President Trump stumped in Mississippi on Monday for a Republican Senate appointee who wants voters to focus on her unwavering support for him, and not the racial questions that have made Tuesday’s runoff election a much closer contest than anyone expected.
Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith has made the Trump rallies a highlight of her runoff campaign against Democrat Mike Espy, and the president thanked her on Twitter for voting for ‘‘our Agenda in the Senate 100% of the time.’’
But race has become a dominant issue as Hyde-Smith faces Espy, a former congressman and US agriculture secretary who would become Mississippi’s first black senator since Reconstruction.
She has drawn fire for a photo showing her wearing a replica hat of a Confederate soldier, and a video showing her praising a supporter by saying, ‘‘If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row.’’
Mississippi has a history of racially motivated lynchings and violence against people who sought voting rights for black citizens. About 38 percent of the state’s residents are black, and Espy is trying to boost their turnout and pick up support from white voters who are uneasy with Trump or the racially tinged stories about Hyde-Smith.
Authorities discovered seven nooses and six handwritten signs on Capitol grounds Monday morning. It was not immediately known who put the nooses up. The signs referred to the state’s history of lynchings and the Senate race, according to photos the state Department of Public Safety posted to social media. One sign said Mississippi needs a senator ‘‘who respects the lives of lynch victims.’’
Tuesday’s runoff winner will serve the final two years of a term started by Republican senator Thad Cochran, who resigned in April amid health concerns.
Associated Press
Trump charity did not donate last year amid plans to close
President Trump’s charitable foundation made no donations last year, a sharp break from the 2016 election year when it gave away millions of dollars and drew a lawsuit alleging the charity was acting as a quasi-political group.
The Donald J. Trump Foundation took in no new money from outside groups last year and donated nothing, according to a 2017 tax return posted online Monday. Trump had promised before taking office to dissolve the foundation to avoid conflicts of interest with his duties as president.
The foundation gave away $3.1 million in 2016, more than it did in the prior three years combined. Much of the money donated that election year went to veterans’ groups.
Trump and other directors of his foundation are being sued by New York’s attorney general for allegedly using its money to settle business disputes, help with his campaign, and pay for personal items. The suit argues that the foundation should be dissolved only under court supervision.
The suit seeks $2.8 million in restitution plus penalties, the foundation’s disbandment, and a 10-year ban on Trump running any charities.
Trump’s lawyer has said the suit is politically motivated and should be dismissed. But a New York judge ruled Friday that it should go forward because there is no basis for finding ‘‘animus and bias were the sole motivating factors’’ for the litigation.
Associated Press
Trump nominee sunk by ‘Fat Leonard’ corruption scandal
A retired admiral who had been nominated for a senior job in the Trump administration has been torpedoed for his involvement in the Fat Leonard corruption scandal, according to Navy officials.
Mark C. Montgomery, a retired two-star admiral, received a letter of censure from the Navy last week after an investigation concluded he had committed graft and taken illicit gifts from Leonard Glenn Francis, a Singapore-based defense contractor who has admitted to bribing scores of officers.
The investigation concluded that besides accepting gifts, Montgomery also ‘‘took action to financially benefit’’ Francis’s company between 2007 and 2009, when the Navy officer served as the commander of a destroyer squadron based in Asia, according to Cmdr. Jereal Dorsey, a Navy spokesman.
The Navy also determined that Montgomery lied about his connections with Francis when he was questioned by investigators this year, Dorsey said. He declined to provide further details about the admiral’s misconduct.
Known as ‘‘Fat Leonard’’ because of his girth, Francis was the president and chief executive of Glenn Defense Marine Asia, which held more than $200 million worth of contracts to resupply and refuel Navy ships at ports throughout Asia. He pleaded guilty to corruption charges in 2015.
Washington Post
