Trump’s friend tried to profit from Middle East nuclear deal, lawmakers say

Congressional report finds Tom Barrack tried to buy Westinghouse as he sought a related government post

A billionaire friend of Donald Trump pursued a plan to buy Westinghouse Electric Corp – even as he lobbied Trump to become a special envoy and promote the company’s work on nuclear power in Saudi Arabia, a congressional report released on Monday.

While Tom Barrack failed in both efforts, the report provides fresh evidence of the ease with which some corporate and foreign interests have gained access to the US president and other senior members of his administration.

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Al Sharpton: Trump ‘has a particular venom for blacks and people of colour’ – video

The Rev Al Sharpton has addressed Donald Trump’s attack on the Maryland representative Elijah Cummings and his district of Baltimore. Speaking to reporters, the longtime activist said the president had attacked Cummings and his constituents ‘in the most bigoted and racist way’. Earlier on Monday Trump attacked Baltimore, the home city of Cummings, saying that it is ‘a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess’, adding that it was ‘the worst run and most dangerous [district] anywhere in the United States’

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Trump lines up loyalist as Coats leaves US intelligence chief post

Dan Coats to go next month after turbulent two years of disagreements with president

Dan Coats, one of the most senior national security officials willing to contradict Donald Trump, will leave the post of US director of national intelligence next month, the president has said.

Trump said Coats would go on 15 August and that he will nominate John Ratcliffe, a Texas representative and staunch loyalist, to the post.

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Democrats and media condemn Trump’s racist Cummings attack

In its response to Donald Trump’s racist attack on congressman Elijah Cummings, the editorial board of the Baltimore Sun said it “would not sink to name-calling in the Trumpian manner”.

Related: 'Own up to reality': 2020 Democrats urged to confront US racial divide

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Nadler: Mueller’s testimony ‘broke the lie’ Trump has been telling Americans

  • House judiciary chair says it could clear path to impeachment
  • Adam Shiff: ‘We are now in preliminary to a judicial proceeding’

Robert Mueller’s testimony to Congress “broke the lie” Donald Trump has been telling and potentially cleared the path to impeachment, House judiciary chair Jerrold Nadler said on Sunday.

Related: Baltimore Sun and CNN lead response to Trump’s racist Cummings attack

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‘Own up to reality’: 2020 Democrats urged to confront US racial divide

As the NAACP gathered in Detroit, leaders warned presidential hopefuls not to shy away as Trump fans the flames

In August 2016, Donald Trump stood before an overwhelmingly white crowd in Dimondale, Michigan, and asked black people for their votes.

Related: Trump 'rat-infested' attack on Elijah Cummings was racist, Pelosi says

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Trump ‘rat-infested’ attack on Elijah Cummings was racist, Pelosi says

  • President says oversight chair is ‘brutal bully’ and slams district
  • Attack follows racist invective aimed at four congresswomen

Donald Trump kicked off his weekend with a stinging attack on Elijah Cummings, the Democratic chair of the House oversight committee, that opponents including House speaker Nancy Pelosi said was another example of the president deploying racist invective for political ends.

Related: Trump slams 'rat-infested' district – but his own restaurant had a rodent problem

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Trump says agreement reached with Guatemala to restrict asylum seekers

Immigrant rights advocates say the ‘safe third country’ agreement is cruel and unlawful, though it could still be blocked

Donald Trump announced Friday that Guatemala was signing an agreement to restrict asylum applications to the US, a move that immigrant rights advocates said was cruel and unlawful.

The so-called “safe third country” agreement would require migrants, including Salvadorans and Hondurans, who cross into Guatemala on their way to the US to apply for protections in Guatemala instead of at the US border.

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Supreme court allows Trump to use $2.5bn in Pentagon funds for border wall

Move allows administration to redirect money despite lawmakers’ refusal to provide funding

The US supreme court cleared the way for Donald Trump to use billions in Pentagon funds to build a border wall.

The decision allows the Trump administration to redirect approximately $2.5bn approved by Congress for the Pentagon to help build his promised wall along the US-Mexico border even though lawmakers refused to provide funding.

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Supreme court allows Trump to use $2.5bn in Pentagon funds on border wall – live

White House announces an asylum deal with Guatemala three days after Trump threatened tariffs, among other sanctions, if it did not sign on

The president is celebrating the supreme court’s decision to allow him to spend $2.5bn on the border wall:

Wow! Big VICTORY on the Wall. The United States Supreme Court overturns lower court injunction, allows Southern Border Wall to proceed. Big WIN for Border Security and the Rule of Law!

This wall won't make anyone any more secure. It's a futile exercise to massage your ego, and advance your racist agenda.

We should be spending this $2.5bn of our tax payers money on housing for homeless people, mental health for veterans, and healthcare for those who are unwell.

The case is not about whether the challenged border barrier construction plan is wise or unwise. It is not about whether the plan is the right or wrong policy response to existing conditions at the southern border of the United States. Instead, this case presents strict legal questions regarding whether the proposed plan for funding border barrier construction exceeds the executive branch’s lawful authority.”

The case the Supreme Court ruled on began after the 35-day partial government shutdown that started in December of last year. Trump ended the shutdown in February after Congress gave him approximately $1.4 billion in border wall funding. But the amount was far less than the $5.7 billion he was seeking, and Trump then declared a national emergency to take cash from other government accounts to use to construct sections of wall.

The money Trump identified includes $3.6 billion from military construction funds, $2.5 billion in Defense Department money and $600 million from the Treasury Department’s asset forfeiture fund.

The Supreme Court has said the Trump administration can spend $2.5bn in Pentagon funds on the border wall:

JUST IN: Supreme Court allows Trump administration to spend $2.5 billion in Pentagon funds on border wall pic.twitter.com/JVxFusMf41

NOW: In a divided decision, the Supreme Court rules the Trump administration can begin using some of the contested federal funds Trump redirected for border wall construction — the court granted the admin's request to stay a lower court injunction https://t.co/SSEU48JLNU pic.twitter.com/DPijozmm8B

Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan would have denied the stay and left in place the injunction blocking the admin from using the funds while the case went forward; Breyer would have let the govt finalize contracts, but also blocked construction during the litigation

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Sweden hits back at Donald Trump in row over A$AP Rocky detention

Ex-Swedish PM tells US president political interference in rule of law is off limits

Sweden has hit back at Donald Trump after the US president reacted angrily to a decision to press assault charges against the American rapper A$AP Rocky, insisting its independent judicial system must do its work.

“The rule of the law applies to everyone equally and is exercised by an independent judiciary,” tweeted former prime minister Carl Bildt. “That’s the way it is in the US, and that’s certainly the way it is in Sweden. Political interference in the process is distinctly off limits. Clear?”

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Pro-Trump Republican aiming to unseat Ilhan Omar charged with felony theft

Exclusive: Danielle Stella, reported to support baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, held twice this year over alleged shoplifting

A pro-Trump Republican candidate for Congress who is aiming to unseat Ilhan Omar in Minnesota has been charged with a felony after allegedly stealing from stores.

Related: Trump speaks before presidential seal doctored with symbols of Russia and golf

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Donald Trump vetoes bills prohibiting arms sales to Saudi Arabia

Arms package includes thousands of precision-guided munitions and aircraft maintenance support

Donald Trump vetoed a trio of congressional resolutions aimed at blocking his administration from selling billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, last month cited threats from Iran as a reason to approve the $8.1bn arms sale to the two US allies in the Persian Gulf.

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Trump speaks before presidential seal doctored with symbols of Russia and golf

Image mysteriously displayed behind president at rightwing event features two-headed eagle clutching golf clubs

As Donald Trump addressed a rightwing crowd in Washington on Tuesday, the audience roared in support – but it was a doctored onscreen display that ultimately took center stage.

At a student summit hosted by the conservative group Turning Point USA, the president stood before what looks, to the casual observer, very much like the US presidential seal. A thorough examination by the Washington Post, however, reveals some odd tweaks to the image.

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2020 Democrats renew calls for impeachment after Mueller testimony

Warren urged House to rise ‘above politics’ and launch proceedings against Trump while Biden said president ‘should be tried’

Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren urged the House of Representatives to rise “above politics” and launch impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump after the former special counsel Robert Mueller testified that his report on Russian election interference did not exonerate the president.

The candidates, speaking on Wednesday at the annual convention of the NAACP, the nation’s largest and oldest civil rights organization, said Mueller’s testimony highlighted the urgency for brining articles of impeachment against a president whose bigotry while in office has harmed communities of color.

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‘It is not a witch-hunt’: Mueller defends Trump-Russia inquiry findings – video highlights

The former US special counsel Robert Mueller insisted on Wednesday that Donald Trump was not exonerated by his report into Russian interference in the 2016 US election and denied his investigation was a 'witch-hunt'. Mueller said the US president could be charged after he leaves office, but offered little new ammunition to boost the case for Trump's impeachment

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Mueller on Trump’s praise of Wikileaks: ‘Problematic is an understatement’ – live

Mueller discussed Trump’s many documented instances of praising the site during testimony before House intelligence committee

Mueller emphasized in his testimony to the House intelligence committee that Russian election interference remains ongoing.

WATCH: Mueller on Russian interference in the 2016 election:

“It wasn’t a single attempt. They’re doing it as we sit here. And they expect to do it during the next campaign.”https://t.co/m9KGQtGMJ7 pic.twitter.com/s1Aa1nyLsU

Trump’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said in a statement that Mueller’s testimony revealed the “troubling deficiencies of the special counsel’s investigation.”

“The testimony revealed that this probe was conducted by a small group of politically biased prosecutors who, as hard as they tried, were unable to establish either obstruction, conspiracy, or collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia,” the president’s lawyer said. “The American people understand that this issue is over. They also understand that the case is closed.”

...who, as hard as they tried, were unable to establish either obstruction, conspiracy, or collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. It is also clear that the Special Counsel conducted his two-year investigation unimpeded.

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Mueller’s testimony on Trump and Russia: six of the biggest takeaways

The former special counsel explained Trump was not exonerated and that his team was never going to indict the president

In highly anticipated testimony before the US Congress on Wednesday, the former special counsel Robert Mueller submitted to hours of questioning.

His testimony comes four months after he concluded the two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and the Trump campaign’s ties to Moscow, the findings of which were detailed in a 448-page report released in April.

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Iran hints at ship swap with UK amid de-escalation efforts

Hassan Rouhani spoke after Iraqi president’s visit to Iran at request of UK defence ministry

Iran has indicated it wants to de-escalate the British-Iranian crisis, hinting at swapping two captured tankers.

“We do not seek the continuation of tension with some European countries,” Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, said on Wednesday during a weekly cabinet meeting. “If Britain steps away from the wrong actions in Gibraltar, they will receive an appropriate response from Iran.”

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