Trump news: Michael Flynn case dropped as president claims protesters want to tear down statues of Jesus
Barack Obama makes rare rebuke of 'shambolic' White House
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An appeals court has ordered a judge to drop the case against Michael Flynn, a former aide to Donald Trump who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in 2018, news that Mr Trump boasted on social media while asking whether FBI Director James Comey would apologise.
Hours later, the president attended a press briefing in the White House's Rose Garden with Poland's nationalist president Andrezj Duda.
He accused protesters across the country of trying to tear down statues of prominent figures such as Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson following unrest in Washington DC as protesters attempted to pull down a statue of former President Andrew Jackson.
The president once again railed against German officials for falling short of Nato goals, calling the country's contributions a "tremendous delinquency" and has threatened to withdraw troops from the country as punishment. The Polish leader said removing any of the 52,000 US service members that are currently in Germany would be "very detrimental to European security".
Meanwhile, Mr Trump's top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci has issued a warning to Congress about the “disturbing” resurgence of the coronavirus in southern states that moved quickly to re-emerge from shutdown like Texas and Florida, saying the next few weeks will be “critical” to tackling the virus.
New York's tri-state area also announced a travel advisory against nine states with increased coronavirus cases, including Texas and Florida.
The president's predecessor Barack Obama, who Mr Trump has accused of "treason" in his Obamagate conspiracy, made a rare public rebuke of the sitting president, attacking his "shambolic" and "mean spirited approach to government" during an appearance at a virtual Joe Biden fundraiser.
"What we have seen over the last couple of years is a White House enabled by Republicans in Congress and a media structure that supports them that has not just differed in terms of policy but has gone at the very foundations of who we are and who we should be," he said.
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↵England in danger of following same route as US in pandemic, leading epidemiologist warns
England risks following the route of several US states which have seen a sharp rise in coronavirus cases after lifting lockdown too early, a leading epidemiologist has warned.
Professor Gabriel Scally, a member of the Independent Sage group of experts, said that the country was in a "difficult and dangerous situation" after Boris Johnson's decision to ease restrictions while daily infections are still running well into four figures, the NHS Test and Trace system has yet to prove its effectiveness and the promised smartphone app has been shown to be a "dead duck".
Andrew Woodcock reports:
'Mass murder on a national scale’: New advert attacks Trump’s comments on virus testing
A new political ad targets Donald Trump's recent remarks about "slowing down" testing — which his administration claimed was tongue in cheek but that he has since repeated, even telling reporters "I don't kid" — while the nation's death toll from coronavirus climbs past 120,000.
Louise Hall reports:
Wall Street drops 700 points on fears of surging coronavirus cases and dire IMF forecasts
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 700 points on Wednesday after the International Monetary Fund published a gloomy forecast for the global economy, and cases of Covid-19 surged in the US and around the world.
The 2.7 per cent drop by the Dow was mirrored by 2.6 per cent and 2.2 per cent falls in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, respectively.
California reported a staggering 7,149 new cases on Wednesday, according to data from the state Department of Public Health. This broke the previous record, set the day before, of more than 5,000.
Oliver O'Connell reports:
Trump and Polish president Duda split over fate of US troops leaving Germany
Donald Trump and his Polish counterpart split on Wednesday over the fate of 27,000 American military troops the US president has vowed to remove from Germany.
Mr Trump is miffed at German leaders for not paying more into Nato coffers, calling its contributions a "tremendous delinquency." He has railed against many of the European members of the military alliance, set up after World War II to guard against potential Russian aggression.
Other world leaders have mostly tried to please Mr Trump during White House visits when they have joined him for a joint press conference or remarks. Andrzej Duda largely did the same, but did break with Mr Trump on the fate of the troops now stationed in Germany.
John T Bennett reports:
We're closing up today's live coverage of the Trump administration.
Stay tuned with The Independent.
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