Democratic Senators Demand Answers on That Diamond Ring Trump Got

Donald Trump accepted a massive diamond ring months ago. What happened to it?

President Trump accepted a diamond ring as a gift in June and seems to have stashed it away somewhere.

Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal are asking what happened to the “18-karat gold ring encrusted with 321 diamonds and 75 gemstones that the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) gifted to President Trump,” in a letter addressed to the director of presidential gifts, the head of the General Services Administration, and the archivist of the United States.

“To date, we are not aware of any public reporting indicating the current location of the ring,” Warren and Blumenthal wrote in the letter, first reported by Newsweek. The AWDC, which represents the diamond trading industry in Antwerp, Belgium, delivered the ring to the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, Bill White, a few weeks before the White House announced that European diamonds would be exempt from tariffs.

Warren and Blumenthal said when they asked the AWDC if the gift was a bribe to Trump, they were told it was a gift to the American people, not the president. The organization denied any connection between the tariff exemption and the ring, estimated to be worth close to $30,000, in a statement in August.

“The discussion about U.S. import ‌tariffs was entirely separate from [the gifted ‌ring],” the organization said.

In July, the White House claimed the ring had not been presented to Trump, the senators wrote. Federal law states that gifts given to the president by anyone other than a foreign government have to be screened, categorized, and evaluated by the White House Gift Office.

“If a gift is made to the President personally, it may be retained by the President, while those made out to the government of the United States are cataloged and distributed to the appropriate government agency,” Blumenthal and Warren’s letter states. “The circumstances in which AWDC gifted this ring, and the lack of clarity about its disposition, raise significant questions about whether the President has in fact accepted the ring as part of a quid pro quo agreement to reduce diamond tariffs.”

Trump has a history of taking gifts that are ethically questionable at best, like that luxury private jet from the government of Qatar. His lack of transparency could mean that the ring has been hidden away in the White House or one of his estates.

Trump Makes Unhinged Claim About French School Protests

Where did Donald Trump even get this idea?

Students across France are protesting underfunded and understaffed schools, but President Donald Trump has decided to co-opt the movement for his own xenophobic aims.

In a post on Truth Social Tuesday, the U.S. leader claimed that “what’s happening in France is nothing less than out of control mass migration.”

“This isn’t about schools, this is about Islam wanting to take over a once great Country!” Trump wrote.

But there’s no evidence for that. Since September 17, students, parents, and teachers in 40 French cities have collectively closed hundreds of high schools in protest of poor classroom conditions and deteriorating schools, demanding smaller class sizes and better funding for the country’s educational system.

Since then, portions of the nationwide demonstration have directed some of the anger toward police brutality and the racism underlying it. Protesters have been spotted with signs reading “ACAB,” an anti–law enforcement slogan that stands for “All cops are bastards,” and “We are all antifascists.” Others have been spotted with signs expressing anger at France’s government, as well as the National Rally, the country’s far-right party.

Immigration has not been a part of the conversation in France—but that hasn’t stopped far-right American thought leaders from weaponizing the protests for their own political gain stateside.

Ex-InfoWars host Alex Jones, who still owes Sandy Hook victims $1.4 billion for claiming the school shooting........

© New Republic