Trump marks National Day of Prayer amid hush money scandal
Backers of data privacy measure submit signatures for ballot
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump celebrated the National Day of Prayer by announcing a White House initiative that he said would underpin policies recognizing the “vital role” of religion in the country. “America is a nation of believers,” he said.
Shortly before the Rose Garden event Thursday, Trump acknowledged reimbursing his personal attorney for hush money the lawyer paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels, who alleges a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. The White House says Trump denies that accusation, and Trump had claimed no knowledge of the financial arrangement.
Trump tweeted before the faith event that the payments just before the 2016 election “had nothing to do with the campaign.” The president did not address the issue in his public remarks, focusing instead on the power of prayer as a centerpiece of American life.
“Faith has shaped our families and it’s shaped our communities,” he said. “It’s inspired our commitment to charity and our defense of liberty,
SACRAMENTO (AP) — Supporters of a California initiative aimed at giving consumers more control over their personal data say they have collected enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Proponents of the measure, which would allow consumers to bar companies from selling their personal information, said Thursday they have submitted 625,000 signatures. If the secretary of state certifies and faith has forged the identity and the destiny of this great nation that we all love.”
Trump outlined steps by the administration to safeguard religious freedom and pledged to continue doing so.
He signed an executive order creating a “White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative” that will, among other things, make recommendations on policies that affect faith-based and community programs. Trump said the new office will help ensure such groups have “equal access” to government money and the “equal right to exercise their deeply held beliefs.”
“We take this step because that enough of the signatures are valid, the initiative will go before voters in November. Google, AT&T and other tech giants are funding an opposition campaign to quash the measure.
It would require companies to tell users what types of personal information they collect and whether they’ve sold it. It would also let consumers sue companies for security breaches, even if the consumer can’t we know, that in solving the many, many problems and our great challenges, faith is more powerful than government and nothing is more powerful than God,” Trump said.
Members of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, where more than two dozen worshippers were killed in a November 2017 shooting, attended the event.
As Trump mingled with guests on his way back to the Oval Office, a reporter shouted to the president, “Why are you changing your story on Stormy Daniels?” Someone in the audience shouted back, “Shame on you!” prove they were harmed as a result. Supporters say social media companies and others that collect and sell data can easily stop doing so and still make money selling advertisements and charging consumers to use their products. “People really want to be able to do something to take control over their personal information,” Alastair Mactaggart said, a San Francisco housing developer funding the initiative.