Key Democrats and election analysts say more needs to be done to ensure safe elections free from ‘foreign malicious actors’
Potential electronic voting equipment failures and cyber attacks from Russia and other countries pose persistent threats to the 2020 elections, election security analysts and key Democrats warn.
Related: Embassy protesters in Iraq deal symbolic blow to US prestige
Continue reading...Biden is too gaffe-prone; Sanders and Warren are too far left; Buttigieg, too young. But which one is capable of beating Trump?
Democrats overwhelmingly agree that their top priority in 2020 is to remove Donald Trump from office. But which of the many Democrats running for president is best suited to the task remains a source of deep anxiety and division less than five weeks before the Iowa caucuses.
After more than a year of campaigning, the Democratic presidential primary enters the final sprint before voting begins on 3 February in Iowa in a familiar but fluid state: Joe Biden in the lead, trailed by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren with Pete Buttigieg also showing signs of strength in the early states.
Continue reading...Trump heads to Florida for the holidays as Senate adjourned until January without agreeing to impeachment trial procedures
Nancy Pelosi promised as speaker she would “show the power of the gavel”. This year, she laid it out for all to see.
The past week alone, the Democratic leader delivered a $1.4tn government funding package to stop a shutdown, pushed through the bipartisan US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, and passed her party’s plan to lower prescription drug costs. In between, she led a congressional delegation to Europe for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.
Continue reading...Exclusive: the Vermont senator speaks to the Guardian about his rivals’ support from billionaires, and his plan to beat Trump
Bernie Sanders on Friday doubled down on criticism of fellow Democratic presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden over the support they’ve received from billionaire donors, arguing his 2020 rivals’ fundraising was “exactly the problem with American politics”.
Related: Billionaire candidates spent $15m on TV ads in California. What if they'd spent it on housing?
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That’s all from me. Thanks for sticking around for the tail end of this momentous week.
Here’s a summary of the day’s major stories:
Bernie Sanders spoke with my colleague Sam Levin this morning, and reiterated his critique of Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden and billionaires:
They will tell you, ‘It doesn’t impact me. It really doesn’t mean anything to me.’ That is clearly nonsensical. Why would billionaires and wealthy people be making large contributions if it didn’t mean something to them?
The United Kingdom, last I heard, is not the United States. Brexit is not a major part of what this campaign is about. The issues that I am campaigning on, in fact, are precisely the issues the American people support. Talk about raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. Four years ago when I introduced that concept, it was a radical idea. Not radical anymore.
Buttigieg was targeted by opponents and Elizabeth Warren had the best line of the night. But there were no clear winners
This was a lively one. The latest Democratic debate won’t change the course of the presidential primary – debates generally don’t. But there were a few spirited clashes between candidates that served to highlight crucial differences.
Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg repeatedly locked horns, even though the differences between them politically are not substantial. It is clear that Klobuchar has an intense dislike for Buttigieg: she professed herself insulted by his previous comments about the limited value of “Washington experience”, pointing out that Buttigieg had never managed to win a statewide election. Buttigieg, for his part, gave a righteously indignant defense of the significance of small-town America that could have been scripted by Aaron Sorkin. (You might not think we matter out in South Bend, Senator, but the firefighters and teachers I proudly serve – this is not an exact quote, but you get the picture.)
Continue reading...Candidates take the stage at Loyola Marymount University as impeachment dominates the headlines
The Guardian’s Lois Beckett is in Los Angeles and has been speaking with voters ahead of tonight’s debate. Here’s what they had to say about the respective candidates ….
.@stephenroelewis, 50, and his son Daniel Roe Lewis, 20, are here from the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. Daniel supports Sanders, for his strong environmental platform; and Yang, for his universal basic income plan. pic.twitter.com/ZH0kJileif
Two LA friends outside the debate, talking about Warren’s electability.
Warren is from the Midwest, Beatina says. “She has that Midwest nice thing.”
“Does she?” Christine asks, very skeptical. To her, Warren reads as very Northeast. pic.twitter.com/Tojd6w8Tci
Alayshia Barker-Vaughn, 18, is leaning towards Elizabeth Warren. She likes her outreach to voters of color, her focus on healthcare, the fact she’s a woman, and her “charisma.”
“Her charisma & how she engages with an audience is very unique.” pic.twitter.com/J6UlMDGc2w
The sixth Democratic debate is officially underway, and seven candidates will now face off the day after the impeachment of Donald Trump.
Continue reading...The House speaker sternly shut down House Democrats who began to clap as she announced the results of a vote on the first of two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump.
Pelosi said the vote, on Wednesday, was a 'sad' occasion and that it was 'tragic' the president’s reckless actions had made it necessary.
Trump will be wounded, seething, hellbent on revenge – and turn the weight of impeachment against his foes in 2020
After Donald Trump’s inaugural address, George W Bush turned to Hillary Clinton and said: “Well, that was some weird shit,” the former secretary of state confirmed earlier this month.
For nearly three years since that chilly day here at the US Capitol in Washington, Democrats (and many others) have accused of Trump using and abusing the United States like his personal punchbag. On Wednesday, that slice of America finally punched back via impeachment.
Continue reading...President sends six-page letter to House speaker Nancy Pelosi condemning inquiry as ‘unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power’
A message from the Guardian US editor-in-chief:
This year, readers across all 50 states supported our journalism, allowing us to thrive in a challenging climate for publishers. Thank you.
Here’s a recap of today:
Related: Trump impeachment inquiry: a timeline of key events so far
Continue reading...Letter is a thinly veiled attempt to redirect back impeachment inquiry’s findings he abused power and obstructed Congress
Donald Trump has accused Democratic leaders in the House of declaring “open war on American democracy”, on the eve of a historic vote that is likely to make him only the third president in US history to be impeached.
Trump issued the incendiary accusation in an intemperately-worded letter sent to the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, on Tuesday.
Continue reading...The billionaire is controversially dodging the early voting states amid a $100m ad blitz but some see a wider boost for the party
House Democrats received some welcome news on Wednesday: Michael Bloomberg was coming to their rescue once again.
Related: Amy Klobuchar: 'I will reverse Trump abortion policies in the first 100 days'
Continue reading...Two-time World Cup champion Megan Rapinoe has announced her support for the Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren.
“I truly believe the best things in life are a result of being bold and being real,” wrote the soccer star, whom Sports Illustrated this week named Sportsperson of the Year.
Continue reading...All the Democratic presidential candidates slated to participate in next week’s debate have threatened to skip the event if an ongoing labor dispute forces them to cross picket lines on the university campus where the debate will be hosted.
A labor union says it will picket as Loyola Marymount University hosts Thursday’s sixth Democratic debate, and Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders responded by tweeting they would not participate if that meant crossing it. Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang followed suit.
Continue reading...Judiciary committee approved two articles on party lines, setting up vote for full House next week
There’s a workers’ strike at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, the location of next week’s Democratic debate - which has prompted, at this point, six of the seven candidates who’ve qualified to participate, to threaten to boycott the event.
They say they’ll refuse to cross the picket line. Out of Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Tom Steyer, Andrew Yang and Amy Klobuchar, who are the seven who’ve qualified for the debate, all but Klobuchar are saying this afternoon that they stand in solidarity with the workers and won’t cross their picket line. Warren was first to announce her decision.
.@UniteHere11 is fighting for better wages and benefits—and I stand with them. The DNC should find a solution that lives up to our party's commitment to fight for working people. I will not cross the union's picket line even if it means missing the debate.
I take the debate stage to stand up for workers’ rights, not to undermine them.
I stand in solidarity with the workers of @UNITEHERE11 at Loyola Marymount University and I will not cross their picket line.
Representative Ilhan Omar is out campaigning with Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire today, per her Twitter account. They’re doing a town hall together.
In New Hampshire today with the one and only @BernieSanders!
Follow along on my Instagram story (@ilhanmn). pic.twitter.com/JsglilSDWn
A Green New Deal is the only plan bold enough to confront the climate crisis.
The political establishment may not understand that, but the young people of the @sunrisemvmt do.
Their leadership is going to save the planet. pic.twitter.com/88RJxxBDiB
Judiciary committee voted on Friday morning to approve two articles on a straight party-line vote
On a straight party-line vote, the House judiciary committee voted on Friday morning to move two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump to the House floor, in a crucial final stage before impeachment itself.
A full House vote on whether to impeach the president was expected to be taken as early as Wednesday. Trump would be the third president in American history to be impeached.
Continue reading...Two articles of impeachment charge the president with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress
Democrats announced Tuesday that they are weighing two articles of impeachment, charging Donald Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Here are five key takeaways:
Continue reading...House Democrats have introduced two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump for high crimes and misdemeanours. At a press conference announcing the move, the House judiciary committee chair Jerry Nadler accused the president of betraying public trust and endangering US national security to benefit himself
The Democratic chairman of the House judiciary committee, Jerry Nadler, has not ruled out including evidence from the Mueller report in articles of impeachment against Donald Trump that could be published as early as next week.
On Sunday, Nadler told CNN’s State of the Union evidence showed the president’s conduct in the Ukraine scandal was part of “a pattern”, indicating “that the president put himself above this country several times”.
Continue reading...The House judiciary committee released a report on the constitutional grounds for impeachment on Saturday. Shortly after that, Donald Trump once again insisted the whole thing was a “witch hunt” and “a total hoax”.
Related: White House dismisses invitation to take part in key impeachment hearing
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