The former president is expected to appeal the ruling to the supreme court
Donald Trump, the former US president, suffered a major defeat on Thursday when a federal appeals court ruled against his effort to block the release of documents related to the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.
Trump is expected to appeal to the supreme court.
Continue reading...The defeated 2016 candidate has read aloud what she would have said in victory – joining a cast of thwarted speechmakers
It was one of the most significant branching points in recent history – and at least one artefact of the way things might have been still exists.
On Wednesday the Today show in the US released a video of Hillary Clinton reading the speech she would have given if she had beaten Donald Trump in the 2016 election. Clinton, who is giving a course in “the power of resilience” with the online education company Masterclass, teared up as she read aloud from her speech. She said reading it entailed “facing one of my most public defeats head-on”.
Continue reading...Joe Biden took a few questions from reporters this morning, as he left the White House to start his trip to Kansas City, Missouri.
Asked about his summit yesterday with Vladimir Putin, Biden said, “I was very straightforward. There were no minced words.”
Continue reading...Russian state television shared a clip of the start of Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden’s virtual summit this morning, which started about 45 minutes ago.
The clip shows the American and Russian leaders greeting each other before beginning their discussion about the situation in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Attorney for former White House chief of staff cites House committee’s approach to negotiations and to other witnesses
The former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows will now not cooperate with the House committee investigating the deadly attack on the US Capitol on 6 January, an attorney for the former Trump aide told Fox News on Tuesday.
Meadows indicated last week that he would speak to the panel. But on the same day the Guardian broke news of Meadows’ memoir, The Chief’s Chief, in which he detailed Trump’s positive and negative Covid tests and their cover-up before his first debate with Joe Biden last year.
Continue reading...Thomas Massie’s incendiary picture, days after a deadly school shooting in Michigan, seemed carefully calibrated to provoke
It is a festive family photo with seven broad smiles and a Christmas tree. But one other detail sets it apart: each member of the Massie family is brandishing a machine gun or military-style rifle.
The photo was tweeted last week by Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky, with the caption: “Merry Christmas! PS: Santa, please bring ammo.”
Continue reading...Analysis: furore continues over ‘Christmas card’ by US Congressman of group holding military weapons
It is the Christmas card that has sent shockwaves across the world – and provided a chilling reminder of the size and type of weapons that are perfectly legal to own and carry in large parts of the US.
An analysis by the Guardian indicates the guns in the photograph published by the Republican congressman Thomas Massie are military grade and – in some cases – similar to those used in recent notorious deadly incidents.
Continue reading...Insults to press and chairman of joint chiefs of staff recall barbs while Trump was in power
In remarks to diners at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday night, Donald Trump called the American media “crooked bastards” and Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, a “fucking idiot”.
The meandering, foul-mouthed speech to Turning Point USA, a group for young conservatives, was streamed by Jack Posobiec, a rightwing blogger and provocateur.
Continue reading...Bob Dole, the long-time Kansas senator who was the Republican nominee for president in 1996, has died at the age of 98. Born in Russell, Kansas in 1923, Dole served in the US infantry in the second world war, suffering serious wounds in Italy and winning a medal for bravery.
In 1976 he was the Republican nominee for vice-president to Gerald Ford, in an election the sitting president lost to Jimmy Carter. Two decades later, aged 73, Dole won the nomination to take on Bill Clinton, to whom he lost.
Continue reading...Lawyer says accuser came forward after New York’s AG office showed Cuomo took much more active role in helping brother
Chris Cuomo was hit with a new allegation of sexual harassment days before CNN announced it was firing him amid an investigation into work he did defending his brother from similar harassment allegations.
An attorney, Debra Katz, said on Sunday her client alleged “serious sexual misconduct” by Cuomo and had contacted CNN about the allegation on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Bob Dole, the long-time Kansas senator who was the Republican nominee for president in 1996, has died. He was 98.
In a statement, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation – founded by Dole’s wife, a former North Carolina senator and cabinet official – said: “It is with heavy hearts we announced that Senator Robert Joseph Dole died earlier this morning in his sleep. At his death at age 98 he had served the United States of America faithfully for 79 years.”
Continue reading...Congressman causes outrage by posting ‘insensitive’ tweet just days after Michigan school shooting
A US congressman has posted a Christmas picture of himself and what appears to be his family, smiling and posing with an assortment of guns, just days after four teenagers were killed in a shooting at a high school in Michigan.
Thomas Massie of Kentucky tweeted: “Merry Christmas! ps. Santa, please bring ammo.”
Continue reading...Analysis: after he promised to crush the coronavirus, the rise of a new strain could be a blow to perceptions of his competency
Joe Biden looked out at an audience of government scientists last week and recognized a mask-wearing Anthony Fauci, his top adviser on the coronavirus. “I’ve seen more of Dr Fauci than my wife,” he joked. “Who’s president? Fauci!”
The US president was visiting the frontline of the Covid-19 struggle, the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, where he unveiled a winter plan that includes a drive for vaccine boosters, free at-home testing and fresh requirements for international travelers.
Continue reading...A short history of the Rose decision’s emergence as a signature cause for the right
Public opinion on abortion in the US has changed little since 1973, when the supreme court in effect legalized the procedure nationally in its ruling on the case Roe v Wade. According to Gallup, which has the longest-running poll on the issue, about four in five Americans believe abortion should be legal, at least in some circumstances.
Yet the politics of abortion have opened deep divisions in the last five decades, which have only grown more profound in recent years of polarization. In 2021, state legislators have passed dozens of restrictions to abortion access, making it the most hostile year to abortion rights on record.
Continue reading...CNN has fired the primetime anchor Chris Cuomo for trying to help his brother, the former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, fight accusations of sexual misconduct which resulted in his resignation.
Announcing the firing on Saturday, CNN said “additional information” had come to light.
Continue reading...After their remarks, the members of the taskforce took a handful of questions from reporters. Fauci was asked when scientists will have a better understanding of the risks posed by the Omicron variant. He said they would have a clearer picture in the “next few weeks”.
But he said it could take longer to understand the impact of Omicron and whether it will overtake Delta as the dominant strain in the US.
The US president, Joe Biden, has said his coughing during a speech addressing the November jobs report on Friday is due to a cold.
'What I have is a one-and-a-half-year-old grandson who had a cold who likes to kiss his pop,' Biden said, responding to a question from a reporter after the speech
Continue reading...John Eastman, linked to efforts to stop Biden certification, to invoke constitutional protection against self-incrimination
Former Trump lawyer John Eastman, who was connected to efforts to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election win on 6 January, will plead the fifth amendment protection against self-incrimination before the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack.
The move by Eastman, communicated in a letter to the select committee by his attorney, is an extraordinary step and appears to suggest a growing fear among some of Trump’s closest advisers that their testimony may implicate them in potential criminality.
Continue reading...President lays out plan for winter months amid Omicron arrival in US; plus George Clooney on turning down $35m for a day’s work
Good morning.
Joe Biden is planning to pull no punches when it comes to the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid in the US.
There is fresh urgency to the effort after the first US case of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 was identified in California on Wednesday and a second in Minnesota yesterday.
The emergence of Omicron has demonstrated the tenacity of the virus, which continues to drag down Biden’s political fortunes. Voters are divided on his handling of the pandemic, with 47% approving and 49% disapproving.
What else did he say? He said he didn’t pull the trigger. He “let go of the hammer” on the weapon, he said, and the gun went off. “I never pulled the trigger,” he repeated.
Will there be any criminal charges brought in the case? The district attorney in Santa Fe, New Mexico, said in October that criminal charges in the shooting have not been ruled out.
Continue reading...White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded to questions on the departure of top Kamala Harris staffer Symone Sanders saying that departures from the White House after the first year is expected, downplaying reports that Sanders’ departure confirms reports of turmoil in the vice president’s office.
“It’s a normal course of events that people are ready to do something new, they’re ready to spend time with their families, they’re ready to sleep more. That’s to be expected in the first 18 months to two years of any White House,” Psaki said.”
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