Donald Trump surveyed the damage caused by a slate of deadly tornadoes in Alabama as scandals plagued his White House back in Washington.

President Donald Trump has again attacked the “witch hunt hoax” embroiling his administration following the sentencing of ex-campaign manager Paul Manafort, declaring the outcome proved “no collusion” with Russia as Democrats decried the lenience of Manafort’s 47-month sentence as a “miscarriage of justice”.

Departing for Alabama to tour the state’s devastation by a recent tornado, the president found time to denounce his opposition as an “anti-Israel, anti-Jewish” party over Congresswoman Ilhan Omar‘s comments on the influence of Israeli interest groups in Washington, despite the House having passed a resolution condemning prejudice of all kinds by 402 to 23.

Meanwhile, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, Doug Collins, has sent a scathing letter to its chairman, Jerrold Nadler, attacking the panel’s motivations in investigating the president for abuse of power, saying: “Either you intend to impeach the president, for alleged crimes that have yet to be discovered, or you intend to embarrass him.”

Manafort, was sentenced on Thursday by a federal judge to nearly four years in prison for tax and bank fraud related to his work advising Ukrainian politicians. The charges were unrelated to his work on Mr Trump’s campaign or the focus of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The president repeated on Friday as he departed the White House to survey tornado damage in Alabama that Manafort’s case “had nothing to do with Russia.”

Criminals who worked for Trump Show all 5 1 /5 Criminals who worked for Trump Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Cohen Former lawyer for Donald Trump was sentenced to three years in prison on counts involving evading income tax, false disclosure of the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels and another hush money charge Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Paul Manafort Former campaign manager for Trump Manafort was found guilty in February 2018 of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. The crimes occurred prior to his appointment in Trump's campaign Getty Criminals who worked for Trump George Papadopoulos Former Trump campaign adviser Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in October 2017. He had lied about making contact with a professor who claimed that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. He was sentenced to 14 days in jail Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Flynn Former White House National Security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017. He had lied about conversations that he had with the Russian ambassador to the US during Trump's Presidential campaign. He was not given prison time due to his "significant assistance" to the Mueller investigation Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Rick Gates Deputy chairman of Trump's presidential campaign Gates pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in February 2018 AFP/Getty

It has been a "very, very tough time" for Manafort, he added.

In Alabama, the president signed Bibles at a local Baptist church and took photos with survivors of the deadly tornado outbreak that killed nearly two dozen people.

Mr Trump used a felt pen to scratch out his signature on the cover of a little girl’s Bible, which is decorated with pink camouflage, and first lady Melania Trump then added her signature.

The president and first lady surveyed the damage on Friday, meeting with local officials and victims. They also visited a makeshift disaster relief center set up at the church.

Additional reporting by AP. Check out The Independent's live coverage from Friday below.