Tag Archives: Politics

Trump fans stage series of small rallies across U.S.

Supporters of President Donald Trump gather for a "People 4 Trump" rally at Neshaminy State Park in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, U.S. March 4, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Makela

By Tim Branfalt

LANSING, Mich. (Reuters) – Supporters of President Donald Trump held a second day of small rallies on Saturday in communities around the country, a counterpoint to a wave of protests that have taken place since his election in November.

Organizers of the so-called Spirit of America rallies in at least 28 of the country’s 50 states had said they expected smaller turn-outs than the huge crowds of anti-protesters that clogged the streets of Washington, D.C., and other cities the day after Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

Their predictions appeared to be correct, as they were on Monday when similar rallies were held. In many towns and cities, the rallies did not draw more than a few hundred people, and some were at risk of being outnumbered by small groups of anti-Trump protesters that gathered to shout against the rallies.

“People feel like they can’t let their foot off the gas and we need to support our president,” said Meshawn Maddock, one of the organizers of a pro-Trump rally of about 200 people in Lansing outside the Michigan State Capitol building.

“How can anyone be disappointed with bringing back jobs? And he promised he would secure our borders, and that’s exactly what he’s doing.”

Brandon Blanchard, 24, among a small group of anti-Trump protesters, said he had come in support of immigrants, Muslims and transgender people, groups that have been negatively targeted by Trump’s rhetoric and policies.

“I feel that every American that voted for Trump has been deceived. Any campaign promises have already been broken,” Blanchard said.

In Denver, several dozen people held pro-Trump signs at the top of the steps of the Colorado State Capitol building, according to video footage streamed online.

Two lines of police below them looked out on a small crowd of people protesting the rally at the bottom of the steps.

“No hate! No fear! Immigrants are welcome here!” the anti-Trump protesters shouted up the steps, along with obscene anti-Trump slogans.

The pro-Trump demonstrators were quieter, holding up Trump signs as they milled about the steps, the video showed.

In the nation’s capital, more than a hundred people gathered near the Washington Monument, a short walk from the White House, although the president himself was again in Florida for the weekend.

“He does not hate Latinos, he does hate Hispanics, he does not hate Mexicans,” a woman who described herself as a Mexican-American supporter of Trump said, addressing the crowd from a small stage. “He’s put his life at risk for us.”

(Writing and additional reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Germany’s Merkel to visit Washington March 14

German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses a joint news conference with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi following talks at the El-Thadiya presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt March 2, 2017. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Washington on March 14 to meet President Donald Trump, their first encounter after a rocky start to relations amid disagreements about trade, Trump’s travel ban and his comments about the media.

A U.S. official announced the visit, which comes shortly before a meeting in Germany of the finance ministers of the G20 industrialized countries and will help lay the groundwork for Trump’s visit to Germany in July for a meeting of G20 leaders.

The new Republican president and Merkel issued a joint statement after a telephone call in January, underscoring the importance of the NATO alliance and vowing to work together more closely to combat terrorism.

A few days later, Merkel sharply criticized Trump’s temporary travel ban on citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries. She has also repeatedly underscored the importance of a free press when asked about Trump’s negative comments about the media.

Merkel had a warm relationship with Trump’s predecessor, Democrat Barack Obama.

The meeting between Trump and Merkel is likely to cover a wide range of issues, including the global economy, trade, the fight against Islamic State, NATO and ties with Russia and China.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal in Berlin; Writing by Eric Walsh; Editing by Frances Kerry)

U.N. says tide of refugees from South Sudan rising fast

An aerial photograph showing South Sudanese refugees at Bidi Bidi refugeeís resettlement camp near the border with South Sudan, in Yumbe district, northern Uganda December 7, 2016. REUTERS/James Akena/File Photo

By Elias Biryabarema

KAMPALA (Reuters) – Some 1.5 million refugees have fled fighting and famine in South Sudan to neighboring countries, half of them to Uganda, and thousands more are leaving daily, the U.N. refugee agency said on Thursday.

Political rivalry between South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar ignited a civil war in 2013 that has often followed ethnic lines.

The two signed a shaky peace deal in 2015, but fighting has continued and Machar fled in July after days of clashes between soldiers loyal to him and Kiir’s forces in the capital Juba. He is now in South Africa.

Charlie Yaxley, spokesman for the UNHCR in Uganda, said the agency estimated the total number of South Sudanese who have gone to neighboring countries at 1.5 million, half in Uganda.

In December there were an estimated 600,000 South Sudanese who had arrived in Uganda.

Yaxley said there were thousands of new arrivals every day. The UNHCR had planned for 300,000 this year.

“We have already in the first two months of this year received 120,00 new arrivals. If this rate of inflow continues actually that figure for 2017 will be far higher,” Yaxley said.

Refugees arriving in Uganda often say they are fleeing from ethnic violence.

“I was in Invepi … and almost every refugee I spoke to had either seen a friend or family member killed in front of their eyes,” Yaxley said, referring to the latest refugee settlement set up in Uganda.

Violence has prevented many farmers from harvesting crops and the scarcity of food has been compounded by hyperinflation, triggering famine in parts of South Sudan.

The UNHCR says the refugee crisis is the world’s third largest after Syria’s and Afghanistan’s.

(Editing by George Obulutsa and Andrew Roche)

Carnival party over, Brazil returns to reality of political crisis

A reveller from Mangueira samba school performs during the second night of the carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil February 28, 2017. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares

By Anthony Boadle and Lisandra Paraguassu

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Carnival revelers were still dancing in the streets of Brazilian cities on Wednesday but for President Michel Temer’s government it was back to the reality of mounting corruption allegations that threaten its survival.

“Out with Temer” was a frequent chant against the unpopular president during the annual celebrations across a country hit by record unemployment and fed up with its political leaders.

On Wednesday afternoon the jailed former CEO of Brazil’s biggest engineering group, Marcelo Odebrecht, was questioned by a judge investigating donations made to Temer’s 2014 campaign, when he was the running mate for leftist leader Dilma Rousseff, who was impeached last year.

A source with access to Odebrecht’s deposition said he confirmed an illegal payment to Rousseff’s campaign manager Joao Santana, but added that he could not say if the then-president or her running mate knew about it.

Odebrecht said former finance minister Guido Mantega negotiated under-the-table donations for the 2014 campaign that totaled 300 million reais, but he denied they were bribes to obtain government contracts, the source said.

Odebrecht, who is seeking leniency to lower a 19-year sentence for corruption and money-laundering, said Temer did not directly request a donation at a dinner in 2014, though the matter was discussed in a general way.

The massive investigation into bribery and political kickbacks, dubbed Operation Car Wash, threatens to bring down members of Temer’s inner circle and has generated political uncertainty that is undermining business confidence and prolonging Brazil’s two-year recession.

Electoral court judge Herman Benjamin is seeking to determine if a 10 million reais ($3.2 million) contribution allegedly sought by Temer was paid from graft money, as claimed by another Odebrecht executive in plea bargain testimony.

Temer has said the donation was legal and duly registered, but Benjamin could recommend annulling the Rousseff-Temer ticket, which would lead to the president’s removal and election of a new leader by Congress if it is upheld by the full court.

The graft scandal endangers Temer’s efforts to push unpopular austerity reforms through Congress aimed at curbing a growing budget deficit that cost Brazil its investment grade credit rating in 2015.

“The President’s biggest challenge now is to prevent the Car Wash investigation paralyzing his reform agenda in Congress,” a Temer aide told Reuters, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the government’s worries.

The crisis will deepen in the next few weeks when Brazil’s top prosecutor Rodrigo Janot will ask the Supreme Court to make public plea bargain statements of 77 Odebrecht executives who are expected to name up to one-third of Brazil’s federal lawmakers for taking kickbacks.

Among the politicians at risk is Temer’s chief of staff, Eliseu Padilha, who is on medical leave after prostate surgery but will have to face questions about a package of 1 million reais he allegedly requested as part an undeclared contribution from Odebrecht.

A lawyer and longtime friend of Temer’s, José Yunes, has approached prosecutors to confirm the package was handed over at his office for Padilha but that he had no idea that it contained cash, leaving the chief of staff in a difficult position.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Andrew Hay)

Trump gives nod to Republican tax-credit proposal on Obamacare

President Donald Trump delivers his first address to a joint session of Congress. REUTERS/Jim Lo Scalzo

By Yasmeen Abutaleb

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump backed the use of tax credits to help people purchase health insurance in a speech to Congress on Tuesday, the first time he signaled support for a key component of House Republican proposals to replace Obamacare.

Republicans, who control the White House and Congress, are united in their opposition to former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature 2010 healthcare law, but have so far failed to agree on the details of how to replace it.

“We should help Americans purchase their own coverage, through the use of tax credits and expanded Health Savings Accounts,” Trump said. “But it must be the plan they want, not the plan forced on them by our government.”

Democrats are ardently opposed to tampering with Obamacare, which provided coverage to millions of previously uninsured people.

A draft Republican replacement for Obamacare would include an age-based monthly tax credit that Americans who do not get health insurance through their employer could use to buy coverage and take from job to job.

Some Republicans have voiced resistance to that plan.

The president’s comments were also a nod to health insurers – whom Trump met with on Monday – who say tax credits are necessary to keep people in the market.

“The fact that he used the word tax credits is a signal to congressional Republican ranks” that he supports their proposals, said Tom Miller, a resident fellow in health policy at the American Enterprise Institute think tank.

Trump also said Americans should be able to buy insurance across state lines, a proposal favored by health insurers because it would enable them to offer plans in states with fewer regulatory hurdles.

Trump said state governors should be given resources and flexibility on Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor, and ensure that “no one is left out.” That appeared to be an attempt to ease concerns from the more than 30 governors who expanded Medicaid coverage under Obamacare.

But Trump offered few details on how he would reconcile House Republican plans to unwind the expansion of Medicaid with promises to maintain coverage for those who gained health insurance under Obamacare.

He also reaffirmed that those with pre-existing conditions should have access to coverage but did not say how that would be accomplished.

(Editing by Nick Tattersall and Peter Cooney)

Trump recommits to U.S. allies but says they must pay ‘fair share’

President Trump addresses Joint Session of Congress. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

By Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Tuesday reaffirmed support for the United States’ longstanding security alliances around the world but insisted that friends and partners from Europe to the Middle East to the Pacific must “pay their fair share of the cost.”

In his first nationally televised speech to Congress since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump sought to reassure allies still uneasy over doubts he raised during the 2016 presidential campaign about his commitment to their defense and to maintaining a U.S. global leadership role.

But he also made clear that he expects those countries to shoulder more of the burden of their own security needs, echoing a campaign message that some allies had taken advantage of Washington’s generosity in providing them a security umbrella.

“Our foreign policy calls for a direct, robust and meaningful engagement with the world,” Trump told a joint session of Congress. “It is American leadership based on vital security interests that we share with our allies across the globe.”

He specifically assured NATO allies of his new administration’s continued commitment to the decades-old alliance. However, he made no mention of one of the main sources of European concern: his friendly overtures during the campaign toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We strongly support NATO, an alliance forged through the bonds of two World Wars that dethroned fascism and a Cold War that defeated communism,” Trump said.

“But our partners must meet their financial obligations,” he said. “And now, based on our very strong and frank discussions, they are beginning to do just that.”

Then, deviating from his prepared remarks, Trump added: “In fact, I can tell you the money is pouring in. Very nice.” But he offered no specifics.

Some critics had accused Trump of failing to recognize the benefit that accrued to the United States of having strong democratic allies helping to stabilize volatile areas like the Middle East, Ukraine and South Asia.

Trump’s remarks followed the deployment earlier this month of senior Cabinet members to Brussels, Bonn and Munich, Germany, aimed at calming European worries.

The Europeans heard from Defense Secretary James Mattis that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization military alliance was not “obsolete” after all, despite Trump’s suggestions to the contrary.

Vice President Mike Pence told them that Russia would be “held accountable” for its actions in Ukraine.

Mattis made his first foreign trip to South Korea and Japan, where he sought to ease concerns about what Trump’s self-styled “America First” strategy means for U.S. foreign policy in Asia.

While seeming to tackle some of the doubts of U.S. allies, Trump still made clear that he wanted them to do more.

“We expect our partners, whether in NATO, in the Middle East, or the Pacific, to take a direct and meaningful role in both strategic and military operations, and pay their fair share of the cost,” he said.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Russia looks for positive signals in Trump’s speech to Congress

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov sits near the Syrian national flag as he addresses a news conference in Damascus in this file photo dated June 28, 2014. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s deputy foreign minister said on Tuesdays that relations with the United States were at their lowest ebb since the Cold War, but hoped they could improve under U.S. President Donald Trump.

Russia will analyze Trump’s debut address to Congress later on Tuesday for signs of any change in the U.S. stance, Sergei Ryabkov told parliament in Moscow.

“It will be important to analyze those signals and approaches which will be a part of Trump’s first appearance as the head of a superpower,” the RIA news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying.

“It would be desirable to believe that changes in Washington will create a window of opportunity for an improvement of a dialogue between our countries.”

In Washington, Trump’s opponents accuse him of already getting too close to Moscow. A U.S. congressional committee is investigating contacts between Trump’s election campaign and Russia to see if there were any inappropriate communications.

Relations between the two nuclear powers are strained over a number of issues, including Ukraine, the war in Syria, and relations with Iran.

Ryabkov said Russia had not discussed with Washington the sanctions imposed over the annexation of Crimea, but said it would be easier for to work with the United States on the Syria crisis if they were lifted.

“We did not discuss and we do not discuss criteria for the lifting of sanctions. Restrictions in a number of areas are of course affecting us, but no more than the damage they cause to American exports,” the Itar TASS agency quoted Ryabkov as saying.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Polina Devitt and Robin Pomeroy)

Trump to lay out plans for America in upcoming speech to Congress

White House aide Omarosa Manigault (center R) directs traffic as U.S. President Donald Trump (center L) welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. February 27, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump gets a chance to put the rocky start to his presidency behind him on Tuesday night with a speech to the U.S. Congress where he will lay out his plans for the year including a healthcare overhaul and military buildup.

The speech at 9 p.m. (0200 GMT Wednesday) in the chamber of the House of Representatives will be Trump’s biggest chance yet as president to command a large prime-time audience and describe his agenda after a first month in office characterized by missteps, internal dramas and acrimonious disputes with the news media.

The address, which Trump has been writing with aide Stephen Miller and others, will include some gestures toward unifying a country polarized by a bitterly fought election and divided in the early days of his presidency.

An average of recent polls by Real Clear Politics put his approval rating at about 44 percent, low for a new president.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the theme of the speech to Congress, which is controlled by Trump’s fellow Republicans, would be “the renewal of the American spirit” and that it would be grounded in how to solve the problems of everyday Americans.

“He will invite Americans of all backgrounds to come together in the service of a stronger and brighter future for our nation,” Spicer told reporters on Monday.

Trump, whose inauguration speech on Jan. 20 painted a dark picture of the United States and referred to “American carnage,” told Reuters last week in an interview that his address would be a speech of optimism.

The president faces a host of questions going into his first speech before a joint session of Congress.

Specifics of his plan to overhaul former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law have not been released. He has yet to describe how to pay for a sharp increase in planned spending on rebuilding U.S. roads and bridges.

His proposals to cut taxes for millions of people and corporations have not been sketched out. His strategy for renegotiating international trade deals remains unclear. He took delivery on Monday of a Pentagon proposal for fighting Islamic State militants and must decide on it in the days ahead.

He seeks a big increase in defense spending but that plan includes a demand that non-defense federal agencies cut funds to offset the cost, painful reductions likely to face opposition in Congress. Some Republicans have said the proposed 10 percent defense spending increase is not enough to meet the military’s needs.

Asked in a Fox News interview broadcast on Tuesday how he would pay for the increased spending, Trump said, “I think the money is going to come from a revved up economy.”

His executive order temporarily banning people from seven Muslim-majority nations on national security grounds stirred protests and was put on hold by federal courts. He was expected to sign a replacement order on Wednesday.

DEMOCRATIC DISPLEASURE

Tim Albrecht, a Republican strategist in Iowa, said the speech was Trump’s best opportunity to date to explain where he wants to take the country. Albrecht doubted there would be much in the way of conciliatory language.

“Despite those at home or in the audience, he’s going to put forward what he believes needs to be done just as he did in the two years he ran for president,” he said. “As with everything in Trump land, conventional wisdom is thrown out the window.”

Democratic lawmakers plan to attend the speech and give their reactions to reporters afterward, as is the custom during similar events, according to congressional aides.

But at least one Democrat – Representative Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, has said he will protest Trump’s speech by refusing to applaud or give him a standing ovation, as also is a custom at presidential speeches.

Democrats aim to show their displeasure with Trump policies by inviting an array of guests to the House visitors’ galleries to highlight their opposition to his agenda.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois has invited Aaima Sayed, a medical student who participates in an Obama administration program that defers deportation for youths brought to the United States illegally. Trump has not given a definitive answer on whether he will leave the program in place.

Other Democratic guests include Muslim immigrants, an advocate of programs for people with disabilities and people who want new gun control measures.

Trump’s guest list illustrates some of his favorite themes: the widows of two California police officers killed by an illegal immigrant, a young woman who benefited from a Florida school choice program and the daughter of a pharmaceutical entrepreneur who founded his company to look for a cure for her illness.

Another guest will be Maureen Scalia, wife of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a hero to conservatives whom Trump hopes to replace on the court with Neil Gorsuch.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters on Monday that if Trump’s address was anything like his inaugural speech, “it will be a very sad evening for our country.”

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Ayesha Rascoe, Jeff Mason, Emily Stephenson, Doina Chiacu; Editing by Peter Cooney and Frances Kerry)

Democrats pick Perez to lead party against Trump

Democratic National Chair candidate, Tom Perez, addresses the audience as the Democratic National Committee holds an election to choose their next chairperson at their winter meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. February 25, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Berry

By Justin Mitchell

ATLANTA (Reuters) – U.S. Democrats elected former Labor Secretary Tom Perez as chairman on Saturday, choosing a veteran of the Obama administration to lead the daunting task of rebuilding the party and heading the opposition to Republican President Donald Trump.

Members of the Democratic National Committee, the administrative and fundraising arm of the party, picked Perez on the second round of voting over U.S. Representative Keith Ellison, a liberal from Minnesota.

Following one of the most crowded and competitive party leadership elections in decades, Perez faces a challenge in unifying and rejuvenating a party still reeling from the Nov. 8 loss of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. He immediately made Ellison his deputy.

After losing the presidency and failing to recapture majorities in Congress, party leaders are anxious to channel the growing grassroots resistance to Trump into political support for Democrats at all levels of government across the country.

“We are suffering from a crisis of confidence, a crisis of relevance,” Perez, a favorite of former Obama administration officials, told DNC members. He promised to lead the fight against Trump and change the DNC’s culture to make it a more grassroots operation.

Perez, the son of Dominican immigrants who was considered a potential running mate for Clinton, overcame a strong challenge from Ellison and prevailed on a 235-200 second-round vote. Ellison, who is the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress, was backed by liberal leader U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The showdown between candidates backed by the establishment and progressive wings of the party echoed the bitter 2016 primary between Clinton and Sanders, a rift Democrats will try to put behind them as they turn their focus to fighting Trump.

Those divisions persisted through the months-long race for chair, as many in the party’s liberal wing were suspicious of Perez’s ties to the establishment and some Democrats raised questions about possible anti-Semitism in Ellison’s past.

Some Ellison supporters chanted “Not big money, party for the people” after the result was announced.

But both Perez and Ellison moved quickly to bring the rival factions together. At Perez’s urging, the DNC suspended the rules after the vote and appointed Ellison the deputy chairman of the party.

“I am asking you to give everything you’ve got to support Chairman Perez,” Ellison told DNC members after the vote. “We don’t have the luxury, folks, to walk out of this room divided.”

‘TRUMP’S NIGHTMARE’

Perez said the party would come together.

“We are one family, and I know we will leave here united today,” Perez said. “A united Democratic Party is not only our best hope, it is Donald Trump’s nightmare.”

Perez and Ellison wore each other’s campaign buttons and stood shoulder-to-shoulder at a news conference after the vote. Perez said the two had talked “for some time” about teaming up, and Ellison said they had “good synergy.”

“We need to do more to collaborate with our partners in the progressive movement,” Perez said, adding he and Ellison would look for ways to “channel this incredible momentum” in the protests against Trump and against Republican efforts to repeal President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan.

Sanders issued a statement congratulating Perez and urging changes at the DNC.

“It is imperative that Tom understands that the same-old, same-old is not working,” Sanders said. “We must open the doors of the party to working people and young people in a way that has never been done before.”

The election offered the DNC a fresh start after last year’s forced resignation of chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who stepped aside when the release of hacked emails appeared to show DNC officials trying to help Clinton defeat Sanders in the primaries.

Both Perez and Ellison have pledged to focus on a bottom-up reconstruction of the party, which has lost hundreds of statehouse seats under Obama and faces an uphill task in trying to reclaim majorities in Congress in next year’s midterm elections.

Perez said he would redefine the role of the DNC to make it work not just to elect Democrats to the White House but in races ranging from local school boards to the U.S. Senate, pledging to “organize, organize, organize.”

“I recognize I have a lot of work to do,” he said. “I will be out there listening and learning in the weeks ahead.”

Perez fell one vote short of the simple majority of 214.5 votes needed for election in the first round of voting, getting 213.5 votes to Ellison’s 200. Also on the first ballot were four other candidates — Idaho Democratic Party Executive Director Sally Boynton Brown, election lawyer Peter Peckarsky, and activists Jehmu Greene and Sam Ronan.

Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, withdrew just before the voting, while Brown, Greene and Ronan dropped out after the first round.

(Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Diane Craft and Mary Milliken)

Philippine senator urges Cabinet to stop ‘sociopathic serial killer’ Duterte

Philippine Senator Leila de Lima gestures during a news conference at the Senate headquarters in Pasay city, metro Manila, Philippines September 22, 2016. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

MANILA (Reuters) – A staunch critic of Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday urged the Cabinet to declare the president unfit to rule, describing him as a “sociopathic serial killer” because of his war on drugs and allegations he once ran a hit squad.

Senator Leila de Lima, one of the few high-profile critics of Duterte’s crackdown, said Filipinos should rise up and Cabinet ministers had the duty to save the country from a president “of criminal thinking”.

De Lima is facing arrest on charges of involvement in the drugs trade, which she says are a vendetta for her leading a Senate investigation of allegations that Duterte had ordered unlawful killings of criminals while mayor of Davao City.

Duterte denied unlawful killings and the Senate investigation found no evidence to prove that.

She said new allegations made on Monday by a retired policeman, Arturo Lascanas, that Duterte had operated a “Davao death squad” should clear up any uncertainty.

Duterte’s lawyer and his spokesmen have rejected Lascanas’ claims.

“With the coming out of Lascanas, there’s no more doubt that our president is a murderer and a sociopathic serial killer,” De Lima told reporters.

“I will not retreat from this fight now that I know I am not alone. We are plenty already, so they should be scared. I call on all our countrymen that have yet to act, to hold responsible the murderer president of the country.”

The war on drugs has broad public support despite the killing of more than 7,700 people since Duterte took office on June 30, about 2,500 in police operations.

The cause of other deaths are much in dispute, attributed by police to vigilantism, turf wars, or everyday murders unrelated to drugs. Activists are convinced many are extrajudicial killings, carried out by police or with their encouragement.

Asked at a regular news briefing about De Lima’s remarks, Duterte’s spokesman, Ernesto Abella, said: “That’s colourful language”.

De Lima and several associates were last week charged in drug-related cases, based on the testimony of convicts and former prison officials at last year’s congressional inquiry on the drug trade in jails.

She has yet to be arrested and has filed a motion to quash the charges on the grounds the court had no jurisdiction.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel)