Donald Trump has declared a national emergency to secure extra funding for his wall at the US-Mexico border. Trump’s decision came after weeks of wrangling over his campaign promise, which led to a record 35-day partial government shutdown, damaging his approval rating.
• Trump declares national emergency to build US-Mexico border wall
Continue reading...Plan may divert billions from projects such as counterdrug efforts, has been condemned by Democrats and activists
Donald Trump has defied fierce criticism to announce that he is using emergency powers to bypass Congress and pursue the building of a wall on the US-Mexico border.
At a combative, rambling and at times incoherent press conference in the White House, the US president insisted he had no choice but to declare a national emergency to stop illegal immigrants spreading crime and drugs.
Continue reading...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
Continue reading...Responding to Donald Trump's decision to declare a national emergency to fund his border wall with Mexico, House speaker Nancy Pelosi says he is setting a precedent that should be met with 'great unease and dismay' and the Democrats are considering making a legal challenge. 'You want to talk about a national emergency? Let’s talk about today,' Pelosi adds, noting that it is the first anniversary of the massacre at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, in which 17 people died
President is expected to sign bill but has vowed emergency action to build border wall with Mexico
Donald Trump has vowed to declare a national emergency as a way of funding his long-promised border wall with Mexico, as Congress overwhelmingly approved a border security agreement that would prevent a second damaging government shutdown.
After days of uncertainty, Trump announced his intention to support the massive $333bn-spending package, which includes on a sliver of what he sought for a steel wall. The Senate moved quickly, approving the bill in a vote of 83-16. Hours later the House passed the legislation, 300-128. Trump is expected to seal the deal with his signature on Friday, while at the same time declaring a national emergency.
Continue reading...Tech company says it has ‘decided not to move forward’ with giant campus in Queens
Amazon has cancelled its plans for a new headquarters in New York City following a torrent of local political opposition.
“After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens,” the company said in a statement.
Continue reading...Ex-acting FBI director said there were meetings to discuss whether president could be removed under 25th amendment
Former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe has said top Trump administration officials talked seriously about removing Donald Trump from office just months after he become president.
Related: Rosenstein did not want to write memo justifying Comey firing – new book
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...The Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar had a heated exchange with the Trump administration’s special envoy to Venezuela over his record in Latin America.
The Minnesota representative pressed Elliott Abrams – a former Reagan administration official – on his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...A man was seen shoving BBC cameraman Ron Skeans before being pulled away, according to a BBC video
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has condemned an attack on a BBC cameraman by a supporter of Donald Trump at a campaign rally in El Paso, Texas.
Asked whether it was acceptable for Trump to whip up his fans to the point that a cameraman was attacked, Hunt told Sky News: “It is never acceptable when journalists and cameramen are attacked just for doing their job.“
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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.
Continue reading...Donald Trump and potential presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke held rallies in El Paso, Texas, on Monday night offering their contrasting views on Trump's US-Mexico border wall. The president addressed his crowd in front of a big US flag along with three 'finish the wall' banners. Meanwhile nearby, O'Rourke told supporters El Paso was, 'safe not because of walls but in spite of walls'.
Continue reading...Donald Trump's pursuit of a border wall continued as he spoke at a rally in El Paso, Texas. Banners reading 'Finish the wall' lined the El Paso County Coliseum as the president spoke of how Democrats wanted to propose measures that would 'release of thousands of criminal illegal aliens'
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.
Continue reading...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.”
Continue reading...Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota has joined the crowded field of Democratic candidates for 2020 that includes a historic number of women seeking the presidency.
The three-term senator, who is often characterised as “Minnesota nice” amid the rough-and-tumble of politics, is looking to be a contrast to Donald Trump’s brash personality and often vitriolic rhetoric.
Continue reading...Bipartisan negotiators are running out of time to reach a deal over Trump’s demand for a border wall
Bipartisan negotiators in Washington are running out of time to reach a deal over Donald Trump’s demand for a border wall after talks stalled, raising the prospect of another government shutdown starting on Friday.
Leaders from both main parties sitting on a 17-strong negotiating panel must reach a deal over the disputed border security issue by Monday if there is to be time for Congress to pass legislation and Trump to sign it before the latest deadline of 15 February. Should they fail to reach agreement within hours, federal agencies, already exhausted after the 35-day shutdown that ended last month having impacted 800,000 federal employees, will yet again start to close from Friday at midnight.
Continue reading...Senator Elizabeth Warren has officially launched her presidential campaign in Massachusetts, calling for a more equal society and an end to corruption. 'This is the fight of our lives,' she told supporters in the city of Lawrence, the site of a historic workers' strike in 1912 led by women and immigrants
Continue reading...The Democrat officially announces campaign to be next American president at a rally in Massachusetts
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