Nation & World Glance
Trump sets off storm by criticizing retired Navy admiral
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has ignited a firestorm of criticism and charges that he is politicizing the military by faulting a war hero for not capturing al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden sooner.
Trump took shots at retired Adm. William McRaven in a Fox News interview Sunday in which he also asserted that the former Navy SEAL and former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command was a “backer” of Trump’s 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton, and supporter of President Barack Obama.
“Disgusting,” the George W. Bush administration’s White House counterterrorism adviser, Fran Townsend, wrote Monday on Twitter.
Leon Panetta, who was CIA director during the bin Laden raid and later served as secretary of defense, said Trump owed an apology to McRaven and to all of those in the military and intelligence agencies who played a role in tracking down bin Laden and carrying out the risky raid into Pakistan. He called Trump’s remark “patently ridiculous.”
“It demonstrates a profound lack of understanding of how our military and intelligence agencies operate and undermines the president’s own standing as commander-in-chief,” Panetta said in a statement.
Migrants fearful, anxious in aftermath of Tijuana protests
TIJUANA, Mexico — Many Central American migrants camped in Tijuana after crossing Mexico in a caravan said Monday that a protest over the weekend by residents demanding they leave frightened them and left them even more anxious while they try to get into the United States.
The angry protests have been fed by concerns raised by President Donald Trump’s month-long warnings that criminals and gang members are in the group and even terrorists, though there is no evidence of that.
About 500 people demonstrated in an affluent section of Tijuana on Sunday against the caravan. Dozens of protesters then marched to an outdoor sports complex near downtown where 2,500 migrants are staying, sleeping on dirt fields and under bleachers after arriving at the border city a week ago.
Dulce Alvarado, 28, from Lempira, Honduras, said she was stepping out of a corner grocery near the complex carrying her 2-year-old son when she was surrounded by the demonstrators chanting “Get out!” and “We don’t want you here!”
“I was very scared,” Alvarado said.
White House to restore Acosta’s pass, with a warning
NEW YORK — The Trump administration on Monday abruptly dropped its effort to bar CNN reporter Jim Acosta from the White House, but warned he could have his credentials pulled again if he doesn’t follow guidelines governing journalists’ behavior.
The White House said reporters would be permitted one question each if called upon at news conferences and allowed follow-ups only at the discretion of the president.
In a letter to Acosta, White House communications director Bill Shine and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said they will be forced to reconsider the decision “if unprofessional behavior occurs.”
CNN said that, as a result, it has dropped its lawsuit against the White House filed on Acosta’s behalf.
Taiwanese student accused of school threat to be deported
PHILADELPHIA — A Taiwanese exchange student accused of threatening to “shoot up” his high school near Philadelphia was spared additional time in prison at his sentencing Monday, but he will be deported and barred from returning to the U.S.
A federal judge Monday after nearly two hours of testimony sentenced AnTso Sun also known as “Edward” to time served and deportation. The judge did not impose a fine. Sun had been facing up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for his guilty plea to a firearms-related charge.
Sun has been in local or federal custody since March after local school authorities were alerted that Sun talked about a May 1 shooting at Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast High School in Upper Darby, about 7 miles west of Philadelphia. The 18-yearold student called the talk a joke, but authorities found more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition, as well as weapons, in the home of his host family.