Over the past four weeks, Iranians have been in a state of shock and disbelief prompted by three horrific cases of honor killings that have sparked an intense public debate on how to push the practice closer to abolition.
The last such case was reported from the southeastern city of Kerman on Tuesday. The father of Reyhaneh Ameri admitted to killing his 25-year-old daughter with an iron bar before moving the corpse to a nearby desert. While the exact details have yet to be released, other family members told the media that the father clashed with the victim because she had returned home late the night before her death.
Earlier last week, 23-year-old Habib Barahi turned himself in to a local police station in the southwestern city of Abadan to confess how he “decapitated†his 19-year-old wife, Fatemeh, who some reports suggest had been forced into the marriage, and ran away for months to a shelter in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
The two cases were made public at a time when Iranians are still reeling from the grisly saga of 14-year-old Romina Ashrafi, whose father beheaded her with a sickle while she was asleep in their rural home in the country’s north. Romina’s death occurred after she eloped with a man 17 years older than she was. Iranian media reported that the father, Reza Ashrafi, had for weeks been contemplating the murder after he learned about his daughter’s relationship. He reportedly contacted a lawyer among his immediate relatives and was assured that under the Iranian penal code, a father who killed his child would not face the death penalty, a verdict normally handed down to those who deliberately kill someone.
The report strengthened arguments that leniency toward fathers who kill their daughters has only encouraged such slayings and that urgent legal reforms need to be introduced for a more inclusive and strict criminalization of domestic violence. Prior to the Romina case, a contentious bill on protecting children’s rights had been halted over partisan disputes, caught for more than a decade between the Guardian Council dominated by ultraconservative clerics on the one hand and Reformists in parliament and in the government administration on the other.
In the fallout of the Romina case, the bill pushed by activists and pro-reform officials has now been signed into law, raising hopes for genuine legal support for Iranian children. Loopholes, however, still remain. The exemption from the death penalty enjoyed by fathers who kill their daughters, rooted in an interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, will have to stay unchanged.
Such murders are products of a “patriarchal society characterized by an unequal and unjust treatment of women,â€Â wrote Elaheh Mohammadi, a Tehran-based women’s affairs expert. Old traditional prejudice and stigma that have prevailed in local communities for centuries, according to Iranian sociologists, are also significant contributors to honor killings and have to be reckoned with in the multilayered debate. The sociologists say these issues can be tackled only through yearslong campaigns dedicated to raising public awareness.
“We are late, but we have to start now,†an Iranian Twitter user said about such efforts. “Even if those killers are handed down the death penalty, we will still continue to witness honor killing, because we are dealing with a deep-rooted traditional belief, which is way more powerful than the fear for execution.â€
Fortuna Dusseldorf come from 2-0 behind after 86 minutes to secure 2-2 draw at RB Leipzig
Last Updated: 17/06/20 11:50pm
Jadon Sancho was unable to prevent a surprise defeat for Borussia Dortmund
Mainz increased their chances of survival in the Bundesliga with a shock 2-0 win at Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night.
Second-placed Dortmund will now be looking over their shoulders after this setback, where Jonathan Burkardt opened the scoring after the half hour before Jean-Philippe Mateta struck from the penalty spot minutes after the break.
With just two games remaining, Mainz went five points clear of 16th-placed Fortuna Dusseldorf, who came from 2-0 behind after 86 minutes to secure a 2-2 draw at RB Leipzig.
Leipzig appeared set to move within one point of Dortmund after Kevin Kampl and Timo Werner struck shortly after the hour, but Steven Skrzybski pulled one back before Andre Hoffmann levelled in added-on time.
Bayer Leverkusen are back up to fourth after seeing off Cologne 3-1.
Sven Bender and Kai Havertz put Leverkusen two goals to the good and although Sebastiaan Bornauw pulled one back, Moussa Diaby restored the two-goal cushion.
Eintracht Frankfurt leapfrogged 10-man Schalke and into ninth with a 2-1 home victory.
Andre Silva and David Abraham struck and although Weston McKennie halved the deficit, Can Bozdogan’s sending off for a second yellow card helped Frankfurt hold on for all three points.
Moanes Dabour scored twice while Ihlas Bebou came off the bench to net as Hoffenheim won 3-1 at Augsburg, whose goal from Ruben Vargas turned out to be a mere consolation.
La Liga: Atletico thrash Osasuna
Atletico Madrid are up to fourth in La Liga after cruising to a 5-0 win at Osasuna.
Joao Felix netted in either half, while Marcos Llorente came off the bench to add a third before fellow substitutes Alvaro Morata, the on-loan Chelsea striker, and Yannick Carrasco also got on the scoresheet.
Raul Garcia’s penalty and Asier Villalibre’s goal helped Athletic Bilbao to a 2-2 draw at Eibar, whose goals came from Kike and a spot-kick from Fabian Orellana.
Celta Vigo moved two points clear of the drop zone after a goalless draw at Real Valladolid.
The Premier League 2019/20 season has restarted and Sky, the UK’s leading football broadcaster, will make 25 games available ‘free to air’ – including Everton vs Liverpool on the first full weekend back – for everyone in the UK to enjoy.
Sky Sports will show 64 live Premier League games when the season resumes. In addition to the 39 matches already scheduled to be broadcast exclusively live on Sky Sports before the coronavirus interruption, 25 more matches will be available on both Sky Sports Premier League and Sky’s free-to-air Pick channel, allowing the whole nation to be part of the return of live sport.
David Luiz says he takes responsibility for Arsenal’s defeat to Manchester City, but insists he wants to extend his contract at the club.
David Luiz says he takes responsibility for Arsenal’s defeat to Manchester City, but insists he wants to extend his contract at the club.
David Luiz has taken the blame for Arsenal’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City, but insists he wants to extend his contract at the club.
Luiz produced a catalogue of errors in a torrid 25-minute cameo appearance as 10-man Arsenal suffered a heavy loss at City on the Premier League’s return.
Brought on as a substitute in the 24th minute following an injury to Pablo Mari, the Brazilian’s error led to Raheem Sterling’s opener (45+2) before he was sent off for hauling down Riyad Mahrez inside the penalty area four minutes into the second half.
David Luiz is sent off at Man City
The 33-year-old’s contract at Arsenal is also set to expire in the coming weeks, but he insists he wants to extend his stay at the Emirates Stadium.
“It’s not the team’s fault, it was my fault,” he told Sky Sports. “Today I think the team did well, especially with 10 men, the coach is amazing, the players did amazing, it’s just my fault.
“I took the decision to play, I should have taken another decision in the last two months, but I didn’t. It was all about my contract, whether I stay or not. I have 14 days to be here, and that’s it. Today was my fault.
Arsenal’s David Luiz walks off after being sent off against Manchester City
“I don’t want to use it as an alibi or an excuse, but it’s my fault and that’s it.
“I love to be here, that’s why I continue to train hard, that’s why I came here today, that’s why I’ve tried to do everything, that’s why I’m here putting my face up, that’s why I said to the players no one had to speak, I’m happy to show my face and be here.
“I want to stay, the coach knows, he wants me to stay, and we are just waiting for the decisions.”
Arteta refuses to criticise Luiz
2:31 Mikel Arteta says David Luiz’s ‘difficult performance’ against Manchester City will not affect the decision on whether to extend his contract.
Mikel Arteta says David Luiz’s ‘difficult performance’ against Manchester City will not affect the decision on whether to extend his contract.
Despite Luiz taking the blame, Arsenal boss Arteta refused to criticise Luiz, and said his display would have no bearing on a decision to exercise the option on his contract.
“He has spoken in the dressing room,” Arteta said. “David is someone who is very honest, straightforward, I’m sure he will talk to you guys and explain his feelings.
2:59 FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Manchester City’s 3-0 win against Arsenal in the Premier League.
FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Manchester City’s 3-0 win against Arsenal in the Premier League.
“But my opinion hasn’t changed from the moment I joined the team and it won’t change because of a difficult performance tonight.”
“I don’t know what will happen with his contract,” he added.
“I know what happened today. There was a reason why I didn’t select him from the start. He had to play because Pablo got injured. He tried but it didn’t work out for the team.”
Analysis: ‘The club don’t want him to stay’ says Carragher
4:17 Jamie Carragher believes the poor performance of David Luiz for Arsenal at Manchester City marks the end of his career in the Premier League.
Jamie Carragher believes the poor performance of David Luiz for Arsenal at Manchester City marks the end of his career in the Premier League.
But Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher thinks Luiz has played his last game for the club following his horror show at City.
“The club obviously don’t want him to stay, and don’t want to give him a contract,” he told Sky Sports. “I totally get that, why would you?
“By the sound of what he’s saying is, he wishes the decision he had made in the last two months is to say he’s not playing, because his contract is finished – there’s other players, Ryan Fraser at Bournemouth, who’s refused to play.
“He’s saying Mikel Arteta wants him to stay, he wants to stay, but it’s not right for him to stay at Arsenal, they need to move on from David Luiz.
David Luiz trudges off after his red card against Manchester City
“People keep talking about experience, but sometimes that can be one of the most over-rated qualities. It’s not about how experienced you are, it’s how good you are.
“For Arsenal they’ve got a young French lad coming in [William Saliba], they’ve bought Mari, they need to buy another one, they’ve got Sokratis, Mustafi, they’re not good enough. That’s the problem, you look at a David Luiz, you think I’ll get the best out of him, you won’t.
“The people at the top, if they’ve decided David Luiz is not getting another year, that’s right. If Mikel Arteta thinks he should, I think that’s wrong. I’d be really worried if I was an Arsenal fan and Arteta thought he could get another year out of Luiz.”
Luiz’s disastrous evening in stats
Luiz became the first player to be sent off, concede a penalty and commit an error leading to an opposition goal in a Premier League match since Carl Jenkinson for West Ham vs Bournemouth in August 2015.
2:59 FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Manchester City’s 3-0 win against Arsenal in the Premier League.
FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Manchester City’s 3-0 win against Arsenal in the Premier League.
Watch the Premier League on Sky Sports
For the Premier League’s resumption, Sky, the UK’s leading football broadcaster, will make 25 games available ‘free to air’ – including Everton vs Liverpool on the first full weekend back – for everyone in the UK to enjoy.
Sky Sports will show 64 live Premier League games during the resumption of the 2019/20 Premier League season. In addition to the 39 matches already scheduled to be broadcast exclusively live on Sky Sports before the coronavirus interruption, 25 more matches will be available on both Sky Sports Premier League and Sky’s free-to-air Pick channel, allowing the whole nation to be part of the return of live sport.
When Ricardo F. Jaramillo was 8, he would often walk hand-in-hand with his best friend, Pedro. After another boy their age split their hands apart, proclaiming that their hand-holding was “gay,†they never held hands again.
In the essay “Why Can’t Men Say ‘I Love You’ to Each Other?,†Mr. Jaramillo describes that interaction as the first time he experienced society’s oppressive norms regulating male behavior, and he goes on to question those norms, especially the ways in which they suppress tenderness and vulnerability among men.
On this week’s Modern Love podcast, Ncuti Gatwa reads Mr. Jaramillo’s essay, which was a finalist in the Modern Love column’s 2019 college essay contest. Mr. Gatwa is a Scottish actor who plays Eric Effiong in the Netflix show “Sex Education.â€
Mr. Jaramillo is a teacher, essayist and Fulbright scholar. His latest essay will be published this week through WHYY, Philadelphia’s public radio station. Stay tuned after the reading to hear more from him, Mr. Gatwa and the Modern Love editor Daniel Jones.
Wildfires broke out in southwestern Iran during the last week of May and clawed their path up north and west, spreading across much of the Zagros Mountains and leaving behind a trail of irreparable destruction to the already endangered environment.
The flames have died down, but there is a heated debate among Iranians about the wildfires. Were they a natural disaster or the result of arson? Who is to blame for the government’s slow response? What are the implications for the Iranian environment? And what could be done in the future to avert such a blow?Â
The Khaeez protected area in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province was identified as the origin of the fires. Officials in the province announced that the initial flames were ignited by one of two local farmers engaged in a land dispute. The two, according to a local activist, were in custody no longer than one day.
But the fires, fanned by typical seasonal winds of the mountainous area, grew faster than expected, ravaging the green ranges and burning to death an unspecified portion of the wild population. Photos and videos quickly went viral of the threatened animals, including of partridge chickens desperately seeking shelter under rocks. Emotional calls from citizens and environmental activists “to do something before the mountain inherited from our ancestors dies in the fire†were shared on social media in an attempt to prompt timely action from the central government.
Local activists, some of had worked to extinguish the fires nearly barehanded, called for an institutional response, including the use of helicopters and air tankers. Mohammad Dasmeh, who has been involved in volunteer work as the secretary of a local nongovernmental organization and is an environmental lawyer in Khuzestan province, complained that no such helicopters were dispatched to the fire sites despite all the distress calls for several days. He blamed this on the “incompetence†of officials who stood by at a time activists needed “fans and fire flappers to put out the flames.â€
Under Iran’s laws, the country’s Defense Ministry and other armed forces are obliged to come to the rescue of the Forests Organization, affiliated to the Agriculture Ministry, at times of all disasters, including wildfires. Based on an earlier agreement, helicopters are required to be on standby in 16 designated stations to respond at any moment.
In the recent fires, however, a financial dispute between the Defense Ministry and the Forests Organization is widely believed to have hindered a workable response. According to Masoud Mansour, the head of the Forests Organization, the Defense Ministry refused to dispatch its firefighting helicopters because the department had failed to pay off its accumulated debts of 300 billion rials (approximately $1.7 million calculated on the free market exchange rate). Calls from activists to prioritize a rescue plan, therefore, remained unheard in the raucous blame game and amid bureaucratic hurdles.
After dayslong exchanges, the Planning and Budget Organization, as the higher authority allocating each government institution their share of the state budget, intervened by agreeing to shoulder half the amount owed by the Forests Organization. The move, nevertheless, was seen as too little, too late to handle a crisis of that magnitude. The amount, an environmental journalist reminded everyone, was the value of a fancy apartment building in Tehran’s affluent north and just another indication of the little importance Iranian officials attach to environment protection. For years, those activists have lamented that environment institutions are kept underfunded due to the official mindset, which typically has too many other sectors to prioritize.
Thousands of hectares of forests were burned in eight provinces along the Zagros range, which supplies 40% of Iran’s water demand and is a habitat for diverse wildlife, including at least 240 species of mammals, such as the rare and endangered Persian leopard, 200 bird types and 39 reptiles.
There also were reports about fires in several large parks and resort areas at locations disconnected from the Zagros Mountains.
Iranian experts have warned that the damage could be irreparable: It could take up to 80 years for the eroded soil and its lost organic matter to be revived, and half a century for the oak trees to thrive again, not to mention the vegetation barrier. The fires could also have a negative effect on water resources, which are fast dwindling in Iran.
As the smoke from the latest wildfires disappears, Iranian environmentalists worry that it’s only a matter of time before another domino-style wildfire returns with even greater magnitude. For years, the first responders to such disasters have been volunteers battling the unequal war by themselves. One of them, Alborz Zarei, has been receiving treatment at the intensive care unit of a hospital in the central city of Isfahan after suffering severe burns putting out the fires near Khaeez.
Part of the problem is that many people who fight for the environment have repeatedly faced accusations of advancing a political agenda “under the guise†of protecting nature. Over the years, volunteers, activists, NGOs and even employees working for the government-affiliated environment institutions have been closely watched by the security and intelligence apparatuses through a lens of suspicion.
A number of well-educated and prominent environmentalists were arrested in 2018. At least eight are still languishing in prison on suspicion of “espionage†and other political charges. One of them, Kaveh Madani, had returned to Iran in 2017 at the government’s invitation to serve as the deputy head of the Department for Environment. His mission to find a remedy for Iran’s water crisis remains woefully incomplete.
He did, however, manage to leave the country while temporarily released on bail. Currently a senior fellow at Yale and a visiting professor at the London Imperial College, Madani, addressing the recent wildfires, relentlessly criticized Iranian authorities he said were “doing nothing†and sitting idly by as mere “onlookers.â€
President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton writes in his upcoming memoir that Trump sought Chinese President Xi Jinping’s help in winning re-election during a closed-door meeting in June 2019, according to a report in the New York Times on Wednesday.
Trump reportedly asked the Chinese leader during trade negotiations at a summit in Osaka, Japan to buy more agricultural products in order to help him win farm states in the November general election.
More:
“Trump then, stunningly, turned the conversation to the coming US presidential election, alluding to China’s economic capability and pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win,” Bolton wrote, according to the Times, which obtained an advance copy of the book.
“He stressed the importance of farmers and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome,” Bolton wrote.
The book, The Room Where it Happened: A White House Memoir, is due to be published on June 23, but the Trump administration has sued to block its distribution, claiming that it contains classified information and would compromise national security.
Bolton’s memoir alleges Trump asked for China’s help in winning re-election during a closed door meeting at the 2019 G20 summit  [FILE:Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]
Publication of the book “would cause irreparable harm, because the disclosure of instances of classified information in the manuscript reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage, or exceptionally grave damage, to the national security of the United States,” according to the lawsuit.
Both the Times and the Washington Post obtained advance copies.
The Post said in the same meeting with Xi, the Chinese leader defended the building of camps holding up to a million Uighur Muslims. “According to our interpreter,” Bolton wrote, “Trump said that Xi should go ahead with building the camps, which Trump thought was exactly the right thing to do,” the Post reported.Â
Bolton resigned in September 2019 after roughly 17 months as national security adviser. Trump, however, claims he fired him after the two clashed over policy towards North Korea, Iran, Ukraine and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
WSJ excerpt of Bolton book has Trump & China bombshells. Trump told Xi building concentration camps for Muslims “was exactly the right thing to do.” Trump pleaded w/ Xi to help him w/ re-election by making US farm product buys. And Trump helped Xi w/ ZTE. https://t.co/4CSflQQqcL
Publisher Simon and Schuster said the lawsuit is an attempt by the Trump administration to stop “publication of a book it deems unflattering to the President”. It said Bolton has fully cooperated with the National Security Council pre-publication review.
In the book, according to the Times, Bolton described several episodes when the president expressed willingness to halt criminal investigations “to, in effect, give personal favours to dictators he liked”. The investigations in question are said to involve Turkey’s Halkbank to curry favour with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey or China’s ZTE to favour Xi.
“The pattern looked like obstruction of justice as a way of life,” Bolton wrote.
Among the other accusations levelled by Bolton according to the Times:
Intelligence briefings with the president were a waste of time “since much of the time was spent listening to Trump, rather than Trump listening to the briefers,” Bolton alleges.
Trump explicitly linked aid to Ukraine to investigations there involving his presumed rival in November, Democrat Joe Biden. Trump “said he wasn’t in favour of sending them anything until all the Russia-investigation materials related to Clinton and Biden had been turned over,” Bolton says.
During one meeting, Trump seemed surprised to learn that the United Kingdom was a nuclear power and asked whether Finland was part of Russia.
The Times describes the book overall as “a withering portrait of a president ignorant of even basic facts about the world, susceptible to transparent flattery by authoritarian leaders manipulating him and prone to false statements, foul-mouthed eruptions and snap decisions that aides try to manage or reverse.”
“The money that the new shareholders pay may go right to the bondholders,†he said. That’s one reason he has given Hertz bonds a “buy†rating. They have been trading for around 40 cents on the dollar but may be worth more than 50 cents — thanks, in part, to the money that may flow in from new shareholders.
On the face of it, though, if the new stock sale were permitted, it would be a very bad deal for shareholders. “That’s why, normally, this just doesn’t happen,†he said.
But there is always a first attempt, and this may well be it.
I asked Lynn E. Turner, a former S.E.C. chief accountant, whether a stock offering like this, by a company in the early days of bankruptcy, has ever occurred before. “I can’t recall an incident where a company has made a stock filing this early after filing for bankruptcy,†he said.
Hertz, to its credit, disclosed the risks to prospective stock shareholders quite openly. If it is permitted to proceed with the sale, buyers won’t be able to say they weren’t warned.
The prospectus says clearly that on May 22, the giant car rental company entered bankruptcy proceedings because it could not pay all of its debts. As a consequence, there is a “significant risk†that by the time the company’s lenders are through with it, all of its stock — not just the shares in the potential new offering — will turn out to be “worthless.â€
In fact, it uses the word “worthless†seven times, like a series of hazard lights set up along a long and dangerous road, so even unwary, inexperienced or perversely oblivious drivers will see at least one of them.
Here is a representative sample. It appears in boldface, much like this, so you can’t miss it:
“We are in the process of a reorganization under chapter 11 of title 11, or Chapter 11, of the United States Code, or Bankruptcy Code, which has caused and may continue to cause our common stock to decrease in value, or may render our common stock worthless.â€
Hertz appears to have sought to comply with legal requirements while availing itself of what it described in a court filing as a “unique opportunity†to raise money cheaply by selling new shares, while day-traders on Robinhood and other platforms play with its existing stock as though it were a video game.
The Boy Scouts of America says it will require aspiring Eagle Scouts to earn a new “diversity and inclusion†merit badge before they can attain the organization’s highest rank.
Similar to other existing badges like “American Cultures†and “Citizenship in the Community,†the new badge will “require Scouts to learn about and engage with other groups and cultures to increase understanding and spur positive action,†the Boy Scouts said.
The organization made the announcement in a letter published online Tuesday, where it also endorsed the Black Lives Matter movement and pledged to “join the country’s resolve to do better.â€
“We condemn the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and all those who are not named but are equally important,†the letter, signed by the organization’s 12-member national executive committee, read.Â
“The Boy Scouts of America stands with Black families and the Black community because we believe that Black Lives Matter. This is not a political issue; it is a human rights issue and one we all have a duty to address.â€
In addition to the new merit badge requirement, the organization pledged to conduct a review of its programs, including property names, events and insignia, to ensure they encourage diversity and don’t further “symbols of oppression.â€
BSA employees and volunteers will also be expected to complete a diversity and inclusion training in the coming months.
The new requirement represents a relatively timely decision for the Boy Scouts. Though the first all-Black troop dates back to 1911, BSA councils throughout the South didn’t start to integrate until 1974, according to the African American Registry.
While the organization says it banned any use of the Confederate flag nearly 30 years ago, it’s been slower to come to terms on other major issues. Gay scouts and girls weren’t allowed to join until 2013 and 2018, respectively, and decades of sex abuse allegations are only now starting to be reckoned with.
Calling all HuffPost superfans!
Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost’s next chapter
The Trump Administration is rushing the production of a coronavirus vaccine. But it probably won’t be widely available until next spring or summer — and that’s if it even works.
Also on Wednesday night, the director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, issued a statement saying that “regardless of rank or position, every individual entrusted with access to our nation’s secrets has a legal duty and responsibility to protect classified information.â€
Trump had choice words for Bolton, telling The Wall Street Journal that Bolton was a “liar” and that “everybody in the White House hated John Bolton.”
During an interview with Fox News‘ Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, Trump added that Bolton “broke the law“ by revealing what the president called “highly classified information.“ (Trump has previously said he considered any conversations he has as president to be classified.) Trump also took digs at Bolton‘s support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and his particularly hawkish reputation.
“He was a washed-up guy,“ the president told Hannity. “I gave him a chance. He couldn‘t get Senate-confirmed so I gave him a non-Senate-confirmed position so I could put him there and see how he worked. I wasn‘t very enamored.“
Trump continued: “He went into the Middle East. He was one of the big guns for, let’s go into Iraq. That didn‘t work out too well, and I was against that a long time ago before I was ever thinking about doing what I‘m doing now.“
He later tweeted that Bolton “Never had a clue, was ostracized & happily dumped. What a dope!”
In seeking the restraining order from U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth, the Justice Department submitted secret declarations from two top officials: Michael Ellis, the National Security Council’s senior director for intelligence programs, and Michael Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center.
Both men claim the release of details in Bolton’s book could cause serious damage or worse to U.S. national security. But the government’s court filings on Wednesday acknowledge that the NSC staffer in charge of the review of Bolton’s book, Ellen Knight, concluded on April 27 that the manuscript had been cleansed of any classified information.
Trump’s current national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, later disagreed, finding details still in the book that O’Brien believed were classified, Ellis wrote.
While Justice Department lawyers asked Lamberth to hold a hearing on Friday on the restraining order request, they appeared to be fighting a rearguard action, especially in light of the excerpts, articles and reviews published by news outlets on Wednesday. In the end, the lawsuit may wind up largely as a battle over whether Bolton gets to keep the advance and royalties from his book.
The book‘s account of the Trump-Xi exchange comes as Republicans seek to portray the president’s presumptive 2020 rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, as too soft on China. The two campaigns have traded accusations in dueling ads, fueled by the public debate over how much blame to place on Beijing for the death and economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
But despite Trump’s claims that “Nobody … has been WEAKER on China†than Biden and his accusation that the former vice president “gave them EVERYTHING they wanted, including rip-off Trade Deals,†Bolton portrays Trump in a similar light, writing that Lighthizer feared what the president would give away to China in one-on-one trade talks.
“Nobody has been tough on China and Russia like I have, and that‘s in the record books and it‘s not even close,“ Trump told Hannity Wednesday night.
Biden said on Wednesday that Bolton’s book showed that Trump “sold out the American people to protect his political future.â€
“If these accounts are true,†he said in a statement, “it’s not only morally repugnant, it’s a violation of Donald Trump’s sacred duty to the American people to protect America’s interests and defend our values.â€
It closed with a warning: “And my message to China’s leaders, or anyone else who President Trump might invite to interfere: stay out of our democracy. Stay out of our elections. The American people alone will decide the future of this country, and I am confident in the choice they will make.â€
Bolton’s accusations about China draw a striking parallel to the events that landed Trump in an impeachment trial earlier this year. Trump was accused of freezing military aid to Ukraine as a means of pressuring the government to conduct potentially politically beneficial investigations involving Biden and his son, and was later acquitted of both articles against him.
According to Bolton, who lays out a damning portrait of a commander in chief eager to appease authoritarian leaders, “Trump’s conversations with Xi reflected not only the incoherence in his trade policy but also the confluence in Trump’s mind of his own political interests and U.S. national interests.â€
Furthermore, Bolton claims, “Trump commingled the personal and the national not just on trade questions but across the whole field of national security. I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my White House tenure that wasn’t driven by reelection calculations.”
The president’s actions, he later adds, “formed a pattern of fundamentally unacceptable behavior that eroded the very legitimacy of the presidency.”
The White House has already begun to mobilize against what are expected to be further bombshell revelations contained in Bolton’s book, with the president and his allies already beginning to question Bolton’s trustworthiness and his motivations while pointing out that the former national security adviser declined to voluntarily testify in Trump’s impeachment trial even as he criticized congressional Democrats’ impeachment approach.
Asked about the book on Wednesday, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters: “The book is full of classified information, which is inexcusable.”
Bolton, a China hawk, claims Trump repeatedly sought to appease Xi, at one point calling Xi “the greatest leader in Chinese history” after he agreed to resume trade talks that included U.S. agricultural purposes.
In other anecdotes, Bolton writes of Trump’s willingness to overlook Chinese human rights issues, suggesting that Trump wanted to avoid angering Xi and at one point arguing that “we have human-rights problems too.â€
Last summer when unrest was mounting in Hong Kong over an attempt by Beijing to crack down on the semi-autonomous territory, Trump acknowledged “that’s a big deal†but added that “I don’t want to get involved,†according to Bolton.
And when resisting putting out a White House statement on the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, the president misstated the timing of the event while responding: “Who cares about it? I’m trying to make a deal. I don’t want anything.â€
Bolton also writes that Trump questioned why the U.S. was mulling sanctions on China over its treatment of Uighur Muslims, a minority ethnic group in parts of northwest China that Beijing has been accused of placing in modern day concentration camps.
At the G-20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, Bolton claims that during a meeting between Trump and Xi with only interpreters present, according to the U.S. interpreter, “Trump said that Xi should go ahead with building the camps, which Trump thought was exactly the right thing to do.â€
Within hours of the excerpt of Bolton’s book publishing, the White House announced that Trump had signed into law legislation condemning treatment of the Uighurs and calling for the United States to sanction Chinese officials and entities over their detention and torture.
Democrats reacted with fury to the revelations detailed in Bolton’s excerpt and in news accounts. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, who led the House impeachment inquiry, tweeted: “Bolton’s staff were asked to testify before the House to Trump’s abuses, and did. They had a lot to lose and showed real courage. When Bolton was asked, he refused, and said he’d sue if subpoenaed. Instead, he saved it for a book. Bolton may be an author, but he’s no patriot.”
And Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the minority leader, used the occasion to swipe at his colleagues across the aisle, who declined to subpoena Bolton’s testimony during the president’s impeachment trial.
“The revelations in Bolton’s book make Senate Republicans’ craven actions on impeachment look even worse — and history will judge them for it,” Schumer wrote on Twitter
Doug Palmer, Matthew Choi and Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
