Trump’s ex-adviser was arrested on Thursday for allegedly defrauding donors to ‘We Build the Wall’ campaign
Former Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon pleaded not guilty on Thursday hours after being arrested on a luxury yacht for allegedly skimming donations from an online fundraising campaign for the president’s controversial border wall with Mexico.
Continue reading...Move clears way for Manhattan’s district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr, to get president’s tax returns
A federal judge on Thursday cleared the way for Manhattan’s top prosecutor to get Donald Trump’s tax returns, rejecting a last-ditch attempt by his lawyers to block a subpoena issued to his accounting firm.
US district judge Victor Marrero’s ruling echoes his prior decision in the case, which was upheld by the US supreme court last month. The high court returned the case to Marrero so Trump’s lawyers could get another chance to challenge the subpoena issued by the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr.
Continue reading...Florida’s coronavirus death toll hit 10,000 on Wednesday as the state continues to struggle to get the ongoing pandemic under control.
Almost six months since Florida’s first case was identified, the state reported 174 deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total death toll to 10,067.
Continue reading...The most powerful gun lobby in the world has strayed from its core purpose and shot itself in the foot
Oliver North cut a lonely figure as he walked through the Indianapolis airport, quietly slipping out of the city midway through the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) convention which was still in progress. A day later, North announced from afar that he was not seeking a traditional second term as its president, while it also emerged that the New York attorney general was investigating the NRA’s tax-exempt status.
That was April 2019. More than a year later, the turmoil that heralded North’s departure has culminated in the New York attorney general, Letitia James, suing to put the NRA out of business, alleging that senior leaders used charitable donations for family trips to the Bahamas, private jets and lavish meals that shaved $64m off the organisation’s balance sheet in three years, turning a surplus into a financial crisis.
Continue reading...New York’s attorney general has sued to dissolve the National Rifle Association (NRA), alleging that senior leaders used the powerful gun lobby group as their “personal piggy bank” and illegally diverted millions of dollars from its charitable work.
Related: New York attorney general files lawsuit to dissolve NRA – live
Continue reading...The legislation comes as a federal panel is investigating the market power of Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google
New York state is introducing a bill that would make it easier to sue big tech companies for alleged abuses of their monopoly powers.
New York is America’s financial center and one of its most important tech hubs. If successfully passed, the law could serve as a model for future legislation across the country. It also comes as a federal committee is conducting an anti-trust investigation into tech giants amid concerns that their unmatched market power is suppressing competition.
Continue reading...Video shows plain-clothes officers carrying the protester away while uniformed police stand guard, actions criticised as ‘abusive and indefensible’
Police officers in New York have been filmed arresting a female protester by forcing her into an unmarked minivan in east Manhattan.
Footage of Tuesday’s arrest drew sharp criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union, which called the arrest “dangerous, abusive, and indefensible,” in a post on Twitter.
Continue reading...New York governor says event featuring Goldman Sachs CEO and Chainsmokers breached Covid-19 rules
New York health authorities are to investigate a charity concert in the Hamptons, which included performances by the Goldman Sachs chief David Solomon and DJ duo the Chainsmokers, over “egregious” social distancing violations.
The drive-in event, Safe & Sound, had space for about 600 cars and was held in Southampton village on Saturday. It was the first in a series of such concerts planned for the US, according to the organisers’ website.
Continue reading...New York state boats have ferried many more tourists than their Ontarian counterparts, where distancing has been far stricter
Every day, Mory DiMaurizio looks out his window at Niagara Falls and sighs in frustration.
Not at the sight of the falls – one of the most stunning natural wonders of the world – but rather at the prospect of US tour boats with blue-ponchoed Americans.
Continue reading...Six finalists chosen after city launched plan to rethink bridge that currently carries cars, trains, cyclists and pedestrians
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted much of New York City’s normal rhythms of travel, with many people now hopping on to bicycles rather than the subway. A design competition could now solidify these changes by offering up a revamped version of the famous Brooklyn Bridge.
Related: If McDonald's is reopening, why not schools? It's complicated | Emma Brockes
Continue reading...Watchdog to look at use-of-force allegations in Portland and Washington as other mayors say: we don’t need your deployments
The justice department inspector general said on Thursday it would conduct a review of the conduct of federal agents who responded to unrest in Portland and Washington DC, following concerns from members of Congress and the public.
Related: DoJ watchdog opens investigation into federal agents' actions in Portland – live
Continue reading...New York judge orders documents unsealed after Maxwell’s lawyers had tried to keep them secret
An extensive collection of “extremely personal” documents in civil litigation against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell can be unsealed, a Manhattan federal court judge ruled on Thursday.
The documents relate to Maxwell’s deposition in this litigation, as well as her early 2015 correspondence with her longterm associate, the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Continue reading...Cases of Covid-19 among the young are on the rise as outdoor drinking draws crowds in neighbourhoods across the city
Motorcycles revved, waiters served drinks, and food in busy outdoor street seating areas and, on the pavement, people gathered to sip to-go drinks.
On Saturday night in Astoria, in Queens, it was almost as if coronavirus had never hit New York City.
Continue reading...The former teacher, who earned the support of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren, ousted 16-term Eliot Engel
Jamaal Bowman, a former teacher endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren, has ousted the 16-term Democratic congressman Eliot Engel in the race for New York’s 16th district, marking a major win for the party’s progressive wing.
Bowman had been leading Engel and candidate Christopher Fink since the 6 July primary but the race had not been called by the Associated Press until Friday. In the end Bowman defeated Engel with 55% of the vote, a margin of roughly 12,000 votes, when the race was called. Bowman had declared victory earlier in the month when in-person voting had concluded.
Continue reading...My son’s 14th birthday was the first he and I had spent apart – then he called to say his mother had Covid-19. We were faced with a reality I had hoped to forestall for ever
Welcome to the Guardian’s Power of Touch series
We Jacksons are not effusive types. There ain’t a helluva lot of hugging and touching at family gatherings. However, one of the few exceptions is my son, who’s been unfettered with his affections since he was toddling around his mother’s New Jersey home – he and I have never lived together full-time. My son’s been a boy who, unprompted, says, “Dad, I love you” and wraps me in the tightest of hugs. Who, when he’s seen his sister after a long absence, almost tackles her with glee. Who’s still apt to let a deluge go on account of hurt feelings. In plenty of explicit ways, he’s my emotional opposite, a boy who showed me how to embrace; who, along with his sister, softened parts of me that my own boyhood had hardened; a kid who’s been instrumental in ushering me as close to comfortable with physical expressions of love as I have been in all my almost 45 years of life.
What kind of father was I that I was scared to receive my flesh and blood?
Continue reading...Maxwell, who faces up to 35 years in federal prison, was denied bail and will remain in custody
Ghislaine Maxwell appeared in Manhattan federal court via video feed on Tuesday, to plead not guilty regarding her alleged involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of minor girls.
Related: More victims of Jeffrey Epstein have come forward, says lawyer
Continue reading...Defense team had cited Covid-19 in asking for her to be freed as she awaits trial relating to Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of girls
Ghislaine Maxwell should not get bail while awaiting trial for her alleged involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex trafficking because she is an “extreme risk of flight”, prosecutors said on Monday, firing back at her legal team’s arguments that she is not.
Related: Ghislaine Maxwell requests bail release due to 'unprecedented' Covid-19 risks
Continue reading...Bill de Blasio on Thursday helped to paint the large, bright yellow mural on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower in Manhattan. Similar murals have been painted on New York City streets and in other US cities including Washington DC, Raleigh in North Carolina, and Oakland in California. The Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum after the death of George Floyd who was killed by police in Minneapolis in May.
Continue reading...Slogan painted on Fifth Avenue a week after president tweeted it would be ‘a symbol of hate’
New York City’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, took part in painting “Black Lives Matter” in front of Trump Tower in Manhattan on Thursday, a week after Donald Trump tweeted it would be “a symbol of hate”.
De Blasio was flanked by his wife, Chirlane McCray, and the Rev Al Sharpton as he helped paint the racial justice rallying cry in giant yellow letters on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower. Activists watching chanted: “Whose streets? Our streets!”
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The Mississippi state government has started a process that will see the Confederate battle emblem removed from the state’s flag.
Breaking: House passed it with the two-thirds majority it required. It got immediate release, meaning Senate could take it up as soon as they want.
The latest: https://t.co/Jgcddn3i34 #msleg https://t.co/rKwKGkMmWt
The legislature has been deadlocked for days as it considers a new state flag. The argument over the 1894 flag has become as divisive as the flag itself and it’s time to end it.
If they send me a bill this weekend, I will sign it. pic.twitter.com/bf3vyzuObt
The Winston-Salem Journal reports on a disturbing development in the Bubba Wallace story. Wallace, Nascar’s only black driver, led a successful campaign to rid the stock-car racing series of the Confederate flag. Last week, a noose was found in his team’s garage although a subsequent investigation found the rope had been there since last fall, and Wallace was not the subject of a hate crime. Here’s what the Associated Press has to say on the latest development:
A North Carolina racetrack has lost some partnerships after its owner advertised “Bubba Rope” for sale online days after Nascar said a noose had been found in the garage stall of Bubba Wallace, the top series’ only Black driver.
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