Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Representative Eliot Engel have launched an investigation into President Donald Trump’s firing of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick.

The announcement of the investigation was tweeted by Mr Menendez on Saturday afternoon with an open letter from the two congressmen.

A campaign spokesman said: “Turtles at live food markets are routinely stacked four and five deep, without food or water and butchered while fully conscious.

“These markets are not only in China but exist throughout North America and many other countries.”

The conclusions, described as “eye-opening” by one source, are supported by the most recent analysis provided by America’s leading experts on China.

“Every simulation that has been conducted looking at the threat from China by 2030 have all ended up with the defeat of the US,” Bonnie Glaser, director of the China power project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and a consultant for the US government on east Asia, said. “Taiwan is the most volatile issue because that could escalate to a war with the US, even to a nuclear war.

In Vietnam, the cooked heads and other body parts of dogs were piled on a counter near living animals. Blood, guts, and water covered the floors at every market.

Live civets, which have been linked to the SARS outbreak, were also seen.

Some restaurateurs in the city decided to try reopening. Others planned to stick to takeout or stay closed all together.

So far, the pandemic has killed more than 88,000 people in the US.