Donald Trump has been widely-criticised for a series of vicious tweets attacking Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings and the city of Baltimore.
In a series of tweets on Saturday, Mr Trump also lashed out again at Robert Mueller and Democrats calling for his impeachment, and announced that he is considering declaring the antifascist movement Antifa a terrorist organisation.
The outbursts followed Mr Trump’s threat to investigate former president Barack Obama and “subpoena all of his records”.
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Democrats have raised the spectre of Trump’s impeachment once again as they seek access to grand jury evidence from the Mueller investigation.
And for the first time, the Democratic-led US House judiciary committee explicitly referenced Congress’ impeachment powers as part of its request filed on Friday.
Jerry Nadler, the House judiciary committee chairman, told reporters that since justice department policy prohibits the prosecution of a sitting president, the House of Representatives was the only institution of government capable of holding Trump accountable for actions outlined in the Mueller report.
As calls for Trump’s impeachment grow, the US president is now openly threatening to investigate Barack Obama.
Trump is up and has accused Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings of being a “brutal bully” for criticising conditions at detention centres at the US border.
He also described Cummings' Baltimore district as “disgusting” and where “no human being would want to live".
The Maryland congressman has previously called Trump a racist after his attack on four congresswomen of colour and said his constituents till him they’re “scared of their leader”.
Trump also appears to be rattled by Democrats’ recent moves to unseal grand jury evidence related to the Mueller investigation, and has posted a video of Jerry Nadler accompanied by melancholy piano music.
Nadler, the House judiciary committee chairman, requested access to the evidence on behalf of the committee on Friday.
But Trump seems to be sticking to the line that the “witch hunt” against him is over, despite what some have viewed as damning testimony from Robert Mueller with the prospect of a long investigation ahead for some Democrats.
France is pushing ahead with a landmark tax on tech giants like Google and Facebook – despite Mr Trump's threats of retaliatory tariffs on French wine.
After Mr Trump criticised what he called the "foolishness" of the tax in a tweet on Friday and promised reciprocal action, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said "France will implement" it anyway. The US leader also chose to have his say on the relative qualities of French and American wine, suggesting he preferred the latter
After Mr Trump criticised what he called the "foolishness" of the tax in a tweet on Friday and promised reciprocal action, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said "France will implement" it anyway. The US leader also chose to have his say on the relative qualities of French and American wine, suggesting he preferred the latter
Mr Trump frequently boasts of his teetotal credentials, so the criteria for his judgment apparently do not include the taste of the countries' wines. "I just like the way they look," the former reality show star explained.
Read more about Trump’s attacks on Emmanuel Macron and French wine here:
Commentators have linked Mr Trump’s earlier tweets attacking Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings to a segment on the Fox & Friends show this morning.
The US president is accused of directly copying his criticisms of Mr Cummings’ Baltimore district from the show, which the presenter describes as “the most dangerous in America”. In his tweets, Mr Trump branded the district as “disgusting” and where “no human being would want to live".
Some commentators see it as just the latest, disturbing example of the US president’s cosy relationship with the TV network. Mr Trump also frequently retweets Fox News clips.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump is celebrating after the US Supreme Court gave his administration the green light to spend $2.5bn in Pentagon funds on building a border wall.
“Wow! Big VICTORY on the Wall,” Mr Trump tweeted last night. “The United States Supreme Court overturns lower court injunction, allows Southern Border Wall to proceed. Big WIN for Border Security and the Rule of Law!”
Read more here:
There has been a lot of backlash in response to Donald Trump’s attack on Elijah Cummings accusing the Democratic congressman of being a “brutal bully” from a “rat-infested district”.
Some commentators have pointed out that nearly 36 per cent of Baltimore’s residents are college educated compared to the national average of 28 per cent, according to figures from the Baltimore Sun.
Mr Trump’s attacks appear to be directly copied from a segment on a Fox news programme and follow Mr Elijah’s criticisms of conditions at migrant detention centres at the US border.
Earlier this week Elijah Cummings, the House Oversight Committee chairman, was given the authority to subpoena White House officials including Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
“The Committee has obtained direct evidence that multiple high-level White House officials have been violating the Presidential Records Act by using personal email accounts, text messaging services, and even encrypted applications for official business - and not preserving those records in compliance with federal law,” Mr Cummings said on 25 July.
Some political reporters, including Politco's Kyle Cheney, are linking the committee's decision with the president's attack on Mr Cummings.
Donald Trump's company has posted annual losses at his golf course in the Bronx for the first time since it opened four years ago.
Although the $122,127 (£98,000) loss is a relatively small one for the company it is another possible sign of trouble at its golf properties as the Trump brand faces a backlash from customers turned off by the president’s politics.
The company has also posted losses at its clubs in Scotland and Ireland and has struggled to grow at its biggest golf property, the Doral resort in the Miami area.
Donald Trump responded to growing calls for his impeachment in characteristic fashion at a press briefing on Friday.
“The Democrats are clowns,” he said. “They're being laughed at all over the world”
The US president added: “I watched Nancy Pelosi tried to get through that with the performance that Robert Mueller put on where I don't think he ever read the agreement or the document. And the document said no collusion.”
In the same interview in the Oval Office, Mr Trump boasted he could weaken the US dollar “in two seconds if he wanted to”.
It came days after he rejected a recommendation from senior adviser Peter Navarro that the country should take steps to weaken the US dollar to boost US exports, people briefed on the exchange said.
At the time, Mr Trump condemned the strategy as unwieldy and dangerous for the economy.
But just three days later, the US president told reporters he had not ruled anything out.
Read more here:
Here’s Patrick Cockburn from Indy Voices on how Donald Trump seeks to stand with Britain in an economic cold war to damage the EU following a no-deal Brexit:
Over 100 Democrats and one independent are now publicly calling for an impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump, according to the latest analysis by CNN.
To open a formal hearing, Democrats would require a simple majority of 218 vote. There are currently 235 Democrats in the House of Representatives.
Here’s Andrew Buncombe on how the Mueller testimony impacts the impeachment mathematics:
Elijah Cummings has responded to Mr Trump on Twitter after the US president branded him a “brutal bully” from a “rat-infested” district.
In light of the attacks, the Democratic congressman defended his record of working for his constituents in Baltimore.
“It is my constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch,” Mr Cummings tweeted. “But, it is my moral duty to fight for my constituents."
Just last week, Mr Cummings, who is the the House Oversight Committee chairman, was given the authority to subpoena White House officials including Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
Some political commentators are linking the committee's decision with the president's attack on Mr Cummings. Others say that Mr Trump’s comments are characteristic of the US president, who has a history of describing black areas or African nations with words like “filthy”.
A number of prominent Democrats have come to the defence of Elijah Cummings, following Donald Trump’s vicious attacks on the Democratic congressman earlier today.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted that Mr Cummings is “a champion in the Congress and the country for civil rights and economic justice” and said Democrats would “reject racist attacks against him”.
Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley, who were both recently attacked by Mr Trump on Twitter, also praised Mr Cummings – calling him “a legendary coach who brings the best out of everyone” and “an exemplary public servant”.
Political commentators are drawing attention to Mr Trump’s use of the word “infested” in his attack on Mr Cummings’ Baltimore district.
CNN’s Victor Blackwell has said that while the president often insults his political opponents, he invokes infestation when referring to people of colour on his Twitter account.
Mr Trump has used the word “infested” six times on his account – three times to attack black lawmakers (Mr Cummings and John Lewis), once against sanctuary cities that protect undocumented immigrants, once to refer to parts of Africa affected by the 2014 Ebola outbreak, and once against Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley (in his “go back” tweets).
The district that Mr Cummings represents, Maryland’s 7th, is majority African-American.
Baltimore’s mayor, Bernard C "Jack" Young, has also responded to Mr Trump with a passionate rebuke to the president’s tweets earlier today.
Mr Young said it was “completely unacceptable for the political leader of our country to denigrate a vibrant American City like Baltimore”.
He went on to describe Mr Trump as “a disappointment to the people of Baltimore, our country, and to the world.”
In statements given in the Oval Office, the US president suggested the attention given to his ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice could apply to other presidents.
Mr Trump also hit out at French president Emmanuel Macron, accusing him of “foolishness” after Paris announced a tax aimed at US technology companies.
He also hinted that he would tax French wine in retaliation, adding that he preferred American wine despite being a know teetotaller.
Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court gave his administration the green light to spend $2.5bn from a military budget on building a border wall.
A trial court had previously said the money could not be switched from the Pentagon towards construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border. But on Friday the nation’s highest court permitted constriction to continue while litigation over the issue played out.
