The day after the night before: Trump caps fractious post-midterm press conference by firing attorney general Jeff Sessions
President has lost the House of Representatives, but remains bullish about his ability to implement ‘Maga’ agenda
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Donald Trump capped a fraught midterm election period by firing his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, in a move that immediately provoked fear he may move against the Russia investigation headed by special counsel Robert Mueller.
The US president spent the day after the night before sparring with journalists in a rare set-piece press conference at the White House. The Republican, who appeared tired and on a short fuse, told one reporter to “just sit down” and called him “the enemy of the people” as he was grilled for some 90 minutes after his party lost control of the House of Representatives.
Nonetheless, Mr Trump sought to portray the GOP’s showing as a historic success, with candidates having prevailed in an unusual number of Senate races, he said. In one closely-watched contest, the Texas incumbent Ted Cruz narrowly defeated Beto O’Rourke, the Democrat darling of social media, who observers later tipped as a possible candidate for president in 2020.
During his news conference Mr Trump appeared to extend an olive branch to Democrats, with whom he said he believed his Republican colleagues could produce “a lot” of legislation, particularly on infrastructure. He has pledged to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to modernise crumbling elements of the US’ road system and for improvements in other areas.
But he said that bipartisan working would be contingent on his opponents refraining from opening a string of investigations into his affairs. Democrats have already said they plan to do just that, probing the president’s tax returns, alleged conflicts of interest and other sore points now that they control several influential House committees.
Mr Trump’s first public appearance following the polls veered wildly from outright conflict with the media to praising incoming House speaker Nancy Pelosi and envisioning peace, love and harmony among politicians and their constituents – pointing the finger at journalists for having sown division in the past.
The president hit out at CNN‘s Jim Acosta in particular after the reporter questioned him first over his rhetoric on immigration and then on Mr Mueller’s investigation. Mr Trump told Mr Acosta, who at times spoke over him and refused to relinquish his microphone, that “CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them”.
He also berated a black reporter for asking a “racist question” about his decision to declare himself a nationalist. Mr Trump was asked by Yamiche Alcindor, of PBS Newshour, whether his rhetoric had “emboldened” white nationalists. Mr Trump said that “it’s a very racist question” and that “it’s a very terrible thing you said to me”, adding: ”I don’t believe it ... why do I have my highest numbers with African-Americans?”
Trump attacks CNN's Jim Acosta in angry White House press conference
Show all 10As reporters gathered themselves following the marathon press conference, another bombshell dropped – Jeff Sessions had resigned at the president’s request. The attorney general’s sacking came after months of very public vitriol directed his way by Mr Trump, who was incensed by the former Alabama senator’s decision to recuse himself from oversight of Mr Mueller’s probe into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign for president and Russia.
“Since the day I was honoured to be sworn in as attorney general of the United States, I came to work at the Department of Justice every day determined to do my duty and serve my country,” Mr Sessions wrote in his resignation letter.
His departure – televised and made while surrounded by applauding colleagues including his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, and his successor, Matthew Whitaker – sparked warnings of a “constitutional crisis”. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and others warned Mr Trump not to move against Mr Mueller now that Mr Sessions was out of the way.
See below how we covered the midterms, and the aftermath, live
Please allow a moment for the live blog to load
When will we begin to get results coming in?
Polls start closing from 6pm EST in Kentucky (11pm GMT), but things will really start rolling at 7pm (midnight GMT), when polls close in Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Virginia.
Another wave will begin coming in after 7.30pm (12.30am on Wednesday) from North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia.
A big chunk of data will arrive after 8pm and 9pm (1am and 2am GMT) when states such as Texas, New York, Michigan and Pennsylvania begin reporting. The 11pm EST (4am GMT) batch of states includes California, home to several competitive congressional races. Alaska, where polls close at 1am (6am GMT) on Wednesday, will end the night.
Fox News’ Sean Hannity u-turns on Trump rally appearance then calls other media ‘fake news’
How are the financial markets responding?
Share prices were mixed in Europe and Asia on Tuesday as cautious world investors awaited the outcome of the midterm elections.
Britain's FTSE 100 lost 0.1 per cent to 7,093.77 while Germany's DAX added 0.2 per cent to 11,514.21. The CAC 40 in France was flat at 5,101.42.
Wall Street was also set for a lacklustre start, with the futures contract for the Dow Jones Industrial Average up less than 0.1 per cent at 25,543.00 and the S&P 500 future contract down 0.1 per cent at 2,736.70.
“US midterms may not spring any shocks in terms of who wins control of what but investors are understandably taking a cautious approach ahead of the results, given how markets have been over the last month,” analyst Craig Erlam of OANDA said.
Facebook says it has blocked 115 accounts for suspected “coordinated inauthentic” behaviour on the eve of the US midterm elections.
The social media company said in a blog post on Monday it shut down 30 Facebook accounts and 85 Instagram accounts and is investigating them in more detail.
The company said it took action after being tipped off on Sunday evening by US law enforcement officials, who believe they're "linked to foreign entities".
The announcement by Facebook comes as US tech companies have stepped up security and efforts to fight disinformation campaigns as online troublemakers including Russian groups try to divide voters and discredit democracy.
Facebook said that once it learns more it will provide further updates, “including whether these accounts are linked to the Russia-based Internet Research Agency or other foreign entities.”
On America's east coast polls are beginning to open and early risers are now voting.
In case you’ve just arrived at The Independent’s midterm elections liveblog, here’s a quick overview of what’s going on:
All 435 seats in the US House of Representatives, 35 US Senate seats and 36 governorships are up for grabs on Tuesday in elections focused on dozens of competitive races from coast to coast that opinion polls show could go either way.
Democrats are favoured by election forecasters to pick up the minimum of 23 House seats they need for a majority, which would enable them to stymie Trump's legislative agenda and investigate his administration.
But the Republicans are expected to retain their slight majority in the US Senate, currently at two seats, which would let them retain the power to approve US Supreme Court and other judicial nominations on straight party-line votes.
“Everything we have achieved is at stake tomorrow,” Donald Trump told supporters on Monday night in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at one of his three rallies to stoke turnout on the last day before the election.
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