Category Archives: Republicans

Trump’s Georgia election trial could stretch into 2025, says prosecutor

Posted on by

In interview, Fani Willis said trial against the ex-president and 19 defendants would probably extend past election day

The trial in the Georgia racketeering case against Donald Trump and 14 other defendants relating to an alleged conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election could stretch into early 2025, the Fulton county prosecutor, Fani Willis, has said.

In an interview at a global women’s summit held on Tuesday by the Washington Post, Willis said that though she expected the case be on appeal “for years”, the trial itself would probably take “many months”. She envisioned it ending in “the winter or the very early part of 2025”.

Continue reading...

Offering to fight union leader was just ‘Oklahoma values’, senator claims

Posted on by

Republican Markwayne Mullin accused of ‘acting like a 12-year-old’ by Teamsters leader Sean O’Brien during Senate confrontation

The Republican senator Markwayne Mullin claimed that by offering to fight a union leader at a congressional hearing, he was merely representing “Oklahoma values”.

Told by the Fox News host Sean Hannity “any other response” to Sean O’Brien of the Teamsters “would have been a little gutless”, Mullin said: “I would agree. I mean, wouldn’t people want me to do that?

Continue reading...

‘A bully’: McCarthy accused of shoving Republican who helped oust him

Posted on by

Tim Burchett calls former speaker ‘pathetic’ after Capitol confrontation witnessed by NPR reporter Claudia Grisales

A US radio reporter witnessed a remarkable altercation at the US Capitol on Tuesday, between Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Kevin McCarthy of California, the Republican speaker eight rightwingers including Burchett ejected from the role last month.

Claudia Grisales, of NPR, said: “Have NEVER seen this on Capitol Hill: while talking to Tim Burchett after the GOP conference meeting, former speaker McCarthy walked by with his detail and McCarthy shoved Burchett. Burchett lunged towards me. I thought it was a joke, it was not. And a chase ensued.”

Continue reading...

Biden accuses Trump of echoing Nazis with ‘vermin’ remark

Posted on by

President says comment from predecessor at New Hampshire rally ‘echoes language you heard in Nazi Germany in the 30s’

Joe Biden has attacked Donald Trump for using the word “vermin” to refer to his political enemies, saying it echoed the language of Nazi Germany.

At a recent rally in New Hampshire, Trump repeated his false claim that fraud cost him the 2020 presidential election and told the crowd he would “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections”.

Continue reading...

House passes bill to avert shutdown – as it happened

Posted on by

The blog is now closed, but read about the House vote here:

Donald Trump’s disdain for Letitia James, the New York attorney general who brought a $250m fraud case against the former president, and Arthur Engoron, the judge adjudicating it, is pretty well known. Trump was fined twice last month for breaching a gag order.

On Tuesday, Trump ramped up the rhetoric further, promoting a post on his Truth Social network calling for a citizen’s arrest of the pair “for blatant election interference and harassment”.

Continue reading...

US House passes bill to avert government shutdown

Posted on by

Democrats and mainstream Republicans join forces with vote of 336 to 95 to advance stopgap spending package

The House on Tuesday approved a novel plan to prevent a government shutdown, with the recently-installed Republican House speaker Mike Johnson relying on Democratic votes as the far-right flank of his caucus dissented.

By a vote of 336 to 95, a coalition of nearly every Democratic representative and more mainstream Republicans joined forces to advance the stopgap spending package that would fund government departments into early 2024, easily clearing the two-thirds threshold needed for passage under an expedited process. Ninety-three Republicans and two Democrats opposed the measure.

Continue reading...

Trump can appear on Republican primary ballot in Michigan, judge rules

Posted on by

Setback for challengers who say Trump should be barred from presidential run under ‘insurrection’ clause of 14th amendment

Donald Trump can appear on the ballot for the Republican primary in Michigan, a state judge ruled on Tuesday, a setback to challengers who argue he is constitutionally disqualified from being president because of his actions on 6 January 2021.

The lawsuit is one of several that left-leaning groups have filed across the country arguing that section 3 of the 14th amendment bars Trump from holding office. The provision says anyone who takes an oath to the United States and then engages in “insurrection” or “rebellion” against the nation cannot hold office unless Congress votes by two-thirds majority to allow them. The measure was adopted after the civil war and has not been tested.

Continue reading...

US House votes to pause impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas

Posted on by

Republicans had accused the homeland security secretary of dereliction of duty in his management of the US-Mexico border

The US House of Representatives voted on Monday to pause the effort to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, halting a Republican campaign that alleges he has been derelict in his duty in managing the US-Mexico border.

The articles of impeachment, introduced by Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican representative, on Thursday, contend that Mayorkas, an appointee of Joe Biden, violated his oath of office by failing to constrain the record numbers of migrants arriving at the border.

Continue reading...

Newsom 2024: could the California governor be a rival to Joe Biden?

Posted on by

Amid concern over the president’s poll ratings, Gavin Newsom appears to be running something of a shadow campaign

One of the strongest candidates for US president in 2024 may be one who’s not yet in the race. There’s growing evidence that Gavin Newsom, the charismatic and energetic Democratic governor of California, is running something of a shadow campaign to Joe Biden and ready to step up if, or when, the incumbent is out of the running.

Several developments in recent days suggest Newsom, who romped to re-election a year ago without really campaigning, is ready to bring forward what was already expected to be a strong run for the presidency in 2028.

Continue reading...

House speaker unveils Republican plan to avert government shutdown

Posted on by

Stopgap spending bill, which omits funding for Israel or Ukraine, faces opposition from both parties in Congress

US House speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a Republican stopgap spending measure late Saturday aimed at averting a government shutdown in a week, but the measure quickly ran into opposition from lawmakers from both parties in Congress.

Unlike ordinary continuing resolutions that fund federal agencies for a specific period, the measure announced by Johnson would fund some parts of the government until 19 January and others until 2 February. House Republicans hope to pass the measure Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Ohio Republicans move to exclude judges from interpreting enshrined abortion rights

Posted on by

After stinging defeat in a statewide vote, GOP lawmakers seek to move jurisdiction to legislature for constitutional amendment

Four Ohio Republican state lawmakers are seeking to strip judges of their power to interpret an abortion rights amendment after voters opted to enshrine those rights in the state’s constitution this week.

Republican state house representatives Jennifer Gross, Bill Dean, Melanie Miller and Beth Lear said in a news release on Thursday that they will push to have Ohio’s legislature – not the courts – make any decisions about the amendment passed on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Pro-Israel groups target US lawmakers critical of Gaza war with attack ads

Posted on by

Rashida Tlaib and other Democratic members of ‘the Squad’ have been targeted but also a libertarian Republican

The pro-Israel lobby in the US is airing attack ads and beginning to back primary opponents to challenge Congress members who are not voting for or supporting Israel’s war on Gaza.

Over the last 10 days, groups that support Israel have launched ads in at least seven districts targeting those who have been particularly vocal in calling attention to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, opposing Israeli military aid or criticizing Israel’s government.

Continue reading...

House speaker Mike Johnson faces key test as government shutdown is days away with no deal in sight – US politics live

Posted on by

Kevin McCarthy’s replacement tasked with passing legislation to fund the government but issues that toppled predecessor persist

Meanwhile in South Carolina, Kamala Harris officially filed the Biden campaign’s paperwork to appear on its primary ballot:

Joe Biden’s victory in the state’s primary three years ago revived a presidential campaign that appeared to be flagging. After winning the White House, he successfully pushed to make it the first state to vote in the Democrats’ nominating calendar, arguing the process should better reflect the country’s diversity, though not all Democrats were happy about the decision.

Continue reading...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Marjorie Taylor Greene unite in push to free Julian Assange

Posted on by

Maga Republican and leftwing Democrat among 16 US Congress members lobbying Joe Biden to drop extradition attempts against WikiLeaks founder

Maga Republican and fierce Trump supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene and leftwing Democratic firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have found common ground in freeing Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

The pair are among 16 members of the US Congress who have written directly to president Joe Biden urging the United States to drop its extradition attempts against Assange and halt any prosecutorial proceedings immediately.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

US Democratic senator Joe Manchin will not seek re-election in 2024

Posted on by

Controversial West Virginia Democrat, 76, has for years held outsized degree of power within party

West Virginia’s controversial Democratic US senator Joe Manchin has announced that he will not seek re-election in 2024 and will instead “fight to unite the middle”.

The 76-year-old senator, who for years has held an outsized degree of power within the Democratic party and often defied its leadership, appeared in July at an event held by a political group exploring a third-party presidential bid.

Continue reading...

West Virginia Democratic senator Joe Manchin will not seek re-election in 2024 – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog is now closed. You can read the full report on Manchin’s announcement here:

Joe Biden has hailed the tentative deal reached between SAG-AFTRA and television studios on Wednesday.

In a statement released by the White House on Thursday, Biden said:

Collective bargaining works. I applaud SAG-AFTRA and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for working together in good faith towards an agreement that allows our entertainment industry to continue telling the stories of America.

When both sides come to the table to negotiate in earnest they can make businesses stronger and allow workers to secure pay and benefits that help them raise families and retire with dignity.

“She called me four-letter words in each of the last two debates… The reality is this – the Republican party has appropriately I think had scrutiny of Hunter Biden for years. I mean, you know, not only the media but even Republican politicians, correctly,” said Ramaswamy.

“In the last debate…she said, ‘I feel dumber every time I hear you speak’… For using TikTok, the criticism wasn’t of Nikki Haley’s daughter. It was of Nikki Haley for having been completely oblivious to where the next generation of Americans is actually getting their information,” he added.

Continue reading...

Support for Israel and verbal sparring propel fiery third Republican debate

Posted on by

Candidates clash over Ukraine and immigration and grapple with abortion questions as Donald Trump holds rally nearby

The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and other foreign policy issues dominated Wednesday’s fiery third debate of Republican presidential hopefuls in Miami. Candidates pledged wholehearted support for Israel’s military response following last month’s Hamas attacks, and clashed over Ukraine, China and immigration.

The debate, minus Donald Trump, the runaway favorite for the party’s 2024 nomination who was hosting his own private rally elsewhere in the area, was a more bitter affair than its predecessors in Wisconsin and California. Lively verbal sparring sometimes regressed into insults, with Nikki Haley at one point calling one of her rivals “scum”.

Continue reading...

Calls to ‘finish’ Hamas and ‘you’re just scum’: key Republican debate takeaways

Posted on by

Candidates showed unequivocal support for Israel on a night when Nikki Haley shot back at Vivek Ramaswamy’s criticism

The third Republican debate was held in Miami on Wednesday, with frontrunner Donald Trump once again foregoing the debate for his own rally nearby.

The pool has dwindled since the last debate, and Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott and Chris Christie seemed to be more serious and focused this time around as they answered questions on the Israel-Hamas war, immigration, abortion and the federal budget. Even so, the debate had moments where it devolved into a shouting match, with petty barbs and personal attacks.

Continue reading...

House Republicans subpoena Hunter Biden and president’s brother James

Posted on by

House committee has been searching for evidence of influence peddling when Biden was vice-president to Barack Obama

House Republicans issued subpoenas on Wednesday to members of Joe Biden’s family, taking their most aggressive step yet in an impeachment inquiry bitterly opposed by Democrats that is testing the reach of congressional oversight powers.

The long-awaited move by Representative James Comer, the chairman of the House oversight committee, to subpoena the president’s son Hunter and his brother James comes as Republicans hope to gain ground in their nearly year-long investigation. So far, they have failed to uncover evidence directly implicating the president in any wrongdoing.

Continue reading...

White House decries ‘nasty personal smears’ after House Republicans subpoena Biden family – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog is now closed. You can follow the action of the third GOP debate here:

Philadephia has elected Cherelle Parker, the first female mayor to lead the city.

Following her victory, Parker, who served 10 years as a state representative for northwest Philadelphia, said:

“Thank you Philly. We did it. We made history, or “her” story. As a little girl, I never dreamed that this moment would arrive but it’s here now… From the bottom of my heart, thank you for believing in me and in my vision for a safer, cleaner greener city with economic oppurtunity for all.”

Continue reading...