Send Her Back: In a moment demonstrating that hatred of immigrants and non-whites will be a feature of his 2020 re-election campaign, President Trump stood nodding his head Wednesday night as a crowd in Greenville, NC chanted about Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, “Send her back! Send her back!”

  It’s the new “Lock her up!” and Trump stood approvingly with his chin up … saying nothing, and not discouraging his fans. 

  Trump claimed yesterday that he tried to stop the chant, but the video clearly shows that he did not. He let the chant go on for at least 10 seconds while doing nothing to stop it. Yesterday he said in his defense, “I didn’t say that. They did.”

  Omar is a naturalized American from Somalia. Rather than apologizing for a racist screed about sending a US citizen back to her original country, Trump has seized upon it as a feature for his campaign.

  Trump has challenged the patriotism of four Democratic congressional freshmen who’ve had the audacity to questions government policies. “They don’t love our country. They are so angry,” Trump said, lambasting the group as “hate filled extremists.” He said, “If they don’t like it let them leave, let them leave.”  Those are the words he claimed he never said.

   Omar is his primary target. The President has falsely claimed that Omar has defended the terrorist al Qaeda organization, which she has not. She has pointed out that when an American commits mass murder the perpetrator alone is investigated, but when a Muslim terrorist attacks, the entire faith is put under suspicion.

  Trump has demonstrated plenty of suspicion and hatred for Muslims. He tried to ban Muslims from entering the country and after the 9/11 attacks he falsely claimed that he saw television footage of a crowd of Muslims cheering in New Jersey. No such thing has ever surfaced.

Locked Up:A tough federal judge yesterday denied bail for accused child molester Jeffrey Epstein. “The government has established danger to others and to the community by clear and convincing evidence, and the government has established a risk of flight by a preponderance of evidence,” said US District Court Judge Richard Berman.

  Epstein had offered up his private jet and Manhattan mansion as collateral for bail. He had previously served 13 months of an 18-month sentence on a prostitution charge, but his current accusers say he continued to have sex with underage girls while he was out six days a week on work release.

It’s the Coverup:Federal search warrants released yesterday reveal how Donald Trump and his aides scrambled in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign to pay hush-money to cover up an affair and limit the bad news in the press.

  When Trump was first confronted with reports of the affair and the payment to quiet porn actress Stormy Daniels, he said he knew nothing about it. 

  The warrant also reveals that after the embarrassing “Access Hollywood” tape came out in which Trump bragged about grabbing women by the private parts,  there was a scramble to limit the damage. 

  Involved in the damage-control effort were Cohen, campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks, National Enquirer executives David Pecker and Dylan Howard, and Trump himself, according to the warrant. The documents reveal that Trump spoke with Cohen on the phone at least twice on the day that Cohen made a $131,000 wire transfer that would eventually go to porn actress Stormy Daniels. 

   The timing is important because prosecutors have claimed that Cohen acted “in coordination with and at the direction” of Trump when he made the payments, which were illegal under federal campaign finance laws.

Drone Down:The US amphibious assault ship Boxer shot down an Iranian drone that came within 1,000 yards as tensions between the US and Iran continue to rise, President Trump announced. 

  Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, told reporters at the United Nations that, “The drone issue is being investigated, but based on the latest news I have from Tehran, we have no information about losing a drone.” 

The News Roundup:At least 30 students at the University of Southern California are under investigation in the college admissions scandal in which kids were admitted with false credentials, many of them involving athletics. The students have been called in for grueling interviews by school officials. — President Trump nominated Gene Scalia, son of the late Supreme Court  Justice Antonin Scalia’s, to be the next secretary of labor. If confirmed, he’s expected to help dismantle protections for workers. — The number of people who died in an intentionally-set fire at a Japanese anime studio in Kyoto has risen from 20 to 33. The suspect is a 41-year-old man who didn’t work for the studio. He is reported to have shouted “You die!” as he set the fire.

The Obit Page:South Africa’s best-known musician Johnny Clegg, whose work fused the heritage of both black and white music, has died of pancreatic cancer at age 66. He was known as South Africa’s “White Zulu.” 

Rotten Potatoes: Maine Republican Susan Collins, who used to be one of the most popular senators, is now the second most unpopular behind Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. That comes from a poll by Morning Consult.

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