‘It’s not normal to shutdown the government when we don’t get what we want,’ says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during her first speech on the house floor. ‘The truth of this shutdown is that it’s actually not about a wall. The truth is, this shutdown is about the erosion of American democracy and the subversion of our most basic governmental norms’
• Pelosi asks Trump to delay State of the Union address, or deliver it in writing
Continue reading...The US has rejected Moscow’s offer to inspect a new Russian missile suspected of violating a key cold-war era nuclear-weapons treaty, and warned that it would suspend observance of the agreement on 2 February, giving six-month notice of a complete withdrawal.
Related: Top North Korean officials reportedly set for Washington visit
Continue reading...House speaker said the event would place an undue burden on the departments responsible for security, as a result of the shutdown
House speaker Nancy Pelosi has requested Donald Trump delay, or deliver in writing, a State of the Union address scheduled for 29 January unless the government reopens this week.
In a letter to the president, Pelosi said the annual remarks would place an undue burden on the departments responsible for security at the event, as a result of the record shutdown that began on 22 December over Trump’s demand for a border wall.
Continue reading...Press TV’s Marzieh Hashemi, born Melanie Franklin of New Orleans, was detained after arriving in St Louis, broadcaster said
A prominent American anchor on Iranian state television’s English-language service NEWhas been arrested in the US on undisclosed charges, according to her employers at the state-backed TV channel Press TV..
Marzieh Hashemi, born Melanie Franklin of New Orleans, appeares on the English-language news channel backed by the Iranian government which regularly promotes the worldview of the Middle Eastern state to an international audience.
Continue reading...Steny Hoyer, the Democratic majority leader in the House, State of the Union address is off in an interview with CNN
Steny Hoyer, the Democratic majority leader in the House, makes plain “the State of the Union is off” in an interview with CNN.
.@KateBolduan: "The letter sounds like she’s asking, but isn’t she just telling him?"
Rep. Hoyer: "The speaker is the one who invites the president…”
Kate: "So, the State of the Union is off?"
Hoyer: "The State of the Union is off."
It’s worth looking at this time capsule at the shock felt in Washington in 1913 when Woodrow Wilson became the first president to deliver the State of the Union in person since John Adams.
WASHINGTON IS AMAZED. Pelosi proposal to delay the SOTU gives me a chance to once again tweet my favorite WaPo story ever, about how the city was "agape" when a pressident (Wilson) showed up to give a speech at the Capitol: https://t.co/8A1qsRYbsl
Continue reading...Russian president claims alleged increase of western influence is ‘destablising’
Vladimir Putin has weighed into the row over Macedonia’s name-change, accusing the US and its allies of destabilising the Balkans by “asserting their dominant role” in the region.
The Russian president criticised what he described as deliberate efforts to increase western influence in a part of the world Moscow has long regarded as falling within its own orbit.
Continue reading...Trump’s nominee says he would not fire Mueller without good cause. Watch live and follow the latest
The office of Robert Mueller, the special counsel, submitted a new court filing on Tuesday detailing communications between former Trump aid Paul Manafort and alleged Russian intelligence operative Konstantin Kilimnik.
New filing from Mueller's office: Paul Manafort said in Jan 2017 he was using intermediaries "to get people appointed in the Administration", Rick Gates has told investigators. pic.twitter.com/yv5ypLdrpL
At a taping for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” this evening, Sen. Gillibrand shared that she was officially joining the race for the white house. Announcing that she was assembling an exploratory committee and will soon be on her way to Iowa, she told Colbert she was running as a mom as she outlined key parts of her platform:
“As a young mom, I’m going to fight for other people’s kids as hard as I’d fight for my own, which is why I believe health care should be a right, not a privilege; it’s why I believe we should have better public schools for our kids because it shouldn’t matter what block you grew up on; and I believe that anybody who wants to work hard enough should be able to get whatever job training they need to earn their way into the middle class” she said.
Tonight I announced that I’m preparing to run for president, because I believe we’re all called to make a difference. I believe in right vs. wrong – that wrong wins when we do nothing. Now is our time to raise our voices and get off the sidelines. Join me: https://t.co/I1vp93u0wh
Ms. Gillibrand, a 52-year-old former corporate lawyer, has been criticized by opponents as a politician without a firm ideological bearing of her own, having transformed from a pro-gun, conservative upstate congresswoman with deep ties to Wall Street financiers to a crusading liberal who rails against guns and refuses corporate political action committee money.”
California youths traded racist and violent messages in county called ‘hotbed for white supremacists’
A group of California junior high students were caught forming a swastika with their bodies on school grounds and exchanging racist and violent messages on a group chat, administrators said.
The scandal at Matilija junior high school, which culminated in an emotional meeting with parents and school officials Monday night, has sparked intense debate in a region that has experienced a sharp increase in reported antisemitic incidents.
Continue reading...As hundreds of migrants embark on a march towards ‘El Norte’, Trump launched a Twitter war against the caravan
Rosa López was six months pregnant with her seventh child when the killers came for her husband – unnamed assassins acting on orders she cannot, or dares not explain.
Ten months later the 30-year-old Honduran sits on a muddy embankment outside the San Pedro Sula bus station with her eldest son, Sergio, 12, getting ready to flee their homeland on the latest migrant caravan north.
Continue reading...Exclusive: ex-New Jersey governor, who had prosecuted Kushner’s father, was sacked as head of Trump’s transition team
Chris Christie, who was ousted as chairman of Donald Trump’s White House transition team in 2016, has written a blistering attack on Jared Kushner, whom he accuses of having carried out a political “hit job” on him as an act of revenge for prosecuting his father, Charles Kushner, a decade ago.
Related: Mueller inquiry is no witch-hunt, William Barr tells confirmation hearing – live updates
Continue reading...The Guardian travelled to five border locations to discover how Trump’s rhetoric jars with the reality on the ground
Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful wall” has become the trademark of his presidency. It is the promise that more than any other has energized his base, and riled his opponents, and his dogged attachment to it has now brought a large part of the US government to a historic 25 days of partial shutdown.
Continue reading...As Trump demands a border wall, his administration has successfully made it more difficult for immigrants to enter the country to work, visit family and flee violence and poverty
Donald Trump’s frenzied preoccupation with expanding the wall on the US-Mexico border that, two years into his presidency has yet to materialize, often eclipses the very real ‘invisible wall’ he has constructed to exclude immigrants.
Trump has taken the extreme step of threatening to declare a national emergency if Democrats won’t approve his $5.7bn demand for the project.
Continue reading...Staff absences at White House see president set the menu, and unsurprisingly he chose a Big Mac buffet
Any champion football player disappointed with Monday’s dinner at the White House can blame Democrats, according to a presidential spokesman.
Clemson University’s football team on Thursday joined Donald Trump for dinner to celebrate their win over Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship. However, the government shutdown has left much of the White House staff furloughed, forcing the president to set the menu, the spokesperson said.
Continue reading...Lawsuit claims officers were Trump supporters who tried to discredit Daniels with charges that were dropped within hours
Stormy Daniels has sued several Columbus police officers for $2m over her arrest at a strip club in July 2018, an incident that sparked criticism of the law used to arrest her and led to other lawsuits against the city.
Daniels’s federal defamation lawsuit alleges officers conspired to retaliate against the adult film actor because of her claims she had sex with Donald Trump before he became president.
Continue reading...
The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a challenge to Matthew Whitaker’s appointment as acting attorney general.
The court turned away the case without comment, the Washington Post reported.
Donald Trump is rejecting a proposal from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham to allow the government to temporarily reopen while negotiating with Congress over a border wall, the Washington Post reports.
“I did reject it,” Trump told Monday. “I want to get it solved. I don’t want to just delay it.”
Continue reading...She is 60 this year and still doesn’t have a single wrinkle! Blonde or brunette, slender or curvy, black or white, princess or president, Barbie is a forever favourite for young girls, even if she has caused controversy over the years
Continue reading...Ankara hits back after Trump threatened to ‘economically devastate’ it over Syria
Turkey’s foreign minister has hit back at Donald Trump over his threat to economically devastate the country if it follows through on a planned operation against Kurdish forces in northern Syria, saying Ankara will not be intimidated by its Nato ally.
“We have said repeatedly we are not scared of and will not be intimidated by any threats,” said Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in televised remarks from Ankara on Monday, before rebuking the US president for using Twitter for sensitive diplomatic matters.
Continue reading...The ‘mind-boggling’ request came after two incidents in Iraq last September when militia mortar and rockets exploded near US diplomatic facilities
The White House asked the Pentagon to draw up options for military strikes against Iran in the wake of two incidents in Iraq last September when mortar shells and rockets fired by militias exploded near US diplomatic facilities, it was reported on Sunday.
Related: US will expel every last Iranian boot from Syria, says Mike Pompeo
Continue reading...Ten thousand US staff have not received paychecks since late December because of government shutdown
Canadian air traffic controllers have bought hundreds of pizzas for their American counterparts over the past few days in what has become an industry-wide show of support during the US government’s partial shutdown.
Peter Duffey, the head of the Canadian Air Traffic Control Association, said the initiative began on Thursday when employees at Edmonton’s control centre took up a collection to buy pies for controllers in Anchorage, Alaska.
Continue reading...Authorities say Wisconsin girl escaped a man who killed her parents and held her captive for three months
The grandfather of a 13-year-old Jayme Closs, the girl from north-western Wisconsin who authorities say escaped a man who killed her parents and held her captive for three months, said on Sunday she’s in “exceptionally good spirits”.
Related: Jayme Closs: authorities search for motive in 'tragic' kidnapping case
Continue reading...