Nation & World Glance
Trump trashes media as ‘fake, fake disgusting news’ at rally
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Thundering that the media is the “fake, fake disgusting news,” President Donald Trump unleashed a torrent of grievances Thursday at a Pennsylvania campaign rally in which he cast journalists as his true political opponent.
Trump barnstormed in a state that he swiped from the Democrats in 2016 and that is home to a Senate seat he is trying to place in the Republicans’ column this fall. But the race between GOP U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta and two-term incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey took a back seat to Trump’s invectives against the media, which came amid a backdrop of antagonism to journalists from the White House and hostility from the thousands packed into a loud, overheated WilkesBarre arena.
“What ever happened to the free press? What ever happened to honest reporting?” Trump asked, pointing to the media in the back of the room. “They don’t report it. They only make up stories.”
Time and time again, Trump denounced the press for underselling his accomplishments and doubting his political rise.
He tore into the media for diminishing what he accomplished at his Singapore summit with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un. He complained about the tough questioning he received in Helsinki when he met with Russia’s Vladimir Putin last month. And he began his rally speech with a 10-minute remembrance of his 2016 election night victory, bemoaning that Pennsylvania wasn’t the state to clinch the White House for him only because “the fake news refused to call it.”
Bookkeeper: Paul Manafort ‘approved every penny’ of bills
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Paul Manafort inflated his business income by millions of dollars and kept his bookkeeper in the dark about the foreign bank accounts he was using to buy luxury items and pay personal expenses, according to testimony and documents during his trial Thursday.
But he otherwise approved “every penny” of the personal bills bookkeeper Heather Washkuhn paid for him, she said during hours on the witness stand.
That testimony is important to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team as it looks to rebut defense arguments that Manafort can’t be responsible for financial fraud because he left the details of his spending to others. That includes his longtime associate Rick Gates, who pleaded guilty earlier this year and is expected to testify soon as the government’s star witness.
“I would say he was very knowledgeable. He was very detail-oriented. He approved every penny of everything we paid,” Washkuhn told jurors.
With Washkuhn on the stand, prosecutors showed jurors a series of documents submitted by Manafort to obtain bank loans, including one in which he appeared to inflate the net income of his business by roughly $4 million. Prosecutors say he tried to pass the documents off as coming from her accounting firm.
Bredesen, Blackburn win primaries in race for US Senate
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Former Tennessee Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen and Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn have been running their campaigns for a critical U.S. Senate seat like their matchup was assured.
Voters made it official Thursday.
Bredesen and Blackburn disposed of minimal opposition in their primary elections, kicking off what’s expected to a bruising, expensive fight that could determine Democrats’ chances of overturning the 51-49 Republican Senate majority.
Polls have indicated a close contest to replace retiring Republican Sen. Bob Corker.
A general election win would be historic for Blackburn, who would become the first female U.S. senator ever elected in Tennessee.
Zimbabwe’s Mnangagwa wins 1st post-Mugabe election
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa won election Friday with just over 50 percent of the ballots as the ruling party maintained control of the government in the first vote since the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe.
Mnangagwa received 50.8 percent of the vote while main opposition challenger Nelson Chamisa received 44.3 percent. The opposition is almost certain to challenge the results in the courts or in the streets.
While election day was peaceful in a break from the past, deadly violence on Wednesday against people protesting alleged vote-rigging reminded many Zimbabweans of the decades of military-backed repression under Mugabe.
Zimbabwe’s president says he is “humbled” by his win.
Feline and hen become fast fire friends
REDDING, Calif. — A cat seeking refuge from a raging Northern California wildfire found a fine-feathered friend as it awaited rescue from the heat and flames.
The Grass Valley Fire Department said Thursday a cat and chicken it rescued over the weekend are recovering from burns with the help of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The feline and hen were found Saturday huddling together on the front porch of a home in Redding during a firefighters’ patrol through a fire-damaged neighborhood.
The unlikely duo made it to safety riding in the same crate. The animals are expected to fully recover from their burn wounds while in the custody of SPCA.
The fire in and around Redding has claimed six lives, including two firefighters, and destroyed more than 1,000 homes.