The Morning Briefing: Trump's UNGA Speech, Mexico Earthquake and Much, Much More

A man is rescued from a collapsed building in the Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City after an earthquake in Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. The 7.1 earthquake stunned central Mexico, killing more than 100 people. (AP Photo/Pablo Ramos)

Good Wednesday Morning.

Here’s what is on the President’s agenda today:

  • In the morning, President Donald J. Trump will depart Trump Tower en route to the Lotte New York Palace Hotel where he will participate in an expanded meeting with the King of Jordan.
  • The President will then participate in an expanded meeting with the President of the Palestinian Authority.
  • In the afternoon, the President will attend a working lunch with African leaders.
  • The President will then participate in an expanded meeting with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
  • Later in the afternoon, the President will participate in an expanded meeting with the President of Egypt.
  • The President will then depart the Lotte New York Palace Hotel en route to Trump Tower.
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Trump’s UN speech

President Trump gave his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) yesterday and media/smart set/Joy Behar are freaking out. PJ Media’s Claudia Rosett describes:

President Trump gave his first official speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday morning, and was immediately berated by the New York Times (Trump’s “characteristically confrontational message”) and the Washington Post (“Trump’s menacing United Nations speech, annotated”). Sen. Dianne Feinstein lambasted him for words that “greatly escalated the danger” from Iran and North Korea. And the foreign minister of Venezuela’s socialist dictatorship, Jorge Arreaza — apparently trying to formulate some sort of supreme insult — compared Trump in 2017 to President Ronald Reagan in 1982.

Reactions from dictators included a “Hitler” slam by Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, who has starved his own people.

“The Venezuelan people are starving and their country is collapsing. Their democratic institutions are being destroyed. This situation is completely unacceptable and we cannot stand by and watch,” Trump said in his speech. “I ask every country represented here today to be prepared to do more to address this very real crisis.”

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Despot Maduro called the speech an “aggression from the new Hitler of international politics, Mr. Donald Trump, against the people of Venezuela.”

“Nobody threatens Venezuela and nobody owns Venezuela,” Maduro said.

Maduro added that “Donald Trump today threatened the president of the Bolivarian Republican of Venezuela with death.”

Another “concern” surrounding the speech is the fate of the Iran deal. “We cannot abide by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program,” Trump said at the UNGA. The next deadline is October 14 for certifying to Congress that Iran is holding up its end of the horrible “deal” Obama brokered. ABC News has a decent rundown of what possibilities are available with the Iran deal.

Here’s what Hillary Clinton would have said at the UN.

Mexico City earthquake death toll at 240+

Yesterday Mexico City was hit by a 7.1 earthquake and the current death toll is at 248. The quake is the largest to ever hit Mexico City.

The earthquake caused extensive damage to Mexico City, leveling at least 44 buildings, including homes, schools and office buildings, according to President Enrique Pena Nieto, who did a flyover of the city Tuesday afternoon.

Among the dead are at least 22 people, including students and at least two adults, from a collapsed primary school in the south of the city. Pena Nieto visited the school late Tuesday. He said those 22 bodies have been recovered, but that 30 children and eight adults are still missing.

Rescuers were clawing at the wreckage looking for survivors late Tuesday, pausing to listen for voices. The Associated Press reported relatives said they had received Whatsapp messages from two girls inside.

The more than 200 deaths occurred in Mexico City, and the states of Morelos, Puebla and Mexico, said Carlos Valdes, director of Mexico’s National Center for Prevention of Disasters.

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Almost 4 million people are without power, the electricity commission reports. Victims and survivors were pulled from the rubble of schools. The airport was initially closed down but now it is open for business.

Developing…

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein interviewed by Mueller’s team

Rod Rosenstein was interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative team, according to ABC News sources.

The interview took place in either June or July, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that Rosenstein had been interviewed.

Mueller’s investigators report to Rosenstein, who oversaw the Justice Department’s Russia investigation following the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Asked whether Rosenstein might have to recuse himself from the matter, a Department of Justice spokesman said in a statement Tuesday, “As the Deputy Attorney General has said numerous times, if there comes a time when he needs to recuse, he will. However, nothing has changed.”

Rosenstein appointed Mueller after President Trump fired FBI director James Comey.

Picture of the day:

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting at the Palace Hotel during the United Nations General Assembly, Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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Other morsels:

Mueller investigating Manafort for decade-old crimes: report

Sarah Huckabee Sanders accused of obstructing justice in Mueller probe

Illinois’ unpaid bill backlog hits a record $16 billion

8-year-old football players take knee during national anthem

Anti-Trump witch compares casting hexes to singing the national anthem, saluting the flag

Trump counterpunches Emmy Awards over ‘bad’ ratings

Gillespie fully supports keeping Confederate statues

Three Dem congressmen arrested at pro-DACA protest by Trump Tower

Ninth person dead in Florida nursing home where Irma knocked out power

This chart shows why the cable TV industry is in big trouble

[Illegal] Immigrant hurricane victims turn to churches amid fear

Colbert gives Clinton list of jokes he had planned for election night

And that’s all I’ve got, now go beat back the angry mob!

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