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As it happenedended

Trump news: President rebuked by judge for 'totally inappropriate' tweets as Roger Stone met with ‘Lock Him Up’ chants following sentencing

Follow the latest updates, as they happened

Chris Riotta,Joe Sommerlad
Thursday 20 February 2020 21:52 GMT
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Trump struggles with series of words

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Donald Trump was called out for his “totally inappropriate” tweets by the judge presiding over Roger Stone’s trial as she handed down a 40-month sentence for the president’s longtime friend, saying his crimes should cause universal “dismay and disgust”.

The comments came just before he took to the stage in Colorado Springs for a "Keep America Great Again" rally, as a part of a string of events he is doing this week across the country.

Colorado stands out as an important battleground state this year, with the Republican Senate majority potentially on the line as GOP senator Cory Gardner faces stiff competition in his reelection campaign.

The president has meanwhile been live-tweeting attacks towards his Democratic 2020 rivals after the latest debates, as well as deriding them on the campaign trail in at an Arizona rally where he also called the FBI “dishonest scum” and complained that Conan, the US military’s war hero dog, “got more publicity” than him over the killing of Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Mr Trump’s rally coincided with the latest primary debate in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Michael Bloomberg was attacked from all sides, with Elizabeth Warren characterising him as a “a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians”.

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Trump mocks journalist for 'Bloombefg' typo

The gall of the man who brought you "covfefe" criticising someone else's spelling is just off the scale.

Joe Sommerlad20 February 2020 12:50

Trump rape accuser E Jean Carrol claims Elle magazine fired her after speaking out

E Jean Carroll, the columnist who has accused Donald Trump of rape, claims she was fired from her job at Elle magazine after her allegation became public.

Carroll has alleged that Trump raped her in the 1990s after the two encountered each other in a Manhattan luxury department store and went into a dressing room. Trump has denied the allegation. Carroll has, in turn, sued the US president for claiming she was lying.

She tweeted on Tuesday: “Because Trump ridiculed my reputation, laughed at my looks, & dragged me through the mud, after 26 years, ELLE fired me.”

Clemence Michallon reports.

Joe Sommerlad20 February 2020 13:05

Video emerges of Bloomberg talking about his 'friend' Trump

While the president and his fellow New York billionaire trade increasingly infantile insults on Twitter, their 2020 rivals have been quick to point out the similarities between the two men.

Their connection amounts to much more than superficial comparisons though - they were once clearly friends, as the archive videos that keep resurfacing continue to illustrate.

Alex Woodward has this on the latest.

Joe Sommerlad20 February 2020 13:20

Susan Rice tells John Bolton: 'I can't imagine declining to testify'

Barack Obama's national security adviser tore into one of Trump's at a global leadership event at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, this week, despairing at his failure to co-operate with House Democrats during the impeachment inquiry.

"I can't imagine declining to testify. I would feel like I was violating the oath that I took to the Constitution – to defend the country against all enemies foreign and domestic," Susan Rice told John Bolton, sat beside her.

Bolton rather lamely insisted his testimony would not have made a difference to the outcome.

Phil Thomas the full story.

Joe Sommerlad20 February 2020 13:35

How Alice Johnson encouraged Trump to free her prison friends

Three of the 11 people Trump granted clemency to on Tuesday were women who had been in prison with Alice Johnson, a former drug dealer whose lengthy sentence was commuted when the case was brought to the president by Kim Kardashian.

Crystal Munoz,Tynice Hall and Judith Negron had all befriended Johnson in federal prison - and it seems it was her influence that saw them sprung too.

Joe Sommerlad20 February 2020 13:50

'I spoke to William Barr's old classmates. They told me he's using Trump to get the power he always wanted'

For Indy Voices, here's Andrew Feinberg with some insight into the motives of the presdient's attorney general and enabler from those who know him best.

Joe Sommerlad20 February 2020 14:05

Trump still gloating over Bloomberg's debate performance

In the last hour, Trump has resumed his attack on Bloomberg over one of those pesky vintage video clips in which he decsribes Trump as "a New York icon".

As my colleague Jon Sharman points, out, Pizza Rat is also a New York icon but that doesn't mean he'd make a good president.

We've otherwise been treated to the usual midmorning brainwashing effort courtesy of tweets from Stephanie Grisham, Ronna McDaniel and the Team Trump and White House accounts.

Joe Sommerlad20 February 2020 14:20

Neil Young eviscerates Trump in searing open letter: ‘You are a disgrace to my country’

The Canada-born folk rock legend is known for his political activism and is not mincing his words in his latest attack on the president of his adopted homeland.

Here's Clemence Michallon with the full story.

Joe Sommerlad20 February 2020 14:35

A letter signed by over 1,800 US veterans has condemned Donald Trump for attacking Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman.

"For many of us, it is not often that we inject our voices into the national dialogue, but this is a moment that demands it. That is because we consider President Trump’s sustained attacks on an active duty Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, to be an affront to the Constitution that we have all sworn to uphold. We are speaking out precisely because neither LTC Vindman nor his fellow active-duty service members can," the letter read.

It continued: "The President’s actions and insults towards LTC Vindman are not only wrong, they carry dangerous implications. The dismissal of LTC Vindman and his brother, also an Army Lieutenant Colonel, from the National Security Council staff appears to be motivated by nothing more than political retribution and deprives the White House of expertise necessary to defend our collective national security. The manner of these dismissals suggests that the Commander-in-Chief has prioritized a personal vendetta over our national security."

Chris Riotta20 February 2020 14:59

The Indepenedent's Saurabh Sharma has more on India's beautification project ahead of Donald Trump's visit - 

Chris Riotta20 February 2020 15:22

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