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Donald Trump’s re-election campaign said on Wednesday it had filed a libel suit against the New York Times accusing the newspaper of intentionally publishing a false opinion article related to Russian interference in the 2016 US election. A statement from the campaign said the aim of the litigation was to “hold the news organization accountable for intentionally publishing false statements against President Trump’s campaign”.
President Trump started talking about the Academy Awards during a campaign rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday. Parasite was named best picture, becoming the first non-English-language film to get the top honor. “What the hell was that all about?” Trump said. “We’ve got enough problems with South Korea with trade. On top of that, they give them best movie of the year. Was it good? I don’t know.”
US Attorney General William Barr has said that President Donald Trump “undercuts” him by tweeting, making it “impossible for me to do my job”. His criticism of Mr Trump comes amid intense scrutiny of the Justice Department over the handling of a case involving Roger Stone – a convicted former advisor to the president. The attorney general had been accused of bowing to presidential pressure.
Trump’s annual address was bookended by two moments of tension between the president and the House speaker. When he arrived for his speech, Trump appeared to reject a handshake from Nancy Pelosi, and the speaker later tore up her copy of the president’s remarks as he was wrapping up. Trump made it through the speech without mentioning impeachment.
US President Donald Trump has faced growing criticism over his threats to attack Iran’s cultural sites. The UN’s cultural organization and UK foreign secretary were among those to note that such sites were protected. The US and Iran have signed conventions to protect cultural heritage, including during conflict. Military attacks targeting cultural sites are considered war crimes under international law.
Trump fans, including the president’s oldest son, ripped the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Thursday for editing out his father’s cameo in “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.” Donald Trump Jr. tweeted out an article from a right-wing website that called the trimming of the seven-second cameo as “pathetic.” Later, the president himself appeared to joke about it, tweeting, “I guess Justin T doesn’t much like my making him pay up on NATO or Trade!”
The former British spy who authored several reports alleging links between Russia and President Trump’s 2016 campaign had been a personal friend of Trump’s daughter Ivanka, a relationship that he said made him “favorably disposed” to the Trump family. Steele told investigators he had visited the Trump family member at Trump Tower in New York and had once gifted the person a family tartan from Scotland.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley blasted former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, recalling a private conversation where they defended resisting President Trump, telling her they did so out of necessity. Haley said that the two men “confided in me that when they resisted the president, they weren’t being insubordinate, they were trying to save the country.”
A New York judge has ordered President Donald Trump to pay $2m (£1.6m) for misusing funds from his charity to finance his 2016 political campaign. The Donald J Trump Foundation closed down in 2018. Prosecutors had accused it of working as “little more than a checkbook” for Mr Trump’s interests. Charities such as the one Mr Trump and his three eldest children headed cannot engage in politics, the judge ruled.
Donald Trump has been accused of breaking his oath of office by asking China to investigate 2020 presidential hopeful Joe Biden. The US president said he thinks Beijing should look into the former vice president and his businessman son, Hunter, who formed a private equity fund in China – though he said he has not yet appealed to the Chinese president to do so.