The US labor secretary, Alexander Acosta, is resigning following criticism of his handling of a plea deal with financier Jeffrey Epstein, who has been accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls. Donald Trump announced the news on Friday with Acosta by his side before the president left on a trip to the midwest
Acosta is stepping down following criticism of his handling of a 2008 plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein, who is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges
Donald Trump’s labor secretary, Alexander Acosta, has resigned following criticism of his handling of a 2008 plea deal with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who is awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking underage girls.
Trump announced the news on Friday with Acosta by his side at the White House. “Alex Acosta is a great secretary of labor,” Trump said. “I hate to see this happen.” He said he did not ask Acosta to leave the cabinet.
Continue reading...Donald Trump abandoned his attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 US census but will sign an executive order forcing federal agencies to hand over citizenship data to the commerce department. 'As a result of today's executive order we will be able to ensure the 2020 census generates an accurate count of how many citizens, non-citizens and illegal aliens are in the United States of America. We will leave no stone unturned,' the US president said. The attorney general, William Barr, said including a question on the census was not the only way to obtain this 'vital information'
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In response to the subpoenas, Trump tweeted Democrats should “go back to work.”
Now the Democrats have asked to see 12 more people who have already spent hours with Robert Mueller, and spent a fortune on lawyers in so doing. How many bites at the apple do they get before working on Border Loopholes and Asylum. They also want to interview the highly......
....conflicted and compromised Mueller again. He said he was “done” after his last 9 minute speech, and that he had nothing more to say outside of the No Collusion, No Obstruction, Report. Enough already, go back to work! I won, unanimously, the big Emoluments case yesterday!
Here are all 12 people subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee:
Continue reading...Donald Trump has claimed that ‘the kidney has a very special place in the heart’ as he announced a government plan to tackle kidney disease in the US. The president’s declaration is likely to raise eyebrows among those familiar with human anatomy
Continue reading...The former US attorney claims the deal secured a greater penalty for Epstein than state officials otherwise would have managed
The embattled labor secretary, Alexander Acosta, on Wednesday defended the terms of a non-prosecution agreement he made 10 years ago with the financier Jeffrey Epstein, who at the time stood accused of sexually abusing underage girls.
Epstein was arrested at the weekend and charged anew in New York, on two counts of sex trafficking for allegedly abusing, manipulating and paying off dozens of young women and girls, some as young as 14. He pleaded not guilty.
Continue reading...Theresa May said to be considering controversial step of appointing new envoy
Boris Johnson is under pressure over his role in Sir Kim Darroch’s resignation as British ambassador to Washington, with critics accusing the likely next prime minister of throwing the envoy “under the bus”.
In a shock move which prompted the senior civil servant at the Foreign Office to call an all-staff meeting to reassure “shaken” diplomats, Darroch announced on Wednesday he could no longer continue in his role following a leak of official cables in which he criticised Donald Trump.
Continue reading...Alexander Acosta, under fire for his plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein, proposed a drastic cut that experts say will put children at risk
Alexander Acosta, the US labor secretary under fire for having granted Jeffrey Epstein immunity from federal prosecution in 2008, after the billionaire was investigated for having run a child sex trafficking ring, is proposing 80% funding cuts for the government agency that combats child sex trafficking.
Related: I hope Jeffrey Epstein sings like a bird. And if some Democrats go down, so be it | Jill Filipovic
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.”
Continue reading...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'
Continue reading...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
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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