Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 9-18-18

White House News
Trump Can Sink Even Lower Than Denying The Death Toll In Puerto Rico
Kavanaugh Accuser Comes Forward
The most recent example? His completely made-up claim that the nearly 3,000 deaths in Puerto Rico caused by Hurricane Maria were, in essence, "fake news." First, President Trump tweeted on Thursday that, "3000 peo- ple did not die in the two hur- ricanes that hit Puerto Rico."
Trump then added mo- ments later, in part two of this tweet, "This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as pos- sible...If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list."
Well, as fact checkers swiftly noted, Trump was lying. Democrats didn't come up with the death toll. The es- timate that 2,975 died as a re- sult of Hurricane Maria was based on a study commis- sioned by the government of Puerto Rico and conducted by researchers at The George Washington University.
But the fact that this study was methodically conducted by a neutral party didn't stop Trump from again taking to Twitter on Friday night to de- clare the death toll wrong, without presenting even one shred of evidence to support his contention. Perhaps Trump believes that if the
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP
death toll is that high it will hurt him politically, so he will lie, deflect and do anything else he needs to do to under- mine the findings of the non- partisan study.
Is his response vile? Yes. There have been so many moments -- from the time Trump descended that esca- lator in June 2015 to an- nounce his candidacy, to today -- that seemed they would be his lowest. Wrong.
One incident from Trump's 2016 campaign that stands out as truly ab- horrent was when Trump mockingly mimicked a dis- abled New York Times' re- porter who simply refused to
back one of Trump's lies about Muslims cheering in New Jersey on 9/11.
With Trump in the White House, white national- ists aren’t going anywhere.
With Trump in the White House, white national- ists aren't going anywhere
Then there was the inci- dent a few months later when Trump retweeted a white supremacist who used the Twitter handle "White Geno- cide" and then shortly there- after refused to denounce former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke or "white supremacy" when CNN's Jake Tapper asked whether Trump would de- finitively do so. After a media firestorm, Trump did issue a perfunctory denouncement.
There was also his con- duct in August 2017 after the white supremacist rally and violence in Charlottesville. That's when he equated those opposing white supremacy and anti-Semitism with those advocating hate by declaring that there were "very fine people" on both sides.
And then there was the time when Trump retweeted anti-Muslim videos from a United Kingdom hate group.
While it's impossible to actually rank Trump's vile- ness, another potential low point came in February of this year and involved Rob Porter, a former top White House aide, who was accused of being abusive to his two ex-wives. Even though a photo of one of Porter's ex- wives had been made public in which she had a black eye, allegedly caused by Porter, Trump responded by offer- ing words of support for Porter, while not expressing any sympathy for the two women.
And just last month, after the death of Sen. John Mc- Cain, we saw Trump again sink to a new level. Trump, who in the past infamously demeaned McCain's service in the military with his com- ments, "He's not a war hero" and "I like people that weren't captured," couldn't bring himself to publicly praise McCain with even half of the passion that he uses to go after his rivals.
A woman accusing Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct more than 30 years ago came forward pub- licly Sunday, detailing her al- legations about the Supreme Court nominee in an interview with The Washington Post.
Christine Blasey Ford, a professor in California, reached out to the Post in July as Kavanaugh's name ap- peared on short lists to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, but she opted not to speak with the Post on the record for weeks. As her pri- vate outreach to California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein became public over the past week, she de- cided to go ahead and speak out herself, Sunday's report said.
"Now I feel like my civic responsibility is outweighing my anguish and terror about retaliation," Ford told the Post.
Ford said she kept silent about the alleged incident until she was in couples' ther- apy with her husband in 2012. Her husband, Russell Ford, recalled to the Post that she talked during their 2012 ses- sions about the incident and said she had mentioned Ka- vanaugh's last name and that he was a federal judge who might be on the Supreme Court eventually.
In a statement on Friday, Kavanaugh denied the re- ported allegations that while
JUDGE BRETT KAVANAUGH
at a party during his time in high school, he pushed a woman into a room, locked the door to the room along with another male and tried to take off the woman's clothes.
"I categorically and un- equivocally deny this allega- tion. I did not do this back in high school or at any time," his statement said.
Asked for a response to Ford's detailed allegations, White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah offered CNN the same denial Ka- vanaugh issued previously.
The White House would not comment further.
'Trying to attack me'
Going through the allega- tion she had made in her let- ter, Ford told the Post that Kavanaugh and his friend were drunk at the time and that he put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream.
"I thought he might inad- vertently kill me," Ford said. "He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing."
PAGE 6 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2018