Trump news: President holds press conference with Brazil's far-right leader Bolsonaro, after Twitter row over 'deteriorating' mental health
Meanwhile, the FBI are set to investigate Florida massage parlour owner Li Yang, who has ties to the president
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Donald Trump and Brazil‘s far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro held a joint press conference in the White House Rose Garden, in a show of unity between the two nations.
President Trump said he told Mr Bolsonaro he would make Brazil a major non-Nato ally, with the possibility of supporting a campaign to make it “maybe a Nato ally”.
In turn, the Brazilian leader went on to praise Mr Trump for changing the United States, echoing Mr Trump’s “fake news” slogan.
“Brazil and the United States are tied by the guarantee of liberty, respect for the traditional family, the fear of God our creator, against gender identity, political correctness and fake news,” Mr Bolsonaro.
The far-right leader has been an avid supporter of President Trump, with their mirroring speeches sharing conservative views.
Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet
Show all 20The press conference came after Donald Trump was drawn into a Twitter spat with George Conway, husband of adviser Kellyanne, over questions around the president’s mental health.
The argument comes as the FBI investigates the president's ties to the owner of a chain of massage parlours in Florida at the urging of House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.
The Democrats have asked the bureau to look into “public reports about alleged the activities by Ms Li ‘Cindy’ Yang and her apparent relationship with the president”, who has been the subject of allegations relating to human trafficking, prostitution and promising Chinese businessmen access to Mar-a-Lago to meet Mr Trump, who denies knowing her despite their being photographed together.
Reports have meanwhile emerged suggesting the president obtained $2bn (£1.5bn) in loans from Deutsche Bank over two decades, allegedly exaggerating his personal wealth and promising bankers weekends at his Florida retreat in exchange for their help in securing the funding.
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House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer have asked the FBI to step in and investigate the founder of a Florida massage parlor chain who is an alleged acquaintance of President Donald Trump, according to a letter released on Monday.
House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer released the letter, signed by four other politicians. It asked investigators to look into "public reports about alleged activities by Ms Li 'Cindy' Yang and her apparent relationship with the president".
The Orchids of Asia chain of massage parlors founded by Ms Yang is "suspected of involvement" in human trafficking and prostitution, which involves female immigrants being forced to serve as "sex workers," said the letter to the FBI and other federal investigative agencies.
Senators Mark Warner and Dianne Feinstein and Representatives Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler signed the letter. It said Ms Yang also reportedly created a business called GY US investments, which they allege "may be selling access to the president and members of his family to clients from China".
President Trump denies knowing Li Yang despite, er, being photographed with her at a Super Bowl party at Mar-a-Lago.
According to Li Yang's lawyer, Michelle Merson, her client is currently scared and in hiding.
Ms Merson said Ms Yang denies the allegations made against her. "Ms Yang is not concerned because she feels she's speaking the truth and the truth will free her," the attorney said in a video on her website.
The Democrats' letter said Li Yang's own website, which has been taken down, once offered clients the "opportunity to interact" with Mr Trump and other political figures as well as participation in White House and Capitol Hill dinners.
The letter said that, if proven, such allegations "raise serious counterintelligence concerns."
It asked if Ms Yang had been the focus of earlier federal or state probes and for an assessment of "counterintelligence risks", which her apparent activities might have posed.
The Democrats also asked if other individuals have used Mar-a-Lago, the president's Palm Beach estate, to offer foreigners access to President Trump or people around him, as well as whether Ms Yang or her foreign clients have had access to Mr Trump or other US officials at the White House, Mar-a-Lago or other Trump properties.
The FBI had no comment on the legislators' letter.
Asked about the case, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the Chinese government followed the principle of not interfering in the internal politics of other countries.
"This is what we say and this is what we do," he told a daily news briefing, without elaborating.
Meanwhile, The New York Times is reporting that Donald Trump acquired more than $2bn (£1.5bn) in loans from Deutsche Bank over a 20-year period before he entered the Oval Office.
Despite his being considered a risky proposition as a result of past bankruptcies, Mr Trump nevertheless secured the loans from the German bank to build a Chicago skyscraper and buy the Doral golf resort in Miami, reportedly exaggerating the extent of his personal wealth by as much as 70 percent and offering bankers weekend stays at Mar-a-Lago in exchange for their help in securing the funding, the resort evidently becoming a focal point for suspicion.
The New York attorney general’s office and the Democratic-controlled House Intelligence Committee and Financial Services Committee have all taken an interest in the president’s financial ties with Deutsche, whom Mr Trump allegedly led to believe he was worth $3bn (£2.3bn) when the truth was closer to $788m (£593m).
The president is due to meet with his Brazilian counterpart today, right-wing firebrand Jair Bolsonaro, a man once dubbed the "Trump of the Tropics".
The pair, who both like to take to Twitter to denounce "Fake News", will meet in Washington at 1.45pm (5.45pm GMT) to discuss a range of issues, including ways to increase US private-sector investment in Brazil and ways to resolve the political crisis in Venezuela.
Arriving yesterday, Mr Bolsonaro - who succeeded the leftist Dilma Rousseff - toured the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and told the US Chamber of Commerce: "Nowadays, you have a president who is a friend of the United States who admires this beautiful country... We want to have a great Brazil just like Trump wants to have a great America".
His son, politician Eduardo Bolsonaro, described the CIA as "one of the most respected intelligence agencies in the world" in a tweet that was likely to raise eyebrows back home in Brazil, where the US and its spy services have been regarded with suspicion in recent years.
In 2013, leaks from Edward Snowden revealed that the National Security Agency had wiretapped conversations involving Ms Rousseff, leading to several years of tense relations between the US and Brazil.
Tweeting ahead of his arrival, Jair Bolsonaro wrote on Sunday. "For the first time in a while, a pro-America Brazilian president arrives in DC. It's the beginning of a partnership focused on liberty and prosperity, something that all of us Brazilians have long wished for."
His speech to the Chamber of Commerce yesterday came after the two countries signed several bilateral agreements, including one that allows the United States to use Brazil's Alcantara Aerospace Launch Base for its satellites and Brazil announced an end to visa requirements for US tourists who visit the country.
Brazil is seeking US help with its efforts to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and to expand trade. The Bolsonaro administration is seeking to reduce public-sector spending and privatise state enterprises to reduce debt and grow its economy.
A senior US administration official told the AP's Ben Fox that the US does have a $27bn (£20bn) trade surplus with Brazil and that there are opportunities to bring the nations' business communities closer. He said there are expected to be new initiatives on energy infrastructure.
The official noted that Brazil has a close relationship with Venezuela's military and may be able to serve as a go-between with the security forces that continue to support embattled president Nicolas Maduro.
Brazil, like the US, has recognised the leader of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as Venezuela's interim president under the argument that Mr Maduro's re-election last year was illegitimate.
"We have to sort Venezuela out," Mr Bolsonaro has said. "We cannot leave them the way they are. We have to free the nation of Venezuela."
President Trump posted no fewer than four clips from Fox News on his Twitter account last night, suggesting the broadcaster is back in his good books after he took them to task over the weekend for suspending Judge Jeanine Pirro, the host having made an Islamophobic comment about Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar's hijab.
Among the selection below is a "takedown" of the "Russia hoax" from one Tucker Carlson, only last week facing calls to resign after a series of misogynistic and racist comments he once made on a radio show resurfaced online.
President Trump also blew his own horn about donating his $400,000 (£300,000) annual salary as president to the department of Homeland Security. If he's so keen on ploughing funds back into central government coffers, why the hesitancy about releasing his tax returns?
White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway has found herself in the frankly ridiculous position of having to refute her own husband's claims about the president's waning mental health.
Lawyer George Conway yesterday tweeted a series of definitions from a psychology textbook concerning narcissistic personality disorder.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo got laughs at an entrepreneurship summit in Kansas when he said, only half-jokingly, he expects to remain in his job until "Trump tweets me out of office".
Here's Clark Mindock.
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