HOLLYWOOD SCARES: DON’S WAR ON CALIF.
Immig funding threat
President Trump on Sunday said California is “out of control” and threatened to restrict federal funds from the Golden State if it carries through on a plan to shield undocumented immigrants from being deported.
“Sanctuary cities, as you know, I’m very much opposed to sanctuary cities,” the president told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly in an interview that aired before the Super Bowl. “They breed crime, there’s a lot of problems. If we have to, we’ll defund. We give tremendous amounts of money to California.
“California in many ways is out of control, as you know,” he continued. “Obviously, the voters agree or otherwise they wouldn’t have voted for me.”
Less than a week after Trump’s executive order that bans immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries, California proposed becoming a “sanctuary state” that would hinder efforts to deport illegal immigrants by not cooperating with federal authorities.
Complicating Trump’s plan is that California is one of several “donor states” that pay more to the US government than they receive in federal funds.
During the interview, Trump set off a firestorm of controversy when he responded to a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin being a “killer” by saying, “We got a lot of killers. You think our country is so innocent?”
Pressed by O’Reilly that he didn’t know of any government officials who were killers, Trump said, “Well, take a look at what we’ve done, too. We’ve made a lot of mistakes. I’ve been against the war in Iraq from the beginning.”
The remarks prompted the top Senate Republican to say there’s no “equivalency” between Russia and the United States.
“He is a former KGB agent, a thug, not elected in a way that most people consider a credible election,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Trump also defended the rollout of his executive order banning immigrants from seven majority-Muslim nations, which launched protests at airports across the country and stranded hundreds of green-card holders.
“I think it was smooth,” he said. “You had 109 people out of hundreds of thousands of travelers and all we did was vet those people very, very carefully.”
The State Department said as many as 60,000 foreigners from those seven countries have been affected since the ban was first implemented over a week ago.
Of the nuclear deal former President Barack Obama negotiated with Iran, Trump said he might tear up the agreement.
“I mean, we’re going to see what happens,” he said. “I can say this, they have total disregard for our country, they are the No. 1 terrorist state, they’re sending money all over the place — and weapons. And — can’t do that.”
Trump didn’t refute reports that he offered to let the US military stop Mexican drug cartels in a phone conversation with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.
“We have to do something about the cartels,” Trump said. “I want to help him with it.”
He also said Americans can expect a tax cut by the end of the year and predicted there will be big changes to Obama-Care by next year.