terrorism

President Donald Trump has approved a new U.S. counterterrorism strategy, but it drops the Obama administration’s treatment of climate change as a driver of violent Islamic extremist groups.

Asked if the Trump plan identifies climate change as a destabilizing force in the Middle East that fuels extremist groups, national security adviser John Bolton replied: “I don’t think climate change is a cause of international terrorism.”

A death threat toward Rep. Dave Brat’s Democratic challenger from a man who commented on a Facebook post from Brat in September has reappeared after it was previously hidden from the page.

At 7:05 p.m. on September 6, a Facebook user named Rodney Arrington, who frequently comments on Brat’s official page, appeared to threaten the Virginia Republican's Democratic challenger, Abigail Spanberger.

Rep. Duncan Hunter of California appeared to imply to a women’s group in his district Monday that his Democratic opponent is a “radical Muslim” who is part of a group “trying to infiltrate the U.S. government.”

“He changed his name from Ammar Yasser Najjar to Ammar Campa-Najjar so he sounds Hispanic,” Hunter said, according to audio of the event captured by the Times of San Diego.

The super PAC aligned with Speaker Paul D. Ryan is doubling down on its messaging strategy to paint vulnerable Rep. Dave Brat’s Democratic challenger in Virginia’s 7th District as sympathetic to terrorist elements.

In a new ad released Thursday, and shared first with Roll Call, Congressional Leadership Fund once again highlights Democrat Abigail Spanberger’s stint as a substitute teacher at the Saudi-funded Islamic Saudi Academy in Mount Vernon, Virginia, that began in 2002.

World leaders, in a stunning and awkward rebuke, laughed at President Donald Trump on Tuesday. He responded by lashing out at one of the women who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when both were in college.  

Trump began what was billed by his top aides as a major foreign policy address targeting Iran and setting the stage for new talks with North Korea by touting what he sees as top domestic accomplishments. The United Nations General Assembly hall in New York seemed a strange place for what has become a campaign-trail applause line in front of his “Make America Great Again” gear-sporting supporters. And the world leaders there to hear his message agreed.

President Donald Trump’s second day at a United Nations conference in New York began with mixed signals from the U.S. diplomat-in-chief on Iran — including platitudes and warnings.

Trump’s second address to the UN General Assembly featured plenty of vintage moments, with tough rhetoric for friends and foes alike. His message for North Korea was one of partnership a year after he declared its leader, Kim Jong Un, was on a “suicide mission.” He threatened to slash U.S. aid to many UN members and declared China’s trade practices will not be tolerated much longer.

Other world leaders laughed Tuesday when President Donald Trump began his UN General Assembly address by saying his administration has accomplished more than perhaps any in U.S. history.

Trump smiled wide and looked around the hall as the laughter continued.

The National Football League’s top security official on Thursday backed bipartisan legislation that would authorize the federal government to track, seize and destroy drones considered a threat to large, public gatherings.

Cathy Lanier, the NFL’s senior vice president of security, described for the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee “a dramatic increase in the number of threats, incidents, and incursions by drones” at NFL stadiums, including an incident last year at Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, when a drone dropped leaflets near one of the end zones.

A Northern California man pulled a switchblade on GOP congressional candidate Rudy Peters and tried to stab him after shouting swear words about President Donald Trump on Sunday at a local town festival, authorities and the candidate said.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested Farzad Vincent Fazeli, 35, of Castro Valley, and have charged him with felony counts of assault and making threats and misdemeanor counts of brandishing a weapon and possessing a switchblade, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Wreaths were laid and bells tolled Tuesday for the fallen in Manhattan, at the Pentagon and in a field in Pennsylvania. Officials spoke, as did Vice President Mike Pence, about “honor and remembrance.” But President Donald Trump started off the 9/11 anniversary by lashing out at his political opponents.

“For the families of the fallen and all those looking on, the cherished final moments with your loved ones … seem like yesterday. Just know that your nation understands,” Pence said at the Pentagon, striking the tone George W. Bush and Barack Obama administration officials did on Sept. 11 anniversaries past.