Donald Trump vs FBI director on the white supremacist threat – video

FBI Director Chris Wray has described white supremacist extremism as 'a persistent, pervasive threat' during a House committee appropriations hearing. According to congressman Jose Serrano, Wray did not mention the issue by name in his budget request to the House, but Wray reiterated the significance of the issue, describing the shift from organised white supremacist groups towards un-coordinated lone actors. His comments were in contrast to those of Donald Trump who, after the Christchurch shooting, said he 'didn't really' see white nationalism as a growing threat around the world but instead a 'small group of people with serious problems'.

 

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez talks popcorn, politics and DIY with Instagram followers – video

In her latest Instagram live, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez takes questions from followers while assembling furniture in her chair-less Washington DC apartment. Covering topics from popcorn flavours to staying focused on the issues that matter,  Ocasio-Cortez demonstates her ability to use social media in an authentic way that engages potential young voters

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White nationalism a ‘persistent, pervasive threat’, says FBI chief – live

•FBI director Christopher Wray warned that white nationalism is a “persistent, pervasive threat”, breaking with Donald Trump’s comments in the wake of the New Zealand terror attacks. “The danger. I think, of white supremacists, violent extremism or another kind of extremism is of course significant,” Wray said. Trump played down the threat of white nationalism after a white nationalist murdered 50 people in Christchurch, New Zealand in March.

•Congress has passed a resolution to end US military assistance for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, in an unprecedented attempt to curtail the president’s power. The House voted 247 to 175 to send the resolution to the president’s desk, where it is likely to be met with a veto. The Senate passed the resolution last month, with seven Republicans breaking rank to support the resolution.

Lindsay Graham has joined those calling for Donald Trump to release his tax returns, in an extremely rare act of defiance towards the president.

“I think you should release your tax returns if you’re running for president in 2020,” Graham told reporters on Thursday,

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Yemen war: Congress votes to end US military assistance to Saudi Arabia

House voted 247-175 to send the resolution to Trump’s desk, where it is likely to be met with a veto

Congress has given final approval on a resolution to end American military assistance for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, in an unprecedented attempt to curtail the president’s power to go to war and a sweeping rebuke to Donald Trump’s foreign policy.

Related: War has broken Yemen. A new route to peace is needed, now | Hisham Al-Omeisy

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Teen says he is long-missing boy who escaped from kidnappers

Fourteen-year-old identifies himself as Timmothy Pitzen, who was six when he disappeared in Illinois

A 14-year-old boy who said he escaped from two kidnappers in Ohio told authorities he is from Illinois, where he went missing nearly eight years ago when his mother apparently took her own life.

The boy identified himself as Timmothy Pitzen and said Wednesday morning that he had “just escaped from two kidnappers”, police in suburban Cincinnati’s Sharonville wrote in a short incident report.

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House Democrats formally demand Trump’s tax returns from IRS

Chairman of ways and means committee says request for six years of returns is ‘within our rights’

House Democrats have formally demanded Donald Trump’s tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service, marking a major bid to obtain information about the president’s finances and business dealings.

Richard Neal, the chairman of the House ways and means committee, issued the request on Wednesday evening, stating: “It is critical to ensure the accountability of our government and elected officials.”

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Uganda: US tourist kidnapped and held for $500,000 ransom

Security forces are hunting gunmen who abducted a 35-year-old woman and her driver inside a national park close to the border

Ugandan security forces are hunting gunmen who abducted an American tourist and her driver inside a national park close to the border with Democratic Republic of Congo.

Four kidnappers stopped a group of tourists at gunpoint around dusk on Tuesday as they drove through the Queen Elizabeth national park to see wild animals.

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Biden vows to respect women’s personal space amid new allegations

The former vice-president issued a video after two more women described interactions that made them feel uncomfortable

Joe Biden doubled down on his defense as he faced fresh allegations from women who said their past physical interactions with him left them uncomfortable, foreshadowing the former vice-president’s perils as he weighs a bid for the Democratic Party’s 2020 nomination.

In a video and statement released to his Twitter feed Biden said that he had always seen politics as about “personal connection” and defended his habit of hugging and touching people he met. But he also added that he would change his habits in the future.

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Has Joe Biden’s US presidential bid ended before it began? – video explainer

In the past week Joe Biden has been the subject of damaging news reports after two women accused the former US vice-president of inappropriate behaviour. Biden - who has hinted at launching a bid to be the Democratic candidate for the US presidency in 2020 – responded by saying he does not believe he has acted inappropriately during his long public life. The recent developments have underscored some of the challenges he will face if he does make a bid for the White House

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Donald Trump wrongly states his father was born in Germany – video

Donald Trump has again wrongly claimed that his father, Fred Trump, was born in Germany. The president made the claim about his New York-born father during a press conference with the Nato secretary general, saying: 'My father is German, was German, born in a very wonderful place in Germany.' Trump’s grandfather, Friedrich Trump, was born in the German village of Kallstadt

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Trump’s taxes: Democrats request president’s returns from IRS – as it happened

Committee chairman seeks six years of personal returns and some business returns, calling for ‘accountability’

That’s it for me tonight! Here’s what happened Wednesday evening in politics:

Related: Trump’s Federal Reserve pick owes $75,000 in taxes, US government alleges

The President’s son-in-law has been identified as the “Senior White House Official” who appeared in reports to the House Oversight Committee, the Washington Post reports. The documents were released this week after whistleblower Tricia Newbold shared concerns with the committee, over Trump overriding career intelligence officers to grant clearances despite “significant disqualifying factors”.

Kushner was flagged for significant issues raised during his background investigation, including his potential to be swayed by foreign influence, his personal conduct, and business conflicts of interest.

The new details about the internal debate over Kushner’s clearance revives questions about the severity of the issues flagged in his background investigation and Kushner’s access to government secrets.

Last year, President Trump directed his then-chief of staff, John F. Kelly, to give Kushner a top-secret security clearance, despite concerns expressed by career intelligence officers”.

Related: Trump ordered officials to give Kushner top-secret security clearance – report

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UN calls for food aid for starving North Koreans despite sanctions

Exclusive: western donors urged to ‘put children before politics’ in face of food shortfall

The head of the UN World Food Programme has called for the White House and other western donors to put children’s lives before politics and fund a major injection of aid to North Korea despite the failure of Donald Trump’s summit with Kim Jong-un.

David Beasley, a former Republican governor of South Carolina who backed Trump’s campaign for the US presidency, said he had heard concerns that responding to an appeal from Pyongyang would prop up the Kim regime.

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Donald Trump wrongly claims his father was born in Germany – again

President made the claim about his New York-born father, Fred Trump, during a press conference with the Nato secretary general

Donald Trump has wrongly claimed his father was born in Germany, again, during a press conference with the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.

Trump made the claim while criticizing Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, whose country, the president said, “was not paying their fair share” toward the military alliance.

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Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin in court to face admissions scam charges

Pair among others charged in scheme in which, authorities say, parents paid consultant to fake children’s college test scores

Actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman are expected in court on Wednesday to face charges that they participated in a wide-ranging college admissions cheating scam that rocked the US.

The actors, along with Loughlin’s fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli and dozens of others, were charged last month in a scheme in which authorities say parents paid an admissions consultant to bribe college coaches and rig test scores to get their children into elite universities.

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Chicago runoff election: Lori Lightfoot becomes first black female mayor

Former head of city’s police board also becomes first openly LGBT mayor after winning runoff vote

Lori Lightfoot made history on Tuesday as she defeated Toni Preckwinkle in a runoff election to become the next mayor of Chicago, becoming the first black woman – and first openly LGBT person – to hold the position in the city.

The reform candidate will succeed mayor Rahm Emanuel this spring.

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Trump asks journalists to look into the ‘oranges’ of the Mueller investigation – video

During a meeting with the secretary general of Nato, US President Donald Trump continued his retaliation against the concluded Mueller investigation by calling for the media to look into its 'oranges', meaning origins. After repeating his claim that the report exonerates him from both collusion with the Russian government and obstruction of justice, Trump said his only disappointment with the report was that it didn't look into its own origins, which he claimed stem back to his presidential campaign announcement in June 2015. At another point in the meeting, Trump also claimed his father Fred Trump was born in 'a very nice part of Germany', when in fact his father was born in New York.

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Mar-a-Lago: woman with malware and Chinese passports accused of illegal entry

Yujing Zhang is charged with lying to federal agents and illegally entering a restricted area, and remains in custody

A woman carrying two Chinese passports and a device containing computer malware lied to Secret Service agents and briefly gained admission to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club over the weekend during his Florida visit, federal prosecutors allege in court documents.

Yujing Zhang, 32, approached a Secret Service agent at a checkpoint outside the Palm Beach club early Saturday afternoon and said she was a member who wanted to use the pool, court documents said. She showed the passports as identification.

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Congresswoman makes emotional speech about her gender-nonconforming child – video

The US congresswoman Pramila Jayapal gave an emotional speech in the House of Representatives about her gender-nonconforming child while advocating for LGBTQ civil rights legislation, saying her child had discovered 'newfound freedom'. Jayapal, a representative from Washington state, spoke out during a judiciary committee hearing on the Equality Act

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