Donald Trump vows to nominate woman judge for Supreme Court

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Fayetteville Regional Airport in Fayetteville. Pic/AP

US President Donald Trump has said he will next week nominate a woman to replace the late US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, escalating a political row with the Democrats over her successor weeks before the presidential election.

"I will be putting forth a nominee next week. I could say most likely it would be a woman. I think I can say that. If somebody were to ask me now I would say that a woman would be in the first place," Trump told supporters at an election rally in North Carolina on Saturday.

Ginsburg, a history-making jurist, feminist icon and a champion of women's rights and social justice, died of cancer on Friday. She was 87. She was the second woman ever to serve as a justice on the nation's highest court.

Trump said he is within his rights to fill the vacancy in the US Supreme Court, a move that has infuriated Democrats, who fear Republicans will vote to lock in a decades-long conservative majority on the country's top court.

"We have great respect for the process. This has happened numerous times and every time there was a nominee as you know. There's been many occasions where frankly it turned out to be during a presidential year," he told reporters.

"I think we're going to start the process extremely soon. We will have a nominee very soon," he said, adding that there about 45 people on his list, but he does have a 'shortlist' for potential nominees. During the campaign rally, Trump asked his Republican supporters if the nominee should be a man or a woman. The crowd cheered loudly for a female candidate.

Trump backs TikTok deal involving Oracle and Walmart

Trump has announced a proposed deal on TikTok involving two American companies - Oracle and Walmart, that will allow the US operations of the Chinese video-sharing application. The deal mandates the creation of a new American company and the prospect of 25,000 new jobs. Further, TikTok will give $5 billion to fund the education of American youths.

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