The former Texas congressman announced on Friday that he was ending his campaign, which failed to recapture the enthusiasm, interest and fundraising prowess of his 2018 Senate race
Continue reading...Category Archives: US News
Experts on Trump’s conduct: ‘Plainly an abuse of power, plainly impeachable’
Republicans may argue Trump’s actions were not impeachable – but scholars say it’s a solid example of a high crime
Was what he did really so bad? And even if it was bad – was it truly impeachable?
Related: 'I guess that's revealing': David Rubenstein on Trump and the weight of history
Continue reading...The rise and fall of Beto O’Rourke: how the Democratic star’s campaign faded
The former congressman shone in last year’s Senate run. But his charm failed to translate to the presidential race
Donald Trump is quick to taunt the Democratic candidates for president as they fall. “Zero per cent Tim Ryan” got the treatment last week when he quit the race. Beto O’Rourke, whose campaign ended with a whimper on Friday night, was soon mocked by the US president.
“Oh no,” Trump wrote, “Beto just dropped out of race for President despite him saying he was ‘born for this’. I don’t think so!”
Continue reading...Beto O’Rourke dropping out of 2020 presidential race – live
The former Texas congressman has had low polling numbers and his campaign has been under financial strain
Beto O’Rourke was once a front runner in the Democratic primaries, who raised huge amounts of money from small donors across the country.
Related: Beto O'Rourke withdraws from Democratic race to face Trump
Following in the footsteps of Joan Didion, and Meghan Daum and Luc Sante – Donald Trump has penned his own version of the “Goodbye New York” essay after announcing yesterday that he had changed his primary residence from Manhattan to Mar-a-lago.
“I love New York, but New York can never be great again,” he begins. Like so many bigly figures in the literary world, Trump has written about that bittersweet feeling of leaving the iconic city.
I love New York, but New York can never be great again under the current leadership of Governor Andrew Cuomo (the brother of Fredo), or Mayor Bill DeBlasio. Cuomo has weaponized the prosecutors to do his dirty work (and to keep him out of jams), a reason some don’t want to be...
Continue reading...US effort to curb fentanyl behind brief arrest of El Chapo’s son, says minister
- Ovidio Guzmán was wanted on allegations of smuggling drug
- Sinaloa cartel appears to have moved into production of opioid
US efforts to curb the opioid fentanyl were behind the brief arrest of a son of imprisoned kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán last month, Mexico’s security minister has said.
After the US requested his extradition, Ovidio Guzmán was briefly arrested, then freed by outnumbered officials who feared a bloody confrontation with cartel henchmen.
Continue reading...Alexa, did he do it? Smart device could be witness in suspicious Florida death
- Sylvia Galva Crespo killed by spear to chest in own home
- Amazon Echo may hold evidence as husband charged
Calling the witness – Alexa. Police in Florida are investigating whether they have stumbled on a silent witness to a possible murder and are trying to get the truth from “her”.
Sylvia Galva Crespo, 32, was killed by a spear to the chest at home in Hallandale Beach, Florida, north of Miami, in July, which her husband, Adam Crespo, 43, has portrayed as a mysterious accident.
Continue reading...Trump-Russia dossier author gave evidence to UK intrusion inquiry
Exclusive: Report allegedly being withheld by No 10 contains submissions from ex-head of MI6’s Russia desk
A report on Russian interference in British politics allegedly being sat on by Downing Street includes evidence from Christopher Steele, the former head of MI6’s Russia desk whose investigation into Donald Trump’s links with Moscow sparked a US political scandal.
Steele made submissions in writing to parliament’s intelligence and security committee (ISC), it is understood. A counter-intelligence specialist, Steele spent his career tracking Russian influence operations around the world and investigated Alexander Litvinenko’s 2006 murder.
Continue reading...Trump says he wants to read Ukraine call transcript in TV ‘fireside chat’
- Beleaguered president says: ‘When you read it, it’s a straight call’
- Nancy Pelosi says impeachment process ‘very sad’ for America
Donald Trump has insisted he has “done nothing wrong” and does not deserve to be impeached, and made the extraordinary suggestion that he appear on live TV to read the full transcript of his controversial phone call with the Ukrainian president in a “fireside chat”.
Related: Trump impeachment inquiry: a timeline of key events so far
Continue reading...Donald Trump changes primary residence from New York to Mar-a-Lago
Donald and Melania Trump have filed for residency in Palm Beach, according to documents obtained by the New York Times
The lifelong New Yorker has officially become a Florida man. Donald Trump changed his primary residence from Manhattan to Mar-a-Lago – the exclusive golf club that he has referred to as the “winter White House”.
“I cherish New York,” Trump said in a tweet on Thursday. But, he added, “despite the fact that I pay millions of dollars in city, state and local taxes each year, I have been treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state.”
Continue reading...California: San Bernardino fire adds to ring of blazes around Los Angeles
- Southern California remains at extreme risk of fires starting
- In wine country, firefighters gained ground against the Kincade fire, the largest burning in the state
New blazes in southern California on Thursday burned homes and forced residents to flee, as strong Santa Ana winds of up to 60mph fueled a ring of wildfires around the Los Angeles area.
In San Bernardino, a city of just over 200,000 people, a new wildfire that broke out in the early hours of Thursday torched several homes and forced evacuations. Less than 20 miles away in Riverside county, evacuations were issued after a fire in the city of Jurupa Valley started shortly after midnight, spreading to 300 acres.
Continue reading...Congresswoman Katie Hill calls out ‘double standards’ and misogyny in resignation speech – video
The Democratic US representative Katie Hill has delivered her final speech on the House floor, in which she called out the 'double standards' and 'misogynistic culture' that led to her resignation. The California congresswoman said she would be stepping down after she was accused of having an affair with a campaign worker and nude photographs of her were published online
Indiana woman found dead with 8ft python wrapped around her neck
Laura Hurst was found Wednesday evening in a house owned by a local sheriff that contained 140 snakes
An Indiana woman has died after she was found with an 8ft python wrapped around her neck in a house owned by a local sheriff that accommodates a collection of snakes.
Laura Hurst, 36, apparently kept some snakes in the house in Oxford, Indiana, Sgt Kim Riley, an Indiana state police spokesman, said, according to a report in the Lafayette Journal & Courier.
Continue reading...Unaoil executives admit paying multimillion-dollar bribes
Three UK businessmen plead guilty in US to bribing officials in nine countries over 17 years
Three British businessmen have admitted their roles in paying multimillion-dollar bribes to officials in nine countries over 17 years, American prosecutors have said.
Two brothers from the Ahsani family, who ran the energy consultancy Unaoil, have pleaded guilty to facilitating the payment of bribes between 1999 and 2016 to officials in Africa and the Middle East.
Continue reading...Pelosi bangs the gavel: House votes to endorse Trump impeachment inquiry
Vote set rules for public phase of impeachment inquiry, laying out plan that could produce televised hearings within two weeks
For only the third time in the history of the modern presidency, the US House of Representatives voted on Thursday to formalize impeachment proceedings against the president of the United States.
Related: House votes to formalize impeachment process against Trump – live
Continue reading...Our democracy is at stake: Nancy Pelosi on impeachment vote – video
Speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, says the impeachment resolution passed on Thursday will enable lawmakers to find out the truth about the allegations against Donald Trump. The resolution passed 232-196, clearing the way for public hearings
Continue reading...Trump’s top Russia official to testify in impeachment inquiry after stepping down – live
Tim Morrison is at closed-door testimony following last night’s reports that the official is stepping down from his post at the White House
Nancy Pelosi rather unusually presided over the House herself this morning as members began to debate the impeachment resolution.
.@SpeakerPelosi taking the unusual step of presiding over the House herself as they begin debate on the procedures for the impeachment inquiry going forward
Tim Morrison, the national security council official currently testifying behind closed doors in the impeachment inquiry, reportedly intends to confirm Bill Taylor’s account that the White House held up Ukraine’s military assistance to push for public announcements of investigations into Joe Biden and the 2016 election.
The Washington Post reports:
Morrison is expected to tell impeachment investigators on Thursday that the account offered by Ambassador William B. Taylor Jr., is accurate, particularly that Morrison alerted him to the president’s and his deputies’ push to withhold security aid and a meeting with the Ukrainian president until Ukraine announced an investigation of the Bidens and 2016 election interference, the person said on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.
Morrison will also say that he did not necessarily view the president’s demands as improper or illegal, but rather problematic for U.S. policy in supporting an ally in the region, the person said.
Visual guide to the raid that killed Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Baghdadi died in a US raid on a compound near the village of Barisha in north-west Syria
The US began to receive intelligence on the whereabouts of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi about a month before the 26 October raid, according to Donald Trump. Intelligence officials were able to scope out his exact location – near the village of Barisha in north-west Syria – in mid October.
Continue reading...CIA-linked unit accused of atrocities in Afghanistan
Document details 14 deadly raids by pro-government units with support of US intelligence
The Afghan soldiers who swept through Kulalgo village one late August night shot three of Dr Ulfatullah’s relatives carefully, a single bullet through their left eye, faces otherwise untouched as blood pooled below their bodies on the floor of the family home.
The last killing was less precise, and left the face of university student Ansarullah badly disfigured. His family thought perhaps he had heard the muffled gunshot that ended a cousin’s life, and briefly tried to struggle against his captors.
Continue reading...The US city preparing itself for the collapse of capitalism
From a festival that helps artists trade work for healthcare to a regional micro-currency, Kingston is trying to build an inclusive and self-sufficient local ecosystem
Kingston, New York is a diverse city of 23,000, flanked to the east by Rondout Creek and the Hudson River and to the west by the Catskill mountains. It boasts a rustic industrial waterfront, a colorful historic district and Revolutionary War-era stone buildings. A stranger might call it bucolic. The streets of uptown are bustling with eateries and, of late, places to buy velvet halter dresses, vintage boleros, CBD tinctures, and LCD tea kettles with precision-pour spouts. But strolling by 10-year-old Half Moon Books, passersby might glimpse a different side of this city. The bookshop’s windows exclusively feature nonfiction on the end of the world as we know it. “I started out putting together a window of utopias,” says bookseller Jessica DuPont, “but somehow I ended up with the death throes of capitalism.”
I moved to Kingston from New York City just over a decade ago, on the heels of the 2008 recession. I was three years out of university, but my fledgling career in media stalled with the economic downturn. Friends of mine – two painters, one in her 30s, the other in his 40s – owned a building with an available apartment on the second floor where I could afford to live and work.
Continue reading...John Bolton reportedly asked to sit for impeachment deposition – live news
House committees leading the impeachment inquiry reportedly intend to call Donald Trump’s former national security adviser
The interior department is grounding its entire fleet of drones due to security concerns, the Wall Street Journal reported.
With more than 800 aerial drones, the department has one of the largest fleets in the federal government.
US officials worry that the country’s reliance on Chinese drones may be putting critical US infrastructure at risk. They are concerned the drones may be sending information back to the Chinese government or hackers elsewhere to use for cyberattacks or other offenses.
Hello, Kari Paul here in San Francisco, taking over the blog for the next few hours. More news to come shortly.
Continue reading...