Though the Palestinian Authority has cut ties with the US and Israel over the Trump administration’s plan for Middle East peace, its author has insisted his plan is not dead yet.
Related: What we Palestinians think does not matter – all that matters is Israel | Diana Buttu
Continue reading...Michael Bloomberg traded insults with Donald Trump on Sunday, calling the president “a pathological liar who lies about everything: his fake hair, his obesity and his spray-on tan”.
Related: 'My party is a cult': Republican Joe Walsh on his Iowa challenge to Trump
Continue reading...As a growing number of Republican senators confirmed they will vote to acquit Donald Trump at the conclusion of his impeachment trial on Wednesday, the saga threatened to overshadow the first contest of the Democratic primary season in Iowa on Monday.
Related: 'My party is a cult': Republican Joe Walsh on his Iowa challenge to Trump
Continue reading...The MSNBC host’s show has become a safety blanket for many US progressives. She discusses her demonisation by the right, tackling the president’s lies – and coming out at 17
Rachel Maddow, the US TV host, has a message for her critics: “Bring it. Your hatred makes me stronger. Come on. Give me more. Give me more. I love it!”
That is just as well, given the way she has polarised viewers in the past few years. Maddow, 46, has presented her primetime show on MSNBC, a 24-hour cable news channel, on weeknights since 2008. If most cable news and social media is fast food, she tries to rustle up a three-course meal: sensible, sober, sometimes painfully detailed and replete with oblique references to half-forgotten politicians of yesteryear. Since Donald Trump’s rise in 2016, however, The Rachel Maddow Show has become a nightly safety blanket for many progressives who identify with the “resistance”.
Continue reading...The Palestinian Authority has cut all ties with the US and Israel, including those relating to security, after rejecting a Middle East peace plan presented by Donald Trump, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said on Saturday.
Continue reading...Outraged by what they see as a coverup in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, grassroots activists are planning a massive “payback project” designed to punish Republican senators at the ballot box.
Related: By denying witnesses, Republicans made clear even a smoking gun would not be enough
Continue reading...CEO defended Facebook’s decision not to ban political ads and said company will ‘stand up for free expression’
Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, has unveiled a new approach to political advertising which he described as a stand for the principles of free speech, but also one that will “piss off a lot of people”.
In a candid discussion at the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit 2020 in Salt Lake City on Friday, Zuckerberg said that since his company is criticized for both what it does and does not do in terms of monitoring use of its platform, it will now support free speech “because in order to be trusted, people need to know what you stand for”.
Continue reading...Senate voted 51-49 to block witnesses, with Republicans Mitt Romney and Susan Collins joining Democrats
The US Senate voted against hearing witnesses in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump on Friday, paving the way for Trump’s acquittal on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The Senate voted 51-49 to block witnesses, with only two Republicans, Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine, crossing party lines to support the Democratic call for witnesses.
Continue reading...The US Senate has voted against calling witnesses and collecting new evidence in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, clearing the way for a near-certain acquittal. The Republican-controlled Senate voted 51-49 to block the Democrats' drive to hear testimony from witnesses including former national security adviser John Bolton. Only two Republicans, Mitt Romney and Susan Collins, supported the motion. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called the result a 'tragedy on a very large scale'.
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The impeachment trial has resumed, and Trump’s legal team will now have two hours to address the debate over calling witnesses to testify in the trial.
Deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin has taken the podium to argue against witnesses, claiming the senators have heard enough testimony from the officials who participated in the public hearings of the House impeachment inquiry.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell was hosting some of his Republican colleagues in his office during the break, likely working through the logistics of the trial’s conclusion, but he is now headed back to the chamber.
So far senators Thune, Tillis, Romney, Alexander and Murkowski have emerged from McConnell's office. I frankly have no idea whether they want to push this through late tonight or punt it to next week.
Aaaand McConnell just emerged to head back to the Senate floor
The Trump administration is expanding the reach of its controversial travel ban to six additional countries.
The United States will stop issuing visas that offer a path to residency to nationals from Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan, Myanmar and Tanzania, said Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of homeland security, in a conference call on Friday.
Continue reading...The to and fro continues in the Trump impeachment trial as the prosecution and defense continue to debate subpoenaing witnesses. The White House lawyer Pat Cipollone accused the House impeachment managers of being driven by 'puritanical rage' while the Democratic congressman Hakeem Jeffries criticised the defense for raising 'conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory'
Continue reading...Defence secretary Mark Esper confirmed the policy change that would, according to a Pentagon review, increase danger to US armed forces
The US will end its moratorium on the production and deployment of landmines, in another reversal of Obama-era policies and a further breach with western allies, it has been reported.
The defence secretary, Mark Esper, confirmed that a policy change was imminent but refused to describe it. Vox published a leaked state department cable rescinding Barack Obama’s 2014 ban on production or acquisition of anti-personnel landmines (APLs).
Continue reading...More than a dozen candidates are running to take on Donald Trump in the presidential election this year. But first they must win the Democratic nomination. Lauren Gambino explains the process
The Senate is back in session, and House managers and Trump lawyers are back to fielding questions.
GOP Senators found a new way to raise the topic of the Bidens and Burisma: “Do you agree with John Kerry’s stepson that Hunter Biden working with Burisma was unacceptable?”
When then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son joined the board of an obscure Ukrainian gas company half a decade ago, it was a stunning coup for its owner, a former Ukrainian minister working to remake the company’s image as he faced a money-laundering investigation.
For Hunter Biden, the job came with risks: Ukraine was in the throes of political upheaval, and there was building scrutiny of former government officials profiting in the lucrative gas industry. His father was the face of the Obama administration’s effort to get Ukraine to crack down on corruption.
Before the break, House manager Adam Schiff even more directly reassured senators concerned about “endless delays”, once again suggesting a one-week period for deposition and “limited” time for witnesses. Chief Justice John Roberts could quickly resolve disputes, he said.
Lawmakers and journalists have been speculating all day about how the upcoming votes on witnesses could fall. Republican Senators Lamar Alexander and Lisa Murkowski were spotted together during the dinner break. Both are potential swing votes, and have told reporters they remain undecided.
Key swing vote Sen. Lamar Alexander told me he's going to announce his decision on witnesses TONIGHT, a decision that will make clear whether the Senate trial will come to a swift conclusion or if it will lead to a new phase over witnesses and documents.
Continue reading...Emily Thornberry accuses Boris Johnson’s administration of ‘shameful betrayal’
Labour has condemned the government for praising Donald Trump’s vision for Middle East peace, with the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, calling it a “shameful betrayal” of previous UK support for a viable two-state solution.
In an urgent Commons question on the plan, which has been condemned for granting Israel the bulk of its wishes but only offering a Palestinian state under severe restrictions, Thornberry called it “a monstrosity” and a guarantee of future violence.
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The impeachment managers have repeatedly used their answers to make an argument for calling witnesses, specifically John Bolton.
We are 17 questions in, with the witness issue emerging frequently.
Dems using some questions to argue that Bolton could answer outstanding issues.
WH team saying that if Bolton were called, many other witnesses would be, too, and proceedings would drag on for months.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY): “The Senate in its history has had 15 different impeachment trials. In every single trial there were witnesses. Every single trial. Why should this president be treated differently...” https://t.co/up2CQNLRW8 pic.twitter.com/8CoK6RvYZg
Democratic senators were visibly stunned when Alan Dershowitz made his argument that Trump was acting in the public interest by pushing for investigations of Democrats because the president considers his reelection to be in the public interest.
Dems' reaction to Dershowitz's case just now would've been great TV:
- When Dersh suggested reelection concerns fit in national interest, Bernie turned to Schatz, who mouthed either "WHA" or "WOW"
- Gillibrand and Merkley made frustrated hand motions
- Slow grin from Schumer
First submarine to go on patrol armed with the W76-2 warhead makes a nuclear launch more likely, arm control advocates warn
The US has deployed its first low-yield Trident nuclear warhead on a submarine that is currently patrolling the Atlantic Ocean, it has been reported, in what arms control advocates warn is a dangerous step towards making a nuclear launch more likely.
According to the Federation of American Scientists, the USS Tennessee – which left port in Georgia at the end of last year – is the first submarine to go on patrol armed with the W76-2 warhead, commissioned by Donald Trump two years ago.
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Though Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly told senators privately that he doesn’t have votes to block new witnesses in the impeachment trial, per multiple reports, there are still several days till senators would vote on the matter.
Senate Republicans may still block witnesses, and some GOP lawmakers are confident they’ll be able to do so, according to CNN.
While the votes aren't secured yet, GOP leaders are growing confident they can defeat a vote on witnesses following the initial alarm the Bolton book caused among Senate Rs. Many Rs amenable to argument that witnesses would drag it out with no clear end https://t.co/LKsAaRHEaS
Lev Parnas’ lawyer is expected to attend the Senate trial tomorrow.
Joseph Bondy asked Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer for gallery tickets, according to The Daily Beast, which first reported the news. Bondy’s co-counsel Stephanie Schuman is also expected to appear. Parnas himself may not be able to, as he wears an ankle monitor and electronics are banned in the trial chamber.
Lev Parnas attorney on attending Senate trial: “We are attending the trial w/ or w/o Mr. Parnas bc we believe our presence is important in reminding senators that indeed there should be witnesses heard and evidence taken and that anything short of that would not be a fair trial”
Continue reading...The US president launches his plan for peace in the Middle East, saying the 80-page proposal offers a 'realistic two-state solution' that has already been agreed to by Israel as the basis for negotiations. Despite the absence of a Palestinian presence at the launch, Trump says the US will support Palestine if the president, Mahmoud Abbas, 'chooses the path to peace'
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