The day after the night before: Trump caps fractious post-midterm press conference by firing attorney general Jeff Sessions

President has lost the House of Representatives, but remains bullish about his ability to implement ‘Maga’ agenda

What do the midterms mean for Trump?

Donald Trump capped a fraught midterm election period by firing his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, in a move that immediately provoked fear he may move against the Russia investigation headed by special counsel Robert Mueller.

The US president spent the day after the night before sparring with journalists in a rare set-piece press conference at the White House. The Republican, who appeared tired and on a short fuse, told one reporter to “just sit down” and called him “the enemy of the people” as he was grilled for some 90 minutes after his party lost control of the House of Representatives.

Nonetheless, Mr Trump sought to portray the GOP’s showing as a historic success, with candidates having prevailed in an unusual number of Senate races, he said. In one closely-watched contest, the Texas incumbent Ted Cruz narrowly defeated Beto O’Rourke, the Democrat darling of social media, who observers later tipped as a possible candidate for president in 2020.

During his news conference Mr Trump appeared to extend an olive branch to Democrats, with whom he said he believed his Republican colleagues could produce “a lot” of legislation, particularly on infrastructure. He has pledged to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to modernise crumbling elements of the US’ road system and for improvements in other areas.

But he said that bipartisan working would be contingent on his opponents refraining from opening a string of investigations into his affairs. Democrats have already said they plan to do just that, probing the president’s tax returns, alleged conflicts of interest and other sore points now that they control several influential House committees.

Mr Trump’s first public appearance following the polls veered wildly from outright conflict with the media to praising incoming House speaker Nancy Pelosi and envisioning peace, love and harmony among politicians and their constituents – pointing the finger at journalists for having sown division in the past.

The president hit out at CNN‘s Jim Acosta in particular after the reporter questioned him first over his rhetoric on immigration and then on Mr Mueller’s investigation. Mr Trump told Mr Acosta, who at times spoke over him and refused to relinquish his microphone, that “CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them”.

He also berated a black reporter for asking a “racist question” about his decision to declare himself a nationalist. Mr Trump was asked by Yamiche Alcindor, of PBS Newshour, whether his rhetoric had “emboldened” white nationalists. Mr Trump said that “it’s a very racist question” and that “it’s a very terrible thing you said to me”, adding: ”I don’t believe it ... why do I have my highest numbers with African-Americans?”

As reporters gathered themselves following the marathon press conference, another bombshell dropped – Jeff Sessions had resigned at the president’s request. The attorney general’s sacking came after months of very public vitriol directed his way by Mr Trump, who was incensed by the former Alabama senator’s decision to recuse himself from oversight of Mr Mueller’s probe into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign for president and Russia.

“Since the day I was honoured to be sworn in as attorney general of the United States, I came to work at the Department of Justice every day determined to do my duty and serve my country,” Mr Sessions wrote in his resignation letter.

His departure – televised and made while surrounded by applauding colleagues including his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, and his successor, Matthew Whitaker – sparked warnings of a “constitutional crisis”. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and others warned Mr Trump not to move against Mr Mueller now that Mr Sessions was out of the way.

See below how we covered the midterms, and the aftermath, live

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[6 November 2018 17:57 · Andrew Griffin]

As with every election day, voters from across the country are sharing photographs of dogs they've spotted at their polling places. (Please do send any dogs you spot! You can get me on @_andrew_griffin.)

[6 November 2018 18:00 · Andrew Griffin]

Donald Trump has broken the GOP's voting website.

The president has just tweeted, sharing the Republican party's website where people can find information about voting. But the interest generated by his post appears to have broken that page, which now won't load.

[6 November 2018 18:07 · Andrew Griffin]

A Florida polling place was put on lockdown for about 40 minutes after a man with a gun was reported in a nearby parking lot. 

Palm Bay Police Lt. Steve Bland said passers-by getting into their cars on Tuesday saw the man sitting in his vehicle with a gun on his lap. They called 911 and police arrived as the man was driving out of the parking lot.

Bland said the man was in mid-eighties and did not make any threats. He says the gun wasn't loaded. 

Bland said the lockdown was a precaution, and the man was taken for a mental health evaluation but he was not arrested. 

Supervisor of Elections Lori Scott said voters were not diverted to another site because the incident was resolved quickly.

[6 November 2018 18:07 · Andrew Griffin]

Voting in a Rhode Island community only accessible by ferry was interrupted briefly after the sole voting machine on the island malfunctioned. 

The Rhode Island Board of Elections tweeted at about 9 a.m. Tuesday that the machine on Prudence Island "experienced a technical difficulty." 

A new machine was ferried over and the board said the polling place is operating normally and all ballots have been counted. 

Prudence Island in Narragansett Bay is part of the town of Portsmouth and has a population of about 200. 

The board also said as of 11 a.m., more than 135,000 residents statewide had voted. 

Rhode Islanders are voting in a three-way race for governor, and for congressional seats.

[6 November 2018 18:09 · Andrew Griffin]

Federal and state officials have been working for nearly two years to shore up the nation's election infrastructure from cyberattacks by Russians or others seeking to disrupt the voting process. 

It turns out that many of the problems are closer to home. 

Officials have identified a number of problems during early voting, from machines that changed voter selections to registration forms tossed out because of clerical errors. 

Election officials and voting rights groups fear that voter confidence in the results could be undermined if such problems become even more widespread on Election Day, as millions of Americans head to the polls to decide pivotal races for Congress and governor.

[6 November 2018 18:11 · Andrew Griffin]

Here's the latest from AP on the brewing controversy about Hannity appearing onstage with Trump, which is leading to a great deal of criticism and questions over media ethics.

Fox News says it does not condone any of its journalists appearing in a campaign event, hours after prime-time host Sean Hannity spoke at President Trump's final rally before the midterm election. 

Fox called it an "unfortunate distraction" that has been addressed. But the network statement issued Tuesday did not explain how it was addressed. 

Hannity, who had said earlier Monday that he would not appear on the campaign stage, tweeted that he was "surprised, yet honored" by the president's request that he come up on stage. 

And he said that he was not referring to any Fox colleagues when he pointed out the "fake news" reporters standing in the press area.

[6 November 2018 18:18 · Andrew Griffin]

Reports are flooding in from across the country of polling places that are running into issues and leaving people waiting for hours to vote – or not being able to vote at all.

Here's one from Georgia – where polling is already intensely contested, owing to the fact that the elections are being run by the person who is also the Republican candidate.

Local reports suggest the problem was caused by a lack of power cables, which meant that the voting machines couldn't be plugged in.

[6 November 2018 18:19 · Andrew Griffin]

  ↵Donald Trump just retweeted this post from Melania, encouraging people to go out and vote. But it includes the GOP's voting website – which is still down.

[6 November 2018 18:26 · Andrew Griffin]

Voters in an Atlanta neighborhood arrived at a library that's been their polling site for years to find a car with two signs on its windshield that said in indelible markers, "NOT A VOTING LOCATION." 

Jessica Olson says she's lived in the midtown neighborhood near the library polling place where she's voted for nearly 10 years. Suddenly this year, she was told she isn't supposed to vote here — she's to go to a church nearly two miles away. 

In this pedestrian neighborhood, many walk to the polls. 

Fulton County said in a statement that the change was made in early 2018 because the library will close for renovations. 

At the new polling site at the church, 26-year-old Mylandria Ponder says she's been waiting an hour and 20 minutes, and is now leaving. 

Across Georgia, multiple polling stations were reporting long lines, with the wait as long as three hours in some sites.

[6 November 2018 18:27 · Andrew Griffin]

The U.S. Border Patrol has canceled a "crowd control exercise" in Texas following criticism from civil liberties groups that it could dissuade people from voting. 

Border Patrol agent Fidel Baca confirmed Tuesday that the exercise in a Latino neighborhood of El Paso was canceled, but declined to say why. 

The Texas Civil Rights Project says the exercise, billed by the Border Patrol as a "mobile field force demonstration," was to be held within a half-mile of a polling site. 

The group is seeking an explanation from federal authorities about the intention of the exercise. 

The group says in a statement that President Donald Trump "has drummed up anti-immigrant sentiment" and the exercise is "part and parcel of those efforts."