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Follow the latest updates from Washington

Clark Mindock
New York
,Peter Stubley
Friday 02 August 2019 19:34 BST
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Donald Trump promises to cure cancer

Scuffles broke out after protesters waving an “Immigrants Built America” banner disrupted Donald Trump’s latest rally, where he continued his racist attacks on congressman Eljiah Cummings, the City of Baltimore, and "the squad".

The demonstrators held up the US president’s speech for nearly four minutes before they were kicked out of the event in Cincinnati, Ohio. But, the moment was only blip in the president's campaign rally where he offered up a flawed understanding of American immigration policy, trashed the idea of an independent judiciary, and slammed California for having homeless people and poverty.

Mr Trump, who appeared to make an obscene gesture as they left, also promised to cure childhood cancer, mocked FBI investigator Robert Mueller and boasted about the trade war with China – despite warnings from one of his former advisors, Gary Cohn, that it is damaging the US economy.

Follow the latest updates in our liveblog below

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Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of US politics and the activities of the Donald Trump administration.

Peter Stubley2 August 2019 07:43
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On Thursday night the president held a rally for his supporters in Cincinnati, Ohio. It contained many of his usual set-pieces plus further attacks on the Democrats and inner cities across the country.

Here's our live coverage of the rally as it happened.

Peter Stubley2 August 2019 07:46
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While there was no repeat of the "send her back" chants, Mr Trump continued his attack on the four female Democrat congresswomen known as "The Squad" - or as he put it "four left-wing extremists who reject everything we hold dear".

Peter Stubley2 August 2019 07:49
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The president also repeated his attacks on Democrat leaders, blaming them for murders in Chicago and Baltimore and homelessness in California.

"No one has paid a higher price for the far-left destructive agenda than Americans living in our nation's inner cities," he claimed. 

It followed his comments earlier this week when he lashed out at Baltimore congressman Elijah Cummings and called the city a "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess."

As many have noted, Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner rents out properties in the same area.

Peter Stubley2 August 2019 09:21
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Mr Trump returned to many of his old themes during the rally, including his promise to cure childhood cancer and AIDS "shortly".

Peter Stubley2 August 2019 09:24
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The rally in Cincinnati was disrupted for nearly four minutes by at least three protesters who managed to smuggle themselves in among the crowd of Trump supporters.

One held up a banner reading "Immigrants Built America" while another wielded the slogan "Chinga La Migra" - which translates to "F*** ICE" (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement), a reference to the border patrol.

There were some scuffles with the red MAGA-hat wearing supporters around them before they were led out of the building to boos.

The president, who had been referring to "illegal aliens", reacted initially by blaming the delay on removing the protesters on Cincinnati's "Democrat mayor" but mostly stood in silence on the stage.

Peter Stubley2 August 2019 09:38
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Mr Trump also appeared to make the "You're Fired" finger point before making a strange motion towards and away from his waist.

Some interpreted this as an obscene gesture to urge police to "toss out" the protesters.

Peter Stubley2 August 2019 09:41
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Here's a clip of that possible 'obscene gesture' made by Donald Trump towards protesters at his rally in Cincinnati.

Some have drawn comparisons to a gesture used by comedian Ken Jeong while others see it as a more innocent 'throw them out' hand movement.

Peter Stubley2 August 2019 09:43
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Arnold Schwarzenegger, former governor of California, has responded to the president's racist attack on the group of four Democrat congresswomen he urged to "go back" to their countries.

Speaking at the annual banquet for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the actor said: “I have a special connection to the HFPA because I am actually foreign.

"And I have chosen not to ‘go back to my country’ but stay here, live here and make a difference here. And to me, that is what makes America great.”

Asked why didn't want to talk about Donald Trump directly, Mr Schwarzenegger said: "I have nothing nice to say about the guy, and that will be the headline — and you would not write about my movie Dark Fate: Terminator 6.”

Peter Stubley2 August 2019 09:55
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Mr Trump also spent part of last night's rally boasting about the trade war with China, following the announcement of a further tariff of ten per cent on Chinese goods.

"For the last 20 years, China has taken hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars out of our country and now we're stopping the theft of American jobs, we're stopping the theft of so many other things happening, including intellectual property," he claimed.

"They would like to see a new President in a year and a half, so they could continue to rip off the United States."

He claims the Chinese president Xi Jinping is a "good friend" but adds: "Until such time as there is a deal, we will be taxing the hell out of China."

Peter Stubley2 August 2019 10:04

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