Trump remains defiant on wall, pushes Democrats
WASHINGTON: The partial US government shutdown entered a record 22nd day on Saturday, as President Donald Trump remains steadfast in his demand for $5.7 billion to build a Mexico border wall and Democrats in Congress determined to refuse the funds.
The president issued a series of tweets on Saturday in an effort to defend his stance and goad Democrats to return to Washington and end what he called “the massive humanitarian crisis at our Southern Border.”
“Democrats could solve the Shutdown in 15 minutes!” he said in one tweet, adding in another, “We will be out for a long time unless the Democrats come back from their ‘vacations’ and get back to work. I am in the White House ready to sign!” But most lawmakers left town on Friday and will not return before Monday, leaving little chance for any solution to the stalemate before then.
The shutdown became the longest on record at midnight Friday, when it overtook a 21-day stretch in 1995-1996 under president Bill Clinton. The impasse has paralysed Washington — its impact felt increasingly around the country — with the president retaliating by refusing to sign off on budgets for swaths of government departments unrelated to the dispute.
As a result, 800,000 federal employees — workers as diverse as FBI agents, air traffic controllers and museum staff — did not receive paychecks on Friday.
Some workers posted photos of their empty earnings statements on social media as a rallying cry to end the shutdown, a jarring image that many in the White House feared could turn more voters against the president as he holds out for billions in new wall funding.
With polls showing Trump getting most of the blame for the shutdown, the administration accelerated planning for a possible emergency declaration to try to get around Congress and fund the wall from existing sources of federal revenue. The White House explored diverting money for wall construction from a range of other accounts. One idea being considered was diverting some of the $13.9 billion allocated to the Army Corps of Engineers after last year’s deadly hurricanes and floods.
WASHINGTON: US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump blasted the FBI on Saturday, insisting it acted “for no reason & with no proof” when it opened an investigation into whether he was acting on Russia’s behalf after he ired the agency’s director, James Comey, in May 2017.
The New York Times reported that the FBI launched the previously undisclosed counter intelligence investigation to determine whether Trump posed a national security threat, at the same time that it opened a criminal probe into possible obstruction of justice by the president.
Thef bi investigation was subsequently folded into the broader probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election and possible collaboration by the Trump campaign.
No evidence has publicly emerged that Trump was secretly in contact with or took direction from Russian oficials, the Times said. “Wow, just learned in the Failing New York Times that the corrupt former leaders of the FBI, almost all ired or forced to leave the agency for some very bad reasons, opened up an investigation on me, for no reason & with no proof, after I ired Lyin’ James Comey, a total sleaze!” Trump tweeted.
According to Trump, “the FBI was in complete turmoil because of Comey’s poor leadership” and the way he handled the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server to send some government emails.
“My iring of James Comey was a great day for America,” Trump claimed, describing the former FBI director as “a Crooked Cop who is being totally protected by his best friend, Bob Mueller.”
The Times said that the FBI had been suspicious of Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 campaign.
But it held off on opening an investigation until the president sacked Comey, who refused to pledge allegiance to Trump and roll back the nascent Russia investigation.
Trump has repeatedly criticised the Mueller investigation as a “witch hunt” and views it as an attempt to besmirch the legitimacy of his presidency.
His press secretary, Sarah Sanders, said in a statement Saturday that the latest charges are “absurd,” adding, “James Comey was ired because he’s a disgraced partisan hack (and) President Trump has actually been tough on Russia.”
Mueller, meanwhile, has issued dozens of indictments and steadily chalked up convictions of some of the president’s close associates -- including his former national securityadvisor,hisformerpersonallawyer, and his ex-campaign chief.
The ex-national security advisor, Michael Flynn, pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about his Moscow ties.