Trump news – live: President delivers July Fourth speech as protests and storms threaten to overshadow event
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Donald Trump has delivered a speech at his “Salute to America” event in Washington DC, as the country celebrates Independence Day.
Earlier in the day on Thursday, he pleaded for people to attend his Fourth of July celebration amid fears of a low turnout and concerns that the heavy tanks on display could damage the Lincoln Memorial.
A new Morning Consult poll revealed the president to be losing support in key states he won in 2016, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Ohio and Florida, as his Republican opponent Justin Amash announces his resignation from the GOP in opposition to Mr Trump's "dehumanising rhetoric".
Undeterred, the president has been on angry form on Twitter, hitting out at migrants over reports of squalid conditions in US border detention centres and warning Iran against making threats by issuing one of his own: “They can come back to bite you.”
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The US Secret Service says two people were arrested during a Fourth of July flag-burning incident on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House.
The arrests were made about two hours before President Donald Trump paid tribute to the U.S. military during a speech at the Lincoln Memorial. The Secret Service says one person was arrested for felony assault on a police officer and malicious burning. The other was arrested for hindering a police investigation and resisting arrest. Neither individual was identified.
It is not illegal to burn a US flag, but the Secret Service says the burning occurred beyond the limits of a permit issued by the National Park Service.
Two uniformed Secret Service officers suffered minor injuries while attempting to make the arrests.
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