Trump escalates feud with Pelosi

Friday US briefing: Trump escalates feud with Pelosi amid shutdown

How the president’s two years in power have changed key US policies ... North Korean envoy to meet Pompeo ... Democrat takes charge of Flint water crisis investigation

Tim Walker

Fri 18 Jan 2019 11.39 GMT Last modified on Fri 18 Jan 2019 12.04 GMT

Top story: President cancels House speaker’s visit to troops

Donald Trump has stepped up his personal feud with the Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, by denying her the use of a military aircraft to visit US troops in Afghanistan. On Wednesday, Pelosi suggested that the president postpone his annual State of the Union address to Congress over concerns that the agencies responsible for security at the event were overstretched during the partial government shutdown. On Thursday, Trump responded by postponing Pelosi’s foreign trip and suggesting she “fly commercial” instead.

• PR stunt. In his letter to Pelosi, Trump wrote that, due to the shutdown, “postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate”. He added: “It would be better if you were in Washington negotiating with me.”
• ‘Utterly irresponsible.’ The Democratic House intelligence chief, Adam Schiff, criticised Trump for publicising Pelosi’s travel plan, which would not normally be made public.

How two years of Trump have changed key US policies 

With Trump marking two years in office this weekend, Guardian reporters take an in-depth look at how his administration has changed US policy in five key areas: the economy, criminal justice, the environment, immigration and foreign policy, which, writes Julian Borger, has been defined by its “confusion – not only in the frequent gaps between the paths taken by the president and his own administration, but also in the morass of contradictions and U-turns in his own impulses”.

• Little things. While Trump’s climate change denial and EPA corruption allegations make headlines, it is “the more mundane unspooling of arcane regulations” that is likely to do deeper, long-term damage to the environment, writes Oliver Milman.

North Korean envoy to meet Pompeo in Washington

North Korea’s lead nuclear negotiator arrived in Washington DC on Thursday, where he is due to meet the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, in the hope of paving the way for a second summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un. Kim Yong-chol may also meet the president at the White House on Friday, as the administration renews its efforts to persuade North Korea to denuclearise.

• Missile strategy. The visit comes a day after Trump unveiled plans for a new US missile defence strategy aimed at deterring attacks by “rogue states” including North Korea.

Democrat takes charge of Flint water crisis investigation

The new Democratic attorney general of Michigan, Dana Nessel, this month took over the investigation into the Flint water crisis, creating hope among activists that victims will be properly compensated and the officials involved face tougher punishment, reports Tom Perkins from Detroit. Critics say that under Republican leadership, the investigation let its targets off lightly, despite 15 state and city officials facing criminal charges or being prosecuted over the decisions that led to an environmental health catastrophe.

• ‘Show trials’. During her 2018 campaign, Nessel described the prosecutions over the Flint crisis as “politically charged show trials” staged by her predecessor, Republican Bill Schuette, who ran for governor and lost to the Democrat, Gretchen Whitmer.