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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Trump has unexpectedly praised the much-maligned New York Times in his latest tweet, congratulating the newspaper for carrying a small story on its front page about the FBI sending a "cloaked investigator" to interview campaign aide George Papadopoulos undercover in London in 2016 about possible Russian collusion as part of a suspected sting.
Research assistant "Azra Turk" was apparently really an agent of the bureau, The NYT says.
"This is bigger than WATERGATE, but the reverse!" Trump writes, making little sense.
There are also the usual Fox and White House retweets in there, of which this is the most newsworthy.
American job numbers soared in April, with the unemployment rate dropping to just 3.6 percent. a 50-year low.
We can expect blustering triumphalism from the president imminently I'm sure but, in the meantime, here's Don Jr.
Here's one reading of the president's latest tweet.
Conspiracy-minded Republicans are in the process of promoting their favourite narrative - that the Obama-era Justice Department was biased against Trump and plotted to prevent his election - as a prelude to launching a new investigation to be headed up by AG Barr. Essentially as revenge for Mueller.
Senator Lindsey Graham hinted heavily this was in the air on Wednesday and Barr said he shared his concerns.
California is turning up the heat on Trump by refusing to include his name on 2020 ballot papers if he does not release five years of his income tax returns.
Here's Chiara Giordano's report.
Steve Cohen here on his chicken protest at the House Judiciary Committee yesterday, comparing William Barr to Trump's notorious former business lawyer, now long dead, Roy Cohn and pronouncing it "a sad day in America".
Here's an interesting little anecdote from a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter out in the field:
On the 2020 campaign tail — where Democrats are battling with weapons ranging from heady policy proposals to grand visions for the future of America's soul — senator Amy Klobuchar has released a sweeping plan to fight substance abuse and improve mental health.
Ms Klobuchar explained in an interview on CBS This Morning that her plan would spend $100bn voer a decade on the issue, and wants to pay for that plan by charging a fee for drug companies.
"They made the money, they should [pay] for this treatment," Ms Klobuchar said of her plan to combat an epidemic that killed more people in America than died during the entire Vietnam War.
Fo the first time, PEN America — an advocacy group that focuses on free speech and human rights — is focusing its efforts today on the United States in honour of World Press Freedom Day.
The US is "now on the list of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists," the group has said, and it is clear tat Mr Trump's repeated attacks on the media have played a major role in that.
"Press freedom is essential to our democracy, yet with attacks against reporters on the rise, and as we witness the U.S. being downgraded in global press freedom rankings, we must face the fact that we can no longer take press freedom for granted in this country,” said PEN America director of US Free Expression Programs Nora Benavidez, according to Broadcasting+Cable.
With the media "regularly denigrated by political leaders—even called the 'enemy of the American people' by the President—and many communities losing local news coverage, PEN America supporters are drawing attention to the growing risks to press freedom here at home."
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