“President Trump announced Saturday he had canceled a planned secret meeting with leaders of the Taliban and Afghanistan’s president at Camp David,” The Hill reports.
“Trump also said he had called off negotiations with the insurgent group after Taliban leadership claimed credit for a deadly attack in Kabul.”
Associated Press: “With a series of tweets, President Trump has upended nearly a year of U.S.-Taliban negotiations on ending America’s longest war. He has ‘called off’ the talks and asserted that a planned secret meeting between him and Taliban leaders at Camp David, set for Sunday just days before the 9/11 anniversary, is now canceled. Some question whether it was a face-saving attempt after the deal his envoy said had been reached ‘in principle’ faced serious challenges.”
“The Taliban took half a day to respond, saying the abrupt decision hurt U.S. credibility after they had ‘finalized’ a deal, but said the U.S. likely would return to negotiations. The two sides had still been talking on Saturday, they said — two days after Trump said he had ‘immediately’ called off talks.”
New York Times: “Even as President Trump blamed a recent Taliban attack for his decision to call off nearly year-long negotiations with the insurgents, officials suggested on Sunday it had more to do with the Taliban’s resistance to the American terms for a peace deal. Talks that once seemed on the verge of a breakthrough had hit a wall over how the deal should be finalized and announced.”
Wall Street Journal: “U.S. manufacturers are investing less in their factories and workforces as the trade dispute with China makes it more difficult for executives to anticipate costs and demand. The shifting contours of the tariffs that the U.S. and China have applied to each other’s goods are prompting some companies to put business plans on hold. Others are cutting back investments as trade volumes and economic growth slow around the world.”
“These companies are buying fewer machines for their factory floors and shortening shifts. The knock-on effect means lower sales for those suppliers and less pay for workers, contributing to slower U.S. economic growth.”
Associated Press: “China’s trade with the United States is falling as the two sides prepare for negotiations with no signs of progress toward ending a tariff war that threatens global economic growth. Imports of American goods tumbled 22% in August from a year earlier to $10.3 billion, customs data showed Sunday. Exports to the United States, China’s biggest market, sank 16% to $44.4 billion.”
Just weeks after lambasting Baltimore as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess,” President Trump will visit the Maryland city to huddle with congressional Republicans — a gathering that could draw local protests and reignite an ugly feud between the White House and the black-majority locality, the Washington Post reports.
President Trump lashed out at two Washington Post reporters over their coverage of his administration. Trump called Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker “two nasty lightweight reporters” and suggested that they be barred from the White House grounds.
“NOAA staff warned in Sept. 1 directive against contradicting Trump,” by WaPo’s Andrew Freedman, Colby Itkowitz and Jason Samenow: “Nearly a week before the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration publicly backed President Trump over its own scientists, a top NOAA official warned its staff against contradicting the president.
“In an agencywide directive sent Sept. 1 to National Weather Service personnel, hours after Trump asserted, with no evidence, that Alabama ‘would most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated,’ staff was told to ‘only stick with official National Hurricane Center forecasts if questions arise from some national level social media posts which hit the news this afternoon.’
“They were also told not to ‘provide any opinion,’ according to a copy of the email obtained by The Washington Post.”
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) “argued to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday that filing campaign finance forms is a legislative act — immune from federal prosecution by constitutional separation of powers protections,” the San Diego Union Tribune reports.
“If his argument is successful, the case against him could ultimately be dismissed prior to trial that’s supposed to start Jan. 14 as Hunter prepares to run for re-election in a March primary election.”
Embattled British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a new blow Saturday when a Cabinet minister resigned, saying she did not believe Johnson was sincere about getting a Brexit deal with the European Union, CBS News reports.
Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd said in a letter to the prime minister that she was resigning because “I no longer believe leaving with a deal is the government’s main objective.”
“Britain and the United States have often seemed lashed together amid the populist storms of the last few years — Brexit and the Trump White House echoing and amplifying each other across the Atlantic. But in one respect they have radically diverged,” the New York Times reports.
“In London, rebels in the Conservative Party staged a dramatic insurrection in the past week against Prime Minister Boris Johnson, blocking his plan to withdraw Britain from the European Union even without a deal. In Washington, scarcely a handful of Republicans have stood up to President Trump, even when he has flouted party orthodoxy on issues like trade, immigration and the deficit.”
“The Tory party’s revolt against Mr. Johnson, and his ruthless purging of the rebels, are reverberating through British politics, threatening his hold on power. For dispirited Republicans, though, this British revolution has become an object lesson in how a center-right party can stand up to a wayward leader.”
Politico says Dems eye payback against Trump’s immigration tactics: “Democrats say they’re no longer willing to throw cash to President Donald Trump for his border demands. But they still can’t escape making a deal with Trump — a scenario that could divide the caucus over exactly how far to take their fight against the president.
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are preparing to rebuff Trump’s requests for additional wall money this month as payback for Trump’s summer of hard-line immigration moves — a position that’s in contrast to the billions of dollars that Democrats have handed over for border fencing and security since the start of Trump’s term, according to half a dozen lawmakers and aides.
“The end result of the border wall fight, however, could be another deal with Trump that triggers a fierce backlash within the Democratic Caucus, as Pelosi and her leadership team remain wary of aggressive tactics that would catapult the government into yet another shutdown.”
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