Trump news: House votes to take Barr and McGahn to court, as president launches bizarre tirade over European tourism
President lambasts immigration and attacks Democratic frontrunner during another day of chaotic news
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has tweeted an article about a boom in European tourism as a means of continuing his attack on the US Federal Reserve, arguing domestic interest rates are too high and attacking its policy of “ridiculous quantitative tightening”, declaring: “They don’t have a clue!”
This comes after the House Judiciary Committee announced it had struck a deal with the Justice Department to gain access to redacted interview notes from FBI special counsel Robert Mueller, including “first-hand accounts of misconduct” relating to President Trump, in exchange for not immediately pursing a contempt of Congress action against attorney general William Barr.
A full session of the House of Representatives will still vote as planned on Tuesday on a resolution making it easier to sue the administration and potential witnesses if they refuse to comply with congressional subpoenas, as ex-White House counsel Don McGahn did when asked to give testimony before the Judiciary Committee on whether the president attempted to obstruct justice.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump and Joe Biden assailed each other during overlapping visits to Iowa on Tuesday, previewing what the country might get in next year’s election if Mr Biden becomes his party’s nominee.
Even before he left the White House, the president unleashed a series of schoolyard taunts, declaring that “Joe Biden is a dummy.”
Mr Biden quickly retorted that the president is “an existential threat to this country.”
The back-and-forth laid bare the rising political stakes for each, even with Election Day 2020 still about 17 months away. Mr Trump has zeroed in on Mr Biden as a potential threat to his re-election chances and is testing themes to beat him back.
Mr Biden, meanwhile, is campaigning as a front-runner, relishing the one-on-one fight with Mr Trump while making sure he doesn’t ignore the demands of the Democratic primary.
The former vice president hit Mr Trump on the economy — an issue the president often promotes as his chief strength in a time of low unemployment.
“I hope his presence here will be a clarifying event because Iowa farmers have been crushed by his tariffs toward China,” Mr Biden said. “It’s really easy to be tough when someone else absorbs the pain, farmers and manufacturers.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary under Donald Trump, lambasted Mr Biden on Tuesday during a press gaggle outside of the White House, blaming him in part for Russian interference in the 2016 election and China’s economic growth.
“I’m sure Biden has a lot of questions he needs to answer himself,” the press secretary told reporters when asked about the his upcoming speech in Iowa later that night. Both the president and Mr Biden were scheduled to deliver speeches in Iowa on Tuesday.
Mr Biden “was part of the administration that allowed Russia to interfere in our election,” Ms Sanders continued, also blaming the previous White House for allowing “China to continue to grow.”
Story to come...
It looks like Donald Trump's eldest son may have come up with a new nickname for Joe Biden ahead of the former vice president's speech in Iowa tonight, where he's expected to call the president an "existential threat" -
A quick update on the president’s schedule today:
Donald Trump is expected to be departing from Joint Base Andrews in Washington this hour to head to Offutt Air Force Base. He’s then departing to Council Bluffs, Iowa after a short stop.
He will tour the Southweast Iowa Energy facilities and deliver remarks on renewable energy at 3:20pm.
At about 5:30 the president will head to the Des Moines International Airport en route to West Des Moines, Iowa. He will then deliver his speech at the Ron Pearson Centre at 6:30pm.
The president has already come out swinging against Joe Biden's upcoming Iowa speech:
Donald Trump also tried out some nicknames on the former vice president before departing for Iowa. The two are scheduled to hold duelling rallies in the crucial state for the 2020 elections:
Here's my story on Sarah Huckabee Sanders' comments attacking Joe Biden ahead of his Iowa speech later tonight:
Republicans have come out swinging against investigations into Donald Trump after the House Judiciary Committee invited John Dean to deliver public testimony on Watergate and presidential obstruction of justice.
Among those speaking out against the probes this week included conservative Josh Hawley, who at 39-years-old is the youngest member of the US senate after winning his midterm elections by striking a populist tone and supporting much of the president’s agenda.
The senator told Fox News in an interview on Monday that speaking with Mr Dean was “a total waste of time,” noting what he believed to be bigger issues facing the country like border security.
“Talk about living in the past,” Mr Hawley said on Monday. “The Democrats want to talk about Watergate? I mean this happened before I was born! This is a total waste of time.”
Story to come...
Meanwhile, a new poll shows Joe Biden continuing to hold a strong lead in the Democratic primaries as he and Donald Trump plan to hold duelling rallies in Iowa tonight:
Here’s my story on Republican Senator Josh Hawley decrying efforts to connect Watergate to Donald Trump’s alleged obstruction of justice:
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