Donald Trump orders new sanctions against Iran's supreme leader and associates
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Donald Trump has signed into force new "hard-hitting" sanctions against Iran, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as tensions continue to rise between Washington and Tehran
Mr Trump said that the issue of the US drone downed by Iran last week “could probably add that into this” but that the sanctions were “something that was going to happen anyway.”
The president is also facing criticism on multiple fronts as the week begins, including domestic outcry over the treatment of migrant children held in “filthy” border detention centres. Meanwhile, questions have been raised after documents were released showing the president's transition team "red flagged" the appointed of a senior general for a top administration post over his opposition to the use of torture.
After postponing the mass deportation of immigrants at the request of Democrats over the weekend, the president gave an interview to NBC’s Meet the Press in which he fielded questions about possible Russian election hacking in 2020, the state of the US economy, and the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Meanwhile, as Mr Trump went after Iran, the 2020 race to take on the president is in full swing.
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The biggest headlines of the day on that front came from Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg. Mr Sanders drove the day by introducing an ambitious plan to make public college and universities free — and a significant reduction in American student loan debt.
Mr Buttigieg, meanwhile, faced conflict in South Bend, where an officer involved shooting of a black man has laid bare the racial tensions in that city and across the country.
If you're trying to cringe, feel free to take a look at this tweet from Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, and one of several presidential candidates.
Earlier today, just days before the first 2020 debates, Joe Biden released his immigration plan in an op-ed for the Miami Herald.
Calling Donald Trump's approach to re-election "morally bankrupt", Mr Biden said it is "imperative that we secure our borders" but said Mr Trump's border wall "is a slogan divorced from reality."
The op-ed isn't so much a white page policy plan, as much as it is a statement of Mr Biden's apparent thoughts on the issue. In it, Mr Biden called for increased engagement with Central and South America, and for increased scanning at American ports of entry.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg, facing harsh questions and jeers in his hometown following a police shooting, has told The Atlantic that racial inequality may "be the thing that unravels the American project."
"I really believe that if we don't conquer racial inequality in my lifetime, it may be the thing that unravels the American project in my lifetime," Mr Buttigieg told the magazine.
A new poll shows that Joe Biden is the top choice for Democrats whose most worrisome issue is climate change.
The poll was released Monday by the Sierra Club and Morning Consult, and showed that 37 per cent of voters who listed climate change as their top issue support Mr Biden first. He was followed by the group by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who got 19 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.
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