Donald Trump blamed Hong Kong protesters for his faltering trade accord with China on Wednesday, as the stock market continued to plummet.
With the Dow down nearly 750 points, or 2.84 percentage points, the president claimed ‘Hong Kong is not helping’ him seal the deal with Beijing.
‘We are winning, big time, against China. Companies & jobs are fleeing. Prices to us have not gone up, and in some cases, have come down. China is not our problem, though Hong Kong is not helping,’ he said. ‘Our problem is with the Fed. Raised too much & too fast. Now too slow to cut.’
Trump spread his shrapnel far and wide,
clueless Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve. Germany, and many others, are playing the game! CRAZY INVERTED YIELD CURVE! We should easily be reaping big Rewards & Gains, but the Fed is holding us back. We will Win!
Trump’s muted response to demonstrations in Hong Kong, where protesters have been clashing with police at the airport, came under criticism on Wednesday from his political opponents, after the vacationing president declined to join other U.S. officials in denouncing violence against the protesters.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said he must ‘walk away from his recent statements, which invite miscalculation, and to work to advance peace, justice and democracy in Hong Kong,’ while Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg argued that ‘he’s on Twitter when he should probably be in the Situation Room trying to figure out how the U.S. could in some way be an effective voice for stability and de-escalation.’
A senior official told DailyMail.com on Wednesday afternoon, in response to multiple inquiries, that the U.S. is continuing to monitor the situation. The official denied claims in Chinese state media that the Trump administration in behind the protests.
The White House urged ‘all sides to remain calm, safe and peaceful’ in Hong Kong in the statement.
‘The United States continues to monitor the situation in Hong Kong, and we urge all sides to remain calm, safe, and peaceful. As the President has said: “they’re looking for democracy and I think most people want democracy,” ‘ the official said. ‘Freedoms of expression and assembly are core values that we share with the people of Hong Kong and these freedoms should be protected.’
The person added, ‘The United States firmly rejects the notion that we are sponsoring or inciting the demonstrations.’
WHERE’S TRUMP? The president stayed silent about Hong Kong on Wednesday, as he continued his vacation
Trump seemed to be referring to Chinese state media claims that the U.S. was inciting violence. The White House said Wednesday that it’s not
Trump also revealed that the Chinese are moving troops to the border with Hong Kong in a follow-up tweet
Protesters take part in a demonstration on Hungry Ghost Festival day in Sham Shui Po district on August 14, 2019
Police fire tear gas to clear pro-Democracy protesters during the demonstration in Hong Kong. Protesters have continued rallies on the streets against a controversial extradition bill since June 9 as the city plunged into crisis
President Trump claimed in a Tuesday afternoon tweet that ‘many people’ are blaming him for the uprising in Hong Kong.
‘Many are blaming me, and the United States, for the problems going on in Hong Kong. I can’t imagine why?’ he tweeted.
He’d told reporters an hour prior that he’d been on a call ‘with China’ earlier in the day, which suggests that he was referring to allegations in Chinese state media that the United States had a ‘black hand’ in the protests and were the ‘rabble-rousers’ in the demonstrations in Hong Kong.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called those claims ‘ludicrous,’ and the State Department spokeswoman last week decried Chinese pressure tactics as ‘irresponsible to dangerous.’
Trump said in another tweet that Chinese intelligence had informed the U.S. that it’s putting troops on the border of the semi-autonomous district.
‘Our Intelligence has informed us that the Chinese Government is moving troops to the Border with Hong Kong. Everyone should be calm and safe!’
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat, said in a retweet of the message: ‘This is not foreign policy.
An anti-extradition bill protester helps another one after the police fired tear gas to disperse the demonstration in Hong Kong
A man reacts as policemen with riot gears ask him to move during a protest on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019
The White House urged ‘all sides to remain calm, safe and peaceful’ in Hong Kong in a statement to DailyMail.com
A Fox News report on Wednesday cited Chinese state media as denying that the planned military exercise was related.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned the Chinese Communist Party publicly not to ‘encroach on their autonomy and freed’ in Hong Kong and declared in a Monday tweet that ‘any violent crackdown would be completely unacceptable.’
Pelosi said in a Tuesday evening statement that ‘escalating violence and use of force perpetrated against the Hong Kong protestors is extremely alarming’ and pro-Beijing forces in charge ‘must immediately cease the aggression and abuse being perpetrated against their own people.’
But Trump has not done the same, opting instead to encourage all parties to be ‘calm and safe’ in the Tuesday tweet and telling reporters in brief remarks on a New Jersey tarmac that he hopes it ‘works out for everybody.’
He has not commented on the topic since, even though he’s provided other color commentary on Twitter from the confines of his Bedminster golf club, where he was due to spend his entire day.
Riot police and protesters clashed at Hong Kong’s international airport on Tuesday after flights were disrupted for a second day as the political crisis in the administrative district of China deepened.
Amid chaotic scenes officers armed with pepper spray and swinging batons confronted the pro-democracy activists and a number of violent scuffles broke out, resulting in arrests.
At one stage demonstrators surrounded a policeman who had forced a protester to the floor, grabbed his baton from him and started attacking him, until he took out his gun and pointed it at them.
Enraged protesters also detained a man they suspected of being undercover agents, and tied one up with cable ties and beat him, before he was taken away by ambulance crews.
It comes as Beijing has made ominous declarations this week branding anti-extradition bill activists, in their 10th week as ‘mobsters’, as a military presence, including tanks, started to amass on the Chinese border, in the nearby city of Shenzhen, amid fears of a military crackdown.
Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader also warned that the demonstrators had pushed events onto a ‘path of no return’ and the area ‘risked being smashed to pieces, highlighting the hardening positions on both sides.
The riots were dominating international news on Tuesday – even pushing the president off the airwaves as he talked to journalists on the tarmac at the New Jersey airport near his vacation spot. Neither CNN nor MSNBC broke away from Hong Kong coverage to push his remarks out in real time.
Trump told reporters just before he left Morristown for Pennsylvania in his first on-camera remarks on the Tuesday protests: ‘They have a very big problem with Hong Kong.’
‘The Hong Kong thing is a very tough situation. I hope it works out peacefully. I hope nobody gets hurt. I hope nobody gets killed,’ the president said.
Trump has come under criticism for staying silent on the demonstrations, including from opponents like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who implored the U.S. government to stand with the people of Hong Kong.
‘The people of Hong Kong are making clear that they will not tolerate repression, and their movement affirms: The power is with the people. They deserve our support and the support of the world,’ she said in a Monday tweet.
The president retweeted a video clip that showed military trucks massing near the China-Hong Kong border
Trump said earlier in the day that he’d been on the phone with the Chinese and was postponing some tariffs until Dec. 15
Riot police use pepper spray to disperse anti-extradition bill protesters during a mass demonstration after a woman was allegedly shot in the eye during a rally on Sunday. Police and protesters have clashed outside the Terminal 1 of the airport
Medics help a detained man, who protesters claimed was a police officer from mainland China, during a demonstration at the Airport in Hong Kong, on Tuesday evening amid violent clashes between police and protesters
A photographer is seen trying to separate a policeman from a woman on the floor. The scuffles broke out in the evening between police and protesters after an injured person was taken out of the main terminal by medics
One man, believed to be a protester, is seriously wounded during the clash at the Hong Kong airport. Officers armed with pepper spray and swinging batons confronted the protesters who used luggage carts to barricade entrances to the terminal
At a press conference today, the city’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam today defended the police against accusations of excessive force over the weekend, when rounds of tear gas were fired into subway stations and on crowded shopping streets
The president revealed that a call with the Chinese took place on Tuesday after he was asked about his delay in tariffs in some Chinese goods.
His trade arm said that a 25 percent penalty on clothing, laptops and other goods would be postponed past Sept. 1 and put on Dec. 15, instead, after what Trump described as a ‘good call’ with Beijing before U.S markets opened.
President Trump said on Tuesday the situation in Hong Kong was tricky, but he hoped it would work out for everybody, including China, and ‘for liberty’ without anyone getting hurt or killed.
‘It’s a very tricky situation. I think it will work out and I hope it works out, for liberty. I hope it works out for everybody, including China,’ Trump said. ‘I hope it works out peacefully. I hope nobody gets hurt. I hope nobody gets killed.’
Earlier today, authorities at Hong Kong airport suspended all departure check-ins after pro-democracy protesters blocked the facility for a second day, but some flights were still arriving and taking off.
‘Terminal operations at Hong Kong International Airport have been seriously disrupted as a result of the public assembly,’ the airport authority said in a statement.
‘All check-in service for departure flights has been suspended since 1630hrs (0830 GMT). Other departure and arrival flights for the rest of the day will continue to operate, and airlines will provide arrangements for passengers who have not completed the departure process.’
‘Members of the public are advised not to come to the airport.’
Police said they tried to help ambulance officers reach an injured man whom protesters had detained on suspicion of being an undercover agent. Medics are pictured attempting to remove an injured man from the barricaded terminal building
One woman protects her head as a baton-wielding officer confronts her during the clash at the Hong Kong airport. Protesters at the terminal building also detained a second man who they suspected of being an undercover agent
Protesters flee as anti-riot police are about to storm into the terminal building. Earlier today, authorities were forced to cancel all remaining flights as the city’s pro-Beijing leader warned that the protesters had pushed events onto a ‘path of no return’
The demonstrators have shown no sign of letting up on their campaign to force Carrie Lam’s administration to respond to their demands, including that she scrap proposed legislation under which suspects could be sent to mainland China
Lam has rejected all calls for dialogue, part of what analysts say is a strategy to wear down the opposition movement through police action while prompting demonstrators to take more violent and extreme actions that will turn the public against them
A tourist (central) gives her luggage to security guards as she tries to enter the departures gate during another demonstration by pro-democracy protesters today. The activists have gathered to denounce alleged police violence and call for reforms
Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters (centre) crowd the area in front of the departure gates to block access. The airport re-opened this morning after around 200 flights were cancelled yesterday due to a 5,000-strong protest in the terminal building
A pro-democracy protester holds a placard which lists the protesters five demands to the government. The demonstrators are demanding the city’s leader completely withdraw the extradition bill and retract the statement that protesters are ‘rioters’
The news comes just hours after the airport, one of the world’s busiest, reopened from a temporary shutdown. But hundreds of flights remain cancelled amid calls for fresh pro-democracy action despite yesterday’s crackdown.
Some 5,000 demonstrators descended on the terminal building yesterday to denounce alleged police violence, forcing the airport’s authority to cancel all flights from early afternoon.
Many of them were wearing an eyepatch in reference to a seriously wounded female protester, who was said to be shot in the eye by the police with a bean bag round during a clash on Sunday. Doctors said the woman could lose her right eyeball, local reports said. Police said they were investigating the case.
Images of blood pouring from the woman’s face as she lay on a pavement quickly went viral and featured in posters calling for demonstrations under the banner: ‘an eye for an eye’.
Hong Kong police have also admitted to deploy undercover officers among pro-democracy demonstrators to help catch ‘violent protesters’.
The statement came after footage of one bleeding demonstrator being pinned down to the ground had gone viral. In the clip, the man was arrested by one uniformed police officer who was aided by two men suspected to be secret policemen dressed as activists with hardhats and black T-shirts.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged Hong Kong to exercise restraint and investigate evidence of its forces firing tear gas at protesters in ways banned under international law.
It’s the financial hub that has mainly been been rocked by protests over the past months against a now-suspended bill that would allow people to be extradited from the city to stand trial in Communist Party-controlled courts in mainland China.
The mass display of opposition to the bill has morphed into a wider pro-democracy movement that has thrown down the most significant challenge to Beijing’s authority since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
The protesters have continued to urge the government to respond to their five demands, including a complete withdrawal of the extradition bill, an independent inquiry into alleged police violence and universal suffrage.
Apart from the rallies at the airport, around 500 medical workers reportedly staged silent protests in 13 public hospitals over what they claimed was the excessive use of force by the police during clashes over the weekend.
A traveler (bottom left) sits with protesters during a sit-in rally at the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong
Protesters severely crippled operations at Hong Kong’s international airport for a second day, forcing authorities to cancel all remaining flights out of the city after demonstrators took over the terminals as part of their push for democratic reforms
Protesters hold placards denouncing police brutality as they block the departure gate of the Hong Kong International Airport Terminal 2 during a demonstration. On Monday, over 200 flights were canceled and the airport was effectively shut down
Passengers with inside the departure hall after check-in services have been suspended due to an anti-government demonstration at Hong Kong Airport
Passengers have been forced to seek accommodation in the city while airlines struggle to find other ways to get them to their destinations. Pictured, protesters try to prevent a passenger from breaching a barricade in front of departure gates
Anti-government protesters use trolleys to set up barricades in front of security gates during a demonstration at Hong Kong airport on Tuesday, ignoring the latest warnings from Lam and Beijing. Beijing has also made ominous declarations, branding the anti-extradition bill’s activists, in their 10th week of protests, ‘mobsters’ and likened them to terrorism
Anti-government protesters prepare to stage another sit-in today as they use baggage trolleys to blockade the airport