Category Archives: Donald Trump

Donald Trump accused of sexually assaulting writer E Jean Carroll

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Carroll alleges that Trump assaulted her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in 1995 or 1996, potentially raping her

Donald Trump is facing a fresh allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman in his days as a real estate developer in the mid 1990s, adding to the long list of claims against him of sexual misconduct.

In a cover story in New York magazine, the writer and celebrated agony aunt E Jean Carroll relates an incident in which she encountered Trump in the Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman some time in late 1995 or early 1996. She was 52 years old and had recently started an advice column for Elle magazine called Ask E Jean, and he would have been 49 or 50, and married to Marla Marples.

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Will he? Won’t he? How Trump’s impulses are driving his Iran policy

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Everything Trump has done in relation to Iran, driven by his duelling impulses, has kept the US on a trajectory towards conflict

Ordering airstrikes and then calling them off at the last minute is one way of working through the contradictions in your Middle East policy, but it is very expensive and highly dangerous way of going about it.

Ever since Donald Trump took office and his conflicting impulses were applied to US foreign policy, a moment like this was all but inevitable.

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Trump says he stopped airstrike on Iran because 150 would have died

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US president tweets that he intervened 10 minutes before planned retaliatory attack

Donald Trump has said the US air force was “cocked and loaded” to attack three Iranian targets, but he withdrew the order with 10 minutes to spare after being told the airstrike might kill as many as 150 people.

Trump said in a series of revelatory 9am tweets that he decided late on Thursday that the death toll was not a proportionate response to the Iranian shooting down of a US spy drone off the Iranian coast 24 hours earlier.

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Trump suggests a ‘loose and stupid’ Iranian officer shot down US drone – video

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President Donald Trump did not escalate Iran's shooting down of an American drone, saying that it might have been a mistake executed by 'a general or somebody' being 'loose and stupid'. Trump told reporters on Thursday that the incident was a 'new wrinkle' in escalating tensions between the US and Iran.

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Trump on whether US will strike Iran: ‘You will soon find out’ – live

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President says ‘stay tuned for next week’ when asked if he will authorize strike against Tehran in retaliation for attack on US drone

Alabama Republican Roy Moore, whose unsuccessful 2017 campaign for US Senate was marred by allegations he sexually assaulted or pursued teenage girls while in his 30s, is going to try again.

The Democratic candidate, Doug Jones, a former federal prosecutor, defeated Moore by a narrow margin in a special election in December 2017 to fill the seat vacated by Republican Jeff Sessions when he became US attorney general. Jones was the first Democrat in a quarter-century to be elected to the US Senate in Alabama.

AP is reporting that Roy Moore will jump into the Alabama Senate race https://t.co/gsALWyjY5v

Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders hold narrow leads in a theoretical showdown with President Trump in North Carolina ahead of the 2020 presidential race, according to a new Public Policy Polling survey released Thursday.

From The Hill:

Forty-nine percent of registered voters surveyed said they would back Biden in a match-up against Trump, while 46 percent said they would support the president. Five percent, meanwhile, said they are unsure who they’d back.

In a match-up against Sanders, 48 percent of North Carolina voters said they’d back the Vermont senator, compared with 47 percent who said they would vote for Trump; 5 percent said they were unsure of their pick.

No other candidate leads Trump in the poll.

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Donald Trump calls Iran attack on US drone a ‘big mistake’

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US considers response to shooting down of US drone that Tehran claims was flying in Iranian airspace

US security officials have been summoned to the White House to discuss a response to the shooting down of a US spy drone, which Donald Trump has called a “big mistake” by Tehran.

Iran said it shot down the unmanned aircraft in its airspace. The US military has said it was downed over international waters in the strait of Hormuz.

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Cory Booker attacks Biden for ‘civil’ relationship with segregationist lawmakers – as it happened

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After the Senate majority leader dismissed the idea of reparations, Coates testified before Congress about ‘campaign of terror’ against black Americans

Closing out live coverage this evening, with an updated summary of today’s news from Amanda Holpuch and me:

Watch some of the key moments from today’s Congressional debate over reparations:

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US joins four rogue countries seen as likely forces for bad, poll finds

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Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iran and the US are also seen as less likely to use their influence for good than they were 10 years ago

The United States has joined Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Iran in a rogue’s gallery of countries perceived as likely to use their influence for bad. All five countries are also seen as less likely to use their influence for good than they were 10 years ago.

Related: ‘Credible evidence’ Saudi crown prince liable for Khashoggi killing – UN report

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The Guardian view on Jamal Khashoggi’s murder: Saudi Arabia and its friends | Editorial

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One way to honour Khashoggi is to celebrate his life. Another is to recognise the lessons of his death

The UN report into October’s murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul is the fullest account yet of events and as horrifying as one would expect. Agnes Callamard, the special rapporteur, describes a “deliberate, premeditated execution”; secretly recorded conversations before his visit discussed the arrival of the “sacrificial animal” and dismemberment of a body. She concludes that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia should be investigated because there is “credible evidence” that he and other senior officials are liable for the killing – a conclusion also reached by the CIA – despite the kingdom’s insistence that it was a rogue operation.

No reminder should be needed of the brutality of the killing of Khashoggi, a widely respected journalist living in Washington. Even Saudi Arabia’s business and diplomatic allies blanched, or at least felt obliged to put some distance between themselves and the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom, after repeated lies about what happened, announced that it would try 11 suspects for his murder.

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Trump sets stage for 2020 fight with false claims and recycled attacks

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President kicked off his bid with lies, attacks on the press and claims a Democrat president would ‘shut down your free speech’

Donald Trump has set the stage for the nastiest US presidential race in modern times with a campaign rally that recycled old themes and stoked resentment towards Democrats and the media.

Related: Trump's 2020 campaign launch: the key takeaways

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Trump’s 2020 campaign launch: the key takeaways

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After two and a half years in office, Trump remains fixated on the same grievances – and successes

Donald Trump launched his 2016 presidential campaign on 16 June 2015, by descending an escalator in front of a small crowd in Trump Tower. Four years on, he launched his 2020 pitch to be re-elected to the White House to 20,000 people at Orlando’s Amway Center on a humid, rainy Florida night.

Related: Trump 2020 launch: Bernie Sanders attacks president's 'lies' and 'distortions' – live

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Trump announces departure of acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan – live

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WaPo’s Josh Rogin tweets:

Officials confirm to me Patrick Shanahan is not only withdrawing from consideration, he is resigning his current Pentagon post. Last day unclear. https://t.co/zufBzZ9nmz

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US to send more troops to Middle East in response to Iran concerns – live

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The secretary of defense has authorized the order to send soldiers to Iran, who has been blamed for attacks on oil tankers last week

The New York Times is reporting that the Justice Department has intervened to keep former Trump adviser Paul Manafort out of the notorious Rikers Island jail complex.

JUST IN: Manafort is not going to Rikers after unusual Justice Dept intervention. https://t.co/zZzlSmvLJ7 https://t.co/zZzlSmvLJ7

Manafort was set to be transferred to Rikers this month to await trial on a separate state case, according to the New York Times. But then Manhattan prosecutors received a letter from Jeffrey Rosen, the top deputy for attorney general William Barr, that indicated that “he was monitoring where Mr. Manafort would be held in New York”.

And then, on Monday, federal prison officials weighed in, telling the Manhattan district attorney’s office that Mr. Manafort, 70, would not be going to Rikers.

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Hunt defends Trump quoting Katie Hopkins in attack on Sadiq Khan

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Foreign secretary says he agrees 150% with sentiment of tweet which quoted Katie Hopkins

Jeremy Hunt has vigorously defended Donald Trump for quoting the far-right commentator Katie Hopkins in an attack on the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, as Downing Street declined to condemn the US president’s words.

The foreign secretary said that while he would not have used the same words as Trump he would “150% agree” with the overall sentiment.

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Matteo Salvini: Italy wants to be Washington’s closest partner in Europe

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Hard-right leader speaks on arrival in US of ‘common vision’ with Trump administration amid EU turmoil

Matteo Salvini has said Italy wants to be Washington’s closest partner in Europe during the hard-right leader’s visit to the US capital for talks with the Trump administration.

Salvini made it clear that he sees an opportunity to forge a closer US-Italian relationship at a time of European turmoil and alignment between populist governments in both countries.

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‘Trump Heights’: Israeli settlement in Golan named after US president

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‘It will mean something for him, that there is a place in the world, far away from the States, with his name,’ says resident in community

It is a world away from the grandiose high-rises that bear his name.

A sleepy, crumbling hamlet of fewer than a dozen Israeli residents surrounded by sun-parched fields of crisp hay. Weeds punctuate the cracked asphalt of a basketball court, its rusted hoops leaning at angles.

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Republicanism and the royal family | Letters

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Readers respond to Larry Elliott’s stance on the republican cause in Britain and debate the possibility of radical change

I was a little surprised by Larry Elliott’s suggestion that the republican movement has rarely been weaker (How the House of Windsor saw off British republicanism, 13 June). In his analysis he ignores opinion polling, which shows no growth in support for the monarchy, and he ignores the perilous and imminent succession of King Charles.

A YouGov poll commissioned by Republic at the time of Prince Harry’s wedding last year showed widespread indifference to the royals. As expected, a clear majority (60%) said they liked the Queen, but only a third said they liked her “a great deal”. Meanwhile, only 37% wanted Charles to succeed the Queen; 46% said they would prefer “someone else”.

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Iran-US dispute grows over attacks on oil tankers in Gulf of Oman

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Tensions remain high as Arab League calls for restraint – and Labour warns of UK being drawn into conflict

Divisions over responsibility for last week’s attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman deepened this weekend amid warnings over the danger of a major confrontation in the region, despite hints by Donald Trump about possible negotiations with Iran.

Politicians in Britain traded angry blows over the incident, after the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said there was “no credible evidence” that Iran had attacked the two ships as they passed by its coastline on Thursday morning, rebuffing a Foreign Office assessment that it was “almost certain” that a “branch of the Iranian military” had carried out the strikes.

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Biden, Sanders and Harris to face off as Democratic debate lineups set – live

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Trio drawn together for split NBC debate on 26-27 June, while Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren and Beto O’Rourke to meet in other group

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting read about how after launching an atypical presidential election bid, Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign team is taking a more traditional path:

The campaign aims to build a political infrastructure that can operate regardless of what Mr. Trump says on stage or on social media. Mr. Trump’s Twitter feed is spoken of as his own brand, separate from the campaign.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders has only a few weeks left of her tenure as White House press secretary and the rumor mill is churning with possible replacements.

Four possible replacements, according to Reuters, are: Stephanie Grisham, Melania Trump’s communications director; Heather Nauert, the former State Department spokeswoman; Tony Sayegh, the outgoing Treasury department spokesman and Hogan Gidley, deputy White House secretary.

Once, after watching Gidley on his screen in the residence, the President walked over to the communications office to tell the staff he thought they were handling the shutdown well.

In the days afterward, Trump confused several officials when he directed them to, “Get me Tidley.”

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‘Squash Amash’: how a Republican congressman drew the ire of his party

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Justin Amash is the lone GOP congressman to call for Trump’s impeachment, and his career – at least in his party – is in question

The hundreds of Republicans who gathered for the “squash Amash” rally outside the Michigan congressman Justin Amash’s downtown Grand Rapids office on Friday left nothing in doubt as they spoke about the man they feel betrayed their party by calling for Donald Trump to be impeached.

“Pathetic”, “lightweight loser”, “a joke” and the phrase uttered with perhaps the most derision: Rino, or “Republican In Name Only”.

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