Category Archives: US Politics

What Democrats achieved – and didn’t – in two years controlling Congress

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From same-sex marriage protections to veterans’ aid, Joe Biden’s party used its thin majority to deliver many campaign promises

In January, Democrats will lose their unified control of Capitol Hill, ending a remarkable legislative streak that saw the party deliver on many of their campaign promises.

While Joe Biden and his party did not accomplish everything they set out to do, Democrats in Congress spent the last two years marshalling their thin majorities to pass consequential legislation that touches nearly every aspect of American life from water quality to marriage equality. Some of the most notable measures even earned Republican support.

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Ginni Thomas ‘never spoke’ about 2020 vote to supreme court justice husband

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Clarence Thomas’s wife says couple did not discuss challenges to Biden’s election victory, in testimony released by January 6 panel

The conservative activist Ginni Thomas has “no memory” of what she discussed with her husband, the supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, during the heat of the battle to overturn the 2020 presidential election, according to congressional testimony released on Friday.

Thomas, 65, recalled “an emotional time” in which her mood was lifted by her husband and Mark Meadows, then Donald Trump’s chief of staff, a transcript of her deposition with the congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol showed.

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Trump tax returns: key takeaways from the records release

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The former president had a bank account in China, failed to donate in 2020 and claims Democrats ‘weaponized’ his taxes

In one of its last acts under Democratic control, the House of Representatives on Friday released six years of Donald Trump’s tax returns, dating to 2015, the year he announced his presidential bid.

The thousands of pages of returns were the subject of a prolonged legal battle after Trump broke precedent by not releasing his tax returns while running for, and then occupying, the White House.

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Trump says tax returns release will ‘lead to horrible things for so many people’ – as it happened

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More elections news from Arizona, a swing state where pro-Trump Republicans have of late caused a lot of trouble with claims of electoral fraud in races in which they were beaten.

On Thursday, in a recount triggered by the closeness of the first count, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, Kris Mayes, was declared the winner for a second time, beating the Republican candidate, Abe Hamadeh.

“Outside court, Mayes attorney Dan Barr said the results should give the public confidence in elections, despite the adjustments in vote totals as a result of the recount.

‘They didn’t just do a rubber stamp of what it was,’ Barr said. ‘They did a careful evaluation of the votes and they came up with a different result. And so I think people should have a lot of confidence in the process.’

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Michelle Obama says she ‘couldn’t stand’ husband Barack for 10 years

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Former first lady says caring for their young daughters put strain on their marriage in Revolt TV interview promoting latest book

Former first lady Michelle Obama has said she “couldn’t stand” her husband for a decade while the couple’s children were young.

In frank comments to the Black news station Revolt TV last week, Obama – one of the most popular women in America – said that raising children had put strains on her three-decade marriage to Barack Obama, the US president for two four-year terms beginning in 2009.

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Southwest Airlines vows refunds after mass cancelations left travelers stranded

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Airline says it will also reimburse related expenses as other carriers are capping fares to assist stranded travelers

Southwest Airlines has promised to refund tickets and reimburse passengers for hotels, car rentals and other expenses after its mass cancelations left thousands of people stranded across the country.

The airline’s chief commercial officer, Ryan Green, told reporters on Thursday that it would take several weeks to repay customers, but that the airline would cover costs people incurred when they were forced to make alternative travel arrangements, including paying for meals and gas. The company said it would also pay to ship people’s baggage to them.

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January 6: judge hints Trump wanted supporters to ‘do more’ than protest

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Opinion comes in ruling barring man charged with role in Capitol attack from arguing former president authorized his actions

Donald Trump may have been telling his supporters he wanted them “to do something more” than simply protest against his defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race when he told a mob of them to “fight like hell” on the day of the Capitol attack, according to findings from a federal judge on Wednesday.

The opinion from Judge John Bates came in the form of a ruling barring one man charged with having a hand in staging the Capitol assault on January 6 2021 – Alexander Sheppard – from arguing that Trump, as president at the time, had authorized his actions.

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‘Do you have no shame?’: Tulsi Gabbard grills congressman-elect George Santos

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Adding to his woes, prosecutor in part of Santos’ legislative district launching investigation into his ‘nothing short of stunning’ claims

Republican congressman-elect George Santos is under fire on multiple fronts – including in a blistering interview with Tulsi Gabbard and an investigation by Long Island prosecutors – after admitting to lying about his heritage, education and professional pedigree.

Late Wednesday, Santos also faced questions on social media over contradictory tweets on the timing of his mother’s death. One post on his account suggested she died in the September 11 attacks in New York, another said she died in 2016. The tweets appear to have been sent from his official Twitter account.

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Maryland representative Jamie Raskin says he has ‘serious but curable’ lymphoma

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Trump adversary and top Democrat in next House oversight committee says prognosis is ‘excellent’ and will continue to legislate

Maryland representative Jamie Raskin said on Wednesday that he has a type of lymphoma that’s a “serious but curable form of cancer” and he is beginning several months of treatment.

Raskin, who will be the top Democrat on the House oversight and reform committee in the next Congress, said he expects to be able to work through his outpatient treatment at a Washington-area hospital.

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Donald Trump’s tax returns to be made public by US House panel on Friday

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The House ways and means committee confirmed that the former president’s tax records from 2015 to 2021 will be released

Donald Trump’s redacted tax returns will be made public on Friday after a powerful congressional committee voted last week to release them.

A spokesperson for the US House of Representatives ways and means committee confirmed the timing of the release in a statement to Reuters on Tuesday.

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Trump insider says ‘some accurate stuff’ in profile of moribund 2024 campaign

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Ex-president calls magazine reporter who likened him to Norma Desmond of Sunset Boulevard a ‘shaky and unattractive wack job’

Rejecting a New York Magazine story which said his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 was all but moribund a little more than a month after he announced it, Donald Trump subjected the writer to misogynistic abuse.

Olivia Nuzzi, Trump said, was “a shaky and unattractive wack job”.

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New York congressman-elect admits lying about college and work history

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Republican George Santos, elected to represent parts of Long Island and Queens, admits ‘embellishing résumé’

A New York Republican congressman-elect has admitted that he lied about his job experience and college education during his successful campaign for a seat in the US House.

George Santos, who was elected in November to represent parts of northern Long Island and north-east Queens, told the New York Post: “My sins here are embellishing my résumé. I’m sorry.”

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More migrants bussed to Kamala Harris’s home on Christmas Eve

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Three buses of Central and South American migrants arrived to the vice-president’s home from Texas

Three busloads of migrants were dropped off outside the Washington DC home of US vice-president Kamala Harris late on Christmas Eve, the latest episode in an escalating battle between the Joe Biden White House and the governors of southern Republican states over federal immigration policy.

The Central and South American migrants, believed to be sent from Texas, were dropped off in below-freezing temperatures, with some wearing only sweatshirts and shorts.

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Kari Lake: Arizona judge throws out challenge to defeat in governor race

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Trump supporter has refused to concede to Democrat Katie Hobbs but Maricopa judge says no evidence of misconduct

A judge on Saturday threw out Republican Kari Lake’s challenge of her defeat in the Arizona governor’s race to the Democrat Katie Hobbs, rejecting her claim that problems with ballot printers at some polling places on election day were the result of intentional misconduct.

The Maricopa county superior court judge, Peter Thompson, who was appointed by then-Republican governor Jan Brewer, said the court did not find clear and convincing evidence of the widespread misconduct Lake alleged affected the result of the 2022 election. Lake will appeal, she said.

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Tlaib and MTG among more than 220 House proxy voters on spending bill

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Republicans rail against pandemic-era rule as 226 House members from left to far right take chance not to vote in person

Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, one of two Democrats to oppose the $1.7tn spending bill that averted a US government shutdown on Friday, did so by voting “present”. But Tlaib was not present at the Capitol, voting instead by proxy.

Proxy voting was instituted during the Covid pandemic and is due to come to an end on 3 January, in the new Congress with Republicans controlling the House.

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Republican senator called Giuliani ‘walking malpractice’, January 6 report says

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Mike Lee of Utah made comment in text message to Trump aide on evening after the Capitol attack

A senator who received a voice message meant for another Republican on January 6 described the caller, Rudy Giuliani, as “walking malpractice”.

The piquant characterisation of the former New York mayor, then Donald Trump’s attorney and a leading proponent of his election fraud lie, was made in a text message sent by Mike Lee of Utah.

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Transcripts reveal Cassidy Hutchinson was pressured to protect Trump: ‘I was scared’

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According to transcripts, Cassidy was conflicted ahead of the hearing: ‘I felt like Trump was looking over my shoulder’

“I’m about to be fucking nuked,” former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson reportedly told a January 6 committee staff member after meeting with investigators before her bombshell testimony to the committee in June. Her prediction turned out to be accurate.

Within hours of Hutchinson’s surprise appearance, where she testified about a furious president who encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol, tried to grab the steering wheel of a presidential SUV and hurled his lunch against an Oval Office wall, the backlash began.

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House passes $1.7tn spending bill to avert US government shutdown

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Bill will be signed by president after receiving Senate approval and passing the House mostly along party lines

A $1.7tn spending bill financing federal agencies through September and providing more aid to a devastated Ukraine cleared the House of Representatives on Friday as lawmakers raced to finish their work for the year and avoid a partial government shutdown.

The bill passed mostly along party lines, 225-201. Having already received Senate approval, it is headed to Joe Biden’s desk for the president to sign it into law.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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US fails to give money promised for developing countries to ease climate impacts

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Spending bill passed by Senate includes less than $1bn in climate assistance for poorer nations even though Biden promised $11.4bn

The US has risked alienating developing countries hit hardest by the climate crisis, after Congress delivered just a fraction of the money promised by Joe Biden to help poorer nations adapt to worsening storms, floods and droughts.

Biden has promised $11.4bn each year for developing countries to ease climate impacts and help them shift to renewable energy but the vast $1.7tn spending bill to keep the US government running, passed by the Senate on Thursday, includes less than $1bn in climate assistance for these countries.

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January 6 panel accuses Trump of ‘multi-part conspiracy’ in final report

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House committee publishes report three days after recommending criminal charges against ex-president

The congressional panel investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol has published its final report, accusing Donald Trump of a “multi-part conspiracy” to thwart the will of the people and subvert democracy.

Divided into eight chapters, the 845-page report includes findings, interview transcripts and legislative recommendations and represents one of the most damning official portraits of a president in American history.

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