Trump news: President calls defeat in census citizenship demand 'fake' as he is accused of 'hijacking July 4 parade to promote Trumpian cult'

Another day of chaos ahead of the patriotic holidays

Donald Trump promises tanks for Fourth of July parade

Donald Trump is facing renewed criticism over his “Salute to America” for the Fourth of July, accused of “hijacking the celebration and twisting it into a taxpayer-funded, partisan political rally that’s more about promoting a Trumpian cult of personality” by Democratic congresswoman Betty McCollum.

The president has meanwhile been busy promoting his fireworks suppliers from his official account in an apparent abuse of power as Abrams tanks were spotted arriving in Washington, DC.

He has also hit out at the US Supreme Court on Twitter over its decision to block a controversial citizenship question being added to the 2020 census, calling on his Commerce and Justice departments to do “whatever is necessary” to get the amendment passed, adding: “USA! USA! USA!”

Monday was the deadline to start printing the 600 million documents that will be mailed to 130 million households for next April’s census count.

For months, the Trump administration had argued that the courts needed to decide quickly whether the citizenship question could be added to the 2020 census because of the looming deadline.

“I think it’s very important to find out if somebody is a citizen as opposed to an illegal,” Mr Trump told reporters Monday.

“There’s a big difference to me between being a citizen of the United States and being an illegal," he added.

The US Supreme Court ruled last week that the question couldn’t be added for now.

Mr Trump tweeted that he had asked lawyers if the count can be delayed until the court can reevaluate the matter.

Also on social media, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has entered a war of words with White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway after the latter accused her of lying about the condition of migrant detention centres in Texas.

Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load

Key Points

• Preparations continue for 'Salute to America' as criticism grows
• AOC enters war of words with Kellyanne Conway over migrant camps
• Trump hits out at Supreme Court and Iran on Twitter
• Judge blocks Trump policy keeping asylum-seekers locked up
• President names two replacement Federal Reserve nominees

[3 July 2019 12:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

More on the growing immigration debacle.

The administration has sent notices of fines totaling nearly $500,000 (£396,715) to undocumented migrants in recent weeks, as the federal government prepares to conduct sweeping raids nationwide after the 4 July holiday. 

Here's more from Chris Riotta.

[3 July 2019 12:15 · Joe Sommerlad]

Here's a lesson from history on how Trump's Independence Day spectacular could go badly wrong, featuring an absent Richard Nixon, Bob Hope, Louis Armstrong, Billy Graham, a cannabis "smoke-in", skinny dipping, an upturned ice cream truck, riot police and white supremacists in Nazi insignia.

[3 July 2019 12:30 · Joe Sommerlad]

Huge if true, as they say.

Fox is to begin broadcasting WWE Smackdown in October and wants its favourite son, President Donald J Trump, to play a part in the extravaganza's launch night.

Trump famously enjoys wrestling, sponsoring WrestleMania IV and V in 1988-1989, giving an interview to Jesse Ventura at WrestleMania XX and participating in a feud with Vince McMahon in the mid-2000s that included a hair versus hair brawl fought between Umaga and Bobby Lashley on the billionaires’ behalves at WrestleMania XXIII.

In office, Trump posted a notorious meme of himself taking part and slamming "CNN" in response to its negative coverage of his administration, a joke about "fake news" that was widely deemed to be unpresidential.

[3 July 2019 12:45 · Joe Sommerlad]

President Trump will be holding a campaign rally in North Carolina on 17 July - the day that former special counsel Robert Mueller is expected to testify before Congress.

Trump's re-election campaign has announced he will host a "Keep America Great" rally at Williams Arena in Greenville that evening. 

Mueller is scheduled to publicly testify before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees. Democrats are hoping to draw more attention to the report that Mueller gave to the Justice Department in March. It detailed Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and reviewed several episodes in which Trump tried to influence Mueller's probe. 

Trump has frequently criticised Democrats' efforts to get Mueller to testify, tweeting on Tuesday that "this Witch Hunt must now end," adding, "No more Do Overs." 

[3 July 2019 13:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has responded angrily to White House counsel Kellyanne Conway after the latter called her "a liar" after she and fellow Democrats visited border detention centres in Texas and returned with horror stories of the conditions they had encountered. 

When Conway responded attacking AOC over emergency funding, the congresswoman hit back about the senior adviser ignoring a subpoena after she was found in violation of the Hatch Act.

[3 July 2019 13:15 · Joe Sommerlad]

Here's Conway insisting Trump's "Salute to America" speech at the Lincoln Memorial on Thursday will not be political.

[3 July 2019 13:30 · Joe Sommerlad]

Here's a new poll from ABC/Washington Post on the Democratic 2020 candidates that reflects the post-debates bounce Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris have enjoyed but still shows Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders well out in front.

[3 July 2019 13:45 · Joe Sommerlad]

Here's the latest on the detention centre crisis courtesy of Lily Puckett and Jon Sharman.

The situation is being described as a "ticking time bomb".

[3 July 2019 14:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

Here's how the conditions at the border are being reported in the US this morning.

[3 July 2019 14:15 · Joe Sommerlad]

President Trump giving it the hard sell so far this morning.