In the second-longest shutdown in US government history, Donald Trump continues to demand more than $5bn for a border wall. Congress is in deadlock, and some 800,000 federal employees have been sent home or are working without pay. The president has threatened that the shutdown could last ‘months or even years’. Here’s what that might mean
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The divisiveness that permeates Detroit’s communities of color
Anti-black sentiment regularly goes unchecked in cities around Detroit, but that’s changing in the era of Trump
Leah Vernon, who runs a popular Instagram account that celebrates being “fat, black and Muslim”, never formally studied Arabic but, growing up in Detroit, she learned the word abeed: the Arabic plural for slave, a derogatory term used to describe African Americans. Sometimes she heard the word while she and her mother were in attendance at predominantly Arab mosques in Detroit’s neighboring city of Dearborn. Other times, she heard it at “party stores”, small corner shops that dot Detroit and are almost always staffed by Arab cashiers, who often sit behind inches of bulletproof glass.
“Honestly, I heard it my whole life,” Vernon said. “I was called abeed so many times I never thought anything of it until a Somali friend, who speaks Arabic, explained to me, ‘No, they are calling us slaves.’ I have even heard it from 11-year-old kids.”
Continue reading...Trump’s threat to cut California wildfire relief leaves state officials baffled
He criticized the state for ‘forest management’, a claim that was debunked and admonished the last time he made it
Donald Trump’s latest threat to cut relief funds for California areas impacted by deadly wildfires has left state lawmakers and residents baffled.
“Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen [sic]” he tweeted, correcting the spelling of “forest” from a previous and identically worded tweet that has since been deleted. “Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!”
Continue reading...Trump walks out on Democrats and calls shutdown talks ‘a waste of time’
- Chuck Schumer condemns president’s ‘temper-tantrum’
- 800,000 federal US workers continue to go without pay
Donald Trump abruptly ended a critical meeting with Democratic leaders on Wednesday, calling it a “total waste of time” as the partial shutdown of the US government dragged into its 19th day with no end in sight.
The further deterioration of negotiations over the funding lapse affecting nearly 800,000 federal employees came a day after the president used his first address from the Oval Office to reinforce his demands for a wall along the southern border with Mexico.
Continue reading...Trump v Democrats: two contrasting views on US border wall proposal – video
For the first time in his presidency, Donald Trump delivered a televised address from the Oval Office, urging Congress to pay for his border wall to stop the ‘security crisis at our southern border’. Shortly afterwards, the Democratic House and Senate leaders, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, accused Trump of ‘manufacturing a crisis’
Continue reading...Donald Trump fuels immigration fears in TV address on ‘border crisis’
President offers no new solutions to government shutdown in first Oval Office address of his presidency
Donald Trump has used the first Oval Office address of his presidency to stoke fears of illegal immigration, repeat dubious claims about his border wall and offer no new solutions to the partial government shutdown.
In the type of made-for-TV-moment he relishes, the US president blamed criminal gangs and “vast quantities of illegal drugs” for “thousands of deaths” and faulted Democrats for failing to end the shutdown, now in its 18th day. Democrats accused him of fear-mongering.
Continue reading...Six key things to know about Trump’s border wall speech
Fact check: what the US president got wrong in his primetime address on the border wall
In a primetime address from the Oval Office on Tuesday night, Donald Trump made his case for the US to expand its wall on the southern border.
The US president blamed criminal gangs and “vast quantities of illegal drugs” for “thousands of deaths”, described the situation at the border with Mexico as a humanitarian crisis and argued that the current immigration system allows “vicious coyotes and ruthless gangs” to prey on immigrants, especially women and children.
Continue reading...Pelosi and Schumer to deliver rebuttal to Trump’s address – live
Democratic leaders to speak from US Capitol in response to president’s televised speech on border security after calling for equal airtime
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2020 Watch: Kamala Harris, the senator from California, released her memoir on Tuesday titled The Truths We Hold: An American Journey.
The book chronicles Harris’ upbringing as the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, her unexpected rise in US politics and current policy vision for the country.
“There were a lot of ways Secretary Kelly could have shown responsiveness, a lot of information he could have provided,” Harris writes. “Indeed the American people had a right to this information, and, given my oversight role on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, I intended to get it. Instead, he said gruffly, “Why are you calling me at home with this?” That was his chief concern. By the time we got off the phone, it was clear that he didn’t understand the depth of what was going on. He said he’d get back to me, but he never did.”
Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who attended the infamous June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower during the presidential campaign, has been charged by US authorities with obstruction of justice.
The indictment, which was unsealed on Tuesday by the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, is separate from the special counsel investigation of Russian interference in the US election and potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.
Natalia Veselnitskaya is accused of fabricating evidence in a US money-laundering case she was working on when she visited Trump Tower in June 2016 to meet senior Trump advisers including his son Donald Jr and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Federal prosecutors in New York said on Tuesday that Veselnitskaya and a senior Russian official drafted a bogus investigation report that she presented in court as supposed evidence that exonerated her client, Prevezon.
Continue reading...What does 2019 hold for Kim Jong-un and North Korea?
Kim Jong-un goes into 2019 with momentum to build on after last year’s historic meeting with President Donald Trump. As Kim attempts to negotiate a fresh summit, the Guardian’s Tania Branigan looks at his leadership so far and Emma Graham-Harrison describes a rare trip to Pyongyan. Plus: Catherine Shoard on the annual film awards season
Donald Trump has revealed that negotiations are underway to secure a location for a new summit with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, after the historic meeting between the two men in Singapore last year.
It came after Kim warned in a New Year’s speech that Pyongyang may change its approach to nuclear talks if Washington persisted with sanctions.
Continue reading...Mike Pence: Trump undecided on declaring national emergency over border wall demand
White House counsel is reviewing whether the president has the ability to declare a national emergency in this situation
Vice-president Mike Pence said Donald Trump has yet to decidewhether he will declare a national emergency over his demand for a wall along the southwest border – the key sticking point in negotiations over the partial government shutdown that has affected 800,000 federal employees.
White House counsel is reviewing whether the president has the ability to declare a national emergency in the current situation, Pence told reporters on Monday. He added that the administration would prefer to secure the funding for border security from an agreement with Congress.
Continue reading...Will Adam Schiff pose a bigger threat to Trump than Robert Mueller?
New chairman of the House intelligence committee leads pack of antagonists as he plans to investigate the details of Trump’s businesses, his lenders, and his partners in the US and abroad
Not long after Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel, Donald Trump declared it would be a “violation” for the investigation to touch the Trump Organization or his family finances. Pressed on whether he would fire Mueller if that line were crossed, Trump said: “I can’t answer that question because I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
Related: Trump aides may be in legal jeopardy as Democrats give evidence to Mueller
Continue reading...Bolton: US troops will not leave Syria till Isis beaten and Kurds protected
Adviser indicates long stay for troops while president claims he never said withdrawal would be quick
US troops will not leave north-eastern Syria until Islamic State militants are defeated and US-allied Kurdish fighters protected, national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday, signaling a pause to a withdrawal abruptly announced last month and initially expected to be completed within weeks. Achieving such conditions will likely take months or even years.
Related: Trump: US has killed al-Qaida militant tied to USS Cole bombing
Continue reading...Trump says he may declare national emergency over US-Mexico border wall – video
Donald Trump has threatened a national emergency in the 'next few days' to allow him to build a wall on the US-Mexico border. By doing this, he could unlock money from other sources, thereby avoiding the need for approval from Democrats
Continue reading...Trump threatens national emergency in ‘next few days’ over wall and shutdown
- President heads for Camp David as talks drag on in Washington
- Star-spangled shutdown: how nationalism warped US politics
Donald Trump said on Sunday he may declare a national emergency over immigration, to allow him to build a wall on America’s southern border.
Related: Is Mitt Romney the man to lead a Republican rebellion against Trump?
Continue reading...Is the tide at last on the turn for the world’s ‘strongman’ leaders?
The fall of the Saudi crown prince after the Khashoggi affair is a cautionary tale for all authoritarian rulers
The trial of 11 people charged with the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi opened and was quickly adjourned in Riyadh last week. It may be that the outcome is fixed in advance. Yet that the hearing took place at all could be seen as progress of a kind. It suggests even a state as autocratic, inward-looking and undemocratic as Saudi Arabia is not immune to international opinion and can be forced, in extremis, to respect the human right to justice.
The Khashoggi affair has provided a chastening lesson for Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, who is widely believed to have ordered the journalist’s slaying in Istanbul in October. Until then, Salman was riding high, courted by Donald Trump, lauded at home for modest social reform and feared, if not respected, across the Arab Middle East for his war of attrition in Yemen and determination to face down Iran.
Continue reading...Trump tweets ‘not much headway’ on shutdown as key services threatened
- Pence and Kushner lead talks with Democratic aides
- Opinion: Trump will lose ‘bigly’ on immigration
Saturday was day 15 of a partial government shutdown that Donald Trump said could go on for months or years, if he is not given funding for a wall on the Mexican border. As new talks were held without result, potentially devastating effects of the shutdown were coming into focus.
Related: Shutdown over border wall is crucial test for Trump's presidency
Continue reading...Trump confirms he said government shutdown could last months or years
President threatens to declare national emergency and build wall without congressional approval: ‘I can do it if I want’
As a partial US government shutdown hit the two-week mark, Donald Trump told congressional leaders at the White House he was prepared for the standoff to last months or even years.
“Absolutely I said that,” said Trump during a Rose Garden press conference, when asked if Senator Chuck Schumer was correct in his claim that the White House was prepared to continue the shutdown indefinitely.
Continue reading...Trump is staking his presidency on the shutdown and his wall
As the shutdown’s toll becomes clearer, the president aims to keep his pledge – but Democrats have reason to resist
There are two chants that everyone remembers from Donald Trump’s campaign rallies. One is “Lock her up!”, aimed at Hillary Clinton, a demand not likely to be met unless America becomes a banana republic. The other is “build that wall!”
It is now crunch time for this central, defining promise of the Trump candidacy and “make America great again” movement. The US president says he will not support a bill to fully fund the government until he secures $5.6bn for a wall on the US-Mexico border.
Continue reading...China’s faltering economy gives US stronger hand in trade talks, Trump says
As US officials fly to Beijing for negotiations, the president says the Chinese ‘sort of have to’ make a deal on tariffs
Donald Trump has said China’s weakening economic growth puts the United States in a strong position as negotiators from the world’s two largest economies prepare for trade talks on Monday.
US officials are heading to Beijing this weekend for the first face-to-face talks since Trump and China’s president, Xi Jinping, agreed in December to a 90-day truce in the trade war as they sought to strike a deal.
Continue reading...Government shutdown could last for years, says Trump – video
The partial government shutdown, which hit the two-week mark on Friday, could continue indefinitely after a meeting between Donald Trump and top Democrats failed to resolve their dispute. The president went on to say he could declare a national emergency and build a wall without congressional approval: ‘I can do it if I want’
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