OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

President Donald Trump and Democratic critics traded outraged, sometimes plainly false accusations about immigration Tuesday as the debate over “lost” children and the practice of separating families caught crossing the border illegally reached a new boiling point. False charges flew on both sides. The White House wrongly blamed Democrats for forcing his administration to separate children from parents. Liberal activists and others, including some from media outlets, tried to highlight the issue by tweeting photos of young people in steel cages that actually were taken during the Obama administration. Others seized on reports the government had “lost” more than 1,000 children, though that wasn’t quite the case.

A court-appointed official reviewing materials seized in FBI raids on attorney Michael Cohen’s home and office said Tuesday that prosecutors were likely to get their first look at over a million pieces of data from three of Cohen’s phones today, but over 250 attorney-client privilege claims will block access to other materials.

In language that echoed that of his accusers and critics, President Donald Trump alleged on Twitter that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative team was “MEDDLING” in the upcoming midterm elections and blamed Democrats for “Collusion.” The tweet Tuesday was the latest example of the president co-opting the terminology of his accusers in an effort to tarnish political enemies.

Source: Associated Press