President says decision on whether to order evacuations in Florida will be made on Sunday
Hurricane Dorian due to hit Sunshine State Monday or Tuesday
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Donald Trump has said the decision on whether to evacuate residents of Florida to protect them from Hurricane Dorian, would be made on Sunday after meeting with officials.
As he left the White House for the presidential retreat at Camp David in Maryland, he said members of the federal emergency management agency (FEMA) would be joining him to monitor events.
Forecasters have said the storm could hit Florida on Monday or Tuesday with devastating force.
The president said he had spoken to Republican senator Rick Scott and claimed “tremendous work” was taking place in Florida to mitigate damage.
Meanwhile, Florida governor Ron DeSantis urged residents to closely monitor Hurricane Dorian as it approached the state’s east coast.
Mr DeSantis pointed out during a Friday evening briefing, that no one had accurately predicted the final path of Hurricane Irma three days before it made its US landfall in 2017. Dorian is expected hit Florida late Monday or early Tuesday.
The National Hurricane Centre is predicting landfall near the center of the state, but no evacuations have been ordered yet.
Mr DeSantis said residents need to comply when mandatory evacuations take effect.
Mr DeSantis said: “There is a danger to your life if you remain in these evacuation zones.”
To see how news about the presiden t playd out please read below
While the president continues to fume about the Fed, here's a fun look from The Washington Post at yet another way his potential opponents on the Democratic campaign trail are distancing themselves from the current White House occupant: intensely wholesome wellness routines. According to this look at the still-wide array of people running for the Democratic nominee, jogging, soul cycle, and daily meditation could make their way to Washington after 2020, following four years that included a cheeseburger banquet, and a lot of a Diet Coke.
Trump's trade war has caused confusion all over the world, and seems to have led to even more turbulence in his decision-making than usual. Today, The New York Times looks at how the wild ride is affecting four US businesses.
Tim Boyle, chief executive of the clothing retailer Columbia, described a meeting in which decisions from the White House directly confused:
"We had a solution, where we're going to raise prices, where we're going to move stuff," he said. "And then, an hour later, we learn he's going to raise tariffs even further. It's insane."
Prosecutors have announced that they're ready for Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, to be sentenced, nearly two years after her pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the US.
Per Politico, a filing written by prosecutors to judge in the case, Emmet Sullivan, names ideal dates:
"The defendant’s cooperation has ended. The case is ready for sentencing, and the government proposes the following dates for a sentencing hearing: October 21-23, 2019, or November 1-15, 2019. The government is not aware of any issues that require the Court’s resolution prior to sentencing."
Flynn's legal team, however, says they need more time.
Trump's presidency has been marked by a constant shift in personnel, as administration officials either resign, are fired, or are never confirmed in the first place, at a rapid pace. CNN has a great story on what it's like to have to work with acting officials in times of national stress - in this case, the impending hurricane Dorian.
Tom Philipson, the acting chairman of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers, is doubling down on the administration's position that the "media" are pushing the idea of a recession onto the American public, and also that that idea will cause a recession, if it happens, which they say it will not.
Speaking to The New York Times on Thursday, he blamed reporters for focusing on signs of a recession in bond markets, saying that they "want people to lose jobs" and "become not economically self-sufficient."
"As an American," he said "you should not want a recession, no matter your political views."
Obviously, no one actually wants a recession, but it's still looking likely, whether "the media" reports it or not.
Here's Carli Pierson's take on strategy for the Democratic primary.
Clark Mindock has some more background on the president's abrupt tweet about Iran:
"The tweet comes a day after Iran minister of information and communications technology denied that the explosion had occurred.
The president's tweet was accompanied by a high resolution photo of the site, with several areas highlighted and labelled. Commercial satellite images had previously been available following the rocket's explosion, showing smoke billowing from the pad that had recently been given a fresh coat of paint. Numerous vehicles had been spotted at the site in preparation for the launch attempt."
Read more here.
Here's an optimistic message from Joe Biden, who's running against several other people for the chance to beat Trump:
As the world wonders exactly what was up with the president's Iran tweet, Fabian Hinz, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California, tells The Independent he doesn't believe that the included photo was taken by Mr Trump and posted without consultation from others on the issue.
"It's very clearly an intelligence briefing. They have redacted part" in the upper left corner," he said. "I don't think it was just Trump going rogue, it looks like it was a little bit more," Mr Hinz said. "It was super unusual, and unlike other presidents, but it probably wasn't a complete rogue operation either."
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