A schism among Donald Trump, the Pentagon and senior military officers has been laid bare after the president’s threat to use active-duty troops on American streets was undermined by members of his cabinet.
First, Mark Esper, the defence secretary, publicly made clear his opposition to using the 1807 Insurrection Act – which he said should be a “last resort” – and then Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the country’s most senior military officer, sent a forceful memo to service personnel reminding them to “stay true” to the “idea that is America”.
The White House was said to be furious with Mr Esper, summoning him to the Oval Office after his press conference on Wednesday.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany insisted that the president was still willing to deploy federal troops, but she said he was currently satisfied with the performance of the National Guard in suppressing riots.
The president meanwhile celebrated the return of Michael White, a US Navy veteran detained in Iran, tweeting: "I will never stop working to secure the release of all Americans held hostage overseas!"
He also was criticised by Rev Al Sharpton, speaking at a memorial service for George Floyd, for the president's photo op in which he stood holding a bible after White House officials ordered protesters be cleared from the area by firing tear gas.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the administration on Thursday for "unlawfully" conspiring to violate protesters' rights with a "coordinated and unprovoked charge into the crowd of demonstrators" before the president's walk through Lafayette Square to St John's Church.
Rev Sharpton said: "I would like him to open that bible, and I'd like him to read Ecclesiastes 3: 'To every season there's a time and a purpose.' It's our job to let the world know that when we see what's going on in the streets of this country and in Europe and around the world, you need to know what time it is. ... We can't use bibles as a prop. And for those that have agendas that are not about justice, this family will not let you use George as a prop."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi meanwhile has demanded that the president release a "full list of agencies involved and clarifications of the roles and responsibilities of the troops and federal law enforcement resources operating" in the nation's capital after reports surfaced of unidentified federal militarised law enforcement had descended on Washington DC and refused to identify themselves.
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Milley orders troops to 'stay true to idea of America'
Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, sent a strongly-worded memo addressing all US service personnel yesterday, which included a handwritten addendum.
He wrote: "We all committed our lives to the idea that is America - we will stay true to that oath and the American people."
Mr Milley, the country's most senior military officer and Mr Trump's top military adviser, struck a much different tone to his boss.
The memo appeared to reveal his unease at the way the president has conducted himself and the rhetoric he has used in recent days.
You can read the full memo here:
Esper split with Trump on using active-duty troops
US defence secretary Mark Esper broke with Donald Trump on whether the US military should be utilised to crush George Floyd protests in cities across the country, writes Graig Graziosi.
Speaking at a Pentagon briefing, Mr Esper said he disagreed with the president's aspirations to deploy US military troops into the streets for the purposes of quelling the dissent movements triggered by the killing of Mr Floyd by former police officers in Minneapolis.
Another early morning tweet-storm
Among the subject featured on the Twitter feed of the world's most powerful man this morning:
- Rod Rosenstein's testimony to senators about the Russia probe ("Witch hunt"; "Unfair!")
- An NBC News crew allegedly attacked by protesters near the White House ("Nasty!")
- The actor James Woods attacking CNN's coverage of the George Floyd protests
- Arguing semantics over whether the term "tear gas" can be used to describe the combination of pepper canisters and smoke canisters used to clear protesters from outside the White House on Monday
- Retweeting his son who retweeted a six-year-old viral video he claimed showed "the difference between the truth and the narrative the media runs with"
- Ted Cruz, who has gone from object of ridicule to lion-like defender in the eyes of the president. Maybe it's the beard?
Trump administration yet to pay out billions in unemployment benefits
Almost one third of unemployment benefits estimated to be owed to the millions of Americans who lost their jobs as a result of the coronavirus slump haven’t been paid yet as flagship policies struggle to cope with the unprecedented wave of layoffs.
The Treasury disbursed $146bn (£116bn) in unemployment benefits in the three months through May, according to data published on Monday – more than in the whole of 2009 when jobless rates peaked after the financial crisis.
Trump's response to Floyd protests 'pushing donors to Biden'
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his allies have seen donations swell in recent days, several top fundraisers said, as protests against the police killing of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis are held across the country.
Donald Trump's response to the demonstrations over George Floyd's death - including on Monday when police drove peaceful protesters out of a park in Washington so the president could pose for photos in front of a church - pushed new donors and even some Republicans to open their wallets, the fundraisers claimed.
Mr Biden and the Democratic Party reported raising $60.5m (£48.3m) in April, just short of the $61.7m raked in by Mr Trump and other committees including the fundraising arm of the Republican Party.
Results from Trump's latest physical exam released
The White House has released information about Donald Trump's annual physical, including him experiencing no side effects while taking anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a preventative measure against Covid-19, writes Danielle Zoellner.
Mr Trump weighs 244lbs and stands at 6ft 3in tall, according a summary of the annual examination.
“There were no findings of significance or changes to report,” Dr Sean Conely, the president’s physician, wrote in a memo.
Israeli settlers worried about Trump/Kushner 'peace plan'
Some Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank fear that the Trump administration's so-called Middle East peace plan - which envisions keeping most of the settlements as they are, despite their widely accepted illegality under international law - will leave them vulnerable.
David Elhayani, head of the umbrella Yesha settler council, told the liberal Haaretz newspaper of concerns in the community that some areas could become isolated redoubts of Jewish presence.
Palestinians have already rejected the American plan.
Accusing Mr Elhayani of ingratitude, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly commended Mr Trump's "unsurpassed friendship" with Israel.
NYT battles with staff over Republican's op-ed
The New York Times is fighting a furious backlash against its publication of an op-ed by Republican senator Tom Cotton calling for troops to be deployed on American streets to crush protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd, writes Andrew Naughtie.
The newspaper's own journalists are among the most vocal critics of the article, published on Wednesday under the headline “Send In the Troops”, in which Mr Cotton claimed that rioting and violence that has erupted in American cities over the past week is “nothing to do with" Floyd's death. He called for “an overwhelming show of force” by the US Army to restore order.
Morgan and Giuliani clash over support for inflammatory Trump tweet
Piers Morgan has branded Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudi Giuliani “completely mad” for defending an inflammatory tweet the US president sent amid the George Floyd protests, writes Matt Mathers.
Appearing on Thursday morning’s Good Morning Britain show, Giuliani was quizzed about his defence of the tweet which read: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
'Greatest political crime in history'
Mr Trump has again claimed this morning that the Mueller investigation was "a corrupt and illegal Witch Hunt, one which will go down as the greatest political crime in history".
But history goes back quite a long way. How does the Russia probe really stack up if you take the long view? A non-exhaustive list of political crimes follows.
- The assassination of Julius Caesar
- Stalin's purges
- The US-orchestrated overthrow of Mohammad Mosaddegh...
- ...and of Salvador Allende, and so on
- Mao's purges
- The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
- Watergate, obviously
- Richard Nixon's sabotage of Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam peace talks
- The assassinations of John F Kennedy, William McKinley, James Garfield and Abraham Lincoln
- The Roman Praetorian Guard's roles in various assassinations
- Anthony Babington's and Mary, Queen of Scots' plan to assassinate Elizabeth I
- The execution of the Romanov family (Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and their five children)
- Guy Fawkes' gunpowder plot
White House fears second coronavirus wave after Floyd protests
For weeks, Donald Trump has been eager to publicly turn the page on the coronavirus pandemic. Now fears are growing within the White House that the very thing that finally shoved the virus from centre stage — mass protests over the death of George Floyd — may bring about its resurgence.
Mr Trump this week has eagerly pronounced himself the “president of law and order” in response to the racial unrest that has swept across the nation, overshadowing the pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 105,000 Americans and imperilled his re-election prospects.
But political dangers for the president remain.
Trump calls Covid-19 'mean and nasty' in video message to vaccine conference
Donald Trump has recorded a video messaage for the international vaccine summit taking place today and being hosted by Boris Johnson.
"As the coronavirus has shown, there are no borders, it doesn't discriminate, it's mean, it's nasty, but we can all take care of it together," the US president said.
"It's great to be partnering with you, we will work hard, we will work strong, send my regards to Boris, and good luck. Let's get the answer."
Opening the summit earlier today Mr Johnson said he hoped the Gavi vaccine alliance meeting will be a "moment when the world comes together - uniting humanity in the fight against disease''.
The UK plans to donate £1.65bn to Gavi over the next five years, Mr Johnson said. The US has pledged $1.2bn (£957m) over three years.
On Thursday the UK Labour Party, the official opposition to Mr Johnson's government, warned of the threat of "vaccine nationalism" as countries rush to secure inoculations for their citizens.
You can read our full story below:
'Trump thinks the military has his back. He's about to get a shock'
There’s only one thing that ultimately matters when a government, a prime minister or a president goes on the warpath: not what his generals and ex-generals think – but will his army go along with it? writes Robert Fisk.
Another 1.9 million jobless claims
A total of 21.5 million people in the US are now on unemployment benefits, new figures show.
Nearly 1.9 million people applied for help last week. It was the ninth decline in a row in new applications since figures spiked in mid-March, a sign that the gradual reopening of businesses has slowed the loss of jobs.
The diminishing pace suggests that the job market meltdown that was triggered by Covid-19 may have begun to bottom out.
However, the latest weekly number is still more than double the record high before the coronavirus outbreak.
US-China flights dispute rumbles on
More foreign airlines will be allowed to fly to China as anti-coronavirus controls are eased, regulators there said on Thursday.
However, it was not clear whether the change would defuse a conflict with the Trump administration over air travel.
The announcement came after Washington said on Wednesday it would bar four Chinese airlines from the US because Beijing was blocking United Airlines and Delta Air Lines to resume flights to China.
Airlines that were flying to China when controls were imposed in March were allowed to keep making one flight per week. United and Delta had suspended their flights before that and asked permission to resume.
Airlines not on the March list can make one flight per week beginning on Monday, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said on its website.
The announcement appeared to open the door to United and Delta but CAAC gave no indication which carriers were affected.
Los Angeles officials have proposed sweeping cuts to the city’s annual budget and police department while calling for that money to be invested in marginalized communities after nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd.
Mayor Eric Garcetti announced at a press conference on Wednesday night the city would “identify $250 million in cuts so we can invest in jobs, in health, in education and in healing” following demands from the Black Lives Matter movement and other activist groups to divest funding from the Los Angeles Police Department.
Those groups called for the city to implement a “People’s Budget” that would fund housing and environmental projects, as well as promote opportunities for people of colour, Los Angeles Magazine reported.
In announcing the budgetary cuts, the mayor added: “It is time to move our rhetoric towards action to end racism in our city.”
The announcement comes after Los Angeles City Council president Nury Martinez proposed cutting up to $150 million from the LAPD and reinvesting those funds into communities of colour.
Boris Johnson under pressure to lecture Trump on human rights
Boris Johnson is being asked to urge Donald Trump to "respect human rights and the fundamental democratic right to peaceful protest" following the death of George Floyd.
Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, said Mr Floyd's death had "shone a spotlight on the racism, discrimination and injustice experienced by those from black and minority ethnic communities in the US and across the world".
Following his face-off against Mr Johnson at prime minister's questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir wrote to him to say: "I welcome that you shared some of the concerns I raised with you and want to use this opportunity to explore what the British government is doing to urge the United States and President Trump to respect human rights and the fundamental democratic right to peaceful protest.
"I am sure that you share my strongly held belief that the UK has a moral obligation to speak out in defence of these values, no matter where in the world they are challenged."
It followed pointed questioning of Mr Johnson in parliament over the UK's supply of tear gas to the US. You can read more about that here:
UK ready to welcome chlorinated chicken to shop shelves
The UK government is set to open British markets to food produced to lower US welfare standards as part of its planned trade deal with Donald Trump, writes Jon Stone.
Downing Street on Thursday refused to stand by an earlier pledge to keep so-called "chlorinated chicken" off UK shelves, in the first sign of the government folding under pressure from American trade negotiators.
Ministers are reportedly considering letting in products like chlorinated chicken and hormone fed beef into British supermarkets, but applying tariffs to them to protect UK-based farmers from competition.
