‘Karma always get you’: New Yorkers react to verdict in Trump criminal trial

All opinions could be found on streets of New York City after conviction, including: ‘This is going to hand him the election’

The aftermath of the conviction of Donald Trump on 34 felony counts played out amid scenes of stress, jubilation and shock in Manhattan – the slice of New York that first made the former US president into a global celebrity and has now declared one of its most famous sons a guilty criminal.

Police cruisers tore downtown after jurors announced they’d reached a verdict in Trump’s hush-money trial, and many New Yorkers had been glued to their phones waiting for the decision to be relayed. Mayor Eric Adams tried to reassure citizens that authorities were prepared for unrest.

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Black Americans disproportionately encounter lies online, survey finds

Most Americans concerned about online misinformation as election nears, according to poll by watchdog group Free Press

As US presidential elections approach, the vast majority of Americans are concerned about online misinformation and fear they do not have enough accurate information on candidates, especially local ones, a new poll has shown.

While people across the political and racial spectrum reported being “very concerned” about the deliberate spread of online misinformation, the study found Black Americans are disproportionately encountering misinformation when seeking accurate news.

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Mike Johnson plans Republican mega-bill ready to push through if Trump wins

House speaker plans far-reaching bill including tax cuts and border security to make Trump ‘the most consequential president’

Mike Johnson, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, is planning a sweeping ideological legislative drive that aims to make Donald Trump “the most consequential president of the modern era” if the Republicans win power in November.

A far-reaching bill containing a range of policy priorities at once – including tax cuts worth trillions, border security and rolling back Obamacare – is being prepared to avoid the mistakes the GOP believed happened early in Trump’s first term, when Johnson says the party wasted time because its victory over Hillary Clinton took it by surprise.

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‘I need you’: Biden-Harris campaign launches initiative to court Black voters

President and vice-president gear up for 2024 election with ‘Black Voters for Biden-Harris’ rally at majority Black Philadelphia school

Gearing up for the 2024 election, the Biden-Harris campaign launched its Black voters initiative on Wednesday at Philadelphia’s Girard College, a majority Black boarding school.

Around 2pm in an auditorium filled with hundreds of Black Philly residents, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris approached the podium to applause and an audience shouting “four more years”.

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Robert F Kennedy Jr files election complaint over CNN debate rules

Independent presidential candidate alleges network is colluding with Trump and Biden to exclude him from 27 June debate

The independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr filed an election complaint on Wednesday alleging CNN is colluding with Joe Biden and the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, to exclude him from a debate the network is hosting next month.

Kennedy alleges the requirements to participate in the 27 June debate were designed to ensure only Biden and Trump would qualify and Kennedy claims he is being held to a higher standard.

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Joe Biden tells Black voters ‘I need you’ to beat Trump in campaign rally in Philadelphia – as it happened

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What if the jury convicts Donald Trump? It would present an unprecedented test of America’s political system, and also the bureaucracy that deals with convicts in New York state, the Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:

If a Manhattan jury convicts Donald Trump on any of the 34 counts of falsifying business records in the hush-money case, the immediate next question will be what punishment the former president should receive.

Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial in New York inched towards its conclusion on Wednesday with jury deliberations starting just before 11.30am local time.

Before the start of deliberations, Judge Juan Merchan instructed jurors . Merchan’s directives on the law were intended to guide jurors about how they are supposed to weigh the case.

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Election conspiracies are ‘done all the time’, Trump lawyer tells trial jurors

Hush-money trial enters final stages as defense makes closing argument in case centered on allegedly falsified business records

Donald Trump’s secret plot to bury negative press ahead of the 2016 election deprived Americans of their right to choose a candidate at the ballot box, said the prosecution in its summation on Tuesday at the former president’s New York hush-money trial.

Steinglass’s closing statement reminded jurors of a summer 2015 meeting at Trump Tower where the real estate mogul sat with then consigliere Michael Cohen and tabloid honcho David Pecker.

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Nikki Haley pictured writing ‘finish them’ on IDF artillery shells in Israel visit – as it happened

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Up next was Harry Dunn, a former Capitol police officer.

He referenced his campaign for Congress representing a Maryland district, which ended last week when he lost the Democratic primary.

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Biden honors troops on Memorial Day as Trump lashes out at his ‘human scum’ enemies

In divergent messages, president pays tribute to fallen heroes, while Trump fulminates on social media against opponents

Joe Biden and Donald Trump marked the Memorial Day national holiday honoring America’s war dead with jarringly divergent messages that promised to foretell the forthcoming US presidential election campaign as a contest of sharply contrasting characters.

In a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Biden paid tribute to the fallen as heroes who sacrificed themselves in the service of American democracy and ideals. Meanwhile, Trump, taking to his Truth Social site, took a very different tack – bestowing holiday wishes on those he branded “human scum” and accused them of trying to destroy the country.

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Republican Tim Scott falsely claims Biden policy resegregates public schools

Possible Trump running mate makes extreme remark as former president steps up efforts to woo Black and minority voters

Donald Trump’s inner circle is stepping up efforts to woo Black and other minority voters, with a leading candidate to be his vice-presidential running mate claiming falsely on Sunday TV that Joe Biden was resegregating US public schools.

Tim Scott, the US senator from South Carolina who has been open about his desire to be on Trump’s ticket, made one of the most extreme claims yet. Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union show, he described President Biden as a supporter of educational segregation.

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Trump would ‘absolutely’ rehire Peter Navarro despite prison sentence

Former White House trade adviser is currently serving four months in federal prison for contempt of Congress

Donald Trump has said he “would absolutely” rehire his federally imprisoned former economic adviser Peter Navarro if returned to the presidency in November.

“I would absolutely have Peter back,” Trump – who has spent more than a year grappling with more than 80 of his own criminal charges – told the Wall Street Journal. “This outrageous behavior by the Democrats should not have happened.”

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Consultant behind deepfaked Biden robocall fined $6m as new charges filed

Steve Kramer charged in New Hampshire for AI-generated impersonation of Biden that urged residents not to vote in primary

Steve Kramer, a political consultant who admitted that he deepfaked Joe Biden’s voice in a robocall that was sent out to thousands of US voters in January 2024, has been indicted and fined $6m.

The robocall, which went out ahead of the first Democratic presidential primary in the US in New Hampshire, used artificial intelligence to fake Biden’s voice telling voters to stay home and “save” their votes for the November general election.

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Nikki Haley says she will vote for Donald Trump in 2024 election

U-turn by ex-president’s most enduring rival during Republican primaries provokes swift backlash

Nikki Haley, who emerged as Donald Trump’s most enduring rival and trenchant critic during the Republican primary elections, has said she intends to vote for the former US president in November.

Haley was speaking at the Hudson Institute thinktank in Washington on Wednesday, her first public appearance since dropping out of the race in March. She was asked whether Joe Biden or Trump would do a better job on national security issues.

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Federal Reserve concerned over ‘lack of further progress’ in bid to tame inflation

While price growth has fallen sharply, with April’s 3.4% lower than March’s 3.5%, it is still higher than Fed’s medium-term goal of 2%

Policymakers at the Federal Reserve have expressed concern over stalling progress in their fight to bring down inflation.

Although price growth has fallen sharply since peaking at its highest levels in a generation two years ago, it has remained stubbornly above where officials want it to be.

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Kamala Harris calls Trump’s mention of ‘unified reich’ in video ‘appalling’ – as it happened

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A group of Democratic and Republican US senators has condemned the international criminal court (ICC) after its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, yesterday requested arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, defense minister Yoav Gallant and the leaders of Hamas.

In a statement, the Democrats Ben Cardin, Richard Blumenthal, Jeanne Shaheen and John Fetterman and the Republicans Lindsey Graham, Jim Risch, Katie Britt and John Thune argued the ICC should have consulted further with Israel before Khan’s decision to seek warrants.

Representatives of the ICC were supposed to be in Israel today to set up meetings between Israeli officials and ICC Prosecutor Khan’s team next week to discuss allegations and concerns. This was a process we encouraged, as it is consistent with the principle of complementarity.

The ICC’s precipitous action in applying for arrest warrants in this instance runs contrary to the promotion of rule of law globally; Israel has a long history as a functioning democracy, with an independent judiciary and military justice system. We have great confidence in the Israeli judicial system’s ability to administer justice. The principle of complementarity should be honored, allowing a nation’s legal system to act first.

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Nevada activists secure signatures for vote on abortion access in November

Nearly double number of signatures needed turned in to get measure to enshrine abortion rights in constitution on ballot

Activists in Nevada, a key state in the upcoming US presidential elections, announced on Monday afternoon that they had turned in nearly double the number of signatures they need to get an abortion-related measure on the November ballot.

Nevada currently allows abortions up until fetal viability, or the point at which an infant can survive outside the womb, which is generally pegged to around 24 weeks of pregnancy.

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Marco Rubio says he would not accept 2024 election results ‘if it’s unfair’

Republican senator’s comments come as he is considered among Trump’s top candidates for vice-president

The Republican Florida senator Marco Rubio said on Sunday he would not commit to accepting the 2024 presidential election results, insisting that “if it’s unfair” his party will “go to court and point out the fact that states are not following their own election laws”.

Rubio’s statements on Meet the Press come as he is considered among former president Donald Trump’s top candidates for vice-president. Trump has continuously said falsely that the 2020 election was stolen.

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Biden and Trump are betting on debates to help magnify the other’s weaknesses

Trump will look to again cast Biden as greatly diminished while Biden will aim to remind voters why they rejected Trump in 2020

It’s game on for a pair of presidential debates between two unpopular candidates most Americans wish weren’t running for the nation’s highest office.

In a ratatat social media exchange on Wednesday, Joe Biden and Donald Trump agreed to participate in two debates on 27 June, hosted by CNN, and on 10 September, hosted by ABC.

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Biden campaign accuses Trump of ‘playing games with debates’ – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. You can read more on the US presidential debates here:

In a letter to Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, top Donald Trump advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said the former president had accepted their invitation to participate in two debates, while demanding further face offs between the two candidates.

“Today is a good day for America’s voters, now that Joe Biden has FINALLY accepted President Trump’s debate challenge. President Trump and our campaign have been requesting this for months with a consistent message: ANY TIME! ANYWHERE! ANY PLACE!” Wiles and LaCivita write.

We believe there should be more than just two opportunities for the American people to hear more from the candidates themselves. With the soaring inflation of Bidenomics costing America’s hardworking families at the grocery store and at the gas pump, with our border being totally overrun, with chaos at home, chaos across the world, chaos on our college campuses, we should have one debate per month.

Therefore, we propose a debate in June, a debate in July, a debate in August, and a debate in September, in addition to the Vice Presidential debate. Additional dates will allow voters to have maximum exposure to the records and future visions of each candidate.

Crooked Joe Biden is the WORST debater I have ever faced - He can’t put two sentences together! Crooked is also the WORST President in the history of the United States, by far. It’s time for a debate so that he can explain to the American People his highly destructive Open Border Policy, new and ridiculous EV Mandates, the allowance of Crushing Inflation, High Taxes, and his really WEAK Foreign Policy, which is allowing the World to “Catch on Fire.” I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September. I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds - That’s only because he doesn’t get them. Just tell me when, I’ll be there. “Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!”

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Joe Biden and Donald Trump agree to two US presidential debates

Both candidates agreed upon two dates for debates: 27 June and 10 September, and Trump also posted about a third date in October

Shortly after the Biden-Harris re-election campaign proposed two TV debates between Joe Biden and Donald Trump ahead of November’s presidential vote, both men have agreed upon two debate dates: 27 June and 10 September.

CNN confirmed that it would host the first debate of 2024 on that date at 9pm ET from the crucial battleground state of Georgia.

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