WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trump (all times local):
8:15 p.m.
Ivanka Trump is celebrating Chinese New Year at the Chinese Embassy in Washington.
President Donald Trump’s daughter walked into a reception for the holiday holding hands with her daughter. She was accompanied by Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai.
They were instantly surrounded by a swarm of other guests who pulled out phones to take their photo.
Ivanka Trump stopped to watch a performance of traditional music by an all-female cast of Chinese musicians in green, blue and yellow gowns. She then watched a troupe of male dancers who juggled hats while standing on each other in pyramid formation.
Ivanka Trump traveled to Delaware with her father earlier Wednesday to honor the returning remains of a U.S. Navy SEAL killed in a weekend raid in Yemen.
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2:25 p.m.
President Donald Trump plans to attend the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on Thursday.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer announced the plans Wednesday. The annual event draws politicians, faith leaders and dignitaries in Washington and dates back to the Eisenhower era.
While the breakfast can often be an opportunity for a pause in the rhetoric of the day, it also can also provide a political stage. In 2013, Ben Carson entered the national spotlight when he railed against the modern welfare state at the event.
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10:25 a.m.
President Donald Trump is continuing to complain about an incorrect report that he removed a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. from the Oval Office.
Trump held a listening session dedicated to African-American History Month on Wednesday. Trump praised the civil rights icon and called the report that he had removed a bust a “disgrace.”
The reporter later acknowledged the error, saying a Secret Service agent and a door had obstructed his view of the bust when reporters were allowed into the room briefly after Trump’s swearing in.
Trump also said he did better in the African-American community than candidates in previous years.
Among African-Americans, Trump got 8 percent of the vote, slightly better than Romney’s 6 percent against President Barack Obama, according to national exit polls.
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8:25 a.m.
The Trump administration is clarifying that its policy for possible targeting of American citizens in terror-related strikes hasn’t changed from the Obama administration.
A White House official referred Wednesday to a statement by former Attorney General Eric Holder, which cited three possible scenarios in which targeting an American citizen is allowed.
Citing Holder, the White House says it can do so if the individual poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the U.S., if capture is not feasible, or the operation is consistent with the “law of war principles.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the matter on the record.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that no American citizen “will ever be targeted” in raids against terror suspects, signaling an apparent break from the Obama administration’s strategy for targeting suspects in counterterrorism operations overseas.
-By Vivian Salama
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8:10 a.m.
Call it what you want, says President Donald Trump, but his executive order to restrict travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries to enter the U.S. is about keeping “bad people” out.
“Everybody is arguing whether or not it is a BAN,” Trump tweeted Wednesday, extending the debate over whether last week’s order is a “ban” or not.
He says, “Call it what you want, it is about keeping bad people (with bad intentions) out of country!”
Trump referred to it as a “ban” in a tweet Tuesday defending the decision not to provide advance notice to travelers.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly has said the order was “not a travel ban” but a “temporary pause that allows us to better review the existing refugee and visa-vetting system.” White House press secretary Sean Spicer has also said it’s not a ban.
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7 a.m.
President Donald Trump has nominated Neil Gorsuch, a fast-rising conservative judge with a writer’s flair, to the Supreme Court, setting up a fierce fight with Democrats over a jurist who could shape America’s legal landscape for decades to come.
At 49, Gorsuch is the youngest Supreme Court nominee in a quarter-century. He’s known on the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals for clear, colloquial writing, advocacy for court review of government regulations, defense of religious freedom and skepticism toward law enforcement.
Gorsuch makes the rounds Wednesday on Capitol Hill, meeting first with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
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