President announces new Turkey sanctions, amid fury over fake video of him killing journalists shown at Mar-a-Lago
Move comes amid outcry over ‘abandoning’ of Kurdish forces
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has announced new sanctions on Turkey, amid a mounting outcry over its assault upon Kurdish fighters as it invaded northern Syria, and the escape from prisons of Isis fighters.
The president last week gave a green light for Ankara to launch its long-planned military operation into northeast Syria after he pulled out a small number of US special forces who had been working with the Kurds, whose soldiers had spearheaded the operation to destroy Isis.
On Monday, the president signed executive orders to sanction Turkey and suspend negotiations on a $100 billion trade deal. He said he will also boost tariffs on Turkish steel to 50 per cent.
In a statement in which he vowed to swiftly destroy the Turkish economy if it continued down “this dangerous and destructive path”, Mr Trump said US troops coming out of Syria will redeploy and remain in the region to monitor the situation.
Later in the day, the White House announced the president was sending Mike Pence to the Middle East, as tensions rose.
Mr Pence said Mr Trump spoke directly to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“President Trump communicated to him very clearly that the United States of America wants Turkey to stop the invasion, implement an immediate ceasefire and to begin to negotiate with Kurdish forces in Syria to bring an end to the violence,” he said.
Mr Trump’s decision to abandon the Kurdish-led Syrian Defence Force was criticised at home and abroad as opening the door to a resurgence of Isis, and for betraying a group that had previously worked with the US against Isis.
As Turkish forces and their Syrian Arab proxies advanced, forcing the Kurds to reduce the number of fighters guarding several prisons containing Isis prisoners, a number of detainees are able to flee.
The Kurds also announce they had deceived to strike a deal with the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Meanwhile, the president’s have been condemned for screening a meme of the president killing journalists in a church and pistol-whipping the late senator John McCain at the American Priority Conference, hosted at his own Trump National Doral Miami golf resort in Florida.
The president has reportedly called the CEO of Fox News, Suzanne Scott, to complain over the “unfair” coverage his administration has received regarding the House impeachment inquiry. He recently complained the network is “much different than it used to be in the good old days”.
On the Sunday morning talk show circuit, US defence secretary Mark Esper admitted that Turkey “appears to be” committing war crimes against America’s Kurdish allies in the Syrian Democratic Forces, as a retired Marine general says Mr Trump has “blood on his hands” over the crisis unfolding on the northern Syria border.
To see how this story played out please read below
Donald Trump violated US law when he declared a national emergency over the country’s southern border and funnelled taxpayer money towards his campaign promise of building a sprawling wall throughout the region, a federal judge ruled.
Federal District Court Judge David Briones described the president’s proclamation as “unlawful” in his ruling on Friday, saying the move violated a budget law approved by Congress.
The budget law specifically states “none of the funds made available in this or any other appropriation may be used to increase” federal funding to support Mr Trump’s campaign vow.
Mr Trump declared a national emergency over the US-Mexico border in February, prompting swift backlash from local politicians and Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Story to come...
Donald Trump is now attacking the media and Hunter Biden in one fell tweet, claiming former Vice President Joe Biden's son was "being forced" to leave his post on the board of a Chinese company.
Hunter Biden has actually reportedly decided to leave the company after the president sought an investigation into his work on a Ukrainian energy firm. There has been no evidence of wrongdoing on either part of the Bidens.
Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican and close ally to Donald Trump in the US House of Representatives, was ejected from a closed-door impeachment hearing on Monday after he attempted to enter the room despite not serving on any of the House committees investigating the president.
A new report says Facebook may be withholding serious regulations on the spread of far-right misinformation in order to appease Donald Trump's administration -
The pro-Trump "war room" is tweeting out an attack on Elizabeth Warren on Columbus Day, once again bringing up criticism of her past claims about being Native American -
Donald Trump has made the apparently baseless suggestion that Kurdish forces have deliberately been releasing Isis prisoners who are reported to have escaped during Turkey’s offensive in Syria.
As part of his latest in a string of attacks on Fox News – a network that has consistently been supportive of the president – the former reality show presenter attempted to defend himself over widespread criticism of his decision to withdraw US troops, clearing the way for the Turkish attacks.
Hundreds of Isis militants and affiliates reportedly escaped from facilities during shelling over the weekend, and Mr Trump said ”Europe had a chance to get their ISIS prisoners, but didn’t want the cost”.
Critics of the president are fact-checking him over his latest claims that Hunter Biden was "forced" to leave his post on a Chinese company, despite the former vice president's son choosing to step down himself -
Here's the latest analysis from The Independent's Chris Stevenson on Donald Trump's impeachment:
The parents of Harry Dunn, the 19-year-old motorcyclist killed in a crash have called on Donald Trump to intervene in their campaign to get the US diplomat’s wife involved to come to the UK, asking what he would do if tragedy were to befall his own son.
In an emotional press conference in Manhattan just streets away from the president’s famed Trump Tower, Tim Dunn and Charlotte Charles – Dunn’s parents – promised to pursue justice for their son, seven weeks after he was killed in a nighttime crash that has now sparked a scandal that spans the Atlantic and opened up questions about privilege and immunity in international relations.
Mr Dunn, when asked what he might say to Mr Trump if he had the chance, referenced the president’s five children, which include a 13-year-old boy.
“I would just say to him, as a man as a father ... just to see, how could you let this happen? If you’re a father and your child had died, surely you would want that person to own up and take the responsibility of their own actions. That’s all it is,” Mr Dunn said.
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