11/13/2017

FOREIGN POLICY/PHILIPPINES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Those hoping President Donald Trump would use a bilateral meeting with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday [11-13-17] to publicly denounce the country’s violent war on drug users were instead treated to platitudes about the weather…
Trump ignored shouted questions from reporters about whether he’d press Duterte on human rights…
While Trump didn’t mention human rights in front of reporters, the White House said the issue ‘briefly’ came up once journalists were escorted out of the room…
But Duterte spokesman Harry Roque reportedly denied human rights came up during the conversation.
During a meeting earlier Monday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Trump ignored similar queries from journalists.
Trump’s face to face meeting with Duterte comes as the Philippines’ leader has waged a violent anti-drug offensive.”

-Andrew Restuccia, “Trump skirts human rights questions in Duterte meeting,” Politico, Nov. 13, 2017 04:12pm