Trump news: AOC, Ilhan Omar, Pressley and Tlaib slam 'hateful actions' of 'racist, xenophobic' president
The latest updates from Washington as they happened
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump began the week embroiled in a racism row after attempting to exploit divisions among the opposition by telling young progressive congresswomen like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came”, demanding an apology from the victims in his latest round of tweets.
Despite boasting of a 94 per cent approval rating among Republicans, the president found himself lagging behind Democratic 2020 challengers Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in a new poll conducted for NBC News/Wall Street Journal.
As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began mass deportations raids on at least 10 American cities, Mr Trump also hit out at media coverage of vice president Mike Pence's visit to a border detention centre in McAllen, Texas, on Friday, insisting the facility in question was “well run and clean” despite evidence to the contrary.
During a press conference, Ms Ocasio-Cortez, Ms Omar, and their colleagues Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib all denounced the president's attacks on them, which he doubled down on Monday afternoon at the White House.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez, finishing up her remarks, called the president "weak", and said he focuses on personal attacks because he cannot debate issues.
"Weak minds and leaders challenge loyalty to our country in order to avoid challenging and debating the policy," Ms Ocasio-Cortez said.
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"This is simply a disruption and distraction form the callous and chaotic culture of this administration" Ms Pressley says of Mr Trump's attacks on her and her colleagues.
"Despite the occupant of the WH's attempts to marginalize us and to silence us please know that we are more than four people," Ms Pressley says.
"Our squad is big. Our squad includes any person committed to building a more equitable and just world," Ms Pressley says. "We cannot, we will not, be silenced."
Ms Omar is now up, and notes that "we have a long way to fully live up to" the values of the founders of the United States.
Ms Omar says she believes 'this is a pivotal moment in our country", and charges the Trump administration is committing human rights abuses at the border.
Ms Omar says Mr Trump has been accused of committing "multiple crimes".
"To distract from that, he is launching a blatantly racist attack on four duly elected members of the US House of Representatives, all of whom are women of colour. This is the agenda of white nationalists, whether it is happening in chat rooms or it is happening on national TV, and now it has reached the White House garden," Ms Omar says.
Mr Trump has continued to tweet as the four congresswomen hold their press conference.
Mr Trump's tweet is below, though it is not clear that Democrats are distancing themselves from the four congresswomen giving their press briefing (at least not in light of his attacks).
Ms Ocasio-Cortez is now up, and is describing her first time visiting Washington when she was a little girl.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez's story involves her visiting the reflecting pool in Washington on that trip, and her grandfather pointing to the US Capitol to tell her that "this belongs to all of us".
She now is delivering a statement to children across the US: "This belongs to all of us."
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