West Wing Read

Green and Gold for Australia at Trump’s 2nd State Dinner Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will dine "under the stars in a Rose Garden arrayed in shades of green and gold in tribute to his country’s national colors when President Donald Trump hosts his first state dinner in more than a year on Friday,” Darlene Superville reports in The Associated Press.   This morning, President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his wife, Jenny, to the White House with a military arrival ceremony on the South Lawn. A day filled with meetings and special events will conclude with an elegant State Dinner in the Rose Garden, just outside the Oval Office.   “As he arrived in Washington on Thursday night, Morrison said he looked forward to celebrating 100 years of ‘mateship’ between the U.S. and Australia.”   Click here to read more.

“In an exclusive interview on ‘Fox & Friends’ Thursday, President Trump told Fox News' Ed Henry that ‘brand-new’ wall sections have been built along the U.S.-Mexico border, contrary to claims by some Democrats,” Edmund DeMarche writes. “Trump said the new wall sections include 14 miles at the site in California, where the interview was held. ‘This was not here two weeks ago. This is all brand-new wall. ... We're building on many different sites all up and down along the border,’ he said, adding that the new 30-foot barrier was impenetrable even by ‘championship mountain climbers.’”

The immigration crisis isn’t just a matter of scope—at its root, it’s a humanitarian problem, too, John Hostettler writes in the Washington Examiner. “The violence in countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras has created a demand for human traffickers whose empty promises and exorbitant fees drive and direct the flow of migrants to the border.” By keeping his campaign promise to secure our border with a wall, “President Trump is laying the groundwork for the other reforms we need to staunch the flow of human trafficking. The next step toward ending human trafficking is to fairly and uniformly enforce our asylum laws.”

“The Trump administration will continue to take a tough line with China in trade talks, Vice President Mike Pence said on Thursday,” John Carney reports in Breitbart. Speaking at the CNBC Institutional Investor Delivering Alpha conference, the Vice President said that President Trump “would continue to insist that China make significant reforms to its economic system, including abandoning trade barriers, forced technology transfers, and predatory subsidies for ‘national champion’ businesses,” Carney writes.   “The era of economic surrender is over,” the Vice President said.