Category Archives: Donald Trump

Global report: six US states report most ever new coronavirus cases

Posted on by

More cases in Beijing outbreak; Brazil suffers worst ever day; New Zealand prime minister voices anger over quarantine fiasco

New coronavirus infections have soared to record highs in six American states, marking a rising tide of cases for a second consecutive week as authorities in Beijing said another 31 people had been infected in a fresh outbreak in China.

Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas all reported their most ever new cases on Tuesday after all-time highs last week and as they continued to reopen their economies. Nevada also reported its highest single-day tally of new cases on Tuesday, up from a previous high on 23 May.

Continue reading...

Trump administration sues to block publication of John Bolton’s book

Posted on by

Officials claim book, which is critical of administration, contains classified information and would compromise national security

The Trump administration has sued to block the publication of a forthcoming book by John Bolton, the US president’s former security adviser, about his time in the White House, arguing that it contained classified information and would compromise national security.

The civil lawsuit came one day after Trump said Bolton would be breaking the law if the book were published. Trump fired Bolton last September after roughly 17 months as national security adviser.

Continue reading...

Trump administration sues former adviser John Bolton to block his book – live

Posted on by

The lawsuit filed by the US against John Bolton aims to stop the former administration official “ from compromising national security by publishing a book containing classified information.”

But it states that “on or around” 27 April, Ellen Knight, who was reviewing Bolton’s manuscript, “had completed her review and was of the judgment that the manuscript draft did not contain classified information”.

Bolton’s book The Room Where It Happened will be a critical account of the Trump administration, according to the publisher.

Bolton “shows a president addicted to chaos, who embraced our enemies and spurned our friends, and was deeply suspicious of his own government”, according to Simon and Schuster.

Continue reading...

Trump niece’s bombshell book to detail family ‘trauma, neglect and abuse’

Posted on by

Publisher says Mary L Trump, a trained psychologist, describes ‘a nightmare of traumas and destructive relationships’

New details have emerged about a book by Donald Trump’s niece, which its publisher says will “explain how her uncle became the man who now threatens the world’s health, economic security, and social fabric”.

Related: Trump reportedly to take legal action to block John Bolton's tell-all book

Continue reading...

Trump reportedly to take legal action to block John Bolton’s tell-all book

Posted on by
  • ABC News says Trump expected to file suit seeking injunction
  • The Room Where It Happened due for publication next week

Donald Trump is set to sue to stop the publication of a tell-all book by John Bolton, his third national security adviser, ABC News reported on Monday.

At an event in the White House later in the day, Trump said it would be up to the attorney general, William Barr, to issue any charges, but he hinted that the matter would end up in court. “We’ll see what happens. They’re in court or they’ll soon be in court,” Trump said about the book.

Continue reading...

Black Lives Matter protests: Atlanta shooting of Rayshard Brooks declared homicide – live updates

Posted on by

Overnight protesters have torn down a statue of Thomas Jefferson outside a high school that bears his name in North Portland, Oregon.

The school was the starting point for a 1,000 strong Black Lives Matter protest on Sunday evening. The statue was still intact at that point, and reports suggest it was pulled down by a smaller group after the main march had departed.

There’s a couple of stories that are breaking at the moment - one is that a US Air Force F15C fighter aircraft has crashed off the coast of England near Middlesbrough. The status of the pilot is not yet known.

Continue reading...

Only three out of 53 countries say US has handled coronavirus better than China

Posted on by

Survey reveals deep global dissatisfaction with US leadership under Donald Trump

China has beaten the US in the battle for world opinion over the handling of coronavirus, according to new polling, with only three countries out of 53 believing the US has dealt with the pandemic better than its superpower rival.

The survey comes ahead of a major conference on the future of democracy this week, due to be addressed by the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state John Kerry and the Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong. The conference is likely to be a rallying point for pro-democracy activists as China and the US enter an ever more explicit ideological contest.

Continue reading...

Pandemic, what pandemic? Trump sees mass rallies as path to re-election

Posted on by

Tens of thousands of Americans are dead from Covid-19, millions have lost their jobs but the president hopes adoring crowds will change the narrative

On the day that America reached a world record 2m coronavirus infections, Donald Trump announced a campaign rally and his deputy, Mike Pence, posted (then deleted) a tweet of campaign staff gathered indoors without face masks or physical distancing.

Related: It's the economy, stupid – but will Trump or Biden win the argument?

Continue reading...

Why Trump loves the US military – but it doesn’t love him back

Posted on by

The president’s West Point speech went smoothly but protests have focused a harsh light on his use of the military

Donald Trump attempted to solidify his bond with the US army on Saturday, delivering the graduation speech to cadets at the United States Military Academy and boasting of a “colossal” $2tn rebuilding of American martial might.

Related: Top US military general Mark Milley apologizes for Trump church photo-op

Continue reading...

How the killing of George Floyd exposed Hong Kong activists’ uneasy relationship with Donald Trump

Posted on by

The US president may be the pro-democracy movement’s biggest backer, but some protesters feel they are being used

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement has struggled to reconcile the support it has received from Donald Trump with his administration’s brutal crackdown on protests over the police killing of George Floyd.

In the past few weeks, unprecedented Black Lives Matter protests, renewed by the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer, have spread to every US state and to countries across the world, regardless of pandemic restrictions.

Continue reading...

ABC News executive placed on leave after allegations of racist remarks – live

Posted on by

The Fulton county district attorney’s office has opened an investigation into an incident in which Atlanta police shot and killed a man on Friday night. Police responded to reports that a man had fallen asleep in his car at a Wendy’s drive-thru and was blocking traffic. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) says the man was shot and killed after police tried to take him into custody. One report says the man tried to grab a police taser. The GBI is conducting its own investigation. Unverified reports on social media say the man who died was black.

JUST IN: The #FultonCounty DA’s statement about the @Atlanta_Police involved shooting Friday night. pic.twitter.com/Z3mwwvOnNz

Athletes at the University of Texas have asked the school song to be changed along with the names of buildings on campus.

“The recent events across the country regarding racial injustice have brought to light the systemic racism that has always been prevalent in our country as well as the racism that has historically plagued our campus,” the athletes said in a statement.

Continue reading...

Trump gives West Point address amid tensions with military leaders

Posted on by

President’s visit to military academy also faced protest over bringing graduates back during coronavirus pandemic

Donald Trump’s address to graduates at West Point on Saturday was controversial both by its very occurrence and due to tensions between the president and leaders of the US armed forces.

Related: Bolton book claims Trump committed other ‘Ukraine-like transgressions’

Continue reading...

‘He just doesn’t get it’: has Trump been left behind by America’s awakening on racism?

Posted on by

The killing of George Floyd has been a turning point for for everyone but the president – who has seldom been so isolated from his own party and the public

Longtime observers of Donald Trump have often compared him to an old man sitting at the end of a bar, holding forth with crazed opinions, overwhelming self-assurance and taboo-busting shock value guaranteed to draw a crowd.

Now, perhaps for the first time, it seems the US president may have lost the room.

Continue reading...

Trump says ‘concept of chokeholds sounds innocent’ as states move to ban practice – live

Posted on by

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Lois Beckett, will be taking over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

The Trump administration has finalized a rule rolling back Obama-era protections for transgender Americans under the Affordable Care Act’s non-discrimination policy.

According to the new version of the policy, the department of health and human services will be “returning to the government’s interpretation of sex discrimination according to the plain meaning of the word ‘sex’ as male or female and as determined by biology.”

Continue reading...

‘Trump thought I was a secretary’: Fiona Hill on the president, Putin and populism

Posted on by

She was the White House’s top Russia expert catapulted to fame by Trump’s impeachment. She reflects on her journey from County Durham to Washington

In the last days before Washington was locked down, Fiona Hill was standing on the street on her phone dealing with a domestic crisis.

Hill’s daughter had become ill, it was unclear whether it was coronavirus (it later turned out to be regular flu) and the family had relatives flying in that weekend for a visit. As she paced up and down making contingency plans, passersby on Connecticut Avenue looked and looked again on recognising her. The British-born White House adviser had temporarily become one of the most famous faces in America after testifying in Donald Trump’s impeachment hearings in November.

Continue reading...

‘Illegal’: mayor says Trump cannot disband Seattle’s ‘autonomous zone’ – video

Posted on by

Seattle's mayor has defended the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or 'Chaz', a space over several blocks transformed into a community without police which Donald Trump has threatened to disband.

In a tweet, Donald Trump described the protesters as 'domestic terrorists', In another tweet addressing the Seattle mayor, Jenny Durkan, and the Washington governor, Jay Inslee, he told them to 'take back your city NOW… If you don’t do it, I will.'

Continue reading...

Melania Trump used White House move to renegotiate prenup, book claims

Posted on by
  • First lady delayed moving from New York for five months
  • Melania reportedly said aim was ‘taking care of Barron’

Melania Trump delayed coming to the White House after her husband Donald Trump won the 2016 election because she was renegotiating her prenuptial agreement, a new book has claimed.

Related: Trump’s joke about Melania is just one of their many awkward moments

Continue reading...

No future benefit in Kim’s relationship with Trump, says North Korea

Posted on by

Pyongyang says since summit two years ago US has appeared friendly but has instead sought regime change

North Korea sees no future benefit in maintaining a relationship between its leader, Kim Jong-Un, and Donald Trump, the country’s state media has said on the two-year anniversary of the pair’s first summit.

US policies prove Washington remains a long-term threat to the North Korean state and its people, foreign minister Ri Son Gwon said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA.

Continue reading...

Joining Trump church photo op ‘a mistake’, says Gen Mark Milley – video

Posted on by

Gen Mark Milley has said it was a mistake to have been present at Donald Trump's photo op in front  of a church in Washington. 'I should not have been there,' he said in a pre-recorded video commencement address to the National Defense University.

Milley and the defense secretary, Mark Esper, were widely criticised for participating in the photo-op during George Floyd protests in Washington, with many former defence officials saying the two were helping Trump’s efforts to politicise the military

Continue reading...

Biden predicts military will intervene if Trump refuses to accept election loss

Posted on by
  • Biden says biggest fear is Trump will ‘try to steal the election’
  • Democratic challenger leads president in opinion polls

Joe Biden has predicted the military will escort Donald Trump from the White House should the president lose November’s election but refuse to leave office.

Biden, speaking to the Daily Show’s Trevor Noah, said that his single greatest concern is that the president will “try to steal this election”.

Continue reading...