Category Archives: Donald Trump

Biden assembles army of attorneys for post-election legal fight

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Protracted battle expected as likely surge in mail-in votes means winner of Trump-Biden contest may not be known on night

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign says it is amassing an unprecedented army of attorneys for an expected legal brawl over whether ballots will count in the weeks after the election. The effort will involve several other top Democratic voting rights and election law attorneys as well as Eric Holder, the former attorney general.

Related: The ‘invisible voting bloc’: US postal service cuts threaten ballot access for inmates

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Trump’s pre-election diplomatic offensive glosses over awkward realities

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The ‘Abraham accords’ merely make public once-furtive friendships between Israel and Gulf monarchies, while bigger problems remain

The White House was festooned with the flags of four nations. There were trumpet blasts, multiple signatures on various pieces of paper, and much weighty talk about blood and history – everything you might expect from a peace deal.

And not just any peace deal. The agreements signed in Washington on Tuesday were titled the Abraham Accords, implying a epochal reconciliation between Judaism, Islam and Christianity, three faiths with shared Middle East ancestry.

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Donald Trump falsely claims he didn’t downplay coronavirus pandemic

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The president admitted to downplaying the virus in interviews with investigative journalist Bob Woodward

Donald Trump falsely claimed he did not downplay the coronavirus pandemic at a town hall Tuesday night, saying, “Actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action.”

His remarks came in response to an uncommitted voter at the ABC News event, who asked Trump why he would “downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low-income families and minority communities”. The president said he did not minimize the threat of the virus: “My action was very strong. I’m not looking to be dishonest. I don’t want people to panic.”

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‘It’s going to be peace in the Middle East’: Trump on historic accords – video

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A historic agreement signed between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain at the White House will, according to Donald Trump, ‘be peace to the Middle East.’

They signed agreements to establish formal relations, ending a decades-old taboo in Arab diplomacy as power and priorities shift in the region.

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UAE, Bahrain and Israel sign historic accords at White House event

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Trio establish formal relations at ceremony viewed as image boost for Trump and Netanyahu

Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have signed agreements to establish formal relations, ending a decades-old taboo in Arab diplomacy as power and priorities shift in the Middle East.

“Today’s signing sets history on a new course,” Donald Trump told a crowd outside the White House where the deal was signed. “This an incredible day for the world,” he said.

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Trump threatens to retaliate with ‘1,000 times greater’ force against any Iran attack

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  • US intelligence said to fear attack on US envoy to South Africa
  • Trump claims he had discussed plan to assassinate Syria’s Assad

Donald Trump has warned that the US will retaliate with “1,000 times greater” force against any Iranian attack on its interests.

Related: ‘The US feels very volatile’: former ambassador warns of election violence

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Trump and Biden clash on climate as Hurricane Sally and wildfires rage – live

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There’s a quick snap from Reuters here that the city government of Louisville, Kentucky, is expected to announce on Tuesday a financial settlement with the family of Breonna Taylor, the Black woman fatally shot by police in March.

The Courier Journal has reported locally that the “substantial” settlement will be accompanied by police reforms, including a requirement that commanders approve search warrants before they are put to a judge.

Forecasters say Hurricane Sally could dump flooding rains on a path from Mississippi to the Carolinas this week after the storm makes landfall on the Gulf Coast.

The National Weather Service says after the storm comes inland Wednesday, rainfall of 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) is likely across portions of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas.

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Black churches say Donald Trump election ad incites ‘white terrorism’

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  • Leaders call for removal of ad depicting worshippers as ‘thugs’
  • Video pairs Biden at prayer with scenes of street violence

Black American church leaders have accused Donald Trump of inciting “white terrorism” against people of colour and depicting churchgoers as “thugs” in a presidential election campaign ad.

They are calling for the advertisement’s removal from display and federal protection from any bias or threats it could provoke.

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‘The US feels very volatile’: former ambassador warns of election violence

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Ex-UK ambassador Kim Darroch say pollsters could be undercounting Donald Trump supporters

The former UK ambassador in Washington, Kim Darroch, has warned of a “genuine risk” of violence in the aftermath of a close-run US election in November.

Darroch noted that although Joe Biden is maintaining a significant lead nationwide, the margins in some battleground states are shrinking, and he suggested pollsters could be systematically undercounting Donald Trump supporters.

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‘I don’t think science knows’: Trump denies climate change link to wildfires – video

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The US president is urged to recognise the changing climate and what it means to forests, during a briefing on the wildfires in California on Monday. Trump interrupts an official, Wade Crowfoot, the secretary of California’s Natural Resources Agency, to argue the climate 'will start getting cooler, you just watch'. Crowfoot responds: 'I wish science agreed with you.' To which Trump retorts: 'I don’t think science knows actually'

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Biden condemns Trump as ‘climate arsonist’ as wildfires burn – live

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Trump has landed in California, where he will receive a briefing on the west coast wildfires, which have already claimed at least 35 lives.

“There has to be good, strong forest management, which I’ve been talking about for three years with the states, so hopefully they’ll start doing that,” Trump said.

Trump is in California mispronouncing "Oregon" and insisting that wildfires are caused be poor forest management pic.twitter.com/zydXDoe3DT

Joe Biden closed his climate speech by noting he continues to pray for Americans on the west coast who have been affected by the wildfires.

“We see the light through the dark smoke. We never give up. Always,” Biden said.

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Just 50 days until a US election both sides see as an existential struggle

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Joe Biden holds a steady lead in the polls but plenty of time remains for surprises and even the act of voting is controversial

The election to decide whether Donald Trump will serve a second term as president has already begun, with voters in North Carolina filling out absentee ballots, Minnesotans preparing to start early in-person voting on Friday and other states revving up their election machinery.

But for most Americans, today marks 50 days until election day, 3 November, when voters will take varying degrees of health risks – and face hurdles to voting of varying heights – to cast their ballots in person for Trump or his potential Democratic successor, Joe Biden.

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Trump repeats claims he received ‘Bay of Pigs Award’, which doesn’t exist – video

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Donald Trump repeats claims he earlier made online, boasting of winning the 'Bay of Pigs Award' – an honour that doesn't exist. Trump twice visited a Bay of Pigs museum in Miami in 2016, where he received 'a hand-painted Brigade 2506 shield', which his campaign insisted was the award in question. Trump made the claims while courting Latino voters in Nevada, a state where he trails rival Joe Biden in polls, and one where the  president failed to overcome Hillary Clinton  during the 2016 campaign

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TikTok: ByteDance ‘to partner with Oracle’ in US after rejecting Microsoft bid

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Oracle reported to be ‘technology partner’ after Donald Trump set a 15 September deadline for US businesses to stop dealing with Bytedance

Bytedance will not sell TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft, the US tech-giant said in a statement, with reports it has instead picked a consortium led by Oracle as a “technology partner”.

ByteDance has been in talks to sell TikTok’s US business since Donald Trump threatened last month to ban the service if it was not sold. The president’s executive order in August gave Americans until 15 September to stop doing business with the video platform’s Chinese parent company ByteDance, or it would be shut down in the US. It effectively set a deadline for a potential pressured sale of part of the tech company to an American bidder.

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Trump boasts about getting ‘Bay of Pigs Award’ – which doesn’t exist

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Attacking Joe Biden and seeking to exploit reports that his rival is struggling with Latino voters, Donald Trump boasted on Sunday of receiving “the highly honoured Bay of Pigs Award” from Cuban Americans in the battleground state of Florida.

Perhaps inevitably, and to the glee of the internet, no such award exists.

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Trump ‘compromised by the Russians’, says former member of Mueller’s team

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Peter Strzok was removed from Russia investigation and fired by the FBI over text messages critical of Trump

Donald Trump is “compromised by the Russians”, a former member of Robert Mueller’s investigation insisted on Sunday, contending that the president is “incapable of placing the national interest ahead of his own”.

Related: Trump attacks Robert Mueller's 'hit squad' in row over 'wiped' phones

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Trump aides insist Woodward tapes reveal strong leadership on Covid

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The revelation that Donald Trump deliberately downplayed the coronavirus pandemic forced key aides on to desperate defence on Sunday, barely 50 days from the presidential election.

Related: Roger Stone to Donald Trump: bring in martial law if you lose election

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US wildfires: politicians condemn Trump for blaming ‘forest management’ – video

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Politicians strongly criticised the US president for his response to the escalating wildfire crisis in the west coast after he claimed 'forest management' was the main culprit for the emergency.

The death toll from wildfires choking the west coast of the US continued to rise on Sunday as authorities said more bodies were likely to be found in the charred ruins of towns across several states

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Has Trump spent his election war chest before the war really starts?

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The president’s campaign has paid out $800m, but at a crucial phase he is making cuts while Joe Biden is outspending him

More than $180,000 per second. That is what Donald Trump’s two TV ads during the Super Bowl worked out at in February, offering vivid proof of the outsized role of money in American politics – and of his re-election campaign’s premature and profligate spending.

The 2020 presidential election has been described by both sides as the most important in living memory and is certainly proving the most expensive. Hundreds of millions of dollars have flooded both campaigns and, in the pandemic-enforced absence of shaking hands and kissing babies, may prove even more influential than usual.

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