Trump news: President's attack on immigrants in El Paso resurfaces, as he sues California over tax return law
Donald Trump has insisted he is “the least racist person” after coming under renewed attack over his response to the devastating mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, a day after condemning the massacres at the White House without calling for tighter gun control legislation.
In an open letter to the nation, 44th president Barack Obama called on Americans to “soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred” while his former vice-president and 2020 challenger Joe Biden criticised Mr Trump’s use of white nationalist language and habit of speaking of migrants and Muslims in “subhuman terms”.
As the investigations into the killings continue and congresswoman Veronica Escobar says he is “not welcome” in El Paso ahead of his scheduled visit on Wednesday, the administration has designated China a currency manipulator and frozen assets belonging to the government of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton pressed his case Tuesday for sweeping action against Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro, warning foreign governments and companies that they could face retaliation in the US if they continue to do business with his socialist administration.
Mr Bolton's comments came after the White House froze all Venezuelan government assets in the US late Monday, putting the country on a short list of US adversaries, including Cuba, North Korea and Iran that have been targeted by such aggressive financial measures.
"The Maduro regime now joins that exclusive club of rogue states," Mr Bolton said at a one-day conference in Peru of more than 50 governments aligned against Mr Maduro.
The broad ban blocking companies and individuals from doing business with Mr Maduro's government and its top supporters took effect immediately and is the first of its kind in the Western Hemisphere since an asset freeze against General Manuel Noriega's government in Panama and a trade embargo on the Sandinista leadership in Nicaragua in the 1980s.
"We are sending a signal to third parties that want to do business with the Maduro regime: Proceed with extreme caution," Mr Bolton said. "There is no need to risk your business interests with the United States for the purposes of profiting from a corrupt and dying regime."
While the order falls short of an outright trade embargo - notably, it spares Venezuela's still sizable private sector - it represents the most sweeping US action to remove Mr Maduro since the Trump administration recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela's rightful leader in January.
Critically, it also exposes foreign entities doing business with the Maduro government to so-called secondary sanctions in the U.S. - a fact not lost on Maduro's government as it tries to rally support at home and abroad.
"The US has to understand once and for all that they aren't the owners of the world," Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said in a statement from Caracas. "Every country that has investments in the U.S. should be very worried because this sets a dangerous precedent against private property."
Flanked by Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, who the US has tried to woo into betraying Mr Maduro, the vice president said the sanctions would only bring more hardship on the Venezuelan people without weakening the socialist revolution.
Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
