Donald Trumphas pledged to “get much tougher on street crime” after six police officers were shot and wounded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday night while trying to enforce a drugs warrant.
The president on Thursday also gloated after outspoken Democratic congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib were barred from entering Israel, having been critical of the influence of Israeli lobbyists in Washington, declaring: “They hate all Jewish people”.
Mr Trump has meanwhile offered to meet with Chinese premier Xi Jinping over the anti-government protests in Hong Kong, which he says are an obstacle to the resolution of the trade war raging between the two superpowers, continuing to gloat that the US is “winning, big time”.
Later in the day, Mr Trump attacked the news media, claiming a conspiracy by journalists to tank the US economy and ruin his chances at winning a second term.
Those unsupported statements came as economic indicators left Wall Street analysts concerned, with a signal showing up that has preceded all recent recessions.
And, behind all that, House Democrats have proceeded along the path towards potential impeachment hearings, and have made public subpoenas for former Trump aide Corey Lewandowski.
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Donald Trump has offered to meet with Chinese premier Xi Jinping over the anti-government protests in Hong Kong, which he says are an obstacle to the resolution of the trade war raging between the two superpowers, continuing to gloat that the US is “winning, big time”.
“Of course China wants to make a deal. Let them work humanely with Hong Kong first!” the president tweeted, adding that he has “ZERO doubt” Xi can “quickly and humanely” solve the crisis.
The US president has previously said little about the protests in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, except to make it clear he believes that Hong Kong and China need to "deal with that themselves". He has urged the two sides to exercise caution and voiced hopes that the situation will be resolved peacefully.
His latest comments came as US stock markets tumbled, in part because of uncertainty over his trade standoff with Beijing. Investors have also been rattled about the widespread protests in Hong Kong. Flights resumed at Hong Kong's airport after two days of disruption that descended into clashes with police.
While Trump has been reluctant to take sides, some Republican and Democratic members of Congress have voiced their support for the protesters. House speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement last week saying: "Dreams of freedom, justice and democracy can never be extinguished by injustice and intimidation."
The demonstrations are against what many Hong Kong residents see as an increasing erosion of the freedoms they were promised in 1997 when Communist Party-ruled mainland China took over what had been a British colony.
Trump said he knows Xi well and called him a "great leader who very much has the respect of his people".
He also voiced optimism about on-off trade negotiations with China. Administration officials have suggested a trade deal is still some way off, even as the president voices frustration about the lack of progress.
Unhappy with the pace of negotiations, Trump announced two weeks ago that the US would apply 10 per cent tariffs on about $300bn (£250 billion) in Chinese imports, beginning on 1 September, but the administration moved on Tuesday to delay the tariffs on a range of Chinese-made products, including mobile phones, laptops, toys, computer monitors, shoes and clothing.
It is also removing other items from the list based "on health, safety, national security and other factors"
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Trump tweeted that delaying the tariffs would help China more than the US: "The American consumer is fine with or without the September date, but much good will come from the short deferral to December."
Trump tweeted that delaying the tariffs would help China more than the US: "The American consumer is fine with or without the September date, but much good will come from the short deferral to December."
Additional reporting by AP
Iowa Republican Steve King has meanwhile unleased a storm of criticism after making a “bizarre and appalling” comment about rape and incest, with fellow GOP representative Liz Cheney and several leading Democratic 2020 presidential challengers calling for his resignation.
Speaking to the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale, Iowa, on Wednesday, King attempted to defend anti-abortion legislation with no exceptions. “What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?" he said.
“Considering all the wars and all the rapes and pillages that happened throughout all these different nations, I know that I can't say that I was not a part of a product of that."
Here's Clark Mindock's report.
Trump and attorney general William Barr were briefed about the gun battle in Philadelphia overnight in which six police officers were shot and wounded by a suspect now in custody.
The shooting began as officers went to a home in a neighbourhood to the north of the Pennsylvania city to serve a narcotics warrant in an operation "that went awry almost immediately", Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said.
A new opinion poll from Trump's beloved Fox News shows his disapproval rating has jumped to 56 per cent, a five per cent month-on-month increase and just one percentage point short of the all-time high it reached in October 2017, according to The Hill.
On job numbers, 43 per cent of the 1,013 respondents to the Fox survey said they approved of his performance, down three percent on last month.
Of his response to the deadly mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, earlier this month, only 37 per cent approved.
Interestingly, a record number of men disapproved of Trump - 53 per cent. Among white men specifically, the disapproval rating was 46 per cent.
Overall, 59 per cent of registered voters surveyed said they are unhappy with the way things are going in the country.
Trump is holding his latest campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, this evening, a state he lost by 2,700 votes in 2016.
While some MAGA fans were mad enough to turn up 36 hours early (!), according to the AP's Hunter Woodall, the prevailing feeling on the ground is one of "Trumpgret".
When local business owner Chad Johansen voted for the president in 2016, he hoped he was picking someone who could help small-business owners compete with bigger companies. But that hasn't happened and now the 26-year-old owner of NH iPhone Repair regrets his choice.
The Republican president has done little to address healthcare issues for a small employer, he said, and the Manchester man remains on edge about how Trump's tariffs could affect his business, which employs fewer than 10 people. Beyond that, he said, unrelenting news about bigotry and racism in the Trump administration is "a turnoff."
"The president's supposed to be the face of the United States of America," said Johansen, who voted for Barack Obama in 2012. "And supposed to make everyone be proud to be an American and stand up for everyone who is an American. And I don't feel that President Trump's doing that. I feel like it's chaos."
That sentiment is concerning for Trump as he travels to New Hampshire on Thursday for a re-election rally. The state is doing well economically, at least when using broad measures. But beneath the top-line data are clear signs that the prosperity is being unevenly shared and when the tumult of the Trump presidency is added to the mix, the state's flinty voters may not be receptive to his appeals.
Trouble in the bond market on Wednesday raised fresh concerns about a recession on the horizon.
An August University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll found that 42 per cent of New Hampshire adults approve of Trump while 53 per cent disapprove. The poll also showed that 49 per cent approve of Trump's handling of the economy and 44 per cent disapprove.
How New Hampshire receives the president on Thursday will offer a fresh test of whether people will give credit to Trump for the state's economy, base their decision on social issues or make their vote a referendum on the president's character.
"I'm not sure any great tax policy that Trump has envisioned or created has helped it," said Tom Rath, a longtime Republican National Convention delegate and former New Hampshire attorney general who backed Republican John Kasich for president in 2016. "I think the climate is good. We're flourishing in large part because Massachusetts is flourishing."
At 2.4 per cent, New Hampshire's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May was among the lowest in the nation. But wage growth is significantly below national gains. Average hourly earnings rose a scant 1.1 per cent in New Hampshire in 2018, lagging the 3 per cent gain nationwide, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In other ways, like the home ownership rate - first in the nation - and median household income - seventh in the US - census data shows the state is thriving.
Ahead of the president's visit, his campaign held an event in Bedford, New Hampshire, on Tuesday to applaud the success of the economy under Trump, singling out the low unemployment rate. Joblessness in New Hampshire was also relatively low at the end of the Obama administration, a sign that Trump inherited an improving economy.
Much of Trump's rhetoric in 2016 was designed to appeal to Midwestern swing states where a platform of raising tariffs, protecting workers and restricting immigration resonated, Dartmouth College political scientist Dean Lacy said.
New Hampshire transitioned faster than Rust Belt states as it went from a manufacturing economy to a high-tech economy in the 1980s and 1990s, Lacy said.
"He doesn't have an economic strategy that's designed to win New Hampshire," Lacy said. "But also one that's not going to necessarily lose New Hampshire."
New Hampshire's four Electoral College votes are far below that of key swing states like Florida, Wisconsin and Michigan, but its influence can prove powerful in close election years like 2000, when George W Bush's victory in the state gave him the edge needed to win the White House.
David Bates, a 26-year-old construction worker, said there has been "remarkable growth under President Trump." And when it comes to that growth, Trump should "at least partially, definitely," get credit. And Robert Burrows, a 34-year-old tire technician, sees a raise and a competing job offer as evidence that the "awesome" economy has helped him.
"Trump isn't somebody I'd want to marry to my sister or my mother," said Burrows, who originally supported Republican Ben Carson in 2016. "However, that's not what I want him in office for."
Others feel the economic boasting that can sometimes be a trademark of Trump and his allies is undeserved.
"I don't see where he's helped me," Gary West, a 71-year-old retired steel fabricator who now works as a school bus driver. "Maybe the guy that's got a million dollars he's helped. But I don't feel like he's helped me at all."
For all the credit to go to Trump "doesn't make any sense," said Amanda Gunter, a 34-year-old New Hampshire Democrat, who worries that the economy she describes as "doing well" could help Trump win another term in White House.
"I also think that we're in a bubble," Gunter said. "And I think it's going to burst because I know Trump is rolling back regulations and that has me concerned. I also think the economy was doing well when Obama was in office. And I think that our good economy is because of things that Obama did, not Trump."
The economy may also not have the same draw for voters as it has had in the past.
Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen, who is running for re-election in 2020, described the New Hampshire economy as "going well" in a recent interview. But she said that while Trump has "talked about the importance of the economy," the top concern Shaheen said she hears from people in New Hampshire is based around health care.
"The economy and jobs are always important," Shaheen said. "But people can't feel secure about the future of their families, even though they have a good job, if they're worried about whether they're going to have health care when they need it."
Gino Brogna, a 57-year-old chef manager, described himself as a Republican "by nature," though he isn't "solely stuck to it." He didn't like Hillary Clinton and recalls feeling like his 2016 vote for Trump was "something that was necessary."
It doesn't feel necessary for him again.
"I don't think that he's true to his word on a lot of things," Brogna said of Trump. "I wouldn't vote for him again. That's not going to happen."
Another man visiting New Hampshire tonight is Republican former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, who is considering a challenge to Trump and warned the president yesterday that "a storm is coming" if the US does not address its mounting national debt.
Sanford, last year branded "a nasty guy" by Trump after he criticised the blind allegiance of fellow GOP members to the president, told Jake Tapper on CNN last night he has been encouraged to run for president by people who "have said we need to have a conversation about what it means to be a Republican."
"Because the bent that we've been moving toward here of late is not consistent with the values and the ideals they believed in for a very long time."
Sanford also suggested voters are weary of Trump's "bully in the schoolyard" act.
The autopsy of billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein - whom Trump once assessed as "a terrific guy" and partied with at Mar-a-Lago - has revealed he suffered broken neck bones, posing new questions about the 66-year-old financier's death in federal prison in New York over the weekend.
Peter Stubley has more.
A coalition of 13 American states announced they are suing Trump's administration on Wednesday over its new "public charge" immigration rile that seeks to drastically reduce legal immigration by denying visas to poor migrants.
Some experts say the rule could cut legal immigration in half by denying visas and permanent residency to hundreds of thousands of people if they fail to meet high enough income standards or if they receive public assistance such as welfare, food stamps, public housing or Medicaid.
"The Trump Administration's message is clear: if you're wealthy you're welcome, if you're poor, you're not," Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson and his Virginia counterpart Mark Herring said in a statement. "This rule is un-American, anti-immigrant and unlawful."
The rule, unveiled on Monday and to take effect on 15 October, expands the definition of a public charge, allowing denials to visa applicants who fail to meet income requirements or who receive public assistance.
Ferguson said the rule violates the Immigration and Nationality Act by redefining "public charge" in a way unconnected to its original meaning and Congress's intent.
The lawsuit has already won the support of Washington governor and 2020 Democratic contender Jay Inslee.
“Washington will always be a state that stands with immigrants and no action by the Trump administration, either through deeds or words, can change that,” Inslee said in a statement. “I fully support this action by the attorney general to stand against the devastating impacts of this xenophobic policy.”
The lawsuit is similar to one filed on Tuesday by the city of San Francisco and nearby Santa Clara County seeking to block the rule.
The 13 states said in their lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, that the new rule "effects a radical overhaul of federal immigration law transforming a system that promotes economic mobility among immigrants into one that advantages immigrants with wealth."
The other states joining Washington in the lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security are: Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Virginia.
The introduction of that new immigration rule of course provoked the ludicrous remark from acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli that the Emma Lazarus poem inscribed on the Statue of Liberty should be re-written to read: "Give me your tired and your poor – who can stand on their own two feet."
Cuccinelli subsequently appeared on Erin Burnett's CNN show in a desperate attempt to defend himself that only made matters worse.
He has since tried to laugh it off on Twitter.
Now 2020 Democratic contender Pete Buttigieg has weighed in.
"The whole meaning of the immigrant experience in America is that America grows when we welcome immigrants, and many of the very people who came through in prior generations were characterized as unwanted, the way they talked about Italians, the way they talked about Irish people, exactly the way they're talking about people from Mexico and Central America today," the candidate told CNN.
"But you know, the idea of, 'Give me your tired, your poor,' that it only applies to some people is a pretty bad take on poetry from the acting director, and completely misses the point, which is that this is something that not only makes those who come to our shores better off, it is how our country grows, especially in the interior of our country."
Former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright went even further on CNN, telling Anderson Cooper Cuccinelli's remarks were "completely un-American."
"I've been a refugee twice, once from the Nazis and we were in England, and then we came to the United States when the communists took over in Czechoslovakia. And I think that it is one of the most un-American things I've ever heard," she said.
"I think the Statue of Liberty is weeping," she said.
The US government has applied to seize an Iranian oil tanker in Gibraltar commandeered last month by British Royal Marines, just hours before the Gibraltan government was set to release it.
In what will complicate a possible tanker swap between Britain and Tehran, the US Department of Justice applied to seize the Grace 1 tanker, which Gibraltar had said was suspected of smuggling oil to Syria in breach of European Union sanctions.
The ship was seized in a daring landing in darkness in the Mediterranean off the British overseas territory on 4 July. As tensions grew with the Islamic Republic, Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized the British-flagged Stena Impero in the Gulf on 19 July.
Tom Embury-Dennis has this report.
That petition to rename a stretch of Fifth Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets in Manhattan - on which Trump Tower just so happens to be situated - after 44th president Barack Obama has 255,569 signatures at the time of writing. It needs 275,000.
John Hickenlooper, the former Colorado governor, is expected to drop out of the Democratic 2020 presidential race this morning.
John Hickenlooper looking fraught on the campaign trail in Iowa (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)
Low polling, a struggle to find donors and the likelihood of missing out on the third party debate all contributed to his decision, according to his campaign team, most of whom are new to the job following a spate of departures in July.
A self-described "pragmatic-progressive," Hickenlooper struggled to gain much momentum while carrying a centrist campaign message that was too easily shot down for not being radical enough by his fellow challengers.
El Presidente is out of bed and retweeting right-wing big beasts Laura Ingraham, Bill O'Reilly and Diamond and Silk and... a video of a stumbling baby elephant??
A metaphor for the Republican Party, perhaps.
Trump is busy jabbing away at that retweet button, adding more posts from the White House, Sean Hannity and former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who will join him in New Hampshire tonight where he is rumoured to plotting a Senate run.
He appears to refer to himself in the third-person. Yuck.
The hot madness keeps on coming from @realDonaldTrump. He's just retweeted this.
How did he even find it? It's from January 2017. He can't still be that hung up on his poorly-attended inauguration, can he?
The above was followed by this reassurance on the ongoing construction of his US-Mexico border wall.
Michael Bennett - another Colorado runner like Hickenlooper- has pledged to send a copy of his new book to Senate majority leader "Moscow Mitch" McConnell for every campaign donation he receives.
His self-published book, Dividing America: How Russia Hacked Social Media and Democracy, examines foreign interference into the 2016 election.
"The propaganda Russia drove into our social media feeds is shocking, but what’s even more frightening is that we didn’t recognize these divisive images as distinct from our own political rhetoric for over a year," said Bennet in a statement.
"This book makes crystal clear what Russia did and how they did it. The 2020 election is around the corner, yet the Trump administration has done nothing to protect our democracy from these attacks again. We must demand that Mitch McConnell see these disturbing images and act now."
Conservative talk show host and right-wing pundit Joe Walsh has called slammed Trump as an "unfit conman" and a "racial arsonist" in the pages of The New York Times.
For Indy Voices, Michael Arceneaux argues short-lived White House press secretary Anthony Scaramucci's recent warnings about his old employer should not be ignored.
In the last hour, Trump has said last night's Philadelphia shooter "should never have been allowed on the streets" and has once more taken a sudden interest in literature, something that has a funny habit of happening whenever a friend has a book out that feeds his narrative or merits a favour.
Remember this is a guy who winds through Jean Claude van Damme movies to get to the action scenes. He's not going to be recommending Normal People by Sally Rooney any time soon.
