Trump announces Matt Gaetz as attorney general and Tulsi Gabbard for top intelligence post – US politics live

Far-right Florida congressman to get top justice job; former Democrat Gabbard frequently appeared with Trump on the campaign trail

Mehdi Hasan writes for the Guardian today, asking “Is Donald Trump a foreign policy dove?”

You can read it here

Everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat, that means casualties are worse.

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Trump meets with Biden and promises ‘smooth as it can get’ transfer of power

Trump also suggests to House Republicans he might seek a third term in office, which is prohibited by US constitution

Donald Trump met with Joe Biden on Wednesday and promised a transfer of power that is “as smooth as it can get”, as the outgoing US president pledged his administration’s every possible resource to pave the way for his successor.

The two men, longtime political rivals who must now work together again to pass the reins of power, shook hands as they met in the Oval Office. Introducing Trump as both a former president and now president-elect, Biden congratulated him on his victory.

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Trump nominates Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead new efficiency department to ‘restructure federal agencies’ – live

Tesla CEO and onetime Republican presidential hopeful put forward to lead department to ‘dismantle government bureaucracy’

Joe Biden is meeting with two foreign leaders at the White House today.

At 11.15am, he will speak with Israel’s president Isaac Herzog, then with Indonesia’s president, Prabowo Subianto, at 2pm.

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Trump flips Nevada as Democrat Jacky Rosen holds on to state’s Senate seat

Trump’s win in the state gives him 301 electoral votes, even as Democratic incumbent is re-elected to Senate

Donald Trump has won his sixth battleground state of the 2024 election, flipping the state for the Republicans early on Saturday, by beating Kamala Harris in Nevada.

The president-elect has 301 electoral college votes so far, well beyond the 270 point he surpassed early on Wednesday to take the White House, over Democratic rival Kamala Harris, and the Republican has now won six of the seven battleground states. On Saturday morning only Arizona remained to be called.

Trump wins the presidency – how did it happen?

With Trump re-elected, this is what’s at stake

Abortion ballot measure results by state

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Iranian man charged in plot to kill Trump; judge grants special counsel’s request to pause Trump’s 2020 case – live

Unnamed official of Iranian guard told a contact in September to create a plan to kill Trump, complaint says; judge grants Jack Smith’s ask to pause proceedings after election result

A federal judge has struck down a Biden administration policy that aimed to ease a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants who are married to US citizens.

The program, lauded as one of the biggest presidential actions to help immigrant families in years, allowed undocumented spouses and stepchildren of US citizens to apply for a green card without first having to leave the country.

The temporary relief from deportation brought a brief sense of security to some 500,000 immigrants estimated to benefit from the program before Texas-based U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker put it on hold in August, days after applicants filed their paperwork.

Barker ruled yesterday that the Biden administration had overstepped its authority by implementing the program and had stretched the legal interpretation of relevant immigration law “past its breaking point.”

The short-lived Biden administration initiative known as “Keeping Families Together” would have been unlikely to remain in place after Donald Trump took office in January. But its early termination creates greater uncertainty for immigrant families as many are bracing for Trump’s return to the White House.

CNN’s latest projection of the crucial races to gain control of the House has Republicans ahead in ten of the contests, with, according to their projections, only six victories needed to tip them over the magic 218 for control.

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Republican Dave McCormick wins Pennsylvania Senate seat in key race

McCormick ousts incumbent Democratic Bob Casey after contentious and expensive race, widening party’s majority

The Republican Dave McCormick won the Senate race in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Thursday, denying the Democratic incumbent, Bob Casey, a fourth term and expanding his party’s majority in the upper chamber. Despite the call from the Associated Press, Casey has refused to concede the race, as the top state election official reported that tens of thousands of ballots remained uncounted.

When the AP called the race at 4.09pm ET on Thursday, two days after polls closed in Pennsylvania, McCormick led by 0.5 points. The narrow margin raised the possibility of a recount, although Casey faces an uphill climb in overcoming McCormick’s lead of roughly 30,000 votes.

Trump wins the presidency – how did it happen?

Full presidential election results and map

Abortion ballot measure results by state

Republicans retake control of the Senate

Senate, House and governor results

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Trump picks Susie Wiles as chief of staff in first major appointment; Putin commends Trump victory – US election live

Trump says his re-election campaign manager ‘is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected’; Russian leader congratulates Trump and says he is ready to talk

Rudy Giuliani will appear in a New York City courtroom on Thursday to explain to a federal judge why he hasn’t surrendered his valuables as part of a $148m defamation judgment, the Associated Press reports.

US District Judge Lewis Liman ordered the former New York City mayor to report to court after lawyers for the two former Georgia election workers who were awarded the massive judgment visited Giuliani’s Manhattan apartment last week only to discover it had been cleared out weeks earlier.

The judge had set an 29 October deadline for the longtime ally of once-and-future President Donald Trump to surrender many of his possessions to lawyers for Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss.

Representatives for Giuliani did not respond to an email from Reuters on Wednesday seeking comment.

While Kemi Badenoch was the first politician since the US presidential election result to publicly challenge Keir Starmer over Labour’s previously tense relationship with Donald Trump, she is unlikely to be the last.

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US elections 2024: control of House remains unclear

Republicans make progress as results are returned, but US may have to wait days to learn chamber’s composition

Republicans have won a majority in the US Senate but control of the US House of Representatives remains unclear on Wednesday evening, with many of the most competitive races still uncalled.

With Donald Trump having won the White House, the stakes for control of the House have grown, since it could serve as either the sole Democratic check on the upcoming Trump presidency, or as the final Republican win that delivers a united pro-Trump government.

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Republicans outline ‘first 100 days’ of Trump presidency – as it happened

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Donald Trump has been elected the 47th president of the United States in a stunning political resurrection that sent shock waves through the country and around the world.

Trump becomes the first convicted criminal to win the White House. At 78 he is also the oldest person ever elected to the office.

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US elections live: Harris makes unexpected stop at DNC headquarters as millions of Americans cast their votes

Harris thanks Democratic staffers in Washington DC and says ‘we have so much work to do’ during phone-banking session

Dispatch from Grand Rapids, Michigan: They just showed a video here of Donald Trump shaving the head of Vince McMahon, the former CEO of WWE, during a wrestling event. It happened in 2007.

Needless to say, Trump hasn’t arrived yet.

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Donald Trump says ‘we made history’ as he closes in on victory with win in Pennsylvania – as it happened

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The state of American democracy and the economy were the top issues on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots in the 2024 presidential election, according to an NBC News exit poll.

The poll’s preliminary results show 35% of voters said democracy mattered most to their vote, while 31% said the economy.

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US elections live updates: Harris and Trump make final pitches in crucial state of Pennsylvania

Judge rejects legal challenge against Musk’s $1m giveaways; Harris vows to be ‘a president for all Americans’

Here is a look back at some of the more memorable pictures of the 2024 US presidential campaign:

In an interview with NBC News, Donald Trump did not rule out banning certain vaccines if he was elected to a second presidential term.

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US election live: outcry grows over ‘hateful’ Trump rally remarks; Harris says Puerto Ricans ‘deserve better’

Congressional Hispanic caucus hits out at ‘shameful’ rhetoric; vice-president releases ad condemning Trump and comedian’s remarks

Here’s our story of the resignation of Washington Post columnist Michele Norris, the latest high profile writer to leave the newspaper in protest at its decision not to endorse a candidate in next week’s presidential election.

Norris says the Post’s non-call was a “terrible mistake & an insult to the paper’s own longstanding standard of regularly endorsing candidates since 1976”.

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White House blasts false claims about Hurricane Helene and relief aid

Statement comes as president urges Congress to pass disaster-relief package as costs soar amid devastation

The White House moved Saturday to quash claims that government officials control the weather, including a far-fetched rumor circulating on social media that Hurricane Helene was an engineered storm to allow corporations to mine regional lithium deposits.

“We have seen a large increase in false information circulating online related to the federal response to Hurricane Helene,” a statement said, pointing to a “number of scam artists, bad-faith actors, and others who want to sow chaos because they think it helps their political interests are promoting disinformation about the recovery effort.”

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Jamaica welcomes US move to clamp down on gun trafficking to Caribbean

Horace Chang, deputy PM of country with highest homicide rate, praises US attorneys generals’ support for legislation

Jamaica’s deputy prime minister has welcomed a campaign by the New York attorney general, Letitia James, to push through new measures and legislation to tackle gun trafficking from the US to the Caribbean.

Horace Chang, who is also Jamaica’s minister of security, praised a coalition of 14 US attorneys general, led by James, that is backing the passing of the Caribbean Arms Trafficking Causes Harm Act. Introduced in both houses of the US Congress earlier this year, the act aims to help curb illicit arms trafficking from the United States to the Caribbean.

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Vance-Walz debate live: vice-presidential candidates to square off in key debate

JD Vance and Tim Walz will go head to head in New York just weeks ahead of the general election

The White House Correspondents’ Association said it has grown “increasingly concerned” about the “lack of media access” inside debate halls.

For tonight’s vice-presidential debate, CBS is allowing only one print representative, one television representative and six still photographers, who will not be permitted to move around to take photos during the event, the group said.

The WHCA’s insistence on having a full pool inside the room isn’t just about reporters being able to witness the debates. This is about the public having multiple sets of eyes and ears to properly record these moments for history.

Jason Miller, senior adviser to Donald Trump

Donald Trump Jr, a son of Donald Trump

Tom Cotton, Arkansas senator

Katie Britt, Alabama senator

Elise Stefanik, New York representative and House Republican conference chair

Byron Donalds, Florida representative

Howard Lutnick, longtime chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald LP

Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota senator

Mark Kelly, Arizona senator

Jared Polis, Colorado governor

JB Pritzker, Illinois governor

Jasmine Crockett, Texas representative

Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee

Ben Ray Luján New Mexico senator

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Donald Trump says he will meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday – as it happened

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Here is more from the federal indictment against Eric Adams:

In 2014, Eric Adams, the defendant, became Brooklyn borough president. Thereafter, for nearly a decade, Adams sought and accepted improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish govermnent official seeking to gain influence over him.

By 2018, Adams – who had by then made known his plans to run for mayor of New York City – not only accepted, but sought illegal campaign contributions to his 2021 mayoral campaign, as well as other things of value, from foreign nationals.

Eric Adams, the defendant, sought and accepted illegal campaign contributions in the form of ‘nominee’ or ‘straw’ contributions, meaning that the true contributors conveyed their money through nominal donors, who falsely certified they were contributing their own money.

By smuggling their contributions to Adams through US-based straw donors, Adams’ overseas contributors defeated federal laws that serve to prevent foreign influence on US elections.

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US Senate votes unanimously to hold hospital CEO in criminal contempt

Ralph de la Torre, paid at least $250m by Steward Health Care amid facility issues and closures, ignored subpoena

The US Senate has voted unanimously to hold the CEO of Steward Health Care in criminal contempt for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena – marking the first time in more than 50 years that the chamber has moved to hold someone in criminal contempt.

On Wednesday, the Senate voted to hold Ralph de la Torre in contempt of Congress after the 58-year-old head of the Massachusetts-based for-profit healthcare system – which declared bankruptcy earlier this year – ignored a congressional subpoena and failed to appear at a hearing over the hospital chain’s alleged abuse of finances on 12 September.

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US Congress passes government funding package to avert shutdown

Senate approves bill extending funds until December two hours after House passes it, sending it to Biden’s desk

US Congress passed a three-month government funding package on Wednesday, sending the bill to Joe Biden’s desk and averting a shutdown that was set to begin next Tuesday.

The Senate approved the funding package just two hours after the House passed the bill on Wednesday afternoon, as lawmakers raced to return to their home districts six weeks before election day.

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Man charged with attempted assassination of Donald Trump at Florida golf course – as it happened

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Minutes after Joe Biden finished addressing the UN general assembly, Donald Trump’s campaign released a statement warning, in apocalyptic terms, of the consequences of electing Kamala Harris.

“Under President Donald J Trump, Iran was weak, ISIS was eliminated, Hamas was cut off, historic peace was descending on the Middle East, Russia was under control and there hadn’t been a US service member killed in Afghanistan in 18 months,” the lengthy email read.

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