White House assistant Natalie Harp is increasingly seen at US President Donald Trump's side. Here at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on August 28. Photo: Mark Schiefelbein/AP/TT
US President Donald Trump gave his assistant Natalie Harp and two other staffers each a personal "gift" of $45,000 last Christmas, The Washington Post reports.
In recently released accounts, the three women describe the payments as Christmas gifts. The sum corresponds to around a third of their annual salaries, according to the White House payroll.
The gifts likely violate federal law, says Trump-critical lawyer Richard Painter, former ethics advisor to President George W Bush, to The Washington Post.
- He is clearly trying to make it financially easier for them to work in government service in the White House. You can't do that.
A White House spokesman denies any wrongdoing.
Trump aide Natalie Harp has found herself increasingly in the spotlight. The 35-year-old rarely leaves the president's side and is reportedly his absolute favorite.
Party leaders within the German AfD celebrate the election results in the state of Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday. Photo: Matthias Schrader/AP/TT
The AfD's electoral success in the state of Saxony-Anhalt is being hailed by US President Donald Trump.
"Wow! The German populist party just had a really big night," he writes on Truth Social.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won a landslide victory in the state election held on Sunday. Although Saxony-Anhalt is one of the country's smaller states, the election is seen as symbolically important and an indication of the AfD's potential for similar successes nationally.
Several states, including Saxony-Anhalt, have classified the party as extremist due to its rhetoric on ethnicity and immigration. Among other things, the AfD wants to fundamentally overhaul migration policy.
"They finally had enough of the absolutely terrible immigration rules and laws that have hurt Germany so much," Trump claims in the post on his own platform.
Israel's settlements in the West Bank violate international law and are condemned by a number of countries. Picture from the West Bank, taken on Tuesday. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/AP/TT
The announced sanctions against settlers in the West Bank have angered Israel greatly - but it is not certain that they will have an effect on the ground, according to Middle East expert Anders Persson.
- The risk is that future historians will see this as too little, too late.
Britain bans imports of goods and services from Israeli settlements. The announcement comes at the eleventh hour, according to Anders Persson, who is an associate professor of political science at Linnaeus University.
- It is a very serious situation in the entire Israel-Palestine conflict. We are seeing a greatly worsening situation in the West Bank with increased settler violence and increased confiscation of land.
In the middle of an election campaign
The reactions from Israel, which have closed the British consulate in East Jerusalem, among other things, are due to a fear of a “double snowball effect,” says Anders Persson.
– There is a fear that other countries will follow suit, and it looks like there is every reason to be worried about that. Some have already followed suit and there are rumors that more will do so, says Persson.
– The second part is that Israel is afraid that this is the beginning of various types of sanctions and boycotts against the entire country, and not just the settlements.
The fact that Israel is in the middle of an election campaign further complicates the situation, according to Persson. The country goes to the polls on October 27.
– This means that the Israeli government and the right-wing parties in particular need to show their wings a little more clearly.
“Genuine fear”
According to Anders Persson, there is a risk that the sanctions will have little effect on the ground – not least because exports from the settlements in the West Bank constitute a very small part of Israel’s economy.
However, he emphasizes, Israel’s reaction indicates that the country sees today’s announcement as more than just empty talk.
– They wouldn’t have done all this if there hadn’t been a genuine fear of what it could lead to in the long term.
Sweden also wants to see similar sanctions against Israeli settlers, but at the EU level. Anders Persson says that there is logic in that reasoning.
– But it is a well-proven phenomenon both in Sweden and in other countries, that a possible EU line is used as an excuse for not doing anything, says Anders Persson.
Haaretz: Netanyahu was warned before October 7 – did nothing
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned a week before the attacks on October 7, 2023 – but did nothing.
This is reported by Haaretz, citing sources.
“Pure lies,” says the Prime Minister’s staff about the information.
The information to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz concerns a phone call that Netanyahu received at the end of September 2023.
It was United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed who called.
In the call, which lasted 45 minutes, bin Zayed warned that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning a major operation against Israel.
The concern: Destabilizing the entire region
The Emirati president is said to have expressed concern that the incident would not only lead to bloodshed – but also destabilize the entire region.
But Netanyahu is said to have downplayed the seriousness and said that Israel was prepared for all scenarios. He said that he assessed that a Hamas operation would take place in the West Bank.
The Prime Minister’s Office calls the information “pure lies”.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu did not speak with the President of the United Arab Emirates during the relevant period and did not receive any warning from him,” they write in a response to Haaretz.
