Newspaper Page Text
4A Thursday, November 22, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
WASHINGTON/POLITICS
ROGELIO V. SOLIS I Associated Press
Appointed U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and Democrat Mike Espy greet each other
before their televised Mississippi U.S. Senate debate in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Nov. 20.
Senator apologizes during
debate for ‘hanging’ remark
Tor anyone that was offended by
my comments, I certainly apologize.
There was no ill will, no intent
whatsoever in my statement.’
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss.
BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. - A
white Republican U.S. sena
tor from Mississippi said
during a debate with her
African-American Demo
cratic opponent Tuesday
that she apologizes to people
who were offended when
she complimented a sup
porter by saying she would
attend a “public hanging” if
the supporter invited her.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith’s
remark was caught on video
that was released last week.
It has brought widespread
criticism both inside and
outside Mississippi, a state
with a history of racially
motivated lynchings.
“For anyone that was
offended by my comments,
I certainly apologize. There
was no ill will, no intent what
soever in my statement,”
Hyde-Smith said Tuesday
during a televised debate
with Democrat Mike Espy.
The apology was a new
approach for Hyde-Smith,
who repeatedly refused to
answer questions about the
hanging comment at a news
conference Nov. 12, the day
after the publisher of a lib
eral-leaning news site posted
the video on social media.
The clip shows Hyde-
Smith praising a cattle
rancher at a Nov. 2 cam
paign event in Tupelo by
saying: “If he invited me to a
public hanging, I’d be on the
front row.” Shortly after the
video’s release, she said in
a statement the expression
was an “exaggerated expres
sion of regard” and said it
is “ridiculous” to read any
negative connotation into it.
“There has never been
anything, not one thing, in
my background to ever indi
cate I had ill will toward any
one,” Hyde-Smith, a former
state agriculture commis
sioner, said Tuesday night.
“I’ve never been hurtful to
anyone. I’ve always tried
to help everyone. I also
recognize that this com
ment was twisted and it was
turned into a weapon to be
used against me, a political
weapon used for nothing but
personal and political gain
by my opponent. That’s the
type of politics Mississippi-
ans are sick and tired of.”
Espy responded dur
ing the debate: “No one’s
twisted your comments
because your comments
were live, you know, it came
out of your mouth. I don’t
know what’s in your heart
but I know what came out
of your mouth. It went viral
in the first three minutes
around the world. And so
it’s caused our state harm.
It’s given our state another
black eye that we don’t
need. It’s just rejuvenated
those stereotypes that we
don’t need anymore.”
Hyde-Smith is the first
woman to represent Missis
sippi in Congress. Espy is a
former congressman and
U.S. agriculture secretary, is
seeking to become the state’s
first African-American sena
tor since Reconstruction.
During the debate, Hyde-
Smith questioned a $750,000
lobbying contract Espy had
in 2011 with the Cocoa and
Coffee Board of the Ivory
Coast. She noted that the
country’s ex-president, Lau
rent Gbagbo, is being tried
in the International Crimi
nal Court for crimes against
humanity, including, Hyde-
Smith said, “murder, rape
and unspeakable things
against young girls.”
“I don’t know how many
Mississippians can really
relate to an income that can
command a $750,000 check
from one person for a lob
bying job,” said Hyde-Smith,
who is a cattle rancher.
Espy, an attorney, said:
“I found out later that this
guy, the president, was a
really bad guy. I resigned
the contract.”
Federal registration
papers show Espy termi
nated the contract two weeks
before its scheduled end.
Hours before Tuesday’s
debate, President Donald
Trump defended Hyde-
Smith’s “public hanging”
remark, saying at the White
House she loves the people
of Mississippi and the U.S.
“It was just sort of said in
jest,” Trump said. “She’s a
tremendous woman and it’s
a shame that she has to go
through this.”
Walmart asked Hyde-
Smith to return a $2,000 cam
paign contribution because
of the hanging remark.
Walmart spokeswoman
LeMia Jenkins said Tues
day the company donated to
Hyde-Smith Nov. 8, before
the release of the video
with the “public hanging”
remark.
Hyde-Smith’s campaign
did not respond to Associ
ated Press questions about
whether it would refund
Walmart’s contribution.
Trump is traveling to Mis
sissippi for two Hyde-Smith
rallies Monday on the eve
of the election. Former Vice
President Joe Biden has
endorsed Espy.
Hyde-Smith was appointed
to the Senate to temporarily
succeed longtime Sen. Thad
Cochran, who retired in April
amid health concerns. She is
the first woman to represent
Mississippi in Congress.
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Trump plans to make
his first war zone visit
BY ZEKE MILLER
AND JILL COLVIN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -
President Donald Trump
frequently credits himself
with accomplishing more
for the military and veter
ans than any other presi
dent in recent memory.
But he has yet to embark
on what has long been a
traditional presidential pil
grimage important to the
military: a visit to troops
deployed in a war zone.
As he departed Tuesday
for Florida to celebrate the
Thanksgiving holiday at his
private club in Palm Beach,
Trump said he’d soon cor
rect the oversight.
“I’m going to a war zone,”
he said in response to a
reporter’s question about
his support for the troops.
He did not say when he
would be making the trip or
where he planned to go. An
official said a White House
team recently returned
from beginning to plan for
such a visit.
The omission is one of a
long list of norm-breaking
moves that underscore the
president’s increasingly
fraught relationship with
the military, which has
celebrated Trump’s invest
ments in defense spending
but cringed at what some
see as efforts to politicize
their service.
Just this week, Trump
leveled criticism against
the storied commander of
the 2011 mission that killed
al-Qaida leader Osama bin
Laden, retired Adm. Wil
liam McRaven. “Wouldn’t
it have been nice if we
got Osama bin Laden a lot
sooner than that, wouldn’t
it have been nice?” Trump
said.
The latest controversy
followed a pattern of con
cerns raised by former
senior military officers
about Trump’s grasp of the
military’s role, and it comes
as White House aides and
defense officials have
raised alarm about what
they view as the president’s
disinterest in briefings
about troop deployments
overseas.
Shortly after taking
office, Trump appeared to
try to deflect responsibility
for the death of a service
member, William “Ryan”
Owens, in a failed operation
in Yemen, saying planning
for the mission
began under his
predecessor and
was backed by
senior military
commanders.
“They explained
what they wanted
to do, the gener
als, who are very
respected,” he told
“Fox & Friends”
at the time. “And they lost
Ryan.”
Trump won the White
House on a platform of
ending U.S. military com
mitments abroad, but he’s
been bedeviled by many
of the same challenges as
his predecessors. More
American troops are now
deployed in conflict zones
than when he took office.
Aides have suggested
that Trump is wary of
traveling to conflict zones
where he doesn’t fully sup
port the mission. Trump
begrudgingly backed a
surge of troops in Afghani
stan last year and boosted
U.S. deployments in Iraq,
Syria and Africa to counter
the Islamic State and other
extremist groups.
Trump said last week
in a “Fox News Sunday”
interview that he was “very
much opposed to the war
in Iraq. I think it was a tre
mendous mistake, should
have never happened.”
Trump, in fact, offered
lukewarm support for
the invasion at the time
but began offering public
doubts about the mission
after the conflict began in
March 2003.
At home, some assert
that Trump’s decision to
send thousands of active-
duty troops to the U.S.-Mex-
ico border shortly before
the Nov. 6 midterm elec
tions was a political stunt.
And Defense Department
officials said they rejected
requests by the Depart
ment of Homeland Security
— and backed by the White
House — for armed active-
duty troops to bolster Bor
der Patrol agents, saying it
ran afoul of federal law.
Trump also
drew criticism for
his decision not
to visit Arlington
National Cemetery
to mark Veterans
Day, following his
trip to Europe.
He said later he
“should have” vis
ited the cemetery
but was too busy with offi
cial business.
In the “Fox News Sun
day” interview, Trump was
asked why he hadn’t visited
the troops serving in Iraq
and Afghanistan in the two
years he’s served as com
mander in chief.
“Well, I think you will
see that happen,” he said.
“There are things that are
being planned.”
He also touted his sup
port for the men and
women in uniform.
“I don’t think anybody’s
been more with the mili
tary than I have, as a presi
dent,” Trump said. “In
terms of funding, in terms
of all of the things I’ve been
able to get them, includ
ing the vets, I don’t think
anybody’s done more than
me.”
Trump received five
draft deferments during
the Vietnam War, four for
education and one for a
diagnosis of bone spurs —
though he later told The
New York Times he could
not remember which foot
was affected by the malady
or how long it lasted.
Trump told The Associ
ated Press in a recent inter
view that he doesn’t think
visiting troops in a war zone
is “overly necessary.”
“I’ve been very busy with
everything that’s taking
place here,” he added.
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