Senate set to reject Trump’s national emergency declaration

At least four Republicans say they will defy president’s move on the Mexican border designed to fund his wall

Donald Trump’s declaration of an emergency on the Mexican border will be rejected by the Senate, the most senior Republican in the US upper chamber has admitted.

The Democratic-controlled House has already voted to reject the national emergency declaration. A rejection in the Republican-controlled Senate would send a powerful signal that Trump’s control of his own party may be slipping.

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Democrats target Trump Jr, Weisselberg and more as investigations grow

Democrats in the House of Representatives are stepping up investigations into Donald Trump’s potentially impeachable acts of corruption, obstruction of justice and abuse of power.

Related: Democratic oversight is 'bullshit': Trump goes off-script at CPAC

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Outrage over Trump siding with Kim Jong-un on death of Otto Warmbier – live updates

Meanwhile, at CPAC, National Rifle Association president Ollie North is requesting thoughts and prayers for the multi-million dollar gun lobbying organization.

"I ask you to pray for the NRA," Ollie North says. He concludes: "The NRA is freedom's safest place."

Donald Trump has reacted to Michael Cohen’s testimony by claiming that Cohen lied about almost everything during yesterday’s congressional hearing – but told the truth by saying he had no evidence that Trump colluded with Russia, writes my colleague Jon Swaine:

Speaking in Vietnam after meeting the North Korean leader Kim Jong un, Trump said Cohen, his former legal fixer, lied “95% instead of 100%” of the time during a hearing of the House oversight committee on Wednesday. “I was impressed,” said Trump.

Trump falsely claimed several times that Cohen had testified that there had been “no collusion”. In fact, Cohen said he did not know any “direct evidence” of collusion. “But I have my suspicions,” he told members of congress.

Related: Trump says Cohen lied ‘95% instead of 100%’ in testimony to Congress

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Jim Jordan: Congress’s bully-in-chief set Republican tone at Cohen hearing

Belligerent and dismissive, the ranking member of the House oversight committee took on a Trump-like role

From the first words of his opening statement, Jim Jordan, top Republican on the House oversight committee, set the tone for his party’s approach to Michael Cohen: belligerent, dismissive and utterly uninterested in anything Donald Trump’s private lawyer for the past decade had to say.

“Mr Chairman, here we go,” the congressman from Ohio spat out in front of a packed committee chamber, having stripped down to his white shirt and yellow tie to signal he meant business. “Your first big hearing, your first announced witness, Michael Cohen … a guy who is going to prison in two months for lying to Congress.”

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Michael Cohen: ‘I appreciate the opportunity to clear the record’ – video

'I'm going to let the American people decide exactly who's telling the truth,' Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen told reporters after giving testimony before a closed Senate intelligence committee. It was the first of three congressional appearances this week that are expected to contain explosive testimony about how Trump allegedly broke the law while in office. The public will hear from Cohen on Wednesday when he testifies before the House oversight and reform committee

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Schiff threatens to call Mueller to testify if Trump-Russia report not made public

A top Democrat threatened on Sunday to call special counsel Robert Mueller to testify on Capitol Hill, subpoena documents and take the Trump administration to court if necessary, if the full report on the Russia investigation is not made public.

Related: Trump faces a legal reckoning – but are his worst troubles yet to come?

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Dianne Feinstein rebuffs young climate activists’ calls for Green New Deal – video

The California senator has been criticised for her response to a group of children and teenagers asking her to support the Green New Deal. Video footage shows Feinstein flatly rejecting the activists’ request, telling them: 'I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I know what I’m doing'

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‘You didn’t vote for me’: California senator responds to young activists on Green New Deal

Children and teenagers from Sunrise Movement say Dianne Feinstein reacted with ‘smugness + disrespect’

The California senator Dianne Feinstein is facing criticism over a video of her response to a group of children and teenagers asking her to support the Green New Deal.

The video clip shows parts of a Friday morning meeting between the Democrat and young activists from the Sunrise Movement. Founded in 2017, the group organizes young people to fight climate change and support the Green New Deal.

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House Democrats to file measure aimed at blocking Trump’s emergency declaration

Lawmakers’ move, planned for Friday, sets up clash over presidential powers and immigration but is likely to fail

House Democrats will file a resolution Friday aimed at blocking the national emergency declaration that Donald Trump has issued to help finance his wall along the Southwest border, teeing up a clash over billions of dollars, immigration policy and the constitution’s separation of powers.

Though the effort seems almost certain to ultimately fall short – perhaps to a Trump veto – the resulting votes will let Democrats take a defiant stance against Trump that is sure to please liberal voters. They will also put some Republicans from swing districts and states in a difficult spot.

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Trump-Russia: FBI had ‘backup plan’ to save investigation evidence – live

Plan created after Comey firing to ensure information would survive firings or reassignments of top officials

Attorneys for the Kentucky student filmed in an apparent confrontation with a Native American elder at the Lincoln Memorial filed a lawsuit against the Washington Post on Tuesday, accusing the news organization of engaging “in a modern-day form of McCarthyism.”

Here is the Complaint filed today against The Washington Post on behalf of Nick Sandmann. All members of the mainstream & social media mob of bullies who recklessly & viciously attacked Nick would be well-served to read it carefully. https://t.co/P3H4x0srlX

CNN hired a longtime Republican operative as the political editor charged with coordinating 2020 campaign coverage, Vox is reporting.

According to a CNN spokesperson, Isgur, who most recently worked as the Department of Justice’s main spokesperson under then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, will coordinate the network’s political coverage for the 2020 election cycle on TV and on CNN’s website. Isgur starts work next month, and will not be involved in coverage of DOJ. She will occasionally appear on TV.

Isgur’s LinkedIn page indicates she has no journalism experience. She has, however, worked for a variety of right-wing organizations and campaigns, including the Carly Fiorina and Mitt Romney presidential bids, the Republican National Committee, and a Ted Cruz US Senate campaign.

I've received a lot of partisan fundraising emails from Sarah Isgur Flores, who will reportedly "coordinate political coverage for the 2020 campaign at" CNN (https://t.co/WrQRFBZZFV), over the years. Here's one in Oct. 2014 in which she said Obama's policies would be "DOOMSDAY." pic.twitter.com/xUhXYYJMZf

CNN's new political editor, ex-flack for Carly Fiorina's campaign and the Sessions DOJ "has no experience in news but a long history as a political operative"

Lots and lots of experienced journos have lots their jobs in the last few months, just sayin'https://t.co/M5OymJoWgl

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Trump ally Graham will subpoena McCabe and Rosenstein over ‘coup’

Trump ally Lindsey Graham has promised a Senate investigation into claims senior justice department officials discussed invoking the 25th amendment and removing the president from power.

Related: Andrew McCabe says officials discussed removing Trump after Comey firing

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Trump declares national emergency to bypass Congress over border wall funds – live news

Trump announces emergency to bypass Congress and free up billions for long-promised border wall

Here’s Trump earlier, performing what is being referred to as both a “ditty” and a “sing-song”. The sound of the summer?

"We'll end up in the Supreme Court and hopefully get a fair shake and win in the Supreme Court just like the ban," said Trump, acknowledging his administration may get sued over the national emergency. https://t.co/rPePQTU8uT pic.twitter.com/QneaGmvvLv

A gag order for attorneys and witnesses has been issued in the case of Roger Stone by a federal judge in Washington DC.

Stone, a longtime friend and adviser to Donald Trump, was indicted last month on charges of lying to investigators, obstructing justice and witness tampering. He denies wrongdoing.

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National emergency: Trump’s ‘clear abuse of power’ faces torrent of lawsuits

Declaration prompts dire warnings but fallout could be contained by successful legal challenge or resolution in Congress

As state attorneys general across the country threaten to sue the White House over Donald Trump’s declaration of a national immigration emergency on Friday, Democrats and Republicans insisted Trump was overstepping his powers, while legal analysts warned of a dangerous new phase of the Trump presidency.

Related: Trump declares national emergency to bypass Congress over border wall funds – live news

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US lawmakers vote to end US support for war in Yemen

In rebuke of Trump’s alliance with Saudi Arabia, resolution would force administration to withdraw US troops

Asserting congressional authority over war-making powers, the US House of Representatives approved a resolution Wednesday that would force the Trump administration to withdraw US troops from involvement in Yemen, in a rebuke of Donald Trump’s alliance with the Saudi-led coalition behind the military intervention.

Lawmakers in both parties are increasingly uneasy over the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and are skeptical of the US partnership with that coalition, especially in light of Saudi Arabia’s role in the killing of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the royal family.

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Shutdown deal: Republicans urge Trump to accept as House heads to vote

Donald Trump has suggested he is open to a compromise border security measure that would avert another US government shutdown as the House pushed toward a vote on the agreement before the funding deadline expires on Friday.

Republicans and Democrats have broadly embraced the proposed legislation, but have cautioned that they will wait to see the final text of the bill, which includes far less funding than Trump initially sought for his wall along the border with Mexico.

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Trump ‘unhappy’ with new shutdown deal – live updates

Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, is at risk of seeing one of his biggest initiatives in office be overturned.

Hogan, who has been mooted as potential primary opponent of Donald Trump, decreed that public schools in the Old Line State couldn’t open until Labor Day. However, the Maryland general assembly is poised to overturn that through veto-proof legislation.

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced today that the state would not move forward on a controversial and hugely expensive project to link San Francisco and Los Angeles via high speed rail.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom abandoning plan for high-speed train from Los Angeles to San Francisco, says too costly.

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Democrats and Republicans in last-ditch attempt to avert shutdown – live

As President Trump prepared to speak at the border Monday in another expected call for a wall to curtail illegal immigration, Governor Gavin Newsom defended his decision to withdraw national guardsmen from the California-Mexico border, saying that “this whole border issue is manufactured.”

We’re live with @GavinNewsom as he discusses moving @theCAguard personnel from the border & redeploying them to focus on the actual threats California faces, not the White House’s manufactured crisis. #CaliforniaForAll https://t.co/bcd5KJB0xB

Cliff Sims, the former White House communications aide who wrote a tell-all about life working for President Trump, is suing the president, alleging that he used his campaign organization to selectively enforce nondisclosure agreements to silence or punish former employees, the New York Times is reporting.

Mr. Sims was a White House aide from the beginning of the administration. But it was the campaign organization that filed an arbitration claim against him last week, accusing him of violating the nondisclosure agreement he signed with it during the 2016 presidential race with the publication of his book, “Team of Vipers,” last month.

The White House had dozens of people sign such agreements at the beginning of the president’s term. But those agreements are widely seen as likely unenforceable. In the suit, Mr. Sims says he does not recall whether he signed one when he came to the White House.

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Ilhan Omar apologizes after being accused of using ‘antisemitic tropes’

Congresswoman ‘unequivocally apologized’ after suggesting Republican support for Israel was fueled by financial incentives

The Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar “unequivocally” apologized on Monday for comments that suggested American support for Israel was fueled by political donations from a pro-Israel lobby group – a remark condemned by House Democratic leaders for raising “antisemitic tropes and prejudicial accusations”.

“Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes,” she said in a statement posted on Twitter. “My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole.”

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Matt Whitaker set to testify before House committee following dispute – live

Acting attorney general will be first Trump cabinet official to be brought before panel led by Democrats

A look at the front page of the Detroit Free Press memorializing John Dingell, the legendary US congressman who passed away on Thursday.

Ivanka Trump has said she knew “almost nothing” about the prospective Trump Tower project in Moscow that her father was pursuing during 2016 presidential election.

“We were an active business,” Trump said during an interview that aired Friday on ABC’s Good Morning America, while adding her knowledge of the project amounted to “literally almost nothing”.

EXCLUSIVE: Ivanka Trump has "zero concern" about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. https://t.co/4raDLDD6Xh pic.twitter.com/R18v6BW7gW

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Virginia: woman who accused lieutenant governor of sexual assault speaks out – live

After attorney general admits wearing blackface in 1980s, lieutenant governor accused of attack in 2004

It was a quiet ending to an eventful day. Thanks for sticking with us, everyone.

Paul Erickson, the boyfriend of Maria Butina, the Russian national who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to influence US politics during the 2016 presidential election, was indicted by a federal grand jury in South Dakota on charges of wire fraud and money laundering, the Daily Beast is reporting.

The case against Erickson, a conservative US political activist and National Rifle Association insider, does not appear to be linked to the foreign agent case against Butina, who tried to infiltrate the NRA and relay intelligence on American politicians to a Russian government official.

Erickson was arrested on Feb. 6 and entered a plea of not guilty, according to the court filings.

The indictment alleges that Erickson ran a criminal scheme from 1996 to 2018 using a chain of assisted living homes called Compass Care. Erickson also allegedly defrauded investors through a company called Investing with Dignity that claimed to be “in the business of developing a wheelchair that allowed people to go to the bathroom without being lifted out of the wheelchair.” The indictment says he also ran a fraudulent scheme that claimed to be building homes in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota.

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