Thomas Seibert, a Tagesspiegel reporter, is among the journalists whose accreditation was not renewed [Tagesspiegel]
Turkey refused to renew the accreditation of two long-serving German journalists working in the country, triggering protests from Berlin, which said the decision was “incomprehensible”.
Jorg Brase, Istanbul bureau chief for ZDF public television, and Thomas Seibert, who writes for the newspaper Tagesspiegel, have had their applications for press cards rejected by the Turkish government on Friday.
Senior German foreign ministry official Andreas Michaelis called Turkey’s ambassador to Germany to protest the decision and asked Ankara to reconsider, the ministry said.
“The decision is incomprehensible,” said ministry spokesperson Maria Adebahr.
Relations between Berlin and Ankara soured after Turkish authorities arrested and sacked tens of thousands of people in mass purges over the 2016 attempted coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s government. Some of those arrested were also German nationals.
The arrests are part of different probes into followers of Muslim preacher and businessman Fethullah Gulen, who lives in exile in the United States.
Turkey accuses Gulen of ordering the coup attempt of July 15, 2016. Gulen denies any involvement in the plot.
Two journalists freed
A gradual rapprochement between Germany and Turkey began in 2018 after German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel was freed following his arrest the year before.
Another journalist, Mesale Tolu, was allowed to return to Germany in August 2018.
Both still face terror-related charges in Turkey.
Despite criticism from Western allies and human rights defenders over the scale of the crackdown following the coup attempt, the police operations and probes continue with rigour.
Turkish officials insist that the raids are necessary to remove the “virus” caused by the Gulen movement’s infiltration of Turkish state bodies.
UFC 235 gave fans two very different title fights amid a long night of action filling out the card.
Jon Jones retained his UFC light heavyweight title by thoroughly dominating Anthony Smith. The challenger held his own early, but the fight started to get extremely one-sided by the time it hit the championship rounds. “Lionheart” is an apt nickname for Smith, but the talent discrepancy was simply too much.
In the co-main event, challenger Kamaru Usman dethroned Tyron Woodley with a lopsided decision victory. Usman controlled where the fight took place and dictated the action both on the feet and on the mat. “The Nigerian Nightmare” took over the division and completed a long run up the ladder to claim UFC gold.
Those were just the title performances. There were 10 other bouts, including the wild UFC debut of Ben Askren.
After all the fighting ended, there were officially 12 winners and 12 losers, but we all know that doesn’t make you a real winner or a real loser.
UFC 235 provided a fun PPV for fight enthusiasts, and these are the real winners and losers coming out of Las Vegas.
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Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images
Everyone gets a W following the main event for UFC 235. Let’s start with the challenger.
Anthony Smith was largely counted out, and though he came up short, he did show he could hold his own. He stopped several takedowns, landed a few shots and didn’t suffer a crushing early KO that would have ended hopes of a rebuild. He performed admirably against the greatest light heavyweight ever.
That’s a win.
Jones and the UFC win together.
Jones’ victory means one of the UFC’s biggest stars remains a titleholder. He is seen as the best in the business, and he earned another dominant victory. That will keep him atop fight cards moving forward. The UFC needs marquee names, and Jones provides them just that.
Perhaps even more importantly, Jones didn’t appear to suffer any major injuries. That means he can return when he is ready for another main event.
Will Jones simply stay active at 205 against the next challenger? Does he move up to heavyweight for a superfight? Who knows? But regardless of which it will be, it is a major win for all parties that Jones won’t be on the shelf for an extended period of time.
The UFC got exactly what it needed with both challenger and champion coming through with a solid showing. And it can book the next Jon Jones fight and keep him active, which is a welcome sight for fight fans around the world who had long been deprived of one of the most special talents we have ever seen.
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Christian Petersen/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images
New UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman did not have a meteoric rise. It was a slow and steady ascent up the 170-pound mountain, an ascent that had many noting he looked like a champion.
He confirmed those thoughts with a dominant five-round decision victory over Tyron Woodley.
It wasn’t simply that he was the better fighter. No, it was that Usman made it look easy. Super easy.
Usman walked through Woodley like he was an unranked opponent. Usman controlled him on the mat and did damage on the feet. No matter where the fight was taking place, he was in command of what was going on. He never gave Woodley space to mount an offense.
The scorecards read 50-44, 50-44 and 50-45, but truly, the fight was even more lopsided than that.
Beating Usman seems like a tall task considering how he has handled his UFC career. He rarely drops a round and dominates elite competition as if they were anything but. Usman is a true champion and the undisputed best welterweight in the world.
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Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images
The now-former champion doesn’t land here merely because he lost his belt to Kamaru Usman; he ends up a loser because he was dominated.
On paper, this was a well-matched fight that should have been competitive. It was not.
Woodley was looking for one big punch or a guillotine, and that never came. He never offered up much else in the fight. Usman controlled the tempo and where the fight took place. Woodley lacked combinations or forward movement, and he folded under the bright lights.
When Woodley returns, we’ll get a good sense of what happened at UFC 235. Did something go wrong? Did he somehow get shellshocked by the moment even after being a longtime champion? Or is Usman just the better fighter by a significant margin?
Those answers come later, and no matter what they are, they will not change the fact he leaves Las Vegas as a huge loser.
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Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images
Robbie Lawler put it to Ben Askren in the opening minute of their clash, and it arguably could have been stopped. But referee Herb Dean let the action continue, andrightfully so.
Askren survived and rebounded. He got a bulldog choke on Lawler, and Dean stopped the fight.
The problem? Lawler never tapped, nor did he go out.
As former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz noted on the broadcast, the choke was on the chin. It may have hurt, but it was not a blood choke that would have put him out. Lawler’s arm may have appeared to go limp for a moment, but that’s not when Dean stopped the action. Lawler was clearly alert when Dean did step in.
Fans were robbed of an amazing fight. Askren and Lawler were having a sensational round, but no one got to see where it went from Askren’s submission attempt.
Askren picks up a win, officially, but it is unsatisfying and gives us little to move forward in the division, all because of a referee’s mistake.
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Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images
Fight IQ is an important part of the game, and it’s something that Garbrandt lacks at times. It cost him at UFC 235.
Pedro Munhoz has a noggin on him, folks. If you want to just stand and bang without movement, then Munhoz is going to end up getting the better of the exchange, and that’s exactly what happened to Garbrandt on Saturday.
After some decent striking and movement, Garbrandt decided to turn it into a slugfest—a slugfest where he simply stood right in front of Munhoz with no movement and telegraphing his haymakers. Munhoz beat him to the punch and landed cleanly. With a stronger chin and shorter punch, Munhoz claimed the biggest victory of his career.
This was supposed to put Garbrandt on the path back to greatness. Instead, it stunted him as a fighter. Another knockout on a big stage ruins most of his goodwill in the eyes of fans as a championship-level fighter. He will need a long run, with finishes, to reclaim his spot among the elite. Bantamweight is packed at the top, and Garbrandt is no longer there.
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Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images
Johnny Walker exploded onto the scene back in November with a swift KO over Khalil Rountree. He returned in February with another spectacular KO, a spinning backfist knockout of Justin Ledet. Just one month later, Walker came in as a short-notice replacement for Ovince Saint Preux against Misha Cirkunov.
This was supposed to be a true test for Walker. Short notice against the 14th-ranked light heavyweight contender? This was the fight to gauge what Walker was made of.
And he obliterated Cirkunov in 36 seconds.
Walker is the flavor of the month, and for good reason. But how far will this push him up the light heavyweight ladder? Anthony Smith got his shot at Jon Jones and the title at UFC 235 by coming to light heavyweight and having big showings with finishes. Walker is arguably doing even better.
He is still going to be at least one fight away from title contention, but it truly may just be one more fight. His size offers up an interesting issue for Jones, and without being pushed in a fight yet, we don’t know how good Walker truly is. Those factors make for an enticing matchup against the champion.
Walker keeps dominating in the cage and winning over more fans. His reputation is growing, and the UFC could be looking at a viable star in a division that sorely needs it.
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Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images
If you’re going to call out a UFC legend to make a name for yourself, you may want to show up and at least offer some resistance. Instead, Mickey Gall was dominated by Diego Sanchez.
Sanchez has long been considered shopworn. And maybe that’s why Gall called him out. An aging vet who hasn’t had back-to-back wins since 2011 and hasn’t had a finish since 2008 seems like easy pickins for a prospect, but that was not the case.
Gall came out strong, but Sanchez covered up well until he could find his way into range of the youngster. Once he did close that distance, it was over. Gall had no answer for Sanchez’s grappling and grinding. Really, it was shocking how few answers he had.
Sanchez tired him out and then pounded him out for a TKO in the second round.
Gall first appeared on the radar as the fighter who beat CM Punk in the latter’s UFC debut. Gall’s raw skill set showed a lot of promise, but now he has fallen flat on his face twice inside the Octagon. Being unable to offer up any more than he did at UFC 235 is a bad sign.
His stock drops significantly after this performance, and there may not be many, if any at all, buying him as a long-term prospect for the UFC’s welterweight division.
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Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images
If you missed the UFC Fight Pass prelims, you missed two hot up-and-coming prospects who are trying to make waves in their respective divisions.
At bantamweight, Macy Chiasson entered as a 3-0 pro and The Ultimate Fighter Season 28 champion. On the show, she had a TKO win in the quarterfinals and a KO victory in the semifinal. Though neither of those are officially on her record, the finale submission win over Pannie Kianzad is.
Chiasson moved her record to 4-0 with a TKO in just 1:49. She is a towering bantamweight who can instantly be seen as a title contender. The division is not deep, and it needs potential fighters for Amanda Nunes. After that big first-round finish, Chiasson is not far off from a title opportunity.
In the final Fight Pass prelim, Edmen Shahbazyan took care of Charles Byrd with vicious elbows in just 38 seconds.
Shahbazyan has everything going for him, including his manager: Ronda Rousey.
Rousey wouldn’t attach her name to just anyone, and after getting his second UFC victory in impressive fashion, everyone will certainly take notice of the prospect as one of the UFC’s favorite new projects. The middleweight division will be on notice.
This is what the UFC needed out of the early prelims: new faces shining brightly for the fans to see. Chiasson and Shahbazyan will see their stock rise after the first-round stoppages and be set up nicely for big opportunities later in the year.
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Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images
UFC 235 Main Card
Jon Jones def. Anthony Smith by unanimous decision (48-44, 48-44, 48-44)
South Korea and the US are ending large-scale joint military exercises, replacing them with smaller mission specific training in order to support diplomacy with North Korea.
South Korea’s defence secretary, Jeong Kyeong-doo, and his US counterpart Patrick Shanahan agreed to discontinue the war games known as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle.
The decision comes after President Donald Trump complained about the cost of joint drills which North Korea has always regarded as preparation for a military invasion.
The Pentagon said in a statement that the allies would maintain firm military readiness through newly designed command post exercises and revised field training programmes.
The defence secretaries “made clear that the alliance decision to adapt our training programme reflected our desire to reduce tension and support our diplomatic efforts to achieve complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula in a final, fully verified manner,” the statement said.
Seoul’s defence minister released a statement as well, expressing regret at the lack of agreement at the recent Trump-Kim summit but hopes that Washington and Pyongyang would continue negotiations.
The scaled-down training exercises, dubbed “Dong Maeng,” which means “alliance” in English, starts on Monday through March 12.
The drills will focus on “strategic operational and tactical aspects of general military operations on the Korean Peninsula,” South Korea’s military and the US-South Korean combined forces command said in a joint statement.
Last November, a month before he resigned as defence secretary, Jim Mattis disclosed that the US and South Korea would scale back and tone down the spring exercises.
Mattis said the aim was to avoid setting back diplomacy over North Korea’s nuclear weapons. The former defence secretary described it as a reorganisation of the exercises, not an end to maneuvers on the peninsula.
After Trump’s second summit with Kim ended without any agreement in Vietnam on Thursday, Trump spoke again about the cost of the 28.500 US troops stationed in the South Korea.
“It’s a very, very expensive thing and we do have to think about that, too,” Trump told reporters.
Following his first summit with Kim in Singapore last June, Trump caught many in the US and South Korea by surprise by suspending the allies’ summertime military drills. He called joint drills “very provocative” and “massively expensive”.
The end of the springtime war games will benefit North Korea, which has responded with its own costly military exercises and weapons tests, including firing a new intermediate-range missile over Japan in 2017.
The Korean Peninsula remains in a technical state of war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Jon Jones once again asserted himself as the king of the light heavyweights with a unanimous-decision win over Anthony Smith in the main event of UFC 235 from Las Vegas on Saturday.
While Bones couldn’t get the finish, it was still an example of his usual dominance over the light heavyweight division.
UFC @ufc
Spinning back kick lands early in round 1 by @JonnyBones
The two got off to a slow start in the first round. Smith landed a glancing head kick, while Jones chipped away with an array of body and leg kicks, but not much of consequence happened in a mundane opening frame.
The second round saw a much more assertive version of Bones. He opened up with his boxing in conjunction with his leg kicks to start piling on the damage. It was a clear round for Jones.
Brett Okamoto @bokamotoESPN
Anthony Smith’s legs and body have taken a beating. Digging kicks, one after another. He’s hiding it as best as he can, but Jones has done real damage to him through two rounds.
Smith did, however, stand his ground in the second frame. He was finally able to land something that damaged the champion, opening up a cut with a nice right hand.
That punch wasn’t able to turn any actual momentum, though. The third round sank deeper into Jones’ territory. He wore down the challenger with his clinch game against the cage before finally scoring a slam takedown and simply draining Smith with his body weight the rest of the round.
The only thing of note in the fourth round—other than more dominance from Jones—came when Bones landed a flush knee to a downed Smith’s head. Fortunately, Lionheart was able to continue the fight, and Jones was deducted two points with no disqualification.
Ariel Helwani @arielhelwani
Jones just landed an illegal knee. Herb Dean takes two points. This could have been disastrous for Jones if Smith said he couldn’t continue but he is choosing to continue.
The title defense is officially the first of Jones’ third run with the light heavyweight championship. After having the title stripped, he won it back in December when he defeated former rival Alexander Gustafsson.
Smith is now just another name on the long list of those who have come for Bones’ title and missed. That list includes several former champions and future Hall of Famers, as the champion’s resume only continues to grow.
With so much dominance in the light heavyweight division and a record that only includes one fluky loss by disqualification, the question continues to be in what ways Jones can truly be challenged. One common answer to that question is for the massive light heavyweight to try his hand as a heavyweight, but that’s something the UFC is going to have to compensate him to do handsomely.
“If the fans want to see it [at heavyweight] bad enough, the UFC will make it happen for me financially,” Jones said of a potential fight with rival Daniel Cormier, per Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times. “If they don’t, it will always be something that’s coulda-shoulda-woulda. Sending me against one of the best fighters ever, and making me sacrifice being smaller than him, they have to make it make sense financially.”
If Jones continues to fight at light heavyweight, the options are uninspiring at best. He’s already beaten most of the viable contenders, and those he hasn’t simply haven’t become compelling options. It’s a division dried out from years of Jones’ dominance when he’s been in the cage.
It’s a division that Jones should continue to reign over as long as he chooses to and is eligible to fight in the Octagon.
The Los Angeles Lakers‘ season reached a new low point as they fell 118-109 to the NBA‘s worst team, the Phoenix Suns, on Saturday at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix.
The Lakers have now dropped four of their last five games and eight of their last 11 to slip further back in the Western Conference playoff race.
With Saturday’s win, Phoenix avoided a season sweep at the hands of Los Angeles.
Devin Booker had 25 points for the Suns, while 2018 No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton posted 26 points and 10 rebounds, his third double-double in four games.
LeBron James filled out the stat sheet with 27 points, nine rebounds and 16 assists.
Listless Lakers Don’t Look Up for Playoff Challenge
Following a 13-point loss to the Anthony Davis-less New Orleans Pelicans on Feb. 23, James essentiallyissued a challengeto his teammates, questioning whether basketball was their top priority at the moment. The team is now 1-3 since those comments.
Los Angeles made things a little interesting in the fourth quarter, but that can’t obscure the Suns’ 17-point lead entering the final frame.
Shane Young @YoungNBA
What a pathetic Lakers performance
Scheduled tweet
Even James looked out of it at times. In the third quarter, he threw an inbounds pass off the bottom of the backboard.
Bleacher Report @BleacherReport
Bron just turned the ball over on a routine inbounds play after Lakers gave up another layup… https://t.co/x5PAKq7gVS
The Lakers are fighting an uphill battle to earn a top-eight seed in the Western Conference, and they were sleepwalking through three quarters. Technically speaking, Los Angeles still has a shot at reaching the postseason. But this game felt like a death knell of sorts.
Olden Polynice @OldenPolynice1
What’s going on with @Lakers in Phoenix right now. I thought @KingJames was in playoff activated mode.?? 12 guys have to be in that mode plus coaches..Damnnn
Shahan Ahmed @shahanLA
The Lakers, regardless of whether they come back to beat the (12-51) Suns, don’t look/feel like a playoff team. They don’t belong there…they’re down by 17 points to the SUNS entering the 4th quarter. The Lakers have had some bad losses, but this takes the cake.
Things started going badly for the Lakers when James got injured on Christmas Day. The lingering effects of team’spublic pursuitof Anthony Davis may have also counteracted the momentum L.A. received when James returned to the lineup at the end of January.
More than anything, the Lakers might be an example of Occam’s razor in action.
Take out the LeBron injury and the AD drama and look no further than the fact the roster was seriously flawed when the front office failed to add another star alongside James. Over time, those flaws were going to be exposed, which is exactly what’s happening.
The only real surprise is how little passion the Lakers players seemed to have in a game that should’ve been an easy win.
Luke Walton on Borrowed Time with Postseason Window Slowly Closing
One could argue about Luke Walton’s level of blame for the Lakers’ current situation. The head coach is an easy scapegoat for any team that’s falling short of expectations.
But Walton isn’t exactly lighting a fire under his players, which is part of the job description.
Jordan Schultz @Schultz_Report
The #Lakers are finished. There is no joy to this team. No passion. No desire to help one another. There is an emptiness to watching them play. I really don’t know who to blame either. I don’t think it’s one specific thing, but Luke Walton has lost all control and it’s not pretty
Arash Markazi @ArashMarkazi
A coaching change likely wouldn’t make much of a difference at this point in the season with 19 games left but if the Lakers lose to the 12-51 Suns, there’s no reason to delay the inevitable. It would be in everyone’s best interest to let Luke Walton go.
It might be inaccurate to say Walton is coaching for his job at this point because his fate might already be sealed. The Cleveland Cavaliers reached the NBA Finals in James’ first year back, and that only bought David Blatt 41 games into the 2015-16 season before Tyronn Lue took over.
The Lakers also have an even higher level of urgency than the Cavs. James is 34, and L.A. has to be able to sell potential free agents on the long-term direction of the franchise.
If Los Angeles misses the playoffs altogether or reaches the postseason and suffers a first-round exit, then luring marquee players will be difficult with Walton at the helm.
What’s Next?
The Suns welcome the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, and the Lakers have an important matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers, also on Monday. Following Saturday’s defeat, the Lakers are 4.5 games back of the eighth-place Clippers.
Coming off four losses in their last six games, the Golden State Warriors got back on track with a 120-117 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Saturday.
During the Warriors’ recent swoon, they lost back-to-back games against the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic. Continuing their Eastern Conference road trip against one of the best teams in the NBA didn’t seem like the right opportunity to turn things around.
Both teams were playing at less than full strength. The Warriors didn’t have Klay Thompson because ofa sore knee. Joel Embiid remains out of action with with a knee injury of his own.
After trailing by 12 points at halftime, the Warriors outscored Philadelphia 65-50 over the final 24 minutes to steal the win.
Kevin Durant scored a game-high 34 points, in addition to grabbing five rebounds and dishing out five assists. Stephen Curry had 28 points on 10-of-23 shooting. DeMarcus Cousins added 25 points and eight rebounds.
Ben Simmons posted a triple-double of 25 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists. Tobias Harris finished with 20 points but was held to just four after halftime. Jimmy Butler was inefficient with 21 points on 5-of-16 shooting.
What’s Next?
The Warriors will continue their string of matchups against playoff contenders when they host the Boston Celtics on Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. ET. The 76ers will host the Orlando Magic on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.
This article will be updated to provide more information soon.
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“I will win this election because I’m a woman and all the powerful people in the room told me it’s a sure thing. What could possibly go wrong?” Sen. Amy Klobuchar said. | Scott Olson/Getty Images
Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Saturday poked fun at her reputation for being a tough boss — and reports she once ate a salad with a comb — kicking off her address to the annual Gridiron Club dinner by asking, “How did everyone like the salad?”
The Democratic senator from Minnesota and 2020 presidential candidate added: “I thought it was OK, but it needed just a little more scalp oil and a pinch of dandruff.”
Story Continued Below
More than 700 journalists, politicians and members of the D.C. elite gathered for the 134th Gridiron Club white-tie dinner at the Renaissance Washington Hotel, where skits, songs and self-deprecation were the evening’s entertainment. Klobuchar spoke for the Democrats, with Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) speaking for the Republicans.
Klobuchar, who entered the presidential race on Feb. 20 amid multiple media reports alleging harsh treatment of her staff, delivered on the expectation she would address the now-infamous comb anecdote (per a New York Times report) that she was once given a salad sans fork by a staff member during a flight. Klobuchar apparently proceeded to pull a comb from her handbag and eat the salad with it, then tasked the unfortunate staffer with washing it.
Although Klobuchar issued a statement to the Minnesota-based Star Tribune late Friday promising to do better by her staff, she also addressed the matter during her lighthearted address, saying: “So when Jerry [Seib] called about tonight he asked, ‘Do you need a microphone or do you just prefer to yell at everyone?’ I said microphone.”
She also referenced the 2016 election while speaking about her current run for the presidency.
“In the end, how can I lose? My campaign will combine the short peppy speeches of Joe Biden, the common touch of Mike Bloomberg, the collegiality of Ted Cruz, and the chipper upbeat personality of Bernie Sanders.
“I will win this election because I’m a woman and all the powerful people in the room told me it’s a sure thing. What could possibly go wrong?
“All I know is if the election ends up before the Supreme Court. I’m gonna count Brett Kavanaugh as a no.”
Earlier, Jerry Seib, Gridiron Club president and executive Washington editor of the Wall Street Journal, had poked fun at the ever-opaque special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, during the traditional “Speech in the Dark.”
“We call this the Speech in the Dark, which is also where Bob Mueller has kept up journalist for the last two years,” Seib said, half-jokingly.
The evening’s theme was Queen, with a satirical version of “Bohemian Rhapsody” performed as the opening number in a medley of acts: Nancy Pelosi (not the real Pelosi, of course) singing “Killer Queen” (Sunglasses, orange coat/ a dinner knife held to your throat), and Roger Stone and Paul Manafort singing “We’re the Well Dressed Trumpians” (“We are the Champions”).
Ivanka Trump filled the White House speaking slot following her father’s two-hour speech at CPAC earlier in the day.
Referencing Chris Christie’s accusations that her husband Jared Kushner blocked him from running the Trump transition team, she joked: “To be honest I was not my father’s first choice to speak tonight. I don’t know who was but reports are already beginning to surface that Chris Christie is saying that he was the president’s first choice, but that Jared blocked him.”
Trump also shared the president’s “best wishes.”
“In all seriousness, my father asked me to share his warm regards and best wishes to all in attendance, and regrets that he himself cannot join us on this wonderful evening. The opportunity to poke fun at the media is not something that he passes up lightly.”
Members of Trump’s Cabinet in attendance included Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and Trade Ambassador Robert Lighthizer.
Senior Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also attended.
![Thomas Seibert, a Tagesspiegel reporter, is among the journalists whose accreditation was not renewed [Tagesspiegel]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2019/3/3/1435277b61594598bd28acbfbf6177da_18.jpg "Turkey refuses accreditation renewal for senior German reporters")
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