Trump news: Roger Stone demands unredacted Mueller report as president orders major changes to asylum

Committees in both chambers of Congress have started to lay the groundwork for an infrastructure bill through hearings, with Democratic lawmakers hoping to have legislation ready for consideration by June or July. 

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will give every House lawmaker a chance to share their infrastructure priorities on Wednesday. 

Then, the committee's chairman, Oregon Democrat Peter DeFazio will lead a delegation to visit a dilapidated, century-old tunnel that connects New Jersey and New York. Experts say a new tunnel is essential to ensuring reliable rail travel throughout the northeast, but the price tag will be steep. 

The infrastructure issue has aligned the nation's top business groups and unions, a rarity in Washington. The US Chamber of Commerce has proposed increasing the federal fuel tax 5 cents a year for five years, then allowing it to increase with inflation. The federal tax on gasoline now stands at 18.3 cents per gallon and at 24.3 cents per gallon for diesel fuel. The last time the federal gas tax went up was in 1993. 

Ed Mortimer, a vice president at the US Chamber of Commerce, said the group would have the back of lawmakers who face criticism back home for supporting a higher federal gas tax. 

"We're going to support any elected official willing to have a serious discussion and vote to raise revenue for infrastructure," Mortimer said. 

Earl Blumenauer, another Democratic congressman from Oregon, plans to introduce a bill incorporating the chamber's wishes to gradually raise the fuel tax by 25 cents and then allow the tax to rise with inflation. The bill will also call for eventually replacing the gas tax in favour of a system where drivers pay a user fee based on distance traveled. 

"That's the ultimate solution. We can't do that in less than 10 years, but we need to lay the foundation for it," Blumenauer said. 

So far this year, Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio and Virginia have enacted gas tax increases, although Virginia's only applies to a portion of the state. Some 30 states have done so since 2013. Blumenauer said many of the states that approved gas tax increases are led by Republicans, and he hopes they'll make their voices heard to Congress. 

But it's unclear whether Blumenauer will get support from Republican members of Congress, or even top Democratic leaders. 

Schumer advocated on Monday for rescinding portions of the tax cut bill Republicans passed in 2017 to pay for infrastructure. 

"By reversing only the most egregious giveaways in President Trump's tax bill, those given to the wealthiest of the wealthy, and raising the corporate tax cut a smidge we could finance the entirety of a $1 trillion (£771bn) infrastructure bill," Schumer said. 

Hillary Clinton read aloud from the Mueller report for comedian Jordan Klepper yesterday, specifically that key passage on Trump's reaction to the news Robert Mueller had been appointed as FBI special counsel to investigate it. You know the one.

The defeated 2016 candidate afterwards hailed the experience as "cathartic".

Here's Lowenna Waters for Indy100.

Stinging line from Nancy Pelosi on impeachment.

Not likely to get today's talks off to a good start if the big man sees this.

A little late in the day but this slice of banter Chuck Schumer posted over the weekend really is top drawer.

The United Nations' High Council for Refugees (UNHCR) has said that seeking asylum is a fundamental right and that people lodging applications should not be made to pay a fee, as proposed by the Trump administration in their latest memo.

UNHCR spokesman Charlie Yaxley told Reuters: "People shouldn't be charged financially to exercise that right."

"Seeking asylum is a fundamental human right. People should be allowed to exercise those rights when seeking to seek asylum," he told reporters in Geneva.

The UNHCR upholds compliance with a 1951 treaty, ratified by the United States, that says people fleeing conflict and persecution deserve international protection and safe refuge in another country.

The moves are the latest effort by the Trump administration to stem a growing number of Central American migrants crossing the US southern border with Mexico, many of whom then seek asylum in the United States.

Many of the changes would be dramatic shifts in how asylum seekers are treated, but would also require time-intensive regulatory procedures before they go into effect, which will likely take months.

Trump administration officials have repeatedly blamed US laws protecting asylum seekers for encouraging fraudulent or non-deserving claims.

But immigrant advocates say the Trump administration's efforts to restrict asylum protections harms people legitimately seeking refuge from violence and persecution.

Here's a reminder of Trump's criticism of his old stomping ground of New York yesterday.

He attacked the state for its failure to challenge his own tax law.

He also went after the Big Apple's investigation into the NRA.

And he demanded that The New York Times apologise to him personally over the anti-Semitic cartoon published in its international edition, in which Trump is seen walking Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a dog on a lead.

Joe Biden has accused Trump of "abusing the power of his office" in his first campaign speech since announcing his 2020 candidacy.

Here's Chris Stevenson with more.

Fox pundit Geraldo Rivera seems convinced by Biden.

The folks on Morning Joe meanwhile thinks Trump's frequent attacks on the candidate on Twitter suggest he's frightened of him.