Donald Trump looking for ‘fighter’ as Republican running mate

Sources close to ex-president say gender and race irrelevant over pick who’s ‘America first’ and believes in agenda

Donald Trump is looking for a “fighter” as his running mate in this year’s presidential election and regards factors such as their gender or race as irrelevant, according to sources close to the former US president.

Conventional wisdom used to hold that Trump was likely to choose a woman or a person of color as his potential vice-president in an effort to broaden his appeal. But aides close to the presumptive Republican nominee currently say he will not take so-called identity politics into account.

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Democrat Khanna: Biden is ‘running out of time’ with young voters over Gaza war

Representative Ro Khanna says he will skip Netanyahu’s address to Congress and that young people want war to end

Progressive California Democrat Ro Khanna warned Sunday that Joe Biden is running out of time to win over young voters opposed to his administration’s handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict and that he will not attend Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress next month.

In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Representative Khanna said the erosion of support that the US president is seeing among young voters is a “challenge for our party” and the Democrats could be “running out of time” to restore support with “more people dying” in the conflict.

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Muted mics, no props: CNN details rules for Biden and Trump debate

Network says no studio audience in Atlanta and moderators ‘will use all tools at disposal to ensure a civilized discussion’

The first US presidential debate between incumbent Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump on 27 June will include two commercial breaks, no props and muted microphones except when recognized to speak, CNN said Saturday.

The rules, agreed outside the Commission on Presidential Debates, are designed to reduce fractious interruptions and cross-talk that have often marred TV encounters in recent presidential election cycles.

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Former White House staffer says Trump called for leaker to be executed

Trump’s demand that 2020 leaker be punished with death raises questions about retribution if he is re-elected

Former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin has disclosed that Donald Trump repeatedly mused out loud about executing people at several meetings while she worked for him during his presidency.

Griffin’s claim, which she made in a podcast recording with Mediaite released on Friday, is likely to add to concerns that a return for Trump to the Oval Office could be characterized primarily by political retribution.

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Biden wishes Trump a happy 78th birthday as campaign goes into offense over age

Dogged by age issue, president, 81, is now highlighting Trump’s many peculiarities, from hair style to Bible sales

Taking a line out of Donald Trump’s playbook, Joe Biden offered his rival a tongue-in-cheek birthday greeting on X on Friday, saying: “Happy 78th birthday, Donald. Take it from one old guy to another: Age is just a number.”

The president then coupled his thoughts with a caustic video sarcastically touting “78 of Trump’s historic … ‘accomplishments’” before a Biden re-election campaign spokesperson added: “On behalf of America, our early gift for your 79th: making sure you are never president again.”

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Anthony Fauci says he turned down $7m jobs because ‘I cared’ about US

Former infectious disease head says big pharma tried to poach him while he was nation’s Covid chief

Before Anthony Fauci retired from his lengthy run as the US government’s top infectious disease doctor, major pharmaceutical companies tried to lure him away from his post by offering him seven-figure jobs – but he turned them down because he “cared about … the health of the country” too much, he says in a new interview.

Fauci’s comments on his loyalty to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niad) – which he directed for 38 years before retiring in December 2022 – come only a couple of weeks after he testified to Congress about receiving “credible death threats” from far-right extremists over his efforts to slow the spread of Covid-19 at the beginning of the pandemic.

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Wisconsin Republicans block PFAS cleanup until polluters are granted immunity

GOP-controlled committee thwarting distribution of $125m budgeted by legislature until polluter immunity approved

Wisconsin Republicans are withholding $125m designated for cleanup of widespread PFAS contamination in drinking water and have said they will only release the funds in exchange for immunity for polluters.

The move is part of a broader effort by Republicans in the state to steal power from the Democratic governor, Tony Evers, the funding’s supporters say, alleging such “political games” are putting residents’ health at risk.

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Justice department won’t pursue criminal contempt charge against Merrick Garland – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. For more on this story, you can read our full report:

Joe Biden released a statement in light of the supreme court’s latest decision on bump stocks, saying:

“Today’s decision strikes down an important gun safety regulation. Americans should not have to live in fear of this mass devastation.”

“I have used every tool in my administration to stamp out gun violence. I nominated the first Senate-confirmed director of the ATF since 2015. My administration ensured that the ATF has the funding it needs to address emerging firearm technologies like machine-gun conversion devices and ghost guns that pose a unique and acute threat to public safety.

Notwithstanding this decision, my administration will continue to take action. I took on the NRA and signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act – the most significant gun violence reduction legislation to pass Congress in nearly 30 years. My administration established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, made historic investments in mental health to support people in times of crisis, and expanded background checks to keep firearms out of the wrong hands.”

“Weapons of war have no place on the streets of a civil society. That is why Democrats and Republicans alike supported the federal government banning bump stocks after they were used to fire over 1,000 rounds into a crowded music festival in Las Vegas, killing 60 people in the deadliest mass shooting in American history.

Unfortunately, today’s supreme court ruling strikes down this important, commonsense regulation on devices that convert semiautomatic rifles into weapons that can fire hundreds of bullets per minute.

While the supreme court has once again rolled back progress, we will not allow the victims and survivors of 1 October to be forgotten. President Biden and I fought to pass the most significant gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years, but our work is not done. We are calling on Congress to immediately ban bump stocks. We do not have a moment to spare nor a life to spare.”

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Justice department declines to pursue Merrick Garland contempt charges

DoJ tells Republicans it will not pursue prosecution of attorney general after House votes to hold him in contempt

The US Department of Justice on Friday told the Republican House of Representatives speaker, Mike Johnson, that it would decline to pursue criminal contempt of Congress charges against the attorney general, Merrick Garland, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

The Republican-controlled House had voted on Wednesday to hold Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over audio of Joe Biden’s interview with the special counsel investigating his retention of classified documents after he was Barack Obama’s vice-president.

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ACLU hails supreme court’s mifepristone decision: ‘This fight is far from over’ – live

The supreme court decision marks a victory for reproductive rights activists across the country

The Massachusetts Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren hailed the supreme court’s decision to uphold mifepristone access, calling the challenge to reject it “meritless from the start”.

Warren, an outspoken reproductive rights activist, wrote on X:

This challenge to mifepristone was meritless from the start. Abortion medication is safe and effective. Make no mistake: Donald Trump and Republican politicians will not stop marching us toward a nationwide abortion ban. We must protect reproductive freedom everywhere.

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Trump serenaded by Republicans on first visit to Capitol since January 6

Lawmakers sing Happy Birthday to ex-president, 78 on Friday, who reportedly called convention host Milwaukee ‘horrible’

Donald Trump went to the US Capitol to rally congressional Republicans in his first visit since 6 January 2021, when his supporters descended on the building in an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in Trump’s favour.

A packed room full of House Republicans sang Happy Birthday to Trump, who turns 78 on Friday.

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US House votes to hold Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress

Resolution concerned attorney general’s refusal to turn over audio of Biden interview in his classified-documents case

The House voted on Wednesday to hold the attorney general, Merrick Garland, in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over audio of President Joe Biden’s interview in his classified-documents case, Republicans’ latest and strongest rebuke of the justice department as partisan conflict over the rule of law animates the 2024 presidential campaign.

The 216-207 vote fell along party lines, with Republicans coalescing behind the contempt effort despite reservations among some of the party’s more centrist members.

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Joe Biden delivers gun safety speech hours after son’s firearms conviction

President sought to rally support around issue but speech was briefly interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters

Joe Biden, facing a backlash from young voters over the war in Gaza, has sought to rally support around the issue of gun safety just hours after his son Hunter was convicted of lying about his drug use to illegally buy a firearm.

Contrasted his record with election rival Donald Trump, the US president brought an audience that included many students to its feet at the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund’s annual Gun Sense University conference in Washington on Tuesday.

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DeSantis ‘freedom fund’ Pac targets abortion and marijuana ballot initiatives

Group, known as Florida Freedom Fund, launched in May and will also be involved in school board races

The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, has launched a political action committee that is targeting popular ballot amendments on abortion access and marijuana legalization that will be voted on in November.

The group, known as the Florida Freedom Fund, launched in May, Politico first reported. The committee is chaired by James Uthmeier, DeSantis’s chief of staff who was previously the Republican’s campaign manager during his unsuccessful presidential primary run.

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Trump vows to ‘drill, baby, drill’ despite rally attendees wilting in extreme heat

Supporters hospitalized following rallies in Las Vegas and Phoenix, where temperatures have broken records

Dozens of Donald Trump’s supporters have been requiring medical help at his rallies in the scorching US south-west but it seems lost on him that his plans to reverse climate policies and “drill, baby, drill” for fossil fuels will only worsen extreme weather, campaigners say.

A total of 24 people at a Trump rally in Las Vegas on Sunday required medical attention due to the heat, according to the Clark county fire department, with six taken to hospital for treatment. The hospitalizations come after a further 11 people needed to be admitted to hospital for heat exhaustion as they waited for Trump to speak at a rally in Phoenix on Thursday.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene compares Trump to Jesus at Las Vegas rally

Republican extremist tells crowd ‘The man that I worship is also a convicted felon’

Donald Trump has been compared to Jesus Christ by the far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene at a campaign rally for the former president in Las Vegas, a city more renowned for evoking images of gambling than biblical scenes.

Greene, who makes frequent references to her Christian faith, cited Trump’s supposed Christ-like qualities to challenge the Democrats’ efforts to capitalise on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s status as a convicted felon following his recent conviction in a case involving hush money paid to an adult film actor and falsified business records in a New York court.

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Appeals court tells Texas it cannot ban books for mentioning ‘butt and fart’

Conservative-dominated court restores books denounced by officials as ‘pornographic filth’ to school libraries

An appellate court has ruled that Texas cannot ban books from libraries simply because they mention “butt and fart” and other content which some state officials may dislike.

The fifth US circuit court of appeals issued its decision on Thursday in a 76-page majority opinion, which was written by Judge Jacques Wiener Jr and opened with a quote from American poet Walt Whitman: “The dirtiest book in all the world is the expurgated book.”

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Mayorkas insists immigration order not at odds with Biden’s campaign promise

Homeland security head also defends timing of president’s border action as measure faces criticism from both parties

The US homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, defended both the timing and substance of Joe Biden’s new executive order to restrict immigration at the southern border, as the president faces criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike over the measure.

The order, issued on Tuesday, tells officials to shut down asylum requests once the average number of encounters between legal ports of entry reaches 2,500 or more. If the number of encounters falls to 1,500 or fewer for seven consecutive days, the border would reopen two weeks later.

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Trump vows to end taxation of tips at sweltering Las Vegas rally

Ex-president makes direct appeal to service workers in swing state Nevada, which polls suggest is leaning his way

At a campaign rally Sunday in sweltering hot Las Vegas, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told the crowd he would seek to end taxation of income from tips, a direct appeal to service workers in the swing state of Nevada, which polls suggest is leaning his way ahead of the 5 November election.

That promise reveals one more point to a vague Trump tax plan that has so far included pledges of tax relief to middle-income workers and small businesses. Current law requires tipped employees to report those tips as income.

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Kristi Noem says Trump should pick a woman as his running mate

South Dakota governor, once a top possible Trump VP pick, makes remarks amid reports his shortlist is nearly all men

The South Dakota governor, Kristi Noem, said on Sunday that Donald Trump should pick a woman to be his running mate amid reports that her fellow Republican’s shortlist is nearly all men.

“I think that that would be beneficial, according to the polling that I’ve seen for him and a lot of swing states, is that having a woman that is helping his campaign makes a difference,” she told Dana Bash during an interview on CNN’s State of the Union. “One in four Republican women haven’t made up their minds because they want to have a woman talking to them about the issues they care about. And women aren’t monolithic. They don’t care about just one issue.”

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