Trump news: White House denies intelligence on Russian bounty threat and Reddit bans supporters's forum as Twitch suspends president's account
Administration officials and allies scramble defence following damning intelligence reports as states grapple with rising coronavirus infections
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Donald Trump has been made the subject of an arrest warrant by Iran over the US killing of the country’s top general Qassem Soleimani on 3 January, with Tehran appealing to Interpol for help in enforcing it.
The president has meanwhile insisted he was not briefed by intelligence officials over an alleged Russian plot to pay out bounties to Taliban-linked militia in exchange for targeting American and British soldiers in Afghanistan to sow unrest, after the president was accused of sitting on the report by his domestic political rivals.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany refused to say whether the president would respond, telling reporters that "there are some dissenting opinions within the intelligence community" about the veracity of the claims in the reports.
"This was not briefed up to the president because, in fact, it was not verified," she said,
But after GOP allies in the House met with the president's Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Congressman Jim Banks – in a Twitter thread shared by the president – suggested that bounty plot was being actively investigated, and that The New York Times report about the intelligence was "the real scandal" – not the president's refusal to act on it. He suggested that "it's impossible to finish the investigation" because of media reports.
"The blood is on their hands," he said.
After an exodus of the president's supporters from the platform, Reddit has banned the popular r/The_Donald forum and Twitch temporarily suspended the president's account over crackdowns on hate speech on the platforms.
YouTube also closed the accounts of several prominent far-right personalities, as conservatives – migrating to platforms like Parler – accuse social media of censoring conservative voices, a conspiracy supported by the president.
As coronavirus cases continue to surge across the US, several states are racing to impose new lockdown restrictions after too-soon reopening efforts and a lack in comprehensive federal efforts to support Americans have caused dangerous spikes.
California joined Texas and Florida in closing bars in seven counties and the latter shut its beaches. “Caution was thrown to the wind and so we are where we are,” Republican governor Ron DeSantis commented.
Arizona also announced that all bars, clubs, movie theatres and gyms would close for at least 30 days after the state saw its largest case spike since the onset of the pandemic.
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Lincoln Project latest attacks Trump for failing to protect WWII veterans
George Conway's boys are at it again (can't believe Kellyanne hasn't murdered him yet) and this time are going after the president for failing to protect surviving members of the "Greatest Generation", who were prepared to put their lives on the line for their country in the Second World War and now find themselves in the age bracket to be most at risk from Covid-19.
Iran issues arrest warrant for Trump, asks Interpol to help
Blimey.
Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr says the international warrant issued by Iran includes Trump and more than 30 others allegedly involved in the 3 January drone strike that killed General Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s clandestine overseas paramilitary force, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported on Monday.
Here's Borzou Daragahi with the latest.
Trump retweets video of St Louis couple threatening Black Lives Matter protesters with guns
A day after his very dodgy "white power" tweet, the president has just retweeted a video of this absurd duo - presumably approvingly - who went viral yesterday after they were filmed threatening peaceful activists with firemarms as they passed their property.
Some commentators online have rather cruelly observed that Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer's diner stick-up artists from Pulp Fiction have not aged well.
Incredibly, their sudden celebrity was not the most the MAGA sight to hit the internet this weekend.
Here's Dave Maclean on the president's latest disturbing retweet.
Trump accused of putting lives at risk after tweeting 'wanted posters' of Black Lives Matter protesters
The president caused outrage when he did this yesterday - and, just now, he retweeted them all again for good measure.
That's about 25 retweets from Trump already today, with nothing whatosever by way of actual governance.
Here's Alex Woodward's story.
‘TikTok grandmother’ reveals she is working for Joe Biden
Andrew Buncombe has been speaking to Iowa's own Mary Jo Laupp, 51, who was instrumental in encouraging fake registrations to Trump's Tulsa rally last weekend, ensuring an embarrassingly poor turnout.
“I don’t know that we can handle another four years of a president who mocks everybody who’s not exactly like him - to have a president who tries to run the country like you’re trying to run a company,” she says.
'Incredible stupidity!'
No word from Trump yet on Iran's arrest warrant but he has been griping about political correctness gone mad again.
Mississippi legislature votes to remove Confederate emblem from state flag
Lawmakers in the delta state have agreed to remove the Confederate battle flag from the state’s banner, retiring a more than 100-year-old vestige of the Civil War and spectre of white supremacy.
Alex Woodward has the full story.
'Poland’s president hopes a Trump deal will help him win the election - but it may divide people more'
For Indy Voices, Pawel Latoszek examines Andrzej Duda's visit to the White House last week in the hope of shoring up support at home ahead of yesterday's election (by giving himself a platform on the world stage in exchange for armament deals).
Judging by the exit polls, hitching his wagon to Trump appears to have paid off - but the strategy could yet prove costly.
Trump 'imagines' five per cent of Republicans he says won't vote for him oppose his 'great' policies
Yep, probably Donald.
Also, where is he seeing this same fictional stat every week? And shouldn't he be more worried about his double-digit poll deficit to Biden?
He follows that with more unfounded and uncited bluster about his internal polling...
...and peaceful anti-racism protesters occupying a city block in Seattle.
Kayleigh McEnany: Trump tweeted offending video to show solidarity with 'demonised' supporters
White House press secretary has been on Fox and Friends attempting to defend the president's "white power!" video by claiming he had not noticed that portion of the clip.
This defiant note on reopening, despite the explosion of new coronavirus cases in states like Florida and Texas was also fairly alarming.
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