Category Archives: Trump administration

Watchdog was investigating Pompeo for arms deal and staff misuse before firing

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State department inspector general Steve Linick was reportedly close to finishing his report before his dismissal on Friday

The government watchdog who was fired last week had been investigating the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, for sidestepping Congress to approve arms sales to the Gulf and using staffers for personal errands, according to congressional sources.

Donald Trump declared his intention to fire the state department inspector general, Steve Linick, in a letter sent to the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, late on Friday night. The White House said the decision was taken at Pompeo’s advice.

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Trump accuses Obama of being ‘grossly incompetent’ after his coronavirus criticism

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Former president rebuked Trump administration’s response to pandemic, which has killed almost 90,000 Americans so far

Donald Trump has hit back at Barack Obama’s criticism of his administration’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, accusing the former US president of being “grossly incompetent” during his time in office.

Related: Barack Obama attacks Trump administration's response to coronavirus pandemic

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‘William Barr is not done’: experts raise concerns about attorney general’s legal reach

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Former justice department officials and legal experts have pointed to Barr’s intervention in cases involving Trump associates

Legal experts and and alumnae of the US Department of Justice have begun sounding the alarm about Donald Trump’s attorney general, William Barr.

Recently Barr’s justice department withdrew charges against Michael Flynn, the former Trump administration national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to federal law enforcement officials about his dealings with Russia’s ambassador over sanctions, just before Trump took office.

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Obama criticises Trump in virtual graduation speech – video

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The former US president attacked the Trump administration’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic during a virtual commencement ceremony for historically black colleges and universities on Saturday. Barack Obama told graduates: ‘More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing. A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge’

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‘Perhaps you should look into it’: Kayleigh McEnany dodges Obamagate question – video

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During a press briefing, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked why Donald Trump accused Barack Obama of committing a crime this week and asked her to name the crime. After listing issues with people in office while Obama was president, she said it was reporters' responsibility to 'answer the question' of what Obama did that was against the law. She ignored the reporter pointing out it is the White House press secretary’s duty to respond to questions about something the president said

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Global report: Trump threat to cut trade ties over Covid-19 branded ‘lunacy’ by Chinese media

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President says he doesn’t want to speak to counterpart Xi; Brazil passes 200,000 infections; Baltic travel ‘bubble’ begins

An escalation of rhetoric between Donald Trump and China over the coronavirus pandemic has sparked concerns that a trade deal between the nations is in peril, as Chinese state media dismissed as “lunacy” a suggestion by the US president that he could “cut off relations” with Beijing.

The US president said he was very disappointed with China’s failure to contain Covid-19 in an interview with Fox Business news. Trump said the pandemic had cast a pall over his January trade deal with Beijing and that he had no interest in speaking to President Xi Jinping at the moment.

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Ousted whistleblower warns US facing ‘darkest winter in modern history’

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Rick Bright testified before congressional committee that as virus spreads in US the ‘window is closing to address this pandemic’

Americans should brace themselves for the risk that they will suffer their “darkest winter in modern history” due to the ongoing federal government failures in addressing the coronavirus pandemic, a recently ousted public health official turned whistleblower warned the US Congress.

Rick Bright, who was removed from his role heading a federal agency in charge of vaccines last month, told a congressional committee on Thursday that as the virus continues to spread in the US the “window is closing to address this pandemic” because the Trump administration still lacks a comprehensive plan to tackle Covid-19.

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US could face ‘darkest winter in modern history’, warns former vaccine official – video highlights

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Rick Bright, a former top vaccine official, has told a Congressional committee that the US faces its 'darkest winter in modern history' if it does not develop a coordinated response to the pandemic. Bright has turned whistleblower and claims his removal from his federal government role last month was retaliation by the Trump administration for his resistance to the promotion of unproven drugs to treat Covid-19

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‘Obamagate’: Trump seeks to draw Biden into conspiracy theory

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Donald Trump has ratcheted up his “Obamagate” conspiracy theory to implicate Joe Biden and other former White House officials in what critics say is a desperate attempt to distract from the coronavirus pandemic.

Related: What is 'Obamagate' and why is Trump so worked up about it?

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Michael Flynn: judge pauses justice department effort to dismiss case

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Order paves way for legal experts to oppose Trump administration motion to exonerate former adviser

A federal judge has put the justice department’s decision to dismiss a criminal case against Michael Flynn, Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, on hold – opening the door for legal experts and other outside parties to oppose the administration’s motion to exonerate Flynn of lying to the FBI.

Judge Emmet Sullivan’s order is the latest development in the high-profile case, which has led critics, including Barack Obama and hundreds of former FBI and justice department officials, to question whether William Barr, the attorney general, was orchestrating favors for Trump.

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US supreme court tackles politics’ most tantalising mystery: Trump’s tax returns

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The president’s tax documents have been reported on by various outlets, even winning the New York Times a Pulitzer

The US supreme court is in its second week of working by telephone during the coronavirus pandemic. On Tuesday it will hear the highest-profile arguments so far presented remotely: regarding the release, or not, of Donald Trump’s tax returns.

When Trump ran for president in 2016, he bucked tradition by refusing to release such information. Saying he was under audit, which would not in fact have precluded action, he promised to release his returns in due course. He has not.

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Global report: Fauci warns of ‘needless death’ as WHO urges vigilance in lifting lockdowns

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Health body says coronavirus restrictions must be eased carefully; Iran to reopens mosques; China reports one new case

The World Health Organization has called on countries to show “extreme vigilance” when loosening Covid-19 restrictions as the top US infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci, warned that prematurely reopening the American economy would cause “needless suffering and death”.

The WHO’s emergencies chief, Michael Ryan, has hailed the gradual lifting of coronavirus lockdowns in some countries whose death and infection rates were dropping, as a sign of “hope”, but he cautioned that “extreme vigilance is required”.

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Trump’s environmental ‘blitzkrieg’ advances under cover of coronavirus

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Administration is weakening protections ahead of the election, making changes that could take years for a Democratic president to undo

The Trump administration is diligently weakening US environment protections even amid a global pandemic, continuing its rollback as the November election approaches.

During the Covid-19 lockdown, US federal agencies have eased fuel-efficiency standards for new cars; frozen rules for soot air pollution; proposed to drop review requirements for liquefied natural gas terminals; continued to lease public property to oil and gas companies; sought to speed up permitting for offshore fish farms; and advanced a proposal on mercury pollution from power plants that could make it easier for the government to conclude regulations are too costly to justify their benefits.

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Trump charges Obama with ‘biggest political crime in American history’

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Donald Trump continued to fume over the Russia investigation on Sunday, more than a year after special counsel Robert Mueller filed his report without recommending charges against the president but only three days after the justice department said it would drop its case against Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser.

Related: Kayleigh McEnany - the 'acceptable' face of Trumpism who infuriates liberals

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Coronavirus live news: China reports possible new wave of cases; Germany sees infections rise again

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Anthony Fauci and top advisers from CDC and FDA to work remotely because of potential exposure to Covid-19; global cases pass 4 million; Russia cases approach 200,000

While many people in Iran’s capital are taking advantage of loosened COVID-19 controls, some worry about a new spike in infections in what remains the Middle East’s deadliest virus epicentre.

“The line of fools,” muttered shopkeeper Manouchehr, peering disdainfully at a queue of customers outside a foreign currency dealer in the Sadeghieh district of western Tehran.

New clusters of coronavirus infections are igniting concerns about a second wave even as calls grow in some countries to relax restrictions even further.

In Germany, where thousands have protested in recent days against the remaining restrictions, health officials say the number of people each confirmed coronavirus patient infects rose above one again, reflecting a renewed increase in cases. The number must be below one for outbreaks to decline.

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Coronavirus US live: death toll nears 80,000 as Trump rages over Russia

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Precautions against Covid-19 infection have been stepped up at the White House but are hampered by the cramped and poorly ventilated conditions in the West Wing, Kevin Hassett, a special adviser to Donald Trump on the pandemic response, said on Sunday.

Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin has been talking to Fox News Sunday about the Trump administration’s attempts to reopen and restart the stalled US economy, and whether there will be another huge stimulus bill. Democrats who control the House want one of those but the White House doesn’t – that’s the short version.

The White House is “absolutely pushing for a payroll tax cut”, Mnuchin says. Most observers think that is a non-starter, because Democrats won’t let it. Payroll taxes, meaning deductions from regular paychecks, include funds for Social Security and Medicare, vital social benefits.

Related: US job losses have reached Great Depression levels. Did it have to be that way?

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Donald Trump says coronavirus will ‘go away without a vaccine’ – video

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Donald Trump has asserted with no evidence that the coronavirus pandemic will 'go away without a vaccine'. Without mentioning specifics, he pointed to other viruses and flus that 'disappeared' before vaccines were created. 'They've never shown up again. They die, too. Like everything else, they die,' Trump said. 'It's going to go away. And we're not going to see it again, hopefully, after a period of time.'

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Mike Pence’s press secretary is second White House staffer to test positive for Covid-19 this week

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Katie Miller has not been in contact with Donald Trump, who said he’s ‘not worried’ about the virus spreading among staff

Vice-president Mike Pence’s press secretary tested positive for the coronavirus, the White House said Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus this week.

Katie Miller is married to Stephen Miller, a top Trump advisor. She has been in recent contact with Pence but not with the president. The White House had no immediate comment on whether Stephen Miller had been tested or if he was still working out of the White House.

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Coronavirus US live: press secretary defends Trump over blocking Fauci’s testimony – as it happened

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A migrant detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in California has died from Covid-19, according to the ACLU.

“This is a terrible tragedy, and it was entirely predictable and preventable. For months, public health experts and corrections officials have warned that detention centers would be Petri dishes for the spread of Covid-19 — and a death trap for thousands of people in civil detention,” said Andrea Flores, the ACLU deputy director of immigration policy. “Unless ICE acts quickly to release far more people from detention, they will keep getting sick and many more will die,” she added.

Related: Coronavirus inevitable in prison-like US immigration centers, doctors say

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