Trump news : White House denies Kushner security clearance files as Democrats threaten 'next steps'
The Independent's live coverage of politics in Washington, as it happened
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has lashed out at “stone cold CRAZY” Democrats in the House of Representatives, whom he accuses of “obstructing justice” and instigating “a big, fat, fishing expedition” to discredit him because the opposition is “desperately in search of a crime”.
The outburst comes after House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler launched a new abuse of powers investigation into President Trump on Tuesday, requesting information from 81 members of his inner circle, including sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon and Trump Organisation CFO Allen Weisselberg and executive VP Matthew Calamari.
With six such enquiries currently underway into the Trump administration, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised voters, “We’ll fight him in the Congress, we’ll fight him in the courts and we’ll fight him in the court of public opinion... What he’s doing is wrong and the Republicans know it.”
Her party’s national emergency disapproval resolution meanwhile looks set to pass the Senate, a vote that would force Mr Trump's first veto of his presidency.
The veto would be unlikely to be sustained in Congress, however, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying on Tuesday he believes the initial effort will be approved in his chamber but nothing more.
As the day progressed on Tuesday, Democrats showed signs that they will push forward with other priorities as well. Ms Pelosi, on a visit to Austin, Texas, indicated that the House is going to pass a voting rights bill that would significantly expand access ot the ballot in the US.
And, controversy continued to swirl on Tuesday around Mr Kushner's White House security clearance, with Democrats vowing to take "next steps" in order to obtain documents related to that decision, and Mr Trump calling investigations into his administration a "shame".
Please allow a moment for our live blog to load
In a development potentially even more underwhelming than the Ben Carson step-down, Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon has decided against joining the crowded race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination after months of consideration.
Veteran Republican senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa says the House of Representatives should be investigating Bill and Hillary Clinton, reviving the old "Lock her up!" mantra days after it was chanted at CPAC.
A new executive order proposed by President Trump will seek to protect free speech on college campuses following a growing chorus of complaints from conservatives that American universities are attempting to silence their voices when they're heckled, dis-invited or their presence on campus otherwise discouraged.
Critics counter conservatives are turning the shared goal of protecting free speech into a partisan fight.
Mr Trump announced the policy at CPAC on Saturday but it has already been attacked by President Robert Zimmer of the University of Chicago, a frequent champion of free speech. Mr Zimmer said the new regulation would be "a grave error" and would give federal officials dangerous authority to interfere in campus speech issues.
"This opens the door to any number of troubling policies over time that the federal government, whatever the political party involved, might adopt on such matters," he said. "It makes the government, with all its power and authority, a party to defining the very nature of discussion on campus."
Terry Hartle, senior vice president at the American Council on Education, called the proposed order a "solution in search of a problem," adding that free speech is already a core value in American higher education.
Incidents like conservative commentator Ann Coulter canceling a speech at the University of California, Berkeley, over fears of anarchic student protests breaking out have, nevertheless, made the issue "a red meat issue for conservative political organisations", as Mr Hartle so beautifully puts it.
As detailed in yesterday's New Yorker piece, Donald Trump pressured his then-chief economic adviser Gary Cohn and John Kelly, his former chief-of-staff, to lean on the Justice Department in 2017 to block AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, owner of his most-hated broadcaster CNN.
Doing so was "unquestionably" an impeachable offence says George Conway, a lawyer and husband of, you guessed it, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway!
Imagine the sheer seething awkwardness unfolding over dinner at the Conway house this evening...
Yesterday, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested that she is more interested in the president's tax returns than collusion.
Here's what she had to say:
Texas — a longtime conservative bastion — is in the crosshairs of Democrats just as Donald Trump focuses his energies on building a wall along the US-Mexico border there.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said on Monday night that Texans need to know their power, and how that will impact America's future.
"Texas is ground zero for us in the next election," Ms Pelosi told a sold-out crowd at the Travis County Democratic Party's Johnson Bentsen Richards Dinner, according to local media.
"Know your power, this state is so important," she told the donors. "When it turns — and it will soon — it will make a difference not only in Texas and the lives of individual people here, it will make a difference in the country and it will make a difference in the world."
Democrats are pushing forward with a bill to protect voting rights in the US, with a House bill that would create automatic voter registration, restore ex-prisoner voting rights, and require paper ballots to fight back against claims of voter suppression.
On Tuesday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was in Texas where she talked about that bill and its importance to the state — which she says is important to the future of Democrats.
“Our constitution requires what the voting rights act spells out," Ms Pelosi said, according to local media in Austin. “This is about instilling the confidence of the American people in the political process.”
While Democrats are jostling for position in the 2020 presidential primaries, the smaller races are often given less attention so far in the race.
But, Astronaut Mark Kelly has been making some waves since he announced his candidacy for Senate serving Arizona. Part of that is his compelling background — as an astronaut and as the husband of former Representative Gabby Giffords — and his quality campaign adverts aren't hurting him, either.
Here is the newest one out:
Donald Trump, Jr, the president's eldest son, was implicated by Michael Cohen last year in a potential criminal conspiracy.
Since that testimony, Mr Trump, Jr, has repeatedly attacked his father's former lawyer's integrity. Here is is just this morning:
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments