AOC and Sanders aim to place public housing at center of Green New Deal

Proposal aims to decarbonize all of nation’s public housing units, with an investment of between $162bn and $234bn over next decade

With a sweeping legislative proposal, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders are attempting to place public housing at the center of the green energy transition, tackling the twin crises of global warming and soaring housing costs.

“Public housing should be the gold standard for affordable, environmentally friendly, and safe communities,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an email. “This bill is how we ensure that.”

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Republican choice for vacated US House seat is surprise boon for Lauren Boebert

Colorado Republicans chose former mayor Greg Lopez, who plans to step down, leaving no incumbent or favored primary candidate

A Colorado Republican panel made the surprising decision on Thursday night to choose a former mayor, Greg Lopez, to be congressman Ken Buck’s likely replacement until the November general election, a saving grace for Lauren Boebert’s bid for another term in Congress.

Lopez will now run as the Republican candidate in the 25 June special election after Buck’s resignation at the same time GOP primary candidates are vying to be the congressman’s successor.

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Senate Democrats demand end to rightwing ‘judge shopping’ but move draws immediate attack from Republicans – as it happened

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Why did Russia arrest Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and what might they want in return for his release? The Guardian’s Julian Borger looks into the question, one year into the American journalist’s detention:

Friday marks the grim first anniversary of the day when masked Russian officers grabbed Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist, at a steakhouse in Yekaterinburg where he was waiting to eat on a reporting trip.

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‘Join us’: Biden campaign urges Haley supporters to turn against Trump

Campaign ad shows clips of Trump disparaging Republican rival as president courts ‘broad and diverse coalition of voters’

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign released an ad targeting Republicans who supported Nikki Haley in her losing primary against Donald Trump.

“If you voted for Nikki Haley, Donald Trump doesn’t want your vote,” the president’s campaign ad says. “Save America. Join us.”

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Biden campaign raises $25m ‘money bomb’ at event with Obama and Clinton

Chuck Schumer and Lizzo made appearances before the presidents talked onstage in event that widens fundraising lead over Trump

Joe Biden and his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, headlined a star-studded fundraiser with Bill Clinton on Thursday that organizers said raised more than $25m for the US president’s re-election campaign.

Such a haul, which Politico called an “NYC money bomb”, will widen Biden’s lead over Donald Trump in fundraising for the November election.

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US repeatedly warned Russia ahead of Moscow attack, White House says

National security spokesperson says US passed on warnings and dismissed Russian allegations Ukraine was involved as ‘nonsense’

The US repeatedly alerted Russia that extremists were planning to attack large gatherings in Moscow ahead of last week’s concert hall attack that claimed more than 140 lives, the White House has said.

The national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said on Thursday that US officials passed on warnings – including one in writing – and dismissed Russian allegations that Ukraine was involved as “nonsense”.

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Bernie Moreno says he fled socialism in Colombia for the US in 1971. What does history say?

The Republican challenger to Democrat Sherrod Brown for US Senate in Ohio has made dubious claims in his campaign

Bernie Moreno, the Republican candidate for US Senate in Ohio who expected to mount a stern challenge to Sherrod Brown, the incumbent leftwing Democrat, says his family fled socialism when they came to the US from Colombia in 1971, when he was four years old.

Though such statements formed a central part of Moreno’s campaign message on his way to securing the Republican nomination with support from Donald Trump, they do not withstand historical scrutiny.

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Joe Lieberman, former US senator and vice-presidential nominee, dies at 82

Lieberman, Connecticut senator for four terms, was Al Gore’s Democratic running mate in 2000

The former US senator Joe Lieberman, who ran as the Democratic nominee for vice-president in the 2000 election and became the first Jewish candidate on a major-party ticket for the White House, alongside presidential candidate Al Gore, has died at the age of 82.

Lieberman died in New York due to complications from a fall, according to a statement from his family. He was a Connecticut senator for four terms.

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Democrats cheer surprise win in Alabama special election for candidate vowing to protect abortion rights and IVF – live

Marilyn Lands’s victory suggests reproductive rights are key issue for voters ahead of Biden-Trump rematch in November

Disney and allies of Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, have reached an agreement to end a nearly two-year-long court battle that began after the entertainment giant spoke out against the state’s so-called “don’t say gay” law, the Associated Press reports.

DeSantis put his conservative policies at the center of his quixotic attempt to win the GOP’s presidential nomination, but ended up dropping out after getting pummeled by Donald Trump in Iowa’s January caucuses.

Allies of the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, and Disney reached a settlement agreement on Wednesday in a lawsuit over who controls Walt Disney World’s governing district.

In a meeting, the members of the board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District approved the settlement agreement, ending almost two years of litigation that was sparked by DeSantis’s takeover of the district from Disney supporters following the company’s opposition to Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” law.

Our communities should not have to live in a state of fear and confusion, which is exactly what SB4 was designed to do. Unfortunately, Republican leaders in Austin are more interested in fueling anti-immigrant rhetoric than actually creating real, workable solutions to address our immigration laws.

While this back-and-forth can create a sense of uncertainty for the people who live here, this ruling makes me hopeful that the Fifth Circuit will follow clear Supreme Court precedent and rule against the law when it considers the merits.

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Kari Lake won’t contest claims she defamed Arizona election official

Republican sued by Stephen Richer, top Maricopa county official, last year after she lost her gubernatorial bid and lied about him

Kari Lake signaled on Tuesday that she will not contest claims that she lied about a top Arizona election official and defamed him, a significant legal concession from the Arizona Republican who has become one of the country’s most prominent election deniers.

Stephen Richer, the top election official in Maricopa county, sued Lake, her campaign and an aligned Pac last year after she lost her gubernatorial bid and repeatedly lied about him. Lake, who is now running for the US Senate, falsely accused him of injecting 300,000 illegal votes into machines and intentionally misprinting ballots so they would be rejected by ballot tabulators.

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RNC asks job applicants if they believe 2020 election was stolen in ‘litmus test’

Republican National Committee, now run by Trump loyalists, does not deny that staff seeking to be rehired are grilled on ‘big lie’

A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee and Donald Trump did not deny a Washington Post report that said prospective RNC employees are being asked if they believe the 2020 election was stolen, constituting a “litmus test” as the 2024 election approaches.

“Candidates who worked on the frontline in battleground states or are currently in states where fraud allegations have been prevalent were asked about their work experience,” Danielle Alvarez, a spokesperson for the RNC and Trump, said in a statement.

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Trump mocks ex-RNC chair Ronna McDaniel for being fired by NBC

Ex-president makes remarks after backlash prompted McDaniel’s firing four days after hiring

Donald Trump mocked the former Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Ronna McDaniel, for her firing by NBC days after being hired as a political analyst.

“Wow!” the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, who ejected McDaniel from the RNC in favour of his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, wrote on his Truth Social platform.

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Trump’s Truth Social valued at nearly $8bn as it goes public in New York

Trump Media & Technology trading on Nasdaq under ‘DJT’ ticker, using Trump’s initials and closing up 15% after first day of trading

The firm behind Donald Trump’s Truth Social went public on Tuesday at a price that values the minnow social network at close to $8bn.

Shares in Digital World Acquisition, the shell company with which Trump’s social media business has merged, have been surging since the turn of the year.

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Arizona court rules Mexico can proceed with lawsuit against five US gun dealers

Companies accused of facilitating gun trafficking and and of being responsible for bloodshed that their guns contribute to in Mexico

A trial court in Arizona has ruled that the Mexican government may proceed in its trailblazing lawsuit against five US gun dealers, who stand accused of facilitating gun trafficking across the border into Mexico.

Mexico argues that the companies’ marketing campaigns and distribution practices mean that they are legally responsible for the bloodshed that their guns contribute to.

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US election officials face ‘new era’ of violent threats, taskforce chief warns

John Keller says workers facing onslaught for ‘dutifully and reliably doing their jobs’ as man given 30 months for threats

Election officials across the US are facing an onslaught of unfounded hostility for “dutifully and reliably doing their jobs”, the head of a federal taskforce set up to protect the election community from violent threats said on Monday.

John Keller, who leads the day-to-day efforts of the election threats taskforce, based in Washington, told reporters that the wave of violent threats – unleashed by Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen – amounted to an attack “on the very foundation of our democracy – our elections”.

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Ex-RNC chair Ronna McDaniel: Biden won 2020 election ‘fair and square’

New NBC hire, who resigned from committee less than three weeks ago, insisted there were still ‘problems’ in how Biden beat Trump

A little more than two weeks after resigning as the chair of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel admitted Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election over her party’s candidate “fair and square”.

But the newly hired NBC News contributor maintained it was acceptable to also say there were “problems” in the manner that the US president defeated Donald Trump – even after the former president’s supporters translated such sentiments into the January 6 Capitol attack in 2021 that has been linked to nine deaths, including law enforcement suicides.

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Liz Cheney: controversial NBC hire Ronna McDaniel enabled Trump ‘depravity’

McDaniel ‘facilitated Trump’s corrupt fake elector plot’, says ex-congresswoman as NBC hosts and union group protest

The Republican National Committee chair turned NBC politics analyst Ronna McDaniel “enabled criminality and depravity” in her support for Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, the former congresswoman Liz Cheney said as controversy swirled over McDaniel’s media role.

“Ronna facilitated Trump’s corrupt fake elector plot and his effort to pressure Michigan officials not to certify the legitimate election outcome,” Cheney, a Republican who was vice-chair of the House January 6 committee, wrote on social media.

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New Jersey’s first lady suspends Senate run: ‘It’s time to unify, not divide’

Tammy Murphy was campaigning for Bob Menendez’s seat and her exit leaves Andy Kim as clear winner for Democratic nomination

New Jersey’s first lady Tammy Murphy has announced the suspension of her Senate campaign.

In a video message posted to Twitter/X on Sunday, Murphy said: “After many busy, invigorating, and yet challenging months, I am suspending my Senate campaign today. I’ve been genuine and factual throughout. But it is clear to me that continuing in this race will involve waging a very divisive and negative campaign, which I am not willing to do.”

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‘No one’s ever seen a bond this size’: Eric Trump criticises $454m judgment against his father

New York attorney general, Letitia James, could begin to seize Donald Trump’s assets as soon as Tuesday morning

Eric Trump has come out railing against the $454m fraudulent property valuations judgment against his father Donald Trump, saying bonds the size of the half-a-billion dollar one the former president is being required to put up “don’t exist in this country”.

As a court-imposed deadline ticks down on the former president’s family and their businesses to come up with almost half-a-billion dollars, the 40-year-old executive vice-president of the Trump Organization told Fox News on Sunday that bond issuers laughed when he approached them for that sum.

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Kamala Harris says Israel assault on Rafah ‘would be a huge mistake’

Top Democrats urge Netanyahu to abandon planned assault days after Israeli leader rejected similar request by Antony Blinken

Senior US Democrats on Sunday increased pressure on Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abandon a planned offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering.

Two days after a similar call by US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was rejected by the Israeli leader, vice-president Kamala Harris said that the Joe Biden White House was “ruling out nothing” in terms of consequences if Netanyahu moves ahead with the assault.

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