Category Archives: Donald Trump

US under siege from ‘far-left fascism’, says Trump in Mount Rushmore speech

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US president enflames national tensions with attack on ‘leftwing revolution’ and plan for national memorial of statues of ‘American heroes’

Standing beneath Mount Rushmore on the eve of American independence day, Donald Trump staged a defiant celebration of what critics say is white identity politics and warned the nation’s history is under siege from “far-left fascism”.

The US president defended the symbolism of statues and monuments before a packed crowd at an event that revelled in political incorrectness calculated to enflame the country’s current divisions and enrage liberal critics. There were few face masks and even fewer people of color on stage or in the stands.

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Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr’s girlfriend, tests positive for Covid-19

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Ex-Fox News presenter is key fundraiser for Trump re-election campaign and latest of president’s circle to contract the disease

US records highest daily increase in coronavirus cases

The girlfriend of Donald Trump Jnr, the US president’s eldest son, has tested positive for the coronavirus, US media have reported.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is a former Fox News television personality and a senior fundraiser for Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, is just the latest person in Trump’s inner circle to contract the potentially deadly virus. The news also comes as the US is experiencing a huge spike in coronavirus cases and amid withering criticism of Trump’s response to the crisis.

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Fourth of July celebrations increase risk of ‘superspreader’ events, experts warn

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  • Officials prevent municipal gatherings in effort to slow spread
  • Experts urge Americans at barbecues to follow health guidelines

The Fourth of July is traditionally for barbecues, fireworks, boisterous partying and various hijinks to celebrate Independence Day. But this year, with coronavirus cases soaring to all-time highs, medical experts warn that the normal US holiday exuberance could instead create infection “superspreader” events.

Related: 'It's very troubling': alarm grows over Covid-19 spike among young Americans

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Trump declares US economy is ‘roaring back’, despite record Covid-19 cases – video

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Donald Trump has declared the US economy is 'roaring back' after news of a fall in unemployment nationwide. The results come as states across the country have been gradually lifting Covid-19 restrictions. While 4.8m jobs were added in June, parts of the country have also experienced record numbers of new coronavirus cases

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Why is coronavirus still surging in the US? – video explainer

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The US recorded a new all-time daily high of 52,000 new Covid-19 cases on 1 July, according to Johns Hopkins University figures, as Donald Trump repeated his belief the virus would ‘just disappear’.

America has now had more than 2.7 million confirmed cases - more than double that of Brazil, the second most-affected country. Dr Anthony Fauci, the US’s top infectious disease expert, has said the country is ‘going in the wrong direction’, infections could more than double and the subsequent death toll ‘is going to be very disturbing’.

The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington looks at why a patchwork approach to lifting lockdowns, as well as the president’s mixed messages on wearing a mask, have led to confusion across the country and why some states are having to clamp down

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US setting new coronavirus case records as ‘Russian bounty’ row continues – live updates

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Meanwhile, there’s breaking news from the Supreme Court, via The Washington Post (added bolds from me):

A lower court had granted a request from the House Judiciary Committee for access to redacted portions of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. But in May, the Supreme Court put a hold on that ruling until the high court could decide whether the issue warranted its intervention.

On the campaign trail and often in public remarks about economic news the president has promised that the final two quarters of 2020 would be a substantial improvement from earlier numbers.

He made that argument again at this press conference.

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Trump has ‘gone awol’ as president amid coronavirus pandemic, says ex-CIA director

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Leon Panetta becomes latest prominent public figure to accuse Trump of effectively surrendering to the virus and abandoning Americans to their fate

Donald Trump has “essentially gone awol from the job of leadership that he should be providing a country in trouble” during the coronavirus pandemic, a former defence secretary and CIA director said on Wednesday.

Related: US setting new coronavirus case records as 'Russian bounty' row continues - live updates

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Donald Trump calls allegations of Russian bounty on US soldiers ‘a hoax’ – video

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US president Donald Trump has played down allegations Russia paid bounties to the Taliban to kill coalition forces in Afghanistan, claiming it’s a hoax by ‘the newspapers and the Democrats’. Trump initially said he had not been told of the allegations, while the White House later claimed there was no consensus in the intelligence community over the reports’ veracity

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Trump hopes coronavirus will ‘just disappear’ and says he’s ‘all for masks’ – video

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US president Donald Trump says he hopes the coronavirus will “just disappear”, despite states across the country experiencing record numbers of new Covid-19 cases. Speaking to Fox Business, the president was asked if he believed the virus will simply disappear. "Yeah sure. At some point. And I think we’re going to have a vaccine very soon too," he added. Trump has consistently been criticised for not promoting safety measures such as wearing masks, but told Fox Business he "thinks masks are good" and that when he wore one, he liked the way he looked "like the Lone Ranger".

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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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