Florida governor and presidential hopeful tells CNN he hopes his rival is not charged after Trump says he is target of DoJ inquiry
Ron DeSantis said charges against Donald Trump over his election subversion that culminated in the deadly January 6 attack on Congress would not be good for the US.
“I hope he doesn’t get charged,” the Florida governor told CNN in a much-trailed interview on Tuesday. “I don’t think it’ll be good for the country.”
Continue reading...Democratic hopeful widely criticised for spreading disinformation; West Virginia senator is speaking at New Hampshire third-party town hall
House Democrats plan to unveil a resolution to formally censure Republican congressman George Santos for lying to voters about his education, work history and family background.
The resolution from Representative Ritchie Torres will be privileged, meaning that the Republican-controlled House must act on it, NBC News reported.
In a rare and historic special session, the Iowa legislature voted for a second time to reject the inhumanity of abortion and pass the fetal heartbeat law.
Continue reading...Fewer than 10 staffers were laid off, Politico reports, as more shake-ups within campaign are expected in coming weeks
Florida Governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has reduced campaign staff as his campaign has struggled to meet fundraising goals.
Fewer than 10 staffers were laid off, according to an anonymous staffer, reported Politico. The staffers were involved in event planning and may be picked up by the pro DeSantis super-Pac, Never Back Down. Two senior campaign advisers, Dave Abrams and Tucker Obenshain left the campaign this past week to assist a pro-DeSantis nonprofit group.
Continue reading...Veterans resign from force established as civilian disaster relief, citing concerns over ‘militaristic’ training and ‘abuse’
A Florida state guard established by the rightwing governor, Ron DeSantis, under the guise of a civilian disaster relief force is instead being trained as an armed, combat-ready militia under his personal command, according to military veteran recruits who have quit the program.
Several veterans resigned after an encampment last month having become concerned at the “militaristic” training and “abuse” one disabled veteran suffered at the hands of instructors, according to an investigation by the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times.
Continue reading...Political scientists read the Republican runes and suggest Trump will win the nomination – but how would he fare in a 2020 rematch?
As it stands, political scientists expect Donald Trump to win the Republican nomination for president. Most GOP candidates are in lockstep with Trumpist policies and culture wars, failing to differentiate in an already scattered field; despite the appearance of a united front, factions within the party cannot agree on when and how to pass hardline legislation. Traditional conservative forces are looking for a less volatile alternative with a more viable path to win the general election, and as that concern mounts, some experts say Biden could be narrowly re-elected if the race is a rematch of 2020.
“Trump is the mainstream,” said Allan Lichtman, distinguished professor of history at American University, pointing out that “so-called mainstream Republicans” such as Liz Cheney are now out of office.
Continue reading...Lawyers for former US president ask Georgia’s highest court to prevent district attorney from prosecuting him
Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy condemned congressman Eli Crane for using an outdated and offensive term to refer to African Americans on the House floor:
Politico reports that Crane has apologized for using the language:
Continue reading...Khan accused of giving herself ‘unchecked power’ by taking aggressive steps to regulate Twitter, Meta and Google
Lina Khan, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission, faced a grueling four hours of questioning during a House judiciary committee oversight hearing on Thursday.
Republicans criticized Khan – an outspoken critic of big tech – for “mismanagement” and for “politicizing” legal action against large companies such as Twitter and Google as head of the powerful antitrust agency.
Continue reading...FBI director Christopher Wray appears before House panel as White House condemns Republican attacks on law enforcement
In his testimony to the House judiciary committee, the FBI director, Christopher Wray, decried conspiracy theories promoted by rightwing figures such as former Fox News host Tucker Carlson as well as some Republican lawmakers that the bureau’s agents were involved in the January 6 insurrection.
Wray’s comments came in an exchange with Democratic congressman Steve Cohen, who asked Wray whether Ray Epps, a man Carlson and others have claimed was a government agent and provoked the storming of the US Capitol, worked for the FBI.
Continue reading...Hearing comes as Republicans have accused FBI and DoJ of political bias in investigations of Trump and Biden’s son
House Republicans grilled the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Christopher Wray, at a frequently contentious committee hearing on Wednesday. While Republicans accused the FBI of political bias in its handling of investigations into Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, Democrats derided the attacks on the bureau as a smokescreen driven by conspiracy theories.
The Republican chair of the House judiciary committee, Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, kicked off the hearing with a litany of complaints about the FBI’s alleged targeting of rightwing leaders and activists, lamenting the supposed “double standard that exists now in our justice system”. Jordan suggested that the allegedly misguided leadership of Wray, a Trump appointee, could jeopardize government funding for the FBI’s planned new headquarters.
Continue reading...Bill faces few hurdles from being passed as state’s house, senate and governor’s office are all Republican-controlled
Iowa’s state legislature held a special session on Tuesday ahead of voting on a bill the same day that would ban most abortions at around six weeks of pregnancy, when most people don’t yet know they are pregnant. The state is the latest in the country to vote on legislation restricting reproductive rights after the overturning of Roe v Wade last year, which ended the nationwide constitutional right to abortion.
Iowa’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, called for the special session last week, vowing to “continue to fight against the inhumanity of abortion” and calling the “pro-life” movement against reproductive rights “the most important human rights cause of our time”. Lawmakers in the GOP-controlled legislature will debate house study bill 255, which was released on Friday and seeks to prohibit abortions at the first sign of cardiac activity except in certain cases such as rape or incest.
Continue reading...Congressman who has pleaded not guilty to 13 fraud-related counts condemned as ‘disgrace’ by prospective opponent
George Santos, the Republican congressman whose résumé has been shown to be largely fabricated and who has pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds, stoked outrage by comparing himself to the great civil rights campaigner Rosa Parks.
“Rosa Parks didn’t sit in the back, and neither am I gonna sit in the back,” Santos told Mike Crispi Unafraid, a rightwing podcast.
Continue reading...Democratic congresswoman says rightwing Florida governor, trailing Trump in the polls, has made ‘very large, critical errors’
Ron DeSantis has made “very large, critical errors” in the Republican presidential primary, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, the biggest of which is the Florida governor’s attempt to “out-Trump Trump” and appeal to the hard-right GOP base.
“The dynamics of these races change from day to day,” the New York progressive congresswoman told MSNBC. “I think that Governor DeSantis has made some very large, critical errors.
Continue reading...Former president who dominates Republican primary finds receptive audience at Las Vegas rally
Donald Trump attacked Ron DeSantis at a rally in Las Vegas on Saturday, saying his closest challenger for the Republican presidential nomination had “no personality” – but claiming responsibility for the Florida governor’s career on the national stage.
Trump also repeated his lie about electoral fraud in his 2020 defeat by Joe Biden, to a receptive audience, before high-fiving fans at a mixed martial event.
Continue reading...Move to 15 January puts first votes of GOP primary a little more than six months away
Iowa Republicans announced on Saturday that their presidential caucuses will be held on 15 January – the federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
The move puts the first votes of the 2024 election a little more than six months away, as Republicans try to reclaim the White House.
Continue reading...Critics say party that touted its law-and-order credentials now intent on wrecking institutions that get in Donald Trump’s way
When Merrick Garland was nominated to the US supreme court by Barack Obama, Republicans refused to grant him a hearing. Now that Garland is the top law enforcement official in America, the party seems ready to give him one after all – an impeachment hearing.
Republicans on Capitol Hill are moving up a gear in a wide-ranging assault on the justice department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that would have been unthinkable before the rise of Donald Trump. The party that for half a century claimed the mantle of law and order has, critics say, become a cult of personality intent on discrediting and dismantling institutions that get in Trump’s way.
Continue reading...Oklahoma superintendent Ryan Walters decried for comments on 1921 massacre in which hundreds were killed by white mobs
The state official in charge of Oklahoma’s schools is facing calls for impeachment, after he said teachers should tell students that the Tulsa race massacre was not racially motivated.
In a public forum on Thursday, Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public instruction, said teachers could cover the 1921 massacre, in which white Tulsans murdered an estimated 300 Black people, but teachers should not “say that the skin color determined it”.
Continue reading...Florida first lady outlines Ron DeSantis’s hardline rightwing agenda in video accusing progressives of ‘coming after our kids’
Vowing not to let progressives “impose an agenda” on American children and their mothers, Casey DeSantis outlined the hardline rightwing agenda her husband has imposed on Florida and now wants to impose on America.
The Florida first lady did so in a new video for Mamas for DeSantis, a group supporting Governor Ron DeSantis’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
Continue reading...Former US president’s ‘body man’ appears in Miami court on charges relating to classified documents found at resort
Walt Nauta is facing six federal charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing a document or record, and making false statements.
That’s fewer than the 37 federal charges Donald Trump is facing, but both men are named in the indictment brought last month by special counsel Jack Smith. You can read it below:
Continue reading...Former British prime minister says in interview that Trump ‘played an important role’ in arming Ukraine and set an example
On his recent visit to the US, Boris Johnson “reminded” Donald Trump he “actually played an important role” in supporting and arming Ukraine against its Russian invaders, the former British prime minister said, adding that British aid to Kyiv was “enabled” by Trump’s example.
Johnson made the claim about the notoriously pro-Russian former president – and brushed off mention of Trump’s impeachment for blocking military aid to Ukraine – in an interview on One Decision, a podcast hosted by Sir Richard Dearlove, a former chief of the British intelligence service MI6, and the journalist Julia Macfarlane. The episode was released on Thursday.
Continue reading...White House press secretary urges Republicans to act to protect US communities after latest spate of gun violence
The Washington Post reports that the cocaine discovered at the White House was found on the ground floor in an area where visitors leave their cellphones.
White House employees can give tours of the building, usually on evenings and weekends, and part of the security protocol involves having visitors leave their cellphones in a locked box. As the for the cocaine, the Post adds that “Authorities are trying to find the person who left it at the White House.”
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