Trump news: President launches new attack on 'enemy of the people' media amid fresh claims over Saudi nuclear deal

Former White House ethics chief, Richard Painter: Donald Trump is 'mentally unwell'

Donald Trump has lashed out at The New York Times after the paper reported he asked his then-acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker whether an investigator of his choosing could be put in charge of the investigation into “hush money” payments handled on his behalf by ex-fixer Michael Cohen.

With that report dominating cable news coverage throughout the day on Tuesday and into Wednesday, Mr Trump responded with an angry tweet on Wednesday, branding the newspaper as "a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE."

That attack, which follows after more than two years of attacks by Mr Trump on the media, was among several different major news developments of the week. In addition to the attack on the media, Mr Trump and Washington grappled with several other notable concerns, including:

• The Democratic-led House Oversight Committee announced that it is launching an inquiry into a US bid to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, reportedly involving companies with ties to the Trump family
•  Former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, who is on a tour to promote his new book, said it is “possible” the president is a Russian asset.
• The special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election could be finished, with Attorney General William Barr set to announce that end as soon as next week, according to CNN.
• A judge announced that Mr Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen can report to prison later than previously required, so that he can testify before Congress. Mr Cohen's lawyer said earlier this week that his client plans on discussing a decades' worth of experience working for the Trump Organisation.

All of these developments come as Mr Trump plans his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un next week in Vietnam. It is not clear if that information might impact whether Mr Barr will hold off on sending the Mueller report to Congress for fear of impacting diplomatic talks abroad.

And, of course, all of this news comes as more and more Democrats join the 2020 primary field, with the hopes of removing him from office.

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Key Points

• President labels New York Times "enemy of the people"
• Paper says Trump asked for friendly attorney to take Cohen probe
• House Oversight Committee investigating Saudi nuclear deal
• Andrew McCabe says Trump a 'possible' Russian asset

[20 February 2019 15:38 · Joe Sommerlad]

"When the speech condemns a free press, you are hearing the words of a tyrant."

This quote is often attributed to Thomas Jefferson, though he may never actually have said it.

The First Amendment to the US Constitution may not be quite so snappily expressed but it nevertheless confirms the sacred importance of a free press to American democracy:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

President Trump may have demonstrated his indifference to the protocols of state and hostility to the media on any number of previous occasions but his attack on The New York Times is no less troubling for that.

[20 February 2019 15:41 · Joe Sommerlad]

But back to business: here's confirmation of Mr Trump's plan to replace Rod Rosenstein as deputy attorney-general with Jeffrey Rosen, a transport bod with little experience as a prosecutor, courtesy of Chris Riotta.

[20 February 2019 15:55 · Joe Sommerlad]

The president's 35-day government shutdown, the longest in American history, created such chaos it could hinder tax collection by the Internal Revenue Service  for "months, and even years, down the road", according to a report by Nina Olson of the Taxpayer Advocate Service.

Don't mistake this for good news. Tax collectors raise 93 per cent of the national budget.

[20 February 2019 16:15 · Joe Sommerlad]

The Donald looks set to undertake a state visit to Japan on 26 May, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK.

He would become the first foreign dignitary to meet with Crown Prince Naruhito after he succeeds his father, Akihito, as emperor on 1 May.

The White House has not yet confirmed plans for the trip but Mr Trump is understood to have spoken with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday morning.

According to a readout of the conversation, the two leaders "reaffirmed their commitment to achieving the final, fully-verified denuclearisation of" North Korea and discussed President Trump's upcoming summit with the country's leader, Kim Jong-un.

No word on whether he pestered Mr Abe further about that Nobel Peace Prize nomination though.

[20 February 2019 16:22 · Joe Sommerlad]

The fightback begins.

The New York Times's White House correspondent Maggie Haberman has appeared on CNN's New Day and said the president's insistence that the newspaper's reporters failed to approach his administration for comment on today's story was "a lie".

“I sent several emails that went unanswered until yesterday. We went through a detailed list of what we were planning on reporting," she said. "They chose not to engage, and afterwards, the president acts surprised."

"Whether his aides are not telling him what we are looking at or whether this is a game and he knows what it is and he’s pretending, I can’t read his mind. We certainly follow normal reporting practices and went over it at length with the White House and the Department of Justice.”

“That’s not true, that’s a lie,” she said on the specific allegation by President by Donald Trump.

“I don’t know if he knows it’s a lie or whether he is telling himself this is true, whether his staff doesn’t tell him we are reaching out. I find it hard to believe that his staff didn’t reach him that this kind of a report was coming.”

Given the president has spent three days busily calling out ex-FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe as a liar, this is rich stuff indeed. 

[20 February 2019 16:24 · Joe Sommerlad]

[20 February 2019 17:07 · Chris Riotta]

Meanwhile, in Donald Trump's Justice Department...

The president has announced his intentions to nominate Jeffrey Rosen to replace Rod Rosenstein as the next deputy attorney general. 

Mr Rosen, a 60-year-old longtime litigator and the current deputy transportation secretary, serves as the Department of Transportation (DOT) chief operating officer and is in charge of implementing the department's safety and technological priorities.

[20 February 2019 17:30 · Chris Riotta]

Fall out over an explosive report continues to plague the White House, which suggests Donald Trump’s administration has been pushing an effort to deliver sensitive nuclear technology information to Saudi Arabia. 

[20 February 2019 17:45 · Chris Riotta]

Here’s more on the report surrounding Donald Trump’s White House allegedly seeking to transfer nuclear information to Saudi Arabia, via AP:

Senior White House officials pushed a project to share nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia despite the objections of ethics and national security officials, according to a new congressional report citing whistleblowers within the Trump administration.

Lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns that Saudi Arabia could develop nuclear weapons if the US technology were transferred without proper safeguards.

The Democratic-led House oversight committee opened an investigation Tuesday into the claims by several unnamed whistleblowers who said they witnessed “abnormal acts” in the White House regarding the proposal to build dozens of nuclear reactors across the Middle Eastern kingdom.

[20 February 2019 18:00 · Chris Riotta]

A seemingly important quote from the explosive report on Donald Trump’s “war” against investigations:

"One of Mr. Trump’s lawyers also reached out that summer to the lawyers for two of his former aides — Paul Manafort and Mr. Flynn — to discuss possible pardons."