Trump news: President rages over impeachment talk as Nancy Pelosi attacks immigration hypocrisy over Melania
President posts tweet claiming 'the case is closed' after Robert Mueller's surprise public statement
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Donald Trump is facing rejuvenated calls for his impeachment by House Democrats following FBI special counsel Robert Mueller's surprise statement on Wednesday in which he suggested only Justice Department policy prevented his team from charging a sitting president with a crime.
Mr Trump was quick to declare “The case is closed!” on Twitter but 2020 challengers Kamala Harris and Cory Booker called on Congress to hold the president to account while House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has so far attempted to resist “divisive” impeachment proceedings, said: “Nothing is off the table”.
Quickly moving on to a fresh controversy, Mr Trump has been forced to deny asking the US Navy to have its destroyer the USS John S McCain, named after the late senator and Trump antagonist, kept “out of sight” during his recent four-day trip to Japan.
The Pentagon’s acting chief, Patrick Shanahan, said he never authorised attempts to make sure Mr Trump would not see the USS John S. McCain at its homeport in Japan and would have his chief of staff investigate. Trump said he was not involved in the matter.
Mr Trump, who long feuded with Mr McCain, told reporters at the White House that he “was not a big fan” of the Arizona Republican and onetime presidential nominee “in any way, shape or form.” But, Mr Trump added, “I would never do a thing like that.”
“Now, somebody did it because they thought I didn’t like him, OK? And they were well-meaning, I will say,” he said, while insisting he was kept in the dark.
The order that a Navy destroyer be kept out of sight reflected what appeared to be an extraordinary White House effort to avoid offending an unpredictable president known for holding a grudge, including a particularly bitter one against Mr McCain.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that a US Indo-Pacific Command official wrote an email to Navy and Air Force officials about Mr Trump’s Memorial Day weekend visit, including instructions for preparations for the USS Wasp, where he was to speak.
Mr Trump tweeted late Wednesday that he “was not informed about anything having to do with the Navy Ship USS John S. McCain during my recent visit to Japan.”
Still, he added Thursday that he “was very, very angry with McCain because he killed health care. I was not a big fan of John McCain in any way, shape or form.”
Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
One problem Trump has resolved is precisely where to meet Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar next Wednesday.
After a disagreement about where to congregate, the duo have finally agreed to shake hands and talk shop at, um, the VIP Lounge of Shannon Airport in County Clare.
The taoiseach had wanted to host the president at the Dromoland Castle Hotel but Trump of course preferred his own golf resort at Doonbeg 30 miles away and was not prepared to budge, even threatening to use the time to go to Scotland instead.
The president hosted Varadkar at the White House for St Patrick's Day in March and presented his Irish counterpart with the customary Shamrock Bowl but is thought to want to avoid the unwelcome spectacle of mass protests he will be sure to see when he arrives in London on Monday.
Trump supporters have recently been seen sporting T-shirts and caps carrying the slogan "Make Ocasio-Cortez Bartend Again", in reference to the former career of the popular Democratic congresswoman who, until relatively recently, mixed cocktails for a living at Flats Fix, a Mexican restaurant in Union Square, New York City.
Now they're getting their wish. She'll be dusting off her skills as part of an initiative in support of the federal Raise the Wage Act, promoting a national living wage.
Here's more from Katie O'Malley.
A man who set himself on fire outside the White House yesterday has died of his injuries, it has been confirmed.
US Park Police identified him on Thursday morning as Arnav Gupta of Bethesda, Maryland.
In addition to weighing up the impeachment of President Trump, Nancy Pelosi is also taking on the might of Facebook after it refused to take down a video of her that has been heavily doctored to make her speech appear slurred and incoherent.
"I think they have proven - by not taking down something they know is false - that they were willing enablers of the Russian interference in our election," she told KQED News.
"We have said all along, poor Facebook, they were unwittingly exploited by the Russians. I think wittingly, because right now they are putting up something that they know is false. I can take it... but [Facebook is] lying to the public."
The social media giant is also currently under fire from the Republicans, who accuse it of censoring conservative voices.
Trump is continuing exactly where he left off last night.
He keeps exaggerating the cost of the investigation. I thought it was more like $25m.
Louisiana has become the latest southern state to pass a strict new abortion ban on Trump's watch.
In a 79-23 vote on Wednesday, the Louisiana House gave final passage to a bill barring abortion once there is a detectable fetal heartbeat, as early as the sixth week of pregnancy.
The state joins Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio, which have all passed similar "heartbeat" bills this year.
What's different this time is that the Louisiana's governor, John Bel Edwards, is a Democrat.
He supports the ban and intends to sign it into law despite opposition from national party leaders who say such measures constitute an attack on women's rights.
Great line from Nancy Pelosi here on Trump's hypocrisy over immigration.
The president recently announced revisions to US immigration protocol to make the system more "merit-based", prioritising individual applicants based on their personal qualifications rather than keeping family units together.
The speaker's response?
"I don’t know if merit counted for when his wife’s family came into the country," Pelosi said at an event at the Commonwealth Club of California. "I don’t know. Maybe it did. God bless them if it did. But he calls that 'chain migration,' which he wants to get rid of."
Ooof. The reference is of course to the first lady, Melania Trump, whose parents Viktor and Amalija Knavs came to the US from Slovenia.
"Should we attach a green card to the diploma of so many scientists and engineers and all the rest and graduate students who train in the US so that they can stay here?" Pelosi continued. "Of course. But that’s not the point. The point is that the president does not share the view of even Ronald Reagan and two Bushes in recent history."
Pelosi reportedly added that Trump’s immigration proposal is designed to “make America white again.”
Trump's acting secretary of defence, Patrick Shanahan, has joined national security adviser John Bolton in contradicting the president over North Korea's latest round of rocket tests.
“Let me just be clear: these were short range missiles. Those are a violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions," Shanahan told reporters from Jakarta, Indonesia.
In Japan over the weekend, Trump said of Pyongyang: "My people think it could have been a violation, as you know. I view it differently. Perhaps [Kim Jong-un] wants to get attention, and perhaps not. Who knows? It doesn't matter."
Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, stood beside Trump at the time, had said he regards such tests as a matter of "great regret" but when Trump was asked if he was concerned, he replied: "I’m not. I personally am not."
He also tweeted the following during his four-day trip:
Here's Mueller's statement in meme form courtesy of the Indy100's Greg Evans.
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