Trump news: President threatens Iran with 'obliteration' as Melania announces new White House press secretary
Follow the latest updates from Washington
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 threatened Iran with “obliteration” if the country launches any attack on US forces.
“Iran’s very ignorant and insulting statement, put out today, only shows that they do not understand reality”, Mr Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.
His comments came after Iranian president Hassan Rouhani hit out at the “hard-hitting” sanctions introduced by the Donald Trump administration on Monday against the country’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, calling the action “mentally retarded” in a live TV address.
Speaking at the White House later in the day, Donald Trump said: “We were going to end up in a war if it kept going in the way it was going ... The deal was no good” adding that the US is ready for “whatever” Iran wants to do.
Meanwhile, Melania Trump announced that the new White House press secretary will be her spokesperson, Stephanie Grisham
When questioned about the news in the Oval Office, Mr Trump said: “Stephanie has been with me from the beginning ... I think she’s very talented a lot of people wanted the job ... I asked people who do you like and so many people said Stephanie.”
The president then said Stephanie Grisham accepted this morning and that the first lady “is very happy for her.”
In the latest US-Mexico border developments, the acting chief of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), John Sanders, is expected to resign from his post. The announcement comes amid public outcry over the squalid conditions migrant children face in Texas shelters.
Speaking about the resignation of John Sanders, Mr Trump said: “I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to him ... I don’t know anything about him” before quickly adding “I hear he’s a very good man.”
In other White House news, the president has continued to deny the historic rape accusation made against him by New York writer E Jean Carroll, insisting he could not have done it because the alleged victim is “not my type”.
Catch up on events as they happened
House Democrats are confident they can pass a bill providing $4.6bn (£3.6bn) in emergency funding to address the ongoing crisis at the US southern border. Its merits will be debated in the House of Representatives this morning.
Donald Trump has finally responded to Iran's earlier comments on his sanctions:
He continued, with his signature flourish of categorizing groups he deems worthy as "wonderful people," as opposed to simply "people."
Finally, he tweeted about this morning's statements, likely referring to the "mentally retarded" comments.
Worth noting that his calls for "No more John Kerry & Obama" are already in effect, as neither still hold office.
You can read our full story on this breaking news here.
The president's new threats of obliteration are a shift from last week's tweets, when he claimed that he called off a strike after an aid informed him that many citizens would die. The main consistency with Trump's position on Iran seems to be that if he feels he's been struck, in any way, he'll have the US military strike back, which, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, Americans overwhelmingly do not want.
Here's Chuck Schumer, the senate minority leader, with a look into the Democrats' plan to stop Trump from illegally taking the US to war with Iran. The plan is that they'll "urge" Mitch McConnell to allow a vote to pass an amendment to signal to Trump that he must ask permission before going to war, at which point, if congress approves, it might be authorised.
Mitch McConnell appears to be ignoring at this plan.
Mitch McConnell has weighed in. He thinks the current situation is a great reminder to give the US military more money.
The military budget he's hoping for will be a historic high for US defence spending, which has increased each year for the last five years. The general military budget has reached the levels wanted only twice before: during World War II, and during the "height" of the Iraq War.
It's a big day for election reform. Elizabeth Warren, who's now competing against 23 other Democrats to go up against Trump in 2020, just unveiled a new plan to make voting in America easier, more secure, and more fair. She's specifically targeting gerrymandering and attacks on voting rights in minority communities, writing "The right to vote is a fundamental right, and we will not let racist and corrupt politicians undermine it or our democracy."
Elsewhere, the House Judiciary Civil Rights subcommittee will hold a hearing on on Voting Rights Act and 2013's Supreme Court ruling Shelby County v. Holder, which significantly undermined the VRA. Stacey Abrams, the 2018 Democratic candidate for Georgia governor who has made voting rights her main issue since losing, will be among the witnesses.
The media's response to author E Jean Carroll's allegations that the president sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of a New York department store two decades ago has been met with some controversy. Yesterday, the New York Times issued an explanation for mishandling the news, which they placed in their Books section. Today, the Columbia Journalism Review notes that the story barely appeared across most media, including cable news and major newspapers' front pages. (Steve Inskeep of NPR responded to that piece on Twitter, writing that in fact the public radio station had dedicated a lengthy spot in their Sunday morning show to an interview with Carroll.)
But the president's favorite network is perhaps taking the most blatant approach to the major news story, which appeared Friday on New York Magazine's website. According to Bobby Lewis, who watches Fox & Friends for Media Matters, the TV show most known for being watched by Donald Trump didn't mention the allegations at all.
The new White House Press Secretary has been chosen. Melania Trump announced that Stephanie Grisham will take over the role, following Sarah Huckabee Sanders's surprise resignation two weeks ago.
Grisham comes from the East Wing, where she's been serving as the First Lady's communications director - hence the rare FLOTUS announcement.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments