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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Analysis: Top Trump intel official John Ratcliffe faces his first big test
So far, the new director of national intelligence has tried to walk the fine line of appeasing the president while not undermining his own intelligence reports, writes US political correspondent Griffin Connolly:
White House refuses to say if Trump will take action on Russia bounty claims as administration questions 'veracity' of them
The White House is questioning the "veracity" of US intelligence reports that Russia offered bounty payments to Taliban forces to kill American military troops in Afghanistan.
"There was no consensus within the intelligence community," Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters of the 16 US intel agencies. "There are some dissenting opinions within the intelligence community."
"This was not briefed up to the president because, in fact, it was not verified," she said, declining to say what, if anything, Donald Trump might do in retaliation to the Kremlin, if the intelligence is eventually verified.
John T Bennett reports:
Breaking: White House briefs top Republicans – but not Democrats – on Russia bounty row
Top White House officials briefed seven House Republicans on Monday on the ongoing controversy surrounding an alleged Russian bounty scheme for Afghani militants to kill US soldiers.
Trump calls Republicans who don't support him as 'stupid people' as president plummets in polls
Donald Trump said on Monday that Republican voters who do not support him are "stupid," and cited his campaign's internal polling to predict he will win a second term.
With states freezing their re-opening efforts amid new outbreaks of coronavirus and a sharp uptick in hospitalisations, the president spent a large part of his Monday morning tweeting about protesters objecting to racial inequality and calls to remove the names of former President Woodrow Wilson and actor John Wayne from a university policy school and an airport.
He also bragged about his campaign's own polling data, saying surveys conducted by professional polling outfits and news outlets are a "JOKE".
Reddit bans Donald Trump fan page and thousands of other communities
Richard Hall has more on Reddit's scrub of hundreds of forums violating its hate speech and harassment policies:
ICYMI: Iran issues arrest warrant for Trump, asks Interpol to help
An Iranian prosecutor said the country had issued an Interpol arrest warrant for United States president Donald Trump for his role in the assassination of a leading military commander earlier this year.
The Tehran prosecutor Ali Alghasimehr said the international "red alert" warrant included Mr Trump and 35 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 (IRNA) reported on Monday.
"Thirty-six people who were involved in the assassination of Hajj Qassem were identified, including political and military officials from the United States and other governments, have been ordered by the judiciary to be given a red alert to Interpol," he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Borzou Daragahi reports:
Report: Trump books more than $16 million in ads in battleground states
Donald Trump's re-election campaign has spent more than $16 million buying ad spots in Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina as polls show him slipping behind Democratic candidate Joe Biden, CNBC reports.
Ad spending tracker Advertising Analytics said the campaign has prebooked spots in the run up to the November election in "Arizona, Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin."
David Duke, Richard Spencer and Stefan Molyneux booted off YouTube
Following the exodus of r/The_Donald followers and the forum's closure, along with Donald Trump's suspension from Twitch, YouTube has banned several far-right personalities from the platform, including former Ku Klux Klansman and neo-Nazi David Duke, white nationalist Richard Spencer, and right-wing commentator Stefan Molyneux.
In a statement to The Daily Beast, the company said: "We have strict policies prohibiting hate speech on YouTube, and terminate any channel that repeatedly or egregiously violates those policies ... After updating our guidelines to better address supremacist content, we saw a 5x spike in video removals and have terminated over 25,000 channels for violating our hate speech policies.”
'Blood is on their hands': GOP congressman on intelligence briefing on Russian bounties blames New York Times
State Rep Jim Banks says that the "real scandal" following revelations that the White House dismissed intelligence reports about a possible Russian bounty scheme to kill US troops is that The New York Times had "used unconfirmed intel in an ONGOING investigation into targeted killing of American soldiers in order to smear the President."
"The blood is on their hands," he said. "Now it's impossible to finish the investigation."
The president retweeted this:
Arizona closing bars, nightclubs, gyms and movie theaters over coronavirus spike in cases
Arizona Governor Doug Doucey has ordered the closure of bars, nightclubs, gyms, movie theaters and water parks for at least 30 days as the state sees a surge in coronavirus cases, effective at 8pm on Monday.
"We must be clear-eyed," he said. "The next few weeks will be hard. But these steps combined with stepped-up compliance with public health guidance can make a difference, and we're grateful to Arizonans for their cooperation."
Health officials reported 3,858 confirmed cases on Sunday, the most in a single day in the state since the onset of the pandemic.
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