Trump investigation designed to 'impeach or embarrass' president, furious leading Republican claims amid fury at Manafort sentence

Hilariously, Nickelback were debated on the floor of the House of Representatives yesterday.

In a nice reprieve from the Trump investigations and heated spats over antisemitism, Wisconsin Democrat Mark Pocan derided the unpopular Canadian rock band in passing before being picked up on the remark by Illinois Republican Rodney Davis, who warned him against offending fans or face the consequences at the ballot box.

"Wow. Another reason why there is a difference between Republicans and Democrats found on the floor of Congress today," Mr Pocan joked.

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Here's the president on Paul Manafort.

And here's Aaron Blake of The Washington Post with the key qualifier.

President Trump's reference to Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr relates to these remarks on Michael Cohen.

Having tweeted his predictable conclusion from yesterday's Paul Manafort verdict, President Trump has again stressed the need for a southern border wall:

He's also found time ahead of trips to Georgia and Florida today to deliver some good news for International Women's Day, taking credit for a rise in employment levels over seven years, five of which took place under Barack Obama.

Also for International Women's Day, President Donald Trump's 2020 budget proposal will include $100m (£77.6m) for a global women's fund spearheaded by his daughter Ivanka Trump. 

The White House said the budget, expected to be released on Monday, will include the funding for the Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative. The administration last month launched the government-wide project, which she leads.

Ms Trump stressed the initiative was "working towards our goal of economically empowering 50 million women in developing countries by 2025." She says the budget includes "a new $100m commitment" for the fund. 

The new initiative involves the State Department, the National Security Council and other agencies, as it aims to coordinate current programmes and develop new ones to help women in areas such as job training, financial support and legal or regulatory reforms. 

The funding will come through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which initially set up a $50m (£38m) fund for the effort using already budgeted money. The initiative will also be supported by programmes across the government, as well as private investment. 

Mr Trump has previously sought to cut USAID's budget. 

The White House also is expected to announce that the president will nominate Kelley Eckels Currie to serve as an ambassador-at-large for global women's issues. That position, established under President Barack Obama's administration, had been vacant since Mr Trump took office. 

Ivanka Trump praised Ms Currie, who currently serves as the representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. She said Ms Currie "is a formidable partner on women's economic empowerment and national security issues."

House Oversight and Reform Committee chairman Elijah Cummings has some strong words for Michael Cohen after treating him sympathetically during his seven-hour testimony before Congress eight days ago.

Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, has an equally tough message for Donald Trump.

US District Judge James Otero has tossed out a lawsuit brought by porn star Stormy Daniels against Donald Trump over a non-disparagement agreement.

The suit sought to invalidate the $130,000 (£99,500) agreement that kept Ms Daniels from speaking publicly about her allegations of an affair with Mr Trump ahead of the 2016 election - which was paid to her on the president's behalf by his now-estranged lawyer Michael Cohen.

But the Los Angeles federal judge has said it should be sent back to the California Superior Court where it was filed, making it clear the case is over.

Daniels and her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, insisted the outcome was a win for them.

The president is currently speaking to reporters on the White House's South Lawn before setting out for Alabama to tour the state's tornado damage.

He says he feels "badly" for Paul Manafort, who has suffered "a very, very tough time" and repeats his "collusion hoax" claim from his earlier tweet, again referring to the assessment on the matter given by Judge TS Ellis III and by Manafort's attorney Kevin Downing on the courthouse steps.

"The judge said there was no collusion with Russia. This had nothing to do with collusion, there was no collusion. It's a collusion hoax. It's a collusion witch hoax. I don't collude with Russia," he says.

"Keep the hoax going, it's just a hoax...Senator Burr said there's no collusion, you look at Devin Nunes and the House Intelligence Committee, they said there's no collusion and guess what, there is none."

Before boarding Marine One with first lady Melania, the president describes Michael Cohen as "a bad lawyer", says he "inherited a mess" in the Middle East and says of relations with Pyongyang: "Look, when I came in, under the Obama administration, North Korea was a disaster. You were going to war, folks, whether you knew it or not."

All this before branding the Democrats "an anti-Israel, an anti-Jewish party" over the Ilhan Omar controversy and taking off for Fort Benning, Alabama.

It's worth remembering the president's "violence on many sides" stance on the Unite the Right rally of neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville two summers ago - where anti-fascist activist Heather Heyer was killed - in light of his astonishingly casual accusation of antisemitism against the Democrats.

In amongst all that, President Trump told ABC's Kyra Phillips he hasn't discussed pardoning Paul Manafort, conspicuously not ruling out the possibility.