Category Archives: US Politics

Independent senator Kyrsten Sinema will not seek re-election in Arizona

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Sinema won in 2018 as a Democrat and was first non-Republican to win a Senate seat for Arizona since 1994

Kyrsten Sinema, the former Democrat from Arizona who is an independent in the US Senate, said on Tuesday she would not run for re-election this year.

“I love Arizona and I am so proud of what we’ve delivered,” Sinema said in a video posted to social media. “Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year.”

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Cookie Monster and Ohio senator make odd allies in shrinkflation complaint

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Democratic senator Sherrod Brown endorsed the Sesame Street star’s complaint on products getting smaller as prices remain same

The Ohio Democratic senator Sherrod Brown endorsed a key voice in the American public square – Cookie Monster – in a complaint about shrinkflation.

“Me hate shrinkflation!” the Sesame Street character posted on social media on Monday, referring to an economic phenomenon Merriam-Webster defines as “the practice of reducing a product’s amount or volume per unit while continuing to offer it at the same price”.

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Hamas negotiators under pressure to produce list of hostages to be released

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Officials at Cairo talks say list is first step in truce deal as militant group demands aid into Gaza

Egyptian and Qatari officials are putting pressure on Hamas negotiators in Cairo to produce a list of hostages to be released as the first step in a phased ceasefire agreement with Israel, according to officials familiar with the talks.

Israel has not sent a delegation to the second day of talks in Cairo, demanding that Hamas present a list of 40 elderly, sick and female hostages who would be the first to be released as part of a truce that would initially last six weeks, beginning with the month of Ramadan, the officials say.

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Biden says in rare print interview he’ll beat Trump but polls say otherwise

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US president tells New Yorker he is ‘the only one who has ever beat’ Trump but clear majorities think he is too old for second term

In a rare print interview, Joe Biden addressed fears over his chances of victory in the coming US presidential election and said he was “the only one who has ever beat” his likely Republican challenger, Donald Trump, adding: “And I’ll beat him again.”

But the president was voicing a conviction at odds with most polling, in which clear majorities think that at 81 he is too old for a second term and narrow majorities put Trump ahead in a general election match-up.

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US lawmakers present bill to fund government and avert shutdown

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The bill sets a discretionary spending level of $1.66tn for fiscal 2024 and still faces opposition from hardline House Republicans

US congressional negotiators on Sunday revealed a bill to fund key parts of the government through the rest of the fiscal year that began in October, as lawmakers faced yet another threat of a partial shutdown if they fail to act by Friday.

The legislation sets a discretionary spending level of $1.66tn for fiscal 2024, a spokesperson for Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said. It fills in the details of an agreement that Schumer and Republican House of Representatives speaker Mike Johnson set in early January.

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Donald Trump sweeps Michigan’s Republican party convention

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Former president is awarded all 39 state delegates for November’s national convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Donald Trump continued his march toward the GOP nomination at the Michigan Republican party convention on Saturday, sweeping all 39 delegates.

The delegates awarded will fuel Trump ahead of Tuesday, 5 March, when 15 states will hold primaries and Trump’s nomination could be all but decided. The Michigan state party delegates met on Saturday at the sprawling Amway Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, huddling in 13 separate meeting rooms representing the state’s 13 congressional districts.

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Joe Biden’s disapproval rating reaches new high, according to new poll

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The president has a 47% disapproval rating, but it’s a mixed bag when accounting for ‘double haters’ – those who dislike Trump too

Strong voter disapproval of Joe Biden’s job performance has reached 47% – the highest negative polling number at any point in his presidency, according to a survey published on Saturday.

The Siena College-conducted poll, commissioned by the New York Times, showed that Biden currently lags behind likely Republican candidate Donald Trump 43% to 48% in registered voters nationally.

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‘I don’t know’: Nikki Haley unsure Trump would follow constitution

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Trump’s last remaining Republican primary challenger says ‘I don’t think there should ever be a president that’s above the law’

Asked if she thought Donald Trump would follow the US constitution if he is elected for a second term as president, Nikki Haley said: “I don’t know.”

“I don’t know. I don’t – I don’t know,” the former South Carolina governor, Trump’s last opponent for the Republican presidential nomination, told NBC’s Meet the Press in an interview to be broadcast in full on Sunday.

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Wisconsin high court allows congressional maps in win for Republicans

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Supreme court rejects Democratic lawsuit challenging new maps drawn by Democratic governor Tony Evers

The liberal-controlled Wisconsin supreme court on Friday rejected a Democratic lawsuit that sought to throw out the battleground state’s congressional maps, marking a victory for Republicans who argued against the court taking up the case.

The decision not to hear the congressional challenge comes after the court in December ordered new legislative maps, saying the Republican-drawn ones were unconstitutional. The GOP-controlled state legislature, out of fear that the court would order maps even more unfavorable to Republicans, passed maps drawn by the Democratic governor, Tony Evers. Evers signed those into law on 19 February and urged the court to take up the congressional map challenge.

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Trump Georgia case: judge says he hopes to have decision on whether to disqualify Fani Willis in two weeks – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. You can read the full report on the Fani Willis hearing here.

The judge overseeing the criminal case over Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents has described the prosecution’s proposed schedule for getting to trial as “unrealistic”.

Federal prosecutors for special counsel Jack Smith have proposed a 8 July start date, while attorneys for Trump have suggested that he stand trial on 12 August.

That has to come into the equation, to some extent, on scheduling.

Yeah, certainly he would be somebody that I would very much consider.

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Biden calls for compromise while Trump goes full red meat at US-Mexico border

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Dueling border visits of 2024 contenders 300 miles apart shows that immigration has become a central issue in the White House campaign

It might be seen as the first US presidential debate of 2024. Two candidates and two lecterns but 300 miles – and a political universe – apart.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump spent Thursday at the US-Mexico border, a vivid display of how central the immigration issue has become to the election campaign. Since it is far from certain whether official presidential debates will happen this year, the duelling visits might be as close as it gets.

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Biden urges Trump to help him pass immigration deal as both visit US border

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President implores Republicans to ‘show a little spine’ and support bipartisan border and security bill as Trump speaks at Eagle Pass

Joe Biden and his all-but certain Republican challenger, Donald Trump, made dueling visits to Texas border towns on Thursday, a rare overlap that sets the stage for an election-season clash over immigration.

In Brownsville, along the Rio Grande on the border with Mexico, Biden implored Congressional Republicans to “show a little spine” and support a bipartisan border security deal. Earlier this month Republican lawmakers blocked legislation they had previously clamored for, after Trump expressed his opposition to the measure.

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Trump appeals Illinois judge’s ruling removing him from primary ballot

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Judge Tracie Porter had ordered Trump’s removal from presidential ballot for his role in the US Capitol attack

Donald Trump has appealed a decision from an Illinois state judge who decided he should be removed from that state’s ballot because of the 14th amendment, an ongoing issue for Trump in the courts.

Tracie Porter, the Cook county circuit judge, made the decision on Wednesday, reversing the previous decision by the Illinois state board of elections, which said Trump could stay on the ballot. The order was put on hold pending an appeal from Trump, which came swiftly on Thursday.

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Trump to appeal ruling barring him from Illinois primary ballot over January 6 role

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Judge Tracie Porter sides with voters who sought disqualification but delays ruling from taking effect in light of expected appeal

An Illinois state judge on Wednesday barred Donald Trump from appearing on the Illinois Republican presidential primary ballot because of his role in the attack at the US Capitol on January 6, but she delayed her ruling from taking effect in light of an expected appeal by the former US president.

The Cook county circuit judge Tracie Porter sided with Illinois voters who argued that the former president should be disqualified from the state’s March 19 primary ballot and its 5 November general election ballot for violating the anti-insurrection clause of the US constitution’s 14th amendment.

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US Senate attempt to protect IVF access blocked by Mississippi Republican

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Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith rejects Access to Family Building Act, saying bill is ‘vast overreach full of poison pills’

Senate Democrats’ attempts to move forward a bill that would have granted Americans federal protections for in vitro fertilization access have failed.

The bill, sponsored by the Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth, came after a recent Alabama supreme court ruling that declared frozen embryos are children and led to the closure of multiple infertility clinics across the state.

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Trump scores another convincing win against Haley in Michigan primary

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Defeated former South Carolina governor has pledged to stay in Republican presidential primaries at least through Super Tuesday

Donald Trump has won Michigan’s Republican primary election, the latest in a string of convincing primary victories as he closes in on the GOP presidential nomination.

The Associated Press called the race for Trump over the former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley at 9pm ET.

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Michigan primary to test Biden and Trump among key voting groups

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Trump faces local leaders embroiled in factional dispute, while Biden faces a campaign by antiwar activists to abandon him

Voters will make their way to the polls in Michigan today, in a presidential primary that will test how much Joe Biden and Donald Trump should be worried about winning key groups of voters for the general election in the critical swing state.

Both face challenges within their respective parties. After underperforming the polls and struggling with suburban and college-educated Republican voters in earlier primaries, Trump’s campaign in Michigan is dealing with a state Republican party whose local leaders have been embroiled in an ugly factional dispute, while Biden faces a campaign by antiwar activists to abandon him over the president’s continued support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

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Biden and Trump to visit US-Mexico border on same day

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Biden says he ‘didn’t know my good friend, apparently, is going’ as he plans Brownsville visit while Trump heads for Eagle Pass

Joe Biden and Donald Trump will both travel to the US border with Mexico on Thursday, dueling visits by the president and his probable opponent for re-election underlining the importance of immigration as an issue in the coming campaign.

Biden will visit Brownsville, Texas, in the Rio Grande valley, while his presidential predecessor will head for Eagle Pass, about 325 miles distant.

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Senior Republican who called Trump ‘inexcusable’ endorses him for president

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Senator John Thune previously denounced Trump for role in Capitol attack in 2021 but now vows to back him in 2024 election

The No2 Republican in the US Senate, John Thune of South Dakota, endorsed for president Donald Trump – the man he previously called “inexcusable” for seeking to overturn the 2020 election and inciting the deadly January 6 attack on Congress.

Multiple media outlets reported Thune’s endorsement. They also swiftly pointed out statements made by Thune after the 2021 US Capitol attack, now linked to nine deaths, more than 1,200 arrests and hundreds of convictions, some for seditious conspiracy.

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Senate aide investigated over supplying Ukraine forces with sniper gear – report

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Actions of Kyle Parker might have crossed legal bounds that could make him an unregistered foreign agent, New York Times reports

A senior staffer who advises the US Senate on Russia policy is under investigation for making trips to Ukraine in military uniform and supplying the country’s armed forces with privately donated sniper equipment, it was reported on Monday.

The actions of Kyle Parker, chief of staff to the Helsinki commission that informs senators on issues of European security, might have crossed legal and ethical grounds that could make him an unregistered foreign agent, according to the New York Times, which reviewed a confidential report by the commission’s director and general counsel.

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