Category Archives: US Politics

Texas governor endorses Trump for 2024 race at US-Mexico border event

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Greg Abbott said Biden’s border policies pose a danger to the US and credited Trump with lowering number of border crossings

Donald Trump won the endorsement of Texas governor Greg Abbott at an event near the US-Mexico border Sunday, a location meant to highlight the former Republican president’s plans to crack down on immigration if he wins the 2024 White House race.

Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination to challenge Democratic president Joe Biden next year, traveled to Edinburg, Texas, with his fellow Republican Abbott to visit national guard soldiers, state public safety department troopers and other service members stationed there.

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Rosalynn Carter, wife of Jimmy Carter and former first lady, dies aged 96

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Carter, who was diagnosed with dementia in May, was fiercely loyal ally throughout husband’s long political career

Rosalynn Carter, wife of the 39th president Jimmy Carter, has died at the couple’s Georgia home aged 96.

Carter, who became one of the nation’s leading mental health advocates during and after her husband’s time in the White House, was diagnosed with dementia in May.

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Illinois governor ‘deeply concerned’ by Trump rhetoric reminiscent of Nazi era

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JB Pritzker, who’s of Jewish descent, says Trump ‘is dangerous for our democracy’ and ‘dangerous for specific minority groups in US

Donald Trump’s rhetoric on immigration, his plans for a second presidency if he wins next year’s election, and his description of political enemies as “vermin” reflect the language of 1930s Germany and the Nazis’ rise to power there, a senior Democrat warned on Sunday.

JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor of Jewish descent who helped drive the construction of the state’s Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Chicago, added his voice to a wave of condemnation over the former president’s remarks.

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Republicans secure all statewide offices in Louisiana after sweeping runoff races

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GOP win elections on Saturday in once-bipartisan state for attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer

Upon January’s arrival, Republicans will control every elected statewide office in once-bipartisan Louisiana after the GOP swept runoff races Saturday for attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer.

The Republican success, in a state that has had a centrist Democrat in the governor’s office for the past eight years, means that political conservatives have secured all of Louisiana’s statewide offices for the first time since 2015. Republicans secured the governor’s mansion in October and also hold a two-third supermajority in the state house as well as the senate.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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Mike Johnson to publicly release 44,000 hours of sensitive January 6 footage

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US House speaker to make good on promise to far-right Republicans including Matt Gaetz and Donald Trump

House speaker Mike Johnson said Friday he plans to publicly release thousands of hours of footage from the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, making good on a promise he made to far-right members of his party when he was campaigning for his current job.

“This decision will provide millions of Americans, criminal defendants, public interest organizations and the media an ability to see for themselves what happened that day, rather than having to rely upon the interpretation of a small group of government officials,” Johnson said in a statement.

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As the NRA fades, a more zealous US pro-gun group rises as a lobbying power

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Gun Owners of America, formed in belief NRA was ‘too liberal’, spent $3.3m lobbying against gun control and boasts 2m members

A zealous gun rights group, even more uncompromising than the once formidable National Rifle Association, is emerging as a force in US politics with a mission to oppose efforts at gun control and ease further America’s already lax regulations on firearms.

Last year the Gun Owners of America (GOA) spent $3.3m on lobbying, a record sum for the hardline foe of gun control that now claims over 2 million members and activists, and has previously operated in the shadows of the larger NRA.

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Trump classified documents trial running about four months behind schedule

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Judge Aileen Cannon put off setting deadline for Trump to submit notice about what classified information he intends to use at trial

Donald Trump’s trial on charges that he retained classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club and obstructed justice is running about four months behind schedule after the federal judge presiding in the case in Florida declined to set a crucial filing deadline until at least next March.

The US district judge Aileen Cannon put off setting a deadline for Trump to submit a notice about what classified information he intends to use at trial – currently set for May – until after a hearing next year that almost certainly precludes the pre-trial process from finishing in time.

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New York judge suspends Trump gag order in fraud trial, citing free speech

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Trial judge Arthur Engoron had imposed gag order last month after the former president maligned a court clerk

A New York appeals court judge on Thursday paused a gag order that barred Donald Trump from commenting on court staffers in his civil fraud trial. The trial judge had imposed the gag order last month and later fined Trump $15,000 for violations after the former president made a disparaging social media post about a court clerk.

In his decision, Judge David Friedman of the state’s intermediate appeals court cited constitutional concerns about restricting Trump’s free speech. He issued a stay of the gag order, allowing Trump to comment freely about court staff while a longer appeals process plays out.

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David DePape found guilty in hammer attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband

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Rightwing conspiracy theorist convicted of attempted kidnapping and assault in 2022 attack on Paul Pelosi

David DePape, the rightwing conspiracy theorist who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband in their San Francisco home, has been convicted of attempted kidnapping and assault.

The federal jury’s decision on Thursday comes after a dramatic trial in which Paul Pelosi testified about the “traumatic” hammer attack he suffered on 28 October 2022, days before the midterm elections. DePape also took the stand in his defense, saying he had planned to interrogate the former House speaker and post footage of her online.

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Democratic leadership says ceasefire protest ‘exceeded a peaceful demonstration’ and commends police amid activist criticism – as it happened

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Another video posted online appeared to show Capitol police officers rolling their bikes over candles that were laid out to mourn the 11,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes.

In a caption accompanying the video, Jewish Voice for Peace Action said:

“Last night, in DC Jews and allies carried out a vigil and a nonviolent, moral act of civil disobedience to call on Democrats to support a ceasefire to save Palestinian and Israeli lives. Within moments, police brutally assaulted peaceful protestors, injuring over 90.”

“Every hour of this horrific bombardment, more Palestinians are killed. Every hour, the lives of the hostages hang in the balance. Every hour increases the risk of a broader regional war, endangering the lives of millions of people across the entire region.

We the base of the Democratic party are here to say if you care about Palestinians, if you care about Israelis, if you care about Jews, if you care about humanity, we need you to call for a ceasefire, a hostage exchange, a deescalation, and to chart a path toward freedom and safety for all. Instead of heeding our call for a ceasefire, police violently attacked nonviolent protesters with pepper spray.”

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Protesters urging Gaza ceasefire accuse Washington police of violence

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Ceasefire Now Coalition says 90 activists injured by police using violent tactics to break up protest outside DNC headquarters

Protesters against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza were locked in a battle of words with Washington police on Thursday after accusing officers of violently breaking up a demonstration on Capitol Hill that organisers insist was peaceful.

Leaders of the Ceasefire Now Coalition said 90 of their activists were injured in confrontations that took place after they staged a candlelit vigil outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters on Wednesday evening.

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UN security council backs resolution calling for humanitarian pause in Gaza

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Resolution calls for release of hostages held by Hamas and for humanitarian corridors across the Gaza Strip

Six weeks after the start of the war in Gaza, the UN security council has come together to back a resolution calling for “urgent extended humanitarian pauses for [a] sufficient number of days to allow aid access” to the embattled territory.

The vote late on Wednesday overcame an impasse which saw four unsuccessful attempts to adopt a resolution.

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Meta allows ads saying 2020 election was rigged on Facebook and Instagram

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Policy was reportedly introduced quietly in 2022 after the US midterm primary elections, according to the WSJ

Meta is now allowing Facebook and Instagram to run political advertising saying the 2020 election was rigged.

The policy was reportedly introduced quietly in 2022 after the US midterm primary elections, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the decision. The previous policy prevented Republican candidates from running ads arguing during that campaign that the 2020 election, which Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden, was stolen.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene claims Democrats failed to defend House from Capitol rioters

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Extremist Republican says in book ‘not one Democrat was willing to stay to defend the chamber’ but claim rejected as ‘patently false’

In a new book, the extremist Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene claims no Democrats stayed in the House chamber on January 6 to help defend it against rioters sent by Donald Trump to block the certification of Joe Biden’s election win – a claim one Democrat who did stay labeled “patently false”.

Greene’s book, MTG, will be published next week. The Guardian obtained a copy.

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Biden: China and US military to resume ‘open, clear communications on a direct basis’ – as it happened

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Despite the US and China’s joint climate plan being welcomed by experts, the plan lacks specific emission reductions or a commitment to phase out fossil fuels.

The Guardian’s Oliver Milman reports:

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Trump’s Georgia election trial could stretch into 2025, says prosecutor

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In interview, Fani Willis said trial against the ex-president and 19 defendants would probably extend past election day

The trial in the Georgia racketeering case against Donald Trump and 14 other defendants relating to an alleged conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election could stretch into early 2025, the Fulton county prosecutor, Fani Willis, has said.

In an interview at a global women’s summit held on Tuesday by the Washington Post, Willis said that though she expected the case be on appeal “for years”, the trial itself would probably take “many months”. She envisioned it ending in “the winter or the very early part of 2025”.

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Offering to fight union leader was just ‘Oklahoma values’, senator claims

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Republican Markwayne Mullin accused of ‘acting like a 12-year-old’ by Teamsters leader Sean O’Brien during Senate confrontation

The Republican senator Markwayne Mullin claimed that by offering to fight a union leader at a congressional hearing, he was merely representing “Oklahoma values”.

Told by the Fox News host Sean Hannity “any other response” to Sean O’Brien of the Teamsters “would have been a little gutless”, Mullin said: “I would agree. I mean, wouldn’t people want me to do that?

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‘A bully’: McCarthy accused of shoving Republican who helped oust him

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Tim Burchett calls former speaker ‘pathetic’ after Capitol confrontation witnessed by NPR reporter Claudia Grisales

A US radio reporter witnessed a remarkable altercation at the US Capitol on Tuesday, between Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Kevin McCarthy of California, the Republican speaker eight rightwingers including Burchett ejected from the role last month.

Claudia Grisales, of NPR, said: “Have NEVER seen this on Capitol Hill: while talking to Tim Burchett after the GOP conference meeting, former speaker McCarthy walked by with his detail and McCarthy shoved Burchett. Burchett lunged towards me. I thought it was a joke, it was not. And a chase ensued.”

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Biden accuses Trump of echoing Nazis with ‘vermin’ remark

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President says comment from predecessor at New Hampshire rally ‘echoes language you heard in Nazi Germany in the 30s’

Joe Biden has attacked Donald Trump for using the word “vermin” to refer to his political enemies, saying it echoed the language of Nazi Germany.

At a recent rally in New Hampshire, Trump repeated his false claim that fraud cost him the 2020 presidential election and told the crowd he would “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections”.

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China and US pledge to fight climate crisis ahead of Xi-Biden summit

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Announcement fuels hope rivals can use Apec summit as a chance to reduce tensions

China and the US have pledged to work together more closely to fight global heating, declaring the climate crisis “one of the greatest challenges of our time”, hours before a key meeting in San Francisco between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping.

The announcement further fuels hopes that the two nations can mend relations after years of turmoil over issues including trade, human rights and the future of Taiwan.

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