White House hosts National Day of Prayer service — live updates

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are taking part in a National Day of Prayer service at the White House Thursday morning, after holding a National Day of Prayer dinner last night. 

Present in the White House Rose Garden Thursday morning was Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein of the Chabad of Poway, California, who lost a member of his congregation and part of his own fingers when a gunman opened fire at their synagogue on Saturday. 

Thursday marks the National Day of Prayer, a day created in 1952 with a joint resolution of Congress, and signed by then-President Harry Truman. 

Mr. Trump has emphasized religious liberty as a cornerstone of his presidency and has won key support from many evangelicals, despite his past comments about and payments to women over alleged affairs. In the past, Mr. Trump has also said he doesn’t think he’s ever asked God for forgiveness because he doesn’t need to do so.

“I am not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so,” Mr. Trump said in 2015. “I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.”

The National Day of Prayer event comes as the president continues to bash his enemies. On Wednesday he called Sen. Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas,” blasted Hillary Clinton and the Justice Department. 

On Wednesday, Washington was focused on Attorney General William Barr’s defense of the president and his four pages of principle conclusions from special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.