Trump news: President says moon is 'part of' Mars as he's criticised for 'making a fool of himself' in D-Day speech
Donald Trump is flying home to Washington on Friday after a five-day state visit to Britain, Ireland and France to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day but can expect to find himself immediately confronted with a number of major issues left stewing in his absence.
After the enjoying the pageantry of his royal reception in London, the president will arrive home this afternoon to face escalating trade tensions with Mexico and China and further calls for his impeachment, with House speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly telling her fellow Democrats on Tuesday: “I don’t want to see him impeached, I want to see him in prison.”
Mr Trump hit back at Ms Pelosi, calling her “a disaster” during an interview with Laura Ingraham of Fox News staged in front of the Normandy American Cemetery in plain view of 9,000 war graves, an insensitivity for which both the president and the network have been heavily criticised.
The president also caused mass confusion on Twitter when he urged NASA not to plan any further trips to the moon, instead directing all of their efforts to Mars.
“For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon - We did that 50 years ago,” he wrote on Twitter.
He added, “They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!”
Mr Trump also declared Friday that now “there is a good chance” the US will strike a deal with Mexico to avert the tariffs he had scheduled for Monday to force the nation’s ally to stem the flow of Central American migrants into the United States.
“If we are able to make the deal with Mexico, & there is a good chance that we will, they will begin purchasing Farm & Agricultural products at very high levels, starting immediately,” Mr Trump tweeted from aboard Air Force One as he flew home from Europe. “If we are unable to make the deal, Mexico will begin paying Tariffs at the 5% level on Monday!
The tweet marked a change in tone from earlier Friday, when his spokeswoman Sarah Sanders had told reporters in Ireland before Mr Trump took off: “Our position has not changed. The tariffs are going forward as of Monday.”
US and Mexican officials were holding a third day of talks at the US State Department Friday trying to hash out a deal that would satisfy Mr Trump’s demand that Mexico dramatically increase its efforts to crack down on migrants.
Ms Sanders had said earlier that the two sides had “made a lot of progress” but not enough.
Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
