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A Donald Trump press conference in India descended into a bitter row with CNN reporter Jim Acosta on Tuesday after the president criticised the journalist’s network and the latter replied: “I think our record on delivering the truth is a lot better than yours sometimes.”
Trump has meanwhile secured a lucrative arms deal with the fellow superpower’s prime minister Narendra Modi, a venture he risked putting in jeopardy by refusing to eat any of the vegetarian delicacies – notably broccoli samosas - laid out for him at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad on Monday afternoon.
On Twitter, the president has insisted that the global coronavirus epidemic is “under control” — and was soon after undermined by the CDC, which warned that an outbreak of the virus in the US is nearly inevitable. That announcement spurred further market losses, as the potential global death toll remains uncertain.
The final Democratic debate before the South Carolina primaries is set for Tuesday night, and will feature two billionaires on stage this time with the addition of Tom Steyer to the mix.
In South Carolina, Joe Biden is fighting for staying power int he race after several losses in early states. He is facing stiff competittion from Bernie Sanders, who has won the popular vote in all three states to have voted so far.
Mr Steyer is performing well in the state as well, though it does not seem as though a third place performance in South Carolina would do much to bolster his very narrow path to a Democratic nomination.
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Trump continues India tour and pursues lucrative defence deal
Donald Trump continues his tour of India on Tuesday as he pursues a lucrative defence trade deal with prime minister Narendra Modi, with the president declaring earlier that the superpower has pledged to buy more than $3bn (£2.3bn) worth of arms.
The US is working productively with Pakistan to counter terrorism on its soil, Trump said at a joint press conference with Modi in the country's capital city New Delhi.
Trump also said he discussed with Modi, whom he calls his "dear friend", the importance of a secure 5G telecoms network in India, ahead of a planned airwaves auction. Washington has banned Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, arguing the use of its kit creates the potential for espionage - a claim denied by Huawei and Beijing - but India, where telecoms companies have long used network gear from the Chinese firm, is yet to make a call. Trump failed to convince British prime minister Boris Johnson to follow his lead and reportedly barracked him by phone for the rebellion.
Today's trade talks follow the rousing reception Trump received in Ahmedabad on Monday. More than 100,000 people filled into a cricket stadium in western India for a "Namaste Trump" rally in the biggest reception to a foreign leader in years which Trump said was a "stunning display of Indian culture and kindness."
But the two countries have been arguing over a trade deal in recent years and today's talks are an attempt to try and close differences over farm goods, medical devices, digital trade and proposed new tariffs.
The US has signed a trade deal with China, and separate agreements with Canada and Mexico and has been pushing for an accord with India which Trump described as the "tariff king."
Trump told the rally in Ahmedabad that Modi was a tough negotiator but that the two countries were in the early stages of a major deal.
In New Delhi, Trump was given a formal state welcome at the redstone presidential palace with a 21-cannon gun salute and a red coated honour guard on horseback on a smoggy day.
India is one of the few big countries in the world where Trump's personal approval rating is above 50 per cent and Trump's trip has got wall-to-wall coverage with commentators saying he had hit all the right notes on his first official visit to the world's biggest democracy.
They were also effusive in their praise for Modi for pulling off a spectacular reception for Trump.
"Modi-Trump hug gets tighter," ran a headline in The Times of India.
In his speech on Monday, Trump extolled India's rise as a stable and prosperous democracy as one of the achievements of the century. "You have done it as a tolerant country. And you have done it as a great, free country," he said.
Trump planned to raise the issue of religious freedoms in India with Modi, an administration official said last week.
Delhi has also been struggling with high air pollution and on Tuesday the air quality was moderately poor at 193 on a government index that measures pollution up to a scale of 500. The World Health Organisation considers anything above 60 as unhealthy.
President declines to eat vegetarian delicacies prepared for him
Trump apparently risked putting his trade talks with Modi in jeopardy by refusing to eat any of the vegetarian delicacies – notably broccoli samosas - laid on for him at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad on Monday afternoon.
The president is notorious for his bad diet - favouring steaks slathered in ketchup, hamburgers, KFC buckets and Oreo cookies - and declined the traditional Gujarati options served at high tea yesterday as he and Melania vistied the shrine to Mahatma Gandhi.
The rest of the menu by acclaimed chef Suresh Khanna of the Fortune Landmark Hotel included "a light vegetarian menu featuring not just the now-infamous samosa but also khaman dhokla, a savory and spongy cake popular in the Indian state of Gujarat", according to The Washington Post.
The same newspaper suggests Trump must have been saving himself for his hotel, the ITC Maurya in New Dehli, where, "the grand presidential suite, a 4,600-square foot space, has already been prepped for the president and first lady. Valets and a designated 'floor butler' will attend to their needs, and the room has been stocked with Diet Coke and cherry vanilla ice cream."
Here's Tim Wyatt's report.
Trump doctor says staff hid cauliflower in president’s mashed potato in failed attempt to make him lose weight
The president's junk-heavy diet and "Rat Pack-era palate" - to quote The Post's Tim Carman - has long been a cause of concern to those around him, so much so in fact that his former chief medical examiner, Dr Ronny Jackson, has admitted his staff used to conceal cauliflower in his helpings of mash and make ice cream "less accessible" to him.
Conrad Duncan has more on this.
Seven killed in New Dehli riot ahead of presidential visit
While the president’s visit began with a warm reception and took in such splendid sights as the Taj Mahal, locals have been quick to criticise Modi’s efforts to shield him from the reality of everyday poverty and hardship in the country, with the outbreak of an anti-Muslim riot in New Dehli on Monday that left seven dead tragically underlining the point.
A police officer was among the dead and an estimated 50 more people were injured in clashes between hundreds of supporters and opponents of a new citizenship law in India that provides fast-track naturalisation for some foreign-born religious minorities but not Muslims, police said on Tuesday.
The clashes occurred in New Delhi on Monday just before Trump arrived in the capital. The violence took place as the US president was being feted by Modi in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.
During the incident, police fired tear gas and used canes as they charged at the protesters in several districts of New Delhi. The rival groups hurled rocks at each other in the area and set some houses, shops, vehicles and a gasoline pump on fire. Police closed access to two metro stations in the area.
Also on Monday, Hindu nationalist and communist groups held pro- and anti-US street demonstrations in the capital.
India has been rocked by violence since parliament approved a new citizenship law in December that provides fast-track naturalisation for some foreign-born religious minorities but not Muslims.
Critics say the country is moving toward a religious citizenship test. At a massive rally in Ahmedabad after Trump's arrival on Monday, the president praised India's history of religious tolerance, saying many faiths "worship side by side in harmony."
Trump downplays coronavirus threat as White House requests $2.5bn
On Twitter last night, Trump found time to hammer out the usual slew of retweets from his hotel room, rather than take even a moment to reflect on the day's events and the majesty of India.
In amongst the usual obsessive attacks on Adam Schiff and endorsements for Jim Jordan was a response to a Laura Ingraham segment on Fox in which he suggested veteran US Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg should recuse themselves from cases involving him or his administration.
He also sought to reassure the American public that the coronavirus was "very much under control".
Here's John T Bennett on the White House's request for $2.5bn (£1.9bn) in additional funding to tackle the contagion, which somewhat undermines his confidence.
Trump ridiculed for claiming stock market looks ‘very good’ as Dow plunges 1,000 points
Another line in the president's coronavirus tweet has also been raising eyebrows.
Here's Andrew Naughtie on his blithe dismissal of the significance of plummeting stocks.
Trump blames Adam Schiff and Bernie Sanders for suggestion Russia is trying to get him re-elected
The president is giving a press conference in India just now ahead of a state dinner that will reunite him with Modi.
He says he and his team have had a "fabulous two days" and that he won't answer controversial questions before laying into Schiff and Bernie over Russian election hacking and talking tough on Islamist terror.
Trump says he was never a fan of Harvey Weinstein but that Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton 'loved him'
The president's pledge to avoid awkward questions is going well.
Here's a picture of them together because of course.
The president has otherwise claimed that "Nobody has done what I've done" in combating terrorism, said American soldiers are "taking the oil" in Syria (a war crime - no?) and has otherwise held court on his comments about the Supreme Court justices, H1B visas, the Ebola virus and his alleged "loyalty lists" ahead of the rumoured purge of his administration.
Trump feuds with CNN reporter at press conference
The president has reacted angrily to questions about Russian election interference at his Q&A in India.
"I want no help from any country and I haven't been given help by any country," he said before getting into a spat with Jim Acosta of CNN, saying his network has the "worst record in broadcasting", only for the journalist to fire back that "our record on truth-telling is a lot better than yours sir".
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