Category Archives: Democrats

Donald Trump arrives in Florida on eve of arraignment; Miami police say they can handle crowds of up to 50,000 – live

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Former US president lands in Miami ahead of court appearance on Tuesday; Miami officials detailed security measures in press briefing

The White House said Joe Biden will not be under anesthesia during his root canal today, meaning the 25th amendment won’t be invoked.

Ratified in 1967, the amendment is one of the most recent additions to the constitution, and outlines the procedure for the vice-president to temporarily assume the president’s duties at the chief executive’s request. In November 2021, Biden used its authority to hand power to Kamala Harris while he underwent a colonoscopy.

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Donald Trump kept boxes with US nuclear program documents and foreign weapons details, indictment says – as it happened

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Indictment accuses former president of risking national security, foreign relations, safety of US military and intelligence gathering

The US senate judiciary committee chairman, Dick Durbin, has said the investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith should be allowed to continue “without interference”.

In a statement on Friday, Durbin added that Donald Trump “should be afforded the due process protections that he is guaranteed by our constitution, just like any other American”.

I think before the sun sets today, the attorney general of the United States should be standing in front of the American people, should unseal this indictment, should provide the American people with all the facts and information here.

And the American people be able to judge for themselves whether this is just the latest incident of weaponization and politicization at the justice department or it’s something different.

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Mike Pence: ‘Trump asked me to choose him or the constitution – I chose the constitution’ – as it happened

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Former US vice president says was proud to stand by Trump but goes on to criticise attempts to overturn election result in Iowa campaign launch

We’re about an hour away from Mike Pence’s campaign launch in Iowa, and a CBS News reporter at the event noticed something telling in his campaign’s arrangements for the media.

As noted below, the password for the wifi provided to journalists seems to be a reference to Pence’s refusal to go along with Trump’s demand that he block Congress’s certification of Joe Biden’s election win on January 6:

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Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie announces 2024 presidential run – as it happened

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House Republicans say they plan to vote on holding FBI director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress for declining to turn over a document outlining an unverified allegation of corruption against Joe Biden.

As the Associated Press reports, Republican House oversight committee chair James Comer along with GOP senator Chuck Grassley last month said they had heard the FBI possesses a document detailing “an alleged criminal scheme” “relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions” between a foreign national and Biden when he was vice-president. While Comer and other Republicans have played up the allegation, they haven’t offered any proof to substantiate it.

Three months before saboteurs bombed the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline, the Biden administration learned from a close ally that the Ukrainian military had planned a covert attack on the undersea network, using a small team of divers who reported directly to the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.

Details about the plan, which have not been previously reported, were collected by a European intelligence service and shared with the CIA in June 2022. They provide some of the most specific evidence to date linking the government of Ukraine to the eventual attack in the Baltic Sea, which U.S. and Western officials have called a brazen and dangerous act of sabotage on Europe’s energy infrastructure.

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Mike Pence officially enters 2024 US presidential race, pitting himself against former boss Donald Trump – as it happened

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Former vice president filed papers on Monday; Democrats criticise Haley on abortion stance after CNN town hall

Donald Trump’s lawyers are at the justice department today to argue to top officials that the former president should not be charged over the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, the Washington Post reports.

The attorneys at the meeting include John Rowley and James Trusty, who last month sent a letter to attorney general Merrick Garland, asking for a meeting and complaining about the investigation into Trump, which is led by special counsel Jack Smith.

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Biden signs debt ceiling bill after months-long standoff, avoiding default

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Kevin McCarthy, the House speaker, secured a number of cuts on federal spending, with the borrowing limit suspended until 2025

Joe Biden signed a bill on Saturday to suspend the US debt ceiling, ending a months-long standoff with the Republican House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, and averting a federal default that could have upended the world economy.

Economists warned that a default could have caused the US unemployment rate to double while significantly damaging gross domestic product.

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‘I still hate politics’: Gisele Barreto Fetterman, wife of US senator, hits out

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Wife of Democratic Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman adds US political scene is ‘mean’ in interview with MSNBC

Gisele Barreto Fetterman, married to a former mayor and lieutenant governor who is now a US senator, regrets how “mean” the US political scene has become, saying: “I still hate politics.”

The wife of the Democratic Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman was speaking to MSNBC in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday.

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Joe Biden hails ‘big win’ as bipartisan debt ceiling bill reaches his desk

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Compromise package to suspend debt ceiling passed US Senate late on Thursday with 63 votes to 36

The bipartisan bill to solve the US debt ceiling crisis just days before a catastrophic and unprecedented default was on its way to Joe Biden’s desk on Friday as the US president prepared to address the nation and hailed “a big win for our economy and the American people”.

The compromise package negotiated between Biden and the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, passed the US Senate late on Thursday.

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Biden falls on stage at air force academy ceremony; Senate blocks student relief program – live

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US president took a tumble at the end of a ceremony honoring air force graduates in Colorado; White House vows to use veto

Supreme court justices on Thursday took aim at pharmacies who overcharge the government for prescription drugs, their unanimous ruling reopening a pathway for legal action by individuals seeking to protect taxpayers’ money.

The case involves “whistleblowers” ostensibly acting for the government, whom a lower court said could not sue pharmacies claiming their own “objectively reasonable” reading of the law allowed them to overbill federal health programs including Medicare and Medicaid.

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US debt ceiling: Republican hard-right vows to sink deal hours before vote expected

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Freedom caucus has attacked House leader Kevin McCarthy’s deal with Joe Biden to raise the debt ceiling before the default deadline of 5 June

Members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus have attacked the proposed spending cuts in the debt ceiling bill as woefully inadequate, and vowed to oppose the legislation when it hits the floor.

“We had the time to act, and this deal fails – fails completely,” Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, chair of the Freedom Caucus, said on Tuesday. “We will do everything in our power to stop it and end it now.”

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US debt ceiling deal: House rules committee debates bill amid criticism on both sides – as it happened

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Committee debate comes amid opposition from both sides to agreement that would stave off a catastrophic default

Members of the House Freedom Caucus have said they will rethink the House speaker leadership if the debt ceiling agreement passes.

During a Tuesday press conference outside of the Capitol, several House Freedom Caucus members spoke out against the Biden-McCarthy deal.

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US political leaders push for lawmakers’ support on debt ceiling deal

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Some members of Congress question if they received enough concessions in Biden and McCarthy’s agreement

US political leaders appeared bullish on Monday that they can sell a bipartisan compromise debt ceiling deal to enough mainstream lawmakers – overcoming boisterous criticism from left and right – urgently enough to avert a first-ever national default on the $31.4tn the US owes creditors.

Despite a lot of diplomacy and even arm-twisting still to come on Capitol Hill in the next few days, Joe Biden left the White House to head to Delaware on Monday afternoon smiling and teasing reporters as he took questions, while the first lady, Jill Biden, waited on the lawn.

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Biden and McCarthy hold debt ceiling talks amid signs a deal is close

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Default deadline pushed to 5 June as work requirements for food aid recipients reportedly emerge as final sticking point

President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy held a phone conversation on Saturday evening, according to a person familiar with their plans, amid signs that a deal in the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations was close to being struck.

McCarthy said earlier on Saturday that he was making “progress” in negotiations on raising the federal government’s debt ceiling, as the nation faced risk of default in little more than a week.

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Judge pauses South Carolina abortion ban; emerging debt ceiling agreement ‘has fewer cuts than expected’ – live

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Temporary block on restrictions until state supreme court can review; Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy reportedly closing in on a deal

A judge has blocked a South Carolina law enacted this week that bans most abortions past the six-week mark, a point at which most women are not yet aware they are pregnant, the Associated Press reports.

The ruling by judge Clifton Newman is the latest complication conservative state lawmakers have faced as they move to cut off abortion access following the supreme court’s decision last year overturning Roe v Wade and allowing states to restrict the procedure entirely. Newman ordered the law put on hold until the state supreme court can review it, in a ruling that came 24 hours after the law was signed by governor Henry McMaster, the AP reports.

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Biden ‘optimistic’ of debt ceiling deal as Yellen extends deadline to 5 June

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Lawmakers on call over Memorial Day weekend as treasury secretary revises estimate of when US will run out of money

Unless Congress raises the debt ceiling, the US will run out of money to pay its bills by 5 June, the treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, said on Friday as Democratic and Republican negotiators struggled to reach a deal.

Failure to raise the debt celling could trigger a default that could wreak havoc on the economy and global markets. Yellen’s announcement gives negotiators a little more time to come to an agreement.

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Debt ceiling deal within sight as Biden and Republicans continue to negotiate

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House adjourned for holiday weekend, but lawmakers could be recalled to vote on deal if agreement is reached

Joe Biden and Republican lawmakers on Thursday appeared to be nearing a deal to cut spending and raise the debt ceiling, with little time to spare to avoid a potential default that could wreak havoc on the economy and global markets.

The deal under consideration by negotiators would raise the government’s $31.4tn debt ceiling for two years while capping spending on most items, a US official told Reuters. It would also increase funding for discretionary spending on military and veterans while essentially holding non-defense discretionary spending at current year levels, the official said.

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Ron DeSantis faces battle against Trump for Republican nomination after Twitter launch descends into farce – live

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Florida governor’s campaign gets off to shaky start after launch was marred by glitches

The House has finished its legislative work for the week, and members are preparing to go home for Memorial Day weekend without a deal reached on raising the debt ceiling.

The House speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy, told reporters this morning that debt ceiling talks continued well past midnight last night, and negotiators are working around the clock until a deal is reached.

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Ron DeSantis attacks Covid measures, media and praises Musk-led Twitter during campaign launch – follow live

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Florida governor announces candidacy for the Republican nomination

With the executive and legislative branches locked in a standoff over raising the debt ceiling, let’s check on the third branch of government: the judiciary. The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports that supreme court chief justice John Roberts gave a speech in which he vowed that the court would maintain the highest ethical standards, despite allegations of improper ties between some justices and parties with interests in their cases:

The chief justice of the US supreme court, John Roberts, said he and the other justices were working to hold themselves to the “highest standards” of ethical conduct.

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US debt ceiling crisis live: Treasury secretary Janet Yellen confirms 1 June deadline as deal remains elusive

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Yellen tells Congress there is unlikely to be any wiggle room if catastrophic default is to be avoided

Fresh off of winning an expensive civil judgment against Donald Trump, advice columnist E Jean Carroll is once again suing the former president over statements he made about her on CNN:

The author and columnist E Jean Carroll will go back to court to demand “very substantial” additional damages from Donald Trump for the disparaging remarks he made about her during a televised CNN town hall just a day after he was found liable in a civil case for sexually assaulting her.

Judge Juan Manuel Merchan agreed to the extra step of personally instructing Trump on the restrictions after listing them May 8 in what’s known as a protective order.

Trump is allowed to speak publicly about the case, but he risks being held in contempt if he uses evidence turned over by prosecutors in the pretrial discovery process to target witnesses or others involved in the case.

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Ron DeSantis claims only ‘Biden and me’ have a winning chance in 2024 US presidential race, report says – live

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Republican Florida governor reportedly dismissed Donald Trump’s chances as he gears up to announce his candidacy on Wednesday

The odds for Republican presidential candidates who are not Donald Trump appear to be long, but that doesn’t mean running is a bad idea. The former president is in an array of legal trouble, facing a felony indictment in New York City and an ongoing investigation by justice department special counsel Jack Smith. Meanwhile, in Georgia, the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports that we could learn whether a county district attorney will bring charges against Trump or his allies in late July. If any of these matters became serious enough to knock him out of the race, candidates like Tim Scott or Ron DeSantis could benefit:

The Fulton county district attorney investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state of Georgia signalled Thursday that charging decisions in the case may come starting the final week of July, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

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