USA: Donald Trump Kicks Out Scaramucci - The 10 Day White House Communications Director

President Trump has removed Anthony Scaramucci as communications director, ending a tumultuous tenure in the West Wing that lasted just 10 days.

The brash former hedge fund manager lost his job on the same day that Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly assumed his new role as Trump’s chief of staff.

The White House cast the move as Scaramucci’s decision. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that “he felt it was best to give chief of staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team.”

But speaking to reporters later at a press briefing, Sanders suggested the president made the call to force him out, calling his exit the result of a mutually agreed conversation that took place between several people.

Scaramucci's quick ouster is being seen as a sign that Kelly could have more power in the chief of staff role than his predecessor, Reince Priebus, ever did.

Scaramucci’s hiring on July 21 sent shockwaves through a West Wing already wracked by chaos, contributing to the departure of then-chief of staff Priebus and former White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

Priebus and Spicer both vehemently opposed Scaramucci’s hire, and Spicer resigned on the day he joined the staff.

In the aftermath, Scaramucci focused his ire on Priebus, accusing him of leaking to the press in a profane rant published in The New Yorker that took aim at several other members of Trump’s senior staff.

Sanders said those comments played a role in Scaramucci’s ouster.

The president certainly felt that Anthony’s comments were inappropriate for a person in that position, she said, adding that Trump, didn’t want to burden Gen. Kelly in his effort to build a new chain of command in the White House.

Gen. Kelly has the full authority to operate in the White House and all staff will report to him, Sanders said.

That mandate will be put to the test in the coming days and weeks.

Priebus struggled to corral a White House staff made up of rival power centers, including chief strategist Stephen Bannon and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka.

Yet Trump allies have expressed hope the arrival of Kelly, a retired Marine general, will help bring discipline to an unruly White House that has been wracked by infighting and leaks.

Firing The Mooch sends a great signal that the adults are now in charge at the White House, said one senior House Republican who supports Trump. The president is serious about a reset and an end to the chaos. It's a great first start for Kelly.

Scaramucci seemed to be an obstacle to that goal.

He frequently boasted he reported directly to the president and not the chief of staff.

Before his exit, one Trump associate said Kelly’s biggest challenge in imposing order would be finding a way to deal with Scaramucci.

The key to success will be laying down discipline and explaining to Anthony that the rules have changed, the associate said.

Scaramucci's official start date was set for Aug. 15, but he was already carrying out the duties of the job, attending meetings in the White House and acting as a surrogate for Trump on television.

The former Wall Street financier worked as the chief strategy officer at the Export-Import Bank before being brought on as communications director, leading to speculation he could return to that role.

Sanders did not rule out such a move but said that, he does not have role at this time in the Trump administration.



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ISRAEL: Donald Trump Jets To Israel

US President Donald Trump arrived in Israel shortly after noon on Monday for a historic visit in the second leg of his whirlwind maiden foreign tour as president. Israel rolled out the red carpet for Trump at Ben-Gurion Airport, where the president is due to touch down on Air Force One after two days in Saudi Arabia.

After meeting in private for nearly an hour, US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been joined in the room by their senior advisers, including US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Special Envoy Jason Greenblatt, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner.

IDF spokesperson's office confirms that an Israeli drone has fallen in Lebanese territory, but says it was not shot down.

Arab media is reporting that an Israeli drone has fallen over Lebanese territory and that its debris was collected by the Lebanese military for inspection. According to the report, the drone was an Israeli skylark.

Whats on the menu for the Trumps and Netanyahus tonight?

Segev Moshe says there will be lots of "gold" touches at dinner tonight, but not a drop of alcohol.

Referencing the alleged intelligence leak, in which the US president is accused of revealing classified intelligence from an Israeli source to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week, Trump assures reporters that he "never mentioned the word Israel."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US President Donald Trump in Jerusalem.
The two exchange pleasantries in front of the cameras, ahead of dinner and discussed Trump's progress on countering Iran during his visit over the weekend in Saudi Arabia.
"Iran will never have nuclear weapons, that I can tell you," Trump said in the meeting.

Trump on Iran deal: "We gave them wealth and prosperity and we also gave them an ability to continue with terror."

First ladies tour Jerusalem Medical facility.

US First Lady Melania Trump and Sara Netanyahu toured Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon.

The wives of the US president and the Israeli prime minister were received by Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America national president Ellen Hershkin and Hadassah Medical Organization director-general Prof. Zeev Rotstein.

Palestinians are not impressed with Israel's good will gestures timed for Trump's visit.

President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and their wives immediately bonded on Monday over their disdain of the media.

Standing on the tarmac at Ben-Gurion Airport shortly after the Trumps' arrival in Israel from Saudi Arabia, the foursome were making small talk as a microphone picked up their banter.

The majority of people in Israel love us, unlike the media, Sara Netanyahu told the visiting couple. "So we tell them how you are great, and they love you," she said.

The president responded: "We have something very much in common."
Netanyahu added that it sounded familiar, before his wife said: "Very much in common, we will talk about it at dinner… the same media."

While The president and his entourage are resting at the King David Hotel. Now's the time to discuss Ivanka's fashion choices.

On this day of firsts, it wasn't the statements or the speeches that made top headlines; it was the antics of a single Likud MK who stole the show with a display of chutzpah on the red carpet.

US President Donald Trump and his entourage have departed from the Western Wall and are on their way to the King David Hotel, Jerusalem.

The President of the US, Donald Trump prays at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site. This is the first time a sitting American President has done so.

US President Donald Trump is walking into the Western Wall Prayer Plaza in Jerusalem's Old City.

While at a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, US president Donald Trump retweeted a post by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

An attempted stabbing attack took place in Abu Dis in east Jerusalem Monday afternoon, according to Channel 2. The attempted stabbing was thwarted after the attacker was "neutralized" by authorities.

According to former CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden the classified intelligence information which US President Donald Trump recently leaked to Russia may have come from two countries the countries are Israel and Jordan.

US President Trump arrives at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where he is holding a private prayer before heading to the Western Wall. The president's tour to the holy sites created controversy in the lead up to the visit. You can read all about it in this story by Seth Frantzman

President Trump departs from the President's Residence en route to Jerusalem's Old City, first to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and then to the Western Wall.

US President Donald Trump puts Iran in the spotlight in Jerusalem address.
"Iran must never be allowed to possess nuclear weapon, never ever"

Trump talks about prospects of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
US President Donald Trump: There is a growing realization among Arab neighbors that they have common cause with you."

Trump Calls Israel an "amazing country" in address after meeting with President Rivlin.
Trump speaks out against terrorist groups and Iran; "Together we can work to end the scourge of violence that has taken so many lives here in Israel and around the world."

President Rivlin and Trump Deliver statements after one-on-one meeting.

Rivlin begins by thanking Trump for his visit "Mr. President, we are happy to see that America is back in the area. America is back again."

He goes on to speak about the hope for peace: "I welcome your willingness to help us move forward. We want to move forward, and we must do it, together."

Trump talks peace at the President's Residence.

"Enough of the bloodshed and killing," US President Donald Trump said during the event at President Reuven Rivlin's official residence in Jerusalem.

He suggested that reigniting the peace process would be at the top of the trip's agenda: "Being in Israel is very special. We expect to have some very interesting talks."

Trump meets with Rivlin at the President's Residence

Trump is holding a bilateral meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin after arriving in Jerusalem. Trump's schedule for the day includes a visit at the Western Wall and a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before a festive dinner at the Prime Minister's Residence.

From plane to chopper to armed limo, President Trump goes to meet his Israeli counterpart Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem.

Marine One lands at the President's Residence in Jerusalem.

Another shot of the Trump helicopter.

In a move that is sure to go viral, Israeli MK Oren Hazan causes a national embarrassment at Trump's reception.

President Trump boards "Marine One" helicopter that will take him to Jerusalem.

Next Stop the President's Residence: The rest of Trump's delegation will drive in a convoy to the Israeli capital on the main highway that was shut down for the visit.

Trump and Netanyahu are now in chopper heading from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, where Trump will meet with Rivlin.

Bennett to Trump: We hope you'll be first president to recognize united Jerusalem

Education Minister Naftali Bennett greeted US President Donald Trump upon his arrival in Israel on Monday afternoon at an elaborate red carpet greeting ceremony at Ben-Gurion Airport. "Welcome to Israel Mr. President," he told the American leader.

"On the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, we hope that you will be the first president to recognize a united Jerusalem."

POTUS shakes hands with Israeli ministers "forced" to attend ceremony.

Tillerson in Israel: Trump is ready to engage personally in Mideast peace.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Monday President Donald Trump was prepared to invest his personal efforts into Middle East peace if Israeli and Palestinian leaders were ready to be serious about engaging in the process.

Tillerson, speaking to reporters on Air Force One, said a three-way meeting between US, Israeli and Palestinian leaders was for a "later date" rather than on this trip.

Trump at Ben-Gurion Airport: 'We love Israel, we respect Israel'

US President Donald Trump reaffirmed the "unbreakable bond between the US and the State of Israel" on Monday upon arriving in Israel during his first foreign trip in office. "We love Israel, we respect Israel, and we send your people the warmest greeting from your friend and ally - all of the people of the United States."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomes Donald Trump to Israel

The world, the middle east, Israel need a strong US, the US needs a strong Israel.

President Trump reviews honor guard at Ben-Gurion Airport.

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump exit Air Force One

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner arrive at Ben-Gurion Airport for the welcome ceremony

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara ready to meet US President Donald Trump at the bottom of the Air Force One staircase.

Police wrap up security preparations

Israeli Police confirmed that they are now done with heightened security preparations for Trump's visit to the Western Wall this afternoon. All sites where Trump will be visiting have now been secured.

Air Force One lands in Ben-Gurion Airport, starting first official trip to Israel.

US President Donald Trump arrived in Israel on Monday shortly after noon as Air Force One touched down at Ben-Gurion Airport after departing earlier in the day from Saudi Arabia.

Members of the Harley Davidson club set out on a ride honoring US President Donald Trump as he arrives in Israel for the first time as sitting president.

They started the ride at 12:00 p.m. in Tel Aviv and finished it in front of the US Embassy, blocking traffic along HaYarkon Street in Tel Aviv as the ceremony welcoming Trump to Israel unfolded at Ben-Gurion Airport.

Police now saying suspected car ramming was a traffic accident, not terror related.

A car has rammed into pedestrians in central Tel Aviv. Injured people on location.

Trump's arrival in Israel delayed by half hour

US President Donald Trump is en route to Israel from Saudi Arabia, where he spent the first two days of his foreign trip. He is expected to arrive in the country at 12:45 p.m. and will be received in an official ceremony at the Ben-Gurion Airport. His landing has been postponed by thirty minutes, as he was initially expected to arrive at 12:15 p.m.

US President Donald Trump departed from Saudi Arabia directly en route to Israel on Monday morning as part of his first foreign tour in office.

On Tuesday, Trump is scheduled to meet Abbas in Bethlehem, and immediately thereafter the US president is slated to return to Jerusalem for a very brief visit to Israel's Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem. From there Trump will head straight to the Israel Museum, where he is expected to make a speech with which his trip to the Middle East will conclude.

Trump arrives in the region amid repeated iterations of hope that he can help restart the frozen diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinians. His arrival in the Holy Land also comes as all sides await to see if he will make any announcement on his campaign pledge to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Trump's nine-day trip through the Middle East and Europe ends on Saturday after visits to the Vatican, Brussels and Sicily.

CHINA: Chinese Spend USD 24 Billion On Visas

When the sister of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner promoted investment in her family’s new skyscraper from a Beijing hotel ballroom stage earlier this month, she was pitching a controversial American visa program that’s proven irresistible to tens of thousands of Chinese.

More than 100,000 Chinese have poured at least USD24 billion in the last decade into “golden visa” programs across the world that offer residence in exchange for investment.

Nowhere is Chinese demand greater than in the United States, which has taken in at least $7.7 billion and issued more than 40,000 visas to Chinese investors and their families in the past decade.

The Chinese investors flocking to these programs are people like Jenny Liu, a doctoral student in the eastern city of Nanjing, who sold her apartment two years ago and moved in with her parents.

She used the money from the sale to invest $500,000 in a hotel project in the United States. If the project creates enough jobs in two years, she’ll get a prized “green card” and a pathway for a less stressful education for her 9-year-old son.

My son has a lot of homework to do every day, but I don’t think he has learned a lot from school, Liu said. I hope he can actually pick up some useful knowledge or skills rather than only learn how to pass tests.

The flood of investors reflects how China’s rise has catapulted tens of millions of families into the middle class. But at the same time, it shows how these families are increasingly becoming restless as cities remain choked by smog, home prices multiply and schools impose ever-greater pressure on children.

They also feel insecure about being able to protect their property and savings.

Their money goes toward government bonds, businesses, mountain ski resorts, new schools and real estate projects, including a Trump-branded tower in New Jersey built by the Kushner Companies, once run by Jared Kushner, now a White House senior adviser.

But the industry is murky, loosely regulated and sometimes fraud-ridden — in the U.S., federal regulators have linked the EB-5 visa program to fraud cases involving more than $1 billion in investment in the last four years.

The EB-5 program and many others like it market heavily in China.

China’s “golden visa” investors are part of a wave characterized not by poverty, persecution or war, but by people with steady jobs and homes who are pursuing happiness that’s eluded them in their homeland.

Key to their spending power is China’s real estate boom. Real estate prices in China’s largest cities have more than tripled in the last decade, with prices in Beijing rising by an average of 25 percent a year during that time. Since late 2015 alone, Beijing’s home prices have jumped 63 percent, making a 1,300 square-foot (120 square-meter) apartment worth more than $1 million.

A family that gained ownership of an ordinary apartment more than a decade ago can now sell it for the price of a “golden visa.” And as their dissatisfaction with China’s problems grows, more families are choosing to do so.

The market leader is the United States’ EB-5 program, which gives green cards to anyone who invests $500,000 in a business that creates or saves at least 10 jobs. But Portugal has drawn $1.7 billion over four years from Chinese investors willing to buy property to support its faltering real estate market. Spain and Greece offer similar programs.

Chinese have bought the most visas in all three countries.

The EB-5 program has been heavily criticized by government watchdogs and targeted by lawmakers of both parties in Congress, who say it promotes fraud and helps developers building megaprojects more than struggling communities.

Defenders of EB-5 say it creates jobs and provides vital funding for projects across the United States, from massive developments in New York to hotels, restaurants and small businesses in the Midwest and on the West Coast.

Nicole Meyer, Kushner’s sister, appeared this month at events in Beijing and Shanghai to promote One Journal Square, a New Jersey tower project planned by the Kushner family that would be partially funded through EB-5 investment.

The presentation included a photo of Trump and vague promises that the project had “government support” and was “founded by celebrity developers.”

The company later apologized for any implication that her brother was supporting the project, and Meyer pulled out of a scheduled presentation in China this past weekend.

The White House said Kushner would follow conflict of interest policies and that Trump and Congress would review “all the various visa programs” in due course.

Many Chinese are well aware of the risks involved, but invest anyway.

Du Juan attended a seminar in Beijing held by an investment group pitching ski resorts and other projects. Her primary focus is getting her 10-year-old daughter enrolled soon in an American school.

I don’t worry about the $500,000, but I worry about the loss of time, Du said. I am afraid that we’ll be unable to get the visa when we need it.

Consulting firms in China’s biggest cities hawk investor visa programs in weekly sessions at hotels and on social media. The market leader is the United States, as urban Chinese are widely familiar with American schools and culture.