‘They’re afraid of the voter’: Pelosi says Democrats will fight for USPS – video

The House speaker on Tuesday said Democrats would fight to protect the US Postal Service and postal voting after Donald Trump's new postmaster general announced he was halting some operational changes to mail delivery that critics warned could disrupt the November election. Speaking to reporters in front of a US post office in the Bayview neighbourhood in San Francisco, Pelosi mocked the Trump administration's stance on funding for the postal service

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Trump pledges executive orders to extend Covid relief, but offers few details

President says he will suspend payroll tax and extend unemployment through end of year amid gridlock in Congress

Donald Trump has promised unilateral action to provide economic relief for millions of Americans hit by the coronavirus pandemic, but he offered few specific details and admitted the move is likely to face legal challenges.

The president’s pledge to rescue people from poverty and homelessness took place against the unlikely backdrop of his luxury golf club, where annual fees run to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, with members in T-shirts not physically distancing as they watched and applauded him.

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Donald Trump defends Dr Deborah Birx after calling her Covid-19 assessment ‘pathetic’ – video

The US president has defended his public health expert Deborah Birx after she drew criticism from House speaker Nancy Pelosi and from his own earlier tweet, labelling her assessment of Covid-19's spread as 'pathetic'. Pelosi targeted Birx, saying Trump spread coronavirus misinformation and Birx was his appointee. The president pointed to coronavirus flareups overseas as a measure of the US success, saying the country was doing very well and adding he had a lot of respect for Birx


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Nancy Pelosi says she doesn’t have confidence in Dr Deborah Birx over coronavirus – video

US House speaker Nancy Pelosi says she has lost trust in Dr Deborah Birx, a senior scientist on Donald Trump’s coronavirus taskforce, after the US surpassed 154,000 deaths due to the virus. Pelosi criticised Birx's role in the White House's handling of the pandemic, claiming president Trump had been spreading disinformation about Covid-19, and Birx was his appointee

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‘John Lewis worked on the side of the angels’, says Nancy Pelosi – video

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi held back tears as she delivered an emotional remembrance of civil rights icon John Lewis at his funeral in Atlanta. Pelosi, who worked with Lewis for more than 30 years, said: ‘We always knew he worked on the side of the angels, and now he is with them’

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Ocasio-Cortez delivers powerful speech after Republican’s sexist remarks

Congresswoman condemned ‘violent language against women’ after Ted Yoho berated her on the House steps on Monday

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s outrage over a Republican lawmaker’s verbal assault broadened into an extraordinary moment on the House floor on Thursday as she and other Democrats assailed a sexist culture of “accepting violence and violent language against women” whose adherents include Donald Trump.

A day after rejecting an offer of contrition from Republican congressman Ted Yoho for his language during this week’s Capitol steps confrontation, Ocasio-Cortez and more than a dozen colleagues cast the incident as all-too-common behavior by men, including the president and other Republicans.

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Democrats and Republicans react to John Bolton’s bombshell book on Trump – video

Political figures have criticised Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, for his new book, The Room Where It Happened, which makes a series of explosive claims about the US president.

Democrat speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, echoed Bolton in saying Trump was 'unfit' to be president but added that the Republican 'chose loyalty over patriotism'

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George Floyd tribute: Democrats take a knee for almost 9 minutes – video

Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, led House and Senate Democrats in a moment of silence at the Capitol's Emancipation Hall after reading the names of George Floyd and others killed in police custody. They kneeled for 8 minutes and 46 seconds - the length of time prosecutors say Floyd was pinned under a white police officer’s knee before he died

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Coronavirus US live: Fauci testifies pandemic is not ‘under control’ in America

California is loosening its stay-at-home order for counties that meet certain criteria in containing the virus, allowing them to reopen some offices, schools and dine-in restaurants, governor Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday.

As of Tuesday morning, only the rural counties of Butte, north of Sacramento, and El Dorado, south of Tahoe National Forest, have gotten state approval to reopen more of their economy, but Newsom predicted that at least two more would receive the go-ahead by the end of the day.

It’s been a busy day in US politics and coronavirus news so far today and there’s more action to come. My colleague Maanvi Singh on the west coast will take over now and bring you the major developments over the next few hours.

Here are the most recent items this afternoon:

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‘As the president fiddles, people are dying’: Nancy Pelosi slams Trump’s coronavirus delays – video

The House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, delivered a devastating critique of Donald Trump on Sunday, accusing the president directly of costing American lives through his constant denials and delays in response to the coronavirus outbreak. ‘The president’s denial at the beginning was deadly,’ the House Speaker told CNN’s State of the Union. ‘His delay in getting equipment to where it’s needed is deadly … As the president fiddles, people are dying’

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Coronavirus US live: US now has more cases than any other country – as it happened

The Guardian’s Vivian Ho reports:

California’s homeless census was already troubled. Covid-19 is making it impossible.

Related: California's homeless census was already troubled. Covid-19 is making it impossible

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US state department warns against all Americans leaving country amid pandemic – live

Connecticut has become the latest state to announce it is moving its presidential primary, which was originally scheduled to take place on April 28.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said the primary would instead take place on June 2.

In coordination with other states and our Secretary of the State, and in an effort to carry out Democracy while keeping public health a top priority, I have decided to move our presidential primary to June 2nd. I will provide more information later today. #COVID19 #2020Primaries

The State Department’s Level 4 advisory on all international travel comes a week after the government issued a Level 3 advisory, which urged Americans to reconsider their travel plans.

A number of Americans are already trying to get back home from countries like Guatemala, which has implemented harsh restrictions on flights going into and out of the country.

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Facebook and Twitter reject Pelosi’s request to remove edited Trump video

President posted video of House speaker tearing State of the Union address interspersed with clips of Trump lauding honorees

Facebook and Twitter have refused House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s request to remove a video posted by Donald Trump that was misleadingly edited to show her repeatedly tearing a paper copy of his State of the Union address while he was honoring a Tuskegee Airman and other attendees.

“The American people know that the President has no qualms about lying to them – but it is a shame to see Twitter and Facebook, sources of news for millions, do the same,” Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s chief of staff, said on Twitter. “The latest fake video of Speaker Pelosi is deliberately designed to mislead and lie to the American people, and every day that these platforms refuse to take it down is another reminder that they care more about their shareholders’ interests than the public’s interests.”

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Donald Trump’s ‘incredible’ week in three minutes – video report

The president of the United States was greeted by applause for his State of the Union address where he painted a picture of his vision of the future of the US on Tuesday. The following day, Trump was acquitted of impeachment in the Senate with all but one Republican voting in his favour.

On Thursday, Trump held a speech he called a 'celebration'. A Gallup poll has put Trump’s approval rating at 49%, the highest level for that survey since 2017. And on top of that, the Democratic primary race got off to a slow and embarrassing start in Iowa after technical difficulties delayed results by almost 24 hours

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‘He’s impeached forever’: Nancy Pelosi on Trump’s acquittal – video

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Donald Trump would never get rid of the 'scar' of impeachment, in her first weekly press conference since Trump was acquitted by the Senate.

Pelosi also responded to Trump’s comments at the National Prayer Breakfast, where he implicitly insulted Pelosi and Republican senator Mitt Romney

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Donald Trump alludes to Mitt Romney and Nancy Pelosi in speech after acquittal – video

The US president referenced support for his impeachment from both Mitt Romney and the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, at the national prayer breakfast. He added: 'When they impeach you for nothing, then you are supposed to like them. It is not easy'

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Nancy Pelosi appears to prepare in advance to rip up Trump’s speech – video

The US House speaker seemed to make a small tear in some pages of the text of Donald Trump's State of the Nation address almost an hour before she dramatically ripped it up at the end of the president's speech on Tuesday night.

The Senate has acquitted Trump of charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress

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Donald Trump’s State of the Union address 2020 – video highlights

Donald Trump has delivered his third State of the Union address, bragging about the ‘great American comeback’ in a speech resembling an 81-minute re-election rally. It prompted Nancy Pelosi, the most powerful woman in Congress, to rip up her copy of the speech on national television

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Nancy Pelosi rips up State of the Union speech after Donald Trump snubs handshake – video

Donald Trump appeared to snub Nancy Pelosi's request for a handshake during the start of his State of the Union address. At the speech's conclusion, Pelosi was seen tearing up her copy of the speech, later saying 'it was the courteous thing to do' 

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Trump impeachment trial: Democrats in final push for witnesses – live

  • Republicans seem increasingly confident they can block witnesses
  • John Roberts insists he will not say alleged whistleblower’s name
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The Senate is back in session, and House managers and Trump lawyers are back to fielding questions.

GOP Senators found a new way to raise the topic of the Bidens and Burisma: “Do you agree with John Kerry’s stepson that Hunter Biden working with Burisma was unacceptable?”

When then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son joined the board of an obscure Ukrainian gas company half a decade ago, it was a stunning coup for its owner, a former Ukrainian minister working to remake the company’s image as he faced a money-laundering investigation.

For Hunter Biden, the job came with risks: Ukraine was in the throes of political upheaval, and there was building scrutiny of former government officials profiting in the lucrative gas industry. His father was the face of the Obama administration’s effort to get Ukraine to crack down on corruption.

Before the break, House manager Adam Schiff even more directly reassured senators concerned about “endless delays”, once again suggesting a one-week period for deposition and “limited” time for witnesses. Chief Justice John Roberts could quickly resolve disputes, he said.

Lawmakers and journalists have been speculating all day about how the upcoming votes on witnesses could fall. Republican Senators Lamar Alexander and Lisa Murkowski were spotted together during the dinner break. Both are potential swing votes, and have told reporters they remain undecided.

Key swing vote Sen. Lamar Alexander told me he's going to announce his decision on witnesses TONIGHT, a decision that will make clear whether the Senate trial will come to a swift conclusion or if it will lead to a new phase over witnesses and documents.

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