Trump news: President imposes 'hard hitting' sanctions on Iran as White House put on lock down
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Donald Trump has signed into force new "hard-hitting" sanctions against Iran, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as tensions continue to rise between Washington and Tehran
Mr Trump said that the issue of the US drone downed by Iran last week “could probably add that into this” but that the sanctions were “something that was going to happen anyway.”
The president is also facing criticism on multiple fronts as the week begins, including domestic outcry over the treatment of migrant children held in “filthy” border detention centres. Meanwhile, questions have been raised after documents were released showing the president's transition team "red flagged" the appointed of a senior general for a top administration post over his opposition to the use of torture.
After postponing the mass deportation of immigrants at the request of Democrats over the weekend, the president gave an interview to NBC’s Meet the Press in which he fielded questions about possible Russian election hacking in 2020, the state of the US economy, and the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Meanwhile, as Mr Trump went after Iran, the 2020 race to take on the president is in full swing.
Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam
Show all 30The biggest headlines of the day on that front came from Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg. Mr Sanders drove the day by introducing an ambitious plan to make public college and universities free — and a significant reduction in American student loan debt.
Mr Buttigieg, meanwhile, faced conflict in South Bend, where an officer involved shooting of a black man has laid bare the racial tensions in that city and across the country.
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Some good work from Jake Tapper here holding Mike Pence to account on bogus claims about this administration's environmental record.
Here's our report on Trump flubbing Chuck Todd's question about his backing Pence for a future tilt at the White House.
Here's Adam Forrest on another clumsy turn of phrase from Trump's tangle with Todd.
He doesn't care about us Europeans, apparently. Charming!
Mr Trump has been tweeting again. And there are a couple of things to unpack.
First, it is about the state of shipping in the Gulf, with a number of vessels. Six oil tankers and a US spy drone have been hit or downed since May either in, or near, the Strait of Hormuz.
Mr Trump is claiming that other countries should protect own Gulf shipping - citing the example of China and Japan. The president seems to be forgetting that protecting those ships are part of defence/trade relationships and alliances that are important to the US.
Mr Trump also claims that the US has "just become" the largest producer of energy in the world. That is true, but the president should not be claiming all the credit.
The government's official source for energy data, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), said in 2016: "US petroleum and natural gas production first surpassed Russia in 2012, and the United States has been the world's top producer of natural gas since 2011 and the world's top producer of petroleum hydrocarbons since 2013."
Those were all under the previous administration of Barack Obama, with some of the regulations needed for that rise likely to have discussd even before Mr Obama was in office.
However, to be fair to the current president, likely is specifically referring to crude oil production.
According to the EIA: the US surpassed Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the global top producer in 2018, when Mr Trump was in office.
Mr Trump's tweets have been undercut slightly by the message of Washington's special envoy for Iran says the US wants international partners to join forces to increase maritime security in the Persian Gulf.
Brian Hook told reporters earlier on Monday that one option could be to "enhance" an existing multinational maritime force in the region involving about 30 countries that currently fights drug and arms smuggling.
Alternatively, he said allied nations with commercial interests in the oil-rich region could launch an all-new maritime security initiative.
Donald Trump has hit out again at the US Federal Reserve and their decisions on interest rates - the president has been calling for a cut for a long time and has repeatedly blamed the Fed for slowing the economic growth he is so proud of.
“Obama had someone that kept the rates very low,” Mr Trump told NBC's Meet the Press in an interview broadcast on Sunday. “I had somebody that raised the rates very rapidly -- too much. He made a mistake, that’s been proven.”
Last Wednesday, the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady, indicating that there would not be a cut in 2019. The central bank, however, forecast one to two possible rate cuts in its predictions, probably both coming in 2020.
The Federal Open Market Committee votes 9-1 to keep the benchmark rate in a target range of 2.25 per cent to 2.5 per cent.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has upset Mr Trump in not announcing a cut, but one could come as soon as July, with Mr Powell leaving the door open in his post-announcement remarks.
“Many participants now see the case for somewhat more accommodative policy has strengthened,” he said.
There has been speculation that Mr Trump would look to demote Mr Powell, although the White House has said that they have no plans for such a move.
When asked about it on Sunday, Mr Trump said: I didn’t ever threaten to demote him”.
“I’d be able to do that if I wanted, but I haven’t suggested that.... I have the right to do that, but I haven’t said that,” the president added.
Back to Iran. In case you missed this on Trump and Tehran over the weekend, here he is blaming the advisers he appointed for bringing him to the brink of armed conflict with a foreign power.
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