Buttigieg: Trump and Vance ‘demonizing immigrants’ to distract from their record
CNN
Pete Buttigieg on Thursday slammed former President Donald Trump’s recent false claims that migrants are eating pets, saying it’s a strategy to distract from the Republican presidential nominee’s record.
Pete Buttigieg on Thursday slammed former President Donald Trump’s recent false claims that migrants are eating pets, saying it’s a strategy to distract from the Republican presidential nominee’s record. “There’s even more to it than demonizing immigrants – although that’s obviously part of what he’s doing,” said Buttigieg, appearing on CNN’s “The Source” with Kaitlan Collins. “This is a strategy to get us talking about the latest crazy thing that he did, whatever urban legend he amplifies – right now it’s about people eating cats or geese or whatever – because he cannot afford for us to be talking about his record.” In recent days, Trump and his allies, including running mate JD Vance, have promoted false claims that Haitian migrants in Ohio are killing and eating family pets. Trump repeated the conspiracy theory during the ABC presidential debate Tuesday night, although the City of Springfield and the local police have said they’ve seen no evidence for the claim. Buttigieg, who spoke in his personal capacity but serves as transportation secretary in the Biden administration, said that while he thinks it is a distraction technique, “it’s one that isn’t harmless.” “It’s affecting this community, and it contributes to this bigger picture of demonizing immigrants. But again this is strategic,” he said. Buttigieg praised Vice President Kamala Harris’ debate performance but stressed that groundwork and organizing is more important to win the race.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.
If nothing else, the controversy over the Trump administration’s second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean has surfaced a long-overdue debate about its already legally dubious first strikes.
Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.
Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.
Young Americans are “a generation under profound strain” with little confidence in institutions and widespread economic concerns, according to a Harvard Institute of Politics survey of adults younger than 30 released Thursday.
As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.
The murder trial of Brian Walshe, who is accused of killing and dismembering his wife in 2023 continues. Follow for live updates.
The FBI arrested a person Thursday who investigators believe planted pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters the night before the 2021 US Capitol riot.
Lawyers for the New York attorney general’s office are expected to appear in federal court in Albany on Thursday to try to disqualify a US attorney from investigating the state’s civil case against President Donald Trump.
A new poll shows more than 70% of Republicans with Obamacare coverage don’t want their enhanced premium subsidies to expire.