Trump news: Impeachment support swells as president forced into rare apology after hurling abuse at overweight supporter
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Donald Trump has apologised to a supporter he fat-shamed at his latest 2020 campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Thursday night, after mistaking the MAGA fan for a protester and telling him to “go home and start exercising”.
On a typically wild evening, the president inspired new chants of “Lock her up!” and “Send her back!”, directed at Hillary Clinton and Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar respectively, took credit for an Obama-era law, pledged to cure AIDS and praised state representative Al Baldasaro, who once called for Mrs Clinton to be shot.
Mr Trump has meanwhile expressed an interest in buying Greenland, the world’s largest island, according to The Wall Street Journal, prompting Denmark to tell him: “We are open for business, but we’re NOT for sale.”
The president's desire to buy Greenland has sparked considerable ridicule for Mr Trump, and one presidential candidate — Montana governor Steve Bullock — even went so far as to buy the website "IsGreenlandForSale.com", and is using it to fundraise his long-shot campaign.
Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings
Show all 31Mr Trump was slated to hold a meeting with his top foreign policy officials on Friday, where they were to discuss a potential peace agreement with the Taliban.
That deal, if it is managed, could allow the US to officially end its presence in Afghanistan after nearly 18 years of conflict.
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Israel's interior minister has said the country will now allow Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib to enter the Israeli-occupied West Bank on humanitarian grounds after yesterday denying her entry along with fellow Trump antagonist Ilhan Omar, provoking an outcry.
Minister Aryeh Deri said in a statement on Friday that Tlaib asked to visit her 90-year-old grandmother in the West Bank and the state has granted that request. In a letter published by Deri's office, Tlaib said she would respect any restrictions and would "not promote boycotts" during her visit.
Israel's initial decision to ban Tlaib and Omar yesterday sparked widespread criticism, including from Israeli and Jewish organisations who said it was an affront to US institutions to bar the entry of members of Congress.
Trump - who it was widely speculated had asked Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intervene - met the news yesterday with gloating and a smear that the politicians "hate Israel & all Jewish people", a dangerous accusation he has before in response to the women's criticism of the influence of Israeli lobbyists in DC.
Bernie Sanders was particularly impressive in his denunciation of the president's behaviour.
Here's Bel Trew's report from Jerusalem.
El Paso's mayor Dee Margo says Trump insulted him by calling him a "RINO" - meaning a "Republican in Name Only" - when he visited the grieving Texas town last week to express his commiserations following the deadly mass shooting at a Walmart store that left 22 people dead and 24 injured.
Trump was widely accused of inspiring shooter Patrick Crusius with his racist rhetoric after the killer posted a white nationalist manifesto on 8chan attacking the "Hispanic invasion of Texas" and the president's visit was heavily protested.
Clark Mindock has this on Trump's latest attack on the media, which he is now blaming for crashing the economy by having the audacity to report on the consequences of his China trade war.
It's a conspiracy to deny him a second term, you see.
Trump was asked about Iowa Republican Steve King yesterday, who remains under fire after saying the following at a meeting of the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale on Wednesday while attempting to defend anti-abortion legislation with no exceptions:
“What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?
“Considering all the wars and all the rapes and pillages that happened throughout all these different nations, I know that I can't say that I was not a part of a product of that."
While fellow GOP politician Liz Cheney joined the likes of Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Beto O'Rourke, Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand in calling for his resignation, the president's response was decidedly tepid.
Here's our initial report for background.
More on King, whom The Hill reports has Republicans so disgusted they are openly expressing support for his primary challenger: Democrat JD Scholten.
“I will be openly contributing to his primary opponent and encouraging others to do the same. Enough of his destructive commentary,” said Michigan congressman Paul Mitchell.
Ohio's Steve Stivers, who ran the National Republican Congressional Committee in 2018 when it refused to offer assistance to King over social media posts in which he backed white nationalists, commented: "I can only speak for myself, but I’m considering my options on supporting his primary opponent who by all accounts is a good man."
“This isn’t the first time I’ve had concerns with what Steve King has said. Earlier in this Congress, there were things that Steve King said that I do not believe the party of Lincoln would stand for. And as a united conference, we actually removed Steve King from his committees inside Congress, and I think this just continues to show why that action was taken,” House minority leader Kevin McCarthy told Fox News’s Special Report on Wednesday.
Again, compare that to Trump.
Denmark has shot down Trump's hopes of buying Greenland.
"We are open for business, but we're NOT for sale," says foreign minister Ane Lone Bagger.
As the situation at the US-Mexico border remains a grave cause for concern - not least regarding the treatment of children in Border Patrol-run detention centres - Andrew Buncombe has this dispatch from Cuidad Juarez on the tens of thousands of asylum seekers trapped there and dreaming of a better life in America.
Another nugget from last night: Trump said the answer to America's gun violence epidemic is "more mental institutions" not fewer assault weapons for sale.
Lowenna Waters has more.
Here's your meme round-up on Greenland courtesy of Greg Evans.
North Korea - evidently still outraged by the joint military drills that began last week between the US and South Korea, which it says breached a commitment made by Trump in Singapore last year - has abandoned peace talks with its neighbour and launched at least two new missiles.
Adam Withnall has this report.
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