Category Archives: Republicans

Montana Republicans bar transgender lawmaker from the statehouse floor

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Zooey Zephyr will be able to vote remotely, however the decision has drawn protests that brought the legislature to a halt

Montana Republicans have barred the transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr from the statehouse floor for the rest of the session after she told colleagues they would have “blood on your hands” if they voted to ban gender-affirming medical care for trans children.

Under the terms of the punishment, Zephyr will still be able to vote remotely but will be unable to participate in debates for the remainder of the 90-day legislative session. The Democratic representative had been forbidden from speaking for the past week over her comments, which Republicans said violated decorum.

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Biden dismisses concerns about his age: ‘It doesn’t register with me’ – as it happened

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Oldest president to seek re-election tackles issue a day after officially kicking off his 2024 bid

Senate Democrats have demanded answers from the supreme court after a series of reports indicating at least two justices have relationships with parties interested in the court’s decisions that they did not disclose.

But the Senate’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell, said on the floor today that the court continues to have his confidence:

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Biden foregrounds abortion as he announces bid for second term as US president – live

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In addition to making his campaign official, Joe Biden announced key members of its staff.

As co-chairs, he named Democratic house representatives Lisa Blunt-Rochester, Jim Clyburn, Veronica Escobar and Jeffrey Katzenberg, senators Chris Coons and Tammy Duckworth as well as Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan’s up-and-coming governor.

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Biden gears up for Trump rematch with age and approval front and center

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The worst-kept secret in Washington is out – but at 80, and with low approval ratings, the president faces challenges in his re-election bid

Legend has it that when the artist Benjamin West told King George III that George Washington, the first US president, had decided to resign, the king replied: “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”

Some urged Joe Biden, the 46th president, to follow suit and, at the age of 80, hand power to a new generation. Who were they kidding? The worst-kept secret in Washington is out: Biden is running for re-election next year.

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‘Let her speak!’: protests after Montana Republicans silence trans lawmaker

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Zooey Zephyr hasn’t been allowed to speak on house floor since taking a stand against bill that would ban gender-affirming care

Protesters gathered outside the Montana state house on Monday over Republican legislative leaders’ decision to prevent a transgender lawmaker from speaking after she told colleagues they would have “blood on their hands” if they banned gender-affirming medical care for trans youth.

Zooey Zephyr, a Montana state representative, hasn’t been allowed to speak on the state house floor since Thursday because of her remarks.

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Carlson fired on Murdoch’s orders, report says – as it happened

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As one of the top proponents of Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen, Tucker Carlson loomed large over Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox. But messages released before the case’s settlement show Carlson apparently did not think much of Trump, or necessarily believe some of the claims he was putting on air. Here’s the Guardian’s Edward Helmore with a look back at what the Dominion case revealed about Carlson:

Tucker Carlson was once seen as untouchable. Now the most popular TV host on American cable news is at the center of a firestorm threatening to engulf Fox News and also anger Donald Trump, whose conspiracy theory-laden political cause he has long championed and who his audience loves.

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Republicans ‘glorify political violence’ by embracing extreme gun culture

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Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed two people at an anti-racism protest, was guest of honor at Idaho Republican party fundraiser

Republicans in Idaho have been criticized for “glorifying political violence” after the party hosted Kyle Rittenhouse, the American who shot and killed two people at an anti-racism protest and injured another, as a celebrity guest at a fundraiser.

The 20-year-old was the guest of honor at a Bonneville county Republican party event, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, on 15 April, where an AR-15 style rifle signed by Rittenhouse was auctioned off as part of a fundraiser and people could buy tickets to “Trigger time”: a Rittenhouse-hosted shooting event at a gun range.

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Republican Graham loses cool over abortion after supreme court pill ruling

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Senator Lindsey Graham deflects questions with false claims that Democrats want a ‘barbaric’ law allowing abortions until birth

Republican frustration with the supreme court decision which on Friday blocked restrictions on a widely used abortion pill spilled into public on Sunday, as the South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham lost his cool in a television interview when challenged on his flip-flopping position.

Graham, who last September proposed a national 15-week abortion ban only a month after insisting it was an issue for states to decide, became angry on CNN’s State of the Union, deflecting questions with false claims Democrats wanted a law allowing abortions until birth.

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‘Four-time loser’ Trump might not be nominee for 2024, Republican insists

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New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu says ‘we need a candidate that can win’ even as Trump dominates national primary polls

Donald Trump is a “four-time loser” who will not necessarily be the Republican presidential nominee despite dominating primary polling, the New Hampshire governor said on Sunday.

“Donald Trump is positioning himself to be a four-time loser in 2024,” Chris Sununu said. “We need candidates that can win.”

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Mike Pence will enter presidential race ‘well before late June’ – if he does at all

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Former vice-president, adrift of Trump and DeSantis in polls, makes less-than-bold presidential prediction to CBS

Mike Pence has not decided whether to enter the Republican presidential primary but if he does he will enter “well before late June”.

The former congressman, Indiana governor and vice-president to Donald Trump has been moving towards a run for months, releasing a memoir, visiting early voting states and establishing a political staff.

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North Carolina: Mark Robinson attracts scrutiny as extremist in Republican race

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Lieutenant governor has achieved national notoriety over views on LGBTQ+ rights, guns, abortion and more

The Republican lieutenant governor of North Carolina, Mark Robinson, formally entered the race for governor at a rally on Saturday.

The sharp-spoken social conservative, who has made controversial remarks about LGBTQ+ rights, guns and abortion, said North Carolina needed a leader like him who can relate to the challenges and desires of working people.

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US supreme court expected to rule on abortion pill access lawsuit – live

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Justices consider appeal by White House following lower court order reimposing restrictions on drug mifepristone

Speaking of Joe Biden and Donald Trump, two polls were released today concerning the men that tell us … not much new.

The first, from the Wall Street Journal, confirms that Trump remains the most popular figure among contenders for the GOP’s presidential nomination in 2024. The WSJ was one of the few surveys that found Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who has not entered the race yet but is widely expected to, with an edge over Trump in a survey released last December. That trend has now reversed: in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup, Trump gets 51% support, and DeSantis 38%. The former president also beats DeSantis even in a poll that includes other potential Republican candidates – none of whom crack double-digit support.

The possible charges are two misdemeanor counts for failure to file taxes, a single felony count of tax evasion related to a business expense for one year of taxes, and the gun charge, also a potential felony.

Two senior law enforcement sources told NBC News about “growing frustration” inside the FBI because investigators finished the bulk of their work on the case about a year ago. A senior law enforcement source said the IRS finished its investigation more than a year ago.

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Michigan Republicans fight effort to repeal ban on unmarried cohabitation

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Law signed in 1931 is rarely enforced but carries penalty of prison time and $1,000 fine

An attempt to repeal a Michigan law that punishes unmarried couples who live together is being thwarted by Republicans in the state legislature.

The law, which dates to 1931, targets “any man or woman, not being married to each other, who lewdly and lasciviously associates and cohabits together”.

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DeSantis to meet UK foreign secretary with eye on US presidential bid

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Florida governor lines up four-nation tour in attempt to boost credentials as credible leader on world stage

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, is to meet the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, in London at the end of the month as he attempts to burnish his credentials as a credible Republican leader capable of operating on a global stage ahead of a widely expected run for US president.

He is to lead a Florida trade delegation on a four-nation tour taking in Japan, South Korea, Israel and the UK.

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Senate asks supreme court chief justice to testify on ethics amid Clarence Thomas revelations – as it happened

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The Democratic chair of the Senate judiciary committee has asked chief justice John Roberts to testify on 2 May about the court’s ethics, following revelations of undisclosed links between a Republican megadonor and conservative justice Clarence Thomas.

In a letter to Roberts, judiciary committee chair Richard Durbin did not mention those reports about Thomas specifically, but noted that since he last addressed the court’s ethics in 2011 “there has been a steady stream of revelations regarding Justices falling short of the ethical standards expected of other federal judges and, indeed, of public servants generally. These problems were already apparent back in 2011, and the Court’s decade-long failure to address them has contributed to a crisis of public confidence. The status quo is no longer tenable.”

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Fox still in legal peril over election lies after settling with Dominion – live

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Media empire still faces defamation lawsuit from Smartmatic as shareholders reportedly considering trip to the courts

A top House Republican has signaled that the party will indeed try to impeach homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the New York Times reports.

Mark Green, the chair of the House homeland security committee, told donors this weekend that the effort would kick off this week when the secretary testifies before his committee, which happened Tuesday. The Times, citing a recording of a House Freedom Caucus fundraiser it obtained, said the case would focus on Mayorkas’s “dereliction of duty and his intentional destruction of our country through the open southern border.”

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Top Republicans visit New York to sound off on debt ceiling and crime – live

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In his speech, Kevin McCarthy raised the specter of Joe Biden causing a debt default by refusing to negotiate.

Such an event would be unprecedented in US history, and could have catastrophic consequences for the global economy. Here’s more of McCarthy’s remarks:

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Republican donor pauses Ron DeSantis funding over abortion and book banning

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Thomas Peterffy says Florida governor ‘seems to have lost some momentum’ in undeclared bid for 2024 presidential nomination

A top Republican donor said he had paused plans to fund Ron DeSantis’s expected presidential run because of the Florida governor’s “stance on abortion and book banning”.

Thomas Peterffy, founder of Interactive Brokers, a digital trading platform, told the Financial Times: “I have put myself on hold. Because of his stance on abortion and book banning … myself, and a bunch of friends, are holding our powder dry.”

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Lindsey Graham calls fellow Republican ‘irresponsible’ for defending Pentagon leaker

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Conspiracy theorist and election denier Marjorie Taylor Greene says national guardsman Jack Teixeira has been treated unfairly

Senator Lindsey Graham condemned his fellow Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene as “terribly irresponsible” on Sunday, after the far-right congresswoman defended the air national guardsman charged with leaking Pentagon intelligence documents.

Speaking on ABC’s This Week show, Graham said the leaks had “done a lot of damage to our standing” and criticized “those who are trying to sugarcoat this on the right”.

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Too many with access, too little vetting. Pentagon leaks were ‘a matter of time’

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Jack Teixeira’s arrest has exposed a system weakened by the legacy of 9/11 and caught off guard by an enemy that is increasingly within

Jack Teixeira, 21 years old, clean-shaven, with buzz-cut hair and proudly uniformed, is the face of America’s newest security threat, one it is struggling to resolve.

The formidable US counter-intelligence infrastructure is adept at finding spies and rooting out whistleblowers. Teixeira, charged on Friday on two counts of the Espionage Act, is neither spy nor whistleblower.

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