Trump called a surprise news conference Wednesday to mark a “tremendous two days” at the glitzy summit of world leaders and financiers in Davos, which has served as a respite from the trial underway in Washington.
“It’s such a hoax,” Trump said of the impeachment case against him. “I think it’s so bad for our country.”
Trump gave his legal team high marks after more than 12 hours of arguments on procedural motions Tuesday in which Republicans blocked Democratic efforts to immediately call witnesses and subpoena documents. But Trump said he wanted to see his aides, including former national security adviser John Bolton and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, testify in the Senate.
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“Personally, I’d rather go the long route,” he said, referring to calling witnesses in the Senate trial, before suggesting that there were “national security” concerns to allowing their testimony.
A resolution passed early Wednesday by a party line vote allows the Senate to consider calling witnesses only after both sides in the impeachment trial present their cases.
“I thought our team did a very good job,” Trump said, saying he watched some of the proceedings. He praised White House Counsel Pat Cipollone’s ”emotion“ on the Senate floor, adding, ”I was very proud of the job he did.“
3:05 Lawmakers argue rules, evidence as Trump impeachment trial begins
Lawmakers argue rules, evidence as Trump impeachment trial begins
Trump repeated his attacks on Democratic House managers serving as prosecutors in the trial, saying that he’d like to “sit right in the front row and stare at their corrupt faces” on the Senate floor during the trial but that his attorneys might have a problem with it.
Democrats say Trump abused his power in his dealings with Ukraine and obstructed Congress in its investigation. Trump denies doing anything wrong.
Trump opened his news conference with triumphant talk on the American economy and said he is pushing for “very dramatic” changes to the World Trade Organization. He called on Roberto Azevedo, the director general of the international organization, who said “has to be updated.”
Azevedo acknowledged that “the system has not been functioning properly in many areas.”
“We are committed to effect those changes, and this is something we are serious about,” he added.
Trump had announced the unexpected availability during a meeting with Iraqi President Barham Salih.
2:36 Trump legal counsel says rules for impeachment trial ‘fair way to proceed’
Trump legal counsel says rules for impeachment trial ‘fair way to proceed’
Trump also said the United States is moving to add more countries to its travel ban list, but gave no other details, saying the changes would be announced soon,
The Trump administration is planning to add seven countries — Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania – to the list, U.S. media reported on Tuesday.
Trump arrived in Davos on Tuesday. He addressed the forum and over two days has held meetings with leaders from the European Union, Iraq and Pakistan, among others.
The Republican president said in most of his meetings that trade was on the agenda.
OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
