Trump news: President called Fox reporter into Oval Office to argue over Alabama gaffe as new tax fraud allegation emerges
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Donald Trump was so incensed by reporting over his erroneous suggestion Hurricane Dorian could have hit Alabama that he summoned Fox News correspondent John Roberts to the Oval Office on Thursday to argue about the gaffe, according to CNN, part of a day spent obsessing over the matter on Twitter.
Mr Trump’s presentation of a weather map of the storm’s path he appeared to have doctored himself with a black Sharpie prompted 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg to comment: “I feel sorry for the president, and that is not the way we should feel about the most powerful figure in this country.”
Meanwhile, a new investigation into an unexplained $50m (£41m) construction loan the president took out to build his Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago a decade ago appears to leave him open to allegations of tax fraud, concerns that have festered since he broke with White House custom by refusing to release his returns.
To add to the president's mounting controversies,
House Democrats are demanding information about the spending of taxpayer money at the president's hotels and properties. They're seeing violations of the US Constitution that some think could bolster the case for his impeachment.
The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020
Show all 25There have been "multiple efforts" by Mr Trump and administration officials to spend federal money at his properties, including Vice President Mike Pence's stay this week at a Trump resort in Doonbeg, Ireland, the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform Committees said in letters Friday to the White House, federal agencies and the Trump Organisation.
The Democrats describe Mr Pence's visit, and the possibility that next year's Group of Seven summit will be held at Mr Trump's Miami-area Doral golf resort , as corrupting the presidency. Payments from foreign officials are particularly troubling, they say, considering the emoluments clause in the Constitution that bans the president from taking gifts from other governments.
"We have been focused on the Mueller report, and that is a very small part of the overall picture," said Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin, a member of the Judiciary panel. "We must get America focused on the ongoing violations against basic constitutional principles."
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said taxpayer spending in Mr Trump's business empire is "of grave concern" to his panel, which is weighing whether to recommend articles of impeachment. Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings said his committee "does not believe that U.S. taxpayer funds should be used to personally enrich President Trump, his family and his companies."
The Democrats insist they are not pivoting their investigations away from former special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report, which did not exonerate the president of obstruction of justice. But with many of their subpoenas bogged down in court, and Mr Mueller's findings fading in the public's attention, a soft reboot is clearly underway, with a new focus on other allegations of possible wrongdoing by the president.
David Cicilline, another Democrat on the Judiciary panel, says he believes the misuse of public funds or other examples of financial corruption make Americans especially angry. And while people have heard a lot about the Mueller report, they may know less about the emoluments clause, he said.
Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
Mike Pence was greeted with a display of LGBT+ solidarity upon arrival in Iceland, after the Nordic island’s president wore a rainbow bracelet to their meeting and businesses displayed Pride flags outside buildings.
The US vice-president, visiting the capital Reykjavík as part of a whirlwind European tour, has a history of supporting anti-LGBT+ policies, including as Indiana governor when he voted against a ban on discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation. He also opposed the repeal of a law preventing openly gay people serving in the military.
Pulling up to Höfði House – the venue of President Ronald Reagan’s historic 1986 meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev – Mr Pence was met by half a dozen Pride flags planted conspicuously outside an office block opposite the building.
ICYMI: Donald Trump has attacked his predecessor Barack Obama and the chair of the federal reserve in a series of rambling early morning tweets.
The US president first took umbrage with an Obama-era programme allowing protections for some young undocumented immigrants, called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca)
"President Obama never had the legal right to sign DACA, and he indicated so at the time of signing. But In any event, how can he have the right to sign and I don’t have the right to 'unsigned.'" Mr Trump said on Friday.
"Totally illegal document which would actually give the President new powers."
He later added: "DACA will be going before the Supreme Court. It is a document that even President Obama didn’t feel he had the legal right to sign - he signed it anyway!
Former Access Hollywood co-host Billy Bush has revealed that he considered suicide after the video of Donald Trump saying “grab them by the pussy” was leaked.
Bush was fired by NBC in 2016 after an Access Hollywood outtake from 2005 surfaced, in which Trump boasted about his ability to sexually harass and assault women and Bush appeared to laugh along.
Recalling the aftermath of his firing, Bush told The Daily Beast: “Suicidal thoughts pop into your head. I’d never seriously do it – because I have children that matter. But when you’re really low – and this is important to include – you’re emoting at the most extreme.
Max Burns has written the following blistering analysis on the latest jobs report, and it’s a very worthy read. Here’s some of it:
The American economy is slowing – and Trump should be worried.
America’s August jobs report is in, and it isn’t the rosy picture President Donald Trump hoped. For Trump, the news worsens an already precarious electoral situation.
Faced with slumping crop prices, declining manufacturing and anemic domestic growth, Trump hopes Americans will be wowed by the 130,000 new jobs added in August. Look closer and you’ll see the cracks in the plaster.
Hidden in the data is the fact that nearly 30,000 of those new jobs are temporary positions created to assist the US Census. That means the American economy created only 100,000 private sector jobs last month, well below the three-month average of 190,000. That disappointing number comes after sharp downward revisions to job growth numbers for June and July.
Donald Trump’s Republican challenger Joe Walsh is accusing the president of ‘trying to rig the system in 2020’ -
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats have lashed out at the Republican Party across the country for shuddering primaries as Donald Trump sees GOP challengers for the presidency -
Just in case you didn't want the Donald Trump-lies-about-Alabama-being-included-in-Hurricane-Dorian's-forecast news cycle to end, the president's 2020 campaign is now selling black pens to drive the "FAKE NEWS absolutely crazy!" -
Despite the president repeatedly claiming without evidence that Alabama would be included in Hurricane Dorian's trajectory, the state was never likely to be hit with the brunt of the historic storm.
Since the president has spread so much falsity about the hurricane, here's the latest we have on Dorian's path to get you prepared for the weekend -
That's all for today's live coverage from The Independent. Stay dry, rest up and enjoy your weekend. Check back throughout the weekend for storm coverage and we'll be back on Monday to bring you the latest developments.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies