At a press briefing on Monday, reporters repeatedly pressed Kayleigh McEnany on the meaning of Donald Trump's tweet about Nascar driver Bubba Wallace and the decision to ban Confederate flags at races. The White House press secretary repeatedly dodged questions on the White House's stance on flying the Confederate flag and claimed Trump 'has not given an opinion one way or another'
Continue reading...Category Archives: US News
Mary Trump’s book to be published early amid ‘extraordinary interest’
Tell-all book by Donald Trump’s niece will argue president suffered ‘child abuse’ in the early years of his life
A tell-all book by Donald Trump’s niece will be published two weeks ahead of schedule and will argue that the president suffered “child abuse” in the early years of his life.
Related: Bolton: Trump claim he wasn’t told of Russia bounty report is 'not how system works’
Continue reading...‘Prince Andrew should be panicking,’ says Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre – video
Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers, has said Prince Andrew should be ‘panicking at the moment’ after the arrest of his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell last week. Prosecutors have asked a judge to schedule a court appearance in New York for Maxwell to face charges she helped Epstein recruit women to sexually abuse. Among the accusations was a claim by Giuffre that Maxwell arranged for her to have sex with Prince Andrew. Prince Andrew has denied all accusations
- Ghislaine Maxwell: prosecutors request Friday court appearance in New York
- Ghislaine Maxwell to appear in court as fresh details of arrest emerge
Justin Trudeau snubs Nafta meeting with Trump in Washington
- Mexico’s president to meet Trump on Wednesday
- Canada PM had spoken of concern about US tariffs on metals
The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has declined an invitation to visit the White House this week to celebrate a new North American free trade deal, amid worsening coronavirus figures in the US and lingering tensions with Donald Trump.
Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obradoris due to meet Trump in Washington on Wednesday, and had urged Trudeau to attend the meeting.
Continue reading...More victims of Jeffrey Epstein have come forward, says lawyer
British women among those who have sought legal advice since arrest of financier’s associate
More victims of the deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein, including women from the UK, have come forward in recent days following the arrest the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, a lawyer for the accusers has said.
Maxwell, 58, a friend of Prince Andrew, is due to appear in court in the US this week on charges of helping Epstein recruit women to sexually abuse. Speaking on Monday morning, Gloria Allred, who represents 16 of Epstein’s accusers, said others had sought legal representation to pursue compensation against his estate.
Continue reading...Extend US Facebook boycott to Europe, campaigners urge
Calls follow Mark Zuckerberg’s dismissal of anti-hate-speech campaign in meeting with staff
Campaigners are calling for an advertising boycott of Facebook in the US to be extended to Europe, after its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, dismissed the effects of the campaign in a meeting with staff.
A growing number of companies have halted advertising on Facebook after criticism that the platform was not doing enough to counter hate speech on its sites.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: US death toll surpasses 130,000; India’s cases third-highest in world
Donald Trump’s handling of US crisis under microscope; Israel reimposes restrictions after infections spike
- Trump official defends misleading claim 99% of cases are ‘harmless’
- World treating symptoms, not cause of pandemics, says UN
- India sees record daily rise as capital opens giant hospital
- Border closes between Australian states of NSW and Victoria
- World map: which countries have the most cases and deaths?
Air travellers arriving in Scotland from Tuesday will be subject to quarantine spot checks for the first time, after the country reported four days without deaths from Covid-19.
Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, said her officials and advisers were still deciding which countries would not be subject to quarantine checks, four days after the Home Office released its list of 74 “air bridge” countries and territories.
Related: Air travellers to Scotland to face quarantine spot checks and fines
The US has suffered 235 more deaths and registered 44,361 new cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has said. That takes the respective totals to 129,811 and 2,886,267.
Continue reading...US interest in moving to New Zealand jumps amid Covid-19
Figures show 65% rise in Americans thinking of emigrating to land where coronavirus has been effectively eliminated
American interest in moving to New Zealand has spiked during the coronavirus crisis, with the number of people seeking information on how to emigrate climbing by 65% during May.
New Zealand went into lockdown on 25 March and by May was beginning to loosen restrictions, with the disease effectively eliminated by shutting the borders to non-New Zealanders and enforcing strict stay-at-home orders.
Continue reading...Dukes of Hazzard car not going anywhere, says US auto museum
Despite toppling of civil war-era statues, Illinois museum says no one has complained about TV show’s Dodge Charger painted with Confederate flag
A museum in the United States has vowed to continue displaying the car from the Dukes of Hazzard television show that had the Confederate battle flag painted on its roof.
The Dodge Charger car, known as the General Lee after the head of the southern forces during America’s civil war, is in the Volo Auto Museum about 50 miles (80km) north-west of Chicago.
Continue reading...Bolton: Trump claim he wasn’t told of Russia bounty report is ‘not how system works’
Ex-national security adviser also says any decision to withhold intelligence would ‘certainly not’ be ‘made only by the briefer’
Donald Trump’s claim not to have been briefed about intelligence suggesting Russia paid Taliban-linked militants to kill US soldiers is “just not the way the system works”, former national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday.
Related: Trump’s niece says 2001 NDA based on ‘fraudulent’ financial information
Continue reading...Trump claims victory as US nears 130,000 coronavirus deaths – live
- Trump claims 99% of US cases are ‘totally harmless’
- Woman killed after car drives through Seattle protest
- Kanye West declares 2020 White House run
- Sign up to our First Thing newsletter
Houston mayor Sylvester Turner has appeared on CBS’s Face The Nation to discuss the Covid-19 outbreak in his city. He says staffing at the city’s hospital is a particular problem.
“If we don’t get our hands around this virus quickly, in about two weeks our hospital system could be in serious, serious trouble,” he says. “... We can always provide additional beds, but we need the people, the nurses and everybody else, the medical professionals to staff those beds. That’s the critical point right now.”
New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, has appeared on NBC’s Meet The Press. New Jersey has been one of the worst-hit states in the US during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, and he says a national strategy is needed to combat Covid-19.
“This thing is lethal,” he says. “New Jersey’s paid an enormous price. We’ve [had] 13,000 confirmed fatalities from Covid-19. We’re starting to see small spikes in reinfection from folks coming back from places like Myrtle Beach and as well as in Florida, other hotspots.
Continue reading...Iran’s foreign minister heckled and called a liar in parliament
Display of anger likely to encourage US to believe sanctions are creating tensions
Hardline Iranian MPs heckled the country’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, and denounced him as a liar in parliament on Sunday, in a display of division and anger that is likely to encourage Washington to believe that its tough sanctions policy is creating deep tensions.
Zarif was speaking to the newly elected and conservative-dominated parliament for the first time and had to wait for the speaker to restore order as he was accused of selling the country out by negotiating with the US administration over the nuclear deal in 2015. The row, which lasted several minutes, shows how conservatives will use the failure of the nuclear deal to boost the Iranian economy to isolate any reformist candidate in next year’s presidential election.
Continue reading...Ghislaine Maxwell to appear in court as fresh details of arrest emerge
More than 20 armed officers said to have taken part in raid leading to her detention at rural New Hampshire retreat
Ghislaine Maxwell, who is accused of grooming underage victims for sexual abuse by the disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein, is scheduled to appear in a New York court this week as fresh details emerge of her arrest in an FBI raid.
More than 20 armed agents and police are reported to have taken part in the early-morning operation on Thursday that led to her being handcuffed at her secluded, rural retreat in New Hampshire and taken into custody.
Continue reading...Seattle: police seek motive after driver hits protesters, killing one
- I-5 freeway protest hit by car early on Saturday, driver arrested
- Authorities say road will now be closed to protesters
One person died and one remained in serious condition after a car drove into protesters on a freeway in Seattle.
Summer Taylor, 24, of Seattle, died on Saturday evening at Harborview Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said.
Continue reading...Kanye West declares he will run for US president in 2020
Rapper uses Independence Day to make announcement, but it’s not clear if he has filed any official paperwork to appear on ballots
Just when you thought 2020 couldn’t get any weirder, rapper Kanye West declared his candidacy for US president.
The unlikely challenger to Donald Trump – of whom he has been a vocal supporter – and Joe Biden, chose American independence day to make the surprise announcement on Twitter, triggering a social media storm.
Continue reading...Two women injured as car drives through Seattle protest crowd
- Both women in critical condition, hospital says
- Driver in custody after incident on Interstate 5
Two women were struck and injured by a car whose driver sped through a protest-related closure on a freeway in Seattle, authorities said on Saturday.
Related: US under siege from 'far-left fascism', says Trump in Mount Rushmore speech
Continue reading...Trump claims US on way to ‘tremendous victory’ over Covid-19 as cases surge – live
- President made remark in Fourth of July message at White House
- Trump says US under assault from ‘far-left fascism’ in speech
- US coronavirus deaths near 130,000
- Supreme court gives conservatives blues – what’s really going on?
- Sign up to our First Thing newsletter
The White House is set to host its largest event since the start of the coronavirus pandemic with tonight’s Salute to America. Hundreds of chairs and tables have been set up on the South Lawn, where Trump will deliver a speech he says will celebrate American heritage. An administration spokesperson says social distancing “will be observed” and face masks will be offered but not mandatory.
Trump was first inspired to stage a mass display of pop and power on America’s birthday when attended the Bastille Day military parade as the guest of French president Emmanuel Macron back in 2017. An initial 2018 push to stage a parade that would have seen soldiers marching and tanks rolling down the streets of Washington was scuttled amid accusations that he was politicizing an important holiday, emulating displays in authoritarian countries and wasting taxpayers’ money.
President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, along with the Department of Interior, will host the 2020 Salute to America on the South Lawn of the White House and Ellipse on Saturday, July 4. In addition to music, military demonstrations, and flyovers to honor our Nation’s service members and veterans, the President will deliver remarks that celebrate our independence and salute our amazing heritage. The evening will culminate with a spectacular fireworks display over the National Mall.
For 4 July, in the summer of protests over the killing of George Floyd, a picture gallery from Jameelah Nuriddin and Erin Hammond.
The eight images capture a giant 200-year-old flag, a young black woman with a giant afro, and various postures combining the pledge of allegiance and black power poses. They are accompanied by a manifesto that mirrors the preamble to the US constitution, written by Nuriddin, who is also the model in the series:
Related: Imagine a 'New America': reclaiming the American flag – in pictures
Continue reading...High society to hideaway arrest: Ghislaine Maxwell’s dramatic fall
For years she was at the centre of a web of influence but this week Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend will appear in a New York court
For a party girl with no parties left to attend, Ghislaine Maxwell’s 20-mile journey from her mountain hideaway in Bradford, New Hampshire, to Merrimack county jail was the brutal, cinematic finale to a social highlife that stretched across decades and continents.
Taken by surprise at 8.30am last Thursday, and accompanied by officers from at least six US law enforcement agencies, the 58-year-old was taken to the medium-security facility and later arraigned via audio-only video conference, accused of luring underage girls, one as young as 14, for her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse.
Continue reading...Nigerian social media star appears in US court on fraud charges
‘Ray Hushpuppi’ is alleged to have laundered hundreds of millions of dollars
A Nigerian social media star, known for flaunting a luxurious lifestyle to millions of his followers on Instagram, has appeared in court in the US charged with running a global fraud operation, including targeting a Premier League football club, a bank and a US law firm.
Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, a 37-year-old known as “Ray Hushpuppi” who claims to run a real estate business, is alleged to have conspired to launder hundreds of millions of dollars through business email compromise (BEC) frauds and other scams, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) said.
Continue reading...Donald Trump says US ‘under siege from far-left fascism’ in Mount Rushmore speech – video
Standing beneath Mount Rushmore on the eve of independence day in the US, the president said the nation’s history was 'under siege from far-left fascism'. He defended the symbolism of statues and monuments, including Mount Rushmore - which features the carved faces of four US presidents. They include George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who were slave owners. Trump said: 'These heroes will never be defaced. Their legacy will never, ever be destroyed. Their achievements will never be forgotten'
Continue reading...