News
Trump, in Interview, Moderates Views but Defies Conventions
President-elect Donald J. Trump on Tuesday tempered some of his most extreme campaign promises, dropping his vow to jail Hillary Clinton, expressing doubt about the value of torturing terrorism suspects and pledging to have an open mind about climate change.
But in a wide-ranging hourlong interview with reporters and editors at The New York Times — which was scheduled, canceled and then reinstated after a dispute over the ground rules — Mr. Trump was unapologetic about flouting some of the traditional ethical and political conventions that have long shaped the American presidency.
He said he had no legal obligation to establish boundaries between his business empire and his White House, conceding that the Trump brand “is certainly a hotter brand than it was before.” Still, he said he would try to figure out a way to insulate himself from his businesses, which would be run by his children.
He defended Stephen K. Bannon, his chief strategist, against charges of racism, calling him a “decent guy.” And he mocked Republicans who had failed to support him in his unorthodox presidential campaign
In the midday meeting in the 16th-floor boardroom of The Times’s publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Mr. Trump seemed confident even as he said he was awed by his new job. “It is a very overwhelming job, but I’m not overwhelmed by it,” he said.
He displayed a jumble of impulses, many of them conflicting. He was magnanimous toward Mrs. Clinton, but boastful about his victory. He was open-minded about some of his positions, uncompromising about others.
The interview demonstrated the volatility in Mr. Trump’s positions.
He said he had no interest in pressing for Mrs. Clinton’s prosecution over her use of a private email server or for financial acts committed by the Clinton Foundation. “I don’t want to hurt the Clintons, I really don’t,” he said.
On the issue of torture, Mr. Trump suggested he had changed his mind about the value of waterboarding after talking with James N. Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general, who headed the United States Central Command.
“He said, ‘I’ve never found it to be useful,’” Mr. Trump said. He added that Mr. Mattis found more value in building trust and rewarding cooperation with terrorism suspects: “‘Give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers, and I’ll do better.’”
“I was very impressed by that answer,” Mr. Trump said.
Torture, he said, is “not going to make the kind of a difference that a lot of people are thinking.”
Mr. Trump repeated that Mr. Mattis was being “seriously, seriously considered” to be secretary of defense. “I think it’s time, maybe, for a general,” he said.
On climate change, Mr. Trump refused to repeat his promise to abandon the international climate accord reached last year in Paris, saying, “I’m looking at it very closely.” Despite the recent appointment to his transition team of a fierce critic of the Paris accords, Mr. Trump said that “I have an open mind to it” and that clean air and “crystal clear water” were vitally important.
He held out assurances that he did not intend to embrace extremist positions in some areas. He vigorously denounced a white nationalist conference last weekend in Washington, where attendees gave the Nazi salute and criticized Jews.
Asked about his antagonism with the news media and his vow to toughen libel laws, Mr. Trump offered no specifics but told the group, “I think you’ll be happy.”
Despite his frequent attacks against what he has dubbed the “failing New York Times,” Mr. Trump seemed to go out of his way to praise the institution, which he called “a great, great American jewel, world jewel.” He did, however, say he believed The Times had been too tough on him during the campaign.
Pressed to respond to criticism in other areas, he was defiant. He declared that “the law’s totally on my side” when it comes to questions about conflict of interest and ethics laws. “The president can’t have a conflict of interest,” he said.
He said it would be extremely difficult to sell off his businesses because they are real estate holdings. He said that he would “like to do something” and create some kind of arrangement to separate his businesses from his work in government. He noted that he had turned over the management of his businesses to his children, which ethics lawyers say is not sufficient to prevent conflicts of interest.
He insisted that he could still invite business partners into the White House for grip-and-grin photographs. He said that critics were pressuring him to go beyond what he was willing to do, including distancing himself from his children while they run his businesses.
“If it were up to some people,” he said, “I would never, ever see my daughter Ivanka again.”
Mr. Trump did not dispute reports that he had used a meeting last week with Nigel Farage, the U.K. Independence Party leader, to raise his opposition to offshore wind farms. Mr. Trump has long complained that wind farms would mar the view from his golf course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
“I might have brought it up,” Mr. Trump said, then argued he had done so because of policy concerns about wind farms rather than any personal interest.
Mr. Trump rejected the idea that he was bound by federal antinepotism laws from installing his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in a White House job. But he said he would want to avoid the appearance of a conflict and might instead seek to make Mr. Kushner a special envoy charged with brokering peace in the Middle East.
“The president of the United States is allowed to have whatever conflicts he or she wants, but I don’t want to do that,” Mr. Trump said. But he said that Mr. Kushner, who is an observant Jew, “could be very helpful” in reconciling the longstanding dispute between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
“I would love to be able to be the one that made peace with Israel and the Palestinians,” Mr. Trump said, adding that Mr. Kushner “would be very good at it” and that “he knows the region.”
“A lot of people tell me, really great people tell me, that it’s impossible — you can’t do it,” Mr. Trump added. “I disagree. I think you can make peace.”
“I have reason to believe I can do it,” he added.
Mr. Trump spoke only in general terms about foreign policy. He said the United States should not “be a nation builder,” repeated his line from the campaign that fighting the war in Iraq was “one of the great mistakes in the history of our country,” and said he has some “very definitive” and “strong ideas” about how to deal with the violent civil war raging in Syria. He declined to say what those ideas are despite several requests to do so.
“We have to end that craziness that’s going on in Syria,” he said.
The president-elect said that he had talked with President Vladimir V. Putinof Russia since winning the election, but he did not elaborate. He said it would be “nice” if he and Mr. Putin could get along, but he rejected the idea that any warming of relations would be called a “reset,” noting the criticism that Mrs. Clinton received after her attempts at bettering relations between the countries failed.
“I wouldn’t use that term after what happened,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump made a forceful defense of Mr. Bannon, whom he named as his chief strategist and who has drawn charges of racism and anti-Semitism. This summer, Mr. Bannon called Breitbart News, the website he led, “the platform for the alt-right,” a white nationalist movement.
Mr. Trump said Mr. Bannon had been dismayed at the reaction to his hiring.
“I’ve known Steve Bannon a long time. If I thought he was a racist or alt-right,” he said, “I wouldn’t even think about hiring him.”
Mr. Trump added: “I think he’s having a hard time with it because it’s not him. I think he’s been treated very unfairly.”
He also defended Breitbart, which has carried racist and anti-Semitic content, saying it was no different from The Times, only “much more conservative.”
Mr. Trump said he hoped to develop a “great long-term relationship” with President Obama, with whom he said he had an unexpected rapport. “I really liked him a lot, and I am a little bit surprised that I am telling you that I really liked him a lot,” he said.
And Mr. Trump gloated about defying the polls and the expectations of his own party to win the presidency, and boasted of how he had taken his revenge on Republicans who kept him at a distance and then lost their own races.
He said that one of them, Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, would “love to have a job in the administration.”
“I said, ‘No, thank you,’” Mr. Trump said of Ms. Ayotte, who lost her Senate seat to Gov. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire. “She refused to vote for me.”
He also criticized Representative Joe Heck of Nevada, who vacillated over supporting Mr. Trump after an 11-year-old recording surfaced in which Mr. Trump bragged in lewd terms about grabbing women without their consent.
“He went down like a lead balloon,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Heck. “I said, ‘Off the record, I hope you lose.’”
He said Republican leaders felt indebted to him for his surprise victory.
“Right now,” Mr. Trump said, “they’re in love with me.”
News
IGP Never Ordered Beating, Attacks On Policemen During Stop And Search. It Is A Lie – FPRO
The Nigeria Police Force wishes to address a viral fake news story that has emerged, claiming that Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Ph.D., NPM., has instructed citizens to physically assault and throw stones at police officers who request to search their phones.
This claim is entirely false and has no basis in reality. The IGP has not issued any such directive encouraging violence against law enforcement officers. Instead, he has called on citizens to report instances of police misconduct through appropriate channels. This approach underscores the importance of accountability and maintaining the rule of law, rather than resorting to violent actions.
Members of the public are urged to make use of the following Police helplines & contacts to lay complaints whenever necessary: +2347056792065, +2349133333785, +2349133333786, @PoliceNG on X, @ngpolice on Facebook, and @nigeriapoliceforce on Instagram. Citizens can also contact us by mail through; pressforabuja@police.gov.ng and reach us through the police website at npf.gov.ng
Members of the public are advised to remain vigilant against misinformation and verify information through credible sources. The Nigeria Police Force remains committed to fostering a cooperative and trustful relationship between the police and the communities they serve.
ACP OLUMUYIWA ADEJOBI, mnipr, mipra, fCAI
FPRO, ABUJA.
22ND DECEMBER 2024.
News
Court stops customs from seizing imported rice in markets, seaports
A court of appeal in Kaduna has ruled that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) should not impound foreign rice in the open market or on highways.
In a judgment delivered on December 6, a three-member panel of justices led by Ntong Ntong held that existing laws restrict NCS’ enforcement to land borders only.
The judgment was delivered in an appeal filed by the NCS, against a decision of the federal high court that acquitted one Suleiman Mohammed, a businessman, of charges related to the importation of rice.
Customs had arrested Mohammed after seizing a truck carrying 613 bags of foreign rice and 80 bags of millet belonging to the businessman on June 14, 2019, along the Kaduna-Zaria expressway.
Mohammed was charged and arraigned on a two-count charge.
However, in a judgment delivered on November 10, 2021, Z. B. Abubakar, trial judge, acquitted the defendants of the charges.
Abubakar held that the plaintiffs (customs) failed to adduce enough evidence to prove that the defendant imported the goods.
The judge also held that there is no subsisting blanket ban on the importation of foreign rice as claimed by the plaintiffs.
“…the evidence led by the prosecution through PW1, PW2, PW3 and the Exhibits tendered has not established that the Defendant imported Exhibit ‘NCS B1-B612’. Even the investigation conducted by the complainant (Nigeria Customs Service Board) on Exhibit ‘NCS B1-B612,” the judge held.
“As a matter of fact, Exhibit ‘NCS D’ could not reveal who imported the said Exhibits or where they imported from.
“It should be borne in mind that importation of foreign rice is not absolutely or totally prohibited. It is only importation of the product through the land borders of this country that was proscribed by the Federal Government vide Circular No. NCS/TXT/1XE/045/S.416/VOL.1X of 18th March, 2016. The circular provided that foreign rice only be imported into the country through seaports.”
The trial judge held that the prosecution failed to show that the goods were imported through land borders, adding that “the said exhibits could have been imported through the seaport, and the court is entitled to presume so”.
Furthermore, the lower court held that “loading any foreign rice into a truck is not an offence under both Sections 46(b) and 47(1) (a) (ii) of Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) (Supra)”.
“It is the landing or unloading of goods or foreign rice at designated customs port CA/K/33/C/2022 or wharf that is prohibited by the aforementioned provisions of the Act,” the judge ruled.
‘APPEAL IS A HOAX’
Aggrieved by the trial court’s judgment, NCS filed an appeal.
However, the appellate court commended the trial court judge for “doing justice in the evaluation of the law and evidence adduced before it”.
Ntong said he agreed with the arguments put forward by the respondent’s lawyer and the judgment of the trial court.
“Truly, I also agree with the learned trial judge, that Kaduna-Zaria expressway is not a “Land border” as stipulated by the law and Exhibit “NCS D,” the justice held.
“Importation of foreign rice in any wise is not generally prohibited. It is restricted to land borders alone.
“If I were in the shoes of the appellant (NCS), I would have honourably thrown in the towel as this appeal is simply a hoax, a fluke and unmeritorious whatsoever.
“From the evidence in the Record of Appeal, the Respondent was merely a purchaser for value and not an importer. The Appellant ought to have arrested the importer and not a mere purchaser from open market with a receipt of purchase Exhibit NCS D.
“How can a fowl leave to attack who killed it to pursue who is de-feathering it? This is an Annang-African Idiom that means the Appellant ought not to shut its eyes away from the importer and be chasing petty traders and consumers who buy from the open market. After all prohibited or contraband goods always pass through the borders which are the beats of the Appellant.”
Consequently, the court dismissed the appeal in favour of the respondents.
The court further ordered customs to return all the goods seized from the businessman in 2019 or pay him the money equivalent.
“Consequently, the Appellant is hereby ordered to release or cause the release of the 613 bags of foreign rice, 80 bags of millet, Exhibit “C” and DAF truck with Registration Number: 57 BS 45 impounded and confiscated from the Respondent on 14th June, 2019 to the said Respondent Suleiman Mohammed or his representative forthwith,” the judge ruled.
“Where it has become difficult or impossible to return the items aforesaid, the Appellant shall pay to the Respondent a sum of money equivalent to the current price or cost of the items aforementioned.”
News
Many feared dead as rice distribution causes stampede in Anambra
An unconfirmed number of residents of Okija community in Anambra state have reportedly lost their lives in a stampede.
TheCable understands that the stampede occurred on Saturday morning during an event for the distribution of rice.
Victims of the stampede are mostly women.
Multiple social media videos seen by TheCable show lifeless bodies laying on the ground after the incident.
Some victims have reportedly been taken to nearby hospitals.
Charles Aburime, the chief press secretary to the Anambra governor, confirmed the incident when contacted.
Aburime said the state government is monitoring the situation and would soon release a statement.
The incident is coming a few days after over 35 people, mostly children, died during a stampede at a carnival in Ibadan, Oyo state capital.
The Anambra stampede is the second rice distribution-related mishap in 2024.
In March, some students of Nasarawa State University, Keffi, were killed in a stampede during the distribution of rice donated by the state government.
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