Trump news: President mocks rival's golf ability, amid fury over demands that Roger Stone get shorter sentence
Donald Trump hinted at pardoning his former campaign aide and longtime Republican operative Roger Stone after he called sentencing guidelines following his conviction on witness tampering and lying to Congress a "miscarriage of justice". Hours later, federal prosecutors backed off their initial guidelines, and two prosecutors resigned from the case, stirring fears that the White House had intervened
Mr Trump also sparred with Democratic rival Mike Bloomberg, calling the billionaire former New York mayor a "total racist" and mocking his golfing, as Democrats prepare for the results of New Hampshire's primary contest.
In a prolific day online, the president tweeted a scene from Larry David’s HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm in which the misanthropic writer is involved in a road rage incident and is only saved from being attacked by an aggressive biker by donning a red MAGA cap, a joke the president seemingly completely misunderstood.
Democratic leaders, meanwhile, attacked the president's "heartless" budget, proposing dramatic cuts to safety-net assistance programmes while boosting defence spending.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned that "the planet is on fire" while the president proposes slashing funds for environmental protection, healthcare and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention amid a coronavirus outbreak.
At his latest campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Monday night, Mr Trump whipped up chants of “Lock her up!” against House speaker Nancy Pelosi, pushed election fraud conspiracy theories, again dismissed the significance of the coronavirus epidemic and predictably denigrated the Democratic candidates running against him.
Right on cue, a new poll from Reuters/Ipsos forecasts the president losing the 2020 battle to Bernie Sanders, Michael Bloomberg and Joe Biden and drawing with Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren.
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