Joe Manchin warns Democratic party is ‘toxic’ as he steps down from US Senate

Lifelong Democrat who became independent gives series of warnings to former party and predicts US is not going left'

US senator Joe Manchin, a lifelong Democrat who left the party earlier this year to become an independent and is now stepping down from the Senate after 15 years, issued a series of warnings on Sunday to members of his former party.

The D-brand has been so maligned from the standpoint of - it's just, it's toxic," Manchin told CNN, saying he had not been able to consider himself a Democrat in the form of what Democratic party has turned itself into".