Kamala Harris more incompetent than Biden, Trump tells Elon Musk
Washington (PTI): Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is a “third-rate phoney candidate” and “more incompetent” than her boss President Joe Biden, her Republican rival in the November election, Donald Trump, has said.
In a much-anticipated audio-only interview with billionaire tech magnate Elon Musk on Monday on his social media platform X which was delayed by more than 40 minutes due to technical difficulties, the 78-year-old former president said, “She is a radical left lunatic," as he alleged that “she wants to be more Trump than Trump”.
Launching a scathing attack on the 59-year-old US Vice President, Trump described Harris as a “third-rate phoney candidate.” He reiterated his allegation that Biden being replaced by Harris as a presidential candidate of the Democratic party was a coup.
Musk agreed with the former president and said, "Her behaviour is far left.”
"She (Harris) had three and a half years, and by the way, they have another five months that they can do something. But they won't do anything. It's all talk," Trump said.
"She's incompetent, and he (Biden) is incompetent. And frankly, I think that she's more incompetent than he is, and that's saying something because he's not too good," he said.
Trump would face Harris in the general elections on November 5.
He accused Harris of having failed miserably on border security as hundreds and thousands of people entered the country illegally.
Asserting that he is in favour of legal immigration, Trump said it is illegal immigration that he is against.
“She is such a liar,” Trump alleged on X, previously known as Twitter, on the day when he returned to the social media platform.
Over a million people listened to the much-awaited audio-only conversation, which started more than 40 minutes late because of technical issues.
“There appears to be a massive DDOS ( distributed denial-of-service) attack on X. Working on shutting it down. Worst case, we will proceed with a smaller number of live listeners and post the conversation later,” Musk said in a post on X.
During the interview, both Musk and Trump agreed that the crime rate has increased in the US because of the open border policy of the Biden-Harris Administration.
“We're gonna have the largest deportation in the history of this country. And we have no choice,” said the former president.
Responding to a question from Musk, Trump also slammed Biden's foreign policy and applauded Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“I got along well with them,” he said, claiming there would have been no war if he was the president of the United States.
Meanwhile, Musk stressed that people respond to strength and not weakness and said, “We have some really bad people… we have some really bad people, and I say they are more dangerous than Russia and China.”
The biggest threat, he said, is not climate change but nuclear warming.
The conversation between Trump and Musk started with the failed assassination attempt on the former president in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
“It's very much, I say, an act of God. It's a miracle that it happened,” Trump said.
Commenting on the country's economy, he said the US is having the worst inflation in 100 years. Trump accused the Biden-Harris administration of the worsening of the US economy.
“We need to reduce our government spending. … We need, like a government efficiency commission,” Musk said.
Trump also told Musk, the 53-year-old CEO of Tesla, that he was an “interesting character”.
During the conversation, Trump described China as a primary competitor in Artificial Intelligence and announced that he would close down the Department of Education and move them to the states. In this, he said he would need Musk's help.
Trump, who has 88.8 million followers on X, had 10 posts on the social media platform, each of which has been viewed millions of times.
Some of his posts had 34 million impressions.
His first post, “Are you better off now than you were when I was president? Our economy is shattered. Our border has been erased. We're a nation in decline. Make the American Dream AFFORDABLE again. Make America SAFE again. Make America GREAT Again!” had 25 million impressions.
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2020 Delhi riots: Court orders framing of charges against 25 accused in head constable death case
New Delhi (PTI): A court here has ordered framing of several charges, including murder, arson and dacoity, against 25 accused in a 2020 northeast Delhi rioting case pertaining to the assault of a police team that left head constable Ratan Lal dead.
Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala also said the Constitution does not vest any right to a protester to use violence, assault, murder or damage any property. Therefore, the argument that the accused were exercising their constitutional rights, is totally misconceived, the court said.
The court was hearing the case against 27 people accused of being a part of a riotous mob that attacked and "brutally assaulted" a police team at the Chand Bagh protest site when officials tried to stop them from blocking the main Wazirabad road on February 24, 2020.
In its 115-page order passed on November 22, the court noted that Lal's postmortem report showed a firearm wound and 21 other external injuries.
"This firearm wound as well as five other wounds were found sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. Thus, the death of HC Ratan Lal took place because of the assault and gunfire shot received in the incident," the court said.
Lal, who was suffering from mild fever and was advised to rest by his colleagues, joined duty in view of the grave tension in the area under Dayalpur police station limits.
He helped the then DCP Shahdara DCP Amit Sharma and ACP Gokalpuri Anuj Kumar pacify a crowd and control it as the situation started heating up, the prosecution said.
Lal succumbed to 24 injuries he received while shielding officers when a riotous mob started attacking them.
Apart from Lal, the then DCP and ACP also sustained serious injuries, while 50 other policemen were also among the injured.
The court said on the day of the incident the protestors had a "clear objective" of resorting to violence so that they could show their strength to the government.
"The protesters not only gathered to show protest against CAA/NRC, rather they came well equipped with weapons with a mindset to use the same against the police force," it said, adding the riotous mob had the objective to "brutally" beat or assault the police officials wherever possible and also aimed to commit vandalism, loot and arson.
The court noted that a few days before the incident, a meeting was held, where it was decided to block the road and resort to violence when stopped by police.
"After the attempt to block main Wazirabad road on February 23, 2020, was neutralised by police, the emphasis on joining the protest in large numbers on February 24 and carrying weapons, shows that the organisers and speakers of the protest had framed a clear-cut mindset to attack police force," the court said, adding it was a preplanned criminal conspiracy.
"The preparations made to keep weapons in the tent of protest, or gathering of protesters equipped with different weapons, could not be a matter of coincidence. Moreover, keeping women and juveniles in the front to start pelting stones upon police, also appears to be a well-thought strategy," ASJ Pramachala said.
Noting the statements of the witnesses, the judge said there was a "persistent abetment" to incite violence by the organisers and speakers of the protest.
Ordering framing of charges of criminal conspiracy against 11 organisers and speakers of the anti-CAA/NRC meeting, the court said there was "prima facie" evidence against them.
The organisers were Mohammed Salim Khan, Saleem Malik, Mohammed Jalaluddin alias Guddu Bhai, Shahnawaz, Furkan, Mohammed Ayub, Mohammed Yunus, Athar Khan, Tabassum, Mohammed Ayaz and his brother Khalid.
The court also ordered framing charges against 14 other accused under various Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections for attacking the police team and rioting.
These include the provisions for murder, attempt to murder, attempt to commit culpable homicide, mischief by fire or explosive substance, causing grievous hurt to a public servant, committing rioting when armed with a deadly weapon, dacoity, unlawful assembly and sections of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
The 14 accused are Mohammed Sadiq, Suvaleen, Nasir, Arif, Mohammed Danish, Ibrahim, Badrul Hasan, Shadab Ahmed, Imran Ansari, Ravish Fatima, Adil, Sameer, Mohammed Mansur and Irshad Ali.
The matter has been posted on December 3 for formal framing of charges.
During the proceedings, the court also refused to entertain the argument of a defence counsel that his client Saleem Malik could not be prosecuted in the case as he was already being prosecuted in the larger conspiracy case.
It said, "Just because the accused is also named in the case of the larger conspiracy, he does not get exemption from prosecution in this case."
The judge, meanwhile, discharged one Mohammed Wasim alias Bablu, saying his identity as a part of the riotous mob was not established.
"Merely based on call detail records (CDRs) and appearance of this accused in some CCTV footages, which pertained to prior in time than the incident in question, I do not find sufficient evidence to presume that it was Wasim, who had thrown petrol bomb or that he was present in the mob."
The court also discharged another accused Sahid alias Shahbaz from whom a robbed pistol of a police official was recovered, saying he could be only charged under IPC section 412 (dishonestly receiving property stolen in the commission of a dacoity).
It said, "This accused cannot be presumed to be part of rioters, merely based on recovery of the robbed pistol. He is discharged for remaining charges."
The northeast Delhi riots, which started on February 24, 2020 and continued till February 26, 2020, resulted in the death of more than 50 people and lef over 200 people injured.
