Ilhan Omar has had spike in death threats since Trump attack over 9/11 comment

Congresswoman said many threats referenced the president’s tweet as Sarah Sanders praises Trump for ‘calling Omar out’

Muslim American congresswoman Ilhan Omar has said she has received an increased number of death threats after Donald Trump repeatedly tweeted video footage of September 11 and accused Omar of downplaying the terror attacks.

Omar issued a statement on Sunday night saying: “Since the president’s tweet Friday evening, I have experienced an increase in direct threats on my life – many directly referencing or replying to the president’s video.”

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Nadler: Barr is ‘biased’ and Mueller’s Trump-Russia report must be released

  • Democrat: attorney general is ‘agent of the administration’
  • President tweets angrily about leaks to ‘fake news media’

Senior Democrats are keeping up pressure on attorney general William Barr to release the full Mueller report, claiming collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia happened “in plain sight”.

Related: William Barr: attorney general plays Republican spear-catcher again

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Democrats will ‘never’ see Trump tax returns – White House chief of staff

  • Mick Mulvaney to Fox: ‘That is not going to happen’
  • House ways and means panel wants returns by 10 April

Democrats in Congress will “never” see Donald Trump’s tax returns, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said on Sunday.

Related: ‘Pete! Pete! Pete!’ Buttigieg fever hits New Hampshire – can he keep up the pace?

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House Democrats formally demand Trump’s tax returns from IRS

Chairman of ways and means committee says request for six years of returns is ‘within our rights’

House Democrats have formally demanded Donald Trump’s tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service, marking a major bid to obtain information about the president’s finances and business dealings.

Richard Neal, the chairman of the House ways and means committee, issued the request on Wednesday evening, stating: “It is critical to ensure the accountability of our government and elected officials.”

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Bill Shine: ex-Fox News executive resigns as top Trump aide – live

Donald Trump will host the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, at the White House on 19 March, press secretary Sarah Sanders just announced.

The pair will discuss “how to build a more prosperous, secure and democratic Western Hemisphere,” according to the White House statement, as well as “opportunities for defense cooperation, pro-growth trade policies, combatting transnational crime and restoring democracy in Venezuela”.

"President Donald J. Trump will welcome President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil to the White House on Tuesday, March 19, 2019" pic.twitter.com/YIIwZc4axH

Senator Kamala Harris, a leading Democratic presidential candidate, weighed in on Paul Manafort’s controversial 47 month sentence while campaigning in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina today.

“We are looking at further evidence in America’s judicial system of absolute unfairness,” Harris said in video captured by CNN. “People who commit white collar crimes – they should be prepared to bring their tooth brush and spend as much time behind bars as anybody else.”

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris responds to Manafort sentencing: "Absolute unfairness" in the judicial system https://t.co/nMyXQjVbke pic.twitter.com/f2BpAB4ksz

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Omar’s comments not from ‘antisemitic attitude’: Nancy Pelosi – video

Nancy Pelosi said she believes recent controversial words said by freshman congresswoman Ilhan Omar were ‘not based on any antisemitic attitude’. Omar, who in January became one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress, said Israel’s supporters push lawmakers to pledge ‘allegiance to a foreign country’, a remark that was viewed as playing into the antisemitic cliche of ‘dual loyalty’

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Michael Cohen gives new documents to House lawmakers

House intelligence chief hails ‘productive’ hearing as materials reportedly show edits by Trump’s legal team to Cohen’s past statement

Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer provided the US House intelligence committee with new documents and may hand over more, the panel’s chairman said after a day-long hearing behind closed doors.

The Democratic representative Adam Schiff told reporters that Michael Cohen was cooperative and the eight-hour hearing was “very productive”. He did not say what the new documents related to and declined to comment on the substance of Cohen’s testimony.

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Antisemitism debate exposes new fault lines in US politics

The fallout from comments by Ilhan Omar spans identity politics, party politics, geopolitics and a generational divide

An Israeli prime minister who has embraced Donald Trump and taken rightwing populism from his playbook. And a group of fiery young Democrats unafraid to question their elders or challenge the status quo. Put together, the elements were bound to be explosive.

Democrats were expected to offer a resolution condemning antisemitism on the floor of the US House of Representatives on Thursday following the latest provocative comments by Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who in January became one of the first two Muslim women in Congress.

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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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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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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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House investigates ‘White House plan’ to share nuclear technology with Saudis

Top Trump officials pushed plan to share technology despite objections, according to House oversight committee report

Top White House officials pushed a plan to share nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia, despite objections from career national security staff, according to a new congressional report.

Related: A public holiday and gold-plated gun: Saudi crown prince feted on Asia tour

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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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Senate to vote on pair of bills that could end government shutdown

Republican-backed measure would meet Trump’s wall demand while the second would extend funding for closed agencies

The Senate will vote on Thursday on a pair of bills that could end the month-long partial shutdown of the federal government– if passed.

The first bill, a Republican-backed measure, would meet Donald Trump’s demand for a $5.7bn wall along the southern border in exchange for temporary protections for young undocumented immigrants. The second would extend funding for the agencies that are currently closed through to 8 February.

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Pelosi rejects Trump shutdown deal before president announces it

  • President offers temporary concessions and demands wall
  • Little chance of progress as House speaker says no

Donald Trump forged ahead on Saturday and proposed a deal to end the US government shutdown, despite Democrats having rejected it before he began to speak.

Related: Republicans’ lack of alarm over the shutdown reveals a disturbing truth | Ross Barkan

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Pelosi asks Trump to delay State of the Union address, or deliver it in writing

House speaker said the event would place an undue burden on the departments responsible for security, as a result of the shutdown

House speaker Nancy Pelosi has requested Donald Trump delay, or deliver in writing, a State of the Union address scheduled for 29 January unless the government reopens this week.

In a letter to the president, Pelosi said the annual remarks would place an undue burden on the departments responsible for security at the event, as a result of the record shutdown that began on 22 December over Trump’s demand for a border wall.

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