Former US president is reviewing treatment options with family as cancer has spread to the bone
Joe Biden, the former US president, has been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, his personal office announced on Sunday.
The 82-year-old was seen last week by doctors after urinary symptoms and a prostate nodule were found. Biden and his family are considering options for treatment.
Continue reading...Chris Murphy says Trump strategically visited Gulf states ‘willing to pay him off’ as backlash rises against luxury offer
Donald Trump’s acceptance of a $400m Boeing jet from Qatar is the “definition of corruption”, a leading Democrat said on Sunday, as several senior Republicans joined in a bipartisan fusillade of criticism and concern over the luxury gift.
Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator for Connecticut, condemned the “flying grift” on NBC’s Meet the Press as he assailed the president’s trip to several Gulf states this week that included a stop in Qatar.
Continue reading...Proposed rule change could pave way for president to fire economists whose figures prove politically inconvenient
Summarizing his befuddlement with numbers, Mark Twain observed that there were “lies, damned lies and statistics”.
The acerbic phrase later become so deeply embedded in popular consciousness that it once formed the title to an episode of The West Wing, NBC’s portrayal of a fictitious US president played by Martin Sheen.
Continue reading...In social media posts, president also slammed Walmart for price increases and spread anti-Clinton conspiracy theories
Donald Trump has said that he will speak to both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an effort to stop what he called the “bloodbath” war in Ukraine, in a barrage of new social media posts that included baseless conspiracy theories and a demand that Walmart not raise prices for customers because of tariffs he has imposed.
Trump, posting on his Truth Social account on Saturday, wrote that he will speak to Putin on Monday morning. “THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE ‘BLOODBATH’ THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK, AND TRADE,” Trump wrote, in his customary all-capitalized prose.
Continue reading...Interview by special counsel shows then president having problems remembering key dates and life events
A newly released recording appears to confirm that Joe Biden suffered some memory lapses while US president, struggling to recall the year his son died or when Donald Trump was first elected.
While being interviewed by a special counsel over his handling of classified records, the audio shows Biden’s responses are marked by long pauses, a faint whispered voice and confusion over key dates, such as when his son Beau died (2015) or when Trump won his first presidency (2016).
Continue reading...White House remakes foreign policy under pay-for-access code that critics say could violate US constitution
Former White House lawyers, diplomatic protocol officers and foreign affairs experts have told the Guardian that Donald Trump’s receipt of overseas gifts and targeted investments are “unprecedented”, as the White House remakes US foreign policy under a pay-for-access code that eclipses past administrations with characteristic Trumpian excess.
The openness to foreign largesse was on full display this week as the US president was feted in the Gulf states during his first major diplomatic trip abroad this term, inking deals he claimed were worth trillions of dollars and pumping local leaders for investments as he says he remakes US foreign policy to prioritise “America first” – putting aside concerns of human rights or international law for the bottom line of American businesses and taxpayers.
Continue reading...James Comey posted picture of shells arranged to say ‘8647’, using common slang for kicking a customer out of a bar
Donald Trump accused the former FBI director James Comey on Friday of calling for his assassination in a coded social media post written in seashells.
Comey’s Instagram post – a photograph of seashells on a beach arranged to spell the numbers 8647, which he captioned “Cool shell formation on my beach walk” – was used by rightwing supporters of Trump to claim that it was a call to assassinate the US president. The Secret Service said it has launched an investigation.
Continue reading...Homeland security department reviewing ‘out-of-the-box’ pitch in which immigrants would compete for citizenship
The US Department of Homeland Security is reportedly considering an “out-of-the-box” pitch to participate in a television gameshow that would have immigrants compete to obtain US citizenship.
Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin described the pitch to the New York Times as a “celebration of being an American” and said the show would include challenges based on American traditions.
Continue reading...Administration’s appeal to quickly deport Venezuelans under Alien Enemies Act rejected with two dissenting
The supreme court has rejected the Trump administration’s request to remove a temporary block on deportations of Venezuelans under a rarely used 18th-century wartime law.
Over two dissenting votes, the justices acted on an emergency appeal from lawyers for Venezuelan men who have been accused of being gang members, a designation that the administration says makes them eligible for rapid removal from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
Continue reading...Goal of Christian nationalist and director of OMB to dismantle federal workforce may be coming to fruition
Russ Vought’s years-long quest to dismantle the federal workforce and consolidate power for the president is coming to fruition, and he may be given a major boost when he reportedly takes on Elon Musk’s cost-cutting efforts as the billionaire bows out of the federal government.
The director of the office of management and budget has worked alongside Musk’s “department of government efficiency” to slash through the federal government since Trump took office. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Vought would take on an increased public role in Washington as Musk transitions out and the president’s budget process advances. The outlet reported that Vought could use the budget process to make some of Doge’s cuts permanent.
Continue reading...Pledge to strengthen ties with Gulf state includes a $14.5bn agreement with Boeing, GE Aerospace and Etihad Airways
Donald Trump has announced deals totaling more than $200bn between the United States and the United Arab Emirates, including a $14.5bn commitment among Boeing, GE Aerospace and Etihad Airways, as he pledged to strengthen ties between the US and the Gulf state during a multiday trip to the Middle East.
The White House said on Thursday that Boeing and GE had received a commitment from Etihad Airways to invest $14.5bn to buy 28 US-made Boeing 787 and 777X aircraft powered by GE engines.
Continue reading...New Mexico judge rules immigrants did not know they were entering US military zone, marking setback for Trump
A federal judge in New Mexico on Thursday dismissed trespassing charges against dozens of immigrants caught in a new military zone on the US-Mexico border, marking a setback for Trump administration efforts to raise penalties for unlawful crossings into the US.
Chief US magistrate judge Gregory Wormuth began filing the dismissals late on Wednesday, ruling that immigrants did not know they were entering the military zone in New Mexico and therefore could not be charged, according to court documents and a defense attorney.
Continue reading...Ben Cohen and others interrupted RFK Jr at hearing to protest Israel’s Gaza blockade and Medicaid cuts
Ben Cohen, the co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, has been charged with “crowding and obstructing” others after he was arrested while protesting against the Gaza blockade during a US Senate hearing.
Cohen – the Ben in Ben & Jerry’s – made his stand on Wednesday while Robert F Kennedy Jr was addressing a hearing of the health, education, labor and pensions committee. A group of activists heckled the health secretary over his anti-vaccine posture, yelling: “When Bobby lies, children die,” and “Anti-vax, anti-science, anti-America”.
Continue reading...Measure targeting immigrants is to help close added $12bn deficit that Newsom blamed on ‘Trump slump’
The California governor, Gavin Newsom, wants his state to stop enrolling more low-income immigrants without legal status in a state-funded healthcare program starting in 2026 and begin charging a monthly premium the following year to those already enrolled.
It is one of several measures proposed by Newsom on Wednesday to help close an additional $12bn deficit, a budget shortcoming the Democratic governor squarely placed on the shoulders of the “Trump slump”.
Continue reading...Health secretary demurs on questions about vaccine stance and defends Republican plans to cut healthcare
The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, refused to say whether he would vaccinate his children if he had to choose today, and defended Republicans’ proposal to cut healthcare to fund tax cut extensions.
Kennedy’s back-to-back testimonies before House and Senate committees were his first appearances before lawmakers since his confirmation in February. The secretary was called to discuss Donald Trump’s proposed budget, which would impose disproportionately large cuts to scientific enterprises at the health department.
Continue reading...Although Musk has pivoted from Doge, the Saudi summit shows how he’s retaining proximity to the US president
Over the course of an eight-minute interview, Elon Musk touted his numerous businesses and vision of a “Star Trek future” while telling the crowd that his Tesla Optimus robots had performed a dance for Donald Trump and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, to the tune of YMCA. He also announced that Starlink, his satellite internet company, had struck a deal for use in Saudi Arabia for maritime and aviation usage; looking to the near future, he expressed his desire to bring Tesla’s self-driving robotaxis to the country.
“We could not be more appreciative of having a lifetime partner and a friend like you, Elon, to the Kingdom,” Saudi Arabia’s minister of communications and IT, Abdullah Alswaha, told Musk.
Continue reading...Commerce chief Howard Lutnick’s firm backed controversial crypto giant Tether as Bukele ties deepened
Trump administration’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and his family have had extensive business interests linked to El Salvador, whose authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has grown close to the White House and who has courted controversy by imprisoning people deported from the US in an immigration crackdown.
El Salvador also plays host to a booming cryptocurrency and new media industry, which has numerous ties to Donald Trump allies who are seeking to make money from various ventures which have sometimes drawn the attention of authorities or ethics watchdogs.
Continue reading...Vinay Prasad, outspoken critic of pharmaceutical industry and of his peers in public health, to take over CBER
Vinay Prasad, an oncologist and hematologist who has called for more regulatory scrutiny of pharmaceuticals, including Covid vaccines, was named the top US vaccines official earlier this month.
Marty Makary, commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced in a 6 May email obtained by the Guardian that Prasad would now lead the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), which oversees biological products like blood, vaccines, and cellular and gene therapies. Biotech stocks plunged at the news.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: the Ukraine president’s call for Putin to meet him in person represents a huge gamble in the prospect of peace
Good morning.
Talks. Istanbul. Thursday. In the geopolitical equivalent of a playground challenge, the latest move in the back-and-forth brinkmanship between Russia and Ukraine has seen President Zelenskyy call Putin’s bluff.
US politics | Donald Trump says he will lift sanctions on Syria and meet with the country’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, during his tour of the gulf states. Sharaa’s pitch to woo the US offered access to Syrian oil, reconstruction contracts and to build a Trump Tower in Damascus.
UK news | Peter Sullivan, who has spent 38 years in jail, has had his murder conviction quashed in what is thought to be the longest-running miscarriage of justice in British history. Sullivan was wrongly convicted in 1987 for the frenzied murder of a florist and part-time pub worker, Diane Sindall, 21, in Merseyside.
Conservatives | An MP has been charged with sexual assault over alleged incidents at London’s Groucho Club in 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service has said. Patrick Spencer, the MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, was charged with two counts of sexual assault against two separate women, said the CPS.
Assisted dying | At least five MPs have decided to vote against the UK assisted dying bill, the Guardian understands. It comes as the Scottish parliament votes to consider a bill to allow assisted dying for terminally ill people for the first time.
UK news | A man has been arrested in connection with a series of suspected arson attacks on property linked to Keir Starmer, Scotland Yard has said. The 21-year-old was arrested in the early hours on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and remained in custody, the Metropolitan police said.
Continue reading...Accepting a ‘gift’ of a luxury jet from Qatar is just the most eye-catching of the president’s ethically questionable acts
Fox & Friends, the show beamed into millions of rightwing Americans’ homes every morning, is not generally considered to be the place where Donald Trump faces the tough questions. The “& Friends” in the show’s title gives that away.
But on Monday morning, the show’s co-host Brian Kilmeade put the billion-dollar question to the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. News had just broken that Trump had decided to accept a gift of a $400m luxury jumbo jet from the government of Qatar, a petro-state which the president once denounced as a “funder of terrorism”.
Continue reading...