Trump news - live: California threatens to leave president off 2020 ballot papers unless tax returns published as William Barr feud continues on Capitol Hill
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California is threatening to leave Donald Trump off the 2020 ballot unless he publishes five years of income tax returns, just as the president is attempting to put a lid on the Mueller report that has dogged his presidency.
The threat from the blue state comes in the wake of attorney general William Barr's divisive testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, which has inspired a war of words on Capitol Hill and seen House speaker Nancy Pelosi brand America’s top legal official “a liar”.
The Democratic-led House is considering holding Mr Barr in contempt of Congress over misleading statements he made, his refusal to show up on Thursday to a planned hearing, and for failing to deliver the full Mueller report alongside underlying evidence to Congress.
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Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar, no stranger to controversy, has said the US "set the stage" for the political unrest unfolding in Venezuela, attacking American foreign policy in Latin America. Her hawkish detractors will not like that one bit.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said earlier this week Washington would be prepared to step in militarily to end the unrest - a remark that likewise did no go down at all well with Russia.
As we all know, President Trump's one true passion is golf.
If you discount garish skyscrapers, beauty pageant contestants and junk food, that is.
With that in mind, he will award Tiger Woods with America's highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, following his Masters win last month. The ceremony takes place at the White House on Monday.
Here's Jack de Menezes.
You know what else is happening on Monday? Michael Cohen is going to jail.
President Trump's former lawyer and fixer, 53, will serve his prison sentence alongside Billy McFarland, the fraudster behind the disastrous Fyre Festival (as apt a metaphor for this presidency as you could wish) and Jersey Shore star-turned-tax fraud convict Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino,
Cohen was sentenced in December to three years in prison for tax evasion, lying to Congress and campaign finance crimes and is due to report to the Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville, about 70 miles from New York City early next week, the jail a haven for "white-collar and D-list scoundrels", according to the AP.
Tucked in the lush countryside south of the Catskill Mountains, Otisville is actually two federal facilities with a total of about 800 inmates: a medium-security prison where former NFL star Darren Sharper is serving a 20-year rape sentence and a satellite camp for non-violent offenders like Cohen.
About 115 inmates sleep in bunks lined up in barrack-style halls, instead of individual or two-man cells like in higher-security facilities. There are lockers to store personal belongings, washers and dryers for laundry, microwaves to heat up food and ice machines to keep cool.
Alums include accountant Kenneth Starr - who was accused of bilking celebrities like Uma Thurman with bad investments - and former Cendant chairman Walter Forbes and ex-Connecticut governor John Rowland.
Otisville is also known as a favorite among prison-bound Jews for its Kosher meals and Shabbat services.
Add in recreational amenities like tennis courts, horseshoes and cardio equipment and it sounds like the closest thing the federal prison system has to sleepaway camp. Forbes once ranked Otisville as one of "America's 10 Cushiest Prisons".
Cohen could be a target of bullying, harassment or worse for his cooperation with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and other probes and that could make him a candidate for the prison's protective housing unit, said Otisville case manager Jack Donson.
Factor in the camp's design - off a secluded two-lane road, without much fencing or security - and Cohen could find himself easily harassed by paparazzi or ambushed by someone looking to do harm, said Donson. "He's not a good fit."
A prison handbook advises inmates to carry themselves in a "confident manner at all times," to trust their instincts and to "choose your associates wisely."
Hillary Clinton appeared on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show on Wednesday night following the Barr hearing and discussed the Republicans' ongoing obsession with digging up dirt on her.
"I'm living rent-free inside of Donald Trump's brain and it's not a very nice place to be, I can tell you that," she told Maddow.
"I've been investigated repeatedly by the other side and, much to their dismay but to my satisfaction, it's been for naught.
"I guess it is one of their tools to fire up their hard-core base. When in doubt, go after me...
"They know better. But this is part of their whole technique to divert attention from what the real story is.
"The real story is the Russians interfered in our election. And Trump committed obstruction of justice. That's the real story."
White House counsel Kellyanne Conway is being mean about Bob Marley fan Kamala Harris.
They're obviously rattled by her impressive turn against Barr on Wednesday.
Here's the latest assault on the environment by an administration that won't even humour the Democrats' new new climate change bill.
Republicans in the Senate have also blocked a resolution to bring an end to the Trump administration's support for Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen.
Seven Republicans joined all Senate Democrats to support the resolution, but that was not enough to secure the two-thirds majority needed to overturn April's presidential veto, which thwarted a controversial bid to defy the Oval Office and force the withdrawal of military resources through unprecedented use of the War Powers Act.
The US has provided Saudi Arabia with logistical support and intelligence-sharing during a brutal four-year conflict whose death toll is forecast to rise to 233,000 by the end of 2019 as famine lays waste to the territory.
Here's some food for thought for House Democrats still entertaining ideas of impeaching President Trump.
Nancy Pelosi is still not convinced.
Lauren Fox for CNN's New Day offering a better summary of the mood in Washington in Friday than I can offer.
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