Category Archives: Trump administration

Trump announces tariffs on Mexican goods until ‘migration crisis alleviated’

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US will place a 5% tariff on all goods from Mexico to pressure the country to stop the flow of Central American migrants, Trump says

In a surprise announcement that could compromise a major trade deal, Donald Trump announced Thursday that he is slapping a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports to pressure the country to do more to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants trying to cross the border.

He said the percentage would gradually increase “until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied”.

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Trump: Mueller ‘should have never been chosen’ for special counsel – video

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Donald Trump has said Robert Mueller 'should never have been chosen' for the position of special counsel, claiming Mueller wanted to replace James Comey as FBI director. Trump's remarks come a day after the former special counsel said at a press conference that investigators could not conclude that the US president had not committed a crime

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Mueller drew up obstruction indictment against Trump, Michael Wolff book says

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A new book from Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff says special counsel Robert Mueller drew up a three-count obstruction of justice indictment against Donald Trump before deciding to shelve it – an explosive claim which a spokesman for Mueller flatly denied.

Related: 'It's all explosive': Michael Wolff on Donald Trump

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Sudan, Algeria, Libya: new Arab spring stalls as Trump looks away

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The US once led western states’ support of democracy around the world, but under this president that feels like a long time ago

There was a time, not so very long ago, when the US was held up as a model for other nations to emulate. That time has passed. Last week witnessed more gratuitous international hooliganism by the Trump administration. Its latest depredations include extra-territorial bullying of trade and business rivals, violent threats against Iran, an absurdly biased “peace plan” for Palestine, resumed arms sales to fuel the Saudis’ war in Yemen, and an assault on global press freedom.

Anger and dismay over Donald Trump’s wildly swinging wrecking ball obscure they ways in which the US could be using its unmatched power to benefit others – but refuses to do so. Its current policy is defined by its absences. Once again, Syrian civilians are dying in a horrific war Trump has done nothing to halt. Alarm bells are ringing over the climate crisis and mass extinction – yet Trump’s people prefer to focus on economic opportunities afforded by a melting Arctic ice cap.

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Trump says US will send 1,500 troops to Middle East amid Iran tensions – video

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Donald Trump announced on Friday that the US would send 1,500 troops to the Middle East as a protective measure after a breakdown in relations with Iran. ‘Right now, I don’t think Iran wants to fight and I certainly don’t think they want to fight with us,’ the US president said

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Iran tensions: 1,500 US troops head to Middle East as Trump seals $7bn Saudi arms sale

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White House downplays prospect of conflict but blames Iran for tanker bombings and Iraq attack

The US will send hundreds of additional troops and a dozen fighter jets to the Middle East in the coming weeks to counter what the Pentagon has said is an escalating campaign by Iran to plan attacks against the US and its interests in the region.

And for the first time, Pentagon officials on Friday publicly blamed Iran and its proxies for recent tanker bombings near United Arab Emirates and a rocket attack in Iraq.

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‘We’ll fight to the end’: China’s media ramps up rhetoric in US trade war

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Voices within Chinese state and private media grow more strident as tensions mount

Over the last week, China’s state media outlets have called the US government delusional, compared it to apes shouting on a river bank, and offered to teach the Americans a Chinese idiom: diandao heibai, “to invert black and white”, or deliberately distort the truth.

As trade tensions mount between the US and China, Beijing faces the difficult task of appealing to national pride to shore up confidence in the leadership while also keeping public anger in check.

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New York state passes bill to allow Congress to access Trump’s tax returns – live

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Arguments have begun in Donald Trump’s lawsuit to block Congressional subpoenas of his financial records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One.

Patrick Strawbridge, one of Trump’s lawyers, reiterated in court his argument that Congress is overstepping its role by issuing such broad subpoenas.

Related: Trump lawyers to appear in court over subpoenas for financial records

Donald Trump Jr is set to follow in his father’s footsteps by becoming an author.

The first son, who earlier today was described as “a good young man” by his father – has signed a deal with Center Street Books, and the tome will be published later this year.

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‘I don’t do cover-ups’: Trump lashes out over Pelosi accusation – video

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Donald Trump rejected a charge by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, that he was engaged in a cover-up, saying he was the "most transparent president" the country had ever had. In a last-minute press conference in the Rose Garden, outside the Oval office, Trump condemned the Democats, and said "the crime was committed on the other side". Trump added he would refuse to work with them unless they dropped their investigations into his administration and finances

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‘Our subpoenas are not optional’: Democrats stonewalled again by Donald Trump

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The US president blocked former White House counsel Donald McGahn from testifying before Congress about the special counsel’s report on Russian election interference, prompting fresh threats of impeachment. The House judiciary committee held a brief hearing on Tuesday morning in McGahn’s absence, with an empty chair where he was supposed to sit. The committee chairman, Jerry Nadler, said subpoenas were 'not optional' and the committee would hear McGahn's testimony even if it had to go to court to secure it

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Don McGahn defies subpoena as Trump clash with Congress intensifies

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  • White House had blocked former counsel from testifying
  • House Democrats push leadership to impeach

Democrats faced another brazen attempt by Donald Trump to stonewall their investigations on Tuesday, this time with former White House counsel Donald McGahn defying a subpoena to appear before Congress on orders from the White House.

The House judiciary committee held a brief hearing on Tuesday morning in McGahn’s absence, with an empty chair where he was supposed to sit.

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Iran hits back at Trump for tweeting ‘genocidal taunts’

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Foreign minister Javad Zarif advises US president to respect country after warning

The Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, has hit back at Donald Trump’s “genocidal taunts” after a strongly worded warning from Trump that Tehran should not think of attacking the US.

Related: Trump tweets threat: 'If Iran wants to fight, that will be the end of Iran'

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Trump’s lawyers: does serving the president mean undermining justice?

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Senior attorneys in the executive branch were once seen as guard rails on the president but now seem to be enabling his most constitutionally dubious actions

Not everyone thinks Donald Trump poses a direct and obvious threat to the rule of law. When he accuses FBI investigators of “treason”, declares his campaign was “conclusively spied on” and suggests “long jail sentences”, there is often an assumption that cooler legal heads in the justice department and White House will prevail against the impulsive president.

But as Trump’s test of constitutional boundaries intensifies, critics say, the supposedly cooler heads seem to be simmering.

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US to hold Bahrain economic conference to launch Middle East peace plan

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  • Official does not confirm Israeli and Palestinian attendance
  • Palestinians believe peace plan will be in favour of Israel

The US will hold an international economic “workshop” in Bahrain in late June, seeking to encourage investment in the Palestinian territories as the first part of Donald Trump’s long-awaited Middle East peace plan, the White House said on Sunday.

Related: The ‘ultimate deal’? For Israel, maybe. We Palestinians will never accept it | Hanan Ashrawi

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Trump lashes out at Justin Amash after Republican talks of impeachment

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As Donald Trump opened fire on Justin Amash, the Michigan representative who became the first Republican in Congress say he had engaged in “impeachable conduct”, Mitt Romney declined to join the fight.

Related: Justin Amash becomes first Republican to back Trump impeachment

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Michigan’s Justin Amash becomes first Republican to back Trump impeachment

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Congressman says Mueller report ‘identifies multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice’

The Michigan congressman Justin Amash has called for Donald Trump to be impeached, adding a first Republican voice to a growing chorus of Democrats demanding Congress move against the president.

Amash is a libertarian and independent-minded politician who has flirted with the idea of a run against Trump in 2020, and has in turn been attacked by the White House. Elected in the Tea Party wave of 2010, he was a founder of the House Freedom Caucus, which has become a hard-right mouthpiece for Trump.

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Grindr and the ‘new cold war’: why US concerns over the app are dangerous

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The Chinese-owned app does pose data risks – but wrongly framing such fears can fuel racism and homophobia

For years, American leaders claimed that the internet would bring free markets and liberal democracy to China. Today, they are more likely to express worry about how Chinese power and Chinese money are reshaping American tech. Conventional strategic areas, like artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, have received the most scrutiny. But this week the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) reached an agreement after an investigation of a different kind of target: the popular gay social networking app Grindr.

Grindr is based in West Hollywood and boasts more than 27 million users. The Chinese gaming firm Beijing Kunlun Tech Company acquired it over two years, purchasing a 60% stake in January 2016 and the remaining 40% in January 2018.

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Trump tax returns: Steven Mnuchin refuses to comply with subpoena

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House Democrat demands six years of tax returns and expects to take matter to court as early as next week

The US treasury secretary defied a House subpoena for Donald Trump’s tax returns on Friday, setting up another potential court battle between the executive and legislative branches of the federal government.

Steven Mnuchin said in a letter that the subpoena from the House ways and means committee chairman, Richard Neal, a Democrat, was “unprecedented” and “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose”.

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