Donald Trump was planning to hold a press conference yesterday at the Mexican border, a flashpoint in the Republican presidential primary contest ever since the billionaire businessman and TV personality declared that immigrants from Mexico are rapists and drug dealers.
He was to travel to Laredo, Texas, to meet members of the union that represents border control agents and speak to law enforcement officers, his campaign said.
The plan signaled no backing down — indeed, a possible further escalation — in a feud with presidential rivals and other top Republicans. The fight was sparked by his comments about immigrants last month, but accelerated when he mocked US Senator John McCain’s experience as a tortured prisoner in the Vietnam War, then slammed the Arizona senator’s record on veterans issues.
Trump had shot to the top of recent polls of the crowded Republican field, but these were taken before the flare-up over his comments about McCain.
The celebrity known as “The Donald” is still seen as a longshot for the Republican nomination, but his incendiary remarks have shaken up the early stages of the race, drawing attention away from other top-tier candidates like former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and US Senator Marco Rubio. The latest Trump flare-up overshadowed Tuesday’s campaign launch by Ohio Governor John Kasich.
Meanwhile, federal regulators on Wednesday made public information about Trump’s wealth and financial holdings, showing he holds leadership positions in more than 500 business entities, has assets of at least US$1.4 billion and debt of at least US$240 million. The forms do not pinpoint his fortune, which he has said is more than US$10 billion, because they report figures only in broad ranges.
However, the disclosure, required of all candidates, underscores his unparalleled potential financial staying power in a longshot campaign that is roiling the GOP field.
Trump’s taste for payback against those who criticize him was demonstrated on Tuesday when he announced the mobile phone number of rival Republican candidate, US Senator Lindsey Graham, to a crowd and TV audience, resulting in jammed voice mail for the senator. This was after Graham, defending McCain, called Trump “the world’s biggest jackass.”
In a speech on Tuesday to hundreds of supporters in South Carolina, Trump kept on McCain, accusing him of being soft on illegal immigration.
“He’s totally about open borders and all this stuff,” he said.
He also went after others who have criticized him in recent weeks, implying that former Texas governor Rick Perry was unintelligent and Bush was weak.
McCain sparked Trump’s temper last week when the senator said the businessman’s inflammatory remarks about Mexican immigrants had brought out the “crazies.” McCain said on Tuesday he would no longer respond to Trump’s comments.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
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