Trump news – President ‘very disappointed’ in reports North Korea rebuilding missile site as Democrats threaten impeachment

A spike in arrests on the US border with Mexico has prompted critics of President Trump to warn his approach to tackling illegal immigration is not only not working but having an encouraging effect.

Around 76,000 people were picked up by border agents in February, a 50 percent increase year-on-year and a 12-year high.

Here's Clark Mindock with more.

Here's an unusual aside from Trumpland: Aberdeen and Scotland footballer Scott McKenna has come under fire for accepting a post as ambassador of Donald Trump's nearby golf course.

Melania Trump joined in with her husband's attack on the media on Tuesday.

On tour in Las Vegas to promote her "Be Best" anti-bullying initiative and discuss the impact of the opioid crisis on children, the first lady said: "I challenge the press to devote as much time to the lives lost and the potential lives that could be saved by dedicating the same amount of coverage that you do to idle gossip or trivial stories."

"When we see breaking news on TV or the front pages of newspapers, it is my hope that it can be about how many lives we were able to save through education and honest dialogue."

The US trade deficit has jumped nearly 19 percent, undermining a key commitment by President Trump.

The US trade imbalance for 2018 widened to a decade-long high of $261bn (£199bn). The gap with China on goods widened to an all-time record of $419.2bn (£319bn).

Mr Trump promised to cut the trade imbalance on the belief it would bring back overseas factory jobs and bolster the broader US economy.

But America's dependence on imports appears to have increased after the tariffs Mr Trump imposed last year on foreign steel, aluminium and Chinese products.

An acceleration in economic growth last year from President Trump's debt-funded tax cuts helped to boost the appetite for foreign goods.

Donald Trump and his son Eric made a surprise phone call to a man dying of cystic fibrosis.

The president told 44-year-old Jay Barrett of West Haven, Connecticut: "I wish you could come to a rally. I wish you could come ... You keep that fight going. We both fight."

The call was made possible by Mr Barrett's sister, West Haven City councilwoman Bridgette Hoskie, who describes herself as "100 per cent Democrat".

President Trump considers the House Judiciary Committee's latest probe evidence of "presidential harassment" and part of the ongoing "witch hunt" against him. The rest of his administration has been towing a similar party line.

Press secretary Sarah Sanders issued this strongly-worded statement yesterday:

...As Eric Trump told Fox News Radio he considered Congress "incompetent" and said: "We're going to fight the hell out of it. And we'll fight where we need and we'll cooperate where we need, but the desperation shows."

President Trump's campaign spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany has meanwhile accused Democrats of stopping "at nothing, including destroying the lives and reputations of many innocent Americans who only have sought to serve their country honorably, but who hold different political views than their own."

The rhetoric is every bit as consistent and measured as you'd expect.

Speaking of the White House press secretary, she's been on Fox and Friends this morning with some top-drawer sloganeering.

Republican senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota bending over backwards to defend the president's "hush money" payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal here on CNN after The New York Times reported he routinely took time out from his working day to sign cheques reimbursing his then-lawyer turned "rat" Michael Cohen.

He did it to spare his family the pain of finding out about the alleged infidelities, apparently.

Some delightful insights into the Trump inauguration from Bloomberg's Caleb Melby, an event currently being investigated by New York federal prosecutors and the attorneys-general of New Jersey and the District of Columbia over concerns about how its record-breaking $107m (£81m) fundraising was spent and some of the donors making contributions.

Despite Sarah Sanders' insistence to the contrary, the 45th president did personally involve himself in the planning for his swearing-in ceremony in Washington on 20 January 2017, which was famously poorly-attended and struggled to book musical acts because of the divisive nature of the candidate's rhetoric on the campaign trail.

Donald Trump reportedly fretted about securing the services of the New York dance troupe The Rockettes and finding the right tablecloths and hoped to give his friends at Fox News the exclusive broadcast rights as a thank you for their support.

The following extract is particularly glorious:

"In the final days before the inauguration, a contractor called Don’s Johns began lining up portable toilets near event sites. [Rick] Gates instructed staff to cover the company logo with tape, which prompted the chief operating officer of Don’s Johns to promise to rip it off."

Donald Trump’s nominees to become the next US ambassadors to Saudi Arabia and Iraq - John Abizaid and Matthew Tueller respectively - are scheduled to meet with politicians during confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill this week.

The hearings arrive a day after the Senate was provided new details about the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi during closed-door meetings on Tuesday afternoon. 

Here's Chris Riotta.