Category Archives: Trump administration

MPs vote in favour of extending same-sex marriage to Northern Ireland by 383 to 73 – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political news, including the row over the UK ambassador’s leaked memos and latest on Tory leadership contest

Jeremy Hunt, the underdog in the Tory leadership contest, has told President Trump on Twitter his comments about Theresa May “disrespectful and wrong”.

1/2 @realDonaldTrump friends speak frankly so I will: these comments are disrespectful and wrong to our Prime Minister and my country. Your diplomats give their private opinions to @SecPompeo and so do ours! You said the UK/US alliance was the greatest in history and I agree... https://t.co/hNeBWmyyVN

2/2...but allies need to treat each other with respect as @theresa_may has always done with you. Ambassadors are appointed by the UK government and if I become PM our Ambassador stays.

MPs have voted to introduce same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland, unless the power-sharing executive is revived by 21 October, by 383 votes to 73 - a majority of 310.

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Trump administration to review ‘role of human rights in public policy’

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Advocates warn the new panel, helmed by an abortion and gay rights opponent, is a threat to progressive reforms

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has unveiled a new panel tasked with reviewing “the role of human rights in American public policy” in a move that some advocates warned could imperil LGBTQ and women’s reproductive freedoms.

Pompeo announced the launch of the “Commission on Unalienable Rights” at the state department in Washington on Monday, telling reporters: “As human rights claims have proliferated, some claims have come into tension with one another provoking questions and clashes about which rights are entitled to gain respect.”

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Trump calls Ocasio-Cortez ‘Evita’ in new book American Carnage

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  • President interviewed for book on Republican civil war
  • Comparison to Eva Perón indicates respect for Democrat

Donald Trump has compared Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Eva Perón, saying that though he first saw the New York congresswoman “ranting and raving like a lunatic on a street corner” and thinks “she knows nothing”, she has “a certain talent”.

Related: When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez met Greta Thunberg: 'Hope is contagious'

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Trump baby blimp returns for Fourth of July protest in Washington DC – video

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The six-metre high inflatable balloon depicting Donald Trump as an angry baby has appeared in Washington DC to protest what opponents say is his politicisation of the Fourth of July celebrations. Protesters posed with the effigy and handed out mini Trump baby balloons on the National Mall, but were only granted a permit on the condition the Trump was filled with ordinary air and not helium

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White House ‘struggles to draw crowds’ to Trump’s Fourth of July show

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Trump is set to mark Independence Day by delivering a speech about patriotism on the steps of the Lincoln memorial

White House aides have reportedly struggled to draw crowds to Donald Trump’s Fourth of July celebrations, with service chiefs for the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marine Corps set to skip the planned display of military might.

Despite facing accusations that he is politicizing an important holiday, emulating displays in authoritarian countries and wasting taxpayers’ money, Trump is set to mark Independence Day by delivering a speech about patriotism on the steps of the Lincoln memorial.

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Trump’s Independence Day parade in Washington DC – in pictures

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Donald Trump is overseeing Fourth of July celebrations with a speech about patriotism and a show of military might that critics say is politicising an important holiday and wasting taxpayers’ money. The president has dismissed concerns about the event, which will take place in front of the Lincoln Memorial and feature fireworks, a flyover by Air Force One and a display of tanks

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‘Happy hunting!’ Immigration agents swapped cheery messages about raids, records reveal

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In 2017, agents made plans to apprehend more than 8,000 people and described the work as ‘fun’

US immigration officials planning countrywide raids targeting thousands of undocumented immigrants wrote cheerful messages about the potential arrests, wishing one another “Happy hunting!”, jokingly calling the initiative “Operation Super Epic Mega”, and saying the work was “fun”, records show.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) documents released Wednesday show how officials at the agency prepared for a set of coordinated raids in 2017 that aimed to detain more than 8,000 people for deportation. The agency officially called it “Operation Mega” and officials boasted in the documents that it would be the “largest operation of its kind in the history of ICE, targeting all aliens who are present in the United States in violation of the [law]”. Some documents also suggested field offices might have had specific arrest quotas.

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Trump to claim US is environmental leader in spite of ripping up protections

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Exclusive: On Monday president will likely tout America’s clean air and water, even though he’s rescinded rules to cut pollution

Donald Trump plans to go on the offensive against criticism of his industry-friendly rollbacks of environment protections in a speech on Monday, according to three sources familiar with the plans.

Trump will tout America’s clean air and water, although his administration has advanced many efforts that experts say have undercut the country’s environmental record.

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Enforcement of food and drug safety regulations nosedives under Trump

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Number of ‘warning letters’ sent by FDA has fallen by 33% compared with the most recent equivalent period under Obama

The US regulator of food and drug safety has seen steep declines in several markers of enforcement under the Trump administration, according to a new analysis in the journal Science.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sends “warning letters” for tainted food, improperly advertised dietary supplements or even violations of human subjects’ protections in clinical trials.

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Donald Trump threatens new tariffs on $4bn of EU products

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Whisky, cheese and olives among items that could be hit in row over aircraft subsidies

Donald Trump has threatened fresh tariffs on $4bn (£3,2bn) of European products including cheese, scotch whisky and olives, ratcheting up pressure on the EU in a long-running row over aircraft subsidies.

The US trade representative’s office released a list of 89 additional items – including olives, Italian and Dutch cheese, Scotch whisky, Irish whiskey, pasta, coffee and ham – that could face tariffs. These join products worth $21bn that were announced as potential targets for tariffs in April, which included roquefort cheese, wine, champagne, olive oil and seafood such as oysters. The latest list also includes a number of copper products and other metals.

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Ocasio-Cortez describes ‘horrifying’ conditions at border detention center – live

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Congresswoman, who endured ‘sexually threatening’ social media posts from CBP officers, says women had been told to drink out of toilets

MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki ponders whether post-debate, Kamala Harris is starting to cobble together the same Dem coalition that propelled upstart Barack Obama to victory over establishment candidate Hillary Clinton in 2008.

Per @DavidChalian just now, CNN's new poll has the black vote breaking like this post-debate:

Biden 36%
Harris 24%
Warren 12%
Sanders 9%
Buttigieg 0%

Morning Consult's overnight poll immediately after the debate also showed Harris spiking with white liberals. White liberals + African Americans was a winning combination for Obama in '08. Harris may now have traction with both.

The Associated Press has this dispatch Monday from the Clint Texas Border Patrol station, where AOC will visit today on her tour of migrant detention facilities:

For almost two weeks, a 12-year-old migrant girl said she and her 6-year-old sister were held inside a Border Patrol station in Texas where they slept on the floor and some children were locked away when they cried for their parents.

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White House insists Trump Huawei reversal not ‘catastrophic mistake’

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  • Larry Kudlow defends move on sales ban after China talks
  • Rubio and Barasso among Republicans concerned by ploy

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow insisted on Sunday Donald Trump is not backing off national security concerns, despite agreeing to allow US companies to sell some components to Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

Related: US-China trade talks back on track, says Trump

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Ocasio-Cortez leads critics of video showing Ivanka Trump G20 chat

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  • First daughter attempts to talk with May, Macron and more
  • New York Democrat laments damage to ‘diplomatic standing’

The French government on Saturday released a brief clip of a discussion at the G20 summit in Osaka involving four world leaders – and Ivanka Trump.

Related: Ivanka Trump says stepping into North Korea was 'surreal'

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Trump and Kim’s DMZ meeting proves more than just a photo op

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US-North Korea negotiations are back on – but will they lead anywhere?

As it turned out, it was more than a photo op. Donald Trump not only shook hands again with Kim Jong-un and became the first incumbent US president to enter North Korea but also, instead of the expected exchange of pleasantries, sat down with his counterpart and talked for an hour in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) between the Koreas. And there was a tangible outcome.

Meetings between US and North Korean working groups will restart four months after they broke down at the Hanoi summit in February. Real negotiations are back on. The question, as ever, is whether they will lead anywhere.

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Kim Jong-un welcomes Donald Trump to North Korea – video

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The US president has met North Korea’s leader, becoming the first US president to set foot on North Korean soil. The meeting was held in the demilitarised zone. ‘I just want to say this is my honour,’ Trump said, adding: ‘Stepping across that line is a great honour – great progress has been made, great friendships have been made and this has been, in particular, a great friendship.’ The president also took the opportunity to invite Kim to the US

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Children at the border: the crisis that America wasn’t prepared for

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Despite fears stoked by Trump, fewer migrants are arriving at the border than in past years – but most are now children headed to facilities that are ill-equipped to receive them

At a border patrol processing facility in McAllen, Texas on 11 June, a group of lawyers and doctors met a 17-year-old girl from Guatemala. She was in a wheelchair and she held her tiny one-month-old daughter, who was swaddled in a gray sweatshirt so dirty it was almost black.

Related: ‘People with no names’: the drowned migrants buried in pauper’s graves

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Smirking Trump jokes to Putin: don’t meddle in US election

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US president appears to make light of 2016 scandal before meeting at G20 summit

Donald Trump has sardonically asked Vladimir Putin not to meddle in the 2020 US election, smirking and pointing his finger as he did so and appearing to make light of a scandal that led to an investigation of his campaign’s contact with the Kremlin during the 2016 election.

The US president and his Russian counterpart were heading into talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan’s western city of Osaka, their first formal face-to-face meeting since a high-profile summit in Helsinki last July.

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Trump tells Putin: don’t meddle in the US presidential election – video

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Asked by a reporter at the G20 summit in Japan whether he would raise the issue of electoral interference during a meeting with his Russian counterpart, the US president says: 'Yes, of course I will.' He then points his finger at Putin and gives the directive twice while pointing at him and smiling, appearing to make light of a scandal that led to a two-year investigation into his campaign's contact with the Kremlin in 2016. Putin smiles without comment throughout

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Jared Kushner’s ‘deal of the century’ fails to materialise in Bahrain

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Senior adviser to Trump found no interest in his proposals for ending Israel/Palestine conflict

In the end, the ‘deal of the century’ was little more than a failed clearance sale. Jared Kushner arrived in Bahrain touting bedrock principles at untenable discounts. And even then there were no buyers.

The conference that was supposed to offer a new way out of the malaise of the Israel/Palestine conflict provided little of the sort. Its central premise of prosperity as a precursor to a lasting solution barely appeared to register on either side of the separation wall.

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Mueller to testify before House committees in July

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Special counsel agrees to testify in open session on 17 July, chairmen of judiciary and intelligence committees say

The special counsel Robert Mueller has agreed to testify before Congress next month.

Mueller agreed to testify before the House judiciary committee and House permanent select committee on intelligence in an open session on 17 July, the chairmen of the committees announced on Tuesday, in what is likely to be the most highly anticipated congressional hearing in years.

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