What's happening in the political world:
Trump critical of past presidents for U.S. trade deficit, economic woes
-- President Trump continued to defend his plans to improve the nation's stance on trade, criticizing former presidents for their "bad policies & leadership" when it comes to the U.S. economy.
In a tweet early Wednesday morning, the president said: "From Bush 1 to present, our Country has lost more than 55,000 factories, 6,000,000 manufacturing jobs and accumulated Trade Deficits of more than 12 Trillion Dollars. Last year we had a Trade Deficit of almost 800 Billion Dollars. Bad Policies & Leadership. Must WIN again! #MAGA"
From Bush 1 to present, our Country has lost more than 55,000 factories, 6,000,000 manufacturing jobs and accumulated Trade Deficits of more than 12 Trillion Dollars. Last year we had a Trade Deficit of almost 800 Billion Dollars. Bad Policies & Leadership. Must WIN again! #MAGA
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 7, 2018
Trump then followed with this tweet: "China has been asked to develop a plan for the year of a One Billion Dollar reduction in their massive Trade Deficit with the United States. Our relationship with China has been a very good one, and we look forward to seeing what ideas they come back with. We must act soon!"
China has been asked to develop a plan for the year of a One Billion Dollar reduction in their massive Trade Deficit with the United States. Our relationship with China has been a very good one, and we look forward to seeing what ideas they come back with. We must act soon!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 7, 2018
In recent days, Trump has said he would place tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, but added he would remove tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports if a "new & fair NAFTA agreement is signed."
Russian model in Thai jail promises to spill Trump-Russia secrets
-- From behind bars in a sweltering immigration detention center in Bangkok, a self-styled "sex coach" who claims to have detailed insider knowledge of Russian meddling in the U.S. election says she wants to cooperate with American investigators.
The catch? She says the U.S. government needs to grant her political asylum.
Belarus-born Anastasia Vashukevich claims she has proof of Russian interference in the 2016 US election in the form of more than an hour of audio recordings and photos of meetings.
"I am ready to help with an investigation if they help us get out of here," says the 21-year old.
None of the alleged recordings or photos of those meetings have been made public.
Trump drops a long way on billionaires list
-- President Trump's net worth is an estimate $3.1 billion, but according to Forbes' 2018 list of billionaires, that ranks him at only No. 766.
Forbes says Trump's tumble down the annual list may have to do with the struggling real estate market in New York City and revenue drops at some of his properties.
Topping Forbes' list is Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, whose net worth is an estimated $127 billion.
CNN and Newsy contributed to this report
