Mike Johnson’s speaker win reveals the iron grip Trump still has on Republicans

The previously little-known rightwinger from Louisiana shows all the hallmarks of the ex-president’s voice

After engineering this month’s unceremonious defenestration of the hapless Kevin McCarthy, some far-right Republicans openly dreamed of installing their hero Donald Trump to replace him as speaker of the House of Representatives.

Trump himself, meanwhile, suggested that only Jesus Christ was certain to be elected to the role – apparently overlooking practical concerns of presumed unavailability.

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Mike Johnson helped Trump on January 6 – now he’s a threat to democracy

Louisiana congressman known as ‘Maga Mike’, elected House speaker Wednesday, is staunch Trump supporter and election denier

The Louisiana congressman Mike Johnson, whom Republicans in Congress elected as their speaker after more than three weeks of leaderless chaos, played a key role in Donald Trump’s attempts to subvert the results of the 2020 election.

Johnson amassed enough support to win the speakership because of his allegiance to Trumpian ideals, earning him the nickname on the far right of “Maga Mike”. A litmus test of sorts for the speakership was alignment with rightwing views, including believing in a stolen election, though the firebrand approach of failed speaker candidate Jim Jordan soured moderate members, despite his election-denying bonafides.

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Aukus will ‘get done’ despite jitters in Congress, Biden tells Albanese at White House meeting

Getting approval for nuclear submarine plan through legislature a question of ‘not if, but when’

Joe Biden has played down congressional jitters over the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine deal and has revealed he assured Xi Jinping that the countries involved are not aiming to “surround China”.

The US president welcomed the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to the White House and insisted he was “confident that we’re going to be able to get the money for Aukus because it’s overwhelmingly in our interest”.

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Israel to refuse visas to UN representatives | First Thing

Ambassador vows to ‘teach the UN a lesson’ after remarks by the secretary general. Plus the carrot wars of Cayama Valley

Good morning.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, has vowed to teach the UN a lesson after the organisation’s secretary general, António Guterres, said in a speech that the “appalling attacks” by Hamas against Israel on 7 October that killed 1,400 people could not justify the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people”.

The Palestinian Authority’s foreign minister, Riyad al-Maliki, a rival of Hamas, denounced inaction by the UN security council. “The ongoing massacres being deliberately and systematically and savagely perpetrated by Israel – the occupying power against the Palestinian civilian population under illegal occupation – must be stopped. It is our collective human duty to stop them,” he said.

Meanwhile, the US and Russia put forward rival plans at the UN to help Palestinian civilians. While both countries seek UN security council resolutions to address shortages of food, water, medical supplies and electricity in Gaza, the US, which opposes a ceasefire, has called only for pauses to allow aid to enter.

Hospitals in Gaza are ceasing to function because they are running out of water and fuel for generators, while being overwhelmed by huge numbers of casualties and civilians seeking shelter from Israeli bombing.

Israel has dropped leaflets in Gaza offering rewards and protection for information in its latest effort to free more than 200 people seized during the terrorist attacks on 7 October.

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Xi says China willing to cooperate with US as hopes rise for talks with Biden

Xi Jinping says whether or not two countries can find right way of getting along is crucial to the world

The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has said China is willing to cooperate with the US as both sides manage their differences and work together to respond to global challenges, raising hopes of a meeting between Xi and the US president, Joe Biden, this year.

In a letter delivered at an annual dinner of the National Committee on US-China Relations in New York, Xi said whether or not the US and China could establish the “right” way of getting along would be crucial to the world, according to state media.

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Abortion is still under threat by dark money groups that helped overturn Roe

An Ohio election ballot, if passed, would safeguard abortion access – but groups tied to anti-abortion figures like Leonard Leo are trying to influence the outcome

The fight for abortion access in the US continues to be threatened by the same dark-money, anti-abortion operatives that helped overturn Roe v Wade. Chief among them is the Leonard Leo-affiliated group Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA-PLA) and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

One of the fiercest fights is currently focused on an amendment at the center of a November Ohio election ballot, that, if passed, would safeguard abortion access by enshrining reproductive rights in the state’s constitution.

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Fossil fuel firms spent millions on US lawmakers who sponsored anti-protest bills

About 60% of oil and gas operations protected from protest due to money spent on lobbying, says Greenpeace USA report

Fossil fuel companies have spent millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign donations to state lawmakers who sponsored anti-protest laws – which now shield about 60% of US gas and oil operations from protest and civil disobedience, according to a new report from Greenpeace USA.

Eighteen states including Montana, Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, West Virginia and the Dakotas have enacted sweeping anti-protest laws which boost penalties for trespass near so-called critical infrastructure, that make it far riskier for communities to oppose pipelines and other fossil fuel projects that threaten their land, water and the global climate.

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One prison guard, 96 abuse charges: women say ‘serial rapist’ targeted them over a decade

Exclusive: Records and interviews suggest the California prison system let Gregory Rodriguez get away with rampant sexual abuse, while his victims were punished

On 15 May 2022, Gregory Rodriguez, a guard at the Central California Women’s Facility, ordered a 30-year-old woman in his custody to come to a hearing room at the prison.

He told her there were no cameras in the room, prison investigators allege, and gave her a choice: she could have sex with him or get a write-up for a rules violation, risking a lengthened prison term, revoked privileges and solitary confinement.

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Nearly one in four Americans believe political violence justified to ‘save’ US

Support for political violence increased over past two years, poll finds, offering snapshot of America’s deepening polarisation

Nearly one in four Americans believe that political violence may be justified to “save” the country, a national opinion poll has found.

The 14th annual American Values Survey, carried out by the non-profit Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in partnership with the Brookings Institution thinktank, offers a snapshot of America’s deepening polarisation and willingness to contemplate taking up arms.

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US orders immediate halt to some AI chip exports to China, says Nvidia

Fellow tech company Intel ‘reviewing regulations’ as timing of move brought forward

The chip designer Nvidia has said the US has told it to immediately halt the export of some of its high-end artificial intelligence chips to China as regulators advanced the deadline.

The restrictions were supposed to come into effect 30 days after 17 October, when the Biden administration announced measures to stop countries, including China, Iran and Russia, from receiving advanced AI chips designed by Nvidia and others.

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Michael Cohen tells court Trump tasked him with reverse-engineering asset classes by ‘whatever number Mr Trump told us’ – live

Trump’s former fixer testifies in ex-president’s civil fraud trial at Manhattan court

As the court breaks, here is a bit of background on the Trump-Cohen relationship:

In 2006, Cohen started working as Trump’s personal lawyer and served in that role for 10 years, according to The Hill.

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Tom Emmer reportedly faces substantial opposition in bid for House speaker – US politics live

Up to 26 Republicans may sink Minnesota lawmaker Emmer’s chance to become next House speaker, reports say

Per the Hill, here’s a breakdown of the full vote totals from the first ballot:

As you can see, Tom Emmer received the most votes, but other candidates received more votes overall. It’s a secret ballot, so members don’t necessarily know each other’s choice, but we’ll see if Emmer picked up more support from other candidates in the second round of balloting.

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Hungry javelinas plague prestigious Arizona golf course with oversized divots

Groundskeepers resort to covering course with chilli oil to discourage the herbivores, which are native to the south-west

With no respect for etiquette on the fairways, let alone a dress code, a group of scruffy porcine invaders has left a trail of devastation across a prestigious Arizona golf course hailed among the country’s finest.

Greenkeepers at the picturesque Seven Canyons Golf Club in Sedona have posted to social media videos of the destruction wrought by the marauding pack of javelinas, also known as collared peccaries, which has dug up large areas of the course.

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Meta sued by 33 states over claims youth mental health endangered by Instagram

Complaint filed in California accuses company of knowingly inducing children and teenagers into addictive social media use

The attorneys general of dozens of US states are suing Instagram and its parent company Meta over their impact on young users, accusing them of contributing to a youth mental health crisis through the addictive nature of their social media platforms.

Filed in federal court in Oakland, California, on Tuesday, the lawsuit claims Meta, which also operates Facebook, has repeatedly misled the public about the substantial dangers of its platforms and knowingly induced young children and teenagers into addictive and compulsive social media use.

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Republicans nominate Tom Emmer for House speaker

It remains unclear whether House majority whip – the third nominee in three weeks – can win enough support on the floor

Tom Emmer of Minnesota emerged as House Republicans’ new speaker nominee after five rounds of voting on Tuesday, but it remained unclear whether the House majority whip could win enough support on the floor to capture the gavel.

Ahead of the Tuesday vote, seven House Republicans had launched speakership bids: Emmer, Jack Bergman of Michigan, Byron Donalds of Florida, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Austin Scott of Georgia and Pete Sessions of Texas.

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Michael Cohen says he inflated assets to ‘whatever number Trump told us to’

Trump’s ex-fixer takes stand at New York fraud trial as former president, in attendance in court, attacks Cohen as ‘proven liar’

Donald Trump’s ex-fixer inflated the valuation of the former president’s assets to “whatever number Mr Trump told us to”, he has testified.

Michael Cohen made the allegation as he took the stand at Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York. His highly anticipated testimony is at the heart of the prosecutors’ case against his former boss.

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Ex-NSA employee pleads guilty to trying to sell classified information to Russia

Prosecutors say Jareh Dalke, facing up to 22 years in prison, gave security files to FBI agent that he thought was Russian operative

A former National Security Agency (NSA) employee from Colorado pleaded guilty Monday to trying to sell classified national security information to Russia.

Federal prosecutors agreed to not ask for more than about 22 years in prison for Jareh Sebastian Dalke when he is sentenced in April if he adheres to the terms of a plea deal, but the judge will ultimately decide his punishment.

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Pentagon to send military advisers and air defense systems to Israel

Assistance comes ahead of Israel’s anticipated ground assault into Gaza but advisers will not engage in fighting, says US official

The Pentagon is sending military advisers and sophisticated air defense systems to Israel ahead of an anticipated ground assault into Gaza by Israel’s military.

One of the officers leading the assistance is Marine Corps Lt Gen James Glynn, who previously helped lead special operations forces against the Islamic State and served a high-profile role during intense combat in Falluja, one of the bloodiest and most controversial centers of battle for US forces during the war in Iraq.

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Chunk of change: four charged with stealing millions of US dimes from truck

Defendants allegedly left coins scattered across parking lot after breaking into truck and taking 10-cent pieces worth $234,500

Robberies in the US are a dime a dozen, but one in particular had investigators perplexed. Now, more details about a scandal involving the theft of dimes by the million, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, have been released by federal authorities.

A newly unsealed indictment charges that on the evening of 13 April, four Philadelphia men made off with $234,500 – made up of more than 2m dimes – after breaking into a tractor-trailer carrying the coins. The truck driver, who had pulled into a parking lot to sleep at the time of the heist, had picked up the dimes from the US Mint and was headed to Miami. There was $750,000 worth of dimes in the truck before the robbery – a shipment that weighed about six tons and cost a pretty penny.

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Bob Menendez pleads not guilty to charges of acting as an agent of Egypt

The Democratic senator stepped down from the foreign relations committee chair after accusations of being a foreign agent

Bob Menendez returned to court in New York on Monday and entered a not guilty plea to a charge alleging that the US senator conspired to act as an agent of the Egyptian government when he chaired the Senate foreign relations committee.

Menendez, 69, spoke up to say “not guilty” when offered the chance to make his plea during his first appearance before Judge Sidney Stein at federal court in lower Manhattan. Stein is expected to preside over a trial tentatively scheduled for May.

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