Joe Biden has addressed the killing of George Floyd and the protests that his death has sparked. During a speech in Philadelphia, the Democratic presidential candidate said Floyd’s last words, 'I can’t breathe', were a 'wake-up call for our nation'. Biden also sought to draw a clear distinction between himself and Donald Trump, saying the US president was 'part of the problem'
Continue reading...Category Archives: Donald Trump
Mark Zuckerberg criticised by civil rights leaders over Donald Trump Facebook post
Activists say Facebook boss’s decision to leave ‘shooting threat’ up sets dangerous precedent
Civil rights leaders have criticised Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to take no action against a Facebook post from Donald Trump appearing to threaten to start shooting “looters”, after a Monday night meeting with the company’s executives ended in acrimony.
“We are disappointed and stunned by Mark’s incomprehensible explanations for allowing the Trump posts to remain up,” Vanita Gupta, Sherrilyn Ifill and Rashad Robison said in a statement. “He did not demonstrate understanding of historic or modern-day voter suppression and he refuses to acknowledge how Facebook is facilitating Trump’s call for violence against protesters.
Continue reading...‘Words of a dictator’: Trump’s threat to deploy military raises spectre of fascism
The president suggested the US could use troops against Americans – true to the instincts of a man surrounded by sycophants
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross,” goes an oft-quoted line of uncertain origin.
On Monday evening, Donald Trump, with four US flags behind him, threatened to send in the military against the American people, then crossed the road to pose for a photo outside a historic church while clutching an upside-down Bible.
Continue reading...Fauci says his contact with Trump has ‘dramatically decreased’
Comments likely to raise fears he is being squeezed out of White House as coronavirus continues to ravage US
Anthony Fauci, the government’s top public health expert and a member of the national coronavirus taskforce, said on Monday that he was no longer in frequent contact with Donald Trump, which is likely to spark fresh fears that he is being frozen out of the White House.
The pandemic continues to ravage communities across the United States, where the death toll on Monday had reached 105,000, and last month Fauci warned the US Congress during a hearing that the virus was not yet under control.
Continue reading...Trump threatens to deploy military against protesters as teargas fired outside White House – live
- George Floyd’s death a homicide, county medical examiner says
- Family autopsy points to homicide by asphyxiation
- Curfew to go into effect for New York City from 11pm to 5am
- Floyd’s family calls for peaceful protests
- Pressure grows for other three officers to face charges
- Minneapolis police chief: all four officers ‘complicit’ in death
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Bobby Rush, an Illinois congressman and a Civil Rights era leader who co-founded the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers in 1967, responded to Trump’s Rose Garden address with this:
We are living in a police state. https://t.co/YjO8x7QZjt
The Episcopal bishop of DC told The Washington Post that she was “outraged” after the officers cleared peaceful protestors gathered near the White House with tear gas and rubber bullets, to clear the way for Donald Trump to take photos outside St. John’s Church.
The Episcopal bishop of DC – who oversees the DC church Trump just stopped at – tells the @washingtonpost she is "outraged" and that neither she nor the rector was asked or told… “that they would be clearing with tear gas so they could use one of our churches as a prop.." 1/3
"We so disassociate ourselves from the messages of this president. We hold the teachings of our sacred texts to be so so grounding to our lives and everything we do and it is about love of neighbor and sacrificial love and justice." @Mebudde Bishop Mariann Budde 3/3
Continue reading...Facebook employees hold virtual walkout over Mark Zuckerberg’s refusal to act against Trump
- Workers dissatisfied with decision to not remove the president’s post
- An oversight board member is involved in a racist speech controversy
Facebook employees are staging a rebellion over Mark Zuckerberg’s refusal to act against Donald Trump, expressing their dissatisfaction with their boss on social media in a rare public display of dissent and, in some cases, staging a “virtual” walkout.
Disagreement came from employees at all levels of the company, including some senior staff. Particular criticism was levelled at Zuckerberg’s personal decision to leave up the Facebook version of a tweet sent by Trump in which the president appeared to encourage police to shoot rioters. By contrast, Twitter hid the message behind a warning.
Continue reading...Donald Trump offers to invite Vladimir Putin to expanded G7 summit
US president initiated call with Russian leader, according to Kremlin account, where they discussed pandemic, oil and space
Donald Trump has offered to invite Vladimir Putin to an expanded G7 meeting in September, but the invitation has already been adamantly opposed by the UK and Canada.
According to a Kremlin account on Monday, the US president initiated the call, in which the two leaders talked about the coronavirus pandemic, oil prices and cooperation in space, as well as Trump’s postponement of a planned G7 summit at Camp David this month and the inclusion of other countries.
Continue reading...‘It could have a chilling effect’: why Trump is ramping up attacks on mail-in voting
Trump is sowing doubt about mail-in voting at a time when it may be the safest way for people to cast their ballots
Donald Trump is escalating baseless attacks on mail-in voting in what appears to be an obvious effort to sow doubt about the fairness of the 2020 election.
The president has long made false accusations about voter fraud, claiming without evidence that 3-5 million Americans voted illegally in the 2016 election. But his barrage against mail-in voting is particularly alarming ahead of an election during the Covid-19 pandemic, where there is likely to be severely limited in-person voting and many Americans will probably vote by mail for the first time. Advocates worry voters who don’t want to risk their health and vote in person could also be swayed by Trump’s rhetoric, not feel comfortable voting by mail, and simply choose not to vote at all.
Continue reading...America’s seniors ebb away from Trump as coronavirus response disappoints
The country’s most reliable voting bloc are also the most vulnerable to the virus, which looks to be benefiting Biden
At a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden last week, a maskless Donald Trump appealed directly to a constituency that could determine his political fate in November’s election: America’s seniors.
Related: Biden sets solemn tone as Trump waits 15 hours to mark Covid-19 milestone
Continue reading...Coronavirus news live: no new Covid-19 deaths in Spain for first time since March
Pakistanis urged to ‘live with the virus’; employee in Israeli prime minister’s office tests positive for Covid-19; Czech Republic will welcome foreign travellers from 15 June
- Iran’s rapid rise in cases stokes fears of second wave
- Colosseum reopens to tourists
- Coronavirus latest: at a glance
- See all our coronavirus coverage
UK ministers have been accused of not taking seriously the threat posed to black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) Britons by Covid-19, after it was reported that the release of an official review of the issue had been delayed over fears of potential civil unrest.
According to Sky News, officials are concerned about the effect the publication could have amid global anger over the death of George Floyd, an African American man who pleaded for air as a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck.
Related: Ministers accused of not taking Covid-19 threat to BAME Britons seriously
Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Continue reading...Seven former foreign secretaries urge UK to take lead on Hong Kong
Cross-party initiative reflects concern response to China’s imposition of security laws cannot be left to Donald Trump
Britain must take the lead in co-ordinating the international response to China’s efforts to impose draconian security laws in Hong Kong, seven former Conservative and Labour UK foreign secretaries have come together to declare.
Related: Hong Kong officials lash out at Trump plan to strip city of special status
Continue reading...Is Donald Trump’s love-hate relationship with Twitter on the rocks?
The president’s account is a 24/7 window into his psyche, with even his rage at having his posts factchecked expressed via tweet
It has been one of the greatest love affairs in American politics.
Related: Twitter taking on Trump's lies? About time too | John Naughton
Continue reading...Global report: coronavirus cases pass 6 million as Donald Trump postpones G7
Trump hopes to expand G7 in delayed summit; Brazil’s death toll passes France; Mexican health care workers to march
The number of people infected by the coronavirus around the world has passed 6 million, as the pandemic forced Donald trump to postpone the G7 summit in Washington.
According to the latest data from the Johns Hopkins University tracking site, there have now been more than 6,059,000 cases of the disease around the world, with 369,126 deaths.
Continue reading...Trump cancels summit but says he will invite Putin to later G7 event
US president intends to convene 11 nations at later date in push to counter China
Donald Trump has been forced to cancel a planned face-to-face summit of G7 leaders in June and now wants to host an expanded meeting in September dedicated to countering China, to which Vladimir Putin would be invited.
Trump revealed on Saturday that he had cancelled the June meeting, which he had billed as a symbol of the US “transitioning back to greatness”, after the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, told him in a phone call that she saw the summit in Washington DC as a health risk. Hundreds of security staff, journalists and officials also attend the two-day summits.
Continue reading...Trump justice department forces out top FBI lawyer in Flynn case – report
- NBC News: general counsel Dana Boente forced out on Friday
- Fox News host Lou Dobbs slammed lawyer in April
- Flynn transcripts show he discussed sanctions with Russian
A top FBI lawyer who was criticised on Fox News for his role in the investigation of Michael Flynn has resigned after being asked to do so by senior figures at the Department of Justice, NBC News reported on Saturday.
Related: What is 'Obamagate' and why is Trump so worked up about it?
Continue reading...‘A national crisis’: how the killing of George Floyd is changing US politics
As people protest across the US, Donald Trump and Joe Biden have offered divergent responses that point to a divisive political debate on race relations
Riots in Minneapolis and across the US triggered by video footage showing George Floyd, a black man, killed under the knee of a police officer, has caused a dramatic shift in the national political debate in America and thrust race to the center of the stage.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden offered divergent responses that point to an even more divisive political debate on race relations and between Democrats and Republicans playing out in the months ahead.
Continue reading...Trump wants America looking at the stars as he drags it through the gutter
The president is due to attend the rescheduled launch of a manned SpaceX rocket – a welcome diversion from the coronavirus crisis
Making America great again just wasn’t enough. “President Trump is making space great again,” the Republican National Committee declared this week.
Donald Trump returns to Cape Canaveral in Florida on Saturday to witness the rescheduled launch of a SpaceX rocket carrying Nasa astronauts that was delayed by weather three days earlier.
Continue reading...Hong Kong officials lash out at Trump plan to strip city of special status
Criticism follows the US president accusing Beijing of breaking its word over Hong Kong for imposing national security laws
Senior Hong Kong government officials have criticised moves by Donald Trump to strip the city of its special status in a bid to punish China for imposing national security laws on the global financial hub.
Speaking hours after Trump said the city no longer warranted economic privileges and some officials could face sanctions, security minister John Lee told reporters on Saturday that Hong Kong’s government could not be threatened and would push ahead with the new laws.
Continue reading...Facebook declines to take action against Trump statements
Twitter responded to the president’s post, which suggested violence against protesters, by hiding it behind a warning label
As Twitter for the second time in a single week took unprecedented action against a tweet by Donald Trump, Facebook declined to take any enforcement action against the president’s statements.
Trump’s threatening statement on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram on Thursday night, “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” echoed a racist 1960s police chief known for ordering patrols of black neighborhoods with shotguns and dogs. It was widely interpreted as a threat and potential incitement to violence against residents of the Twin Cities who have erupted in protest against the alleged police killing of George Floyd, a black man who begged for his life as a white police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes.
Continue reading...Donald Trump announces US plans to sever all ties with WHO – video
Trump has announced that the US will terminate its relationship with the World Health Organization and will redirect the funds to 'other bodies'.
The US president criticised the WHO, claiming it was 'controlled' by China. Trump also announced the US would begin a process to eliminate policy exemptions that give Hong Kong 'special treatment' due to new security laws imposed on the region by China
- Health experts condemn Trump's halting of funding to WHO
- Coronavirus live news: Donald Trump says US is ending WHO relationship