Category Archives: US Politics

John Fetterman joins forces with Republican counterpart in Senate for fundraising committee

Posted on by

Venture between two Pennsylvania senators stokes speculation about Fetterman’s future in Democratic party

The Democratic senator John Fetterman, who has faced mounting political challenges, is joining forces with the Republican senator Dave McCormick to launch a new joint fundraising committee, a move that is likely to fuel additional questions about Fetterman’s increasingly rightward lurch.

Pennsylvania’s two US senators have established a shared fundraising committee that will collect donations benefiting both of their campaigns in an unusual bipartisan arrangement.

Continue reading...

Democrat running for Texas AG claims $110m in grants for Starlink ‘sure looks’ like corruption

Posted on by

Nathan Johnson says if elected he’ll investigate state’s deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to provide rural internet

A Texas Democrat running to become the state’s attorney general has said he will investigate Elon Musk’s SpaceX company if elected, saying it “sure looks like” corruption was involved in a deal he said handed the world’s richest man $110m of taxpayers’ money.

Nathan Johnson made the comment in an interview with the Dallas News on Friday, in which he called for greater legislative scrutiny of state grants funneled to SpaceX for its Starlink satellite program, which provides fast internet access for customers in remote areas.

Continue reading...

National guard pilots return to duty after 4 July low-level beach flyover in South Carolina

Posted on by

Helicopter pilots were suspended from duty after a low-level stunt over beachgoers during holiday aviation show

Eight South Carolina national guard helicopter pilots have been returned to flying duties following a suspension over a low-flying sweep over beachgoers as part of a Fourth of July event honoring service members.

“Effective immediately, the suspension of all involved South Carolina pilots has been lifted,” the Pentagon spokesperson, Sean Parnell, wrote on Friday morning on social media. “Carry on Patriots.”

Continue reading...

Eight charged with murder conspiracy over alleged White House UFC attack plot

Posted on by

Group accused of planning sniper and drone attack on Donald Trump’s UFC cage-fighting show in June

Eight men were indicted on murder and terrorism conspiracy charges Thursday for their alleged roles in a thwarted drone and sniper attack on the UFC cage-fighting show staged at the White House in June.

The indictment, returned in Ohio, charges all eight in two separate conspiracies, one to provide material support to terrorists and a second to commit murder on federal government territory and to murder a federal government official.

Continue reading...

US lawmakers urge stricter monitoring of medically assisted suicide in hospices

Posted on by

Bipartisan group warns HHS that older adults and people with disabilities risk being pressured to end their lives

Lawmakers urged the health and human services (HHS) secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, on Thursday to establish strict hospice reporting rules to prevent discrimination and coercion in medically assisted suicide.

The bipartisan group of members of Congress warned that older adults, people with disabilities, or those with disaffected caregivers face a particular risk of being pressured to end their lives.

Continue reading...

Licensed to drill? How a Trump-linked Texas oil company is elbowing its way into Greenland

Posted on by

Greenland Energy says billions of barrels of crude could lie beneath territory and claims it has permission to bring drilling kit ashore – a claim denied by Nuuk

On 10 June, a snowy-haired American in his 60s addressed the residents of a remote Greenland hamlet. He was there to tell them about a business venture supported by figures linked to Donald Trump. “So,” Robert Price said via an interpreter, “we have a project to drill for oil here.”

The Texas oil company that Price represents, Greenland Energy, hopes to prove that billions of barrels of crude lie underground by bringing in 300 shipping containers of drilling kit.

Continue reading...

Trump switches back to flying on older Air Force One for England trip instead of new Qatari jet

Posted on by

US president unexpectedly changed plans for flight to England after using Qatari-gifted aircraft to travel to Turkey

Donald Trump flew from Turkey to England onboard the older Air Force One on Wednesday, rather than the new, Qatari-gifted aircraft he used to travel to the Nato summit in Ankara, an unexpected change in plans that prompted questions about security fears.

Trump later boarded the new plane at Mildenhall air force base in the United Kingdom for the trip back to Washington.

Continue reading...

White House’s World Cup head defends Trump lobbying Fifa over red card

Posted on by

Andrew Giuliani claims actions of referee Raphael Claus over US player Folarin Balogun ‘very, very highly suspicious’

Andrew Giuliani, head of the White House’s World Cup taskforce, has defended Donald Trump’s lobbying of Fifa to lift the suspension of US player Folarin Balogun for Monday’s game against Belgium.

The US president claimed that Brazilian referee Raphael Claus, who showed Balogun a red card in the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, was “a little bit suspect, if you check his past”. This was apparently a reference to a match-fixing investigation by Brazil’s senate in 2024 that examined how referees were assigned to games but did not accuse Claus of wrongdoing.

Continue reading...

Atmosphere in Iran remains highly charged after Ayatollah’s funeral and escalation of grievances with US

Posted on by

World is witnessing a turning point, says ministry spokesperson, as Iran seeks to assert independence amid rising tensions

Before a foreign ministry press briefing at the Grand Hotel Tehran, the assembled reporters were asked to stand for the national anthem that duly blared from fuzzy speakers.

At the podium, the ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, claimed the world was witnessing a turning point in the history of Shia Islam. A century from now, he claimed, the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be revered as a second Imam Hussain, the martyred grandson of the prophet Muhammad. Donald Trump, meanwhile, would be seen as a latterday Yazid, the tyrannical 7th century caliph.

Continue reading...

Trump administration threatens states with criminal charges in elections fight

Posted on by

State officials call federal demands for voter data ‘truly bizarre behavior’ amid unproven noncitizen voting claims

The US Department of Justice sent letters to election officials in every state threatening potential criminal charges for officials if noncitizens vote, an escalation in an ongoing push by the federal government.

As Donald Trump’s administration pushes to exert greater control over elections, the justice department confirmed letters went out to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, “asking for voluntary compliance in a timely manner with their obligations under federal law to ensure only citizens vote in federal elections”.

Continue reading...

Trump renews call for US to take over Greenland as he arrives for Nato summit

Posted on by

President also threatens to pull all American troops from Europe and rails against Nato stance on Iran war

Donald Trump has revived his bid for the US to acquire Greenland, threatening to pull all American armed forces out of Europe after the continent repeatedly pushed back.

Arriving at the Nato summit in Ankara on Tuesday, the US president also suggested his commitment to defending Europe had been tempered by political decisions by leaders on immigration and energy.

Continue reading...

What will define Elon Musk’s legacy? Doge cuts to USAID Ebola programs

Posted on by

Experts say cuts have hindered the response to DRC’s Ebola outbreak and resulted in ‘significant numbers’ of deaths

Elon Musk has an Ebola problem. SpaceX stock dropped precipitously after its initial public offering, and Tesla faces a wave of lawsuits. But instead of focusing on his companies, Musk has posted frequently on X about the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which he helped dismantle – or, in his words, feed into the woodchipper – last year.

“Elon’s USAID crash-out over the past week has been a thing to behold,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, a former top USAID official who oversaw the agency’s Ebola response in 2014-2015 and the president of Refugees International. “In a way, it’s helpful that Elon is doing this, because it’s putting attention back on the issue of what he did last year.”

Continue reading...

Red scare revived as Trump leads push to attack Democrats as ‘communists’

Posted on by

In wake of primary wins by leftwing candidates in New York and elsewhere, president has resorted to well-worn tactic

Moments after Donald Trump rang the ceremonial opening bell on Monday, starting the trading day from the Oval Office, 232 miles north on Wall Street, the US senator Ted Cruz celebrated the president’s new savings accounts as his administration’s “New Deal”.

“But instead of having government taking care of everyone,” the Republican senator declared, “Trump accounts are about making every child and every American a capitalist.”

Continue reading...

Trump denied latest bid to delay $5.8m judgment payment to E Jean Carroll

Posted on by

Carroll was awarded damages after New York jury concluded Trump sexually abused her, then defamed her after she publicly described the attack

Donald Trump’s latest attempt to delay payment of a $5.8m judgment for defaming a magazine columnist whom a jury determined he sexually abused has been emphatically rejected by a federal court judge.

In a single-sentence 4 July order, US district Judge Lewis Kaplan denied the president’s request for more time to pay the civil judgment owed to E Jean Carroll, who was awarded the damages after a New York jury concluded that Trump sexually abused her in 1996 – then defamed her after she publicly described the attack in 2019.

Continue reading...

Trump rings New York Stock Exchange bell to mark first trading day for ‘Trump accounts’

Posted on by

US president rings bell from White House and showcases initiative that gives children a $1,000 investment account

Donald Trump rang the bell of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) from the White House to mark the first trading day for Trump accounts, a government initiative that provides children with a $1,000 investment account.

The US president hosted leaders from the NYSE and the Nasdaq stock exchange at the Oval Office for a press conference on Monday morning. It is the first joint opening of the exchanges, and the first time the bell had been rung at the White House.

Continue reading...

Florida Republican says deporting Haitians with TPS would be ‘huge mistake’

Posted on by

‘Haiti is a failed state’, says Carlos Giménez, congressman and Miami Cuban exile, after controversial court ruling

Carlos Giménez, a Republican congressman from Florida, broke with the Trump administration on Sunday, calling on the White House to reconsider its push to eliminate temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitian migrants.

Returning some 350,000 Haitians to their chaotic, dangerous homeland following the US supreme court’s ruling that the Trump administration can cut off temporary legal protections, would be a grave error, Giménez said.

Continue reading...

The Atlantic republishes JD Vance’s anti-Trump essay from 10 years ago

Posted on by

Magazine invites readers to judge Vance’s ‘assessment’ of Trump, whom he called ‘cultural heroin’ during first term

The Atlantic on Saturday republished a JD Vance essay that dismissed Donald Trump as “cultural heroin” exactly 10 years earlier, bringing back to the fore his evolving from a critic of the president to his vice-president.

In an editor’s note, the magazine said it was republishing the essay on the occasion of its 10th anniversary – and the US’s semiquincentennial – “so that our readers can judge for themselves how well his assessment [of Trump] … has stood the test of time”.

Continue reading...

Trump’s $2bn bonanza heralds the rise of political grifters across the west

Posted on by

With voters embracing leaders who brazenly monetise public office, experts say an ethical code is breaking down

Donald Trump came to office in 2017 after decades of bankruptcies and business failures. Yes, he was rich, but his latest financial disclosure, published this week, suggests he will depart billions richer.

In the first year of his second term, he made more than $2bn from Trump hotels, Trump golf courses, Trump cryptocurrency, Trump watches, Trump cologne, Trump Bibles and more.

Continue reading...

Gaza protests against two Democrats spark outcry and debate on tactics

Posted on by

Incidents involving California state senator Scott Wiener and New York congressman Dan Goldman underscore Israel-Palestine conflict’s role in US elections

Two recent incidents involving US congressional candidates on opposite coasts have blown up into major controversies, underscoring how the Israel-Palestine conflict has transformed US elections – and illustrating how aggressive protest tactics can spark backlash that overshadows the issues activists meant to highlight.

Scott Wiener, a gay Jewish state senator and trans rights advocate who is currently the frontrunner in the race to replace the longtime representative Nancy Pelosi in California’s 11th district, said he felt forced to leave last week’s annual trans pride march in San Francisco after a group of people ran up to him at a local park where the event was taking place, surrounded him and screamed at him over his positions on Israel’s war on Gaza.

Continue reading...

In a pickle: US pickle company pulls out of DC fair over Confederate flag

Posted on by

Mt Olive Pickle Company says it was unaware image of flag was included in exhibit, and cites value of ‘human dignity’

A leading vendor of the US delicacy that is the pickle has withdrawn from the Great American State Fair in Washington DC after North Carolina’s booth displayed a video containing a Confederate flag.

The Mt Olive Pickle Company, which is located in eastern North Carolina and bills itself as the “#1 bestselling brand of pickles, peppers and relishes in the US”, told local news station WNCT it had been unaware that an image of the flag would be included in a video as part of the state’s exhibit.

Continue reading...