’s why they’re not (going) to parade him out,” the ex-FBI official said. “…You have one heroic cop who kills two (Islamist extremist) soldiers. He needs to be cautious about not celebrating in the end zone.” Still, just because the officer hasn’t been named, doesn’t mean he hasn’t been praised. Zach Horn, a lawyer for the officers involved, said that if it weren’t for their actions, “we’d be hearing a different kind of story.” “They faced death head-on,” Horn said. “And, with incredible skill and bravery, (they) were able to save a lot of people.” CNN’s Ed Lavandera, Sonia Moghe and Alina Machado contributed to this report.


A foundation founded by Hungarian-born billionaire philanthropist George Soros is moving its Budapest operations to Germany following the right-wing Hungarian government’s crackdown on civil-society organizations and targeted attacks on Soros. The Budapest branch of Open Society Foundations (OSF), which works to combat authoritarianism and promote human rights around the world and has outposts in more than 100 countries, will move to Berlin because of the “increasingly repressive political and legal environment in Hungary,” according to a statement Tuesday. “The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union,” said OSF President Patrick Gaspard. Responding to that accusation, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the foundation “is fleeing from transparency.” In an emailed statement Wednesday, the spokesperson said, “They don’t want the public to know exactly what they are engaged in and in what way and thanks to what financing they are supporting immigration.” Related article Hungarian strongman's big victory poses headache for EU The announcement by the foundation came one day after Orban pledged to submit a new legislative package known as “Stop Soros” to parliament as soon as the new government is formed. Parliamentary elections last month saw Orban’s Fidesz coalition win a supermajority, giving it the power to make sweeping changes to the country’s laws and constitution. During an official visit to Poland on Monday, Orban described the “Stop Soros” package as one of the most important issues in the election. The bill would tighten an existing law adopted last June that imposes restrictions on nongovernmental organizations receiving foreign funding. It’s almost identical to Russia’s Foreign Agent Law, which has been used to crack down on opposition voices and independent media. Hungary is currently being investigated by the European Court of Justice over last year’s legislation, which could breach European Union laws on the free movement of capital and violate freedoms enshrined in the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. Related article Hungary is a beacon to Europe's populist strongmen The law was one of a slew passed during Orban’s past eight years in power that tightened regulations on the media, central bank, constitutional court and NGOs. European Union leaders have warned that these laws would undermine the country’s democracy. According to Reuters, the updated legislation would also allow Hungary’s interior minister to ban NGOs working in the area of immigration that are considered to pose a “national security risk.” Last year, Peter Szijjarto, the country’s foreign affairs minister, accused Soros himself of posing such a risk, claiming the philanthropist wanted to “settle hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in Europe and Hungary.” Soros’ spokesman said at the time that his views had been misrepresented. Soros’ support for refugees fleeing Africa and the Middle East in recent years has made him a target for Orban’s right-wing coalition, which is now entering its third consecutive term and campaigned on a virulently anti-immigrant and anti-refugee platform. The official campaign included posters and billboards depicting the billionaire next to the slogan, “Let’s not allow Soros to have the last laugh,” and accusing him of supporting illegal immigration and plotting to take control of the country. Soros supporters argued the campaign also had anti-Semitic overtones, a claim the government rejected. In the emailed statement Wednesday, Orban’s spokesperson accused the foundation of wanting “to create an immigrant continent and an immigrant country.” Addressing the “Stop Soros” legislation, the OSF’s Gaspard said that it had “become impossible to protect the security of our operations and our staff in Hungary from arbitrary government interference.” According to the OSF statement, the organization will continue to support Hungarian civil-society groups on issues such as education, transparency and media freedom following the move to Berlin. Soros fled Hungary for Britain in the 1940s to escape Nazi occupation. His family later immigrated to the United States, where Soros became one of the most successful investors in the world. He launched OSF in 1979, with the Hungarian office opening five years later. Since then, according to its website, OSF and its predecessor the Hungarian Soros Foundation have funded breakfasts for schoolchildren, supported programs to modernize the country’s healthcare system, provided $8.6 million for Hungarians hit by the 2008 financial crisis and donated more than $250 million to help fund the Central European University in Budapest, which is also facing threats from recent legislation. Last October, Soros moved $18 billion – the majority of his estimated $24.6 billion fortune – to the Open Society Foundations. More than 100 staff members will be affected by the move to Berlin, 60% of whom are Hungarian nationals, according to OSF. “The Foundations are taking appropriate steps regarding the safety and well-being of those affected by the office relocation,” the organization said in a statement. CNN’s Angela Dewan, Ivana Kottasova and Jackie Wattles contributed to this report.


Obama this week became the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima "Does President Obama ever discuss the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor while he's in Japan?" Trump tweeted Donald Trump on Saturday questioned why President Barack Obama didn’t mention the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during his trip this week to Japan. “Does President Obama ever discuss the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor while he’s in Japan? Thousands of American lives lost. #MDW,” tweeted Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. Does President Obama ever discuss the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor while he's in Japan? Thousands of American lives lost. #MDW Obama did not publicly mention the surprise 1941 attack that pulled the U.S. into World War II while on his historic trip to Japan this week, during which he became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima. He used the visit to discuss the threat of nuclear weapons. Here’s why Obama decided to go to Hiroshima Related video Is Obama's Hiroshima visit angering neighbors? “Why do we come to this place, to Hiroshima? We come to ponder the terrible forces unleashed in the not-so-distant past. We come to mourn the dead … their souls speak to us and ask us to look inward. To take stock of who we are and what we might become,” Obama said during his visit to the city’s Peace Memorial Park. The White House didn’t immediately comment on Trump’s tweet Saturday evening. Why did the U.S. bomb Hiroshima? Trump supporter Sarah Palin also criticized the trip, calling it part of the President’s “apology lap.” Palin, speaking at a Trump rally in San Diego Friday night, said Obama’s trip to Hiroshima was “dissing our vets.” Earlier in the week, in a joint press conference with Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he had no plans to visit Pearl Harbor despite the president’s trip to Hiroshima. CNN’s Kevin Liptak, James Griffiths, Jennifer Rizzo, Samantha Reyes and Allison Malloy contributed to this report.


After initially rebuffing calls for an apology, Rodrigo Duterte says he's sorry over gang rape comments He had said rape victim was so beautiful he "should have been first" Comments drew heated international criticism After staunchly defending his controversial comments on gang rape, Philippines presidential hopeful Rodrigo Duterte buckled to growing pressure and issued an apology on Tuesday. Duterte had joked about the 1989 rape and murder of an Australian missionary that took place in Davao City, in the country’s southeast, where he is mayor, CNN Philippines reported. “I was angry she was raped, yes that was one thing. But she was so beautiful, I think the mayor should have been first. What a waste,” he said, according to a CNN Philippines translation of the comments, which appeared in a YouTube video over the weekend. He had made the comments during a campaign rally on April 12. And for days, Duterte balked at calls to apologize for his rape comments. “If it brings me down, let it bring me down. If it brings me up to the presidency, then well and good. I will serve you, but I will not as a matter of honor apologize for (it),” he told reporters. But after drawing international condemnation from women, human rights organizations, political critics and celebrities in the Philippines, Duterte issued a statement Tuesday. “I apologize to the Filipino people for my recent remarks in a rally. There was no intention of disrespecting our women and those who have been victims of this horrible crime.” He chalked up his comments to his mouth getting the better of him. And Duterte professed to be “angry because horrendous things like this continue to happen to our women and children all over our land.” “I will not apologize for the things I’ve done to protect our people, especially the weak and defenseless, from crime.” Duterte’s initial comments referred to an incident at Davao City jail during his first term as mayor when inmates took 15 church workers hostage – including the Australian lay minister. The Australian embassy in the country was critical of his comments on Facebook: “Rape and murder should never be joked about or trivialized.” Rape and murder should never be joked about or trivialised. Violence against women and girls is unacceptable anytime, anywhere. His comments drew heated criticism from his political rivals in the upcoming May 9 presidential election, which one recent poll tipped him to win. Jejomar Binay, current vice president and presidential candidate, said that Duterte didn’t deserve to be elected to the country’s top job: “Rape and murder of a woman is not funny at all. Mister Duterte, don’t you have a mother? Don’t you have daughters? Your statement is simply revolting.” Known for being outspoken, it’s not the first time Duterte has made inflammatory statements. He has pledged to execute more than 100,000 criminals if he’s elected, according to local media.


"There's no amnesty, but we work with them," Trump said Trump's apparent suggestion is not too dissimilar from positions offered by other Republicans Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that he would allow exceptions to let some undocumented immigrants to stay in the US, vowing he wouldn’t grant them citizenship but telling Fox News, “there’s no amnesty, but we work with them.” For Trump, whose rise to the Republican nomination was based in large part on his hardline immigration policies, the comments are the clearest sign yet that he is reconsidering his pledge to deport all of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US, a key part of his campaign platform. “No citizenship. Let me go a step further – they’ll pay back-taxes, they have to pay taxes, there’s no amnesty, as such, there’s no amnesty, but we work with them,” Trump told Sean Hannity when asked if he would allow for exceptions to his long-held position. Donald Trump’s immigration policy: Then and now He continued: “Now, everybody agrees we get the bad ones out. But when I go through and I meet thousands and thousands of people on this subject – and I’ve had very strong people come up to me, really great, great people come up to me – and they’ve said, ‘Mr. Trump, I love you, but to take a person who’s been here for 15 or 20 years and throw them and their family out, it’s so tough, Mr. Trump,’ I have it all the time. It’s a very, very hard thing.” At the same event, Trump also indicated an openness to “softening” his immigration policies, which also includes building a wall on the border with Mexico. Trump all week has made rumblings about a position change, and he had previously planned to deliver an immigration speech this week in Colorado. But the address was postponed as he and his advisers indicated that his positions on key tenants of immigration policy were not settled. Wednesday night, a Trump campaign source confirmed the real estate mogul will outline his immigration policies in a speech next Wednesday in Phoenix. At a campaign rally in Jackson, Mississippi, Wednesday night, Trump insisted any immigration policy pass three broad tests: It must improve jobs and wages for US citizens; must improve citizens’ safety and security; and improve citizens’ quality of life. “Hillary Clinton only talks about the separation of families who chose to come here illegally,” Trump said. “I want to focus on the American families who’ve been permanently separated from their children because of the sanctuary cities and open borders that Hillary Clinton supports.” Asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper after the rally about Trump’s apparent policy shift on deportations, Clinton brushed off the remarks, calling them part of a “shuffle” and his “third different position” on the matter. “Somebody has told him, I guess, the latest people he’s consulting, how damaging his statements have been, how terrible his deportation plan is, how offensive his views on immigrants have been from the very first day of his campaign,” Clinton said. Trump’s apparent suggestion to offer some undocumented immigrants a form of legal status resembles positions offered by other Republicans during the primary fight – stances Trump cited to vanquish his opponents. Here’s how Florida Sen. Marco Rubio campaigned in November in South Carolina: “We will enforce our immigration laws. That being said, I don’t think it’s reasonable to say you’re going to round up and deport 11 million people. And I think people are going to be reasonable and responsible about what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 years who otherwise has not violate the law, has learned English, paying taxes, paid a fine and wants a work permit.” In New Hampshire last September, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush used similar language. “You come out from the shadows. You receive a provisional work permit. You pay taxes. You don’t receive federal government assistance. You learn English,” he said. “You earn legal status, not citizenship. That, to me, is the most practical way of dealing with this problem.” Kristy Campbell, a spokeswoman for Bush, said in a statement Wednesday it was “unsurprising that Donald Trump is finally faced with reconciling his immigration policy with reality, something Governor Bush predicted last year.” Former Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor added his thoughts Thursday, tweeting, “Pleased to see @realDonaldTrump embrace @JebBush’s immigration plan.” CNN’s Ashley Killough and Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.


Archaeopteryx was a feathered and winged dinosaur during the Jurassic period New research suggests it was an active flyer For more than 150 years, researchers have been studying the fossils of bird-like dinosaur Archaeopteryx and attempting to answer this question: Did it fly? Although it may sound simple, the fossils of the feathery-winged dinosaur, found largely in Germany, don’t give up their secrets so easily. The bones are preserved in limestone slabs, and attempting to remove them for greater analysis would damage them. These fossils are some of the most valuable in the world, according to researchers. But X-ray imaging techniques available at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France, allow for visualizing obscured properties of fossils without causing damage. This gave researchers the opportunity to take a closer look at Archaeopteryx. Their findings are detailed in a new study in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday. Scientists know that birds evolved from dinosaurs, and Archaeopteryx is part of that evolutionary path. Archaeopteryx preceded the oldest bird by 75 million years. And as we know from looking at modern birds like penguins and ostriches, just because they have wings doesn’t mean they can fly. The same could be said of Archaeopteryx, which has caused questions as to whether it was a flightless land-dweller, a glider or a flier. Related article A bus-sized dinosaur is found in Egypt and it offers a clue to an ancient mystery Because its fossils are well-studied, researchers knew that if Archaeopteryx could fly, it wasn’t comparable to how birds do, because it had a primitive shoulder structure that wouldn’t support the downward power and upward recovery wing strokes that modern birds use. Of course, flight motion itself does not fossilize, and the flight pattern of Archaeopteryx cannot be studied in a living animal anymore, which makes determining flight style even more difficult, lead study author Dennis Voeten wrote in an email. Voeten works with the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility and is a PhD candidate at Palacký University in the Czech Republic. But the X-rays revealed new finds within the arm bones of Archaeopteryx. “It was surprising to see that the wing bone geometry of Archaeopteryx looks remarkably more like those of modern birds than expected. The variation within modern flying birds is much larger than the differences between Archaeopteryx and the short-flying birds in our data set,” Voeten said. “Although the anatomy of Archaeopteryx was incapable of executing the flight stroke of modern birds, this similarity accounts for the strongest evidence for active flight in this animal presented in 150 years of research.” The bones themselves were hollow, a trait exclusively shared with flying birds and pterosaurs, which suggested that Archaeopteryx could fly. Statistical comparison placed the bones of Archaeopteryx very close to those of mostly ground-dwelling birds such as pheasants and roadrunners, Voeten said. This supported the idea of active flight for Archaeopteryx, meaning it could fly to escape predators or over short distances to reach new locations, as pheasants and roadrunners do. About 150 million years ago during the Jurassic period, when Archaeopteryx lived, the southeastern part of Germany where the fossils were found would’ve been a tropical archipelago. So they could have flown from island to island. Voeten and his colleagues also noticed that the bones were well-developed for blood vessels, which could suggest active flight, but they believe that more research is needed regarding this point. So what would active flight look like, if it’s not the up and down flapping of modern birds?  Archaeopteryx was probably incapable of raising its wings over its back, Voeten said, because of its primitive shoulder structure and lack of a strongly keeled breastbone attached to the flight muscles. Related article 'Once in a lifetime find': Dinosaur tail discovered trapped in amber The study does not attempt to definitively describe the flight style, but Voeten and his team believe that because of the shoulder girdle, it’s possible that Archaeopteryx had a flight stroke that oriented forward and up, followed by a power stroke oriented rearward and down – almost like the butterfly stroke. Future research is needed to refine their hypothesis. There’s a reason why this type of flight is not observable in birds today: It went extinct because it wasn’t effective. “Archaeopteryx is not a direct ancestor to modern birds but rather a member of a larger group of elaborately feathered dinosaurs that appears to have engaged in a variety of experimental modes of dinosaurian flight,” Voeten said. “Today, 150 million years later, all styles of dinosaurian volancy (flying) except the flight modes of modern birds have gone extinct. We feel our study supports that the evolution of dinosaurian flight was not simply a straight line towards the flight of modern birds but involved an exotic diversity of alternative, experimental and intermediate solutions that ultimately proved to be evolutionary dead-ends.” Related article Giant ancient penguin was human-size During the Jurassic period over the German archipelago, the only company Archaeopteryx would’ve had in the skies were primitive pterosaurs. But this study shows that by the late Jurassic, dinosaurian flight had already evolved. “This implies that the search for the first free flying dinosaurs, which will add to our understanding of the very origin of dinosaurian flight, should focus on fossils older than Archaeopteryx,” Voeten said. Voeten and his colleagues want to answer new questions raised by this latest research, especially refining how Archaeopteryx flew, as well as other aspects of its lifestyle and physiology. Related article China discovers winged, feathered 'dragon' dinosaur “Untangling the competing evolutionary forces that acted on now-fossilized bones towards bringing long-extinct animals back to life, so to speak, is a very rewarding occupation, especially when it considers the beautifully preserved fossils of the still-enigmatic Archaeopteryx,” Voeten said. “From a historical perspective, it is clear that Archaeopteryx represents a true icon of evolution: It played an important role in both the early communication of Darwin’s theory of biological evolution and, later, in the recognition that birds are, in fact, dinosaurs. “With 11 specimens of Archaeopteryx presently known, which makes Archaeopteryx a comparatively well-sampled dinosaur, it is quite remarkable that this taxon remains somewhat mysterious to this very day. Having been able to contribute to our knowledge on this animal has been a very satisfying experience.”


Two months later, investigators are still trying to answer some crucial questions The Pentagon’s investigation into the October ambush of a Green Beret-led team in Niger, which killed four US soldiers, is focusing on several areas where problems may have occurred before and after the attack, CNN has learned. The team was traveling with 30 Nigerien soldiers when they were attacked by approximately 50 ISIS-affiliated fighters armed with rocket propelled grenades, mortars and heavy machine guns, according to US military officials. During the subsequent gun battle, which lasted for hours, four US soldiers – Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright and Sgt. La David T. Johnson – were killed and two were wounded. Related article Additional remains of Sgt. La David Johnson found in Niger Five Nigeriens were also killed. US-Nigerien forces managed to kill 20 militants during the firefight, a defense official previously told CNN. The body of Sgt. La David Johnson was recovered 48 hours after the attack. Additional remains of Johnson’s were recovered on November 12 by a US military and FBI team that traveled to the area. Two months after the ambush, investigators from the military and FBI are still trying to answer some crucial questions. The Department of Defense has said it expects the investigation into the attack to be completed by January. CNN has learned that key questions investigators are examining include: Which specific injuries to the body of Army Sgt. La David Johnson occurred when he was attacked by enemy forces and which injuries and damage to his remains might have occurred after he died? Investigators want to determine if injuries that occurred after Johnson died were a result of the body not being attended for 48 hours or were inflicted by militants after his death. Bone fragments belonging to Johnson found weeks after the attack may provide some clues, but it’s not known if investigators will be able to come to definitive conclusions, officials said. Related article US military is granted authority to arm its drones in Niger They also hope to determine which injuries caused his death, according to US officials. The military autopsy will provide most of the clues and details. But it may not be possible to determine if he was ever in enemy hands either before or after his death, officials said. Was there was a communications breakdown with French forces who responded with fighter aircraft and rescue helicopters? Three US officials told CNN that they are looking to establish if there was a communications breakdown that might have delayed a French response once the ambush began. Did intelligence personnel have any impact on the mission? Two officials said initial indications are that a small number of intelligence and law enforcement personnel were working with a second military team that was ordered to conduct a mission to capture or kill a high value target. That mission never happened but the team that was ultimately ambushed was going to be their emergency backup. What investigators want to know is why the intelligence did not indicate the presence of ISIS and whether all the proper authorizations and intelligence analysis was conducted. How did the ambush happen? Investigators are still focused on how the ambush occurred, why the troops did not know there were ISIS militants in the area and what happened during the 48 hours that Johnson’s body was missing. CNN’s Zachary Cohen contributed to this report

Pentagon investigation into the Niger ambush


NEW: "I really thought that was it," passenger says American Airlines Flight 206 from Miami to Milan is diverted to Canada Three flight attendants and four passengers are transported to a hospital Severe turbulence aboard an American Airlines flight carrying 203 people to Italy left seven people hospitalized, the airline said. American Airlines said Flight 206 from Miami to Milan landed safely Sunday night in  Newfoundland, Canada, where it was diverted. “It was met by paramedics who evaluated passengers and crew,” the airline said. Three flight attendants and four passengers were taken to a hospital after the incident, the airline said. Passengers described chaotic scenes when turbulence hit. “It rolled on its side. Everything went flying. It was pretty intense,” passenger Karen Case told CNN partner CBC in Canada. Case said the plane dipped two times. “I really thought that was it,” he said. Terrified passengers screamed while others grasped for oxygen masks, Gustavo Canda told CBC.  Others passed out. Another passenger said she at least checked one destination off her travel list. “Always wanted to come here, maybe not under these circumstances,” Jill Nelson-Debord told CBC about their unplanned stop in Newfoundland. The Boeing 767 took off from Miami on Sunday afternoon.  It landed at St. John’s International Airport. Airport spokeswoman Sara Norris declined to provide details on the nature of the injuries.


I’m aboard a boat run by the Migrant Offshore Aid Station that rescues migrants in distress in the Mediterranean Sea. They are people from all over Africa, the Middle East and even far-away nations like Bangladesh. They hope to escape conflict or persecution in their homelands and make better lives for themselves in Europe. But many travel in inflatable rubber crafts or rickety wooden boats that are overcrowded and not equipped to make the long journey from North Africa across the vast sea. This year alone, nearly 3,000 never made it to Europe; they perished in deep waters. I’ve been speaking with the rescue and medical teams aboard the Topaz Responder and with the 366 migrants they plucked out of the sea on July 6. I’ll be writing about them in the coming weeks; meantime, here are some of my Instagram posts. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter. A post shared by Moni Basu (@evilreporterchick) A post shared by Moni Basu (@evilreporterchick) A post shared by Moni Basu (@evilreporterchick) A post shared by Moni Basu (@evilreporterchick) A post shared by Moni Basu (@evilreporterchick) A post shared by Moni Basu (@evilreporterchick) A post shared by Moni Basu (@evilreporterchick) A post shared by Moni Basu (@evilreporterchick) A post shared by Moni Basu (@evilreporterchick) A post shared by Moni Basu (@evilreporterchick)


British Typhoon fighters on "most ambitious" deployment ever UK warplanes exercising in Japan for first time ever The turbulent security situation in East Asia gets a new player this weekend as British warplanes begin a set of exercises in Japan and South Korea, with North Korea and China likely keeping a wary eye. The British deployment marks the first time ever Japan’s Air Self Defense Force has hosted joint exercises with aircraft from a nation other than the United States. “This exercise aims to enhance tactical skills of the air forces and strengthen Japan-Britain defense cooperation. We do not have a specific country or region in mind,” Japan’s Defense Ministry said. But they come at a time when Japan is becoming increasingly embroiled in disputes with North Korea over Pyongyang’s testing of nuclear warheads and missiles that could potentially carry them. Two of those missile tests have seen rockets penetrate Japan’s air defense identification zone in recent months. Koichi Nakano, a professor of Japanese politics at Tokyo’s Sophia University, said the drills were a result of security legislation passed last year in Japan. That allowed the country’s Self Defense Forces to participate in foreign conflicts in the name of “collective self-defense,” as Japan’s pacifist constitution only allows it to act in self defense. “The idea is that Japan will be able to collaborate further with the US and also other countries that do not necessarily have an alliance,” he said. Japan’s Defense Ministry echoed that. “Conducting this exercise in Japan will help in strengthening the UK’s commitment in the Asia Pacific region and increasing other European countries’ interest in the security situation in Japan and the Asia Pacific region,” the ministry said. For Britain’s part, the East Asia deployment tests its air force in a new way. “This is the most ambitious deployment that the Typhoon Force has ever done. I think it’s probably the most ambitious deployment that the Air Force has done to the Far East,” said Wing Cmdr. Roger Elliott, who leads the Royal Air Force unit dispatched to Japan. The RAF’s Typhoon fighters are twin-engine jets capable of air-to-air and air-to-ground combat. They have been used in the UK combat operations in the Mideast in recent years. The Typhoons will first operate out of Misawa Air Base, a joint Japanese-US facility in northern Amori prefecture on the main Japanese island of Honshu. They’ll fly with four F-15 and four F-2 Japanese fighters as well as British tanker and cargo aircraft. The UK-Japan exercise will wrap up on November 6, when the British planes head to Osan Air Base in South Korea for the first-ever South Korea-US-UK joint air force drill, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said. “The joint drill is called Invincible Shield and it is meaningful in that the UK is actively implementing a security pledge as one of the members of United Nations Command’s strategic provider,” a South Korean Defense Ministry statement said. United Nations Command was the alliance that fought the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. The British deployment has not gone unnoticed in North Korea, which, through its Korean Central News Agency, said it was part of Japan’s plan to become a world military power again. But analysts say it’s not just North Korea with which Japan has concerns. Tokyo also is looking for allies in tensions with China, which have flared over Chinese maritime movements near the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which Beijing calls the Diaoyu islands. “Increasing stronger cooperation with allies beyond the US is seen as kind of hedging against the rising China threat,” said Benjamin Ascione, an expert on Japanese foreign policy at the Australian National University. Nakano at Sophia University agreed, saying that said the Japanese government was trying to “fan fear” of regional threats posed by Pyongyang and Beijing to get more involved in military collaborations. “That could be joint exercises, more collaboration in places like the South China Sea, or even the Middle East,” Nakano said. CNN’s James Griffiths, Yoko Wakatsuki and KJ Kwon contributed to this report.


"I hate some of these people, I hate 'em," Trump told the crowd. "I would never kill them. I would never do that." Even Donald Trump has limits. The Republican front-runner – who frequently lambasts the media as “scum” or “horrible” – reassured reporters at rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Monday that he had no desire to execute the press who cover him. “I hate some of these people, I hate ‘em,” Trump told the crowd. “I would never kill them. I would never do that.” Then he decided to reconsider. “Uh, let’s see, uh?” he said aloud, his voice rising. “No, I would never do that.” Trump’s comments on journalists came after he spoke about Russian President Vladimir Putin, who lavished Trump with praise last week. Claims that Putin ordered the killings of Russian journalists are well-documented, but Trump has argued that those deaths are disputed and without evidence. Trump did charge once again that some of the reporters in the back of the room are “such lying disgusting people,” but as the crowd turned to angrily face those reporters, Trump pulled them back. “But no, I would never kill them,” he said. “I think that would be despicable.”


Trump has routinely called the Russia story "fake news" and a "witch hunt" Trump's son-in-law contradicted previous denials of contact on Monday For nearly a year, President Donald Trump and several of his top advisers have repeatedly denied that there was any contact between members of the Trump campaign and individuals tied to the Russian government. But the veracity of that story appears to be crumbling under contradictory revelations from the President’s son, son-in-law and the current attorney general. Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort have all previously denied that there were any contacts or ties between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials or Russians trying to meddle in the election. Related article The many unearthed interactions between Trump-world and Russia, documented Trump has routinely called the Russia story “fake news” and a “witch hunt.” Asked in February if anyone on his campaign had contacts with Russia during the election, Trump first said, “General Flynn was obviously dealing. So that’s one person.” Asked if that contact happened during the election, Trump responded, “no, nobody that I know of.” He went on to say, “I have nothing to do with Russia. To the best of my knowledge no person that I deal with does.” Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr. and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have all confirmed (on-record) that they had Russia meetings during the campaign, despite all these denials. The President and his top aides stopped denying that members of the Trump campaign had contact with Russians after Jeff Sessions confirmed in March that he met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in July and September 2016. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner further contradicted previous denials from the President and his top advisers in a statement Monday to the Senate and House intelligence committees ahead of his closed-door interview with lawmakers. Related article Kushner's statement on Russia: What you need to know Kushner confirmed that he had “perhaps” four encounters with Russians during the 2016 campaign and transition in the 11-page statement but insisted that he discussed nothing improper during those meetings, which include two encounters with the Russian ambassador, a meeting with the head of a Russian state-owned bank and the June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer and others that was set up by Kushner’s brother-in-law, Donald Trump Jr. “I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government,” Kushner said in the statement. “I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector. I have tried to be fully transparent with regard to the filing of my SF-86 form, above and beyond what is required. Hopefully, this puts these matters to rest.” Kushner reiterated his denial, stating he “did not collude with Russia” in front of cameras outside the West Wing on Monday. Related article Kushner confirms Russia meetings, says 'I did not collude' Donald Trump Jr., Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Trump campaign adviser Carter Page have all also acknowledged their own interactions with Russians during the campaign, though they all deny anything nefarious took place. But even if the encounters were benign in nature, revelations from members of Trump’s inner circle that there was contact during the campaign clash with the blanket denials previously offered by former campaign advisers, current senior White House officials and even the President himself. Here is a look at some of those previous denials: July 26, 2016: Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort tells ABC News that there are no ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. ABC News: Are there any ties between Mr. Trump, you or your campaign and Putin and his regime? Manafort: No, there are not. That’s absurd. And, you know, there’s no basis to it. November 10, 2016: A Russian diplomat says that some Russians were in touch with Trump’s associates during the campaign. In response, Hope Hicks, then a spokeswoman for the Trump transition, issued a blanket denial: “We are not aware of any campaign representatives that were in touch with any foreign entities before yesterday, when Mr. Trump spoke with many world leaders,” she told the New York Times. She also told the AP: “It never happened. There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign.” December 18, 2016: Kellyanne Conway denies any contact between the Trump campaign and Russia in an interview with CBS News’ John Dickerson. Dickerson:  All right. We are not going to get any insight into the president-elect’s thinking here, but let me try this. Did anyone involved in the Trump campaign have any contact with Russians trying to meddle with the election? Conway:  Absolutely not. And I discussed that with the president-elect just last night. Those conversations never happened. I hear people saying it like it’s a fact on television. That is just not only inaccurate and false, but it’s dangerous. January 11, 2017: Trump denies “he or anyone on his campaign” had any contact with Russia during the campaign while speaking to reporters. The question was a shouted question as Trump walked away from a press conference Reporter: Did you or anyone in your campaign… Trump: No. Reporter: …have any contact with Russia leading up to or during the campaign? Trump:  No, not at all. January 15, 2017: Vice President Mike Pence denies there were contacts between Trump campaign and Russia in an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News. Wallace: If there were any contacts, sir, I’m just trying to get an answer. Pence:  Yes. I – of course not. Why would there be any contacts between the campaign? Chris, the – this is all a distraction, and it’s all part of a narrative to de-legitimize the election and to question the legitimacy of this presidency, the American people see right through it. February 14, 2017: Press Secretary Sean Spicer denies knowledge of any contact between the Trump campaign and Russia when questioned by ABC’s Jonathan Karl during a White House briefing. Karl: Back in January, the President said that nobody in his campaign had been in touch with the Russians. Now, today, can you still say definitively that nobody on the Trump campaign, not even General Flynn, had any contact with the Russians before the election? Spicer:  My understanding is that what General Flynn has now expressed is that during the transition period – well, we were very clear that during the transition period, he did speak with the ambassador – Karl: I’m talking about during the campaign. Spicer: I don’t have any – there’s nothing that would conclude me – that anything different has changed with respect to that time period. February 16, 2017: Trump says he’s unaware of any contact between his aides and Russia during a White House press conference. Question: I just was hoping that we could get a ‘yes or no’ answer on one of these questions involving Russia. Can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with Russia during the course of the election? Trump: Well I told you, Gen. Flynn obviously was dealing. So that’s one person. But he was dealing, as he should have been. Question: During the election? Trump: No. Nobody that I know of. Nobody… Question: So you’re not aware of any contact during the course…. Trump: Look, look, look… Question: … of the election? Trump: How many times do I have to answer this question? Question: Can you just say yes or no? Trump: Russia is a ruse. I know you have to get up and ask a question. It’s so important. Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with Russia. Haven’t made a phone call to Russia in years. Don’t speak to people from Russia. Not that I wouldn’t. I just have nobody to speak to. I spoke to Putin twice. He called me on the election. I told you this. And he called me on the inauguration and a few days ago. We had a very good talk, especially the second one, lasted for a pretty long period of time. I’m sure you probably get it because it was classified. So I’m sure everybody in this room perhaps has it. But we had a very, very good talk. I have nothing to do with Russia. To the best of my knowledge no person that I deal with does. February 20, 2017: White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders denies any contacts occurred during the campaign. Huckabee Sanders: “This is a non-story because to the best of our knowledge, no contacts took place, so it’s hard to make a comment on something that never happened.”


Here’s what you might have missed on CNN today: – A federal judge said Wednesday that a lawsuit alleging that foreign gifts were made to President Donald Trump can proceed. – Former Trump attorney John Dowd floated the idea of pardoning two former top aides to the President as the special counsel was building cases against them, The New York Times reports. – A judge again threw out involuntary manslaughter charges against Penn State frat members in the alleged hazing death of a pledge. – Controversial former Sheriff Joe Arpaio suggested he would revive the debunked claim that President Barack Obama’s birth certificate is fraudulent if he’s elected to the Senate. – Stormy Daniels’ lawyer wants to depose Trump and his attorney, Michael Cohen. – 18 million people watched the “Roseanne” reboot. – China confirmed President Xi Jinping met with North Korea’s leader, throwing Trump a curve ball ahead of a summit with Kim Jong Un. – Police are investigating Corey Feldman’s claim that he was stabbed. – We are no closer to figuring out #WhoBitBeyonce, but Hollywood is having fun. – New Yorkers may not have to answer their bosses after work hours if this new bill passes.


Lawmakers return to work Tuesday for what’s expected to be a brief but intense legislative dash with a short and critical to-do list that includes contentious bills to battle the Zika virus and prevent a government shutdown. The four-week stretch will play out against the backdrop of this year’s unusual and unpredictable presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, which could impact the sensitive congressional negotiations that lie ahead. Republicans, who control the House and Senate, want to demonstrate they are responsible stewards of the Congress and deserve to be returned to power. As evidence, they point to passage of a list of bipartisan bills – to fight opioid abuse, fund highway construction, reform education programs and even raise the debt limit, an often politically difficult task. By the end of September they must also find a way to keep the government open because a shutdown would be a political catastrophe just weeks before voters go to the polls. “We’ve passed legislation to grow the economy, protect our communities, strengthen national security, and serve our veterans,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, said in a memo to his caucus outlining the September agenda. “And in the coming months we can continue to look forward to making more progress.” But Democrats, who could be on the cusp of taking back the Senate, argue the unresolved Zika funding, stalled Supreme Court nomination of Judge Merrick Garland, and lack of action on gun control, are proof of GOP recklessness and negligence and reasons why Republicans should be tossed from power. “The Republican Senate will be remembered for how little it did,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said last week. “The Senate is being run into the ground.” Because the normal appropriations process broke down months ago over disputes about funding levels and controversial policy riders – related to gay rights, abortion funding and other issues – Congress has until September 30 to reach a deal to keep the government operating. Democrats want to extend current funding levels until the end of the year, which they say would give them time to negotiate with Republicans on a broader spending package during the lame duck session after the election. They prefer to use that period to fashion a measure that funds the government through September of next year so that if Hillary Clinton is elected she would not need to wrestle with the thorny issue in the opening months of her administration. Republicans haven’t settled on a strategy yet and are expected to discuss their options in private sessions this week, according to aides. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R- Wisconsin, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, hope to find a quick resolution that ensures there is no real threat of pre-election shutdown. That task got much more complicated last week when a collection of outside groups aligned with the ultra-conservative and powerful House Freedom Caucus pushed to extend current funding levels into the spring and not have any lame duck session at all. Related video Sean Duffy to Donald Trump: Don't be so sensitive “History shows that end-of-year legislative packages are routinely rushed through Congress and to the President’s desk under the threat of a government shutdown – too fast for lawmakers and the taxpayers footing the bill to determine what’s in them,” said the letter signed by 30 conservative organizations. But Reid, whose caucus has the power to filibuster a spending bill it doesn’t support, rejected that approach. “Everyone should be alerted today that we’re not going to do a long-term CR,” the retiring Democrat from Nevada told reporters last week referencing the proposed continuing resolution that would last into the spring. That approach might not be appealing to Ryan or McConnell either.  Because if Clinton wins the White House and/or Democrats take control of the Senate, the two GOP leaders will lose considerable leverage if they’ve already passed a bill that locks in spending for several months. Ryan is likely to face some tensions with members on the right of his conference when the session resumes, beyond their reluctance to negotiate on any short-term funding bill. House conservatives are still fuming over the loss of Kansas Rep Tim Huelskamp, who was defeated in a primary in August. Some House Freedom Caucus members believe that Ryan didn’t help protect the incumbent in his race against another Republican who was backed by some establishment groups, and want to have a discussion about the role party leaders play in contested primaries. Both sides are pointing fingers at each other over the long-stalled bill to fund the federal response to Zika, the dangerous virus transmitted by mosquitoes and sexual contact that can cause debilitating and deadly birth defects. While public health officials are trying to contain the rapidly spreading virus – now found in mosquitoes in Florida – the Senate will vote Tuesday on a $1.1 billion bill that Democrats have already blocked once because it contains restrictions on funding for Planned Parenthood. The move is designed to pressure Democrats because the same bill already passed the House and Republicans argue it is the fastest way to get the money flowing. Democrats say they will again block the bill. They charge Republicans are holding the Zika money hostage to an ideological fight over abortion.  Republicans counter that the bill provides more than enough money to respond to the public health crisis and accuse Democrats of protecting their political ally Planned Parenthood at the expense of battling the disease. Meantime, CDC Director Thomas Frieden is warning his agency is almost out of the money needed to kill mosquitoes and find a vaccine. “We don’t have the resources we need to mount the kind of robust fight against the disease,” Centers for Disease Control Director Thomas Frieden warned last week.  “Without additional funding we will not be able to fully understand the impact of Zika.” Some Senate Republicans are pressing the Department of Health and Human Services to reprogram funds from other accounts to fund the Zika response while Congress hashes out the legislation.  But HHS Secretary Burwell said in a letter Friday her department has already “exhausted our ability” to utilize other funds. The presidential election will be a dominating presence in the Capitol in September. House and Senate Republicans will use the month to keep the pressure on Clinton for her use of a private email server and for allegations foreign donors to the Clinton Global Initiative got special treatment while she was secretary of state. FBI Director James Comey, who frustrated Republicans with his recommendation not to prosecute Clinton for her handling of classified emails, is scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee later this month. Republicans will press him about the decision and whether the FBI is pursuing a perjury charge against Clinton for lying in testimony before Congress, as many Republicans believe she did. For their part, Democrats plan to continue their vocal criticism of Trump through news conferences, floor speeches, and other venues. Democrats want to tie the controversial nominee to many of the swing state GOP senators up for re-election. Republicans currently have a 54-46 advantage but Democrats are positioned to retake the chamber especially if Trump falters in those battleground states. House Republicans, who don’t face a serious takeover threat from Democrats, will use the time to highlight their “Better way” agenda, which Ryan and top leaders rolled out in the early summer months. These policy proposals included plans to reform the tax code, overhaul health care, reduce poverty, assert the legislative branch’s authority, and promote economic growth. The agenda, which Trump has largely ignored, gives GOP members a way to separate themselves from the controversial nominee and point to specific plans they intend to pursue in the next Congress. Two top issues not expected to come up are the nomination of Garland to the Supreme Court and the Trans Pacific Partnership, the trade pact President Barack Obama negotiated that is now opposed by both Trump and Clinton. It’s possible they could come up after the election in a lame duck session although GOP leaders insist they won’t. Investigators on both sides of the Hill plan to press the administration on a $400 million payment that was made to Tehran as part of the nuclear deal with Iran. Republicans charge the White House paid that country ransom for the release of three Americans held there, something the administration strongly denies. House Republicans plan a vote on legislation to prevent such “ransom” payments in the future. Republican leaders also want to pass final versions of an energy modernization bill and water development bill that had already cleared each chamber. Related video Senators fight EpiPen price hike Democratic leaders are pressing for votes on gun control, college affordability, campaign finance, and other party priorities but are unlikely to get much traction. Finally, the skyrocketing cost of the EpiPen that got a lot of attention while lawmakers were away will be the subject of more congressional scrutiny as well. Congressional investigators are demanding answers from the manufacturer Mylan about how the life-saving medicine’s price soared from about $100 to $600 in ten years. Mylan’s answers are due to a Senate committee in early September.


Trump became the first sitting US President to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital His tweets signal he has grown frustrated with Palestinians' refusal to partake in a US-led peace process President Donald Trump raised the prospect Tuesday of cutting off aid to the Palestinian territories unless Palestinian leaders agree to resume negotiations to broker a peace deal with Israel. He also appeared to contradict his previous statement that the US recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would not impact the final status of Jerusalem in peace negotiations, claiming instead that “we have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table.” “We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel,” Trump tweeted. “We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that, would have had to pay more. But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?” Related article Trump recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital A White House spokesman declined to comment about the apparent contradiction. Trump’s tweets late Tuesday afternoon came nearly a month after he became the first sitting US President to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, drawing Palestinians into the streets in protest. A central committee member of the powerful Palestine Liberation Organization, Hanan Ashrawi, responded to Trump’s threat to cut aid by saying that “Palestinian rights are not for sale.” “We will not be blackmailed,” Ashrawi said in a statement sent Wednesday morning. “By recognizing Occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital Donald Trump has not only violated international law, but he has also singlehandedly destroyed the very foundations of peace and condoned Israel’s illegal annexation of the city.” Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital caused Palestinian leaders to reject the US’ decades-old role as the central negotiator in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas earlier claimed that Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem, which both Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital, discredited the US as an honest broker in the peace process. And while Trump administration officials told CNN last month that the Jerusalem decision did not mean tougher concessions for Israelis down the line, Trump wrote in his tweet that “Israel, for that, would have had to pay more.” While Trump administration officials have said they expected a “cooling off period” with the Palestinians, Trump’s tweets Tuesday signaled the President has grown frustrated with Palestinians’ refusal to partake in a US-led peace process in the wake of his Jerusalem decision. The tweets also came after the White House confirmed that the US plans to withhold some of its aid to Pakistan to pressure the country into better counterterrorism cooperation with the US. The US spent $616 million on aid to the Palestinian territories in 2016, according to the US Agency for International Development, which includes humanitarian assistance, private sector debt payments and infrastructure development assistance. Related video Israeli PM : Other countries to follow US The President’s tweets late Tuesday afternoon, though, did more than threaten US aid to Palestinians – they also appeared to contradict his own statements about the impact of his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and may have undermined his administration’s efforts to hammer home that message in the Middle East. “We are not taking a position on any of the final status issues including the final boundaries of the Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem,” Trump said last month as he made his Jerusalem announcement. “Those questions are up to the parties involved. The United States remains deeply committed to helping facilitate a peace agreement that is acceptable to both sides.” Trump’s statement at the announcement was intended to reassure Palestinians and the broader Arab and Muslim world that the US was not giving away control of Jerusalem to Israel or forsaking Palestinian claims to the holy city. And in the weeks after, Trump administration officials would urge those inflamed by Trump’s decision to pay attention to his message about “not taking a position” on the future status of Jerusalem.


Some parts of Delhi record air quality index of 999 City has instituted emergency measures to tackle smog Fresh air doesn’t exist in New Delhi at the moment. India’s capital is choking under off-the-charts smog, with some parts of the city reporting levels almost five times those considered “unhealthy” by the US environmental protection agency. Measurements taken at the US Embassy in Delhi put the city’s Air Quality Index at 999 on Monday, off the standard chart, which finishes at the “hazardous” level of 500. By comparison, the highest AQI level recorded Monday in Baoding – China’s most polluted city – was 298. Beijing was a pleasant 30, while India’s next most polluted city, coal and industry-heavy Chandrapur, recorded levels of 824, according to the World Air Quality Index. Research released earlier this year found that air quality levels exceed World Health Organizations guidelines for 80% of those living in urban areas around the world. My view today! Delhi...this is insane!! Fight for ur right to breathe clean air! #MyRightToBreathe #DelhiSmog #delhipollution pic.twitter.com/JTTXA1WYaw In Khan Market, one of Delhi’s trendiest areas, shops that specialized in anti-pollution masks were doing brisk business as people queued up to buy some modicum of protection from the toxic smog. The battle to buy smog masks in India’s pollution capital On Sunday, hundreds of people gathered to protest outside Parliament in the city center as others voiced their displeasure online, posting to Twitter with the slogan #MyRightToBreathe. Little children at Jantar Mantar today fighting for their right to Breathe!! #MyRightToBreathe #LetsSaveDelhi pic.twitter.com/40YbwA8uO5 Death by pollution: Delhi’s fight for clean air An emergency ruling issued over the weekend saw more than 5,000 schools closed and construction work halted for the next three days. Officials warned that the number of vehicles allowed on the streets may be restricted if the situation does not improve. CNN’s Rishi Iyengar contributed reporting from New Delhi


Jack McCain has endured a front-row seat to presidential politics. He watched as his father ran for the White House. Now, he’s watching again as his father’s reputation as a war hero becomes an unlikely subject of debate in the 2016 campaign. Ever since Donald Trump questioned whether Sen. John McCain should be hailed as a war hero because he was captured and held in Vietnam for more than five years, Republicans have rushed to say it disqualifies Trump from running for president. Not Jack McCain, a young Navy Pilot. He knows better. “Nothing in politics is disqualifying,” he told CNN. “Even this?” he was asked. “Even this,” McCain said. “I hope his personality has shown through. Whether it was an offhanded comment or not, if that’s his true belief, then there needs to be some serious soul-searching as to whether or not he is a viable candidate for president.” Related video Jeb Bush: John McCain is a 'real hero' RELATED: Jeb Bush calls McCain ‘a real hero’ McCain, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2009, made clear during his interview today that he was speaking only for himself. He said his views are not those of a Naval officer or the academy, where he serves as an instructor, just as a private citizen and son. “Donald Trump’s comments about prisoners of war are reprehensible,” McCain said. “He says he doesn’t like people who are captured and that applies to all prisoners of war.” At a campaign forum in Iowa on Saturday, Trump joked that he didn’t like McCain because he lost to President Barack Obama in 2008. To which the moderator replied, “He’s a war hero.” First, Trump said: “He’s not a war hero.” When the moderator said, “He’s a war hero,” Trump corrected himself and declared: “He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured, OK? I hate to tell you.” The exchange sparked one of the biggest firestorms of the campaign, with most Republican candidates and party leaders seizing on a new opportunity to chastise Trump. Jack McCain, the fourth in his family to graduate from the Naval Academy, said he is less concerned about Trump apologizing to his father, which he has declined to do, than to other prisoners of war and military veterans. Related video McCain opens up about Trump comments “Donald Trump has to understand he’s running to be the commander in chief of the United States military,” McCain said. “When you’re doing so, if an individual gets rolled up and becomes a prisoner of war, then is he going to abandon them simply because he doesn’t like people who are captured? I think that’s a pretty inflammatory statement for somebody who is trying to be the commander-in-chief of the United States military.” Trump also questioned Senator McCain’s intelligence, saying he graduated last in his class from the Naval Academy. With a smile, the senator’s son said Trump was wrong about that. “To correct Donald Trump,” McCain said, “it was fifth from the bottom, not the bottom.”


The US government has linked cyber-attacks to specific Russain keyboards Donald Trump has cast doubt on links between election hacks and Moscow A top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he thinks the Russians were involved in election-related hacking of the US – a very different view than that held by the incoming administration. Former CIA director James Woolsey, an adviser to Trump on national security issues, told CNN’s Jim Sciutto that determining who was behind the hacks is difficult, but that he believes the Russians – and possibly others – were involved. “I think the Russians were in there, but it doesn’t mean other people weren’t, too,” he said. “It’s often not foolproof to say who it is because it is possible and sometimes easy to hide your tracks. There’s lots of tricks.” Asked if Trump is playing the media with his comments on who was culpable, Woolsey said it was a “possibility,” noting that Trump is an “expert in weaving around” on issues like this. “Sometimes people may have been talking to somebody in the National Security Agency and have an idea that maybe it was one type of hacking rather than another,” he said. “I don’t think this is of substantial matter. I think it’s basically just dialogue back and forth.” Speaking on Tuesday on CNN’s “New Day,” Woolsey stressed his belief that more than one country was involved in hacking US Democratic organizations and individuals. “Is it Russian? Probably some,” the Trump adviser told Chris Cuomo, adding that China and Iran could also have been involved. “It shouldn’t be portrayed as one guilty party. It’s much  more complicated than that.” He added, “This is not an organized an operation … It’s not like taking a number at a bakery and standing in line to politely get your dozen cookies … it’s more like a bunch of jackals at the carcass of an antelope.” Woolsey’s comments come even as Trump and his aides continue to cast doubt on the links between Russia and recent hacks against Democrats, while US intelligence officials say that newly identified “digital fingerprints” indicate Moscow was behind the intrusions. One official told CNN the administration has traced the hack to the specific keyboards – which featured Cyrillic characters – that were used to construct the malware code, adding that the equipment leaves “digital fingerprints” and, in the case of the recent hacks, those prints point to the Russian government. In response to the US information, Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov told CNN: “I don’t understand what this means exactly, but Cyrillic characters can be used everywhere. Once again, I reject any possibility that official Russia can be involved in any way.” Despite an initial public assessment by the US intelligence community in October that Russia was behind the intrusions, Trump and his staff continue to voice doubts. “The idea that we’re jumping to conclusions before we have a final report is, frankly, irresponsible,” Trump’s incoming press secretary, Sean Spicer, told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota Monday. Trump expressed skepticism on New Year’s Eve, saying, “I know a lot about hacking. And hacking is a very hard thing to prove. So it could be somebody else.” He also claimed to have inside information on the matter, which he said he would reveal later this week. Asked how Trump would be getting that type of information, Woolsey said on “New Day” that people inside the US intelligence community may be reaching out for Trump. “He could have people talking to him from within the system,” Woolsey said. Spicer said Trump was “going to talk about his conclusions and where he thinks things stand,” adding the President-elect would “make sure people understand that there’s a lot of questions out there.” A second US official told CNN Monday there is increasingly confidence in the intelligence analysis, citing the ability to collect extremely high-quality intel on Russia, compared the difficulty of doing so with more secretive regimes like North Korea. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security released a report last week that they said “provides technical details regarding the tools and infrastructure used by the Russian civilian and military intelligence Services to compromise and exploit networks and endpoints associated with the US election.” The report added that the Russian culprits also have historically targeted “a range of US Government, political, and private sector entities” using similar tactics. Spicer said Trump would await the results of the investigation ordered by President Barack Obama as he insisted that the assessments of the intelligence community published so far did not constitute the “final report.” He said Trump was expected to be briefed about that report in coming days. Trump is facing mounting pressure to undertake a robust response to Russia’s activities, with Republican leaders in Congress saying that Obama’s recent cyber-related sanctions of Russian intelligence entities and expulsion of some Russians from the US don’t go far enough. “It is clear that Russia has attacked the United States of America. All of our intelligence agencies will affirm that that’s been the case. We will work in the Congress to have stronger sanctions in order to prevent further attacks,” Republican Sen. John McCain said while in Georgia, a country that fought a war with Russia in 2008. McCain, who was also visiting NATO’s easternmost members in the Baltic region and the Ukraine, also promised to hold hearings into the cyber-attacks when Congress is back in session this month. CNN’s Fred Pleitgen and Jen Rizzo contributed to this story.


Monk accused of child abuse; fraud extradited to Thailand Thailand had a longstanding extradition request in for the man dubbed the 'jet-set monk' A flamboyant Thai monk who is accused of multiple charges of child abuse as well as ignoring his monastic vows has returned home after being extradited from the US. Wiraphon Sukphon, who was seen in a YouTube video in 2013 holding wads of cash on a private plane, returned to Bangkok Wednesday following a US court’s ruling on an extradition request from Thailand’s Department of Special Investigations (DSI). In images and video obtained from the DSI, Wiraphon was seen under police guard wearing Buddhist robes. Wiraphon claims to be the reincarnation of legendary monk Luang Pu Nenkham, but he’s also known in the Thai press as the “jet set” monk due to his extravagance. Upon his return, Wiraphon was forced to leave the monkhood, according to DSI spokeswoman Woranan Srilum, and later images, after he was defrocked, show him wearing plain white clothes. He will fully be dismissed from the monkhood once he performs a ceremony in front of another senior monk. The disgraced 37-year-old, who claimed to be the reincarnation of a respected monk who lived several decades ago, was accused of ignoring his Buddhist vows of celibacy and simple, moral living. He owned at least 83 automobiles and a list of properties that include plots of land, houses and condominiums, according to the DSI. Donations over the past decade, from poor supporters as well as rich backers, had helped him amass his total wealth, according to investigators. Wiraphon’s lawyer, Phanu Sookwanli told CNN that, contrary to being extradited, his client had decided to return to Thailand to prove his innocence. “His case is accepted by (the) Criminal Court and he is currently detained at Klong Prem Prison,” he said. “We will discuss about bailing out later.” The lawyer said his client “believes he can prove his innocence. All he did was only good things and helping people out of hardship.” Thailand’s DSI told CNN in 2014 that it had sent requests to 114 financial institutions, land and transport departments to seize all of Wiraphon’s assets. The arrest warrant for Wiraphon was issued in 2014. Local media reports that he was arrested in the US last summer. He is accused of sexually abusing and molesting a child under 15 years old, as well as separating a minor from their parents for the purpose of indecent acts. The sexual abuse charges accompany charges including disseminating false information, fraud, money laundering and causing damage to the public. The maximum sentence for the child abuse charges is 15 years.


Votes in favor of the impeachment fell short Two ex-Peruvian presidents have been accused of corruption Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski will remain in office after Congress fell short of the votes needed for his impeachment Thursday. Kuczynski is the latest Latin American leader to be engulfed in a wave of corruption investigations stemming from the largest bribery scandal in modern history. The debate over whether he should stay in office followed allegations that he accepted bribes when he served as the country’s finance minister and later its prime minister. Lawmakers debated for hours and then held a motion Thursday night on whether to impeach Kuczynski. For impeachment to pass, 87 of the 130 congressional leaders – two-thirds – needed to vote in favor but only 79 voted in favor of Kuczynski’s removal. Hours before the vote, Kuczynski defended himself before Congress, making a forceful case for his innocence. In a radio interview the 79-year-old insisted he wouldn’t be removed from office. “Congress isn’t going to remove me, they don’t have the 87 votes,” required for impeachment, Kuczynski told Colombia’s Blu Radio on Thursday morning. And in a defiant televised address last week he said, “I am here to show my face. I do not run, nor do I hide or have any motive to do so.” Peruvian lawmakers decided to move forward with proceedings to impeach Kuczynski last week. Related article Brazil: Why is South America's largest country in a mess? Opposition lawmakers revealed $782,000 in previously undisclosed payments from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht to Kuczynski’s two consulting firms between 2004 and 2006 when he was Peru’s finance minister and prime minister. Odebrecht continued paying advisory fees to the firms, Westfield Capital and First Capital, until 2012, well after Kuczynski left public office and before his presidential campaign in 2016. In total, Odebrecht paid Kuczynski’s firms $4.8 million in advisory fees from 2004 and 2012. Kuczynski has acknowledged his firms accepted the payments but says he did nothing illegal. Odebrecht also says its payments to Kuczynski weren’t illegal. It says its contracts with the firms were exclusively managed by Chilean businessman Gerardo Sepulveda, Kuczynski’s partner at the firms. But that may be a tough argument for lawmakers to buy. Odebrecht was at the center of Brazil’s unprecedented corruption scandal, which partly triggered the longest recession in the country’s history. The recession ended this year but unemployment remains very high at about 12.4%. In December 2016, the US Justice Department hit Odebrecht with $3.5 billion record fine for dolling out bribes to officials across Latin America and beyond. Several Latin American prosecutors have opened investigations into Odebrecht in their respective countries. In a plea agreement, Odebrecht admitted giving nearly $800 million in bribes to leaders and individuals in order to get contracts for construction projects. Several former presidents and lawmakers in Peru along were accused of taking part in the scandal prior to Kuczynski. Peru’s former President Ollanta Humala and his wife are in prison while authorities investigate their involvement in the Odebrecht bribe. Police in Peru raided the home of former President Alejandro Toledo in February for allegedly accepting a Odebrecht bribe. Toledo denied the charges via Twitter but has gone missing, is thought to be in the US, and could face jail time. Kuczynski served as finance and prime minister during Toledo’s presidency. Peru’s corruption crisis could mark a turn of fortunes for one of the region’s star economies. Peru has led Latin America in growth the last two years, and in 2015 the International Monetary Fund put Peru on the world stage by hosting its annual meeting in the country’s capital, Lima. It was the first time in 50 years the IMF hosted its meeting anywhere in Latin America. Related article Brazilian President acquitted in illegal campaign funds case Economists didn’t expect Peru to go off the rails if Kuczynski was impeached like Brazil’s economy did while former President Dilma Rousseff went through her impeachment process for allegedly messing with Brazil’s budget to hide gaps. But like Brazil, experts say, Peru faces one major variable: How deep does the corruption run in Peru’s leadership ranks? Brazil’s infamous “car wash” investigation sent dozens of high-ranking lawmakers to jail. “It’s unclear at this stage how big this becomes,” said Neil Shearing, emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, a research firm. “It’s much more difficult for the government to get its agenda through congress,” amid a corruption scandal. CNN’s Nicole Chavez contributed to this report.


Self-driving police vehicles are set to hit Dubai – but don’t expect to catch a ride in one. This autonomous police car is tiny. Continuing a Smart Dubai initiative, which saw Dubai Police introduce a humanoid robot officer last month, the force has signed an agreement with Singaporean company OTSAW Digital to introduce so-called “autonomous outdoor security robot” O-R3 by the end of 2017. OTSAW touts the O-R3 as the world’s first ground-aerial outdoor security robot. Related article The inevitable rise of the robocops Functionally, the ground robot is not unlike units manufactured by Californian company Knightscope or the E-Patrol Robot Sheriff in China. With a wheel base less than four by two feet, the sensor-heavy O-R3 is fitted with 360 degree HD cameras, thermal imaging, a laser scanner and Lidar (light detecting and ranging), utilizing SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) technology to navigate its surroundings, identifying objects up to 330 feet away. Brigadier Khalid Nasser Alrazooqi of Dubai Police confirmed to CNN that the O-R3’s surveillance tools will be used to identify faces, wanted vehicles and unattended objects. The robot will alert police officers in central command, with data also available via mobile apps. At 275 lbs and with a top speed of 9.3 mph, the O-R3 ground vehicle can’t chase down criminals. However it does have an ace in the hole. Or rather, in the trunk. The robot’s deployable drone can reach 27.9 mph to track suspects – and not even Usain Bolt can outrun that. Related article Driverless flying taxi service set to launch in Dubai Other features according to OTSAW’s website include perimeter breach detection and monitoring environmental factors including CO2 levels. “It will be part of our smart police IoT (‘Internet of Things’) systems all integrated (with) each other,” Brigadier Alrazooqi adds, saying that the force will start with one unit “and will increase the numbers after we … take all the feedback from the police units.” Manufacturer OTSAW told CNN that Dubai Police have agreed in principal to acquire up to 100 units by 2020, leased at a cost of $10,000 per unit per month. OTSAW adds that it is currently in talks with “multiple government agencies from different countries” regarding the model. The O-R3 is a pricey move and part of Dubai Police’s drive towards making 25% of its force a robot by the year 2030. Related article It's official: Dubai has world's fastest police car -- and it can go 253 mph For those disappointed by the scale of the O-R3, Dubai Police is still thinking big. “We’re planning later on to have robot (officers) in driverless cars,” said the brigadier in a previous interview with CNN in April, adding that the police want to work with Tesla and other undisclosed companies. So if your fantasy is to be pushed into the back of a sci-fi police car a-la “Logan’s Run,” “Timecop” and “Demolition Man,” Dubai might one day be the place. In the meantime, citizens and visitors will have to make do with the chirpy O-R3.


President Donald Trump’s demand that new tariffs be slapped on steel and aluminum imports has spooked markets, prompted his chief economist’s resignation, rattled major US allies and widened a rift with establishment Republicans. None of that stopped Trump from moving forward with his plan Thursday to erect 25% and 10% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports respectively, as he signed two tariff proclamations at the White House on Thursday, surrounded by steel and aluminum workers. “A strong steel and aluminum industry are vital to our national security – absolutely vital. Steel is steel, you don’t have steel you don’t have a country,” Trump said Thursday, adding that foreign imports and dumping have led to “shuttered plants and mills” and the laying off of “millions of workers,” overstating the job losses in those industries, which his own adviser put at under 100,000. “This is not merely an economic disaster, but it’s a security disaster we want to build our ships, we want to build our planes … with steel and aluminum from our country,” Trump said. “We’re finally taking action to correct this long overdue problem. Today I’m defending America’s national security by placing tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminum.” But in a shift from recent plans, Trump will exempt Canada and Mexico from the tariffs and allow other US allies to petition for similar exemptions. Related article How would Trump's tariffs affect your state? The NAFTA trading partners will be exempted while the three countries continue to renegotiate that free trade agreement and a senior administration official also cited the “security relationship” between the three countries as a rationale for their exemption. Those exclusions are expected to quell some of the uproar, but could still set off a trade war between the US and several countries – a battle Trump insists the US can win even as some of his closest advisers worry the tariffs could hurt the growing American economy. But the prospect of additional country exclusions could also lead Trump to increase the tariff rate on other countries, a senior administration official warned. Trump is imposing the tariffs using a rarely employed trade provision known as Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, claiming a national security rationale for protecting the domestic steel and aluminum industries. Anticipating attacks on that legal basis, a senior administration official insisted the rationale was “unassailable” and stressed that national security includes both national defense and economic security. But the President also framed his decision along political lines on Thursday, just days before he heads to Pittsburgh – the heart of steel country – for a rally aimed at boosting a struggling Republican congressional campaign. “I’m delivering on a promise I made during the campaign and a promise I’ve been making for a good part of my life,” Trump said as he prepared to sign the tariff proclamations. It’s not clear what political effect the order would have in the Pennsylvania race. The Democratic candidate in the race supports Trump’s tariff proposal. The move is expected to be questioned and countered, and could further put the US at odds with the international community. Coming on the same day that 11 US allies – but not the US – sign a landmark Asia-Pacific trade agreement, the move on tariffs only underscores Trump’s embrace of the protectionist policies he believes helped him win the presidency. In the US, Trump faced a stiff rebuke from trade groups representing retailers and manufacturers who are top consumers of steel and aluminum. He also faced continued criticism from within his own party, most notably House Speaker Paul Ryan who continued to lament Trump’s move – even as he applauded the exemptions for Canada and Mexico. “I am pleased that the President has listened to those who share my concerns and included an exemption for some American allies, but it should go further. We will continue to urge the administration to narrow this policy so that it is focused only on those countries and practices that violate trade law,” Ryan said. “Our economy and our national security are strengthened by fostering free trade with our allies and promoting the rule of law.” RELATED | Trump tariffs: Why sparing some countries could make trade chaos worse The country exclusions marked a shift in the administration’s thinking in recent days, after the President’s trade adviser Peter Navarro said Sunday he did not expect any countries to be exempted from the tariffs. Pressed about the change, a senior administration official rejected the change as a “softening” and instead touted the flexibility built into the tariff proclamations Trump is issuing. Looking forward to 3:30 P.M. meeting today at the White House. We have to protect & build our Steel and Aluminum Industries while at the same time showing great flexibility and cooperation toward those that are real friends  and treat us fairly on both trade and the military. The tariff signing came after days of confusion over how the President would move forward. On Thursday morning, the situation was still shrouded in uncertainty. Multiple officials awoke with no clear picture of what Trump was prepared to sign during the afternoon event. Advisers have been scrambling since last week to finalize details on the tariffs after Trump announced he would impose them during a meeting with industry executives. Multiple senior administration officials familiar with the planning said Trump was prepared to sign something on Thursday afternoon – though actual details of the document were still coming together through the morning. Advisers were prepared with a largely symbolic memo declaring Trump’s intent to take action on steel tariffs in case a more substantive order wasn’t final. But by midday it appeared that formal language imposing new tariffs was ready to sign. Trump told reporters in the Cabinet Room that certain countries would be excluded, including Canada and Mexico, and kept open the possibility of excluding other nations like Australia, which are important national security allies. “I’ll have a right to go up or down, depending on the country, and I’ll have a right to drop out countries or add countries,” Trump said. The confusion on Thursday in the hours leading up to the signing was an exclamation point to cap off a week of disarray within the White House sparked by a President eager to swiftly move forward with the tariffs – even as the policy was still being written. The scramble over the tariffs has propelled the White House into further disarray over the past week. Trump’s surprise announcement has already spooked markets, caused a rift with his closest allies on Capitol Hill, and prompted the resignation of his top economist Gary Cohn. “He may be a globalist, but I still like him,” Trump said Thursday of Cohn, who was sitting in the room and announced earlier this week he is resigning as director of the National Economic Council. “He is seriously a globalist, there is no question. But in his own way he’s a nationalist because he loves our country.” On Wednesday and Thursday, aides described rapid-pace scheduling changes as Trump applied pressure on his staff to finish writing the tariff order. Related article Trump says quitting adviser could return to administration Initially, aides had planned for a noon event on Thursday before moving the time to 3:30 p.m. ET. Facing persistent questions over the legality of the move, the event was pulled from the schedule, but on Thursday morning it was back on the schedule and Trump was previewing it himself on Twitter. The effort among US allies and Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill to stop Trump from moving forward with his tariff proposal continued into Thursday – further underscoring the uncertainty about how Trump would act. Top Republican lawmakers and the leaders from major US trading partners have resisted the tariffs plan and in recent days were flooded with phone calls from foreign allies trying to stop Trump’s tariff plan. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke on Thursday with the top two congressional Republicans – House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – to discuss the matter, Trudeau’s office said. More the 100 GOP members of Congress wrote Trump on Wednesday urging him to “reconsider the idea of broad tariffs to avoid unintended negative consequences.” Despite the exemptions, the tariffs could lead to retaliation from certain countries. The European Union on Wednesday detailed a list of US-made goods that it would subject to reciprocal tariffs if Trump follows through with his plan. China also indicated it was preparing an appropriate response. Trump was unmoved by those threats, instead declaring trade wars “easy to win” as he moved forward to implement a key campaign promise.

President Donald Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs