Trump ally Daines confirms resignation and withdraws bid for a third term, saying: ‘It is time for new leaders’
Republican US senator Steve Daines of Montana dropped his bid for re-election to a third term Wednesday.
Daines withdrew his name just minutes before the deadline for candidates to file for the November election with the Montana secretary of state’s office. Daines confirmed his resignation in a written statement as well as a video posted to social media.
Continue reading...Ruling retains boundaries for 2026 elections despite state court ruling it was unfair to Black and Hispanic residents
The supreme court on Monday sided with Republicans in ruling that the boundaries of the only GOP-held congressional district in New York City do not need to be redrawn for the 2026 elections, despite a court ruling that the district is unfair to Black and Hispanic residents.
Over the dissent of the court’s three liberal justices, the conservative majority halted the state court ruling that had ordered New York’s redistricting commission to redraw the district held by Nicole Malliotakis that covers Staten Island and a small piece of Brooklyn.
Continue reading...Lawmakers from Sanders to Mark Kelly offer mixed feelings on Trump’s action and killing of Iranian supreme leader
As Republicans celebrated the death of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with praise for Donald Trump’s decisive action, Democrats faced their own divisions and a reckoning over how to present a united front.
Most were quick to condemn the US president for sidelining Congress to launch an illegal and unconstitutional war and demanded a swift vote on a war powers resolution that would restrain his military onslaught.
Continue reading...Republican Tony Gonzales allegedly pressured Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, who died by suicide, into sexual relationship
US congressman Tony Gonzales refused growing calls to resign from his fellow Republicans on Tuesday amid a furore over allegations that he had an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide.
Gonzales has been accused of sending sexually explicit text messages in which he appeared to pressure the senior staffer to share images of herself and, eventually, coerced her into a sexual relationship.
In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Sam Forstag, who parachutes from planes to fight wildfires, believes pro-worker polices can flip district from Trump ally
Sam Forstag is used to launching himself into heated territory.
As a smokejumper, his job is to jump out of airplanes 3,000 feet in the air and parachute down into the Montana wilderness. Going by air is often the easiest way to access the remote wilderness and combat the wildfires that burn an average of 7.2 million acres a year in the state.
Continue reading...From the classic To Kill a Mockingbird to blockbuster Gone in 60 Seconds, the Oscar-winning actor’s films spanned a remarkable range
Robert Duvall, the veteran actor who had a string of roles in classic American films including Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, M*A*S*H and To Kill a Mockingbird, has died aged 95.
“Bob passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort,” wrote his wife, Luciana Duvall, in a message on Facebook.
Continue reading...Lawsuit filed in West Virginia maintained that Justice and his wife received notice of the funds due since 2009 but didn’t pay
Jim Justice, the Republican US senator, and his wife have agreed to pay more than $5m that the couple owes in back taxes shortly after they were sued over the 16-year-old debt by the federal government.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in their home state of West Virginia, maintained that the Justices had received notice from the US treasury department of the funds due since 2009 but had “neglected or refused to make full payment of those assessments”.
Continue reading...Members of rightwing base disorientated by cordial Oval Office meeting – but not all Trump supporters downcast
A flurry of social media posts from Maga influencers have laid bare the disorientation felt by members of Trump’s base at the spectacle of Friday’s cordial Oval Office meeting with Mamdani, who the president previously painted as a “communist lunatic”.
“Wild to allow a jihadist communist to stand behind the president’s desk in the Oval Office. Sad to see,” wrote far-right activist Laura Loomer, one of Trump’s most fervent online backers.
Continue reading...Mark Kelly, a veteran and Democrat targeted by Trump over military comments, says he is ‘not going to be intimidated’
Senator Mark Kelly on Sunday urged congressional Republicans to publicly reject Trump’s threats against him and five other Democratic lawmakers who stated that military personnel are not obligated to follow illegal commands.
“We’ve heard very little, basically crickets, from Republicans in the United States Congress about what the president has said about hanging members of Congress,” Kelly, of Arizona, said on CBS’s Face the Nation.
Continue reading...Users posing as rightwing Americans are operating internationally, per the platform’s transparency feature
Many of the most influential personalities in the “Make America great again” (Maga) movement on X are based outside of the US, including Russia, Nigeria and India, a new transparency feature on the social media site has revealed.
The new tool, called “about this account,” became available on Friday to users of the Elon Musk-owned platform. It allows anyone to see where an account is located, when it joined the platform, how often its username has been changed, and how the X app was downloaded.
Continue reading...Some Republicans offered congresswoman plaudits, but AOC was scathing in her dismissal of her frequent sparring partner
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s surprise resignation from Congress late on Friday, saying she refused to be a “battered wife” following her public fallout with Donald Trump, has been slammed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic congresswoman and Greene’s frequent sparring partner.
“She’s carefully timing her departure just 1-2 days after her pension kicks in,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement on her Instagram account, and criticized her voting record on healthcare.
Continue reading...Georgia representative had said she had received death threats and was called a ‘traitor’ by Trump over Epstein vote
Marjorie Taylor Greene announced on Friday evening she will be resigning from office effective 25 January.
The Republican congresswoman who was denounced by Donald Trump over her support for the release of the Epstein files, explained her decision in a 10-minute social media video posted on X.
Continue reading...‘Morale is completely lost,’ say workers as Trump administration strips some programs and transfers others
Donald Trump’s bid to gut the US Department of Education “makes no sense”, according to workers inside the federal agency, who accuse the administration of trying to make their lives “as difficult and traumatic as possible”.
Three employees inside the department spoke to the Guardian, with one warning that morale has been “completely lost”, 10 months after Trump returned to the White House. All requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.
Continue reading...Great and good pay tribute in Washington but honouring of former vice-president was an exercise in omission
You suspected that Maga had not conquered the Washington national cathedral when Bill Kristol was spotted at a men’s urinal conversing with Chris Wallace. You knew it for sure when James Carville, Anthony Fauci and Rachel Maddow were seen sitting close to one another in the nave.
The funeral of the 46th US vice-president, Dick Cheney, who died earlier this month aged 84, was a throwback to a less raucous and rancorous time. Ex-presidents and vice-presidents, Democratic and Republican, made small talk, but Donald Trump, who spent Thursday crying treason and calling for Democrats to be put to death, and his deputy JD Vance were not invited.
Continue reading...President attacks Democrats in post on Truth Social after US lawmakers swiftly move bill through Congress
Donald Trump signed a bill Wednesday directing the justice department to release files from the investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, surrendering in the face of joint pressure from Democratic opponents and the president’s conservative base.
The signature marked a sharp reversal for Trump, who had the authority as president to release the documents himself, but chose not to.
Continue reading...US House today voted on the release of government files relating to Jeffrey Epstein. Find out how your representative voted
The US House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill that will force the release of investigative files related to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, after Donald Trump and his Republican allies backed down from their opposition amid a scandal that has dogged the president since his return to the White House.
Though Trump has for months dismissed the uproar over the government’s handling of the Epstein case as a “Democrat hoax”, he signaled his support for the House bill over the weekend, and said he would sign the measure if it reaches his desk. Here is how the House voted.
Continue reading...Former treasury secretary steps away to ‘rebuild trust’ after severe backlash but will continue teaching Harvard classes
The Harvard professor and economist Larry Summers said he would be stepping back from public life after documents released by the House oversight committee revealed email exchanges between Summers and the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who called himself Summers’ “wing man”.
Politico reported on Monday that Summers, a former treasury secretary, expressed deep regret for past messages with Epstein.
Continue reading...President attempts to save face politically after pressuring Republicans to back off their pushes to release files
Donald Trump’s call for Republicans to back the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, an abrupt reversal, is a rare instance of the president being unable to tame his Maga base and being instead forced to accede to it.
Many Republicans are expected to support a vote in the US House this week to force the justice department to release the files. Once the measure passes, it would still need approval in the US Senate, where 13 Republican senators would need to join with all 47 Democrats to approve it.
Continue reading...Congresswoman, a longtime Trump ally, pushes back on president’s remarks labeling her a traitor and a lunatic
Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sunday called Donald Trump’s remarks labeling her a traitor and a lunatic “hurtful” but said she hopes she and the US president can “make up”, despite stark differences over policy and the release of documents about Jeffrey Epstein.
Greene, a longtime ally and fierce defender of Trump and the “Make America great again” (Maga) base, pushed back against his name-calling in her first interview since Trump withdrew his support for her on Friday.
Continue reading...One-time Maga loyalist diverges with Trump on issues including Epstein, so US president has withdrawn support
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime Republican ally who previously fiercely defended Donald Trump and his Maga movement, said on Saturday she had been contacted by private security firms “with warnings for my safety” after Trump announced on Friday he was withdrawing his support for and endorsement of the Georgia representative.
In a post on X, Greene said that “a hot bed of threats against me are being fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world”, without referring to Trump by name, adding it was “the man I supported and helped get elected”.
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