Trump uses clash over State of the Union to fundraise – live

President highlights Pelosi’s proposal to delay speech in letter to supporters as he cancels her trip to Afghanistan

According to CNN, President Trump wasn’t pleased to learn that his AG pick was so close with special counsel Robert Mueller. AG nominee William Barr referred to Mueller as “Bob” during the first day of his Senate confirmation hearing, and said that “the Barrs and Muellers were good friends and would be good friends when this was all over”. He also described Mueller as a “straight-shooter”.

While Barr said during his hearing that Trump ‘was interested’ in hearing about the friendship, the details that emerged this week caught the President off guard, the three sources said. He bristled at Barr’s description of the close relationship, complaining to aides he didn’t realize how much their work overlapped or that they were so close”.

Reuters is reporting that four Volkswagen managers from the car company’s luxury Audi unit have been indicted for their role in the 2015 scandal over the automaker’s attempt to evade US exhaust emissions tests.

The four are charged in a 12-count indictment with conspiring to evade U.S. emissions standards in diesel vehicles sold in the United States with 3.0-liter engines. The vehicles include the 2009-2015 Audi Q7 vehicles as well as other Q5, A6, A7, and A8 diesel models. They are accused of wire fraud, violating the Clean Air Act and conspiracy.

Volkswagen spokesman Pietro Zollino said the company continues ‘to cooperate with investigations by the Department of Justice into the conduct of individuals. It would not be appropriate to comment on individual cases’”.

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Trump intensifies feud with Pelosi by calling off her trip abroad

President denied speaker the use of a military aircraft to visit US troops day after she suggested he postpone State of the Union

Donald Trump has dramatically escalated his feud with House speaker Nancy Pelosi amid the US government shutdown by canceling her previously undisclosed trip abroad and denying her the use of a military aircraft to visit American troops in Afghanistan.

Related: Rudy Giuliani: 'I never said there was no collusion' by Trump campaign

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Thousands more migrant children separated under Trump than previously known

Damning government report says ‘thousands of separated children’ put in care up to a year before policy became public

The Trump administration may have separated thousands of migrant children from their parents at the border for up to a year before family separation was a publicly known practice, according to a stunning government review of the health department’s role in family separation.

Related: The US detention center where sick children receive ‘the bare minimum'

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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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Top Democrat claims the State of the Union ‘is off’ – live

Steny Hoyer, the Democratic majority leader in the House, State of the Union address is off in an interview with CNN

Steny Hoyer, the Democratic majority leader in the House, makes plain “the State of the Union is off” in an interview with CNN.

.@KateBolduan: "The letter sounds like she’s asking, but isn’t she just telling him?"
Rep. Hoyer: "The speaker is the one who invites the president…”
Kate: "So, the State of the Union is off?"
Hoyer: "The State of the Union is off."

It’s worth looking at this time capsule at the shock felt in Washington in 1913 when Woodrow Wilson became the first president to deliver the State of the Union in person since John Adams.

WASHINGTON IS AMAZED. Pelosi proposal to delay the SOTU gives me a chance to once again tweet my favorite WaPo story ever, about how the city was "agape" when a pressident (Wilson) showed up to give a speech at the Capitol: https://t.co/8A1qsRYbsl

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William Barr hearing: attorney general pick questioned over Trump and Mueller – live

Trump’s nominee says he would not fire Mueller without good cause. Watch live and follow the latest

The office of Robert Mueller, the special counsel, submitted a new court filing on Tuesday detailing communications between former Trump aid Paul Manafort and alleged Russian intelligence operative Konstantin Kilimnik.

New filing from Mueller's office: Paul Manafort said in Jan 2017 he was using intermediaries "to get people appointed in the Administration", Rick Gates has told investigators. pic.twitter.com/yv5ypLdrpL

At a taping for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” this evening, Sen. Gillibrand shared that she was officially joining the race for the white house. Announcing that she was assembling an exploratory committee and will soon be on her way to Iowa, she told Colbert she was running as a mom as she outlined key parts of her platform:

“As a young mom, I’m going to fight for other people’s kids as hard as I’d fight for my own, which is why I believe health care should be a right, not a privilege; it’s why I believe we should have better public schools for our kids because it shouldn’t matter what block you grew up on; and I believe that anybody who wants to work hard enough should be able to get whatever job training they need to earn their way into the middle class” she said.

Tonight I announced that I’m preparing to run for president, because I believe we’re all called to make a difference. I believe in right vs. wrong – that wrong wins when we do nothing. Now is our time to raise our voices and get off the sidelines. Join me: https://t.co/I1vp93u0wh

Ms. Gillibrand, a 52-year-old former corporate lawyer, has been criticized by opponents as a politician without a firm ideological bearing of her own, having transformed from a pro-gun, conservative upstate congresswoman with deep ties to Wall Street financiers to a crusading liberal who rails against guns and refuses corporate political action committee money.”

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‘No way to live here’: new Honduran caravan sets off north as Trump blasts warnings

As hundreds of migrants embark on a march towards ‘El Norte’, Trump launched a Twitter war against the caravan

Rosa López was six months pregnant with her seventh child when the killers came for her husband – unnamed assassins acting on orders she cannot, or dares not explain.

Ten months later the 30-year-old Honduran sits on a muddy embankment outside the San Pedro Sula bus station with her eldest son, Sergio, 12, getting ready to flee their homeland on the latest migrant caravan north.

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Chris Christie accuses Jared Kushner of political ‘hit job’ in explosive new book

Exclusive: ex-New Jersey governor, who had prosecuted Kushner’s father, was sacked as head of Trump’s transition team

Chris Christie, who was ousted as chairman of Donald Trump’s White House transition team in 2016, has written a blistering attack on Jared Kushner, whom he accuses of having carried out a political “hit job” on him as an act of revenge for prosecuting his father, Charles Kushner, a decade ago.

Related: Mueller inquiry is no witch-hunt, William Barr tells confirmation hearing – live updates

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How Trump’s ‘invisible wall’ policies have already curbed immigration

As Trump demands a border wall, his administration has successfully made it more difficult for immigrants to enter the country to work, visit family and flee violence and poverty

Donald Trump’s frenzied preoccupation with expanding the wall on the US-Mexico border that, two years into his presidency has yet to materialize, often eclipses the very real ‘invisible wall’ he has constructed to exclude immigrants.

Trump has taken the extreme step of threatening to declare a national emergency if Democrats won’t approve his $5.7bn demand for the project.

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Trump orders McDonald’s for football champions as shutdown cuts staff

Staff absences at White House see president set the menu, and unsurprisingly he chose a Big Mac buffet

Any champion football player disappointed with Monday’s dinner at the White House can blame Democrats, according to a presidential spokesman.

Clemson University’s football team on Thursday joined Donald Trump for dinner to celebrate their win over Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship. However, the government shutdown has left much of the White House staff furloughed, forcing the president to set the menu, the spokesperson said.

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Turkey will not be intimidated by Trump, says foreign minister

Ankara hits back after Trump threatened to ‘economically devastate’ it over Syria

Turkey’s foreign minister has hit back at Donald Trump over his threat to economically devastate the country if it follows through on a planned operation against Kurdish forces in northern Syria, saying Ankara will not be intimidated by its Nato ally.

“We have said repeatedly we are not scared of and will not be intimidated by any threats,” said Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in televised remarks from Ankara on Monday, before rebuking the US president for using Twitter for sensitive diplomatic matters.

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‘It’s ruining people’s lives’: federal workers count cost of shutdown

Trump’s demand for taxpayer funding for a southern border wall has now led to the longest government closure in history

As the longest government shutdown in US historyenters a fourth week with no resolution in sight, Jared Hautamaki considers himself relatively fortunate. The Home Depot where he already worked several shifts a week agreed to employ him full-time while he and hundreds of thousands of federal employees are locked out of their day-jobs.

At $14 an hour, his retail paycheck will hardly match what he earns as an attorney adviser with the Environmental Protection Agency. But with four children under eight years old, Hautamaki says it’s a necessary accommodation.

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Trump vents fury over Russia stories and again threatens national emergency

Donald Trump has strongly denied the stunning claim that he was secretly working on behalf of Russia and again threatened to declare a national emergency to fund a border wall.

In 20-minute live phone interview with Fox News on Saturday night, he described as an “insult” the New York Times story that alleged the FBI launched an investigation into whether the he was acting as a Russian asset, against his own country’s interests.

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Congressional Black Caucus wants action against Republican Steve King

  • CBC: assignments must be stripped over white supremacy line
  • Trump ally is immigration hardliner with far-right links

The Iowa Republican congressman Steve King was under mounting pressure on Saturday, over remarks in which he asked how the term “white supremacy” came to be seen to be offensive.

Related: Trump ally Steve King: I don't know how 'white supremacist' became offensive term

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‘Ridiculous’: report Ivanka Trump could lead World Bank meets scorn

First daughter’s name said to be ‘floating around Washington’ but it wouldn’t be her first unconventional role

The Financial Times reported on Friday that the name of Ivanka Trump is “floating around Washington” regarding the need for a new president of the World Bank.

The role will soon be open due to the surprise departure of the current president, Jim Yong Kim. But on politics Twitter, at least, the idea that his replacement might be the first daughter met with widespread derision.

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FBI reportedly opened inquiry into whether Trump was working for Russia

  • Firing of Comey prompted investigation, New York Times says
  • Trump responds angrily but does not question reporting

In May 2017, the FBI opened an inquiry into whether Donald Trump was working on behalf of Russia, the New York Times has reported.

Related: Mueller closes in: what will the Trump-Russia inquiry deliver in 2019?

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US government shutdown becomes longest in history

The US government shutdown is now the longest such closure in history. On Saturday, day 22, members of Congress were out of Washington, Donald Trump was unmoved in the White House, his border wall unbuilt, and around 800,000 federal workers were still without pay and facing mounting hardship.

Related: 'Barely above water': US shutdown hits black federal workers hardest

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Tulsi Gabbard: Democrat says she will run for president in 2020

The Iraq war veteran and US representative for Hawaii made announcement in a CNN interview scheduled to air Saturday

Tulsi Gabbard, the Democratic US representative from Hawaii, said she will run for president in 2020, CNN reported on Friday.

“I have decided to run and will be making a formal announcement within the next week,” she said in an interview with CNN that is scheduled to air on Saturday.

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Trump backs away from declaring national emergency to fund border wall

Donald Trump has backed away from his threat to declare a national emergency to fund his long-promised border wall, as pressure mounts to find a solution to the three-week impasse that has closed parts of the government, leaving hundreds of thousands of workers without pay.

“We want Congress to do its job,” the president said Friday during a roundtable on border security at the White House. “What we’re not looking to do right now is national emergency.”

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Guantánamo Bay branded a ‘stain on US human rights record’

Amnesty International calls US naval prison a symbol of Islamophobia and xenophobia

Guantánamo Bay remains a “stain on the human rights record” of the US and the scene of ongoing human rights violations, said Amnesty International in advance of a rally in Washington to mark the 17th anniversary of its opening.

The US naval prison at Guantánamo in Cuba – opened on 11 January 2002 – still holds 40 Muslim men, many of whom have been tortured. Many of the detainees have been cleared for transfer for years.

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