Gallup poll measuring opinion in 133 countries and areas in 2018 found 31% approved of US leadership and 30% for Russia
Global confidence in US leadership is so low that the country is now in a virtual tie with Russia for worldwide approval.
Related: 2018: the year the global order frayed
Continue reading...The US president and North Korean leader will sit down in Hanoi to discuss denuclearisation
Trump and Kim are arriving at the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi to continue their talks.
#TrumpKimSummit Day 2 getting underway. Both @POTUS and Kim Jong Un arriving at @MetropoleHanoi. pic.twitter.com/M9gedNAdKm
A reminder of the other Trump news story going around at the moment – and the one we suspect the president would much rather we not be talking about – the explosive allegations from Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen.
Sen. Lindsey Graham tells @sunlenserfaty he spoke to President Trump last night. “I think he was upset he was gonna have dueling shows here," Graham said. "That it did bother him there's going to be a split screen between Michael Cohen and Kim Jong Un."
Continue reading...Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has rejected calls to resign over a scandal that is engulfing his administration, saying he and his staff always acted properly and that Canadians will get to have their say on the matter at the federal election in October.
His comments came after Canada’s former minister of justice and attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould described a consistent, sustained and inappropriate effort by senior officials close to the prime minister who were attempting to dissuade her from prosecuting a Canadian engineering company accused of bribery.
Continue reading...In dramatic testimony, Cohen claims Trump committed crimes to cover up affair and had prior knowledge of Wikileaks release
Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen accused the president in explosive public testimony before Congress of knowing in advance about key events under investigation in the Russia inquiry and of committing criminal conspiracy in the coverup of an extramarital affair.
In a day of high drama before the House oversight committee, Cohen delivered a string of bombshells that could spawn fresh investigations by Congress and the FBI. Testifying on Wednesday, he labelled the US president a “racist” and “conman”, produced signed checks that he said were proof of a fraudulently disguised conspiracy to silence a former adult film actor, and gave what he claimed were eyewitness accounts that implied Trump had prior knowledge of crucial Russia links.
Continue reading...Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen reveals he believes the president authorised the notorious meeting between members of his campaign team and Russian agents at Trump Tower to acquire 'dirt' on presidential opponent Hillary Clinton
Continue reading...From his business dealings with Russia to illegal hush money for adult film star Stormy Daniels – watch the highlights from former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s blockbuster testimony to congress
Continue reading...Trump’s ex-fixer hints Mueller may have proof of coordination with Russia and again alleges campaign finance violations
Michael Cohen on Wednesday delivered a sharp warning to Donald Trump and the Republican party that the president faces legal and political peril on at least two fronts.
First, the Trump-Russia investigation.
Continue reading...Like most theatrical reboots, the strain in keeping things the same in Vietnam highlighted the small way things changed
Donald Trump vowed that his second meeting with Kim Jong-un would be at least the equal of the first and his Vietnamese hosts tried their utmost to make that happen.
In Hanoi on Wednesday evening, every effort was made in recreating the circumstances and ambience of Singapore, scene last June of the historic first meeting between an incumbent US president and a North Korea leader.
Continue reading...The US has usually been the decisive voice of calm, but its influence has waned under Trump
During previous bouts of militarised aggression between India and Pakistan, US presidents used personal diplomacy to convince both sides to pull back from the brink.
Such was the case in 1999 during the Kargil war and then again in 2002. Similarly in December 2008 Condoleezza Rice, then US secretary of state, travelled to India to persuade the government to pull back from a planned severe response after the Mumbai attacks, putting the onus on Pakistan to cooperate transparently.
Continue reading...Allegations ranged from adult staff members having relationships with minors to forcible touching, HHS documents show
Almost 5,000 complaints of sexual abuse and harassment of migrant children in US custody have been filed over the past four years, according to government documents released this week. The allegations range from adult staff members having relationships with minors, and the showing of pornographic videos, to forcible touching.
According to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) documents released on Tuesday on Capitol Hill by the Florida Democratic representative Ted Deutch’s office, the reports date back to October 2015, during the Obama administration. However, most of the sexual abuse and harassment reported occurred since Donald Trump took office.
Continue reading...UN security council officials clash over ‘politicised’ aid to troubled country as peace-building chief warns of ‘grim realities’
Infant mortality in Venezuela has soared by roughly 50% during the prolonged political crisis in the country.
Briefing the UN security council, the UN’s political and peace building chief, Rosemary DiCarlo, depicted a devastating collapse in Venezuela’s health system. She warned that 40% of medical staff had left the country and said hospital stocks of medicine had dwindled to 20% of the required level.
Continue reading...Hanoi was buzzing as it prepared for the meeting between the US president and the North Korean leader, with a heavy security presence amid fanfare and flags
Continue reading...The leaders of the US and North Korea meet in Hanoi, Vietnam, at the start of the second nuclear summit. The pair, who looked pleased to see each other as they shook hands, were to hold a brief discussion on Wednesday before full meetings on Thursday
From the easing of sanctions to denuclearisation and ending the Korean war, there’s a lot to play for in Hanoi
Donald Trump has said that when he meets Kim Jong-un in Hanoi’s Metropole Hotel on Wednesday evening, the potential for a deal is “awesome”.
Few would argue with that. A move to limit the North Korean arsenal and begin to re-integrate the country back into the international community, would be a significant step away from the brink of nuclear war.
Continue reading...'I'm going to let the American people decide exactly who's telling the truth,' Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen told reporters after giving testimony before a closed Senate intelligence committee. It was the first of three congressional appearances this week that are expected to contain explosive testimony about how Trump allegedly broke the law while in office. The public will hear from Cohen on Wednesday when he testifies before the House oversight and reform committee
Continue reading...Congresswoman condemns first daughter’s comments to Fox News on Green New Deal’s living wage guarantee
Without calling her out outright, the Democratic freshman congresswoman and Twitter wonder Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday rebuked the first daughter Ivanka Trump for sounding off on something she could never truly understand: working for a living wage.
Describing her expertise “as a person who actually worked for tips and hourly wages”, Ocasio-Cortez essentially pointed out that Ivanka Trump has never had to work a minimum wage job in her life and that her comments on the Green New Deal jobs guarantee rang hollow.
Continue reading...The US military blocked internet access to a company underwritten by an oligarch close to Vladimir Putin during the 2018 midterms
Attorneys and political commentators are alerting a sitting US congressman to the US law on “witness tampering” after the representative in question, Matt Gaetz, appeared to threaten Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who testified before Congress today.
Gaetz, who is from Florida, said:
Hey @MichaelCohen212 - Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she’ll remain faithful when you’re in prison. She’s about to learn a lot...
This should not be legal. Intimidating a witness before Congress should be against the law. https://t.co/uVBZR3NzXf
Who wants to tell @mattgaetz that sitting members of Congress aren’t immune from indictment?
My short text convo with @mattgaetz just now:
Me: Congressman, Any chance you have a few minutes to discuss what you implied with your tweet to Michael Cohen? Perhaps a preview?
Gaetz: Watch tomorrow.
Me: Will do -- anything I should be prepared for?
Gaetz: Fireworks https://t.co/g1bwYcjvrg
UPDATE:
Me: Any response to those who say you’re witness tampering? @mattgaetz: I’m witness testing. We still are allowed to test the veracity and character of witnesses, I think.
Me: So you disagree with those who say you’re witness tampering?
Gaetz: Yes. https://t.co/aBRZAF314A
Top strategists from Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign announced they would not be sticking with the Vermont senator for his 2020 campaign.
The New York Times said the departure of the three men, who produced Sanders’ 2020 announcement video last week, was “abrupt.”
Their departure could be indicative of Sanders’ desire to get serious about making changes to his team of strategists in an effort to make a deep run in a wide open Democratic primary field.
Continue reading...President’s former lawyer expected to say Trump knew of Roger Stone’s contact with WikiLeaks during 2016 campaign
Michael Cohen is to accuse Donald Trump of being a “conman” and a “cheat” who had advanced knowledge that a longtime adviser was communicating with WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign, according to opening testimony he will deliver to Congress on Wednesday.
Cohen’s prepared remarks, confirmed by the Guardian, include a series of explosive allegations about the presidential campaign.
Continue reading...In her resignation letter from the film Luck, the actor questions whether any company should work with disgraced film executive John Lasseter
When the actor Emma Thompson left the forthcoming animated film Luck last month while it was still in production, it was done without public fanfare, and was only confirmed when film-industry publications such as Variety magazine picked up on it. Now Thompson has put herself firmly above the MeToo parapet with the publication publishing her incendiary letter of resignation addressed to the film’s backers, Skydance Media, one of Hollywood’s most prestigious studios.
It was known that Thompson was unhappy with the arrival in January of former head of Pixar John Lasseter as the new head of Skydance Animation. But the letter goes into extraordinary detail about her disquiet over the appointment of a studio executive whose downfall had been one of the key landmarks of the Me Too and Times Up campaigns.
Continue reading...Lawyers for former Trump campaign chair suggest he is victim of circumstance whose crimes were ‘garden variety’
Paul Manafort, the longtime political consultant who once led Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, asked a federal judge for leniency Monday as he faces the potential of spending the rest of his life in prison in criminal cases stemming from the Russia investigation.
In a new court filing, Manafort’s attorneys painted the 69-year-old as a victim of circumstance, prosecuted by special counsel Robert Mueller only because the government could not make the case that he colluded with the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. They also dismissed the prosecutors’ characterization of Manafort as a hardened criminal, saying he was merely a wealthy consultant who committed “garden variety” crimes by illegally lobbying for Ukrainian interests and hiding millions from the IRS.
Continue reading...