Trump news: President responds to Iran seizing British ship, as he announces he spoke with Kanye West about A$AP Rocky
Amid increasing backlash over his racist comments about US congresswomen
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Donald Trump has responded to the Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard seizing at least one British oil tanker.
After saying he was in talks with the UK, Mr Trump - who pulled America out of the Iran Nuclear Deal last year - said: "This only goes to show what I'm saying about Iran. Trouble. Nothing but trouble."
The events come a day after Donald Trump said the US Navy "destroyed" an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz, a claim Iran denied.
In the midst of the international tensions, which have escalated since Iran shot down a US drone in June, the president posted a tweet about his efforts to release imprisoned rapper A$AP Rocky.
The American star is currently in a Swedish prison while police finish their investigation into a fight that took place in downtown Stockholm.
Tensions high as Trump approves new Iran sanctions: In pictures
Show all 17“Just spoke to Kanye West about his friend A$AP Rocky's incarceration”, Mr Trump posted online. “I will be calling the very talented Prime Minister of Sweden to see what we can do about helping A$AP Rocky. So many people would like to see this quickly resolved!”
Earlier in the day, the feud between Donald Trump and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar raged on.
The president has faced increasing criticism over his racist attacks of the Somali-born Democrat.
Despite saying he disapproved of the “send her back” chants at a North Carolina rally, Donald Trump today praised the rally attendees as "incredible patriots," and said Representative Omar is “a disgrace to our country.”
The latest political figure to defend the freshman representative is Angela Merkel.
The German Chancellor said Mr Trump's racist comments about Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib undermine America's strength" and that she stands in "solidarity" with the congresswomen.
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A 2008 video of John McCain shutting down a woman who called Barack Obama an Arab has been widely shared on social media in the aftermath of Mr Trump's attacks on Ilhan Omar.
Earlier today, Mr Trump attacked The New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman on Twitter, claiming he writes "in between rounds of his favourite game, golf".
The president's tweet prompted Huffpost's White House correspondent S V Date to respond: "Hold on... Donald J Trump is criticising someone for playing too much golf?
"His golf habit has cost taxpayers $108.1m. After this weekend it will be $109.2m."
On Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the comments the president made about four US congresswomen this week.
"I firmly distance myself from them," Merkel said, adding that she feels "solidarity with the women who have been targeted".
"The strength of the United States, from my point of view is precisely that it's a country where people from all different kinds of nationalities have contributed to the strength of the American people," the German leader said.
On Sunday, Mr Trump encouraged the women, who are all American citizens, to "go back" to their countries of origin.
President Trump is marking the 50th anniversary of the first steps on the moon with a meeting today with former Apollo 11 astronauts.
According to the White House, Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins, and the family of mission commander Neil Armstrong will be greeted by the president in the Oval Office.
Mr Trump and Aldrin previously met in 2017, during the signing of the Executive Order on the National Space Council.
At the time, the pair had an interesting exchange about the Buzz Lightyear phrase "To infinity and beyond" from Toy Story.
Later today, the president will travel to his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, where he will be holding a campaign event.
According to the website trumpgolfcount.com, it is estimated Mr Trump will make 310 visits to golf clubs during the four years of his presidency.
He has played golf a confirmed 90 times, with the number most likely closer to 140.
A new study has suggested President Trump may be partly to blame for a rise in premature births among Latina women in the US.
According to the study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, the 2016 US presidential election coincided with 3.2 to 3.6 per cent more preterm births to Latina women.
Of the link, Alison Gemmill, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore and first author of the study, said: "Because mothers and children are particularly vulnerable to psychosocial stress, our findings suggest that political campaigns, rhetoric and policies can contribute to increased levels of preterm birth."
On Twitter, Aldrin called his meeting with President Trump today "excellent" and said topics of conversation included "America's future in space, ways to address space challenges, and the need to keep exploring beyond the horizon".
The former astronaut concluded the tweet by adding his own twist to the president's catchphrase.
"Keep America Great in Space!!" he wrote.
While meeting with the astronauts today, the president said: "We are going to the moon and then we're going to Mars.
"We don't know what we're going to find on Mars but it's certainly a trip that's going to be very interesting."
In June, the president tweeted that Nasa should "NOT be talking about going to the Moon" because "we did that 50 years ago".
"They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), defense and science!" Mr Trump wrote.
↵Speaking to reporters, the president compared himself to Boris Johnson and said he would do a "great job" as UK prime minister.
You can read more about the president's comments below.
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