NSA whistleblower who leaked Russian hacking report petitions for clemency

Reality Winner was sentenced to five years in 2018 after leaking classified report about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election

Supporters of Reality Winner, a National Security Agency whistleblower who leaked classified information about Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, petitioned Donald Trump on Monday for her early release from prison.

Alison Grinter, an attorney representing the former US air force intelligence specialist, announced at a press conference in Dallas that she had submitted 4,500 letters of support to the federal office of the pardon attorney, the division of the Department of Justice that advises the US president on executive clemency decisions.

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‘Trump is deciding who is American’: how the new travel ban is tearing families apart

As six countries are added to the list of restrictions, Nigerian and Eritreans in the US say the ban is devastating their lives

It started out as a joyous day for Olumide. On 31 January, the 32-year-old Nigerian American learned in an email that the US was finally processing the visa applications of his wife and daughter in Nigeria.

Hours later, Donald Trump shattered their celebration, announcing that he was adding six countries to the travel ban, including Nigeria. The decision cuts off pathways to permanent US residency for Nigerians, throwing Olumide’s case into limbo at the final stage of the process. It leaves his wife and and 11-year-old girl stuck across an ocean with little hope of making it to the US.

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William Barr says Trump’s tweets ‘make it impossible to do my job’

Attorney general says he will not be ‘bullied’ over decisions but some observers question his motives

The US attorney general, William Barr, publicly rebuked Donald Trump on Thursday, saying that the president’s tweets about the case of Roger Stone “make it impossible for me to do my job” and that he would not be “bullied or influenced” over justice department decisions.

In an interview with ABC News, the attorney general acknowledged his comments could leave him open to backlash from the president, who is notoriously intolerant of criticism from his aides. But Barr said he was determined to lead the justice department without being influence by outside forces, including the president.

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Marie Yovanovitch: former ambassador warns of ‘amoral’ US foreign policy

She cited a need for the country to be ‘principled, consistent and trustworthy’ while accepting an award for diplomacy

The former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, has warned that the US had adopted an “amoral” foreign policy that “substitutes threats, fear and confusion for trust”.

In her first public remarks since leaving the US foreign service two weeks ago, Yovanovitch said that the Trump administration’s handling of foreign policy risked alienating allies and driving them into the arms of other partners they find more reliable.

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Pompeo touts partial ceasefire with Taliban in push for election-year troop reduction

US secretary of state calls for significant drop in violence before formal peace talks can begin

Mike Pompeo has hailed “a pretty important breakthrough” in Afghan peace talks, as officials confirmed that the Taliban had agreed to a partial week-long ceasefire as a precursor to broader peace talks and the withdrawal of at least some US troops.

But the US secretary of state said that Washington still wanted to see a significant reduction in violence before formal negotiations could begin. “If we can get there – if we can hold that posture for a while – then we’ll be able to begin the real, serious discussion which is all the Afghans sitting at a table,” Pompeo said on Thursday.

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‘It’s a disgrace’: Trump unhappy with Roger Stone prosecution – video

Donald Trump has expressed disapproval at the sentencing recommendation for his longtime associate Roger Stone. Four lawyers who prosecuted the political operative quit in protest after their recommendation was overruled by the justice department. The president denied speaking to the justice department about the case but said he would have 'the absolute right' to have done so. Stone, 67, was found guilty last November of seven crimes including obstruction of justice, lying to Congress and witness tampering

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Roger Stone: prosecutors quit after DoJ signals plan to reduce sentence

  • Department appears to lean on prosecutors for shorter term
  • Trump tweeted: ‘Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!’

Four lawyers who prosecuted political operative Roger Stone have resigned in protest after their sentencing recommendation was overruled and slashed by Donald Trump’s justice department.

Aaron Zelinsky, Jonathan Kravis, Adam Jed and Michael Marando quit the case while Democrats demanded an independent investigation into what they described as a dangerously politicised and corrupt justice department.

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Trump puts Cuban doctors in firing line as heat turned up on island economy

After US allies expel foreign health missions, Havana warns that patients will pay the highest price for campaign against its scheme

A Cuban medical programme that has helped some of the world’s poorest communities has become the latest target of the Trump administration’s escalating attempts to pressure Havana’s faltering economy.

Dubbed “Cuban doctors”, the celebrated – if controversial – humanitarian medical mission was founded more than half a century ago in the aftermath of Fidel Castro’s revolution, in part to enhance the country’s international influence.

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Tunisia to shelve plan for UN vote on Trump’s Middle East plan

Security council vote was seen as test of support for deal and of Britain’s relations with US

Arab plans for a UN security council vote on Tuesday designed to show international opposition to Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan are expected to be shelved after the US and the UK raised separate objections to the draft text.

In what was being seen as a key test of the diplomatic support for Trump’s “ultimate deal”, Tunisia, with Arab League and Palestinian support, had tabled a resolution saying it breached basic undertakings to the Palestinian people.

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Qassim al-Rimi: US forces killed al-Qaida leader in Yemen, Trump confirms

Al-Rimi had claimed responsibility for a shooting at a Florida naval base, where a Saudi aviation trainee killed three American sailors

Donald Trump confirmed on Thursday that a counter-terrorism operation in Yemen killed Qassim al-Rimi, an al-Qaida leader who claimed responsibility for last year’s deadly shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola, where a Saudi aviation trainee killed three American sailors.

Unconfirmed reports of his death, including indicative tweets from the president, have been circulating since 31 January, but the neither the Department of Defense nor the CIA had issued official confirmation.

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‘Don’t do this again’: Schumer and McConnell clash over Trump acquittal – video

The US senators Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer both held press conferences after the Senate acquitted Donald Trump on two impeachment charges. Schumer, the Democratic Senate minority leader, said Americans knew that ‘this was one of the largest cover-ups in the history of our nation’, while McConnell, the Republican Senate majority leader, warned the House of Representatives: ‘Don’t do this again’

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Trump’s acquittal in impeachment ‘trial’ is a glimpse of America’s imploding empire

In a hyperpartisan era, Republicans cast Trump as a victim while Democrats lamented his ‘normalisation of lawlessness’

Donald Trump’s short but indelible political career has been based around the principle of divide-and-fool. His acquittal in the impeachment trial by the US Senate will further fan the flames of the most profound national split since the Vietnam war, perhaps even the civil war.

First, expect Trump to be cocky and take a victory lap, falsely claiming “exoneration” just as he did after special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation left him bruised but unbowed. A day after Mueller’s leaden testimony to Congress, the president felt able to act with such impunity that he made his bullying phone call to the leader of Ukraine.

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Donald Trump’s State of the Union address 2020 – video highlights

Donald Trump has delivered his third State of the Union address, bragging about the ‘great American comeback’ in a speech resembling an 81-minute re-election rally. It prompted Nancy Pelosi, the most powerful woman in Congress, to rip up her copy of the speech on national television

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Hundreds of Salvadorans deported by US were killed or abused, report reveals

Human Rights Watch says 138 Salvadorans were murdered from 2013 to 2019 and 70 others were abused or sexually assaulted

At least 200 Salvadoran migrants and asylum seekers have been killed, raped or tortured after being deported back to El Salvador by the United States government which is turning a blind eye to widely known dangers, a new investigation reveals.

Related: How the US helped create El Salvador’s bloody gang war

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Jared Kushner insists Middle East peace plan is ‘a real effort to break logjam’

  • Kushner hopes Palestinians ‘read’ the Middle East peace plan
  • Mahmoud Abbas cuts ties with US and Israel after rejecting plan

Though the Palestinian Authority has cut ties with the US and Israel over the Trump administration’s plan for Middle East peace, its author has insisted his plan is not dead yet.

Related: What we Palestinians think does not matter – all that matters is Israel | Diana Buttu

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Trump impeachment: looming Senate acquittal threatens to overshadow Iowa

As a growing number of Republican senators confirmed they will vote to acquit Donald Trump at the conclusion of his impeachment trial on Wednesday, the saga threatened to overshadow the first contest of the Democratic primary season in Iowa on Monday.

Related: 'My party is a cult': Republican Joe Walsh on his Iowa challenge to Trump

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Palestinians cut ties with Israel and US after rejecting Trump peace plan

  • Mahmoud Abbas addresses Arab League in Cairo
  • Trump and Netanyahu presented peace plan last month

The Palestinian Authority has cut all ties with the US and Israel, including those relating to security, after rejecting a Middle East peace plan presented by Donald Trump, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said on Saturday.

Related: Trump's foreign policy is cynical and self-interested. His 'peace plan' is no exception | Michael H Fuchs

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Trump impeachment: Republican Senate ‘coverup’ prompts backlash

Outraged by what they see as a coverup in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, grassroots activists are planning a massive “payback project” designed to punish Republican senators at the ballot box.

Related: By denying witnesses, Republicans made clear even a smoking gun would not be enough

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Trump appears to confirm killing of al-Qaida leader in Yemen

  • New York Times reports Qassim al-Rimi of AQAP believed dead
  • President retweets intelligence analyst and reporter

Donald Trump appeared on Saturday to confirm the death of Qassim al-Rimi, the leader of an al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen, through a series of tweets.

Related: Yemeni terror chief warns US: 'Your security has broken away'

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Trump administration unveils expanded travel ban

  • Nationals of Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and Nigeria affected
  • Separate move will stop ‘diversity visas’ for Sudan and Tanzania

The Trump administration is expanding the reach of its controversial travel ban to six additional countries.

The United States will stop issuing visas that offer a path to residency to nationals from Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan, Myanmar and Tanzania, said Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of homeland security, in a conference call on Friday.

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