WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump, emerging from the shadow of impeachment, on Tuesday stared down Democratic lawmakers who seek to toss him from office and snubbed top Democrat Nancy Pelosi at a State of the Union speech he used to tout a rosy image of the US economy and his leadership.
Trump avoided the subject of his impeachment in the early portion of his pugnacious speech, but the scars from the battle were evident with fellow Republicans giving him standing ovations while rival Democrats for the most part remained seated.
The Republican-led Senate was expected to acquit him on Wednesday of charges he abused his powers and obstructed Congress.
Seeing Pelosi, the US House of Representatives speaker, for the first time since she stormed out of a White House meeting 4 months ago, he declined to shake her outstretched hand as he gave her a copy of his speech.
Having not spoken to Trump since their last meeting, Pelosi appeared to be taken aback. She avoided citing the customary "high privilege and distinct honor" that usually accompanies the speaker's introduction of the president to Congress.
"Members of Congress, the President of the United States" was all she said in introducing Trump.
In the audience, Republicans from both houses of Congress chanted "4 more years" as he stood at the lectern in the chamber of the House with a presidential election almost exactly 9 months away.
Democrats sat silently and some could be seen shaking their heads as Trump declared, "The state of our union is stronger than ever before."
Pelosi, who dropped her opposition to impeachment and allowed Democratic lawmakers to seek the charges against him, sat stoically and grim-faced behind Trump and paged through a written copy of his speech.
Trump entered the chamber with Democrats experiencing some measure of chaos after technical glitches delayed the results of voting in Iowa on Monday as the party seeks a nominee to face the incumbent Republican.
Trump presented himself as a big improvement over Democratic President Barack Obama, whom he succeeded 3 years ago, saying he had bolstered US economic growth and increased jobs.
"In just three short years we have shattered the mentality of American decline and we have rejected the downsizing of America's destiny," he said.
The House impeachment managers, acting as prosecutors in the Senate impeachment trial, were seated together at the front of the Democrats' section.
HEALTHCARE AN ISSUE
Many House Democratic women wore white for a second year in a row, a sign of the suffragist movement that won women the right to vote 100 years ago. Several Democratic lawmakers refused to attend the annual speech to protest Trump, such as liberal firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Trump, using the speech to lay out his vision for a second four-year term, said a Democratic plan to expand government-funded health insurance amounted to a "socialist takeover" that would bankrupt the country, cut benefits for those who have them now and provide care to illegal immigrants
Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have proposed healthcare plans that would be entirely run by the government, a sharp departure from the current, private system in which millions of Americans get medical insurance from their employers.
Trump's lack of a healthcare plan has left him open to criticism that he has not put enough work into finding a way to reduce rising insurance costs that burden middle-class Americans.
"We will never let socialism destroy American healthcare!" Trump said.
Democratic women stood and chanted "HR 3" - a reference to a Democratic bill that would lower drug costs.
In the Democratic response to Trump's speech, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said in excerpts of her remarks: "Democrats are trying to make your healthcare better. Republicans in Washington are trying to take it away."
Trump offered an upbeat portrayal of his presidency in hopes of persuading Americans to give him another 4-year term in the Nov. 3 election.
He saluted surprise guest Juan Guaido, the Venezuelan opposition leader, and made cancer-stricken conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh an immediate recipient of the presidential Medal of Freedom, Trump's wife Melania pinning the ribbon around Limbaugh's neck.
"In just 3 short years, we have shattered the mentality of American Decline and we have rejected the downsizing of America’s destiny. We are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never going back!" Trump said.
Aides said Trump wanted to keep the speech upbeat despite his anger at being impeached by the House. He was expected to address the controversy after his almost certain acquittal in the Senate.
Trump also revived his arguments that migrants should be stopped from crossing the southern US border and that so-called "sanctuary cities" where migrants are protected are wrong.
Pelosi could be seen shaking her head as Trump spoke of his views on immigration.
After coming close to a broad conflict with Iran after he ordered the killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, Trump said "we are working to end America's wars in the Middle East."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump intensified his war of words with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wednesday after she effectively blocked him from delivering his annual address in Congress during the government shutdown, now in its 33rd day.
The growing acrimony came on the eve of a pair of US Senate votes that appear unlikely to end the longest-ever shutdown -- and as furloughed federal workers vented their fury on Capitol Hill.
The president and his Republicans still have the better part of a week to resolve differences with Democrats and get federal operations going again, allowing his State of the Union speech to proceed.
But the prospects were dim, with the Senate votes -- one on Trump's plan that includes money for his border wall, the other by Democrats seeking to reopen government before negotiating border security -- bound to fail on Thursday.
Traditionally the president's annual speech, scheduled for next Tuesday, is delivered before a joint session of Congress in the ornate chamber of the House of Representatives.
In an effort to force the hand of Pelosi, who had already urged Trump to reschedule due to shutdown-related security shortcomings, the president wrote to her saying it would be "so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!"
Pelosi, who has become the face of Democratic opposition to Trump in Congress, pushed back, informing the president that the House would not authorize the speech in the chamber.
"Again, I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened," said Pelosi.
The rejection sent Washington's establishment into uncharted territory, and all but forced Trump to retreat over his address.
"The State of the Union speech has been cancelled by Nancy Pelosi because she doesn't want to hear the truth" about border security, Trump told reporters, adding that he is considering an "alternative" for the speech.
"We'll be announcing what we'll do," he said.
'WILL WORK FOR PAY'
The shutdown, which has seen some 800,000 federal employees left without pay for a month, was triggered by Trump's refusal to sign funding bills in December.
This was in retaliation for the Democrats' refusal to approve funds for extending walls along the US-Mexico border.
With the closure of about one quarter of federal agencies affecting millions of Americans, hundreds of government workers who have not been paid in weeks used the power of protest to publicize their plight, peacefully occupying a congressional office building for several hours.
Some held posters or paper plates with messages including "Will work for pay" and "Do your job -- so Americans can do theirs."
And with no solution in sight, they were bracing for Friday, when they expect to miss their second paycheck in a row.
Trump says he will not reopen government before his wall funding comes through. But he also pointed the finger and Pelosi and her caucus.
"It's really a shame, what's happening with the Democrats," he said. "They've become radicalized."
The votes in the Republican-controlled Senate have the potential to break the impasse, but since both need to clear a 60-vote threshold to advance in the 100-member chamber, their passage is unlikely.
Government shutdowns are a disruptive political ritual that have occurred in various administrations and are almost unique to the American system.
This one is the longest on record, and has left a broad swath of federal workers unpaid -- among them airport security officers, FBI agents, museum workers, US Coast Guard personnel, and Environmental Protection Agency personnel charged with monitoring toxic chemicals or other pollutants.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MANILA– President Rodrigo Duterte was his usual fiery self when he delivered a speech Friday in his home city of Davao, but something went wrong.
Video of the speech aired live on state-run PTV-4 and the Presidential Communications Operations Office’s Facebook page showed the President giving his speech with the presidential seal on his rostrum upside down.
The gaffe occurred during the 11th Ambassador’s Tour Philippine Reception at the SMX Convention Center in Davao City.
For those who followed the broadcast, the error was observed until around the third minute of the live video, when the shot zoomed in on the President, cropping the seal out of the frame.
The circular presidential seal, adopted during the time of President Manuel Roxas, should be placed with the text “Sagisag ng Pangulo ng Pilipinas” positioned at the upper portion and the three stars at the bottom of the rim.
According to historian Manuel L. Quezon III, the
presidential seal is composed of the coat of arms of the President of
the Philippines, surrounded by the legend “Seal of the President of the
Philippines” (“Sagisag ng Pangulo ng Pilipinas”).
"The blue circle is the shield; on the shield is a red
triangle (representing liberty, equality, and fraternity, the ideals of
the French and Philippine revolutions and our republic), on which is a
sea lion and three stars," he said on his blog.
Only the President uses the rostrum with the Presidential seal at any event.
Duterte’s speech lasted for about an hour, in which he again tackled his war on drugs, corruption, and the ongoing siege in Marawi City.
In his speech, Duterte again stressed that it is not a crime to threaten to kill drug suspects.
“Find me a law - wherever you come from - point out to me a law in your country and in my country, which says you cannot threaten a criminal from destroying your country,” said Duterte, a former prosecutor.
“Is there a law which says you cannot do it? Is there a law which says that you cannot blurt such statements as, ‘Do not bring our children to perdition because you’ll not only lose your funds, you’ll lose your life'?" he said.
Duterte had made similar statements before, but he raised the matter again after the country’s top graft-buster, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, issued her sharpest criticism yet of the President's tough rhetoric.
The President, however, did not make a direct reference to Morales, whose nephew Mans Carpio is married to Duterte's daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
How Ombudsman is related to Duterte
In an interview with Japanese public network NHK, Morales said Duterte seems to be “goading people to kill people.”
“That's a problem. His communications people say ‘that's hyperbole.’ You know, they try to rationalize whatever he says, so whether or not the police or whoever he addresses these words, believe him. That's a different story. The directive to kill people under any situation irrespective of the context, to me, that's not acceptable.” Morales said.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
