A look back at some of the biggest moments of the past year.
Warning: Some of the following images are graphic in nature and might be disturbing to some viewers.
Continue reading...Category Archives: US Politics
‘I never understood wind’: Trump goes on bizarre tirade against wind turbines
President’s nonsensical rambling remarks about ‘windmills’ in segment from weekend speech raised eyebrows
He says he knows more about Isis than his generals, and claims to understand politicians “better than anybody”. Now there is another subject in which Donald Trump’s expert knowledge surpasses that of everybody else: wind turbines, though he calls them windmills.
“I’ve studied it better than anybody I know,” the president asserted in a bizarre segment from a weekend speech to young conservatives in West Palm Beach, Florida, close to his winter retreat at Mar-a-Lago where he is spending the holidays.
Continue reading...Navy Seal accused of war crimes meets Trump and thanks him for pardon
Eddie Gallagher convicted of posing with dead boy of teenage Islamic State terrorist posts photographs with Trump
A former Navy Seal controversially granted clemency for war crimes by Donald Trump last month was photographed with the president in Florida at the weekend, and handed over a gift to thank him for reversing his demotion.
Chief petty officer Eddie Gallagher, who was convicted of posing with the dead body of a teenage Islamic State terrorist he had just killed in Iraq in 2017, posted photographs to his Instagram account showing himself and his wife Andrea meeting the president and first lady, Melania Trump, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
Continue reading...Ukraine aid blocked soon after Trump’s phone call with Zelenskiy, emails show
Trump acted about 90 minutes after the ‘do us a favor’ phone call behind the scenes to freeze aid from the Pentagon
As Republicans and Democrats continue to squabble on the terms of Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate, newly-released government emails show that it took only about 90 minutes after Donald Trump’s infamous July telephone call to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy for White House officials to order the Pentagon to freeze military funding for Ukraine.
Related: Republican rush to defend Trump reveals a party in thrall to its leader
Continue reading...Republican rush to defend Trump reveals a party in thrall to its leader
The GOP has become the prisoner of an erratic leader known for demanding loyalty but not famous for repaying it
As the action wound to a climax on the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday night, Republicans warned the impeachment of Donald Trump was “tearing this country apart”.
Then, just to be sure, they put the crowbar in and pulled at the breach, declaring that by impeaching Trump in 2019, Democrats were seeking to “disenfranchise” everyone who had voted for the president in 2016.
Continue reading...The decade that shook America
2010 to 2020 was a contradictory decade that will confound future historians with a simple question: how did America go from Obama to Trump?
Lin-Manuel Miranda was touring his award-winning musical, In the Heights, to his parents’ homeland of Puerto Rico. Donald Trump was awarding first prize on his reality TV show, The Apprentice, to a corporate lawyer turned mobile cupcake entrepreneur.
The year was 2010 and, in the decade that followed, these two hustlers from New York with fiercely devoted followings would come to represent the two faces of America.
Continue reading...Nancy Pelosi on Trump and the power of the gavel: ‘He’ll be impeached for ever’
Trump heads to Florida for the holidays as Senate adjourned until January without agreeing to impeachment trial procedures
Nancy Pelosi promised as speaker she would “show the power of the gavel”. This year, she laid it out for all to see.
The past week alone, the Democratic leader delivered a $1.4tn government funding package to stop a shutdown, pushed through the bipartisan US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, and passed her party’s plan to lower prescription drug costs. In between, she led a congressional delegation to Europe for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.
Continue reading...Bernie Sanders calls out Buttigieg’s billionaire fundraising: ‘exactly the problem with politics’
Exclusive: the Vermont senator speaks to the Guardian about his rivals’ support from billionaires, and his plan to beat Trump
Bernie Sanders on Friday doubled down on criticism of fellow Democratic presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden over the support they’ve received from billionaire donors, arguing his 2020 rivals’ fundraising was “exactly the problem with American politics”.
Related: Billionaire candidates spent $15m on TV ads in California. What if they'd spent it on housing?
Continue reading...Nancy Pelosi on Trump: ‘He’ll be impeached for ever’ – live
- ‘No matter what the Senate does – he’s impeached for ever’
- Trump to sign spending deal today including $738bn defense bill
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That’s all from me. Thanks for sticking around for the tail end of this momentous week.
Here’s a summary of the day’s major stories:
Bernie Sanders spoke with my colleague Sam Levin this morning, and reiterated his critique of Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden and billionaires:
They will tell you, ‘It doesn’t impact me. It really doesn’t mean anything to me.’ That is clearly nonsensical. Why would billionaires and wealthy people be making large contributions if it didn’t mean something to them?
The United Kingdom, last I heard, is not the United States. Brexit is not a major part of what this campaign is about. The issues that I am campaigning on, in fact, are precisely the issues the American people support. Talk about raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. Four years ago when I introduced that concept, it was a radical idea. Not radical anymore.
Who won the last Democratic debate? | Nathan Robinson
Buttigieg was targeted by opponents and Elizabeth Warren had the best line of the night. But there were no clear winners
This was a lively one. The latest Democratic debate won’t change the course of the presidential primary – debates generally don’t. But there were a few spirited clashes between candidates that served to highlight crucial differences.
Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg repeatedly locked horns, even though the differences between them politically are not substantial. It is clear that Klobuchar has an intense dislike for Buttigieg: she professed herself insulted by his previous comments about the limited value of “Washington experience”, pointing out that Buttigieg had never managed to win a statewide election. Buttigieg, for his part, gave a righteously indignant defense of the significance of small-town America that could have been scripted by Aaron Sorkin. (You might not think we matter out in South Bend, Senator, but the firefighters and teachers I proudly serve – this is not an exact quote, but you get the picture.)
Continue reading...Democratic debate: Warren, Sanders, Biden and Yang face off in LA – live updates
Candidates take the stage at Loyola Marymount University as impeachment dominates the headlines
- Full story: seven candidates seek their star moment
- Analysis: why California is now a primary powerhouse
The Guardian’s Lois Beckett is in Los Angeles and has been speaking with voters ahead of tonight’s debate. Here’s what they had to say about the respective candidates ….
.@stephenroelewis, 50, and his son Daniel Roe Lewis, 20, are here from the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. Daniel supports Sanders, for his strong environmental platform; and Yang, for his universal basic income plan. pic.twitter.com/ZH0kJileif
Two LA friends outside the debate, talking about Warren’s electability.
Warren is from the Midwest, Beatina says. “She has that Midwest nice thing.”
“Does she?” Christine asks, very skeptical. To her, Warren reads as very Northeast. pic.twitter.com/Tojd6w8Tci
Alayshia Barker-Vaughn, 18, is leaning towards Elizabeth Warren. She likes her outreach to voters of color, her focus on healthcare, the fact she’s a woman, and her “charisma.”
“Her charisma & how she engages with an audience is very unique.” pic.twitter.com/J6UlMDGc2w
The sixth Democratic debate is officially underway, and seven candidates will now face off the day after the impeachment of Donald Trump.
Continue reading...McConnell and Pelosi set for showdown over next steps of Trump impeachment
- Not clear when articles of impeachment will reach Senate
- Pelosi threatens delay until she receives assurances of fair trial
As Washington awoke on Thursday to the realisation that it had impeached the third US president in American history, the capital remained racked with uncertainty about what will come next in an impeachment process defined by almost total partisanship and rancor.
Related: Trump impeachment charges 'absolutely made up', says Putin
Continue reading...Nancy Pelosi silences applause after impeachment vote – video
The House speaker sternly shut down House Democrats who began to clap as she announced the results of a vote on the first of two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump.
Pelosi said the vote, on Wednesday, was a 'sad' occasion and that it was 'tragic' the president’s reckless actions had made it necessary.
- 'A sad day': Nancy Pelosi shuts down applause after impeachment vote
- Dry procedures and impassioned speeches preceded historic impeachment vote
Trump reacts to his impeachment: ‘It’s a political suicide march for the Democratic party’ – video
As members of Congress moved to make him the third US president in history to be impeached, Donald Trump spoke at a campaign rally in Michigan. He shrugged off the historic vote at Washington, saying: 'It doesn’t really feel like we’re being impeached.'
The House voted 230-197 to approve the first article of impeachment, charging Trump with abuse of power, and 229-190 for the second article, charging Trump with obstruction of Congress.
But Trump was not fazed by the vote, instead remarking that it had only made him politically stronger. 'This lawless, partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the Democratic party – have you seen my polls in the last four weeks?' The crowd roared in response
Impeachment debate drama: six hours distilled into three minutes – video
Members of the House of Representatives debate the two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, with both parties accusing each other variously of defending the indefensible, tearing families apart and even being nastier to the president than Pontius Pilate was to Jesus. After a day-long debate, Trump became the third president in US history to be impeached.
A divided America: the moment Trump was impeached – in pictures
Donald Trump became the third president in US history to be impeached on Wednesday 18 December. The moment offered a surreal split screen. In the House of Representatives, lawmakers voted solemnly, mostly along party lines, in favor of two articles of impeachment. Meanwhile in Michigan, Trump railed against the Democrats at a defiant rally. ‘They’re the ones that should be impeached, every one of them’, he told the crowd
Continue reading...Trump’s impeachment may be just another battle in the US’s civil war
Trump will be wounded, seething, hellbent on revenge – and turn the weight of impeachment against his foes in 2020
After Donald Trump’s inaugural address, George W Bush turned to Hillary Clinton and said: “Well, that was some weird shit,” the former secretary of state confirmed earlier this month.
For nearly three years since that chilly day here at the US Capitol in Washington, Democrats (and many others) have accused of Trump using and abusing the United States like his personal punchbag. On Wednesday, that slice of America finally punched back via impeachment.
Continue reading...Trump faces impeachment as House convenes to debate historic vote – live
Outcome of today’s vote is all but certain as Trump lashes against Democrats and acknowledges likely impeachment
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Democratic congressman Joe Kennedy used his floor speech to explain to his children why he intended to vote in favor of impeaching the president. “Dear Ellie and James: This is a moment that you’ll read about in your history books,” the Massachusetts lawmaker said.
Dem. Rep. Joe Kennedy addresses his children in remarks on impeachment: "Dear Ellie and James: This is a moment that you'll read about in your history books. Today, I will vote to impeach the president of the United States. And I want you to know why." https://t.co/YXG96ICVqo pic.twitter.com/S3Sd39n5uV
As the president lashes out against Nancy Pelosi, some commentators have started recirculating this 2008 video, in which Trump commends Pelosi and suggests she should have tried to impeach George W. Bush.
Continue reading...Impeachment: Trump faces up to history as House prepares to vote
As the president rages, Democrats in the House get ready to vote against him
No volume of howling by Donald Trump could prevent the shadow of history from falling over his White House on Wednesday, as the House of Representatives prepared to approve articles of impeachment against a president for only the third time.
Related: More than 700 historians call for Trump to be impeached as key vote looms
Continue reading...Trump impeachment: protesters gather in Times Square on eve of vote – video
Demonstrators gather in New York, Colorado and California to call for US president Donald Trump's removal from office on the eve of the House of Representatives' expected vote to impeach him. Demonstrators who were gathered in Times Square chanted slogans like 'impeach Trump' and held signs that read: 'Impeach & Remove' and 'Traitor Criminal Lock Him Up!' The House will vote on Wednesday on two articles of impeachment against the president, which if approved, will send the matter to the Senate to hold a trial on whether to remove him from office. The Republican-led Senate is unlikely to vote to convict the president