Donald Trump is facing ridicule after claiming the coronavirus will likely disappear in April when "the heat comes in” as backlash grows over US border officials reportedly blasting a Native American burial site to make way for the border wall.
On Monday, Mr Trump seemingly attempted to mitigate fears of a global pandemic by telling the nation's governors in the White House State Dining Room: "The heat, generally speaking, kills this kind of virus." He said the US was "in very good shape" to handle the spread of the virus after the death toll surpassed 900 victims in China.
Meanwhile, the president was “basically trampling on the tribe’s history” in ordering the controlled blasting of the Native American burial site, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who represents the district in question, told CBS News. Mr Trump was meanwhile seeking a reported $2bn (£1.5bn) to fund further construction of the wall in his $4.8 trillion (£3.7 trillion) budget proposal for the 2021 fiscal year.
The president unveiled his $4.8 trillion budget on Monday, a massive document proposing dramatic cuts to safety net social programmes like Medicaid and Medicare, affordable housing and food stamps, while boosting billions of dollars to defence spending and construction of his long-promised border wall.
It also proposed more than $1 trillion in tax cuts, as the president faces a 2020 election fuelled by promises of a shrinking deficit and ending "wasteful" government spending, though the proposed cuts target vulnerable populations as well as the Environmental Protection Agency.
His budget proposal must first pass Congress.
The president also met with families of the victims of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School as the largest high school mass shooting in US history nears its second anniversary on Friday.
A prominent gun control advocate who lost his 14-year-old daughter in the killing was not invited to the meeting, after he was removed from the State of the Union address last week, where he was the guest of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
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The US president is expected to announce his election-year budget plan later today, which is expected to include a 21 per cent cut in foreign aid and slashes to social safety-net programmes.
Trump set to divert billions more to border wall from military budget
President hoping to make progress on signature campaign promise ahead of election in November"The budget reportedly includes destructive changes to Medicaid, SNAP, Social Security, and other assistance programs that help Americans make ends meet - all while extending his tax cuts for millionaires and wealthy corporations."
Donald Trump's border wall at the US-Mexico border is destroying sacred Native American sites, a Democratic congressman has said.
Trump’s border wall is destroying sacred Native American sites, congressman says
‘This administration is basically trampling on the tribe’s history,’ says Raul GrijalvaMr Trump's budget is expected to raise military spending by 0.3 per cent to $740.5bn (£573bn) and propose higher outlays for defense and veterans.
However, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, has raised concerns about how the foreign aid cuts would affect the US civilian footprint around the world that helps reduce the need for military intervention.
"In an era of great power competition, cutting these critical investments would be out of touch with the reality around the world," he wrote in a letter to top congressional leaders.
"This is a moment when more investment in diplomacy and development is needed not less."
Nancy Pelosi has joined the attacks on Mr Trump's planned budget, saying "once again the president is showing just how little he values the good health, financial security and well-being of hard-working American families."
"Year after year, President Trump's budgets have sought to inflict devastating cuts to critical lifelines that millions of Americans rely on," she said in a statement.
"Americans' quality, affordable health care will never be safe with President Trump."
How much does winning the New Hampshire primary actually matter?
Just because you win the nation’s first primary doesn’t mean you’ll win everything elseNancy Pelosi's office has criticised Facebook and Twitter for not removing a "misleading" video of the House speaker ripping up Donald Trump's State of the Union speech.
Nancy Pelosi’s office hits out at Twitter and Facebook over edited video of her tearing up Trump’s speech
It does not violate policies, platforms say
US charges Chinese military hackers over cyber-attack of Equifax
The US Department of Justice has charged four hackers believed to have been associated with the Chinese military for their involvement in the 2018 Equifax cyberattack, a massive theft of over 147 million credit reports
Donald Trump's fiscal 2021 plan "sets the course for a future of continued American dominance and prosperity," the US president said in a message accompanying the document.
"There is optimism that was not here before 63 million Americans asked me to work for them and drain the swamp," Mr Trump said, according to a full copy of the budget obtained by The Associated Press.
"For decades, Washington elites told us that Americans had no choice but to accept stagnation, decay, and decline. We proved them wrong. Our economy is strong once more."
The US attorney general, William Barr, has confirmed the Justice Department has set up a process to receive information about candidates ahead of the November election, including from Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, but added any such information should not be taken "at face value."
"We have to be very careful with respect to any information coming from the Ukraine," Mr Barr said.
"There are a lot of agendas in the Ukraine. There are a lot of cross-currents, and we can't take anything we receive from the Ukraine at face value."
Democratic leaders have sought to tamp down Donald Trump’s impeachment revenge tour after the president dismissed key witnesses in the investigation from their government posts, while attacking those who voted to convict him last week.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed Mr Trump after he fired Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a former National Security Council director who testified about the president’s phone call with Ukraine, calling the move a “brazen act of retaliation”.
My latest:
Mike Bloomberg has released another critical advertisement against Donald Trump as the former New York City mayor campaigns for the White House, comparing some of his most incendiary comments to inspiring speeches made by former presidents.
The ad begins with John F Kennedy’s historic inaugural address from 1961, in which the former president said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”.
It then cuts to a video in which Mr Trump can be heard calling the investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election “bulls***”.
