Category Archives: Donald Trump

Trump claims ‘Russian bounty’ story is hoax as pressure for answers grows – live updates

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Donald Trump is criticizing New York City’s plan to paint “Black Lives Matter” on 5th Avenue outside Trump Tower — calling it a “symbol of hate.”

NYC is cutting Police $’s by ONE BILLION DOLLARS, and yet the @NYCMayor is going to paint a big, expensive, yellow Black Lives Matter sign on Fifth Avenue, denigrating this luxury Avenue. This will further antagonize New York’s Finest, who LOVE New York & vividly remember the....

National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien has said that both the CIA and Pentagon did pursue intelligence assessments that suggested Russia had offered bounties for killing US troops in Afghanistan, and that US intelligence briefed international allies, as the administration steps up its defense of the handling of the military bounty scandal.

“We had options ready to go,” O’Brien said on a Fox news show. But added: “It may be impossible to get to the bottom of it.”

American servicemembers are being targeted with Russian bounties. As a Marine, I'm disgusted that nothing's been done about it. Mitch, you get regular security briefings. What did you know and when did you know it?

Man up and tell the truth. #MoscowMitch

Analysis: The only people dismissing the Russia bounties intel: The Taliban, Russia and Trump https://t.co/hbWx8PitRX

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US reports record one-day increase in Covid-19 cases as Trump stays silent

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Concerns mount over Trump’s handling of the crisis as he posts erratic tweets attacking the media and Democrats

The US recorded more than 44,000 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, a new record one-day increase as it struggles with the pandemic, while concerns mount over Donald Trump’s handling of the crisis and his recent silence on the issue.

Eight states reported new single-day highs of freshly diagnosed cases, and the dire numbers follow a warning by the public health expert Dr Anthony Fauci that the US is “going in the wrong direction” and infections could more than double, to reach 100,000 cases a day.

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Governor signs historic bill to remove Confederate emblem from Mississippi flag – live

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Colorado, Utah and Oklahoma are having primaries today.

Here’s what we’re watching:

Bernie Sanders wants lawmakers to cut the US military budget by 10%. In an opinion piece published in the Guardian, he writes:

At this unprecedented moment in American history – a terrible pandemic, an economic meltdown, people marching across the country to end systemic racism and police brutality, growing income and wealth inequality and an unstable president in the White House – now is the time to bring people together to fundamentally alter our national priorities and rethink the very structure of American society.

In that regard, I have been disturbed that for too long, Democrats and Republicans have joined together in passing outrageously high military budgets while ignoring the needs of the poorest people in our society. If we are serious about altering our national priorities, then there is no better place to begin with than taking a hard look at the bloated $740bn military budget that is coming up for a vote in the Senate this week.

Related: A 10% cut to the US military budget would help support struggling Americans | Bernie Sanders

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Trump views US troops as disposable – the Russian bounty scandal makes that clear | Simon Tisdall

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Time and again, the president has failed to protect military personnel. For Trump, he always comes first, no matter who dies

Donald Trump likes to suggest he has got the back of US soldiers battling America’s foes around the world. It was a big theme of his 2016 campaign and his West Point speech earlier this month. So great was his boundless care for America’s fighting men and women, he said, that he would halt the endless, costly foreign wars prosecuted by his predecessors – and bring them home.

Related: Trump's ties to Putin under fresh scrutiny in wake of Russia bounty reports

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Trump’s ties to Putin under fresh scrutiny in wake of Russia bounty reports

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Donald Trump is facing renewed questions over his relationship with Vladimir Putin after reports that he was briefed in writing in February that Russia paid bounties for the deaths of US soldiers in Afghanistan.

Related: 'Russian bounties' intelligence was in Trump written daily briefing – reports

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Netanyahu hints at delay to plans to annex the West Bank

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Israeli PM’s suggestion that deadline may be missed follows Benny Gantz saying Covid-19 is more urgent than annexation

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is struggling to push through his West Bank annexation plans, slated to start as soon as Wednesday, facing opposition from Palestinians, the international community and even his own government.

Netanyahu had pledged to begin the process of annexing Israeli settlements and the Jordan Valley from 1 July, as part of a peace plan devised by Donald Trump’s US administration. But he hinted at a delay on Tuesday, saying annexation talks would continue “in the coming days” with US officials.

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‘Russian bounties’ intelligence was in Trump written daily briefing – reports

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  • Evidence of alleged plot was in a February briefing, say officials
  • Trump claimed he was not told because advisers ‘did not find this info credible’

Donald Trump was given a written briefing months ago about intelligence suggesting Russia offered bounties for attacks on US forces in Afghanistan, multiple US media have reported on Monday night. The president said on Sunday he was not told of the allegations because the information was not “credible”.

The New York Times quoted two sources as saying details were included in a daily intelligence briefing the president received in late February. CNN said an official with direct knowledge told them it was included in the briefing – a written document – briefing “sometime in the spring”.

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White House: ‘Dissenting opinions’ from intelligence community on Russian bounty reports – video

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White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany says there are dissenting opinions within the intelligence community on reports Russia offered a bounty for attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan. US President Donald Trump denied being briefed on the alleged bounty program from Russia, later adding intelligence officials told him the threat was not ‘credible’. He has since by contradicted by McEnany, who said there was no consensus among the intelligence community in a media briefing on Monday

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Supreme court strikes down abortion restriction in major victory for campaigners – live

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A vigil held in the memory of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old who black man who was killed by police in Aurora, Colorado, turned violent when police pepper began to pepper spray the crowd, saying that those at the vigil were unlawfully gathering in front of a police station.

Here’s a look at the scene:

Jacksonville, Florida, the city that is slated to host the Republican National Convention in August, announced that it will adopt a mandatory mask requirement for all indoor locations where social distancing is not possible.

That makes things a bit awkward since the Republican National Committee actually moved its convention to Jacksonville after the state it was supposed to be held in, North Carolina, said it would likely impose some restrictions to shrink the size of the convention. North Carolina governor Roy Cooper said he could not agree to guarantees Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee were seeking that would allow the convention to be the big, people-packed convention it was planned to be.

At 5 p.m. today, the City of Jacksonville will be adopting a mandatory mask requirement for public & indoor locations, and in other situations where individuals cannot socially distance.

Please continue to practice personal responsibility to help stop the spread of this virus. pic.twitter.com/dcAuolVMyZ

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Trump retweets video of white St Louis couple pointing guns at protesters

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Clip shows man and woman pointing weapons at people staging protest against US city’s mayor

Donald Trump courted controversy on Monday – and perhaps sought to deflect attention from reports about Russia placing bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan – by retweeting news footage of a white couple in St Louis, Missouri, who pointed guns at protesters marching for police reform.

Related: Trump deletes tweet of supporter shouting ‘white power’ after outrage

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Netanyahu’s annexation plan in disarray as Gantz calls for delay

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Alternate PM says planned 1 July date not ‘sacred’ and Israel should deal with Covid-19 crisis first

Plans by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to begin annexing parts of the occupied Palestinian territories from as early as Wednesday appeared in disarray as the country’s alternate prime minister, Benny Gantz, suggested annexation would have to wait while the country dealt with its coronavirus crisis.

Gantz told a White House envoy, Avi Berkowitz – who is in Israel for talks on the issue – that a 1 July deadline was neither “sacred” nor urgent in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. Israeli media widely suggested that the timing could slip beyond Wednesday.

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Iran issues arrest warrant for Donald Trump over Qassem Suleimani killing

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The leader of the Quds Force was killed in a drone strike in Iraq on 3 January

Iran has issued an arrest warrant for Donald Trump and 35 others over the killing of top general Qassem Suleimani and has asked Interpol for help, Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr said on Monday.

The US killed Suleimani with a drone strike in Iraq on 3 January, accusing him of masterminding attacks by Iranian-aligned militias on US forces across the middle east. The move caused unease in Europe, but the US claims that Suleimani’s death has weakened Iran’s grip on Iraq.

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How damaging is John Bolton’s scathing account of Donald Trump’s presidency?

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The publication of former US national security adviser John Bolton’s White House memoir has caused a sensation. Jonathan Freedland assesses the lurid claims of cosying up to authoritarian leaders as well as descriptions of the ‘stunning’ ignorance of Donald Trump

This episode first aired on Today in Focus, the Guardian’s global daily news podcast made by the Guardian team in London.

Despite a last-ditch attempt to prevent publication, John Bolton’s tell-all book about his time in Donald Trump’s White House has landed with a bang. He claimed that as well as witnessing ‘stunning’ ignorance from the president, he also saw up close how Trump tried to ingratiate himself with authoritarian leaders, at the expense of the US.

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Trump deletes tweet of supporter shouting ‘white power’ after outrage

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Deputy press secretary claims Trump had not heard the racist language of video he tweeted that was posted for nearly four hours

Donald Trump has deleted a tweet he sent featuring video of a Trump supporter shouting, “White power! White power!” after an outpouring of grief and outrage at racist language flowing directly from the White House once again.

The tweet was deleted after it drew fierce criticism from across the political spectrum, including from Tim Scott of South Carolina, the sole African American Republican in the Senate.

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Joe Biden: Donald Trump presidency has been ‘a gift to Putin’ – video

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The Democrats' presidential nominee criticises Trump after reports the US president failed to act on intelligence briefings that Russia was offering bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing US troops. The story was first reported in the New York Times. 'If the Times report is true ... Donald Trump has continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin,' Biden said.

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Everyone loses from Netanyahu’s territorial ambitions

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The land grab in the West Bank will damage the region, the international community and Israel itself

It was always about land. Arabs possessed it, Jews claimed it. Both believed they were in the right. Since the 1930s, when the flight from fascism in Europe trebled the Jewish population of Palestine to 33%, this elemental, foundational struggle has intensified inexorably – with Israelis gaining ground time after time. Now Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister and co-leader of a powerful 74% Jewish majority state, wants to finish the job.

Netanyahu’s plan is to annex large parts of the West Bank and the Jordan valley, but his starting date of 1 July may slip amid disagreements with the US and internally over its scope and pace. Last week, Jordan’s King Abdullah described annexation as “unacceptable” and threatened to slash diplomatic ties. Hamas militants in Gaza called the plan a “declaration of war”.

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If Donald Trump’s down, how dirty will he fight to win?

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Protest and pandemic are hurting the US president in the polls. His inability to gauge the national mood could be his undoing

Looked at objectively, it’s an odd choice. On 3 November, the American public, whose median age is around 38 and whose makeup is increasingly ethnically and racially diverse, will be asked to pick one of two elderly white men, each well into his 70s, to run the country for the next four years.

If one of the candidates was much younger – think Bill Clinton versus George HW Bush in 1992 – it might be a big deal. But since both Donald Trump and Joe Biden are relatively old, any negative impact will likely cancel itself out. If Biden wins, he will, at 78, be the oldest president ever to take office, breaking the previous record set by Trump who was a mere 70 in 2017.

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‘Like leaning into a left hook’: coronavirus calamity unfolds across divided US

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In a week that saw the worst day on record for new cases, Trump shrugs as experts warn Americans not to follow his lead

A disaster is unfolding in Montgomery, Alabama, where Martin Luther King preached and where Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus. Hospitals are running short of drugs to treat Covid-19, intensive care units are close to capacity, and ventilators are running short.

Related: Rashida Tlaib pushes to free US inmates from coronavirus 'death sentence’

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Coronavirus US: Florida again breaks one-day record for new cases – live

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The Mississippi state government has started a process that will see the Confederate battle emblem removed from the state’s flag.

Breaking: House passed it with the two-thirds majority it required. It got immediate release, meaning Senate could take it up as soon as they want.

The latest: https://t.co/Jgcddn3i34 #msleg https://t.co/rKwKGkMmWt

The legislature has been deadlocked for days as it considers a new state flag. The argument over the 1894 flag has become as divisive as the flag itself and it’s time to end it.
If they send me a bill this weekend, I will sign it. pic.twitter.com/bf3vyzuObt

The Winston-Salem Journal reports on a disturbing development in the Bubba Wallace story. Wallace, Nascar’s only black driver, led a successful campaign to rid the stock-car racing series of the Confederate flag. Last week, a noose was found in his team’s garage although a subsequent investigation found the rope had been there since last fall, and Wallace was not the subject of a hate crime. Here’s what the Associated Press has to say on the latest development:

A North Carolina racetrack has lost some partnerships after its owner advertised “Bubba Rope” for sale online days after Nascar said a noose had been found in the garage stall of Bubba Wallace, the top series’ only Black driver.

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Russia offered bounty to kill UK soldiers

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Moscow accused of trying to give money to the Taliban as part of its campaign to destabilise America and its allies

The Russian intelligence unit behind the attempted murder in Salisbury of the former double agent Sergei Skripal secretly offered to pay Taliban-linked fighters to kill British and American soldiers in Afghanistan, according to US reports.

The revelation piles pressure on the UK to take robust action against the Kremlin amid continuing anger over the government’s delay in publishing a key report on Russian attempts to destabilise the UK.

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