Trump threatens to declare national emergency to get wall funding – live

President says ‘we can call it a national emergency’ to bypass Congress and build wall ‘quickly’ at press conference

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Asked if he would turn down the automatic raise coming his way during the government shutdown, ⁦@VP⁩ Pence says “yes.” pic.twitter.com/Z6vPc14Cuf

Trump also said he would consider asking his Cabinet officials not to accept the $10,000 raise due to take effect for them tomorrow.

Donald Trump seems to confirm ABC News reporting that his administration is considering building a wall without the consent or appropriation of Congress by declaring a national emergency.

“I can do it if I want,” Trump said. “We can call a national emergency and build it very quickly.”

"I can do it if I want," Trump now saying he is "allowed" to build the wall himself without congressional approval or appropriation. "We can call a national emergency and build it very quickly."

President Trump just said he could declare a national emergency to build the wall unilaterally without Congress. So this whole shutdown is... what, then?

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‘Immoral’: Nancy Pelosi on Trump’s border wall – video

Nancy Pelosi, the newly elected House speaker, insisted Trump's border wall would not receive funding as the partial US government shutdown hit the two-week mark on Friday. Pelosi described the wall as 'an old way of thinking, it isn't cost effective'

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Democrats reclaim power as Nancy Pelosi elected House speaker

House tests new power by passing bills to end the government shutdown, but legislation is unlikely to break impasse

Democrats reclaimed power in the House on Thursday and officially elected Nancy Pelosi to be the next speaker, returning her to a position for which she made history as the first woman elected to the office.

The California Democrat earned 220 votes from a total of 430 members present, while Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader, won 192.

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Donald Trump has a point – the world should start solving its own problems | Simon Jenkins

For all his antics on the Mexican border, the US president is right to be withdrawing troops from Syria

For a Briton to spend time in the US just now is a blessed relief. Whole days pass, and no talk of Brexit. It is as if a pall has lifted from the art of conversation. But the US has its own deep divide, slashing through the populist body politic. It is Donald Trump and “America first”.

Trump has become a phenomenon. Like Samson in the temple, he seems able to topple the entire edifice of policy. Down crashes America’s government machine for the sake of a wall, world trade is devastated, stock markets plummet, alliances lie in ruins. It is astonishing what one man can do to the world, virtually alone.

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Trump blames shutdown on 2020 election despite claiming he would take responsibility – live

Donald Trump tweeted an image mocking Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign for president.

It features the slogan “Warren: 1/2020th,” an apparent reference to the much-derided DNA test the Massachusetts Democrat took finding she had a small fraction of Native American heritage.

pic.twitter.com/JzfXMAPwKP

Sen. Dianne Feinstein says former Vice President Joe Biden is her top pick for a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.

“I’ve watched him as vice president, I’ve seen him operate, I’ve seen him perform,” the California Democrat told Politico. “He brings a level of experience and seniority which I think is really important.”

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Trump and top lawmakers fail to resolve shutdown after meeting

Nancy Pelosi said Democrats will still vote on Thursday despite impasse at ‘border security briefing’

Donald Trump and top congressional leaders failed to resolve a partial government shutdown that has stretched well into a second week as the president refused to back off from his demands for billions of dollars for a long-promised wall along the southern US border with Mexico.

Related: Mitt Romney: Trump's biggest failure is a lack of character in leading 'divided' nation

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US markets start 2019 with a whimper as Trump blames ‘glitch’ for 2018 losses

Trump claims ‘We’re the talk of the world’ as weak data in Asia and Europe confirmed fears of a global economic slowdown

After their worst year in close to a decade US stocks started the new year with a more than 1% decline on Wednesday before inching their way back into the black as Donald Trump blamed a “glitch” for last year’s losses.

Markets wobbled between gains and losses all day on Wednesday as weak data in Asia and Europe confirmed fears of a global economic slowdown while the US government shutdown dragged on.

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Trump to convene border security briefing in bid to reopen government

Democratic and Republican congressional leaders expected to attend session as shutdown enters 12th day

Donald Trump is convening a border security briefing on Wednesday for Democratic and Republican congressional leaders as a partial government shutdown over his demand for border wall funding entered its 12th day.

Related: Mitt Romney: Trump's biggest failure is a lack of character in leading 'divided' nation

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Mitt Romney: Trump’s biggest failure is a lack of character in leading ‘divided’ nation

Incoming Utah senator says president has abandoned allies and failed to lead a ‘divided, resentful and angry’ nation

Mitt Romney, the former Republican presidential candidate and incoming US senator, has sharply criticised Donald Trump both personally and professionally, accusing him of deserting the nation’s allies and lacking the character to lead a “divided” nation.

In a Washington Post essay published on Tuesday evening, Romney said Trump’s presidency “made a deep descent” in December and blamed him for the departures of defence secretary Jim Mattis and White House chief of staff John Kelly.

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Donald Trump ‘ready’ to negotiate on government shutdown – video

Donald Trump tells Fox News he is ready to negotiate an end to the partial government shutdown. In an interview broadcast on Monday night, Trump adds: ‘We have to have border security and the wall is a big part of border security’

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Why Trump’s Middle East peace plan is just a sideshow

Palestinian leaders have rejected Washington as a mediator and Israeli politicians openly deride peace efforts

After two years of drum-rolling, Donald Trump’s “ultimate deal” for Israelis and Palestinians is about to enter what its architects claim is the pre-launch phase.

The US president has said the peace plan drawn up by his team – two former personal lawyers and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner – will be ready to unveil by the end of January.

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With Senate passage, bill to prevent shutdown goes to House

The Senate approved legislation to temporarily fund the government, a key step toward averting a federal shutdown after President Donald Trump backed off his demand for money for a border wall with Mexico. Senators passed the measure, which would keep government running to Feb. 8, by voice vote without a roll call Wednesday night.

Kellyanne Conway: Trump will ‘certainly’ look at stopgap…

Kellyanne Elizabeth Conway WaPost media columnist calls for banning Kellyanne Conway from the news 'Saturday Night Live' ponders life if Trump had never been elected with Baldwin, Stiller and De Niro George Conway rips Trump's defense of Daniels, McDougal payments MORE Donald John Trump READ: Transcript of James Comey's interview with House Republicans Klobuchar on 2020: 'I do think you want voices from the Midwest' Israel boycott fight roils Democrats in year-end spending debate MORE would "take a look" at a short-term funding measure to keep the government open, but insisted that the administration was not backing off its demands for funding for a wall along the southern border.

What was Michelle Obama thinking after Trump’s inauguration? – Bye, Felicia.’

Standing in the doorway of a Boeing 747, former president Barack Obama has one arm wrapped around Michelle Obama. The pair are waving, smiles plastered across their faces.

Schiff: If Cohen deserves jail time so does Trump

Adam Bennett Schiff Schiff calls on Flynn to testify before House Intelligence Committee Stone admits to publishing false statements on InfoWars Trump White House preparing for 'knock-down, drag-out fight' with new House: report MORE Donald John Trump READ: Transcript of James Comey's interview with House Republicans Klobuchar on 2020: 'I do think you want voices from the Midwest' Israel boycott fight roils Democrats in year-end spending debate MORE 's former longtime lawyer Michael Cohen deserves jail time for campaign finance law violations, the president should not be precluded from facing a similar punishment.

Trump signed letter of intent for Moscow project in Oct. 2015, report says

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump signed a letter of intent in the effort to land a deal for a Trump property in Moscow, according to a document published Tuesday by CNN , after Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani denied Sunday that anyone had signed such a document. The agreement dated Oct. 28, 2015 , more than four months after Trump announced his presidential campaign outlined the sale of the "non-exclusive right to use one or more derivates of the 'Trump' name" to Russian developer Andrey Rozov in a mixed-use project that would include "250 first class, luxury" condominiums and "one first class, luxury hotel" with commercial, office and parking components that are "consistent with the overall luxury of the Property."

The Latest: Senate Democrats will support GOP spending bill

The Latest on the fight over funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall and a potential partial government shutdown : Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says it's good news that President Donald Trump has apparently retreated from his demand that Congress pay for a border wall with Mexico. Schumer said Wednesday that Democrats prefer to find a way to fund all government agencies through Sept.

Newt: Trump Won’t Quit Fighting for Border Security

Democrats may be winning a short-term victory on keeping the government open, but President Donald Trump is "probably trying to get past the Christmas season," and he will keep fighting for border security, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday. "I have always thought having been through shutdowns when I was speaker, I don't think shutting government down on Christmas Eve is particularly big win for anybody," Gingrich told Fox News' "Fox and Friends."

Judge says Trump’s ex-security chief Michael Flynn sold country out

Washington - President Donald Trump's former national security chief on Tuesday received a delay in sentencing for lying over Russian contacts, after a judge threatened him with stiff jail time and said: "You sold your country out." Russia collusion investigation head Robert Mueller had proposed Michael Flynn receive no jail time for lying to investigators about his Moscow ties -- and in his own pitch to the court last week, Flynn had requested the same.