Alec Baldwin won an Emmy Sunday for his impersonation of Donald Trump on &quot;Saturday Night Live&quot;.

Baldwin won for best supporting actor in a comedy series.&nbsp;

Baldwin has pilloried Trump again and again on SNL, making fun of both what the US President says and how he says it.&nbsp;

On Sunday night (early Monday morning, India time) he was quick to make another jibe about the US President.&nbsp;

&nbsp;&quot;I suppose I should say, &#39;At long last, Mr&nbsp;President, here is your Emmy,&quot; Baldwin said from up on&nbsp;stage.

Baldwin was referring to Trump&#39;s frequent complaints that he was never honoured for his reality series&nbsp;&quot;Celebrity Apprentice&quot;.&nbsp;

Trump has not taken kindly to Baldwin&#39;s portrayal of him.&nbsp;

He attacked SNL shortly before the US presidential election last year, tweeting: &quot;Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks. Media rigging election!&quot;

Baldwin won for best supporting actor in a comedy series

Alec Baldwin won an Emmy Sunday for his impersonation of Donald Trump on "Saturday Night Live". Baldwin won for best supporting actor in a comedy series. Baldwin has pilloried Trump again and again on SNL, making fun of both what the US President says and how he says it. On Sunday night (early Monday morning, India time) he was quick to make another jibe about the US President. "I suppose I should say, 'At long last, Mr President, here is your Emmy," Baldwin said from up on stage. Baldwin was referring to Trump's frequent complaints that he was never honoured for his reality series "Celebrity Apprentice". Trump has not taken kindly to Baldwin's portrayal of him. He attacked SNL shortly before the US presidential election last year, tweeting: "Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks. Media rigging election!"

69th Emmy Awards: Alec Baldwin wins for SNL impersonation of Trump

Here is a complete list of all the winners at the 69th Emmy Awards:

&nbsp;

Outstanding drama series 
&quot;Better Call Saul&quot; 
&quot;The Crown&quot; 
&quot;The Handmaid&#39;s Tale&quot; - WINNER 
&quot;House of Cards&quot; 
&quot;Stranger Things&quot; 
&quot;This Is Us&quot; 
&quot;Westworld&quot;

 
Outstanding comedy series 
&quot;Atlanta&quot; 
&quot;Black-ish&quot; 
&quot;Master of None&quot; 
&quot;Modern Family&quot; 
&quot;Silicon Valley&quot; 
&quot;Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt&quot; 
&quot;Veep&quot; -&nbsp;WINNER

 
Outstanding lead actor in a drama series 
Sterling K. Brown, &quot;This Is Us&quot; -&nbsp;WINNER 
Anthony Hopkins, &quot;Westworld&quot; 
Bob Odenkirk, &quot;Better Call Saul&quot; 
Matthew Rhys, &quot;The Americans&quot; 
Liev Schreiber, &quot;Ray Donovan&quot; 
Kevin Spacey, &quot;House of Cards&quot; 
Milo Ventimiglia, &quot;This Is Us&quot;

 
Outstanding lead actress in a drama series 
Viola Davis, &quot;How to Get Away With Murder&quot; 
Claire Foy, &quot;The Crown&quot; 
Elisabeth Moss, &quot;The Handmaid&#39;s Tale&quot; -&nbsp;WINNER 
Keri Russell, &quot;The Americans&quot; 
Evan Rachel Wood, &quot;Westworld&quot; 
Robin Wright, &quot;House of Cards&quot;

 
Outstanding supporting actor in a drama series 
Jonathan Banks, &quot;Better Call Saul&quot; 
Ron Cephas Jonas, &quot;This Is Us&quot; 
David Harbour, &quot;Stranger Things&quot; 
Michael Kelly, &quot;House of Cards&quot; 
John Lithgow , &quot;The Crown&quot; - WINNER 
Mandy Patinkin, &quot;Homeland&quot; 
Jeffrey Wright , &quot;Westworld&quot;

 
Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series 
Ann Dowd, &quot;The Handmaid&#39;s Tale&quot; -WINNER 
Samira Wiley, &quot;The Handmaid&#39;s Tale&quot; 
Uzo Aduba, &quot;Orange Is the New Black&quot; 
Millie Bobby Brown, &quot;Stranger Things&quot; 
Chrissy Metz , &quot;This Is Us&quot; 
Thandie Newton, &quot;Westworld&quot;

 
Outstanding lead actor in a comedy series 
Anthony Anderson, &quot;Black-ish&quot; 
Aziz Ansari, &quot;Master of None&quot; 
Zach Galifianakis, &quot;Baskets&quot; 
Donald Glover, &quot;Atlanta&quot; - WINNER 
William H. Macy, &quot;Shameless&quot; 
Jeffrey Tambor, &quot;Transparent&quot;

 
Outstanding lead actress in a comedy series 
Pamela Adlon, &quot;Better Things&quot; 
Jane Fonda, &quot;Grace and Frankie&quot; 
Allison Janney, &quot;Mom&quot; 
Ellie Kemper, &quot;Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt&quot; 
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, &quot;Veep&quot; - WINNER 
Tracee Ellis Ross, &quot;Black-ish&quot; 
Lily Tomlin, &quot;Grace and Frankie&quot;

 
Outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series 
Louie Anderson, &quot;Baskets&quot; 
Alec Baldwin, &quot;Saturday Night Live&quot; -&nbsp;WINNER 
Tituss Burgess, &quot;Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt&quot; 
Ty Burrell, &quot;Modern Family&quot; 
Tony Hale, &quot;Veep&quot; 
Matt Walsh, &quot;Veep&quot;

 
Outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series 
Vanessa Bayer, &quot;Saturday Night Live&quot; 
Leslie Jones, &quot;Saturday Night Live&quot; 
Kate McKinnon, &quot;Saturday Night Live&quot; -WINNER 
Kathryn Hahn, &quot;Transparent&quot; 
Judith Light, &quot;Transparent&quot; 
Anna Chlumsky, &quot;Veep&quot;

 
Outstanding limited series 
&quot;Big Little Lies&quot; -WINNER 
&quot;Fargo&quot; 
&quot;Feud: Bette and Joan&quot; 
&quot;The Night Of&quot; 
&quot;Genius&quot;

 
Outstanding lead actor in a limited series 
Riz Ahmed, &quot;The Night Of&quot; - WINNER 
Benedict Cumberbatch, &quot;Sherlock: The Lying Detective&quot; 
Robert De Niro, &quot;The Wizard of Lies&quot; 
Ewan McGregor, &quot;Fargo&quot; 
Geoffrey Rush, &quot;Genius&quot; 
John Turturro, &quot;The Night Of&quot;

 
Outstanding lead actress in a limited series 
Carrie Coon, &quot;Fargo&quot; 
Felicity Huffman, &quot;American Crime&quot; 
Nicole Kidman, &quot;Big Little Lies&quot; - WINNER 
Jessica Lange, &quot;Feud: Bette and Joan&quot; 
Susan Sarandon, &quot;Feud: Bette and Joan&quot; 
Reese Witherspoon, &quot;Big Little Lies&quot;

 
Outstanding supporting actress in a limited series or movie 
Judy Davis, &quot;Feud: Bette and Joan 
Laura Dern, &quot;Big Little Lies&quot; - WINNER 
Jackie Hoffman ,&quot;Feud: Bette and Joan&quot; 
Michelle Pfeiffer, &quot;The Wizard of Lies&quot; 
Shailene Woodley, &quot;Big Little Lies&quot;

 
Outstanding supporting actor in a limited series or movie 
Bill Camp, &quot;The Night Of&quot; 
Alfred Molina, &quot;Feud: Bette and Joan&quot; 
Alexander Skarsgard, &quot;Big Little Lies&quot; -WINNER 
David Thewlis, &quot;Fargo&quot; 
Stanley Tucci, &quot;Feud: Bette and Joan&quot; 
Michael Kenneth Williams, &quot;The Night Of&quot;&#39;

 
Outstanding variety talk series 
&quot;Full Frontal With Samantha Bee&quot; 
&quot;Jimmy Kimmel Live!&quot; 
&quot;Last Week Tonight With John Oliver&quot; -&nbsp;WINNER 
&quot;The Late Late Show With James Corden&quot; 
&quot;The Late Show With Stephen Colbert&quot; 
&quot;Real Time With Bill Maher&quot;

 
Outstanding reality-competition program 
&quot;The Amazing Race&quot; 
&quot;American Ninja Warrior&quot; 
&quot;Project Runway&quot; 
&quot;RuPaul&#39;s Drag Race&quot; 
&quot;Top Chef&quot; 
&quot;The Voice&quot; - WINNER

 
Outstanding directing for a comedy series 
Jamie Babbit, &quot;Silicon Valley&quot; 
Donald Glover, &quot;Atlanta&quot; - WINNER 
Mike Judge, &quot;Silicon Valley&quot; 
David Mandel, &quot;Veep&quot; 
Morgan Sackett, &quot;Veep&quot; 
Dale Stern, &quot;Veep&quot;

 
Outstanding writing for a drama series 
The Duffer Brothers, &quot;Stranger Things&quot; 
Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, &quot;Westworld&quot; 
Peter Morgan, &quot;The Crown&quot; 
Bruce Miller, &quot;The Handmaid&#39;s Tale&quot; - WINNER 
Gordon Smith, &quot;Better Call Saul&quot; 
Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, &quot;The Americans&quot;

 
Outstanding writing for a comedy series 
Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe, &quot;Master of None&quot; - WINNER 
Alec Berg, &quot;Silicon Valley&quot; 
Donald Glover, &quot;Atlanta&quot; 
Stephen Glover, &quot;Atlanta&quot; 
Billy Kimball, &quot;Veep&quot; 
David Mandel, &quot;Veep&quot;

 
Outstanding directing for a drama series 
Stephen Daldry, &quot;The Crown&quot; 
Kate Dennis, &quot;The Handmaid&#39;s Tale&quot; 
The Duffer Brothers, &quot;Stranger Things&quot; 
Vince Gilligan, &quot;Better Call Saul&quot; 
Lesli Linka Glatter, &quot;Homeland&quot; 
Reed Morano, &quot;The Handmaid&#39;s Tale&quot; - WINNER 
Jonathan Nolan, &quot;Westworld&quot;

'The Handmaid's Tale' and 'Big Little Lies' were the big winners -- both took home 5 statuettes each

Here is a complete list of all the winners at the 69th Emmy Awards: Outstanding drama series "Better Call Saul" "The Crown" "The Handmaid's Tale" - WINNER "House of Cards" "Stranger Things" "This Is Us" "Westworld" Outstanding comedy series "Atlanta" "Black-ish" "Master of None" "Modern Family" "Silicon Valley" "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" "Veep" - WINNER Outstanding lead actor in a drama series Sterling K. Brown, "This Is Us" - WINNER Anthony Hopkins, "Westworld" Bob Odenkirk, "Better Call Saul" Matthew Rhys, "The Americans" Liev Schreiber, "Ray Donovan" Kevin Spacey, "House of Cards" Milo Ventimiglia, "This Is Us" Outstanding lead actress in a drama series Viola Davis, "How to Get Away With Murder" Claire Foy, "The Crown" Elisabeth Moss, "The Handmaid's Tale" - WINNER Keri Russell, "The Americans" Evan Rachel Wood, "Westworld" Robin Wright, "House of Cards" Outstanding supporting actor in a drama series Jonathan Banks, "Better Call Saul" Ron Cephas Jonas, "This Is Us" David Harbour, "Stranger Things" Michael Kelly, "House of Cards" John Lithgow , "The Crown" - WINNER Mandy Patinkin, "Homeland" Jeffrey Wright , "Westworld" Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series Ann Dowd, "The Handmaid's Tale" -WINNER Samira Wiley, "The Handmaid's Tale" Uzo Aduba, "Orange Is the New Black" Millie Bobby Brown, "Stranger Things" Chrissy Metz , "This Is Us" Thandie Newton, "Westworld" Outstanding lead actor in a comedy series Anthony Anderson, "Black-ish" Aziz Ansari, "Master of None" Zach Galifianakis, "Baskets" Donald Glover, "Atlanta" - WINNER William H. Macy, "Shameless" Jeffrey Tambor, "Transparent" Outstanding lead actress in a comedy series Pamela Adlon, "Better Things" Jane Fonda, "Grace and Frankie" Allison Janney, "Mom" Ellie Kemper, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Veep" - WINNER Tracee Ellis Ross, "Black-ish" Lily Tomlin, "Grace and Frankie" Outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series Louie Anderson, "Baskets" Alec Baldwin, "Saturday Night Live" - WINNER Tituss Burgess, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" Ty Burrell, "Modern Family" Tony Hale, "Veep" Matt Walsh, "Veep" Outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series Vanessa Bayer, "Saturday Night Live" Leslie Jones, "Saturday Night Live" Kate McKinnon, "Saturday Night Live" -WINNER Kathryn Hahn, "Transparent" Judith Light, "Transparent" Anna Chlumsky, "Veep" Outstanding limited series "Big Little Lies" -WINNER "Fargo" "Feud: Bette and Joan" "The Night Of" "Genius" Outstanding lead actor in a limited series Riz Ahmed, "The Night Of" - WINNER Benedict Cumberbatch, "Sherlock: The Lying Detective" Robert De Niro, "The Wizard of Lies" Ewan McGregor, "Fargo" Geoffrey Rush, "Genius" John Turturro, "The Night Of" Outstanding lead actress in a limited series Carrie Coon, "Fargo" Felicity Huffman, "American Crime" Nicole Kidman, "Big Little Lies" - WINNER Jessica Lange, "Feud: Bette and Joan" Susan Sarandon, "Feud: Bette and Joan" Reese Witherspoon, "Big Little Lies" Outstanding supporting actress in a limited series or movie Judy Davis, "Feud: Bette and Joan Laura Dern, "Big Little Lies" - WINNER Jackie Hoffman ,"Feud: Bette and Joan" Michelle Pfeiffer, "The Wizard of Lies" Shailene Woodley, "Big Little Lies" Outstanding supporting actor in a limited series or movie Bill Camp, "The Night Of" Alfred Molina, "Feud: Bette and Joan" Alexander Skarsgard, "Big Little Lies" -WINNER David Thewlis, "Fargo" Stanley Tucci, "Feud: Bette and Joan" Michael Kenneth Williams, "The Night Of"' Outstanding variety talk series "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee" "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver" - WINNER "The Late Late Show With James Corden" "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" "Real Time With Bill Maher" Outstanding reality-competition program "The Amazing Race" "American Ninja Warrior" "Project Runway" "RuPaul's Drag Race" "Top Chef" "The Voice" - WINNER Outstanding directing for a comedy series Jamie Babbit, "Silicon Valley" Donald Glover, "Atlanta" - WINNER Mike Judge, "Silicon Valley" David Mandel, "Veep" Morgan Sackett, "Veep" Dale Stern, "Veep" Outstanding writing for a drama series The Duffer Brothers, "Stranger Things" Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, "Westworld" Peter Morgan, "The Crown" Bruce Miller, "The Handmaid's Tale" - WINNER Gordon Smith, "Better Call Saul" Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, "The Americans" Outstanding writing for a comedy series Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe, "Master of None" - WINNER Alec Berg, "Silicon Valley" Donald Glover, "Atlanta" Stephen Glover, "Atlanta" Billy Kimball, "Veep" David Mandel, "Veep" Outstanding directing for a drama series Stephen Daldry, "The Crown" Kate Dennis, "The Handmaid's Tale" The Duffer Brothers, "Stranger Things" Vince Gilligan, "Better Call Saul" Lesli Linka Glatter, "Homeland" Reed Morano, "The Handmaid's Tale" - WINNER Jonathan Nolan, "Westworld"

69th Emmy Awards: The complete list of winners

Television&#39;s glittering Emmys placed politics front and centre on Sunday, lavishing &quot;The Handmaid&#39;s Tale&quot; with awards for its bleak portrait of an authoritarian America.

The glitzy ceremony in downtown Los Angeles -- the first under the administration of President Donald Trump -- was widely expected to have a strongly political flavor, and host Stephen Colbert set the tone in his opening monologue.

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<h5>&#39;The Handmaid&#39;s Tale&#39; paints a bleak portrait of an authoritarian America</h5>
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&quot;However you feel about the president, and you do feel about the president, you can&#39;t deny that every show was influenced by Donald Trump in some way,&quot; he said.

&quot;All the late night shows, obviously, &#39;House of Cards,&#39; the new season of &#39;American Horror Story.&#39;&quot;

Hulu&#39;s &quot;The Handmaid&#39;s Tale&quot; and HBO miniseries &quot;Big Little Lies&quot; were the big winners, with five statuettes each.

&quot;Big Little Lies&quot; cast members Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern and Alexander Skarsgard all took home Emmys, along with director Jean-Marc Vallee. It also won outstanding limited series.

&quot;The Handmaid&#39;s Tale,&quot; Hulu&#39;s acclaimed series based on the 1985 novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, won awards for writing and directing as well as the biggest prize of the night -- outstanding drama series.

Ann Dowd, picking up her first Emmy at age 61 for her portrayal of brutal instructor Aunt Lydia, spoke of how her award was &quot;a dream&quot; while outstanding lead actress Elisabeth Moss turned the air blue with an expletive strewn acceptance speech.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/69th-emmy-awards-the-complete-list-of-winners-20322" target="_blank">Also read: The complete list of winners&nbsp;at the 69th Emmy Awards</a>

Hulu will have the most to celebrate as the post-show parties get started, stealing a march on rival streaming platform Netflix, which won just four statuettes all evening.

On a night that rewarded ethnic diversity, Sterling K. Brown picked up lead actor in a drama for &quot;This is Us&quot; while Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe, Riz Ahmed and Donald Glover also made it to the podium.

But politics was always going to be the story of the awards from the moment John Lithgow picked up the first one: best supporting actor in a drama for his acclaimed turn as Winston Churchill in Netflix&#39;s British royal drama &quot;The Crown.&quot;

&quot;In these crazy times his life even as an old man reminds us what leadership and courage in government really looks like,&quot; the US actor said.

NBC&#39;s long-running comedy sketch show &quot;Saturday Night Live&quot; went into Emmys week with 22 nominations -- the joint-highest total alongside &quot;Westworld&quot; -- after a year of mercilessly spoofing the new commander-in-chief.

Its haul of five Creative Arts statuettes included outstanding guest actress in a comedy series for Melissa McCarthy, whose &quot;Unhinged Spicey&quot; take on Sean Spicer came to embody early criticism of the administration.

The former White House press secretary, whose full-throated defense of Trump earned him derision on television, delighted his former tormentors in a surprise appearance at the opening of the show.

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The cast and crew of &#39;Big Little Lies&#39;, winner of Outstanding Limited Series. (AFP)
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&#39;Greatest honour&#39; 
SNL took four statuettes, with Kate McKinnon tearfully accepting the award for best supporting actress in a comedy series for her portrayal of Hillary Clinton.

She told reporters backstage that the role had been &quot;the greatest honor of my life&quot; and talked of the &quot;special kind of electricity&quot; on set every week.

Alec Baldwin was tapped as best supporting actor in a comedy for his Trump impersonation.

&quot;I suppose I should say at long last, Mr President, here is your Emmy,&quot; he joked, in a dig at Trump&#39;s oft-stated annoyance at never having won a statuette for NBC reality show &quot;The Apprentice&quot; or its celebrity spin-off.

The show also picked up the award for best variety sketch show and outstanding directing.&nbsp;

Elsewhere in the comedy stakes, the 33-year-old Glover took home a brace of statuettes for directing and starring in the FX comedy series &quot;Atlanta.&quot;

The award caps a huge year for Glover, who already has two Golden Globes for the show, focused on the Georgia capital&#39;s rap scene.

Glover got a loud cheer when he took to the stage and thanked Trump for &quot;making black people number one on the most oppressed list.&quot;

British funnyman Charlie Brooker also picked up two Emmys for writing and producing &quot;San Junipero,&quot; a feature-length episode of the dark comedy series &quot;Black Mirror.&quot;

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in one of the least surprising announcements of the night, won her sixth consecutive Emmy for playing hapless ex-president Selena Meyer in HBO&#39;s &quot;Veep,&quot; which also won best comedy series.

Wide open field 
The network&#39;s fantasy epic &quot;Game of Thrones&quot; has a record 38 awards, but was ineligible for the 69th Primetime Emmys, having started its seventh season too late.

That left the field open for several much talked-about first-timers, including HBO sci-fi Western show &quot;Westworld,&quot; and Netflix&#39;s 1980s-set horror series &quot;Stranger Things.&quot;

Neither was able to add to their five Creative Arts Emmys, however.&nbsp;

Perennial favorite HBO led the networks with 10 Emmys. Next were NBC (six), Hulu (five), Netflix (four) and FX (two).

Both shows took home five statuettes each

Television's glittering Emmys placed politics front and centre on Sunday, lavishing "The Handmaid's Tale" with awards for its bleak portrait of an authoritarian America. The glitzy ceremony in downtown Los Angeles -- the first under the administration of President Donald Trump -- was widely expected to have a strongly political flavor, and host Stephen Colbert set the tone in his opening monologue. 'The Handmaid's Tale' paints a bleak portrait of an authoritarian America × "However you feel about the president, and you do feel about the president, you can't deny that every show was influenced by Donald Trump in some way," he said. "All the late night shows, obviously, 'House of Cards,' the new season of 'American Horror Story.'" Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale" and HBO miniseries "Big Little Lies" were the big winners, with five statuettes each. "Big Little Lies" cast members Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern and Alexander Skarsgard all took home Emmys, along with director Jean-Marc Vallee. It also won outstanding limited series. "The Handmaid's Tale," Hulu's acclaimed series based on the 1985 novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, won awards for writing and directing as well as the biggest prize of the night -- outstanding drama series. Ann Dowd, picking up her first Emmy at age 61 for her portrayal of brutal instructor Aunt Lydia, spoke of how her award was "a dream" while outstanding lead actress Elisabeth Moss turned the air blue with an expletive strewn acceptance speech. Also read: The complete list of winners at the 69th Emmy Awards Hulu will have the most to celebrate as the post-show parties get started, stealing a march on rival streaming platform Netflix, which won just four statuettes all evening. On a night that rewarded ethnic diversity, Sterling K. Brown picked up lead actor in a drama for "This is Us" while Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe, Riz Ahmed and Donald Glover also made it to the podium. But politics was always going to be the story of the awards from the moment John Lithgow picked up the first one: best supporting actor in a drama for his acclaimed turn as Winston Churchill in Netflix's British royal drama "The Crown." "In these crazy times his life even as an old man reminds us what leadership and courage in government really looks like," the US actor said. NBC's long-running comedy sketch show "Saturday Night Live" went into Emmys week with 22 nominations -- the joint-highest total alongside "Westworld" -- after a year of mercilessly spoofing the new commander-in-chief. Its haul of five Creative Arts statuettes included outstanding guest actress in a comedy series for Melissa McCarthy, whose "Unhinged Spicey" take on Sean Spicer came to embody early criticism of the administration. The former White House press secretary, whose full-throated defense of Trump earned him derision on television, delighted his former tormentors in a surprise appearance at the opening of the show. The cast and crew of 'Big Little Lies', winner of Outstanding Limited Series. (AFP) × 'Greatest honour' SNL took four statuettes, with Kate McKinnon tearfully accepting the award for best supporting actress in a comedy series for her portrayal of Hillary Clinton. She told reporters backstage that the role had been "the greatest honor of my life" and talked of the "special kind of electricity" on set every week. Alec Baldwin was tapped as best supporting actor in a comedy for his Trump impersonation. "I suppose I should say at long last, Mr President, here is your Emmy," he joked, in a dig at Trump's oft-stated annoyance at never having won a statuette for NBC reality show "The Apprentice" or its celebrity spin-off. The show also picked up the award for best variety sketch show and outstanding directing. Elsewhere in the comedy stakes, the 33-year-old Glover took home a brace of statuettes for directing and starring in the FX comedy series "Atlanta." The award caps a huge year for Glover, who already has two Golden Globes for the show, focused on the Georgia capital's rap scene. Glover got a loud cheer when he took to the stage and thanked Trump for "making black people number one on the most oppressed list." British funnyman Charlie Brooker also picked up two Emmys for writing and producing "San Junipero," a feature-length episode of the dark comedy series "Black Mirror." Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in one of the least surprising announcements of the night, won her sixth consecutive Emmy for playing hapless ex-president Selena Meyer in HBO's "Veep," which also won best comedy series. Wide open field The network's fantasy epic "Game of Thrones" has a record 38 awards, but was ineligible for the 69th Primetime Emmys, having started its seventh season too late. That left the field open for several much talked-about first-timers, including HBO sci-fi Western show "Westworld," and Netflix's 1980s-set horror series "Stranger Things." Neither was able to add to their five Creative Arts Emmys, however. Perennial favorite HBO led the networks with 10 Emmys. Next were NBC (six), Hulu (five), Netflix (four) and FX (two).

69th Emmy Awards: 'The Handmaid's Tale' & 'Big Little Lies' are big winners of the night

Hollywood&#39;s elite gathered Sunday as television&#39;s glittering Emmys placed politics front and center, in a race seen by critics as the most suspenseful in a decade.

The glitzy ceremony in downtown Los Angeles -- the first under the administration of President Donald Trump -- was widely expected to have a strongly political flavor, and host Stephen Colbert set the tone in his opening monologue.

&quot;However you feel about the president, and you do feel about the president, you can&#39;t deny that every show was influenced by Donald Trump in some way,&quot; he said.

&quot;All the late night shows, obviously, &#39;House of Cards,&#39; the new season of &#39;American Horror Story.&#39;&quot;

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<h5>You can&#39;t deny that every show was influenced by Donald Trump in some way,&#39; Colbert said. &#39;All the late night shows, obviously, &#39;House of Cards,&#39; the new season of &#39;American Horror Story&#39;&#39;</h5>
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Politics was also in the air as John Lithgow picked up the first award of the night: best supporting actor in a drama for his acclaimed turn as Winston Churchill in Netflix&#39;s British royal drama &quot;The Crown.&quot;

&quot;In these crazy times his life even as an old man reminds us what leadership and courage in government really looks like,&quot; the US actor said.

NBC&#39;s long-running comedy sketch show &quot;Saturday Night Live&quot; received 22 nominations -- the joint-highest total alongside &quot;Westworld&quot; -- after a year of mercilessly spoofing the new commander-in-chief.

Its haul of five Creative Arts statuettes included outstanding guest actress in a comedy series for Melissa McCarthy, whose &quot;Unhinged Spicey&quot; take on Sean Spicer came to embody early criticism of the administration.

The former White House press secretary, whose full-throated defense of Trump earned him derision on television, delighted his former tormentors in a surprise appearance at the opening of the show.

SNL was leading with four statuettes as the ceremony reached the final stages, with Kate McKinnon tearfully accepting the award for best supporting actress in a comedy series for her portrayal of Hillary Clinton.

She told reporters backstage that the role had been &quot;the greatest honor of my life&quot; and talked of the &quot;special kind of electricity&quot; on set every week.

Alec Baldwin was tapped as best supporting actor in a comedy for his Trump impersonation.

&quot;I suppose I should say at long last, Mr President, here is your Emmy,&quot; he joked, in a dig at Trump&#39;s oft-stated annoyance at never having won a statuette for NBC reality show &quot;The Apprentice&quot; or its celebrity spin-off.

The show also picked up the award for best variety sketch show and outstanding directing.&nbsp;

Elsewhere in the comedy stakes, Donald Glover was a big winner, taking home a brace of statuettes for directing and starring in the FX comedy series &quot;Atlanta.&quot;

The award caps a huge year for Glover, 33, who already has two Golden Globes for the show, which focuses on the Georgia capital&#39;s rap scene.

Glover got a loud cheer when he took to the stage and thanked Trump for &quot;making black people number one on the most oppressed list.&quot;

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in one of the least surprising announcements of the night, won her sixth consecutive Emmy for playing hapless ex-president Selena Meyer in HBO&#39;s &quot;Veep,&quot; which also won best comedy series.

Wide open field 
HBO&#39;s fantasy epic &quot;Game of Thrones&quot; has a record 38 awards, but is ineligible for the 69th Primetime Emmys, having started its seventh season too late.

That left the field clear for numerous much talked-about first-timers, including HBO sci-fi Western show &quot;Westworld,&quot; Hulu&#39;s dystopian &quot;The Handmaid&#39;s Tale&quot; and Netflix&#39;s 1980s-set horror series &quot;Stranger Things.&quot;

The three series already have a huge 13 statuettes between them from last weekend&#39;s Creative Arts Emmys, which recognize behind-the-scenes talent as well as guest acting appearances.

&quot;Not since &#39;Mad Men&#39; began its... winning streak in 2008 has there been such a wide open field for the night&#39;s most prestigious trophy: best drama series,&quot; said weekly trade paper Variety.

That category -- to be announced at the end of the night -- includes five debutants, &quot;Westworld,&quot; &quot;The Handmaid&#39;s Tale,&quot; NBC&#39;s family drama &quot;This Is Us,&quot; and two Netflix shows, &quot;Stranger Things&quot; and British royal drama &quot;The Crown.&quot;&nbsp;

&quot;The Handmaid&#39;s Tale,&quot; based on the 1985 novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, had three statuettes going into the halfway point.

Its writer Bruce Miller was first on stage, followed by Ann Dowd, picking up her first Emmy at age 61 for her portrayal of brutal instructor Aunt Lydia.&nbsp;

&quot;Well, I think this is a dream, you know. I know it&#39;s an actor&#39;s dream and I&#39;m deeply grateful to you,&quot; she said.

&quot;I have been acting for a long time and that this should happen now, I don&#39;t have the words.&quot;

The show&#39;s Reed Morano also picked up a statuette for directing.&nbsp;

Stephen Colbert, the host, set the tone in his opening monologue

Hollywood's elite gathered Sunday as television's glittering Emmys placed politics front and center, in a race seen by critics as the most suspenseful in a decade. The glitzy ceremony in downtown Los Angeles -- the first under the administration of President Donald Trump -- was widely expected to have a strongly political flavor, and host Stephen Colbert set the tone in his opening monologue. "However you feel about the president, and you do feel about the president, you can't deny that every show was influenced by Donald Trump in some way," he said. "All the late night shows, obviously, 'House of Cards,' the new season of 'American Horror Story.'" You can't deny that every show was influenced by Donald Trump in some way,' Colbert said. 'All the late night shows, obviously, 'House of Cards,' the new season of 'American Horror Story'' × Politics was also in the air as John Lithgow picked up the first award of the night: best supporting actor in a drama for his acclaimed turn as Winston Churchill in Netflix's British royal drama "The Crown." "In these crazy times his life even as an old man reminds us what leadership and courage in government really looks like," the US actor said. NBC's long-running comedy sketch show "Saturday Night Live" received 22 nominations -- the joint-highest total alongside "Westworld" -- after a year of mercilessly spoofing the new commander-in-chief. Its haul of five Creative Arts statuettes included outstanding guest actress in a comedy series for Melissa McCarthy, whose "Unhinged Spicey" take on Sean Spicer came to embody early criticism of the administration. The former White House press secretary, whose full-throated defense of Trump earned him derision on television, delighted his former tormentors in a surprise appearance at the opening of the show. SNL was leading with four statuettes as the ceremony reached the final stages, with Kate McKinnon tearfully accepting the award for best supporting actress in a comedy series for her portrayal of Hillary Clinton. She told reporters backstage that the role had been "the greatest honor of my life" and talked of the "special kind of electricity" on set every week. Alec Baldwin was tapped as best supporting actor in a comedy for his Trump impersonation. "I suppose I should say at long last, Mr President, here is your Emmy," he joked, in a dig at Trump's oft-stated annoyance at never having won a statuette for NBC reality show "The Apprentice" or its celebrity spin-off. The show also picked up the award for best variety sketch show and outstanding directing. Elsewhere in the comedy stakes, Donald Glover was a big winner, taking home a brace of statuettes for directing and starring in the FX comedy series "Atlanta." The award caps a huge year for Glover, 33, who already has two Golden Globes for the show, which focuses on the Georgia capital's rap scene. Glover got a loud cheer when he took to the stage and thanked Trump for "making black people number one on the most oppressed list." Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in one of the least surprising announcements of the night, won her sixth consecutive Emmy for playing hapless ex-president Selena Meyer in HBO's "Veep," which also won best comedy series. Wide open field HBO's fantasy epic "Game of Thrones" has a record 38 awards, but is ineligible for the 69th Primetime Emmys, having started its seventh season too late. That left the field clear for numerous much talked-about first-timers, including HBO sci-fi Western show "Westworld," Hulu's dystopian "The Handmaid's Tale" and Netflix's 1980s-set horror series "Stranger Things." The three series already have a huge 13 statuettes between them from last weekend's Creative Arts Emmys, which recognize behind-the-scenes talent as well as guest acting appearances. "Not since 'Mad Men' began its... winning streak in 2008 has there been such a wide open field for the night's most prestigious trophy: best drama series," said weekly trade paper Variety. That category -- to be announced at the end of the night -- includes five debutants, "Westworld," "The Handmaid's Tale," NBC's family drama "This Is Us," and two Netflix shows, "Stranger Things" and British royal drama "The Crown." "The Handmaid's Tale," based on the 1985 novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, had three statuettes going into the halfway point. Its writer Bruce Miller was first on stage, followed by Ann Dowd, picking up her first Emmy at age 61 for her portrayal of brutal instructor Aunt Lydia. "Well, I think this is a dream, you know. I know it's an actor's dream and I'm deeply grateful to you," she said. "I have been acting for a long time and that this should happen now, I don't have the words." The show's Reed Morano also picked up a statuette for directing.

At Emmy Awards, politics takes centre stage

Amid international uproar over North Korea&#39;s latest and biggest nuclear weapons test, one of its top diplomats said on Tuesday it was ready to send &quot;more gift packages&quot; to the United States.

Han Tae Song, ambassador of the Democratic People&#39;s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the U.N. in Geneva, was addressing the U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament two days after his country detonated its sixth nuclear test explosion.

&quot;I am proud of saying that just two days ago on the 3rd of September, DPRK succcessfully carried out a hydrogen bomb test for intercontinental ballistic rocket under its plan for building a strategic nuclear force,&quot; Han told the Geneva forum.

&quot;The recent self-defence measures by my country, DPRK, are a &#39;gift package&#39; addressed to none other than the U.S.,&quot; Han said.

&quot;The U.S. will receive more &#39;gift packages&#39; from my country as long as its relies on reckless provocations and futile attempts to put pressure on the DPRK,&quot; he added without elaborating.

Military measures being taken by North Korea were &quot;an exercise of restraint and justified self-defence right&quot; to counter &quot;the ever-growing and decade-long U.S. nuclear threat and hostile policy aimed at isolating my country&quot;.

&quot;Pressure or sanctions will never work on my country,&quot; Han declared, adding: &quot;The DPRK will never under any circumstances put its nuclear deterrence on the negotiating table.&quot;

U.S. disarmament ambassador Robert Wood said that North Korea had defied the international community once again with its test.

&quot;We look forward to working with our partners in the (Security) Council with regard to a new resolution that will put some of the strongest sanctions possible on the DPRK,&quot; he told the conference.

&quot;Advances in the regime&#39;s nuclear and missile programame are a threat to us all ... now is the time to say tests, threats and destabilising actions will no longer be tolerated,&quot; Wood said.

&quot;It can no longer be business as usual with this regime.&quot;

The White House said on Monday President Donald Trump had agreed &quot;in principle&quot; to scrap a warhead weight limit on South Korea&#39;s missiles in the wake of the North&#39;s latest test.

The United States accused North Korea&#39;s trading partners of aiding its nuclear ambitions and said Pyongyang was &quot;begging for war&quot;.

The comments were made by the North's ambassador to the UN, Han Tae Song

Amid international uproar over North Korea's latest and biggest nuclear weapons test, one of its top diplomats said on Tuesday it was ready to send "more gift packages" to the United States. Han Tae Song, ambassador of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the U.N. in Geneva, was addressing the U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament two days after his country detonated its sixth nuclear test explosion. "I am proud of saying that just two days ago on the 3rd of September, DPRK succcessfully carried out a hydrogen bomb test for intercontinental ballistic rocket under its plan for building a strategic nuclear force," Han told the Geneva forum. "The recent self-defence measures by my country, DPRK, are a 'gift package' addressed to none other than the U.S.," Han said. "The U.S. will receive more 'gift packages' from my country as long as its relies on reckless provocations and futile attempts to put pressure on the DPRK," he added without elaborating. Military measures being taken by North Korea were "an exercise of restraint and justified self-defence right" to counter "the ever-growing and decade-long U.S. nuclear threat and hostile policy aimed at isolating my country". "Pressure or sanctions will never work on my country," Han declared, adding: "The DPRK will never under any circumstances put its nuclear deterrence on the negotiating table." U.S. disarmament ambassador Robert Wood said that North Korea had defied the international community once again with its test. "We look forward to working with our partners in the (Security) Council with regard to a new resolution that will put some of the strongest sanctions possible on the DPRK," he told the conference. "Advances in the regime's nuclear and missile programame are a threat to us all ... now is the time to say tests, threats and destabilising actions will no longer be tolerated," Wood said. "It can no longer be business as usual with this regime." The White House said on Monday President Donald Trump had agreed "in principle" to scrap a warhead weight limit on South Korea's missiles in the wake of the North's latest test. The United States accused North Korea's trading partners of aiding its nuclear ambitions and said Pyongyang was "begging for war".

North Korea warns of 'more gift packages' for US

South Korea said on Monday it was talking to the United States about deploying aircraft carriers and strategic bombers to the Korean peninsula after signs North Korea might launch more missiles in the wake of its sixth and largest nuclear test.

The U.N. Security Council was set to meet later on Monday to discuss new sanctions against the isolated regime. U.S. President Donald Trump had also asked to be briefed on all available military options, according to his defence chief.

Officials said activity around missile launch sites suggested North Korea planned more missile tests.

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&quot;We have continued to see signs of possibly more ballistic missile launches. We also forecast North Korea could fire an intercontinental ballistic missile,&quot; Jang Kyoung-soo, acting deputy minister of national defense policy, told a parliament hearing on Monday.

North Korea tested two ICBMs in July that could fly about 10,000 km (6,200 miles), putting many parts of the U.S. mainland within range and prompting a new round of tough international sanctions.

South Korea&#39;s air force and army conducted exercises involving long-range air-to-surface and ballistic missiles on Monday following the North&#39;s nuclear test on Sunday, its joint chiefs of staff said in a statement.

In addition to the drill, South Korea will cooperate with the United States and seek to deploy &quot;strategic assets like aircraft carriers and strategic bombers&quot;, Jang said.

South Korea&#39;s defence ministry also said it would deploy the four remaining launchers of a new U.S. missile defence system after the completion of an environmental assessment by the government.

The rollout of the controversial Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system at a site south of the South Korean capital, Seoul, is vehemently opposed by neighbouring China and Russia, had been delayed since June.

North Korea said it tested an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile on Sunday, prompting a warning of a &quot;massive&quot; military response from the United States if it or its allies were threatened.

&quot;We are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea,&quot; U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said after meeting Trump and his national security team.

&quot;But as I said, we have many options to do so.&quot;

Trump has previously vowed to stop North Korea developing nuclear weapons and said he would unleash &quot;fire and fury&quot; if it threatened U.S. territory

Despite the tough talk, the immediate focus of the international response was expected to be on tougher economic sanctions.

Diplomats have said the U.N. Security Council could now consider banning North Korean textile exports and its national airline, stop supplies of oil to the government and military, prevent North Koreans from working abroad and add top officials to a blacklist to subject them to an asset freeze and travel ban.

Asked about Trump&#39;s threat to punish countries that trade with North Korea, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China has dedicated itself to resolving the North Korean issue via talks, and China&#39;s efforts had been recognised.

&quot;What we absolutely cannot accept is that on the one hand (we are) making arduous efforts to peacefully resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, and on the other hand (our) interests are being sanctioned or harmed. This is both not objective and not fair,&quot; he told a regular briefing.

On possible new U.N. sanctions, and whether China would support cutting off oil, Geng said it would depend on the outcome of Security Council discussions.

Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency said in an editorial North Korea was &quot;playing a dangerous game of brinkmanship&quot; and it should wake up to the fact that such a tactic &quot;can never bring security it pursues&quot;.

While South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed on Monday to work with the United States to pursue stronger sanctions, Russia voiced scepticism.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said sanctions on North Korea had reached the limit of their impact. Any more would be aimed at breaking its economy, so a decision to impose further constraints would become dramatically harder, he told a BRICS summit in China.

South Korea says the aim of stronger sanctions is to draw North Korea into dialogue. But, in a series of tweets on Sunday, Trump also appeared to rebuke South Korea for that approach.

&quot;South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!&quot; Trump said on Twitter.

Still, Trump&#39;s response was more orderly and less haphazard than he had offered to other hostile actions by North Korea.

His handling of its latest nuclear test reflected a more traditional approach to crisis management, which U.S. officials said illustrated the influence of Mattis and new White House chief of staff, retired Marine Corps General John Kelly.

Japanese and South Korean stock markets both closed down about 1 percent on Monday, while safe haven assets including gold and sovereign bonds ticked higher, but trade was cautious.

&quot;Assuming the worst on the Korean peninsula has not proven to be a winning trading strategy this year,&quot; said Sean Callow, a senior foreign exchange strategist at Westpac Bank.

&quot;Investors seem reluctant to price in anything more severe than trade sanctions, and the absence of another &#39;fire and fury&#39; Trump tweet has helped encourage markets to respond warily.&quot;

South Korea&#39;s finance minister vowed to support financial markets if instability showed signs of spreading to the real economy.

Sunday&#39;s test had registered with international seismic agencies as a man-made earthquake near a test site. Japanese and South Korean officials said the tremor was about 10 times more powerful than the one picked up after North Korea&#39;s previous nuclear test a year ago.

China&#39;s National Nuclear Safety Administration said data from radiation monitoring stations near the North Korean border showed no impact on &quot;China&#39;s environment or populace&quot;.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that, while North Korea was not a puppet state of China, Beijing needed to do more to pressure its neighbour.

&quot;The Chinese are frustrated and dismayed by North Korea&#39;s conduct, but China has the greatest leverage, and with the greatest leverage comes the greatest responsibility,&quot; he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Monday.

Officials said activity around missile launch sites suggested North Korea planned more missile tests

South Korea said on Monday it was talking to the United States about deploying aircraft carriers and strategic bombers to the Korean peninsula after signs North Korea might launch more missiles in the wake of its sixth and largest nuclear test. The U.N. Security Council was set to meet later on Monday to discuss new sanctions against the isolated regime. U.S. President Donald Trump had also asked to be briefed on all available military options, according to his defence chief. Officials said activity around missile launch sites suggested North Korea planned more missile tests. We have continued to see signs of possibly more ballistic missile launches. We also forecast North Korea could fire an intercontinental ballistic missile,' Jang Kyoung-soo, acting deputy minister of national defense policy, told a parliament hearing on Monday × "We have continued to see signs of possibly more ballistic missile launches. We also forecast North Korea could fire an intercontinental ballistic missile," Jang Kyoung-soo, acting deputy minister of national defense policy, told a parliament hearing on Monday. North Korea tested two ICBMs in July that could fly about 10,000 km (6,200 miles), putting many parts of the U.S. mainland within range and prompting a new round of tough international sanctions. South Korea's air force and army conducted exercises involving long-range air-to-surface and ballistic missiles on Monday following the North's nuclear test on Sunday, its joint chiefs of staff said in a statement. In addition to the drill, South Korea will cooperate with the United States and seek to deploy "strategic assets like aircraft carriers and strategic bombers", Jang said. South Korea's defence ministry also said it would deploy the four remaining launchers of a new U.S. missile defence system after the completion of an environmental assessment by the government. The rollout of the controversial Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system at a site south of the South Korean capital, Seoul, is vehemently opposed by neighbouring China and Russia, had been delayed since June. North Korea said it tested an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile on Sunday, prompting a warning of a "massive" military response from the United States if it or its allies were threatened. "We are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea," U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said after meeting Trump and his national security team. "But as I said, we have many options to do so." Trump has previously vowed to stop North Korea developing nuclear weapons and said he would unleash "fire and fury" if it threatened U.S. territory Despite the tough talk, the immediate focus of the international response was expected to be on tougher economic sanctions. Diplomats have said the U.N. Security Council could now consider banning North Korean textile exports and its national airline, stop supplies of oil to the government and military, prevent North Koreans from working abroad and add top officials to a blacklist to subject them to an asset freeze and travel ban. Asked about Trump's threat to punish countries that trade with North Korea, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China has dedicated itself to resolving the North Korean issue via talks, and China's efforts had been recognised. "What we absolutely cannot accept is that on the one hand (we are) making arduous efforts to peacefully resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, and on the other hand (our) interests are being sanctioned or harmed. This is both not objective and not fair," he told a regular briefing. On possible new U.N. sanctions, and whether China would support cutting off oil, Geng said it would depend on the outcome of Security Council discussions. Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency said in an editorial North Korea was "playing a dangerous game of brinkmanship" and it should wake up to the fact that such a tactic "can never bring security it pursues". While South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed on Monday to work with the United States to pursue stronger sanctions, Russia voiced scepticism. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said sanctions on North Korea had reached the limit of their impact. Any more would be aimed at breaking its economy, so a decision to impose further constraints would become dramatically harder, he told a BRICS summit in China. South Korea says the aim of stronger sanctions is to draw North Korea into dialogue. But, in a series of tweets on Sunday, Trump also appeared to rebuke South Korea for that approach. "South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!" Trump said on Twitter. Still, Trump's response was more orderly and less haphazard than he had offered to other hostile actions by North Korea. His handling of its latest nuclear test reflected a more traditional approach to crisis management, which U.S. officials said illustrated the influence of Mattis and new White House chief of staff, retired Marine Corps General John Kelly. Japanese and South Korean stock markets both closed down about 1 percent on Monday, while safe haven assets including gold and sovereign bonds ticked higher, but trade was cautious. "Assuming the worst on the Korean peninsula has not proven to be a winning trading strategy this year," said Sean Callow, a senior foreign exchange strategist at Westpac Bank. "Investors seem reluctant to price in anything more severe than trade sanctions, and the absence of another 'fire and fury' Trump tweet has helped encourage markets to respond warily." South Korea's finance minister vowed to support financial markets if instability showed signs of spreading to the real economy. Sunday's test had registered with international seismic agencies as a man-made earthquake near a test site. Japanese and South Korean officials said the tremor was about 10 times more powerful than the one picked up after North Korea's previous nuclear test a year ago. China's National Nuclear Safety Administration said data from radiation monitoring stations near the North Korean border showed no impact on "China's environment or populace". Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that, while North Korea was not a puppet state of China, Beijing needed to do more to pressure its neighbour. "The Chinese are frustrated and dismayed by North Korea's conduct, but China has the greatest leverage, and with the greatest leverage comes the greatest responsibility," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Monday.

South Korea warns North may launch ICBMs after nuclear test

North Korea said Sunday it tested a hydrogen bomb which it can mount on a missile, declaring its biggest-ever nuclear detonation a &quot;perfect success&quot; and sparking a strong rebuke from President Donald Trump who slammed its actions as &quot;dangerous&quot; to the US.

Pyongyang residents threw their arms aloft in triumph as a jubilant television newsreader hailed the &quot;unprecedentedly large&quot; blast.

It &quot;marked a very significant occasion in attaining the final goal of completing the state nuclear force&quot;, she added.

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<h5>The test &#39;marked a very significant occasion in attaining the final goal of completing the state nuclear force&#39;, the newsreader said</h5>
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But world reaction to the country&#39;s sixth nuclear test was swift and angry. China rebuked its ally and began emergency monitoring for radiation at its border with the North.

Trump said on Twitter Pyongyang&#39;s &quot;words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States&quot;.

He branded the North &quot;a rogue nation which has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success&quot;.

Hours before the test the North released images of leader Kim Jong-Un at the Nuclear Weapons Institute, inspecting what it said was a miniaturised H-bomb that could be fitted onto an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

China lost no time in issuing &quot;strong condemnation&quot; of the test, which overshadowed the opening of the BRICS summit in Xiamen by leader Xi Jinping.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described it as &quot;absolutely unacceptable&quot; while Russia&#39;s foreign ministry expressed &quot;strongest condemnation&quot; but urged calm.

In Seoul, President Moon Jae-In called for new United Nations sanctions to &quot;completely isolate North Korea&quot; and said the South would discuss deploying &quot;the strongest strategic assets of the US military&quot;.

That could be taken as a reference to tactical nuclear weapons, which were withdrawn from South Korea by Washington in 1991.&nbsp;

The US and South Korean military chiefs spoke by telephone and agreed the test was &quot;a provocation that cannot be overlooked&quot;, Seoul&#39;s defence ministry said in a statement.

The chairmen of the joint chiefs of staff, General Jeong Kyeong-Doo and General Joseph Dunford, &quot;agreed to prepare a South Korea-US military counteraction and to put it into action at the earliest date.&quot;

US monitors measured a 6.3-magnitude tremor near the North&#39;s main testing site, which South Korean experts said was five to six times stronger than that from the 10-kiloton test carried out a year ago.

The tremor was felt in northeastern China, with people in the border city of Yanji saying they fled their homes in their underwear, and in the Russian Pacific city of Vladivostok.

Whatever the final figure for test&#39;s yield turned out to be, said Jeffrey Lewis of the armscontrolwonk website, it was &quot;a staged thermonuclear weapon&quot; which represents a significant advance.

Chinese monitors said they had detected a second tremor shortly afterwards of 4.6 magnitude that could be due to a &quot;collapse (cave in)&quot;, suggesting the rock over the underground blast had given way.

- &#39;Super explosive power&#39; - 
Pyongyang triggered a new ramping up of tensions in July, when it carried out two successful tests of an ICBM which apparently brought much of the US mainland within range.

It has since threatened to send a salvo of rockets towards the US territory of Guam, and last week fired a missile over Japan.

Trump has warned Pyongyang that it faces &quot;fire and fury&quot; and that Washington&#39;s weapons are &quot;locked and loaded&quot;.

Analysts believe Pyongyang has been developing weapons capability to give it a stronger hand in any negotiations with the US.

&quot;North Korea will continue with their nuclear weapons programme unless the US proposes talks,&quot; Koo Kab-Woo of Seoul&#39;s University of North Korean Studies told AFP.

Pictures of Kim at the Nuclear Weapons Institute showed the young leader, dressed in a black suit, examining a metal casing with a shape akin to a peanut shell.

The device was a &quot;thermonuclear weapon with super explosive power made by our own efforts and technology&quot;, the Korean Central News Agency cited Kim as saying, and &quot;all components of the H-bomb were 100 percent domestically made&quot;.

Despite its power there were no radioactive leaks from the test, KCNA said in a later report.

Analysts cautioned that the images had not been verified.

&quot;We don&#39;t know if this thing is full of styrofoam, but yes, it is shaped like it has two devices,&quot; Melissa Hanham of the Middlebury Institute for International Studies in California said on Twitter.

- Failure of sanctions - 
Pyongyang, which says it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself, carried out its first atomic test in 2006.

Its fifth detonation, in September last year, caused a 5.3 magnitude quake and according to Seoul had a 10-kiloton yield -- still less than the 15-kiloton US device which destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.

The North has been subjected to seven rounds of United Nations Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, but always insists it will continue to pursue them.

Pyongyang residents threw their arms aloft in triumph as a jubilant television newsreader hailed the 'unprecedentedly large' blast

North Korea said Sunday it tested a hydrogen bomb which it can mount on a missile, declaring its biggest-ever nuclear detonation a "perfect success" and sparking a strong rebuke from President Donald Trump who slammed its actions as "dangerous" to the US. Pyongyang residents threw their arms aloft in triumph as a jubilant television newsreader hailed the "unprecedentedly large" blast. It "marked a very significant occasion in attaining the final goal of completing the state nuclear force", she added. The test 'marked a very significant occasion in attaining the final goal of completing the state nuclear force', the newsreader said × But world reaction to the country's sixth nuclear test was swift and angry. China rebuked its ally and began emergency monitoring for radiation at its border with the North. Trump said on Twitter Pyongyang's "words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States". He branded the North "a rogue nation which has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success". Hours before the test the North released images of leader Kim Jong-Un at the Nuclear Weapons Institute, inspecting what it said was a miniaturised H-bomb that could be fitted onto an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). China lost no time in issuing "strong condemnation" of the test, which overshadowed the opening of the BRICS summit in Xiamen by leader Xi Jinping. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described it as "absolutely unacceptable" while Russia's foreign ministry expressed "strongest condemnation" but urged calm. In Seoul, President Moon Jae-In called for new United Nations sanctions to "completely isolate North Korea" and said the South would discuss deploying "the strongest strategic assets of the US military". That could be taken as a reference to tactical nuclear weapons, which were withdrawn from South Korea by Washington in 1991. The US and South Korean military chiefs spoke by telephone and agreed the test was "a provocation that cannot be overlooked", Seoul's defence ministry said in a statement. The chairmen of the joint chiefs of staff, General Jeong Kyeong-Doo and General Joseph Dunford, "agreed to prepare a South Korea-US military counteraction and to put it into action at the earliest date." US monitors measured a 6.3-magnitude tremor near the North's main testing site, which South Korean experts said was five to six times stronger than that from the 10-kiloton test carried out a year ago. The tremor was felt in northeastern China, with people in the border city of Yanji saying they fled their homes in their underwear, and in the Russian Pacific city of Vladivostok. Whatever the final figure for test's yield turned out to be, said Jeffrey Lewis of the armscontrolwonk website, it was "a staged thermonuclear weapon" which represents a significant advance. Chinese monitors said they had detected a second tremor shortly afterwards of 4.6 magnitude that could be due to a "collapse (cave in)", suggesting the rock over the underground blast had given way. - 'Super explosive power' - Pyongyang triggered a new ramping up of tensions in July, when it carried out two successful tests of an ICBM which apparently brought much of the US mainland within range. It has since threatened to send a salvo of rockets towards the US territory of Guam, and last week fired a missile over Japan. Trump has warned Pyongyang that it faces "fire and fury" and that Washington's weapons are "locked and loaded". Analysts believe Pyongyang has been developing weapons capability to give it a stronger hand in any negotiations with the US. "North Korea will continue with their nuclear weapons programme unless the US proposes talks," Koo Kab-Woo of Seoul's University of North Korean Studies told AFP. Pictures of Kim at the Nuclear Weapons Institute showed the young leader, dressed in a black suit, examining a metal casing with a shape akin to a peanut shell. The device was a "thermonuclear weapon with super explosive power made by our own efforts and technology", the Korean Central News Agency cited Kim as saying, and "all components of the H-bomb were 100 percent domestically made". Despite its power there were no radioactive leaks from the test, KCNA said in a later report. Analysts cautioned that the images had not been verified. "We don't know if this thing is full of styrofoam, but yes, it is shaped like it has two devices," Melissa Hanham of the Middlebury Institute for International Studies in California said on Twitter. - Failure of sanctions - Pyongyang, which says it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself, carried out its first atomic test in 2006. Its fifth detonation, in September last year, caused a 5.3 magnitude quake and according to Seoul had a 10-kiloton yield -- still less than the 15-kiloton US device which destroyed Hiroshima in 1945. The North has been subjected to seven rounds of United Nations Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, but always insists it will continue to pursue them.

North Korea declares H-bomb test 'a perfect success'

U.S. President Donald Trump agreed with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to revise a joint treaty capping the development of the South&#39;s ballistic missiles, Moon&#39;s office said on Saturday, amid a standoff over North Korea&#39;s missile and nuclear tests.

Trump also gave &quot;conceptual&quot; approval to the purchase by the South of billions of dollars of U.S. military hardware, the White House said.

The South wants to raise the missile cap to boost its defences against the reclusive North, which is pursuing missile and nuclear weapons programmes in defiance of international warnings and UN sanctions.

&quot;The two leaders agreed to the principle of revising the missile guideline to a level desired by South Korea, sharing the view that it was necessary to strengthen South Korea&#39;s defence capabilities in response to North Korea&#39;s provocations and threats,&quot; South Korea&#39;s presidential Blue House said.

Impoverished North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the South and its main ally, the United States.

North Korea sharply raised regional tension this week with the launch of its Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific.

That followed the test launch of two long-range ballistic missiles in July in a sharply lofted trajectory that demonstrated a potential range of 10,000 km (6,000 miles) or more that would put many parts of the U.S. mainland within striking distance.

North Korea has been working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States and has recently threatened to land missiles near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.

South Korea&#39;s development of its ballistic missiles is limited to range of 800 km (500 miles) and payload weight of 500 kg (1,100 pounds) under a bilateral treaty revised in 2012.

South Korea has said it wants to revise the agreement to increase the cap on the payload.

The two countries agreed to the cap as part of a commitment to a voluntary international arms-control pact known as the Missile Technology Control Regime, aimed at limiting the proliferation missiles and nuclear weapons.

The two leaders pledged to continue to apply strong diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea and to make all necessary preparations to defend against the growing threat by the North, the White House said.

The White House did not mention the voluntary bilateral agreement but said the two leaders agreed to strengthen their defence cooperation and South Korea&#39;s defence capabilities.

Trump &quot;provided his conceptual approval of planned purchases by South Korea of billions of dollars in American military equipment&quot;, the White House said.

Trump, who has warned that the U.S. military is &quot;locked and loaded&quot; in case of further North Korean provocation, reacted angrily to the latest missile test, declaring on Twitter that &quot;talking is not the answer&quot; to resolving the crisis.

North Korea defends its weapons programmes as necessary to counter perceived U.S. aggression, such as recent air manoeuvres with South Korean and Japanese jets.

The US and South Korea have agreed to revise a joint treaty capping the development of the South's ballistic missiles

U.S. President Donald Trump agreed with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to revise a joint treaty capping the development of the South's ballistic missiles, Moon's office said on Saturday, amid a standoff over North Korea's missile and nuclear tests. Trump also gave "conceptual" approval to the purchase by the South of billions of dollars of U.S. military hardware, the White House said. The South wants to raise the missile cap to boost its defences against the reclusive North, which is pursuing missile and nuclear weapons programmes in defiance of international warnings and UN sanctions. "The two leaders agreed to the principle of revising the missile guideline to a level desired by South Korea, sharing the view that it was necessary to strengthen South Korea's defence capabilities in response to North Korea's provocations and threats," South Korea's presidential Blue House said. Impoverished North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the South and its main ally, the United States. North Korea sharply raised regional tension this week with the launch of its Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific. That followed the test launch of two long-range ballistic missiles in July in a sharply lofted trajectory that demonstrated a potential range of 10,000 km (6,000 miles) or more that would put many parts of the U.S. mainland within striking distance. North Korea has been working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States and has recently threatened to land missiles near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam. South Korea's development of its ballistic missiles is limited to range of 800 km (500 miles) and payload weight of 500 kg (1,100 pounds) under a bilateral treaty revised in 2012. South Korea has said it wants to revise the agreement to increase the cap on the payload. The two countries agreed to the cap as part of a commitment to a voluntary international arms-control pact known as the Missile Technology Control Regime, aimed at limiting the proliferation missiles and nuclear weapons. The two leaders pledged to continue to apply strong diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea and to make all necessary preparations to defend against the growing threat by the North, the White House said. The White House did not mention the voluntary bilateral agreement but said the two leaders agreed to strengthen their defence cooperation and South Korea's defence capabilities. Trump "provided his conceptual approval of planned purchases by South Korea of billions of dollars in American military equipment", the White House said. Trump, who has warned that the U.S. military is "locked and loaded" in case of further North Korean provocation, reacted angrily to the latest missile test, declaring on Twitter that "talking is not the answer" to resolving the crisis. North Korea defends its weapons programmes as necessary to counter perceived U.S. aggression, such as recent air manoeuvres with South Korean and Japanese jets.

South Korea wants greater missile power in face of North Korean threats

Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast late Friday, unleashing torrents of rain and packing powerful winds, the first major storm to hit the US mainland in 12 years.

The storm made landfall in the small town of Rockport -- near Corpus Christi, a major US oil industry hub. It was packing sustained winds of 130 miles per hour (215 kilometers per hour), a Category Four hurricane on the five-level storm scale.

A few hours later the storm made a second landfall just north of Rockport as a Category Three hurricane, with winds of 125 miles (205 kilometers) per hour, the National Hurricane Center reported at 0600 GMT Saturday.

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<h5>We can obviously tell already at this stage this is going to be a very major disaster,&#39; Texas Governor Greg Abbott said</h5>
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President Donald Trump granted Texas Governor Greg Abbott&#39;s request to declare a &quot;major disaster&quot; zone in the state to speed federal aid to the millions in harm&#39;s way.

The White House said that the president would head to the affected region early next week.

&quot;We can obviously tell already at this stage this is going to be a very major disaster,&quot; a somber Abbott said, as more than 1,000 National Guardsmen were activated to help with evacuation and recovery.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned of likely &quot;catastrophic flooding&quot; due to the massive rainfall forecast and the huge storm surge, which could reach 13 feet (nearly four meters) in some places.

Meteorologists warned that tornadoes were possible through Saturday from Texas into Louisiana, which is also expected to take a major hit.

The powerful storm has forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes and crippled oil production in the Gulf.

Rockport Mayor Patrick Rios had blunt words for those determined to stay, telling them to &quot;mark their arm with a Sharpie pen, put their social security number&quot; -- to identify them if they were found dead.

Before the storm hit, the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) prepositioned emergency supplies and authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders in many areas.

As he headed to the Camp David presidential retreat for the weekend with his family, Trump said: &quot;Good luck to everybody.&quot;

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Hurricane Harvey comes ashore at Corpus Christi, Texas. (Reuters)
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Fuel begins to run out in Houston. (Reuters)
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Store shelves being to empty in Houston. (Reuters)
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&#39;Significant disaster&#39; 
Harvey, the most powerful hurricane to hit the mainland since Wilma struck Florida in 2005, could dump up to 40 inches (more than one meter) of rain on the area over the next few days -- and cause billions of dollars in damage.&nbsp;

2005 was a huge year for hurricanes -- before Wilma, Hurricane Katrina pummelled New Orleans, leaving more than 1,800 dead and becoming one of the greatest domestic headaches for then-president George W. Bush.

Coastal Texas is a fast-growing area, with some 1.5 million people moving into the area since 1999.&nbsp;

Authorities said the combination of dense growth and perhaps a year&#39;s worth of rain falling in just four or five days could prove deadly.&nbsp;

Supermarket aisles were stripped bare, homes and shops had boarded up windows.

The NHC warned of the &quot;complete destruction of mobile homes,&quot; of many buildings &quot;washing away,&quot; and some areas being left &quot;uninhabitable for weeks or months&quot;.

&#39;Here to assist&#39; 
In 2005, Bush faced severe criticism after FEMA appeared unprepared for the devastating damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina.

In a series of tweets throughout Friday, Trump said he was closely monitoring the storm&#39;s progress and said he was &quot;here to assist as needed&quot;.

&quot;Storm turned Hurricane is getting much bigger and more powerful than projected. Federal Government is on site and ready to respond. Be safe!&quot; he wrote after arriving at Camp David.

Later he announced that he had granted governor Abbott&#39;s request that the area be declared a major disaster zone.

Once the storm made landfall he tweeted a link to Fox News storm coverage and a message to Abbott: &quot;We will remain fully engaged w/ open lines of communication ... America is w/ you!&quot;

&#39;Just terrifying&#39; 
In Corpus Christi, many residents appeared bent on sitting the storm out, packing sandbags to protect their homes -- until the supply of sandbags ran out.

As the storm struck city officials urged residents to boil their tap water as a precautionary measure.

Sheriff Frank Osborne of Matagorda County, where evacuations were mandatory, told local TV station KHOU that he would not risk the lives of his deputies &quot;to save somebody that didn&#39;t leave when they were asked to.&quot;

Officials in Houston, the most populous city in the storm&#39;s path, closed its port but did not anticipate mass evacuations.&nbsp;

Inland cities like San Antonio welcomed evacuees, but some at the shelters told AFP that supplies were lacking.

FEMA chief Brock Long said the most pressing danger was the storm surge, but also said many inland counties should prepare for &quot;significant&quot; flooding.&nbsp;

US authorities said about 22 percent of crude production in the Gulf of Mexico was shut down as of Friday -- accounting for more than 375,000 barrels a day. But total US production stands at 9.5 million barrels a day, experts say.

Meteorologist Eric Holthaus told AFP the prospect of the storm stalling on the coast, lashing it with heavy rain for days, was &quot;just terrifying.&quot;

In Louisiana, Governor John Bel Edwards issued an emergency declaration for his entire state, as authorities in New Orleans -- where Katrina did the most damage -- readied high-water rescue vehicles and boats.

The National Hurricane Center warned that 'catastrophic flooding' was to be expected due to the massive amount of rain expected

Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast late Friday, unleashing torrents of rain and packing powerful winds, the first major storm to hit the US mainland in 12 years. The storm made landfall in the small town of Rockport -- near Corpus Christi, a major US oil industry hub. It was packing sustained winds of 130 miles per hour (215 kilometers per hour), a Category Four hurricane on the five-level storm scale. A few hours later the storm made a second landfall just north of Rockport as a Category Three hurricane, with winds of 125 miles (205 kilometers) per hour, the National Hurricane Center reported at 0600 GMT Saturday. We can obviously tell already at this stage this is going to be a very major disaster,' Texas Governor Greg Abbott said × President Donald Trump granted Texas Governor Greg Abbott's request to declare a "major disaster" zone in the state to speed federal aid to the millions in harm's way. The White House said that the president would head to the affected region early next week. "We can obviously tell already at this stage this is going to be a very major disaster," a somber Abbott said, as more than 1,000 National Guardsmen were activated to help with evacuation and recovery. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned of likely "catastrophic flooding" due to the massive rainfall forecast and the huge storm surge, which could reach 13 feet (nearly four meters) in some places. Meteorologists warned that tornadoes were possible through Saturday from Texas into Louisiana, which is also expected to take a major hit. The powerful storm has forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes and crippled oil production in the Gulf. Rockport Mayor Patrick Rios had blunt words for those determined to stay, telling them to "mark their arm with a Sharpie pen, put their social security number" -- to identify them if they were found dead. Before the storm hit, the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) prepositioned emergency supplies and authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders in many areas. As he headed to the Camp David presidential retreat for the weekend with his family, Trump said: "Good luck to everybody." Hurricane Harvey comes ashore at Corpus Christi, Texas. (Reuters) × Fuel begins to run out in Houston. (Reuters) × Store shelves being to empty in Houston. (Reuters) × 'Significant disaster' Harvey, the most powerful hurricane to hit the mainland since Wilma struck Florida in 2005, could dump up to 40 inches (more than one meter) of rain on the area over the next few days -- and cause billions of dollars in damage. 2005 was a huge year for hurricanes -- before Wilma, Hurricane Katrina pummelled New Orleans, leaving more than 1,800 dead and becoming one of the greatest domestic headaches for then-president George W. Bush. Coastal Texas is a fast-growing area, with some 1.5 million people moving into the area since 1999. Authorities said the combination of dense growth and perhaps a year's worth of rain falling in just four or five days could prove deadly. Supermarket aisles were stripped bare, homes and shops had boarded up windows. The NHC warned of the "complete destruction of mobile homes," of many buildings "washing away," and some areas being left "uninhabitable for weeks or months". 'Here to assist' In 2005, Bush faced severe criticism after FEMA appeared unprepared for the devastating damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina. In a series of tweets throughout Friday, Trump said he was closely monitoring the storm's progress and said he was "here to assist as needed". "Storm turned Hurricane is getting much bigger and more powerful than projected. Federal Government is on site and ready to respond. Be safe!" he wrote after arriving at Camp David. Later he announced that he had granted governor Abbott's request that the area be declared a major disaster zone. Once the storm made landfall he tweeted a link to Fox News storm coverage and a message to Abbott: "We will remain fully engaged w/ open lines of communication ... America is w/ you!" 'Just terrifying' In Corpus Christi, many residents appeared bent on sitting the storm out, packing sandbags to protect their homes -- until the supply of sandbags ran out. As the storm struck city officials urged residents to boil their tap water as a precautionary measure. Sheriff Frank Osborne of Matagorda County, where evacuations were mandatory, told local TV station KHOU that he would not risk the lives of his deputies "to save somebody that didn't leave when they were asked to." Officials in Houston, the most populous city in the storm's path, closed its port but did not anticipate mass evacuations. Inland cities like San Antonio welcomed evacuees, but some at the shelters told AFP that supplies were lacking. FEMA chief Brock Long said the most pressing danger was the storm surge, but also said many inland counties should prepare for "significant" flooding. US authorities said about 22 percent of crude production in the Gulf of Mexico was shut down as of Friday -- accounting for more than 375,000 barrels a day. But total US production stands at 9.5 million barrels a day, experts say. Meteorologist Eric Holthaus told AFP the prospect of the storm stalling on the coast, lashing it with heavy rain for days, was "just terrifying." In Louisiana, Governor John Bel Edwards issued an emergency declaration for his entire state, as authorities in New Orleans -- where Katrina did the most damage -- readied high-water rescue vehicles and boats.

Hurricane Harvey slams into Texas

North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles Saturday, the US military said, following weeks of heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang.

The missile launches come as tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops take part in joint military drills in the South, which Pyongyang views as a highly provocative rehearsal for an invasion of its own territory.

Two of the missiles failed in flight and the third blew up &quot;almost immediately&quot;, said a spokesman for US Pacific Command.

None of the missiles, which were launched near Kittaeryong, had posed a threat to either North America or the US Pacific territory of Guam, the spokesman said.

&quot;The first and third missiles... failed in flight. The second missile launch... appears to have blown up almost immediately,&quot; said the spokesman, Commander Dave Benham, adding that the launches happened over a span of 30 minutes.

Yoshihide Suga, the Japanese government&#39;s top spokesman, told reporters in Tokyo Saturday morning: &quot;We confirmed that no ballistic missiles have fallen onto our country&#39;s territory or EEZ (exclusive economic zone).&quot;

&quot;We confirmed there was no direct impact on our country&#39;s security. Our prime minister told us to remain on high alert and do our best to respond to any situations in order to protect our people&#39;s lives and property.&quot;

The launches came as North Korea state media reported that leader Kim Jong-Un oversaw a military exercise simulating a special forces assault on South Korean border islands involving aircraft, &quot;multiple-missile launchers&quot; and howitzers.

Shells hit islands standing in for South Korea&#39;s Paekryong and Taeyonphyong islands while special forces landed in rubber boats or parachuted in and &quot;wiped out the desperate enemy with various combat methods,&quot; the Korean Central News Agency said.

&quot;Kim Jong-Un expressed great satisfaction over the successful target-striking contest,&quot; it said.

Advances in missile technology 
South Korea&#39;s defence ministry said &quot;unidentified projectiles&quot;, fired at 6:49 am (2149 GMT Friday), flew some 250 kilometres (155 miles) towards the Sea of Japan.

The North&#39;s move was immediately reported to South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

&quot;The military is keeping a tight surveillance over the North to cope with further provocations&quot;, the ministry added.

The North tends to carry out test-firing of missiles or other projectiles -- including those from long-range multiple rocket launchers -- in response to the US-South Korea joint military exercises.

The &quot;Ulchi Freedom Guardian&quot; war games are a largely computer-simulated exercise that runs for two weeks in the South. Pyongyang threatens strong military counteraction each year.

In recent weeks the North has threatened to fire a salvo of missiles toward the US Pacific territory of Guam, but has since backed away from the plan and tensions have eased.

Under Kim, Pyongyang has made rapid strides in its ballistic missile technology, which it is banned from pursuing under United Nations resolutions that have slapped it with seven sets of sanctions.

Last month it carried out two successful ICBM launches, overseen by Kim and apparently bringing most of its sworn enemy the United States into range for the first time.

The missile launches come as tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops take part in joint military drills in the South

North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles Saturday, the US military said, following weeks of heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. The missile launches come as tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops take part in joint military drills in the South, which Pyongyang views as a highly provocative rehearsal for an invasion of its own territory. Two of the missiles failed in flight and the third blew up "almost immediately", said a spokesman for US Pacific Command. None of the missiles, which were launched near Kittaeryong, had posed a threat to either North America or the US Pacific territory of Guam, the spokesman said. "The first and third missiles... failed in flight. The second missile launch... appears to have blown up almost immediately," said the spokesman, Commander Dave Benham, adding that the launches happened over a span of 30 minutes. Yoshihide Suga, the Japanese government's top spokesman, told reporters in Tokyo Saturday morning: "We confirmed that no ballistic missiles have fallen onto our country's territory or EEZ (exclusive economic zone)." "We confirmed there was no direct impact on our country's security. Our prime minister told us to remain on high alert and do our best to respond to any situations in order to protect our people's lives and property." The launches came as North Korea state media reported that leader Kim Jong-Un oversaw a military exercise simulating a special forces assault on South Korean border islands involving aircraft, "multiple-missile launchers" and howitzers. Shells hit islands standing in for South Korea's Paekryong and Taeyonphyong islands while special forces landed in rubber boats or parachuted in and "wiped out the desperate enemy with various combat methods," the Korean Central News Agency said. "Kim Jong-Un expressed great satisfaction over the successful target-striking contest," it said. Advances in missile technology South Korea's defence ministry said "unidentified projectiles", fired at 6:49 am (2149 GMT Friday), flew some 250 kilometres (155 miles) towards the Sea of Japan. The North's move was immediately reported to South Korean President Moon Jae-in. "The military is keeping a tight surveillance over the North to cope with further provocations", the ministry added. The North tends to carry out test-firing of missiles or other projectiles -- including those from long-range multiple rocket launchers -- in response to the US-South Korea joint military exercises. The "Ulchi Freedom Guardian" war games are a largely computer-simulated exercise that runs for two weeks in the South. Pyongyang threatens strong military counteraction each year. In recent weeks the North has threatened to fire a salvo of missiles toward the US Pacific territory of Guam, but has since backed away from the plan and tensions have eased. Under Kim, Pyongyang has made rapid strides in its ballistic missile technology, which it is banned from pursuing under United Nations resolutions that have slapped it with seven sets of sanctions. Last month it carried out two successful ICBM launches, overseen by Kim and apparently bringing most of its sworn enemy the United States into range for the first time.

North Korea fires three short-range missiles: US Army

North Korea&#39;s leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered more production of rocket engines and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) nosecones, Pyongyang state media said Wednesday.

Tensions over the North&#39;s weapons programmes have mounted this year and it carried out two ICBM tests last month, overseen by Kim, that apparently brought most of the United States within range.

A series of threats followed from both sides, and while the rhetoric has since eased, the US and South Korea this week kicked off their annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian military drills, which the North always condemns as dress rehearsals for invasion.

Earlier this week the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) described President Donald Trump as a &quot;mad guy&quot; in a commentary, referring to &quot;the master of the White House who frequently posts weird articles of his ego-driven thoughts in his twitter and spouts rubbish to make his assistants have a hard time&quot;.

Kim inspected the Chemical Material Institute of the Academy of Defence Science, which develops the North&#39;s missiles, KCNA reported Wednesday.&nbsp;

&quot;He instructed the institute to produce more solid-fuel rocket engines and rocket warhead tips,&quot; it said.

Questions remain whether the North has mastered the technology needed to ensure a ballistic missile warhead survives the intense heat generated by re-entering the Earth&#39;s atmosphere, although it says it has done so.

The manufacturing process included carbon fibre weaving, chemical deposition and high pressure liquid deposition, KCNA said.

The North has threatened to fire a salvo of missiles toward the US Pacific territory of Guam, but has since backed away from the plan.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday added momentum to tension reduction, praising the North for showing a &quot;level of restraint&quot; in not conducting nuclear or missile tests since new UN sanctions were imposed.

He also expressed hope that it was a sign of Pyongyang&#39;s readiness to enter peace and disarmament talks with Washington &quot;sometime in the near future.&quot;

Tensions over the North's weapons programmes have mounted this year and it carried out two ICBM tests last month that apparently brought most of the United States within range

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered more production of rocket engines and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) nosecones, Pyongyang state media said Wednesday. Tensions over the North's weapons programmes have mounted this year and it carried out two ICBM tests last month, overseen by Kim, that apparently brought most of the United States within range. A series of threats followed from both sides, and while the rhetoric has since eased, the US and South Korea this week kicked off their annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian military drills, which the North always condemns as dress rehearsals for invasion. Earlier this week the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) described President Donald Trump as a "mad guy" in a commentary, referring to "the master of the White House who frequently posts weird articles of his ego-driven thoughts in his twitter and spouts rubbish to make his assistants have a hard time". Kim inspected the Chemical Material Institute of the Academy of Defence Science, which develops the North's missiles, KCNA reported Wednesday. "He instructed the institute to produce more solid-fuel rocket engines and rocket warhead tips," it said. Questions remain whether the North has mastered the technology needed to ensure a ballistic missile warhead survives the intense heat generated by re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, although it says it has done so. The manufacturing process included carbon fibre weaving, chemical deposition and high pressure liquid deposition, KCNA said. The North has threatened to fire a salvo of missiles toward the US Pacific territory of Guam, but has since backed away from the plan. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday added momentum to tension reduction, praising the North for showing a "level of restraint" in not conducting nuclear or missile tests since new UN sanctions were imposed. He also expressed hope that it was a sign of Pyongyang's readiness to enter peace and disarmament talks with Washington "sometime in the near future."

North Korea's Kim orders more production of ICBMs: State media

In military terms, Donald Trump&#39;s long-awaited new Afghanistan strategy looks very much like the old one. But, on the diplomatic front, he took a risk in confronting unruly, nuclear-armed Pakistan.

Washington has long been frustrated by Pakistan&#39;s provision of cross-border safe havens to some of the Taliban factions and armed Islamist groups fighting against US troops and their Afghan allies.

Trump&#39;s predecessor Barack Obama risked triggering a breakdown in the long US alliance with Islamabad when, without forewarning, he sent commandos into Pakistan in 2011 to kill Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

But, rhetorically at least, Trump&#39;s much anticipated national address on Monday, in which he laid out a new strategy to win the United States&#39; longest war, marked a dramatic increase in pressure on Pakistan.

&quot;We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting,&quot; Trump said.

&quot;That will have to change and that will change immediately.&quot;

Following up on Trump&#39;s speech on Tuesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned that Pakistan could lose its status as a major US ally and see its US military aid halted.

While Washington may hope that this motivates Islamabad to crack down on the groups that launch attacks into Afghanistan and Indian-administered Kashmir, it does not come without risk.

Pakistan holds the Muslim world&#39;s only known nuclear arsenal and its government is a sometimes shaky balancing act between elected civilians and a powerful military that maintains ties with the militants.

Harsh US measures could provoke Pakistan and, if the government feels its Cold War-vintage pact with America is under threat, it could turn towards China -- the great rival of both India and America.

And, much more than the implied threat to cut military aid to Pakistan, Trump&#39;s request that India play a greater role in stabilizing Afghanistan will rattle New Delhi&#39;s most bitter and long-standing foe.

India&#39;s orbit 
But, US experts agree, Pakistan is unlikely to step up its support for the Haqqani extremist group and the Afghan Taliban if that would mean the collapse of the Kabul government and driving out US troops.

Instead, despite some of his more vainglorious rhetoric, Trump&#39;s revamped strategy could lay the basis for dealing with Afghanistan as a long-term chronic problem rather than an imminent threat.

James Jeffrey, a fellow of the Washington Institute and former senior national security adviser to the George W. Bush White House, said: &quot;There&#39;s really no way to pressure Pakistan.&quot;

Pakistan has made the decision that keeping Kabul out of India&#39;s orbit is more important that clamping down on cross-border militancy, and cutting aid would only be counterproductive, he argues.

Beyond Afghanistan, the United States has an interest in preventing Pakistan from going to war with India or collapsing and allowing its government or nuclear weapons to fall into the hands of extremists.&nbsp;

And, while the US footprint is smaller now that it was at the height of the occupation, its forces still need access to Pakistani supply lines and airspace.

&quot;There&#39;s really very little we can do,&quot; Jeffrey said. &quot;To cut all aid or, even more dramatically, to start striking the Haqqani network and all that ... doesn&#39;t guarantee that they&#39;ll do what we say.&quot;

But Pakistan also has no interest in driving the United States out, and Jeffrey saw Monday&#39;s speech as confirmation that Trump has come around to the idea of a strategy of &quot;long-term containment.&quot;

&quot;Other than the unfortunate reference to &#39;winning&#39; there -- that&#39;s something that nobody can promise because no one can achieve it -- I think that this is basically sensible strategy,&quot; he said.

Stepping on toes 
Sadanand Dhume, an Indian commentator and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, argued that Washington has many tools at its disposal to turn up the pressure on the Pakistanis -- from cutting military aid, to stripping them of allied status or declaring them a state sponsor of terror.&nbsp;

But the biggest stick may be the outreach to India.

&quot;The US have always encouraged Indian involvement in Afghanistan, but it was careful not to step on Pakistani toes,&quot; he said.

&quot;What we&#39;re seeing now, is the US feeling it no longer needs to be that careful about Pakistani sensitivity,&quot; he said, admitting that, after 16 years of war, it is hard not to be skeptical about Trump&#39;s chances of success.

Seth Jones, a former senior Pentagon official and now director of RAND Corporation&#39;s International Security and Defense Policy Center, sees room for a more stable future with a better balance of power.

&quot;Pakistan certainly doesn&#39;t want Afghanistan to collapse and nor do they want an Afghan government that is strongly and closely tied to New Delhi,&quot; he said.

&quot;I think what they&#39;d like is a relatively stable Afghanistan, and one whose government -- and some of the tribal and sub-tribal actors near the border -- have at least decent relations with Islamabad.&quot;

And key to all of this, all experts agree, is that the US military remain in Afghanistan for the long haul.

Trump's much anticipated national address on Monday, in which he laid out a new US strategy in Afghanistan, marked a dramatic increase in pressure on Pakistan

In military terms, Donald Trump's long-awaited new Afghanistan strategy looks very much like the old one. But, on the diplomatic front, he took a risk in confronting unruly, nuclear-armed Pakistan. Washington has long been frustrated by Pakistan's provision of cross-border safe havens to some of the Taliban factions and armed Islamist groups fighting against US troops and their Afghan allies. Trump's predecessor Barack Obama risked triggering a breakdown in the long US alliance with Islamabad when, without forewarning, he sent commandos into Pakistan in 2011 to kill Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. But, rhetorically at least, Trump's much anticipated national address on Monday, in which he laid out a new strategy to win the United States' longest war, marked a dramatic increase in pressure on Pakistan. "We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting," Trump said. "That will have to change and that will change immediately." Following up on Trump's speech on Tuesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned that Pakistan could lose its status as a major US ally and see its US military aid halted. While Washington may hope that this motivates Islamabad to crack down on the groups that launch attacks into Afghanistan and Indian-administered Kashmir, it does not come without risk. Pakistan holds the Muslim world's only known nuclear arsenal and its government is a sometimes shaky balancing act between elected civilians and a powerful military that maintains ties with the militants. Harsh US measures could provoke Pakistan and, if the government feels its Cold War-vintage pact with America is under threat, it could turn towards China -- the great rival of both India and America. And, much more than the implied threat to cut military aid to Pakistan, Trump's request that India play a greater role in stabilizing Afghanistan will rattle New Delhi's most bitter and long-standing foe. India's orbit But, US experts agree, Pakistan is unlikely to step up its support for the Haqqani extremist group and the Afghan Taliban if that would mean the collapse of the Kabul government and driving out US troops. Instead, despite some of his more vainglorious rhetoric, Trump's revamped strategy could lay the basis for dealing with Afghanistan as a long-term chronic problem rather than an imminent threat. James Jeffrey, a fellow of the Washington Institute and former senior national security adviser to the George W. Bush White House, said: "There's really no way to pressure Pakistan." Pakistan has made the decision that keeping Kabul out of India's orbit is more important that clamping down on cross-border militancy, and cutting aid would only be counterproductive, he argues. Beyond Afghanistan, the United States has an interest in preventing Pakistan from going to war with India or collapsing and allowing its government or nuclear weapons to fall into the hands of extremists. And, while the US footprint is smaller now that it was at the height of the occupation, its forces still need access to Pakistani supply lines and airspace. "There's really very little we can do," Jeffrey said. "To cut all aid or, even more dramatically, to start striking the Haqqani network and all that ... doesn't guarantee that they'll do what we say." But Pakistan also has no interest in driving the United States out, and Jeffrey saw Monday's speech as confirmation that Trump has come around to the idea of a strategy of "long-term containment." "Other than the unfortunate reference to 'winning' there -- that's something that nobody can promise because no one can achieve it -- I think that this is basically sensible strategy," he said. Stepping on toes Sadanand Dhume, an Indian commentator and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, argued that Washington has many tools at its disposal to turn up the pressure on the Pakistanis -- from cutting military aid, to stripping them of allied status or declaring them a state sponsor of terror. But the biggest stick may be the outreach to India. "The US have always encouraged Indian involvement in Afghanistan, but it was careful not to step on Pakistani toes," he said. "What we're seeing now, is the US feeling it no longer needs to be that careful about Pakistani sensitivity," he said, admitting that, after 16 years of war, it is hard not to be skeptical about Trump's chances of success. Seth Jones, a former senior Pentagon official and now director of RAND Corporation's International Security and Defense Policy Center, sees room for a more stable future with a better balance of power. "Pakistan certainly doesn't want Afghanistan to collapse and nor do they want an Afghan government that is strongly and closely tied to New Delhi," he said. "I think what they'd like is a relatively stable Afghanistan, and one whose government -- and some of the tribal and sub-tribal actors near the border -- have at least decent relations with Islamabad." And key to all of this, all experts agree, is that the US military remain in Afghanistan for the long haul.

Trump tough talk unlikely to move Pakistan: US experts

The US today ruled out a hasty withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan as President Donald Trump warned Pakistan of consequences if it continues to provide safe havens to terror groups and sought an enhanced role for India to bring peace in the war-torn country.

Trump, in a prime-time televised address to the nation, laid out his South Asia policy saying a &quot;critical part&quot; of it was to further develop US&#39; strategic partnership with India.

He said after a &quot;comprehensive review&quot;, it has been decided that the American strategy in Afghanistan and South Asia will change dramatically.

&quot;A core pillar of our new strategy is a shift from a time-based approach to one based on conditions. I&#39;ve said many times how counterproductive it is for the United States to announce in advance, the dates we intend to begin, or end, military operations,&quot; Trump said in his address.

&quot;We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities,&quot; Trump said as he announced his South Asia policy in front of about 2,000 people from all five services and top officials of his administration.

Trump slammed Pakistan for its continued support to terrorist groups and warned Islamabad of consequences if it continues to do so.

&quot;We can no longer be silent about Pakistan&#39;s safe havens for terrorist organisations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond,&quot; Trump said.

&quot;Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effort in Afghanistan. It has much to lose by continuing to harbour terrorists,&quot; he said, in a apparent warning to Pakistan.

The US President reached out to India seeking an enhanced role for New Delhi, especially in the economic field, to bring peace and stability in Afghanistan.

India, the world&#39;s largest democracy, is a key security and economic partner of the United States, he said.

&quot;We appreciate India&#39;s important contributions to stability in Afghanistan, but India makes billions of dollars in trade with the United States, and we want them to help us more with Afghanistan, especially in the area of economic assistance and development,&quot; Trump said.&nbsp;

Trump said he wanted more Indian help 'especially in the area of economic assistance and development'

The US today ruled out a hasty withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan as President Donald Trump warned Pakistan of consequences if it continues to provide safe havens to terror groups and sought an enhanced role for India to bring peace in the war-torn country. Trump, in a prime-time televised address to the nation, laid out his South Asia policy saying a "critical part" of it was to further develop US' strategic partnership with India. He said after a "comprehensive review", it has been decided that the American strategy in Afghanistan and South Asia will change dramatically. "A core pillar of our new strategy is a shift from a time-based approach to one based on conditions. I've said many times how counterproductive it is for the United States to announce in advance, the dates we intend to begin, or end, military operations," Trump said in his address. "We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities," Trump said as he announced his South Asia policy in front of about 2,000 people from all five services and top officials of his administration. Trump slammed Pakistan for its continued support to terrorist groups and warned Islamabad of consequences if it continues to do so. "We can no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe havens for terrorist organisations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond," Trump said. "Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effort in Afghanistan. It has much to lose by continuing to harbour terrorists," he said, in a apparent warning to Pakistan. The US President reached out to India seeking an enhanced role for New Delhi, especially in the economic field, to bring peace and stability in Afghanistan. India, the world's largest democracy, is a key security and economic partner of the United States, he said. "We appreciate India's important contributions to stability in Afghanistan, but India makes billions of dollars in trade with the United States, and we want them to help us more with Afghanistan, especially in the area of economic assistance and development," Trump said.

Want India to 'help us more' in Afghanistan: Trump

The Taliban warned that Afghanistan would become &quot;a graveyard&quot; for the United States Tuesday after President Donald Trump cleared the way for thousands more American troops to be sent to the war-torn country.

&quot;If America doesn&#39;t withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, soon Afghanistan will become another graveyard for this superpower in the 21st century,&quot; Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

He added that America should think of an exit strategy &quot;instead of continuing the war&quot;.

&quot;As long as there is one US soldier in our land, and they continue to impose war on us, we, with a high morale will continue our jihad,&quot; Mujahid said.

Trump backtracked from his promise to rapidly end America&#39;s longest war in his first formal address to the nation as commander-in-chief late Monday, though he did not offer specifics.

He said he had concluded &quot;the consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable&quot;, leaving a vacuum that terrorists &quot;would instantly fill&quot;.

While Trump refused to offer detailed troop numbers, senior White House officials said he had already authorised his defence secretary to deploy up to 3,900 more troops to Afghanistan.

Earlier Mujahid had dismissed the strategy as vague and &quot;nothing new&quot;.

&quot;For now I can tell you there was nothing new in his speech and it was very unclear,&quot; he told AFP.

A senior Taliban commander told AFP that Trump was just perpetuating the &quot;arrogant behaviour&quot; of previous presidents such as George W. Bush.&nbsp;

&quot;He is just wasting American soldiers. We know how to defend our country. It will not change anything.

&quot;For generations we have fought this war, we are not scared, we are fresh and we will continue this war until our last breath,&quot; he told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

He added that the statement proved the current Afghan government &quot;is a US puppet&quot;. &nbsp;

The insurgents signalled their intentions minutes after Trump spoke by claiming the US embassy in Kabul had been the target of a rocket attack late Monday.&nbsp;

The rocket landed in a field in the city&#39;s diplomatic quarter, with no casualties reported.

Trump also lambasted US ally Pakistan for offering safe haven to &quot;agents of chaos&quot;.

A commander from the Taliban-allied Haqqani network, long believed to have links to Pakistan&#39;s shadowy military establishment, told AFP that Trump &quot;has proved it&#39;s a Crusade&quot;.

&quot;His statement has proved that he wants to eliminate the entire Muslim umma (community),&quot; he said.

Prior to Trump&#39;s announcement the Taliban had written an open letter warning him not to send more troops and calling for the complete withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

A Taliban spokesman said America should think of an exit strategy 'instead of continuing the war'

The Taliban warned that Afghanistan would become "a graveyard" for the United States Tuesday after President Donald Trump cleared the way for thousands more American troops to be sent to the war-torn country. "If America doesn't withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, soon Afghanistan will become another graveyard for this superpower in the 21st century," Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban in Afghanistan, said in a statement. He added that America should think of an exit strategy "instead of continuing the war". "As long as there is one US soldier in our land, and they continue to impose war on us, we, with a high morale will continue our jihad," Mujahid said. Trump backtracked from his promise to rapidly end America's longest war in his first formal address to the nation as commander-in-chief late Monday, though he did not offer specifics. He said he had concluded "the consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable", leaving a vacuum that terrorists "would instantly fill". While Trump refused to offer detailed troop numbers, senior White House officials said he had already authorised his defence secretary to deploy up to 3,900 more troops to Afghanistan. Earlier Mujahid had dismissed the strategy as vague and "nothing new". "For now I can tell you there was nothing new in his speech and it was very unclear," he told AFP. A senior Taliban commander told AFP that Trump was just perpetuating the "arrogant behaviour" of previous presidents such as George W. Bush. "He is just wasting American soldiers. We know how to defend our country. It will not change anything. "For generations we have fought this war, we are not scared, we are fresh and we will continue this war until our last breath," he told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location. He added that the statement proved the current Afghan government "is a US puppet". The insurgents signalled their intentions minutes after Trump spoke by claiming the US embassy in Kabul had been the target of a rocket attack late Monday. The rocket landed in a field in the city's diplomatic quarter, with no casualties reported. Trump also lambasted US ally Pakistan for offering safe haven to "agents of chaos". A commander from the Taliban-allied Haqqani network, long believed to have links to Pakistan's shadowy military establishment, told AFP that Trump "has proved it's a Crusade". "His statement has proved that he wants to eliminate the entire Muslim umma (community)," he said. Prior to Trump's announcement the Taliban had written an open letter warning him not to send more troops and calling for the complete withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

Taliban warns Afghanistan will become 'graveyard' for US

President Donald Trump opened the door to an increase in U.S. troop numbers in Afghanistan on Monday night as part of a new strategy for the region, arguing against a hasty withdrawal from America&#39;s longest military conflict.

Trump, in a prime-time televised address, said his new approach was aimed at preventing Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for Islamist militants bent on attacking the United States. He also laid out a tougher approach to U.S. policy towards Pakistan.

The Republican president overcame his own doubts about the war that began in October 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. He said repeatedly on the campaign trail last year that the war was too costly in lives and money.

&quot;My original instinct was to pull out,&quot; he said in his speech, but added that he was convinced by his national security advisers to strengthen the U.S. ability to prevent the Taliban from ousting the U.S.-backed government in Kabul.

Trump did not say how many U.S. troops would be sent, but Defense Secretary James Mattis has plans on the table to send about 4,000 more to add to the 8,400 deployed in Afghanistan currently.

Trump, in a prime-time televised address, said his new approach was aimed at preventing Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for Islamist militants bent on attacking the United States

President Donald Trump opened the door to an increase in U.S. troop numbers in Afghanistan on Monday night as part of a new strategy for the region, arguing against a hasty withdrawal from America's longest military conflict. Trump, in a prime-time televised address, said his new approach was aimed at preventing Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for Islamist militants bent on attacking the United States. He also laid out a tougher approach to U.S. policy towards Pakistan. The Republican president overcame his own doubts about the war that began in October 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. He said repeatedly on the campaign trail last year that the war was too costly in lives and money. "My original instinct was to pull out," he said in his speech, but added that he was convinced by his national security advisers to strengthen the U.S. ability to prevent the Taliban from ousting the U.S.-backed government in Kabul. Trump did not say how many U.S. troops would be sent, but Defense Secretary James Mattis has plans on the table to send about 4,000 more to add to the 8,400 deployed in Afghanistan currently.

Trump's 'way forward' in Afghanistan: US President clears way for troop increase

President Donald Trump Monday left the door open to an eventual political deal with the Taliban, in an address on America&#39;s news strategy in the 16-year Afghan conflict.

&quot;Someday, after an effective military effort, perhaps it will be possible to have a political settlement that includes elements of the Taliban in Afghanistan,&quot; he said.

&quot;But nobody knows if or when that will ever happen,&quot; he added, before vowing that &quot;America will continue its support for the Afghan government and military as they confront the Taliban in the field.&quot;

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump&#39;s decision to pressure Pakistan and step up military operations in Afghanistan could help US diplomats build towards a political solution.

&quot;Our new strategy breaks from previous approaches that set artificial calendar-based deadlines,&quot; said Tillerson, in a statement issued after he attended Trump&#39;s speech.

&quot;We are making clear to the Taliban that they will not win on the battlefield. The Taliban has a path to peace and political legitimacy through a negotiated political settlement to end the war.&quot; &nbsp;

&quot;We stand ready to support peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban without preconditions,&quot; Tillerson promised. &nbsp;

&quot;We look to the international community, particularly Afghanistan&#39;s neighbors, to join us in supporting an Afghan peace process.&quot;

'Someday, after an effective military effort, perhaps it will be possible to have a political sentiment that includes elements of the Taliban in Afghanistan,' he said

President Donald Trump Monday left the door open to an eventual political deal with the Taliban, in an address on America's news strategy in the 16-year Afghan conflict. "Someday, after an effective military effort, perhaps it will be possible to have a political settlement that includes elements of the Taliban in Afghanistan," he said. "But nobody knows if or when that will ever happen," he added, before vowing that "America will continue its support for the Afghan government and military as they confront the Taliban in the field." Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump's decision to pressure Pakistan and step up military operations in Afghanistan could help US diplomats build towards a political solution. "Our new strategy breaks from previous approaches that set artificial calendar-based deadlines," said Tillerson, in a statement issued after he attended Trump's speech. "We are making clear to the Taliban that they will not win on the battlefield. The Taliban has a path to peace and political legitimacy through a negotiated political settlement to end the war." "We stand ready to support peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban without preconditions," Tillerson promised. "We look to the international community, particularly Afghanistan's neighbors, to join us in supporting an Afghan peace process."

Trump open to eventual political deal with Taliban

President Donald Trump warned Pakistan on Monday that Washington will no longer tolerate Pakistan offering &quot;safe havens&quot; to extremists.

&quot;We can no longer be silent about Pakistan&#39;s safe havens for terrorist organisations,&quot; Trump declared, outlining a new US security strategy in South Asia.

&quot;Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effort in Afghanistan. It has much to lose by continuing to harbour criminals and terrorists.&quot;

Going further, Trump suggested that military and other aid to Washington&#39;s nuclear-armed ally is at stake if it does not clamp down on extremism.

&quot;We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting,&quot; he said.

&quot;That will have to change and that will change immediately,&quot; he said.

&quot;It is time for Pakistan to dedicate to civilisation and order and peace.&quot;

'We can no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe havens for terrorist organisations,' Trump declared

President Donald Trump warned Pakistan on Monday that Washington will no longer tolerate Pakistan offering "safe havens" to extremists. "We can no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe havens for terrorist organisations," Trump declared, outlining a new US security strategy in South Asia. "Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effort in Afghanistan. It has much to lose by continuing to harbour criminals and terrorists." Going further, Trump suggested that military and other aid to Washington's nuclear-armed ally is at stake if it does not clamp down on extremism. "We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting," he said. "That will have to change and that will change immediately," he said. "It is time for Pakistan to dedicate to civilisation and order and peace."

Trump warns Pakistan will pay for harbouring terrorists

Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump&#39;s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, said on Monday he &quot;did not collude&quot; with Russia and had roughly four meetings with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign and presidential transition, AFP reports.

In a written statement released ahead of his scheduled appearance before lawmakers in closed-door sessions, Kushner said his initial White House security clearance form had been submitted prematurely in error and had omitted all foreign contacts.

Filing misleading information in this form is a felony which carries&nbsp;a possible five-year jail sentence. Kushner&nbsp;originally claimed&nbsp;he had no&nbsp;foreign contacts before the election, and updated the forms, several times, to show he had over <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Jared-Kushner-added-more-than-100-names-to-his-list-of-foreign-contacts-in-updated-security-clearance-forms/articleshow/59581180.cms">100 foreign contacts</a> from over 20 countries.

&quot;I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government,&quot; Kushner said.&nbsp;&quot;I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector,&quot; he said.

Trump&#39;s son Donald Trump Jr released emails this month, with a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/07/11/us/politics/donald-trump-jr-email-text.html" target="_blank">subject heading</a> &#39;&#39;Re - Russia-Clinton--private and confidential&#39;,&nbsp;that showed Trump Jr appeared to welcome the prospect of damaging information from the Russian government about Clinton. Members of both committees say they are eager to hear about the June 2016 meeting involving Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Kushner and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort were also at the meeting.

Kushner faces two days of closed-door questioning from Congress as lawmakers try to determine whether Trump&#39;s campaign enlisted Russia&#39;s help to win the White House in last year&#39;s election.

Kushner is scheduled to address the Senate Intelligence Committee at 10 am&nbsp;on Monday and the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Tuesday. Trump has been dogged by allegations that his campaign aides worked with Russia, which US.&nbsp;

Intelligence agencies have accused Russia of interfering in the election. Moscow has denied any interference, and Trump says his campaign did not collude with Moscow.&nbsp;The Republican president has said the Russia probes in Congress and the Justice Department are politically motivated.

In a tweet on Monday morning, Trump lashed out at the ongoing investigations.

&quot;So why aren&#39;t the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered AG, looking into Crooked Hillary&#39;s crimes &amp; Russia relations?&quot; he added, referring to his former Democratic presidential rival, Hillary Clinton.

&nbsp;

Kushner described the secret meetings with Russians promising damaging information about Clinton&nbsp;as a waste of time. &quot;I actually emailed an assistant from the meeting after I had been there for ten or so minutes and wrote &#39;Can u pls call me on my cell? Need excuse to get out of meeting.&#39;&quot;

He said no part of the meeting he attended &quot;included anything about the campaign&quot; and he had no knowledge of any documents being offered or accepted. <a href="http://time.com/4858397/donald-trump-jr-meeting-russian-lobbyist/" target="_blank">Time </a>reports that during the meeting, Akmetshin and the Russian lawyer Veselnitskaya brought a plastic folder with printed-out documents that detailed what she believed was the flow of illicit funds to the Democratic National Committee.

As for nothing being discussed related to the campaign, Trump Jr and even President Trump have said this secret meeting&nbsp;discussed &quot;adoption&quot;, which refers to the Magnitsky Act. After Obama in 2012 put sanctions on Russian oligarchs accused of human rights violations, a law known as the Magnitsky Act, Putin responded by forbidding Americans from adopting Russian babies.

The Magnitsky Act is thought to be preventing the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars.&nbsp;The Trump administration&#39;s potential willingness to drop sanctions against Russia is at the heart of the alleged connection between US President Donald&nbsp;Trump and Russia. Investigations into this are ongoing.&nbsp;

The Senate Judiciary Committee is negotiating with Manafort and Trump Jr&nbsp;about testifying in a public hearing. &nbsp;The congressional committees, along with federal special counsel Robert Mueller, are examining Russia&#39;s influence in the US election and possible links to Trump&#39;s campaign.

&nbsp;

&#39;Secret back channel&#39;

Kushner will also face questions about reports he tried to set up a secret back channel to Moscow, as well as other contacts with top Russian officials and business leaders.

Kushner said he first met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in Washington in April 2016 and shook hands. He said he did not recall phone calls with Kislyak between April and November of that year as reported by Reuters in May, had found no evidence of the calls in phone records and was skeptical they took place.&nbsp;

In a meeting with Kislyak after the election, on December&nbsp;1, Kushner said he articulated a desire for the United States to make a fresh start with Russia.

&quot;The fact that I was asking about ways to start a dialogue after Election Day should, of course, be viewed as strong evidence that I was not aware of one that existed before Election Day,&quot; he said.

He said the Russian ambassador asked if there was a secure line in Trump&#39;s transition office to facilitate a discussion with Russian generals about Syria. There was not.&nbsp;

Kushner suggested arranging something through an existing communications channel at the Russian embassy, but Kislyak indicated that was not possible and they agreed to follow up after the inauguration.

&quot;Nothing else occurred. I did not suggest a &#39;secret back channel.&#39;&nbsp;I did not suggest an ongoing secret form of communication for then or for when the administration took office,&quot; Kushner said. &quot;I did not raise the possibility of using the embassy or any other Russian facility for any purpose other than this one possible conversation in the transition period. We did not discuss sanctions.&quot;

Kushner said he met on December 13 with Sergey Gorkov, the head of Russian state-owned Vnesheconombank, because Kislyak`s insistence and because he had a &quot;direct relationship&quot; with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sanctions imposed by former President Barack Obama&#39;s administration were not discussed nor were Kushner`s business activities, Kushner said.

&quot;I did not know or have any contact with Mr Gorkov before that meeting, and I have had no reason to connect with him since,&quot; Kushner wrote.

Kushner did not initially disclose any meetings with Russians on forms he filed to get a government security clearance. He has since revised those forms several times.

He said the forms were initially submitted prematurely in error and omitted all foreign contacts he had had, not just those with Russian officials.

(With agency inputs)

 
&nbsp;

Kushner said his original White House security clearance form, which said he had 0 foreign contacts instead of over 100, had been submitted in error

Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, said on Monday he "did not collude" with Russia and had roughly four meetings with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign and presidential transition, AFP reports. In a written statement released ahead of his scheduled appearance before lawmakers in closed-door sessions, Kushner said his initial White House security clearance form had been submitted prematurely in error and had omitted all foreign contacts. Filing misleading information in this form is a felony which carries a possible five-year jail sentence. Kushner originally claimed he had no foreign contacts before the election, and updated the forms, several times, to show he had over 100 foreign contacts from over 20 countries. "I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government," Kushner said. "I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector," he said. Trump's son Donald Trump Jr released emails this month, with a subject heading ''Re - Russia-Clinton--private and confidential', that showed Trump Jr appeared to welcome the prospect of damaging information from the Russian government about Clinton. Members of both committees say they are eager to hear about the June 2016 meeting involving Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Kushner and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort were also at the meeting. Kushner faces two days of closed-door questioning from Congress as lawmakers try to determine whether Trump's campaign enlisted Russia's help to win the White House in last year's election. Kushner is scheduled to address the Senate Intelligence Committee at 10 am on Monday and the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Tuesday. Trump has been dogged by allegations that his campaign aides worked with Russia, which US. Intelligence agencies have accused Russia of interfering in the election. Moscow has denied any interference, and Trump says his campaign did not collude with Moscow. The Republican president has said the Russia probes in Congress and the Justice Department are politically motivated. In a tweet on Monday morning, Trump lashed out at the ongoing investigations. "So why aren't the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered AG, looking into Crooked Hillary's crimes & Russia relations?" he added, referring to his former Democratic presidential rival, Hillary Clinton. Kushner described the secret meetings with Russians promising damaging information about Clinton as a waste of time. "I actually emailed an assistant from the meeting after I had been there for ten or so minutes and wrote 'Can u pls call me on my cell? Need excuse to get out of meeting.'" He said no part of the meeting he attended "included anything about the campaign" and he had no knowledge of any documents being offered or accepted. Time reports that during the meeting, Akmetshin and the Russian lawyer Veselnitskaya brought a plastic folder with printed-out documents that detailed what she believed was the flow of illicit funds to the Democratic National Committee. As for nothing being discussed related to the campaign, Trump Jr and even President Trump have said this secret meeting discussed "adoption", which refers to the Magnitsky Act. After Obama in 2012 put sanctions on Russian oligarchs accused of human rights violations, a law known as the Magnitsky Act, Putin responded by forbidding Americans from adopting Russian babies. The Magnitsky Act is thought to be preventing the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars. The Trump administration's potential willingness to drop sanctions against Russia is at the heart of the alleged connection between US President Donald Trump and Russia. Investigations into this are ongoing. The Senate Judiciary Committee is negotiating with Manafort and Trump Jr about testifying in a public hearing. The congressional committees, along with federal special counsel Robert Mueller, are examining Russia's influence in the US election and possible links to Trump's campaign. 'Secret back channel' Kushner will also face questions about reports he tried to set up a secret back channel to Moscow, as well as other contacts with top Russian officials and business leaders. Kushner said he first met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in Washington in April 2016 and shook hands. He said he did not recall phone calls with Kislyak between April and November of that year as reported by Reuters in May, had found no evidence of the calls in phone records and was skeptical they took place. In a meeting with Kislyak after the election, on December 1, Kushner said he articulated a desire for the United States to make a fresh start with Russia. "The fact that I was asking about ways to start a dialogue after Election Day should, of course, be viewed as strong evidence that I was not aware of one that existed before Election Day," he said. He said the Russian ambassador asked if there was a secure line in Trump's transition office to facilitate a discussion with Russian generals about Syria. There was not. Kushner suggested arranging something through an existing communications channel at the Russian embassy, but Kislyak indicated that was not possible and they agreed to follow up after the inauguration. "Nothing else occurred. I did not suggest a 'secret back channel.' I did not suggest an ongoing secret form of communication for then or for when the administration took office," Kushner said. "I did not raise the possibility of using the embassy or any other Russian facility for any purpose other than this one possible conversation in the transition period. We did not discuss sanctions." Kushner said he met on December 13 with Sergey Gorkov, the head of Russian state-owned Vnesheconombank, because Kislyak`s insistence and because he had a "direct relationship" with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sanctions imposed by former President Barack Obama's administration were not discussed nor were Kushner`s business activities, Kushner said. "I did not know or have any contact with Mr Gorkov before that meeting, and I have had no reason to connect with him since," Kushner wrote. Kushner did not initially disclose any meetings with Russians on forms he filed to get a government security clearance. He has since revised those forms several times. He said the forms were initially submitted prematurely in error and omitted all foreign contacts he had had, not just those with Russian officials. (With agency inputs)

Trump son-in-law Kushner denies collusion despite 'private, confidential' meeting with Russian officials ???????

Donald Trump made some comments to the<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/trump-interview-sessions-russia.html?hp&amp;action=click&amp;pgtype=Homepage&amp;clickSource=story-heading&amp;module=first-column-region&amp;region=top-news&amp;WT.nav=top-news&amp;_r=0" target="_blank"> New York Times</a>&nbsp;in an interview that will make raise the eyebrows of&nbsp;Trump critics already suspicious of his connection to Russia.

He told the NYT that he would not have chosen Attorney General Jeff Sessions if he had known that Sessions would recuse himself from the Russia probe. Is this not tantamount to Trump admitting that the real purpose of his&nbsp;attorney general&nbsp;is to protect&nbsp;him&nbsp;from&nbsp;the Russia scandal?

Whatever else he thinks of Sessions&#39; job up to now apparently means nothing if Sessions&nbsp;cannot keep him insulated from the Russia investigation.

Sessions&#39; recusal allowed for the appointment of special investigator Robert S Mueller III. Sessions recused himself from anything to do with Trump-Russia after it became known that he had misled the public, denying under oath he met with any Russians during the election when in fact he had met twice with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak.

Trump called Sessions&#39; recusal&nbsp;&quot;very unfair to the president&quot;.&nbsp;The President did not explain why the&nbsp;highest legal authority in the country deciding to recuse himself on investigations&nbsp;after possibly committing perjury related to them is unfair.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Trump&#39;s finances &#39;beyond Russia probe&#39;

In the Times interview, asked if Mueller&#39;s investigation would cross a line if it investigated Trump&#39;s finances beyond the Russia probe, Trump responded &quot;I would say, yes.

&quot;I think that&#39;s a violation. Look, this is about Russia,&quot; Trump said. But that&#39;s just it: Trump is accused of being deeply connected to Russia, and the fact that it is impossible to tell&nbsp;where his personal finances end and his political connections to Russia&nbsp;begin is precisely&nbsp;what&#39;s being investigated.

It is impossible to investigate Trump&#39;s connnections to Russia without examining&nbsp;all his financial ties to Russia. Trump must know this.

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His attacks on Mueller tell me a lot. He KNOWS how bad it is. His &quot;warning&quot; to Mueller tells me finally understands how bad it is.
&mdash; Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/887839303820353537">July 20, 2017</a></blockquote>
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For example, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/kushner-firms-285-million-deutsche-bank-loan-came-just-before-election-day/2017/06/25/984f3acc-4f88-11e7-b064-828ba60fbb98_story.html?tid=ss_tw&amp;utm_term=.c4cf5e044286" target="_blank">Jared Kushner</a>, Trump&#39;s son in law and a White House adviser,&nbsp;failed to disclose on his security form that just before the 2016 election his company&nbsp;borrowed $285 million from Deutsche Bank to purchase a Manhattan building owned by Lev Leviev, a self-described&nbsp;&quot;true friend&quot; of Russian President Vladimir&nbsp;Putin.&nbsp;

Incidentally, Kushner denied having any foreign contacts on his security clearance form, a serious form necessary to get White House clearance. He has revised his form multiple times since new revelations were made public, and now the amount of foreign contacts has increased from 0 to over 100. Misrepresenting information on this form is a felony that risks five years of jail time.

Trump&nbsp;chose not to make&nbsp;his tax return&nbsp;public, the first presidential candidate not to take this basic step of transparency in about forty years. First Trump&nbsp;said he would disclose his tax return, then&nbsp;said he was prevented from doing so because he was under audit (it&#39;s true he was under audit, but false that he was prevented him from making them public), then flat out said he wouldn&#39;t.

On January 22 spokesman Kellyanne Conway said he would not release his taxes after all because &quot;<a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/videos/a52466/donald-trump-tax-returns-timeline/" target="_blank">nobody cares</a>&quot;. This also is not true. Over 60 per cent of Americans want Trump to release his taxes publicly.

&nbsp;

Trump&#39;s base believes nothing the media says, even when a Trump says it&nbsp;

&quot;I don&#39;t think we&#39;re under investigation,&quot; Trump told the New York Times.&nbsp;He knows this is not true. &quot;I&#39;m not under investigation. For what? I didn&#39;t do anything wrong,&quot; Trump lied. &nbsp;He is under multiple investigations, including a criminal one&nbsp;for alleged obstruction of justice since firing James Comey, the former FBI Director who was investigating Trump&#39;s Russian connections.

It&#39;s impossible to be under multiple investigations&nbsp;and fire the person leading the most high-profile one without knowing&nbsp;you&#39;re under investigation.

But premeditated, repeated lying&nbsp;has benefited the Trumps. Repeated attacks on the media have had their intended effect: An enormous per cent of his base believes in the Trump&#39;s innocence despite what the media carries, even when&nbsp;the Trump&#39;s themselves admit their&nbsp;guilt.

According to a recent <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/342700-poll-nearly-half-of-trump-voters-dont-think-trump-jr-met-with-russian">poll</a>, almost one third&nbsp;of Trump voters&nbsp;do not believe Donald Trump Jr&nbsp;met with a &quot;Russian government lawyer&quot;, despite Trump Jr himself admitting he&nbsp;met&nbsp;with a &quot;Russian government lawyer.

He&nbsp;published emails that clearly showing&nbsp;the date of the meeting with the&nbsp;&quot;Russian government lawyer&quot;&nbsp;in Trump Tower. Nobody on either side denies the meeting took place. There is no reason to suppose it didn&#39;t.

Yet 32&nbsp;per cent of Trump voters said they do not believe the meeting took place, while 24&nbsp;per cent aren&#39;t sure.

An interview with Trump&nbsp;can be revealing, in a way, but&nbsp;investigators must&nbsp;go far beyond his words and search his financial records.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The comments come in a wide-ranging New York Times interview

Donald Trump made some comments to the New York Times in an interview that will make raise the eyebrows of Trump critics already suspicious of his connection to Russia. He told the NYT that he would not have chosen Attorney General Jeff Sessions if he had known that Sessions would recuse himself from the Russia probe. Is this not tantamount to Trump admitting that the real purpose of his attorney general is to protect him from the Russia scandal? Whatever else he thinks of Sessions' job up to now apparently means nothing if Sessions cannot keep him insulated from the Russia investigation. Sessions' recusal allowed for the appointment of special investigator Robert S Mueller III. Sessions recused himself from anything to do with Trump-Russia after it became known that he had misled the public, denying under oath he met with any Russians during the election when in fact he had met twice with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. Trump called Sessions' recusal "very unfair to the president". The President did not explain why the highest legal authority in the country deciding to recuse himself on investigations after possibly committing perjury related to them is unfair. Trump's finances 'beyond Russia probe' In the Times interview, asked if Mueller's investigation would cross a line if it investigated Trump's finances beyond the Russia probe, Trump responded "I would say, yes. "I think that's a violation. Look, this is about Russia," Trump said. But that's just it: Trump is accused of being deeply connected to Russia, and the fact that it is impossible to tell where his personal finances end and his political connections to Russia begin is precisely what's being investigated. It is impossible to investigate Trump's connnections to Russia without examining all his financial ties to Russia. Trump must know this. His attacks on Mueller tell me a lot. He KNOWS how bad it is. His "warning" to Mueller tells me finally understands how bad it is. — Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) July 20, 2017 × For example, Jared Kushner, Trump's son in law and a White House adviser, failed to disclose on his security form that just before the 2016 election his company borrowed $285 million from Deutsche Bank to purchase a Manhattan building owned by Lev Leviev, a self-described "true friend" of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Incidentally, Kushner denied having any foreign contacts on his security clearance form, a serious form necessary to get White House clearance. He has revised his form multiple times since new revelations were made public, and now the amount of foreign contacts has increased from 0 to over 100. Misrepresenting information on this form is a felony that risks five years of jail time. Trump chose not to make his tax return public, the first presidential candidate not to take this basic step of transparency in about forty years. First Trump said he would disclose his tax return, then said he was prevented from doing so because he was under audit (it's true he was under audit, but false that he was prevented him from making them public), then flat out said he wouldn't. On January 22 spokesman Kellyanne Conway said he would not release his taxes after all because "nobody cares". This also is not true. Over 60 per cent of Americans want Trump to release his taxes publicly. Trump's base believes nothing the media says, even when a Trump says it "I don't think we're under investigation," Trump told the New York Times. He knows this is not true. "I'm not under investigation. For what? I didn't do anything wrong," Trump lied. He is under multiple investigations, including a criminal one for alleged obstruction of justice since firing James Comey, the former FBI Director who was investigating Trump's Russian connections. It's impossible to be under multiple investigations and fire the person leading the most high-profile one without knowing you're under investigation. But premeditated, repeated lying has benefited the Trumps. Repeated attacks on the media have had their intended effect: An enormous per cent of his base believes in the Trump's innocence despite what the media carries, even when the Trump's themselves admit their guilt. According to a recent poll, almost one third of Trump voters do not believe Donald Trump Jr met with a "Russian government lawyer", despite Trump Jr himself admitting he met with a "Russian government lawyer. He published emails that clearly showing the date of the meeting with the "Russian government lawyer" in Trump Tower. Nobody on either side denies the meeting took place. There is no reason to suppose it didn't. Yet 32 per cent of Trump voters said they do not believe the meeting took place, while 24 per cent aren't sure. An interview with Trump can be revealing, in a way, but investigators must go far beyond his words and search his financial records.

Trump: 'Sessions should never have recused himself", warns Mueller about investigating his finances

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a second, previously undisclosed conversation during a dinner for G20 leaders at a summit earlier this month in Germany, a White House official confirmed on Tuesday.

The two leaders held a formal two-hour bilateral meeting on July 7 in which Trump later said Putin denied allegations that he directed efforts to meddle in the 2016 US presidential election.

The White House official did not say how long the second meeting took place or what was discussed.

The second conversation between Trump and Putin took place during a dinner for the Group of 20 heads of state and their spouses in Hamburg, said Ian Bremmer, the president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, who was first to report the meeting in a note to clients.

Television coverage of the dinner showed that first lady Melania Trump was seated next to Putin.

Bremmer said Trump got up from his seat halfway through dinner and spent about an hour talking &quot;privately and animatedly&quot; with Putin, &quot;joined only by Putin&#39;s own translator&quot;.

The lack of a US translator raised eyebrows among other leaders at the dinner, said Bremmer, who called it a &quot;breach of national security protocol&quot;.

Trump is under intense scrutiny by Congress and a special counsel investigating Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election, and probing whether Trump&#39;s campaign had ties to the activity. Trump has denied collusion between his campaign and Moscow. 
&nbsp;

Trump spent about an hour talking 'privately and animatedly' with Putin, 'joined only by Putin's own translator', which raised eyebrows

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a second, previously undisclosed conversation during a dinner for G20 leaders at a summit earlier this month in Germany, a White House official confirmed on Tuesday. The two leaders held a formal two-hour bilateral meeting on July 7 in which Trump later said Putin denied allegations that he directed efforts to meddle in the 2016 US presidential election. The White House official did not say how long the second meeting took place or what was discussed. The second conversation between Trump and Putin took place during a dinner for the Group of 20 heads of state and their spouses in Hamburg, said Ian Bremmer, the president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, who was first to report the meeting in a note to clients. Television coverage of the dinner showed that first lady Melania Trump was seated next to Putin. Bremmer said Trump got up from his seat halfway through dinner and spent about an hour talking "privately and animatedly" with Putin, "joined only by Putin's own translator". The lack of a US translator raised eyebrows among other leaders at the dinner, said Bremmer, who called it a "breach of national security protocol". Trump is under intense scrutiny by Congress and a special counsel investigating Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election, and probing whether Trump's campaign had ties to the activity. Trump has denied collusion between his campaign and Moscow.

Trump, Putin held a second, undisclosed meeting at G20: White House

An angry President Donald Trump railed Tuesday against dissenters in his party who dashed his months-long effort to dismantle Barack Obama&#39;s landmark health care law.

Trump fired off a series of early morning tweets complaining about how he was &quot;let down&quot; by Democrats &quot;and a few Republicans,&quot; who announced their opposition the previous night to the latest leadership plan to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

With four Republicans now lined up against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell&#39;s health overhaul, the plan has flatlined in the 100-member chamber, where the party could afford only two defectors in order to get the measure passed.&nbsp;

The dramatic implosion effectively means Trump, who marks his first six months in office later this week, has no major legislative victory under his belt, squandering months of political capital.

Trump had campaigned relentlessly on a pledge to abolish most of the Affordable Care Act, proclaiming at an October campaign rally that it would be &quot;so easy&quot; to immediately repeal and replace the law.

But on Monday night he ran into the uncompromising reality of American politics: even with a president&#39;s party enjoying a majority in both chambers, crafting and passing landmark legislation can be difficult in the US Congress.

The failure suggests an inability by Trump -- a political neophyte who often highlighted his lack of connections to establishment Washington -- to get members of his own party to fall into line.

Nevertheless Trump put on a brave face, insisting on Twitter that &quot;we will return!&quot;

&quot;As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned,&quot; he added.

&nbsp;

&#39;Time to start over&#39;

McConnell was by no means giving up. He told colleagues Tuesday that despite &quot;regret&quot; that&nbsp;the effort failed, &quot;I believe we must continue to push forward now&quot;.

In the coming days, McConnell will introduce a bill that repeals Obamacare outright, but with a two-year delay of implementation, in order to allow Congress time to craft a replacement.

A straight repeal bill passed Congress in 2015. But that was during Obama&#39;s presidency, and Republicans knew they would pay no political price for their votes, as Obama vetoed the measure.

Trump would likely sign such legislation, putting Republicans on the hook for any ensuing disruption to the health care system.

Two years ago, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warned that simply repealing Obamacare would essentially kick 18 million people off health care in the first year compared to current law, a figure that would balloon to 32 million by 2026. That is far above the 22 million that CBO forecast would lose coverage under the latest repeal-and-replace legislation.

Nevertheless, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday he and Trump &quot;fully support&quot; McConnell&#39;s decision to move ahead with an Obamacare repeal.

But with a number of Senate Republican moderates voicing concern about how the latest bill could adversely impact millions of people insured through Medicaid, the health coverage program for the poor and the disabled, it appeared unlikely that McConnell&#39;s repeal bid would win enough support.

&quot;I can not vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians,&quot; Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito said in a statement.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, whose chamber passed its own health reform bill in May, appeared to recognise the quandary the Senate was in, but stressed the commitment Republicans have made to voters over the past seven years. &quot;We&#39;ve got a promise to keep,&quot; he told reporters.

But Ryan hesitated to map out the way forward, because it remained unclear what repeal effort, if any, could pass the Senate.&nbsp;

While Democrats celebrated, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer extended an olive branch to his Republican rivals. &quot;It&#39;s time to move on. It&#39;s time to start over&quot; on health care, he said.

Schumer called on Republicans to &quot;work with Democrats on a bill that lowers premiums, provides longterm stability to the markets and improve our health care system.&quot;

 
&nbsp;

Trump complained about how he was 'let down' by Democrats 'and a few Republicans' who opposed the latest Republican effort to repeal Obamacare

An angry President Donald Trump railed Tuesday against dissenters in his party who dashed his months-long effort to dismantle Barack Obama's landmark health care law. Trump fired off a series of early morning tweets complaining about how he was "let down" by Democrats "and a few Republicans," who announced their opposition the previous night to the latest leadership plan to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. With four Republicans now lined up against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's health overhaul, the plan has flatlined in the 100-member chamber, where the party could afford only two defectors in order to get the measure passed. The dramatic implosion effectively means Trump, who marks his first six months in office later this week, has no major legislative victory under his belt, squandering months of political capital. Trump had campaigned relentlessly on a pledge to abolish most of the Affordable Care Act, proclaiming at an October campaign rally that it would be "so easy" to immediately repeal and replace the law. But on Monday night he ran into the uncompromising reality of American politics: even with a president's party enjoying a majority in both chambers, crafting and passing landmark legislation can be difficult in the US Congress. The failure suggests an inability by Trump -- a political neophyte who often highlighted his lack of connections to establishment Washington -- to get members of his own party to fall into line. Nevertheless Trump put on a brave face, insisting on Twitter that "we will return!" "As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned," he added. 'Time to start over' McConnell was by no means giving up. He told colleagues Tuesday that despite "regret" that the effort failed, "I believe we must continue to push forward now". In the coming days, McConnell will introduce a bill that repeals Obamacare outright, but with a two-year delay of implementation, in order to allow Congress time to craft a replacement. A straight repeal bill passed Congress in 2015. But that was during Obama's presidency, and Republicans knew they would pay no political price for their votes, as Obama vetoed the measure. Trump would likely sign such legislation, putting Republicans on the hook for any ensuing disruption to the health care system. Two years ago, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warned that simply repealing Obamacare would essentially kick 18 million people off health care in the first year compared to current law, a figure that would balloon to 32 million by 2026. That is far above the 22 million that CBO forecast would lose coverage under the latest repeal-and-replace legislation. Nevertheless, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday he and Trump "fully support" McConnell's decision to move ahead with an Obamacare repeal. But with a number of Senate Republican moderates voicing concern about how the latest bill could adversely impact millions of people insured through Medicaid, the health coverage program for the poor and the disabled, it appeared unlikely that McConnell's repeal bid would win enough support. "I can not vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians," Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito said in a statement. House Speaker Paul Ryan, whose chamber passed its own health reform bill in May, appeared to recognise the quandary the Senate was in, but stressed the commitment Republicans have made to voters over the past seven years. "We've got a promise to keep," he told reporters. But Ryan hesitated to map out the way forward, because it remained unclear what repeal effort, if any, could pass the Senate. While Democrats celebrated, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer extended an olive branch to his Republican rivals. "It's time to move on. It's time to start over" on health care, he said. Schumer called on Republicans to "work with Democrats on a bill that lowers premiums, provides longterm stability to the markets and improve our health care system."

'Let ObamaCare fail,' Trump fumes as health bill collapses

The Kremlin on Monday demanded that Washington unconditionally restore its access to diplomatic compounds in the United States, with a senior Russian official saying the row had &quot;almost&quot; been resolved following hours-long talks.

Russia is angry that Washington is still barring its diplomats from using two compounds in the states of New York and Maryland.

In December, then US president Barack Obama ordered the ban in response to Russian meddling in the US election. Multiple US intelligence agencies&nbsp;conclude that&nbsp;Russia interfered in the 2016 US election in order to help get Donald Trump elected president.

On December 29, 2016, President Obama said the compounds were &quot;used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes,&quot; and Obama gave them 24 hours to vacate the premises.

&quot;We consider it absolutely unacceptable to place conditions on the return of diplomatic property, we consider that it must be returned without any conditions and talking,&quot; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

When President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump met for the first time at the G20 summit in Hamburg this month, the Kremlin strongman raised the question of the diplomatic sites &quot;quite unambiguously,&quot; Peskov said. &quot;We still hope our American colleagues will show political wisdom and political will,&quot; he added.

In Hamburg US President Trump had said he intended to work with Russia on &quot;cybersecurity&quot;, which was met with criticism and even some shock, given that Russia conducted what The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13/us/politics/russia-hack-election-dnc.html?rref=collection%2Fnewseventcollection%2Frussian-election-hacking&amp;action=click&amp;contentCollection=politics&amp;region=rank&amp;module=package&amp;version=highlights&amp;contentPlacement=1&amp;pgtype=collection&amp;_r=0" target="_blank">New York Times</a> has called &quot;cyberespionage and information-warfare campaign devised to disrupt the 2016 election&quot;.&nbsp;

The row over the spy compounds was high on the agenda at talks in Washington on Monday between Thomas Shannon, the US State Department&#39;s number&nbsp;three, and Russia&#39;s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov. Those talks, which lasted three hours, had originally been scheduled for June, but Russia cancelled them at the time, citing new US sanctions linked to the conflict in Ukraine.

After the meeting Ryabkov, asked by journalists if the issue of the diplomatic compounds had been resolved, replied: &quot;Almost, almost&quot;. There was no word from the US side.

&nbsp;

&#39;Counter actions&#39;

At the time in December when&nbsp;Obama announced that he would&nbsp;shut&nbsp;down the compounds&nbsp;Moscow used for &quot;intelligence-related purposes,&quot;&nbsp;expelling&nbsp;35 Russian diplomats for spying, Putin held off from retaliating, saying he would wait to see how Trump reacted after he came into the White House.&nbsp;

But hope that Trump would follow up on campaign pledges to boost relations have fizzled as any ties to Moscow have become toxic for the White House amid a maelstrom of US investigations into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.&nbsp;

Now Russia has ratcheted up threats that it could belatedly take revenge by blocking a country house and a storage facility used by the US Embassy in Moscow.

&quot;If Washington decides not to solve this issue, we will have to take counter actions,&quot; Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova complained last week that the US was also refusing to issue visas for Russian diplomats to replace those expelled.

&nbsp;

Russia was given 24 hours to vacate the compound, and 35 diplomats were expelled, because it was used for 'intelligence-gathering'

The Kremlin on Monday demanded that Washington unconditionally restore its access to diplomatic compounds in the United States, with a senior Russian official saying the row had "almost" been resolved following hours-long talks. Russia is angry that Washington is still barring its diplomats from using two compounds in the states of New York and Maryland. In December, then US president Barack Obama ordered the ban in response to Russian meddling in the US election. Multiple US intelligence agencies conclude that Russia interfered in the 2016 US election in order to help get Donald Trump elected president. On December 29, 2016, President Obama said the compounds were "used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes," and Obama gave them 24 hours to vacate the premises. "We consider it absolutely unacceptable to place conditions on the return of diplomatic property, we consider that it must be returned without any conditions and talking," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. When President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump met for the first time at the G20 summit in Hamburg this month, the Kremlin strongman raised the question of the diplomatic sites "quite unambiguously," Peskov said. "We still hope our American colleagues will show political wisdom and political will," he added. In Hamburg US President Trump had said he intended to work with Russia on "cybersecurity", which was met with criticism and even some shock, given that Russia conducted what The New York Times has called "cyberespionage and information-warfare campaign devised to disrupt the 2016 election". The row over the spy compounds was high on the agenda at talks in Washington on Monday between Thomas Shannon, the US State Department's number three, and Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov. Those talks, which lasted three hours, had originally been scheduled for June, but Russia cancelled them at the time, citing new US sanctions linked to the conflict in Ukraine. After the meeting Ryabkov, asked by journalists if the issue of the diplomatic compounds had been resolved, replied: "Almost, almost". There was no word from the US side. 'Counter actions' At the time in December when Obama announced that he would shut down the compounds Moscow used for "intelligence-related purposes," expelling 35 Russian diplomats for spying, Putin held off from retaliating, saying he would wait to see how Trump reacted after he came into the White House. But hope that Trump would follow up on campaign pledges to boost relations have fizzled as any ties to Moscow have become toxic for the White House amid a maelstrom of US investigations into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Now Russia has ratcheted up threats that it could belatedly take revenge by blocking a country house and a storage facility used by the US Embassy in Moscow. "If Washington decides not to solve this issue, we will have to take counter actions," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova complained last week that the US was also refusing to issue visas for Russian diplomats to replace those expelled.

Russia says Trump 'almost' ready to hand over compound Obama withdrew for meddling in US election

The US&nbsp;Secret Service on Sunday denied a suggestion from President Donald Trump&#39;s personal lawyer that it had vetted a meeting between the president&#39;s son and Russian nationals during the 2016 campaign.

Donald Trump Jr&nbsp;has acknowledged that he met in New York with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya after he was told she might have damaging information about his father&#39;s rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

&quot;Well, I wonder why the Secret Service, if this was nefarious, why the Secret Service allowed these people in. The president had Secret Service protection at that point, and that raised a question with me,&quot; Jay Sekulow, a member of the president&#39;s legal team, said on Sunday on the ABC news program &quot;This Week&quot;.

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<h5>According to emails released by Trump Jr&nbsp;last week, he eagerly agreed to meet Veselnitskaya, who he was told was a Russian government lawyer</h5>
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In an emailed response to questions about Sekulow&#39;s comments, Secret Service spokesman Mason Brayman said the younger Trump was not under Secret Service protection at the time of the meeting, which included Trump&#39;s son and two senior campaign officials.

&quot;Donald Trump, Jr. was not a protectee of the USSS in June, 2016. Thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with at that time,&quot; the statement said.

According to emails released by Trump Jr&nbsp;last week, he eagerly agreed to meet Veselnitskaya, who he was told was a Russian government lawyer. Veselnitskaya has said she is a private lawyer and denies having Kremlin ties.

On Friday, NBC News reported that a lobbyist who was once a Soviet counter-intelligence officer participated in the meeting, which was also attended by Trump&#39;s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and the president&#39;s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

The meeting appears to be the most tangible evidence of a connection between Trump&#39;s election campaign and Russia, a subject that has prompted investigations by congressional committees and a federal special counsel.

Moscow has denied any interference and the president and Trump Jr&nbsp;have denied any collusion.

&nbsp;

&quot;Under the bus&quot;

Sekulow&#39;s comments about the Secret Service drew quick criticism, including from Frances Townsend, who advised former Republican President George W&nbsp;Bush on homeland security.

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Ok let&#39;s try to deflect blame &amp; throw those in <a href="https://twitter.com/SecretService">@SecretService</a> who protect <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS">@POTUS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump">@realDonaldTrump</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/FLOTUS">@FLOTUS</a> &amp; family under the bus ???????? <a href="https://t.co/HZBAv5HF9K">https://t.co/HZBAv5HF9K</a>
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&quot;Ok let&#39;s try to deflect blame &amp; throw those in @SecretService who protect @POTUS @realDonaldTrump @FLOTUS &amp; family under the bus,&quot; she said on Twitter.

The Secret Service&#39;s mission is to provide physical protection for the US&nbsp;president. The agency also protects major presidential candidates. But its role in vetting people who meet with a US&nbsp;president or candidates is limited to ensuring physical safety.

&nbsp;

Lawyer: Trump unaware of meeting

Trump himself has said he was unaware of the meeting between his son and the Russian lawyer until a few days ago.

&quot;The president was not aware about this meeting, did not participate in this meeting,&quot; Sekulow told the CBS program &quot;Face the Nation.&quot;

Sekulow added that Trump was not aware of any meetings between his campaign staff and Russians.

A federal special counsel and several congressional panels are investigating allegations by US&nbsp;intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 US presidential election to hurt Clinton and help Trump. They are also investigating potential connections between Russian officials and the Trump campaign.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on one of the panels investigating the matter, the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN: &quot;The level of credibility from the senior level of this administration really is suspect.&quot;

Warner said he wanted to hear from everyone who attended the June 2016 meeting.

&quot;Whether we will be able to get the Russian nationals to come over and testify is an open question, (but) those people that our committee has jurisdiction over, the Americans, I sure as heck want to talk to all of them,&quot; Warner said.

'Donald Trump, Jr. was not a protectee of the USSS in June, 2016. Thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with at that time'

The US Secret Service on Sunday denied a suggestion from President Donald Trump's personal lawyer that it had vetted a meeting between the president's son and Russian nationals during the 2016 campaign. Donald Trump Jr has acknowledged that he met in New York with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya after he was told she might have damaging information about his father's rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton. "Well, I wonder why the Secret Service, if this was nefarious, why the Secret Service allowed these people in. The president had Secret Service protection at that point, and that raised a question with me," Jay Sekulow, a member of the president's legal team, said on Sunday on the ABC news program "This Week". According to emails released by Trump Jr last week, he eagerly agreed to meet Veselnitskaya, who he was told was a Russian government lawyer × In an emailed response to questions about Sekulow's comments, Secret Service spokesman Mason Brayman said the younger Trump was not under Secret Service protection at the time of the meeting, which included Trump's son and two senior campaign officials. "Donald Trump, Jr. was not a protectee of the USSS in June, 2016. Thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with at that time," the statement said. According to emails released by Trump Jr last week, he eagerly agreed to meet Veselnitskaya, who he was told was a Russian government lawyer. Veselnitskaya has said she is a private lawyer and denies having Kremlin ties. On Friday, NBC News reported that a lobbyist who was once a Soviet counter-intelligence officer participated in the meeting, which was also attended by Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and the president's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. The meeting appears to be the most tangible evidence of a connection between Trump's election campaign and Russia, a subject that has prompted investigations by congressional committees and a federal special counsel. Moscow has denied any interference and the president and Trump Jr have denied any collusion. "Under the bus" Sekulow's comments about the Secret Service drew quick criticism, including from Frances Townsend, who advised former Republican President George W Bush on homeland security. Ok let's try to deflect blame & throw those in @SecretService who protect @POTUS @realDonaldTrump @FLOTUS & family under the bus ???????? https://t.co/HZBAv5HF9K — Frances Townsend (@FranTownsend) July 16, 2017 × "Ok let's try to deflect blame & throw those in @SecretService who protect @POTUS @realDonaldTrump @FLOTUS & family under the bus," she said on Twitter. The Secret Service's mission is to provide physical protection for the US president. The agency also protects major presidential candidates. But its role in vetting people who meet with a US president or candidates is limited to ensuring physical safety. Lawyer: Trump unaware of meeting Trump himself has said he was unaware of the meeting between his son and the Russian lawyer until a few days ago. "The president was not aware about this meeting, did not participate in this meeting," Sekulow told the CBS program "Face the Nation." Sekulow added that Trump was not aware of any meetings between his campaign staff and Russians. A federal special counsel and several congressional panels are investigating allegations by US intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 US presidential election to hurt Clinton and help Trump. They are also investigating potential connections between Russian officials and the Trump campaign. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on one of the panels investigating the matter, the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN: "The level of credibility from the senior level of this administration really is suspect." Warner said he wanted to hear from everyone who attended the June 2016 meeting. "Whether we will be able to get the Russian nationals to come over and testify is an open question, (but) those people that our committee has jurisdiction over, the Americans, I sure as heck want to talk to all of them," Warner said.

US Secret Service rejects suggestion it vetted Russians at Trump son's meeting

Mike Pence is the loyal wingman, the ever-discreet figure who rises above the Washington fray. But as the Russia scandal encroaches ever further on Donald Trump&#39;s White House, the vice president is also walking a political tightrope.

The 58-year-old former governor of Indiana is currently the man closest to the US presidency -- either as Trump&#39;s immediate successor should his term end prematurely, or as his heir apparent in 2020 or 2024 elections, depending on how many terms Trump serves.

As the troubles of his boss grow deeper by the day, ensnared in a widening investigation into his campaign ties to Russia, experts say the 48th US vice president remains compelled to stand by his man -- at least for now.

&quot;Pence is in a very difficult position,&quot; Joel Goldstein, an expert on the vice presidency at Saint Louis University School of Law, told AFP. &quot;A vice president is expected to be loyal to the president, but President Trump imposes a heavy burden on his subordinates by saying and doing things that often are hard to defend.&quot;

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/76qRVEXJoF4" width="560"></iframe>

The two men could hardly be more different: Where Trump likes to blur ideological lines, Pence is a committed Christian conservative, as stiff and disciplined as his boss is exuberant and unpredictable.

While Trump tweets about a high-stakes health care bill, it is Pence who has been shuttling between the White House and Congress in a behind-the-scenes effort to rescue the imperiled legislation.

In Trump&#39;s turbulent Washington, Pence is seen as the administration&#39;s steadying force, the &quot;ax behind the glass you&#39;re supposed to break in case of emergency,&quot; as The Daily Beast news website put it recently.

&nbsp;

&#39;Hang on&#39;&nbsp;

Pence offered a glimpse Wednesday of what it&#39;s like on the Trump rollercoaster, as number two to arguably the most controversial US leader in modern times.

&quot;You need to keep your arms and legs in the ride at all times,&quot; he told student leaders at American University. &quot;Pull the roll bar down, because you just got to hang on.&quot;

Yet Pence has taken low-key steps that suggest he could be laying the groundwork for his political future.

In an unusual move, two close advisors to Pence have founded a political action committee, The New York Times reported. He has also begun hosting Republican mega-donors at his Washington residence, according to the daily.

&nbsp;

Next president?

As federal and congressional investigators dig deeper into allegations that Trump&#39;s camp colluded with Russia to tilt the 2016 election, a handful of Democrats are now calling openly for the president to be impeached. However remote the prospect of impeachment by the Republican-controlled Congress, the Russia cloud stubbornly refuses to dissipate.

Should Trump eventually be forced from office, Pence would become the 10th US vice president to assume the presidency without being elected;&nbsp;the first since Gerald Ford succeeded Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal in 1974.

When Donald Trump Jr recently acknowledged that he and campaign aides met a Russian lawyer last year in hope of obtaining dirt on Trump&#39;s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, Pence distanced himself from the snowballing scandal.

&quot;He is not focused on stories about the campaign, particularly stories about the time before he joined the ticket,&quot; said a statement from Pence&#39;s office.&nbsp;

But the vice president has not emerged entirely unscathed so far.

As head of Trump&#39;s transition team, he publicly backed <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/trumps-ex-national-security-chief-flynn-talking-to-congress-about-testifying-in-russia-probe-lawyer-14000">Michael Flynn</a> during the uproar about contacts with the Russian ambassador which cost the newly-minted national security advisor his job. And having flatly denied any Trump campaign contacts with Russia, Pence&#39;s credibility is further rocked with each new revelation.

&nbsp;

&#39;Losing credibility&#39;

Pence&#39;s defense will look increasingly questionable, especially if Trump&#39;s troubles worsen. But it is survivable, said Michael Munger, director of the politics program at Duke University.

&quot;Pence was probably not lying. He was lied to, and he took the party line and then kept his mouth shut when they cut him off at the knees,&quot; the professor said. &quot;He is losing credibility, I suppose, but he gets extra points for doing his job.&quot;

Yet Pence&#39;s close ties to the president -- as recently as last month he said serving with Trump has been &quot;the greatest privilege of my life&quot; -- may yet prove an albatross around his neck.

&quot;None of the last seven vice presidents have been so willing to be so sycophantic in their praise and have said so many significant things that later turned out to be untrue,&quot; the expert Goldstein said.

Striking the balance between loyalty to an embattled leader and avoiding getting caught up in scandal is a fierce challenge.

Pence has &quot;juggled&quot; well, said Paul Beck of Ohio State University. &quot;But if this Russia controversy really gets the Trump administration into deep, deep trouble... then Pence is kind of trapped out there as one of the team.&quot;

Should Trump eventually be forced from office, the Christian conservative Pence would assume the presidency without being elected

Mike Pence is the loyal wingman, the ever-discreet figure who rises above the Washington fray. But as the Russia scandal encroaches ever further on Donald Trump's White House, the vice president is also walking a political tightrope. The 58-year-old former governor of Indiana is currently the man closest to the US presidency -- either as Trump's immediate successor should his term end prematurely, or as his heir apparent in 2020 or 2024 elections, depending on how many terms Trump serves. As the troubles of his boss grow deeper by the day, ensnared in a widening investigation into his campaign ties to Russia, experts say the 48th US vice president remains compelled to stand by his man -- at least for now. "Pence is in a very difficult position," Joel Goldstein, an expert on the vice presidency at Saint Louis University School of Law, told AFP. "A vice president is expected to be loyal to the president, but President Trump imposes a heavy burden on his subordinates by saying and doing things that often are hard to defend." The two men could hardly be more different: Where Trump likes to blur ideological lines, Pence is a committed Christian conservative, as stiff and disciplined as his boss is exuberant and unpredictable. While Trump tweets about a high-stakes health care bill, it is Pence who has been shuttling between the White House and Congress in a behind-the-scenes effort to rescue the imperiled legislation. In Trump's turbulent Washington, Pence is seen as the administration's steadying force, the "ax behind the glass you're supposed to break in case of emergency," as The Daily Beast news website put it recently. 'Hang on' Pence offered a glimpse Wednesday of what it's like on the Trump rollercoaster, as number two to arguably the most controversial US leader in modern times. "You need to keep your arms and legs in the ride at all times," he told student leaders at American University. "Pull the roll bar down, because you just got to hang on." Yet Pence has taken low-key steps that suggest he could be laying the groundwork for his political future. In an unusual move, two close advisors to Pence have founded a political action committee, The New York Times reported. He has also begun hosting Republican mega-donors at his Washington residence, according to the daily. Next president? As federal and congressional investigators dig deeper into allegations that Trump's camp colluded with Russia to tilt the 2016 election, a handful of Democrats are now calling openly for the president to be impeached. However remote the prospect of impeachment by the Republican-controlled Congress, the Russia cloud stubbornly refuses to dissipate. Should Trump eventually be forced from office, Pence would become the 10th US vice president to assume the presidency without being elected; the first since Gerald Ford succeeded Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal in 1974. When Donald Trump Jr recently acknowledged that he and campaign aides met a Russian lawyer last year in hope of obtaining dirt on Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, Pence distanced himself from the snowballing scandal. "He is not focused on stories about the campaign, particularly stories about the time before he joined the ticket," said a statement from Pence's office. But the vice president has not emerged entirely unscathed so far. As head of Trump's transition team, he publicly backed Michael Flynn during the uproar about contacts with the Russian ambassador which cost the newly-minted national security advisor his job. And having flatly denied any Trump campaign contacts with Russia, Pence's credibility is further rocked with each new revelation. 'Losing credibility' Pence's defense will look increasingly questionable, especially if Trump's troubles worsen. But it is survivable, said Michael Munger, director of the politics program at Duke University. "Pence was probably not lying. He was lied to, and he took the party line and then kept his mouth shut when they cut him off at the knees," the professor said. "He is losing credibility, I suppose, but he gets extra points for doing his job." Yet Pence's close ties to the president -- as recently as last month he said serving with Trump has been "the greatest privilege of my life" -- may yet prove an albatross around his neck. "None of the last seven vice presidents have been so willing to be so sycophantic in their praise and have said so many significant things that later turned out to be untrue," the expert Goldstein said. Striking the balance between loyalty to an embattled leader and avoiding getting caught up in scandal is a fierce challenge. Pence has "juggled" well, said Paul Beck of Ohio State University. "But if this Russia controversy really gets the Trump administration into deep, deep trouble... then Pence is kind of trapped out there as one of the team."

US: VP Mike Pence walks high wire over Trump scandals

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Sunday criticised <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/watch-trump-tells-frances-first-lady-youre-in-such-good-shapebeautiful-17908" target="_blank">comments </a>by US&nbsp;President Donald Trump on French first lady Brigitte Macron&#39;s appearance.

&quot;You&#39;re in such good shape,&quot; Trump was filmed on Thursday telling her during his first state visit to France.

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US President Donald Trump praised French first lady Brigitte Macron for being in &quot;such good shape&quot; on Thursday during his state visit to France (WION)
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&quot;I wonder if she could say the same of him?&quot; Bishop told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, when asked whether she would be flattered or offended if the comment were directed at her. &quot;I&#39;d be taken aback, I think. It&#39;s a rather interesting comment to make,&quot; she said.

Bishop declined further comment on the Paris remark, but added an unprompted observation on Trump&#39;s use of social media, saying she wouldn&#39;t &quot;run a commentary on his Twitter account&quot;.

&nbsp;

A bad start

The criticism follows an acrimonious January telephone call between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, when the American hung up after 25 minutes rather than the scheduled hour, according to the Washington Post.

In June, the relationship between the two countries hit the spotlight again, after the release of a <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/australian-pm-mocks-trump-over-russian-guy-at-off-the-record-media-party-16861" target="_blank">leaked tape</a> of Turnbull mocking Trump at an off-the-record media event.

But the two leaders &quot;get along great,&quot; Trump had declared in May, following his first-face-to-face meeting with Turnbull.

Julie Bishop said she'd be taken aback by Trump's comments if they were directed at her. She declined to remark on his Twitter account

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Sunday criticised comments by US President Donald Trump on French first lady Brigitte Macron's appearance. "You're in such good shape," Trump was filmed on Thursday telling her during his first state visit to France. US President Donald Trump praised French first lady Brigitte Macron for being in "such good shape" on Thursday during his state visit to France (WION) × "I wonder if she could say the same of him?" Bishop told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, when asked whether she would be flattered or offended if the comment were directed at her. "I'd be taken aback, I think. It's a rather interesting comment to make," she said. Bishop declined further comment on the Paris remark, but added an unprompted observation on Trump's use of social media, saying she wouldn't "run a commentary on his Twitter account". A bad start The criticism follows an acrimonious January telephone call between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, when the American hung up after 25 minutes rather than the scheduled hour, according to the Washington Post. In June, the relationship between the two countries hit the spotlight again, after the release of a leaked tape of Turnbull mocking Trump at an off-the-record media event. But the two leaders "get along great," Trump had declared in May, following his first-face-to-face meeting with Turnbull.

Australian foreign minister criticises Trump's remark to French first lady

Many rejoiced as the&nbsp;team of female teenager robotics builders from Afghanistan, who twice&nbsp;had their Visas denied,&nbsp;finally arrived&nbsp;in Washington DC tonight.

On <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world-0/us-afghanistan-robotics-robot-inventors-teenage-girls-first-global-challenge-kabul-citadel-travel-a7818191.html" target="_blank">two </a>occassions they had trekked about 500 miles from Herat, in western Afghanistan, to the American embassy in Kabul to apply for the one-week travel visas, and they cried when they were refused.

The girls are working on a robot that can sort balls, which will compete against 163 other machines in a tournament called the FIRST Robotics Competition. When their visas were refused, they planned to compete via Skype. Thankfully, that is unnecessary now.

Watch as the Afghan Ambassador to the US,&nbsp;Dr Hamdullah Mohib,&nbsp; greets the team at the airport.

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The all female <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AfghanRoboticsTeam?src=hash">#AfghanRoboticsTeam</a> arrived in DC tonight greeted by Ambassador <a href="https://twitter.com/hmohib">@hmohib</a> and large crowd of Afghan-Americans <a href="https://t.co/dwfFhVW86T">pic.twitter.com/dwfFhVW86T</a>
&mdash; MBidar (@MusCBS) <a href="https://twitter.com/MusCBS/status/886090350074486785">July 15, 2017</a></blockquote>
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This week many online were angry to learn the&nbsp;team would be denied entry. This grew as details became published about how hard they worked to make it into the competition.

Many saw them as innocent victims of the harsher immigration barriers, especially from predominantly Muslim countries,&nbsp;taken up under US President Donald&nbsp;Trump&#39;s administration.

But&nbsp;Trump <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/12/trump-afghan-girls-robots-240474" target="_blank">himself </a>urged the immigration authorities to reverse course, and the team was allowed in.&nbsp;

Though some social media users were unwilling to let the Afghan girls who had worked so hard share the spotlight.

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step 1: implement policy that stops Afghan girl robotics team from entry 
step 2: step in on behalf of girls 
step 3: claim moral high ground
&mdash; Sam Stein (@samstein) <a href="https://twitter.com/samstein/status/885437369607958528">July 13, 2017</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

Many had expressed anger to learn that the teenage girls who had worked so hard wouldn't be allowed in the US to compete

Many rejoiced as the team of female teenager robotics builders from Afghanistan, who twice had their Visas denied, finally arrived in Washington DC tonight. On two occassions they had trekked about 500 miles from Herat, in western Afghanistan, to the American embassy in Kabul to apply for the one-week travel visas, and they cried when they were refused. The girls are working on a robot that can sort balls, which will compete against 163 other machines in a tournament called the FIRST Robotics Competition. When their visas were refused, they planned to compete via Skype. Thankfully, that is unnecessary now. Watch as the Afghan Ambassador to the US, Dr Hamdullah Mohib, greets the team at the airport. The all female #AfghanRoboticsTeam arrived in DC tonight greeted by Ambassador @hmohib and large crowd of Afghan-Americans pic.twitter.com/dwfFhVW86T — MBidar (@MusCBS) July 15, 2017 × This week many online were angry to learn the team would be denied entry. This grew as details became published about how hard they worked to make it into the competition. Many saw them as innocent victims of the harsher immigration barriers, especially from predominantly Muslim countries, taken up under US President Donald Trump's administration. But Trump himself urged the immigration authorities to reverse course, and the team was allowed in. Though some social media users were unwilling to let the Afghan girls who had worked so hard share the spotlight. step 1: implement policy that stops Afghan girl robotics team from entry step 2: step in on behalf of girls step 3: claim moral high ground — Sam Stein (@samstein) July 13, 2017 ×

Watch: Afghanistan's all-girl robotics team lands in DC after visas denied twice

President Donald Trump turned up the heat on Friday on fellow Republicans in the US Senate to pass a bill dismantling the Obamacare law, but with their retooled&nbsp;healthcare&nbsp;plan drawing fire within the party even one more defection would doom it.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has planned for a vote next week on revised legislation, unveiled on Thursday, and he has his work cut out for him in the coming days to get the 50 &quot;yes&quot; votes needed for passage. Republicans control the Senate by a 52-48 margin and cannot afford to lose more than two from within their ranks because of united Democratic opposition, but two Republican senators already have declared opposition.

&quot;After all of these years of suffering thru Obamacare, Republican Senators must come through as they have promised,&quot; Trump, who made gutting Obamacare one of his central campaign promises last year, wrote on Twitter from Paris, where he attended Bastille Day celebrations.

The top US doctors&#39; group, the American Medical Association, on Friday called the new bill inadequate and said more bipartisan collaboration is needed in the months ahead to improve the delivery and financing of&nbsp;healthcare. Hospital and medical advocacy groups also have criticised&nbsp;the bill.

&quot;The revised bill does not address the key concerns of physicians and patients regarding proposed Medicaid cuts and inadequate subsidies that will result in millions of Americans losing health insurance coverage,&quot; AMA president Dr David Barbe said, referring to the government insurance program for the poor and disabled.

A major test for McConnell&#39;s legislation expected early next week is an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which last month forecast that the prior version of the bill would have resulted in 22 million Americans losing insurance over the next decade.

A day after that CBO analysis was issued, McConnell postponed a planned vote on the legislation because of a revolt within his own party, including moderates and hard-line conservatives.

While the bill&#39;s prospects may look precarious, the same could have been said of&nbsp;health care legislation that ultimately was passed by the House of Representatives. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan called off a vote in March in the face of a rebellion involving the disparate factions of the party but managed to coax enough lawmakers to back it and engineered narrow approval on May 4.

Pence seeks support

Vice president Mike Pence sought to shore up support among the nation&#39;s governors at a meeting in Rhode Island, but a key Republican governor, Ohio&#39;s John Kasich, came out strongly against the revised bill, saying its Medicaid cuts were too deep and it does too little to stabilise the insurance market.

Kasich&#39;s opposition could put pressure on Rob Portman, a Republican senator from Ohio, who has not yet taken a position on the bill.

If the current Senate legislation collapses, some lawmakers have raised the possibility of seeking bipartisan legislation to fix parts of Obamacare but leaving intact the structure of the Affordable Care Act, Democratic former President Barack Obama&#39;s signature legislative achievement, commonly known as Obamacare.

&quot;There are changes that need to be made to the law,&quot; Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, told MSNBC, citing &quot;a bipartisan appetite to tackle this issue.&quot;

Moderate Susan Collins and conservative Rand Paul already oppose the revised Senate bill. Other Republican senators have either expressed concern or remained noncommittal, including Portman, Mike Lee, Shelley Moore Capito, John McCain, Dean Heller, John Hoeven, Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Flake, Ben Sasse, Cory Gardner, Todd Young and Thom Tillis. Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy floated an alternative plan.

The new version was crafted to satisfy the Republican Party&#39;s various elements, including moderates worried about Americans who would be left without medical coverage and hard-line conservatives who demand less government regulation of health insurance.

A provision championed by Republican Senator Ted Cruz and aimed at attracting conservatives would let insurers sell cheap, bare-bones insurance policies that would not have to cover broad benefits mandated under Obamacare.

But two major health insurance groups, America&#39;s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, called on McConnell to drop the Cruz proposal, saying it would undermine protections for pre-existing medical conditions, raise insurance premiums and destabilise the individual insurance market.

The bill retained certain Obamacare taxes on the wealthy that the earlier version would have eliminated, a step moderates could embrace. But it kept the core of the earlier bill, including ending the expansion of Medicaid that was instrumental in enabling Obamacare to expand coverage to 20 million people, and restructuring that social safety-net program.

John Thune, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, said in order to complete work on the bill by the end of next week, Senate leaders would have to try to formally begin debate on Tuesday or Wednesday, a move that requires a majority vote.

Vice president Mike Pence sought to shore up support among the nation's governors at a meeting in Rhode Island, but a key Republican governor, Ohio's John Kasich, came out strongly against the revised bill, saying its Medicaid cuts were too deep and it does too little to stabilise the insurance market

President Donald Trump turned up the heat on Friday on fellow Republicans in the US Senate to pass a bill dismantling the Obamacare law, but with their retooled healthcare plan drawing fire within the party even one more defection would doom it. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has planned for a vote next week on revised legislation, unveiled on Thursday, and he has his work cut out for him in the coming days to get the 50 "yes" votes needed for passage. Republicans control the Senate by a 52-48 margin and cannot afford to lose more than two from within their ranks because of united Democratic opposition, but two Republican senators already have declared opposition. "After all of these years of suffering thru Obamacare, Republican Senators must come through as they have promised," Trump, who made gutting Obamacare one of his central campaign promises last year, wrote on Twitter from Paris, where he attended Bastille Day celebrations. The top US doctors' group, the American Medical Association, on Friday called the new bill inadequate and said more bipartisan collaboration is needed in the months ahead to improve the delivery and financing of healthcare. Hospital and medical advocacy groups also have criticised the bill. "The revised bill does not address the key concerns of physicians and patients regarding proposed Medicaid cuts and inadequate subsidies that will result in millions of Americans losing health insurance coverage," AMA president Dr David Barbe said, referring to the government insurance program for the poor and disabled. A major test for McConnell's legislation expected early next week is an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which last month forecast that the prior version of the bill would have resulted in 22 million Americans losing insurance over the next decade. A day after that CBO analysis was issued, McConnell postponed a planned vote on the legislation because of a revolt within his own party, including moderates and hard-line conservatives. While the bill's prospects may look precarious, the same could have been said of health care legislation that ultimately was passed by the House of Representatives. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan called off a vote in March in the face of a rebellion involving the disparate factions of the party but managed to coax enough lawmakers to back it and engineered narrow approval on May 4. Pence seeks support Vice president Mike Pence sought to shore up support among the nation's governors at a meeting in Rhode Island, but a key Republican governor, Ohio's John Kasich, came out strongly against the revised bill, saying its Medicaid cuts were too deep and it does too little to stabilise the insurance market. Kasich's opposition could put pressure on Rob Portman, a Republican senator from Ohio, who has not yet taken a position on the bill. If the current Senate legislation collapses, some lawmakers have raised the possibility of seeking bipartisan legislation to fix parts of Obamacare but leaving intact the structure of the Affordable Care Act, Democratic former President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement, commonly known as Obamacare. "There are changes that need to be made to the law," Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, told MSNBC, citing "a bipartisan appetite to tackle this issue." Moderate Susan Collins and conservative Rand Paul already oppose the revised Senate bill. Other Republican senators have either expressed concern or remained noncommittal, including Portman, Mike Lee, Shelley Moore Capito, John McCain, Dean Heller, John Hoeven, Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Flake, Ben Sasse, Cory Gardner, Todd Young and Thom Tillis. Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy floated an alternative plan. The new version was crafted to satisfy the Republican Party's various elements, including moderates worried about Americans who would be left without medical coverage and hard-line conservatives who demand less government regulation of health insurance. A provision championed by Republican Senator Ted Cruz and aimed at attracting conservatives would let insurers sell cheap, bare-bones insurance policies that would not have to cover broad benefits mandated under Obamacare. But two major health insurance groups, America's Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, called on McConnell to drop the Cruz proposal, saying it would undermine protections for pre-existing medical conditions, raise insurance premiums and destabilise the individual insurance market. The bill retained certain Obamacare taxes on the wealthy that the earlier version would have eliminated, a step moderates could embrace. But it kept the core of the earlier bill, including ending the expansion of Medicaid that was instrumental in enabling Obamacare to expand coverage to 20 million people, and restructuring that social safety-net program. John Thune, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, said in order to complete work on the bill by the end of next week, Senate leaders would have to try to formally begin debate on Tuesday or Wednesday, a move that requires a majority vote.

Another Republican defection would doom Senate healthcare bill

Senate Republican leaders released on Thursday a revised plan to dismantle the Obamacare law, but it drew criticism from senators on both sides of the political divide within the Republican party, indicating a treacherous path for the bill.

The bill played to the party&#39;s disparate factions by letting insurers sell cheap, bare-bones policies while retaining taxes on the wealthy.

But the immediate outcry illustrated the difficult political terrain that US&nbsp;Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must navigate. He is under pressure by President Donald Trump to pass a healthcare bill and make good on Republicans&#39; seven-year mission to gut Democratic former President Barack Obama&#39;s signature legislative achievement.

In addition to the criticism from some senators, a major hospital association and one large insurer said the measure falls short in critical areas.

With Democrats united against it, McConnell cannot afford to lose more than two Republican senators to win passage. But moderate Susan Collins and conservative Rand Paul voiced opposition to even bringing the new plan up for debate.

Several senators said they had concerns about the legislation, particularly its Medicaid cuts, including Shelley Moore Capito, Rob Portman and John McCain. And two other Republican senators, Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, complicated matters by announcing an alternative plan.

McConnell, a skilful tactician who was forced two weeks ago to scrub a planned vote on an earlier version opposed by both moderates and hard-line conservatives in his party, has planned for a vote on the retooled bill next week.

The continuing lack of consensus among Republicans on what to do with Obamacare after calling for its demise since 2010 shows that it is no sure thing that Trump&#39;s party will be able to get the job done.

Healthcare is Trump&#39;s first major legislative initiative. Failure would call into question his party&#39;s ability to govern despite controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House.

&nbsp;

&quot;SKINNY PLANS&quot;

The measure represents a retreat from long-standing Republican aspirations to dump Obamacare-related taxes.

It retains two taxes on the wealthy that helped pay for the Obamacare law that the previous version would have repealed, and also keeps Obamacare&#39;s limits on corporate tax deductions for executive pay in the health insurance industry.

The bill included a provision allowing insurers to offer stripped-down, low-cost healthcare plans - a measure proposed by Senator Ted Cruz to try to win over holdout conservatives.

These &quot;skinny plans&quot; would not have to cover the broad benefits mandated under Obamacare like maternity and newborn care, mental health services and addiction treatment, outpatient care, hospitalisation, emergency room visits and prescription drugs.

Insurer groups, including the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, have derided the skinny plans, saying they would raise insurance premiums, destabilise the individual insurance market and undermine protections for pre-existing medical conditions. Moderate senators could balk at the provision for the same reasons.

The new bill provides an additional $70 billion to help stabilise the individual insurance market on top of the $112 billion in the original bill to help insurers slow growth in premium costs and help lower-income insurance holders cover out-of-pocket medical expenses.

The bill would phase out the Obamacare expansion of the Medicaid government health insurance programme for the poor and disabled, and includes sharp cuts to federal Medicaid spending beginning in 2025.

Moderate Republicans were spurned in their desire to see a reduction in Medicaid cuts in the revised version.

Critics said despite some changes to coax wavering senators, the revised bill&#39;s core remains unchanged: restructuring and cutting the critical Medicaid social safety-net programme, taking away insurance from millions of Americans and driving up healthcare costs for millions of the most vulnerable Americans, especially older people and the sick.

The revamped bill contains a provision that appears to be aimed at winning over Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a moderate who had opposed the original bill. It would funnel additional money to states that have higher insurance premiums &ndash; at least 75 percent above the national average. Alaska is the only state with premiums that high, Senate aides said.

&nbsp;

&quot;UNACCEPTABLE FLAWS&quot;

Hospital and insurer groups have spoken out against the Senate Republican approach, particularly proposed Medicaid cuts. The cuts would result in lower revenues for hospital companies like Community Health Systems Inc&nbsp;and Medicaid insurance specialists like Molina Healthcare&nbsp;and Centene Corp.

Molina Healthcare, which has more than one&nbsp;million customers on the Obamacare individual exchanges and manages Medicaid health programs, said the changes would leave insurers competing for the least risky customers and would make plans for sick people unaffordable.

The American Hospital Association said the new version of the bill retained the &quot;unacceptable flaws&quot; of the previous version.

&quot;Instead of merely putting forth an update, we again call on the Senate to put forth an upgrade,&quot; Rick Pollack, president of the association, said in a statement.

Healthcare stocks were mostly unmoved by the announcement, as Wall Street analysts described the core of the revised bill as largely unchanged from the earlier one.

The new bill includes another $45 billion for fighting the opioid addiction epidemic, on top of the $2 billion in the earlier version.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which forecast that the previous version would have increased the number of Americans without health insurance by 22 million by 2026, is due to evaluate the new bill in coming days.

The Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, expanded health insurance coverage to some 20 million people, in large part by expanding Medicaid. The House of Representatives on May 4 passed its own version of healthcare legislation.

Republicans have a 52-48 Senate majority, with Vice President Mike Pence able to cast a potential tie-breaking vote. Any bill passed by the Senate would have to go back to the House for approval.

Repealing and replacing Obamacare, which Republicans fault as a costly government intrusion into the healthcare system, was a top campaign promise for Trump, who was monitoring the Senate developments during his visit to Paris.

&quot;I&#39;d say the only thing more difficult than peace between Israel and the Palestinians is healthcare,&quot; Trump told reporters on his flight to Paris.

Trump's effort to replace Obamacare hit yet another setback

Senate Republican leaders released on Thursday a revised plan to dismantle the Obamacare law, but it drew criticism from senators on both sides of the political divide within the Republican party, indicating a treacherous path for the bill. The bill played to the party's disparate factions by letting insurers sell cheap, bare-bones policies while retaining taxes on the wealthy. But the immediate outcry illustrated the difficult political terrain that US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must navigate. He is under pressure by President Donald Trump to pass a healthcare bill and make good on Republicans' seven-year mission to gut Democratic former President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement. In addition to the criticism from some senators, a major hospital association and one large insurer said the measure falls short in critical areas. With Democrats united against it, McConnell cannot afford to lose more than two Republican senators to win passage. But moderate Susan Collins and conservative Rand Paul voiced opposition to even bringing the new plan up for debate. Several senators said they had concerns about the legislation, particularly its Medicaid cuts, including Shelley Moore Capito, Rob Portman and John McCain. And two other Republican senators, Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, complicated matters by announcing an alternative plan. McConnell, a skilful tactician who was forced two weeks ago to scrub a planned vote on an earlier version opposed by both moderates and hard-line conservatives in his party, has planned for a vote on the retooled bill next week. The continuing lack of consensus among Republicans on what to do with Obamacare after calling for its demise since 2010 shows that it is no sure thing that Trump's party will be able to get the job done. Healthcare is Trump's first major legislative initiative. Failure would call into question his party's ability to govern despite controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House. "SKINNY PLANS" The measure represents a retreat from long-standing Republican aspirations to dump Obamacare-related taxes. It retains two taxes on the wealthy that helped pay for the Obamacare law that the previous version would have repealed, and also keeps Obamacare's limits on corporate tax deductions for executive pay in the health insurance industry. The bill included a provision allowing insurers to offer stripped-down, low-cost healthcare plans - a measure proposed by Senator Ted Cruz to try to win over holdout conservatives. These "skinny plans" would not have to cover the broad benefits mandated under Obamacare like maternity and newborn care, mental health services and addiction treatment, outpatient care, hospitalisation, emergency room visits and prescription drugs. Insurer groups, including the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, have derided the skinny plans, saying they would raise insurance premiums, destabilise the individual insurance market and undermine protections for pre-existing medical conditions. Moderate senators could balk at the provision for the same reasons. The new bill provides an additional $70 billion to help stabilise the individual insurance market on top of the $112 billion in the original bill to help insurers slow growth in premium costs and help lower-income insurance holders cover out-of-pocket medical expenses. The bill would phase out the Obamacare expansion of the Medicaid government health insurance programme for the poor and disabled, and includes sharp cuts to federal Medicaid spending beginning in 2025. Moderate Republicans were spurned in their desire to see a reduction in Medicaid cuts in the revised version. Critics said despite some changes to coax wavering senators, the revised bill's core remains unchanged: restructuring and cutting the critical Medicaid social safety-net programme, taking away insurance from millions of Americans and driving up healthcare costs for millions of the most vulnerable Americans, especially older people and the sick. The revamped bill contains a provision that appears to be aimed at winning over Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a moderate who had opposed the original bill. It would funnel additional money to states that have higher insurance premiums – at least 75 percent above the national average. Alaska is the only state with premiums that high, Senate aides said. "UNACCEPTABLE FLAWS" Hospital and insurer groups have spoken out against the Senate Republican approach, particularly proposed Medicaid cuts. The cuts would result in lower revenues for hospital companies like Community Health Systems Inc and Medicaid insurance specialists like Molina Healthcare and Centene Corp. Molina Healthcare, which has more than one million customers on the Obamacare individual exchanges and manages Medicaid health programs, said the changes would leave insurers competing for the least risky customers and would make plans for sick people unaffordable. The American Hospital Association said the new version of the bill retained the "unacceptable flaws" of the previous version. "Instead of merely putting forth an update, we again call on the Senate to put forth an upgrade," Rick Pollack, president of the association, said in a statement. Healthcare stocks were mostly unmoved by the announcement, as Wall Street analysts described the core of the revised bill as largely unchanged from the earlier one. The new bill includes another $45 billion for fighting the opioid addiction epidemic, on top of the $2 billion in the earlier version. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which forecast that the previous version would have increased the number of Americans without health insurance by 22 million by 2026, is due to evaluate the new bill in coming days. The Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, expanded health insurance coverage to some 20 million people, in large part by expanding Medicaid. The House of Representatives on May 4 passed its own version of healthcare legislation. Republicans have a 52-48 Senate majority, with Vice President Mike Pence able to cast a potential tie-breaking vote. Any bill passed by the Senate would have to go back to the House for approval. Repealing and replacing Obamacare, which Republicans fault as a costly government intrusion into the healthcare system, was a top campaign promise for Trump, who was monitoring the Senate developments during his visit to Paris. "I'd say the only thing more difficult than peace between Israel and the Palestinians is healthcare," Trump told reporters on his flight to Paris.

New US Senate Republicans healthcare bill in trouble already

US President Donald Trump was in Paris, France, to meet French President Emmanuel Macron on the occassion of Bastille Day. Observers hoped the old allies would improve relations, after Trump reversed Obama&#39;s commitments to the Paris climate accord.

As often happens under this administration, the political substance was overshadowed by the antics of the US President.

President Trump commented on the physical appearance of Macron&#39;s wife. He told her, &quot;You&#39;re in such good shape...beautiful.&quot;

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Here&#39;s the video. Trump on France&#39;s First Lady: &quot;You&#39;re in such good shape.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/DHtI4rxsXZ">pic.twitter.com/DHtI4rxsXZ</a>
&mdash; Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) <a href="https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/885561125420584960">July 13, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Many on social media were quick to point to Brigitte Macron&#39;s body language, noticing that she seemed to tense up and pull away after the remarks.

The online response was decidedly critical. The website&nbsp;Slate referred to the &quot;particular grossness&quot; of the comment.&nbsp;

Social media users noticed Brigitte&#39;s body language, and remarked that this is a pattern Melania may be used to.

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&quot;You&#39;re in such good shape&quot; Brigitte kinda backed behind Melania, grabbed her arm and Melania put arm around her. Melania is used to THIS.
&mdash; Free bird (@TearsInHeaven09) <a href="https://twitter.com/TearsInHeaven09/status/885664232582201344">July 14, 2017</a></blockquote>
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One user&nbsp;alluded to Trump&#39;s past: During last year&#39;s election he was accused of sexually assaulting multiple women, and also made the notorious comment on audio recording about grabbing women by the &quot;p*ssy&quot;.

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Sexual Assaulter Trump Pounces And Grabs Brigitte Macron While Judging Her Looks <a href="https://t.co/ENsxoV0i1N">https://t.co/ENsxoV0i1N</a> <a href="https://t.co/OaerkjFxIH">pic.twitter.com/OaerkjFxIH</a>
&mdash; #Resist (@ZaibatsuNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZaibatsuNews/status/885611327070261248">July 13, 2017</a></blockquote>
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This user called the president &quot;condescending, sexist incredibly unworthy...&quot;&nbsp;

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Condescending, sexist, incredibly unworthy of a president. Thank God, Brigitte, knows who he is and will have smiled derisively at him.
&mdash; Ani Corn&eacute; (@AniCorne) <a href="https://twitter.com/AniCorne/status/885532370803314689">July 13, 2017</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

Many on social media cringed, and pointed out how Brigitte Macron appeared to look uncomfortable and back away

US President Donald Trump was in Paris, France, to meet French President Emmanuel Macron on the occassion of Bastille Day. Observers hoped the old allies would improve relations, after Trump reversed Obama's commitments to the Paris climate accord. As often happens under this administration, the political substance was overshadowed by the antics of the US President. President Trump commented on the physical appearance of Macron's wife. He told her, "You're in such good shape...beautiful." Here's the video. Trump on France's First Lady: "You're in such good shape." pic.twitter.com/DHtI4rxsXZ — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 13, 2017 × Many on social media were quick to point to Brigitte Macron's body language, noticing that she seemed to tense up and pull away after the remarks. The online response was decidedly critical. The website Slate referred to the "particular grossness" of the comment. Social media users noticed Brigitte's body language, and remarked that this is a pattern Melania may be used to. "You're in such good shape" Brigitte kinda backed behind Melania, grabbed her arm and Melania put arm around her. Melania is used to THIS. — Free bird (@TearsInHeaven09) July 14, 2017 × One user alluded to Trump's past: During last year's election he was accused of sexually assaulting multiple women, and also made the notorious comment on audio recording about grabbing women by the "p*ssy". Sexual Assaulter Trump Pounces And Grabs Brigitte Macron While Judging Her Looks https://t.co/ENsxoV0i1N pic.twitter.com/OaerkjFxIH — #Resist (@ZaibatsuNews) July 13, 2017 × This user called the president "condescending, sexist incredibly unworthy..." Condescending, sexist, incredibly unworthy of a president. Thank God, Brigitte, knows who he is and will have smiled derisively at him. — Ani Corné (@AniCorne) July 13, 2017 ×

Watch: Trump tells France's First Lady, 'You're in such good shape...beautiful'

US President Donald Trump&#39;s eldest son on Tuesday released emails showing he embraced Russia&#39;s efforts to support his father&#39;s presidential campaign, and admitting he would &quot;love&quot; to get dirt from Moscow on Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump Jr was told by an interlocutor that he could get &quot;very high level and sensitive information&quot; that was &quot;part of Russia and its government&#39;s support for Mr. Trump.&quot;

Trump, 39, responded &quot;if it&#39;s what you say I love it&quot; and set up a meeting with the source, according to the emails.

The email chain, released in its entirety by Donald Jr on his Twitter account shortly before The New York Times published it, effectively confirms that he believed Moscow was behind the compromising information about Clinton that he hoped to receive at a meeting last year with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer.

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Here&#39;s my statement and the full email chain <a href="https://t.co/x050r5n5LQ">pic.twitter.com/x050r5n5LQ</a>
&mdash; Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) <a href="https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/884789418455953413">July 11, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Donald Jr, however, added that he did not tell his father about meeting the meeting.

He told Fox News that he did not bother to brief his father on his encounter with Natalia Veselnitskaya as it had been a &quot;waste&quot; of time -- but wished he had handled things differently in hindsight.

Asked whether he had spoken to his father either before or after the meeting last June ion New York, he told the network&#39;s Hannity show: &quot;No. It was just a nothing. There was nothing to tell.&quot;

&quot;It was literally just a wasted 20 minutes, which was a shame,&quot; he added.

The disclosure places the president&#39;s son at the center of a burgeoning scandal involving multiple US investigations into whether Trump associates colluded with Russia last year in its covert efforts to tip the 2016 elections to the Republican billionaire.

Donald Jr had initially dismissed the meeting he arranged with the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, as having to do with adoptions, but then offered shifting explanations as more details emerged.

In the emails released Tuesday, Rob Goldstone, a publicist close to the Trumps, tells Donald Jr that he has learned of a Russian offer of compromising material on Clinton from a pop singer he represented, Emin Agalorov.

&quot;The Crown Prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father,&quot; Goldstone wrote in a June 3, 2016 email.

&quot;This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government support for Mr. Trump - helped along by Aras and Emin,&quot; he added.

Donald Jr responded less than 20 minutes later, according to the chain of emails entitled &quot;Russia - Clinton - private and confidential.&quot;&nbsp;

&quot;Thanks Rob I appreciate that. I am on the road at the moment but perhaps I just speak to Emin first. Seems we have some time and if it&#39;s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.&quot;

In an interview with NBC News, Veselnitskaya said: &quot;It&#39;s possible that maybe they were looking for such information&quot; about the Clinton campaign.&nbsp;

&quot;They wanted it so badly,&quot; she added.

US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a mass effort to tilt the election in Trump&#39;s favor, including hacking and leaking embarrassing emails from Democrats.

The New York Times reported that Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, two of Trump&#39;s most trusted campaign officials, also attended the meeting with Veselnitskaya and Donald Jr last year.

The Kremlin has said it &quot;did not know who&quot; Veselnitskaya was.&nbsp;

&quot;We can&#39;t be aware of all the meetings Russian lawyers have abroad,&quot; said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Donald Trump Jr was told by an interlocutor that he could get 'very high level and sensitive information' that was 'part of Russia and its government's support for Mr Trump'

US President Donald Trump's eldest son on Tuesday released emails showing he embraced Russia's efforts to support his father's presidential campaign, and admitting he would "love" to get dirt from Moscow on Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump Jr was told by an interlocutor that he could get "very high level and sensitive information" that was "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump." Trump, 39, responded "if it's what you say I love it" and set up a meeting with the source, according to the emails. The email chain, released in its entirety by Donald Jr on his Twitter account shortly before The New York Times published it, effectively confirms that he believed Moscow was behind the compromising information about Clinton that he hoped to receive at a meeting last year with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer. Here's my statement and the full email chain pic.twitter.com/x050r5n5LQ — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017 × Donald Jr, however, added that he did not tell his father about meeting the meeting. He told Fox News that he did not bother to brief his father on his encounter with Natalia Veselnitskaya as it had been a "waste" of time -- but wished he had handled things differently in hindsight. Asked whether he had spoken to his father either before or after the meeting last June ion New York, he told the network's Hannity show: "No. It was just a nothing. There was nothing to tell." "It was literally just a wasted 20 minutes, which was a shame," he added. The disclosure places the president's son at the center of a burgeoning scandal involving multiple US investigations into whether Trump associates colluded with Russia last year in its covert efforts to tip the 2016 elections to the Republican billionaire. Donald Jr had initially dismissed the meeting he arranged with the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, as having to do with adoptions, but then offered shifting explanations as more details emerged. In the emails released Tuesday, Rob Goldstone, a publicist close to the Trumps, tells Donald Jr that he has learned of a Russian offer of compromising material on Clinton from a pop singer he represented, Emin Agalorov. "The Crown Prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father," Goldstone wrote in a June 3, 2016 email. "This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government support for Mr. Trump - helped along by Aras and Emin," he added. Donald Jr responded less than 20 minutes later, according to the chain of emails entitled "Russia - Clinton - private and confidential." "Thanks Rob I appreciate that. I am on the road at the moment but perhaps I just speak to Emin first. Seems we have some time and if it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer." In an interview with NBC News, Veselnitskaya said: "It's possible that maybe they were looking for such information" about the Clinton campaign. "They wanted it so badly," she added. US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a mass effort to tilt the election in Trump's favor, including hacking and leaking embarrassing emails from Democrats. The New York Times reported that Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, two of Trump's most trusted campaign officials, also attended the meeting with Veselnitskaya and Donald Jr last year. The Kremlin has said it "did not know who" Veselnitskaya was. "We can't be aware of all the meetings Russian lawyers have abroad," said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Trump son said he would 'love' Russian dirt on Clinton: Emails

Donald Trump Jr&nbsp;was told prior to meeting a Russian lawyer whom he believed had information damaging to Hillary Clinton that the material was part of a Russian government effort to help his father&#39;s presidential campaign,<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/10/us/politics/donald-trump-jr-russia-email-candidacy.html?hp&amp;action=click&amp;pgtype=Homepage&amp;clickSource=story-heading&amp;module=a-lede-package-region&amp;region=top-news&amp;WT.nav=top-news" target="_blank"> The New York Times</a> reported on Monday.&nbsp;

The report cited&nbsp;three people with knowledge of the email.

Publicist and former tabloid writer Rob Goldstone, who helped broker the June 2016 meeting, sent the email to President Donald Trump&#39;s eldest son, the Times said. Goldstone&#39;s message indicates that the Russian government was the source of the potentially damaging information, according to the Times.

The Times had earlier reported that the meeting between Trump Jr and a Kremlin-linked lawyer took place, but the new information is that Trump Jr attended the meeting despite supposedly knowing&nbsp;that the meeting was part of a Russian government plot to interfere in the US election to get his father elected.

The Times report specifies that there was nothing to link the promised damaging information to the government computer hacking of the Democratic National Committee which led to the release of Clinton&#39;s&nbsp;emails.

In a statement released Sunday, Donald Trump Jr admitted he was interested in meeting the Russian lawyer with the intent of&nbsp;getting damaging information on Hillary Clinton, but did not specify that he knew the source of the information was part of a Russian plot to interfere in the US election on behalf of his father.

Vladimir Putin denies any meddling in the US election.&nbsp;

Multiple US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered with the US election with the specific intent to get Trump elected, and there are multiple ongoing investigations into whether or not Trump or anyone on his campaign team actively worked with the Russians.

&nbsp;

Basic timeline

Clinton secured the Democratic nomination&nbsp;on June 7, 2016.

The&nbsp;meeting between Don Jr,&nbsp;Jared Kushner,&nbsp;Paul Manafort and the Kremlin-linked&nbsp;lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya was on June 9, and less than a week later&nbsp;it was widely reported that Russian hackers penetrated the DNC&#39;s servers.

Also on June 9,&nbsp;Donald Trump tweeted about Clinton&#39;s emails.

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How long did it take your staff of 823 people to think that up--and where are your 33,000 emails that you deleted? <a href="https://t.co/gECLNtQizQ">https://t.co/gECLNtQizQ</a>
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/741007091947556864">June 9, 2016</a></blockquote>
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This was two days after securing the Republican nominee for president.

Here is a video of Trump Jr last summer, after the meeting with the lawyer who he knew was&nbsp;promising&nbsp;damaging information on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as part of a Russian government plot,&nbsp;denying any connection with Russia.

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NYT: Don Jr was told before mtg that Clinton dirt was part of Russian govt effort to aid Trump 
 
6/9/16: Mtg w/Russian 
 
7/24/16: He said this <a href="https://t.co/XlzPJAWsd7">pic.twitter.com/XlzPJAWsd7</a>
&mdash; Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) <a href="https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/884589455058886658">July 11, 2017</a></blockquote>
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The president's son reportedly knew a meeting was part of a Russian plot to help his father get elected, then went anyway

Donald Trump Jr was told prior to meeting a Russian lawyer whom he believed had information damaging to Hillary Clinton that the material was part of a Russian government effort to help his father's presidential campaign, The New York Times reported on Monday. The report cited three people with knowledge of the email. Publicist and former tabloid writer Rob Goldstone, who helped broker the June 2016 meeting, sent the email to President Donald Trump's eldest son, the Times said. Goldstone's message indicates that the Russian government was the source of the potentially damaging information, according to the Times. The Times had earlier reported that the meeting between Trump Jr and a Kremlin-linked lawyer took place, but the new information is that Trump Jr attended the meeting despite supposedly knowing that the meeting was part of a Russian government plot to interfere in the US election to get his father elected. The Times report specifies that there was nothing to link the promised damaging information to the government computer hacking of the Democratic National Committee which led to the release of Clinton's emails. In a statement released Sunday, Donald Trump Jr admitted he was interested in meeting the Russian lawyer with the intent of getting damaging information on Hillary Clinton, but did not specify that he knew the source of the information was part of a Russian plot to interfere in the US election on behalf of his father. Vladimir Putin denies any meddling in the US election. Multiple US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered with the US election with the specific intent to get Trump elected, and there are multiple ongoing investigations into whether or not Trump or anyone on his campaign team actively worked with the Russians. Basic timeline Clinton secured the Democratic nomination on June 7, 2016. The meeting between Don Jr, Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort and the Kremlin-linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya was on June 9, and less than a week later it was widely reported that Russian hackers penetrated the DNC's servers. Also on June 9, Donald Trump tweeted about Clinton's emails. How long did it take your staff of 823 people to think that up--and where are your 33,000 emails that you deleted? https://t.co/gECLNtQizQ — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2016 × This was two days after securing the Republican nominee for president. Here is a video of Trump Jr last summer, after the meeting with the lawyer who he knew was promising damaging information on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as part of a Russian government plot, denying any connection with Russia. NYT: Don Jr was told before mtg that Clinton dirt was part of Russian govt effort to aid Trump 6/9/16: Mtg w/Russian 7/24/16: He said this pic.twitter.com/XlzPJAWsd7 — Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 11, 2017 ×

Trump Jr told Kremlin behind effort to help father's campaign: NY Times