Top Stories Today – June 5, 2019
Top Stories Today – June 5, 2019
Trump and the Queen Elizabeth join D-Day ceremonies
US President Donald Trump joined British Prime Minister Theresa May, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders Tuesday for a D-Day commemoration ceremony in the southern British city of Portsmouth. The event included musical performances and historical readings, including Trump reciting a prayer that former US President Franklin Roosevelt read to those listening on the radio after the start of 1944 invasion.
May’s office released a statement highlighting the “historic international cooperation” involved in the massive operation to land forces across the English Channel in Normandy, France as allied militaries worked to defeat Nazi Germany. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth is also taking part in the commemorations, including visiting with D-Day veterans along with Trump. The Voice of America
Thai parliament convenes to elect new PM
Prayuth Chan-ocha, the head of Thailand’s ruling military junta, is widely expected to be elected prime minister when the country’s new Parliament convenes for the first time Wednesday. Prayuth has the backing of a coalition led by the pro-army Palang Pracharat party, which won over 100 seats in the 500-seat House of Representatives after winning the popular vote in the March 24 general election. He is also expected to receive votes from the 250-seat Senate, whose members were handpicked by the junta, giving him the necessary 376 votes from both houses of Parliament.
Prayuth’s standing was boosted when he received the support of the established Democrat Party, a move that prompted party leader and former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to resign his seat in Parliament. The Voice of America
GOP threaten to block Trump’s Mexico tariffs
Republicans are warning that President Donald Trump could face a shocking rebellion against him on the Senate floor if the president slaps Mexico with wide-ranging tariffs. At a closed-door lunch Tuesday, two Trump administration officials laid out the president’s view: There is a crisis at the border and Mexico needs to stem the surge of migrants to avoid the new levies.
But White House deputy counsel Pat Philbin and Assistant Attorney General Steve Engel faced brutal push-back from the GOP, according to multiple senators, with some threatening that Trump could actually face a veto-proof majority to overturn the tariffs. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters the party spent “almost our entire lunch” going back and forth with the administration and warned afterward “there is not much support in my conference for tariffs, that’s for sure.” Politico
US court weighs if climate change violates children’s rights
In a courtroom packed with environmental activists, federal judges wrestled Tuesday with whether climate change violates the constitutional rights of young people who have sued the US government over the use of fossil fuels. A Justice Department attorney warned three judges from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals that allowing the case to go to trial would be unprecedented and open the doors to more lawsuits.
The young people are pressing the government to stop promoting the use of fossil fuels, saying sources like coal and oil cause climate change and violate their Fifth Amendment rights to life, liberty and property. The lawsuit asks the courts to declare federal energy policy that contributes to climate change unconstitutional, order the government to quickly phase out carbon dioxide emissions to a certain level by 2100 and mandate a national climate recovery plan. The Obama and Trump administrations have tried to get the case dismissed since it was filed in Oregon in 2015. The Voice of America
DOJ want to re-negotiate full Mueller report
The Department of Justice said Tuesday it’s willing to recommence negotiations on releasing the full Mueller report if the House drops its vote to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt. In a letter, the DOJ said the House Judiciary Committee’s vote in favor of holding Barr in contempt was “premature and unnecessary,” and then said it’s “disappointed” the full House of Representatives is set to vote on holding Barr in contempt next week.
But if the committee drops its May 8 vote, the DOJ says it is “prepared to resume negotiations” over releasing the whole report. Barr skipped a committee hearing on the Mueller report and refused to comply with a subpoena for the full report. The Department of Justice, Axios via The Week
Former Parkland officer charged for negligence
A former Parkland, Florida, school safety officer who failed to confront the gunman when 17 people were fatally shot at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year, was arrested Tuesday on multiple charges, including child neglect and perjury.
Scot Peterson, who worked as a security officer at the campus, was charged with seven counts of neglect of a child and three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said. The charges carry a maximum potential sentence of 96 and a half years in state prison, the Broward State Attorney’s Office said. NBC News
US House passes bill to protect dreamers
The House on Tuesday passed a bill that would offer a path to citizenship to more than 2 million undocumented immigrants, including “dreamers” who were brought to the United States as children. The vote was 237 to 187 for the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019, which would grant dreamers 10 years of legal residence status if they meet certain requirements. They would then receive permanent green cards after completing at least two years of higher education or military service, or after working for three years.
Cheers erupted in the chamber when the bill received the necessary votes, along with chants of “Yes we can!” Seven Republicans broke ranks to join all 230 Democrats present in backing the bill. The measure would provide long-awaited clarity to the millions of dreamers who have been caught in legal limbo amid years of partisan maneuvering on the issue. The Obama administration granted work permits to many of them through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, but President Trump ended the program in late 2017. Its fate rests with the Supreme Court, which may take up the issue in the coming months. The Washington Post