Category Archives: Democrats

Ex-campaign staffer says Trump kissed her without consent – live updates

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Alva Johnson files lawsuit alleging Trump kissed her in August 2016 outside rally in Tampa, and says ‘I immediately felt violated’

Donald Trump has complained about a “racist hit” he said Spike Lee carried out on him at the Oscars.

The film-maker, 61, won his first competitive Academy Award, best adapted screenplay, for his film BlacKkKlansman, which was also nominated for best picture. Lee received an honorary Oscar in 2015.

A former staff member of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has filed a federal lawsuit against the president, claiming he kissed her without consent.

Alva Johnson, who served as Trump’s campaign’s director of outreach and coalitions in Alabama in 2016, told the Washington Post that Trump “grabbed her hand and leaned in to kiss her on the lips”, as the then-candidate exited an RV at a rally in Tampa on August 24 2016.

Johnson said she turned her head and the unwanted kiss landed on the side of her mouth, which she called “super-creepy and inappropriate.”

“I immediately felt violated because I wasn’t expecting it or wanting it,” she said. “I can still see his lips coming straight for my face.”

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Schiff threatens to call Mueller to testify if Trump-Russia report not made public

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A top Democrat threatened on Sunday to call special counsel Robert Mueller to testify on Capitol Hill, subpoena documents and take the Trump administration to court if necessary, if the full report on the Russia investigation is not made public.

Related: Trump faces a legal reckoning – but are his worst troubles yet to come?

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Trump ally Roger Stone in court over Instagram post targeting judge – live

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Longtime Trump confidante is back in court over photo that showed the judge with what appeared to be crosshairs near her head

Judge Amy Berman Jackson, presiding over the Roger Stone hearing, has taken a break before ruling on Stone’s fate.

David Smith is reporting that Stone claimed one of his “many” volunteers who operate out of his house could have posted the photo. Stone was unable to identify which volunteer posted it, however.

Kravis: The defendant continued to give interviews to amplify the coverage. "That conduct amounts to... a desire to manipulate media coverage to gain favourable attention." That increased the "risk to the jury pool".

Jackson to Rogow: "After he apologised, he continued talking every single day. What will get him to stop talking other than a court order... How would you craft a court order that he will find clear enough to follow?"

Guardian reporter David Smith is tweeting from inside the DC court where Roger Stone is appearing.

Stone has told the court that he is “heartfully sorry” and admitted abusing the court order that originally allowed him out on bail.

Stone: I believe there was "a media distortion" of my intent. "I did not have a malicious intent, your honour... I'm not seeking to justify it. It was just an error."

Stone: "I felt the media was falsely saying that I was posing a danger, which was not my intention. This was not a crosshair, in my opinion, and I did not wish to be blamed for something that was not my intention."

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Trump-Russia: FBI had ‘backup plan’ to save investigation evidence – live

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Plan created after Comey firing to ensure information would survive firings or reassignments of top officials

Attorneys for the Kentucky student filmed in an apparent confrontation with a Native American elder at the Lincoln Memorial filed a lawsuit against the Washington Post on Tuesday, accusing the news organization of engaging “in a modern-day form of McCarthyism.”

Here is the Complaint filed today against The Washington Post on behalf of Nick Sandmann. All members of the mainstream & social media mob of bullies who recklessly & viciously attacked Nick would be well-served to read it carefully. https://t.co/P3H4x0srlX

CNN hired a longtime Republican operative as the political editor charged with coordinating 2020 campaign coverage, Vox is reporting.

According to a CNN spokesperson, Isgur, who most recently worked as the Department of Justice’s main spokesperson under then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, will coordinate the network’s political coverage for the 2020 election cycle on TV and on CNN’s website. Isgur starts work next month, and will not be involved in coverage of DOJ. She will occasionally appear on TV.

Isgur’s LinkedIn page indicates she has no journalism experience. She has, however, worked for a variety of right-wing organizations and campaigns, including the Carly Fiorina and Mitt Romney presidential bids, the Republican National Committee, and a Ted Cruz US Senate campaign.

I've received a lot of partisan fundraising emails from Sarah Isgur Flores, who will reportedly "coordinate political coverage for the 2020 campaign at" CNN (https://t.co/WrQRFBZZFV), over the years. Here's one in Oct. 2014 in which she said Obama's policies would be "DOOMSDAY." pic.twitter.com/xUhXYYJMZf

CNN's new political editor, ex-flack for Carly Fiorina's campaign and the Sessions DOJ "has no experience in news but a long history as a political operative"

Lots and lots of experienced journos have lots their jobs in the last few months, just sayin'https://t.co/M5OymJoWgl

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Bernie Sanders announces run for presidency in 2020: ‘We’re gonna win’

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Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont whose 2016 presidential campaign helped energize the progressive movement and reshaped the Democratic party, has entered the 2020 race for the White House.

Related: Can Bernie Sanders repeat his surprising success this time around? | Robert Reich

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Bernie Sanders 2020: where the presidential candidate stands on key issues – video profile

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Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont who ran against Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic nomination, has announced his run for the presidency in 2020. Sanders, 77, running as a Democrat, will be up against a more crowded and diverse field this time round   

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Trump ally Graham will subpoena McCabe and Rosenstein over ‘coup’

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Trump ally Lindsey Graham has promised a Senate investigation into claims senior justice department officials discussed invoking the 25th amendment and removing the president from power.

Related: Andrew McCabe says officials discussed removing Trump after Comey firing

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Trump declares national emergency to bypass Congress over border wall funds – live news

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Trump announces emergency to bypass Congress and free up billions for long-promised border wall

Here’s Trump earlier, performing what is being referred to as both a “ditty” and a “sing-song”. The sound of the summer?

"We'll end up in the Supreme Court and hopefully get a fair shake and win in the Supreme Court just like the ban," said Trump, acknowledging his administration may get sued over the national emergency. https://t.co/rPePQTU8uT pic.twitter.com/QneaGmvvLv

A gag order for attorneys and witnesses has been issued in the case of Roger Stone by a federal judge in Washington DC.

Stone, a longtime friend and adviser to Donald Trump, was indicted last month on charges of lying to investigators, obstructing justice and witness tampering. He denies wrongdoing.

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National emergency: Trump’s ‘clear abuse of power’ faces torrent of lawsuits

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Declaration prompts dire warnings but fallout could be contained by successful legal challenge or resolution in Congress

As state attorneys general across the country threaten to sue the White House over Donald Trump’s declaration of a national immigration emergency on Friday, Democrats and Republicans insisted Trump was overstepping his powers, while legal analysts warned of a dangerous new phase of the Trump presidency.

Related: Trump declares national emergency to bypass Congress over border wall funds – live news

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Trump ‘unhappy’ with new shutdown deal – live updates

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Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, is at risk of seeing one of his biggest initiatives in office be overturned.

Hogan, who has been mooted as potential primary opponent of Donald Trump, decreed that public schools in the Old Line State couldn’t open until Labor Day. However, the Maryland general assembly is poised to overturn that through veto-proof legislation.

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced today that the state would not move forward on a controversial and hugely expensive project to link San Francisco and Los Angeles via high speed rail.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom abandoning plan for high-speed train from Los Angeles to San Francisco, says too costly.

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Democrats and Republicans in last-ditch attempt to avert shutdown – live

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As President Trump prepared to speak at the border Monday in another expected call for a wall to curtail illegal immigration, Governor Gavin Newsom defended his decision to withdraw national guardsmen from the California-Mexico border, saying that “this whole border issue is manufactured.”

We’re live with @GavinNewsom as he discusses moving @theCAguard personnel from the border & redeploying them to focus on the actual threats California faces, not the White House’s manufactured crisis. #CaliforniaForAll https://t.co/bcd5KJB0xB

Cliff Sims, the former White House communications aide who wrote a tell-all about life working for President Trump, is suing the president, alleging that he used his campaign organization to selectively enforce nondisclosure agreements to silence or punish former employees, the New York Times is reporting.

Mr. Sims was a White House aide from the beginning of the administration. But it was the campaign organization that filed an arbitration claim against him last week, accusing him of violating the nondisclosure agreement he signed with it during the 2016 presidential race with the publication of his book, “Team of Vipers,” last month.

The White House had dozens of people sign such agreements at the beginning of the president’s term. But those agreements are widely seen as likely unenforceable. In the suit, Mr. Sims says he does not recall whether he signed one when he came to the White House.

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Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar announces presidential bid – video report

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Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota has joined the crowded field of Democratic candidates for 2020 that includes a historic number of women seeking the presidency.

The three-term senator, who is often characterised as “Minnesota nice” amid the rough-and-tumble of politics, is looking to be a contrast to Donald Trump’s brash personality and often vitriolic rhetoric.

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Elizabeth Warren launches 2020 bid with attack on ‘rigged politics’ – video

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Senator Elizabeth Warren has officially launched her presidential campaign in Massachusetts, calling for a more equal society and an end to corruption. 'This is the fight of our lives,' she told supporters in the city of Lawrence, the site of a historic workers' strike in 1912 led by women and immigrants

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‘Rigged system’: will Warren’s rage against the rich win over 2020 voters?

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While controversy around her heritage lingers, voters call the Democrat’s fight against economic injustice ‘inspiring’

On a cold, blustery January day in 1912, immigrant women walked out of the Everett Mill in the Massachusetts factory town of Lawrence demanding higher wages and better working conditions. Mill owners and city government responded in a swift and heavy-handed manner; local militias and police forces were called to the streets. Protesters died. Many more were arrested.

On a cold, blustery February day 117 years later, the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren stood in front of Everett Mill to announce her candidacy for president of the United States, channeling the spirit of those women as she told her supporters that they were in a fight for their lives against a rigged system that favors the rich and powerful.

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Senator Elizabeth Warren officially launches 2020 presidential campaign

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Massachusetts Democrat has emerged as one of Trump’s sharpest critics, calling him ‘a loud, nasty, thin-skinned fraud’

Senator Elizabeth Warren formally launched her presidential bid in Massachusetts on Saturday with a tough populist call to fight economic inequality – a message she hopes will distinguish her in a crowded Democratic field and help her move past the controversy over her prior claims to Native American heritage.

Warren – who walked on stage to the theme song from 9 to 5, the 1980s film about working women – kicked off her bid for the White House at a mill site where largely immigrant factory workers went on strike nearly 100 years ago, providing the longtime consumer advocate a fitting forum to advance her political platform.

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‘He’s a winner’: Iowa voters warm to Corey Booker as Democrat field heats up

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Senator kicks off campaign in crucial caucus state as race to take on Trump in 2020 gathers steam

Democratic Senator Cory Booker kicked off his presidential campaign in Iowa with a call for unity, warning a crowd in Waterloo on Friday afternoon against “surrendering to cynicism” and calling for a revival of “civic grace”.

“I believe in this country,” he said at Hawkeye Community College, on the first day of a weekend trip to the crucial caucus state that marks a key moment in the beginning of his bid for the Democratic nomination . “I believe in us as a people. I’ve seen what can happen when we come together.”

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Matt Whitaker set to testify before House committee following dispute – live

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Acting attorney general will be first Trump cabinet official to be brought before panel led by Democrats

A look at the front page of the Detroit Free Press memorializing John Dingell, the legendary US congressman who passed away on Thursday.

Ivanka Trump has said she knew “almost nothing” about the prospective Trump Tower project in Moscow that her father was pursuing during 2016 presidential election.

“We were an active business,” Trump said during an interview that aired Friday on ABC’s Good Morning America, while adding her knowledge of the project amounted to “literally almost nothing”.

EXCLUSIVE: Ivanka Trump has "zero concern" about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. https://t.co/4raDLDD6Xh pic.twitter.com/R18v6BW7gW

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Congress reportedly closer to deal to avert new shutdown – live

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Hopes raised for potential deal, reports suggest, to avert another government shutdown when bill expires on 15 February

The NAACP is urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject judicial nominees who refused to say that Brown vs. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court case that ended segregation in schools, was rightly decided.

A number of Trump judicial nominees considered by Senate Judiciary Committee today refused to say Brown v. Board of Education was correctly decided. For us, that is disqualifying. We urge the Senate to vote NO.

Georgia Rep. Rob Woodall will not seek re-election, per the Atlanta Journal Constitution. It’s a seat likely to be targeted by Democrats.

Breaking: #GA07 Rep. Rob Woodall (R), who won by just 419 votes last fall, to retire. Doesn't change @CookPolitical's Toss Up rating, but does vault #GA07 to the very top of Dems' list of pickup opportunities. https://t.co/XS4PeDhFrA

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Virginia: woman who accused lieutenant governor of sexual assault speaks out – live

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After attorney general admits wearing blackface in 1980s, lieutenant governor accused of attack in 2004

It was a quiet ending to an eventful day. Thanks for sticking with us, everyone.

Paul Erickson, the boyfriend of Maria Butina, the Russian national who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to influence US politics during the 2016 presidential election, was indicted by a federal grand jury in South Dakota on charges of wire fraud and money laundering, the Daily Beast is reporting.

The case against Erickson, a conservative US political activist and National Rifle Association insider, does not appear to be linked to the foreign agent case against Butina, who tried to infiltrate the NRA and relay intelligence on American politicians to a Russian government official.

Erickson was arrested on Feb. 6 and entered a plea of not guilty, according to the court filings.

The indictment alleges that Erickson ran a criminal scheme from 1996 to 2018 using a chain of assisted living homes called Compass Care. Erickson also allegedly defrauded investors through a company called Investing with Dignity that claimed to be “in the business of developing a wheelchair that allowed people to go to the bathroom without being lifted out of the wheelchair.” The indictment says he also ran a fraudulent scheme that claimed to be building homes in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota.

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