Category Archives: US Politics

Blinken unveils steps to tackle ‘global threat’ of synthetic drugs at UN summit

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US secretary of state announced the formation of an international coalition to address crisis that has ‘an immeasurable cost’

US diplomats at the UN general assembly in New York have unveiled steps aimed at tackling the proliferation of fentanyl and other synthetic drugs which the American secretary of state, Antony Blinken, described as a “global threat”.

At a meeting on Monday, the most senior US diplomat announced the formation of an international coalition to address the crisis, saying that the US “may have been to some extent a canary in the coalmine when it comes to fentanyl, but alas, we are not alone”.

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Rudy Giuliani sued by own lawyer for $1.3m in unpaid fees

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Former New York mayor-turned Trump attorney reportedly facing financial problems as he defends against multiple legal threats

The New York mayor-turned-Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has been sued by his own lawyer, who seeks more than $1.3m in outstanding fees.

“This action simply seeks payment of an outstanding bill for legal services rendered by plaintiffs in the amount of $1,360,196.10,” said a lawsuit filed in New York state supreme court on Monday by Robert J Costello, of Davidoff Hutcher & Citron.

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Former aide says Trump wrote to-do lists on classified documents – report

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Trump denies wrongdoing after ex-assistant reported he wrote tasks for her on back of sensitive materials during presidency

Donald Trump has denied wrongdoing after a report on Monday said that one of the former president’s long-time assistants told federal investigators he repeatedly wrote to-do lists for her on documents from the White House marked classified.

The aide, Molly Michael, told investigators that more than once she got requests or tasks from Trump written on the back of notecards that she later recognized as sensitive White House materials, ABC News reported on Monday, citing sources.

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Climate activists block Federal Reserve bank, calling for end to fossil fuel funding

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Action came as world leaders begin arriving in New York for the UN general assembly and after Sunday’s march to end fossil fuels

One day after the largest climate march since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, hundreds of climate activists blockaded the Federal Reserve Bank in New York to call for an end to funding for coal, oil and gas, with police making scores of arrests.

“Fossil fuel companies … wouldn’t be able to operate without money, and that money is coming primarily from Wall Street,” Alicé Nascimento, environmental campaigns director at New York Communities for Change, said hours before she was arrested.

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US and Iran expected to complete $6bn prisoner swap deal

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Conservationist Morad Tahbaz among prisoners to be swapped in deal involving unfreezing of Iranian oil money

The US and Iran are expected to pull off a controversial prisoner swap on Monday involving the unfreezing by the Biden administration of $6bn (£4.8bn) of Iranian oil money held in South Korea since 2018.

Tehran and Washington are due to swap five prisoners each, including the conservationist Morad Tahbaz, a British-American citizen.

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Congressional Biden ally dismisses Republicans’ impeachment strategy

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Ro Khanna of California threw cold water on House speaker Kevin McCarthy’s capitulation to the hard right over government funding

One of Joe Biden’s key congressional allies has rejected the notion that Republicans can bait the president’s fellow Democrats into embracing an impeachment inquiry as an opportunity for him to be cleared over questions about his son’s business affairs.

“What the American people want is for us to fund government and solve their issues,” the California congressman Ro Khanna said on Fox News Sunday, referring to how some hard-right Republicans have made a Biden impeachment inquiry a condition for them to support new funding that would avoid at least a partial federal government shutdown after 30 September.

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Top US and Chinese diplomats meet in Malta to smooth strained relations

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‘Candid, substantive and constructive’ talks were held as a possible prelude to a Joe Biden-Xi Jinping meeting in November

Top US and Chinese diplomats met in Malta over the weekend as the world’s two largest economies attempted to smooth strained relations and clear a path for their respective presidents – Joe Biden and Xi Jinping – to meet in November.

According to both Beijing and Washington, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met multiple times with China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, in Malta, where – according to separate statements – “candid, substantive and constructive” talks were held.

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells climate marchers to be ‘too big and too radical to ignore’ – live

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Demonstration falls days before the United Nations climate ambition summit, at which Joe Biden is expected to be a no-show

Actor and climate activist Susan Sarandon opened her speech by congratulating the students of New York University on the news of their university divesting from fossil fuels after years of pressure, as the Guardian first reported last week.

Addressing the crowd, she said, “You guys give me hope,” adding: “What we have to do is take responsibility and press those that are at the top to finally step up.”

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Trump says Republicans ‘speak very inarticulately’ about abortion

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Trump talks about democratic principles, ageing politicians and abortion rights in wide ranging NBC interview

Donald Trump grappled with a wide range of contentious issues in an interview with NBC that generated criticism against the network, including his thoughts on democratic principles, abortion rights and ageing politicians.

He also confirmed his interest in choosing Kristi Noem to be his vice-presidential running mate if he wins the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 as he seeks a second term in the White House.

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Armed man posing as US marshal arrested at Robert Kennedy Jr event

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Man was outside a Los Angeles theater where Democratic presidential candidate was scheduled to give a speech

An armed man accused of impersonating a federal officer was arrested outside a Robert F Kennedy Jr campaign event in Los Angeles.

A Los Angeles police department statement said police received a call Friday afternoon that a man with a loaded gun and holster and wearing a US marshals service badge was outside a theater where the Democratic presidential candidate was scheduled to give a speech.

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Key ‘Bidenomics’ architect calls for spending ‘race to the top’ on green tech

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Biden adviser Heather Boushey urges UK and Europe to increase climate friendly investment to reboot growth

Governments around the world must drastically increase public investment in green technologies to combat global heating and drive sustainable economic growth, a top adviser to President Joe Biden has said.

Heather Boushey, a member of the White House council of economic advisers, said countries including the UK needed to ramp up green investment to reboot economic growth, boost energy security, and protect against future inflation shocks.

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Nashville elects Tennessee’s first openly transgender politician

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Olivia Hill, 57, a military veteran, joins the Nashville city council in historic election

A transgender woman won election to a seat on Nashville’s city council, becoming the first openly transgender person to be voted into political office in Tennessee.

Olivia Hill, 57, secured one of the four open at-large seats on the metro council of Nashville, a politically liberal city in an overwhelmingly conservative state.

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Colorado mountain honoring governor who led Indigenous massacre renamed

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Members of US Board on Geographic Names voted to change name of Mount Evans to Mount Blue sky at request of tribes

Federal US officials renamed a Colorado mountain that was previously named after a disgraced governor of the state who led a massacre against Indigenous people.

Members of the US Board on Geographic Names voted to change the name of Mount Evans to Mount Blue Sky, at the request of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.

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US special counsel seeks gag order on Trump’s ‘inflammatory’ statements

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Jack Smith asked judge Tanya Chutkan to restrict ex-president’s statements in federal election subversion trial

The US special counsel prosecuting Donald Trump for election subversion has asked a judge to impose “limited restrictions” on the former president’s public statements, citing his frequent “inflammatory attacks” on the court, prospective witnesses and citizens of Washington DC.

In a filing on Friday, federal prosecutors requested that judge Tanya Chutkan issue a “narrow” gag order that would prohibit Trump from making statements “regarding the identity, testimony, or credibility of prospective witnesses” and “about any party, witness, attorney, court personnel, or potential jurors that are disparaging and inflammatory, or intimidating”.

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‘A fight against corporate greed’: Bernie Sanders rallies with UAW in Detroit

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Senator kicks off United Auto Workers’ largest strike against US’s big three carmakers amid record company profits

US car workers striking against the nation’s three biggest automakers “are waging … a fight against the outrageous level of corporate greed” seen across the country, Bernie Sanders said on Friday.

The liberal US senator’s remarks came on Friday afternoon during a rally with the United Auto Workers in Detroit, Michigan, kicking off the first day of the union’s “Stand Up” strikes against General Motors, Stellantis and Ford.

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Trump says he will testify under oath that he never ordered Mar-a-Lago security video to be deleted – US politics live

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Former US president denies that he asked staffer to delete surveillance footage at center of classified documents investigation

A New York state appeals court judge put the civil fraud trial involving the New York attorney general’s office and Donald Trump and his company on temporary hold after a last-minute legal challenge by the former president’s legal team.

Justice David Friedman, a judge on the state’s intermediate appellate court, ordered a potential postponement of the non-jury trial, which had been scheduled to start on 2 October. The judge granted an interim stay of the trial and ordered the full appeals court to consider the lawsuit on an expedited basis.

We are confident in our case and will be ready for trial.

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Auto workers strike after contract talks with US car giants fail

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United Auto Workers union unable to agree deal with Ford, GM and Stellantis, who have seen profits and executive pay soar

Auto workers have launched a series of strikes after their union failed to reach agreement with the US’s three largest manufacturers over a new contract, kicking off the most ambitious industrial labor action in decades.

The deadline for talks between Ford, General Motors, Stellantis and the United Auto Workers (UAW) expired at midnight on Thursday, with the sides still far apart on the union’s new contract priorities.

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Wisconsin Republicans vote to fire top election official as denialists tighten grip

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State senate moves to oust nonpartisan elections administrator Meagan Wolfe, who became lightning rod for conspiracy theories

Wisconsin’s top elections official suffered another blow on Thursday when the Republican-controlled state senate voted to fire her by a party line vote of 22 to 11. Meagan Wolfe’s status as elections administrator will now likely be determined in court.

Legal experts and the Wisconsin attorney general have disputed the move by Republican senators to remove Wolfe, a respected and accomplished non-partisan leader. Her removal would affect the administration of elections in 2024 and illustrates the increasingly wide reach of election deniers and rightwing conspiracy theorists in Wisconsin politics.

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Hunter Biden’s lawyer criticizes charging decision as ‘bending to political pressure’ – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For the full report on Hunter Biden’s charges, click below:

House speaker Kevin McCarthy, speaking to reporters after a tense closed-door GOP meeting, insisted he would not “walk away from a battle” as he tries to hang on to his position amid rising discontent among the party’s most hardline members. He said:

If it takes a fight, I’ll have a fight.

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Nancy Pelosi: Biden thinks Harris is best running mate ‘and that’s what matters’

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Former House speaker says people shouldn’t underestimate vice-president and that she will work to get Biden and Harris re-elected

Nancy Pelosi seemed to offer a less-than-ringing endorsement when asked if Kamala Harris was the best running mate for Joe Biden next year, saying: “He thinks so, and that’s what matters.”

But the former US House speaker also had praise for the vice-president, telling CNN: “And, by the way, she’s very politically astute. I don’t think people give her enough credit. She’s … consistent with the president’s values and the rest.”

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