Trump news: White House human rights plan leaves 'no reason to be hopeful', as impeachment threat grows
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Donald Trump has announced he will be imposing a five percent tariff on all goods incoming from Mexico that will gradually increase unless America’s southern neighbour moves to bring an end to US-bound illegal immigration.
Ahead of his visit to the UK next week, Mr Trump has praised Conservative leadership contender Boris Johnson and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage as “good guys” and said he “may” meet with them in London.
The president has meanwhile continued his criticism of outgoing FBI special counsel Robert Mueller and accused him of nurturing a personal vendetta while also contradicting the White House regarding the USS John S McCain, a US Navy destroyer he denies asking to have moved “out of sight” in Japan during his recent tour as a snub to the late war hero the vessel is named after.
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Here's Elizabeth Warren on ABC's The View, talking tough on impeachment but sailing perilously close to saying "Lock him up!"
Dull breakfast tweets from Trump so far - a quote from Tucker Carlson's Fox show and a montage of last night's Colorado Springs address.
Come on Don, you can do better than that.
Maggie Haberman of The New York Times suggests the reason he was so animated about Mueller yesterday was because he hasn't actually read the man's report so only seeing him speak publicly "made it real".
Under proposed rule changes by the Trump administration to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, junk snack items like canned spray cheese, beef jerky, nacho dip, pimento-stuffed olives and frozen burritos could be reclassified as daily staples, according to The Washington Post.
Changes by Trump's Food and Nutrition Service would represent a rollback of an Obama-era mandate ordering shops to provide SNAP recipients with access to healthier foods. The 2014 Farm Bill authorised the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to draft regulations that would require participating stores to stock a wider variety of healthy products in an attempt to promote improved standards of nutrition in low-income neighborhoods, where families often lack access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
SNAP retailers were required to stock seven kinds of qualifying foods in four staple groups: dairy products, fruits and vegetables, breads and cereals, and meats, poultry and fish. Congress, however, prevented the USDA from implementing the new stocking rules until the agency had agreed its definition of what foods qualified.
The Trump administration is now pressing ahead with changes would that see items previously deemed "accessory foods" - i.e. ice cream, crisps, sodas, whipped cream, pastries and other snacks - shunted into the staple category.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has released a plan to end the Justice Department's policy banning the indictment of a sitting US president — a clear attack on Donald Trump following the recent statement from special counsel Robert Mueller.
Mr Mueller said this week that his office could not charge Mr Trump with obstruction because he is a sitting president, but noted that they did not ultimately conclude that the president didn't commit a crime.
Ms Warren has been calling for his impeachment for months, and was one of the first 2020 presidential candidates to do so.
Here's more on Ms Warren's proposal, from a campaign release:
When Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report was released on April 18, I sat down and read it. All 448 pages of it. I started reading it that afternoon, and I read all through the night and into the next morning. And when I got to page 448, three things were clear to me.
First, a hostile foreign government attacked our 2016 election to help candidate Donald Trump get elected. Second, candidate Donald Trump welcomed that help. Third, when the federal government tried to investigate, now-President Donald Trump did everything he could to delay, distract, and otherwise obstruct that investigation.
That’s a crime. If Donald Trump were anyone other than the President of the United States right now, he would be in handcuffs and indicted. Robert Mueller said as much in his report, and he said it again on Wednesday.
“The Special Counsel’s Office is part of the Department of Justice, and by regulation it was bound by that Department policy. Charging the President with a crime was, therefore, not an option we could consider.”
Mueller’s statement made clear what those of us who have read his report already knew: He’s referring President Trump for impeachment, and it’s up to Congress to act.
That’s why I came out in favor of impeachment after reading all 448 pages of Mueller’s report. This is not about politics - it’s our constitutional duty as members of Congress. It’s a matter of principle.
But impeachment isn’t supposed to be the only way that a President can be held accountable for committing a crime.
That’s why I’ve got a plan to make sure that no President is above the law.
Perhaps we're staring down a cold trade war between the US and Mexico at this point, per this tweet:
"If Congress had any reason to start an impeachment inquiry, forget about allegations of Russian collusion or obstruction of justice. Trump's never-ending tariff folly on the back of specious national security claims is an abuse of power deserving of drastic measures.
"The President's latest threat of imposing tariffs on all goods imported into the United States from Mexico to address illegal border crossings is a reckless and counterproductive scheme that will help no one and will especially hurt the state of Texas..."
Read more from our Voices team here...
Mexico's president has responded to Donald Trump's threats to impose fresh tariffs.
Lopez Obrador said he believed Trump would understand that tariffs were not the way to resolve the matter, but urged Mexicans to unite around his government to face the challenge.
"I tell all Mexicans to have faith, we will overcome this attitude of the U.S. government, they will make rectifications because the Mexican people don't deserve to be treated in the way being attempted," Lopez Obrador told reporters..
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