Evening summary
Thanks for sticking with us, everybody. We’ll catch you again tomorrow, bright and early.
- A neo-Nazi serving as a lieutenant in the US coast guard was allegedly plotting an attack on Democratic members of Congress such as senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Tim Kaine, Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar. According to prosecutors, Christopher Hasson had a spreadsheet of alleged targets that included media personalities like MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, Chris Hayes and Ari Melber, and CNN’s Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo and Van Jones.
- Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, has set a date to appear before Congress in a public hearing.
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The Washington Post is now supporting CNN’s report that the attorney general, William Barr, could announce the completion of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation as early as next week.
Regulations call for Mueller to submit to the attorney general a confidential explanation as to why he decided to charge certain individuals, as well as who else he investigated and why he decided not to charge those people. The regulations then call for the attorney general to report to Congress about the investigation.
An adviser to President Trump said there is palpable concern among the president’s inner circle that the report might contain information about Trump and his team that is politically damaging, but not criminal conduct.
After postponing due to threats against his family, Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, has set a date to appear before Congress.
NEW: the House Oversight Committee just announced former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen will appear for a public hearing on Wednesday, Feb 27. pic.twitter.com/skK8dbX1lB
— Alex Moe (@AlexNBCNews) February 21, 2019
Neo-Nazi in US coast guard arrested, allegedly plotting attack on Democrats, journalists
The Guardian’s Jon Swaine reports that a neo-Nazi serving as a lieutenant in the US coast guard was allegedly plotting an attack on Democratic members of Congress and media personalities.
Christopher Hasson's emails suggest the recent radicalization of a dormant Nazi. Whining about "liberalist/globalist ideology" destroying white America, "((((People))))" conspiring, Russia as new homeland. The idiom of the pro-Trump online far-right. https://t.co/hBvNR58w2Z
— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) February 20, 2019
Christopher Hasson intended “to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country,” according to a filing to federal court in Maryland. Law enforcement officers seized 15 guns and 1,000 rounds of ammunition from his home.
Prosecutors said Hasson was a “domestic terrorist” and should be detained. He was arrested last week on drugs and weapons charges.
The filing said Hasson, a fan of the Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, compiled a spreadsheet of apparent targets, including Representatives Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, and anchors from CNN and MSNBC.
Read the whole story here.
For those keeping score at home:
Monday's lawsuit was the 46th lawsuit California has filed against the Trump administration https://t.co/cx2zDFSCMO
— Vivian Ho (@VivianHo) February 20, 2019
Read more about the Trump v. California feud here.
Hello! Vivian Ho on the west coast, taking over for Amanda Holpuch. Hope everyone’s enjoying their Wednesday.
Summary
- US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the Alabama woman who left the US to join Islamic State in Syria is not a US citizen and won’t be allowed back in the US. Hoda Muthana, 24, first came forward in an interview with the Guardian this week where she said she regretted her decision to join the terrorist group.
- Donald Trump said he told Pompeo to block Muthana from entering the US - which raises questions about whether the decision to call Muthana “not a citizen” was made in accordance with US and international law.
- As early as next week, the attorney general, William Barr, could announce the completion of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, according to CNN. Citing anonymous sources, CNN said Barr plans to submit to Congress a summary of Mueller’s confidential report.
- Hate groups in the US have continued to surge in the Trump era, according to a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
- Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, raised $6m from 223,047 people in the first 24 hours of his campaign, with an average donation of $27 - the most money in the first 24 hours of any other Democratic contender for the 2020 White House race.
- Donald Trump repeatedly insulted the news media on Twitter this morning, at one point calling the New York Times “a true enemy of the people”. New York Times publisher AG Sulzberger responded: “The phrase ‘enemy of the people’ is not just false, it’s dangerous. It has an ugly history of being wielded by dictators and tyrants who sought to control public information.”
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Updated
Hassan Shibly, the lawyer for the family of Hoda Muthana, shared a document on Twitter that appears to show the young woman was born in New Jersey in 1994.
Shibly has told reporters that the administration’s position is based on a “complicated” interpretation of the law involving her father, who was a diplomat.
“They’re claiming her dad was a diplomat when she was born, which, in fact, he wasn’t,” Shibly told The Associated Press.
Muthana was born in the United States to parents from Yemen who became naturalized American citizens, according to the Counter Extremism Project at George Washington University.
BREAKING: Muthana family provides birth certificate of Hoda Muthana born in Hackensack New Jersey in October 1994, months after her father informed the US Government he was no longer a diplomat. pic.twitter.com/dYeWLK0snK
— Hassan Shibly (@HassanShibly) February 20, 2019
Sorry Dictator in Chief but you don’t have the power to strip citizens of their citizenship. Our nation is a nation of laws and we must hold everyone accountable to them.
— Hassan Shibly (@HassanShibly) February 20, 2019
Hoda is asking to be accountable to our laws and legal system and you are essentially giving a free pass.
Guardian political correspondent Lauren Gambino with more on Bernie Sanders’ big day.
Bernie’s having a big week. Yuuuge, you might say.
After raising more than $6m in just over 24 hours, the Vermont senator on Wednesday jumped to the top of the fourth presidential straw poll by progressive website, Daily Kos.
About 56,000 people responded to the latest poll, which happen every two weeks. This is significant because the women of the Senate, some of Sanders’ fiercest competition for the nomination, were ahead in the first three straw polls, which in one survey found Sanders behind vice president Joe Biden, the closest the field may have to an establishment backed moderate.
In the 24-hour poll, which coincided with Sanders’ launch, his standing rose from 13% in two weeks ago to 44%, while Senators Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren round out the top three with 15% and 10% respectively, according to the survey results.
In as much as any poll can reveal at this point, it’s another sign that Sanders has maintained significant grassroots support. The question is whether his loyal base is strong enough to withstand the competition for many of his supporters.
Democrats plan to try and block Trump national emergency
House Democrats plan to file a resolution as soon as Friday that’s aimed at blocking President Donald Trump’s declaration of an emergency at the Southwest border, according to the Associated Press.
That could set up a vote by the full House by mid-March. The clash is over a declaration that Trump is using to try spending billions of dollars beyond what Congress has authorized to start building border barriers.
Passage by the Democratic-run House seems likely. The measure would then move to the Republican-controlled Senate, where there may be enough GOP defections for approval.
Trump has promised a veto, which would be difficult for Congress to override.
The plan was described by officials at three progressive groups who heard of them from congressional aides but were not authorized to discuss the plans publicly.
Trump blocks American-born Isis member from entering US
Donald Trump said on Twitter that he ordered the State department to block Hoda Muthana, an American-born woman who left the US to join Islamic State in 2014, from returning to the US.
Muthana told the Guardian this week that she regretted leaving the US to join the terrorist group and wants to return to the US with her 18-month-old son.
Earlier today, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said Muthana was “not a citizen,” but the State department has not responded to inquiries from the Guardian about how that could be the case for the 24-year-old, who was born in New Jersey.
I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2019
Trump’s tweet raises questions about the State department’s declaration that Muthana is “not a citizen” and whether that designation is in accordance with US and international law.
The Trump adminstration’s statements about Muthana also contrast their calls on other countries to bring back and prosecute their own jihadist nationals.
A new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) says that hate groups in the US have continued to surge in the Trump era, and that the president himself has helped to mainstream hate by “fueling fears of a white minority country”.
Jason Wilson, writing for the Guardian, said the SPLC counted 1,020 hate groups in the United States in 2018, up 7% from the previous year:
In a press conference, Heidi Beirich, the director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project blamed in part the “words and imagery coming out of the Trump administration” which have been “heightening the fears” of demographic replacement.
The report points to a range of murders and violent attacks – like a mail-bombing spree that targeted Democrats and media organisations and a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue – as evidence that the conspiracy-fueled far right is increasingly willing to commit extreme acts.
Another similar recent report from the Anti-Defamation League suggested that extremist murders in the United States in 2018 were carried out almost exclusively by the far right.
But the SPLC also points to the increasingly strident expression of far right ideas in conservative media, and from Republican politicians, as evidence that hate is being mainstreamed.
Lawyers for the family of Hoda Muthana – the American-born woman who told the Guardian this week that she regretted leaving the US to join the terrorist group Islamic State in Syria – have responded to secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s claim that the 24-year-old is not a US citizen.
An attorney for the woman’s family, Hassan Shibly, told the Associated Press that the administration’s position is based on a “complicated” interpretation of the law involving her father.
“They’re claiming her dad was a diplomat when she was born, which, in fact, he wasn’t,” Shibly said.
Muthana was born in 1994 in Hackensack, New Jersey, the lawyer said.
Most people born in the United States are accorded so-called birthright citizenship but there are exceptions.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a person born in the U.S. to a foreign diplomatic officer is not subject to US law and is not automatically considered a US citizen at birth.
The State department has not responded to the Guardian’s inquiries about Muthana’s immigration status.
A former Trump campaign staffer has filed a class action lawsuit seeking to invalidate all nondisclosure and non-disparagement agreements signed by staffers to the campaign, according to Buzzfeed’s Zoe Tilllman:
The claims brought by former campaign staffer Jessica Denson represent the broadest attack to date on the Trump campaign’s practice of having staffers, volunteers, and contractors sign agreements barring them from ever publicly criticizing Trump, his company, or his family, and from disclosing private or confidential information.
The Trump campaign has gone after several former staffers who publicly aired their grievances against Trump, his administration, or his campaign, including Omarosa Manigault Newman and Cliff Sims, who recently wrote a book about his time in the White House called Team Of Vipers. Denson was ordered to pay nearly $50,000 to the campaign after filing a workplace discrimination and harassment lawsuit in 2017.
Donald Trump said the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation would be “totally up to the attorney general” while taking questions from reporters at the White House this afternoon.
President Trump: The decision whether to release the Mueller report will be totally up to the Attorney General. pic.twitter.com/4GCuAALqQa
— Josh Campbell (@joshscampbell) February 20, 2019
Trump also insulted Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, who has been criticizing the president on his book tour. Trump described McCabe as a “poor man’s J. Edgar Hoover,” and said “I’m very proud to say that we caught him” and fired him.
Secretary of state: Alabama woman who joined Isis not a US citizen
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the Alabama woman who left the US to join Islamic State in Syria is not a US citizen and won’t be allowed back in the US.
Hoda Muthana, 24, first came forward in an interview with the Guardian this week.
In a statement, Pompeo said Muthana “is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the United States. She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States. We continue to strongly advise all US citizens not to travel to Syria.”
Muthana said she now deeply regrets the decision to go and wants to return to the US.
The Guardian’s Middle East editor, Martin Chulov, interviewed Muthana and described his time inside the sprawling camp of al-Hawl in the Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast.
The father of senator Kamala Harris has criticized his daughter for remarks she made about smoking marijuana in an interview with The Breakfast Club radio show. Kamala Harris’s parents divorced when she was seven and she was raised by her mother.
Harris said in an interview this week that she had smoked marijuana before and wants weed legalized.
“I did inhale,” Harris said. “It was a long time ago, but yes. I just broke news! You know, I joke about it – half joke – but half my family’s from Jamaica! Are you kidding me?”
Donald Harris said his daughter used a “fraudulent stereotype” in a statement to jamaicaglobalonline.com:
My dear departed grandmothers(whose extraordinary legacy I described in a recent essay on this website), as well as my deceased parents , must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics. Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty.
More from Guardian political correspondent (and Arizona native), Lauren Gambino, who has a response for all those wondering: will Arizona be a battleground state in 2020?
Democrats have their eyes on the Sun Belt after Arizona and Nevada knocked out two Republican senators in 2018, Texas held a closer-than-anyone-could-have-imagined Senate race, and Georgia and Florida came close to electing Democratic governors.
Arizona often eludes the party in presidential years. The state boasts a fiercely conservative Republican party – which chased out Senator Jeff Flake, one of the president’s chief critics, and just recently elected a Trump acolyte as it’s chair. But it also sent the late John McCain to the Senate six times and in 2018, elected Democrat Kyrsten Sinema and will hold a competitive Senate race in 2020 to serve the remainder of McCain’s term.
All of this is to say that new polling from Arizona-based firm OH Predictive Insights indicates that the right Democratic presidential nominee might just have a shot there.
The poll – and, reminder, it is very early in the process – shows that in a prospective match up between former vice-president Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the men are tied. Interesting, Biden captured voters under 54 years of age while Trump won voters over 55 years old.
In a prospective match up against senator Bernie Sanders, who announced his candidacy on Tuesday, Trump leads by a 12-point margin. The only demographic where Sanders bests Trump is with young people aged 18-34.
Senator Kamala Harris comes the closest after Biden, trailing Trump 40%-49%. But she ties him with women and beats him with young people.
All of this in a state where Trump’s job approval is above water.
Updated
End of Russia investigation could be announced next week – report
As early as next week, the attorney general, William Barr, could announce the completion of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, according to CNN.
CNN, citing anonymous sources, notes that the precise timing of the announcement could change, but after the announcement, Barr plans to submit to Congress a summary of Mueller’s confidential report.
Updated
Summary
This snowy morning in Washington DC has seen senator Bernie Sanders top the 2020 record fundraising haul for the first 24 hours of his campaign and Donald Trump declare, again, that the New York Times is “a true enemy of the people”.
Trump will be in meetings with Austria’s chancellor for the rest of the afternoon. We’ll be back with updates on that and more around 1.45pm ET/10.45am PT. Until then, a summary of this morning’s events:
- Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, raised $6m from 223,047 people in the first 24 hours of his campaign, with an average donation of $27 - the most money in the first 24 hours of any other Democratic contender for the 2020 White House race.
- Donald Trump repeatedly insulted the news media on Twitter this morning, at one point calling the New York Times “a true enemy of the people”.
- The White House is assembling a panel to weigh whether climate change is a national security threat, according to the Washington Post.
- Vladimir Putin said in a speech this morning that Russia will develop new weapons and aim them at western “centres of decision-making” if the west deploys new short and medium-range missiles in Europe.
- Washington governor Jay Inslee, one politician who might bring climate change to the top of the 2020 presidential election agenda, tells the Guardian that Trump is “a blip in history we need to get over, and quickly”.
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Updated
New York Times publisher AG Sulzberger released a statement in response to Trump’s comment this morning that the newspaper was “a true enemy of the people”.
Sulzberger’s statement began by listing quotes from past presidents who praised the news industry, including Ronald Reagan, who said: “There is no more essential ingredient than a free, strong and independent press to our continued success.”
Sulzberger continued:
All these presidents had complaints about their coverage and at times took advantage of the freedom every American has to criticize journalists. But in demonizing the free press as the enemy, simply for performing its role of asking difficult questions and bringing uncomfortable information to light, President Trump is retreating from a distinctly American principle. It’s a principle that previous occupants of the Oval Office fiercely defended regardless of their politics, party affiliation, or complaints about how they were covered.
The phrase “enemy of the people” is not just false, it’s dangerous. It has an ugly history of being wielded by dictators and tyrants who sought to control public information. And it is particularly reckless coming from someone whose office gives him broad powers to fight or imprison the nation’s enemies. As I have repeatedly told President Trump face to face, there are mounting signs that this incendiary rhetoric is encouraging threats and violence against journalists at home and abroad.
Through 33 presidential administrations, across 167 years, The New York Times has worked to serve the public by fulfilling the fundamental role of the free press. To help people, regardless of their backgrounds or politics, understand their country and the world. To report independently, fairly and accurately. To ask hard questions. To pursue the truth wherever it leads. That will not change.
Updated
The US supreme court ruled this morning that there are limits on civil forfeiture laws that allow local governments to take and keep private property, including cash and houses, used to commit crimes.
The use of civil forfeiture has increased in recent decades and is controversial across the political spectrum.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the court’s opinion for a case that centered on an Indiana man, Tyson Timbs. When police arrested Timbs for selling about $400 worth of heroin, they seized his $40,000 Land Rover. The AP reported:
Timbs pleaded guilty, but faced no prison time. The biggest loss was the Land Rover he bought with some of the life insurance money he received after his father died.
Timbs still has to win one more round in court before he gets his vehicle back, but that seems to be a formality. A judge ruled that taking the car was disproportionate to the severity of the crime, which carries a maximum fine of $10,000. But Indiana’s top court said the justices had never ruled that the eighth amendment’s ban on excessive fines – like much of the rest of the Bill of Rights – applies to states as well as the federal government.
The case drew interest from liberal groups concerned about police abuses and conservative organizations opposed to excessive regulation. Timbs was represented by the libertarian public interest law firm Institute for Justice.
Updated
Photos: cold day in DC
Updated
One of the six people to survive the 2018 shooting at Maryland’s Capital Gazette newspaper, Rachael Pacella, said Trump’s “media-bashing” make her fear for her life and the lives of other reporters.
Pacella responded to Trump’s tweeted complaint that “the press has never been more dishonest than it is today” with a string of tweets about her fears and the considerations she makes to protect herself.
Five of Pacella’s coworkers were fatally shot by a suspect who had a well-documented history of harassing the paper’s journalists.
I should say, far more importantly, that it makes me fear for my fellow reporters working on the local, state and national level.
— Rachael Pacella (@rachaelpacella) February 20, 2019
It's snowing here, so I hopped up to shoot a video of snow falling over Annapolis from the window of our temporary office. It's gorgeous.
— Rachael Pacella (@rachaelpacella) February 20, 2019
And then I realized I couldn't post it, because it would reveal our location.
These are the things I have to think about every single day.
Updated
A judge said a lawsuit aiming to stop Barack Obama’s presidential center from being opened in a Chicago park could go forward after the city tried to dismiss the lawsuit.
The advocacy group Protect Our Parks alleged Chicago illegally transferred land to a private entity, the Obama Foundation.
Judge John Robert Blakey did toss parts of the suit in his Tuesday ruling, but concluded the group has standing to sue because it represent taxpayers with concerns that providing parkland in the public trust to the Obama center violates their due-process rights.
The ruling doesn’t mean the group will necessarily prevail in the end, but confirms that the suit poses a formidable threat to the project. The judge indicated that he doesn’t want the litigation to drag out, and that he would strictly limit any fact gathering leading up to trial to 45 days.
White House creating climate change national security panel - report
A proposed Presidential Committee on Climate Security panel is being assembled to weigh whether climate change is a national security threat, according to the Washington Post.
The panel is being spearheaded by William Happer, a professor who, according to the Post, “has said that carbon emissions linked to climate change should be viewed as an asset rather than a pollutant”.
According to the NSC [National Security Council] discussion paper, the order would create a federal advisory committee “to advise the president on scientific understanding of today’s climate, how the climate might change in the future under natural and human influences, and how a changing climate could affect the security of the United States.”
The document notes that the government has issued several major reports under Trump identifying climate change as a serious threat. “However, these scientific and national security judgments have not undergone a rigorous independent and adversarial scientific peer review to examine the certainties and uncertainties of climate science, as well as implications for national security,” it said.
Updated
Calls for the resignation of Virginia governor Ralph Northam, who admitted to using blackface in a dance contest, have quelled, according to two new polls released today.
In a Quinnipiac University poll, 42% of voters say Northam should resign – but more, 48%, say he shouldn’t. White voters are split evenly – 46% say he should resign, and the same percentage say he shouldn’t — but a majority of black voters, 56%, say Northam should not quit.
Even fewer Virginians say Northam should resign in a second poll out Wednesday, conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs for the University of Virginia Center for Politics. In that poll, which surveyed adults in the commonwealth, only 31% say Northam should resign, compared to 43% who say he shouldn’t.
Updated
Some spot analysis from Guardian political correspondent, Lauren Gambino, who was on the trail with Bernie Sanders during the 2016 campaign.
Senator Bernie Sanders raised an eye-popping $5.9m from 223,047 people in the first 24 hours of his campaign, with an average donation of ... $27.
In an email announcing the haul, his campaign said the record-setting donations were a sign of “unprecedented support for his vision”. It also noted his launch video was viewed more than 8.335m times across social media platforms, including 5.3m views on Twitter.
The fundraising figures were watched closely as an early test of whether Sanders could still harness the support and energy that propelled his unlikely rise in 2016 and brought him within striking distance of the nomination. At least for now, the campaign believes the answer is a resounding yes – yes he can.
“In the first 24 hours since his announcement, Sanders demonstrated a level of grassroots support of unprecedented size and excitement, signalling the strength of the movement set on winning the Democratic nomination, defeating Donald Trump and creating a government that works for all Americans,” his campaign said in an email.
As a point of comparison, Kamala Harris’ campaign raised $1.5m in its first 24 hours, a massive haul for a first-time senator who voters are still getting to know. The numbers, which tied Sanders’ first-day donations in the 2016 race, were viewed as am early sign of her strength.
The Vermont senator’s fundraising prowess is likely to be one of his greatest advantages in a fractured, competitive field that is expected to rely heavily on small-dollar donations.
Updated
Reporters at the New York Times and the Washington Post have highlighted how the president’s past actions and statements about their newspapers contradict his complaints this morning.
Katie Rogers, White House correspondent for the New York Times, noted an interview the newspaper’s publisher, AG Sulzberger, had with Trump several weeks ago:
19 days ago — AG Sulzberger: “the occupants of your office historically have been the greatest defenders of the free press”
— Katie Rogers (@katierogers) February 20, 2019
Trump: “And I think I am, too. I want to be.” https://t.co/tRUwEhDZC4
The Washington Post’s Danielle Paquette said the White House cites Washington Post reporting and figures in its own press releases:
Reminder that Trump cites the @washingtonpost when it embarrasses his political opponents.
— Danielle Paquette (@DPAQreport) February 20, 2019
Like in this 2016 speech: "The Washington Post just published a devastating article on Hillary Clinton’s broken promises." https://t.co/Du5ytalRVEhttps://t.co/sUlm22W0pm
Sanders campaign raises $6m in first 24 hours
The independent senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, has raised the most money in the first 24 hours of his campaign than any of the other Democratic contenders with $6m in the bank.
That haul was more than double the $1.5m that California senator Kamala Harris raised in the first 24 hours of her campaign. She had been the biggest first-day fundraiser in the race so far.
Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar’s campaign said the Democrat raised more than $1m in the 48 hours after launching her presidential bid this month.
What’s crazy is that we have a president who is a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe and a fraud. We are going to bring people together and not only defeat Trump but transform the economic and political life of this country. Say you're in: https://t.co/rxqbjJJKv3 https://t.co/HoJG0Rlwq1
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 20, 2019
A high school student from Covington, Kentucky, has sued the Washington Post for defamation, claiming the newspaper falsely accused him of racist acts and instigating a confrontation with a Native American activist in a January videotaped incident at the Lincoln Memorial.
The Washington Post’s vice-president for communications, Kristine Coratti Kelly, said: “We are reviewing a copy of the lawsuit and we plan to mount a vigorous defense.”
The Kentucky student, who was wearing a Make America Great Again hat during the incident, has the support of the president:
“The Washington Post ignored basic journalistic standards because it wanted to advance its well-known and easily documented biased agenda against President Donald J. Trump.” Covington student suing WAPO. Go get them Nick. Fake News!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2019
Putin threatens western ‘centers of decision-making’
Vladimir Putin has suggested Russia could be forced to aim weapons at Washington if the west deploys new short and medium-range missiles in Europe.
In a speech to senior Russian officials in Moscow, Putin said the possible deployment of missiles that could reach Moscow in 10 minutes was “dangerous for Russia,” and that Moscow would be forced to review “symmetrical and asymmetrical actions”.
This morning on Twitter, the president complained about California, called Bernie Sanders “crazy” and, of course, and denounced the news media.
The New York Times reporting is false. They are a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2019
Trump didn’t specify what reporting was false.
The New York Times site for the past 24 hours has been leading on an investigation into Trump’s response to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The piece, “Intimidation, Pressure and Humiliation: Inside Trump’s Two-Year War on the Investigations Encircling Him”, and is accompanied by analysis of Trump’s more than 1,000 public attacks on the investigation.
Updated
The Guardian’s US environment reporter, Oliver Milman, spoke with one politician who might bring climate change to the top of the 2020 presidential election agenda, Washington governor Jay Inslee.
The US stands virtually alone in the world in having a leader, Donald Trump, who openly dismisses the reality of climate change. Inslee said:
He’s embarrassing. Even Republicans are embarrassed about him. To fail to mention the greatest existential threat in the world is pathetic. He’s a blip in history we need to get over, and quickly.
Good morning,
The president’s war with the most populous state in the union, California, rattled on last night when the Department of Transportation announced plans to cancel $929m in federal grant funds for California’s high-speed rail project.
The state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, said the move was “political retribution” for California’s lawsuit against Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to fund a wall on the US-Mexico border. Expect fallout from the revoked funds and declared emergency to trickle on today.
Meanwhile, one of the many hoping to unseat the president in the 2020 election, Bernie Sanders, saw a surge in enthusiasm for his campaign after entering the race for the White House on Tuesday. In the 12 hours after Sanders’ campaign launched, the independent senator from Vermont had raised $4m from 150,000 donors in all 50 states, according to his campaign.
Today, Trump is scheduled to have a private lunch with secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and then will spend the rest of his afternoon in meetings with Austria’s chancellor, Sebastian Kurz. The chancellor presides over the only western European country with a far-right presence in government – but we’ll get more into that a bit later.
Stay tuned.
