Trump's church visit, response to George Floyd's death frustrate some advisers


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s bellicose response to the racial unrest engulfing the United States and his controversial visit to a church after the forced clearing of peaceful protesters have sparked divisions and frustration among some White House staff.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a Bible as he stands in front of St. John's Episcopal Church across from the White House after walking there for a photo opportunity during ongoing protests over racial inequality in the wake of the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody, at the White House in Washington, U.S., June 1, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

Trump’s focus on “law and order” to curb sometimes violent protests came after discussion among advisers about the best way to respond to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes in Minneapolis last week, senior administration officials said.

But the Republican president’s surprise trip to the historic Saint John’s Church near the White House on Monday, during which he held up a Bible for photographers and posed with staff members who all were white, drew condemnation from Democrats and some Republicans, and rattled some on his own team, one senior administration official told Reuters.

Law enforcement officials used heavy handed tactics to clear the area of peaceful protesters before the visit, even though a Washington curfew was not yet in force.

Trump, who is running for re-election in November, has courted religious voters, especially evangelical Christians, as a key part of his political base.

He does not attend church regularly himself and did not enter the building on Monday, a part of which had been burned during demonstrations, or offer a prayer during his stop.

“There are a lot of very evangelical people walking around this White House who I know were very uncomfortable with that (visit),” the senior administration official said.

The official described the response to the demonstrations as lacking leadership and avoiding key truths, including the role of white supremacists in some of the unrest.

A call that Trump held with state governors, in which he described them as weak and told them to get tougher with protesters, was “insane” and went “off the rails,” the official said.

African-American staff members, who do not make a up a large portion of Trump’s circle, were recruited to be present for that call on Monday in the Situation Room, the official said, and Vice President Mike Pence has considered traveling to Minnesota despite concerns that his presence could spark further riots and heighten security risks.

INFLAMMATORY COMMENTS

Trump condemned Floyd’s killing and has promised justice but he faced criticism from Democrats and some fellow Republicans for his provocative rhetoric about the protests.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden blasted Trump’s response and sought to offer a contrast by vowing to try to heal the country’s racial divide.

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Trump has hit “the perfect tone” in expressing deep sadness for the Floyd family and showing an unwavering commitment to make sure justice is done in the case, while also defending law and order.

“He has expressed support for the First Amendment and the right for people to peacefully protest while at the same time making it very clear that criminal behavior, lawlessness and evil cannot be tolerated,” Gidley said. 
THAT'S A BIG LIE HE MAKES REFERENCE TO ONE AMENDMENT YES, BUT THAT IS THE SECOND AMENDMENT ITS THE ONLY ONE HE KNOW'S



Trump’s broad response, including a threat to use the military to quell the riots, is consistent with a presidency that has revved up political supporters repeatedly with inflammatory rhetoric on everything from immigration to foreign relations.

One senior administration official said Trump has focused on action rather than racial reconciliation and national unity because of a desire to show Americans that something was being done about the destruction looters had wrought on U.S. cities.

“Unity is great and that should be the ultimate goal, but you also have to deal with the issue at hand,” the official said.

One former White House official said Trump’s remarks in a White House Rose Garden speech on Monday reflected the influence of more hawkish members of his team over those seen as more moderate, such as his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Ivanka Trump, wearing a mask, was part of the group that walked with the president to Saint John’s Church on Monday, but she did not stand with her father for the photo session.

Others did not wear masks. Pence, who frequently references his religious beliefs, was not present.

Another senior administration official said Trump made clear to advisers on Monday that he wanted to give a clear “law and order” address.

A majority of Americans sympathize with the nationwide protests over the death of Floyd and disapprove of Trump’s response to the unrest, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.

Sporadic violence flares in latest U.S. protests over Floyd death

WASHINGTON/MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people defied curfews to take to the streets of U.S. cities on Tuesday for an eighth night of protests over the death of a black man in police custody, as National Guard troops lined the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Clashes between protesters and police and looting of some stores in New York City gave way to relative quiet by night’s end.

In Los Angeles, numerous demonstrators who stayed out after the city’s curfew were arrested. But by late evening, conditions were quiet enough that local television stations switched from wall-to-wall coverage back to regular programming.

Large marches and rallies also took place in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Denver and Seattle.

In Portland, Oregon, crowds seemed to swell before 11 p.m. local time. Police used stun grenades and tear gas on the crowd, calling it an “Unlawful assembly.” The scattering crowd shouted “Peaceful protest,” back at police.

Although rallies on behalf of Floyd and other victims of police brutality have been largely peaceful during the day, after dark each night crowds have turned to rioting, vandalism, arson and looting. On Monday night, five police officers were hit by gunfire in two cities.

Outside the U.S. Capitol building on Tuesday afternoon a throng took to one knee, chanting “silence is violence” and “no justice, no peace,” as officers faced them just before the government-imposed curfew.

The crowd remained after dark, despite the curfew and vows by President Donald Trump to crack down on what he has called lawlessness by “hoodlums” and “thugs,” using National Guard or even the U.S. military if necessary.

Some protesters briefly pushed and rocked a chainlink fence, but were encouraged other protesters to stop. Local news media reported that the crowds dwindled by midnight.

PROTESTS COAST TO COAST

In New York City, thousands of chanting protesters ignored an 8 p.m. curfew to march from the Barclays Center in Flatbush toward the Brooklyn Bridge as police helicopters whirred overheard.

The crowd, halted at an entrance to the Manhattan Bridge roadway, chanted at riot police: “Walk with us! Walk with us.”

On Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, hundreds of people filled the street, marching past famous landmarks of the film center. Others gathered outside Los Angeles Police Department headquarters downtown, in some cases hugging and shaking hands with a line of officers outside.

NYPD officers face demonstrators after curfew during a protest against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in New York City, U.S., June 2, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan Mcdermid

Los Angeles was the scene of violent riots in 1992, following the acquittal of four policemen charged in the beating of black motorist Rodney King, that saw more than 60 people killed and an estimated $1 billion in damage.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday found a majority of Americans sympathize with the protests.

The survey conducted on Monday and Tuesday found 64% of American adults were “sympathetic to people who are out protesting right now,” while 27% said they were not and 9% were unsure.

More than 55% of Americans said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of the protests, including 40% who “strongly” disapproved, while just one-third said they approved - lower than his overall job approval of 39%, the poll showed.

In Minneapolis, Roxie Washington, mother of Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter, Gianna, told a news conference he was a good man. “I want everybody to know that this is what those officers took from me....,” she said, sobbing. “Gianna does not have a father. He will never see her grow up, graduate.”


Floyd died after a white policeman pinned his neck under a knee for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis on May 25, reigniting the explosive issue of police brutality against African Americans five months before the November presidential election.

The officer who knelt on Floyd, 44-year-old Derek Chauvin, has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Three other officers involved were fired but not yet charged.
‘AMERICA IS NOT A BATTLEGROUND’

Trump has threatened to use the military to battle the violence and has derided local authorities, including state governors, for their response to the disturbances.

The head of the U.S. National Guard said on Tuesday 18,000 Guard members were assisting local law enforcement in 29 states.


Slideshow (39 Images)

The Pentagon said it has moved about 1,600 U.S. Army troops into the Washington, D.C., region.

Trump’s rhetoric and the growing role of the U.S. armed forces has alarmed some current and former officials.

“America is not a battleground. Our fellow citizens are not the enemy,” Martin Dempsey, a retired four-star general who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote on Twitter.

The protests come on the heels of lockdowns to prevent spread of the novel coronavirus which hit African Americans disproportionately with high numbers of cases and job losses.

Some of those who have gathered at the site of Floyd’s killing have invoked the non-violent message of the late U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated in 1968, as the only way forward.


“He would be truly appalled by the violence because he gave his life for this stuff,” said Al Clark, 62, a black man who drove to the Minneapolis memorial with one of King’s speeches blaring from his truck.

“But I can understand the frustration and anger.”

'No justice, no peace': Tens of thousands in London protest death of George Floyd

Michael Holden, Dylan Martinez

LONDON (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people chanting “no justice, no peace, no racist police” marched through central London on Wednesday to protest against racism after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.


Floyd, an unarmed black man, died after a white police officer knelt on his neck, an event that has set off the biggest anti-racism protests seen in the United States since the 1960s civil rights era.

Demonstrators have also come out in cities around the world in solidarity with Floyd and to express anger over racism. Protesters in London chanted “George Floyd” and “Black Lives Matter” as they marched through the city centre.

On Parliament Square, on Trafalgar Square and at other locations, thousands knelt on one knee, a form of protest known as “taking a knee” famously used by American footballer Colin Kaepernick to denounce police brutality against black people.


Some demonstrators urged police officers lining the route of the march to also take a knee, and a few of the officers did.

“This has been years in the coming, years and years and years of white supremacy,” 30-year-old project manager Karen Koromah told Reuters.

“We’ve come here with our friends to sound the alarm, to make noise, to dismantle supremacist systems,” Koromah said, cautioning that unless there was action the United Kingdom would face problems like those in the United States.

“I don’t want to start crying,” she said of the images from the United States. “It makes my blood boil.”

BRITISH BOBBIE DEMONSTRATES UK CHOKE HOLD (FOR REAL)

A protester and a police officer clash near Downing Street during a "Black Lives Matter" protest following the death of George Floyd who died in police custody in Minneapolis, London, Britain, June 3, 2020. REUTERS/Toby Melville TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

The demonstrators booed as they walked past 10 Downing Street, official residence of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and some also booed and took a knee in front of New Scotland Yard, London’s police headquarters.

GLOBAL ISSUE

Some protesters waved banners with slogans such as: “The UK is not innocent: less racist is still racist”, “Racism is a global issue” and “If you aren’t angry you aren’t paying attention”.

The event was almost entirely peaceful. There were brief scuffles between police officers and some protesters outside 10 Downing Street but they were over within minutes.

Johnson, who was inside at the time giving the government’s daily briefing on the coronavirus outbreak, was asked what he would say to U.S. President Donald Trump about Floyd’s death and the protests it has sparked.


“We mourn George Floyd, and I was appalled and sickened to see what happened to him,” he said.

“My message to President Trump, to everybody in the United States, from the UK is that - and it’s an opinion I’m sure is shared by the overwhelming majority of people around the world - racism and racist violence has no place in our society.”

Johnson has been criticised in the past for comments that many considered racist. In 2018, when he was foreign minister, he wrote in a newspaper column that Muslim women wearing burkas looked like bank robbers or letter boxes.

Outside Downing Street, some protesters chanted “Boris is a racist”.

British police chiefs said they were appalled by the way Floyd lost his life and by the violence that followed in U.S. cities, but called on protesters in the United Kingdom to work with police as coronavirus restrictions remain in place.

“We can see feelings are running really high today. It’s been a peaceful protest,” said police commander Alex Murray.

“We’re committed to make London a lot safer and to build trust with all communities,” he said.

Many marchers said racism was a British problem too.

“It’s not like this is just about someone dying, we live our lives made awfully aware of our race. That’s not right, that’s not the natural order,” said Roz Jones, who came to Britain as a child from South Africa.

Exclusive: Huawei hid business operation in Iran after Reuters reported links to CFO

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) - China’s Huawei Technologies acted to cover up its relationship with a firm that had tried to sell prohibited U.S. computer gear to Iran, after Reuters in 2013 reported deep links between the firm and the telecom-equipment giant’s chief financial officer, newly obtained internal Huawei documents show.


FILE PHOTO: Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou leaves her home to attend a court hearing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada May 27, 2020. REUTERS/Jennifer Gauthier/File Photo

Huawei has long described the firm - Skycom Tech Co Ltd - as a separate local business partner in Iran. Now, documents obtained by Reuters show how the Chinese tech titan effectively controlled Skycom. The documents, reported here for the first time, are part of a trove of internal Huawei and Skycom Iran-related business records - including memos, letters and contractual agreements - that Reuters has reviewed.

One document described how Huawei scrambled in early 2013 to try to “separate” itself from Skycom out of concern over trade sanctions on Tehran. To that end, this and other documents show, Huawei took a series of actions - including changing the managers of Skycom, shutting down Skycom’s Tehran office and forming another business in Iran to take over tens of millions of dollars worth of Skycom contracts.

The revelations in the new documents could buttress a high-profile criminal case being pursued by U.S. authorities against Huawei and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, who is also the daughter of Huawei’s founder. The United States has been trying to get Meng extradited from Canada, where she was arrested in December 2018. A Canadian judge last week allowed the case to continue, rejecting defense arguments that the U.S. charges against Meng do not constitute crimes in Canada.

A U.S. indictment alleges that Huawei and Meng participated in a fraudulent scheme to obtain prohibited U.S. goods and technology for Huawei’s Iran-based business via Skycom, and move money out of Iran by deceiving a major bank. The indictment alleges that Skycom was an “unofficial subsidiary” of Huawei, not a local partner.

Huawei and Meng have denied the criminal charges, which include bank fraud, wire fraud and other allegations. Skycom, which was registered in Hong Kong and was dissolved in 2017, is also a defendant. At one point, Huawei was a shareholder in Skycom but, according to corporate filings, sold its stake more than a decade ago.

The newly obtained documents appear to undermine Huawei’s claims that Skycom was just a business partner. They offer a behind-the-scenes look at some of what transpired at the two companies inside Iran seven years ago and how intertwined the companies were. The documents are variously written in English, Chinese and Farsi.


Huawei declined to comment for this story.

China’s foreign ministry said the United States was politicizing economic and trade issues, which is not in the interest of Chinese or American firms. “We urge the United States to immediately stop its unreasonable suppression of Chinese firms including Huawei,” it said. It referred specific questions about this story to Huawei.

‘NORMAL BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP’

Reuters reported in March that Huawei had produced internal company records in 2010, including two packing lists, that showed it was directly involved in sending prohibited U.S. computer equipment to Iran. Huawei declined to comment on that story, citing ongoing legal proceedings.

(To read the March report, click here)

The newly obtained documents show that Huawei’s efforts to obscure its relationship with Skycom began after Reuters reported in December 2012 that Skycom had offered to sell at least 1.3 million euros worth of embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran’s largest mobile-phone operator in late 2010. In January 2013, a second Reuters report described how Huawei had close financial ties and other links to Skycom, including the fact that Meng had served on Skycom’s board of directors between February 2008 and April 2009.

(To read the December 2012 report, click here)


(To read the January 2013 report, click here)

In its response at the time to the Reuters reporting, Huawei said Skycom was one of its “major local partners” and that the relationship between Huawei and Skycom was “a normal business partnership.”

But a newly obtained Huawei internal document from the Chinese company’s Iran office, dated March 28, 2013, indicates Huawei controlled Skycom. The document in Chinese stated: “In consideration of trade compliances, A2 representative office is trying to separate Skycom and Huawei.” A2 was Huawei’s code for Iran, according to the U.S. indictment.

The document also noted that Huawei had installed one of its own employees to manage Skycom in Iran “to urgently avoid the risks of media hype.” Huawei had made an “urgent decision” to appoint Hu Mei as Skycom’s general manager in Iran, effective March 10, 2013, the document noted. Hu was a director of Skycom and was also listed as a Huawei employee in an internal Huawei directory.

The document detailed how Huawei quickly recognized a flaw in putting Hu in charge of Skycom. Hu was based at Huawei’s headquarters in China, and the job required dealing with business matters on the ground in Iran, the document stated. So, Huawei decided to appoint instead “a Chinese employee based in Iran” to manage Skycom’s Tehran office, the document shows.

Huawei decided to name Song Kai, deputy representative of its Iran office, to run Skycom in Iran. He was informed of the decision in an internal Huawei message that was reviewed by Reuters. “Please update your resume,” Song was instructed.

The message said that the change had been approved by a man named Lan Yun, who was identified as the “chief representative” of Huawei’s Iran office.

Hu, Song and Lan couldn’t be reached for comment.

POWERPOINT PRESENTATION

In response to the Reuters articles of 2012 and 2013, several Western banks questioned Huawei about its relationship with Skycom. They included HSBC Holdings PLC, where both Huawei and Skycom held bank accounts.

HSBC declined to comment for this story.

In August 2013, Meng met with HSBC’s deputy head of global banking for the Asia-Pacific region. She is accused in the U.S. indictment of making “numerous misrepresentations regarding Huawei’s ownership and control of Skycom.”

Meng gave a PowerPoint presentation during the meeting that said Skycom was merely “a business partner of Huawei.”

The newly obtained documents show that Huawei soon became directly involved in shutting Skycom down.

In a letter dated Nov. 2, 2013, Song, the Huawei employee appointed to manage Skycom, told a major Iranian client that Skycom “has decided to annul and terminate its business activities and dissolve the branch company in Iran.” Song’s letter was addressed to a vice president of Iran’s largest mobile-phone operator, Mobile Communication Co of Iran, or MCCI.

MCCI couldn’t be reached for comment.


The next day, Skycom, MCCI and a new Huawei company - Huawei Technologies Service (Iranian) Co Ltd - signed an agreement. It stated that Skycom planned to transfer its contracts to the new Huawei entity. The agreement listed eight contracts worth a total of 44.6 million euros (about $50 million), with about 34.6 million euros remaining on them. Any money owed to Skycom was to be paid to the Huawei entity upon completion of the contracts.

“All the parties promise that this three-way contract remains confidential,” it stated.

Fired U.S. State Department watchdog confirms probe of Saudi arms sale

Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A State Department inspector general abruptly fired by President Donald Trump last month confirmed on Wednesday that he was investigating the declaration of a “national emergency” to justify arms sales to Saudi Arabia when he was dismissed, members of the U.S. Congress said.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. State Department Inspector General Steve Linick departs after briefing House and Senate Intelligence committees at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. October 2, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

The inspector general, Steve Linick, was fired on May 15, making him the fourth government watchdog dismissed by the Republican president in recent months.

In an interview with members of Congress, Linick also confirmed that he was looking into allegations that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife had misused State Department resources, Representative Eliot Engel, chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and other Democratic lawmakers said in a statement.

Inspectors general are charged with preventing fraud and abuse. The dismissals prompted concern from Democrats and some of Trump’s fellow Republicans over whether inspectors general would be able to do their work.


Democrats launched an investigation, including Wednesday’s interview by the House Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees and Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The interview was conducted remotely and lasted about seven hours. The committees have promised to release a transcript.

A Republican aide from one of the committees said investigation was continuing but indications to date are that Trump was within his rights to terminate Linick.

In his opening statement, seen by Reuters, Linick defended his seven-year record at State, noting his office issued nearly 700 reports and identified savings of close to $2 billion.


Pompeo has said he asked Trump to fire Linick, although he did not provide a reason for the request.

Members of Congress had said Linick was investigating Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency last year in order to sell arms to Saudi Arabia despite congressional objections, as well as allegations the Pompeos used a taxpayer-funded employee for personal errands.

(This story has been refiled to add dropped word to headline)


Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Leslie Adler

 UPDATED 
Snapchat curbs Trump posts for inciting 'racial

 violence'

AFP/File / DENIS CHARLETSnapchat, a social platform popular with youth, is curbing the reach of posts by President Donald Trump, saying he is inciting racial violence

Snapchat on Wednesday stopped promoting posts by US President Donald Trump, saying they incite "racial violence."

"We are not currently promoting the president's content on Snapchat's Discover platform," Snapchat said in response to an AFP inquiry, referencing the youth-focused social network's section for recommended content.

"We will not amplify voices who incite racial violence and injustice by giving them free promotion on Discover."

The move came after Twitter took an unprecedented stand by hiding a Trump post it said promoted violence, thrusting rival Facebook into turmoil for refusing to sanction false or inflammatory posts by the US president.

The decision was made over the weekend, during which Snapchat parent Snap chief executive Evan Spiegel sent a lengthy memo to employees condemning what he saw as a legacy of racial injustice and violence in the US.

"Every minute we are silent in the face of evil and wrongdoing we are acting in support of evildoers," Spiegel wrote as companies responded to the outrage over the police killing of a black man in Minnesota.

"I am heartbroken and enraged by the treatment of black people and people of color in America."

Snapchat will not promote accounts in the US that are linked to people who incite racial violence on or off the messaging platform, according Spiegel.

The Discover feature at Snapchat is a curated platform on which the California-based company get to decide what it recommends to users.

Trump's account remains on the platform, it will just no longer be recommended viewing, according to Snapchat.

"We may continue to allow divisive people to maintain an account on Snapchat, as long as the content that is published on Snapchat is consistent with our community guidelines, but we will not promote that account or content in any way," Spiegel said in the memo.

"We will make it clear with our actions that there is no grey area when it comes to racism, violence, and injustice - and we will not promote it, nor those who support it, on our platform."

Snapchat is particularly popular with young internet users, claiming that about half of the US "generation Z" population taping into news through its Discover feature.

Snapchat curbs Trump for inciting ‘racial violence’ as Facebook looks the other way

June 3, 2020 By Agence France-Presse

Snapchat on Wednesday became the latest social network moving to curb the reach of inflammatory comments by US President Donald Trump, claiming the president has been inciting “racial violence.”

The youth-focused social network said it would no longer promote Trump on its Discover platform for recommended content.

“We will not amplify voices who incite racial violence and injustice by giving them free promotion on Discover,” a statement from Snapchat said.

The move came days after Twitter took an unprecedented stand by hiding a Trump post it said promoted violence, heating up the White House war with Silicon Valley and social media.

Snapchat parent Snap chief executive Evan Spiegel over the weekend sent a lengthy memo to employees condemning what he saw as a legacy of racial injustice and violence in the US.

Snapchat will not promote accounts in the US that are linked to people who incite racial violence on or off the messaging platform, according Spiegel.

“Every minute we are silent in the face of evil and wrongdoing we are acting in support of evildoers,” Spiegel wrote as companies responded to the outrage over the police killing of a black man in Minnesota.

“I am heartbroken and enraged by the treatment of black people and people of color in America.”

The Discover feature at Snapchat is a curated platform on which the California-based company gets to decide what it recommends to users.

– No longer recommended –

Trump’s account remains on the platform, it will just no longer be recommended viewing, according to Snapchat.

“We may continue to allow divisive people to maintain an account on Snapchat, as long as the content that is published on Snapchat is consistent with our community guidelines, but we will not promote that account or content in any way,” Spiegel said in the memo.

“We will make it clear with our actions that there is no gray area when it comes to racism, violence, and injustice — and we will not promote it, nor those who support it, on our platform.”

Snapchat is particularly popular with young internet users, claiming that about half of the US “generation Z” population tapping into news through its Discover feature.

“There are plenty of debates to be had about the future of our country and the world,” Spiegel said.

“But there is simply no room for debate in our country about the value of human life and the importance of a constant struggle for freedom, equality, and justice.”

Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale denounced the move, saying that “Snapchat is trying to rig the 2020 election, illegally using their corporate funding to promote Joe Biden and suppress President Trump.”

Parscale said in a statement: “Snapchat hates that so many of their users watch the president’s content and so they are actively engaging in voter suppression… If you’re a conservative, they do not want to hear from you, they do not want you to vote. They view you as a deplorable and they do not want you to exist on their platform.”

– Facebook looks away –

The move by Twitter last week prompted an angry response by Trump, who within days signed an executive order calling for heightened government oversight of social platforms.

Trump accuses the platforms of “censorship” and limiting “free speech,” but his critics say the president has distorted the interpretation of those terms and is himself seeking to regulate online content.

In contrast to Twitter and Snapchat, Facebook has defended his decision not to interfere with posts by Trump.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reiterated his position in a call with employees this week, according to reports, despite criticism of the Facebook policy by civil rights activists.

Snapchat removes Trump account from curated promotional section

Katie Paul

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Snap Inc said it would no longer promote U.S. President Donald Trump’s account in Snapchat’s Discover section, saying his incendiary comments last week made the account ineligible for the curated section where users explore new content.

“We will not amplify voices who incite racial violence and injustice by giving them free promotion on Discover,” the company said in a statement.

“Racial violence and injustice have no place in our society and we stand together with all who seek peace, love, equality, and justice in America.”


Shares fell 2.4% after the announcement.

Trump’s Snapchat account, which consists mostly of campaign content and does not contain the informal rhetoric he regularly uses on his favored platform Twitter, will remain public and accessible to people who follow it or search for it, Snap said.

Democratic rival Joe Biden, who is seeking to oust Trump in the November presidential election, quickly capitalized on the move. In a video posted to Snapchat, he said, grinning, that he was proud to run for president “and still be on Snapchat.”

In a statement, Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale accused Snap of trying to rig the election by promoting Biden while suppressing Trump’s content. He said Snap promoted “extreme left riot videos” and encouraged users to “destroy America”.

Snap said the Discover section features voices across the political spectrum, including both Republicans and Democrats.

Twitter ignited a furor last week by placing labels on several of Trump’s tweets that it said violated its rules on misleading information and glorifying violence, including one which used the racially charged phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Facebook declined to take any action on the same posts, prompting an employee protest on Monday.

Snap did not specify which of Trump’s comments it considered inciteful, but Chief Executive Evan Spiegel told staffers in a memo on Sunday he would “walk the talk” on divisive content and the “legacy of racial violence and injustice in America.”

He noted that the Discover section is “a curated platform, where we decide what we promote.”

The company said its decision to remove the president’s content from Discover was made over the weekend.

Reporting by Katie Paul; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Stephen Coates and Christopher Cushing

RIGHT WING U.S. lawmaker prepares bill aiming to end court protection for police

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Representative Justin Amash (LIBERTARIAN-MI), recently having left the Republican Party after voicing support for an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, departs after a series of votes at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. July 10, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With cities across America in turmoil over the death of George Floyd, a U.S. lawmaker plans to introduce legislation this week that he hopes will end a pattern of police violence by allowing victims to sue officers for illegal and unconstitutional acts.

U.S. Representative Justin Amash, a former Republican turned Libertarian, won support from a Minneapolis Democrat on Monday for his “Ending Qualified Immunity Act,” which would allow civil lawsuits against police, a recourse that the Supreme Court has all but done away with.

The high court's adoption (here) of the qualified immunity doctrine has largely shielded police from financial settlements for victims or grieving families. The doctrine protects cops even when courts determine that officers violate civil rights, a Reuters investigation showed here


“The brutal killing of George Floyd is merely the latest in a long line of incidents of egregious police misconduct,” Amash told colleagues in a letter. “This pattern continues because police are legally, politically and culturally insulated ... That must change so that these incidents stop happening.”

A black man, Floyd died a week ago after pleading for his life as a white Minneapolis policeman kneeled on his neck. Protesters angered by his death and by racial inequities have demonstrated for six straight nights.

Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minneapolis Democrat, intends to back the bill, according to an aide. Amash aims to introduce it on Thursday. It was unclear whether the legislation would gain support from the Congressional Black Caucus.

The bill joins a flurry of Democratic legislation in the House of Representatives and Senate. Democratic senators have pledged to introduce separate measures that would create a national registry for police misconduct and stop the transfer of military weaponry to local police departments.

“Be sure of this. We will propose and push for bold action,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday.


Republicans have condemned Floyd’s killing and voiced support for peaceful protests, but have largely steered clear of criticizing or echoing President Donald Trump’s harsh rhetoric toward violent protesters.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton tweeted that Trump should use the Insurrection Act to deploy military forces to cities to “ensure this violence ends tonight.”


Reporting by David Morgan, Richard Cowan and Susan Heavey; editing by Grant McCool
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

After long silence, Mattis denounces Trump and military response to crisis

Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After long refusing to explicitly criticize a sitting president, former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis accused President Donald Trump on Wednesday of trying to divide America and roundly denounced a militarization of the U.S. response to civil unrest.

FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. Secretary of Defense General Jim Mattis speaks at a Reuters Newsmaker event in New York, September 9, 2019. REUTERS/Gary He

The remarks by Mattis, an influential retired Marine general who resigned over policy differences in 2018, are the strongest to date by a former Pentagon leader over Trump’s response to the killing of George Floyd, an African-American, while in Minneapolis police custody.

“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try,” Mattis, who resigned as Trump’s defense secretary in 2018, wrote in a statement published by The Atlantic.

“Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort.”

Trump has turned to militaristic rhetoric in the wake of Floyd’s killing by a white police officer, who knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes in Minneapolis last week.

On Monday Trump threatened to send active duty U.S. troops to stamp out civil unrest gripping several cities, even against the wishes of state governors — alarming current and former military officials, who fear dissent in the ranks and lasting damage to U.S. armed forces itself, one of America’s most revered and well-funded institutions.

“Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict — a false conflict — between the military and civilian society,” Mattis wrote.
Trump responded by Twitter by calling Mattis “the world’s most overrated General!”

“I didn’t like his “leadership” style or much else about him, and many others agree. Glad he is gone!” Trump wrote.

A prominent figure in military circles, Mattis’ strong words could inspire others in uniform and veterans to speak out and are particularly surprising given his extreme reluctance to criticize Trump in scores of interviews and appearances since he left office over policy differences with the U.S. president.

His comments follow denunciations by other retired top brass, including Navy admiral Mike Mullen and retired Army general Martin Dempsey, both former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

COMPARISON TO BATTLE AGAINST NAZIS

As he called for unity, Mattis even drew a comparison to the U.S. war against Nazi Germany, saying U.S. troops were reminded before the Normandy invasion: ‘The Nazi slogan for destroying us ... was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’”

Mattis also took a swipe at current U.S. military leadership for participating in a Monday photo-op led by Trump after law enforcement — including National Guard — cleared away peaceful protesters.


He criticized use of the word “battlespace” by Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to describe protest sites in the United States. Esper, Mattis’ successor in the job, has said he regretted using that wording.

“We must reject any thinking of our cities as a ‘battlespace,’” Mattis wrote.

Esper said at a Wednesday news conference he did not support invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy active-duty forces to quell civil unrest for now, in remarks that did not go over well with either the president or his top aides, an administration official said.

Exclusive: Most Americans sympathize with protests, disapprove of Trump's response - Reuters/Ipsos
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A majority of Americans sympathize with nationwide protests over the death of an unarmed black man in police custody and disapprove of President Donald Trump’s response to the unrest, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.

The demonstrations, some of which have turned violent, began last week after a Minneapolis police officer was videotaped kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for nearly nine minutes, even after Floyd appeared to lose consciousness. The officer has been charged with murder.

The survey conducted on Monday and Tuesday found 64% of American adults were “sympathetic to people who are out protesting right now,” while 27% said they were not and 9% were unsure.

The poll underscored the political risks for Trump, who has adopted a hardline approach to the protests and threatened to deploy the U.S. military to quell violent dissent. The Republican president faces Democrat Joe Biden in November’s election.

More than 55% of Americans said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of the protests, including 40% who “strongly” disapproved, while just one-third said they approved - lower than his overall job approval of 39%, the poll showed.

A separate Reuters/Ipsos poll found that Biden’s lead over Trump among registered voters expanded to 10 percentage points - the biggest margin since the former vice president became his party’s presumptive nominee in early April.

Demonstrator hold signs during a protest against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 2, 2020. REUTERS/Eric Thayer
Twice as many independent voters said they disapproved of Trump’s response to the unrest. Even among Republicans, only 67% said they approved of the way he had responded, significantly lower than the 82% who liked his overall job performance.

CCONCERNS ABOUT VIOLENCE

The protests have deepened the sense of crisis for a country already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent devastating economic downturn. While many daytime demonstrations have been peaceful, some have led to violent clashes at night between police and protesters.

Majorities of both Republicans and Democrats said they supported peaceful protests but believed property damage undermined the demonstrators’ cause. Less than one quarter of Americans said violence was an appropriate response.
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Even in rural and suburban areas largely unaffected by the demonstrations, most people expressed support. A little more than half of rural residents said they were sympathetic to the protesters, while seven out of 10 suburbanites agreed.

Forty-seven percent of registered voters said they planned to support Biden in the Nov. 3 election, compared with 37% favoring Trump. Biden vowed not to “fan the flames of hate” in a speech on Tuesday about the unrest.

Public opinion could be particularly volatile as the protests continue to roil major cities every night. Several police officers were shot on Monday night, and Trump has derided governors who have not asked for military assistance.

On Monday, police used tear gas to clear peaceful protesters near the White House so Trump could pose for a photograph in front of a church.

Americans are divided over the police response. According to the poll, 43% believed the police were doing a good job and 47% disagreed, with a majority of Democrats disagreeing and a majority of Republicans agreeing.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll on the protests was conducted online, in English, throughout the United States and gathered responses from 1,004 American adults. That poll had a credibility interval - a measure of precision - of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The other poll conducted over the same period regarding Trump’s overall job performance and the 2020 election gathered responses from 1,113 American adults and had a credibility interval of plus or minus 3 percentage points.


Reporting by Grant Smith, Joseph Ax and Chris Kahn; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Peter Cooney
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Vigil banned, Hong Kong set to commemorate Tiananmen with 'candles everywhere

HONG KONG (Reuters) - People in Hong Kong are set to commemorate the bloody 1989 crackdown by Chinese troops in and around Tiananmen Square by lighting candles across the city on Thursday, after police banned an annual vigil, citing the coronavirus.



FILE PHOTO: People attend a candlelight vigil ahead of the 31st anniversary of the crackdown of pro-democracy protests at Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, after police rejects a mass annual vigil on public health grounds, in Hong Kong, China June 3, 2020. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

The anniversary strikes an especially sensitive nerve in the semi-autonomous city this year after Beijing’s move last month to impose national security legislation on Hong Kong, which critics fear will crush freedoms in the financial hub.

It also comes as Chinese media and some Beijing officials have voiced support for protests against police brutality across the United States.

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In past years, Hong Kong’s candlelight vigils have drawn tens of thousands of people to the city’s Victoria Park.

But police said this week a mass gathering would pose a threat to public health just as the city reported its first locally transmitted coronavirus cases in weeks.

Malissa Chan, a 26-year-old who works in the property sector, said she will go to the park anyway.


“When authorities want to suppress us, there are more reasons to speak up,” she said.

Lee Cheuk-yan, the head of the group that organises the annual vigil, told Reuters residents will light candles everywhere across the city instead.

Calls have come out online for people to light candles in specific places throughout the evening and then “where you are” at 8:00 pm local time (1200 GMT), followed by a minute of silence.

With social distancing measures allowing for religious gatherings under certain conditions, some people plan to commemorate the crackdown in churches and temples. Residents are also expected to lay flowers along a waterfront promenade, while some artists plan to stage short street theatre plays.


Hong Kong has banned gatherings of more than eight people, a public health measure authorities have repeatedly said had no political motivation.

China has never provided a full accounting of the 1989 violence, but rights groups and witnesses say the death toll could have run into the thousands. The death toll given by officials days after the crackdown was about 300, most of them soldiers, with only 23 students confirmed killed.


Reporting by Yanni Chow and Carol Mang; Writing by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.