Category Archives: Mike Pence

Trump returns to Oval Office against CDC’s isolation guidelines – live

Posted on by

Here’s a recap of today so far, from me and Martin Pengelly:

Related: Coronavirus live news: Brazil cases pass 5m; Trump calls catching Covid 'a blessing in disguise'

Facebook has announced significant changes to its advertising and misinformation policies, saying it will stop running political ads in the United States after polls close on 3 November for an undetermined period of time.

The changes, announced Wednesday, come in an effort to “protect the integrity” of the upcoming election “by fighting foreign interference, misinformation and voter suppression”, the company said in a blog post.

Continue reading...

What happens if Trump is incapacitated and how would it impact the election?

Posted on by

Donald Trump has tested positive for Covid-19 – but what happens if he can’t carry out his presidential duties?

Under the 25th amendment to the US constitution the president himself – or the vice-president with the agreement of eight cabinet officers, supported by Congress – can ask the vice-president, in this instance Republican Mike Pence, to take over as acting president.

Continue reading...

Mike Pence claims you ‘won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America’ in RNC address – video

Posted on by

Continuing to fan the flames of fear, on the third day of the Republican national convention the US vice president, Mike Pence, said: 'The hard truth is you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America'.

In a dark speech laden with ominous warnings about a future without Trump at the helm, and incorrect statements about the president's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, Pence vowed to 'make America great again, again'.


Continue reading...

Mike Pence claims Americans would be unsafe under Biden in dark RNC speech

Posted on by

Vice-president does not mention Jacob Blake as he champions ‘law and order on the streets’ amid protests

In the shadow of deepening unrest in Wisconsin, Mike Pence warned darkly of the violence and mayhem that would ensue under a Democratic administration during a keynote address on the third night of the Republican national convention on Wednesday.

The vice-president, speaking from Fort McHenry in Baltimore, where the raising of the American flag during the war of 1812 inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem that would later become The Star-Spangled Banner, echoed several conservative speakers in painting a dystopian portrait of America’s major cities and accusing the Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, of tolerating violence and vandalism.

Continue reading...

Trump formally renominated by Republicans as convention gets under way – live

Posted on by

During Donald Trump’s address to the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, he referred to Barack Obama and someone in the gathered ranks can be heard shouting out what sounds like: “Monkey”.

That is how it’s being initially reported. You can hear the audience laughing. Trump continues for a moment, then smirks and says: “Let’s be nice”, continues for another moment, then chuckles, points into the audience and says: “That can only happen in North Carolina.”

When President Trump mentioned Obama, someone from the crowd shouted, “Monkey!” and the president relished in it.

Disgusting.

Do you approve of this @ThomTillis? pic.twitter.com/vOxAmRJByZ

More on lawsuits facing the Trump organization – New York state Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit investigating whether Trump inflated the valuations of certain assets.

New York’s Democratic attorney general asked a court Monday to enforce subpoenas into an investigation into whether President Donald Trump and his businesses inflated assets on financial statements.

Attorney General Letitia James filed a petition in state trial court in New York City naming the Trump Organization, an umbrella group for the Republican president’s holdings, as a respondent along with other business entities. The filing also named Eric Trump and Seven Springs, a New York estate owned by the Trump family.

Continue reading...

‘Mika Pintz?’ Democrats mock Republicans for mispronouncing ‘Kamala’ – video

Posted on by

Julia Louis-Dreyfus and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang open the final night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention with a not-so-subtle dig at Republicans mispronouncing vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s first name

Continue reading...

US reaches 3m confirmed Covid-19 cases as Pence pushes for schools to reopen – live

Posted on by

Nine in 10 Americans believe that racism and police violence are problems in the country, a Guardian/Opinium Research poll has found, a sign that public opinion is shifting away from the views put forward by Donald Trump.

The US president has been criticised for relentlessly stoking white fear and grievance in recent weeks, putting him at odds with Black Lives Matter anti-racism protests that have swept the nation following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May.

Related: Nine out of 10 Americans say racism and police brutality are problems, poll finds

Donald Trump, who has villanized and denigrated Mexican migrants and threatened Mexico with tariffs, took a different tone with Obrador today.

During the meeting, when two protectionist presidents were ironically touting a trade deal, celebrating the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal, both leaders had cordial words for each other.

Trump launched his 2016 campaign by calling Mexicans rapists.

He's spread racism against our Latino community ever since.

We need to work in partnership with Mexico.

We need to restore dignity and humanity to our immigration system.

That's what I'll do as President.

Continue reading...

Azar says ‘window closing’ to halt US coronavirus spread as Pence urges people to wear masks – video

Posted on by

As confirmed coronavirus cases in the US surpass 2.5m, US health secretary Alex Azar warns 'the window is closing' on halting its spread. The US has suffered a recent surge in infections, with states across the west and south among the hardest hit. Speaking in Texas, the vice president Mike Pence says wearing mask is 'a good idea' when social distancing cannot be maintained, and also notes there is a spike in cases among younger Americans

Continue reading...

Mike Pence hails ‘truly remarkable progress’ as US sees record new coronavirus cases – video

Posted on by

Amid the surge of new cases in the United States, the White House coronavirus task force, led by Mike Pence, held its first briefing in nearly two months, signalling a recognition that the administration can't ignore the alarming increases. The vice president took the opportunity to hail the 'remarkable progress' the Trump administration has had in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak as a surge across the South and West sent the number of confirmed new infections per day to an all-time high of 40,000

Continue reading...

Pence claims ‘remarkable progress’ as Covid-19 cases hit new record in US

Posted on by

US reports 40,000 new coronavirus cases in previous 24 hours, the highest daily total of the pandemic

Mike Pence on Friday hailed “truly remarkable progress” in America’s battle with the coronavirus pandemic, despite the US reporting a record 40,000 new cases in the previous 24 hours, the highest daily total of the outbreak.

With new cases rising in a majority of states in the last few days after swift moves to reopen for business, especially across the south and west, the vice-president sought to deliver encouraging news as the head of the White House coronavirus taskforce as the body offered its first public briefing in two months.

Continue reading...

European Union reportedly set to ban US travelers over Covid-19 concerns – as it happened

Posted on by

We’re ending our live coverage for the day, thanks for following along. A summary of some key events:

California’s governor has granted clemency to 21 prisoners as Covid-19 outbreaks have continued to infect thousands behind bars in an escalating public health crisis.

Gavin Newsom, who has faced mounting pressure to release people en masse from state prisons, announced Friday that he is granting commutations to 21 people, a move that reduces their sentences and creates a potential path for their release. He also announced pardon grants for 13 people, a step that restores some rights for those who have already served sentences.

There's growing pressure on @GavinNewsom to grant clemency to elderly + vulnerable women who are domestic violence survivors and at high risk of death in prison.

I spoke directly with some of them. LISTEN to their own words ⬇️ (thread):https://t.co/btI8Ns7wMw #SixNineteen

Patricia Wright has terminal liver cancer, is currently in chemotherapy and likely has months to live. She told me she just wants to see her children and grandchildren before she dies: pic.twitter.com/0ydwwgCem1

Related: California governor grants clemency to 21 prisoners as thousands infected with Covid-19

Continue reading...

Monsters are heinous, but they need collaborators to do their dirty work | Suzanne Moore

Posted on by

Mouths to feed, rent to pay: there’s always an excuse if you’re tempted to do the wrong thing

Where is Ghislaine Maxwell? Where? I sat through the four episodes of Filthy Rich, the Netflix documentary on Jeffrey Epstein. I had to force myself, not because it was so upsetting – which, of course, it also was – but because the tales of his sexual abuse were so monotonous. Brave and defiant, his victims had to numb themselves slightly to tell and retell what happened to them when they were as young as 14. The interviews with the monster himself, as always, were disappointingly banal. Monsters often are tediously ordinary. The magnetic charm, the immense intellect, is one of the biggest delusions of “true crime”. See also Ted Bundy.

Anyway Ghislaine, accused of procuring underage girls for Epstein, is said to be a free woman in Paris, living in the swanky 8th arrondisement. French law prevents her extradition. Many of those implicated in Epstein’s world of obscene exploitation, including all the art world and socialite scum, must have a clue where she is. Alleged scum, I should say. They love their children just like we do. Sure.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus US live: Trump abruptly leaves press conference after clash with reporters

Posted on by

Trump ends the briefing on a very abrupt and sour note.

Asked by CBS White House Correspondent Weijia Jiang why he is so fixated on comparing the US’ testing capability to other countries as opposed to focusing on the lag that still exists here, Trump snapped: “Maybe that’s a question you should ask China. Don’t ask me, ask China that question, okay?”

Trump throws a fit when @kaitlancollins of CNN tries to ask him a question and abruptly ends the press conference pic.twitter.com/58AVZ9CABl

Trump walked out of his own news conference after accusing @weijia of asking a "nasty question" and refusing to take @kaitlancollins's questions after calling on her.

Trump spent Mother’s Day sending conspiratorial tweets about his predecessor. In one tweet he accused Obama of committing the “biggest political crime in American history, by far!” Trump.

Asked to name the crime he is accusing Obama of committing, Trump replied: “Obamagate. it’s been going on for a long time it’s been going on before I even got elected.”

Related: Trump charges Obama with 'biggest political crime in American history'

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: Putin to ease Russia lockdown despite record number of new infections

Posted on by

UK and WHO to lead global Covid-19 information campaign; Aden declared an ‘infested’ city

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 985 more deaths and 23,792 more confirmed cases since the weekend’s update, taking the overall totals to 79,756 and 1,324,488.

The CDC said the weekend’s numbers were preliminary and had not been confirmed by individual states.

The Guardian has published its editorial on the prime minister’s message to the country as it moves into a dangerous new phase of the epidemic.

For more than 30 years, the term “consensus politics” fell out of fashion in Britain. For generations of Conservative politicians schooled in the dogmas of Thatcherism, the phrase came to connote unpleasant images of sandwiches with union leaders in No 10 and weak government.

Boris Johnson urgently needs to discover the virtues of consensus-building now, after a chaotic few days of mixed messages and confused assertions.

Related: The Guardian view on 'stay alert': a divisive muddle | Editorial

Continue reading...

California to reopen some businesses this week as lockdowns ease across US – as it happened

Posted on by

That’s all for today, thanks for following along. A recap of the day:

Senator Elizabeth Warren said today she believed Joe Biden’s comments on the sexual assault allegation were “credible and convincing”.

“I saw the reports of what Ms [Tara] Reade said, I saw an interview with vice-president Biden. I appreciate that the vice-president took a lot of questions, tough questions. And he answered them directly and respectfully. The vice-president’s answers were credible and convincing,” the senator and former presidential candidate said, according to a CNN reporter.

Related: Senate rejects Joe Biden's request to search for records on Tara Reade

Continue reading...

Mike Pence shuns coronavirus mask rule on Mayo Clinic visit – video

Posted on by

Mike Pence triggered a storm of controversy on Tuesday by failing to wear a face mask on a visit to the Mayo Clinic’s facilities in Minnesota. Pence leads the US government’s coronavirus taskforce, but his staff have claimed he does not need to wear the protective covering because he is regularly tested for the coronavirus.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus in America: why the US has struggled to tackle a growing crisis

Posted on by

A lack of preparation, deep-rooted dysfunction and a reckless president – now the US faces being the center of the pandemic

Exactly a month after Donald Trump tweeted that the US had the coronavirus outbreak “very much under control”, the World Health Organization delivered a stark and jarring reality check: America faces being the centre of a pandemic that has paralysed much of the world.

Related: Trump's staff cuts have undermined Covid-19 containment efforts, watchdog finds

Continue reading...

Strangely competent Mike Pence finds his 9/11 moment in coronavirus crisis

Posted on by

Critics flagged up his anti-science background and questionable record as governor but the vice-president has won praise as the Covid-19 taskforce head

His past record made him seem an odd choice. He remains as servile to Donald Trump as ever. But Mike Pence, the US vice-president, is said to be having “a good war” against the coronavirus outbreak.

Related: Coronavirus travel updates: which countries have restrictions and FCO warnings in place?

Continue reading...

US expands travel ban to UK and Ireland amid Coronavirus outbreak – video

Posted on by

All travel between the United States and the UK and Ireland will be suspended from midnight EST on Monday. Vice-president Mike Pence announced the new measure at a coronavirus task force news briefing on Saturday.

A top medical official Anthony Fauci said the move could change the course of coronavirus's spread across the country, which he said 'has not yet reached its peak'.

Continue reading...

Mike Pence presents US plans to tackle coronavirus – video

Posted on by

Vice-president Mike Pence has outlined the White House's plan to tackle the economic and health consequences of the Covid-19 outbreak. The Trump administration has pledged to increase testing and help blue-collar workers

Continue reading...