Trump does not publicly rebuke Duterte for drug war killings
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has sanctioned a bloody drug war that features extrajudicial killing. He called Barack Obama a “son of a whore.” This week, he boasted that he murdered a man with his own hands.
All that went unmentioned in public by President Donald Trump when the leaders held talks Monday in the Philippines.
Reporters saw the beginning of the leaders’ bilateral meeting during which Trump praised Duterte’s hospitality, the organization of the summit he was hosting and even Manila’s weather. Trump said nothing about human rights and both leaders ignored shouted questions about the violent drug crackdown. The two men also shared a laugh in the meeting when Duterte called reporters “spies.”
Later, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the 40-minute meeting focused on ISIS, illegal drugs, and trade. Human rights, she added, briefly came up in the context of the Philippines’ fight against illegal drugs. She did not say if Trump was critical of the violence.