The Wall Street Journal - 22.08.2019

A6| Thursday, August 22, 2019 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

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April Fool’s Day joke.”

Ms. Frederiksen on Sunday

told the Greenland-based

newspaper Sermitsiaq she

hoped the president wasn’t

serious.

On Tuesday evening, Mr.

Trump said in a tweet he was

postponing his meeting with

the prime minister. The White

House later said the whole

trip to Denmark, including a

scheduled dinner with Queen

Margrethe II, was canceled.

“The Prime Minister was

able to save a great deal of

expense and effort for both

the United States and Den-

mark by being so direct. I

thank her for that and look

forward to rescheduling

sometime in the future!” Mr.

Trump tweeted.

“I had been looking for-

ward to the visit,” Ms. Fred-

eriksen said Wednesday. “Our

preparations were well under

way.”

Hours before the president

canceled the trip, Carla Sands,

the U.S. ambassador to Den-

mark, tweeted a photo of a

Trump banner and wrote:

“Denmark is ready for the PO-

TUS @realDonaldTrump visit!

Partner, ally, friend.”

skepticism and scorn. Green-

land’s Ministry of Foreign Af-

fairs tweeted last week:

“We’re open for business, not

for sale.”

Other politicians were

harsher in their re-

sponses. Søren Espersen, for-

eign-affairs spokesman for the

Danish People’s Party, told

public broadcaster DR, “If it is

true that he works with those

thoughts, then it is definitive

proof that he has gone

crazy.” Lars Løkke Rasmussen,

who served as prime minister

of Denmark until June,

tweeted that it “must be an

Hats Off for 111-Year-Old’s Birthday Celebration

LIFE OF THE PARTY: Hazel Nilson, who was born in 1908 in Chicago, celebrated her 111th birthday Wednesday with peach cupcakes.

A lifelong Cubs fan, she was serenaded with ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ at an assisted living facility in Sunapee, N.H.

TONY VENTI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

2020 ELECTION

Jay Inslee Drops Out

Of Democratic Race

Jay Inslee, the Democratic

governor of Washington state

who had been running for presi-

dent on a platform focused on

climate change, announced he

was ending his White House bid.

His departure leaves roughly

two dozen candidates vying for

the Democratic nomination.

“It’s become clear that I’m not

going to be carrying the ball,”

Mr. Inslee said Wednesday night

on MSNBC. “I’m not going to be

the president, so I’m withdraw-

ing tonight from the race.”

Mr. Inslee tethered his cam-

paign almost exclusively to a

message about the environment.

He said he was confident the

eventual Democratic nominee

would tackle climate change if

elected president. “I believe we

are going to have a candidate to

fight this battle,” he said.

Mr. Inslee appeared in two de-

bates hosted by the Democratic

National Committee but seemed

unlikely to make the stage at the

next debates in September.

—Joshua Jamerson

MIT

Researchers Quit Lab

Over Its Epstein Ties

Two prominent researchers

are quitting MIT’s Media Lab

over revelations that the famed

technology research hub and its

director took money from Jef-

frey Epstein after he had served

time for sex offenses involving

girls and young women.

Ethan Zuckerman, director of

the lab’s Center for Civic Media,

said director Joi Ito had failed to

disclose the deceased financier’s

funding of the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology incubator

as well as investments Mr. Ep-

stein made in Mr. Ito’s personal

venture capital fund.

Visiting scholar Nathan Mat-

ias said in a blog post that he,

too, was severing ties with the

Media Lab over business rela-

tions with Mr. Epstein, who

killed himself in his jail cell on

Aug. 10 while awaiting trial.

An MIT spokesman didn’t re-

spond to questions about how

much Mr. Epstein contributed to

the Media Lab, or to what proj-

ects.

—Associated Press

TEXAS

Man Is Executed

For 1998 Slaying

A Texas death-row inmate

who argued that his conviction

was based on junk science was

executed for the abduction, rape

and killing of a suburban Hous-

ton community-college student

more than 20 years ago.

Larry Swearingen, 48 years

old, received a lethal injection

Wednesday for the 1998 killing

of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter.

Mr. Swearingen had always

maintained his innocence in Ms.

Trotter’s death. “Lord, forgive

them,” he said after the warden

asked if he had a final state-

ment. “They don’t know what

they’re doing.”

Prosecutors said they stood

behind the “mountain of evi-

dence” used to convict Mr.

Swearingen in 2000. They de-

scribed him as a sociopath.

Mr. Swearingen had long tried

to cast doubt on the evidence

used to convict him, particularly

claims by prosecution experts

that Ms. Trotter’s body had been

in the woods for 25 days.

—Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA

Ex-Commissioner

Denies Retaliation

Two female police officers

whose sexual-harassment law-

suit led Philadelphia’s police

commissioner to resign have re-

ceived promises from the city

they won’t be retaliated against

or endure more transfers while

the case plays out.

The women say their com-

plaints of being physically and ver-

bally harassed by supervisors and

colleagues were ignored for years

by department brass. One accuses

former Commissioner Richard

Ross of failing to help because

she had broken off a romantic re-

lationship with him. Mr. Ross de-

nied any retaliation on Wednes-

day, a day after his resignation.

The women say that since

raising gender- and race-based

complaints, they have been as-

signed rotating shift work, given

undesirable jobs and suffered

stress-related medical problems.

Mr. Ross on Wednesday said

his resignation was voluntary

and he has “never sought retri-

bution on a person.”

—Associated Press

WASHINGTON—President

Trump criticized Denmark’s

prime minister and accused

her of “blowing off the

U.S.,” a day after he canceled

a scheduled trip to Denmark

because she rejected possible

talks about selling Greenland

to the U.S.

Prime Minister Mette Fred-

eriksen had said a potential

sale of Greenland was “an ab-

surd discussion,” though she

said a closer relationship with

the U.S. was welcome.

Speaking to reporters on

the South Lawn of the White

House on Wednesday, Mr.

Trump said the remarks were

inappropriate. “I thought the

prime minister’s statement

that it was an absurd idea was

nasty,” he said. “All she had to

do was say ‘No, we wouldn’t

be interested.’ ”

He added: “She’s not talk-

ing to me. She’s talking to the

United States of America. You

don’t talk to the United States

that way, at least under me.”

A person close to the White

House said the president felt

Denmark was trying to em-

barrass him in its response to

his desire to buy Greenland,

and that led to his cancella-

tion of the trip.

The Wall Street Journal

first reported last week that

Mr. Trump had discussed with

advisers his desire to buying

Greenland, an autonomous

Danish territory, and had

asked his White House coun-

sel to look into the matter.

Mr. Trump on Sunday con-

firmed the report, but said

the issue wasn’t “No. 1 on the

burner.”

Following the Journal’s re-

port, politicians in Denmark

and Greenland responded with

BYREBECCABALLHAUS

ANDALEXLEARY

Trump Blasts Denmark’s Leader

For Spurning Sale of Greenland

The president felt Denmark was trying to embarrass him, a person said. Greenland’s capital, Nuuk.

CHRISTIAN KLINDT SØLBECK FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

pand on Mr. Trump’s com-

ments.

Under federal law, licensed

firearms dealers must conduct

background checks of purchas-

ers to screen out convicted

criminals and others ineligible

to own firearms, but many pri-

vate transactions are exempt.

Lawmakers in both parties

have proposed expanding the

required checks to private

firearm sales made at gun

shows or online. The Demo-

cratic-controlled House also

passed legislation increasing

the amount of time authorities

have to vet individuals before

they can purchase a weapon.

In his comments Wednes-

day, Mr. Trump said he didn’t

tell National Rifle Association

Chief Executive Wayne LaPi-

erre in a telephone call Tues-

day that background checks

were off the table. “We had a

great talk with Wayne yester-

day. Didn’t say anything about

that, just talked about con-

cepts.” He added: “Wayne

agrees things have to be done

also.”

An NRA spokesman said the

organization doesn’t comment

on private conversations and

didn’t respond to a request to

comment on Mr. Trump’s new

remarks.

WASHINGTON—President

Trump said he favors beefed-

up background checks for gun

buyers, but offered no clarifi-

cation of his stance amid signs

he was backing away from

stricter rules under pressure

from gun-rights activists.

“We are going to be doing

background checks. We are go-

ing to be working with Demo-

crats, we are working with Re-

publicans,” Mr. Trump told

reporters on Wednesday. “We

already have very strong back-

ground checks but we are go-

ing to be filling in some of the

loopholes.”

Mr. Trump didn’t elaborate

on what those loopholes are or

on the state of any talks with

lawmakers, and his comments

didn’t clear up where he

stands on guns following the

mass shootings this month in

Texas and Ohio.

The president added that he

supported allowing access to

records of juvenile criminals to

help determine who among

them might pose a threat.

At the same time, Mr.

Trump said he was wary of

too much new gun regulation.

“It’s a slippery slope,” he said.

The White House didn’t ex-

BYALEXLEARY

President Insists He Still

Backs Gun-Buyer Rules

border-funding bill, which cen-

trists favored and progressive

members attacked. The border

bill led to a renewed public

feud between Mrs. Pelosi and

four progressive Democratic

women.

The speaker has also told

lawmakers to make her the

target of criticism in debates

over polarizing policies such

as Medicare for All, aiming to

deflect heat from members of

her caucus.

The final years of her first

tenure holding the gavel played

out differently. Mrs. Pelosi in

2009 pressed the climate-

change measure known as cap-

and-trade, which called for the

government to set a limit on

greenhouse-gas emissions and

allowed businesses to trade for

allowances for emissions. The

bill passed the House with 219

votes, but failed to attract sup-

port from enough Democrats in

the Senate.

In that same session, dur-

ing Mr. Obama’s first term,

Democrats passed an eco-

nomic-stimulus package and

the Affordable Care Act, an

overhaul of the nation’s

health-insurance system that

the party had long prized.

Mrs. Pelosi won over moderate

Democrats, many of whom

were worried about the politi-

cal impact of heightened gov-

ernment spending. Both pieces

of legislation passed with only

Democratic votes.

The health-care legislation

fueled the conservative move-

ment known as the tea party.

Fury over its passage led to

Republicans winning the

House majority in 2010,

though the health law now

polls favorably.

While Mrs. Pelosi has never

said she regretted the cap-

and-trade vote, numerous

aides and former lawmakers

point to its failure as a turning

point. “I think she learned that

you can succeed if you push,

but you succeed even more if

you bring everyone with you,”

said Xavier Becerra, a Demo-

crat who served in Congress

from 1993 to 2017 and is now

California’s attorney general.

Nancy Pelosi, a self-de-

scribed liberal, is taking a dif-

ferent approach on leading her

party in her second turn as

speaker of the House, one

more mindful of the needs of

moderates who were key to

Democrats retaking the cham-

ber in November.

Mrs. Pelosi—who won the

speakership again in January

over opposition from newly

elected Democrats in conserva-

tive districts—has pushed back

against progressive lawmakers

on a range of issues to protect

her party’s most vulnerable

members. That stands in con-

trast to how she managed a

high-profile climate bill a de-

cade earlier, which forced cen-

trist lawmakers into tough votes

and eventually failed in the

Democratic-controlled Senate.

While the comparison to

2009 has limits—Mrs. Pelosi

pushed liberal legislation

through during President

Obama’s first term, when

Democrats also controlled the

Senate—it shows Mrs. Pelosi’s

desire to find a common de-

nominator in the caucus and

focus on protecting the Demo-

cratic majority in an era when

her party controls only half of

one branch of government.

On a number of issues, Mrs.

Pelosi focuses on the threat of

a possible voter backlash

against Democrats in districts

President Trump won in 2016,

which could threaten her

party’s hold on the chamber in

2020 elections. Most of the

key legislation Democrats have

passed this year has had near-

universal support in the cau-

cus, such as legislation to ex-

pand background checks for

gun purchases. Democrats

have a 38-seat advantage over

the GOP in the House, after

flipping 43 seats held by Re-

publicans during the last mid-

term cycle.

She has pressed for a

slower approach on possible

impeachment of Mr. Trump,

despite growing numbers of

lawmakers calling for opening

an impeachment inquiry, in-

cluding most recently New

Mexico Rep. Ben Ray Luján,

the No. 4 House Democrat.

“The majority of the coun-

try is not in favor of it, the

majority of Congress is not in

favor of it,” said Daniel Weiss,

Mrs. Pelosi’s former chief of

staff.

Mrs. Pelosi is steering the

caucus in a center-left direc-

tion and has protected at-risk

Democratic lawmakers from

votes that could be used

against them by Republicans

in 2020. A July bill increasing

the minimum wage was

amended to satisfy centrists,

and in June she took up a Sen-

ate version of an emergency

BYNATALIEANDREWS

Pelosi Focuses

On Protecting

House Majority

The speaker takes

different tack from

early Obama years,

when GOP won big.

ERIN SCOTT/REUTERS