Exclusive: Danielle Stella, reported to support baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, held twice this year over alleged shoplifting
A pro-Trump Republican candidate for Congress who is aiming to unseat Ilhan Omar in Minnesota has been charged with a felony after allegedly stealing from stores.
Related: Trump speaks before presidential seal doctored with symbols of Russia and golf
Continue reading...Image mysteriously displayed behind president at rightwing event features two-headed eagle clutching golf clubs
As Donald Trump addressed a rightwing crowd in Washington on Tuesday, the audience roared in support – but it was a doctored onscreen display that ultimately took center stage.
At a student summit hosted by the conservative group Turning Point USA, the president stood before what looks, to the casual observer, very much like the US presidential seal. A thorough examination by the Washington Post, however, reveals some odd tweaks to the image.
Continue reading...Warren urged House to rise ‘above politics’ and launch proceedings against Trump while Biden said president ‘should be tried’
Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren urged the House of Representatives to rise “above politics” and launch impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump after the former special counsel Robert Mueller testified that his report on Russian election interference did not exonerate the president.
The candidates, speaking on Wednesday at the annual convention of the NAACP, the nation’s largest and oldest civil rights organization, said Mueller’s testimony highlighted the urgency for brining articles of impeachment against a president whose bigotry while in office has harmed communities of color.
Continue reading...Mueller discussed Trump’s many documented instances of praising the site during testimony before House intelligence committee
Mueller emphasized in his testimony to the House intelligence committee that Russian election interference remains ongoing.
WATCH: Mueller on Russian interference in the 2016 election:
“It wasn’t a single attempt. They’re doing it as we sit here. And they expect to do it during the next campaign.”https://t.co/m9KGQtGMJ7 pic.twitter.com/s1Aa1nyLsU
Trump’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said in a statement that Mueller’s testimony revealed the “troubling deficiencies of the special counsel’s investigation.”
“The testimony revealed that this probe was conducted by a small group of politically biased prosecutors who, as hard as they tried, were unable to establish either obstruction, conspiracy, or collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia,” the president’s lawyer said. “The American people understand that this issue is over. They also understand that the case is closed.”
...who, as hard as they tried, were unable to establish either obstruction, conspiracy, or collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. It is also clear that the Special Counsel conducted his two-year investigation unimpeded.
Continue reading...The special counsel will make an opening statement in his appearance before Congress tomorrow to discuss the Trump-Russia investigation
Here’s where things stand:
In his comments to the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, Trump praised the incoming British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage.
Trump notes that Nigel Farage is in the crowd for his speech to Turning Point USA. "I said 'what's Nigel doing here?' He's a little older than you folks. He's going to work well with Boris. They're going to do tremendous things."
He adds: "Boris is good. he'll do a good job."
The US was on track to run out of money in September if there was no deal
We’re ending our live coverage for the day, thanks for following along. Tune in tomorrow for what is sure to be a busy day as DC braces for Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony this week. Here are some key events and links from the day:
Here’s a story from today about a neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee that apparently collectively organized to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) from detaining a man:
When we #ProtectEachOther we win ✊https://t.co/uK9e1vFZBe
I’m outside a home in Hermitage where neighbors say ICE agents tried to take a man from his home early this morning. Neighbors say the man was in his van with his young son and they stayed there for 4 hours or so. Neighbors say they refused to let agents take the man.
Continue reading...The two-year, $1.37tn agreement would avoid the possibility of a government shutdown or first-ever federal default
Donald Trump and congressional leaders announced Monday that they had struck a critical debt and budget agreement. The deal amounts to an against-the-odds victory for Washington pragmatists seeking to avoid a politically dangerous tumult over the possibility of a government shutdown or the first-ever federal default.
The deal, announced by Trump on Twitter and in a statement by the Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, will restore the government’s ability to borrow to pay its bills past next year’s elections and build upon recent large budget gains for the Pentagon and domestic agencies.
Continue reading...The eyes of America will be trained on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, as Robert Mueller testifies before two House committees about his report on Russian election interference, links between the Trump campaign and Moscow and potential obstruction of justice by the president.
Related: 'It's a political civil war': Trump's racist tirades set tone for 2020
Continue reading...Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for a “9/11-style commission” to investigate child separation on the border with Mexico on Saturday, and said the US government has a life-long responsibility to children it severed from their parents, to provide them with mental health support.
Related: Bieber thanks Trump over A$AP Rocky but urges: 'Let those kids out of cages'
Continue reading...As Donald Trump reiterated his determination that Americans should walk on Mars, Mike Pence marked the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing at the Apollo 11 launch site in Florida on Saturday.
Related: Trump revives the idea of a ‘white man’s country’, America’s original sin | Nell Painter
Continue reading...Books by James Williams and Carles Boix offer fascinating takes on how we can combat anger and distraction online
We’re having problems with the internet and big tech, principally Alphabet (Google/YouTube), Amazon, Apple and Facebook. The government has taken note.
Related: 'Facebook is dangerous': tech giant faces criticism from Congress over Libra currency
Continue reading...State representative Erica Thomas says she was verbally attacked in supermarket while shopping with her nine-year-old daughter
A pregnant African American lawmaker in Georgia said she was verbally attacked in a supermarket Friday by a middle-aged white man who used profanity, called her vulgar names and told her to “go back where you came from” as her nine-year-old daughter looked on.
Erica Thomas, a Democrat and Georgia state representative from Austell, said the man was irate that she was in an express line with too many items. Thomas said she was in a line for customers with 10 items or less because she cannot stand for long periods of time.
Continue reading...President says that after speaking with Kanye West about musician’s predicament, he will call Sweden’s prime minister
Donald Trump has said he is working to free the American rapper A$AP Rocky, who has been held in police custody in Sweden for weeks.
“I will be calling the very talented Prime Minister of Sweden to see what we can do about helping A$AP Rocky,” Trump tweeted from aboard Air Force One on Friday, and said he had just spoken with Kanye West about Rocky’s situation.
Continue reading...President abandons disavowal of racist chants aimed at the congresswoman, saying ‘she’s lucky to be where she is’
Republican Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana have introduced a resolution that would designate the far-left group Antifa as a hate group.
Trump said during his comments to reporters in the Oval Office that the White House is trying to get rapper A$AP Rocky released from Swedish detention.
Pres. Trump on ASAP Rocky's case: "I personally don't know ASAP Rocky, but I can tell you that he has tremendous support. from the African-American community .. and when when I say African-American, I really can really say from everybody in this country because we are all one" pic.twitter.com/D95q2ZMGBc
Continue reading...Congresswoman greeted by chanting supporters at airport as president defended rallygoers, saying they are ‘incredible patriots’
Representative Ilhan Omar was greeted by a throng of supporters as she arrived home in Minnesota, fresh off attacks from Donald Trump and his supporters that included chants of “send her back” at the president’s rally this week.
As Trump renewed his criticism of Omar on Friday, the freshman lawmaker received a strong display of support from constituents in her district who greeted her at the Minneapolis-St Paul airport on Thursday with chants of “Welcome home llhan”.
Continue reading...The US representative Ilhan Omar is welcomed with cheers and support as she returns to Minnesota on Thursday after days of inflammatory attacks by Donald Trump. At the airport, supporters shouted their backing of the Somalian-born lawmaker. Meanwhile, Trump tried to distance himself from supporters’ chants of ‘send her back’ at a rally where he criticised Omar, as Republicans worry the incendiary mantra could set the tone for the 2020 campaign
Donald Trump has had some awkward exchanges with survivors of religious persecution during a meeting with them in the Oval Office on Wednesday. When the Nobel laureate and Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad requested aid for the Yazidis, the president replied: ‘And you had the Nobel prize? That's incredible. They gave it to you for what reason?’ When asked by a Rohingya refugee about the plan to help his people, Trump replied: ‘Where is that exactly?’
Continue reading...Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democrat representative, has weighed in on Donald Trump's rally in North Carolina, at which the crowd chanted 'send her back' after he mentioned Ilhan Omar. Speaking at Capitol Hill, Ocasio-Cortez said: 'It is about creating a volatile environment in this country through violent rhetoric that puts anyone, like Ilhan, anyone who believes in the rights of all people, in danger'
Continue reading...Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren denounced the president after rally erupted into chants of ‘send her back’
Democrats have rushed to condemn Donald Trump after his supporters erupted into chants of “send her back” at the mention of Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, one of the targets of the president’s recent racist tweets.
Presidential candidates and senior members of Congress called the chant at a Trump rally in North Carolina on Wednesday night “despicable” and “vile”. Some expressed fears for Omar’s safety.
Continue reading...In Omar, the president has at long last found a face to his stigmatization of Muslims – and so, too, have his allies
The chants of “send her back” reverberated across the rally of thousands on Wednesday as Donald Trump stood at the podium and attacked Representative Ilhan Omar, a naturalized US citizen who arrived in the country as a teenager after her family fled Somalia.
It was not the first time Trump had sought to vilify Omar, who in November became one of the first two Muslim women elected to the US Congress and has emerged as a key target of the president and Republicans.
Continue reading...