The billionaire Mike Bloomberg has suspended his Democratic presidential campaign after launching one of the most audacious political campaigns in modern times – pouring almost half a billion dollars of his vast fortune into creating the most expensive nomination bid in US history. The former mayor of New York has come under intense scrutiny and failed to seize the moderate lane from his rival Joe Biden: here's a look at the key issues that hurt his race to the White House
Continue reading...Category Archives: US elections 2020
Bigger than Trump: John Legend’s guide to what matters in the US election – video
This year’s election is not just about the president. From police brutality to vote-rigging, the singer and activist John Legend lays out what's at stake
Continue reading...Peter Buttigieg bows out of Democratic race – video
Pete Buttigieg has dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination on Sunday, saying he no longer saw a chance of winning, the day after fellow moderate Joe Biden won a big victory in South Carolina.
The move shook up the Democratic contest to pick a candidate to take on Republican president Donald Trump in November's election and came two days before the 14-state Super Tuesday nominating contests that will offer the biggest electoral prize so far.
Continue reading...Pete Buttigieg drops out of 2020 race to be Democratic presidential nominee
Former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, leaves the race to take on Donald Trump after a poor showing in the South Carolina primary
Pete Buttigieg has ended his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination with a call for Democrats to unite in their fight to beat Donald Trump in the election.
Related: People turn backs on Mike Bloomberg at Bloody Sunday church service in Selma
Continue reading...After early Iowa success, Pete Buttigieg’s fiery campaign floundered in more diverse states
The 38-year old former Indiana mayor has dropped out of the Democratic primary race after early success in Iowa and New Hampshire
Pete Buttigieg, the former Indiana mayor whose long-shot bid for the presidency saw brief success in Iowa and New Hampshire, has dropped out of the Democratic primary.
When Buttigieg launched his campaign in April of last year, the millennial mayor of the fourth-largest city in Indiana acknowledged his relative lack of experience in a growing primary field that came to include a former vice president, multiple senators and mayors of much larger cities.
Continue reading...Joe Biden breathes new life into his campaign with landslide South Carolina win
- Biden wins by large margin and says: ‘We are very much alive’
- Victory means he becomes Sanders’ main centrist challenger
Joe Biden delivered a landslide victory in the South Carolina primary vote on Saturday, breathing new life into his presidential campaign and establishing himself as the main moderate competitor to Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Related: Decisive South Carolina win puts Biden at front of Democrats' centrist pack
Continue reading...‘We are very much alive’: Joe Biden wins South Carolina primary – video
Joe Biden wins his first primary of the 2020 campaign, securing victory in South Carolina. The former vice-president achieved a much needed primary win and told supporters: 'We just won and we won big'
Continue reading...Decisive South Carolina win puts Biden at front of Democrats’ centrist pack
Victory gives Biden much-needed momentum – and he can now claim to be the most viable centrist challenger to Bernie Sanders
Joe Biden’s victory in South Carolina on Saturday night gave the former vice-president a much needed win within the 2020 Democratic primary contests, and put him at the front of the centrist candidates running as alternatives to Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.
Related: Joe Biden desperately needed this victory. Can his campaign still be turned around? | Richard Wolffe
Continue reading...Trump nominates John Ratcliffe for top intelligence officer post – as it happened
- This is the second try to name the Republican as DNI
- Court ruled 2-1 to block Trump Remain in Mexico policy
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It’s been a busy day in US politics. Here’s a rundown of the top stories:
Trump is ad-libbing on the coronavirus at his rally in South Carolina, Oliver Laughland reports.
Trump is ad libbing significantly. Breaking off from prepared remarks on coronavirus to ask Graham and Scott to pass legislation that allows him to serve for 25 years
“Lets term limit ourselves at 25 years. Tim pass it in the senate with Lindsey. A 25 year term limit, please.”
We are doing everything in our power to keep the infection and those carrying the infection from entering the country. We have no choice. Whether it’s the virus that we’re talking about, or the many other public health threats, the Democrat policy of open borders is a direct threat to the health and wellbeing of all Americans.
Now you see it with the coronavirus… when you have this virus, or any other virus, or any other problem coming in, it’s not the only thing that comes in through the border… and we’re setting records at the border, we’re setting records, and now, just using this, important, so important.
Continue reading...Anniversary spotlights criminal justice reform ahead of South Carolina primary
Five years after a white officer shot Walter Scott in the back, those associated with the case hope its memory will steer voters
Anthony Scott honours the memory of his brother Walter each time he casts a ballot.
“I’m not the sort of person to go and visit graves,” he said, sat at a bustling diner on the outskirts of Charleston. “I can memorialize better by making sure people never forget. Weighing up my vote, making sure the right person is put in the right place.”
Continue reading...Obama takes legal action over ‘misleading’ Republican attack ad on Joe Biden – live updates
- Vice-President Pence to take charge of US response to coronavirus
- Poll shows widespread concerns about election security and integrity
- UN chief Michelle Bachelet criticises Trump’s weakened environmental protection standards
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The US Dept. of Justice announced it had created a division tasked with denaturalizing immigrants.
The Denaturalization Section “underscores the department’s commitment to bring justice to terrorists, war criminals, sex offenders and other fraudsters who illegally obtained naturalization” officials said in a statement.
Denaturalizations have ramped up under the Trump administration: Of the 228 denaturalization cases that the department has filed since 2008, about 40 percent of them were filed since 2017, according to official department numbers.
According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, actor Steven Seagal allegedly failed to disclose a promotional agreement related to cryptocurrencies.
The SEC alleges Seagal accepted $250,000 in cash and $750,000 worth of Bitcoiin2Gen (B2G) tokens in exchange for online promotion of the currency, including “posts on his public social media accounts encouraging the public not to ‘miss out’”.
Continue reading...Trump campaign sues New York Times for libel over Russia story
- Suit alleges ‘extreme bias’ in knowingly publishing falsehood
- Opinion piece titled ‘The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo’
Donald Trump’s re-election campaign said on Wednesday it had filed a libel suit against the New York Times accusing the newspaper of intentionally publishing a false opinion article related to Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
In an escalation of the Republican president’s long-running battle with the news media, campaign officials said the lawsuit was being filed in New York state supreme court, the state’s trial-level court.
Continue reading...Democrat challengers face fall-out from rowdy TV debate – live updates
- Sanders and Bloomberg bear brunt of attacks in ‘messy’ TV debate
- Trump defending administration’s handling of coronavirus
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Back to the fall-out from last night’s Democratic debate. With a crowded field it was the last TV opportunity for one of the candidates who isn’t Bernie Sanders to have a break-out moment that could propel them towards next week’s Super Tuesday.
That, according to Ryan Lizza in Politico, is not what happened.
By the end, it was clear that there was no Bernie slayer at the lecterns in Charleston, someone who alone had the time and skills to convince Democratic voters that the democratic socialist was a radical whose nomination would forfeit the party’s chance to defeat Trump.
The court hearing in London into the US attempt to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is underway again. Journalist James Doleman is tweeting from the court.
Judge returns to court and proceedings resume.#Assange
Related: Julian Assange was 'handcuffed 11 times and stripped naked'
Continue reading...Messy Democratic debate leaves lack of clarity and benefits Trump
Amid crosstalk and occasional shouting, a continuing lack of clarity over which candidate will emerge as the nominee
Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate was chaotic and messy, underscoring the continuing lack of clarity over which candidate could emerge as the nominee to take on Donald Trump in November’s election.
Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, a self declared Democratic socialist considered the current frontrunner after his win in Nevada last week, found himself the main target of attacks from more centrist contenders, but was closely followed by billionaire New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was pummelled again for his past statements on women and support for Republicans.
Continue reading...Bernie Sanders faces onslaught from rivals in chaotic South Carolina debate
Candidates bickered and shouted over each other in sharp exchanges in debate before Super Tuesday contests
The Democratic presidential candidates engaged in a series of chaotic and fiery exchanges on Tuesday night, in the final debate before the critical South Carolina presidential primary and Super Tuesday contests that could represent a make-or-break moment.
Senator Bernie Sanders, the frontrunner who cruised to victory in Nevada last week, bore the brunt of criticism from a number of his centrist rivals, including the former vice-president Joe Biden, the ex-New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, and Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
Continue reading...Sanders and Bloomberg come under attack in chaotic Democratic debate – live
- Opponents seek to slow Sanders’ momentum before Super Tuesday
- Bloomberg needs strong showing after last week’s poor performance
- Full story: Sanders braced for onslaught from rivals
Bernie Sanders was asked why he voted to protect gun manufacturers from legal liability, which other candidates have criticized him for.
Sanders initially tried to pivot to criticizing Joe Biden for his record on trade deals, which prompted boos from the Charleston audience.
Elizabeth Warren has so far directed more criticism at Mike Bloomberg than Bernie Sanders, the frontrunner in the primary race.
As another progressive senator, Warren will likely need to pick off some of Sanders’ supporters to have any chance of the nomination.
The difference between how aggressively Warren goes after Bernie (the front runner & existential threat to her candidacy), and Bloomberg (who she clearly despises), is something to behold.
Continue reading...The era of ‘whites-only’ elections in America has returned | Carol Anderson
As we head back to South Carolina, the state that fought to protect the white primary until the 1950s, it’s as if black voters don’t matter – again
In 1896, a moment marked by increased lynchings, violence and disfranchisement, South Carolina added to the woes and created the white primary. The law, which the rest of the one-party south would adopt throughout the Jim Crow era, said only white people could vote in the Democratic primary election.
White people, mostly men, would alone choose who would go on to the general election in November. Then, and only then could African Americans and others, who had managed to squeeze through the array of voter suppression tactics such as the poll tax and the literacy test, cast their meaningless ballots. But make no mistake, the real contest was in the primary, and whites had already determined the ultimate winner.
Continue reading...Democratic party grapples with rising likelihood of Sanders as the nominee
- Centrists failed to coalesce around a moderate candidate
- Sanders’ Nevada win showcased his popularity
- HR McMaster to publish book that may pose headaches for Trump
In the aftermath of Bernie Sanders’ victory in Nevada and as the South Carolina primary looms, the Democratic party establishment continues to grapple with the increasing likelihood that the Vermont senator, a self-proclaimed socialist, will be its nominee for president.
Related: Trump holds rally in India while Steyer qualifies for South Carolina debate – live
Continue reading...Trump’s approval rating rises, boosting chances of winning second term
New Gallup poll gives Trump a 49% rating, first net positive for the president since January 2017
Donald Trump’s popularity rating is improving at a key moment in election year – boosting his chances of winning a second term in the White House.
Related: Nevada caucuses: Bernie Sanders wins in resounding victory
Continue reading...Buoyed by Latino voters in Nevada, Sanders cements his frontrunner status
Saturday’s caucuses were the first real test of Latino support in the Democratic primary – and the result was promising for Sanders
The senator from one of the whitest states in the US on Saturday trounced his rivals in the first primary of the 2020 election cycle that actually reflects the racial diversity of the country and the Democratic party.
The Vermont senator Bernie Sanders won a resounding victory in Nevada, buoyed by strong support among Latino voters. Sanders’ victory in the desert state strengthens his position as the party’s frontrunner and sends him into the next, high-stakes phase of the primary with a burst of momentum.
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