President Donald Trump had a pretty average week in the standards that his weeks usually go. Monday started off with a threat to Turkey and its economy, tweeting: "As I have stated before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I've done before!)."
This tweet came after Trump's surprise decision to pull U.S. military force out of North-Eastern Syria.
Following his defense of his military position, Trump also on Monday put a hold on an order that his accounting firm must turn over eight years of his personal and business tax returns sought by Manhattan's district attorney. A federal judge in New York rejected Trump's claim to be immune from all criminal investigation and dismissed his lawsuit challenging a state grand jury subpoena for his tax returns sought by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.
Trump angrily tweeted: "The Radical Left Democrats have failed on all fronts, so now they are pushing local New York City and State Democrat prosecutors to go get President Trump."
Trump signed a limited trade agreement with Japan on Monday. This deal cut tariffs on $7 billion worth of American agricultural products, and in return the U.S. would lower tariffs on many Japanese industrial goods.
After the stock market closed on Monday, the Trump administration added eight Chinese companies and 20 Chinese public security bureaus to the U.S. blacklist, which blocks them from trade. The affects of this blacklist have not surfaced yet due to ongoing trade negotiations.
On Tuesday, the State Department ordered European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland not to appear before lawmakers. Trump tweeted that: "unfortunately he would be testifying before a totally compromised kangaroo court, where Republican's rights have been taken away, and true facts are not allowed out for the public to see."
Sondland was scheduled to testify behind closed doors regarding his role in Trump's effort to press Ukraine for an investigation into Biden. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff called the blocking of Songlan's testimony and a refusal to turn over documents as additional evidence of obstruction of justice by the Trump Administration.
On Wednesday, Trump continued to defend his military withdrawal from Syria
Trump defend his withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria , telling reporters that the Kurds, "didn't help us in the second world war, they didn't help us with Normandy as an example--they mention the names of different battler, they weren't there." Trump believes that he is not abandoning the vulnerable community, asking for Turkey to handle their own problems without outside involvement. saying that he is not abandoning the Kurds.
Trump ended his week with two day high-level trade talks with Chinese officials. On Thursday, Trump tweeted: "Big day of negotiations with China. They want to make a deal, but do I? I meet with the Vice Premier tomorrow at The White House."
Trade negotiations continue to bleed into Friday, where U.S. and China have reached a partial trade deal. President Trump told reporters on Thursday that trade was going very well, but the agreement is still tentative as Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He are meeting later in the day.
- https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1181232249821388801
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49966216
- https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-judge-tosses-trump-attempt-to-block-subpoena-for-his-tax-returns-11570455028
- https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1181212691203084289
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2019/10/08/6-key-takeaways-from-the-us-japan-trade-deal/#55f0d394690c
- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/07/us/politics/us-to-blacklist-28-chinese-entities-over-abuses-in-xinjiang.html
- https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1181560708808486914
- https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/08/impeachment-donald-trump-gordon-sondland-testimony-house-democrats
- https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/09/trump-syria-kurds-normandy
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-11/u-s-china-said-to-reach-partial-deal-could-set-up-trade-truce-k1melw60
- https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1182292163721404416