Donald Trump falsely claims Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar had praised al-Qaeda
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The US House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to condemn Donald Trump’s tweets telling four Democratic congresswomen of color to “go back” to their countries of origin.
The vote was 240-187 and was solidly opposed by Republicans. It came after Mr Trump and top congressional Republicans denied he is a racist and urged GOP lawmakers to oppose the Democratic measure.
The resolution says the House “strongly condemns” Mr Trump’s “racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of colour.”
The president responded angrily on Twitter after the four Democratic congresswomen he attacked in a series of racist tweets – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib - staged a press conference on Monday night strongly condemning his behaviour and calling for his impeachment.
“The Democrat Congresswomen have been spewing some of the most vile, hateful, and disgusting things ever said by a politician in the House or Senate, & yet they get a free pass and a big embrace from the Democrat Party,” the president wrote on Twitter. “Horrible anti-Israel, anti-USA, pro-terrorist & public shouting of the F... word, among many other terrible things, and the petrified Dems run for the hills.”
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With Republicans still desperate to avoid being drawn on the matter, Representative Omar attacked President Trump’s “white nationalist agenda” and said: “It is time for us to stop allowing this president to make a mockery of our constitution. It’s time for us to impeach this president.”
Immediately after the resolution vote, a Texas Democrat announced he would file articles of impeachment against Mr Trump in a move that could force a politically fraught vote by the end of the week.
Under House rules, a single member of the House can force an impeachment vote. Mr Green did so twice, unsuccessfully, when Republicans controlled the House.
For now, a majority of House Democrats appear to oppose impeachment.
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And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has resisted launching official proceedings without broad bipartisan support.
Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
Trump said during his brief press conference yesterday that the mass deportation raids being carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in at least ten US cities over the weekend were "very successful" despite the lack of much evidence to support this contention.
The event was clearly intended to be a dramatic deterrent against illegal immigration and an intimidating show of force but has so far seemingly failed to generate significant arrests.
You'd hardly expect Trump to say anything else about one of his own heavily trailed initiatives but Ken Cuccinelli, his acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, looked like a deer in the headlights when he told CNN he "does not know the details" of what ICE has been up to.
In all of Monday's back and forth, here's a story that should not be overlooked: the administration taking steps to officially end asylum protections for Central American migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border.
The US Justice Department published a new rule in the Federal Register yesterday that would make migrants passing through another country before arriving in the country initially ineligible for asylum.
The rule appeared set to provoke an extensive legal battle between the Trump administration and immigrant rights groups.
When Trump spoke at the podium yesterday afternoon, a press photographer zoomed in on his notes, which proved to contain a note misspelling al-Qaeda as "Alcaida".
Here's Greg Evans with more on the inevitable outpouring of ridicule on social media.
Trump appears to be teasing a treason investigation into tech investor Peter Thiel's claim Google is in league with China after seeing a report about his claims on Fox and Friends.
A number of American celebrities have taken to social media to express their disgust at the president's racist tweets including Janelle Monae, Chris Evans, Arnold Schwarzenegger and directors Ava DuVernay and Rob Reiner.
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