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Trump news: President 'fires pollsters' over results as Fox News survey has him trailing every single major Democratic candidate

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Donald Trump's re-election team have cut ties with several pollsters after survey results were leaked to the press indicating the president would lose to his Democratic rivals in four key battleground states in 2020.

Those leaks have been accompanied by some more worrisome news for the incumbent: a new poll from Fox News finds him 10-points behind Joe Biden, nine behind Bernie Sanders and also forecast to lose in hypothetical match ups with Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg.

Mr Trump spent his weekend attacking the “Corrupt News Media” on Twitter, and accusing The New York Times of “a virtual act of treason”. Meanwhile, he was honoured by Israel, which renamed a settlement in the Golan Heights in his honour.

As those troubling 2020 stats have trained eyes in Washington, the US State Department announced that it would no longer provide aid to Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatamala until those countries take "concrete actions" to deter migrants from making their way north to the US.

And, comedian Jon Stewart has continued his fight to get funding for 9/11 victims to pass Congress, with his most recent spat coming with Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell.

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CNN's Erica Hill makes the point that Mr Trump does not have a great track record in doing anything but ignoring or downplaying bad news.

"We're at a point where the bad news has to be leaked to get to the president," she says.

Chris Stevenson17 June 2019 14:00

As for why the president is launching his 2020 campaign in Florida, the state is important for both parties - and Democrats are aware that Republicans may have had the advantage in recent elections.

For the president , there are few ways for him to remain in the White House without keeping Florida's 29 electoral votes.

Florida Democrats say it's wrong to interpret recent election results as the state slipping away. 

"I don't think we're red. I don't think we're purple. I think we're simply unorganised," former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum told the Associated Press. Mr Gillum, the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor, lost by fewer than 33,000 votes. 

Chris Stevenson17 June 2019 14:10

Mexico will complete its deployment of National Guard forces on its southern border with Guatemala this week as part of a new immigration control plan agreed with Washington, the country's foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard has said.

"The deployment of the National Guard ordered, with support from the Ministry of Defense and the Navy, will be completed this week," Ebrard told a regular news conference.

Deployment of the guard has been slow so far, but a Reuters reporter near the border this weekend saw a handful of officials wearing National Guard insignia, and spoke to other security personnel who said they were part of the guard.

Joe Sommerlad17 June 2019 14:20

Hard to argue with this.

Joe Sommerlad17 June 2019 14:30

Trump's description of his would-be 2020 Democratic challengers as the "Motley Crew" has, of course, brought the house down on Twitter, with searches for the leather-trousered bad boys of '80s rock spiking in the last hour.

Worth remembering that Trump is personal friends with Kid Rock and Gene Simmons of Kiss recently spoke at the Pentagon so the band may genuinely have been on his mind.

Also Pamela Anderson, former squeeze of drummer Tommy Lee, attended Trump's birthday bash in 2005 so there is form here. 

Joe Sommerlad17 June 2019 14:40

Ever wondered what Donald Trump thinks about UFOs? Sophia Ankel has the answer.

Apparently they had a meeting on the subject at the White House.

Joe Sommerlad17 June 2019 14:50

From aliens to 9/11, like night follows day.

Trump says he knows who was really behind the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 and offers this brilliant insight: "It was not Iraq. It were other people."

Here's Samuel Osborne with more.

Joe Sommerlad17 June 2019 15:00

British foreign secretary and Conservative Party leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt has said he agrees with the "sentiment" behind Trump's attack on Sadiq Khan, in which he quoted a racist tweet from Katie Hopkins attacking the capital's Muslim mayor over violent crime in "Londonistan".

Joe Sommerlad17 June 2019 15:15

Donald Trump has been pretty quiet so far this morning, with just two tweets so far.

The president is preparing for what has been billed as a massive re-election campaign event in Orlando tomorrow — which local media in Florida reports has already attracted some die-hard supporters to stand in line.

As for today's official schedule: Mr Trump is set to have lunch with Mike Pence at 12.30pm, but nothing else has been announced.

Clark Mindock17 June 2019 15:25

While Mr Trump prepares for his rally in Orlando tomorrow (in addition to, you know, being president), some of his would-be Democratic rivals are attending the Poor People's Campaign forum in Washington tonight.

That event is expected to start at about 8pm this evening, and will feature the reverend William Barber of Greensboro, North Carolina.

"When you look at the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism – they are very real and impacting 140 million people.

“We are in a moral crisis and we cannot have another season of elections where we talk about the wealthy and the middle class and tax cuts and we do not talk specifically what are the agenda items for the poor.”

Clark Mindock17 June 2019 15:50

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