Trump news : White House denies Kushner security clearance files as Democrats threaten 'next steps'

Republican senator Rand Paul looks set to be the man to cast the deciding vote in the Senate on the resolution expressing disapproval over the border wall, sending it flying through both Houses and onto the president's desk in the Oval Office.

"I support President Trump. I supported his fight to get funding for the wall from Republicans and Democrats alike, and I share his view that we need more and better border security," the Kentuckian said.

"However, I cannot support the use of emergency powers to get more funding, so I will be voting to disapprove of his declaration when it comes before the Senate."

Meanwhile on Fox... 

In news fairly unlikely to set the world alight, Dr Ben Carson, the Trump administration's housing and development secretary, announced he would step down at the end of the president's first term in 2020.

A flurry of angry tweets as President Trump wakes on Jerrold Nadler, Adam Schiff and the Democrats.

That "fishing expedition" phrase is a direct repetition of Sarah Sanders' line from yesterday while the claim "The Dems are obstructing justice" seeks to turn Mr Nadler's own remark against him.

In addition to hitting out at his enemies, The Donald actually had a nice message about the second-ever patient to be cured of HIV - even crediting the "failing" New York Times for the story!

This just a week after calling the newspaper the "enemy of the people".

Only to then go back to boasting as usual...

Here's Chris Riotta's spin on the president's morning tweetstorm about the "stone cold CRAZY" Democrats out to get him.

And here's more on attorney-general William Barr's decision not to recuse himself from the FBI's Russia investigation, courtesy of Jon Sharman.

The possibility of Donald Trump handing a presidential pardon to Michael Cohen was discussed by attorneys for both camps in April last year, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The conversations allegedly took place between Stephen Ryan, Cohen's attorney at the time, and Jay Sekulow, Rudy Giuliani and Joanna Hendon, all of whom represented the president in the wake of an FBI raid on Cohen's home and offices.

After giving explosive testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee last week, in which he described President Trump as "a racist, a conman and a cheat", Michael Cohen will now begin a three-year prison sentence in May.

Trump administration adviser Jeff Ballabon has some strong words for Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar over her critique of Israeli interest groups in Washington (see below), branding the representative from Minnesota "filth".

"The problem is that her beliefs are deeply rooted in hatred and antisemitism. She is a hater. I'm going to say it, she is filth," Mr Ballabon told Fox Business interviewer Stuart Varney.

"She has no place in the Congress. She has no place on the Foreign Affairs Committee. It's outrageous that Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, the most powerful Democrat in America, appears on [the cover of] Rolling Stone, hand in hand with her smiling this week. It's outrageous.

"She is a filthy, disgusting hater. So what if she's in Congress? That's the problem. The problem is they have now taken antisemitism in its worst, most base, disgusting force, and they've mainstreamed it." 

A little more on those letters being sent out to 81 Trump affiliates by the House Judiciary Committee.

- At the Trump Organisation, Don Jr and Eric - in charge while their father is away in Washington - were asked about discussions that took place in the immediate aftermath of the election win and about the firing of James Comey and appointment of Robert Mueller.

- Company officials Matthew Calamari, Allen Weisselberg and Rhona Graff were meanwhile asked to provide documents regarding "any loan, financing transaction, or capital investment by the Russian Federation, any Russian national, any Russian business, or any other Russian entity to the Trump Organization".

- Many of the recipients were asked about the Stormy Daniels and Karen MacDouglas "hush money" payments to conceal their alleged affairs with Mr Trump. Michael Cohen received a request from the panel, as did American Media Inc, The National Enquirer's parent company, and its CEO David Pecker. The latter helped kill potentially embarrassing stories about Mr Trump over the years by paying hush money in a practice known as "catch-and-kill". 

- Most of those present at the notorious Trump Tower meeting with Kremlin-linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya on 9 June 2016 received letters asking for related correspondence already handed to Congress, including Don Jr, Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, publicist Rob Goldstone, Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin, a translator and Ike Kaveladze, a business associate of a Moscow-based developer.

- Of the White House advisers, Steve Bannon, Hope Hicks, Sean Spicer and Don McGahn were all asked about Comey, Mueller and potential election interference and to turn over any work diaries, journals or "a description of daily events related to your employment" by Mr Trump. 

- Julian Assange and WikiLeaks were also contacted over the site's publishing emails stolen from Democrats by Russian spies during the 2016 campaign. The letter to the hacktivist still living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London - asks for "discussions or attempts to provide or receive election information, campaign data, or campaign communications with, to, or from foreign entities or individuals in connection with the 2016 US presidential primary or general elections".