Monday, Aug. 19
á The Pentagon announced that the U.S. military conducted a flight test of a conventional ground-launched cruise missile off the coast of California Sunday. The test would have been banned under the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, from which the U.S. withdrew earlier this month.
á Immigration advocates filed a class-action suit in federal court against the Trump administration claiming official policies and lack of oversight related to the border and immigration crisis have led to major lapses in medical and mental health care in nearly 160 detention facilities across the country.
á The Washington Post reported that several senior White House officials have begun discussing whether to push for a temporary payroll tax cut to counteract a projected economic slowdown.
Tuesday, Aug. 20
á President Donald Trump said he is postponing a planned trip to Denmark because Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she would not discuss selling Greenland to the U.S., a proposal Trump had floated last week.
á Trump told National Rifle Association chief executive Wayne LaPierre that universal background checks for people buying guns were off the table.
Wednesday, Aug. 21
á
The Congressional Budget Office predicted that
U.S. economic growth is expected to gradually slow over the next four years and
the federal deficit will reach $960 billion this year, an increase of $63
billion over its May projections. It predicted an approximately $800 billion
expansion in the deficit over the next 10 years.
á
Acting Homeland Security Department Secretary
Kevin McAleenan announced a regulation that would,
among other things, remove a 20-day limitation on the detention of children set
by a judge enforcing the 1997 Flores settlement agreement. The rule would need
court approval.
á
China threatened sanctions over a planned sale
of U.S. fighter jets to Taiwan.
á
Trump quoted and thanked conservative radio host
Wayne Root for saying, Ò[T]he Jewish people in Israel love [Trump] like heÕs
the King of Israel,Ó and ÒThey love him like he is the second coming of God.Ó
á
In a series of tweets, Trump lashed out at
Òpolitically correct Automobile CompaniesÓ for a deal cut July 25 between
California and four major car companies that enshrines tougher emissions
standards than the ones in a rollback proposed by the administration.
Thursday, Aug. 22
á Trump abandoned a plan to freeze more than $4 billion in foreign aid.
á House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler asked four House panels investigating Trump to share documents and other information to aid his committeeÕs investigation into whether to file articles of impeachment against the president.
á Ashley Tabaddor, head of the immigration judges union, wrote to the Department of Justice complaining about a link in an email to all immigration court employees that Òdirectly attacks sitting immigration judges with racial and ethnically tinged slurs.Ó
Friday, Aug. 23
á Trump called Chinese President Xi Jinping an ÒenemyÓ after Beijing said it would go ahead with tariffs of as much as 10 per cent on $75 billion worth of American products. He also said he would raise tariffs on Chinese goods and declared that U.S. companies are Òhereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China.Ó
á A new U.S. government management plan was unveiled that clears the way for coal mining and oil and gas drilling on land that used to be off limits as part of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah before Trump downsized the protected area two years ago.
Saturday, Aug. 24
á
European Council President Donald Tusk told reporters at the
beginning of the Group of Seven summit that escalating trade tensions between
Trump and other world leaders risk throwing the world into recession, bemoaning
Òsenseless disputesÓ that had ripped countries apart.
Sunday, Aug. 15
á
At the G-7 summit, Trump announced that a new
trade agreement with Japan Òis done in principle.Ó