Trump news live - President attacks Democrats over antisemitism as his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort faces sentencing
Follow the latest from Washington
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Donald Trump has stirred controversy by accusing House Democrats of failing to tackle antisemitism in their ranks, saying it was “shameful” the opposition had not taken a “stronger stand”.
The president appeared to be exploiting divisions exposed by congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s criticism of Israeli lobby groups in Washington, which has seen her spar with fellow representatives including New York veteran Nita Lowey while the House dawdles over whether to stage a vote on a resolution condemning prejudice against the Jewish faith outright.
President Trump has also threatened to stop “the Fake News Networks” covering the 2020 presidential election debates on a day his former campaign manager Paul Manafort is sentenced after being found guilty of bank and tax fraud.
Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
It’s another busy day in Washington.
Donald Trump is meeting with his Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at 11:00am, followed by a lunch with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The president will also be welcoming to the White House Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and his wife, Monika Babišová.
Before lunchtime at the White House, Melania Trump will join Pompeo at the State Department, where the first lady will be the secretary’s guest at the the annual International Women of Courage awards.
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, Nancy Pelosi will be hosting her weekly press conference after the US House of Representatives convenes at 10:00 am. Look for that at about 10:45 am. She’s expected to face questions over a delay in a resolution condemning anti-Semitism seen as a rebuke of freshman Democrat Ilhan Omar’s controversial statements on Israel.
The Senate will continue confirmation hearings for Eric Murphy, nominated to serve on the US Court of Appeals’ 6th Circuit. Those meetings will kick off at 9:30 am.
We’re also going to get a taste of how the economy is doing as a slate of reports are scheduled to drop on jobless claims, labor productivity in the fourth quarter and consumer credit in January.
As Marshall Cohen - a reporter dedicated to covering the Russia investigation - noted on Twitter, Donald Trump's former campaign chairman is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison after his sentencing his delivered today.
"Paul Manafort ran the Trump campaign in 2016. He was indicted in 2017. He was convicted in 2018. He’ll learn his fate today," the journalist wrote. "He could spend the rest of his life in prison for his crimes — bank fraud, tax evasion, conspiracy, etc."
"A pardon is the only way out at this point," he added.
It’s pretty fascinating to unpack the level of crimes Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman committed before facing justice today.
NPR reports Paul Manafort avoided reporting millions of dollars in foreign income, much of that stuff in international bank accounts, and he repeatedly lied to banks in order secure additional millions throughout his career.
Donald Trump has lambasted the media once again in a tweet denying his involvement in hush money payments sent to porn star Stormy Daniels — who claimed to have had a sexual relationship with the president — during the 2016 election.
“It was not a campaign contribution, and there were no violations of the campaign finance laws by me,” he wrote. “Fake News!”
The president is tweeting about border security again.
Donald Trump says US Border Patrol has done a “great job” amid new reports of increased apprehensions along the US-Mexico border.
“We are on track to APPREHEND more than one million people coming across the Southern Border this year,” he wrote. The president added that the “broken system” could be fixed “if only the Democrats would get on board.”
Democrats have said they are in support of border security but do not want to fund a wall.
Here’s more on Paul Manafort facing justice later today:
He could very well spend the rest of his life in prison after US District Judge TS Ellis III delivers his sentencing at 3.30pm EST.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, Manafort could receive a 20-year sentence Thursday, though most observers expect he will receive less than that.
Donald Trump’s wallet has gotten a little fatter in the White House
The president climbed Forbes’ ranking of the richest people in the world, despite other notable billionaires having slipped.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s nemesis, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, maintained his No 1 ranking. However, if his wife receives half of his fortune during their divorce (per Washington state law), he will still be the world’s richest man — but she will become the richest woman overnight.
Matthew Gertz, who tracks the president’s Twitter and television habits online, has slammed Donald Trump’s attacks on the media and Democrats after a major report accused Fox News of supplying him questions to a GOP debate during the 2016 election.
“Let's be very clear about what Trump is doing here,” Mr Gertz wrote, adding, “Building on the decades-long Fox News narrative that the rest of the press is corrupt, dishonest, and liberal.”
“This was a deliberate campaign to denigrate and undermine the rest of the press for power and $,” he added.
Nancy Pelosi has held a press conference on Capitol Hill after delaying a vote on the House anti-semitism resolution seen as a condemnation of freshman Democrat Ilhan Omar’s controversial statements on Israel.
“I do not believe she understood the full weight of her words,” Ms Pelosi said, saying she “understands how advocates come in” without an awareness of their messaging.
“I feel confident that her words were not based on any anti-semitism attitudes,” the House speaker added.
Here’s the full stream from Nancy Pelosi’s press conference.
The House Speaker lambasted Donald Trump’s past statements on white nationalists protesting in Charlottesville, North Carolina, in which the president claimed there were “fine people” on “both sides,” while defending freshman Democrat Ilhan Omar.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments