Lewis helped Martin Luther King organise the March on Washington in 1963 and once suffered a fractured skull at the hands of state troopers
John Lewis, the civil rights leader and Democratic congressman, has died. He was 80.
Related: John Lewis obituary
Continue reading...Donald Trump was given a written briefing months ago about intelligence suggesting Russia offered bounties for attacks on US forces in Afghanistan, multiple US media have reported on Monday night. The president said on Sunday he was not told of the allegations because the information was not “credible”.
The New York Times quoted two sources as saying details were included in a daily intelligence briefing the president received in late February. CNN said an official with direct knowledge told them it was included in the briefing – a written document – briefing “sometime in the spring”.
Continue reading...After every single Republican on the coronavirus subcommittee turned up to a Friday meeting without wearing a mask, the Democratic chair has threatened to stop them from speaking at future meetings if they fail to do so again.
Not wearing a mask in a confined space such as a committee hearing room violates rules written by Congress’s attending physician, if attendees intend to be in the space for more than 15 minutes.
Continue reading...Aaron Zelinsky says prosecutors were under pressure to go easy on Stone because of his relationship with the president
A federal prosecutor who was part of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation told Congress on Wednesday Roger Stone, a close ally of Donald Trump, was given special treatment before sentencing because of his relationship with the US president.
Related: US appeals court orders judge to dismiss case against Michael Flynn
Continue reading...The White House fired back at John Bolton on Sunday, seeking to rubbish a key claim in the former national security adviser’s bombshell new book, that Donald Trump asked Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, for help in winning re-election.
Related: Trump's Berman-SDNY disaster suggests William Barr is not so smart after all | Lloyd Green
Continue reading...A Virginia Republican congressman who angered social conservatives in his district when he officiated a gay wedding has lost his party’s nomination.
Related: The Skywalker window: what Democrats must do to destroy Trump's Death Star
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Mike Garcia will replace Hill, who resigned amid scandal in 2019 after securing the first Democratic victory in district in decades
Republican Mike Garcia has beat Democrat Christy Smith in the special election to fill the seat of the former US representative Katie Hill, who resigned amid scandal in late 2019.
After a bitter political battle complicated and constrained by the pandemic, Garcia’s win was a blow for Democrats who in 2018 had secured the suburban Los Angeles district for the first time in since 1990. But the candidates will soon have a rematch. Garcia will serve only five months before the seat is up for a vote again in November.
Continue reading...The US president said the government's top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, would not testify in the House of Representatives but only before the Senate. He argued this was because 'the House is a set-up. The House is a bunch of Trump haters.'
He later said the US 'wants' and 'needs' to reopen amid the coronavirus outbreak
House lawmakers said they could subpoena CEO to testify in antitrust investigation if he doesn’t appear voluntarily
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers investigating Amazon for possible antitrust violations have demanded that Jeff Bezos testify before Congress to address statements by the company that “appear to be misleading, and possibly criminally false or perjurious”.
“Although we expect that you will testify on a voluntary basis, we reserve the right to resort to compulsory process if necessary,” seven leaders of the House judiciary committee, including the chair Jerry Nadler, wrote in a letter to the Amazon CEO on Friday.
Continue reading...Measure heads to Donald Trump’s desk after passing House by vote of 388-5, as lawmakers meet for first time in weeks
The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a $484bn coronavirus relief bill on Thursday, funding small businesses and hospitals and pushing the total spending response to the crisis to an unprecedented near $3tn.
The measure passed the Democratic-led House by a vote of 388-5, with one member voting present. House members were meeting for the first time in weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Dr Deborah Birx reportedly had to convince Trump to come out against Georgia’s plan to start reopening non-essential businesses this Friday.
Trump said during yesterday’s press conference that he disagreed “strongly” with Georgia governor Brian Kemp’s reopening plan, which many public health experts have warned is dangerously hasty.
At a meeting before Wednesday’s briefing, task force members discussed the likelihood of being asked about [Kemp’s] controversial move to open up many businesses such as nail salons and bowling alleys, [a White House] source added. ...
During the meeting, Dr. Anthony Fauci and other task force members said if the scientists were not in agreement with Trump on the Georgia issue during the news conference it would pose a problem.
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer said she would likely extend the state’s stay-at-home order while looking at allowing some activties with restrictions in place, emphasizing that the state’s reopening would take place in waves.
“It will permit some activity if our numbers continue to go down and our testing continues to go up,” the Democratic governor told MSNBC this morning. “But It’s too early to say precisely what each wave looks like and when it happens.”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says reopening has to be "strategic and thoughtful": "I've heard governors across the country, on both sides of the aisle, say it's not going to be like flipping a light switch, we're not just going to go back to pre-Covid 19 posture" pic.twitter.com/6gGHbUkFPC
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America’s addiction to mass incarceration could almost double its number of deaths from coronavirus, with jails acting as incubators of the disease and spreading a further 100,000 fatalities across the US.
The startling warning comes from groundbreaking modeling by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and academic researchers, released on Wednesday.
Related: Mass incarceration could add 100,000 deaths to US coronavirus toll, study finds
Continue reading...Adam Schiff calls Trump ‘vindictive president’ after president fired the inspector general of the US intelligence community
Donald Trump is “decapitating the leadership of the intelligence community in the middle of a national crisis”, senior Democrat Adam Schiff has charged, after the president fired the inspector general of the US intelligence community late on Friday night.
Related: Donald Trump fires intelligence watchdog who sparked impeachment process
Continue reading...How did Trump and his team pull off his successful defense? Here’s a look at key factors
Will historians find Donald Trump’s impeachment remarkable because Republican politicians turned a blind eye to such egregious wrongdoing and acquitted him? Or will they find it remarkable because it was the last time a cadre of Republican officials publicly turned against Trump?
While most of the career civil servants who defied the president by testifying in the impeachment inquiry do not publicly identify as Republican, many were Trump appointees with strong Republican ties, while other key figures such as former national security adviser John Bolton are wizened party warriors.
Continue reading...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
Continue reading...White House tried to hide records of Trump’s call with Ukrainian president and block whistleblower complaint, say Democrats
Democrats concluded the presentation of their case against Donald Trump at his impeachment trial on Friday, with the lead prosecutor Adam Schiff calling on Republicans to exercise “moral courage” and vote in favor of calling witnesses at the trial next week.
“Give America a fair trial,” Schiff concluded after three marathon days of argument. “She’s worth it.”
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“Give America a fair trial,” impeachment manager Adam Schiff said, wrapping up the Democrats’ opening statements. “She’s worth it.”
And just like that, Senate has adjourned for the night. The impeachment trial continues tomorrow morning.
As impeachment manager Adam Schiff continues to talk, Donald Trump has gone on a retweeting frenzy. He reposted a tweet of his from earlier today, as well as one from the Senate Republicans account, and one each from Republican senators John Barrasso and Marsha Blackburn.
This obsession with impeachment* is out of hand.
Tennesseans have their priorities straight: trade, border security, and creating jobs. pic.twitter.com/vNFjPBA2MQ
Donald Trump’s impeachment trial began in the US Senate, with Democrats pushing back against the rules set out by the Republican-held senate. Democrats accused Republicans of covering up for the president as their amendments to trial proceedings were voted down repeatedly
Continue reading...Donald Trump wants his impeachment trial to end before his state of the union address in just two weeks’ time, Lindsey Graham said on Sunday.
Related: Alan Dershowitz: Trump impeachment acquittal would make me unhappy
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