Trump Twitter photo attack backfires as Pelosi owns it

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., left, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Md., speak with reporters after a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019, in Washington. (File/AP/Alex Brandon)
Updated 17 October 2019
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Trump Twitter photo attack backfires as Pelosi owns it

  • Trump's Pelosi tweet has being used as a celebration of the Speaker
  • Celebrities who have rebuked the president for the tweet have included Mia Farrow

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s Twitter attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi following an acrimonious White House meeting appears to have backfired spectacularly.
Trump tweeted a picture of the encounter Wednesday showing a standing Pelosi pointing at the president while he and everyone else in the room was seated, with the caption “Nervous Nancy’s unhinged meltdown!“

However, far from being upset at the picture, Pelosi posted it as her Twitter banner, and her supporters said it showed her literally standing up to Trump.
“Can a woman beat Donald Trump? Yes. Speaker Pelosi does it every day,” Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar said as she retweeted the picture.
“Thanks for the new cover photo @realDonaldTrump!,” tweeted Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill.

Others pointed out that several members of Trump’s cabinet looked as if they would rather be somewhere else.
“The men on your right reflect the embarrassment we all feel,” tweeted actress Mia Farrow.
Pelosi has previously gone viral with her apparent trolling of Trump, with her slow clapping of his last State of the Union speech becoming an instant meme.
After leaving the White House meeting, told the press she prayed for the president and his family “all the time.”
“Now we have to pray for his health, because this was a very serious meltdown on the part of the president,” she said.
Hours later, Trump pressed suggested Pelosi had mental problems of her own.
“Nancy Pelosi needs help fast! There is either something wrong with her ‘upstairs,’ or she just plain doesn’t like our great Country. She had a total meltdown in the White House today. It was very sad to watch. Pray for her, she is a very sick person!,” Trump tweeted.
One of the Democrats who attended the meeting, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, said Trump launched into a “nasty diatribe” against them, while Pelosi said the president experienced a “meltdown.”
Trump’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham rejected the Democratic version of events, saying the president had been “measured and decisive,” and that Pelosi walking out was “baffling but not surprising.”
The meeting was the first face-to-face encounter between Trump and Pelosi since her explosive September 24 statement announcing a formal impeachment inquiry.


Israel arrests 2 Turkish CNN journalists over live broadcast outside IDF HQ

Updated 03 March 2026
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Israel arrests 2 Turkish CNN journalists over live broadcast outside IDF HQ

  • Police said reporter Emrah Cakmak and cameraman Halil Kahraman were detained on suspicion of filming a sensitive security facility
  • Since the Gaza war began, restrictions have expanded significantly, including tighter limits on filming soldiers on duty and sensitive or strategic sites

LONDON: Israeli police have arrested two Turkish CNN journalists who were broadcasting live outside the Israel Defense Forces’ headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Police said the pair were detained on suspicion of filming a sensitive security facility, according to the Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit.

Reporter Emrah Cakmak and cameraman Halil Kahraman, from the network’s Turkish-language channel, had been reporting near the IDF’s Kirya military headquarters on Tuesday after Iran launched another missile barrage at Tel Aviv and other parts of central Israel.

During the live broadcast, two men believed to be soldiers approached the crew and seized the reporter’s phone, according to initial reports and a video circulating online that could not be independently verified.

Police said officers were dispatched after receiving reports of two people carrying cameras and allegedly broadcasting in real time for a foreign outlet.

Israel’s long-standing military censorship system, overseen by the IDF Military Censor, has long barred journalists and civilians from publishing material deemed harmful to national security.

Since the Gaza war began, restrictions have expanded significantly, including tighter limits on filming soldiers on duty and sensitive or strategic sites.

After a series of similar incidents involving foreign media — most of them Palestinian citizens of Israel working for Arab-language and international media, along with foreign journalists — during the 12-Day War, Israeli police halted live international broadcasts from missile impact sites, citing concerns that exact locations were being revealed.

The Government Press Office later imposed a blanket ban on live coverage from crash and impact areas.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir subsequently ordered that all foreign journalists obtain prior written approval from the military censor before broadcasting — live or recorded — from combat zones or missile strike locations.

Police said that when officers asked the CNN Turk crew to identify themselves, they presented expired press cards and were taken in for questioning.

Burhanettin Duran, head of Turkiye’s Directorate of Communications, condemned the arrests as an attack on the press and said Ankara is working to secure the journalists’ release.