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As it happenedended

Trump news: Impeachment case 'to be made by Mueller this week', as president attempts to defend his racism in press conference

Chris Riotta
New York
,Joe Sommerlad
Monday 22 July 2019 13:30 EDT
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Jerry Nadler says Mueller report presents 'very substantial evidence' Donald Trump guilty of 'high crimes and misdemeanors'

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Donald Trump's “high crimes and misdemeanours” will be made public when Robert Mueller gives testimony before Congress later this week, says House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Mr Nadler said the former FBI special counsel has “substantial evidence” that the president violated the law “six ways from Sunday”, which will be made clear to the American people when Mr Mueller discusses the evidence contained in his 448-page report into the administration before his panel and the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday.

In a new embarrassment for the administration, US Customs and Border Protection has been forced to admit that no new stretches of Mr Trump's much-promised border wall have actually been built since he took office in January 2017 - all the work ongoing so far has been to repair pre-existing barriers.

Donald Trump said officials in Iran “lie a lot” while refuting Tehran’s insinuations the US did not take down one of its unmanned drones.

“We took down one of their drones. Instead of saying 'yeah that happened,' they lied. They say it didn't happen,” he said. “So there's a lot of proof. It's called, take a look at it on the ocean floor."

Mr Trump meanwhile said on Monday he could win the war in Afghanistan in a week, but that he doesn’t want to kill millions of people and wipe Afghanistan “off the face of the earth.”

The president met with the prime minister of Pakistan at the White House to start the week, while trying to persuade Pakistan to help get a deal with the Taliban that would end America’s longest war.

“I could win that war in a week” but “I don’t want to kill millions of people,” he said.

Afghanistan is high on Mr Trump’s agenda as he meets with Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan. Their testy relationship may be improving. Mr Trump says Pakistan can use its influence with the Taliban to help the US “extricate” from Afghanistan.

Pakistan, which is suffering economically, wants to reset relations with the US in hopes of securing more investment, trade and possibly a restoration of American aid that Mr Trump cut.

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Mr Khan said he’s never believed that there was a military solution to the war. He said he thinks the US and the Taliban are closer to a peace deal than ever before.

Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load

Here's the latest on the Iran situation ICYMI, where Tehran has sentenced 17 "CIA spies" to death after claiming to have broken up their surveillance ring.

Harry Cockburn and Richard Hall have this.

Joe Sommerlad22 July 2019 12:25

On the border, Democratic congresswoman and Squad stalwart Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called for a "9/11-style commission" to investigate the impact of the administration's family separation policy at detention centres.

"The 9/11 commission, they were charged with the investigating and making sure they dug out every nook and cranny of what happened and how it happened in our system," AOC said.

"And I think that that kind of study is what’s going to be required in order to reunite as many children with their parents as possible. That’s the work that we have to do."

She argued that the US has a "lifelong" commitment to the children it is separating from their parents: "We have responsibility to provide mental health care services to those children for the rest of their lives."

"Even if you separate a kid from their parents for two days you have already created lifelong lasting trauma.

"It chills me to my core to think about 20 years from now, when these kids grow up, the story that they will have about America. That is exactly why we cannot allow this administration to define immigration policy within the United States. This is something that I think is going to have to take a 9/11-style commission," she added.

Joe Sommerlad22 July 2019 12:40

A Louisiana police officer has meanwhile been heavily criticised after suggesting AOC should be shot in a post online.

The congresswoman has been the subject of much vitriol of late as the face of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. One Facebook group, used by border officials, even hosted graphic memes depicting her being subjected to sexual violence.

Joe Sommerlad22 July 2019 12:55

Here are his latest tweets - more Fed bashing. Not a Hall of Famer.

Joe Sommerlad22 July 2019 13:05

Secretary of state Mike Pompeo is being interviewed on Fox and Friends. It's about as measured an exchange as you might expect.

Joe Sommerlad22 July 2019 13:10

Here's how Trump caught his entire staff off guard with his racist tweets tirade last week, a blaze 26 White House aides were assigned to extinguish.

Joe Sommerlad22 July 2019 13:25

2020 Democratic presidential challenger Pete Buttigieg has told ABC News that white supremacy “could be the lurking issue that ends this country”, responding to the "Send her back!" chant that erupted at a Trump ally in Greenville, North Carolina, last week against Somalia-born congresswoman Ilhan Omar. 

“We’ve had a lot challenges in this country, but the one that actually almost ended this country in the civil war was white supremacy.

“It could be the lurking issue that ends this country in the future, if we don’t wrangle it down in our time.”

“The key to dealing with racial discussions in the country is honesty,” Buttigieg told ABC. “And that means honesty about how we got here. It means honesty about what we are up against.

“Also, in my view, it means treating racial inequality as a specialty issue, as an issue to be talked about with audiences of colour only - but as something that frankly white Americans need to take more seriously.

“The entire American experiment is at stake in whether we can manage to deliver prosperity in a way that your race has no bearing on your income, your wealth, your employment opportunities, your experience with criminal justice [and] your ability to vote,” he added.

“We’re just not there and we won’t get there until we acknowledge that replacing a racist historical structure with a more neutral current one is not enough.”

Joe Sommerlad22 July 2019 13:40

Ivanka Trump posted a picture of her daughter's new dog on social media over the weekend and the jokes pretty much wrote themselves.

Darren Richman has more for Indy100.

Joe Sommerlad22 July 2019 13:55

In the last hour, Trump has been getting Orwellian on fake news and laying into Robert Mueller.

The retired FBI special counsel "should not be given another bite at the apple", he says.

Joe Sommerlad22 July 2019 14:10

Donald Trump has denied reports of Iran shooting down an unmanned US drone and capturing alleged CIA spies, calling the Tehran’s statements “just more lies and propaganda” amid increasing global tensions -

Chris Riotta22 July 2019 14:20

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