Trump news - LIVE: White House refuses to rule out Manafort pardon as Pelosi suggests impeachment 'too divisive'

Fox News anchor and Trump ally Tucker Carlson has dug in his heels, refused to apologise and attacked the "great American outrage machine" after left-leaning nonprofit Media Matters unearthed a treasure trove of ugly remarks he made about women and sexual assault on his Bubba the Love Sponge radio show between 2006 and 2011.

"It’s pointless to try to explain how the words were spoken in jest or taken out of context or in any case bear no resemblance to what you actually think or would want for the country. None of that matters. Nobody cares. You know the role you’re required to play: You are a sinner, begging the forgiveness of Twitter," Mr Carlson said on Fox, the broadcaster so far refusing to condemn his comments.

Satirist Stephen Colbert summarised the whole rotten episode rather neatly on The Late Show last night: "Let's be honest, you're awful on so many levels. But on the positive side, I think R Kelly just got a character witness."

Here's Clarisse Loughrey.

The president's son, Don Jr, has backed Tucker Carlson:

But Stormy Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, was less convinced:

An interesting poll from the Midwest suggests 40 percent of Iowa Republicans would like see Donald Trump face a challenger from within the GOP's ranks, with only 41 percent saying they were dead against the idea.

The state will host the first 2020 presidential caucus in 10 months' time and takes pride in its role as the first "vetter" of candidates. 

Iowa remains a Trump stronghold though, with 81 percent of responders to the CNN/Des Moines Register/Mediacom survey saying they believed the president was doing a good job in office.

Here's Andrew Buncombe.

A little more background colour on the Michael Cohen-Stormy Daniels payments from lawyer Keith Davidson, interviewed by CNN's Chris Cuomo.

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The Donald is up and doubling down on his antisemitism attack on the Democrats.

The president appears to be quoting a 23-year-old Jewish author, figure skater and model who worked on the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and got married at Mar-a-Lago on Boxing Day.

Her website, Jexodus, founded in 2019, stands for "proud Jewish Millennials tired of living in bondage to leftist politics".

What perfect timing for such a site to exist - exactly when her old employer needed it to make his spurious case against the Democrats!

Here she is on Fox and Friends this morning, which is very much the final piece of the puzzle.

He's watching Fox and Friends and claiming the co-founder of Greenpeace Patrick Moore is saying climate change is "Fake Science".

Wow indeed.

How perfect. It's almost as though they... colluded.

Paul Manafort, appearing in court for sentencing for the second time in a week on Wednesday, is expected to be given a much rougher ride by Judge Amy Berman Jackson after TS Ellis III of Virginia concluded the veteran political operator had "lived an otherwise blameless life" and gave him just 47 months in jail.

Judge Jackson will sentence Manafort for two charges he plead guilty to last year - conspiracy against the US and conspiracy to obstruct justice by attempting to tamper with witnesses - and could hand down a maximum of 10 years in prison.

His plea before her court involved confessing to the personal financial crimes Judge Ellis dealt with last week.

Commentators have speculated that the latter's leniency might encourage Judge Jackson to take a firmer stance.

This instance comes much closer to the heart of FBI special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia collusion, touching on Manafort's work as a political consultant in the Ukraine and his contacts in Russia, notably associate Konstantin Kilimnik.

How closely Judge Jackson will touch on the investigation is unclear given Mr Mueller's probe is still ongoing but she did write of Manafort in February that he "made multiple false statements to the FBI, the OSC [Office of the Special Counsel] and the grand jury concerning matters that were material to the investigation".

She has been unsympathetic to Manafort throughout the case and told the defendant last June: "I am concerned that you seem inclined to treat these proceedings as just another marketing exercise and not a criminal case brought by a duly appointed federal prosecutor in a federal court."

Judge Jackson has also taken Manafort's attorney Kevin Downing to task for being smug and overbearing and shutdown his attempt to call-out the impact of media interest in the case.

Here's a striking new horror film for your delectation: Steve Bannon: The Movie.

Here's professor of clinical psychology Simon McCarthy-Jones on Donald Trump and "weaponised humiliation" for Indy Voices.