President is slammed for leaving ‘press conference’ without addressing Minnesota as he disbands US relationship with WHO
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump held a "press conference" on Friday to discuss the United State's relationship with China, but then left the Rose Garden without taking questions or addressing the mounting situation in Minnesota following the death of George Floyd.
The president announced during his statement the US would disband its relationship with the World Health Organisation (WHO) amid the coronavirus pandemic.
This statement came moments after he shared two tweets attempting to clarify his "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" tweet released late Thursday night about the violent protests in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd. Twitter attached an unprecedented warning to a tweet by Mr Trump, accusing him of "glorifying violence".
Following the "press conference" in the Rose Garden, the president later held an additional conference to address the death of Mr Floyd. The president said he spoke with Mr Floyd's family and expressed his condolences.
"We all saw what we saw and it's very hard to even conceive of anything other than what we did see. Should never happen, should never be allowed to happen, a thing like that," Mr Trump said, sentiments people initially thought would happen earlier in the Rose Garden.
Mr Trump's war against Twitter continued into Friday just one day after he signed an executive order to limit legal protections against social media sites that shields them from liability about content posted on their platforms.
The war first started when Twitter fact-checked a tweet the president posted about mail-in voting. It only heightened when it labelled Mr Trump's protest tweet as "glorifying violence".
Former Vice President Joe Biden attacked the president for his tweets and his handling of the situation in Minnesota. "This is no time for incendiary tweets. It's no time to encourage violence," Mr Biden said. "This is a national crisis, and we need real leadership right now."
Trump is awake and has launched into his latest attack on Twitter, claiming the site is "doing nothing" about "lies and propaganda".
He claims: "Section 230 should be revoked by Congress", adding: "Until then, it will be regulated."
CNN journalists have said a white reporter covering the Minneapolis protests today has not been arrested while a black and Latino reporter was, after black correspondent Omar Jimenez was handcuffed and led away by police live on air.
Minnesota governor Tim Walz has reportedly apologised for the "unacceptable" arrests of CNN's production team today.
It appears the camera the team was using has continued to record throughout the entire incident and the crew is now said to be out of custody.
Donald Trump has lashed out at Twitter after it limited access to one of his tweets.
The social media firm said the post, in which Mr Trump suggested he would have people rioting in the wake of George Floyd’s death shot, had violated its rules on glorifying violence.
Here's an explainer by my colleague Adam Smith about what Section 230 is and how Trump's fight with Twitter could change the way the internet works.
Trump's executive order 'mostly political theatrics'
Donald Trump's executive order targeting social media firms is "mostly political theatrics", one industry expert has said.
Social media consultant and industry expert Matt Navarra said the order would change little for the platforms or users, and was more about Mr Trump making a public, political statement against the likes of Twitter, Facebook and Google.
He told PA news agency: "Trump's executive order on social media is mostly political theatrics. Big headline-grabbing threats and demands which would be challenged in court.
"It's largely toothless right now. It puts the platforms on warning that he may try to make life tougher for them and do them no favours, but that's been the state of affairs between the two parties for some time now anyway.
"I suspect the major social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook will continue to stand firm with their position on moderation and fact-checking, whilst Trump will bang his drum and beat his chest a little while longer on this issue. This development pretty much changes nothing in the short term for users, or the platforms themselves."
Mr Navarra said what concerned him more was the president's "aggressive attacks on individual companies and its employees".
"It also sets a worrying precedent for government censorship of the internet," he said.
Trump appears to have borrowed his "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" phrase from a former Miami police chief.
The White House has repeated and retweeted the same Trump tweet hidden with a disclaimer by Twitter
North Korea accuses US of hurting its image with cyber threat warning
North Korea has accused the United States of smear tactics after Washington renewed accusations last month that Pyongyang was responsible for malicious cyber attacks.
It is the latest in a series of exchanges underscoring the friction between the two countries after denuclearisation talks launched by Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stalled late last year.
"We want to make it clear that our country has nothing to do with the so-called 'cyber threat' that the US is talking about," North Korea's Foreign Ministry said in the statement.
It said Washington was trying to use the allegations as leverage, along with the issues of nuclear missiles and human rights as well as accusations of terrorism funding and money laundering.
The aim was to "smear our country's image and create a way to shake us up", it said.
The US State Department, Treasury, and Department of Homeland Security Issues, along with the FBI, issued a new warning last month about the threat of North Korean hackers, calling particular attention to financial services.
Reuters
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