The US president began his political career with the ‘birtherism’ lie about Obama. He’s doing the same once more
“Mr President,” a reporter asked on Thursday. “After three and a half years, do you regret, at all, all the lying you’ve done to the American people?”
A disbelieving Trump asked: “All the what?”
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Just hours after Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris as his running mate, in her home state of California fierce speculation had already begun as to who might replace her in the Senate if she wins a spot in the White House.
Related: If Kamala Harris wins, who might fill her California Senate seat?
From Oliver Holmes in Jerusalem and Julian Borger in Washington:
Israel and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to establish full diplomatic ties in a historic Washington-brokered deal under which Israel will “suspend” its plans to annex parts of the Palestinian territories.
Continue reading...Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden on Thursday called on all governors to mandate mask wearing to slow the spread of the coronavirus that has killed more than 165,000 people in the United States. In his second day on the campaign trail with former rival and now running mate Kamala Harris by his side, Biden made the call for a nationwide mandate on masks after a virtual meeting with public health advisers in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
Continue reading...The president says he opposes providing additional money to the postal service to help it deliver mail-in ballots
Donald Trump admitted on Thursday he opposed additional funding for the United States Postal Service (USPS) in order to make it more difficult to deliver mail-in ballots.
Trump’s comments lend evidence for critics who say the president is deliberately trying to hamstring the USPS in advance of the November elections to help his re-election bid.
Continue reading...President Donald Trump labelled Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris 'a big failure' the day after she was announced as Joe Biden's running mate. Trump's criticism is the second in as many days from his White House press briefings, where called her appointment 'risky'. The president cited previous tension between the two during the primary election debates and backed his own vice-president, Mike Pence
Continue reading...Bob Woodward’s second book on the Trump White House has a title, Rage, and promises to reveal the secrets of “25 personal letters exchanged between [Donald] Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that have not been public before”.
Related: It Was All a Lie review: Trump as symptom not cause of Republican decline
Continue reading...Joe Biden and Kamala Harris accused Donald Trump of leaving the US “in tatters” by failing to lead the country through the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout, as they debuted the Democratic presidential ticket the party hopes will defeat him in November’s election.
Related: 'Ready on day one': Joe Biden welcomes Kamala Harris at their first event as running mates – live
Continue reading...Joe Biden has picked his former one-time presidential rival Kamala Harris to be his running mate, making her the first woman of color on a major party presidential ticket. The Guardian's Lauren Gambino explains Harris's trailblazing background, the 'hunger for black, female leadership' and the excitement around the Californian senator's nomination
Well at least we now know where Donald Trump stands on QAnon supporting Marjorie Taylor Greene. Some members of the Republican party disowned her campaign after a series of racist videos emerged in which she complains of an “Islamic invasion” into government offices, claims Black and Hispanic men are held back by “gangs and dealing drugs”, and pushes an antisemitic conspiracy theory that the billionaire philanthropist George Soros, who is Jewish, collaborated with the Nazis.
And that seems all fine with the commander-in-chief
Congratulations to future Republican Star Marjorie Taylor Greene on a big Congressional primary win in Georgia against a very tough and smart opponent. Marjorie is strong on everything and never gives up - a real WINNER!
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has said his department did everything by the book in regards to arms sales to Saudi Arabia in 2019, after a government watchdog found the risk of civilian casualties in Yemen was not fully evaluated.
His comments came after a state department inspector general report earlier this week concluded the state department did not fully evaluate the risk of civilian casualties in Yemen when it pushed through a huge 2019 precision-guided munitions sale to Saudi Arabia, report the Associated Press.
Party leaders and progressive groups appear largely united behind Joe Biden’s choice of running mate
Democrats from all corners of the party appeared largely united behind Joe Biden’s selection of the California senator Kamala Harris as his running mate on Tuesday.
The responses came almost immediately after Biden unveiled Harris as his choice for the vice presidential nominee, less than a week before the Democratic national convention, where Biden will be formally nominated as the presidential candidate for his party.
Continue reading...Videos have shown congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene voicing racist, antisemitic and Islamophobic views
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a businesswoman who has expressed racist views and support for the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon, has won the Republican nomination for Georgia’s 14th congressional district.
Greene beat the neurosurgeon John Cowan in a primary runoff for the open seat on Tuesday in the deep-red district in north-west Georgia, despite several Republican officials denouncing her campaign after videos surfaced in which she expressed racist, antisemitic and anti-Muslim views.
Continue reading...Biden’s VP pick ‘makes America look more like America’ – and now Harris is better placed than anyone to be the first female president
Joe Biden may have just chosen the anti-Trump as his running mate – and, if he wins, as his successor.
The selection of California senator Kamala Harris for the Democrats’ vice-presidential nomination puts a woman of colour on a major party ticket for the first time in America’s 244-year-old history.
Continue reading...Kamala Harris, 55, has become the first black woman on a major presidential ticket in US history after democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden named her as his VP pick.
From her punishing cross-examinations of Trump officials to previous clashes with Biden over racism, we look back at the California senator's key moments in politics
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Joe Biden may have settled on his running mate, but there is no guarantee we will find out today, according to New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin:
No actual VP event today, per a Biden official.
doesn’t mean there won’t be a reveal of who it is, leaked or planned. just no plans for an in-person event.
The Big Ten college football conference has canceled its football season due to coronavirus concerns, it announced today, in a blow to Republicans and Donald Trump who had urged college football to go ahead.
“The mental and physical health and welfare of our student-athletes has been at the center of every decision we have made regarding the ability to proceed forward,” Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren said in a statement.
Related: Why college football is the perfect storm for Covid-19
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Donald Trump is responding to a statement released Sunday by former Republican senator, Ben Sasse, who excoriated the president for his attempt to use executive orders to combat the worsening coronavirus outbreak.
RINO Ben Sasse, who needed my support and endorsement in order to get the Republican nomination for Senate from the GREAT State of Nebraska, has, now that he’s got it (Thank you President T), gone rogue, again. This foolishness plays right into the hands of the Radical Left Dems!
President Obama did not have the power to unilaterally rewrite immigration law with DACA, and President Trump does not have the power to unilaterally rewrite the payroll tax law. Under the Constitution, that power belongs to the American people acting through their members of Congress.
In a press conference Monday, following a night of unrest and looting, Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot appeared to criticize Cook County’s state’s attorney Kim Foxx, whom she previously endorsed.
People believe there is no accountability in our criminal justice system. We need the prosecutors and courts to step up”.
Continue reading...Donations to support the president’s re-election have flooded in from a fossil fuel industry that has enjoyed three years of energy deregulation and tax cuts
In mid-June the oil pipeline billionaire Kelcy Warren hosted a fundraising bash at his palatial Dallas, Texas, home that drew the presence of Donald Trump and raised $10m for the US president’s campaign coffers.
Warren’s fundraising gusher for Trump occurred after he and his wife had donated a hefty $1.7m since 2019 to Trump Victory, a fundraising vehicle for Trump’s re-election and the Republican National Committee, according to the non-partisan Open Secrets group.
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We’ll be shutting down today’s blog shortly. Here’s a glance at today’s major news items:
Trump’s decision to unilaterally extend federal unemployment insurance through executive order will almost certainly prompt a legal challenge from Democrats on the grounds that only the legislative branch has the constitutional authority to determine federal spending.
But the US president brushed aside concerns on Saturday, suggesting that he believes public sentiment will carry the day.
Continue reading...More than 60 hospital networks are taking part in campaign as some of the usual ways of registering are curbed by the pandemic
An emergency room doctor in Boston is assembling thousands of voter registration kits for distribution at hospitals and doctor’s offices.
Later this month, students at Harvard and Yale’s medical schools are planning a contest to see which of the Ivy League rivals can register the most voters.
Continue reading...Statement says China is opposed to Trump but offers more concrete evidence of Russia’s efforts to undermine Biden
Russia is backing Donald Trump, China is supporting Joe Biden and Iran is seeking to sow chaos in the US presidential election, a top intelligence official has warned in a sobering assessment of foreign meddling.
The statement on Friday by William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, raises fears of a repeat of the 2016 election, when Russia manipulated social media to help Trump and hurt his opponent Hillary Clinton.
Continue reading...There could be a renewed focus on international cooperation – but Biden would not be great news for Boris Johnson’s Britain
European leaders, desperate for an end to the Trump presidency, are being warned that four years of Joe Biden may present them with new challenges and not a simple restoration of the benign status quo in transatlantic relations prior to 2016.
An evolving Biden doctrine about ending “forever wars” and protecting American workers from Chinese competition would require collective military and economic commitments from the EU that it is still ill-equipped to meet, foreign policy specialists have suggested.
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