Trump lauds veterans, hits media

States criticized for refusing to hand over voter data

WASHINGTON, July 2, (Agencies): US President Donald Trump honored military veterans in Washington on Saturday at a Kennedy Center event that resembled both a political rally and an evangelical Christian religious service ahead of the July 4 Independence Day holiday.

Using the podium again to lash out at the news media, Trump worked to energize evangelicals in his political base, noting that the US currency was inscribed with the words: “In God We Trust.”

“Since the signing of the Declaration of Independence 241 years ago, America always affirmed that liberty comes from our creator. Our rights are given to us by God, and no earthly force can ever take those rights away,” he said.

Attendees at the event for veterans waved miniature American flags from their seats in the theater and raised their hands as a sign of praise while a large choir sang ahead of Trump’s remarks.

The president praised veterans from each of the US military branches and highlighted his administration’s work to reform veterans’ services.

Trump, who is spending a long weekend at his property in Bedminster, New Jersey, flew back to Washington for the rally but did not spend the night at the White House, preferring to return to Bedminster.

Later, in a rare late-night post on Twitter, which he uses prolifically and sometimes controversially, Trump wrote:

“We will always take care of our GREAT VETERANS. You have shed your blood, poured your love, and bared your soul, in defense of our country.”

Trump has held campaign-like rallies regularly during his first few months in the White House and kicked off his own re-election campaign far earlier than other incumbents in recent history.

Strategy

Part of his strategy to connect with his supporters has included criticizing the media, and he included harsh words for the press again in his remarks.

“The fake media is trying to silence us, but we will not let them,” he said. “The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House. But I’m president, and they’re not.”

In recent days, the US leader has railed against major news organizations as “fake news,” and launched a crude personal attack on Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, who headline the “Morning Joe” program on the left-leaning MSNBC cable network.

“Crazy Joe Scarborough and dumb as a rock Mika are not bad people, but their low rated show is dominated by their NBC bosses. Too bad!” he wrote Saturday, seemingly trying to get in the final word in his clash with the journalists.

Apparently stung by critical coverage on the show, Trump on Thursday had tweeted: “I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don’t watch anymore).

“Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe came to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year’s Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!”

The comments sparked a major backlash, as well as condemnation from within Trump’s own Republican Party.

The TV hosts responded on Friday with an opinion piece in The Washington Post titled “Donald Trump is not well,” questioning his “unmoored behavior” and fitness to serve.

Trump also targeted CNN, a frequent punching bag for the president.

Exposed

“I am extremely pleased to see that @CNN has finally been exposed as #FakeNews and garbage journalism. It’s about time!” he tweeted, referring to an article that the cable news channel retracted, that claimed Congress was investigating links between Trump’s administration and a Russian investment fund.

Three CNN journalists resigned over the article, which was posted on the network’s website on June 22 before being yanked the next day.

“I am thinking about changing the name #FakeNews CNN to #FraudNewsCNN!” Trump posted.

He also suggested in a tweet that veteran ex-Fox journalist Greta Van Susteren, who left MSNBC this week, “was let go by her out of control bosses at @NBC & @Comcast because she refused to go along w/ ‘Trump hate!’”

Trump’s deputy spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Trump’s attacks on Brzezinski, Scarborough and other media were part of his natural instinct to “fight fire with fire.”

On Saturday, those seemed to be on display.

“My use of social media is not Presidential — it’s MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL,” Trump posted on Twitter, before adding his classic tagline “Make America Great Again!”

Capping his day of derision, Trump lambasted the press at a Fourth of July “Freedom Rally” in Washington, stating that “the fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House, but I’m president and they’re not.”

“The dishonest media will never keep us from accomplishing our objectives on behalf of our great American

instincts people,” he added.

“The fact is, the press has destroyed themselves because they went too far.”

US President Donald Trump lashed out on Saturday at the growing number of states refusing to give voters’ names, addresses and sensitive personal information to a commission he created to investigate alleged voter fraud.

“Numerous states are refusing to give information to the very distinguished VOTER FRAUD PANEL,” he wrote on Twitter. “What are they trying to hide?”

More than 20 states, including Virginia, Kentucky, California, New York and Massachusetts, have declined to provide some or all of the information, saying it was unnecessary and violated privacy.

“This commission was formed to try to find basis for the lie that President Trump put forward that has no foundation,” Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes told Reuters previously in an interview.

The Republican president has made unsubstantiated claims that millions of people voted illegally for his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in last November’s election.

Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, created in May, sent a letter to 50 states asking them to turn over voter information including names, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, political affiliations, felony convictions and voting histories.

The request from commission Vice-Chairman Kris Kobach has caused a backlash from state election officials.

Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson said in a statement on Friday that while certain voter information is available to the public, the media, and any other person who requests the information, “the information is restricted to name, address and congressional district assignment.”

Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann had said in a statement that he did not see the letter but would rebuff the commission.

“They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi is a great state to launch from,” he said.

Trump won the White House through victory in the Electoral College, which tallies wins in states, but he lost the popular vote to Clinton by some 3 million votes. He has claimed he would have won the popular vote had it not been for voter fraud. Civil rights activists say the commission will encourage voter suppression by justifying new barriers to voting, such as requiring identity cards to vote.