Donald Trump mocks Bill de Blasio after 2020 annoucement
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Donald Trump has claimed on Twitter he was “conclusively spied on” by the Obama-era Justice Department in 2016, citing a Fox News opinion poll as proof and threatening long jail sentences for those found responsible in attorney general William Barr‘s upcoming investigation into the matter, widely regarded as revenge for the Mueller report.
The president meanwhile unveiled plans to revamp US immigration at the White House on Thursday, proposing a more selective, merit-based system and English tests for asylum seekers. It has also emerged he wants his US-Mexico border wall to be painted black and lined with spikes to intimidate and deter would-be illegal entrants.
As Washington reacted to those plans — they are likely dead on arrival with Democrats in control of the House — the Trump administration has continued to wrestle with potential crises when it come to trade, and Iran.
As tensions with Iran rumble on, Mr Trump is also reported to be seething in private about the perception his hawkish national security adviser, John Bolton, is dictating policy on Tehran and leading the US to the brink of a war the president says he “hopes” can be avoided.
World news in pictures
Show all 50
As for trade, Mr Trump has given a pass to the European Union and Japan for tariffs for the next six months on autos, after threatening a stiff tax on the goods if they're brought into the US.
Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events
Donald Trump is a "10-out-of-10 narcissist" in the opinion of Larry Lindsey, who chaired the National Economic Council under George W Bush.
Speaking during a presentation on US-China trade talks attended by senior Republicans on Tuesday, Lindsey said he had consulted with two psychiatrists regarding his concerns over the president's sanity.
With Bill de Blasio making it two dozen Democrats running for the party's 2020 presidential nomination, Chris Stevenson says anti-Trump sentiment is not the only explanation for the crowded field.
Trump is apparently hoping to squeeze in a visit to Ireland in June as part of his visit to Britain and France.
However, according to The Irish Times, any meeting with taoiseach Leo Varadkar could fall through over a disagreement about where to stage it: Trump of course prefers his golf resort at Doonbeg in County Clare while Varadkar's staff favour Dromoland Castle, some 31 miles away. The president is understood to be considering Scotland instead if he doesn't get his way.
Trump hosted Varadkar and his partner, Matthew Barrett, at the White House in March for St Patrick's Day, where the couple had breakfast with vice-president with Mike Pence and his wife Karen, devout Christians known for their opposition to LGBT+ rights.
Trump is now saying he was "conclusively spied on" by the Obama-era Justice Department during the campaign in 2016, quoting an utterly meaningless Fox opinion poll as evidence and hitting out at the Washington mendacity he has apparently failed to address despite pledging to do so.
Here's a reminder of yesterday's big controversy on Capitol Hill: White House counsel Pat Cipollone telling House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler he has no right to expect a re-run of the Mueller investigation just because Democrats did not like the "no collusion" verdict attorney general Bill Barr read into the 448-page report by the special counsel.
Remember we still haven't seen the full, unredacted version for ourselves due to the administration's stonewalling of subpoenas and Nadler, House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff and many others would very much like to pick over the obstruction of justice evidence Mueller cites.
Nadler responded to Cipolline's accusation he was attempting to "harass political opponents" in scathing fashion, writing: "Your failure to understand the gravity of the special counsel's findings is astounding and dangerous".
Speaking to reporters later, he added: "The president's posture now is making it impossible to rule out impeachment or anything else... This flies in the face of 200 years of history and would go, if accepted, a long way to making the president, any president, a dictator."
Alabama's decision to sign into law a near-total ban on abortion this week makes it illegal for women to seek terminations in the southern state even in cases of rape or incest.
A victory for the pro-life movement and the Christian right against the historic protections provided by the Roe vs Wade ruling of 1973, the decision is also a dangerous and regressive hammer blow for women's rights.
Leading Democrats Elizabeth Warren, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Hillary Clinton have all spoken out against it but you know it's bad when even Fox pundit Tomi Lahren disapproves.
Among the more shocking response to the bill though came from the Trump White House, which issued a statement saying:
"Unlike radical Democrats who have cheered legislation allowing a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments from birth, President Trump is protecting our most innocent and vulnerable, defending the dignity of life, and called on Congress to prohibit late-term abortions."
We know Donald Trump loves The Dark Knight Rises (2012). So much so, in fact, he copied Bane's big speech at his inauguration and recently got in trouble with Warner Brothers for lifting part of Hans Zimmer's score for a swiftly-deleted campaign video.
The news today that Robert Pattinson is in contention to play Batman in Matt Reeves's forthcoming film about the Caped Crusader will therefore delight him, particularly as he's been a keen R-Patz supporter for years, way before his recent run of acclaimed work with David Cronenberg, the Safdie Brothers and Claire Denis.
In case you missed it, Kiss frontman Gene Simmons and his wife, the adult film star Shannon Tweed, were at the Pentagon yesterday.
Simmons addressed the Department of Defence from a podium that has not seen a press briefing in over a year, apparently thanking American servicemen and women for their bravery overseas and becoming emotional discussing his Hungarian mother's experience of surviving a concentration camp.
The last person to speak in that room was action movie star Gerard Butler, a fact that highlights the administration's ongoing efforts to sideline the press. The venue is quite literally gathering dust.
President Trump seems to attract a certain sort of kitsch celebrity hanger-on.
He recently spent a weekend playing golf in Florida with hip-hop buffoon Kid Rock, who has previously visited the White House for dinner with Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent.
The Trump administration apparently asked Congress to reimburse the Taliban for travel expenses, lodgings and food at peace talks aimed at bringing over 17 years of war in Afghanistan to an end.
Earlier this week a bill passed by the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defence barred the US government from paying out the money to the Islamist terror group.
The request has been likened to “life imitating The Onion,” which is pretty bang on.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments