Trump rally chant: ‘ Send her back’
GREENVILLE, N. C. — Going after four Democratic congresswomen one by one, a combative President Donald Trump turned his campaign rally Wednesday into an extended dissection of the liberal views of the women of color, deriding them for what he painted as extreme positions and suggesting they just get out.
Mr. Trump’s jabs were aimed at the self- described “squad” of four outspoken freshmen Democrats: Reps. Alexandria OcasioCortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
Ms. Omar came under the harshest criticism from Mr. Trump, leading the crowd to chant: “Send her back! Send her back!”
Ms. Omar came to the U. S. as a child after fleeing Somalia with her family. Mr. Trump set off a firestorm Sunday when he tweeted that the four should “go back” to their home countries — though all but Ms. Omar were born in the United States.
Ebola crisis declared
The deadly Ebola outbreak in Congo is now an international health emergency, the World Health Organization announced Wednesday after the virus spread this week to a city of 2 million people.
A WHO expert committee declined on three previous occasions to advise the United Nations health agency to make the declaration for this outbreak, though other experts say it has long met the conditions. More than 1,600 people have died since August in the second- deadliest Ebola outbreak in history.
A declaration of a global health emergency often brings greater international attention and aid.
Spacey case dropped
BOSTON — Prosecutors dropped a case Wednesday accusing Kevin Spacey of groping a young man at a resort island bar in 2016, more than a week after the accuser refused to testify about a missing cellphone the defense says contains information that supports the actor’s claims of innocence.
Mr. Spacey was charged with indecent assault and battery last year in the only criminal case that has been brought against the actor since his career collapsed amid a slew of sexual misconduct allegations. The two- time Oscar winner was among the earliest and biggest names ensnared in the # MeToo movement against sexual assault and harassment that swept the entertainment and other industries.
Mr. Spacey denies the accusations.
Barr, Ross cited
The House voted Wednesday evening to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress for their refusal to turn over key documents related to the Trump administration’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
The citations for two Cabinet officials, approved 230- 198, will breathe new life into a dispute that has touched all three branches of government over why Trump administration officials pushed to ask census respondents if they were U. S. citizens.
Democrats investigating the issue believe that the documents and testimony being shielded would confirm that the administration’s long- stated rationale for collecting the data — to better enforce the Voting Rights Act — was merely a cover for a politically motivated attempt to eliminate noncitizens from population statistics.