President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, will testify publicly before a House committee next month in a hearing that could serve as the opening salvo of a promised Democratic effort to scrutinize Trump, his conflicts of interest and his ties to Russia. The House Oversight and Reform Committee announced Thursday that Cohen will testify before that panel February 7, a little more than a month after the Democrats took the House majority. The hearing marks the latest step in Cohen's transformation from a trusted legal adviser to the president to a public antagonist who has cooperated extensively against him. It is likely to pull back the curtain on key episodes involving Trump's personal life and business dealings, including hush-money payments to women and a proposed Moscow real estate deal, that federal prosecutors have been dissecting for months. The chairman of the oversight panel, Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, said the committee is consulting with Mueller's office about the testimony. He said "there will be limitations" on the topics covered in Cohen's testimony. “We are going to make sure that we do absolutely nothing to interfere with the Mueller investigation,” Cummings said. “That is absolutely important to us.” The oversight hearing may not be Cohen's only appearance. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said he welcomes Cohen's testimony before the oversight panel, but "he is going to need to answer questions about the Russia investigation.” Schiff said that his office has been in negotiations with Cohen’s legal team for some time and “hope to wrap it up soon.”

Winter is arriving. It is an early start in Moira for John Tate as his pigs are being loaded for the factory. It is a similar story over in Struell Wells near Downpatrick, as Paul Turley's Angus cross cattle have reached the perfect weight for processing. At the Bell's near Ballymena their flock of turkeys is almost ready for the Christmas market. Drew and Valerie McConnell are on alert for calving cows at their Omagh dairy farm. Henry Savage from Cullyhannna is in Ballymena for the Autumn Pedigree Limousin sales.

US President Donald Trump ordered burgers, fries and pizzas to welcome his guests at the White House, blaming the partial government shutdown for the staff shortage. #White House #Donald Trump #hamburger

U.S. President Donald Trump arrived at a Texas border town to make the case for his long-promised border wall after negotiations with Democrats blew up over his funding demands. Trump traveled to McAllen, Texas Thursday on the 20th day of a partial government shutdown. He is seeking to use the trip to bolster his argument that a wall is needed on security and humanitarian grounds. Trump is to visit a border patrol station and receive a briefing on border security. The president and congressional Democrats remain at an impasse over his demand for $5.7 billion for a wall along the southern border. Critics say Trump overstates the security risks and that the administration is at least partly to blame for the humanitarian situation. STORYLINE: U.S. President Donald Trump arrived at a Texas border town to make the case for his long-promised border wall after negotiations with Democrats blew up over his funding demands. Trump traveled to McAllen, Texas Thursday on the 20th day of a partial government shutdown. He is seeking to use the trip to bolster his argument that a wall is needed on security and humanitarian grounds. Trump is to visit a border patrol station and receive a briefing on border security. The president and congressional Democrats remain at an impasse over his demand for $5.7 billion for a wall along the southern border. Critics say Trump overstates the security risks and that the administration is at least partly to blame for the humanitarian situation.

With shutdown negotiations deadlocked, the White House planned further meetings with rank-and-file lawmakers Wednesday, as the Trump administration acknowledged the prolonged standoff over his border wall funding demands is having a greater economic drag than previously thought. President Donald Trump has invited a bipartisan group of lawmakers known as the Problem Solvers caucus to talks, but it was far from clear the session would yield a breakthrough on the shutdown's 26th day. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Wednesday that the economy remained strong. "I know there has been some impact, but at the same time we're focused on the long term economic principles the president has laid out," she said. The president's economists, meanwhile, said the shutdown was having a greater impact than previously projected. In a call with reporters, White House Council of Economic Advisers chairman Kevin Hassett said Tuesday the shutdown is reducing economic growth more than predicted. He said the "hope is this resolves quickly and that it won't have a major impact on the long-run outlook, even though it does have a major impact on individual lives." The House and Senate have announced they will cancel an upcoming recess week if the shutdown continued, which seemed likely. Trump has not moved off his demand to have Congress provide $5.7 billion to build his promised border wall with Mexico. Sanders also told reporters that Trump thought his nominee to be the next attorney general "did a good job yesterday." Under questioning by the Senate Tuesday, nominee William Barr also sought to ease concerns that he might disturb the special counsel's investigation of Russian election meddling and possible Trump campaign involvement. Barr told senators Tuesday that he didn't consider the investigation a "witch hunt" as Trump has stated. He also said that it was in the public interest for special counsel Robert Mueller to finish his investigation. "The presiden...