Trump celebrates free speech after repeatedly attacking war hero John McCain

Follow the latest updates from Washington

Donald Trump complains of John McCain ingratitude over state funeral

Donald Trump signed an executive order which will withhold federal funding from colleges and universities that do not permit or protect free speech amidst the president’s own attacks on Senator John McCain, more than six months after his death.

According to the president, the order is the first of many steps to come in his protection of the First amendment. During his remarks, Mr Trump invited students from colleges around the country to share their own stories of hindered free speech. One student recalled a time her school stopped her from handing out Valentine’s Day cards with religious messages.

Mr Trump also discussed his administration’s plans for student loan debt, which he said he is “going to work to fix”.

According to the president, who pointed some of the blame at universities, the Education Department and Treasury Department will publish information on future earnings and loan repayment for every major at every school.

The president’s remarks on the importance of upholding free speech come as he faces continued backlash over his own comments regarding late Senator John McCain, who he attacked Wednesday during a visit to Ohio.

In addition to repeating that he was “not a fan” of the late senator, Mr Trump complained that he had never been thanked for McCain’s state funeral.

Democrats and republicans have defended McCain following the president’s comments. The Washington National Cathedral also disputed Mr Trump’s claims that he had to “approve” the funeral for the late senator.

Also on Thursday, Mr Trump “made history” when he tweeted that the United States would be recognising Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently hosting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, called the president’s recognition of the territory as Israeli land a “Purim miracle” and thanked President Trump.

Catch up on events as they happened

Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load

Key Points

• President signs executive order upholding free speech on college campuses...
• ...amidst own attacks on late Senator John McCain
• Republicans and democrats round on president over McCain attacks
• President says US will recognise Israel's sovereignty over Golan Heights

[21 March 2019 10:30 · Joe Sommerlad]

On Twitter yesterday, the president followed up another extraordinary feud - this time with George Conway, husband of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, whom he characterised as a "stone cold LOSER!" - with several retweets from Fox News.

Among the more interesting was this, defending his use of social media as a means of bypassing the "corrupt media".

This video of a soldier's surprise reunion with his son during a Taekwondo training session is admittedly very sweet.

[21 March 2019 10:45 · Joe Sommerlad]

Democratic rising star Andrew Gillium, the former mayor Tallahassee in Florida, is pledging to "evict" Donald Trump from the White House by registering one million new voters from the Sunshine State ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

[21 March 2019 11:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

One man particularly relishing President Trump's McCain controversy is yesterday's adversary George Conway, who has been hammering that retweet button.

He's shared all of the below with his followers in the last few hours, as well as several more anti-Trump news stories on Hope Hicks etc. with withering comments attached.

And, somewhat less pointedly, this...

Here's a profile on one of the most conflicted men in Washington from Clark Mindock.

[21 March 2019 11:03 · Joe Sommerlad]

In the interest of balance, here's President Trump on "whack job" George Conway.

[21 March 2019 11:15 · Joe Sommerlad]

As new Democratic candidates continue to come forward and the 2020 campaign begins to dominate the US political conversation, the opposition has announced a fundraising record for February.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $11.6m (£8.8m) last month, almost half of which came from grassroots donors and a third of which came from online contributions, according to The Hill.

By comparison, the DCCC raised $7.2m (£5.5m) in January.

[21 March 2019 11:25 · Joe Sommerlad]

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo is in Israel at present and has used his visit to denounce "the dark wave of antisemitism rising in Europe and the United States", calling on countries to "go to the barricades against bigotry."

"Our challenge is especially urgent as the hot rhetoric of prejudice cloaks itself in the language of the academy or diplomacy or public policy," Mr Pompeo said while appearing alongside Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

All of which was commendable, timely and well-expressed until he said: "Sadly, we in the United States have seen antisemitic language uttered even in the great halls of our own Capitol. This should not be."

The subtlety-free reference to Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar's comment about the influence of Israeli lobbyists in Washington saw him repeating his boss's disingenuous attack on the domestic opposition for cheap political gain, a highly questionable tactic given that Mr Pompeo was in town to commemorate the Holocaust and doing so at a moment in which the world is still reeling from the effects of the "rhetoric of prejudice".

[21 March 2019 11:30 · Joe Sommerlad]

Here's Tom Embury-Dennis on the Trump-McCain furore.

[21 March 2019 11:45 · Joe Sommerlad]

The US District Court for the District of Columbia has ruled the Trump administration failed to "sufficiently consider climate change" in its efforts to promote American energy dominance as it puts a temporary halt to oil and gas drilling on roughly 300,000 acres of land in Wyoming, a major rebuke to the president's pro-fossil fuels agenda.

[21 March 2019 12:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

Here's Madeline Ruth Somerville for Indy Voices on why Ivanka is the true power behind the throne.

[21 March 2019 12:10 · Joe Sommerlad]

Here's what's coming up on the agenda today at the White House.