Donald Trump has admitted he almost gave his daughter Ivanka Trump a job with the World Bank because, “She’s very good with numbers”.
Reports have meanwhile emerged that his administration attempted to pressure the Department of Homeland Security into dumping detained migrants from Central America into liberal “sanctuary cities” as revenge for Democrats refusing to support his US-Mexico border wall.
Elsewhere, the president has attempted to distance himself from WikiLeaks and endorsed attorney-general William Barr’s suggestion he might have been spied upon as he pushes for an investigation into the origins (or “oranges”) of the Russian collusion allegations: “In my opinion, it was illegal spying, unprecedented spying, and something that should never be allowed to happen in our country again.”
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In a separate statement Friday, Pelsoi spokeswoman Ashley Etienne responded to the proposal, which would see immigrant detainees sent to sanctuary cities, including San Francisco.
"The extent of this Administration's cynicism and cruelty cannot be overstated," she said. "Using human beings - including little children - as pawns in their warped game to perpetuate fear and demonize immigrants is despicable, and in some cases, criminal.
"The American people have resoundingly rejected this Administration's toxic anti-immigrant policies, and Democrats will continue to advance immigration polices that keep us safe and honour our values."
Earlier Friday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the proposal to release migrants in "sanctuary cities," first reported by The Washington Post, "disrespectful" and "unworthy of the presidency".
"I don't know anything about it, but again, it's just another notion that is unworthy of the presidency of the United States and disrespectful of the challenges that we face as a country, as a people, to address who we are: a nation of immigrants," Ms Pelosi told reporters, according to The Hill.
The president's confirmation comes after White House officials said the proposal of releasing immigrant detainees into "sanctuary cites" was "floated" but ultimately rejected.
You can read our full story on Donald Trump's confirmation that his administration is "giving strong considerations" to sanctuary cities here.
"Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing illegal immigrants in sanctuary cities only...
...The radical Left always seem to have an open borders, open arms policy - so this should make them very happy!" the president tweeted on Friday.
The president has just acknowledged reports that the Trump administration is considering placing immigrants in sanctuary cities.
In regards to a possible third summit with North Korea, Bill Richardson, former US ambassador to the United Nations said Friday that he does not support the idea.
"I believe right now that a summit with Kim Jong-un would not be a good idea," he said.
His comments come a day after President Trump said he would be open to a third meeting with the North Korean leader.
Herman Cain appears to lack Republican support to get a seat on the board of the Federal Reserve and could now back out before being subjected to the indignity of a confirmation hearing that will end in rejection.
Trump's other pick, Stephen Moore, has been given the following dressing down by 2020 hopeful Elizabeth Warren.
Mike Pence has defended President Trump's past preoccupation with WikiLeaks as "not an endorsement" in conversation with CNN's Dana Bash.
The Democrats are turning their attention towards Trump's highly controversial ban on trans people serving in the US military.
Here's Tom Embury-Dennis with a reminder of Trump's latest assault on the Fourth Estate.
Bernie Sanders says he has raised a $1m (£763,000) in grassroots donations for his 2020 campaign.
The editing of this video might make you ill though.
Not entirely sure which Democrats he is referring to here. Big fan of "BAD (outrageous)" though.
More from that Atlantic piece on Ivanka.
- Trump sometimes refers to her as "Baby" in meetings. Yuck.
- “If she ever wanted to run for president, I think she’d be very, very hard to beat,” he says.
- He also works overtime to persuade journalist Elaina Plott he is equally fond of all his children, not entirely convincingly: "Barron is young, but he’s got wonderful potential... And Tiffany’s doing extremely well. Don is, uh, he’s enjoying politics; actually, it’s very good. And Eric is running the business along with Don, and also very much into politics. I mean, the children - the children have been very, very good.”
- Even when praising his favourite, he can't resist turning it into a self-congratulatory compliment towards himself: "She’s got a great calmness… I’ve seen her under tremendous stress and pressure. She reacts very well - that’s usually a genetic thing, but it’s one of those things, nevertheless."
- She gets up at 5.30am every morning, eats crackers, cottage cheese and fruit for breakfast and is referred to as "Ivanks" by husband Jared Kushner.
- Michael Jackson came to see her perform in The Nutcracker at school at the invitation of her mother Ivana.
- She dyed her hair blue as a teenager.
- On her fractious relationship with ex-chief of staff John Kelly, Plott quotes a source as saying: “He kind of walked in and looked at Ivanka like, What the fuck is Barbie doing in the West Wing?” He hated Kushner even more and feared a complete takeover by WhatsApp.
- Her office resembles the clean white of an Apple store.
- She owns a copy of Stewart Harvey's book Playa Fire about the Burning Man Festival, hinting at a desire to run away from her life and drop acid in the desert.
This is illuminating on Fox's growing obsession with AOC, suggesting a fear of her emergence as an influential Democratic force appealing to the young.
They've called her everything from a "fake revolutionary" to "the Steve Bannon of the left".
He used to angrily yell at newspaper headlines??
He's now back to bashing the Democrats: "They should stop wasting time and money and get back to real legislating, especially on the Border!"
Here's President Trump raging about the lack of coverage (he says) of the indictment of Obama administration lawyer Greg Craig over his post-White House consultation work in Ukraine in 2012.
Which was carried out with the involvement of Paul Manafort, Trump's own former campaign manager. You sure you want to bang this particular drum Don?
He's going after The New York Times and Washington Post - familiar foes he has regularly called out in the past.
We covered the Craig affair right here yesterday - here's Chris Riotta's full report.
And here's news of Illinois's new bill to ensure the release of Donald Trump's tax returns: they'll leave him off 2020 ballot papers if he fails to comply.
Here's a reminder of this morning's big story: the Trump administration's plan to dump detained asylum seekers on "sanctuary cities" as revenge for Democrats blocking the president's US-Mexico border wall during the shutdown.
