Trump launches blistering attack on Democrats ‘who reject everything that we hold dear’
Follow the latest updates from Washington
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has doubled down on his attacks on a group of Democratic congresswomen, claiming the party was now led by “four-left wing extremists who reject everything that we hold dear”.
At a rally for supporters in Cincinnati, Ohio, the crowd did not break into racist chants as happened two weeks ago in Florida when the president referred to the four women of colour.
But it did start chanting “lock her up” when he referred to Hillary Clinton, who he beat in the crucial state of Ohio in 2016, on his way to winning the White House.
“While Republicans are working every day to build up our country, the rage-filled Democrat Party is trying to tear America apart,” said Mr Trump.
“The Democrat Party is now being led by four left-wing extremists who reject everything that we hold dear.”
Mr Trump claimed he was seeking to avoid “controversy”, which is perhaps why he did not spend too long talking about the congresswomen, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.
Last month, he was widely criticised and his tweets formally condemned as racist by the House of Representatives, after tweeting and commenting that the the women should “go home”. Three of them were born in the US, while the fourth, Mr Omar came here 20 years ago after her family escaped from Somalia as refugees.
On Thursday, one of four Republican members of congress who voted in favour of the House bill condemning the president’s remarks about the progressive women, announced he was not seeking reelection.
Will Hurd, who represents Texas’s 23rd congressional district and is the only black Republican in the House, had condemned Mr Trump’s remarks as racist and xenophobic.
“Look, I'm the only black Republican in the House of Representatives. I go into communities that most Republicans don’t show up in order to take a conservative message,” he told CNN last month.
“This makes it harder in order to take our ideas, and our platform, to communities that don't necessarily identify with the Republican Party.”
Mr Hurd made his announcement while Mr Trump was on stage attacking Democratic mayors, across the country, including the mayor of Cincinnati, John Cranley.
He claimed the crowd at the US Bank Arena had broken records, and he alleged it was “Democrats” who for health and safety reasons had not allowed more people inside.
If you want to see how Mr Trump energised the crowd, please see what was our live coverage below
Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
Democrats in the Senate are pushing President Trump for a review of the White House security clearances given to his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner - despite concerns about their suitability - after both intelligence community inspector general Michael Atkinson and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) said they did not have the authority to commence one, The Hill reports.
Virginia's Mark Warner, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has written to Trump on behalf of colleagues requesting that he order the DNI to look into the granting of the passes.
"We believe a new review is necessary to address the allegations that have been raised and, if necessary, implement corrective action,” Warner and friends wrote.
"Without such a review, it will be incumbent upon Congress to take a more direct role in overseeing and legislating on security clearances to protect national security."
When the group of senators, including Dianne Fienstein, Bob Menedez and Jack Reed, wrote to Atkinson on 22 July, he replied: “It is well-established that the president of the United States has broad latitude concerning the process through which security clearances are granted, transferred, or revoked, as well as broad flexibility in determining whom to choose as his advisers and to what extent those advisers may gain access to information, including national security information.”
It's hard to imagine Trump will go along with this as it's unlikely to be in his best interests but let's see. Warner himself in fact said as much yesterday.
That old rogue George Conway appears to have started #TrumpEulogies trending on Twitter.
It's dark stuff so be warned but here are some of the least offensive highlights.
Poverty in the United States is so bad that some people “have no choice but to riot”, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has told New York radio station HOT 97.
“Social destabilisation is what happens when people do not have a plan or feel like there’s no vision for their future,” she said, sounding a great deal more statesmanlike and empathetic than the man who described Baltimore as a "disgusting, rat and rodent-infested" place where "no human being would want to live."
Tim Wyatt has more.
The US Senate has approved a budget deal that will lift the debt ceiling into 2021, delaying any possible conflict in passing the government spending package until after the 2020 election.
Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill when it arrives on his desk.
For a nice change of pace, here's Cory Booker laughing off the reaction to his "Kool-Aid" line from last night.
Facebook has announced it has taken down a major online propaganda campaign believed to be linked to the government of Saudi Arabia.
Story to come...
Facebook has announced it has taken down a major online propaganda campaign believed to be linked to the government of Saudi Arabia.
The social media giant said it had detected two different operations of “inauthentic behaviour” originating from the Middle East and North Africa, one of which was tied to marketing firms in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and did not appear to linked to any government.
The other operation, which involved hundreds accounts that gad more than 1.4m followers, had been traced to the government of Saudi Arabia and promoted material that placed the kingdom in a good light, while disparaging its enemies.
John Legend has embarked on a fiery condemnation of Donald Trump, referring to the US President as “a flaming racist” and “an evil f***ing canker sore on America’s whole landscape” following his racist Twitter rant about Baltimore.
Speaking to paparazzi photographers from the gossip site TMZ, Legend declared Trump “a flaming racist [and] a piece of s***”, adding: “He says ‘piece of s***’ all the time. That’s what he does. We need to get him out of office.”
Donald Trump offered to help his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to put out vast wildfires raging across Siberia, the Kremlin has revealed.
The US and Russian presidents spoke by phone at Washington’s initiative in a move Mr Putin took as a sign that damaged ties can be restored, the Kremlin said.
The fires have to spread around 3 million hectares of mostly remote forest – an area almost the size of Belgium – according to the Federal Forestry Agency.
Donald Trump’s trade war is hurting the American economy while failing to damage China as intended, the US president’s former chief economic adviser has said.
Gary Cohn said tariffs imposed on billions of dollars worth of Chinese products had backfired.
“I don’t really think it’s hitting the Chinese economy,” the former White House official told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments