Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Vivian Ho in San Francisco (now) and Jessica Glenza in New York (earlier)

Justice department intervenes to keep Manafort from notorious jail complex – as it happened

Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, will not be going to Rikers Island to await trial.
Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, will not be going to Rikers Island to await trial. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Evening summary

Paul Manafort not going to Rikers

The New York Times is reporting that the Justice Department has intervened to keep former Trump adviser Paul Manafort out of the notorious Rikers Island jail complex.

Manafort was set to be transferred to Rikers this month to await trial on a separate state case, according to the New York Times. But then Manhattan prosecutors received a letter from Jeffrey Rosen, the top deputy for attorney general William Barr, that indicated that “he was monitoring where Mr. Manafort would be held in New York”.

And then, on Monday, federal prison officials weighed in, telling the Manhattan district attorney’s office that Mr. Manafort, 70, would not be going to Rikers.

Instead, he will await his trial at a federal lockup in Manhattan or at the Pennsylvania federal prison where he is serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for wide-ranging financial schemes, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

A senior Justice Department official said that the department believed Mr. Manafort’s treatment was appropriate, but several former and current prosecutors said the decision was highly unusual. Most federal inmates facing state charges are held on Rikers Island.

The intervention of Mr. Rosen was just the latest twist in the case of Mr. Manafort, whose campaign work for Mr. Trump and political consulting in Ukraine put him in the cross hairs of a two-year investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election.

He was convicted of financial fraud in two separate federal cases that came out of the investigation, which was led by the former special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.

While that might have been the end of his criminal problems, in March, he was indicted on 16 New York state felonies, including mortgage fraud and falsifying records to obtain millions of dollars in loans. The charges, which are based on some of the same actions in the federal cases, were brought by the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr.

Mr. Manafort is expected to be arraigned next week in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

Speaking of acting defense secretary Pat Shanahan, it appears his confirmation hearing has been delayed:

From the article:

Despite informally announcing more than a month ago acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan as his pick to get the Pentagon job on a permanent basis, President Donald Trump has yet to formally nominate Shanahan, forcing the Senate Armed Services Committee to postpone a confirmation hearing it had tentatively scheduled for Tuesday June 18.

Senators were told that the postponement was because the committee had yet to receive documents from the FBI’s background check, according to a staffer for a committee member.

With Shanahan’s confirmation on hold, press reports have questioned his relationship with the president, and the Pentagon has been fielding press queries about his personal life, including a messy divorce that involved an accusation of domestic violence from his ex-wife. Shanahan did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story. The Pentagon declined to comment.

Acting Defense Secretary: US "does not seek conflict with Iran"

The Department of Defense authorized the deployment of an additional 1,000 troops to the Middle East, the acting defense secretary announced today, in response to last week’s attacks on oil tankers last week, which the US believed Iran was behind.

Here are some comments from acting defense secretary Pat Shanahan:

My, the difference a few months can make:

Just for some context, the latest Quinnipiac poll has former vice president Joe Biden leading at 30%, Senator Bernie Sanders at 19%, Senator Elizabeth Warren at 15%, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (who was virtually unknown in December 2018) at 8% and Senator Kamala Harris also at 7%. Beto O’Rourke trials at 3%, with Senator Cory Booker and Senator Amy Klobuchar tied at 1%.

Senator Kamala Harris has now taken the stage at the Poor People’s Campaign.

Here’s more on the 1,000 additional troops that the US is sending to the Middle East:

Senator Bernie Sanders is now on stage at the Poor People’s Campaign.

Updated

Looks like we have more details on the additional troops the US is sending to the Middle East:

Reuters is reporting that the US is preparing to send more troops to the Middle East in response to mounting concerns over Iran, which Washington blames for attacks on oil tankers last week.

Further details, such as how many troops and when they will be deployed, were not disclosed.

Trump slashes aid to Central America over migrants

The Trump administration will cut hundreds of millions in aid to to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras after President Trump blasted the three countries because their citizens had sought asylum at the US border, Reuters is reporting.

The administration reportedly told congressional aides that it would reallocate $370m in aid that Congress approved for fiscal 2018, and suspend $180m approved for fiscal 2017.

The administration said in March it would cut aid to the three countries after Trump expressed unhappiness with the their immigration policies.

No funds will be provided until the administration is satisfied the countries are reducing the number of migrants reaching the U.S. border, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus told reporters.

“This is consistent with the president’s direction and with the recognition that it is critical that there be sufficient political will in these countries to address the problem at its source,” she said.

Without elaborating, she added: “Working with Congress, we will reprogram those funds to other priorities as appropriate.”

Updated

Hey all, Vivian Ho taking over for Jessica Glenza. Let’s see where the day takes us.

Poor People's Campaign presidential forum hones in on progressive values

  • The Poor People’s Campaign in Washington DC honed 2020 Democratic candidates’ positions on progressive issues, including single-payer healthcare, universal childcare and a tax on America’s wealthiest.
  • Warren had a receptive audience, talking about progressive issues central to her campaign. Biden said he would make poverty a focus.
  • Trump supporters are already lining up at a stadium in Orlando, Florida in preparation for a rally tomorrow, and a Democratic super PAC is spending heavily on digital ads in the Sunshine state.
  • Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with rightwing populist Matteo Salvini.
  • The US Supreme Court issued a significant legal victory to Democrats in Virginia, and a defeat to a lesbian couple in Oregon who were denied a cake because they are gay.
  • Sen. Michael Bennett of Colorado is speaking now at the Poor People’s Campaign, with Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen. Kamala Harris of California.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks at the Poor People’s Moral Action Congress presidential forum in Washington DC.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks at the Poor People’s Moral Action Congress presidential forum in Washington DC. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP

MSNBC’s Joy Reid asked Warren how she would win:

Vice President Mike Pence’s communications director will become the Vice President for communications at Lockheed Martin, one of the largest defense contractors in the US.

The crowd at Poor People’s Campaign is reacting to Warren’s message.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is on a roll on matters that are core to her platform – a tax on people earning more than $50m, free universal childcare, free pre-kindergarten, canceling student loans and $100bn over 10 years for the opioid crisis.

“Asking those at the very top to put in 2 cents is enough to be able to help all of our children build a future, not just some of our children, but all of our children,” said Warren.

Updated

US Sen. Elizabeth Warren is now stepping on stage at the Poor People’s Campaign.

Earlier today, as the US Supreme Court released its decisions, Justice Clarence Thomas took a noteworthy stand: he said the court should “not follow” precedent he viewed as “demonstrably erroneous”.

The legal concept of stare decisis, a Latin phrase pronounced meaning “stand by things decided,” is a foundational principal for the court. It means, in general, once the court has spoken on an issue it is unlikely to take up a similar case. It also one of the ways law is made – lower courts must abide by precedent.

That made his comments in a concurring opinion on a double jeopardy case today remarkable. For most legal analysts, the remarks called to mind one decision in particlar: Roe v Wade.

Thomas says legal questions have objectively correct answers, and judges should find them regardless of whether their colleagues or predecessors found different answers,” Jonathan Entin, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, told Reuters. “Everyone is concerned about this because they’re thinking about Roe v. Wade.”

The landmark 1973 US Supreme Court decision legalized abortion, and provided women with a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. That right has been under continuous attack from state legislatures this year, which have passed clearly unconstitutional laws in an effort to get the issue before the court again.

When faced with a demonstrably erroneous precedent, my rule is simple: We should not follow it,” wrote Thomas, who has long expressed a greater willingness than his colleagues to overrule precedents.

The US Department of State just provided this statement about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s meeting with Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, a rightwing populist politician.

Here is the statement from spokesperson Morgan Ortagus:‎

Secretary Michael R. Pompeo met today in Washington with Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Matteo Salvini. They reiterated the value of the United States’ longstanding relationship with Italy, including as NATO Allies and members of the G7. They also discussed confronting regional security risks from Russia and Iran, the threat posed by China’s predatory investments in key infrastructure and technology in Italy and Europe, and the need for strengthened U.S.-Italy defense cooperation.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is expected to appear on the Poor People’s Campaign presidential forum today, also spoke with The American Prospect today.

Here is what she had to say about monopolies:

We’ve had a government that has kissed up to every giant corporation for decades. It has weakened antitrust enforcement, looked the other way on mergers, passed on deals that everyone knew were anti-competitive and would be bad for the economy and bad for competition but good for the bottom line of the companies that wanted it... The problem is not an overreaching government, the problem is a government that won’t get in the fight on the side of the people.

She focused in particular about tech platforms.

So I have a plan to break up the big platforms. If a platform is doing more than a billion dollars in business, the platform has to be broken off from all of the ancillary businesses. And there’s just—We shouldn’t have to litigate it. Just make it happen. It’s too much concentration of power.

Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren spoke about monopolies to the American Prospect.
Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren spoke about monopolies to the American Prospect. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Reverend William Barber is now working the crowd. MSNBC’s Joy Reid asks him to respond to people who say caring for people in poverty should be the job of charities.

Respond he said – “Without cursing?”

He goes on to say: “We have to say to folks – you’re wrong.” ...

“To say all you need is charity to address 143 million people in poverty... It’s like saying well all you need to do is fix slavery is have church in the slave quarters, or all you need to do to fix women not having the vote is to pray with them.” ...

“Poverty is intentional and strategic and this nation needs to be intentional and strategic about it.”

Just want to return briefly to one of the Biden’s more striking answers to MSNBC’s Joy Reid at the Poor People’s Campaign.

The Poor People’s Campaign is back and now discussing a striking figure often cited – that 140 million people in the United States are low-income or living in poverty.

Here is Reverend William Barber talking about the number:

The people impacted... must cry loud. We cannot wait for the system to be loud about the crisis, we have to be loud about the crisis.”

Rev. William Barber, who is president of Repairers of the Breach and is co-hosting the Poor People’s Campaign presidential forum.
Rev. William Barber, who is president of Repairers of the Breach and is co-hosting the Poor People’s Campaign presidential forum. Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

That figure – 140 million people living in poverty – comes from what is known as the federal Supplemental Poverty Measure. That takes into account measures such as costs for food, clothing, housing as well as federal assistance.

Here is the full report that describes the underpinnings of the campaign.

As Trump gets ready to head to Florida tomorrow, here’s a bit of perspective on the Sunshine State’s importance in presidential politics.

Democratic candidates, including early front-runner Joe Biden, have visited the state to tap donors and connect with voters, and will come to Miami later this month for their first round of debates.

Trump returns on Tuesday for his latest reelection announcement. In anticipation, a Democratic super political action committee, Priorities USA, is beginning a six-figure digital advertising effort to “help cut through his noise and give voters a look at the truth about Trump’s policies.”

The attention is a recognition that, despite its expensive media markets and polarized politics, neither party can ignore Florida.

For Trump, there are few ways for him to remain in the White House without keeping Florida’s 29 electoral votes. For Democrats, a win here would validate the party’s emphasis on building diverse coalitions, not to mention all but obliterate Trump’s reelection prospects.

Florida Democrats say it’s wrong to interpret recent election results as the state slipping away.

“I don’t think we’re red. I don’t think we’re purple. I think we’re simply unorganized,” said former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor who lost by fewer than 33,000 votes.

Gillum’s race was one of several in recent years decided by a tiny sliver of the electorate, leaving the state a veritable graveyard of broken Democratic dreams.

Earlier this year, he launched Forward Florida, a political group meant to help Democrats retake the state in 2020, to keep Florida from being left by the wayside as Democrats try to sort out how the Trump-era political realignment has remade the presidential map.

While both parties seem convinced of the importance of the upper Midwest, fresh questions are being raised over whether the path to the White House must still run through other long-standing battlegrounds and whether others might be emerging. The Democratic super PAC Priorities USA revealed last month that its polling shows Ohio, an erstwhile swing state, now appears safer for Trump than deep-red Texas.

Broward resident Joannie James counter protests along with other Gillum supporters as supporters of Rob DeSantis and Rick Scott protest the handling of election results.
Broward resident Joannie James counter protests along with other Gillum supporters as supporters of Rob DeSantis and Rick Scott protest the handling of election results. Photograph: Ian Witlen/REX/Shutterstock

Next candidate up in the forum is Andrew Yang, a Silicon Valley and New York entrepreneur. He starts by talking about how the most common jobs will be “automated away”.

We need a guaranteed minimum income in the United States of America... If you know anything about me you know this – there’s an Asian man running for president and he wants to give everyone $1,000 a month.”

Reverend William Barber asks former Vice President Joe Biden whether he will have a full debate on poverty in his campaign.

Reverend that’s why I’m here,” said Biden. He continued, “It’s not only systemic it is incredibly debilitating, it is the one thing that can bring this country down.”

Poor People's Campaign Presidential Forum begins

We are now live-streaming the Poor People’s Campaign Presidential Forum, where former Vice President Joe Biden is speaking now.

To clarify, this blog earlier stated the wrong time for this forum. It is happening now, not this evening.

A Democratic super PAC is launching ads in Florida, ahead of Trump’s planned rally there on Tuesday (for which people are already lining up).

The six-figure digital ad blitz is part of a larger $100m effort across four key states, also including Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

“Donald Trump wants to come to Orlando and kick off his 2020 campaign by deceiving voters about his record on health care and the economy. But the truth is, Trump’s policies haven’t helped many Floridians – billionaires and big corporations are thriving while the middle class foots the bill. These ads will show Floridians how out of touch Trump and his policies are with the concerns of Floridan families,” said Guy Cecil, Chairman of Priorities USA.

“Florida is a must-win state for Trump and he hopes to have the news to himself this week. These ads will help cut through his noise and give voters a look at the truth about Trump’s policies.”

Here is an example of one of the ads.

Today is the fourth anniversary of the shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. In 2015, a white supremacist entered the historically black church, and shot and killed nine people during the final prayer at a Bible study.

Harvard has rescinded the acceptance of Kyle Kashuv, a survivor of the school shooting at Majorie Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, and a pro-gun activist. Most of Kashuv’s classmates pushed for stricter gun control laws.

Kashuv said on Twitter his acceptance was rescinded because of “texts and comments made nearly two years ago”. The Tampa Bay Times reported Harvard’s move came after reports Kashuv used racial slurs in shared documents.

More from the Times here:

Kashuv, who graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School earlier this summer, has been embraced by conservatives and the National Rifle Association in his rapid arc to fame since the Feb. 14, 2018 mass shooting that left 17 students and faculty dead and 17 other people injured at the Broward County school). Kashuv, who told us last year that his parents are from Israel, has also been castigated by those on the left for his conservative views and unwavering support of President Donald Trump.

Here is an account from the Atlantic from this April, of how these lunches have gone in the past:

For decades, presidents and vice presidents have held regular one-on-one lunches with no aides present. The ritual helps build trust and, because only two people are at the table, prevents leaks, veterans of past White Houses said.

Trump ditched that tradition. Instead he has invited to the lunches both his and Pence’s top aides. At the meals in the small dining room off the Oval Office, Trump keeps a big-screen TV tuned to cable news. Aides who have walked in have seen Trump yelling at the TV as he sits with Pence and their deputies over plates of chicken and cheeseburgers. When he sees something on the screen that he dislikes, Trump on occasion will interrupt the lunch and summon aides to discuss a response, people familiar with the lunches said.

Here’s a little more about the couple who were denied a cake by an Oregon bakery, and what happened after they filed a case.

This week’s New Yorker celebrates Pride Month. From the artist, Milan, Italy-based Olimpia Zagnoli:

My job is to interpret what I see and translate it into images that evoke not only the subject but also the culture around it. Drawing two women kissing as colorful, strong, unapologetic, and free individuals is my way of contributing to a more honest representation of people, in the media.

The US Supreme Court sent the case of an Oregon baker who refused to make cakes for gay people back to the lower court to be reconsidered.

From the Association Press:

The justices’ action Monday keeps the high-profile case off the court’s election-year calendar and orders state judges to take a new look at the dispute between the lesbian couple and the owners of a now-closed bakery in the Portland area.

The high court’s brief order directs appellate judges in Oregon to consider last term’s Supreme Court ruling in favor of a baker from Colorado who would not make a cake for a same-sex wedding. The court ruled that baker Jack Phillips was subjected to anti-religious bias in the Colorado Civil Rights Commission’s determination that he violated state anti-discrimination in refusing to bake the couple’s wedding cake. The Oregon appellate ruling came before the court’s decision in Phillips’ case.

The larger issue weighing the rights of LGBT people against the religious objections of merchants remains unresolved. Another dispute involving a florist from Washington state who would not create flower arrangements for a same-sex wedding is headed to the Supreme Court.

The Oregon case had been in Supreme Court limbo for months, sometimes signaling behind-the-scenes negotiation over what to do. The case involves bakers Melissa and Aaron Klein, who paid a $135,000 judgment to the couple for declining to create a cake for them in 2013.

The dispute began when Rachel Bowman-Cryer went to the bakery with her mother in January 2013. They met with Aaron Klein, who asked for the date of the ceremony and the names of the bride and groom.

When told there was no groom, Klein said he was sorry but the bakery did not make cakes for same-sex weddings. According to documents from the case, Rachel and her mother left the shop, but returned a short time later. As Rachel remained in the car, in tears, her mother went in to speak with Klein.

The mother told Klein she had once thought like him, but her “truth had changed” when she had two gay children. Klein responded by quoting Leviticus: “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”

The justices already have agreed to decide in their election-year session whether federal civil rights law protects people from job discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Meanwhile in Orlando, Florida, supporters of President Trump have started lining up in hopes of getting into a rally announcing his re-election bid Tuesday at 8pm in the Amway Center.

Supporters are lining up because a ticket does not necessarily guarantee entry to the rally. The Amway Center holds 20,000 people, but the president has already said far more ticket requests have been made. Trump has a history of lying about crowd sizes.

“There’s going to be a bunch of people, and it’s going to be pretty intense,” Gary Beck, a Trump supporter from Panama City, Florida, according to local news outlet Click Orlando. “The electricity is going to be high. It’s time for America to get back on its feet and be made better than it’s ever been before.”

“Nobody ever recovers.” More on Mulvaney being ushered out of room for coughing, during Trump’s interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.

The US Supreme Court’s decision in racial gerrymandering in Virginia came with an interesting mix of justices in the majority. Trump-nominee Justice Neil Gorsuch joined the majority, lead by liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, to rule against Virginia Republicans.

Supreme court rules against Republicans in Virginia gerrymandering case

Another important case from the US Supreme Court, this one on racial gerrymandering in Virginia. The court ruled state Republicans did not have the standing to sue in the case.

The decision leaves intact a lower court’s ruling that 11 districts were drawn to diminish the clout of black voters – and are therefore invalid. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote he decision for the 5-4 majority.

Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her chambers at the Supreme Court in Washington DC.
Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her chambers at the Supreme Court in Washington DC. Photograph: Charles Dharapak/AP

More from Reuters:

The state’s House of Delegates “lacks authority to displace Virginia’s attorney general as representative of the state,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the court’s majority.

“In short, Virginia would rather stop than fight on. One house of its bicameral legislature cannot alone continue the litigation against the will of its partners in the legislative process,” Ginsburg added.

The case involved a hot topic for the Supreme Court: a practice called gerrymandering involving the manipulation of electoral district boundaries to marginalize a certain set of voters and increase the influence of others. In this case, the Republican legislators were accused of racial gerrymandering to disadvantage black voters.

In two other major cases from Maryland and North Carolina, the justices are considering whether courts can curb gerrymandering aimed at purely partisan advantage. They are due to rule in those cases by the end of this month.

At issue in the Virginia case was the state legislative map drawn by Republicans after the 2010 national census. The new map is already being used.

Since the Virginia maps that were challenged in the case were drawn, Democrats have made gains in Virginia in both state and federal elections.

Updated

The White House National Security Council has just said Iran’s plan to enrich more uranium is “nuclear blackmail” which must be met “with increasing international pressure,” according to Reuters.

Tensions are high between Iran and Washington DC after two oil tankers were damaged in the Gulf of Oman, in a critical shipping channel called the Strait of Hormuz.

US Central Command released a video last week, which officials claimed to show men in an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Patrol Boat removing a magnetic limpet mine from the hull of one of the ships.

Other leaders have contested whether the video alone is enough evidence of Iran’s involvement.

We’ve also just got one of the first US Supreme Court rulings of the season, with implications for criminal cases involving Robert Mueller’s probe on Russian meddling in the US election.

The Associated Press reports a rule allowing state and federal governments to charge an individual for the same crime was upheld.

The court’s 7-2 decision Monday preserves a long-standing rule that provides an exception to the Constitution’s ban on trying someone twice for the same offense.

The court ruled against federal prison inmate Terance Gamble. He was prosecuted by Alabama and the federal government for having a gun after an earlier conviction for robbery.

The case had been closely watched because a ruling for Gamble might have made it harder for states to pursue criminal charges against defendants in the Russia investigation in the event they are pardoned by President Donald Trump.

New York authorities already have indicted Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman.

A $15 federal minimum wage. Single-payer healthcare. Taxes on America’s 75,000 wealthiest households. Restoring welfare funding. And cutting military spending.

These are the proposals called for by the Poor People’s Campaign’s “moral budget”. The report was released to coincide with the 10-candidate presidential forum tonight at 8pm ET.

Here are the key findings, and the full report.

We expect the Poor People’s Campaign presidential forum to begin at 8pm ET tonight. Reverend William Barber, the charismatic co-leader from small town Greensboro, North Carolina, spoke to MSNBC on Sunday about what the forum represents.

“This campaign is connected to tens and tens of thousands of people,” Barber told AM Joy on MSNBC.

When you look at the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism – they are very real and impacting 140m people.” ...

“We are in a moral crisis and we cannot have another season of elections where we talk about the wealthy and the middle class and tax cuts and we do not talk specifically what are the agenda items for the poor.”

One of the most defining features of American campaigns is their expense.

The 2016 presidential race between Hillary Clinton and President Trump cost an estimated $2.4bn, between spending from campaigns and outside advocacy groups.

Hence, people are taking note of Pete Buttigieg’s $7m April fundraising total. Of course, that tally is still far behind frontrunner and former Vice President Joe Biden, who raised $6.3m on the first day he announced his candidacy in April.

One more note here – 2016’s campaign is also a vivid example that the wealthiest campaign does not always win. Clinton raised almost twice as much money as Trump, and although she received more popular votes, she still could not win the electoral college.

Democratic Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks during the Blue Commonwealth Gala at Main Street Station in Richmond, Virginia last Saturday.
Democratic Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks during the Blue Commonwealth Gala at Main Street Station in Richmond, Virginia last Saturday. Photograph: Dan Currier/AP

Deputy Italian Prime Minister and far right leader Matteo Salvini meets with US Secretary of State and Vice President Mike Pence today.

The Italian politician is in Washington DC to attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Salvini has been seeking closer relations with the US since Trump’s election. Salvini took no questions from reporters.

Salvini will also meet with the powerful American special interest group Americans for Tax Reform, whose supremely well connected leader is Grover Norquist. In the early 2000s, Norquist successfully got dozens of Republican Congressmen to pledge not to raise taxes at all. Salvini is promoting a flat-tax in Italy.

That clip we mentioned of Trump scolding Mick Mulvaney? Here it is. Wait for roughly the 20 second mark.

Also, this is a friendly reminder of Mulvaney’s time before he was chief of staff. In 2018, when Mulvaney led the watchdog Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, he tried to gut the agency by firing all 25 members of its advisory committee.

Good morning and welcome to the politics liveblog.

Today we’re looking ahead to the Poor People’s Campaign Forum, where 10 Democratic candidates will square off. The candidates will answer questions from activists Reverends William Barber and Liz Theoharis and low-income Americans.

We’re also keeping an eye on who might replace the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, whose leaving (characteristically) was announced via tweet last week.

Finally, we’re all watching a clip of President Trump scolding his chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Before Playing JFK Jr. in 'Love Story', Paul Anthony Kelly Was a "Pigeonholed" Runway Model
He walked the brand's runway and posed for several brands' campaigns.
Marie Claire
Marie Claire
Have Pink And Husband Carey Hart Split? The Truth Behind Couple's Second Separation Rumours And Why It Persists
Pop star Pink addresses rumours of separation from husband Carey Hart, calling them 'fake news' and emphasising their ongoing relationship.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
Beyond The Spider-Verse Producers Explain Its Lengthy Delays And The ‘Pressure’ Of Getting The Spider-Man Movie Right
I want to see Miles Morales again!
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Donkey Kong Country designer says his version of the ape started life without fur, but it's still better than the "hideous" TV show version
"I feel very lucky to have been involved at a time back when there were significant changes in technology and graphics"
GamesRadar
GamesRadar
Jennifer Lopez Trades Her Rare Hermès Birkin for a Discreet New Designer Bag
Good news for my budget.
Marie Claire
Marie Claire
Khloe Kardashian Scott Disick Dating Rumours Resurface Amidst New Allegation
Speculations about Khloé Kardashian and Scott Disick's relationship have reignited, fueled by a recent blind item. Here's what we know.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play