Trump shutdown announcement: Democrats reject president's Daca compromise on border security and immigration
'Not a compromise, more hostage taking,' says Chuck Schumer
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Donald Trump's attempt to strike a deal with Democrats and reopen the federal government appears to have failed, after the terms of his offer were firmly rejected.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer both dismissed the president's compromise, which was unveiled during a live television address.
In a relatively diplomatic address the president offered extensions to protections for certain undocumented immigrants in exchange for $5.7bn (£4.4bn) to go towards his proposed border wall along the US-Mexico border. "Rank and file" Democrats had contributed to the plan, he said, adding that it was aimed at alleviating a "humanitarian crisis".
Mr Trump has been in a standoff with Democrats in Congress for the past 29 days after he refused to sign a government funding bill without the money. The federal government has been partially shut down throughout this period.
Ms Pelosi lambasted the president's offer in a statement released before Mr Trump spoke. "Initial reports make clear that is a compilation of several previously rejected initiatives, each of which is unacceptable and in total, do not represent a good faith effort to restore certainty to people’s lives," she said.
Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall – in pictures
Show all 15"It is unlikely that any of these provisions alone would pass the House and taken together, they are a non-starter."
In the latest instance of political brinkmanship over the shutdown, Ms Pelosi cancelled her plans to travel by commercial plane to visit US troops in Afghanistan, saying the president had caused a security risk by talking about the trip.
Mr Schumer also rejected Mr Trump's proposal.
"It was the president who single-handedly took away DACA and TPS protections in the first place—offering some protections back in exchange for the wall is not a compromise but more hostage taking," he said.
Around 800,000 federal employees are on leave or working without pay since the shutdown began and nine of the 15 cabinet-level departments have not been funded in almost a month.
The long shutdown may be hitting home for the president. Just 21 of the roughly 80 people who tend to his needs at the White House – from butlers to electricians to chefs – are reporting to work. The rest have been placed on leave.
See below how we covered this story live:
So much has craziness has occurred since Trump took office, it’s easy to imagine his first term is beginning to wind down. But there’s still another two years to go. Two more years of high drama, grandstanding and hysterical tweeting by the President of the United States.
On Trump’s second anniversary in the Oval Office, here’s Andrew Buncombe on the wild ride ahead:
A typically bellicose Trump has suggested, while providing no evidence to support the claim, that impeaching him would precipitate a 'Stock Market Crash' (his capitalisation)
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has weighed in on Trump’s recent hamburger feast for Clemson University football stars. Jackson, who grew up near Clemson in South Carolina, says “the national champions deserved better” and that the food offered to them was “beneath the status of their accomplishment”.
The Women’s March returns to Washington DC today. The original march in 2017, the day after Trump’s inauguration, drew hundreds of thousands of people. Organisers have submitted a permit estimating up to 500,000 people could participate, but the actual turnout is expected to be far lower.
Somewhat ironically, the planned route had to be changed because the shutdown meant the National Park Service could no longer clear snow. The new route takes the protesters just a few blocks from the White House and down Pennsylvania Avenue past the Trump International Hotel.
Some analysts believe disruption at US airports could hasten the end of the government shutdown. Many security screening employees – who are not getting paid – have called in sick. Philip Glover of the American Federation of Government Employees has told CNN that going without a pay check “is not a joke”:
Interesting. Former federal prosecutor Elie Honig thinks Mueller’s rejection of the BuzzFeed News Trump-Cohen story might have a “perverse” impact in helping confirm other claims about Trump and his associates.
“I think we will see people saying, ‘Well, Mueller objected to the BuzzFeed story, but he doesn’t object to this one’.”
Trump says he enjoyed “an incredible” meeting with North Korea’s nuclear envoy Kim Yong Chol yesterday and suggests he will be holding a second summit with Kim Jong Un.
“We’ve agreed to meet sometime, probably the end of February. We’ve picked a country but we’ll be announcing it in the future. Kim Jong Un is looking very forward to it and so am I.”
He also says progress is being made toward a trade deal with China and denied that he was considering lifting tariffs on Chinese products.
On the second anniversary of his inauguration, the Citizens for Ethics group has tallied up the number of conflicts of interests involving the president.
Apparently, Trump is ready to propose a compromise with Democrats on immigration in today's speech. He is prepared to extend protections for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme, and extend the legal status of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders. CNN’s Jeremy Diamond says he has confirmed the details first revealed by Axios.
Maggie Haberman of The New York Times also confirms the immigration compromise Trump – and Jared Kushner – have planned.
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