Trump defends his golfing as Covid-19 cases surge
Donald Trump has already been busy on Twitter this morning:
As US coronavirus cases and deaths continue to soar, Donald Trump started the day by defending his golfing record.
Following his latest golf course visit to Trump National Golf Club in northern Virginia yesterday – reportedly his 275th as president – he tweeted this morning that he plays “VERY fast” and gets a lot of work done while playing.
He also claimed that his predecessor Barack Obama played “more and much longer” than he does – despite recent counts finding that Trump has played considerably more often.
Comparing himself to business figures and politicians who “work out endlessly…but nobody complains”, he said golf is his “exercise”.
The president wrote: “Actually, I play VERY fast, get a lot of work done on the golf course, and also get a ‘tiny’ bit of exercise. Not bad!”
His golf trip came after his planned rally in New Hampshire – due to take place in Portsmouth last night – was cancelled due to bad weather. However, the weather was reportedly “warm and sunny”.
Also this morning, Trump tweeted a renewed threat of 10-year prison sentences to people who damage or tear down monuments or statues and boasted that his administration has built “240 miles of new Border Wall” and have “some of the best Border Numbers ever.”
Late last night Trump hit out at Republican senators Mitt Romney and Pat Toomey – branding them “RINOS” (“Republican in name only”) – after they criticised his decision to commute Roger Stone’s prison sentence.
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at 10.43am EDT
Mueller: ‘Stone remains a convicted felon, and rightly so’
The former special counsel Robert Mueller made a rare move on Saturday to publicly defend his two-year investigation into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election – and to castigate Donald Trump’s decision to commute Roger Stone’s prison sentence.
Mueller wrote an opinion article for the Washington Post [paywall] published under the headline “Roger Stone remains a convicted felon, and rightly so”.
“The work of the special counsel’s office – its report, indictments, guilty pleas and convictions – should speak for itself,” he wrote.
“But I feel compelled to respond both to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were improper, and to specific claims that Roger Stone was a victim of our office …
“Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so.”
Trump commuted the sentence of Stone on Friday night, sparking outrage from Democrats and some senior Republicans.
Read the full story below:
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at 10.01am EDT