Sconty empire

Trump administration snubs EU with diplomatic downgrade Washington (CNN) Ambassadors lining up to pay their respects at President George H.W. Bush's funeral knew the routine: They would be called in order of seniority, a well-established system in which everyone knew where they belonged. Until they didn't. The European Union's ambassador to the US, David O'Sullivan, normally among the first 30 foreign envoys to be seated, watched as almost every other ambassador to the US took a seat, leaving him among the last to be called. That, according to an EU official, was how the 28-member bloc learned that the Trump administration had downgraded its diplomatic status from a state to an international organization. The shift -- a reversal of an Obama administration decision in 2016 -- has riled Brussels, deepening a growing rift and appalling diplomats in Washington who decried the move as "amateur" and "unprofessional." The l