Trump news: President plans to send more agents nationwide amid crackdown on protests while attacking Biden in Twitter rant
Justice Department to deploy federal officers to three more US cities as coronavirus death toll reaches 150,000
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The nation's death toll from coronavirus surpassed 150,000 on Wednesday, reaching the highest such figure globally, as Covid-19 infections continue to rise across the US.
Donald Trump meanwhile spent the day travelling to a fundraiser in Texas to support oil drilling efforts, raging against Democrats in a campaign-style speech before signing a series of pipeline permits.
The president claimed in a new interview that he “never discussed” reports of Russian bounties on the heads of US troops in Afghanistan with Vladimir Putin, as the US announced it will be withdrawing troops from Germany.
Mr Trump claimed the issue of Russian bounties never reached his desk in an interview with Axios, despite reports indicating he received the intelligence in a daily briefing back in February.
This comes as the administration moves forward with plans to pull forces out of Germany after Mr Trump alleged the country was "delinquent in their payments" to the NATO security alliance.
Asked whether he reads his briefings, Mr Trump responded: “I do. I read a lot. You know, I read a lot. They like to say I don’t read. I read a lot. I comprehend extraordinarily well. Probably better than anybody you’ve interviewed in a long time. I read a lot.”
Justice Department officials also announced that the administration will surge federal officers into three more American cities in electoral battleground states – Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee – as the president prioritises a "law and order" agenda in his 2020 campaign.
Oregon's governor also announced that federal agents in Portland will be withdrawn, per an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, though director Chad Wolf has said that their departure depends on whether the safety of federal properties can be assured amid Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
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US to remove 12,000 troops from Germany
America will bring 6,400 troops home and move an additional 5,400 troops from Germany to other countries in Europe, US defence officials announced on Wednesday.
This decision will fulfil Trump's desire to withdraw troops from Germany after he accused the country last month of being "delinquent in their payments" to the Nato security alliance.
Here's Danielle Zoellner with the latest.
Trump says he is considering banning TikTok
The president has just told reporters at the White House his administration is "looking at" shutting down TikTok in the United States.
The social media app is owned by a Chinese firm - though allegedly run by an American CEO.
US officials have raised concerns about the Chinese government tapping into private and personal data via Americans' cell phones via such smart phone applications.
Here's the latest.
Trump prospecting for donors in West Texas fracking fields
The president is visiting a US fracking hub on the West Texas plains later today, a trip that comes during the state's fierce coronavirus outbreak and a global oil and gas glut that is putting the squeeze on his loyal donors in the petroleum industry.
Trump is combining some fundraising on Wednesday with his first trip to an oil and gas rig and to his first visit as president to the Permian Basin. He'll pull in up to $100,000 (£77,000) a person at a roundtable with supporters.
"The amount of money might be slightly off because the markets are down and they're suffering a bit," said Bill Miller, a prominent lobbyist and consultant in Austin. "But it's the kind of industry that remembers their friends through thick and thin, and Trump has been their friend."
Texas over the past month has experienced a dramatic spike in newly confirmed coronavirus cases, hospitalisations and fatalities. The state became one of the nation's hot spots as Texas politicians debated masks and other measures.
The pandemic and the intensive oil and gas production that Trump encouraged have contributed to a stark drop in global energy demand and to market oversupply, driving down oil and gas prices and hitting the industry and economy.
Trump's government has exerted itself for the oil and gas industry at least as hard it has any other sector. That includes rolling back environmental and public health protections while promoting a technology-driven surge in US oil and gas production - begun under President Barack Obama - as part of what Trump describes as an American march to global energy dominance.
His administration has moved to open up vast wilderness areas to oil and gas interests over the objections of environmental groups. Trump also has sought to override various regional objections to oil and gas pipelines with executive orders.
And next month, the administration is expected to announce its latest effort blocking regulation of the industry's emissions of methane, a potent agent of climate change. West Texas activists say the methane emissions are part of a too-little-regulated industry's assault on the air, water and public health in the region's yearslong expansion of oil and gas production. Successful legal challenges stopped the administration's earlier attempts.
When one is flying at night into the West Texas city of Odessa, among the areas Trump is due to visit, "it looks like a huge birthday cake, there are so many flares out here" from facilities burning off methane as an oil and gas byproduct, said the Reverend Gene Collins, a civil rights and environment and public health activist in the city.
"There's already methane emissions like you wouldn't believe in West Texas," Collins said. He added that he was one of many in his town using a nebuliser to deal with breathing problems he blames on oil and gas operations. "There's a definite effect on the health of individuals here."
Texas-based environmental advocates like Sharon Wilson, who uses thermography imaging to capture methane emissions not visible to the eye, describe environment-damaging oil and gas emissions surging during the fracking boom and now.
The American Petroleum Institute trade group during this presidential election cycle - featuring Democrats calling for the country's most aggressive action yet to slow climate change - has stepped up efforts to highlight what it says are industry efforts to cut methane.
Frank Macchiarola, the trade group's senior vice president for policy, said emission rates in the Permian Basin have fallen despite the boom. It "demonstrates how the industry is meeting this challenge and strengthening its environmental performance," Macchiarola said.
Texas's oil country has long been a reliable well of fundraising for Republican presidents. But in this campaign, the state itself may be a battleground.
Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden are in a closely fought race in what has been a Republican stronghold. For years, Democrats have been watching Texas demographics - it has growing populations of Latinos, young people and ex-Californians - and pining for the election cycle when it would be in play.
Though Trump won the state comfortably in 2016, former Democratic representative Beto O'Rourke gave Republican senator Ted Cruz a scare two years ago, and Democrats have used that race to try to build an organisation that could swing the state blue. Sensing an opportunity, Joe Biden has begun airing advertisements in Texas as coronavirus cases surge in the state.
When it comes to battleground state claims here, "the proof is in the amount of money the campaigns spend" going forward, said Miller, the Austin lobbyist and consultant.
Losing Texas, Republicans fear, would completely scramble their party's ability to obtain the needed 270 electoral votes to capture the White House. Though privately Trump campaign officials concede the need to spend time and money in Texas, assets they would prefer to spend elsewhere, they remain confident about their ability to retain the state and have expressed hope that Democrats will waste resources trying to obtain a prize that is out of reach.
But the Trump campaign does now have plans to frequently visit Texas. Trump's visit Wednesday will allow him to raise needed money - Biden has cut into the president's fundraising advantage - as well as showcase both his administration's deregulation agenda and its attempts to get the economy roaring again.
AP
Alabama Republican celebrates KKK member's birthday as state remembers civil rights hero John Lewis
State representative Will Dismukes took part in an event honouring Confederate army general and KKK grand wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest while Alabama was celebrating the late anti-racism campaigner and Democratic congressman over the weekend.
The KKK event took place near Selma, Alabama, where Lewis’s body was carried across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Sunday.
It comes more than 50 years after Lewis marched across that same bridge in a civil rights demonstration that became known as Bloody Sunday.
Gino Spocchia reports.
NYPD says 303 police vehicles damaged since George Floyd’s death, costing department $1m
Here's James Crump on the NYPD's blues.
Anti-mask Republican tests positive for coronavirus after attending Barr testimony
A Texas Republican who has refused to wear a mask while walking through the halls of Congress and attending high-profile hearings with members of the White House administration tested positive for Covid-19, according to reports.
Louie Gohmert (R—Tx), who just attended a congressional hearing with Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday, tested positive for the novel coronavirus while being screened during a White House procedure on Monday morning, Politico reported.
— an issue that has sowed controversy on Capitol Hill, with several members of the GOP refusing to wear face coverings while on the job. A growing list of lawmakers have meanwhile tested positive for Covid-19, including Senator Rand Paul (R—Tn), Rep. Tom Rice (R—SC), Rep Mario Diaz Balart (R—Fl) and several others.
Before testing positive for the virus, Mr Gohmert was reportedly set to fly with Mr Trump to Texas, one of the states currently battling a major spike in coronavirus cases as the pandemic continues taking a deadly toll on much of the southern US.
Story to come...
Breaking: The Trump administration has ordered federal agents who have been aggressively policing protests in Portland for weeks to leave the city
Story to come...
Trump administration sending federal officers to Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee
Alex Woodward writes:
Federal officers will be deployed to Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee following Donald Trump's administration's surge of federal law enforcement into several US cities.
US Attorney General William Barr, who faced intense scrutiny from Democrats on Tuesday over federal agents' presence and use of force against Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Portland, announced roughly 100 officers will be deployed across three other cities with Democrat mayors.
The attorney general justified the deployment on a "disturbing increases in violent crime" in those areas, though violent crime overall throughout the US has been on a downward trend.
"Operation Legend" launched last month as a "sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative in which federal law enforcement agencies work in conjunction with state and local law enforcement officials to fight violent crime," according to the Justice Department.
Trump orders federal officers to leave Portland after weeks of outrage
Here's the latest:
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