News from the note…
A round up of the day’s news that might be of interest to you.
Consider this an OPEN THREAD, folks. Chat about any of the stories listed, share links to stories that caught your eye today, and generally have a good time discussing whatever you want.
Judge orders Manafort to be moved to detention center in Alexandria, Va.
From Politico
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, currently jailed while awaiting trial, be moved to a detention center in Alexandria, Virginia.
Manafort had been held at the Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Virginia, roughly two hours south of Washington. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis, who is overseeing Manafort’s Alexandria, Virginia, trial on tax and bank fraud charges, ordered that his chambers be notified by the U.S. Marshals Service once Manafort is moved.
Man arrested after harassing woman as un-American for wearing Puerto Rico flag shirt
From The Hill
An Illinois park is facing scrutiny after a woman alleged one of its officers avoided responding when she was being harassed by an intoxicated man who called her shirt bearing the Puerto Rican flag un-American.
The man has since been arrested for assault and disorderly conduct, according to the park.
Mia Irizarry told CNN she was celebrating her 24th birthday at the Forest Preserves of Cook County in June when she was approached by an intoxicated man who asked her why she was wearing a Puerto Rico flag shirt.
Irizarry said the man said: “You should not be wearing that in the United States of America.” Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory.
91-year-old man beaten with brick, told ‘go back to Mexico’
From CNN
Tears glistened on the black and purple bruises covering 91-year-old Rodolfo Rodriguez’s face as he described being attacked by a group of people while going for a walk on the Fourth of July.
“I can’t walk anymore,” Rodriguez said in Spanish. “I’m in so much pain.”
He’ll be turning 92 in September, Rodriguez said, and he’s never been hurt like this before, in a life working the fields with cattle and corn.He had traveled from Michoacan, Mexico, to visit his family in Willowbrook, California, a city in Los Angeles County, his grandson Erik Mendoza said.
US Embassy in London warns Americans to ‘keep low profile’ during Trump visit
From The Hill
The U.S. Embassy in London released an alert on Tuesday urging Americans to “keep a low profile” during President Trump‘s scheduled visit to the United Kingdom later this week.
The notice asks for Americans in Britain to stay aware of their surroundings and to “exercise caution if unexpectedly in the vicinity of large gatherings that may become violent.”
The request comes as Trump is expected to meet multiple protests during his first visit to the United Kingdom since taking office. Thousands of people are expected to turn out. Among the planned demonstrations is a large “Trump baby” blimp which was approved by London city officials to fly over Parliament.
US Embassy in Haiti requests extra security amid riots
From CNN
The US embassy in Haiti has requested additional US Marines and State Department security personnel to bolster security amid the riots that are taking place there, two US officials tell CNN.
The approved request includes a Marine Security Guard Augmentation Unit, consisting of approximately 13 Marines, as well as other security personnel who would reinforce members of the US Marines Corps and State Department security personnel already in place.
The Marine Security Augmentation Unit, consisting of 13 Marines, is currently in bound to Haiti according to one US military official.
The US Embassy in Haiti has instructed all staff to shelter in place. It warned citizens Saturday to stay inside amid continued demonstrations in the capital of Port-au-Prince and a northern city following a sharp hike in fuel prices ordered by the government.
GOP senator: Trump admin’s handling of migrant family reunification ‘boggles my mind’
From The Hill
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Monday decried a “lack of information” from the Trump administration on how it plans to reunite migrant families that had been separated at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“If they got a process, they’re not revealing the process to me,” Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, told CNN. “These are human beings.”
“I’m just not getting the answers I would have thought they should have on the tips of their fingers,” he continued. “It boggles my mind. I just would assume that the connection in all these things are tracked — and that the reunification would have been a relatively simple matter.”
Most young migrant kids may not be reunited by deadline, Trump administration says
From Politico
About two-thirds of young migrant children in federal custody may not be reunified with their parents by Tuesday’s original court-ordered deadline, an HHS official told reporters.
Four young children already have been reunited with their parents, and another 34 parents who have cleared a background check expect to be reunited with their children Tuesday, said Chris Meekins of HHS’ emergency response team, citing an update that it filed to the court. Seventeen other parents are still undergoing a criminal background check, which could be resolved by Tuesday.
HHS had identified 102 migrant children under age 5 in the department’s custody that it believed were separated from their parents at the border by the Trump administration. A federal judge last month ordered HHS to reunify all children under age 5 with their parents by today, but the administration warned Monday it wouldn’t be able to meet a timeline that it said was unreasonable.
NYT: Trump told Putin some of his own aides are ‘stupid people’
From The Hill
President Trump dismissed some of his own aides during a phone call earlier this year with Russian President Vladimir Putin as “stupid people,” The New York Times reported Monday.
The Times, citing a source with direct knowledge of Trump’s phone call in March, reported that the Russian president lamented that some White House officials tried to stop the conversation from even happening.
“Those are stupid people; you shouldn’t listen to them,” Trump responded, according to the Times.
The comment came in the same call in which Trump congratulated Putinon his reelection, despite warnings from his national security advisers not to do so after international observers said the Russian election was full of evidence of fraud and intimidation.
What is the Flores settlement?
From CNN
The decades-old settlement agreement Flores v. Reno has made headlines recently as the US government has taken heat for separating immigrant children from their parents. The agreement limits the length of time and conditions under which US officials can detain immigrant children.
On Monday, a federal judge in California rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to modify the agreement by asking for more time to detain children than the 20 days the agreement currently allows. The Trump administration also wanted the ability to hold children with their parents in Immigration and Customs Enforcement residential facilities, as opposed to the licensed facilities required by the settlement.
But the problem of separating and detaining immigrant children dates to long before President Donald Trump was elected.
Trump confirms he plans to give Kim Jong Un a copy of ‘Rocket Man’ CD
From CNN
It didn’t take a long, long time for President Donald Trump to start bestowing gifts on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The President of the United States confirmed on Tuesday morning that he plans to give a copy of the Elton John hit song “Rocket Man” to the dictator of North Korea, who he met with during a summit in Singapore last month to discuss denuclearization.
“They didn’t give it, I have it for him, they didn’t give it, but it will be given at a certain time,” Trump said when asked about the CD during a gaggle outside the White House Tuesday morning before departing for the NATO summit.
“I actually do have a little gift for him, but you’ll find out what that gift is when I give it,” he added.
