Category Archives: Trump administration

Iran scientist’s assassination appears intended to undermine nuclear deal

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Analysis: shooting of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh will do more harm to diplomacy than it does to Iran’s nuclear programme

The assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh may not much have impact on the Iranian nuclear programme he helped build, but it will certainly make it harder to salvage the deal intended to restrict that programme, and that is – so far - the most plausible motive.

Israel is widely agreed to be the most likely perpetrator. Mossad is reported to have been behind a string of assassinations of other Iranian nuclear scientists – reports Israeli officials have occasionally hinted were true.

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Trump fails to answer questions or formally concede in bizarre 90-second briefing – video

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Donald Trump and Mike Pence appeared in the White House briefing room for less than two minutes for Trump to tout the stock market’s good day - despite Trump having not taken a question from reporters in about three weeks.

There was almost no notice of the briefing. CNN’s Jim Acosta said White House staff were suddenly shouting at journalists to get into their seats because the president wanted to walk into the briefing room. After Trump’s departure, a reporter was heard to say: ‘Well, that was weird as shit’.

The General Services Administration on Monday declared Joe Biden the apparent winner of the US election, clearing the way for the formal transition to begin, after weeks of Trump refusing to concede, violating the traditions of the transition of power at the White House

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Trump agrees to begin transition as key agency calls Biden apparent election winner

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President says he will continue to fight results as General Services Administration clears way for handover

The General Services Administration has declared president-elect Joe Biden the apparent winner of the US election, clearing the way for the formal transition from Donald Trump’s administration to begin after weeks of delay.

The GSA said on Monday that it had determined that Biden was the winner of the 3 November race after weeks of Trump refusing to concede and violating the traditions of the transition of power at the White House.

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Obama addresses ‘damage done’ by Trump on foreign policy – video

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Barack Obama said the Trump administration's foreign relations had inflicted 'damage' upon America, and that it would take time for the country's reputation to be restored. Obama expressed confidence in a new Biden administration, but cautioned change would not happen immediately

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Trump campaign cuts ties with attorney Sidney Powell after bizarre election fraud claims

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Powell has made a raft of incorrect claims, including that Georgia’s voting software was created at the behest of late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez

Perhaps Sidney Powell has gone too far even for Rudy Giuliani this time.

The Trump campaign’s legal team has moved to distance itself from the firebrand conservative attorney after a tumultuous few days in which Powell made multiple incorrect statements about the election voting process, unspooled complex conspiracy theories and vowed to “blow up” Georgia with a “biblical” lawsuit.

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Spy Jonathan Pollard expected to fly to Israel after US lifts parole

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Release marks latest gesture by departing Trump administration towards the Israeli government

Jonathan Pollard, a US citizen jailed for 30 years after being convicted of spying in one of the most dramatic espionage cases of the cold war, is expected to fly to Israel after being released from parole.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, welcomed the lifting of travel restrictions, his office said in a statement on Saturday, adding that he had “consistently worked towards securing Pollard’s release”.

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Trump administration in ‘staggering’ isolation at UN on health issues

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US left with few allies as it tries to change wording on topic of reproductive healthcare

The outgoing Trump administration’s final days at the United Nations have resulted in a deepening of US isolation on social and health issues, with only a handful of allies including Russia, Belarus and Syria.

In one vote this week, the US was entirely alone in backing its own amendment to a seemingly uncontroversial resolution about efforts to treat medical complications from childbirth. It called for the removal of references to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Population Fund.

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Joe Biden’s win was a ‘sigh of relief’ for LGBTQ+ people. Now activists want stronger protections

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The new administration has promised to undo Trump’s discriminatory policies, but advocates want to see bold support for queer and trans rights

Joe Biden has promised to undo years of anti-LGBTQ+ policies by Donald Trump’s administration, but advocates and civil rights leaders are urging the president-elect to go further in expanding protections and opportunities for queer and transgender people.

In its four years in office, the Trump administration systematically attacked the fundamental rights of LGBTQ+ people, stripping away safeguards enacted in the previous administration in education, immigration, healthcare, housing and criminal justice.

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Trump fires head of US cybersecurity agency that refuted voter fraud claims

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Termination of Christopher Krebs comes amid removals of high-level officials seen as insufficiently loyal to the president

Donald Trump has fired the director of the federal agency that vouched for the reliability of the 2020 election and pushed back on the president’s baseless claims of voter fraud.

Trump fired Christopher Krebs, who served as the director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa), in a tweet on Tuesday, saying Krebs “has been terminated” and that his recent statement defending the security of the election was “highly inaccurate”.

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Fears of foreign policy chaos in Trump’s final days fueled by Iran bombing report

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The outgoing president reportedly asked for options on bombing Iran as administration eyes last chance to achieve objectives

Fears that Donald Trump might try to wreak havoc on the world stage in his final, desperate, weeks in office appear to have been well-founded, after he reportedly asked for options on bombing Iran.

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Obama hails arrival of a more ‘caring government’ as memoir launches – video

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In an interview marking the launch of his memoir A Promised Land, Barack Obama tells Oprah Winfrey that the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will help lead the US back to the 'competent, caring government we so badly need'. 

He lamented the standard of governance over the past four years, saying Biden and Harris will 'level set' and show that the presidency will not label journalists 'enemies of the state' or 'routinely lie'  

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Iran warns of ‘crushing response’ if Trump targets nuclear site

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Outgoing president reported to have looked at military options against Tehran and its allies

Iran has warned of a strong response if Donald Trump goes ahead with plans to use the twilight of his presidency to mount a strike on Iran or its allies in the region.

It was reported that Trump last week looked at options for striking Iran’s main nuclear site, but was dissuaded from taking action after his advisers warned it might lead to a larger conflict in the Middle East. The report was sourced to four US officials by the New York Times.

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Arrests in Washington as Trump supporters assemble, rejecting Biden victory

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Counter-demonstrators clash with Maga groups that echo president’s baseless claims of fraud

Donald Trump continued to rage against the dying light of his US presidency on Saturday, falsely claiming to be the victim of mass voter fraud and praising rightwingers and conspiracy theorists who gathered in Washington to echo his fabrication.

Trump emerged from the White House to applause, cheers, waving and whistles from hundreds of supporters lining both sides of the street. They punched the air, took pictures with phones and held signs that included “Best prez ever” and “Stop the steal”.

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Trump supporters rally in Washington as president refuses to concede – live

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Joe Biden is reportedly poised to choose a woman to lead the Pentagon, an historic decision.

The president-elect’s expected selection, Michele Flournoy, is described by the Associated Press as a “a politically moderate Pentagon veteran … regarded by US officials and political insiders as a top choice for the position.”

Out of his bunker for a second straight day, Donald Trump made a deliberate pass by his supporters in town for today’s Maga rallies in his presidential motorcade before veering off toward Trump National in Sterling, Virginia.

More details from the White House pool report:

POTUS emerged from the south portico at 10am wearing a red hat, blue jacket and blue trousers. He appeared to be holding a newspaper. He got inside the presidential limousine and the motorcade headed out to Pennsylvania Avenue.

It was greeted by applause, cheers, waving and whistles from hundreds of Trump supporters lining both sides of the street. They punched the air, took pictures with phones and held signs that included ‘Best prez ever’ and ‘Stop the steal’.

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TikTok asks US court to intervene after Trump administration leaves app in limbo

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Platform says it’s received ‘no clarity’ from government about status of proposal to place app under control of US companies

The popular video-sharing app TikTok says its future has been in limbo since Donald Trump tried to shut it down earlier this fall and is asking a federal court to intervene.

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Bye-Don: a farewell to the Trump aesthetic

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It’s time to reflect on the weaponising of a certain Fox News-adjacent look that dominated his four years in office

The age of Trump was an ugly one. An ugliness in profound and harrowing senses – racism, lies and callousness – extended into a literal ugliness that, while in no way as significant as the president’s actions, has often made the past four years feel like an assault on the senses. This administration has looked and sounded like no other, just as it has acted like no other. The nastiness of Trump’s pronouncements has many times been made more shocking by his language: the barked, capitalised tweets littered with errors and exclamation marks; the misogyny underscored by snickering profanity. Every unmasked public appearance has been a visceral reminder of a shirking of leadership and responsibility in the face of a public health crisis.

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End of Trump era deals heavy blow to rightwing populist leaders worldwide

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As Biden’s victory sinks in across Brazil, Hungary and elsewhere, dreams of a rightwing global crusade appear to be fading

As the Donald Trump era draws to a close, many world leaders are breathing a sigh of relief. But Trump’s ideological kindred spirits – rightwing populists in office in Brazil, Hungary, Slovenia and elsewhere – are instead taking a sharp breath.

The end of the Trump presidency may not mean the beginning of their demise, but it certainly strips them of a powerful motivational factor, and also alters the global political atmosphere, which in recent years had seemed to be slowly tilting in their favour, at least until the onset of coronavirus. The momentous US election result is further evidence that the much-talked-about “populist wave” of recent years may be subsiding.

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Seventh straight day of 100,000 new US Covid cases as hospitalizations hit a high point

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  • Biden adviser Michael Osterholm says numbers could double
  • Death toll above 238,000 after 590 new deaths, data shows

The US hit a record number of coronavirus hospitalizations on Tuesday and surpassed 1 million new confirmed cases in just the first 10 days of November, as a nationwide surge of infections that shows no signs of slowing.

The country recorded a seventh consecutive day of more than 100,000 new cases, and one of the public health advisers recruited to president-elect Joe Biden’s transition team warned that those case numbers could double in the coming weeks under the leadership of Donald Trump.

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Trump poised to leave legacy of chaos with last-minute foreign policy moves | Analysis

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Analysis: With defence secretary’s firing and potential new Iran sanctions, Trump raises fears over impact of a vengeful president

The abrupt dismissal of the US defence secretary, Mark Esper, and reported plans for multiple layers of new sanctions on Iran have made clear that Donald Trump’s last 10 weeks in office could still prove a very bumpy ride for the rest of the world.

Trump is refusing to concede his loss to Joe Biden and, while he launches a quiver of baseless legal challenges to the results, he is also seeking to demonstrate he is still in charge of foreign and defence policy – fueling fears about the impact a vengeful president might have on the US role on the world stage over the coming 10 weeks of transition.

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‘Whoa’: Fox News cuts off Kayleigh McEnany for ‘illegal votes’ spiel – video

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Fox News has cut away from a briefing held by the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, during which she repeated Donald Trump’s refusal to accept defeat in the presidential election and doubled down on allegations of voter fraud, for which there is scant if any evidence.

Speaking to media on Monday night in a 'personal capacity' during what she said was a campaign event at the Republican National Committee headquarters, McEnany said Republicans want 'every legal vote to be counted, and every illegal vote to be discarded', prompting the conservative Fox News network to stop broadcasting the briefing.

The Trump campaign and Republicans have brought numerous lawsuits alleging election irregularities. Judges have already tossed out cases in Georgia and Michigan

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