Former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, leaves the race to take on Donald Trump after a poor showing in the South Carolina primary
Pete Buttigieg has ended his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination with a call for Democrats to unite in their fight to beat Donald Trump in the election.
Related: People turn backs on Mike Bloomberg at Bloody Sunday church service in Selma
Continue reading...The 38-year old former Indiana mayor has dropped out of the Democratic primary race after early success in Iowa and New Hampshire
Pete Buttigieg, the former Indiana mayor whose long-shot bid for the presidency saw brief success in Iowa and New Hampshire, has dropped out of the Democratic primary.
When Buttigieg launched his campaign in April of last year, the millennial mayor of the fourth-largest city in Indiana acknowledged his relative lack of experience in a growing primary field that came to include a former vice president, multiple senators and mayors of much larger cities.
Continue reading...Joe Biden delivered a landslide victory in the South Carolina primary vote on Saturday, breathing new life into his presidential campaign and establishing himself as the main moderate competitor to Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Related: Decisive South Carolina win puts Biden at front of Democrats' centrist pack
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It’s been a busy day in US politics. Here’s a rundown of the top stories:
Trump is ad-libbing on the coronavirus at his rally in South Carolina, Oliver Laughland reports.
Trump is ad libbing significantly. Breaking off from prepared remarks on coronavirus to ask Graham and Scott to pass legislation that allows him to serve for 25 years
“Lets term limit ourselves at 25 years. Tim pass it in the senate with Lindsey. A 25 year term limit, please.”
We are doing everything in our power to keep the infection and those carrying the infection from entering the country. We have no choice. Whether it’s the virus that we’re talking about, or the many other public health threats, the Democrat policy of open borders is a direct threat to the health and wellbeing of all Americans.
Now you see it with the coronavirus… when you have this virus, or any other virus, or any other problem coming in, it’s not the only thing that comes in through the border… and we’re setting records at the border, we’re setting records, and now, just using this, important, so important.
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The US Dept. of Justice announced it had created a division tasked with denaturalizing immigrants.
The Denaturalization Section “underscores the department’s commitment to bring justice to terrorists, war criminals, sex offenders and other fraudsters who illegally obtained naturalization” officials said in a statement.
Denaturalizations have ramped up under the Trump administration: Of the 228 denaturalization cases that the department has filed since 2008, about 40 percent of them were filed since 2017, according to official department numbers.
According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, actor Steven Seagal allegedly failed to disclose a promotional agreement related to cryptocurrencies.
The SEC alleges Seagal accepted $250,000 in cash and $750,000 worth of Bitcoiin2Gen (B2G) tokens in exchange for online promotion of the currency, including “posts on his public social media accounts encouraging the public not to ‘miss out’”.
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Back to the fall-out from last night’s Democratic debate. With a crowded field it was the last TV opportunity for one of the candidates who isn’t Bernie Sanders to have a break-out moment that could propel them towards next week’s Super Tuesday.
That, according to Ryan Lizza in Politico, is not what happened.
By the end, it was clear that there was no Bernie slayer at the lecterns in Charleston, someone who alone had the time and skills to convince Democratic voters that the democratic socialist was a radical whose nomination would forfeit the party’s chance to defeat Trump.
The court hearing in London into the US attempt to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is underway again. Journalist James Doleman is tweeting from the court.
Judge returns to court and proceedings resume.#Assange
Related: Julian Assange was 'handcuffed 11 times and stripped naked'
Continue reading...Candidates bickered and shouted over each other in sharp exchanges in debate before Super Tuesday contests
The Democratic presidential candidates engaged in a series of chaotic and fiery exchanges on Tuesday night, in the final debate before the critical South Carolina presidential primary and Super Tuesday contests that could represent a make-or-break moment.
Senator Bernie Sanders, the frontrunner who cruised to victory in Nevada last week, bore the brunt of criticism from a number of his centrist rivals, including the former vice-president Joe Biden, the ex-New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, and Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
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Bernie Sanders was asked why he voted to protect gun manufacturers from legal liability, which other candidates have criticized him for.
Sanders initially tried to pivot to criticizing Joe Biden for his record on trade deals, which prompted boos from the Charleston audience.
Elizabeth Warren has so far directed more criticism at Mike Bloomberg than Bernie Sanders, the frontrunner in the primary race.
As another progressive senator, Warren will likely need to pick off some of Sanders’ supporters to have any chance of the nomination.
The difference between how aggressively Warren goes after Bernie (the front runner & existential threat to her candidacy), and Bloomberg (who she clearly despises), is something to behold.
Continue reading...In the aftermath of Bernie Sanders’ victory in Nevada and as the South Carolina primary looms, the Democratic party establishment continues to grapple with the increasing likelihood that the Vermont senator, a self-proclaimed socialist, will be its nominee for president.
Related: Trump holds rally in India while Steyer qualifies for South Carolina debate – live
Continue reading...Strong results in New Hampshire and Iowa helped the senator achieve a landslide victory. He is clearly in the lead to win the democratic nominations and take on Donald Trump in a presidential election. Sanders’ rivals congratulated him but galvanised their supporters as they looked ahead to the South Carolina race and Super Tuesday in March, when 14 states will vote
Continue reading...Bernie Sanders has celebrated a huge win at the caucuses in Nevada, putting him clearly in front of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination a week before the South Carolina primary and then Super Tuesday on 3 March, when 14 states will vote.
Sanders, who had already moved on to San Antonio Texas, celebrated a win that 'brought together a multigenerational, multiracial coalition' after winning in Nevada, a state that is nearly 30% Latino, 10% black and has a rapidly growing Asian American community
Saturday’s caucuses were the first real test of Latino support in the Democratic primary – and the result was promising for Sanders
The senator from one of the whitest states in the US on Saturday trounced his rivals in the first primary of the 2020 election cycle that actually reflects the racial diversity of the country and the Democratic party.
The Vermont senator Bernie Sanders won a resounding victory in Nevada, buoyed by strong support among Latino voters. Sanders’ victory in the desert state strengthens his position as the party’s frontrunner and sends him into the next, high-stakes phase of the primary with a burst of momentum.
Continue reading...The Vermont senator was alone in saying he would back whoever won a plurality of delegates – with others open to superdelegates tipping the balance for another candidate at the convention
Amid the Mike Bloomberg pile-on and the Pete Buttigieg-Amy Klobuchar squabbling, there was a key point that slipped by almost unnoticed during Wednesday’s tumultuous Democratic debate – one that could potentially prevent Bernie Sanders from becoming the nominee.
Towards the end, each of the six candidates was asked if – at the Democratic national convention this summer in Milwaukee – they would support the person who has won the most delegates – even if that person hasn’t achieved a majority.
Continue reading...Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg fiercely attacked Mike Bloomberg on his first Democratic debate appearance.
Senator Warren led the assault, challenging the former New York mayor to release women at his company from non-disclosure agreements they signed while settling lawsuits. Bloomberg defended his record, saying: 'In my company, lots and lots of women have big responsibilities.'
Here are the key clashes from the ninth Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas
Continue reading...The top six Democratic presidential candidates faced off in Las Vegas on Wednesday in the most combative debate of the election and days before the high-stakes caucuses in Nevada.
It was the first debate for Mike Bloomberg, and the former New York mayor’s rivals in the Democratic race for president immediately took aim – attacking him for his legacy on racist policing and reports of sexist comments and discrimination at his companies.
Continue reading...Mike Bloomberg has come under attack in Las Vegas from his Democratic rivals after taking part in his first debate. The former New York mayor was criticised for the city's stop-and-frisk policy, his wealth and the non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) several women at his company have signed while settling lawsuits. Elizabeth Warren repeatedly urged him to disclose how many NDAs women had signed and to let the women speak freely. Bloomberg refused to answer her direct questions, leading to boos from the crowd. “I hope you heard what his defence was: ‘I’ve been nice to some women,” Warren said
The White House said that Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke over the phone yesterday.
“The two leaders discussed the importance of NATO, French and United States counterterrorism efforts in the Sahel, and other bilateral issues,” the readout says.
Bernie Sanders may also be asked about this during tonight’s debate: the Atlantic is reporting that the Vermont senator considered challenging Barack Obama for the 2012 Democratic nomination.
The Atlantic reports:
Bernie Sanders got so close to running a primary challenge to President Barack Obama that Senator Harry Reid had to intervene to stop him.
It took Reid two conversations over the summer of 2011 to get Sanders to scrap the idea, according to multiple people who remember the incident, which has not been previously reported.
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The good polling news for Michael Bloomberg just keeps on coming this morning.
A new poll from Oklahoma, which will also hold its primary on Super Tuesday, shows Bloomberg leading the field with 20%.
In addition to qualifying for the next Democratic debate, Michael Bloomberg also got some good news from a Virginia poll out this morning.
According to the Monmouth University survey, Bloomberg and Bernie Sanders are tied among likely voters in Virginia, which will hold its primary on Super Tuesday.
Continue reading...Some Democratic observers fear their party is following the British left’s road to defeat
British politics rarely intrudes into a US presidential election. In 1988, Joe Biden was forced to abandon his first bid for the White House after it emerged that he had quoted without attribution a chunk of oratory from the then Labour party leader, Neil Kinnock. In 2016, Donald Trump deployed Nigel Farage as an occasional mascot on the stump, the Brexit victory in that year’s referendum deemed a happy omen that populists could defy the odds and win. In 2020, a third name has surfaced, offered as a cautionary tale to a Democratic party that this week confirmed a septuagenarian radical socialist and longtime backbench rebel as its frontrunner. That name is Jeremy Corbyn.
“I don’t want the Democratic party of the United States to be the Labour party of the United Kingdom,” James Carville, the victorious manager of Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, told audiences on cable TV and in New Hampshire this week, warning that if Democrats nominate Bernie Sanders, they will almost certainly be following Corbyn’s Labour party to defeat.
Continue reading...Troy Price says he is ‘deeply sorry for what happened’ at derailed event, as results remain unclear
The chair of the Iowa Democratic party, who oversaw a chaotic caucus last week that still has not yielded final results, resigned from his position on Wednesday.
Troy Price, who has been the head of the state’s Democratic party since 2017, apologized for what had happened on caucus night.
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