Friday morning news: July 13, 2018

President Trump arrives London » President Trump is in the U.K. this morning for his first official trip to Britain since taking office.

Not everyone welcomed the visit. Demonstrators gathered in London and outside Blenheim Palace north of Oxford, where the president dined with Prime Minister Theresa May last night.

AUDIO: … ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go… 

But the welcome inside the palace grounds was considerably warmer.

Topping the list of the issues the two leaders are expected to discuss during Trump’s visit is the prime minister’s so-called soft Brexit plan. President Trump said Thursday that May’s proposal could kill hopes of a future trade deal with the U.S. because the United States “would be dealing with the European Union instead of the U.K.”

May hopes to win over President Trump on her plan. She’s vowed to “tear down” the red tape the EU had put in the way of business.

After meetings today, the president and first lady will head to Windsor Castle to meet the queen.

Earlier in the day, Trump wrapped up two days of meetings at the NATO summit in Brussels. And despite public friction with some NATO members, he said he’s encouraged that some allies are beginning to invest more on defense.

TRUMP: Since last year they’ve raised an additional 33 billion dollars that’s been put up by the various countries, not including the United States.

He added that the United States remains strongly committed to NATO.

Some immigrant families still awaiting reunions » The Trump administration announced Thursday that all eligible young immigrant babies and toddlers have reunited with their parents. But dozens of children under 5 have not yet returned to their families. WORLD Radio’s Sarah Schweinsberg has more.

SARAH SCHWEINSBERG: Forty-six young children remain in government custody for various reasons. In some cases that’s due to safety concerns. In other instances the children’s parents are imprisoned or have been deported.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego issued a June 10th deadline to reunite children younger than 5 with their parents. Sabraw is scheduled to hold a court hearing this morning to decide whether the government is complying with the court’s demands.

The next deadline is July 26th. The court order says children 5 and older must be reunited with their parents by that date.

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Sarah Schweinsberg.

Peter Strzok testifies before Congress » FBI agent Peter Strzok was in the hot seat on Capitol Hill Thursday. Strzok is the agent at the center of a firestorm over anti-Trump text messages he exchanged with Lisa Page. Page was then a lawyer at the bureau.

Members of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committee grilled Strzok for hours on how his personal views affected his work on the Clinton email investigation and the Russia probe. Strzok worked on both investigations and he insisted …

STRZOK: Not once in my 26 years of defending our nation did my personal opinions impact any official action I took.

But House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy was not convinced. In one of several fiery exchanges, Gowdy noted that special counsel Robert Mueller kicked Strzok off of the Russia probe after finding those text messages.

GOWDY: If you were kicked off when he read the texts, shouldn’t you have been kicked off when you wrote them?

STRZOK: Not at all.

GOWDY: Well it wasn’t the discovery of your texts, Mr. Strzok, it was the—

STRZOK: My understand of why I got kicked off… No Mr. Gowdy it wasn’t. I do not have bias.

GOWDY: Well then why’d you get kicked off?

STRZOK: Mr. Gowdy, my understanding of why I got kicked off was that based on an understanding of those texts and the perception that they might create …

GOWDY: Well hang on a second agent Strzok…

Gowdy pointed out that, in one message, Strzok said Trump would not be elected president because—his words—“we’ll stop it.” Strzok testified that he doesn’t “recall writing that text.”

Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page is also on Capitol Hill this week. She initially blew off a congressional subpoena, refusing to show up for private questioning. But she is expected to testify today.

Government reopens Till case » The federal government has reopened an infamous 63-year-old murder investigation. WORLD Radio’s Anna Johansen reports.

ANNA JOHANSEN: The Department of Justice is reinvestigating the death of Emmett Till a black teenager murdered in 1955. Photographs of his mutilated body shocked the nation and his death became a catalyst for the civil rights movement.

At the time, Carolyn Donham told her husband and his brother that Till had made sexual advances toward her. The two men allegedly abducted Till, beat him, shot him, and threw his body in a river. They were charged in his death but later acquitted.

The Justice Department says it reopened the investigation after receiving new information.

That new info may have come from a book published last year about Till’s murder. In it, Carolyn Donham admitted to lying about what really happened. She said Till, in fact, did not harass her and did not deserve what happened to him.

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Anna Johansen.

I’m Kent Covington. Up next, John Stonestreet discusses the president’s Supreme Court pick. And, we mark 100 years of “God Bless America.” This is The World and Everything in It.

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais/pool) U.S. President Donald Trump, left, gestures while speaking during a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May in Buckinghamshire, England.

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