Category Archives: Donald Trump

‘Full fascist’ Trump condemned after ‘treason’ rant against NBC and MSNBC

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Former president vows to investigate TV networks for ‘country-threatening treason’ should he win US election next year

Donald Trump said Comcast, the owner of NBC and MSNBC, “should be investigated for its ‘Country Threatening Treason’” and promised to do so should he be re-elected president next year.

In response, one progressive group said the former US president and current overwhelming frontrunner in the Republican 2024 presidential nomination race had “gone full fascist”.

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Poll showing Trump up 10 points over Biden for 2024 election criticized

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A Washington Post-ABC poll showed results that diverge from most other surveys, and even the pollers made a caveat

A new Washington Post-ABC poll showing Joe Biden trailing his presidential predecessor Donald Trump by 10 percentage points was excoriated by leading political pollster Larry Sabato.

Noting that the pollsters themselves cautioned that their survey was an outlier, Sabato – the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia – called the decision to release it “ridiculous”.

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Pete Buttigieg condemns Trump’s reported remarks about wounded veteran

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Ex-president reportedly told Gen Mark Milley in 2019 that severely wounded soldier should be banned from public appearances

Pete Buttigieg, the US transport secretary and a military veteran, has criticized Donald Trump after a report that he sought to bar a severely wounded veteran from public appearances during his presidency.

In an interview with the Atlantic, Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said Trump had been irritated after Luis Avila – who lost a leg and suffered brain damage after an IED attack in Afghanistan – sang at Milley’s 2019 welcome ceremony.

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Cassidy Hutchinson left DC amid ‘security concerns’ after January 6 hearings

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Former White House aide to Donald Trump tells CBS News Sunday Morning she ‘could not go back to my apartment’

The former Donald Trump White House aide who became a pivotal January 6 witness remembers wanting to make a last-minute run for it before delivering her crucial testimony about the US Capitol attack that the defeated president’s supporters staged.

But Cassidy Hutchinson kept her nerve, and the cost of breaking ranks with Trump and his fanatical supporters was steep.

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Rupert Murdoch often wishes Donald Trump dead, Michael Wolff book says

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Media mogul has become ‘a frothing-at-the-mouth’ Trump critic, Fire and Fury author writes in new book, The Fall

Rupert Murdoch loathes Donald Trump so much that the billionaire has not just soured on him as a presidential candidate but often wishes for his death, the author Michael Wolff writes in his eagerly awaited new book on the media mogul, The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty.

According to Wolff, Murdoch, 92, has become “a frothing-at-the-mouth” enemy of the 77-year-old former US president, often voicing thoughts including “This would all be solved if … ” and “How could he still be alive, how could he?”

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Rupert Murdoch thought $787.5m Dominion suit would cost Fox $50m, Michael Wolff book says

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Trump tell-all author returns with tale of Fox News strife which also includes prediction Ron DeSantis will be Republican nominee

In winter 2022, at a hideaway in St Barts, Rupert Murdoch directed “sudden fury” at Donald Trump, who he thought would lose the 2024 Republican presidential primary to Ron DeSantis, but who the media mogul also said was likely to cost him “fifty million dollars”, through a lawsuit regarding Trump’s lies about the 2020 election.

The lawsuit was filed by Dominion Voting Systems, over Fox News’s broadcast of Trump’s lies. Settled this April, it cost Murdoch considerably more than he predicted: $787.5m, to be precise.

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Rudy Giuliani sued by own lawyer for $1.3m in unpaid fees

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Former New York mayor-turned Trump attorney reportedly facing financial problems as he defends against multiple legal threats

The New York mayor-turned-Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has been sued by his own lawyer, who seeks more than $1.3m in outstanding fees.

“This action simply seeks payment of an outstanding bill for legal services rendered by plaintiffs in the amount of $1,360,196.10,” said a lawsuit filed in New York state supreme court on Monday by Robert J Costello, of Davidoff Hutcher & Citron.

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Former aide says Trump wrote to-do lists on classified documents – report

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Trump denies wrongdoing after ex-assistant reported he wrote tasks for her on back of sensitive materials during presidency

Donald Trump has denied wrongdoing after a report on Monday said that one of the former president’s long-time assistants told federal investigators he repeatedly wrote to-do lists for her on documents from the White House marked classified.

The aide, Molly Michael, told investigators that more than once she got requests or tasks from Trump written on the back of notecards that she later recognized as sensitive White House materials, ABC News reported on Monday, citing sources.

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Trump says Republicans ‘speak very inarticulately’ about abortion

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Trump talks about democratic principles, ageing politicians and abortion rights in wide ranging NBC interview

Donald Trump grappled with a wide range of contentious issues in an interview with NBC that generated criticism against the network, including his thoughts on democratic principles, abortion rights and ageing politicians.

He also confirmed his interest in choosing Kristi Noem to be his vice-presidential running mate if he wins the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 as he seeks a second term in the White House.

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US special counsel seeks gag order on Trump’s ‘inflammatory’ statements

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Jack Smith asked judge Tanya Chutkan to restrict ex-president’s statements in federal election subversion trial

The US special counsel prosecuting Donald Trump for election subversion has asked a judge to impose “limited restrictions” on the former president’s public statements, citing his frequent “inflammatory attacks” on the court, prospective witnesses and citizens of Washington DC.

In a filing on Friday, federal prosecutors requested that judge Tanya Chutkan issue a “narrow” gag order that would prohibit Trump from making statements “regarding the identity, testimony, or credibility of prospective witnesses” and “about any party, witness, attorney, court personnel, or potential jurors that are disparaging and inflammatory, or intimidating”.

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Trump says he will testify under oath that he never ordered Mar-a-Lago security video to be deleted – US politics live

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Former US president denies that he asked staffer to delete surveillance footage at center of classified documents investigation

A New York state appeals court judge put the civil fraud trial involving the New York attorney general’s office and Donald Trump and his company on temporary hold after a last-minute legal challenge by the former president’s legal team.

Justice David Friedman, a judge on the state’s intermediate appellate court, ordered a potential postponement of the non-jury trial, which had been scheduled to start on 2 October. The judge granted an interim stay of the trial and ordered the full appeals court to consider the lawsuit on an expedited basis.

We are confident in our case and will be ready for trial.

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Kevin McCarthy endorses Biden impeachment inquiry – live updates

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Speaker directs House committees to open formal impeachment inquiry despite Republicans being unable to substantiate wrongdoing

Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang remains listed as the co-chair for the Forward Party, which he launched after leaving the Democratic party to become an independent in 2021.

Yang slammed the idea of the 2024 presidential election shaping up to be a Donald Trump vs Joe Biden rematch in the Politico interview, describing the situation as “terribly unrepresentative and borderline ridiculous” and pointing to their ages.

I mean, you’re talking about two guys whose combined age is 160. In a country of 330 million people, you would choose these two gentlemen at this stage? I mean, it makes zero sense.

I’ve had conversations with various folks who are associated with No Labels.

I would not run for president, if I thought that my running would be counterproductive, or if it would increase the chances of someone like Donald Trump becoming president again.

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Trump White House officials feel as if they are facing prison, ally Navarro says

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Ex-Trump aide says his contempt of Congress conviction makes ex-colleagues fear ‘massive legal bills … and prison time’

Peter Navarro’s contempt of Congress conviction has “everybody in that frigging White House” feeling as if they are grappling with “massive legal bills and … prison time”, the ex-Donald Trump administration official said on Monday.

Navarro’s remarks came in an interview with the far-right media outlet Newsmax in which he used the term “SOBs” – short for sons of bitches – to refer to the US justice department prosecutors who secured a guilty verdict against him last week.

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Mark Meadows loses bid to transfer Georgia election interference case to federal court – as it happened

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Meadows faces two felony charges, including racketeering and solicitation of a violation of oath by a public officer

Lindsey Graham’s name appeared early as Donald Trump’s attempts to stay in the White House began shortly after his re-election defeat in November 2020.

Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger told the press that the South Carolina senator had called him to ask if it was possible to throw away mail-in ballots in counties crucial to Joe Biden’s win in Georgia. From the Guardian’s Lauren Gambino’s report at the time:

Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, has said that Senator Lindsey Graham asked whether it was possible to invalidate legally cast ballots after Donald Trump was narrowly defeated in the state.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Raffensperger said that his fellow Republican, the chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, questioned him about the state’s signature-matching law and asked whether political bias might have played a role in counties where poll workers accepted higher rates of mismatched signatures. According to Raffensperger, Graham then asked whether he had the authority to toss out all mail-in ballots in these counties.

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Federal prosecutors to seek Hunter Biden indictment by 29 September – as it happened

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Unclear what charges president’s son will face but he has been under investigation for potential tax and gun law violations. This blog is now closed

Obsequiousness to Donald Trump has its consequences. Yesterday, former leader of the Proud Boys militia group Enrique Tarrio was given the longest sentence yet handed out for the January 6 insurrection, the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports:

The former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Tuesday for his part in the failed plot to keep Donald Trump in power after the 2020 election.

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New York attorney general asks judge to sanction Trump over ‘frivolous’ arguments

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Letitia James says Trump family is rehashing failed legal arguments in $250m civil suit over company’s business affairs

The attorney general of New York state is seeking $20,000 in sanctions against Donald Trump, his adult sons, other defendants and their lawyers, for repeating “frivolous” arguments rejected in court in a $250m civil suit over family business practices.

In a filing on Tuesday, Andrew Amer, an assistant to Letitia James, the attorney general, noted repeated rejections of arguments deemed “borderline frivolous even the first time defendants made them”.

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Top Democrat says ‘powerful argument’ 14th amendment disqualifies Trump

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Tim Kaine says clause on ‘insurrection against the constitution’ could preclude ex-president from running in next year’s election

Democratic senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said that he believes there is a “powerful argument” to be made that Donald Trump can be disqualified from running in the 2024 presidential elections under the 14th amendment.

“In my view, the attack on the Capitol that day was designed for a particular purpose at a particular moment and that was to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power of as is laid out in the constitution,” he said in an interview with ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. “So I think there is a powerful argument to be made.”

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Proud Boys member receives 10-year prison sentence for US Capitol attack – as it happened

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Dominic Pezzola’s sentence is less than 20-year term prosecutors proposed while Ethan Nordean will also be sentenced. This blog is now closed

We’re expecting Joe Biden to soon speak about the government’s August employment report that came out a few hours ago, which shows employment growth remaining steady in the world’s largest economy, despite the sting of high interest rates, as the Guardian’s Lauren Aratani reports:

The US jobs market is holding steady as interest rates sit at a 22-year high, with US employers adding 187,000 jobs in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

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‘I wouldn’t give him a nickel’: one-time Giuliani donors rule out legal aid

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Billionaire Leon Cooperman, who backed Giuliani’s 2008 White House bid, says he won’t help with legal fees – and he’s not alone

As he attempts to meet mounting legal fees incurred in large part through his work for Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani will reportedly not get “a nickel” from one billionaire who backed his campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination – or, apparently, much from many others previously big donors.

“I wouldn’t give him a nickel,” the investor Leon Cooperman told CNBC. “I’m very negative on Donald Trump. It’s an American tragedy. [Rudy] was ‘America’s mayor’. He did a great job. And like everybody else who gets involved with Trump, it turns to shit.”

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Clarence Thomas discloses trips paid for by Republican mega-donor – live

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Supreme court justice acknowledges luxury travel provided by billionaire Harlan Crow in disclosure released after delay

Conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas has acknowledged trips paid for by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow in a disclosure released today after a delay, CNN reports.

Reports from ProPublica and other media outlets including the Guardian released earlier this year found Thomas, the court’s longest-serving conservative justice, had questionable entanglements with parties interested in its cases, including by taking luxury vacations with Crow.

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