List of All Articles with Tag 'us politics'

A petition has been launched in Australia calling for a ban on Donald Trump Jr from visiting the country for a right-wing event next month. By Monday nearly 15,000 people had signed the Change.org petition protesting against the former president’s eldest son attending the “Turning Point Australia” event. The group is affiliated with right-wing provocateur Charlie Kirk’s “Turning Point USA”, which aims to reach the next generation of conservatives. Nigel Farage is expected to join Mr Trump on his trip. “Donald Trump Junior is a far-right agitator who spreads bigotry wherever he goes,” Omar Hassan of the Campaign Against Racism & Fascism said in a statement. “His visit is likely to be a magnet for far-right and neo-Nazi groups across Melbourne, so we will be there in numbers to send the message that people here reject and despise everything they stand for.” And he added: “Trump Jr is a prominent far-right spokesperson, famous for his aggressive racist and transphobic campaigning. “He was an instrumental part of his father’s 2016 presidential run, and has since been part of attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including the violence on January 6. We’re protesting him to stand against white supremacy, transphobia, and misogyny.” Activists say that if Mr Trump is allowed into Australia a protest will take place on 11 July at the State Library of Victoria. Read More Sketch artist defends controversial take on Trump arraignment Shocking emails reveal Donald Trump Jr making offensive comments about Mexicans and Black people Trump pleads not guilty as he makes history as first president to be criminally charged – twice Trump news – live: Bill Barr slams Trump’s ‘absurd’ classified papers defence as ex-attorney quits CNN lawsuit Trump praises Melania’s ‘attitude’ as she skips arraignment: ‘She doesn’t care that much’

The FBI, mindful of not wanting to appear partisan, had for months held off on launching a formal investigation into former President Donald Trump's role in efforts to subvert the 2020 election, The Washington Post reported Monday, though the episode doesn't appear to have significantly hampered prosecutors' ability to look at Trump for federal crimes in the past two years.

Former president Donald Trump denied that he ever possessed a secret document about attacking Iran despite the fact a recording exists that had him discussing a document he kept from his presidency. Mr Trump spoke in an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier at his property in Bedminster, New Jersey less than a week after he pleaded not guilty to 37 charges in a federal court in Miami at his arraignment. A federal grand jury had indicted him for allegedly willfully mishandling classified documents, obstruction of justice and making false statements. The former president was also confronted by Baier over his insistence that he won the 2020 election — which he did not, as the Fox News host made clear in a testy exchange. Voters may be growing sick of Mr Trump as well. In a new poll, voters were most likely to describe Donald Trump in one word: a “criminal”. Mr Trump also complained about the latest Quinnipiac University poll being cited by Fox News that shows Joe Biden beating him in the 2024 election as the network prepared to broadcast an interview with him. Read More Voters think Trump is a criminal, Biden is too old and DeSantis is a fascist, new poll finds Trump’s defence secretary says his hoarding of secrets was ‘unauthorised, illegal and dangerous’ Trump, other Republicans conjure a familiar enemy in attacking Democrats as 'Marxists,' 'communists' Trump is incredibly guilty: that doesn’t mean he’ll get the prison time he deserves

Former president Donald Trump denied that he ever possessed a secret document about attacking Iran despite the fact a recording exists that had him discussing a document he kept from his presidency. Mr Trump spoke in an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier at his property in Bedminster, New Jersey less than a week after he pleaded not guilty to 37 charges in a federal court in Miami for his arraignment in Miami. A federal grand jury had indicted him for allegedly willfully mishandling of classified documents, obstruction of justice and making false statements. Late last month, CNN reported that federal prosecutors had obtained audio of a recording in the summer of 2021 where Mr Trump acknowledged that he had held onto a classified document from the Pentagon detailing a potential attack on Iran. But Mr Trump denied there was a document. “I had lots of paper, I had copies of newspaper articles, I had copies of magazines,” he said. Mr Baier responded by reading back from the indictment wherein Mr Trump reportedly said that the plan to attack Iran was “highly confidential” and “secret,” and that “as president, I could have declassified it.” The president said “Now I can’t, you know, but it’s still a secret.” “When I said I couldn’t declassify it now, that’s because I wasn’t president, I’ve never made any bones about that,” Mr Trump said. “When I’m not president, I can’t declassify.” Mr Trump repeated his denial that such a document existed. “That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things,” he said. “And it may have been held up or it may not but that was not a document. I did not have a document per se.” Mr Baier responded by saying he was reading what the indictment said about a recording, as well as from people in the room who testified about Mr Trump’s. “These people are very dishonest people,” he said. “They’re thugs. If you look at what they’ve done, to other people and overturned in the US Supreme Court, these are thugs.” The unsealed indictment said that Mr Trump met with a writer and a publisher of his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadow’s book. Upon the meeting, the indictment says, Mr Trump said “Look what I found” and showed an unnamed military official’s plan of attack on Iran. The official was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley. At the time, neither the writer nor the publisher had security clearances. Mr Baier said that the suggestion was Mr Trump had requested the documents because there was evidence that the US military and Gen Milley had pre-emptively sent him for plans on an attack on Iran and that Mr Trump did not order such an attack to occur. But Mr Trump denied that he had done so, and proceeded to attack Gen Milley. “Milley, frankly, was incompetent,” he said. “The last one I’d want to attack with as my leader would be Milley.” The instance Mr Baier discussed was one of allegedly two instances where Mr Trump supposedly showed classified information to people who were not authorised to see them. On the second occasion in August or September 2021, also in Bedminster, Mr Trump commented that a military operation that was not going well and reportedly showed a representative from his political action committee a classified map of the country, before saying he should not be showing it. The interview is Mr Trump’s first interview with Fox News, a network with which he has regularly feuded since leaving office. Mr Trump has maintained his innocence. Mr Trump also explained to Mr Baier why he failed to return documents to the National Archives and Records Administration. “The only way NARA could ever get this stuff, this back, would be ‘please, please, please, could we have it back?” he said. He also said that many of the documents were “interspersed” with personal effects. “I want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out. I don’t want to hand that over to (National Archives) yet. And I was very busy, as you’ve sort of seen,” he said. -Bevan Hurley contributed to this report Read More Trump gives Fox News new excuse for not giving back boxes of secret documents Trump news – live: Trump angry as Fox tells him he lost in 2020, as he floats new excuse over secret papers Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

Donald Trump has floated a new excuse for refusing to return classified documents — he was “very busy”. The former president claimed in a new interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier that the hundreds of top secret papers he took to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House were “interspersed” with his personal effects. “I want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out. I don’t want to hand that over to (National Archives) yet. And I was very busy, as you’ve sort of seen,” he said. Mr Trump was arraigned in Miami last week on 37 federal counts related to willful mishandling classified documents, obstruction of justice and making false statements. In the Fox interview which aired on Monday night, Mr Baier asks the former president why he failed to comply with the request from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to return the documents. “The only way NARA could ever get this stuff, this back, would be ‘please, please, please, could we have it back?’” he replied. Mr Baier then points out that NARA had asked for them back, and then sought a subpoena from the Department of Justice when he refused. The sensitive documents included the US’s nuclear capabilities, invasion plans and defence capabilities, according to the DoJ indictment. The Fox host then asked Mr Trump about allegations in the indictment that he ordered his aide Walt Nauta to move documents “after telling lawyers to say you’d fully complied with the subpoena when you hadn’t”. “Before I send boxes over, I have to take all of my things out. These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things.” Mr Trump went on to repeat lies about the 2020 presidential election being stolen, insult his Republican primary opponents, and quip that Fox was losing viewers. Watchdog Citizens for Ethics tweeted that Mr Trump’s comments would be admissible in court. “The most damning evidence against Trump is Trump talking.” His excuses echoed a speech Mr Trump made to supporters at his Bedminster private club last Tuesday. “Many people have asked me why I had these boxes, why did you want them?” he said. “The answer, in addition to having every right under the Presidential Records Act, is that these boxes were containing all types of personal belongings — many, many things, shirts and shoes, everything.” Read More Trump news – live: Trump gives Fox News interview after attacking network over poll showing 2024 Biden win The indictment has helped Trump in the primaries – but there’s a catch Sketch artist defends controversial take on Trump arraignment Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

A primary candidate for Mexico’s June 2024 presidential elections proposed Monday giving the president’s son a central role in the next administration. The proposal by candidate Marcelo Ebrard raised the specter of a national political dynasty being born in Mexico, where traditionally they were frowned on. Ebrard said that if he wins the nomination of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party, he would appoint the president’s son, Andrés Manuel López Beltrán — better known as Andy — to a newly created Cabinet post to ensure his father’s legacy. While López Beltrán has not publicly commented on the proposal, it would appear to be a way to solve a central problem for Morena. The young, disparate party was largely found around, and centered on, López Obrador's personal popularity and charisma, which all the contenders to succeed him lack. The six-way primary race will be decided in September by a series of polls. The inclusion of his son was an obvious bid by Ebrard, the centrist former foreign relations secretary, to ensure continuity and perhaps to attract some of the president's most devoted followers. Ebrard said the son would be put in charge of a Cabinet-level department “to continue building on the legacy” left by López Obrador. López Beltrán has not held any formal post in his father's administration, but has been widely reported to be a behind-the-scenes dealmaker and influencer in political and economic matters. While family dynasties have governed some parts of Mexico at the municipal or even state level, for nearly 100 years an ironclad rule has prevailed on the federal level: the outgoing president agrees to retire from political activity, as does his immediate family. In exchange, incoming presidents have seldom investigated corruption on the part of their predecessors. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

President Joe Biden on Monday touted his administration's record on climate change, which he called "the most aggressive climate action ever," while hitting Republicans in Congress for trying to block it.

Mexico’s president announced Monday the appointment of a 35-year-old lawyer as interior secretary, considered the country’s top Cabinet post. Luisa María Alcalde previously served as secretary of labor. In that post, she oversaw the implementation of reforms meant to ensure fair and transparent voting procedures and free organizing in Mexico's corruption-riddled union sector. Alcalde will become the second woman to be interior secretary, which is the Mexican government's top domestic affairs position. Early in his administration, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador named Olga Sánchez Cordero to the post, but she left to return to the Senate. Alcalde was appointed to replace Adán Augusto López, who resigned as interior secretary last week in order to compete in the primary race for the 2024 presidential nomination of López Obrador’s Morena party. The Morena party required all primary candidates to resign their official posts by last week, to avoid the appearance of government, money or influence skewing the race. The country's foreign relations secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, also resigned to compete in the Morena primary and was replaced by a woman, veteran diplomat Alicia Bárcena. The new Cabinet members are expected to serve until López Obrador leaves office in September 2024. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

Former president Donald Trump reacted angrily on Monday after Fox News highlighted a Quinnipiac University poll showing him as trailing President Joe Biden by a four-point margin. Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social website that the respected polling organisation had released a “bad poll” and accused Quinnipiac of using too few Republican voters in the sample of Americans who were surveyed. Mr Trump argued that the poll actually showed that he was in the lead over Mr Biden. “It under samples Republicans by 10 points, which means, instead of being down 4 points, I am up 6 points,” he said. “Other Polls show me much higher than that, but FoxNews will always attempt, as they did in 2016, to only show negatives on MAGA & TRUMP. We’re winning BIG, they don’t like it, the RINOS don’t like it, the Democrats don’t like it but, most of all, the Marxists & Communists don’t like it!” Mr Trump’s unsubstantiated claim echoes grievances that GOP figures aired in the run-up to the 2012 election, in which they alleged that reputable, mainstream polls were somehow “skewed” against Republicans and therefore were inaccurately showing that then-GOP nominee Mitt Romney was trailing then-president Obama, who was running for re-election at the time. Mr Obama, of course, ended up winning the 2012 election handily. Read More Trump news – live: Bill Barr slams Trump’s ‘absurd’ classified papers defence as ex-attorney quits CNN lawsuit Petition seeks to ban Donald Trump Jr from Australia visit over ‘white supremacy, transphobia and misogyny’ Trump faces questions about whether he'll drag down the Republican Party after his indictments

Russian agents reportedly attempted to assassinate a CIA informant on American soil in 2020, a dramatic ploy that has since been blamed for a sudden deterioration of relations between Washington and leaders of the Russian Federation. Their target was a former Russian agent whose defection to the United States led to a counterintelligence investigation that resulted in the capture and expulsion of nearly a dozen spies embedded along the US eastern seaboard. His attempted murder is just the latest alleged effort by agents of Vladimir Putin, formerly head of the country’s feared intelligence service and now its leader, to get revenge against Russian defectors living abroad. Three former senior US officials told The New York Times that Russian agents targeted Aleksandr Poteyev with an operation in early 2020 that involved an effort to tail Mr Poteyev around his new hometown of Miami. A Mexican scientist, coerced into being the face of the effort after members of his family were prevented from leaving Russia, is reported to have rented an apartment near Mr Poteyev’s residence for the purpose of surveiling the ex-spy. That scientist, Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, would later be instructed by his Russian handlers to tail Mr Poteyev, leading to an incident where he and his wife were spotted by security agents and cameras (apparently at their victim’s apartment complex) photographing Mr Poteyev’s license plate. Realising they had likely just blown their cover, the two fled for Mexico, but were stopped at the US border and arrested. According to one former official, Mr Fuentes was likely unaware of the eventual goals of the operation and was merely tasked with providing initial intelligence regarding Mr Poteyev’s whereabouts. More follows... Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

As the US Army moves to a new way to measure soldiers' body fat, officials acknowledged Wednesday that some soldiers who had previously passed under the old regulations may now fail under the new.

A magistrate judge has signed off on special counsel Jack Smith's request that former President Donald Trump and his co-defendant Walt Nauta be prohibited from disclosing information the discovery handed over to the defense in the criminal case Trump and Nauta now face from the special counsel.