Our live coverage has ended. Scroll through the posts below to see how the day unfolded.
Rep. Mark Sanford, a fiscal conservative from South Carolina, said the farm aid was “destructive” and “doubling down on bad policy.”
He added that it calls into question what Republicans stand for these days.
Sanford said it’s likely that other industries would also be seeking help.
“The logical questions is, if it’s good enough for the farm sector, why wouldn’t it be for other sectors?” he said. “I think there are going to be a lot of ‘me too’ questions that are going to be raised in light of this package.”
From a fiscal point of view, he described the situation as a “nightmare.”
“It’s a nightmare, because not only are you increasing taxes — because a tariff is a tax — now you’re doubling down on harmful taxpayer effect in that not only are you increasing taxes, you’re increasing spending as well with the aid package.”
“What I hear from farmers is they’d rather have trade than aid,” he added.
President Trump has “begun the mechanism to remove the security clearance of certain individuals,” the White House said Tuesday.
White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, said Trump remains concerned that the former US intelligence officials named Monday were offering critical commentary on television.
He did not offer a timeline on when the security clearances might be revoked. “When we have an announcement on this we’ll let you know,” Gidley said.
However, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said nothing is different than what she said Monday.
Some background: Sanders confirmed Monday during her press briefing that Trump was considering stripping a half-dozen former national security officials of their security clearances. The list includes…
The Trump administration is offering up to $12 billion in aid to farmers hurt by retaliatory tariffs stemming from President Donald Trump’s widening trade feud with other countries.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Tuesday the emergency aid package will use existing funding to mitigate the estimated $11 billion impact of “illegal tariffs” other countries have imposed on US agriculture exports. The exports have been a prime target of China and other countries that have retaliated against the series of tariffs Trump has imposed in recent months.
The aid package will offer much-needed support to farmers caught up in the burgeoning trade war sparked by tariffs Trump imposed on several of US’s largest trading partners.
Here’s what’s in the nearly $12 billion package:
President Trump encouraged his supporters to stick with him, even if they’re seeing signs of trouble.
“Just remember what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening,” Trump said at the VFW convention in Kansas City.
He said the US economy is thriving, and not to believe work otherwise.
“Stick with us,” Trump said. “Don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news.”
President Donald Trump on Tuesday confirmed reports indicating that North Korea has begun to dismantle a missile site.
“New images just today show that North Korea has begun the process of dismantling a key missile site, and we appreciate that,” Trump said.
Trump appears to be referring to satellite imagery that has shown North Korea is dismantling a missile-engine testing site.
Trump said after his meting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore last month that Kim had promised to dismantle such a site.
Trump also said the process of returning the remains of US soldiers from the Korean War “is starting fairly soon” and sounded optimistic about state of play with North Korea.
“It seems to be going very well,” Trump said.
President Trump said he was open to negotiations with Iran after threatening the country with war in a tweet earlier this week.
“We’ll see what happens. We’re ready to make a real deal, not the deal done by the previous administration, which was a real disaster,” Trump said at the VFW convention in Kansas City.
On Sunday evening, Trump warned Iran not to threaten the United States, vowing threats would result in “CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.”
Trump claimed in his remarks Tuesday that his decision to withdraw from the Iran deal had changed Iran’s behavior, a claim he’s made previously that has baffled experts.
“Iran is not the same country anymore, that I can say,” Trump said.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he was so inundated with calls from world leaders urging him not to move the US embassy to Jerusalem last year that he stopped picking up the phone.
Trump said he ignored many of those leaders’ calls and only returned their calls after he announced plans to move the embassy.
Trump said it got “to a point where I didn’t take their calls.”
“I called ‘em back after I did it,” Trump said. “When I knew what it was about, I said tell ‘em I’ll call them back next week.”
President Trump, in the wake of questions about his conciliatory summit with Vladimir Putin, insisted on Tuesday he stands up for the United States.
“We don’t apologize for America anymore. We stand up for America,” Trump said at the VFW convention in Kansas City. “We stand up for the patriots that defend America.”
After a round of applause, Trump appeared to allude to the NFL national anthem controversy. “We stand up for our National Anthem,” Trump said.
President Trump offered his prayers to the victims of last week’s deadly duck boat accident, telling the Missouri crowd, “I have to tell you, the whole world was watching that. We lost 17 beautiful souls, including nine members of one family and babies for whom life was just beginning. Their lives were cut short, but they and their loved ones will never, ever be forgotten.”
He added, “We will hold their memory close to our hearts” and thanked the state’s governor for his leadership in the aftermath of the tragedy.
President Trump claimed Tuesday the senators who voted against Robert Wilkie’s confirmation to become VA secretary were angling to challenge him in 2020.
“If you want to know who’s running, just look at Wilkie’s score,” Trump said at the VFW convention in Kansas City. “There will probably be quite a few more.”
The senators who voted against Wilkie included Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren.
President Trump just took the stage at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Kansas City, Missouri. You can watch live at CNNGo, or in the player above (refresh if you don’t see it).
President Trump has arrived in Kansas City, Missouri. He’s on his way to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, where he’ll deliver remarks just a day after his second Veterans Affairs secretary was confirmed.
But his appearance also comes amid a confluence of controversy involving Trump on the world stage, including an all caps tweet two days earlier warning Iran continued threats would result in “consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before.”
Trump’s tweet prompted an editorial from the Kansas City Star urging Trump to take the opportunity “to listen – and we mean really listen – to some of the heroes who will be on hand to hear him.”
President Trump says he’s “very concerned” about the impact Russia may have on upcoming US elections. He noted that since “no President has been tougher on Russia,” they would likely want Democrats to win.
The tweet comes just over a week after his controversial summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, where he refused to accept US intelligence findings that Russia hacked the 2016 election (Trump later said he misspoke.)
Here’s his tweet:
But that’s not what Putin says: Last week, standing at a press conference alongside President Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked if he wanted Trump to win the US presidential election or if he directed any officials to help him do that. Putin responded, “Yes, I did.”
President Trump’s administration will announce a plan on Tuesday to extend billions of dollars in aid to farmers affected by tariffs, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN.
Trump had previously directed Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to explore options to mitigate financial losses US farmers are suffering as trade tensions between the US and other countries heat up.
What this is all about: US agriculture exports have been a prime target of China and other countries that have retaliated against the series of tariffs Trump has imposed in recent months.
This was first reported by Politico.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the top law enforcement officer in the country, participated in a chant of “Lock her up” Tuesday, reviving a rallying cry from Donald Trump campaign events calling to jail Hillary Clinton.
Sessions was addressing a conservative group’s high school leadership summit in Washington, where he promoted free speech and conservative principles.
Sessions criticized universities for “coddling our young people” and “actively preventing them from scrutinizing the validity of their beliefs.”
“After the 2016 election, for example, they held a ‘cry-in’ at Cornell. I hope they had plenty of tissues for ‘em to cry on,” he said. “They had therapy dogs at the University of Kansas. Play-Doh and coloring books at the University of Michigan for heaven’s sakes. You know, give me a break. Students at Tufts were encouraged to ‘draw about their feelings.’”
“Well I can tell this group isn’t going to have to have Play-Doh when you get attacked in college and you get involved in a debate,” Sessions told the crowd attending Turning Point USA’s High School Leadership Summit at George Washington University. “I like this bunch, I gotta tell you. You’re not going to be backing down. Go get ‘em. Go get ‘em.”
Then chants of “Lock her up” broke out.
“Lock her up,” Sessions said, chuckling at the brief interruption from the audience as the chant then grew louder.
“I heard that a long time over the last campaign,” he said before continuing with his prepared speech.
“Tariffs are the greatest!” President Donald Trump said on Twitter Tuesday morning. Whirlpool used to agree.
In January, when Trump announced tariffs on imported washing machines, CEO Marc Bitzer told analysts, “This is, without any doubt, a positive catalyst for Whirlpool.” The company’s stock jumped.
But the Trump administration didn’t stop there. It imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum, sending raw material prices skyrocketing. That raised costs for Whirlpool by $350 million and squeezed its profit margins.
Now Whirlpool is backtracking on its protectionist cheerleading.
The company on Monday slashed its profit outlook for 2018 in part due to a “very challenging cost environment.” Whirlpool’s stock tanked 12% on Tuesday after it missed Wall Street’s expectations.
“The global steel costs have risen substantially, and in particular, in the US, they have reached unexplainable levels,” Bitzer told analysts. “Uncertainty” around additional tariffs and global trade had disrupted Whirlpool’s supply chain, he said.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan attempted to downplay President Trump’s threat to revoke security clearances of former national security officials, brushing it off as just “trolling.”
“I think he’s trolling people honestly,” Ryan said at his weekly press conference today.
Ryan says it is something in the purview of the executive branch, not Congress.
President Trump is considering stripping a half-dozen former national security officials of their security clearances, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday, calling their public commentary about the ongoing Russia probe inappropriate.
Such a move would amount to an unprecedented use of presidential authority to punish political rivals. Critics quickly seized on the announcement, even as those under consideration downplayed the actual effect losing their clearances might have.
The list of former officials under consideration includes…
Here’s Sanders discussing the possible stripped clearances:
