1. ‘He stands by it’
Pressed on whether Donald Trump still believes Barack Obama “wire tapped” his phones in Trump Tower in October, press secretary Sean Spicer said “he stands by it”. This despite a new statement from the senate intelligence committee ...
Read US national security editor Spencer Ackerman’s coverage
'No indications'
Based on the information available to us, we see no indications that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the United States government either before or after Election Day 2016.
– Republican Richard Burr and Democrat Mark Warner, heads of the Senate intelligence committee
2. ‘No, it was surveillance’
Trump “didn’t mean specifically wiretapping”, Spicer said, but surveillance more generally. The charge not only directly contradicts Senate investigators – it amounts to an accusation that Obama and the security services had committed a felony.
‘President Obama was tapping my phones’
I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
3. Trump’s ‘budget’
The White House released what it said was a budget outline. In fact it was an extremely brief document that mentioned a lot of new money for defense ($52bn), eliminated funds for key anti-poverty programs and didn’t address revenue or entitlement spending at all.
Arts funding on chopping block
4. Programs facing cuts
Programs facing cuts under Trump’s budget, which would have to pass Congress to take effect, included legal services for victims of domestic violence, food vouchers for single mothers, and the Meals for Wheels program for needy seniors. The budget chops EPA funding too.
The budget director speaks
Mulvaney: "We are not spending money on climate change anymore. We view it as a waste of your money."
— Dan Primack (@danprimack) March 16, 2017
The press secretary speaks
"there's an assumption in Washington that if you get less money, it's a cut" – @presssec
— Tom McCarthy (@TeeMcSee) March 16, 2017
The budget director speaks again
The White House is actually arguing that cutting funding for Meals on Wheels is the compassionate thing to do. Seriously. pic.twitter.com/3u6znZRrAa
— CAP Action (@CAPAction) March 16, 2017
... and also, we'll take away their Medicaid
Can we really continue to ask a coal miner in West Virginia or a single mom in Detroit to pay for these programs? And the answer is no. We can ask them to pay for defense, and we will. But we can’t ask them to continue to pay for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
– Budget director Mick Mulvaney
Deus ex Ivankina?
I wonder which reporter writes the "inside" story of how Ivanka/Jared saved arts funding or free milk for babies or umbrellas for widows?
— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) March 16, 2017
5. Trump welcomes Irish leader
“I’ve spent a lot of time at St Patricks Days parades over the years” @potus @realDonaldTrump in the capitol
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 16, 2017
... and another thing:
Some @McDonalds worker just mic dropped as s/he quit pic.twitter.com/I9SPlLbBCT
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) March 16, 2017
