Government shutdown: Trump says he will do alternative State of the Union address as Pelosi blocks his plans

The president’s advisers have doubled their estimates of the adverse impact the government shutdown is having on economic growth, and they have no made even more dire predictions. 

The chair of the White House Economic Advisers — which advises the president on matters of economic policy — said on CNN the shutdown could spur “zero” economic growth by the end of Q1 if it were to continue to that point. 

California Democrat Ted Lieu has lambasted Donald Trump online over his new rhyming slogan about the ball, “Build a wall and crime will fall.”

The lawmaker has routinely chastised the administration and GOP over Twitter while simultaneously calling on the White House to reopen the federal government. 

The exchange arrives on Day 33 of the nation’s longest government shutdown in history. 

Democratic lawmakers are continuing to raise awareness about the plight of federal employees who are working without paychecks during Day 33 of the government shutdown. 

California Senator Dianne Feinstein posted the following message to Twitter from a consistent, who wrote about living paycheck to paycheck and being forced to apply for unemployment. 

As an impasse over Donald Trump's demands for border wall funding continues to spur the nation's longest government shutdown in history, yet another Democratic hopeful has joined the 2020 presidential race. 

Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg threw his hat into the growing pool of candidates on Wednesday. If elected, he would become America's first openly-gay president.

Here's the latest on the all of the prospective and confirmed candidates in the upcoming race. 

Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen has delayed his upcoming congressional testimony, citing threats from the president and his team towards his family. 

The explosive news arrives in the midst of the nation’s longest government shutdown, spurred by the president’s border wall funding demands. 

Cohen said in the following in a statement through his lawyer:

Donald Trump has refused to budge from his demands for $5.7bn to be included in the next federal spending bill to go towards his campaign promise of a border wall, spurring the longest government shutdown in American history. 

The president shared a video to Twitter on Wednesday from MSNBC's coverage of the southern border, writing, “Even Trump Haters like (MS)NBC acknowledge you ‘BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL!'"

Polls revealed damning figures for Donald Trump’s presidency on Day 33 of the government shutdown. 

Here’s more analysis on the president’s record-high disapproval ratings and where Americans stand on his battle for the border wall from The Independent.

Donald Trump is addressing reporters in the White House, saying he intends to conduct an alternative State of the Union address after Nancy Pelosi refused to invite him to the US House of Representatives. He says Ms Pelosi "is afraid of the truth." 

The president is also discussing immigration, referring to Long Island, New York as a "hot bed" for immigrant gang violence from the likes of MS-13. 

“We were planning on doing … a really important speech,” Mr Trump says. “We were supposed to be doing it but now Nancy Pelosi, or Nancy as I call her, doesn’t want to hear the truth.”

The president is calling the move a “great blotch on the incredible country that we all love.” 

The Independent has released the following editorial assessing Donald Trump’s battle for a border wall amid the government shutdown. More below: