LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Facing a room of Arab American activists from across the country angry at President Joe Biden's response to the Israel-Hamas war, a well-known adviser to Donald Trump was asked this week what the former president would have done differently had he been in office.
Richard Grenell, Trump's former ambassador to Germany, repeatedly pointed to Trump's governing record and said that other countries' fear of him decreased global conflict. But two people in the room said Grenell didn’t provide the specific policy changes they were hoping to hear, which left at least one leader dissatisfied and unswayed.
The nearly two-hour meeting marked the beginning of increased outreach by Trump allies in swing state Michigan, where key parts of Biden's coalition are angry with him over Israel's offensive following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. But any apparent political opportunity for Trump may be limited by criticism from many Arab Americans about the former president's ban on immigration from several majority Muslim countries and remarks they felt were insulting.
“We appreciate the outreach," said Khaled Saffuri, an Arab American political activist who was in attendance Tuesday night. "But it won’t be easy to convince the community to switch from Biden to Trump, because even though we are angry with Biden, many still have a bad taste in their mouth from the four years of Trump."
Grenell was joined in the meeting by Michael Boulos, the husband of Trump's daughter Tiffany, and his father, Massad Boulos, a wealthy Lebanese businessman. Palestinian American UFC fighter Belal Muhammad also took part in the meeting, which wasn't an official campaign event.
The nearly 40 Arab American activists in attendance came from across the country. Some already support Trump while others were attending to hear directly from his surrogates, according to Yahya Basha, a Michigan doctor in attendance.
“I think most people were there to hear what specific policy changes Trump would have. It was a lot of back and forth with questions," said Basha, who left the meeting still uncommitted to any candidate in November.
Grenell fielded questions related to a travel ban on majority Muslim countries enacted during Trump’s presidency, which he denied was ever implemented, according to Saffuri. He was also asked about recent remarks from Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser on the Middle East during his administration, on the potential of Gaza’s “waterfront property.”
Saffuri said the topic of Gaza was “never addressed correctly” by Grenell.
“Most of the questions were not answered directly, and I didn’t expect these issues to be answered in detail in such a meeting. That requires some thought. But at least engaging the community is one step forward,” said Saffuri, who said that he leans Republican but voted third-party in 2020.
Grenell declined to comment.
In a statement in response to the meeting, a spokesperson for Biden's campaign, Ammar Mousa, said that Trump is “the biggest threat to the Muslim and Arab community,” and that he is “openly speaking about allowing Israel to bomb Gaza without any regard.”
“President Biden, on the other hand, is working tirelessly towards a just and lasting peace,” said Moussa.
Massad Boulos, Tiffany Trump's father-in-law, said he gave a speech sharing his experiences as an immigrant and how they shaped his conservative values. He also highlighted a more personal side of Trump, emphasizing his “love and admiration for the Middle East in general,” according to Boulos.
“And then we discussed the need to organize ourselves and get ready for November and to mobilize our respective communities,” Boulos said in an interview.
Tuesday’s meeting in Michigan was just the beginning of a series of larger gatherings between Trump allies and Arab American leaders, according to Bishara Bahbah, chairman of Arab Americans for Trump and organizer of the meeting. Bahbah, present at the meeting, said he is already arranging future meetings.
Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said in a statement that while the campaign didn't request the meeting, they "will continue to communicate to those voters and remind them that President Trump’s policies in the Middle East brought that region historic levels of peace and stability.”
Arab Americans in recent history have overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party, but are angry at Biden due to his refusal to call for a permanent ceasefire and cut all aid to Israel. Metro Detroit, where Tuesday’s meeting took place, has one of the largest Arab American populations in the country and has become a focal point of pushback due to its electoral importance in the battleground state.
About 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive after the Oct. 7 attack, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't separate its death toll between combatants and noncombatants.
The anger has extended beyond Arab American voters to various groups, including young voters, evident in widespread protests on college campuses nationwide. A movement to choose “uncommitted” as a protest in Democratic primaries has garnered hundreds of thousands of votes across the country, receiving 18% of the vote in Kentucky’s Democratic primary on Tuesday.
Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
Men pray at the Islamic Center of Detroit in Detroit, Jan. 26, 2024. Facing a room of Arab American activists from across the country angry at President Joe Biden's response to the Israel-Gaza war, a well-known adviser to Donald Trump was asked this week what the former president would have done differently had he been in office. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
Lightning strikes have sparked fast-moving wildfires in Idaho, prompting the evacuation of multiple communities, including one in which a man drove past a building and trees engulfed in flames as a tunnel of smoke rose over the roadway.
Videos posted to social media include a man who said he heard explosions as he fled Juliaetta, about 27 miles (43 kilometers) southeast of the University of Idaho's campus in Moscow. The town of just over 600 residents was evacuated just ahead of the Gwen Fire, as were several other communities near the Clearwater River.
The Idaho Department of Lands said “multiple structures” were burned, but the agency did not immediately release additional details, including whether the structures were homes or outbuildings.
As that and other blazes scorch the Pacific Northwest, authorities announced that a wildfire that tripled in size to become California’s largest of the year was started by a man who was seen pushing a burning car into a gully.
The man then calmly left the area in Bidwell Park, blending in with other people and fleeing the scene as the rapidly spreading flames caused the Park Fire, Butte County prosecutor Mike Ramsey said. A 42-year-old man from Chico was arrested early Thursday and held without bail pending a Monday arraignment, officials said.
A massive firefighting response couldn’t contain the fire as it roared through dry brush and rough terrain and sent a huge plume of smoke over neighboring states. It had burned more than 257 square miles (666 square kilometers) by early Friday as it expanded from the hills above Chico, a city of about 100,000 in the northern Central Valley.
Evacuations were ordered in Butte and Tehama counties, with the Park Fire only 3% contained by Friday morning. About 4,000 residents in unincorporated areas of Butte County and 400 residents of Chico were ordered to evacuate, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said late Thursday. An unspecified number of structures have been destroyed, and two minor injuries were reported, Butte County Fire Chief Garrett Sjolund said.
“The fire quickly began to outpace our resources because of the dry fuels, the hot weather, the low humidities and the wind,” Sjolund said.
The Park Fire was burning to the northwest of Paradise, the Butte County community where in 2018 the notorious Camp Fire killed 85 people and incinerated thousands of homes, becoming California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire. Honea said he wanted “to express regret and frustration by the fact that we are here once again.”
Climate change is increasing the frequency of lightning strikes as the region endures recording-breaking heat and bone-dry conditions. Overall, more than 1,500 square miles (4,000 square kilometers) have burned so far this summer in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, and more wildfires have spread in western Canada.
The most damage so far has been to the Canadian Rockies’ Jasper National Park, where a fast-moving wildfire forced 25,000 people to flee and devastated the park’s namesake town, a World Heritage site.
Oregon still has the biggest active blaze in the United States, the Durkee Fire, which combined with the Cow Fire to burn nearly 630 square miles (1,630 square kilometers). It remains unpredictable and was only 20% contained Friday, according to the government website InciWeb.
Some residents were cleared to return home in areas already burned by the Durkee Fire after thunderstorms Wednesday produced welcome rain and cooler temperatures. Evacuations were lifted for the eastern Oregon city of Huntington, population 500. Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash called the rain a “godsend,” and the Oregon state fire marshal said firefighters were set to “seize the opportunity” of better conditions to push back the fire on the Oregon-Idaho border.
But the leading edge of that weather also produced lightning strikes, which started 15 new fires in Idaho, some of them threatening small towns. For the first time, Idaho Power pre-emptively shut off electricity to thousands of customers to prevent new fires and power grid trouble from wires downed by the high winds, the utility said.
The U.S. Forest Service told Boise’s KBOI-TV that several of those had been extinguished by Thursday afternoon. Meanwhile, more than two dozen new fires also started in Montana on Wednesday and early Thursday.
Elsewhere in California, about 1,000 people remained displaced Thursday by the lightning-sparked Gold Complex fires, which burned more than 4 square miles (10 square kilometers) of brush and timber in the Plumas National Forest in California, near the Nevada line and about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Reno, Forest Service spokesperson Adrienne Freeman said. There have been no reports of structural damage, deaths or serious injuries, but the fires were at zero containment Thursday amid the same gusty winds plaguing crews working the Park Fire, authorities said.
And in inland Southern California, firefighters battled a small fire that erupted Thursday afternoon in hills just above the Riverside County city of Lake Elsinore. The Macy Fire was 15% contained early Friday, with one unspecified structure destroyed. In rural northern San Diego County, containment of the 3-day-old Grove Fire jumped to 25% after a day of minimal growth.
Associated Press writers Rebecca Boone, Sarah Brumfield, Claire Rush, Scott Sonner, Martha Bellisle and Amy Hanson contributed to this report.
A dog being safeguarded by fire support personnel sits beside Cohasset Rd. as the Park Fire burns in the Cohasset community in Butte County, Calif., on Thursday, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Cal Fire firefighter Christian Moorhouse, center, monitors the flames while defends a mobile home during the Park Fire in the community of Cohasset near Chico, Calif., Thursday, July 25, 2024. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Seen from Chico, Calif., an air tanker passes a plume from the Park Fire burning in Butte County on Thursday, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Animals evacuate as the Park Fire burns through the Cohasset community of Butte County, Calif., on Thursday, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Firefighter Christian Moorhouse battles the Park Fire tears through the Cohasset community in Butte County, Calif., on Thursday, July 25, 2024. His crew was able to keep flames from reaching the mobile home they were protecting. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
The Park Fire burns along Highway 32 in the Forest Ranch community of Butte County, Calif., on Thursday, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Firefighter Christian Moorhouse battles the Park Fire tears through the Cohasset community in Butte County, Calif., on Thursday, July 25, 2024. His crew was able to keep flames from reaching the mobile home they were protecting. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Firefighter Christian Moorhouse jumps over a fence while battling the Park Fire in the Cohasset community of Butte County, Calif., on Thursday, July 25, 2024. His crew was able to keep flames from reaching the mobile home they were protecting. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Seen in a long exposure photograph, the Park Fire burns along Highway 32 in the Forest Ranch community of Butte County, Calif., on Thursday, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
The Park Fire burns along Highway 32 in the Forest Ranch community of Butte County, Calif., on Thursday, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Firefighters spray water while battling the Park Fire in the Cohasset community of Butte County, Calif., on Thursday, July 25, 2024. The crew was able to keep flames from reaching the mobile home they were protecting. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Seen in a long exposure photograph, the Park Fire burns along Highway 32 in the Forest Ranch community of Butte County, Calif., on Thursday, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
