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# Health Secretary Tom Price Resigns After Drawing Ire for Chartered Flights

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#### Tom Price Resigns Under Pressure

Tom Price, the health and human services secretary, resigned on Friday. Mr. Price drew criticism for his use of expensive chartered flights, which undermined President Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp” of an entitled capital.

By CHRIS CIRILLO, GLENN THRUSH and A.J. CHAVAR on Publish Date September 29, 2017. Photo by Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times. Watch in Times Video »

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WASHINGTON — Tom Price, the health and human services secretary, resigned under pressure on Friday after racking up at least $400,000 in travel bills for chartered flights and undermining President Trump’s promise to drain the swamp of a corrupt and entitled capital.

Already in trouble with Mr. Trump for months of unsuccessful efforts to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care program, Mr. Price failed to defuse the president’s anger by offering regret and a partial reimbursement. His departure was the latest from an administration buffeted by turbulence at the top, and capped a week of setbacks for the president.

“I’m not happy, O.K.?” Mr. Trump told reporters who asked about Mr. Price as the president prepared to leave for his New Jersey golf club for the weekend, barely an hour before the resignation was announced. “I can tell you, I’m not happy.” He called Mr. Price “a very good man” but added that the secretary’s offer to pay back the government for just part of the cost of the private flights “would be unacceptable.”

Mr. Price ran afoul of one of the president’s most consequential campaign pledges. While some of Mr. Trump’s advisers privately make light of his vow to drain the swamp of Washington privilege, to many of his voters, it was a threshold promise. The firestorm over Mr. Price came as the president was already on the defensive with his base, as the incumbent mainstream Republican senator he backed in an Alabama primary race lost to an insurgent channeling Mr. Trump’s election movement.

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“It’s hard to see how a cabinet secretary can drain the swamp from 42,000 feet in the plush interior of a taxpayer-funded Gulfstream 4,” said Laura Ingraham, a conservative talk show host and Trump supporter who, like others, defied the president by backing Roy Moore, the insurgent Senate candidate who won in Alabama.

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Mr. Trump berated Mr. Price in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon for about two hours before heading out to meet with reporters, according to people informed about the meeting. All cabinet travel requests now must be cleared by the White House, they said.

The White House’s announcement of Mr. Price’s departure was sparse, with none of the customary thanks for his service; it said simply that he had “offered his resignation earlier today and the president accepted.”

In his resignation letter to Mr. Trump, Mr. Price said: “I have spent 40 years both as a doctor and public servant putting people first. I regret that the recent events have created a distraction from these important objectives. Success on these issues is more important than any one person. In order for you to move forward without further disruption, I am officially tendering my resignation.”

Mr. Trump tapped Don J. Wright, a deputy assistant secretary for health and the director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, to serve as acting secretary. Possible candidates for a successor include Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Scott Gottlieb, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

### Document

## Read the Resignation Letter Tom Price Sent to President Trump

Tom Price sent a letter on Friday to President Trump resigning as health secretary. Mr. Price had been under pressure after racking up at least $400,000 in travel bills, footed by the taxpayers, for chartered flights.

OPEN Document

Mr. Price’s job was on the line since the first of a string of reports by Politico, on Sept. 19, about his extensive use of chartered aircraft. The president has fumed privately and publicly about Mr. Price’s actions. Hoping to assuage Mr. Trump, the secretary offered on Thursday to reimburse the government $51,887 — which he said represented the cost of his seat on the trips — of the at least $400,000 spent. But it was not enough to save his job.

Mr. Price, a physician and a former Republican congressman from Georgia who had long opposed Mr. Obama’s Affordable Care Act, served as a point man on Mr. Trump’s drive to scrap the law. In July, Mr. Trump said he would fire Mr. Price if he did not get the votes for the legislation.

“He better get them,” Mr. Trump told an audience with Mr. Price at his side. “Otherwise, I’ll say, ‘Tom, you’re fired.’”

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He said it in a jocular fashion, and his audience took it as a jest, but in fact the president has been privately simmering about Mr. Price over the unsuccessful efforts to pass health care legislation in the Senate. While a bill passed the House, the latest effort collapsed this week when enough Senate Republicans defected to deprive Mr. Trump of a majority.

Mr. Price had been under fire from the start. During his confirmation hearing in January, Senate Democrats pressed him on the more than $100,000 in pharmaceutical and medical stocks he owned. Democrats said that Mr. Price had understated the value of his 400,613 shares in an Australian company, Innate Immunotherapeutics. He defended himself, saying, “Everything that I did was ethical, above board, legal and transparent.”

In just eight months since taking office, Mr. Trump has fired or lost a chief of staff, a chief strategist, a national security adviser, a press secretary, two communications directors, a deputy chief of staff, a deputy national security adviser, the F.B.I. director and numerous other aides and advisers.

Mr. Price may not be the only senior official to face anger over travel bills. In recent days, a slew of reports about the fast-lane habits of the cabinet have resulted in a mounting public relations headache for the Trump administration, which is stocked by billionaires accustomed to using private jets.

Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary, used a chartered airplane for several flights, including a $12,000 trip to deliver a speech celebrating a new professional hockey team in Las Vegas. Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has spent more than $58,000 on chartered and military flights, and David Shulkin, the veterans affairs secretary, took his wife on a 10-day trip to Europe that mixed business meetings and sightseeing, according to The Washington Post.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asked about using a $25,000-an-hour military plane for his European honeymoon and later used a government jet to fly to Fort Knox in Kentucky in August, a trip that offered him a clear view of a solar eclipse, although he later disclaimed any interest.

Other cabinet members issued statements explaining their travel practices. The Small Business Administration said its chief, Linda McMahon, had used private air services and that “on the rare occasion” she had, she “covered the entire cost out of her own pocket.” Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, travels on personally owned aircraft “at zero cost to U.S. taxpayers” because she “neither seeks, nor accepts, any reimbursement,” the department said.

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The sensitivity about the situation within the cabinet was clear on Friday when Mr. Zinke delivered an energy policy address to the Heritage Foundation. He opened his speech by lashing out at what he called “a little B.S.” on chartered flights.

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“I fly coach,” he said, adding that he uses chartered or military flights only when necessary. “Every time I travel, I submit the travel plans to the ethics department,” he added. “I will always be honest and up front about my travel.”

Current and former West Wing officials said oversight of Mr. Trump’s cabinet was so lax in the past that Stephen K. Bannon, then the president’s chief strategist, requested meetings once every 60 days to review each member’s agenda and travel itinerary. The secretaries did not flag the questionable flights, the officials said.

John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff who has tried to impose a military discipline on a chaotic West Wing with mixed success, has ordered the president’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, to revamp the review process for flights and set limits on prices that cabinet members can pay for transportation, according to two people briefed on the plans.

At a recent meeting with legislative affairs aides for cabinet agencies, Marc Short, the White House legislative affairs director, warned that they should be prepared for additional reports on cabinet secretaries’ expenses, according to a person who attended. Mr. Short said that agencies should assume everything will be made public eventually — and urged the aides to come clean with the president’s staff first.

Additionally, Rick Dearborn, a deputy White House chief of staff tasked with overseeing the cabinet, has been in the president’s cross hairs, according to an aide familiar with the situation. Mr. Dearborn accompanied Mr. Trump on his visit to Alabama last week to support Senator Luther Strange, who lost to Mr. Moore in the state’s Republican primary. On the flight back to Washington, the president lashed out at Mr. Dearborn and White House political director Bill Stepien because he was left supporting a candidate who seemed likely to lose, said the aide who was not authorized to be named.

Two people on the plane insisted the president never chastised his aides. Another adviser said Mr. Dearborn and Mr. Stepien had both cautioned against the trip, but caught Mr. Trump’s wrath once it went badly.

Critics were unmollified by Mr. Price’s departure. “While his resignation ends his time in the government, it does not end the private jet scandal that others in the Trump administration, including Mnuchin, Pruitt and Zinke, find themselves in,” Noah Bookbinder, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a progressive watchdog group, said in a statement.

“This administration,” he added, “seems to believe that the government and the taxpayers serve them rather than the other way around.”

Representative Joseph Crowley of New York, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said the episode demonstrated a lack of judgment in the administration.

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“President Trump talked a big game about draining the swamp, yet he continues to surround himself with staff and administration officials who behave as though a separate set of rules apply to them,” he said. “That must end.”

Correction: September 29, 2017

An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the events leading up to Secretary Price’s resignation. It was President Trump, not former President Barack Obama, who threatened to fire Mr. Price.

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- ## Jeff Flake, in Feud with Trump, Now Faces Challenge from the Left SEP 29

- ## Senate Unveils Budget Blueprint Allowing $1.5 Trillion in Tax Cuts SEP 29

- ## Trump Administration Is Pressed to Step Up Hurricane Recovery in Puerto Rico SEP 28

- ## Amid Protests at Trump Hotel, Neil Gorsuch Calls for Civility SEP 28

- ## U.S. to Collect Social Media Data on All Immigrants Entering Country SEP 28

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- ## Chastened, Tom Price Tries to Deflect Anger Over Chartered Flights SEPT. 28, 2017

- ## Tom Price’s Spending Habits Catch Trump’s Attention: ‘I’m Not Happy About It’ SEPT. 27, 2017

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San Juan mayor to federal government: 'Help us, we are dying' - CNN

# San Juan mayor pleads for better federal response: 'People are dying'

By Madison Park, CNN

Updated 1023 GMT (1823 HKT) September 30, 2017

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.

### JUST WATCHED

## Mayor: Dammit, this is not a 'good news story'

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#### MUST WATCH

## (15 Videos)

### Mayor: Dammit, this is not a 'good news story'

### Rubio to Trump: Put the military in charge

### Puerto Rico & Washington: Alternate realities

### CNN reporter's emotional family reunion

### Congressman: Tired of Trump talking about cost

### Bridge collapse strands Puerto Ricans

### Honoré: Trump doesn't care about people of color

### Gupta takes medicine to Puerto Rico hospital

### A mother's emotional message to Trump

### Relief supplies stuck at Puerto Rico port

### WH defends response to crisis in Puerto Rico

### US Navy ship's response efforts in Puerto Rico

### Man helps survivors reach out to families

### The drive that shows how badly Puerto Rico was hit

### Life without basic needs in Puerto Rico

### Story highlights

- San Juan mayor pushes for better federal response in getting supplies distributed
- National Weather Service has flash flood watch in effect until Sunday

(CNN)San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz made her message clear on her black shirt that read: "Help Us, We Are Dying."

"People are drinking out of creeks here in San Juan," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Friday night. "You have people in buildings and they're becoming caged in their own buildings -- old people, retired people that don't have any electricity."

Ten days after Hurricane Maria rammed into Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm, the US commonwealth is dealing with a humanitarian crisis as millions remain without electricity and water, and limited access to gas and cash. At least 16 people have died as a result of the storm, the government has said.
Already stricken with logistics, communications and supply issues, Puerto Rico is expected to see heavy rain this weekend that could further impede recovery efforts for its 3.4 million residents.
Some areas still remain flooded and now, Puerto Rico is under a flash flood watch until late Sunday because of the predicted rain, which could be between 2 and 4 inches each day, the National Weather Service said. Low-lying areas are at risk for flooding as water pumps aren't functioning at full capacity.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean
An apartment building is missing a wall in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Monday, September 25, nearly a week after Hurricane Maria devastated the US commonwealth. Power is still out in most places, and communications remain almost nonexistent on the island of 3.4 million people.
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Yancy Leon rests at the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport near San Juan on September 25. She's been waiting in line for two days to get a flight out.
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An aerial view shows the flooding in San Juan on September 25.
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People collect water from a natural spring created by landslides in Corozal, Puerto Rico, on Sunday, September 24. Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said the island faces a humanitarian crisis.
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An aerial view shows a flooded neighborhood in Catano, Puerto Rico, on Friday, September 22.
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A man cleans a muddy street in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, on September 22.
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A man walks on a highway divider while carrying his bicycle through San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Thursday, September 21.
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A shack is destroyed in San Juan on September 21.
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A gas station's sign is damaged in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, as the hurricane passed just north of the country on September 21.
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Rescue workers drive through a flooded road in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on Wednesday, September 20.
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A mattress that fell from the third floor is surrounded by debris outside a San Juan apartment complex on September 20.
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Damage is seen in Roseau, Dominica, on September 20.
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People walk through the destruction in Roseau on September 20.
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San Juan is shrouded in darkness after the hurricane knocked out power to the entire island of Puerto Rico.
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Power lines are scattered across a road in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on September 20.
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Residents move aluminum panels from an intersection in Humacao on September 20.
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Rescue vehicles are trapped under an awning in Humacao on September 20.
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Trees are toppled outside the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan on September 20.
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Members of a rescue team embrace as they wait to help in Humacao on September 20.
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A tree is damaged in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, on September 20.
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Debris is strewn across a Fajardo street on September 20.
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A woman closes her property in Naguabo, Puerto Rico, hours before Maria's arrival.
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People take shelter at Puerto Rico's Humacao Arena on Tuesday, September 19.
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Two girls play on cots at the Humacao Arena.
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Waves crash in San Juan as the hurricane neared Puerto Rico on September 19.
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People pray in Humacao on September 19.
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A street is flooded in Pointe-a-Pitre, on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, on September 19.
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People stand near debris at a restaurant in Le Carbet, Martinique, on September 19.
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People in Luquillo, Puerto Rico, board up windows of a business on September 19.
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A boat is overturned off the shore of Sainte-Anne, Guadeloupe, on September 19.
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Cars line up at a gas station in San Juan on September 19.
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A motorist drives on the flooded waterfront in Fort-de-France, Martinique, on September 19.
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Floodwaters surround cars in Pointe-a-Pitre on September 19.
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Soldiers patrol a street in Marigot, St. Martin, as preparations were made for Maria on September 19.
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People buy provisions in Petit-Bourg, Guadeloupe, as the hurricane approached on Monday, September 18.
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Customers wait in line for power generators at a store in San Juan on September 18.
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Read More

### Latest developments

• Military troops and disaster relief workers are improving supply chains, and "you'll see more presence, more equipment, in support of the municipalities" over the next few days, Federal Emergency Management Agency official Alejandro de la Campa told reporters Friday.
• About 3,000 crates of private-sector goods -- such as food meant for grocery stores -- have been sitting idle at the Port of San Juan, in part because not all drivers have reported back to work and also because of other logistical challenges, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said Friday.
The government will call private owners and ask whether they can pick up the goods. If they cannot, the government will require owners to sell the goods to the Puerto Rican government so that it can deliver them to the people, he said. Rosselló's count of the idle crates was lower than that of two shipping industry officials.

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FEMA chief defends Puerto Rico response 10:27
None of the idle containers carried aid sent by FEMA; that aid was continually distributed, FEMA officials said.
"On the one hand, we see 3,000 containers that are there with medicine, supplies, everything that we need. But on the other hand, the wheels are not churning fast enough," Cruz said Friday.
• The government-mandated evening curfew instituted to prevent looting will now start at 9 p.m. instead of 7 p.m., Rosselló said Friday. That gives citizens -- many of whom are spending hours in line at banks, fuel stations and groceries -- two extra hours to get tasks done. The curfews still end at 5 a.m. Truck drivers carrying essentials are exempt.

### San Juan's mayor: This is a good story?

San Juan's mayor Cruz pushed back against acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke who said earlier that the government's response in Puerto Rico "is really a good news story in terms of our ability to reach people."

> San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz: "There's a disconnect between what the plan says and what is really happening" https://t.co/2FL3khoaJa

> — Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) September 30, 2017

"It's not a good story when people are dying, starving, thirsty, when people can't go back to work," Cruz told Anderson Cooper Friday night. "I don't know who in their right mind would say this is a good story to tell."
White House statements on Puerto Rico clash with ground reports
Duke, who traveled to Puerto Rico on Friday, said she was referring to how well everyone is working together. "The end of my statement about good news was, it was good news that the people of Puerto Rico, the many public servants of the US and the government of Puerto Rico are working together and ... it's nice to see communities together trying to recover and support each other."
Cruz said there's a disconnect between the federal government plan and what's happening on the ground.
"If you register for FEMA on the Internet, you're OK. Well, we don't have any Internet. We barely have phones. We don't have power anywhere... this is not standard operating procedure. Everything has just gone away so you have to improvise," she said.
Cruz said she and her family are staying at the Coliseum, along with more than 600 people seeking shelter there, sleeping in cots and eating the same food as everyone else after her house flooded.

### Homes and streets still flooded

About 45 miles from San Juan in the town of Florida, fish swim in the streets that are still flooded after the hurricane.
Although the town is up in the hills and nowhere near the coast, the storm backed up a nearby creek causing the flooding and forcing families from their homes.
8 numbers that show how Maria has laid waste to Puerto Rico
Despite the total collapse of utilities, residents there are cleaning up and clearing debris from roads.
Officials from FEMA appeared in town Friday and residents peppered them with questions: When will supplies come? How long will it take?
"FEMA's not going to forget about this community," Caroline Cuddy from FEMA, told CNN's Ivan Watson. "FEMA's not going to forget about the needs that they have and we're going to work with our people back in our field office in San Juan about what we're going to do."

### Struggling for basics

### JUST WATCHED

## Mayor: 'Damn it, this is not a good news story'

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#### MUST WATCH

Mayor: 'Damn it, this is not a good news story' 01:26
For many in Puerto Rico, trying to get the basics like fuel has become a grueling, all-day affair.
About 675 of the island's roughly 1,110 gas stations were working as of Friday evening, according to the Puerto Rican government's website for information on the recovery.
In Loíza, residents waited for more than 10 hours for gas. The town's deputy mayor, Luis Escobar summed it up as a chain that has been broken: "No fuel, no work, no money."
Without gas or transport, people can't get to work. Without work, there is no money to buy necessities.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Puerto Rico has medical supplies -- why must doctors fight for them?
After spending an entire day waiting for fuel, the following days are spent trying to get food and other basic supplies, residents say.
There's also a cash scarcity. Many of Puerto Rico's businesses, supermarkets and gas stations will accept only cash because credit card systems are down.
At least half of all bank branches remain shuttered, in part because they can't get enough armored trucks with gas, or truck drivers, to deliver the cash safely. Roughly 90 open bank branches are limiting the amount people can withdraw per day, the governor said Friday, to ensure everyone can get some cash.
Despite difficulties, Cruz expressed her faith in the American people: "I know what the US heart is all about. You are intelligent, daring people, so I just don't understand why things have become so complicated and the logistics are so insurmountable."

CNN's Tal Kopan, Jason Hanna, Nicole Chavez, Steve Almasy, Ivan Watson and CNNMoney's Patrick Gillespie contributed to this report.

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Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria: The Air Force Academy boss whose racism speech went viral - The Washington Post
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By Herman Wong and Rachel Chason By Herman Wong and Rachel Chason September 29 at 8:56 PM Follow @hermanywong Follow @rachel_chason
Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy, spoke to cadets and cadet candidates on Sept. 28 after racial slurs were written on the dormitory message boards of five black cadets at the academy's preparatory school. (USAFAOfficial/YouTube)

Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria had an important message for U.S. Air Force Academy cadets at a moment of crisis.

Five black cadet candidates at the academy’s preparatory school in Colorado Springs had found racial slurs written on the message boards on their doors.

Silveria, who took over as the school’s superintendent in August, urged cadets to reach for their phones.

“I want you to videotape this so you have it, so you can use it — so that we all have the moral courage together,” he said, surrounded by 1,500 of the academy’s faculty, administrators and athletic coaches.

“If you can’t treat someone with dignity and respect, get out.”

[VA chief took in Wimbledon, river cruise on European work trip; wife’s expenses covered by taxpayers]

Silveria’s forceful denunciation has been heard far beyond the walls of the academy in Colorado, introducing the veteran officer to a national audience.

> There is only one way to confront hatred and prejudice: head on. Well said, Lt. Gen Silveria. https://t.co/vQ2Aflo8Tx

> — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 29, 2017

> Important statement by Lt. Gen. Silveria @AF_Academy. I agree, there's no place for racism or bigotry in our military or this great nation. https://t.co/B5nNlGFmwE

> — John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) September 29, 2017

“I wanted to have a direct conversation with them about the power of diversity,” Silveria told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin on Friday, referring to the cadets. “Ultimately, these men and women are going to be lieutenants in the United States Air Force.”

Baldwin read Silveria messages of support on Twitter and asked him whether he believed Washington needed better leadership. He replied that his “message to the cadets was not about that.”

He said his speech was intended to show the cadets that they were all united “as an institution protecting these values.”

Security forces are looking into the matter, according to Lt. Col. Allen Herritage, a spokesman for the U.S. Air Force Academy. The preparatory school is designed for candidates who have shown leadership or other qualities that would make them strong applicants for the academy but who need to shore up their academic work before becoming cadets, Herritage said.

Silveria, who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1985 with a bachelor of science degree, succeeded the academy’s first female superintendent, Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson.

In his 32-year career, Silveria has nearly 4,000 hours of flight time, including combat missions over Iraq and the Balkans, making him one of the Air Force’s most experienced pilots, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.

“When it came time to pick the next superintendent, Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria was the obvious choice,” Gen. David Goldfein, the branch’s chief of staff, said at Silveria’s appointment ceremony, according to the Gazette. “I don’t believe we have an officer serving in the Air Force today with more combat time, more joint credibility, or more operational understanding of the art of modern war.”

Shortly before the ceremony, Silveria, the Air Force Academy’s 20th superintendent, was promoted from major general to lieutenant general, the rank required for the position, the Gazette reported.

He was previously deputy commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command and deputy commander of Central Command’s Combined Forces Air Component in southwest Asia, according to Military.com.

On Twitter, Silveria has been widely praised for his leadership, with some suggesting he should run for office one day.

> This is what power, leadership, and advocacy looks like…. Excellent words from Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria! https://t.co/4BmjKZCYgx

> — Colin Cole (@ColinCole91) September 29, 2017

> Gen. Jay B. Silvera – LEADER, PATRIOT, AMERICAN…Yes, this is how it's supposed to be…take note. #SILVERA2020!!!

> — Jeff (@sosorryworld) September 29, 2017

[‘Racist propaganda’: Librarian rejects Melania Trump’s gift of Dr. Seuss books]

A video of the speech on the Air Force Academy’s Facebook page has been viewed more than 1.7 million times, and a tweet of the same has been shared more than 22,000 times. Commenters praised the general for his leadership and unequivocal response: “This is how you respond to racism in America.”

> "If you can't treat someone with dignity and respect–then you need to get out."-Lt. Gen. Jay B. Silveria, Superintendent @AF_Academy pic.twitter.com/njCktv5Fmp

> — U.S. Air Force (@usairforce) September 28, 2017

Susan Svrluga contributed to this report.

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Macron's invitation to visit France not related to Kurdish referendum - Iraqi PM | Reuters
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Macron's invitation to visit France not related to Kurdish referendum - Iraqi PM
#World News
September 30, 2017 / 8:41 AM / Updated 3 hours ago

# Macron's invitation to visit France not related to Kurdish referendum - Iraqi PM

Reuters Staff

1 Min Read

A still image taken from a video shows Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi speaking as he makes a statement in Baghdad, Iraq September 24, 2017. REUTERS/via Reuters TV

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Saturday an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to visit Paris was not related to the Kurdish independence referendum.

The invitation was delivered to Abadi on Aug. 26 by the French foreign and defense ministers during a visit to Baghdad, Abadi’s office said in a statement, adding its purpose was “to strengthen bilateral relations and concentrate efforts on fighting terrorism.”

A source in Macron’s office said Abadi had accepted an invitation from Macron to visit Paris on Oct. 5 for talks on the Kurdish independence referendum.

A phone call between Abadi and Macron, after Monday’s referendum “did not mention in any way the need to recognize the rights of the Kurdish people,” said Abadi’s statement.

Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Janet Lawrence

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