Trump news: President demands media outlets 'all apologise' as G7 fallout prompts Congress to step up impeachment inquiry
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Donald Trump has lashed out at the press after MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell was forced to apologise for claiming Deutsche Bank's financial records on the Trump family included loan documents co-signed by Russian billionaires close to Vladimir Putin.
The president has defended his China trade war and pledged to reduce troop numbers in Afghanistan in an interview with Fox News Radio and been busy on Twitter proclaiming “the Age of Trump”, deriding New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand after she dropped out of the 2020 race and touting construction progress on his US-Mexico border wall, only for his own officials to contradict him.
During that Fox News Radio interview, Mr Trump said that he wanted to cut the troop levels in Afghanistan to 8,500, and said he would then consider next steps as more information becomes available.
Mr Trump also lashed out at the media during that call, saying that he thinks it would be "disloyal" to his supporters if he did an interview with CNN, and suggested that he has dirt on the network's president, Jeff Zucker.
With Hurricane Dorian raging towards the Florida coast after grazing Puerto Rico, Mr Trump also finds himself facing renewed scrutiny from the House Judiciary Committee - already examining the case for potential impeachment proceedings - over his offer to host the next G7 summit at his own Trump National Doral Miami resort, which they believe amounts to an abuse of his powers of office.
Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings
Show all 31The hurricane is expected to hit Florida as a Category 4 storm, somewhere in the middle of the state's eastern side.
In response, Floridians are clearing off shelves in stores, and lining up to fill their tanks with petrol.
The storm might hit the Floridian coast as early as Sunday.
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Hello and welcome to The Independent's rolling coverage of the Donald Trump administration.
Donald Trump has invited fresh mockery online by using the megalomaniacal phrase “the Age of Trump” in a tweet, writing: “When the ‘Age of Trump’ is looked back on many years from now, I only hope that a big part of my legacy will be the exposing of massive dishonesty in the Fake News!”
With the phrase trending on social media this morning, a thousand memes were born.
The president has also been busy on Twitter deriding New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand after she dropped out of the running for the Democratic 2020 presidential nomination, jeering sarcastically: "I’m glad they never found out that she was the one I was really afraid of!"
He also responded angrily to The Washington Post's story yesterday saying he had offered to pardon aides who broke the law in order to get his US-Mexico border wall raised in time for next year's election.
Attempting to counter the idea that such a step might be necessary to realise his signature white elephant project, Trump touted construction progress in Texas...
...only for his own officials to dispute his claims.
With Hurricane Dorian still raging off the Florida coast after grazing Puerto Rico, Trump finds himself facing renewed scrutiny from the House Judiciary Committee - already examining the case for impeachment - over his offer to host the next G7 summit at his own Trump National Doral Miami resort, which they believe amounts to an abuse of his powers of office.
At the G7 meeting of major industrial nations in Biarritz, France, on Monday, Trump said his administration was studying the possibility of hosting next year's summit at the Florida golf resort but insisted he would not personally profit from the resort's selection. Trump said a final decision had not been made.
"The president's personal financial interests are clearly shaping decisions about official US government activities," House of Representatives Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler and another senior Democrat on the panel said in a statement on Wednesday.
Constitutional clauses prohibit government officials from receiving emoluments such as salaries, fees and profits from foreign and domestic governments without congressional approval.
Democrats, who control the House, would be unlikely to give Republican Trump such approval.
Nadler and congressman Steve Cohen, chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, said hosting the G7 at the Trump resort would represent "perhaps the first publicly known instance in which foreign governments would be required to pay President Trump's private businesses in order to conduct business with the United States."
The House Judiciary Committee is still considering whether to recommend Trump's impeachment to the full House and has cited violations of the emoluments clauses as potentially impeachable offenses. House Democrats are also investigating possible violations from Trump's hotel near the White House in Washington.
"The committee will broaden its ongoing investigation to include these latest revelations and will take further investigative steps, including scheduling hearings and requesting additional documents from the White House," the statement said.
Trump's suggestion the resort be used has also attracted criticism 2020 candidates and the White House press corps and raised revived concerns reported locally that the venue is infested with bedbugs.
G7 countries take turns hosting the annual summit, often choosing relatively remote locations that show off areas of natural beauty.
Trump complained in France about having to be shuttled from airports large enough to accommodate his Air Force One plane and G7 venues. He said his Florida resort was ideal because of its size and proximity to Miami airport.
The two Democrats also pointed to news reports that an official meeting between Trump and Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar was cancelled after Trump asked that the meeting be held at his golf resort in Doonbeg, Ireland.
Children born to US government employees and military servicemen and women overseas will no longer automatically be granted American citizenship, according to a policy alert from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The new rule change is the latest in a string of amendments meant to redefine citizenship from the Trump administration and is expected to provoke significant anger among the diplomatic community and armed forces.
Here's Lily Puckett's report.
Trump’s repeated use of the nickname “Pocahontas” as part of an attack on Massachusetts senator and 2020 challenger Elizabeth Warren has been condemned as “an insult for political gain” by the country’s largest indigenous rights groups.
The president started using the name in a way many find offensive, even before he was elected to the Oval Office. He has continued to do so since becoming president, despite claims it is racist.
On Wednesday, the National Congress of American Indians, which describes itself as the oldest and largest indigenous rights organisation in the US, formally criticised Trump, saying his actions were part of a long tradition of insults endured by Native Americans and other indigenous groups.
Here's Andrew Buncombe with more.
It's five years since 44th president Barack Obama created a major political scandal by opting to wear a tan suit.
Chelsea Ritschel looks back fondly on simpler times.
New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit back at Trump after he decided yesterday was a good time to criticise Puerto Rico, just as a powerful tropical storm was bearing down on the island.
Having already joked about trading the territory for Greenland, lied about the amount of US aid given to it after Hurricane Maria hit in September 2017 and branded the outspoken mayor of San Juan Carmen Yulin Cruz "incompetent", the president labelled the embattled Caribbean isle "one of the most corrupt places on earth".
Fortunately, AOC was on hand to offer some perspective.
And she was not alone in doing so.
This heated debate between CNN anchor Chris Cuomo and Trump's national press secretary for the 2020 campaign Kayleigh McEnany - coming across like she's in a cult by insisting the president "doesn't lie" - is not to be missed.
“I think you should take a look in the mirror, Chris,” McEnany says.
“I do. And I don’t like these lines,” Cuomo responds, “but I do like that I don’t lie to my audience every damn chance I get.”
Trump is up early and moving to reassure the public on Hurricane Dorian but failing miserably by frightening the hell out of the good folk of Florida.
Remember also he cut funding to FEMA only yesterday to shunt towards his border wall.
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