White Supremacist Accused of Killing Two Men in Portland Walked Into the Courtroom Ranting About Free Speech

Welcome to WHAT NOW, a morning round-up of the news/fresh horrors that await you today.

Jeremy Joseph Christian, the man accused of stabbing two men to death on board a Portland train, started ranting about “free speech” and patriotism as he walked into the courtroom on Monday for his first appearance since the killings.

“Get out if you don’t like free speech,” Christian can be heard saying in video from the court. “You call it terrorism, I call it patriotism. You hear me? Die.”

He continued on to call for death to “enemies of America,” including anti-fascists.

Police say Christian stabbed Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23, and Ricky Best, 53, to death when they tried to intervene as Christian shouted racial slurs at a Muslim teenager and her black friend on board the train last Friday.

A third man, Micah David-Cole Fletcher, 21, was seriously injured, but he watched from the front row–with stitches and bruising still easily visible on his neck–as Christian was arraigned on multiple charges, including aggravated murder, CNN reported.

Christian’s next court appearance in June 7. In the meantime, federal authorities are weighing whether to charge him with hate crimes.

WHAT ELSE?

• Trump has reportedly decided to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, which would make it the first country to do so, Axios reported on Wednesday morning. Syria and Nicaragua are the only countries who don’t currently back the deal to combat climate change on a global scale.
• The president also tweeted the fake word “covfete,” and everyone lost their minds. Then Trump ruined the joke by trying to get in on the fun.

• Kathy Griffin begged for forgiveness after people got mad at her photo shoot holding the bloodied, severed head of the president. Shocking turn of events here, folks.
• Trump has reportedly been urging world leaders to call him on his private cellphone, a major breach in protocol that raises security concerns.