Donald Trump claims he tried to stop 'send her back' chants by 'speaking very quickly'
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US politicians have voiced disgust and alarm after a rally crowd responded to Donald Trump’s racist attacks on congresswoman Ilhan Omar with chants of “send her back”.
Democrats warned the president was “fuelling and feeding off hate” and “stoking the most despicable and disturbing currents in our society” by vilifying Ms Omar, a Somali refugee who arrived in the US as a child nearly three decades ago.
Senator Bernie Sanders said Mr Trump was “the most dangerous president in the history of our country,” while fellow 2020 election hopeful Elizabeth Warren called for him to face impeachment.
On Thursday, the president chided his supporters who chanted the statement at the rally, joining widespread criticism of the campaign crowd’s cry after fellow Republicans warned it could hurt the GOP in next year’s elections.
In a week that has corkscrewed daily with hostile exchanges over race and love of country, Mr Trump also claimed he had tried to stop the chant at a reelection event Wednesday night in North Carolina.
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“I started speaking really quickly,” he told reporters. “I was not happy with it. I disagree with it.”
However, video shows the crowd’s “send her back” shouts resounded for 13 seconds as Mr Trump made no attempt to interrupt them. He paused in his speech and surveyed the scene, taking in the uproar.
Ms Omar responded on Thursday, telling reporters: “This is what this president and his supporters have turned our country” into, she said as she walked outside the US Capitol.
“This is not about me," she added. "This is about fighting about what this country truly should be and what it deserves to be.”
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Trump now says that he tried to stop the “send her back” chant directed at Ilhan Omar by his supporters last night: "I think I did - I started speaking very quickly."
A drop in white-collar crime prosecutions and corporate fines during the Trump administration has prompted a warning from a leading law firm, writes Peter Stubley.
New York-based Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz issued a memo to its clients noting the “significant” decrease in both the number of cases and the scale of penalties over the last two years.
The lawyers advised businesses not to relax their approach to laws and regulations, adding: “Our experience suggests that succumbing to such temptation would be a mistake.”
Democrats have criticised Trump administration plans to roll back safety inspections at nuclear power plants, calling it a "disaster". Read more from Jon Sharman here:
A top Trump administration official has claimed that the number of family separations at the border has fallen since last summer's zero tolerance policy, and they are done only for compelling reasons.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said fewer than 1,000 children have been separated from families out of more than 450,000 family groups that have crossed the border since October. He said they are separated because of health and safety concerns, among other reasons.
Meanwhile in New York, a new law signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo sets the nation's most aggressive targets for reducing carbon emissions and is intended to drive dramatic changes over the next 30 years. It calls for all the state's electricity to come from renewable, carbon-free sources such as solar, wind and hydropower. Transportation and building heating systems would also run on clean electricity rather than oil and gas.
The United States is preparing to send hundreds of troops to Saudi Arabia where satellite images appear to show a build up of American forces on the ground.
Up to 500 soldiers are to be sent to the Prince Sultan Airbase in the desert to the east of the capital Riyadh, two officials told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Preparations are also reportedly underway for a large missile installation from which Patriot surface-to-air missiles can be launched to protect the base from incoming threats.
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