List of All Articles with Tag 'us politics'

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will not be ordering floating barriers to be removed from the Rio Grande, in defiance of the US Department of Justice.

The United States has surpassed 400 mass shootings in 2023, setting the stage for a record-breaking year in gun violence without any significant federal firearm legislation on the horizon.

Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed her successor Kevin McCarthy for plans to expunge former president Donald Trump’s two impeachments, in an interview with CNN on Sunday. Ms Pelosi presided over both impeachments of Mr Trump, first in 2019 for when Mr Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden’s son Hunter in exchange for military aid to the country, and the second in 2021 for the January 6 riot. “The president was impeached because we had no choice,” she said on CNN’s State of the Union. “He had undermined our national security, jeopardised our wellbeing of our country.” Ms Pelosi said she was very cautious about bringing forward the two impeachments. “Kevin, you know, is playing politics. It is not even clear if he constitutionally can expunge those things,” she told host Dana Bash. “If he wants to put his members on the spot, his members in difficult races on the spot, that is a decision he has to make. But this is not responsible. This is not about the flag still being there.” The former House speaker, who stepped aside from congressional leadership earlier this year after Democrats lost the majority in the 2022 midterm election, said that Mr McCarthy proposed the idea because he does not want to face the wrath of Mr Trump. “This is about being afraid. As I’ve said before, Donald Trump is the puppeteer and what does he do all of the time but shine the light on the strings. These people look pathetic.” Politico reported last week that after Mr McCarthy had said on CNBC that he did not know whether Mr Trump would be the strongest nominee in the general election, he pledged privately to the former president would vote to expunge the two impeachments. But many moderate Republicans are opposed to voting for the expungement, particularly related to January 6, Politico reported. Read More Trump news – live: Trump lashes out at ‘deranged’ Jack Smith as potential indictment over Jan 6 looms Marjorie Taylor Greene addresses online conspiracy theory linking her to Jan 6 pipe bomber Trump, January 6 and a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election: The federal investigation, explained

Former New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte announced a campaign for governor on Monday, entering the race to succeed popular Republican Gov. Chris Sununu in 2024.

India's Parliament was disrupted for a third day Monday by opposition protests over ethnic clashes in a remote northeastern state in which more than 130 people have been killed since May. Opposition lawmakers carried placards and chanted slogans outside the Parliament building as they demanded a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the violence in Manipur state before a debate on the issue. Last week, Modi broke more than two months of public silence over the ethnic clashes, telling reporters that mob assaults on two women who were paraded naked were unforgivable, but he did not refer directly to the larger violence. His comments came after a video showing the assaults sparked widespread outrage on social media despite the internet being largely blocked and journalists being locked out in the state. It shows two naked women surrounded by scores of young men who grope their genitals and drag them to a field. The video was emblematic of the near-civil war in Manipur, where mobs have rampaged through villages and torched houses. The conflict was sparked by an affirmative action controversy in which Christian Kukis protested a demand by mostly Hindu Meiteis for a special status that would let them buy land in the hills populated by Kukis and other tribal groups and get a share of government jobs. Indian Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said the government is ready to discuss the situation in Manipur. "I request the opposition to let a discussion take place on this issue. It is important that the country gets to know the truth on this sensitive matter,” he said in the lower house of Parliament. Both houses of Parliament were adjourned various times as the opposition stopped proceedings with their demand for a statement from Modi. Sessions were also disrupted on Thursday and Friday. The main opposition Congress party's president, Mallikarjun Kharge, tweeted it was Modi's “duty to make a comprehensive statement inside the Parliament on Manipur violence.” Violence in Manipur and the harrowing video have triggered protests across the country. On Monday, scores of people gathered in Indian-controlled Kashmir and protesters carrying placards took to the streets of the eastern city of Kolkata. Over the weekend, nearly 15,000 people held a sit-in protest in Manipur to press for the immediate arrest of anyone involved in the assault, which occurred in May. They also called for the firing of Biren Singh, the top elected official in the state who also belongs to Modi's party. The state government said last week that four suspects had been arrested and that police were carrying out raids to arrest other suspects. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

Donald Trump has gone on the attack over the grand jury investigation into the January 6 Capitol riot and his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election – as he could be indicted on criminal charges as soon as this week. In a Truth Social rant on Sunday night, the former president lashed out at special counsel Jack Smith and Attorney General Merrick Garland claiming that the investigations are a “coordinated Hoax” and a ploy to “STEAL ANOTHER ELECTION through PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT at levels never seen before in the U.S.”. This comes as former vice president Mike Pence downplayed Mr Trump’s actions leading up to the Capitol riot, claiming that he is not sure if they were criminal or not. “While his words were reckless, based on what I know, I am not yet convinced that they were criminal,” Mr Pence, who is also a Republican presidential contender, told CNN’s “State of the Union”. In one of the clearest signs that Mr Trump could face federal charges for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, the former president said last week that he had received a letter saying he is a target of a grand jury investigation. Read More What Donald Trump’s trial date means for the 2024 election Trump demands cameras in courtroom for potential election fraud case Trump legal team tries again to block Georgia election interference grand jury probe Trump calls for ‘immediate’ death penalty for child traffickers after watching QAnon-linked movie

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was to deliver a state-of-the-nation speech Monday after his first year in office, which saw him allow an expanded U.S. military presence and refuse to rejoin the International Criminal Court in a move aligned with his predecessor, whose bloody anti-drugs crackdown was under an ICC investigation. More than 20,000 police, backed by other security forces and army troops, were deployed to keep order amid protests and secure the House of Representatives, where Marcos will deliver his speech before a joint session of Congress. Marcos, 65, rose to power in June last year in a landslide victory that was among the most dramatic political comebacks in recent history. His father was ousted as a dictator accused of widespread human rights violations and plunder in a 1986 pro-democracy uprising that became a harbinger of change at the time in authoritarian regimes worldwide. The president has refused to apologize and has steadfastly defended his father’s legacy. Marcos told reporters last week that his speech would be “a performance report for Filipinos to see if the flurry of pronouncements, the many words, had an impact or were just mere words." "That's what I want to explain to people — that we have made significant progress. We can see the difference now not only in terms of how the systems work, how the government works. It is also in how we are now seen or judged in the international community,” Marcos said. He was expected to press his campaign call for national unity, although deep divisions remain. About 6,000 left-wing, labor and human rights groups staged protests ahead of his speech in Congress with diverse demands, including for wage increases, to address attacks against political activists and journalists, and to recall a government program to phase out traditional but aging passenger jeepneys. A group of drivers began a three-day strike on Monday to protest the jeepney phaseout, but no major transport paralysis was reported by midday, police said. Marcos approved the suspension of school classes and government work in metropolitan Manila on Monday due to the planned transport strike and an approaching typhoon. Despite a police restriction on the burning of effigies, left-wing activists burned a mock giant coin that depicted a smiling Marcos flashing the peace sign with his fingers on one side and as a thief holding a gun and bag of cash in the other. Pro-Marcos groups separately held a musical concert and displayed congratulatory streamers. Since assuming the presidency, Marcos has embarked on more than a dozen foreign trips, including to the United States and China, to seek investments and boost trade. He was scheduled to leave for Malaysia on Tuesday for a three-day visit. The government said the foreign trips are crucial to drum up economic reforms and initiatives, including a bill that Marcos signed into law last week creating the country’s first sovereign wealth fund, which aims to pool money for infrastructure and other projects. But opponents said the trips, including one that brought him to Singapore to watch Formula One races in October, reflected the president’s misplaced priorities given problems at home, including soaring food prices early in his presidency. Marcos made himself agriculture chief to directly deal with what he said last year was a looming food crisis caused in part by the war in Ukraine. He has held the post until now despite calls for him to appoint another official so he can focus on other concerns. In February, Marcos approved an expansion of the U.S. military presence in the Philippines to add four new bases from five existing sites under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the longtime treaty allies. The move, which Marcos said would help boost the Philippines’ coastal defense, dovetails with the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China. China warned the move “will drag the Philippines into the abyss of geopolitical strife and damage its economic development at the end of the day.” But Philippine officials said the move was not aimed at China. Marcos's moves to reaffirm ties with Washington was a key turnaround from the often-hostile approach his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, took toward Manila’s treaty ally. In a decision that clearly favored Duterte but came under attack from human rights activists and Marcos' opposition, he refused to take steps to bring the Philippines back to the ICC and said his administration would not cooperate with its investigation into thousands of killings under Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs. Duterte withdrew the Philippines from The Hague-based court in 2019 in a move rights activists said was an attempt to evade accountability and prevent an international probe into the killings in his anti-drugs crackdown. The ICC, however, has jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed when the Philippines was still a member state of the court. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Gunman who killed co-workers at New Zealand building site died from self-inflicted wound, police say Moscow, Crimea hit by drones as Russian forces bombard Ukraine's south Macron promotes French interests on a trip to South Pacific where US-China rivalry is intensifying

A CNN host was seemingly shocked when Mike Pence took a surprising stance by defending Donald Trump’s supporters during an interview on Sunday. Dana Bash was caught off guard when Mr Pence defended Mr Trump’s supporters, despite the violent storming of the Capitol during the 6 January insurrection in 2021 and calls for his hanging. During CNN’s State of the Union interview, Mr Pence brought up the issue when Bash questioned him about potential concerns regarding future violence due to ongoing provocative remarks made by his former boss. Mr Pence said he was “infuriated” on 6 January 2021, with “people ransacking the Capitol and engaging in violence against law enforcement officers”. “I would say not just the majority, but virtually everyone in our movement, are the kinds of Americans who love this country, who are patriotic and law-and-order people who would never have done anything like that there or anywhere else,” he said. While Mr Trump’s “words were reckless, based on what I know, I am not yet convinced that they were criminal”, he said, much to Bash’s surprise. “That’s pretty remarkable that you’re not concerned about it, given the fact that they wanted to hang you on 6 January,” she said. “There has been an effort to take those that perpetrated violence on January 6 and use a broad brush to describe everyone in our movement,” Mr Pence replied. Bash said she was speaking about the repeated “potential to incite those who were incited on January 6”. Earlier this year, Mr Pence said the former president’s “reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day”. Yet, during the interview with Bash, he said while he believed Mr Trump’s actions attempting to overturn the election were “wrong”, he said he was “not yet convinced they were criminal”. Mr Trump, who is currently the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, remains under the scrutiny of prosecutors across the country over a wide range of issues. Read More Trump news - live: Former president’s Jan 6 actions reckless but not criminal, says Mike Pence Oui, oui: Jill Biden heads to Paris to help mark US return to UN educational and scientific agency Jack Smith has contacted Georgia Governor Brian Kemp over Trump’s effort to overturn 2020 election Florida man pleads guilty over Jan 6 as DeSantis denies insurrection Nervous Republicans turn to New Hampshire in hopes of stopping Trump DeSantis downplays Jan. 6, says it wasn't an insurrection but a 'protest' that 'ended up devolving'

Even if former President Donald Trump is indicted for a third time, his dominance of the Republican White House race is unlikely to be shaken because of his years of shattering its voters' trust in institutions that challenge his power.

Seven Republican presidential candidates have, as of Sunday, met the polling requirements to appear on the August debate stage following new polling from Fox Business in Iowa and South Carolina.

The Biden administration will centre White House efforts to address threats of various transmissible diseases, pathogens and other biological agents in a new permanent office headed by a member of the National Security Council (NSC). The White House announced the creation of the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR) on Friday. OPPR will be “charged with leading, coordinating, and implementing actions related to preparedness for, and response to, known and unknown biological threats or pathogens that could lead to a pandemic or to significant public health-related disruptions in the United States”, according to a handout. The new office will shift the White House’s Covid reponse efforts from a standalone team to a broader group that will include experts working on a number of different potential “public health-related disruptions”, including new variants of the influenza (common flu) virus. “Under President Biden’s leadership, the Administration has taken significant steps to ensure all individuals have continued access to lifesaving protections such as vaccines, treatments, and tests, and that the nation is well prepared to manage the risks of COVID-19 or other causes of potential pandemics in the future,” a White House statement read. The office’s inaugural director will be Major General (retired) Paul Friedrichs, special assistant to President Biden and the Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biodefense on the National Security Council. The new office comes three months after Mr Biden formally ended the national emergency declaration over the pandemic. More than 1.1 million Americans have died from Covid since it first emerged in the US in early 2020. Mr Biden lobbied Congress against passing the resolution to end the national emergency but nevertheless signed the bipartisan piece of legislation when it hit his desk in April. The president had previously declared the Covid pandemic “over” in 2022, telling CBS’s 60 Minutes: “We still have a problem with Covid. We're still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one's wearing masks.” Read More The fight over Alabama's congressional redistricting now shifts back to federal court DeSantis downplays Jan. 6, says it wasn't an insurrection but a 'protest' that 'ended up devolving' Biden names CIA Director William Burns to his Cabinet

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has given insight into the possible scope of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The Republican governor - who survived a Trump-backed attempt to oust him from office last year - told USA Today on Sunday that Mr Smith’s office had contacted him. However it is unclear what stage Mr Smith’s investigation has reached or whether Mr Kemp’s office had provided, or agreed to provide, evidence or testimony. “Our office has been contacted by Jack Smith’s office,” the governor’s spokesman said. Mr Kemp’s office declined to comment further when contacted byThe Independent. News of Mr Smith’s communications with Mr Kemp comes a week after his office reportedly delivered a target letter to Mr Trump’s legal team, a sign that charges are being prepared. The Department of Justice (DoJ) has indicated that the twice-impeached, twice-indicted former president is central to its investigation into the January 6 attack on the US Capitol and the broader effort by the Trump campaign to overturn the election. Mr Trump, who is running for re-election in 2024, announced the arrival of that letter on his Truth Social social media platform two days after he supposedly received it. “On Sunday night, while I was with my family...HORRIFYING NEWS for our country was given to me by my attorneys,” he wrote. “Deranged Jack Smith...sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment.” The Independent reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the letter delivered to Mr Trump informed him that the DoJ is considering charging him with conspiracy to defraud the United States; obstruction of an official proceeding and deprivation of civil rights under colour of law. It set a deadline of midnight on Thursday for Mr Trump to report to the grand jury and declare whether he would testify or offer his own evidence during the pre-trial stage of the investigation. Sources have also told The Independent that an indictment could come anytime, now that deadline has passed. Mr Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election were far from limited to Georgia. His campaign is known to have supported slates of false electors in other states where Mr Trump lost to Joe Biden including Arizona and Wisconsin. For weeks Mr Smith and the DoJ have been largely silent about the status of the Jan 6 investigation which has already led to the conviction of hundreds of rioters. If Mr Trump faces trial, it would almost certainly take place during the 2024 election cycle. A separate trial of the former president, involving the alleged illegal retention of classified materials and presidential records, is set to take place next spring. Read More Nervous Republicans turn to New Hampshire in hopes of stopping Trump The fight over Alabama's congressional redistricting now shifts back to federal court Capitol riot defendant gets probation after rare setback for prosecutors at Oath Keepers trial DeSantis defends Florida curriculum that suggests slaves benefited from forced labour Florida man pleads guilty over Jan 6 riot as state’s governor Ron DeSantis insists there was no insurrection Trump legal team tries again to block Georgia election interference grand jury probe