Trump admits he tweets from bed and doesn't know who Jeremy Corbyn or Sadiq Khan are in ITV interview. / ITV
US President Donald Trump says the US will make a lucrative new transatlantic trade deal once the UK is free of the restrictions of the European Union, as he talked up his British heritage in an interview for ITV with television presenter Piers Morgan.
"We are going to make a deal with UK that'll be great. As you know you're are somewhat restricted because of Brexit, but when that restriction is up we're going to be your great trading partner."
Trump said he expects to make two visits to Britain this year, one of them a state visit that will probably involve a meeting with the Queen. A less formal working visit would come sometime before that, Trump told Morgan.
But a third appearance, for the royal wedding of Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle in May, is not in the cards: Trump has not received an invitation from the Prince or from Markle, who has outspokenly criticised Trump as a divisive figure with misogynistic attitudes.
Morgan spoke with Trump in Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum for the US leader's first sit-down interview with a foreign news outlet.
The half-hour meeting was aired on ITV yesterday, at the start of a significant week in which Trump is due to give his first State of the Union address to Congress tomorrow.
In that significant set-piece, Trump is expected to take credit for a healthy economy and tie its continued growth to the Republican tax plan. The Washington Post says he will also argue his case on immigration, trade, infrastructure and national security. It gives him an opportunity to temporarily pivot from questions of his unpopularity and the ongoing Russia investigation.
Trump told Morgan that he expected to come to Britain for a full state visit in October, taking up an invitation from Prime Minister Theresa May. Opposition politicians have lined up to criticise the granting of such an honour to a leader they consider exclusionary, dishonest, and unworthy, and anti-Trump groups have promised to greet his visit with massive street protests.
US President Donald Trump meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Photo / AP
Trump insisted that Britain was brimming with love for him, while at the same time saying he doesn't care what those who don't like him think.
"I think I'm very popular in your country," Trump said. "I believe that - I really do. I get so much fan mail from people in your country."
• Trump admitted he sometimes tweets from bed, though he occasionally allows others to post his words. He said he needed social media to communicate with voters. "I will sometimes just dictate out something really quickly and give it to one of my people to put it on," he said.
• Asked about eating burgers and drinking Coke, Trump, 71, said: "I eat fine food, really from some of the finest chefs in the world, I eat healthy food, I also have some of that food on occasion."
• Trump said he would take a "tougher" approach to Brexit negotiations than May.
• He was pressed on how some women opposed him and he said he supported women and that many women understood that. Trump said women in particular liked his support for a strong military as they often wanted to feel safe at home. "No, I wouldn't say I am a feminist. I mean, I think that would be maybe going too far: I am for women, I am for men, I am for everyone."
In the US, two Republican senators said that Trump would be wise to keep a public silence on an independent probe into his 2016 campaign's contacts with Russia in the wake of reports that he sought to fire the Special Counsel.
The senators, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine, also urged Robert Mueller to review whether Trump tried to fire him last June, an accusation the President has labelled "fake news".
Illustration / Rod Emmerson
Graham, co-sponsor of legislation that would protect Mueller from being fired without a legal basis, said he would be "glad to pass it tomorrow". But he insisted that Mueller's job appeared to be in no immediate danger. "It's pretty clear to me that everybody in the White House knows it would be the end of President Trump's presidency if he fired Mr Mueller."
The New York Times and other outlets reported that Trump backed off his attempt to fire Mueller last June only after White House lawyer Don McGahn refused to relay his directive to the Justice Department and threatened to quit.
US President Donald Trump tweeted "somebody please inform" rapper Jay-Z that "because of my policies", unemployment among black Americans is at the "LOWEST RATE EVER RECORDED!"
The President's tweet appears to be in response to a CNN interview in which the rapper said the President's vulgar comments about African countries and Haiti were "disappointing" and "hurtful".
Jay-Z said on the debut episode of The Van Jones Show that lower unemployment among blacks doesn't make up for the President's attitude.
Jay-Z said: "It's not about money at the end of the day. Money doesn't equate to happiness. It doesn't. That's missing the whole point. You treat people like human beings. That's the main point."
The black jobless rate of 6.8 per cent is the lowest on record and has reached levels not seen since Bill Clinton's Administration.
