News of invitation follows announcement that US president will visit Ireland and Northern Ireland next week
Joe Biden has accepted an invitation from King Charles III for a state visit, a White House spokesperson has said.
The invitation was made during a “friendly” 25 to 30 minute phone call in which Biden congratulated the king on his upcoming coronation, which the US president will not attend.
Continue reading...Former president to be arraigned on Tuesday in hush money case brought by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg
Donald Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba has made a prickly appearance on CNN’s This Morning, insisting that a mugshot of her boss, something usually required of all defendants when they are arraigned in New York district court, would be merely “theatrics”.
Habba told host Don Lemon:
Mugshots are for people so that you recognize who they are. He’s the most recognized face in the world, let alone the country, right now, so there’s no need for that.
I’m not in a deposition right now and I’m not going to continue this conversation.
Continue reading...Former New Jersey governor, who pledged his allegiance to Trump during 2016 election, says: ‘I can’t help him. No way’
Donald Trump’s expected indictment over his hush money payment to the adult film maker and actor Stormy Daniels may be delayed for a month, Politico reports, because of a scheduled hiatus for the grand jury in the case in Manhattan.
The site’s report is based on an anonymous source “familiar with the proceedings”.
Continue reading...Prime minister praises US president’s commitment to Israel but will not be swayed by ‘pressures from abroad’
Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed Joe Biden’s call to “walk away” from a proposed judicial overhaul that has led to massive protests across Israel, with the Israeli prime minister responding that he does not make decisions based on pressure from abroad.
Netanyahu on Monday delayed the proposal after large numbers of people spilled into the streets. The White House initially suggested Netanyahu should seek a compromise but the US president went further in taking questions from reporters on Tuesday. “I hope he walks away from it,” Biden said.
Continue reading...School shooting that left three children and three adults dead brought condolences from conservatives who oppose gun control
Joe Biden has commented on his ability to get gun control passed following Monday’s massacre at a Nashville elementary school, noting that he can only “plead with Congress” for action.
Biden spoke to reporters while on his way to Durham, North Carolina.
Continue reading...Charles and president likely to instead stage back-to-back visits to mark 25 years of Good Friday agreement
Hopes that Joe Biden’s landmark trip to Belfast next month will be rounded off by a meeting with King Charles are fading after the US president brought forward by a week his trip to celebrate 25 years of peace.
It now appears likely the king and the president will stage back-to-back visits in an echo of historic visits to Dublin by Barack Obama and the queen in 2011.
Continue reading...Steven van Zandt, the musician and actor who starred as Silvio Dante in The Sopranos and plays guitar as Little Steven in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, called Jamie Raskin his “brother from another mother” today, in a message of support for the Maryland Democrat’s fight against cancer.
Raskin, 60, is undergoing chemotherapy for large B-cell lymphoma, a process which causes hair loss, and has taken to wearing bandannas. Van Zandt is known for wearing such headgear on stage.
Continue reading...Move following meetings in Ottawa with the US president will in effect close a controversial border crossing
Justin Trudeau’s government has announced a major shift in how Canada and the US handle asylum claims, a move that effectively closes a controversial border crossing, after meetings in Ottawa on Friday with Joe Biden.
Under the deal, which Canadian officials hope will temper the increase in irregular border crossings in recent months, Canada will bring in 15,000 more South and Central American migrants to Canada. The prime minister’s office said in a statement the agreement would ensure more “fairness” in migration between the two countries.
Continue reading...In an excerpt from her forthcoming book, CNN supreme court analyst Joan Biskupic reveals a body where the conservative majority fortified by Donald Trump is driving forward with decisions to change America – even as some of its members try to appear conciliatory in public.
She also describes chief justice John Robert’s decision to quickly move Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s papers from her office after she died in 2020, which offended some of her aides used to more relaxed transitions between justices.
Within days of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s memorial service in late September 2020, boxes of her files and other office possessions were moved down to a dark, windowless theater on the Supreme Court’s ground floor, where – before the ongoing pandemic – tourists could watch a film about court operations.
Grieving aides to the justice who’d served 27 years and become a cultural icon known as the “Notorious RBG” sorted through the chambers’ contents there.
Continue reading...Most threats are directed at law enforcement and government officials, report says, after ex-president urged supporters to protest
Lindsey Graham is one of Donald Trump’s allies in the Senate, so it was little surprise that he predicted dire consequences if the former president is indicted, CNN reports:
He also criticized Florida governor and Trump’s chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination next year Ron DeSantis for his comments yesterday about the potential charges. “I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. I just, I can’t speak to that,” DeSantis said.
Continue reading...Move poses political risk for US president, who has a difficult relationship with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping
A bill requiring the release of intelligence materials on potential links between the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan has been signed into law by US president Joe Biden.
“We need to get to the bottom of Covid-19’s origins … including potential links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Biden said in a statement. “In implementing this legislation, my administration will declassify and share as much of that information as possible.
Continue reading...President rejects legislation to overturn a labor department rule Republicans have denounced as ‘woke capitalism’
Joe Biden issued the first veto of his presidency on Monday, rejecting legislation to overturn a labor department rule related to an investment strategy for Americans’ retirement plans that Republicans have derided as “woke capitalism”.
“The legislation passed by the Congress would put at risk the retirement savings of individuals across the country. They couldn’t take into consideration investments that would be impacted by climate, impacted by overpaying executives,” Biden said in an Oval Office video released by the White House. “And that’s why I decided to veto it.”
Continue reading...Chairs of three committees demand testimony from district attorney, who is overseeing Stormy Daniels hush money case
In messages viewed by the Guardian, a Trump campaign insider predicts that the former president will not attempt to avoid appearing for arraignment in New York City, if or when an expected indictment over his hush money payment to Stormy Daniels is handed down.
“He will go to NYC for sure,” the insider wrote, adding: “No video arraignments.”
Continue reading...US president joined by German chancellor in support of action taken after Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children
The US president, Joe Biden, has backed the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over his role in the abduction of Ukrainian children, saying it was “justified”.
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was among other international leaders who welcomed the decision, saying on Saturdayyesterday that it showed “nobody is above the law”.
Continue reading...US president says Russian leader has clearly committed war crimes and move makes ‘a very strong point’
Joe Biden has welcomed the international criminal court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for the Russian president for war crimes in Ukraine.
The US president said Vladimir Putin had clearly committed war crimes and that the arrest warrant for the Russian leader made a “very strong point”.
Continue reading...President introduces former Ireland full-back Rob Kearney, a relative, at White House St Patrick’s Day event
Joe Biden has wished the Ireland rugby union team luck in their Grand Slam game against England in Dublin on Saturday.
On Friday, St Patrick’s Day, Biden welcomed the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, to the White House for a traditional visit and talks.
Continue reading...Manhattan grand jury has been investigating former president’s alleged hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels
A more serious concern for Congress and the White House is TikTok, the wildly popular video-sharing app that many in Washington fear is in cahoots with the Chinese Communist Party. Here’s what we know about the growing feud between the US and China over the app:
TikTok is once again fending off claims that its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, would share user data from its popular video-sharing app with the Chinese government, or push propaganda and misinformation on its behalf.
Continue reading...Federal judge in Texas holds hearing on status of mifepristone, which a far-right group claims is unsafe despite FDA approval
The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports that a federal prosecutor has unveiled an indictment against a Chinese tycoon tied to Steve Bannon and other top allies of Donald Trump. Here’s what we know so far about the charges:
Ho Wan Kwok, a Chinese tycoon with close links to prominent Trumpist Republicans including Steve Bannon, has been indicted on 12 counts relating to an alleged $1bn fraud.
Continue reading...Merrick Garland, the attorney general, tasked with moving the country ‘as close to universal background checks as possible’
Joe Biden announced Tuesday a new slate of executive actions that are aimed at reducing gun violence and the proliferation of guns that are sold to prohibited people.
The president spoke at a community center in Monterey Park, California, meeting victims’ families and community members devastated by a mass shooting that claimed 11 lives and injured nine other people in January following a large lunar new year festival in the city’s downtown.
Continue reading...College football, Mexican cola and muffins – UK prime minister has plenty to talk about in private hour at Aukus
It is common for British and American leaders to try to show the “special relationship” between their two countries extends to them personally.
When Rishi Sunak landed in San Diego for a flash visit to see Joe Biden, the world’s media were spared any such attempts verging on the grandiose.
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