Why a Biden presidency might not mean a return to pre-Trump foreign relations

There could be a renewed focus on international cooperation – but Biden would not be great news for Boris Johnson’s Britain

European leaders, desperate for an end to the Trump presidency, are being warned that four years of Joe Biden may present them with new challenges and not a simple restoration of the benign status quo in transatlantic relations prior to 2016.

An evolving Biden doctrine about ending “forever wars” and protecting American workers from Chinese competition would require collective military and economic commitments from the EU that it is still ill-equipped to meet, foreign policy specialists have suggested.

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Trump falsely claims Joe Biden is ‘against God and guns’ – video

Donald Trump says likely presidential rival Joe Biden is "against God" as he upped his attacks on the Democratic nominee. Speaking to a crowd at Cleveland airport in Ohio, Trump told supporters Biden is " following the radical left agenda. Take away your guns, destroy your Second Amendment. No religion, no anything, hurt the Bible, hurt God." The president continued his criticism against Biden, saying "He's against God. He's against guns. He's against energy, our kind of energy". Biden has repeatedly pledged his support for second amendment rights and owns a shotgun. He is also a practising Catholic

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New York attorney general files lawsuit to dissolve NRA – live

At her press conference, New York attorney general Letitia James said NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre is the “central figure” in the alleged fraud and abuse crimes committed by the gun rights group.

New York AG Letitia James says NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre is the "central figure" in the organization's suspected financial schemes, and she details instances of him allegedly using millions of dollars in NRA assets for personal and family expenses https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/kkJ3ZCihfY

New York attorney general Letitia James is seeking to dissolve the NRA after an investigation by her office uncovered “years of self-dealing and illegal conduct,” the Democratic official said.

#BREAKING: I filed a lawsuit to dissolve the National Rifle Association for years of self-dealing and illegal conduct.

The @NRA is fraught with fraud and abuse.

No organization is above the law.

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Sexism casts shadow over Biden’s search for a female running mate

Leading VP contenders have had to endure the usual criticisms men often direct at women – which has undermined a historic selection process

The final weeks of Joe Biden’s search for a running mate have had all the usual trimmings: leaks from unnamed Democratic party officials, last-minute suggestions of outsider names and a trail of vague hints from the candidate himself.

But this year is different. Biden promised to select a female running mate, setting up a historic nomination process that many prominent Democratic women say is being overshadowed by the increasingly nasty – and unmistakably sexist – debate over who he should choose.

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Coronavirus US: Biden tells Trump ‘step up and do your job’ over Covid-19 death toll – live

Donald Trump refused to praise the late John Lewis, the Georgia congressman and original Freedom Rider, during his latest one-on-one interview, and also questioned the value of the pivotal Civil Rights Act of the 1960s, which Lewis fought and almost died for.

When asked how history would remember the civil rights leader, the president replied, “I don’t know. I really don’t know” and brought the point back around to himself.

Related: Trump refuses to praise late civil rights leader John Lewis

“Veep” the hit politics satire series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus found seven seasons of success on HBO.

Louis-Dreyfus does not like the new HBO material:

God, I wish this was just a dumb show like ours. https://t.co/n3edLDiqiq

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Donald Trump flounders in interview over US Covid-19 death toll

President again says he is doing ‘incredible job’ fighting pandemic and casts doubt on Jeffrey Epstein’s cause of death

Donald Trump visibly floundered in an interview when pressed on a range of issues, including the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the US, his claims that mail-in voting is fraudulent, and his inaction over the “Russian bounty” scandal.

The US president also repeatedly cast doubt on the cause of death of Jeffrey Epstein, and said of Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite who has pleaded not guilty to participating in the sex-trafficking of girls by Epstein, that he wished her well.

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Trump and his company under investigation by New York district attorney, filing suggests – live

New York prosecutors argue they are justified in seeking Trump’s tax returns because of public reports of “extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization.”

Expanding on our earlier post, lawyers from the Manhattan district attorney’s office argued that in court on Monday.

Manhattan District Attorney District Attorney Cyrus Vance is seeking eight years of the Republican president’s personal and corporate tax records, but has disclosed little about what prompted him to request the records, other than part of the investigation is related to payoffs made to women to keep them quiet about alleged affairs with Trump.

In their court filing Monday, though, attorneys for Vance said Trump’s arguments that the subpoena was too broad stemmed from “the false premise” that the probe was limited to so-called “hush-money” payments.

Trump just answered questions from reporters at the White House, expanding on his threat to ban Tik Tok, disagreeing with Fauci, and again promoting hydroxychloroquine, even as top administration officials acknowledge that there is no evidence the drug is an effective treatment for the virus.

Responding to a handful of questions on Monday afternoon, Trump said the social media platform Tik Tok must be sold to Microsoft or another company by 15 September or it will be shut down in US. He also said the Treasury should receive payment as a portion of any deal between the social media platform and a US company.

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Congress remains divided as expanded unemployment payments end – live

Amid all the noise of an election involving Donald Trump – all the inflammatory tweets and shadowy Facebook posts – one set of ads has somehow managed to break through.

There’s the one of the US president shuffling down a ramp that declares that the president “is not well”. There’s the whispering one about Trump’s “loyalty problem” inside his White House, campaign and family.

Related: Could this anti-Trump Republican group take down the president?

Coronavirus cases remain high in Florida, one of the US hotspots for the virus. On Saturday, the state’s health department reported 9,591 new cases of the disease and 179 new deaths. It is the fifth day in a row the state has reported more than 9,000 new cases, although it is down from the recent period when more than 10,000 new daily cases were regularly reported.

Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration says 7,942 people are currently in hospital with the virus, down from the just over 8,000 people last weekend. Florida’s department of health says 7,022 people have now died from Covid-19 in the state.

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US coronavirus: Pompeo to face Senate as new economic figures show Covid-19 impact – live

Rep. John Lewis’ funeral will take place today at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Barack Obama is expected to deliver a eulogy, and former president George W. Bush is also expected to attend.

While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division. Around the country and the world you set aside race, class, age, language and nationality to demand respect for human dignity. That is why I had to visit Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, though I was admitted to the hospital the following day. I just had to see and feel it for myself that, after many years of silent witness, the truth is still marching on.

Of course, it doesn’t help if the conspiracy theories and misinformation are coming from the top.

Rep. Louie Gohmert thinks that it’s possible that wearing a mask gave him COVID. pic.twitter.com/kucy119Pcv

I can’t help but wonder if by keeping a mask on and keeping it in place if I might have put some of the virus onto the mask and breathed it in. I don’t know. But I got it, we’ll see what happens from here. The reports of my demise are very premature.

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Joe Biden’s running mate – none will satisfy all sections of the party

Kamala Harris? Val Demings? Democrats speculate but no single candidate will be able to satisfy all the interest groups and sectors of the party

It doesn’t matter who Joe Biden picks as his running mate – somebody will be disappointed.

The former vice-president and de facto Democratic presidential nominee on Tuesday said he would make a selection in the first week of August.

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Joe Biden’s climate bet – putting jobs first will bring historic change

The presumptive Democrat presidential nominee is picking a path through the perilous politics of the economy and the climate crisis

Faced with a disgruntled climate voter during the primary season who wanted him to be tougher on the oil and gas industry, Joe Biden shot him one of his infamous “why don’t you go vote for someone else” responses.

But that was six months ago.

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White House says ‘schools are essential places of business’ in push to reopen – live

Donald Trump signed four executive orders related to prescription drug pricing at a White House event with HHS secretary Alex Azar and Florida governor Rod DeSantis, among others. Most attendees at the event wore masks, but Trump did not.

The executive orders come as Trump appears to have all but given up on controlling the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 145,000 people in the US – by far the most of any country.

Hello everyone, this is Julia Carrie Wong in Oakland, California, picking up the live blog for the rest of your Friday afternoon.

Yesterday, a judge in King County, Washington ordered five Seattle news outlets to comply with a subpoena and turn over unpublished video and photos from a 30 May protest.

Michele Matassa Flores, the Seattle Times’ executive editor, said the paper strongly opposed the subpoena and “believes it puts our independence, and even our staff’s physical safety, at risk.

“The media exist in large part to hold governments, including law enforcement agencies, accountable to the public,” Matassa Flores said. “We don’t work in concert with government, and it’s important to our credibility and effectiveness to retain our independence from those we cover.”

This ruling enforcing the subpoena is beyond disappointing. The right to protect sources and material exists so the press isn't used as an arm of law enforcement.

Journalists' work is protected, which is why we supported the challenge to this subpoena.https://t.co/OQEVLENdXz

This turns journalists into an arm of the government. We are not here to do surveillance for police. https://t.co/wlu4XAEgo3

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Trump abandons plan for Republican convention events in Jacksonville, Florida – live

From me and Joan E Greve:

For coronavirus updates from around the world, follow the Guardian’s global blog:

Related: Coronavirus live news: US cases top 4m as WHO chief chides Pompeo for 'untrue' claims

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Trump announces ‘surge of federal law enforcement’ in US cities – as it happened

From me and Joan E Greve:

As the federal government pledges to send federal law enforcement to cities, and Donald Trump and William Barr connect Black Lives Matter protest against police brutality to alleged spikes in violence, here’s some more context to keep in mind: this isn’t the first time people have pointed to an increase in crime following protests against unjust policing.

It happened in 2014, after the police killing of Michael Brown sparked national protests. Police called it “the Ferguson effect” and argued that protesters had made police afraid to do their jobs.

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As Covid-19 moves into swing states, is Trump’s campaign in trouble?

Latest data shows virus hitting Republican heartlands as well as key battleground states

“I said it’s going away – and it is going away,” a defiant Donald Trump claimed about Covid-19 on 3 April, when about 300,000 cases of the virus had been reported across the country.

At the time, Trump was enjoying a brief surge in approval ratings. But the virus obviously did not go away – more than 3.8m cases have now been reported, and latest polls show that Trump may pay the price for his handling of the crisis in the November elections.

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Trump delivers White House coronavirus briefing without public health experts – live

The United States is failing to report vital information on Covid-19 that could help track the spread of the disease and prevent the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans, according to the first comprehensive review of the nation’s coronavirus data.

The report, Tracking Covid-19 in the United States, paints a bleak picture of the country’s response to the disease. Five months into the pandemic, the essential intelligence that would allow public health authorities to get to grips with the virus is still not being compiled in usable form.

Related: 'Flying blind': US failure to report vital coronavirus data is hobbling response

Circling back to testing ...

Trump, who has been boasting about the country’s coronavirus testing for months, was right in saying that the US has dramatically ramped up testing and is now testing a higher proportion of citizens than many other countries.

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‘He’s quit on you’: Joe Biden says Trump does not care about America – video

Joe Biden, in a scathing speech in his campaign to become the next US president, said Donald Trump had ‘quit’ on US citizens and did not care about America.

In a speech on his plan for the economy, in which he promised to expand access to preschool for working families, directly linking the need for affordable childcare to America’s economic recovery, Biden said Trump was not taking the public health crisis seriously.

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Coronavirus US: cases top 3.75m as scientists appeal for Trump to listen – live

Trump unexpectedly called reporters in to the Oval Office for an update on the discussions about Senate Republicans’ coronavirus relief bill.

The president said the discussions were going well, and treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin added that he and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows would brief Republicans on the talks tomorrow.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has released a statement criticizing the Republican coronavirus relief bill as inadequate.

In a “Dear Colleague” letter to the Senate Democratic caucus, Schumer specifically questioned majority leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to craft the bill “behind the closed doors of his office.”

Senator McConnell is writing a COVID bill that will prioritize corporate special interests over workers and main street businesses, and will fail to adequately address the worsening spread of COVID.

Workers and families and people—not special interests—must be our main focus. pic.twitter.com/VzdFE93hTA

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Trump refuses to commit to accepting election result as Biden enjoys poll lead

  • President refuses to say whether he will accept election result
  • Repeats claim that virus is ‘going to disappear, and I’ll be right’
  • US politics – live coverage

Joe Biden leads Donald Trump by 15% among registered voters nationally and holds a 20-point lead when it comes to who Americans trust to handle the coronavirus pandemic, according to a major poll out on Sunday.

Related: Trump equates support for Confederate flag with Black Lives Matter

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Barack Obama leads tributes to civil rights leader John Lewis – live

Donald Trump has broken his silence on the passing of John Lewis with a tweet posted moments ago.

“Saddened to hear the news of civil rights hero John Lewis passing,” he wrote. “Melania and I send our prayers to he and his family.

Saddened to hear the news of civil rights hero John Lewis passing. Melania and I send our prayers to he and his family.

Joe Biden will run campaign ads during Donald Trump’s eagerly awaited interview with Fox News Sunday tomorrow – to go a bit Friends for a second, that being The One In Which Trump Says Biden Wants To Defund The Police And Chris Wallace Says Hang On A Minute, Not So, And Trump Gets A Little Testy.

Related: Trump clashes with Fox News interviewer over false claim about Biden

Related: 'The virus doesn't care about excuses': US faces terrifying autumn as Covid-19 surges

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