Donald Trump latest news: President could pardon CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden despite saying he should be executed
DONALD Trump is considering a pardon for whistleblower Edward Snowden despite having previously said he should be executed.
The President said he is looking at it “very strongly” after previously branding the ex-CIA worker a “spy who should be executed”.
Mr Trump said: “Many people think he should be somehow treated differently. And other people think he did very bad things.
“I’ve heard it both ways. From traitor to he’s being, you know, persecuted.
“I’m going to start looking at it [a possible pardon]. I’m going to take a look at that very strongly.”
US authorities have wanted to try Snowden, 37, on espionage charges in a criminal case.
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RIHANNA SHARES PIC OF 'F*** TRUMP' GRAFFITI
BIDEN OFFERS CONDOLENCES TO TRUMP AFTER BROTHER’S DEATH
Joe Biden has put politics aside to offer condolences to Donald Trump following his brother’s death.
He said on Twitter: “Mr. President, Jill and I are sad to learn of your younger brother Robert’s passing.
“I know the tremendous pain of losing a loved one — and I know how important family is in moments like these.
“I hope you know that our prayers are with you all.”
TRUMP 'SABOTAGING POSTAL SERVICE TO SUPPRESS VOTES', SAYS SENATOR
President Trump is seeking to sabotage the US Postal Service in order to suppress votes, Senator Tina Smith has said.
Recent days have seen Democrats calling for a relief package for the Postal Service to help it meet an expected rise in the use of mail-in ballots at this November's election.
The president has so far opposed the move, and has repeatedly claimed – without evidence – that mail-in ballots are vulnerable to voter fraud.
Critics say he is intentionally trying to lower turnout at the election to improve his own chances of re-election.
Taking to twitter, Smith, the junior senator from Minnesota, said: “Donald Trump is sabotaging USPS to suppress votes.
“Democrats have been sounding the alarms for weeks. Republicans have got to act too.
“Otherwise, they’re complicit in it.”
ROBERT TRUMP 'KIND AND LOYAL', SAYS ERIC TRUMP
Robert Trump was a “kind and loyal” man, nephew Eric Trump has said.
Robert, the brother of president Donald Trump, died in a New York hospital on Saturday aged 71.
His cause of death is not yet known.
Taking to twitter, Eric, the president's son, wrote: “Robert Trump was an incredible man – strong, kind and loyal to the core.
“Anyone who encountered him felt his warmth immediately.
“He will be deeply missed by our entire family.”
'THEY'RE GOING TO LIE', SAYS HARRIS AFTER BIRTHER CLAIMS
Kamala Harris has said the Trump campaign is going to “engage in lies” after the president yesterday declined to counter birther conspiracy theories about her.
The days since Harris, an African-American, was named as Joe Biden's running mate have seen claims circulating about her ineligibility to be vice president.
Donald Trump was previously among a number of prominent Republicans who voiced support for claims that Barack Obama, also an African-American, was born outside the US.
Speaking on Thursday, Trump said: “I heard today that she doesn't meet the requirements.”
Asked about the comments on Saturday, he said: “I know nothing about it, but it's not something that bothers me.
“I just don't know about it but it's not something we will be pursuing.”
Addressing the claims, Harris said: “I'm very clear-eyed about the fact that they are going to engage… let's just be very candid and straightforward: They're going to engage in lies.”
TRUMP'S BROTHER WAS 'VERY PROUD OF HIM', SAYS KUSHNER
Donald Trump's brother was very proud of him, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner has said.
Robert Trump died in a New York hospital aged 71 on Saturday, though his cause of death is not yet known.
Speaking to CBS, Kushner, who also works as an advisor to Trump in the White House, said: “His brother was very proud of him.
“And obviously a very tough moment for the president, but he is looking forward to continuing to do great things and make his brother proud.”
TRUMP 'TRYING TO UNDERMINE US DEMOCRACY', SAYS SANDERS
Donald Trump is trying to undermine US democracy, former Democratic primary contender Bernie Sanders has said.
The president is coming under increasing criticism for his claims about mail-in voting, which he has repeatedly said is vulnerable to fraud.
There is little evidence to back the claims, and opponents say that Trump is hoping to lower turnout and improve his own chances at this November's election.
Speaking to ABC News, Sanders was asked about criticism of Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris from some figures on the American left.
“The overwhelming majority of progressives understand that it is absolutely imperative that Donald Trump be defeated, that we have a president that is trying to undermine American democracy, a president who has turned his back on the working families of this country,” he replied.
He went on to say Trump had done a “horrible” job dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
PENCE PAYS TRIBUTE TO ROBERT TRUMP
Vice President Mike Pence has paid tribute to Robert Trump following his death on Saturday aged 71.
Reports say Robert had been “very ill” in a New York hospital before his passing, though his cause of death has not yet been announced.
Writing on twitter, Pence said: “Karen and I were saddened to learn of the passing of Robert Trump and we send our heartfelt sympathies to President @realDonaldTrump and the entire Trump Family.
“We pray their family and friends will be comforted during this difficult time.
“God bless the memory of Robert Trump.”
BROTHER WAS MY BEST FRIEND, SAYS TRUMP
Donald Trump has said younger brother Robert was his “best friend” following his death aged 71.
Reports say Robert had been “very ill” in a New York hospital before his passing, though his cause of death has not yet been announced.
In a statement, the president said: “It is with a heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight.
“He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again.
“His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace.”
BIDEN SENDS CONDOLENSCES TO TRUMP
Joe Biden has offered his condolences to Donald Trump following the death of his brother.
Robert Trump's passing comes as older brother Donald and the former vice president prepare to face off in November's election.
Taking to twitter, Biden wrote: “Mr. President, Jill and I are sad to learn of your younger brother Robert’s passing.
“I know the tremendous pain of losing a loved one — and I know how important family is in moments like these.
“I hope you know that our prayers are with you all.”
In 1972, weeks after he was first elected to the senate, Biden lost his wife and one-year-old daughter in a car accident.
In 2015, son Beau Biden, who was also in the crash but survived, died of a brain tumour at the age of 46.
HALF OF VOTERS SAY 'THEY'D VOTE FOR BIDEN IF ELECTION WAS HELD TODAY'
Half of voters would choose Joe Biden if the presidential election was held today – compared to just 41 per cent who pledge to back Donald Trump, says a new poll.
But NBC News, which conducted the survey with The Wall Street Journal, warns it's not yet a “done deal” for Biden.
NBC News said the Biden-Kamala Harris duo would try to achieve something that “hasn't been accomplished since 1992, defeat a sitting president”.
The broadcaster's joint poll with the WSJ – half of which was conducted after Harris was announced as his running mate – shows Biden with a nine-point lead over Trump.
Their stats show that 50 per cent of nationally registered voters said they would vote for Biden if the presidential election was held now.
Trump secured the backing of 40 per cent of voters by comparison.
NBC said the results were “down a bit from Biden's 51 per cent lead last month”, but overall the “numbers look pretty stable when you look at this race over the entire summer”.
TRUMP CALLS FOR NEW WHITE HOUSE DOC VIRUS ADVICE
President Donald Trump has found a new doctor for his coronavirus task force and this time there's no daylight between them.
Trump last week announced that Dr. Scott Atlas, a frequent guest on Fox News Channel, has joined the White House as a pandemic adviser. Atlas, the former chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center and a fellow at Stanford's conservative Hoover Institution, has no expertise in public health or infectious diseases.
But he has long been a critic of coronavirus lockdowns and has campaigned for kids to return to the classroom and for the return of college sports, just like Trump.
Scott is a very famous man whos also very highly respected,” Trump told reporters as he introduced the addition. He has many great ideas and he thinks what weve done is really good.
Atlas' hiring comes amid ongoing tensions between the president and Drs. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert, and Deborah Birx, the task force's coordinator. While Birx remains closely involved in the administration's pandemic response, both she and Fauci have publicly contradicted the rosy picture the president has painted of a virus that has now killed more than 167,000 people in the United States and infected millions nationwide.
Atlas, the sole doctor to share the stage at Trump's pandemic briefings this past week, has long questioned polices that have been embraced by public health experts both in the U.S. and abroad. He has called it a good thing for younger, healthy people to be exposed to the virus, while falsely claiming children are at near zero risk.”
TROLLS ATTACK TRUMP SAYING 'WRONG TRUMP' DIED
Heartless Twitter users trolled Donald Trump just minutes after the death of his beloved younger brother saying the “wrong Trump” died.
The 71-year-old Robert Trump died Saturday night after being hospitalized in New York for brain bleeds caused by a recent fall.
Almost immediately after, tweets calling for the president’s death were posted using the hashtag wrongtrump, which quickly became the number four trending topic on the website.
“Dear Grim Reaper, You took the wrongtrump,” wrote Twitter user @TalbertSwan, whose account bio claims he’s a pastor and NAACP president.
Talbert’s account had been reportedly permanently banned “for hateful conduct” in 2019, masslive.com reported.
Some users claimed the president, who has been in New York over the weekend to visit his brother, only came to spend “his time golfing and tweeting.”
AMERICANS WON'T RECEIVE $1,200 STIMULUS 'FOR AT LEAST A MONTH'
American citizens waiting patiently for their promised $1,200 stimulus check have to hold tight for at least another month after Congress went into recess without a deal.
Stalled negotiations could now resume in September, despite Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin saying Republicans have the backing from President Donald Trump to ensure payments would be made in August.
The Senate and House of Representatives have now both adjourned until September, meaning a deal may not be reached until October.
The Senate will get back to work on September 8 and The House of Representatives on September 14.
So a question remains over when the payment will come through given the stalemate between the political parties.
Members of Congress are needed to vote on a stimulus package in person.
TRUMP CAMPAIGN PLAN DIGITAL ADS DURING DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION
U.S. President Donald Trump's re-election campaign will sink millions of dollars into a digital ad campaign.
The campaign is set to kick off next week during the Democratic presidential convention, a Trump campaign spokesman confirmed.
The Democratic National Convention begins on Monday and will conclude on Thursday with former Vice President Joe Biden formally accepting his party's nomination to take on Trump in the Nov. 3 presidential election.
TRUMP SLAMS BIDEN FOR 'NEVER TAKING QUESTIONS FROM REPORTERS'
Trump took aim at ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden for "never taking questions" on Sunday by sharing a clip of reporters not asking him anything.
Just days after a reporter confronted the president with a pointed question about "all the lying you've done“, Trump hit back at his rival by sharing a recent clip of the former VP appearing to not take any questions from the press.
“Very strange. Sleepy Joe never takes questions,” Trump blasted over Twitter Saturday.
“Also, his reporters have zero drive. Why can’t my reporters behave like that? Something is going on!”
Accompanying the tweet was a clip from a Friday press event with Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.
In the clip staffers appear to rush the press out of the room before Joe Biden can answer any questions.
TRUMP QUESTIONED BY REPORTER OVER 'ALL THE LYING YOU'VE DONE'
Donald Trump swiftly ignored a reporter who asked “do you regret all the lying you've done” at a White House press briefing this week.
SV Dáte confronted Trump with the question he said he'd been waiting five years to ask.
The Huffington Post White House correspondent fired the question from a seat in Thursday's press pool.
“Mr President, after three and a half years presidency, do you regret at all, all the lying you’ve done to the American people?” Dáte asked.
“All the what?” Trump replied.
Dáte continued his line of questioning, adding: “All the lying, all the dishonesties.”
Trump again responded with a question of his own, asking: “That who has done?”
“You have done,” said Dáte.
“Tens of thousan…”, he began to say, before Trump cut him off and called on another journalist, who then asked a question about payroll tax.
In July, the Washington Post reported that Trump had told more than 20,000 “false or misleading claims” over the course of his presidency.
FAMILY LEGAL BATTLE
The President and his family lost their legal battle to block his niece Mary Trump from publishing Too Much And Never Enough: How My Family Created The World's Most Dangerous Man memoir.
Robert Trump had attempted to stop the book written by Mary, 55, from being released, claiming it contained private information about their family.
But the lawsuit was thrown out by a Queens judge, as Justice Peter Kelly said the attempt fell “outside the parameters” of the court.
Yet, Robert's attorney claimed that the book violates a non-disclosure agreement, vowing to re-file the suit in the Supreme Court of New York.
Meanwhile, Mary Trump's lawyer said the lawsuit was a “baseless request to suppress a book of utmost public importance.”
Mary has called on her uncle Donald to resign from his post as President.
In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, she said: “He is utterly incapable of leading this country and it's dangerous to allow him to do so … based on what I've seen my entire adult life.”
The book is set to be released in August to coincide with the pre-election Republican National Convention.
WHO ARE DONALD TRUMP'S SIBLINGS?
The businessman and POTUS Donald Trump has three siblings.
His parents, Fred and Mary Anne Trump, had five children together.
Donald was the fourth to be born and he has a younger brother Robert, two elder sisters Maryanne and Elizabeth, and an elder brother Fred Jr.
The president reportedly had a “very good relationship” with Robert.
Trump's eldest sister Maryanne was a senior federal judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, but became inactive in 2017 after her brother took office.
Fred Trump, who died aged 42 in 1981, was Donald Trump's older brother and second eldest sibling.
He died from a heart attack as a result of alcoholism – which caused the President to avoid alcohol and cigarettes.
Elizabeth, now aged 78, is also older than Donald and third eldest in the family.
She worked as an executive for Chase Manhattan Bank, before retiring to Florida.
Robert Trump was the president's only younger sibling.
He was a business executive and real estate developer who managed the Trump Organisation's real estate holdings outside Manhattan.
He avoided the limelight during his elder brother's presidential campaign in 2016 but said he supported Donald “one thousand per cent.”
ORANGE DONALD TRUMP SHAPED ECSTASY PILLS ON MARKET
Policeissued a public health warning last night over dangerous drugs that look like Donald Trump being sold in the UK.
They said the MDMA pills were particularly high-strength and could cause serious harm.
The warning came after a man in his 30s was arrested on suspicion of supplying drugs in Luton, UK.
A spokesman for Bedfordshire Police said: “A man aged in his 30s and from Luton has been arrested on suspicion of drugs supply offences after being found with a number of drugs, including MDMA tablets designed to look like Donald Trump.”
Detective Sergeant Ryan Barnes, from Bedfordshire Police’s Crime Investigation Team, said: “Criminals are constantly finding new ways to sell their drugs and make them more appealing.
“We have seen MDMA tablets created to look like a number of culturally popular items before and a recent example of this are the ‘Donald Trumps’.
“We are dedicated to stamping this type of harmful criminality out across our county and protecting the most vulnerable from coming into harm’s way.”
TRUMP'S BROTHER DIED 'AFTER BRAIN BLEED FOLLOWING RECENT FALL'
Donald Trump's brother “and best friend” has died at 71 after suffering brain bleeds from a fall, reports say.
Robert Trump's death comes just one day after he was admitted into a hospital in New York City.
A cause of death has not yet been officially revealed.
But Robert, who took blood thinners, had been suffering from brain bleeds since a recent fall, a family friend told the New York Times.
He was reportedly “very ill” when he was admitted into the hospital.
He had not been able to speak on the phone for the last few weeks, reports say.
TRUMP CONSIDERS PARDON FOR EDWARD SNOWDEN
Trump says he is considering a pardon for Edward Snowden, the former U.S. National Security Agency contractor – now living in Russia – whose spectacular leaks shook the U.S. intelligence community in 2013.
The Republican president's comments followed an interview he gave to the New York Post this week in which he said of Snowden that “there are a lot of people that think that he is not being treated fairly” by U.S. law enforcement.
“I'm going to start looking at it,” Trump told reporters about a possible pardon, speaking at a news conference at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club.
U.S. authorities for years have wanted Snowden returned to the United States to face a criminal trial on espionage charges brought in 2013.
Snowden fled the United States and was given asylum in Russia after he leaked a trove of secret files in 2013 to news organizations that revealed vast domestic and international surveillance operations carried out by the NSA.
Snowden's Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, told RIA news agency the United States should not simply pardon him, but should drop all possible prosecutions against Snowden as he had not committed any crimes.
TAYLOR SWIFT SAYS TRUMP IS 'BLATANTLY CHEATING' TO BEAT BIDEN
Singer songwriter Taylor Swift slammed President Donald Trump on Twitter and accused of him trying to “blatantly cheat” in the presidential election.
“Trump's calculated dismantling of USPS proves one thing clearly: He is WELL AWARE that we do not want him as our president,” Swift tweeted on Saturday. “He's chosen to blatantly cheat and put millions of Americans' lives at risk in an effort to hold on to power.”
ERIC TRUMP PAYS TRIBUE TO HIS LATE UNCLE
Donald Trump's son Eric posted an emotional tribute to his uncle over Twitter on Saturday.
“Robert Trump was an incredible man – strong, kind and loyal to the core,” he wrote.
“Anyone who encountered him felt his warmth immediately. He will be deeply missed by our entire family.”
NY COP 'APPEARS TO SHOUT "F**K YOU" AT TRUMP' SPEAKING AT UNION EVENT
During a police union event on Friday, a police officer appeared to shout “F–K You” while President Donald Trump spoke to the crowd.
Prior to receiving an endorsement from New York City Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch, President Trump spoke in support of the police officers.
“New York's finest,” he said. “You are the finest, they just won't let you do your job.”
“I have deeply and profoundly admired the work of New York City's finest and I've admired you my whole life,” Trump added. “I've watched you do your job like nobody else.”
Shortly after the president started his remarks, a police officer in the crowd can be heard shouting “F–K YOU!”
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