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As it happenedended

Trump news: President admits he has not even read Mueller report, as key aide branded a 'scumbag'

Attorney General William Barr tells lawmakers he believes 'spying did occur' on the president's 2016 campaign

Chris Riotta
New York
,Joe Sommerlad
Wednesday 10 April 2019 17:26 EDT
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Donald Trump: 'Obama started children separation. I'm the one who stopped it'

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Donald Trump has told reporters he had not seen or read a report produced by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Speaking on the White House lawn before departing for a trip to Texas, the president told media “I won” while claiming he did not care to read the conclusion from the special counsel’s findings.

His comments arrived as Attorney General William Barr arrived on Capitol Hill for another day of testimony in front of Congressional lawmakers, saying Wednesday he thinks “spying did occur” against the president’s 2016 campaign.

“I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal,” Mr Barr said, calling the type of spying he believed took place as “unauthorised.”

“Yes I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump's acting interior secretary, David Bernhardt, attempted to conceal meetings with fossil fuel lobbyists and representatives of timber, mining and other natural resources industries from his official schedule, according to reports.

The president was set to announce further bad news for environmentalists during a trip to Texas on Wednesday when he signs an executive order designed to make it harder for states to scuttle unwanted pipeline projects and other energy initiatives by denying permit permissions on water quality grounds - a loophole regularly exploited, according to Republicans.

And to cap it all off, the president is facing legal action from Warner Brothers after using an excerpt from composer Hans Zimmer's score for the Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises (2012) for a campaign video without permission.

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Lawmakers are now refuting the notion that there was spying against Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign on the part of the Department of Justice. 

Mark Warner told reporters that William Barr “almost seems to be endorsing one of these theories that has been debunked time and time again” when he said there was “unauthorised spying” on the campaign. 

Chris Riotta10 April 2019 19:12

The president will reportedly host a “Tax Day” event in Minnesota next week, according to White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who made the announcement today on Air Force One. 

The event will likely feature discussion about the GOP tax cut signed into law last year, though no additional details were released. Tax Day is 15 April. 

Chris Riotta10 April 2019 19:30

Donning green face masks and appearing as monsters that just stepped out of a haunting marsh, a group of environmental advocates delivered a near-170,000-signature petition to senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s office on Wednesday to oppose Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Interior, David Bernhardt. 

The “swamp monsters” were from Greenpeace, a global environmental justice group that has fought back against the White House’s environmental deregulation and the administration’s lack of progress on climate change reform. 

Irene Kim, a Greenpeace USA activist who helped deliver the petitions to the Senate Majority Leader's offices, said in a statement to The Independent: “Is it weird that I put on my best suit and a swamp monster mask to pay a visit to Mitch McConnell’s office? Sure. But not as weird as putting [oil industry lobbyist and acting US secretary of the interior] David Bernhardt in charge of our country’s public lands and waters.”

Chris Riotta10 April 2019 19:50

Looks like conservative outlets have ran with William Barr's accusations of spying against the Trump campaign in 2016 - despite the attorney general acknowledging he has no evidence to back such claims at the moment:

Chris Riotta10 April 2019 20:10

Donald Trump is once again contradicting himself. 

The president discussed the emptiness of Texas during an immigration roundtable event in San Antonio, days after claiming the country was “full” and could no longer accept migrants at the US-Mexico border. 

Chris Riotta10 April 2019 20:30

Donald Trump has announced he spoke with Benjamin Netanyahu “to congratulate him on a great and hard-fought win.”

The president added, “The United States is with him and the People of Israel all the way!”

Chris Riotta10 April 2019 20:45

Donald Trump has once again attacked Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. 

The president called it “an illegal investigation” while lambasting “18 people that truly hate President Trump.” 

“I fought back hard against this Phony & Treasonous Hoax,” he added.

Chris Riotta10 April 2019 21:07

The acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Ron Vitiello, will leave his post this Friday, MSNBC has reported. Mr Vitiello is the lastest official to be removed from their position amid an apparent purge at the Department of Homeland Security and other entities handling US immigration. 

Chris Riotta10 April 2019 21:25

Donald Trump’s purge has continued at the Department of Homeland Security with yet another top official’s apparent removal being announced this week. 

Ron Vitiello, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would be leaving his post by Friday, a department spokesperson confirmed. 

The longtime border official’s nomination to oversee the agency was withdrawn last week as the president and his administration sought to clamp down on an uptick in undocumented immigration along the US-Mexico border. 

Chris Riotta10 April 2019 21:50

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has released a new video calling on Donald Trump “to fix the chaos” in his administration. 

The Democrat said the president “keeps pointing his finger to blame others” about the systemic issues taking place under his leadership in Washington: 

Chris Riotta10 April 2019 22:11

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