lashes

Reporting from Washington — President Trump could contain his anger for only so long — about 14 hours — before lashing out on Twitter on Thursday to protest “the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!”

But in attacking Wednesday’s appointment of former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III as a special counsel to head the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and any role that Trump’s associates may have played, the president risks alienating potential supporters in his own party.

He could create an enemy out of a prosecutor who commands both a vast army of investigators and bipartisan respect.

And, yet again, he has undercut advice from top Republicans inside and outside the White House who say that an independent investigation could help Trump. If only he could control his evident anxiety about the case, the secrecy of a special counsel investigation could keep the story out of the daily headlines, they say. And Mueller’s credibility could provide exoneration for the president and his aides if the investigation finds that they have done nothing wrong.

The mix of grievance, hyperbole and defiance in Trump’s response, however, was hardly surprising at this point in his public life. His statements fit a pattern he long ago established of fighting back against enemies real or perceived and of seldom letting go of a grudge.

In a second tweet, Trump complained that President Obama and Hillary Clinton had not been subjected to the same treatment.

“With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special counsel appointed!” he wrote. He initially misspelled counsel as “councel” before sending a corrected tweet.

Trump did not specify what he meant by illegal acts.

During a lunch with television anchors ahead of a nine-day foreign trip that is scheduled to begin Friday, Trump continued to criticize the special counsel appointment.

He called the investigation “a pure excuse for the Democrats” for losing the election. “It hurts our country terribly,” he said. “It shows we’re a divided, mixed-up, not unified country.”

At a joint news conference later in the day with the visiting president of Colombia, Trump took a slightly more muted tone.

“I respect the decision” to appoint Mueller, he said, before adding that he believed the “entire thing” was “a witch hunt.”

“There’s no collusion between, certainly, myself and my campaign — but I can always speak for myself — and the Russians — zero,” he said. He appeared to mean that he could “only” speak for himself.

“There is no collusion,” he repeated several times.

He also emphatically said, “No, no,” when asked whether he had urged then-FBI Director James B. Comey to back off an investigation of Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor. Comey, in a memo reportedly written for his files, said that Trump had made such a request at a meeting in the Oval Office on Feb. 14.

Trump’s lashing out is not unique. President Clinton, for example, was known to rage about what he saw as the unfairness of the long-running special prosecutor investigations his administration faced. Clinton, however, kept his red-faced fury to private conversations, and, of course, Twitter didn’t exist.

But neither is Trump’s very public display of anger a completely irrational move. Trump and some of his advisors clearly see anger over the investigation as a way to unite his core supporters against a common enemy at a time when at least some of his voters have begun showing signs, in polls, of wavering.

In fundraising emails Thursday, Trump boasted that he had set a new postelection high for his campaign in online money raising despite “unrelenting and unprecedented political attacks against a sitting president” by the media and political establishment.

“The American people sent President Trump to Washington not to get along with the establishment but to repair the damage done to our economy and our prestige around the world by their policies and practices,” he wrote.

Trump’s instinct to battle, however, and the political desire to use the fight to unite his supporters is at odds with the strategy that many of his advisors would prefer — one closer to the approach other administrations have used of trying to insulate the White House’s daily functions from scandal.

Clinton’s press office hired an outside agency to handle questions about the investigation that eventually led to his impeachment over the Monica Lewinsky affair. Although it did not end the saga for him, it did take some of the pressure off his White House staff, allowing them to speak more about policy during public briefings.

Wednesday night, the White House seemed to be inching toward a similar goal, issuing a statement that offered muted approval of the investigation and urged a speedy conclusion.

Congressional Republican leaders appeared to be following that playbook Thursday.

After Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein briefed senators on the investigation, several Republican lawmakers suggested that with Mueller in place, the time had come for congressional committees to scale back their investigations, which involve highly public hearings, and allow the special counsel to carry out his probe, which can be expected to offer fewer headlines until it reaches a conclusion.

The appointment of Mueller “has really limited what Congress can do,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). “This was a counter-intelligence investigation. It is now a criminal investigation.”

Trump’s advisors have been frustrated that he has so often failed to stick to such strategies.

“Clearly they’re not on the same page, but I don’t know why,” said Barry Bennett, a former advisor to Trump’s campaign who has friends serving in the White House.

Bennett said Trump continues to rely mostly on advice from “his New York buddies” — friends closer to his age and wealth whom he respects more, but who lack experience in politics and communications. Like others, Bennett expects Trump to shake up his staff, dispensing with Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, upon his return from the foreign trip.

Anxiety over a potential staff shakeup, Bennett said, has left those inside with even less clout to advise the president.

“It’s a combination of his frustration and people’s exhaustion,” he said.

But another person in close contact with White House staff, who requested anonymity to discuss the issue, said many of Trump’s aides remain devoted and united behind the task of defending him. The stress staffers are feeling is endemic to any White House, the person said.

“Anybody that’s surprised by” Trump’s disdain for listening to his press team and political advisors “should have been paying attention to the campaign,” the person said. “To think it would be any different in the White House makes you dumb.”

With the rush of events at home, Trump’s overseas trip now promises to be even more fraught for the new president.

Trump would like the trip to be shorter, a White House official said. His son-in-law and close advisor, Jared Kushner, orchestrated the stops in Saudi Arabia and Israel, which lengthened a trip that originally was designed to go only to Italy and NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Trump liked the broader mission, but being away from a familiar bed for more than a week is difficult for him. He is often teased by his children as being a “homebody,” the official said.

One person who will be staying behind is Trump’s strategic advisor Stephen K. Bannon. He has stepped back from foreign policy in the last two months as Kushner showed he had more influence with the president in that arena.

The last several days offered a preview of how the current distractions, combined with Trump’s disdain for scripted protocols, could leave the president ill-prepared for his debut abroad.

On Tuesday, Trump repeatedly mispronounced the name of Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the Turkish president stood beside him. He also appeared bored or distracted when Erdogan spoke, coming to life when the Turkish president injected some fulsome praise for Trump and his election victory.

On Thursday, he appeared to struggle to keep focus while Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, was speaking.

Over the last two weeks, Trump’s official schedule was relatively light as aides made time for him to cram on geopolitics for a trip that will take him from the complexities of the Middle East to summit meetings with skeptical-to-hostile leaders in Europe.

Presidents usually sit through “pre-trip briefings galore” before foreign visits, said Michael Allen, who was an advisor to President George W. Bush.

Before Bush traveled, his White House chief of staff would carve out extensive time for senior directors on the National Security Council and other experts to brief the president. Allen said the briefings could get quite precise: “This is what you will see, what they will say, what you might discuss, what you need to know.”

But with Trump, said a Republican who formerly worked in the White House, “the trouble will be if he goes off script. Trump can’t control himself.”

At the same time, the official said, everywhere “he will be treated to respect and pageantry. Trump will eat of lot of that up.”

[email protected]

Twitter: @noahbierman

Times staff writer Michael Memoli contributed to this article

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UPDATES:

2:45 p.m.: This article was updated with quotes from President Trump’s news conference and other additional details.

This article was first published at 7:30 a.m.

Ostapenko unleashed a verbal volley at her American opponent for being disrespectful during their second-round match.

Jelena Ostapenko accused Taylor Townsend of lacking “class” during a furious on-court confrontation between the two players after their second-round match at the US Open, where the unseeded American defeated the 25th-seeded Ostapenko 7-5, 6-1.

Ostapenko spoke sharply to Townsend during a cold handshake at the net at the end of the match on Wednesday.

Townsend at one point said “I don’t have to do anything” to Ostapenko, who repeatedly pointed at her opponent. The American eventually walked away and shook the chair umpire’s hand and proceeded to whip the crowd into a frenzy.

“She told me I have no education, no class, and to see what happens if we play each other outside of the US,” Townsend told reporters after the match.

“I said, I’m excited, bring it. I’ve never been the one to back down from anything like that. I just thought that it was really interesting.

“There’s no beef. But again, like you guys saw, I didn’t back down because you’re not going to insult me, especially after I carried myself a certain type of way with nothing but respect.

“If I show respect to you, I expect respect as well. That’s just the fact of the matter … it was unfortunate, but, you know, it’s something I can put on my TikTok.

“The thing I’m the most proud of is that I let my racket talk. Because ultimately, I’m the one here sitting in front of you guys moving on to the next round, getting the next cheque, moving on … and that’s what’s the most important.

“She’s packed up and she’s gone. I’m here, and that’s the only thing that matters.”

‘Very disrespectful’

Ostapenko said in a post on Instagram that she had been angered by Townsend’s failure to acknowledge a net cord in her favour during the match.

The 28-year-old also accused Townsend of breaching etiquette by starting her pre-match warm-up at the net.

“Today after the match I told my opponent that she was very disrespectful as she had a net ball in a very deciding moment and didn’t say sorry. But her answer was that she doesn’t have to say sorry,” Ostapenko wrote.

“There are some rules in tennis which most of the players follow and it was first time ever that this happened to me on tour.

“If she plays in her homeland it doesn’t mean that she can behave and do whatever she wants.”

Ostapenko’s explanation failed to impress Townsend when she was informed of the Latvian’s remarks.

“I mean, it’s sports,” Townsend said. “I feel like people have gotten a little bit soft. I’m not going to lie. It’s sports. People talk trash. You know, people say things. Whatever, people get mad.

“Everyone has a right to feel how they feel. The problem is, don’t push your expectations on me. If you expect for someone to apologise and they don’t and you get upset about it, that’s your fault, not mine.”

Ostapenko received words of support from world number one Aryna Sabalenka, who revealed after her late-night match that she had spoken with the Latvian following the incident.

“I have to say that she’s nice,” Sabalenka said of Ostapenko. “Just sometimes she can lose control over her emotions, which is pretty tough.

“I’m pretty sure, looking back, she’s not happy with her behaviour.”

Aug. 18 (UPI) — Hurricane Erin’s outer bands were beginning to lash the southeast Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands early Monday after regaining Category 4 strength overnight.

The storm was located about 110 miles northeast of Grand Turk Island and 935 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., the National Hurricane Center said in its 2 a.m. AST update.

It was moving northwest at 12 mph and was packing maximum sustained winds of 130 mph.

Forecasters are warning of life-threatening surf and rip currents across the eastern United States this week.

The season’s first Atlantic hurricane reached Category 5 status Saturday morning, the highest classification, after rapidly intensifying overnight. It became a Category 1 hurricane on Friday, the year’s fifth named storm.

Erin dropped to a Category 4 and then a 3 overnight into Sunday, but regained Category 4 strength late Sunday.

“Since the large-scale environment is expected to be favorable for about another day, re-strengthening is possible during that time period,” NHC forecaster John Cangialosi said. “However, it should be noted that predicting the intensity evolution from internal dynamics are challenging, and models often provide Little reliability in their solutions.”

The storm was skirting Puerto Rico overnight rather than hitting it directly.

On the forecast track, Erin’s core is projected to pass to the east and northeast of the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas over Monday, and then move between Bermuda and the U.S. east coast by the middle of the week

Erin’s outer bands will produce additional rainfall of 2 to 4 inches across the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, with isolated totals of up to 8 inches through Monday. “Locally considerable flash and urban flooding, along with landslides or mudslides, are possible,” the NHC said.

Also, swells will affect those places, as well as Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands, during the next couple of days, the agency said.

“Erin is expected to produce life-threatening surf and rip currents along the beaches of the Bahamas, much of the East Coast of the U.S., Bermuda, and Atlantic Canada during the next several days,” Cangialsi said.

He said interests along the North Carolina and mid-Atlantic coasts, as well are Bermuda “should monitor the progress of Erin as there is a risk of strong winds associated with the outer rainbands during the middle of next week.”

Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist, said portions of North Carolina’s Outer Banks and coastal Virginia will experience several feet of storm surge, leading to significant coastal flooding and beach erosion.

He said the closest landmass for Erin to hit could be southeastern Newfoundland in Canada on Friday.

Erin became the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic storm season two days ago.

There have been four named storms so far this season in the Atlantic. Tropical Storm Chantal caused major flooding in North Carolina but has been the only one of the four to make landfall in the United States this year.

The Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1 and ends on Nov. 30. The peak hurricane season runs from mid-August through September and into mid-October.

Ninety-three percent of hurricane landfalls along the U.S. Gulf Coast and the East Coast have occurred from August through October, the Weather Channel reported in citing data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Last year at this time, there had also been five named storms.

The U.S. East Coast is forecast to have rough ocean conditions through the middle of the week as the storm strengthens, the National Hurricane Center said. Tropical storm warnings were issued for the southeast Bahamas, about 300 miles east of Miami, and Turks and Caicos Islands.