List of All Articles with Tag 'us politics'

The special counsel investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results obtained a search warrant for the former president’s Twitter account in January, according to newly unsealed records. Twitter was prohibited from telling Mr Trump about the search, but the platform – now called “X” – was fined $350,000 for failing to meet the deadline to produce records under court order. The company ultimately produced the records three days after that deadline, according to the filing. Twitter and the office of US Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith spent several months debating whether to inform Mr Trump about the warrant, a dispute that surfaced with a Washington DC appeals court’s unsealing of a decision that upheld a lower court ruling to prohibit the platform from telling the former president about the case. A federal court agreed there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that disclosing the warrant would “seriously jeopardize the ongoing investigation” by giving him “an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior, [or] notify confederates,” according to the decision. A footnote adds that the court “found reason to believe” that Mr Trump could “flee from prosecution”. “The government later acknowledged, however, that it had ‘errantly included flight from prosecution as a predicate’ in its application,” the footnote adds. “The district court did not rely on risk of flight in its ultimate analysis.” Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to three criminal conspiracy charges and a charge of obstruction for his attempts to overturn 2020 election results. This is a developing story Read More Trump 2020 election plan detailed in ‘fake elector’ memo as Chris Christie reacts to ‘fat pig’ attack - latest

Failed Republican gubernatorial candidate and election denier Kari Lake is reportedly considering jumping into Arizona’s Senate race, Axios reported. The former news anchor and darling of the MAGA Republican right rose to prominence thanks to her promoting lies about the 2020 presidential election and calling for the decertification of election results. Last year she lost to Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs but has refused to concede and has taken her complaints to courts, which have summarily rejected her attempts to overturn the election. In May, Maricopa Superior Court Judge Peter A Thompson said Ms Lake failed to prove that Maricopa, where Phoenix is located, did not verify signatures on mail-in ballots. Since then, she’s become a fixture in right-wing media and at conservative gatherings such as the Conservative Political Action Conference, where she gave the Reagan Dinner speech. Earlier this week, she campaigned for Bernie Moreno, who is running for Ohio’s Senate seat, and praised fellow MAGA Republican Sen JD Vance, who won his race. “I'm really, really excited about [Mr Vance], I'm super excited that Bernie Moreno's going to be in the Senate. And if they're in the Senate, I just might have to join them,” she said. Former president Donald Trump’s campaign praised Ms Lake and the idea of her running for Arizona’s Senate seat. “When President Trump gets back in the White House he's going to need fighters like Kari Lake in Washington, DC to help enact his Agenda 47,” senior Trump adviser Caroline Wren told Axios. Arizona’s incumbent Sen Kyrsten Sinema has not indicated whether she will seek another term in the Senate. In 2018, she became the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Arizona in 30 years. But Ms Sinema left the Democratic Party to become an independent in December. Rep Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) announced he would run for Arizona’s Senate seat as a Democrat and outraised Ms Sinema in the last fundraising quarter. But despite her consistent opposition to many parts of his agenda, Ms Sinema joined President Joe Biden when he designated the greater Grand Canyon as a national monument on Tuesday. But a poll from Noble Predictive Insights showed that Ms Sinema would trail both Mr Gallego and Ms Lake in a hypothetical three-way matchup. Read More Biden to announce historic Grand Canyon monument designation during Arizona visit Senator who once worked at a Planned Parenthood warns that Republicans are planning a national abortion ban Sinema cites bill targeting leaders of failed banks after criticism of her Wall Street ties Trump ‘fake elector’ memo details 2020 election plan as Christie reacts to new insult Ron DeSantis removes Florida’s only Black woman state prosecutor from office Senator Dianne Feinstein briefly hospitalised after fall

House Oversight Republicans laid out their intention to accuse President Joe Biden of corruption even without direct evidence that he financially benefited from Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings, a clear shift in their strategy that they said was launched to investigate the president.

Senator Dianne Feinstein was briefly hospitalised on Tuesday after suffering what a spokeperson said was a “minor fall” in her California home. The fall, first reported by TMZ, is just the latest incident in a climbing number of health-related issues that have troubled the 90-year-old Feinstein in recent months and is likely to contribute to growing concerns about her ability to serve. The senior California lawmaker only recently returned to Congress after an extended absence due to illness; that departure left Democrats unable to subpoena members of the Supreme Court for a spring hearing about ethics in the nation’s highest judicial authority — though it’s unclear whether she and others on the panel had the stomach for such a move to begin with. “Senator Feinstein briefly went to the hospital yesterday afternoon as a precaution after a minor fall in her home. All of her scans were clear and she returned home,” a spokesperson told the San Francisco Chronicle. Ms Feinstein is set to retire at the end of her term next year. Her succession has sparked a major primary fight in the state of California, with three prominent members of California’s congressional delegation all vying for the job. Her staff, meanwhile, remains adamant that the aging senator remains active and completely able to perform her duties as senator. Those assertions have brushed up sharply against reports in the media of her frequent bouts of confusion throughout the halls of Congress, including numerous instances where she has been heard asking aides where they are guiding her and a recent episode during a committee hearing when the senator began calling for a vote that was already underway. Defenders of the Democratic veteran have claimed that criticisms of her performance and reports of her bouts of confusion are rooted in sexism, arguing that the same concerns are not applied equally to male politicians of similar ages. To be clear, those criticisms are far from only centred around Ms Feinstein; they recently were vocalised in regards to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell by Republicans like Nikki Haley after the former appeared to freeze and become unable to speak at a press conference, before being led away by a colleague. The latest news about Ms Feinstein comes only a week after it was revealed in a news report that she has ceded power of attorney to her daughter. Read More Nikki Haley urges McConnell and Feinstein to ‘walk away’ after recent health concerns Dianne Feinstein faces fresh pressure to step down as she passes power of attorney to daughter Mitch McConnell’s abrupt silence at press conference spurs fresh calls for term limits

Mike Pence’s ex-national security adviser praised the former vice president’s actions on January 6 despite the fact he has now criticised Mr Pence and endorsed Donald Trump, CNN reported. Retired Gen Keith Kellogg blasted Mr Pence in his endorsement of Mr Trump on Tuesday and said the former VP had displayed a “laissez-faire style unworthy of the presidency.” He specifically expressed his “his dissatisfaction with Mr Pence’s actions towards the former president.” But Marc Short, a former top aide to Mr Pence, read an email from Gen Kellogg on CNN during the assault on the Capitol telling Mr Pence that he needed to certify the 2020 presidential election results that evening. Mr Short read the email from Gen Kellogg saying he would “recommend you stay on Hill and finish the Electoral College issue TONIGHT.” When Mr Short said that was their plan, Gen Kellogg said it was “not a good… but a GREAT plan” and encouraged the former vice president to “close this thing out.” Gen Kellogg specifically criticised Mr Short in his endorsement of Mr Pence. But Mr Short said Gen Kellogg supported their actions during the assault on the Capitol. “On January 6th, Keith was clearly supporting the vice president’s actions,” Mr Short told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “I know that he’s still on Donald Trump’s payroll and perhaps that’s why he’s saying something different today.” Gen Kellogg now works for the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump outlet that has many former Trump administration officials. But Gen Kellogg’s attorney John Coale told CNN that Mr Short’s comments were “BS” and wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Mr Short “failed” the then-vice president on January 6. Gen Kellogg endorsed Mr Trump in a statement on Tuesday that criticised Mr Pence. “While President Trump has consistently put America first, prioritizing its citizens, our economy, and global standing, Pence’s actions have often seemed more focused on political maneuvering and maintaining his image,” he said. Read More Former Trump lawyer slams ex-president’s latest legal strategy Ex-Pence adviser hammers his old boss as ‘unworthy of the presidency’ and endorses Trump

Dianne Feinstein of California was hospitalized for a short time Tuesday after a fall, according to a spokesperson, the latest in a string of health issues for the US Senate's oldest member.

President Joe Biden incorrectly claimed in an interview with The Weather Channel that he has already declared a national emergency on the climate crisis.

Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has suspended another elected Democratic prosecutor from office on accusations that she failed to impose mandatory sentences for certain crimes and let juvenile offenders avoid incarceration. Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Monique Worrell, who was elected in 2020 and took office in 2021, has been “clearly and fundamentally derelict” in her duties, Mr DeSantis alleged in a press conference on 9 August. Ms Worrell – the only Black women serving as a state prosecutor in Florida – had recently announced her intention to run again in 2024. An executive order signed by the governor and Republican Secretary of State Cord Byrd accuses the Democratic state attorney of “systematically” allowing people to avoid jail time, either by dropping charges or declining to allege provable facts. He acknowledged that prosecutors like Ms Worrell “do have a certain amount of discretion about which cases to bring and which not” but he claimed that she has “abused” that discretion and “effectively nullified certain laws in the state of Florida”. Last year, Mr DeSantis suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren after he criticised the governor’s positions on abortion care and gender-affirming care for transgender people. A federal judge affirmed the suspension but admonished the governor for falsely accusing Mr Warren of relying on a blanket policy to avoid prosecuting certain cases with which he disagreed. “The allegation was false,” US District Judge Robert Hinkle said in a ruling issued on 20 January. “Mr Warren’s well-established policy, followed in every case by every prosecutor in the office, was to exercise prosecutorial discretion at every stage of every case. Any reasonable investigation would have confirmed this.” Mr DeSantis has appointed Orlando-area judge Andrew Bain to replace Ms Worrell. She had recently come under fire from Republican officials following a shooting that left three dead in February, with a suspect with an alleged history of criminal offenses on the streets at the time of the shooting; 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses is charged with three counts of first-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty. Democratic officials in Florida have accused the governor of using politically motivated removals of elected prosecutors to elevate his national profile as he campaigns for the 2024 Republican nomination for president. “This is absolutely disgusting,” Orlando-area state Rep Anna Eskamani said in a statement. “Her removal is a complete slap in the face to Orange and Osceola County residents and another example of Governor DeSantis eroding our local control and democracy,” she added. “This politically motivated action by the governor in a predominantly Democratic part of the state should alarm everyone. DeSantis is extreme, unfit to serve, and must be held accountable.” Read More Ron DeSantis replaces campaign manager as 2024 bid falters The presidential candidates who have so far met criteria to join first RNC debate DeSantis once again defends slavery curriculum: Enslaved people ‘showing resourcefulness’ developed ‘skills’ DeSantis won’t rule out national abortion ban but suggests there’s no ‘mileage’ left in Congress

President Joe Biden's administration plans to detail new rules Wednesday limiting US investments in advanced technology industries in China, according to people familiar with the plans, in an effort to protect national security at a moment of heightened tension with Beijing.

As President Joe Biden touts his climate record this week, the US Department of Justice is in the middle of a legal fight over whether a landmark federal youth climate case should even be allowed to go to trial.

President Joe Biden is traveling west this week on a mission to ramp up excitement for an agenda that -- so far -- is yielding little political upside.

Donald Trump may be eventually forced to return millions of dollars of campaign funds he raised after the 2020 elections on fraudulent claims, a retired FBI official said on Tuesday. Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI assistant director, said it “isn’t over” for Mr Trump after he was indicted over alleged efforts to overturn 2020 election results in charges led by special counsel Jack Smith in federal district court in Washington DC. “When you raise millions based on a fraudulent claim, you’ve committed a crime. And, you just might have to give those millions back... Special counsel still scrutinizing finances of Trump’s PAC,” Mr Figliuzzi said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. His comments came on the heels of a Politico report which said investigators held a closed-door interview on Monday with Bernard Kerik, the disgraced ex-NYPD Commissioner who was pardoned by Donald Trump in 2020. His lawyer Tim Parlatore told the outlet that Mr Kerik was quizzed with multiple questions on the enormous fundraising haul by Save America’s PAC in the weeks between Election Day and Jan 6 riots at the Capitol. The special counsel has been long thought to have been focusing the investigation on whether Mr Trump or his PAC broke federal laws by soliciting funds based on false voter fraud allegations. However, the recent indictment of Mr Trump does not contain any accusations of financial wrongdoing. The report said the interview was the clearest indication yet of Mr Smith’s focus on fundraising and spending by Mr Trump’s political action committee. “It’s a laser focus from Election Day to Jan. 6,” Mr Parlatore reportedly said. Kerik, a longtime ally of former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, was pardoned by the ex-president in 2020. He pleaded guilty in 2009 to eight felony charges involving tax fraud and making false statements to the federal government. Read More Trump makes shocking claims about DA’s sex life days before she’s due to indict him – latest Trump vows to keep campaigning on his criminal cases despite prosecutors seeking order to stop Who are the 2024 presidential election candidates? Meet the Republicans and Democrats campaigning